#hey y’all!! i’m editing season two of this good good show!!

[leilanihours]

# TALK THAT TALK TO ME ALL NIGHT

pairing: paige bueckers x uconn cheerleader!reader

word count: 849

warnings: none !

summary: your first personal encounter with uconn’s favorite athlete goes surprisingly smooth.

⭑ from lani: my first fic on tumblr! hope y’all like it pls don’t be mean lmaoo

masterlist !

YOUR WHITE SNEAKERS squeak against the slick floors of the gym hallways as the distant sound of excited fans and booming music fills your ears.

tonight is senior night for uconn’s women’s basketball team and cheerleading squad, so there are plenty of supporters in the stands to show their love and pride.

clad in your freshly steamed cheer outfit and full face of game day makeup, you swiftly make your way to one of the dressing rooms to get your hair done before heading out to the gym floor.

the door is slightly cracked open, omitting a sliver of light and mumbles of vibrant conversations over upbeat music. peeking your head in, you search the almost crowded room for your usual hair stylist, kayla (an angel on earth, truly).

“kayla? are you in here?”

paige is scrolling mindlessly on her phone as she waits for her hair to be done, occasionally liking and commenting on a few posts. she swipes past a few edits of herself and her team, but pauses to watch a clip of -

“y/n! come on in, i’m almost done here so i’ll be over to help you as soon as i finish!” kayla shouts back.

i know that name, paige thinks.

looking up from the phone in her lap, she nearly drops it on the floor, doing a double take as she catches a glimpse of the girl kayla is talking to. she knows who you are, of course, you’ve only been her resident sideline crush since the start of the season.

a slight blush creeps onto her face as she quickly scans your frame, paying very close attention to how your legs look in your skirt, how your eyes are highlighted by your bright makeup, how shiny and smooth your lips look.

as you make your way over to where she’s sitting, she clears her throat and regains her composure, subconsciously straightening her shoulders.

“hey, kayla, how’re you doing?” you say with a slight nod, friendly grin stretched across your face.

“i’m doin good, y/n,” kayla responds with a similar smile, “i’m basically done with paige here so you can just wait right there.”

with a hum of agreement you decide to lean against the vanity in front of the two girls as you acknowledge the blonde in the chair, a recognizable audio playing from her phone.

“you a fan?”

paige almost doesn’t notice you speaking to her, still slightly stuck in a daze and trying to comprehend that you’re within arms reach to her.

“what?” she replies, brows slightly furrowed.

you point to her screen, calling attention to the video on it: a clip of you warming up with your team, a tiny mic clipped to your uniform picking up your jokes and quips.

paige tilts her head down to her lap, finally registering what you were talking about. she quickly shuts off her phone with a slight laugh.

“oh that? it just popped up on my for you page, you know how it is.”

“mhm..” you say with a teasing smirk, “bueckers, right? number five?”

“yeah. you’re y/n? l/n?” you nod back to her. “i’ve seen you courtside at games.”

“oh yeah? so you are a fan?”

more than you know, she thinks.

“just a bit. what about you? i always seem to hear your voice louder than others whenever i happen to make a bucket.”

“i think you’re confusing me with one of the other girls.”

“am i?”

no, you think. you’ve always had your eye on paige, but you didn’t realize how much it showed on the court until now.

“alright, paige, close your eyes real quick for me,” kayla interjects before you can respond.

she obliges, shutting her eyes so she can apply a layer of hairspray to the her hair. you take the opportunity to observe her position.

wearing the complete husky basketball uniform, her legs are slightly spread, hips pushed forwards as she sits relaxed against the chair. one of her hands is loosely clutched around her phone that is now facing down, the other resting on her thigh riding up her shorts to expose a little more skin than normal.

as your eyes make their way back up to her face, you make eye contact with those icy blue eyes you’ve grown quite fond of over the past few months. realizing she’s caught you checking her out, she smirks and gets up from the chair unintentionally inching close to you.

“so i’ll see you out there? hopefully still being my biggest fan?” she teases, throwing a small wink your way.

“for sure,” you say, “but maybe i’ll try cheering for muhl this time around, just to switch it up.”

“whatever you say, l/n, i think we both know who’s more worthy of your attention.”

“oh really now? do i know her?”

“you could if you wanted to.”

suddenly a small piece of paper is slipped into your hand, long fingers brushing against yours for a second (a second that drives you crazy).

did paige bueckers just give me her number?

— leilani signing off ! 📁

[babydollmarauders]

MEDIA MANAGEMENT — JACK HUGHES (23-24 SZN PART 6)

au masterlist

y/ndevils00

liked by jackhughes, dougieham, and 237,029 others

y/ndevils00 HAPPY REGULAR SEASON!!!

WELCOME BACK TO THE SPECIAL EDITION: JACK HUGHES SHOW!

OUR MIGHTY FINE DEVILS WON 4-3 AGAINST THE MICHIGAN BIRDS!

tonight, my beloved, apparent bad boy, got TWO goals, but more importantly TWO penalties!! i love when he does good things, but i love when he does bad things even more!! even if the first penalty WAS a bit of a chintzy call, i still loved seeing him locked up 🥰

my favorite autumn tree got his first goal of the season tonight, and i couldn’t be prouder! you go, ginger snap!

my sweet bratt also got a penalty for interference, which makes no sense to me, and obviously not to him either- but alas, we persevered!

and last, but certainly not least, UNCLE HAULA-HOOP GOT AN EMPTY NET GOAL, WHICH SECURED OUR WIN!! THANK YOU, HAULA BACK GAL!

p.s. i’m sorry to Ellen, who i accidentally ditched to get a picture of her son in the bad boy box, and who also might’ve heard me call him a naughty slut— she laughed, but i think i saw a part of her die inside

tagged jackhughes, dougieham, jesperbratt, and ehaula

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jackhughes did you seriously post a photo of me COMMITTING MY PENALTY?

y/ndevils00 you chose violence. i love it. 👁️🫦👁️

trevorzegras hey those emojis look exactly like you

y/ndevils00 @/trevorzegras I WAS HAVING A GOOD NIGHT AND THEN YOU SHOWED UP

dougieham autumn tree?

dougieham wait, hold on, i got this….

dougieham trees are tall and their leaves turn red and orange in autumn. i am tall and a ginger (red/orange)! therefore, me = autumn tree

y/ndevils00 YOU DID IT!! 🥹 i think i’m even prouder now than for your goal!

john.marino97 no me? no dawson?

dawson1417 yeah, no us?

y/ndevils00 @/dawson1417 i have two words, eight letters.

dawson1417 “love y’all” ?

john.marino97 forgive him, he’s new to this

y/ndevils00 @/dawson1417 DO BETTER

dawson1417 oh :( but you DO love us, right?

y/ndevils00 @/dawson1417 duh, obviously

user26 DEVILS ARE SO BACK

jesperbratt i didn’t do anything 🙁

y/ndevils00 i know you didn’t, my little swedish meatball! I’LL FIX THIS!

jackhughes no you won’t

y/ndevils00 no i won’t :(

ehaula i’ve missed you, niece!! and unfortunately your puns too

y/ndevils00 IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME!! MWAHAHAHA

ehaula was that your evil laugh?

y/ndevils00 yeh

ehaula it was adorable

y/ndevils00 😠

ehaula @/kristen.haula isn’t she cute?!

kristen.haula our niece 🥹

user83 I WANNA BE HIS MOUTHGUARD

y/ndevils00 me first!

jackhughes why

elblue6 i promise, i didn’t die inside! call him a slut all you want!

jackhughes MOM?

y/ndevils00 you are my only true supporter, Ellen 🫶

nicohischier you didn’t call me any names! i used to pray for times like these

y/ndevils00 only because i didn’t get a picture fast enough of you bent over like me in the bedroom

jackhughes why do you say these things

nicohischier please stop talking

y/ndevils00 never. 🗣️ SLUT 🗣️

lhughes_06 i made it out unscathed 🙏

y/ndevils00 you wish

lhughes_06 wait, what?

y/ndevils00

liked by john.marino97, lhughes_06, and 234,641 others

y/ndevils00 i was so happy to meet so many of your wonderful faces on the red carpet!

i was just there to do my job (taking pictures of my boyfriend! god i love my job!) but so many of you asked for pictures with ME and it made my heart feel so full!

i never thought that accepting this job would mean finding a boyfriend, a brother (two! actually!), two amazing best friends, and apparently a family of supporters! i’m so grateful to have the opportunity to make a lifetime of memories with this amazing team!

go devils! but most importantly, go devils fans! this wouldn’t be possible without y’all!

tagged jackhughes, john.marino97, lhughes_06, and dawson1417

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user19 i’m gonna go out on a limb and assume you’re the one to thank for Jack’s new hair, in which case THANK YOU 🙏🫶

y/ndevils00 you’d be correct 😈 YOU’RE SO WELCOME

jackhughes ya know, I’M the one who went and got my haircut

y/ndevils00 yeah, after i played subliminal messages in your ears at night, telling you that you should go and get it cut

jackhughes you what?

y/ndevils00 you look so handsome, babygirl!

lhughes_06 my squishy!

y/ndevils00 MY SMUSH!

lhughes_06 you looked radiant tonight

y/ndevils00 aww, well you looked quite dashing, yourself!

lhughes_06 my sister ❤️

jackhughes she’s in the closet

trevorzegras she came out?

y/ndevils00 @/trevorzegras I’M CRYING, YOU IDIOT! i’m in the physical closet, not the metaphorical one!

trevorzegras oh! my b, bro

dawson1417 THAT’S ME!

y/ndevils00 that’s you!!

dawson1417 i’m also grateful you have this opportunity and that you took this job btw

y/ndevils00 THIS POST WAS NEVER MEANT TO MAKE *ME* CRY

dawson1417 please don’t cry, i’ll bring you a churro tomorrow?

y/ndevils00 suddenly my tears are gone

jackhughes no they’re not

dawson1417 @/jackhughes i’ll bring her a churro anyways

user73 I MET YOU!!! you’re so sweet, and gorgeous! i think i was even more excited to meet you than Jack!

y/ndevils00 ME? LOOK AT YOU, BEAUTIFUL GIRL!

jackhughes i feel like i should feel offended, but somehow i’m not because i’d be excited to meet dove too

y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes you’re so obsessed with me

user39 JOHN PICS 🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️ THANK YOU, Y/N!!

jackhughes my beautiful, crazy girl ♥️ i’m thankful everyday that you accepted this job and that you accepted the title of my girlfriend

y/ndevils00 aw, i love you to pluto, my sweet boy ♥️

y/ndevils00 p.s. if you’re so thankful, you should think about changing my title 🥰

jackhughes moments over

y/ndevils00 I’M JUST SAYING

_quinnhughes you didn’t hear it from me…. but he’s definitely thought about changing it

y/ndevils00 @_quinnhughes you’re my new favorite hughes

_quinnhughes i wasn’t already?

y/ndevils00 well, you were, and then luke bought me pizza

_quinnhughes pizza? PIZZA is all it takes?!

y/ndevils00 please captain huggy, have mercy on me, i was starving and your middle brother was trying to feed me chicken that wasn’t tenders or nuggets

john.marino97 grateful for you and the way you push me to d* b*tter ❤️

y/ndevils00 did you just censor “do better” ?

john.marino97 it’s given me ptdbs

y/ndevils00 ?

y/ndevils00 wait— “post traumatic do better syndrome”

y/ndevils00 i’m so smart 🥰

john.marino97 yes, you are! such a smart girl!

y/ndevils00 that feels like sarcasm but i’m gonna ignore it

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

04/04/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Rhys/Rosie/Theo; Kristian Nairn; Nathan Foad; Jes Tom; Samba Schutte; Dominic Burgess; Watch parties; Glaad Awards Reminder; SaveOFMDCrew's Final Charity Donations; Fan Spotlight; Cast Cards; Big Gay Energy Podcast; OFMD Sightings; Articles; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Today's Taika

Hey all! Sorry for the late recap again, as a heads up I'm doing late night work for my day job (sometimes 8pm - 1 am) and also still trying to get my taxes done by the 15th, so the recaps may be delayed til the following morning depending on how late I have to work.

= Rhys & Rosie =

Rhys and Rosie's bday happened in AoNZ and some friends snapped some cute pics and videos!

Src: H.Miller's IG

Sneaky Rhys arm today! The Darby Family Influencer Era seems to be in full swing!

Edit: I felt kinda weird plastering Theo's face up so I left in Rhys' arm since people keep asking for it, lol

Src: Rosie's IG Stories

= Nathan Foad =

Src: Kennett Tanner's IG Nathan was also interviewed by British Comedy Guide!

= Dominic Burgess =

Our Jeffrey Fettering was interviewed by Variety! Check it out here! Src: Dominic's Twitter

= Kristian Nairn =

Kristian sent us some love notes!

"Looking forward to all the work / travel / meeting you guys stuff coming up this year. Have a good day y’all !!" SRC: Kristian's IG

= Samba Schutte =

Samba being a goofball Src: Samba's IG Stories

= Jes Tom =

Some sightings of Jes Tom! On their instagram! SRC: Jes Tom's IG Stories

== Watch Parties ==

Taskmaster NZ Series 1 Watch Party with @saveofmdcrewmates! When: April 3-12 (W,F, Su - 2 eps each) Time: 11 am PT/ 2pm ET/ 7pm BST Where to watch: YouTube, TVNZ, Channel 4

Twitter Hashtags:

#Quartermaster

#OurFlagMeansDeath

#Taskmaster

== GLAAD Awards ==

Apparently you can vote multiple times with the same email on the GLAAD awards! To vote: https://t.co/dEfZMncBfO Src: @adoptourcrew Twitter

== Save OFMD Crew Final Charity Donation Results ==

$1000 GBP to @Mermaids_Gender (UK) mermaidsuk.org.uk

$2,028 NZD to RainbowYouth (AoNZ) ry.org.nz

$1216 USD to Point Foundation (US) pointfoundation.org

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Cast Cards =

Our dear @melvisik spotlighted King George I today! Angus Sampson did such an excellent job making the kind unhinged! Check him out in his other work!

= Big Gay Energy Podcast =

New reaction video to Calypso's Birthday!

== Other ==

Thank you @oluwandesorange on twitter for pointing out the the OFMD billboards are STILL UP

== Articles ==

“I’m Scared”: Why It’s a Brutal Time to Be a TV Writer

Coyote versus Warner Bros: The fight to get a movie released

Hulu Just Canceled Another Show After One Season, And I'm Getting Really Tired Of It

== Love Notes ==

Hey lovelies! The week is almost over! Was it busy for you? Have you been hanging in there? I do want to know! I think about you all every day, even when I'm busy with work.

I know you've heard it all before, but please take some time to practice some self care today. It's been a long week for a lot of folks and you've been through the ringer from various life events. Please drink some water, grab a snack, stick your nose out the window (weather permitting) and take a deep breath of fresh air.

The weekend is coming, and the more self care you practice, the easier things will be. Ebbs and Flows babe, everything ebbs and flows, and sometimes we get longer ebbs, and longer flows -- but we can brave them better if we take care of ourselves.

You deserve to be taken care of. You deserve a break.

Love you crew, reach out if you wanna talk ok?

Pic Src: @gladyourehereco on IG

== Daily Darby / Today's Taika ==

Today's theme is these two goofballs expressive eyebrows.

Daily Darby: Courtesy of @ thunderwingdoomslayer

Today's Taika: Courtesy of @neverswungonswingingstars

[elocinnicole]

Live Stream

Pairing: Collin Hoskins x OFC Black!Reader (Shauna Lewis) Rating: 18+ M for language, implied smut, praise kink (very slight, if you blink you might miss it) Summary: Shauna is live streaming her makeup routine when Collin makes an appearance. Requested: No, just a quick Drabble. I missed my favorite Pairing especially since I’ve been looking at Season 2 of Blindspotting. Word Count: 688

“Hey everyone! Thank you so much for the love! Keep sending in what look y’all want to see next. This was requested by one of my followers, they want a soft glam date night look. Which is perfect because my man is taking me out tonight.” Shauna smiled

Shauna started doing live streams and tutorials during the Lockdown when she couldn’t do hair. She quickly gained a decent following from her clients and then when she did the don’t rush challenge by herself she went viral. Her video gained almost a million views and was shared all over social media. Now that the pandemic is over, she still posts videos but now they’re of her doing her clients' hair or makeup. Occasionally she’ll live stream either herself or she has a client in her chair. For the most part, when she’s live streaming she’s by herself showing a makeup look, hairstyle, and most recently an outfit.

“So I’m gonna do my makeup, my hair is already done, I installed this wig yesterday and I will be posting that video on my YouTube—will I ever stream on YouTube? Probably not, I like using TikTok to stream. Who does your lashes? Me, girl! If you in Oakland come get lased by ya girl Shauna. Alright, let’s get started on these brows. Remember your eyebrows are cousins, not twins.”

Collin walked into your shared apartment after having dropped Zan off with Ashley and Sean. He has been planning this date night for months but either he had to work late, Shauna has a client, or nobody could watch Zan. Not that Collin and Shauna didn’t mind going out with Zan but sometimes they wanted to spend time together as a couple. He saw the bedroom door open which usually meant Shauna was recording content to post later on. Collin typically didn’t bother you when you were recording mainly when you were streaming, but if you were just recording a routine, Collin would at least say hi, knowing that you could edit it out.

“Alright, so here is the final look, like I said you don’t have to wear this exact outfit but this is the perfect date night look. I got this dress from Cider, the shoes, purse, and jewelry from Amazon. Don’t break ya wallet ladies, it’s not that serious. Oh, hey babe!” Shauna smiled seeing Collin standing in the doorway.

“Hey, baby.” Collin entered the room and kissed you gently, being sure not to mess up your makeup.

“How was your day?”

“Good, I’m gonna hop in the shower real quick, get changed, and we can head out. You gonna be done by then?”

“Yeah, I’m almost done. I’m not gonna post until tomorrow.” Shauna blushed at the way Collin was looking at her. Well, he didn’t have to do much to make her blush in the first place.

“I love your make up Shauna, it looks really good. I know you put a lot of time and effort into it.” Shauna smiled bashfully at the praise

“Thank you, Collin.” Then Shauna saw a familiar glint in his eyes. Before she could stop him, Collin wrapped his hand around Shauna’s neck causing her to crane her head up at him.

“I can’t wait to mess it up later,” He said huskily Shauna went wide-eyed

“Collin! I’m recording,”

“You can edit it out,” He replied grabbing Shauna by her waist and pulling her closer

“It’s live!” She stressed

“Huh?”

“I’m live right now!” Not believing her, Collin got closer, and sure enough almost 2,000 people saw and heard the whole exchange. Many people in the comments were sending laugh emojis or commenting on how cute the two of them are.

“Oh shit,” He mumbled Shauna started to playfully nudge Collin out of the bedroom. “What up y’all.”

“You about to get me shadowbanned! Go get ready.” Shauna closed the bedroom door and went back to her stream

“Alright, everyone, here’s the look I’ll post pictures on my Instagram. As you’ve seen and heard, I got some things to do. See y’all later! Bye!” sshhauna.lewis has ended the Live Stream

Tagging: @nikole-witha-k @blackpinup22 @iknowthekoolaidflavor @wreakhavoconmacroissantdiggs @ramp-it-up @daveeds-wife @chattykathysquietsister @mellie-teh-goblin-queen @azxulaa @endless-romantic-stories @chrisevanswife0405 @gothic-slasherfan-weeb @pinkbonnetandglasses @cocobutterbaby @moxleys-fav @aonungmyaddiction

[dinoalexander]

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN: THE WORLD FAMOUS SEMI-QUOTABLE 2022 QUOTEDOWN QUOTETACULAR

Ladies and gentlemen and multiforms across seven star systems. It is an honor, a privilege, and a pleasure to inform you that READER DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED.

With that said, the World-Famous Get Down Like a Hound Party ‘til You Puke Semi-Quotable 2022 Quotedown Quotetacular is live in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… BEGUN!

—

“I’m not people, I’m your brother!” -C

“Now that Jeff Bezos owns Whole Foods, it’s more like two cans.” -Klauss

“F 2021 in its poop chute.” -Carl

“Kim, if I ever go into that drawer, always assume it’s for a fork.” -C, on a coworker’s junk drawer with plastic cutlery and… feminine hygiene products on full display.

“The 2020s need to go into time out and think about what they did.” -Q

“Chose the right week to choose my wife over trivia.” -Dave

“A bemusing coincidence that we lose Howard Hesseman on the same day the football team from Cincinnati does their best impression of a flock of turkeys being dropped from a helicopter...” -Justin

“… come on, girl. You saw ‘Set It Off’.” -C

“The groundhog saw his shadow, meaning six more weeks until the Times puts Wordle behind a paywall.” -Justin

“It Was a Thing a YouTube Dipshit Did With Too Much Money.” -Klauss

“I’M A BAAAAAAAAD MAAAAAAAAN!” -C on a Big Brain 12K

He's a D*ck - Gordon

You know I don't use that language - Bonnie

P*nis? - Gordon

No - Bonnie

Flapping piece of soft cartilage? - Gordon

.....- Bonnie

"Hey, didn't you used to be Antonio Brown?" -Justin

“Remember if you’re not having fun while you’re cooking, you’re just making food.” -Alvin Zhou

“The more I thought about swinging by Food Lion, grabbing a steak and a pack of risotto, the more I thought… I don’t want to cook, and even if I did, the kitchen is in no condition to be trifled with.” -C

“It’s not fitting in the hole” -Ken

“That’s what she said.” -Dan

“The group had a six-titty tour.” -Jonathan Oakes

“I’m stuck between namaste and kiss my ass.” -Craig Shoemaker

“The word of the day...is Thwomphammer.” -G

“They are trying to get Alabama in SO BAD. if Alabama gets in it's megacans.fuckyou.wav.” -J

“Y’all re-awoke a fire in me that will only make me stronger and I’m beyond excited to unleash that demon again to exponential levels on any OPP that lines up across from me next season.” -Eli Apple

“Hold on. Gordon’s plant is being naughty again.” -C

“Typed a 2,000 word reply to an email. Edited it down to 1,000 words. Edited it down to 500 words. Edited it down to 12 words. Hit send. Felt really good to type the 2,000 words, though.” -Kevin

“I’ve lost my appetite… and perhaps my will to live.” -C, on Q’s textcapades

“If it’s Beverly Crusher, we’re in trouble. If it’s Wesley Crusher, we may be okay.” -Benny

“When I am rich… you’re getting therapy, you’re getting therapy, you’re getting DOUBLE therapy. EVERYBODY’S HEALING.” -Deborah’s reel

“Man this is a Howie Mandel-hosted show on Netflix!” -Jay

“Before you guys put me in a chat, can you solve this problem by looking at policy?” -C

“Today I learned Måneskin isn’t the porn version of the 1980s classic Mannequin.” -Klauss

“Walk into the club like whaddup I got a oh god oh no wrong building I’m so sorry continue with your funeral god bless.” -TJ’s shirt

“I’ll try being nicer when you try being smarter.” -Tara

“Ta-DOW! … did that word just come out of my mouth?” -C

“We’re not going to beat Abraham Lincoln’s poop today.” -Megan

“I’m the blue one.” -Benny

“You don’ look like David Yost to me!” -C

“I’m gonna feed you. I don’t know you but I’m gonna feed you.” -?.. somebody

“Interesting fact: The world population will pass 8 billion sometime in the next few hours.” -Bruce

“Nick Cannon at it again?” -Jenny M

“Not gonna make it this year because I haven’t said anything particularly funny. My writers are on strike for better living conditions and improved food in the commissary. I told them they’d still have to share a room and they were gonna eat whatever their mother cooked.” -Daniel

“Uber driver:”I was a contestant on The Price is Right four years ago!”

Me: “Yeah? How’d you do?”

(Surprisingly long, uncomfortable silence)

Uber driver: “Bitch bid a dollar more.”” -Adam

“Irish nachos… 0/10. Would not recommend. I don’t think the cheese was even cheese. Might’ve been something from Flippy’s Gas ‘N Gulp.” -C

“And last night he was all “no I haven’t decided yet.” Even Brett Favre was like “this goddamned prick.”” -Greg, on Tom Brady’s retirement.

(Phlebotomist brings in labs when it’s time for us to go)

“… WHAT, YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN ME?!” -C

“Yay Albania!” -Tommy

“Use the toilet now or forever hold your pee.” -Frontier stewardess

“NERD SHIT!” -C & Phillip

“Tom Brady is the human version of Herpes.” -Blaze

“Oh CURSE WORD!” -C

“We have standards.” -Ken

“Finally!” -Benny

“I'm going to fail 30 times. It sounds like my dating life." -Klauss

“Rename the Washington Football Team the Gotham Rogues, because our stadium looks like Bane just left.” -Mark Ellis

“Give a man glitter, he glitters for a lifetime. Teach a man to glitter, he ALSO glitters for a lifetime. That's just how glitter works.” -Heather

“Shut the fuck up, Fay Vincent.” -Greg

“My computer locked up in computer jail. Come save a biiiiiiitch!” -Gena

“The big 69 ROFLMAO - Gordon Pepper Commissioner. Every game is nice.” -J

“Normal Québécois is dirty French. BOOK SAY SO.” -C

“You know what, sure the Vols lost this week...but you know who I feel bad for? America's fairweather college football fans...every one of them has had the staggering realization that, sadly, they are going to have to start rooting for Georgia...again.” -Brian

13: “Time loop.”

Yaz: “Time loop.”

Dan: “Groundhog Day.”

-from “Eve of the Daleks”

Paul Heyman: “Ladies and Gentlemen… my name is Paul Heyman, and I am the #Advocate for the…”

VRM: “QUARTERBACK FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS…”

Paul Heyman: “… BRRRROCK…”

VRM: “PURDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Carmelo Anthony… going from missing the lay-in to missing the play-in.” -Shaq

“You’re in their DMs. We’re in them. We are not the same.” -Tampax

“You’ve been hanging out with us too much.” -C

“Or not enough!” -Brian

“My next door neighbor told me her dogs Zeus and Xena had an “accidental breeding” and Xena is going to have puppies at the end of April. I’m thinking, you can’t name a dog Zeus and NOT expect him to impregnate all the bitches!” -Megan

“In case you're wondering if the automatic closed captioning on YouTube is good enough, please remember that it once thought I said, "I'm going to Popeyes while I pick up some great sex on the internet."

Obviously that's ridiculous. It was Raising Cane's.” -Wingo

“Charlie Cox plays Daredevil, you idiot!” -C to Jay as James May

“I laughed. LORD, HOW I LAUGHED.” -Liz

“First progress report (too tired to do anything last night) One hour in and three cars prime gives me a nice $120 profit. Now to run to the boys room and figure out what my next move is.” -C

“Royal flush.” -Carl

“Do you care to udder that again?” -Austin Rogers #callback

“I don’t drink Pumpkin Spice Latte before October 1. I don’t do my holiday shopping before Thanksgiving. I’m an American, dammit!” -Jay

“Autocorrect can be a real piece of shut.” -Doug

“Carl has the football.” -C

“Let us know when Carl has the sporting goods store.” -Jay

“Quisla what’s wrong? Do you have hemorrhoids? Do I have to pray for your ass?” -Adam

“Isn’t That Girl Lay Lay just That’s So Raven with artificial intelligence instead of magic psychic powers?” -C

“We are stumbling through this class like a flock of angry, feral geese, and that's ok!”

-TJ, describing how we're going to think about queer theory and that it's tough and scary and uncomfortable.

““Doc, I can't stop singing 'The Green, Green Grass of Home.'” “That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome.'” “Is it common?”“Well, It's Not Unusual.”” -Brian

“Q: What has 27 actors, three settings, two writers, and one plot? A: 671 Hallmark movies.” -Lollie

“I’m firing up my 43-inch…. TV.” -Jay, on 4/20

“Southwest is the worst of the American air carriers, except for all of the others.” -Scott

“So @Chico I have beef with Duke now.” -Kim

“‘On a scale of 1 to 10, what is your pain level?’ MOTHERFUCKING 15!” -Q

“Ummmm the United States also has a big glass pyramid... with a Bass Pro Shops in it.” -Danielle

“I don’t want to feel like king shit while washing my undies.” -C, pondering the cost of a new washer/dryer

“What the colonized Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon did I just watch?!” -Kim

“The league controls the narrative. NFL Network (Will Forte) is the cuck in the buttfucking between Roger Goodell (Laurence Fishburne) and Tom Brady (Kristin Wiig).” -Klauss

“TOILET OF HOLDING!” -Chico

“I remember this thing being a thing.” -Austin Rogers

TIM: "Well, the big sports news today is that Russell Wilson has been traded."

ME: "Is he the guy that they named the footballs after?"

TIM: "....No."

ME: "Then he must not have been that good."

And that's today in "Talking with Adam about Sports."

“First pregnancy: I’ve never felt more beautiful, thinking about the little miracle growing inside of me. It’s such a blessing! Second pregnancy: … never doing this again.” -Manuela Arbeláez

“My in-house normal is borderline illegal.” -C

“Lionel Goldbart and Barbara Lowe in one room. No wonder nobody had a tape of it, everyone’s TV exploded.” -Ben

“Scott Hanson is definitely the Ryan Seacrest to Andrew Siciliano’s Brian Dunkleman.” -Awful Announcing comment

“I expected to be disappointed. I was indeed disappointed.” -D

“This came up today. Sympathy is personally having experienced similar sucktitude such that you can have an emotional memory when someone else's circumstances suck. Empathy is recognizing that some else is going through something sucky. Compassion is one of the above PLUS feeling a desire to solve the suck for that other person. I have heard a few people say they have lost their empathy. I guarantee you haven't. You have just stopped trying to solve other people's lives; that is a growth step not a failure.” -Jenni

“My deep and abiding knowledge of pantyhose comes in handy again.” -Jay

“I’m not a fan of this lineup. It’s not great. Not great at all.” -C

“NOT GREAT, BOB!” -Benny

“Congratulations to Jimmy Garoppolo on replacing Dr Fauci as Aaron Rodgers’ least favorite Italian” - Richard Staff

Dave Pasch: "Is he aware that you played for the Boston Celtics?"

Bill Walton: "I have no idea. Did I?"

Pasch: "You did win Sixth Man of the Year."

Walton: "Which means I was Larry Bird's valet. Which means my job was to tell Larry what time the game started."

“I worked with Howard Hesseman a bit in the early 70s. I’m paraphrasing: “I bought a set of leather luggage today. It looks new now, but 25 years from now I’ll have a set of groovy luggage.” - Steve Martin

“Odell Beckham now has as many Super Bowl touchdowns as respected former NFL tight end Aaron Hernandez.

A great honor.” - Barry McCockiner

“Hey Shohei Ohtani is doing these amazing things.....and the Angels are losing again" - Gary Cohen

“Late night television is still selling nonstick cookware as if it’s 1975 and this is somehow a new invention.” - Tom Nichols

“Every G-D website I go to I click “Accept Cookies”-- and how many cookies have I actually received? Zero. Zero cookies.” - Rainn Wilson

"Tom Stone who looks an awful lot like Mike Scott of the Houston Astros. Maybe if he was scuffing the ring, he would have a better chance in some of these matches." - Peter Winston

“Recently heard a newscaster say, “Today is National Bring Your Dog to Work Day. Which is, of course, a made-up holiday.” And I thought, “Aren’t all holidays made-up?” - Gerard Mulligan

“My arts & entertainment Spidey-sense is going mad! But I swear I thought it was Phantom.” -Q

“Yeah I’m that bitch that cut you off. Fuck you and your mama.” -Mary on her personalized license plate

“I believe it was Gonzaga who said… “(makes gagging, gasping, and choking noises)”” -C

“That would be my fat ass.” -… somebody on TikTok

“If I haven't made the wall yet, I'm not going too, so I'm going to just spew unintelligible gibberish for the remainder of the day. This is no different than my regular programming.” -Erskine

"He should be Admiral Crunch by now. He's been delivering deliciousness for quite some time and surely is due for a promotion." -Howard

“Tent poles, everywhere. Tent poles.” -Shannon

“Turducken for everyone!” -Carl

“You’re too concentrated on listicle! Just answer the question!” -C

“It's more difficult to give away a couch than I remember!” -J. Keith

“Congratulations to Dusty Baker. His team can kiss my Halo fan rectum.” -JVG

“Challenging me for money in bowling is a good way for me to have all my food and gas paid for for my trip to Virginia.” -Gordon

“Behold, our all-purpose emergency preparedness medical contingency chest. Or as I like to call it… The doomsday box.” -C

“Or as I like to call it… The Oh-Shit Kit.” -Q

“Briar patch, me, some assembly required.” -David

“Why does every NFT look like a Digimon villain?” -Trevor Williams

“So when is the series finale of Twitter?” -BFG

“If people ask me why there was a strike that led to no postseason in 1994, I simply answer that with the same answer I have to “How did the Twins and Braves make the World Series in 1991?” “How and why did the Marlins beat the Indians in the 1997 World Series?” “How and why did Florida and Arizona get baseball teams while Washington didn’t?” and other logic-defying baseball questions from that decade, and that answer is simply… “Because it was the ’90s.”” -Ian

“The best worst team name of the night… “The Odds of Chico Showing Up for Trivia Again Are 3720 to 1”.” -Richard

“(running into the pub) Never tell me the odds!” -Chico

(Someone has a problem with Mayim Bialik referring to the Jeopardy! Round as “Single Jeopardy!”)

“As a great American would ask, “Why the BLEEP is this news?”” -Doug

“"We Paid A Freelancer To Say A Thing You Like ls Bad Because The Google/Facebook Duopoly Ate The Whole Digital Ad Market And Now Harvesting Hate Clicks Is The Only Viable Business Model For Online Media" That’s why.” -C

“"It's good it's good it's good that was good I just wanna do it one more time..." -The Andrew Garfield story, I love him so much

The milkshake take was our last of the day, btw, costume and hair depts were ready :)” -LMM

“Rorrie Travis. Beast Morphers Red Ranger. It’s funny you said you got replaced… by Barack Obama… because, uh… you kinda were.” -Russell Curry, Dino Fury Red and Obama lookalike.

“It’s so cold outside, people are going to Five Below just to warm up a bit.” -Matty

“Drinking a pink drink with sugar on the rim. I don’t know if you notice this but… I’m a girl.” -Q

“I know I am not supposed to attribute to malice what can easily be explained by stupidity. But that woman strikes me as the kind of person who is both malicious and stupid!“ -C

“Every time I watch the Winter Olympics, I just think how life used to be so miserable and boring in these cold countries that they invented a bunch of sports that were like "how can we find ways to DIE".” -Lynn

“Every machine is a smoke machine if you operate it wrong enough.” -Ken

“I have half a mind to start casually referring to the first round as Single Jeopardy! Just to trigger a bitch.” -C

“Hard drinks with people who want to get drunk!” -Megan quoting “Its a Wonderful Life”

“I’m gonna have to start drinking at 11.” -Jamie C. - talking about WrestleMania Day 1

“Somewhere Brett Favre is watching Aaron Rodgers and saying “This jackass…”” -C

“I've said it before and I'll say it again: DHL could fuck up the delivery of a shit from an asshole to the toilet bowl...” -Justin

“BE BETTER NOT BITTER YOU DUMB SON OF A BITCH.” -Sheiky

“Give me five. I have to pee.” -G

“To the white cat who decided to tear ass down the cross street leading to my home as my bumper moved menacingly close: 1) This is not "The Cube." Dwyane Wade is not going to give you nine lives to fritter away. Clearly a human is concerned about you. 2) Go home. You were lucky.” -Evil Travis

“I’ve done everything I could possibly do. WAIT! (Does some extra stuff) There. NOW I’ve done everything I could possibly do.” -C

“Rebuke them in the name of Black Jesus.” -Tricia, re: her travel tech agency

“If you still simp for that manchild (ed: you know the one. -C) please feel free to find some 4 letter words and go do them to yourself.” -Chelsea

“Whoa! Where in the world did that come from, Carmen Sandiego?” -C

“‘Netflix making a sequel to A Christmas Prince saved 2018.’ … well, someone had to.” -Rose McIver

"Those look like uteruses. In fact, that looks like what my uterus does to me every month." -Trina, on Activision Boxing

“Don’t do ho shit during the summer.” -C

“We can afford shit now we adults!” -Melissa

“Hmmm… Hot Pot Spot. Dibs on that for a pop-up restaurant name.” -C

“I was talking to the golf coach. He said they were going to Hawaii, but they couldn’t practice because of all the snow. I told them… ‘Gotta get up to par!’” -Sarah

“INSP goes full cowboy. Here’s the thing that gets me tho… “The textured hat represents salt-of-the-earth people with heart and soul, who have put in a hard day’s work.” You, marketing EVP Hayes Tauber, are full of shit.” -C

“Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this Son of York...and now a brief word from Imperial margarine.” -Brian

Sonic Whammy: I have a question on the Covid tests...does it hurt?

Gordon: Well, sometimes, it's a light swab, and sometimes they jam it up your nose and take out a piece of your brain. In either case, for you it will feel exactly the same and you won't feel anything.

Chappy: “Little short until pay day.”

C: “I too am a little short until payday. Once payday hits I’ll still be short, but at least I can foot bills.”

“I learned that with game shows that if you want to get involved, you have to ask.” -TV’s Ryan Vickers

“The Jets will forever be the team that made Antonio Brown quit football.” -@TheJetPress

“It’s either streak or stink.” -C

“Remember, it's, "Goddamnit, JB."” -Ethan

“Remember, if you’re not having fun while playing trivia, you’re just answering questions.” -C, with apologies to Alvin Zhou

“I guess I wasn’t funny this year.” -Ken

—-

Thank you for being a friend. Travel down the road and back again… your heart is true, you’re a pal and a confidant.

Here’s to 2023. And as always, come together, just think of tomorrow.

[redrosesartcabin]

Kenji x first perspective female reader:

Things happened

—————————————————

(Hey, how is it going peeps! This was requested by @xxno-0xx . I hope you all, and especially the requester, like it. Only one warning: It involves some swearing, so if you don’t like that don’t read. If the requester doesn’t like it, please tell me and I’ll edit the story! Also: The story plays somewhere either between season 2 and 3, or somewhere around season 3. Though not in a canonical episode)

It’s crazy how things sometimes happen.

A very vague description, I know, but it’s the only way I can convey how I feel.

Things happened that made me have the opportunity to go to Jurassic Worlds Camp Cretaceous.

We had won the league as the best female Baseball team, with the price being -besides the typical golden trophy and some media glory- a trip to Camp Cretaceous for one of us. And as the team leader, I was chosen as the one who can go.

“Oh no it’s fine!”, I had said. I already had a funny feeling about the trip. But they all had insisted, “it’s fine”, they had said, “it’ll be cool” they said.

Oh and weren’t they just so right. I am super peachy.

Practically prancing through the jungle and killing Dinos with my little finger-

Ok that’s enough, I think y’all got the gist: The shit had hit the fan.

Things happened, that made everyone be gone, and suddenly it was up to us to survive on this pretend Prehistoric nightmare.

At least my beloved baseball bat had survived the fall of the Camp Cretaceous building. After that discovery I didn’t let go of it anymore. I took it everywhere with me, hitting every living being that even dared to breath in my new found friends direction.

Friends… I had never thought, before the evacuation of Jurassic World and all that crazy stuff happened, that I’d ever call any of them that. I hadn’t really found any of them to be friendship material. I love baseball and building things out of wood in my free time and had a dry, sarcastic sense of humor. The only person in the group who had come close to that was Yaz, but she had been so closed off, that I couldn’t really tell before we became a group that fought for their survival. Darius also had been ok, but I was older than him and we didn’t have anything in common, so that checked itself out. Everyone else sort of annoyed me in one way or another. Especially Kenji’s pompous ass. He had appeared very full of himself and just generally narcissistic, or at least painfully self centered and pretentious.

Now imagine how surprised one might be, when one figured I was crushing on the guy.

Let’s just say, that things happened that made me see Kenji in a completely different light.

Turns out he has a good enough sense of humor to catch my drift when I speak “in sarcastic” as he likes to call it. Turns out, he was a loyal and fun friend. Turns out he was just a lonely soul, neglected by a father whose work is more important to him than his own son.

Everything turned out different than it appears about him. He still sometimes annoyed me with his pranks and especially when he wouldn’t shut up about his wealth. The latter however became very apparent as the means to show that he was someone, although he didn’t need to prove that anymore. But of course he would think that’s how people would like him, his father had taught him no better.

The first thing I mentioned somehow makes me love him even more. It annoys me, gets such a rise out of me, that it’s somehow funny again. It gives me a spark and Kenji seemingly seems to enjoy seeing that spark. And him enjoying that spark makes me somehow happy as well. It would start with a cat fight and ended in rigorous laughter.

“Why so serious?”, he would sometimes ask when I’d respond with a glare towards him when he’d steal my bat for what felt like the fifty millionth time.

“You’re getting so creative. I barely saw it coming”, I answered dryly and one could practically see the words alternating between being written in small and big letters.

“Well then you should have no problem finding your sweet baby bat then”, he cooed. Looking deep into his dark brown eyes and almost devilish handsome grin made me both want to punch and kiss him, which may have made me irritable and even madder.

“Finding? Why should I find anything if I have a living and breathing treasure map. Come here!”, I demanded with a creepily sweet grin as I’d walk towards him. Then he’d run, I’d run, we wrestled for a second on the ground only to break into a laughing fit, rolling on the floor, crying tears, resolving this nonsense prank and then getting back to either relaxing or fighting off Dinosaurs… again.

I didn’t think, however, that anything could happen between Kenji and me.

For many a reason, though only two are essential: For one, we were busy surviving, one barely had time to get downtime with the group, yet alone for themselves. Secondly, I didn’t really know, or couldn’t really tell, if he felt the same. Maybe it was my own insecurities coming to light or something, but I just couldn’t really believe it.

Seemed unlikely.

But then things happened.

Kenji and I were on the run from an especially nasty, big Dinosaur. We had been collecting some water in big canisters and wanted to head back to camp when it sneak attacked, unexpectedly.

It snared at us, opening its huge mouth, showing a row of thin, long, sharp teeth.

“Fuck off, you tooth pick mouthed asshole!”, I hissed back at it, flailing my bat at it in panic.

The reason for my irrational action was mainly, that we were stuck between two huge rocks, backed up against another rock with no way out.

Maybe hills or mini-mountain were a better description, but it’s also not important.

All that I could think of was that we were stuck and that little fucker wanted to eat us.

“Calm down, y/n, this isn’t making anything better!”, Kenji tried to reason with me. I was close to shouting some obscenities at him or a dry ‘got a better idea, genius!?’, but this time his dark brown eyes, that often had a mischievous twinkle, calmed me, instead of creating the usual spark. I crawled closer to him as we were pressed to the stone wall.

The Dino however wouldn’t give up. Vehemently, it pressed its ugly snout between the walls, stretching its uncomfortably wet tongue towards us and exhaling a nauseating breath.

I was paralyzed, as I looked at that thing, not knowing what would happen next.

Suddenly, I felt my bat being taken out of my hand. I watched as Kenji took on a fighter stance, the bat positioned over his head, ready for the hit.

“What are you doing! Didn’t you just tell me that we should calm it?”, I asked. He turned around, a frown adorned his face, “I said you should calm down”, is all he answered before he darted towards the animal.

“NO!”, I heard myself scream. I had never heard such a sound come from my throat. It was shrill, loud and all in all I couldn’t recognize myself. I was terrified, even more than when I first caught sight of this beast that had brought us into this situation.

Everything seemed to pass by in slow motion as I saw Kenji swing the bat towards its snout. At first I thought it was over for him as the Dinos mouth opened, the teeth seeming to scrape Kenji’s head, that’s how close it was to him… but then I saw Kenji swinging the bat again, directly hitting its head so that it flew against the stone wall. The beast wailed in pain, seemingly backing up, and just like that, it was gone.

“I… I made it”, Kenji first whispered, before he laughed, repeating, “I made it!”, even louder, jumping into the air and forming a victory fistbump in the air.

“That was awesome! Did you see how- Y/N?”, Kenji’s joy subsided as he looked into my angered expression. With a swift motion I took my bat back, glaring at him as I pressed out, between gritted teeth “let’s just go, hero”

Kenji seemed to have caught the sarcastic undertone of me calling him a hero, because I could physically feel his mood shift closer to mine, “hey what’s with that attitude? I just saved our lives!”

“By doing what I also wanted to do. Great!”

“You were panicking! I don’t know if you would’ve gotten a good hit by panicking. Besides, I couldn’t risk you getting hurt!”, he explained.

For a second I could feel my heart flutter, but that didn’t help my opinion on what just happened.

“But you were ready to risk yourself?”, I asked, my tone bitter.

“Why are you so mad?”, he asked, “we are safe, what more could you want?”,

“I-“, I stopped in my tracks, thinking. Yeah: What was I so mad about? He was right, I had panicked. Panic never helps with concentration and right decision making. I found it impressive, that he had the courage and the focus to fight the Dino off. But I just couldn’t fight off the thought of it going wrong. What if he would’ve been eaten?

“What-“, I wanted to repeat what I had been thinking, but could feel a hiccup, breaking the tear flood inside me. No- I was not going to cry. I took a deep breath, looking directly into his confused visage, “- what if it would’ve gone wrong, I’m just… I- I wouldn’t have known what to do without you. I can’t imagine being without you anymore”.

I saw and heard him gasp, his glance unfreezing from his confused state.

“I didn’t realize I was that important to you”, he answered.

I chuckled, too embarrassed to look him in the eyes, “everyone is important to me from the group, I wouldn’t have liked any of them to risk their lives for me but- but especially not you. I- I can’t believe I’m going to say this - I had vowed to take this to my grave ya know-“

“- Get to the point”, Kenji urged me.( I wasn’t looking at him, but he later told me he had smiled whilst saying it, I however thought he was getting annoyed and was almost too scared to continue. Stupid how that sometimes works)

“- I, eh- I’m in love with you I think. Or at least I definitely feel very strongly for you”, I confessed, “there! Now you have something to use against me. Finally got something you can laugh at again on this miserable Isla-mpf”, my self deprecating monologue was interrupted by soft lips catching mine. It almost took my breath away, but then I leaned in, still not believing this was happening, though it definitely was.

“I’m not going to laugh, I love you too. I wouldn’t be stupid enough to risk everything if I didn’t”

“That’s cheesy, but I appreciate the honesty”, I said, wearing my usual shit eating grin as I regained confidence back.

“Oh look who's talking now”

“Oh shut it!”, I laughed and just like that, I found myself kissing him again.

“And here I thought I had to worry, but you two just ran away to make out”, I suddenly heard Darius in the background, half serious, half amused by the moment he found us in.

I quickly broke away from Kenji, grinning sheepishly, “You know how it is Darius: You get chased by a Dino, and then you need a kiss to make the boo boo go away… just so happens I got a bit of a chap on my lips, and Kenji wanted to make it real good again”, I explained, earning a silent chuckle from Kenji.

Darius rolled his eyes, but couldn’t hold back a smile either, “let’s get you love birds home”

————————

And so things happened. Did we have much time to enjoy us being a couple? Not really.

Did more things happen, making everything crazier and tougher?

Did the rift between Darius and Kenji make me anxious as I was sitting by Kenji’s side, as he, with an expression that was too serious for my liking, drove the yacht?

Absolutely.

But I know, that at least he’s by my side still, as am I, and we will make things happen so that we can finally be free from this place.

Hopefully, we’ll make it.

Depends on what the Dino on the yacht has to say about it...

[thegirlwhowritesawksh-t]

la douleur de l'amour - georgenotfound x f!reader

author: @thegirlwhowritesawksh-t​ me!

word count: 4.7k +

warnings: hella angst, mentions of blood/scabs/injuries. if there’s any you think that you see, please let me know!

a/n: hi y’all :)) first off, to whoever’s reading this: stay hydrated, smile and laugh! and second: this is my submission for @bozowrites​ writing event! <33 congrats!!

**this is my second fic, and i’m hoping to push more out as i get more comfortable with writing! i’m thinking to maybe make a part two to this but i don't know yet. please let me know what you think! *sending besitos to y’all :))*

Prompt: Why are you crying?

1:15 p.m.

In the corner of a dimly lit studio in front of the barre, (y/n) leans over to her left, counting four beats before resetting and proceeding to stretch over her right side. After months spent choreographing, picking costumes, and endless bandages wrapped around her feet, it has led to the final product: her first piece in her dance company’s annual recital premiering tonight.

All (y/n) could feel was pure energy and pride at what she has created. It’s her baby after all and nothing could ruin the day for her.

Feeling her joints start to loosen up, she runs through a mental list in her head making sure each dancer had their costumes, knew where all the dancers would start and end on stage, as well as remembering her own choreography, seeing as she had an important section to end her piece. After double-checking, (y/n) then begins to travel to the center of the studio, and begins to run over the piece.

Remember the triple pirouette here, before you end with a leap to fourth position. Finishing in the fourth position, she lets out a curse as she accidently stubs her right thumb toe, a small scab already tearing at the edge. Shaking out her pain, she reattempts the move, succeeding with an effortless bow.

“You know, your piece is going to be excellent. Why are you so worried?”, a voice calls out in the quiet studio, with (y/n) yelping and trying to find where the voice came from. Standing against the edge of the doorway stood Liam, her dance partner and best friend. (y/n) begins to chuckle and runs the piece over again.

“Can’t help but make sure it’s perfect. I have drenched all my blood, sweat and tears creating this dance, this- this masterpiece. It is my first, and most certainly not my last choreographing piece at this company. There’s too much riding on this for me.”, she replies.

“Even if so, I’d like to think you’ll be fine. Don’t stress, it’s amazing. Otherwise, how are you feeling?”

“Kind of excited, kind of feeling like I should run away.”, (y/n) replies. Avoiding to answering the question entirely, she begins to run the piece over again. She continues,

“I think regardless, it should be a great night. George is coming to the recital tonight and it’ll be the first time he’ll be seeing this dance.” With George editing and recording videos for the Dream Team, his Twitch channel, and YouTube channels, (y/n)’s barely seen him since the start of the dance season. The only time she’s been able to spend time with him has been going to bed with him - even if it’s been a bit more rare lately - and sometimes, a free day on a weekend with no dance practice or no recording for George.

“So that’s why you are nervous, how cute.”, Liam laughs, with (y/n) leaping over to Liam and swatting their arm lightly.

“He swore that he’d come tonight, and he knows how much time I’ve spent perfecting this. I just can’t imagine tonight going any other way. I made sure to get him a seat right in the front, so he’ll be able to see the whole performance, and me.”, (y/n) smirks. As soon as (y/n) found out she would be choreographing one of the pieces in the recital, she immediately told George her good news. George had told her she deserved it for working her butt off since the start of her being at the dance academy. Making him pinky swear, George swore that he would be there for her first performance with her also starring as a choreographer.

“So focus on that instead of thinking your piece is going to crash and burn! Relax a bit. We only have a bit of time before we start getting ready, so let’s run it over a few more times. And don’t even think about slacking off now, missy, we’ll stretch and go get ready after.” Liam decides, and she nods, thinking it’s probably for the best. Running to her bag, (y/n) sends a quick message to George.

George J: hey, can’t wait to see you tonight! i left your ticket on your nightstand, and remember to dress up slightly, it’s a dance recital after all ;) lub you xo - sent at 1:34 p.m.

Content with her message, she tosses her phone back into her bag, and heads back to run over the piece with Liam once more.

>>>

6:47 p.m.

Sticking the last bobby-pin to her bun, (y/n) glances in the mirror to make sure no mistake is in place. Eyeing her look, she can’t help but smile looking at her dance attire, admiring how her purple leotard and dress matches her eyeshadow. Paired with a dark nude lip, she smirks and turns to check her phone for any messages, hoping that one could be from George.

Out of the nine messages she received, most were from friends and family, wishing her luck on her performance tonight. She replied with a thanks and a heart emoji before finally reading the last message coming from George about two hours ago.

George J: hi darling, i saw the ticket, i am so excited for you! can’t wait for you to take my breath away, as you always do. love you more xo  - sent at 4:48 p.m.

Smiling even wider, (y/n) puts her phone on silent, before walking towards the backstage area, passing dancers along the way. Grabbing their hands and wishing them good luck, she arrives at the destination, nerves buzzing as members of the audience start gathering at their seats. Deciding to take a peek, (y/n) rushes to the curtains, peeking her eyes out towards the front rows, trying to spot the pale boy who danced into her heart. First row, seat G for George, she giggles to herself.

“Trying to find your lover? I’m right here!” Liam asks, with (y/n) turning around.

“As much as I’d love that, I’m no Harry Styles, so I don’t think I’m your type…” (y/n) smirks.

“Hm. Where’s George, I want to see him!”

“I’m looking for him right now, Liam. Give me a second.”, (y/n) laughs as she turns back to the audience. Finding his seat, she subtly frowns seeing as he’s not in his seat yet. He’s probably in the bathroom, or still in line to get to his seat, (y/n) tries to explain to herself.

“He’s not here yet, I think he’s in the bathroom or something. But give him time, he’ll be here.” (y/n) mutters as Liam frowns at her.

“He better show up, it’s your night, (y/n).”, they grumble. They start to say more however-

“Places, everyone! Take your places! We’re starting at seven sharp!” the stage manager yells out. He continues,

“We start in five minutes!” Rushing to get off the stage, she sees dancers brush past another wishing them luck. As the ballet dancers start to move into their places for the intro piece, she then walks over to Liam, helping them set up the microphone as they begin to breathe slowly.

“Hey, you got this. It’s just reading off of cue cards and announcing pieces. And then you’ll be set for my piece. You’re going to do great, Liam.”, (y/n) tries to motivate, with Liam smiling shyly at her.

“And your piece is going to kick ass, (y/n). It’s perfection. Just wait until George sees you dance. I’m a hundred percent sure he’s going to fall for you even more.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll see…” (y/n) laughs. Liam clears their throat a bit before raising the microphone to their lips. (y/n) proceeds to head to the viewing room, where a broadcast of the show would play for other dancers to watch and support their fellow castmates.

Taking a deep breath, Liam starts to speak as (y/n)’s nerves start to palpitate.

“Hello, how are you this evening? And welcome to the 67th Annual Recital for the London Dance Academy! I am your emcee, Liam Barrings, and let me introduce you to the first dance of the night created by Sam Hastings. Here is Invictus!”

>>>

8:51 p.m.

An hour later, seven dances, and many whispered good jobs, it is finally time for (y/n) to step on stage and premiere her masterpiece. Slowly tip-toeing to her first position on stage, she glances at her castmates, thanking them silently in her mind for them to trust her to bring her visions to life. Before the curtains open, she turns to Liam on her right, kneeling down and grabbing her thighs, and they smile back at her.

“Ready for it?”, they smirk. Thinking to herself, she nods and turns back to the front of the curtains waiting for the music to begin. Remember the triple pirouette after Liam grabs you. And try to look like you’re in pain from loving him. It is exquisite pain, right (y/n)? Liam is toxic, yet you still love them. Make it believable. And finally, breathe.

Another emcee, Josh begins to speak.

“And now, I present to you (y/n - y/ln)’s dance. This is her first piece with her own choreography with the London Dance Academy, and tonight, we are the very first group of people to watch her story come to life. Please let me introduce you to (y/n) and her piece, La Douleur Exquise!” the audience claps softly, before the curtains open its wings to reveal the creation.

The background, a stark white, yet the lights casts hues of soft lilacs, with streaks of dark reds splattering across the dancers’ bodies. With a small pause, music begins to sing out of the speakers. Liam and (y/n) begin the piece with a small duet. Following closely behind, a quad of dancers mimicking their moves with childlike innocence.

Liam turns to (y/n), conveying an I love you through their linked hands and they abruptly pull her to their arms, as she looks at them with confusion in her eyes and pulling away. Gliding towards the middle, the quad walks slowly to (y/n), enveloping her with open arms, before having a dance section with (y/n) in the middle as Liam looks on, hellbent on grasping (y/n) once more. Every other beat, (y/n) turns to Liam, feeling lost as if they were missing from her.

As the quad looks away, having their own small solos, (y/n) slips away from the group only to leap back into Liam’s arms with her hands grasping their face as Liam slowly grips her waist. Looking at her with renewed interest, his face morphs into fury as one of the dancers pass by her, softly guiding his fingers from her shoulder down to her inner wrist. An angry duet starts, with Liam and (y/n) clashing against each other, as if saying they hate but love each other at the same time.

(y/n) leaps into Liam’s arms, before slowly sliding herself off him as the quad of dancers, follow closely behind, lifting (y/n) to her feet. Everyone proceeds to move as one, with the quad dancing in the center, whereas Liam paces their way to (y/n), lifting her into the air once again, before they land in a small leap. Conversing with their bodies, Liam guides (y/n)’s hands to their heart, slightly pulling her along. Finally coming to the end of the dance, (y/n) runs to the center of the stage, facing the audience.

Grabbing her left arm is Liam, pulling her to their side, and the quad of dancers are pulling her on her right. The war between the two goes back and forth in a tug-of-war before (y/n) seemingly gives up and slams herself to the ground, as the music fades into silence. The audience erupts into booming claps and cheers, and (y/n) feels herself being pulled up from the ground by Liam as a light blush covers her skin. Glancing up at the audience, she tries to smile despite the stage lights burning into her. I did it, I managed to make a story, my story come to life. Hearing the audience continuing to clap, realization sets in and she finds her eyes wandering over to the front row, seat G for George. Seat empty, her smile falters and her eyes become glassy. Some would think because of her success with her piece. She couldn’t tell if she was happy or sad, maybe it was a little bit of both.

>>>

9:23 p.m.

He’s here, he has to be. He’s probably peeing or waiting for me in the front with flowers, or in the dressing room. He has to be here, I know it, (y/n) mutters to herself, hellbent on her beliefs that George is here. Yet the bitter taste of rejection starts to seep into her bones. Shaking her head a bit and attempting to put on the brightest smile, she starts to rush back to the dressing room, a sinking feeling residing in her stomach with each looming step.

Facing the dressing room door, (y/n) can’t help but hope that maybe George is standing there with a bouquet of flowers and kisses reserved for her. Slowly opening the door, her hopes slip through with her mouth curling as she stares at only her reflection in the mirror. He swore that he’d be here. He swore that he would be here for my first performance, (y/n) softly whispers to herself, tears threatening to fall. Gasping, she finally lets herself breathe as she repeats to herself again and again that he wasn’t here.

A soft knock on the door interrupts her thoughts, causing (y/n) to quickly wipe her tears before foolishly yelling out,

“George?”, as the door opens to reveal Liam and the Director himself, Nicholas Anderson.

“(y/n)? It’s us. Where’s George?” Liam asks, a frown settling into his brows.

“Oh, he’s just in the bathroom, he hasn’t been feeling good.” She lies, feeling bile itch her throat. A little white lie shouldn’t hurt anyone, (y/n) thought.

“Hello, (y/n). You looked wonderful out there! Your dance was easily one of the highlights of the night, I couldn’t stop replaying the duet between you and Liam in my head. Your dance truly captured the aspects of a toxic relationship not from one side but from both of point of views. It truly showed exquisite pain, knowing that you would always go back to Liam, but would Liam be there for you?” Nicholas explains, his words smacking (y/n) at full force. Is- is George there for me?, (y/n) thinks to herself. Nicholas continues on,

“I think you are a great addition to our Academy, and tonight truly proved how ready you are to become a full-time member. So how about it? Next season, we’ll be adding you to the roster of choreographers.” Eyes wide, (y/n) nods furiously with a yes and hugs Liam. Nicholas smiles and exits the room, leaving behind two excited dancers jumping around.

“You did it! Now we have to celebrate! Club night, I don’t care. We are going to get plastered! Bring George!” Liam laughs. At the mention of George, her stomach turns as she then realizes George wasn’t here. What sounded like good news turns to rot as she starts thinking of George.

“Let me check my phone, it has been a while in the bathroom, huh?” (y/n) tries to joke, trying hard to not let her voice waver and letting her brain scramble to come up with another small lie. Reaching through her phone, she reads over the texts once again sent from family and friends, finding the conversation between her and George. No new messages, her heart sinks as she slowly starts to open up the rest of her notifications, scrolling to most likely find the purple box that would always stay permanently stuck on her home screen. With bright white letters glaring at her, her heart begins to ebb away feeling a familiar sense of loneliness.

1h, 53 min ago: MINECRAFT MANHUNT W/ THE DREAM TEAM

Relying on her emotions, she turns to face Liam, hoping that her excitement of her promotion would overcome the feeling of abandonment of the man she loved. Plastering a sad smile through watery eyes, she forces out,

“George isn’t feeling well, he’s got an upset stomach. I think it’s the stomach flu going around.” If you can convey pain through dance, you can lie through this as well, (y/n) thought. She continues,

“I don’t know if I should be going out since he’s sick.” (y/n) mutters.

“So we go without him! It’s your celebration, his loss.” Liam rolls their eyes. His loss, my loss - seems like the same.

“I- I don’t know, Liam… I’d want to celebrate with him as well.”

“And I get that, but at least go out with us. You always have tomorrow with him, or later tonight. Do it for tonight, do it because you’re going to be a choreographer next season! At least do it for me and the group. We’ve worked our ass all season and we made your vision come true.” Liam explains. Contemplating with herself, (y/n) resolves with a soft smile and mutters an okay. Pumping their fist in the air, Liam excuses themselves to notify the others of the good news and plans.

Once again facing the mirror, (y/n) repeats with determination to celebrate her night. It’s her night to celebrate with loved ones, even if the one she loved the most isn’t there beside her. So much trying to take your breath away when you weren’t even here, George. Taking a breath, she forces out a shaky laugh and tries to smile. Let’s go celebrate, (y/n).

>>>

1:39 a.m.

Slightly stumbling out of the taxi, (y/n) manages to slowly walk her way up to his doorsteps, phone still showing that George was still streaming. Pausing her hand on the doorknob, she resolves to try to wait until morning to confront him, not trusting herself completely to be okay in front of him. Opening the door softly, she walk in, attempting to not make a sound. With small steps, she closes and locks the door before setting her bags down. That can be cleaned tomorrow, (y/n) thought. Rubbing her eyes, she decides to make herself tea before she goes to bed, most likely not with George until he finishes his stream.

While making her tea, (y/n) thinks of everything that she has worked for in the last few months. Endless changes to her dance, countless small injuries, whether it be a jammed toe/finger, scrapes of blood scattered around her feet from dragging her feet too hard across the floor, everything. Why is it that with her triumph, she is beyond proud yet the idea of George not being there to witness her moment shatters that accomplishment? Mulling it over, she doesn’t notice George bustling down the stairs, finished with his successful 5 hour stream with Dream and Sapnap. Spotting (y/n) making her tea, he slowly approaches her and wraps his arms around her waist, landing a soft kiss to her shoulders.

“Why are you home late, Darling? It’s nearly almost two in the morning.”, George chuckles, as (y/n) freezes in his arms. Softly shaking her head, she tries to side-step out of his arms and brings her tea to the opposite side of the room, wrapping an arm around herself. Clearly, he didn’t remember, (y/n) slowly starts to think and repeat to herself.

“Why do you think I was out, George?” she softly asks, taking a sip of tea to calm her nerves. I guess we’re just going to have to hash it out now.

“I don’t know, but did you see the stream? I beat Dream at the last second and he was this close to defeating the Ender Dragon!”, George starts to explain while laughing, with (y/n) taking a harsh breath in. Pinching in-between her brows, she snaps,

“No, George, I didn’t see the stream because I went out to celebrate.”, she mutters, tears slowly starting to escape.

“(y/n)? Is there something wrong? Why are you crying?“ Turning around, (y/n) tries to look anywhere but him. She settles on looking at the clock, watching as time went by, and her nerves increasing with each second. George starts to say more-

“I needed you tonight. Do you remember what tonight was? To my career? To me?”, (y/n) cuts him off. Standing there without a thought, dread slowly seeps in as George realizes that he missed her performance. He starts to stutter,

“Darling, I- “

“No! No. You do not get to apologize. I needed you and where were you? Sitting on your ass playing Minecraft with Dream and Sapnap! I get that your career is very reliant on you being consistent with your uploads, but you couldn’t have taken a night off? For me? I- ”

“(y/n), it’s not like that at- “

“Don’t- just don’t try to explain or come up with excuses. I just don’t want to hear it George. I spent months working on this, exhausted yet still pushing myself for the damn Academy. You swore that you would be there. I left you the ticket on your nightstand, you even texted me saying that you were excited to come! So imagine me standing on stage, looking at the front row, seat G, and where the hell were you? Not there, George. You were not there. I looked like a fool waiting for you to see me perform and dance. Do you remember Nicholas Anderson?”, (y/n) tries to ask calmly. George only stare at her with defeated eyes as he shakes his head no. Cursing, she heaves out a breath before continuing,

“He’s the director of the Academy, George. He’s offered me a position to be a permanent member and choreographer for the London Dance Academy. So please, let me ask again: where were you? I had to lie to Liam and say that you had an upset stomach and that you couldn’t come out! So, Liam invited me to celebrate with the dancers, to celebrate tonight’s success.”

“(y/n)- (y/n), we can celebrate now. I know- I truly know I messed up, but I can fix it, we can celebrate right now!” George stumbles out, walking towards her to grab her hands. Stepping back, she glares at George, appalled that he truly thinks he could resolve this. Shaking her head harshly, she bites out,

“I don’t want to celebrate with you. I’ve already celebrated with loved ones.” Rolling his eyes, George tries to reason with (y/n).

“Okay, I get it. I’m the bad guy in this scenario. But I’m trying to make this right. I am so sorry, darling, but I want to make it up to you, you know I am sorry.”

“You know, I never ask you to cancel a stream or get off of the stream. I always try to understand for the life of me why the streams have to be long, but I try. I always watch your streams and interact with your fans for your sake. I’ve had to explain countless reasons as to why you never show up to my performances, or why you can’t go out with me with the other dancers. And I am okay with it, don’t get me wrong. I know how much Twitch and YouTube and the Dream Team means to you. But you mean everything to me as well. So forgive me if I wanted to be a little selfish and ask you to support me in one of the biggest performances of my life.”

“I can go to the next one, (y/n). It’s not like it’s the last performance.” George snaps.

“You don’t get it, do you?”, she asks, wiping furiously at her tears, trying to not stutter through her words.

“What is there to get? Clearly I’m trying my hardest to make it up to you.”, he replies.

“I love you. I’m so much in love with you, it hurts. But you don’t get it. I have been there for everything in your career. Your first hundred subscribers, your first million subscribers, when you won the MCC back to back, everything. This was- is the important night of my life, and you didn’t show up. You stuck with Dream and Sapnap and decided to stream instead. This night was important for my career, and you knew! I told you months and weeks in advance. I wanted you to take charge and clear your schedule for today and- and sit in the damn seat that I chose because G stood for George. It was for you.” She sobs out, chest shaking as she tries to collect the words tumbling out of her mouth. With eyes flashing in annoyance, George tries to speak over her tears,

“(y/n)- “

“I created this dance for you! For me and- and for us. Because we believed in each other and had the support for each other. Clearly, it was one-sided and tonight proved that.”

“(y/n), listen to me- ”, George stops himself. Watching (y/n) fall apart, he takes a shaky breath and tries to walk closer to (y/n). However, (y/n) takes more steps back, leaving a distance of hostility and guilt between the two lovers.

“I love you. I love you with all of my heart. And… and I know you love me. But I needed you. Do you even need me?” she asks, the thick silence covering the air.

“Yes! How- how could you even say that, (y/n)?“ George replies just as quick as she finished asking. Looking at him for the first time tonight, she lets out a sob. With cheeks red, hands tugging at his hair, and George frantically looking at her, (y/n) can’t help but cry a little more.

“Because tonight proved otherwise. I wanted a night of you to myself to watch me be pretty and dance, and you didn’t even give up one night for me.”, she says, tugging at her sweater. Looking up, she further goes on to say,

“How stupid would it be if I were to ask to choose between me or the Dream Team? Or- Or your career?”, barking out a bitter laugh as George stares with guilt. As silence meets her ears, (y/n) slowly starts to sober up, eyes slightly widening with shock.

“George…”

“I’d find a way to make it work, I’ve been making it work for us since the beginning!” George snaps.

“George, you know I would never ask that, because I personally think it’s a selfish question. But if I decided to ask seriously, right now. What’s your answer?”

“And I’m telling you, I am making both work. Please believe me, (y/n).”, George says quietly, grasping at whatever opportunities there are left to resolve this potentially fatal matter.

“I can’t tell anymore.”, her voice cracking as fresh tears pool down her cheeks.

“I don’t think I can stay here for a while. At least until I’ve had some time to think.”, she manages to force out.

“(y/n), you can’t be serious. No, we are fixing this now!” George tries to say with an unwavering voice, eyes slowly becoming glassy.

“I can’t look at you George without wanting to cry, and- and scream- yet tell you I love you, even if you don’t deserve my love, especially right now. I need to go- I’m going to go. I’ll be back in a while.”, (y/n) says, choking on her words. Walking backwards, she turns to the door, with George following her and watching her pick up her dance bags. Lying on the ground was a bouquet of flowers, crumpled amongst her heart. Choosing not to pick up the bouquet, she mumbles out,

“I’ll call you when I’m ready.” Pausing, (y/n) looks up at George for the final time tonight, willing herself to not run back to him, despite how much the desire is growing to do so.

“I love you, George.”, opening the door, George yells out,

“I love- “, the door cutting through his confession, acting as a wall between the two. George tries to reach the door knob, ready to run after the love of his life. Yet… he’s frozen on the spot, with tears finally trickling down his cheeks, and pushing deep breaths out to steady his shaking heart.

Why are you crying, George?

[hazelcephalopod]

The Great Hunt

Prologue and some

Really starts with a bang. A confusing bang. But a bang!

Disclaimer: this is my first read thru but I’ve watched all of the show thus far and been spoiled on some book things. So… I’m going to lean into that. Enjoy figuring out what I know, and what I think I know, and what I just don’t. Also s/x I add commentary when I edit.

Spoilers for the first and second book and all of season 1 under the cut. Potential spoilers for later books -idk if they’re light spoilers or not.

This is the continuation of my thoughts on the twot books. To find my thoughts on TEOTW see [#many thoughts on twot teotw]. The rest of the series will just be tagged [#series of many thoughts on twot].

Karaethon Cycle page

Oh so *this* is the prophecy! Pretty ominous for a chosen one.

Prologue: In the Shadow

Even the prologue has a title!

Wheel of time symbol

POV “Bors”

Whoever makes these clothes really has to be side eying ‘ah yes here is a list of money to make me clothing to hide my figure. Height included. I will pick them up at the witching hour next Wednesday. They are for normal activities. Don’t tell anyone I was here.’

… or there are a lot of dead tailors in this world. Which I doubt. You can only kill so many

Don’t like those servants

Yup. These are not the good guys. Disposing of servants? Those are people! Probably…

“Blank eyes. Empty eyes. A doll’s eyes. Eyes more dead than death.” -Bors looking into one of the servants eyes. Yup that’s the horror part and also something is wrong with these servants. Srsly wrong

… that’s how it works with allistics and eyes right? I mean dead does seem worse than ‘so full of life(?) soulless that it’s just too intense’ to me.

‘This may be an evil secret society meeting where we use fake names and hide or faces but I need to look good’ 1/4 the folks at this gathering

That’s your assumption dude. Maybe it’s misdirection huh?

A Traveling person?!

Yea he should get some gloves

Two Aes Sedai!

Well that’s a cult

Hey that’s a lot of red! Balzo? That you?

“One of the Forsaken, perhaps.”

“…rotting while they still lived.” -(Bors) on male channelers and the effects of the taint on saidin. So… that rotting part has been mentioned before. Is that literal body or like rotting of their sanity? (Editor me- or is they even true?)

Well fuck you very much Bors

Why does no one wear gloves?

It’s Balzo!

I’m sry. “He Whose Name Must Not Be Uttered” really? Well this really is the right series to replace that other one with someone called something very similar.

“Soon the Wheel of Time will be broken. Sun the Great Serpent will die, and with the power of that death, and death of Time itself…” -Ba’alzamon to the gathered Darkfriends is guessing. Yea. Well… that’s a lot! No thnx

But the rest just sounds like the Dark One gets to be in control of the pattern instead to whatever. Is that better actually? Cuz I don’t believe these promises. These guys call y’all worms and make you lay on the floor and chant stuff. That’s a cult. You aren’t getting shit

So. Mat. Perrin. Rand.

But don’t say which was the Dragon.

Wtf... mmmmmm…

Oh ok. Just getting orders.

Atha’an Miere = the Sea Folk. (More of the Old Tongue) [people sea; what does Tu mean? Does an mean the?]

So tethering oneself to the Dark One seems like a bad move.

Bors orders: 1) return to Tarabon and redouble efforts on good works. Whatever that means. 2) Watch out for the EF boys. 3) “…regarding those who have landed at Toman Head, and the Domani. Of this you will speak to no one.”

…and looking at the map. That’s a) Falme. On the western shore. And b… it’s the boat people! (I know their actual name but imma call them the Boat People, for now)

Oh this is a vision!

That’s a nightmare vision. I’m not sure that’s the best way to communicate information honestly. Terrifying sure.

… unless it’s like, mind control? Like seeding a command into Bors which he will know or be forced to do when it triggers.

“…the Blacksmith, the Swordsman, and the Trickster.” -(Bors) nicknames for the EF-b

So Balzo is willing to kill them now. That’s a good choice on his part. Bad for them

“Blue eyes could mean the nobility of Andor…” really?! Wow. Nice

Seals?

Oh his bags. Ok

Dome of Truth?

Almoth Plain? To the map! Oh it’s near Tarabon and Falme

[makeste]

BnHA 6th Popularity Poll Reaction Post - Risky Spoiler-Dodging Edition

hey guys, so seeing as the results from the 6th popularity poll were leaked today, I figured I would do a separate reaction + analysis post this year, rather than piling it in as an extra on top of the chapter reaction post tomorrow. I figure this makes more sense anyway, since they’re really two completely different things. also this way I can write as much as I want lol.

also, just fyi, I am still completely unspoiled for chapter 293. and probably the smart thing to do to keep it that way would be to log off tumblr and hold off posting this until tomorrow, but I apparently have no impulse control today so oh well. anyway, so I’m hoping you guys will keep this spoiler-free if you don’t mind! as always, I would prefer to just jump right in completely unaware tomorrow like Troy returning to the study room with the pizza boxes lol.

okay so this first part is just going to be my predictions. fyi I am writing this part on Wednesday night, and then I’ll add on the results part on Thursday or Friday (ETA: Thursday, apparently, since I am impatient.)

okay so first of all, just as a refresher, this poll was open to Japanese voters from Aug 3 to Sep 30. meaning chapters 279 through 285. meanwhile last year’s poll took place around the tail end of the MVA arc. so between then and now we had Heroes Rising, the Endeavor Agency arc, and the War arc up to the part where the 1-A kids took on Gigantomachia in Gunga, and started battling Tomura in Jakku. so technically only a couple of arcs, but a LOT of stuff going down in them. oh and season 4 of the anime as well

so! firstly, I predict that my truculent africanized honeybee son will hold on to his crown at #1, coming off a year in which he did some internship-boosted soul searching, borrowed OFA in movie canon, and finished out the voting period as the my-body-moved-on-its-own character development MVP. like CALL ME CRAZY lol, but I’m pretty sure his title is safe. and then after him will be Deku and Shouto as usual

Aizawa should hopefully also have a strong showing because the dude had a banner fucking year. reunited with his old dead friend, took on Tomura with his hopelessly inept hero pals, and then chopped his fucking leg off. he had better be in the top 10. his fucking leg died for this, idk what else he has to do

Endeavor also stands a decent chance of doing well given the internship arc and the final episode of season 4. which I’m sure will go down just swimmingly if that does happen lmao. especially if he somehow manages to rank higher than...

Dabi, which I don’t think he will btw, but you never know. anyways though, but I’m thinking Dabi’s going to have a stronger showing than in past years (in the last poll he only got 367 votes and was ranked 19th). mostly because of his fight in the Gunga mansion, and his cheekily censored name reveal to...

Hawks, who is also going to rank pretty high here, I think. might be he loses some points for killing off Twice, but his back was basically to the wall there. and he has always been very popular, and I think season 4 will also give him a boost, along with his heavy involvement in the first half of the War arc

Tomura was already in 6th place last year and I think he cracks the top 5 this year. he’s gotten exponentially more popular since the MVA arc, and got a boost in the last poll even though his flashback had only just barely happened, and he hadn’t finished Awakening yet and all that stuff. anyway, so he’s only gotten cooler and more tragic since then so I think he makes a big play here

Kirishima, Momo, Tokoyami, and Mina should also hopefully do well, since the poll opened right in the middle of all that Gigantomachia action, and Toko had just got done being an absolute badass and protecting his birb dad. I don’t think he’ll quite make it to the top ten, but he should

and last but not least, I’m hoping that Mirko will come out and take the polls by storm, although I have no clue how popular she is in Japan lol. she’s clearly Horikoshi’s favorite though. she SHOULD be everyone’s favorite, but I mean, we’ll see how it goes

anyway that’s it as far as predictions! and so now, through the magic of writing stuff at different times, we will fast-forward to the part where we actually find out the results!

OH MY GOD YES, STEAMPUNK KHLKSLLKL. HERE FOR IT. JOLLY GOOD SHOW. 5 STARS

Kacchan looks SO COCKY and SO HAPPY and SO ADORABLE, YES I SAID IT. he is adorable as FUCK. I don’t quite know what it is about this particular Kacchan that just screams “LOOK HOW FUCKING CUTE MY STUPID, LOUD SON IS WITH HIS BIZARRE WINDOWPANE-LOOKING CONVERTIBLE SUNGLASS GOGGLES and his POORLY TIED CRAVAT”, but I think it’s because he looks like if a Digimon character and a FMA character had a baby

anyway, so it looks like most of the people present here are more or less who we expected to see. except that I can’t tell for sure if that’s Dabi or Shindou, and if it’s Shindou I’m going to punch somebody in the face so you will have to excuse me

Iida wearing a TRENCHCOAT and a TOP HAT with ENGINE EXHAUST GOGGLE ACCENTS is my new favorite Iida of all time. take note how there is no possible way he can wear those goggles with them sitting on top of his hat like that. plus he’s already got glasses on. these are just purely for aesthetic and IF THAT AIN’T JUST THE STEAMPUNK WAY

Deku out here speaking softly and carrying a lead pipe. Kacchan you best look out. seems like he’s done watching you take first place year after year while he languishes in the number two spot. your only hope is that he trips while attacking you because his boots are unbuckled

Shouto’s standing over there with the rest of the non-first-and-second-place characters, but what are the odds his results are actually within spitting distance of Deku’s same as always. anyway he doesn’t mind, though. also his outfit is by far the most sensible one here, but if you look closely he’s got some sort of fire extinguisher/jet pack thing strapped to his back that’s got a control switch on his belt. Shouto are you jetpacking or putting out fires

Kirishima out here all “I’m not sure what steampunk is so I’m just going to take off my shirt and pose”

AIZAWA WITH THE EYEPATCH SKLKSDLKFJLSKJLDFKJSLDFFJLDKSJFL:KS. SIR. SIR. also, lowkey furious that Horikoshi refuses to show us the automail leg that he is clearly sporting here but which we just can’t see, SHOUTO MOVE GODDAMMIT

Endeavor has TWO fire extinguisher-slash-jetpacks. THE BETTER TO... WHATEVER. look at you here in the top ten again. you really live for that controversy

HAWKS OUT HERE WITH HIS STEAMPUNK BEATS BY DRE AND HIS WEARING A RING ON EVERY FINGER. nice to see you’ve still got your wings there, kiddo. then again Deku still has both of his arms too so who even knows what is going on

BUT SERIOUSLY THOUGH, IS THIS DABI OR SHINDOU. as if I don’t know the truth deep down in my heart. y’all I am gonna flip lmao. it’s not that I dislike Shindou, strictly speaking. but just... I can’t explain what it is, but if you put him and AFO next to each other and told me “you can only punch one”, I would be having a serious crisis. just, THIS FUCKING GUY, idek. STOP SMILING

Tomura looks like he just wandered onto the set here by mistake and has no idea where he is or what is going on. it’s because you’re wearing a bigass severed hand that’s blocking your entire view, Tomura. just take the hand off your face my sweet murder dumpling

anyway! so I managed to also find a link to the full poll results while somehow managing to avoid spoilers, and then I wanted to compare the results to last year’s poll, and so I made... this

hopefully you can all see this. if you’re on desktop you might be screwed, but on mobile you should be able to click and enlarge it. I mean, assuming you actually give a fuck about boring poll analysis spreadsheets lmao

anyway, so there were actually 13k fewer votes cast this year which is a bit of a surprise. is the series not still growing in popularity? do people apparently have better things to do during their quarantine lol

anyways but despite this, and despite getting 8k fewer votes overall, Kacchan still managed almost twice as many as his closest competitor. well fought, Deku. please put down that pipe

I somehow always underestimate the power of ship popularity to influence these things. but for example, it looks like Present Mic got that Vigilantes Trio bump. ride that wave for all it’s worth my man! hell, you got me on board

Iida fucking Tenya somehow got some sort of POWER BOOST out of NOWHERE which I can’t explain at all lmao, but I’m here for it. NOT BAD FOR AN OLD MAN

Sero managed to get the exact same number of votes in both 2019 and 2020. clearly the most loyal fans in the business

Mirko being all the way down at #20 is, of course, a travesty, and I hereby nominate her to be the one to punch Shindou in the face

ngl though, the lack of a single female character in the top ten hurts just a bit. it’s not overly surprising, but still. the worst part of it is that even if you kicked Shindou to the curb and moved everyone else up one slot, it would still be all dudes since Mic beat out Momo by a margin of a little more than a hundred votes. hard to stay mad at Mic for too long, though. ah well

Tomura actually lost a bunch of votes which is a genuine surprise to me. I know the villain standom isn’t as dominant in Japan as it is in Western fandom, but still. you can go ahead and punch Shindou too I guess

Tokoyami lowkey doubled his vote count over the past year while hiding down there at #18. he is slowly becoming more powerful. biding his time

anyway so I think that’s it! I mean not really, but I’m getting kind of tired lol. so just, you know, insert the usual gripes at Overhaul’s ranking here, although we can be happy about Magne making her way onto the list (r.i.p.), and Mineta and AFO taking a very satisfying slide down (all the way out, in AFO’s case; good riddance you bum). Hadou also got a huge boost which is awesome. Mustard’s persistent ownership of the #36 spot will forever remain a mystery to me, but oh well

anyways, this was fun. and I really do feel like everyone is looking away on purpose so that when Deku brains Kacchan with that pipe in about two seconds from now, there will be no witnesses, oh my fucking god

[everybodyscupoftea]

the breakup

pike jj x reader (ft. cody, tyler, and zach)

the long awaited moment :)

warnings: cursing, light editing

Seeing one of his best friends thriving with a guy, a guy who’d fully replaced him in her life, really fucking hurt JJ. He was sitting in his room one afternoon, door shut, listening to the whole group of them bickering over what movie to watch. Brooke was sitting at his desk, typing something on her laptop, JJ couldn’t remember what, and he couldn’t help but notice that when Brooke was over, he had to keep his door shut.

He wasn’t sure if it was something he did intentionally or just reflexively. He knew Brooke wasn’t welcome, hell, Brooke knew she wasn’t welcome. The damage had been done and there was no replacing the bitterness the others felt toward her.

JJ wasn’t an idiot, he saw how fucked up the way Brooke treated his friends was. He noticed her cruel remarks behind her friends’ backs, and it made him wonder exactly what she said when he wasn’t around. 

It hadn’t always been like that, at first, Brooke was sweet, wanting to meet his friends and get along with them. They were standoffish first, and maybe that’s the reason JJ was hesitant to give it up. Technically, he had the moral high ground here.

Plus, Brooke was an excellent distraction. She was attractive, she liked him, and she was always willing to hang out, great for helping him avoid addressing his true feelings and why he felt so hurt about Zach.

He really thought it would get better after the talk he had with her. She crashed their anniversary, and that was admittedly not his best move, but they talked it out and she agreed to be less confrontational and more friendly. Which backfired the second the boys found out he was still dating her. They’d been pissed.

JJ often thought about Cody’s hissed, “You finally realize how she treats us but refuse to break up with her, I see where your priorities really lie.” It didn’t seem fair. Why should he be miserable and alone just because they didn’t like the girl he was dating.

What he was failing to realize, or maybe he had deep down but was avoiding it, was that he’d get his friends back, he wouldn’t be alone. Sure they’d make him grovel, and he’d probably have to pay for a lot of lunches and dinners before they fully forgave him, but he’d never be alone.

Until he realized that, though, he would. JJ would never really get his friends back as long as Brooke was involved, and if Brooke wasn’t out of the picture soon, he’d really damage the relationship beyond repair. Tyler words echoed frequently, “If you choose Brooke over your best friends, the ones here for you since day one, you’re not the guy I thought you were.”

-

Zach was getting ready to head to the fieldhouse, zipping up his team jacket in your room before he had to head out, and he gently suggested, “Maybe you should invite JJ to the game.” 

Immediately you were shaking your head, “Absolutely not, this game is important to you, I know pro scouts are going to be there. I don’t want to ruin it.”

He smiled softly, “I just want you to be happy.”

“And I want you to be supported without distraction. Cody, Tyler, and I will be there, front row, cheering you on.”

Zach bent down to kiss your forehead, “Fine, but the scouts aren’t even there for me, I’m not a senior yet.”

“But they’ll notice you, I’m sure of that.”

With a shrug, he inhaled deeply, “Maybe, but it’s not my place yet.”

Shoving him gently toward the door, you waved, a proud smile on your face, “Knock ‘em dead, tiger.”

“Love you,” he answered, wiggling his fingers in a wave goodbye.

“Love you more,” you responded, not letting him get the last word as the door swung shut behind him.

When it was finally time for you to head to the field, you were pretty sure you were more nervous than Zach was. Rubbing your thighs in an anxious gesture, you sighed, ready for the game to be over.

Tyler grabbed both of your hands, stopping you and catching your attention. He squeezed them with a smile, “Zach will be fine.”

“I know, I’m not sure why I’m so nervous.”

“Because you want him to succeed. That’s love, bitch.”

You snorted, “Yeah, I suppose it is.”

“Now, stop stressing, How many times has he told you you’re his good luck charm?”

“Many.”

“Mhmm. And you’re here, so everything will be fine.”

And Tyler was right of course, Zach played an excellent game, one of his best of the season. You were bouncing up and down, waiting for him to finish showering and find you in the parking lot. Cody and Tyler had driven, but you wanted to ride back with Zach.

He grinned widely when he saw you waiting by his truck and sped up. You ran the last few steps when he got close, launching yourself into his arms. Zach’s happy laugh made you smile as he spun you around a few times before setting you down.

“Holy shit, Zach. You were on fire today.”

He blushed, “Well, what can I say, I was trying to impress my favorite girl in the stands.”

Rolling your eyes, you tugged him down by his jacket to kiss him. Zach immediately returned the kiss, and when you broke away, you whispered, “Cheesy,” to him with a soft smile.

“Only for you.”

-

Cody and Tyler got back to the dorm and were a little shocked to see JJ sitting at his desk, door wide open. Thankfully Brooke was nowhere in sight. He glanced up to see them standing there and took in their Duke baseball sweatshirts, a dark look crossing his face.

“So, baseball fans now, huh?”

“Gotta support our bro,” Tyler answered, unfazed.

“Thought you liked basketball.”

He shrugged, “I’m multifaceted. I know you wouldn’t understand.”

JJ huffed indignantly, “At least I’m not bending over backwards for a dude I barely know.”

“You barely know him, sure, but we’re friends with him.”

“He’ll drop you so fast if he goes pro. And that’s even if he’s good enough to go pro, which I doubt.”

Cody and Tyler weren’t fully aware of Zach’s situation and the lack of real support he received from his family, but they’d noticed you make a point to remind him how well he’s doing and how good he is. It didn’t sit well with them that a guy who’d never played baseball competitively in his life was criticizing their friend.

“Have you ever seen him play?” Tyler asked incredulously, “he’s so good so you can fuck off with that nonsense.”

JJ rolled his eyes, “Bias.”

And this time Zach wasn’t there. Tyler felt the rage running through him at JJ’s dismissal and before Cody realized what was happening, he was striding across the room. JJ’s eyes widened and he started to back away, but it was too late.

Tyler swung, landing a solid hit right on his mouth, busting his lip instantly. JJ’s hand flew to his shirt, pulling it over his bleeding lip. Tyler was breathing heavily, hand still clenched by his side in case he needed to hit again.

“Keep his name out of your fucking mouth, Maybank,” and then he was gone.

Cody stared wide eyed at JJ before turning and running to their room to shut the door. Tyler was pacing, running a hand repeatedly through his hair, and he looked up when Cody locked the door. He smiled, “How’d that feel.”

“Really good,” Tyler admitted, “very cathartic. You should try.”

Cody snorted, “I’ll let you handle the hitting, Rocky. I’d probably break my knuckles.”

Tyler laughed and the tension broke. He sniffed and sat on his bed, “Should we sent it in the groupchat or keep it to ourselves.”

“I’m willing to take this one to the grave if you are.”

Spitting in his hand, Cody offered it to Tyler. In turn, Tyler spit in his hand and they shook. No one would ever know.

-

Except you knew immediately when you saw JJ’s busted lip. Your eyebrows shot up and you glanced at the two boys who were smiling innocently and shook your head, “I won’t ask.”

“Thanks,” Tyler responded, “but trust me, you would’ve hit him too.”

Which you quickly interpreted that he’d said something insulting about either you or Zach. Exhaling once, you nodded, “Fine, I’m not here for him anyway, I’m here to remind the two of you about the baseball party we’re leaving for in ten minutes that you clearly forgot about.”

“Oh fuck,” Cody winced, “that’s tonight?”

“It is, you guys still coming?”

“Absolutely,” Tyler answered, “let me get dressed real quick.”

You sat on his bed while the two of them scrambled to find something acceptable to wear. It took Tyler changing his shirt for the fourth time for you to speak up, “Hey, y’all look fine. Let’s go.”

He rolled his eyes, “If we’re showing up with the prettiest girl at the party, we have to look the part.”

“Oh hush,” you pushed him away, “you looked really good in the first sweater.”

Tyler laughed, “You couldn’t have told me that before I changed four times?”

“Nope, now come on, we’re going to lose Cody if we don’t get moving soon.”

He sighed and pulled the first sweater back on before grabbing a pair of shoes and heading to the door where Cody had been standing for the past 10 minutes. Cody looked up from his phone, “Don’t you look hot, Ty.”

Tyler rolled his eyes, “Shut up.”

Cody reached over to ruffle his hair, Tyler squawking indignantly when he did so, slapping his hand away. You sighed, stepping between them, “Children, let’s go.” 

“You’re driving?” Cody asked as the three of you got on the elevator.

“Yep, my turn to DD.”

“Shotgun,” Tyler called.

“Hey,” Cody protested, “you can’t call it if you can’t even see the car.”

“I can and I did. Fuck you.”

Sighing again, you told Tyler, “We both know that’s not how it works.”

With a shit eating grin, he answered, “I know. I’m messing with him since he fucked up my hair.”

“Hair looks great,” Cody reassured, “as always.”

-

JJ was completely unsure how Brooke managed to pull an invite to a baseball party. They were notoriously exclusive on campus, not letting many people without a direct connection to a player in. But she had.

“How the fuck did you manage this?” he finally muttered as they walked to the door.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, “Don’t you listen to me when I talk? My cousin plays.”

So apparently he didn’t listen to her much. She showed the guy at the door the text from her cousin and they walked right in, music playing loudly through the house. Brooke grabbed his hand and dragged him toward the kitchen, and JJ looked around, not recognizing a single person.

And then Zach came downstairs. JJ’s gut twisted and he looked away, trying to avoid the boy who likely hated him. Brooke noticed and huffed, “Literally he’s so harmless, babe. Remember he stopped Tyler from punching you.”

Which was true. Zach caught his eye and nodded at him in greeting. JJ nodded back and kept moving until they reached the drinks. He drove, so Brooke grabbed a drink and he grabbed a water bottle out of the cooler shoved in the corner.

Brooke gave him a weird look, “Not even one beer?”

“Not really feeling up to a party.”

She rolled her eyes, “Then why the fuck did you come?”

JJ furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, “Because I’m your boyfriend.”

“So you think I need supervision? You don’t trust me?”

“I, no-” he tried to come up with an acceptable answer, “it’s just in case something goes wrong to keep you safe. And I’m always your plus one, figured I could just come to drive.”

With a scoff, she answered, “Could’ve just dropped me off. Now you’re going to keep me from having fun, stick in the mud.”

JJ was a little hurt, but he chose not to answer, not wanting to start yet another fight with her. He nodded and let it go. Brooke rolled her eyes again and JJ couldn’t help but take note that she’d been doing it a lot lately. He wasn’t sure what that meant.

That’s when he saw you, Cody, and Tyler walk through the door, not even needing to show the guy an invite. The player at the door yelled out, “Davis, your girl’s here!” JJ wasn’t sure how he heard over the music, but Zach’s head whipped around and a grin lit up his face.

You waved and made your way to the crowd to kiss him. JJ watched, a weird feeling in his chest, and rubbed over his heart when your group didn’t even look his way. He heard a rushing sound in his ears and went lightheaded. Fuck, he realized, the three of you wanted nothing to do with him.

The startling realization left him cold as Brooke waved at who he assumed was her cousin. He walked over and greeted JJ, “Sup, dude. Nice to meet you. Andy right?”

JJ froze, head whipping over to stare at Brooke. She had gone pale and his jaw dropped, “Nah, dude, I’m JJ.”

The boy’s eyes narrowed and he frowned, “I- my bad. Must’ve gotten you confused with someone else.” Before JJ could respond, he was gone, clearly not ready to face the fallout of his careless words.

Clearing his throat in an attempt to get rid of the knot, JJ turned to Brooke, “Who’s Andy?”

“He’s my partner in geology, you know that.”

“Oh, the boy who flirts with you all the time?”

Her smile looked forced, “That’s the one.”

“Mhmm, and why did your cousin seem to know his name but not mine?”

“I’ve complained about him and his flirting before to my cousin.”

“Right,” JJ wasn’t sure if he should believe her or not, “I think we need to have a talk.” Standing up, he pulled her behind him to the bathroom downstairs. Not wanting to make a scene in the living room.

Brooke’s eyes narrowed, “You’re going to do this right now, embarrass me at this party?”

“Are you cheating on me?” he asked once the door was finally shut.

“No! I’m not that kind of person,” she defended.

JJ scoffed, “Why don’t I believe you right now?”

Hands thrown up, she yelled, “I don’t know, but that’s a you problem.”

“Being cheated on is not a me problem. It’s a you being an asshole problem.”

“JJ,” she said lowly, “I didn’t cheat on you, honestly. I-” she paused, biting her lip, “I thought about it, but nothing happened.”

Blinking a few times to process, JJ managed to croak out a disbelieving, “What?”

Brooke, clearly fed up, scoffed, “Don’t act like that, do you even realize how painful it is to watch your boyfriend pine after a girl who clearly knows him better. God she won’t even give you the time of day that way and you still watch her.”

His eyebrows shot up, “That’s so untrue. I’ve almost ruined those relationships forever because I stood up for you.”

“Thanks for doing the bare minimum,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“No,” he pointed at her, “you don’t get to take the moral high ground when you literally considered cheating on me.”

“But I didn’t!”

“Brooke, you didn’t physically cheat on me, but by considering it, I’d say you did.”

“Come on,” she started, fully turning to face him, “we can work through this.”

“I think,” he paused, trying to stop the shake in his voice, “I think we should break up.”

Brooke shook her head fiercely, “No, no. We’re solid, we can get through this.”

JJ sighed, running a hand through his hair, “Come on, Brooke, the writing’s been on the wall for weeks.”

She couldn’t argue with that. Before she could respond someone was pulling at the doorknob trying to get in. JJ cleared his throat, “Occupied.”

“Hurry up!” a familiar voice yelled, and he heard your giggle.

Brooke’s eyes hardened and she threw the door open, startling you, “Fuck you and fuck your stupid friends.”

You blinked, stunned, and turned to JJ for an explanation. He looked sad and resigned, “Sorry. She’s a little upset.”

Zach caught his eye and looked sympathetic, “Sorry man, I know you liked her.”

Cody’s head swiveled back and forth between him and Zach, “Wait what, what’s going on?”

Your jaw dropped as you put the pieces together, “Holy fuck, you did it?”

“Did what?” Cody whined, tired of being left out.

“I, uh, I broke up with her,” JJ answered, voice a little shaky.

Cody beamed and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking a little, “Tonight we drink to celebrate!” 

You laughed, leaning back into Zach, “Congrats, Maybank. Knew you could do it.”

Tyler reached out, offering his fist for JJ to bump for the first time in months. JJ did cautiously before stepping fully out of the bathroom, following Cody and Tyler to the kitchen.

He felt light and heavy at the same time, and Brooke was nowhere to be found. For the first time in a while, he felt like he could breathe.

You and Zach joined the three of them soon after and JJ relished the feeling. Turns out he’d really missed you guys.

[heyitssmiller]

Chop It Like It’s Hot

Chapter 10: You’re Shrimp-ly Amazing

This is it! We’ve officially reached the end of this story! Thank you so much to everyone who’s read and kept up with this - I really hope you enjoyed all the cooking and pining and fluff. @lumosinlove Thank you for letting me run away with your characters and go completely overboard! You’ve created such wonderful characters that I can’t help but want to write about <3

Tag List:  @peanut-in-the-goal @whataboutmyfries @raxelle-nite-in-gale @heyoitslysso @spookydiyharrypotterbat

Masterlist for Chop It Like It’s Hot

.

Leo stopped in front of Logan and Finn’s apartment door and fished his keys out of his pocket, flipping through them until he found the key to their door - he had a key now. 

He had barely opened the door before he was tackled by both of his boys.

“Peanut butter.” Finn said happily, face buried in Leo’s chest.

Logan looked up at him with bright, happy eyes that were crinkling at the corners. “God, we missed you.”

Leo smiled excitedly and let them lead him inside the apartment. “Missed you - mmph.” He stopped talking as Logan surged up and kissed him, cradling his jaw in a calloused hand. Leo felt the tension leave his shoulders and kissed back, hands on Logan’s waist and sneaking underneath his sweatshirt. When he finally had the air to breathe, he finished his sentence. “Missed you too.”

“Stop being a Leo hog.” Finn grumbled good-naturedly, stepping in to give Leo a long, lingering kiss that left him speechless.

“Welcome ho – I mean, welcome back.” Finn said. “We made dinner. And before you make that face, it’s a recipe from Celeste. We even called her while cooking to make sure we were doing everything right.”

I love you two.

Leo didn’t say it out loud – none of them had. But hopefully soon. Instead he said, “Sounds perfect. What’s for dinner?”

“Hey, y’all, and welcome back to Cajun Cooking! A lot of people have requested that I do this recipe, so today we’re making shrimp etouffee. This is a Louisiana classic and there are a lot of different recipes out there but this is my mama’s recipe, so it’s very authentic. You can also use crawfish in this recipe, but mama always used shrimp because she knew a shrimp fisherman and could get a better deal.” Leo smiled at the camera set up in the kitchen, then looked over to his boys.

“Today we’ve got some familiar faces here to be my sous chefs for the day and help me out. If you watched the last season of Worst Cooks, then you’ll definitely recognize them.”

Logan and Finn stepped into view. Logan waved awkwardly while Finn gave the camera a mock salute. “Sup.”

“So first, we’ve got to start with preparing our fresh shrimp.” Leo said, holding up a shrimp that hadn’t been deconstructed yet. Finn made a disgusted face at it. “Start by grabbing your shrimp and just take the head off. You should feel where the head ends and the rest of the shrimp begins, so just grab there and pull.”

Logan and Finn shared a look of mild horror. Leo, like always, was unfazed.

“Next, hold where the legs are and peel back on the outer shell until you’re left with the soft shrimp meat on the inside. The legs should come off at the same time, too. Now be sure to save those shells! We’re going to use it for the shrimp stock later on. Make sure you pull the tail off, too.” He looked over at the other two. “Sound good?”

“Um…”

“It’s not so bad. I’ll do it with you.” Leo slowly showed them how to do it again, then motioned for them to get started.

“These look so gross.” Finn said, hesitantly holding a shrimp by the tail. Logan smirked and grabbed a shrimp before slowly bringing it closer to Finn’s face, those beady little eyes staring into his soul. Finn shrieked and scrambled backwards while Logan and Leo laughed.

They all got started on preparing the shrimp. Leo still did over half of the work, but he got to watch the other two grimace and flinch as they worked, which was pretty entertaining.

“While they’re finishing up, I’m going to show you a quick and easy way to devein shrimp.” Leo said, grabbing a de-shelled shrimp. “Start by making a slit along the middle of the back with a small knife and pull the dark vein out. Most people just rinse the shrimp under cold water to clean them, but sometimes this isn’t enough to completely clean the shrimp. In Japanese cooking, they actually clean shrimp with potato starch. The potato starch absorbs the smell and dirty particles from shrimp really well, so that’s what I usually do. Just grab some potato starch and rub it all over the shrimp and then rinse it all off. See how dirty the starch gets as you scrub the shrimp? That’s some clean shrimp right there.”

Leo looked over at his boys, smiling softly as they meticulously deveined shrimp. “How are we doing, sous chefs?”

“No one told me that shrimp shells can be sharp.” Logan said, sending him a playful glare. “Also, these are really gross.”

“But it’s going to taste so good.” Leo cajoled with puppy dog eyes that were proven to consistently work on Finn and Logan. Logan sighed, lips twitching as he fought a smile while Finn just melted.

They all got back to work deveining and cleaning shrimp until they were all done.

“Next we’re going to make our shrimp stock. If you guys could chop half of an onion, celery, and two garlic cloves, that would be great.”

Logan grabbed the vegetables while Finn grabbed two knives.

“And please don’t cut yourselves.” Leo hastily added with a grimace. “I taught you knife-handling, please tell me you haven’t forgotten it.”

Logan leaned up and kissed his cheek. “You worry too much, baby.” Then his eyes widened and he glanced at the camera guiltily. “Shit. We can edit that out, if you want.”

Leo didn’t even have to think about it. He reached over and tangled his fingers with Logan’s. “I’m fine with it if you are.” He glanced over at Finn, who had stopped chopping his onion and was looking at them with teary eyes. “Finn?”

“One of these days,” He said with a laugh, “I’m gonna make the onions cry.”

The other two laughed with him, shuffling over to hug him. Logan reached up and wiped away the tears. “You’re ridiculous.”

Finn shrugged. “Yeah. But I’m happy.”

“So are we.” Leo said, unable to contain his smile. “Ready to get back to cooking?”

***

They had invited people over to eat all the shrimp etouffee at Logan and Finn’s apartment after they were done recording. So sure enough, at six o’clock on the dot, there was a loud knock on the door.

“Come on in!” Logan called as Leo added more Tabasco to the pot and Finn watched as people piled into their apartment.

This. This was what he wanted for the rest of his life. His boys next to him and his friends in the living room talking loudly over each other.

This was home.

Dumo, Celeste, and the kids were the last to enter. Dumo made a beeline to the team to try and break up the bickering that had started up while the kids immediately swarmed Logan, clamoring for attention.

Celeste smiled apologetically. “Well, this is chaotic.”

“It’s nice.” Leo said, quickly sampling his dish. “Much better than an empty apartment.”

She hummed sympathetically, resting her arms on the kitchen counter separating them. “I remember that. Having hockey player partners who travel all the time is tough, isn’t it? And to be long distance, too.” She whistled lowly. “Have you considered moving?”

Leo looked over at Logan listening patiently to the kids and Finn washing dishes at the sink and couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah. Yeah I have.” He laughed in disbelief. “Is that crazy? We haven’t even known each other for a year.”

She shrugged. “Are you happy?” At Leo’s nod, she continued, “Then who cares if it’s early by society’s standards? I, for one, know those two would be over the moon if you moved in. They pout when you’re gone.”

He laughed fondly. “That doesn’t surprise me at all.”

“Oh! I’ve been meaning to ask you this for weeks now and it just keeps slipping my mind. Could you share your jambalaya recipe? I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since you made it.”

“Well…” Leo winced. “It’s actually a family recipe. We don’t want everyone to get their hands on it, you know?”

“I mean, we’ll be practically family soon enough.” Celeste teased. Leo smiled so broadly that those dimples could’ve been seen from space.

“Give me your chocolate cake recipe and it’s a deal.”

Celeste laughed loudly and looked over to Logan, who was shuffling over with Katie clinging tightly to him. “I like this one.”

“Yeah,” Logan agreed. “He’s a keeper.”

“Yo, are we ready to eat yet?” Pots shouted from the living room. “Kasey gets grumpy when he’s hungry.”

“Do not.” Kasey grumbled.

“We’re ready.” Leo called. “Hope you boys like some spice.”

“Even if you think you do, brace yourselves.” Finn added. “Leo’s got a heavy hand with the Tabasco.”

“Because it tastes good on everything.”

Logan squinted at him. “Does it, though?”

“Do you want me to prove it?”

“No.”

***

They arrived at the rink early, still blinking sleep out of their eyes and yawning and leaning into each other for warmth.

“You ready to skate?” Finn asked, leading the way to the equipment room.

“Sure. I’m probably a little rusty, though. I haven’t skated since high school.”

Logan closed the door behind them, giving Leo a curious look. “Why’d you quit?”

Leo sighed. “I was a gay kid in the south. Hockey’s not known for being very accepting even when you live in more tolerant places. But in Louisiana…” He shrugged and grabbed a pair of skates in his size. “It wasn’t worth it, no matter how much I loved to play.” Looking at their sad expressions, he hurried to continue, “But it’s fine. I don’t regret it. I found where I was supposed to be, and I love what I’m doing. And I wouldn’t have met y’all if I hadn’t gone to culinary school.”

“It’s still not fair.”

“No,” Leo agreed, moving to stand in front of Logan. “But now kids in the same situation have you two and Cap to look up to. And that makes a world of difference. Now, are we going to skate or not?”

Logan and Finn lead him to the locker room, where they grabbed their own skates, and then down the tunnel to the ice. They all laced up their skates and glided out onto the ice.

“See? Not too rusty.” Logan said, leaning forward to look at Leo on the other side of Finn. “I’m sure you’ll do fine at family skate.”

“Thanks for inviting me, by the way.” Leo said, quickly adding, “It’s just… I know we haven’t been together all that long, but y’all mean so much to me, so being able to get to know your friends and family is –” 

He trailed off as Finn skated in close and kissed him oh-so-gently before leaning back and running his hand tenderly through the gray tuft of hair at his forehead.

“I love you, Peanut.”

Leo sucked in a breath and stared at him.

“We love you.” Logan amended, joining their little huddle.

Leo smiled softly, his heart feeling like it was overflowing. He grabbed both of their hands in his. “I love you, too. God, I love you so much, you have no idea. I’m so glad you two got signed up for that show.”

“Dumo and Celeste, the accidental matchmakers.”

Finn grinned. “We should bake them a cake.”

“We can do that.” Leo agreed. “We’ve got nothing but time.”

And with that exciting new prospect they continued their skate across the ice, hand in hand.

[spine-buster]

The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Chapter 16

A/N: Y’all this chapter is TEN THOUSAND WORDS DON’T EVEN @ ME YOU’RE WELCOME AND *STANLEY TUCCI VOICE* GIRD YOUR LOINS

January 9th, 2020

Aberdeen Bloom was going to go insane.  

This was, perhaps, going to be the busiest day of her life thus far.  This morning was the outdoor practice in Nathan Phillips Square.  She and Peter were responsible for co-ordinating the photographers, videographers, and the team to get down to Nathan Phillips Square.  Once there, Aberdeen was responsible for helping to manage every single every single member of the media who were attending and covering the event, as well as Mayor John Tory and all the wives and girlfriends in attendance.  And though she had the afternoon off to get ready, tonight was the Night With the Blue and White, the organization’s biggest and most important event of the season.  She’d been studying the guest list for weeks, making sure Brendan would know – or at least pretend to know, thanks to her – every guest in attendance, and Peter was doing the same thing for Kyle.  She’d even bought a new dress and shoes for the occasion – fancier than anything she’d ever bought.  She knew that a lot of important and influential people would be there donating their money to the MLSE Launchpad initiatives around the city.  They were even hosting a grade three class of one of the schools who benefitted from the programs.  It was going to be busy, but hopefully fun.

There were cameras everywhere.  Aberdeen knew she’d probably get caught on a few of them, news ones or otherwise, but today, she didn’t care.  There were more important things on her mind.  Brendan was expecting a lot from her, and she knew she had to deliver.  She knew she could deliver.

When she had everything she needed from the office, she made her way down to the locker room.  She entered quietly as she saw all the guys in their long johns and extra base layers, listening to Keefe and Hakstol as they explained how the outdoor practice was going to be organized into teams and tournaments and points.  The energy from the guys was palpable and she could feel it within herself, too.  Cameras were already filming.  She saw William, already with his balaclava on, flash a peace sign to the camera pointed at him.  

When the guys began to put on their gear, she watched Brendan make his way across the room.  He was already wearing his peacoat and scarf.  “You ready?” he asked.

“As ready as I can be,” she smiled.

“Here, wear this,” he said, handing her a knit Leafs toque, the same one all the guys were wearing as well.  “You’re gonna need it.  It’s freezing out there.”

Aberdeen put the hat on as Brendan held her clipboard for her.  After adjusting it, she looked up at him.  “How do I look?”

If this was William asking the question to her, she would have come up with some smart aleck remark – a Costco hot dog or a bottle of Tums in assorted berries flavour.  But because it was Brendan, he said something much nicer.  “Like you’re a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs,” he smiled.  It almost made her swoon.  “Now let’s get this party started, shall we?”

***

“Devon!  Devon!  Your slot is up to interview John as he’s walking.  You cameraman is ready to go live in ten.”

“Carrie, stick with Travis for now.  Goat?  Where’s Goat?  We need him for the French interview.”

“Gerry, you can interview Kyle now, but you only have two minutes.”

Aberdeen was practically skipping to keep up with all the players and media walking through the Toronto streets as they made their way to a full Nathan Phillips Square.  She didn’t have long strides like these hockey boys did with her short little legs.  She noticed all the interviewers being where they needed to be to go live and let out a sigh of relief.  Walking through the streets of Toronto, going on the subway, and having fans, constructions workers, commuters, and more stop the guys left, right and centre for autographs and pictures and selfies was one thing, but once they got to the actual square, with all the media, it was going to be mayhem.  

And she needed to make sure they had Tim Horton’s cups around.

All the guys filed into the square, high fiving the waiting fans who were now screaming at their arrival before they went to the bench and started to put on their skates.  Once they were all there and accounted for (Aberdeen honestly felt like she was on a school trip; she didn’t know how her mother did this with six year olds when she could barely corral a bunch of grown men), she made her way towards where the media was waiting.  Peter was already there.

“Okay everyone!” he screamed out.  Nobody heard him.  “Everyone!” he screamed out again, louder this time, but still nobody heard him.  “Journalists!” he tried one more time.

“HEY!!!!!” Aberdeen screamed at the top of her lungs.  Every journalist and cameraperson there turned silent and looked her way.  Peter looked at her in shock, not knowing she was capable of such a volume.  “Alright!  Listen up!  You each have a designated station to place your cameras.  You are to stay in your station throughout the practice and not encroach on the space of the others!  Journalists and videographers, you’re following Peter who will lead you to your stations, where you are to remain until practice is finished, where you will then go into the media scrum!  Photographers, you are going to follow me and I will lead you to your stations.  Is everybody clear?!”

Everyone nodded their heads and divided themselves easily, with Aberdeen leading the photographers one way and Peter leading the journalists and videographers another.  When she got back to her original spot, that’s when she saw John Tory.  “Mr. Mayor!  Hello!  I’m Aberdeen Bloom, Brendan Shanahan’s executive assistant,” she smiled and shook his hand.  She noticed he was wearing a Leafs varsity jacket.  “Follow me, sir.  You get the sweet spot behind the bench.”

“You know, I look forward to this event every year,” he made small talk with her as they began walking.  “Did you say you were Brendan’s personal assistant?”

“Yes sir.  Although after getting the team on the subway and over here, I feel like I’m herding cats,” she joked.

John Tory laughed.  He’d laughed at a dumb joke she made.  Her dad would be so proud of her.  He’d probably brag at the next dinner party he and Orla had.  “You’re very lucky, Aberdeen.  I bet a million people would kill for your job.”

“I agree, sir.” Aberdeen tapped Brendan’s shoulder to get him to turn around.  “Mr. Mayor, Mr. Shanahan, I’m sure you’re well acquainted.”

The two men shook hands.  Brendan focused his attention quickly on Aberdeen.  “Would you mind meeting Jennifer Spezza and waiting for the others?”

Aberdeen nodded, leaving the mayor with him as she went back to the entrance, near the stairs to the subway.  Once there, she saw Jennifer waiting patiently.  Jennifer smiled once she saw Aberdeen, and extended her arms to hug her.  “It’s always nice to see you, Aberdeen,” she smiled.

“You too, Jen.”

“A bunch of the girls are coming together – Emma, Kat, Steph, Audrey, Saylor, and Alexis are coming together and should be here any second.  Aryne, Bee, and Alannah are running a bit late because of Jace, but only by like five minutes,” Jennifer informed her.  

“Okay, great.  We’ll wait till everyone gets here and then I’ll bring everyone over,” Aberdeen nodded her head.  

“How’s the day been so far?”

Aberdeen shrugged.  “Hectic, but fine.”

“Have you breathed?” Jen joked.

Aberdeen giggled.  “Barely.”

Only moments later, Kat was running up the stairs with Niylah on a harness and leash, and Emma carried Ralph in her arms.  Aberdeen pet the dogs until Aryne, Bee, and Alannah showed up.  Aberdeen led them all to their designated area, and stayed with them as the practice happened.  She liked them – they were a nice group of women, and although Aberdeen was never inserted into any supposed drama she may have heard rumblings about, she was sure they were all good people.  Once they were all there, Aberdeen knew her jobs for the day were done, and that she could breathe again.  Unless Brendan called her to do anything else, she was free.  

“Aberdeen, are we going to see you tonight?” Bee asked as the girls sipped on the complimentary hot chocolate provided for them.

“You bet,” she smiled.

“Oooooooh!” Jen smiled from beside Bee, hopping excitedly.  “What are you wearing?!”

“Oh, you’ll see,” Aberdeen winked.

“What colour is it?” Bee asked.

“Green.”

“Oooooooooooooh,” both women cooed as they made eyes with each other and then Aberdeen.  “You’re gonna knock all of us dead, Aberdeen.  You always look so stylish around the SBA.”

“I don’t think so,” she shook her head nervously.  “You guys are all way too glam for me.”

“Can I get a hot dog pleeeeease?” William’s loud, playful voice interrupted as he skated towards the entrance of the bench where all the girls were.  He shot the girls one of his signature smiles before one of the equipment guys laughed and shook his head as he called behind him for another hot dog.  He was handed one promptly, handing it to William who proceeded to stuff half of it into his mouth in one go.  

Aberdeen shook her head.  Now he was just being obnoxious.

***

“William’s jaw is going to hit the floor, Aberdeen,” Kasha mused as she took some last minute pictures of Aberdeen in her full look.  She’d been hyping Aberdeen up for the last ten minutes as she snapped pictures of her in their apartment – pictures that would no doubt be on Instagram later that evening, pending some light editing and filter choice – even though she should have left for Evan’s place five minutes ago, choosing to spend the night with him so she didn’t have to spend it alone.  

“Shut up.”

“The floooooooor!”

Okay, maybe Kasha was right.  Aberdeen looked good, and she knew she looked good.  She had on her new green chiffon dress, perfect for the occasion: ruched top, draped across her shoulders; triangle mesh cut-out on the bodice; pleated chiffon skirt dropping down to the floor.  Nude strappy hells.  Matching nude clutch.  The evil eye ring Willy got her was the only piece of jewelry she wore.  She gotten her hair professionally done at a salon: smooth and silky old Hollywood style waves with a centre part, held back by a fashionable and trendy velvet headband pinned in place so absolutely nothing would budge.  Even her makeup was flawless: dewy skin, a neutral eye with lashes and liner, and Charlotte Tilbury’s ‘Walk of Shame’ on her lips.  She was a vision.  She was owning every inch of her look.

Too bad she had to work tonight.

“Okay, I think my Uber is here,” Aberdeen said as she saw the notification on her phone screen.

“One more!  One more!” Kasha yelled before Aberdeen posed one last time and Kasha took a burst of photos.  “Okay, have a great night.  Knock Willy dead—”

“—This isn’t about Will—”

“—Knock Willy dead, be fun, and stay safe,” Kasha ended.  “You’re going to rock it, Aberdeen.  And don’t forget to network!”

The Uber dropped her off about six cars down from the entrance to the Royal York Hotel – it was already busy with a bunch of arrivals, but she knew Brendan wouldn’t be there for at least another ten or fifteen minutes.  Once she checked her coat in, she looked around, and Peter’s face was the first one she saw.

“Oh…oh my God, Aberdeen.  You look so chic,” Peter smiled, looking over her outfit.  

“Oh, thanks Peter,” she smiled back.  “You look quite dapper yourself.  We clean up pretty nice, don’t you think?”

“I’d say,” he quipped.  “Gotta make sure all these new suits fit before I go to the All-Star Game.”

Peter had been talking about the All-Star Game since at least Christmas.  It was the event he looked forward to the most all season, even more than this, because of all the people he was able to meet and network with.  This year, it was being hosted in St. Louis, and he, Brendan, and Kyle were going down together.  She’d have at least eight days off during that time period.  She was basically counting down the days.  “Well, wear this one.  You look good.”

“You want some champagne before our bosses get here?” he asked, already flagging down one of the waitresses.  He took two flutes off the tray and handed one to Aberdeen.  “To the dream job,” he said, raising the glass slightly.

Aberdeen smirked.  “To the dream job.”

They both drank the champagne all in one go.  Aberdeen loved champagne, and of course this was the good champagne – so she almost immediately wanted another.  When another waiter came by, they placed their empty glasses on his tray.  Peter left to go to the washroom quickly before Kyle got there.  Aberdeen was left alone.

That’s when she saw William.

He was in a suit, of course – a black, three-piece corduroy suit with a white shirt and black skinny tie – and his hair was tied back in a half ponytail like a European soccer player.  He’d trimmed his beard since that morning at the outdoor practice for a much more polished look – still stubbly and a bit scruffy (just how she liked him…fuck) but presentable and respectable.  Appropriate for a gala full of rich people.  He looked great.  The suit fit him perfectly.  His hair was shiny as hell – probably shinier than hers.  He stood confidently.

And then he saw her.  

His jaw dropped.  Literally dropped.  And when he finally realized it had dropped he brought his hand up to cover it, barely, his smile from ear to ear peeking through the weak attempt.  She hated to admit it, but she loved having that effect on him – she loved having that visible effect on him, one that made his jaw drop uncontrollably.  She mentally prepared herself as he began to walk over to her.  She knew she had to keep it cool.  If he made her weak at the knees barely five minutes into her attendance at the event, she’d be a goner.  

“Hey Will,” she smiled, a twinkle in her eye that dared him to give her another up-down.

“Aberdeen…I…” he paused, unable to find the words.  He even shook his head.  “You…I…wow!” he giggled out.  She really left him unable to form a cohesive sentence.  But she waited it out, not saying anything until he said something.  She wanted to make him suffer, if only a little bit.  “You look beautiful, minskatt,” he finally said, four cohesive words in a row that made sense.

“Thanks, Will.”

“I mean…you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen on any day, but this…” he said, licking his lips.  “I don’t know how I’ll be able to control myself all night.”

Aberdeen tried finding any hint of lie in what he was saying, but she couldn’t.  He was too bashful and it was all coming out so sincerely – he really didn’t have the words.  “I think it helps we’re seated at different tables.”

“Just means the desire will grow until the end of the night,” he said.  “So long as I get to look at you all night, I’ll consider myself a lucky guy.”

She was blushing at this point, and it wasn’t because of him blatant flirting – he was used to that.  She was blushing more about the fact that he meant every word, that every word was so sincere in his tone, that she could see how much she was really affecting him.  “You flatter me too much, Will.”

“You deserve it, minskatt.  You’re stunning.  The most beautiful girl in the room.  But how do I look?”

With nobody around, nobody to hear and nobody to record a witty remark, she smiled slightly.  “You’re the most handsome man in the room.”

Before she could say anything else, Peter came back.  And when Peter came back, William played it cool, and made some small talk before walking off, but as he walked off, he shot Aberdeen a look that followed her around the room.  Wherever he was standing, whoever he was talking to – William was always staring at her, giving her that look, and it sent shivers down her spine as she tried to keep up a conversation with Peter.

Brendan and Catherine finally arrived, along with Kyle and Shannon, and Peter and Aberdeen got to work.  Standing discreetly behind them at all times, they whispered the names of all the attendees who approached them throughout the party, starting in the foyer and moving into the Canadian room – the massive ballroom where everything would be taking place.  And there were a lot of guests.  With over 1000 people in attendance, Aberdeen and Peter needed to know…well, probably around three hundred of them.  She’d been studying for weeks.

“That’s Brian J. Porter, the President and CEO of Scotiabank.”

“Wendy Freeman, the president of CTV News.”

“That’s Gary Doncaster, of the law firm Doncaster, Perlman, and Dobbes.”

Brendan played it cool the entire time.  After Kyle and Peter had separated from them for a bit, they rejoined each other.  From practically across the room, she saw William sipping on a glass of water, watching her intently.  He set it down at what she presumed to be his table.  She tried to focus on the job at hand.  

“Peter?” she heard Kyle say suddenly, in a nervous voice.  Someone and his wife were waving at him and Brendan, slowly making their way towards them, and Kyle clearly needed to know who they were.  

“Oh!  Um…oh my God,” Peter began, panicking.  “I just – I can’t remember what his name is.  I—I just saw his name this morning on the list.”

Aberdeen began panicking too now.  She tried to urge Peter to figure it out, but he couldn’t get it.  “It’s…oh, I know this!  It’s something to do with…wait, he was…he was part of the…oh God!  I know this.  Um…”

The man and his wife were dangerously close.  Aberdeen swooped in behind Kyle.  “That’s Malcolm Mercer, the Chair of the Government and Public Affairs Committee of the Law Society of Ontario, and that’s the woman he left his wife for, Rebecca.”

Aberdeen even surprised herself with that.  She watched as Kyle politely greeted Rebecca first before shaking hands with Malcolm, starting some small talk with them.  She looked over at Peter, who was already looking at her.  “Thank you,” he said sincerely.

“I got you,” she nodded.

***

Brendan, Catherine, and Aberdeen were seated with Ron MacLean from Hockey Night in Canada, and an array of other guests who had paid top dollar to sit with the President of the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of whom was just a solidly rude aging man on his own personal power trip.  Thankfully, he wasn’t seated next to her, or Brendan for that matter, but she could still hear him: the stiff comments, the complaints.  Clearly, he only cared about sitting at this specific table.  Aberdeen would have to make sure that if he attended next year, he was nowhere near Brendan.

There was a traditional Indigenous land acknowledgement at the beginning – the rude man rolled his eyes, which made Aberdeen want to kill him right then and there – followed by a speech made by Brendan – the rude man was on his phone for half of it, not bothering to listen to Brendan’s words of inspiration and gratitude to everyone who donated for the cause.  When Brendan got back to the table, Christine Simpson came out, ushering in the grade three class onto the stage, the students all dressed up and walking in a straight line.  They waved at their parents who were at their own tables, jumping and jiggling excitedly as little kids did.  Aberdeen thought it was the cutest thing.  Christine interviewed some of the students, asking them about school, hockey, meeting the Leafs, and about the integrated classroom and nutrition program at their school – key parts of the MLSE Launchpad initiative.  The crowd was as enamoured with them as Aberdeen was.  A part of her wished it could just be the kids talking all night.  

When their interview was over, the kids waved goodbye to the crowd before the DJ began to play them off stage.  The opening notes of ‘Uptown Funk’ by Bruno Mars began playing, and the kids went crazy.  They stopped walking off stage.  They looked around to try to find where the music was coming from, but soon enough, a lot of the kids began to dance – shimmying from side to side, pumping their hands in the air, and twirling on one foot attempting pirouettes.  Christine was trying her best, but they weren’t moving.  

“Can someone get the kids off the stage so we can get a move on?” the rude man commented loudly, so loud Aberdeen could hear him above the music.  She was incensed by his comment, her blood boiling.  How dare he.  How dare he say something when this entire event was for charity – was for these kids on stage!  

So she took matters into her own hands.

She made a point to push her chair back as dramatically as possible, shaking the place settings on the table with the force of her hands.  Everybody at the table looked at her as she rose from her seat and began making her way towards the stage.  As she pulled the skirt of her dress up so she wouldn’t trip up the stairs, she made eye contact with one of the kids.  And instead of shuffling him towards the back, instead of helping Christine, who had hall but given up, she extended her arms and grabbed the little boy’s hands in hers and began dancing with him.  She was dancing on stage in front of over a thousand people with an eight year old.  And she wasn’t embarrassed one bit.  

As she danced, she watched as William began to make his way up to the stage from the opposite end, rushing up exactly like she had and extending his arms to begin dancing with another student, a girl, twirling her around.  Then she saw Bee McTavish, Morgan Rielly, and Jennifer and Jason Spezza, all at once, rush towards the stage too, laughing and dancing with the kids.  Before she knew it, the entire team was up there, as were their significant others, dancing with the kids and each other to Uptown Funk for the entire duration of the song.  Aryne and John, Saylor and Kasperi – they were all there.  As she danced, she made eye contact with William, who was already looking at her, a smile spread out on his face from ear to ear.  Jennifer gave her a double thumbs up.  Bee was laughing at Morgan’s horrible dancing, but the kid he was dancing with was absolutely loving it and mimicking every move.  

She barely noticed the crowd cheering and clapping along to the beat until the end of the song when there was a round of applause.  The kids finally got their cue and began heading offstage.  A few of them had to finish bowing before the audience, but once they were all gone, the team left the stage too, giant smiles on all their faces.  When Aberdeen returned to the table, she saw the rude man staring at her indignantly.  Meanwhile, Brendan was beaming.  

“Thank you for that,” he said as she took her seat beside him.  Even Catherine was smiling.  

“You’re not mad I did that?”

“Are you kidding?” he asked.  “That’s been the highlight of the night so far.  It’ll probably stay the highlight of the night.”

Aberdeen smiled.  “I had to do something to get that guy at the other end to shut up,” she whispered.

“Oh, I know, believe me.”

The night went on with its regularly scheduled events.  There was an interview portion with the big four European players – Andreas, Freddie, Will, and Kappy – in between the dinner courses.  There was a Q&A with Jason and Zach as well, and the highlight of the night, which was a game of Family Feud with the Leafs Legends – Darcy Tucker, Curtis Joseph, Daryl Sittler, Wendel Clark, and Doug Gilmour – and some of the current Leafs – John, Morgan, Auston, Mitch, and Tyson.  It was hilarious.  Aberdeen teared up at one point because she was laughing so hard.  

After dinner there was a lot of mingling – a lot of meeting new people and speaking about her position because everybody was just so interested about what Brendan Shanahan’s personal assistant did all day – and a lot of…well, staring.  William caught her eye around the room.  Wherever he was, wherever she was, whoever he was speaking to, whoever she was speaking to, whenever she even so much as just glanced his way, he was already looking, and whenever he so much as glanced her way, she was already looking.  He was true to his word in that he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her, that as long as he got to stare at her all night he’d consider himself a lucky man, because all he seemed to be doing was staring at her.  And as the night progressed, he got closer and closer, eventually ending up in her circle, and although the guests were delighted to see William Nylander, she was nervous but excited to see Will, Willy, the guy that so obviously couldn’t keep himself away from her.  

When the guests left, they were left alone.  Aberdeen gulped.  William looked pained.  “I can’t take it anymore,” he said, only loud enough for her to hear, despite there being no-one around them.  Brendan was on the other side of the room.

“Can’t take what?”

“You.  In that dress,” he clarified.  “You have no idea how good you look.  Every time I look at you, I just…you—you know how I feel about you, minskatt.”

When that nickname escaped her lips, tied together with the look on his face and the sparkle in his eye, Aberdeen almost melted right then and there.  “Will—”

“Can we get out of here?”

“No, Will,” she giggled.  Any other moment in time she would have scolded him for making the suggestion, but at this point she didn’t care.  “I’m technically still working.”

“Then let me get you a drink,” he offered.  “And let me take you home.  Please let me take you home after everything is done.  I’m desperate here.”

“Desperate?” she decided to play with him.  “Why?”

“Because of you.  Because you walk in here looking like that and you expect me to control myself?  All I’ve wanted to do all night is be next to you.  All I’ve wanted to do is be with you, be anywhere near you.  And it’s torture.  Torture that I can’t talk to you the way I want to talk to you.  Torture that I can’t touch you like I want to touch you.”

A shiver ran up her spine.  “You’re getting into inappropriate territory again, Will.”

“And I’ll say it again: can’t you tell by now that I don’t care that it’s inappropriate?”

The last time he’d said that to her, she replied with “And can’t you see that I do care?”  But she didn’t care anymore.  She honestly didn’t.  After what happened on Christmas (besides the fact that she was still wearing the ring – she hadn’t taken it off since) and on New Year’s, she knew that they had both ventured on to the inappropriate territory equally.  It was no longer just his fault, or the fault of his persistence.  They were equally to blame here.  She downed the last of her drink.  “I like it.”

He had a confused look on his face.  “You like what?”

“I like that you’re being inappropriate.”

Aberdeen couldn’t describe the smile that took over his face upon him hearing those words.  They were six words that told him everything he needed to know.  “Aberdeen, you can’t just say stuff like that and expect me to react normally,” he said, throwing her own words that she’d said to him so many times back at her.

“Maybe I don’t want you to react normally.”

“Aberdeen!  William!”

They looked to their side to see Bee McTavish approaching them.  Aberdeen could tell William hated the interruption, but because it was Bee, he softened.  “We’re gonna do some shots.  Want some shots?”

The first shot was tequila.  The second was a B-52, and Brendan even joined in.  Aberdeen could feel herself getting more giggly with each millilitre of alcohol that went into her system.  Giggly about the event.  Giggly that she was taking shots with the Toronto Maple Leafs.  

Giggly about William.

***

“Just one stop at Nelson Street, please,” William said to the Uber driver as he slipped into the car after Aberdeen.  Brendan, Catherine, Kyle, and Shannon had left the party early, so they weren’t able to see William confirming with Aberdeen that he could take her home, and they weren’t able to see him calling an Uber, and him grabbing their coats, and him leading Aberdeen to the much quieter side of the Fairmont Royal York for the Uber to pick them up so he could touch her waist and hold her hand and get close to her – closer than what was necessary – on a cold winter’s night while the rest of the guest list waited at the front of the hotel for cabs and Ubers.  “I know it’s a short ride, but I’ll give you a big tip.”

He was holding Aberdeen’s hand.

“Do you still have all those songs I downloaded for you?” Aberdeen asked as the driver started moving.

William thought it to be a random question.  “Of course I do.  Why would I delete them?”

“I have a new song you need to add,” she said.

He smiled.  “I added a song I heard on the radio that made me think of you,” he began to pull out his phone.

“Which one?”

He searched for the playlist in his Spotify, the former ‘Driving in Toronto at Night’ playlist he’d renamed to ‘Minskatt’.  He scrolled down to the bottom of the list before he found it.  He turned the volume on his phone all the way up before the opening notes of ‘Adore You’ by Harry Styles began playing.  He’d heard it all over the radio since December, and not only did the beat and rhythm reminds him of the type of music Aberdeen liked and put on the playlist, but when he actually listened to the lyrics, he knew he had to add it.

Aberdeen’s jaw dropped and a smile overtook her face.  “This is it.”

“What’s it?”

“This was the song I was just going to add.”

William smiled.  “Does that mean I have superior music taste now?” he joked.

Aberdeen giggled.  “You’re working on it.”

She began to sing, and William had never heard anything sweeter.  She was louder than when she half-mumbled, half-sang ‘Style’ by Taylor Swift in the passenger’s seat of his car when they were driving on the Gardiner into the downtown core.  Perhaps the shots had gotten to her, but they were so long ago and he was unconvinced.  More than anything, he just hoped her walls had finally crumbled, that she felt like she could be uninhibited in front of him like he always wanted her to be.  No degree of formality of being a hockey player and a personal assistant for that hockey player’s boss – instead, being just two kids in their early 20s falling for each other like they had six months ago when she wouldn’t shut up about her graduation or her writing or her favourite books and he couldn’t stop listening to her.

William didn’t know the lyrics off by heart like she did, but he was able to contribute certain lines he remembered.  Certain lines that would hammer a message home.  

I get so lost inside your eyes Would you believe it?

He looked at her when he sang them out loud, and she looked at him when she sang them out too, albeit more emphatically and with more swaying and dramatic hand motions.  It was like they were admitting to each other what they were really thinking; what they couldn’t say to each other in the presence of other people, but what they could say to each other alone in hotel rooms in the middle of the night or in the backs of Ubers after parties.

Honey I’d walk through fire for you Just let me adore you Like it’s the only thing I’ll ever do

Aberdeen bit her lip after they sang the chorus to each other.  She couldn’t believe they were doing this.  She couldn’t believe how quickly her walls had fallen.  She’d spent two months trying to forget him and four months trying to keep him at bay, only for the last three weeks to make all of that obsolete.  “Willy?” she asked, her voice sweet as the second verse began to play.

“Minskatt?” he prepared himself.

“I can’t believe you added Harry Styles on your own free will.”

William snorted.  This was why he was so enamoured with her.  “I can’t believe you think I wouldn’t.”

They arrived at her building, getting out of the car and slipping through the front doors, nodding politely at the concierge before walking to the elevator.  As they waited for it to come down, Aberdeen lay her head on William’s shoulder.  “My feet are fucking killing me,” she whispered.

“Are they?”

“They’re, like, pounding,” she said.  “They’re pretty to look at but fuck they hurt.”

Before she could realize what was happening, William had scooped her up in his arms, shifting to carry her bridal style as the elevator pinged to signal its arrival.  “What are you doing?” she laughed out.

“Being a knight in shining armour, clearly,” he smiled.  He felt Aberdeen wrap her arm around the back of his shoulders as he stepped into the elevator.  Aberdeen pressed her phone number.  “Better?”

“Much.”

“Why do you girls even wear shoes like that if they hurt so much?”

She snorted.  “You tell me.  Men wore heels first,” she informed him.

“We did?!”

She nodded.  “Apparently you guys wanted to show off your wealth and calves more than we did at first.”

William laughed in his signature way.  “I do have some nice calves.”

When the elevator brought them up to Aberdeen’s floor, she rummaged through her clutch to find her keys, sticking them in the door to open in.  Luckily, they could be as loud as they wanted since Kasha was spending the night at Evan’s; it prompted Aberdeen to hook her finger into the strap at the heel and throw off her shoes.  William kicked off his shoes and walked through her apartment, carrying her to her bedroom.  It was maybe a bold move, to go straight there, but he didn’t care.

“Wanna see me rip my eyelashes off?” she giggled as he finally set her down on the floor of her bedroom.  

“Your eyelashes?!”

“The fake ones,” she mumbled, just going for it.  She saw a horrified look on William’s face, causing her to burst out into a fit of giggles.  She threw the first one in the garbage before taking off the second, William still watching with a horrified look on his face.  “What?” she smiled.

“That doesn’t hurt?” he asked.

“You get used to it,” she shrugged.  “You know what they say Will.  Beauty is pain.”

“My beauty doesn’t require pain.”

Aberdeen burst out laughing, William following with his signature giggle.  She couldn’t control her laughing as she leaned her head against his chest, shaking it slightly before bringing it back up to look at him.  “You’re literally the worst, Will.  No other guy on the team would say something like that.”

“No other guy on the team is as beautiful as I am.”

His tone made it come out like a joke, but Aberdeen couldn’t help but thinking he was right.  There wasn’t another guy on the team as good-looking as he was.  She huffed out a laugh, turning around so her back was towards him.  “Can you unzip me?”

It was a suggestive request, and she knew it.  He unzipped her dress slowly as she pulled her hair out of the way for him.  They were both still giggling as she felt the material of the dress become looser, and she was careful when he was finished to step out of it gently so she didn’t mess up the fabric or dirty it on the floor of her bedroom.  She immediately brought it towards the hanger she’d left on her dresser, making sure to hang it in her closet neatly before turning back towards Will.  It was only then that she realized she was in her underwear in front of him, the most exposed she’d ever been since…well…

She watched as he practically ripped off his tie; watched as he unbuttoned his shirt without a care in the world.  His suit was probably custom made and tailored and cost over a thousand dollars but he didn’t even care.  What was more alarming was that he was stripping and making himself comfortable in her bedroom.  “Will—”

“You can change.  I’ll look away,” he said, turning her back towards her automatically.  

That wasn’t even what she wanted, but damnit, he was good.  She unclasped her bra and threw on her top quickly before stepping into her pajama shorts.  “Um, I have to go wash my makeup off,” she whispered.

She didn’t wait for a reply as she stepped across the hallway into her bathroom.  As she washed all of her makeup off, the seriousness of the situation crept up on her.  William was in her apartment.  He was in her bedroom.  He was undressing.  She knew he’d been in there before, that if he stayed over it wouldn’t even be the first time he’d slept in her bed, but it was still a big deal.  It was still something that, really, truly, shouldn’t be happening in every sense of the word.  But it was.  And neither of them was going to put a stop to it.    

When she stepped back into her room, closing her door behind her, she saw William waiting for her to get into bed.  He had nothing on besides his boxer-briefs.  She knew that if they both got in there, there’d be no room.  They’d be squished against each other.  She knew this because it had happened before – the night they hooked up, and then the night after what Ethan did to her – it was the same situation.  Standing now, in her room, looking between the bed and William, things felt…different.  

She climbed into bed, liking to be on the side closest to the wall, anyway.  William followed her, even going so far as to start to pull the covers over their bodies as he snuggled in next to her.  “Will—”

“Shhhhhh,” he cooed.  “Aberdeen, stop freaking out.”

“But Willy—”

“I just want to lie down.  We’re just lying down,” he said, his voice sleepy.  He pulled her against him.  She let him.  He nestled his head onto her chest, under her chin and above her breasts.  She let him.  She could feel the contented sigh he let out as he settled into her, as her body relaxed into his, as she began running her fingers through his beautiful blonde hair.  He let her.

“Will?” her voice was soft.

“Mhm?”

“You – I – you—”

“Spit it out, Aberdeen.”

“You could have any girl in the city, Willy,” she blurted out.  She immediately regretted it.  “Any girl in the city.  W…Why do you keep – I mean, why are you here with m—”

“Because I only like you, Aberdeen,” his voice was so soft, sleepy, tender.  The most tender she’d ever heard it.  “You still don’t understand?”  

Aberdeen hesitated.  “I guess not.”

“Well…I like you,” he stressed his sentiment again.

“But why?”

“Because you make me nervous.  And nobody makes me nervous,” he said softly.  “And because I like talking to you.  And I don’t like talking to anyone.”

There was nothing more she could say; nothing more she could do.  He always answered her question and always answered her honestly; he had never lied to her.  He had laid it all out for her and she could either take it or leave it.  

Of course she was going to take it.  

***

Aberdeen woke up slowly the next morning early.  Stupidly early, because of her natural alarm clock.  In typical fashion, because William was in bed with her and there wasn’t enough room for the both of them, Aberdeen found herself semi-on top of him, her head on his chest and hair spread out everywhere; an arm draped across his torso.  As she began to come to her senses, she took a deep breath and could smell him.  He still smelled so good.  So manly.  And then, she realized his one arm was hugging her body against his, and his other lay directly on top of hers that was draped across his body, keeping it there.

She sighed contently.  

He was so big, so snuggly, so warm.  Of all the people she’d snuggled up against in her short lifetime, William was easily the best.  His body was like her own personal heater, and in the dead of winter, it was much appreciated.  She’d always known he was big – big and thick and strong – but feeling him under her now was so much different.  She’d almost forgotten what he felt like, but she could never truly forget something like that.  

When she moved slightly, mostly to stretch, she realized one of his thighs was between her legs.  God, they were so fucking thick.  Thick and strong, just like the rest of him.  She moaned slightly, the feeling of their bare legs together really waking her up now.  Before she knew what she was doing, before her brain could tell her body not to physically react to such a specimen of a body being in such close proximity to her, she moved again, rubbing her core against his thigh.  It felt good.  Of course it felt good.  She had been denying herself the pleasure she knew William Nylander could give her for six months now (besides their kisses), and if she wasn’t dangerously close to breaking every known rule, parameter, and boundary she gave herself when she got the job, then she was now.  So close.  Dangerously close.

She rubbed her core against his thigh again.

And again.

And again.

He began to wake up, shifting slightly at the feeling of the friction of her against him.  He moaned at the feeling and rubbed his eyes before opening them, and when he did their eyes met, drowsy and barely open but still looking at one another.  “Minskatt?”

Aberdeen looked into his blue eyes.  She couldn’t hold back anymore; couldn’t deny it anymore.  

She was going to do it.

She pushed herself up slightly, coming face to face with him, and began kissing him.  No hesitation.  No uncertainty.  She knew she wanted to do it.  That she had to do it.  That kissing William was as important to her right now as breathing.  That kissing William continuously – not just one little peck, not just a standard kiss – was what she needed.  That feeling the scruff on his face along her fingers was integral to her well-being.  That grinding against his thigh again, causing him to moan in her mouth before she got on top of him and straddled him, was what she needed to survive.  

She felt his hands squeezing her thighs, trying to feel every inch of exposed skin on her body as they wandered underneath her pajama shorts, then underneath her shirt, where he took sweet time inching higher and higher towards her breasts.  He squeezed them in his hands gently, massaging them and pinching her nipples, causing her to squirm.  She knew she didn’t have an ample set to worth with, but William didn’t seem to mind.  He didn’t seem to mind because when Aberdeen grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head, he looked at her exposed chest like it was the first pair of boobs he’d seen in his life.  

Aberdeen hesitated only slightly after she saw the look on his face.  “Willy?” she breathed out.

“Fuck, Aberdeen,” he whispered in some sort of apparently disbelief – a disbelief that this was actually happening.  That she was the one to kiss him.  That she was the one to take off her top.  It wasn’t even the first time he’d seen her exposed chest, but it still felt like the first time to him.

Before she knew it, he’d wrapped his arms around her and flipped her onto her back, hovering over her with his big, thick body as he kissed and licked his way down her neck and towards her breasts.  He took a nipple in his mouth, flicking his tongue and making her arch her back.  She tried to catch her breath as she got used to feeling his mouth and tongue on her breasts.  He knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew exactly what to do to set her off, leaving her a writhing, moaning mess in her own bed.

Then she felt where his hand was.

She flinched at his touch on her hot core, but so desperately wanted more.  After that initial flinch, she practically grinded herself onto his hand.  “It’s so hot,” William mumbled before he kissed a trail to her other breast.  “So wet already.”

“Will—” Aberdeen could barely get out once she felt William’s tongue on her other breast.  “Will, please—”

“Is that okay?”

“Yes,” she nodded her head as he teased her some more.  “Ta—Take them off.”

He did as he was told, his mouth leaving her breast so he could sit back slightly on his knees, hook his fingers into the waistband of her shorts, and pull them off slooooowly, revealing every inch of exposed skin on her body.  He could see her chest rising and falling dramatically as he let the shorts drop on the floor.  “You okay, minskatt?”

Aberdeen nodded her head.  She leaned forward so she could kiss him again, their hands exploring each other’s bodies – William’s hands gripping her thighs or breasts or teasing her hot core some more; Aberdeen’s hands gliding along the muscles on his abs and chest and shoulders before scratching down his back to the waistband of his boxer briefs.  

She tugged on them.

“Aberdeen—”

“Condoms are in the same place,” she whispered quickly.

“Aberdeen, are you sure—”

“Yes.  Yes yes yes,” she repeated, nodding fervently.  

William opened the drawer on her bedside table, grabbing at a packet.  He ripped off the packaging and helped her push his boxers down before sitting back.  Aberdeen helped him slide it on, much like the first time.  When she lay back down, William moved to loom over her.  

William and Aberdeen looked each other in the eye as he guided himself near her entrance.  When Aberdeen could feel him, she let out a shaky, excited breath.  “Willy…”

“Yes, minskatt?”

“Go slow.”

William nodded.  He began to push himself into her, and as he did, he saw her eyes close to bask in the feeling of him filling her up.  He did the same, as it brought back all the memories from that fateful night six months ago, when they were in the exact same position as they were now.  He remembered everything so vividly, but somehow, this all felt brand new.  He remembered how good it felt, but simultaneously had never felt anything as amazing before.  

He went slow.

He could feel her nails dig into his shoulder blades and a small gasp of breath escape her as he bottomed out.  He kissed her lips and the tip of her nose and back to her lips.  “You okay?” he asked, his hair falling in between their faces.

Aberdeen nodded her head.  She bought one hand between them and pushed his hair back tenderly so she could see his face.  “Yeah,” she nodded.

“You sure?”

“Yeah,” she repeated, letting out another breath as she felt him pull out slightly before pushing back in.  “I’d almost forgotten how good you feel inside me.”

“You’re perfect, Aberdeen,” he responded immediately after.  He meant it in every sense of the word, because to him, she was.  Plus, if she thought he felt good, he has some news for her about what she felt like.  “God, you’re fucking perfect.”

He dipped down to kiss her again as he began moving in and out of her slowly.  Aberdeen moved her hips in tune with his, and soon, all she felt was pleasure.  Despite what was happening, they couldn’t keep their eyes off each other, looks mixed with lust, love, desire, adoration, longing, and of course, the pining they’d been doing since that day they reunited in the elevator being exchanged between them.  It had all led to this moment, this moment of pure, built up passion.

“Willy…f…fuck,” she whispered.  “You feel so good, Willy.”

She watched as some of his hair feel in between them again, blocking his eyes.  She brought a hand to push it back tenderly.  They looked at each other for a moment before William said the words.  “I love you, Aberdeen.”

She looked for a lie in his eyes.  Any hint of a lie.  A lie she found in Zane’s eyes.  A lie she found in Corey’s eyes.  A lie she found in any other boy’s eyes that she’d known.  But she couldn’t find it.  Not even the smallest hint.  Nothing.  And because of that, and because of the moment, she said the words too.  “I love you, William.”

He kissed her, big and wet and sloppy and full of desire and want, and she kissed him back with equal amounts of desire and want, and when he began to move in and out of her quicker, and when she arched her back into his body, she knew was close, that they were both close, and that they wouldn’t last much longer.  

“Willy—”

“Aberdeen—Aberdeen I—”

“Cum with me Willy.  Cum with me.”

And they did.  It hit them all at once, the wave of pleasure as Aberdeen’s walls tightened around William’s pulsating cock, and they rode it out for as long as they could before William collapsed on top of her, the both of them catching their breath and coming back down to reality.  As they lay in her bed together, with William still inside her, the gravity of the situation didn’t need to hit them – they knew what they’d just done.  They knew it broke every boundary and was against every rule in the book.  But they didn’t care.  William didn’t care.  Aberdeen didn’t care.  All that mattered was that they shared that moment of pure bliss together.  

William rolled onto his back and took off the condom, tying it before throwing it in the garbage near her bed.  When he finished, he turned towards Aberdeen and they intertwined their limbs and bodies, drifting off to sleep again in each other’s arms.

***

The next time Aberdeen woke up, it was because she’d heard the front door slam shut and the sound of footsteps throughout the apartment.  It meant Kasha was home, which also meant it was later in the morning than when she and William had first woken up and…well…

She shuddered.

As she did, she felt William’s body beside hers in her bed, spooning her from behind.  Still naked from their rendezvous earlier, she could feel his cock against her as the hand of the arm that draped over her body cupped one of her breasts.  His face was nestled into the crook of her neck.  She didn’t want to move – she would have been perfectly content to stay in bed with him all day – but she knew they’d have to get up eventually.  And more than that, they’d have to put on clothes before they went out there.  

“Willy?” she whispered softly, hoping he’d hear.

“Hmmm minskatt?” he mumbled against her skin.  “Was that Kasha?” he asked.

“Yeah.  And probably Evan,” she said.  “We should get up.”

He peeled himself away from her body slowly, and she rolled from her side to her back so she could look up at him.  He looked down at her, still naked for him.  She smiled up at him and caressed his cheek, his stubble scratching her skin.  A piece of hair fell in front of his face, and she pushed it back, making it a habit now.  “Willy?”

“Minskatt?”

“Do you regret what happened?” she asked.

“Absolutely not.  No,” he replied automatically, shaking his head.  “Do you?”

“No,” she responded automatically as well.  “I don’t regret any of it at all,” she ran her thumb along his lips.  “But nobody can know.  We can’t tell a soul.”

William nodded his head.  In any other circumstance, if he had landed a girl as amazing as Aberdeen, he would be practically bragging to everybody about how lucky he was.  But things didn’t work out that way, and everything was complicated.  “Nobody will know,” he said in agreement.  

“No Brendan,” she began.

“That’s a given.”

“No Kappy,” she continued.

“No Kappy,” he agreed.  Kasperi didn’t even know about the first time they’d slept together, so it would be no problem.  None of the guys did.  They all thought he just had a harmless crush.  “No Kasha.”

Aberdeen bit her lip.  “No Kasha,” she nodded her head.  She knew she’d be able to make up a good story when they met each other outside her door.  She knew what she had to do next.  It would have to hurt them both.  “No Alex.”

William nodded slightly.  It would be hard not to tell his brother, but he knew he couldn’t.  It was probably one of the few secrets he would keep from Alex.  He knew he had to say the same.  “No Siena.”

Aberdeen nodded.  It would be the hardest thing she’d have to do.  “Our secret only,” she whispered.

“Our secret only,” he repeated, leaning down to give her a quick kiss.  “We can do it, minskatt.”

“I know we can,” she said, kissing him again.  It went against everything she believed in, but she didn’t care anymore.  She only had so much willpower to reject him.  Now that they’d done what they’d done, and agreed to what they agreed to, there was no going back.  She’d have to lie to the people she loved and respected most in her life.  She’d have to lie to everyone she knew – her parents, her sister, her friends, her co-workers.  

She’d have to lie to Brendan.  

They got out of bed slowly, with William putting his boxers back on and Aberdeen throwing on her pajama shorts again and a crew neck sweater.  She looked over at William and saw him searching for his dress shirt, crinkled on the floor.  She threw one of her oversized University of Toronto hoodies at him.  He laughed when he realized what it was, pulling it over his head.  It fit a bit snug, but it worked.

The second Aberdeen opened her bedroom door, she heard the shower from Kasha’s ensuite turn on.  She was happy – it gave her time to get breakfast started, to spend a little bit more of alone time with William, and to think of an excuse as to why William slept over last night.  Not like this was the first time he slept over in the past four weeks.

She still couldn’t believe what this had become.

After washing her face quickly, she and William made their way into the kitchen, Aberdeen grabbing some pancake mix out of the cupboard.  She grabbed some blueberries from the fridge too, putting them near the sink to wash them.  As she began to pour the pancake mix into a bowl, she felt William come up behind her, pressing himself against her back as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Aberdeen?” his voice was soft, and suddenly sounded very nervous.  

“Willy?”

“I meant what I said earlier,” he said.

She was confused.  “About not telling anybody?”

“No.  Earlier,” he gave her another hint.  When she didn’t respond, he knew he’d have to say it again.  “That I love you, minskatt.”

Oh.  That.  It was said so passionately during them having sex that it felt like it was part of the experience.  That it was completely natural and easy for them to say to each other, despite not officially being together, despite not even dating, despite Aberdeen trying to convince herself for months that she didn’t like him, despite William trying everything to make her realize otherwise.  

“I know it was in the heat of the moment,” his words interrupted her thoughts.  They sounded so nervous and apprehensive.  “But I meant it.  I mean…I know.  And I know that you said it back, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.  Or if you’re not sure or whatever.  I just want you to know that.  I won’t care.  You can say it whenever you want.  I just know that I do.”

Aberdeen turned around.  She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, now wearing one of her hoodies, and stood on her tip-toes to kiss him.  She said the only words she could say to him.  The only words that, despite every boundary, despite every rule, despite every thought, despite everything she knew about herself, despite everything she thought she knew about herself, she knew were true.  

“I love you too, William.”

[justlightlysedated]

20 Questions

20 questions, writer's edition, I was tagged by @lambourngb 😊❤❤

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

71! 70 for roswell and one for vagrant queen

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

468, 583!!

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

not entirely sure tbh, but let's count now:

timkon, bandom, glee, specifically pukurt, but some other ships too, merlin, doctor who, torchwood, teen wolf, agents of shield, runaways, the old guard, vagrant queen, and obviously, roswell new mexico

i think there might be more, but i don’t remember rn

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

the cost of greatness, which i cowrote with marlo

a cure i know that soothes the soul (does so impossibly), the first pwp i wrote for this fandom lol

the person that you’d take a bullet for is behind the trigger, which i wrote for marlo

for better or for worse (til death do us part), which i also cowrote with marlo lol

it might be your wound but they’re my sutures, which i also wrote for marlo

so the pattern im sensing here is that my most popular fics were written with/for marlo which sounds about right lol

5. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

i am not sure tbh, i write some pretty angsty one shots and longer fics, but i TRY to at least give a slightly hopeful ending, tho now that i’m thinking about it, i think the angstiest thing i’ve written was that prompt fill based on the song, for island fires and family, i remember SOBBING the entire time that i wrote it (there is miluca in that one), but ALSO there is the fic i wrote in reaction to the season one finale, which also made me cry, which was called, we both know how this story ends

6. What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

once again i’m not sure, like i said before, i try to give my fics hopeful endings if they’re really angsty, and i love me some hurt/comfort, but i’m not entirely known for writing happy, fluffy fics, tho i do TRY sometimes for certain people

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've written?

yes!! i do love me some crossovers, and i guess i would have to say the malex, sort of doctor who au, i’m technically still writing for tove

8. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

yes??? but i’m not sure if i could classify it, like i’ll write pretty much anything within reason and if it doesn’t squick me out

9. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

okay, so like don’t hate me, but no, i rarely, if ever respond to comments, i just don’t know what to say at all, like i’m the type of person that really wants every single message to be unique and special, but there are only so many ways to thank someone for reading your fic, so i just tend to post things and then thank everyone for reading afterwards, if there is someone that shows up often on my notifications, or if someone asks me a specific question pertaining to the story, then i will answer, i also answer back if i wrote the fic for someone and they left a comment, and if i’m sent an ask on here about something that i wrote, but i am simultaneously the world's most shy and confident person ever, when it comes to my writing, so i’m so sorry

this doesnt mean that i dont appreciate every comment that i get because i really do, im just super shy and awkward and i may write good-ish, but i do NOT have the same way with words in person

10. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

not really?? if i have i don’t remember it, usually i’m the one who talks the worse about my own writing

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes, the only kurtbastian fic i’ve ever written was translated into russian

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yep!! as y’all probably saw from my top five fics up there somewhere, marlo @bestillmyslashyheart is basically my fic writing soulmate, we just really click when it comes to writing

14. What's your all time favourite ship? to write for?

atm it’s malex, which is more than obvious, BUT before they hijacked my brain and made their home within my neurons, it was skimmons!!! i wrote fic for them for YEARS, even after i stopped watching aos

15. What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, i’m just gonna talk about fics that i’ve posted and haven’t updated and not any of the hundreds of wips that have never seen the light of day, my original witch au tbh, i just, roswell made maria and isobel somehow related, and just made me really uncomfortable with the ship, which is the main reason that i’m not gonna finish the fic if i’m being perfectly honest, there is ALSO that au i had where michael’s daughter from the future comes back to the past and she had been raised by alex, because of reasons that are petty, probably my space opera au as well, and only because i just want to write other things MORE

16. What are your writing strengths?

i think i’m good at describing things, especially kisses, i LOVE writing kisses, it’s one of my favorite things, that and my fight scenes are two of the things i pride myself the most on

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

dialogue, sometimes i feel the characters are ridiculously out of character, but then i don’t care because sometimes in canon characters are also ridiculously out of characters, also describing things, because sometimes i just feel like scenes don’t flow right, i am definitely a comma whore, and use dashes and hyphens in places they definitely shouldn’t be used, run-on sentences are my best friends, also english isn't my first language, so, sometimes the way i phrase things just come out wrong

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

tbh completely honest, i follow the nora sakavic method where you just write the dialogue in english like, “hey there love,” they said in perfect french, and i only break this rule if i actually know the language because just translating straight from english always makes things sound stilted and weird

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

dc comics, i wrote several timkon fics which i posted on livejournal

20. What's your favourite fic you've written?

oh, i know that love is all about the wind, how it can hold me up and kill me in the end (still i loved it), no specific reason why, i just love it with my entire heart!!

and that's it!! im not gonna tag anyone cause I saw that most ppl were already tagged, but if you want to do this just say that I tagged you!!

[littlespaceporgs]

The Clone Wars Reacts - Part 1

Or, Leah thinks Yoda is a badass and thirsts and coos over Plo Koon.

Welcome to part 1 of season 1! Ngl I’ve only got 2 episodes for the first one because i didn’t have time to watch a third, so here we go. These are just the thoughts and notes i took as i made my way through the episode, in their absolute rawness, I’ve barely even edited them so enjoy? and before anyone mentions it, yes I could do these on tiktok and you guys could watch me being an idiot, would anyone be interested in that however?

Tags (if anyone else would like to be tagged in this series, let me know!): @acciokenobi​ @roseofalderaan​ @catsnkooks​ @peacelandbread​ @littlevodika​ @icedcoffeeandgays​ @captainrexstan​ @likeshootingstarsinthenightsky​ @mcu-padawan​

Episode 1: Ambush

> Fuck yeeeeeaaahhh this intro is a fucking bop, I forgot how much I like it

> OH WAIT HANG ON YODAS IN THIS EPISODE, like it’s actually Yoda centric???? mad.. i thought it was going to be anakin and ahsoka this ep

> FUCK I KNOW THAT VOICE *enter ventress*             - this woman could step on me and I’d say thank you ✨

> Oh shut tf up Dooku, nobody cares what you have to say

> “Sprung the trap, we have” no shit, is it just Yoda’s trademark to say exactly what’s going on?

> HAHAHAHAHHAAH “ITS MY PROGRAMMING”!!!!!

> I have some questions, who has the creativity to come up with characters and planets that look like this?? Like that’s so cool????

> Huh you actually think you’re gonna catch Yoda???? Interesting thought.

> HAHAHAHAHA SMALL SHRIVELLED GREEN ONE WITH A LIGHTSABER *accurate tho, and I live for Ventress’ sarcasm ngl

> I want to point out the peak humour of one droid saying stop, we’re not gonna fit, followed by a droid attempting to fit                  >> actually scratch that the droids are hilarious in general

> HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH HIS GIGGLE AND THEN DO YOU GUYS KNOW WHAT HE MEANT?!

> why is yoda likeable in this episode??? If you can’t tell already, I don’t like Yoda very much.

> “He IS a little one!”

> alright fine. i admit it, I don’t think I’ve given Yoda enough credit, I didn’t like him much, but 10 minutes episode and I’m lowkey giggling at him.

> Dude Yoda is so cool *(Notes: i have written in a column here: should rename the title of part i to “Yoda is a fucking boss”)

> The force is so cool ngl

> “Trouble? Know nothing of this trouble, I do” hahahahaha hahahahaha

> AW HUNNY NO YOURE NOT EXPENDABLE YOU NEED TO GO WITH THE SHRIVELLED GREEN LITTLE SHIT

> good job Yoda make em feel better for me thank you

> *droid battallion approaches and Yoda just fucking sits there* Have I mentioned that Yoda is literally so cool?

> Bruh I shouldn’t be surprised that the 4 of them destroyed an entire battalion but that was legit AWESOME

> HA HA HA HA AH BITCH YODA GONNA KICK UR ASS

> Eh i don’t think I’ve said this enough, Yoda’s fucking cool.

> PFFFFFFFFFFTTTT fully just stole her lightsabers - imagine how much trouble Yoda would’ve saved himself if he had just kept the bastards instead of letting her take them back

> Alright fine, maybe I will enjoy this season.

 Episode 2: Rising Malevolence 

Notes: I am so sorry in advance, to be honest this entire one is just me either thirsting or cooing over Plo Koon and I can’t help it, and no, I still have not decided dad or daddy (its currently 14(?) hours after I watched the episode and I am still very undecided and I don’t think I’m ever gonna be able to make that choice)

> HEY ITS LITTLE BABEY AHSOKA AND OMG HOLY SHIT HES IN THIS EPISODE????????????????

> Lowkey I dunno if it’s dad or daddy?

> Awwwwwww Lil soka (wait I’m talking about Plo Koon in case you’re confused) (NOTES: uh I know I put it up top but just case you missed it)

> Sorry, did Anakin just say he was gonna ask the council?? The fuck?? 

              >>Be mindful????? Who the fuck is this????

> Ugh it’s palptatunes slimy looking ass

> OBI OBI OBI OBI OBI OBI OBI

> oh shit man that’s bad *if you haven’t clued in I’m going on about the weapon

> AWWWWWW HE WAITS FOR THE CLONES TO GET ON FIRST

> dude what the fuck is going on with his hair??

> Everytime Plo talks my mind goes 🥰 sorry that’s off topic (or is it?)

> At least obi-wan sees sense, Anakin teaching an already reckless Ahsoka was never going to end up with them both being quiet

> AHSOKA! 😠

> Oh wait Wolffe doesn’t have his scar yet????? WAIT DOES THAT MEAN WE SEE HIM GET IT LATER?! Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh-

> HAHAHAHAHA HE ONLY TAKES A BATH ON BREAK

> HMMMMMM AWWWWW I VALUE YOUR LIFE MORE THAN FINDING THAT WEAPON

> There’s more alive, oh good I was afraid that they- aw shit poor Plo he sounds like he feels so guilty

> fucking hell I just wanna give him a hug and kiss his cheek and make it all better (NOTES: see what I mean???? Thirst or fluff?)

> OOP THERE IT IS! I was wondering when the usual Anakin would show up

> “Redeployed himself.... again.” I can feel obi-wans exasperation with this kid man

> Okay so, Anakin is a little shit. So disobey the council but don’t tell them that I’m teaching you that

> Aw no there’s gonna be more clones die??????? Oh no and they have to watch oh no oh no oh no-

> I have questions: How are they screaming? I don’t think that’s how space works??? Ok but I legit don’t know?? Is it even possible to scream in space?? And shouldn’t it have killed them straight away?

> Aaawwwwww Ahsoka my baby (literally anytime this child comes on screen)

> “Anakin where are you” I love obi wan so much hahahahahahahahaha

> WAIT NO PLO AND FEW OF HIS SONS TROOPERS ARE ALIVE DONT LEAVE

> oh good job R2, crisis averted

> Pfffftttt the droid humming is distracting me from the more potential death

> Plo Koon is cooler than Yoda, you cant change my mind so don’t try.

> YEEEEETTTTTT poor sinker yikes I can’t imagine flying through space is fun

> PALPATINE YOU BASTARD HE PROBABLY WANTS MY LOVE DEAD HOW DARE HE

> “Twice the trouble they have become”?????? No shit Yoda. What were you thinking pairing these two disasters up?

> AND THEN HE TRIES TO GET THEM TO ABANDON DAD(DY?)

> R2’s whirring is a vibe tho

> AAAAAAHHHH NOT TO ME PLO MY HEART 🥺🥺

> oh god the animation is terrible (NOTES: I can’t believe it took me that long to make that comment)

> Aw he seems so sad, thank u Ahsoka, she gave him the love and hug he deserves

> Ugh now my internet’s playing up dang it, well this is infuriating, I WANT TO KNOW IF THEY DESTROY THE WEAPON OR NOT?!

> He seems so genuinely scared??????? Plo has me getting major feels

> OH SHIT FUCK THE OTHER DROID SHIT FUCK NO SHIT

> how did everyone hate Ahsoka when this first came out??? I love her so much

> I mean like, I know they’re not gonna die??? But I still feel so anxious omg

> Holy shit the disappointment that rolls off of dooku is kinda hilarious (it took all of me not to start giggling at this)

> “Riiiiiiiiiiiiight the council report”

Alright gonna stop here, because I have class in 20 minutes and there is no way that I am leaving the library if I start watching episode 3 so uh see y’all next time for episodes 3,4,5 and maybe 6??

[leverage-ot3]

notable moments from The Bottle Job

leverage 2.11

Parker: So this is paying respects, hmm?

Nate: Oh, absolutely, yeah. I mean, it's an Irish wake

parker likes learning about people things and I’m so proud of her for that

- - - - -

eliot is wearing a leather jacket, hoodie, AND a flannel,,, we see you

- - - - -

Eliot: Whoo. Redheads burn the hottest, don't they?

Nate: Easy. She's like my niece.

Eliot: She's not like your daughter, though.

Nate: Yeah. Like my niece. So, I don't want you to like my niece ‘cause she's like my niece.

Eliot: I don't like your niece.

Nate: No, but you know what I mean.

eliot SETTLE DOWN lmao

also what does it mean that I’m attracted to everyone eliot is attracted to in the show ??? that we have the same taste ???

- - - - -

we love it when the ot3 is framed together in scenes

- - - - -

Hardison: That's what sucks about the credit crunch. Honest people can't get loans, sharks move in, 12 points on the interest every month. There's no way to get out from under that.

- - - - -

Eliot: I don't care. You don't collect debts at a wake. You just don't do it. Want me to go downstairs, break this guy's knees?

- - - - -

can someone also make a compilation of smooth pickpockets/handoffs between the team because DAMN they are slick

- - - - -

Doyle: Mark Doyle, loan shark. If I were ashamed, I couldn't do my job, could I? I provide a service for people with no recourse, help those with nowhere else to turn. Society needs me.

Tara: Right, but isn't it, um, illegal?

Doyle: As me Da says, we pick up where the law leaves off.

[Leverage HQ]

(Hardison turns to give an incredulous look to Nate)

- - - - -

Hardison: Look, man, it is 9:00pm on a Friday night. All the banks are closed.

Parker: ATMs.

Hardison: Daily withdrawal limits. If y'all want me to do an electronic wire transfer of 100 grand between the Caymans and Madagascar, I can do that. If you're talking cash, you're out of luck. I'm sorry. Welcome to the future.

Eliot: Just use your little slimmer thing, man, and gank the ATMs.

Hardison: It's called a skimmer, but thank you for trying. And, no, I don't have that thing anymore. We're the good guys now. I haven't used that thing in months.

Parker: Months?

Hardison: Yeah.

Eliot: We've been the good guys longer than that.

Hardison: Well, we had a break.

parker and eliot be like: 👀

- - - - -

Hardison: Emergency fund.

(Eliot and Parker just look at him for a moment, then all three scramble. Eliot pushes over a chair and cuts open the bottom of it. Parker pulls several cereal boxes from the cupboard and dumps them out on the counter. Hardison takes the painting of Nate from the wall. Parker picks up several bundles of cash from among the cereal. Hardison carefully cuts the backing of the painting)

Parker: Whoa! What are you doing?

Hardison: Oh, what, you thought I kept Old Nate around for sentimental reasons?

Parker: Yes.

Hardison: Nah.

(Hardison peals back the paper and pulls out several bundles of cash that he hands to Eliot, who has his own money from the bottom of the chair)

I love to see how their minds work and how they would each hide their money

- - - - -

(Hardison cuts into the wood at the back of the bookshelves and pulls away the wood, exposing wires which he pulls out)

Hardison: Here. This is the cable to the television in the bar downstairs.

(Parker pulls the wires across the room)

Hardison: Nate, we're ready down here. I'm about to splice, well, everything.

okay but WHY is he wearing that full-face helmet ???

- - - - -

Doyle: What's your name?

Nate: Name's Jimmy. Yeah, Jimmy Ford.

- - - - -

(Liam and Liam’s brother are playing darts when Eliot walks up, laughing)

Liam: What's your problem?

Eliot: You remind me of my sister. (throws a dart without looking and hits the center of the target) Yeah, it's all in the wrist. (to Cora) Hey, how are ya? Good to see ya. Can I buy a couple of beers for my boys and one for me if you don't mind. We're gonna play a little darts here.

Liam: Do that again.

Eliot: All right. (hits center of board without looking) I'll show ya how to do that.

Liam: Yeah

eliot is so talented + that lil brow raise I love it

- - - - -

Tara: And I'm close to decoding this ledger.

Parker: Names?

Tara: And alphanumeric substitutions.

Parker: You know how to read that?

Tara: Yeah. I trained in cryptog... Never mind.

- - - - -

Hardison: Whoo! Yeah, baby. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about right there. Yeah.

Tara: I didn't realize you were quite that into basketball.

Hardison: Ba-basketball? Woman, we just pulled off the wire in the time it takes to get a pizza delivered. This is a big win. Big. They're gonna talk about this one.

he’s baby but also HELL YEAH

- - - - -

hardison taking his shirt off to change into more professional clothes? we love to be reminded of how JACKED aldis really is

- - - - -

Parker: What if I can't crack his safe?

(Eliot and Nate look at her, she smirks)

Parker: Seriously? C'mon

she make joke 🥰

- - - - -

Eliot: Led us to a warehouse. We're in now.

(Eliot and Parker climb through stock in a warehouse)

Hardison: What, I'm sorry. Led you? Led you to the warehouse?

[Leverage HQ]

Hardison: I had two cell phones and two minutes. Do you know else can do what I do? CIA, MI-6 and me.

- - - - -

Nate: What's the ETA on the cash?

Eliot: We're at the safe.

[Warehouse]

Eliot: Parker wants to take it out for dinner and drinks first.

Parker: This is a Glen-Reeder Prestige from the 20's. So many memories.

Nate: Tell her to pick it up.

Eliot: Come on, Parker.

Parker: I would move a lot faster, if you weren't stomping around.

Eliot: Shh. It's not me stomping. I don't stomp.

(Eliot moves to the door and peeks out, then exits the room)

this marriedness

- - - - -

on today’s edition of eliot using non-weapons-as-weapons, he used half of one of the goon’s wood piece to beat him up

- - - - -

Eliot: Hey. Come here.

(the third man runs away and Eliot throws the pole after him. In the office, Parker hums to the safe until Eliot follows the third man into the room)

Parker: Huh?

(the man swings at Eliot, but Eliot punches him in the face. Parker continues to try and crack the safe as Eliot grabs the man’s head and drives it down onto a desk)

Parker: Would you...! I can't hear a thing.

(the man swings at Eliot who dodges the blow and grabs the man in a head lock. Parker kicks the man in the head, knocking him out)

Eliot: I had it.

Parker: I am trying to work here.

Eliot: Well, hurry up.

(Parker opens the safe and takes out the money)

parker was singing to herself unlocking the safe

also she’s a badass motherfucker that can knock a guy out with one kick

- - - - -

parker being VERY reluctant to give the money back? that checks out

- - - - -

parker makes sure to meet eyes with hardison before they take their shots. pre-ot3/pardison vibes in season TWO

- - - - -

holy SHIT when tara was saying goodbye to cora and cora was thanking her she TOTALLY checked tara out a tiny bit. y’all. YALL. it was like a tiny boob acknowledgement. like, I swear it was there okay?

[catiov]

Okay, first of all sorry for my English, it’s not my first language and also here it’s 5am and I’m pretty tired.

this ep was… good in some way. We can see this two dork trying to survive with all the losses they had, trying to have a normal life (I want know the name of the dog), been happy together at the bunker. Also Dean died as he like, Sam had is fricking happy family, Dean had his baby and perhaps all friends too (don’t really understand what Bobby said to him, I was kinda trying to not make a sound while crying ‘cause every one here are sleeping) in his heaven. And at the end the two dork share the same heaven

Yeah it was good

But! No! At the same time so much was off. We had a happy morning and happy pie festival, everyone was happy but lil sad ‘cause Cas and Jack are gone (U guys don’t care about Eileen? Nope? Ooookkkkaaayyy). They said some sappy things and than joke (that’s remember me what happened with Misha years ago, I kinda see that scene like a lil revenge).

Than boom! Change! They found a case. A father killed, mother without tongue (right?), kid disappeared. They showed up like always and... stop, we don’t have anything more. A lil search? A lil “ask to someone”? Something? Nope. But it’s okay, I can understand that y’all have only 40min, more or less, and they wanna say a lot of things, so let's ignore it.

They showed up again in front of a house, killed one vamp and hurt the other (at first I think they killed the other one too, but thankfully no), asked some question (where was the torture part? But, right.. 40 min) and than went to the nest.

So.. guys, I know you are two dork. But how dafuck you can forgot how to fight? Really. That was a pretty shitty fight. They was knock out really fast, and what with this old character? She just “yes I’m here” and Sam “no you’re not” all in 4 seconds... guys really? Wtf? That Dean and the big vamp boy fight again. I sow the screw and I thought “this lil matherfucker thing gonna kill someone”, and I was right! But I didn’t thing it would kill Dean.

Than we had this beautiful sad part, and Jensen was was so… wow! Really wow! Jared too, so good. I cried (it’s difficult for me crying, so for me this was a really beautiful scene) I cried so much. But also I was just “Ehy! You have a dammit phone! Call someone!” Than I remembered the body but guys.. a person can’t die for blood lost so fast, belive me. At last if it’s not the heart, but it wasn’t because you are a real real mess if it’s the heart, also he move himself a little for Sam to touch his back so nope, definetly not heart. You have only some seconds not a whole minute. So Sam can at least trying to save him, call someone, move the body. But he stayed there ‘cause Dean asked him

And okay that’s sappy, what Dean said was fantastic, beautiful. And no! It wasn’t winchest = couple thing, but winchest = brother thing. I have a lil brother, I’m ready to die for him, I litteraly saved his life two times, I love stay with him, I can’t live without him, I hug him, cuddle with him, argue with him, try to “kill” him, have fun with him. Your relationship is similar to the one Sam and Dean have, and no! We never thought about each other in romantic and sexual way. We say to each other “I love you” not so much, it’s embarrassing but in a brothers way. And them too, they aren’t lovers they are brothers.

Btw Dean died in a stupid way cause this time you really don’t saw the screw while fighting? It was near you for some seconds. But in other ep you spot somthing in 1 second.... So he died and go to heaven, beautiful heaven that Cas had created for him.

and I don’t wanna say it but I’m gonna say it anyway: why dafuck he didn’t said anything? Boy! I don’t ask for an “I love you/him too”, no, I now it’s not a Deans thing, but boy at least an “thank you Cas, I miss you”? Why not? It’s not gay, if you are afraid of that. You already done in the past. So sad

But go on, he met Bobby and that’s was awesome, I like Bobby, everyone (I think) like him, but the other? I know he need a someone, only one that help him go through all that happen, help him to understand he was dead and other shit (that he didn’t really explain), but at the ending, seen everyone welcome him, only with voice at last I think it’s more… beautiful. Than he can have one or two minutes talking with Bobby and than he can decided to drive baby. But I’m not the writer so I’m stopping here

So! The end. Dean drove baby. Sam started a family. Dean drove more (time’s different in heaven). Sam got older. Dean drove more. Sam touched the car and it’s feels like he can felt Dean alive with him, remembered all past things. Dean drove like there was no tomorrow and Sam finally died.

Beautiful happy scene where Dean got out of the car, watched in front of him, felt the presence of his brother behind him, turned around and a “young” Sam was near him and “hey! Now we can have your forever happy”. Yeah lil bitch, and all the season where you aren’t happy cause you were missing someone? Where we put all of that? In the trash? But okay, perhaps a not so happy heaven (I can’t believe they can’t feel all the pain they felt on earth only cause they are in heaven with each other, I just can’t)

For Cas at the other side, I’m not disappointed, I’m sad, I wasn’t expected them to bring him back to life, he was dead and for good that time. And no one (but jack I think) can bring him back. So, not disappointed, but I was hoping for him anyway.. I know he’s never be a true protagonist, only Sam and Dean are the true protagonist, but after all this years he deserve better too. That’s all

Also we have a beautiful character development in all this season and more in these last ep, where are all of that’s in this one? Where?! Really? A flat character? Ah! Guys.. a facepalm is good at this point. They aren’t the two lil dorky boy of the beginning, they are two men now, with a fucking character development! But okay.. okay..

So. Everything happy, good and other shitty emotion, but in reality I’m disappointed. The ep is so fast, so senseless, leave with so much question and nope I can’t belive they, the people that give us 15 season, that give us 327 of beautiful ep, come out with this fast and banged up ending. Nope!

Okay I’m edit this one: I like this ending, really, I like it, they all have what they want, what they deserve (okay Dean don’t deserve to die, but he deserve that kind of death because he want it in that way), they share their heaven, they share beautiful moments, beautiful feelings, they’re gonna be forever together (when your soulmate, not romantic way please, is your brother, fantastic), it’s really beautiful and kinda perfect. I’m ONLY disappointed because something was off, because I think they can give us more, because I think it was a fast endings. It’s like when you prepare an exam the day before of that mf exam. Soo strange, so fast, so senseless in some way. And stop, only because that. I don’t wanna spread hate, I only said my opinion on this ep. If you don’t like, please, just ignore it. And also in this post I don’t really care about Cas, I was hopping, hopping so bad for his return, that’s true, but we all known he was dead for good, they sold the scene like that, so don’t came to me and say I’m disappointed ‘cause him please

Ps: you also notice the hairs of Dean at the ending? They was gray? I think yes