#but even then that was not exclusive bc i just said. mr. d was a 505 man

[seventh-district]

7am, eating cold leftover teriyaki stir-fry for breakfast and crying over blorbos

[britneyshakespeare]

This wouldn't occur to you if you've never worked at your old high school but there's just something disconcerting about seeing your former teachers be in different classroom. Like I'm on a hall duty right now and I can hear my English teacher from sophomore year teaching in 412 and I'm like this is perverse. What have they reduced you to, Mr. D? You're a room 505 man.

[jiminrings]

BALLOON ANIMAL ARTIST JK I JUST FEEL LIKE HE WOULD BE REALLY GOOD AT IT AND MAKE YOU A FLOWER THEN ASK YOU ON A DATE

baby i love u and your big sexy brain <3 welcome to waikiki meets hospital playlist dynamic ft. balloon artist!jk

“who’s a good baby? is it you? iS IT YOU????”

you’d be the first one to admit that you had an exhausting horrible night

being a nurse sUCKS the life out of you and as much as it’s fulfilling, you almost always feel the urge to admit yourself to the ER for being extremely fatigued

it’s all worth it!! it should be

after all, paying for a mansion in an exclusive village and sharing it with your friends doeS warrant some elbow grease

seokjin works in wall street and sometimes he comes home crying but it’s okay because you do have an expensive fridge that everyone worked overtime for <3

hoseok’s a veterinary assistant and is your trusty friend who always sends in pictures of the animals that come in to cheer you up while at work

namjoon’s a painter by passion and accountant by profession!! he does only come out with a few pieces at a time but mAN does it rake in the money

jimin’s a flight attendant and does everyone the pleasure of securing either free or discounted tickets, and bringing home unused airline towels to dry off the dishes!!

lastly, taehyung’s someone you can call a former trustfund baby or somewhat :O the last big chunk of money he spent from his fund was the downpayment and security deposit for this mansion!!!

it’s a long story and he’s currently all over the place but he’s finding regular jobs!! his latest gig was working at a high-end ice cream place but he immediately quit once he learned that he needed to put his back into it and not just scoop up ice cream like he did in his dreams :((

most importantly, taehyung has a baby :-)

he’s a dad!! a single one at that

it’s truly a LONG story but the bottomline is that he has nabi, his cutest little dumpling!! and he has all of you, his friends who didn’t hesitate to step up as nabi’s parents in a way too even if he didn’t ask any of you

you all love the chunky monkey so much that you’ve all taken the liberty to call him your baby at times and tae doesn’t even mind!! nabi’s so lucky (he hopes) to have him as a dad and his friends as his cool uncles and aunt

nevertheless, you indeed had a bad night working the night shift and came home to nabi’s birthday party just in time!! :D

he turned two years old at midnight and even if you weren’t physically present at the mansion like the guys were (they requested their leaves two months earlier) because of being understaffed, you were able to see him and tae blow out multiple cakes that each one bought him

seeing him giggle at your arms just by doing the bare minimum makes you full already <3

all your exhaustion is melted away because it’s your favorite toddler’s birthday party!! the party that you all insisted on shelling out for that made tae almost cry bc of how much you all love his son

“jimin i am not sewing your forehead up when you end up falling in the wrong angle,” you roll your eyes at him who’s currently doing backflips in the bouncy house that managed to fit in the mansion

“hoseok can!!” he yells back and backflips twice in a row, much to the actual children’s amusement and your worry

“i will NOT stitch you up! the thread i have is for the pregnant dogs only!!!”

everyone’s entertaining guests left and right, including taehyung who’s the dad of the little man of the hour :D

he keeps pointing at nabi who’s currently in your arms every ten seconds and it’s now your job to make him giggle every single time to wave at the people

“what do you want, monkey? do you want some ice cream? i won’t tell your dad,” you eagerly ask the wide-eyed baby in your arms, pointing at the ice cream cart that namjoon probably ordered

“no thank you!” nabi cutely aND politely declines, his head shaking no and his speech and pronunciation getting clearer day by day

most of the time though he says it like tHANK YEWWWW and you would immediately grin every time because it’s the cutest thing ever

“hmm, look at that!! face painting!! do you want some butterflies?”

you point at yet another station that you guess seokjin arranged, knowing that at some point into this party, he’d all drag you in here to get matching marks or something lol

nabi once again declines, his eyes searching around that makes you do the same on what you could do to entertain him

he has the same habit down like taehyung and loudly gASPS, pointing his finger and almost shrieking in excitement

“bawoo — balloon!!! balloon!!!”

:O

it is now your life purpose to walk as fast as you could to this balloon station with nabi bouncing up and down your arm in excitement

jungkook’s having the time of his life here :D

normally he’s mostly called in the holiday season and occasionally at big birthday parties (the one where like two sides of the family share every baby’s first birthday party lmao) throughout the year!!

but he’s never had a client who requested him for a singular birthday party!! let alone at a hOUSE

ok maybe that was an understatement

he means a mansion

if he’s being quite honest, the mr. park jimin he spoke to on the phone sounded too kind that he just mistakened him for a party planner or something

he immediately said yes because he had no on-site bookings for that day, or even the week perhaps, and expected to stroll into a carnival in the middle of an executive village

aha :D jungkook is wrong :D

jimin met him by the front door wherein a lot of people are already crossing paths such as catering and not to mention the bouncy house you cAN’T miss, and just briefly touched in on the situation

“oh no, i’m not the dad, man — but thanks!! i’m his uncle. nabi’s dad is my friend, taehyung. and me and my friends, including taehyung, all live here. we’re all like family, basically.”

jungkook saw the other stations invited and he expected that his would have less children y’know?? bouncy house, ice cream station, facepainting, hotdog cart aND magic show???? yeah <3

but god is he wrong

the children are in a single-file line for hIM and his balloon artistry!!! the requests range from pretzels to pirate hats to chandeliers with the bulbs as smiley faces!!!

he’s managed to do all of them so far and he’s now made a decent dent on the line of children waiting for him

jungkook is a happy and content balloon artist :D

“EXCUSE ME! BIRTHDAY BOY COMING THROUGH!!”

oh my god what was that

you’re walking at full-speed and holler out, making sure to emphasize birthday boy because nuh-uh you and nabi will nOT line up for his own party <3 thank you very much

the children coo and the older kids coax the other ones to make way for the both of you to the front of the line, immediately plopping to a mini chair in front of the guy

“hiiii!!”

nabi drawls politely and waves his hand, making you do the same

“what a cute little thing,” the guy in front of you coos and it’s his voice that perhaps makes you melt a little, just seeing the top of his hair for now because he’s crouching down to be eye-level with nabi, “what can i do for you, little buddy?”

he toothily grins and straightens his posture, raising his eyes to look at who’s holding nabi in place and-

???????????????????

jungkook literally stops breathing for a second

“h-hi!! what can i do for you today?” jungkook squeaks, his eyes even more wide and curious to look at the prettiest girl he’s ever seen in his life

you’re sure that you were gonna stammer once you open your mouth so you don’t at all, instead focusing on nabi who’s on your lap

“what do you want, monkey?”

“nabi please! i want nABI!!! nabi nabi nabiiiiiiiiii-“

“yes. he wants nabi, please.”

jungkook nods fervently, his hands about to pluck ballons from his kit before he realizes to ask

“does he want his face? or like, his name? what colors do you want, bud?”

he’s not the least bit bothered at the choices in his head because you’re widening your eyes on what could this guy dO with just balloons, knowing to yourself that even pumping one is difficult work already

“oh! he wants nabi,” you clarify and jungkook tilts his head, mouth slightly agape at to what you’re trying to get at, “butterfly, i mean. nabi knows that his name means butterfly and he likes them a lot! don’t you, monkey?”

nabi nods so hard that it almost gives him a headache and jungkook wants to facepalm himself to the grave

“r-right! why didn’t i think of that?? because nabi means.... nabi....... right!! sorry, oh my god. o-oh! i meant oh my gosh. i uhm-...”

he’s a mess and he knows it, letting his hands take over and grab the same theme colors of blue and lavender from his bag to start on his work

kook tries not to lift his head up ever so often because you’d find him out instantly that he’s looking at you

so what he does instead is peer and coo at nabi every few seconds and tHEN look up at you because you also giggle whenever he giggles

he’s probably feeling pressure with the way your eyes are set on him too and what he’s doing that he pOPS a balloon right with his hands

“sorry, sorry! did i spook you?”

jungkook’s worried because he heard a collective gasp from the kids around him but his main priority is the birthday boy AND you

nabi’s shoulders rose and that’s about it

he shakes his head to himself, looking at you who’s carrying a curious gaze on your face that looks amused

“sorry. i-it’s just you’re so pretty and-“

he’s embarrassed himself in front of a pretty girl and her son and-

wait a second

the color just dRAINS from his face and he’s about to quit at the second

“oh my god i am so sorry. y-you must be nabi’s mother. you’re mr. taehyung’s-“

“friend!! i’m y/n, i’m just taehyung’s friend,” you interject quickly because you cannot believe that pretty boy called you pretty, and at the next breath thought you were taehyung’s wife, “and nabi’s my nephew. we’re all just friends who live together!! i have no boyfriend, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

...

....

yeah maybe you embarrassed yourself this time

you may have said too much information to the balloon artist but jungkook’s just staring at you fondly

and nabi’s switching his gaze between the two of you and claps his hands to snap the two of you out of it lmao

kook chuckles to himself and he cannot stop smiling, even when he’s tying the last balloon to nabi’s butterfly

“there you go, cutie. happy birthday!!” he hands nabi the hUGE butterfly he just made but the sheer difference of how big it is makes the toddler even more happy, hugging it to his chest

jungkook watches you pepper kisses on nabi’s cheeks and that launches him into quickly pulling out balloons while your eyes are deviated from him, hands twisting and turning like his wHOLE LIFE depended on it

“my name’s jungkook, by the way,” he calls you when you’re just about to stand up, smiling giddily at you, “thought you should know.”

cute :-)

before you could thank him, he extends his arm and your mind recognizes the familiar shape which makes you smile instantly

jungkook made you a flower balloon <3

“i think i’ll remember you, jungkook.”

you laugh as the only thing you can smell from it is latex, the huge flower staring at you right in the face

jungkook sheepishly blushes, pursing his lips in happiness

“i’m free whenever you’re free — f-for a date, y’know? just so you could remember me more.”

.

.

.

bonus: dilf taehyung has his own drabble!!

bonus bonus: bestie anon brought my attention to these tiktoks below and gAWD i’m so happy <3

first, second

[pinkbelugacollective]

Damn there’s a lot to cover so it’ll be in a few parts I’m anon bc I think ur cool and I want us to be on good terms but I’m not sure yet if we can disagree politely ;(

I got to disagree with you on some parts like Julius callously just straight up collecting ppl like Pokémon. He simply selected people who he thought had cool magic and a potential to be good warriors. He is both childish and ambitious. Simple as that.

He knew he had to create a strong squad so he could be WK one day and he did it in the nicest way possible. He helped Yami become more acquainted with the language and culture and made him a strong knight. He did the same thing for William. He showed kindness and respect when William had none and helped with his insecurities. William knew that realistically speaking, not everyone is going to accept his visage as graciously as Julius so he was content with at least one person(whom he regarded highly) knowing and accepting him. Giving someone a purpose and the will to live not a bad thing yk?

But at the same time, he achieved his goal to be Wizard King without stepping on anyone.

Though I have to agree that he flopped as WK to achieve what he wanted.

So I will preface this with four things:

Really, I am just a Siberian sheep farmer, and thus you are welcome to post a dissenting opinion at any time. I do not bite!! The rest of your asks are under the cut. :D

I have never read the light novels.

My knowledge is 75% anime, 25% manga. I started the anime and watched all the way to the beginning of the Heart mini-arc. Then I stopped and read the manga from where the anime stopped. Therefore, I only have knowledge of the story through the anime up to volume 23. Volumes 23 onwards, I’ve been manga-exclusive until recently, now that the anime is adapting from the manga.

I am a crackhead.

So for the Pokemon part, I was referring to Yami, but like... How you describe Julius is exactly how I’d imagine a Pokemon trainer. He’s a forty-year-old man and his passion in life is to look at shiny magic things, and that’s OK! Julius is an eccentric man, and there’s never anything wrong about being passionate about the things you love.

But at the same time, Julius’ passion is also one of his primary weapons because he did recruit William and Yami specifically because they had interesting/rare magic, and despite how passionate he is about magic, they were recruited for the military. They were also, arguably, at their most vulnerable when Julius came along. Yami was poor, illiterate in the Clover language, and not ashamed to walk off with a stranger for a simple meal, whereas William was basically the Clover equivalent of weird lil forest boy. Now, do I think Julius recruited them because he planned to take over the world? Absolutely not! But he did manage to recruit them into a system he would, eventually, go on to oversee, so it’s very difficult for me to view Julius as some flighty old man just asking cool magic people to join him when he’s shown to be one of the sharpest and coldest people in the room, and intelligent enough to forecast what power he needs to be able to leverage in order to maintain control.

And I agree - he’s ineffective as a leader, and incompetent at his job in general. However, I don’t think his incompetency is just because his head is in the clouds about magic. I think it’s also because of his privileged birth, his aimlessness in life before Zara came along, etc. In any other world, Julius would probably be your favorite archeologist living off daddy’s trust fund, but he’s not that. He’s the head of a military force and the face of a nation, and I truly believe he’s failed both.

As for toxic loyalty.... I would have to disagree. I think superficially Yami is just a dude going about his day, squatting in Mr. Legolant’s house with his Pokemon, but I don’t think Yami is so dumb that he doesn’t recognize how much he’s despised for being a migrant. You’re right, he doesn’t have to be a beacon of change for any other immigrants, but I think it depoliticizes his character and does an overall disservice to his narrative when race/species conflict, class conflict, and genocide are all key themes in the story. You’re right, Yami doesn’t give a fuck most of the time because he’s just not interested in social justice or bringing any meaningful impact to Clover politics, but it’s because he doesn’t give a fuck is the problem. Yami’s complacent in upholding Julius’ institution, just like William is complacent in Patolli’s acts of terror, because regardless of how Yami feels, he’s part of a larger military complex seeking to uphold the Crown, a crown Julius controls as leader of the military.

And I heavily disagree that William wasn’t focused on equality, discrimination, and all that jazz. William’s grimore was not dedicated to Julius pre-elf reincarnation. If it was, William’s struggle in deciding between Patolli and Julius would never have existed because Patolli would have either been contained and or exorcised before it got to the point that it did. More than that, William’s betrayal runs far deeper than the moment he receded to let Patolli chop off Fuegoleon’s arm and put him in a coma. No - William’s betrayal was a decade’s worth of actively building a squadron of bodies that would be fit to hold the souls of the elves once the reincarnation began. I’d argue that William implicitly chose Patolli from the start, even if he explicitly made the case that he didn’t really have a choice. In addition, William was aiding and abetting a terrorist whose entire motivation hinges on the genocide of his people. Sorry to say, but I can’t agree that William didn’t have these things in mind when he was making his choices.

For Fuegoleon and Nozel, I won’t argue they’re seeking to fulfill political ambitions. It’s true! They want the Crown because they want the power and can strive for it due to their position on the hierarchy.

As for overthinking Yami’s behavior... I like to overthink. Lemme tell you why. Yami being aware of Charlotte’s feelings aint the problem, and neither is his him getting into fights with Jack. No, the issue is Yami has a habit of collecting people like Pokemon when people shouldn’t be treated as such!

I make jokes that Yami never got management training, but lemme expand - he hired an ex-con, a mage whose true visage he didn’t learn about until the Underwater Sea Temple arc, an alcoholic with mommy issues, an anxiety-ridden taxi with daddy and brother issues, etc., basically all of the members have some kind of issue that stems from trauma/violence/etc and Yami just invites them to his squad like, literally, it’s a halfway house. Now, the people he recruits are grateful and all, but they’re all fucked up! Every one of them, except Asta.

And that’s why I say Asta was the wake-up call Yami needed, and the character that will drive Yami’s development, because Asta has something Yami doesn’t have - and that’s clarity. Asta’s history, his rise to power, his ambition, all of that hinges on a childhood raised with love and warmth even if he was born with what the kingdom could view as a disability (ie. no magic). Asta knows what he wants because his goals benefit more than just him. Asta wants it for Hage, for his adoptive father, and for his foster family. Asta has his eyes on the prize because his circumstances allowed for him to keep his eyes on the prize.

Yami does not have that level clarity in his life. You said it yourself - Yami isn’t the type to sweat the political stuff, he’s living because he can, and he surpasses his limits because he wants to and not because he has to. He leaves his squad to his business, and he expects them to get their shit together when necessary, but besides that, it’s hands-off.

And that’s where the issue is! Yami is detached from his own squad emotionally. Part of the reason why it’s easy to parentify Yami as the team dad because it’s assumed his detachment is a regular shounen-dad trait, not present but he loves you anyway. I don’t think that’s the case with Yami. I think it runs deeper than that, and part of the reason why Yami can’t bond with his own teammates and actually lead the squad is because he’s overcompensating for his own insecurities and inability to have a clear and necessary vision for his future.

The few times Yami has had to surpass his limits is when he’s had to protect his squad, people who are mentally ill and generally incompetent themselves, and it’s because Yami knows he’s the only one capable of doing it. And that’s a problem! Yami doesn’t offer them the tools to get better mentally and physically. It’s not even a joke anymore because Henry has tried murder-suicide twice in order to win a battle, and it’s for Yami. Before Asta, the Black Bulls were a fractured mess of people with Yami holding them together for dear life, but with Asta, they were able to see life beyond the comforts of the Black Bulls den. Vanessa and Finral faced their traumatic pasts. Grey finally found the courage to enhance her magic. Henry finally came out of the attic. In a way, the Black Bulls are also toxically loyal to Yami because Yami? He’s not a good leader either! Now, is that Yami’s fault? No, but he is responsible for the health and wellbeing of his squad, and his kidnapping by Zenon was testament that he’d ultimately failed in the only real responsibility he’s ever had. Maybe that’s overthinking Yami’s character and motivations, but I think that’s fine.

As for the civil war, that’s just something I would love to see because Bleach never did a Rukongai civil war when we were ripe for it. It’s pure self-indulgence! Of course I know neither Fuegoleon nor Nozel will start a civil war, but I like to think something will, and sometimes I think it will be Asta’s trial... and sometimes I think it will be something completely outta left field, but the concept fascinates me because much of the story is predicated on the ongoing issues of social and political injustice, race/species conflict, even if it’s all fluffed up with cool character designs. Now, a lot of why I want to see Black Clover attempt a civil war is because I hold Tabata to a standard simply because he claims his work is Berserk but for babies. Now, I never thought such a concept would come to light, but as a Berserk stan... I just wanna see if he’s worth his mettle! I think there’s a lot in the story that’s ripe for inter-Clover conflict, but I also understand his limitations. Yes, because it’s shounen, he can’t expand on certain themes, but like, he teases it well enough that it makes it, quite frankly, annoying as heck when he doesn’t pull through. Perhaps it’s my own fault for holding him to the standard, but like, if you gon say you gon write bootleg Berserk, then write bootleg Berserk!!!

I digress. Now, if a civil war were to begin, I honestly think it would be one mainly driven by what happens to Asta post-Spade. If Damnatio turns around and paints him as a hero for having saved the kingdom, then there won’t be any need for a civil war because uwu Asta will become Wizard King and do policy change from the top-down (trickle-down social and poltical justice).

But if Asta were to be charged and jailed anyway, just so he could take the fall for the amount of destruction that’s about to go down, then it doesn’t make sense for there not to be a civil war. Because once Asta goes down, who’s gonna become Wizard King? Yuno? The guy whose birthright is the Spade throne? Even if Yuno remains a Clover citizen, the chances of him becoming Wizard King are next to null because his parentage would be viewed as a conflict of interest.

So really, it’s not a question of who starts the war, but what propels the issue. We already know that in the context of the story, kin punishment exists, so if Asta has to take the fall, who’s to say his family won’t take it too? That the family in Hage and Yuno won’t have to bear the brunt of the blame in order to bring “peace” to the nation.

I’d like Tabata to go the route of a civil war because then he’d be forced to show that the issues in Clover run way deeper than just Augustus and the nobility. It’s their caste-like social structure, lack of infrastructure and resources for the people living in the “outer” areas, their discriminatory practices towards those of lower birth, racism, etc.

But again, that entirely depends on if Tabata wants to tell such a tale, or if he prefers Asta take the assimilationist route, save the day, and become the uwu hero. He can! It’s an easy way to frame things, and mirrors Lumiere’s Big Battle well enough, but I think a war would also be great so that it can really put Asta in a position to exercise his brain in the face of absolute loss, and spark hope from nothing. Asta is my favorite of the new generation of Shounen Jump protags because he has a level of potential I just don’t see in others. He has a drive, but he also has critical thinking skills, and he has a support system when shit gets real. I want to see Asta feel the weight of decisions beyond his control, so that he can experience decision-making from a place of true helplessness, which I honestly think will help him see that there’s more to the dream of being Wizard King than just climbing the ranks. It’s advocating for real change. It’s not only knowing how to empower the people, but also being able to actively challenge injustice in every form. It’s not full-on anarchy like Liebe, but it’s not just assimilationist politicking he was doing earlier. I think with a civil war, Asta will understand that there’s more to his world than just magic, and that he, as a non-magic person, can make change that doesn’t hinge on him following the rule of the law, because the laws have to change, and they can’t change when Asta’s forty and finally Wizard King, they have to happen now. A civil war will expose a lot of the underpinning issues and offer the cast a change to work through them! Also, it makes for good conflict uwu.

But that’s entirely my opinion!!! I’m a HUGE fan of historical political thrillers. Absolutely LOVE that shit. I wanna see it in Black Clover because selfishly, it would make me happy!!

[svnofachilles]

— UPDATED INTRO.

(eventually will have a bio page done for him but in the mean time have this very long intro post ! )

max irons, thirty-one, aryndale, male ––– i believe that is ALEXANDER julius FREY, the KING of ARYNDALE. they are THIRTY-ONE years old and are known to be very +PASSIONATE & +JUST, though they can also be very -DOGMATIC & -AMBITIOUS. he reminds me of a collection of hunting trophies; all predators, the sharp smell of early winter in the dawn air, the calm before a gruesome battle, a bear sigil, being brave even when you feel afraid, a heavy fur cloak, blood seeping into snow and earth. ( chai, 22, gmt-8, she/her )

inspired by: king arthur (merlin, camelot and other shows/books/movies), achilles (greek myth), prince andrei (war & peace)

T R I V I A

𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦: xander (goes exclusively by this, hates being called alexander or alex)

𝘢𝘨𝘦: 31

𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: king

𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: heteroflexible

𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴: married

𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺: aryndale

𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦: aryndale

P E R S O N A

𝘻𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘤 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯: leo sun aries moon scorpio rising

𝘮𝘣𝘵𝘪: estj

𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴: passionate, just, charismatic, honorable, open-minded, flirtatious

𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴: venegful, gluttonous, arrogant, dogmatic, ambitious, capricious

𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴: horses/horseback riding, swords, combat/military, bitter red wine, savory foods, his kids, pretty women, hunting, archery, meat, gold, power, sunrises, waking up early, summer time, painting/sculpting, fencing, jousting, sports/athletics, being in charge, nature, animals, fur cloaks, being praised

𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴: being questioned, being told what to do, the cold, iilyria, political meetings, religion, women drama, beer, spears/lances, the ocean, boat rides, diplomacy, studying, rooms with no windows, roses, sweet things, coffee, mushrooms, card games

P H Y S I C A L

𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴: dark hazel, thick eyelashes

𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳: light brown, naturally curly

𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵: 6 ft 3 inches

𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵: 205 pounds

𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵: bonfire smoke, evergreen trees, iron, and horses

C O N N E C T I O N S

𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴: marcus frey (called marcus the magnificent by the people) (predecessor, deceased), tbd frey

𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴: titus frey (older brother, FORMER CROWN PRINCE, deceased) corrine frey (younger sister), catelyn frey (younger sister), tbd frey, tbd frey

𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦: isabel frey

𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴: genevieve brewer

𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯: elijah frey (son, legitimate, CROWN PRINCE, 6), gaia frey (daughter, legitimate, 3)

𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴: tbd ryback (king of iilyria)

𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴: tbd.

𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭: roland boucher (king of gondour)

𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴: tbd.

𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴: tbd.

𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘴: tbd.

H E A D C A N O N S

is a total extra brat?? and goes by xander bc he was named after his grandfather, (so technically he is king alexander II) and wanted to be more distinguished from him than just being “junior” or “the second”, so he opted to start going by xander in his early teens. basically wants to be mr. different™ and unique.

often referred to as “the bear king” or “the wild king” for his fiercesome reputation in battle and affinity/talented reputation for hunting

the second born son and child of the frey family, he was the first spare prince to be born in the family. the son directly after the heir, the beloved crown prince. xander was always bitter about this fact, and always secretly believed he would make a better king than his elder brother. his father had xander trained and educated alongside his older brother, training them both as his heirs though naming titus his official heir. the other princes weren’t trained or educated the same way, treated as regular princes. xander spent most of his childhood playing second fiddle to his older brother- it didn’t help either that they were so close in age (two years apart). xander was constantly treated as the replacement, the back up. his elder brother titus was loved by the people and the obvious favorite of their parents.

alexander is still secretly wracked with guilt over his brothers death, he spent years secretly wishing he could be the crown prince, wishing his older brother didn’t exist— so he feels partly to blame no matter how irrational that is. another reason for his guilt is that he wasn’t there with his father and brother during the invasion, unable to save them. he feels like if he had been there things might’ve been different. the day of the invasion he had been left behind at the castle, while his father and brother went to the border to check on a strange message from one of the generals stationed there.

has the most military achievements and prowess of all his siblings. before becoming the king he had had plans of becoming a general and pursing a military career. he excels the most in physical matters, athletics, combat, military strategies etc. his weaknesses lies in academics/diplomacy/politics (outside of strategy and philosophy). so a bit of a himbo lol.

becoming king has begun to change him, his ambitions have been growing as well as his sense of entitlement and arrogance. he’s also started to become increasingly promiscuous— when he was younger he was never a casanova (but not a prude in anyway either). but lately the longer he’s been king the more tempted he’s become to have his cake and eat it too. why not explore all the perks of being king?

due to his father and brother dying defending aryndale from the iilyrian attempted invasion years ago, the arynite king hates iilyria and has no plans for peace. he wants justice and revenge, and has secret goals of invading and conquering iilyria for himself.

he loves his county and people deeply, and would do anything for them. he hopes his reign will be a golden era for his people, he wants to expand aryndales power, make them richer and stronger. he also wants to improve education and social/economical issues within his country. desperately wants to do the best he can for his country— and wants to be remembered fondly by history.

met his wife isabel when they were kids, grew up together— she was even his first kiss. no one was surprised when he asked her to marry him at age 21, and no one was surprised when she said yes. it’s safe to say she is his first love, though in recent years the strain of being king, the war, and his recent subtle personality changes and infidelity have started to cause conflicts between them.

definitely can be a bit of a bully or shit starter at times, though my bb really does mean well at the end of the day— he just has a really bad way of showing it most of the time.

in regards to sexuality, for the most part he is straight— but he has some gay tendencies he doesn’t want to see or admit to. definitely closeted and/or confused. he has a strong preference for women and for the most part ignores the occasional rare homosexual attractions he feels.

loves his children dearly and wants more!! a lot more lol! having a lot of siblings of his own, he wants a large family for his own kids. he currently has two children by his wife isabel frey, the queen, a six year old son named elijah and a three year old daughter named gaia.

as for his mistress, genevieve, he met her within the last 9-12 months and was immediately taken by her. currently she isn’t his official royal mistress (yet), but everyone knows about their affair (unofficially, so everyone gossips behind closed doors about it at the moment).

in true leo fashion he’s kind of !! dramatic ? passionate ! and has a temper ! he also has a taste for luxury and extravagance, especially lately. also very flirtatious and cocky, flirts a lot without meaning it in recent years— increasingly so. enjoys teasing and getting a rise out of others as well! but also being king now, he is very careful about hiding his emotions, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses now. feigning an air of haughty indifference most of the time.

[exnvhilo]

━━  ❛ ☆  KATIE MCGRATH  /  CISFEMALE  /  SHE&HER. anytime i hear queen of peace by florence + the machine i think of alexandra decker. the thirty-two year old has been living in hollywood as a director. since then they’ve built the reputation for being ingenious & cavalier. if you were to ask them if they were hades from greek mythos they’d probably say no.

wow i’m late as fuck. sorry guys ! i was making this extremely pointless & unnecessary template and procrastinating. i’m truly sorry. btw ! i’m ron. i’m 23 years old and a huge Heaux for mythology. any kind of mythology, ya know??? but my mom is a history teacher and she always loved greek myths so i kinda inherited that from her. i live in the gmt -3 timezone, & my pronouns are she/her. i also read like 2 issues of wick + divine and it’s so fucking good so i had to join this. but hennyways. let’s get to the Flavor, shall we?? 

--------------- THE PAST

i. for some unknown reason, perhaps a trick played by the fates or a plan from the titans themselves, the king of the underworld, feared & respected ( not particularly loved ) incarnated on a child in the middle of the desert of nevada in 1986. alexandra decker’s parents were simple, reserved & owners of a funeral and embalming business ( i know, i’m so smart ). growing up with death around her never really phazed alexandra. other kids might have been squeamish within the line of empty, soulless eyes, but not her. it was almost like an enigma to alexandra. what makes a soul, anyway? and why is the human body just flesh once its gone?

ii. although never an emotional child, it could be said that alexandra loved her parents. in a way that you love a bird, understanding that life itself is limited and extremely fragile. but they were good people. on sundays, after mass, they would eat breakfast food at a diner and take her to the latest showing of whatever was on in the small town’s movie theater. alexandra loved it, especially the movies of old hollywood. the glamour and opulence. and how it inevitably these gods of the screen ended up just like the mortals on the other side. decadent in the twilight of their lives. ( not the movie twilight ya know?? although thats an idea )

iii. greek tragedy follows the master of death, and alexandra got a taste of what loss feels like when you’re in mortal skin. at eleven years old, the decker funeral home crumbled under an unexplained fire. alexandra was at school at the time, returning to only the ashes of her parents. it was notable, however, that she didn’t cry ------- not even once. to what the child psychologists attributed to shock. her destiny was now foster care. with black hair, fair, smooth skin & icy green eyes, every prospect of parent was instantly fond of the girl. she was quiet but intelligent, extremely mature for her age. an elderly couple, the montgomerys, loved the girl from the moment they saw her. they were older than alexandra’s biological parents, but educated & comprehensive. and they made sure alex didn’t have to change her last name if she didn’t want to.

iv. growing up with the montgomerys was wildly different than what alexandra was accostumed to. they were old money as old money comes. terribly inclined to art and music and everything alexandra believed transcended the mortal experience. they coaxed her out of her shell, turning the intelligent but shy girl into an well-rounded, outspoken woman. gone were the days of embalming and smelling formaldehyde in the basement, and in with art history & piano classes in a lavish mansion in beverly hills. always draped in expensive clothing, always balanced. it was a life that suited alexandra, although she still felt weirdly drawn to death. feeling as if, somehow, for a weird twist of destiny, it was her own fault that her parents died.

--------------- THE PRESENT

i. alexandra’s first feature film was a homage to her favorite movies. the old hollywood glamour, somehow an homage to the deckers in their small, burned down funeral home. it was a goodbye of sorts to alexandra, an omen of things to come. and they did come. the first movie was a success, and soon enough the young director was the talk of the cinematic industry. over ten years have passed and now, alexandra is a well-known director, with over twenty movies under her belt and a few flashy awards to show for it.

ii. fame suits her well. she’s outspoken, educated & the owner of an acerbic wit. the secret is never taking herself too seriously, or so she likes to say, since we’re all just dirt in the end. the reminder of death has been constant in alexandra’s life. the montgomerys are long gone, with alex being the sole heiress of their fortune. mr. montgomery died when she turned eighteen, with mrs. montgomery following suit when alexandra was twenty-four. over the next few years lovers & friends all met their unrevokable end, and though alexandra was never involved in any of it ------ it seemed like she only brought death to those she was close to loving.

iii. that particular trait has left her a bit hesitant to get too close to people, fearing that somehow her strange luck will bring on their demise. she has colleagues & even friends that she keeps at arm’s length. she’s had companions but mostly sexual, never truly settling down or getting too close. but she is extremely charismatic & alluring, an irony of destiny ------ being so inviting but never letting anyone in.

iv. extremely educated due to the montgomerys, speaks five languages, plays the piano and the violin and paints. really artistic although her heart really resides in filmmaking. she is also known to fool around with hollywood heartthrobs, having an especial preference for the women.

v. overall, not a terrible person though she can be a bit obnoxious sometimes due to her upbringing. years of accolades have sort of gone to her head and she believes she’s the best thing since méliès happened to cinema. loves dogs ( and i think its bc of cerberus ok ), has an extremely expensive taste & gives people inappropriately expensive gifts because no one has ever told her you’re not supposed to do that. occasionally a bit on the brooding side, but she likes to be where the people are, so you’ll probably find her in reserved booths of exclusive clubs around l.a.

wow, this got really long & i’m truly sorry. really i made her sound v serious but she’s kind of a lonely sweetheart bc we love hades in this household. so if you’d like to plot smth juicy pls pls like this or quietly say ‘can i sing for u’ & i’ll hear u & come for plots. thank u so much if you’ve read thus far u r great i love u. also if you’d like to plot thru d*scord, i’m lil d pression#2978 over there. thank u

[cauldronoflove]

Ok so this is really obscure, but I've had this idea for a while now, and I'd love to see you work with it? Headcanons for a time travel AU in which Peter Parker is messing with Stark Tech and gets sent back to the 1940s? He could work with Peggy Carter in the SSR to solve the case and pretend to be her little brother. Plus in 2017 Tony and Steve working together to get him back. If you think it's weird or want to skip it no worries! If not, then thank you so much, I love your headcanons!!

i love this concept so much you dont even know?? but also okay i realized abt halfway through these 2.5k+ words that this wasnt exactly what you asked for and i feel kinda bad about that but i hope you still like it all the same!! also i wanna say thank you for thinking of me for this prompt im super flattered????

- peter wasnt technically supposed to be in the 4th basement of stark tower

- technically he was on his lunch break and was supposed to be using said time to both eat and work on his spanish homework

- but he'd heard these whispers from a couple of the older interns about some of the old stuff that mr. stark had thrown down there because he never had time to finish them and peter had an idea

- see, he's been wanting to move up a bit, have mr. stark trust him a little more, and what's better then maybe taking one of his old designs and making it better and making it work

- so thats why he's in the fourth basement of stark tower, trying to remember if he's had his tetanus shot because some of this stuff is seriously Old

- and then he stumbles onto this little pyramid shaped....doohickey

- its the only thing in 4 floors of Things that doesnt have a label or a file or a crude drawing taped to the front of it so now peter is Officially Curious

- he kinda fiddles with it for a few minutes until his phone beeps with his 'hey pete youre gonna be super late getting back to work again' alarm and he about drops this thing on the floor because like everyday the alarm scares him to death

- but because hes clumsy and because hes pete he actually does drop it and everything goes black

- but everything's fine because he wakes right back up and he's pretty sure that he electrocuted himself but thats happened dozens of times so he picks himself up and brushes himself off and realizes that he may have been out longer than he thought because theres fewer boxes in the room than before and geez his head hurts

- "are you quite alright?"

- oh god he mustve hit his head harder than he thought because that looks like

- "m-miss carter, no sorry, ma'am? oh, oh god i'm so sorry that was so rude, agent? agent ma'am?"

- "this is howard's fault isnt it"

- "howard? as in....oh god oh god"

- "do you know where you are?"

- peter parker loved a lot of things and one of those things was museums and one of those museums in particular had an exhibit on a certain mr. rogers and adjacent to that exhibit was a small plaque about the woman standing in front of him and oh god he was going to hyperventilate and throw up in front of a literal legend and hero at the same time

- "remind me to kill him later. right now lets get you something warm to drink, yes? maybe some new clothes, youre looking a little singed"

- flash forward half an hour and he's sitting in front of the agent carter sipping at some terribly bitter coffee while she pursed and unpursed her lips a few times

- (annnnd time skip back to present day)

- friday: mr stark theres a woman downstairs beating on the door asking for youtony, 47 names going through his head: ...go on

- enter may parker, in her pjs, fire in her eyes, carrying on the legacy of brunette women ready to end a stark's life

- "it is ten o'clock on a school night, i've talked to ned, i've talked to mj and liz, i've talked to every corner sub shop owner, i even had a nice long chat with pepper, yet no one could tell me anything so you better have answers as to where my nephew is anthony"

- and in that moment, tony stark's life flashed before his eyes

- "hey, friday, where is the kid?"

- "peter's vitals havent been detected since 1:32pm on floor D"

- tony: fu-

- (back to pete and peggy)

- so he's quickly caught her up on the gist of whats going on (aka he told her he's from 2017 ny and hed really just like to go home) and she's taking it surprisingly well, all nodding and hmm-ing and cursing howard stark under her breath, kinda how may is when tony does like.. anything

- but now shes leading him through their super secret base and he's trying not to stare because, has he mentioned, hes literally standing next to peggy carter

- "right, well, here's your cot. if you need anything, dugan can help you. he's that one, there, with the cigar. you get some rest and i'll find howard and see if we cant get your...issue squared away. oh, and whatever you do, dont accept anything dernier tries to give you, you've already blown up once today, i dont think you can afford another"

- present day

- tony's been working through the night, a marginally-more-than-slightly disgruntled may beside him, and an even-more-than-marginally-more-than-slightly peeved happy beside her

- ("how do you lose a teenage boy, tony" happy moans to his phone when he wakes up and sees all the missed calls and texts he has)

- good news: it only took like 2 1/2 hours and three shots of espresson for tony to figure out what happened to peter

- bad news: it wasnt even a Tony Stark Exclusive Design, it was a Howard Stark One-Time Use That Was Actually A Malfunction Design, he'd had several more coffees that werent even close to being strong enough, and he had a growing black eye from the punch may landed before happy could pull her away and calm her down (maybe that last part should be in the good news column)

- "so he's just stuck in the 40s alone, then" may surmises, rubbing at the tension headache in her temples

- tony doesnt respond because at this point he needs his other eye for miracle working and depth perception

- "well, probably not alone," happy begins. "i catalogued everything in that level, and that stuff came from one of howard's london facilities, so it was probably calibrated for that time, so he's probably with-"

- tony: "hap, please dont finish that sentence"

- may: "1940s london. so he's with steve, then, safe. with captain america. okay, i can handle that."

- tony: "no, ah, a little later than capsicle, probably"

- may: "so not safe with captain america"

- happy: "safe with agent carter, more likely"

- pete and peggy

- good news: pete made it through the night without being blown up by the howling commandoes

- bad news: once howard was finally located and sobered up, he explained that he hadnt built that particular device yet, so peter was kinda stuck

- peter wasnt coping well

- "i have a spanish test tomorrow! and a trig test on friday! and i'm supposed to hang out with ned on saturday, and then may's gonna kill me when i dont show up for sunday dinner, and shes gonna kill me in general because i never checked in because holy shit i never checked in!"

- howard: peggy he's crying what do i do

- peggy: do i have to do everything myself

- she advances on peter and takes his chin in her hand, locking eyes with him: peter, you know who i am, dont you?

- he nods as best as he can

- "then you must know that i'm going to do everything in my power and then some to get you back home, dont you?"

- "yes ma'am"

- "good. go take a walk while i talk to howard, and if anyone asks, youre my american brother in for a short visit." and then she pats him on the cheek and his soul kinda ascends then and there because agent carter just patted him on the cheek AND gave him permission to tell people he's her brother

- so he goes to take his walk but the thing is when he gets anxious, he likes to fiddle with the loose legos he keeps under his bed, building and rebuilding tiny structures to help ease his nerves

- needless to say, he's an Absolute Nervous Wreck while he waits for some kind of something from peggy or howard and there arent any legos to keep him busy

- so he kind of takes that walk right on down to the lab and starts poking around because even if he is a certified nervous wreck he's also thr most inquisitive little shit that ever did walk the earth

- peggy finds him two hours later with a pair of loose fitting goggles on his forehead, his sweater sleeves pushed up to his elbows, and some . substance on his hands

- "please dont tell me youre somehow howard's long lost son too," she says, taking his appearance in

- he shakes his head as the beakers in front of him emit a puff of green smoke directly into his already scrunched up face "no ma'am; it's just that mr. stark kinda has me on desk duty and never lets me get my hands dirty so i like to take every oppurtunity i can get"

- she nods, "good, because howard needs you to describe what you remember of the device, and then you and i are going to begin the slog through the logistics of it all"

- "ooooookay"

- which is how peter parker ends up sitting across from peggy carter, the both of them scribbling extremely advanced mathematics onto yellowing sheets of paper as howard stark tinkered with some spare parts he had lying around as he tried to construct a crude rendering of the device

- peggy mostly doesnt talk, actually, she hasnt spoken since explaining that shed picked her math skills up on an assignment shed once had where she learned she actually loved numbers and then howard had been letting her do calculations for him in her free time

- peter was too impressed to respond bc from what he gathered she'd only been on that mission for six months and she didnt have much free time which meant she'd had to pick it all up FAST

- anyway, they got at that for hours, until peter cant keep his eyes open and even howard is dwindling; peggy waves them both off to bed but stays and keeps scribbling away

- they repeat that routine for 3 days

- on the 5th night, after she waves them off, peter goes to his cot and he tosses and turns for hours, listening to the commandoes play poker and crack jokes, but he cant sleep

- finally he gets up and just starts walking, anywhere his feet take him

- coincidentally, his feet take him past what he quickly realizes is peggy's room

- "peter why are you still up? is everything all right?" she asks, pulling off these big hulking glasses that made him incredibly homesick because she reminds him so much of may in that moment, big glasses on, hunched over a book in her lap, hair pulled back out of her face

- and he apologizes, but she Knows something's terribly wrong, so she gets up and ushers him away from her doorway, and leads him down a hall or two and then theyre standing in an open space, and she's looking at him like shes trying to solve one of her equations

- "do you know how to throw a punch, peter"

- " whatever youre thinking i dont think its a good idea we dont have any gear and i dont want to get hurt-"

- she shakes her head and asks again, and he finally answers with a kinda

- "'kinda' will get you hurt; watch me" and she begins to demonstrate a few slow punches and he follows her movements and tries to copy them but hes a little sloppy but its ok because she corrects him and finally theyre just standing beside one another counting out punches when she asks "whats on your mind"

- and he doesnt even hesitate he just lets loose everything, how much he misses may and how terrible he feels that he cant get in touch with her, how much he misses ned and mj and liz, how much he misses his fire escape and the deli on the corner and the buildings and then he's crying again, but she gracefully doesnt point it out

- once he's done spitting out everything thats bothering him she gets this kind of sad smile and says, "you remind me of a man i knew. he cared so much about his friends, sometimes to the point of not even worrying about himself, whuch meant he was always in some sort of trouble, as you can imagine. but he always found his way out of a problem, even if he was the one who created it." she laughs slightly then. "i guess what i'm getting at is even if i cant get you back home, even if howard cant, i believe that youll figure it out."

- "are you comparing me to captain anerica right now because i'm already crying and i dont think i can take much more" he says through sniffles, his arms slack by his sides now

- she smiles and nods, keeping her stance, and peter feels an overwhelming sense of gratitude for this amazing woman who immediately helped him without much of a pause and who's made sure he was okay for the past 5 days and who's up at god knows what time showing him how to throw a punch and being his borderline therapist and he just wants to give her something in return

- "im not sure if im supposed to do this, because for all i know it could tear a hole in the fabric of time and space but i really want to show you this," he begins, pulling his wallet put of his pocket.

- he flicks the little photo holders out and theres may, and theres ned and mj and liz, and theres that cat he found that one time, and theres him and tony, and there, at the bottom, is the time he officially met steve after the whole fight thing and all

- "this was taken a couple months ago; well, a couple months for me, it's decades from now, but here," and he holds out his wallet for her to see and she looks over the photo curiously before she understands and a tear slips down her cheek and she smiles the most grand smile

- "thank you, peter" and she passes the wallet back and puts her hand on his shoulder and says "i promise i'll have you home in time for sunday dinner"

- and she does

[everywon-woo]

SOMETIMES PLANES CRASH - chapter 1

He wasn’t stupid, he knew there would be a lot of negative reactions. But he would get to take Bitty on a real date. He would be able to hold his boyfriend’s hand- hell, maybe even kiss his boyfriend- in public. He couldn’t deny he wanted that. Fuck, he wanted that so bad, and now he would get it. 

Warnings: I probably swore a few times bc I’m me, outing without consent, violence during hockey games, homophobia, some slurs

A/N: This fic was inspired by this post but I ended up writing a whole fic about the coming out part. The HC from the original post will be in the last chapter (chapter 2 or 3, idk if i’m gonna split those up yet). Anyway, this is my first Check, Please! fic so I hope it’s not too bad. Feedback is always appreciated!

Chapter 1

He did it.

When the Falcs had given Jack the A, a lot of reporters had doubted the decision. After all, he was a rookie with a turbulent past. He thought that all the fuss about his overdose had been over, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. As soon as his captaincy was announced, the same old discussions had started all over again. Could Jack handle this responsibility? Would he fall back into old habits? Was he really worth it?

But Jack wasn’t a scared teenager anymore. Sure, his anxiety was still present as always, but he had it under control. He knew he could handle the responsibility. He knew he was worth it. And tonight, in his first game with the A on his jersey, he proved it by scoring his first NHL hat trick. When he scored his third goal, which gave the Falcs a 4-3 lead, two seconds before the end of the third period, the arena went crazy and they didn’t stop chanting his name for minutes after the final whistle. On the big screen, Jack saw Bad Bob Zimmermann chanting just as loudly as the rest of the fans.

However, in that moment, right after the final whistle, Jack did not give a single fuck about his achievements or his dad. All his attention was focused on the boy next to Bob. Bitty was wearing a Zimmerman jersey and smiling one of those smiles that could make Jack melt on the spot.

He snapped out of his gaze when he felt a hand on his shoulder and Tater whispered in his ear: “I’m understand Zimmboni loves his boyfriend, but maybe eyefucking him on ice is not good idea.”

Jack quickly tore his eyes away from the stands and blushed.

When he looked back a few moments later, Bitty was gone. Probably on his way to the locker room. Jack gave himself a mental pat on the back for inviting Bitty as his guest so he could come see him after the game. Although, admittedly, when he arranged it, he was thinking of having him there as support if he fucked up, he had very different plans now. Maybe they could find an empty storage room somewhere.

 ‘Maybe’ was a bad word, Jack decided when he arrived at the locker room. Bitty in his jersey never failed to leave Jack all hot and bothered, but that, combined with his flushed cheeks from all the excitement and the way he hugged Jack close, but not close enough was plenty to drive Jack crazy. They had to find an empty storage room somewhere.

They didn’t say a word until Jack had Bitty pinned against the door of some kind of conference room.

“Jack,” Bitty breathed. Jack lost it.

He crashed their lips together and didn’t hesitate before slipping his tongue in Bitty’s mouth, which earned him a soft moan.

Jack didn’t care about the fact that he was still wearing his skates, and had to bend down a lot to kiss his tiny boyfriend – “I am average sized!” –  but apparently Bitty did, because he pushed Jack back until the back of his legs hit a chair. Jack got the hint and sat down, and Bittle straddled him before pressing his lips to that spot right below his jaw that made Jack shiver.

“I’m so proud of you, honey,” Bits said against his skin, voice already a bit hoarse.

“Bits,” Jack moaned, but Bitty didn’t stop kissing his neck. He was careful not to leave any marks, but apparently he enjoyed feeling Jack fall apart under his lips.

Jack threw his head back and closed his eyes for a moment, which was why he didn’t notice the door opening. When he opened his eyes, he was faced with one of the reporters and one of the Blackhawks D-men, who were presumably there to do an exclusive interview and were now both staring at him with wide eyes, and a camera.

Bitty noticed that something was wrong and turned to follow Jack’s terrified eyes.

Suddenly, the reporter seemed to realize that he had Jack Zimmermann, NHL star, making out with another man on camera, and his face turned into a wicked grin that made Jack feel more than a little uncomfortable.

“This is going to be the story of the fucking century,” he said, and he turned around to walk away, but not before adding “thanks for the career boost, Zimmermann.”

 By the time the door closed, Jack was shaking and starting to have a hard time breathing.

No, Bitty couldn’t see him like this.

When Bitty moved away and left his lap empty, Jack knew this was it. Bitty had finally realized what a pain in the ass being with Jack was. Bitty didn’t deserve this. He deserved a nice life with a nice, mentally stable man who was not an NHL star.

Still, the thought of Bitty leaving made Jack’s eyes sting.

However, to Jack’s surprise, he didn’t leave. He sank to his knees in front of Jack and took his hands.

“Jack? Jack, please, look at me.”

He couldn’t. He could hear the panic in Bitty’s voice, and he didn’t want to see the evidence of how he had so majorly fucked up this beautiful boy’s life. Bitty kept talking anyway.

“I love you, Jack. And I know you can’t say it right now, but I know you love me too, and we’ll get through this. Maybe the footage is blurry and you can just deny the whole thing and-”

“I don’t want to deny it,” Jack said, to both his and Bitty’s surprise, and with that realization, he started to calm down. He didn’t want to deny it. He didn’t know if the video was live or not, but the footage would be on the internet within a few hours.

In a few hours, he would be out.

He wasn’t stupid, he knew there would be a lot of negative reactions. But he would get to take Bitty on a real date. He would be able to hold his boyfriend’s hand- hell, maybe even kiss his boyfriend- in public. He couldn’t deny he wanted that. Fuck, he wanted that so bad, and now he would get it.

“Jack… why are you smiling?” Bitty asked carefully.

Jack didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled his boyfriend back into his lap and cupped his face with his large hands.

“Eric Richard Bittle,” Bitty visibly held his breath, “will you go on a date with me?”

Bitty froze for a second, and burst out laughing.

“What?” Jack asked, “What did I do?”

“I’m sorry, honey,” Bitty said as he got himself back together, “for a second I thought you were gonna propose.”

Jack’s breath hitched.

“And… I- I mean,” Bitty stuttered, “not that I wouldn’t say yes, because let’s be real, I would definitely say yes, but-”

“What?”

Bitty froze.

“Oh fuck no I’m sorry honey, forget I said that. Hell, just forget this whole conversation. I’d love to go on a date with you.”

“Bits.” Jack said, and Bitty looked at him with his big eyes, full of embarrassment. “Would you really want to marry me?”

He only asked because he suddenly realized how much he wanted to marry Bitty. Okay, maybe not suddenly. He realized it when he came home to the smell of fresh pie. He realized it when he woke up with Bitty curled into his side. He realized it when he looked at his own parents and saw himself and Bitty in them. But he had never allowed himself to seriously think about it, because Bitty deserved better than being his secret. Now, though, he was not Jack’s secret anymore.

Bitty suddenly looked down to his hands shyly.

“Of course I would. I mean, maybe not now, but someday? Yeah.”

Jack’s heart did not know how to handle that. His brain didn’t either. But there were some things he didn’t need his brain for. He lifted Bitty’s chin and placed the gentlest kiss on his lips.

“I love you,” he said, “and someday sounds good.”

Bitty looked up at him in shock. Was the fact that he was it for Jack really a surprise to him? Damn, Jack needed to up his game if this boy still didn’t realize how much Jack loved him.

“But maybe we should go on that date first, eh?” he added.

Bitty smiled.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

They were quiet for a moment, just content with being in each other’s presence, until Bitty sighed.

“Fuck, Jack, this is going to be awful for a while, isn’t it?”

Jack wanted nothing more than to deny that, but he nodded. Then he got an idea.

“Hey Bits, maybe we should go on that date now?”

Bitty looked at him like he had just told him his mom had eight arms.

“What?”

“You know, I’m inevitably getting outed in a few hours. The video wasn’t live because then your phone would be blowing up right now, but that reporter isn’t going to keep this to himself. So we can just as well go out and enjoy ourselves before the shitstorm starts. Before you realize what I dragged you into.”

Jack averted his eyes to the hands in his lap, suddenly aware of the horrible situation he had put Bitty into again.

But Bitty didn’t let him. He cupped Jack’s face and forced him to look into those big, brown eyes.

“I would love to go on a date with you tonight, Mr. Zimmermann. But you need to shower first. And we need to talk to George. We can’t prevent this from happening, but we can at least give her a head start.”

Jack was still getting more and more amazed by Bitty every day. While Jack was thinking about himself, Bitty was already thinking about the team and the solutions to their situation.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll go shower. Can you- can you maybe talk to George? She loves you and… you know… you’re better at this talking stuff than I am and-”

“Of course, honey. I’ll talk to George. You go take a shower and come to her office when you’re done.”

“Okay. Okay.” Jack said and then he didn’t know what to say anymore, so he pulled Bitty to his chest. “I love you, so much.”

“I love you too, honey,” Bittle whispered in the crook of Jack’s neck, “we’ll get through this.”

“Yeah. We will.”

 20 minutes later, Jack walked into George’s office after standing in the hall for a few moments to get himself together.

He loved Bitty. He knew Bitty loved him back. He knew they would get through this, but that didn’t make it any easier. George would inevitably be furious at him for not being more careful.

But when he opened the door, he was greeted by a smiling Bitty and George.

“Jack, there you are!” George greeted him. “Sit down!”

Jack nervously made his way over to the chair next to Bitty and sat down.

“I’m sorry,” he started, but George interrupted him.

“No, Jack. You’re not going to apologize. You have nothing to apologize for. This was an accident and if that reporter decides to share this information with the world, he’s a disgusting pig and I will personally make sure he never writes another word again, understood?”

Bitty smiled at him encouragingly to say see, it’s gonna be okay.

“Okay,” Jack said, “but what now?”

“Well, Eric has told me what happened, and he says you don’t want to deny anything?”

Jack nodded.

“Okay, that’s good. I’d rather kick the asses of anyone who dares to say a negative word about you than see you hide someone who obviously makes you very happy.”

Jack and Bitty both blushed and Jack reached for Bitty’s hand. Bitty squeezed his hand and Jack felt himself relax a little bit.

“So,” George continued, “there’s not much you can do right now. I suggest you take your boy out on that date while me and the team prepare for impact.”

Bitty laughed. “You make it sound like we’re on a plane that’s about to crash.”

George smiled, but Jack had done the media smile enough times to know that George was in fact trying very hard to stay calm.

“Yeah. I suggest you boys have some fun before the plane crashes.”

 And fun they had.

They had dinner at a small, low-key restaurant in Providence. Jack would have rather taken Bitty to some kind of fancy restaurant, but since Bitty was still wearing his Zimmermann jersey and Jack had put on his robber outfit instead of his suit, that was not really an option. They’d get a lot more chances to go out and get a fancy dinner anyway, so neither of them really minded.

As they were not used to being able to be affectionate in public, dinner went pretty much the same as any other time they had dinner together. That didn’t make it less fun, though. Jack didn’t think it was possible to not have fun when he was with Bitty. He could listen to him recounting ‘the pie recipe incident’, something that had apparently occurred last week between his mother and his aunt, for hours.

But the real fun started when they were happily walking through the city (hand in hand!) and passed the public ice skating rink.

Bitty was about to walk past it when Jack started pulling him towards the entrance.

“Jack, what are you doing?”

“I just suddenly feel the incredible urge to try out those figure skating moves you taught me. I love you, but my true love will always be the ice, and I feel like I haven’t showed my love enough today,” Jack smirked.

Bitty rolled his eyes. “I don’t even have my skates with me.”

“Me neither, I left them at the arena. We can just rent skates.”

Bitty sighed. “Okay.”

Jack’s face broke into a huge grin and he pulled his boyfriend towards the entrance.

It was already pretty late, and the girl behind the counter looked like she would commit a murder to get out of there, so he told her to keep the change.

Her eyes lit up and she even smiled a little when she said: “Thank you very much. You and your son can pick up your skates over there.”

Jack heard Bitty gasp and he was about to correct the girl, but instead, he turned to his boyfriend and said: “You can wait over here while your daddy picks up the skates, Dicky,” and he burst out laughing when he saw Bitty’s scandalized face.

“Jack Laurent Zimmerman, if you ever say something like that again, I swear I will break up with you.”

The girl then visibly realized her mistake and started apologizing.

Because Jack was still laughing, Bitty said: “It’s fine, honey. It’s not the first time someone made that mistake.”

That caught Jack’s attention. “When has someone made that mistake before?”

Bitty looked at him in confusion for a second before responding: “Where were you even last year? During the playoffs, Holster had a beard, and every time we went out together, people thought I was his son. At some point, he and Rans actually considered just adopting me. How did you miss that?”

Jack laughed again. “You know me, I lived under a rock at Samwell. Lardo even calls me the rock lord.”

“Of fucking course. My boyfriend, the rock lord,” Bitty muttered, now smiling, as he walked off to get some skates.

Jack followed, and 5 minutes later, they were on the ice. Luckily, there were a lot less people than usual because it was already late. The only people left on the ice were a few couples and a group of girls who seemed to do more standing still and gossiping than actually skating.

This was very fortunate, because Jack hadn’t lied when he said that he wanted to try a few figure skating moves. Since they came out to the team, Jack had been skating at Faber a few times, and Bitty had taught him some couple skating moves. They never succeeded, but it was fun nonetheless.

When he voiced his intentions, Bitty looked at him worriedly.

“Are you sure? I mean, I know you wanted to go on a real date but we’re in public and there’s a big chance that someone will recognize you, so-”

“Bits,” Jack interrupted. “I’m sure.”

To amplify this, he pressed his lips to the place where Bitty’s forehead wasn’t covered by his hat.

“Now, let’s skate some rounds to warm up.”

“Aye aye, captain,” Bitty muttered before taking off and skating backwards, away from Jack.

Their ‘warming up’ quickly turned into a race, and within a few minutes they were both more than warm enough, and the few people in the rink had probably realized they were not the average people that came to this rink to have some fun despite barely knowing how to skate.

Bitty decided that he wanted to do some jumps first – only easy ones, though, because the rental skates were fairly shit – so Jack just leaned back against the boards and watched.

He loved to play hockey with Bitty and he loved to watch him play hockey, but nothing would ever compare to watching him figure skate. The grace, the beauty, the way Bitty looked when he lost himself to skating for a moment, were things Jack would never get tired of.

He was almost disappointed when Bitty stopped after a while to skate over to Jack. ‘Almost’ being the keyword, because how could anyone ever be disappointed when their beautiful boyfriend suggests to skate together and try that lift that they’d attempted at Faber a few times?

 Unfortunately, Jack was a pretty horrible figure skater, so they went tumbling to the ice as soon as Bitty’s skates left the ice.

Less unfortunate was the position they ended up in: Bitty on his back on the ice and Jack almost entirely on top of him.

Jack would’ve been worried about Bitty’s fall if he hadn’t started giggling as soon as he hit the ice. At the sound of Bitty’s giggles, Jack couldn’t contain his own laughter anymore either.

After a few moments of pure happiness, Bitty turned his head to the side to look at their surroundings and he suddenly got a worried look in his eyes.

“Jack, someone is taking pictures,” he said, and he tried to wriggle out from under Jack.

Jack considered this for a moment before lifting one hand off the ice to tilt Bitty’s face to look at Jack and said, “Let them,” before kissing him softly.

Bitty gasped into the kiss, but quickly wrapped his arms around Jack’s neck nonetheless.

It was a sweet, short kiss, since Jack was not the biggest fan of PDA anyway, and when they parted, Jack whispered against Bitty’s lips: “You know, I think I love you more than the ice.”

“First you kiss me on the ice and now you outright say you love me more? Maybe we should get off the ice before it takes revenge on me for stealing you,” Bitty laughed. “You’re also getting kinda heavy,” he added.

“Oh, haha. Yeah. Sorry.”

Jack quickly got up and extended his hand to help Bitty up. He felt all warm when Bitty didn’t let go of his hand once he was back on his feet.

They were ready to leave the ice when one of the girls they had seen earlier approached them.

Bitty gave Jack a look to say ‘that’s the girl who took the pictures’.

“Hey,” she said, looking guilty but determined, and there also seemed to be… something else, “you’re… you’re Jack Zimmerman, right?”

Jack nodded. He’d rather spend some more time with Bitty than talk to fans right now, but this girl had pictures of them and she looked like she really wanted to say something, so Jack decided to hear her out.

“Uh- I, uh… just saw the news,” she stuttered, “and I... me and my friends,” she gestured to the group of girls on the other side of the rink, “just wanted to say that, uh… whoever made that video is a dick, and we support you and…” she looked at Bitty.

“Eric,” Bitty filled in.  

“Yeah, you and Eric. And I think we speak for a lot of the fans if we say we’ve got your back.”

To everyone’s surprise, Bitty stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the girl.

“Thank you. That means a lot,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jack had frozen beside them. The video was out. Jack was out. The plane had crashed.

“How long?” he asked.

Both Bitty and the girl looked up to him in confusion.

“What?”

“How long has the video been out?”

“Oh, uh… not that long,” she tapped her phone a few times, “4 minutes.”

For some reason, this was still a shock for Jack. He had expected this, but somewhere deep inside, he had still hoped that reporter would keep this to himself.

Bitty immediately noticed Jack’s panic and stepped away from the girl to cup Jack’s face with his gloved hands.

“Jack, please look at me. We knew this would happen, George and the team are ready for this. We’ll be fine. These people have your back,” he nodded towards the girl, who was watching the situation unfold.

“We really do, Jack,” she confirmed.

Jack let his forehead rest against Bitty’s for a while until his breath evened out.

No matter how much he didn’t want to be in this situation, he couldn’t deny that being with Bitty in public like this, without having to worry about being seen, was nice.

“I’m okay,” he stated when he felt like it was the truth. Then he got an idea. He turned to the girl.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

Her breath hitched for a moment, but she quickly got herself together and answered: “Emma.”

“Okay, Emma,” Jack started, “I believe you took some pictures?”

Emma’s face went beet red and she started sputtering: “Yeah- yeah, I did… but I- I’m sorry and I shouldn’t have done that, and I- I can delete them right now, I promise I wasn’t planning on outing you or anything-”

“Emma,” Jack interrupted her, “it’s fine.”

“I promise I didn’t mean to-”

“I know. I believe you. That’s not what I meant to say. I just wanted to ask if you took any good pictures?”

Emma stared at him wide-eyed for a few seconds before she seemed to process his question.

“Y- yeah, I, uh… took a photography class,” Jack smiled, “so I like to think I take some decent pictures,” Emma laughed.

“Can I see them?” Jack asked.

Emma looked like she had no idea where this was going, but she complied anyway, and showed Jack the photos on her phone. There was one of Jack and Bitty right before Bitty’s skates left the ice during the lift, which made it look like Jack actually had a clue what he was doing. There was a picture of them laying on the ice and laughing. The next one, presumably taken a few seconds later, showed Bitty looking almost directly into the camera – but it looked like he hadn’t realized there was a camera yet, because he was still smiling – and Jack looking down at him lovingly. The last picture was the perfect shot of Jack and Bitty kissing. Even with her phone, Emma had framed these pictures perfectly, the light of the street lanterns shining at the perfect angle.

“These are amazing,” Jack said.

Emma blushed deeply. “Thank you. I can send them to you, if you want? I can, uh… DM them to you on twitter?” she offered.

Bitty scoffed. “No, send them to me. Jack Zimmerman can’t use twitter to save his life,” he said, and he shoved Jack playfully.

They then exchanged twitter usernames, and after that Jack and Bitty took off for real, but not before shouting, “Thank you!” to the girls who had been silently observing the whole conversation. Jack swore he could hear some of them squeal.

 “Hey Bits?” Jack said while they were unlacing their skates.

Bitty hummed.

“Maybe you could post one of those photos on, uh… Instagram? Is that what it’s called?”

Bitty looked up at him in surprise.

“Really?”

Jack nodded.

“Oh. Uh, yeah, of course. Which one do you like best?” Bitty asked while opening up the app.

Jack thought about this for a few moments before deciding: “The one where you look into the camera. You look good in that one.”

Bitty put a hand over his heart and looked quasi-offended. “Jack Laurent Zimmermann, are you saying I don’t look good in the rest of them?”

Jack knew it was supposed to be a joke, but he couldn’t resist lightly dragging his lips over Bitty’s jaw before whispering in his ear: “You have no idea how good you look. Especially in my jersey. But I think you’d look even better if you were wearing only my jersey.”

Bitty seemingly choked on nothing and he hit Jack in the chest.

“You can’t just say stuff like that in public!”

Jack smirked. “Oh, but I can now, remember?”

Bitty blushed.

“Okay, I’m just gonna post that picture now and then we can go home.”

Eric Bittle @omgcheckplease

Jack Zimmermann sure knows how to have a first date instagram.com/p/HdhJkslxv3

Chapter 2