#eating pizza and drinking cred

[dailykylebroflovski]

[lesless]

So when I was in my early 20s, my great grandaunt Johnny, who was a badass old southern woman with a perm & a glass eye, & would tell me stories of being so hot that men called her “a brick shit house” (complimentary) called me up to tell me she met a man in the waiting room at the VA hospital with a grandson that I just HAD to go on a date with. She said if this old man was any indication, his grandson had to be a smokin’ hot one. she rambled on about how he was a doctor, and had to be a great catch, though she hadn’t met him. So, trusting her sincere excitement and good judgment, I agreed to go on a blind date with this boy based on grandpa cred.

So I told my roommates at the time where I’m going, and head out to the establishment he had chosen— I shit you not I met him at a restaurant called BJ’s. It was a pizza establishment on the same tier as, say, a Red Lobster. I arrived on time, and he shows up what I imagine he thought was fashionably late. He was of average height with tawny brown hair, and very thin. He was not an attractive man. He had the personality of an angry, wet paper bag.

He ordered a cheese pizza which he expected to share, despite me being lactose intolerant & the pizzas being the size of a personal pizza, because I guess I wasn’t supposed to eat. He looked annoyed when I asked if he wanted a drink bc that’s too pricey for Dr. Asshole (I didn’t expect him to pay??) so he ordered me a soda. I don’t drink soda. I think all the ice melted in the full cup by the time I left.

So we proceeded through dinner and made strained conversation, during which he interrogated me about my sexual history, which whatever I’m an open person. He looked visibly disgusted when I said that I didn’t make a habit of hookups, I had only been with my two past long-term relationships. Apparently that was TOO MANY. Next he asked if I had tattoos, at the time I only had a small one, a line of script my great grandfather used to say, on my hip. He again looked DISGUSTED that I, a woman, would have a tattoo. Then he shows me a picture of his FULL BACK Caduceus (the medical snake) tattoo which looked like someone had tattooed it on with an old sharpie & 3 sedatives in their system. I’m talking the ugliest, blown out, asymmetrical, shitty tattoo I’ve ever seen in my life. I tried hard not to say anything rude, I think I just nodded honestly.

Then, with an attitude of “well I guess you will have to do” he launched into a series of statements that I assume was meant to impress me. I can’t remember exactly what he said but it was a lot of really mediocre accomplishments like golf scores & a trip to the Florida coast or some shit. The entire time he was talking at me he’d make a statement then look smug, then confused that I wasn’t throwing my panties at him. Because obviously, I am a whore. He was also rude to the server, I tried my best to look at her like “that’s not mine I’m so sorry” & she gave me the “why are you here with him girl??” Face. When the check came I was so relieved, he looked at it & huffed about the price but insisted on paying. While waiting for his card back he was like “shall I walk you to your car?” & I vividly remember standing quickly, stiffly, blurting “no thanks!” & practically sprinting to my car so he wouldn’t be able to follow me.

About a month later he texted me “hey how are you doing?” To which I replied “no”

omfg someone mentioned a blind date & I had a flashback of the only blind date I ever went on & it was also the worst date of my entire whole ass life lsakjdf;alskjdf does anybody wanna hear it

[ilikefandoms]

Love Bites - Robby Keene

Request- You could write about Robby, where after a tiring day of training at both dojos (the reader is a part of Cobra), they decide to spend the night snuggling and watching some movies, but apparently Robby can't keep his hands behind himself...nor the lips, and ends up giving the reader many love bites. You can also make other students question about the marks on your neck the next day (they know about your relationship, but they don't support you very much) and she's is super calm about it, but Sensei ends up listening and getting a little embarrassed hahaha.

Name/Pronouns used- no name, none

A/N- Creds to my friend Maddy ( @bi-myselfff​ ) for helping me with this

Warnings- Making out- it gets a bit heated, hickeys, suggestive talk,  the tiniest mention of bad mental health

Rating- PG-13

Word Count- 1238

Robby had just messaged you, saying to come over to his place. Apparently he’d had a hard day. Well, that would make two of you. Sensei Lawrence had worked you all to your limit in preparation for the All-Valley Tournament, and according to Robby, Mr Larusso had done the same.

You had been dating Robby for a year. You had been there for him with his family issues, and he was there for you when your mental health got bad. You were each other’s safe haven. 

***********

“Robby, I’m here!” You called as you opened the door. As you looked around the room, you were met with the sight of Robby standing in front of what looked like a pillow fort.

“I thought that maybe we could order a pizza, and have a movie night?” Robby asked, with a small smile.

“Of course we can,” You smiled, walking over to give him a kiss, “But first, can I use your shower? I need it after today,”  

“Hard day too?”

“Oh, you have no idea. Sensei worked us to our limit. I swear it was...” You trailed off, seeing Robby break eye contact, “Sorry, I know that you don’t like it when I bring him up,” You apologised.

“It’s okay, you don’t need to apologise. It’s just still hard to hear about him, after everything that’s happened with us, y’know?” He said, looking back at you.

“I know,” You smiled at him, “Anyways, I smell, so I’m going to go shower. You still have some of my clothes right?” You asked.

“Yeah, they’re in the top draw of my dresser,” Robby answered, “Hey, do you want me to order the pizza while your in there?”

“Yes please!” 

“Do you want our usual?”

“Um...yeah. Thank you!” You thanked him, before heading off to the bathroom.

***********

You walked out, fresh clothes on, to Robby, who was waiting for you. “The pizza will be a few more minutes,” he said, “So we have time to pick out some movies. What do you want to watch?”

“Harry Potter marathon?” You said, with a smile.

“You know it,” Robby returned the smile. The doorbell rang, Robby answered, and payed the pizza guy. “Ok, you still need to see the inside of the fort,” Robby said.

He lead you in, and you looked around. Fairy Lights were strung up around the top, pillows and blankets lines the floor, and Robby’s laptop was set up to play the first movie.

“Robby, you did all of this?” 

“Yeah,” he smiled, “Do you like it?”

“Are you kidding?” You grinned, “I love it!” You kissed him, “Thank you,”

“Of course. Now, lets eat our pizza, and watch some Harry Potter.”

*********** 

You were cuddled up in a blanket in Robby’s arms. Your pizza was long gone, and you were part way through The Prisoner of Azkaban.

Robby, decided to get a little handsy, running his hands up and down your sides, his fingers grazing the bare skin where your shirt had risen up. He started kissing your jaw.

“What are you doing?” you asked, shifting to look in his eyes.

“Showing you I love you,” Robby said, before connecting your lips again.

His lips demanded entrance to your mouth, you parted your lips, letting his tongue crash into yours. The kiss gets more intense and passion but you don’t feel scared or unsafe in his arms, you feel right at home.

Robby’s lips trailed down, sucking hard. You could feel his teeth nibbling, and biting on your sensitive neck, leaving sweet, tender love bites.

Needless to say your movie was long forgotten.

***********

Robby felt you stir in his arms, kissing your head, then whispering in your ear, “Wake up baby,” you opened your eyes, immediately being met with the warm gaze of Robby’s green eyes.

“Were you watching me sleep?” You asked, with a teasing smile.

“You just looked cute,” he smiled.

“Last night was fun,” you said, kissing his cheek.

“Yeah, it was, " Robby said, tightening his embrace around you, “I don’t want to let you go,” he mumbled into the crook of your neck.

“Your gonna have to babe. We both have training again today,” you noted, pulling away from his arms, and going to get up.

“Nooo, baby don’t leave me,” Robby whined, reaching over to you.

“Robby, no, come on, we’ve got to get dressed,” you said, and Robby pouted. 

“Fine I’ll get dressed, but I want kisses after,” he reasoned.

“Ok, but only because I love you,” You said, before walking to the bathroom to get dressed.

You were just about to put a clean top on, when you caught sight of yourself in the mirror. Your neck and upper chest was covered in hickeys. “Robby! Get in here!”

“Yeah,” Robby said as he opened the door, “Oh...”

“Yeah, ‘oh’ indeed,”

“I...love you?” Robby tried, giving you a sheepish smile.

“I love you too,” you said, “Ok, get outta here and get dressed, before we’re late,”

You didn’t really care about the love bites that littered your upper body. You mainly brought them up to tease Robby. Any anyway, your T-shirt and your Gi would cover most of them on your chest.

“Ready to go?” You asked.

“Yeah, I’ll see you later Babe,” Robby answered, kissing you, “And, sorry about the.. y’know,”

“It’s ok. I’ll see you tonight?” 

“Of course. I’ll call you later, ok?” he said.

“Ok. Bye, I love you” you smiled.

“I love you too,” he smiled back.

*********** 

You arrived to the dojo, greeting everyone, and sitting down on the mat. “Woah, what are those,” Miguel pointed at your neck.

“Looks like Y/N got some last night,” Hawk said, taking a closer inspection of the marks.

“I mean, I don’t like how your affiliating with the enemy...” Aisha started, and you rolled your eyes, “...but, damn, respect,”

“I gotta say, I didn’t know you or Keene had it in you,” Hawk stated, with an impressed look.

“Well, now you know,” you smirked, “It was pretty...interesting shall we say,” 

“Quiet!” Sensei Lawrence shouted. “Everybody fall in,” You took your place on the mat. “Mr. Diaz, warm them up”

The class seemed to go pretty quick. You were all working on perfecting roundhouses, and how to use them on a moving target. You had noticed that Sensei didn’t make eye contact with you at all, though. You decided to talk to him, as you’d finished.

“Hey, Sensei,” you said, poking your head round the door of his office, and seeing him drinking a Coors.

“Hey Y/L/N, what’s the problem?”

“Not really a problem. It’s just that...I noticed that you didn’t really make eye contact when you were talking to me today, and I wondered if it was something I maybe did?” You said, tentatively.

“No, it’s not really something that you did. More who you uh...did,” He said, still refusing to make eye contact with you.

“Oh,”

“Yeah, I um heard you talking to Hawk, Aisha and, Miguel. Maybe in future, make sure that I’m not around when you talk about that subject,” He said, flushing slightly.

“Yes Sensei,” You said, trying not to laugh, “Goodbye,”

“Bye,”

You chuckled to yourself after you left. That was awkward to say the least. However, you did learn your lesson, and made a mental note not to talk about it again, when it was a possibility that Sensei could overhear your conversation.

@blackoutgirx

[cherrydreamer]

Rebirth My entry for Day 8 of the HarringroveApril challenge! Steve isn't sure what to expect when he offers Billy a spare room after he leaves the hospital. He figures that Billy might be quiet. Withdrawn. The Billy that Steve had gotten glimpses of in that too-white, too-cold, too-quiet room. The one who curled himself up small and flinched away from touches and didn’t utter a word, even when his cheeks were wet with silent tears.

Then Steve thinks he might be angry. Surly. The Billy who screamed at the orderlies and hurled his cane at the doctors and pounded on locked doors until his knuckles bled. The one who was rightfully pissed off with the hand that fate had dealt him. Steve wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d been resentful of Steve's offer. If he rejected it or decided to take it only to destroy it rather than let himself have even the smallest piece.

That was if Steve actually sees him at all. If Billy doesn't just grab whatever isn't nailed down and drives straight to the nearest pawn shop in Steve's Dad's bright red midlife-crisis Ferrari. Steve won't even stop him. Will just leave the keys right there in plain sight and make sure that Billy doesn't forget to take the silverware hidden away in the sideboard.

Instead, Steve seems to get Billy. Just Billy. Maybe a Billy with his rough edges rounded just enough to let himself accept an offer of help. But still one who struts into Steve’s house and makes himself at home instantly. Throws his jacket over the bannister and flings himself down on the sofa without even taking off his shoes. Gazes round at the big television and the modernist decor and lets out a murmur of appreciation, “Nice place, Harrington. Any chance of a drink?”

Their first night goes well. They sit in front of the TV and Steve orders pizza and refuses to give Billy a beer because, “Dude, did you not hear a word the doctors said? No booze, no weed and no-” “No fucking fun, Harrington. I get it.  Uh. Fine Mom, I’ll have a Coke.” And Billy grumbles and grouches and rolls his eyes, but he drinks his Coke and he eats his pizza and he even takes himself off to bed when Steve declares that they’ve both had a long day.

So Steve breathes a sigh of relief. Thinks it might be OK, after all.  A little odd couple maybe but...they can make it work. Which is good, because he has a shift at Family Video that he can’t miss. So the next day he leaves Billy home alone. Entirely unsupervised, but for a whole pack’s worth of Post-It Notes dotted on most surfaces, reminding Billy to eat, to drink, to take his meds, to call Steve at work if he needs him, to call Hopper or Joyce if he needs a proper adult, to call Doc Owens if he feels anything anything weird. And Steve helps customers and shelves films and yells at sticky-fingered kids and moans to Robin and tries very hard not to think about all of the possible things he might find when he gets home.

But still. His minds whirls.

And while he might not have been expecting Billy to destroy the place, not now, Steve sure as shit isn't expecting to come home, exhausted from the shittiest shift of all shitty late shifts, to find Billy reclining in Steve’s dad's Eames chair, wrapped up in his mom's silk robe, his hair piled into the soft, pink towel tied on top of his head and absolutely reeking of peach body lotion.  Steve’s Mom’s very expensive peach body lotion, to be exact.

"Hey, Harrington," Billy drawls, as soon as he spots Steve lingering in the doorway, "Dude, that Jacuzzi tub your parents have is in-fucking-cred-ah-ble!" He ends his declaration with a  sensuous, feline wriggle against the leather chair, the silk robe shifting up and revealing so much shining skin that Steve can't help but wonder whether he's wearing anything underneath it.

"I mean it," Billy grins, "Better than all that goddamn physical therapy. I feel like a whole new man. Re-fucking-born." He stretches again, and the robe slips to reveal what seems to Steve like a whole acre of chest. Scarred, and a little paler, but still muscular. Still firm. Still right in Steve's eyeline.

"Yeah?" Steve's tired. His head is buzzing. He's not thinking straight. There's suddenly a lot more slippery, peach-scented skin in his life and he's spent a lot of the last few weeks staring at a poster of Rob Lowe glaring down at him, all big hair and dangly earring, and he’s been talking to Robin and maybe he's been... thinking. Not straight.

That's his excuse, anyway. The only reason he can think of when, instead of walking away. Instead of rolling his eyes. Instead of slipping quietly on to the couch and turning his gaze to Magnum, P.I and his thoughts to Tom Selleck, instead of doing any of those sensible, normal, reasonable things, Steve keeps looking at Billy and just cocks an eyebrow and lets out the one and only thought that’s been running around his brain since he walked in,

"Got anything other than that robe between your bare ass and that leather, Hargrove?"

And Billy blinks. Flushes. Red rising from his chest to his neck and spreading all across his cheeks.  But he also smirks. And spreads his legs, just a little. Just enough.  And then he catches Steve’s eye and his tongue darts out to wet his lips and his smirk turns wicked. Turns irresistible, 

“Wanna come find out?” 

[kerie-prince]

We're Worlds Apart (5)

Draco Malfoy x American No-Maj!reader

series m.list | general m.list | previous chp

warnings: cursing, mom being a dick :/, accidental peeping eyes, jealous draco

summary: Draco Malfoy is a pureblood wizard. Magic runs through his veins and has been since his birth. You're a Wiccan No-Maj; a non-magical being with ordinary blood through your veins, but practices what you call magick. And this very practice upsets your neighbor.

a/n: omg, i had to rewrite this WHOLE THING again. but now i know to write things in my google docs first

(gif cred)

Everyone at the table was silent. Your mother sat processing what had just occurred moments ago. I practice, too. You always wondered why your brother never talked too much about her whenever you were on long phone calls with him. He was pretty vague about Stephanie, and now you knew why.

Actually, it made complete sense as to why he didn't tell your mom about Stephanie being a practicing witch, but you? That was what really confused you.

“So,” you decided to break the silence, “how long have you practiced?”

Stephanie had an excited glimmer in her eyes when you asked. “I'm still a baby, I started earlier this year.” Something about her aura was soothing and pure. You scooted your chair closer to her and continued your conversation. “So you’re a Wiccan? Or do you practice something else?”

“I practice Gardnerian Wicca,” she declared. From the corner of your eyes, you could see your mother holding back a scoff. Surely she was thinking Why the hell is she encouraging this?

The ding of the oven sounded like church bells to her as it gave her an excuse to leave the room and focus on anything else. The situation was quite hysterical. But questions were in order. As Stephanie left to use your bathroom, you pulled your brother aside. “Dude, why the hell didn’t you tell me anything?”

He flinched away from your hand and started massaging the pain away from your grip, “I didn’t think it was my business to tell.”

“But you told her about me?” You asked with crossed arms. Your brother’s logic was lacking. “It… might’ve slipped, but I only told her after she told me that she’s a witch. I don’t go around campus saying ‘Hey, I’m Y/B/N Y/L/N. I’m a communications major and y’know what? My sister’s a witch.’” You weren’t upset that he told his girlfriend about you. You weren’t ashamed at all. And you weren’t really upset that he didn’t talk to you about her. Because, in a sense, he’s right.

But you like being dramatic, so you figured that while you've got your brother in your house you’d act like a petty sister. “Whatever, man. But you could’ve told Mom beforehand,” you scolded with your arms crossed. He had a scoff in his laugh, “Tell Mom? We’re thinking of the same person, right? You know she would freak.”

“She’s freaking out right now! I’d have rather her freak out earlier before she made my house look like some stupid picture in a Martha Stewart kitchen advertisement,” you whisper yelled. To think that your house could have looked as it normally did annoyed you. Grandma’s tapestry you whined internally.

Stephanie found you two in your hallway and froze in an awkward stance, “Is everything okay?” You and your brother put on your best smiles. “Yeah, just wanted to see how my baby bro is doing,” you reached up to pinch his cheeks to which he swatted you hand away. It started a playful fight that made your guest laugh in amusement. The sound of your mother announcing that dinner was ready brought the little fight to a halt. “I’ll beat your ass later,” you challenged him, fingers doing an ‘I’ve got my eyes on you’ movement.

—

He couldn't believe it.

Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini stood at his doorstep with their bags. Theo had his wand pointed out with confetti spurting out the tip. “Surprise!” he yelled.

Draco pulled them in quickly and nearly sprained his neck as he looked around to make sure no one saw his friend. “What part of 'muggle neighbors’ did you not understand” he scolded.

“Oh shit, sorry mate. I forgot.” Theo scratched the back of his head. He then glared at Blaise knowing that with his brilliant memory, he let Theo make a big mess of things. Theoretically and literally. An enchanted broom swept up the confetti on the floor.

“What are you guys doing here, I wasn’t expecting you two for another week?” Draco asked as he pulled each wizard in for a welcoming hug.

“Merlin, mate. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you’re disappointed to see us,” Blaise teased.

“That's not what I meant and you know that. I’m happy… just surprised.” The blond wasn't isn't used to showing this kind of side to himself. “What brings you two here early?”

“Have you ever known Theo to be patient for anything? Bloody git nearly dragged me out in the middle of work,” Blaise expressed. The Slytherin trio laughed as the two friends followed Draco through his new home. “Well, here’s the guest room. Set your things down and I’ll grab some drinks.”

For the first time since getting his phone and learning about take-out, Draco had ordered a couple pizzas to be delivered. Blaise and Theo were genuinely impressed by the whole thing. “Muggles sure do think of everything,” Theo observed.

“Almost shocked that Malfoy here adapted pretty well to them,” Blaise had a smirk on his lips before stuffing his mouth with his first ever slice. “Salazar, this is amazing.” Draco raised his eyebrows in agreement. The three men sat in the living room eating and caught up with each other.

The night was filled with laughter and tipsy hiccups. It was arguably Draco’s best night since he first moved to America. He hadn’t realized how much he missed their shenanigans since Hogwarts before it all went to shit thanks to a certain Dark Lord. He was ecstatic and couldn’t wait for them to meet his new friends.

In the middle of their laughter, Theo was seen squinting his eyes in a direction, “Oi mate, who’s that?” The two others followed his eyes which looked out a window. Sort of blurry due to the alcohol, Draco leaned forward to focus on what it was Theo was talking about.

When his vision cleared, he saw some heads moving around. And… arms flinging about? The sight was strange to say the least. Draco didn't exactly know what was going on, he watched as you stood in your living room in front of who he recognized as your mother. Sitting on your couch was some woman, and in between you and your mother was some guy.

“Is that the muggle neighbor you told me about?” Blaise observed.

“Yeah, and her mum. Don’t know the others, though.” Draco stated. He shrugged his shoulders and sat in a comfortable position. Blaise continued to look at the weird scene next door. The only pieces he could put together was that you definitely weren’t happy and neither was your mother. “She’s kinda fit, don’t you think?”

“No,” Draco didn’t hesitate to answer. His irritated voice was indication enough to not press on the matter more. And seeing as it was their first night in America, Blaise didn’t want to risk getting hexed before bed.

Draco looked at the clock on the wall which read 10:57 pm. “Shit,” he whispered. “I’m turning in. I have a meeting in the morning.” Theo was already passed out on the soft couch and Blaise walked himself to the guest room to claim the bigger bed. Once in his room, Draco chugged a bottle of water that was on his nightstand and went to sleep.

—

She finally went home. After the huge fight that broke out after dinner, your mother grabbed her things and left. Poor Stephanie had witnessed the mess and regretted coming. As much as she was glad to finally meet a fellow practicing witch, she underestimated your mother entirely.

It actually surprised you that your mother acted in such ways. Growing up, your mom never really made too much of a fuss of your Craft. But just out of nowhere, she’s making comments of this and making complaints of that. You wanted to forget Thanksgiving night all together.

Currently, you were pacing in your kitchen debating on whether or not to call Stephanie and make sure she was alright. She was nothing but sweet and kind. Didn't deserve to come home with your brother and have some woman blow up. Your mother hit some random nerve in the middle of your conversation that you carried on about what Steph’s practice consisted of and yelled about her whole family getting full of ‘damn weirdos’.

The best thing to come out of it was that you were able to bring back all your original decorations and stored all the stuff your mother bought in the garage.

Thinking about it started to give you a migraine. You walked to your bathroom and started to fill the tub with the hottest water you could take. As it filled, you went to the comfort of your room and undressed. You opted out on bath salts and oils; just the warmth of the water would be enough to settle your nerves.

Before you could remove your bra, you felt a weird shiver up your spine. Something in the air made you feel tense. You wanted to assume that it was negative energy that your mother left behind, but it felt different than that. No, you felt a presence in your home. Or worse, from somewhere else.

You turned around and widened your eyes in horror. A man that you didn’t know nor have ever seen before looks at you from the window of your neighbor, Draco’s room. As soon as it processed to him that you were looking back, he quickly shut the curtains again. At that moment, you wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. You were so caught up in your thoughts that you forgot to shut your blinds.

You sat in your bathtub still shocked that a complete stranger almost saw you naked. Had you even gone further a couple seconds or ignored your instincts, he could have seen everything. You dunk your head into the water and scream under it. This day can’t get worse you thought.

But oh, how it can. You performed your house cleansing spell and as soon as you set the censor dish down, the doorbell rang. You opened the door and was face to face with the same man who saw you. “Hello,’ he said. You recognized the accent, how it sounded like Draco’s.

Shyly, you nodded your head and said a soft ‘hi’.

“Listen, I just wanted to say that I am so sorry for… for what happened,” presumably Draco’s friend apologized.You stood there a bit shocked and flustered. “I swear I’m not a bloody pervert. Mate doesn't have any light in his room so I’d thought I’d do him a favor. Guess that didn't turn out so well,” he sheepishly chuckled. It made you laugh as well. It was decided that it was just an honest mistake.

“It’s okay. I should’ve closed my curtains so I guess it goes both ways,” a blush was spread across your cheeks. The more you looked at him, the more you studied his gorgeous features. “I’m Y/N. You must be Draco’s friend,” you extended your hand out for him to shake. He took it in his and you nearly melted into his smooth skin.

“Yes, I am. I’m Blaise.”

—

Draco returned home with a pounding headache and stiff neck. He had never felt more tired than he did in this moment. He saw Theo sitting on his couch reading the Daily Prophet with one hand and holding a cup of tea in the other. It was funny to Draco because he explicitly remembers Theo promising that he would never become his father who did this exact thing.

Looking around his surroundings, he noticed how his other best friend wasn’t around. “Where’s Zabini?”

“I think he went out for a walk,” Theo guessed. “Think he’s been gone for about an hour now that I think about it.” He put his paper down and mirrored the look of curiosity that was also on Draco’s face. Seconds later, the devil himself walked into Draco’s home. The look on his face was the same he had back in Hogwarts. A look Draco and Theo knew all too well.

“How? Actually no, scratch that. Who?” Theo pressed on instantly. Draco was also interested as to how Blaise somehow seduced a woman a day into his vacation in the foreign country. “You gits really want to know who?” They both nodded. He stood hesitantly but kept the smirk on his face, “Your muggle neighbor, Y/N.”

Theo stood up and gave Blaise a high-five, “You still got the magic touch I see.”

“Please never say that again,” Blaise sighed. He went on to explain everything that just happened, how he accidentally saw you, how he went over and how you invited him in for coffee and talked for about an hour. Well, mainly flirted. Then he talked about how he acted coy and wanted to know whatever was nice in town and when you told him about a French restaurant uptown, he used it as a way to ask you on a date.

Blaise was explaining everything, but it all sounded quiet to Draco. He couldn’t hear a word out of his friends mouth after he said your name.

“Mate, you alright? You look pale,” Blaise looked concerned.

Draco snapped out of it and lied through his teeth, “I’m fine. Just tired and slightly hungover is all.” Lie? Why would I be lying about this? Wait… why am I lying about this?

“Oh, well I can make the thing my mum makes for hangovers if you’d like,” Theo offered.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll just get some rest.” Draco walked to his bedroom and removed the necktie around his collar. As he walked in, he saw how his curtain wasn’t fully closed. He opened it slightly and as he looked across, he saw you sitting in a chair in your bedroom. You seemed to have been in a haze before you looked up and met your eyes with his. You waved gently and Draco, as he always does now, nodded his head and closed the curtains.

This can’t be real.

—

next chp

(っ◔◡◔)っ taglist: @beiahadid @malfoy-styles-wife @fivenightslaughter @juneballoon999 @leydileyla @fangirlanotherjust @originalsoulcollector @opiomancy @lipstickandloveletters @ninacotte @daedric-sorceress @frecklesandfirecrackers @hahee154hq @disartrous @oh-those-barricade-boys @bornforfangirling

[viking-raider]

Services Due *One-Shot*

Summary: You’re promoting your new Amazon Prime show at a convention and decide to toss a coin to your Witcher, Henry, who’s there promoting the Witcher.

Pairing: Henry Cavill/Reader

Rating: Silly Fluff

Word Count: 1,444

Inspiration: This post by @thesapphichistory​

A/N: just a fun little one shot that crossed my mind after seeing the post and wondered what Henry would do with you since you “paid” for his Witcher skills.

(Cred to @hcavillier​ for the lovely photo of Henry)

                                                              –

You came to the Comic Con to promote your web series that was due to premiere in two weeks  You’d been signing autographs and taking selfies for hours, and finally got to go on your lunch break. But you were stopped by another pair of fans, so you indulged them and signed the few things they had for you and took several selfies with them, but turning to head over to the vendors, when one of the two girls squealed and started dancing in place, like a dog excited to get a treat. You turned to look at what she was going on about, following her eye line to a tall, broad shouldered man, with an ass you’d know from anywhere; Henry fucking Cavill. You two knew each other decently well, you’d met in 2011 on the set of Immortals, where he was the lead and you were one of the random lesser goddesses. You couldn’t recall the last time you’d seen the Brit, his Man of Steel premiere perhaps. The two fan girls finally managed to get a handle on themselves and scurried over to Henry, clamoring all over him, but Henry just smiled brightly at them, patiently and graciously did everything they asked of him. Satisfied, the girls went off, leaving him be.

Taking advantage of lull between fans bombarding you both, you dug into your pocket and found what you wanted, and moved over to him. “Henry!” You called to him, getting his attention, you watched as huge smile come across his face, meeting his blue eyes. You smiled back at him, and tossed the object in your hand at him, which he caught smoothly one handed.

“What’s this for, y/n?” He asked, looking down at the coin in his hand.

“Toss a coin to your Witcher.” you laughed, stopping in front of him.

He tried to fight the smile crossing his lips, biting his bottom lip to try and stop it, but failed miserably. “I should have fucking known.” he chuckled, pocketing the coin. “Is there a monster you’d like me to slay for your payment?” he asked, playfully.

“Yeah.” You nodded, feeling your stomach growl. “My stomach.”

Henry’s smile turned into a sly grin. “I can do that easily.” he told you, turning back to the table he had been signing things at and leaned over it to grab his coat. “I know a great place.”

Henry led you out of the convention building and to his rental car. You both took the time to where ever it was he was taking you, to catch up with each other since the last time you’d seen each other. Henry did several more Superman movies, Justice League and did Mission Impossible: Fallout with Tom Cruise. You’d done several movies in the time between your last encounter, but had done mostly tv and web shows and took a year off just to recharge your batteries before you started filming the web series you were promoting for Amazon Prime. Henry pulled into a parking lot of a local famous pizza place and parked.

“Aren’t you on a stupid strict diet for the Witcher?” you asked, following him inside.

“I am.” he laughed, finding a booth for them in a back corner so any prospective fans wouldn’t see them and come over. “But, it’s my cheat day.”

“Then, I have the perfect timing to utilize your Witchering skills.” You teased him.

“You’ve always had good timing.” He teased back, giving you a mischievous wink.

You rolled your eyes at him as the waitress came over to the table and ordered at medium cheese pizza with a Dr. Pepper for you and water for Henry. The waitress brought the drinks and let you know the food would be done soon, before going off to her next table. The conversation between you and Henry lulled for a moment as you both downed some of your drinks.

“So, how’s it feel not to be Superman, anymore?” you asked him, around your straw.

He heaved his shoulders and frowned down at his water. “It feels alright. I enjoyed playing Superman and all. But it takes a toll, it’s a big thing to live up. I just hope the guy that takes my place does a better job than I did.”

“You did a great job at Superman, Hens!” you told him, impassioned.

“Well, if you think so.” he grinned at you. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“You’ll always be my favorite Superman.” You smiled back at him, tapping the side of his calf with your foot to drive the point to him.

Henry tapped your leg back as the pizza arrived, “I bet you, your coin back, that I can eat more slices than you can.” He challenged you, seeing your hungry gaze at the food and set the coin on the table between the two of  you.

“I’ll have you know I haven’t eaten since last night, when I got off my flight.” You warned him, glancing up at him from the mouth watering pizza. “There’s a mighty beast to be slayed in my stomach.”

“Oh, I’ll slay that beast and kick your ass by eating more for good measure.” He warned you back, picking up a slice. “You may not have eaten in a while, I haven’t eaten in two months.”

With that, the two of you dove into the pizza with all haste. You’d just finished your second slice as Henry started reaching for his fourth, to stop him from grabbing it you kicked his foot under the table, making him retract his hand and giving you the diversion to grab the slice he’d been going for and stuff the first bite into your mouth.

“That’s cheating.” Henry laughed, picking up a slice.

You shrugged your shoulders at him and smiled around the now half gone slice. By the time the pizza was gone you’d caught up with him and there was only one slice left on the pane between you. Henry eyed you and you stared back at him, it started to feel like a Wild West duel at the O.K corral; who was going to grab the proverbial gun and win. You narrowed your eyes at him and he narrowed his back at you, and suddenly felt both of his feet pin yours down, preventing you from kicking him again, if you tried.

“Is that all for you.” the Waitress asked, seeing only one slice left and seeing if you wanted the check.

“Almost.” Henry told her, still watching you.

You turned your head out the window. “Is that Luke?” you asked, frowning.

“Not falling for it, short stuff.” Henry replied, shaking his head.

“Don’t need too, Godzilla.” You laughed, as Luke Evans knocked on the window after seeing the pair of you.

Henry turned his head and blinked, seeing it was actually Luke, which gave you the advantage to snag the last slice and devour it. Henry looked back at you as you inhaled the slice and rolled his jaw, the competitive part of him annoyed he’d lost, but the other part of him was amused at the sight of you engulfing it.

“This is mine.” You said, picking the coin up off the table.

“Hey, guys.” Luke greeted you coming up to the table and sliding into the booth beside you. “What’s going on?”

“Henry used his Witcher skills to slay the hungry monster in my stomach, then I kicked his ass by eating more than he did.”

“Oh, I let you win.” Henry chimed in.

“Like, fuck you did.” you laughed at him.

“I did, and you cheated.”

“I did no such thing.” You grinned, guilty.

“How’d you cheat?” Luke asked, amused at the bickering between you both.

“She kicked me in the leg, for a start.” Henry told him. “Then she tried to trick me into thinking you were outside…”

“Blasphemy!” You proclaimed. “It wasn’t a bloody trick, he’s right here.” you said, waving your hands at Luke, in demonstration.

“You know very well you did it to make me look away, whether Luke was here or not.” Henry countered, crossing his massive arms over his equally large chest.

’Christ, playing the Witcher has made him even hotter.’ You thought.

“Alright, fair.” you gave in, rolling your eyes at him.

Henry winked and rubbing his foot up your leg. “I don’t mind losing to you, y/n. Spending time with you is enough for services due.” he assured you.

[cayleyshortstories]

Lucid

Written by Janry Deoduco & Illustrated by Kiefer Tayawa

They say that family is the only joy you’ll ever need in life, and if there would be a perfect embodiment of that, the Santiago Family would be a good candidate. On a peaceful evening, the Santiagos decided to play a game of Monopoly as they waited for their pizza dinner--just like any normal happy family. “You landed on my property, Dad! Where’s my 200?” said the Santiagos’ only child, Lucy, lightly bossing her father out. “Okay, fine! But…” replied Daniel, “aha!” He exclaimed as he threw a card down looking very proud of himself. ‘Once you land on your opponent’s property, the fee will revert to the owner,’ the card said. “Come on, Dad!” dismayed, Lucy fell to a defeated kneel as she handed the 200 creds she owed her father. After a while, the doorbell interrupted their heated, exciting match of Monopoly. “Oh, finally! That must be the food,” almost jumping out of her seat, Daniel’s wife, Sandra Marie hurried towards the door to pay. The two left at the coffee table right in the middle of their living room looked relieved, both from the heat of the game and their rumbling stomachs. “Here, babe,” Sandra handed Lucy a slice of her favorite shrimp pizza from her favorite pizza place, Maximus’ Pizza. The child thanked her and retreated happily back to the coffee table, analyzing the board as if it were a chess match.

The night started with a warm and comforting vibe, but as it grew past its youth, an eerie gust of wind blew leaves from trees, as if devouring the harmony and peace the young night gave its inhabitants.

“Lucy! Time for bed baby girl,” said Sandra. Their game of Monopoly ended with Daniel losing. It had been a weekly tradition for the Santiagos, as they played Monopoly in their living room and ordered the same pizza from the same place at exactly 7:00 in the evening every Sunday. “Already? I’m not yet sleepy, Mom.” Lucy replied, though her tired eyes and relaxed gestures seemed to contradict that. “Did you forget? We’re going to the park tomorrow,” Sandra said as she carried the sleepy Lucy from the living room floor and started walking up a few steps. “Really? Yehey! Well, I guess it’s time for bed, Dumdum,” the young girl said to her stuffed animal, gently resting her head on her mother’s shoulder. As the night grew out of its youth, the cryptic whistles of the wind blew harder, that even the tree branches outside the Santiagos’ home lightly tapped onto their windows, almost as if the elements outside were luring them out. Though the circumstances did not stop the three from their slumber, something else seemed to stop Daniel’s.

He heard and saw people screaming and being tortured, and then he screamed of fear until he awoke at 3:07 am and walked downstairs to get a drink of cold water. After that, huge lightning flashes, and a strong wind blows while he felt something strange crawling on his body but couldn’t find out what it really is. Suddenly, he touches his body because of his weird feeling and then he finally notices that he can see everything differently. He noticed that something looked upside-down and the places started to change and change due to an unexplained situation so he finally realized that something weird was happening. He is questioning himself “Am I seeing these things normally?” “Are these things the things I saw yesterday?”

People being tortured, bloody scenes of utter violence, and complete chaos appeared in Daniel’s vision as he came slowly into a distorted state of consciousness. At the sight of these, he screamed and wailed, completely overwhelmed and terrified at the same time. Daniel tried to walk away, but his feet seemed to be glued onto the floor. A beastly being suddenly roared and broke from inside the ground to the surface, adding to the raging fear and panic Daniel was experiencing. “Help! Get me out of here, I can’t move!” He screamed repeatedly until he could barely speak. After all that took place, the hell he woke up to disappeared as if a switch had activated it. Shocked, he felt for his own skin, somehow examining the reality he’s in.

After so many questions that came to his mind, he finally realized that he was still dreaming and was thinking of everything that can make his house back to normal. “Oh my! I can control everything. What if I think of something interesting. How about some new shoes hmm. It worked!” He is finally getting interested in his dream called the Lucid Dream. “Dad, what are you doing late at night?” Lucy said while going downstairs. “Oh, you’re awake! I think Lucy will love this. Hey Lucy, come. Here’s your new plush toy.” “Wow! Dad, you have some awesome and cool superpowers.” Lucy ran upstairs and called Sandra to show Daniel’s new unexplained power. “Mom! Wake up, look at Dad, he is a superhero.” “What is it my darling?” said Sandra. “I was a masked magician and will give you some lovely roses. Give some three claps and the roses are yours.” Sandra clapped three times and then she suddenly noticed that she was already holding sweet-scented roses. “Unbelievable Daniel! I think this is very interesting.” said Sandra while smelling Daniel’s lovely roses. “Let’s see what more can I do.” Daniel thought of a big mansion. “Wow! My dreams came true. Can I fly?” Daniel started to fly together with his family having their fun while laughing. “Gimme a cape and a talking DUMDUM Dad!” Daniel gives all he can give to fulfill his family’s dream. After they enjoyed their fun Moments together, they started to rest while Daniel saw a huge dusty mirror and wiped it with his own hands. He saw nothing until he heard a huge scream from his family. Lucy is screaming of fear while Sandra is crying and then he saw the mirror again and suddenly saw a reflection of himself as an old man staring at him. “WAKE UP!!!” said the old man and suddenly pulled him inside the mirror. He lost his consciousness for a minute until he woke up in a blank space with a strange atmosphere and said, “Where am I?! Why did you bring me to this kind of worthless place?” He tried to run fast because he thought it was the only way to escape but nothing happened. He is like running out of nowhere and hoping for nothing. He tried to close his eyes but nothing new happened. It was like closing his eyes, but his eyes won’t really close. After a second, he stopped for a bit and heard some whispering uncleared voices and he said, “Who are you?” Different kinds of voices started to shout at him with random languages until it became so annoying and made Daniel suffer. “Stop! Why can't I control this thing?” said Daniel. The noise started to grow and grow until he finally heard his family screaming and crying of fear. “Dad! Help us! Please look for us. We’re scared Dad.” said Lucy while Sandra said, “Daniel, do something! Stop this kind of suffering!” After that, the whole place started to burn and Daniel heard all the suffering of every person he encountered. “IT HURTS!” said the woman. Daniel said, “Why can't I feel anything? Why can’t I do something about it?” After minutes of suffering, flashes of people suffering from torture went to Daniel's eyes. “Stop it! Don’t hurt us! We’re innocent people. We don’t deserve this kind of thing.” Daniel suddenly looked at the man crying until it looked at him with reddish creepy eyes and said, “It’s your fault! STOP THINKING ABOUT US!!!” “But I can’t control myself! I don’t know why but I can’t stop thinking about all of this.” The crying man started to move his feet up and tried to stab him; however, he suddenly pushed the guy very hard and felt the anger crawling at his back. “I can’t control my emotions! AM I CRAZY?! Is this really a Lucid Dream wherein I can make things I want to become a reality? Why do I can’t control myself thinking of this kind of image over and over? I just wanted to play with my family and have fun together seeing my daughter and wife’s smiles. I want to go back to our past wherein we are spending our time playing Monopoly and eating pizza together. I missed the time wherein I can kiss my wife over and over again like there is no tomorrow. I want to go back. I just wanted to get them back!”

“I missed them. I love them. I cared for them. Give me back my family...” The nurses were shocked and started looking at a 95-year-old guy who has suffered from critical mental illness complications for the past many years. He is one of those innocent victims who survived in a War whose families are tortured and killed by those heartless foreign soldiers. He suffered from a deep trauma since the death of his family which makes him unconscious and dream of his memorable pasts. “It is the first time that Mr. Santiago talked like that.” “I think It is a miracle for him to speak.“ “Wait, let me talk to him.” said the nurse while looking at Daniel cautiously. “What is it, sir? May we help you?” said the nurse. Daniel looked at the nurse directly into their eyes for the first time and said, “Sandra? Lucy? I finally realized that you’re all fine now.” He laughed quietly until he passed out smiling since he finally realized that the true peace in life is to accept reality and let go of the past.

____________________________________________________

ILLUSTRATION EXPLANATION:

The whole theme of the short story is about lucid dreaming and love for family. In this still image, the eyes directly looking at the family represent Daniel’s love for his family. The mood of this still image looks dreamy and dark, yet full of colors because it is about lucid dreaming in general which is very pensive. Ever since Daniel lost his family, he can never forget about the memories he and his family have shared, and that caused Daniel to reminisce it over and over again.

[talsursok]

TASK 001: INTRODUCTIONS

hello, everyone! i’m tea and i’m really excited to be part of this rp. i’d love to plot with you all or feel free to hmu and we can chat about whatever. (bonus points if you're into video games, animal crossing or stuck at home due to a pandemic :/ ).  i apologize for any spelling / other annoying errors. i’m trying to balance writing this, eating and cleaning. 

CHARACTER INFO

Full Name: Talia Noelle Sursok

Nickname(s): Tal,

Age: Thirty-Three

Birthdate: August 18th, 1987

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Occupation: Firefighter

Neighborhood: Coral Reef

Bio:

tw: death

in 1987, lucia sursok welcomed her one and only child into the world. born to a single mom, talia was never short of adoration. predominately raised by her mother with the help of her aunts and grandmother, talia grew up with a healthy sense of female empowerment, but she didn’t want to be viewed as a damsel in distress. like a bird set free, she explored the world around her and found a passion in martial arts. while she fought hard for good grades in school , she made up in her passion and excellence in fighting others. whether she envisioned her c math grade when she hit the bag, or the absent father she never knew, nothing felt better than releasing whatever emotion she was harboring.

at fifteen, talia was whisked away from her home in new zealand to move to california where her mom just had to marry some guy she met months earlier. talia approached him with skepticism; she never grew up with a male figure in her life and wasn’t sure what to think of him. she’d mutter hellos his way and make sure any conversation he would try to keep was cut short. little by little he was growing on her, until one day talia realized that the anger she held for her missing father was no longer there; she had found a father in a man who loved and accepted her and her mother. he was encouraging, always cheering her and continually motivating her.

so! with her watered down accent, talia found a desire to help others however she wasn’t quite sure in what form. she spent two years getting her associates at a local community college before transferring to a university where she obtained her bachelors in psychology.  school was spent being tutored by numerous students, late nights of flash card studying and lots of (hidden) years). finally, on the day of graduation with her fresh, college degree in her hands, talia looked into the crowd and locked eyes on her beaming mom and dad.

years went by and everything in between receiving her college degree and the rest of her twenties seemed like a blur. a bad breakup. late nights with friends. crying in the shower after a rough night at work. writing a list of pros and cons on getting a dog. finally getting said dog ( a siberian husky, her dream pet). numerous amounts of coffee consumed. and plenty of family time.

at twenty-six, talia found herself growing tiresome of her job as a social worker. after a long discussion with her parents, friends, coworkers and even her favorite baristas, talia felt a calling to become a firefighter. first there was volunteering, then becoming an EMT, passing a written exam and then graduating from the firefighter academy. it was challenging, exhausting, but also thrilling and a constant adrenaline rush. the passion talia felt when becoming a firefighter was indescribable. she had finally met her biggest and best challenge.

life was truly blissful until a year ago, when talia felt a pain that she wasn’t sure she was capable of feeling. she had lost her father. actually, she’s pretty sure she still hasn’t processed it and just the thought of it makes her a wreck (but never in front of anyone). talia was confused, angry and overwhelmed by the pain. she sort of shut herself off to everyone who tried to get close to her. the pain of losing a loved one again was something she desperately wanted to avoid.

personality

obstinate. you can tell her not to do something 100 x, but if she sets her mind to it she will do it. a lot of this came in the form of being picked on when she was little by the older boys in her martial arts class. she wanted to fight better than them and pleaded with her coach to train her longer that most.

genuine. what you see is what you get with talia. it doesn’t matter who she’s around, she stays authentic to herself and what she believes. she finds it too exhausting and useless to put on a front around certain people.

protective. at the core of it all, talia just wants to help people. seeing others in danger, suffering physically or mentally is hard for her to handle. so she does her absolute best to comfort everyone but herself.

cynical. life events have made talia feel distrusting of others. between being involved in social work and now her current occupation, talia is skeptical of the motivations of others. this originated when she was a a dumb, young teen in love with the bad boy who cheated on her multiple times. this incident left her embarrassed and guarded.

assertive. she trusts herself and her abilities and does not like when people question what she can do (mentally or physically). she’s just pretty feisty. talia is honestly a little too confident in her abilities and can come off as a bit forceful. just take this with a grain of salt and tell her to chill ~ she won’t, but feel free to tell her anyways.

impulsive. talia has always been impulsive; whether it’s proving that at age five, she in fact can climb a tree and does so but falls off leaving her with a scar, or going into any situation without thinking it through. being quick to act has its perks in the fire department, or so she thinks.

likes: coffee, dancing, warm weather, the first rainfall after its long absence, holidays, working out, strawberry ice cream, 70s music, movie theaters, competitive events, cleaning, top shelf tequila, fresh flowers in the house, lots of cozy blankets, minimal jewelry, pineapple ON pizza.

dislikes: cooking, cold weather, sleeping in too late, cats, socks, carbonated drinks, being fussed over, red meat, licorice, traffic, indecisiveness, watching the news, being alone, vulnerability, iphone updates, the smell of cigarettes, wine, not recycling, boredom.

her connections

anything and everything :) she’s been living her for eighteen years, so i’m open to anything that can fit during this time! give me all the drama.

(photo edit cred.)

[r3b3lgrrrrrrrl]

A LunaTic and her Gunn (Part 70)

"The Gang's All Here"

@creatureofthen1ght-v3

@lovemythsworld

@crystalbaby12

📷 cred @southsidequeenie

"I KNOW this ain't you, Brooklyn!!" Benny bellows as he enters the Cleveland house.

He's waving around Luna's Yankees hat in his hand. She's standing in the kitchen against the counter in a tube top and black and red oversized swooshies. Long hair loosely pulled back.

"Shit." She scowls. "Where'd you find it?" She asks reaching for the hat.

"On the ground in the GOD DAMN driveway, Girl!" Benny informs her with a disapproving look.

"Nope." Luna shakes her head, pointing at Colson. "Blame him. It's all his fault." She says laughing.

Standing in the dining room, playing pool against Slim. Colson looks at them both.

"Bitch, please. You wanted this Deeek." He laughs.

Benny and Slim burst into howls. Luna smirks tossing up her middle finger. There's a black heart tattooed on it.

"With love, BITCH." She smirks at Colson.

Just then Rook and Baze burst through the door.

"WHAT UP!!!!" Rook roars.

"We ready to fucking party till our faces fall off!!" Baze shouts with him.

Everyone's collecting at Colson's tonight. They head to Cincinnati in the morning. Kicking off a month full of dates. They'll break in July. Word being that they'll head over seas by August.

Music is blaring. Joints flowing. Beers are cracked Everyone is excitedly talking about what to expect while on The Bus.

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

Colson takes Benny with him to pick Casie up from school. He has an ulterior motive.

"Yo, Benz... You know that dude Tommy, Luna used to run wit?" He asks him as the split a joint.

"Yeah, I know that Bull." Benny exhales.

"He's been hitten' her up. You think I gotta problem?" He asks, hitting th he joint.

Benny's head whips over at Colson's words. Those are not good words.

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

Of course Benny knows Tommy. You can't make a move in NYC without coming across Tommy Eagan. Benny hadn't realized it at the brownstone but he'd meet Luna once before also. It had been at a party in MidTown. Benny watched as Tommy drug a screaming man across the apartment and threw him off of the 13th floor fire escape. Killing him instantly. Luna handing him a beer when he climbed back inside. Benny didn't know the details at the time, learning later through NY folklore, that the man's eyes had lingered too long on Tommy's girlfriend. Luna.

NY folklore is just that. Tommy did kill the man. Over a personal vendetta, not Luna. She did hand him his beer, because he had a lot of them. And they weren't hers. Luna learned early on, that being with Tommy meant toeing the edge at all times. She had loved the danger and had no fear.

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

"Possibly." Benny answers honestly after hesitating. "Word is that Bull worshipped Luna."

Benny watches his friend's jaw clench. Colson starts puffing on the joint. He looks over at Benny.

"You make sure the bus is stocked." Telling him firmly.

Benny nods. Not liking where Colson's head is.

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

Back at the house, Slim is running the table against Baze now. Windows are wide open. Trying to air out their massive session before Colson gets back with Casie.

Luna sees Rook sitting on the steps alone.

"What's up, Pal?" She asks.

Sliding onto the lip of the step beside him, Luna hands him a beer. He gives her a glance as he takes it from her.

"Thanks." Rook says, clinking his beer to hers.

"You alright?" She asks, concerned.

"Meh. It's stupid." He short changes himself.

"Stop." Luna coaxes him. "What's going on?"

"I thought this chick was gonna hit the first couple cities with us but she bailed on me. I've been talking to Stephanie but I'm getting tired of being dicked around." He looks up suddenly. "Fuck. I'm sorry, I know she's your friend."

"Steph's dicking you around?" She asks Rook directly.

Luna's not surprised with Stephanie and is instantly defensive of Rook's feelings.

"No.. No.. No..." He says, putting one drumstick in the air. "She's not doing anything. I just like her and, she of course has a dude." Rook sighs.

"Hey... New tour, new cities, new people. We have no idea what's out there." Luna tries to reassure her friend.

"Yeah..." He perks up. Looking at her with honest eyes, he admits. "I kinda just want what you and Kells have. That go with the flow, no games, figure out because we're in love shit."

"You know what I believe?" She asks Rook, looking up. Showing her own honesty. "I believe we have more than one soulmate. That we float in and out of each other's lives. Giving peices of ourselves to the other as needed. Sometimes for a long time, sometimes short." She shrugs.

Luna's words give Rook a weird sense of relief.

"I never thought of it that way..." He nods.

"Perspective, Bud. I gotta believe that we're more complex than just one for one. Otherwise I'd be a fucking LunaTic." She grins at him, tossing him an elbow.

Matching her with a laugh. They're interrupted as Casie bursts through the door. Spotting them first.

"ROOOOK!!! LOONEY TUNES!!" She screams, barreling towards them.

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

Ashleigh and AJ show up. Completing The Gang.

They order pizza, mozzarella sticks, wings and cheese fries. Drinking, eating, game planning the next day.

Rook and Benny are staying at Colson's. Casie's being picked up by Emma tonight but Colson and Luna will drive her to school in the morning. Seeing her one last time before their off. Everyone meeting back at Colson's before picking The Bus up DownTown.

Standing in the dining room, Ashleigh asks Luna of she's nervous about being on tour.

Luna shakes her head and shrugs. "Not really.... I've been on and off a few before... What do you think about scooping up my friend Sam for a bit, once we hit NY?" She asks Ashleigh's opinion.

Luna looks over at Rook, who's chowing on a slice of pizza. They both could use the company.

"I think she'd be a fun boost of estrogen to the pack..." She adds.

"Yeah, I'm sure Kells and The Boys won't mind. And we're definitely out numbered!!" They laugh together. "She'll be at the NY show?" Ashleigh asks.

"Yeah, she already has a ticket." Luna answers.

"Cool..." Ashleigh tries to answer as Colson throws Luna over his shoulder and grabs Ashleigh's hand.

"I'm sorry!!" Luna laughs as he drags them along with him.

Emma's there and Casie wants to say GoodBye. Huge hugs and loud kisses are given. Promises to see her on The Bus soon.

Colson and Luna walk Casie and Emma outside. Luna squats down and squeezes Casie again. Standing up, the adults agree to see each other in the morning. Luna planting another loud kiss on Casie's head.

"Love you, Dilla!!!" She calls as Colson walks them to the car. Buckling Casie in.

"Love you too, Looney Tooney!!" Casie yells back as her parents laugh at them.

Waving them GoodBye as Emma and Casie pull out, Luna leans her head against Colson.

"I fucking love her." She sighs feeling a sudden burst of sadness over missing the little girl.

Colson kisses the top of Luna's head as he pulls her close. He has the exact feeling pulsing out of her.

"I know, Kitten. We'll see her tomorrow. Come on." He says guiding her inside.

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

Finishing up the food, they drink more. Burn hard. The music blasts as they talk and laugh. Getting a little too fucked up.

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

Finding their way upstairs, Colson and Luna are sloppy and drunk. Kissing all over each other. Stripping their clothes off as they enter the bedroom.

"I'm so glad you're coming with me. Now I don't have to find a new thot each night." He laughs into her mouth in between kisses.

"Fuck you. You're such a slutter butter." She laughs, kissing him back hard.

Luna jumps up, wrapping her legs around Colson's waist as he grips her ass. Running her hands through his blonde hair. It's long and he needs a shape up. She kisses along his jawline and nibbles his ear.

Tossing her on to the bed, she giggles as she bounces. Slipping off her panties as Colson drops his briefs. He climbs on top of her, throwing her smooth legs over his shoulders. Kissing on her neck, he thumbs her peircings as she guides his huge dick inside her warm pussy.

"Oh, Luna..." He sighs out as she pushes him deep inside of her. "You feel like fucking heaven."

Colson thrusts himself into her as she holds onto his hips, popping hers into his. The way he plays the notes of her body, it's as if it was created solely for him.

"Fuck Colson!" Luna pants, gripping his skin in her black fingernails as he rocks back and forth into her.

Sliding his hand around her throat, he kisses her hard. Clamping his hand tight.

"1.2.3. GO!" He demands, slamming into her with each word.

Making them both eagerly cum.

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

Colson and Luna wake up early. Hung over and miserable. Both railing Adds before showering. One for her. Three for him.

They fuck in the shower. It's part of Colson's hang over remedy and a ritual of theirs. Smoking a joint together, he patches her shoulder and checks out her machine gun tattoo. Both look good to him.

Luna pops two 30s. Tossing on a System of a Down t-shirt, cutoffs and black Docs, she fishbraids her hair into pigtails.

Throwing on her leather and shades, she sips on her coffee as she waits for Colson in the kitchen.

"Fuck, YOU ARE HOT! Gimme that pretty little mouth of yours." He exclaims upon seeing her.

Luna smirks as he grabs her ass and kisses her.

"Come on HornBall." She laughs.

Her ass leading him out the door.

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

"LUNA!!! YOUR GLASSES!!!"

Is the first thing out of Casie's mouth as she hops in the car. Waving to Emma out the window, Luna turns in her seat.

"You like?" She grins at her tiny bestfriend.

"I LOVE!!!" She declares.

"I knew you would!" Luna tells her, slipping her a hard glasses case.

Opening it, Casie squeals. They're the exact pair Luna's wearing. She had found them, instantly thinking of Casie. Buying two.

"WHAAAAT!!!!!" Casie screams. "THANK YOU LOONEY!!! LOOK AT ME, DADDY!! THEY'RE SO COOL!!!" She continues to scream as she puts the sunglasses on.

Colson grabs Luna's thigh as they laugh at the little girl.

"I don't give a fuck what she says. This Bitch is gonna marry me." Colson decides

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

To be continued....

[barnesbabes]

Casting Call

gif creds to: @mrbenhardys

pairing: Joe Mazzello x Male!Reader

word count: 2.4K

request: @writingsthegame-dylansthename ”Well in that case, could you please write a fic where Joe Mazzello does a movie with the reader and then they accidentally fall in love. (Male reader of course)”

A/N: so excited to write this!

For the last month, you waited by your phone for hours. Ever since you left the audition room, you didn’t stop thinking about it. Mark, your manager insisted you got the job. He felt that you could portray the character the best. You fit the description that the casting directors wanted. You felt confident about it. That was until walked into the agency and found a room of your clones. They didn’t look exactly like you, but the similarities were clear. Your audition went good in your eyes, you gave your lines and they seemed really impressed by you. They smiled and told you, 

“We’ll give you a call when we make a decision.”

You felt confident leaving that audition. But you didn’t get a call for weeks. You tried to think positively, your friends tried to encourage you. They’d gush about how prepared you were. You were surprised Mark didn’t quit, you called or text him at least once a day. He tried to calm you down. You had roles in TV shows before but this was a movie, a big project. This would get your name out there to more opportunities so you tried to wait patiently.

Nearly a month had gone by and you began to lose hope. They never posted who the cast was so maybe they were still looking? You began to blame everything that led up to that moment. You felt that you were plagued with bad luck. You wanted to blame the barista who said ‘good luck!’ instead of ‘break a leg!’. Okay, maybe you were overreacting.

Mark called you that day, he didn’t even wait for you to say hello before speaking. You groaned into your pillow, wallowing in self-pity.

“Y/N, are you sitting down?”

“Laying down actually.”

He laughed, you could basically see his smirk through the phone.

“Even better. Remember that audition you went in for, the super big movie?”

You hopped up, leaning on your elbows. The sound in his voice made you hopeful. You hummed in agreement.

“You got the job! They are having me forward the script to you later tonight! First read through in first of next month.”

That was only 5 days away. Holy shit. You laughed, thankfully he couldn’t see the tears pricking your eyes. You squealed with joy and listened to him tell you more about it. Once the call ended you fell back onto your bed and cried. You were excited, nervous and felt like all the weight was finally lifted from your shoulders. You stayed up until you finished the script. Your character seemed to totally have feelings for his longtime best friend. It was never addressed but you were sure to play the part to the best of your ability. You just wondered who the rest of the cast consisted of.

You finally figure out what you were wearing, your closet thrown around the floor. You made sure to get to the office early. You arrive and smile at the director. He threw his arm over your shoulder and smiles, knocking you off your balance. 

“We are so happy to have you on this project, Y/N. Did you get the script?”

“Yes, it was amazing!”

You want to gush about it but you refrain so you wouldn’t annoy him. The secretary leans her head the conference room, pulling the director out of the room. You wipe your sweaty hands onto your pants and pour yourself a glass of water from the table of refreshments. You could hear the most adorable laugher outside the door. The director opens the door, a man follows behind him. God, he’s beautiful. The ginger hair that shined from the morning sunlight. The beautiful eyes that glistened. The smile tugging on his lips when he saw you. The beautiful laughter belonged to a beautiful man. He pushes his hand into yours and shook lightly. You had to try not to get lost in his eyes.

“Hey, I’m Joe Mazzello. You must be Y/N Y/L/N.”

You were astounded that he knew your name. You could only nod and smile. That’s all you did the whole time while the other actors showed up. You step back, reveling in how grateful you felt in that moment. Joe crept behind you, placing a hand onto your shoulder.

“A little overwhelmed?”

His voice was soft and sympathetic. Even through all the loud conversions in the room, you felt alone with him. You laugh softly and nod.

“Yeah, a little.”

He shakes his head and leans back into the table.

“Don’t be. I watched some of your work. They made the right decision.”

He had seen some of your shows. Holy crap. You felt like you could die right there and be happy. You made a mental note to yourself to look up his filmography. 

You sat beside him as you began to read through the script. Everyone introduced themselves and their characters. It was your turn next.

“Hi, I’m Y/N Y/L/N. And I’m playing Issac.”

Everyone said hello and waved, making your nerves fall. You felt more comfortable as time grew. As you stop speaking it struck that you never asked Joe who he was playing.

“Hello everyone, I’m Joesph Mazzello. And I’ll be playing Sam.”

Sam and Issac were the two best friends in the movie. You remember reading the interactions between the two of them. It seemed that your character had deeper feelings for Sam. Yeah, it wasn’t going to be hard to act like you fancied Joe. The reading began and you couldn’t help but smile at Joe when you weren’t reading. 

Your night was spent watching anything Joe had been in. You never realized that he was Tim Murphy from Jurassic Park, a movie you never shut up about after it came out. You watched an episode of The Pacific, holy crap he was adorable. You admired him as an actor even more now. He was able to play such different characters and looks adorable while doing so.

Three months had gone by since the first read through. You basically had seen Joe every day, not complaining though. In between scenes, Joe would strike up a conversation with you. As time went by, both of you would bring the other a coffee in the morning. Joe would saunter over to you, a smile tugging on his lips. He was quick to learn your coffee order. You’d giggle and cradle the drink your hands, thanking him.

“You’re addicted.”

He jokes as you punch his elbow. He sat beside you while you got your hair and makeup done. Joe began telling you about this girl he met at the bar a couple nights back. You try to act happy for him, responding the way any guy would to his friend having feelings for someone. But you were any guy to him, you had feelings for him and he never seemed to reciprocate them back. As the makeup artist left, a soft silence filled your trailer. He shifts in the seat across from you. You smile towards him as he finally comes up with a topic of conversation.

“We’re filming our fight today. You ready?”

You nod and glance over to your script. The fight was a turning point for your characters.  Your character was going to finally reveal his feelings to Joe’s. Hell, it felt like you were going to. Of course, you’d run over the scene with him. Before any take, you two would go over it until it was perfect. 

One night he even invited you to dinner. He showed you supposedly the “best pizza” place ever. You had to admit, it was really good. The plan was to have a bite to eat and then run over the scenes of the next day. Instead, you talked about each other's filmography. You swear that you can listen to his past acting experiences for hours. He mentioned how much he admired you in one of your more difficult roles. You could feel how warm your face was as he rolled out endless compliments to you. He walked you back to your apartment and gave you a hug, his hand lingering on your waist. You could still feel his hand there once you finally got upstairs. But somehow your feelings were oblivious to him.

You glance around the set, it was supposed to resemble the apartment of Joe’s character. Joe was sat on the couch, his hands clasp together. He tries to get into character before he shot something. He now likes to say that “it was hard to pretend to hate.” You stood outside the fake door, moving around to get your energy up, the coffee helped with that. You were given a thumbs up from one of the lighting people. You nod to him and take a deep breath. The slap board clap followed by the director calling to everyone.

“Rolling!”

Issac slammed his fist into the door, calling for Sam to open it. He stands up from his place on the couch and trudges over to the door. He lets himself into the apartment and turns on his heels, facing his friend angrily.

“Why have you been so M.I.A recently, Sam? You haven’t answered any of my calls.” 

He threw his hands up, defeated by his friend's action. Sam rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He tried to muster up the words in a more polite way but couldn’t.

“Have you ever realized that you’ve been kind of a dick lately?”

Issac glared up at him. Of course, the two friends always called each other things like that, but never with such anger. 

“Dude, ever since I started seeing Amy you’ve been a total dick.”

Issac rolls his eyes even though he knows his friend is right. He tries to think of something to say but Sam stops him.

“Issac, I know it sucks being single. But you’ll fin-”

“Stop! I’m not pissed about being single.”

Sam leans into the back of the couch, waiting for him to continue.”

“I’m pissed about the person I love not loving me back.”

Issac felt his heart sink. He had never planned to tell Sam his true feelings, let alone acting on them. He wrung his hands together and sighed.

“Do you like Amy or something? Is that why you’ve been such an ass?”

Sam retorted.

Suddenly, you weren’t acting anymore. You quickly responded, still in character.

“I spend all my time with this person! They bring me things, remember things but still are oblivious! They hold me, acting like it’s nothing! It means the world to me!”

The writer quickly stood when he noticed you going off the script. Joe didn’t look confused by your sudden change. He was listening to what you said, feeling at fault. Before the writer could cut in, the director stopped him. He leans forward to watch your performance.

“God, I love them. And it hurts. It hurts because they go one with their day fine, and I’m left wishing I could hold them! I wish I could kiss them, anything. They are fucking perfect. I do anything, hell I’m obvious about it but still, nothing is returned!”

Sam searched his head for something to say.

“Issac, I understand what you mea-”

“No, you don’t. Because I’m in love with you and that scares the hell outta me.”

Not only was there tension in this scene but it filled the room. People shared looks with each other, utterly impressed with your acting. Your chest heaves after yelling out your frustrations. The director calls cut and claps, walking over to you. You stare at Joe, not sure of what to say. It was clear that the line had some sort of truth behind it. You tried to leave the room as fast as you could, Joe races after you. He calls your name but you couldn’t face him.

You close the door to your trailer and flop into your chair. You push your face into your hands, groaning. You try to push back your tears. You wallow in the silence until you hear someone patter at your door. You take a deep breath before moving to the door, pulling it open. Joe stands there, panting softly. You open your mouth to speak but Joe kisses you softly. You start off taken back, not disappointed. He parts and carcasses your jawline.

“That story I told you earlier? Total lie. Y/N, I am utterly in love with you.”

You quickly pull him back into your lips, kissing him with all the passion you could muster.

Tonight was the premiere of the movie, your nerves running high. It wasn’t the first premiere you had been to, but one of the most important. But Joe had promised to stay by your side for the whole night. His hand rests on your inner thigh, your hand holding his. He presses a kiss to your temple, sensing how nervous you were. The car slowed down and the door swung open. Joe climbs out and waits for you, smiling brightly as you step onto the asphalt.

“Ready, love?”

Your cheeks feel warm as he whispers to you, his hand rests on the small of your back. You nod and wave to all the people trying to get your attention. Interviewers fix their fancy clothes and rush through the questions in their head, waiting till you reached them. You stopped and took some photos with people, they gushed about how handsome you looked in your suit. You laugh and thank them before rushing off to step onto the main carpet.

Joe holds an arm for you, smiling as you rush into it. The cameras flash and you can hear people calling for you both to look to them. You can’t help but smile at Joe. Through all the chaos you felt alone with him. The relationship was public, only to your family and friends. One of the photographers must have picked up on the intimacy between your exchange and called.

“Give him a kiss, Mazzello!”

What a prick, you thought. You didn’t have a second to respond before Joe pressed a wet kiss to your cheek, laughing. His nose presses against your cheekbone. People whistled and hollered, camera clicking and flashing around you. You hit his chest lightly and laugh as he pulls away. Throughout the rest of the night, his hand rests on yours. This was worth all the waiting.

[bxckybxrnxs]

All This Time

Summary: ‘You and Bucky have recently started sleeping together and when you’re wearing his joggers your ex boyfriend Pietro sees you and gets jealous. Bucky finds you pressed up against the door by Pietro and doesn’t know what to think.’

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x female reader, past Pietro Maximoff x female reader (ex)

Characters: Bucky Barnes, Pietro Maximoff, Tony Stark

Feels: Low-medium, fluff

Warnings: Swear words, implied smut (references made)

Word Count: 2,350

Part: 1/1

Author’s Note: (Not my gif cred to @whatwasdead) All my own work, this story is copyrighted to me (@bxckybxrnxs) but I do not own the characters or setting. There is a slight POV change near the end I’d like to make readers aware of but it is marked :)

You wrapped the fluffy towel you had set out for after the shower around your shoulders, after lightly drying yourself with it. Stepping out of the bathroom into your room you felt a rush of cold air as you left the warm, moist air from the bathroom behind.

You had forgotten to pick out clothes to wear before you went in and as goose pimples were beginning to form on your arms, you brushed your hands up and down them and decided to throw on clothes that had been left on the bed.

Grabbing a tank and some joggers, you threw underwear on before almost jumping into the clothes. Instantly feeling warmer, you ran your hands through your hair, pulling the wet locks up into a bun.

Kicking your feet into flip flops that had been on your floor for a while, you left your room in search of food: it was past 8 and you were starving.

You had heard Tony mention something about getting take away pizza for dinner earlier, so you made your way to the usual hang out place to find some other Avengers, and if needed: to beat the shit out of them for eating all the pizza. Stopping in the kitchen to get a drink, you opened the fridge to grab yourself an iced water.

You straightened up and pulled the joggers higher around your waist for the fourth time. Taking a look at them properly since you’d seen them on the bed, you noticed that they trailed around your ankles, clearly far too long. You swore under your breath, they were Bucky’s joggers, and if this wasn’t a gigantic marker for your rapidly progressing relationship, you didn’t know what else you could have done.

Might as well have put on some blaring music and ran around the tower with a flashing sign that read, ‘ME AND BUCKY ARE SLEEPING TOGETHER!!!’

There was no one else in the kitchen now but you could hear laughing voices not to far away. Deciding you’d rather starve for a bit longer than completely embarrass yourself you quickly started to walk back to your room. Before you’d even got anywhere near the door there was a complication.

Quiet as a mouse but as fast as lightning like usual, Pietro had whizzed into the kitchen and was leaning back again the fridge, usual smirk plastered on his face, “Hey Y/n.”

“Hi Piet,” you sighed, slowly edging towards to doorway.

Things were a difficult enough between you and Pietro at the moment, you had broken up two months ago but he was still doing everything to try and get you back. You could feel his eyes on you and you wished he wasn’t such a flirt, with him constantly checking you out there was no way he was not going to notice that the joggers you were wearing were clearly not yours.

Almost as if your thoughts had cued him, his eyes narrowed as he looked at your pants. “Either you’ve shrunk…a lot, or they’re not yours,” he scowled.

“Er-what are not mine?” You replied innocently, playing for time as you continued to slowly move towards the door.

“Don’t play dumb with me Y/n,” He snapped, storming towards you, coming so close you could smell his aftershave; the aroma dragged up so many memories that it was like rubbing salt into a burn, “Who’s are they?!”

You placed your hands on his chest, pushing him away. “It has nothing to do with you!” You hadn’t been this close since you broke up, the intimacy was making you feel uncomfortable.

“Nothing to do with me? Y/n are you fucking serious? It has everything to do with me.”

“Maybe once! But not anymore,” you replied staring directly into his frosty blue eyes which were filled with jealousy.

“Tell me who’s they are!” He persisted, leaning further into you, his fingertips pressing into your hips. Your back was against the door of the kitchen, there was no way you could move away with his hands holding you there in his strong grip.

“Get the fuck off me now.” You said icily, glaring at him.

“Not until you tell me,” The rage burned bright in his eyes and although he spoke quietly you had spent enough time in close proximity to him that you knew he was furious.

Suddenly a door slammed on the other side of the kitchen. You could imagine exactly how this looked and you let your head fall back against the door. “Fuck,” You swore softly.

You couldn’t see who had entered, Pietro’s silvery blonde head blocked your view. His fingers brushed against your bare skin of your hips as he loosened his grip, turning to look. Your eyes fluttered shut at the contact and you just managed to stifle a gasp.

Opening your eyes, you craned your neck, trying to see around Pietro. You took advantage of his slackening grip and finally pushed him away from you, only to come face to face with James Buchanan Barnes.

Shit.

Another guy who could express so much emotion purely with his eyes alone. The rest of his face was blank but in his eyes you could read uncertainty, anger and jealousy. He’d obviously read the situation in the worst way possible.

“What…is going on?” Cat like, his eyes slowly flicked over the two of you in the deafening silence. His arms were by his sides but his fists were already clenched.

Pietro stepped forwards, “We were just talking,” He said, covering his rage with a smooth smile.

Bucky wasn’t satisfied with that answer, “About what?” He asked, dangerously calm.

You were looking directly at him, trying to catch eye contact, but his gaze never fully focused on you as it brushed around the room. He must have taken the jacket he was wearing earlier off, as now he only wore a black t-shirt with his dark jeans. The top was tight fitting and practically outlined and highlighted every single one of his muscles, they looked more pronounced than ever. A few strands of hair had fallen over his face, obscuring-what you would imagine-his clenched jaw.

“About things,” Pietro replied, carelessly. You looked around at both of the men you have gotten to know so well. To an outsider this could have been a casual conversation among friends but Pietro’s shuffling feet and twitching fingers along with Bucky’s tightening jaw and emotionless face were obvious indicators to you that they were both extremely pissed off.

“What ‘things’?” Bucky questioned, “Were you talkin’ about that involved you holdin’ her up against the door?” He still looked completely unruffled about what had taken place but you could almost see the rage building up inside of him.

“Why do you need to know Barnes?” Pietro said in reply and you could tell Bucky was itching to slap that antagonising smirk off his face.

“Guess I’m just curious punk,” Bucky said, a ripple of tension flowing through his body as he stiffened. If he was annoyed before, that was nothing to how he felt now.

You wanted to intervene, to step in and try to sort this out, but there was no way to do so that you could think of without one of the Avenger’s losing their shit at the other.

“Maybe you should keep your nose out of business that doesn’t include you, ‘punk’.” Pietro mimicked with a sarcastic laugh.

“What happens if this ‘business’ does include me?” Bucky hissed, taking a step towards Pietro, letting his pretence fall, not caring anymore as Pietro registered his obvious rage which you knew was mirrored in the other man.

Glancing across at Pietro, you looked away instantly as an ugly scowl tore across his handsome face. You had never seen him so angry before in the whole time you had known him, even when he thought you were cheating on him. His hands were shaking with fury as he glared at Bucky with full force.

“You,” Pietro spat, “It’s you isn’t it?! The one she-” he nodded sharply at you “-has been fucking.” The last word was said with such ferocity that you took a step away from him. “ISNT IT?!” He shouted, fixing Bucky with a look of absolute hatred.

“So what if it is? You don’t own me Pietro, and you definitely don’t control what I do, not anymore.” You snapped, finally wading in, feeling the anger bubbling up inside you. Taking a step towards Bucky, you placed a hand on his arm, “Leave it Buck.”

As your hand made contact with the bare skin of Bucky’s arm, it was the last straw for Pietro and he launched himself at the dark haired soldier. Snarling like a savage cat his fist crashed into Bucky’s face before you or Bucky had even noticed him move.

Tumbling back, Bucky raised his own hands, already curled into fists, swinging back. You stood there in shock, furious that Bucky was being hurt over Pietro’s stupid jealousy.

“Stop it!” You screamed as you noticed that Bucky was pulling his punches. You’ve seen him fight properly many times, in and out of Winter Soldier mode and you knew if he was going 100% Pietro would have been knocked out on the floor by now, even with his super speed.

Kicking Pietro in the knees, making him falter, Bucky grabbed his arms, twisting them behind his back as he lost concentration. You stormed over to where Bucky was holding the speedster against his will and slapped him, hard. “Don’t you ever touch me again,” you hissed, “And stay the FUCK away from my boyfriend,” you added, nodding at Bucky to let him go.

Pietro took one last look at you, before speeding out the kitchen with his hand clutching his bloody nose, not without sending a glare in Bucky’s direction.

There was an expectant silence between you and Bucky as you took his hands, leading him to sit on a stool at the island. As you made to let his hands go, he held onto the for a little longer, a need for closeness between the two of you. You grabbed a bag of peas from the freezer, wrapped them in a clean tea towel and gently pressed them against his eye which was beginning to bruise from one of Pietro’s punches.

“Boyfriend?” Bucky questioned, breaking the quiet.

Your relationship hadn’t been more than long, passion filled nights and this moment was loving and tender, which the two of you had yet to experience. Drawing a stool up and sitting next to him at the island as he held the frozen peas to his black eye, you sighed. “I’m sorry, I know we haven’t put a label on what we have. But I-” Breaking off, you turned away from him slightly.

He leant forwards suddenly, lowering the peas and captured your lips with his gently. This kiss was loving, nothing like the heated make out sessions you usually share. Your eyes fluttered shut and you brushed your fingertips though his dusky hair. There was so many words to be said between you, so many feelings and expressions that had been pushed into this kiss.

You were glad that Bucky had understood the situation, everyone in the tower-hell everyone full stop, it wasn’t exactly hidden from the media- knew that Pietro still had feelings for you. You had briefly talked with Bucky about your and Pietro’s history because Bucky hadn’t wanted to go behind the other man’s back if there was still something going on, which you had assured him that there was not. You had noticed the jealousy burning bright in Bucky’s own eyes when he had walked in upon Pietro pressing you against the kitchen door, but you knew that when you had slapped Pietro it had evaporated all of Bucky’s concerns.

(POV change)

That jealousy and anger Bucky had felt was unlike anything he had ever felt before. All the feelings that he had kept simmering under the surface had all come bubbling out in an unstoppable torrent. Y/n was the first girl to ever make him feel this way, not since before he became The Winter Soldier, but for the first time.

When the two of them made out on the veranda at the end of one of Tony’s parties, he had pulled away, convincing himself he would only hurt her. But she kept on coming back, again and again until after one night when they couldn’t deny the chemistry they had any longer, they had fallen into bed together. After she admit one morning that she found him insanely attractive, he had presumed that that was all there was, pushing down and suppressing his feelings, settling for the feel of her skin against him but nothing more.

(POV change back)

You smiled into the kiss, pulling away. “All this time, you felt this way and never told me?” You asked.

Bucky broke his eye contact with you, looking down as he picked at his fingers, “I didn’t think you felt the same doll,” he replied.

“God you’re an idiot Barnes,” you giggled, “I was trying my hardest to show you that I liked you but you always seemed to brush me off,” you added.

He leant forwards to kiss you again, his fingertips trailing down your jawbone. Your stomach fluttered at his touch, barely containing your happiness. He pulled away from you sooner than you would have liked but left your foreheads still touching. “So all of this is because of that jerk Pietro, he opened my eyes,” he laughed.

“Don’t let him hear you saying that,” you replied as you stood, wrapping your fingers in his, pulling him to stand too. “Now can we please go and find some food, I’m starving!” You complained.

“There’s nothing left,” came a voice from the door. Your head whipped round to see a smirking Tony Stark with, what you presumed to be, the last slice of pizza in his hand. As you glared at him, he took a huge bite, his eyes locked on yours, “Mmm delicious.”

“STARK!!”

[travelonlinetips-blog]

New Post has been published on https://travelonlinetips.com/13-hands-on-cooking-classes-to-fire-up-your-inner-masterchef-2/

13 hands-on cooking classes to fire up your inner masterchef

Does the thought of hosting a dinner party make you wilt faster than a basil leaf in a Brisbane kitchen? Have you lost your mojo to come up with clever new weekday meals?

Whether you’re a wizard when it comes to Insta-worthy creations or a toasted sandwich kinda chef, your kitchen will rule after signing up to one of these hands-on cooking classes, all within a few hours of Brisbane.

1. Spirit House, Yandina, Sunshine Coast

Expect a little spice when you book a class at Spirit House. Located just off the Bruce Highway, two hours north of Brisbane and about 20 minutes inland from Noosa, total immersion in nature also awaits. Oozing oriental charm, the alfresco restaurant is nestled amongst towering bamboo trees and a picturesque lotus pond.

If you love the flavours of Thai and Vietnamese cuisine, but the daunting recipes make you run for your Uber Eats app, this cooking school is for you. They aim to serve up a basic knowledge of Asian ingredients and methods, with classes including ‘Gluten Free Asian’, ‘Asian Shared Table’ and ‘One Bowl Wonders’.

At the end of your four-hour session, you can wash the fruits of your hard work down with free wine and beer!

2. Life’s a Feast Cooking School, Noosaville

For a homely vibe, this boutique cooking school is housed in a… well, a private house, a few minutes’ drive from Noosa’s Main Beach.

The freshly-baked muffins on arrival give you a taste of owner and teacher Gail Rast’s cooking style – that is, effortless, wholesome and crowd-pleasing. Her class options take you on a global tasting experience, from authentic American barbecue cuisine to flavoursome Moroccan feasts and advanced pasta-making.

But Gail’s teachings involve more than just a pinch of this and a sprinkle of that; at Life’s A Feast you’ll also score piping hot tips on menu planning, food and wine pairing, and food presentation. We guarantee your knife-cutting skills will go up a notch or four under her careful tuition.

3. James St Cooking School, New Farm, Brisbane

This Brisbane institution was serving up culinary lessons long before James Street emerged as a cool dining (slash everything) hub.

With super fresh ingredients at your disposal, the chefs at James St Cooking School encourage you to get messy. Forget just tasting; these guys are big on touching and smelling the food to really get absorbed in the cooking process.

Although they cover a bunch of different cuisines, their most popular class is ‘Fast and Furious Seafood’ – think pan-fried fish in bush spice or prawn cutlets poached in coconut milk. Delish!

4. Wild Lime Cooking School, Scenic Rim

Who cares about food when the scenery is this tasty? Ninety minutes’ drive south west of Brisbane is The Lost World Valley, an inspiration for your taste buds encircled by the dramatic ranges of Lamington National Park.

For a true gourmet getaway with friends, attend one of the monthly Wild Lime Cooking School classes, then spend the night at the delightful homestead next door and wake up to the bleating sounds of roving sheep.

The focus here is on using local produce to create everyday dishes that are elevated to perfection. Learn how to make leek-wrapped scallops, mint couscous with native greens or lamb shoulder with fig paste, and sit back on the huge balcony to drink in the country scenery while you devour it.

If you’re travelling with kids, the local homestay operators work in unison, so you can drop them off at nearby Cedar Glen Farmstay for horse riding and milking cows while you create grown-up flavours.

5. Vanilla Zulu, Teneriffe, Brisbane

A modern set-up, this Teneriffe school for culinary adventures is run by Zimbabwe-born Melanie Townsend, who has travelled the world to bring foodie tricks to Brisbane.

Perfect for the reluctant cooks and shy bench-sitters, Vanilla Zulu is all about giving you a hefty dose of confidence, while showing that you can pull together gourmet meals without losing too much precious Netflix time over a hot stove.

Classes run two to four days a week, and the list is pretty extensive with a focus on rustic Italian or vegan one day and meat lover’s or pastries the next. Or, for the ambitious, Melanie also runs a six-week chef skills course.

6. The Golden Pig, Newstead, Brisbane

Take a funky warehouse in inner-city Newstead, add a plethora of premium chefs, and you’ve got Brisbane’s edgiest cooking school.

The groups at The Golden Pig are big, but so too are the flavours. Whip up a classic beef pho from scratch in the new ‘Vietnamese Soups & Noodles’ class, trim beef like a real chef in ‘Kitchen Essentials’, or learn to preserve and cure pork in the ‘Pork Charcuterie Class’. Bread and pastry on your learn-to-master list? They’ve got classes for that too.

A big supporter of local, small-scale producers, there’s also a coffee bar, lounge, rear BBQ deck and retail goodies to browse.

7. Tenteram Cooking School, Gold Coast

If you’re on a mission to be a bit more #health focussed in the kitchen, then a four-hour class at Tenteram, and its lush Bali-inspired property in the Currumbin Valley, is the place to start.

Owners Kay and Justin have a passion for Indonesian cuisine – and creating healthier versions of it. The bench tops here might be sans refined sugars, fish sauce and white rice, but the dishes you create are so bursting with rich (and medicinal) flavours that your palate will be none the wiser.

They also sell their own gourmet product range, Tenteram Fine Foods, that you can stock up on before you leave.

6 more cooking classes to get your kitchen cred soaring

Tamarind Cooking School, Spicers Tamarind Retreat, Maleny Take the lead from expert chefs in a beautiful rainforest setting at this Sunshine Coast delight. Cuisines include French, Italian and Thai.

Norman Hotel, Brisbane With their 20 years of meat-flipping, this is the number one place to learn how to fire up the grill in a two-hour Mastersteak BBQ cooking class.

The Jam Pantry, Greenslopes (Brisbane) Fancy yourself a kombucha fiend? Upgrade (or get introduced to) your pickling and fermenting skills with monthly workshops here.

My Thai Kitchen, Auchenflower (Brisbane) The sumptuous flavours that come out of this kitchen also fill the cooking classroom, led by the restaurant’s chef Taya Meeikeaw.

The Sauce Kitchen, Toowoomba This foodie haven sits within a heritage building and offers a range of classes from baking and Asian cooking to coffee education.

Mecca Bah, Brisbane and Gold Coast For pizza-making lessons with a twist, head to this Middle Eastern and Mediterranean-inspired restaurant. Competitive cooks, take note: Prizes are up for grabs!

Have we missed any great classes? Let us know in the comments below.

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[funface2]

Guy Fieri Knows How to Laugh At Himself. That’s Why He Has Instagram’s Best Meme Account. – Esquire.com

Guy Fieri is many things. A restauranteur, he opened his first venue in 1996. A TV personality, he anchors the Food Network’s Friday evening lineup stalwart, Diner’s, Drive-ins, and Dives. “Triple D,” as he and fans call it, filmed its first episode in 2007 and 12 years and 30-plus seasons later, Fieri is preparing to head out for two weeks of shooting. “We’re getting thousands upon thousands of requests at a time,” he admits. “In the beginning, I’d be calling my friends like, ‘Hey, have any of you ever been to Syracuse?”

On the same network, the star also hosts Guy’s Grocery Games and Guy’s Ranch Kitchen and has appeared in a dizzying amount of one-offs and specials. Fieri has released a handful of books; some of them related to Triple D, others are collections of original cookbooks. And most recently, Fieri—AKA the Mayor of Flavortown— has emerged as must follow on Instagram, where he shares increasingly hilarious memes and leads a fanbase with an unparalleled love for knuckle sandwiches.

Below, Esquire caught up with the Fieri to discuss a decade of Triple D, Diplo, “the food revolution” in America—and how the memes get made.

Esquire: Your Instagram presence brings great joy to the Esquire office. Do you enjoy posting and interacting with fans?

GUY FIERI: I gotta tell you, I love when the fans get so excited and the emojis start coming out [in the comments, where knuckle sandwiches are particularly popular] and people laugh at me. People laugh at me like, how do you do these?! Man, you’ve got to be able to laugh at yourself.

You’ve been super imposed onto a poster for Once Upon a Time … In Flavortown, a tuxedoed member of the Flavortown Abbey Cast, and donned Walter White’s cap for a Breaking Guy series. Do you have a favorite meme you’ve posted?

I loved all of the employees of Flavortown. And, I mean, boy I am bad at the computer. Clip art is about as far as I can go. But my team, we’ll do this back and forth and [coming up with concepts and captions] is this whole game. Everyone is trying to one-up each other. That’s what makes it so fun. And once we started to find our ability to take it even further, it just opened the floodgates. And the fans are having a great time with it. It’s not a meme, but I’m trying to get t-shirts made with the knuckle and the sandwich [emojis]. I’ve had a tattoo on my arm of knuckle sandwich for the last 20 years—so I just want the cartoon knuckle and plain Jane sandwich.

That is just one of very many tattoos you’ve collected. Which means the most to you?

I lost my sister to cancer eight years ago. And I designed a tattoo of her and had it done. My mom was never a big fan of tattoos but I showed up to the burial and had it already done on my forearm, and I had made t-shirts of the tattoo. She’s shrouded in a veil of dragonflies and all the chakras are behind her and it says namaste, which is an important word in our family. It changed my mom’s entire attitude about tattoos. It was probably two or three years later, on the anniversary of my sister’s passing, that my mom went and got her own tattoo of a dragonfly. Never say never.

How old was she when she got that tattoo?

How much do you want me to get my butt kicked by my mom. I think I’m supposed to say she’s 57… [Laughs]

“We’re so congested with so much information, it’s nice to be able to do something on a Friday night that people can sit around together as a family and watch and go, Hey, you know what, next time we go to Vancouver, we’re going to check this out,” Fieri says of why he loves hosting Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.

Tony Carrera

You have over a million followers. And while most accounts with that large of a following struggle with some pretty mean comments, your section stays pretty clean.

People know me by now. I’m not a negative energy person—and I’m not into negative. But, how do I handle when people write negative things? I don’t really pay attention to it. And that’s probably because I got into it a little bit later in life. I was set on who I wanted to be as a person, raised by great parents, and [I] have a fantastic wife.

You’ve been the Mayor of Flavortown for a while now. How did that begin?

I never said, Hey, you know what? I’ve got a great idea. Let’s make a mystical place; we’ll call it Flavortown and it will be real funny. There’s no way in hell anyone could be that whacked to make anything up like that! That started as a one liner. [While filming,] I said, ‘This pizza looks like a manhole cover in Flavortown.’ A week later, [director of photography] Anthony Rodriguez holding up a donut and says it looks like a steering wheel, to which I replied, ‘Yeah, in Flavortown!’ After the show aired, we were walking down the boardwalk in Atlantic City and someone goes, ‘I’m on my way to Flavortown!’ I look at Anthony and I’m like, ‘Was that from the show?’ 12 years later, it’s still this growing, developing, funny thing. Now people are residents of Flavortown and people are sending me street signs of Flavortown.

You recently teamed up with another enthusiastic Instagrammer: Diplo. I noticed you were featured in his “So Long” music video for his song with Cam.

He’s the best isn’t he? God. You know what makes him so good? What you see is what you get. And I’ve been around him and there has been just clamoring fans going nuts, and he stands there and talks to them like he’s known them for 25 years and they all decompress. They know he’s not going to walk away. Talk about knowing how to breathe it all in. And then, on the other side, you realize just how masterful he is at the same time. But yea, in the street cred with my kids and my kids’ friends, things went up a notch with that.

Social media wasn’t around when you opened your first restaurant. Does it make the job of a restaurant owner easier?

Maybe people had MySpace—but even that was 10 years [after we opened]. We had to do a lot of TV advertising, radio advertising, and it cost a fortune. Folks now have a much better shot at sharing who they are. Obviously, when you can also be on Triple D or any of the great travel shows that the Food Network does out there, it gives you a chance to touch millions. They can, without question, be life changing.

“When we first started the show, if you would have asked me, I would have said, ‘I’ll do this for a couple of years and then it’ll probably be over,” says Fieri, “because there’s not that many places.’

NBC NewsWire

30-plus seasons into Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, has your team got a pretty strict system in place?

The system is called shoot it, get it done. But I’m very picky. I want to make sure that we have the right place. And as soon as it feels rushed, then it doesn’t feel as good. This is a very fun time for a family or for a restaurant or a community. When Triple D shows up, it means that there is going to be some really great exposure and there’s going to be some great adventure that people are going to get to be a part of. A lot of people are counting on this being done the right way. Have there been locations that I wish we could have shot? Without question. Are there reasons that we can’t? Yes. I mean, I get every heartbreak story in the world of people needing me to go to their location. We try to listen to them all.

It’s a lot of pressure, I imagine.

People thank me all of the time. And I say, well, hang on a second. I appreciate you thanking me, but you are the ones that made your restaurant. You are the ones that are doing this amazing job. You are the ones that are this unique family that have been running this for a hundred years. I thank you. I thank you for letting me come here and talk to you, because this is what we want. We’re so congested with so much information, it’s nice to be able to do something on a Friday night that people can sit around together as a family and watch and go, Hey, you know what, next time we go to Vancouver, we’re going to check this out.

Certainly no one starts a show expecting to go into their 30-something season. Do you love Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives differently than you did when you began filming?

When we first started the show, if you would have asked me, I would have said, ‘I’ll do this for a couple of years and then it’ll probably be over, because there’s not that many places.’ But we’re in the middle of a food revolution, which is awesome. I mean, [my generation] lived through that era of the ’80s and ’90s of mass-produced food. It wasn’t an experience. I lived in France when I was 16—I was an exchange student—and the whole focus at school was what was for lunch. And the whole focus when you went home was what was for dinner; sitting down enjoying dinner. Talking and taking in courses, all this stuff. When I see [that] coming here in this food revolution, I’m thrilled. And to be the guy who gets to chronicle it, I mean, it’s like being on the edge of the big stories.

“We’re in the middle of a food revolution,” says Fieri. “…And to be the guy who gets to chronicle it, I mean, it’s like being on the edge of the big stories.”

Ethan Miller

You film at multiple locations per day. How hard is that one your body?

I’ll give you the little secret: I don’t—I can’t—eat it all. Don’t get me wrong, I want to. They sometimes have to pry it out of my hands. They grab the Pho bowl out of my hands and everybody starts eating it. So I have a real regiment about when I eat, what I eat, how I eat, how much I work out. I bring my gym clothes. I’m no fun on the road! I drink my vegetable juice in the morning. We actually bring the juicer with us. I have my Americano. We shoot a location. As soon as I get back, I go to the gym. I’m in bed by nine o’clock. And I have to do that, because I have a real responsibility. This is their one time that they’re going to be on The Food Network.

Triple D is just one of your shows. You also have Guy’s Grocery Games and Guy’s Ranch Kitchen, plus a whole fleet of restaurants and a handful of books. Do you ever miss just cooking?

Oh geez. It’s the thing I still love the most. I’ve told my wife many times that it’s going to end up, at the end of the day, with us going to live down in some country—maybe even in the United States—and on the days that the restaurant is open, I’m going to put the red flag out on the front porch. Food will always be my center.

Madison Vain Madison Vain is a writer and editor living in New York, covering music, books, TV, and movies; prior to Esquire, she worked at Entertainment Weekly and Sports Illustrated.

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Bài viết Guy Fieri Knows How to Laugh At Himself. That’s Why He Has Instagram’s Best Meme Account. – Esquire.com ��ã xuất hiện đầu tiên vào ngày Funface.

from Funface https://funface.net/funny-memes/guy-fieri-knows-how-to-laugh-at-himself-thats-why-he-has-instagrams-best-meme-account-esquire-com/

[daniellesmithtv]

Enjoy Illinois: Exploring Chicago and the Magnificent Mile

Friends. I love to travel. That is not a surprise. But sometimes you don’t have o go FAR away from home to have the very best experiences. Let’s talk about my recent trip to Chicago (just an hour flight or five hour drive from my home in St. Louis). I was a guest of Enjoy Illinois and the Magnificent Mile and the trip was truly so much fun. We packed in experiences, sight-seeing, FOOD and all things Chicago.

I’m so excited to share every little piece of my time there with you  – from sightseeing to shopping, from fine dining to the most exquisite hotel stay.

Let’s start with the Claridge House Hotel….as much as I loved the atmosphere, I must start with the service. Every employee I encountered from the moment I arrived was truly exquisite. You must check out the ‘Chicago’ tab on my Instagram stories – not only for so much of my entire experience, but for a tour of my room – IT HAD A FIREPLACE.

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  Grab your shades & your hat — and go explore this weekend! #OurHouseYoureHome #ChooseChicago . . . . . . . . . . . #boutiqueshopping #boutiquehotel #claridgehouse #chicago #saturdayvibes #mychipix #hotelroom #hotelroom

A post shared by Claridge House (@claridge_house) on Oct 13, 2018 at 2:41pm PDT

The decor was beautifully modern and so clean. I could have stayed in that comfortable bed all day long. Located in the most darling Gold Coast neighborhood, they offer a variety of amenities including a spa, room service, an evening bar and restaurant for dining.

After checking in to the hotel and taking a quick few minutes to freshen up, we headed out for the evening. Our first stop – 360 Chicago. The views of Chicago from the top of the John Hancock building are, in a word, breathtaking.

From the north to the south, from the east to the west….each floor to ceiling view leaves you with your mouth agape. For the daring (and we were!), we took a ride on TILT. From more than 1000 feet up, you tilt over the Magnificent Mile, for a view like no other.

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  “I can see my house from here!” – Everyone . Share your photos with #360chicago to be featured . . . #chicago #chitecture #mychicagopix #insta_chicago #artofchi #illgrammers #exploreillinois #abovechicago #passionpassport #chicagogram #chigram #wonderlust #flippinchi #chicagogrammers #instagood #cityscape #chi_shooters #wu_chicago #artofvisuals #way2ill #likechicago #theculturetrip #travelawesome #chicagohome #viewfromthetop #tlpicks #onlinechicago

A post shared by 360 CHICAGO Observation Deck (@360chicago) on Nov 30, 2018 at 4:34pm PST

We weren’t allowed to take photos or video while on the ride (you know I WANTED to!)….and I *may* have screamed a little, but it was a very cool experience.

And who can experience Chicago without the quintessential deep dish pizza? Certainly not me. Lou Malnati’s Pizza spoiled us like crazy. Appetizers, salad and the most divine, mouth-watering pizza.

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  Mmm… pizza (Photo cred: @hoekster416)

A post shared by Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria (@loumalnatis) on Dec 2, 2018 at 6:30pm PST

Founded in 1971, they were instrumental in creating the recipe for this Chicago favorite. Don’t think I didn’t eat until I was positively stuffed….I DID. And I slept like a baby will a full belly.

Our next day started as it should – with one of the city’s most iconic attractions – the Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise aboard Chicago’s First Lady.

In a span of an hour and a half, our docent (incredibly well versed tour guide) introduced us to more than 50 of the city’s most interesting buildings and he shared how Chicago grew from a small settlement into one of the country’s largest cities over the last 100 years….

They do close in the Winter months, but will resume in 2019.

Prepare to be jealous of this next experience…and I do mean experience: Eataly Chicago is more than a restaurant.

It is more than a market.

It is more than a little slice of Italy.

It is all of this and more.

We shopped. We explored. We drooled over produce, meats, cheeses and wines. We sampled – yes we did. And then enjoyed the most lovely lunch.

This location is one of five (soon to be six) in the United States – though there are a dozen in Italy and eight in other parts of the world including Seoul and Moscow.

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  It’s the week before our birthday so what better way to celebrate than with a GIVEAWAY?! 🎉 Leave a comment with your favorite Eataly dish and tag a friend to win a dinner for SIX in any of our second floor restaurants! #myEatalyChicago – – – EAT & DRINK & WIN: To enter, follow these easy steps 1️⃣ like this post 2️⃣ follow @eatalychicago and 3️⃣ tag a friend in the comments who you’d invite to dinner! – – OFFICIAL RULES: Giveaway entries will accepted from 11/25/2018 to 12/1/2018 to followers in the US only, ending at 11 p.m. CST on 12/1/2018. Winner will be announced on 12/2/2018 and will have 24 hours to respond via a direct message on Instagram. This is in no way sponsored, administered, or endorsed by Instagram or any of the brands pictured. By entering, entrants confirm that they are 18+ years of age, release Instagram and all brands and participants of all responsibility, and agree to Instagram’s terms of use. VOID where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary. Dinner prize redeemable at Eataly Chicago (43 East Ohio Street, Chicago, IL 60611) only.

A post shared by Eataly Chicago (@eatalychicago) on Nov 26, 2018 at 3:07pm PST

I simply cannot wait to go back.

Our lunch was followed by the most amazing shopping experience at the Shops at Northbridge.

Each and every store seems to pride themselves on making sure each customer has the opportunity to fully embrace the brand. Rather than simply shop, they want you to take your time, sample, enjoy.

From Alex & Ani to B8TA (such a cool concept), from Nordstrom to Kiehl’s – you could wander for hours.

One of my absolute favorites is the newly opened WinkyLux.

As a makeup brand that started with an online presence that has morphed in to an in-store adventure, they pride themselves on allowing you to fully experience the brand.

As you travel ‘behind the scenes’ from room to room, you have photo opportunities AND a chance to sample different varieties of makeup. And there is no charge.

Be sure to check them out.

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  Rosé all (Holi)day 🥂 Say “cheers” to your weekend crew with this rose gold bag filled with rosé-inspired goodies.

A post shared by 🐩 Winky Lux 🐩 (@winky_lux) on Nov 7, 2018 at 12:57pm PST

Our shopping was followed by more history of Chicago at the Driehuas Museum. Located just steps from the Magnificent Mile (we walked from the Shops at Northbridge), the museum focuses on explores the art, architecture, and design of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

While much of the home has been restored, so much of the original architecture and design is intact. I was struck by the contrast between tile and marble, between wood and stained glass. It is both beautiful and fascinating.

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  HOLIDAY HOURS – The Museum will be closed on Thanksgiving but open during regular hours tomorrow and the rest of the week. We hope you join us to discover the Gilded Age at the Driehaus.

A post shared by Driehaus Museum (@driehausmuseum) on Nov 20, 2018 at 1:24pm PST

I have never visited Chicago and NOT stopped by one of my favorite stores on the Magnificent Mile – Coach. As a flagship store, this one always has the latest and most beautiful styles from the brand.

But it also has something that many Coach stores do not – a design studio. Not only can you bring your Coach products to them for complimentary cleaning, but you can customize your own bags.

IT. IS. MAGIC.

I was beyond grateful when they gifted us this experience. We were able to work our way through the entire design process – in this case, choosing the flowers for my bag and the symbols for the iconic Coach tag.

If you know me, you know won’t be surprised by my choices.

Also – I bought boots. Don’t judge me. I am obsessed with them.

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  Inspired by an archival piece. Designed for the modern muse. In glossy metallics or Signature canvas, new-season Trail bags. #LightsCameraHoliday #CoachNY

A post shared by Coach (@coach) on Nov 20, 2018 at 2:36pm PST

Let them eat steak! Ohhhh is that supposed to be cake…. well, our final night in the city included an extraordinary meal at STK-Chicago.

It would be impossible for me to tell you what I loved the most – the salad? The mac and cheese? The mashed potatoes? The Tater Tots??? The STEAK? The COTTON CANDY DESSERT?

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  The mystery of [The Cloud] is what’s inside. Find out next time you dine. • • • • #STKSeptember #STKChicago #STKNYC #STKDenver #STKMiami #STKOrlando #STKToronto #STKAtlanta #STKSanDiego #STKLondon #STKMidtown #STKDowntown #eats #dessertclub #dinnerdate #cottoncandy #cheatdayeats #eatfamous #thetravelingfork #hungrybetches

A post shared by STK (@eatstk) on Sep 20, 2018 at 8:26am PDT

With each course, they paired the perfect wine. The service was impeccable. If you are going to be in Chicago soon? GET. THERE. P.S. If you are celebrating your birthday? They is singing and sparklers. It is impossible NOT to have fun.

Speaking of fun, our final stop for the evening – wait for it – The Redhead Piano Bar.

This redhead was super excited.

The space and the pianist did not disappoint. Now….if only I could sing.

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  Still searching for the perfect holiday party? Look no further, book your private party now! For more information, contact Sophia: rushanddivisionparties.com #Redhead #holidays #party

A post shared by Redhead Piano Bar (@redheadpianobar) on Nov 14, 2018 at 1:02pm PST

After this full day, you can imagine we needed to get some sleep. Remember I said I loved the bed at the Claridge House. Yep, perfection.

Lunch on our last day was a place I had never visited: Ramen-San in the Fulton Market. Specializing in being your favorite neighborhood noodle joint…I’m not sure what I loved the most – the food, or the constant rotation of 90’s hip-hop.

There is something to be said about pairing a great atmosphere with fantastic food.

  View this post on Instagram

  First snowfall means 🍜

A post shared by Ramen-san (@ramensanchi) on Nov 15, 2018 at 10:03am PST

Well….I have certainly given you some options. Do tell, what do you want to check out first? I know, I know – it isn’t an easy choice. But, if you have a trip to Chicago in your plans any time soon, I so hope these suggestions help you to get the most out of the city.

Disclosure: A million thanks to my hosts – Enjoy Illinois and the Magnificent Mile – for a stellar itinerary and making sure I loved every moment of my time in Chicago. As always, all thoughts and opinions are mine and mine alone.

The post Enjoy Illinois: Exploring Chicago and the Magnificent Mile appeared first on Pretty Extraordinary.

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[uscdornsifeadmission]

Dining Dollars - Reese Weingaertner

Whether you have dining dollars to spend or just want to see what places you can eat around campus, here’s a sampler:

Tutor Campus Center: This is the go-to place for on campus dining dollar spending. In a food court setting, you’ll find a California Pizza Kitchen, The Habit (a burger joint), Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Verde (a build your own burrito stop), and Panda Express. Upstairs you’ll find Lemonade, a nice place for fresh and trendy California comfort food, GIANT macarons, and of course, great lemonade. Sharing a wall with the cafeteria is Seeds marketplace, with salads, sandwiches, rotisserie, and a selection of market foods to purchase.

Nekter Juice Bar: This is a wonderful place for smoothies, juices, and acai bowls (a very new and wonderful thing to me). If you’re looking for some fresh and healthy super foods, this is the place to go.

Law School Café: The law school café serves traditional café items such as paninis, salads, coffee, smoothies… and their own label of customizable boba milk tea! This place is a hidden gem for law students and non-law students alike, and is a great place to study as well as get some food.

Starbucks. LOTS of Starbucks.: Everything you love about Starbucks and more, all accepting dining dollars and open 24/7. The Starbucks at Trojan Grounds serves all the familiar drinks as well as offering food, snacks and candy not traditionally found at a Starbucks. The all-new this year Starbucks at Café 84 is a giant and ever-bustling study space for students all times of the year when the libraries get a bit too tiresome.

This is hardly an exhaustive list; there are plenty of places I haven’t mentioned, and if you’re looking for other places (that don’t currently take dining dollars) there are new places popping into the USC Village every day, like Trejo’s Tacos, Wahlburgers, Dulce, Cava, Sunlife Organics, and of course Trader Joe’s. With the dining halls as well, there is never a shortage of places to eat here on campus and in Los Angeles.

Photo creds:

http://thesource.metro.net/2012/02/24/go-expo-to-usc/

http://www.advancedarchitecturalstone.com/university-of-southern-california/

[soshallluke]

Am I Too Old for Snapchat?

'Am I too old for snapchat?' He wonders, adjusting the hat on top of his head for what seems like the ninth time, hoping that it fully covers up his receding hairline. 'Don't worry mate, I'm sure it looks just fine, Now stop whining about your hair, or lack of it.' So I sit and do what my mind tells me. Wait, did I just call myself mate? This is worse than I thought, As I sip the pint I've just bought and scroll through my phone. Though it's dry as a bone and there's no new messages. Just a notification for dominos, But heaven knows now isn't the time for pizza. No matter what that Internet meme says. You simply cannot eat pizza for days. And the pub frown upon the ordering of takeaway, When they sell their own food anyway. So delete the alert or save it for tomorrow after work, When it will be fully appreciated. 'Bing' Just then My phone suddenly becomes illuminated by another notification. It tells me That my good friend Ryan is now on snapchat, and for some reason I should join him. But you know what he's like don't you? Countless pictures of him at the gym where he's trying to get trim. It's a wonder he doesn't break a limb whilst taking those selfies on the treadmill which is a actually a damn fine skill in itself. My finger hovers over the download button, When a sudden thought enters my head. I'm fastly approaching thirty. And struggle using Instagram where the wrong hashtag spells catastrophe. So an app, where messages and photos disappear after being read, Seems instead to be an idea that's utterly ridiculous. So in this instance it seems that it's best to shy away from the mischievous complicated simpleness of photos that disappear faster than the hairs on my head. Though With that being said, I usually foresee great difficulty in posting a selfie at the best of times, so an app where they disappear as quick as lightning might actually be kind of inviting as they'll disappear without my fear of them resurfacing. Not necessarily an icing on the cake of my social media presence, but one where the evidence of my crappy photos vanishes thus limiting the damage to my street cred. Street cred? Man I'm such a bore, No one says street cred anymore. And This discussion is now making my head sore, so make a decision. My finger hits the download button on the App Store, and before its downloaded fully I sink the rest of my drink. I sign in using Facebook to get my first look at my new snapchats. And bang. One appears and it's Ryan in tears As He's just dropped a weight on his foot. This might be worth a look after all.