#even though nobody in my family had a full-time job at the time. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ahonice · 1 year ago

Text

not my boyfriend

luke hughes x fem reader

word count: 9.6k (the google doc was forty pages long idk what happened i got carried away)

warnings: jokes about dying/being killed, drinking, mentions of harassment (none actually happens though, just a topic discussed.) cursing, party games, lots of fighting that could’ve been avoided, VERY unrealistic scenarios and timelines lol, reader is stubborn for no reason and pisses me off (sorry)

note: this takes place during luke’s first full season as a devil. also idk how season tickets work with the devils so... hope y’all enjoy, leave feedback and lmk what you think, love y’all babes <3!!!

+++

growing up in newark meant you were a devils fan by default. which wasn’t a bad thing, your father was a season ticket holder and often took you to games with him as you were the only one of your siblings who was still living at home.

you were the youngest of five, all others being boys, and the university you attended was only a five minute drive from your house so instead of moving into the dorms you continued to live at home.

at each game you always wore unmarked jerseys, shirts, and hoodies. no number or last names on any of them, you weren’t a big enough fan to have a jersey that branded you so you stayed content with your blank ones.

+++

it was the home opener for the devils and your father dragged you, along with all your brothers, out to attend the game with him. he managed to get tickets right behind the devils bench this year, you didn’t even want to know how much money he had to spend to get them.

“dad isn’t this a bit much? the game is going to be the exact same if we were sitting in our normal seats, two levels above.” you asked him once everyone was situated and comfortable in their seats.

“oh shut up y/n, these seats are great and who knows maybe you’ll catch the eye of a cute hockey player and you can live out your trophy wife fantasies.” your brother, who was sitting two seats down from you, teased.

“shut up david.” you said reaching over your other brothers to hit him, which you did…three times.

“would you two cut it out, you’re attracting a crowd.” your father scolded.

he was right, not only were a few people sitting behind you watching, but so were a couple people on the bench in front of you.

you groaned in embarrassment and hid your face in your brother gavin’s shoulder.

“kill me gav, kill me.” your voice was muffled.

“number forty three is staring pretty hard right now y/n.” gavin wiggled his eyebrows at you.

you shot your head up and made, brief, eye contact with a boy who looked around your age before he quickly looked away. another player, who looked just a little older than you, laughed at him before giving you a wink.

“i’m serious gavin, shoot me right here.” you said, pointing between your eyes. “like i’m a horse that just broke it’s leg.”

+++

after the game you went to dinner with your family before you parted ways. you had picked up your coworkers shift because he had a family emergency and wasn’t able to come in. during the summer between your senior year of high school and your freshman year of college you attended bartending school. you thought that working in the night life industry, especially as a young attractive woman, that you would be getting a lot of money in tips.

and you were correct.

your grandparents were covering your tuition, and since you were living at home there were no room and board charges, but you did have a car to pay for, books and school supplies, as well as an addiction to shopping that you had to support. so the job really was great.

it was a nice cocktail, lounge, styled bar. lots of business meetings took place, and overall upper class patrons were the ones who would visit. it wasn’t rare that local celebrities would stop by, or new yorkers wanting a lower tax on their tequila sunrise. so when a few people on the new jersey devils roster walked in, nobody was surprised.

“y/n i’ll take bottle service for them tonight if you cover my side of the bar while i’m out? we can split their tip 70/30.” your coworker brian suggested after seeing them all make their way towards the private section, meaning they would not be ordering drinks themselves like all the other people in the establishment.

“60/40, it’s a saturday night brian.” he rolled his eyes before agreeing, making his way over to the group as you began writing down tickets.

with brian gone you were now the only one behind the bar, it being a busy saturday night you didn’t really have any time to yourself. constantly getting new orders, or people confused why you needed their card to open a tab, you weren’t really planning on taking a break anytime soon.

“what can i get you?” you asked whoever sat in the seat across from where you were currently fulfilling orders. you didn’t look up to properly acknowledge the customer, but you know they heard you because your question was quickly followed by a long “uhhhhh” before you placed the drinks you had been working on infront of their respective owners.

“while you uhhhh on that, i’m gonna go help customers that know what they want.” you didn’t really mean to be so rude, but you didn’t have time to provide good customer service.

“wait!” you had barely turned around before the customer stopped you. “i’m sorry, it’s just that i am not twenty one, so i don’t know what i can order here.”

“you’re not old enough to drink? how the hell did you get in? because if you used a fake i’m sorry but i’m gonna have to cut it.” you finally looked up from the glasses in front of you to see who exactly you were speaking with. he looked familiar, you couldn’t figure out where you knew him from. probably just a student you’ve seen around campus.

“no it’s nothing like that. i’m here with some of my teammates.” he nodded his head towards the private section where you could see brian making them drinks.

you looked back at his face again before the realization hit you.

“you were the player staring at me earlier.”

“you were the girl that slapped her brother in front of everyone earlier.”

you blushed at his recollection of you, he blushed at yours as well.

“guilty.” you both said at the same time, causing some laughs to let out before the moment was interrupted by some people on the other side of the bar yelling that they wanted their drinks.

“i’ll be back in a little bit, sorry.” you apologized to the boy before turning to start making the drinks that the customers had ordered nearly five minutes ago, audibly groaning at the line that was forming all around the bar and the amount of people now entering.

+++

it ended up being nearly thirty minutes before the rush of orders you had gotten was cleared and you had time to go back to where that boy was sitting. you weren’t surprised that he was no longer there, but you were disappointed.

you decided to take the rare break to your advantage and poured yourself a glass of apple juice, savoring the taste before you brought your attention towards the group in the back. brian must’ve really been working for those tips because you had never seen a group so entertained in your life.

making eye contact with the boy, you smiled as he stood up from his seat, excusing himself from the group being met with a smirk from the guy he was sitting next to, who you recognized as the one who winked at you earlier.

“you know you guys are paying for bottle service, you don’t have to come up to the bar to order drinks. it’s kinda what it was made for.” you said once the boy had sat down in the seat he was in just an hour before.

“i know, but i don’t want the guys to make fun of me for ordering orange juice.”

“are you assuming that i wouldn’t make fun of you? because i would, and i will. i’m team apple juice.” you said, raising your glass filled with apple juice, into the air.

“can’t drink on the job?”

you laughed at how stupid of a question that was, just because you worked as a bartender doesn’t mean you have no decorum. “ couldn’t even if i wanted to, i’m nineteen.”

“oh so you’re my age, well a year younger.” he smiled to himself. “i’m twenty.”

you nodded at his words, too busy closing out a tab to respond.

“how can you work here though? if you’re nineteen. don’t you have to be twenty one?” he asked.

“no, you need to be eighteen to serve alcohol in the states.” you responded, not even looking up.

“got it.” he trailed off, it quickly became awkward as you were too busy to give him the attention he was obviously looking for. “i’m luke by the way, don’t think i told you my name yet.”

“i’m y/n, but i’m pretty busy right now so maybe you could go back to your table. i don’t mean to be rude, but i can’t spend my whole shift talking to you and not working.” you told him, noticing the long line that was beginning to form again.

“oh yea of course, sorry. umm i’ll see you around.” luke said, getting up.

you didn’t respond and just walked over to the other side of the bar where the people who had been waiting the longest were.

luke sighed before walking back over to his group.

“what’s the matter lukey? couldn’t impress the hot girl by ordering an orange juice.”

“shut up jack.”

+++

it was only five days later that your father was bringing you along to another devils game and once again you got dressed in your unnamed jersey and a pair of leggings. you had work right after, having taken the closing shift tonight so you would be able to enjoy the game for at least an hour and a half before you would have to go.

“dad please tell me we aren’t in those seats again. you don’t need to be wasting your money like that, our usual seats are just fine.” you spoke as you followed your dad through the arena.

“sweetie, it is my money to spend and i wanted this. i never miss a home game, all of the money spent is being spent for good use.” you father responded, making his way down towards the glass.

you had arrived after warm ups were finished so now you were just waiting for the game to actually start. playing a game on your phone, you were easily pulled into a trance and didn’t even realize that the players had made their way onto the ice until your father nudged you.

“y/n would you pay attention? the boy is looking at you again.” your head shot up at his words and you quickly made eye contact with the boy from last week, luke.

he waved at you before turning around before you even had the chance to wave back.

“that was weird.” you said, not to anyone in particular, but you weren’t aware of your volume because that same guy that winked at you began laughing and pushed luke who was visibly blushing.

+++

“can i get an orange juice? on the rocks.”

you turned around to see number forty three smiling at you, his hand behind his neck in an awkward stance.

“luke.”

“y/n.”

“is your group here today? we didn’t get any mentions of bottle service being needed tonight.”

“yeah, it was a last minute thing. i asked if we could come to this bar instead of the one we had planned on going to.”

“why? because the orange juice is that good?”

“without a doubt.”

you laughed at his words before looking over at your coworker.

“do you wanna do bottle service tonight? or should i?”

“i’ll do it. the general manager is here tonight and you know how she gets when it’s a group of men getting bottle service.”

“got it, thank you brian.”

you looked back to see luke staring at you confused.

“why doesn’t she like men getting bottle service?”

“it’s not that, there have just been a few too many cases of us having to kick people out because of their behavior towards female bartenders.”

“has that ever happened to you?” his voice suddenly angry, causing you to look at him funny.

“cool it casanova.” you laughed, ignoring his question because you have. that’s just what comes with a job in the night life industry though. “i have to get back to work, but i’ll see you around luke.”

dejected, luke made his way to where his teammates were sitting.

“did you fuck up again?”

“yes…? i honestly don’t know.”

+++

it had been two weeks since that night.

you hadn’t been able to make it to any of the devils games due to coming down with a bug, also causing you to miss school and work. it definitely wasn’t ideal considering it was nearly thanksgiving break, which meant it was nearly finals week. but you couldn’t complain, it was always nice to do nothing but binge watch investigation discovery and drink yellow gatorade all day.

“dad can i come with you to the game tonight? my fever is gone and i haven’t been sick in three days. i need to get out of the house badly.” you asked your father once he made it home from work.

“sure sweetie. i’m planning on leaving in half an hour, i want to make it to warm ups tonight.” he replied, shuffling through the mail.

“got it dad, i’ll go get ready.”

+++

you quickly got ready for the game. deciding that you wouldn’t wear any makeup tonight, your eyelash extensions were enough to carry the rest of the face. tying your hair into a braid, you got dressed in an unmarked devils hoodie and leggings before throwing your shoes on.

“dad i’m ready if you wanna leave a little earlier.” you called out from upstairs, spraying your perfume on.

“sounds good hun, i’ll meet you in the car.”

you were really excited for tonight's game, mainly because this was your first outing in civilization in nearly fourteen days, but a little part of you was excited to see luke again.

a little part of you was afraid he had forgotten who you were, as you had only interacted a handful of times.

a loud honk ripped you from your thoughts as you could hear your father yelling from outside.

“i’m about to leave without you y/n.”

+++

you sat in your seat playing on your phone as you anxiously waited for the game to start

“what’s got you so jittery?” your father asks, noticing your legs bouncing. “does it have anything to do with number forty three?”

your eyes widened at the second question that came from your father’s mouth.

“i have no idea what you’re talking about.” you spoke defensively.

“well i thought i might ask because he has been staring at you since he got onto the ice.”

you had been so caught up in your thoughts that you missed warmups beginning, and looking up you met luke’s eyes.

you gave him a smile and a small wave, which he returned before number eighty six rammed into his shoulders and luke went back to what he was supposed to be doing.

+++

after the game you decided to tackle the large load of school work that had been piling up from your sick days.

you managed to spend a good three hours uninterrupted before your phone began ringing. you picked it up to see your general manager's contact shown on the screen. groaning you answered the call, hoping she wasn’t going to call you in because there is nothing worse than a friday night shift.

“hey y/n, i’m sorry to bother you but this boy is currently asking about you at the bar and i need to know if you know him or if i need to ban him from the property.” she spoke.

your eyes widened, a little scared because this wouldn’t be the first time that you’ve had creepy men asking about you on your nights off.

“what is his name?” you ask, you doubted it but there was a chance you did know him.

“luke hughes.” you heard him yell in the background.

“yes darlene, i know him. he is harmless, please let him leave the jail cell.” you joked, knowing for a fact she had him held captive in the office.

“he wants your number.” she whispered.

“just give it to him, and seriously let him go. him and his teammates tip a lot.”

+++

from: *** *** ****

y/n?

from: *** *** ****

this is luke.

from: *** *** ****

i’m a little nervous that your boss gave me a fake number just so i would leave her alone, so if you could respond that would be greatly appreciated.

to: *** *** ****

i’m sorry, but you’ve reached the rejection hotline. the person who gave you this number is not interested.

from: *** *** ****

lovely.

to: *** *** ****

i’m totally kidding.

to: *** *** ****

this is y/n lmao.

from: luke hughes

that is not funny.

+++

over the course of the weekend you and luke texted a lot.

mainly just basic information. favorite food, tv shows, some random questions.

from: luke hughes

why do you wear blank jerseys?

from: luke hughes

and blank everything else? you never have a name or number on you at games.

to: luke hughes

that’s just not something i’m into.

to: luke hughes

there isn’t a hockey player i like enough to wear their name or number.

that wasn’t entirely true.

while you were a devils fan by default, you were a hurricanes fan and sebastian aho enthusiast by choice.

you had multiple jerseys and shirts with his name and number all over them, but the devils only played the hurricanes on home ice a limited time each season so you weren’t able to break out your collection all that often.

luckily for you, the hurricanes were playing the devils at the prudential center in five weeks and that was one of the only things you were truly looking forward to these days, as sad as that sounds.

+++

“the boy who keeps asking for you is here.” brian said to you as he entered the office.

“what do you mean keeps? darlene just told me about the one time.” you responded, turning your attention off of the roblox game you were playing and towards your coworker.

“because i’ve only ever gotten darlene involved once. he kept asking for your schedule that night and i nearly called the cops.do you know how scared i was? not for you of course, just of the amount of paperwork and witness reports i’d have to deal with. did i ever tell you about the time that one psycho came in here with a butter knife and threatened–”

“brian focus.”

“right sorry. he has come in asking for you at least ten times now. if you want me to kick him out i will, i’ve been working out.” brian finished his rant by flexing his muscles, that weren’t even there.

“you’re 5’7 brian. no amount of muscle will make up for that.” you started, picking your phone up. “i’ve got it don’t worry, but thanks.”

to: luke hughes

are you stalking me?

to: luke hughes

because i will get a restraining order against you.

to: luke hughes

i don’t care how attractive you are.

from: luke hughes

so you think i’m attractive?

to: luke hughes

is that seriously all you got from that??

to: luke hughes

STOP BOTHERING MY COWORKERS !!!

from: luke hughes

will do.

from: luke hughes

as long as you agree to go out with me this week.

to: luke hughes

fine.

to: luke hughes

but only because i would like to go one night without my coworkers asking if they need to place your image on the blacklisted board.

from: luke hughes

yeah totally “only because”…

+++

“so you expect me to believe that after the game tonight you are going out with luke hughes. the rookie player for the new jersey devils?” your father asks.

“yes dad.” you deadpanned.

you had told him of your plans for after the game tonight forty minutes ago and he does not believe you in the slightest.

“what did you take for your migraine earlier?” he asks, chuckling. “oh no, did you get into my medicine cabinet? i’m pretty sure i bought those painkillers back in ‘eighty-nine.”

“you’re hilarious. now can we leave please? warm ups are already almost over.” you said, unamused, while your father was bent over laughing at his stupid joke. “i’m going without you.”

“like hell you are.” he said, snapping up right and marching over to the front door. “if you are telling me the truth i have to meet this boy and talk to him…to ask him if you’re blackmailing him into this.”

he added that last part once he was already outside, you groaned as you heard him laughing from inside the car.

+++

to: luke hughes

i will be waiting in the car park after the game whenever you get out.

to: luke hughes

also my dad wants to meet you.

to: luke hughes

he says it’s because he needs to make sure i’m safe, but really he just thinks i’m lying to him about your existence in my life.

+++

“sweetie when is he coming? it is late and i’ve got work in the morning.” your father asks, for what feels like the hundredth time.

“dad, i’ve already told you that you can leave. i don’t need you here.” you replied, for what felt like the hundredth time.

“what if he kidnaps you? or kills you? he’s got money, he could cover it up in an instant.” he snaps his fingers when he said instant to emphasize his point.

“i would never do that sir.” a different voice cut in.

both you and your fathers heads whip around and you’re met with the sight of luke, looking very good in his suit.

“holy shit y/n you weren’t lying to me.” your dad says, walking up to where luke was standing to shake his hand. “let me tell you kid, i thought my daughter had lost her mind.”

“dad. please stop.” you stated, annoyed at his behavior, finding a spot to stand next to luke.

“right. sorry sweetie.” he said before turning his attention back towards luke. “have her home no later than midnight.”

“yes sir.” luke stated, before your dad turned around and walked towards his car.

“so where are we going?” you ask. “you’re dressed like we’re going to a five star restaurant and i’m dressed like we’re going to a drive thru.” you explained, pointing to the major differences in your attire.

“i’ll meet you halfway.”

+++

“is it too late to tell you that i prefer qdoba?” you told luke as he pulled into the parking lot of a chipotle.

“i think i should take you home.” luke joked, before running around the car to open your door for you, slightly tripping in the process.

“i should warn you though, i get queso and guac on my burritos.” you told him, knowing that he would be paying.

“what? that’s like an extra seven dollars.” he complains, holding the front door open for you to walk in.

“should’ve taken me to qdoba, it’s free there.”

+++

the night went very well.

you and luke talked about anything and everything.

it was fifteen minutes to midnight when luke pulled up in front of your house to say goodbye.

noticing that the lights were on, luke asked if your father really stayed up to see if he had brought you home on time.

“i can guarantee he is currently in his recliner and snoring.” you told luke before you both started walking up the porch steps.

“well i had lots of fun tonight. you should really send me a text whenever you’re bored at work, i can always use my celebrity status to get in while being underage.” luke said once you had made it to the front door.

“your C-list celebrity status?” you started.

“-oh come on, i’m a b-list at least.” he cut in.

“don’t you have better things to do than sit at a bar and drink orange juice?” you finished your thought.

“honestly no. i don’t have any friends in jersey that aren’t my teammates.”

“well if you ever want to go to a party or hang out with me and my friends you always can, just text me if you’re ever bored at home.”

you said your proper goodbyes and once you stepped into your house you saw your father asleep in his recliner.

to: luke hughes

*image*

i told you he would be asleep. he would never know if we actually stayed out past curfew.

from: luke hughes

did you catch him mid snore in that photo? that’s honestly a violation.

+++

from: luke hughes

i’m bored.

to: luke hughes

what am i supposed to do about that?

from: luke hughes

😑😑😑

to: luke hughes

I’M KIDDING

to: luke hughes

do you not have a game tonight? because i’m planning on attending a frat party tonight if you would like to tag along.

to: luke hughes

unless you are now above frat parties after finishing school.

from: luke hughes

i’d love to join you.

to: luke hughes

great! i was planning on getting there at 10:30. do you just want to drive to my house? my friends are taking me btw and we could always just double buckle.

from: luke hughes

yea sure. what should i wear?

to: luke hughes

oh nothing too fancy just a tuxedo.

to: luke hughes

bowtie included.

from: luke hughes

i hate you.

+++

“will you all please promise to be nice to him and be on your best behavior? i think i actually like this one and i don’t him to be scared away.” you warned your friends who were currently in your room pregaming.

“hey don’t look at me, i’ll be nice as hell to your new boy toy.” your best friend, trinity, spoke. you rolled your eyes at her before looking at the boys who crowded on your floor.

“cal, bass, and tyler.” you spoke firmly, attempting to intimidate them. “i swear to god if any of you make him uncomfortable, all of my images and videos from syllabus week are getting posted on the main.”

“sir yes sir!” the three shouted in unison, only causing your eyes to roll back further into your head.

“just please be welcoming. talk to him, get to know him, do not force him to play rage cage if he does not want to.” you emphasized that last point at kade.

“if he doesn’t willingly play rage cage he isn’t the one for you y/n.”

you were about to make a snarky comment but were cut off by your phone going off.

from: luke hughes

hey i’m outside. should i knock or wait out here?

to: luke hughes

just come inside, front door is unlocked.

to: luke hughes

we’re upstairs in my room, just follow the sound of shitty music. my friend bass has aux tonight.

you could feel the nerves bubbling up in your stomach. you hadn’t informed the group that your luke was luke hughes, they were all devils fans and were in the know about things so they definitely know who he is.

“he is coming upstairs right now, y’all i’m serious, best behavior.”

the sound of a knock made all five heads turn towards the door.

“no fucking way-”

“shut it!” you cut cal off. “hey luke, come in. there are shooters on my desk if you want something to pregame with. trinity is sober tonight so you don’t have to worry about driving.”

luke makes his way over to your dresser and grabs three shooters before making his way towards the spot next to you.

“everybody this is luke, luke this is everybody.” you motioned your hands back and forth. “tyler, cal, trinity, and bass.”

you pointed to your friends, who were looking at the two of you with shock and disbelief on their faces, as you named them.

“let’s go to the party, i wanna play rage cage.”

+++

“is bass your real name or is it just a nickname?”

after arriving at the party you and your group established where trinity would be all night everyone started asking luke questions, the majority of them were about hockey and the nhl before you texted the groupchat and told them to shut their fucking mouths about his career.

“nickname. my name is sebastian, but this one-” bass grabs onto your shoulders and pulls you in front of him. “-says there is only one sebastian in her life and i am, unfortunately, not him so she started calling me bass and everybody else just latched onto it.”

you glared at him before speaking. “i was being sarcastic when i told you that, and you came up with the fucking nickname.”

“yeah, it’s not y/n’s fault you share a name with the love of her life and future husband.” tyler said, giggling after you hit his stomach.

“okay let’s go play rage cage, y’all need to shut up.” you said making your way outside, trinity informed everyone that she would stay in her spot and to text her if it is urgent. “luke do you play rage cage?”

it was an important question.

sure most people favor cup pong or even flip up as a party game, but rage cage was what you and your friends dominated at every function.

“i have never played it before. haven’t even heard of it.” luke shrugged.

everyone’s movements paused for a second before hell froze over.

“WHAT?”

“you’ve never heard of it?”

“what fucking school did you go to?”

“y/n get him out of my face.”

you weren’t even sure who said what, but luke had a slightly scared look on his face.

“they’re joking luke, let me teach you how to play.”

+++

“so your future husband's name is sebastian? should i even continue pursuing you?” luke asked, jokingly, once you two were left alone in the backyard, tyler had drank one too many bitch cups and needed to be nursed back to health.

“i am most definitely not marrying him. he is six years older than me, lives hundreds of miles away, and also knows nothing of my existence.” you informed luke before finishing your drink. “you should definitely continue to pursue me.”

+++

from: luke hughes

are you coming to the game tonight?

from: luke hughes

i have a proposition for you, if you are.

to: luke hughes

i’m listening

from: luke hughes

you wear my jersey tonight, and in return i win the game.

from: luke hughes

it’s a win-win situation

to: luke hughes

yea for you. i get nothing out of it.

to: luke hughes

also i do not own a jersey with anyone’s name on it, let alone yours.

to: luke hughes

and you are NOT buying me one. if i want a jersey i will pay for it myself…or my father will.

from: luke hughes

fine.

from: luke hughes

but when you become my girlfriend you have to wear my jersey, no matter what.

to: luke hughes

okay, if i become your girlfriend i will wear your jersey.

from: luke hughes

not if, when.

to: luke hughes

i’ll see you tonight weirdo.

+++

“your boyfriend is waving at you.”

“david shut up he isn’t my boyfriend.” you responded to your brother, shoving him.

you waved back at luke before his smile dropped and he pointed towards the jersey david was wearing. how you didn’t see the name and number on the back before? you didn’t know.

“are you seriously wearing luke’s jersey right now?” you placed your head in your hands knowing the conversation that would come of this. “he asks me to wear it before every home game and i never do, and now my own brother is wearing his jersey and not me.”

“why won’t you wear his jersey?” your brother asks, finishing off his beer. “-and don’t give me that bullshit answer of you never wear anyone’s jersey. you wear aho’s.”

“that’s because sebastian aho is sebastian aho.” you deadpanned. “there has never been a player, besides aho, that i have liked enough to wear their number. i’m not a fan of anyone…besides aho.”

“yeah, but luke’s your boyfriend.”

“oh my god he isn’t my boyfriend, do you ever listen to me? idiot.”

+++

“so your brother wears my jersey, but you don’t?”

the sound of luke’s voice drew your attention away from the tab you were closing out at work. “i knew you were gonna show up tonight. remind me again why i decided to give you my schedule?”

“because i’m awesome.” luke answered, taking a seat in front of you. “-but of course not awesome enough for you to wear my jersey.”

“are we still on that?” you asked, handing luke a pop.

“yes we are.” he stated blankly. “seriously i don’t understand why you won’t just wear my jersey. you said you didn’t want to pay for one, and that i couldn’t pay for one. but now that i know your brother has one i would very much appreciate it if you would wear it, to at least one game.”

“i’ll think about it.”

+++

your answer was no. that was three weeks ago and you still had yet to wear a jersey with the number forty three on the back.

tonight you were excited.

the carolina hurricanes were playing the devils at the prudential center tonight and you and your friends all got seats behind the canes bench. none of them were canes fans, but this one the one game a year that you had the opportunity to sit near sebastian aho and you would be damned if you missed out on that opportunity.

from: luke hughes

you coming tonight?

to: luke hughes

yeah.

to: luke hughes

so are trinity, bass, tyler, and cal.

from: luke hughes

oh great, i haven’t seen them in a bit.

from: luke hughes

are you guys going out after the game? it’s a friday night.

to: luke hughes

yes we are. cal’s frat is hosting this sport night thing if you wanna come with.

to: luke hughes

just bring a jersey to change into after the game.

from: luke hughes

oh crap i don’t own any jerseys.

to: luke hughes

you’re hilarious bud.

to: luke hughes

but just so you know i’m not sitting in my usual spot tonight. my brothers are sitting with my dad tonight.

+++

“no fucking way.”

that was the first thing you heard as you got in bass’ car.

“what?” you asked, everyone looked at you in disbelief.

“you are wearing aho’s jersey.” tyler replied, speaking for everyone in the car. “and you’re dating luke hughes.”

“i am not dating luke, you guys know that.” you deadpanned, you were getting sick and tired of people mistaking you for luke’s girlfriend. almost as much as you were sick and tired of not being luke’s girlfriend. “-and you also know that i am a loyal sebastian aho supporter before anything else.” you added the end in a lighter tone of voice.

“alright, but when luke gets upset with you tonight you cannot be angry when we tell you we told you so.”

the rest of the car ride only one thing, a question, was on your mind, would he really get upset with you?

+++

“oh my god!”

“how many times are you gonna say oh my god tonight y/n?” trinity asked.

she had a point. it was like the only thing that was coming out of your mouth.

“never.” you deadpanned. “sebastian aho is right in front of me. my future husband is right in front of me.” you got more giddy by the end of your statement.

“oh wow y/n, you’re blushing.” cal poked your side. “that’s pathetic.”

“lover boy, two o’clock. does not look happy.”

you looked over to your right and saw luke looking at you with an expression you couldn’t quite read, but bass was right, he did not look happy.

+++

“GOAL!” you screamed, shooting up from your seat. “SUCK IT DEVILS!”

“alright calm down y/n.” tyler said, laughing at you.

“NO! sebastian aho just scored his second goal of the night, if he gets one more i’m gonna lose it.” you replied, sitting back down.

“oh god you haven’t lost it yet?”

+++

to: luke hughes

hey! sorry about the game, you played great :)

to: luke hughes

if you do want to come to the party we’ll be at this is the address.

to: luke hughes

12345 house street

to: luke hughes

i hope to see you there.

“so is your boyfriend coming tonight?” cal asked.

“not my boyfriend.” you started. “and i don’t know. i just texted him the address for him to meet us there if he wants.”

“ok. real talk,” trinity started. “do you want him to be your boyfriend?”

“i do-”

you were cut off by the screaming of your four friends.

“shut it.” you snapped, effectively shutting them up. “i do want him to be my boyfriend, but i have no idea if he wants me to be his girlfriend. i mean we’ve known each other for three months and he has talked about us dating in the past but he hasn’t asked me out yet and i don’t know if he ever will.”

“y/n don’t be like that. i can tell by the way he looks at you and acts around you that he likes you, a lot, and also he looked jealous as hell when he saw whose jersey you were wearing tonight.” bass said, wrapping his arm around your shoulder.

“okay enough with the pity party, lets go to the party. i need a drink.”

+++

from: luke hughes

not really in the mood for a party tonight.

to: luke hughes

oh ok.

to: luke hughes

well i’ll see you soon, yeah?

“luke isn’t coming tonight.” you told the group, an upset look rested on your face.

“oh…well it’s probably nothing. i wouldn’t want to go out and celebrate a loss.” trinity said, giving you a reassuring smile.

“ok i seriously need a drink now.”

+++

it has been over a week since the game and luke hasn’t spoken to you once.

all texts have been left unanswered, he hasn’t come to visit you at work, and when you were at the game two days ago he didn’t look at you once.

you were working the closing shift tonight, and it was a monday so it was not very busy. in the past you would text luke and he would arrive as soon as he could, but you stopped attempting to communicate with luke two days ago, after the game. he made it clear he no longer wanted anything to do with you.

“y/n, someone is at the bar asking for you.” you looked up from the wall you were staring at in the office to see brian. “not the usual one though. did you and your boyfriend break up?”

you had a little bit of hope that it was luke for just a moment, before brian told you it wasn’t him. “he’s not my boyfriend. never was.”

you stepped out of the back room to see the other hughes brother sitting at your bar.

“hello jack. what do i owe the pleasure?” you ask, planting yourself across from him.

“we need to talk about you and luke.” he replied curtly.

“there is no me and luke, he has made it very clear that he is no longer interested in being my friend anymore.” you said, pouring a drink for no one, you just needed something to do.

“that’s the thing. he does want to be your friend, more than that. this past week he has not shut up about you and how you guys weren’t talking anymore. what happened?” jack asked, grabbing the now finished drink and bringing it to his lips.

“i don’t even know. we were planning on going to this party at my friends frat together and then after your guys’ game against the hurricanes he flaked out and hasn’t spoken to me since. i’ve reached out and haven’t gotten anything back, i was at the game on saturday and he didn’t even look at me, so if he is upset that we aren’t talking then he is just upset with himself.” you took a moment to catch your breath before looking at jack.

“whose jersey did you wear to our game against the hurricanes?”

“sebastian aho’s. why?”

jack let out a chuckle and shook his head. “makes sense. he was muttering stupid sebastian aho and fucking homewrecker the whole way home and bunkered himself in his room for days.”

“i always refused to wear his jersey to games, or his anything, and now i’m realizing i probably pissed him off by wearing someone else’s name and number when i’ve been telling him the whole time i’ve known him that the reason i won’t wear his stuff is because i don’t wear anyones.” you told jack, pouring another drink.

“i wouldn’t say he is pissed off. he is definitely upset though.” jack starts, standing up. “i think you should come to our game this thursday-”

“i always go to your games.” you cut him off. “well come to our game this thursday wearing his jersey. i think that is all he wants…well that and you being his girlfriend.” jack finished, not giving you a chance to respond before walking out the front doors.

+++

“david please, just let me borrow your jersey for one night.” you begged your brother over the phone.

“no can do little sis. just go buy your own, i mean it might be beneficial to own your own luke hughes jersey when luke hughes is your boyfriend.”

“david i’m not even gonna say it, but seriously? where am i gonna find a jersey on such short notice?” “at literally any store in newark. walk down mainstreet and you’ll probably find five in the front window of shops.” david answers, the sarcastic tone in his voice pissing you off further.

“goodbye. i’m gonna go walk around looking for a jersey in the freezing cold now.”

+++

to: luke hughes

hey. i know we haven’t talked in a little bit but i spoke with your brother the other day.

to: luke hughes

i’m going to the game tonight, if you would be willing to let me see you after i would really appreciate it.

to: luke hughes

i would like to talk to you.

+++

you weren’t able to find a jersey with luke’s number on it so you wore a blank jersey tonight, which kind of crushed your original plan for the evening, but you still had to try.

“are you sure sweetie? because i have no issue waiting until he shows up.”

“yes dad, i’m sure. i’ll be fine, please go.” you assured your dad, pushing him towards his car.

it wasn’t until forty minutes later that you heard footsteps approaching you. you turned your head around and frowned at the sight of jack hughes walking your way.

“sorry i’m not the brother you wanted to see, but luke left as soon as he could and ubered back to our apartment.”

you nodded in defeat. “thank you for telling me. i’ll just order myself an uber home then…tell luke i said good game and if he ever wants to talk he can message me.”

“why don’t you tell him yourself.”

+++

trinity would literally die if you told her whose car you were currently sitting shotgun in.

“luke made it pretty clear he doesn’t want to talk to me, or even see me. i don’t think this is a good idea jack.”

jack had convinced you that the best thing to do in this situation was to confront luke directly. not as much convinced you, but rather offered you a ride home and said he had to make a stop on the way, that stop being his and luke’s place.

“y/n luke is miserable not talking to you, and that is making me miserable.”

“well he wouldn’t be so miserable if he would just text me back, he is the one choosing to not speak to me. can we just get this over with? drive faster.”

+++

“luke’s room is down that hall, second door to the right.” jack informed you, you thanked him quietly before making your way to luke’s room.

you knocked gently and got no response so you knocked again, a little harder.

“jack i’m not in the mood right now. go away.”

you tried to speak up but nothing came out, so you just knocked again.

“jack i’m serious. this whole y/n situation is messing with my head, i played awful tonight and i just want to go to sleep.”

“well if it’s messing with you so much and making you as upset as jack says it is then maybe you should just text me back and we can figure out how to fix this.” you spoke, frustration clear in your tone.

you didn’t give him the chance to respond before you made your way out of their apartment and towards the stairwell, ordering an uber as you ran down the steps.

once outside you saw that your uber was about five minutes away so you were forced to just stand there and wait. from: luke hughes

i’m sorry.

from: luke hughes

please come back up.

to: luke hughes

no.

from: luke hughes

please. let's talk about this.

to: luke hughes

i’ve given you many chances in the past week for us to talk and you’ve ignored me each time.

to: luke hughes

it’s my turn to be upset now.

+++

that was two weeks ago and you haven’t seen or spoken to luke since.

you went to your mothers house is oregon for christmas and came back to new jersey today.

the second you ended your gift exchange with your father you went up to your room and opened your texts with luke.

from: luke hughes

y/n i’m sorry.

from: luke hughes

please talk to me.

from: luke hughes

merry christmas, i got you a gift. i asked your coworker brian where you’ve been, he said it that you were spending christmas at your moms this year so i’ll give it to you when you get back.

from: luke hughes

please text me when you get back.

from: luke hughes

i need to see you.

you spent a few moments contemplating whether to send a text or to continue ignoring him, even if the later was driving you crazy.

before you could stop yourself you sent a message, and got one back immediately.

to: luke hughes

i’m back in newark.

from: luke hughes

on my way

you slightly panicked when you realized that after nearly a month of silence between the two of you, luke was now going to be in front of you and in your presence again. you didn’t know what you were going to say, worry filled you thinking about the many outcomes that could happen.

“sweetie, luke is at the door for you.”

you timidly stood up and took a deep breath or two before making your way downstairs.

“hey luke, let’s go up to my room to talk.”

luke nodded before stepping inside, giving your father a proper greeting before heading up the stairs.

“ok, so can you start off by telling me why you ghosted me for a full week?” you asked him once he had sat down on your hammock chair, you across from him on your bed.

“you wore someone else’s jersey.” luke started, letting out a deep breath afterwards. “after you told me for months that you never wear anyone’s jersey, so you wouldn’t wear mine.”

the sound of your friends yelling “i told you so” played in your head, but you pushed it aside to focus on what was happening in front of you.

luke was now in your closet, where he would find your many, many, aho items.

“luke please get out of my closet.” you were angry, he had no reason to be searching your things.

“how many things do you own of him. jesus.” luke said once he finally walked back into your bedroom.

“luke i’m sorry that i lied to you about never wearing anyone else’s jersey, but is that seriously why you ignored me?” you were a little skeptical of his reasoning.

“why did you ignore me for multiple weeks?” luke ignored your question.

“because you were the one leaving me on read and skipping out on our plans, but then you went around telling people you were miserable not talking to me as if i was the one who failed to reach out and that made me angry. i gave you so many opportunities luke…and you didn’t take up any of them. so i got mad and i knew i was about to leave town for two weeks and i didn’t really wanna communicate with you during my vacation.”

“why did you lie to me?” luke asked, now taking a seat next to you on your bed.

“i honestly don’t know. i’ve only ever worn aho’s number, just feels weird wearing someone else’s. and i was being honest, other than aho, there has never been a player i like enough to wear their jersey until now.” you sat up from your spot and walked over to one of the gift boxes sitting on your floor, during your gift exchange with your dad you received a devils jersey with the number forty-three and hughes on the back as well as some shirts and hoodies with the same thing. “these were all gifted to me for christmas. i asked for them. i wanted to wear your jersey, i have for a while now, but i was just unsure of what it would mean. can you tell me why you got so angry?” you asked the question that had been on your mind for weeks.

“y/n i like you and i want you to be my girlfriend, i never asked you though because you wouldn’t even wear my fucking jersey no matter how much i begged you to so why would you say yes to being my girlfriend.”

“god luke again with the fucking jersey, i don’t get the big deal it’s just a piece of fabric.” you yelled, getting frustrated.

“it means something! ok y/n, it means something.” he starts. “there is a difference between wearing a jersey as a fan and wearing a jersey as a girlfriend, something personal and intimate, and you won’t even wear my jersey as a fucking fan.”

it felt like you were talking in circles and it was driving you crazy.

“that is what i’m saying luke. i didn’t ever wear your jersey because i didn’t know what it would mean. i didn’t know if we were friends or something more, and wearing your jersey could’ve given us both the wrong ideas.”

“what idea would it have given you?” luke asked, taking a step towards you.

“that i’m something more to you than a friend, and i didn’t want to think that because it isn’t true” you admitted the truth, it wasn’t that you didn’t want him getting the wrong idea, but rather yourself. “-and i don’t like to get my hopes up.”

luke didn’t respond, he just sat there in silence for what felt like an hour, but was probably closer to three minutes.

“luke if you want to leave, just go. i’m sorry i ruined our friendship, i wish you the best in the rest of your career and life-”

your words were cut off by lips touching yours, luke’s lips.

after a few moments you broke the kiss, not liking how fast it was progressing.

“luke what was that-”

“i like you, y/n. as more than a friend, that is why i wanted you to wear my jersey so badly. i wanted to feel special, because you have this rule about never wearing anybody’s jersey, but you wore mine and you wore mine because i mean something to you whether that be a friend or something more, i just wanted to feel like i meant something to you.” luke practically yelled, interrupting you.

“i feel like we are both making the same points, but just phrasing them differently each time.” you spoke, trying to choose your next words carefully. “what do we do now? how do we move past this?”

“well, you could agree to go on a date with me and wear my jersey to the next home game. that would be a start.” luke offered, grabbing both of your hands. “-you could also let me kiss you again, i’d really like that.”

“deal.”

+++

“sweetie are you almost ready? we’re gonna miss warmups.”

“coming dad.”

you quickly made your way downstairs, checking your appearance in the multiple mirrors you passed by on the way towards the car.

“wearing your boyfriend's jersey i see?” your father quipped once you got into the driver’s seat, he demanded you drive because you had just gotten a new car.

“not my boyfriend.” was all you said in response.

“still? that boy needs to grow a pair.”

from: luke hughes

are we still on for after the game?

to: luke hughes

yup! meet me in the car park when you’re done?

from: luke hughes

👍

+++

after the game you parted ways with your father, him taking an uber home and leaving you with your car to drive you and luke around tonight. which isn’t traditional, especially for a first date, but you loved betty, your new car, and you wanted to drive her.

“wow the new car is dope y/n.”

you turned around and saw jack and luke walking towards you, the older hughes speaking.

“-and nice jersey, next time wear an eighty six for me, yeah?”

“never gonna happen jack.” luke started, before turning his attention to you. “you ready to go?”

“yes i am, you can put your bag in the trunk.” i opened up the trunk with my keys before getting in the driver's seat. “where are we going?”

“i’ll give you directions as you drive.” luke said, plugging his phone into the aux.

+++

a few minutes later you pulled into a qdoba.

“wow you know me so well hughes.”

“i just didn’t feel like paying extra for your queso and guac.” luke deadpanned.

“yeah right, i know i’m turning you into a qdoba enjoyer.” you teased as you entered the restaurant.

after getting our food luke gave me an address of where to drive for our late night picnic. it was a lookout place that luke had found when he first moved here, you had been here multiple times as well and knew of a good place to sit.

“follow me” you hopped over the barbed wire fence and waited until luke made it over to start walking again.

“are you sure this is allowed?” luke whispered.

“i know for a fact that it is not, but it’s fine no one is here right now it’s after dark.” you said back at full volume, earning a loud shhhh from luke in the process.

you walked a little bit more before you made it to your favorite ledge, you could see all of newark from here and a little bit of new york, but when you looked up there was a perfect view of the stars.

“how did you find this place?” luke asked, digging into his food.

“i was hiding from the cops one night and me and tyler ended up here.” luke’s eyes widened at your story. “i’ll tell you more about that later, but ever since i’ve been coming here.”

we continued to eat and talk about random things until it was time to go.

“we should probably go, it’s nearly midnight.”

+++

once you finished the drive back to luke’s apartment you got out of the car to say your goodbyes.

“well i had a lot of fun tonight, we should do it-” luke cut you off by kissing you. “you have to stop doing that.” you teased.

“sorry, it’s just that you look really good in my jersey, like really good. i was struggling not to jump over the glass when i saw you during warmups.” luke admitted, going in for another kiss. “look y/n, i was wondering if you maybe wanted to be my girlfriend?” a blush crept up luke’s neck as he spoke.

“i would love that.” you replied, a blush spread across your cheeks.

we said our goodbyes and you drove home, not expecting your father to be awake on the couch.

“oh you’re awake?” you asked, taking your shoes off.

“yeah just wanted to make sure you were safe.” your dad replied. “how is your boyfriend?”

“he is great.” you replied smiling, not correcting him for once because now he really was your boyfriend.

+++

note: BOOOO HAPPINESS no but this literally took me a month to finish because i had absolutely no energy and no inspo to write anything. idk if i like this yet…but ANYWAYS hope y’all enjoyed, leave feedback, have a great day, love y’all babes.

#luke hughes #luke hughes x reader #luke hughes imagine #nhl imagine #new jersey devils #ahonice writes #ahonice

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dixons-sunshine · 7 months ago

Text

Shopping Spree, Hangout Dreams AU Headcannons: Part Three | Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader

Word count: 861.

A/n: So I've made it a habit recently to post a fic every one-two days, but I was extremely busy today, so I didn't have time to start working on any of my other requests. I still wanted to post something, though, so here's a part three to my personal headcannons for the SSHD AU that nobody asked for. This is mostly set in the future but before the outbreak. I hope y'all like these! If you wanna see more, let me know.

➳༻❀✿❀༺➳

★ After graduating high school, you went to college to get a degree in teaching.

★ Daryl didn't go to college, however. He felt like more school was unnecessary for him, but he encouraged you to do it since he knew you wanted to become a teacher.

★ Daryl managed to land a job as an apprentice of sorts to a mechanic and got a second job as a bouncer after a while, and used some (most of it but he didn't tell you that) of the money to help pay for your tuition and textbooks.

★ You had your suspicions about it, and got a job of your own to help pay for everything. However, Daryl shot down any talks of you getting a second job, claiming that one job was already hard enough added on top of college.

★ The two of you rented a crappy, worn down apartment until you graduated and landed a full-time teaching job at a kindergarten near Atlanta, and you and Daryl finally managed to upgrade to a decent apartment.

★ Once the two of you had settled down and had gotten hitched at the courthouse, you invited your mother over for a housewarming of sorts.

★ She definitely tore into you both for eloping, but in the end, she was ultimately happy for the two of you.

★ She started teasingly calling you Mrs Dixon at every opportunity, and playfully threatening Daryl that if he ever broke your heart, she'd kill him.

★ She was a decade too late for that talk, however, so Daryl paid it no mind whatsoever.

★ Your mom was practically your best friend, so when she died three years later due to cancer, you were devastated.

★ You regretted not having a proper wedding like your mom had wanted you to have, but Daryl assured you that she didn't hate you for it.

★ Daryl was also heartbroken. He couldn't believe that the sweet woman who had basically taken him in was dead.

★ It was a hard couple of months after that, but Daryl refrained from falling into old habits and distancing himself to deal with his emotions alone. He reminded himself that you were a team and that you needed him more than ever at that moment. He couldn't pull away at a time like that.

★ Things got better with time. With the both of you taking the time to properly grieve and mourn, it got easier. The sadness when you thought of her death never fully vanquished, but with time, you were feeling better, visiting her grave whenever you had the chance.

★ When you and Daryl moved from the trailer park all those years ago, he didn't tell anyone from his family where he was going.

★ He didn't even tell his father. He just packed his bags with his things and silently disappeared from the trailer.

★ Merle didn't know about it, either. Daryl loved his brother but he knew what a dick he was and what he involved himself in, and he didn't want that in his new life with you. He wanted to start fresh, wipe the slate clean.

★ It was a couple of months before the outbreak when you and Daryl saw Merle again. You were walking around, doing grocery shopping, when you bumped into him.

★ Merle was immensely surprised when he noted the wedding rings on both of your fingers, and demanded to know why he wasn't invited to the wedding.

★ However, he guessed he shouldn't have been surprised when Daryl bitterly spat out that there wasn't a wedding and that you eloped. If he knew anything about Daryl, it's that he doesn't do big, fancy events.

★ About a month before the outbreak, you started feeling nauseous and more tired than usual. A total of three pregnancy tests confirmed that the reason for that wasn't because you were ill, but because you had a life growing inside of you.

★ Daryl was surprised to find out you were pregnant. Neither of you planned the pregnancy and it was extremely unexpected.

★ However, you both decided to keep the baby.

★ Daryl was scared of what parenthood had in store for him. He didn't want to end up like his father or be even worse than him.

★ It took for you to gently talk him through his fears for him to start calming down.

★ After he was calmed down, he allowed himself to feel happy. The two of you were in a stable environment with enough money between the both of you to accommodate a baby, so he felt himself relax.

★ That didn't last long, because soon the two of you would hear about the dead rising and see the news reports that warn you to evacuate immediately.

©dixons-sunshine 2024. I do not give permission for my works to be copied, modified, adapted or translated to any other site or platform without evidence of my given consent.

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baileypie-writes · 11 months ago

Note

HI can I plz request a oneshot for Velvet and Veneer with a preteen sister reader? (Abt age 12-13 and in middle school). They notice for the past few weeks, reader is always doing her makeup when they go out, always smiling at her phone, stuff like that.

But one day, they overhear a conversation a phone call that reader is having with her friends. They find out that their baby sis is crushing on a boy. And Velvet looks proud, giving her advice while Veneer is js like ":0"

A/N ~ Sure! Hope you enjoy!

~An Older Sibling’s Job~

Velvet and Veneer + Preteen!Younger Sister!Reader

Fandom: Trolls 3: Band Together

Relationship: Familial

Synopsis: Velvet and Veneer find out that you have a crush on a boy, so they do what any older sibling would do.

Warnings: Velvet and Veneer teasing Reader

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey! Is that my makeup?” Velvet asked. Though she knew that it was.

You just froze, staring at her. She caught you red handed. “Yeah. Sorry.” You sighed in defeat.

Velvet scoffed. “This is, like, the fifth time this week! Buy your own! Why are you so interested in makeup all of a sudden anyway?”

You turned away, hiding the embarrassment on your face. “Nothing. Just… growing up, I guess.” You made up the excuse. You finished applying blush to your cheeks, then gathered all the makeup and shoved it into Velvet’s hands. “Here. Now get out of my room!”

You slammed the door in her face, starting her. Velvet let out an offended huff, and stomped away.

~~~~

“Hey, Veneer, why’s (name) acting so weird lately. She’s always in her room, and she’s been stealing my makeup. She’s never even been interested in makeup before.” Velvet asked her twin.

“I have no idea, but she is definitely acting weird. She’s on her phone a whole lot more now. I knew getting her a new one was a bad idea.” Veneer responded.

Velvet folded her arms and started to think, Veneer doing the same. After a few moments, she had an idea, and he seemed to have one too.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Velvet asked mischievously.

“Spy on (name)?” Veneer responded in the same way. One shared smirk confirmed the idea, and set their plan into motion.

~~~~

The twins tip-toed over to your bedroom door. Veneer stumbled, nearly knocking them both ever. Velvet thankfully caught him, and shushed him.

They put their ears over the door, and listened. You were on the phone with one of your friends. Luckily, they were on speaker, so they could hear the full conversation.

“You’re coming to the mall with us, right?” Your friend asked.

“Of course I’m coming! Hanging out with you guys is so fun!” You responded.

Your friend laughed teasingly. “Oh, yeah. That’s totally the reason you’re coming.”

“Yeah? What other reason would there be?”

“Oh c’mon, (name)! I know you’re coming because (crush’s name) is gonna be there!”

“Ugh, fine! You got me!” You confessed.

Velvet and Veneer turned to each other, sharing the same shocked look.

You had a crush.

~~~~

“Veneer, can you drive me to the mall? Please?” You begged, giving your best puppy eyes that always won Veneer over.

“Sure!” He agreed, grabbing his car keys, but Velvet stopped him.

“-IF… you tell us who (crush’s name) is.” She said with a smirk.

You gasped. “How do you know-? You were spying on me weren’t you?!” You accused.

“Maybe… So who is he?” Veneer avoided your question.

“Nobody! He’s just some guy!”

“Some guy that you like!” Velvet teased. You groaned loudly, completely embarrassed. The twins laughed for a few seconds, before Velvet got more serious. She nelt down a bit to be at your level, and put a hand on your shoulder. “Here’s some tips to get guy’s attention. Look them in the eyes, make sure to compliment them, and bat your eyelashes.”

“How’s batting my eyelashes gonna-“

“Just trust me!” She then stood back up, and signaled to Veneer to go.

“Alright, (name), let’s go! And on the way, you’re gonna tell me all about this (crush’s name). Ugh, I can’t believe our baby sister has a crush!” He said, leading you out of the house.

You groaned again. “Why are you guys acting like this? It’s not a big deal!”

“It’s just an older sibling’s job, (name).” Velvet said casually, and lightly pushed you out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~baileypie-writes

#trolls 3 band together #trolls 3 #trolls 3 x reader #trolls 3 velvet #trolls 3 veneer #trolls velvet #trolls veneer #velvet x reader #veneer x reader #velvet x reader platonic #velvet and veneer #veneer x reader platonic

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louisferrignojr · 11 days ago

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gotta say that i disagree that nobody fights for buck. in s5 taylor said it best: buck's life is full of meaningful relationships, actually. every person of the firefam would fight for and support buck. he is and will never be alone again in his life, especially during the hard times (which they reiterated in 8x05). meanwhile, we see thus being contrasted with tommy not having any kind if support system like that. the same seemed to be the case for taylor. i know people want tommy to fight for this, and i agree that i definitely need him to check his trauma and fears to work this out with buck. but buck is the main character that has had seasons of alleged development. he died and came back, got clarity, was supposed to finally feel good in his own skin, worked out his childhood trauma with his parents in therapy, formed a support system, now discovered he is bisexual and felt free with it. and now tommy is the only one who should grovel? i get the idea but. evan buckley is the character we have seen grow and learn. i want him to put in the work as well. look at how he fought for his job when he thought he would lose it forever. THAT is what i need from him rn. if he is just giving this up with a shrug, then i don't want bucktommy in canon. we have seen tommy taking care of buck and supporting him in all his shenanigans. i need to see that buck is absolutely serious about this and ready to fight for it. if he doesn't, he still hasn't found his true love or still doesn't know what he wants in life. i am bored by this. we have been here multiple times already. do something else with evan buckley finally or just allow him to be a bachelor forever.

okay yes buck has meaningful platonic and familial relationships.

no romantic partner has fought for him. abby ghosted him because of her own issues even though she's a fucking grown ass woman, ali got a reality check and broke up with him when he was in recovery after nearly dying, which okay, fair enough. and while i believe taylor did nothing wrong in reporting the jonah story, the narrative wants us to think she prioritised her work, and she did betray buck's trust which, again, buck wanted to protect his firehouse (which is his family) so he wasn't being objective. reporters exposing scandals within govt orgs that are supposed to protect the public is not a bad thing, actually. the only time he's broken up with someone first is natalia and we were told it's because she was obsessed with his died-and-came-back experience.

and listen. i love tommy more than anything. but buck is still the main character. we're going to see buck going through the breakup, not tommy. we're not going to get much about tommy's past. we're not going to get any scenes with tommy and another character if buck isn't also there. you remember karen going to chimney and them day drinking together because they thought hen was being unfaithful (again)? i wish we could see tommy and chimney talking about their buckleys. but the way the show got rid of all minor characters and consistently treats LIs as nothing more than LIs... i'm not hopeful. we'll get one scene with tommy's Explanation and i'm not even hopeful it's gonna be well written (but i'm sure lou will be serving. god. they wrote such a shitty break up scene and he fucking ATE.)

yeah, buck fucked up by jumping the gun and asking tommy to move in with him when he couldn't even say the i love you, and i hope this will be addressed in future eps. but tommy immediately ended the relationship because he Knows Better and left buck heartbroken. this is what happened on the show. the average viewer isn't doing ten layers of analysis to understand tommy's perspective, nor should they have to. i love the metas, i'm digging into tommy's headspace in my next fix it fic, but this is still the dumb weewoo show.

i don't think tommy needs to grovel, i don't think he's the Bad Guy in this story, i have a lot of empathy for tommy and so does the GA! they're not mad at tommy, they want him back! they want bucktommy back! and i want them both to fight for each other, to apologise and admit to their fuck ups and admit how much they care about each other and that they want to be each other's forever love! i want them to say i love you!

but buck is still the protagonist in this story and i don't want to see him running back to someone who broke up with him in such a way that had him asking "wait, did you just break up with me?" because again, this is what happened on our screens. i want tommy making the first move, opening the door for reconciliation, showing that he knows he made a mistake out of fear from his past trauma, for buck to then know he is wanted, that tommy came back for him, and then put in the effort to fight for them.

hope this makes sense. and as always, for people reading this - this is not the space for you to bash on buck's previous LIs, please take it elsewhere.

#asks #Anonymous #bucktommy #as someone who's been in buck's shoes #you don't know how meaningful it is when someone comes back for you #its only happened once in my life and even though we ended up falling out again i will always remember her as the one friend who came back #yeah yeah i'm too attached to buck because we are the same person. leave me alone lmao

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teabeexo · 14 days ago

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𝚃𝚎𝚊'𝚜 𝙼𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜: 𝚃𝚊𝚋𝚋𝚢

✿ ↳ ❝ You need to go,

to where the dark remembers you

Open up your heart

Like the gates of Hell

You stay soft, you get beaten

Only natural to harden up... ❞

✧˚ · . - "Stay Soft" Mitski

𝚃𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚊 𝙻𝚢𝚗𝚗 𝚆𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚘𝚛

✿ The Basics ✿

Age(s): Step 1 - 10, Step 2 - 14, Step 3 - 18, Step 4 - 22

Birthday: April 3rd

Gender: Demigirl (she/they)

Ethnicity: Hawaiian and Swedish

Height: 5'4" (as of step 4)

Significant Other: Qiu Lin

Role: Main character in my OL:NF universe.

✿ Lore (past) ✿

Tabitha Windsor was born in Orono, Maine on April 3rd. Her mother, Opal Windsor, had Tabitha through artificial semination. Growing up, her household only consisted of her and her mother. Though considered unorthodox by many of the locals in her town, Tabitha was perfectly happy with the serenity and closeness that was garnered as a result of her upbringing.

The Windsors were not particularly wealthy during Tabitha’s childhood. Though most of her early memories originate from Orono, the Windsors moved around quite frequently in order to keep up with her mother’s job. Despite the fact that Opal would do her best to relieve Tabitha of any sort of stress or worry in relation to their finances, Tabby would internalize a lot of the anxiety that she perceived Opal was feeling. In response, she developed a complex where she often viewed herself as being her family's caretaker and protector.

Their norm changed when Tabitha, who preferred the nickname Tabby at this point, and her mother moved across-state to Golden Grove, Oregon. This bode well for the Windsors, seeing as they’d moved for a huge promotion in Opal’s work. Practically, the move was fantastic for them. They’d never been so comfortable! Internally, though, Tabby was struggling.

Tabby was in full self-preservation mode and would shut down around anyone except her mom. Trust is the fundamental aspect that Tabby needs to even have the bare bones of a relationship. Naturally, she didn't have that with anybody when she first moved. Everyone was a stranger. Thus, nobody warranted her trust or friendliness.

This pattern was disrupted when she met a certain kid, who just happened to double as her neighbor. Qiu Lin. It was odd. He was odd to her -- in the best way. Regardless of how cold or snappish she was, his attitude towards her remained the same. And, somehow, she seemed to intrinsically trust him because of his overtly accommodating nature. Here, a fixation with him starts.

Her first interactions with her other neighbor, Tamarack, start off rather iffy. Tabby immediately closes Tamarack off because she sees Tam as unpredictable and erratic (exactly what Tabby loathes). Tabby could tolerate her, but never tried to approach the bubbly ginger as a friend. Over time, though, they slowly develop a positive relationship. As aforementioned, it's all about building trust for her.

Unfortunately, all the positive rapport made seems to regress as she approaches adolescence. Her crush on Qiu develops into a more severe fixation. In a sense, they become like the crux of her life. She bases her worth around their approval of her -- and actively changes herself to fit the mold that she assumes they would like. It's very self-destructive for her esteem. She's not very liked among her peers in highschool because she is seen as unapproachable and harsh. That’s mostly due to her chronic resting-bitch-face. She's actually extremely patient and compassionate when approached, but most don't bother breaching that barrier.

Her mom eventually intervenes whenever she realizes that Tabby's feelings towards Qiu need to be addressed and worked through. And, eventually, it does get better! It just takes her a while. By the time she’s nearly fifteen, she actually has a heart-to-heart with Qiu about it. They both agree they have feelings for each other, but make the active choice not to date because they both have issues they want to sort out first.

Tamarack and Tabby's relationship, in turn, deteriorates because their older personalities begin to grate against each other. Tamarack's serene and bashful nature strongly contrasts Tabby's. Tamarack's personality entirely changing undoes a lot of the trust they'd established, since Tabby views Tamarack as an entirely different person.

By the time Tabby turns eighteen, she starts publicly using she/they (with no preference). Her and Qiu also start dating slightly after they both turn eighteen. Tabby starts volunteering a local animal shelter which is really good for her mental health!

Her and Opal are still extremely close, but they've mellowed out quite a bit and take a step back from her protective tendencies.

Them and Tamarack are able to establish strong communication once again, and can eventually overcome to the awkwardness that tainted their relationship. Really, it just required effort on both of their parts. They’re able to be good friends, but never become best friends, as Tamarack would have liked when they were children.

Everything is likely to change as more OL:NF content becomes available. But for now, this is the overview of Tabby!

✿ Lore (present/ongoing) ✿

N/A until Step Four comes out/we get more info!

✿ Relationships ✿

Parents: Opal Windsor and unnamed sperm donor

Siblings: N/A.

Aunts: Currently N/A.

Cousins: Currently N/A.

S/O: Qiu Lin

Notable Friends: Tamarack Baumann, Diana (my OC), Renee Murray, Jade Foljn, Mina Linwood (my OC)

(*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ*.ﾟ

𝙰𝚛𝚝 𝙲𝚊𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚞𝚎

Tabby’s S1 and S3 designs. (Art done by me)

(Art below by @humanlypotsand)

✿ Epilogue (Artist/Author's notes) ✿

Hello everyone! Thanks for bearing with me while I finally decided what/who my Qiu!MC was going to be! It was definitely a wild ride, and in total I cycled through two whole characters before deciding on Tabby.

Tabby herself has turned out to be a character that I really enjoy writing and drawing. I like the themes that I chose to explore in her lore, and I find myself relating to them in a lot of small ways.

I didn’t overtly talk about it above, but Tabby’s whole motif is cats/felines — hence the nickname Tabby! In S2 she even hides a litter of kittens in Qiu’s fort. And, of course, she later dedicates their life to the care of animals.

Thanks for reading this far!

Also thank you to @lov3-from-loserlane and @humanlypotsand for letting me yap about them!!

𝙴𝚡𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚔𝚜

Spotify playlist: coming soon! (wip)

Moodboard: coming soon! (as soon as I figure out how to make one)

Pinterest Board: coming soon! (wip)

#olnf #our life #my ocs #oc #our life now and forever #olba #our life beginnings and always #ocs #our life mc #teas ocs: tabby #qiu lin #teas MCs series

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oshinohoshi · 2 months ago

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Oshi no Ko Ch 160 thoughts

I think I'll start this out with a jump scare.

Imagine this guy showing up at your door trying to sell you a nice new set of kitchen knives. I'd take ten.

The above image is so ghoulish that I'd be tempted to see it as just Aqua's distorted perception of his father, not a mask off moment where Hikaru morphed into Slenderman

But I have no confidence that this chapter didn't just toss Hikaru's character development in the bin

A well-executed twist following a twist should be satisfying but rather than getting a nice "aha" moment, I'm just getting whiplash

Even though I don't like it, I guess I can buy a heartbroken and jaded Hikaru who subtly manipulated Ryosuke into becoming more unhinged and later influenced Nino to do his dirty work

Although I don't think Ryosuke needed any help being a dumpster fire of a human and Nino really has nobody to blame but herself

But then what were chapters 154 and 155 about?

The mess that was HkAi is so compelling to me. I find their relationship sweet and tragic. It was a disaster that could have become something lovely if they weren't such fragile people already deeply wounded at a young age

In order for Hikaru's realization that Ai loved him to be as impactful as it is, then "I'm going to do what I can for Ai" can't be a lie

Which means he can't have wanted to hurt Ruby after watching the DVD

Which means that we're gonna keep spinning in circles about Hikaru's culpability and motives until Akasaka lets us off this ride

We've gone from "Aqua delivered a revenge worse than death to an already self-destructive man" to "oh, I guess that meant nothing. Time to have a knife fight"

And then there's the below panel. The worst thing Hikaru said about Ai was that she was a normal girl who could be cruel. Now she's standing next to a very accusatory speech bubble

"Make people obey you?" Hikaru wouldn't think that of Ai post 154

I wouldn't be surprised if he's just winding Aqua up because he has a death wish, but I think that's just me trying to cope

I've been waiting a very long time for "you're just like me" from Hikaru to Aqua but it would have been more effective if the panels supposedly showing Aqua's power to charm didn't seem to have been chosen at random

Can I just say, this panel makes me uncomfortable:

It's hard to think of Ruby wholeheartedly singing love songs to sweaty 20-something men, and the way Ai and B Komachi started doing so when they were just children, and not feel weird

OnK does a wonderful job portraying the good things about idol fandom alongside the heinously toxic things, but it's so heavily weighted on the good side with Ruby that it sometimes makes me think Ai's death at the hands of an obsessive idol otaku who believed she couldn't be a real person because she sang love songs to her fans was a fever dream

And I know this is Aqua's image of Ruby, but it just seems like we're completely ignoring the arc where she went into full on manipulation mode (like father like daughter, I guess)

Anyway, the standout moments of this chapter were that Ai drew a heart on her toothbrush and the below panel. The little Hoshino family melts my ugly, deceptive heart

Christ. I haven't even mentioned Aqua's big ass knife

Aqua won't stab anyone. Just maybe do some light slashing

There is a blatant retcon about Nino and Ryosuke at the hospital because Crow Girl said there was a middle school aged boy there. The only ways this could not be a retcon is if Hikaru lied, Crow Girl lied, or crows really can't see well at night

Next chapter: Hikaru lets Aqua stab him but it bounces off because Nino, who wanted to protect her buddy, secretly made his suit knife proof. Ai's toothbrush turns out to be pivotal to the plot because if only she had used an electric toothbrush as dentists recommend, none of this would have happened.

#oshi no ko #chapter review #oshi no ko spoilers

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dazaiandhislovelybandages · 1 year ago

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Nobody's son, Nobody's Daughter {Dabi}

A/n: I absolutely love writing for Touya and lowkey writing this reminded me of my first ever anime crossover ff of Bnha, jjk (don't talk to me I'm still sad) and bsd. YALL DON'T READ THIS IT'S POORLY WRITTEN

Pairing: Dabi/ Touya Todoroki x fem!Zoldyck!reader

Tw: reader is a Zoldyck which means she offs people so... yeah

Genre: angst

Eating lukewarm unpaid noodles at a closed up mini market could be deemed as illegal, though after taking a close look at all the crimes you've committed, this one was the most legal yet.

The mission hadn't been a difficult one but you wholeheartedly preferred having a couple of eyebrows raised on you being late at the mansion to showing up early and having to deal with everyone there.

Being the second child to the infamous Zoldyck family was so much fun. Missions upon missions ever since you completed your 'danger-free' training, being the best assassin amongst your siblings yet constantly being ignored and pushed to the side.... it was fun.

If it weren't for the colour of the flames, you wouldn't even have noticed that the bowl and your noodles were burnt to a crisp.

Blue flames. Such an unusual colour for fire.

"Those were my noodles." You muttered, turning your head on your left to look at the person standing next to you.

"I couldn't care less. Get the fuck out of here unless you want to join your noodles."

You didn't know what it was exactly but you immediately bursted out laughing. "No offence man but... if you weren't holding a cup of noodles yourself and most importantly if you weren't a Todoroki, I would have taken you seriously."

You felt it then. The man's expression remained just as unbothered as before, but something in the atmosphere around you changed.

You watched as he sat at the chair next to you, clearly not in the mood to talk and began poking his noodles with his chopsticks.

"Touya, right?"

"I'm not going to ask how you know all this."

How could you ever forget? Hearing the screaming of a young boy getting burnt... You had wanted to help him. Despite all that hard training, the near emotionless state you were in because of it, you wanted to help him.

But Illumi would always tell you that you needed no friends. You just had to do your job, get paid, and then leave.

You could almost hear his voice now, telling you that friends would get you nowhere.

How could you forget that by the time you returned to the forest, half of it was burnt down and the other half was full of police officers looking for that boy? Yet you couldn't do anything because you couldn't disobey Illumi.

"You're not going to deny it?"

"As if we'll meet again..."

"Right..." You mumbled.

It felt oddly comforting, the fact that he didn't even bother to question anything. You felt a little embarrassed nonetheless. It was a really awkward first meeting.

"A Zoldyck, aren't you?"

"Should I ask how you came to that conclusion?" You settled down again with a new bowl of noodles in front of you.

"You haven't really changed since I last saw you." He stood up to throw his empty cup on the trashcan. "When was it?" He stopped to think. "Oh... that one time when our parents decided to have a get-together..."

Oh, right... yes, that boy back in the forest... Touya... he used to be your friend. Until Illumi found out.

Illumi or his father? You couldn't remember.

"I don't do friends either. Not anymore, so hopefully, when we do get to meet again..." With his back facing you, Dabi turned his head around, enough for you to see blood running down his cheek from his right eye. "We will be too different people with two different families."

A/n: OMG THIS IS SO POORLY WRITTEN I AM NOT EVEN SURPRISED!

#boku no hero academia x reader #bnha x reader #dabi mha #dabi bnha #dabi x reader #touya angst #touya todoroki x reader #touya todoroki #touya x reader #writing #anime and manga #anime

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cressidagrey · 5 months ago

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Glorious Sunrise - Chapter 8

Summary:

So what happens after the mating bond snaps?

Well-meaning interfering family members, deep conversations and nights spent brooding on the roof like some kind of gargoyle…this one has it all.

Warnings:

Definetly NSFW

(thanks to @cafekitsune for the super pretty dividers!)

There was a knock on the door of the stillroom.

Huh.

“Come in,” she said, carefully corking the potions she had just finished, labelling them. It was busy work, but she was waiting for the Cold Cure to finish simmering, which would take until this evening.

There was something inherently peaceful in the stillroom for her, her own little Kingdom to rule over, with her own rules…and no other persons anywhere near her.

The last person she had expected to walk into her stillroom…was the High Lord of the Night Court.

“Rhysand,” she greeted him, surprise obvious in her voice.

“Rhys. My family calls me Rhys,” he corrected her, a small smile on his handsome features.

“What brings you here?” she asked him curiously. “If you are searching for Azriel, I have no clue where he is,” she said drily, making him laugh.

“No, I am not searching for my wayward spymaster. Though I suppose I could just wait here and he would eventually show up for you,” he said, amusement glittering in his gaze. “I…have a question, I suppose. Will you be able to replicate it?”

He didn’t need to clarify what he meant, she knew, and still he did.

“You gave Emerie her wings back. Could you…do the same for more females just like her?” he asked her and Galena sat down carefully on her chair, fingertips tracing the table.

“I don’t know,” she admitted honestly. “The fact that her father did a really shoddy job at it made it easier for me. If he had done a better job…I would be able to soothe the tremors…maybe help the pain. I don’t know if it would work for everyone,” she said.

“But would you try?” Rhys pushed.

Try. Go to one of the warcamps in Illyria that Azriel never talked about…and try. She reached out for her notebook, where she had written down, everything she had done to Emerie…duplicating the pages with a wave of her hand and held it out for Rhys to take.

“You could try,” she said calmly.

He took it, glanced at it, then did a double-take." You wrote it down,” he realised and she shrugged.

“I tend to write everything down. All my own research. However, I don’t put it in the library anywhere. The last time I tried, I had a disagreement with a scholar there,” she admitted.

Disagreement was such a nice word for what happened.

Anyway, she didn’t care enough to put her name on any of the procedures she had “invented” if it meant that she needed to deal with the snobby scholars who looked down their nose at her and harrumphed like they thought her scars had anything to do with how her brain worked.

Her skin may be scarred, but her mind was as sharp as it always had been.

“Do not give this to one of the Illyrians that do the clippings. Or they change how they do it and I don’t know if it would work then,” she warned him seriously.

“They aren’t healers to you, are they?” Rhys asked her, flipping through the pages filled with her handwriting.

No, they weren’t.

“I made an oath to the mother when I became a healer. To do no harm. To help,” Galena said evenly. “They didn’t just break that oath. They disgrace our profession. My profession. So no. They aren’t healers to me. They are bungling idiots that should never be allowed near any other person at all.” She could seethe about it, but that wouldn’t help her.

“I would be willing to teach somebody what to do. Maybe Zoreen would be willing to go to Illyria,” she said calmly. “They could try if it works on somebody other than Emerie.”

“You wouldn’t be willing to go?” Rhys wondered. “You were the one who figured it out.”

She stared at him for a moment, facing him, so that he could see the full brunt of her scars.

“You mean, leave the peace I have here?” Galena asked him. “Where nobody stares at me? Where nobody makes any comments to me about my scars? For what? The glory of knowing that I was the one who figured out the way in the first place?”

He inclined his head, still mustering her. But it wasn’t the outright stares she drew if she walked outside…or the pitiful looks even her aunt sometimes had if the scars were looking particularly gruesome. It was just…just how two people would look at each other when they had a conversation.

“Is it really that peaceful with that male outside?” he asked her suddenly.

“Did Silas say something? He’s pretty much terrified of Azriel,” Galena said with a grin. “Very helpful. Hasn’t made one of his usual comments in weeks.”

She would gladly hide behind people being terrified of Azriel, if that meant that they left her in peace.

“What are his usual comments?” Rhys wondered, his voice too absent-minded to be truly that.

“Mostly shock that I am leaving the house,” Galena answered. For one moment she opened her mouth, planning to ask him if there was anything else she could do for him.

“Have you had lunch?” he asked her idly and she just stared at him.

“No.”

“Let me take you,” he told her and she just stared at him.

“You want to take me to lunch,” she repeated, unbelievingly. What?

“Yes,” he agreed. “I am meeting Mor…she did mention that she owes you an apology… And don’t worry, people will stare at me, not you.”

She blinked.

It was probably true that they would rather stare at the High Lord and not at her, but still.

“The difference is just that they look at you in awe and they stare at me like I am some sort of monster,” she quipped back.

“I’ll be sure to take you along when I visit another court and we can compare notes,” Rhys told her seriously. “I spent 50 years being a monster. And if I know one thing, then that you aren’t even close to classifying as one. And you shouldn’t let anybody tell you differently…or let anybody make you hate your own face because they don’t know what it means to live through the pain you have survived.”

She had no idea what to say to that.

“Give it a chance,” he told her imploringly.

A chance .

“I have given it a chance for 150 years, every week when I go and buy vegetables at the market,” she said, her voice shaking.

“Then give it another. Just for today,” Rhys asked her. “ Please .”

“Fine.”

What was one more experience of that?

What was one more time of being stared at, and pointed at and…But to her neverending surprise…none of that happened.

Maybe it was the fact that they winnowed right in front of that restaurant or that they got a table tucked into one corner…but for once…she could sit in a restaurant…and nobody cared. Nobody even gave her a second glance.

The Restaurant was definitely not what she had thought a High Lord would frequent either, but…Galena was just going to roll with weirdness now. The Restaurant was barely big enough to fit a dozen people, decked out in greens and golds…a small building near the Sidra.

“Chances are Mor is going to give you an absolutely horrible gift as a thank you for fixing Emerie’s wings,” Rhys told her conversational and she couldn’t help but snort.

“How horrible are we talking?” she asked curiously.

“Mor is notorious for her lack of gift-giving abilities. She gave Azriel a set of bright blue embroidered towels with his initials one year. Cassian has received silk shirts in all the colours of the rainbow.”

“I could use some embroidered towels,” Galena responded with a shrug.

“Too bad, I got you something else,” came Mor’s bright voice behind Rhys, and she looked up to find the blonde female, standing there with a shy smile on her face. “And I also owe you an apology.”

“You were worried about your…about Emerie,” Galena easily smoothed over. She still didn’t know what exactly Mor and Emerie were, but she didn’t want to speculate either. “I understand that. You haven’t been the first…relative or loved one that reacted similarly. I understand that it’s startling to hear that I use another fae as an experiment of sorts. Even when it’s done to help them.”

“Yes, but I did see what you could do when you healed Azriel. You do experiments maybe, but you were never… cold-hearted and callous about them,” Mor said with a sigh. “I was just…I was just so worried and I let that bleed into anger, and it wasn’t right how I talked to you…I was pretty sure Az was going to rip off my head halfway through.”

“He wouldn’t have done that,” Galena said calmly. He wouldn’t have. He maybe would have gotten angry, but that one singular “ Morrigan ” had said it all. Fury and anger maybe, but tightly leashed.

“He’s…very protective of you,” Mor said, with a smile. “It’s good that he…got you now. You settle him. He has needed that for years. And you give him focus too. Something I never could.”

I never could.

Had there been something between Azriel and Mor? Something that he had never told her about?

It niggled in the back of her brain, throughout that dinner, and through unwrapping a stack of romance novels (courtesy of Emerie) and a Mor’s idea of a gift…which didn’t end up being absolutely horrible. Actually, the model of a skeleton with a comically oversized skull was quite amusing to her.

“Thank you,” she thanked Rhys as he brought her back to the apothecary and he smiled at her.

“Don’t thank me. You should be able to do that every day if you wanted to,” he told her.

She didn’t know if she wanted that…but….maybe….maybe sometimes…if she knew that people wouldn’t star at her…maybe then she would enjoy leaving the apothecary.

Not always…but sometimes? Maybe?

And then…then all her good mood got destroyed by Silas.

“Wow, you really get around,” he drawled as she entered the apothecary and she froze.

“What?” she spat out.

“Don’t really get why any of them would give you the time of the day when I am sure there would be hundreds of faeries that don’t look like you do, but I imagine you must have other…skills,” he said with a shrug, leaning against the counter. “Though does your oversized bat know that you are whoring yourself out to the High Lord?”

She didn’t even have the words to describe what she was feeling. That icy rage that gripped her…that…fury.

But suddenly it was there. Suddenly every quip he had made on her cot was there, at the forefront of her mind…every time he had snorted about her leaving the stillroom…every time he didn’t think that she should leave the house…and all of it was a eighty cocktail of utter anger that enveloped her.

She didn’t often get loud. Nearly never.

Galena had always been soft-spoken. She preferred it that way.

She didn’t want to scream, to shout…to let emotion overcome her…she had over a century of training for that.

But now…now…now it was over.

“Out,” she seethed. “Out, right now. You are going to leave now. You are never going to come back. And you are not going to bother me or anybody else again!”

“You can’t do that,” Silas said with a roll of his eyes, nearly bored sounding.

“She can,” her aunt’s voice suddenly came from the stairway. “I don’t know what I have done to give you the impression that that you can talk to my daughter like that, but it ends now. If Galena said you are done, then you are done. So go .”

She didn’t even look Silas way when he left the apothecary, couldn’t bear it…not now. Not right now. Not

“Shhhh,” Madja was there suddenly, enveloping her in her arms and Galena breathed in the scent of spearmint and snow that clung to her. Safe. Home.

Still, she clung to her aunt, as the tears ran over her cheeks and she couldn’t help the sobs that broke out of her chest.

She wasn’t even sure what it was.

Maybe because…maybe because this wasn’t what she usually got to hear…Normally it were comments about her scars, the way she looked…some doubting her intelligence, thinking that her brain had been destroyed as well as her beauty and clearly she was good for nothing anymore.

But…but there had never been somebody calling her a whore.

That was new.

The tears that tracked over her cheeks were fat and hot, even as Madja shushed her…even when her aunt helped her upstairs and ended up bundling her into her bed…she couldn’t stop the tears.

It had been a good day. One day when nobody had stared at her. One day where she had gone out and been normal and then it had been utterly destroyed by that prick and she couldn’t…She couldn’t…

Madja plied her with potions and Galena took them without protest.

It was something.

It calmed down the half-hysterical feelings making themselves a home in her chest…leaving her tired and numb.

Madja sat down on the side of her bed, gently tucking her hair behind her ears and she weakly stared at the ceiling, not even really aware of her surroundings.

“He doesn’t deserve your tears,” Madja said quietly. “Why didn’t you tell me before that he…he behaved like that around you?”

“He didn’t,” she whispered. “Normally he just wondered if I left the apothecary…like I shouldn’t do that…Or he made some comments about scaring the people on the street. But he never…he never said anything like that…”

“And he shouldn’t have,” Madja told her evenly, taking her hand in both of hers.

“We don’t have anybody to man the till now,” Galena protested weakly. “I shouldn’t…”

“You should. You had every right to stand up for yourself,” Madja cut her off. “And I am so sorry if I ever made you feel like you shouldn’t…if I ever made you feel like I thought that you should take all the looks and all the words and never say anything to defend yourself…you have every right to live a life just as unbothered as anybody else.”

Did she?

Sometimes it didn’t feel that way.

Sometimes it felt like…

“I love you. And I am so, so proud of you, Little Mouse.” Soft spoken words and still Galena clung to them, even when sleep came to claim her.

It was dark in her room when she startled awake, rhythmically sounds of a knife being sharpened immediately stopping.

She felt her bed dip as Azriel sat down on the side of it, and he reached out with his hand and took hers.

“Lena,” the nickname only he used slipped over her and made her relax, sink back into the bed and relax. “How are you feeling?” Azriel asked her softly. “I heard what happened…what he said.” He spat out the last few words and she looked at him, seeing the anger smouldering in his eyes, the intense way he mustered her, worried.

“I am fine,” she answered, her voice quiet. “I had a great day until then,” she quipped. And then he went and ruined it.

“How was lunch with Rhys?” Azriel asked her curiously.

“ You would be surprised, you walk beside the High Lord and people stare at him, not at me. It was great. Mor was there too,” she answered. Drawing circles on his skin with her thumb…he was still wearing these cobalt blue stones that marked him as an Illyrian warrior…two of them right on top of his hands. Not quite as startling as him barging in on her in full armour with seven glowing siphons for Emerie though.

“She was?” Azriel asked, sounding surprised and she concentrated on his face, drinking in the expression on his far too handsome face…

“Yes,” Galena said quietly “Azriel? What did Mor mean when she said that she couldn’t give you something to focus on?”

Had there been something between Mor and Azriel? Had they been a couple once?

He looked surprised at her question.

“It’s…Are you sure you want to talk about it?” He asked her, looking decisively uncomfortable and she stared at him. She just nodded.

Swallowed.

“Centuries ago, I was in love with Mor,” Azriel said quietly. “It was never…I knew she was never going to go for me. Or I realised that after a few decades. But I…She was unattainable. To want her…was safe. I never needed to think about being turned down, because…she was going to turn me down. It was just a fact of life,” he said that so easily like he hadn’t spent a good few centuries in love with a female and yearning for her.

“It took me a few centuries until another female caught my eye after her…that didn’t work out either. I had pretty much given up on ever finding my mate. And then…then you came into my life,” he said, his voice warm. “And suddenly…suddenly all made sense.”

It was sweet. But she couldn’t help the shuddery feeling in her heart.

Because she had met Mor, bright, beautiful Mor…

“You don’t need to be jealous of her,” Azriel said softly, lifting her hand to dust a kiss over the back of it.

“She’s beautiful. I can see why you…” she didn’t get to answer because he cut her off.

“You are beautiful too, you know.”

Galena couldn’t help but shake her head. “Not like her,” she said quietly. Not in that kind of beautiful, unscarred way…unblemished skin stretching over every inch of Mor.

Galena was…Galena wasn’t the kind of beauty wars would be fought over.

“True. For me you are so much more beautiful,” Azriel agreed and she couldn’t help but laugh.

“You are ridiculous,” she told him, her lips perking up in a smile. He was sweet.

But she knew the way she looked. And that wasn’t beautiful or even pretty.

“I am not,” Azriel disagreed and she snorted.

“I have seen Mor,” she told him drily.

“I have seen you,” Azriel disagreed, leaning down to press a kiss against her lips…then her cheeks, dusting them over her jaw and down her neck…whatever disagreement she wanted to say somehow disappeared at that.

She moaned softly, one hand curling into the back of his neck…

“How are you really feeling?” he asked her, his breath against her skin making her shiver.

“What?” she couldn’t think, not when she could feel just the whisper of teeth against her skin.

“Want me to stop?” he asked her softly. “Because otherwise, we’ll have a discussion how beautiful I think you are.”

Her whole body shivered at that silken promise in his voice. She swallowed.

“No. Don’t stop,” she whispered, her voice shaky.

She hadn’t been quite sure what to expect…but it wasn’t the feeling of him touching her like she was some kind of holy thing, every touch gentle and reverent against her skin…he opened every button of the pyjamas she wore, slipping them over her shoulder. Drew his hand down to her chest, to touch her breast, clever fingers, far too clever fingers, catching her nipples and she whimpered with the sudden onslaught of desire that was banking low in her belly.

She wanted him.

Oh, how she wanted him.

“I know you don’t believe me…and I understand it, Lena. I do. I still can’t stand to look at my hands some days,” he told her, his voice hoarse.

He may have acted like he was aloof and detached, but the way he looked at her, heat cradling in his hazel eyes, dark with desire, told her exactly how much he wanted her.

“But I do think you are beautiful. All these scars, they tell a story of resilience…of everything that you survived so that we could come together,” he continued softly. “And I do love you.”

“I love you too,” she whimpered, words punctuated by a moan as he peppered his kisses against every inch of her skin he could reach, his tongue tracing against her breast and her breath caught in her throat…just as he sucked one rosy nipple in his mouth.

The result was immediate, her back arching against him, a whimper escaping her.

“Gods, I could just make a meal out of you,” Azriel whispered against her skin and she couldn’t help the full-body shudder these words resulted in.

…a meal? Did she even want to know what that would entail?

“You like that idea, don’t you?” Azriel asked her, a chuckle in his voice. “Me on my knees begging for a taste of you?”

Her brain immediately conjured up images and she wasn’t sure if that was...if that was something she would be able to withstand…Or if it would be too much. If she wouldn’t die from pleasure.

Her heart jumped in her chest.

“Who wouldn’t?” she managed to squeak out and he grinned at her, the smile on his face making him look wilder and younger and… “Azriel.”

He moved down her body so quickly that she had no chance to do something, as he pulled down her pyjamas and her underwear, all in one motion, leaving her bare to his gaze, her body trembling as his hands slowly slid up her legs.

“Yes?” he asked her gently, and still she could just stare at him. “Give me a few seconds to change your mind at least,” he teased her gently.

She swallowed, not without apprehension…and then finally nodded hesitantly, something knotting low in her belly.

“Let me know when you had enough,” he told her and she opened her mouth to respond, but then his hands were gently opening her legs, shouldering between them and that was…

And then, without breaking her gaze, he swiped the broad, flat of his tongue up her slit.

That was all he had needed to do before she was already a begging mess underneath him.

“ Oh,” it caught in her throat, the sound embarrassingly high and thin. He hummed in pleasure against her skin as he closed his lips over that bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs, and she forgot her own fucking name and every bit of control over her body as her hips thrust up against him on their own accord.

He laughed against her, the vibrations making her shudder, as he did it again, and then flickered his tongue over it in such a way that he had no choice but to pin her hips down to keep them on the bed.

Her breath came in sharp gasps as he alternated between languid licks and then fucking his tongue into her…he slid his thumbs down to hold her apart so he could delve deeper…

Galena was helpless in his grasp as he devoured her.

Devoured her like he was a starved male and she was his first meal in decades, like she was the best thing he had ever eaten in the first place, like her pleasure was the only thing that mattered…the pleasure was consuming her.

She couldn’t even find the words for it, wordless cries of pleasure leaving her mouth nearly constantly, that pleasure tightening and tightening, climbing higher and higher until she found that great precipice and threw her down, let her explode in her pleasure…

She had thought that that was it, as she sank back against her bad, her breathing coming in sharp gasps…and then he just continued licking at her, and her back arched again, riding that razor-thin edge between pleasure and pain, as she ground against him, her core beginning to clench again.

She wasn’t even sure how many times he made her find her peak, because she forgot everything. He reduced her to sharp cries of pleasure and hands grabbing for purchase, to grounding against him in search for more and when he finally let off her, she was hoarse and shaking, babbling noises that didn’t even make sense leaving her mouth.

“Shhh, Lena. You did so well,” he praised her, pressing a kiss against her lips, and she gasped at the taste of herself on his tongue, these strong arms surrounding her, holding her.

She could just press closer to him, even as he pulled back, as a glass of water was pressed against her lips and she drank gratefully.

That had been...that had been something.

“Too much?” he asked her, nearly hesitantly, but she shook her head.

No. Never.

“No,” she brought out. “I loved every minute of it.”

#acotar fanfiction #glorious sunrise #indelible #azriel x oc #azriel x reader #azriel fanfic #azriel fanfiction

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emilythedog661-tf2 · 3 months ago

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My TF2 Morden AU

Here is another instalment of my TF2 Alternate Universes, todays AU is about if the mercenaries lived in the 21st century in todays society, info is under the cut snd i hope you like it 😋

First we have the Mercenaries who aren't Mercenaries -

Scout - Scout who is named Jeremy Fast was born in 1996 making his 28 and he is a high school PE teacher for the boys, he is a good PE teacher but he been in trouble with the school a few times after parents complain that he's been flirting with the high school girl all between 13 - 16, he grew up with his single mom and his 8 half brothers and he is the youngest of the brothers, he's not sure who his dad was when he was younger but then he found out when he was 18 from his mom that his dad was a guy from france who met Jeremy's mom at the bar she works at while on a buisness trip, they then hit it off, had a one night stand then scout's mom had Jeremy, Jeremy's dad then disappeared after Jeremy was born but he still kept in contact with Jeremy's mom for child support, the only issue Jeremy has is that he can't seem to get a girlfriend, he went though dating apps, went out public areas like bars and concerts and even ask woman if they were single but nothing worked making him feel depressed that he can't get anyone to love him, another issue is that he has ADHD so he struggles to socialise full time and gets easily distracted, lastly, he's uses TikTok a lot to make random videos and he is a little popular on the platform but still can't get a girl to like him.

Soldier - Soldier who is named John Dow was born in 1979 making him 45 years old, he is a ex-military man who got let go from the military after being mentally unstable to be in the military, he found out from the military after being in it for 15 years that he has undiagnosed asperger's which was the reason the military had to let him go, John didn't want to be let go as he was used to being in the military for so long and he had nobody to go to as he was a orphan since he was 2 but he now on his own for a while with a single apartment that he bought with his veteran pension, he was also accepted to have a service dog for his asperger's and he ends up having a yorkshire terrier named Squibbs (This is based on my late yorkie with the same name and i just think it's funny seeing Soldier having a small dog like a yorkie as a service dog), the apartment he lives in also introduced him to his opposite neighbour named Dell and John is now having a sexual crisis as he has romantic feeling for Dell.

Pyro - Pyro who forgot his name was a firefighter but then he got into a accident where his body got completely burnt, he also gained severe memory loss after banging his head on a falling wooden board trying to get out the fire and now he stays in a care home as he started to act childish and unstable, he is not dangerous or unpredictable, he is just a lost and severely burnt human with mental issues that the doctor and nurses are trying their best to help him, he loves to draw, make balloon animals, is easily entertained and he has a big imagination but he can't seem to get his old memories back as he can't remember anything or anyone from his past life.

Demoman - Demoman who is named Travish Degroot was born in 1989 making him 35 years old, he is a workaholic who works many different jobs in his birth country of scotland and he is very well known in his hometown form all the jobs he has, his mother use to be a workaholic like Travish until she retired at 65, Travish's family now has loads of money that demoman got from all the jobs he done and he with his mother now have a nice house together, the jobs the Travish have is a cashier, a waiter, a carer for animals at shelters and rescues, a computer tech, a cameraman for some tv shows, a boom mic operator and other things, Travish is happy with his life and he doesn't seem to want to stop doing jobs.

Heavy - Heavy who is named Mikhail or Misha for short was born in 1968 making him 56 years old and is popular wrestler in russia, he has multiple awards and is a celebrity in russia, the reason he became a wrestler was to help his single mother and 3 sisters as they grew up poor and their dad died a few months after the youngest sister was born, Misha's baby sisters are now 34, 32 and 30 and they are happily living their lives thanks to Misha supporting them when they left home, the 3 sisters are now living happily with their husband with their kids and Misha loves his nieces and nephews like they were his kids, Misha is now living happily still being a celebrity and he also has a girlfriend named sylvia, the pair have been dating for 5 years now and they act like a married couple even if they aren't married yet.

Engineer - Engie who is named Dell Conagher was born in 1980 making him 44 years old and he was born in beehive, texas, he was raised by both his dad and grandad with no mother as she left after giving birth to Dell and his grandmother died of cancer a year before Dell was born so he had no mother figure, both Dell's dad and grandad did a good job raising Dell and he helped around his dad and grandad's family buisness which was a mechanical buisness, the buisness helped fix cars, machines and recently as of 2010, technology too, Dell learn everything about mechanics getting a few PhDs for it and when he turned 18, he moved out of texas saying bye to his dad as he grandad sadly died when he was 13 and he started a mechanical buisness in america, he was doing well with his buisness and he had help fixed loads of things over the years but he decided to keep living in a apartment when he has enough to buy a house, he then met his new neighbour, John and the pair hit it off really well with even Dell adoring John's Service Yorkie, after a while though, Dell realised that he was starting to get feeling for John and he was having sexual crisis as he didn't even know he was gay until he met John, sure he didn't have a girlfriend but he just thought he was too busy to think about having one but now he was have gay thought about John and he didn't know what to do with them.

Medic - Medic who is named Wilhelm Ludwig or Will for short was born in 1984 making him 40 years old and he was born in stuttgart, germany, Wilhelm was raised by doctor parents so Will wanted to be one too but he ended up becoming a pathologist instead, Will was very good at his job with examining the dead body and finding out the cause of death to the body during investigation for detectives and the police, he was so good at his pathologist job that he was called a pathologist sherlock as he would always get it right, he was soon hired by investigators in different countries to help them with examining dead bodies and he ended up helping to solve many cases, one of these trips he went to was australia and during a day off before going back to germany, he ends up meeting a animal photographer named Mike, the pair hit off talking about animals mainly birds and they decided to keep in contact with each other, the pair soon met up often with Will visiting Mike in australia and soon, the pair started to get romantic feelings for each other, Mike would also sometime go to germany to visit Will and the pair went to places where Will knew Mike would like.

Sniper - Sniper who is named Mike Mundy was born in 1994 making him 30 years old and he born to his bio parents in new zealand but then dumped Mike off at a orphanage when he was 6 months old, he was then soon adopted by his adopted parents when he was 12 months old and his new parents were elderly parents both being in their early 40s, Mike adored his adopted mother becoming a mama's bot but he has a love-hate relationship with his dad as his dad was grumpy, always wanted to argue and never showed affection but still loved Mike as a son in his own way, Mike growing up was always picked on by the other boys for being skinny and having elderly parents but he ended up being quite handsome when he got to his teen years, he soon moved out when he was 20 and lived in a small apartment a few mintues druve away from his parents, he got a job as a photographer for special occasions like weddings, baby showers, birthdays and other things and he ended up getting a lot of money for it, he then became a animal photographer from magazines and the pictures became popular making him more money, he did ask his parents if he could use some of his money to fix up the home but his dad rejected the offer saying the house was fine so Mike put half of his money to the side for his future while using the rest to buy a RV, he then sold his apartment and then traveled around australia to take pictures of animals and irs how he met Wilhelm, Mike liked Wilhelm as they both have a big love of bird and he never had anyone who shared his interests before so he was happy to have a friend, he soon realised though that he was getting feelings for Will and he hoped Will liked him back.

Spy - Spy who is named Jacque Voclain was born in 1976 making him 48 years old and he was born in france, Jacque is a very busy businessman and he works for a very popular french company, he's worked at the company for years going from a rookie to the CEO of the company, he has also traveled around a lot and it's how he met Jeremy's mom and accidentally had Jeremy with her, Jacque payed Child support to Jeremy's mom until Jeremy was 18 and he doesn't hear for Jeremy himself but his mom fills Jacque in on what he's done and what he's been doing over the almost 3 decades Jeremy being around, Jacque had never really met anyone else after Jeremy's mom and he did try to find someone similar to her but it never worked, Jacque hopes to meet up with Jeremy's mom again as he still loved her after all of these years but he wished she didn't have all those kids with different men.

That's all for now and i'll add more if i think of anything else, see you all next time! 😋

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drpeppertummy · 5 months ago

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ik conrads on top of the old man poll rn but im attacking my latest pal artie first bc i already had a plan

[very mild stuffing, mostly a whole lot of just Doin Stuff with little scraps of tummy in between]

"Alright, kid. You ever shuck a clam before?"

Celeste shook her head.

"It's not so hard. Look here," said Artie, taking a clam in one hand and the knife in the other. "You just stick it in that little groove..." Celeste watched nervously as he held the clam up to his face, carefully aligning the little knife in the miniscule notch between the lips of the shell. She wasn't entirely confident that he wasn't going to slice his finger off. She'd come to realize over the months that while he wasn't completely blind, he often put on that he could see a lot better than he really could. Still, he wedged the knife into the groove and, with a soft grunt, popped the shell open.

"Ta-da," he said, plucking away the top of the shell and setting it aside. "It takes a little elbow grease, but you'll get the hang of it. Anybody in your family any good at shucking clams?"

"I don't think so."

"Mine either. That's why it's important to learn. Every family's gotta have a clam shucker. Puts you high on the food chain. Here, give it a shot." He passed her the knife. She hesitantly picked up a clam, looked at it for a moment, and carefully lined up the knife.

Celeste managed to open one clam--hey, good girl, Artie had exclaimed with a firm pat on the back--before injuring herself, and then she was sent to chopping duty. She didn't have much in the way of culinary skills, but dicing the bacon and peppers was a far less daunting task than wrestling with the little mollusks. Artie, nerve-wracking though he was, blew through the rest of the bag with ease, opening up a couple dozen littlenecks in the same amount of time it took Celeste to chop up a pepper and a few pieces of bacon. Still, he praised her efforts--hey, choppin' ain't easy, especially with your hand all taped up--and they went on assembling the clams.

Artie had insisted on going all out for Celeste's birthday, and she'd driven him out to a little shack down the road to pick up some seafood. Following a good lesson on cooking, the two sat down for a mouthwatering dinner of pasta with seared scallops and lump crab meat in a garlicky wine sauce, accompanied by what Artie boasted as the best clams casino she'd ever try.

"Damn fine job you did on these," remarked Artie, holding up a clam. "You get the shucking down, you're set. You got your go-to party dish. I tell ya, this recipe has never done me wrong. You'll never wanna get 'em anywhere else."

Celeste wasn't the clam connoisseur that Artie seemed to be, but she couldn't deny that the clams were delicious, and the two ate enough of them to fill up even without the pasta. The pasta was, of course, not neglected either. The sauce was light and savory, and it mingled beautifully with the sweet crab and the buttery scallops. She could hardly believe she'd had anything to do with it. Nobody had ever bothered to teach her to cook, and her kitchen endeavors rarely got more complicated than stirring a frozen dinner between microwave sessions.

The pasta went down easy, and it was hard to stop eating, but it wasn't long before the bulkiness of it had both of them feeling full and sleepy. Still, Celeste went on picking at it. Artie, however, set his fork down and leaned back in his seat.

"Whoof, I'm stuffed," he sighed, resting a hand on his belly. "I don't think I can finish."

Truthfully, Celeste was surprised he ate as much as he did. Artie was small, and fairly slim for his age, which he chalked up to not having much of an appetite some days and not even being able to get out of bed on others. Tonight, though, he'd put away a good percentage of the big serving of pasta, along with about a dozen of the clams, and even under the compression of his back brace, she could tell his belly was full. Smiling fondly, she stood up and began to clear away their plates.

"Whoa, hey, it's your birthday, ain't it? Let me do it," said Artie, taking her arm as she reached for his plate.

"Oh, come on. You did all the work," she insisted, and he scoffed.

"I most certainly did not! Which of us was out there on the battlefield, chopping stuff up and boiling pasta? Wasn't me."

"Yeah, but you did the hard parts," she exclaimed, laughing. Artie pushed himself out of the chair with a groan.

"Difficulty is relative," he said with an impish smile, shaking a finger at her. "You did your part, now take a seat, missy, and that's final!"

Celeste rolled her eyes and sat down. There was no arguing with Artie; he was stubborn as a mule, and if he wanted to clean, there was no stopping him. She supposed he had a point, anyway--what was simple for a kitchen whiz like him took a lot more time and effort for a novice like her. Still, she stood again a moment later and joined him in cleaning up, and this time, he let her.

Artie relented and let Celeste take over washing the dishes--better eyes, he said--while he got the rest of the kitchen straightened up. Between the two of them, it didn't take long. While Celeste wasn't much of a cook, she was quick when it came to cleaning, although this skill didn't extend far beyond the kitchen sink. Feeling stuffed and eager to rest, they retreated to the living room, Celeste taking a seat on the couch while Artie dropped himself into the armchair across from her.

"Sheesh, I think I'm gonna have to adjust myself," he said, leaning back and untucking his shirt to loosen the brace wrapped around his middle. Celeste caught a glimpse of his full tummy pushing out snug against his undershirt, and she was thankful he couldn't see well enough to catch her blushing. Artie was only a friend, of course; he was nearly thrice her age, but there was little more tantalizing than a peek of tummy. He let his shirt fall back down with a sigh, looking far more comfortable, and Celeste was amused to see how much rounder his belly looked now that he'd given it some slack.

"You look stuffed," she giggled.

"Oh yeah?" Artie rested both hands on his belly, giving it a little pat for emphasis. "And what about you?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty full," she agreed, settling back into the couch cushion.

"Good, you better be. You did a great job cooking tonight."

"You think so?"

"I know so! You're gettin' good at this stuff, Celeste."

#writing #belly kink #tummy kink #stuffing #stuffed belly #xartiex #xcelestex

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mysaldate · 5 days ago

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Lilith should go back to what they had before

Crossposting from Reddit because I am tired of how the new AFK Arena writers keep trampling over incredible lore.

This is gonna be long so TLDR: Anything from ALucius onward has been one continuous middle finger to the lore community with insane retcons that ruined both characters and the world of Esperia and I just wish the game went back to what it had before.

Okay, now with the TLDR out of the way, let me preface this with brief history of my involvement with the game (just to avoid any comments accusing me of not knowing the game): I've been playing on and off pretty much since launch (missed about two or so weeks at launch) but got really into it before the Overlord collab. One thing that kept me invested for years to come was the lore. Lilith has done an incredible job crafting an interesting varied world full of all kinds of people and characters. I've been creating fanworks, crafting theories with my fellow lore nerds, bought the artbook as soon as it was announced, and also got invited to the official dev and players meeting in Germany last year. I adore old AFK lore because it is the most well-crafted world I've ever seen in a mobile game and it was definitely the main reason I've stayed for so long.

However, things shifted around the time ALucius released. His story completely retconned Lucius' original story which is what made him so lovable for me and a lot of my lore-interested friends. Lucius isn't someone who didn't join the army on a whim because he didn't want to. He was deeply traumatized as a child and even tried the military before realizing it just wasn't for him. No, instead now he's more like a petulant child who just didn't want to follow the family tradition. And let me tell you, it didn't get better from there on out. The biggest offender though, of course, are the Draconis.

The Draconis as a whole are a mess. Firstly, they completely retcon Dura's involvement in the Age of Arcana which completely breaks the world. To explain a long story very quickly, Dura gave humans magic which led to an arms race between the humans and the gods, making the gods send Annih to deal with it, leading to the creation of the Ya who would later split into Maulers and Wilders, which then led to the Cinder War where humans basically turned on each other, Quaedam was one of the powerful mages who died during this time, and finally, it made Annih the scapegoat for when the post-war mortals found out about what the gods (or rather, just Annih in their eyes) did, and of course, Annih then created the Hypogeans. If you take Dura out of the equation, there's no arms race because there is no need for it. If you remove her involvement, 4/6 factions in the game wouldn't even exist in the world. This seemingly insignificant detail (that was only edited to make Dura seem better anyway) completely breaks the world but oh boy, we're just starting.

During the Cinder Wars, dragons were nearly driven into extinction. According to the old lore, the last few remaining dragons hid underground and fell into a deep slumber to recover their strength. In their dreams, they created Tasi to guard them and ensure their safety. This was true up to when Gavus and Eugene were added into the game as they literally had a run-in with a dragon in its underground lair. These dragons also have a deep-rooted hatred for humanity to the point where even seeing two babies is enough to send them into a blind rage and try to kill them. They would've gone into hibernation before year 1 CE, meaning at least 35 years before the first Hypogean invasion even began. Instead, in the new lore, Dura took the dragons (but not the other enslaved and tortured races) and dropped them on a random island with the condition that they would "help when the need is worst" or something. And the dragons now also fought in the first Hypogean war which now supposedly happened before they were taken to the island? And nobody has any records of them fighting in it at all? And of course, they are totally fine helping out humans (let's also not forget that originally, it was Dura who gave humans the means to enslave dragons in the first place and we've seen from Gavus' story and the Chains of the Covenant comic that the dragons have little respect for the Celestials exactly because of that). There is also the idea that the dragons have always been noble and protectors of humanity but that is far from the truth too. During the Floating Isles Abyssal Expedition season, we got confirmation on what was already suggested earlier – the dragons of old were slavers themselves, kidnapping entire settlements to serve them and viewing every other race except the gods as beneath them. Given that some of the dragon characters we get in the game are supposed to have lived through that era, it certainly casts them in a very different light.

But let's not forget, the Draconis lore isn't even consistent within itself. For example, it claims that young draconis cannot control their transformation well, yet Gwyneth was supposedly able to turn fully human as a newborn baby and keep up her disguise for sixteen years (because yes, despite getting plastic surgery to get massive boobs and ass, she is supposed to be sixteen) and it only started showing because a wyvern (another retcon) suddenly got close to the capital… even though she already killed a wyvern before with no issues popping up. The Draconis lore also claims that many on the dragon isle were around during the Age of Arcana and yet, their enslavement is supposedly a secret so closely guarded that they would lock people up in isolation if they found out about it? Cassius supposedly found out through careful study and it was such a big deal he had to go on a hunger strike before Hildwin appointed him a scribe for the dragon council but in the Dwyneth webcomic, Cassius is already a scribe and Hildwin has to take him to a secret island off the dragon isle and tell him about all the history.

Let's also talk more with Dwyneth. Her story, once again, retcons what we've known about her and what made her so interesting. By making her a part of the king's hunting party who went to look for the wyvern, they got rid of her quick thinking and rather impulsive nature. And let's not forget that this wyvern was now supposedly a part of a whole group of wyverns terrorizing a nearby city? Wyverns and any draconids are supposed to be extremely rare in Esperia for reasons I'll get into later. The original story had the king's party be on a stroll and accidentally waking up the wyvern from its slumber because they didn't even know it was there. Gwyneth's quick thinking and strength gained her the respect of the king and she was subsequently allowed to join the Royal Garrison. That is not even mentioning that Gwyneth was heavily implied to be a child of the robbers Hendrik killed before he adopted her. Her strength was strange, sure, but it never needed an explanation in a world where squirrels can turn people into acorns and undead mermaids float in the sea. And then we get to her actual awakening story…

Listen, if you need to kill an NPC to make your new waifu seem cool, I will already think it's cringe. But if you kill the single most popular NPC your lore community has, one with insane history and all that, it just starts to look like you hate your own content and/or audience. Kane's death makes no sense. He is a battle-hardened warrior with elemental powers (heavily implied to once have been the elemental guardian – we'll talk about how the draconis mess those up later) with a dragon mount (demoted to a wyvern because we can't possibly have an evil dragon now) who has been around since long before the first Hypogean war. Not only is he killed by a sixteen-year-old girl, she also only just got her powers and has supposedly no idea how to use them. And she also bested him in close-quarters combat despite being an archer and Kane being a legendary swordsman. Sadly, this was not the last time a Draconis-related storyline decided to kill off an important NPC with no regard for their lore.

Next we get to Antandra. Once again, the story retcons her entire backstory, events, and personality. It actually makes her more in-line with Journey's Antandra than Arena's which is a whole another can of worms I will not get into right now. Instead of Antandra being the tribute to the temple, she now apparently chose to go and become a temple warrior. After she was banished from the temple, she apparently never saw Satrana again (retconning her union story with Satrana as well as multiple time-limited and permanent events). She is also apparently a mother figure to a lot of children living around where she is staying… which should be the Land of Exiles since she was, you know, exiled and banished. There shouldn't be any children there, it is by far the most dangerous part of the desert. The idea that there's a whole tribe of children who see Antandra as their mother figure just running around is kind of stupid to be honest. Let's also ignore that she is probably the one who gave Dwyneth her new chest because Antandra's went the opposite direction. Let's also compare how previous awakened characters got their powers vs how Antandra did: Thane and Baden went on a huge journey to learn about cooperation and self-sacrifice and took immense risks to protect their loved ones. Safiya nearly died in a game of 5D chess against one of the deadliest enemies in the desert and destroyed an entire clan's kingdom. Antandra? Well, she girlbossed extra hard and Hildwin gave her a gem for it.

Eironn's story is baffling to say the least. Not only is it copy-pasted from Journey's beta where that was pretty much the exact backstory for Bryon (before they decided they don't want a disabled character to be playable) but it doesn't fit Eironn's character. It presents Eironn as someone who chases after glory and thrill of the fight and doesn't care about the people around him. However, Eironn has never been this person. He'd been awkward and struggled to rely on others, yes, but he would never abandon his comrades to chase after a powerful enemy. And of course, he doesn't even get to be cool in his own awakening story, Dwyneth has to swoop in after deciding he was "worthy" and save him at the last minute. At least there aren't any giant retcons to his backstory I guess.

And then there is Thoran and oh boy… So remember when I said Kane wasn't the only NPC who got done super dirty and killed just because the writers could? Same thing happened with Quaedam. Forget the fact that Thoran and all the other graveborn who made a contract with Quaedam are supposed to be like a hivemind that Quaedam can tap into and read at any time. Forget that Quaedam doesn't have a body or anything material and is a spectral entity on a similar power level to the Celestials at this point. Forget also the fact that Quaedam has the Eldritch Council – a whole line-up of similarly powerful necromancers who have been working for him since the Cinder Wars. Forget the fact that Quaedam most likely had enslaved dragons and thus would absolutely be stronger than them. Forget the fact he doesn't have a material base due to his immaterial nature. No, instead, Thoran makes a deal with a dragon behind Quaedam's back, steers the Hypogeans into Quaedam's base, and then strikes him down with a single swing of the sword. Oh, and let's also not forget, the necrodragon isn't supposed to just be out and about. It was a minion of the god of the hunt, Adrax, kept in a pocket dimension of his private hunting grounds.

The other characters who have released since ALucius have been a huge hit or miss but I won't get into each of them individually because that would be way too long (I say like the post already isn't) but to quickly summarize: Raoul is mostly fine aside from the fact where he doesn't look anything like what a character from Esperia would look like. Villanelle retcons Quicksand Claws to make them more stereotypically perpetrators of all evils and sins when they should be a very directly focused mercenary group. Misha's story mentions some "Wilder goddess" who has never existed or, if they mean Dura, was everyone's goddess. Journey, however, does have some Wilder-specific gods (and they suck and break the world further). It also mentions some incursion "decades ago" which… makes no sense? There hasn't been any incursion mere decades ago. Timelines don't timeline with this one. Randle is mostly fine but retcons Niru and how the Whispering Doom (I refuse to call it Doom Spire, stop changing good names, Lilith) works. Aurelia is fine except for the part where her story makes Flora into a lazy bum who doesn't want to do her job. Knox is kinda okay except for the part where his story suggests all Hypogeans are an organized monolith. Most of the Draconis stories are already involved in what I talked about so I will just point out the biggest offender on the list is Lan and no, it is not because she has the vibes of a self-insert Mary Sue. It's because she makes the elemental guardians completely obsolete since dragons can control the elements and direct rain and wind and whatnot.

I've heard from an inside source that pretty much the entire writing department got sacked and the game was handed off to new writers, around the same time it happened with Journey as well, and I have to say, it certainly does feel that way. Between the retcons of huge world lore and warp of pre-existing playable and non-playable characters beyond recognition, it definitely feels like a spiteful rewrite where someone is trying to erase the original and do it "better" except they just end up ruining everything they touch. I'm just frustrated because I invested a lot of time and money into everything AFK-related, bought merch, commissioned art, wrote fanfiction (even won a contest by Lilith with one of my works), started running a DnD campaign set in Esperia, and more. Seeing it all go up in flames like this makes me sad and I just wish things could go back to what it was before. The War of Truth storyline was one of the peaks of AFK's storytelling ever so to follow it up with tis makes it even more jarring. The lore community right now is basically non-existant. Most of my friends left the fandom entirely or only pop in to make fun of how badly the new characters are written. Lilith killed their own lore nerds and it's a damn shame.

But anyway, that's just my rant. If you read everything, thank you a ton, I know this was long and I apologize. Please let me know what you think, if you noticed any more retcons and mistakes, etc. If you don't care about lore, this post is probably not for you so I apologize for wasting your time with it.

#afk arena #afk journey #afk news #lilith games #afk lore #afk gwyneth #afk draconis #afk eironn #afk antandra #afk thoran #afk kane #afk hildwin #afk cassius #afk misha #afk gavus #afk dura #afk annih #afk hypogean

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