#fun little rivalry between friends (i hope you LOSE)

[ahurumustdie]

ENGLAND VS AUSTRALIA IN THE WORLD CUP LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🍻🍻🍻🍻🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

is this about soccer??? bc i hope the matildas kick your ass

[fireinmoonshot]

death wish love | tyler owens x fem!reader

Pairing: Tyler Owens x Fem!Reader Summary: As members of rival storm chasing groups, you and Tyler Owens have hated each other since the start – well, you were supposed to. Little do you know, Tyler has been head over heels for you for months, and it's only when he nearly loses you that he realises he's done with pretending to hate you. Warnings: Descriptions of injuries, mentions of blood, tornadoes (of course), Tyler is actually painfully obvious with his crush but thinks he's not at all. Word Count: 6.7k (I don't know how that happened) A/N: I had this idea for a fic a few days ago and when I was listening to the Twisters soundtrack as I wrote, I realised that the song Death Wish Love fits it perfectly. I did not intend for this to be so long, but it somehow just happened. It's probably one of the longest things I've written on this blog, so I hope anyone that reads it really enjoys it. I had so much fun writing it and playing around in the Twisters universe! I will definitely be writing more for Tyler.

One of these days, Tyler Owens was going to get his shit together and ask you out. There were, however, several things in the way. The most pressing being the fact that your storm chasing groups were rivals and had been for years.

The fact that you hated his guts would be the second. 

He was unaware that you didn’t hate him quite as much as you made out to, though. It was just that you had a reputation to uphold. Being the unofficial leader of The Thunder Team, your friends and fellow storm chasers all expected you to dislike the Tornado Wranglers just as much as they did.

And you had – in the start. 

You were just beginning your PhD, fairly fresh in the world of storm chasing and the rivalry between your teams had been there from the very beginning. To your team, the Tornado Wranglers were nothing more than a bunch of stupid kids who didn’t even have the correct knowledge to be chasing these tornadoes.

To you, they had slowly become something of a wonder. You didn’t think it was necessary to have a PhD or education under your belt in order to storm chase. As long as you loved it, that was enough. And you never doubted the love that the Tornado Wranglers had for it. 

But still, the rivalry continued. It was always a competition. Who could get to the tornado first? Who could get closer? Who had better instincts when it came to choosing which one to chase? Who could get more attention on social media with their photos and videos?

The Tornado Wranglers had an advantage on that one.

That never stopped your team trying, though. Which is exactly what they’re doing as you walk towards them from where you’ve just parked your car. They’re all crowded around the van in the motel parking lot. Robbie, one of your closest friends, is filming Ally talking about something, probably regarding the EF1 tornado you’d chased today. 

You stop far enough away that you aren’t going to end up in the background of the video, and that’s when Tyler Owens sidles up beside you, arms crossed over his chest.

“Not interested in going viral?”

You glance up at him and notice he’s already looking at you with a cocky grin on his irritatingly handsome face. “No, figured I’d leave that to you and your team. Shoot any fireworks up a tornado today? I didn’t see you out there.”

“I didn’t realise you were looking.” 

There’s something strange in his tone of voice, but when you look at him again, there’s nothing in his face to give away the reason. 

“I wasn’t,” you huff. “It’s just that I see your giant red truck everywhere when I’m trying to get good photos of the tornadoes and it’s quite obvious when you’re not there.” 

Tyler smiles to himself. “Why don’t you come chasing with us one day, then? My truck won’t end up in your photos if you’re taking photos from inside it.”

You laugh. “That is the last thing I would want to do.” A lie. You’ve thought about it several times in the past.

“Sure, sure. You keep telling yourself that and one day you might actually believe it.”

You narrow your eyes at him but make no move to walk away from him. Your team are still filming and you’d rather stay away until they’re finished, even if it means standing with Tyler Owens until they are. 

“You guys gonna stop by the rodeo tomorrow night?” Tyler breaks the silence. 

You shrug your shoulders. “Depends on how tomorrow goes. You?”

He nods. “Yeah, we probably will, even if tomorrow doesn’t go to plan. You know my team. We love a night out.”

The weather tomorrow was predicted to be a good one for storm chasers – thunderstorms with heavy rain and likely a tornado as well, if the conditions were good enough. You were all hoping that they were. 

“My guys are less likely to go if they know your team is going, you know?” You look at Tyler, noticing the way that he’s watching your team, who are now laughing at something that Ally had said for the video. “We are still rivals.” 

“Did you think I needed a reminder?” He chuckles.

“Why? Am I being too nice to you?”

Tyler grins, one of those ones that makes you feel a little funny in your stomach. Like butterflies – but you don’t get butterflies from people you dislike. 

“Oh, darlin', you’re always a delight.”

You roll your eyes. “Want me to get you a shovel so you can start digging yourself a hole?” 

He holds up his hands in mock surrender and laughs. “Sorry, sorry,” he grins. “You wanna grab one for yourself so you can help me? I’d love the company.”

You open your mouth to reply about how much you’d love to help just as you catch Robbie’s eye. He’s quick to call out your name, beckoning you over, and you have no choice but to listen to him and leave Tyler. You’ve already stood here talking to him long enough and the last thing you want is your team thinking that you’re colluding with the Tornado Wranglers. 

“Gotta go,” you nod your head towards your group. “Good luck tomorrow.”

Tyler bids you good luck as well and watches as you head over towards your group, all of them eyeing him as you reach them. He tips his hat at Robbie, who is watching him with judging eyes, and turns on his heel, heading back to his own team to get a well needed beer.

—

When Tyler gets back to his team, he realises that they were all watching him. They all give him questioning looks as he grabs a beer out of the cooler. 

“What? I got something on my face?”

“Yeah, it sure is written all over your face,” Boone says.

Tyler frowns. “What is?”

“Oh, don’t try and lie to us, Ty,” Dani adds.

He shakes his head and takes a seat on one of the fold up chairs beside his truck. He’s smart enough to see what they’re getting at – the way he’d been there talking with you for so long. His friends are smart too. But hopefully not smart enough to see through the facade Tyler puts up to try and convince them that he still dislikes you. 

“Her, Ty? Really? She’s from the Thunder Team.” Boone stares Tyler down.

Tyler has no choice. “Okay, no,” he sighs and takes a long swig of his beer. “We were just talking, and I was just messing around with her.” He was also trying to get the courage to ask you to the rodeo, just the two of you, but he’d chickened out at the last second. “She definitely still hates us, judging by her reaction.”

Truth is, Tyler Owens has been harbouring a secret crush on you for the better part of a year now. It had snuck up on him. He’d hated you at first, thought you were just another stuck up storm chasing student, especially when he found out you were studying for your PhD. But after spending so much time around you, something had changed and all of a sudden, you had a hold over him that you didn’t even realise you had. 

It drives Tyler insane. 

The way he feels when he looks at you is definitely not the way he should be feeling about anyone, letalone the leader of a rival storm chasing team. But here he is. 

The passion he’d seen in your eyes when you’d been chasing storms. The way you talked about them in your captions on social media when you posted photos you’d taken. Even the way you made time to learn more about them through school while being on the road so often.

He was well aware that he was supposed to hate you. And yet, he couldn’t find it in himself to do it anymore.

“You sure that’s all it was?” 

“A hundred percent, Boone.”

He’s thankful when the conversation moves away from you and the Thunder Team. It lets him sit in his own thoughts for a few minutes until he’ll undoubtedly be brought back into the conversation for one reason or another. 

He’s unable to stop his eyes from drifting over to you and your team. You’ve taken a seat on the back of a truck, watching safely from behind the camera as Robbie films Ally again. He tries hard not to smile at the look on your face as you watch your friends, laughing along with the others. The last thing he needs right now is for one of his team to catch him grinning at you like an idiot, especially after convincing them that there’s nothing going on.  

He realises, then, that he’s already in way too deep.

—

The last thing you expect when you wake up the next morning is to find out that your team made a bet with the Tornado Wranglers when you had gone to bed. 

It’d been raining for most of the night, the ground covered in mud and puddles. The sky was dark and you could just feel that the conditions were perfect for a tornado. You had a good feeling that today would be the day.

Until you learnt about the bet.

“I knew I shouldn’t have left you guys alone.”

Robbie laughs, nearly choking on the piece of bacon he’d been eating. You’ve all come to a nearby diner to fuel up on both food and gas for your cars before what was supposed to be a long day of storm chasing. You have a feeling that it won’t be now that the bet exists.

“Okay, technically it was their fault,” Ally offers.

“Explain.”

“So, we’d had a few drinks, and they had clearly also been drinking, and Harry and I were heading over to the bathrooms to clean up before going to bed – because dental hygiene is important!” Ally begins, forgetting all about her half eaten plate of food. “We were almost there when they called out to us – I forget their names. The blond guy and the one with the mustache, the cute one. Anyway, they suggested a bet. Whoever could hold their liquor the best gets to choose which direction the other team chases in today.”

You stare at Ally. “And you said yes.”

She winces, and then shovels a fork full of eggs into her mouth, nodding so she doesn’t have to give you a proper answer. 

Your team is usually quite well behaved. But even the best of people could get taken advantage of, and you’ve seen it many times first hand with the Tornado Wranglers.  They can hold their liquor very well and wake up the next day with very little consequences from doing so. You’re honestly surprised Ally is even functioning. Harry, on the other hand, you haven’t seen all morning. Unsurprisingly, your team had obviously lost.

“Which direction are we going, then?”

“That’s the catch,” Robbie interjects. “They choose for us before we go. They get to look at the radar first and decide which way is going to be best. And naturally, they’re going to send us in the direction far away from the best chance.” 

You groan and let your head fall into your hands, beginning to ponder your options. You can either deal with the bet and get sent in the entirely wrong direction, or…

Without a second thought, you’re pushing yourself up from the table and heading towards the door of the diner.

“Where are you going!?” Robbie calls after you.

“I’m going to fix this mess!” 

—

Tyler greets you with a smile that is way too cheerful for both the time of the morning that it is and the situation.

“To what do I owe the pleasure on this fine morning, darlin'?” He asks, leaning up against his truck. He’s holding a coffee in one hand. Good to know he’s human. You’re not surprised that he doesn’t look hungover at all. The man practically resembles a God. 

“Wouldn’t call it a pleasure, honey,” you sigh, deciding to use a nickname just like he always uses for you. You cross your arms over your chest as you stop in front of him. “This bet you made with my team last night. I want it called off.”

Tyler’s breath catches in his throat at the sound of the word honey coming out of your mouth, directed at him. He clears his throat, trying to ignore the way it feels to hear you calling him that. “No can do, I’m afraid. We Tornado Wranglers don’t back down on bets.” 

You narrow your eyes at him. “I’m asking nicely.”

“I think you can ask a little nicer. Maybe throw a please in there,” he says. “You know it wouldn’t look good for your team, though, right? Half the other teams know about the bet.”

For a few moments, you simply just stare at him, hoping he’ll budge. He doesn’t. He stands there staring at you, too, leaning against his truck in an effortlessly attractive way, smiling at you in that same way he always does. It’s like he reserves this specific smile just for you. 

You take a step towards him, testing the waters, and notice the way his breath hitches this time at your close proximity. Did he dislike you that much that you getting this close to him set him on edge? Or was it something else?

“Nothing can change your mind?”

Tyler shakes his head. “I already told you. We don’t back down on our bets.”

“Tyler.” It’s a rare occasion where you call him by his first name, but you figure it can’t hurt to try it. You can see his eyes soften a little at the sound of it. “If you do this, you’re going to send us right off the trail and ruin our chase.”

“Who said I’d send you in the wrong direction?” 

“I’m smarter than you give me credit for.”

“I don’t know, darlin'. I give you a fair bit of credit for being a genius,” he took a sip of his coffee. “You’re the one with the PhD. I didn’t study that much.”

Something about hearing those words sets off that feeling inside your stomach again. You push it down. “I don’t have my PhD yet.”

“No,” Tyler shakes his head. “But you’re close, aren’t you? That’s more than most people around here can say regarding their education on these things.” He points a finger towards the sky, which is rapidly darkening. 

You sigh. He’s right about that. You are close to finishing your PhD, and not many of the other storm chasers around you could say the same. 

“Just tell me which direction we’re going in, Owens.”

He looks at you for a moment. “I’ll give you a choice,” he says, and for a moment hope sparks in your chest that you’ll get to choose your direction – until he continues speaking. “I’ll let this bet go if you make another one with me.”

“What sort of bet?” You cross your arms over your chest.

“Not regarding our teams. Just you and me.”

You’re about to respond when you hear the sound of the van, playing music rather loudly – Harry’s choice – pulling into the motel parking lot behind you. You sigh and turn around to look at them, irritated that this is the second time in less than 24 hours that they’ve interrupted you and Tyler. 

“No luck?” Ally calls out from the passenger seat. 

Behind them, Robbie pulls up in his truck. 

You shake your head and turn back around to face Tyler. There’s no time to make another bet with him now that your team is here and they’re all ready to go. 

“East or west, Owens?”

Tyler turns around and looks at the sky around you. You figure he’s already done his research on the conditions in every direction and that he’s just messing with you, pretending to decide on the spot. Any good storm chaser would have been watching the radars all morning – which you had been, before you found out about the bet. 

“East.” He says, turning back around to face you. “There are two possible formations, so let’s see which one develops. Or, you can ditch your team and come join us for the day. My passenger seat practically has your name on it, darlin’.” 

A small part of you finds yourself wanting to say yes to him. To tell him that you’d love nothing more than to get in his truck and see what a day with the Tornado Wranglers is like. But the reasonable part of you wins out. 

“You’re going to regret making this bet with my team, Owens,” you take a step back from him, giving him his space again. 

“I gave you the choice of another option, but you didn’t take it.”

You ignore him and turn around, heading towards the passenger side of Robbie’s truck – your usual spot when storm chasing. Tyler laughs at your reaction and then gets into his own truck before pressing his hand to the horn, making you jump at the sound, obviously using it to call his team from inside. You shoot him a look over your shoulder and in return, he sends a wink your way.

“May the best team win,” Tyler flashes a grin.

“Oh, we will!”

—

As much as Tyler hates to admit it, he had sent you in the wrong direction. There were two possible formations, that was true. But it looked very clear that the one to the east wasn’t actually going to develop into anything, and he was sure you would’ve figured that out once you got on the road and actually checked the conditions yourself.

He hates disappointing you. He saw the look on your face as you tried to convince him to call off the bet, the way you wanted to make sure today was a good one for your team. But it isn’t entirely out of competition that he sent you in the wrong direction.

Subconsciously, he did it to try and keep you safe.

If you’re out of the way of the tornado, then it’s a weight off of Tyler’s chest. He wouldn’t admit that to his team, but it felt good to think about himself. That you’d be safe. Besides, he had tried to get you out of it by making another bet with you, but he knew that you wouldn’t humour him the second he saw your team arrive. 

He presses his foot down on the accelerator, watching the clouds ahead of them. Something is going to form. He knows it. He just hopes it’s a good one, something worth chasing. 

In the passenger seat, Boone is keeping a good eye on the clouds to the east. He’s filming as well, live streaming as usual. 

“You were right, Ty,” Boone says, pointing the camera out the window towards the east. “That one’s gonna give us nothing. It’s already disappearing.”

Tyler lets out a breath of relief. You’re out of harms way and even though he knows you’d be annoyed at him if you ever found out, he can’t seem to find it in himself to feel bad about the fact. He had felt bad about the bet when you’d been talking to him, but now he realises that keeping the bet was a good idea.

“This one’s gonna be a good one, I can feel it,” he says, eyeing the clouds above them. 

Then, it happens – the tornado forms right in front of them. It’s already huge, bigger than any tornado Tyler has seen in the past few months.

Boone whoops in the seat beside him, moving the camera to film the tornado through the windshield. 

“Just look at that beauty!” He exclaims. 

Tyler can’t keep the smile off of his face as they drive closer to it. He stops the car once they get close enough, anchoring it to the ground as usual, watching as it gets closer and closer to the truck. 

“Oh, this is gonna be fun,” Tyler yells, straight to the camera that Boone is holding in his face. “Let’s do this!”

It’s only a split second later that his heart drops to his stomach. He watches as the tornado, once coming right towards them, veers off course. It’s heading east. And it’s growing in size. 

He looks out of the passenger window and in the distance, he can see your truck. It’s white, so bright under the dark sky. You’re going to be right in its path.

He sent you in the wrong direction to try and get you out of harms way, and instead he’s sent you in the exact direction the tornado is heading. There’s no way you can get out of its path in time. 

Tyler suddenly feels like he can barely breathe.

“Turn the camera off, Boone,” he commands, and then he’s removing the anchors from the ground and pressing his foot down onto the accelerator before he can even really think about it, even though there’s no way he can reach you in time with how quickly the tornado is moving towards you.

Boone, thankfully, listens, ending the stream, putting the camera down and picking up the radio to try and reach you. He’s realised what’s happening. Tyler tries to ignore the panic he feels when there’s no answer.

He can’t lose you like this. Not now. Not when he never really even had you. Not when you didn’t even know the way he felt about you. He’d been an asshole, a fool, making that bet. If he hadn’t, none of this would have happened.

“Please be okay, please be okay.” He mutters it under his breath like it’s a mantra. He doesn’t care what Boone thinks. If he says it enough, maybe he can make it come true.

—

You’ve seen tornadoes before. You’ve been close to them before. But you’ve never had one quite this size coming straight at you. You hadn’t expected this. 

When Tyler sent you east, Robbie had checked the radar and noticed that the cells out here were much less likely to form a tornado compared to the ones west. You’d gone anyway, figuring you’d try your chances, leaving Ally, Harry and the rest of your team a little further back, trying to get as close as you could before you realised your tornado was going to amount to nothing at all.

You and Robbie had been watching the tornado forming west of you, wishing you had been able to chase that one rather than do what the Tornado Wranglers told you. 

And then, it changed course.

“Get out of the car! We need to run!” Robbie undoes his seatbelt as he speaks and it doesn’t take you long to follow suit, undoing your own and jumping out of the truck.

He takes off at a run ahead of you just as the rain begins.

Your heart is beating faster in your chest than you think it ever has before. Your legs burn at the pace you’re running, your feet sinking into and skidding through the muddy paddock thanks to the heavy rain last night and the rain growing even heavier now. It slows you down, but your adrenaline pushes you faster. You can’t stop, not now. Not when there’s a possible EF4 on your tail, getting closer to you with every breath you take.

You make a mistake, then, deciding to look back at it. 

The sight of it only makes you run faster, but when you turn back, fear strikes through your system as you realise you can’t see Robbie anymore. 

The wind isn’t strong enough to have pulled him back into it, not when he was running ahead of you, but you can’t help but think of the worst possible scenario as your gaze narrows in on a gully just ahead of you. Maybe he made it there before you and now he’s just waiting.

The wind from the tornado picks up trees and branches and other debris, sending things spinning through the air. You feel something slice across your leg and cry out at the sudden pain, but there’s no time to inspect the damage as you slide down the small hill into the gully, the mud going everywhere as you hit the bottom. 

You don’t even have time to scan for Robbie as you press yourself down onto the ground of the gully, covering your head with your hands and pressing your face into the ground. You try to ignore the feeling of the mud and dirt on your skin, the throbbing pain in your leg, the rain pelting down on your back, soaking you to the bone, and try to keep breathing steadily despite being out of breath from the run and the adrenaline. 

You can’t panic now. If you panic now, you’re dead. 

The tornado gets closer and you can hear it. Hear the wind rushing through the air, hear the sound of trees being ripped out of the ground. Hear the crashing sound of the truck being picked up and thrown by it. 

Everything is okay,  you tell yourself, like a mantra. Everything is going to be okay. Because if you tell yourself enough, maybe it will come true.

—

By the time Tyler gets to the place where your truck had been, the tornado is gone and so is your truck. He barely even has time to put his own truck into park before he’s jumping out of it and calling your name. 

Boone is quick to follow him.

Tyler’s eyes narrow in on something in the distance – the remnants of your truck. It’s sitting upside down, the cab crushed in and all the glass broken. Even some of the wheels are missing. His heart almost stops.

No, you would have been smart enough to get out. You wouldn’t have stayed in the truck. He knows that. He believes that. It was one of the first things any storm chaser learnt – never stay in your car, it’s better to take your chances outside of it.

He stops in the middle of the field and takes a long, deep breath to try and calm himself down when he hears the sound of someone yelling out.

“Hey, I need some help over here!”

It’s a male voice, not belonging to you, which is the first sign that makes Tyler realise something is wrong. He recognises Robbie immediately, even though he’s drenched in rain and covered in mud and blood.

Boone runs off towards him and Tyler follows.

“Where is she?” He cuts in as Boone begins asking Robbie where he’s been hurt. “Were you with her? Where is she?” 

He knows he’s being a little irrational. He should be kinder, especially when he’s the reason Robbie was even in this tornado in the first place, but his mind is narrowed in on you, on making sure you’re okay. He’s never been more terrified that he’s lost you in his life.

“I don’t know,” Robbie shakes his head. “She was behind me, and then I jumped down into this little dam and she never came in after me.” 

Tyler doesn’t let him say anything else before he takes off running. He knows Boone can handle Robbie. His only concern is finding you. He calls out your name again and again and again, willing you to respond to just one of them.

He only hears silence.

—

The second you wake up, you push yourself up, getting your face out of the mud and opening your eyes, trying to adjust them to the sudden brightness now that the tornado has disappeared. 

You’re vaguely aware of the sound of someone calling out your name, but it sounds fuzzy, far away. Your head is spinning and you’re pretty sure you could be imagining it.

You put a hand up to the side of your face, feeling the sticky sensation of blood on your hands. Something must have hit your head and knocked you out during the tornado. You can only remember something hitting your leg as you’d slid down into the gully. How long have you been lying here? Minutes? Hours? Days, even?

Looking around, you can see the devastation caused by the tornado. There are trees and branches everywhere, and with the rain, it’s made it even muddier – and probably impossible to climb out of, especially with your injuries. You finally allow yourself to inspect your leg, noticing a deep cut across your shin, ripping your jeans. Your leg starts to throb as you finally allow yourself to recognise the pain. 

With a deep breath, you try and push yourself to your feet. It’s slippery down here thanks to all the mud and rain, and you manage to stand for just a second before your leg buckles and sends you crashing back down. At least it’s a fairly soft landing.

You curse under your breath just as you hear movement above you. Your eyes flicker towards the direction of the sound, and when you see Tyler Owens appear at the edge of the gully just to the right of you, you nearly feel like you could cry.

“Tyler!” You manage to call out to him, though your voice is weak.

His head spins towards your voice, eyes widening as he sees you. You must look like a mess, covered in all the blood and dirt, but you knows he doesn’t care. Especially with the way he slides down into the gully and stumbles towards you, getting covered in mud himself in the process.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” He falls to his knees in front of you, his hands moving to cup your cheeks and move your head from side to side. He’s quick to check the wound on your head where the blood is coming from. “You’re okay, darlin’, it doesn’t look too deep.”

You can see the panic in his eyes as he scans you, scans your whole body looking for injuries. You can also tell from the look on his face when he looks at your shin that your injury there is worrisome. 

“It’s my fault,” Tyler shakes his head, refusing to move his hands from your cheeks. It’s as if you’ll fade away if he lets go. “I shouldn’t have told you to go east. I was just trying to get you out of the way of the tornado cause I felt that yours wasn’t gonna develop, but then ours changed course and it was heading straight towards you and I couldn’t get here fast enough and god, the idea of losing you, of never seeing you again, of never asking–”

“Tyler!” 

He stops talking, having not even realised that he had let the situation get the better of him and had been rambling on. When he meets your eyes, you’re shocked to see that there are tears in his. 

“You never call me by my first name.”

“I didn’t think I’d be able to get your attention if I didn’t.”

Your reach up and take one of his hands off of your face and weave your fingers between his. You don’t really know what you’re doing, exactly, but all you know is you need to comfort him. That and you’re shaking like a leaf and the feeling of holding his hand is like an anchor to the world. A reminder that you’re alive. 

“I’m still here, Tyler. I’m all right.”

“You’re not,” he shakes his head. “You’re hurt, and it’s because of me–”

You take him by surprise as you reach up and place your own hand on his cheek. It’s only when you touch his face that you remember your hand is covered in blood and mud, but when you try and take it away, Tyler places his hand over the top of it. His eyes flutter closed and he lets out a long breath that feels to you that it’s something like relief.

The two of you stay there like that for what feels like an eternity but is really just a few minutes, soaking in the feeling of each others skin and coming to terms with the realisation that you’re alive. 

“It’s not your fault, Tyler,” you mutter softly. “You couldn’t have known that tornado was going to change course and head straight for us. Just because that bet ended up landing us in the path of a probable EF4 doesn’t mean you’re the one to blame for it. I don’t blame you.”

He blinks his eyes open and stares at yours for a moment. 

“Now, what were you saying about asking me something?” You try to change the subject.

There’s a look of something in Tyler’s eyes that you can’t quite place, but it drops off of his face instantly at your words and he lets out an awkward laugh. “I don’t think now’s the right time, darlin’,” he says. “Some other time, when you’re not bleeding and injured. We need to get you out of here and to a hospital.”

You shake your head, ignoring the fact that the movement makes you a little dizzy. “I could have just died and I would have never known what it is you wanted to ask me. So I want to know what it is right now.” You’re surprised at how strong your voice sounds, even though you don’t feel strong at all right now.

Tyler sighs and you can see by the look on his face that he’s giving in to you. “I was trying to get the courage to ask you out, was trying last night actually but I chickened out. You can be quite intimidating sometimes, you know that?”

For a moment, you just stare at Tyler. 

“I thought I was the one who hit my head. Did you hit yours too?”

He lets out a soft laugh. “Something like that.”

“You need another reminder that we’re supposed to hate each other?”

Tyler shakes his head. “I think I’ve had enough reminders to last me a lifetime. But I’m done with pretending to hate you. With trying to convince my team that I dislike you so much. I know they know the truth. It doesn’t matter, even though you can’t stand me.” 

You meet Tyler’s eyes and in them, you can see that he’s telling the truth. He doesn’t hate you, nor dislike you, nor anything similar. With the way he’s looking at you, the way he was calling your name, the way he panicked so much when he thought you were seriously hurt… he really was trying to ask you out. Just the thought of it makes that feeling rise in your stomach again, and for the first time you recognise the feeling for what it truly is – butterflies. You don’t get butterflies from people you hate.

“I don’t hate you, Tyler.”

You can see the surprise flash across his eyes.

“You don’t hate me?”

“You annoy the hell out of me and you drive me insane sometimes. But no. You fascinate me, and you make me laugh, and even though every member of my team hates you and your stupid red truck, I’ve always wondered what it’d be like to be in the passenger seat with you, driving head first into a tornado, and I nearly said yes when you asked me earlier.”

Tyler chuckles. “My truck is not stupid.”

“Does your passenger seat really have my name on it?”

“Embroidered it myself.”

You laugh, then, a real, full laugh, and Tyler can’t help but laugh as well at the absurdity of the situation. You’ve just survived a devastating tornado, you’re injured in more ways than one, Tyler Owens has just told you he likes you and you’ve come to the realisation that you like the fact that he does. And maybe, you like him a little bit too.

“We’re not gonna make it to that rodeo tonight, are we?” You ask, once the laughs subside.

Tyler shakes his head. “Rain check for the next one?”

“That’s how you’re asking me out?”

He doesn’t get a chance to reply before you both hear your names being called and look up just as Boone and Robbie appear at the top of the gully. Tyler turns around to look at them. They look relieved to have found you both, and you feel just as relieved to see that Robbie is alive and well, only a little battered just like you are. Even if you’re a little disappointed that your moment with Tyler was interrupted. It seems that happens more often than not lately.

“Is she okay?” Boone asks Tyler.

He nods. “Yeah, but she’s injured. We’re gonna need a hand out of here.”

“We got you,” Boone says.

—

“So, when are you asking me out properly, Owens?” You ask.

It’s been a week since the tornado and a week since you found out that Tyler Owens had been wanting to ask you out for months. Boone had stayed true to his word that day, using a rope and Tyler’s truck to pull you both up out of the gully.

Tyler had barely left your side since – even in the truck ride to the hospital. He usually hated letting anyone drive his truck other than himself, but that day he’d thrown the keys to Boone so he didn’t have to take any of his attention off of you. He’d stayed with you in the hospital as well, even when the rest of your team turned up to check on you and Robbie.

You were surprised at how quickly your teams had dropped their rivalry after the tornado. They’d clearly seen the way you and Tyler acted around each other, how things had changed after the tornado, even though both of you refused to give them details on what had happened when Tyler had found you in the gully. 

It was something both of you were glad for.

“You can’t just ask me that,” Tyler says, kicking his legs up on the desk in the small motel room. Luckily, he’d taken off his muddy boots when he’d come inside to check on you. He had insisted you go back home to recover from your leg injury, but you’d refused. 

“I can’t?” You ask from your spot on the bed, resting your leg up on some pillows. It had luckily not been too bad of an injury, just a reasonably deep cut that needed stitching and wrapping. You still had to be careful not to rip the stitches, which meant no storm chasing and only resting for the time being. 

Tyler nods. “You made me admit the truth to you while we were both covered in mud and blood in the bottom of a wet, muddy gully. I’m not going to ask you out while you’re sitting on a motel room bed with an injured leg and stitches in your forehead. I’m classier than that.”

You snort. “You, classy?”

“From time to time,” he shrugs a shoulder.

You jokingly roll your eyes at him. “I’ll believe it when I see it. You know, you never actually explained what the other bet you wanted to make with me that day was. Was that something to do with asking me out as well?”

Tyler’s face broke out into a grin. “Maybe.”

“Of course,” you can’t help but laugh at the silly look on his face. “Are you at least going to ask me before I get swept up in another tornado?”

“Darlin’,” Tyler stands up and crosses the room until he’s standing right beside you. One of his hands reaches down and picks up yours, weaving his fingers in-between yours. “If you get swept up in a tornado, I’m going to be right beside you. I’m gonna be beside you for as long as you let me. For as long as I get. As long as I get, okay?”

He repeats it like a mantra. Because if he says it enough, he’s certain it will come true.

[haddonfieldwhore]

bad idea - matthew tkachuk

flames!matthew tkachuk x draisaitl!fem reader

summary: in a bad mood after losing to calgary, your brother is a dick to you. you decide to get back at him with a little bit of help

warnings: mention of injury/fighting, language, implied smut, crying inside that i wrote anything oilers related

word count: 1.8k battle of alberta 2018

in all your years of watching your older brother leon play hockey, you were sure you had never seen a game as rough as this one. you knew it was to be expected; the game was advertised as the ‘battle of alberta’ for good reason, the edmonton oilers and the calgary flames quite literally going to war on each other from the very second the puck dropped. you weren’t the biggest hockey fan, but you rarely got to see your older brother with his busy schedule, and were looking forward to hanging out with him after the game.

it wasn’t even two minutes into the first period before leon laid a huge hit on calgarys matthew tkachuk, the younger player hitting his head on the ice as he landed and leaving the game for the time being.

while you were cheering for your brothers team to win, as were your friends and family sitting in the crowd next to you, you found yourself hoping that the calgary flame was okay. you would be crucified if you said it out loud, but you found the flames player kind of cute, and always enjoyed watching him play; despite the rivalry that seemed to be brewing between him and your brother. your eyes always ended up on him whenever he was on the ice, and you found it hard to look away. you were pretty sure that tkachuk was only a year older than you, and you found yourself breathing a sigh of relief when he returned to the game, seemingly uninjured.

as the game went on, edmonton had a two nothing lead, but after many more fights, (most of them involving tkachuk in some way) and four goals from calgary, the game was over.

‘this is gonna be a fun drive home,’ you thought as you walked out of the stands to find leon. you had to wait for awhile for the team to change and shower, and you were growing tired waiting around for your brother. your friends and family being bummed about the loss was not helping the time go by faster as you stood around awkwardly while they caught up with eachother.

it was around thirty minutes later that leon finally emerged from the hallway that lead to the visitors dressing room, greeting your group unenthusiastically.

“hey,” you replied, and he merely grumbled in response, barely paying attention to the fact that you were there; and it stung. leon greeted your parents and friends without much more warmth but still you suddenly felt invisible as he talked with them and not you. you hadn’t seen him in months, and he couldn’t even say hello properly? and to make matters worse, your parents had already seen him before the game.

“leon-“

“let’s go,” he mumbled, his jaw clenched as he bumped into your shoulder with his, causing you to stumble slightly.

maybe you were being overly sensitive, but no one seemed to notice how cold he was being; either letting it go because the team lost, or perhaps you were just expecting a warmer greeting from your big brother.

you tried to grab his arm to keep up with him as he walked away, but he pulled it away and shot you a glare.

“i know you’re pissed, but it’s not my fault you guys lost.”

“so it’s my fault?” he countered, and you sighed.

“that’s not what i said-“

“that’s what you’re thinking though, isn’t it?”

“no, leon!” you sighed, trying to remember how he was feeling right now. “if i had known you were gonna be such a sore loser i wouldn’t have come.” he had never been this grumpy after a loss before.

“then maybe you shouldn’t have,” his jaw clenched again, and you could tell from his expression that the conversation was over. you stopped walking while he continued down the hall, your parents catching up to you, oblivious to the argument between you and leon.

“you know what, i’m gonna catch up with you guys tomorrow,” you said, faking a yawn. your family had planned to go for dinner after the game while you were all in town. the oilers had a day off tomorrow, and you hoped by then your brother would be in a better mood.

“are you sure, honey?” your mom asked, and you nodded.

“yeah, i’ll just get a cab back to the hotel. i don’t think leon’s really in a celebrating mood so i’m sure he won’t care. i’ll see you guys in the morning,” you said, before hugging your family and watching them leave the saddledome.

you sighed as you stood in the now nearly empty hallway alone, and before you could do the smart thing and actually take a cab home like you said you would, your felt your legs begin to carry you in the opposite direction.

your feet slowed outside of a certain closed door, fiddling with your hands nervously as you lingered outside the flames dressing room. just as you were deciding that the players had probably already left and began to turn back, the door opened.

after one quick look at your jersey, branded with the oilers logo and leon’s number, matthew tkachuk shook his head with a slight laugh.

“i don’t know how you got back here, but if you’re looking for him you have the wrong locker room,“ he said pointing at your jersey.

“and if i’m looking for you?” you replied, and he looked you up and down again, slower this time as if actually taking in your appearance, not just your wardrobe.

“depends why you’re looking for me. if you’re going to stab me or something for beating your team-“ he joked.

“relax, leon’s my brother; you don’t have a security issue,” you laughed, and he smiled slightly. “and i promise i’m not here to stab you,” you raised your hands in surrender.

“that’s a relief,” he laughed, a more genuine smile on his face this face this time, and you realized that he was even cuter in person. his long curls were messy, still slightly damp from the shower, and he stood quite a bit taller than you. his expression changed as the words ‘brother’ and ‘leon’ clicked in his head, and he crossed his arms over his chest, his muscles flexing under his shirt. “so why are you looking for me?”

“i… uh,” you stuttered, not having thought this far ahead. “i don’t know. i kind of felt bad that my brother hit you so hard, but i guess you got him back in the end,” you said, your gaze falling to the floor. matthew had gotten a few good hits in on leon during a fight later in the game.

“well, i appreciate the thought, but i’m okay. and yeah, i guess we’re even; for now.”

“does that mean you wouldn’t be interested in doing something that would really piss him off?” you asked, looking up to meet his blue eyes, his eyebrow twitching upward slightly with intrigue.

“why do i get the feeling you’re hoping i am interested?” he took a step closer, and you could smell his cologne now. “big brother do something to make you mad?” he asked, and you found yourself smiling, despite the fact that he was teasing you.

“that’s irrelevant,” you rolled your eyes playfully, taking a step closer so you were only about a foot apart now as you looked up at him. “besides, i’m thinking as much as i would like to get him back, it’s probably best he doesn’t know what i’m thinking right now.”

“yeah, i’m sure he wouldn’t be too happy to know his sister was waiting for me after the game,” he agreed, his eyes travelling up and down your body again.

“leon and everyone left already. i told them i was going back to my hotel room…”

“will they notice if you’re not there?” he asked. and you shook your head with a smile. “then i think we could make a quick detour first..” he trailed off, throwing an arm over your shoulder and leading you down the hallway. “here, don’t want to draw too much attention to yourself.” he threw his suit jacket over your shoulders to cover your jersey as the two of you snuck out of the arena and to his car.

“embarrassed to be seen with me?” you teased as he opened the passenger door for you.

“i was more thinking about how it might look to the paparazzi if they happened to stumble upon us leaving together.”

“wouldn’t that be the scandal of the season,” you laughed as he started the car and drove out of the parking lot and towards his house.

you were barely inside the door before you were trapped between it and his body, matthews hands holding your waist firmly.

“you sure you want this?” he asked, his hips pressed against yours as you stared up at him. “it’s probably a really bad idea…”

“i thought you liked breaking the rules?” you smirked, placing your hands on his chest and sliding them upwards to tangle in his hair.

“hmm i have been known to do that,” he leaned down to capture your lips with his, and tou tugged on his hair as his hands slid under your jersey, bunching the material up. “either way, edmonton jerseys are forbidden in my house so this has to come off,” he smiled.

•

“so not that i care, but was this just to piss your brother off?” matthew asked as he walked back from the bathroom after getting cleaned up, dressed in just his sweatpants.

“sounds like you care a little bit-“ you teased, covering yourself with the blankets on his bed.

“i don’t!” he laughed, and you shook your head with a smile as he handed you a t-shirt to wear.

“mhm,” you hummed. “i’ll be honest, i’ve thought you were cute for a while. pissing leon off was really just a bonus.”

“good to know you weren’t just using me-“ you threw a pillow at him and he laughed as he caught it, crawling back into bed next to you. “okay, i kind of used you just as much, so i guess we’re even. i do love any chance to make your brother angry, but i think that this might be my new favourite,” he said before he kissed your lips.

“agreed,” you smiled, reaching over to grab your phone as it began to buzz on his nightstand. leon’s name appeared on the screen, and you rolled your eyes as you answered it, gesturing for matthew to be quiet.

“hello,” you said plainly, still a little mad at him despite how good of a distraction you’d had for the last two hours. you could see matthew moving closer in your peripheral vision, and you felt his breath on your ear.

“i’m sorry,” leon said on the phone held to your other ear, and you sighed, your breath catching as you felt kisses up the side of your neck. you froze as matty nibbled at the skin of your throat, leaving a light bruise behind as you tried not to make a noise.

“yeah, you were kind of an asshole. i’m kind of glad you lost, actually,” you said, and it was half true.

matthew had to stifle a laugh as he laid down next to you, covering his mouth with his hand.

“i wish you had come to dinner. we missed you,” leon sighed.

“it didn’t seem like you missed me very much earlier,” you replied. “i’d appreciate if you didn’t take it out on me when you lose.”

“i know, i’m sorry. i’ll see you in the morning?” he asked.

“yes, i’ll be there for breakfast. goodnight leon.”

“goodnight,” he replied, before ending the call. you tossed your phone aside as you hit matthew playfully on the shoulder.

“do you know how much trouble we would be in if we got caught?”

“i thought that was the half the fun?” he smiled, crawling on top of you and kissing your lips.

“maybe i’ve decided i want to live to do this again sometime.”

“i like that idea.”

disclaimer: all screenshots, events, and/or interactions depicted in this are a work of fiction. i have no association with any parties mentioned

[all-pacas]

house live-ish blogging: occam's razor (time to be unbearable about my faves)

this definitely is one of the sillier openings right. the "rough and wild sex" thing. it's so funny how this was like. pre hbo got era, that this show was Edgy and Adult for this shit

another episode where cameron is on the whiteboard

house makes fun of cameron briefly and there's this long "can you believe this" look between her and chase. what does it mean (besides they are friends)

every now and then chase loses his patience or gets exasperated or something and just. says Wild Shit. "i get stupid when i'm scared," apologizes the patient's girlfriend. "don't go rockclimbing," he advises her. it's a very consistent trait of his, particularly when he's annoyed; the show doesn't play his little remarks as punchlines, but it is definitely snark.

i bet cameron and chase both lie awake cringing about this episode post-divorce lmao (i bet they also lay awake remembering this episode during their relationship eyooo 😏)

foreman once again being the main character, taking charge in a differential and writing on the whiteboard. house even compliments him for reading a textbook! sincerely!

chase glances over at cameron when house compliments foreman and i cannot tell if it's chase thinking about her naked again or trying to commiserate about no longer being dad's favorite. either way.

foreman continuing to be the main character by doubting house and roping the other two into pulling all-nighters with him. honestly, it's a shame we lost this -- foreman never stops challenging house, but the first few episodes really set up a dynamic that's more… oppositional, more of a rivalry. foreman is often right, often just as smart as house, just as much of a leader as house. i can easily imagine a version of the show where they were presented as equals and rivals.

i hope at the camchase wedding foreman made a long speech about the time chase insisted he didn't want to jump cameron when he clearly did, and how cameron spend the rest of the week sexually harassing him about it

…that said foreman is such an instigator lmao. chase is staring at cameron and having Impure Thoughts, but he showed no intention of acting on it - when they do interact he's pretty normal - but foreman goes to cameron and tells her all about it, and that makes cameron start sexually harassing chase, and i hope foreman remembers his mistake during fwb era and regrets his poor choices

what was cameron's endgame if foreman hadn't walked in just then btw. would she have grabbed chase's ass or what

camchase i could never hate you. dumb slut / horny freak solidarity 😌

there's a scene in the script where the kids are prepping the patient for surgery and cameron talks to chase and confirms she's attracted to him (and also says she has no interest in dating him / we can rise above our stupid base instincts), and i -

CHASE: I don't want to jump you, you know. CAMERON: Yes, you do. CHASE: No, really — CAMERON: House is right. We're animals. We want to procreate, we want healthy offspring, so we want to jump beautiful people. You want to jump me. I want to jump you. CHASE: You do? CAMERON: ['House is an idiot'] House is wrong. We're not animals. Just because we want something doesn't make it okay. I want to scratch your eyes out when you look at me like that, but I keep it to myself. We're capable of rising above our nature; capable of not spending all day jumping every beautiful thing we see. CHASE: …You want to jump me? CAMERON: It's not going to happen. So stop looking at me like that.

i really love this scene, i'm not kidding. it's really good. it ties in exactly to cameron in s2, in spin, talking about how she fell in love and didn't act on it because she keeps herself in control, she can control her actions if not her desires. it's something she does a lot, deprive herself, avoid: she quits later in s1 to avoid being vulnerable, she refuses to date chase in s3 to avoid the same. it ties in to fucking hunting, and cameron and the patient arguing about this same thing: doing what you want versus what is expected and right and proper. cameron trying to live for once — for the only time — in the moment, and what does she do? when she's acting on her desires instead of her control? she fucks chase.

i'm not trying to make a point like cameron has always wanted him, always liked him (although this scene and hunting and s6's lockdown retcon where she explains her actions do make a compelling case), it's just. this is cameron. she's so fucking repressed. she never lets herself do what she wants. she never lets herself want.

it's also fun because it explains why chase shoots his shot at the end of the episode lol. "you want to jump me 🥺"

[magicratfingers]

Progress report ! ૮ ºﻌºა ✨ kind of a work-in-progress diary for myself. v indulgent.

intense world of dick terrifying - goin good! got a main character, some supporting characters, figuring out the big rivalry today. Gotta figure out a format. I was thinking of basing it off of the Day at the Airport book bc it's only about 11 spreads but there's a lot going on on each one. Could leave it a comic but I also want it to be printable hmm catnips cantrips chooseyer-by-mail test - learning a lot! the world-building has been reallllllly fun - like the kind of fun where you want to go a little deeper bc you like it not bc you have to. perfect situation. Gotta resolve the mix between the DM roleplay and the actual postcards. Made and branded a whole gmail account and character to handle lost postcards - Pizza Kentucky III of the Isekai Post Office. Haven't been keeping up with the blog. But the blog is supposed to be more of a holding container than a 'thing'. One thing I did not expect to be learning was spreadsheets. Keeping track of names and addresses and choices and paths has given me a new perspective on pacing and structure. Also? Been a great excuse to finally play with UV epoxy and it's so straightforward that I'm mad it took me so long. media thats not just webcomics - dunmeshi is out!!! Laios my beloved. Still afraid to find and read Kotteri's Veil bc it will make me too feelings. Started reading books I loved as a kid (Redwall!!!) and some story craft books (found an NPR list somewhere) WRHP s2 - started to feel like work but changing up the backgrounds freed me up, feels fun again Sorcerer comic - paused while I wait for fashion inspiration to pull the ending together Emotional support paladin - paused till I feel like it. It's got such a specific delivery style that I don't wanna force to get the story out, so i gotta wait for some story aspects to firm up Bonnie & Clawd - more of a character study than a comic - fun to practice cutie pies cuddling. But... how DO birds and wolves smooch. Saw a youtube video about how ravens and wolves are friends and work together. So perfect. Valentines day thing - got some supplies coming tomorrow, gonna try out my idea. If it works maybe sell it? If it doesn't work, oh well, probably will learn something. Wanted to make perforated cards and stickers but got a little overwhelmed thinking about printing. Might just do a digital thing if an idea comes to me. Been wanting to make holographic stickers but when I sit down to think of a motif it feels stressful. Maybe I just test the Poodle Broadcasting System logo? I've always loved the aesthetic of valentines day but never felt like it's been delivered right. I certainly never felt indulged - something is always a little not-cute or too-cutesy. Think it could be really fun to have it be an annual 'surprise box'. I lost my halloween fam in the schmivorce so I could use a holiday to go crazy on. (For years I would drive out and help build a whole haunted house in a garage and it was like a week-long party with great food and movies and laughs. Sad to lose it, sadder still to know it was so easy for them to lose me. ) Dishupon - ok not as many players and responses as I'd hoped. But that wasn't really the point. Point was to invent some sanrio-y characters for fun - which i did. And I will also say that the exercise of coming up with a variety of cozy, fun, silly, spicy ways to think about dishes has made MY dishes mostly effortless. Even made a little foam clay Tiger coach and he's sitting on the window above the sink. Perhaps I will think of a game to get my car inspection done.

Overall January is great. Granted, it's the 4th. Had my ten year work anniversary (idk how old everyone thinks I am but it's Not 20) and got to 1010 followers on twitter on the same day. And the new d20 is out on the 10th so that felt real nice and square. Bit worried that all the good vibes I built up over holiday vacay will get smashed when I'm put on a new work project. But i feel like I'm about to level up a little bit art-style wise. Feelin grateful, feelin warm & cozy

[justsomerandomfanfic]

hellooo :3 could i get a romantic harry potter and DC matchup, please! I'm 19, she/her and would liked to be matched with a man, please. I'm 4'11 and have 2b hair which are dark brown in color and reach to the middle of my back and light brown eyes! I'm also on the curvier side. I enjoy playing the guitar, shopping, reading, swimming, doing ballet and doing my own makeup! My favorite movie is How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days and my favorite artists are Clairo and Sabrina Carpenter. I like the color pink a lot, ballet, lace tops, dior lip oils and iced matcha. I dislike math, insects and rude people in general lol!! Ngl, I'm an ambivert. I don't go out of my way to make new friends but I do love being with my friends and chatting with them 24/7. I'm also very straightforward and don't sugarcoat things. I don't cower away and don't fear confrontation. I'm also a huge perfectionist and make sure that everything I do goes exactly how I want it. I'm also super sarcastic lol. That's all! Ty!

Hi!

I would love to give you a Harry Potter and DC matchup!

:)

So, I hope you enjoy your matchup!

<3333333

Romantic Matchups; Harry Potter and DC

~~~

Romantic;

~~~

Harry Potter;

James Potter -

You and James Potter were the definition of playful rivals at Hogwarts.

You were both smart, confident, and stubborn - so naturally, you butted heads.

While James was effortlessly charismatic and loved ruffling your feathers, you were just as sharp with your sarcasm and never let him have the last word.

The teasing banter between you two became legendary, with your friends constantly betting on when it would turn into something more.

James admired your perfectionist nature, though he loved to mess with it - purposely moving your ink pot an inch to the left just to watch you huff and fix it.

Despite your teasing rivalry, there was an undeniable chemistry.

James, always a flirt, would throw his arm around you and say, “If only you weren’t so headstrong, we’d make a great pair, don’t you think?”

To which you’d roll your eyes and retort, “If only you weren’t so insufferable.”

Years later, post-Hogwarts, you bump into James at a bookstore in Diagon Alley.

He’s just as charming, cocky, and annoyingly good-looking as ever, except now, there’s something softer about him.

He grins the moment he sees you, leaning on the counter and saying, “Merlin’s beard, if it isn’t my favorite little perfectionist.”

He doesn’t miss a beat, immediately picking up on your old dynamic, but there’s an underlying fondness now.

You’re no longer just two kids in Hogwarts - you’re grown, and there’s an undercurrent of something unspoken between you both.

James finds himself making excuses to see you.

Casual meet-ups turning into late-night talks at a café, where he realizes just how much he enjoys your company.

He adores your direct nature, and how you don’t sugarcoat things.

It’s refreshing.

While others danced around their words, you always said what you meant, and he loved that.

You never beat around the bush.

The teasing still remains, but now there are longer stares, lingering touches, and unspoken words.

One night, after walking you home, he says, “You know, for someone who claims to dislike me, you spend an awful lot of time with me.”

You scoff but can’t fight the smile. “You’re tolerable in small doses.”

“Lucky for you, I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon."

"I think that's the opposite of 'lucky me.'"

James is bold - he doesn’t shy away from his feelings.

He confesses in the most James Potter way possible:

“I’ve spent years trying to figure out why you drive me insane, and I’ve finally cracked the code - I fancy you.”

You blink at him before sarcastically saying, “It took you that long?”

He laughs, shaking his head, throwing his arm around yur shoulder just like he used to when you were kids, “I should’ve known you’d have me figured out before I did.”

You huffed, "You're kind of obvious."

Dating James is endless fun and devotion.

He’s all in - never half-hearted.

He insists on carrying your shopping bags when you go out, though he dramatically groans about it.

“Merlin, how many Dior lip oils does one person need?”

He teaches you how to fly a broom.

He'd hold you by your waist as the broom flew slowly at around chest level.

He'd never let you fall.

Late-night swims in the lakes, him daring you to a race while he cheats by splashing water at you first before running.

Reading together, though he spends half the time watching you instead of the book.

“You’re much more interesting than anything Shakespeare’s written.”

Waking up to him making breakfast, shirtless, hair a mess with bedhead, offering you tea in a lazy grin.

James steals your lip balm constantly, claiming it’s “scientific curiosity”

“What exactly is Dior doing to make this smell so good?”

Dancing with you in the kitchen, no music needed - just his humming and his arms wrapped tightly around you.

He writes you love letters just because - half heartfelt, half filled with inside jokes.

He would charm your ballet shoes to make them unbreakable, so they last longer.

He'd stand up for you against anyone rude, even if you can handle it yourself.

“No one talks to my girl like that.”

You fix his messy ties before he leaves, rolling your eyes but secretly adoring how he leans into your touch.

You tease him relentlessly but always with warmth.

“You’re ridiculous.”

“And yet, you love me for it.”

You let him rest his head in your lap when he’s tired, running your fingers through his messy hair.

~~~

DC;

Roy Harper -

You met Roy through the League, often being paired together for missions.

You fought with ballet-infused combat, and Roy had never seen anything like it.

The first time you did a pirouette mid-fight and kicked a guy in the face, he was impressed and a little starstruck.

“That was the most badass thing I’ve ever seen. Are you an assassin or a ballerina?”

"I'm a ballerina assassin."

From that moment, he called you “Twinkle Toes” to mess with you.

Despite the teasing, he respected your precision, admiring how every move was calculated, efficient, and elegant.

Roy, being cocky but secretly soft, fell first.

Hard.

The teasing gets softer - more lingering glances, more protective instincts.

Whenever you got injured, he’d freak out, despite your reassurance.

“You’re literally limping, Twinkle Toes.”

He’d start showing up with small gifts - a new book, matcha from your favorite café, a customized arrow with your name engraved on it.

Roy isn’t one for flowery words, but one day, after a mission, he looks at you and simply says, “You know, if you ever get tired of dodging bullets, I’d really like to take you out sometime.”

You smirk. “Are you asking or telling?”

“Both.”

Training together.

Roy loves watching you fight, always grinning like an idiot when you effortlessly dodge his attacks.

Shopping trips where he pretends to hate it but secretly enjoys seeing you happy.

"Don't you already have a Sabrina Carpenter record?"

"I do, but not this one."

Stealing his hoodies - he never complains.

"Looks better on you than me, sweetheart."

Cooking together - he’s horrible, but you make it fun.

Fixing his bandages after a mission, despite his protests.

Falling asleep on the couch together, his arm lazily slung over you.

He buys you pink gear because he knows you love it.

He learns to play one of your favorite Clairo songs on the guitar - badly, but the effort is there.

He even allows you to teach him ballet, he does it because it gives him more time with you.

(He gets pretty good at it too.)

Always be there to back you up, no matter what.

You help him through his bad days, just by being there.

You call him out when he’s being reckless but you never judge him.

You keep him grounded, reminding him he’s not alone.

[imagobin]

⚪Johnathon Ohnn Rivals to Friends HCs⚫

Had a fic plot with this in mind, but since I change my ideas like- 10 times a day I decided to just turn these into headcanons instead. In this, the reader is also a scientist, but has an artistic side to them as well, hope you enjoy!

Fateful Meeting:

In his high school and college days, Johnathon was an avid participant at science fairs, he'd work extremely hard, day and night, just to bring his inventions to life and showcase them.

He might've been a pretty awkward teen/young adult, but if there was one thing he was confident in, it was his projects, which were made with great care and meticulousness, although he never really focused on their visual appeal, firmly convinced that such things had little importance. The only important thing was getting the devices to work flawlessly.

This belief of his would however be put to test the first time he lost a competition to you. Johnathon's project was great, no doubt, it worked exactly as it should have, and surprised everyone who'd come to observe it... but yours was flashier, had a more eye-catching design and was overall more creative, and by the end of the fair, it had won first place, with Johnathon's coming in close second.

Losing to you lit a fire under him, and that fire grew larger when he discovered you were both following the same courses at college! He wasn't going to lose to you anymore, science was all he held dear, he wasn't going to be bested by anyone.

Rivalry:

From that day onward, Johnathon declared himself as your rival. You didn't take him seriously at first, but soon found it impossible to ignore that. He'd do ANYTHING to 1-up you and take a higher grade than yours.

Obviously, you weren't going to let him win effortlessly. You weren't that competitive of a person, but his determination to do better was admittedly contagious, and soon you recognized him as your rival as well and began putting more and more effort in your studies and inventions, not really to show you were better than him, but because you were curious how far he'd take this rivalry.

You two seemed to be at basically the same exact level, with 'victories' alternating between you and him and sometimes even ending in ties. The professors eventually began to notice how you two were basically motivating each other, but never put a stop to it.

What Johnathon did not expect, was eventually finding himself growing closer to you through that. He still didn't fully understand your vision or why you valued aesthetics, at least way more than he did, but he admired your intellect and capabilities. He'd thought of asking you to collaborate on a project once or twice, but his pride would always get in the way of that.

Friendship:

You were the one who first grew tired of just being rivals; it WAS fun, but you also wished to know more about Johnathon other than how good of a student he was. So one day you casually approached him during lunch break and tried talking to him.

Needless to say, Johnathon felt extremely awkward all throughout your first talk: he didn't really know what to say, but he seemed to be happy to be talking with another talented student, and once he found out you two had a couple interests in common aside from science, he got a bit more talkative.

Your occasional talks did not stop there, quite the contrary, they became more frequent. You always met up during lunch or in the library to study together. The rivalry slowly taking a backseat as you found yourselves collaborating to get the best results possible together.

Johnathon felt like he could rely on you for anything, even outside of college matters. He tended to overthink things a lot, but you always seemed to know how to fix his troubles. ... Even years after you two graduated and now that Johnathon's body has been horribly mutated... he still wonders if you'd be able, or even willing to help him fix his problems like you always did in the past.

[chaos-thirium]

Last one for @cerberusdreams​ and it’s Sixty! 

I had a lot of fun coming up with this one, so I hope you like it! I love Sixty so much. 

Sixty x female reader. Rated M. 

The flirtation between you and Sixty had been going on so long, your friends were already treating you like an old married couple. They didn’t understand why you hadn’t just gotten together already. And truthfully, the longer time passed, the more you didn’t understand it either. 

Part of it was because Sixty could be a little shit, and although you liked him, you didn’t want to give him what he wanted right away. He’d just be smug about it, and he needed to learn that he didn’t always get his own way. The problem with that, however, was that you were depriving yourself as well as him.

That was why you hadn’t made a move. The reason why Sixty hadn’t made a move was a mystery to you.

You hung out as friends a lot, either with your group or alone. It had gotten to the point where you’d seriously wondered whether you were just better off leaving things as they were, assuming that the unspoken sexual tension between you would eventually die out. So far, it hadn’t. It manifested as a lot of flirtatious remarks and competitiveness almost to the point of rivalry.

Sixty was usually the one to start the ‘friendly’ competitions between you, throwing out casual comments like “First one to the club wins” or “First one to laugh loses”. You usually snorted, called him a child, then turned yourself into a hypocrite by going along with it anyway. He’d laugh, which would make you think that it was all worth it.

Sixty hadn’t had an easy time before and straight after deviancy, so you knew that his laughter was precious. It also didn’t escape your notice that you were often the cause of it, which was humbling, and made you feel stirrings of something intense and scary. Something that made you wonder what the fuck the two of you were waiting for.

It seemed your friends had had enough. You were hosting bi-monthly movie night at your apartment, but only Sixty had turned up. That was a hint so unsubtle, you couldn’t believe they’d actually done it. It was so unsubtle, that neither you nor Sixty mentioned it, which just turned it into the most enormous elephant in the room that you’d ever experienced.

If you were being fair, it could have been because of the weather. It was stormy outside, and a mild warning had been issued, but that wouldn’t have prevented them from texting you to cancel. Instead, both your apartment and your inbox were a friend-free zone.

Stubbornly, the two of you watched the movie on your own, and you made a hefty impact on the snacks while Sixty sampled the new android-safe candy that had recently come out. (His reviews were mixed.)

Right in the middle of the climactic action sequence, the power went out.

“Maybe it’ll come back on,” you said dubiously after the two of you had had a good grumble.

“Maybe. I wasn’t going to leave yet anyway, but I definitely can’t if I don’t know how it ends,” Sixty said.

His LED was the only light in the room, illuminating half his face blue.

“Can you call my phone? I don’t know where I put it,” you huffed.

His LED rotated, and your phone lit up from the kitchen counter. You went to retrieve it and turned on the flashlight, thanking him. You found a small collection of candles and a box of matches, and brought them back to the living room. By the time you were done providing light for yourself, it hit you how accidentally romantic it suddenly looked. Still, there was nothing you could do about that. You weren’t about to sit in pitch darkness for the rest of the night.

You grabbed yourself a beer from the fridge, set down a towel on the floor in front of the freezer in case the power was out long-term, and looked at Sixty.

“Now what?”

“Want to play Spin the Bottle when you’re done with that?” he asked, nodding to the drink in your hand.

“Can you even play that with only two people?” you brushed off.

“Yes, but there’s no suspense,” he retorted without missing a beat.

You smiled despite yourself, taking a swig of beer.

“I have an idea,” Sixty spoke up. “We each come up with a theory for how the movie ends. The person closest to the truth wins.”

“Wins what?” you queried. “Also, you have the internet in your head, you could just look it up.”

“I could,” he agreed, “but I won’t.”

“How do I know that, though?”

He shrugged. “You’ll just have to trust me.”

You sighed, taking another drink. “Fine. I think he’s going to survive the car chase, defeat the bad guy, and fuck the love interest. The end.”

“Kiss,” Sixty said.

“Huh?”

“They’ll kiss. Look at the rating, we’re not getting fucking in that movie.”

“You know what I mean. It’s implied.”

Sixty chuckled. “This movie contains mild violence, minor swearing, and implied fucking.”

You smiled, downing the rest of your beer. You set the bottle under the coffee table and glanced around your shadowy, candlelit living room.

“I think I have a pack of cards around here somewhere.”

Sixty’s eyes lit up. “Strip poker?”

“Absolutely not.”

He slanted an eyebrow at you. “It’s because you know you’ll lose, isn’t it?”

You looked down your nose at him, which was tricky, since he was taller than you, even sitting down. “You’ve never even seen me play.”

“So what’s the harm?”

You let out an exasperated sigh, shifting in your seat to face him. “If you were a human, would you play poker against a highly advanced android?”

Sixty tilted his head as he considered. “Yes,” he concluded.

“Yes?”

He shrugged, smirking. “Well, if I was human, I’d be less intelligent, so I wouldn’t know that that was a bad idea.”

You huffed, standing up and turning away so you wouldn’t ruin your indignation by letting him see your smile. You stomped over to the kitchen, where you were pretty sure you had a deck of cards in the drawer where you shoved random things that didn’t go anywhere else. Unsurprisingly, it was still in its wrapping, as card games were the last resort of entertainment in your book.

You made your way back, yelping as you tripped on the corner of the couch, unused to the dim light.

Sixty moved faster than you would ever have expected. One moment he was sitting on the couch, the next he was in front of you, hands gripping your arms and stopping you from falling disastrously onto the coffee table.

“Easy,” he said.

“Holy shit!” you breathed, your heart thudding. Falling onto the coffee table, where the majority of the candles were, was a really bad idea.

“After only one beer? I didn’t know you were such a lightweight,” he teased you.

“Shut up, it’s dark!”

He nodded to the deck of cards that you somehow still had in your hand. “Are you sure you want to play? Wouldn’t Spin the Bottle be safer?”

Normally, you would have thrown him a snarky comment about how he could possibly make card games dangerous, but your brain was finally catching up with your body, registering that his hands were still on your arms, your chest almost pressed against his, your face suddenly much closer to his than it ever had been before. Suddenly, the room felt short of air, and you studied the way the candlelight cast shadows on his face, highlighting the small imperfection on his forehead, an old injury from before his deviation, but one that made him particularly unique.

Your mouth felt dry. It was the second time he’d brought up Spin the Bottle. In a group, it was a playful party game, but with only two people…it was just an excuse to kiss. Maybe he was finally tired of messing around, as you were.

“I thought you’d hit your foot, not your tongue,” he was saying, frowning in the face of your silence. “Maybe we should play cards. Could be the easiest victory I’ve ever had.”

“Would you just shut up and kiss me already?”

The words were out before you could overthink them. Silence hung between you, and your heart sank. Mistake. Huge mistake.

Sixty gathered his wits quickly, saying surprisingly calmly, “I don’t like being told what to do unless I’m naked.”

Your eyes widened at his matter-of-fact tone.

“So…” he went on, indicating the cards with a flick of his eyes, “strip poker?”

Of course he’d turn this whole thing into a game.

“Fine.”

He grinned, and a hot spark of desire shot through you as you noted how predatory it was. Fuck, you were in trouble. Luckily, you didn’t seem to mind.

The power was still out an hour later, the candlelight flickering on your skin as you studied your hand. After writing amounts on post-it notes to use as betting chips, the two of you had cleared a space on the coffee table and were sitting either side of it on the floor. Sixty was shirtless and missing his shoes, socks, and, after some debate on whether it deserved to be its own category, his belt. His bare torso was distracting enough that you’d really had to pull your focus. Playing cards against an android, but particularly an RK800, was difficult enough already.

You’d adopted a surprisingly effective tactic of constantly faking tells, so as to keep him guessing what was in your hand. It wasn’t always successful, but the fact that it worked at all was gratifying. Despite that, however, you were still missing most of your clothes. All that was left was your bra and underwear. At least you were as distracting to Sixty as he was to you, judging by the way he couldn’t seem to help looking at you.

You glanced at the cards in your hand. You had two queens, which wasn’t bad, but you had no way of knowing what Sixty had. His face was artificially blank.

“Call,” you said, seeing no other option.

He set his cards on the table. He had nothing. You grinned, laying yours down.

“Lose the jeans,” you said triumphantly.

Sixty raised an eyebrow, but complied. He wore a pair of red boxer briefs underneath, and you smirked to see the bulge inside them. He was definitely enjoying the game.

“Not the easy victory you hoped for,” you said lightly.

“All I have to do is win two more rounds,” he said with confidence.

You shifted a little, getting comfortable. If he won, your underwear would come off, and then he’d see how wet you were, if he didn’t already know. You’d been on edge ever since blurting out your request for him to kiss you, but it was a fun kind of anticipation. It was the first time either of you had explicitly implied anything between you. Your flirting got pretty outrageous sometimes, but never had either of you ever mentioned actually doing something about it. And now, with the game in full swing, it was almost – almost – as if it had been forgotten about. Except that it had constantly been on your mind, and you were certain it was also on his. The stakes of your friendly competitions had changed.

You lost the next round, and your fingers trembled slightly as you reached around to unclip your bra. The best you could hope for now was that the sight of your naked breasts would be distracting enough to make Sixty lose the final round.

He stared at you unabashedly when you pulled the lacy fabric away from your body and dropped it on the pile of other clothes. His gaze was unwavering, almost bordering on machine-like, but his lips parted slightly as he inhaled, and his posture looked a little tense.

You were so past the point of no return, it was terrifying, but you put on a confident front, ignoring the heat of his stare on your skin.

“Last round,” you said, clearing your throat when your voice came out a little hoarse.

Sixty shuffled the cards with expert dexterity, his concentration apparently unaffected by your partial nudity. That was annoying. You, by contrast, were all over the place, and so it came as no surprise when you lost, but your heart still sank when you saw the cards on the table.

Sixty smiled at you smugly. “To the victor, the spoils,” he said, spreading his hands.

You huffed, but got to your feet, hesitating over removing your last barrier. But you weren’t a sore loser, (at least, not outwardly), so you hooked your fingers in the waistband and shoved your panties down your legs, kicking them off in the direction of the clothes pile.

Sixty said nothing, which was disconcerting, but his eyes tracked your entire body from head to toe. Although you didn’t exactly mind him looking, you still felt a little awkward. Everything was still largely unsaid between you, and now you were naked in your candlelit living room.

As if sensing your slight discomfort, he lifted a hand. “Come here.”

You walked the few steps towards him, taking his hand, and he pulled you down until you were on your knees beside him.

“I won,” he said quietly.

“How do I know you didn’t cheat with your android super abilities?” you countered.

He smirked. “You don’t. But since you came so close to beating me, I’ve decided to grant your request from earlier.”

Your heart tripped as he leaned closer. His movements were slow and purposeful, but it still didn’t feel like enough time to register what was happening. Then his lips were on yours, soft and tentative, and your eyes fell closed as you leaned into him.

Fuck, why had you been holding out on this?

He seemed to come to the same conclusion at the same time, as his hand came up to cup the back of your neck, his tongue seeking entry into your mouth. You gave it, parting your lips under his, your hands tracing across his smooth synthetic skin as his spare hand found its way to the small of your back.

You let out a soft moan as his tongue caressed yours, and he did the same, the eagerness of his movements sparking the suspicion that his analysis software was making you even more present for him than he was for you.

In one fluid motion, he pulled back from you, slid his hands to your waist and lifted you onto the couch. He followed immediately, chest pressed against yours, his body cradled neatly between the one leg that had made it to the couch, and the other that dangled off the side. After a little adjustment – with less finesse than you’d ever seen from him – he shoved his boxers down his legs and off.

“You’re naked,” you pointed out breathlessly.

“There’s that human intelligence that I love,” he sassed you.

You smacked him on the ass, satisfied both with the sound it made, and the way he jolted in surprise.

“You said you don’t like being told what to do unless you’re naked.”

He smirked at you, eyes glinting with mischief. “I did. Why? Do you have an order you want to give me?”

You nodded, your hands loosely gripping his head so he had no choice but to meet your gaze.

“Fuck me,” you told him earnestly. “And make it good.”

“Honey,” he said, voice a low growl, “I’m always good.”

You didn’t doubt it, and by the time he’d pulled two orgasms from you just from foreplay, you needed no further proof.

You both moaned when he finally slid inside you, your hands desperately clinging to his back. But of course, he had to make that into a game too.

“First one to make noises loses,” he panted.

“No,” you said adamantly, shaking your head.

“No?” he repeated, amused.

“No. I’ve wanted this for months, so you’d damn well better make noise for me, Sixty.”

A subtle tremble ran through his chassis, but then he grinned at you. “Yes, ma’am.”

And boy, did he deliver.

You were going to have to make a very humiliating apology to your neighbours. You couldn’t quite bring yourself to care.

[emeren]

speed racer- eren jaeger

pairing: eren jaeger x fem!reader 

word count: 6k

content warnings: nsfw, smut, 18+, smoking, degradation, overstimulation, breeding (w/o baby talk) 

notes: 100% inspired by the official art, like mmm yes please. also i know absolutely nothing about how car racing works, but that’s not important. this is unedited because my brain turned to mush writing it. enjoy!! <3

SUMMARY: eren’s a semi-professional car racer, who has a tumultuous friendship with the reader. after losing a race, eren sets out to win something else in his life, much to the reader’s surprise. 

“took you long enough!” sasha called out, holding her hand above her eyes in an attempt to block out the bright sun. you dished her a smile, weaving your way through the throngs of people in the stands, attempting not to step on anyone. your eyes briefly flitted to the track, the assistants distantly getting their cars ready. they were hardly visible from here; merely faceless figures idling around. you heaved out a sigh as you reached sasha, the brunette gingerly patting the spot next to her. 

“you couldn’t have gotten better seats, sash?” you asked as you sat down, pushing your sunglasses on top of your head. sasha waved her large bag of popcorn in front of your face, an exasperated expression on her features. 

“the line was long, and what’s a race without popcorn?” she grinned, offering you the bag. you rolled your eyes but took a fistful of the bright yellow snack nonetheless. “plus, if you really wanted that good of seats, you would’ve come early yourself.” 

“i did come here early,” you retorted, your voice muffled by the popcorn. sasha raised a questioning brow, her elbow nudging you in the side. 

“getting here early just so you can poke around the racer’s quarters is not the same thing,” she singsonged, a girlish smirk on her face. you scoffed, turning away from her as you felt heat race to your cheeks. “c’mon, everyone knows you and eren are totally into each other. i don’t understand why you guys don’t just go for it.” 

“i wasn’t poking around, and i am not into eren,” you said, shifting uncomfortably as the words left your mouth. it was true, to some degree. the two of you had been friends in high school, back when eren was just some skinny kid with anger issues. now he was a semi-professional racer, and the rivalry between the two of you was palpable, to say the least.

you’d been in the same friend group and for some reason eren just loved to pick on you whenever he got the chance. you suspected it had something to do with his repressed daddy issues or whatever, and he’d known mikasa and armin far too long to be so catty with them. initially they were just playful taunts, but as you got older, they started to become more personal. with age came your own unchecked need to banter and argue with him. 

somewhere along the way the arguments turned to sexual tension. a sexual tension that for the most part, the two of you were happy to ignore. it allowed room for a more sassy friendship, at least. 

“uh huh, suuure,” sasha responded, seemingly unconvinced. she must’ve sensed your discomfort, deciding to change the topic. “who’s who?” 

your eyes traced the track, analyzing each vehicle. “armin’s in yellow, mikasa’s in red, eren’s in white, and i believe levi is in green.” 

“levi’s racing? isn’t he getting a little old for that?” sasha laughed, squinting. you chuckled. 

“it’s just a small fundraiser race, plus he’s a crowd favorite over here,” you explained. sasha nodded as she processed the information. the sun was hot, beating down on your back. “i’m honestly surprised this many people came out.” 

sasha tossed more popcorn in her mouth, halfway done with the bag despite the race still not having started. she offered it to you again. “mhm, this is the same type of crowd that we’d see in the underground.” 

you thought back to your days of attending the illegal races, late at night and under the cover of darkness. though you were just a junior in college, it felt like those nights freshman year had been decades ago. that was before eren showed real promise in the professional circuit. it was also where levi scouted him out to be his successor. 

as if on cue, you could see the figures of the racers emerging from the port, each headed for their respective cars. you couldn’t help the way your gaze immediately followed the tall, brown haired racer adorned in his white racing jacket, checkers on the side. the crowd erupted into cheers at the sight of the all the racers, one from each color of the rainbow. eren walked with a certain confidence, his adamant determination being one of the only things that followed him from high school. 

though you couldn’t clearly see his face from where you sat, you knew he was smiling. eren had always loved the adrenaline rush before a race. 

“alright ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you to the annual shiganshina fundraiser race!” the reporter boomed over the intercom. sasha squealed in her seat, excitedly gripping your arm and pointing towards your friends. you felt a mix of excited nervousness waft over you, giggling along with her. “today we’ve got racers from all over the circuit, and each one has volunteered their precious time for the cause. can we get a round of applause?” 

the crowd erupted in yet another ear deafening round of applause as the announcer read off the names of each of the racers. you and sasha made sure to scream your loudest when armin, mikasa, and eren’s names were read off. 

you hoped they knew it was you, your throat scratchy as you sat back down. there was no need to be loud for levi; the entire crowd went absolutely feral at the mention of his name. 

the announcer read off the conditions of the race, as well as the reasoning for the fundraiser itself. you and sasha chatted quietly about the after party while the racers put their helmets on and got in their cars. before too long, the announcer was gearing up for the start. 

“alright everyone, we’re about to start. get yourselves ready.” 

you and sasha stood, hollering and cheering for your friends as the cars all lined up. you knew you’d be happy if any of them crossed the finish line first, but it was undeniable that it would be eren. it wasn’t armin or mikasa’s passion like it was eren’s; they viewed it more as as fun hobby. nevertheless, you dreaded how smug eren would be once he added another win to his already growing list. he really was a bastard sometimes. 

“racers ready your cars. 3... 2... 1... go!” 

they were off, levi’s green car easily settling into first place, cruising past the other cars as he whipped around the first curve. you held your breath, eyes scanning the other cars placements. eren was in fourth, armin in fifth, and mikasa in second. sasha yelled sporadically, reaching out and squeezing your wrist tightly. 

as they rounded the circuit for the second time, eren passed the third place racer, coming up behind mikasa’s red car. you held your breath. “c’mon eren...” 

“shit! he passed her!” sasha screeched, jumping up and down. you smiled as he whipped the corner, nearly cutting the edge of the median. 

“levi is still so far ahead,” you commented, trying to pry sasha’s death grip from your wrist. your eyes glanced to the clock, realizing that the race was near its finish. levi was cutting the third corner and eren was quickly gaining on him. 

“looks like it’s gonna be clo-” sasha’s voice was cut off as a large man tripped over the bleacher behind you, effectively shoving you into her side. “shit, the popcorn!” 

you regained your balance, giving the man behind you a dirty glare as you turned to sasha. she frowned at the popcorn that’d been spilled all over the ground. “what a waste!” 

looking back up at the track, the crowd broke into screams of excitement. you expected to see eren’s face on the big screen to the side as confetti streamed through the air, but were surprised to see levi’s unimpressed stare. 

eren lost? 

“you’ve gotta be shitting me,” sasha gaped, her face slack in shock. you shrugged, shaking the feeling of disappointment from your shoulders. serves him right. 

people started to vacate the stands, shoving their way past you as you turned to sasha. “let’s go find connie and jean, sash.” 

she nodded, still frowning. the two of you climbed down the steps, going against the flow of the crowd as you weaseled your way down onto the spectators path. you could see all of the racers shaking hands, congratulating each other. your mind briefly considered whether or not eren was going to be upset, but you decided not to dwell on it. 

you watched as the racers disappeared into the tunnel, eren’s tall figure no longer in view. just then, connie and jean came walking out from the service booth, both wearing their maintenance coveralls. 

sasha wildly waved her arm, grabbing your hand and pulling you through the remaining stragglers towards your friends. 

“hey guys!” she smiled, the boys jogging to meet you halfway. 

“why were you guys in such shit seats?” connie asked, skipping over a greeting. you let out a small laugh at sasha’s expense. she merely shrugged, turning to jean. 

“we going to your place?” you questioned before she had the chance. jean nodded, adjusting the backwards baseball cap on his head. 

“yeah, just gotta wrap some things up, then we can head out,” he replied. you grew happy at the thought of kicking back with your friends, enjoying a nice night of fun. parties at jean and connie’s place were always the best. 

***************

“some race that was,” connie groaned, leaning back and bringing the beer bottle to his lips. so far it was just you, sasha, connie, jean, and a bunch of random drunk people who’d come from the track. sasha scoffed from her spot on the worn, brown couch. 

“you could say that again,” she grumbled. “we didn’t even get to see levi cross the finish line ‘cause some guy rammed into us.” 

jean looked at you from where he leaned against the wall, a bottle in his hand and his eyebrows raised. “wait, for real?” 

“yeah,” you sighed, drinking whatever bitter liquid sasha had poured into your red solo cup. “didn’t even say sorry.” 

“how many times do i have to tell you guys, just come work maintenance with jean-boy and i,” connie suggested, wrapping his arm around sasha’s shoulder and giving a squeeze. she rolled her eyes and shoved him off. “you guys would get to watch the race from the track itself.” 

“i don’t know the first thing about cars,” sasha laughed, you nodding along with her. 

“and you think we do? i just said that so we could get the best seats in the house,” connie snorted, taking another swig of his drink. you chuckled at his idiocy, unfazed by yet another one of their stupid stunts. “where’re the big racers anyway?” 

“they should be here soon,” you responded, glancing out the window. jean was unironically blasting the fast and the furious soundtrack, something he’d done after every race for as long as you’d known him. by now the songs were ingrained in your brain. 

“who wants to bet jaeger is in a pissy mood?” jean snorted as he moved to sit down on the arm of the chair you were planted in. 

“when isn’t he?” you sneered. connie and sasha hummed in agreement. both you and jean loved nothing more than to push eren’s buttons. you knew jean’s motives stemmed from some boyish fun, whereas yours felt a little more personal. 

the sound of clapping began to compete with the music, your neck craning to look past jean into the hallway. eren, armin, and mikasa came into view, people cheering them on and patting them on the back. they each wore their racing jackets over their street clothes. 

you felt a familiar sensation burn in your stomach at the sight of eren. his dark hair was pulled back per usual, wispies framing his tan face. The white jacket stood out against his black t-shirt and black jeans; key necklace he always wore glinting against his chest. as your gaze travelled up from his body, you were startled to make contact with his teal eyes. you quickly glanced away in embarrassment. 

“well, well, well,” jean cheered, raising his bottle to the trio. “how’d it feel to lose to a short, old man, eh jaeger?”

eren scowled, obviously peeved. “if i had to lose to anyone, i’m glad it was levi.” 

connie snorted at that. “man, professional circuit has you soft.” 

“whatever you say, baldie,” eren smirked mischievously as he came to sit down on the couch. connie defensively rubbed his head. “at least i’m making money in prof.” 

“i still can’t believe you have people that actually want to sponsor you,” you snipped, a playful expression on your face. eren lazily looked towards you, the familiar irritation laced in his eyes. 

“i’m sorry, what was that? i wasn’t listening to you,” eren retorted, looking as unbothered as ever. you glared at his words, but caught armin’s disapproving eye and decided to stay quiet. 

as the night carried on, you watched your friends relax and reminisce about previous races and the days spent in the illegal ring. it seemed crazy that your life was so centered around car races, when you weren’t even a racer yourself. but you supposed you were just happy to be supporting your friends.

at some point you got up out of your chair to refill your cup. the large hoards of people had started to dance; the house feeling hot and humid as you shoved your way to the kitchen. luckily the room was empty, save for armin who was drinking water out of the kitchen tap. 

“thirsty?” you asked, amused. his head snapped up, surprised by your voice. it took one look to tell he was absolutely trashed, face red and eyes half lidded. he smiled goofily and nodded his head before stumbling back out into the crowd of people. 

you quickly filled your cup, following the direction armin had gone. as you stepped out of the kitchen, a body came out of nowhere and smacked into you. 

eren jumped back, trying to avoid the liquid that sloshed out of your cup. “hey, watch it!” he hissed. 

“you watch it, casanova,” you snapped, irritated by the sticky alcohol that dripped down your hand. eren’s eyes narrowed at the nickname, his arms defensively crossing his chest. 

“i told you not to call me that,” he bit back, eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. you rolled your eyes, instinctively bringing your hand to your mouth in an attempt to lick the drink off. eren watched you, his gaze clouded with an indiscernible emotion. you knew what you were doing. 

“hm. too bad,” you quipped, dragging your tongue down the side of your hand, popping your pointer finger in your mouth. eren glowered at you as you let out a giggle. “see ya, loser.” 

“whatever, brat,” he huffed, shaking the tension from his pants as you sauntered off into the crowd. he hated the effect you had on him.

you’d already decided not to get shit faced. while the rest of your friends had chosen otherwise, you danced alongside them, your resolve wearing thin much faster than theirs. jean and sasha bounced happily up and down, screaming the lyrics to whatever song it was blasting from the speakers. connie and mikasa were playing beer pong, and you had no clue where armin and eren had gone.

you heaved in a breath as a sharp pain shot through your side, signaling the end of your dancing career for the night. your two dance partners were too far gone to notice, waving goodbye to you as you stepped out of the sweaty crowd. 

slipping your phone out of your pocket, your eyes nearly popped from your head at the time. two thirty?!

only slightly tipsy, you decided to find jean’s room and call it a night. he’d just have to sleep on the couch. with one hand dragging on the wall, you made your way through the house, past armin who was doing body shots with a couple of strangers, up the stairs and down the dark hall. it was quieter up here, but you could still hear the music and knew it’d be awhile till sleep visited you. 

shoving jean’s door open, you were surprised to see none other than eren laid back on the bed, puffs of smoke coming from his mouth. the strong scent of weed hit your nostrils, nose scrunching up in reflex. he propped himself up on one arm upon your entrance, eyeing you. 

“oh, sorry i’ll just- wait a minute,” you paused, narrowing your eyes at him. “you aren’t supposed to be smoking on your sponsorship.” 

eren let out a loud laugh at that, more smoke spilling from his lungs. “thanks, mom. i know.” 

you stood in the doorway, not really sure what to do. “jean’s gonna be mad if his room smells like weed tomorrow.” 

“yeah, why do you think i chose to do it in here?” he leered, bringing the blunt to his lips and deeply inhaling, sharp cheekbones protruding with the action. you sucked in a breath, not wanting to acknowledge just how gorgeous he was. his jacket was off, black shirt tightly gripping his muscular yet slender arms as he propped himself up. he blew the smoke from his nostrils this time, making your face heat. “wanna hit?”  

you sighed, weighing the options. jean’s bed was a lot more comfortable than connie’s. you could just wait till eren was done, and then pass out. “no, but i’ll wait with you till you’re done.” 

“suit yourself, brat,” eren hummed, flopping back down on the bed as you shut the door behind yourself. you came to sit by him, looking down as he heaved in a sober breath. he really is beautiful, you thought. 

your eyes scanned his face. “you really shouldn’t be smoking, you know. you could lose the sponsorship.” 

eren rolled his teal eyes, giving you a side glance. “i’m aware. i’m also aware that you aren’t going to rat on me.” 

“and what makes you so sure?” you asked playfully, your voice low. eren’s gaze shifted to you, placing the blunt between his lips as he sat up, face inches from yours. 

“because. you can act like you hate me all you want,” smoke blew from his lips as he spoke, slowly inching his face closer to yours. you swallowed, eyes struggling to maintain contact with his dark stare. “but i know how badly you want me.” 

you blinked, heart rate accelerating as he glanced at your lips. “speaking from experience?” 

eren’s mouth quirked up in a smirk at your words. “something like that.”

you watched with desire as he brought the bud of the blunt up to his lips, deeply inhaling the toxic smoke. he lifted his free hand, pointer finger gently tracing your jaw as his thumb came up to caress your chin. he tapped softly against your face, as if asking you to open your mouth. 

you weren’t sure what part of you was wanting to submit to his every move. maybe it was the alcohol. or maybe it was the accumulation of sexual tension. something told you it was a deeper itch that needed to be scratched. an itch only eren could reach. 

you parted your lips, eyes fluttering as eren leaned forward and carefully brushed his own against yours, dumping his lungful of smoke into your mouth. you breathed it in, fighting the urge to cough and whine as he pulled away. 

“good girl,” he breathed, leaning away to snuff the bud out on jean’s bedside table. you heaved out as much as you could, shocked by your own willingness. you were mainly surprised by how much you enjoyed whatever that was. 

you stared at him expectantly as he turned back to you, a serious expression on his face. “eren.” 

“yes?” he asked, leaning heavily on his arm, eyes unashamedly focused on your lips. his other hand came up again, lightly ghosting your jawline. you could feel yourself growing wet between your legs; the way eren was fucking you with his eyes sending an unwelcomed throb to your clit. 

acting on impulse, you lurched forward, latching your lips onto eren’s slightly chapped ones. he wasted no time in kissing you back; hungrily pressing himself closer to your body. his lips were warm and tasted like weed and coca cola, his tongue wiggling its way into your mouth where you happily welcomed it. 

you brought your hand up, wanting to run your fingers through his hair, but were stopped when they got caught in the bun. eren grunted, kissing you harder and bringing his own hand up to yank the tie from his locks, letting his soft hair fall to his shoulders. 

your fingers were quick to glide through the brown strands, scratching his scalp in the process. some throaty sound emitted from his chest, the noise making your cunt ache in need. how is he so hot? 

eren’s hands came to your waist, roughly shoving you down onto the bed, so that he hovered above you. your lips continued to meld together, saliva coated mouths wetly intertwined. you removed your hand from his hair, bringing both hands to run down the expanse of his arms that were on either side of your head. you squeezed his biceps, surprised when he suddenly pulled away. 

“is this okay?” he panted, breaths labored. his pupils were dilated, all seriousness behind his gaze. you nodded your head without hesitation, practically begging him to continue. “words.”

“yes, yes. i want this just as much as you do,” you responded. eren smirked from above you, his dark hair swirling around his face as his key dangled in front of your chin. 

“good, because,” he leaned down to your ear, lightly nibbling the lobe as the cold key rested against your throat. “i’m going to punish you for all these years of torture.” 

your eyes widened, the words sending a desirable chill down your spine. “torture?” 

eren’s hot mouth travelled slowly from your ear down the side of your neck, lightly peppering the skin with lustful kisses. his tongue came out as he reached your collarbone, dragging the wet muscle up the front of your throat, leaving a trail of saliva in its wake. a small whimper involuntarily left your mouth as he pulled back, grabbing your chin in his large hand.  

“all of the nicknames,” he pressed a kiss to your lips. “the quips,” and another, your chest tightening. “the stunt you pulled earlier with your hand. oh god. it’s like you were practically begging me to bend you over and teach you a lesson.” 

he pulled back, dark eyes boring into yours. the desire was palpable, your breathing shallow as he stared at you. it was like he was waiting for some silent agreement. 

you held eye contact, tilting your chin back ever so slightly in his grip. “good thing i learn fast.” 

your words flew straight to his cock, throbbing uncomfortably behind his jeans. eren let go of your chin, his lips hungrily reconnecting with yours as his hands pinned your wrists to either side of your head. his tongue was quick to invite itself into your mouth, warm and erotic. 

you wanted to tug on his hair again; wanted to hear his primal groans and feel him vibrate against your mouth, but you were pinned to the bed. desperate to hear eren moan, your teeth grazed his bottom lip, the action making him yank his head back. 

“tsk tsk, none of that,” he growled, wet lips glinting in the low light of the room. “this is your punishment. guess we’re going to have to do something else.” 

you frowned as he let go of your wrists, lifting himself from the bed and standing. you propped yourself up on your elbows, eyes laced with desire as eren swiftly pulled the black shirt over his head, key pendant resting on his newly exposed chest. he was dangerously attractive like this; dark hair disheveled on his shoulders, only adding to the feral stare he was giving you. 

he leaned forward, grabbing your thighs and yanking you to the end of the bed, legs dangling from the side. you watched in awe as he dropped to his knees, fingers coming up to toy with the button of your jean shorts. 

“these little shorts make your ass look so good,” he grumbled, tapping the button. “be good and take them off for me.” 

you wasted no time in lifting your ass off the bed, struggling to yank the denim down your legs without hitting eren in the face. he watched your every movement, licking his lips as you wiggled them off. 

without thinking, your hands gripped the hem of your shirt, pulling it over your head to reveal a black bra. eren’s pupils dilated further at the unexpected sight of your breasts. 

he helped pull the shorts from your ankles, tossing them aside as you sat back down, just in your panties and bra. you paused for a moment, unsure of what he was planning to do. 

“watch me,” he demanded, staring at you through his brows. you nodded your head, breath hitching as he placed an open mouthed kiss to the inside of your thigh, tongue swiping against the smooth skin. 

his eyelashes fluttered as he licked up your leg; just the way he looked at you being enough to have you creaming in your lace panties. your teeth tugged at your bottom lip, the burning in your face mirroring the way your clit throbbed along with your heart beat. 

eren’s tongue trailed until he reached the edge of your underwear, eyes never failing to stay connected with yours. you swallowed as he lifted his head, placing his tongue flatly against your clothed clit. 

it was a warm, muted feeling, your body all too aware of the beautiful man between your legs. eren brought his fingers up, hooking under the fabric and pushing it to the side. 

“so wet for me already,” he hummed, a smile on his face. you blushed in embarrassment, the feeling of his breath on your glistening pool of moisture making you shiver. “’m gonna eat you so good, little bitch.” 

you gasped as eren rapidly brought his face down, burying his head between your legs. the sensation was like no other; a swirling feeling in your stomach as his tongue hungrily swiped against your clit. your hands flew down to his hair, tugging as his lips wrapped around the bud, suckling softly. 

a moan escaped your lips, the sound causing eren to groan out in reply. the vibration of his vocal cords against your center amplifying the pleasure. 

a distinct feeling began to burn in your chest, the sloppiness of eren’s tongue licking up your slick causing your legs to squirm, tightening around his head. “fuck.”

eren pulled back at the pressure against his skull, a smack sounding through the air as he released his suction on your wet cunt. 

“i told you to be good,” he hissed, lips coated in your sheen. you knew the image of eren’s face between your legs, hair disheveled and mouth swollen, eyes dark and lustrous, would be burned into the back of your brain. 

flustered, you nodded your head, spreading your legs so they weren’t pressing against his face. he nodded in content, arms coming up to wrap around your thighs to keep you steady. 

and he was back; eating your pussy like he hadn’t been fed in years, a primal desperation. he pressed his tongue down harder, the cry ripping from your throat at the sensation only egging him on. you struggled against his grip as he abused your clit with his mouth, sucking and tracing his teeth over it so good. 

his tongue slid down to your entrance, shoving itself in without invitation. the fullness wasn’t like having sex; it was a heated, swirling feeling. the wet muscle circled around your spongey walls, your face beginning to burn and hands growing clammy in eren’s hair. 

you threw your head back as his ministrations sped up, your hips attempting to grind into his face. the warmth in the pit of your stomach building like a loaded gun, ready to release itself. 

all it took was the added pressure of his hand wrapping around your thigh so that his thumb could press against your clit, feverishly rubbing. you came crashing down, your eyes screwing shut as the wave of dopamine stretched to every part of your body, legs jerking against his hold. 

eren pulled his head back again, a smile on his wet face as he licked your release from his lips. “tasted so good, so good for me.” 

you breathed out in reply as he came back up above you, gently taking your chin and bringing his mouth down to yours. 

the kiss was small and simple, your eye lids growing heavy. you could taste your bitter release on him, the unfamiliar flavor not completely unpleasant. 

“sleepy?” eren mumbled against your lips, coming back to look at you. you nodded your head, eyes catching on the key that dangled from his neck. “too bad. we aren’t done with your punishment yet.” 

you frowned, your body suddenly more awake than it was before. “huh?” you asked, sitting up as eren shifted to pull his jeans off. 

you weren’t sure what you expected when he yanked both his jeans and boxers down; you guessed you’d always thought his anger issues were compensation for something. the realization dawned on you that eren had nothing to compensate for as his cock sprung from his pants, the sheer size making your mouth water. 

a smirk crossed his face as he stepped from his jeans. “enjoying the view?” 

“what? no,” you scoffed, averting your gaze. eren crawled back over you, his bare length pressing into your stomach as his hands came up to unclasp your bra. 

“don’t be shy, this is your punishment after all,” he whispered, pulling the cups from your chest. his eyes unashamedly scanned your breasts, a smile tugging his lips as he gave them a generous squeeze. 

you tried to ignore the imprint of him on your stomach; but it was nearly impossible. you could feel the spot between your legs grow wet again, arousal already weaseling its way back into your system.

eren brought his lips to yours once again, the kisses much sloppier and desperate than before. he grunted as you shifted to lay back down, his exposed dick rubbing against your stomach. “can’t wait to be inside of you,” he mumbled against your lips. 

you whimpered at his words, his lips melding with your own while he simultaneously tugged your panties down your legs. he propped himself up with one arm, the other positioning the tip of his cock at the entrance of your already throbbing cunt. 

you took a deep breath as he slowly eased himself into you; the sheer stretch making your eyes lull back in your head. eren moved his hips slowly at first, loosening you up. he was watching your expressions; his eyelids heavy and mouth slightly agape. 

“shit, you’re so tight,” he groaned, hips starting to move faster as he gazed down at you. you swallowed, closing your eyes as he sent one particularly hard thrust, cock nearly ramming your cervix. “you good?” 

“mhm,” you responded, bringing your hands up to grab his hair. “just so big.” 

eren let out a breathy chuckle at that, eyes traveling down to your pelvis where his dick was visibly creating a bump with every thrust. he placed his hand on your stomach, pressing down as he bucked his hips violently forwards. he was so deep. 

you cried out at the feeling of his length sliding in and out of your cunt, your walls clenching around him as your hands clawed at his muscular back. 

he was filling you up so good, a moan leaving his lips as your enhanced arousal unexpectedly brought your second orgasm down, tears pricking your eyes. eren kept abusing your pussy, his thrusts growing senseless before he buried himself deep within you, releasing his load inside of your exhausted center. 

both of your breathing was labored, eren looking up at the ceiling. his face was flushed as he recovered, you laying limply beneath him trying to regain your composure yourself. 

“that felt so good,” you admitted, bringing your hand up from his back to caress his angular face. eren frowned at your words, large hand grabbing your wrist and removing it from his jawline. 

“m’not tired yet,” he said seriously, your eyes widening as he placed a chaste kiss to your lips. your fucked out face beneath him had his dick already hardening again. “m’not gonna be tired till i win.” 

he suddenly pulled up, hooking his hands under your knees and pushing your legs up by your head. the action strained your muscles, the feeling of eren’s cum dripping down your ass filling your head as he readied himself to fuck you senseless. 

he stared at your cunt; at the way his cum was oozing out of it, the abused pussy ready to take him in again. he used his fingers to catch the drip, forcing it back inside of you. the thought of filling you up all nice and pretty sent him over the edge, his hand shamelessly guiding his cock back inside of you.

eren was meaner this time; each thrust was deep and deliberate, hitting your cervix and making you cry out in pleasure. the burning sensation in your clit was overwhelming, your mouth hanging open as eren slowly fucked you stupid. 

“good, pretty girl” eren breathed out, ramming his hips into yours. “took her punishment like such a good girl.” 

you tried to nod your head, but you couldn’t move. the feeling of hot, sticky tears rolled down your face, eren’s cock deep within you almost too much to bear. he grabbed your chin, tongue swiping up your cheek as he savored the salty flavor on his tastebuds. this man and his licking. 

“tell me, did you learn your lesson?” eren grunted in your ear, hand still gripping your chin. you tried to form a sentence, fucked beyond words. “hm, use your words and i’ll let you cum.” 

one more deep thrust and his dick stopped its strokes, pausing within you. “yes... yes.” 

“yes what?” 

your tongue was heavy in your mouth, pussy all too aware of eren’s length within it. “i learned my lesson, you won.” 

he smirked, aggressively bucking his hips into your weak cunt, the action making you cry out as he rammed your cervix. the tears continued to roll down your cheeks as eren’s dick twitched, spurting the his seed into you. your third release followed his, your clit spasming from the overstimulation. 

eren heaved himself out of you, collapsing deftly onto the bed. the two of you sat in a heated silence, your face sticky from the tears. eren glanced to you, eyes trailing down your body. 

“i’ll get a rag,” he mumbled, shoving off the bed and walking into jean’s bathroom. you were beyond exhausted and knew that you’d be sore tomorrow. eren reemerged, quickly cleaning you up and handing you your shirt. 

your eyes lazily watched him as he walked over and locked the door; brain too tired to form a sentence. 

he must’ve noticed your concern. “we can sleep in here tonight; i don’t think you’re in any shape to move.” 

you carefully crawled into the sheets, not even bothering to put your shirt back on. eren followed suit, climbing in behind you. 

“night,” he whispered as he shut the bedside light off. your lids were growing heavy, a smile on your lips as you began to fall asleep. 

“night, casanova.” 

<3 <3 <3 

[arcanestage]

JEALOUS/INSECURE HEADCANONS!

featuring ⤏ nozel silva

a/n ⤏ im in a permanent state of nozel brainrot so here have another nozel fic (・∀・) also, this was supposed to be a jealous!nozel fic but i got carried away so it ended up as a mix of jealous and insecure and overprotective nozel [laughs nervously]

warnings ⤏ some curses, uh it gets a little emotional towards the end, but its a fluffy ending uwu, also i think it’s too long??? lmao

✧ You are Nozel and Fuegoleon’s childhood friend. You spent most of your growing up years watching the rivalry of those 2 intensify. Your role is basically some sort of referee, making sure one Nozel doesn’t accidentally murder the other.

✧ You were close with the both of them but strangely, you spent more time with Nozel even though he was a grumpy asshole 90% of the time which tripled when his mother died. Who would’ve thought the greatest asshole can even be MORE of an asshole??? You were like his therapist tbh like he did all the ranting and lashing out while you did all the understanding

✧ Even before you started dating he was already possessive as fuck. He forbade you from leaving his side that you have never been assigned to a mission where he isnt going. All your missions have to be headed by him. Your business is his business kind of thing. Which you found unfair since everyone in Silver Eagles has been working their ass off going on back to back missions, risking their lives for the kingdom while you lounge around the base, tailing Nozel everywhere like a lost puppy.

✧ Nebra tried to persuade his brother into letting you go on a mission with her and a couple other members saying that she’ll be there to look out for you and that she’ll keep in touch with Nozel from time to time for updates. Nozel gave a cold hard big fat NO

✧ “What I say in this squad goes. Y/N will not be joining this mission and that’s final.”

✧ Nebra isn’t one to challenge her brother’s authority but this just frustrated her like no other. “What, why?! Why make her a member if you’re not going to let her do shit anyway? She’s strong enou—“

✧ “I do not find you or any other member competent enough to keep Y/N safe. That is all.” Nebra huffed and let herself out of Nozel’s office to find you.

✧ This man obviously has abandonment issues 😭

✧ When you heard of this, something just snapped inside of you. It was the last straw

✧ You burst through Nozel’s office, fuming and ready to grill his ass.

✧ “I don’t usually curse but I think I get a free pass to say this: Fuck you, Nozel! I’m not a kid anymore and I refuse to be treated as such! So yeah, fuck you and stupid ass braid I hope it catches fire!”

✧ Nozel sat still, face expressionless. WHICH INFURIATED YOU EVEN MORE. If he wasn’t going to react, you might as well just use this as an opportunity say what you’ve always wanted to say. No bars held.

✧ “I’ve always followed whatever rules you set for me without complaints. You always give me the dumbest reasons but did I ever question you? No! I’m tired of always having to understand you Nozel. I’m suffocating in this damn squad, I might as well have a squad change to the Black Bulls since they always seem to be having fun rounding up wild boars.”

✧ You went on and on listing every single questionable thing Nozel made you do.

✧ Like that one time Nozel took you off a mission in Raque because he was afraid you’ll drown

✧ Or that time he asked you to stay and help him with his paperworks but he kept snapping at you for not doing things properly so you just ended up watching him do all the work

✧ You just didn’t stop talking, you were like a machine gun with unlimited ammo lol

✧ Your excessive rambling only stopped when Nozel walked towards you and kissed you.

✧ YEAH THIS ASSHOLE KISSED YOU TO SHUT YOU UP

✧ After pulling away he held your cheeks on both of his hands. “I’m sorry, Y/N. I just... I don’t want to lose you.” He said with multiple fake coughs in between because feelings make him want to self-destruct

✧ He made you go thru all of that just to tell you he likes you romantically. Everything about this man is dramatic i swear

✧ Anyway and so after that you were officially a couple ＼(^o^)／

✧ It was a literal rollercoaster ride tbh and there were so much things to work on (since there are times you just don’t see eye to eye) but you couldn’t have asked for a better boyfriend :3

✧ Fast forward to a couple of months. Mereoleona threatened people to train in that whack volcano of hers. All squad captains were there not by choice and other magic knights Mereoleona managed to grab kidnap with her fiery paws. Which includes you because once you are grabbed, you can never go back

✧ You waved your hand a bit to Nozel who was surprised to see you. “Y/N, I thought you were strolling around the capital?” Nozel looked at you like he was fearing for your life.

✧ Overprotective mode: on

✧ The million tiny Nozels in his brain are panicking as we speak

✧ You scratched your head. “Yeah... just my luck I ran into Mereo. Before you nag I did try to run but her paws could stretch up to a mile, she’s crazy!”

✧ Nozel didn’t speak but you knew he was agitated by the whole thing. “I’ll be fine Nozel. You worry about me too much.” you said softly, caressing his hand

✧ He smiled. “Just stay close to me, alright?”

✧ A couple of hours later, everyone had made it to the hot springs. The ladies by reflex built a wall to separate them from the men but Mereoleona had other plans and destroyed the wall RIP

✧ “We’re strong enough to bathe with the men. What are we ashamed for ladies?!?!?!”

✧ She’s insane really 😭

✧ Charlotte almost fainted btw

✧ When Nozel saw the ladies starting to fill into their side of water HE PANICKED

✧ Should he leave with you now or should he just pierce the eyes of every single man who would dare to look at you?

✧ You on the other hand were chilling. You swam to him happily. “Nozel~” He instantly grabbed you to his side and firmly wrapped an arm around your waist.

✧ Yami saw this and laughed maniacally. “I’m still having a hard time processing that Braidface has a girlfriend. He won’t let us meet her too,”

✧ “I’m protecting her from perverts like you foreigner.”

✧ Yami ignored him and continued “Now that we’re here, I’m Yami. Nozel’s best friend.”

✧ “What? You are not my—“

✧ “You’re breaking my fragile little heart over here.” lmao

✧ Nozel just scowled and tightened his hold on you. You giggled. “It’s nice to meet you, Captain Yami. It’s nice to meet everyone actually. I’m Y/N.”

✧ “Oh you are Nozel and Fuegoleon’s childhood friend, correct? Must be lovely falling in love with one’s long time friend.” William said. BLESS HIS HEART

✧ “Yeah I grew up with them along with Mereoleona. It was fun watching them fight all the time.” you laughed

✧ “I remember my dumb brother mastering a spell late at night just so he could show off to Y/N the next day.” Mereoleona said while laughing boisterously. The empty bottle in her hand points to the possibility that she’s drunk

✧ Fuego was #shookt

✧ Nozel was also lowkey #shookt

✧ “Oh? You never told me about this attraction you had to Y/N.” Nozel casually said

✧ “Please, Nozel. That was a long time ago and we were kids back then so it doesn’t really matter now.”

✧ “What?! What do you mean it doesn’t matter, Fuego?” Mereoleona interjected

✧ SOMEONE SHUT THIS WOMAN UP

✧ “You were finding ways to have Y/N join the Crimson Lions and then you were upset for 2 straight weeks when she joined Silver Eagles.”

✧ Fuego took a deep breath about to defend himself but Mereo wasn’t done talking

✧ #PrayForFuegoleon

✧ “AND THEN you tried talking Y/N into having a squad change and was upset again when she declined. How does it not matter now Fuego?” Mereo scratched her head.

✧ It was silent for a while. The other captains were looking back and forth at Nozel and Fuegoleon. Rill was thinking of dumb ways to lighten the mood BABY 🥺

✧ “I see.” was all Nozel said

✧ “Look, Nozel, it’s no—“

✧ “Y/N, let’s go. We’re leaving.” he said. He wrapped a mercury armor on himself and you then stood up. You shot Fuego and apologetic look then quickly followed Nozel.

✧ The trip home had been excruciatingly silent. You wanted to talk but you couldn’t gauge what he was feeling. You were a pro at reading Nozel and his unexpressed emotions. But this one, this was new. There was an unreadable expression on his face perhaps an emotion you have never seen on him before

✧ Nozel was still silent when you reached your shared bedroom. When you finished changing, you turned to check on him only to find him sitting by the edge of the bed, back facing you. He was hunched over like he was in deep thought. You crawled over to him and gently snaked your arms around his waist

✧ “Nozel...” you tried reaching out to this new emotion. “What’s eating you up?”

✧ He said nothing but he relaxed a bit with your touch

✧ You tried again

✧ “Hey, you can tell me anything. You don’t have to carry all that burden on your own anymore. You don’t have to hurt in silence anymore.” you said, putting a stray chunk of hair behind his ear.

✧ “I.. I don’t want to lose you... I don’t...”

✧ You slid off the bed and kneeled in front of him. You snuggled your upper body in between his thighs so that your face was at the same level as his

✧ “I’m right where you want me to be and I’m not going anywhere,” you placed your palm on his cheek then smiled. He still wouldn’t meet your eyes

✧ “I don’t think I’m adequate enough to be with you...”

✧ Your thoughts went ?!?!?! at that

✧ “W-what? Where is this coming from Nozel?” Worry was plastered all over your features.

✧ “I’ve always had your best interest at heart but I didn’t realize that I was already suffocating you.”

✧ You wanted shoot down everything he’s saying because TO YOU HE’S EVERYTHING AND MORE

✧ (´༎ຶོρ༎ຶོ`)

✧ But you just kept your mouth shut and let him vent out while you gently stroked his hair.

✧ “Ever since mother died, everything had been extremely difficult. All I did was lash out and even if I wasn’t pleasant person to be with, you still stuck by me. Sometimes I wonder why you’re with me and not with... Fuegoleon or any other man for that matter. I have dreams of you wanting out of this relationship, wanting nothing to do with me. Sometimes they feel real, and I... I wouldn’t know what to do if they become real.”

✧ You can’t believe he bottled all that up for months. It broke your heart to see him in this state. It broke your heart to see him hurt on his own.

✧ “Nozel... Why didn’t you tell me this?”

✧ “I tend to bury all my problems because I don’t know how to face them. I’m sorry.” Nozel said as he rested his forehead on your shoulder

✧ NOZEL BBY COME HERE I’LL GIVE YOU A HUG 😭

✧ “It���s alright, I’m here to help you get better at it. And like I said you don’t have to carry the weight of your problems on your own anymore.” you pat his head.

✧ “And I’m with you because I love you Nozel. You’ve been nothing but good to me. I enjoy spending time with you and above all, i enjoy pissing you off as well.” you said as you poked his cheek

✧ He raised his head and gave you playful eye roll. “Unbelievable.”

✧ You laughed then kissed the tip of his nose. “I love you Nozel. I know our relationship started out as rocky but I hope you know that I wouldn’t have it any other way. You’re it for me.”

✧ The tips of his ears were red. He fake coughed multiple times because that’s his default reaction to confrontational situations

✧ “I love you too. Thank you for always understanding.” he said as he pulled you in for a hug

✧ You stood up after a while and grabbed his hand. “I have newly bought tea leaves from the apothecary the other day. I’ve been saving them since I was waiting for your day off and wanted to try them with you.” you grinned widely

✧ Nozel’s gaze softened at you and his heart swelled with L-O-V-E. He silently promised to himself that he will always keep you safe and that he will never let you go.

[captain-josslett]

Broken Melody - Part Fifty Five

Masterlist

Summary: Grammy Award winning Emma Danvers is the first to say she has a pretty good life. But what happens when it implodes around her and it looks like things will never be the same again?

Words: 10k+ (worth it, promise)

Warnings: Fluff, Smut 🔞, Angst, Violence, Blood, mention and moments of PTSD.

Pairings: Emma Danvers x Diana Prince, Alex Danvers x Sam Arias, Kara Danvers x OC

This Part: Emma has finally collapsed in front of the Superfriends. Can they wake her up?

This was so fun to write! I Hope you enjoy reading it 😁

Thank you for reading and let me know if you wanna be tagged or any general feedback will be greatly appreciated. Please! I like knowing your thoughts.

Taglist: @finleyfray, @life-is-hella-unfair, @natasha-danvers, @supergirl-writingz, @camslightstories, @thinking1bee, @aznblossom, @inquisitive-nix, @checkingoutforheroes, @mmmmokdok, @certainkryptoniangeek, @starmako26

“What are you doing here?” Winn asks, bewildered by the billionaire's appearance.

“Where is she?” Kate asks back, as Winn continues to blink at her. “Emma, where is she?”

“Oh, through here.” Winn fully opens the door and motions for Kate to enter.

Kate does so and walks through to the back room to find the Superfriends all gathered together.

“Kate?” Alex asks with a deep frown and Diana’s head snaps up in relief.

Kate goes to respond but her eyes focus on a frail Emma. “Oh.” She breathes out and glances at Eliza. “May I examine her?”

“No.” Alex stands, positions herself in front of Emma and crosses her arms. “Not until you tell me why the hell you are here.”

“Alex!” Eliza scolds her daughter, but Alex doesn’t budge.

“I’m sorry for what happened between us.” Kate says sincerely and it’s Sam’s turn to frown. “May I examine her first and then you can ask your questions?” Kate’s eyes quickly move around the room, studying each Superfriend closely. Her blue gaze pauses on Lena and Kate feels pity for her business rival. Although the rivalry is more friendly banter then an actual feud. The two have actually worked closely together, being two strong females in a mainly male dominated industry.

“Alex, please.” Diana pleads out. “I texted her to come over.”

But the redhead doesn’t budge as she stares Kate down.

“Alex. She can help Emma.” J’onn reasons with her.

Finally Alex steps aside.

“Thank you.” Kate says, immediately going to Emma and kneels next to Diana. “What happened?”

“She used freeze breath, speed, possibly strength and-” Diana pauses and looks over at Lena. Kate follows her eye line and glances between the two.

“And?”

“I broke my ankle, a compound ankle fracture.” Lena starts to quietly explain and Kate analyses her outstretched ankle. Frowning slightly when she sees no bone sticking out, if anything, it just looks a little swollen. “Lucy and Ruby went to get help and Emma stayed with me, but the weather got worse, trees started to fall around us. The pain was excruciating.” Lena sniffs and rubs her face. Kara, snuggled into Ben’s arms, gets up and goes to her best friend, placing a comforting arm around her. Lena gives her an appreciated smile and continues. “I feared for both of us but then Emma lifted me up with such ease, like I weighed nothing and she super sped us back here.” Lena swallows and takes another deep breath, remembering the fear and the blinding pain she was experiencing, how she felt the warm blood seeping from her ankle, how the world blurred around her and she had to close her eyes for fear of throwing up. “When we were almost to the house I felt a warm sensation spread through my body, I can’t explain it and the pain in my ankle disappeared.” Lena shakes her head and looks up at the ceiling. “I thought I was losing sensation and my mind raced with the possibility that I’d need it amputated.” Lena jutts her jaw to the side and sniffs again. “But, as you can clearly see-” However, words fail her and she motions at her ankle in disbelief.

“Are you sure the bone had broken through?” Kate asks, causing Lena to frown at her.

“It had!” Lucy speaks up in frustration. “I saw it, there was blood and the bone was sticking out.” Lena nods in agreement.

“And there was blood on Lena’s jeans.” Eliza mentions. “I’m sorry, I already put them in the washing machine.”

Lena swallows and lowers her head. Remembering how dotting Eliza had been and helped her out of her wet clothing. Making sure she was comfortable on the sofa as she elevated her leg on the stool.

“Okay.” Kate says and notices a few of the Superfriends looking squeamish. Her gaze falls back to Emma. “So we need to add healing powers to the list?”

“I believe so.” Brainy says as he leans forward on the other sofa. Kate turns to look at him and her eyes narrow.

“Brainiac 5 is it?”

Taken aback Brainy blinks in confusion.

“Emma mentioned you.” Kate explains and looks at all of the Superfriends. “About all of you actually. She really loves you guys.”

The Superfriends glance mournfully at each other and Kate starts examining Emma’s condition.

“Do you need me to move?” Eliza asks while she continues to lovingly stroke Emma’s hair.

“No, you’re fine. Plus I think it will be a good stimulus for her.” Kate gives Eliza a small smile. “How long has she been out?”

“1 hour, 42 minutes and 54 seconds.”

“Emma communicated that you were precise.” Kate mutters and inserts the information in her tablet. She works quickly, taking Emma’s temperature, her blood pressure and compares her notes from the last time she saw Emma. Her heart sinks when she notices how frail Emma is.

“May I look over your findings?” Brainy asks beside her, making Kate almost jump due to not hearing him move next to her.

“Here.” She passes him her tablet and sits against the sofa next to Diana. She manages to keep her expression neutral but her eyes are solemn as she swallows deeply.

“What is it?” Kara asks fearfully. “Is she going to be okay?”

“What do you guys know?” Kate asks, her eyes flick to each member of the group before finally settling on Lena, whose green eyes are still filled with tears. “Has she told you anything?”

A few shake their heads and Kate inhales and exhales deeply.

“We know the Phoenix serum has altered Emma’s DNA, making it more Kryptonian than human.” Alex offers, she glances at the tablet in Brainy's hands, wanting to desperately know what information it holds.

“Correct.” Kate nods.

“So Em will be like me?” Ruby asks Sam in wonder.

“Possibly, baby girl.” Sam answers but keeps staring at Kate. “Why do you look so grave? What aren’t you saying?”

“Yea, cause if that’s the case, Emma will be fine, we just have to train her to safely use her powers and help her through this.” Kara says hopefully, remembering how Emma had been there for her when Kara had to learn to be more human and hide her powers. Now Kara hopes to repay that kindness in showing Emma how to be more Kryptonian.

“If only it were that simple.” Kate says wistfully. “Bruce and I believe Emma’s body cannot cope with this mutation and it’s causing her body to shut down.”

The atmosphere in the room immediately drops.

“Shut- shut down?” Eliza whispers out in shock and her head lowers to gaze at her youngest daughter. “No, please no.”

“What do you mean?” Ruby asks with a frown and notices Alex’s pale face. “Like, she’s dying?”

“I’m afraid so.”

The atmosphere in the room shifts instantly and plunges into stunned silence.

Kara feels sick, her stomach tightens and bubbles as if she is going to vomit. Her chest tightens and she tries to breathe normally. ‘This can’t be right. It just can’t! Emma can’t die! I can’t lose her again! Please Rao, don’t take her from me.’

A sudden shift in a heartbeat grabs her attention as it slows down considerably. She focuses on its location and stares at her best friend beside her. Worry fills her immediately when Lena’s already fair skin tone becomes paler still. “Lee?”

But the raven haired woman doesn’t answer, instead she hobbles to her feet and tries to stumble from the room. But her legs give way and Sam catches her before her head hits the coffee table.

“She’s fainted.” Sam says quietly and Alex jumps into action, having been stunned by Lena’s outburst.

“Her blood pressure must have dropped.” Alex states and places Lena flat on her back. She takes a hold of Lena’s legs and holds them above her shoulders to help blood flow back to her brain. “Can someone open a window?” Alex asks and J’onn opens the nearest window to them.

Diana sits quietly and watches the Superfriends trying to help Lena, as if helping this situation distracts them from Emma.

Nia and Lucy go to the kitchen to make drinks for everyone, Ben sits with Kara who looks ready to keel over herself and Ayla takes Mary into the other room who, thankfully, doesn’t seem to be too affected by what’s happening. Brainy continues to study the tablet intently, his eyes flickering over to Lena every now and then to check on her.

Diana silently prays he can find something, anything, to save Emma. But something else catches her attention and her gaze falls back onto Lena. She notices something glistening by her armpit.

A ring.

Diana narrows her eyes and takes a closer look. ‘An emerald ring? Possibly an engagement ring.’ Diana’s mind whirls and she turns her head to study Emma, trying to remember if her girlfriend had mentioned anything about getting an engagement ring for Lena.

“Hmm.” Lena quietly groans out a few moments later and Diana slowly turns her head back around.

“Lena? Hey, can you hear me?” Alex says softly as she watches Lena’s face twitch and her eyes sluggishly open. “You’re okay, you fainted. Stay lying down for me okay? Take some nice, deep breaths.”

Lena nods and does as Alex tells her. She drowsily turns her head and her gaze falls on Emma. Tears prick her eyes again and the mask she tries to keep in place, cracks and crumbles.

“Hey.” Sam coos and places a comforting hand on Lena’s shaking shoulders. Momentarily tucking Lena’s necklace and the ring back underneath her clothes.

“I did this.” Lena gasps out and keeps her eyes fixed on Emma’s frail face as tears slide down her own.

“No you didn’t.” Sam says firmly.

“Lena, please listen to me. You need to calm down, take nice deep breaths for me.” Alex says as gently as she can and Lena nods in understanding. She draws in a ragged breath but keeps her eyes fixed on Emma.

Diana continues to watch on. Being sat in front of the sofa gives her the perfect view of Lena’s face, the expression when her mask crumbles and Sam tucking the ring away. The demi-goddess swallows deeply and sighs.

“When will she wake up?” Diana asks Kate.

“I don’t know.” Kate responds quietly and Diana turns to look at her. Their eyes communicate silently and Diana’s heart continues to break.

‘If she wakes up.’

The unspoken question hangs in the air and Diana can also sense a simmering anger in the room.

“How do you feel now?” Alex asks Lena, whose eyes look brighter and more alert as she finally tears her gaze away from Emma and looks up at Alex.

“Better.” Lena mutters.

“Still dizzy?”

“A little.”

“Do you feel able to sit up?”

“I think so.”

Alex carefully lowers her legs and with the help of Sam, Lena slowly manages to rise into a sitting position. Sam moves behind Lena, letting Lena rest against her.

“Here.” Nia holds out a water bottle for Lena and she takes it gratefully.

“Drink small sips.” Alex orders and a small smile creeps on Lena’s face.

“Yes Doctor Lexie.”

Alex scoffs and shakes her head as Kara slides onto the floor and pulls the raven haired woman into a hug.

“Can you help me onto the sofa?” Lena asks softly and Kara nods. They settle back on the sofa and Sam sits on the other side of Lena with Ruby snuggling in beside her.

Lena continues to sip her water and nibbles a cookie Lucy gave her. She couldn’t help but chuckle when Kara and Ruby released their puppy dog eyes for one too.

Finally Brainy lowers the tablet, a thoughtful look on his face.

“Find anything?” Kate asks, seemingly noticing too.

“Can we talk in the other room?” Brainy responds and stands, motioning to the dining room. Kate nods and gets up. “Oh and J’onn? Do you want to join us?”

“Why would J’onn join you?” Kara asks, her eyes flickering between the three in confusion.

“At the attack on L-Corp, I placed a tracker on Emma’s suit and followed the signal-”

“You what?” Eliza angrily hisses out but presses her lips together in a thin line. Her hand immediately stills on Emma’s head and Alex can see her Mom holding back her rage.

J’onn also notices this and turns to Brainy. “You don’t need me, everything is within the report.”

Brainy nods and shows Kate to the dining room. The others watch them leave and the room remains silent other than the music softly playing in the background.

Alex wants to tell Brainy and Kate to stay and to discuss what they need to infront of them so she can find out what they know. Instead she swallows deeply and her eyes connect with J’onn’s.

A pang of anger hits her.

He knew.

Shaking her head she makes her way over to her baby sister. Her gaze hardens further when she glances at Diana, still sitting on the floor by Emma’s side, like a guardian. But when Alex looks back at her sister, her eyes soften.

“Alex?” Eliza says through gritted teeth. “Would you like to hold her? I need to start getting dinner ready.”

Alex nods and helps her Mom carefully lift Emma so she can switch with her. Once sat down, Alex gently lays her sister’s head onto her lap and closes her eyes at the memory of the first time she held Emma in her arms. The way she had to have a pillow on her lap because her own arms were too small to hold her newborn sister properly.

‘You were so little, so cute and I loved you the moment I knew you were my sister. I’m sorry Peanut. I’m so, so sorry for failing you.’

“J’onn I said no!”

Alex’s eyes shoot open and she watches her Mom turn away from J’onn.

“Please let me help you.” J’onn says quietly.

“I don’t need your help, I just need to keep busy and make dinner.” Eliza says harshly while taking things out of the cupboard to start the prep work.

“But-”

“No!” Eliza slams the potatoes on the island and the room freezes as Eliza turns on J’onn with a look of pure rage. “You knew about this. You knew Emma, our baby girl, was dying and you. Didn’t. Say. Anything.” Eliza seethes. “You came home and lied to my face that everything was okay, that our daughters were okay, when Emma most certainly ISN’T okay.”

“I begged her to come home with me.” J’onn explains calmly, his eyes pleading with Eliza to listen. “For her to come back and get tested at the DEO but she panicked and almost used heat vision. Bruce had to sedate her, fearing what could happen. She was in so much pain. She was screaming in her mind and going frigid.” J’onn voice cracks with emotion as he remembers that day. “When Emma woke up she told me she wasn’t ready, that she still needed time. She asked me not to say anything, knowing you, and everyone else, would search for her.”

Eliza's face crumples and a sob erupts from her lips. “My baby.” She leans heavily on the island and lowers her head.

J’onn immediately reaches for her and pulls her into a hug. Eliza doesn’t retaliate or push back, instead she clings to him and cries into his shoulder.

The Superfriends turn away to give the couple a moment. Kara sniffs and wipes away her own tears. She rests her head on top of Lena’s and feels her best friend nuzzle into her. Kara looks over at her sisters, of Alex’s sorrowful expression as she gently runs her fingers around Emma’s face. Taking in every detail of their baby sister.

“How about we order pizza?” Kara hears J’onn say softly and looks over to see Eliza nod while wiping the tears from her face.

Soon the pizzas are ordered and arrive swiftly, delivered by an enthusiastic Randy who reminds J’onn about the new years eve party in the town hall. He thanks him gratefully and the pizzas are laid out on the island.

Sam gets her fiancé some slices and hands it to her.

Alex secretly hopes the smell of the pizza will wake her sister up, she even hovers a slice under Emma’s nose, but Emma stays perfectly still on her lap. The only sign she is still alive is the movement of her diaphragm.

“I’ll go get them.” Nia says softly and is soon followed by Brainy and Kate, who have deep frowns and contemplating looks.

“What have you two come up with?” Lucy asks and the pair sit on the stools by the island.

“I still believe, given the evidence, that Emma doesn’t have long left, that her powers, the mutation, is killing her.” Kate says mournfully and everyone's shoulders slump. Kara stops chewing her pizza and lowers her plate, no longer hungry. She feels Lena tense next to her and Kara reaches for her hand, squeezing it gently.

“Whereas I believe the opposite.” Brainy says, making small flickers of hope light up within the room. “Emma has not had a chance to really use or release her powers, correct?” Diana and Kate nod. “So what if, by her not using them, that is what is causing her body to shut down? By not allowing the process to complete? By not expressing her emotions?” Brainy pauses a moment to eat, muling his words over carefully. “For example, with the heat vision, Emma was fearful and it activated, what if she needed to release it for the mutation to further progress and heal her? For her to accept her emotions?”

“But you saw yourself what happened after she used freeze breath on the cake.” Diana points out. “Her nose started to bleed or when she used superspeed and this healing ability, it caused her to have a seizure and fall unconscious.”

“Which may not have happened if you had been honest with us from the start and called us!” Alex snaps and Diana’s nostrils flare.

“Please don’t.” Nia yells, halting the two. “Fighting won’t help Emma.”

Everyone looks over at the sleeping blonde.

Emma doesn’t stir once.

The Superfriends continue discussing the theories and J’onn shares Alistair's theory of Emma’s emotions being tied to her powers. Ayla puts Mary to bed in Emma’s room so she can support Winn and a few hours later Ruby is yawning too. Causing Sam to kiss the top of Ruby’s head, who has clung to her like a koala bear. “Come on Rubes, time for bed.”

The teen sighs but she gets up to say goodnight to everyone, knowing she wouldn’t be able to argue with her Moms’, aunts’ and uncles’. After hugging Nia, Ruby looks unsurely over at Emma, still lying unconscious on the sofa.

“Do you want to say goodnight to her?” Nia asks and Ruby nods. “Why don’t I go over with you?”

Ruby nods again and Nia takes her hand and leads the teen over.

“Goodnight Ruby.” Diana says as she stands to give the teen a hug.

“She looks like she’s sleeping.” Ruby comments sadly and Diana nods in agreement.

“Hmm, like sleeping beauty.” Nia jokes and reaches out to gently move a stray hair away from Emma’s face.

But as soon as her hand touches Emma’s skin, Nia collapses forward and almost faceplants into Alex.

“Wow!” Diana yelps, catching the brunette and manages to pull Nia back towards her. “Nia!”

The other Superfriends look over in alarm.

“What was that?!” Nia yells and looks at the demi-goddess with wide eyes.

“You started to collapse-”

“No, it’s not that.” Nia straightens up and starts pacing the space around the sofas, a look of concentration on her face.

“Nia?” Kara asks softly.

“I touched her.”

“Yes you did.” Alex confirms.

“And when I touched her I-” Nia motions with her hands to try and elaborate. “I heard her screaming, like I was being pulled into her dream state.”

Diana quickly places her hand on Emma’s head and her hands. “Nothing’s happening.”

“Well it wouldn’t.” Brainy says and Diana turns to him. “It may possibly be linked to Nia’s powers.”

“And you said you saw Emma when she was missing? In your dreams? That you spoke to her?” Lucy motions and Nia nods.

“Could you try again?” Eliza asks hopefully. “Maybe you can wake her up?”

Nia exhales deeply, a look of fear and nerves on her face. “Okay.” She makes her way over and Alex moves to allow Nia to sit next to Emma, placing a pillow underneath her head.

Everyone watches with bated breath as she slowly reaches for Emma’s cheek.

“If I’m not awake in fifteen minutes, remove my hand.” She says without looking at any of them. As soon as her fingers connect with Emma’s skin, Nia slumps next to her as if in a deep sleep.

Brainy and Kate approach to analyse the two women.

“Is this just Nia’s powers? Or both?” Kate asks and Brainy runs a hand through his hair.

“I don’t know.” He says in frustration. “It is possible Emma has other powers we cannot comprehend yet.”

Kate lowers her head to think, biting the inside of her lip. She finally turns to Lucy. “What did you mean? When you said that Nia saw Emma in her dreams?”

“Just that. I was hanging out with Nia and she kept falling asleep. She eventually told me what was happening, through a lot of pestering from me, and at first we thought it was because she was thinking of her or she was worried about her. But then the dreams kept coming and were-” Lucy pauses and her eyes glance over at Lena before focusing back on Kate. “Explicit in nature. Other times it was the most horrific sounding nightmares, of shadows chasing her or reimaginings of the attack but involving all of us.” Lucy swallows, remembering how shaken Nia had been after one such night.

“Yes, she would wake up screaming.” Brainy says sadly as he gazes lovingly at Nia. “But she was determined to be there for Emma and when they spoke, I had never seen Nia so happy.”

“Why didn’t you guys say anything?” Kara asks, feeling slightly hurt by the secrets.

“As Lucy said, we didn’t realise what was going on at first. When Emma became aware of Nia’s presence the dreams had lessened and we felt it best not to discuss it. These were sometimes very private moments for Emma and we wanted to honour that.” Brainy tries to explain and Lucy nods.

Alex takes a deep breath, trying to suppress her emotions. ‘Now is not the time.’ She imagines what Lena told her one time, putting her emotions in little boxes and burying them deep to be sorted out another time.

“It’s been fifteen minutes.” Kara says quietly while she watches Nia and Emma. Waiting for any sign or movement that they were waking up. She reaches out to remove Nia’s hand.

“Don’t touch her skin.” Brainy warns, so Kara moves Nia’s arm using her clothing. As soon as the skin contact is gone, Nia jumps awake.

“EMMA!” She screams and bolts upright, her eyes wide in alarm. “No! I need to go back! They are killing her! She’s going to die!”

Kara catches Nia’s hand. “Wow, Nia breathe, who is hurting her?!”

“You, Alex, everyone! We’re attacking her and she can’t break free!”

“We all have to go in and save her.” Kara pleads with Alex who nods.

“Who isn’t there?” Alex asks quickly.

“Ruby, Ayla, Mary, Kate and Diana.”

Diana frowns deeply at this and gazes at Emma.

“We could form a chain.” Brainy says more to himself as he looks around at the group. “Everyone, get comfortable and hold hands.” Brainy orders and the Superfriends move to sit on the sofas and floor. They link hands as Nia waits.

“Go for your doppelganger and keep them off her. She hasn’t got long left. Remember it’s the dream realm where you can imagine a weapon or powers to defeat them.”

Everyone nods in understanding.

“How long shall we wait?” Kate asks and gets her phone to set a timer.

“Sunrise.” Nia says, hoping it will give them enough time, sensing the danger if they or Emma stay in the dream realm too long.

“Rubes, go to bed please.” Sam orders and looks over at Ayla who nods that she will see to it.

“Good luck.” Ruby says as Nia touches Emma’s face again and the world fades around them.

– – –

Noise explodes around them of harsh yells and Emma’s screams. The Superfriends are standing in Emma’s old apartment in National City, but the room was far larger than it should be. In the middle of the room they see their doppelgangers attacking Emma, both physically and mentally. Hurling fists and verbally abusing her.

Alex sees herself repeatedly hitting Emma in the stomach as she’s being held up by Kara and Lena. Blood pours from Emma’s mouth. “You are worthless! Why do I put up with you?! You are nothing!” Her doppelganger screams and Alex immediately charges at her, throwing her away from her sobbing sister.

“Leave her alone!” Alex yells and the pair fight but mostly block each other's attacks, knowing each other too well. The Superfriends do the same and charge at their doubles. Emma crumbles to the floor as blood continues to pour from her body and she curls into herself.

A loud cracking fills the room as Kara flings her doppelganger through the windows and flies after her. Sam, J’onn and Brainy do the same and battling theirs around the dream realm of National City, colliding with buildings and each other.

“What’s wrong Alex? You know she’s a spoiled brat and we’d be so much better without her!”

“Shut up!” Alex yells enraged at the words and aims for the jaw, only for her double to block it again.

“She is better off dead! We’ll be free of her!”

“No! She’s my sister! I cannot imagine a world without her in it. She. Is. Everything!”

Suddenly a shotgun sounds and Alex whips her head around to see her Mom standing over her double with a thunderous look on her face. This immediately melts away when Eliza looks over to her fallen daughter and rushes to her.

Immediately Alex imagines her pistol in her hand and feels the cool metal. She shoots her double in the head without a second thought.

“Kara?” Alex lifts her hand to her ear and imagines a communication device.

“Alex?!” Kara’s voice calls out.

“Imagine a gun with Kryptonite and shoot her!”

“O-okay.”

Alex listens intently, missing her Mom calling to her and hears a blast from a laser gun.

“I, I did it.”

“Great, tell the others and come back here.” Alex orders and hears Lena’s double scream.

“She is worthless! Not even worthy enough to be the dirt beneath our feet!” Lena’s double snarls back at Lena, who has a look of pure rage on her face as her double taunts her.

“You are wrong! She is everything! She is worth more than any kind of wealth and I-” Lena pulls her arms back and flings them forward, a burst of light shoots out from them and her double hurls through the apartment and through many walls. Lena chases after her and Alex goes to move to help but her feet won’t work.

“What the hell?”

“Alex!” Her Mom calls again and finally the redhead hears her.

“Mom?” Alex frowns at how her Mom is standing, as if frozen in mid stride.

“I can’t move.”

“Neither can I.” Alex calls back.

“Alex? What’s wrong?” Kara’s voice asks over the speaker.

“I can’t move.”

“Me either.” Ben calls out.

“Or me.” Lucy says, panicked by what that could mean, she was so close to getting to Emma.

“It’s okay, just keep calm.” Eliza orders and her eyes go to her youngest daughter in front of her. Curled up into a tight ball with blood pooling dangerously around her. Small little whimpers can be heard from her lips as her body shakes. A sound the Superfriends never wanted to hear. “Emma, sweetheart? Can you hear me?”

But Emma doesn’t respond.

“Alex?” Kara calls again as she lands in the apartment with the others. They rush to Alex’s side, but as soon as they get closer, their bodies freeze too. “Wow what?!”

“It’s Emma, she’s keeping us back.” Nia says with a frown.

“Emma, please, we want to help you.” Alex calls.

“I’m worthless.” Emma’s voice whispers out and her sobs fill the room.

Tears fill Alex’s eyes at hearing her sister’s voice and how it sounds so defeated, so broken.

“No! Sweetheart, please, don’t listen to the negative voices! You are so precious! To all of us!”

“A burden.”

“You are not a burden! You never have or ever could be a burden!” Lucy yells out, desperately trying to get closer to her friend.

“So stupid, an idiot.”

“You are one of the smartest people I know!” Brainy shouts passionately, tears filling his eyes. “Your songwriting, the way you weave it together, I could never possess such talent.”

Over and over Emma would speak out her innermost thoughts and her family and friends would counter it with words of love.

“Nothing more than a distraction.”

At that moment Lena limps back into the apartment, her face bloodied and curly hair pulled free of her tight ponytail.

“Em.” Lena whispers out and Emma immediately curls up tighter. No doubt causing her much pain.

Lena determinedly limps on and passes the Superfriends.

“What the hell?” Alex exclaims and watches Lena kneel in front of her sister, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Emma flinches violently and cries out. “Please don’t hurt me!”

“You are never a distraction.” Lena’s voice shakes and a tear slides down her cheek. “You never were. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.” Another tear rolls down Lena’s cheek and lands on Emma’s face. “You are never a burden, I would do anything to be able to lie beside you again. To hear about your day, the funny stories you tell, the details you notice in a room or on the street.” Lena swallows and sucks in her lips to stop herself from crying. She watches as Emma starts to slightly relax. “You are not stupid but the most brilliant, caring and loving person I know. You see people, you see their worth, what makes them tick and unique. Your heart is pure gold. You are not worthless, never in a million years have you ever been worthless. Your worth shines like the sun, giving warmth and light to all of those around you. Even in their darkness, you shine.”

Slowly Emma lifts her head and gazes sadly up at Lena. Her face, bloodied and bruised. Almost unrecognisable “You hate me.”

The words break everyone's heart as it fills the room.

“No love.” Lena says, holding the sides of Emma’s face. “The opposite in fact. I lo-”

�� – –

Alex snaps her eyes open and finds herself back in the Danvers house.

“No!” Alex sits up, her head snaps to Emma and sees that Kate has removed Nia’s hand. “It can’t be sunrise already?” Alex looks out of the window and surely enough, sees the brightening sky.

“Astéri?” Diana leans over Emma as she and the Superfriends hold their breath. “Come on Emma, please.”

Kate hovers over Emma too. She presses her fingers to Emma’s pulse but eventually she sits back on her heels and looks up at the ceiling in defeat.

“No!” Alex stands and rushes over to her sister. “Come on Em, please. We have to go back in.” Alex looks at Nia and back at Brainy. “We have to!”

“We can’t.” Nia’s eyes fill with tears and everyone’s stomachs drop. “She’s-”

“Oh thank the gods!” Diana yells and bursts into tears as Emma’s eyes start to flicker open.

Alex’s knees give way at the sight and she collapses to the floor in relief.

“Emma?” Kate moves to the blonde’s side and shines a torch in front of her eyes. “Can you hear me?”

Emma nods and exhales a long, heavy breath, stretching her body like a cat. Something that makes everyone smile, despite the situation.

Diana sniffs, making Emma’s eyes pop open fully. Her eyebrows knit together as she studies Diana’s face. Slowly the blonde reaches up and runs her fingers gently around the bruising still on Diana’s face.

“It doesn’t matter.” Diana gulps out and kisses Emma’s hand. “What matters is that you are awake.”

Emma’s eyes still question her and she turns her head to look at Kara and back to Diana. Suddenly she realises Kate is next to her and gapes at her friend.

“You collapsed and had another seizure. Diana contacted me and I came right away.” Kate explains. “Can you follow the light for me?”

Emma does and Kate performs a few more tests.

Emma’s mind whirls. ‘They know.’ Panic slowly creeps into her every pore.

“Can you sit up for me?” Kate asks and Diana helps Emma up. The blond reaches to push her hair behind her ear and freezes. She doesn’t feel the modifier on her helix.

“Yea, we took it off.” Alex explains and Emma slowly lifts her head to gaze at her sister. Noticing the disappointment and anger within Alex’s eyes. Suddenly a blinding pain rips through her head, making Emma winch and cup her forehead. “Em?!”

“Emma? What’s wrong?” Kate asks as the other Superfriends react in alarm.

‘My head.’ Emma grits out in her mind.

“It’s her head.” J’onn explains and gets closer to her.

“Emma, what are you feeling emotionally?” Brainy asks softly.

‘Frightened.’

“She feels frightened.” J’onn repeats sadly and Alex lowers her head, trying to get a hold of her emotions.

Finding she is unable to, Alex gets up and leaves the room.

“Alex?” Sam calls after her and follows her fiancé from the room. Kara’s head goes back and forth between her sisters, wondering if she should stay with Emma or follow Alex. She decides to stay and hesitantly approaches to sit next to Emma.

As soon as Alex enters the office where she and Sam are sleeping, Alex breaks down.

“Hey.” Sam coos and pulls Alex into a hug. “I got you, it’s okay.”

“No it’s not. I caused her pain. She almost died! Again!” Alex cries out and Sam guides her to sit on the bed. “I’m so relieved that Emma is awake, but I’m so angry that she hasn't shared how ill she is. That’s she fucking dying and knew about it and didn’t fucking tell me!” Alex slams her hand repeatedly on her thigh. “I knew something was wrong, I knew it!”

“We all did.” Sam says mournfully and rests her forehead against Alex’s. “Your feelings are valid, completely and utterly vaid, but we need to help her. If Brainy is right, this could save her.” Sam takes a deep breath in, unable to comprehend what she is about to say. “If not, we need to make these last few moments with her as peaceful as we can.”

“I don’t, I can’t-” Alex gulps out.

“Can’t what, babe?”

“I can’t lose her.” Alex finally whispers and sobs.

“Oh Al.” Sam engulfs the redhead in a hug.

Downstairs Emma closes her eyes after hearing Alex’s cries.

“Are you in pain?” Kara asks worriedly.

Emma shakes her head and takes a deep breath as she opens her eyes again. Alex was hurting and it was her fault.

“Are you sure?” Kara presses and Emma rests her head on her sister’s shoulder.

“Kara, she’s okay.” J’onn calls from the kitchen as he helps Eliza cook breakfast.

‘Thanks J’onn.’

J’onn nods and gives her a small smile.

“So you don’t remember anything from when you were unconscious?” Brainy asks as he types away on the tablet and Emma shakes her head. She doesn’t notice Lena lowering her head in dismay, but Diana does.

“I’m glad you don’t.” Kara whispers and hugs Emma tighter, she hated seeing the sight of Emma covered in blood and bruises.

Emma frowns at Kara’s response and goes to ask when suddenly a sound like a herd of elephants crashes down the stairs and Ruby suddenly appears in the doorway.

“Emma! You’re awake!” She yells happily and rushes to the blonde. Emma smiles and holds out her arms for Ruby to hug her. “I was so worried you wouldn’t wake up, but I’m so glad you are! Everyone saved you!”

Pulling back Emma tilts her head questioningly.

“Well Nia touched you and collapsed falling into your dream and when she was woken up she said everyone needed to help get you out, so everyone held hands and Nia touched you again and everyone fell asleep at once, which was so weird, I then had to go to bed so I didn’t see what happened when you woke up but here you are!”

“Wow Rubes! Take a breath!” Sam jokes as she walks into the room, hand in hand with Alex.

Emma slowly nods and looks at her friends. “Thank you.” Her gaze falls on Nia who gives her a tearful smile.

“That’s what friends are for.”

Emma nods again, her eyes finding Alex’s bloodshot ones.

“We can all discuss this later because breakfast is ready!” Eliza announces.

“What do you want?” Diana asks Emma, making her pull her gaze away from her sister. “A bit of everything?”

Emma nods, despite not feeling hungry. All she really wants to do is go back to sleep so she closes her eyes to rest them for a moment. Her body aches and mind buzzes with nervous energy. Knowing she’ll need to explain herself. Although a weight has been lifted from her shoulders, she doesn’t need to hide her condition anymore.

“Hey Peanut.” Alex says softly and Emma snaps her eyes open. She sees her sister holding out a plate of food. “Can I sit with you?”

Emma nods and Alex settles beside her, quickly followed by Kara. Emma places a kiss on each of their shoulders and starts picking at her food.

She feels warmth spread through her and the hairs on the back of her neck prick up. Emma looks up and sees Lena staring at her. Their eyes connect briefly before Lena snaps her gaze away to focus on her food.

Emma swallows deeply, lowers her head and continues eating. The Superfriends chat amongst themselves and Emma tunes in and out. Until she hears Brainy and Kate debating from across the room.

“I do believe we need to start unlocking her powers.” Brainy says quietly.

“And what if that kills her? We can’t take such a risk.” Kate seethes back.

Emma exhales heavily and slams her plate on the coffee table, making the plate crack in two and causing everyone to jump in surprise. Emma stumbles to her feet and she marches over to the pair. Her sisters and Diana call after her.

“Can you both just stop?” Emma signs angrily. “Let's try it.”

“But Em-”

But Emma interrupts Kate with a flurry of her hand. “What does it matter? I’m dying anyway!”

“If you’re sure?” Brainy asks quietly.

“Sure about what?” Alex asks from behind Emma having not seen Emma’s signs.

“I believe we should start to unlock Emma’s powers, help her use them properly. Kate disagrees but Emma wants to try.”

“No! I’m with Kate on this one!” Alex says fiercely and Kara looks torn after hearing the exchange from across the room.

Emma turns to her sister and leans heavily against the island. “Alex, I’m dying, I can feel it. Isn’t it better we at least try?”

Alex's face scrunches up as tears prick her eyes.

Immediately Emma pushes herself off the island and hugs her sister. She feels Alex shake and let out small whimpers. Looking over Alex’s head, Emma sees Kara shuffling on her feet, Emma reaches out her hand, causing Kara to zip over to them and soon each of the Superfriends join in for a group hug.

– – –

“Are you sure this is a good idea? Should we wait for tomorrow? Let her rest more?” Diana asks Brainy as they walk outside to begin unlocking Emma’s powers.

“But then it will be christmas eve eve which will make the next day christmas eve.” Nia tries to explain but Diana just blinks in confusion.

“I promise, if there is any sign of any harm to Emma, we will stop.” Brainy says, trying to reassure Diana.

The Superfriends build a fire pit and roast a few marshmallows with hot chocolate. They banter and try to discuss any issue to distract from what is about to happen.

But Emma doesn’t listen and tries to calm her breathing. She stares deeply into the flames, mesmerised by the movement.

“Astéri?” She hears Diana’s warm voice. “Are you okay?”

Emma nods and keeps staring, her mug still mostly full of cooling hot chocolate.

Soon Brainy adds more logs to the fire and really gets it burning. “Okay, shall we begin?” Brainy asks and everyone stands to move out of the way, wanting to be there to support her. “Emma, see if you can freeze or blow out the fire.”

Emma nods and shakes herself to release her nerves. She blows but nothing happens.

“That’s okay.” Brainy tries to reassure her. “Try again.

Emma tries a few more times. But nothing happens.

“Think back to the moment before you blew out the candles. What were you feeling or imagining?” Kara asks helpfully.

Emma closes her eyes. ‘My voice, my sisters, my- Lena.’ The same pang of longing hits her and she inhales deeply, releasing a gust of wind from her mouth.

“Alright!” Ben yells happily and Emma opens her eyes. The roaring fire was now frozen solid.

‘Wow.’ Emma thinks. ‘I did that?’

“Sure did kiddo.” J’onn says and smiles at her.

Suddenly Emma sways and feels Kara catch her.

“Em?!”

‘I’m fine, I feel okay. Just felt dizzy for a second.’

J’onn repeats her words but Kara holds on.

‘Kar, I’m okay. I promise.’ Emma thinks out and J’onn tries to reassure the Kryptonian.

Hesitantly Kara lets go.

Brainy builds a few more fires and each time Emma is able to either freeze them or blow them out completely.

“Go Em!” Ruby cheers and the blonde beams at her.

“Okay, what about healing?” Kate asks as she taps on her tablet.

“Surely Emma has done enough for today?” Diana asks as she places a hand on her girlfriend’s shoulder.

“I want to keep going. But how can we do healing?”

“Like this!” Lucy says before grabbing a knife and slicing her hand open. Leaving a deep cut across her palm.

“LUCY!” Kara screams and the others surround her. Emma stares in shock as blood pours from Lucy’s hand.

“Get out of the way!” Lucy pushes through and holds out her now clenched hand to Emma. “Looking a little pale there Em, you okay?”

Emma takes a deep breath in and nods. She has never liked the sight of blood. But Lucy needs her.

Slowly she reaches out and places both hands either side of Lucy’s.

She focuses on wanting to heal Lucy, to stop the bleeding.

Immediately Emma’s hands start to glow and they both feel a indescribable warmth spread between them.

“Holy shit.”

The Superfriends stare in wonder.

“Open your hand.” Alex says to Lucy and the brunette manages to open it while Emma still holds it. They watch in awe as the skin on Lucy’s palm knits back together.

What they don’t notice is Emma’s face partly filling out, or her hair and eyes brightening ever so slightly in colour.

The Superfriends cheer and Emma turns over Lucy’s hand in amazement.

“Please don’t do anything like that again.”

“It worked though, right?!” Lucy giggles and Emma shakes her head in amusement, pulling her friend into a hug.

“Okay, how about a real test.” Sam asks and tilts her head.

“What do you mean babe?” Alex asks with a frown.

“Why don’t we go for a run? Last one back here from Canada is a rotten egg!” Sam yells and takes off.

Emma immediately starts sprinting after her, quickly becoming a blur.

“Hey! Wait for me!” Kara yells and takes off after them.

“No Rubes.” Alex grabs a hold of her daughter’s shoulder.

“Aw Ma!” Ruby protests loudly.

“No, your powers still aren’t fully formed yet.”

“Okay.” Ruby mumbles as the Superfriends head back into the house to track Sam, Kara and Emma’s phones.

“Five bucks on Kara.” Ben calls out as they gather around the monitor.

“Nah, Sam is gonna wipe both of them out.” Alex counters while taking a sip of her non alcoholic beer.

“I think you’re both wrong.” Lena speaks out without thinking.

“Oh? And what does miss high and mighty C.E.O think?” Kate teases her rival.

“It will be Emma. Her powers are newer and she was pretty quick, even as a human.” Lena explains, not noticing Diana paying close attention to her.

“Yea! She has loads of medals in her room for running.” Ruby agrees and the Superfriends place their bets as they watch the screen.

The three dots reach Canada almost at the same time and speed back to their location. Suddenly one of the dots speeds on ahead.

“Wow.” Winn breathes out as he looks at the data.

“Whose is that?”

“It’s Emma’s.”

When Emma’s dot gets closer some of the group rush outside to watch. Suddenly there is a blazing light and huge crash as Emma skids across the ground, bringing up lots of mud and earth, creating a small crater.

“Emma!”

The others rush out at the sound and see Emma, who is still face down, in the dirt.

“Emma?!” Diana yells and kneels next to the downed blonde, her worry increasing when she notices her shoulders shaking. “Are you okay?”

Emma lifts her head and lets out silent laughter. Diana breathes out in relief.

“What happened?!” Kara suddenly appears and stares at the crater. Emma sits up on her knees and starts to sign.

“I need to learn how to stop.” Emma signs with a beaming smile. “That felt so good!”

“How did you catch up to me so quickly?” Sam asks and Emma shrugs.

“Forget that! How did you pull away from us so easily?!” Kara crosses her arms and glares at her sister.

Emma tilts her head and smirks at Kara’s competitive pose. “I do not know, maybe I-” Everything suddenly shifts around her and Emma sways.

“Em?” Diana steadies her and looks worriedly at Kate.

“I think that’s enough for today.”

“No, I want to continue.”

“We can do more tomorrow.” Brainy promises and Emma’s shoulders drop. “You did well.”

Emma smiles and Diana helps her up. She takes a deep breath in and looks towards the sea and the setting sun.

“Come on Sweetheart, let's get you inside.” Eliza wraps an arm around her daughter’s waist and they walk in together.

For some reason Emma looks over at J’onn and frowns. She senses a tension between them. She turns to her sisters and motions for them to follow her.

“Sweetheart? Where are we going?” Eliza asks but Emma continues to lead them to her room and superspeeds out of her muddy clothes and into clean ones. Making sure to put on the Supergirl hoodie Ruby bought her. She sits on the bed and pats it, signalling for the others to join her.

“What happened with J’onn?” Emma signs and Alex interprets.

Emma immediately notices the shift in her Mom, the guard that flies up.

“We had a disagreement.” Eliza says matter of factly, not looking at her daughter and picks at some fuzz on Emma’s duvet sheet.

Emma narrows her eyes. “About when he found me?”

Eliza makes eye contact with Emma. “How?”

“Just a guess.” Emma signs and takes a deep breath. She positions herself so she can see all three of them. “Please do not be angry at him. I begged him not to say anything to any of you, which he did not like, but he respected my wishes.” Emma reaches for her Mom’s hand and squeezes.

“I’m still angry at him, but we will work through it. You mean the world to me, you all do. I guess my mama bear came out.”

Emma smiles. “Thank you. Also, the same could be said about Diana.” Emma’s eyes focus on Kara who fidgets slightly. “Why did you attack her?”

“I-” Kara bites her lips and looks down at her hands. Remembering watching Diana fly through the air and disappear into the forest after she punched her. How exhilarated she felt but the guilt that replaced it when J’onn and Sam stopped her. Gentle fingers touch her chin and raise her head again. Emma’s compassionate eyes pour into her. “I was so angry when she admitted that she had seen you have a seizure before and then seeing your real face without the modifier, I just snapped.” Kara runs her hands on her thighs and lets out a breath. “I’m sorry.”

“Have you apologised to her?”

“No, not yet. I was going to and then Kate suddenly appeared and everything was so intense and-”

Emma places her hands on Kara’s and gives her a reassuring nod. Her eyes then move to Alex. Sensing she wanted to ask her a question.

“Why? Why did you not tell us as soon as you got home? Why did you wait so long to come home?”

“I was not ready. In a way, I do not think I ever would have ever been ready. But seeing your videos, knowing I was missing you getting engaged and everything happening in your lives-” Emma’s eyes fill with tears as she gazes at her family. “I wanted to tell you straight away, it was killing me not too but I was so scared. Like telling you would make it more real. I am sorry. I love you all so much.”

As soon as Alex finishes interpreting, Eliza reaches out and pulls Emma into a hug. The other two join either side of them and they lay down on the bed. Something they haven’t done in a very long time.

“We love you too Sweetheart.” Eliza whispers and kisses her daughter’s forehead. Emma buries her head into her Mom’s neck and sighs happily.

“Ditto.” Alex whispers and kisses the back of Emma’s head.

“Double ditto.” Kara says and reaches for Emma’s shoulder to squeeze. Emma smiles and snuggles further into her Mom.

They stay content in each other's arms for a while and listen to the birds outside.

Until Emma’s rumbling stomach breaks through the quiet. Eliza, Kara and Alex lift their heads up and laugh loudly.

“Uh oh! The hangry monster is out!”

Soon they find they are unable to stop laughing and Emma silently laughs with them.

Suddenly Kara stops and sits up to stare at Emma. Both of their eyes are wide and Emma’s hand shoots up to her throat.

“Kara?” Alex gazes at her sister in concern. “What’s wrong?”

But Kara remains staring at Emma. A look of wonder on her face.

“Little one, you- I-”

Emma slowly lifts herself up from the bed, still holding her throat.

“Baby girl?” Eliza worriedly asks and also sits up. Alex follows her actions and  shuffles around Emma to see her properly. The first thing Alex notices is the tears within Emma’s eyes.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Alex asks softly.

“I felt something.” Emma signs hesitantly.

“Like what?” Eliza says and tilts her head.

“Like a vibration.”

“In your throat?” Alex asks quietly, she almost stops breathing.

“Can you do it again?” Kara asks excitedly.

Worry fills Emma’s eyes. She places her hand on her throat again and gently massages it.

But nothing happens as Emma tries to engage her vocal chords. Emma’s shoulders slump in defeat.

“It just happened and went as quickly as it came.” Emma signs sadly.

“But it’s something.” Eliza smiles at her daughter and pulls her into a hug. Alex and Kara immediately join in and smile into the hug.

A soft knock sounds on the door making the Danvers pull apart. “Come in.”

Ben pokes his head into the room and smiles at them. “Dinner will be ready soon.”

“Thanks honey.” Kara beams at him and jumps off the bed. Making Emma glance at Alex and they both silently snicker at how cute they are. Eliza follows Kara, leaving Alex and Emma in the room.

Alex goes to get up but feels Emma take her hand and she turns back to her sister. “Em?”

“What happened in my dream?” Emma signs.

“What do you remember?”

“Nothing really. Pain, flashes, voices.”

Alex slightly purses her lips forward as she debates what to say. “We, er, went in and defeated our dopplegangers, who were harming you.” Alex explains simply. “Oh, you should have seen Mom, she materialised a shotgun and fired it at hers!”

Emma listens and her eyes squint slightly. Noticing immediately her sister isn’t revealing everything. She lifts her hands to respond when they hear their Mom yell from downstairs.

“Alex! Emma! Dinner time!”

“We’re coming!” Alex shouts back and she helps Emma off the bed. “What matters is we got you out of there. I love you Peanut.” She places an arm around Emma’s shoulders as they make their way downstairs to the dining room. She smiles at feeling Emma squeeze her arm three times.

Once they enter the room they are immediately greeted by the heavenly smells of sausages, buttery mash potatoes and vegetables.

“Emma!” Ruby yells and the blonde signs Ruby’s name with a big grin.

“Oh, Kate had to go, something about a girls night with Harley and Ivy? But she’ll catch up with you at some point.” Lucy tells Emma as she passes her, Emma nods in understanding and continues on to her chair.

Diana smiles up at Emma as she sits down. “How are you feeling?”

Emma kisses Diana’s lips and lifts her hands to sign. “Tired, but I’m okay.” As if on cue Emma yawns deeply and places her head on Diana’s shoulder. She smiles lightly at how the pounding in her head has lessened and hopes that Brainy’s theory is correct. But part of her can’t help but worry too. What would she have to emotionally deal with? What if they get so far but fail. What if she dies anyway?

Her mind goes back to the feeling in her throat. The sudden vibration that startled her after not having felt anything like that since the attack.

Part of her wants to announce what happened to the table, to Diana, but what if it was a fluke?

She does notice her Mom and sisters keep glancing over at her with hopeful smiles and she takes Diana’s hand to keep herself grounded.

The food is laid out on the table and Diana plates up for both of them. Discussions begin about what the plans are for the next few days.

“Due to everything I forgot to tell you that Cora was happy to do a dance class with us tomorrow.” Eliza explains.

“Dance?!” Kara stares wide eyed.

“For what?” Alex frowns, her fork close to her lips.

“For the wedding.” Eliza says with raised eyebrows.

“Oh! Yea, sorry I forgot we were looking into that.”

“Whose Cora?” Diana asks with a grin as Emma picks at her mash potato with a fork.

“She was Emma’s dance teacher, she never forgave Em for not going pro.”

Emma shakes her head, remembering the utter look of betrayal on her teacher's face when she decided to pursue music instead.

“Her son, Derek, also Randy’s brother, runs the school now.” Eliza smiles at her youngest daughter. “You remember Derek, right Sweetheart?”

Emma’s cheeks colour slightly as she nods.

“Wasn’t he your first crush?” Alex asks and unfortunately Kara chose to take that moment to sip her drink, causing herself to somehow choke as she inhaled a lot of air in surprise.

“Babe? Are you okay?” Ben asks in concern, watching Kara regain control of her breathing.

Emma gives her a warning look, which Kara promptly ignores.

“First crush? Don’t you mean first kiss?” Kara laughs and Emma drops her head into her hands.

“What?” Alex says with wide eyes.

“Yea! I caught them kissing under the bleachers at one of their dance competitions!”

Emma’s head sinks lower onto the table and she bangs it a few times.

“Aww! Emma’s first boyfriend!” Lucy teases and Emma snaps her head to glower at her.

“Does he still have long hair?” Alex asks. “I know Em can’t resist a ponytail.” She tries not to pointedly look at Lena.

“I believe so. He had to retire way before his time due to injury. Poor thing, his heart was broken when Emma left.” Eliza continues and Emma goes to get up. “Emma. Sit down.”

Emma does so and crosses her arms tightly over her chest. Her cheeks flushed with colour.

“Aww we are only teasing you Peanut.” Alex chuckles and notices Lena’s cheeks are slightly coloured too.

“So, can we still go?” Sam asks, trying to draw the attention away from her soon to be sister.

“Yes, we have at least two hours with them and they are happy for as many of us to come.”

“Sweet!” Ben beams. “Maybe we can do a tango?” He asks Kara who quickly shakes her head.

“Better ask Em to do that with you.”

“Oh I’m sure Derek will be first in line.” Alex snorts and Emma rolls her eyes.

“Well, he’ll have to go through me.” Diana says with a cocked eyebrow. “We danced a lot in Europe, the tango is one of our favourites, right Astéri?” She explains and laces her fingers with Emma. The blonde nods and smiles. But then Diana glances down to her almost full plate. She leans closer and whispers gently. “You need to eat more. You haven’t touched your sausages.”

Emma nods and the discussion moves onto the plans for christmas day. Emma listens while she cuts her sausages up and her mouth drools in anticipation.

“Mary will most likely be up early in the morning and we can portal over later when everyone is up?” Winn suggests and Eliza laughs.

“You are very welcome to stay as I think you’d find a few others who wake up early on christmas morning.” She looks pointedly at Kara who beams back at her.

Emma silently chuckles as she lifts the fork to her lips and takes a bite. A rumble of satisfaction emits from her chest, but it grows and a soft moan escapes her lips.

Everyone freezes and Emma drops her fork in surprise. She lifts her hand up to her throat in astonishment.

“Em?” Diana breathes out. “Did you-”

“That moan-” Lucy pauses, too scared to finish the words.

“It was from Emma.” Sam states and a smile grows across her face.

“Can you do it again?” Diana asks eagerly and Emma’s eyes find Alex’s.

“Emma felt something upstairs, like a vibration in her vocal chords.”

“That is a good sign.” Brainy says with a relieved smile. “But it is best not to push it. Let it happen naturally.”

Emma nods and picks her fork back up. Aware of how painstakingly quiet the room is.

“So, film night or game night?” Lena says to break the undeniable tension and Emma gives her a grateful smile. She doesn’t miss the sudden spike in Lena’s heartbeat when she does.

The Superfriends debate about what they want to do for the evening. Emma has the last, deciding vote and chooses a game night, knowing if she tries to watch a film she will be asleep within moments.

Soon dessert is served and the game of monopoly gets set up. The teams are chosen and the game begins.

It’s a brutal session as some teams get bankrupt early in the game, while others cling on. But finally, the last two surviving teams are Emma and Diana versus Lucy and Lena.

“Just give up Danvers.” Lucy says threateningly to Emma. But the blonde smirks at her and hands over most of her team’s money to the banker. She settles back in her seat as Diana places a property on Mayfair.

“That was careless.” Lena mutters and tilts her head, as if trying to read what Emma’s plans are. Emma’s eyes flick over to her and her smirk deepens.

“We shall see.”

The team’s roll a few more times and manage to mostly avoid each other’s properties. Although Emma and Diana have taken a few hits on Lena and Lucy’s smaller ones.

“Your end is near!” Lucy chuckles as she takes more of their money.

Lena picks up the dice and shakes them in her hand.

“It’s okay, we are all good. Just do not roll a six or an eight.” Lucy says encouragingly and chants. “Not a six or an eight, not a six or an eight!”

Others join in the chant and start to clap and bang the table. Emma watches with bated breath as Lena rolls the dice.

Two fours are revealed.

“NOOOO!” Lucy yells and Lena slams her head on the table. “I said NOT an eight!”

Emma voicelessly chuckles and watches Diana take the other team’s money, bankrupting them. “We thank you kindly.”

“Well done Diana and Emma!” Ruby claps and yawns.

“Bed time.” Sam announces and Ruby nods, the excitement of today catching up to her.

“Can I read for a bit?”

“Sure.”

“I’m gonna head to bed too.” Emma signs and yawns as well. Momentarily removing her glasses to rub her tired eyes.

“Okay if I come up with you?” Diana asks quietly and Emma nods with a small smile.

Goodnights are said and everyone hugs Emma a bit tighter that night. Emma hesitantly approaches her ex and tries to ignore how her body erupts into warmth as Lena engulfs her or how Emma’s body is still tingling as she enters her room and changes.

She misses the look Diana gives her, or how Diana opens her mouth to speak a few times, but ends up closing her mouth again.

They climb into bed and Emma studies Diana’s face.

“What?”

“Nothing, you just look very thoughtful. Are you okay?”

Diana swallows and nods. But Emma gives her a knowing look. “I was just so scared to lose you.” Diana sniffs and Emma pulls her into a hug. “I love you so much.”

Emma’s heart breaks hearing Diana cry and how Diana clings to her. She rubs the demi-goddess’ back and starts kissing Diana’s face. Trying to give comfort to her girlfriend.

When she is about to place another kiss on Diana’s cheek, Diana moves her head enough so that their lips meet in a tender kiss.

“Please.” Diana whimpers and tugs at Emma’s top.

Emma nods and lifts it off. Soon both of them are naked and Diana hugs her close as they move together. Their breathing becomes laboured as waves of pleasure floods through their bodies.

After many hours of passionate sex, Emma falls into a deep, satisfied sleep. Unaware that Diana watches her for most of the night. The cogs turn in her mind as she lays beside her. Remembering tearful, broken green eyes and an emerald ring.

(Part Fifty Six)

[wickedw3asleys]

JUST LIKE HEAVEN (Pt.3)

George x female reader (mentions of Fred)

AN: I've had to write this one in a rush so sorry if some of the details are confusing 😔 but i hope you'll like it anyways, and once again, thank you SO SO MUCH for all the positive feedback i'm getting for this serie 🥰

WARNINGS: SMUT SMUT AND MORE SMUT... Cussing and unprotected sex

Fred never let it show once that something had been happening between you two. It wasn't a secret, but after all, it was private business, and surely he would keep teasing you and flirting with you as he had always done, but no one was asking questions. And to your surprise, you never felt uncomfortable with him about what happened in that bathroom a few days ago. And you loved that it was that way, you wouldn't be able to have to deal with losing him as a friend, and you hoped it also would be that way with George. They never seemed to be jealous of the other either, and during a conversation about the topic the day before, they made you very clear that rivalry would never get between them, also making it better. You wouldn't want to be in the middle of these two and be the motive of a fight between twins.

"Y/N, we absolutely love you, you're our best friend and you've always have been. And we've talked about it...", Fred starts.

"We obviously didn't want this to fail and separate us as friends, or Fred and I as brothers..."

"So that should be the last of your concerns..."

"We just think that you're terribly beautiful and nice, and like you trust us for this, we trust you too!"

And for now, it was totally working. The only thing was that you've haven't had the chance to "win" George as you previously won Fred. But you were working on it, slowly but surely. And apparently Fred had been talking to his brother about your private stuff, which only made him grow eager to fuck you too, and it started to show.

"So, Y/N... How are you today?", George asks casually during breakfast.

"I'm... fine...", you answered, clearly seeing that he had an idea on his mind, "What about you, Georgie?"

"Well, not that good, actually...", he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

"And why is that, George?", Fred asks. You could hear the fake in his voice, only making you more curious about what they've had planned.

"I don't know... I feel like... Ugh...", George fake acting was so bad but yet so entertaining it made you laugh, "I feel like need to go to bed..."

"Oh, no! You won't be able to come with me to the Hogsmeade trip!", his brother exclaimed.

"What are you talking about, you wanker? You're completely fine...", Ginny says, putting the back of her hand on George's forehead.

"I said I feel ill!", he exclaimed back.

"If you say so...", she sighs, already done with her brothers' bullshit, making everybody laugh at that.

"Come on, George. It can be that bad!", you say.

"I think you should check on me, though...", he says, directing you a discreet wink.

"Why me? I have a trio to go to...", you smile, "I'm going with Hermione and Luna, right?"

"Huh?", Hermione asks, very confused, looking back and forth between you and Ron, "B-but I was going with Ro- Ouch!", she squeaks as you elbow her, "Oh, yes! Right!"

"Well, what a pity, then... I suppose I'll have to ask someone else to check on me...", George says, leaning on the table towards you.

You exchange a few looks before he finally gets up, "Well, if someone needs me I'll be in my dorm, waiting..."

He winks at you one last time and starts leaving the Great Hall, leaving Fred behind.

"He's such an idiot, he's so bizarre...", Ginny says.

"Hey! Respect, young lady!", Fred scolds her.

"Why does he need to have someone checking on him? Isn't he grown enough?", Ron says, showing an entire sandwich in his mouth.

"Well, sometimes the ones you see as big boys are the biggest babies... Right, Fred?", you say, looking at him up and down.

"As you would know...", he says back.

"What is wrong with you?", Ginny exclaims, throwing her fork on the table, "Y/N! You're becoming like them! Please, tell me you're not going to end up like them! I'm not sacrificing our friendship like that!"

"Wow...", you say, "Don't worry, Ginny. I'm not letting them get into me like that... No worries about it"

"We're totally getting into you, though...", Fred says, earning a slap on the forehead by his little sister, "Alright! Sorry!"

All of you continued breakfast as nothing happened, talking and laughing about random things.

"Well, I think it's time to go now...", says Hermione, looking at her watch.

"Yeah, we should get going before McGonagall leaves without us...", Ron starts standing up.

"Since when are you worried about what McGonagall-", Fred starts asking.

"WELL, since I have a wonderful girlfriend that takes the time to do things properly!", he says, taking Hermione by the waist.

All of you started making your way to the court of the castle, waiting for Harry and Luna to join you there.

"Damn it! I forgot something!", you say, looking in your bag, "Go without me! I'll catch you there!"

"Have fun", Fred whispers to your ear as you pass by him.

"I'll do...", you wink back at him, making him bite his lip.

You start running upstairs to the Gryffindor common room, crossing paths with the last students that were heading outside the castle.

The common room was completely empty now, not even George was there. So you decided to head up to his dorm, see if he actually was there.

"Well, took you long enough...", he says from his bed, looking up from his book.

"Sorry, I was hungry...", you say, making your way towards him, "Anyways, I wanted to check on you before I left", you teased him.

"Oh... So you're actually going...", he says, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Yeah... I can't leave Ginny alone between Ron and Hermione and... Fred...", slowly, you started placing you between his legs.

"I thought Harry and Luna were going too...", he starts grabbing the back of your legs, making you come closer to him, "I think she'll be alright..."

His touch on your legs made your whole body shiver, him noticing it, "Are you cold, darling?"

"A little..."

"Well, come here then...", he took you by the hand and helped you straddle him. He brushed a strand of hair away of your face while you placed your hands on the back of his neck, and without any other words, he gently pressed his lips on yours.

You'd expect him to be as eager as his brother, but he completely took his time with you, slowly kissing you. You felt his tongue pressing on your lower lip, making you open your mouth and following his lead.

He put his arms around your back and started caressing you, slowly and sensually, to what you responded by gently grinding on him.

"Eager, are we?", he asked, still against your mouth.

"Always..."

He put his hand on the back of your head and pushed you towards him, deepening the kiss. As you were too focused on his lips, you didn't even notice his free hand starting to lift your sweater.

You lifted up your arms, interrupting the kiss for a second, and when your sweater touched the floor, you went back to George's soft lips.

You moved back a little on his lap, freeing the spot that was covering his dick, and started to massage it through his pajama pants, surprised by the fact that he wasn't wearing boxers.

You could feel his already hard cock hardening even more at your touch, making you the eager one to taste him. So without warnings, you got on your knees between his legs and helped him take off his pants.

He wasn't as big as his brother, but he surely was a little bit longer, and that sight made it hard for you to imagine to make it fit entirely in your mouth.

You never stopped looking at him in the eye, not even when licking the first straps of his dick, which made he loudly breathe. You took it as a sign to go more on him, so you took a deep breath and directly deepthroating him, fitting your hand around his base.

"Oh, fuck...", he moaned, throwing his head back.

That made you smile with his dick in your mouth and encouraged you to keep going, pushing it a little bit further in your throat. You could feel the discomfort of his tip brushing against the back of your throat, but the sounds that were escaping his lips and the grip he had on your hair made ir all worth it.

You released him for a second, only to go back and bob your head up and down at sensual pace, sometimes leaving licks here and there.

"Fuck, Y/N... You're so good...", he moans.

The fact that he was rather a moaner than a groaner only made your wetness grow. You've always thought a moaning men was hotter.

After a few more movements, you got back up and went back to his lips, allowing him to taste himself too. Without breaking the kiss, he guided you on the bed, where he got on top of you. His hands started roaming all over your stomach, sides and torso, enjoying every single bit of your skin. Enjoying this intimate moment. George liked to take his time, enjoy the moment and make sure you're enjoying it as much as him...

He slowly started to take off your annoying skirt, followed by your panties, only leaving you in your thigh highs socks.

"What's with the socks?", you asked him, crooking an eyebrow.

"Be a good girl and don't ask...", he says, attacking your lips again.

You smile to your insides; you've always knew George had a thing for the high school uniforms... including high thighs socks...

He took away his t-shirt and as you were both naked, he leaned on you a put a single sheet over your bodies.

His hand made its way to your core, where he took the time to take your wetness and spread it all over it with his fingers.

"Look at how wet you already are... All that because of me?", he smirked.

"No, it's because of your lovely daddy", you said, mocking him.

"Ah, ah... Lower you tone with me, sweetheart...", he tsked, and suddenly he introduced two fingers in your pussy, "otherwise it won't end up good for you..."

He started to pump in a out of you as his mouth made it's way back to you neck and jaw, where he never stopped kissing.

"Fuck, George... Yes...", you whispered.

"You like that, darling?", he whispered back in your ear.

"Yesssss...", you slowly started to arch your back and his fingers started to curl inside you.

George took that as a signal to add a third finger. Your face contorted at the discomfort but it soon disappeared, only leaving an extreme pleasure.

He never pulled back from your ear, whispering sweet and nasty things in it while he ferociously pumped in and out of your pussy with his fingers.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!", you moaned loudly.

His hand accelerated its pace, making you hear your own wetness, and you could feel your walls start to tighten around his fingers.

"Are you going to cum, sweetheart? Huh?"

"Yes! FUCK!", once again your back arched and your hand met your clit, quickly rubbing it, but George slapped your fingers, replacing them with his.

"That's my job...", he says, fingers knuckles deep inside you.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! George! FUCK! I'm cumming!", you screamed, bringing your hands to your hair, pulling it roughly.

While he rocked you orgasm with his fingers inside you, he made sure to leave a few new marks on your neck, as to say "George was here".

You regained your breath and when you opened your eyes again, you met the gaze of a lustful George towering over you. You took him by the neck and made him sit down against his headboard, you sitting on his lap. You started kissing him again, passionately and full of hunger. You took his dick in your hand and pumped it a few times before rubbing it against your wet pussy, spreading your wetness all over him, making him groan in your mouth.

Without notice, you got up on your knees and slowly sunk down his shaft, letting you a few seconds to adjust to his length. You looked at his face; lower lip between his teeth, pupils dilated and messy hair all over his forehead, it was the most beautiful image of George you've ever had. Seeing all the lust in his eyes, you decided to not waste more time and started to slowly bounce together on his bed, and moving your pelvis to meet his. Both you and him were a moaning mess, only hearing your voices and your wetness in the room. Lucky you were that no one would be back for a while to his dorm, so you could take all the time you wanted.

George's back was against his headboard, and small moans were escaping his mouth as he embraced you and helped you bouncing and getting back and forth on his dick. Both of you grabbing on each other hard, you bouncing on his cock and him thrusting upwards.

"Fuck, George... You feel so so good... Oh my god...", you moaned, throwing your head back and finding support on his shoulders. Once again, feeling your walls clench around him.

"Turn around, darling...", he commanded you.

You did as he pleaded without asking, pulling him out of your pussy and turning your body around, still sitting on his lap. He slowly raised your body so you were on your knees, your back against his chest. This new position making his cock curve in the perfect spots.

"SHIT!", you moaned.

"Come on, I've got you...", he says, sliding he arm around your stomach, giving you support and enough stability for him to roughly thrust upwards.

"I'm cumming, I'm cumming!!", you quickly managed to moan.

You closed your eyes, focusing on the amazing feeling that was rushing through your body. You expected George to stop his relentless pace, but he didn't, fully overstimulating you, making your orgasm last forever.

"Shit... I can't stop cumming... FUCK!", you difficulty breathed out, making George smirk. "Is that so, darling?", he asked, bringing his hand down to your clit and starting to massage it quickly.

You froze in place while he was attacking you with his fingers and let out a silent scream.

"Oh god... Oh god... FUCK, GEORGE!", you moaned as you felt your walls starting to clench around his dick.

"Are you going to cum again for me?", he smirked.

"Yes! Fuck, yes!", you nearly screamed, feeling something explode inside you and making you see the stars. George started thrusting upwards into your pussy again, helping you chase your orgasm. The overstimulation was so good you couldn't even stop yourself from riding him and taking more of him every time.

"More?", he asked, speaking against your temple, "You want more, sweetheart? You're insaciable, I love it..."

You could even think straight. The intimacy you and him were sharing and the many times you had come by now where making it impossible to even think about what you were doing, you were too focused on how good George was making you feel.

He took advantage of your fucked up state and decided to spice things up a little bit; he took you by the waist and slowly laid you down on the mattress, putting you under him, facing him so he could admire you in your perfect messed up state. He never pulled out of you. He adjusted your hips to be at the perfect angle, and put his arms around your thighs.

"Say you can't stop cumming? Let's see how this feels...", he says before slamming inside you again.

You loudly moaned at the new angle and the feeling of him being balls deep inside you. He was railing the shit out of you in this new position and you could hear his bed slamming against the wall, following his rhythm.

George smirked between his uneven breaths as he felt you clench again around him, knowing how good he was making you feel. He adjusted again his angle, tightening his grip on your thighs and slowing his thrusts, but he never stopping his hard pace, always hitting the correct spots.

You unconsciously took your hand to your clit and started rubbing it hard. You couldn't stop cumming and you didn't want to stop. George was making you feel way too good for that, so you wanted to enjoy every single crumb he would give you of him.

"Yes, like that, sweetheart...", he groaned, "Another one for me..."

His moans and groans were like music in your ears, and hearing him groan louder when he felt your release only made your orgasm a hundred times more powerful for you.

"Come here...", George said, laying back against his headboard again with you on his lap, "You're doing it so good, darling... So good..."

You put your head in the crook of his neck, not having enough strength to even hold your head up. The boy put his hand on the back of your neck, thrusting hard in you.

"Fuuuuuucccckkkkkk...", you let out a long moan.

George embraced you again, this time tighter than before, and you knew he was close.

Your pussy was so sensitive by now that you couldn't even prepare for the new orgasm that washed over your body. George heard you quietly cry of pleasure and that brung him to his end. He swore to himself you were going to be the death of him as he chased his own release. He let out the sweetest moans and you knew he had finished.

He put a gently kiss on your forehead and slowly lifted you off his dick, sitting you again on his lap, feeling his now soft cock under your swollen pussy.

"Are you okay?", he asks, brushing your hair with his fingers.

You hummed, not able to form words yet. He slowly chuckled at that, "Do you need a minute?"

"Yeah...", you answered quietly.

He let you stay still on his lap until you were able to correctly breathe and think again, now not believing how good the sex was.

"Wow...", you chuckled.

"No exaggeration, that was the best sex I've ever had", George says.

You look at him dead in the eye, "Are you and your brother even real?", you ask, completely outraged, "It's not fair!"

George laughed, "What is not fair?"

"THIS! Are you a sort of sex demons or something like that?!", he laughed again.

"Unfortunately no... We just wanted to rail the shit out of you for ages, I suppose."

"Oh, Merlin...", you felt dizzy again, and the thought of them fucking you this hard again only made you more excited for the future. Now was the time when you swore this was the best idea they could ever have had. "I'm so glad you guys asked mento do this, you have no idea..."

You left a quick kiss on George's lips and got up to get dressed, but your legs terribly failed you and almost made you fall ass flat on the floor.

"Oh, wow...", George chuckled, admiring you from his bed.

"You shut up. It's your fault!"

"Yeah, I know...", he winks at you.

You rolled your eyes in fake annoyance and supporting you on his dresser, you could manage to get your skirt on. You made your way to the nearest mirror, watching your body as you adjusted your sweater and your hair. You could see the hickeys Fred had left a few days prior to this encounter with his brother, and next to them almost identical fresh hickeys where now starting to form, making you smile for yourself.

"I have to go, it seems like we've stayed here long enough for Hermione to start asking where I am...", you say, putting on your shoes.

"Okay, I'll see you at lunch, darling."

You flew him a kiss from the door and rushed out of his room, directly going outside the castle; and once again, smiling to yourself at the thought of what you've had done. Hoping this would keep going for a little while...

[rllymilerlly]

Okay everyone I spent way too much thought into this but I made this playlist of musical songs to highlight IZ characters and potential relationships they could have

I tried my best to include as many different relationships as I could to please everyone, but I don’t have all of them. And I’ll probably add more to this as I discover new songs or get recommendations. (And THANK You pals who helped me with some of the song choices already)

But here is the link please have a listen: x

And here is the setlist and the categories I imagined the songs going to:

Zade Duets: Because what better way to start out the playlist than sticking to the status quo. Except maybe in the end there’s hope for a change 👀

What is this Feeling?

Your Obedient Servant

You Stupid Bitch

World Burn

My Eyes

Trust Me Not

Zim Solos: These are all Zimothy. Starting off with songs that represent the cocky space bug we all know. But OH NO is that self reflection I see?? Don’t worry folks we still end on hopeful note.

Hard to Be the Bard

How Bad Can I Be?

Someone Gets Hurt

It’s Over Isn’t It?

Our Word

Everything I Ever Thought I Knew

I Want to Be Tall

Zim and Dib Duets: These songs are just songs that don’t quite fit zadf or zade but fit both of them very well.

Non-Stop

Let Me Make You Proud

Dib Solos: He just wants to be validated and has self esteem issues and these songs show that.

(Just a) Simple Sponge

Good Kid

Wait for It

Breathe

I’m Not a Loser

Audition (The Fools Who Dream)

Gaz or Dib: This song could work for either of them. They just want love. Honestly they all do

The I Love You Song

Gaz Solos: Our Favorite Gamer Girl has feelings. From Anger to Sadness to Hopeful

The Destruction

Not Your Seed

Where I Want to Be

Prologue: Invisible

She Used to Be Mine

Home

Gaz and Dib Duets: The Membrane siblings have some lowkey angst between them and don’t agree on everything, but through it all still care for one another.

Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

Interlude IV

Requiem

For the First Time in Forever

What If

No Reason

Gir and Zim Duets: these songs are mostly Gir heavy but Zim is definitely present during all of them. Whether it’s in Girs imagination or not

Friend Like Me

When I’m Older

You and Me (But Mostly Me)

No Matter What

BFF

Zadf/Zadr Duets: Some good Zim and Dib Friendship vibes. With a hint of something more if that’s your jam

It’s Tough To Be a God

Two-Player Game

Sincerely, Me (ft Gir as Jared)

The Bro Duet

One of Us

Anything You Can Do

Zagf/Zagr Duets: It starts off as friendship into yearning and into maybe something more

Revenge Party (Ft. Dib as Cady)

Good Little Girl

My Freeze Ray

She Loves Me

Bad Idea

Rewrite the Stars

Tak Solos: Tak is a bad ass and wants revenge. However, maybe like Zim there’s more than meets the eye.

I’m the Bad Guy

May I Have This Dance?

My Grand Plan

Ready As I’ll Ever Be (ft Zim and the Membranes)

Tak and Zim Duets: I personally like giving Tak and Zim a sibling like dynamic. And so the songs here are highlighting their rivalry and the subtle hope Zim has for her

This Day Aria

Outmatched

Nothing Left To Lose

Datf/Datr Duets: The past betrayal with hope of redemption. It’s all the drama and confusing feelings you know?

Natalie Cook

I Love You (As Much As Someone Like Me Could Love Anyone)

For the Record

Tagf/Tagr Duets: They are Best Friends or you know they’re what historians call “Best Friends” if that’s more of your jam *wink wink*

I’m Just Your Problem

Little Miss Perfect

Seventeen (Reprise)

Zib and Za2r: Yeah this is just angst I’m so sorry

Confrontation

Monster

Our Love is God

I am Damaged

BONUS END FUN WITH WHOLE SQUAD: Because THEY ARE ALL A BIG HAPPY FOUND FAMILY IN THE END

Another Day in the Sun

You Can’t Stop the Beat

Dancing Queen

We Go Together

Jump in the Line

[itonje]

people of color in arthurian legend masterpost

hi! some people said it would be cool if i did this, and this is something i find interesting so. yeah! are you interested in king arthur and the knights of the round table? do you like to read about characters of color, especially in older lit? well, i hope this can be a good resource for people to get into stuff like that, especially poc/ethnic minorities who might feel uncomfortable or lonely getting into older media like arthuriana. this post is friendly to both those who prefer medieval lit and those who prefer modern stuff!

disclaimers: i am not a medievalist nor a race theorist! very much not so. i am just a 17 year old asian creature on the internet who wants to have an easy-to-reference post, if i’m not comprehensive enough please inform me. i’m going to stay closely to the matter of britain, as well, not all medieval european literature as a. this is what i’m more familiar with and b. there’s so much content and information and context to go along with it that it would really be impossible to put it all into one tumblr post. (however there’s always going to be overlap!) also, please do not treat me or any other person of color/ethnic minority as a singular all-knowing authority on anything! we’re all trying to have fun here and being made into an information machine on things, especially what is and isn’t offensive isn’t fun. with that out of the way, let’s get into it! (under cut for length!) 

part i: some historical context (tw for racism and antisemitism discussion)

fair warning, i’m going to start off with some discussions of more heavier history before we talk about more fun stuff. while pre colonial racism was far more different than how it is today, there still...was racism. and it’s important to understand the social mien around nonwhite people in europe at the time these works were written. 

to understand how marginalized ethnicities were written in medieval european literature, you have to understand the fact that religion, specifically catholicism, was a very important part of medieval european life. already, catholicism has violent tenets (ie, conversion as an inherent part of the church, as well as many antisemitic theologies and beliefs), but this violence worsened when an event known as the crusades happened.

the crusades were a series of religious wars started by the catholic church to ‘reclaim’ the holy land from islamic rule and to aid the byzantine empire. while i won’t go into the full history of the crusades, (some basic info here and here and here) its important to understand that they had strengthened the european view of the ’pagan’ (ie: not european christian) world as an ‘other’, a threat to christiandom that needed to be conquered and converted, for the spiritual benefit of both the convertee and the converter. these ideas of ethnoreligious superiority and conversion would permeate into the literature of the time written by european christians. 

even today, the crusades are very much associated with white supremacy and modern islamophobic sentiment, with words such as ‘deus vult’ as a dogwhistle, and worship of and willingness to emulate the violence the crusaders used against the inhabitants of the holy land in tradcath spaces, so this isn’t stuff that’s all dead and in the past. crusader propaganda and the ignorance on the violence of the catholic church and the crusaders on muslim and jewish populations (as well as nonwhite christians ofc) is very harmful. arthuriana itself has a lot of links to white supremacy too-thanks to @/to-many-towered-camelot for this informative post. none of this stuff exists in a bubble. 

here’s a book on catholic antisemitism, here’s a book on orientalism, here’s a book about racism in history that touches on the crusades. (to any catholic, i highly reccommend you read the first.)

with that out of the way, we can talk about the various not european groups that typically show up in arthurian literature and some historical background irt to that. the terms ‘moor’ and ‘saracen’ will typically pop up. both terms are exonyms and are very, very broad, eventually used as both a general term for muslims and as a general term for african and (western + central) asian people. they’re very vague, but when you encounter them the typical understanding you’re supposed to take away is ‘(western asian/african) foreigner’ and typically muslim/not christian as well. t

generally, african and asian lands will typically be referred to as pagan or ‘eastern/foreign’ lands, with little regard for understanding the actual religions of that area. they will also typically refer to saracens as pagans although islam is not a pagan religion. this is just a bit of a disclaimer. the term saracen itself is considered to be rather offensive-thank you to @/lesbianlanval for sending me a paper on this subject. 

while i typically refer to the content on this post as having to pertain to african and asian people (ie, not european) european jewish arthurian traditions are included on this post too. but, i know more about poc and they’ll feature more prominently in this post because of that, lol. 

part ii: so, are there any medieval texts involving characters of color?

i’m glad you asked! of course there are! to be clear, european medieval authors were very much aware that people of color and african + asian nations existed, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. even the vita merlini mentions sri lanka and a set of islands that might (?) be the philippines!! for the sake of brevity though, on this list i’m not going to list every single one of these small and frequent references, so i’m just going to focus on texts that primarily (or notably) feature characters of color. 

first of all, it’s important to know was the influence of cultures of color and marginalized ethnicities that helped shape arthurian legend. the cultural exchange between europe and the islamic world during the crusades, as well as the long history of arab presence in southern europe, led to the influence of arabic love poetry and concepts of love on european literature, helping to form what we consider the archetypal romance. there are also arthurian traditions in hebrew, and yiddish too, adding new cultural ideas and introducing new story elements to their literature-all of these are just as crucial to the matter of britain as any other traditions!

when it comes to nonwhite presence in the works themselves, many knights of color in arthurian legend tend to be characters that, after defeated by a knight of arthur’s court join the court themselves. though some are side characters, there are others with their own romances and stories devoted to them! many of them are portrayed as capable + good as, if not better than their counterparts. (this, however, usually only comes through conversion to christianity if the knight is not christian...yeah.) though groups of color as a general monolith created by european christians tended to be orientalized in literature (see: mystical and strange ~eastern~ lands), many individual knights were written to be seen by their medieval audience as positive heroes. i’m going to try to stick to mostly individual character portrayals such as these. 

with that all said though, these characters can still be taken as offensive (i would consider most to be) in their writing, so take everything with a grain of salt here. i will also include links to as many english translations of texts as i can, as well as note which ones i think are beginner friendly to those on the fence about medieval literature!

he shows up in too many texts so let’s make this into two bullet notes and start with one of, if not the most ubiquitous knight of color of the round table (at least in medieval lit),-palamedes! palamedes/palomides is a ‘’saracen knight’’ who (typically) hails from babylon or palestine and shows up in a good amount of texts. his first appearance is in the prose tristan, and he plays a major role there as a knight who fights with tristan for the hand of iseult-while he uh. loses, him and tristan later become companions + friends with a rivalry, and palamedes later goes off to hunt the questing beast, a re-occurring trend in his story. 

palamedes even got his own romance named after him (which was very popular!) and details the adventures of the fathers of the knights of the round table, pre arthur, as well as later parts of the story detailing the adventures of their sons. it was included in rustichello da pisa’s compilation of arthurian romances, which i unfortunately have not seen floating around online (or...anywhere), so i can’t attest to the quality of it or anything. he appears in le morte darthur as well, slaying the questing beast but only after his conversion to christianity (...yeah.) in the texts in which he appears, palamedes is considered to be one of the top knights of the round table, alongside tristan and lancelot, fully living up to chivalric and courtly ideals and then some. i love him dearly and i’ve read the prose tristan five times just for him. (also the prose tristan in general is good, please give it a try, especially if you’re a romance fan.)

speaking of le morte d’arthur, an egyptian knight named priamus shows up in the lucius v arthur episode on lucius’ side first, later joining arthur’s after some interactions with gawaine. palamedes has brothers here as well-safir and segwarides. safir was relatively popular, and shows up in many medieval texts, mostly alongside his older brother. i wouldn’t recommend reading le morte of all things for the characters of color though-if you really want to see what it’s all about, just skip to the parts they’re mentioned with ctrl + f, haha. 

the romance of moriaen is a 12th century dutch romance from the lancelot compilation, named for its main character morien. morien, who is a black moor, is the son of sir aglovale, the brother of perceval. whilst gawaine and lancelot are searching for said perceval, they encounter morien, who is in turn searching for aglovale as he had abandoned morien’s mother way back when. i wholeheartedly recommend this text for people who might feel uncomfy with medieval lit. though the translation i’ve linked can be a bit tricky, the story is short, sweet, and easy to follow, and morien and his relationships (esp with gariet, gawaine’s brother) are all wonderful. 

king artus (original hebrew text here) is a northern italian jewish arthurian text written in hebrew- it retells a bit of the typical conception of arthur story, as well as some parts from the death of arthur as well. i really can’t recommend this text enough-it’s quite short, with an easy-to-read english translation, going over episodes that are pretty familiar to any average reader while adding a lot of fun details and it’s VERY interesting to me from a cultural standpoint. i find the way how they adapt the holy grail (one of the most archetypal christian motifs ever) in particular pretty amazing. this is also a very beginner friendly text! 

wolfram von eschenbach’s parzival (link to volume 1 and volume 2-this translation rhymes!) is a medieval high german romance from the early 13th century, based off de troyes’ le conte du graal while greatly expanding on the original story. it concerns parzival and his quest for the grail (with a rather unique take on it-he fails at first!), and also takes like one million detours to talk about gawaine as all arthurian lit does. the prominent character of color here is a noble mixed race knight called feirefiz, parzival’s half brother by his father, who after dueling with parzival, and figures out their familial connection, joins him on his grail quest. he eventually converts to christianity (..yeah.) to see the grail and all ends happily for him. however, this text is notable to me as it contains two named women of color-belacane, feirefiz’s black african mother, and secundilla, feirefiz’s indian wife. though unfortunately, both are pretty screwed over by the text and their respective husbands. though parzival is maybe my favorite medieval text i’ve read so far i don’t necessarily know if i’d recommend this one, because it is long, and can be confusing at times. however, i do think that when it comes to the portrayal of people of color, while quite poor by today’s standards, von eschenbach was trying his best?-of course, in reason for. a 13th century medival german christian but he treats them with respect and all these characters are actually characters. if you’re really interested in grail stories (and are aware of the more uncomfortably christian aspects of the grail story), and you like gawaine and perceval, i’d say go for it. 

in the turk and sir gawain, an english poem from the early 16th century, gawaine and the titular turkish man play a game of tennis ball. i’m shitting you not. this text is pretty short, funnily absurd, and with most of the hallmarks of a typical quest (various challenges culminating in some castle being freed), so it’s an easier read. it’s unclear to me, but at the end of the story the turkish man turns into sir gromer, a noble knight, who may or may not be white which uh. consider my ‘....yeah’ typical at this point, but i don’t personally read it that way for my own sanity. also he throws the sultan (??) of the isle of man (????) into a cauldron for not being a christian so when it comes to respectful representation of poc this one doesn’t make it, but it does make this list. 

the revenge of ragisel, or at least the version i’ve read (the eng translation of the dutch version from the lancelot compilation), die wrake van ragisel, starts off being about the mysterious murder of a knight, but eventually, as most stories do, becomes a varying series of adventures about gawaine and co. one of gawaine’s friends (see: a knight who he combated with for a hot sec and then became friends and allies with, as you do) is a black knight named maurus! he’s not really an mc, but he features prominently and he’s pretty entertaining, as all the characters in this are. i also recommend this highly, i was laughing the whole time reading it! it’s not too long and pretty wild, you’ll have a good romp. this is a good starter text for anyone in general!

i’ve not read the roman van walewein, which, as it says on the tin, is a 12th century dutch romance concerning some deeds of gawaine (if only gawaine was a canon poc, i wouldn’t need to make this list because he’s so popular...). i’m putting it on the list for in this, gawaine goes to the far eastern land of endi (india) and romances a princess named ysabele. i can’t speak to ysabele’s character or the respectfulness of her kingdom or representation, but i know she’s a major character and her story ends pretty well, so that’s encouraging. women of color, especially fleshed out woc, are pretty rare in arthurian lit. i’ve also heard the story itself is pretty wild, and includes a fox, which sounds pretty exciting to me!

now the next two things i’m going to mention aren’t really? texts that feature characters of color or jewish characters, but are rather more notable for being translations of existing texts into certain languages. wigalois is a german 13th century romances featuring the titular character (the son of, you guessed it, gawaine!) and his deeds. the second, jaufre, is the only arthurian romance written in occitan, and is a quite long work about the adventures of the knight jaufre, based on the knight griflet. what’s notable about these two works is that wigalois has a yiddish translation, and jaufre has a tagalog translation. wigalois’ yiddish translation in particular changed the original german text into something more fitting of the arthurian romance format as well as adding elements to make it more appealing for a jewish audience. the tagalog translation of jaufre on the other hand was not medieval, only coming about in 1900, but the philippines has had a long history of romantic tradition and verse writing, so i’m curious to see if it too adds or changes elements when it comes to the arthurian story, but i can’t find a lot on the tagalog version of jaufre unfortunately-i hope i can eventually!

this list of texts is also non-exhaustive! i’m just listing a couple of notoriety, and some to start with. 

part iii: papers and academic analysis

so here’s just a dump of various papers i’ve read and collected on topics such as these-this is an inexhaustive and non-comprehensive list! if you have any papers you think are good and would like to be added here, shoot me an ask. i’ll try to include a link when i can, but if it’s unavailable to you just message me. * starred are the ones i really think people, especially white people, should at least try to read. 

Swank, Kris. ‘Black in Camelot: Race and Ethnicity in Arthurian Legend’ *

Harrill, Claire. ‘Saracens and racial Otherness in Middle English * Romance’

Keita, Maghan. ‘Saracens and Black Knights’ 

Hoffman, Donald L. ‘Assimilating Saracens: The Aliens in Malory's ‘Morte Darthur’

Goodrich, Peter H. ‘Saracens and Islamic Alterity in Malory's ‘Le Morte Darthur’

Schultz, Annie. ‘Forbidden Love: The Arabic Influence on the Courtly Love Poetry of Medieval Europe’ *

Hardman, Philipa. ‘Dear Enemies: the Motif of the Converted Saracen and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’

Knowles, Annie. ‘Encounters of the Arabian Kind: Cultural Exchange and Identity the Tristans of Medieval France, England, and Spain’ *

Hermes, Nizar F. ‘King Arthur in the Lands of the Saracens’ *

Ayed, Wajih. ‘Somatic Figurations of the Saracen in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur’

Herde, Christopher M. ‘A new fantasy of crusade: Sarras in the vulgate cycle.’ *

Rovang, Paul R. ‘Hebraizing Arthurian Romance: The Originality of ‘Melech Artus.’’

Rajabzdeh, Shokoofeh. ‘The Depoliticized Saracen and Muslim erasure’ *

Holbrook, Sue Ellen. ‘To the Well: Malory's Sir Palomides on Ideals of Chivalric Reputation, Male Friendship, Romantic Love, Religious Conversion—and Loyalty.’ *

Lumbley, Coral. ‘Geoffrey of Monmouth and Race’ *

Oehme, Annegret. ‘Adapting Arthur. The Transformations and Adaptations of Wirnt von Grafenberg’s Wigalois’ *

Hendrix, Erik. ‘An Unlikely Hero: The Romance of Moriaen and Racial Discursivity in the Middle Ages’ *

Darrup, Cathy C. ‘Gender, Skin Color, and the Power of Place in the Medieval Dutch Romance of Moriaen’ *

Armstrong, Dorsey. ‘Postcolonial Palomides: Malory's Saracen Knight and the Unmaking of Arthurian Community’ (note this is the only one i can’t access in its entirety)

part iv: supplemental material

here’s some other stuff i find useful to getting to know knights of color in arthurian legend, especially if papers/academic stuff/medieval literature is daunting! i’d really recommend you go through all of these if you can’t go through anything else-most are quick reads. 

a magazine article on knights of color here, and this article about the yiddish translation of wigalois. 

this video about characters of color in arthurian legend!

the performance of the translation of arabic in Libro del Caballero Zifar, and how it pertains to the matter of britain 

a post by yours truly about women of color in parzival

this info sheet about palamedes, and this info sheet about ysabele-thanks to @/pendraegon and @/reynier for letting me use these!

this page on palamedes as well

this post with various resources on race and ethnicity in arthuriana-another thank you to @/reynier! 

part v: how about modern day stories and adaptations?

there’s a lot of em out there! i’m not as familiar with modern stuff, but i will try to recommend medias i know where characters of color (including racebends!) are prominent. since i haven’t read/watched all (or truly most) of these, i can’t really speak on the quality of the representation though, so that’s your warning. 

first of all, when it comes to the victorian arthurian revival, i know that william morris really liked palamedes! (don’t we all.) he features frequently in morris’ arthurian poetry, (in this beautiful book, he primarily features in ‘sir galahad, a christmas mystery’ and ‘king arthur’s tomb’. he has his own poem by morris here.)

and some other poems about palamedes, which i’d all recommend. 

for movies, i know a knight in camelot (1998) stars whoopi goldberg as an original character, the green knight (2021) will star dev patel as gawaine. 

some shows include camelot high, bbc merlin, disney’s once upon a time, and netflix’s cursed, all featuring both original characters of color and people of color cast as known arthurian figures. 

for any music people, in ‘high noon over camelot’, an album by the mechanisms, mordred is played by ashes o’reilley, who in turn is performed by frank voss, and arthur is played by marius von raum who is perfomed by kofi young. 

i’ve also heard the pendragon and the squire’s tales have palamedes as a relevant character if you’re looking for novels, as well as legendborn and the forgotten knight: a chinese warrior in king arthur’s court starring original protagonists of color! 

part vi: going on from here

so, you’ve read some medieval lit, read some papers, watched some shows, and done all that. what now? well, there’s still so much out there! 

if you have fanfiction, analysis, metaposts, fun content etc etc about arthurian poc, feel free to plug your content on this post! i’d be happy to boost it. 

in general, if you’re a person of color or a jewish person and you’re into arthurian legend, feel free to promote your blog on this post as well! i would love to know more people active on arthurian tumblr who are nonwhite. 

this is really just me asking for extra content, especially content made by poc, but that’s okay! arthurian legend is a living, breathing set of canons and i would love love love to see more fresh diversity within them right alongside the older stuff. 

a very gracious thank you to the tumblr users whom i linked posts to on here, and thanks to y’all for saying you want to see this! i hope this post helped people learn some new things! 

[bqstqnbruin]

Always be my plus one - part 2

Ok I know that I should use a different gif for each part but I'm not going to. But here's part 2! It's longer than the first part so have fun.

People to thank who are amazing and I owe my whole life to even though I'm probably forgetting someone because I'm the worst: @zinka8 (I CAN FINALLY TAG YOU) @hockeywocs @calgarycanuck @chara-hugs @justjosty anyone who sent in an anon and again I'm forgetting someone so if you helped me with this and I forgot, yell at me.

But here we go! This is about 9k words, and, fun fact, this is also my 5,000th post on this blog, so that's exciting!

Hope you like it!

Read part 1 here!

Series masterlist --------------------------------

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day

New Year’s Eve is the last day of the Georgian calendar year, marked with celebrations that last well into the next day. Huge parties take place around the world, one of the most notable being the ball dropping in Times Square in New York City, marking the new year for the eastern coast of the United States, televised with Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve hosted by Ryan Seacrest. This special each year includes a packed Times Square, performances, interviews, and general excitement to put whatever happened in the past year behind them. Likewise, in Canada, the CBC has hosted a similar countdown special since 2017, including live music and coverage of festivities in each of the provinces and timezones the country spans.

New Year’s Day is the first day of the Georgian calendar year, again marked with celebrations. In the United States, various parades take place, including the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, or the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In addition, various sporting events take place as well, including the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida, the Outback Bowl in Tampa Bay, Florida, the Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, California, and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana, all post-season college football games, and the National Hockey League's outdoor game, the Winter Classic, typical showcasing a major regional rivalry. The day typically includes people already failing at keeping up with their New Year’s resolutions, whatever it was they promised to do every day of the year (such as working out, flossing, getting more sleep) already not going well.

=============

December 27, 2021

Lucy had insisted Anne go with her to the mall to go shopping when she found out that she was going to a New Year’s Eve party with Tyson’s teammates. Once her older sister found out that Anne’s ‘mystery man’ was a professional hockey player, she went practically bat shit trying to figure out more information about the two of them since Anne had yet to tell her anything.

If only she knew there was nothing to tell.

“Come on, what about this?” Lucy asks, holding up a dress. Anne wasn't sure that it would go past her butt, not to mention the open back and the plunging neckline. Lucy had to know that Anne would never, on any occasion, wear a dress like that. It would look good on Lucy, and Lucy would be comfortable in it, but not Anne.

“No,” Anne tells her, continuing to look through the rack for anything that had more fabric to it than what Lucy was offering her. There was nothing wrong with the dresses, really, and Lucy was normally pretty good about picking things out that Anne would actually like, but something about this being a dress for what sort of was, sort of wasn’t a date with a guy she spilled her coffee all over was making her more nervous than she needed to me.

“But it’s for your man. On New Year’s Eve. It doesn’t hurt to look a little sexy,” Lucy begs, making sure to add a little shoulder shimmy at the word ‘sexy’ for emphasis.

‘He’s not my man,’ Anne wanted to say. But she wasn’t about to spill that secret before Lucy even met him. It would be easier to just tell them they broke up by Valentine’s Day. “Tyson wouldn’t want me to wear anything that would make me uncomfortable,” she lets out instead.

Lucy sighs, pulling out dress after dress to show to Anne. “Ok, how about this: what color do you want to wear and how long do you want it to be?” Anne shrugs, not having thought about it in the slightest. “Well what’s Tyson wearing? Are you matching with him?”

“I don’t think so?”

“Annie!” Lucy practically screams the nickname her family decided they were going to call her, a few of the other store patrons turning to glare at Lucy’s outburst. “How do you not know what your boyfriend is wearing to a Colorado Avalanche New Year’s Eve party?”

'Not my boyfriend' she thought. “I don’t dress him. Do you know what Jason is going to wear for every party?”

Rolling her eyes, she holds up another dress that Anne turns down. “Well, since I’ve known my man since we were in diapers, I know his style, and therefore, know what he could potentially wear before I tell him what he’s going to wear.”

Anne lets out a sigh, wandering away from her sister while she continues to go through what seemed to be endless rows of dresses. Part of Anne wished she was like her sister: lucky enough to find a man that she would love forever when she was young, never having to worry about anything. The other part of Anne wished her family wasn’t so annoying about her finding a man, wishing that Sebby didn’t steal her phone and see Tyson’s name, and that their mom hadn’t come down and jumped to conclusions before she had a chance to defend herself.

“Hey,” Lucy comes up to Anne, “Why don’t we grab some food and then try a different store.” Anne nods, Lucy linking her arm in her sisters before taking her out of the store. “Have you met any of Tyson’s teammates before? I mean, you have to mean a lot to him if he’s bringing around the guys he spends the most time with.”

“He’s told me a little bit about all of them, but I haven’t met them yet.”

“You know this is big, then, right?” Lucy says, finding a line at the food court for them to order from.

Even if Lucy hadn’t picked a place that Anne wasn’t too fond of, her words made Anne lose her appetite. As far as she knew, Anne’s family thought they were dating, which they weren’t, while Tyson’s teammates thought they were friends, which they were. That’s what they had agreed to. They just needed to make it to New Year’s Day and then this would all be over.

Lucy keeps talking, rattling off information about Tyson’s teammates that Anne was sure she had found on their Wikipedia pages, Lucy’s ‘top of her class,’ ‘photographic memory’ coming out while Anne stayed silent.

“Look, Anne,” Lucy says once she gets the food she ordered for both of them, “if he likes you enough to bring you around his teammates, that’s a good thing. Think of it like Jason asking me to go to his soccer games when we were freshmen. He wants you to be at something important for him.”

“I’m not worried about that,” Anne shrugs, “I’m worried about bringing him into the belly of the beast the next afternoon.”

“Why, because you’ll be hungover and Ma and Dad haven’t seen you that way yet?” Lucy asks, smiling with her fork between her teeth.

Throwing her head back and groaning, Anne starts, “No. Ideally, we’ll still be drunk and calling you or Matthew to come to pick us up. Remember what Mom was like when I introduced you all to Andy?”

“Well, yeah, it was hate at first sight. And she was right to feel that way, obviously. If you think Tyson is the ‘one,’ then you’ll be fine.”

Anne chokes on the fries she was picking at when Lucy says that. “The ‘one’? Please. I wouldn’t know if he was the ‘one’ at this point. Right now, he’s my ‘plus one' at best.”

Lucy shrugs, a sly smile on her face as the two of them continue to eat in silence.

The two of them venture to another store, Anne not having high hopes in finding a dress, knowing that she was going to have to resort to wearing something old that probably wouldn’t be very ‘New Year’s Eve’ themed, or borrow something from Lucy, who, albeit having great style, definitely didn’t have anything that she would want to wear. Maybe she could call Stephanie or her cousin Lauren and see if they could pity her enough to let her borrow something.

Lucy went to the dress rack, Anne just wandered around the store. At this point, she didn’t even care if she found a dress; a long shirt would be just fine. She was nowhere near her sister or the dresses, but she saw something out of place, a skirt and sleeves peeking out in the middle of pant legs. She picked up the dress, solid black, which would probably fit her like a glove, off the shoulder. A black choker, which she had, and a nice pair of heels would make the dress perfect. And it was even on sale. Someone had probably put it there in order to hide it, but Anne didn’t know that for a fact, so could she really feel bad about wearing it?

She practically ran through the store to find her sister, grabbing her by the arm to the dressing room despite the stack of dresses on Lucy’s arm that were probably going to end up back on the rack or in Lucy’s own closet.

Anne looked at herself in the mirror, excited for the first time for Tyson to see her on New Year’s Eve wearing something like that. The two had been talking nonstop, but Anne had made it clear they were friends and that she wasn’t looking for anything. If something came along, she would know it, and honestly, she didn’t know it with Tyson.

But picturing him seeing her in the dress gave her a glimmer of hope that it was Tyson, even if he wasn’t the ‘one’ like Lucy had been badgering her about earlier.

“Hey, Annie, come on!” Lucy snaps Anne out of her fantasy, banging on the door to show her, “Jason texted me that he and the girls are going to be home in an hour with dinner so you can’t take all day.”

“You really think putting on this dress is going to take an hour?” Anne huffs, opening the door from the dressing room stall.

“Well, it depends on how many dresses you try,” Lucy starts, cutting herself off when she sees her sister in the dress. “Oh, Anne.”

“You like it?” she asks, feeling the heat rush to her cheeks. It was a simple dress, knit and insignificant. She had no idea why she was so excited about it.

“I do,” Lucy says, coming up behind Anne and resting her chin on her sister’s shoulder as the two of them admire Anne in the mirror. “And you know who else is going to love it? Tyson.”

Anne took in a deep breath, Lucy rubbing her back between her shoulders before she let her get changed back into her clothes. ‘Tyson was going to love it.’ Anne hoped so.

=============

December 31, 2021

Tyson said he was going to be at Anne’s place at 9:15 to pick her up and drop off stuff at her place to stay over. Since they were going to be together all night, it was easier if Tyson stayed with Anne after the party before needing to drive to Anne’s uncle’s house the next afternoon.

But it was 9:30, and Anne was sitting on her couch, waiting for the boy who was supposed to fake being her boyfriend tomorrow to show up to take her to a party with a bunch of people who had no idea who she was or that this scenario was going to be happening the next day.

How did Anne end up like this? What if he didn’t show up? Why did she let her mom and siblings take over the conversation about her life and let them believe that Tyson was her boyfriend? And why did he agree to it?

Anne gets snapped out of her downward spiral of thoughts by her phone ringing, Tyson calling to hopefully tell her that he was waiting to be let in. “You said you were going to be here at 9:15,” she answers, not letting Tyson say anything.

“Well, traffic,” he explains, “It’s New Year’s Eve and I didn’t want to speed, either, and end up getting pulled over for that. Can you come let me in? It’s cold.”

Anne gets up from her couch, venturing downstairs in the slippers she was keeping on until the last minute. The heels Lucy had let her borrow weren’t uncomfortable, but she wasn’t about to wear them around her apartment building if she didn’t have to. She spots Tyson sitting on the couches in the lobby, going up to him. He was looking down at his phone, but seeing him made her heart race. He had on a white button-down with the top two buttons undone, a black jacket, and black pants on. She goes up to him, resting her hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

Tyson looks up, unable to find the words when he sees Anne. He stands up, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. Anne sees this and lets out a small laugh. “Are you ok?” she asks, her nerves of seeing him dissipate while he acts like this.

“You’re,” he starts, letting out a breath as he looks her up and down. He shakes his head, a lazy smile on his face. “You’re beautiful.”

Anne laughs, grabbing his bag for him and leading him back upstairs to her apartment. “You’re not too bad yourself.”

“You know,” Tyson starts when the two of them get to her door, “pretending to be your boyfriend really isn’t going to be that difficult.”

“Yeah,” Anne scoffs, putting down Tyson’s bag with a thud by the couch, “and if you keep flirting with me like you mean it, then they’ll really believe you.” Anne’s back was turned to Tyson, so she didn’t see the look on his face, him biting his lip at her words that she thought he was just pretending. “You’re staying over for a night, what the hell could you have brought with you?” she asks him.

Tyson clears his throat, still not over Anne’s little dig about him pretending to flirt with her. He’s been flirting with her since they met, has she really not noticed? “Uh, you didn’t tell me how formal or casual this is at your uncle’s so I just packed a few options.”

“Huh, I never pegged you for a fashionista,” Anne teases, putting on her shoes and coat as Tyson orders the Uber to take them to the venue.

“Apparently you’re never going to peg me at all,” Tyson mumbles, not loud enough for Anne to hear.

“Sorry?”

“Uh, the Uber will be here in a few minutes so we should get downstairs,” he tries to save himself.

“But,” Anne says, locking her door and following Tyson back down to the lobby, “You can pretty much wear anything to Uncle Vince’s house as long as it isn’t a Juventus shirt.”

“Juventus?”

“That’s Napoli’s biggest rival. It would be like me wearing, I don’t know,” Anne says as they both get into the car that had pulled up, “a Red Wings or a Wild shirt to something for you guys.”

Tyson can’t help but smile, even though he knows it’s probably meaningless. Anne had made it clear that the two of them were just friends. But what if, “you like hockey?”

Anne shrugs, looking out the window as they drove into the city. “I don’t hate it, but I couldn’t tell you much about it. I’m more of a basketball girl, honestly.” Tyson scoffs, Anne turning to him. She had a smile on her face, trying to hide the slight insult she felt by the noise he made. “What?”

“Hockey is clearly better.”

“You’re just biased.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong,” he teases her, reaching over and nudging her arm. His hand lingers on her arm for a little bit, not really thinking about Anne’s noticeable settling into his touch. “Um,” he clears his throat, taking his arm back and praying that it was dark enough that Anne couldn’t see the red on his face, “What are your teams?”

“Men’s are the Nuggets, of course, women are the Seattle Storm, and college I go for UConn.”

“Did you go there?”

Anne shakes her head, Tyson admiring the way her hair framed her face, thankful that she was looking out the window instead of at him. “Nope, I went to CU Denver. My dad’s other brother, Johnny, went to UConn, and when I was born, that was around the start of the women’s dynasty that they have. When my dad was away on trips and mom was working, he and Aunt Lisa would watch the four of us and always have the UConn games on. I fell in love with Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Maya Moore, Stephanie Dolson. I grew up wanting to play basketball and be like them, so I played basketball.”

“Did you in college?”

“No,” Anne laughs, looking at the building they were pulling up to. “I played until high school, and was definitely not good enough to play in college. I still love it, though.”

Tyson smiles at her, getting out of the car and rushing to the other side to help her out, linking his arm in hers to escort her in. “I love that,” he whispers to her, walking in and thankful that he had Anne on his arm that night.

The guys weren’t necessarily on his case about finding someone the way it seemed like Anne’s parents were, but that didn’t stop the chirping about him never having a girlfriend for as long as he was on the team. They knew she was his friend, but, hey, it was better than nothing.

Anne had no idea where Tyson took her, not recognizing the building they had walked into, but she was speechless at the sight of the grand ballroom, the lighting just dim enough that she couldn’t help but feel at peace, the noise from Tyson’s teammates and their families taking that away and leaving her overwhelmed. Tyson had slipped away to hang up their coats and grab drinks, leaving Anne to fend for herself for the time being.

She knew they weren’t late by any means but based on the sobriety, or lack thereof, that everyone was displaying, an outsider would think that Tyson and Anne had shown up hours late, everyone seemingly on at least their third drink of the night, if not more. Anne worked her way to the side of the room, giving herself a good view of the bar where Tyson was, hoping that he could find her after he was done chatting with whoever it was that had his attention.

“You look almost too comfortable for someone just watching everyone on the side. Who are you here with?” someone interrupts her thoughts. She snaps her attention to the mystery man standing next to her, leaning against the wall and looking out at the crowd as they danced and sang, drank and had fun. He was the same height as Tyson, just about, probably not that much younger but the rosiness on his cheeks made him look years younger than both her and Tyson.

“I’m here with Tyson,” she tells him, waving to the guy who was supposed to be by her side that night.

“You’re the girl who spilled her coffee on him when we went to the hospital for the charity event,” Rosy Boy laughs.

Anne scoffs, “I wish that wasn’t my legacy, but here we are.”

The two of them stand and watch everyone, laughing as some of the kids pretend to chase around the adults, one of them catching someone by the leg as the man pretended to fall down. “That’s our captain, Gabe,” Rosy Boy tells her, “being chased by Naylah, Nazem’s daughter.”

“So, Gabe, Nazem, Tyson,” Anne says, pointing at the only three men of the Avalanche that she knew, “You?”

“Cale Makar.”

“Anne DeFormicola.”

Cale smiles at her, turning his body so he was facing her directly. “A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” Anne could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks, thankful that her hair was down to cover the red that she knew had appeared on her ears. “Uh, are you and Tyson together?” Cale asks, his voice shaking as he prayed he didn’t make the mistake of flirting with one of his teammate’s girls.

“No,” Anne tells him, “We’re just friends.”

Cale lets out a sigh of relief. “Good, I, uh,” he stammers, Anne’s confused look making him nervous despite the smile that was on her face, “I mean, good, good for me. You? Us? I don’t know what I’m saying.”

The two of them laugh together, Anne seeing Tyson out of the corner of her eye. He didn’t look particularly thrilled as he watched her and Cale talking, the distance between them shrinking as the conversation proceeded.

Before she knew it, Tyson was by her side, a glass of wine in hand for her that he practically thrust in her hand. “So, how’s Cale treating you?” Tyson asks, not hiding the discontent he felt seeing Anne and Cale so obviously flirting.

Anne watches Tyson down his drink, a little too fast for her liking, especially considering Cale was obviously uncomfortable by what his teammate was doing in that moment. “Very well, we were having a good conversation.” Anne sips her wine, Cale mumbling something and slipping away. “What was that about?”

“I want you to be careful?” Tyson says as if it were obvious, even though he was lying. He didn’t want to have to see Anne flirting with his teammate all night.

“Of who, Cale? Didn’t you tell me he was the human equivalent of a puppy?” Tyson rolls his eyes, looking over to the bar and already wishing he had more to drink before having this conversation. “What’s the worst he’s going to do? Bite my ankles? Bark when he wants to go play outside?”

“Ok, you’re being mean.”

“And you’re being ridiculous.” Anne studies his face, the way he bit his lip as he tried to find his words. “You remind me of Sebby.”

“Your little brother?” Tyson asks, not really wanting to be compared to him.

“He’s really protective of me. We’re all protective of each other, but he’s especially protective of me. You’re probably the same way with Kacey, right?”

Tyson swallows hard, nodding. “Yeah.” He wasn’t even just friend-zoned: he was sibling-zoned.

“You just don’t want me to get hurt,” Anne reasons, already finishing her wine. It’s not like it was that much in the glass. “I think if anyone was going to hurt me, it wouldn’t be Cale.”

The two of them stand there, watching Tyson’s teammates dancing as the music changed to something more upbeat. On the nearest table, Tyson put down his and Anne’s empty glasses, extending his hand out to Anne in a bid to lead her to the dance floor. Anne hesitates, not really too fond of dancing, but then Tyson smiled at her, raising his eyebrows, and for whatever reason, she felt like she had to go with him.

His hand found the small of her back, holding her close enough that they could still talk over the blaring from the music, his other hand in hers as he tried to get her to move to the rhythm of the song. It’s not that Anne was uncoordinated, but she just wasn’t that great with dancing. “I would have thought you were better at this,” Tyson teases her, looking down at their feet as Anne steps on for what he thought was the fourth time.

“I will gladly go back to my place against the wall and watch you make a fool out of yourself by yourself instead,” she jokes, rolling her eyes as Tyson spins her around.

He pulls her in closer than before, the music changing to a slower song. “I don’t think you want to do that,” Tyson tells her, his forehead pressed against hers. He could kiss her right now if she let him. This was technically their second date, if they considered the coffee place their first. And Tyson did. He didn’t know why he wanted this girl in front of him so badly so fast, but there was just something about her that he had to be with her.

Before Anne could say anything, she feels someone tapping on her shoulder. Pulling away from Tyson, she sees Cale standing there, his hands in his pockets, looking down at his feet. His entire face was red, clearly nervous, as he started, “Uh, sorry, but I was wondering if I could dance with Anne?”

Anne smiles at him, looking over at Tyson to signal that she wanted to. Cale was adorable, and something about him left Anne unable to say no to him. Tyson gives a sad smile, releasing Anne from his grasp. “I’m going to go get another drink,” he says, leaving his date and teammate alone to be closer than they were before. He couldn’t be with a girl that didn’t want to be with him, he thought, downing the drink he got probably too fast. At least tomorrow he could pretend that the two of them were together, pretending that he was hers and she was his.

But for now, he had to watch Anne smiling and staring at Cale, his teammate holding her so close that Tyson wanted nothing more than to be Cale.

Tyson had his back against the bar, watching Cale and Anne dance and have fun when JT came up to him. “Didn’t you bring a date?” JT was the only one Tyson had told about the fake dating plan between him and Anne.

“Yep.”

“She in the bathroom?”

“She’s dancing with Cale,” Tyson says, raising what he thinks was his third drink in their direction. He was praying that they couldn’t get any closer than they were now, but the way Anne was smiling, he knew that was what she wanted.

JT looks between Anne and Cale together and Tyson’s near angry expression as he took another sip of his drink. “Oh, I get it,” JT realizes, Tyson side-eyeing his friend. “You like her, and now you’re seeing her with Cale and you’re jealous.”

Tyson could feel himself start to panic. He did like her, but he wasn’t about to let everyone know that. “No,” he lies, JT scoffing at him. He hated that he knew him so well. “Maybe.”

“Well, then why aren’t you the one dancing with her?” JT asks, Tyson watching Anne throw her head back laughing, Cale burying his head in her shoulder, a smile just as big as hers on his face.

“She wanted to dance with him. What was I going to do, say ‘no?’

“Yes.”

“No,” he rebuts, signaling the bartender for yet another drink. “At least I can pretend to date her around her family,” he shrugs.

“Yeah, until she pretends to dump you because she’s really dating Cale.”

“Maybe in the new year you should try to be more helpful instead of whatever you are now,” Tyson snaps. “Sorry,” he mumbles into the fresh drink he was bringing to his lips, planning on downing it as fast as he got it. If he had to watch Anne dancing with Cale, he might as well be drunk so he can’t remember it in the morning.

“It’s almost midnight,” Cale whispers to Anne.

“Yeah,” she smirks, having a feeling she knew where this was going, especially judging by the way his grip tightened around her waist.

“Uh,” he clears his throat, getting nervous about what he wanted to ask her. “Who are you kissing at midnight?"

Anne can’t help but smile, his innocence endearing to her. Tyson and JT were still watching the two of them dance even though Anne and Cale were too focused on each other to notice. “I think it depends on your answer,” she flirts.

“I was kind of hoping it would be you,” he tells her.

Anne laughs, “Yeah, I got that,” she tells him, running her hand through his hair at the nape of his neck, sending a chill down his spine. “I was hoping it would be you, too,” she tells him, closing her eyes with their foreheads pressed against each other. She almost wished she had spilled her coffee on Cale instead of Tyson, not needing to pretend to date him tomorrow and instead just date Cale and date him for real. It might have been the alcohol or the night that was making her feel this way, but Cale was not a hard guy to like.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” Tyson mumbles, not wanting to see Anne and Cale anymore, setting his drink down and leaving the room before JT could protest.

Soon after, everyone began their countdown to midnight, chanting while Anne and Cale stayed silent.

Anne knew Cale wanted to kiss her before the countdown was over. He was hovering against her lips as soon as someone yelled ‘ten!’ She didn’t know what it was about him, but she was ready to kiss him, not waiting for everyone to get past ‘five’ before she connected with him for a second, already wanting more as soon as they started.

Cale pulled away fast, smiling, moving his hands from her waist to cup her face, kissing her as soon as everyone around them was screaming ‘Happy New Year!’ When they finally pulled away, Cale’s entire face was red, and Anne knew that there was some color on her cheeks, too. Kissing Cale was something else, but something was missing. She just couldn’t put her finger on it.

=============

January 1, 2022

Anne and Cale danced a little longer, some of the guys and their families starting to leave.

“I think I have to go find Tyson,” Anne tells Cale, realizing she hadn’t seen the boy she came with for the better part of an hour.

“Uh, wait,” Cale says as Anne starts to pull away, Anne stopping as Cale smiles at her. He puts on her jaw, tilting her head up to kiss her again. “Can I see you again?”

Anne smiles, biting her lip. “I’d like that. But I really have to find Tyson.”

The two of them start walking around, trying to locate their lost boy. “Are you coming back with us?”

“Us?”

“Tys and I live in the same building,” Cale explains, part of him wanting to ask Anne to go home with him.

Before he can, Anne starts, “No, Tyson is staying at my place tonight. We have something tomorrow. Today,” she corrects herself.

“Oh, ok. Well, then, can I get your number?”

“When we find Tyson because he has the ticket for our coats and my phone is in my coat,” she explains, regretting giving everything to Tyson.

“Anne!” they hear someone yell, turning around to see Tyson stumbling over despite JT trying to help him up. Anne hadn’t told him not to get very drunk out of caution for having to deal with her family in a few hours, but now she was regretting forgetting.

“How much did he drink?” Anne panics, slinging Tyson's free arm around her shoulder.

“When I got to him he was already on four and I think he had at least three more while I was with him. I couldn’t tell you what he had on his own,” JT explains, the four of them getting their stuff and trying to get out while Tyson could barely walk.

Tyson mumbles something, trying to lean his head against Anne’s shoulder while they walked, despite the three-inch height difference that would have been bigger had Anne not been wearing heels. JT asks him to repeat it while he orders and Uber to get Tyson and Anne home. “Anne’s so pretty,” Tyson says, practically screaming it in Anne’s ear.

“Thank you, Tyson,” she says, trying to be as sweet as she could despite her anger she felt for him getting this drunk.

Tyson keeps babbling incoherently, none of them wanting to try to figure out what he was saying while they were waiting in their Ubers.

“Hey, Anne, hand me your phone,” JT asks, trying to reach out to her with his free hand while also making sure Tyson didn’t fall over or fall on Anne. She does as he asks, Cale standing there wondering why he didn’t just do that in the first place. “Text me when you two get back to your place and let me know how he is before you leave for your Uncle’s.”

“Yeah, of course,” Anne says, not even thinking about how he would have known where the two of you were going later.

Before Cale can ask for Anne’s phone, the Uber for her and Tyson pulls up. “Are you sure you’re good to get him back?” Cale asks her while JT gets Tyson in the car safely.

Anne nods, putting her hand on Cale’s bicep to reassure him. “Yeah, he should sober up enough to walk with just me during the drive back. Thank you, though,” she says, giving him a quick kiss before climbing into the car.

“I wish it was me,” Tyson slurs, his head on Anne’s shoulder as the Uber pulls away.

“What’s that, Tyson?” Anne asks.

“I wish it was me that was kissing you.”

Anne looks at him, his eyes closed as he fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. “When?”

“At midnight. I wanted to kiss you at midnight. I just hope you didn’t kiss Cale. That would make me sad,” he says, letting out a yawn.

Before Anne could say anything to respond, Tyson was asleep, leaving her alone with her thoughts, and the Uber driver probably hoping they remembered this to tell their friends in the morning. Why would he have wanted to kiss her? They were just friends. They had both made it very clear that everything they were doing was just out of friendship because they both needed someone to be there for the other and just pretend they were something they were not.

This wasn’t going to be like one of those ‘fake dating’ tropes that Anne had read in books when she was a teenager or in rom coms. Those weren’t real life. That didn’t happen.

Anne gets Tyson up to her apartment, surprised that she was able to drag him out of the Uber and balance him long enough that he didn’t fall over and take her with him to the ground. She practically threw him onto her bed, getting him in position so no matter what happened he would be fine. He was asleep almost immediately, a soft snore coming from his lips.

Anne pulls out her phone to text JT that his teammate was asleep, getting herself ready to go sleep on the couch.

The next morning, Anne woke up to Tyson sitting at her kitchen table, already having helped himself to a cup of coffee. “You look like you’re feeling great,” Anne commented, Tyson clearly hungover from the night before.

“Why did I wake up in your bed and not your couch?” Tyson asked.

Anne shrugs, fixing herself a cup of coffee to join him. “You’re my guest and the couch isn’t the most comfortable thing to fall asleep on if you aren’t used to it.”

“You are?”

“I’ve fallen asleep plenty of times while I was reading on that couch,” Anne tells him, wishing she had something to offer him to eat. “Uh, when we get to my uncle’s house, there’s going to be a ton of food so if we didn’t eat now, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.”

Tyson nods, looking down at his coffee. He wished that he didn’t have to pretend to be Anne’s boyfriend. He already wanted to be more, but Cale was already closer to that in one night than Tyson was in how many weeks. “What do I need to know about your family before I meet them?”

Anne starts rambling about her family: her grandparents moved back to New York which was where they grew up so she hasn’t seen them in a while because they’re too old to make the trip out here and she hasn’t had time to make the trip to see them. They were going to her Uncle Vince’s house, her dad’s older brother. He has three kids, Michael, Emily, and Spencer, all of them dating someone. Then there’s Uncle Johnny, her dad’s younger brother, who has two kids, Lauren and Landon, and three grandkids from Lauren: Christopher, Lydia, and Henry.

Tyson didn’t even know if he was going to remember everything she was saying; from the food that Johnny brings just for Landon because of allergies, or the food that was designated as ‘the kid's food’ which was absolutely off-limits unless you were under the age of five years old. The Sam Adams’ beer is only meant for Aunt Lisa and Aunt Laura unless they offer it to you, but the wine is a free for all because it’s guaranteed that everyone of age brought their own bottle anyway, including Anne.

“Wait, but I don’t have a bottle,” Tyson asks, both of them getting up to get ready.

Anne smiles at him, going into one of her cabinets. “You want white or red?” she asks, holding up two bottles. “Because, as you know, I’m partial to red.”

Tyson laughs, taking the bottle of white wine from her, not even sure if he should be drinking anything given the night before. He was just lucky he somehow didn't feel worse despite how much he had. “I knew you were my kind of girl.”

They stand there for a second, neither of them sure how to react or what to do. “We should go get ready,” Anne says, bringing the bottles over to where she kept her keys so she wouldn’t forget them.

She retreats to her room, leaving Tyson to get ready out in the open of the rest of her apartment. That wasn’t a moment they just had in her kitchen, she tells herself. She puts on a pair of jeans, trying to find a shirt suitable enough for her mom to not nag her about, finally settling on a sweater that she was almost sure was Lucy’s that she stole a few months ago.

“Hey, Anne,” she hears Tyson calling her. “Someone’s calling you.”

An unknown number flashed on her screen in Tyson's hand, her forgetting she left the phone by the couch. Normally an unsaved contact was something that she wouldn’t answer, but the Calgary area code, for no reason whatsoever, told her that she had to answer it. “Hello?”

“Anne? It’s Cale. Sorry, I got your number from JT.”

Anne smiles, looking at Tyson who could hear his teammate's voice just loud enough that it made him upset. Tyson’s words from the night before rang through Anne’s mind as she finally answered him back, “Hey, no, it’s fine. What’s up?” Anne goes back into her room to finish getting ready, putting Cale on speaker as she does.

“I just wanted to check on you. And Tyson, I mean, that you were ok with him last night.”

Anne laughs at his nerves, the same ones that came through when they were first talking last night that she was thankful had faded as time went on. “Yeah, we’re fine. We’re getting ready to head out, though.”

“Any idea what time you would be done? I was wondering if you wanted to grab dinner tonight?”

She could hear his voice shaking, wishing that she could say yes. “I can’t tonight, but maybe another time?”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” he says, both of them saying goodbye as Anne grabs what she needs to head out.

“You ready?” she asks Tyson. He looked good, a simple black button-down he had paired with jeans. Why did he have to look good? Tyson nods, grabbing the wine while Anne grabbed her keys.

The two of them drive in silence, her phone plugged into her car with Cale and JT’s contacts popping up on the screen on her center console as they were texting her. “I’m glad you got along with some of the guys last night,” Tyson tells her, finally breaking the silence between them.

“Yeah, me too. Especially since someone seemed to enjoy the bar more than anything else,” she teases.

“Hey, the bartender was attractive, and giving free drinks, what was I supposed to do?”

Anne laughs, knowing that wasn’t the real reason he was there the entire night. She didn’t know what that reason was, but it wasn’t because of the looks of the person giving Tyson drinks. “What do you remember from last night?”

Tyson hesitates, really not sure what to answer. “I remember the drinks and you were dancing with Cale at some point.”

“You remember none of the Uber drive back?”

He almost did. He knew he had fallen on Anne’s shoulder, but he didn’t remember getting into the car with her. He wasn’t even sure that Anne was the one that got him in the car. “Not really, no.”

“Ok,” Anne says, partially thankful for that. She wasn’t sure she would want to relive the part of the night, nor did she think Tyson would either.

She pulls up to her uncle’s house, already seeing Lucy’s car and her cousin Spencer's sitting in the driveway. “Ready to enter the belly of the beast?” she asks him, patting his thigh as a sign of encouragement.

Tyson looks out to the house, seeing someone standing in the doorway waiting for them to get out of the car. “We’ve gotta start acting like a couple, now, don’t we?” he says, leaning closer to her across the center console.

Anne rolls her eyes, knowing that he wanted a kiss or something, anything to show Aunt Laura that Tyson was actually her boyfriend. She does kiss him, sweet and slow. Tyson was sure if they weren’t being watched, he would have gone for more, but knowing he couldn’t was killing him. He had to make the most of the time he had with Anne’s family.

When Anne pulled away, she reached up to Tysons face, grazing her thumb along his beard as his hand connected with hers. She didn’t know why, but she kissed him again, their foreheads pressed together as they sat there in her car. It was different kissing him compared to Cale. A good different, and like last night, she couldn't put her finger on why. She almost forgot where they were, startled by Aunt Laura knocking on her window.

Anne’s face had to be bright red, embarrassed that her aunt saw whatever moment, real or fake or whatever that was, while sitting in the driveway of her house. She greets her aunt as she gets out of the car, handing her the two bottles of wine.

“You must be Tyson!” she says, more excited than Anne thought she would be. “Teresa’s told us so much about you, come in, come in,” she gestures. Anne was sure that she would have dragged him in by the collar of his shirt if she didn’t have the wine in her hands already.

Tyson looks at Anne, confused. “I have no idea what my mom could have said to her,” Anne says. Tyson shrugs, grabbing Anne’s hand as she leads him into the house.

Lucy comes running up as soon as Anne steps through the door, a baby that couldn’t be more than a year old in her arms. “Hey there, Hazel,” Anne coos, taking her goddaughter from her sister. Hazel reaches out, grabbing Anne’s hair as Anne winces at the slight pain from the baby’s pull. “This is Tyson.”

“Hi, pretty girl,” Tyson says, Hazel reaching out, squirming to get away from Anne and into Tyson’s arms. “Is it ok if I hold her?” he asks Lucy, waiting for her to nod before Anne passes her off to him.

Lucy pulls her sister aside, a silly grin on her face. “He’s perfect,” she gushes, “Look at him!” Tyson was bouncing Hazel up and down, Hazel shrieking with glee with him.

“He’s not perfect,” Anne says, “but he might be close.” The sisters laugh, Lucy hugging Anne from behind while they continue to watch Anne’s ‘boyfriend’ interact with Lucy’s youngest daughter. Anne wasn’t even sure if she was really pretending as the rest of her family came into her uncle’s house.

Teresa was practically attached to Tyson the entire time, as were Skylar and Harper once Tyson started playing with them. Literally, Tyson was walking around Uncle Vince’s house with Skylar and Harper clinging to each of his legs. Tyson was the center of attention, Anne wishing that it wasn’t because everyone was just finally excited that Anne found a man.

“What do you think of him?” Anne asks Sebby, the two of them watching Tyson and Matthew talking as if there was no one else was in the room. She had heard ‘touchdown’ and ‘linebacker’ come up in conversation, meaning Matthew was going on a rant about the Broncos, something that he did way too often.

Sebby looks him up and down, pursing his lips while he thought about it. “I’m not sure I trust him.”

“Oh, come on,” Anne whines.

“He’s an athlete. And a professional one, at that,” Sebby throws his hands up in defense. Growing up, Sebby was the only one who didn’t really like sports, feeling they were a waste of time when he could be doing something like reading or studying. Sports were only relevant when his siblings were involved, otherwise, he hated them.

“Give him a chance. Please?” Anne begs, not even sure if it were necessary. “He’s not Andy.”

Sebby narrows his eyes at his sister, jumping slightly as Tyson and Matthew start laughing. “Why didn’t you mention him before Christmas?”

“If you remember, I didn’t mention him at Christmas, you did,” Anne scolds him, trying to figure out what story to tell her brother. “And, it was still new. I didn’t want to say anything if it wasn’t going to be something.”

“Is it?”

“Maybe. I think so,” Anne lies. At least, she thought she was lying.

Tyson comes over to Anne while she was talking with Sebby about his upcoming semester, his last one before he graduated from college and hopefully entered law school. He wraps his arms around her, kissing her cheek before resting his chin on her shoulder. “You think I could steal her for a second?” he asks.

Sebby narrows his eyes, Tyson a little thrown off by her brother’s reaction. “Sure.”

Tyson brings Anne into another room, praying that no one would walk in on them. “We didn’t talk about anything we could say to your family about how we met,” he brings up.

“I was planning on deferring that to you since I normally can’t get a word in otherwise,” she admits, even though she hadn’t thought about it before.

“That’s not fair,” Tyson says, looking over Anne’s shoulder to see someone in her family looking at the two of them. “Your family is watching.”

Anne follows Tyson’s gaze, turning and waving at Landon and Lauren. She reaches up and puts her hand on Tyson’s cheek, Tyson taking it with his own and kissing the palm of her hand. “When you see how I get pushed aside at dinner, you’ll understand why it’s fair.”

The two of them continue talking about how they were going to go on with the rest of the day, Anne telling Tyson she was fine with everything he had done so far and really didn’t care if he kept doing it. Anne, not wanting to tell Tyson, liked what he was doing. It felt right for some reason. Was Tyson right that it should have been the two of them kissing at midnight and not her and Cale?

Tyson’s drunken confession from the night before was still ringing in her mind when everyone got called to sit down for dinner. Tyson was still, unsurprisingly, the center of attention. His hand was on Anne’s thigh for most of dinner, Lucy’s eyes never leaving as Anne rested her’s in his. The usual rounds of conversation started, asking Lucy about her medical practice, Jason about Andersen’s, his restaurant that bore his family’s name, Matthew and Steph about work at United, Sebby about how he was feeling going into this last semester of college.

Then the conversation was supposed to turn to Anne, normally swamped with questions about Anne’s lack of love life. Instead, of course, the conversation turned to Tyson.

“How did you two meet?” Teresa asks, giving a smug look to her daughter, “Anne hasn’t told us anything about you.”

Tyson hesitates, figuring Anne wouldn’t want her family knowing they met when she spilled her coffee on him. “I was out with some of my teammates after practice one day,” he starts, hoping that whatever was about to come out of his mouth was good enough. “We were at a coffee shop, and I saw Anne there grabbing something before her shift at the hospital. I saw her smile at the barista when she thanked him for taking her order and,” he looks at her, taking Anne and putting it on the table for her family to see. “Something about that smile of hers I just knew I had to talk to her. I needed her in my life and I’m happy she’s in it.”

He kisses the side of her head, whispering, “we have to remember that story now,” against her skin. When he pulls away, Anne smiles at him, signaling that she would. There was no way she could forget that honestly. Why was pretending to like him so easy?

The conversation stays on him for a little longer, Anne never being asked anything. Finally, Emily stands up with Jimmy, saying they had an announcement. “We’re engaged!” she squeals, holding up her left hand with the ring that she either just put on, or no one noticed as the family congratulated her. Jimmy had proposed at midnight, down on one knee right as whoever they were with said ‘Happy New Year!’

“Another wedding!” Teresa yells, Tony rolling his eyes next to her. He didn’t hate weddings, he hated his wife’s need to spend an extravagant amount of money on a new dress and presents for the couple every time. “And then maybe we’ll have one for Anne in the next year, too, oh Tony we’ll get to plan another wedding.”

“Mom!” Anne scolds, Tyson’s face getting bright red. “That ringing in your ears is not wedding bells.”

The rest of the dinner goes on fine, Anne and her siblings off in one of the rooms while their spouses and Tyson were nowhere to be found.

“I think Tyson’s scared of me,” Lucy says, examining her nails.

“He might just be intimidated by you, Signoria Perfezione,” Anne teases her with the nickname Lucy got when she was little, her need for order prevalent from a young age.

“Yeah, he said that Anne told him how smart you were and he didn’t want to feel stupid around you,” Matthew points out.

“Well, shouldn’t he be intimidated by Anne?” Sebby asks.

“I know you’re trying to compliment me, but your tone says otherwise,” Anne says. “Why don’t you like him?”

The three of them look at their youngest siblings. “There’s something off,” he starts, Anne feeling her heart start to race. “He’s like borderline pretending to be with you.”

“Come on, man, you’re paranoid,” Matthew scoffs, Lucy agreeing.

“I mean,” Sebby explains, “He looks at Anne like he wants to be with her, not like he actually is with her.”

“You’re just over analyzing. We’re together. Probably more together than you and Collins are,” Anne fires back, part of her hating that she was lying to her siblings, the other part of her wondering how much of it was a lie.

Sebby shrugs, “Well yeah, because we broke up.” Anne’s jaw drops, Matthew raises his eyebrows in shock, Lucy the only one to scream and actually make a verbal acknowledgment of what he just said. “Yeah, the other night. She finally blew up over the whole, ‘I don’t want to move to Boston or California,’ thing and said if I wasn’t willing to move to be with her then I wasn’t good enough for her.”

“Oh, I don’t like that,” Anne says.

"Why didn't you tell us," Lucy asks.

"I see how they act about Anne never being with someone," he says, Anne glaring at him. "I'll just find someone in law school and not say anything unless they ask. Plus, I don’t want to be that far away from you guys. Why would I stay with someone who wants me to do that?” he admits.

“Aw, you do like us!” Lucy teases him, her and Matthew tackling him in a hug while Sebby yells for them to get off, yelling louder when Anne joins in.

“Hey, um,” Tyson interrupts, “Sorry, you’re having a moment.”

“No, no, what’s up?” Anne breaks off, going over to him.

“Your aunt said dessert is out,” he tells them, or, rather, tells Anne with her siblings in earshot.

“See, you’re delusional,” Lucy tells Sebby as they walk past Anne and Tyson into the next room.

Tyson looks at her confused, waiting for an explanation. “I think Sebby’s catching on to us pretending,” she shrugs, really not that worried. She and Tyson could talk later about how long this would go on, and if anyone in the family were to find out that it was fake, Sebby would be the one to keep it quiet.

She goes into the next room, leaving Tyson there by himself. “Yeah, pretending,” he says to himself.

[twinklelilstarkey]

Can you do a dad rafe imagine where it’s their daughter first Easter and rafe is just the best dad ever 🥺

Easter - Dad!Rafe Cameron [HC]

Words: 600+

Warnings: None? 

DO NOT REPOST, REWRITE OR TRANSLATE ANY OF MY WORK!

*I didn’t connect this to anything religious. This is mostly about the greatest part in Easter. Aka, the chocolates*

A/N: I believe this gif belongs to @ultraffairs from what google showed, so credits to her. And, btw, if you’d like me to not repost this gif, lmk. I can always delete it.

(Y/D/N = your daughter’s name)

I feel like Rafe would be more excited for Easter than his own daughter;

Whenever your friends would tell you that they were thinking of organizing some sort of party for the kids, Rafe was always all in;

That comes with the usual excitement at the beginning, and that means: trying to keep quiet about it when around the kids;

Something very hard for him, especially his daughter, since he has a lot of babbling conversations with her;

And then, he would offer his help with all the planning;

Like every year, the parents would be given a list of tasks the week before Easter so that everything could be done on the special day;

That means, some buy the chocolates for the “Easter egg hunt” and the others buy decorations;

The parents that usually organize the lists take care of other things, like getting their house ready for the kids and even, sometimes, getting someone to dress up as a Rabbit;

And yes, it has happened that Rafe offered to be the rabbit one time;

Never again;

You still believe kids have nightmares from the time he took his bunny head off and they thought you had decapitated him;

The parents never trusted Rafe to ever do such important tasks as those ones again;

But he’s still excited every year, nonetheless;

He helps you choose the best chocolates for the kids;

He always finds the small bunnies made of chocolate cute, so you always buy those ones;

Whenever you’re asked to come help out with hiding the chocolates in your friends’ garden, Rafe NEEDS to stay home;

He has watched you do it many times, and whenever he’s there, your kid surprisingly gets most of the chocolates;

The parents caught on quite quick, so Rafe is prohibited from appearing in the house until 3pm, when the party starts;

But yes, he’s in the hunt for the eggs (and small bunnies) with the kids, like many of the other parents;

He always holds his daughter’s hand and let’s her do most of the work;

Sometimes he has to bite his tongue when he sees a very obvious pink egg peeking from a bush;

He prefers to not say anything because he loves to see how happy his baby girl gets when she finds everything on her own;

But he does help... when no one is looking;

Topper is one of the parents that come to the egg hunting parties too;

And let’s just say that there’s a big rivalry between the Thornton and the Cameron families;

They’re not the only ones;

Not from the other side of the family, though, you’re always on the sidelines with the other mothers or fathers, with a glass of any alcoholic beverage, as the kids (and dads) fight for the chocolates as if they’re gold;

Rafe does let his baby girl go on her own sometimes;

He uses those times to flirt his way with you to try and get the bunnies and eggs all to your daughter;

Doesn’t work, but you two always have fun with that;

He always comes back to Y/D/N when she starts stumbling too much over the grass;

But he’s the assistant, honestly. His daughter bosses him around so much with her babbles that all the parents stop to laugh at the pair;

When the counting starts, (which, by the way, is something that the kids do not care about, the counting of the chocolates is totally for the parents’ rivalry to continue throughout the years) the parents go insane;

Rafe even sweats a little;

Oh, and when he wins to Topper...

He doesn’t shut up about it until next year’s;

And when he loses, he whines a whole lot to you the whole day;

You honestly end up with two kids by the end of the day;

Two sugar high kids with all the chocolate they ate;

The thing is that one of them is over the age of the 20 and the other not even completely 2 years old;

But you wouldn’t have it any other way.

Hope you guys liked this!