#at least he did score a goal in the first game that saves the whole thing from being total humiliation

[6ebe]

I said this yesterday but I’m saying it again. Every time I see the adidas hey Jude ad it feels more ironic

[silovsmenot]

You Can't Win Alone | Artūrs Šilovs

SUMMARY: After the EDM/VAN game seven, Artūrs is struggling with his emotions and needs a hug. WARNINGS: Just the depression we're all currently feeling, lots of fluff. PAIRING: Artūrs Šilov & reader. NOTES: I'm sad and got carried away, although it definitely could've been longer. And it's 1000% not edited, I may make edits a little later but this is fuelled by my depression. Under the circumstances, my submission box is reopened for any NHL one-shot/imagine requests... and expect more. WORD COUNT: 1209

You watched every shot with bated breath — hands gripping the sleeves of the crimson jersey. You and Artūrs had only recently become public with everything going on. You'd been together some months, but you knew well, Arty was a private person and these weeks had been a whirlwind since his call up.

There was no playoff jacket for you like the other wives and girlfriends but that didn’t matter, you had his bronze medal jersey. And you wore it with pride.

You held tight upon the sleeves with every shot that he faced in that first period, but he beat every one. You were beaming with pride as they returned to the ice for the second period, watching his masked face rise to try and find you in the crowd, but even in that crimson he’d struggle.

And as the shots started firing at him again, your confidence wavered. Not in him, never in him – but the team around him looked rattled. They weren’t playing like themselves, like the whole rink knew they could.

You exchanged a look of concern with a few of the other ladies, the wives and girlfriends who had immediately taken you in and made you feel welcome. Their faces were etched with equal concern, which hardly put your thoughts to ease.

It happens just as you turned back to the ice. The slapshot from the point with men in front, and your eyes tightly screwed as the quiet cheer of Edmonton fans rippled through the arena, the sighs of Vancouver fans. He couldn’t see you, but with a short breath, you looked back with a tender whisper.

‘You’ve got this, Art.’ 

You watched as his confidence returned with every save. The smile of your own confidence returning as you told yourself it was only one goal. But there was the ring of the post, the arms of Edmonton players thrown up in celebration and the murmurs once more. The team in blue looked more deflated than ever.

But there were flickers of hope, you clung to every one. Your hands hidden beneath the crimson sleeves as you held hands in front of your mouth, silently pleading for a goal for the home team. Just one goal to shift the momentum, but an open back-door on a penalty kill would put the score to 3-0 and you watched Artūrs head dropping that little bit . . . and it hurt to see.

Natalie Miller gave your hand arm a little squeeze, some confidence as the buzzer for the second period blew and all breathed a breath of relief. Surely, the third – they’d come out with confidence and snatch this thing. You hoped so desperately, everyone in that arena and watching on screens did.

And as the team skated out for the third, there looked to be a difference. A fire had been lit and they woke up. They’d come back from this before, they could do it again.

Garland shot and the arena erupted. You were pulled into arms and shouted in relief, cheering till your mouth was dry. This was it – they could do it. And then there was two, Hronek with a slapshot and nobody was in their seats. They were within one, and you could see how it lifted Art’s shoulders.

But as the clock ticked closer and closer to zero, no shots able to find the back of the net, the end was in sight. The buzzer finally sounded on a desperation shot from centre ice, and the Canucks dream of round 3 was over.

You could see the disappointment in Arty from your seat. You didn’t need to see his face clearly to know that he felt the loss, that he’d blame himself for it, at least to some degree. And as hands shook, your heart was breaking to see him so deflated. To see them all so deflated.

It felt like a long walk to the Canucks area beneath the seating, where you’d wait for him with the other wives and girlfriends. Embraces exchanged and plans being made for the summer months – nobody knew yet who would still be there next season, but that was the life of the hockey partner.

You waited in the crowd, sharing a small smile and nod of encouragement to each player who emerged from the changing room and into the arms of his partner. You waited and waited till all had emerged except for your boyfriend and Clarkie … You were just glad that Artūrs was not alone in there.

But even Clarkie would poke his head out eventually, a hand beckoning you inside with a look of concern. You did not hesitate, nor did you need to speak as you entered. As you entered, your eyes couldn’t miss the only remaining body. Still wearing his pads with hands clasped in front of him – his face was red, the ice pack on his head had melted to a bag of cold water, and his eyes were full, you couldn’t tell if he’d been crying or had been fighting the urge ever since … it didn’t matter, it broke you to see him like this.

With a shallow breath, you crossed the room in a rush. Dropping everything you had in your arms, you crouched before him with tender hands intertwining with his. It took him a moment to look at you, meeting your eyes with a sorrowful look like you’d never seen from him. You knew that this would never be easy, but difficult was an understate as you looked at him.

“Talk to me, Art.” You finally whispered after moments of silence, giving his hands a soft squeeze before they were raised to your lips. A soft kiss upon his knuckles, never breaking from his solemn gaze.

“I should’ve done better, we could’ve won.”

Arty whispered, his gaze faltered to look upon your tangled hands. His teeth biting upon his lips in an attempt to stifle any emotion from breaking through his ice-cold demeanour … but you could see right through it.

“Art, you can’t win a game on your own. You kept them in it tonight, just as you did every other night ... the guys just struggled to find the net –” You sighed. Pulling a single hand free, it came to place upon his stubbled cheek where you’d guide his eyes back to you. “I’m so proud of you.” 

Silence crept back in as he simply stared at you, your gaze watching as he battled every emotion that sought to break free. You couldn’t even begin to imagine how he was feeling, but you were here to remind him that he was never alone.

“Lets get you out of that gear and get you home.” 

Silence broken again, you waited for his nod of agreement before digits began to undo the various buckles and ties of his leg pads. Pulling them free, he leaned forward to pull you into him. It wasn’t a comfortable embrace as you knelt, reaching up with arms around him, but you would stay there for as long as he needed you.

“I love you, and I am so proud of you.” You finally whispered, planting kisses wherever you could without breaking the embrace.

“I love you too, y/n.”

[livin4woso]

Breaking the media

Chapter 10- injury

Game day had rolled around quicker than you had expected you had pushed yourself at training the other day to increase the chance of you starting the words of alexia still forefronting your mind. Once again you and alexia had arrived ungodly early for a late kick off game but at least it was a home match, the team had managed to have a consistent amount of home games however the following weeks wouldn't be as nice as the fixtures increased to the away days which was never fun to be stuck on a coach for hours or a plane depending if it was a champions league fixture. You had just slipped your boot on when the last teamate had arrived it was pina as she had said she got caught in the traffic and had to drive with her hood up and with sunglasses on to hide her identity while driving. "Oh come on pina, next time you should have a better disguise maybe keep a secret wig in your glove box" you retorted to her laughing "right yeah I'll get a bald cap to put in there" she said deadpanning her face "yeah yeah whatever works" you said leaving the changing room and heading for the field.

The warm up felt like it was dragging and that might have been due to the nerves that sat in your stomach or the excitement of potentially starting. Jona called in everyone and told everyone the starting line up and formation and than when "right for defence we have ona on the left mapi and irene in the middle and y/n on the right" he said and you could have ran and hugged him on the spot but you kept your cool until he left and you were practically jumping around like a toddler "come on y/n keep the energy for the game you've got a whole 90 minutes to use it" mapi said "sorry my bad I'll save it for the game". Kickoff was in 5 minutes so you lined up with the team in the tunnel and all of a sudden nerves wracked through you it wasnt as if you hadn't started a game before but this time it felt different like you were playing because you were good enough not because a player was injured. Yous were playing athletico Madrid so while you didn't have to worry on technical abilities you were prepared for a physical game one which you knew you would have to be careful as they have quite the record with fouling players.

The game started the ball was moving between the teams feet just like practice as you were told to pass in triangles which really helped and when the chance break through the field and persue for a goal. Thats exactly what you did when you sent a long ball down into the center field straight at salmas feet and she volleyed the ball into the back of the net to take the lead early in the game. Barcelona continued to dominate the game for the first half and adding another goal to the score line to go up by 2-0 at half time. The score had riled the frustrations in the other team leading them to play dirty and getting more aggressive as the minutes went by, it was around 70 minutes when Barcelona were awarded a corner so as instructed you ran towards the box as being one of the taller girls on the field you had a slight vantage point than others. The ball was swung in from the side and from what you could see was coming straight towards your head as you jumped to get your head on the ball you felt an awful pain as the opposing attacker had full force shoved you in the back and when landing her foot stood on the inside of your ankle causing it to land inwards when you landed leaving you a crumpled mess on the floor. The sound your ankle made could only be described as horrific everyone went silent and just looked to the floor at you face down in the grass almost screaming out in pain it was the worst pain you had ever felt in your life and it was radiating through your body.

It was alexia who had watched it happen and the minute you didn't get up from the floor she came running to check on you shoving the athletico players out of the way "hey pequeña where does it hurt" she said placing her hand on your back "my ankle please ale it hurts really bad" you said through tears choking on your words if alexia could she would have taken all your pain and given it to herself. "Its okay dont panic the medics are coming" she said not leaving your side as the medics ran across the pitch. The more time passed it wasnt just alexia by your side it was mapi, ingrid and even lucy and kiera who were constantly making sure you were okay while irene and marta profusely argued with the ref to get the girl who did this to you sent off or atleast carded for the matter. You were sure it was bad but when the stretcher had been brought out you couldn't believe it, it felt like your whole world was crashing in on you no football for atleast a few months and you had to go through long rehab sessions you couldn't believe it why you? Of all playing it was selfish to think that you wished it was another player but you couldn't help but think it. You whinced in pain as they moved you from the ground to the stretcher and alexia never let go off you the whole way holding your hand to make sure you were okay or maybe it was reassurance to herself that you would be okay "I'll come find you the minute the game is finished okay don't stress about it you will be okay pequeña" she said letting go of your hand as you were carried off the field and into the tunnel and she switched back into game mode to win this game for you.

The game had ended up finishing 6-1 with athletico getting a lucky corner and the ball slipped through panos hands to go in the net however the win was briefly celebrated by alexia as she normally stays to greet some of the fans however she rushed straight to find you in the medical room. Meanwhile for you the past 20 minutes have been a living nightmare your body throbbed with pain as the emotions rised in you yet you wouldn't cry not here not infront of a bunch of strangers they had gave you some painkillers in hopes that would numb the pain but they didn't help much. When alexia had opened the door you had jusy arrived back from the scans where they would check to see the severity of the injury. She looked at you as tears welled in your eyes you could only hold them back so long so as the medical staff informed you for the next month you would be in a boot and have crutches giving them to you as they left the room. Just then the water works began tears streamed down yourself as alexia sat next to you as you crumpled into her side as she rubbed circles on your back. When the tears slowed down it was ingrid and mapi who had entered the room holding your bags and new clothes for both you and alexia as she had forgot to get changed before seeing you. "right I'll be back once im changed then I'll help you and we can go home okay" she said removing her arm from you and silently thanking her best friend and girlfriend as they helped you remove you socks and shin pads being extra careful to not knock your ankle.

Alexia had returned after showering and get changed to find you waiting to go as she managed to balance hers and your bag while holding the doors open for you as you slowly made your way through the halls to the car park. Alexia had dumped the bags in the back seat of the car as she helped you into the passenger side of the car. You sighed to yourself as a long road of recovery was ahead of you and one which alexia would be by your side every step of the way. You had arrived back home and alexia waited as long as it took you to make it to the apartment and there you collapsed on your bed and fell asleep without even changing your mind was filled with negativity and yet alexia was ready to help you every step of the way.

[riririnnnn]

Hello i just want to who do you think is gonna win bm or pxg i wanted to ask your opinion cause you theories are creative on completely different not we almost have same mbti im ENTP 7w6

You know, I don't actually know much about MBTI or Enneagram type much—I just took two quiz, got the results and then just went with it. Time to time, I do see some things related to ENFJ and 6w5 on any of my social media's feed, and I just go, "Yeah, same." And that's it, lol.

Jumping into your main question:

Did you just say my theories are creative?

LMFAO, thanks <3

Anyway, so BM Vs PxG, huh?

Hooooooonestly, I'm not sure. I mean, I am sure, but at the same time, I'm not. The thing I'm thinking seems cliché, so it feels like a lie: BM will win.

Why?

Well, first of all, it's Isagi's team and:

BM and PxG, both haven't lost a single game it now, so winning the match against eachother is like indirectly claiming the best team of NEL title, and the protagonist's team not being the best after the protagonist has gone through hardships and proved himself multiple times—doesn't sound right, you know.

But it's not uncommon for any Shōnen Mangas these days to have moments where the protagonist doesn't get the longer end of stick.

However, I have other reasons, other than Isagi, to think why BM will win:

1. Kunigami Rensuke

Kunigami didn't have that much of moments to shine till now. Yeah, he did have some moments here and there, but it was pretty obvious to sense that Kaneshiro-san was saving him for PxG where he can go head to head with his real rival, Shidou Ryusei.

And hallelujah!

Kunigami has gone ham against Shidou and we have only seen them together in like one chapter? Just imagine what might happen in the future! Further, Shidou has already scored a goal and I don't see him scoring another one because:

Rin is there too. He will surely score a goal and for BM to win, max goal limit for PxG is 2.

Sure, Shidou can score two goals, it isn't a farfetched thing to say, but Rin scoring NO goal in a match? Nuh-uh, Sun might as well rise up from the west at that point.

2. Michael Kaiser

You will never understand how much I want to just roundhouse kick those people that say, "Kaiser has gone downhill," or "Rin has devoured Kaiser," like, my brother in Christ, there are, literally, 2-3 people man-marking Kaiser—he is a great soccer player, but he isn't a God, he has his limits. Sure, Rin might one-up Kaiser in the future, but as of Chapter 256, he hasn't.

Secondly, the whole Kaiser Vs Isagi thing—trying to one-up eachother, they literally elevate eachother's level simultaneously, so I can imagine: Isagi blocks/steals a goal from PxG -> gets counter-attacked and blocked -> Kaiser comes to steal the goal and scores.

HOWEVER!

Why for the love of Blue Lock we are forgetting about Kaiser and Isagi teaming up together? It's something that has been anticipated for so long! I just bet that Kaiser x Isagi goal is going to be breathtaking! And no, I just can't imagine Kaiser x Isagi goal being blocked/unsuccessful.

3. Hiori Yo

Without waiting for more chapters, we can confidently confirm that Hiori's matchup in PxG is Charles and though that 15 year old Imp is AWESOME, we can't forget the literal renaissance Hiori went through during the Ubers match—I don't think so that Kaneshiro-san will do all that just to make Hiori lose against Charles.

Further, Charles is the main gamemaker of PxG, if Hiori were to get a hold of him, it indirectly means that he got a hold of PxG. We have already seen (in Chapter 256) that Hiori was able to see through Charles, so the Cyan haired boy can win against the Imp in the future too.

4. Kiyora Jin

This boy got to do something.

No, he literally has to do something at this point.

His anticipation has been built up for so long that it feels criminal if he doesn't do anything major in the match. With him as an element of surprise for us readers, he is the main one that has made the probability of BM winning, at least, for me.

Further, there is a high chance of him being a match up of Karasu and we all know how much of a smartass that crow is + his physique. Kiyora got to pull some life altering moves.

. . .

Now, to focus on PxG:

You know, when I started reading NEL, I thought it was unfair how PxG is so strong, but now that I look at them, they seem.. fair?

I mean, to be honest, after seeing BM's behaviour, I though every team was like them—hungry to score by themselves, but it seems like other teams are quite harmonious and they work as a team rather than a group of strikers.

The main group in PxG is, obviously, Rin's and Shidou's while Charles acts as the starting point of a goal or something.

However, Kunigami is doing a great job in keeping Shidou on his toes and by the looks of it, I can't think of anything other than that Demon pulling a red card to stop the Cyborg Hero.

Now, as for Rin, he got Isagi and we all know that Isagi can surely keep up with him and though Isagi has to keep up with Kaiser, Rin has to keep up with Kaiser too. Besides, it isn't Isagi's first time going against Kaiser while it's the first time for Rin to go against Kaiser. To add more gasoline to the fire, Isagi has been doing all that WHILE going head to head with the opposing team.

Among the remaining players, I can only imagine a goal from Karasu or Tokimitsu. No hate to Zantetsu or Nanase, but a goal from them.. doesn't seem much plausible. As for Charles, I don't think so that he has ever been shown to have interest in scoring a goal by himself, but if he were to turn out like Sae or Aiku, then maybe he can try for a goal too.

. . .

There are many more reasons and things I have, probably, missed out, but the above ones are the ones that I can think of currently. I understand that I didn't address the biggest elephant in the room: Julian Loki.

We don't know if the Master Coach of PxG will play or not, and even if he will, then will he try to score a goal by himself? Nevertheless, till now, I don't think so there have been any panels of him being in the field, let alone a goal by him in NEL. Still, that panel of Loki announcing him surpassing Noa makes me feel like these Master Coaches will step on the field too, but I think a 31 year old can easily win against a 17 year old.

So yeah, till now, my safe bet is on BM.

That's all, I guess.

For sure, I might be wrong in many things that I have said and most likely, I'll be wrong in everything that I said, but it's fun to make up theories!

.

.

.

Why you guys go anonymous to ask questions though? I won't eat you, I promise.

[accirax]

Disventure Camp All Stars Power Ranking (Round 6)

And, we're back! I'm so glad that the leaking issue didn't wind up making the team have to delay their episode releases, both for their sake and ours. I've been highly anticipating this teaser release, and look forward to cracking into the next round of Power Rankings.

In case you didn't see my last power ranking for Episode 5, the Power Ranking Format is essentially a way of ranking how well each player is doing in the game. So, in essence, this is a long form way of predicting who I think will be eliminated from the competition in the next episode. There will be spoilers for last week's episode (obviously) and its power ranking, so make sure to read that first if you don't want to be spoiled on how I ranked our last boot. If you want more clarification on the rules, that first post will help you out as well. Furthermore, I'm going to be spoiling the preview for next episode, so if you want to go in TOTALLY blind, save this for later. Let's go!

Recap - Connor's Elimination

Current Point Total: 9 acquired/14 possible

'Cause now we have lore! >:D

Well, turns out that my assessment that the Season 2 cast was safe turned out to not be true. At least Connor was my second lowest positioned of the S2 characters, and my bad vibes about the Yellow Tribe were on point... Yeah, that's some copium right there. Seems this whole predicting business might be harder than I thought. Genuinely, though, I'm glad that Connor was at least in the better half of the contestants ranked (barely).

While I'm a little disappointed that Connor didn't make it farther this time around-- I think his placement was nearly identical to how he did in S2-- he wasn't particularly one of my favorite characters, so the loss didn't hurt me that deeply. Instead, he was an understandable sacrifice in terms of making the villains out to be more of a threat, much like what I theorized for Grett. Lesson learned that sometimes the most obvious boot from a tribe simply will be the boot.

Trailer Analysis

Looking back on the last power ranking, I feel like I could have done a lot better if I'd been paying more attention to what we were shown in the preview beyond the song snippet. So, combined with the fact that I'm just really excited to figure out what's going on next episode, I decided that this time around I'd take a closer look. I've never been a fan of analyzing a trailer so closely that you basically spoil the entire story before it happens, but, I don't think that'll happen here...? Depending on how accurate I am, maybe this section will suddenly disappear next time. Who knows.

So, a compilation of relevant things that I think will happen next episode:

Connor and Trevor will have a conversation. While I doubt that this will have anything to do with the elimination order, it is interesting. I'm guessing that Connor will give Trevor some sort of advice regarding his feelings for Derek? Or, even if it can't be counted as advice (given the L he took with Riya), Connor could at least relate. I don't think this is foretelling that Connor will reenter the competition now, though.

Somebody set up a trap to catch a squirrel. My guess is Tom, as a continuation to the drama between Gabby and the others over killing and eating animals. (Aiden confirms in Episode 5 that catching the chicken was "Tom's trap.") However, it could also be something related to Jensen and/or Trevor and Derek, if they started trying to kill the forest animals again.

Yul will take more orders from Emily to make Grett happy. This means that this is an ongoing plotline.

Tess and Ally will reunite at some point. Interesting.

Tom and Jake are definitely going to fight. Given that Tom looks surprised in one screenshot and regretful in the other, I think he's going to realize how much his relationship with Aiden has been hurting Jake.

The challenge will be contestants pushing balls of yarn(?) down towards other teams' arches, trying to score a goal, while other members of the teams try to block them. All teams appear to have arches and people pushing balls. This is definitely another challenge taken from Survivor, I think possibly Gabon...? I'm pretty sure that, in real life, they had to stop doing this challenge because it injured people too much, but that's the beauty of animation!

At least Yul and Aiden will be knocked down, which could be a good thing or a bad thing. Does that mean they gave it their all to stop a ball, or that the ball trampled their attempts to stop it...? Focusing on the second screenshot, though, the Cyan team is stopping yellow and magenta balls at the same time. Assuming the contestants have any say in where they aim, I wonder if the Yellow (Grett) and Magenta (Ashley, possibly Fiore?) teams will align to target Cyan because they have five members. That could be an in-universe reason to keep the teams even with a Cyan elimination, despite Cyan being pretty physically fit.

"Sure, princess. Whatever floats your boat~!"

Given Fiore's placement in both of these screenshots, it seems like one image must happen right before the other, so Fiore is probably addressing Jake. She sounds really confident and mocking... for some reason? Not saying that's out of character for Fiore, but did something happen to make that confidence warranted as opposed to her anger at being on the bottom? Here are my two guesses: 1) Fiore, Ashley, and Ally have made a girls' alliance, so Fiore is dismissive towards Jake because she knows he's on the bottom. 2) More likely, this might have something to do with Tom and Jake's fight. Jake ran in to urgently tell Fiore something, which could be about a development in Tom and Jake's relationship. Fiore doesn't care, so she gets sassy. I'm honestly kind of confused by this, but we'll see what happens.

Those are all of the scenes from the trailer that I thought were important/I was actually able to get something of value out of. Onto the main event: the actual Power Ranking!

Power Ranking

#1: Jake

Other than... being a S1 character, I guess? There really isn't anything that makes me think that Jake would be headed home this week. He's entrenched in drama, he seems to have the numbers on his tribe, and I don't even think that Magenta is going to tribal. To me, it's so clear cut that I don't have much to say. If he does go home, I'll be very surprised.

#2: Alec

Woah, check out that jump! From 12th to 2nd. Adventure Camp Dan wishes he could've had that when moving to Disventure Camp.

Now that Alec has survived one Yellow vote-- which turned out to be Connor-- I think he's pretty safe. The idea of Riya, Yul, and Grett suddenly now turning around and all working together to eliminate their leader feels laughable, given how dysfunctional the three of them are. Like, could Alec really lose that much social capital in the span of one episode, in a challenge he'll presumably be good at...? I'm kind of anticipating a merge at 12 (Episode 7), so I'm hoping this would confirm that Alec makes the merge.

#3: Ashley

Speaking of making the merge, I honestly think that Ashley will be there. After exploring some more of DC's behind the scenes content (the charity livestream they held 4 months ago and Silly Billy's S1 cast interviews), I've come to learn that the DC cast really likes Ashley... for some reason.

Look, it's not like I hate the gal! I just don't see her as the standout, heroic and hilarious character that a bunch of the voice actors seem to. Because I held this opinion, I was unaware of the possibility that Ashley was brought back because she was some huge fan favorite that everyone wanted to see done to justice. If that's the case, I have a hard time seeing the DC writers eliminating her as a premerger again.

I don't think Magenta is going to tribal, and I think that Fiore or Ally would be more natural boots than Ashley would be anyways. Congrats on ranking this high even though you're currently being hunted for sport, S1 girl. I still don't think you're going to win overall, but you'll probably make it through the day.

#4: Yul

Another big jump! Yul's new position is aided by two major factors. The first is that he's one of only two S2 boys left in the game, after James, Hunter, and Connor were eliminated (side note: I did NOT notice that the game only started with three boys from S1. I wonder what level of safety that grants them. Why did they bring back every S1 girl except Lill. That's so many.)

The second is that the plotline between him and Emily is clearly continuing to have relevance. Perhaps I'm relying too much on the rule of threes, but it would be strange, in my opinion, to have Yul lean on Emily for assistance more than once, but still only twice. Perhaps Emily's character was largely designed to assist a major Yul plotline, after all.

He also doesn't seem to have suffered too greatly from that stage light falling on his foot last episode, which bodes well for his odds. Unfortunately, it seems like the viewing public is going to be subjected to Yul for a little while longer (/lh).

#5: Aiden

Woohoo, the other surviving S2 boy. I honestly wanted to put him higher, but the fact that I'm really feeling like Cyan is headed for tribal couldn't let me justify higher than 5th place.

And, there are genuine reasons why I think he could go home now. If that conversation between Tom and Jake ends in them reconciling, the writers might not want Aiden around anymore to continue being a barrier between them. (And, now that the music episode has passed, they don't need to keep him around for his pipes, either ;).) It's been long enough now since Lake's elimination that I don't think Aiden's elimination would feel super weird. He's had a bit of a chance to play for himself, so if his fate now becomes to hang out in a cool hotel with his boyfriend and bestie for a couple of weeks, it wouldn't seem so bad.

...But I still think Aiden isn't going home, dammit! Knowing DC, I doubt Tom and Jake would make up so early unless one of them was going home, not Aiden. They love the drama. Tom and Jake's relationship is more likely to get worse before it gets better. Not to mention, I still find the "James returns" theory very compelling. Although the Cyan girls have plenty of reasons to eliminate Aiden, I still don't really think they would.

#6: Ally

Is it just me, or would Ally's elimination feel... really random right now? Like, how would it happen, and what narrative point would it serve? The show has very deliberately shown Ally bonding with each and every member of her team. She's had multiple one-on-one conversations with Ashley cementing their friendship, she grew closer to Jake by relating to him through song, and was always the one to defend Fiore from Hunter's attacks. All three of them have reasons to like her and want to work with her, so why would they let her go?

However, Ally doesn't cement a higher placement because I do think there are ways that they could swing her elimination. It's possible that the writers only established relationships between Ashley, Jake, and Ally so that there'll be high stakes and tension between which teammate Ashley and Jake will pair with if Magenta does go to another vote. For Ally to go home, they would have to choose to side with Fiore, but that's not totally unreasonable given how they voted last time.

The fact that Ally and Tess seem to reunite in this episode is also troubling. We have the dangling plot thread from last episode that Ally is worried that she and Hunter won't be able to spend that much time apart (which she believes is good for them) before they have to reexamine their relationship. If that fear turns out to be true, I could see that giving Ally an opportunity to quickly get some advice and closure from Tess would allow her to head to the Losers' Motel with a plan of how to handle Hunter in the future.

I still don't think that Ally or Magenta has anything to fear with tribal, though.

#7: Tess

A definite downgrade from last week, but still not that terrible. A lot of Tess' new placement is that, as I keep reiterating, I think Cyan is very likely to go to tribal, so it's hard to justify putting anyone on Cyan too high.

Having the opportunity to reconnect with Ally is also potentially bad for Tess, although probably less problematic for Tess than for Ally. If the writers were like, "well, Tess got one conversation with Hunter and one with Ally, now she's out!", that would be kind of silly, imo. But, still, that chat will eliminate the sort of "immunity" from getting booted that I gave Tess previously.

It's also not like there's no reason for the Cyans to take out Tess here. The swing vote is usually a fairly protected position, as both alliances should be looking to her for aid. But, if neither side finds her trustworthy enough, they could unite to take her out. I can definitely see a potential character arc of Tess' indecision taking her out from the game. If she can truly never make up her mind about whether to trust Ellie or not, everyone could unite to take out their unreliable teammate and save their own asses.

However, from a narrative perspective, this would further postpone the conflict between Ellie and Aiden, which could be kind of anticlimactic. It would also throw away Tess' character over a trait that wasn't even particularly pronounced in her original appearance. Then again, we saw what the writers did to Hunter, so we can't be too sure that Tess isn't headed in a similar direction.

#8: Grett

Much like Alec, I'm a bit less worried about Grett in this episode after we had the Yellow elimination last episode. She's also picking up points from (presumably) being involved in the ongoing Yul and Emily plotline, which could give her some plot armor moving forward.

If Yellow is headed to a vote, I don't really see why Alec and Riya would choose to eliminate Grett over Yul. Riya really dislikes Yul, he's still possibly injured, and Alec has a history of working with Grett, even if it ended on kind of bad terms.

Why put her so far below Yul, then? Well, first of all, Grett is a meta-threatened S1 girl, while Yul is a meta-protected S2 boy. Secondly, I do still think that Yul will probably be the cause of Grett's elimination at some point down the line, even if it's not this episode. Perhaps I should make an overall theory post talking about some of my thoughts on potential endings someday. And, third, I actually did think of one reason why Alec and Riya would choose to keep Yul over Grett... kind of. If Emily wanted to keep Yul in the show for whatever reasons, she could use the earpiece to instruct Yul on clever, strategic things to say that could also convince Alec and Riya that he turned over a new leaf. Basically, it's possible that Emily could girlboss her way into keeping Yul in the game, rather than Yul staying in due to his own merits.

There are other S1 girls (and others) that I believe to be in a spicier position now than Grett, though, so she lands at #8.

#9: Fiore

With Fiore, we enter the realm of players that I seriously believe could be in danger of elimination this episode. Yes, despite my claims that I think Fiore could be the winner, I do think that, if Magenta goes to tribal this episode, Fiore would be the boot. I just don't think Magenta really is going to tribal; ha ha!

It's really that whole, "whatever you say, princess~" that has me worried for Fiore. I'm concerned that, after getting a taste of power with the Hunter boot going her way, Fiore has become overconfident in thinking that Ally is definitely the next boot and that she will make the merge, whenever it is. (Basically, Fiore would think that Ally's presence gives her enough of a buffer that she thinks the merge is essentially secured.) If she goes back to demeaning Jake and Ashley, they could easily choose to turn on her and protect their newfound friendships with Ally instead. Fiore's status as a S1 girl isn't helping that read.

Again, I feel like all of the current Magenta team members are probably going to make the merge at this point, so Fiore should be safe. However, as (in my opinion) the most likely Magenta boot, Fiore winds up at #9 in case of emergency.

#10: Gabby

Thinking back on it, other than being a S1 girl, my reasoning behind Gabby's elimination wasn't that strong.

Or, maybe it was, before Ellie absorbed even more of the villainous energy last episode with her comments about torturing Jake. With comments like that, it becomes even harder to believe that Tom and Aiden would choose to target Gabby instead of Ellie. The farther Gabby makes it into All Stars, the less of an excuse there is for her to be eliminated with very little focus beforehand.

Still, I think Cyan is in trouble, blah blah blah. If some sort of twist does occur that gives Ellie individual immunity amidst her team-- and I don't think that would be a totem, as Ellie using a totem on herself and inadvertently sending Gabby home would basically require her to make her totem publicly known before the vote-- then they could target Gabby instead.

It is harder to predict DC than Survivor because DC has more of a penchant for pulling random shit out of nowhere, like that vote in S1 where Gabby just straight up obliterated Ashley. I wonder if that relationship will reemerge later in All Stars... Gabby would probably need to be around for it to happen, so, clearly, she should stay in.

#11: Tom

When I was drafting out my initial thoughts for this list, I originally put Tom really high. Like, top 3 high. But, the more I thought about it, the more I started to feel like Tom could be on the chopping block this episode.

For starters, the love triangle. I said last episode that, because Tom is the central leg between Jake and Aiden, he wouldn't be at risk of elimination. Well... I take those words back, sort of.

Let's look at it this way: if you eliminated any one of Jake, Aiden, or Tom, what would happen? If you eliminate Jake, Aiden and Tom are left. That's pretty boring, because then they could just be friends without any particularly strong (or at least personally motivated) opposition. If you eliminate Aiden, Jake and Tom are left. That's definitely better, because Jake and Tom could simply continue the will-they-won't-they plotline on their own, but you'd still lose Aiden as an obstacle without Jake having any hand in it.

If you eliminate Tom, Jake and Aiden are left. In my opinion, this is by far the spiciest option. Jake would probably be super mad at Aiden for not doing enough to protect Tom from getting voted out, leading to Aiden being justifiably angry that Jake has been so aggressive towards him despite Aiden not wanting Tom to go home, either. I think that having Tom's two "love interests" left to fight each other without him actually being there is the most interesting way in which one corner of the triangle could be eliminated.

But that's all about why Tom "should" be eliminated; what about why he would get eliminated? There are a couple of possibilities here, too. First of all, that argument between Jake and Tom in the preview, which ended with Tom pretty clearly being remorseful about what he did. If Tom gets super demoralized about screwing things up with Jake, it could cause him to be seen as a liability. Or, in an extreme case, Tom could feel so guilty about his and Aiden's kiss that he would ask the girls to target him instead of Aiden.

Alternatively (or even additionally), we also saw that squirrel trap in the trailer, which I said could be hinting at further conflict between Tom and Gabby over the team's diet. If Gabby got really fed up with Tom's carnivore side, she could ask Ellie if they could target Tom instead of Aiden, which Ellie might agree to.

Despite all this, I can also totally understand why the writers would want to keep Tom around. After his kiss with Aiden, his visibility and importance seem higher than ever. If James does return to the competition later, having him chat with Tom would be... interesting, even given James not caring that his boyfriend was stage-kissing another man. And, Tom potentially has a winner plot set up, given that the writers found it important enough to tell us what Tom would do with the prize. With Cyan likely going to tribal, however, the possibility of a surprise Tom boot felt more viable than ever. I'm not putting him in last place, but if Tom does wind up going home, I'm gonna feel pretty smart.

#12: Riya

Much like Fiore, Riya is here as my safety net for who I think would go home if Yellow does wind up going to tribal instead of Cyan. However, I feel like a third Yellow tribal is, on the whole, more likely than a third Magenta tribal, so Riya gets kicked all the way down here.

Without Connor as a shield, Riya is in a much worse position. Yul already dislikes Riya in general, but that only increased after she caused the light to fall on him, and would only increase more if he ever learns that Riya was the one to fire that stray vote at him. Grett would probably work with Yul, which is already 50% of the votes against her.

Alec is definitely Riya's best lifeline, and it could work out in her favor. After all, if Alec continues working with Grett and Yul, if they go to tribal again, the couple would most likely vote him out. However, I think it's really a question of how much longer Alec thinks he has before the merge.

Here's my logic: if Alec thinks there's still a long time until the merge, then, yes, it would be better to work with Riya to have a chance to eliminate Grett or Yul. That's because, the more team challenges there are, the greater opportunity Yellow has to lose again, and the greater possibility that Grett and Yul vote him out.

However, if Alec thinks that the merge is soon, it's better to vote out Riya. If Alec and Riya managed to eliminate, let's say, Yul, then Alec is essentially losing two members of his villains alliance-- one due to Yul's elimination, and one due to Grett presumably withdrawing. Alec has already burned her once before.

That would cause the villains alliance to go into the merge with a maximum of only four members: Alec, Riya, Fiore, and Ellie. The other teams have already been primed to believe that the villains are a huge threat, and with such small numbers, they would be very easily eradicated. Even beyond others, Fiore and Ellie might also be mad at Alec for him dragging them onto his sinking ship of a plan, and try to desert as well. My point is, sticking with Riya could go really badly for Alec.

So, combining that doomsday scenario with me at least thinking that the merge probably will be soon, and the fact that Alec choosing to side with Riya would only put them at a 50:50, NOT a majority, and I can totally see why Alec would choose to vote for Riya.

And, that's not even taking into account Riya's poor behavior! The Yellow Team did lose the singing challenge due to Riya's influence, and they suffered during the diving challenge due to her fear of the depths, too. She's a challenge liability. She was also shown hogging the shower, and is now sunbathing during camp life, proving that she's not a team player. She has way too much confidence in her "power position," as she put it last episode, for where her game actually is. If it's not Cyan that goes to tribal, I can totally see the threads coming together to lead to a Riya elimination.

#13: Ellie

It's just simple math for me at this point. I think that Cyan is almost certainly going to tribal next episode + I think Ellie is by far the most likely boot for Cyan's next tribal = I think Ellie is really, really likely to be the next boot. She's even a S1 girl.

My argument is pretty much the exact same things I said last episode, except now they're even worse. The screenshots from the challenge now make me think that Cyan will go to tribal next episode, as opposed to my confusion about why Cyan would lose a music challenge. We also saw that Ellie has begun to prioritize suffering over strategy, which both increases the odds that people like Tess would want to take her out and decreases the odds that she'd be able to pull off an intellectual move to save herself.

I'll honestly be pretty surprised if Ellie doesn't go home next episode... but, hey, I was surprised by Connor's boot last episode, too! If Ellie does manage to survive another episode, I wonder if I'll have to start reconsidering putting her so close to the bottom. Part of it would depend on how she survives, of course.

The only way to know for sure is to actually watch the episode myself, so, see y'all on Thursday! Thanks for reading!

[slow-slug]

(not) lonesome practicalism

AN: Okay first of all, the person who forced me into making tumblr account, please do not look at this post lmao I want to save my dignity, let's pretend it's not here. Second of all it's all @angelchigiri fault that I've written it, and thirdly it was not suppose to be that long but my hand slipped. And at the end I want to mention, english is not my first language and I do not have a beta, so yk, probably a lot of mistakes, sorry :,) Enjoy!

Its all fluff I promise! Oh and it's Chigiri x Reader ofc!

🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀

🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀

You pouted as the ball you just had kicked rolled not into the direction you wanted it to go. You had to admit it was a very pitiful picture, the net of the goal waved slightly with barely noticeable breeze, and the ball was, well, not in the middle of it as you wanted it to be. 

It was really frustrating, you were on the field that belonged to your old school, for quite some time now. Long enough that the sun started to set, and the hot summer temperature was slowly but surely becoming a chilly one. 

You felt like a fool, despite the fact that because of summer vacations no one was nearby, you still were feeling rather embarrassed. How was kicking a ball into the right direction so hard? It just never went the way you wanted it to go, honestly it was so silly, all you wanted to do was learn some basic football movements. That’s all! Was it so bad wanting to be more invested in your boyfriend's activities and passions?

You flopped down on the hard ground, feeling the artificial texture of it beneath your fingers. 

Sighhhh.

Honestly, Chigiri was so amazing in every way. He was caring, a gentleman in always asking about your mood, and making sure you were comfortable in everything you two were doing. Since you started dating, two months ago, suddenly your world felt a lot brighter and colorful. You spent so much time together, and when not, you were texting and sending stupid photos to each other. A true honeymoon phase in all its glory.

But the most important thing to you that he was doing was the way he was so invested in your hobbies and interests. You never had someone so, so genuinely interested in your passions. It was such an amazing feeling, when he sent you links to silly videos that he knew you would be interested in, and what's most important was the fact that he was never scared to spend time with you doing those activities. No matter what it was. Baking? He would research the best recipe that there exists. Dancing? Bring it on, with his coordination skills it was a lot of fun twirling together. Drawing? He wasn’t really good at it, but you still had the portret he drew of you, hanging up proudly above your desk. Hell, he even went shopping with you for new makeup products you needed and later, when you got back to your house, he did face masks with you and cuddled while watching some cheesy kdrama. 

And you wanted to return the favor, so, a whole week you spent walking to the field and practicing the damned football. It was your favorite thing, watching him being all excited about matches and scores. He smiled so widely and his eyes sparkled with such a real passion. And you wanted to be part of this world as well. 

You understood the rules of the game, knew the professional and more inside terms used for different moves, you were there for Chigir’s practice when you only could, you were watching matches with him and engaged in long discussions about them. 

The only thing is that, well, you kindly speaking, sucked at playing the actuall game. 

And it was so embarrassing! 

You heard your boyfriend's wishes that you could play some nice and short matches. He had never said it outloud, but you could read between the lines well enough that you understood his shy smiles and quick looks on the field when you were passing by it. So you did the only reasonable thing. Decided to learn this sport, at least a little bit, so you could surprise Chigiri and see his beautiful smile when you would show him the skills you had. 

You observed the slowly moving clouds. Well, you must admit that the practice you had, everyday for the whole week, was really effortless. Sadly. The ball never went in the direction you wanted it to go, you couldn’t run with it without losing it or falling on your face. You didn’t even attempt dribbling. 

You covered your eyes with your arm sighing quietly, and felt the frustrated tears to prickle them. This isn’t fair, you’ve seen so many matches, and Chigiri’s practices, so why couldn’t you repeat any of the things he did? 

The moment you decided to stand up and try again you felt someone laying down next to you also sighing quietly. Your tensed muscles relaxed as you felt your boyfriend’s comforting smell enveloping you. Dammit, you didn’t even hear him creeping on you.

You laid in silence for some time, breathing quietly. Then you felt his pinky touching delicately yours, and you smiled softly against your will. 

“Are you gonna tell me what you've been up to this past week?” He asked quietly not breaking the tiny physical contact he had with you. 

“It’s stupid” you’ve murmured. 

“It’s not if you spent so much time on it” he responded gently. 

That made you uncover your face and shift it so you could take a better look at him. Pink hair spilled around him, and tickled his perfectly looking skin. His pink eyes blinked at you, patiently waiting for your answer. 

“Promise you won’t laugh?” You’ve asked uncertainly, it was so stupid now that you looked at it. He nodded softly, enveloping your hand fully and giving it an encouraging squeeze. “I just wanted to learn some basic football I guess…” you turned your eyes to your hands observing the color of your skin. You heard a quiet oh, and your face flamed red. 

You’ve quickly sat up, and buried your head in your knees. That’s it for you, never coming back nope. And Chigiri was still silent! He did sit up with you, not so abruptly as you of course. He was always so smooth and elegant in every move. 

“You did?” He sounded weirdly breathless. You nodded without looking at him. You sat there in silence for a while. You wanted to go away, to stand and ask Chigiri to forget it, to never mention it again, so you can just skip this embarrassing chapter of your life. Yet, before you could act on those thoughts, you felt arms wrapping around you from behind and his hair tickle your nape when he leaned on it with his forehead. 

“Gods I love you so much.” He whispered in a hushed tone. You felt the warmth on your cheeks and the butterflies in your stomach. Chigiri never really says it outloud, his love is more hidden in gentle kisses and in the time you two spend together. You muffled a groan, his random declarations of love will always mean so much to you.

He stood up, and turned to be in front of you. When you looked up, the last sun rays made up a halo around his hair and the smile that graced his lips was so fond and kind. He put out a hand in your direction. 

“Come I’ll teach you.” And in what world would you say no to him? 

🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀

i feel cringe

[sergeifyodorov]

Game Results!!

Right before the playoffs started, I made a Google form asking people to guess the results. To my surprise, I got over a hundred responses! Here they are, summarized. Congratulations to the winners:

@firstliner with 17 points and 12 correct answers

@kaprizovv with 17 points and 10 correct answers

@zukirillo with 16 points

Here's a graph of point distribution:

Let's get to the nitty gritty:

Let’s start with the individual question results.

Hopefully the way I phrased each question in this chart makes sense. Let’s talk about some of the things that surprised me! First, I want to note that a lot of these questions -- most of the ones where I asked you to guess a number -- also gave points for being very close. In the chart above, I only put in the actual correct answers; for example, those who picked 50 games exactly to be played in round one.

A surprising amount of you -- nearly a fifth -- picked Florida to beat Boston in the first round. Definitely not what I would have thought! But then again, they actually did end up doing it, so that all in all is a bit wild. An equally surprising amount of you picked Toronto to break the Curse. Or at least, that one specific curse. I admire the optimism! Florida ruins everyone’s plans again, though.

Not very many people guessed the number of saves made very closely. The 63-save performance was, in fact, Bobrovsky against Carolina in that absolute marathon game one of the Eastern Conference final. Most people seriously underestimated the number of saves you can make in a playoff game -- I guess sometimes we forget playoff overtime format, which can jack up numbers to stuff you wouldn’t usually see in the regular season (the second-place this playoffs is a tie between another Bobrovsky performance in the game that eliminated Toronto, and an Oettinger one against Minnesota, both of which went to overtime). Although it is worth pointing out Juuse Saros made sixty-four saves in a game and won earlier this year… also against Carolina, the most shot-happy offence in the league. 

And I’m also surprised that only one person guessed Vegas would win the Cup! In fact, literally nobody guessed Florida either, so safe to say this Cup Final was a bit of an upset.

As for the answers that were given, here’s a quick list of observations:

For the DAL-MIN question (pick a player on each team. If either of them scores the most goals in the series, you get points), Robertson/Kaprizov was by far the most chosen answer. Sixty-three of you picked it -- that’s more than half!

Much like Robertson/Kaprizov was the overwhelming answer only to be wrong, most people picked the New Jersey Devils to be the newcomer that lasted the longest. (I picked “longest lasting” based on “most wins,” and since Seattle lasted to seven in round two while New Jersey was out in five, Seattle made it further.)

90 people picked Vegas to beat Winnipeg in the first section of the game, while 84 people picked Vegas to beat Winnipeg in the second section of the game.

Like the chart above says, the closest guess to the longest game question was within 9 seconds (it was 3OT+19:56).

Boston was the most popular Cup choice, with 29 votes. After that were Colorado and Edmonton with 16 and 15 respectively, then the Leafs with 12 and the Stars with 10.

I’m doing a whole separate section for the player choices at the very end, because that’s a bit more involved. There were three questions: which player would lead the playoffs in scoring by the end of the Conference Finals, which goalie would have the best sv% by the end of the Conference Finals, and which player would win the Conn Smythe (I gave you guys three chances for this one.)

The leading scorer was Hintz, with 24 points. Only one person actually chose Hintz -- which, he definitely wouldn’t be my first choice either! I mean, I love that little blonde freak, but who would have known he’d have put on a Smythe-worthy performance (with the noted caveat of, you know, not actually doing the thing)? But who was chosen?

Nine players got one vote: Matty Beniers (SEA), Roope Hintz (DAL), Kirill Kaprizov (MIN), Mitch Marner (TOR), Jared McCann (SEA), Martin Necas (CAR), Brock Nelson (NYI), Devin Shore (EDM), and Matthew Tkachuk (FLA.) I can only assume Devin Shore was a joke.

Auston Matthews got two votes.

Jack Hughes got four votes.

Jason Robertson got five votes.

Leon Draisaitl got six votes.

Mikko Rantanen got seven votes.

Nathan MacKinnon got eight votes.

David Pastrnak got twenty-five votes.

And, of course, Connor McDavid got the most, with thirty-eight votes.

Nobody guessed Jack Campbell was going to have the best save percentage -- of course, he mostly got sheltered minutes, when the game was already lost and neither team was really pushing. Here’s who did get voted for:

Martin Jones (SEA) got one vote.

Stuart Skinner, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Connor Hellebuyck got two votes each.

Freddie Andersen, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jeremy Swayman, and Vitek Vanecek got three votes each.

Igor Shesterkin got four votes.

Filip Gustavsson and Ilya Samsonov got five votes each.

Alexandar Georgiev got six votes.

Ilya Sorokin got eleven votes.

Jake Oettinger got twenty-two votes.

Linus Ullmark finished up his Vezina-calibre season by winning the dubious honour of Most Votes In This Tumblr Poll, with thirty-three. A surprisingly similar margin to Connor McDavid.

Okay, now the Smythe. I asked everyone to submit three choices for this question, so there are a lot more results for this one!

Twenty-three players each got one vote: Connor Clifton and Hampus Lindholm (BOS), Brent Burns (CAR), Erik Johnson, Alexandar Georgiev, and Valeri Nichushkin (COL), Joe Pavelski and Tyler Seguin (DAL), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (EDM), Sasha Barkov (FLA), Anze Kopitar (LAK), Filip Gustavsson (MIN), Nico Hischier and Luke Hughes (NJD), Casey Cizikas and Anders Lee (NYI), Adam Fox (NYR), Andrei Vasilevskiy (TBL), Justin Holl (?), Calle Jarnkrok, Ilya Samsonov, and Willy Nylander (TOR). That’s a lot!

Ten players each got two votes: Jeremy Swayman (BOS), Martin Necas (CAR), Matt Boldy and Marc-Andre Fleury (MIN), Brock Nelson and Ilya Sorokin (NYI), Igor Shesterkin (NYR), Matty Beniers and Vince Dunn (SEA), and Connor Hellebuyck (WPG).

Two players each got three votes: Brad Marchand and Mika Zibanejad.

Two players each got four votes: Miro Heiskanen and Auston Matthews.

Sebastian Aho got five votes. Not sure which one, though.

Cale Makar got six votes.

Kirill Kaprizov got eight votes.

Matthew Tkachuk got nine votes.

Jake Oettinger got ten votes.

Jason Robertson got eleven votes. Yes, it is weird how they keep getting one more vote than the last.

Leon Draisaitl got twelve votes.

Jack Hughes got fourteen votes. Whenever someone put “Hughes” without specifying the brother, I assumed they put Jack, considering that he’s more well-known than Luke and Quinn isn’t in the playoffs.

Patrice Bergeron got fifteen votes.

Mitch Marner got sixteen votes.

Mikko Rantanen got seventeen votes.

Linus Ullmark got twenty-three votes.

Nathan MacKinnon got thirty votes.

David Pastrnak got forty votes.

Connor McDavid got forty-three votes. First in our hearts <3

Anyway! Hope you enjoyed that, and congratulations to the winners! If you have feedback, questions, or want your specific results, please send in an ask :) Let’s hope for a nice and peaceful offseason.

[tiffanytoms]

Honestly, the World Cup has me so horny, I decided to write something different while watching it. If this isn’t your jam, my bad.

But I’m not sorry 😇

NSFW - Smut

He did it.

You don’t know how, and yet, you never doubted him for a second.

Of course James Potter scored the game clinching goal to advance England to the semi-finals. As if there would ever be a doubt in your mind that his level of skill and cockiness wouldn’t push his team past the finish line.

You’d watched. You’d cheered. And now you were so unbelievably wet.

It had been nearly unbearable to wait as his team celebrated — like nails on a chalkboard as they all did their perfunctory post-game interviews, but he was here now. In his small little player hotel lodging room. With you.

“Baby, did you see—?” he asked eagerly, somehow still wanting to prove himself to you, somehow still caring about your opinion even as his whole country was probably chanting his name.

“On the bed. Now,” you demanded, living the dream of at least 28 million women and queer men. You pushed his warmup jersey up, over his abdomen, needing his help before it got tangled with his broad shoulders. It was the first test to see if he was just as horny as you were. By the grace of the gods, he allowed it.

“Really?” he asked smugly, standing before the mattress shirtless. Every muscle in his body seemed primed and ready to go, not yet having lived down the adrenaline of having just performed on a global stage. You tried not to ogle, but— fuck that, you were ogling. You were ogling fucking hard. His ribcage expanded and retracted with every breath he took, highlighting his upper and lower abs in turn. You knew how he’d earned them. You saw him sprint up and down the pitch, saw him tumble when he’d been on the receiving end of a bad tackle — being knocked to the ground by a desperate opponent, trying to take him out once and for all. But he’d jumped right back to his feet (much to your poor heart’s relief). You loved that he didn’t have to act and roll on the ground in false pain. He was good. He knew it, his opponents knew it, and ultimately, the ref did too. She could tell when he was fouled without him having to act it up — and you loved that.

“Yes. Really.” You pushed him backwards making his fit, perfect body fall onto the bed behind him, bouncing up and down lightly. He was so sexy, and so yours. You couldn’t believe your luck at having him all to yourself, but you supposed that was something to ponder at a later date. Now was the time to soak it in. Physically.

James bit his lower lip, looking up at you as you stood at the mattress’ edge. “So you enjoyed the match?”

Oh James. He’d always loved compliments, always loved hearing you sing his praises. Normally you relished withholding them from him until he’d done something on your body worthy of all the adoration, making him really work for it — but tonight was different. Tonight he was a champion, and you wanted him to claim his prize for all his hard-earned accomplishments.

Tonight you wanted him to claim you.

His eyes grew infinitesimally wider as he gleaned your realization off of your expression. Or perhaps he gathered as much when you reached for the hem of his joggers, pulling them down easily before you climbed up on your knees on the mattress and reached for your vibrator on his nightstand.

“Let me warm up first, then you can do whatever you want to me,” you declared.

He wanted to speak, you know he did, but how easily you slid down onto him, his cock finding zero resistance against your slick body, rendered him nearly speechless… save for a small ‘fuck’ he whispered into the stale hotel air.

This man had just made history. This man had just changed the course of a nation’s pride… but right now he was beneath you, completely at your mercy.

You smiled as you bounced yourself up and down over his body, making sure he was as hard as could be before you switched over to the deep grinding you preferred, activating your toy and bringing it down onto your clit. “Fuck, James,” you moaned, throwing your head back, as you settled into your familiar rhythm.

His hands claimed your hips, his eyes scanning down, realizing you were still nearly fully dressed. “Baby, I love that you’re wearing my jersey—” you were, as a cute little dress, “—but now…”

A circular swivel of your hips cut him off, forcing his head back into the pillow as he bit his own tongue. You’d seen this man dribble past four defenders before easily sinking the ball into the net, and yet here he was, uselessly overpowered by your small thrust. “You want it off, baby?” you taunted, your fingers leaving their perch on his pecs to toy with the hem of the jersey, blocking his view of your body.

It pained him to force his eyes open in response. “Yes. Please.”

Well, you couldn’t deny him such an ardent plea. Never breaking your steady grind on top of his body, you peeled his shirt off of you, reveling in the way his face broke as he realized you hadn’t been wearing a bra.

“So… fucking beautiful…” he panted as you rode him harder still.

He was exhausted, you knew he was. He’d played the whole game and all the overtime being their star player, so of course he could barely lift a finger now, having given it his all.

Then again, that was hardly your problem. You smirked as you leaned back, placing a hand on one of his muscular thighs to manipulate your weight, driving your cunt forward over him, forcing as much friction onto your clit as possible. James hissed, his nails digging into your hips that he was desperately holding onto.

“Are you close, baby?” he whined. You could tell he so badly wished you were. One of his hands flew up to your tits, smooshing them together as you writhed on top of him. “Does it feel good?”

“Yes,” you hissed, but you still knew it wasn’t enough. This was always the position that got you off, but tonight, it wouldn’t do. Tonight, you wanted to come by James Potter ramming into you from behind, 'penetrating your defense,' or whatever kinky shit that one particular commentator always seemed to say. You had no idea how they still had a job with all the explicit shit they teased, but… you also realized that the whole world maybe wasn’t as horny as you. (But only because they had never seen the game’s star player naked before. Because you knew that if they had… every word out of everyone’s mouth would also be an uttered plea to fuck them silly too.)

“I want you behind me,” you ordered, hopping off of James’ cock as you moved onto your knees on the mattress.

“Wha—?” he asked, still lying on his back, dazed and confused.

You refused to take pity on him. Not tonight. He was a god, and he would fuck you as such. “Get to work, Potter,” you demanded, your face half smooshed into the bed, looking back at him eagerly. You’d almost forgotten about the vibrator, but you put it to work now, moving it into place against your clit. James and you both knew what you using it meant — it helped you get wetter, take him in deeper and harder than usual. The fact that you were using it now let him know you weren’t playing around.

He’d never been able to deny you, and tonight would be no different. Obliging you, James got on his knees behind you, and slowly fed his cock back into you, making you moan as he made you whole. “Nothing feels as good as this…” he breathed, seemingly lost in the sensation. “Nothing.”

You groaned as he bottomed out, his hands finding purchase on your hips once more. He started establishing a rhythm, pumping in and out of your greedy cunt as you pushed back at him wanting more and more. “Harder,” you begged, rubbing yourself against your vibrator’s soft nub. The combination of its relentless motion with James’ harsh, punishing strikes was guaranteed to make you see stars any second now. “Just like that—“

“Shit—“ James moaned, biting the back of your shoulder as he did the exact opposite of your desperate request. “You feel too—”

“James, I said harder, not stop—”

“I’m sorry,” he panted, cock fully in you but motionless, lips grazing the back of your neck. “You feel too good, I’m edging, baby, give me—”

“No,” you deadpanned, fingers clenching in the sheets beneath you. You were too close for this shit. He was not allowed to let you down now. If he could do it for England, he sure as hell could do it for you. “Keep, going.”

A primal grunt ripped from his throat as James brought his hips back up to speed, his fingers interlocking with your left hand as his right held onto your neck, pushing your face deeper into the mattress. “Is this hard enough, baby?” he cooed, his cock completely destroying your soul. “Is this what you want?”

“Yesss,” you hissed, finding yourself climbing right back to that peak that he’d so selfishly nearly left you hanging at. “Right there— just like— James—” you mumbled pathetically before your orgasm washed over you, forcing you to succumb to the devastatingly beautiful way his body nearly brought you to tears.

Turned out he wasn’t done with you yet. Rolling you over like you were a rag doll, James quickly scooped you up in his arms, your knees settling in the crux of his elbows as he lifted you off the mattress, ready to go to town on you. As his cock sunk in and out of your pussy at lightning speed, he whispered in your ear, “That goal was just for you, baby.” Your head lolled exhaustedly to the side, but it only made him pull your body closer to his, driving himself harder up into you. “And the next one will be too.”

*****

Enjoy the match guys! ⚽️🔥

[bwbatta]

The five times James Potter asked you to marry him

(and the one time he meant it)

Pairing: James Potter x Slytherin!Reader

Warnings: 18+, Sexual content, swearing

Word Count: 3.6K

A/N: I saw this done with Fred somewhere but can’t remember who it was that wrote it, so thought I’d do the same with our boy James. There is also a lil bit of smutty goodness within this so please don’t read if this offends you or if you are underage! 

One

The first time James Potter asked you to marry him was when he first met you. 

Quidditch season had begun and Gryffindor vs Slytherin was the first game, enticing everyone to the stands to watch the two rival teams battle it out. James was aware of the new team members he was playing against, but blissfully unaware of how one of them was you. 

Their Gryffindor keeper had just saved a goal from your teammate, throwing the quaffle to James, only for it to be stolen from his grasp before he could blink. 

“What the-”

His eyes caught sight of your green quidditch robes as you zipped away, throwing the quaffle for another goal and succeeding as it soared through. The Slytherin stands erupted into cheers, but James could barely focus on it as he was too focused on you. 

Shaking it off, James pushed himself to focus on the game again, more determined to score, yet when you somehow stole the quaffle away from him another time, he couldn’t help but laugh. 

Had Slytherin finally recruited a decent quidditch player?!

The sarcastic thought barely slipped through his mind before the quaffle vanished from his hands a third time. 

“Prongs!” Sirius flew up beside him, pointing his beater’s bat towards him in an accusing way, “stop giving her the bloody quaffle!”

James just rolled his eyes before flying off towards you with the intent to nick it back. 

Whilst you easily avoided a bludger that Sirius had hit towards you, James quickly pinched back the quaffle in the split second you were distracted. With a cheeky grin in your direction, he winked and flew towards the Slytherin goals. 

After that, it became more of a game between the two of you rather than the actual match. Stealing the quaffle back and forth had you both snickering at the other when they lost it. 

With the commentator suddenly breaking the information that the two seekers were in a battle to catch the snitch, James’ attention shifted for just a moment to watch, which was just long enough for you to steal the quaffle away once more, just as the game ended.

Noticing the quaffle no longer in his grip, his attention shot to you where you held up the ball with a grin, winking back at him. 

Despite the two of you messing around with each other the whole game, neither of you had said a word to the other. Breaking the silence between the two of you, James couldn’t help but laugh, despite the fact Gryffindor had just lost after Regulus Black had caught the snitch for Slytherin. 

“Marry me.” He grinned widely at you as you smiled back just as big. 

“Not today.” You snickered, winking at him once more before flying down to join your team. 

Sirius appeared beside his best mate with an odd expression on his face, having just witnessed the exchange. 

“Am I missing something?”

James just chuckled, but his gaze stayed on you, watching as you cheered along with you team at the win. He wasn’t aware of who you were before the game, but he was very aware of you now. 

Two

Despite the fact you were sorted in Slytherin, you didn’t get along with certain members of your house. The common room always seemed to be the hotspot for wannabe dark wizards who publicly shared their common views on blood status and who wasn’t worthy of studying magic. 

It was something you didn’t agree with and so avoided as much as you could. This was why you sought your refuge in one of the alcoves off the third floor corridor. It was quiet and you didn’t get nearly as distracted as you would if you had stayed in the common room, or even the library for that matter. 

Hearing a loud swear and then the sound of feet pounding down the corridor, you couldn’t help but be curious. Sticking your head out, you had to admit you weren’t surprised to see a panicked James Potter and Sirius Black running down the corridor towards you. 

The loud shout from behind them, which could only have come from Professor McGonagall, followed them as it echoed down the hall. 

The corridor came to a dead end and the two friends shared a look of dread. Before you knew what came over you, you stuck your head out and whispered to them.

“Psst,” their attention was immediately on you, “in here.”

Stepping out of your spot, the two boys clambered in as you walked down the corridor to come face to face with a furious Professor McGonagall. 

“Miss Y/L/N,” she controlled her anger as she questioned you, “have you seen Mr Potter or Mr Black come down here?”

“The two Gryffindors?” You inquired, your face void of anything that would give you away, “not down here, no, though judging from the noise and smell of chaos, I think they went that way.” 

Pointing down the direction of the opposite hall, the professor thanked you before turning and storming down it, turning the corner at the end and disappearing from sight.

With a snicker, you turned and headed back to find both James and Sirius with huge grins on their faces. 

“Oh, you’re not just a normal Slytherin are you?!” James gleamed, stepping forward, out of the hiding spot. 

“A normal Slytherin?!”

“Conniving, back stabbing, selfish.” Sirius listed off, “my entire family’s full of them, but you are different.”

“Glad I could break the Stereotype.” You shrugged a shoulder, before your attention shifted to James. “What did you two do anyway which set off McGonagall like that?!”

The pair of Gryffindor’s looked slightly sheepish suddenly as if they were reluctant to say. 

“Uhhh, maybe because we set up a prank for some Slytherins’ to drop honey and feathers on them as they walked through the Great Hall, but McGonagall ended up walking through it instead.” James grimaced at the memory of how furious the teacher was. 

“Well that was stupid,” you snorted whilst grabbing your bag from the floor, “she obviously just vanished it. Next time you should definitely add a sticking charm so they can’t just magic it away. Oh and get the right target. As far as I’m concerned, the Slytherin’s that are the biggest dickheads are fair game, deal?”

“Marry me.” James gazed at you like you just discovered the stars.

With a small laugh and a roll of your eyes, your attention was quickly drawn to a piece of folded parchment on the ground which you were sure wasn’t yours.

“What’s this?” You questioned as you caught sight of the front. “Messers Moony, Wormta- hey!”

“Nothing!” Sirius said quickly, snatching it from your grip and tucking it away.

“Yeah because if it was nothing, you wouldn’t just rip it out of my hands now?!” You snickered, “you know if you really don’t want it to be read, you should put a password phrase on it to at least make it look like it’s nothing.”

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea.” Sirius grinned, “you know, you’re not that bad.”

“So I’ve been told.” You laughed back at him, completely missing how James was grinning at you with utter wonder in his eyes.

Three

After inspiring the Gryffindor duo with both the prank idea and how to further the map, you didn’t expect that James and Sirius would rarely leave you alone. 

Because of this, you were introduced to Remus and Peter since both James and Sirius had determined you should be friends, especially when you could give them inside knowledge on which Slytherins to go after.  

You weren’t sure how to feel about it at first, but after a while it became natural to sit with the boys for breakfast or dinner. 

You also didn’t expect to see Amycus Carrow walk through the common room late one evening, mysteriously covered in honey and feathers after relaying a snide comment to you about your newfound friends.

The satisfaction you got from seeing Carrow try to explain there was obviously a sticking charm, preventing him from vanishing the sticky mess to his friends, was so much better than you could’ve imagined. You told the boys that very thing the next day. 

It also wasn’t long before James took the plunge and asked you out to Hogsmeade. 

The two of you had grown close despite your different houses, yet you both couldn’t deny there was a major attraction between you. (Something Sirius constantly commented on.)

Which was why you found yourself in the Three Broomsticks with James, laughing over butterbeers with story he told you.

“So then Remus enters the room to find it destroyed with Sirius handcuffed to his bed, naked, with only a pillow covering him. And you know what he said, like any other Tuesday? ‘I heard they’re serving Pie for dinner tonight’.”

“I’m telling you, those Ravenclaw girls are devious! Maybe even more so than us Slytherins!”

“Well if it’s any consolation, I would hate to get on your bad side.” James grinned at you, raising his glass.

“I’ll drink to that.” You snickered, clinking your glass with his. 

“Well well, I wouldn’t have expected to see you in here with this riffraff, Y/N.” A cold voice was heard from behind you. “Then again, you did always hang around with the wrong sort, a blood traitor no less.”

Turning around, your eyes met the steely blue ones of Lucius Malfoy. 

“Don’t call me by my first name like we’re friends, Malfoy. And for the record, at least I don’t associate myself with wannabe death eaters, like your friends.”

To further your point, your eyes flickered over to the group where Malfoy was originally sat, the group containing the Carrows, Mulciber and Snape.

Lucius’ expression was tight, yet both James and you could see the look of hate in his eyes. 

“You should leave.” James stood to match Lucius’ height as he rounded the table, effectively putting himself between the two of you. The two men stared each other down.

“And why should I?” Lucius questioned back, his voice cold. 

“Because it would be an absolute shame if anyone found out about your midnight visitor the other night. Right, Malfoy?” You questioned with a innocent look on your face. 

Standing up and linking your arm with James’, Lucius’ eyes snapped to you as you held his expression with a stern one of your own. 

“A Hufflepuff, wasn’t she? And a muggleborn no less. Which is weird because, aren’t you engaged to Narcissa Black? I wonder what her family would think, them being the ‘Noble House of Black’ and all?” 

Lucius looked furious, but you held his glare firmly, only for him to step back a few moments later, allowing a space for you to pass. Pulling James along with you, you headed towards the door with a spring in your step like you hadn’t just blackmailed one of the Slytherin prefects.  

“Ooh, can we go to Honeydukes? I need to stock up on chocolate frogs.”

James was stunned, captivated and slightly aroused. 

Watching you take on Malfoy like it was nothing more than a brain training activity, made him laugh in wonder as the two of you exited onto the street. 

You kept talking about the new limited edition sugar quills before you paused, realising James wasn’t really listening to you anymore. 

“Hey, you alright?”

“Marry me.”

With a grin, you just linked arms with him again, the two of you heading in the direction of the sweet shop, a growing list of sugary items to buy. 

Four

With a groan of pleasure, James pulled you tighter to him as you moaned out his name, your hands wound in his hair making it appear a lot messier than usual. 

The two of you had graduated Hogwarts only a few months ago, and after dating for just over two years, James asked you to move in with him once you finished school. 

The small flat the two of you shared was found in Diagon Alley, above the quidditch shop, which you wondered whether he had planned or not when he first suggested you view the place. Sirius and Remus had their own flat which the former had bought for the two with the money he had inherited from uncle, after being disowned from his family. 

Your small group of friends supported him the best you could, which included Sirius moving in with James and his parents for a while as they finished Hogwarts. Yet, when they entered the final months of their seventh year at school, Sirius insisted he would look for his own place, not wanting to intrude longer than he already had, not that the Potters’ would call him staying with them an intrusion of any kind. 

“Fuck, Y/N.” James gasped out as he quickened his pace, thrusting into you faster as you christened the different rooms. 

You had both started in your bedroom before moving to the living room, kitchen and then the bathroom, before ending up back in your room once more. 

His lips met your own as you pulled him by his neck closer to you, wrapping you legs around his waist tighter, effectively getting James to hit a spot deep within you, causing you to cry out in pleasure. 

Quickening his pace, James used his expert fingers to bring you closer to your brink, before you gasped out loudly, quickly reaching your climax. The feeling of you coming around him had James grunting out, thrusting harder to chase his own release. 

Gripping your headboard, he came with a groan, muttering your name over and over as he pulled you close to him, both of you basking in the bliss that came from the several orgasms you’d both experienced over the last few hours. 

“Marry me.” James murmured into you hair, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. 

“Maybe later.” You chuckled, exhaustion now hitting you hard as you both relaxed back in bed. “Too tired now.”

James snickered as he pulled a blanket over the two of you, finding a comfortable position as you curled up together, both utterly content within that perfect moment. 

Five

A lot had changed since you left Hogwarts and being inducted into the Order of the Phoenix was just one of them. 

Your closest friends were also recruited which both reassured you and terrified you. As much as you were glad that you were fighting on the right side of the war with the people you could trust with your life, if anything happened to any of them, you don’t know what you’d do. 

It was suppose to be a small mission, just quick enough to gain intel for the Order which was why Moody chose only a select few of you to complete it. 

James, Remus and you, accompanied by Lily Evans, who you had been properly introduced to in your seventh year, were the four chosen for the task. This of course had annoyed Sirius to no end as he hadn’t been picked and constantly moaned about it the few days prior. 

Accidentally setting off the taboo alarm, death eaters apparated before you causing the four of you to split into two’s, fighting back to back. 

Quickly hitting the three death eaters before you with a stunning spell, you turned and shot another ‘stupefy’ at one who had their wand aimed at Lily. She successfully took out a couple more as she was back to back with you, sharing a grin at how well both of your training had helped you.  

Glancing over at James unconsciously, you spotted one sneak up behind him as he was separated from Remus after one death eater blew up the floor beneath them. 

With the first spell that flew to mind, you aimed your wand at the advancing threat, shooting a bat bogey hex at them, just as their killing curse missed James by inches, only for him to be hit by a weak confundus charm.

You were certain your heart skipped several beats due to the stress and anxiety as you dropped to your knees next to him on the ground. His nose was obviously broken from one spell shot at him and a dazed expression was present on his face.

Taking his face in between your hands, you quickly got a good look at him to check for more injuries as Lily and Remus stunned the last of the attackers and started to round them up. 

“James, can you hear me?”

“Y/N,” he grinned widely, “what are you doing here?”

“Saving your arse from being killed.” You rolled your eyes but couldn’t help the small smile on your face at how dopey your boyfriend looked. 

“You always save my arse, I think you quite like my arse really.” James snickered loudly like he had just told a funny joke. “I think you might want to marry my arse. Ooh, I think you should really marry me though.”

You chuckled at him, quickly fixing his broken nose and helping him up. 

“It means you’ll have to actually propose to me then, with a proposal better than that, my love.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

James nodded, deep in thought before his eyes lifted to spot Remus and immediately he waved an arm to try get his attention.

“MOONY! I NEED YOUR HELP TO PROPOSE.”

Six

The truth was, as much as James joked about it, and as much as he said it within the span of meeting you, you did not expect it for one moment when he actually asked you to marry him. 

Saturday started off as any normal weekend would.

With the promise from Dumbledore to call only if it was an emergency, your group of friends was given the day off and so a plan was set in motion to have dinner at yours and James’ flat. Despite popular belief, James could actually cook very well and so insisted on whipping up a roast dinner for you all, shooing you out of the kitchen when you tried to help. 

Sitting around your dining table with your closest friends, you couldn’t have asked for a better day. It was the first in a while where everyone could relax slightly and take the time to enjoy themselves. 

Remus and you were in a discussion about a book he had recommended to you, when James entered the room with the meal, putting it in the centre of the table. Whilst Sirius was avidly denying James could cook, Lily and you snickered between you as you watched the boys interact with each other. 

The meal went by quickly, everyone enjoying their time together before Lily and you cleared the plates away as a compromise, after James cooked everything. 

You didn’t suspect anything going on until you reentered the room to find the boys in a hushed discussion, giant smiles on their faces, jumping away from each other after noticing you return. 

“Everything okay?” You asked slightly suspicious as the four boys shrugged off your concerns. 

“Yeah, absolutely perfect, wanna sit down?” Sirius wrapped an arm around your shoulders, guiding you to the living room with the others following. 

“You’re acting weird, Siri.” 

“I am weird, honey, I was born into the House of Black.”

With a smile and narrowed eyes, you decided to ignore whatever secret it was the boys had, and focused on enjoying the time you had together.

It wasn’t until James stood and grabbed your hands, pulling you up from your seat, that you became slightly suspicious again. 

“Y/N, if you don’t mind, I’d like to say something to you and all our friends.”

Wrapping an arm around your waist, he brought you closer to him, pressing a kiss to your head. Wrapping your own arm around his waist in turn, you cuddled close to him, feeling absolutely content. 

“As we all know,” James began, catching the attention of the small group, “it had been an absolute shock for most of you hear today, that I can actually cook a meal and not poison anyone.”

A round of snickers passed around the group as James rolled his eyes at your reactions. 

“We also all know that me being able to cook, is far from the most shocking thing to happen to us all. The biggest shock, was of course, the Gryffindor quidditch team losing to Slytherin when this little minx showed up and stole the show!” 

“Here here!” Sirius agreed, lifting his glass of Firewhiskey in agreement.

“Another shock was also when I asked her on a date and she agreed, yet I think that was more Y/N’s mistake than anything.” James chuckled out, now looking slightly more nervous than he did before. “If we’re talking about biggest shocks throughout our relationship, her agreeing to move in with me was another, along with my shock when I discovered what she could do with her tongue-”

“James!”

“Ow! Okay, fine, no bedroom talk!”

The punch to his arm barely phased James’ smile though as he grinned at you so wholeheartedly, you think you might melt on the spot. 

“Anyway, one thing that probably isn’t a shock is the countless times I’ve mentioned my intentions to you. Which is why...”

James unravelled his arm from your waist as he quickly caught something thrown at him by Remus, before dropping to one knee in front of you.

You were sure your heart had stopped. 

“I’m now going to ask you again, legitimately this time.”

Opening up the small white box, a gorgeous diamond and ruby ring was readily positioned, shining up at you as your eyes flicked from the ring, to James and back repeatedly. 

“Y/N, I know I’ve said this before, but please, marry me?!”

Throwing your arms around his neck, you must’ve repeated the word ‘yes’ over and over again as James proceeded to kiss you, before slipping the ring on your finger. 

In that moment, surrounded by your closest friends and the man you loved more than anything, you felt the happiest you ever had and wished for nothing more than to live in that moment forever. 

Harry Potter Taglist:

@ochrythum @hahee154hq @loonyslytherin @fleur-tysworld @la3divine @fiantomartell​

Permanent Taglist: 

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[onlyfreds]

The Secret | F.W.

Title: The Secret (Modern Au!)

Requested: Yes/No

Summary: Y/N has a secret that Fred is yet to find out.

I cheered as Gryffindor scored another goal giving them a 50-point lead from Slytherin.

My boyfriend, Fred, blew me a kiss from across the way as he hit another bludger towards the Slytherin keeper.

“Harry Potter catches the snitch and Gryffindor wins!” Lee announced.

All of the Gryffindors cheered as I ran down from the stands and into Fred’s arms as she spun me around and kissed me.

“Congratulations handsome.” I said, putting my arms around his neck.

He smiled as he placed his hands on my waist, “I wouldn’t have done any of it without my gorgeous cheerleader in the stands.” He said with a small wink.

I took a quick glance at my watch, eyes widening when I realized how late I already was.

I kissed Fred again before taking off to the Gryffindor common room.

“Where are you going?” He called after me.

I looked back for a moment, “I just need to take care of something important. Don’t worry, I’ll be back for the party.” I said as I ran to my destination.

I changed into some muggle clothes as I reached for the floo powder in my bag. I threw it into the fire, “The Studio” I said before stepping in and being taken to the studio.

“Y/N!” My friend and co-actor, Louis, came running towards me as I stepped out of the fire, brushing the ash and excess powder on my clothes.

“Do even know what time it is?” He asked, “Shooting started 20 minutes ago!”

I gave him a smile, “Nice to see you too Louis! I’m sorry I was late, the game lasted longer than I expected and it would have been suspicious if I left in the middle of it.”

Louis started to pull me towards the hair and makeup room, “Well, we have to make up for lost time then.”

--

(Fred’s POV)

“I just need to take care of something important. Don’t worry, I’ll be back for the party.” Y/N said as she took off to who knows where.

“Hey what’s wrong with you?” George asked as he came over to the place where I was standing, “We won! You should be celebrating.”

“Something’s not right.” I said, “Y/N has been acting weird.”

“How weird?” My twin asked.

“She took a look at her watch then she started to run off. Something about having to take care of something important.” I answered.

Oliver suddenly appeared behind us, “Don’t you think she’s seeing someone else?” He suddenly said.

“What?! No! She would never do that.” I defended.

“You know, instead of just standing here and debating on what she’s doing, why don’t we follow her.” George suggested.

“That’s actually not a bad idea.” I said.

Oliver nodded, “Then let’s go before we lose her.”

We first went to the common room. I moment we entered, we saw her running down the stairs, wearing muggle clothes. We hid from her line of vision as she took some floo powder from her bag.

“The Studio.” She promptly said as she stepped into the fire and got whisked away.

“Hurry!” Oliver hissed, “Before the fire dies.”

The three of us jumped into the fire, “The Studio.” I said, heading to where ever she was going.

We stumbled out of the fireplace as we saw her following a boy.

“I knew it!” Oliver said.

“Shut up! You’re going to get us caught.” George said, smacking Oliver’s arm.

“Besides, we don’t know if she’s really with the guy.” I tried to reason as we followed them.

Y/N went inside a room that had a sign that says, “Hair and Makeup Room” while the boy took off into the other direction.

After a few minutes, she went out of the room. In a red dress, her hair was cascading over her shoulders and she was sporting a small amount of makeup.

“Time to shoot scene 48.” Somebody announced from the overhead speakers, “Y/N where are you?”

“I’m coming!” She shouted as she ran towards the set.

The three of us exchanged a confused look as we followed her.

We watched as she stood in front of the camera with the boy she was earlier and they started.

The realization struck me like lightning, “She’s an actress.” I said.

“What’s an actress?” Oliver asked.

“They are famous people.” George said before looking at me, “You never told me you were dating an actress!”

I shook my head, “I never knew she was one.”

“Action!” The director said as they started.

(Reader’s POV)

We were about to film that last scene for the movie when Louis tapped me on the shoulder, “Isn’t that your boyfriend?” He asked as he pointed to the corner, where it was obvious that Fred, George, and Oliver were hiding.

I nodded, “Yeah, what are they doing here.” I muttered.

I looked at Louis, “I’ll be back in a moment. I’ll just go see what they’re up to.”

As I got nearer to them, I could easily eavesdrop on their conversation.

“Now, we know the truth we can go now.” Oliver said.

“Yeah, we have to go before we get caught.” George said.

“Do we really have to go. I mean, I kinda like seeing her acting.” Fred asked.

I crossed my arms over my chest, “Well, that depends. Why are you three here in the first place?” I suddenly asked, making them jump as I made my presence known.

They all turned around slowly.

“Hey Y/N!” George tried to say casually, as Fred and Oliver were already frozen in fear.

“Okay,” Oliver said, “In my defense, it was George’s idea.” He explained.

George glared at the boy, “You were the one who got the idea that led to that idea.”

The two of them started to argue, before Fred put up his hand, signaling for them to be quiet. He bowed his head down, looking at me like a puppy who was guilty of doing something wrong.

“I’m sorry.” Was the first words he uttered, “You were acting so weird lately and I was just so worried.” He glanced at his twin and the Quidditch captain, “I take the full blame, they wouldn’t have come up with the ideas if it weren’t for me. If you should be mad at anyone, it should be me.”

I was never mad, I only wanted to know what they were doing here. But they thought otherwise. “Did you think I was cheating on you?” I asked, keeping up the act.

My boyfriend opened his mouth to say something, but Oliver interrupted him, “He didn’t. I was the one who thought that you were cheating on him. But he defended you, Fred said that you were never capable of doing that. And I’m sorry for ever thinking that you could that.” He reasoned.

That’s when I couldn’t take it anymore and started laughing, making the three of them confused.

“You aren’t mad at us?” George asked quietly.

I shook my head, still laughing.

Louis suddenly appeared by my side, “Once an actress, always an actress.”

I smacked his arm, “Oh shut it! Don’t pretend like you didn’t fall for it too!”

I then turned to my friends, “I wasn’t mad at you. I just wanted to know why you were here then you guys suddenly started apologizing.”

Fred breathed out a sigh of relief, “Thank goodness!” He said with his handsome smile, “I thought I was in for it.”

I giggled as he pulled me closer to him, “You aren’t mad at me?” I asked quietly.

He gave me a confused look, “What are you talking about?”

I shrugged, “I mean, I hid being an actress from you. Aren’t you mad at me?”

He placed a kiss on my forehead, “No at all sweetheart. You never hold me back from the things I want to do. So, I won’t hold you back.”

Louis and I exchanged a look, Fred would know the whole truth sooner or later.

The director called us back to film the final scene. Fred giving me a kiss of good luck as He, George and Oliver went to find a comfortable place to watch.

“Action!” The director yelled as Louis and recited our final lines.

“Do you really have to go?” Louis asked.

I nodded, shouldering the backpack I was holding, “I do. But I have a feeling that we will cross paths again soon.”

He tilted his head to one side, “When is that soon?”

I shrugged, “Hopefully in the near future.” I answered as I gave him a small salute, “Take care of yourself okay? Until I get the chance to save your sorry arse again.”

Louis rolled his eyes, “Yeah right.”

I gave him a small smile as I walked away from the scene, glancing at the camera and saying, “Until next time.”

“Cut! And that’s a wrap!” The director announced, all of us applauding as Fred scooped me into his arms.

“It has been a pleasure working with all of you, especially Y/N L/N who is such a phenomenal actress in, unfortunately, the last film of her career.” The director continued, everyone, even Louis started bursting into tears.

All of my cast mates pulled me into a hug, “Hey! Don’t cry.” I said, “You guys are going to make me cry as well.”

Louis chuckled as he pulled me into a hug, “It’s just that we’ll miss you so much.”

I blinked, trying to keep the tears at bay, “We’ll still keep in touch okay. Don’t worry.”

I turned and saw that even our director was crying, “Even you are crying?” I joked as he hugged me.

“Yeah.” He said, “It’s just so emotional, especially since I directed your first film and now, I’m directing your last one.”

I rubbed his back comfortingly, “Don’t worry, I’ll always keep in touch with you guys.”

“What’s going on?” Fred asked.

Louis wiped the tears from his eyes, “I’m Louis Partridge.” He introduced himself to Fred, “I’m Y/N’s castmate. You must be her boyfriend?”

Fred nodded, “Yeah. If you don’t mind me asking, do you guys always get this emotional when you finish a film?”

Louis shook his head, giving a small laugh. “Nah. This is just emotional because this is Y/N’s last movie. After this she won’t get any more films.”

Fred furrowed his eyebrows, “Why?”

The boy just gave him a small smile, “She quit.”

I walked over to the pair and jokingly nudged my co-star’s shoulder, “Spilling all my secrets now, Partridge eh?”

“Why did you quit?” Fred asked pulling me closer to him.

I smiled, “My priorities have changed.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I laced my hand in his, “I would give you the whole world if I could Freddie. But we both know that the world is not mine to give. So, the least I could do is to give you my world, because you deserve it all.”

He gave me a hug, kissing me gently but lovingly, “What did I do to deserve you?”.

𝚃𝚊𝚐𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝

@lumosandnoxwriting @whizboingies @wand3ringr0s3 @famdomhideout​

[tigerkirby215]

5e Sona, the Maven of the Strings build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Shilin Huang. Made for Riot Games.)

(Shit meme by yours truly.)

Revealing my Champion Mastery just to say that I play a lot of Sona. Don’t flame me for playing Seraphine and Yuumi I swear to god, and I have no idea why Teemo is in my top 10 highest mastery champs ngl.

Anyways you have no idea how happy I am as a Sona main that my girl is now top tier. I came to League of Legends from Overwatch (yes really) and I used to main Lucio in OW along with some of the more “techy” characters like Symmetra and Torbjorn. (Came to OW from TF2 where I mained Engineer and Medic.) Sona was a natural fit for me as a champion who was both easy to play and very similar to Lucio. It also helps that I joined the Rift during the single most engaging meta to ever grace this game. I was kinda too shit to play Janna but the Ardent Censer meta is also why I have such a high mastery on Lulu tbh.

But enough about my history with League: Sona! Honestly when I think of an archetypical support Sona pops into my head a lot sooner than Soraka: a champion based on empowering their teammates in as many ways as possible with heals, shields, movement speed, and CC to hold the enemy team down. I’ve always loved playing her because she feels like much more of a macro oriented character than other supports, with team-wide support as opposed to keeping one person alive like Soraka or Yuumi or focusing on CC like Morgana and Nami.

I’m going to build most if not all the champions eventually but man I am happy to tackle Sona now. She’s always been on my mind as my main but it was pretty difficult to think of how to make her. I think this build is good enough though!

Wow that was much longer of an intro than I’m used to. You can really tell which champions I’m excited for lol.

GOALS

Everything in harmony - Sona boosts everyone on her team with her songs as they fill the air.

Triple time! - Sona’s ability to boost her whole team into a good position is always beneficial.

Crescendo! - Fun fact: Sona’s ultimate is canonically extremely painful as she forces you to contort your limbs against your will. Why is Sona needlessly macabre? Well remember that Riot also wrote Volibear as an Eldritch old god.

RACE

Sona is Human but if you want to be cool you can make her a Kalashtar for resistance to Psychic damage and advantage on Wisdom saves. Regardless we’re going to be making what’s known as a dollar store Kalashtar with Variant Human. Increase your Charisma by 1 as well as your Constitution because we kinda don’t need much else. You also get proficiency in one skill of your choice which will of course be Performance, and a language which you can pick as you fancy: you won’t be speaking it anyways lmfao.

That’s because “Only you can hear me summoner; what masterpiece shall we play today?” Grab the Telepathic feat to complete this dollar store Kalashtar package. Increase your Charisma score by 1 and get a 60 foot telepathy to speak while being mute. You also learn the Detect Thoughts spell and can cast it once without using a spell slot. "Did he want... four autographs? I don't understand."

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - Charisma is tied to performance and all the other stuff a Demacian noblewoman is expected to be good at.

14; DEXTERITY - Something something medium armor; even if you wear a dress there’s no reason you can’t have some padding beneath it!

13; STRENGTH - Hey this isn’t something something medium armor!

12; CONSTITUTION - Sona may be squishy in League but I value not dying more than good skill checks honestly.

10; WISDOM - Speaking of not dying: Wisdom saves are more common, and Insight is more useful than most Intelligence skills.

8; INTELLIGENCE - We had to dump something so unfortunately Intelligence gets the short end of the stick. You may have studied under the illustrious Buvelle family but most of those lessons were music classes.

If you want a better stat array going 13 / 14 / 12 / 10 / 10 / 14 with Point Buy is perfectly viable, and if your DM is cool enough to let you multiclass without Strength then you’re more than welcome to dump it.

BACKGROUND

There’s two obvious backgrounds that fit Sona: the first is Entertainer for proficiency with Acrobatics and a skill of your choice (since we already took Performance lol.) You also get proficiency with Disguise Kits and your Etwahl! (That’s what Sona’s instrument is called btw.) Your background feature By Popular Demand allows you to play any stage once. "Some, just the once.” You can perform in exchange for a place to stay, and when you do so the local people will remember your wonderful performance!

But making an Entertainer Bard is kinda cliché, no? If you want to lean into Sona’s Demacian heritage go for the Noble background. This gives you proficiency with Persuasion and History as well as a gaming set of your choice: unfortunately Tellstones isn’t an option (unless your DM decides otherwise!) so a Dragonchess Set will do well enough. Oh and you get another language that you won’t speak: fun! Your Position of Privilege makes it easy for you to arrange meetings with other important people, and the commonfolk will be kind and cordial with you.

(Screenshot from the Tellstones: King’s Gambit trailer by Riot Games.)

I personally opted to go for Noble when making this build, but if you want to choose Entertainer go right ahead! Backgrounds don’t affect too much overall and it’s up to you (and your DM) to make your own Sona!

(Artwork from League of Legends Wild Rift. Made for Riot Games. RIOT PLEASE UPDATE MUSE SONA ON PC I’M BEGGING YOU!)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - BARD 1

I mean what else did you expect? Bards get proficiency in three musical instruments of their choice: a Lyre is the closest you’ll get to Sona’s Etwahl, though a Dulcimer is also pretty close. I’d also recommend grabbing a Lute since most magical instruments come in Lute variety.

You also get proficiency in 3 skills of your choice like Perception to watch wards, Insight to watch people, and Athletics for a bit of Tenacity to break out of grapples. (As well as potentially grab some people yourself! Although Acrobatics is also perfectly fine for escaping grapples.)

As a Bard you can boost your ADC with Bardic Inspiration, letting them add a d6 to attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. You have a number of these equal to your Charisma modifier and they come back after a Long Rest.

But of course the main reason to play a Bard is to do Demacian-banned Spellcasting! You learn two cantrips from the Bard list like Vicious Mockery for some diminuendo, making it harder for the enemy to hurt your allies while also cutting them down to size. (I don’t know if your DM will let you slap your Etwahl angrily and then point at them judgingly, but you may have to break your vow of silence every now and then.) You can also learn Prestidigitation for all sorts of general magic stuff that you really shouldn’t do in front of anyone important.

You of course also learn 4 Bard spells like Cure Wounds and Healing Word for the atypical healing spells, Dissonant Whispers for some Hymn of Valor damage, and Detect Magic which you’ll likely be expected to cast as the designated support. *Sigh* Always gotta buy wards.

LEVEL 2 - BARD 2

Second level Bards could be called a Jack of All Trades, as you get to add half your proficiency bonus to any skill you aren’t proficient in. This means even if your ability scores are bad the skills you don’t have proficiency in are still good enough! You also get Song of Rest, letting your allies recover an extra d6 of health during Short Rests. And if you have Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything  Magical Inspiration will let your allies add their Bardic Inspiration to the damage or healing of a spell they cast!

And finally you can learn another spell: against as the designated support you’re expected to take Identify.

LEVEL 3 - BARD 3

Third level Bards get Expertise in two skills: Performance is an obvious must and Persuasion would probably be good as well.

But more importantly you get to choose your Bardic College and if you want to both shield your allies and speed them up look no further than the College of Glamour! That’s because Mantle of Inspiration grants 5 temporary hitpoints to a number of creatures within 60 feet of you equal to your Charisma modifier (which can include yourself by the way!) Additionally those creatures can move up to their movement speed as a reaction without provoking opportunity attacks, making this a great tool to reposition an ally who’s caught in a dangerous position!

You’re also capable of creating an Enthralling Performance: if you perform for at least 1 minute, you can attempt to inspire wonder in your audience. At the end of the performance you can choose a number of humanoids within 60 feet of you who watched and listened to all of it, up to a maximum equal to your Charisma modifier. Each target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you.

While charmed in this way, the target idolizes you, and speaks glowingly of you to anyone who talks to them. They also hinder anyone who opposes you, although they avoid violence unless it was already inclined to fight for you. This effect ends on a target after 1 hour unless they take any damage, you attack it, or it witnesses you attacking or damaging any of its allies. If a target succeeds on its saving throw the target has no hint that you tried to charm it, and you can use this ability once per Short or Long Rest.

Finally you can learn second level spells like Hold Person, for a one-man version of your ultimate.

LEVEL 4 - BARD 4

Ah the first of many Ability Score Improvements. You may have noticed our deliberately uneven Charisma modifier: that’s because I’m going to be taking the Fey Touched feat for +1 to your Charisma, the Misty Step spell (for Flash, of course), and the Gift of Alacrity spell from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount for a Song of Celerity! Accelerated movement? I concur.

You can also learn another spell as well as another cantrip! For your cantrip take Mage Hand for help warding those hard-to-reach areas, and for your spell take Lesser Restoration, because yeah it’s also your job to buy Mikael’s. *Sigh.*

LEVEL 5 - BARD 5

5th level Bards get a Font of Inspiration that lets their Bardic Inspiration come back after a Short Rest as well as a Long Rest. That’s good because your Bardic Inspiration increases to a d8, which also boosts your Mantle of Inspiration to grant 8 temporary hitpoints!

You can also learn another spell like Hypnotic Pattern: while it won’t do any damage and your allies can’t hit the dancing enemies it’ll still be the best recreation of your ultimate for now.

(Artwork by Katie “TeaTime” De Sousa. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 6 - PALADIN 1

I hope you weren’t expecting this to be a pure Bard build, because then I’d just be building Seraphine again! Grab your something something Medium Armor as well as a shield (well technically you need both hands free to play a musical instrument) it’s Paladin time, master of auras! 

Paladins get a Lay on Hands pool equal to 5 times their Paladin level for some more healing. You can touch a creature to give them any amount of health from your Lay on Hands, or use 5 hitpoints from your Lay on Hands pool to neutralize a poison or disease affecting them. You also get Divine Sense to locate any Celestial, Fiend, or Undead as long as they’re within 60 feet of you and not behind total cover. Don’t worry it gets a lot more exciting later.

LEVEL 7 - PALADIN 2

Second level Paladins can choose their Fighting Style and you’re still more of a mage than a warrior, so Blessed Warrior will give you two cantrips from the Cleric list that use your Charisma! Guidance is an obvious must for a support and Toll the Dead is a great option if you want to go full AP.

Should you have options for attacks to target enemies who have high Wisdom? Yeah probably: Sacred Flame might be a good choice.

Of course cantrips also imply more Spellcasting! You can prepare a number of spells equal to your Charisma modifier plus half your Paladin level (rounded down) which is currently a freaking lot of spells. Let’s just go down the list, shall we?

Bless is great to buff your team and make them harder, better, faster, and stronger.

Command is a mostly harmless Enchantment spell that will force your foes to do as you, well, command. I’d argue “dance” is a reasonable Command.

Protection from Evil and Good is never bad to have in your back pocket in case you’re fighting either Kayle or Fiddlesticks.

And Shield of Faith will let you boost your ADC’s survivability with Ardent Censer!

I know you can prepare more spells but there isn’t much I want from first level of Paladin. I am contractually obligated to mention that you can also turn your spell slots into a Divine Smite if you hit an enemy with a melee weapon, but you aren’t really going to be using weapons in this build. That’s right boys hop aboard the caster Paladin train!

LEVEL 8 - PALADIN 3

Third level Paladins get to choose their Sacred Oath and Oath of the Watchers may seem weird but it’s really good at defending your allies. That’s because you get two different Channel Divinity options: Abjure the Extraplanar works similarly to the Cleric’s Turn Undead feature except it affects Aberrations, Celestials, Elementals, Fey, and Fiends.

Watcher’s Will meanwhile lets you choose a number of creatures you can see within 30 feet of you, up to your Charisma modifier. For 1 minute, you and the chosen creatures have advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws. This means that in a party of 6 this ability can give your whole party advantage on all mental saves, which is huge for keeping everyone alive against nasty casters! See? Demacia can use your magic!

Speaking of magic you get Alarm and Detect Magic as Oath spells. (Might want to swap Detect Magic from your Bard list with Mass Healing Word ty Tasha’s.) You can also use Harness Divine Power to regain a spell slot equal to half your proficiency bonus a number of times per Long Rest. And you get Divine Health, because you don’t take a sick day to stop complaining about Seraphine.

LEVEL 9 - PALADIN 4

4th level Paladins get another Ability Score Improvement: cap off that Charisma for maximum AP scaling!

(Artwork by Kelly Aleshire & Esben Lash Rasmussen. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 10 - PALADIN 5

5th level Paladins can finally prepare second level spells! As a Watchers Paladin you get access to Moonbeam as well as See Invisibility, both of which are very good for dealing with incoming gankers.

You can also prepare spells like Aid to boost your allies’ HP, Prayer of Healing (ty Tasha’s) for some out-of-combat healing, and Warding Bond for a Knight’s Vow.

Oh and you get an Extra Attack, which sure would matter if you were actually using weapons.

LEVEL 11 - PALADIN 6

6th level reasons get the main reason Sona’s a Paladin: Aura of Protection! All your saving throws are increased by an amount equal to your Charisma modifier, which is a full +5 currently! But what’s special about this ability is that it also applies to your allies within 10 feet of you, letting you give out auras a plenty to keep your allies safe!

You can also prepare another spell but again: not much I really want. So we’re going to be waiting a little while longer once again.

LEVEL 12 - PALADIN 7

7th level Watchers Paladins get Aura of the Sentinel, or as I like to call it: Song of Celerity. When you or any creature of your choice within 10 feet of you roll for initiative, they gain a bonus to initiative equal to your proficiency bonus. While this may make positioning a little difficult (everyone’s going to have to huddle around you) this ability guarantees that you can speed up all your important allies to make sure they get their powerful abilities off!

LEVEL 13 - PALADIN 8

8th level Paladins get another Ability Score Improvement or a Feat. You may have noticed your uneven Constitution score: grab good ol’ Resilient Constitution for a boost to your health and even more insurance on your Concentration checks. With your Paladin aura and proficiency you’d have a +12 total to your Constitution checks currently, meaning that if you take 24 damage or less you won’t even have to roll for Concentration!

LEVEL 14 - PALADIN 9

You are probably the only Paladin who cares about spells, so it’s nice that you get 3rd level spells now! Watchers Paladins get two very strong third level spells: Nondetection will help you deward and keep your allies safe from enemies that may try to sneak a peak at you, but Counterspell is the true best choice to stop danger from befalling your allies. What’s very good about Counterspell is that as a Bard you get to add Jack of All Trades to the skill check, meaning it’s far easier for you to deny an incomming spell than any other spellcaster! “Mages have enough problems without you.”

Of course you can prepare some more spells like Aura of Vitality for Aria of Perseverance, and Revivify for an ADC’s Guardian Angel. But having access to spells like Remove Curse, Dispel Magic, Crusader’s Mantle, and even Daylight on the Paladin spell list are all extremely useful to be able to prepare. Remember that you are doing yourself a disservice by not taking time to think about what the best spells to prepare would be for your current quest. "Every note is important."

(Artwork by Kelly Aleshire & Esben Lash Rasmussen. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 15 - BARD 6

Now that we’ve got all our auras it’s time to go back to Bard for Mantle of Majesty! As a bonus action, you cast Command without expending a spell slot as you take on an appearance of unearthly beauty for 1 minute. During that minute you can cast Command as a bonus action on each of your turns without expending a spell slot. Additionally any creature charmed by you automatically fails its saving throw against the command you cast with this feature. You do have to concentrate on this feature (like a spell), and once you use it you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

You can also learn another spell but there isn’t much I want from the third level of Bard, really. Oh and you get Countercharm which is awful and I hate it, but since you didn’t take a 10th level in Paladin I suppose you have to use it. Spend an action to give allies advantage on their saving throws against charms and fears, I guess.

LEVEL 16 - BARD 7

7th level Bard; 4th level spells. Freedom of Movement will let you help either yourself or an ally with Mikael’s Crucible, and Dimension Door is great to get into lane fast, or back to base fast!

LEVEL 17 - BARD 8

8th level Bards get another Ability Score Improvement, and if you don’t like the look of something something Medium Armor then the Eldritch Adept feat might be able to help. Take the Mask of Many Faces invocation to be able to cast Disguise Self at will to change your skins as you please.

Could you have taken this earlier? Absolutely. Are there better invocations? Yeah probably, but by level 17 you can make some of your own choices. Build your own Sona: this is merely a guide and you can make your own choices.

Speaking of own choices: take whichever spell you want at this level. There’s plenty of great ones for a 4th level Bard and I can’t recommend anything in particular to you. Every musician has their own style, and it’s up to you to find your own!

(Artwork by Yan Li. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 18 - BARD 9

9th level Bards get to pretend that increasing Song of Rest from a d6 to a d8 by total level 18 is helpful.

You do get access to 5th level spells like Mass Cure Wounds, which is like Mass Healing Word but better! "Harmoniously."

LEVEL 19 - BARD 10

10th level Bards get Expertise in two more skills: Perception is an obvious must to watch over your wards but beyond that? Honestly pick your poison with whatever skill you want since by level 19 you can make your own choices. (Though my personal choice would be Athletics to hopefully give some more safety against grapples.)

But of course the main boon of reaching level 10 in Bard is the Magical Secrets! ...I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you again: there honestly aren’t any spells in particular I want as Magical Secrets. Sure I could recommend spells like Haste or whatever but are they really going to be that great by total level 20? To be honest even the spells on the Bard list like Animate Objects, Greater Restoration, Hold Monster, Rary's Telepathic Bond, Scrying, and Synaptic Static are very good (although I’d sooner replace some of your old spells with them.)

Again I know this is supposed to be a “guide” but most people won’t hit level 19 anyways, so I don’t think it’s that bad for me to recommend you take your own steps to make your own Sona. Hell, build some AP if you want! I know I would!

LEVEL 20 - BARD 11

Our final level is the 11th level of Bard and I’ll be honest: it’s just to add Otto's Irresistible Dance to your spell list. It can only affect one person but it’s still your ultimate by total level 20.

Oh and you were supposed to get a cantrip last level. Uhhhhh I dunno take Mending lol.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

The rhythm connects us all - You have dozens of spells to keep your team alive and active during a fight, not to mention that all your Paladin auras and abilities really help them give 110%. It’s worth mentioning that Gift of Alacrity combined with Aura of the Sentinel is a d8 + 6 to an Initiative roll, which will almost always guarantee that whoever you want to go first will be going first!

A true masterpiece should celebrate living - Despite your somewhat weird level split you maxed out the only stat which matters for you: Charisma. And woah holy shit turns out Paladins are really good with maxed out Charisma! +5 to all saves means even your lowest save is a +4, and the saves your proficient in vary between +13 for Dexterity and Constitution (both very common!) and a whopping +16 save on Charisma!

Curtains up; I'm ready - Jack of All Trades also does quite nicely to help your middling skills. Even though I dumped most of your mental skills you’re still proficient enough that you won’t be completely helpless when caught off guard. And when you’re in the zone with Persuasion or Performance you are easily the best girl around!

CONS

Don't make me get off stage - It was my intention to recreate Sona’s positional gameplay with this build but it does present some gameplay issues when trying to maximize your effectiveness. Where do you position yourself as a character who’s still primarily a squishy caster despite your good saving throws and AC? Can you give everyone in your party support, or are they too spread out to get value out of your 10 foot range auras?

Quiet, please! - You have a damn good concentration check, but what do you concentrate on? Not only do you have a ton of spells but they all scale very good with levels and you have spell slots that go far higher than your maximum level spell. It can be hard to choose what to do with those 7th and 8th level slots.

The world is cruel... Until that changes, I'll never stop playing - One of many “meta” problems with this build was my choice to focus almost entirely on support. Sure Toll the Dead is a great damaging cantrip but your only two damaging spells are Moonbeam and Dissonant Whispers. Again: you don’t have to follow my build point-for-point and while you’ll be flamed in League for building Sona full AP I don’t think your friends will mind if you take some damaging spells.

But if you can’t tell it was really hard for me to come up with those downsides. With the exception of the positional requirements a Bardadin is a very strong build and Sona is a very strong support. Boost your teammates with your own amazing power and make sure everyone’s alive and jamming! Your power may have been forgotten over the years but no one’s ever upset to have a great support at their side. And remember: Seraphine may be in K/DA but you’re in Pentakill, and you have your own label! No one can replace DJ Sona!

[maxineswritingcenter]

You Saved Me - Derek Hale x fem!reader part 4

I’m really chugging these out. Mostly because its practically written already. But I will let you know that in the original, I did write in “blue orbs” so you can assume how much I had to fix. 

----------------------------

“Um, hi.” I said, very surprised and confused that he was here. 

“We need to talk.” 

“As you mentioned. But we can’t talk here, you are a suspect in a crime and this is the sheriff’s house.” I crossed my arms over my chest. 

“Then can I get my jacket back, since you don’t want to be associated with a criminal.” This was the first time he had shown any sort of emotion besides seriousness. Granted, it was condescending. 

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to be associated with you.” I handed him his jacket, a little sad to see it go, “You saved my life, I just don’t want you to get in trouble.” 

“A little late for that.” He said, putting his jacket on. 

“What’s going on?” I asked, stepping closer to him. He looked at me warily (as if he needed to be wary of me) but didn’t move away. 

“You wouldn’t understand.” Usually, I would reply ‘then make me understand’, but I was still on the fence about him. He perked up a bit, like he was hearing something. 

“Here.” He held out his closed hand, I held mine out and he dropped my locket into my hands. I gasped, reaching up to my neck and realized it wasn’t there. I looked down at the locket.

“Oh my god, thank you. I would have never forgiven myself if I lost-” I looked up and realized I was talking to no one, “And you disappeared. Okay.” My phone beeped in my pocket and saw a text from Stiles move across the screen.

“Scott woke up in the woods and ran into a swimming pool this morning.” I read aloud. This town was starting to just become weirder and weirder. It was a nice distraction from my own personal life, but now it was getting borderline concerning. 

- 

At practice, Stiles filled in Scott and I on what he had heard over the police radio. The body, or half of the body, had been sent into the LA coroner’s office where the lad had found animal hair, specifically wolf hair. Scott wasn’t paying too much attention though, he looked like he was in his own little world. 

It was the first scrimmage game of the year and Coach was pretty excited, which wasn’t his usual tune. As the game started, I watched Scott pull off the craziest moves I had ever seen attempted on the field. He was moving so incredibly fast and he even flipped over someone and scored a goal at the same time! Finstock looked like his head was about to explode, which meant that he was happy. Or at least I think so. In a time out, he waved Scott over. 

“What in god’s name was that? This is a lacrosse field. You wanna try out for some gymnastics team?” 

“No, Coach.” Scott said. What I found weird was that his breathing was that of someone who had normal lungs and never had a breathing problem in his life. That just gave me a weird feeling, something that would stick with me for the rest of the night. 

“What the hell was that?” Coach asked, motioning to the field. 

“I-I don’t know. I guess trying to make the shot.” 

“Yeah, well, you made the shot. And guess what? You’re startin’, buddy.” Coach smiled, slapping a shocked Scott’s shoulder, “You made first line.” 

 Scott grinned looking between Finstock and me. I put on a smile. I was happy for Scott, but there was too much weird going on. 

-

I managed to beat Stiles home, even though he was driving like a maniac. I grabbed his arm as he walked up the driveway, “What is going on?” He shook my arm off.

“Leave me alone.” He grumbled, stomping through the house, up to his room and slamming the door shut. It was times like this that knowing Stiles well came in handy. He was pissed. And talking to him about it had a ten percent chance of working. They had put him in therapy when his mom died and the therapist told Uncle Noah that when Stiles was mad, it would be better to let him cool off on his own. 

Scott was at the door soon after, after letting him in, I patted his shoulder, “Good luck.” I could hear the arguing from my room, but the words were muffled by insulation. Things used to be so normal before, but it seems like the fires in this town caused unnatural things to occur. 

Maybe it was time I asked Derek some weird questions. Was this a good idea? Absolutely not. Regardless, I needed answers.

As I drove the dark back roads to get to the Hale house, I noticed that the moon was full. I hummed absentmindedly to my music and argued with myself on whether or not this was a good idea. It probably wasn’t.

-

I debated on whether or not to knock. The door was already halfway open and the whole back of the house was practically missing. I opted to knock. 

“Derek?” I called, after stepping inside, “Derek, it’s (Y/N). We need to talk. There are a lot of weird things going on and I need answers.” I turned and when I saw Derek standing right behind me, I thought my heart almost stopped. 

“Jesus, you gotta stop doing that.” I sighed in relief.

“What are you doing here?” That seemed to be his favorite question to ask, “Didn’t your parents tell you not to go out on full moons?” Oddly specific. But it was true, my parents never let me go out on a full moon. And when I was younger they would drop me off at Uncle Noah’s house, they called it a date night. 

“Actually, yes. How did you know that?” I narrowed my eyes at him. 

“You need to go home. Now.” He turned me around, pushing me towards the door. 

“Hey hey hey, no no no.” I dug my heels into the floor, “I came here to talk to you. Something weird is going on and it involves you. I know it does.”  

“You could not have come at a worse time.” He grumbled. 

“Listen here, Hale, I came here for answers and I intend to get them so I’m not going anywhere until-” I was cut off by Derek throwing me over his shoulder and hurriedly taking me outside. I pounded his back with my hands and kicked my legs. But he was too strong for me to move.

“Put me down! Derek!” He growled and set me back on my feet in front of my car door. He slammed his hands on the car, caging me between the door and his body. He was so warm, actually radiating heat. I tried to fight the blush that was creeping on my cheeks. 

“Why are you so stubborn?” He raised his eyebrows. He was so close and his actions made me speechless, “And why aren’t you scared of me? If you were smart you would go out of your way to avoid me like everyone else.” I finally found my voice. 

“Well, clearly I’m not like everyone else. I can see that something fishy is going on. Scott is practically bouncing off the walls all after being attacked by something in the woods. And you were talking about something in the woods so that means you know what it is, so tell me!” I shouted the last bit. Our eyes locked. It was hard not to look away, his stare was so intense. 

He sighed, “Fine.” He backed away, the cool night bringing a chill back after being so close to him. 

“Meet me in the woods by your house tomorrow. I’ll answer your questions.” 

“All of my questions?” I asked, a small tremble in my voice. 

“Don’t push it.” He looked around, clenching and unclenching his hands, “Now go home.” And I did, I got in my car and left. I was going to get my answers. 

-

“Arrested?!” I shouted in disbelief. I’m sure Uncle Noah took the phone from his ear.  

“We had to take him in. That body in the woods was his sister, Laura.” He said. Laura Hale was a name I vaguely recognized, but I never met her before. 

“We aren’t convicting him, but he’s already a suspect in his family’s deaths and now that we found his sister, he doesn’t look entirely innocent.”

“Derek wouldn’t hurt anybody.” 

“(Y/N), you don’t know that.” 

“He didn’t hurt me. He brought me to the hospital.” 

“And that is one of the reasons why I am giving him the benefit of the doubt.” He said, then sighed, “Look, we don’t have anything to hold him over night. We’re just getting his statement and then he’s free to go. As long as he doesn’t leave the area. Now I gotta go, I’ll see you at home.” 

“Okay, see you later.” I hung up the phone and fell back on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. Derek couldn’t have killed his sister. Especially cutting her in half. Or at least, that’s what I hoped. It scared me though, to think that Derek could be capable of that. But, no, he couldn’t be. He was the victim of happenstance. I think. But Laura had been out there a while, so the possibility of Michael was high. By running was he trying to frame Derek? 

They found wolf fur on Laura’s body and while it doesn’t explain who killed it did say something about the area. It seems like the wolf population is coming back. They could have come from somewhere else in search of food or maybe the national wildlife service moved them in to control the deer population. I feel like everyone would have heard about that though, at least an email or something. 

-

After dinner, I decided to go into the woods to see if Derek would actually meet up with me. I told Stiles that I was going on a walk to clear my head. A few minutes into the woods, I decided to wait instead on a boulder in a clearing near the creek. I had only been there maybe ten minutes when I heard the footsteps approaching. I smiled and stood. 

“Now is it that hard to make your presence known?” I turned and stared, but the person I was looking at was not Derek. It was Michael. 

He smiled, tilting his head to the side, “Hey, sweetheart. Miss me?” 

“Stay away from me.” My body started to tremble, “Stay back!” I backed up, keeping my eyes on him but cursed myself when my back hit a tree. Michael closed the gap between us, leaning closer. I turned my head away, listening to him sniff my hair. 

“You smell so good.” He hummed. 

“Get away from me.” Tears made their way down my cheeks. 

“C’mon. Just relax.” He placed his hands on either side of my face. 

“No, NO!” I screamed, and shoved him. He fell back a few feet, looking surprised at my strength. I looked down at my hands, then him. He was pissed.

“Alright, enough fooling around.” He got up and I started running. I didn’t get too far, Michael had always been fast. I heard him stumble, but he grabbed my foot, bringing me down to the ground. 

“HELP!” I screamed, “SOMEBODY!” 

“Nah, not this time.” he dragged me up from the ground, wrapping his arms around my body and beginning to drag me towards the creek. I struggled, thrashing my torso and legs. 

“HELP! DEREK!” I shouted, hoping that he was nearby, coming to meet with me like he said he would. Michael turned me in his arms, gripping tight. 

“Derek Hale? You shacking up with that freak?!” He shook me. 

“Michael, please, please, let me go, please.” I begged, my pleads were met with a sharp slap with the back of his hand. I yelped. 

“HELP!” I cried again. 

“Shut up! I said shut up-” A  loud roar cut him off, his grip loosening. It sounded like a bear, but when I looked to the source, my heart started to pound more than it already was. 

It was Derek, but he wasn’t entirely himself, not human. His eyes were a bright, glowing blue, his face was different. His brow bone was more pronounced. His hair grew down the sides of his face. his ears were pointed. He had large sharp fangs on his canines. He had claws on his hands. 

Derek leapt from the hill that he stood on, landing on all fours and letting out another hellish roar. He came towards us, Michael shoved me towards Derek, starting to run the other way. But Derek maneuvered around me, chasing after him. The chase went down a hill, towards the creek. What I heard next was Michael’s screaming and then a heavy sounding thud. I stood there for a while, still trying to process what the hell was happening. What is he?

My eyes shot back up to the hill, Derek was walking upright, his face and hands back to normal. I stayed in my spot, waiting for him to come up to me. He stopped, he was breathing heavily through his nose. I looked over at him, he was splattered with blood. I grabbed his hand, seeing normal fingernails and hands. My eyes then went to his face, I touched his cheeks. No more hair growing down. His eyes were back to their normal green. Derek slowly took my hands in his, bringing them back down to my sides. 

“What-What are you?” I whispered, not trusting my voice.

He looked at me for a moment before answering, “I’m a werewolf.” I left out a deep breath. Letting his words settle into my mind. 

“Are you okay?” He asked softly. I could only nod, still speechless. He softly brushed his fingers over my cheek where Michael hit me, I winced. It was already starting to feel sore. 

“Are you scared now?” He asked. I should be. I should be running for the hills. It was insanity to even believe in werewolves and yet, here one stood in front of me. 

I shook my head, “No. I do have questions though. Um, you answered one of them.” I ran a hand through my hair. He nodded, placing his hand softly on my lower back. 

“Let’s get you home.” We started walking, but I stopped us. 

“Wait, no, we can’t go there. I can’t bring you to my house. My uncle could be there and when he sees you covered in blood, he will arrest you.” I thought for a moment, “Dammit.” I had to think of something, something to protect him. Whether he saved me or not, he still killed Michael and that was still murder. 

“I got it.” I said, “Can you climb well?”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read part 5 here!

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Thanks so much for reading and the next part should be out soon :)

YSM Taglist

@nyotamalfoy

@fruitloopzzz

[chilly-me-softly]

hey! could u do marcus rashford meeting your family and being nervous? thought it might be cute x

"How do I look?" sitting on his bed you see Marcus come out of the bathroom where he had gone to fix himself one last time before you dragged him out of the house to go to your parents for dinner.

"You just make me look bad. My mother will end up scolding me for not dressing up a bit more" you move closer to him wrapping your arms around his waist but he moves them away.

"Don't ruffle my jumper"

"My parents don't pay attention to those things" you roll your eyes however not losing your smile.

"I know, but still... I want to make a good impression"

"And you will, don't worry"

You can sense Marcus' nervousness and you don't blame him, you're not exactly calm either. You're introducing your first serious boyfriend to your family after all and you want everything to be perfect but knowing your parents you know they will almost certainly find something to embarrass you with. But still you try not to let it show because they are your parents, you know them and you are more or less prepared for whatever they might say or do. Unlike Marcus.

"Ring the doorbell" you tell him taking some things from the car you have to leave there, "my keys were taken away when I got my own place. The two of them needed their privacy" you shake your head still in disbelief of the whole thing.

"Or they wanted to be free to ignore you" you hit him before ringing again as the door opens and a woman almost looking like you appears in the doorway.

"(Y/N) give me time to come over and open the door"

"Sorry" you smile innocently taking a step forward to leave a kiss on her cheek before letting Marcus in as well.

"Mum this is Marcus, Marcus my mother"

"Hello ma'am"

"Oh please cut out all this pleasantries and call me (y/m/n)" the woman smiles at him reassuringly and he hands her the little plant he had bought with your help knowing how much she liked them. "Will do. Um I brought you this I hope you like it"

"Oh how nice, thank you very much but you shouldn't have bothered"

"No bother at all ma'am" your mother places the seedling in the doorway in plain sight as you place the envelopes you had brought by the door to relieve yourself of the burden.

"Dad?"

"On the couch" your mother sighs rolling her eyes at the lost cause living with her as you take Marcus' hand to lead him into the living room to continue the introductions.

"Oh (Y/N), I was just seeing you. Your mother is starting to save all the newspapers where they paparazzi you. Is that how you name it?"

"Dad" you giggle passing a hand over your eyes as he wastes no time introducing himself to your boyfriend and starting a conversation about that weekend's game. At least there's no embarrassment of running out of a topic with football in the way.

It's your mother who brings the conversation back to something more 'appropriate' when you sit down at the table, wanting to know about his family or something more personal than just his job and how many goals he hopes to score that season.

It's nice, seeing Marcus in your family as he seems genuinely interested in what your mother did that morning or showing him your brother's son who he already knows thanks to you. You already knew it was going to turn out well deep down but seeing it with your own eyes makes you relax and really enjoy the time with your family.

"Be sure to call out, I am talking to you but mostly to you" your mother recommends, various containers with leftovers in your hands as you nod and reassure her that you won't disappear. That night Marcus stays over at your place, his nervousness giving way to lightheartedness as he reviews in his head the day just gone by and you stand there by his side listening to him smiling and laughing with him running your hand through his hair.

[miamarie1960]

Blowing it out of proportion

What are two cents worth today? Not much but here is mine!

Ali Krieger’s decline is not a thing! She is still one heck of a defender!

People talk alot of nonsens! The goal against Louisville is not on her. The way that ball came up to Salmon; the transition through 3-4 players that didn’t put any kind of pressure on the player. And when it reached Ali’s area she was actually a step behind but she caught up and as she is right beside Salmon (they are now right inside the box) she gets a little shove and stumbles and Salmon scores. If Ali would have done the same it would have been a pk for Louisville. She did everything she could to catch up, and she did but Salmon is a power package and muscled her out but the ball shouldn’t have been there in the first place! Lost high up on Louisville side of the pitch and no one put pressure on the ball and Pressley was out of place and slow to react, it was her mark, and then Salmon scores. How on Earth is that on Ali?

I don’t know how many posts I’ve seen, both here or on Twitter about how bad Krieger has been doing, and I scratch my head over it! In the Challenge cup I saw her AND the whole defence make mistakes and they were also out of sync. But in the league they were solid until McClernon got injured. Against Houston and the first half against NCC the defence were once again making silly mistakes, playing really bad actually. But again is that on Ali? I didn’t see anything she could have done to prevent any of the goals. She is just one person and can’t be everywhere! She is hold to another kind of standard, just like Ashlyn. But why? What is all this? I have no idea!

Dan Lauletta’s comment on Twitter is not at all surprising to me. He and Tannenwald has in the past been writing very derogatory and petty things about Ali. And Ashlyn! Probably something personal going on there. But why all these critical posts about Ali?

I can actually remember only one occasion where I think Ali made a real bad mistake that caused a goal; in one of the games against Washington, Hatch beat her in an air duel and scored. I just don’t get why people are so super critical of Ali. Is she slower? Maybe, but I’ve seen her outrun most of the players in the league. So she still has speed. And she very rarely lose an 1v1 or airduel. And she leads those young players, tries to teach them how to be good defenders and sets an example for them to follow.

The problem is elsewhere for Orlando, not only in their defense. They had chances to score but failed. And they drops the ball in transitions when the whole team are pushing forward and are vulnerable to counter attacks. Their midfielders are simply put not good enough. Gunny is maybe the only one who has been consistent at least and she is a real fighter and never gives up. But where is the creativeness? Where is a type of player who finds the passages that leads them forward? Where is the defensive midfielder that shield the defence?

Pride has to many mediocre players; Thomas, Dougherty Howard, Tymrak and even Viggiano, who I liked very much but as been miserable this year. Plummer and Pressley have a very impressive physic but are way to slow for this league. Have seen to little of the others; Kim, Washington etc to have an opinion but since they don’t get more than minutes my guess is that they just doesn’t cut it! Jade Moore didn’t impress me while she was playing so I don’t see her adding anything when she comes back.

It will be interesting to see if Turner and Strom can bring something new and better to the team. My hopes for Jodie Taylor are nonexistent!

I would like to see Ali play higher up on the field actually. She has excellent vision and we have all seen her deliver dimes to players. She could be that defensive midfielder; the link between defense and midfield and provider to the offense. And I think it would be beneficial to her, not trying so hard to be there for everyone in that defense line! I would like to see Kornieck actually use her height as an advantage in the box. She is a very good player but seem to be lacking in that one thing that is her big advantage : airduels! I see her lose out to shorter player in every game which is totally baffling to me.

I think Portland will blow the Pride out of the water, I think it will be really bad. I wish and hope that I am wrong but I doubt they can take Sydney’s late goal and turn this around. They lack not just the right players but conviction, and a real game plan and tactics! Ashlyn has saved them so many times this year so far but she can only do so much!

[blueskrugs]

Four Times His Teammates Said “I Love You,” and One Time He Did | Vince Dunn

for @captainpetty​ and Erin who encouraged the hell out of me while I wrote this (and the other Vince 4+1 I was writing at the same time whoops)

length: 3.8k words

Brayden Schenn You’d been dating Vince Dunn three months before you met the rest of the team. You hadn’t minded, really. You were more than content to hang at one of your apartments on nights off, watching movies and HGTV shows and eating takeout. Vince had told you once that he didn’t want them to meet you purely because they could just be a lot, but sometimes you wondered if there was more to it than them just being a loud group of guys.  You tried not to be insecure, but it could be hard when your boyfriend was unfairly good looking and also in the NHL. 

You waited for Vince near the locker room after a game, nervously fidgeting with your phone, standing apart from the other WAGs. There were conversations happening around you as other boys trickled out of the locker room, but you stayed out of them, feeling out of place and like you didn’t belong. 

You were so distracted and caught up in your head that you didn’t notice that Vince had emerged until he swept you up into a hug, spinning you around once for good measure. They had won, and Vince had scored a goal in the process, and he was clearly still a little high on adrenaline. You laughed as he bent down to kiss you but ducked your head and blushed when you heard his other teammates whistling. You were pretty sure Vince flipped them off behind his back, but then he was leaning down to kiss you again, and it didn’t really matter.

A win meant the boys were going out, and Vince had told you he wanted you to come with them this time. You piled into his car with Sammy, still quiet as your thoughts raced. You had fought with Sammy for shotgun and won, but you were mostly worrying about whether or not everyone else on the team would like you. You didn’t really understand why it seemed so important to you that they did, other than the fact that you knew they meant everything to Vince.

The bar was loud and crowded, between fans and twenty-something large hockey players and their assorted significant others. All of you managed to find a spot in a corner. You were wedged up between Sammy and Vince, with Vince’s arm draped over your shoulders and a beer in your hand. You let yourself listen to their conversations, carefully free of hockey talk, save for when a particularly brave fan came over to talk about the game. The boys asked you questions for a while, but a bar is hardly the place for small talk. Your tables were near a dartboard, and Brayden Schenn and Colton Parayko had pulled away to play. You watched, resting your head on Vince’s shoulder, as they got more and more frustrated when the darts weren’t landing where they wanted them to.

“You ever play?” Vince asked, nudging your head a little.

“Not really,” you lied. Really, one of your older brothers and your dad had taught you when you were a kid, and you were actually pretty good. None of them knew that though, and you wanted to have a little fun. 

Vince lit up, just like you knew he would, and dragged you over to Brayden and Colton. He kicked them off the dartboard, suddenly excited all over again at the prospect of teaching you something. He spent like fifteen minutes pressed up behind you as he showed you how to stand, how to hold a dart, the right way to throw it. It was more than a little cute. By the time he was done, you were dying to tell him the truth, but you also wanted to play it up a little more. So when he let go of you and told you to, “Show us what you’ve got, babe,” you deliberately threw it poorly. And again. And through a whole game against Brayden and Colton.

“Let me try again,” you begged, eyes maybe a little too wide, voice a little too eager. Vince looked at Brayden and Colton, who both shrugged good-naturedly. “I think I’m getting the hang of it now.”

“Put some money on it this time!” Perron yelled from the table. Okay, he may have been onto you a little bit. 

You pouted at Vince until he sighed and pulled out some cash for both of you, throwing it onto the table next to what Schenner and Colton had put down. You made sure to let Brayden and Colton go first this time. For dramatic effect, you drank the last of Vince’s beer before turning and nailing a bullseye. You were met with raised eyebrows, but you just shrugged.

“Got lucky, I guess?” You could hear David Perron laughing for sure now. 

The rest of the game continued like that, with your throws true to aim each time, and Schenner and Parayko very quickly becoming frustrated again. The rest of the guys were paying close attention now, joining in Perron’s laughter and chirps. 

“Alright, fuck you, what the hell?” Colton asked as you swept their cash off the table, but he was laughing too.

“Dunner, I think I’m in love with your girlfriend,” Brayden said, slumped over the table. Kelsey made a noise of protest somewhere behind you. You laughed and tried not to think about how good it felt to have been accepted, a smile never leaving your face for the rest of the night. 

Robert Thomas It was the beginning of summer, and you were at the Tarasenko’s (frankly, ridiculously large) house for one last team barbecue before everyone scattered to the four corners of the earth. The Blues had gotten knocked out of the playoffs early, and, honestly, it had been kind of ugly. Vince and Sammy had wallowed around their apartment for a couple of days, but today everyone seemed determined to bask in the sun and relax (and maybe drink too much beer). 

You had been in the pool for a bit, while the sun was still high in the sky, but it was only early May, and before long you got too cold. You were making your rounds, chatting with Jayne and Dayna and Yana. Vladi was in his element cooking, and Petro and Schwartzy were fulfilling their duties as team mom and dad, keeping an eye on the young guys on the team. 

It was loud and energetic, but it was comfortable and it was nice to see all the boys relaxed after the end of the season and the playoffs. You wandered over to Vince where he was part of the group playing Spike Ball in the grass. They were all way too into it, in the nature of being competitive athletes, and you watched for a while, sipping on a Truly and laughing when one of them ended up sprawled across the grass dramatically.

Vince and Sammy eventually got kicked off the game, and Vince came over and wrapped an arm around your waist. He plucked the Truly out of your hands and took a drink before making a face.

“Gross. How do you girls drink these things?” he asked. 

You scoffed. “As if you guys didn’t drink your fair share of Bud Lights when you won the Cup,” you said. Vince rolled his eyes but didn’t have a good comeback for that one. 

Vince got distracted after standing with you for a couple of minutes and went off with Sammy to annoy Petro. You were pretty sure Perron was encouraging them. Soon it was Robert Thomas standing next to you.

“What do you want, Robby?” you asked, at the same time Robert said: “Will you steal me another beer?”

Now, you knew Schwartzy had cut Robby off after two beers, but you also knew that he’d had at least one more since then. You shot him a look.

“Why am I doing your dirty work? I don’t wanna face Schwartzy’s wrath.”

“Please?” Damn him. You knocked back the rest of your Truly before sighing one more time and heading off to find a beer that you weren’t even going to get to drink. 

It was nearly ten minutes before you could make it back to Robby, and you only narrowly avoided being thrown back into the pool by Kyrou. You slipped the beer to Robby, who took it gratefully. You rolled your eyes.

“I want it on record that I hate you sometimes.”

“I love you, too,” Robby said, draping an arm across your shoulders and pressing a kiss to your cheek. You let yourself smile, even though you knew he was a little drunk and that it was just the beer talking. 

Colton Parayko  The boys were coming home from a road trip, and you were in Vince’s kitchen, baking cookies. Technically, Vince had given you the spare key to his apartment four months into your relationship “for emergencies,” but you were craving snickerdoodles, and he had a better kitchen than you. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they’d been in California for nearly two weeks, and you knew that they were Vince’s favorite cookies. 

He texted you when they got off the plane, asking if you’d come over, while also warning you that some of the guys would be coming home with him.  You carefully didn’t tell him that you were already waiting in his apartment. You were just pulling the last of the cookies out of the oven when you heard the front door open behind you, and several loud hockey players spilled through the doorway. You listened as they dropped their bags and shed their shoes, focused on trying not to burn yourself as you transferred cookies to a cooling rack. 

You felt an arm wrap around your waist, and another arm reached around you to steal a cookie. You knew it was Colton based on the sheer size and leaned into him a little bit.

“What did we do to deserve you baking us cookies? I think I love you, Y/N,” he said, immediately followed by, “Hot, shit, hot,” when he took a bite out of the cookie.

“Careful, those just came out of the oven,” you said, ducking out of Colton’s grasp to run and hug Vince.

He was laughing, and he thanked you for the cookies with a kiss, but he didn’t say anything else. The rest of the guys crowded into the kitchen for cookies, but Vince stayed plastered to your side. There was a chorus of thanks from his teammates, and you settled into the noisy chaos that came with being friends with a group of hockey players. 

Sammy Blais The last time was actually almost the end of your relationship with Vince. It had been one of those stereotypically terrible days where you slept through your alarm, spilled your coffee on the way to work, and then nothing else seemed to go your way the whole day. You made your way over to Vince’s apartment after work without texting, but you knew they had a day off and would be chilling. All you really wanted was some food and cuddles, but you knew at the very least you’d have to deal with Sammy, since they still lived together. 

You let yourself in with a sigh; those idiots never actually locked their front door. 

“Vince?” you called out, kicking off your shoes by the door, but it was Sammy who poked his head around the corner.

“Hey, Y/N. He’s streaming right now, but I was about to order dinner,” Sammy says with a smile. That’s Sammy for you, always smiling. You groan, suddenly feeling tears burning behind your eyes. Your head was beginning to hurt. 

“Of fucking course. You know what? Forget I came here, I’m just gonna go home,” you said, turning back to put your shoes back on, angrily trying to blink back those stupid tears. 

“Hey now, none of that,” Sammy said quietly, suddenly behind you, grabbing your wrist and pulling you into his chest. Distantly, you could hear Vince yelling at his Fortnite game. “I’m ordering all of us dinner, and then we’re gonna lay on the couch while we wait.”

You wandered into the living room and settled on the couch, listening to Sammy order your favorite from the kitchen, before he came back. You could still hear Vince playing Fortnite in the other room. You vaguely wondered who he was playing with if Sammy was in here with you. It didn’t matter, though, because Sammy was pulling you into his lap and maneuvering the two of you until you were cuddling to his satisfaction. You immediately felt some of the tension you’d been carrying in your shoulders all day release. 

Sammy rested his chin on your head, your face pressed into his chest. Cuddling with Vince’s teammates was hardly a rare occurrence; they were almost always in some sort of dog pile, and you often got dragged into it. (You would never really admit to how much you loved it, and you would complain about being trapped under hockey players until the day you died.) Both of you were quiet for a moment.

“Are you gonna tell me what all this is about today?” Sammy asked gently, poking you in the side. You poked him back but buried your face in his chest a little bit more. He poked you again, harder this time. “C’mon,” he said, “tell me what’s wrong or I won’t let you eat.”

You knew Sammy would never actually do that, but you launched into the tale of your day anyway, beginning when you woke up and even including the argument you’d had with your mom at lunch, about Vince no less. You didn’t realize you were crying as you vented, more out of frustration than actual sadness, until Sammy tightened his arms around you, shushing you. 

“Stop that.” You laughed a little. Sammy was needy all day long, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was good with emotions, much less his best friend’s crying girlfriend. “That’s better. You’ve gotta remember that no matter what shit happens we all love you, right? You make us cookies, and who else am I supposed to cuddle with?”

Vince chose that moment to walk into the room, stretching. “What’s for dinner?” he asked, completely oblivious. You pulled back from Sammy, but his words were still echoing sharply in your head. Words Vince had never said, but so many of his teammates had no problems telling you casually. 

Vince Dunn You had been with Vince for almost a year. Just shy of eleven months, if you really wanted to get specific. All those months, and you had never heard Vince say, “I love you.” You wanted to see it as no big deal. He certainly cared about you, and he knew the little things like your favorite flavors of candies and the way you drank your coffee when you made it at home versus your Starbucks order. He indulged in your stress baking, and he stayed up late with you to binge your favorite shows. 

It was just something you thought about, as time went on, spending nights at his apartment, stealing his hoodies, and cuddling after long days and road trips. It was what distracted you when you were running your fingers through his curls, and it was what kept you awake at night when he was in another city. 

You had said it, more than once. The first time had been more of an accident, the “I love you” slipping out while you were laughing at a story he was telling about Sammy doing something stupid; you had both frozen when you registered what you had said, but you’d moved on. Soon you realized that that mistake was definitely not a mistake. You were falling in love with Vince Dunn, and it scared you. You told him again one night, in the dark where he couldn’t see your face, the fear of rejection you were sure was there. He had kissed you and pulled you closer, but he didn’t say it back. It terrified you, that you were falling so hard for someone when you had absolutely no idea how he felt about you.

You tried your hardest not to think about the stories you had heard when you first met Vince–all the things about wheeling girls at home and girls waiting for him in different cities. You tried to remind yourself of the nights spent with his head in your lap while you played with his hair, the way he looked fondly at Sammy when he was being an idiot, how good he was with kids. You had long since learned that the cool Vince Dunn who got into fights on the ice was a front; the real Vince Dunn was actually soft as hell, but only people he trusted could see that side of him. You’d seen that side of him from the very beginning, so surely he had to love you too, right?

All these doubts were running through your mind more and more often, and you started pulling away, shutting down–you were quiet when you were with Vince, and you found yourself making excuses for not spending time together. You didn’t think Vince noticed, either, but you missed the worried looks he shot you when you pulled away from his cuddles.

It all came to a head one November night when you were over at his apartment. He was still up playing video games, and Sammy had just gone to bed. You were curled up under a blanket and in one of Vince’s team hoodies, the 29 on your shoulder like a brand. You’d been thinking all night, but especially as you watched Vince smile at whatever was said on the other end of his headset; you weren’t really listening to whatever his response was. You had decided a couple days before, while Vince was on a plane home from a road trip, that you really needed to talk, and you’d spent the days since then rehearsing the words in your head, but they never sounded right.

“Vince, what’re we doing here?” you blurted. Okay, that still didn’t sound good, and you definitely hadn’t meant to say it right then. Vince looked up at you, startled, and you heard him mutter a rushed apology and goodbye as he ended the game with whoever he was playing with. He dropped his controller on the floor with a clatter as he stood up. 

Vince pulled you onto his lap, and you went, still tense, but tucking your face into his neck. “Baby, I don’t know what you mean,” Vince started. You both knew that was a lie.

“You know we’ve been together almost a year, right?” Vince sighed above you, and you knew those still weren’t the right words. “I love you, Vince, and it’s fine if you don’t feel the same way, but I just don’t think I can stay if you don’t. I just-I can’t keep waiting around, I don’t think I can handle another summer of you in Toronto while I’m still here in St. Louis and I don’t know what you’re doing-” At this point you were just rambling.

Vince cursed under his breath and shoved you off his lap. You watched, confused, and more than a little hurt, as he jumped up and ran towards Sammy’s room as fast as he could in socked feet. He pushed Sammy’s door open without knocking and disappeared inside; you heard Sammy’s muffled swearing– possibly in French– and the sounds of Vince throwing things around.

You had half a thought to get up and leave when Vince burst back out of Sammy’s room, flushed and flustered. Vince was rushing back towards you, tripping over his feet and landing in a heap at your feet. Without thinking, you reached out and pushed his curls out of his face.

“I, shit, I wanted to do this well, wanted to wait until next month,” Vince said, out of breath, “but that clearly wasn’t the best idea.” What you thought was impending heartbreak was just fading into confusion. “I know I froze the first time you told me you loved me. I fucked that up. But then I was trying to figure out how I felt, and then when I did figure it out, I wanted to make it perfect, and then I had to ask for advice, and then-”

You laughed a little then, because Vince was the one rambling now, and all of his words were coming out rushed, like he thought you still might get up and walk out of his apartment right then, in your pajama shorts and his hoodie. “Vince, slow down, you’re freaking me out a little.” Vince just blinked up at you for a moment, green eyes wide and still a little frantic.

“I love you so much, Y/N. And I was an idiot for not telling you months ago. But I’m telling you now, and I mean it. I love-” You cut Vince off again, this time with a kiss, pulling him up by his collar to reach your lips. You felt him relax underneath your hands.

He climbed back up onto the couch, kissing you gently one last time. “Part of the reason I needed to wait was because I needed to find this,” he said, pulling a jewelry box out of his pocket. He opened it quickly to reveal a simple silver bar necklace, engraved with a small heart and a 29. You had to kiss him again. Suddenly the rush to Sammy’s room made more sense. “And when it came in, I had to hide it from you. It’s a miracle Sammy didn’t say anything. I was trying to figure out a way to ask you to come to Toronto with me this summer, too–whenever the season ends, for however long you can get out of work, I want you up there with me.”

Vince let you wrap your arms around his neck to kiss him again, sliding his arms underneath your legs to carry you to bed. You were tired all of a sudden, and you let him set you on his bed, watched as he carefully placed the necklace on his dresser. He climbed into bed next to you, shifting both of you around until he was mostly laying on top of you and you could wrap one arm around him and run your fingers through his curls with the other. 

“‘M sorry,” he whispered ten minutes later, long after you thought he was well on his way to sound asleep, the words mostly muffled into your chest. Your fingers paused until he made a plaintive sound and moved his head so you would keep going. You rolled your eyes a little. 

“Nothing to be sorry for,” you whispered back. Anything louder felt like it would break whatever spell had fallen over the darkness, the quiet and peace you were feeling.

“I love you,” Vince whispered again instead of explaining. “I love you.” 

You fell asleep like that, with your hand tangled in his hair, and your legs tangled together underneath the sheets, murmuring “I love you”s back and forth.

[lokadottr]

@vegvisr​ spoke: five times flirted:  ( five times the receiver flirted with the sender ) // from harald? ( five times drabbles / / no longer accepting )

THEY’RE KIDS, and while she’s never known a day without him ( they’ve been best friends since they were toddlers, at least that’s what their parents say ) no one else quite knows how to annoy her like him. he said he liked her hair, her mother’s clipped her curls back away from her face, and her face went red. he said it to make fun of her, to embarrass her-- that’s why she blushes and throws her fist against his shoulder. ‘ shut up. ’ that’s all.

IT TAKES a few years, a few fights, a few missed opportunities but they get there. it borders on obnoxious, together at school, together at home...together at his games even if she’s still not sure what’s going on. she’s never liked football, but he’s playing so she’ll cheer him on, standing on the sidelines with one of his old jerseys on. clapping her hands excitedly when he he scores a goal. ‘ hey eighteen! ’ torvi waits until he looks her way before grinning, ‘ nice legs! call me. ’ at least this time its him who blushes.

HIS CAMERA is ready to run out of storage by the time the ceremony is over. she stole it from his room that morning when she came to tell him to hurry up and she’s been taking pictures ever since. him in his dress clothes, him in his cap and gown, ones with his siblings and his parents, his friends. it only amuses her more when he complains about the ones where he’s not even looking. ‘ oh come on! i’m proud of my boyfriend! ’ she glances over as she drives, having promised to take him out to celebrate, ‘ and you look cute in that picture...well your butt does anyway. i’m proud of you and your cute little butt. ’

THEY’VE SAVED up for the past two years, planning to move in the minute she’s finished with school. and they did, even if their bedroom is the only room that’s finished. the whole summer is shaping up to be hanging shelves, moving furniture and putting in appliances. no vacations, no breaks. when he asks her for the stud finder so they can hang her shelves she can’t help herself. ‘ i’m right here. ’ her laughter is only drown out by his groan and later muffled when he kisses her. they can always finish hanging the shelves later...

SHE HASN’T slept more than a few hours all night, pre-wedding jitters ( could they be pre-wedding jitters if they’d gotten married at a courthouse days prior in secret ) replaced with anxiety about if they would be parents or not. they would, but that’s not why she’s a bit cranky, it’s purely the lack of sleep. torvi leans her head against his shoulder as they sit out from dancing after their first. you look beautiful, princess... she groans as he says it into her hair, sitting up only so she can playfully punch him in the shoulder. ‘ shut up. ’