#gonna try to keep going though we'll see
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this season of ted lasso saying sam should forgive racists who vandalized the restaurant and then you know, dropping anything to do with that storyline immediately afterwards
and the saying jamie should forgive his abusive father bc hating him apparently isn’t good for him or whatever
doesn’t feel great tbh
#ted lasso#like yes absolutely tbf for some people spending that energy hating their abuser doesn't work#and they ultimately decide to forgive for themselves which i get is what they were advocating for#in his and ted's convo#but it's also like i don't even think jamie HAS had a lot of hatred bc so much of the time has been trying to prove himself to his father#and with sam they had that weird bit like 'oh we'll keep the broken mirrors bc it doesn't have to be perfect'#bc he was so concerned about everything being just right with the restaurant like...this was not that#could've kept the mirrors sure but not comparing it to the issue from earlier like....it was intended to be a violent attack#and then ya know. just never mentioned again all wrapped up apparently bc he chose to let it go#which hey they can absolutely go the route of sam choosing to let it go but that doesn't mean the problem is gonna go away#it's just like the whole thing i get forgiveness is a big part of the show but these are two things that i just don't love to see#though at least with jamie they've dedicated a good amount of the show to that particular issue and it's not so with sam#and they gave so much to colin's story line?? which has been pretty well done ofc but they were really like#sam gets a single episode and it's all wrapped up in the end bye like WHAT#ik with so many characters they can't devote the same amount of time to everyone but like....they should've done better for sam#and now there's only one ep left so ya know. i thought they might come back to it but they did not
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Hey y'all. So, you guys might have noticed that I've been kinda inactive/not responding to messages quickly. I wanted to apologize, but also warn that this might not get better soon?
The main reasons I haven't been responding is because either, my wrists are hurting so bad that I can't type for long (or my other chronic pain is acting up), I'm so tired that I can't think of interacting, I'm helping out my family, or I'm having a bad episode(?) (Not entirely what's going on on those days, to be real)
I'm sorry, but I do have a happier note!! I want to say, thank you all so much if you have messaged me, interacted with me, reblogged from me, anything, recently. It makes these days so much lighter, makes me so much happier, even if I can't respond.
And to my friends who message me frequently: thank you. I love you all so, so much. I really really want to reply soon hopefully, but in the meantime know that you guys are so sweet, so fun, so awesome, and I love you 💙💙
(And to my friends who I haven't talked with in a bit, love you guys too <333)
#I've been in a bit of a sad rut because the doctors keep saying they can't help me#meanwhile the pain is getting worse#and it scares me. the idea that I might not get better...#but at the very least#my dad has been trying so hard to help#and recently got me wrist braces which are a LIFESAVER#so I actually might be able to type or draw more soon?? we'll see#but yeah. we're gonna keep moving forward#my dad says he's confident that we'll find something to help me#so we're going to do just that :)#I promise#usually I don't like apologizing for not responding because I think it's incredibly fine and valid and okay if someone doesn't respond to me#but I guess I just wanted to let y'all know what's going on?#wanted to be understood methinks#fgdvdbb sorry if this was. a bit of a downer#thank you though. if you've read this far :) <3333#love you all#also also#love you so much Owl and Strawber :] 💙💙💖💕 thank you guys for messaging me <333#cow talks#tw vent#kinda#vent
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this year i need to learn how to draw HANDS and also do some proper anatomy studies so i can stop just doing lucky guesstimation work djfkdl
also i want to make refs for my self inserts and also maybe try to fight my fear and finally commission an artist at some point sbfhdkdl
#my other new years resolutions include trying a different pasta shape each month and learning abt two new countries each month#and also practicing accordion daily as much as possible fjfkl im allowing myself to skip one day but not more than one day at a time#so if i skip one day then i have to practice the next day... cant skip two days in a row!!#we'll see how long i can keep that up for though sjdksl BUT IM GOING TO TRY!!#anyways yay new years i hope everyone is doing okay !!! i appreciate u all and i hope everyone has a decent first day of 2024 !!!#i am going to sleep now fjdkls its almost 2am omfg im gonna be absolutely wrecked tomorrow#dandy.cmd
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Since it's December when I'm writing this chapter, the next Experiment Goes Wrong chapter has a small flashback from the Christmas Party AU and directly comes from the original comic.
I know it's only the 6th of December, but Merry Christmas everyone!
#it was enjoyable to write that scene#and I'm gonna try and get it out before I have to go back to work in an hour#we'll see though#im really behind on all of my stories haha#when I post Experiment Gone Wrong's Chapter#I'll probably make a poll or something#so keep an eye out for that#harper talks for no reason#writing
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The Ruined pizzaplex is steeped in death and disrepair, it’s almost to the point that when the others are finally Meteor-ed, they don’t even know if they’ll survive escaping the damn place. None of them know, it’s a death trap. I don’t even think some of them expected to live for long after they escaped
But then they do, and they’re in a completely unfamiliar world that’s saturated with life and it’s unlike anything they’ve ever been exposed to before. Fazent always carried that touch of death, yknow? They never knew any different.
But then they claw their way into the light and someone is wrapping a blanket around their shoulders and giving them a bottle of water and asking if they’re ok because they must’ve just been Changed, they look so disoriented, and they don’t know what to do.
But they have each other, they’re *alive* again. The scars will never go away, but they have each other, and they desperately hope that’s enough.
YOU COME INTO MY HOUSE-
Fsdfsdf nah though you're on the right lines with this... may I offer...
The Plex is dead. It's stagnant, forever unchanging and is left to rot like all the other bodies under the floorboards. Those that remain are rotting and hurt, discarded like broken and unwanted toys and abandoned in the ruins of what is the only world, the only home they've ever known.
... But it's not dead.
How can it be? They're still there. They're still alive.
And like a phoenix rising from the ashes, they'll realise that for themselves and start laying the kindle for their fire.
#GFDSDFS#didn't know whether to leave it at a funny joke or try and like. give you something here#what I'm saying here is that my brain is making complicated metaphors for a story it hasn't actually finished cooking yet lmao#i dunno the concept of life and death is probably gonna be pretty crucial here#it's just different to them and it always has been so what makes something dead or alive is...#well I can already think of like. at least four examples off the top of my head where this would be relevant#nah the intricacies and the layers of what I want are all here for the most part so I just gotta like. weave the rest of the story together#with it's characters and their choices and the lives they are leading#I'm spinning in circles on meanings and shit cause my brain is buzzing like a hive of bees over the fucking#LAYERS of a HUGE plot thing that will be part of the major resolution at the end#it's like a god damn wedding cake or I dunno#onions??#maybe onions given if I do it right it WILL cause some tears lmao#nah though we'll see how this plays out#I'm most likely overcomplicating and at some point I'll just grab the threads and pull the stupid brain knots out for this lmao#but nah what I'm going for IS complicated cause I've never tried an approach like this before so like#it's keeping my brain chugging for realsies#meteors au#pop rox answers
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.,. ._. <- small guys :0
#just me hi#wish i could make one that looks like a frog‚ but alas#//ANYWAY i just realized recently that i don't have any good refs for Oath lol???#i've had this dude for a solid year and i never made a ref for him hhh#the fact that i didn't Need one though is nice lol#like his face is either covered or you can't see anything past the shoulders hfdhjhsjhf#How Did This Happen#even AURA has a ref and i forget she exists sometime [dies]#but Anyway i Am making a full-body piece rn so :3 maybe it'll look nice but also i am Scared of what i'm going to do rn hfvbhfsj#not confidant in my ability to draw lighting things but a lack of confidence failed to stop me before so !!#//also trying to finish up on this fpaa chap but i keep adding things to the dialogue and ohhhhhhhhhhh my gooooooooosh i need to stooooooop#hfdj i just wanna Finish the darn thing!! i'd Like to figure out where this story Going already hhvdhbdj#i have a Pretty Good Vague Idea of where it's goin but also i don't know what i'm doing lollll#done that before tho so we'll survive bdshbvd#//also question is it‚ like‚ bad to stare off into oblivion while paying for stuff at the gas station#because my brother was paying and i always feel like i'm being weird when i clock out for a moment hbvhdfj#'oh we're not doing anything. good byeₑₑ'#Worse when I'm paying and the employee is doin stuff. do i also need to do stuff ? ??#i'm confuzzled and stricken with the Curses in public hvhfjshfsj#//but ANYWAY i'm gonna go tryta finish my two things i have going on lol :DD#toodlesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss !!
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Working on a commission, vibrating up and down excitedly abt it :3c
#pikaposts#:3c :3c :3c#i've Technically had commissions open for a long-ass time but i never advertise bc i'm Nervous y'know#like ough oof ouch idk if i can live up to expectations especially when money is involved#and bc i never know how my health is gonna go#but drawing other people's characters. Fun. trying new things Fun.#i really have been enjoying drawing more- even though it keeps injuring my knee really bad#which yes is absurd. don't ask how the fuck it happens bc i sure as hell don't know.#my right knee is so fragile it's can't handle. anything. ever. sitting injures it if i don't wear a brace#[slaps my already worn-out knee brace] this bad boy is necessary for making art. even more important than a pencil#BUT ANYWAYS yeah i'm having fun#yippeeee#we'll see if the fun turns to Oh Fuck Oh No later
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ugh.
woke up in a pool of my own blood on sunday (thanks uterus) after being in so much back pain for 3 days (thanks uterus). still managed to cook, clean the kitchen, do laundry, dishes, vacuum, crochet and not lose my mind over my choir basically imploding and had a nice dinner out with a friend
i paid the price today
work meeting at 9am (ridiculous) mostly concerning budgeting (none of my damn business y'all could have let me sleep), in a lot of pain still and now extra tired. have to be at the office until 5.30 and then teaching 6-7pm i will be dead by the time i get home
tomorrow consists of lots of stupid stupid tasks for work and i have to take the metro and the bus and i'm already so done with this week halp
#i have a nice homemade lasagna waiting for me in the fridge though!! and a clean apartment!! and i'm gonna try to join a new choir!!#but omg going to the rehearsal space and making a dumb video to get google verified#plus going to the post office#and finding stupid in-ear microphones in storage#it's gonna suck#on the plus side i get to turn my brain off in public transportation#and then keep it turned off while copying addresses onto envelopes#trying this new “being positive while acknowledging the sucky parts of life” we'll see how it goes#personal#if any of you actually read my rant posts i'm sorry y'all
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𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐅𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐒𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐃, 𝐉𝐉𝐊 𝐌𝐄𝐍 —
a small series of Jujutsu Kaisen men as your husband !
☆ OUR STARS : Gojo Satoru, Nanami Kento, Geto Suguru, Choso Kamo, Aoi Todo, Toji Fushiguro, and more !
━ REQUESTED BY : none
━ WARNINGS : none
ෆ PIXIE'S NOTE ! : were back again at daily posting 🙏🏻 to my pookies who supported me, y'all made me giggle and kickin' my feet in my bed last night 👉🏻👈🏻 love lots!
GOJO SATORU, as your husband !
• Gojo being your husband is no different from being your boyfriend — he still gotta be that same person you dated few years ago, though he became more serious about situations and decisions because you guys are married but his goofy, annoying, clingy side is still there — I mean when he met you and been with you for like two weeks your caller name is already set as 'wifey'.
Gojo who totally acts like a mom when you leave for work, he is like a freaking HOUSEWIFE —
"honey!" he sings as he walks into the living room seeing you brush your hair Infront of the mirror, getting ready for work. "hmm?" you responded and quickly turns your head at him — he's wearing a this is what an awesome husband looks like apron which made you too stunned to speak, "I created a bento for you." he smiles as he hands out a nicely wrapped bento box which was really new to you because it's always you who keep creating bentos for him, usually when he leaves for a mission.
"thank you, honey." you say softly with a warm smile as you accept his bento that he specially created for you, he can't help but to feel like a love sick teenager seeing you smile like that. He officially takes the position of being a housewife 🫡
Gojo who couldn't stop talking about the future he wants with you like nonstop — this man would talk about having three million carbon copy of him with you and would name them after megumi, yuji, nanami and basically all of his friends, students, and dead relatives 🏃🏻♀️💨 — I FEEL LIKE HE GOTTA BE THAT TYPE OF PERSON.
Gojo always flexes you everyday and YOU are his hyper fixation — argue with the wall, he gotta be the type of man to say "she's my wife." randomly when he's talking to an old friend he haven't seen for a long time. HE WILL BE THE HUSBAND WHO YOU WILL SEE WEARING "I LOVE MY WIFE" TYPE OF SHIRT WITH THE UGLIEST FONT AND PHOTO TEMPLATE EVER. Once a person mentions your name he ain't gonna shut the fuck up.
I just know this marriage go'n be like Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively's relationship 🙏🏻 ABSOLUTELY RANDOM TEXTS FROM HIM, UPDATING YOU TOO MUCH.
2:32 pm
gojo : shitting at the mall cuz i don't have anywhere to shit on.
gojo : [sent an attachment]
gojo : i miss you my wife, my beautiful wife.
gojo : [sent an attachment]
gojo : [sent an attachment]
gojo : your very handsome husband ❤️
2:40 pm
you : stop spamming me messages love, im at work 🙏🏻
gojo : why? is it turning you on 😏
you : that's a photo of your feet.
Gojo who became a seriously hands on person when you told him that you're pregnant — when he has missions with yuji, megumi, or maybe nobara and you told him that you're very tired to do anything today he will be like,"okay kids, I got to go I have important things to do." and dashed away before they could say something and mf arrived at yalls house within a second.
Gojo who cried when he carry his baby for the first time, he was sobbing like hell — girl dad? boy dad? BRO HE IS BOTH ‼️ "okay we'll name this one suguru and this one-" he is going to come up with the most ridiculous names, probably the worst one was his dead ancestor.
okay seriously, Gojo would be a full time dad after his children were born — he will always stay at home as much as he can, having twins isn't easy plus he's trying to help you with his full power and make sure you don't feel alone through this.
"gojo.." you grumble as you felt his presence disappearing next to you at bed, you open your eyes and sees he wasn't there which led you to stand up and start looking for him — you walk out of the bedroom and noticed that the twin's bedroom door was open so you check it out.
in your suprise, gojo was in the rocking chair with the twin's in his arms peacefully sleeping and he is snoring like hell. You can't help but smile seeing this moment, it warms you heart. You quickly grabbed your phone and took a quick photo, this is what you exactly wished for.
Gojo who couldn't stop posting you and his little angels and his fans are absolutely living for it, it's like his day wouldn't complete without posting cute photos of his angels and of course, you as well. Gojo is indeed a Facebook mom —
; gojosatoru
tagged : @y/n.instagram | fam time 🤍 !
liked by megumi.22 and 8,957 others
itaaa.yuji | I volunteer as a tribute to babysit them 🫡
nobaraaa | CUTIES.
shokoleiri.7 | adorbs
─ REBLOGS, LIKES, AND COMMENTS ARE APPRECIATED FEEL FREE TO REQUEST!
#gojo satoru x reader#gojo satoru x y/n#gojo satoru#jjk gojo#gojo smut#gojo x reader#gojo angst#gojo fluff#jujutsu gojo#jujutsu no kaisen#jjk smau#geto suguru#geto suguru x reader#nanami kento x reader#choso x reader#aoi todo x reader#toji smut#toji fushiguro#nanami smut#geto smut#megumi x reader#yuji x reader#nobara x reader
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can you do a smau if you want where the reader is a driver and makes music on the side (music like sza or Megan thee stallion and kaliii) and she makes a music video for area codes and all her other music and it has the drivers in it
𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 (𝐟𝟏) - 𝐲𝐧. 𝟎
summary: you make hit songs when you’re not driving a formula one car. your fellow drivers love to feature in your music videos. content warning: driver!reader makes music. toxic internet culture. profanity. hateful comments. attempt at humor. fluffy. light angst ig. there's no specific face claim, just pretty black women! ex-haas driver, current aston martin driver!reader. reader is american. seb retires in 2021, fernando is on the grid just not with aston martin. nikita mazepin mention lol. lando norris and george russell get bullied (humor). light british slander. no plot just vibes. pairing: platonic f1 grid x fem!black!driver!reader genre: smau.
from serene: i have a disease and it's called "being unable to make a normal length smau." it's a sickness, idk if i'll ever be abl to fulfill a request without the plot running away from me. anyways, enjoy loves xxx
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yn ln signs multi-year contract with aston martin • espn f1 • 2021 post-season
ESPN F1 yn ln has signed a multi-year contract with Aston Martin! The American driver completes the team’s lineup with Lance Stroll. Even though she was an F4, F3, and GP3 Champion, and she won the F2 Championship on her first try with Prema; her F1 career began with unexpected opportunities and last-minute substitutions—becoming a reserve driver for Haas and filling in for Romain Grosjean after his accident in 2020, and then replacing Nikita Mazepin halfway through the 2021 F1 season—an official seat of her own in Formula One was a long time coming and well deserved. Congratulations to yn ln, the first Black woman to race in Formula One!
instagram • yn0 • 2022 pre-season
liked by astonmartinf1, lewishamilton, maxverstappen, sza, and 3,451,967 others
yn0: i have always believed that being an f1 driver would become my reality. it was a never a dream to me because i KNEW i was going to make it here. i’m incredibly thankful to haas for giving my first chance to race in the big league and i will miss all the incredible people who helped me grow and improve while i was there. however, i am extremely grateful and excited to have a seat of my own at aston martin in 2022 and onward. some critics have called me "conceited" to bet on myself, so i made a song just for them < 3
tagged astonmartinf1
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yn0 on sundays, we wear green 💚
➥ user1 you're an inspiration to all women in motorsport, especially women of color 💚💚💚
➥ user2 praying that your aston is quicker than your haas! prove the haters wrong 😤
astonmartinf1: we'll bet on you every race! can't wait to play this in the garage 💚
haasf1team: take care of our songbird 🥲
➥ haasf1team: and keep the tea and honey STOCKED for her vocal cords
➥ user3: i’m gonna cry :(
user4: yeah who paid for her seat? no way she got it off skill. she's never been above p12. f1 has changed for the worse now that a woman's out there. she's a hazard.
➥ user5: incel mindset 😒
➥ user6: bro she was in a haas. reaching p12 in that car is enough of an achievement. better than mazepin ever did, even with his daddy's money 🤷♂️
lewishamilton: LFG 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽 can't wait to see you in the paddock
➥ yn0: lfgggggg 🤸🏾♀️🤸🏾♀️🤸🏾♀️
➥ yn0: i wouldn't be racing at all if i didn't see you do it first :)
sebastianvettel: prove them all wrong and never apologize for it.
➥ yn0: i learned from the best 🥹 happy retirement, seb!
mickschumacher: "no reason to make friends, i'm cool"??? is that line about somebody else or should i be worried 🤨
➥ maxverstappen: yeah let us know 🙄 your seat on the jet can be revoked
➥ yn0: bros...we all know who it's really about
➥ user8: you can say it's about mazepin nobody will be mad at that 🤗🤗🤗
landonorris: wish it was papaya, but i can't wait to see you in green!
➥ yn0: you know what?i think I CAN wait
➥ yn0: i'm actually going to quit f1 rn i think 😐
➥ user9: lando stop, get some help
lancestroll: hi teammate!
➥ yn0: hi teammate!
➥ user6: oh,,, this is awkward
charlesleclerc: finally 🙌🏻 i thought you would never drop this song
➥ yn0: the music is more important than my f1 seat to you 🙂
➥ charlesleclerc: encore encore encore 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
georgerussell: i would be happy for you if i didn't know this meant you'll be bullying me every race weekend
➥ alexalbon: she smells your fear which makes you an easy target
➥ alexalbon: CONGRATSSS 🥳🥳🥳🥳
➥ yn0: 🤭
instagram • yn0 • 2022
liked by charlesleclerc, lewishamilton, megantheestallion, and 2,191,042 others
yn0: thee "cognac queen" learns how to celebrate their FIRST EVER f1 points in italy with their honorary prince 🇮🇹 im in my gacccc, i wanna danceeee, come get yo man, come getcho maaaannnnn 🍾🍾🍾
tagged charlesleclerc
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user10: WOOOOOAH WHATS ABOUT TO PLAY 😳
➥ user11: she PUT IT ON HIM last night apparently 🫣
➥ user12: he calling her BACK TO BACK????
astonmartinf1: you only win first points once but you only have one liver. please show up to the paddock next week 🥴
➥ yn0: don't worry admin i'll be there bright and early!
➥ user13: drink responsibly kids alcohol poisoning is not fun
➥ user14: aston martin shouldn't stress. it sounds like charles took very good care of her 😏😏😏
user15: i feel like i shouldn't be allowed to watch that video (i'm 23)
➥ user16: they were having a tiiiiiiiiime out in italy 🫦
➥ user17: if she was all over me like she was on charles i would be asking about marriage. he's so much stronger than i am 🙂↔️
charlesleclerc: went courvoisier crazyyyy
➥ charlesleclerc: je suis très fière de toi (i'm very proud of you) ❤️
➥ yn0: thank you charlieee (for the mv too x) 😚
➥ user18: oh so she really got charles thinking that he's her man???
➥ user19: you were DOGGING it? i didn’t know charles had it in him 🐶🐶🐶
user20: ew this is gross. charles is in a happy relationship and we're all going to pretend like yn isn't a homewrecker???
➥ user21: i was waiting to see this comment! this is like proof she used her body to get on the grid 👀
mickschumacher: no way you put charles in a video before me...i thought we were locked in 😞
➥ yn0: mick be so for real. you hate cognac :(
➥ user22: mick said we suffered through haas together and you already forgot about me
landonorris: are you looking for a cognac king?
➥ alexalbon: boys point and laugh 🫵🏼🤣
➥ charlesleclerc: 🫵🏻🤣
➥ maxverstappen: 🫵🏻🤣
➥ georgerussell: 🫵🏻🤣
➥ mickschumacher: 🫵🏻🤣🤣🤣💀
➥ user23: 🫵🏾🤣
lewishamilton: xnda feature when you make it on the podium
➥ yn0: i'll be up there next week.
➥ user24: bring back xnda girl !!! for all of us 🙇🏽♀️
instagram • yn0 • 2022
liked by alexalbon, astonmartinf1, maxverstappen, sza, and 4,233,761 others
yn0: my girl is my girl, is your girl, heard that's his girl too...he's like 9 to 5, i'm "the weekend"
tagged alexalbon, lilymhe
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astonmartinf1: highest race finish of your career can you drop a fire song to celebrate 🥵
➥ lancestroll: team karaoke when????
➥ yn0: make it happen and i will show out for y'all 💯
user25: this video was funny af! my favorite song from you so far 😁
➥ user26: yessss i was not expecting her to flip the song in the video like that 🤌🏻💋
➥ user27: the premise of her and alex fighting over lily was perfect 👌🏽
lilymhe: make me lose my mind every weekend 😮💨
➥ alexalbon: you take wednesday thurday 🧎🏼♂️➡️
➥ yn0: then just send her my wayyyyy 🤤
➥ user28: think i got it covered for the weekend 🎤🎶
landonorris: i'm available any day of the week with no other commitments blocking my schedule ☺️
➥ georgerussell: mate this is embarrasing
➥ mickschumacer: lando no wins & no rizz what a shame 😒
➥ user29: MICK CHILLLLL ⁉️⁉️
➥ user30: whatdidhedo to deserve that calm downnnn
➥ charlesleclerc: lando please just listen to the song like everybody else this is painful to see 😣
maxverstappen: you laced this song with something addictive
➥ schecoperez: i hear it on repeat through the wall he is not lying
➥ user31: yn ln gives you wings 🤪
user32: just because lily was in the video and yn made the focus of the song about her doesn't mean that the orginal song is okay? it's not like she stopped singing about being a side chick.
➥ user33: no, it literally IS okay. because lily and alex both said they made the song with her and were happy to be in the video 🙂
➥ user34: i don't know, lily agreeing to the video makes me dislike her
➥ user35: yeah this song was a miss not a good message at all
instagram • danica patrick • 2022
liked by 10,764 others
danicapatrick: “This past weekend the Aston Martin F1 crew celebrated yn’s P5 finish track side and, honestly, that was unnecessary. It’s not like she managed to reach the podium and personally, I feel like she doesn’t take F1 seriously. I mean, it seems like she spends more time making explicit songs than she does preparing for a race weekend. Her little songs are a distraction to the men on the grid and she appears as a promiscuous, immature, and unfocused girl. She’s not the formula one standard, in my opinion.”
I discuss yn ln’s career in the new episode of my podcast, Pretty Intense! Click the link in my bio to hear it all!
tagged prettyintensebydanica
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user36: ms. patrick are you familiar with the idea of having a hobby 🤔
nicorosberg: how are you qualified to be an expert on sky sports?
user37: woman who's never raced in f1 gives her unsolicited opinion on the only black woman to race in f1 😂
user38: danica this screams jealousy girl
user39: nothing is worse than hearing a fellow girl hate like a man smh
user40: "her little songs" disrespectful as hell don't forget one of them charted on billboard's top 10 😤
user41: SHE GOT P5 IN AN ASTON MARTIN how is that not taking f1 seriously????
user42: if her songs were a distraction to the men on the grid aren't they the ones who should be described as unfocused🤫
➥ user42: anyways, yn would be doing us a favor. maybe max wouldn't win as many races if that were the case
instagram • yn0 • 2022 post-season
liked by dominicfike, keithpowers, tchalamet, summerwalker, and 7,988,531 others
yn0: "girls need love," too.
view comments
user43: OH MY GOD the drought is over 😭😭😭
➥ user44: i thought we'd never get another song after the hate she was getting for it 😫
michaelbjordan: are you interested in a private studio session?
➥ landonorris: she don't want u lil bro 🤣
➥ user45: yn's pulling with three photo's and a song,,,teach me your ways
astonmartinf1: the spine tattoo 😍 good choice to get it during the off-season 💚
➥ user46: i misjudged you aston... i thought y'all told her to stop making music glad to see the support is still there :)
mickschumacher: let’s go get some gelato?
➥ yn0: as long as you don’t snitch to my trainer 😚
➥ mickschumacher: i’ll pick you up 😇
➥ landonorris: imma bout to crash TF out ong 💢💢
patriciooward: there's a spot on my side of the garage whenever you want to watch an indycar race
➥ landonorris: oh wow is this really what we're doing pato 😐
➥ user47: the tension in this comment section scares me
jjetas2: if you're near minnesota one day fall through
➥ landonorris: win a superbowl first 🥱😴
➥ user48: LANDO you haven't won a race or a championship either 😭
judebellingham: have you gotten any better at football since the last time we spoke?
➥ landonorris: knew i supported man united for a reason 😒
lore_musetti: call me if you want a real italian to give you a tour of italy x
➥ landonorris: didn't know an italian could disrespect charles like that honestly 🤨
➥ user49: 💀💀💀
instagram • yn0 • 2023
liked by georgerussell, mickschumacher, megantheestallion, and 4,178,063 others
yn0: japanese nightlife captured in my new music video “mamushi” !!! thank uuu yuki-san for being my tour guide 💋💋💋💋💋💋
tagged yukitsunoda
view comments
georgerussell: i quite enjoy this song 😌
➥ alexalbon: bro what
➥ yn0: tEa aND cRuMPets SConEs AnD biScUIts 💂🇬🇧
charlesleclerc: triple platinum in my house rn ⭐️⭐️⭐️
➥ alexandrasaintmleux: i'm responsible for at least a million views on my own 🥱
➥ yn0: 💚💚💚💚💚
user50: at least we know that yn and yuki can qualify for formula drift if they ever lose their f1 seat
➥ user51: 95% of the driving they were doing in that video looked illegal (but fun asl i'm not a buzzkill)
➥ user52: she's a bad influence on yuki 🙄
➥ user53: i don't think you're familiar with yuki tsunoda at all @/user52
maxverstappen: yeah the song is catchy; where's mine 🥱
➥ yn0: damn you're gonna win a third championship this year and you want a song too 😱
➥ yn0: just big and greedy fr 😒
➥ user54: big back attitude
➥ user55: like sheesh leave something for the rest of us 🤯
user50: gets p3 in suzuka driving an aston 🗿-> shrugs when asked how she did it 🗿 -> makes a banger mv in japan with yuki 🗿 -> refuses to elaborate 🗿
pierregasly: yuki explain your behavior in this video
➥ yukitsunoda: no 🤗
➥ user56: maybe he would've told you if you stayed at alphatauri
➥ user57: now you're in an alpine 🫵🏻😭
instagram • yn0 • 2023 post-season
liked by charlesleclerc, logansargeant, glorillathepimp, and 9,337,272 others
yn0: he don't "wanna be" saved don't save him 🤫
tagged maxverstappen
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yn0: i don't need insurance cause a bitch CAN'T WRECK ME
➥ user58: no like she's never been in a crash her entire f1 career 🤓
➥ user59: she's untouchable srs
logansargeant: WHITE BOY WASTED CHANNING TATUM
➥ yn0: hoes love me like justin bieber 👅👅👅
user60: omg an old picture from yn's haas era when max's redbull wasn't a rocket ship 😩
➥ haasf1team: good times
➥ astonmartinf1: 💚💚💚
maxverstappen: you graduated from the max verstappen school of being unstoppable 😼
➥ charlesleclerc: austria 2022
➥ georgerussell: brazil 2022
➥ mickschumacher: my dad’s 7 championships
➥ alexalbon: i have nothing to add (literally)
➥ maxverstappen: out of the five of us we have three total world championships and they're all mine 😐
glorillathepimp: go yn 🥵
➥ yn0: get it glo 👅
➥ user61: i am no better than a man
➥ user62: i want this video tattooed on my eyelids
mickschumacher: i don't wanna be saved don't save me
➥ yn0: on gang 🤞🏾🔒🙅🏾♀️
kellypiquet: twenty missed calls...
➥ yn0: i would like to initiate a trade! i offer: max :) in return i receive: my twin p 🤲🏾
➥ kellypiquet: i will have a bag packed for her TONIGHT
➥ user63: kelly definitely won in that trade agreement! a childfree night??? sign me the fuck up ‼️
user64: i didn't think it was possible but this song is the worst thing she's ever made 😂
➥ user65: it's weird. max is in a committed relationship with a woman and has bonded with her kid. yn's getting involved with him when she shouldn't be 🤷♀️
➥ user66: girl she's been around since wayyyy before kelly as max's friend.
➥ user67: she forced max into friendship when they were karting back when he thought he couldn't have racing friends🥺
➥ user66: trauma bonded besties fr
sky sports f1 • 2024 testing
instagram • yn0 • 2024
liked by natalie_pinkham, danielricciardo, laybankz and 5,438,023 others
yn0: (my honest reaction when the internet can't stop talking shit about me) can't i make fun music videos without being called a homewrecker or a whore? sometimes "girls just wanna" f1 !
view comments
user68: no bc she makes hot girl music and y'all dont appreciate it 🤷🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️
➥ user69: if you don't like her music you're not a baddie i don't make the rules 🙅🏻♀️
user70: did she just make the song of the summer 😱😵💫☠️
➥ user71: song of the YEAR !!! and people calling her a whore smh
landonorris: what if you make an mv with me and instead of being called a whore i call you my girlfriend?
➥ mickschumacher: corny. delete your account 🚮
➥ user72: i disagree with mick, he ate that up imo 👀
➥ user73: isn't he messing around with that model/actress though…
➥ user74: you mean m*gui lol
➥ yn0: who's that
➥ user74: lando's recent sneaky link or gf i thought
➥ yn0: oh
charlesleclerc: if i were to call you one thing it would not be homewrecker or whore ✊🏻
➥ charlesleclerc: it would be hit-maker because you DO NOT MISS 😩
➥ alexalbon: one could even call her the 🐐
➥ georgerussell: grammy caliber artist
➥ maxverstappen: they compare her to lebron and simone biles in discussion of being the greatest of all time 😌
➥ yn0: just yesterday y'all said i give slut energy (affectionately) 😕
➥ maxverstappen: many things can be true at the same time
➥ charlesleclerc: false ‼️ accusations
sabrinacarpenter: girls just wanna have fun 😋
➥ user75: OMG sabrina what are you doing here
➥ user76: what in the disney channel crossover episode is going on
imessage • yn -> lando
instagram • yn0 • 2024
liked by mclaren, mickschumacher, lewishamilton, laybankz, and 8,765,392 others
yn0: dropping the "tell ur girlfriend" video tonight as celebration for lando's first win (me next please!) i DO NOT codone cheating but the song is too hard for me to pretend like it's not a banger 🤪
tagged landonorris
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landonorris: you look good in papaya 🧡🧡🧡
➥ astonmartinf1: it's a little too much for our tastes 🤢
➥ yn0: i look good in any color but i do happen to prefer green 💚
➥ user77: i think lando's on to smth w the orange tho 🤔
landonorris: that's my girlfriend !!!!
➥ yn0: NO I AM NOT ❌❌❌
➥ yn0: WE WERE ACTING IN THIS MUSIC VIDEO
➥ yn0: LANDO I WILL SUE YOU FOR DEFAMATION 🤬
➥ landonorris: i'll wait for you 😔
➥ mickschumacher: she's so uninterested in you mate 🙃
user78: he gets his first win and a yn ln music video i know he's on cloud nine 😭😭😭
➥ user79: lando how does it feel to be living my dream 😩
oscarpiastri: oh thank god maybe he'll stop talking about you nonstop now that he got a video 🙏🏻
➥ landonorris: bro delete this comment
➥ user80: i screenshotted it too late 🫡
user81: she doesn't condone cheating but makes a song promoting it anyways 😑
➥ user82: she doesn't condone cheating but messes with lando even though she knows he's taken by magui 😑
➥ user83: she doesn't condone cheating but makes a song about it because it sounds fucking fire 🫦👅🔥🔥🔥
alexalbon: great video too much lando for me 😪
➥ georgerussell: he really just ruined the vibe
➥ charlesleclerc: y'all just mad you haven't been in one of her videos yet 🙂↔️
➥ maxverstappen: i don't see how you can hate from outside of the club 🤷��♂️
➥ landonorris: you can't even get in 🫵🏻🤣
twitter • yn0
instagram • yn -> the day ones
instagram • yn0 • 2024 post-season
liked by maxverstappen, fernandoalonso, zhouguanyu24, kaliii and 12,779,436 others
yn0: hoes mad about my roster being INTERNATIONAL smh stay mad and watch the music video for "area codes" it features all the men (my FRIENDS ✨) you'll never have a chance with 😇😚🤗🤭🤤💚💚💚
tagged f1
view comments
user84: no xnda feature but she got lewis in the fucking video
user85: i just wannna know hwo the fuck she got checo to be in the video 💀
user86: idc what the haters say: she just said y'all have no motion, no aura, no bitches and what are you gonna do about it 😳😳😱
user89: she got lando and mick in a photo together??? how they've been beefing in her comments for years 😧
➥ user90: can't believe im saying this but esteban did not deserve to be punished like that 😬
georgerussell: i am the one feeding her pasta and lobster btw
➥ yn0: you don't send me money tho :(
➥ georgerussell: you are an f1 driver too you don't need my money 🧐
charlesleclerc: can you leave some talent for the rest of us 😒
➥ yn0: bro u are mozart on your days off be serious
lilymhe: cause why are u never in town 😞
➥ alexalbon: cause she'll steal you from me 😭😫
➥ yn0: i'm pulling up rn lils 🫦
lewishamilton: you want a mercedes or a xnda feature?
➥ yn0: im tryna take the mercedes seat you left behind 👀
➥ user91: omfg toto sign herrrrrrrr ✍️
maxverstappen: anything for my favorite lady 🙇🏼🧎🏼♂️
➥ yn0: i gotta go they just lmk that i could pick up my mercedes 🏃🏾♀️💨
user92: lando in two photos? sus
➥ landonorris: you said it not me 🤫
➥ mickschumacher: bro you acted like her shadow the entire night don't let it go to your head 😠
fernandoalonso: very fun song!
➥ user93: you too old to be doin all that fernando :/
➥ user94: literally choked when i saw him in the video
logansargeant: hey you did manage to get me in "one of your little music videos" 🤭
➥ yn0: if only they knew that you agreed with a bribe of two zebra cakes
➥ user95: they couldn't fathom the delicacy that is a zebra cake 🤤
yn0: stop pretending to dislike my songs and realize that the boys are my homies. you'll be a lot happier when you come to terms with that 🥱
© httpsserene 2024
#f1 x reader#f1 x black!reader#f1 x driver!reader#f1 x female reader#f1 smau#max verstappen x reader#charles leclerc x reader#alex albon x reader#george russell x reader#mick schumacher x reader#serene’s chapters.#⋆⭒˚。⋆. series special: formula 1
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𐙚 : SOMEONE WALKING IN ON YOU W/ ENHYPEN HYUNG LINE (reaction) ֶָ֢ !
content warning. oral ( f. receiving ), unprotected sex, getting caught, mean dom sunghoon
request: reaction to being cockblocked with enhypen plzz 🩷?
authors note. i hope you like it 🤍😌!!!
MINORS DON'T INTERACT
𐙚 : HEESEUNG ֶָ֢ !
neither one of you would notice at the moment, but will quickly question it when it's long over and you're just laying in bed — both of you fucked out completely unaware you've just traumatized someone. "sh-shit." heeseung held your thighs as you rocked your hips back and forth. "fu-fuck you feel so good -shit- please go faster." he groaned, his hand squeezing your boob as you bounced on his cock, your cunt squeezing perfectly around him , forcing a whimper like moan out of him. "shit im gonna cum." he breathed. "im gonna fucking cum." both of you were moaning and groaning, trying to chase your highs — that neither one of you noticed jake who quickly walked muttering a sorry , both of you continuing on until you reached your climax. it wasn't until you both were finished, laying against his chest watching a movie that you couldn't shake the feeling. "seung?" your boyfriend hummed, eyes still on the movie. "did someone walk in on us?" he turned to you. "i dont know." he shrugged. "why do you ask that?" you sat up. "i swear i could've heard jake." heeseung checked his phone and sure enough there was the text message 'lock the fucking door if you're gonna have sex in the dorm' he smirked putting his phone down. "well i guess he did." your face heated up. "im so embarrassed." he laughed. "baby it's fine , he probably barely saw anything." he said, kissing your temple. "i guess."
"but it would be kinda hot if he did though."
𐙚 : JAY ֶָ֢ !
it don't think jay would have sex in the dorms; let alone forget to lock the door; so it would most likely happen in the morning, and then he'd be too tired to even be really mad, but he would be a little annoyed. "jay." he sighed feeling you place kisses along his neck, his eyes that were closed; fluttering open. "i-i need you." he cursed as you guided his hand into his pants, feeling your wet cunt on his finger tips. "i thought about you." he groaned , turning to face you, slotting his thigh into between your legs. "yeah?" he watched you get off on his leg. "what you dream about princess?" you struggled to tell him ,he wasn't helping bucking thigh. "fu-fuck jay, m-more, i need you." he freed his cock from his pajama pants , ready to slip inside your warm waiting cunt. poor sunoo didn't know that, he just wanted to know if you both wanted breakfast; opening the bedroom door; jay was quick to cover your bodies , sighing heavily against your back. "hyung— sunoo knock please." he tried to not sound annoyed, but he also wanted sunoo to get the hit, and the young boy did. "i-i'm sorry." he quickly left, closing the door. "that was so embarrassing." you whined, he kissed your shoulders to soothe you.
"next time we'll just wait and lock the door."
𐙚 : JAKE ֶָ֢ !
shameless mother fucker does not care, if you're here they should know to not come inside his room. "fu-fuck jake wait." you grabbed his hair, trying to stop him from lapping at your cunt the way he was, covering your mouth to keep from moaning out. "pretty pussy taste so good." he licked your clit. "i need to taste you so more." he hooked your legs , the feeling off your legs closing around his head made his cock jump in his pants. now you two were being loud, but your moans didn't stand a chance against heeseung who had his headphones in, opening the door to see of jake wanted to play the game, only to register what was happening and turning right on his heels, walking out. "ja-jake." you pushed at the boys — who seemingly didn't even register what was happening, and kept going. "fuck, i thought you locked the door s-someone—" jake finally pulled away from your cunt , his face covered in your essence along with a cheshire like smile.
"you must've like it princess, your pretty little pussy clenched as soon the door opened."
𐙚 : SUNGHOON ֶָ֢ !
annoyed as hell, but doesn't stop; no he keeps going, you feel too good for him to stop now. "fu-fucking hell." he hissed his hands tangled in your hair, your ass bouncing back against him. "that's right, fuck yourself on me." he slapped your ass. "sunghoon fuck!" your head was thrown back as he plowed into your cunt, his balls slapping against your cunt , sweat dripping down your body as you both went at it like wild rabbits. "fucking wet cunt." he growled. "gonna fill this pretty pussy up with my cum." both of you were ready to cum, when the door opened, a frightened jay who heard a yelp thinking someone was hurt, quickly realized that it wasn't that type of yelp— immediately shut the door, sunghoon just fucked your poor cunt harder. "fu-fucking hell can't get any privacy in this dorm." he hissed, tears wielding in your eyes as he abused your poor cunt, he slapped your ass extra hard. "don't think i didn't feel your slutty pussy clenching around my dick when he came in."
"fucking slut, you like when people watch you being fucked past your limits."
©️LUVYENI
#kpop x reader#kpop smut#enhypen reactions#enhypen x reader#enhypen imagines#enhypen scenarios#enhypen smut#enhypen hard headcanons#enhypen hard thoughts#enhypen hard hours#enhypen x female reader#heeseung x reader#heeseung scenarios#lee heeseung smut#jay park smut#jay park scenarios#jay park x reader#sunghoon scenarios#sunghoon smut#park sunghoon x reader#jake sim smut#jake sim x reader#jake sim scenarios
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♰ my heart is a sad affair ༻ C. HOWARD.*ೃ˚ PART TWO.
➻ masterlist. ➻ buy me a coffee!
CW ➻ shouting ⋆ FEELINGSSSS ⋆ reader smacks the everliving HECK out of Cooper ⋆ he deserved it ⋆ kissing ⋆ mention of a Gulper ⋆ flashback to hunting deer in a forest ⋆ fallout canon violence/descriptions ⋆ if i missed anything, lmk!
PAIRING ➻ wife!reader x Cooper. (they were married before the war, but both of them believe the other is long dead.)
SUMMARY ➻ you were gonna strangle him when you got your hands on him. after shouting for Ma to come out and cut you loose you were livid. you had found him after all this time, alive, and he leaves like that? he was going to get the slap of the century, and then some. WC ➻ 3,2K.
© 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐇𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐍𝐑. 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲, 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫!
you were gonna strangle him when you got your hands on him. after shouting for Ma to come out and cut you loose you were livid. you had found him after all this time, alive, and he leaves like that? he was going to get the slap of the century, and then some.
you were thankful now for the tracking or hunting skills he taught you while on vacation in the deep woods so many decades ago, teaching you how to track and hunt wildlife. but now, you'll make him regret it.
"you look for anything," he pauses pointing to some tracks, but also towards some leaves that looked half eaten. "tracks or signs, and try and gauge what direction they came from," he explains, rifle on his back as you two quietly walked through the dense forest.
"seems easy enough," you shrug, glancing around. you'd always been a quick learner, so this was gonna be a piece of cake.
he chuckles, a warm smile on his lips. "we'll see about that sweetheart," he gestures for you to head in front of him. "let's see how you do," he grins, throwing a cheeky wink your way. you snort, shaking your head with a smile as you step in front of him, eyes flitting around you.
though, with the heavy boot prints in the loose sand and dirt it felt too easy. you rolled your shoulder as you walked along the tracks, looking at the different sets of foot prints;
one set that would belong to Vault Dweller, another set which clearly belonged to Wilzig, a heavy limp clear in them (along with blood) — and the last set belonging to Cooper. you also noticed what would be the dog's prints, varying in pace. though, usually beside Cooper's.
the sun was unforgiving, beating down on you violently as you walked. your anger slowly dimmed down as your mind drifts to the memories you tried so hard to forget.
your eyes flit around the forest, looking across bushes, looking through the dirt, anything. but you were surprisingly stumped. you had tracked what seemed to be a deer for a little over half an hour.
you came to a halt and huffed as you roll your shoulders. "okay i give up," you turn around and find Cooper smiling at you with those lovestruck eyes. you laugh at his look, his smile only widens at the sound. "what?" you smile.
he shakes his head, "nothing honey," he walks over and pecks your cheek. "you got us really far, you're really getting the hang of this." he compliments, and steps in front of you to take the lead.
he looks around for a minute, before he taps your hand to get your attention. "see there?" he points to a shrub. "more bite marks," he says, and you huff. he smiles and gestures you to continue in front of him again. "c'mon, i've got the feeling we're getting close."
huh, you cocked your head at the sight before you. Wilzig's body, surrounded by blood, and missing his head. you swallowed, would Cooper have done this? or did the girl do it to lighten her load?
you hoped Cooper didn't do this, yet you also doubted the Vault Dweller would have the stomach for something like this. you look around, eyes meeting the tracks of the girl, then Cooper's along with the dog's. well, you sighed, let's keep this show on the road.
you missed Roosevelt now more than ever, his gentle patter beside you as he followed you around. he used to love following you around while you did chores around the house — laid beside you while you ironed clothes, politely sat out of the way while you vacuumed. his favorite thing was to run around the yard while you hung up your laundry outside.
your heart ached for your fluffy companion, you missed him so much. you wondered if Cooper missed him too, or more so how much.
Cooper and Roosevelt were inseparable, when Cooper was home Roosevelt rarely left his side. and when Cooper was away, Roosevelt never left yours, almost as if Cooper told him to guard you.
the thought made you smile, sighing as you walked along the trail of steps. you hated this fucking wasteland and it's violently cruel sun.
the lush surroundings a upcoming Hollywood Boulevard were a nice change of pace, it was good to see that while some areas were completely infertile and dead, other areas absolutely thrived.
the tracks showed slight panic on the Vault Dwellers side, quick dashes and marks where it looked like she had slipped or fallen. Cooper's were calm and collected as ever, and the dog's jumped around all over the place, before evening out beside Cooper again.
you walked along the waters edge, keeping a close eye on the lake beside you. you had heard stories of huge things jumping out, and being caught by something while this close to Cooper was not on your to-do list today.
you were close to them, you could tell by the depth and freshness of the prints. you let put a shaky breath, your original frustration bubbling up to the surface again. your hands shook a little beside you. you had some time to think of what you were going to say, but now that you were nearing them your brain was drawing blanks.
"honey look!" Cooper whispered, pulling you down behind a tree, pointing into the distance. you followed his finger, eyes landing on a deer grazing fifteen or twenty feet from you two.
your eyes lit up, "hey i did it!" you whispered excitedly. Cooper grinned, rubbing a warm hand across your lower back in a form of 'i'm proud'. and he was damn proud, it took him much longer the first time he went hunting.
"well," he takes ahold of his rifle, handing it to you. you grab it from him, positioning it the way he taught you. "breathe in and out," he muttered, his hand not leaving your lower back. he looked over your shoulder, seeing how you were aiming. "and well, you know what to do," he smiles.
you smile at his words and the warm hand inching towards your waist. you take a deep breath, looking down the sight as you aimed, your finger wrapping around the trigger. you exhaled slowly, and squeezed the cold trigger, letting your shot fly.
the sound of panicked shouting snapped you out of the memory, eyes snapping towards what looked to be an old dock. you swing your rifle off your back and hold it tight, stepping through the overgrown environment and closer towards the yelling.
the closer you got, the more clear the voice became, "i lost it! okay i lost it!" the Vault Dweller shouted, fear and exhaustion clear in her voice.
you neared the edge of the forest, the rest beyond flattening into a open space by the water. you could see the Vault Dweller and Cooper clearly now, as well as the dog who barked at the water with vigor. Cooper had is gun aimed no more than a few inches from the Vault Dweller's face.
the dog suddenly snapped it's head up, snout pointing directly to where you were. well, you thought, it was a matter of time.
Cooper looked at the dog, who had completely stopped barking now. the girl didn't turn to look at the dog, seizing the opportunity to kick Cooper's legs out from under him and shoot up and away from him, her gun now pointed at him.
"you better get that gun out of his face, girl, or you'll regret it."
Cooper's head spun around, wide eyes looking around. a small wave of 'oh shit' washing over him. the Vault Dweller turned to face you, eyes widening. "you, from back in Filly," she spoke, her voice sounding a little out of breath.
"what'd i say?" you cocked your rifle, "get that gun out of his face." anger boiling back up at the sight of him on the ground. he deserved that kick.
the girl blinked, reluctantly holstering her gun and stepping away from Cooper. your rifle remained aimed at him though, as you stepped closer to him. Cooper blinked, an awkward smile on his lips. "hey, fancy seein' you 'round here-" the thud of the butt of your rifle against his temple interrupting him. "fuckin' hell!" he shouted, a hand coming up to cradle his head. he looked up at you, and eyeing the rage in your eyes. "okay i deserved that,"
the Vault Dweller watched the exchange from a short distance, standing beside the dog who had returned it's attention to the water.
"get the fuck up." you seethed, rifle still aimed at his scarred head. Cooper inhaled, slowly getting up, then standing before you. you only swung your rifle over your shoulder once he stood at his full height, dark eyes watching your every move.
his lips parted to speak, but you beat him to it with a smack that rang through the overgrown area. Cooper’s head reeling back at the force. he blinked widely for a moment before turning his head back to face you.
the Vault Dweller watched with her lips parted as you had smacked him, the sound sending a jolt through her. who the hell were you that he let you do this? if it were her she'd be dead as soon as she began to raise her hand.
you raised your hand again, this time jabbing a finger into his leather clad chest. "Cooper Franklin Howard, what the fuck were you thinking?!" you shouted at him, wild eyes staring into his gaunt ones. "fucking tying me up? are you out of your goddamn mind?!" Cooper looked pained, he regretted tying you up then, but even more so now.
he looked down a little, and you grabbed his chin and forced him to look at you. "what the fuck was one of our vows, huh?" your voice cracked a little at the volume. you let go of his thickly scarred chin to yank him down to your level by the lapels of his duster. "where you go, i go, Cowpoke!" you yelled at him, tears started to well up in your eyes.
Cooper swallowed, eyes flitting across your face. his heart ached at the thought of the wedding, the vows said and the love shared. it hurt.
you shook him by his lapels once more, "i don't care where the fuck you go, but unless you're dead i'm there with you!" your voice starting to falter as tears slide down your cheeks. oh how he hated to see you cry, it cracked his broken heart into even more pieces.
you stood there for a second, wet eyes watching his as you could just barely see tears starting to prick at his as well. you watched him closely as he pulled off his thick leather gloves and dropped them, calloused and scarred hands coming up to cover yours. Cooper visibly shuddered once his bare hands met your painfully soft ones.
the Vault Dweller silently watches, eyes wide as she sees the emotional love in Cooper's eyes. what the fuck happened to the terrifying ghoul that was about to shoot her?
your breath hitched as he held your hands, eyes flitting down to them. they looked exactly like the skin on his face, an angry red, completely blistered and scarred over. you looked at all his features, his gaunt eyes, his thinned lips, yellow teeth. and the blaringly obvious, his missing nose.
"oh Cooper," you rasped, your voice aching from the yelling. you pulled a hand free from his and pressed it against the scarred cheek you had smacked. he didn't flinch as you gently rubbed your thumb across his cheek. he whispered your name as though it hurt to say, a tear finally rolling down his skin.
you reach your other hand up, holding both sides of his face as you pull him down and press your lips against his. Cooper tries to step back a little, taken by surprise, but your hold on his face doesn't let him move far. it takes him a second, as if he thinks this is a dream, before his reaches one hand to hold your face and the other to pull you closer by your waist.
the Vault Dweller watches with slight disgust, but also with a small thought of awe.
you finally let go against him, tears rolling freely down your cheeks and wetting his as you cry against into the kiss. although he looks different and feels different, the waves of comfort and safety feel exactly the same as they always have as he holds you tight.
you reluctantly pull away, looking up at him with teary eyes. you press one last kiss against his lips before fully pulling away, his hand holding yours as if he can't let go. "what on earth did you get yourself into cowboy?" you sigh sadly, your hand returning to his cheek.
Cooper shakes his head, "you don't wanna know," he replies, the sigh palpable.
the Vault Dweller blinks as the dog starts barking like crazy again, "uh guys, i'd hate to interrupt this shockingly sweet moment but i think the Gulper's coming back!" she panics, looking at her pipboy as you hear the tell tale geiger counter sound picking up immensely.
Cooper looks back to you, hand on his gun. "you still remember what i taught you?" he asks, unholstering his gun.
you roll your eyes with a smile, "i'll make you wish i'd forgotten," as you swing your rifle off your shoulder, ready for a fight.
you'd have a long talk once you were in a somewhat safe shelter later..
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#⋆୨🩷©2024 htchnr#⋆୨⭐️cooper howard#cooper howard x fem!reader#cooper howard oneshot#cooper howard imagine#cooper howard x reader#cooper howard#the ghoul x reader#the ghoul oneshot#the ghoul imagine#the ghoul fallout#walton goggins#walton ghoulgins
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omg tyler owens x shy!reader where they got separated (in a storm or whatever you’d like) and reader is usually so hesitant on public PDA but tyler got hurt and the team is shocked to see reader freaking out over him and he’s just being so gentle and calm
feel free to change whatever 🫶🏼💕 thank you for putting the imagination into words so well!!!
Aftermath - Tyler Owens x Reader
come participate in tyler owens night !
You're typically less obnoxious about your relationship with Tyler Owens in front of his mass of fans, but Tyler isn't typically bleeding from a head wound, so today is different all-around.
One of the windows of his truck had broken, shattered and disappeared into the mass of swirling winds and debris, and an unfortunately sharp chunk of the mess had slashed Tyler across the forehead, leaving an open gash in its wake. Long but thankfully shallow, the cut drips deceptively copious amounts of blood down his face, and your fingers desperately try clearing it away.
"Baby, baby, I'm okay." He vows, keeping his voice low even though it's shaking. Perhaps his adrenaline junkie habits do have a ceiling.
"You're not okay," Your voice wobbles as if you yourself had been in the twister, instead of watching on his live stream as his head was cut open, "That- that thing could have hit your eye, it was so- so close, or it could have hit-" You devolve into deep, choking sobs, one that rip gasps from your throat and leave your heart pounding.
"Breathe." Tyler prompts you, taking your face in his shaking hands the way you're holding his, "Breathe. It didn't go through my eye. It went through my forehead, and it's just a little thing. It's gonna heal up just fine- just need some stitches. And I'll get the window fixed tomorrow, before anything else. 'Cause-" He breaks off, voice still shaky and hollow, "That's- that shouldn't have happened. My truck's supposed to be stronger than that."
"If it happens again," You fret, voice slowly strengthening as you muscle down your aching sobs, "If-"
"No, it's not- it's not gonna happen again." Tyler's hands squeeze your face gently, providing comforting pressure as he holds you steadily against him, "I'll test it myself. I'll- I'll bash the windows with a hammer or somethin', and- and make sure they won't break."
"Don't bash your windows with a hammer," You laugh, and it's a wet, barely-there sound, "That's- that sounds dangerous. And expensive."
"Okay." He nods, and you stare at each other in reverie, one coming off of the high of near-mortality and the other sponging away grief that had already taken up residence over the heart. Tyler is alive, he's injured but he's alive, and you'll reinforce the truck with solid steel if you have to, just to be sure a stray chunk of debris doesn't shatter the window again.
"Can- can you take a little break?" You ask Tyler, and you're not doing it on purpose, but you're pretty sure your eyes are stuck in puppy-mode, and it must be lethal, "I don't want you going back into a storm for- for, I dunno, a few weeks maybe. I just- let your head heal first, please?"
"Alright. Yeah, a- a break sounds nice," Tyler admits, grinning absently at you. You wonder if his body is out of its fight-or-flight response yet, "Maybe even a month? We'll see how the channel does, 'make sure we don't lose too much of an audience. We can pay the bills until then."
"Thank you," You breathe, inches away from Tyler's face as you drink him in, and you're unsure whether you're thanking him for stepping down and playing it safe, or whether you're thanking the universe for sparing him by an inch.
"Mm-hm," He nods, and you really can't tell whether he's talking to you or the universe either. Maybe a transcendent mix of both, but as long as there's still air in his lungs and fire in his eyes, you don't care too much about the details.
#tyler owens x reader#tyler owens fanfiction#tyler owens x you#tyler owens imagine#tyler owens blurb#tyler owens drabble#glen powell x reader#twisters fanfiction
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pinky promise
childhood friends w/ kenji sato
you and kenji met as kids when you moved into his neighborhood. from the moment you first exchanged shy hellos, you clicked in a way that was natural, like two puzzle pieces falling perfectly into place. you spent countless afternoons together—racing bikes down the street, sharing snacks, and turning the world into your own adventure. whether it was building forts out of blankets or pretending to be explorers in the nearby woods, your friendship was pure and unbreakable
you both lay in the grass, staring up at the sky as clouds drifted lazily overhead. the sun warmed your skin as you pointed out shapes in the clouds—a dragon, a ship, a heart, ultraman. there was a comfortable silence between you, a shared understanding that didn’t need words. but kenji, usually full of energy and jokes, was unusually quiet, his brows furrowed like he was deep in thought
finally, he turned to you with an expression so serious it caught you off guard. "you know," he began, his voice soft but determined, "when we grow up, i’m gonna marry you."
you blinked in surprise. his declaration was so straightforward, so sure, that it made your heart skip a beat even at that young age. you laughed, brushing it off with a playful shove. "you’re silly, ken! we’re just kids,"
but he wasn't laughing. he just nodded, like he was making a solemn vow. "i’m serious. one day, when we’re older, i’m going to marry you. promise." he held out his pinky, waiting for you to link yours with his
with a little roll of your eyes and a smile, you hooked your pinky with his. "promise," you repeated, still thinking it was just one of those silly things kids say. but something about the way kenji looked at you in that moment made you feel warm inside, like he truly meant every word
tears brimmed in your eyes as you stood in front of kenji, your voice cracking. "kenji?! what do you mean?" you demanded, wiping away the tears you couldn’t stop. he stared at the ground, shuffling his feet, unable to meet your gaze
"i'm sorry," he choked, his voice trembling. "mama says we're going to the states."
kenji's hands balled into fists at his sides, and you could see his jaw tighten. he was always the strong one, the one who never cried, but in that moment, you could see the hurt reflected in his eyes
"when will you come back?" you asked quietly, voice barely above a whisper
"i... i don't know," he replied, your voice wavering. "maybe never."
kenji’s brows furrowed, his lips pressing together in a tight line. he stood there, frozen for a moment, before suddenly grabbing your pinky with his. "promise me something," he said, his voice steady now, even though you could tell he was fighting to keep it that way. "promise me that when i come back, we'll get married. just like i said before."
you bit your lip, trying to keep the tears from falling, but you linked your pinky with his, just like you had when you were younger. "promise," you whispered
"[name]?" his voice, still soft but way deeper than you remembered, sent a shiver through you. the café suddenly felt too small as your heart raced in your chest. truth be told, you didn’t believe it when your intuition told you that it was kenji. but there he was, standing in line at a café, wearing that familiar baseball cap, though now he looked taller, more muscular, and more serious than you remembered.
"kenji?" you managed to say, blinking in disbelief. it felt like the years melted away in that single moment. without thinking, you rushed toward him—nearly knocking over your mocha—and he caught you in a tight hug, lifting you slightly off the ground as if afraid you’d disappear again
"i can't believe it's you," he said, his breath warm against your ear. "after all this time."
you pulled back to look at him, your hands still resting on his shoulders. "it’s been so long. i didn’t think... i didn’t know we’d ever see each other again."
he grinned, the same boyish smile from your childhood, but this time there was something deeper behind it. "guess life has a way of surprising us, huh?"
yet, neither of you ever forgot that childhood promise
as time went on, the two of you started hanging out more frequently. whether it was grabbing dinner after work or going to local events together, it felt natural to be in each other’s lives again. but now, there was something different—an undercurrent of tension that hadn’t been there before. the way kenji’s eyes lingered on you a little longer, the way he seemed more protective, more attentive—it was as if that childhood promise was quietly resurfacing in the back of both your minds
after a particularly nostalgic conversation about your childhood adventures, you found yourself alone at his apartment, surrounded by the warmth and familiarity of someone who truly understood you. as you sat together on the couch, the conversation drifted back to that fateful summer day. with a teasing grin, you brought up the promise he made all those years ago. "remember when you said you were going to marry me? do you still mean it?"
you expected him to laugh it off, but instead, kenji’s expression turned serious, just like it had back then. "i never forgot about that promise," he admitted, his voice low and sincere. "i meant it then, and i mean it now."
his words hung in the air, heavy with a mix of emotion and anticipation. there was something undeniably intense about the way he looked at you, like he was finally ready to make good on the vow he made as a kid
what starts as a gentle reconnection quickly becomes more intense as years of pent-up desire surface. kenji’s touch is both eager and reverent, like he’s memorizing every inch of your skin. he whispers your name against your lips as his hands slide under your clothes, each touch deliberate, lingering, meant to remind you that he’s serious about the promise he made all those years ago
he takes his time, savoring every reaction he draws from you, until both of you are lost in each other. the way he moves is confident but tender, ensuring you feel adored in every moment. kenji’s deep, gravelly voice fills the room as he murmurs your name and confesses how long he’s waited for this—how he’s always known you were the one for him
"i still want to marry you. i always have."
ken sato taglist
@mochminnie @despacito-uwu16 @yellowheartz @ririkacchi @ifharbingerbad--whyhot
@reit0o @heavenlyraindrops @lovingyeet @stickypaperstarlight @raee-dreeaaamz
@rreasonablydumbb @bandolls @gingersnap126126 @automalvo @spiderboogie
@shellspider @blogscach @nightingale047 @deadbydad @deadbydad-writes
@phantomface @spencerrxids @moonjellyfishie @optimisticladysalad @tsumimimi
@purplegobrrrrrr @sillybillyp9 @cyberpsiko @swaggyv1v1 @l-charl
@miffysoo @aise-30 @bakugouswaif @rinaizha @goodomenslover20
@biderman-666 @jaowiwh-blog @lazulihrts @meloncreme @woahhajime
@theboredhooman @pr0bablyr0se @jinshikinoku @sxftiebee @your-left-sock
@teyamswifeyy @corrosive-cyanide @cloudy-yyy @xaithings
#— ❀ rieamena writes!#— ❀ rieamena answers!#rieamena#riea#ken sato x you#ken sato x y/n#kenji ultraman#ken sato smut#kenji sato x reader#kenji sato ultraman#ken sato ultraman#ken sato x reader#ken sato#kenji sato#ultraman#ultraman rising#ken sato fluff#kenji sato fluff#ultraman rising x reader#kenji sato smut#ultraman ken sato#kenji x reader#ultraman emi
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good morning. i was up until literally 3 am just thinking about my novel
#small ramble incoming sorry#death mention#i...... do not think i have the heart to let arthur die#i genuinely might change the novel. like i cried y'all lmao#the next time i want to kill a character i need someone to deck me & tell me no#i am too soft for this#so basically i stayed up all night trying to figure out what in the story would change if i keep arthur alive &#i think it could be done#but i'm gonna have to like... re-outline the story & see if the initial effect of the story is still there#bc i'm going for a certain mood w the story#the plot doesn't necessarily matter#so yea#that's where i'm at w my nano novel. i reached the halfway mark!#just might change things. we'll see.#i have to do school work first though#rainyrambles
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Something to Do. | Catering
logline; Itinerary for your trip to New York? Just try not to fucking cry.
[!!!] series history, this is the twelfth; gonna start season three after I post this. Wonder how bad it's gonna throw off the rest of my plot line. Ideally not at all. We'll see.
Spotify Playlist, if you like to listen while you read. I listen to it when I write :) Constantly gettin’ added to. I really like this playlist for all chapters, but for a wedding where music is blasting, it feels particularly fitting.
portion; 13.3k how does this keep happening.
possible allergies; Terrible self-image, everything feels bad, very real conversations abt ,,, self-death and addiction.
pairing; Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto & Fem Reader (gets referred to as a woman and other feminine honourifics but no pronouns, i believe)
i made you all so mad last chapter. Let's see if i can make it up to you, babydoll (probably wont)
You hate to admit it, but you were kind of relieved when you found out Carmen wasn’t coming on the plane. You’re in a bit of a state of fight or flight; well, more accurately, currently leaning towards the flight side— Pun intended.
He’s coming to the wedding. You know he is. For one, he’s getting thirty grand for this, he has to. For two, his location is still on for you— Whether he forgot to turn it off or just didn’t care, you’re not sure. But he hates you, so there’s no way it was intentional, you’re certain about that much.
You know you shouldn’t be looking at it, but you have. You’ve been looking all week. Checking your Find my Friends like a doting mother. He goes to work far too early, he stays far after close, he goes home. Rinse and repeat.
You check on him one last time before boarding the plane. He’s opted to drive, with Richie. Something about ‘wanting to bring their personal equipment’, Richie texted you. They’re halfway through Ohio. You’re sure that road trip is definitely going spectacular after their side of the explosion.
Richie texted the day after that fucking fiasco, asking if you’d want updates on how it’s going at The Bear. How it’s going with Carmen. You said you wanted to know if he wanted to tell. He opted not to tell.
You hate to admit, you were kind of relieved, to not know. To just look at Carmen’s little icon go from Point A to B. Instead of Carmen Reports, you and Richie text about much lighter things. Normal things. Eva drew a funny picture of you kinda things. It’s nice. You know you’re probably being childish, but it feels so much fucking better to ignore the Bear in the room. You don’t know how to feel about anything, and frankly you don’t want to try to figure it out.
You suck, Carmen sucks, what more is there to know? Process it? Fuck that.
Carmen hasn’t texted you; you haven’t texted him, the entire week. Radio silence. You stopped playing Connections. Didn’t see a point. Not like they even have a streak function anyways— You’d die before you let that Wordle streak break, though. That was your thing. Carmen doesn’t get to take your things, too.
You didn’t get a text from the Exec, either. So that’s… Something? Or, rather, explicitly, that’s nothing. Does that mean Carmen gives a shit? Not necessarily. Ugh. Your whole system was so shocked after that fucking fight that you didn’t really have time to take in the fact that that jag was into you? Vomit inducing. You’ve got to rethink your life choices, if they lead you to him.
But also, you know if Carmen and you were okay right now, you probably would’ve given him your number. You would’ve catfished him for weeks, laughing over your phone with Carmen and Syd as this idiot falls into your trap. You miss Carmen. You also don’t miss Carmen. You want to see him desperately and also never fucking look at him again.
Carmen’s going to be in the kitchen; you’re going to be out in the banquet hall, on bar, this whole wedding. The likelihood either of you have to actually interact this weekend is quite low. The likelihood either of you have to confront what you’re supposed to do with yourselves now is quite low. You hate to admit it, you’re fucking relieved.
Sydney sleeps on your shoulder, for most of the plane ride. You sleep against her head. Shout out Marcus, for switching seats. He’s behind you, with Tina. He wakes both of you up about an hour in, shaking your seats— Because the dessert cart came out and he didn’t want either of you to miss it. The mini cheesecakes are better than expected, to be fair, so he’s forgiven.
This is going to be the stupidest weekend of your life. You’ll take that, over worst, at least.
“Be honest, would you tip me extra well?”
You give a twirl in your probably too fancy semi-cultural outfit. Your family shows up for weddings, if Vinnie and Mira didn’t want their bartender to go hard, they should’ve put that in their notes. It actually would have been nice to get sent notes, though… What is the theme for this wedding other than ‘Italian’ and ‘New York’…? Glitter eyeshadow is probably fine, right? Yeah it’s fine. Not like you could get that shit off now, anyways.
“If you were my bartender, I would ask ‘what are we?’” Answers Syd, watching you from the bathroom as she attempts to put her hair up. Definitely struggling in silence.
Sharing a hotel room was the best idea you ever had. It would be a nightmare to get ready alone in silence, right now. It’s nice to talk and have something to do. If you didn’t, you’d absolutely be ruminating about Carmen, debating whether or not to check on his room, that’s just down the hall, you could see if he needed help with getting ready and also see if he’s as tired as you think he is and— Plus, the amount you saved on splitting a one bed? Christ. Economy is in shambles. So is your brain.
“You would not be brave enough to ask your bartender ‘what are we?’”
“For you, I would.”
“Are we about to kiss, bro?” You duck into the bathroom, getting way too close to the side of Syd’s face. She laughs, pushing you away with the palm of her hand, you scoff, “Wooowwww—”
You clutch your heart, mortally wounded. Retching, truly. Now this is heartbreak in its rawest form. “—Reject me, why don’t you?”
“I’m playing the role of timid—” “I’m sick of this friends to lovers plot line!” “It adds! It adds!”
“Shut up— And tilt your head back, dumbass, what are you doing?” You stand behind her, taking her braids into your hands as she struggles to bundle them all herself.
“I do this all the time by myself, y’know.” So Syd says, but she lets you take her braids regardless.
“Yeah, but I’m here.” You stretch the hairband on your fingers. “Messy bun?”
“You think?”
“I think primal is too clean.”
“No, I was gonna do the one where it does like— Like the infinity in the front?”
“Who’s mom are you tryna fuckin’ look like?”
She kisses her teeth, attempting to reach a hand behind her head to smack you. You dodge and somehow manage to make it easier to smack you. “I’m literally only gonna get to come out after everyone’s left, I dunno why we’re making effort here—”
“High messy bun?” “High messy bun.”
Oh, the days of doing each other’s hair. You’re glad it’s back. You’re glad you get to become, together, again. It used to be bobbles, friendship bracelets, and glitter tattoos—but now it’s tying up each other’s hair, helping with the curling iron, clasping the gold chains on your neck, zipping up the back of your outfit, pinning the collar pins on her uniform, fixing makeup, asking each other to compare perfumes before going through with the final decision, mocking each other’s purchases.
“Wait, what mini deodorant did you get at customs?”
“Oh, one of those Native ones— I think it’s peach—?”
“Those cost like five fucking dollars, Ink. For like two swipes.”
“Excuse me for wanting to smell good, fuckin’ ‘wolfthorn’—”
“I work in a restaurant. I need Old Spice strength, okay—!”
“Oh, pbbbttt— Syd.”
“Pbb—Fuck, how do you do that?”
There’s a knock at the door, interrupting your squabble. “Are you decent?!”
Sydney groans, “No!”
“Yes, Rich, we’re decent, doors open.”
Richie comes in, unceremoniously. A touch awkward. He’s so rarely been in a room with women getting ready. It’s simultaneously exactly what he expected, and not at all what he expected. “Chip, can you put these fuckin’ things on f’me?”
Cufflinks. He presents the box to you. They’re just plain and silver, boring. Save that in your rolodex of gifts to get this Christmas. “You’re fuckin’ forty and you don’t know how to put on some cufflinks—?”
You’re nagging, but you’re already putting them on him, he holds his wrist out for you. “Nah, I was too busy runnin’ shit to learn.”
“Runnin’ your mouth, more like.”
“Yeah, yeah.” It’s a quiet moment, a tender moment, of adjusting his sleeves. Sydney’s scrambling to clean up the room around you two in the background. It’s hard to turn off the autopilot of cleaning one’s station, no matter where she goes.
You purse your lips. You shouldn’t ask and you shouldn’t care, but you do. You half-whisper, to Richie. “How was the drive?” He knows what you’re asking.
“Terrible start. Surprisingly okay middle. He went straight to the banquet hall once we got here.” He swallows, treading carefully, a thing Richie never does. “Do you wanna know the dirty details?”
Oh good, you wouldn’t be able to check on his room even if you wanted to. You want to. Need to? Stop thinking. Carmen sucks and you suck.
“Not particularly.” You take one final look at his sleeves, happy with your handiwork, letting his wrists go. “You feel settled, though? Or jury’s still out?”
Richie shrugs, tilting his head back and forth. “Grovelled decent enough, by time we hit Penn. But I’m waitin’ on my informer.”
You cringe, knowing what he means. You also know he’d smack you if you said he doesn’t need your say in order to forgive Carmen. “It’s gonna be a minute, until your informer has an answer.”
“I know.” He nods, twisting his wrists back and forth, looking at the cufflinks. Then he gives you a once over. “Y’look good.”
“You too.” You look over him, he does look good. He’s in his suit, wearing his wedding ring, which makes your heart hurt a little bit, but he does look good. “What’s your fuckin’ job tonight, by the way?” He can’t be doing kitchen. He sucks at kitchen. But he’s also just not dressed for it.
“Fuckin’ everything.” Hyperbolic? Typically yes, with Richie, but not this time.
“Wait staff here had too high a fee—”
“Translation: more than free?”
“More than free, yeah.”
“Heard.”
“So, I’m server, set up, and fuckin’ whore-derve—”
“What?” That pronunciation snaps Sydney out of her autopilot clean, her back snaps up straight. Hands on her hips, like a disappointed teacher. “It’s hors d’oeuvres.”
Richie rolls his eyes and really his whole head back. “Just because you went to the fuckin’ CIA or whatever the fuck—”
You interrupt the fight before it can start. “Let’s just say appetizers.”
Sydney does not let you. “Apps and hors d’oeuvres are different.”
You angle your body from Richie to her, deadpanning. “Just because you went to the fuckin’ FBI or whatever the fuck—”
“Alright!” She’s already walking to the door, despite the fact that she started it— “We’ve gotta fuckin’ get to hall now or we’re gonna have like zero prep time, Chefs.”
You both follow after her, doing one last check to make sure you’ve got everything you need. You honestly don’t need to be in this much of a rush, you’re pretty sure, but you don’t mention that. Richie said Carmen just went straight to the banquet hall, when they came in this morning. You’re not sure how well you know him anymore, all things considered, but by your best guess, he’s almost certainly done all the prep by himself.
Carmen did not do the kitchen prep entirely himself. Well. He might’ve, you haven’t checked, but you don’t think he would’ve had the time.
Carmen did your prep entirely himself.
When you get to the bar, in the banquet hall, you have nothing to do. Side work finished for you. Lemons, limes, oranges— All cut into wedges and loaded in their baskets— even the cherries are pitted. The glasses are organized from wine to whiskey glasses, the sink is clean— Which you know the banquet hall staff didn’t do— They never fucking do.
You don’t see Carmen, but you know he did it. He showed up before anyone else, he was in the kitchen before anyone else— So no one else could’ve left the simple braised beef sandwich on your station. Exactly how Mikey used to make it. Half hot, half sweet. Your order at The Beef. Carmen would’ve done pork, but this is what they had on hand, and he had a feeling this would mean more, anyways. It does. Granola bar on the plate with it. One of the nice ones, too. The wrapping boasts fifteen grams of protein.
He knows how hard running bar is. He knows you won’t have time to eat once it starts. So, he’s making sure you get something down now— And that you have time to eat it in peace, and making sure you have something you can scarf mid-shift later, when you don’t have time.
Fucking. Hell. Fuck this fucking guy. Carmen fucking sucks. You fucking suck. This all fucking sucks so much. This sandwich is so fucking good. You’re so fucking mad. Stop saying fuck. Fuck your subconscious for wanting you to stop saying fuck. It’s so unfair, for him to be maybe the cruelest a person could possibly be, in front of an audience made out of your loved ones, and then be sweet, like this.
He is awful, with words— Well, he’s typically better, with you, par for the last time, but he’s best in the kitchen. You can taste the sorrow, the guilt, the apology. The first thing he ever made you, was a sandwich, the brisket sandwich, that Mikey refined for you, as an apology, for freaking the fuck out in a freezer and having that be your first impression of him— Or, at least, first first-hand impression of him. How far you’ve come.
This will not pass, as an apology. Not a proper one. But… You’ll give him a sign, in return, at least. A confirmation that you got the message, nothing more. Definitely nothing more.
“Rich.” You stop the guy in his tracks, as he marches through the room, helping the rest of the staff set up the hall. Not his job, but it’s Richie. “Can you ask kitchen their shifties?”
He nods, like he understands, walking away with stacks of chairs under both his arms.
He comes back after two minutes, straight up to your bar. “What the fuck is a shifty?”
“Oh.” You feel condescending, for being surprised. You’d never really thought about the huge difference between morning servers and night servers until right now. Richie has never worked with a bar staff. He worked at a fucking sandwich shop. “It’s uh— Your drink. Get a drink on your shift— Shifty— It can be like, a cocktail, a straight, a shot, coffee—”
“I know how many fucking drinks exist, Chip—” “Mocktail, smoothie, juice—” “Yeah, I’ll get a Pina Colada.” “I will break the blender over your head.” “I’ll get you a list.”
You nod, already starting on usuals you know will have remained unchanged since your absence. Steel trap memory. Getting drinks with The Beef staff used to be the highlight of your week, which isn’t a sad statement at all. “I won’t tell anyone you like Dirty Shirleys.”
He defends. “Eva put me on them.”
“Insane thing to say about your five-year-old.”
“You know what I meant— She likes the normal—” “I’m pokin’ fun, go give this to Carmen.”
You’re hoping if you say it fast, coupled with bickering, Richie won’t make mental note of it. Won’t register it. Of course, he still does. How could he not? You slide the mug to him; he takes it, though, slow, with a perplexed look.
Yeah. They had lavender and maple syrup behind the bar. And cardamom. And milk to froth. And black coffee. Whatever. You didn’t have any dried lavender to top it with, this time, so it’s not actually that cool, anyways. Doesn’t make it special. Did you do a maple syrup drizzle to make up for this? Yeah. You hate yourself just a little bit, for it. You really cannot shut off the way you love, can you? Hopeless. Be even the slightest bit withholding, would you? Just a touch petty? God, you suck. Such a princess.
Rich shrugs, when you don’t try to justify yourself. You’re an adult, he won’t coerce you to be sharper, even if you should be. “Aye aye, Chippy.”
If Carmen ends up wanting to drink later, then he’ll have to come to you. That’s being tough, right? Sure. That’s definitely withholding, Chip. Really showed Carmen there. Certainly, a church woman must be clutching her pearls at your backbone, somewhere in the world.
Do you think you’d be able to handle him coming to your bar, anyways?
No. Decidedly no. Which is a bit stupid, because you’ve faced much scarier things in your life, than some asshole you owe two grand. Well, some asshole you owe two grand that you love deeply that hates you deeply because you are in some part responsible for not taking care of his brother—
Carmen doing your side work was unintentionally cruel, honestly. You don’t have anywhere for your brain to go but him. Don’t have anyone to talk to, or anything to do. Richie can tell and whether you want him to or not; he knows what you need. He repeats himself, walking off with the mug. “I’ll get you your list.”
He knows what you need. Something to do. Something to fix, for someone. Not fix someone. People’s princess. Still failed Mikey, no matter how hard you tried.
Sprite, grenadine, vodka, lime, maraschino cherries. Dirty Shirley. Something to do. Just focus on something to do.
You miss the naivety of wanting something to do. Three hundred guests versus one bartender without a barback is a layer of hell that Dante forgot to specify in his Inferno.
“What can I fix for you, ma’am?!” You’ve got to yell every sentence to get anything intelligible over the music and the cacophony of conversations.
There is an overlap of voices from every single woman crowding around your bar, despite the fact that you were definitely making explicit eye-contact with just one of them. You lean over the counter to hear her alone. She blinks, when you get in her face.
“What are we?”
You cannot stop the snort, but you’re pretty sure she didn’t hear it, music's too loud to hear anything. Syd’s a fucking oracle. “We’re fucked. What can I get for you?”
“Lemon drop shot?” Of course. It’s New York.
“Comin’ right up—”
The crowd of women interrupt you, and each other. “Oh, make that two!” “Make that three!” “Wait what are we making?”
Who the fuck is we? They’re more than welcome to get behind the bar with you. You’d take anyone, at this point.
“Lemon drops, babe!” “Oh—Oh, we doin’ lemon drops?” “Let’s just say ten and be safe!”
Of course.
It’s a lot of that, on repeat. But it’s better than the ones that want one very specific brand of scotch with their soda, because at least you can make huge batches for these ones— Does no one know how to fucking act around an open bar anymore? You get a vodka cran and you fuck off. You really need to start telling people you don’t know how to make bellinis.
Working alone is hard, because you can tell when you turn your back to make drinks, and aren’t able to take twenty more orders at the same time, that everyone’s real fucking annoyed with you. You have tried splitting your cells to become a second person, didn’t work. You’re constantly spinning around to accommodate people, and it’s getting fucking nauseating. And you’re usually patient, but the questions are getting just as mind-numbing.
“Can I get a uh… A negroni… Sbagliato? With prosecco?” “Sbagliato means prosecco is in it, sweetheart.”
“Do you do hurricane shots?” “I’m happy to slap you, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Oh, so it’s open bar?” “Yeah.” “So, I don’t have to tip, either?” “Well— It’s appreciated— Oh, and you’ve already walked away. Okay.”
It’s a lot of that, on repeat.
You see from twenty feet away, amidst the crowds, Uncle Jimmy walking towards your bar, and when he waves all friendly, he sees your glower, and opts to turn in the other direction. Smart man. No wonder he’s successful.
Richie swings by your bar, waiting at the corner, where the line hasn’t congregated. You don’t need to be shaking this martini for as long as you are, but it’s a good way to look like you’re working when you’re just trying to talk to Richie. He presents his serving tray to you. “Tiny quiche?”
You open your mouth, hands full with your shaker. He gets the point, stabbing a toothpick into the appetizer and shoving it in your mouth. Oh God, food is beautiful. Food is what sustains. You could write a full book of poetry right now about why food is everything. Well, not everything. You’re still in hell.
“Richie, I’m dying, your job can’t be that important, come be barback.” You pour out the martini. You attempt to open the jar of olives by yourself, when you struggle, Richie puts his tray down and grabs the jar from you.
Thankfully for your pride, he’s also struggling with it. Plus, it gives you time to annihilate the tray of quiches. He shakes his head, his job is important, allegedly. “You want me to starve guests?”
“Ideally? Yes.” You ignore the dirty looks you get from eavesdropping patrons. He hands you the opened jar. You take a toothpick from his tray, since you’re already out of yours, pierce an olive, toss it in the martini, and pass it to someone— Quite frankly, there’s every chance that’s not the guy that ordered the dirty martini, but he takes it, so who gives a fuck.
Richie sighs, he does want to help. “I’ll ask kitchen if they can cut someone.”
Thank fucking God. “Ask Marcus, he’s got mixology experience or some shit.” You remember being occasionally impressed by his verbiage— At the very least, he knows what stuff is back here, and that’s enough for you.
Richie just shakes his head, lips in a line, when you mention Marcus. A universal sign that something has gone horrifically wrong. You furrow your brows, immediately worried, leaning forward. “What happened?”
“Excuse me! What’s it take to get a long-island iced tea around here? This open bar is not very open!”
You and Richie both grimace, at the thick Jersey accent on this woman waving her hand hysterically at your bar. He gives you a nod, already taking his empty tray and starting to walk back to the kitchen. “I’ll ask.”
You turn your body to the woman, but head still to Richie. “Don’t ask. Tell.”
Not even five minutes pass, before you get a barrage of texts, from multiple people, all at once. You watch them flood in on the notification screen of your phone laying on the counter, while shaking up a cosmo, this time.
From Marcus, worrying. ‘sorrysorysorrybakkingemergencymbmmbmb’
From Syd, concerning. ‘couldn’t stop him lmk if it’s bad’
From Richie, alarming. ‘yk how to call your dog right’
But it all makes sense, when Carmen comes up to your bar, removing his apron. “You need a barback?”
Hair is normal. Not at its best, not how you taught him, but it’s better than before. He smells excessively like you; like accidentally used half the bottle levels like you. Maybe not an accident. Don’t read into it, too much— They’re almost certainly the only travel sized bottles he had on hand. Of course he’d take them. He smells like Old Spice, too, though. Don’t read into it. He looks tired. You knew he would. You’ve watched his location, every day. By the time you go to bed each night, he’s only just left The Bear. He deserves to feel tired, he was a fucking asshole, and you’re glad your cat ate just short of all of his flowers.
But you brought in the plate, the next morning. You cleaned it, and then hid it in the back of your dishwasher. You wanted it to be safe, you also just didn’t want to look at it or think about it or have it exist in your mind, at all. That’s half the reason you couldn’t let it perch outside your window anymore. Taunting you. He’s a piece of shit, but you can feel it in your chest; the care you cannot get rid of. The desire to ask are you okay? Have you been sleeping? How are you? How’s your week been? Want a hug? Have you been playing Connections? What did I do wrong? Did you need me? Did anything break? Did you break?
You missed him. Was the radio silence relieving? Yes. Preferably, you’d never acknowledge each other for the rest of your lives besides an eventual wire transfer. Preferably, he’d stay in the back of your dishwasher for the rest of your life. But God, you missed him, this week. You’ll probably miss him for the rest of your life. Is that toxic? You’re working on it. No you’re not… He just made every space easier to breathe in, kept a light on, for you. Not at the end, but he did before. Before he figured out that he hates you.
It’s a thing that everyone says about you, that you bring ease, and whether you can confirm or deny that, who’s to say— But you know Carmen does it for you. Lights up a room for you. And you might be alone in that feeling, but that’s okay with you. Or it was. It was, before he figured out he should hate you.
Oh, shit, you’ve been staring at him in silence for way too long. It’s hard to know how to navigate this. You don’t know how to feel, so you don’t know how to act either. It’s all a weird state of limbo that you desperately want to get out of, but don’t want to do any of the work required to do so. What do you do with your hands? Your body? Your voice? Are you supposed to be funny and nice still? Christ, just say something. What’d he ask, again? Can’t remember.
“Uh…” Still can’t remember, but— “What’s happening with Marcus?”
He seems to falter, slightly, but he comes into your bar, oh right, barback. You needed a barback. He exchanges his kitchen apron for a bar apron. Not used to seeing him wear all black. You wish you could enjoy it. Wish you could say it’s cool watching him act as one of your professions. He answers, as he ties the strings around his waist. “Uber dropped their wedding cake.”
Fuck whatever tension you two have. You nearly fold over in shock. The current track on the speakers fades out, right as you yell back, “They dropped their fucking wedd—!?”
With haste, Carmen puts the palm of his hand over your mouth. Knife tattoo hand. Oh, he missed being this close to you. Not the point here, though. “Shhhhhhh…!”
You relax, he removes his hand, you’re annoyed that you wish he didn’t. You whisper, though it’s still screeching in tone. “They dropped their fucking wedding cake?”
He nods, combing his hair back with his hand. Knife tattoo hand. It’s making your shampoo waft. You both notice it. He stops. “Marcus is remaking one, now.”
“From scratch?” You were right to be so worried; Richie was right to make the face he did. Carmen tilts his head back and forth. “Box mix that he’s finessing—”
You finish the sentence with him, “—Because he’s Marcus.” The king of doing too much, especially when there’s no time for it. It’s his best and worst trait.
He nods, smiling just slightly, but not the typical smile you get from him. Timid. “Yeah, so he’s locked in, but I’m here.”
Simple sentence, but it still schisms your brain. You cannot help but feel a distrust of it. “Shouldn’t you be running the back, though?” Keeping his kitchen in order? Being the Exec in his head?
He shakes his head. “They run a tight ship without me just fine.” The first lesson you gave to him, that that’s a good thing. Is this conversation hitting specific pain points on purpose as a punishment from God or is this just how all your conversations are going to feel, from now on?
Probably both. You nod. “Okay.” You do need a barback.
“This is so cute, girl, and I love love but I’m gonna need that Cosmo like yesterday.” Why did this woman have to say love? That would already be terrible if you were good right now. Carmen’s probably not the type of guy to say the L word for like several months anyways. You’re not even dating anyways— Or weren’t? Can you use past-tense on something that never was?
You hand her the Cosmo, and you both pretend you never heard her.
Running bar with Carmen makes your life infinitely easier, though albeit tenser. He hasn’t done this before, but he’s watched previous bar staff from the sidelines— And one of his best traits is how quick he catches on to things. He’s not confident enough to mix drinks, but everything else, he does just fine.
“Behind.” There’re occasional autopilot moments that make you laugh, though. He snaps back into his body, when you do, moving next to you. He tilts his head, “What, you don’t say behind?”
You shrug, and it feels normal, for a second. “Professionals probably do, I’ve never worked in a place that does, though.”
“But what about when you’re holdin’ shit?” You allow yourself to feel normal, for a second. It is a delight to teach him something about your work. You continue to make drinks and hand off orders, all while you both speak. It reminds you of the domestic flow you were both so used to doing. That was so easy for you both to fall into. It’s nice that it somehow hasn’t gone away.
“So, you know when you’re in the kitchen, or here, behind bar, you get like, really fucking hot?” Don’t let that entendre stay doubled— “Like sweaty?”
“Mhm?”
You hold onto your chilled shaker, stepping behind him, “So, we don’t say behind, we—” and press it just under the back of his neck. He shivers, immediately, full shock running through his system. “Do that.”
“Christ!”
You want to enjoy the moment, but you can’t help but remember him calling you a modern-day saviour. You try to push it down, but the warmth you were starting to feel tones down, quite a bit. You manage to keep him from noticing, manage to keep the smile on. “What, don’t like it? It’s nice!”
“Think it’s a safety concern, f’sure.”
“Call OSHA.” You touch the shaker to his face, before going to pour it. He laughs. Actually laughs. You wish that made you feel good, still. And somewhere, in some corner of yourself, it still does. But not like it did before.
Soon enough, you two get a second of reprieve, as Vinnie’s Best Man gets up to do his speech, or whatever. He uses a knife to clink his glass, and of course, it fucking shatters. You’re half-mad, because technically for the night, those are your glasses, but it’s too funny to actually give a shit. Plus, the Best Man gets a pass tonight, in your book, because one, he understood protocol and got a vodka cran from you, and two, his speech is forcing everyone to sit down and leave y’all the fuck alone.
“Beautiful night, beautiful couple, beautiful people— Couldn’t ask for a better weddin’ for my best friend— But let’s be honest, I didn’t think he’d be gettin’ a wedding at all— Aye! This guy Vin, amirite?”
You take this moment to halve your protein bar from Carmen. You wordlessly hand the other half to him. He shakes his head. “M’Good, you eat.”
You shove it towards him. You know he hasn’t eaten much, you don’t know how, but you just know. “I’ve eaten twelve tiny quiches and a beef sandwich, Carm, take the fuckin’ granola.”
He breathes heavily through his nose, but he takes it. You both watch the Best Man, quietly eating your halves. He is silently overjoyed at the verbal confirmation you ate the sandwich.
“I don’t need to introduce my goddamn self, I’m sure my reputation precedes me, right? But I’m Leo, I’m my boy’s Best Man, and I just couldn’t be more honoured, y’know? We grew up together, playin’ stickball in the Bronx, and now this guy’s marryin’ one of the most wonderful women in the world? And I get to be here? Man, I love ya.”
As cranky as you’ve been all night, this really is a gorgeous wedding. More often than not, the guests are nice, it’s just that the shit ones stick out in your head like nails to be hammered. Vinnie and Mira seem like a good couple. You wonder if you’ll ever get to have a wedding like this. They commissioned one of those painters to do a live painting, too. Always wanted one of those. And they’ve got little gift bags for the guests. You’re taking notes, internally, of what you like here, what you’d want to do for your own.
You wish you and Carmen were talking, right now. Despite the fact that Leo’s voice is booming throughout the hall’s speakers, the silence between you feels deafening, because you both know that you would be talking right now, if you weren’t living in fucking limbo. You need to work. You need something to do. The ice basket is running low, refilling it will take at least two minutes and maybe holding the ice will shock your nervous system.
You grab a bag of ice from the freezer behind you both, Carmen pretends to be listening to the speech, because he doesn’t feel like he has the right to help you with the weight. You cut the bag, emptying huge chunks of ice into the basket. You ball up the plastic in your hands to throw out; you nod to Carmen. “Can you break the ice?”
He seems surprised, taking a second, before nodding, crossing and uncrossing his arms. “I owe you an apology—”
“Oh, no!” You hastily correct. “No— Yes but no— I— I meant—” You hand him the metal scooper, nodding to the clumped-up ice you just poured out. “I meant can you break the literal ice blocks?”
Carmen wishes he has dead. And you can both tell that. “Yes. Yes— Yeah, f’sure, one-hundred— Course. Heard.” You nod back, pensive, throwing the plastic bag out, staring straight ahead, trying to refocus on Leo again. You can’t.
Carmen beats the ice, softly, so as to not make a noticeable noise for the audience. After a few seconds, he returns to his point. “…I do owe you an apology, though—”
“Don’t even worry about it, Carmen.” You don’t say this. Fak does. He sidles up to the bar. Where he keeps apparating from and hearing your conversations, you’re really not sure. “I’ve got this one.”
Neither you or Carmen know what Fak thinks he’s got, here, but you’re both too intrigued or surprised to stop him. Well, Carmen does give it a fair shot, after a second, “Fak, I’m—”
“Nono—” But there’s simply no chance. “I appreciate you trying to fix my problems for me, but y’know, I can handle myself, Carmen.” …You wish that’s what Carmen said, last Friday, instead of calling himself your charity tax write-off.
Fak pivots to you, sighing, shrugging, hands up, as if you know as well as he does what the fuck he’s about to say. You can’t tell if you’re supposed to be scared right now or not. When you don’t say anything, he starts, “Alright, I guess I’m the one that's brave enough to say it, there’s some major tension here.”
Now why does Fak think he’s the one to acknowledge this. Quite frankly, why is Fak here? Is he working, too? On what exactly? You don’t remember seeing him on the plane, either. Was he a part of the road trip? Dear God, that's a nightmare third wheel. You just let out a, “Huh?”
“Oh, come on, you haven’t shown up at The Bear since last Friday—” You’re now remembering that before the fight of all fights broke out that night, Fak ran out of the kitchen. Guess no one filled him in, after. “And like, this week, when something broke—” He nods to Carmen, who grimaces, hand over his face. “Carmy told me to fix it, instead of calling you, like he’d usually.”
You know you’re not allowed to be upset about that, and yet, you really fucking are. You’re Carmen’s fucking fixer. Or were? Fuck. Christ, are you jealous of Fak now? You turn your gaze just slightly to Carmen, who’s leaning over the counter, propping his head up on his hands. “What broke?”
He answers briefly. “Expo clock.”
It was extremely apt and even more upsetting for him, the way time literally stopped, when you left. When he made you leave.
You tuck your hands in your pockets, looking back to Fak. “You fix it?”
He shrugs. “Yeah.” Carmen stands back up, opening his mouth to intercept, Fak puts a hand in front of his face. “No Carm, I’ve gotta tell her the truth…” What.
“Tony…” Neil sighs, unable to make eye contact, at this moment. “I was really harsh on you, that Friday…”
“…Huh?” The fucking degree thing? Is that what he’s talking about? You honestly can’t remember anything before Carmen, from that night.
“You don’t need to hide your pain.” He nods solemnly, “I— I’m just gonna say it… I know it’s hard to believe, but I was… jealous.”
“I know.”
He ignores that you’ve said this entirely, “I know, I know, it’s crazy. Me? Jealous? But yeah, I was really good at hiding it, but you’re just really like smart, Tony, y’know? And everyone was like— Tony can fix this— Tony can fix that— And I was holding it together, but then you were good at serving, too. And it got to me— And obviously Carmen could tell, so he stopped calling you. Trying to be a true bro.”
Oh, Fak really doesn’t know what the fuck is going on, huh? “Of course there’s like, the other obvious tension in the room—” Oh okay, so he does know— “Between us.” What.
“What’s up?” You blink, voice going high for a second. Carmen cannot stop staring at Fak, face entirely unmoving, unblinking. Neither of you are sure what emotion to feel right now. Is Leo’s speech still fucking going? You’ve completely tuned it out, if it is.
Fak gestures to the air between you two. “Well like, there’s obviously a really intense sort of rivals to romance dynamic happening here…”
What.
“And like,” He raises his hands, in defense— Of what exactly? You couldn’t be less sure. “I could totally see that happening, in the future.”
It takes everything in you, to just hold your lips closed together. You have to bite down on your top lip, to not scream laugh in his face. “For sure, man.”
He nods, continuing, “But right now, I just don’t think I’m ready to take what you’re giving, y’know?” Holy shit, wait, is that how Carmen feels? Is that what the fuck is going on in his head? “Just not ready for all—” He gestures to you in general. “This.”
“Little harsh.” You tilt your head. “Fuckin’ cool it, Fak.” Carmen barks, in tandem with you. Oh, he’s upset. He wasn’t set on his emotions, this entire time, but he seems to have now settled in the upset category.
“Right.” Fak nods. “And so, I’m sorry I can’t be that for you… And I know it’s gonna take time to recover, but please come back to The Bear, when you’re ready. You’re… You’re a better repairman than me. We need you.”
You put a hand over your mouth, to cover your shit eating grin, trying your best to compose yourself and look sad. The best way out of this is to just agree with him. It’d take far too much energy to clarify everything for Fak. You’re nodding too much. “…Yeah, y’know, Fak… I will consider that. All those words you said? I’m gonna… Gonna really take all of it to heart, dude. I really appreciate… The directness— Y’know, that takes… Strength, man.”
“Thank you.” He nods. “Still friends?”
You did not realize you were even friends to start. And not in the insecure way, this time. You nod. “For sure, dude.”
You and Carmen both watch him walk away, in perplexed silence. Carm’s the first to break it. “…Was that anything—” “Obviously fucking not.”
He’s going to reply something witty in response, and it’s going to make you both feel like everything’s okay, again, but then he seems to see something that scares him straight. He turns to the back of the bar, aimlessly grabbing bottles, for no reason. Literally no reason, everyone sat for the speeches, what’s he doing—?
“You still serving?” Older man, oval glasses. He stands in front of your bar. Ah. Kinda rude of him, maybe that’s why Carmen’s giving the cold shoulder to this guy? Whatever. You'll serve him. Just because you're Chicago's Kindest doesn't mean everyone else has to be.
“Yessir, what can I fix for you?”
“Manhattan with bourbon?”
You salute, “Aye aye.” And get to mixing the drink. You’re pretty sure Carmen must know this guy, because he’s already set out the bourbon, vermouth, and angostura. It doesn’t take long to fix the drink.
When you go to hand it to the man, he seems to notice the mop of blond curls behind you. “Aye, Carmen? Jimmy told me you’d be workin’ tonight.”
A small, tentative, meek wave from Carmen. He sniffs. “Yeah. Hi, Uncle Lee.”
“Oh.” Is all you can say. Pulling the drink away from his hand, as Uncle Lee reaches for it. “You’re Uncle Lee?”
“My reputation precedes me?” He chuckles, nodding.
Carmen comes up beside you, and witnesses a smile from you that he’s never seen from you, and ideally hopes will never be directed at him. It’s the slowness of it, it’s a smile, but you’re doing it purely to bare your teeth.
“It sure does.” Give him a chance, it’s been four years, give him a chance. “I was a friend of Mikey’s.”
He fails the chance. “Ah… I see, friend, ya did a little—” He taps the side of his nose, sniffing. “Together?”
He really fucking fails the chance. Your smile grows, painfully so. The apples of your cheeks so high they practically close your eyes for you. You laugh a deeply fake laugh. “Hahaha, yeah, yeah, that’s exactly what we used to do. Uncle Lee.”
“Oh!” You tilt your wrist quickly, pouring the bourbon Manhattan in the bar sink. “Ah, fuck. Hand slipped.”
Lee is a bit taken aback. “Really—?”
“Really.” You repeat. Putting the glass down. “And y’know, I could remake that for you, but I dunno if you wanna trust my shaky junkie hands.”
Holy fuck. Carmen has always been great at keeping his reactions hidden, and still is, so Uncle Lee cannot tell how out of character this is, of you. You’re nice, you don’t bite— Or Carmy didn’t think you did, because of the amount of grace you gave him, last Friday.
“Lee, I’m gonna level with you.” You cross your arms, smile fading, but there’s still that venomous lilt in your voice. “I’ve been thinking for the last, I dunno, two years, what I’d say to you, if I had the displeasure of seeing you.”
There’s a pile of forks behind your bar, that you’d asked Richie for, just in case this situation came to a head. Just in case this fucking idiot came by. But it just doesn’t feel right, now. Doesn't feel right to leap over the counter and stab him in the neck with a fork. Though you've imagined it, and you still actively are.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” You nod, looking around the venue. “But we’re at this beautiful wedding, and Vinnie and Mira don’t deserve to have their reception ruined by us causing a scene.” You gesture to the air between you, almost comical.
He shrugs, “Better than Mikey, in that regard, then.” You know what he’s referring to, despite not being there.
You nod, smiling real big now, really baring your teeth, now. “His fuckin’ house, Lee.”
“I could have your ass fired, y’know.” “So do it.”
You lean forward, elbows on the counter. “I’m not getting paid for this. Please, get me fired. Snitch to Uncle J, c’mon, fire me. I’m delighted to get cut. Do it.”
After what feels like eons of a silent stare down, Uncle Lee throws a fake punch. Carmen’s the only one that flinches, immediately rearing his own fist back, stopping short when Lee does.
You’re still just coy, elbows on the counter. Lee scoffs, “Cokehead.” Of course.
“Yessir.” You just lightly shake your head, standing up straight again, smiling, amused, delighted, even. “That’s me. That’s who I am.” It’s not, but there’s no point in arguing with him— Especially when you agreeing just seems to piss him off more.
You’ve given Lee nothing to work with, to insult you, so it takes him a moment to generate something. “You’re—”
You don’t let him get it out, putting a hand up for him to give it a rest. “Lee, I’m not startin’ a scene, it’s a gorgeous wedding.”
“Oh, how grown of you—” “But, if you wanna have a scene, just wait in the parking lot.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“You really think—” “I do. I do think, Lee.”
You lean forward, again, shrugging, speaking nonchalant, speaking with your hands, casually. “I wanna make it so clear, for you, too. I’m not gonna crack my knuckles, not gonna make some empty threats, not gonna scream in your face— I’m not gonna tell you I’m gonna kill you or anything like that. Because obviously, I wouldn’t do that.”
You nod, slowly, methodically, clearly. “What I am gonna say, is that I have been a bartender on and off since I was twenty-one. I was an E-M-T, for three years— All in our beautiful city of Chicago, Illinois. The sheer volume of geriatric white guys I have had to pull to the concrete in a full nelson in both professions— Insurmountable, Lee. So again, to be, so fucking clear, Lee— If I see you outside, I’m taking you to the fucking pavement, and I’m not getting off.”
Uncle Lee’s got no comeback, for this, but he’d be dead in the ground before he just lets someone have the last word. This is why Uncle Jimmy is more successful. “Oh, I’m sure you fuckin’ would.”
You grin. God, those forks are tempting. Resist. You keep your hands busy by grabbing a maraschino cherry from it's jar behind your bar to snack on. “Enjoy your night, Lee.”
“You’re a real fuckin’ bi—” A fork flies over his shoulder, clattering behind him. Not from you, from Carmen.
He speaks for you. “Enjoy your night, Uncle Lee.”
It feels good to be backed. Carmen’s here, and he’s on your team. You tack on, waving goodbye to the fucker, “Back lot, Uncle Lee.”
Lee pivots his gaze to Carmen, he rolls his eyes, disappointed. “Alright, Donna.”
Carmen goes for another fork, you stop his hand, holding it there, for a second. The metal clatters behind the counter. Lee’s pleased enough with the provocation. Men like him don’t leave until they’ve won something in their heads. He leaves, on his way to the punch bowl, since he’s determined he’s not getting shit from the bar tonight. You and Carmen just watch him, like prey, making sure he leaves without looking back.
“You’ve got teeth.” Carmen’s first to speak, cleaning a glass, both of you looking straight ahead. You nod.
“I do.”
“You don’t bite much.”
You shrug. “Try not to.”
Carmen considers the fact that what he wants to say would mean sticking his foot in his mouth. He then considers the fact that nothing he could say now will ever be worse than what he said then. He keeps rubbing away at a perfectly shining glass.
“You didn’t bite me.”
“I didn’t.” You nod, and your body goes on autopilot, as you start making a drink no one’s ordered. Just need something to do. “I couldn’t.”
He doesn’t like that answer. “I deserved it.”
“I deserved it, too.” You’re not a big fan of your own answer, either. But you can’t say it’s not true. You deserved it. Just some failure leech trying to reattach yourself to people through merry good deeds, as if they’d add up to fucking anything—
“No, you didn’t.” He pivots to you, tone inarguable. He puts the glass down. It’s a lowball, you need a lowball, you grab it from him.
“Do you like cognac or vodka?” You ignore his words, but you look him in the eyes. You regret it.
He lets you get away with it, because he is absolutely not the one allowed to lead the conversation, here. He did enough bulldozing, before.
“I dunno, I don’t really drink much.” You squint, you’ve seen his apartment. He clarifies. “Other than wine n’ beer.”
You nod. You opt for cognac. He watches you, for a moment, before asking. “What’re you—”
You’re already finished, by this point, sliding the glass over to him. “Black lavender latte. Cognac n’ coffee liqueur. If it’s too strong, let me know, I can add more milk.”
“Thank you, Chef.” Is all he can think to say. He takes a sip. It’s far behind in his long list of regrets, but certainly one of them in the way he spoke to you, is that there’s a strong chance he will never have a mixologist as talented as you working at The Bear.
“Hmm.” You hum, not watching him drink it, because you won’t be able to handle either reaction— You won’t be able to handle disgust nor pleasure. You never want to look at Carmen again. He’s also all you want to see. This sucks. You suck. Carmen sucks.
“Thank you for the coffee earlier, too.” You’re overjoyed at the verbal confirmation he drank it.
“Figured you’d need one.”
“I did.” He thinks about it, and decides to take the bullet. “Needed yours.”
Your breath hitches, and he can’t tell whether or not that’s a good thing. He doesn’t get the chance to ask, as a meek and overly sweaty man comes up to your bar. There are bar stools at your counter, though they’ve been tucked far under it to keep the flow of traffic moving. But the man points down to the stool, silently asking. You nod.
“You can sit, sir.”
He’s delighted. He sits. “Sorry, I’m not gonna sit long, I just uh— Just—” He turns around pointing to the Maid of Honour, who’s just gotten on the hot mic for her speech. “I uhm, it’s— Usually the bar is empty, when uh, when people are talking.”
“That they are.” You nod, smile soft. “Can I get anything for you, or d’you just wanna sit? No shame in that.”
“I— I, uh, if it’s not a bother— I was just wonderin’ if uhm— Totally fine, if it’s— If it is— Do uhm, do you— Do you do mocktails?”
Carmen watches you grow ten times softer, in demeanor. It’s wonderful, how you’re able to flip on a dime. It’s wonderful what you’re willing to give to people, when they deserve it. You nod. “Yeah, sir. What’s your drink?”
“Oh— I— Anything’s fine, really.” He plays with the loose strings on the cuff of his left sleeve.
You tilt your head, recognizing his nervousness. “If it’s not too personal, sir, are you…” You debate the best way to say it. “Taking twelve steps?”
He looks scared, initially, to be caught; but then he looks at your face, and he knows he has nothing to be worried about. He nods. “One— Two months, two weeks, one day.”
“That’s huge.”
He shrugs. “It’s a start.”
“A start is huge.” You emphasize, and he nods, because that’s inarguable. “What was your drink before? I can make a mocktail of that— Or maybe you’d prefer somethin’ total opposite?”
“Oh! Yeah, I uh, I liked uh, old-fashioneds, but you can’t really make those without whiskey—”
“Yeah, you can.” You’re already grabbing your shaker. “You just use barley tea. I can do that— If you want that.”
He thinks on it, for a second. Debates whether nostalgia is good or not. “Yeah, yeah I’d like that.”
While you work on it, the guy feels enough confidence, bestowed by you, to tell you about himself. “I liked sitting. That was the thing I liked about drinking. The sitting and the talking and the feeling good about it.”
“I hear that.” You watch the tea steep, nodding. “Reason why the phrase is ‘takes the edge off’.”
Carmen has to turn around. He’s listening intently, but he has to turn around. Again, he’s pretty good at hiding his tells, but you’re pretty good at reading them. And you’d be able to tell his flat expression is the equivalent of being absolutely fucking bug eyed on anyone else. You’re a bartender. You were a paramedic. You have seen so many people, on their worst day— Seen so many people like this guy, like his brother. You have taken care of so many addicts.
The number of times he said loser or junkie to your face, and the way that that was what you always fought back on. It will not stop replaying, in Carmen’s head. The way you think that wasn’t okay, but the way he spoke about you was. It’s all just nauseating. You’re so good to everyone but you. You defend everyone but you. Carmen's almost furious about this, though he doesn't feel he has the right to be. You should've treated him like Uncle Lee. He acted exactly like Uncle Lee.
“It can make it easier, to be at the bar, for some people, I've found.” You continue, still making conversation with the man as you stir the steeped tea into the glass, over ice. “Makes you feel normal.” Forced sobriety is definitely in the top five, of the most ostracizing human experiences.
He nods, relieved to have someone. “Most people don’t get that.”
You nod, strain out the virgin old-fashioned, and push the glass to him across the counter. “Well, I get that.”
He takes a sip of the mocktail, it’s perfectly nostalgic in a way that doesn’t hurt. “Thank you.” He’s thanking you for a lot more than the drink.
“A pleasure.” You nod. He stands up, tucking the stool back under the counter, as the speeches end. It won’t be long until the bar is crowded again, and he knows it’ll be too much, for him or you. You add. “Good luck with month three. It's a heavy one.”
“If you work it and you’re worth it.” He recites the line incorrectly on purpose, it’s an important one, but you both still laugh at it. Like an inside joke, practically. You give one quick dap, he puts a twenty in your tip jar, and walks off, with less sweat, and more spring in his step, this time. Good.
When he walks away, before guests start to stand, there’s a lull of silence. You don’t need to look at Carmen to know he has a million different thoughts, and a million more follow ups.
“You have questions?”
“None of my business.” He sniffs, awkwardly. “Unless you want it to be.”
Why did he have to fucking say it like that. Why did he have to put the ball in your court. Carmen fucking sucks. Y’know what, no, turn it on his ass.
“Did you give the New York Exec my number?”
“No.” The reply is instant. He doesn’t get thrown by the topic change in the slightest. You were pretty sure you knew the answer, but the speed of it is still a little surprising. Like it wasn’t something that was ever up for debate.
“What’d you say to him, then?”
This is when he looks embarrassed, just slightly. This part was up for debate, seemingly. “We—”
“Everyone, please stay in your seats for just a moment, our wonderful catering crew will be coming around to serve you!” Says… Vinnie’s mom? Mira’s mom? They all kind of blend together. It’s not long after this, that Syd rolls by with Marcus and a cart of food. She’s starting with you, despite the fact that you’re not a guest. Sweetie.
“Salmon or chicken?”
“Just gimme both, we’ll split it.” You nod your head to Carmen. “Best of both worlds.”
And then, the game of eye contact conversation ensues. A game that Carmen nor Marcus can comprehend.
‘I asked you’ Syd glares.
‘You can’t just starve him out’ You deadpan.
‘Who said?’
“Syd.” You say aloud. She sighs, handing you both plates, mumbling ‘whatevers’, walking off to serve the actual guests. No time to bicker. You look to Marcus, worried. “Heard about the cake, how’s it goin?”
He shrugs but he’s smirking, proud and bad at hiding it, he hands you a paper plate with a little chocolate cupcake. The floral frosting job is simple, and you know if he had more time, you’d probably be looking at a full realistic rose, but it’s still beautiful. “You tell me. Taste test.”
“Lil sacrilege, to do dessert before dinner, but okay.” You grab a fork from your pile, digging in. “Oh fuck,” You have to laugh. “Marcus— You stress me the fuck out, how do you have time to make shit this good?”
It’s a built-in habit for you, to hand your fork to Carmen. He gives you a moment to realize or pull back. You should but you don’t. He takes it, thankful, and tries the cupcake for himself.
“S’fire, Chef.” He points the fork, emphatically. “‘Specially with what you had.”
“Thank you, Chef.” Marcus nods.
You tilt your head, curious, “Do you even have time to test, though? If this sucked you wouldn’t have time to remake the full cake anyways, would you?”
“No.” He answers bluntly, and you both snort. He adds, “Just wanted to make sure you got dessert, over here.” Just wanted to make sure you ate something.
“Marcus…” You pout, overcome by the sweetness of the sweets Chef. You’ve gotta return the favour. “Gin and juice still your go-to?”
“You tryna get me fucked up at work?”
You shrug, grinning. “Are you tryna get fucked up at work?”
He’s going to say yes, but then he pauses, and looks to his boss. Looks to Carmen. Ah, you don’t run his kitchen— Get that through your head. Of course, Marcus can’t just drink—
Carmen shrugs, smiling, “Are you tryna get fucked up at work, Chef?”
Marcus claps his hands, grinning. “Yessir!”
That makes you feel a little lighter. You nod. “Gin and juice, comin’ up.”
You pour out the pineapple juice— Marcus’ preferred juice, of course you remembered. And Marcus leans over the bar, to watch you stir in the gin, even if it’s just a stupid simple drink, the guy loves to learn.
He asks, “How much they payin’ you, tonight?”
You shake your head, “Tips. Nothin’ else.”
Carmen’s ears burn, at that, while he evenly divides and plates out the salmon and chicken plates so you both have a little of everything. If things were normal you could just eat off each other's plates.
Marcus tilts his head, just as surprised. “You in debt, too?”
“Just to Mikey.” You smile, shaking your head. “No, I’m doin’ this in exchange for Uncle J getting me out of work early, a couple weeks back.”
“That’s it?”
“I was in a rush.” You shrug, measuring out the simple syrup. “Got like thirty missed texts from Syd, I thought someone fuckin’ died, didn’t have time to bargain.”
“Wait—” Marcus cannot help but grin, nearly laughing, at the ridiculousness of it, at how bad you got fucked over, by your own permission. “You’re here because you… left work… to go deliver Nat’s baby?”
“Yessir.” Are you fucking serious? Carmen can’t help but stare at the side of your head, for just a few seconds, before going back down to the plates. You’re in this hellscape of a bar, three states from your home, because you were delivering his niece? You did that for them already, and promised yourself for this, in order to do that?
“You know me,” You hand Marcus his glass, and you shouldn’t make the joke, but you can’t help yourself. “Modern day Christ.”
Marcus stifles down his snort, turning his head away from Carmen, to look at the ground. You do the same. There is something painful, about it all, for everyone; but Carmen can’t say that pain isn’t deserved, on his end, so he takes it. You’re allowed to joke about it all you want, if that’s what it takes for you to feel lighter.
A timer goes off on Marcus’ phone. He takes a sip from his gin and juice, nodding in approval, “Oh, shit— Alright, cool times up—” He lifts the glass to you, you hurriedly get the point and grab a random empty cup to clink with him, cheers.
“I’ll be back.” He says. Doubtful, you think. But you nod and wave him off nonetheless.
“If T needs a drink, tell her to take five.” You haven’t seen her tonight, but you realize yourself, again, once you say this. Not your kitchen. “Uh— If that’s, that’s okay—”
“Tell Chef to take a break if she needs it, we haven’t seen her.” Says Carmen, beside you. We. Don’t read into it. He hates you, and you hate him, actually. Carmen sucks, and so do you.
Marcus nods, and makes his mad dash off as a tsunami of guests that have just gotten their plates decide now that they want a drink with their meal. Sonofabitch.
God, you need a break. It’s really hitting you, and your stomach. As full as everyone’s tried to keep you, you really need to just sit down and have your fucking plate. Working behind a bar is a nightmare on the feet and back— Your earrings feel heavy, and your bracelets feel like handcuffs. It’s just all too much, without a break. You need a nap and maybe a thirty-minute session of just staring at a wall.
But the tsunami.
Carmen watches your side profile, and thinking back in his head, the collage of memories forming your face— He’s never seen you genuinely fatigued before. He’s seen you in the middle of the night, he’s seen you caught off guard, seen you distressed— But you’ve never really been one to ask for a break. It’s always yes of course it’s done, with you. It’s your best and worst trait.
As the crowd closes in, and your face morphs into a smile, ready to serve, Carmen claps his hands together, calling out to the sea. “Ey, sorry everyone, we’re just gonna take a quick thirty, alright? Union mandated.”
There is no such thing as a Bartender’s Union, you and Carmen very well know that. You’re about to call it off and say it’s fine before someone can throw an empty glass at your head or something, but instead, a scrawny but wide built, deeply New York Italian man, at the front of the crowd nods.
And as he nods, the crowd groans. He looks deeply offended by this. He turns to his fellow guests. “Where do y’all get off? We fought for those thirty-minute breaks, you fucks!” This quiets them pretty quickly. “We can live with the fuckin’ punch bowl for thirty minutes, c’mon.”
Carmen gets close enough to whisper to you, but far enough that it’s still not personal. Far enough that he still hates you. “Most of the family does or did service work. Say ‘union mandated’ and you can do anythin’”
You smile, watching the crowd dissipate, you crack a joke, because that’s probably what you’re supposed to do. “Union mandated… Murder?”
“Revolt, y’mean?” “Is that an offer?” “I’d ride for you.”
It’s supposed to be light and fun, but you can’t stop yourself, you can’t play the part and it comes out. “Would you?”
That one hurts. It all hurts, but that one really gets Carmen. That you’d have genuine reason to have pause about his dedication to you. Not your fault, his.
You grab your plate from his side of the counter, embarrassed by your instinctual prod. “Sorry.”
He’s not embarrassed by his. “Stop apologizing.”
There’s a heavy silence, before Carmen adds, “I’m supposed to be fuckin’ apologizing.”
There are no more interruptions. Fak isn’t going to come by, patrons are leaving you be, the staff is either helping Marcus or serving food. There is nothing left, to interrupt you two. This is going to happen. Christ, why does Never Let Me Down Again have to be playing right now? That’s not a fucking wedding song. This is too dramatic and simultaneously awkward and clunky and bad. There is no somethings left for you to do. There is nothing left to do, but talk. Nothing left to do but escape the void, ideally together. Please let it be together. You hate to admit it, but you want it to be together.
There is no good place to sit. So, you pick up your plate, and one of the many forks from your pile. With a sigh, you crouch down, and slide yourself underneath the counter, sitting with your legs folded, so Carmen can join you. You nod to him, to let him know that he can in fact join you.
He does. You take a few bites, in silence, before he breaks it.
“I didn’t mean a fuckin’ word.”
“It’s okay if you did.” You can’t look up from your plate. You deserved it.
He says your name, with a severity, to it. “—I didn’t mean a fucking word.”
“Then why’d you say it?”
“I—” Despite rehearsing what he wanted to say, and having ample stage to say it, he does not know how to say any of it, anymore. “I was like, like, jealous? But not in the— Not in the normal way.”
“Normal way?”
“Like, I didn’t— Well I did— But I like—” He puts his fork down, “I saw you as competition.”
You don’t know what to say, and so he keeps going. “I saw you like… Like being so perfect at everything, and being so… Being so what everyone needed, and you being there, and and— I felt so… the way you can just do that— Like— Like you can just be you and it just works. And I just fucking can’t.”
A talent you share with his brother. A talent Carmen envied in Mikey, and thus, envies in you.
“And then I got so… weird about that thought. Like you being you is— You’re for everyone. And I got this idea in my head that…” He cringes, trying to find better wording in his head for it, and he can’t. “That you were for me.”
“But you’re not for me—” “Ouch.” “—Not what I meant.”
He thanks you, internally, for being willing to add levity, right now. “I lo— I like you, so much. And I don’t want you to change. If you were like…” He half gestures to himself, which you’re not a big fan of the deprecation, but you let it slide. “Cold, and not for anyone, you wouldn’t be… you.”
Carmen realized as much, watching you tonight. Watching you interact with full strangers to long time friends. If you were callus, you wouldn’t be you. If you didn’t love his family as much as he did, he wouldn’t have attached himself to you, so quickly. He loves the way that you love. The way that you can’t turn it off. It’s not that Carmen isn’t special. It’s that you are so fucking special. He’s fucking stupid for not connecting those dots, earlier.
He picks up his fork again, needing to do something with his hands. Your brows remain furrowed, as you try to walk back how he spiraled from what and where.
“So, you just wanted to take me down a peg?”
He shakes his head. “It— I— With Mikey, I— I saw some shit that made me think that I was just… fillin’ a gap, or you were just being so good to me out of like… Guilt.” He chews down on his salmon. “And I couldn’t find your fuckin’ invoice, so I just kept drilling into my head that I was just… Charity.”
“You’re not charity.” You’re quick to refute.
“You didn’t fail Mikey.” So is he.
Oh Christ. You nod, but you don’t believe it. “You weren’t wrong to say it.” You have to put your plate down. “I— I don’t see you like I saw Mikey, at all. But I do…” You trail off, just looking at him has you tearing up.
He leaves home so early. He comes home so late. He looks so tired. Gaunt. Has he been eating? Did he light his oven on fire again? Remember how he looked in the freezer. Remember how Mikey looked in the freezer? Remember how they are so so different. They are so different but you still can’t stop connecting every fragment and taking it as a sign and worrying so fucking much, so fucking paranoid—
“Do what?” He swallows his last bite of chicken, and you can’t stop looking at him and fuck you just can’t hold it back, this time. You were doing so good about this. This isn’t even the point of the conversation— Well, kind of. Just breathe.
As your eyes begin to water, he sets his plate aside on the floor, reaching out immediately, worried, immediately. He pauses, hand floating in the air. Hesitating. “Fuck—Can I?”
Eyes barely open, you nod. He’s quick to take your plate from your hands, set it aside, and hug you there. It’s awkward, underneath a bar counter, half sitting, half crouching, grappling you. Carmen does not wish to be anywhere else.
You wrap your arms around his shoulders and babble, unable to hold back a fear that’s been long standing, since the day you met him.
“Sometimes you remind me of Mikey so much and I get so scared and I just— Fuck, I just— Please don’t kill yourself, Carmen.” His arms wrap around just a bit tighter, as do yours. “I know that’s selfish—”
“It’s not.” Mumbled, to your neck. Skin to skin isn’t really the focal point, here, but there is a lurking part of his subconscious fearing that he will never be able to hug you like this, again. Never be your rock. “I won’t.”
It’s silent, for a minute. You believe him. He holds you there, and you believe him.
“Why did you think all that? That you were filler?” You pull back, just a bit, to look at his face. “Did I do something to make you feel like that?”
“No— God no. You’re—” He swallows. It feels stupid now, to even say how his fucking tantrum started, you had it so much worse, in your head. Why didn’t you tell him? “I was looking for your invoice, and—”
“I forgot the booths, by the way.” You recall the shoddy invoice you wrote. It’s a stupid time to interrupt, but as you slowly grow more comfortable, inches from his face, it feels like the time to be stupid. “And taxes. I owe you something more like eighteen-seventy.”
“You don’t owe me shit.”
“I’m paying back a Berzatto, somehow.”
“Where’d that money come from?”
“Where’d your tirade come from?”
He swallows again, getting back to the point. “I found a folder. Called ice chips, or something like that— But it wasn’t for ice. It was, for you.”
You look at him, genuinely perplexed for a second. Then you get it. And it makes a lot more sense, why Carmen knows you failed Mikey—Try as he might to deny it. “Oh… You found my Ice folder.”
“Fuck’s that mean?” You’re glad, honestly, that he’s never had a reason to learn what it means. It’s fair. You had to teach it to Mikey, too.
“Ice. I-C-E, Carmen. It’s an acronym.” You spell it out, slow. “In Case of Emergency. I-C-E.”
It knocks the wind out of him, immediately. He’s extra glad he’s holding onto you, because he’s starting to feel untethered. “What?”
You nod. It’s time to walk him through it. You have to tell him. “I made Mikey keep some sort of emergency stuff as a fail-safe, for when he forgot people wanted him alive.” When Carmen’s quiet, you continue. “I was in his work cabinet, I think Richie was in his bedside, you and Sug were in his wallet.”
His stomach lurches, at the idea of being the emergency his brother always had on him. “You knew he was suicidal?”
Who didn’t? You think, but don’t say, because that’s not fair. Mikey cut him out, how could he know?
“Everyone’s suicidal, when they’re trying to get sober.”
“What?”
“What?” You parrot back. It’s both your turns, to squint at the other, confused beyond belief now. How is he confused? You’re first to ask. “Carmen, what was in my ice folder?”
“Anniver— Oh my fucking God.” He unwraps himself from you, because he’s frankly too ashamed to touch you, realizing everything he misunderstood. “Oh, my fucking God.”
You let him go, though you don’t particularly want to. He’s probably realizing he’s hugging the enemy.
“Carmen—?” “You didn’t fucking date Mikey.”
“What?!” You jump, your head hits the bottom of the base of the bar’s sink. “Fuck! Ow, no— What?!”
It’s a mess of limbs and emotions, as he grabs your head haphazardly, seeing if you’re hurt— It honestly hurts more, to be pulled around like this. “Are you o—” You don’t let him finish, grabbing at his wrists, ignoring your sore head.
“You thought I’d fuck your brother and then—What— try to fuckin’ get the whole set?” You’re cringing at the thought. This had just never come up in your mind. You would’ve set him straight, if it did. It was way worse in his head. Why didn’t he tell you? “I— Carmy, babydoll, are you fucking insane?”
You say nice pet names, when you’re perplexed. You’ve got a pattern of doing so. He also has no comeback for this, completely mum. You release his wrists. You add, again, aghast. “How old do you think I am?”
“Ah— As old as Syd?” “Correct.” “So, twenty-eight?”
“Turning, but yeah.” You nod, like a teacher walking him through a problem. “And how old was Mikey?”
“Forty something.” “Forty-three.” “No one remembers their brothers’ age—” “Sixteen years. Carmen.”
You press your hands over your eyes. “And listen, I get at a point age is just a number but I was twenty-five when I met him and he was already fucking forty— I grew up with Muppet Babies and he grew up with Muppets. Period end of sentence.”
You sigh. This situation isn’t funny at all, but you feel a load lighten off of you significantly. And also the situation is extremely funny. It’s hard to be mad at someone this thrown off.
“It’s just— Listen, do I think Mikey’s hot? Absolutely—”
“Alright—” He cringes, putting a hand in the air, asking you to lay off this train of thought.
“Oh, what do you want me to say ‘your genetic make-up fucking sucks actually’? No, you have a hot family, Carmen.”
“Say this in any other way but this one.”
“I did not date your brother, Carmen.” You finalize, he breathes lighter. “Think about it for like more than two seconds. Richie would’ve fuckin’ run his mouth about it immediately— Would’ve said you’re getting sloppy seconds or call me a fuckin’ homie hopper—”
“I did think that he’d say that, yeah.”
“Well fuckin’ think harder on it, next time—” “Well, what about the joint bank account?”
The most romantic paperwork he’d ever seen. It makes you pause, and Carmen’s considers a universe where you’re just the most incredible pathological liar in existence.
“I made him make it.” You finally say, saddened just thinking about the failsafe that didn’t fucking work. “I didn’t put any money in it.”
“Why’d you want it, then?” The idea of you dating his brother quiets in his head, now he just wants to listen.
“So I could keep track of his spending and withdrawals.” You pick up your fork and twirl it around, like it’s the most interesting thing in the world. Need something to do with your hands. “Mostly his withdrawals.”
Carmen thinks about it, trying to tie together the red strings in his head without asking you first. “So you could see if he was buying.”
“If he knew he was being watched, he was less inclined to deal.” You shrug and nod. “Plus I wanted him to get into the habit of keeping savings.”
“Lotta good that did.” Carmen can’t help but laugh, pitifully, at that. “Everythin’ got claimed, when he kicked it.”
You shake your head, you tuck your knees to your chest. “Not everything.”
He just looks at you, curious, waiting for you to explain. Mikey had so much credit card debt— Everything he had outside of fucking tomato cans was claimed.
You shrug. “Not the accounts he wasn’t sole proprietor on.”
Joint bank account. It was partially your money, technically. It deferred to you. Carmen’s head just falls over, another painful realization of another thing you did, that he got completely wrong. You never gave Mikey a cent. You just gave him the protection of your name and credit score.
“Why’d you do all that, for him?”
Holy shit, he doesn’t know. Carmen doesn’t actually know you killed Mikey. You live in a world, still, where Carmen doesn’t completely rightfully blame you. You tap your fingers on your knees. Staring aimlessly. There is nothing else to do.
“Anyone ever tell you why I get called Chip?”
“I asked Richie. Said to ask you.” Carmen shakes his head, he’s a bit sick of himself, for being almost excited to get an answer about this. “Said it was personal.”
You squint and snort. “Since when does Richie give a fuck about personal?”
Carmen smiles, finally, and tucks his knees to his chest to mimic you. “Since me, I guess.”
“Good influence.” You smile, trying to distract from the nervousness, thrumming hard in your chest. Spit collects in your throat like it’s trying to choke you. “I uhm… Chippy is, uh, Mikey started calling me Chip or Chippy cause of uhm—”
You take a moment, one deep breath. A breath of air in the world before Carmen knows. A sanctimonious breath.
You pull at the long black rope chain on your neck, pulling it out from underneath your top, where it’s always been safely tucked. Not hidden necessarily, just always close to your chest. Close to your heart.
“It’s a joke, about— It’s like—”
Just do it, Chip. Let it rip.
“It’s—”
You hold out your fist for him to put his hand out and take it. Carmen gets the point and holds his palm out. You press the pendant into his hand. Holding your hand over it, for a moment, as if you could decide now that actually he shouldn’t be allowed to see this. Like there’s still an escape option, somehow.
You move your hand, you try to speak calmly, as he stares. And the text on the large round pendant stares back at him.
To Thine Own Self Be True.
“Sobriety chip.” Unity, Service, Recovery.
A proud and large 3 months, in the middle of the triangle, leers back at Carmen.
“I was— I was Mikey’s sponsor.”
Now y'all in my asks see why I was waiting, eh?
Ya caught on! Well, after thinking collectively, ya caught on. Some of you got it quick. Anyways, I shouldn't be talking about this like it's some gotcha, it's deeply painful.
A lot of hard confirmations! Fuck! This conversation was so hard to navigate, because I was like-- There's just so much for them to catch up on, and so they keep like moving forward and so I was like wait I have to go back and address this-- No. That's not how most real convos like this work, they just keep running forward, they can clarify later. Such a weird brain challenge. I was tweaking. I hope it's sensical to read? If it's not, dw, i'll walk into the sea about it.
Can you believe this chapter began with Syd/Chip/Richie? Absolutely bonkers. We started with getting ready in a hotel/taking a flight. We were so young, then. I've gotta go watch season 3, so don't send me spoilers, but please send me literally any and all thoughts about this chapter. I really fuckin-- Rah.
I'm happy with this chapter and I honestly think I will probably make a separate post sometime this week showing bits you might've missed-- So much of this was me harkening back to those first three chapters. I went back and reread them recently and I was like woah. I don't know how I did the thing where the writing style felt distant and slowly became close as they became close as characters, but I did feel like that was a thing. In the early chapters. Having to recreate that distant feeling here? Oh fuck. Brutalizing feeling.
Oh but on the more cute side, if you also see Tony as Desi, I was thinkin like a lehenga style blouse with all the work, and like, some black flared pants? and she's got big fuckin jhumkas, OF COURSE!!! OF COURSE BRO!!! But I just left it at semi-cultural so everyone could have fun, hehehe
I feel almost certain, someone's gonna be missing from this tag list, and for that, a thousand pardons, I am gonna put it in my notes app so I don't forget next time, mbmbmb, also added people that did not ask but you are so frequent that i feel like you're just forgetting to ask? idk if you wanna get taken off always just ask dw
@anytim3youwant @navs-bhat @whoknowswhoiamtoday @gills-lounge @slut4supersoldiers @sinceweremutual @itsallacotar @catsrdabestsocks101 @popcornpoppin @renaissance-painting @lostinwonderland314 @v0ctin @ashtonweon @sharkluver @fridavacado @hoetel-manager @mrs-perfectly-fine
anyways, if you wanna be added send me your thoughts/analysis/diagnosis at length + ask to be added and i will ! try! sometimes they get lost and i am sorry abt that but i do try!
Next Part
#carmen berzatto#carmen berzatto imagine#carmen berzatto x reader#carmen berzatto x you#carmen x reader#carmy berzatto#carmen x oc#carmy x reader#carmy the bear#the bear fanfiction#the bear x reader#the bear#the bear hulu#the bear fx
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