#he could possibly bench press kevin

[dayurno]

you can make Jean 7ft tall. hell, make him 8ft. big beautiful man built like frankenstein. everyone stares at him half in fear half mesmerized

i'm loving this energy of writing jean like a roman empire gladiator. for me i am honest i need him to be big. it's important and necessary that jean not only is not a skinny man but has very little abs too. he is JACKED but his job is not to be all lean muscle like kevin and neil and riko and jeremy. he is allowed and expected to look like a forest bear. i'm talking square waist i'm talking soft chest i'm talking big arms i'm talking big thighs i'm talking everything. you have to know this. you have to know it before the fandom lets you believe he is a beautiful twink*

*i love my beautiful twink please do whatever you want forever

[dvrcos]

what are your thoughts on a kiss cam at the foxes' games?

Oooo this is fun! I think for sure there’s a kiss cam at the Foxes games, it’s a given for college sporting events.

I don’t think the Foxes pay attention too it though, yaknow too busy playing the game. I think Nicky and Allison would have fun watching it together when they’re sitting on the bench (the Nicky and Allison duo is so dear to me because you can’t convince me they wouldn’t have the most fun talking shit with each other).

Anyhow, one day Nicky meets the guy who runs the kiss cam camera in one of his classes. And they hit it off and as soon as Nicky learns he runs the kiss cam, he knows he has an opportunity brewing that he just cannot miss.

So he goes to Allison and they scheme. They bribe this kiss cam dude to point the kiss cam at the Foxes bench whenever Kevin is out of the game. And they make sure the upperclassman are in on it, they leave the monsters out because they don’t want it getting back to Kevin too quickly. Plus it’s just as fun to see their confused reactions as it is Kevin’s.

And lo and behold, during their next home game the kiss cam lands on the Foxes bench the moment Kevin gets off the court. And by some luck of the draw, Nicky is the one he decides to sit down beside. Nicky is absolutely rolling with laughter when Kevin sees himself on the kiss cam with Nicky.

So Nicky places the biggest, sloppiest kiss he can muster right on Kevin’s cheek before Kevin can pull away. And Kevin is so confused and caught of guard, he’s wiping the spit off his cheek and shoving Nicky’s shoulder (but he’s also smiling a bit).

The next time Kevin gets called off the court he sits in between Allison and Renee. And Kevin doesn’t even see that he’s on the big screen this time so he’s even more surprised when both women kiss his cheeks at the same time. And he’s spluttering and again so fucking confused.

Even Wymack and the new recruits catch on. Kevin walks off the court and Wymack grabs his cheeks as he walks pasts, pulling him down and pressing the shortest kiss to his forehead. Kevin starts sitting next to the freshman to get away from whatever the fuck is going on with the upperclassman, not yet connecting the dots. And the freshman just have to play along and kiss his cheeks and temples whenever they get put on the cam.

Kevin is so genuinely confused by it but he also can’t bring himself to be too pissed off. He just pushes whoever it is away lightly, wipes his cheek and smiles to himself while watching the game. The upperclassman have never seen Kevin so casually happy and relaxed. Their prank has kind of backfired but in the best way possible and they’re alright with that.

But oh that one fateful day. Kevin, of course, gets called off the court to be subbed in for Neil and he takes Neil’s seat. Which is right next to Aaron. And of course the kiss cam focuses right on the pair and Allison (also on the bench) just dismisses it, Aaron doesn’t know about the prank so there’s no way he plays along with it.

Until one of the freshman nudges Aaron’s shoulder to bring is attention to the kiss cam. And his pale cheeks light up bright red. Kevin follows his gaze and Allison watches the smug, shit eating smirk spread across Kevin’s face. He turns to Aaron and rest his hand on jaw and kisses him square on the lips.

And Allison is just baffled because Aaron Doesn’t Pull Away ??? He not only doesn’t pull away, he Kisses Kevin Back ???

Allison is shocked and if she could she would stop that game right there and then to ask every single question that’s running through her head. She does interrogate them during half time and they give her nothing.

Nicky and Allison of course don’t call off the kiss cam guy so The Foxes, excluding Neil and Andrew, continue to mess with Kevin whenever they’re on the kiss cam. And it’s still always shocking whenever it lands on Aaron and Kevin and they kiss each other, no embarrassment.

[ericshoney]

"Who are you drawing?" "Ngh- No one!" ~ Kevin Moon

The warm summer's day was what the students at Deobi college loved. Especially with how relaxed the tutors were as well, letting students have more time outside instead of being stuck inside the dull classrooms.

Kevin sat outside in the courtyard, his blank sketchbook in front of him and his pencil he was twirling between his fingers. He wasn't sure what to draw for his week's assignment. His mind blank. He didn't feel fully inspired by the regular landscape.

Kevin almost gave up, wondering if he should try somewhere else, until he heard a familiar giggle. That giggle belonged to you. Kevin smiled watching you walk alongside your friend, who obviously told you something funny, as you were giggling happily. He watched as you waved to them, before taking a seat on the grass, relaxing under a large oak tree with a book.

He smiled looking at your beautiful face. Kevin had a massive crush on you for the past three months, after meeting you at a party and discovering you were majoring in fashion, much like his friend Chanhee, who you were also close with.

Just then, a sudden burst of inspiration hit Kevin and he was quickly sketching away. Nobody could stop him as he focused on the drawing. A wide smile on his face as he drew.

Every now and then, Kevin would glance up at you, admiring your beauty, before continuing his drawing, of you. Yes, you were his inspiration.

As Kevin was distracted with his drawing, he failed to notice Jacob walking over with his basketball tucked under his arm. Jacob saw his younger friend's head down, knowing he was focused, so he quietly approached, peaking over his shoulder to see the drawing, which made him smile.

"Who are you drawing?"

"Ngh- No one!"

Jacob laughed as he sat next to Kevin on the bench, noticing a faint pink tint to his cheeks. All of Kevin's closest friend's knew about his massive crush on you.

"Your drawing Y/n~" Jacob sang in a teasing tone.

"Shh." Kevin whispered, his blush deepening.

"Why don't you go show her?" Jacob suggested.

"No way! She might think I'm a freak." He replied.

"Or she'll think it's really cute." Jacob replied.

Kevin fell quiet. He played with the idea. One one hand he could come and show you, possible confess his feelings, but what if you think he's weird or laugh at him?

"Go show her!" Jacob pressed.

Kevin sighed and nodded, feeling his heart beat quicker. He grabbed his sketchbook and walked over to you slowly. You looked up once you felt a presence over you. When you looked up and saw Kevin, you smiled, feeling butterflies in your stomach. Only Chanhee knew of your crush on him.

"Hi." You greeted softly.

"Hey." He replied.

"You okay?" You asked.

"I uh yeah! I wan...wanted to show you something....I drew." He stuttered.

"Oh, let's see!" You responded cheerfully, you always thought he was a talented artist.

Kevin smiled and let out a small laugh as he showed you the sketch of yourself. You recognised it instantly and smiled, your heart beating even faster.

"It's me!" You exclaimed.

"Ye...Yeah, but-but if you don't like it I can get rid of it!" He quickly responded.

"I love it!" You said, smiling at the delicate art work, making Kevin sigh in relief.

"I'm glad....your really pretty." He said, but then realised what he said, making his eyes widen.

"To draw! Your really pretty to draw!" He shouts, trying to cover up his confession.

You just giggled, feeling your cheeks heat up. Kevin smiled at the sound of your giggles again.

"I'm glad I'm pretty and pretty to draw." You replied.

"Yeah...It's for my week's assignment, but you can have it if you want." He offered.

"You keep it as it's an assignment, but how about Friday you come over to my dorm and you can draw me again?" You suggested, standing up next to the male.

"I...uh yeah! Sounds great!" Kevin exclaimed.

You smiled and planted a soft kiss on his left cheek, before leaving to head inside. Kevin couldn't believe it, he had a date with you!

Jacob came over, smiling proudly for his friend, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I told you she wouldn't think you were weird." He said.

Kevin laughed and couldn't wait for Friday to roll around.

[adamsrcnan]

i'm thinking about this song and jean again and i just.

"I used to float, now I just fall down"

Picture a young Jean running through the sunny streets of Marseille high off candy and the laughter of his friends. Then cut to a teenage Jean bloody and bruised lying alone on the locker room floor staring through swollen eyes at the exy stick lying across from him, feeling nothing but unbearable pain.

"I used to know, but i'm not sure now. What I was made for. What was I made for?"

Jean bitting down onto his pillow so hard his jaw aches to stop himself from making a sound in the dead of night as he sobs so hard he thinks he might die wondering if he was really born into this world just to suffer.

"Looked so alive, turns out I'm not real. Just something you paid for."

Jean staring at himself in the mirror remembering how he looked standing next to Kevin and Riko just couple of hours earlier primmed and proper in their suits. Now his left eye is swollen shut and his lip is bulging and bloody. "You belong to me, you're my property" Riko's words echoing in his head as he presses ice to his face to try to bring the swelling down

"I don't know how to feel, but I wanna try"

Jean shutting down any hint of emotion after Kevin leaves. Riko tries to taunt him and goad him in his sick sadistic ways but Jean feels nothing anymore.

He's truly alone now. There's nothing left to hold on to. Neil comes and it's awful and horrible and Jean has no control over it. He leaves too though. And Jean is alone again.

"When did it end? All the enjoyment"

Jean sitting on the bench in the Raven's court, before their game starts, the roar of the crowds nothing but white noise in his ears. He's zoned out, struggling to remember the last time he felt any joy playing this game. He's not sure if he ever did.

"I don't know how to feel but I wanna try. I don't know how to feel but some day I might"

Jean thinking about Renee, how beautiful she looked when he first saw her. How she stood out from everyone around her, and how he wondered how she could possibly fit into his cold cruel world. How she insisted on being there anyway. His one last desperate plea for help as he lay battered on death's door. Her voice over the phone when he called her being the only thing keeping him breathing just a little longer.

"Think I forgot how to be happy. Something I'm not but something I can be. Something I wait for"

Jean in sunny California. Trojan colours on his back. His new team laughing and joking around him.

Engaging him in conversation, friendly pats on the back, easy smiles and bright happy eyes. Happiness is effortless to these people. He doesn't understand it. But he wants to.

And then there's Jeremy Knox, sunshine captain of the sunshine court. He's beautiful and he lit a fire in Jean in he can't seem to put out. He doesn't know yet, how to fully be happy. To be okay. But he's learning.

Jean stands outside the stadium after a game. They just won. The rest of the team have already left on their way to begin celebrations. Jean said he'd catch up. He breaths in the cool night air, stares up and the clear star filled sky. Takes a deep breath. He's not fully happy. Not yet. But he's waiting for it. It will come.

[kevindayisafrog]

More Kevneil because someone asked for comfort after the Foxes lost a game (asked on Insta)

TW - anxiety

Kevin threw his racket onto the locker room floor and fumbled to pull off his helmet. “How did we lose that?”, he turned to face the men on his team, all tired and sore from the game, scowling at their exhausted faces, “we had the game in the fucking bag and then they rinsed us. Did any of you even try?” If looks could kill, Kevin would’ve been torn apart from every possible direction in the room, his skin boiling off from the heavy glares he was receiving. “Maybe you should look closer to home with your blaming, all I had to do was push them back whilst you got it to goal”, Matt growled slamming his duffel bag onto the bench, “but you couldn’t get past them. So if you need to blame anyone, it should be yourself.” Kevin made to argue back but Neil grabbed a fistful of his shirt and tugged it hard. “It’s not worth the fight”, Neil whispered before turning to address the room, “we did good tonight, we just need to practice harder and we’ll get them next time”. Matt smiled at Neil before scowling over at Kevin, “that’s why Neil is gonna be Captain and not you. It’s because he’s actually a human being who cares about us, unlike you who only cares about your ego and stupid game”. Kevin bit his lip hard and grabbed his clothes, stomping away to the showers as Neil tried to defend him.

He slammed the stool door behind him and turned the shower onto the hottest temperature, relaxing as the burning of his skin distracted him from his thoughts. He tried to clear his mind but the water wasn’t hot enough to muffle Tetsuji’s words: “you’re a disgrace to this sport. You will not eat, will not sleep after that performance. Your mother would be so ashamed”. Kevin let out a low frustrated growl and kicked the back wall of the shower. “You’re going to break your toe, dumbass”, Neil muttered nonchalantly, slamming the stool door shut behind him. He undressed slowly and pushed Kevin out of the way to get under the water, “we’re allowed to lose games, you know, we’ll always win the next one”. Kevin rolled his eyes and tried to pace but the stool walls were too close together and he suddenly felt claustrophobic. “We could’ve won easily but instead we fucked it up and looked like rookies on the courts. The first years could’ve probably handled that game better than we did”, Kevin sighed and dug his palms into his eyes, trying to block his memories from replaying. “You’re overthinking it, no one cares that we lost, not even Coach. So get over it, we’re going to win next weeks game and get back on track”, Neil rubbed shampoo into his hair and looked up at Kevin who was glaring down at him. He stepped into Kevin’s space and gestured to his hair, letting Kevin wash his shampoo out for him in a way of distracting him from the night’s game. “We need to hurry up and get on the bus so I can tell everyone how they can improve for next weeks game”, Kevin ran his fingers through Neil’s wet hair until the last of the shampoo was out and reached for the conditioner. “Maybe wait until Monday’s practice to give them feedback, they won’t be in the mood”, Neil closed his eyes as Kevin massaged the conditioner through his hair. “Why? It’s better to tell them now rather then later so they have more time to improve”, Kevin frowned down at Neil, “yes or no?” He waited for Neil’s nod before he placed light kisses all over his face, taking extra care when kissing his closed eyes. Neil opened his eyes slightly and pressed a small kiss onto Kevin’s wrist before pulling back and looking up into Kevin’s eyes, “I know that you mean well when you give feedback to the team but they won’t appreciate it right now. Your advice can come off as..how should I put it? Snobby? Harsh? Bitchy? I don’t know, but it never comes out how you want it to and I don’t think that annoying the upperclassmen is a smart idea right now”. Neil waited for Kevin’s response and just when he thought he wasn’t going to get one Kevin cleared his throat and shrugged his shoulders defensively, “you tell them then, they like you and you know how to word things”. Neil blinked up at Kevin and frowned, “I don’t know, let’s just focus on getting back”. Kevin hummed in response and turned his back to Neil to wash himself.

“Well that went well didn’t it?”, Neil smirked as he unlocked the dorm door and let Andrew, Kevin and Nicky in. “Fuck off”, Kevin muttered, kicking his shoes off and throwing his bag down by the door. “I told you they wouldn’t be happy with your advice”, Neil took his own shoes off and left them in the middle of the floor. “Fuck’s sake, runaway, move your fucking shoes”, Andrew shouted after tripping over the shoes on the way to the kitchen. “Can we all chill out? Let’s watch a movie”, Nicky tried to smile and grabbed a Disney movie, “Tangled anyone?”. Andrew walked back through with a pot of ice cream and kicked Neil’s shoes at the wall before going into the bedroom and slamming the door behind him. Kevin slumped onto the couch and rubbed a hand down his face, letting out a tired sigh. “I’ve never watched Tangled”, Neil offered to Nicky who was stood desperately by the TV. “Neil?! That is blasphemous!”, he placed a hand onto his chest and let out a dramatic gasp before crouching down and placing in the DVD, “you’ll love it, even Aaron likes it”. Kevin groaned and hung his head against the back of the sofa, staring up at the dark ceiling. Nicky pressed play and snuggled into the corner of the couch, hugging a cushion close to his chest. “Yes or no?”, Neil whispered close to Kevin’s ear. Kevin grunted in response and sighed softly before muttering a ‘yes’. Neil hesitated before curling up into Kevin’s side, relaxing as Kevin wrapped his arm around him. Neil looked up at Kevin’s frown and sighed, knowing that he was overthinking tonight’s game, “you did great tonight”, he whispered before leaning up to kiss him on the cheek, settling back down and watching the movie. Kevin looked down at his little Neil wrapped up beside him and let his shoulders sag. He knew that he was still going to push himself in practice next week, but tonight he’ll let himself relax. They’ll always have next week to win and get back on track. He pulled Neil closer and pressed a kiss into the long mop of hair before closing his eyes and letting himself sleep.

[ahtsumu]

atsumu: 1, kevin: 0 ; miya atsumu

↳ pairing: miya atsumu x professional women’s volleyball player!reader

↳ synopsis: miya atsumu realises that he’s tired of keeping your relationship “low-key” with a little help from an overzealous fanboy.

↳ genre(s): fluff, humour!!

↳ warning(s): profanity

↳ length: 1.5k words

↳ a/n: surprise!!! lol i have way too many wips rn especially with requests but i wrote this as a little break from all the angst and stuff hence the cheesiness ☺️ enjoy!!

Miya Atsumu was caught in a kerfuffle.

Earlier that day, the twenty-three-year-old setter for the MSBY Black Jackals made the executive decision to come to watch you–– his Mario Kart player number two, his houseplant co-parent, the air-guitarist to his air-drummer, the Karaoke Night pink-lyric-singer to his blue–– kick some volleyball ass in the V. League Division 1 Women's Volleyball Tournament finals. 

The problem?

You played wing spiker for the Schweiden Falkes. 

There was nothing problematic about being a wing spiker on a Division One volleyball team. What was problematic, however, was that the Schweiden Falkes was the sister team of the Black Jackals’ sworn enemy, the Schweiden Adlers. To rub more salt in the wound, the Adlers had won every single game against the Jackals since Atsumu joined (not that they hadn’t prior to his arrival). And to make matters even worse, as one of the nation’s most sought-after athletes, he had to “appeal to both investors and the general population”. Miya Atsumu was supposed to be a marketable bachelor. And he was not.

Miya Atsumu was also not supposed to be at the finals of the women’s volleyball tournament. 

That was the biggest problem of them all. So maybe, actually, Miya Atsumu was mildly ensnared in a few kerfuffles.

The two of you had agreed to keep your relationship low-key from the start and were nearing two years of private, domestic bliss. Questions about each other in interviews were responded to with short and nondescript replies. Outings in public were conducted without physical contact. And despite how Twitter was almost a diary to Atsumu, he’d never once tweeted your name in his life. But as dull as your relationship seemed in public, the two of you were a different story in private. In private, he would find any way to touch you–– a hand in your back pocket, your legs draped atop his thighs, soft lips trailing up from the neck to each other. In private, sweet nothings were proclaimed and not whispered, laughter bubbled like a stream that never ran dry, and Atsumu said your name over and over again like it was habit.

But that didn’t change the fact that, right now, Miya Atsumu was not supposed to be in the nosebleeds of the Sendai City Gymnasium, even if he was hundreds of meters away from the nearest camera.

All the bigger kerfuffles fell quickly to the back of his mind, however, when a smaller and more irritating one presented itself to him. 

A snotty voice declared one row behind Atsumu’s hooded head, “Oi, you’re in the way of the view, jerk.”

Normally, Atsumu would have turned around with an equally cocky sneer on his chiselled features, “the fuck did you just call me?” locked and loaded behind clenched teeth. But when he turned around ready to deliver that exact line, he saw through his black shades that the owner of said snotty voice was none other than a scrawny prepubescent boy.

And that boy (along with the two equally snot-faced twerps beside him) was wearing your jersey number. Suddenly, all the irritation left Atsumu’s face. Was this your little fan club? A wicked cackle threatened to leap out his mouth. They were so annoying. But also, he mused, kinda cute.

“Was I?” he asked with an innocent expression on his face. It was the same one he used when Osamu would accuse him of stealing his clothes (he totally had), or when you would accuse him of eating the last slice of cake in the fridge (he totally did). “I hadn’t realised.” He really hadn’t. He just wanted to milk this for as long as he could.

“Yeah, you were.” The kid crossed his arms, glaring down at the shady guy one row below. “I can’t see the game anymore.”

“Oops–– my bad.”

“Shut up, Kevin, you were watching Y/N!” one of the brats exclaimed, punching Kevin’s shoulder.

Oh? “Yer a fan of Y/N, hmmm?”

“She’s pretty,” Kevin said immediately, shrugging. He just said it out loud like that? So easily? With a subtle wince, Atsumu thought back to the ridiculously long time before he’d admitted his ‘smidge of a crush’ on you. Yeah, unlike you, stupid. “I’m gonna marry her someday.”

At that, Atsumu’s competitive streak jolted awake. He felt himself sober up a little. Not if I marry her first, you little shit.

Bidding the trio goodbye with a bright grin, he turned around and strolled out of the stands. But he didn’t stop there. He stepped into the elevator and rode it straight down to ground level, sailed through the athlete’s entrance with a swipe of his card, and jogged his way to the side of your team bench, making it just in time to see you spike the setpoint past one of their player’s outstretched arms. 

It landed straight on the baseline.

The roar of the stadium scattered into hushed whispers. No one moved. “In,” Atsumu growled under his breath, tapping his feet against the floor. “In in in in in––” He clenched his hands into fists. If they don’t count that as in… 

Finally, the line judge pointed her arms down. The referee nodded.

And all around him, the crowd erupted into cheers.

As confetti fell from above and the Falkes’ victory song began to play, you ran from the court and into a celebratory team hug, screaming ecstatically in each other’s faces. Atsumu, beaming, ducked out of view, not wanting to steal that glorious feeling of a victory hard-earned from you or your teammates. But when the cheering died down, when the hug dispersed, when the television crews started slithering in your direction, he returned to his position behind the bench. And suddenly regretted all the decisions that had led him to that very spot.

Admittedly, Atsumu hadn’t considered the possibility that you wouldn’t want him at your game, but now, standing just metres away from you, he did. His hands suddenly felt very cold and equally moist.

As if on cue, your teary gaze landed on his figure. Your eyes were narrowed in what seemed like a warning. (Really, you were just trying to see better through your tears.)

Oh, no.

Atsumu spun around to make a run for it. At that moment, however, one of the coach’s assistants who’d been sent away to run an errand returned, barrelling through the same door he was heading towards. 

Colliding in a spectacularly embarrassing fashion, Atsumu’s sunglasses flew from his face and his hood blew off from the force of the impact. Disguise in tatters, he could only turn around sheepishly around his hands stretched out, palms up like a magician at the end of a trick.

“Surprise?”

Maybe it was the rush of victory still fresh in your bloodstream or maybe it was simply your brain going haywire, but with complete disregard for you and Atsumu’s original agreement, you ran towards him and leaped into his arms.

“Woah,” he wheezed, instinctively pulling you closer into his chest. “Was not expectin’ that.”

“You’re so stupid,” you murmured, nuzzling your face into his neck. “What are you up to, ‘Tsumu?”

“Unkerfufflin’ myself,” was all he said before gently setting you down. His eyes darted over to the place where Kevin and his gremlins had been and, when he realised that spotting them from here would be useless, lazily flapped a hand in their general direction.

“Some brat said he was gonna marry ya,” Atsumu explained after seeing your brows crease. “I felt I had the duty to save ya from that disaster.”

“By?”

Atsumu blanked. “Er, I, uh, hadn’t thought of that part, actually. I didn’t think you’d be happy to see me here, y’know, considerin’ our agreement and that look on yer face ya had earlie––”

Rolling your eyes, you yanked on his hood, bringing his lips down to yours. His arms snaked around your waist as he deepened the kiss–– he couldn’t help it, it was a knee-jerk reaction by now–– without so much as a second's consideration for the reporters that had swarmed around you like ants to honey. 

You pulled away just a few beats later, both breathless.

“What was that for?” he asked with his forehead pressed against yours. Despite being doused in the blinding flash of cameras and deafened by the barrage of questions shot in your direction, the two of you continued to speak as if you were in your own little world.

“You were about to word-vomit on camera and give Osamu a lifetime’s supply of blackmail,” you replied, giggling. “I thought I’d save you from that disaster.”

Hearing his words come out from your mouth, Atsumu’s eyes waned into little moons. “Consider me saved, doll.”

The noise around you grew louder. You sighed, knowing that the two of you would have a lot to deal with later. As if reading your mind, Atsumu intertwined your hands. I got you. And the unease receded. You’d figure it out together.

“Y/N! Y/N! Are you pregnant?”

“Y/N! Atsumu! When are you two getting married?”

“Can you tell us anything about that steamy kiss?!”

A shit-eating grin crawled onto Atsumu’s face as he grabbed the microphone from that last reporter. “Gladly,” he said, looking into the camera.

“How’s that for bein’ in yer way, Kevin?”

And for the next few hours that the world spent having a meltdown over Kevin’s identity, you and Atsumu remained blissfully tucked away in the comfort of your apartment, playing Mario Kart, baking celebratory cookies to the High School Musical soundtrack, falling asleep to the sound of each other’s heartbeats.

[cuppasunu]

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄

synopsis: where juyeon loses all his memories after a terrible accident. many years later he’s bound to marry another woman—not knowing their photographer used to be his girlfriend of seven years. will he remember their love?

genre: series (fluff; angst; suggestive)

pairing: lee juyeon x fem. reader

playlist: spotify link

status: completed.

w/c: 1.4K words

once more masterlist

kyu is listening to ... take her to the moon by moira dela torre

[2018]

“So, a spring wedding would probably be perfect for this venue, right y/n?” Juyeon’s fiancée, Sihyeon asks, breaking your trance reminiscing about your memories with Juyeon. 

“I’m sorry, I was distracted.. This is where you’re holding the wedding?” you asked, nearly choking on your water.

“Well, the date isn’t until spring next year so we’re still looking for options. It’s funny how my love actually insisted on the idea of having our engagement shoot to be done in a flower field..” she laughs, but hearing that just digs a deeper wound inside you, realizing this is exactly where Juyeon has taken you on dates. 

Taking a deep breath, you excuse yourself and leave the couple to look around the location. Your eyes cannot peel away from Juyeon’s smile, it looks like it could reach from one ear to the other. 

he looks so happy..

Rushing on your way to the back door, you bump into a person.. maybe two (?) coming from the parking lot. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sor-”

“y/n.”

Hearing that familiar voice, your eyes immediately dart up meeting your old friend, Changmin. You glance past his shoulders—there’s Chanhee and Kevin. That persistent feeling of wanting to run away? Oh, it’s back and it’s even more intense. 

Before you can even move your feet, Changmin grabs a hold of your wrist out to the parking lot, checking if the four of you are out of the couple’s sight. 

“Y/n.. did you meet them already?” Kevin’s genuine concern is present on his face, but you’re not really sure if that’s for you or his dear friend. 

“Did you tell him the truth?” Changmin asks.

“Hold on- I think I need some explanation on my end too! I didn’t know I was meeting him today, much less find out he’s getting married and he doesn’t remember me? What happened? Does he remember you? When did the accident happen?” you finally burst, tears streaming down your face. 

You all stood there in silence, trying to make the situation make sense. Changmin looked like he was going to say something, and his expression seems like he wants to burn you alive. 

“..we should have come earlier..” Chanhee hisses out of frustration, while putting the effort of calming Changmin down.

“We don’t owe you anything, y/n. Not one explanation. Especially when you br- when you left Juyeon.”

His stinging words hurt as if it just slapped you across the face. You chose to keep your mouth shut, knowing how much those words may have been painful, it was equally as accurate. 

“Well, you know most of it. Before the accident, he already got rid of all your pictures, memories, everything.. So when we found out he had amnesia, we all thought it would be better to not remind him of you,” Kevin explained, “It’s better this way, y/n. They’re happy. He’s happy, now. And all those memories he had of you, it doesn’t hurt him anymore..”

but he forgot all our good ones too..

You sink down on the bench, processing the mess you have entered. The concrete was rough as you threw your head, leaning on the wall, “Is it too late to back out now?”

“Honestly, yea. Sihyeon has been raving about your work for months now. She’s been so excited about the thought of working with you but obviously we can’t stop her without raising any questions about your past with Juyeon,” Chanhee replies, “That’s why we were hoping to catch you before they did in case it all went wrong.”

“.. so she doesn’t know either..”

“She doesn’t. So please, keep this up. Until they get married at least. If you leave now, you’re going to have to explain why,” Changmin mutters bitterly, “Can you really live with the thought of hurting Juyeon again when he realizes the past five years of his life has been a lie?” 

You shake your head, coming into terms with everything that’s going to happen. You stood up from your seat, fixing your hair and wiping away your tears.

“How long have they been together?”

“2 years.”

[2008  — flashback]

“Y/n, it’s unfair to be pretty and smart and talented AND be in a relationship..” your best friend, Mina, jokingly complains. 

“And I think it’s time I set you up with one of Juyeon’s friends,” you replied, making the final touches on your hair in front of the mirror, “Hm, what about Kevin? Maybe Changmin?”

“Oh no, I’m not a sorry case! I’m perfectly satisfied being single,” she smiles, “Less distractions too, I have college to think about missy.”

“Who said that I’ll be abandoning my dreams for a relationship?” you protest.

“Alright- alright, I know you know better than that. It has worked for more than a year.. “

“Two years! It’s our second year anniversary today,” telling her as your ears perk up to hear the sound of your doorbell, “He’s here.”

“Now, have fun on your date!” Mina fixes your collar before ushering you out the door.

After waving your goodbye, you made your way to the gate, light on your steps. Juyeon is standing outside, sniffing a small bundle of tulips before hiding it behind his back when he hears you coming. 

“Hi hun, happy second year anniversary!”

Juyeon greets you with a kiss on the forehead before presenting the flowers to you, “Hey babe, happy anniversary.”

“As always, you know which one’s my favorite,” you tell him, beaming at the buds of vibrant orange on your hand.

“It never changes, y/n,” he pokes fun at your reaction, “Actually I switched it up this time. It’s orange instead of the usual pink.”

“Ha ha,” you laugh sarcastically.

While walking to the bus stop, Juyeon tells you that today’s location will be a secret. But judging on the basket he’s holding, it’s not much of a surprise.

“I have an idea~”

“That’s not fair..” he huffs.

“You baby. Okay, I won’t ruin the surprise. I’ll wait when we get there.” 

And as you guessed, he picked the Seoul Forest as your picnic location. Thankfully, on this cool spring day, it’s the perfect balance of sunny but windy weather. He lays down a blanket on the shade and sets the food he brought out of the basket.

“Wow, did you make all of this?” you’re amazed at the variety of snacks he made.

“I really should say Chanhee did all the work and I just ‘helped’ but I’m always trying to impress you so I’ll take the credit,” Juyeon sheepishly grins.

“Oh sure, yes. My chef boyfriend,” you say, pinching his cheek.

Juyeon scrunches his nose upon hearing that—boyfriend. It’s been two years since you gave him that sweet yes to his adorable confession, but he’s not going to get used to hearing you call him your boyfriend anytime soon. Of course you notice the way he gets shy when you do, so in every possible moment, you made sure to call him that. 

“Right- my gifts,” you remember, grabbing your bag for the small box you’ve prepared to give him.

With raised eyebrows, his eyes follow the box you’ve given him. Opening the ribbon that tied it prettily, Juyeon scans through the envelopes that carry the letters you wrote. Inside, there’s also a handkerchief neatly folded at the bottom of the box.

“You can read the letters later,” you mumble, “but quick, look at the handkerchief and check the embroidery.”

He touches the edge of the light blue fabric— L J Y with a tiny arrow right beside it. At the same time, you pulled your own handkerchief to show him where you have stitched your own initials at the same place, but instead had a heart right next to it. 

You look at his expression to gauge his reaction, and Juyeon’s face says it all. You swore he was so close shedding a tear or two, his eyes watering at the brim. Now, that genuinely surprised you; he wasn’t the type of guy that would seem to be easily moved. 

“Do you like it?” you ask him.

“Do I like it? y/n.. I love it,” he sighs, cupping your cheek on his hand, “Thank you.”

You got on your knees to reach over the food and give him a peck on the lips. Feeling his smile pressed against you, he goes back in to kiss you again. It was sweet and tender—the way you would describe your relationship.

The rest of the afternoon went by like a blur, but all it reminds you was that it was a day well spent.

previous : next

a/n: oooh we met the rest of 98z !! why are they so mad that y/n’s back.. hm? gee i wonder why :> anyhow feel free to shoot me any asks of your theories muahahahah. i mean the plot is pretty much all done but i’m curious about what you think heehee

taglist:

@fullsunsays @haylo4ever @fleurseoul @deobi-pabo @amajeekies @lsangyeons @mydaintydaisy @sunwoowuvbot @elcie-chxn​ @zyoumeval​ @autumnleafez​ @nyuwings​ @hae-chans​ @mistresskate101​ @heartyyjeno​ @nanadreamies​ @bacardihs​ @sanniescat​ @gughoul​ @hhjvlogs

please let me know if you would like to be included or taken out <3

[simonsrosebud]

What happens when Kevin goes pro? What does his team think of him? Of Dalton?

okay so like he’s kevin day, and even among professional players that’s a big deal. his mother created the spot that they all play.

and he’s kevin day.

they think highly of him, but they also know he’s the rookie of the team. so while he probably doesn’t need it, they all mentally decide to let him adjust just like they’d do with any other player.

and yeah, he doesn’t need it.

kevin has high expectations, and this doesn’t get cut from that list.

they also play nice off the court because again he’s the new guy. but kevin isn’t that great at making friends.

not to say he’s outright rude, but he only really gets close with a few people from his team. a girl striker, a goalie with the same passion as him, and a backliner who never fails to get kevin’s mark off of him without even having to ask.

most of them know that kevin has a boyfriend. at this point he and dalton have been dating for three years. but dalton’s only been caught in pictures a rare few times thanks to kevin paying one of his agents good money to keep his face out. he doesn’t want him burdened with attention he never asked for.

the first time they meet dalton is during practice four months in. keep in mind, he lives in delaware while kevin’s in nyc.

dalton is visiting for the week when kevin gets into a fight at practice.

okay, no. by a fight, it means one of their backliners christian, decides out of the blue to shove kevin.

kevin turns, “the fuck got into you?”

christian doesn’t answer, because before kevin’s done he’s got an elbow in his face and crushes him into the plexiglass. the back of his head slams the wall, and he gets the wind knocked out of him.

christian gets ripped off of him and kevin takes a step before falling to his knees. he presses his hands to the ground and blinks a few times. he definitely blacked out for a moment there.

there’s bound to be someone who doesn’t like him, but he didn’t expect that.

alice, kevin’s other backliner, drops in front of him, and because he’ll always have some fear ingrained into him he instinctively drops onto his butt and backs himself against the wall away from her.

his coach snaps his fingers in kevin’s face. “focus, look at me, kevin.” he does. “take your helmet off and let cassie take a look at you.”

kevin does so, with shaking hands and- oh. there’s blood. his nose is bleeding.

kevin tilts his head back. he can briefly see alice in the stands on his he phone with someone.

cassie, their medic, stops him from standing up. he closes his eyes and sighs. she cleans him up and they wait for his nose to stop bleeding before checking it out for any breakage.

“looks good.” but she flashes a light in his eyes and does the full nine yards to check him for a concussion.

“i’m suspecting a possible mild concussion but i can’t be sure right now. nose isn’t broken, but you could have a bruise since it got hit hard enough to bleed. i’m gonna look at you again tomorrow morning, i want you taking it easy and-“

the rest of what she says gets drowned out by the court door slamming. dalton comes storming through and running across the court. he’s got a death stare on christian. alice must have told him what happened.

kevin drops the ice from his nose as dalton drops to his knees beside him. “hey.”

“what happened to today being an easy day?” dalton brushes kevin’s hair back, and lets his hand drop to the back of his neck. “is he okay? are you okay?”

the medic fills him in. kevin flits his eyes across the court. everyone is stopped and watching him. their coach is talking to christian in outer court.

dalton slides to sit in front of kevin when cassie leaves. he takes his hands and slides his gloves off. they’re a little bloody. “i could kill him, i’m so mad.” he mumbles.

kevin shakes his head and nudges dalton’s knee with his foot. “not worth it. can’t be loved by everyone.”

dalton makes a face. “let’s go?” kevin nods, do he pulls him up and kisses his cheek. dalton wraps an arm around kevin’s shoulders as they leave the court. the rest of the team has to finish cleaning up equipment and go through their normal port practice rundown before leaving.

as they pass christian, dalton doesn’t care that a good chunk of the team hears him as he says “don’t fuck with my boyfriend again unless you wanna be the one with the bloody nose.” the death stare he gives is lethal. one of the girls on the team catches herself smiling until christian sends her a look.

in the locker room, dalton has kevin sit on the bench after changing while he gathers what he needs. and kevin feels fine, just a headache, but dalton heard the words concussion so he’s making sure kevin doesn’t do anything to risk it. he’ll take care of his boy.

when he zips up kevin’s bag he sits across from him, straddling the bench. kevin’s forehead is on dalton’s shoulder, and his hands on dalton’s hips. “thanks for coming to get me,” he mumbles.

dalton hums and kisses the side of kevin’s head. “i’d drive all the way from delaware if i wasn’t already here.”

“i love you.”

dalton brings kevin’s head up and kisses him gently. “always, baby.”

after kevin gets the okay to play the next morning, he joins the team in the locker room. alice knocks shoulders with him. “quite the boyf you got there.”

kevin’s sitting on the bench wrapping his hand. “what do you mean,” he mumbles. he’s not really paying attention.

“he’s a dead catch is what i mean. tall as fuck, hot, the way he called christian out i was like oh shit you know?” she sits next to him and laces up her shoes. she lowers her voice. “he was also really worried about you when coach called.” kevin lowers his hand. huh? “you mentioned he was here this week. otherwise i wouldn’t have thought to tell coach to call him if they had his number in your records.”

oh.

“i want that someday, you know? you’re so lucky kevin day.” she gently shoves his shoulder. “that kid is so in love with you.”

kevin pauses. “did… has the team said anything about him?”

she shrugs. “i mean, we like him. haven’t really met him. bryce said they talked to him when he came to a game last month, while you were at press duty.”

kevin raises a brow. “and?”

she shrugs. “i dunno. said he’s a cool dude. that’s all they told me.”

kevin nods to himself. bryce is a dork like dalton, he shouldn’t be shocked that they liked him.

“they’re not wrong.” and gets up to grab his gloves and helmet before making his way to the court.

dalton’s watching their practice today because he doesn’t have anything else to do. and because he loves to watch kevin in action.

kevin looks up in the stands and sees him wave. kevin gives him a peace sign, and dalton shoots the middle finger before laughing.

and yeah. he’s definitely a cool dude.

[sun-tzu-says-youre-a-bitch]

I posted 3,891 times in 2021

504 posts created (13%)

3387 posts reblogged (87%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 6.7 posts.

I added 1,085 tags in 2021

#m's laughs - 416 posts

#m's joyful moments - 209 posts

#girl boss alert - 98 posts

#saved - 85 posts

#m's happy fanart - 77 posts

#m's stares - 55 posts

#people talk to me?? - 53 posts

#m's sobs - 38 posts

#dsmp - 30 posts

#/j - 24 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#hello im 28 where i never experienced high school and college. i have a beautiful wife and 2 kids and a dog. we live in a hgtv style house

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

this was so much fun omg i made a character for the penis smp 

Martin_Van_Buren:  We/that/her Started a cult with Kevin Jonas to convince people to grow out sideburns. He’s really hot. Like REALLY hot, The cult worships the divine being known as “MommyMilkersTittyFuck69”. The only clothes anybody in the cult are allowed to wear is a loin cloth. The only thing cult members consume is cum. You know they are coming when you hear the Globgogagolab song. You can expect mass arson to follow them. Has a very distinct british accent, and every word we pronounces sounds like chewsday innit god save the queen. Stood in the background of the electrocution and screamed krankenwagen the whole time. There is no c!martin van buren nor cc! Martin van buren, there is just martin van buren. Is a cottage core icon.  Member of the Vehicular Manslaughter trio with Clickbait and Shark dick. Does not like to talk about it along with Clickbait. They all had matching Converses at one point, however were lost during the Vehicular Manslaughter Arc.  Skin: https://www.minecraftskins.com/skin/17231062/walter-with-strawberry-dress-and-crown--character-cred--regnog-/ (when i was looking for skins i found “sussy walter” and had a mental breakdown)

I EVEN MADE SOME NEW FRIENDS :) 10/10 would recommend

31 notes • Posted 2021-05-21 01:29:14 GMT

#4

why hello there fellow lonely person *finger guns and collapses*

*finger guns back but trips over a bench. however, i catch myself and do a forward roll. i then roll to lay on my side and puts my arm underneath my head.* whats up

40 notes • Posted 2021-11-23 03:48:52 GMT

#3

heyyyy! just wanted to let you know the answer is 16 <333

its not but ill hear you out

56 notes • Posted 2021-10-28 01:54:51 GMT

#2

somebody please im begging you draw these as beeduo + michael i dont have money but i will pay you in graditude

sorry for putting all the tags, i just want as many people to see this as possible

58 notes • Posted 2021-07-14 19:20:25 GMT

#1

im throwing a party because i havent done one in a while and i want an excuse to scroll through pinterest in a while

this party is to celebrate my dad, @salineskies return

the theme is time period. i dont specify what time period, just choose one. you could dress in 1230 attire for all i care

simply rb with your outfit and then ill make a group photo in google slides in the end

if i press followers and i see a little green mark you will be getting tagged fyi

@natsueyama @nikalissad @varianfortunate @3nderwalking @nastagoose @sansmeanswithout @fishfucker6969 @portal-fox @axolotlclown @gloomymuffin

71 notes • Posted 2021-11-16 02:04:22 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[odd-birds-and-booksellers]

For Once In My Life

Hailey is keeping one life changing secret from Jay.

It's just fluffy upstead.

Hailey was so angry with herself...with the world. She couldn’t seem to catch a break, things were finally going good and she’d called it, she said to Jay only two weeks ago that things were too good. He’d laughed it off, telling her that thing just got better with time, refusing to believe a bomb was waiting for them but right now as Hailey stared down at the stupid plastic stick in the sink she knows she was right and he was wrong as usual.

“Hailey, are you ready to go?” She heard Jay knock against the bathroom door as he passed by, heading towards the stairs. She sighed clutching the plastic, making sure she was definitely reading it right. These things could be false right? “Hailey?” Jay's voice pulls her from thoughts again.

“I’m coming giving me one sec,” she yells back hoping he couldn’t hear the slight tremble in her voice as she opened the cabinet in front of her shoving the test behind a box of tampons as she quickly splashed some cold water on her face. Come on Upton get it together.

“You good?” Jay mumbled as she reached the bottom of the stairs where he was putting his boots on.

“Yeah...fine, let’s go before we’re late.” Hailey forces a smile on her face, not giving Jay a chance to respond as she heads for the door, she knew the longer she was around Jay the quicker he would pick up on her obvious angst.

They drove to work in silence which wasn’t uncommon for them, she was lucky to be with someone who she felt completely comfortable around, she could enjoy the quiet moments just as much as their usual banter.

Hailey jumped slightly when she felt his warm hand wrap around hers on the console, intertwining the fingers.  He flashed her his warm signature grin before turning back to the road, making the butterflies stir in her stomach. He had no idea the noise going on her mind, the thoughts racing around in her head.

It wasn’t the right time. She wasn’t ready. she wasn’t ready in her career to take the time out she had imagined she would when she finally started a family. She hadn’t even really spent the time considering if that’s what she wanted if that’s what Jay wanted. They’d been living together for three months, she thinks in all the time she’d known him, Jay, he’d maybe mused the idea of a family like once or twice. It wasn’t the right time but there was this small part of they kept reminding her there was never a right time and maybe her Jay hadn't been together that long and maybe they'd never properly discussed kids but she sure as hell knew she'd never felt love like this before so how could a baby made from the love possibly be an inconvenience.

“You good?... You were a little quiet this morning. Are you still feeling a little sick?” He mumbles as they pull up at a stoplight, his thumb brushing across the back of her hand. It takes everything in Hailey not to just blurt it out right there, knowing everything is better with Jay when they just talk through it. That’s what worked between them, talking even when it was hard, even when they could think of nothing worse. They were always better when they faced things together.

That’s why the words were at the tip of her tongue when his phone rang out, Ruzek's name lighting up Jay's phone as they untangled their hands, Hailey grabbing it for him. They have a case and thank the god she doesn't believe in for the distraction.

She stared down at the info Kim had sent through as Jay does a sharp turn towards the crime scene, the team were already on the scene waiting for them but Hailey's mind was whirling with Kim’s pregnancy a couple of years ago, she’d have to stop working pretty much immediately, even if Voight didn’t immediately bench her Jay would never let her out of his sight and definitely nowhere near a crime scene.

She should tell him, she should just say it. She should just rip off the band-aid before they're wrapped up in a case, running headfirst into danger.

Luckily for Hailey the crime scene is already under control when they get there, though she’d definitely turned heads when she’s stopped to retch on the side of the street, she’d heard sniggers from the uniforms clearly assuming she couldn’t stomach the scene.

“You wanna tell me what’s going on?” Jay grumbles rubbing her back softly, they tried to keep any affection towards each other to a minimum while working, they wanted to prove nothing could get in the way of their work but clearly watching your other half attempt to throw up on the side of the street trumped any professional boundary.

Hailey shrugs, standing up and straightening out her shirt. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, Hailey...do you honestly think I can’t see right through you.”

“I...er.”

Jay rolls his eyes, glancing around quickly to see who was watching as drops his hands to her waist. “It’s fine if you don’t wanna talk about it yet.”

“I...can we do this at home?” Hailey shrinks away from him, brushing his hands off as she takes a few steps back.

“Sure…” Jay nods, she could tell from the look on his face he wasn’t quite ready to give it up but as he hears Kim call out for their attention he has no choice but to let it go for now.

Hailey spends the rest of the morning at her desk trying to focus on the case at hand but every so often she’d find herself drifting off, little images of the baby half her half Jay filling her mind. She had to be sure. If she was gonna tell Jay. If they were gonna make any sort of decision. She had to be sure before she set off a bomb.

Grabbing her jacket from the back of her chair she heads towards Voight's office ignoring the way Jay's eyebrows knit together as he watches her curiously.

“Come in…”

Voight waves her in as he looks up from the paperwork scattered around his desk. He frowns as he watches her expectantly waiting for her to speak.

“I need the afternoon…” Hailey mutters quietly as she meets Voight's eye, hoping he wouldn’t press her on the subject. “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

He raises his eyebrows at her contemplating her request for a moment as he fiddles his pen between his fingers. “Sure go do what you gotta do…”

Hailey nods, muttering her thanks as she begins to back out of the room. “Hailey.” Just as her hand reaches the doorknob he starts to talk again. “Everything good?”

Hailey glances through the glass looking out at Jay who seemed to be squinting at the screen as Kevin leaned over his desk both deep in discussion. He was a good man...he made mistakes. I mean they both did but he was good, he was loyal and he was funny and he would make the most amazing dad...if that’s what he wanted, all she knew is the longer she thought about it the more she wanted it.

“Yeah...yeah, I think it’s all gonna be good.”

Confirming it had been harder than expected, cringing as Jay's smiling face lit up her phone once again, he’d called pretty consistently since she’d sneaked away earlier today. She should’ve gone to Lakeshore...why had she come to Med knowing Will was slinking around the halls? At any moment he could appear and patient confidentiality be damned Jay would be here in a heartbeat.

“Have you got it? Do you have the results?” Hailey yelped the second Natalie came back into sight. Squirming uncomfortably on the hospital bed she’d been forced to sit in for the blood draw.

Nat laughs, shaking her head as she slips into the room, pulling the curtain back as quickly as possible. “Jesus Hailey...you know most people don’t get their labs rushed through as fast as you do.”

“Nat…” Hailey deadpans.

“Congratulations Hailey...looks like there’s a baby Halstead on the way.”

“Oh god…” Hailey cries dropping her face into her hands, a small part of her thought maybe she'd been wrong, but now she really was pregnant, a tiny part of her and Jay was growing inside her and suddenly her whole world had changed.

“Were you guys trying?”

“No...no we were doing the opposite of trying. Well, not the opposite actually...more like a lot of trying…”

“Hailey calm down” Natalie comes to stand in front of her, wrapping her arms around Hailey who wasn’t usually one for hugs but right now that seemed to have gone out the window. “I’ve never seen you this worked up, you’re usually so calm and collected.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Hailey cried, mumbling into Nat's shoulder.

“The hormones no doubt, I remember them well, and from the looks of it, you are already about nine weeks along. I'm surprised it took you so long to figure it out, detective.” Natalie smirks as she pulls back, pulling up the results on the tablet for Hailey to look at, she didn’t really understand any of it but she appreciated it nonetheless.

“Sometimes I miss my periods...the stress at work...I just figured.” Hailey shrugs, her heart thumping hard in her chest as it all suddenly felt so much more real than this morning. “Oh god, I’ve got to tell Jay.”

“Oh that you do, I’ll pray for the world another Halstead is on its way.”

-

“Jay…” Hailey calls out as she shrugs her jacket off, kicking her boots to the side as she enters their home.

“Hey, where have you been?” She hears him before she sees him, standing at the stove, stirring a pot of pasta and she had to resist the urge to snap a photo because even though they’d been together a while now it still amazed her anytime she saw Jay Halstead doing anything remotely domestic.

“I text to say I had something to do,” Hailey mutters wrapping her arms around him from behind, leaning her head against his back.

“Something is pretty vague babe.” She feels him wrap one arm around hers, lifting her hand slowly to press a kiss against it, she knows she’s about to change his world but he has no idea how every small thing he does settles her nerves and makes her feel safe and loved and protected. “Hailey it’s me whatever is bothering you-”

“-I’m pregnant.” She blurts out, her eyes squeezing shut as she cuts him off, the words were out of her mouth before she had a chance to know what she was doing.

“What?” Jay exclaimed, unwrapping her arms from him as he turned around, pushing her back lightly, his eyes searching hers.

“I’m sorry...I’m so sorry” Hailey begins to cry, huge tears welling in her eyes as she looks at his face. “I had this whole speech planned out, I was gonna tell you how in love with you I am and how great you are at taking care of the people you love and what an amazing dad you’d be and I’ve ruined it.” She groans as the tears begin to flow down her face.

“Hey hey hey, Hailey come here...don’t cry, babe.” Jay shushed her gently wrapping his arms back around her, pulling her in so his chin was resting against the top of her head.

He slowly guides them over to the sofa as Hailey tries to speak but it all sounds like a blur of apologies and hiccups to Jay. “You haven’t ruined anything.” He mumbles, rubbing her back softly as he pulls her down onto his lap, brushing the mess of blonde hair out of her face, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “You’re pregnant?” He whispers eyes wide as she looks up at him, taking deep shaky breaths as she tries to calm herself. This was so un Hailey like, she wasn’t a huge crier at all.

“I’m pregnant.” She nods, her fingers dancing dangerously close to her abdomen as she speaks.

Jay stared at her for a moment, his eyes flicking between her face and stomach in disbelief as he tried to process the news. “We’re having a baby.”

“Yeah...is that okay?”

Hailey bites her lip, watching as Jays breaks into a huge grin that lights up his whole face, instantly squashing all her fears with one smile. “Hailey, that's more than okay. We’re gonna have a baby...there’s a baby in there right now.” He mutters, his own eyes welling with tears, as he places his large hand over her still flat stomach.

“But our job and we’ve only just moved and…”

“Hey, none of that matters as long as you’re happy...are you happy?” Jay asks, shifting back on the sofa, pulling her impossibly closer, one hand coming up to cup her face.

Hailey nods biting her lip gently, her eyes sparkling with happiness that makes Jay's heart soar. “It’s all I’ve been thinking about all day and I think I am...I really am happy.”

“Even to be on desk duty?”

“Are you kidding me?” Hailey exclaims wrapping her arms around his neck, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck as he begins to press light kisses along her collar bone. “Platt is like my icon...she's terrifying but totally my icon...maybe they’ll let me shadow her.”

She squirms in his lap, as he reaches her pulse point sucking lightly, knowing how much she enjoys it when he does. His grip tightening on her hips. This is why they’d managed to make a baby without even trying because she was putty in his hands, she had no willpower when his lips were on her.

“So that’s what had that lost look on your face all day...and you’re disappearing act earlier?”

“I had Nat confirm it at Med.” She nods, pushing him away lightly before they get so carried away she forgets what’s she’s trying to say. Slowly she pulls out the black and white photo Nat had given her. After they’d got her blood results back Nat had insisted they have an ultrasound to really see the baby.

“Wow…” Jay's mouth drops as Hailey laughs softly rubbing her thumb across his lip as she helps him shut it, leaning in so they can both examine the photo, a tiny black and white blob already so loved.  “Look at that.”

“Definitely a Halstead look at the size of that head.”

“Hey…” Jay shakes his head, rolling his eyes at the way Hailey smirks. “My head isn’t that big.” He pouts.

“Your head is perfect… I love you, Jay.” She whispers, taking his face in her hands as she pulls him in, her lips finally finding their home on his.

“I love you too...and I love you, little man.” Jay grins pulling away as he places his hand back over her stomach.

“Who said it was a boy?” Hailey mutters, placing her hand on top of his, all the worries of her day finally fading away, she had everything she needed right here, her tiny little family.

“I sure hope he is...man am I in trouble if it’s a little girl...hmm if we have another tiny Hailey in the house I don’t stand a chance.”

Thankyou so much for reading, leave a comment and a prompt if you feel like it. It's my first time writing for Upstead so please leave some feedback.

It's just a short drabble but I hope you like it.

Also please check out my other socials twitter and insta @oddbirdsandbooksellers for more upstead edits

[codename-adler]

Kevin Day and his Oblivious Literature Lover, pt.IV

In times of college finals, aftg is my coping mechanism of predilection. hope it helps some :)

>> Table of Contents,TW and other parts here!

i’ll let you guess what Kevin and Juliet chose for their project

oh, yes

the letters of Hamilton, Eliza and John + Hamilton: The Musical

i will fight you on this

at first, when Juliet suggests it, Kevin stares at her so hard bc really?? a musical??

but then she lends him the 50$ leatherbound official book of the musical (you know the navy blue and beige one? you know what i’m talking about, right?) and reads it all in one evening and wow

lin-manuel miranda? genius. ron chernow? Genius. alexander hamilton? Dumb Genius.

oh yeah and Juliet? Absolutely mind-blowing genius.

as Andrew & Neil grow closer and the match agaisnt the Ravens rounds the corner, Kevin finds himself looking more and more forward to the time spent at the library with Juliet

she is just so focused on their project and so oblivious as who he really is and doesn’t really care if sometimes he is more anxious, if freaks over everything to be perfect, if he babbles on&on&on&on about any bit of history he discovered

she’s just there, smirking, stiffling her laughs and asking for more

they’ve exhanged phone numbers and she installed snapchat on his, and although he never sends her anything, she always has a short video and a funny caption that pop up from time to time; they’re that little reminder that the world goes on outside of exy and that he exists outside of exy

she introduces him to funny videos and he didn’t know absolute dumb shit could make him snort??

his favorite is the peanut butter baby

at first the Foxes give him this judgemental look when he ugly-snorts in the locker room or at Eden’s, but eventually they just get that glint in their eyes as if they were in on the jokes

sometimes, Juliet’s so focused on writing down bullet points in her notebook, peeling the skin off her lips, so unaware of Kevin’s personal hell of a life, that he just wants to spill out everything

although he’s not sure if it’s because he wants her to know him and stay, or because he wants her to reject him and therefore spare himself the trouble of getting attached...

she takes the decision for him

on a Thursday afternoon, on their planned study session, she doesn’t show up

she doesn’t answer her phone either

he even tries out a completely blacked out snap with “r u alive?” in caption

no answer

he gives her space, sending her occasional cat videos he thoroughly researches

if she watches them, she doesn’t say anything

on Monday afternoon, she doesn’t come to class

that’s when the panic Kevin’s been reigning in just... bursts

what if it’s Riko? 

what if it’s the Master?

what if it’s Ichirou?

what if, somehow, it’s the Butcher’s people?

that afternoon’s practice is hell for the Foxes, Kevin is ruthless and an asshole and very agressive

Dan waits for him outside the boys’ locker room as all the other Foxes leave (not even Andrew and Neil want to wait for him)

“Spit out your goddamn problem before I tell Coach to bench you next game”

oh, how Kevin wants to cuss her out

and then he looks  at her face, ready to vomit words, when he sees her worrying her lips

just like Juliet

it shouldn’t be enough to make him tear up, but it does

he still manages to keep as much of the truth to himself as he possibly can

“My EAL partner isn’t responding to my messages or my calls and she didn’t even come to class today and it stresses me the fuck out and what if it’s like with Neil, Dan?” he says in one breath, trying to tear out the net of his racket

Dan recomposes her face and gets that very serious look, the one she usually gets when someone touches her family

“It’s not, Kevin. That’s over. We got Neil back, we got you back, you got Jean back. The team didn’t even know who that person was. The most info we’ve gathered is what you just told me now. Yeah there are some bets but it’s mostly for funsies, nothing even remotely serious. You wanna look for her?” she soothes him.

“I don’t even know...”

“She lives on campus?” she asks.

“I don’t- I don’t know, Dan. I spent months with her and I can’t even vaguely say where she lives! How fucked up is that?” Kevin yells.

“It’s not even remotely fucked up, Kevin. You should know that. Does she have instagram? twitter? Or like, facebook?” she questions some more.

“God, I don’t know. She only sends me stupid fucking videos and I never even respond like the goddamn asshole I am...”

“Shut up. We’re all assholes at the end of the road, ‘kay? You ain’t better or worse than others. Now she sends them to you in text or somewhere else?”

“Sometimes texts... Sometimes the yellow app, the chat one. Why.”

“Oh great, that’s great. We can locate her, with snapchat, if she forgot to turn off the sharing. And if you’re comfortable with that, too. I know you’re not a creep like that. You’re creepy sometimes, don’t get me wrong. But, not a creep.”

“Gee, thanks, Dan.”

“Hey, shush. You down or what?” she says, arching an eyebrow.

“Okay,” he answers, unable to make the fear go away without knowing for sure.

And so it turns out Juliet’s location is, in fact, knowable. Dan grabs one of Kevin’s shoulders as he leaves the court, squeezing her affection into her grip; he nods emotionally in her direction, as far as emotions can translate unto his face.

he doesn’t even know what he’ll do once he finds her, his brain is solely focused on the animated map that brings him closer and closer to Juliet

the more he progresses, the more he realizes he is far from Fox Tower, on a campus area he has never even seen

he stops before a decrepit building, old and moldy-looking

Jackie Kennedy Hall

student dorms? this shabby? she can’t possibly live-

except that she can, because there isn’t another building close and the map has brought him here, and he doesn’t really know her...

so Kevin straightens his shoulders, inhales deeply, and goes inside

he could go on and on and on about everything that is just wrong with the place, from the smell to the decoration, but he makes a beeline for the front desk (he’s lucky there’s even one)

he asks for a way to contact someone, flashes his press smile at the women behind the desk, gives up his ID in exchange for the room number

Juliet Grier, 418

stairs, stairs, stairs, stairs

heavy door, right, 412, 414, 416...

418

what, now?

Kevin hesitantly knocks once, twice

no answer

he knocks again and decides to speak up, in case she didn’t hear

“Juliet? It’s Kevin. Day. From EAL? Can I speak with you?”

still nothing

maybe she isn’t home... no, the map says she’s here. maybe she’s sleeping...

he decides to try one last time

“We really should finish that project, you know? I think we could both use the free time...” he says without his heart into it.

without surprise, no response still

he decides to take a loose paper from his sachel and writes down some words

Greetings Hi,

My friend Dan helped me look for you, but you don’t have to worry about your privacy; it’s because of the yellow app. You should turn that off if you don’t want other people to be nosy. 

You weren’t in class today. I’ll share my notes if you want them. But, you should come to class, it’s better. For learning. 

I’ll wait a few in case you’re asleep. 

Text me or call me or whatever when you’re ready.

- Kevin D. (your partner from EAL)

quick, efficient, to the point

Kevin slips the paper under the door, and waits

he refreshes the map too many times, to see if her location changed or if somehow there was a glitch

it stays put

he ends up sitting on the hallway floor, his back sliding down the wall

he catches up on a book for another class, checks exy stats and watches many, many videos of Jeremy Knox on the court and in interview

some students pass him with a nasty look, eyeing the lack of earphones on his phone

some other students walk by him and will themselves to keep going, because holy shit it’s Kevin Day in Jackie Hall

it’s at least an hour and a half before the doorknob slowly and quietly starts to click

Kevin was absorbed deep into whatever move Knox was making before scoring

the 418 door opens

Kevin gets up in one move, all things Jeremy Knox and exy forgotten

she’s loosely holding Kevin’s paper in one hand, the other clutching a large scarf that covers up the majority of her body

from what he can see, though, she’s wearing sweats from head to toe; her hair’s tied on the top of her head, but most of the curls escaped and it looks unwashed and her curls, dry

her skin’s turned pale, dark circles under her eyes, a haggard look in them, her cheeks stained with dry tears

Juliet looks terrible

“Hi...” Kevin attempts

she finally looks up from the paper and gives him a bored look that could rival Andrew’s

with a rough voice strained from cries and many days without speaking, she asks, “My EAL partner?”

“Well, yes. In case.”

“In case of what.”

“I-”

“I know who you are, Kevin.”

and isn’t that both his most ardent wish and his worse fear?

with that, she turns around and goes back to her dark room, leaving the door open behind her

is that... an invitation?

Kevin’s never been to another person’s place, apart from the Columbia house, Abby’s and Wymack’s

he reminds himself why he came in the first place and decides it would be a waste to leave now, right?

the small studio is a mess, much like its occupant

there are clothes everywhere, on the floor, on a chair, on the bed, on the desk

all the curtains are drawn, no light is on, the only source coming from Juliet’s laptop somewhere amongst her bedsheets

it’s like she made herself a nest and hasn’t moved from there for a long time

maybe even since last Monday, the last time he saw her

Kevin doesn’t understand the scene he has before his eyes

he’s never seen such apathy in someone that is not Andrew

and at this point, apathy is pretty much Andrew’s default state of being

not Juliet’s

Juliet is a soft glow, toothy grins, wild curls, countless jumpers, dumb jokes and references, color-coded notes, an organized mind, unwavering focus and determination, flowing words and warm, kind eyes...

so what is this?

then Kevin realizes he spoke aloud

and Juliet can only chuckle sadly, almost mockingly

“This? This is why I don’t have friends. This is why I don’t mix with people. This is why I’ll never amount to anything in life. This is my dirty laundry, both metaphorically and literally. This is it. That’s... That’s it. This is what I get,” she answers flatly

Kevin’s mind is spinning

he doesn’t understand

he needs to understand, though

“Explain it to me,” he says

Juliet looks at him like a brick just hit him on the head and made him speak Swedish

“Why.”

“Because, surely there’s a way to work with it.”

she laughs

it doesn’t reach her eyes, nor her lips or her cheeks

it’s just a desperate sound

it makes him think of Andrew again

and that gives him an idea, a gut feeling, if you will

“Can I try something out?” he asks

“Kevin... I can’t- I’m tired... It’s not a good idea... I’m tired, Kevin,” Juliet responds, pain noticeable in her voice and her movements slow

“I know, I- I know. Someone I know... He plays this game. It’s really not a game, it’s more like a communication thing. He calls it “A Truth for a Truth”.  In exchange for something I tell you, you tell me something. And in exchange for something you tell me, I’ll tell you something else. It’s made me... work through some things... before,” Kevin explains calmly

Juliet keeps on observing him from her bed, silent

“Look, can I just stay here to do homework? I have nowhere to go right now,” Kevin asks, almost blurting out “Please” before Andrew’s ghost caught it in his throat

she lies back down, burries herself in her covers, a silent “yes”

Kevin ends up falling asleep sitting on the floor, books open, head resting at the end of Juliet’s bed

he wakes up around 2 AM

he’s got multiple texts from Aaron and Nicky, one from Andrew, and one from Dan

“told everybody you spent the night at Coach’s. take care.”

he silently vows to thank her later

now he either really goes to Wymack’s to finish his night there, or... he stays exactly where he is

Juliet is still sleeping soundly

in a haze, he palms for a pillow or cushion, pulls his hoodie on and lies back down on the carpeted floor

he’s only awaken in the late morning when he brutally gets stepped on

“What the shit?? Kevin! How...???” Juliet yells

“Um, ow? No, no, don’t apologize so quickly. You just, you know, crushed my lungs and a couple of ribs, no worries, Jules!” Kevin groans

“Ju- you know what? I’m not sorry. Right now I gotta pee, so you better have a damn good explanation when I get back,” she replies and leaves her room to go to the bathroom at the end of the hall

instead of dread, Kevin feels calm about the upcoming conversation

he doesn’t prepare lies, doesn’t run away, doesn’t resort to assholery

he just stays put where he is on the floor, snuggles deeper into his hoodie, and waits for relief, for the truth

he waits for Juliet

[dothwrites]

Destiel + "can I hold your hand?" uWUWUWUWUWUWu

---

Dean’s too excited to be invited to Charlie’s party to remember to ask who else will be there. He regrets his short-sightedness when he walks into her house. It seems as though the entire population of their high school is located in her living room and Dean recognizes no one. 

An all-too familiar anxiety settles in his bones. He should be used to this by now; he’s been the new kid at school too many times to count. He and Sam hardly believed Dad when he said they were settling permanently in Pontiac, Illinois, but three weeks in and Dad hasn’t made noises of moving yet. Which is fine, but having a permanent mailing address means Dean actually has to make friends. Sam, the little freak, already has a host of buddies attached to him by the end of his first day (it’s not weird that Dean watches his little brother from across the cafeteria, all right, he’s just being a good brother and making sure Sam is fitting in), but Dean remains woefully unattached. 

Enter Charlie Bradbury, tech genius and actual human ray of sunshine. Seeing Dean’s pathetic attempts at creating lasting connections, Charlie had taken him under her proverbial wing and introduced him to her impressively wide circle of friends.  

Dorothy, Kevin, Jo, Benny, Gilda, Victor, Hannah, Inias, Anna, Gabriel--the names and faces flew past him. Only one stuck. 

Castiel. 

Dean knows he stares when Charlie introduces Castiel, but who could blame him? With those big blue eyes, sharp jaw, and a voice that sounds like he’s been gargling gravel even at seventeen, Dean’s willing to bet a lot of people stare at Castiel. It’s too bad that Castiel doesn’t seem interested in making the slightest overture at friendliness. He’s not rude but also not interested. Every time Dean tries to start a conversation, Castiel answers him in as few words as possible before making an excuse to leave. Dean’s fairly certain his last one was I have to clean the gutters. And Dean’s not stupid, he can take a hint (even if takes him about five times to figure it out). Castiel’s not interested in being friends (or anything more god forbid). 

Which is fine. Dean has plenty of friends. 

Too bad he can’t find any of them at this party. 

He forces his way through the crowd, ignoring the elbows and red solo cups thrown his way. The music (some awful Top 40 pop crap) blares, and Dean makes a note to take over the speakers at Charlie’s next party. 

Dean would love to give Charlie shit about it now, but he can’t find her anywhere. He makes his way from the living room into the kitchen and still finds no sign of his friends. The door to the back porch calls to him like a siren song and Dean slips outside before anyone ever has a chance to notice he’s gone. 

Dean closes the door behind him, thankfully shutting out most of the noise and the godawful music. Outside, it’s not nearly as humid, less so when a cool breeze drifts by. Dean sighs in relief as the sweat cools on the back of his neck. It’s only then he realizes he’s not alone. 

Sitting on a bench at the edge of the patio, illuminated by the weak glow of a porch-light, sits Castiel.  Dean’s mouth goes dry as he watches Castiel take a deep sip from his solo cup, throat working as he swallows. It’s only when Castiel lowers the cup that he catches sight of Dean. He sputters on his last swallow, coughing as his lungs reject whatever liquid he just tried to give them. 

“Dean,” he finally rasps, carelessly wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “I didn’t...I didn’t think you would be here.” 

Amazingly, Dean feels disappointed. “Why? Did you think that I was too lame for this?”  

Castiel blinks. “No,” he says, surprise in his voice. “I thought...weren’t you going out with Anna tonight?” 

Dean vaguely remembers Anna hinting that she and a few of her friends were headed out to see a band downtown, but it hadn’t sounded like his scene. He does think that Castiel might have been standing in the background of that conversation, but he hadn’t thought the other boy was paying attention. 

“No. I mean, she asked, but...no.” 

“Oh. Well, all right then.” There’s something pleased in Castiel’s eyes as he ducks his head. Dean thinks he catches a hint of a smile. 

“Wait,” he says, feeling like he got this whole thing very wrong. “Were you...Cas, were you jealous?” 

“No,” Castiel says, a little too quickly. “You can do whatever you like.” He punctuates the statement with another drink, swift and furious. 

Dean walks over to the bench Cas is sitting on. He sits down and notes the quick dart of Castiel’s eyes to the minimal distance separating them. “So why aren’t you inside?” Castiel finally asks, his eyes on the few stars visible from the suburbs. 

Dean shrugs. “’S too hot in there. I don’t know anyone. Shitty music.” A disheartening thought strikes. “Why? Do you want me to leave you alone?” 

“No!” Cas answers a little too quickly. “I mean...no. Stay. Please. I like talking to you.” 

Dean scoffs. “Dude, you’ve said like...three full sentences to me. Kind of takes more than that to have a conversation.” 

“I’ve said more,” Cas protests. When Dean levels a stare at him, he relents. “You’re...very distracting sometimes.” Cas’ eyes flick down to Dean’s lips. “All the time,” he amends, his own tongue dabbing at his lower lip. 

Warmth blooms in Dean’s chest. “Cas...do you...” He grins for a moment as a world of new possibilities opens up to him. “Do you like me?” 

“We don’t have to make a big deal out of this.” Cas draws his knees up to his chest, obviously resigned. “I mean, I’d appreciate it--”

“Hold up,” Dean interrupts. It looks like he and Cas are going to have to get a hell of a lot better at this communication thing; they both misread this situation so badly. “What if I want to make a big deal about it?” Cas looks towards him, his forehead creased in obvious misery, and Dean sighs in frustration. “Not like that, I just mean...Look, can I hold your hand?” 

The skin of the back of Dean’s neck prickles with a blush (amazing how much of an idiot Cas turns him into), but it’s worth it for the look of slowly dawning realization on Cas’ face. Even better is when Cas stretches out his hand, palm up towards Dean. 

Dean’s hand slides overtop Cas’ before his fingers lace smoothly between Cas’. He wraps his fingers onto the back of Cas’ hand, something pleased jangling in him at the look of their clasped hands. 

“I thought you kind of hated me,” Dean breathes, transfixed by Cas’ palm, dry and warm, against his. 

“No,” Cas agrees, his own voice faint. His thumb presses daringly into Dean’s skin. “Quite the opposite.” 

“Oh.” Dean grins and Cas matches his expression, his lips spreading in a wide, gummy smile. Inside his chest, his heart performs a series of Olympic worthy somersaults. Somewhere, a choir sings a hallelujah chorus. “Well, that’s good I guess. ‘Cause I really like you.” 

They stay there, ignoring the music and sounds from within the house, their hands clasped together on Dean’s lap, and watch the stars late into the night. 

---

tags underneath cut--message/reply to be added or removed <3

@screamatthescreen @queenvee08 @dizzypinwheel @rogerslouis @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover @stay-inside-the-salt-ring @deansbff @spaceshipkat @espejonight28738 @proccastinate @organicpurplepants @apieceofurmind @good-things-do-happen-dean @thewolfatmydoor 

[honestsportsopinion]

New York Rangers and the situations they are in

Disclaimer: This essay or article, call it as you wish, is my own information analysis. I am in no way sports journalist or try to be one. All the sources will be linked bellow.  

           Idea to write this thing came from my close friend and I thought: “Why the hell not?” Once I started the research, I realised it will not be easy to put this together because so much information has come up in last few weeks and more has happened in last few days. So, this may seem messy. I will talk about points about New York Rangers that I took closer look to.

           Possibly, New York Ranger fans can better pinpoint the moment when things started to go south in their team. When rookie development was thrown out of window and the youngsters got left to fend for themselves without help. When did racist players got given one chance after another? It must have been painful to see such good team and organisation to dissolve in what it is now. Yes, it is kind of hard to call them team right now.

           First, want to start with this interview quote from ex-New York Rangers player Kevin Hayes, conducted in 2019, that prompted me to look a bit further in this whole situation:

"They chose to get rid of me and Vese, but that's their decision," Hayes said. "I'm sure it'll come back to them; we'll find out."

Not only New York Rangers got rid of Kevin Hayes and Jimmy Vessey, but next season Brady Skjei followed his friends off to a different team. Few seasons ago this trio was in grace of the organisation but now they are out of it. No one still understands how that happened. If we highlight this quote from Mr. Hayes, we can see that there was some bitterness over whole situation, that even the best media training could not mask. Also, we could say that words in it is quite prophetic. It will come back to them he said and oh, how it did come back to this team. Starting one whirlwind after another.

           Secondly, I want to talk about development and treatment of younger players that come to New York Rangers organisation. We all well know how K’Andre Miller got welcomed in this team with livestream chat absolutely being flooded with racist comments. It is all still fresh in our minds and we will come back to K’Andre Miller a bit later.

           Lias Andersson was young player with bright future, being drafted as 7th overall in 2017 entry draft. His story also is not best: for three seasons being thrown between AHL and NHL, allowed to play few games for New York Rangers. In no way the team tried to build up his confidence. Of course, it is not easy to be treated as moving piece. When you are as young as 18, you need to feel backed up by the team you got drafted. After these years of up and down in USA, Mr. Andersson choose to go back home to Sweden.

           Now we have Finish player Kaapo Kakko in similar situation.  Absolutely not feeling backing of team or coach who in recent press conference said this:

 “He’s got seven points in his last seven NHL games and what can happen in this game is we get so caught up in where they were drafted and the hype about people.  I don’t give two craps about that.  We want to win hockey games and he was the best option.  How’d it work out?”

While in the same interview he praised the No. 1 draft pick Alexis Lafrenière. I am in no way pitting those two against one another, but coach should be one person that stays unbiased no matter what and helps players find their rooting in team. From this interview it feels like he already has view on Mr. Kakko and does not want to change his opinion on him.

           Right here in me could start talking hurt European but I am not going to step as low as David Quinn because I have general understanding about different nationalities that react to things differently. All I can say is I wish Kaapo to find team that will give him the rooting he needs, but also knowing Finns he will try to fight for his place.

           Lastly, we must mention the name of player that has worst possible reputation in NHL, so bad that none of 30 teams want to take him of the waivers. You guessed it folks: Tony DeAngelo. Yes, finally New York Rangers are getting rid of this player, but should he have been called up at all. By the words of New York Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton:

“We did a lot of research, talked to a lot of people about Tony prior to acquiring him,” Gorton said. “We did our homework, we were comfortable[..].”

Looking from outside of it all, it seems they did none of the research and DeAngelo could do whatever he wanted to do. Team even promoted his podcast, that does not put out best message to anyone. We can also talk about his twitter and Instagram tantrums that have hurt more people than not. Organisation says they talked with DeAngelo, but nothing seemed to work, even the tiny suspensions that he was getting. DeAngelo felt like he had his teams backing, that no players we talked before in this essay have felt. Craziest thing is that he just recently resigned with the team, they still believed in him.

           So DeAngelo took it as a sign to stretch their trust even thinner. There is alleged news that he stole K’Andre Millers first goal puck. New York Rangers are trying to cover it up, but fans are more attentive. There was not picture of K’Andre holding his puck while the New York Rangers posted Lafrenière with his puck. The team can come out with statements about this whole thing, but they cannot stop the windmill of news sharing.

          Whole thing culminated in altercation between DeAngelo and Georgiev. This finally got organisation into gear, booting DeAngelo off the team fully. Scariest thought is that New York Rangers would have kept this under wraps, too, not to spoil their team’s name. It got out and this time easiest choice was to fire DeAngelo. As easily they trusted him, as easily they let him go. Maybe it is fresh breath of air that this team needs, maybe this situation will raise up more dirty laundry but what is done is done. There is no way back and only way forward.

Conclusion.

           New York Rangers as organisation do not seem to understand how to develop young players and make them in star players anymore while their history shows that they can do that. As organisation they have let down many of their players and fans who believed in them, allowing racists and bigots play in the team freely without huge consequences. Yes, people will go and say they fired DeAngelo. I will answer them: “Good but where were they before when they could have chosen not to call him up. Signs were there already.”

           We can see that they choose easiest way, forgetting that team is supposed to be family where each player is ready to stand and fall for one another. Generally, I wish New York Rangers to find the light in the end of a tunnel. Find their way back to developing young players to proper stars and not to make any dumb mistakes.

Sources:

Abate, B. (14.01.2021.). Rangers Must Learn from Mistakes Made with Andersson. Retrieved from https://thehockeywriters.com/rangers-lias-andersson-development-mistakes-learning-opportunity/

Cuthbert, J. (31.01.2021.). Rangers waive controversial Tony DeAngelo after reported altercation with teammate. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/i4jox6v9

NBC. (21.09.2019.). Interview with Kevin Hayes. Retrieved from https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/flyers/kevin-hayes-honest-about-his-time-rangers-ecstatic-be-flyers

New York Rangers. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Rangers#Jeff_Gorton_era_(2015%E2%80%93present)

Paulus, S. (31.01.2021.). David Quinn must dislike Kaapo Kakko a lot. Retrieved from https://bluelinestation.com/2021/01/29/new-york-rangers-coach-david-quinn-must-dislike-kaapo-kakko-a-lot/

Valji, S., N. (31.01.2021). Future of Tony DeAngelo (Twitter thread). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/salimvalji/status/1355968550393901056

Walker, M. (16.01.2021.). Rangers bench star Tony DeAngelo for game against Islanders. Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2021/01/16/tony-deangelo-not-in-rangers-lineup-for-game-vs-islanders/

Walker, M. (01.02.2021.). Rangers refute ‘sad’ K’Andre Miller rumor after banishing Tony DeAngelo. Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2021/02/01/rangers-refute-kandre-miller-rumor-amid-tony-deangelo-saga/

[lilibetts]

Please wait, LoveAlarm is syncing itself to your heart!

Falling In Love With Riverdale, Theme 1: Sugar

Part 1/3

At this very moment in the not-so-idyllic town of Riverdale, Betty Cooper is 16 years, 41 weeks, 1 day, 20 hours and 34 minutes old and, to see Kevin describe it, she has been in love with Archie Andrews for 1 year, 5 months, and 14 days.

From inside the relative security of the F Hallway girls’ bathroom, she takes a deep breath to mark the magnitude of the moment, and hits [Install] on her phone. It takes less than a minute for the blue line to complete a circle and once it does, she opens the app and fills in her personal details.

Please wait, the app cheerily asks her, bright pinks and blues swirling across the screen, LoveAlarm is syncing itself to your heart!

Well, Betty sighs to herself, there’s no going back now. 

LoveAlarm is the latest matchmaking app to launch and in the two weeks since, it seems like *everyone* at Riverdale High has downloaded it. It syncs itself to your heart and a bright red heart alarm would ping if there is someone within twenty feet who loves you.

Naturally, the romantic landscape of Riverdale High School has been completely leveled. 

Midge Klump and Moose Mason both downloaded the app, only for it to tell Midge her love was unrequited. Ginger Lopez had situated herself in a prime location outside the gym doors when basketball practice let out—nobody within twenty feet of her—in the hopes that when the team’s star power forward, Anthony Parrish, came out, their phones would mutually ping. 

Instead, it was Ben Button who walked down that stretch of the hallway; instead, it was Ben Button who made her phone ping.  Then Anthony came out and *his* phone pinged, but Ginger’s did not again. According to the school grapevine, Ginger had lost her shit and called Ben a ‘baby-faced freak’.

Truthfully, the whole concept behind the app horrifies Betty, but she has to know. Making sure that every possible setting for the app is set to her phone’s vibrate function, she shoulders her backpack and heads into the cafeteria.

The walls are decorated from corner to corner with red, white, and pink streamers in anticipation of the Valentine’s Day party that will be held on Friday. PizzaShak is giving them a great deal on heart-shaped pizzas.

Her friends are at their usual table in the corner and with every step Betty takes, she is closer to knowing. When Archie hears his phone chime once she is within the twenty feet circumference, will he put two-and-two together? Will her own phone buzz with the truth? All around her, the crowded cafeteria is full of hopefuls checking their phones.

The round table has three curved benches attached to it. Kevin and Veronica share one, and across from them, Jughead and Archie split the other two. Betty slides into the space on Jughead’s left, exchanging happy hellos with her friends. Wordlessly, she hands over one of the two sandwiches she’d packed for Jughead to take. As always, he makes a show of letting out an aggrieved sigh when he spots the lettuce and sliced tomato in there with the turkey, but dutifully takes his sandwich while sliding over the remaining brownie square from his vending machine packet. This is their unspoken pact: she makes sure the bottomless pit that is Jughead Jones is sated with something healthier, he makes sure she gets a non-Alice-approved treat.

The sandwich she made is gone in three bites.

<Good?> she signs, arching one eyebrow.

<You know it,> Jughead replies, still chewing the last mouthful of turkey sandwich.

Betty has been deaf since she was three years old, after a bout with meningitis, and just because she’s well-liked among her peers doesn’t mean many of them would go as far as to learn sign language for her. That Kevin, Archie, Jughead, and Veronica have is part and parcel of why they’re her best friends.

A booted foot taps insistently against hers under the table and Betty turns away from Jughead, still grinning, to focus on Kevin. 

/Did you watch The Bachelor last night?/ His hands move as rapidly as he speaks.

/No,/ Betty tells him. /Unlike you, I actually studied for the History test./

“Har har,” Kevin deadpans. They’re both distracted by Veronica clapping her hands. 

“OMG!” she says gleefully, slapping Kevin’s bicep. /Kelley is an ICON! I told you./

As much as Betty loves her friends’ ridiculously dramatic day-after recaps, she’s too distracted to really pay attention to whatever last night’s spectacle had been about. Across the table, Archie is checking his phone, thumbs tapping and sliding across the screen. A wide grin splits his face and he turns the screen out to show Jughead.

3 people in a twenty feet radius love you!

Betty flushes and looks away, embarrassed. Of course. As covertly as possible, she takes advantage of everyone’s inattention to check her own phone.

Zero.

Nobody within a twenty feet radius loves you.

As Cheryl Strayed wrote, “acceptance is a small, quiet room”. As the realization sinks in, Betty watches, as if from a greater distance, Archie glancing around at the nearby tables, determined to figure out who those three people could be. After a few murmured words from Jughead that she can’t decipher thanks to his head being turned away from her, Archie takes off to make the rounds. A process of elimination, most likely.

Betty isn’t sure what she feels. Irritation more than disappointment? Relief? The latter emotion surprises her, especially now that she knows Archie isn’t in love with her. Kevin, and then later Veronica when she’d arrived in Riverdale, have been after her to confess her feelings to Archie but Betty has kept demurring or putting it off. Her usual excuse being that she’s too scared to wreck her friendship with him. 

Sure, they’re right when they say she’s being a coward; but is her relief after the LoveAlarm revelation just relief that now she won’t have to actually bare her heart?

She turns off her phone.

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

                                                    He knows he shouldn’t be, that this definitely qualifies as eavesdropping, but here Jughead is, glancing up and over to the table where Betty is sneakily carrying on a conversation with Veronica.

It’s 7th period Honors Bio and all they need to do is finish a worksheet before the bell rings, which is easy enough, but Mr. Beeker had also stipulated silence in the classroom, so it’s a clever loophole that Betty has found. Abby, her interpreter, is absorbed in her phone, leaving Jughead to covertly watch shifting hand shapes and fingerspelled letters.

<You’re not as s-t-e-a-l-t-h-y as you think you are,> Veronica signs smugly.

<??>

<Your phone. At lunch. You d-l LoveAlarm.> Smugness melts into concern. <Well?>

This is news to Jughead, and unwelcome news at that. He shouldn’t be surprised that Betty has downloaded that stupid app and really, he should’ve seen it coming. Dread fills him as he awaits her response.

Of course Jughead refuses to download LoveAlarm. Why would he give an app his heart data? They’d only sell it to soulless companies looking to target him with ads tailored to the object of his romantic yearning.

Betty.

The facts are these: Jughead Jones is 17 years, 3 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes old. He’s also been aware that he’s deeply, irrevocably in love with Betty Cooper for 1 year, 4 months, and 19 days. An eternity, basically.

 A rare beam of sunlight has broken through the February gray outside, casting a pale glow on her downturned face, the long eyelashes that brush her cheeks. It’s the flare of her nostrils and the tight press of her lips together that tell him she’s upset. 

There’s a sharp pang in his chest.

<He doesn’t.> The words, accompanied by a shake of Betty’s head that makes her ponytail bounce, are all he needs to understand. 

Jughead isn’t obtuse, he knows which ‘he’ they’re talking about, the only one ‘he’ it could be: Archie. Blame Kevin, he’s shit at subtlety. 

So, Betty had downloaded LoveAlarm and now she knows Archie isn’t in love with her. The latter isn’t news to him but he would’ve been fine if Betty had continued to go through life not knowing that particular fact. But it’s the sentence that comes next that breaks his heart.

<I have a zero. Nobody loves me.> What goes unspoken but, to Jughead, is writ large upon her face is: ‘I’m not lovable’.

He looks away from their conversation, angry that anyone would make her feel like this. Ashamed that he is a guilty party in this.

That night while lying on his bed, Jughead finds himself torn.

What he had seen earlier has given him food for thought. Which is just as well because he likes to take the time to think broadly and deeply, much in the same way he likes to eat. Next to him on the bed, his phone is open to the App Store, and LoveAlarm waits there patiently, ready for his decision.

Is Betty Cooper worth it? Unquestionably Yes.

Is he willing to risk discovery? Having his heart spilled right out there for her to see...even worse, for others to see? Vulnerable and already bruised, where it’d easily be crushed into messy smithereens?

Unable to answer that, his brain circles back around to the first question: is Betty Cooper worth it?

With a low, drawn-out groan, Jughead hits [Install] and gives corporations access to his heart.

[cpd5021]

Reckoning - Part 10

This chapter is going to bounce back and forth a little between Jay and Hailey’s POV, hopefully this doesn’t get confusing....I just felt it was the best way to portray the story line I’m going with. TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of sexual assault.

     Jay paced back and forth in front of the bulletin board in Intelligence, his eyes darting to Hailey’s picture every so often and feeling his heart sink deeper each time. She shouldn’t be on this board. She shouldn’t be being held god knows where with a man doing unforgivable things to her. The thought made Jay sick and clenched his fists as he continued to pace. The team was at somewhat of a standstill, patrol lost sight of the vehicle in traffic and they were unable to locate it on any traffic cams. Whoever was driving the getaway vehicle had enough knowledge of the city to know where the camera’s would be. Jay was struggling to maintain control over his emotions, riding between anger and worry. His body felt numb as he pictured what she could be going through. 

“Hey hey hey, I got something!” Adam announced from his desk. The team flocked around him as he scrolled through the computer screen to show an address he had located through a distant relative of Hugo’s. It was a stretch but they were going to leave no stone un-turned. As they all scrambled to grab their gear, Jay spotted Voight walking towards him. 

“Jay, I want you to sit this one out.” The older man gave him a knowing look. They may not have come clean about their relationship yet, but somehow Voight always seemed to know these things. Whether they confirmed it or not, he knew Jay was to emotionally involved with this and blamed himself for her kidnapping. 

“Not gonna happen Sarge..” Jay replied firmly. Even if they left him behind, he’d follow. 

“Then you’re sticking with me kid.” Voight didn’t argue with him, realizing it was pointless to even try. 

     They quickly made their way to the cars and headed out, luckily the address wasn’t that far away. When they rolled up to what appeared to be an abandoned house, Jay flashed back to Hailey’s attack before and how they had found her lying in the basement, battered and bruised. He prayed she was here and that she was okay. The team assembled briefly outside the house. It didn’t appear anyone was here but they knew that didn’t really mean anything. Voight sent Kevin and Vanessa to the back, while he, Jay, Adam and Kim breached the front. Once inside, they started to clear rooms. Kevin and Vanessa headed upstairs and Adam and Kim moved towards the kitchen. Jay and Voight worked their way through an office space, a spare bedroom and were clearing the living room when a loud commotion came from the kitchen. A man came running at Voight and without so much as a flinch, Voight shot, dropping the man to the floor instantly. A second man cam bolting towards them and Jay recognized him as Hugo Swarez. Jay was able to grab a hold of him, crashing him into the wall beside them, before pulling him back only to slam him again. Jay could feel Voight move behind him but the older man made no move to stop him. 

“Where is she?” Jay screamed towards Hugo, slamming him again. 

“The kid or the bitch?” Hugo laughed and this drove Jay over the edge. He dropped him to the floor, rolling him to face up and struck his face hard with his fist. Jay got a few blows in before he felt Voight grip his shoulder. 

“Easy Jay, if she’s not here we need him to find her.” The Sargent carefully reminded him. 

                                                       *******

     Hailey opened her eyes into pitch blackness. Her head pounded and her body throbbed. She thought she heard something loud upstairs but she was still to disoriented to be sure. Was that a gunshot? She could only hope her team had found her. A sudden light broke through the darkness, coming down the stairs. Hailey blinked trying to focus on the body coming towards her, it was small...female. It was Kim. Hailey almost cried out in relief. She could feel Kim’s hands on her body, searching for wounds. Hailey tried to reach out and grab her hand but couldn’t quite connect with the other woman. Kim saw her trying and quickly grabbed her hands, squeezing them tightly, assuring her she was okay. Hailey could see Adam standing behind Kim, looking down at her with a heartbroken look on his face. Hailey tried to speak, to tell them to get to the girl and that she would be okay, but her voice wasn’t working right. She was able to nod towards the limp body in the corner and Kim followed her nod, quickly standing up and running to the girl. Hailey watched as Kim checked for a pulse, nodding at Adam and picking the girl up. Kim bolted up the stairs with the little girl and Hailey let out a breath of relief as she saw the girls eyes were open and she was clinging to Kim. Adam bent down next to her, gently running his hand through her hair before moving to undo the cuffs. 

“Thank you.” Hailey was able to choke out, her throat burned. 

     Adam attempted to help Hailey stand but when he realized that was going to be near impossible, he simply scooped her up and they made their way upstairs. Hailey rested her head against his shoulder, to weak to hold it up. But she was able to scan the rooms as they walked through, her eyes searching for Jay. She noted one body on the floor in the living room, the first man she had encountered in the basement. Noticeably absent were Jay, Voight and Hugo. She wondered where they could be, knowing Hugo should have been in the house too and that they would have found him. Adam carried her all the way outside, to the waiting stretcher and she was quickly rolled into the ambulance. When she looked up again she met Vanessa’s eyes, the younger girl sitting on the ambulance bench beside her. The girl reached out to hold her hand as the EMT cut Hailey’s blood stained clothes off. Hailey could feel herself going in and out of conscious as they drove to the hospital. Vanessa didn’t let go of her hand until she was wheeled into the trauma bay and even then the younger officer stood right by the door. 

     When Hailey came to again she could tell she was in a different room of the hospital, another recovery room. She was becoming all too familiar with the layout of this hospital. Her eyes quickly scanned the room, landing on the small body curled in the chair beside her. Vanessa looked as if she was asleep and Hailey didn’t want to wake her, as much as she had burning questions to ask. Luckily, she didn’t have to as Natalie entered the room, causing the other girl to jump awake. 

“Hey Hailey, how are you feeling?” The doctor sent her a warm smile.

“Been better.” She tried to reply in a sarcastic tone but it fell flat. 

“I’m sorry. I just have a few questions I need to ask. And then a quick exam.” Natalie moved to set her clipboard on the counter, washing her hands quickly before sitting on the stool beside the bed. 

“These are somewhat personal questions, if you’d like some privacy?” Natalie nodded slightly towards Vanessa, trying to be as polite as possible. Vanessa made to stand up, ready to leave Hailey alone but Hailey stopped her. 

“She’s fine.” Hailey gave the younger girl a small smile before turning to face the doctor again. 

“Okay, well I just have a few things to check off. I’m sorry if these questions are uncomfortable but we need to know so we can treat appropriately.”

Hailey nodded in response. She had her own questions she wanted to ask but it appeared those would have to wait.

“With sexual assault cases- “ Natalie started before Hailey cut her off.

“He didn’t.” She stated firmly.

“Are you...are you sure?” Natalie pressed gently. “Hailey we need to know for sure so that we can treat if needed.”

“He didn’t.” Hailey stated again, tears threatening to fill her eyes. She could hear Vanessa let out a small sigh of relief beside her and she reached out to hold Hailey’s hand.

“Okay...well that’s good. Based on your apparent injuries though, I’d still like to do a small exam.” Natalie stood, going to reach for some gloves. Hailey could tell the doctor didn’t believe her. Hailey struggled to believe herself, she had blacked out..what if he had...no, she would know. Deciding it was best just to be sure, Hailey gave a small nod, swallowing hard. 

“I’ll be right outside.” Vanessa whispered, placing a light kiss on Hailey’s forehead before stepping out of the room. 

                                               *********

     A few hours later, Hailey and Vanessa walked through their front door. Vanessa had driven them home from the hospital and the trip was silent. After her exam, Hailey had drilled the officer on the whereabouts of Jay and Voight, what had happened to Hugo, and how was the little girl. Vanessa wasn’t able to provide much, other then that Jay and Voight had taken Hugo to the precinct and the little girl was going to make a full recovery. Despite everyone’s worst fear, the little girl had been spared from any sexual assault and only had some minor injuries to heal from. Hailey had pressed Vanessa to take her to the precinct but she had been denied, stating that Voight had told her not to allow her there. Hailey made her way to sit on the couch, dialing Jay’s number and once again getting his voicemail. She was pissed, she was hurt, and most importantly she was terrified of what path Voight might be leading Jay down with Hugo. She knew how Voight worked, she had followed suit in different occasions, but Jay? Jay couldn’t function how they did, he could’t turn it off like she could. 

    Vanessa came to sit beside her on the couch. She briefly registered Vanessa offering her something to eat or drink, asking about a shower or bed, but Hailey couldn’t respond. She was lost in thought, imagining the worst. Despite being ignored, Vanessa brought her a glass of water and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Hailey almost chuckled at the meal of choice, despite everything her roommate had been through in the past there was still an air of innocence to the girl. Begrudgingly, Hailey chocked down a few bites of the sandwich, finding herself suddenly starving. The doorbell rang through the silence and Vanessa quickly stood to get the door. Hailey remained seated on the couch, already suspecting who their visitor would be. She was right, she glanced over her shoulder to see Vanessa jog up the stairs as Jay entered the living room. Hailey swallowed hard, fighting tears as she watched Jay look over her body. 

“Hailey I-” He stammered.

“Where were you?” Hailey didn’t give him a chance to finish he statement. 

“I was clearing the bottom of the warehouse, I went upstairs to find you and Kim-” 

“Not at the warehouse.” Hailey cut him off again. “Just now, where did you come from?”

Jay moved to sit beside her on the couch. He wanted to pull her into his arms but he knew she would want to talk this out before he touched her. 

“I was with Voight.” He trailed off, watching her purse her lips and blink away tears. “We questioned Hugo.”

“And then?” Hailey asked, again picturing the worst. Was he dead at the bottom of the lake? Buried somewhere no one would hopefully find him? 

“And then we got a full confession and booked him Hailey.” Jay quietly told her, knowing exactly what path she was going down. 

Hailey looked over to him now, meeting his eyes for the first time. Her lip quivered as she stared into him through tear filled eyes, searching him for any hint of dishonesty. 

“Hailey I wanted to...so bad.” He told her, answering her silent question. “I would have too, right then and there. I would have killed him. But Voight stopped me. And I knew, deep down, that you wouldn’t have wanted me too.” He placed his hand on her bent knee then, giving it a gentle squeeze. 

“Okay.” Was all she could say. Her voice shook and she struggled to maintain what little composure she had left. 

“Let’s get you cleaned up.” Jay stood and reached a hand out to grasp hers. He pulled her with him making their way to her bedroom. Once he led her into the bathroom, he silently removed her clothes. She briefly thought back to what felt like days ago, to his bedroom and what they had been doing before this case dropped. She blinked away more tears as she would give anything to be back in that moment. Natalie had confirmed that she had been right, Hugo hadn’t raped her, but he had been close. Too close. And just like the night she was attacked by Booth, Hailey knew it would take her awhile to get over it. She felt herself terrified at the mere thought and could only hope Jay would understand. She shook her head, bringing herself back to the present, and she watched as Jay quickly undressed himself before turning on her shower. They stepped into the water and though they both stood naked and their bodies were extremely close, there was no sexual tension between them in this moment. Jay gently tilted her head back, working his hands through her hair as the hot water poured over her. Hailey’s lip quivered again and she knew this time she wouldn’t be able to stop the flow of emotion. She felt Jay’s arms wrap tightly around her and he held her close as she fell apart, silent sobs racking through her body.

     After the water began to run cold, Jay finished washing her up and then pulled her out of the shower. Hailey felt numb and her body was functioning on auto pilot. Jay quickly got them both dressed and took her to lay down. Without saying a word, Jay laid in the bed beside her, pulling her into him and Hailey rested her head against his chest. The steady rhythm of his heartbeat calmed her and she was quickly fighting sleep. 

“Thank you Jay.” She said and her words dripped with everything she meant behind the simple words. 

“I love you Hailey. Every step of the way.” Jay placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and pulled her even closer to his body. Unable to fight it anymore Hailey fell asleep against him, feeling safe in his arms and wishing she could just stay there forever.  

[honoraryfox]

The foxes date night

So I was bored and thought this would be fun to write but it’s kinda long so bear with me. 🤷🏻‍♀️

So Matt and Dan thought it would be super cute if they had like a double date night thing, but with all the Fox couples. (for team bonding and such.)

Eric was going to be in town visiting Nicky so it was perfect timing to do it.

Dan planned everything of course, wanting it to be a really fun night for everyone and Matt helped out.

Aaron didn’t exactly want to go, but he agreed only after Katelyn said it would be fun.

That left Andrew and Neil.

Nobody thought Dan could get them to come. Bets were made, and soon there was a lot of money riding on whether they were coming or not.

Dan thought four couples was better than three, and Andrew and Neil were the only other couple besides her and Matt who were both foxes, and she wasn’t going to let them say no.

“No,” Andrew said dismissively

“Come on, it will be fun!” Dan argued insistently.

“Who’s Neil?” Andrew asked with Neil’s hand tucked neatly into his.

“There will be icecream,” Dan said.

“Fine,” Andrew said instantly.

Kevin cursed in the background and handed over the money he lost to a smirking Renee.

Kevin insisted he could care less that he wasn’t included in date night and left quickly to play some exy, which he would much rather be doing.

Dan hugged Allison and Renee who also were completely fine with not tagging along and decided to stay and watch a movie.

First they all went out for dinner at a much fancier restaurant than Sweeties. They began to look at the menus, but Dan stopped them.

“Sooo first couple activity of the night is. Tonight you aren’t picking your meal, you’re picking your partners meal for them.”

There was a mixture of boos and excitement as the foxes realized they had to eat whatever was chosen for them, but also that they got to choose what the other ate.

Nicky and Eric excitedly turned to their menus already picking things out. When meals were ordered they had both gotten each other exactly what the other wanted and they kissed each other in thanks.

Neil got Andrew what he wanted, but that was mostly because Andrew had slid closer to Neil and pointed at something on the menu, giving Neil an “order this or else” look without saying a word.

Neil happily obliged and was even more happy when Andrew picked Neil’s favorite meal out for him.

Of all the couples Andriel were the least outwardly affectionate, but Neil was just happy to have Andrews leg pressed against his under the table.

Afterwards they all went out for icecream as promised by Dan to Andrew. All the couples shared a cup of icecream except Andrew and Neil because Andrew wanted as much icecream as possible.

They found some park benches to sit at and Neil observed Andrew looked actually kind of happy.

Then Dan took them back to the Foxhole Court. Inside they found, laid out on the field, some couches and flashy signs.

Dan made a couples game show for all of them and declared her and Matt hosts because they “won by default.”

“If you win why are all of us competeting then?” Aaron pointed out.

“Because we have to find second best,” Matt made up on the spot.

Dan asked each of the couples trivia questions about each other to see who knew who best.

Eric and Nicky had been together so long that they did well, but it was no surprise that Andrew could easily remember the dumbest little things about Neil, and instantly put them in the lead.

What is a surprise is that Neil is equally as good at spouting out dumb facts about Andrew, like his favorite season was fall, and the exact scent of cologn that he wore.

Andrew kept a neutral face, but only Neil could see with each question he got right Andrew let a little bit of surprise show behind his eyes.

The only question Neil was stumped on was, “what is your partners hidden talent?”

Andrew and Neil still won.

Later they went star-gazing, all lying on their backs, looking up at the beautiful stars.

Neil made sure to put a bit of distance between Andrew and him when he laid down (unlike the other couples) because he knew Andrew didn’t like being touched.

Then he felt a soft tugging at his sleeve and saw Andrews pale fingers wrapped around his arm. He scooted in a little bit. Andrew tugged on him again so Neil again scooted closer.

With an exasperated sigh Andrew yanked Neil all the way in so that Neil was tucked up against his body. He even wrapped an arm around Neil.

Dan noticed the little interaction,but kept it to herself. She was beeming with happiness though.

“Can’t think of any of my hidden talents?” Andrew whispered, his lips tickling Neil’s temple.

“Actually I was going to say you could paint, but I didn’t want to get stabbed for telling the others that,” Neil replied.

Andrew tried to act incurious, but he finally asked, “how did you know that?” Andrew hadn’t told anybody except Bee that he liked painting.

“I came home from a run early and when I walked in you were painting. You didn’t see me so I watched for a little bit, and then I slipped out again.” Neil shrugged against Andrews side.

“What was I painting?” Andrew asked.

Neil rotated his head so he could look Andrew in the eyes. “Me,” he answered, “in my exy gear, on the field.”

Andrew didn’t say anything. He just turned his back so he could continue looking at the stars.

“Yes or no?” Neil whispered.

Andrew nodded his head and that was all Neil needed. He planted a soft kiss on Andrews neck and Andrew leaned into it.

They pretended to forget the other foxes were scattered around them, and kissed each other under the light of the stars.

They would never admit it, but they were glad Dan had dragged them along on date night.