#because they thought their current coach was also going to be leaving

[justalittlebluetiefling]

I haven't been involved with coaching for almost 3 months now and somehow I am still getting dragged into the drama.

[clawsdevour]

his first crush

wc: 1.2k content warning: ur atsumu's first ever crush and he's all nervous and shy and silly!, fluff, atumu x reader, not proofread

note: this is for that one anon req!! im sorry that i chose to write atsumu instead of hoshiumi b/c genuninely i'm still not very familiar with hoshiumi as a character!! T_T but i still hope you enjoy this!!!!!

ㅤ۪⊹ ꣑ৎ

“The girls are gonna practice alongside us this whole week, you better behave” you overhead from the back. A familiar voice jogging through your mind while you attempt to look back to see who said that.

It was Shinsuke Kita, Inarizaki’s boys volleyball captain. He was explaining the current situation the girls’ gym was in and why you were gonna be sharing their courts to the Miya twins who’ve stopped by at your class.

A recognizable blonde behind his grey haired twin was trying to sneakily look through your class. His eyes squinted and widened in excitement the moment he found out where you sat by the window. 

Atsumu had a big fat crush on you and everyone on the boys’ volleyball team knew. The moment school started after summer ended was when you found out you had class with one of them. Meaning, that that person may update Atsumu your every action if they really wanted to.

When you transferred into Inarizaki last year, you were a complete nobody. Not in a way where everyone disliked you, but in a sense where you absolutely knew no one. That was until you tried out for your favorite sport, volleyball, and successfully made it onto the team! From there you met your fellow friends, and classmates that they introduced you to. That of course, also lead to Atsumu’s discovery being you. 

One day you stayed a bit longer in the gym where no one else was in building. You were practicing your serves, in hopes to get better before your next match. From the corner of your eye you saw a blonde man peak his head in, feeling his intense eyes resting on you, but too focused to look back. 

Your dedication towards volleyball and your team got you caught up in his heart. He only came to the girls’ gym to look for his trainer, but was swept off his feet by his first crush ever, you.

“Oh my god Samu, she sits right ‘der” you heard Atsumu loudly whisper from behind Osamu before leaving.

You weren’t annoyed or disliked the fact that Atsumu liked you. You thought it was kinda silly how he chose you to crush on, overall he was popular amongst the girls in Inarizaki. 

Either way you weren’t sure what the rest of the school year is gonna bring but you know it’ll be a very interesting year before graduation.

“Okay girls, remember to be respectful to the boys and their coach because they’re allowing us practice in their gym this week due to construction,” your trainer explained to your team. You’re all standing in front of the gym while your coach continues. 

A few girls in the back were gossiping about the Miya twins and how attractive they are while you smiled under your straight face, a bit excited to see how Atsumu will react the moment he sees you walk in.

“For the first fifteen minutes, you guys will be stretching and warming up together to get along since we’re gonna be in here for a while. The boys’ coach will be subbing in for me while I prepare atheletic sheets to hand out, got it?” A loud ‘Yes!’ roaring from your group. 

Your coach slides open the door, excusing your guys’ intrusion. The boys’ trainer walks over to the entrance to greet you all, the sounds of squeaking coming to a halt to follow behind their trainer. 

When you’re all situated in the gym, their coach is going through all the basic rules about his courts and shows you which one you’ll be practicing in as well as where the balls are kept. Everyone’s bowing and introducing each other, of course a small crowd around the twins as always. They both somewhat ignored the girls, waiting for their trainer’s next order.

“Please choose a partner to get warmed up with for 15 minutes before you both split off and practice in your teams!” yelling across all the chit chat, catching everyone’s attention before they all go off to pick partners.

You’re looking down at everyone’s shoes, knowing everyone’s either already partnered up or already searching for one of the guys. A few steps in, a pair of familiar shoes catches your attention while you look up. It was no else but Atsumu Miya.

“Um… HI! Do you need a partner?” A bit louder than usual due to anxiousness, his hand reaching out to you with the other scratching the back of his neck to calm his high nerves. His large hooded eyes inspecting you in your casual shorts and tee.

“Oh..! Sure,” gladly agreeing amongst the murmurs. His hand reaches out to yours, leading you towards the volleyball cart in the back to select your ball, trying to get away from the crowd that gradually dispersed. While choosing a ball, his piercing tension is so dense the pressure’s making you sweat in fear.

“How bout you choose? You probably know which one’s best!” Turning around rapidly, pushing him closer to the cart nervously trying to get rid of this awkward atmosphere you created.

“O-Okay..” turning his head to seek a ball that’s in good condition. His heart is pumping like crazy, he can’t help but swallow hard. He wants this to go well and to build a stable connection with you throughout the week.

The moment he turned around was when you started to get down to stretch. Taking your mind off that blonde to get all loose, thank god because he would’ve continued to stare you down while you were choosing a ball.

“Let’s practice over there,” facing you again with a wide smile, he’s pointing at the corner of the gym where it’ll just be you two. Everyone’s already finished stretching, either in line to grab a ball where the front of the gym was or peppering to get more warmed up.

You agreed and followed him, he’s walking so stiffly. Did he forget to stretch? You can’t help but have these random thoughts engulfing your mind while you analyzed Atsumu now that you get to see him up close. 

Blonde hair that so needed to be toned with purple shampoo, his brown hair growing in and peeking from the bottom. His tall and broad stature was attractive.. Not to mention his face. Him and his twin are highkey attractive, you had to admit.

“Pass!!” you shouted at him the moment threw the ball in the air. Somehow catching him off guard.

“Sorry about that. Kinda got the jitters, ‘er something like that. Ya know what, ignore that.. That was embarrassing” his pale face flushed a hot red in humiliation from what he just said. You tell him it’s okay and to continue, hearing him course under his breath.

To be honest, you thought that it was kinda cute that he had this more vulnerable and shy side to his tough guy act he always puts up. For once, he was the one who’s more flustered than even just a regular girl.  Before he began to practice with you, all you could think about is how this was gonna be a long but fun week.

masterlist here

[pazziescapism]

Break Our Ice - Chapter 1

pairing: paige x azzi

wc: 7.8k (what?? holy shit)

au fic what??, figureskater!Azzi x icehockeyplayer!Paige

fake dating, just like playful banter teasing relationship to lovers, basically paige and azzi dancing around each other

a/n: okay so!! first post/fic kinda nervy..AHAH all these great writers on here have really inspired me so yeahhh, I haven't written fanfic or really written anything in a REALLLYY long time so um yea im a little rusty ngl. anyway, the motivation needs to keep pumping so i would love to here some live reacts or just any comments and feedback, lwk unedited so like if u see anything just lmk so here goes nothing!! love y'all (wait also im from australia, yep, all the way down under, i tried writing this with like american spelling n what not cuz we use british english) - but if i made any mistakes again let me know <3

Over a decade of figure skating, and Azzi hasn't ever hit anyone with an ice skate.

She was currently considering it, but she figured that the fact she hadn’t was mostly a sign that she was a good person, on the account that she thought of it and was actively refraining. Surely, that made her a better person than someone who never had to resist the temptation.

“Thank you for that fascinating look inside your brain,” Caroline says when Azzi voices this thought. “I hope you see a therapist about these disturbing violent urges.”

“Nobody likes a backseat psychologist,” Azzi tells her, and twists away before Caroline can tell her she’s misusing the phrase or something unwaveringly supportive.

It’s easy to lose herself in the motions of this routine, which is a beginner practice she chose for a cooldown. And the quieter her mind gets, the less homicidal she feels, which is probably better for everyone all around.

“Oi,” someone calls from the spectator stands, and Azzi’s mind splashes red very briefly. “I just said we booked this rink.”

Paige, the potential victim of ice-skate homicide, is looking over the stands, her jawline clenched in a way that looks very lickable (but she very quickly buried that thought).

“Didn’t you hear?” Azzi says brightly, spinning away, one foot crossing gracefully over the other. “You aren’t allowed to book the rink on the first Saturday of the month! It’s free use!” She calls over her shoulder.

She spins back around in time to see Jana, the giant Egyptian on their team, straighten up to a full height of probably 6’2. “Oh, okay! Sorry to bother you!”

She turns to leave and is stopped by Paige’s hand gripping her shoulder.

“Jana,” Paige says, her eyes shutting briefly as if praying for patience. “Wisen up, huh?”

Azzi snickers, sliding nearer to see that angry jawline up close, but her fun is quickly spoiled by the sight of the hockey team coach approaching the rink, evidently coming to see what the hold-up was.

“Ah, well,” she says hastily, crossing to the other edge to exit the rink. “I tried!” She yells across the ice to where the team is, and she swears on her life she can see Paige try to hide a smile.

She meets up with Caroline in the locker room, because of course Caroline had left at the specified time instead of sticking with Azzi to piss off the hockey team.

It wasn’t that Azzi enjoyed it, really. She was just generally opposed to getting walked over. If the end result was that the delicious-looking vein in Paige’s neck began to show, that was only a side benefit.

(And if Azzi and Kaitlyn occasionally go to their games, Azzi will maintain to her dying day that it is actually to throw them off their game and not an attempt at manifestation.)

“A poked bear may stumble in its sleep but eventually its eyes will open,” Caroline tells her.

“Caroline, you really are a weird girl,” Azzi says. “Repeat that with real-life words, please.”

Caroline thinks this over. “One of those guys is going to snap and hit you one of these days,” she offers instead.

Azzi scrunches her nose in disdain. “You should be more worried about me snapping.”

“I am,” Caroline says. “I’m worried that them snapping will make you snap and then we’ll get banned from this rink.”

“Out of curiosity,” Azzi asks, swinging her bag of practice clothes over her shoulder. “Why are you getting banned in this scenario?”

“I wouldn’t cooperate with law enforcement when they came to arrest you,” Caroline says solemnly.

Azzi stares at her, strangely touched. “Thank you. I’ll try not to get arrested.”

This resolution is tested immediately after leaving the rink, which had admittedly not been in Azzi’s plans.

“Azzi!” Jayden yells at her, jogging over from where he had been standing by his car parked outside the rink. “Hey, Azzi, listen-”

“I’ll piss on your grave and listen to your corpse roll,” Azzi says, but only quietly and only to herself.

“I got two tickets to a hockey game a week from now,” Jayden says, catching up to her, smiling that horrible smile that makes Azzi want to knock his teeth out. “I got a lot of girls asking me to come, but I thought I’d take you out.”

“Oh, did you?” Azzi asks, as flatly as possible. She’s already walked to the bus stop, and now she’s stuck waiting there while Jayden talks at her.

“C’mon, we can make a whole thing out of it,” Jayden says, oblivious to the murderous vibes Azzi is projecting.

“Not interested,” Azzi says. “Take one of the girls.”

“Aw, but I want to take you,” Jayden says, almost whining. “Besides,” oh god here it comes, “you do kind of owe me, for the whole free rink access.”

There it is. There is how Azzi has been roped into accepting nearly every invitation this stupid bastard has thrown her way over the last few months out of some desperate attempt to try and buy his way into her pants.

“I owe your dad,” Azzi reminds him, though she knows it won’t work. “Who owns the rink. Not you.”

“You know my dad wouldn’t want you to turn this down,” Jayden responds, like he always does. “He wants us to get closer.”

Azzi, in no small way, owed Geno her career, a debt that mattered more to her than any other chain she was attached to. And, no, Geno would not want Azzi strong-armed into going on pseudo-dates with his son, but it would make him upset if Azzi started fighting with the bastard, which was bound to happen soon because Jayden did not like to be told no.

“I can’t,” Azzi says, more out of spite than anything else.

“Why not?”

“I-” Azzi licks her lips and stares at the pimple sprouting on Jayden’s chin as maliciously as possible. She hopes it explodes. “I have a girlfriend who wouldn’t like that.”

Even as she says it, she regrets it. She isn’t even sure why she said it.

“A girlfriend,” Jayden echoes, his tone incredulous.

“A girlfriend,” Azzi maintains, desperately committed to her sinking ship. “She’s kind of overprotective, really.”

God, she’s fucked the second Jayden asks to see a picture. Or by next week, when Jayden inevitably asks why her so-called girlfriend has yet to drop by when Azzi practices. And then she’ll have to explain that she lied, and then Geno will look at her all confused and disappointed like the time Azzi had basically melted the entire rink by accidentally turning off a master switch that killed all the power in the building, and then her career and all her professional relationships will be burned down and it’ll all be Azzi’s own fault because she can’t keep her mouth shut and deal with a couple hours with Jayden. And apparently she likes to self-sabotage.

Azzi feels like she’s going to vomit. She feels like the sidewalk she’s standing on is starting to cave in beneath her, like the sky is suddenly bearing down on her shoulders, too heavy to carry, so close to pushing her to her knees.

“Hey!” A familiar voice calls from behind her. “You forgot your skates!” Azzi manages to turn on shaky legs to see Paige jogging towards her in sweatpants and her hockey jersey. She’s carrying a pink bag that had been a present from Kaitlyn, which Azzi uses to store her skates when she’s taking the bus.

“Ah, Paige” she manages to say through the depths of her spiralling thoughts.

She’s got a light sheen of sweat on her forehead- she’s probably been practicing, Azzi thinks dizzily- and her shoulders seem especially broad with that jersey on.

“Here,” Paige says, holding the bag out. When Azzi doesn’t make a move to take it, she clicks her tongue and, in a shockingly gentle movement, pulls Azzi’s hand up herself, so that she can place the bag on her palm. Then Azzi takes it, clumsily adjusting her grip so she’s holding it properly by the handles. Her breath is still coming too fast, her lungs burning in his chest.

A heavy hand settles on her shoulder, fingers settling near the nape of her neck shaking her lightly so that Paige can peer up into her eyes. “Hey,” she says, in a voice so soft it could have given Azzi an instant warmth in her con other, much different, circumstances. “What’s wrong with you?”

Paige’s hair is in its usual braided style, always neat, yet effortless like someone hadn't even wasted a second of their time putting it up like that. She’s got nice eyes, Azzi's noticed them before. A sort of blue that pierces into your soul and stays there. Her eyebrows are currently pulled down low, making the skin of her forehead wrinkle. 

Jayden, who had been blissfully silent, up until now, decides to chime in. “Is this the girl?”

Paige steps forward, frowning. “Who’s this?” She asks, and she’s talking to Azzi but she’s looking at Jayden, and Azzi’s never been quite this grateful for Paige’s slight resting bitch face before. 

“Just a friend,” she says smoothly. “Azzi, properly introduce us sometime, okay?”

“Sure thing!” Azzi says, as nicely as possible, which makes Paige head turn towards him again. It doesn’t matter because Jayden is already slithering back into his car that cost way too much money, not to mention insurance premiums, making excuses about why he has to leave.

It’s only once Azzi can’t even see the fumes created by that hideous fucking car that she lets her shoulders drop, her forehead drooping to rest on Paige’s shoulders. A little voice in her brain pops up to tell her that, in normal circumstances, she would rather die than be this vulnerable in front of this girl. But right now, in these circumstances, Azzi has just barely avoided having a panic attack in public and Paige’s jersey smells sweaty but not dirty, and her shoulders are such a steady place to rest her tired head.

“Um.” Paige says, and then a hesitant hand is rubbing her back, up and down in comforting strokes.

“Thank god you’re so scary, p,” Azzi mumbles, fisting his hands into jersey material on both sides of Paige’s chest, unwilling to pull away just yet. Fortunately, Paige doesn’t try to move, just keeps running her hand down Azzi back. It’s oddly comforting, Azzi’s breath starting to level out again.

“Don’t tell me you were letting that guy bully you,” Paige says, disbelieving. “You? I once saw you make Nika cry. Actual tears!”

Azzi laughs, despite herself, and finally stands up straight. She reluctantly releases the jersey she had clenched in her fists, and watches the material stay gathered where she had grabbed it.

“It’s hard to explain,” she says. “And I think your teammates are looking for you.”

KK has, in fact, wandered out, her hockey stick held out in front of her chest like a protective barrier.

“They were probably worried we’d killed each other,” Paige says, and makes a gesture Azzi can’t see at KK, who beams and gives her a thumbs up before running back inside.

“She did look glad to be out of the crossfire,” Azzi says, amused.

“Ah, you scare her,” Paige says dismissively, and then looks at her carefully. “Hey, uh-”

Azzi’s not sure what she expected, but it wasn’t for Paige to step forward and chuck her under the chin. “Cheer up, alright?“

“You’re ridiculous,” Azzi says exasperatedly. She doesn’t say thank you, but she hopes Paige can see it in her eyes. Maybe not. Either way, Azzi thinks, watching the girl lope away, she had been a temporary solution to a much bigger problem.

“It’s not a problem,” Kaitlyn tells her that evening. Azzi thinks she might be rolling her eyes, but she can’t tell because her face is smashed into her couch cushion, so all she can see is the thin cracks beginning to line the fabric. Kaitlyn is prone to rolling her eyes when Azzi complains to her, so it’s a strong possibility.

“It is a problem,” Azzi says into the couch, not budging from her comatose position. “I’m never leaving my apartment again. My body will atrophy, and my flesh will rot, and you’ll find it here, on this couch, being eaten by flies.”

“You sure have a talent for dramatics,” Kaitlyn says, blatantly unsympathetic. “If figure skating doesn’t work out, I’m sure you have a career waiting for you in monologuing.”

“I think you would make a great Hamlet,” Caroline adds helpfully, perched on Azzi’s armchair like an overgrown crow, brown hair cascading how her shoulders. 

“Or the evil witches in Macbeth,” Kaitlyn says.

“I wish you guys were dead,” Azzi says, and rolls over onto her back so she’s looking at the ceiling instead. God, her ceiling is so fucking ugly, and she can’t even get it fixed because she’s never going to the Olympics, and she’s going to be poor and useless and tragically beautiful for the rest of her life-

“What is wrong with you?” Caroline says, and Azzi realizes belatedly that she’d been saying all of that out loud.

“I’m so fucked,” Azzi says, and her voice shakes more than she had meant it to. “What do I do?”

“You could confess you lied,” Kaitlyn suggests. “And say it was a spur of the moment thing, whoopsie.”

“And then what?” Azzi says glumly. “I’m stuck following Jayden anywhere he wants to go for the rest of his life, and being polite to him even when he starts acting like I’m some kind of Oliver Twist orphan his father took in and nurtured and I owe him my first born child”

“Christ,” Caroline says. “Just get your little hockey player to pretend she’s your girlfriend.”

Azzi sits up at that, tousled strands of hair falling out of her braids. “Are you completely insane?”

“I think it’s a good plan,” Kaitlyn says, unerringly loyal to the end. “You’re so smart, carol.”

“It’s an awful plan,” Azzi hisses. “What am I supposed to say? Sorry I’ve been actively antagonizing you and your team for a bit, please pretend to be my girlfriend to keep my career alive, and also if you notice I can’t stop blushing when you’re near me, don’t pay it any mind, I just think you’re really pretty?”

“Not exactly like that,” Caroline says. “But yeah, that’s the gist of it.”

Azzi stares at her for a minute, trying to will Kaitlyn to show some sort of outward contradiction. When it doesn’t work, she collapses with a huff back onto the couch. “I’m fucked,” she repeats.

KK the first one to notice her the next day, hovering awkwardly around the entrance as the team wraps up. Azzi remembers what Paige had said about KK being scared of her, so she tries her nicest smile, giving a small wave with her right hand.

“Hey!” KK says easily, coming up to her. She’s still in her hockey gear, but her ice skates are off. “Are you looking for Paige?”

“I am, yeah,” Azzi says slowly. “How did you know that?”

KK blinks at her, her head tilting slightly to the side in silent question. “You’re always looking for Paige.”

“Am not,” Azzi says, too defensively but she’s saved from hearing whatever KK has to say about that when Nika comes up to them, slinging an arm over KK’s shoulders, and making a mean face at Azzi.

“Don’t bully KK, her nerves can’t handle it,” Nika says and then takes a closer look at her face, and stops, eyes narrowing. “Woah, what’s wrong with you today?”

Azzi can’t imagine what she looks like right now. She has trouble sleeping at the best of times, and last night had been one of the worst. She had spent most of it lying on her back and picturing herself penniless and destitute, until the swirling darkness had seemed to take on a physical shape and that shape had started to laugh at her. By the time she’d gotten up, she hadn’t even had time to fix her hair, or cover up the dark circles that had formed under her eyes.

She pictures herself, her hair tangled and her skin greasy, and a new zit starting to pop-up over her cheekbone and just about turns herself around and walks out of the building all together.

“Azzi,” Nika says, “Azzi, Azzi, Azzi.” She’s waving a hand in front of Azzi’s face, concerned eyebrows visible through the gaps in her fingers.

Azzi flinches and smacks her hand away. “Listen,” she says. “I’m not in the mood to argue today. Is Paige here?”

Nika and KK have matching flabbergasted expressions, which is less than flattering. “You’re not in the mood?” Nika asks, like Azzi has just told her the Earth is going to get flattened by an asteroid in thirty seconds.

“I’m just-” It’s occurring to Azzi that this is possibly a really terrible plan and she should go home and think it over some more, without Kaitlyn’s cackling laugh in her ear, or at least come back with her hair brushed properly. “Yeah, I’m not in the mood, I’m gonna go, honestly-”

“No, don’t go!” KK says quickly, her hand lashing out to wrap around Azzi’s arm. Azzi stares at her dead-eyed, and she winces and repeats, quieter. “Don’t go, Paige’s just changing out. She took a hard hit today, so we let her off without helping clean up. She should be here any second.”

“Azzi?”

“Speak of the devil!” KK says, sounding relieved and steps fully away from Azzi so she can see Paige approaching them, a long bag slung over her back. Her jacket is nice, Azzi notices, an expensive brand Azzi sees at competitions sometimes. It’s zipped up fully, the black fabric clinging tight to every defined muscle in her arms and chest.

“You don’t practice here today,” Paige says. She looks concerned too. Azzi is getting a little tired of these hockey players looking concernedly at her.

Azzi can think of fifty million different things to say here. Maybe a ‘how did you know that?’ or a ‘what do you care?’ or ‘hey can I talk to you?’

What comes out of her mouth is, “are you okay?”

Because Paige’s got a red, swelling mark on her jaw, sure to darken into a bruise over the next hour. She seems a little surprised by the question, her eyebrows lifting. “Yeah, just took a hit this practice. It happens.”

“Right,” Azzi says, because she knows that, because she’s seen a hockey game before. She shifts from foot to foot carefully. She’s become horribly aware of how her tongue is sitting in her own mouth. “Happens.”

“Yeah,” Paige says slowly. She looks like she wants to check Aziz’s temperature. “Do you want to sit down?”

“No,” Azzi snaps immediately, her shoulders rising to her chin. “Do I look tired to you?”

The answer is yes, probably, and it would be right. Azzi is exhausted, and she does want very badly to sit down. Still, something in her eyes must show that Azzi is running low on straws to grab at, because Paige doesn’t say yes immediately, just pauses and shakes her head slowly.

KK and Nika are both still there, Nika draped over KK’s back, watching the two of them like she’s seeing a particularly rough tennis match.

“What are you guys still doing here?” Azzi says, irritated.

Nika only smiles insufferably, lips curling up. “There she is. All back to normal. C’mon KK, let’s leave them alone.”

Azzi watches them traipse off, her irritation rising inexplicably when she sees they’re holding hands.

“I actually fell when I got hit,” Paige says apologetically, distracting her. “So if you’re here to see me, I’m going to need to sit down. For my leg. Which hurts.”

Azzi fixes her in place with a hard glare, her feet firmly planted where they are.

Paige’s eyebrow twitches, just a little. She grabs her leg, completely unconvincing. “Ouch.”

The glare is getting a little hard to keep up.

“Fuck,” Azzi says, after a moment, feeling the burning frustration in her throat subside. It hits her suddenly, as her mind clears, what she must look like to Paige, and her lips twitch. Paige’s eyes widen in alarm and Azzi breaks into laughter, a genuine laugh, rising up from her chest, her shoulders dropping back down, her body relaxing like a puppet with its strings cut.

“Sorry,” she says to Paige, who is staring at her. “That wasn’t hysteria. Sorry. I just realized I was being stupid. Also, you suck at lying. Let’s go sit down.”

Azzi kicks absent-mindedly at the legs of Paige’s chair, too nervous to look up and meet her eyes. “So, that’s the situation,” she says. It sounds more insane when she says it out loud than it had when she’d practiced it.

“Sure,” Paige says. They’ve sat down in a dingy little fast food place next to the ice rink, empty at this time of day, which is good for professional athletes who need to discuss crazy people schemes in relative privacy. A packet of limp fries sits between them, grease saturating the packet, spreading in blobs across the thin paper.

“Sure,” Azzi mimics. Her kicking grows faster, the chair legs squeaking as she hits them harder and harder.

A hand wraps around her ankle the next time it flies to kick the seat and Azzi finally looks up to meet Paige’s eyes.

“If you break it, I’m not paying for it,” Paige says warningly, and then releases Azzi’s leg.

Azzi kicks the chair one more time for good measure and then sweeps her legs under her own chair. “Can you just say something?” She asks, trying to cover the flush rising to her face. “And if the answer is no, that’s okay, but just so you know I’m trusting you to not tell anyone else that I asked you-”

Paige runs her hands over her face, groaning, and for the first time Azzi notices that her ears are bright red.

Knowing they’re in the same boat makes her inclined to be kinder, and Azzi settles down in her seat, determined to wait her out.

“Alright,” Paige says. “We need to talk about this somewhere else. People could walk in here any time and the last thing I need right now is to become tabloid fodder.”

“Ah,” Azzi says knowingly, both of them standing up. “Olympics selection is coming up.”

“Yeah,” Paige says, scrubbing a hand through her hair, making it even more frizzy. “Also, I generally don’t like seeing my face on newsstands.”

Azzi considers that, as someone who also does not love to see their face on newsstands and even more so on tabloids yet somehow always ends up on them. Azzi used to really struggle with all the added media requirements but it seems that it just seems so come with the whole ice skating package. “seems reasonable..”

“Oh, that’s right,” Paige says, leading them out into the parking lot. “You’re always doing all those modelling campaigns. I guess you see yourself a lot, huh?”

Azzi smiles. “I took two medals at last year’s Grand Prix,” she says. “I’m in high demand, p”

Paige looks skeptical. “Oh really? Ask one of your model friends to date you for real.”

“Why do that, when I could hang out with you?” Azzi asks, cheerful once again. They’ve reached Paige’s car, which is apparently the more private place Paige had been talking about.

“The windows are tinted,” Paige explains, as they both climb into the vehicle. It’s a nice car, Azzi thinks jealously, trying not to stare too obviously at the smooth, expensive-looking interior.

“Do you think any of the players from your team are going to get selected?” Azzi asks, leaning against the passenger side window to look at Paige.

“Well,” Paige says, slanting a crooked grin in Azzi’s direction. “Me, obviously.”

As the smirk turns into a soft laugh Azzi feels her heart constrict and tries to remember how to breathe properly. “Obviously,” she says, and if it doesn’t sound half as sarcastic as she meant it to, Paige doesn’t mention it.

“Nika, too,” Paige continues, thoughtfully. 

“I guess I’ll see you there,” Azzi says, and watches the crinkle around her eyes make a reappearance.

“Why can’t you just use another rink?” Paige asks. “If you won two medals already, you can probably afford it.”

Azzi tips her head back and tries to think of the best way to explain this. “Figure skating isn’t like hockey, or football, or basketball. We don’t get contracts for the season. We get paid if we win, and the costs of equipment and training add up. A lot of professional figure skaters rely on their families, or work side jobs. Plus, we retire early, so I need to save up while I’m ahead.”

Paige is watching her steadily, blue eyes giving Azzi her full attention. Somehow, Azzi hadn’t expected her to be this good of a listener.

“And this rink is private, so no fans show up to watch you practice, and it’s near my house.”

“It’s near mine too,” Paige shares and Azzi stores that information away in a small folder of her brain with a picture of Paige’s face taped over it.

“That’s not even it, though,” Azzi continues. “Figure skating’s hard to get into, if you don’t have any connections. When me and my family moved here- our last city didn’t even have an ice rink. I learned to skate on a frozen over pond. When we moved, I used to practice before school, after school, weekends, whenever we could afford it. Geno set everything up for me, he got me a good coach, he made all the right introductions. I do owe him, whatever he might think about it. I don’t want to make him upset.”

Paige is silent for a moment and then slumps forward over the steering wheel, making a noise like a dog throwing up, her forehead hitting the top of the wheel.

“Paige?” Azzi says, immediately concerned. “What the fuck?”

Paige doesn’t lift her head up, just mumbles to the floor. “Have you just been secretly cool this whole time and I didn’t know it?”

It’s enough to startle a laugh out of Azzi, the second time today.

“I feel like there’s definitely a less insane solution,” Paige says, straightening up. “But I can’t think of it, so I’ll do it.”

“You’ll do it?!”

“Just said I would.”

“Oh my god,” Azzi says, beaming so hard her cheeks are starting to ache. “Paige, you are a lifesaver. I will never say anything about your hockey team again.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Do you want a ride home?”

Azzi nods, so incandescently happy, she thinks she might be glowing, practically bouncing in her seat as she turns to buckle her seatbelt.

When she looks back at Paige again, Paige is already looking at her.

Azzi blinks. “What?”

“Nothing,” Paige grinds out through gritted teeth as she starts the car. “Nothing.”

“By the way,” Paige says, as the two of them inch through the weekday traffic. “Why do you take the bus anyway? Aren’t you worried you’ll be recognized?”

“No one is looking for a figure skater on public transport, Paige,” Azzi says. “Besides, I never learned how to drive, I much prefer being a passenger princess.”

Paige looks over at her, incredulous. “You never learned how?”

“I was busy,” Azzi says defensively. “I’m only twenty-two, you know. And there’s lots going on in my life.”

“I wasn’t judging,” Paige says, “just surprised. I failed mine like three times.”

Azzi sits up straight in her seat. “Three times? How do I get out of this car?”

Paige tsks disapprovingly. “Relax, it’s fine. I passed in the end, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, on the fourth try,” Azzi mutters. “I’d probably pass the bar exam if I took it on the fourth try.”

“You are not funny” Paige says, but she’s smiling as she says it. “Better to try and fail than never try, right?”

“Personally,” Azzi says, as haughty as she can manage. “I’d rather try and succeed.”

When they pull up in front of Azzi’s apartment complex, Azzi is nervous again, fidgeting with the hems of her sleeves as Paige parks.

“Should we like,” she winces even as the words leave her mouth, “come up with rules, or a plan or something.”

“We could,” Paige says dubiously. “But if you say some corny shit like ‘rule one is don’t fall in love with me’ I’m gonna break up with you.”

“I wasn’t going to say that!” Azzi snaps. Then because she can’t help herself, she adds, “Anyway, that would be the last rule. For dramatic effect.”

“I can’t believe people think you’re scary,” Paige says. 

“Shut up,” Azzi says, ineffectively, as she pulls out her phone. She opens up her Notes app, and types in ‘Rules’ into the header.

“Nerd.”

“Hush.” Azzi types in ‘Rule 1’ and then stares at it.

“Well?” Paige prompts.

Azzi scowls at her. “Rule number one is don’t be mean to me.”

“Rejected,” Paige says, and unbuckles her seatbelt to settle a little more comfortably into her seat.

“Fine,” Azzi says. “Rule one is, we have to keep going for about two months. That’ll be enough time to convince Jayden the relationship is real, and for him to get off my case.”

Paige agrees, so Azzi moves on. “Rule two is you have to go with me to weekly dinners at Geno’s house.”

Paige sits up at that, alarmingly straight. “Every week?”

“Well, not if you’re super busy,” Azzi says, a little taken aback. “I can try to get you out of the first few, but we’ll definitely have to go to a few.”

“It’s just,” Paige pauses, and then looks at Azzi, seeming incredibly pained. “I’m like, a really bad liar.”

The earnest worry on her face is too much to bear, and Azzi turns her head to stifle her laughter into her shoulder.

“I can still see you laughing,” Paige says heatedly. “I’m serious!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Azzi says, still giggling a little. She holds up her hands. “Not laughing at you, I swear. I’ll do most of the talking, you can just sit back and nod along. I’ll tell them you’re shy.”

“Of course you will,” Paige says, shaking her head. “Fine, yeah, that’s alright then.”

“Rule number three is,” Azzi hesitates, trying to think of something that’ll annoy Paige to just the appropriate level. “Rule number three is you have to drive me home from practice everyday.”

She looks at Paige expectantly, hoping to see that thrilling neck vein start to stick out, but the other man just looks thoughtful. “I probably can’t everyday,” She says.

“Paige” Azzi says, staring at her, wide-eyed. “I was just kidding, I obviously don’t expect you to just drive me around.”

“I guess it depends on how our practice schedules line up,” Paige continues, like Azzi hadn’t spoken at all. “Send me yours, and I’ll see, alright?”

“Paige-” Azzi says, bewildered by how quickly this conversation has gotten away from her, but Paige keeps speaking.

“Rule four,” she says. “Since we’re already doing this, I have a family function to go to about two months from now too. If I do this, you have to come pretend to be my date for that.”

“Ooh,” Azzi says. “The Paige Bueckers can’t get a hot date on her own?”

“You’re one to talk,” Azzi says, impassive.

Azzi sticks out her tongue, but adds it down into her notes. She isn’t sure what to do with rule number three, so she leaves it on there, and then shows the list to Paige.

“Sure,” Paige says affably. “There we go.”

Azzi hesitates. “Just like that?”

“Do you want us to spit and shake?” Paige says, amused.

“Definitely not.” Azzi looks at the list of rules in her phone again, chewing on her lower lip. “Just like, should we sign something?”

Paige sighs heavily, and then holds out her fist, pinky finger extended. When Azzi doesn’t move, just looks at her, she wiggles the finger impatiently. “C’mon.”

“Just checking- Are you seven years old, by any chance?” Azzi asks, but holds out her pinky anyway.

Paige doesn’t respond, but her eyebrows furrow slightly in focus as she loops their pinkies and then touches their thumbs together. “There. Now we’ve pinky promised.”

Azzi wants to pull on this girl’s cheeks. She wants to chew on her cheekbones. She wants to take Paige’s face between her two hands, and pepper little kisses over her nose. “Yeah,” she says helplessly. “Pinky promise.”

Azzi shows up at the rink again the next day, late in the evening after practice, and Paige waves her over from a bench where she’s wrapping up her gear and stuffing it into a bag. She’s wearing the same expensive jacket Azzi had seen yesterday, and for the first time, Azzi wonders just how much Paige earns in a year. Their team is good, she knows that, so she imagines it’s a lot. Definitely more than she earns, Azzi thinks bitterly. Nobody so much as questions her approach as she makes her way over, making Azzi wonder what Paige told her team. They had never really discussed it, so she guesses it’s fine if they know that Azzi needed a fake girlfriend.

“What’s that face for?” Paige asks as she gets closer, so Azzi makes an even worse face, scrunching up all her features and sticking out her tongue.

“Gross,” Paige says, and she looks like she’s going to say more but Jana and Ice are both coming over, the two of them together creating an almost overwhelming whirlwind of energy. They don’t question Azzi’s presence at all, looking vaguely eager as they approach.

“Hi Azzi, Paige,” Ice says. “Are you coming out with us for drinks next week, Azzi?”

Azzi turns to Paige, who shrugs as if to say up to you. 

“I might,” Azzi says, uncertainly, and in an effort to be nice, she adds, “sounds like a real party.”

“The last time I was at a party was when my sister got kidnapped,” Jana says thoughtfully and Azzi isn’t sure which part of that statement should be addressed first.

“What?” She settles on.

“It was a search party, obviously,” Jana amends. “Not like a ‘ha-ha’ party. We were all very worried.”

“Sorry,” Paige says, looking as dazed as Azzi feels. “Did you say your sister got kidnapped?” 

“It was a misunderstanding!” Jana says brightly. “You know, KGB agents and stuff. She was alright in the end.”

“Good for her!” Ice says, evidently not bothered by this story at all. 

As the pair leave, Azzi turns to Paige and mouths kidnapped? Paige shrugs helplessly.

“What did you tell them anyway?” Azzi asks once the two of them are out of earshot. “About like- this whole thing?”

“About you propositioning me?” Paige asks, and Azzi winces at the word choice. “Nothing. I was going to lie and say we were dating if someone asked, but no one’s asked.”

Azzi pauses. “You were going to lie to your teammates for me?” She asks, feeling strangely warm at the thought.

“I would’ve tried,” Paige says, grinning. “I think I overestimated how much attention they pay to their surroundings.”

She pats the spot on the bench next to her. “Are you getting back from practice?”

“Yeah,” Azzi says, sliding onto the bench, so that she’s straddling it, facing Paige, one leg on either side. “Mats today.”

Paige hums a questioning noise, her eyes still focused on the tape she’s wrapping around her stick.

“When you do like jumps and stuff,” Azzi shares, feeling strangely shy. “You have to practice somewhere you won’t get hurt as bad before you try on the ice.”

“Can you get the same effect?” Paige asks, seeming genuinely interested. “Like, isn’t it different on the mats versus the ice?”

Azzi is struck, just then, by how strange it is to be sitting here, talking to Paige like a normal person, explaining the details of figure skating to her like they’re friends.

“Um,” she says out loud. “Yeah, it’s different. But it helps to get the footwork down.”

Azzi keeps talking, feeling like she’s separating a little from his body as Paige keeps working on her equipment, nodding along at all the right places, asking questions when Azzi stops speaking.

When Jayden slams a hand down on her shoulder, it feels like a sharp and unwelcome return to reality.

“I thought I’d drop by, but you weren’t at the bus stop,” Jayden says, in a stupid long coat that makes him look like three children stacked on top of one another. Azzi frowns.

“Paige is driving me home today,” she says, and Jayden turns to look at Paige who’s briefly paused her work to observe their interaction.

“So this is the girlfriend, huh?” Jayden says brightly.

Azzi nods, and stands up, moving to stand behind Paige, nudging her back gently. She feels a little jittery already, and she mostly just wants Jayden to leave, to let Azzi return to the conversation she had been having before he arrived.

“We actually have to leave,” she announces, and she can see Paige start to place her equipment into her bag again, starting to pack up. “Sorry to ditch as soon as we see you.”

“I was just wondering,” Jayden says, ignoring this, “because you guys don’t seem very coupley at all. Not to judge, or anything.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Azzi says sharply. “What does ‘coupley’ even mean?”

Couple things, she thinks desperately, what are couple things?

Her smile beginning to twitch at the corners, she reaches down and very hesitantly places a hand on Paige’s shoulder. Her face immediately begins to burn, blood rushing upwards so fast she’s starting to feel dizzy. That was so fucking stupid.

Straight-faced, Paige reaches up and pats Azzi’s hand. Pats it. Once, twice, and stops, returning to her task.

Azzi isn’t sure whether she wants to laugh or cry. This is where their attempt at public displays of affection ends, apparently. Azzi slowly lowering her hand onto Paige’s shoulder like she’s touching a hot stove, and Paige patting that hand twice.

She looks down to see Paige’s face and Paige looks back up at her, and when their eyes meet, Azzi can see that for once, they’re in complete agreement. We are terrible at this.

Jayden doesn’t seem to miss the terrible awkward exchange (it would be like missing an especially bloody train wreck, in Azzi’s opinion), judging by the narrowed suspicious eyes he’s aiming at the two of them.

“Strange,” Jayden comments, casually, so casually. “Azzo normally goes for brunettes”

That is both underhanded and untrue. She does not go for brunettes. Azzi doesn’t “go for” many people at all at all. People go for her. They might as well just show up at her house and form an orderly queue.

Azzi is currently less worried about the slander of her reputation and more worried about whether Paige would get worked up and hit Jayden over this.

“Really?” Paige asks, tipping her head back to look at Azzi for confirmation.

“I don’t chase,” Azzi says lightly. “I attract.”

Paige rolls her eyes, not meanly- something Azzi could mistake as fond if she didn’t know any better. “Well, there you have it,” she tells Jayden.

“She doesn’t like hockey players much, either,” Jayden says, clearly still on this. This part, at least, is true.

“Are you trying to ask a question?” Azzi asks, her tone biting.

Jayden is not phased by Azzi’s biting tone. “Just seeing if she’s really up to your usual standards,” she says, and Azzi wouldn’t even blame Paige if she hit him for that one. Still, she tightens the hand on Paige’s shoulder in warning.

Azzi shouldn’t have worried because Paige doesn’t even blink, just lifts her eyebrows, slightly sardonic. “Are we having a dick measuring contest? I would've brought my ruler.”

“Not a contest,” Jayden says, that fake smile slipping off his face. “I was just asking some questions.”

Paige snorts, continuing to pack up her gear. “Ask away.”

“Ask away later,” Azzi says hastily. “Because we have to go right now. No time for an interrogation.”

“Not an interrogation, either,” Jayden says, sticking his chin in the air. “Alright, I’ll go. Give you two some privacy.”

He looks at the two of them as though she’s expecting them to tell him to stay. When nothing is forthcoming, he turns on his heel and strides away, hands tucked into the deep pockets of that flaring coat.

“Looks like fucking Vader in that thing,” Paige comments, swinging her bag over her shoulder. “Cartoon supervillain.”

They start walking towards the exit, the small musty hallway that leads into the parking lot.

“You handled that surprisingly well,” Azzi says. “I kind of expected you to hit him.”

Paige glances at her out of the corner of her eye, that familiar scowl on her face again. “I’m not that easy to piss off. It takes a little more than that to rile me up. Give me some credit.”

Azzi stares at her, mouth agape. “Are we talking about the same Paige? You’re so easy to rile up. Incredibly easy. It’s thrilling every time.”

Paige comes to a stop, and turns to point a thick finger at her chest. The two of them are standing alone in the dark hallway leading to the exit door, one dusty light bulb flickering on and off above them. The bruise on her face is turning a nasty colour, unlikely to fade for another week.

“You,” Paige says, squinting at her accusingly, “are just a special breed of irritating.”

With that, she turns and walks away, leaving Azzi standing still behind her, watching her retreating back.

“Was that a compliment?” Azzi yells after her, not moving from her spot. The sound of Paige’s answering laugh echoes off the walls, bouncing back towards her, Azzi’s lips pulling up in response, as she runs to catch back up.

“Wait,” Paige says, once they’re in the parking lot. Night has already fallen, early in the wintertime, the pavement around them lit up by tall streetlamps, casting yellow light over their faces. “Here, I’ll get in the passenger seat, and you drive.”

“Are you sure that’s safe?” Azzi asks, not moving.

Paige shrugs, already moving around to the passenger seat. “Come on, the lot is empty, I’ll teach you how.”

“Do you even know how?” Azzi asks, reluctantly accepting the keys Paige is proffering towards her, “I kind of figured that you just annoyed the test takers with your persistence until they let you pass.”

“Bruh,” Paige says mildly. “Go on, get in.”

Once Azzi’s sitting in the driver’s seat, she just stares at the wheel. There seem to be an awful lot of controls.

She turns to Paige. “What now?”

“Well, first you have to buckle your seatbelt,” Paige says, and Azzi scowls.

“I know that.” She doesn’t move.

Paige sighs. She seems to do that a lot around Azzi. Then Azzi is frozen for a different reason, as Paige leans over her, one hand gripping Azzi’s shoulder as she reaches for Azzi’s seatbelt, smooth muscle shifting under her skin as she brings it over Azzi’s body and buckles it.

“Dear god,” Azzi whispers. Paige smells good.

“Relax,” Paige says, taking her mumblings for nervousness. “You can’t possibly mess up that bad.”

Azzi frowns. “How do you know that? I could be the worst driver you’ve ever met.”

“I doubt it,” Paige tells her. “I crashed the car the first time I took the test.”

Azzi stares at her. Then she starts the car.

“Right pedal is gas, left is brake,” Paige says. “You have to put the car in reverse to get out of the spot, and then press lightly on the gas.”

“Right,” Azzi says, and moves the gear stick accordingly before pressing on the gas. The car lurches forward, coming to a jerky stop right before hitting the curb in front of them, Azzi’s blood draining entirely from her face.

“So, that was actually drive,” Paige says calmly, one hand braced on the window. “Reverse is lower.”

Once Azzi gets used to the controls, they manage to go in large bumpy circles around the parking lot.

“How did you fail the second time?” Azzi asks, carefully executing another terrible turn.

“Try to stay on the right side,” Paige says, unbothered by the possible damage Azzi is inflicting on her car. “I almost hit a stop sign. They got really mad about that one.”

“I would be making so much fun of you over this if I wasn’t so tense right now,” Azzi informs her. "Remind me to do it later."

“Looking forward to it- make sure you’re slowing down before you turn.”

“What about the third time?” Azzi says. She presses too hard on the brake, and the car nearly comes to a full stop in the middle of her next turn.

Paige seems to be pouting, by the sound of her voice. Azzi debates taking her eyes off the road long enough to check. “I waited almost a full year before taking it the third time. I practiced basically everyday. It went so well, the instructor was telling me I was one of the best drivers he’d tested that year.”

Azzi snickers. “And?“

“And on the way into the test center parking lot,” Paige says, “I hit the curb. Automatic fail. They wouldn’t even let me test at that center anymore, I had to go out of the city. Never trusted a driving instructor since.”

Azzi gives up on trying to hold back and bursts out laughing. To her surprise, the car doesn’t immediately crash.

“You’re laughing,” Paige says, and her face is stony, but Azzi can hear the smile in her voice. “I share my deep, personal, insecurities with you, and you’re laughing at me.”

Azzi shakes her head, small giggles still escaping her. “Those poor test administrators, you must have made them miserable.”

She can imagine it very easily, a smaller, angrier Paige, marching into a testing center with the energy of a Marine off to combat. The thought makes her snort with laughter.

“You look pretty when you laugh,” Paige says, and it’s that soft, honest voice, so rare to hear from her. Azzi’s laughter breaks off as she turns to look at her, captivated by that gentle sincerity, so unexpected from this girl, so sweet to hear.

“Az- the brakes!”

The car rolls over a curb and comes to a slamming halt right before a small tree, the branches brushing the windshield, leaves already fallen off in the winter cold.

She called me Az, she thinks, and presses her forehead into the steering wheel and smiles- a small giddy smile, just for herself

[totaly-obsessed]

Hi! Can you do a Mary earps and reader fic where the reader is England medic or coach and all the team love her and Mary is soooo proud and in love but also wants all the attention from her girl plwaseeee

Comfort

Mary Earps x reader request

-> Reader is the Lionesses medic, and also Mary's wife

-> Talk of Alex Greenwood's recent injury

➳ Masterlist

��─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Mary loved National Camp – all her friends playing together, representing their country. But her favorite thing about it? Being with you 24/7.

As one of the teams’ medics and physios, you accompanied them to every training and game, wearing your wife’s jersey beneath the team jacket. And it was not one of the shirts that you can buy, but one of Mary’s personal ones, one from the euros. So not only were you a good-luck charm but you were also wearing one.

Mornings at Saint George’s Park were your second favorite, right behind breakfast in bed with Mary. While you definitely were not a morning person, your wife was and the early training start didn’t help you either, so at eight in the morning, you were sat at a table in the dining hall – a steamy cup of coffee in front of you, just as you liked it. Mary had given it to you when you returned from your shared room, having to go back because you had forgotten your bag.

The brunette was currently getting food for the both of you, while you tried to wake up with the coffee. “Doc!” You were in fact not a doctor of any kind, but Lucy didn’t care either way and just threw herself down in one of the chairs next to you. The defender handed you a small chap-stick-like tube. “It’s a wake-up-stick. Thought ya could need it.” You smiled at her gratefully, thanking her with a quick squeeze of her hand. After applying the stick, you waited, and while you didn’t notice an immediate difference it smelled nice.

“Aye Miss Earps! How have ya been?” It was Ella’s loud voice that eventually pulled you out of your sleep-induced trance. The younger girl sat down next to you – in Mary’s chair - as she excitedly told you a story of something Alessia had done, who sat on her other side, followed by Garce. Eventually, Esme, Hempo, and Maya joined in as well. The table had become too small after Grace sat down, but no one cared. The footballer just pulled in more tables and chairs, making the circle bigger and bigger until Mary finally came back. “Oi, what’s this then?”

The entire Lionesses squad had squished around a couple of tables, exited chatter filling the room, with you somewhere in between. “Up ya get Tooney.” The brunette could whine and pout as much as she liked but Mary was ruthless, wanting to sit next to her wife. You thanked her with a quick kiss, rolling your eyes as you heard Rachel yell “There’s children here – perverts!” Your favorite goalkeeper was quick to yell “And you’re one of them!” back at the blonde as the table started laughing.

You loved this. While you were not a part of the team that was on the pitch, the girls loved you. For you, and not for being Mary’s wife.

After eating you had to leave earlier, needing to set up the treatment room, checking if everything was where it was supposed to be. Georgia was the first to come in, wanting some numbing cream on her ankle as she had an incredibly sore bruise there. Next was Ellie, who got her neck taped as she had some tension there. After all the smaller complaints had been dealt with, your very favorite patient entered the room, hugging you from behind to announce her arrival.

“My turn, Lovie.” It was a nice little ritual you had built up over time – Mary would sit down and apply ice spray to her hands before you started taping her left one, laying a kiss on top when finished, before repeating the same thing for her second hand. Then came your favorite part – taping her shoulders. After making sure that no one else was in the room and that there were no cameras your wife would take off her shirt, pulling the straps of her sports bra to the sides as well as she could.

This was also the brunette’s favorite part, as you massaged her tense shoulders, layering them in soft kisses – marveling at her muscles as you started taping them. “Like what you see, my love?” She would always ask, a teasing smirk on her face before she would pull you into a passionate kiss – the last one both of you would get before the end of training.

It was the last day before the England-Belgium game and the small training session had gone by without any problems, sending the players to recovery.

But it was the next day, matchday, that you and your abilities would be tested.

In the seventh minute, the game was interrupted with a call of ‘handball into the area by Chloe Kelly’ which meant that there would be a freekick for Belgium in an incredibly dangerous position. Mary had set the girls up to her liking but the ball was struck with perfection, curling nicely, and finding the back of the net – leaving your wife to catch the rebound ball as she laid on the ground. It was devastating, knowing that she would blame herself for it. But it was only the seventh minute, leaving the whole game up for grabs.

And then it happened.

In the Eighteenth minute, a long ball from the Belgian goalkeeper found its way to the other side of the pitch, leaving Alex Greenwood and Jassina Blom to collide with their head against each other. Directly in front of the England bench.

Before the blonde even hit the ground, you had started running with your colleague grabbing the bag.

Alex was lying head-down on the pitch as the stadium got silent in shock. You kneeled by her head, getting as close to her as you managed. “Can you hear me, Alex?” But you quickly noticed that she couldn’t answer you, she was in too much pain. “Tap your finger once for yes, twice for no. Can you hear me?” One tap.

She was still conscious.

“Have you had more than one concussion before?” One tap.

Fuck.

Knowing the risks of multiple head injuries, it was important to react in a proper manner. Most of the players were standing at Sarina’s side as she gave instructions, but you could feel their scared stares finding you again and again as you tried to hide Alex from the world. Mary didn’t stand too far away from you, terrified that you were on the pitch. As much as she loved you, when you were on the pitch something bad had happened.

You were checking the injured player’s pulse and her pupils, as everything showed signs of a terrible concussion – but with previous injuries, this was a ticking time bomb. Just a minute later the field doctors entered the pitch, stretcher in hand as they walked towards you.

The Belgian player sat up again, a bandage on her head, but it was too risky to sit Alex up. Any sudden movement could send her into a seizure and the aftereffects could be immense. With all of the doctors at your side now, you carefully turned the player on her back, after getting confirmation from a professional you had placed a wet rag over her eyes, trying to shield them from the harsh lights.

Mary was standing behind you, offering her legs as something to lean against, which you gladly accepted as her teammate was heaved onto the stretcher as carefully as possible. In the 31st minute, Alex was finally stretchered off by the medical professionals as you sat back down in your seat – heart pumping incredibly fast.

The game was lost, Belgium winning 3-2 the shock of Alex’s injury still sitting deep.

Back in the team hotel, it was quiet, they had not only lost an important game, but Alex their friend and teammate was in the hospital.

Mary sat next to you on one of the big couches as some of the younger ones looked for comfort in the two of you. It was Chloe who just blatantly sat down in your lap, cuddling into your wife and yourself looking for warmth and shelter. And it did not take too much longer until you were covered in players as they flocked towards you like a herd of lost sheep that were looking for comfort.

[so-i-did-this-thing]

So I’ve been on T for like 2-3 years, my face is full of facial hair yet i still sound incredibly feminine, the vocal pitch barely went down and I don’t know if it’s from me not being on it long enough but I’m beginning to get a little worried that I’m never going to sound like a guy ever :’) what should I do?

Heya, Anon. Sorry it took a bit to get back to you.

I'm sure you are aware that cis men have vocal ranges all over the place, and many would be misgendered on the phone. But I don't really find this very comforting, because dysphoria doesn't play nice. (So, I'd prefer if folks leaving notes don't bring up this obvious fact.)

Voice is definitely one of those uncertain factors with transition. Your speaking voice is probably close to settled, but your singing voice will still likely continue to change a few more years.

When your voice doesn't change enough on T to your liking, your main options are vocal training or surgery.

Vocal training can do a lot for a more masculine sound if you currently speak more with a "head" voice, have vocal fry, or have speech patterns generally thought of as "feminine" (like upspeak). It takes practice to change your vocal patterns, but is also obviously the least destructive to your vocal chords.

Surgery is another option, but I don't have any recommendations here, as I have just barely started research, myself. (I am very dysphoric about my voice.) There are procedures to relax vocal chords, which make them vibrate at a lower frequency. Downsides are that you lose speaking volume and your singing voice might be shot. I also haven't seen much research on how the surgery ages over time, other than the fact that, if you ever require intubation (like for general surgery), you need to let the surgical team know, as I guess there is some risk for damage. It also seems like the procedure is unpredictable in how much your voice changes, and it can even completely wreck your voice.

In my experience, resonance (which T tends to gift) and speech patterns are more important than actual pitch. So, I'd suggest finding a vocal coach to see what you have control over.

Good luck!

[l-e-e-woso]

Movin’ - Alexia Putellas

Italics = Spanish

2x Ballon D’or winner Alexia Putellas is set to move to Chelsea from Barcelona.

Fans are shocked to find out that Alexia Putellas is leaving Barcelona after 10 years.

Chelsea signed Alexia Putellas for a world record transfer fee of £700,000.

Alexia Putellas Instagram Post

“To all the fans, I will always love Barcelona with my whole heart but I need a new challenge. I was at Barca from a young age being there shaped who I am today, I would not be where I am today without the coaches and players of Barca. Especially the fans without you none of this would be possible.

To my Barca family, just know that I will always support you. You have my full support as long as you are not playing against Chelsea. I am only a phone call or text away, I will always be there for you all. You are all my family and I love you.

To Chelsea, I look forward to playing in blue, I’m told it brings out the colour in my eyes. I’m excited to win more trophies and have a new challenge. I cannot wait to meet my new teammates and training staff.

Thank you! Forca Barca! Forca Chelsea!”

Hear what Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has to say…

“I never thought the day where I would be able to sign Alexia Putellas would ever exist. Everyone knows how amazing of a player and person she is, she will fit in perfectly with all of the girls.

The way that she plays and how confident she is on the pitch is what we need in the team right now.

From what I know Alexia had a lot of teams trying to sign her but she chose Chelsea for a reason. To win trophies, to be challenged in a new way and she was really intrigued with the WSL. The WSL usually has about three or four teams that are very close on the table which no other country has. I think the fact that the result could change at any moment makes Alexia ecstatic to play here at Chelsea.”

______________________________

Alexia was very nervous when she got to the entrance of Chelsea’s womens training centre but she saw you leaning against the side of the building making her smile widely as she hadn’t seen you in awhile. She walked over to you wrapping you in a hug and kissed you passionately.

“I missed you.” Alexia says as a tear or two fell down her face as you held her against you. “I missed you too. Don’t cry!! You’ll make me cry and I won’t be able to stop cause of these stupid hormones!” You say as you wipe Alexia’s tears with the pads of your thumbs.

“How is my cariño?” Alexia says as she rubs her hand slowly over your stomach which was rather big since you were now 8 and a half months pregnant, you could literally go into labour at any moment.

The way that Alexia treated you now that you were pregnant made you fall in love with her even more than before, it made you even more excited to see how she was going to be with your daughter. You saw how little kids looked up to Alexia as a footballer and how she treated them like the most precious people in the world.

“Oh y’know apart from constantly pressing on my bladder making me need to go to the toilet every five seconds, she is all good!” You said as you lent into Alexia’s side as the two of you caught up before you would both have to go inside so Alexia could meet the rest of the Chelsea girls.

“I’m glad. I never thought we would finally get to start our family. I am so excited to meet her.” Alexia smiled at the thought of finally meeting the little girl that you were currently growing in your womb.

Alexia knew that her mother, Eli and her sister, Alba could not wait to meet the baby girl either. Eli had been waiting for a grandchild since you and Alexia got married three years ago which you understood in a way because you knew that Eli thought that she may never have a grandchild so when you told her you were pregnant she was ecstatic. Alba was also over the moon when she found out you were pregnant, she looked up to both you and Alexia so much so having a mini version of the two of you combined was amazing to her.

“Ale, you know you are going to have to speak English around the girls? None of them know a word of Spanish. I tried to teach them some but they found it too complicated. I think the only people you may need help understanding is Erin and possibly Sam but other than those two you should be fine. Plus I find it hot when you speak English, I love your accent.” You say to Alexia as you start to pull her into the training building by her hand and wink at her which makes her blush. It wasn’t that she couldn’t speak English she just preferred speaking Spanish because it made her less nervous, she also knew that she was more likely to fumble her words in English.

“Yes I know, mi amor. You have told me many times, almost everyday…Good to know maybe I’ll talk to you in English more often.” Alexia smirks as she sees you turn towards her and you glare at her playfully before continuing down the hallway.

______________________________

Eventually, you arrive at what everyone likes to call the team bonding room and you look at Alexia, she has a never expression as she grips your hand tightly.

“They will love you okay? I’ll be there the entire time. We most likely won’t have much time before you go to training.” You tell Alexia as she takes a deep breath to calm herself down which helps a lot.

“Okay thank you, mi amor. Vamos!” Alexia smiles at you, giving you a quick kiss before you open the door to the team bonding room which is filled with most of the Chelsea players.

Some of the girls looked up from their conversations, giving the both of you a quick smile before returning to their conversations. They didn’t want to overwhelm Alexia because they knew that she was nervous about meeting them due to you talking to them before Alexia had arrived.

The first person to come up and talk to Alexia was Magda. “Welcome to the team! It’s about time we get a Spanish person on this team.” Magda tries to lighten the situation which had clearly made Alexia really nervous, she hadn’t been to a new club in ten years so she had forgotten how it felt until now.

“Thank you. I’m excited to be here, not so excited about the weather though, it’s a big change from the weather in Spain.” Alexia says as she catches a glimpse of the rain through the window and grimaces slightly at the thought of training in that weather.

“I bet.” Millie laughs from where she was sitting talking to Sam and turns to look at Alexia. “Guess it’s time to get to know you, Alexia.” Magda says as she gestures for the both of you to sit down and you quickly do as you sigh in relief.

“Jesus, I swear this baby is gonna be the size of Bigfoot by the time she comes out.” You mutter unaware that Fran who was sitting next to you had heard you and she bursts out laughing. “Did you just call your child Bigfoot?” Fran chuckles as you glare at her before playfully hitting her arm and she goes to playfully hit you back when you grab her hand. “Feel this.” You mutter as you unzip your jacket and place Fran’s hand on your stomach where the baby was kicking like mad, making her eyes go wide in amazement.

Alexia watches you with a loving gaze as she talks with a few of the girls who wanted to know more about her. “How come you choose Chelsea? From what I understand you had a lot of offers.” Sam asks Alexia with curiosity and everyone wants to know the answer.

“The main reason is that we are about to start a family and I wanted to be here for all of it, I didn’t want to miss more than I already have. I also need to get out of Spain to have a new challenge and I’m sure that will happen here. I want to push myself as much as I can to help to win more trophies.” Alexia explains to everyone as they all nod along to her answer while smiling at her. Then Alexia looks over to you like she was asking permission to tell the team something to which you nodded.

“Also…after my contract ends in four years time, I’m going to be retiring. Dios mio, I will never get used to saying that..” Alexia mutters the last sentence while her new teammates looked at each other in shock that Alexia would be retiring and she chose Chelsea to be her last team. “Your going to retire?” Erin said kinda shocked, it isn’t everyday that a world class player announces that she will finish her career in four years. “Si, I have been thinking about retiring for quite a long time but that's not for a while.” Alexia said with a smile on her face as you held her hand to comfort her.

“Time for training!” You shout, scaring a couple of your teammates and everyone starts moving to the training field. Alexia grabbed your hand to help you up from your seat and walk with you slowly to a seat on the sidelines of the training pitch.

______________________________

Alexia was doing really well while training with her new teammates at Chelsea and was having fun, joking around with them and getting to know them.

She was laughing with Magda and Pernille when she heard her name being shouted by you on the sidelines making her face drop because it sounded like you were in pain, which you were since you were now in labour. She looked to Emma who just nodded and motioned her to go with you, she sprinted over to you.

It didn’t take long to get to the hospital, you weren’t sure that she went the speed limit but at that precise moment in time you didn’t care much about that you just wanted to get this baby out of you.

It was surprisingly quite a quick birth, at 7:48pm you gave birth to a beautiful baby girl called Elena Putellas Segura.

—————————————————

Taglist:   @sofakingwoso @xxforeverinadayxx

[florenceafternoon]

━。゜✿ jily fic recommendations ✿ ゜。━

This post is just some of my current favourites because I don’t think I have the energy to make a master list right now. Personally, I like to read aus so if you're looking for canon stuff this isn't the post for you.

For reference, anything in italics is taken from the summaries on ao3.

in pursuit of the study of magic by @thequibblah

An immortal magician au or, "we had a really bad breakup three hundred years ago, but neither of us realised the other is immortal until we met today"

I recommend you listen to About You while reading this

Growing (in love) by casablancas21 (on ao3)

Uni au where "James Potter has a lot going on for him. His uni years have been the best he's ever had and his friendliness, popularity and charm go a long way to place him as the go-to bloke if one's looking for a good time. Nevertheless, his final year of school finds him struggling to keep up with the social energy that once enthralled him. He's having a hard time figuring out how to set his own boundaries and what to do about his future. He's also having a really hard time figuring out Lily Evans."

I must admit that Lily's comebacks are so good I've used some during class debates in sociology this year. Truly, the dialogue and dynamics between characters in this fic are so good. Pretty sure this is the one with the kebab

Golden Waltz by evanspotter (on ao3)

Lily Evans wants to be the best ice dancer in the world, which means she needs to find a dance partner ASAP. After two failed partnerships, her coach gives her one last option: James Potter.

This fic is the reason I neglected revising for midterms. It also caused me to go into a deep dive into watching tapes of Olympic ice dance programs specifically Virtue and Moir.

on the way home by keep_driving (on ao3)

Lily was living abroad and pinning from afar. After an abundance of "phone calls, mixtapes, and long waits," Lily is finally coming home. I believe this fic is inspired by the song You Are In Love.

When I say jily is friends first, and lovers second this is what I mean

Dancing With Our Hands Tied by @athenasparrow

But despite his best efforts, he couldn’t take his eyes off her figure as she moved effortlessly in rhythm with whatever song she had playing. He learned she was wearing more than a t-shirt when she slid across the kitchen on her socks, throwing her head back to sing words James wished he could hear.

OR: In a world where social distancing reigns supreme, two strangers find themselves confined to their apartments with love only a window away.

The way I binged this fic at school between classes. love love love

The Season by @missgryffin

This is a regency (Brighton) au where "James Potter, Duke of Peverell, has returned to London just in time for the season, where Miss Lily Evans is about to make her debut. Only, he’s not looking for a wife, and she’s not particularly interested in a husband."

I love the dialogue between Lily & James as well as Sirius & Lily's relationship (for those who know Brigerton, it reminds me of Ben and El's relationship).

A Misstep Of Fate by hogwartslivy (on ao3)

A muggle historical au where "he waited for her on the edge of ballrooms and in the shadows of parties. He waited to dance with her, to spin her in his arms, to be the one she laughed and smiled with. He thought he was doing the right thing, allowing time to pass them until they were ready, so he had waited. But it seems, he made a misstep. He's waited too long now she's slipping through his fingers."

My boy is stupid and in love but it's okay because she is too. Their idiots, but they’re my idiots

Let Me Love You by @thejilyship

A Princess Diaries au in which "with only a month until she's set to take the throne of Gryffindor, Lily is informed that she'll have to get married or choose to give up her throne. She never thought she'd have to even entertain the idea of an arranged marriage. Enter, James Potter."

chaos ensues and Emma deserves long service leave (the place would fall apart)

foreigner's god by clarewithnoi (on ao3)

answer to a Tumblr prompt: "we were lovers in a past life" but the current incarnations are enemies-to-lovers, and they don't remember anything from their past selves.

The back and forth between them is so good. low-key I teared up a bit but it has a HEA

An October of Unconventional Courtships by @ghostofbambifanfiction

Two phones. Thirty-one days. Eighteen tuxedos. A Jilytober texting fic.

A classic that everyone should read

Shelf Awareness also by @/ghostofbambifanfiction

Modern bookstore au where "It's too far out of her way and she's wasting so much money, but Lily can't help but return to the bookstore every weekend, where her passion for good literature has, perhaps, been unexpectedly reignited by the messy-haired, pun-making, rather handsome bloke who works there."

One of the first ever jily fics that I read and I fell in love with their dynamic straight away

Careless Texter also by @/ghostofbambifanfiction

Answer to the prompt, “I left my phone number on the bathroom stall wall and you text me about your day and your frustrations for a month & it’s really nice and cute but I still don’t know who you are,” with some twists and differences.

Trackside by @hogwartslivy

James Potter is Formula One’s most impressive young talent, making up one half of the championship winning team at Gryffindor Racing. He’s got a reputation for playing dirty on, and seemingly off, the track but when an article quoting a particularly vulgar comment made by him at last years final Grand Prix is released, it seems he may have pushed it too far. Potter faces two options; fix his public image or give up his seat.

When my two obsessions meet

it's (always) you by @kay-elle-cee

A multiverse of 31 meet-cutes for Jilytober 2023.

Honorable mentions to chapter 3 for high!Lily and chapter 7 for fulling my love for jily regency aus

Key Limes by cgner (on ao3)

Fame au "in which Academy Award winner Lily Evans discovers the periphery of internet fandom and the mysteries of Prince James’s gold star system."

Because James is actually just a giant build a bear and lily is an icon as always.

See You At the Next Stop by kayrma (on ao3)

Lily Evans meets a posh-looking bloke with messy hair on the way back to London, and for once in her life she actually enjoys a train ride. Maybe having a spontaneous seat partner isn't that bad after all.

Shoutout to the notes on this fic because whoever wrote it is a mood

Nom De Plume by @annabtg

James Potter, renowned potioneer, has a secret side career as an erotica writer under the pen name of Scarlett Goldwing. When his latest book starts to take off, and Scarlett is asked to promote it at a public event, he has no other option but to recruit his colleague Lily Evans to pretend to be Scarlett. The only problem is, Lily Evans hates his guts… or does she?

(Rated E for later chapters)

Like did you read that summery because personally I was waiting for the author to complete the story so I could binge it

victorem (requires an ao3 account ) by gryffindormischief (on ao3)

(Olympic) Ice dancing au. "When God closes a door, sometimes you have to jump out a window."

Lily and James (and Sirius) aka the dynamic duo

Phone Service by @confuded-gryffindor

Moddern muggel au "in which James and Lily meet twice, both through their phones."

some with arrows, some with traps by @isahorcrux

Fame au. "Then: James Potter was a beloved child star and the lead of a popular YA franchise. Lily Evans was just getting her big break as his romantic lead in the third installment. While their chemistry got rave reviews, if the rumors are to be believed the two actors can barely stand to be in the same room together.

Now: Lily’s paid her dues and ten years later she’s the most in-demand actress in Hollywood. And James...after back-to-back flops at the box office, he’s just looking for a break and a chance to prove he is the amazing actor everyone thought he was going to be."

Much Ado About Nothing, but make it Jily

The group chat is the level of chaos me and my friends extrude every free line we spend together

Charred Pineaple Margarita's and a Bagel by @chiechie97

The guy at the coffee shop was hot. Hot and he knew her order. But that didn’t mean ANYTHING. Especially when he seemed to know everyone’s order. And besides, Lily is far too busy to be thinking about the hot guy that always has her breakfast waiting for her. Right?

Lily and Remus are me

and i know you too well to say you're perfect by @ofmermaidsandmarauders

“Yeah, you were a pretty big moron.” “Hey, I said idiot!”

Lily's not really sure when James Potter, soccer extraordinaire, took over her life with Harry.

What the summery said

The next few fics are all by @wearingaberetinparis or ritaskeetered (on ao3) who is the reason I joined the jily fandom. Single handedly enabled my obsession and I've never been more thankfull.

The Very Regency (Un)Ladylike Guide To Fortune-Hunting

Regency au. "Without thinking highly either of men or matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want." (Jane Austen)

Lily Evans finds herself wanting, or: so her sister seems to believe. While out on the hunt for a fortune - again: that would be Mrs Dursley mostly - the affection of a number of suitors is most welcome. Especially when a young Viscount's heart is set aflame.

Screaming, crying, punch me in the face (Lily's version)

Jump (For My Love)

Royalty au "When you are the Prince of England, the last thing one might expect is to be jumped from behind by the most beautiful woman one has ever seen, who - in turn - seems to have no clue at all and mistakes one for someone else. Surely, Prince James has the right to be disproportionately upset about this. The question is; does he need to?"

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Olympic au. James, being half Greek, had always dreamed of one day going to the Olympics. Now, at his second Winter Olympics – having won a surprising bronze medal at his first one – James has been dubbed Team GB’s hero before the games have even started.

Lily, being the daughter of a waste collector, had always dreamed of one day making her parents proud by exceeding their expectations. Now, she finds herself on a plane to China together with her boss, Minerva McGonagall, and a crowd of winter athletes representing Team GB at the Winter Olympics of 2022.

The paths of James Potter – overenthusiastic snowboarding hero – and Lily Evans – passionate overachiever – cross at the 2022 Winter Olympics when James Potter is asked to be Team GB’s flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony (and quite a few times after that as well).

The repetition of "James, being half Greek..." worked so well for the flow. I don't know how to describe it

A Game Of Thrones

Modern royalty au. Lily Evans had never imagined she would meet Prince James, but when she does at St Andrews' annual Christmas Pub Crawl, her whole world is turned upside down. For who thought that a girl like her - with a sister that reads "Hello" magazine like it's the Bible - would end up with a prince like him?

Euphemia Potter you will always be famous

flowers

A musician au that hilights sexisim in the music industry. "Singer-songwriter Lily Evans has played gig after gig, has been the opening act to many a headliner, but her big break seems a million miles away. When one night – after playing in her friend Marlene McKinnon’s bar – she receives messily scrawled lyrics on a napkin by a certain Monty Python, her life and career are turned upside down, leading her all the way to the Grammy's."

Lily my love, you deserve everything you've worked for

If You Knew Who Was Talking

hopelessly_devoted and genuinely-conflicted form each other’s support system online, cheering one another on as they battle their way through an unrequited (and most definitely unwanted) crush on the person their parents are trying to set them up with.

In the real world, James Potter and Lily Evans find themselves hopelessly devoted and genuinely conflicted when battling their persistent infatuation with the last person they would have ever liked to fall for, stubbornly fighting their family’s and friends’ convictions that they were born to be together.

If only they knew who was talking.

FOOLS the both of them.

glitter in the sky, i’m spinning out waiting for ya

For her thirtieth birthday, Marlene McKinnon and Mary McDonald gift Lily Evans the thrill of a lifetime: a tandem skydive. What no one expected? For Lily to end up in the hospital as a result with her ankle covered in soul marks.

everybody is a sexy baby, and i'm a monster on a hill

Ficwriter au. "James Potter and Lily Evans are fandom famous. Both are prolific and popular writers within the Marauders fandom, but they have completely ignored the other's existence for two years after a Tumblr misunderstanding. Now, they are paired up for the Valentine's Marauders Challenge and - forced to interact - they find out that they may be more compatible than they ever could have imagined."

Is this not the dream?

fastening myself to you with a stitch

Fame au. "Anyone who has never heard the names Lily Evans and James Potter before must be a boomer. The two actors have dominated the box office with their films in the past nine years, more often than not starring opposite one another. Whether tasked to portray mutual pining, passionate hatred or fiery love, Potter and Evans make the screen positively buzz with the taste of opportunity."

it's all happening without me

Normal People (Sally Roony) au. "At school, James and Lily pretend not to know each other. James is wealthy, popular and the star of his school’s football team, while Lily wears second-hand school uniforms, is the school pariah and resented for her smarts. At James’ house, however – meeting there due to Lily’s mother’s housekeeping job – they form an intense connection they desperately try to conceal to the outside world.

A year later, James and Lily both attend Hogwarts University where James has found his feet and made friends he had longed for his entire life, while Lily remains uncertain and haunted by her problematic past.

Throughout their years at university, James and Lily circle each other, trying to resist the magnetic pull between them, whilst coming to the realisation that the both of them may be more religious than they ever thought they were."

Mother knows best. Mary, never question your writing skills because this fic proved that you are a phenomenal writer. The emotions you evoked coverered the entire range of human emotions

It's Coming Down, It's Coming Down Series -

Weird, But Fuckin' Beautiful

When Lily Evans is invited to spend Christmas with the Potters, she finds that she can simply not refuse. It’s an offer she cannot resist for several reasons, the most important one being that she would much rather spend the holidays with Fleamont and Euphemia than she would with Vernon and Petunia.

So what if she had conveniently forgotten (or has she?) about the fact that the Potters have a son - a Formula 1 driver at that - who she can’t seem to get off her mind? (Mightily annoying that, seeing as he has made clear exactly how he feels about her and it’s not exactly giving her any hope.) It’s not as if she can’t control herself.

Or so she very dearly hopes…

Tonight Feels Impossible

But after a night spent together in a hotel's honeymoon suite, she doubts she ever will and fears it might be her downfall.

To All The Kudos I've Left Before

Ficwriter au set in university. "Fanfiction is the guiltiest of pleasures that Lily - twenty years old and studying at Hogwarts University - freely and happily indulges in. She reads fanfiction whenever she has a moment to herself and goes crazy whenever her favourite author - Artemis - updates or uploads another one of his works to Archive Of Our Own. Leaving them comments and the ensuing banter between them back and forth - however fleeting - makes her heart race and preoccupies a fair amount of her thoughts, which - in turn - angers her best friend.

James Potter has never had to suffer from an inferiority complex. His parents and friends are supportive of his every endeavour and this includes his habit to write fanfiction and put his written work out there in the void for his readers to enjoy. His readers are highly supportive too - Lilium being his absolute favourite - that is, until he starts to receive the vilest of comments from a number of guest accounts and starts to question his entire online existence.

What Artemis and Lilium don’t know? That they might know each other a little better than either of them ever bargained for."

The title says it all ❤ ❤❤

[quincyhorst]

Hii!! I would like to ask if you perhaps have any headcannons or something on sengoku igajima??

Hello there! Thank you for your ask!

...I've decided to look through my old Ina11 docs/notebooks I had as to answer this, but turns out I barely wrote anything with Sengoku Igajima despite -also- being obsessed with them years ago ._.

I'm still able to remember few of the ideas I had, so I'll add them alongside new stuff. It is to say that most of these created alongside my sister; since we used to roleplay stories with Sengoku Igajima together <3

I like to start FF posts talking about their school, but... Until now I haven't thought much were SI could be. In their introduction they're said to be from 'Kinki', an alternate name given to the Kansai region (Where Osaka and Nara are). And the wiki itself also mentions that they could be from the former Iga province -mostly from the name and the referenced ninjas' origins-, which is now part of the Mie prefecture and its name is used for a city.

I personally picture the school being further from being closer to wildnerness, but not neccesarily on tall moutains like Senbayama. Their Matane no Kisetsu picture actually shows what could their village be, buuut it is way too far away. (Thanks again to @ ryuusei-boi for cleaning this up!!!)

Either way... The school itself has been founded and taken care by the "Igajima" family for generations. In origin times it served to help train ninjas during the "Sengoku" period with their own style's ninja arts, but as time passed and warfare changed, the school was forced to adapt into the modern times. Their techniques are still taught nowadays, but the school only allows to openly use them in recreative activities like soccer.

(This is mostly as to avoid getting in conflict with the authorities, because imagine one of these grown up ninjas participating in an assasination...)

The coach of the team is considered to be the current head of the Igajima family, and also the enforcer of the previous rule mentioned earlier. His age is totally unknown, but some on the school spread the rumours of him being around 80 years old age. If that's the case, then did he leave any descendants to take care of Igajima in the future? For now I'll leave it unknown; let's leave VROH to answer that for us.

(The Sengoku part of the name was something added for the school's anniversry after the 2000s, mostly a hommaje to its origins.)

Now, onto the players. I've seen many recent posts with Kirigakure and some with Fuuma; but I haven't seen anything with Hatsutori yet so...

His profile mentions he's the "keyman" that holds their teamwork together; but I think he also plays an important role with the actual relationships. He's the perfect middleman between Saiji -who tends to do things his way- and Koheita -who is strict about following rules and traditions-, and if it wasn't for his presence the team would have had a harder time on the Football Frontier.

Speaking of Fuuma, I like to picture him and Hatsutori having a close relationship, mostly because of them living in proximity by one another and a good relationship between their families. Fuuma tends to be very rigid with his code of conduct, but in few occasions he has agreed to listen to Hanzou's point of view instead.

The final characters I remember are Fujibayashi and Kousaka. They also have lived close since young, though this also means that the two have experienced many of Jin's usual sicknesses. Nagato doesn't mind, and in many occassions he has visited his resting friend as to give him some company.

However, his time at Sengoku Igajima marks a before and after, since Fujibayashi would become more interested on medicine thanks to Jiraiya and his frog oil usage. Similar to the latter he at first focused on traditional remedies, but he eventually switched to the actual medical field.

I like that during GO, he works for a small hospital located on their village, and every so often he visits Jiraiya's shop in search of useful things. Jin has worked there part time, though he is still searching for something to dedicate fully into. At least the support from family and friends has made him never lose his strength.

Apologies for my late reply, my classes started and turned my whole schedule upside down :'D I'll keep searching any old SI stuff I have.

Shoutout to the unnamed managers of the team, though. We decided to ship the both of them with Santa of all people LMFAO (Still a cute concept)

[saragarnier]

Number One

Pairing: jannik sinner x leclerc! Reader

Summary: y/n is Charles Leclerc’s little sister and also Jannik Sinner’s girlfriend. She went to Jannik Final in Rome, when he has the opportunity to become Number One in the ATP rankings

Warnings: none I guess. Maybe just bad English since it’s not my first language

Fluff

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Being Charles Leclerc little sister wasn’t easy at all and you hated everything that was related to your brother’s fame or job. You loved him with all your heart but sometimes it was difficult being his sister, especially if everyone around you tries to be your friend just to have a chance to meet your brother.

At the same time, however, you were able to meet your current boyfriend thanks to your brother and you were grateful for that. When Charles invited you and your brothers to the Montecarlo Master 1000 final in 2024 you were excited, especially when Jannik Sinner won the semifinal.

You watched tennis since you were only six or seven years old, especially because your father and your brothers loved it. Even after your father’s death you kept watching tennis, maybe also because you wanted to feel him again, maybe because watching tennis helped you remembering him.

And that’s how you knew Jannik Sinner: you watched one of his game when he was still young but you knew that something was different about him, you knew that he would have become someone important one day.

When you met him after the final you were almost shaking and your brother Arthur didn’t help you neither: he embarrassed you even more, telling Jannik that you were his biggest fan.

You didn’t knew when you met him, nor did he. It just happened. It wasn’t planned at all.

You two met again some days after, and again and again till you started dating in secret. You both wanted to keep it a secret, to keep it private from all the fans, the journalists and the world: only your families and Jannik’s team knew about your relationship. You just wanted to live yourselves, you just wanted to know each other better before telling everyone that you were a couple. You still didn’t even admit that you loved each other when you decided to leave Imola and not to watch your brother’s race on 19th of May. It was race day for Charles but it was also Jannik’s match day and you perfectly knew that, if he would have won, he would’ve become first in the ATP rankings. And you couldn’t miss it.

You drove for hours and you were able to arrived just few minutes before the start of the match, when Jannik was still doing some warmup. He didn’t know you were there, he thought that you would have been at your brother’s race and he understood that, he wasn’t even mad at you when you told him that your brother invited you to his race. And then, that morning, Charles told you that you should have gone and that he wouldn’t have been angry with you.

You thanked him and you immediately left to reach Jannik in Rome.

You were able to enter thanks to his coach Cahill, that let you pass the security and found you a place near them, even if you didn’t want to be seen by Jannik.

“What do you mean, y/n? Why you didn’t want to be seen?” Asked his physiotherapist, Giacomo, looking at you with a confused look.

“I don’t want to distract him. He doesn’t know i’m here and there’s no time to tell him; he needs to stay focused on the game, especially today, especially when there’s being the number one in the rankings on the plate.”

They knew that you only wanted Jannik’s best and they agreed with you, that’s why Jannik didn’t know about you being there till the end of the match, when he reached his team on the stands after his victory.

At the beginning he didn’t see you, he just hugged his team, smiling, incredulous.

“Let’s go Jan!”

“Bravo!”

“Olé, Olé, Olé! Sinner! Sinner!”

The fans were crazy, they were screaming, singing and they were crying. Some kids were literally in tears, some fans were hugging each other screaming: “Sinner numero uno al mondo!” (“Sinner number one in the world!”)

It was the first time that an Italian reached the first place in the ATP rankings and Italians were going crazy, especially because he became number one in Rome, at home.

“Sei fantastico Jan! Ottimo lavoro!” Said Simone Vagnozzi, smiling at him. (“You’re amazing Jan! Good job!”)

He was too much shocked to notice you were just few feet away from him. You couldn’t stop smiling, especially watching him being so happy. He deserved all of this and even more.

Before he could see you, you stepped forward, smiling.

“So, do i have to call you champion from now on?” You whispered to his ear, gaining his full attention. He immediately wrapped his hands around your waist and he hugged you, smiling.

“Y/n! W-what… what are you doing here?!” He asked, smiling even more. “I thought you were at your brother’s race! When did you arrived here?”

You smiled, passing an hand through his hair and caressing him gently. You smiled, looking at him and feeling goosebumps under his touch.

“I couldn’t miss it, right? I wanted to be here with you and my brother understood. I arrived only few minutes before the start that’s why I didn’t tell you: I didn’t want to disturb you. I know how important it’s for you and i didn’t want to distract you.”

He was speechless: he wanted to thank you, to say something but he couldn’t. He wanted to say how he felt, he wanted to say that you were amazing and that he felt so fucking lucky to have you, but he couldn’t. He didn’t find the right words, that’s why he just kissed you.

You didn’t expect him to do that in front of everyone, in front of the fans, journalists and the tv. You knew that all the world was watching you two kissing, you knew that your secret was not a secret anymore after that kiss, but you didn’t mind. You just let him do it and you immediately kissed him back.

You loved him.

God, you loved him so much.

But you weren’t prepared for that, you weren’t prepared for what he told next. You couldn’t believe it, you just couldn’t.

“I love you, y/n.” He told you, whispering it while watching you in the eyes. He would have passed all the time there, kissing you and hugging you. There was no-one else in there except you. It was only you and him.

You didn’t know what to say or what to do, you loved him so much and you waited to hear that for weeks, but you couldn’t still believe it.

Was it true?

Was it real?

You immediately hugged him, wrapping your arms around his shoulders and hiding your face on his chest.

“I love you too, my little champion” you whispered, smiling. “And I would kiss you all the time right now, but i think you should go now. I’ll wait here for you, okay?”

Jannik smiled and nodded, caressing your cheek gently.

“Okay babe, i will come back to you as soon as i can, okay?” He said, giving you one last kiss before going back on the court to be interviewed. You smiled at him and nodded, still looking at him from distance.

“I love you and i will always do.” You whispered to yourself, since he was way too far to hear you.

And when he raised the cup to the sky you just smiled seeing how happy he was, seeing the smile he had on his face, how emotional he looked in that moment.

Number one in the world.

Number one in your heart.

[creative99writer]

alright - so I figured, I'd post a snippet of it first because it's still not quite finished, and I realized it is loooooonnng. Like, seriously long, and I dont' know if it's smart to post something so long like this on Tumblr in one piece. Also I can't quite figure out the end yet, because as I said, maybe I'll turn this into a short story, and not just leave it as a one shot.

Anyway - here it is (please bear with me, English is not my first language and I realize my style might not be everyone's cup of tea)

A Meeting in New York (sneak peak)

New York City, September 2024.

US Open Championships 2024.

The reports were crazy. There was no way she was going to come back. Or was she really? Nobody really knew. The reporters couldn't keep up with writing new stories about her potential comeback. It was completely out of hands - out of hands of everyone, really. 

Was she really coming back? After everything that happened? 

Jack wanted to roll his eyes at the commotion everywhere. He understood why to a certain extent there were so many reports about her. But it was still weird and annoying. She was just a human being, and he was pretty sure that she wanted to be left alone. Otherwise, she would have posted something - anything - on social media. But she hadn't in over six months. People basically only knew she was still alive, but barely even that. Someone who kept everything under wraps so much was almost certainly were private and wanted to keep her own peace, he was sure of that. 

And so Jack didn't really listen to the murmurs and the whispers and the guesses and the gossip and minded his own business. He could see the reporters outside the hotel, and that was already annoying enough. All because people thought she was going to come back? The lobby was busier than usual, maybe because it had been anticipated that maybe she was arriving today. He was waiting for a shuttle to take him to Flushing Meadows, his tennis bag and everything he would need, ready for the day, his brother, his dad, his coach and his physio relaxing in the plushy chairs in the middle of the lobby. The swanky New York City hotel was fancy and elegant and provided every comfort tennis players would need for a grueling Grand Slam tournament. It was a hot day and he wasn't necessarily looking forward to the heat that would be extremely present on the practice courts because the humidity and the heat often got to him. It was something he was working on, but it was a long process. 

He ran his long fingers through his hair, breathing out and sitting down in a plush chair himself. His hair was getting quite long, but he didn't want to cut it - he liked it the way it currently was. Jack's signature hat was laying beside him on the couch but he didn't want to put it on just yet. Later, when it was going to get heated on the practice court, he would put it on. But for now, he wanted to enjoy the cooling AC in the lobby. 

"The shuttle should be ready in ten minutes, sir." a young guy told him, the name tag letting Jack know it was someone from the US Open organizational team. "Yeah sure, thank you." Jack nodded at him politely, and settled comfortably in the chair. They had more than enough time to be at Flushing Meadows; in fact, they had been a bit early. And so he didn't really have a choice but to wait, and he pulled out his phone to text his best friend, Paul. Next to him, his older brother Ben, was typing away on his phone. "I think we're gonna be right on time for practice." Ben was still typing on his phone as he spoke. "What do you wanna do for dinner tonight?" he asked his little brother and Jack contemplated out loud. "Maybe something Indian? Or Steak? Maybe I can check on Instagram what's good." Ben nodded, still typing away, when their conversation got interrupted by commotion at the entrance of the lobby, the reporters suddenly getting louder. They looked up, the door opening and a figure stepped into the lobby, a hat and sunglasses covering her face. Jack, though annoyed, swallowed down a hint of anticipation.

Could it really be her?

[foxufortunes]

So like I was actually having this discussion in the comments of one of my fics at stupid in the morning, but like having thought it through for the day I'm here to messily rant my thoughts on the complicated relationship between the upperclassmen, mainly Dan, and the monsters, mainly Andrew, and Wymack. How Dan is terribly self righteous and hypocritical and lets her emotions get in the way of her captaincy at times. How Andrew doesn't care for the discomfort and fear he causes others and even revels in it, even without provocation. And how Wymack, for better or for worse, is a hands off coach who can't/won't inflict meaningful punishments on his team, even enabling their worst qualities and habits, as part of his ideal of giving people more chances and how that can create a hostile team environment.

Aka, I'm about to throw slander in every direction, because these are flawed, messy characters and trying to make any of them perfectly innocent or always right does a disservice to the well sketched, messy, imperfect, flawed characters Nora created. Blame goes everywhere and no one is innocent. Trauma is a reason, not an excuse.

Buckle up, guys, this is about to get long and messy.

So, let's start with Wymack, who's a bit trickier to explain than Dan and Andrew, but is also the reason they've been brought togethers. Wymack, as we see him on page, is a massively hands off coach, especially when you compare him to Coach Rhemann. Now, it's very possible that this is actually because Nora either wasn't confident/good enough to write him coaching vs where she is now ten years later, or because she didn't want to focus there (although logically for exy junkie Neil's pov that would be weird, but whatever, that's not what we're talking about) but whatever the reason out of universe, it leaves us with Wymack as hands off as possible in universe. (Also, sidebar, some people in this fandom need to learn that out of universe reasons still need to have an in universe reason, "it needed to happen for the plot" is an out of universe reason, but I still need to know why the characters did it beyond "for the plot" or it's bad writing, stop using that for an answer about "why did character X do Y?")

Anyway, Wymack lets the team basically run amuck and sort themselves out, and even enables their worst habits. I think its canon that Abby gets a tip when "random" drug tests are happening, and they certainly don't do anything to enforce the no drugs policies the school and NCAA and probably ERC would have. Wymack brought a bunch of troubled kids together and seems to have no plan beyond letting themselves work it out and Betsy's here if there's trouble. This is why the Matt situation happens. You let a struggling to stay sober drug addict be around other not even trying drug addicts, of course Matt was going to get worse. This is actively bad for him. And in turn then actively bad for Aaron.

His relationship with Andrew is a bit more complicated. Now, I need you to forget everything you know about Andrew through Neil and his backstory for a moment, and just look at Andrew through Wymack's eyes as he first met him. Andrew has been to juvie, and is currently on parole for another violent crime that Wymack may or may not know the actual details about and on medication that Wymack may or may not know what they actually are and do. Andrew asks to come off of them. Wymack says yes. Now, even putting aside the legality of this, Wymack took the unilateral decision that Andrew knows best about his meds and can come off of them. Now, we can talk plenty about how Andrew's medication is portrayed in canon, but plenty of people don't like meds that are actually good for them and try/do stop taking them, often without telling a doctor they're doing so. There's also the fact that, again irrelevant of what we know as the story goes, Andrew regularly drinks, smokes and misses doses, things that can all make medication not work as it should. Wymack is not a doctor, for all he knows he could actively making Andrew worse by allowing this, but does anyway, for a good defence line.

(Also another side note, where does canon get off calling the Foxes a laughing stock? They're five years old. Seth was part of the first batch, right? So they're five years old and made the championships in their fourth year of existing as a team, fuck off are they dead last laughing stocks.)

And this is part of what I don't get about Wymack. He both wants to win above what's good for his team and doesn't at the same time. For example, he's so hands off and enables their bad habits, things that could kill them and actively harm them. He puts Andrew on the bench because he doesn't need a third goalie despite him being better and seemingly rolls with the hierarchy of age over skill, which implies team feel goods over victory but is so invested in staying Class I he semi-regularly lets (and yeah, it's lets not makes but still) Andrew harm himself playing full games on withdrawals (again, as far as he knows potentially stopping his meds working right). And while it could be argued his situation with Andrew is more not wanting to give up on Andrew, that is an the expense of his other players. Anyone who's ever been in a situation where one or two people are hostile/seemingly unpunishable knows how bad that makes everyone else feel.

Because, let's be real, Andrew is unpunishable and they all know it. Cardio is one thing, but he doesn't go through with marathons and nothing else will work. Andrew doesn't care for his own contract, and even if we actually believed Wymack would go through with any threat again Kevin, Nicky or Aaron's contracts (and we all know he wouldn't) Andrew would probably sabotage the game in protest or just outright quit. Andrew gets away with everything and everyone knows it and that can quickly see your team stop respecting/trusting you or feeling safe when you say they are. It's a very dangerous line.

And this is where we finally get to Dan. Because yes, Dan hates Andrew, and is unprofessional in her bias against him. But I think we often forget where this comes from. You often see people talk about Columbia, and Andrew drugging Neil, and should Neil have been angrier, how his trauma impacted him moving on so quickly and whether Andrew's reasons were valid or not because he thought Neil was a threat. And sometimes you see people talk about what he did "to" Matt. Which, yes, wasn't great, and yes, Matt took the drugs himself, but really it wasn't a great move from Andrew. But how often do you see people talk about what he did to Dan?

I mean, let's get some context here. Andrew and Dan barely knew each other. Dan is already getting shit from every angle for daring to be a woman playing and captaining an exy team (and if you hc her as a woman of colour, double this) in a period of time where colleges did (and still do) have a terrible reputation for covering up the horrific assaults committed by their best NCAA athletes. And Andrew, with no provocation, or reason, invites her out, to his home turf, with his family, to a bar he worked out, without anyone to support her and look after her, and drugged her. To find out if she was a women worth following. Not because she was a threat. Because he wanted to find out what type of person she was. He wanted her tragic backstory and he wanted it now (something people criticise Dan for demanding a lot, by the way). Andrew and his group show no remorse and face no real repercussions and then go on to enable Matt getting falling off the wagon and taking potentially lethal mix of drugs, because his mom said it was fine so it's ok and it all worked out, ends justify the means, and is allowed to just carry on with again, no meaningful punishment. Because no harm, no foul, right? (funny how you'll apply that to Andrew but hate when Thea said it, huh?)

Is it any wonder Dan doesn't like or trust Andrew?

And lets be clear, Andrew does nothing to discourage this. Andrew doesn't want to be understood, he doesn't want to share. Andrew is not here angsting because no one understands his attempts to making friends (except maybe, big maybe, Aaron not understanding his attempts at brothering). Andrew is fine if the team doesn't trust him. He encourages it, because trust means friends means feelings means weakness and that's ew. It's not hard to see how, from Dan's pov, Wymack can't/won't punish Andrew and is more interested in winning so won't kick him off the team.

At the same time, Dan is just as complicit in Andrew's breaking the law and hurting himself by missing meds as Wymack. Again, for all she knows, his meds help him, and skipping could actively harm the help they're giving him. Again, she's putting winning, because they have this amazing goalkeeper, above both Andrew and the team's health, and then complains when he lashes out. Some meds need a consistent balance to work, and maybe if he wasn't skipping every Friday to help you win he'd be more stable (we know this isn't the case, but they don't). There's barely any resistance put up to the idea that Andrew plays entire games, because she also wants to win more than she cares about Andrew's health, while at the same time not caring about winning more than her pride, like the rest of the team who are more interested in fighting than winning.

Now, of course, Andrew doesn't care. I think Nicky has it right early on when he says Andrew doesn't care about your boundaries, just his. Andrew is here mostly because he wants to keep Nicky and Aaron close and sees providing value for them (protection, scholarships, controlling protection ect) as the only way to really do it. Andrew sees life as exchanges. But, for all we act like Andrew lives on fair exchanges, he doesn't. As I said, he drugged Dan because he wanted to know about her, what did he give her in return? Nothing. He violated her autonomy and gave her nothing in return. Not even his own backstory. Arguably not even respect. (please, take a minute to imagine how pissed you would be if someone in fanfic wrote Andrew being drugged just to get him to spill his trauma without him even being a threat to anything, or look at how people react to Neil's Columbia scene).

The upperclassmen constantly ignore and violate Andrew's boundaries in very clear ways, and any normal team would have backed off ages ago (or called the cops the first time he pulled a knife) but because they're Foxes they keep pushing. (Also, for all fandom likes to make him a knife nut, look at how often he actually pulls a knife vs punches, it's either rape jokes, or him/someone under his protection being cornered, day to day he goes without). Now, of course, Andrew is a lot of the problem of keeping the team in two halves (again, something any decent coach shouldn't allow to get that extreme) as we see with how well the team works when Andrew is at Easthaven, but we don't know how much effort the upperclassmen actually make (excluding Renee of course).

The upperclassmen are often the first to lash out, and Andrew is often only retaliating, and then the monsters will be blamed. And yes, this is complete hypocrisy. But from the more general day to day treatment, not in the moment when a punch is thrown but attitudes in general, Andrew has proven himself a threat over and over, without provocation. If you can excuse Andrew drugging Neil because he's a potential threat, then why is Dan being hostile to Andrew because he's proven himself a threat different? Is it professional? Probably not, but what else can Dan do? She can't punish Andrew and Wymack seemingly can't/won't either. In Dan's mind, she is being hypervigilant and watching Andrew and taking his actions for the worst possible scenario, because Andrew has given her reason to. A simple drink to get to know each other turned into drugging her and Matt being in awful condition. Why should she give him the benefit of the doubt? Andrew wouldn't return the favour.

In many ways, Andrew and Dan are mirrors of each other. The leaders of their respective groups, both constantly trying to watch out for threats, but while Dan sees the threat she's already experienced with Andrew, Andrew considers her nothing. He's already got all her secrets and cast her aside, not caring for the damage he's done, because she and her friends are nothing to, and he doesn't feel a hint of remorse. He did what he had to, the ends justify the means, and Wymack's gone through too much to get him to risk losing him. He's on a team that doesn't care about his boundaries any more than he cares about theirs and is more than happy to play the monster if it gets the job done.

This came off a little harsh on Andrew, despite that I love him and Dan actually grates on me, but honestly the start of the series he is kind of awful and Dan I can see where she's coming from. Like, I think sometimes we also forget even Neil hates Andrew at the start of the series. Everything he did with Neil, he did with the others, it's just that Neil had the persistence, and the trauma related need to compartmentalise and move on quickly rather than hold a grudge, and a usefulness to Andrew (and yeah, let's not forget the breakthrough is Kathy's show and Andrew realising Neil is useful to him) to let him get in with Andrew so he can start to see the real him, while Andrew keeps the upperclassmen at arm's length.

And wow, congrats and thanks to anyone who read all the way through this monster ramble.

[httpsawesome]

I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE CHERRY MAGIC AU???

ALFHASLKFHASLKHFAS OMG honestly i really didnt think it would be that interesting to hear about i just think about it to amuse myself LOL but yeah i can explain it!!

okay so like to preface i know its a really silly idea but its just for fun/imagining them in a lighter situation than in the canon of the game

So my Disco Elysium/Cherry Magic AU goes as follows: Harry and Kim are actually BOTH high school teachers, with Harry being the gym teacher + coach of several teams at the school and Kim teaching the science courses (but he really wants to be the teacher for a mechanics/shop class that currently there isn't anyone teaching there).

They're aged down a little, so Kim is 30 and Harry is 31, and it would follow Kim on the day he turned 30 and thus gets the powers. (For anyone reading this that doesn't know about Cherry Magic, its a BL series where Adachi is still a virgin when he turns 30 and that gives him the powers to read the minds of anyone he touches, and it's based off the joke of anyone who is still a virgin at 30 or older are called 'Wizards').

Kim isn't shy or a loner, really at all, but he is pretty repressed and it's more like he's made peace with the idea of just work and his friends. He's tried to be with men in the past and it ended all Really Badly, and he has tried once to be in a relationship with a woman but it was obvious that it wasn't going to work either, so he just changes focus and keeps his head down in that way.

He finds out that he has the mind reading powers when he arrives to the school on the morning of his birthday and at first everything is Normal - he arrives at the same time which means he has a daily greeting from Harry, since they have almost always arrived at the same time every day for the past seven years.

Harry greets him in his usual way - it's always with a really bro-y slap on the back and then he says something very Harry like. He says something different almost every morning so after seven years they get really elaborate, one of the ones i had written down was "let's get this bread King, and savor the grains" but essentially he just says a different variation of 'good morning' every day. Kim had always thought that he was just being polite, in his way, because they aren't friends and beyond this they don't talk, or really run into each other in any context.

Kim honestly assumes Harry barely knows him and, at best, views him as a skinny nerd that should 'bulk up'.

But in this encounter he reads his thoughts and finds that Harry is paying Very Close Attention to Kim's reaction to his greeting and taking note on if he did a tiny huff of laughter like he sometimes does, if it was a neutral response like most mornings are, or if it was taken badly.

Which is Very Strange to Kim. Why does it matter to Harry if he laughed at the thing he said? Baffling.

He thinks about it throughout the Whole Day and he decides that he needs to gather more information to see what his whole deal is, so when he goes to leave at the exact same time as he usually does he actually stops in front of his car, turns around, and goes back inside but in the direction of the gym.

Harry is there in his office (a really cramped room with brick walls, a single window, Contact Mike posters and a whole bookshelf of trophies throughout the years, and also I think many photos of students that have graduated that he was pretty close to. and also a lot of other clutter in general, i think he would love knick knacks of all kinds. and unrelated from his office he def has a disco ball keychain). His door is open but Kim knocks anyway and Harry looks at him with undisguised Fear.

Which Kim doesn't understand, but he breezes past and says something like. "Sorry if I'm interrupting something but I was about to leave and noticed that my car had a flat. I just assumed you'd be here." which is -

Stupid. He just made that excuse up On The Spot and he almost changes his mind but Harry visibly deflates + perks up with a smile and says "Oh! Yeah I got some tools . . . somewhere. Maybe."

Kim always has emergency tools on hand for something like that, he assures Harry. Which raises the question of why didn't he do it himself and he panics and blurts out that he has terrible lower back pain and needs help with the actual process. And when they get to his car and Harry notices that the there is no flat tire at all he panics again and is like haha. . . no i just noticed there was a nail in it, actually, and i know it will have to be replaced soon. I'm very partial to my car i really dont want to leave, and that last part is very true so it helps sell everything else he was saying.

While they are working together Kim gets to read his thoughts more and he finds out a few things, namely that 1) Harry initially thought that Kim had gone to his office because he was mad at him for some reason so he got scared, 2) his thoughts run into each other a LOT and the more he reads his mind the more he gets overwhelmed by them, and 3) Harry is very intensely In Love with him and has been for a while

essentially this all would be like, the very first chapter i guess? this scene would end with Kim intrigued but hesitant to make a solid, definitely romantically intentioned move on Harry and Harry going "that was fantastic this is the best day of my life i got to HANG OUT WITH KIM"

ive thought about it a lot but beyond this its more of tiny details/less fledged out images that are more fun, like i know cuno and c would be in harry's class and they would cause nuisances every single day but gym is their mutual favorite class and harry is one of a few teachers that sees that they just need an outlet and they are Bad Kids. and i wanna force jean in here and i think it would be funny if he is put in the Rokkaku role, ironic since Rokkaku is really high energy and described as a sunshine-y character and Jean is not.

i would make jean a sub that works at this particular school a lot, basically the first guy that is called whenever they need someone to cover a class, and he would be about ~21 so like he isn't very good at subbing yet and he has a Very Hard time getting the kid's to respect him. kim intially doesn't care for him at all but they would eventually get along!

ive also thought about the reason why Harry fell in love and I think it happened on Kim's first day as a teacher there, seven years prior and while Harry had been teaching there for about a year or two prior, and Harry introduces himself initially and Kim comes off as rather cold so Harry dismisses him at first. But then, later in the parking lot, they have another conversation and Harry didn't notice that he was absentmindely fiddling with his 1 Month Sober metal coin and Kim sees it and initially Harry is actually bummed that he 'messed up' and now this new guy, who didn't know him before and had No Clue about his past mistakes and he really wanted to force the image that his past is way different/basically nonexistent and all that, but Kim just really nicely says congratulations and seems so sincere that Harry doesn't feel as bad for him knowing

(i don't want to make it seem like im saying he should be keeping it a secret, but its more like his insecurities made it so he wanted to put off a specific image/he just really liked the idea of someone he was working with has no idea of the mistakes he made and he wanted to cling to that feeling that, to this guy, he's someone completely different than he really is.)

that's the trigger for Harry to notice Kim around and then as he learns more and more about him he keeps falling more and more in love, but he doesnt want to ever make the first move because he has a very low image of himself and feels it would be better to just admire him from afar Forever.

OH AND! okay so in the show Kurosawa is routinely very jealous whenever someone gets close to Adachi and i actually switched that trait from Harry to, eventually later in the story, to Kim. i still imagine it is before they get together but i just have been really loving the trope of 'character realizes they have strong feelings for another one after they feel unexpected jealousy' and i think that Kim doesn't realize he is also falling for Harry until there's a moment someone else shows interest in him and he's like ". . . . ohhhhh. also HEY back off he's mine!"

okay i think those are all of my thoughts! i hope this was fun to read LOL, i dont have plans to seriously write this and it's more like im just having fun with the idea and i have been thinking in this universe a lot

[riansdiary]

Answering last asks in my inbox 🎀

Hi my dearest gentle readers 💎

I'm answering all of my remaining asks here in this post because I didn't wanna leave anyone hanging. My asks will be temporarily closed due to me taking a break and focusing on my desires first. I will be back after making myself feel better! I'm just taking a long break because I don't wanna over consume on Tumblr so I'm not really gonna be that active at all. I'm only gonna be here to chat with my friends and post any epiphanies I have about the law of assumption! I also wanna complete myself like pour into my cup first before I pour into other's cups. I'm focusing on manifesting my most important desires. I'm currently still brainstorming and having epiphanies from time to time and I think I just need to hone my manifesting ability until I've found the best thing to do that works for me. Yes, I'm already good at it but I'm an overachiever since I was in school so I'm planning to understand the law better and make my methods even more effective! I'm studying the law not with books but with my own experiences.

Watch out for a post this week or the next week! I have a much better epiphany for you! I realized this new epiphany as I was manifesting for myself. I realized that I have the wrong Pov or mindset when I was doing it. This new one was a game changer for me! I have never wavered again after I wrote down this epiphany and realization I had about loa! I'm so excited to share this soon with everyone!

Ask #1:

I'm sorry but I'm not really the right person to go to. I don't know a lot about the void state and haven't tried it yet because I've been manifesting quite well on my own so I felt like I didn't need it. I would suggest that you go to someone like @therealitysculptor because if I remember correctly they do have void posts.

Ask #2:

I've seen you ask someone else for this. Oh I think it's @therealitysculptor

Just searched for it on her blog and I completely agree with her answer so I'll insert that here.

Anytime you manifest, it will always end up materializing anyway so why focus heavily on the 3d? I would recommend doing umbrella affirmations that imply that you have it now both in the 4d and 3d.

"It's done. I already have everything that I want."

"Everything in my life is perfect"

"I always get what I want"

"Everything is always working in my favor"

"It has manifested. I have it now."

Ask #3:

This is another familiar one and I have been seeing other bloggers answer this. I'm sorry but I don't really get the question. Do you want everyone to have a crush on you or just the two SP's? There's no desire that's unrealistic if you believe in it.

Ask #4:

You can listen to a moving to your desired country subliminal to help you along with manifesting that! I recommend reading Neville's Barbados success story!

Here is something I read that might help you!

Replace Barbados with the country you wanna move to so you could understand better.

Ask #5:

Hi! Yes, you can manifest any SP that you like. Reality is malleable and you can change anything about them from bad to good. Just don't focus on things about the SP that you do not like. Change that thing to something good. My boyfriend did not know me before so yes, it's possible to manifest someone who doesn't really notice your existence. About the partner thing, this is only what I've heard from loa coaches. If you want something then it's meant for you but personally I don't really have that experience of manifesting someone who already has a partner so you might have to ask other loa bloggers.

Ask #6:

You have to remember that whatever you think is an affirmation so if you're saying that to yourself then you should stop doing that. You decide which thoughts you give power or attention to. Please stop paying attention or focusing on things that you don't want. That's my number one rule about the 3d. Instead of that, just remind yourself that you have your results and be in the state of the wish fulfilled a.k.a living in the end. I always remind myself that I already have my subliminal results so I listen to subliminals fully relaxed knowing I have my results.

Whenever you think about your results just remind yourself gently, "I have my full results, there's nothing to worry about. It's done." and when you say this, I want you to actually consider it done and relax. Persist and assume that you have your results already regardless if you see it or not. Focusing on the lack is not really good for you. It made me mad, angry and anxious when I kept noticing the lack. So I made a decision that I have my desires. I always say "I have all my desires, it's in my reality. It's done." then I would relax in the knowing that it's done. That was always how I manifested quickly. It's when I left the seed I planted alone and watered (reminded/affirmed/decided) it whenever I think about it.

Don't check for results, that's the tip that I've been told about subliminals. Usually, subliminal makers would say that you need to listen for two months to get full results. You can listen to that or you could hear my advice. I want you to listen to your subliminals and don't think against it. Just listen to them and completely detach. All you need to do is listen to them and let it work/let it do its thing. Listen and let it happen. Forget that you even listened to them. It will help you to forget about that, assume you have results now and not think negatively about it. If you do that, you're just working against yourself. Don't be in the way of yourself getting results. Assume that you have your results now and make sure not to check for the results all the time. It's like you're asking it where the results are and the subliminal just says "I have silky hair"

Checking for results is literally contradicting what the subliminals are saying to your subconscious mind. It's like sabotaging yourself and your results. It's better to relax and just assume you have it now. Think the things that the subliminal would tell your subconscious mind. What I mean is to align your thoughts with the subliminals you're listening to. For example, you're listening to a specific hair subliminal. Instead of checking and still focusing and complaining about how you don't like how your hair looks, don't check and just think thoughts that align with what you actually want which is what your hair subliminal is saying. Focusing on time is not really good as well so stop marking the time and how much you're listening to it. Just keep listening and persisting! If it has worked for me and so many others then it will work on you too!

Ask #7:

First of all, the only one stopping your daydreams from being real is you. Imagination is the real reality. That is what I always heard when it comes to the law of assumption and it's true. The only difference is you're seeing these daydreams as a far-off impossible dream and all you need to do to change that is yes, remember them as the past or a memory! Just tell yourself that it happened and accept it as the truth.

Ask #8:

In the back of mind ik that I can manifest easily or once I want to/start manifesting, it will be easy for me. But I'm ALWAYS worried about failure, what if I fails? I would never be able to trust in abilities again, i would spiral sooo much. I have fear of failure 😔 that's the biggest reason of my procrastination too😭😭

That's because you're giving power and your attention to failure. Whatever you focus on, you will get more of it. Stop focusing on failure because it will give you just more failure. Instead of that, why don't you focus on your success stories? Worrying means you're not in the state of having it. You either have it or you don't. Failure helps us learn when it comes to the law, trust me. I've been having amazing epiphanies when I look at what I'm failing at or what I need to improve on or what I'm doing wrong. It always helped me to brainstorm to find out what is the better thing to do for me. I think you would manifest better with commanding your subconscious mind method which is one of my favorite techniques. You just need to command your subconscious and trust that it will do that for you but you need to relax to do that. That might suit you better. For example: "Subconscious mind I command you to make me have my desired hair." Just say that in your mind and trust that it's gonna get that for you/it's being carried out by your subconscious mind. All you need to do is relax and make yourself busy doing something you love.

I had a fear of failure too but my love for myself and the desire to make me and the people I love happy was bigger than that so I made a decision to stop acknowledging that. Try relaxing and doing what makes you happy in between applying the law of assumption. It will help you relax in the knowing that it's done.

Ask #9:

Hi, I was wondering how can I get started on manifesting and how I can make my crush notice me back with the advice ❤️

Here are helpful links that will help you learn about the basics of the law of assumption! Some of them are videos, one of them is a post! I also included a video about manifesting an SP.

💎 💎 💎 💎 💎

Stick to the basics. All you need to do is to assume that he always looks at you and notices you all the time. Don't focus on the 3d because that is letting the old story stay. Make sure to remember that you're not trying to manifest, you're not manifesting, consider what you want a reality now and remind yourself that it's done.

[chainofclovers]

New thought about the question of whether the ending montage is a dream or not: it's not a dream in that all those things do happen, but we see it sped up and filtered through different light because we're seeing it through how Ted would want it to be. He has to believe everyone will be okay, and he has to trust that this will be true even without him rushing in to help everyone out, because otherwise sticking to his decision to return to Kansas will feel deeply painful instead of sad but peaceful. All the little projections into the future are things that occur, but the reality of them is so much more than these sunny little blips--they require work, hard conversations, disappointments, clumsiness, leaps of faith. They might not be the right relationships and jobs and decisions forever, but they all feel right in the moment. The people of Richmond are equipped to handle the complexities of that now, and Ted may hear about some or all of these things with the fullness of those complexities, but in this moment of leaving it has to be enough for him to believe in the happy moments.

As an audience, we get to experience the impossibility of seeing a reality Ted isn't physically there for through Ted's eyes.

And because it isn't Ted's story but it also obviously totally is Ted's story, his ending is the only one we experience more-or-less in real time, albeit with a jump from the day of his arrival to his experience coaching Henry's soccer team. The comparative smallness of his world (press conferences and parties at Leslie's house and big group dinners vs. one youth league soccer game) isn't because we're meant to believe his world is small now, or because all the distance from other people he loves has to be forever, but because zooming in on him as an active, present father is his happiest possible ending in this arc. Being with Henry is the happiness equivalent to his dream (or "dream," or manifestation) of the happiness his Richmond community finds with each other. It's sad but happy but sad but happy, how much this one choice to go to Kansas ripples into everything, just as much as Rebecca's choice to bring him to Richmond in the first place.

We have to trust there's more work and growth to be done, more choices and possibilities that will feel like choices and possibilities, but we also have to see enough glimpses of happiness to believe that work is worth it, and that's why the montage starts and ends while he's still on the plane, leaving one home, on the way to another, but currently in neither place.

(And yes, I know that Brendan Hunt's AMA confirmed that the vision was for the montage to comprise actual events, not just a dream. I respect that--and I was actually extremely into his explanation for why Ted isn't at the wedding. I still think there's something to be said for the way Ted jolts awake on the plane, as well as the lighting choices from basically the moment he's on the plane onward.)

[amongthe141]

The Gifts that keep on giving...Part 1

Summary: Head cannons for if reader was stuck with some Task Force 141 and KorTac men (With some surprises) for Christmas, what would be the best surprise gift to give them?...UGLY SWEATER EDITION

Challenge of: @glitterypirateduck CODHOLIDAY2023 (Yes I'm early but I have a lot of stuff I'm trying to do for this Challenge and really, who doesn't start celebrating the day after Thanksgiving...am I right?!?!).

See below for the movie inspiration for these head cannons for challenge :P

Captain John Price

Would blush when handed the present. Him being Captain and in charge knew you were up to something when you pleaded for him to allow an extra crate onboard. So when handed the soft pressed present the blush is part surprise and embarrassment that he didn't have a gift for you. He would take his time unwrapping it to only get that shit eating smile when he looked at it, immediately putting it on and pulling out a cigar to match the reindeer. You completely forgot that it wasn't the completed look and ran to grab the Santa Hat replacement for your dear Captain.

Simon Ghost Riley

You would be too nervous to watch him open up the present, because let's face it his big wondering brown eyes would just stare at you and would make your anxiety literally kill you before he would even open it should you have waited. But it was your eyes that couldn't leave him as he walked out of his corner room where you placed the simple present with a simple "Ghost" written on it sporting the sweater like it was nothing. As he walked by headed to where Johnny was shouting at him that his sweater was better than Ghosts and the lot of them, you believe you heard a little ghost whisper "Cheeky" along with a thanks.

Johnny Soap MacTavish

As soon as he saw you round the corner the inner child in him escalated his voice and excitement to mock level 10, thank goodness you weren't in a spot where it was imperative to remain silent. Sometimes his accent made words hard to understand but he was a rambling mess currently. He had the wrappings off and the sweater on in a heartbeat and he would go running around showing off his sweater to everyone and scolding their "ok" sweater choices before returning to you as he lifted you up off your feet for a hug. He would of course then bring out the secret booze he had for everyone for Christmas.

Kylie Gaz Garrick

Would be completely shell shocked silent as you slid the wrapped gift you made sure was perfectly wrapped for him. He would look at you then the gift a couple times before you told him to hurry up before you opened it for him. He wouldn't ruin the wrapping paper and you would sigh in utter suspense until he had the wrapping paper off the sweater perfectly. He would grin up at you uttering how perfect this was and later as the ugly sweater party died down would sit next to you as you shared a tablet watching Home Alone together.

Alex Keller

His extremely loud boisterous laugh would strip away the sudden fear that overcame you as you watched him open the present you thought was the perfect sweater for him. It was a sudden ping inside yourself that perhaps the ugly sweater you picked out was the wrong choice...too insensitive...perhaps too soon...which wasn't the case to your instant relief. You had been there to help Alex through his rehab and not once did Alex ever show of slowing down. It would become Alex's go to sweater for Christmas for years to come and also became a staple request that any actual Gingerbread cookies with missing legs were reserved for him and him alone.

Alejandro Vargas

It was well known that you and Alejandro had a thing for tacos. During your stay with his task force you were introduced to authentic and unbelievably flavorable tacos, much so that months later you had to beg him to coach you over Zoom on how to cook it since Taco Bell fell flat. "You ruined fastfood tacos for life now Ale, you owe me". At first he was confused why ugly sweaters were a thing but soon just shook his head laughing at you as he stripped off his shirt and put it on.

Jesus Chuy Ordaz

Chuy would be sitting silently laughing at Ale and what you just did to him until you plopped his present on his lap. He about rolled his eyes at you but stopped. Not like he would actually talk out loud because the guy is a silent guy but you knew he couldn't deny that ugly sweater was perfect for him. (You know a silent guy like that has a loud ass small dog waiting for him at home that also has a big attitude and is completely spoiled by him...fight me on this cannon I dare you).

Konig

You couldn't explain it but Konig's eyes got even wider underneath the hood when he took his sweater out of his Christmas bag. You and the big guy had been bonding over monster movies over Halloween holiday and you just had to continue the trend. You had your own sweater for the occasion, but you also showed Konig that you had one too of the same exact sweater because it literally was your favorite ugly sweater too. The next day you ordered him the T-Shirt version as you couldn't help but notice, and how police and quiet he was not to upset you, that he was burning up too much in the sweater version.

Horangi

Honestly, why wouldn't Horangi have a Tiger ugly Christmas Sweater (You know who you are you little 141 Monster AU writers). You didn't approve of his horrible gambling problems, but you couldn't help yourself from giving him a card game of blackjack to see which sweater he would end up with. Oh, believe me they both would have tigers in them, but they weren't as atrocious as the ugly one he lost to having. Not to mention you sewed in actual bells to jingle as he walked around on the wreath part. He actually deep down loved it because honestly tigers are the cats meow.

BONUS

Philip Graves

You thought to yourself, could there not be a more perfect sweater out there. And you were right, the man ate it up and wore it several times this Christmas and multitudes of Parties. You both loved and hated it but Christmas was about joy and giving. You did kindly have to decline his attempts at inviting you to go with him until you had to tell him off that you would have no choice but to return him if he asked again.

OOC BONUS

Frank Woods

@efingart I hope you enjoy this sweater as much as I do for Frank. Though of course nothing compares to his skin for Black Ops Cold War. If you know, you know...mistletoe!

SELFISH BONUS

Nikto

You knew he probably wouldn't get the reference but Nikto gladly wore your sweater along with the shiny black new knife that you had packaged with a red bow along with the sweater. You thought it was really cute how he walked around showing everyone the knife and how well it fit in your leg pocket for easy access and how the handle gripped nicely. It was more then the seldom one words he used or the growls and gruffs you usually got more of than most.

WRITERS BONUS

What I'd wear if I was the reader.

@glitterypirateduck I can't really place where my love for Ugly Sweaters came from BUT it's in one of my favorite KINDA Christmas holiday movies on the modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice.

[ru-fiction]

Discovery: Stiles x Male Reader

Wolf Moon 2

There was a sense of peace as you sat in your room, a calmness that came when you were alone in the comfort of your room.

You were currently reading one of your many vampire tomes. The room was dark, the only illumination came from the single candle on your dresser and your red eyes.

You closed your book when you heard a soft knock on your door. You knew it wasn't your parents, they would have just walked in after knocking so you quickly hid your tome as your eyes turned back to normal.

"Come in!''

Stiles walked into your room with a sheepish smile on his face and a lot of random books.

"I know we're supposed to watch a movie or whatever but would you mind helping me with something?"

He drops the mountain of books on your bed. You pick one up out of curiosity and your heart instantly drops when you read the cover.

"What uh- What is this for?"

You nervously started rubbing your hands over pants because they were starting to get sweaty.

Stiles was also nervous. After the information he got, he was extremely nervous.

"You know how Scott and I went into the woods earlier to look for the body....''

You nodded.

"Well we didn't find it but my dad has the other half. Scott said he heard a wolf last night, my dad's team found animal hairs on the body; the half that they have...."

He was hesitant to continue so you grabbed his hand and pulled him down next to you.

"What's going on?"

"I-I'm not sure but I think Scott is in danger."

He had no idea...

—🧛🏼

The next day Stiles basically dragged you to lacrosse practice, frantically looking for his friend.

"He's probably in the locker room."

Stiles nods frantically before running off in that direction.

You sat on the bench nervously rubbing your hand against your pants, you knew what was happening to Scott but should you tell Stiles? How would he react? Would it really be a good idea to expose him to the supernatural world? Would he be safe if you did?

You were stressing yourself out with all the questions that were floating around in your mind. From your interaction with him the night before, it was clear he had an inkling of what he thought was happening to Scott, he didn't say it but all those books were a dead give away.

The two boys came to the bench, you could hear Stiles frantically trying to tell Scott about what he found but Scott was being sort of dismissive about the information.

Scott headed to the field leaving behind an extremely nervous Stiles.

The team soon gathers around the coach, listening to him talk about what would happen if they make the cut or not. You cover your ears as the team starts to get loud. Stiles was the only one not cheering, instead he was looking worriedly at his friend.

Practice starts as if it were a real match, Jackson bumps into Scott which made you roll your eyes, he was such a jackass. But it made Scott try harder and he ended up making the goal.

Everyone started cheering him on which only made Jackson even more upset.

The coach called him over and you smiled as you heard him say Scott made the first line but then you remembered what sport this was. This was not good...

The dude didn't even know he was a werewolf and now that Jackson was starting to be up his ass, he was definitely going to be provoked.

You looked over at Stiles, whose eyes were already on you. His mouth was open and you could tell how stressed he was about this.

-

Stiles pulled you into his room and instantly went over to his computer, frantically typing.

"Sti-"

"There's something wrong."

He says with a quiver on his voice as he turns to look at you.

"I know...I know I should be happy for him, he's my best friend but I can't shake the feeling that something is wrong...."

He wiped his lips. You went over to stand behind him and slowly rubbed your hands up and down his shoulders to try to calm him.

"Am I crazy?"

"No! No, you aren't."

He scoffs and shakes his head before looking at the screen that showed an article about werewolves.

"Let's take a break."

Stiles shakes his head and looks up at you.

"I can't, I have to make sure my friend is going to be okay."

Stiles looks back at the screen and continues to look at different werewolf facts.

You didn't usually associate yourself with any werewolves besides one on occasion, but for Stiles sake you'd make sure that Scott was safe, especially from them.

The two of you spent the next few minutes looking at different werewolf sites or at least Stiles did.

He was going between different websites and books and started printing out different things that he found.

You heard footsteps coming towards the room but decided not to say anything about them, there was a soft knock on the door before Stiles stood up to open it.

It was Scott smiling, Stiles sighs before motioning for him to come inside. Scott's smile drops slightly as he looks at the mess of books that littered Stiles' room. Scott looks at you for answers and just gets a shrug in return.

"We've been up all night reading. Websites, books-"

"How much Adderall have you had today?

Stiles spins around in his chair looking at the different papers he printed not knowing where to start.

"Doesn't matter. Okay, just listen."

"He's had a lot."

Scott laughs, Stiles rolls his eyes before he continues on his rant.

"Is this about the body? Did they find out who did it?"

Stiles grabs a bunch of papers and faces Scott wanting to just get to the reason why Scott was really here.

"No, they're still questioning people, even Derek Hale."

"Oh, the guy in the woods we saw the other day."

You looked at the two, your eyebrows instantly rose at the sound of Derek's name.

"What did you say?"

Stiles turns his attention to you.

"About what?"

"You never said that you saw Derek in the woods."

"You didn't ask..."

You gave him an annoyed glare.

"I didn't know..."

"Well you...why does this... that's not the point, Scott.."

Stiles turns his worried gaze to Scott.

"Remember the joke from the other day? Not a joke anymore."

Scott's smile completely wipes from his face. He glanced at you for a second before looking back at his friend, who instantly started to speak again.

"The wolf, The bite in the woods, I started doing all this reading. Do you even know why a wolf howls?"

"Should I?"

You sigh, still stuck on the fact that the two interacted with Derek at all. Was he the one who turned Scott? He was the only known wolf you knew about that was still alive. But why would he just randomly bite someone?

You broke out of your thoughts when Scott stood up from the bed looking upset.

"Are you seriously wasting my time with this? You know I'm picking up Allison in an hour."

Scott started picking up his bag.

"I saw you on the field today Scott, okay. What you did wasn't just amazing, all right? It was impossible."

Scott shrugs him off.

"Yeah, so I made a good shot."

"No, you made an incredible shot."

Stiles takes Scott's backpack and places it back on the bed.

"I mean, the way you moved, your speed, your reflexes. People can't just suddenly do that overnight."

Stiles pauses for a moment to see if his friend was processing what he was saying before he started again.

"And don't even think I don't notice that you don't use your inhaler anymore."

"Okay!"

Scott looks at you for help but you didn't know what to say that would be helpful. You knew the truth, Scott was changing there was no stopping it. Scott frowns and looks back at Stiles.

"I can't think about this now. We'll talk tomorrow."

Stiles' eyes filled with panic as he tries to get his friend to listen to him.

"Tomorrow? What? No! The full moon's tonight. Don't you get it?"

"What are you trying to do? I just made first line. I got a date with a girl who I can't believe wants to go out with me."

Stiles sits down to face his computer and you cover your ears as Scott's voice raises slightly.

"Everything in my life is somehow perfect. Why are you trying to ruin it?''

You frowned at those words.

"He's just trying to help.''

"Look I know this must sound insane but...."

The two turned to look at you, Scott's frown deepens and Stiles gives you a half smile and an appreciative nod.

You sighed. As much as you wanted to keep Stiles from finding out about supernaturals, with his friend now being a werewolf and them coming into contact with Derek, it's looking like that won't happen.

"Scott..."

You said in a stern tone. You pushed away the rage inside that you felt when he first entered the room but your body was on fire. He glared at you knowing you were taking Stiles' side, you always did.

"This is serious, You're cursed. Your body is going to go through changes and which I've experienced myself since I'm a va-"

You stopped yourself realizing you almost outted yourself. Stiles eyebrow raised slightly.

"What I mean is it's not just the full moon you have to worry about, anything can trigger it, bloodlust or lust in general, anything that makes your heart race."

"The full moon also happens to be when your bloodlust will be at its peak."

"Bloodlust?"

"Your urge to kill.''

Stiles gazes off to the side, Scott looks between the two of you feeling disappointed.

"I'm already starting to feel an urge to kill, Stiles."

You glare at Scott the instant the words leave his mouth. Stiles pulls out his book that he had been reading the past couple of hours and recited what you had already said.

"I haven't seen anyone raise your pulse like Allison does. You gotta cancel this date. I'm gonna call her right now."

Stiles riffles through Scott's bag and grabs his phone.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm cancelling the date."

"No, give it to me!"

You instantly saw red the moment Scott pushes Stiles into the wall. You rushed from the bed at the speed of light and pushed Scott against the other wall with your arm against his neck. Your eyes were glowing pure red, the light reflecting off the wall. Scott had a scared look on his face when he saw your eyes.

Stiles looks at the scene in shock not knowing how to react. You blink your eyes rapidly and pull away from Scott, your eyes turned back normal but he continues to look at you in fear.

Scott quickly grabs his bag and leaves the room, you take a moment to calm yourself down and hesitantly look at Stiles. He kept looking from the bed to you, not understanding what happened.

"What was that?"

"I have to go."

You quickly walked out of the room leaving behind a gaping Stiles.

—🧛🏽

You straighten your dress shirt and tied up your dress shoes before spraying yourself with cologne. You walked out of your room to find your dad sitting on the couch watching a movie about Dracula which he only criticized.

"Dad?"

He looked up at you with a smile.

"How's my hair, is it fine?"

Your dad gives you a confused nod as he looks at your outfit.

"Where are you going Kiddo?"

"A party..."

Your dad shakes his finger at you.

"No, you're not."

You sighed.

"Dad-"

"No, don't Dad me. Do you know what tonight is..."

You sighed again and said along with him.

"The full moon..."

"The full moon.... exactly."

"But Dad-"

He cuts you off again and starts to pace.

"No, 'But Dads'...there might not be as many wolves as before but there are still wolves in this town not to mention the hunters..."

"You and Mom always tell me I need to go out and do something, anything besides staying in my room."

Your dad looks at you like you grew two heads.

"Yeah, on a normal night!"

You sigh, you didn't have time for this...

"Dad, I have a friend who is in serious danger tonight."

You start to rub your hands against your pants as your dad raises his hands in a big gesture.

"Too bad. You're not going out tonight. I won't allow it."

"But Dad-"

"I said No!"

His voice was dark as he said it, begging to be demanded.

"Fine. You're right."

He sighs as he walks up to you and pats your shoulders.

"I just want you to be safe."

You nodded with a sad look on your eyes. He starts to feel guilty.

"How about I make you some ice cream..hmm?"

You nodded at him with a forced smile. He walks to the kitchen to make the desert and when he comes back you're gone. He lets out an annoyed sigh when he sees the front door open.

—🧛

You entered Jackson's house with no problem, luckily you had been there before and didn't have to deal with the limitations that came with being a creature of the dead or half dead.

You walked into the party instantly feeling like you didn't belong, it was super crowded and it felt claustrophobic but you pushed through trying to find Scott, didn't take you too long because he was stumbling into the building holding his head in agony.

You noticed how Stiles instantly broke off his conversation to check on his friend. You started to follow behind Scott trying to keep a close eye on him as he passed people who looked worried about his well-being.

You followed him out of the house watching as he bumped into people and stumbled on his way down the stairs, you could smell the sweat from his body.

Allison followed soon after but Scott had already gotten to his car and drove off.

"Allison."

You turned your head in the direction of the voice, it was Derek Hale. You were going to walk up to him but he signaled to you with his eyes that he meant no harm and nods his head towards where Scott was headed.

"Did you do it?"

You whispered, he shook his head before nodding towards the car again. You sighed but nodded before chasing after the car.

-

You ran up towards his door and knocked hoping he would answer, you could hear the water running so you knew he was there but no one answered. You heard footsteps behind you and found Stiles standing there with a worried look on his face.

"Checking on Scott?"

You nodded. He points to the open window.

"Lets go."

The two of you crawled into the house and walked towards the direction of the running water.

"Hey, how'd you get here so fast? There's no other car outside."

You sighed.

"We're here for Scott.."

"Yeah, but-"

You knocked on the door to the bathroom.

"Go away!"

"Scott, I'm here to help you. I know you're scared right now but I'm going to help you."

Stiles tries to push through the door but Scott pushes back.

"Scott let me in, we wanna help."

"No! Listen, you gotta find Allison.''

"She's fine, Derek's taking her home."

He panics at the sound of his name.

"It's Derek, Derek Hale is the werewolf. He's the one that bit me."

"It's not Derek..."

"Yes..yes it is. He's the one that killed the girl in the woods. Please..."

You spoke softly trying to get him to listen, you don't know anything about the body since you haven't seen it but you knew Derek from the times you've bumped into each other and you believed him, there's no way he bit Scott.

"Scott, He didn't do it."

The door slammed shut and there was silence for a moment but then you heard the window open and the whistle of the wind.

"Damn it, Scott."

You punched the door feeling frustrated from today's events.

"I did not plan on spending my Friday chasing werewolves."

"Where are you going?''

Stiles follows after you as you leave the house, he didn't even want to mention the hole you left in the bathroom door. He secretly glanced at your hand as you balled your fists tightly.

"I'm going to find your friend and hope I can get to him before they do."

"Who's they?"

You don't answer and just sped off leaving an extremely confused Stiles.

"What the hell is happening?"

—🧛🏻

You found yourself in the middle of the forest looking for Scott, you were so done with today and ready to take a long nap after.

Your eyes were glowing bright, illuminating the surrounding trees in red as you shift your eyes around, looking for any signs of Scott.

You had stopped by the store and bought a rope and pocket knife just in case.

You were about to give up when you heard rustling coming from deeper in the woods, it sounded a lot like someone yelling?

Oh shit!

You quickly rushed to where you heard the yelling making sure to stay in the shadows.

When you got to the clearing you saw Scott with his arm pinned to the tree by an arrow, across from him were three men, the people you were told to look out for, The Hunters.

"Take him."

You took that as your opportunity to act, you took the rope that was in your hand and sped around the men and tied them with the rope before quickly pulling the arrow out of Scott's arm and speeding away from the hunters so that they couldn't see you.

Scott groaned.

"I know, I know! It'll be over soon."

When you were safely away you let Scott go, he ran up to a tree and leaned against it, Derek joined you soon after.

"I'm surprised your parents let you out tonight."

You sighed and shrugged.

"They didn't."

You turned your gaze over to Scott who was breathing heavily.

"You okay?"

He ignored your question to ask one of his own.

"Who were they?"

"Hunters."

Derek says with a pause.

"The kind that has been haunting us for centuries."

Derek motions between the two of you as he says that. Scott looks at you and watches as your eyes glow brighter. The fear he had before was now replaced with curiosity.

"Us?"

His curiosity turns to anger.

"You were in on this? You knew he did this to me?"

Derek holds his hand against Scott pushing him back into the tree.

"He.."

Derek points at you.

"Had nothing to do with this."

Scott looks confused again as he looks between you and Derek.

''Is it really so bad, Scott? That you can see better, hear more clearly, move faster than any human could ever hope?"

Scott holds his arm near him, he looks frightened as Derek steps closer to him.

It was your instinct to hate his kind, it's basically in your blood but at the end of the day he was a friend, well friend of a friend but you couldn't hate him.

You stop Derek from speaking and kneel down so that you were looking into Scott's eyes, yours were finally back to normal.

"I know it's a lot to take in. But I am going to help you."

You said softly.

"Let me take you home."

Scott stares at your hand for a moment before taking it and letting you take him home. Derek goes to say something but you hold your hand out to him and shake your head. He sighs then heads in the direction of his house.

-

Later that night Your parents had grounded you the moment you stepped foot into the house so you were currently in your room reading.

You were however broken out of your trance when you heard the sound of rocks hitting the window.

You sighed and opened the window, catching the rock that was currently thrown.

"Yes Stiles?"

"Let me in!"

He yells in a whisper not wanting your parents to hear but they could hear him just fine.

"I'm grounded."

"What? Why?!"

You shrug.

"Because I wasn't supposed to be out tonight."

He tilts his head and pouts. You shake your head and roll your eyes before jumping down from your window. Stiles panics for a moment and hurries to catch you.

"What the hell is wrong with you?''

You laugh as Stiles places you down.

"I would have caught myself."

You took a moment to calm yourself before asking...

"So what's up?"

Stiles wipes his mouth not knowing what to say or how to word it so he just goes for it.

"What happened tonight? In the span of a few days I found out one of my friends just became a werewolf and the other is... Is...."

"A vampire."

"A vamp- wait what!"

He looks at you in a mix of shock and excitement.

"Wha- why didn't you tell me?"

"Well for one you never asked."

He tilts his head as if to say 'really.' You laugh a little before getting serious.

"And for two. I didn't want you to be involved in this."

You frown.

"I wanted to keep you as far away from this as I could."

"But why?"

"Because it's not fun. Scott might be good at Lacrosse now but it comes with a price. It's dangerous, there are people who want to kill us."

"They?"

"Yeah, They."

You sigh again for what felt like the millionth time today.

"Look, Sti. I'm going to look after your friend, I can't really teach him how to be a werewolf, but I can stop him whenever he wolfs out."

He nods but he still seemed worried.

"This has to stay between us."

He nods frantically.

"Yeah, of course."

You smile at him and pull him into a hug.

"Good! I'll see you at school."

He nods slowly but stops you by the arm when you try to go through the front door.

"Thanks for uh..for helping me the other day."

He smiles at you and gets one back.

"Of course, I always have your back."

"Well, good night."

"Night."

—🧛🏿