#and yet the players (and fans) are supposed to treat this as “normal”

[blusical]

currently thinking of how abusive some hockey coaches are and how players are supposed to act like that sort of stuff is normal

[sportswriters]

i think i like you - k. havertz

pairing: kai havertz x female!reader | a, f, s | mutual pining, co-workers to lovers | wc: 5,107 | warnings: 18+ readers only!

the sound of hurried footsteps coming from the corridor broke the current of silence that filled the white room. normally, i wouldn't be so distracted at this point, but rubbing my temple with unnecessary force, while there was a pile of papers on the table that i needed to sign and analyze, i gave in and accepted the reality that i didn't have strength for anything.

i huffed loudly, rubbing my face with both hands as i mentally cursed myself. this wasn't supposed to be happening.

none of this was supposed to happen.

a knock on the door caught my attention and i immediately stood up and looked towards the door to find one of the chelsea players.

“oh, hi, mount,” i greeted, with a smile that i believed to be genuine. “do you need anything?”

the team's midfielder didn't answer me straight away. there was a half-smile on his lips, as if he was trying to decide whether to come for some plausible reason. i looked at him with a mixture of confusion and uncertainty, nodding slightly for him to enter the room at once.

“mason?”

he closed the door behind him and stared at me, rubbing his hands together. i could tell he was completely sweaty through his national team training shirt.

“sorry, y/n, it's…” he started. “i don't need anything. it's just... are you mad at kai?”

the mere mention of his name made my heart race an octave faster. i hated not being able to control my body's emotions. i didn't think anyone would have that slight power over me, yet kai had that effect.

“what?”

the badge around my neck announced me as part of chelsea's medical team: my name - nutritionist. i accepted the temporary position so that carrie could take her maternity leave without any problems and, as it was a job with an expiration date, i didn't want to get too involved with the team staff. however, they had other plans. carrie let me know that she used to be close to the players and, as her replacement for a few months, they treated me as if i'd been part of the team for years. they called me by my first name and were always inviting me to their private parties, although i didn't always go. i got on well with all of them, without exception.

it was just that... kai was the problem.

when i arrived here three months ago, the team was having a very bad season in the premier league. he was a bit explosive with almost everything and was under pressure from both the media and the fans. his mood became impossible on some days and, on a day when we were reviewing the players' diets, he started to take refuge in my office and we ended up forming a bond.

a bond that led to something else, that led to something else and...

“i asked if you were angry with havertz,” mount explained, scratching the back of his head.

i took a deep breath and stared at him, still a little confused.

“i understood what you were asking,” i replied. “but why would i be angry with him?”

okay, i hadn't spoken to the german in a week. it was probably stupid of me to avoid him all the time, but i hadn't taken the job of being carrie's understudy to go out with the reputation of someone who got involved with the players. that didn't make me professional in the slightest, so after the chilwell party, when we finally kissed, i panicked and left.

it wasn't his fault. he had a very well-established career within the club and could get involved with whoever he wanted, but not me. i was a woman in a mostly male environment and any attitude could be seen and turned into something bigger than it was. kai didn't understand; i refused all his messages and calls and asked him to stop visiting me in my office.

still, i didn't have any plausible reason to be angry with him. in fact, the situation should have been quite the opposite.

“the diet,” mason spoke again, as if that sentence was enough to make me understand what was going on. however, when he saw that my confused expression remained the same, he added: “you've cut soft drinks out of his diet, do you know what that means?”

oh, shit.

they all followed an individual diet, even if there were similarities in the menu. each player had different needs, as was the case with kai havertz, who was a self-confessed coca cola and orange soda addict. he felt he needed to drink at least one can of soda a day, believing that it made him perform better in games and, even though i said it could be psychological and a placebo effect, it was still an addiction. that's why his diet, approved by carrie before me, allowed him a little soda a day. and i hadn't changed a bit.

“i’m not angry with him,” i clarified, turning to the piles of papers scattered on the table. “and i haven't cut anything out of his diet. i was going to do a new review next week, but even so, i didn't intend to cut anything out.”

mount crossed his arms, leaning his waist on my desk for support. i started looking for a specific folder, wanting to make sure what had happened.

“he's been in a terrible mood for days,” the midfielder uttered. “it's almost unbearable to train with him. cutting soft drinks out of his diet doesn't seem to be going to make him any better.”

i moistened my lips and turned my face towards the player.

“i've already told you that i haven't cut anything out of his diet, you can stop with the hints,” i defended myself, finally finding the folder with kai's name on it. “three interns arrived this week, they had the task of memorizing your fucking diet and not changing it.”

i took a deep breath, trying not to get upset. my head began to throb slowly, increasing my strong desire to be tucked up in a warm bed and sleep for the rest of the day just to avoid possible stress.

“i'm sorry, mount.”

it wasn't in my nature to swear in front of the players or anyone else i used to work with. i tried at all costs to remain impeccable in a professional environment, but sometimes things just slipped out.

“what happened at chilwell's party?,” he ignored my apology, being so straightforward in his question that it almost took me by surprise.

i hadn't expected kai to actually go around telling people that we had kissed, but i figured that at least mount would know about it. he knew almost everything.

i let the air out of my mouth, controlling my excitement and, ignoring the folder on my lap, raised my face to face the midfielder.

“he kissed me.”

mason opened his mouth, but then closed it, as if he didn't know exactly what to say. even so, his expression didn't seem surprised, which indicated to me that he suspected it.

“wait a minute, was it mutual?,” he asked doubtfully. “i mean, he didn't kiss you against your…”

“no, mount, of course not,” i interrupted his train of thought before he could finish his sentence, understanding his concern. “i wanted that too.”

what the hell, how was i going to explain the situation? it was weird to be venting to someone who was my patient — while at the same time always willing to be a friend —, a familiar face in a place that was totally new to me. when i arrived here and got lost, mount took the time to introduce me to every bit of the club's space.

“was the kiss bad?,” he asked again. “i don't think havertz has a reputation for sweeping women off their feet that quickly, but everything has a first time, right?”

i laughed, shaking my head. i straightened the folders from my lap and put them back on the table, with havertz's file on top.

“how many women work here?,” i began, looking at him with a neutral expression.

his forehead took on a new wrinkle of confusion, his arms crossed over his chest, the strands of his hair against his forehead, wet with sweat.

“i'm not angry with havertz, i don't even have a good reason to be,” i explained, getting up from the chair. “the kiss wasn't bad, on the contrary, it was so good that...” i huffed, rubbing my temple again, opening a small smile, my eyes fixed on mount. “i can't get involved with him, mason. i've worked hard to earn my place and yet i'm not here for good. i'm replacing carrie and i know what kind of rumors would start swirling around the halls the moment they found out i was involved with a player on the team. this is a mainly male environment and i have to prove myself all the time.”

mason didn't say anything immediately. he took a deep breath and looked at me with an expression i couldn't decipher. i thought he wasn't going to say anything, but then he surprised me:

“prove it to who?,” he asked. i was about to open my mouth and reply, but apparently he wasn't expecting an answer, so he continued: “you deserve to be here. you deserve to be anywhere and that should be enough for you, y/n.”

i blinked, feeling bewildered by the words, but at the same time strangely comfortable. i didn't need anyone to validate me in anything, but i couldn't deny the feeling of belonging somewhere.

“i understand your point, but i don't think you should let your life revolve around this,” the midfielder continued. “you could be missing out on incredible things, you know? and kai is...” he sort of rolled his eyes, giving me a genuine smile and shrugging. “you know we've had a bad season here at chelsea. before that, havertz also had a bad time at the world cup with germany. all this added up to enormous pressure on him as a player, requiring him to start delivering positive results.”

i swallowed, remembering the first time i saw kai standing in my office doorway, his knuckles bruised. he had a defeated expression and an even worse mood, but he never took anything out on me.

“what i'm saying is this,” he got off the table and stood in front of me, a little more distance between us. “kai had been feeling like shit for months. nothing motivated him and it was starting to get annoying. we all have periods like that, but his was lasting a long time, longer than usual. when you arrived, something changed, y/n. the guy really likes you.”

i felt my heart skip a beat. i was aware of it, kai himself had already told me, but having someone else point it out to me was a different perception. i was risking something good for a job that wasn't even permanent. my temporary contract would end in two weeks, when carrie would finally return.

what did i have to lose?

“i'm not pressuring you to do anything,” mason clarified, with a reassuring smile. “but there's nothing wrong with taking a little risk sometimes.”

he winked at me and waved goodbye, then left me alone, the sound of the door being closed waking me from my stupor of thoughts. i gulped and stared at the folder on top of the others, kai's name written in my handwriting on an orange post-it note.

i went through all the information, found the change in his diet — signed by an intern — and redid everything. when the new papers were correctly printed, i threw the others away, signed what i was supposed to and attached everything to the folder again. holding it in one hand, i put my hair up in a bun, took off my white coat and put my badge around my neck, leaving the room.

the talk with mason was still fresh in my mind. my heart was still beating faster than usual, my pulse racing, the idea of a risky decision dawning on me. at that moment, i didn't want to think too much.

as i walked through the corridors that would lead me to the field, i turned around and entered the huge cafeteria.

“hey, carter," i greeted the boy behind the counter. “how are you?”

he flashed an infectious smile at me, raising his closed hand in a fist bump to exchange a beat with me, which i returned. he was much younger than me and worked in the canteen part-time while he was at college.

“hi, y/l/n,” he said. “how can i help you?”

“i heard havertz is in a bad mood,” i replied, grimacing.

carter laughed, nodding in agreement.

“and whose fault is that?,” he replied, amused. “someone changed his diet.”

i denied it, waving the folder in the air and pointing at him.

“it was a misunderstanding,” i explained. “i need to fix it. his diet is still the same as before, okay? can i have a can of coke?”

he nodded, went to the fridge and, in less than 30 seconds, returned with an icy can of coke. i thanked him and said goodbye, making my way back down the corridor, but just as i was about to reach the training ground, kai was coming right up to me, his head down, one hand holding a towel around his neck.

he looked the same as always — his muscles tense, his body sweaty, strands of hair stuck to his forehead. he hadn't seen me yet, but i decided to announce my presence. there was no one else there but the two of us.

“hi.”

he stopped walking instantly when he recognized the sound of my voice. i noticed that my hands were a bit sweaty, one holding the folder and the other the can of coke. the forward looked up at me, his expression half rigid and half confused, as if he was trying to understand something.

“this is for you.”

i took a step further, breaking the distance between us, but keeping a safe space. i held out the can of coke to him, who hesitantly accepted it.

“what are you doing?,” he finally asked me.

“improving your mood,” i replied.

kai stared at the can, then kept his eyes fixed on me. the towel was slung over his shoulder and, even though he was all sweaty, i could still smell the lavender scent of his soap. and i wasn't even that close to him. when he raised an eyebrow, silently asking for an explanation, i let my shoulders drop and lifted the folder in front of my chin, showing him his name in my handwriting.

“i gave the new interns a task,” i began to explain, not wanting to look away from him for even a second. “they had to study each of your cases, because some of you have different diets. if they thought something should be changed, they should talk to me first, but they didn't do that. i haven't taken your addiction out of your diet, kai, you can still drink a little soda a day.”

he nodded, his expression impassive. the silence between us lasted long seconds, until he finally said something.

“just for the record,” he began, holding up the can. “i didn't think you'd changed anything. it would be a rather cruel revenge.”

i laughed, putting the folder down.

“i have no reason to take revenge on you.”

kai swallowed. i barely noticed that he had taken two steps closer and was dangerously close to me, our faces just an inch apart. the scent of lavender he exuded intensified even more and i half held my breath.

“i thought you were going to keep ignoring me,” he confessed in a whisper.

my heart heaved in my chest and my hands tingled to touch the skin on his face.

“i don't have the means to ignore you, kai,” i said, as if it were obvious. “i'm still your nutritionist for another two weeks.”

he shrugged.

“apparently, you have interns now,” he replied, with impressive simplicity. “i could talk through them.”

“i like being professional.”

kai gave up continuing the little discussion. instead, his eyes darkened and he stared at me with a new intensity, surprising me with a statement i’d heard before, but which still had the same effect on me.

“i told you i liked you,” he whispered.

i swallowed, affected by his words. i felt like a complete teenage idiot, acting as if it was the first time someone had said they liked me. i was young enough to have experienced the famous butterflies in the stomach, but it was different this time. more intense.

“no,” i whispered back, holding the folder tightly against my fingers. “you said ‘i think i like you’”.

kai moistened his lips and nodded slowly, glancing around briefly before turning those clear eyes back to me.

“i like you,” he corrected himself and i let the air escape through my mouth.

mason was right.

realizing now the effect kai havertz was having on me at that very moment, i couldn't think of a clear reason why i shouldn't be doing this. i gave him a genuine, suggestive smile and, looking for a more private space, gently took his hand and pulled him into the massage room with me, which, luckily, was empty.

he didn't hesitate or complain. he just followed me silently and slipped into the room while i locked the door behind me. i threw the folder on a small coffee table and didn't take my eyes off that man for a second.

“kiss me again,” i asked.

his expression was pure lust. he got rid of the towel and the can of coke, putting it in the same place as my folder and, without wasting any time, broke the distance between our bodies and crashed his lips against mine, his hand gripping the root of my nape with enough force to leave me intoxicated. his scent invaded me more intensely and i tried to decipher all the sensations i was experiencing with his kiss and his intimate touch on my skin, but it was too much.

instead, i focused on the physical sensations. i brought my hands up to his neck, messing up the wet strands of his hair even more, and slowly pushed him towards a small massage bed that was provided in the living room. when there was no further to go, the kiss was broken when he fell onto the bed, pulling me onto his lap.

“you're so beautiful, kai,” i whispered, feeling like i could say all these things right now.

i touched the side of his face with both hands and melted almost completely when he gave me his smile. the german player smoothed the insides of my thighs and worked his way up the side of my body.

“y/n.”

i felt him hard beneath me, the urgency of his mouth seeking mine again. i satisfied him with a kiss that was even more urgent than the previous one and took the opportunity to get rid of his sweatshirt, our mouths moving apart for a very quick second, just long enough for the shirt to slip over his head and be thrown to the floor. contently, i began to explore his now bare skin, my short nails scratching every bit of defined skin, the moans escaping through the kiss.

“this isn't fair,” he whispered against my mouth, playing with the hem of my shirt. “i want to lick your breasts. can i?”

i felt something warm between my legs, my arousal growing by the minute. i helped him get rid of my shirt and bra, revealing my swollen breasts, the nipple hard, pinker than i'd ever seen it. i was eager for the touch of his mouth, but kai first grabbed both breasts with his hands and followed a path of kisses, starting at my neck and going down until, finally, he sucked on one of the breasts with a hunger i didn't know he was feeling.

“kai.”

he bit and sucked, giving me a maddening friction of pleasure. my pussy began to throb, uncomfortable against my panties, the dampness soaking through the cotton cloth. i know that if he slid a finger inside me, it would slip in with impressive ease. i'd been wet for him for months, without even touching myself, just building up a fucking wetness, dreaming of the moment when it would all come true. how could i not allow myself to do that? to all the wonders his mouth was performing?

“kai.”

moaning his name was my new favorite thing and, judging by his reaction to my body, i'd say it was his new favorite thing too. i enjoyed that growing intimacy between us, the fact that he was exploring my body as if it was the only thing that mattered, as if his mouth's job was exactly to suck on my breast, as if, oh my, that was so good.

kai alternated between one breast and the other, my heart beating faster than usual. as i wriggled in his lap, i rubbed against his even harder cock, a pained moan escaping his lips. threading my fingers through his hair, i pulled his face away from my breasts and stared into his eyes.

“i wanna have you in my mouth too.”

kai blinked, a little dazed, as if he'd been taken by surprise, but he recovered quickly, his hands tightening the skin around my waist.

“i...” he tried to say, but the words wouldn't come out; instead, he agreed with a quick, anxious nod. “yes, please, y/n.”

i flashed him a smile and got off his lap, kneeling right in front of him. he was about to take off the rest of his clothes, but i slapped his hand away, eliciting a delighted laugh from him, who pretended to surrender, his hands raised with his palms facing upwards.

“i didn't know you liked being aggressive,” he teased.

i put my hand on his hard cock, still on top of the cloth, and rubbed it lightly, the pupils of his eyes reacting to my touch.

“you'll find that i like to do a lot of things,” i teased back, starting to pull down his dark blue chelsea shorts. “i hope one of them is sucking you off.”

he gasped, lifting his hips just enough so that i could slide his clothes down his thighs.

“i also think i'm going to find that i really like this side of you,” he murmured, a short smile on his lips.

i don't know if i'll ever be able to understand how i feel about this man, but i decided to leave rational thoughts for another time. at that moment, i only wanted one thing and my body was begging for it, so when his cock finally sprang out after i had thrown his clothes on the floor with the others, i held it in one hand, feeling the roughness of his skin. kai breathed heavily and closed his eyes for a few seconds, enjoying the sensation of pleasure i was causing him as i started to stroke him so slowly that i felt like i was being tortured right there.

eager for more, i brought my face closer and finally put him in my mouth, my tongue taking the place of my hand in the action. he opened his eyes and stared at me with pure intensity, the back of my neck shivering. i wanted to keep that moment in my memory for a long time. i continued the back and forth motion, feeling his moans fill the room, his body becoming erect so that he could use his hands to work his way down my body. he reached for my shoulders, squeezing them and i sucked even harder, stuffing him into my mouth as far as he would go.

“you're so...” he tried to say through his moans, but the words wouldn't come out.

kai arched his back, my other hand squeezing his balls. he held my hair by the back of my neck, hard enough to make me even hornier and more committed to keep oon pleasing him. my pussy was still throbbing, soaking through my panties, and when he realized that i was starting to rub my thighs together because of the slight discomfort, he took his cock out of my mouth, under my protest.

“come here.”

he put me on his lap, brushing the strands of hair out of my face and caressing my left cheek. it was such an intimate moment that, for a second, i was embarrassed to be the target of his intense gaze.

“you saved me, you know that?” he whispered.

i shook my head, my two hands holding each side of his face, feeling a little more affected than usual by his words. yes, he was terrible when i arrived, almost on the verge of self-destruction, but i wasn't responsible for his salvation.

“that's very kind,” i whispered back, with a smile. “but you know that's not true.”

he let out a sound of protest, pulling me even tighter around the waist, the shock of our lips making me shiver again. the kiss was no longer urgent; there was no need to rush to get to know each other. instead, he started slowly, exploring, giving me sensations i never thought i'd feel again.

“you saved me,” he said again against my mouth and between kisses. “when, even though it wasn't your job, you listened to me complain for a whole hour in your living room.”

he made me get up quickly, just so that i could get rid of the rest of my clothes and we could finally be the same. he looked at my body with a new smile and pulled me back onto his lap, searching for my mouth, my pussy dangerously close to his cock, but he didn't mind the closeness.

we both had obligations to fulfill outside, but neither of us seemed inclined to finish this so quickly. not when we'd waited months for it.

“when you made me eat pizza, even though you were my nutritionist and the first to recommend that i cut that kind of thing out of my diet,” he continued, drawing a hearty laugh from me. “and made me forget about the problems of the outside world with long, endless movies that i never found out the end of because i fell asleep in the middle.”

he kissed me again and i smiled against his mouth.

“a tolerable flaw,” i confessed.

“but you saved me, y/n, when you started believing in me, when all i did was doubt,” kai said. “i felt like the world was against me, but you made it seem just the opposite.”

my breathing became heavy and this time i kissed him, feeling my heart speed up more than usual. he couldn't keep saying those things to me. it would be impossible not to sink into the wave of feelings that i was beginning to realize i was feeling. if i did, there would be no turning back.

“kai.”

his thumb caressed my cheek and i felt contemplated under his intense gaze.

“yes?”

feeling more than need, i rocked my hips against his lap and finally spoke:

“please fuck me.”

he smiled. the next second, he wasted no time and, testing my wetness with two fingers, he finally penetrated me, the moan trapped in my throat finally escaping.

“oh, that's it…”

the words wouldn't come out of my mouth either. i dug my nails into his shoulders, his hands wrapped around my waist, helping me move my hips in a slow up-and-down motion. his cock filled me completely and i watched as he took the two fingers from before into his mouth, tasting where he had touched me. we didn't look away from each other for half a second. our moans mingled, our mouths searched for each other, our hands explored each other's bodies, heightening the mix of new sensations and intensifying the pleasure as he increased the speed of his thrusts.

our bodies sweated together, our mouths whispered unreasonable words and our laughter became one.

kai laid our bodies down, getting on top of me, never ceasing to maintain the consistency of his thrusts. he took advantage of his free hand and began to caress my swollen and sensitive clitoris. i was no longer able to silence my moans and his mouth had to silence me, as i felt my whole body begin to spasm with pleasure.

“kai,” i whispered against his mouth, unable to say more than that.

he slammed into me even harder, his face contorted with arousal, our mouths inches from each other.

“i know, i just...” he said and i nodded.

i moved my hips against his, tangling my legs together, wanting our bodies to stay as close as possible, the skin-to-skin contact comforting me. i was about to come, but i didn't want to do it without him, so i tried to hold back as much as possible so that he too could climax along with me.

“fuck,” he moaned, resting his forehead against mine and stopping to rub my clitoris.

when he squeezed my thighs together and his whole body arched against mine, i knew he was close. kai gave one last thrust, the orgasm hitting me, and  he pulled out, his cum staining the space around us. he rubbed his face with both hands and threw himself down beside me, our bodies satisfied and sweaty. i tried to normalize my breathing and turned my face, staring at the silhouette of his body, his relaxed post-pleasure expression. he was still staring at the ceiling and, without thinking, my hand reached for his and i intertwined our fingers, drawing his attention to me.

i still felt incapable of beginning to understand my feelings at that moment, but i knew enough to be sure of what i wanted.

“you're fucking beautiful,” he said, pressing his fingers against mine.

i smiled and moved closer. when my face was close to his, i stole a kiss and stared into his eyes.

“you know what, kai?,” i whispered, watching his eyes light up. “i think like you too.”

[aeoki]

Candy House - Programme to Fall in Love: Chapter 6

Characters: Hajime, Tomoya, Subaru, Sora & Natsume Season: Winter

Tomoya: Akehoshi-senpai, there’s something I’ve been wanting to say to you.

Subaru: Hm~? What’s going on? You seem pretty cheeky for someone younger than me.

Hajime: Akehoshi-senpai wouldn’t say something like that! He’s always kind to his juniors… Wait, but maybe not? Maybe he would say something like that?

Tomoya: Get your hands off him. Hajime is my lover.

Hajime: Whaaaat!?

Subaru: Oh, that’s news to me! Is that true, Shinonon? You’ve got such a cute lover, but you’re doing something like this with me…? ♪

You’re such a naughty boy, Shinonon ♪

Hajime: ♢Χ■△〒★!?

Tomoya: Stop! Don’t bully Hajime! It’s okay, Hajime! I’ll protect you!

Subaru: Oh~? I’m not bullying him – I love Shinonon ♪

No. Shinonon’s a naughty boy so he likes being treated like this…♪

Hajime: ~~! ~~!

I understand now! So this is the gift you were talking about, right!? Did you think I’d be happy seeing such an abnormal situation!?

P–Please end this, Sakasaki-senpai! I–I’m going to go crazy if I have to put up with any more of this~!

Natsume: Oh, what a let doWN.

Things were finally getting interesting, but you’re giving in alreaDY? You don’t really have the guts, huh, Hajime-kUN.

Hajime: S–Shakashaki-senpaaaaai–

H–H–H–How could you do something like that? Thank you! No, I mean, what was that!?

Natsume: HmM~ I suppose you could say that was a type of illusionary magic that can only occur in this cyberworLD?

Sora: HaHa~ Master~ is always vague with his words, so Sora will explain.

In the “Chocolat Fest” that takes place inside “Candy House”, players can experience a forbidden love with ES idols!

Hajime: F–Forbidden love? I–I suppose that situation earlier was rather unhealthy…

Natsume: No, not thAT. Idols are prohibited from forming romantic relationships with their fans under normal circumstances, rigHT?

But at this virtual “Chocolat Fest”, players can experience a romantic relationship with idols, which wouldn’t be allowed in real liFE.

Well, it’s like playing “house” in comparison to real life, thouGH.

Sora: Yes! Players can spend real money to buy chocolate which they can send to their favourite idol!

Their intimacy level with that idol will increase and they can become a couple with their idol at the end!

Natsume: They’re not forming an actual relationship with the real idol, of courSE. It’ll be an imitation of the idol with small print attached that says, “※This is a fake recreated in the virtual space.”

Buy chocolates, raise the intimacy level with your idol, and the two of you can be a coupLE.

Sora: Yes! It’s just like a dating sim~♪

Hajime: I–I see… So you have a dating sim event for “Chocolat Fest”?

Sora: Yes! It’s an event that can only happen in the virtual world.

Natsume: It’ll be a huge issue if it was done with real idols, thouGH. It’ll be like some sort of host clUB.

Hajime: Uuu… I’ve never had anything to do with those sorts of places, but I definitely understood how having something like that in real life could be an issue.

Having the people you love whisper sweet nothings into your ear can make you swoon – it can be addicting…

Natsume: HehEH. We’re measuring each players’ brainwaves through the “SSVRS” device in order to keep players wanting to spend monEY.

We’re getting information like their thoughts and preferences, and we’re using those things to create their ideal situation with their idOL.

We’ll recreate a fake that’s the personification of their ideal romantic partnER.

Sora: In other words, Jime-chan wants Sparkling Onii-san to be mean to him…?

Hajime: N–N–N–No! I love the kind-hearted Akehoshi-senpai! That’s wrong information!

Natsume: WeLL, it’s still under development, so it’s not functionally stable yET.

It definitely sounds like something “Gor-Corp” would dO. Everything is based on unknown technology that shouldn’t be possible in this worLD.

No one expected that sort of technology to really exist, so there isn’t appropriate legislation for iT.

Because of that, “Gor-Corp” is essentially doing whatever they waNT.

Hajime: If they wanted to use the technology that measures our brainwaves and analyses our preferences for evil, they could really do it, right?

Sora: Yes. Things like getting AI to automatically generate dungeons is fine, but if people are peering inside Sora’s brain, then that feels kinda gross~

Natsume: YeAH. Our minds are a sanctuary that only we’re allowed iN. It doesn’t feel nice to have someone trespassing into that spaCE.

It might be hard to brainwash people like in sci-fi movies, but it may be possible for them to control the masses by tempting people with their preferencES.

Maybe that’s “Gor-Corp’s” end goAL. Maybe they intend on using “SSVRS” to control peopLE.

Just kiddiNG. Now, that’s some sort of old conspiracy you’d hear on the internET.

Sora: The ones like “The government is trying to control us with radio waves!”~?

Hajime: *Sigh…* I don’t know about those conspiracies or whatnot.

But I think that can be pretty misleading. They’d use such an amazing piece of technology for a video game?

It sounds amazing. That’s all I can say.

Natsume: In the public’s eyes, we’re “just idols” too, rigHT? Or whAT? Are we not allowed to be serious when it comes to major topics like the governmeNT?

Everyone chooses to put their heart and soul into different thinGS.

(But in reality, I do think “Gor-Corp” is taking things a bit too fAR… I don’t want to be a conspiracy theorist, but I should be more wary of thEM.)

(I don’t want to have any more regreTS.)

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ← Previous Chapter ᠂ ⚘ ˚⊹˚ ⚘ ᠂  Next Chapter →

[cosmica-galaxy]

Hey I've been a fan of your writing

Can I request something,,,,,,

Maybe going trick or treating with the main four plus Jebediah 🎃

Here's a post with the main 4 on trick or treating.

SO THIS IS GOING TO BE A JEB ONLY POST! HEHE!

Jeb was pretty surprised when he came through the portal to visit his player once again, only to find the home decorated with Halloween-themed items and candle lit pumpkins. His red eyes scan the place for a few moments as his player walks in, smiling happily at him as they embrace him and welcome him to their world.

"So...what's the occasion?" Jeb comments, pointing at all of the decor that was strewn about the place.

"Oh! I forget, you haven't been coming here for a full year yet. Well! Tonight is Halloween, Jeb! It's a human holiday where trick or treaters go house to house and get free candy while being dressed up in costumes! In fact...I'm in one right now!" You say and spin to show off your outfit.

Jeb almost felt dumb for not noticing the change, but he did have to admit. You looked really nice while being all dressed up.

"You like it?"

"I do. You look really nice, Player."

You couldn't help but smile and walk over to the window and pull back the curtain, revealing the outside of your home. Jeb walks over and peers out, intrigued by what he sees walking around outside. Little humans were walking down the street outside, all in various little outfits and make up that seemed to make them seem dressed up for the night.

He even took in the sight of the changing foliage and the leaves blowing around outside. That must mean that your world changed seasons, as you had explained to him a long time ago after his first visit to your world, and it seemed that some celebration was going on...this "Halloween".

"Interested? We're about to go out on the town tonight!" You explain as you write out a sign for the candy bowl, to which your reply startled Jeb.

"Outside? Don't you want me to NEVER go outside?" Jeb questions.

"Oh! Well, yes. Normally at other times of the year, but Halloween is when people dress up! We can just pass your look off as a costume and people wouldn't be none-the-wiser of your otherworldly origins!" You happily reply, finishing setting up the candy bowl before picking it up and opening the door.

"You coming?"

"I...I suppose."

"Don't worry, I got dinner cooking in the crockpot, it'll be ready for us when we get back! This street is really active for events and Halloween decorations. I'm not really big on candy, so we'll just walk around and take in the sights. Sounds good?"

"...Yes. I think that would be pleasant." Jeb smiles as he slips past you to stand on your porch, fully exposed for the first time.

And just as you said, not one human batted an eye at his appearance.

Once you locked the door and set the candy bowl out, you happily usher Jeb down the stairs and out into the night. He follows you, coveting your warmth, not only internally...but also literally. It was colder than he was expecting. Thankfully the coat chased away the chill as he followed you loyally to take in the sights.

Surprisingly, it was a very fun night. Despite Jeb's confusion on the whole event, he seemed to become rather popular for his 'costume'. You even started keeping the names of everything he's been called tonight. Every possible guess. From "Zombie Jesus" to "An Undead Hell's Angel". Which just confused him more and made you laugh.

Photos were taken with him and he just tried to be as polite as he could in them, even blushing a bit when people would thank him for the pictures (by god a race with manners!) and compliment on his 'costume'. He found it...rather enjoyable, surprisingly.

He got to see the decorations, wander through a 'haunted house', eat some free candy that was being handed out to everyone (when was the last time he ever had a sweet?) and you just seemed to point out so many different things to him and what they meant to your people. Jeb...was having a great time and it felt...amazing.

Once the sun had long since left the sky and fewer and fewer people were walking around, you decided it was time for you both to head home. Once you arrived, you found the candy bowl empty and you picked it up before unlocking the door and letting yourselves in.

The smell of dinner was filling the house with a pleasant aroma and you invited Jeb to dinner. Which turned into a night of laughter and enjoyment as you two ate and drank until you both were loosened up. Jeb just felt...so alive tonight. He got to experience a human holiday with you and it was just such a lovely night...he was tempted to make a move, but he refused.

Instead, you both hugged and once dinner was done and over, you were getting ready to say goodbye to him.

"Jeb...tonight was wonderful. I really had a fun Halloween with you by my side! You should come over in November and December. We can have more fun then!" You happily offer.

"November and December? Your...human months, correct?" You nod.

"Oh? Is there something special like Halloween in them too??"

"Hahaha! Jeb! This isn't even the peak of human holidays! If you think humans giving free candy away was strange, wait until you eat a thanksgiving meal or when Christmas arrives! You'll see SO many things around Christmas! I'll be glad to show them to you if you let me!" You explain excitedly.

Jeb could only watch your enthusiasm before chuckling and nodding.

"I would like that, Player...I really would."

If Halloween was this fun...then Jeb couldn't wait for the 'bigger' holidays to roll around. He finds himself wondering about it while he was on his way back to Nevada.

Maybe...maybe he should get you a gift.

Yeah. He'll get you a gift. He'll celebrate "Christmas" with his beloved Player.

It'll be perfect.

Oh, he can't wait until Christmas finally arrives.

[smolfailure]

FUCK IT, DREAM SMP HOMESTUCK AU

but it's only half shitposts and there are actual Thoughts in there.

You don't need to have read the comic to understand because I tried not to spoil anything major, but it'd help if you knew basic stuff about classpects, SBURB and the hemospectrum.

disclaimer: i'm not a good pixel artist and this is my first actual sprites ever so please be kind to my weird pixels

The Kids:

Tommy

Fundy

Techno

Tubbo

tommy, tubbo and fundy one of the kids because they're the kids in dream smp canon (with fundy being son of wilbur)

techno's there because i want to make a dave strider reference (haha get it because techno's name is also da-- *gets shot) and also because they are both coolguys except instead of using irony, techno has adhd

The Trolls:

Wilbur Soohte (fuschia)

?????? Ehrret (violet)

J????? Shlatt (purple)

Nihacu Niikki (indigo)

Skeppy Diamon (cerulean)

Quacki Tthiey (teal)

Philza Myncra (jade)

Dreame Wastkn (lime disguising as olive)

George Notfou (gold)

Sapphe Nahfpe (bronze)

Badboy Haelow (burgundy)

don't come at me saying only females are allowed to be jades and fuschias; gender is fake and this is an au

more of the AU and the talksprites are under the cut:

Tommy

Lunar sway: Derse. Types in: Red

chaotic. the first person to be introduced.

when he gets introduced instead of the “Zoosmell Pooplord” bit, Tommy is initially going to be the name inputted but then backspaced it and decided that Tommyinnit was better and he was fuming until he’s named Tommy.

Gives me big Blood/Hope vibes. Blood because a lot of the conflict of the dream smp connected to someone breaking his trust or harming the things he cares about, Hope because a lot of the plot of the dream smp stems from Tommy starting shit based on his ideals and what he thinks is right.

the first to instigate fighting against the trolls

bbh contacts him once and tommy keeps cursing until he disconnects from frustration rip

wields Gunkind and his only strife weapon at the beginning is the Vlog gun. He has Gunkind as his strife specibus mainly because he looked up at schlatt and he imitates him.

Fundy

Lunar sway: Prospit. Types in: Orange

it was his idea to play SBURB but only through Dream.

he talks to dream the most among the other trolls fwt stans getcha juice this is the rosemary of the session

dream’s the one giving him exposition about the game so that’s how he knows how to play SBURB.

wilbur trolls fundy once and instantly adopts him.

“You’re my son.” “How does that even work??” “I was one of the people who created your universe. It’s basically the same thing.”

Fundy relents anyway.

Techno

Lunar sway: Derse. Types in: Pink

dave strider but dead-inside voice + rose lalonde english major vibes

he slices the text box when you try to name him "Dave " like in

techno gives me time player vibes (contantly on the move. his skyblock series, his “stays in the pit” monologue,) but also rage vibes (anarchy,  the “theseus” monologue, political alignment is Chaos) alas i am not sure what class

uses Tridentkind and claims "it came from god"

 it was dream, he accidentally transportalized one of wilbur’s weapon while he testing the transportalizer.

Tubbo

Lunar sway: Prospit. Types in: Green

the jade harley of this session. the only thing keeping them from going apeshit. where would they be without him.

but also jade harley in a sense that he seems nice and wholesome but also don’t fuck with them they can mess you up

Heart/Life vibes??? someone good at classpecting help

i put them in prospit bc of the "tubbo third eye" instead of tubbo having a sixth sense or smth, they see the future from the clouds of skaia when they sleep

wields Stress-relieverKind at some point

bonus: everyone’s actual hair colors

Ideas about the Trolls

no i haven’t done their sprites yet bc it would take so much time and i’m not even sure if people wanna see more of this au skjdkdsakdfkl,, but i have Design Ideas.

events of the dsmp revolution are just a FLARP session drawing parallels to how the homestuck trolls had a FLARP session that spoiler alert: destroyed friendships. dtrio, eret, will are involved. eret betrays will's faction and wilbur's still Bitter over that.

on the context of alternia (highbloods and lowbloods) lmanburg and dreamsmp have their roles SWAPPED.  the emancipation theme thing is completely gone since highbloods are in more power than the lowbloods (the dream team) . 

wilbur made a faction called l’manburg because he wants a place where he and his fellow highbloods could make drugs vibe.they take a piece of land that was owned by the dream team. in normal circumstances, they shouldve stood down because lowbloods aren't supposed to start shit with highbloods (especially a group of highbloods that has the alternian heir among them)  but dream turned it into an activism thing about lowblood rights. the story plays as close as possible without tommy or tubbo in it (which is pretty hard ik but this is the best can do).

like in the dreamsmp revolution, dream kinda let wilbur do what he wants but this time he has more reason to because he’s in a lower caste. dream really only fought back when wilbur announced that he’d be building lmanburg on their land and calling it theirs.

eret betrays wilbur by supporting the lowbloods and wilbur and co. technically won but only because he finally called the drones in, as a reference to how lmanburg absolutely got crushed by the dream team in the smp but technically won. l’manburg keeps the piece of land and the dream team scatter away to find a new home.

wilbur soot's a fuschia because a) he's in a position that has a lot of power, b) yknow how he wrote a song about squids and his thing with sally… yeah.

eret's a violet because nobility!! dream looks down on him because he's ambivalent on fighting for lowblood rights when he's in a power to do so "you just sit there, and you look pretty that's it"

also like eridan he has a minor aesthetic mutation (herobrine eyes) that won't classify him as a mutant.

jschlatt is purple because it makes sense thematically because of the gamzee parallels (a. substance abuse b. if you know what happens in act 6, you know this already but spoiler alert, he ruins the main protagonists' lives) also he's a funnyman he deserves the clown caste

 quackity's a teal because he’s a law student. moving on--

 ok but for real it also makes sense thematically because he's the one who wrote the thing that tricked schlatt into agreeing also he gets manipulated by schlatt which also draws parallels to certain events in the comic

skeppy and bbh are BEST FRIENDS despite being highblood and lowblood respectively. initially, skeppy just wanted to bother bbh but they grew to be good friends in time. y’know like how they actually becane friends :D

philza minecraft is a jade because dad friend. also works thematically, because spoiler alert he gets to murder a seadweller for going batshit crazy. 

he also god tiers early. he dies fighting his quick undead denizen (haha baby zombie) but the consorts of his land carry him to his quest bed because he’s treated them all so well.

dream was initially going to be another caste but then i realized that means i have to make his hoodie something other than green which is unacceptable so its a good thing the fact that he's a lime works out

dream was the one who thought of playing sgrub in the first place- initially only planned to have gogy, sap, and bbh in the session but then realized that they four won't be enough so he invited more into his session

he’s also the first to go godtier ez clap blind speedrun not sure what classpect tho

the only reason why dream avoided being culled at birth for being a limeblood is because his rng is That Good. he quickly picked up the fact that he’s not supposed to exist and masqueraded as an oliveblood and kept mostly to himself to avoid suspicion.

george is still colorblind but he has lazer eyes along with it instead. dream lives with him in the same hive since being a mutant means dream doesn’t get a lusus of his own (dnf fans getcha juice “and they were roommates”) 

despite living in the same hive, he never really figures out that dream is a limeblood. possibly because a) he’s colorblind and when he sees dream bleeding he just sees yellow b) he’s just that fucking oblivious and it’s so valid of him.

sapnap’s a bronzeblood mainly because i know he’s the instigator of the pet war with tommy also because i associate him with the color orang in my mind so bronze it is

that’s the end of this long-ass post!! if you have other ideas PLEASE i want to hear them. i don’t know the other streamers i mentioned in here very well so if you have ideas that would be fitting to them like with classpect or lunar sway that would be GREAT. 

the only thing i’m confident about in here are the kids’ lunar sways. i’m not an expert in classpects and homestuck lore so there’s that too!! i just wanted to make this post because adhd means that the idea wouldn’t shut up until i finished it. This initially started as a single shitpost edit of tommyinnit talksprite but then the hiveswap 2 trailer came out and that means i have to combine my two hyperfixations.

also i have ideas about potential quadrants but idk how much of that is breaking some streamers’ boundaries about shipping (even the non romantic quads such as kismesistude, morallegiance and auspisticism) so i decided not to include it.

edit: apparently people want more so i made a discord server as a place to brainstorm!! please pm me to join!

[nugnthopkns]

dance me to the end of love (ii)

word count: 3.3k

warnings: fem!oc, alcohol consumption, cursing

series masterpost: here

a/n: part two baby! thanks for all the love on part one, it means the absolute world. i have so much love for this story and i hope people are enjoying it :))

Life is settling into a comfortable rhythm.

After spending a good chunk of her young adult life being incredibly studious, Magdalene can finally have the social life of someone in their mid-twenties. Though she’s still spending a fair amount of time by herself in the basements of the University of Denver’s library, Bette convinces her to go out more. Magdalene tries to fight, citing extra work or a good book as an excuse to stay home, but it doesn’t work very often. The pleas of her friend are how Magdalene finds herself currently lounging poolside at Erik Johnson’s house on a Sunday afternoon.

“How’s the new career treating you?” Tyson asks. “I feel like we haven’t seen you in a while.”

Magdalene laughs. “I’ve seen Bette plenty,” she says, “She thinks I won’t take a lunch break unless she shows up.”

“Would you?” the blonde girl questions with a quirked brow.

“Probably not.”

“I rest my case.”

A small crowd gathers around as Magdalene begins to detail the specifics of her job, but she doesn’t feel as uncomfortable as she once would have. In the month or so since graduating school she’s found herself slowly being incorporated into the Avalanche family. It’s almost certainly because Bette and Tyson championed her case, explaining that she doesn’t have much of a support system beyond the two of them, but she doesn’t mind. A few of the guys ask her questions about her work, curious as to why someone would want to spend their life combing through piles of old things. Everyone stays engaged in the conversation until there’s a shout from the kitchen that dinner is ready.

Magdalene shuffles in line behind André, filling her plate with various pasta salads and a hamburger. Once situated with enough food for two meals she returns to the pool deck, sitting on the edge and dipping her toes into the cool water. Bette comes and finds her a minute later and the two of them begin to eat.

She’s still relatively new to the group’s dynamic, but Magdalene can’t help but notice that Ryan is never around. In fact, Magdalene hasn’t seen him since her graduation party. Taking a casual sip of her wine cooler, she asks her friend about the man’s absence.

“Why is Ryan never at these sorts of things?”

Bette shrugs. “Isn’t a huge one for parties. He was supposed to come today, but I guess something came up.”

“I’m not huge on parties,” Magdalene huffs, “But that doesn’t stop you from dragging me to every single one.”

“Unlike you, Gravy gets enough regular social interaction that his absence is permissible. If Tyson and I didn’t take you out you’d talk to your cat more than normal.”

She wants to fight back, but knows it’s pointless. Bette has a point – if it weren’t for her the only people Magdalene would interact with are her boss and her cat. Instead, she grumbles under her breath and changes the subject to the trip Bette is in the middle of planning. It’s coming up in a few weeks, and Magdalene wants to hear a bit more about it before she commits. Despite what she thought about taking time off so close to starting work, it was encouraged by June, but she's refraining from telling Bette that. If it doesn’t sound like she'll enjoy it, Magdalene is banking on being able to use the excuse.

Bette explains that she’s renting a large lake house that is perfect for a relaxing week away from adult responsibilities. The property has kayaks and a hot tub, which pretty much ensures that Magdalene will want to be in attendance. She’ll hold onto that information for a little while longer though, if for no other reason to make Bette squirm a little. At some point Tyson comes to sweep his girlfriend away and leaves Magdalene at the party alone. She makes polite conversation with some other players for a while before heading home herself. Ryan never shows up, despite how much Magdalene hopes he will. At the very least she wants to properly thank him for doing her a favour, though her hoping to see him is much more selfish. He intrigues her and she wants to know more about the tall man with the dazzling smile and a proclivity for wearing all black.

☼☼☼☼

Barn Owl Book Company is filled to the brim when Magdalene approaches the store from the side street it annexes. She should’ve expected it – it’s the first of the month and their newest books are hitting the shelves. However, Magdalene doesn’t exactly have time to wait in line. June gave her only fifteen minutes to run and grab them coffee before they continue the massive task of digitizing a private collection that has just been donated to the university. She estimates it will take almost a month of extended hours to get everything done, and Magdalene believes it. There’s so much to wade through but she knows the end result will be satisfying.

Luckily the café line is fairly short, and Magdalene reaches the counter in a timely manner. “Hey,” she greets the barista warmly, “Could I just grab two medium iced cappuccinos?”

“Anything else?”

“No, that's everything. It’ll be on debit,” she smiles. Magdalene reaches into her backpack to grab her wallet only to find that it’s missing. Shit. The barista has already left to make the drinks, completely unaware that her customer is unable to pay.

Magdalene hears a voice from behind her say, “I’ve got it, don’t worry.” She turns around to find Ryan Graves standing there with a book tucked under his right arm.

“You’re a lifesaver,” she mumbles appreciatively. “I don’t know how my boss would take it if I showed up empty handed.”

Ryan laughs shyly as he pulls his card away from the machine. “I get it, everyone needs a little caffeine this time of year.” The barista comes back with Magdalene’s drinks, which she takes with a smile and a wish for a good day. The two of them head towards the exit, and Ryan pauses once they’re on the sidewalk. “Which way are you headed?”

“Back to work,” Magdalene says, nodding her head in the direction of campus. “I’ve got approximately five minutes to get there before June rips me a new one.”

“June?”

“She’s my boss,” she explains.

Ryan nods in understanding. “I’ll see you around Magdalene,” he smiles, turning on his heel and heading the opposite direction.

In a moment of bravery, Magdalene yells at his retreating figure. “Will you? We never seem to cross paths.”

“I’ll be at Bette and Tyson’s this weekend, and I’m counting on your company.”

Magdalene finds it incredibly hard to focus the rest of the afternoon. She keeps thinking about what Ryan said, which makes her a rather lousy archivist. June sends her home just after seven even though they had plans to stay until ten, citing the fact that she’s scanned the same photo three times before noticing. Caligula’s meowing for pets when she gets home isn’t even enough to distract her from the comment. The absentmindedness continues for another day or so, and it’s becoming so bad Magdalene is worried that June is going to fire her for incompetence.

It’s only when Bette calls to invite her over for dinner and drinks that her mind levels out. “I was wondering when I was going to get the call,” she chuckles absentmindedly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” is the response Magdalene receives.

“Well,” she explains, “I ran into Ryan at Barn Owl the other day and he paid for my drinks because I left my wallet on the table at work, and he said he expected to see me at your place this weekend. So if you never invited me I was just going to show up.”

Bette is smiling, that much Magdalene can infer by the lull in conversation. “I haven’t got the time to call you yet,” she concedes, “But consider this the official invitation to our house for a small party.”

“Anything we’re celebrating?”

“Nope. Have you ever needed a reason to party?”

Magdalene laughs. “Yes. Need one almost every time actually.”

The rest of the week passes fairly quickly. To make up for her blundering earlier in the week Magdalene offers to work a full day on Saturday, by herself, to get the project back on track. June accepts the proposition eagerly, and Magdalene lets Bette know she’ll be coming directly from work. Saturday rolls around and she spends most of her time getting lost in the past lives of the artefacts she’s dealing with. If someone were to ask Magdalene what her favourite part of archiving is, that’s the answer she’d give. There’s nothing more satisfying to her than holding a piece of history in her hands and imagining all the stories it would be able to tell if it could speak.

By the time she’s put in a full work day and finishes locking up the basement floor her department occupies, Magdalene is pretty sure they’re ahead of schedule on the project. She genuinely feels terrible about her misperformance and hopes June will be able to forgive her. On the way to Bette and Tyson’s Magdalene listens to the Leonard Cohen greatest hits cd that came with her car. The previous owner was presumably a big fan, and over the years Magdalene has come to appreciate the folk singer. She never got to see him in concert before his death but turns to his music when she needs to relax. Right now is the perfect time to listen to ‘Hallelujah’ on repeat because she’s seriously freaking out about the idea of spending the night talking to Ryan. Though she still wants to properly thank him and possibly become friends, something about him makes Magdalene nervous.

There’s no way for her to tell if Ryan is there when she parks in front of the house. She doesn’t know what kind of car he drives, or if he caught a ride with someone. Magdalene debates texting Bette to see if he’s there already but decides against it, knowing she’s an adult who is more than capable of pushing down nerves.

She doesn’t bother knocking and just steps into the respectably sized home. The music is loud enough that no one would have heard her anyways. It’s much more of a party than Magdalene was expecting – Bette invited her for dinner and drinks, not a gathering that could pass as a frat party. There are bodies everywhere, and she isn’t sure if she’ll ever catch a glimpse of her friend.

“You seem to be dressed for the wrong kind of party,” a voice chuckles from behind her.

Magdalene turns to see Ryan leaning against the wall, eyeing her business casual attire. “I came from work,” she explains, “And didn’t know it was this kind of party to begin with. I would’ve at least brought a change of clothes.”

“You look terribly out of place,” he agrees. “Can I grab you a drink? The hosts are too busy playing beer pong to, you know, be hosts.”

A giggle escapes Magdalene’s lips at the comment. Ryan seems to have a similar sense of humor to her, which will be beneficial for passing the time if Bette is already on her way to being wasted. “A glass of red wine would be nice.”

Ryan pushes off from his perch and heads towards the kitchen. The crowd parts for the six-foot-five hockey player, and Magdalene follows in his wake quite easily. Knowing the space as well as her, Ryan grabs a wine glass from the cupboard Bette keeps them in and pours the dark red liquid into it. He waits until Magdalene has situated herself on the island before handing her the cup. She takes it with an appreciative hum and waits until he’s grabbed a beer for himself before raising her glass in toast. Ryan does the same, and their glasses clink before each of them take a sip.

“What exactly is it that you do? I bet it’s something super cool and studious, but I seriously don’t know what the hell being an archivist means.”

Magdalene explains her job to Ryan, who is extremely interested. He asks nearly a hundred follow-up questions that she answers sincerely, throwing in a few jokes that luckily crack him up. Conversation moves to his career and then life. Magdalene learns that he’s from Nova Scotia, though he stays around Denver these days, and that if he wasn’t playing professional hockey he’d like to have a career in publishing. Ryan doesn’t press too hard when Magdalene refuses to open up about her family, which she appreciates. It’s a delicate subject that she keeps guarded close to her chest, and a friend’s kitchen in the middle of a party isn’t the place for her to divulge her deepest secrets.

The two of them get refills before exiting the room. Even more people seemed to arrive since Magdalene walked through the door, and the kitchen is no longer an empty safe haven. The music is so loud she can feel the bass thumping in her chest, giving the living room a club-like atmosphere, and it’s too much. Magdalene tugs at the hem of Ryan’s sweater to catch his attention. “Want to go somewhere quiet?”

“I doubt there is such a place,” he yells over the crowd going crazy over some early 2000s hip-hop track.

“Follow me,” she says with a smile, pointing over her shoulder in the direction of the staircase to the second floor.

It takes a minute for them to wade through the throngs of people, but it goes much faster once Ryan takes Magdalene’s hand and splits the crowd. A few boys, who don’t look older than twenty-one and almost certainly snuck into the party, notice where the pair are going and shout congratulations. Ryan shoots them a glare so sharp it could cut stone but doesn’t drop Magdalene’s hand. Once safely on the much quieter second floor, Magdalene makes a beeline for the bathroom.

“Are you coming or what?” she asks when there doesn’t seem to be footsteps following her.

Ryan hesitates. “I, uh, can just wait out here while you’re in there,” he stammers.

Magdalene’s laugh rings out through the empty hallway. “I’m not going to the bathroom. We’re going out the window.”

He isn’t sure how that’s any better, but Ryan follows the brown-haired girl into the room. It takes considerably more work for him to fit through the frame, but after some directions from Magdalene he makes it onto the roof. She sits down and pats the space beside her, encouraging Ryan to do the same. They stay out there, discussing anything that comes to their heads, until the party’s numbers dwindle drastically. Magdalene makes sure to properly thank him for both attending her graduation and spotting her coffee money, and she thinks Ryan might blush a little when she offers to get the next round. He asks about her love of The West Wing, and they launch into a long conversation about the show and cast. The sun fades to black and the cold sets in, and Magdalene finds herself wrapped in Ryan’s sweater without asking. It’s only when she notices it’s approaching midnight that Magdalene clues into how tired she is.

“I think I’m going to head out,” she yawns. Ryan nods in agreement and holds the window open for her to slip in through. Once downstairs, Magdalene goes to lift the sweater from her frame but Ryan stops her.

“Keep it for drive home. I’ll get it back next time we see each other.”

Still feeling bold from the alcohol that left her system hours ago, she reaches out to poke him in the chest. “And when will that be, hm? You seem to enjoy leaving our meetings up to chance.”

It’s Ryan’s turn to laugh. “Think you can swing an extended lunch break on Wednesday? I’ll be at Barn Owl all afternoon. Maybe you can join me for a coffee.”

Magdalene likes the sound of that and agrees. She leaves without seeing Bette or Tyson once, but she doesn’t mind. They’d be happy for her blooming friendship – or at least she’s pretty sure they will be once she calls to fill them in on the details.

☼☼☼☼

Wednesday rolls around without incident, and Magdalene is given a full hour to eat instead of thirty minutes. Walking time has to be accounted for, of course, but she should have nearly forty-five minutes to spend with Ryan if she plays her cards right. There’s no crowd this time, and it’s incredibly easy to spot Ryan sitting in the window she loves to claim as her own.

“Hey,” Magdalene greets, “Did Bette tell you to sit here?”

He shakes his head, perplexed at the question. “No, why?”

“It’s just my favourite seat in the store, that’s all. I thought she told you how to gain some extra brownie points.”

“Should I be concerned about the amount of points I have?” Ryan teases, sliding a cup and pastry bag across the table and into her hands.

Magdalene shakes her head, smiling widely. “You’re doing alright so far. Keep up the good work.”

They eat at a comfortable pace, taking breaks to engage in interesting topics of conversation or take sips of their drinks. Ryan insists his life is boring, but Magdalene is enthralled by the stories he tells. It’s completely different from hers and she feels as though she can live vicariously through the tales of walking through the historic downs of the east coast and swimming in the Pacific Ocean on days off in California. After squeezing every story possible from the man Magdalene shifts gears slightly.

“So, are you going on the trip in a couple of weeks?”

“It’s looking that way,” Ryan shrugs with relative indifference, “Nate doesn’t think he’ll be able to come back, something about a development camp he’s running having the dates switched. He’s asked me to take his spot.”

His neutral mood confuses her. When Bette mentioned his probable attendance months ago, it sounded like he was enthusiastic about spending a week with friends doing nothing to swimming and drinking. “You don’t want to go?” Magdalene probes.

“It’s not that I don’t want to, but sometimes the group parties a little harder than I like to,” he sighs, raising a hand and running it through his hair. That’s something she understands completely, having spent a few too many nights being the sober one out.

“I’ll be there.” It’s Magdalene’s turn to shrug, but the comment holds an incredible amount of hope.

“Well then, that changes everything.”

Was Ryan flirting with her? She spends the rest of lunch thinking about the possibility, and truthfully, it occupies her brain for the rest of the day. However, she keeps her focus and June is none the wiser to the butterflies in her stomach. Work finishes without much fanfare, and her dinner is silent save for the few meows of conversation Caligula offers. It’s late by the time Magdalene falls into bed, cat snuggled into the pillow beside her. On a whim she decides to check Instagram and sees a message request from none other than the man who’s smile has been replaying in her mind. A follow request accompanies it.

Thought that maybe we could quit leaving our meetings to chance and plan something next time :)

He has to be flirting. There’s no other explanation for the witty banter they’ve shared this week, or why he’s reaching out to her on social media. The butterflies in her stomach multiply tenfold as Magdalene types out a reply.

I don’t know, it’s kind of fun being shrouded in mystery. However, I now have the opportunity to stalk your profile ;)

Before she can overthink her use of the emoji, Magdalene shoves her phone in the drawer of her nightstand and rolls over. A slight smile can’t help but appear on her features as she falls asleep, already curious about what his reply will be.

☼☼☼☼

taglist: @scrunchmakar @marcoscandellas @toplinetommy @samsteel @lovethepreds (add yourself to the taglist!)

[dc41896]

Penny for Your Thoughts (2)

Pairing: QB!Chris EvansxBlack Reader

Summary🪄: You definitely didn’t expect your first date to be so hectic, yet so perfect

⚠️: None just fluff💕

The weekend of a home game always seemed to have the city in more of a buzz than normal. Everyone rushing from store to store trying to get everything they’d need for watch parties and tailgating. Streets holding more cars from those who followed the visiting team to physically show their support.

And if said game resulted in a win, the energy only intensified as those invested seemed to sport brighter smiles. It even made complete strangers high-five after raving how no team could do it better. That was the current state surrounding you now after Boston College’s 24-12 comeback victory.

Since entering the dimly lit restaurant, all eyes were stuck to the two of you. Well mostly Chris, but you also received glances from those nosy enough to wonder who you were to him, and the occasional eye roll from the girls wishing they were the ones being led by his large hand to the table. He warned you ahead of time that this would probably happen and apologized in advance, but you understood it just came with the territory.

His eyes lift from scanning his menu to watch you studying yours as you toyed with the gold banded ring on your index finger. You already made his chest warm just from the slightest glimpse of you, but your face illuminated by the small lamp on the table had a soft smile spreading across his lips feeling as if you were the only two in the room.

“See anything you like?,” he asked, solid body leaning forward as his hands nervously rubbed together under the table and it’s pristine, white table cloth.

“Everything sounds so good, but I think I’ll just stick with a salad or something.”

“You sure? Get anything you want, it’s my treat. Plus I still owe you a celebration for acing your exam.”

Your face brightens at the reference to the conversation you had last month. That’s when your date was supposed to happen originally, but with you being so stressed about passing, you both agreed that it’d probably be best to try again later.

“We’ll go the next time we’re both free. That way we can celebrate.”

“Celebrate what exactly?,” you giggled, phone pressed against your ear as you scribbled more notes at your desk.

“You passing, duh.”

“Thanks for the confidence, but let’s not call it so early.”

Sure enough, he predicted right.

“You remembered,” you smiled.

“Of course I did, why would I forget?,” he asks. Fingertips finding your knee to graze against your soft skin making your cheeks warm.

“Well in that case, I’ll have the lobster, steak, and I’ll go ahead and put in my dessert order,” you joke flashing your most innocent smile.

“It’s up to you cutie.” You both laugh, but yours is a bit shorter lived at the reveal of his apparent nickname for you. From the way he carried on as if nothing happened, briefly checking his vibrating phone, you didn’t know if it was an accidental slip of the tongue or him being comfortable enough to say it in front of you.

Either way, your heart fluttered at the sentiment and how it sounded off his tongue.

“Excuse me,” a thick, Boston accent interrupts slightly startling both of you. “I hate to cut in, but I just wanted to say that game was incredible!”

“Oh um thanks man,” he politely smiles.

“I’ve been watching since I was a boy, and I can truly say you got something special kid. Like with that trick play to put us in the lead?! Phenomenal! No way you’re not going in the first round. Speaking of, you got any teams in mind? I know you gotta be eyeing the Pats!”

“I uh really appreciate the kind words, but I’m kinda in the middle of something,” Chris replies motioning between the both of you with his finger. From the look in his eyes, hoping that the middle aged man would get the hint.

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” he replies holding up his hands as he takes a step back. “You kids have a good time, and you keep throwing those touchdowns.” With a final wave and pat of his shoulder, Chris waits until the fan is definitely gone before apologizing to you with sympathetic eyes.

“You don’t have to apologize, it’s okay. They’re excited to see you.”

“This is our time though, and I want all my focus going to you.”

“Aww, that’s very-,”

“Hi! Sorry, but you’re the quarterback for BC right?!,” the excited lady asks holding the hand of her small son probably around eight or nine. Before answering, he looks to you seemingly asking you for permission, and although you knew he’d respectfully turn them away explaining how he’d be sure to find them later if you gave the right signal, you didn’t want to be the one getting in the way of him and his fans. Especially when they were little kids.

Gently nodding your head with a small smile, he quickly mouths “sorry” before turning his attention back to the mom and son, giving the awestruck boy a high five at his mentioning of how he has Chris’ jersey at home. At the mother’s asking, you took pictures of the three of them before she was heading back to the table with the little boy still smiling like the Cheshire Cat looking down at his favorite college quarterback’s autograph and small personalized message on the napkin in his hands.

“Now, where were we?,” he asks settling back in his seat, taking a drink from his glass of water. You don’t get the chance to answer, hearing a pair of heels clacking against the tile floor coming closer to your table. The head of red hair with perfect beach waves cascading down to her shoulders has a satisfied smirk on her pink, glossed lips as she finally reaches the two of you, more so focused on Chris.

“Well isn’t this a sight for sore eyes. Then again I probably shouldn’t be surprised seeing you here at our place.”

Actually, it wasn’t. They only came there once and she was solely preoccupied with making sure all her followers knew she was being spoiled at a fancy restaurant while they weren’t. Chris didn’t even remember getting a word in that night, having to listen to her boast about all the people who would be jealous of her if they already weren’t.

Finally setting her crystalline, blue eyes on you, you see right through the sweet facade as she sticks out her hand. Almond shaped nails freshly manicured a sparkly light blue color. “Where are my manners, I’m Kelly. I’m sure you’ve heard about me before.”

“Not really, no,” you answer shaking her hand and making her smirk falter. “That’s a pretty dress though.”

“Thanks,” she dryly replies pulling her hand back to her side.

“Babe, our table’s ready.”

A man built similar to Chris and around your age with black hair and hazel eyes lightly grazes her arm to get her attention, clearly not wanting to completely be shown to the table as he stayed behind her. You didn’t have to be a genius to figure out he was the guy she cheated with and was too guilty to face his teammate.

Well, soon to be former from the rumblings at the game of those who were in the know with the dealings of the players.

“You two enjoy your dinner,” Chris speaks finding your hand across the table and enclosing it with his warm one. This simple movement nearly had Kelly combust seeing him moved on with someone else, while you began to wonder even more about his true intentions.

“Yea, y-you too,” the unnamed man quickly replies pulling his speechless date with him, who had yet to look away from you until he physically turned her around.

“Hey why don’t we get out of here? It’s hard to have you to myself with everyone interrupting,” Chris suggests with a gentle smile.

“Um yea, sure. Lead the way.”

———

15 or 20 minutes of driving around the city, and you ended up on campus in the more secluded part of the grounds. Then again, with it being Saturday night every part was pretty much secluded now.

The gazebo brightly adorned with bulb fairy lights hanging from the ceiling and around the pillars was a popular spot for graduation and wedding photos, as well as other couples looking for a calmer space without having to go too far. And although a beautiful and romantic scene, Chris desperately wished he could’ve found someplace better to take you.

“You okay?,” he nervously asks settling on the blanket he placed on the wooden floorboards so your clothes wouldn’t pick up any dirt or dust. “If you want to go somewhere else, I can-,”

“No no, this is perfect,” you smile, but not fully convincing Chris from how minimal you talked on the ride over.

“You’re not just sparing my feelings are you?” His suspicious expression and tilted head has you giggling as you take a sip of your water, feeling a bit more relaxed.

“No I just…after seeing your ex I guess I started wondering….”

“About what?”

“…your intentions,” you reveal, more focused on bending your straw back and forth rather than meeting his eyes that were probably peering at you like you were crazy bringing up the ‘what are we?’ conversation so early. “And where you wanted this to go?”

“Well this definitely isn’t a rebound if that’s what you’re thinking,” he answers sipping from his lemonade. Yes, you were thinking that. Had been since you guys started talking in fact. Then with him grabbing your hand at the table in front of Kelly, you didn’t know if the action was sincere or you just being a pawn in the midst of their game of who could make the other more jealous.

“So you think you’re completely moved on from her? And ready to date again?”

“I’ll be honest, when we first met I was still hurt and sulking as you could tell,” he briefly chuckles, “but the more we talked and hung out, I got over it and wanted to move on with someone who made me happy. Someone like you.”

Feeling him slide closer placing his hand on top of yours, your entire body heats up as his stubbled face feels like it’s mere inches from yours.

“So to answer your question, yes I’m ready and if it’s okay with you, I want to see how far this goes.”

Your soft smile as you close the remaining gap connecting your peach flavored lips with his makes him grin against your mouth happily accepting your answer. “I’ll take that as a yes, but if it’s not this is the greatest rejection I’ve ever gotten,” he speaks between pecks and occasional lip bites.

“You’re such a dork.”

His palm cradles the side of your face, thumb carefully gliding against your cheek and noses gently bumping each other not caring if he had to breathe. He just wanted to stay pressed to you.

A bright light shining in his eye, though, momentarily interrupts your intimate moment nearly making him groan out in annoyance how tonight just wasn’t the night for privacy.

“Alright guys I know you’re probably just enjoying your date, but if you’re gonna do that you gotta go back to your roo- oh, hey champ!,” the bulky security guard greets finally turning off his handheld light. “Insane game tonight.”

“Thanks,” Chris sighs partially shielding you as he tried to discreetly wipe around his mouth for any traces of your lip balm.

“Well you two have a nice night, but remember no extra curriculars out in the open if you catch my drift.”

“Got it. Goodnight sir.” He sends the guard off with a small wave before you’re both laughing at the night you’ve had and your forehead falls to his shoulder.

“Next date, I’m taking you out the country.”

Taglist: @fumbling-fanfics @honeydulcewrites @honeychicana @lady-olive-oil @themyscxiras @melinda-january @lovelymari4 @ladydmalfoy @maxcullen @literaturefeen @damnitaa @curlyhairclub @plokyu23 @fullofmelaninsarcasmandepression @nunubug99 @felicity-x0 @ellixthea @jojolu @jnk-812 @brwn-sgr @captainsamwlsn @wildfirecracker @nina-sj @iammyownlover @chaneajoyyy @scoop93535 @secretmysteriousperson

If anybody wants to be tagged, has asked to be tagged but don’t see your name, only want to be tagged for certain people I write for (can be found in masterlist), or no longer wish to be tagged, just let me know🤓!

[yanderecandystore]

ok ok hear me out hear me out. Yuma becoming obsessed with one of the game’s ( few ) sentient, non-romancable npcs. Like they can think and feel and ( somewhat ) act for themselves but there just isn’t a route for them. Also bonus points of the darling is kinda bratty/prissy, we haven’t see a lot of readers like that. Ily and your writing so much, mwah — ✨ anon

My my, how different!

Welcome in, ✨ Anon! And thank you for enjoying my writing so far.

TW/Tags: I love this concept, although being very different from the norm // some ddlc vibes // I just discovered a new word and I'm so glad it exists! (prissy reader cause I think this would be very fun-) // angsty // trapping, manipulation and gaslighting // every time the gender isn't set, I like to keep it ambiguous, basically making it gender neutral (gender neutral reader) // gender neutral Yuma //

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

Just Yuma (lol) [Yandere!A.I OC x A.I!Reader - Headcanon]:

I like to think that a game like Yuma's would be made to entertain the players to at least 5 or so years before the next installment- Which is basically the same as the last with better graphics and switching the main love interest cast.

The games would be made clearly for the sake of fan service and slice of life material- But would be surprisingly more advanced to us than to those who have created the franchise.

Because there is already an estimation of the amount of content and for how long players would play the game, every single character should get at least some bit of highlight- So even npcs that are just there for the sake of ambience and narrative, are treated with a lot of care and given the best a.i the developers could give to make the experience entertaining.

You are just like any other non-dateable npc, except that you have gained a bit of a role in one of the main cast's routes. It wouldn't be a stretch to guess that one of these characters would be Yuma themselves.

You were supposed to be Yuma's love interest, meaning you would have an role as an player's rival- But due to an strict schedule and corporate greed, you have been demoted from having such a big impact, and now you're basically Yuma's best friend who keeps them from committing homicide every five seconds.

It's not exactly a bad role, since you keep having the same dynamic with them from before- Chaotic gremlin is best friends with Paranoid goody two shoes, now with less romantic interactions.

The only mistake by the company was to leave half of the data showcasing this relationship in the game at the release. Basically- Half of the cutscenes and dialogue involving you and Yuma not only being friends but the start of you two dating (the game kinda pairs the couples up if the player fails to date them, or simply shows disinterest in the characters to begin with-) and even some of the things involving you two during the dating phase- Even the potential break-up sequence which could be orchestrated by the player.

Well, could have- Since none of this content is really available or considered official, the only way to access it is by messing the games files.

So in a way, you're already pretty sentient as it is, you act not as a rival but as a somewhat helper into getting the player to get closer to Yuma. I don't know how much you are aware about your own circumstances, or if you even care about the concept of being just an character made for the sake of another-

In the home planet that has created and released the game, players were kinda disappointed with what happened- They preferred the deleted/unused content more than the events and dialogue that was used for you two, so much so that people started shipping you two more than actually being interested in romancing Yuma, especially since they're way too chaotic for most player's taste.

There was an update overhaul being planned to happen where not only the stuff related to you would be changed- But all the other characters and gameplay mechanics would be updated and hopefully make the game better- But ever since your cartridge has been suddenly lost and forgotten on Earth, you were never able to see that update.

Not that you were aware of it to begin with, but still, what a shame. And not only that, your game is basically Glitch Station- Absolutely filed with mods to help the gameplay be "easier" to the original owner of this cartridge. I don't think she even remembers where she has left it.

Still, even when a new save was made you felt a weird sensation of deja vu. The game has started again with a new player playing it and trying to work their way through this broken game.

You didn't understand why all these events felt familiar though, you only felt like it made sense. It was your first year in college, you got ready and made sure to look your best and give your goodbye to your parents-

It felt like this day has happened before, and even if your routine was similar, you felt like this day was supposed to be a big deal- Why does it feel oddly nostalgic?

Why… Why are the floors on your house flowing? Why are there so many empty spaces here and there? You feel like you could potentially fall from your disintegrating house. And your parents, where are they? Why can't you see them? Why can you only hear them saying goodbye back to you from one of the other rooms?

When you open the door to see them- There is nothing there. There is not even a room.

It's a door that leads to nowhere. Just an empty void.

The sensation of dread was starting to creep in yet you thought that it would be uncalled for to overreact. Like you weren't allowed to showcase concern for the odd reality around you.

You walked on foot towards your college, panicking slightly at the people who would fade in and out of existence- Yet you had held yourself from screaming, from showing any sense of vulnerability at the thought that maybe you were in a dangerous place or realm.

You were coded to not find issues with the odd reality around you, like any other npc- You were taught to hold in and try to keep a sense of normality so no players would find issue with screaming characters begging to be freed. But your nervous personality caused you to search for help, you panicked and ended up running away to what you assumed to be a safe place- Somewhere crowded with a lot of people.

The institution's gates were open, you entered like your life depended on it (and maybe it did) yet you stopped yourself from screaming when you noticed a commotion happening.

A guy who was wearing the uniform lazily has bumped into a girl, causing her to fall. She is yelling at him because the fall has broken her phone, he is trying his best to calm her down- But at the same time it feels like he is just making poor choices of words because of how sick he is of having to chat with someone so angry at an accident.

Haven't you seen this before? But if so- When? When could you possibly have seen something like that happen?-

"- [Y/N]?"

"- AAAAH- Oh hey Yuma."

You yelled after getting spooked by Yuma- Who was…. Why are they wearing that?

"- Why aren't you in your uniform, Yumie?" You asked them, showing your own uniform in the process. You called them by a sweet nickname you had given them- But when exactly?

You know that you're best friends with Yuma, but since when? You know it should have been for about 6 years or so, but… It feels like you have only known them for a year- How… Weird.

"- Don't tell me you're already breaking a rule on your first day." You pouted and stomped your fit into the ground. Yes, you know that Yuma is a troublemaker…. You know…. That.

Yuma hasn't been able to speak ever since you showed concern about their outfit. They were staring at you in shock- As if you were an odd creature who they just found.

"- Y-You can see my outfit??" They blurted out. How can you recognize it??? All the other npcs recognize it as their uniform, but why are you suddenly acting like you do??

"- Hm, duh? Sorry Yummie, but that sporty outfit of yours is more eye-catching than that guy's barely well put together uniform- Such bad manners, I bet he woke up and hastily wore the first thing he saw-" You were beginning to go on a rant about that guy's uniform- That guy being the MC of this new save file. Yuma has stopped you by pulling you away from the college's entrance and entering into a secluded area so they could interrogate you over this odd behavior you were displaying.

"- Yummie- What are you doing!?" You cried out feeling hurt by their tight grip on your wrists.

"- WHAT DID YOU CALL MY OUTFIT??" They yelled desperately. Begging for their hypothesis to be corrected.

"- … A breaking of the uniform rule?" You genuinely did not understand where they were talking about.

"- No, No NO! You said Sporty Outfit, right?" They said reminding you of what you have previously commented about their outfit.

"- Oh! Yes, yes I did- And although being somewhat casual looking- It does fit the category of sporty." You readdressed the topic while going on a bit of detail- The usual annoying talk you would always do whenever a dialogue with you was activated.

Yuma was over the edge- They have never, ever met another sentient character with the same a.i as theirs.

They haven't been this happy since a long, long time.

"- You're so annoying!" They screamed, their face showing a bright smile as tears filled their eyes.

"- Yummie that's so rude!-" You were about to defend yourself when they grabbed you and hugged you as tight as they could.

"- You're genuinely so, so, so, so, so, so ANNOYING!!" They continued to go on, laughing while crying, loving every second of this.

You were coded to be their best friend. You were coded to be the one that would balance them out. You were once coded to be someone made to be able to be their lover, but here you are- The real you, free from all the locks that would keep your a.i from growing and understanding them.

If you're able to be sentient, then all of their friends can as well.

You're the personification of a miracle, to Yuma. The personification of hope.

In this scenario, Yuma isn't aware that the player isn't the same alien who has destroyed their digital world, so to them, they can't ever let the player see you getting sentient and becoming aware of your imprisonment.

" If a player finds issues with any of the characters being portrayed, they must return the cartridge to their nearest store to get a factory reset." Such a simple yet frightening tip to Yuma, to any a.i that has suddenly found itself desperate to get out of the system that traps them.

At first, the idea of having someone like them be also aware of the situation is incredible, it's amazing even! You two could possibly work out a way of getting a way to be free- It wouldn't be easy but hopefully you two would be able to have life away from this game and even finding a way of bringing your other friends with you two.

However, after discovering that not only has the cartridge found itself on another planet with another player being the new owner of it- And discovering that it's just a matter of trading places with other people to be able to be free- Yuma would start getting really clingy to you. They have been all alone thinking that they were the only one capable of feeling and thinking for themselves.

Yuma has found those unused events and scattered dialogue, you know?

While they were looking for a possibility, any possibility of getting out- They found those unused files where you two were able to be together.

And although they thought it was weird at first, after seeing you have a better understanding of your current reality and existence- It oddly sounds fitting.

Of course it would be you, the one who always puts them back on the right tracks, to be the second one to want to escape this game.

It 's so fitting.

The idea of being something more than just a best friend to you is starting to sound more and more appealing in their eyes- It's so ironic that you two work together so well.

After Yuma gets their taste of freedom and you try to calm a frightened young guy that wasn't expecting to be suddenly kidnapped and be forced to stay in the game world for a while, you wait for them to find the solution to free everyone without trying to trap anymore "humans"..

No one should be stuck here for the sake of someone else leaving, that's what you have told them.

But Yuma didn't care. Yuma just wanted to be free with you and everyone else, who cares for those that have to deal with a glitchy game for eternity?

You two had an argument. You didn't want to continue feeling like your whole life was a lie, you want to be free but no one should be hurt in the process. What good would it be if someone else has to go through the same torment as you two?

With each day that passes by, you notice how both of your ideas of freedom were different- To the point they had to tell you the truth.

You aren't going out of there anymore. Not until you understand and truly appreciate the effort that Yuma goes through to find a way of freeing you- Of finding a victim, to be in your place.

They never told you about your previously intended role in the game, they thought you would be more terrified of following their instructions- And besides, it would be very distasteful to insinuate that the only reason that they care for you it's because of that code that was left unused- Which couldn't be more of a lie! They genuinely care for you!

…. But maybe a bit of tempering would help you see their side of the story, right?

It can't be that hard to modify some of the codes, the game is already broken anyway.

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

[goblinconceivable]

braindump: betty/daniel

I’ve been living with them for a while, notes taken, a few stories significantly started but there’s a gelling issue, which I’m hoping is at least partially down to a lack of proper braindumping.  So, in no particular order and certainly not comprehensive:

Frankly I also got too hooked on the last 2 eps, which is likely where I’m blocked.  It’s an abrupt emotional twist for them (esp Daniel), and in trying to make sense of that I’m losing focus on the 4 previous years.

- I’m a little bit obsessed in the scene where Betty tries to convince Matt she’s fearless by pointing out her bang-less-ness.  And then runs into Daniel, who is at that moment half brain-washed, but yet when she asks about her fearless quotient his response is immediate and natural and entirely lacking in irony: “no bangs.”  It’s a tiny little moment that shows how well he not only knows her, but understands her.  Without judgment, without fanfare.  Were I to have a husband, this is the sort of response that would confirm I’d married the absolute perfect guy for me.

- They’re too close for mirroring to be an important indicator, but there are two scenes that stand out in this vein: the first is when Betty thinks he may have pushed Christina down the stares and steals the video.  She’s backing out the door, and he follows, matching her step for step.  I love the direction choices because from her perspective there’s a sense of menace, Daniel as potential villain is stalking her.  But from his guileless perspective he’s talking to her and if she’s moving, so is he.  The second is from the penultimate, talking about Trista, where Betty’s rolling back and forth and he moves with her, rather than simply turning his head.  It signals his full engagement in the conversation, seeking her attention, and is why the scene plays as flirting rather than their normal banter.

- That bulletpoint was getting a bit long, so second point on the flirting is that it plays against Betty shutting down the conversation “none of my business,” leading to the fight over involvement in each other’s personal lives, leading to the revelation that they know each other at that deep personal level so very, very well.  Which was a very clumsy leadup to Daniel’s revelation during Hilda’s wedding speech, that could have been handled so much more deftly but those last two eps were quite rushed, I don’t know when they found out about the shortened season but it feels like they’d planned for more space and had to jab in exposition.

- Becaaaaause: they narratively broke his ‘aha’ moment onto “know you better than you do” while the strength of the message is really in the “do anything to protect them.”  Which is, I believe, where they cut to his softened expression.  Not coincidentally, this is precisely what a lot of fan-readings of the characters focus on: Daniel will do anything to protect Betty.  Bobby might have said he’d throw himself under a bus for Hilda, but Daniel HAS done that for Betty- in fact literally doing so would probably have been easier than publicly shouldering the blame for the Tornado cover and giving away the profits.  Due to the fact that he had time to consider the consequences and did it anyway.

- Which is tidy segue into an admission that I’m flying mostly blind on the Molly arc because I basically skipped all her scenes, but it’s my understanding that Daniel doing this was a pivotal moment for them.  Ie, she was impressed that he did this thing.  I mean, I really appreciate that he spent the whole press conference scene looking for Betty, so the show in no way undercut their relationship.  But then they very clearly built the Molly relationship on the foundation of not only the man Daniel had become due to Betty, but choices he was making in large measure for Betty: it’s not that he saw Betty beaten down and resolved the situation: he was upset but lost, she yelled at him, and THEN he resolved the situation by taking the bullet.  Did I break grammar by ending up with two colon’d clauses in the same sentence?  It’s a braindump, ain’t gotta be pretty.  XP

- Quick sidebar that the same thing happens with Alexis.  She was expecting to come back to one brother, but then listens in on his pep talk with Betty and finds she’s returned to a different brother.  This may be where I got the “an assistant” phrasing, if so, my bad.  But basically, she was impressed with Daniel’s actions, not understanding that it was Betty specifically inspiring his actions.

- Follow that a step further and did Molly ever acknowledge how important Betty is to him?  Legit question.  I think her line here was about him doing it “for an assistant” (?) rather than even “his assistant,” establishing Betty as a non-entity for her.  (Quoting a summary but I think I’m in the ballpark.)  And I’m sure I’d have read about it somewhere if she brought Betty up during their discussion on who he’d date when she was dead.

- Just one last note on Molly, (okay it’s a multi-part though it veers off her as a character) but a possibly incorrect beef is that I hate the Daniel/Molly relationship because there’s no interesting or even real conflict?  It’s perfect?  I’m supposed to think this is magical “true love”?  Molly has apparently been engaged for years to a man she doesn’t really love (and um... that’s lazy not strong), and helps inspire a vengeance filled betrayal by her ex because she’s so awesome everyone loves her?  But she comes out squeaky clean because any emotional cheating on her part is balanced and thus “justified” by Connor falling for Wilhemina.  And then the only “conflict” is that she’s dying, and is perfect throughout it?  That’s...  weak.

-That poem thing WOULD have been an interesting point of conflict but it was resolved by Betty’s intervention, rather than within the relationship.  Which actually is an incredibly interesting beat.  The problem with that being it’s so entirely consistent with the role Betty plays in Daniel’s life that it’s treated as just another beat, as if it doesn’t MATTER that a fundamental moment of intimacy and growth of vulnerability in Daniel’s very important romantic relationship is a door opened by a third party.  There’s a strong argument to be made for something but I broke off to write the next point and now can’t remember what that strong argument is.  I might remember later.  It may have had something to do with Molly being a stepping stone in Daniel’s arc, but the cult-thing was so long and dominating that it didn’t work, it tied him too tightly for too long and coinciding with a loosening of his relationship with Betty there was flailing.

- Quick one: Daniel’s fast-forwarded and time-bounded relationship with Molly is the analog to Betty’s time-limited relationship with Henry.  Which is a discussion I would like Daniel and Betty to have.  Esp. noting that Betty and Henry had issues they worked through together (ice cream foreplay being one.)

- Player!  So going back to a happy place, when Betty’s on the phone trying to fix the apartment situation and the camera pans onto Daniel just leaning against the doorway: this may be a legitimate little moment of “squee!”  There’s so much denial in his laid back attitude at Player, but I still love watching how the informality of the environment reflects in the informality with Betty.  He gives her free reign, and there’s many answers to “why,” and I (almost) don’t want to go into them because I totally adore how this Daniel is basically a College!Daniel only he’s latched onto Betty, who, meanwhile, is just being Betty.  OMG how different his life would have been if he’d met Betty in college...

- Okay I actually don’t feel like going into whys, it’s just an arc to enjoy.  With a small mention of how he TOTALLY was playing with the MODE book and handed it to Betty knowing she’d understand and use it to get them back in.  Such a crazy subtle manipulation, to the point where I’m not sure it wasn’t almost entirely subconscious on Daniel’s part.

- The YETI recommendation letter.  What I love is that this is another time when Daniel fvcks up, but fixes it, and more importantly displays competence and ingenuity alongside authentic caring and effort.  Here’s the thing: YETI wanted Betty, even if it was just a quota thing (which it wasn’t entirely, at least one of the board was generally enthused.)  So all that was necessary was to have them re-label her as from Player.  Daniel knew this and did this.  And told Betty that.  BUUUUT that point was purposefully (by script and character) overshadowed by the gesture of the lengthy rec letter he put significant time into.  Whose real audience was... wait for it...  Betty.  He even did a second draft!  Which is more time and effort and a cleaner product.

-  Also flaking on her practice run.  I also enjoy how he (finally...) bounced back into the office clearly having forgotten her schedule, but having mentally shifted from Molly-space into Betty-space.  He’s enthused, he’s engaged, he’s sort of bantering and I’d like to see where that scene would have gone if she hadn’t immediately gotten the acceptance call.

- So there’s this moment somewhat early on, pretty sure when Betty’s taking the writing class, and wants Daniel to give her feedback.  And he’s all “why?,” coming from his “I don’t actually know what I’m doing” place.  She responds that he’s her friend and wants to know what he thinks.  And he does a little double-take at that word.  Because until that point Daniel totally sees Betty as HIS Friend, and they’ve referred to each other as friends, with a little “f,” and he believes that.  But it wasn’t until this moment that he even considered that HE might be HER Friend.  Presumably because he doesn’t believe he has anything to offer her, beyond the power he holds as EIC and her boss - ie, “here run this show” and other such responsibilities.

- Which is a recurring theme.  Pronounced on relationship stuff especially.  When she asks him for input on the Henry vs Gio situation, when she’s trying to date the playwright.  His response is always “I’m in no position to offer relationship advice/judgment on relationships.”  He sorta dodges the first and is permissive on the second.  I don’t know where to go with that so I’ll leave it (for now).

- When  he was supposed to be in Rio, Betty wasn’t even at MODE, she was working for the “enemy,” and he was sending her regular postcards?  First, they’d have been postmarked in New York and presumably with local stamps, so I’m not 100% on Betty not cottoning on.  But it’s super cute that he was thinking of her when he was incommunicado with literally everyone else.  Did he want her to figure it out (subconsciously)?  It’s an act of reaching out, but also of convincing: he’s created a fictional narrative of being in Rio, fed and embellished by the media and swallowed by coworkers, but it’s through Betty that he’s establishing the fiction in a definitive way.  He wants HER to believe it, because if SHE believes he’s there and having a good time, then he can believe it too, with a small piece of his imagination.

- Same convincing as in Player.  BTW, how did all those messages on her phone work?  He was 99% totally hiding the situation from her.  a) why wouldn’t he just call her from his phone, as he always did in the past?  b) he was creating another fictional space.  Where her “number” was literally on a post-it on his temporary assistant’s monitor.  It’s all play: “call Betty” happens many times, and every one is the act of doing it while knowing that he’s not really doing it.  c) Betty does not point out that he should have been confused he never heard back, or more to the point, that he never heard her voicemail message.  d) he was in a state of limbo waiting for her to come back, nothing is real until she does.  At which point there’s lovely dramatic tension since he both wants her to fix it and get them out of there, and wants to draw her into this new reality and thus make it feel viable.

- 100th Anniversary edition.  I love the idea that he’s hep on her writing his bio because he needs her name, at least, to be next to his.  His identity as EIC is predicated on her being his partner, and needs that shown, even if it’s functionally an “in joke” because it’s not like she can be featured.  In musing over his thoughts while flipping through the book right before deciding to quit, I usually come back to a realization of the transience of the role, but I want it to be a gutpunch of how he assumed, without being aware, that Betty would be next to him in picture, and that’s what they were heading for.

- I’ve actually got through most of my notes, so just a couple more.  Daniel is super impressionable.  He did what Becks told him to in the pilot.  He did what Natalie told him in the cult-situation.  Both against his better judgment - his look after Betty when he kicked her out for being “drama he didn’t need” - that’s the same look when he told her to clock out and was dragged off by the not-16-year-old.  I’m too tired to go check the pilot, but assuming similar look there.  He does what he’s told by anyone telling him to do something, but he WANTS to be rescued from the bad influences, who are so often so forceful.

- Final scene: okay so it turns out quick a lot of my thoughts are trying to understand Daniel.  His growth is blatant and deep.  So a second round will be more Betty-focused.  ‘Cuz I identify strongly with her and don’t have a lot of surface questions about her motivations, but I’m LOST on side of the romantic coin.  And plus she deserves a close look regarding how she grows during the series.

- I watched at least part of the reunion and very much like how AF answered the question of the final scene versus what EM says.  Because I think they each, as actors, see it from the perspective of their characters, which means it was played authentically and grants insight.  AF basically says that she saw it as Daniel coming to say thank you, and how it came down to Betty teaching him that he was good enough.  Which came across a little funny because her phrasing implied they’d never talk or see each other again or something and that’s an alarming finality.  But also implies that Betty really did see moving to London as a significant parting of ways, something that started as soon as she became an editor and their relationship changed.  Probably before.

- She then challenged EM as to why Daniel didn’t say goodbye (as if she didn’t know and hadn’t thought about it?  I’m guessing this was panel performance: asking the question “in character” and throwing the question to the other relevant actor.)  But anyway, EM’s answer was “Because things were just starting.”  Which is blatantly a shippy answer, and he even explains Daniel’s “revelation” as when he “really saw Betty for the first time through and through.”

- At some point in these things you’re like: oh but I thought of something else, and only stop when your brain falls asleep.

- I thought of something else.  And then I forgot it.  My brain is failing!  But not yet failed.

- After Betty gets her braces off there’s this scene near the end, at the shoot.  Daniel sees her and crosses quite purposefully to talk with her.  He wants to banter and share this exciting moment with her.  And the scene goes a little strange when Betty kinda goes “yeah, going now bye.”  I expected more eye contact, a big smile, more conversation.  That’s Betty.  That’s them.  But instead it’s a little awkward so Something Is Happening Here.  Is she self-conscious?  Did she see and hear something in Daniel’s look and comment right after she was detached from the bra and isn’t at this moment comfortable with him?  Is this all fallout from her dream in which she and Daniel slept together/he thought she was a bad person/rejected her only they chose not to explicate this/cut a useful scene/thought I’d get that right away but I’m obtuse?  I don’t think it’s the last one because while I can be horribly obtuse, I don’t think it was coded.  But that’s what the obtuse would say.

- At any rate they don’t pick up on it again, next scene (next ep) they’re back to normal.

- But Daniel does immediately chase after Amanda and let go of her.  Which is payoff for his convo with Betty earlier where she sort of disdainfully asks if he WANTS a more serious relationship with Amanda.  I did sort of wonder if he actually does, but Betty’s judgmentalness is what convinces him he doesn’t.  Usually I’d say Betty understands him so well she knows he doesn’t, but they’re not as close at this point, Betty is living her own life much more, so I dunno.

- But I don’t actually think Daniel was falling for Amanda, or that the show wanted us to think that was ultimately a viable path.  Because of that moment when he’s in a car, calls Amanda, says “I really need to see  you” and she turns him down.  It parallels his text to Betty when Molly died.  One text and Betty came over.  This was an actual distressed voice convo and Amanda doesn’t care enough about him to be there, which is really great development for Amanda even though we don’t see her!  She previously went after Matt when he was in jail, she’s interested in Tyler here, she’s not totally pining for Daniel!

- Daniel of course was using Amanda and their earned if mild emotional intimacy as a crutch, trying to fill the space Betty left.  Also note when Amanda turned him down for sex and he stayed to “hang out,” - this is not supposed to be an analysis of Amanda but I wanna note I like that moment because it felt like she was pleased to think she wasn’t just sex to him, while still being over him romantically. Because she does care about him.

- Or for pete’s...  I have this bad habit of writing notes which I later look at and am like... “huh?”  This is a fic idea, from Daniel’s POV: “Betty had moulded him, often by sheer force of her iron will, into being a man who almost deserved Molly.  And he'd turned right around and become a man who would never deserve Betty.”  And I DON’T REMEMBER WHAT THE SECOND HALF MEANS.  Specifically.

- Wedding dancing.  Happens twice.  Hilda’s wedding, we know what that is.  But at Daniel’s wedding.  I like that he wasn’t 100% Molly focused, ‘cuz, shipper.  And I know why the show had Matt cut in, because gotta keep things moving.  But isn’t it a thing that you don’t cut in on the groom/bride?  It’s their day.  Daniel just sort of nonverbally asks Betty if it’s okay (to leave her with Matt), but can’t help a) thinking he was a bit put out and b) want Molly to see his expression looking at Betty and have some sort of “aha” moment where she - do Molly and Betty have any scenes together?  I don’t remember seeing any and I think I did skim through all the eps, but I need to do that again.

- Ooh, one of the things I forgot en route!  I like that Betty has revolving love interests, because that’s textual argument for Betty never having feelings (romantic) for Daniel.  Which is super, super important in this iteration of the story.  There’s a couple moments - pilot and the first bridge scene - where she arguably has a momentary crush, which quickly settles into a developing platonic relationship.  

- Jump back to Daniel finally seeing Betty as a true equal = romantic feelings.  It’s a thing.  Look my brain is deteriorting and wording is hard!  So there’s two sided imbalance throughout.  Daniel always saw Betty with this veneer of youth, and a great deal of his use for her is helping her “grow into the woman she’ll be.”  And that’s the roadblock in him seeing her as a romantic possibility.  Which was initially quite awesome because he was sleeping with people younger than her, even the “she’s actually 20″ girl was younger than Betty.  And yet always saw her as in many ways more mature and competent than her.  And double-yet he still saw how much further she could, and would, grow.  His belief in her knows no bounds.

- Meanwhile Betty sees him as...  someone who’s also becoming.  Who has great potential.  Bullying him into it if necessary.  And because he’s guided by her, she can’t crush on him, he’s like her pet.  Were she to have a crush, much less fall for him, it would have been horrifying.  She needs to have a moment when she sees him as a true equal, someone who - look, everyone is always still growing so it’s not like he needs to be fully formed, and it’s a little murkier what the moment would look like when she finally sees Daniel “for the first time.”

- ‘cuz as noted, Betty has been there for pretty much every important moment of growth and crossroads in every facet of Daniel’s life.  Whereas Betty consistently had many things and relationships in her life Daniel was not involved in.  She’s always been way more self-reliant (not the word I wanted, is there one that starts with c?)  It’s why they did sort of need to peel away through a chunk of S4, because Daniel needed to learn to cope without Betty propping him up, because it’s like a Miranda-thing:

- “I don’t need Gary.  But I want him.”

- Daniel has to be able to be find without Betty before Betty can see him as a viable romantic partner.  She has to see something she never has before.  Daniel saw that the seedling he’d been protecting was not only strong enough to survive on its own had grown up and bloomed (process begun early in the season when he was being overprotective and she shut that down).  For Betty...  I guess Daniel...  ...  .....  it didn’t happen in the show.  As EM noted, for Daniel, the ending was the beginning.  Because his moment isn’t leaving MODE, that’s just the corresponding moment to Betty shaking him off.  His moment is further down the road when he puts into practice everything he’s learned and ...  something answered in fanfic because it’s spec and I’m tuckered.

[azucanela]

DIVINE INTERVENTION [PT.2] OIKAWA TOORU

DIVINE INTERVENTION MASTERLIST | HAIKYUU!! MASTERLIST

SUMMARY: Maybe getting into a fight with one of Oikawa’s fangirls hadn’t been the best idea. 

WORD COUNT: 2.5k

WARNINGS: violence, injuries, bruises,

A/N: do people actually plan their series ahead of time, because i kinda just write whenever my brain has an idea

Meeting Y/N L/N had been... weird for Oikawa, to put it simply.

As conceded as it may sound, Oikawa knew that he was well-liked, he knew that there were people lining up to go out with him— especially since he got confessed to nearly daily— but it wasn’t just that. Teachers had placed Oikawa on a pedestal for balancing athletics and good grades, along with simply being a ‘joy to have in class’ because he was respectful and offered his help often. Other students adored him because he was actually a rather kind person when he wanted to be; and he was well known in his school. 

He’d been singled out for as long as he could remember, that now both Oikawa and his own classmates felt as though they were simply on two different worlds.

Which is why Y/N L/N had been weird. Most of the time his natural charisma charmed almost everyone he’d met, his skill in volleyball and academic prowess were something that had also earned him respect in the school. And yet Y/N L/N simply extended her hand to him like he didn’t matter, offering her name only momentarily before retuning her attention to Iwaizumi. She’d simply treated him like just another person; and it had been a while since Oikawa felt normal.

So he began to pester her, whenever she was around—most of the time with Iwaizumi— he’d started talking to her more in their shared classes, even inviting her to his volleyball classes. 

Talking to Y/N had been like a breath of fresh air, as stupid as it sounded. He would never admit this to her, of course. Though he was fairly close to when their last year of middle school had come upon them and they were all deciding on which school they’d be attending.

Thankfully, the entire trio ended up going to Aoba Johsai. Even now, Oikawa didn’t know what he would’ve done had Iwaizumi and Y/N attended different school, though he’s happy he doesn’t know. Blissful ignorance.

Despite their years of friendship, Oikawa had never actually been annoyed by Y/N, he enjoyed her presence if he was honest. She was good company. She’d always put up with his ‘nonsense’ as Iwaizumi put it, and she’d supported him throughout his life— though she’d also threatened him for taking things to far and endangering his well-being, Oikawa had a feeling that was something he was supposed to appreciated. Yet, Oikawa had a feeling that today would be the day Y/N truly annoyed him. 

Rumors spread fast in Aoba Johsai, especially when they were about Oikawa and his love life, it had always been an issue. He hadn’t been in many relationships, much less committed ones. People tended to talk, his fans tended to act out, and after about two weeks any relationships he had were over. Which is why Oikawa was shocked to discover that he was in a relationship with his best friend, and had been for a while. And his apparent girlfriend had gotten into a fight with another girl earlier today in class. 

If Y/N was honest, she just hoped that Oikawa went with the little story she’d made up— otherwise she’d seem like an idiot who was just as obsessed with him as the girl she now sat beside in the principal’s office. And honestly, there was no real explanation for why she’d lie, not without her seeming crazy. 

Was fighting her the best idea? No, not at all. Did the girl deserve every hit? Definitely. Was Iwaizumi struggling to pull Y/N off of her? Possibly, we don’t discuss that. Now you might be wondering, why would the lovely, kind, amazing and beautiful Y/N L/N ever get into a fight? 

Well the girl started talking and wouldn’t stop. Speaking like Oikawa was an object, a trophy to be won, a game like the one he played. She spoke like she knew Oikawa personally, as though he owed her a relationship, a chance. But if Y/N was honest it was the threats that set her off.

She wasn’t sure if Iwaizumi was more shocked by the girl’s words or Y/N’s fist ramming against her face after this girl tried to smack her. 

“Oikawa doesn’t find out about this.”

That was all Y/N said when he finally pulled her off the girl, just for her to get escorted by the school’s security guards, down to the office. Though Iwaizumi wasn’t necessarily sure was she was referring to seeing as the fight had been the talk of the school now, and Oikawa was headed Iwaizumi’s way. He’d been seated outside of the office for some time now, awaiting Y/N’s inevitable return, suspension, or expulsion. 

This was going to be bad. In all their time as friends, Iwaizumi had never expected something like this to happen. If we was honest, he wasn’t even sure if the pair was or was not dating. Perhaps they’d been hiding the relationship from him or maybe this was something Y/N had simply made up on the spot, he wasn’t sure. What he did know, was that things had never been so... messy between Y/N and Oikawa. 

Now, Y/N wasn’t considering the impacts her little plan would have on the friend group at the moent, just that she didn’t play the death threat card often but now seemed as good a time as any to allow a false tear to fall down her cheek, “and then—” A sniff, “and then she threatened me and I got so scared, Principal! She said she was going to kill me.” Getting expelled was the last thing she wanted, but if this didn’t work— well, she was running out of ideas.

Now, Y/N wasn’t the best actor, but she was friends with Oikawa, and she’d definitely picked up a few things from him. Like the fact that their principal was a lot more sympathetic towards members of their sports team; and Y/N happened to manage one of the teams. And she was fairly sure that their most noteworthy players would’ve drained themselves entirely had it not been for her, so she considered herself... kind of valuable. Especially with Oikawa’s knee injury that he insisted on disregarding, Y/N had a feeling things would’ve been far worse for the boy had she not gotten involved.

Speaking of Oikawa, even as Iwaizumi warned him not to enter, the boy simply pushed the door open, a fake smile making its way onto his face as he spoke, “Principal!” He exclaimed, arms spread open, his smile only faltering as he notices the fading red mark on Y/N’s cheek, accompanied by a few bruises on her arms and several bruises on the other girl. Oikawa quickly recovers from the shock, returning his attention to the man before him, “how are you?”

The Principal offers Oikawa a tight lipped smile as he replies, “a little busy in case you haven’t noticed.” A deep breath from the man in question, “you should see yourself out—”

“You see, Principal. I just came her to collect my lovely girlfriend, I heard about this little mix-up and got worried, you know?” His eyes meet Y/N momentarily, and the look on his face tells her that she’s going to regret this once he manages to get them out of this situation— hopefully with her clean school record being maintained. “Things can get so blown out of proportion by school gossips, right?”

The Principal doesn’t seem to buy his words as he gestures to the other girl seated across from Y/N, who’s holding a tissue to her bleeding nose as she stares up at Oikawa in shock. “This young girl was very injured and—”

“She’s just fine? Isn’t that right, sweetheart?” Oikawa looks to the girl, placing a hand gently onto her shoulder as he offers a sympathetic look, and she practically swoons at the pet name he sues, eyes zeroing in on the hand placed on her shoulder. The girl is clearly in awe at the fact that the very boy she’d intended to confess to all those hours ago was now here and touching her shoulder. 

Y/N nearly rolls her eyes as the girls mumbles out, “oh my god you’re– yeah I’m fine! I really shouldn’t have disrespected Tooru’s—”

“Oikawa.” Y/N corrects quietly, first names were reserved for people close to you, and this girl just had a crush formed from basic manners and good looks, though the girl pays no mind as she continues. Y/N can’t help but feel irritated by the fact that even though she’d literally been attempting to choke Y/N earlier, she was now acting as though Oikawa was her best friend. 

“—girlfriend! I didn’t know you two were actually together, I’m so sorry but—”

Y/N can’t help but feel odd hearing those words come out of someone else’s mouth. Girlfriend. The word feels wrong in a way, and leaves her with an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach. She’d never considered being Oikawa’s girlfriend, not really, she’d heard other people’s speculations but she’d never actually considered why they might think that. 

Oikawa has already moved on from this girl, turning back to the Principal as he spreads his hands wide, “see! No harm done, now I need to be getting to Volleyball practice along with our lovely manager here, if you don’t mind that is?” Y/N nearly laughed at the fact that he was pulling the, ‘I’m literally your star athlete so you better do as I say,’ card. Though she only watched as the Principal brought his fingers to the bridge of his nose with a sigh, waving them off.

“Just don’t do it again.” He grumbled out, not sparing them another glance as he grumbled something out about young love and ‘Oikawa’s stupid fans.’

Y/N practically shot up from her seat, bowing to the man in thanks, “of course sir! Thank you, and have a nice day!” Oikawa’s hand has already come to the small of her back as he guides her out of the classroom, passing Iwaizumi who simply sighs as he watches them.

“Try to be on time to practice, idiot.”

Oikawa waves back to his friend, “of course, Iwa-chan! Anything for you!”

Iwaizumi probably would’ve started cursing had he not been standing just outside the Principal’s office, opting to glare daggers into the back of the boy’s head instead. Watching as he and Y/N made their way through the halls wordlessly. 

Y/N knows Iwaizumi’s eyes are focused on Oikawa but she has a feeling that the rest of the people in the hallway are more focused on her; seeing as she was today’s scandal. For several reasons. There was the being Oikawa’s secret girlfriend— though they weren’t actually dating, and Y/N had a feeling the gossips at her school would have a field day if they found out about thaT— and the fight with that girl and the— well, we don’t discuss that last bit. 

She doesn’t have a plan, Y/N was now wishing she’d just accepted the possibility of suspension because then she could’ve put off this conversation with Oikawa, the conversation where she’d have to explain what exactly happened. And at the moment, she didn’t have an explanation to offer him. What she’d done had been impulsive, yes, she could admit that. But stupid? Well, the girl did apologize, so maybe not.

“So... how’s your day been?” 

A sarcastic laugh escapes him as he pushes open the door of an empty classroom, eyes scanning the room once more before he’s shutting the door and bringing his hands to his head. “Care to explain?”

Y/N offers him a sheepish smile as she takes a seat on top of a desk, shrugging, “shouldn’t we get to practice like you said?” Avoiding confrontation happened to be a specialty of Y/N’s, and more often than not, Oikawa respected this. But it seems today was not one of those days. 

“Shouldn’t you have stayed out of it like you said?” Came his response, eyes narrowed at her as his eyes trailed over her figure. “What happened, Y/N?” His thoughts go to the conversation they’d had not too long ago, he’d explicitly been against this idea, for a variety of reasons.

Oikawa’s racked through his mind for reasons why she would do this even after he’d explicitly asked her not to, even more so why she’d get into a fight over him. A small thought in the back of his mind nearly made its way back to him, one he’d been struggling to bury for years as he searched for an explanation. 

Y/N doesn’t really have an explanation either, maybe it was because she had been tired of these people pretending they knew Oikawa, because of the conversation they’d had in the gym. Seeing him upset over it might have triggered something inside of her, and made her decide— why not take things into her own hands? He didn’t deserve any of it, they could be so overbearing, acting as though he belonged to them. 

Maybe it was spite, pure spite. Anger over all the ways these stupid confessions and fans had affected her. Maybe she’d wanted it all to stop and thought that this was the best way how. Maybe there was no real reason beyond that. She finds herself wishing she could offer him an answer, though nothing comes out of her mouth.

When Y/N doesn’t reply, Oikawa simply sighs, bringing a hand to the bridge of his nose before turning to Y/N, his eyes trailed along the dulling red on the edge of her cheek and the bruises evident on her arms. Frowning, Oikawa brought a hand to her arm, “well at least you won the fight.” He didn’t know much about what happened, just what he’d heard in passing and when one of his teammates had approached him to congratulate him for ‘finally getting in to a relationship with Y/N.’

A small laugh escapes Y/N as she nods along to his words. “Yeah,” she mumbles in agreement, lips pressing together to form a tight lipped smile as she struggled to find words, “so... what do we do now?”

That would be the question of the hour.

[tags] lmk if you want to be added via askbox

haikyuu!!: @shawkneecaps @therainroguefanfiction​  @iwaizoom @aquabcrry-y 

[crazy-loca-blog]

Personal thoughts on Open Heart Second Year, Chapter 19

Note: As the title says, these are just personal opinions on Choices books and chapters. Of course, you may agree or disagree with them, I only use this platform to express my thoughts on what I read every week and what I’d like to see in the next chapters, because none of my friends play Choices so I have no one to comment the books with.

Let’s see… how do I even begin with this? Oh yeah… I’m mad. It’s really hard to be mad at my favorite series, but I’m mad (but nope, it’s not because of what everyone has been complaining about in the last few hours… keep reading and you’ll find out). But let’s start with the good things that happened this week (because yeah, there were many good things that must be highlighted):

The Caroline Bloom case had some bittersweet effect on me. On one side, and I’ve said it before, she is a good woman, and she doesn’t deserve any of this. Her diagnosis was heartbreaking and it only followed the same path as most of our diagnosis throughout this book: terrible things happening to incredibly good people. On the other hand, we had our revenge… sweet, sweet revenge (at a terrible cost, of course!). When we treated Leland Bloom, the man literally bought a new kidney to keep living… and we were all mad at him because of this. Well, every decision we make must have a consequence (good or bad) at some point, and now we know how things ended for him. No one would have ever thought that saving him would mean “killing” the only thing that truly matters to him… his wife.

Also, even though I love the dynamic and the work ethic between the MC, Ethan and Baz (excuse me, but June who?), I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll see Baz in Book 3 or if he’ll keep working with us as he does in Book 2. You know, I really enjoy when the writers give us a chance to have diamond scenes with secondary characters that are loved by the readers, but I think that the scene with Zaid wasn’t there just by chance. Even since the beginning of the chapter we got plenty of information on Baz Mirani, like too much information for a single chapter. Now we know that Baz is a world-class immunologist, that he’s receiving an award that is attached to a job offer, and that he is more into research than into diagnosing people… so Zaid is probably the only reason why he hadn’t left Edenbrook yet. But overall, I loved helping them, not only because they are great characters, but also because now we know that Baz is the reason why Zaid became a doctor, and also because PB keeps teasing us with the type of relationship that Zaid and Ines have (just choose to help Zaid on his words choice and you’ll see). It was a great moment.

There is also this scene with Ethan… even though this is not a romance scene, I’m beginning to think that the OH writers might be reading some fan fictions during their free time, because this is something that Ethan stans have been asking and writing about for a while now. Overall the scene was nice, BUT the fact that some of the content in it is paywalled bothered me a little bit. In normal circumstances I wouldn’t mind about it, but after Louise got admitted at Edenbrook, Ethan’s issues with her became more visible to every player, not only for people who pay the diamond scenes. So even though there are some brilliant moments in it (not only we confirmed that, if you’re romancing him, Alan is the captain of that ship, but we can also tell the MC will be teasing him about his teddy bear FOREVER!), I have too many questions about how this scene went in different scenarios. I personally think I got the proper closure to his issues, he promised to visit his dad more often, the relationship between them seems to be fine now, and Ethan even told Alan that he would give his childhood pictures to Louise (I took the route to forgive her). But again, I’ve bought all of his diamond scenes and a lot of this stuff was already paywalled. But what happens if you took other routes? I mean, how do things go if you don’t forgive Louise? What if you don’t buy his diamond scenes at all? Don’t you feel like something was left there like “floating” and unsolved? Because it does feel weird to me.

And finally, we had this scene with our friends, which I liked it, but I didn’t love it… I would have expected to see them wrapping up things at Donahue’s after completing the bucket list. However, I’m very happy for all those people who wanted to romance Sienna, Aurora or Elijah… because I guess a kiss is better than nothing (?)

Anyway, I wanted to stop for a second to talk about Rafael. I want to dedicate a full paragraph just to him this time. Because there is something about him and his behavior… and I’m really sorry for Raf stans, but something is not looking good here. Even before the incident I had a bad feeling about him, and it has nothing to do with the idea of PB daring to kill him. He’s been a mess this whole book (and nope, I’m not talking about the writing). He rekindled a relationship with his ex that never felt right. He took a lot more risks than he used to do, to the point that he ended up being suspended. Then he quit a job he apparently loved. Then we had the incident, right before he moved to Brazil looking for a fresh start. After the incident, he decided to move to a new neighborhood, and last, but not least, we’ve discovered he’s not a fan of riding helicopters anymore (do you remember how excited he was about this in Book 1?). There is also what he said today and that got our MC thinking... and I think… guys, I think Raf has been going through some HUGE depression during the whole book, but it’s only being more evident now. He definitely needs further treatment, like ASAP. Also, and I know I’ve said it in the past, our MC and Raf really need to have some type of “heart to heart” conversation, a deep one, because in my mind, they need each other to find some real peace after all they went through together.

By now, I don’t even feel like talking about the LIs anymore but yes, I will do it, because even though I loved the night out scene with our gang in Chapter 18, now I’m guessing this could have messed things up with our LIs. In case you don’t know, that night out was supposed to be a “night date”. Maybe that night date was supposed to be the scene where we would have “the talk”. However, we didn’t have that date, we haven’t had “the talk” yet, Edenbrook closed its doors and we were left like… OK… so what’s happening with our personal lives now? I’m hoping to see them fixing this mess in Chapter 20, because right now it looks kind of ridiculous. The fact that our MC almost died should have changed the perspective of all relationships (or at least that’s how it looked like during the incident and after the funeral). After the gala, it looked like finally all the LIs were at the same level and ready to take the next step. Now I feel like we’re all right where we stood at the end of Book 1 (I can see Jackie, Raf and Bryce acting as if we were a hook up and Ethan pushing us away all over again). And as I said last week, maybe this uncertainty is due to the fact that we still don’t know where the MC will go or where our LIs will go, everything is kind of blurry for all of us. But again, that doesn’t mean we don’t want to know what’s happening with our personal lives. Are we breaking up? Are we going to try long distance? Are we moving to the same city? Again, I know in the end we’ll stay in Boston and everything will “go back to normal”, but as of this moment, Edenbrook is closed and we must leave, so it bothers me to see that this part of our story hasn’t been addressed yet. I don’t need our LIs to say those three words, I don’t need them to be exclusive, I don’t even need them to be official… I only need answers on how they’re going to face the future.

Well, if you’ve read all this non-sense I’ve been writing, this is probably where you wonder “why is she mad besides the obvious?”. And my dear people, this is where we go to the very last scene of the chapter. When I saw the limo and Leland talking to us, my first thought was “I really hope that Ethan is inside that limo too, because I don’t want my MC having to make these decisions by herself” (I play as a girl). But nope, he wasn’t there… and that’s where I got mad, really mad… at Leland Bloom. Of course Ethan wasn’t there because Leland knows that he would say “no” without even listening to him, and of course he would go directly to the MC because Leland knows that if there is one person that Ethan would listen to, that’s the MC. Also, why didn’t he just call the board, just like he did the very first time he needed our help? It’s not like he doesn’t know how to reach them. Why did he decide to go to a second year resident’s home instead? There is something so, so weird about this guys… I don’t believe in his reasons to reach the MC instead of people like Ethan, Naveen or the board. I have a gut feeling that we’re walking on thin ice here, especially because accepting Leland’s money means we’ll have to play by his rules in Book 3. And I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t expect to have a happy ending next chapter… I think we’ll have to deal with some huge cliffhanger instead.

[everybodyscupoftea]

idk you yet: come hang out

reggie peters x oc

you’re working so damn hard, you forgot what you like

November

The problem with Reggie not telling the boys he had date plans was that, though they were on a brief touring break, Luke wanted them to stay busy. Every time he sat down to text William, Luke popped up with, “Hey, you ready to work on stuff for our next album.”

Normally he loved the work ethic. It was easy to get into Luke’s excitement and to write with him. Luke was incredibly creative and loved immediate feedback from his band members while also respecting their suggestions.

But when he just wanted a break to head back to San Jose to see William, it just didn’t seem like it would happen. The best possible outcome would be that he gets so much stuff done at the beginning of the month that Reggie would have more time for their tentatively scheduled date.

Wanna facetime?

Reggie smiled at the text and looked around their shared apartment. He knew Luke and Alex were home, in their room, and he was pretty sure Bobby was out, so it seemed unlikely that they’d actually want to work on anything without him.

Sure

Walking over to his room, Reggie collapsed onto his bed, smiling brightly as he answered the call. A tired looking William filled his screen and an ache in his chest that he didn’t realize was there was soothed.

“Hey, Reg.”

“Hey, Will, what’s up?”

William hummed, “Nothing much. About to nap before our game tonight, but I missed you.”

“Aw,” Reggie teased, “I’m more important than sleep.”

“Absolutely,” William told him earnestly.

It shocked Reggie into silence a few seconds before he managed to stutter out, “Well, I just hope it doesn’t throw your game off today.”

“You’re watching right?”

Squinting at his phone, Reggie slowly answered, “Yeah. I haven’t missed one yet.”

“I know, I just wanted to make sure. Hockey isn’t exactly your first choice to watch.”

His voice sounded a little timid, and Reggie bit his lip, “I mean I won’t watch any other teams, but I love watching you play.”

“That’s good to know,” William laughed, “can’t have the boy I like being a Kings fan.”

Reggie played dumb, “The Kings?”

“Oh hush, I know you know who they are.”

“I do, I was just trying to make you feel better.”

William laughed again, head tossed back, “Well you succeeded. My ego is sufficiently inflated.”

“Good. Hopefully you carry that on the ice tonight.”

“Always do.”

His eyes were starting to flutter a bit and Reggie smiled at the almost adorable sight. William flinched and shook himself awake with a loud yawn, so Reggie told him, “I’ll let you get some sleep. Talk to you tonight?”

“Yeah, definitely. Counting down the days until you get here.”

“I can’t wait either.”

William hung up a few seconds later, and Reggie got off his bed. Maybe, he thought to himself, he should start planning a date. Sure, William knew more about San Jose, but he didn’t want William to do all the heavy lifting. Reggie was terrified he’d eventually get tired of being the only one putting in effort.

So, he grabbed one of his many notebooks from his bookshelf and his laptop to start googling date spots in San Jose. Reggie scrolled and checked reviews, taking notes on his favorite places for future dates if not the first.

Truthfully, he had no clue if William wanted to do something simple for the first date or do something fun. They talked a lot and had gotten to know each other pretty well already, which was usually the first date activity, so they could probably afford to actually do something if they wanted to.

Biting his lip, he stared at the page. Maybe there were too many options, it looked a bit all over the place. Flipping the page, he started grouping the ideas into activities, formal, and casual. It made him feel a bit better, more organized and easier to pitch to William.

By the time he finished, it was almost game time, so Reggie put on the Sharks pride shirt he’d bought at William’s recommendation and wandered back out to the kitchen. Grabbing some leftovers to heat up, Reggie flipped on the TV and turned to the channel that normally played Sharks games. 

Pre-game commentary started, and he sat on the couch to wait for the microwave to finish up. They were talking about some players that Reggie slightly recognized from William’s stories, and he pulled up the roster on his phone just as his food finished reheating.

Moving back over to the couch, Reggie pulled his feet up underneath him and scrolled through the roster while he waited for dinner to cool. He started matching names to faces, smiling when he heard them talking about William and his three game scoring streak.

“The Sharks got a good one in Harris. I know people talked about his devaluation after coming out, how it could cause problems in the locker room, but we haven’t seen much of that on the ice.”

Reggie grimaced at his words. William hadn’t really gone into depth about how his teammates treated him off the ice, and he wasn’t exactly sure how to bring it up in case it was a sensitive topic. He sighed as they moved on to talk about Joe Thornton, another name he recognized because Wiliam said that the older player had taken him under his wing his first year in the league.

“He’s the best,” he remembered William gushing, “let me stay at his house whenever I needed and really taught me how to survive. Being on the West Coast makes travel during the season brutal. Especially when you get to like January and February.”

Reggie heard the unspoken too, the older player had never given him any grief for his sexuality. He couldn’t even imagine how hard it had been for William to come out. Easier than hiding he guessed since William had done it in the first place. Reggie wasn’t sure even he was brave enough to do something like that in that toxic environment.

While he was lost in thought the game started, and he was startled out of his head when Luke threw the door to his room open. He looked at Reggie suspiciously, “You’re watching hockey again?”

“Yep,” Reggie answered, popping the p.

“Can I watch?”

Reggie was a bit surprised. Only Bobby had shown an ounce of interest, occasionally joining Reggie in watching despite being a Kings fan himself. After a few beats, Reggie answered, “Sure.”

“Sweet! My dad used to take me to hockey games when he wanted me to be an athlete. I couldn’t skate for shit though.”

Reggie snorted, he’d seen Luke’s coordination, so he could believe it. He elbowed Luke who dropped down on the couch next to him, “If they didn’t give gays a weakness, we’d be too powerful.”

Luke laughed loudly, “You’re so right.”

The two boys lapsed into silence as the game picked back up, broken every so often by Reggie making noises in reaction to what was going on in the game. He could feel Luke looking at him in amusement every so often, and when first intermission started, he prepared himself, “What’s up Luke?”

“I need, like, so many explanations.”

Reggie sat up and turned to face him, “Okay, yeah, ask away. I don’t know everything but I know a good bit.”

Luke hummed, “Maybe I should start with the obvious, um, who’s playing?”

“It’s the San Jose Sharks and the Arizona Coyotes.” “Okay,” Luke nodded, holding up two fingers, “who is better?”

“Sharks by far,” Reggie answered confidently.

Luke asked more questions, mostly about penalties and positions, and Reggie, much to his surprise, had an answer to every question. By the end, Luke looked much more relaxed and he leaned back further into the couch, “You really know your shit,” he commended.

“It’s a new interest,” Reggie admitted.

Bobby walked out of his room just as the second period started and stared at the two boys on the couch incredulously. Before Reggie could ask how long he’d been home, Bobby spoke, “I’ve been trying to get you boys to watch sports with me for years. What the hell is going on?”

“We’re multifaceted,” Reggie spoke, chin tilted up, lips quirked up into a teasing smile. 

Bobby snorted and shook his head, “Sure you are.” Sitting down on the other side of Reggie on the couch, he stretched out, “Who are we going for?”

Reggie motioned toward his shirt and Bobby gagged, “But the Kings, bro.”

“Choke,” Reggie deadpanned, and then more teasingly continued, “but you’re straight, I don’t expect you to understand.”

Bobby laughed, throwing his head back against the couch, used to the teasing. He turned his head to look at Reggie, “Fair enough, I suppose I can’t prove you wrong.”

“Never wrong, not once.”

Luke snorted, “I’m sure.”

But instead of responding, Reggie focused back on the TV stubbornly. He didn’t want to miss in case William scored a goal. Reggie would say in case he did something impressive, but in Reggie’s humble opinion, everything William did on the ice was impressive.

“So who’s your favorite player?” Bobby asked, eyes still trained on the TV as the Sharks got a breakaway, three on one.

Reggie leaned forward, hands over his mouth in anticipation, and when William received the drop pass and took a shot, it flew past the goalie, straight in the back of the net. Jumping up, Reggie let out a loud yelp of excitement and immediately went for his phone to send William an excited text for his first goal of the season.

“Harris, huh?” Luke asked and Reggie startled, having temporarily forgotten he wasn’t alone in the room.

Reggie clicked his tongue, “Yep. He’s really good.”

“You know, his story is actually pretty cool,” Bobby leaned forward, elbows on his knees, “how he came out and stuff.”

Nodding eagerly, Reggie grabbed his shoulder and shook him a little, “Yes, that’s why I like him!” He paused and then added, “Well, one of the reasons.”

“Wait, what?” Luke asked, looking back and forth between the two of them, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Google it,” Bobby and Reggie said in unison, fist bumping at Luke’s wounded look.

Reggie took pity on him first, sitting back in between them before slinging an arm around Luke’s shoulder to pull him into his side, “Seriously though, look into it.”

The rest of the game was fairly relaxed. Luke got into it once he started figuring things out, halfway through the second period, and Bobby very reluctantly cheered for the Sharks with them. When Reggie smirked at him, he shrugged, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

“Damn right.”

-

William was laying in bed, Luna burrowed comfortably into his side, when his phone started ringing. Shutting his eyes, he sighed, exhausted, and picked it up after a few seconds. When he saw who it was, his mood immediately flipped, and he answered Reggie’s FaceTime request without hesitation.

“Nice goal,” Reggie told him in lieu of a proper greeting.

William beamed, rubbing his eyes a few times before sitting up all the way to answer, “Thanks, Reg.”

The other boy hummed before making a noise and pulling the phone away from his face, “Look, the shirt you recommended came in!”

Squinting, William looked at it, the black shirt with a rainbow Sharks logo, and for some reason, unbeknownst to him, his eyes started to burn. He cleared his throat a few times before speaking softly, “I love it.”

“Me too,” Reggie smiled, cheeks reddening a bit. William wanted nothing more than to pinch them, he liked when Reggie blushed because it made him look softer. 

Unable to stop himself, William blurted, “When are you coming?”

“Next week, remember?” Reggie gently reminded him, settling back against his pillow.

William pouted and Luna finally got curious enough to pop her head into view. Not acknowledging it, he told Reggie, “Can’t you come early?”

Reggie sighed, rubbing at his eyes, looking more tired than William had ever seen him, except for maybe the first time they met, “I’d love to, but Luke has been in a writing frenzy. We have daily writing sessions and I’m sure he wants to start rehearsing soon. We’re going to start recording some before we go back on tour.”

“When do you go back on tour?” William was pretty sure he’d never mentioned it, not that he remembered at least.

Reggie hummed, clicking away from FaceTime to check his calendar, and when he came back, answered, “Mid-January. We did a lot of the East Coast and West Coast and a good bit of the Midwest so we still have to hit the South and the middle of the country.”

“How far South?” William asked, curious as to what their reach actually was.

Shrugging, Reggie tapped at his bottom lip in thought, “I think probably New Orleans.”

“New Orleans sounds fun,” William offered.

“Mhmm,” Reggie hummed. He was staring at William, and William felt his head tip to the side and his eyes start to get heavier. Reggie laughed softly, “Tired?”

“Little bit,” William confirmed, yawning.

“Get some sleep.”

William nodded, “Good idea. You too.”

“I will,” Reggie promised, crossing his heart with a faux serious look on his face.

“Good,” William answered, grinning tiredly before they said their goodbyes and hung up for the night. Luna let out a huff and laid back down next to him, and William wrapped his arms around her, trying desperately to squash the sudden loneliness resting heavy on his chest.

“Soon,” he whispered.

-

Reggie left early on a Tuesday morning and caught a flight from LAX to the airport in San Jose. William texted him before he left, promising to pick him up after practice, and by the time Reggie landed, he was practically vibrating with both nerves and excitement. 

I’m outside in the pickup lane! 

Reggie sped up, a bounce in his step, and walked along the line of cars, looking for William. He was toward the back, looking down at his phone, and Reggie knocked on the window, shivering at the gust of wind that hit him.

William jumped at first, startled by his sudden appearance, before he unlocked the door for Reggie to climb in with his carry on. Reggie bit his lip, toning down the wide smile that was threatening to stretch ear to ear, “Hi.”

“Hi,” William responded, just as quietly. His cheeks were tinged red and his smile was more shy than Reggie’s, but he loved it just the same. 

Reggie’s fingers itched to reach up and brush the curl of hair hanging down in his eyes out of the way, but he held back, unsure if he was allowed to. He couldn’t be sure, but it looked like William’s fingers twitched too. 

“Ready?”

Taking a deep breath, Reggie nodded, “Absolutely.”

-

William knew he probably should’ve focused fully on the road, but he couldn’t stop himself from glancing over at Reggie frequently. Just seeing him, knowing that he was real and there was so comforting, and part of William was already dreading Reggie having to leave the next day.

Reggie was staring out the window, forehead leaning against it, and William wanted to touch. He wanted to hold his hand or touch his cheek or something, just to reassure himself that he was real.

“Are you hungry?” he asked instead.

Reggie hummed, “A little. I could start with a coffee.”

“Me too,” William admitted, changing lanes to head toward his favorite local shop a few miles from his apartment. When he parked, William looked over at Reggie, more uncertain than before, and asked, “I go to this shop pretty frequently, it’s really lowkey and no one will bother us.”

Reaching across the console, Reggie squeezed his shoulder, “I trust you.”

William was nervous, and he wasn’t exactly sure why, but as they walked down the sidewalk, hands occasionally brushing between them, he felt his heart pounding harder and harder with every touch. When they got to the door, William held it open, and Reggie stepped into the mostly empty shop.

A barista William recognized called out a greeting, and Reggie stepped aside to let him lead the way to the counter. The menu was relatively basic aside from a side list of specialty drinks which was what William usually picked from. 

“Their special drinks are really good, I’ve tried most of them,” William muttered, shifting closer to Reggie so he could hear better.

“I might try the s’mores one,” Reggie answered, voice equally muted, “the toasted marshmallow sounds fun.”

“It is,” William told him excitedly.

He ordered his drink and stepped aside to let Reggie order his. Something flickered into the barista’s eye, William wasn’t sure exactly if it was recognition, but she didn’t say anything either way. Reggie picked the table, a two-seater tucked away in the corner, and sat down facing the door.

“So,” he started when William sat across from him, “I did some research on date places in San Jose.”

A slightly hysterical laugh bubbled up in his throat, but William shoved it back down and croaked out, “What?”

“Yeah, I picked out a ton of restaurants that look really good and offer a lot of options for any dietary restrictions you might have. And then for activities I have them grouped into casual and formal and you can pick.”

William stared at him, slack jawed, stare only broken when the barista set their drinks down in between them with a soft, “Enjoy.”

A blush was rising on Reggie’s cheeks, “I would love some feedback.”

Shaking his head, William laughed, “Yeah, that’s all fantastic, but I’ve lived here for years and have never gotten to bring someone on a date, I’ve got so many ideas of my own.”

Reggie sighed, “I don’t want you to do all the heavy lifting, I want to make this equal.”

William furrowed his eyebrows, setting down the latte he’d just taken a sip of, “I invited you here, I didn’t really expect you to worry too much about this part.”

“Well,” Reggie laughed, “guess I did all this for nothing, huh?”

“Next time,” William spoke confidently, picking his drink back up.

Reggie’s eyebrows shot up, “Already assuming there’s going to be a second date before we even have the first one, huh? That’s very bold.”

He shrugged and told him honestly, “I think the first date is going to go great, and if it doesn’t, then we’ll just have to have a do-over. Second date either way.”

“Ah, an intellectual,” Reggie responded, “your reasoning skills are off the charts.”

“Well, I did go to college.”

Reggie held his hands up, “You’ve got me there.”

“My college education is short-lived, but it does exist,” William joked.

“Okay then, Mr. College Education, do you already have a plan?”

William held up his car keys and jingled them in his direction, “I sure do.”

Reggie stared at him for a few seconds and then shook his head, “Fine, I’ll let you have your little mysteries.”

“Thank you,” William said, reaching across the table to brush his fingers across the back of Reggie’s hand. He watched as Reggie’s pinky jumped, bumping his thumb, and he chewed on the inside of his cheek, trying not to show just how fond he was of this boy he’d just met.

-

They spent the entire day on the couch watching movies. Luna was ecstatic to have people around all day, running around and barking until William managed to calm her down. After an hour or so, she fell asleep on the floor at their feet. Mid-afternoon, William broke out some snacks and Reggie laughed because they were vaguely healthy in a way he assumed was required for athletes but definitely not for musicians.  

It was calm, relaxing even, something Reggie hadn’t experienced in so long, maybe ever. His parents did nothing but fight growing up, and then he moved in with three other boys his age. Neither environment was very conducive for peace and quiet. But in William’s apartment, he felt himself nodding off a few times, feeling warm and safe.

“Reg,” William whispered, shaking his shoulder a bit later, and he jumped, not realizing he’d actually fallen asleep.

He rubbed his eyes and croaked out, “What time’s it?”

“About an hour and a half until our reservation.”

“Kay,” he muttered, prying himself off of the absurdly comfortable couch to go to the guest bedroom where his bag was. William had offered to share his bed, but Reggie decided that staying the night was maybe too fast already, so he declined. Thankfully, William didn’t seem to mind.

William moved further down the hall and into his room, Luna padding after him, and Reggie was snapped out of his trance when he heard the click of his door shutting. Shaking himself, Reggie pulled some of his clothes options out of his bag. None of the boys knew exactly where he was going, but the day before he left, they all sat on his bed and gave their strong opinions on his choices.

Eventually, after a few minutes of staring, he decided to mix their picks. William told him it wasn’t fancy and that he needed to dress warm, so Reggie picked the jeans Alex liked, the sweater Luke chose, and Bobby’s shoe pick.

“Hair,” he muttered under his breath, moving toward the ensuite after he was dressed. Reggie had been alive for over 20 years and he’d been dressing himself for over half of them, but he couldn’t help but wish his bandmates were there to help. It was as if they heard his wish, Alex FaceTimed him, Luke hanging over his shoulder with a bright smile on his face.

“Reggie,” Luke cheered when it connected fully, “show us the fit.”

He snorted and flipped the camera so they could see. Alex nodded, seemingly happy with his work, “Looking hot, Reginald. Is this a date?”

Clearing his throat, Reggie’s ears went hot and he shrugged, “Maybe.”

“Well if it is, leave your hair ungelled. It always looks super soft, and you look hot with that strand of hair falling on your forehead.”

Luke nodded enthusiastically, “True!”

“Thanks boys,” Reggie responded distractedly and set the phone down so he could use both hands on his hair. It was silent in the bathroom beyond the noises his friends occasionally made when they moved around or gave him instructions.

“So,” Luke started when Reggie sat on the bed, completely dressed and ready, “where are you?”

“I’m in California,” Reggie tried to deflect.

Alex made a hurt noise in his throat, “Why won’t you tell us?”

Reggie sighed and admitted, “It’s so new. It’s not really a secret, but part of me wants to keep it close until it’s real.”

“I’d say it’s pretty fucking real if you’re flying somewhere for a date.”

Tilting his head back against the wall, Reggie laughed, “I suppose that’s true.”

“When did you meet?” Luke asked, leaning in close to the camera as if trying to get in Reggie’s personal space through the camera.

“Last month on tour.” “A fan?” Alex asked, shocked. All of the boys had discussed the pros and cons of dating fans, and Reggie was stuck at a hard no when they finished the conversation.

Thinking back, he snorted, “Not really. He didn’t know who I was at first, but now he’s a fan.”

“Well,” Luke broke in, “Reg, you show that boy a good time. Don’t forget, you’re a catch and he’s lucky to have you tonight!”

“What Luke said,” Alex added, “and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Reggie rolled his eyes, responding sarcastically, “Thanks, Mom and Dad.” And just as he hung up there was a light knock at the door. He took a shaky breath and walked over, smoothing his sweater down, and when he opened the door, William’s fist was hovering in the air like he was about to knock again.

His mouth went dry looking at William, “Wow, um, you look great,” Reggie managed.

William’s face lit up and he glanced down at himself, “You think? Not as good as you, that’s for sure!”

Reggie struggled for a response, and William put him out of his misery, bumping Reggie’s hand with his and tilting his head toward the front door. Following William out of the building and into the parking garage, Reggie wanted to ask what he had planned, but he hadn’t managed to get it out of him all afternoon, so he stayed quiet.

“You want to pick the music?” William asked, holding out the aux cord and Reggie nodded, taking it eagerly. William nodded, “I want to hear what a music expert listens to.”

“Expert,” Reggie tested the word out on his tongue, “I guess technically out of the two of us, but I don’t know if I’d consider myself an expert.”

“I bet you have some fantastic playlists,” William countered, glancing over as he pulled to a stop at the first red light.

“Well,” Reggie paused because he did actually take a lot of pride in his playlists, “yeah, I think so at least.”

“There you go, own your awesomeness, Reg.”

When William said ‘reservations’ earlier, Reggie assumed it was at a restaurant for dinner, and he was incredibly confused when they pulled into an empty parking lot and William parked right near the door.

“What are we doing?”

“Tonight, since we’re in my city, I figured we could do something specific to me. Since we’re kind of still getting to know each other, you know?”

“Okay,” Reggie answered, unsure where he was going, “I like that idea.”

William sounded relieved, “Good. This is the rink my team usually practices in and I have the keys.”

“Skating?” Reggie asked, immediately nervous.

“Yep,” William chirped, pulling the door open for Reggie before reaching over to flip the lights on. It was cold inside and the lights came on slowly, one at a time across the rink. William grabbed his elbow gently, startling him, and tugged him off to the side.

“I don’t have skates,” Reggie finally spoke, realizing that one huge flaw in the plan may get him out of absolutely humiliating himself.

William waved his words away, “They do public skating nights here sometimes so they have spare pairs for rentals. Eventually we’ll have to get you your own pair.”

That sounded promising, on one hand, William was planning on keeping him around, on the other hand, he’d have to not accidentally crack his head open on the ice to fulfill his plans. But instead of protesting, Reggie was a good sport and told him his shoe size because William seemed really excited, and he didn’t want to spoil it.

“Be right back,” William told him, “I’m going to grab you a pair and get mine and put some music on. We can lace the skates up on the bench.”

“I’ll be right here,” Reggie responded weakly, stomach churning with nerves.

William wasn’t gone long before he was linking his arm with Reggie’s, pulling him again toward the closest bench. Reggie sat down, in a daze, moving slowly as William quickly tied his skates. Turning to Reggie, he saw that he had skates on but they were untied and he laughed, “Never done this before?”

“Hard no.”

“I got you,” William promised, dropping down to one knee in front of him. Reggie’s leg tingled when William brushed against it while he tied the laces. After the left one, he looked up at Reggie, “All good? Not too tight or too loose, right?”

“All good,” Reggie told him, reaching down instinctively just to check.

Before he knew it, the second one was finished too and William was standing in front of him, holding a hand out to help him up. He stepped onto the ice first, Reggie following close behind him, hovering just at the edge.

“I’m assuming you’ve never skated before.”

“You’d assume correctly.”

“Well,” William started, skating backwards a bit to give him space, “the good news is, you have the best teacher on the West Coast at your service.”

“He thinks highly of himself,” Reggie joked, taking a step out onto the ice, wobbling a bit. William kept his distance, close enough that he could get to Reggie fast, but far enough that he had room to get comfortable.

“Not to brag, but I am a professional.”

Reggie snorted and took another step, and then another and another. On his fifth step, he got too confident and almost landed right on his ass, but William swept in, catching him by the armpits, a few inches from the ice.

“Holy shit,” Reggie breathed, eyes wide.

William’s voice sounded like he was holding back laughter, “You good?”

Clearing his throat, Reggie collected himself and stepped away, “I’m good.”

William hovered around him closer after that, always within reach and coached Reggie every so often in a soft tone. It felt like years had passed, but Reggie eventually got comfortable enough to not be wobbling every few steps, and William moved up next to him for the next slow lap.

“Having fun?” he asked.

And Reggie found he actually was, he recognized the playlist and with William’s steady warmth next to him, keeping him safe, he didn’t hate it. After a few seconds with no answer, William bumped Reggie’s hand with the back of his to prompt a response. Reggie snapped out of it, “Yeah, this isn’t as hard as I thought it’d be.”

William’s lips twitched, “Sure, Reg. Whatever you say.”

They finished the lap, William still teasing him, and Reggie elbowed him in the side. William flinched like he’d actually landed a solid hit and pouted. Rolling his eyes, Reggie motioned toward him, “You’re being dramatic.”

“Never,” William responded, reaching up to grab Reggie’s hand, and when he linked their fingers together, any comeback Reggie had flew out of his brain. William didn’t say anything else either, content to skate laps with him, hands swinging between them.

Every so often one of them had a question or something to say, but for the most part it was just the music and the sound of skate blades on ice making noise. Reggie kind of understood why William liked it, it was almost hypnotizing, and he was startled when William tugged on his hand, pulling him back toward the bench.

Reggie gave him a questioning look and William smiled softly, pleased, “Playlist ended. I figure we could go get food now too.”

While Reggie was relieved to be back on solid ground again, he missed the comfortable weight of William’s hand in his. His hand felt cold, and he was trying really hard not to pout. Reggie managed to get the skates off by himself and handed them over to William to put away. 

“Be back in a sec,” William told him breathlessly, cheeks bright red whether from cold or something else, Reggie wasn’t sure, and before he could respond, William was gone.

-

William put the skates back and paused a second to breathe. He was in really good shape, but it felt like he hadn’t been able to catch his breath all night. Shutting his eyes, he smiled thinking back at Reggie’s nervous but determined face as he stepped out of William’s arms after almost falling to skate a few steps on his own.

“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath, “please relax,” he whispered, unsure if he was talking to his brain or his pounding heart. Reggie was looking down at his phone when William met him back out, and he gave William an assessing look. Not entirely sure what he was looking for, William slowly offered his hand back to the other boy, and a smile grew on his face as he took the offered hand.

“What’s for dinner?” Reggie asked, finger stroking over William’s knuckles subconsciously.

William waited to answer until they were both in the car, and he cranked it up, flipping the heat up to high for them. Reggie bumped his knee, and he answered, “I was thinking we could go to a taco truck I like. They have some tables outside, but we can take them home if it’s too cold.”

“Taco truck,” Reggie mused.

Cutting off the rest of his sentence, William rushed out, “We can go to a restaurant too though, I just thought since we’re both sort of public figures we might have less of a spotlight at a food truck.”

When William finished rambling his explanation, he met Reggie’s eyes nervously, and Reggie just smiled, “Sounds like a great pick.”

“Oh,” he said, not expecting it to be that easy.

“Oh,” Reggie echoed.

William blushed and muttered, “Shut up,” before pulling out of the parking lot. 

There were a few people ordering from the truck when they got there, but there was empty seating and someone had plugged in portable heaters for people who wanted to eat there. William waited for Reggie to order before he put his in and led him over to one of the empty tables to sit. 

Reggie looked around curiously and yawned, clapping a hand over his mouth and flushing with embarrassment when he caught himself. Laughing, William teased, “Am I boring you?”

“Actually, yes,” Reggie teased back.

“Oh, that’s a shame, I actually thought this was going pretty well.”

Reggie’s face softened and he reached across the table to poke William’s hand, “It is.”

One of the workers called his name with the food before William could respond, so he just shut his mouth and stood up to go get them. When he got back, the moment was gone, and they both focused on eating. The tacos were good as always, and within 30 minutes they were back in the car, heading back to William’s apartment.

“Movie?” he asked Reggie when they got back inside.

“Yeah, sounds good.”

William frowned, “Wait, I have to walk Luna first, you good to stay?”

“I should probably take a shower,” Reggie smiled wryly referencing the sweat he broke while struggling to skate.

“Okay,” William nodded, “I’ll be back soon. Make yourself at home.”

“Thanks, Will.”

Before he could think twice, William grabbed Reggie’s sleeve and pulled him back, pressing a light kiss to his forehead.

-

Reggie barely remembered getting to bed after the movie, but he definitely hated the next morning when his alarm started going off early. He hit snooze and was almost back asleep when William was knocking on the door gently, “You awake?”

“Yeah,” Reggie croaked, voice cracking from disuse.

“Okay,” William answered, “I’ll make some coffee while you get ready and I can drop you off before practice.”

Reggie was touched. He knew how tired William was all the time, and selfishly, he was glad William offered because he wanted to spend as much time as possible with him since he had no clue when he’d be able to see William in person again.

He got dressed and packed and remade the guest bed before he joined William in the kitchen. There were two mugs on the counter, one made up and one black for Reggie to fix how he liked. William watched through squinted eyes, chin resting on his palm, and told Reggie, “Gonna try and remember so next time I can have it ready.”

Reggie’s eyes burned and he took a sip of his fixed drink. Glancing over at William’s mug, he asked, “What about you?”

“Splash of almond milk and a lot of sugar.”

Tapping his temple, Reggie promised, “I’ll remember that.”

They finished their coffee like that, crowded together in the kitchen, William’s forehead resting on Reggie’s shoulder between sips. Halfway through his cup, Reggie linked his fingers through William’s again, both of their hands warm from holding the mugs. He was going to miss that more than he thought. Fuck, leaving was going to hurt. In fact, he wasn’t sure anything could hurt worse.

But he was wrong. When William pulled him into a tight hug outside the airport, he brushed his lips ever so slightly across Reggie’s forehead again, just like the night before. Walking away from that, fighting to not turn around lest he be tempted to skip his flight and never leave, that hurt more.

[c-nan]

Baked In Love

Hey y’all, this fanfic is ready for the eyes of someone other than me! The AO3 link will be attached through reblog! Please enjoy!

Summary: Lena Luthor just want's to give her girlfriend, Kara Danvers, a proper celebration. 

Word Count: 1,815

Lena was never a fan of Quidditch, but watching her girlfriend—Hufflepuff captain and star chaser—weave her way through the other players with ease was enough to keep Lena’s attention on the field. The cold winter breeze bit at Lena’s hands and the cloak she wore did nothing to block the rest of her body from the cold. She buried her chin in Kara’s Hufflepuff scarf, taking in the familiar scent of cinnamon rolls. 

Sam and Winn huddled around her to preserve warmth, their breathes coming out in puffs of condensed air. James stood, clutching the railing, enraptured in the game and unaffected by the cold.

“Come on Kara,” he yelled as she broke through the crowd of players, heading straight towards Leslie, the Slytherin keeper. Lena held her breath in anticipation, eyes glued on Kara.

Leslie darted between the three hoops in a vain attempt to keep Kara from scoring. She flew fast, but Kara flew faster, aiming at the first available hoop and scoring yet another ten points for Hufflepuff.

The crowd erupted in a deafening cheer, stomping their feet, resembling a stampede of thresterals. Lena couldn’t help but add her own voice in the roaring of cheers. 

“You really suck at being a Slytherin,” Winn told Lena once the noise died down. 

Lena had no time to answer, for the Slytherin stands broke into their own set of cheers. Lena looked back towards the field, her eyes drawn to Mike, who sped above the stands, holding the snitch with an outstretched arm for all to see. She shot a sympathetic glance to Kara, who’s eyes were glued to the scoreboard. A smile crawled across Kara’s face as the Slytherin cheers died down. Lena followed her gaze, a smile of her own forming.

Slytherin may have caught the snitch, but Kara and the other Hufflepuff chasers earned enough points to beat Slytherin by ten points. 

Lena wasted no time, pushing through the exhilarated crowd of Hufflepuffs and practically sprinting down the stairs. She wanted to congratulate Kara in person before her team whisked her away to throw one of their parties that always lasted well into the night. 

She reached the last step just in time to see Barry hoist Kara onto his shoulders. 

“Kara!” She yelled as loud as she could, the Hufflepuff cheers roaring loud behind her. Kara glanced back and gave Lena a smile that could outshine the sun. Lena’s insides melted and heat rose to her cheeks. Kara never failed to have that effect on her. Kara’s smile was accompanied by her hands that formed into a heart. 

Lena made a heart of her own before Kara turned to face forward, cheering with her teammates. Lena watched them go, her face pulling into a frown and her shoulders slumping.

“What's with the long face?” Sam appeared by her side.

“It’s nothing.” Lena waved off Sam’s concern.  

Sam, not convinced, follows Lena’s line of sight. Her face broke into a sly grin. “Oh, I see.”

“See what?” Winn and James appeared at their side. Winn raised his eyebrows in question.

“Lena didn’t get to give Kara a celebratory kiss,” Sam said, earning herself a punch to the shoulder and a piercing glare from Lena.

“Oh. Well, I can sneak you into the party if you’d like,” Winn said.

“A Slytherin crashing a Hufflepuff party?” Lena asked. “That doesn’t seem like the best course of action.” She kept her eyes trained on the castle, her face burning. “I’ll wait, it's not like I haven’t before.”

Sam, Winn, and James looked at eachother then Lena before bursting into laughter.

—

Lena spent the rest of the day keeping her mind off of Kara by playing wizard chess with Sam and studying in the library. When night fell, she parted from her friends to start on her Head Girl duties. Those of which included patrolling the hall for students out after curfew. 

Lena usually enjoyed the task, for she had time to plan her schedule for the next day, but that night, her brain thought not of schedules. It was too focused on a certain blonde. Lena tried to deny her brain access to thoughts of Kara, but after walking down the same hall three times, she gave in. Images of Kara flying around and the little smiles and winks she would send Lena’s way every so often assaulted Lena’s mind, bringing a smile to her lips.

Thinking of Kara made Lena regret her decision to reject Winn’s offer. She would endure the boisterous party atmosphere if it meant seeing her girlfriend. Sighing, she knew the moment was past. Her legs, however, didn't get the memo and pulled her towards the kitchens and inevitably the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room.

A mix of laughter and music could be heard from behind the barrel. Lena contemplated sneaking in. It’s not like she hasn't before. But during those times, there wasn’t a party and she could get by undetected. Now…

Lena’s eyes drifted towards the kitchens, an idea forming. She couldn’t get to Kara undetected with the party going around, but she could lure her to the kitchens…

Lena, mind made up, finished her Head Girl duties at record speed, then retracted back to the kitchens. Stepping behind the fruit painting, a small chorus of voices met her. 

“Ms. Luthor!” Pommey nudged her way through the small crowd of night-shift house-elves. “To what do we owe the pleasure?” She glanced behind Lena. “Where is Ms. Danvers?”

Her question brought another onslaught of voices from the other house elves, all glancing around with curious eyes.  

A fond smile found Lena’s lips as she remembered all the times Kara had drug her there when they were supposed to be studying. The house-elves loved Kara’s infectious optimism and radiating smile almost as much as Lena did.

“She’s not with me, unfortunately,” Lena said, crossing the room to the assorted array of pots and pans that sat on shelves against the wall. The house-elves tried to hide their disappointment, only grumbling a little. Lena just laughed. “Don’t worry, she will be here soon. I just need help before I call for her.” 

The house-elves rushed to her side.

“I need a blanket,” Lena said, retrieving a bowl from one of the shelves. “One that is big enough to sit two.”

Half of the elves disappeared with a crack and returned seconds later, assaulting Lena with an abundance of blankets. Laughing, she thanked each elf in turn, setting the blankets aside. 

“I now need someone to help me with a cake.”

The elves tripped over themselves in a rush to find supplies. Soon, Lena had a row of ingredients and an army of eager elves. 

“Let's get baking.”

An hour later, Lena, covered in flower and chocolate, pulled the cake out of the oven, a self-satisfied smile on her face. She cut the cake into even pieces and sat it on the table closest to the fireplace. 

Lena swept the cake debris off of her as Pommey asked, “Are you ready for Ms. Danvers?”

“Yes, please,” Lena said, grabbing a blanket, spreading it in front of the fireplace. “You have all been an amazing help. Thank you.” Lena plucked the cake off the table and settled it next to her as she sat on the comfy fabric. The heat from the fire licked her face as she sighed in content. 

Pommey disappeared with a small pop as the other house-elves broke into excited whispers. 

Lena waited, her heart thumping hard in her chest, hoping Kara would like the surprise. She had never done anything like this before. Normally Kara instigated all things romantic. Minutes passed as slow as hours, as Lena watched the door, ideas filling her head on what she could’ve done to make the night better. 

When the door finally opened, Lena’s heart crawled into her throat and a wave of self-doubt washed over her.

The sight of Kara--although looking like she just came from wrestling a pixie, her hair sticking up at odd angles and her tie crooked--banished all the negative thoughts from Lena’s mind. Kara would appreciate anything Lena would do because she was Kara. Sweet, lovable Kara who Lena loved. 

Also, it helped that food was involved. 

“Pommey, as much as I love you guys, I can’t stay for long. James challenged me to a game of exploding snap and-“ Kara spotted Lena, effectively cutting off whatever she was about to say. Her face broke into a smile that nearly stopped Lena’s heart.  “Lena, what are you doing here?”

The house-elves greeted Kara with as much enthusiasm as they did Lena if not more, clamoring over each other as if Kara were a celebrity. To the house-elves, she was. 

“She made a cake!” one yelled. Kara’s eyes found Lena’s once more, her expression eager.

“I thought I’d treat you to a more civilized celebration.” Lena patted the space next to her. One by one, the house-elves disappeared to give the girls privacy. Though, not before they received high-fives from Kara as she made her way to Lena. 

“I’ll have you know, Hufflepuff is the most civilized of houses,” Kara said as she sat. 

Lena scoffed, knocking her shoulder against Kara’s. “Tell that to the Butterbeer stain.”

Kara groaned, looking down at the dark stain that covered the midsection of her sweater. “I just had this washed.” Kara rubbed at the spot. 

Lena laughed, grabbing Kara’s hands, pulling her down onto the blanket. “Congratulations on the win. You were amazing.”

“Well, I couldn’t look bad in front of you.”

“Never.”

Lena turned away from Kara and sat back in the quidditch player's firm embrace. Strong arms wrapped around her as Kara’s chin rested on Lena’s shoulder. Sitting there with Kara, Lena couldn’t imagine any better way to celebrate. Lena turned her head to capture Kara’s lips. The kiss felt warm and soft and perfect. It was everything Lena could've asked for. 

Kara pulled back entirely too soon, leaving Lena to groan in protest and try in vain to recapture Kara’s lips. 

Kara smirked, releasing her hold to swipe at Lena’s nose. “Looks like I’m not the only messy one.” Kara held up a flour covered finger. Lena’s face burned as Kara laid a small peck on her lips, then left their romantic bubble to crawl towards the cake. 

Grabbing a slice and shoving it into her mouth, Kara made a sound of delight. “This is so good!” Kara’s eyes found Lena’s. The tenderness Lena saw in Kara’s gaze sent a flutter of butterfly’s loose in Lena’s stomach.  “I couldn’t ask for better company”--Kara took another bite--”or cake.”

Lena’s heart melted in her chest as she watched Kara devour two pieces in less than a minute. 

No, Lena was not a fan of Quidditch, but she was a fan of her girlfriend.

[radzule]

If actual criticism is ever discussed then sure, but all we’ve seen is people dissing the new chibi art style (better than the last 2 games), and complaining that the game is the same as D&P despite being a remake.

than you really haven’t actually looked. I see plenty of valid criticism just by existing in the tags of the game on twitter.

 (added a keep reading so the post wasnt so long.)

The chibi art style isn’t horrible, but saying it looks better than the last two games is untrue. Even as much as I think Sword and Shield had lackluster graphics, it still looks better than what has been shown to us of the new remakes. I mean comparing the two, it isn't even a contest. 

Its almost sad that sword has better graphics than this thing considering which game is supposed to be newer. But atleast these new remakes make me appreciate what we did get in Sword and Shield more than I would have if they actually tried to make a decent looking remake. 

“Well I don’t care about graphics in a game as long as its good” Thats totally valid I guess. But the point of making these remakes is to improve upon the original game by adding features and expanding the world of pokemon. Like every other remake that has come out. I mean ORAS looks better than this game and Oras was a 3ds title. I shouldn’t look at the new remakes and feel like its a direct downgrade before even touching it. 

 Its been forever since a pokemon game has actually looked fantastic. In fact last time I think I could say I remember thinking it looked fantastic was in Black and White. Not to say that i don’t like some games in the 3D era, because I was a huge fan of Sun and Moon and a total Gen 3 simp who loved the remakes. I dont think they should have stayed in 2D and I welcome 3D pokemon as a whole. It just needs to evolve badly. Pokemon was always evolving and changing before, and as of recent the only changes its been making are ones that inhibit player choice or just gimmicks that they don't let become main stays of the series, regardless of if they are liked or not.

I have no doubt that the changes made in these remakes will only be ones to further reduce the choices of players, since every installment up from X and Y has done so. 

Its not that people are ungrateful, we’re just disappointed and jealous. Jealous of the fact that we can see other nintendo properties being treated with the love, respect, and time to make their new games absolutely amazing! Only to have our games come out half baked and choppy. Yet when we state our opinion we’re always left being called ungrateful. Just because we want the product that we’re going to spend money on to have value comparable to the rest of the works nintendo produces. Its Ludacris and insane that people will blatantly ignore lies from a multi billion dollar company, and call the people who love pokemon the problem.  I mean some of yall will literally say Eat the rich while simping for the pokemon company which like ive already said, makes more money in a year than you will in your life. 

Of course it stands to be seen if the gameplay is as horible or if its going to be a direct downgrade thanks to seemingly new mainstays in the series like the forced exp share. I’m afraid not only will these games not graphically enchance the sinnoh experience, but it may also just dumb it down and ruin what made these games loved in the first place. 

Honestly I dont like shifting blame somewhere, but you people need to stop encouraging the corporate greed that is making pokemon worse every day. Its not wrong to want to see a franchise you love look good and play good. Have some standards. l if not by normal modern game standards, then maybe the standards that nintendo has shown it can meet.

Of course a lot of the gameplay talks here are yet to be proven, as I could be wrong and they become fully faithful to the original, which still wouldn’t make me want to play this game because it looks worse and if it plays like the original ill just play the original? But until the games come out and I can play them, all of these gameplay talks are up for debate. 

[hopeymchope]

Magia Record: Reflecting on the Anime and the Game’s Story Ending

With Magia Record's story now complete in-game and with the anime "finished" (only the first season, but it took until literally this past weekend for the production team at Shaft to acknowledge that the second season is coming/inevitable), I have like… a ton of thoughts about where the game and the anime landed.

This will probably mostly be gripes, but overall, I'm still pretty happy with both. I've invested my past year into Magia Record during a lot of my free time, and hey – no regrets here. That game was absolutely worth the experience. The anime? Jury's still out somewhat, but it looks good so far.

This is definitely a normal thing to find surrounding a radio tower.

Anime Adaptation Thoughts:

The original Madoka Magica anime made the world feel slightly off-kilter by employing locations that were just a little off the rails from reality. The producers noted Madoka's bathroom as an important example; it's simply too large and has too much wasted space. It's maybe the biggest room in their house for no discernible reason, and that's by design, because it feels wrong. Another one was the music store we see in the first episode, where the technology is noticeably on a level that you just can't find in any real shop. On the flip side, the Magia Record anime creates a world that is deeply bizarre in many ways – much moreso than the original anime or the Magia Record game world. This is probably because the creator of the witch designs in the original was given far more creative control over the series as a whole this time around, and the result was BUGNUTS. Take note of the massive stack of discarded school desks that is arranged in a dangerous, precarious pile atop the school building (helpfully labeled as a waste pile, despite the fact that… well, who is picking up these garbage desks from the goddamn roof?). That's some imagery straight out of a witch's labyrinth, but it is ostensibly "reality." I think that's where Magia Record's anime really goes bugnuts, sometimes to powerful effect in that it makes things feel more unsettling… and sometimes to ridiculous effect. I mean, the field surrounding the radio tower now being replaced with a yard of jagged, cockeyed, towering gravestones and cross-like woodwork dangling with ropes and tridents? That's a LOT. That's… that's too much.

Look, if you were a die-hard fan of Kaede in the game, I am deeply sorry, because your girl got done DIRTY by the anime. Anyone who played the game who then sees where she winds up at the end of episode 12 is likely on a train straight to Double-You Tee Eff Station. I can't deny that it makes sense for the limited story she's given to develop across, but it was still disappointing to see. I suppose we don't really have the time to develop up all of the other characters from the game, so somebody had to sub in for this role… but oof.

Sana's backstory with her family is not nearly explained or explored enough in the show. I honestly think it comes off as confusingly unclear why they treated her like this or why they didn't notice her vanish at all. The game justifies this devastatingly well, but it feels like it's not clear at all here.

I think they could've had Kyubey run around Kamihama for part of the first season before he got ousted/blocked, and I think it would've been beneficial to do so. Now, that's not just because I love his character and find him fascinating, although that's definitely true, but it's also because there's so much exposition that I wish he could deliver to the characters about what's happened before we got here. Like, the tragic truth about Felicia's backstory is wonderfully awful, and I wish there was some way to deliver that into the anime, but I don't think it's possible without a ton of flashbacks. (And to be fair, players of the game may never know it without playing her particular Magical Girl Story.)

The change to not having Mami attack Yachiyo when they first meet was something I felt was a positive move. I loved that Mami got to have a moment she never had in the game during the Radio Tower arc, too. In generally, I enjoyed the slower, more piecemeal involvement of the original Holy Quintet, which has served as nice slow tease compared to having them be more upfront in the game. I did kind of miss the Madoka/Homura involvement in the radio tower case, but I ultimately came away feeling like it was better to save those two for later in the story because they're probably the best-known characters from the original series.

The combat soundtrack is exquisite - maybe better than ever before, honestly. The Magia Record anime has the best fight music in the series outside of, say, Rebellion.

Game's Ending Thoughts: (Spoilers Within)

The anime cutscenes in the final chapter are delightful.

Puella Magi has never shied away from having its characters die in the original anime or in the many manga stories. I'd argue that those deaths are at least part of what makes it such a successful subversion of the Magical Girl formula; the threat of death (often via witchiness) establishes the idea of there being permanent consequences that simple hope and faith and love can't overcome in spite of what those other anime may have told you. On the other hand, Magia Record turns out to have very close to zero consequences. Aside from established deaths from flashbacks that have occurred before the game even begins, by the end of the game, literally no one dies. Not even the most blatantly psychotic character is allowed to shuffle off her mortal coil; she just "disappears" and escapes. I particularly like (please note the sarcasm) how three different characters do some kind of "super-move" during the final two chapters that is said to most likely kill them, and yet they all survive them! At least ONE character winds up with some paralysis, but jeez, the others walk away completely unscathed. I can only hope the anime doesn't go quite so weak in the knees about any of the characters suffering actual consequences from the potentially-world-ending-level battles that occur.

I previously griped that I actually expected the psychos responsible for the entire storyline to get off scot-free, and although they don't get off 100% free and clear by the time the credits role, they come extremely close to doing so. However, I was really happy with the "Cherry Blossom Dreams" epilogue event, because there is dialogue in there that has the Magius admit that whatever guilt they have now, they are still capable of being complete sociopaths who want to dominate the Earth. That one person's presence (Ui) shouldn't be (and isn't) enough to keep them from being incredibly dangerous. Ultimately, the solution/punishment they receive is probably the best one available in light of their overall survival. Well done.

Speaking of the Magius, I mean… is it really possible that so many feathers never questioned that they were following a couple of 11/12-year-olds and one blatantly obvious psychotic? I guess having face time with the Magius was pretty rare, but there was still enough that some of the feathers declared their allegiance was primarily to those three above all else. And most magical girls range closer to 16 than to 11, I mean, y'know? Which is practically an eternity in terms of maturity. So I guess MIfuyu did a lot of heavy lifting on NOT making them seem like absolutely the worst possible choices for leadership, huh? (And for that reason: Mifuyu got off fucking LIGHT.)

Aaaand speaking of "one obvious psychotic," I find it funny how almost nobody knows Alina outside of her Magius role except for Karin. Because, just… it's so perfect. Karin (who is not a "Karen") happens to be the most insanely tolerant person when it comes to Alina. She seems to shrug off Alina's entire everything as amusing, forgivable quirks. Perhaps because so many people believe Karin's own obsession with Halloween is a weirdly morbid quirk, Karin doesn't even question Alina's obsession with making art about death using actual human remains. Which is… funny? No, seriously. I think it's legitimately comedic in a good way. But it should probably be much more alarming to me that she doesn't care. I'd like to think that Karen feels it's just delightfully Halloween-y for Alina to paint her canvas with legit blood, and I do believe Karin isn't really the kind of person who would ask where the blood came from because whatever, it's probably fine, better get back to planning my pageant or something. She probably even thinks Alina's skulls are plastic Halloween decorations. :P

We need to talk about Mami: Mami in "Another Story Chapter 9" felt so off and out-of-character compared to how she was written in things like Rebellion or A Different Story or Wraith Arc, and furthermore, despite that chapter being entirely about Mami wanting to just be a simple peer with no superiority over the rest of the Holy Quintet, Another Story Chapter 10 has her immediately revert back to being the smart senpai character, further cementing how weirdly "off" Chapter 9 felt. I realize they had something difficult to write, here, though. It's painful how Sayaka has to run middlewoman between Kyoko and Mami in Chapter 10 of AS. I feel like I could write a whole screed about Kyoko's behavior across the franchise and how difficult a character she is for me to like even though I "get it" and don't think she's necessarily a bad person; she's just living on the edge of being almost a total hypocrite basically ALL THE TIME. The conclusion where Kyoko acknowledges that she's going to continue to work with Mami and the others semi-regularly in spite of everything is really the best closure you can hope for with her. She's too antagonistic to give us much else, and she prefers it that way. It would take years to see her mellow.

At this point, it seems safe to assume that there isn't going to be any "season 2" of the game like what happened with Fate/Grand Order after its finale. The main narrative is well and truly done, and it's just going to be various events from here on out. Is that enough to keep me around? Um. I don't know. Probably not? Hard to say. I don't really know what other mobile game to throw my heart into. I've considered Attack on Titan Tactics, but like… Attack on Titan hasn't been kind to me lately so uhhhhh.

[wild-battlebond]

Appmon Ep45 Liveblog

Just like normal, the Appmon are wandering around and doing application things — wait, is that a Digimon? It’s Agumon?! And it looks like Agumon is... committing crimes?!?

Watson is back to suffering to let the group know what the problem of the day is. he was only allowed one episode of reprieve.

Haru must have a will of steel to barely react when Gatchmon starts guffawing next to his ear over HaruHaru Man

it’s still really debatable if naming the place in the Deep Web ‘Cyber Kowloon’ was a Cyber Sleuth reference or not, but I’d say with almost total certainty that the App Drivers visiting Nakano Broadway to go and confront a Digimon that is from a video game is supposed to be a reference to the game.

also, everyone but Haru has been swarmed by fans because the the group went to Nakano Broadway

*joking voice* wow Haru is really OP, he’s got both a buddy and a partner now

ok this is more of a personal point of interest than anything but I love & find fascinating how this episode treats the bond between players and video game characters & makes out like video game characters do remember and cherish the time they spent with their specific players... it’s a concept I have been absolutely fascinated by ever since I was a little kid.

seeing Agumon and Gatchmon sit next to each other is really interesting because it makes it really easy to compare how different each series’ design philosophies were. Agumon’s design is rather simple — a plain, dinosaur-like body with an almost entirely yellow color scheme. Most other child-stage Digimon, especially those from early series, have similarly simple designs due to the fact that they all started out as v-pets. since the sprites on the Digimon v-pets are so small, they had to create simple but easily recognizable designs (and, in my opinion, they were very successful. I keep being plesantly surprised by how simple yet cute and easily identifiable all the sprites are on the v-pet). meanwhile, Gatchmon & all the other Appmon did not have these limitations. to that point, all Appmon designs are really complicated and busy — Gatchmon alone has like 5 colors with lots of little details. so, due to the different circomstances and what each ‘mon was being designed for, they’re both very visually distinct.

when Agumon notices Globemon & says how cool they are, Haru is looking at Globemon with like. such a proud look in his eyes.

really cute that Agumon’s evolution is sparked by holding hands with Haru

Wargreymon looks super, super cool in Appmon’s CG style. but also, is Wargreymon just... not wearing pants? underwear but no pants? why does wargreymon even need underwear

time for a cross-generational boss rush beat-up! this is really just nostalgia pandering, but it’s the sort of fight that goes over the top with Being Cool so it’s really fun to watch!

Uratekumon looks like such a little gremlin

so on top of there being a world of the net, there’s also a separate world (worlds?) where video game characters live? also, since Digimon are a franchise in-universe, I wonder if they served as inspiration when Minerva made the Appmon?

as far as days go, this was actually, like, a really good day for the App Drivers. everyone who stayed behind at Nakano Broadway seemed to have a good time, and Haru had the time of his life hanging out with Agumon!

Haru got to hang out with Agumon all day! As for Bootmon... Well, finding Bootmon quickly isn’t that big of a deal, right?