#hopefully going to work through a few shorter requests today while i have some free time…

[comfortless]

ok everyone everywhere… i need to stop being a sniffling little crybaby over the big guy so i can keep writing about him.

[mrsbrekkers]

Hi! I read your Jesper fic and it’s like my favorite that I’ve ever read honestly it was amazing! I was wondering if I could request a Jesper x reader where the reader is small and really sweet and he has a crush on her? And she like steals his clothes and he just gets rlly soft? Once again I love your writing have a great day/night and no rush!

hi there! we’ve talked over pm, but thank you again, those kind words mean the WORLD to me! i haven’t put my writing out there in a while, so this means a lot, thank you again :)

so i had a weird idea when i saw this when i woke up this morning. mind you, it’s been sitting in my requests for a few days, but i saw it and didn’t have a lot of ideas, but then inspiration struck me and brb i gotta cry over this. AHHHHHH

pairings! jesper x reader / kaz x inej ( being soulmates ) + nina x matthias ( also being soulmates ) + wylan van eck enjoying his pie

reader is again, gender neutral, but leans more female presented, BUT the pronouns they/their are used throughout

warnings! jesper and reader being the fluffest couple to walk the grishaverse, kaz endlessly shipping, kaz also pinning for inej, nina + kaz shipping reader and jesper, the crows in general shipping reader x jesper

word count; 3036 words

one-shot under cut!

this mood board was made by a friend and UGH IT TAKES IN THE FIC S O WELL!!! @r3tr0sp3ct !! thank you so much, SHFJD

5 WAYS TO TELL YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER YOU LOVE THEM

Courtesy Of Jesper Fahey, to my Dearest Y/N

5: Tease Them About How Short They Are

It was no secret that Y/N was the shortest of the crows. A mere five foot three, compared to the other Crows? They were short. Shorter than Inej by an inch or two, and by a foot compared to Matthias. Yet, it made them dangerous: able to move from place to place almost as swiftly as Inej. They were able to look unintimidating, when in reality, they could kill you, your family, and your relatives. They were able to lie their way through almost anything: another factor of people underestimating them. They were dangerous, which is why they were a part of the Crows after all. An asset, a leader even. Kaz saw them as valuable.

That didn’t stop the endless amount of teasing from the Crows though. And who had started it? Jesper Fahey.

First joining the Crows had been an impulsive decision, but one that Y/N didn’t regret. A family came with joining, and they’d lost theirs a pretty good time ago. What also came with joining was the teasing. Another day at the Crow Club, and Y/N, still relatively new to the Barrel life, was watching as Jesper gambled. They’d never understand the payoff of such quizzical acts of dumbness, but they stood there behind Jesper, confused.

Finishing the hand, Jesper glanced back at Y/N, chuckling slightly. Y/N’s eyes shifted, their glare at Jesper meeting him right in the eyes. It almost caused him to back down from what he was about to say, but he simply smirked the usual Jesper smirk. Flirtatious and bubbly. His hand swiftly moved, pulling Y/N to stand directly in front of him, the hand on their waist causing them to become flustered.

“You’re shorter than Inej,” Jesper inquired.

“I am not-” but Y/N didn’t finish their sentence. They’d already known such, but now Jesper was pointing it out. “So what?”

“It means I get to deem a new nickname for you! Inej would never let me call her anything related to her height, she threatened me with her knives. Or Kaz would glare at me, which scares me to say the least,” Jesper smiled now. He was going to have to find his way into Y/N’s good graces to fully engage in said nickname. They seemed conflicted for a moment, a pout making its way to their face.

“Does that mean I get to deem a nickname for you based on how tall you are?” Y/N asked, raising an eyebrow. They already had one in mind, considering Jesper was only a mere inch shorter than Matthias, the nickname still fit him.

“Well, that depends, Shortcake, what is your nickname for me?”

“Big Bear,” Y/N responded, smiling.

“Hmm, I like it. Shortcake and Big Bear. A powerful duo,” Jesper said, chuckling.

And thus, the teasing of how short Y/N was began.

4; Tell Them How Sweet They Are

The teasing didn’t stop there. Of course it didn’t. Because while the nickname ‘Shortcake’ was coined by Jesper, everyone had chosen new nicknames for how short Y/N was. Matthias called them Bubbles. Nina called them Babycakes. Wylan called them Munchkin. Inej called them Mini-me. And even Kaz had found a nickname for them; Firecracker.

But for Jesper, he wanted to find other ways to tease, or to tell Y/N what they meant to him, and low and behold, chance struck him. Eating with the Crows at one of the bakeries in Ketterdam, Y/N sitting next to Nina, with Jesper on their other side. Matthias sat next to Nina, squished between her and Inej. Wylan sat on the edge of the booth, opposite of Jesper, with Kaz sitting in a chair at the head of the booth.

Jesper glanced over at Y/N every once in a while, who was enjoying their creampuffs, he watched a bit of the filling be left on their lips. letting out a small chuckle, he watched Y/N turn toward him. “Hm?” They murmured, tilting their head. Sometimes Jesper wondered what someone like Y/N was doing in the Barrel. How Kaz had even found someone so sweet and kind roaming the streets.

“You got something a little-” Jesper raised his hand, his thumb brushing the pastry filling from Y/N’s lips. “There,” and with that, he chuckled before eating the filling. Y/N’s eyes had followed his hand the entire way, becoming flustered just as they had in the Crow Club just a few nights ago.

“That was my leftovers for later, Big Bear,” Y/N glared, their tone though was playful. The entire table now stared at them. Nina had a knowing look on their face, Matthias just seemed confused. Inej had let out a small laugh, Kaz’s eyes shifting to Inej upon hearing the sound. And Wylan? He just took another bite of his pie, his attention unwavered.

“Shortcake, you’re really telling me you would’ve saved any amount of those creampuffs as leftovers? I doubt it, they’re your favorite,” Jesper observed, making Y/N huff and taking another bite of a creampuff.

“They’re sweet and warm, of course I wouldn’t leave a single one for leftovers,” Y/N deemed, crossing their arms as they went to grab their last creampuff, but Jesper beat them to it, biting into it.

“Hmm, they’re not as sweet as you,” Jesper said, kissing Y/N’s nose, making them go cross-eyed with a smile.

“Hey! That was MY last creampuff!” Y/N said, coming to their senses after they realized Jesper had taken their last one. Before they could go to grab it though, Jesper raised it above his head. Oh, it was on. Before too long, Y/N was chasing Jesper out of the bakery, leaving the other Crows a laughing mess as they watched Jesper run, yelling for Y/N to catch him.

“Those two are soulmates,” Nina said, a wide smile on her lips as she watched Y/N practically topple Jesper onto the concrete, grabbing what was left of their creampuff and biting into it. Her eyes then shifted to Matthias.

“Soulmates.” Matthias agreed, smiling.

3; Save Them From The Bad Guy

Y/N was smart, Jesper knew that. They could probably give Jesper and Kaz a run for their money if they would like to. They were small, agile, talented. They were everything in Jesper’s eyes and more. But that didn’t make them any less susceptible to being overwhelmed during a job. They weren’t Nina Zenik. They weren’t Grisha, meaning if the right spots were hit they could indeed be overtaken.

But with Jesper by their side, that potential went down exponentially. Because whether Y/N believed it or not, and they did, Jesper would protect them with his life. They would do so for one another without hesitation. Which as Kaz put it: ‘is a dangerous prospect.’ The two didn’t care though. Well, in certain ways they did, but where was the fun in giving Kaz the satisfaction of thinking he was somewhat right? Answer: There was none.

Having just grabbed the package they needed during the job, Y/N and Jesper were about to be home free when they were spotted by the cashier, who undoubtedly worked for Pekka Rollins. Going eye wide, the two stared at the cashier for some time, and before they could come up with a Kaz level idea, the two bolted from the shop, Y/N’s hand in Jesper’s.

“We’re not dying today, Shortcake!” Jesper laughed over the commotion, the adrenaline of the job running through him as they ran.

“Hopefully not, Big Bear!” Y/N yelled, letting go of Jesper’s hand and breaking off from him. They were bigger targets together. Slipping through the crowds, Y/N ran as quickly as their legs could carry them. But speed could only make up so much when men who seemed twice your size were chasing after you.

Y/N knew Ketterdam well, but not Inej well. Not Kaz well. So when they came face to face with a wall that was too big for them to climb before the men managed to catch up, they scowled. Where the hell is Inej when you need her?

Turning to face the men who showed up, Y/N showed their hands. “Went after the wrong one,” They remarked, smirking. The men didn’t seem to be having it though, and as they stalked towards Y/N, a voice was heard behind them.

“And to think you’re usually the one saving my ass!” And then the three men fell, one bullet lodged in each of the men’s heads. Y/N looked up, smiling as they saw Jesper.

“Got the package?” Y/N asked, Jesper showcasing the bag of whatever it was Kaz had deemed they needed.

“I do, but I also have the most important package.” Jesper stepped over the bodies and took Y/N’s hand again, a wide smile on his lips.

“And what package would that be?” Y/N knew what he was going to say, but they wanted to hear it outloud

“Why you, of course!” Jesper winked, kissing Y/N’s forehead before they were off to bring the package to Kaz.

2; Let Them Borrow Your Clothes

Another night at the Crow Club, but something was unusual. Jesper was used to having a stalking Y/N behind him wondering how poker worked. This time though, they didn’t seem to be found anywhere in the Crow Club. It almost made Jesper not want to play. What was the point of playing if you didn’t have your lucky charm? There was no reason in his mind, especially as he began to have a bad streak of luck. So, standing from the table, he went to the booth Inej sat at, Kaz across from her.

“Have you guys seen Y/N?” Jesper asked, earning him a small smirk from Kaz, who simply glanced at Inej. He’d seen the newest Crow go to Jesper’s room while he’d gone down the steps. Kaz had been tempted to ask what they were doing, but he already had a feeling about what they were doing.

“They’re at the Slat,” Kaz said, deciding to rat out Y/N.

Jesper raised a brow. Weird. “Have fun you two! Inej, make sure he doesn’t come up with some more heist plans while I’m gone,” he joked, earning an eye roll from Inej. Turning from the table, he made his way out of the Crow Club, walking to the Slat and up to Y/N’s room, which was right next to his. Granted, they were really just tiny spaces meant to serve for the necessities. So, when Jesper arrived at their floor, he stopped in his tracks.

“Shortcake?”

Y/N turned, cursing as they realized they’d been caught. Instead of being adorned in their usual black attire, Y/N wore one of Jesper’s jackets.

“Listen, it was right there, it looked warm, I just really really . . . why are you walking towards me like that?” Y/N asked, watching as Jesper stepped towards them. If only they could see into Jesper’s mind, but the look in his eyes said it all. He was completely, utterly in love with the person before him. Letting out a gentle laugh, he kissed the corner of Y/N’s lips, earning him wide eyes.

“It looks better on you, although a little big, it’s perfect, Shortcake” Jesper said, in turn, he received a giddy laugh.

“Why thank you Big Bear. It is really warm, I may have to steal it,” Y/N remarked, crossing their arms and posing in the jacket for Jesper.

“You can’t steal it if I give it to you.”

“Hey! No fair. We’re criminals. I shall steal Jesper Fahey’s coat!”

“Mhm, now come on. I think you should show off your new attire at the Crow Club,” Jesper said, taking Y/N’s hand, but instead, they moved to stand beside Jesper, moving his arm so it wrapped around their waist.

When they arrived at the Crow Club once more, Inej glanced at Kaz, who now looked over his plans he’d been drawing out, his eyes on Y/N and Jesper.

“You’re so in on them being soulmates aren’t you?” Inej asked.

“Hmm, I don’t know what you’re talking about, my dearest Inej,” Kaz spoke quietly, making sure only she could hear.

1; Telling Them You Love Them

Whatever Jesper was planning, Y/N had a feeling it involved something big. They’d never seen him as frantic as he currently was. Then again, Jesper was a pretty frantic person at times, but still this probably took the cake for the most frantic. He had flowers, candies, creampuffs, not that Y/N knew all of that.

He was receiving different ways to tell people that you love them, and now he had no idea which one to go with. Nina told him pastries. Inej told him to simply be outright with it. Matthias told him some weird Fjerdan way they would do it. Wylan had shrugged, he’d never really been in love before. He hadn’t even DARED to ask Kaz for obvious reasons.

That left him with his own way of doing it. He wasn’t sure if Y/N would like it. He knew she’d like the cream puffs. But the candies? The flowers? Were they that kind of romantic?

It also didn’t help that when he’d asked everyone, he’d at first told them that he had feelings for Y/N, and they’d all replied that they knew. That didn’t help his nerves, because did that mean Y/N knew? Or were they just as oblivious as he was?

The night seemed simple enough - until it wasn’t.

The flowers didn’t smell right to Jesper, so he threw them out. The candies, as Nina revealed, were Y/N’s least favorite. The only thing he still had by the beginning of the night were the creampuffs. But he wanted to do this right. He had to do this right.

Entering the bakery, Jesper spotted Y/N at one of the booths, eating creampuffs. Well, there goes the last thing he had to give them. Making his way to the table, Jesper watched as Y/N raised their head to look at him.

“Don’t tell me Kaz sent you to come and ruin my night with some heist plans, Big Bear,” Y/N said, biting into their cream puff, humming in delight.

“Nope, just me. . . . just me,” Jesper murmured the last bit.

“Just you huh?” Y/N asked, finishing their plate and throwing it out. They stood, thanking the baker before leaving the bakery. Jesper followed behind. His mind raced with ideas on how to do this right. Maybe this was the right way? Stopping in one of the alleys, Jesper sucked in a deep breath.

“I love you!” He called to Y/N, who stalled for a moment, eyes going wide just as they did when Jesper had kissed the corner of their mouth.

“You make me rethink everything I know. You waltzed into the Crows lives, but most importantly, you waltzed into mine. I love you,” Jesper watched Y/N, seeing them laugh a bit.

“Go on, Big Bear,” Y/N spoke, walking slowly towards the gushing Jesper.

“I love the way you let me joke about your height. I love the way you get creampuff filling all over your face, you actually still have some on your lips. I love the way you joke with me during jobs, even when they go terribly wrong,” Jesper chuckled now, his smile wide.

“I love when you wear my clothes. They’re big on you. My jackets almost reach the floor. My sweaters reach your thighs. I love when you stand behind me while I’m playing cards, wondering how the game works. Or why it’s helpful. I love when you sneak into my bed late at night and lie across from me even with the small space we have, acting as if I don’t know you’re there. I love the way you chase me for your last cream puff and tackle me into the ground. But most of all, I love you . . . you, gosh do i love you,” Jesper felt out of breath. He wanted to yell from the top of rooftops that he loved Y/N. The things he’d do for them were endless.

“You know what I love about you, Jesper Fahey?” Y/N asked, tilting their head as they stopped in front of the breathless boy.

“What?”

“Everything,” and then they were on their tippy toes, their lips barely meeting Jesper’s.

The taste of cream puff filling hit Jesper first, a familiarity he knew with Y/N. Home. His fingers delicately moved to hold the back of their neck, his eyes shutting as he fully leaned down to kiss them. The pounding in his chest could likely be heard throughout the entirety of Ketterdam. He could feel the concrete underneath him, and it felt like the only stabilizer he had to keep him grounded. For if not for the concrete beneath him, he would’ve thought he was dreaming. Floating, even. But the feeling of their skin under his fingers, their lips. Everything invaded his senses and he didn’t want it to stop. He didn’t want them to stop.

Y/N had dreamed of this moment. The way Jesper’s slightly chapped lips would feel against their own, how soft his skin would feel, how his hair would feel. How he’d feel. Time felt lost, the world around them dimming as they let themself be consumed by this feeling. Nothing had felt so right. No one else existed except them.

Becoming breathless, Jesper pulled from Y/N, his eyes fluttering open as he placed his forehead against theirs. Then he felt the soft feeling of rain beginning to fall. “Isn’t that cheesy,” he chuckled, making Y/N laugh and take his hand.

“Ready to run through the rain, Big Bear?” They whispered.

Jesper didn’t answer, and instead he turned, pulling Y/N with him towards the Slat, their laughs being heard for miles.

[wordsandshawn]

Hello! Can you maybe do one where she is doing her last paper, but she simply can’t take it anymore and she is super stressed and tries to hide it? Thank you!

This isn’t really a blurb... it turned into a whole imagine, but I hope you enjoy! Sorry it took so long to write, but I’m going to continue writing more blurbs now, hopefully some shorter ones so they don’t take so long. Feel free to send more requests! 

At least the exams are over. That’s what you keep telling yourself, but now you’re in that space where you’re so close to being finished but yet you feel so far away. It feels like you’ve already exhausted ounce of your brainpower, and there is nothing left for you to give. However, you’re still here, seated at the coffee shop at your university. You have until midnight tonight to turn in this paper, and you’ve been here for two hours staring at the words on the page that aren’t making sense anymore, unable to muster up the energy to write anything coherent. 

It doesn’t help that most others in the coffee shop are celebrating the semester being over and otherwise appear to have already finished the most stressful week of the semester. You had been in the library earlier, but it was so empty it felt eery and you couldn’t focus there either. Your roommates are in the process of moving out of your apartment, so trying to work there is also out of the question. 

Rereading the last sentence you wrote, you wrack your brain trying to figure out where this paper is supposed to be going. Your mid-thought when your phone vibrating on the table pulls you back to reality. Shawn’s name pops up on the screen and you consider ignoring the call, but decide a short break can’t do much harm since you weren’t being very productive anyway. 

“Hello?” 

“Hey y/n, are you heading over soon?” Shawn’s voice comes through the phone. And even with that simple question, you can tell he’s in a good mood because you practically hear him smiling by the way his voice sounds, and it makes you smile too. 

Of course, he’s in a good mood. He’s home for the first time in too long, and he’s having all of his friends over since they’ve all finished their exams too and everyone can’t wait to let loose. 

Despite all of this to look forward to, you can’t help the way your heart sinks at his question. It’s still only about four pm, and you had told Shawn you’d head over his way as soon as you could, hoping you’d be able to spend some time with him before everyone else started showing up. You know Shawn’s expecting you, and you want to be with him more than anything else, but this paper isn’t going to write itself. 

“Uh,” You hesitate, “I’m still working on a paper. I’m sorry babe.” You apologize, feeling bad because you know you’re letting him down. You both haven’t seen each other in at least three weeks, so you hate to keep prolonging it. 

“It’s okay,” He responds masking his disappointment. “When do you think you’ll be done.” 

You weigh out your possible responses. You don’t want to tell him that you’re not sure you’ll make it to the party because you really want to go, but you also don’t want to lie to him. This paper is worth a huge chunk of your grade, and it’s in a class you can’t afford to get less than an overall grade of 75%. There are certain classes in your major that you’re required to get certain grades in, and this is one of them. If you fail, you don’t even want to think about what might happen if you fail. 

All of these thoughts are rushing through your mind when Shawn speaks again, and suddenly you realize you never responded. “Baby are you okay?” He questions. 

“Yeah,” You lie. “I’m fine.” Your voice betrays you, and you’re worried Shawn will notice. 

“Are you at your apartment?” He questions. 

“No, I’m at a coffee shop.” 

“How about I pick you up and you can come work on your paper here?” He offers. 

Your first thought is to decline. The original plan was for you to drive out to Shawn’s. You know he has things he has to do to prepare for everyone coming over, and you were supposed to drive out there tonight, stay the night, and then return to finish packing up your apartment in the morning, and Shawn was supposed to go back home to Pickering to see Aaliyah’s hockey game before swinging by your apartment to help you move some stuff. You’ve both already talked about this weekend, planning it out perfectly. 

If Shawn comes to pick you up tonight, you won’t have your car and you’d have to leave his place really early for him to drop you off at school and make it to Aaliyah’s game. 

“No, I can drive myself. I just don’t know when I’ll be done with this.” You’re so stressed, you’re not even sure you’re really thinking straight, and now you know for sure that Shawn is picking up on it by the tone of your voice. 

“Baby,” He says very clearly and calmly, his attempt at getting you out of your head. “Don’t worry about the party. Don’t worry about tomorrow or all the plans we’ve already made.” He knows you well enough to know all of the thoughts you’re having even when you’re not able to articulate it. 

Despite what he just said and his attempt at calming you down, all of your thoughts come out at once. “I’m sorry, I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it because of this paper, and I’ve only just started it today because I was so busy with my other presentations and exams and now I don’t know if I’ll even be able to finish it and I’m so sorry because I know we’ve been planning this party for so long.” 

“Y/n, it’s okay baby. You don’t have to apologize. I know you’re stressed and I know you’re doing your best. It’s okay.” He soothes you, his voice remaining calm because he knows you need to hear it. “Just listen to me, okay? I’m in my car now. I’m going to come to get you, and that way you can work on your paper here.” 

“No, Shawn.” You interrupt. Has he forgotten his friends are coming over?

“Hold on, it’s okay.” He says remaining calm. “I’m going to come get you and drive you back here. You have all night to do your paper, so don’t worry.” 

“I’m fine here.” You respond, not wanting to ruin his night.

“Baby, I don’t want to argue with you, and I also don’t want to force you to do anything you don’t want to, but I know you’re not fine, and I also know that you don’t want to come because you’re afraid of ruining the night. So I want you to know that you’re not ruining the night, and I really really want to come get you because then at least I’ll know that you’re okay and not having a breakdown in a coffee shop by yourself.” 

You can’t argue with that logic, because the truth is you want to be with Shawn more than anything right now because he’s the one person who manages to bring you back down when you’re stressed like you are now. “Okay,” you respond, agreeing to his proposition. 

“I’m leaving now, do you think you can go back to your place and get anything you need. Maybe even take a quick shower, it’ll make you feel better, and I’ll pick you up from your apartment in about forty-five minutes?” 

“Okay, yeah. I’ll see you soon.” You respond, feeling a little better already knowing you’ll see Shawn soon. 

“Alright baby, I love you.” 

“Love you too,” You respond before hanging up, grabbing all of your stuff and heading back to your apartment. 

Forty-five minutes later, you’re showered and feeling significantly better despite the fact that you’ve made absolutely no progress on your paper and the time is still steadily ticking down toward the due date. You grab your backpack, making sure that your laptop and any books you’ll need are in there before walking outside to wait for Shawn. He pulls up a few minutes later and your rush to his car. 

He smiles at you and you lean in for a kiss. It’s been too long since you’ve seen him. “I missed you,” He says, while putting the car back into drive and taking your hand in his. You can’t help but scoot closer to him despite the center console prohibiting you from any other contact. “Do you want to work on your paper now?” He offers, and you know you should, but you just want five minutes to be with your boyfriend. 

He starts to let go of your hand, but you only grab onto his tighter and he gives in. “I will, in a little bit.” 

He glances across at you briefly before looking at the road again. He squeezes your hand gently, before saying, “Okay.” 

You spend most of the drive working furiously on your paper and actually manage to make quite a bit of progress by the time you arrive at Shawn’s place.  Shawn grabs your backpack and puts it on despite your insistence that you can carry it yourself. When you get into the elevator, he pulls you into his arms enveloping your entire body in the type of hug only Shawn can give. He mumbles, “See if you were wearing your backpack, I wouldn’t be able to hold you like this.” And you can’t argue with that. 

Despite both of you wanting, to just be near each other, Shawn lets you go when the elevator arrives on the top floor and he unlocks the apartment letting you in first. You plop your backpack down and pull your laptop and books back out at the kitchen island. You promptly dive right back into your work and Shawn disappears into his room. About five minutes later, Shawn comes out with a candle, putting it down and lighting it. “Thank you.” You tell him, and he just nods and smiles and disappears again. About a half-hour later, Shawn emerges again, his hair still damp signaling he showered. He pulls a seat close to you and sits down, opening his own laptop. He doesn’t say anything but starts working as well. Having him near is one of your favorite things, even if you’re not talking. You can tell he’s trying really hard not to distract you, which makes you smile. He deserves the biggest thank you for all of this, but you’ll save it for later. 

“When are your friends coming over?” You ask, taking a little break from your paper. 

“I told them to just go out instead, and that they could come over another night.” 

“Shawn, no!” You reply. 

“What?” He questions, as though he doesn’t see anything wrong.

“Babe, have them come over. I was just planning to go into your room and work.” 

“It’s fine. I’d rather spend the night with you.”

“Baby, I’m going to ignore you all night. If they don’t want to come over, you can go out with them. I’m good, I promise.” You respond, and this time it’s the truth. You’re feeling so much better than you were before. You’ve made a lot of progress on your paper, which helped to ease some of your stress, and being here in Shawn’s place has also helped as the change in environment has allowed you to be more productive. 

He pauses for a second, studying you, and you giggle, “It’s not a trap, Shawn. I want them to come over or for you to go out with them.” You tell him again to make sure he understands. You’ve never been a fan of passive-aggressiveness or not saying what you mean, and Shawn knows that. 

You genuinely wouldn’t want him to sit around at home all night just because you have a paper and can’t do anything fun. It’s your fault that you’re not done with your paper, and he’s already done more than you’d ask for by going to pick you up and bringing you back here, you want him to see his friends and have fun. 

“Really, Shawn. Tell them they can come over, at least to pregame over here and then you can go out if you want or else I’ll call Brian myself.”

“I made you come here because I wanted to make sure you were okay, I don’t want to leave you.”

“Shawn, I’m fine. And besides, you’re stuck with me tonight and tomorrow because you have to drive me back to my place now.” 

“Are you going to be able to finish your paper?” 

“Yes.” You tell him, and you actually believe it. “I’ll be fine.” 

He finally gives in, and you know he can tell you’re in a much better place than you were earlier, which eases some of his own worries. An hour later, his friends flood into the place, and you say hello to all of them before slipping off to his room, putting on your headphones, and working away at your paper. Shawn brings you dinner since he had ordered food, and you finish your paper earlier than you thought you would, which allows you to go out and have fun with Shawn and his friends. 

[whetstonefires]

Okay, it’s been about a year but here is the second-to-last of the fics I signed up to write for the go-fund-cee drive! For @jes-cher, who has been lovely and understanding about my choice paralysis bullshit.

I’ll be posting a shorter, darker Jason-focused one later, as apology for slow. Ten months of beating my head against my first idea for this prompt before it occurred to me I could just. Write something else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a great idea if it’s clearly not getting written! 😌 Rip.

(Anon who’s the only one left, please feel free to contact me with a new prompt if you’re no longer interested in your original request after this amount of time, or have justifiably lost faith in my ability to execute it, as I chronicled my battle with Lobdell’s writing style, and would prefer I give you 10,000 words of something else. I’ll still post what I have written for that prompt already!)

-&-

Gotham wasn’t actually that bad a city. Steph had actually lived in a few different ones now, and visited lots, and for all the crap her hometown got, it stood up pretty well. The architecture was nice; good balance of eras, a unified aesthetic with a lot of variety to keep it interesting.

The street system wasn’t ideal, especially in the old parts of town, but they didn’t have any of the traffic nightmares of New York or, really, most of the rest of the metro belt. Only Metropolis did a better job at avoiding gridlock.

Public transit was robust and reached most of the city, and while the buses weren’t wonderful they weren’t bad. Sometimes they were even on time. The libraries and schools were all pretty well funded, because the Wayne Foundation made up the tax shortfall in districts with below average income. The street lights usually worked, and the cops were a lot more chill than most places unless they thought you were a supervillain, in which case they still probably wouldn’t shoot you, even if maybe they probably should.

The supervillain problem was worse than average, she could admit that, but crime as a whole actually wasn’t. Air pollution had been really bad forty years ago, and the river still wasn’t anywhere you’d like to swim, but that was true of a lot of places, and their reputations didn’t linger like this. She’d been to Paris! Gotham sanitation workers were about 400% more successful, and they kept working through frankly ludicrous conditions! Possibly they were paid really well, she didn’t know.

The weather, though. She’d give the world that one. Gotham’s weather was consistently terrible, awful, no-good, and deserved everything anyone had ever said about it.

Which made it actually really weird that their supervillain problem featured someone with a plant theme.

“Move somewhere tropical, Eisley!” she groused, as she swung to the next roof, careful of her footing. “Cultivate jungles! Save the planet! Stop making us come out in the freezing rain to deal with your unseasonable bullshit.”

She paused for a second on her last rooftop perch, both to gather herself and in case Ivy took the cue. She often did. Supervillains in general seemed to have a hard time resisting a straight line—which Steph could relate to, honestly. And she’d caught Batman holding back his entrance for the most ironic dramatic moment before, so it wasn’t just a villain thing.

No villain attack, which was good, because Steph was on her own out here. This was hopefully just a scouting mission. Probably Poison Ivy wasn’t even here.

This afternoon, just after lunch, as Steph was getting off work, every park in the city had suddenly erupted with enormous…growths. They were tree-shaped, thirty feet high with little crinkled green leaf things at the top, but from what inspection had been done so far seemed more like fungus than anything. The spreading limbs had a weird rubbery texture.

Steph was calling them Doom Broccolis.

Whatever they were, they were suspicious as heck, and in response to their appearance Batman had immediately rallied the troops. Which had quickly led to the discovery that Red Robin was missing, and had been for at least eleven hours. He’d never checked in last night.

The troops had promptly been rallied even more urgently, and dispersed across the city to its various infested green spaces.

So Steph’s mission, like everyone’s, was twofold—see if she could learn anything about Ivy’s scheme in time to foil it, and search for any sign of Tim. If they were lucky, he’d just dropped out of contact voluntarily for unrelated reasons and could be yelled at later. If not… Well. If not, he needed them.

She’d been telling herself all the way here that she appreciated that Duke and Damian were the ones who’d been sent out with each other as backup, that she was respected and trusted to operate solo and that was a good thing. The practical side of her would really prefer backup please, and the insecure one kept murmuring that maybe what it really proved was Batman cared less if she died.

Batgirl gave herself a little shake. Shut up, little voice, she told it, and mentally squashed the slug of it under her heel. She adjusted her gas mask to make sure the seal was tight. Time to get her reconnoiter on.

And hopefully not have to fight the most powerful metahuman in Gotham by herself on unfavorable terrain, in the freezing rain. That would be really great.

There was almost no sound as she crept through the nasty rubbery grove that had erupted in the long narrow triangle that was Hyde Park.

The broccolis themselves were silent, not even creaking or rustling in the occasional gusts that drove the freezing rain at an angle, and city traffic and all the sounds of people were hushed on a day like today, between the weather and the large-scale supervillain incident. Everyone who could be was either out of town or at home, stuffing newspaper into any cracks in case of spores.

After an unenlightening loop around about half the perimeter, Steph was forced to drop to ground level and forge her way into enemy territory. The doom broccolis had avoided uprooting any existing trees or large shrubs, which meant the spacing was slightly uneven and in some places there was no easy way through on foot, but for the most part they were far enough apart to leave plenty of corridors of sky for Steph to stay out under—cover from line of sight wasn’t worth putting herself directly below the things, if she could help it.

Fairly quickly, she noticed something that had not been in the photos from the main infestation in Robinson Park, forty minutes ago.

She clicked her comm on. “Hey,” she murmured just above the subvocal range, for the throat mic. She’d mostly gotten the knack of subvocalizing rather than whispering, which didn’t engage the vocal cords and which the microphone pasted to her neck therefore didn’t pick up well. “Is anybody else seeing…fruit? On the broccolis?”

There was a second of dead air, and then Red Hood said, with a grimace you could hear, “yeah. Like…huge brown cherries, on a couple of ‘em.”

“The ones here are more or less mushroom colored,” reported Signal from Finger Park. “But kind of like cherries, yeah.”

“Don’t touch them,” warned Batman, with the condescending Dad-instinct need to tell everyone things they already knew. Steph was in the middle of rolling her eyes when she rounded another broccoli and froze dead.

“Holy crap.” The broccoli mushroom tree at the middle of Hyde Park was bearing fruit that wasn’t shaped like cherries at all. Batgirl’s first thought had been holy shit it’s people, but then she’d taken her second look, and now it was worse. “Team,” she said, trying to keep her voice professional, “I… think I found Red Robin.”

Because dangling from the central broccoli, by dark hair that turned into green stems just before joining the bough, were seven still vaguely formless figures, torsos partially sheathed in giant green leaves like Ivy wore sometimes for modesty, and with arms and legs looking just barely stuck together. Like a partly melted wax figure, or dragon fruit that wasn’t quite ripe. The fingers and toes were mostly fused, and greenish at the tips. The faces were kind of melty too, hopefully enough so that they wouldn’t be a sure match against a photo to a stranger, but not so much that Steph couldn’t instantly recognize the lines of one of the faces she knew best in the world.

There were seven under-ripe Tim Drakes growing from a broccoli tree.

A clamor of demands for clarification was starting in her comm, and she crept forward as she waited for Batman and Oracle to quiet them all down. There was a bulge halfway up the meaty-looking trunk. “I said ‘think,’” she murmured, studying the nearest Tim-fruit for signs it was actually the real one, “because this broccoli—”

Something slammed into her from the side before she could say any more, heavy and cold and leaving her head ringing and her stupid gas mask flying away, and the combination of experience and instinct only barely let her leap and handspring with the blow, just fast enough to avoid the grasp of the thing that had struck her.

Her boots and glove almost skidded in the freezing-rain-on-grass and left her wiping out, but the jagged rubber treads she’d selected specifically for moments like this saved the day.

Steph made a three-point landing and stared up at Poison Ivy, standing looking thunderous on the top of a huge coil of some sort of vine, several more of them lashing around her like octopus arms. Steph couldn’t even tell which one had hit her.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit, Steph thought, and grinned.

“Gotta try harder than that, Pam!”

No one was talking in her ear. The ear she’d been smacked in. She reached up to check. Yeah, the comm had had it.

She couldn’t be sure about the throat mic—the stick-on patch it was under was still in place but she was pretty sure it got most if not all of its broadcast strength from the earbud unit, so it probably wasn’t transmitting to the others anymore but it might be. She’d keep that in mind to a) pass info just in case and b) try not to embarrass herself, in case there was a silent audience.

Ivy didn’t go straight for the kill, so Steph took the time to readjust her stance into a slightly more upright, flexible posture that kept both her hands free, though she didn’t bother to straighten her cape, which had gotten flipped forward over her right shoulder while she was flipping around.

“You’re planting dude-trees now, Pam?” She and Ivy absolutely weren’t on close enough terms to use first names, even if the meta lady had currently been on the upswing and working with the Birds of Prey again, instead of on a sharp down and terrorizing the city. “What, real guys not listening to you anymore?”

“Human beings are disgusting resource sinks,” Ivy said, in a tone of abstracted disgust that didn’t omen well for her losing her head and making a mistake. “Especially men. I’ve always been working on alternatives. Sadly,” she gave a shallow sigh, inspecting her nails, “the ones I’ve developed have always been…limited.”

Steph nodded sagely. “The veggieburger problem,” she agreed. “Hard to get a plant to do the job of meat.”

Ivy glared. Hah. That one got her. “My new varietal,” she snapped, “will overcome that problem. Each specimen engulfs and consumes one large mammal, and produces fruits that mimic the full intelligence and abilities of the prey sample, in a vegetable form completely loyal to me.”

Steph gaped, because one, that was the most terrifying thing Ivy had done in years, and two, consumes was a very very alarming word in this context. “The Doom Broccolis are carnivorous?” she did not actually squeak. She really hoped her throat mic was still working. Even if it wasn’t, though, backup should be incoming.

Ivy rolled her eyes. “They are not even distantly related to broccoli. And yes, although the digestion process doesn’t really set in until the fruits ripen; the early experiments failed to reproduce cognitive function accurately, due to the breakdown of key tissues.”

Whew. So Tim had…at least a little time left, probably. Steph looked uneasily around the grove of horrible flesh fungus. “I don’t see any loyal broccoli people,” she said. Maybe they were off guarding the other parks?

Ivy scowled. “Of course not. The early cultivars weren’t large enough for human trials, obviously.”

…so there were loyal vegetable guinea pigs or something. Sometimes it was easy to forget Ivy had once been an actual lab scientist.

“So wait, you haven’t actually done a person before and you start with—him?” Steph caught herself at the last second; she didn’t know which identity Tim had been caught in.

“Why not? Red Robin is an excellent specimen. Good balance of strength, strategy, and unlike Batman actually takes direction.” Ivy made a sour face, like her inability to control any version of Batman for long was a thorn in her side.

“Is that what you think,” said Steph, who had had the experience of trying to control Tim Drake. He did try to be accommodating, about most things, usually, and he did take direction better than Batman, for what that was worth, but in the end he’d always go off and do whatever he thought best, no matter what, and possibly let you yell at him about it later.

If anyone could take stock of his preconceived values and identity issues and think his way into a twisty workaround for inbuilt loyalty programming in order to fuck over his creator, she’d bet it would be a perfect copy of Tim.

“Also I caught him skulking around my newest greenhouses,” Ivy shrugged. “Waste not, want not. Recycling is good for the Earth.”

Haha, Ivy had just called Tim garbage. Harsh. But as interesting as it would be to see if the veggie-Tims actually did go rogue, them waking up would mean Tim was now actively dying if not already dead. So no. Not that funny.

Steph caught the enemy’s eyes shuttling subtly toward the central broccoli with its heavy burden of fruit. Aha. Just as she had suspected. (As of like…six seconds ago.)

Poison Ivy had been keeping Batgirl talking, buying time for her Tims to ripen.

Steph appreciated the compliment of putting off the fight rather than counting on being able to end it quickly, but she’d been buying time, too. And unlike Ivy, she was done shopping.

Her Batgirl cape wasn’t nearly as wide cut as her Spoiler cloak had been, not as good for hiding things in, but she’d contrived to use its cover to take out and arm nine individual exploding batarangs while they talked. That was more than she carried normally, or even would be allowed to carry normally, but when you were fighting evil trees more ordinance tended to be called-for, and Batman had issued a supply.

Without wasting time, she started throwing. Her aim had never been especially exact, something Damian liked to give her a hard time about, but here all she had to hit was ‘an entire tree.’ No fiddly precision targets today. She had to aim for the ones not showing fruit or trunk bulges, which she was going to have to trust didn’t have people inside, rather than having just recently acquired very tiny people—this seemed like a safe bet since Ivy tended to be soft on kids.

Not enough to stop periodically trying to destroy humanity for their sake, but enough that it was hard to imagine her hurting one face to face.

“No!” Ivy shouted. She got points for not leaping toward the blinking explosives to try to stop them, sending vines striking like snakes instead, but she was too busy doing that to get away from the bomb that had landed only about five feet away from her.

The blast blew her off her feet, and clear off her pedestal of green. She’d managed to remotely yank two of the batarangs out before they went off, saving those doom fungi, but Steph wasn’t worried about that; she’d successfully set the supervillain up for the kind of fatal misjudgment in defense of plants Batman always said was the surest way to beat her, and now she charged in to make the most of it.

She got there in plenty of time to really put her weight behind a punch hammering down into Ivy’s face, then kicked her in the chest, heel driving in just below the collarbone. Ivy gave a very human uph and pained expression, though she didn’t fall, and Steph went for another kick, this one more carefully aimed.

This was a mistake. One green-tinted hand came up and closed around her ankle like a Venus flytrap made of carbon steel, and in one sharp uncoiling move Eisley rose to her feet and with a twist of her whole torso flung Steph head over heels across the grove.

She realized somewhere between getting thrown and suppressing the urge to vomit as she gyroed upside-down that she’d been thrown straight for one of the remaining undamaged, unfruiting tree-things. Could see the surface getting sort of…gelatinous in preparation for her impact, which was so many flavors of no.

Her hands didn’t fumble at her belt, courtesy of many hours of drills and live practice, even as instinct screamed for rush and now now now.

Her grapple caught in one of the spreading ‘boughs’ at the top of another broccoli, and she tugged the line to send herself swinging out on a long arc just short of making contact with the fungus that wanted to eat her.

She peppered the air in front of her with ordinary, nonexplosive Batarangs as she came back around on the end of the wire—Ivy smacked these casually aside, but it made enough of a distraction that Pam didn’t notice in time the moment when Steph got her backup grapple into a different tree, and accelerated.

Going for a kick would have been the smart, safe option, but Steph was rarely smart and almost never safe, so instead of slamming her full body weight heel-first into the supervillain and hoping it stuck this time, she grabbed with the full strength of endless thigh workouts and dragged Ivy clear off her feet.

Ivy’s plants were protective, but they tended to rely heavily on her for targeting anything that wasn’t right in front of them, so keeping her disoriented was a good idea if you could manage it. It said so in her file. So this part, the grabbing, had been an actual plan, even if one it had taken about two seconds to make, and even if ‘hit the supervillain essentially with your crotch’ was probably a combat recommendation no one would make ever.

The next part was sheer impulse, based on how much easier Ivy was to move than expected—maybe her punch resistance wasn’t so much physical density as some sort of supernatural rootedness, and if you could get her off the ground it stopped working?

Steph released the retraction mechanism on her secondary grapple and let it start paying out again, an instant before she hit the max-strength retract button on her original grapple, the one that was still in her other hand, and gripping a bough halfway across the grove.

Her right shoulder screamed, but Ivy let out a startled choking sound as their trajectory wrenched around out of the arc Steph had been carrying her into headfirst, and shot the other way. Which meant she was still discombobulated, which meant Steph still had the upper hand, shoulder or no.

Steph picked the right moment as they went rocketing back, and let go. Momentum kept Ivy flying, and none of her plants reacted to catch her in midair before she landed. Right on target.

Ivy sank headfirst into her own carnivorous fungus tree, in the gelatinous patch where she’d tried to throw Steph. Her legs kicked once, and then fell still. “See how you like it!” Steph shouted, which was perhaps not the wittiest repartee ever, but she didn’t care.

She landed, staggering a little because her shoulder might be dislocated a little bit and was definitely killing her. And normally she wouldn’t turn her back on a villain just because she’d gotten one good hit and they hadn’t immediately gotten up again, but what she’d been fighting for this whole time was time, because the window of opportunity to stop Tim Drake-Wayne from being reduced to protein goo and the pattern for a bunch of veggie-copies was closing fast. This wasn’t a defeat-top-rank-supervillain-solo mission, this was a rescue mission.

She pelted back toward the relevant tree, holding up the elbow of her bad arm with the opposite hand against the jolt. How to get him out? With two good arms she could have climbed or grappled up to the level of the bulge that represented the broccoli’s prey and started cutting, but it would be hard to get good leverage. Was there a better option?

One of the Tim-fruits twitched on its stem. Fuck it.

Steph recalled the grapple-end of her holdout gun from where it had been since she use it to get the drop on Ivy, fired it into the gummy-looking limbs of the Tim tree, and hauled herself up. She needed to start carrying a better cutting implement than a Batarang, how did Midnight Boy Scout not mandate that already, but for now she gripped one swoopy sharp black wing awkwardly in her gauntleted left hand, braced toes and knees against the nasty cool-flesh stem, and put all the strength her bad arm had into cutting through the tough husk.

It wouldn’t cut.

More of the Tims were starting to move. Their copy nervous systems booting up or whatever.

The whole tree seemed like it was twitching, and then she realized it was, or rather just the lump under her feet was, and she pulled back her Batarang just in time for something thin and yellow to burst out through the surface of the Doom Broccoli, and disappear, leaving an almost invisibly thin slash that dribbled a transparent greenish fluid that reminded Steph of aloe vera gel but smelled more like old mango and artichoke.

The rubbery husk was being sliced up from the soft, inner side with the hawks-head emblem that belonged in the middle of Red Robin’s chest, which wouldn’t you know was a holdout throwing star thing after all, just like his R used to be. She should’ve known.

Talk about impractical shapes for a knife.

“Keep going, you’ve almost got this.”

Whether he heard her or not, he went on thrashing and slashing, and Steph with her Batarang tore as best she could with her bad arm at the shreds between cuts, trying to get them to snap and let all the thin slashes add up to one hole large enough to escape through.

The Tim-fruits were still twitching. Would they fall to the ground and then peel their limbs free like they were breaking out of husks, and get up and start walking around? Or would they need to get all the way to looking like functioning humans before detaching from the stems?

A whole arm burst out in a rush of goo. They were going to make it.

The fingers of the nearest fruit came unstuck, one by one, curling around air the way Tim curled his around a staff.

And then he was out, headfirst and gooey.

“Man, Ex-Boyfriend Wonder,” Steph sighed, as she let him grab onto her and lowered them on a slowly paying-out jumpline, helping him reach the ground with slightly more dignity than clawing his way down the slime-encrusted ruptured stem of his prison would have allowed, assuming he hadn’t just landed face-first and died. “Why’d you have to go breaking yourself loose at the last second like that? I was supposed to be the hero!”

“Believe me, you—pbbbft—were,” Tim answered, pausing partway to spit out a mouthful of sap-gel that he must somehow have been breathing in there. “I’d never have even managed to wake up if you hadn’t turned up to distract Ivy and make such a racket. I could feel her speeding it up, toughening up the…things, pushing.” The shiver was understated enough Steph might not have noticed it if he hadn’t been clinging to her waist. She eyed the Tim fruits. They’d stopped moving. Good?

Feet on the ground, Tim brushed fruitlessly at the slime all over his costume, then obviously gave it up as a bad job. “Where is she?” he asked, looking around.

“Over there.” Steph landed too, and pointed to where Ivy was still embedded head-first in a broccoli.

She’d disappeared up to the waist, and didn’t seem to be making any effort to get out. In fact, as they watched she seemed to sink in another centimeter.

“Okay, that’s a bit better than a distraction,” Tim acknowledged. “But also I don’t think we should let her finish. I don’t want to fight a dozen vegetable Poison Ivys.”

“Don’t like to eat your vegetables?” Steph teased, even as she sized up the situation—should they pull Ivy out, probably the faster option but then they’d probably have to fight her some more right away, or try cutting down the Doom Broccoli with her still in it, more thorough?

“Yeah actually I’m not going to be able to look any cabbage varietals in the face for the next six months,” said Tim, apparently agreeing they were broccoli regardless of their creator’s opinion and the mango smell, “but come on. It’s never good when villains start to spawn. Chiraxes was bad enough.”

“Blegh,” Steph admitted. The duplicate Drury Walkers had at least had a super short lifespan and been self-disposing. “Okay, I’m all out of bombs. You?” Probably a dumb question, given all his storage space had been confiscated.

“Ivy took my belt and everything in my bandoliers,” Red Robin admitted, touching the cape closure thing at the top of them, where he’d shoved his little sigil-thing back into place in spite of all the goo. His stupid little gimmicks would be easier to make fun of if they worked out less often, lucky stiff.

“But she left that.” Because Tim had all the luck when it came to details like that. “And your mask?” Not that Ivy had ever cared much about things like the Bats’ secret identities.

He shrugged. “I guess she didn’t expect it to be relevant long.” Anything she wanted to know from or about him, the copies could have told her, soon enough. And he wouldn’t have mattered, once he was dead.

This had been another close one; Steph got those feelings out with a little shiver of her own. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s do something about Ivy. Everybody else should be here soon.”

“Backup,” Tim sighed, pushing his hair back from his face and having it stick that way, messily moussed with doom fungus glop. “I love having backup.”

“Sure didn’t act like it back in the day.”

“I am an older and wiser man now. Who values being alive and made of the original meat products.”

Steph stole a glance over her shoulder at the Tim tree. “…I’m really glad those things aren’t waking up.”

“Me too. Think of the ethical implications.”

Steph side-eyed him, not sure whether that was intentional humor or not, then decided it didn’t matter and elbowed him in the ribs anyway. She immediately broke into a run to avoid any counter-attacks, bad arm carefully supported once again. “Race you to the supervillain!”

[dominatedolans]

Selfie ♡ E.D.

A/N: hi! so this is my first time writing in, literally, forever. this is also my first time writing smut, as well as my first time writing anything about either one of the twins, so hopefully it isn’t too awful. i got this idea from a concept that was sent in to @aphroditedolan (who is one of my all time favorite writers btw, go check her out if you haven’t already). anyways, i really hope you all enjoy, please feel free to send me some feedback (whether it be positive or constructive criticism, either is fine)! 😊

Summary: In which Ethan and Y/N are best friends, but that quickly spirals into more when Y/N sends him a risqué selfie one lonely morning.

Warnings: language, one brief mention of cheating, smut, unprotected sex, bit of fluff at the end

Word count: ~5.3k

Ethan and Y/N had been best friends for what had seemed like their entire lives, but in reality was only around 4 years. They had bumped into each other, quite literally, when they were both in a rush one day to grab their coffees and get to their respective destinations. Ethan had been rushing out of the coffee shop and Y/N had been rushing in, causing them to collide in the middle. This had resulted in Ethan’s coffee being poured all down the front of Y/N’s brand new shirt, and to top it off, all of the papers she had been holding in her arms for her very important meeting at work were now scattered all over the floor — and covered in coffee.

After standing there, frozen, with his jaw completely slack, Ethan finally got his shit together and bent down to help Y/N pick up her now coffee-soaked documents, struggling to find the right words to express how sorry he was (but trying his damndest anyways) the entire time. She had laughed him off with a wave of her hand, telling him she should have been watching where was going, and he had felt his shoulders sag with relief that she wasn’t going to completely flip out on him. Still, he felt horrible, so he had offered to buy her a coffee as an apology, which she gratefully accepted, because, hey — times were rough, and Starbucks was definitely not the cheapest place in the world.

After that, they had a few more run-ins at that very same coffee shop (though, thankfully, not quite as physical), and they quickly decided to exchange numbers to keep in touch. The rest, as they say, is history.

Turns out, Ethan had been exactly what Y/N needed in her life at that time. She was going through some rough patches, in more ways than one. She was struggling financially, she hated her job where she was over worked and under payed, and she had just found out that her scumbag of a boyfriend, who she had been with for six years, had been cheating on her for the past two. Needless to say, Y/N needed some form of joy in her life — and that’s exactly what Ethan provided.

Ethan made her so happy and helped her in more ways than she could even begin to thank him for. He helped her find a new job (one with less sleepless nights and a higher pay), he helped her find a new apartment that was pretty similar to the one she already lived in, only it put less of a strain on her monthly finances, and he helped boost her confidence levels through the roof (which, once upon a time, was easily her biggest mental struggle).

Even now, four years after the beginning of their friendship, Ethan still managed to make her feel good about herself every. single. day. Every morning, Y/N would wake up to a text along the lines of, “Good morning gorgeous, hope you have a great day today. Be sure to send me your OOTD later 😚.”

It had become a daily tradition between the two. If the text wasn’t there when she woke up, he would inevitably text her at some point throughout the day requesting his daily selfie. He would ask to see what she was wearing for the day, even if she was staying in that day and was just lounging around in sweats and one of his hoodies, and he would hype her up to the max. Some of his typical responses would include, “WOW what a goddess 🤤,” “how are you so beautiful honestly,” and “that’s MY best friend 😍.”

That last one actually managed to kill her a little bit inside every time he said it, if she was being perfectly honest. She always thought that if they had met at a different point in her life that maybe, just maybe, they could’ve wound up as more than friends. They had just clicked right from the start, and their bond had only grown more and more as time went on. Unfortunately, since she was suffering from the worst break-up of her life when she met him, she hadn’t even entertained the thought of them as a couple at the time. He had hinted at the potential of something more quite a few times at the beginning of their friendship, but she was always quick to politely laugh it off and make some sort of comment that put him right back into the friend zone. She had felt bad, but she didn’t want him to be her rebound — she thought way too highly of him and valued his friendship way too much to risk losing him.

Now, though, she sometimes found herself staring at him a little too long with a grin on her face that was maybe a little too big when he would smile at her or let loose one of his famous laughs that were ridiculously contagious. She sometimes had to remind herself when they were cuddling and she had her face tucked into his neck that she couldn’t just pepper it with kisses and mark him as hers. She sometimes had to stop herself from watching his mouth when he talked while fantasizing about the way his lips would feel in between her thighs.

Anytime she found herself daydreaming like that, she would quickly distance herself from him by at least a little bit in some way (whether it be by simply looking away, or by making up an excuse to go to the bathroom). She had to remind herself that this was her best friend, and she couldn’t think about him that way. And besides, she had shut him down so many time in the beginning that there was no way he could still be interested in her. She had made it perfectly clear that they were just friends; so that was on her.

She couldn’t help but let herself wonder, though, during the times when they would jokingly flirt back and forth. She would find herself wrapped up in the moment, full-flirting mode on, when Grayson would interrupt the two of them with a roll of his eyes by saying something along the lines of, “god, would you two just get a fucking room already,” to which Y/N would blush furiously, and Ethan would glare at him for embarrassing her and promptly tell Grayson to “fuck off, bro.” Still, even after their (innocent) flirting, Y/N would have to come back down to earth, filled with disappointment, and remind herself that they were, unfortunately, only joking, and that they were just friends. Just friends.

Ethan, on the other hand, was always left feeling on top of the world after one of their flirty moments. He loved the way her eyes twinkled as she complimented him, loved the way she would get the smallest little smirk on her face when she made a suggestive comment, loved the way she would grin and wink at him after he made some sexual innuendo. He loved it, because he had been wanting to make her his for four years now, but she had always made it clear that she only had friendly feelings towards him. So he relished in those moments; those times when he could let his attraction towards her be known in full force and to have it feel like she felt the same. The only downside, though, was that he knew she thought they were only playing around; even if he wanted nothing more than to just rip her clothes off.

He had started their daily “send me an ootd selfie” tradition shortly after they had met, and even though his intentions were (mainly) to try to help her gain confidence, they weren’t all that innocent. He loved the days when she was relaxing at home and would send him a full-body picture of her only wearing one of his hoodies that fell high enough on her thighs to show off just enough of her long, creamy legs to have him drooling, but low enough to always have him wishing the hoodie was just a little bit shorter. He loved the days she sent him a selfie before working out in nothing but a sports bra and a pair of skin tight leggings. And he really loved the days during the summer when she would send him a selfie of her out by the pool in nothing but a tiny little bikini that had him having to find the nearest cold shower to jump in to.

Now, as Ethan sat at one of the god-awful, torturously boring meetings that he and his brother were forced to attend, his line of thought quickly made him remember that he hadn’t asked Y/N for his selfie of her yet today. He discreetly pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent her a quick text while hiding his phone under the table as best he could. “Hey pretty girl, don’t forget to send me a pic of your outfit for today. I’m bored af at this meeting and could use something pretty to look at 😩.”

He sat there for a few seconds and waited for her response, but when she didn’t text back right away, he slid his phone back into his pocket with a disappointed sigh and half-heartedly tried to listen to what those around him were droning on about.

Back home, Y/N dropped the package she had just received to the floor with a frustrated huff. Before having to get up to answer the door she had been trying everything to get off. She had tried to use a few different toys she had tucked away in the back of her nightstand, she had tried watching porn, she had even gotten to the point where she was so desperate to cum that she had allowed her mind to wander to a place she normally never allowed it to go when she was trying to get off — to Ethan. Thoughts of him had gotten her right to the edge, but right when she was almost at her peak, the fucking Amazon delivery guy had knocked on her door and she had had to halt her activities to go sign for her package.

She childishly stomped her way back into her bedroom, extremely frustrated knowing that her mood was dead and she wouldn’t be getting herself off today. She picked up her phone after tossing herself back into bed and noticed that Ethan had texted her what time she was dealing with the delivery guy. She still had those filthy thoughts of him lingering in the back of her mind, so after a moments hesitation, she dropped her phone back onto her bed and got up to find what she wanted to put on before taking her daily selfie for him.

Still at his meeting, Ethan mindlessly glanced at his phone again for probably the tenth time since he had texted Y/N, still impatiently waiting for her to respond. He knew that she had to be awake by now — she never allowed herself to sleep past ten — so why hadn’t she texted him back? He checked his phone three more times in the next ten minutes, still awaiting her reply. He was growing more and more impatient with each passing minute, actually starting to even get a little worried, when he finally felt his phone buzz against his leg. He unlocked his phone and clicked his Messages app, and he was immediately sent into an awful coughing fit after literally choking on his own saliva.

At her house, Y/N anxiously chewed on her thumbnail as she stared at her phone, wondering what the fuck she had just done. It was stupid, and impulsive, and fuck was she still horny, but she definitely should not have done that.

She had went to the mall with one of her friends the day before for a much needed girls day out. They worked at the same place and work had been stressful for both of them as of late, but thankfully, the big project they were stressing over finishing together was finally done, and their boss had given them the weekend off as a reward. They had taken advantage of the day, utilizing the time to go to all of their favorite stores to update their wardrobes, dropping in at the salon to have their hair trimmed, and then stopping by the spa for waxes, mani-pedis, and massages. After they were finished at the spa, Y/N’s friend dragged her back into the depths of the mall because she had been feeling frisky after getting waxed clean and wanted to go pick up a new lingerie set to show off to her boyfriend for when she got home. Y/N had rolled her eyes (with a smile on her face, of course) but had followed her friend into their favorite lingerie store.

Once they were in there, Y/N’s friend would not stop insisting that she treat herself to a new set as well. “C’mon, Y/N,” she had said. “How long has it been since you got laid, anyways? Buy something sexy, find you a man honey! You deserve it after the past few weeks we’ve had a work.” Y/N had shook her head as they laughed together, and decided, hey, maybe her friend was right. It had been a rough few weeks at work, and she never bought herself anything sexy anymore because she felt like she didn’t have anyone to show it off to.

She had bought a sexy, satin red bustier and matching thong set. The bodice of the bustier was mainly see through mesh, with see through lace on the sides. The top had lacy push-up style cups complimented by a little red satin bow that sat in between them along with straps that dangled from the bottom of the bustier that were available to clip to garters (but she simply allowed them to dangle tantalizingly down the tops of her thighs). The thong was a little simpler, consisting of red satin with a little bit of red lace lining the top, and a little red bow that matched the one on the bustier in the center.

Y/N couldn’t believe that she had allowed herself to actually slip into that very same lingerie set before snapping a few pictures of herself and choosing the best one to send to Ethan. Now that her sex-hazed mind was starting to simmer down, she couldn’t believe she had allowed herself to send him such a risqué picture. Sure, she had sent him plenty of bikini pictures in the past, so he was no stranger to her body; but a picture of her in that lingerie, combined with her “fuck me” eyes and the slight smirk she adorned, was not a picture she should have sent to her best friend.

She was freaking out. It had been fifteen minutes since she had sent the picture, and Ethan typically responded in less than five. To make it worse, he had his read receipts on, so she knew he had seen the picture and had read what she had sent with it. To be fair, she had only said, “hope this helps x😘,” but still... that picture. Why was he not responding?

Five minutes later, she heard the tell tale signs of her front door being unlocked (the only person with a key other than herself was Ethan), and she bolted from her bed in shock, letting out a small gasp and only realizing then that she hadn’t even changed out of the lingerie yet. She allowed a string of curses to slip from her mouth, but before she could so much as pick her phone up from the floor where she had dropped it in her shocked state, Ethan was already standing in front of her, jaw slack and eyes wide.

His eyes were slowly taking in her figure from the bottom up, savoring every last second. Finally, he met her eyes, and they just stared at one another for a few quick seconds in tense silence. “Um, hi,” she finally managed to whisper, just loud enough for him to hear, and then she let out a shocked squeak as he was rushing towards her, a predatory look in his eyes.

Once he got to where she was standing he raised his hands to either side of her face and pulled her in for a heated kiss. She immediately responded, placing one of her hands on his chest while wrapping the other around the back of his neck to play with his hair.

Their mouths collided in a heated embrace before Ethan swiped his tongue along Y/N’s bottom lip, asking for entrance. She eagerly obliged, their tongues battling for dominance as he let his hands wonder down her body. His arms found their way around her back, grabbing onto her ass and jerking her closer to him. She let out a small moan once she felt their hips smash together, his hardness evident through his pants.

“Fuck, Y/N, you have no idea what that picture done to me,” Ethan panted, pulling away to begin to trail kisses down her neck. She simply giggled in response as he kissed his way down to the place where her neck met her shoulder before sucking a bright red mark into her skin, causing her to let out a breathy moan as she tugged on his hair. He groaned at the sensation, sliding his hands down to the backs of her thighs and tapping twice as an indicator for her to jump.

He carried her over to the bed, throwing her down onto it and watching her bounce a few times as he began to crawl over top of her.

He reattached his lips to he neck, this time trailing his kisses lower until he was kissing the swell of her breasts, Y/N’s breaths coming out in short, quick pants as she watched him. “As much as I love this,” he mumbled, pulling back to run his eyes over her top, “it needs to come off.”

He snaked his hands under her body to unclip her bustier as she arched her back off of the bed to help him. Once it was unbuttoned Y/N slipped her arms out of it, allowing Ethan to toss it carelessly to the floor. He sat back on his knees, eyes roaming over her torso as he admired her body, biting his lip. “God, you’re so fucking sexy,” he muttered, leaning back down to attach his lips to hers.

One of his hands began to play with her nipple, pinching and pulling and rubbing it between his fingers, causing her to arch into him with a moan, thrusting her hips up towards his for some kind of friction. He rutted down into her when he felt her hips seeking his, both of them letting out loud moans at the contact. Ethan pulled away from her mouth, panting.

“I mean, what were you even thinking, sending me that, anyways, hmm? You were just asking to be fucked, weren’t you, pretty girl?” He questioned. His words sent a pulse straight through her core, Y/N nodding along eagerly in agreement. “Want you so bad, E,” she panted, desperately wanting him to touch her.

Fuck, he couldn’t believe she had just said that. He felt his dick throb in his pants and he quickly tossed his own shirt off of his body in an attempt to rid himself of some of his own clothes. He was definitely eager before, but after hearing what she had said he just couldn’t wait anymore. He kissed his way down the center of her torso, down between her breasts and past her belly button, before glancing up to lock his eyes with hers when he reached the hem of her thong, silently asking for permission. She eagerly nodded her head, desperately wanting him to do something, anything, to relieve the throb between her legs.

He hooked his fingers into the sides of her thong, slowly pulling them down her legs before tossing the material somewhere on the floor with their other items of clothing. He kissed his way up her inner thighs as he pushed them farther apart to allow space for him to climb in between them. He finally reached his destination, his head tucked prettily in between her legs, before licking a single, long stripe from her entrance up to her clit, where he teasingly flicked his tongue a few times. Y/N released a loud moan, the sound going straight to Ethan’s dick, while arching her back high off of the bed.

Ethan hooked his arms around her thighs and pressed down on her hips to keep her on the bed, eagerly flicking his tongue against her clit once again once he got her to hold still. She was clawing at the sheets at the sensation of his tongue, feeling him circle it and flick it and lick her in ways she had never been licked. “Fuck, E, that’s so good. Please don’t stop,” she panted, thrusting her hips up to meet his tongue. He hummed against her pussy, the vibrations pushing her even further towards the edge as she laced her fingers in his hair.

She was a moaning mess, climbing higher and higher towards her peak, when she felt Ethan insert two of his fingers into her center as he continued to lick at her clit. She felt her eyes rolling into the back of her head as he began to pump his fingers in and out, feeling her release rapidly approaching. Ethan curled his fingers forward in a ‘come hither’ motion, the action sending her over the edge, causing her to release a string of curses along with his name. “Oh shit, ohhh fuck, I’m — Ethan!” She screamed, releasing all over his tongue. He hummed against her once again, eagerly licking up all of her juices until she began to come down from her high.

“Fuck, that was good,” she panted, a lazy smile on her face. “Yeah? Well I’m not done with you yet, baby,” Ethan smirked, crawling back up her body. He kissed her, letting her taste herself, causing her to let out a little moan. She trailed her hands down his chest, letting her freshly manicured nails lightly scrape against his muscles, causing him to shiver and groan into her mouth.

She pulled back from the kiss, trailing her lips down his neck, leaving random, tiny little love bites in her wake, before reaching his collar bone where she sucked a very prominent purple mark in his skin. He groaned, throwing his head to the side in pleasure, allowing her more room to do what she pleased. She suddenly flipped them over, Ethan grunting in surprise, before looking up at her with a smirk. “Damn, baby... what’re you gonna do, hmm?” He questioned, his eyes twinkling with mischief. Y/N felt her core tighten, loving the way he was talking to her.

“How about I just show you?” She purred, a sultry look in her eye as she began to trail kisses down his chest. He groaned lightly in response, swiping his tongue across his lips before dragging the bottom one in between his teeth as he watched her kiss down his body. Fuck, this was better than he could have ever even imagined.

She had finally made her way down to his pants, fumbling with his belt for a second before finally getting it undone and then unbuttoning his pants. She worked his pants and underwear down his legs, allowing him to kick them off once they got to his feet. She made her way back up his body to where his cock was resting on his stomach, the tip swollen and leaking pre-cum from the lack of attention.

She began kissing his inner thighs, getting closer and closer to his balls, causing his breathing to pick up as he fisted the sheets while staring down at her. She finally reached his balls but moved on up his body past them, careful not to touch him yet. She teasingly licked from his hip bone up to where his cock lay just below his belly button, allowing her warm breath to fan over his length, before doing the same thing in reverse on the other side. She sucked a mark into his hip bone when her tongue got there, causing him to thrust into the air, dying for some sort of contact.

“Y/N, please,” Ethan begged, “please don’t tease, I can’t take it.”

Y/N glanced up to meet his eyes, seeing the desperate look on his face that had her dripping down her thighs once again, before licking a long stripe from his balls to his tip, maintaining eye contact with him the entire time. She traced his tip with her tongue before (finally) wrapping her lips around him, causing him to throw his head back and let out a loud, drawn out groan, thankful for some relief.

She began to bob her head, swirling her tongue around as she sucked him off, her right hand carefully rolling his balls around to provide extra stimulation. Ethan was in heaven, trying his best to watch her while she worked her magic but failing because it just felt so fucking good and he couldn’t help but close his eyes and throw his head back onto the bed.

She released his cock with a pop, moving down to gently suck his balls into her mouth one at a time, causing him to let out a string of curses. “Fuck, Y/N, you gotta stop,” He panted, reaching down to pull her up his body to meet his lips. “I don’t want to cum without being inside of you first.” He told her, flipping them back over so she was on her back under him. His words, once again, had her core clenching, and she eagerly pulled him down to smash their lips together once more.

Ethan pulled away, reaching down to grab his cock and running it between her folds to get himself nice and wet (not that he really needed to given how she had just soaked his cock with her mouth) before pausing to glance up to meet her eyes. “This okay?” He asked, patiently waiting for her to respond.

“Ethan, please just fuck me already,” she moaned, and that was all the incentive he needed before he began to ease his way inside of her. They both let out moans once he pushed the head of his cock in, Ethan pausing for a moment to drop his head into the nape of Y/N’s neck while he took a few deep breaths. “Holy fuck you’re tight,” he breathed, kissing her neck briefly before raising himself back up onto his hands.

He eased himself the rest of the way inside of her, pausing every now and then because he knew it had been a while for her and she would need to adjust, but also because she was tight as fuck and he didn’t want to shoot his load before they could even get started.

Once he had bottomed out he paused one last time, allowing her to get used to the stretch while he reveled in the feeling of being inside of her. He began to move after a moment, his thrusts slow at first before he began to pick up the pace. Y/N arched her back and let out a moan, loving the way he was stretching her out.

“You like that?” Ethan asked, picking up the pace even more. All she could do was moan in response, thrusting her hips up to meet his every time he slammed back inside of her. She soon felt the coil deep in her belly, signaling she was beginning to climb towards her second orgasm.

Ethan could tell she was getting close when her moans began to rise in pitch and volume, so he abruptly pulled out, causing her to whine at the loss of contact. “On your knees,” he demanded, causing her core to clench before she obediently flipped over on her stomach. She stuck her ass up in the air with her head resting on the bed, arching her back to allow him better access. She turned her head to look back at him after a moment when she began to grow impatient, letting out another whine. “Ethan, please,” she begged, wiggling her ass at him in an attempt to get him to hurry.

Ethan could’ve came just looking at her like that. Laying there all wet and ready for him, face down, ass up, begging for his cock. He moved forward, rubbing his cock between her folds once again, before quickly thrusting inside of her this time. She let out a loud moan at his sudden entrance, shivering as he began to thrust in and out of her at a rapid pace.

She felt that coil come back, quicker this time given how fast he was moving and how deep this new position allowed him to go. “Fuuuuuck E, please don’t stop, so fucking big, feels so good,” Y/N moaned, feeling like she was on the verge of tears from all of the pleasure. Ethan leaned forward, leaning over her back so his mouth was near her ear. “You like that, baby? You like when I pound into this pretty little pussy of yours? Who’s making you feel this good?” He growled, continuing to fuck into her with all he had.

“YOU, Ethan, only you,” Y/N screamed, beginning to thrust her ass back to meet his hips. “That’s right, baby,” He groaned with a smack to her ass, causing her to let out a moan that was louder than any of the others. Ethan immediately picked up on this, smacking her ass again as he began to move impossibly faster.

Y/N reached down to rub her clit, feeling the knot in her stomach getting tighter and tighter as Ethan continued to pound into her.

“I’m gonna cum,” she panted, feeling Ethan’s cock twitch inside of her. “Cum for me, baby girl,” he breathed back, immediately feeling her core tighten even further around his cock, sending him even closer to his own release. He fucked her through her orgasm, waiting until she was finished before he pulled out and jerked on his dick twice, releasing onto her back. She collapsed down onto her stomach while Ethan made his way into her bathroom, wetting a wash cloth with warm water so he could clean her up.  

He wiped his cum off of her back before laying down beside of her, both of them still panting, trying to catch their breath. When Y/N’s breathing had finally returned back to normal, she let out a little giggle, causing Ethan to open his eyes that he hadn’t even realized he had closed in the first place so that he could look at her. “What?” He questioned, a smile beginning to creep its way onto his face.

“Looks like I’m going to have to text my friend and thank her for making me buy that lingerie,” she said, causing them both to start laughing. Ethan scooted even closer to her, wrapping his arms around her so he could pull her into his body.

“Tell her thank you from me, too,” he added, both of them still giggling as he kissed her temple and closed his eyes, a dopey smile on his face. He was so beyond in love with this girl, and there was no way he was letting her get away now that he had finally gotten her. 

[fight-me-wyatt]

Wyatt Oleff ~ Coffee Stains

Request/Prompt: "Hellooo since you are taking request's can you do a fluffy Wyatt x reader imagine?ily💝💝💘🎈" from @nctzenaf on Tumblr. 

Ship: Wyatt Oleff x fem!reader 

Summary: Wyatt accidentally bumps into the reader on the street, spilling coffee all over her. They part ways not expecting to see each other again, until the reader goes to her favourite cafe and gets coffee spilt over her again... by the same handsome stranger. 

Type: fluff... not super fluffy though, sorry x 

Warning: Only warning is swearing 

Word count: 4538 (including A/Ns) I swear these are getting longer and longer. Let me know if you want them shorter! 

Hope you enjoy it. Let me know! Oh, and an update on me doing ships, I've decided to split them up with imagines in between, so no, they aren't closed, but it'll just take a long time to do them all! Hope this is okay!

Gif credit to @beep-beep-reddie

Y/N POV 

8:14am. I was already late. 

To make matters worse, I hadn't had my morning coffee yet, so I was tired and ready to snap. 

I walked briskly down the reasonably busy sidewalk. The Autumn air was crisp and sharp, a slight wind blowing against my cool face. I had a loose scarf around my neck to fight off the cold and look stylish while doing it. 

I checked my watch again, only to find that time hadn't unwound for me. I was still late. 

My sister had been out late last night and had woken me up multiple times during the night, calling me every hour. And she wasn't quiet coming back home either. It was 2am when she crashed through the door, waking me from the short doze I had since the last time she disturbed me. I had decided to help her get into bed, so that it was faster and quieter, giving me more time to sleep. That didn't work in with her plans though. It took an hour and a half to get her ready for bed, and another hour to get her to finally fall asleep. Falling back into bed at 4:30am, I was knackered. I was so tired that when my alarm started blaring at 7am, I slept through it. It wasn't until 7:55am when my sister woke me, complaining about the screaming alarm clock and her pounding headache. 

I had jumped out of bed, chucked on clothes, deodorant and shoes, grabbed my purse that contained my work badge, my money and house keys, and rushed out the door. 

I worked at a cute bookstore which i had visited so often that they offered me a job. It was the perfect holiday job while school was out. I started at 8am and worked until closing time at 6pm. I did this Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, although it would vary. 

Except it was a Monday, past 8am, and I wasn't at work. Because I was getting later by the second. 

I looked down at my watch once again, as if this would slow time down. 

All it did was slow me down. Even further. 

Because I wasn't looking where I was going for approximately 7 seconds, I slammed into someone going in the opposite direction. 

I got soaked with hot liquid that had spilt from the other persons takeaway cup. Well, at least I got my coffee. 

I let out a sound of disgust, stumbling backwards. The other person caught me by the arms, preventing my fall. I looked up, about to give them an earful about watching where they were going when I saw who had hit me. 

He looked like he was around my age, tall, and super handsome. His beautiful chocolate brown eyes stared down at me with concern, he had an apologetic smile on, giving him a dimple on his left cheek, and his brown hair was adorably curly. I promptly closed my mouth. 

"I am so so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going! Lost in my thoughts. Are you okay?? Did I hurt you? Oh god, I spilt coffee all over you! I am incredibly sorry. Shit, did it burn you?" He searched my face with concern, biting his lip. 

I managed a smile and shook my head. 

"No no, it's fine! I wasn't looking either, checking my watch, I was. I’m okay, are you? Don't worry about the coffee, I hadn't had my morning one anyways! It's mostly on my clothes so it doesn't burn. I would buy you a new one since I'm wearing all of yours, but I'm actually in a rush. I'm late to work, you see..." I talked fast, annoyed that I would have to cut the conversation off short. 

His eyes widened and he went into another round of apologies. 

"Oh, jeez, you're late! I am so sorry! I've made you even later. Don't worry about me, just go! I'm so sorry about this!" 

I shook my head, smiling. 

"Nah, it's okay. It's not your fault, but I really have to be going. Sorry about your coffee!" I waved goodbye and hurried off. 

He nodded and waved goodbye to me. 

"Goodbye! Have a nice day at work! Sorry, again" he called after me. 

After I had arrived at work at 8:28am, explained to my boss why I was late, showing him my coffee soaked clothes as proof, and started shelfing books, I realised I was incredibly fortunate to have been running late, for if I hadn't been, I never would have run into the cute stranger who spilt coffee over me. 

The thought of his eyes and his smile made my day a lot brighter, despite the horrible start. All day, I thought about him and how we would probably never meet again, much to my sadness.

Every time the bell would ring, signalling a customer entering the shop, I looked up hopefully, wondering if, by some miracle, he'd found where I worked and come to see me. Of course, it was never him that walked through the door. It was obsessive and unhealthy, and I knew that, but that didn't stop me from glancing up from the counter when the trill of the bell sounded. 

For some reason, I couldn't get him out of my head. Even after several days had passed with no sign of him, he was still lingering in my mind, and stuck in my heart with a pinch of hope. 

I tried my best to dismiss the thought of his brown curly hair, his sparkling brown eyes, his cute smile.... but no matter what I tried, he remained in my heart and mind, much to my disgust. 

It was now Saturday, and I had managed to push the thought of the cute - coffee spilling - stranger to the back of my mind where it lingered. I had been asked to come in for a few hours today, to cover for another coworker, and I had willingly agreed with nothing better to do. 

My coworker finally showed up for her shift at 2:30pm, freeing me. I decided to head for my favourite cafe, where they made the best coffee (in my opinion), where I could read my book with an afternoon coffee. 

I wrapped my scarf around my neck, shoved my hands in my deep pockets, and started walking into the sharp whistling wind and towards the cafe. 

Today was particularly cold, so I spent no time taking in my surroundings as I usually did. Not even the coldness of the air biting my exposed skin could stop me scanning the bustling crowd of people, all with their own destinations in mind, for that familiar, yet unfamiliar face. I had only seen it once, but I saw it many times after, in my mind. 

I kept my pace up, turning my head to curiously look at the many faces of the city. People watching was one of the great things of living in such a busy city. There were thousands of people, all with different life stories, backgrounds, thoughts and experiences. It fascinated me. You could be walking down the street and see an elderly man in a very formal suit, and a teenage girl with spiky green hair, tattoos and leather clothing could be a few short steps behind him, travelling in the same direction in a weird coincidence. 

I reached the glass door, with the vine, flower and coffee bean logo, and something nagged at me. Why, after the many, many trips to the cafe, had the familiar logo pulled at something in the very far retches of my mind? I shook my head and pushed the door open, instantly greeted by the high pitched ring of the bell above me, the flood of warmth, the chatter of other customers, and the smell of caffeine and sugary sweet pastries baking. I took a deep breath in and sighed happily. 

Letting the door close behind me, I unwrapped my scarf, stuffed it in my bag, and started weaving my way through the people. The cafe was busier than usual, it was a popular place and in the cold weather everyone had gone seeking the warmth of coffee and baked goods. 

I made my way to the back of the long line leading up to the counter. 

I peered past the person in front of me, to see about ten people fidgeting restlessly in front of me. 

Confirming my suspicions of having to wait a while, I dug through my bag and grabbed out my phone. I aimlessly scrolled through tumblr as the line progressively got shorter. The people in front of me slowly broke off as they placed and received their orders, while additional people were always coming to the back of the line.

It was the guy-in-front-of-me's turn, so I quickly stowed my phone away. 

He was dark skinned, with broad shoulders and very toned muscles that he didn't even have to flex to prove their worth. He wore glasses and a simple white shirt and jeans. 

I peered behind me to see an older lady who was of Japanese descent, by the looks of the strokes of the characters printed onto her wrinkled skin. That, and the fact she was carrying a Japanese to English translation book, pointed me in the direction of her ethnicity. 

I smiled at her, embarrassed, realising I was staring. She smiled back kindly. I was about to open my mouth when I was brought back to the task at hand. 

"Next please." Called an ever so slightly irritated voice. 

I turned back to the teenage boy at the counter and smiled sheepishly. 

"Sorry... um, can I please get a chocolate mocha and a Danish pastry please?" 

The boy nodded and wrote everything down before ringing it up on the cash register. 

"That will be $9.50. Your name please? And will you be having it here or to takeaway?" 

I quickly handed him the money, awkwardly putting the change back in my wallet, worried about holding up the queue. 

"Oh, ah, have here, thanks. And my name is Y/N." I spelt it out to him before making my way over to the group of people who were also waiting for their orders. 

"Y/N?" A voice called out, the owner of said voice looking around questioningly. 

I muttered 'excuse me's as I made my way up to the counter. I quickly thanked the girl and grabbed my tray, bee lining for one of the only spare tables I could see. 

I made it there just before a teenage couple. The girls face turned up in disgust, stomping away with her girlfriend trailing behind quietly, pulled along by their entwined hands. I shrugged apologetically and sat. 

I ate my danish first, glad of the soft, warm pastry filling my mouth. 

Lifting the coffee cup up, I tentatively took a sip of the hot liquid, not wanting to burn my mouth. I put it back down, wanting it to cool a bit further. 

Something tugged at the back of my mind again, as I looked at my coffee and the cup it was in. There was something I couldn't put my finger on, and it was starting to really bug me. 

Simply shrugging, I pulled out my current read out of my bag; John Greens latest book. I quickly fell in between the pages, getting lost in the story. 

Tuning out the bustling cafe was easy, despite the constant noise of chatter, coffee cups, plates, and spoons clanking against each other, the bells at the counter and on the door, and the familiar sound of the coffee machine. 

I had gone through several chapters steadily, the outside world blocked out, when there was a commotion that caught my attention. 

I turned and looked just in time to see a women get accidentally shoved into a guy walking past my table. The two hit each other and bounced off; the women into a man who managed to catch her before she fell, and the guy into my table. 

The coffee cup he was carrying slipped from his fingers as he hit the table, and the steaming liquid went through the air, almost in slow motion, and landed everywhere. 

I was soaked from head to toe. 

In coffee. 

Again. 

Even my book had coffee over it. 

I simply sighed, screwing my face up slightly. Wiping the coffee out of my eyes, I finally got a good look at who had spilt the coffee. 

There, standing rather sheepish, was the cute stranger. The one who had spilt coffee on me in the street. 

I burst out laughing, looking at his mortified face. 

"I'm starting to think I must have done something to anger you, due to the amount of drinks you've dumped over me" I teased, grinning. 

He laughed, relief washing over his face as he realised I wasn't mad. 

"How could you!? Don't act like you don't know." He said clutching a hand to his chest, going along with the act. 

I giggled. Cute, funny, and slightly dorky. How was this boy real? 

"But, I am extremely sorry. I mean it was bad enough spilling it on you once, when you were running late, but again? When you were just enjoying your book," he gestured down to the book and winced, "and I managed to get coffee on it as well... I am so so sorry." He apologised wholeheartedly. 

I smiled and shook my head. 

"Don't worry about it. Any of it. I mean the first time woke me up, which I was glad for, and the second time meant I was able to see you again..." I said the last part shyly, blushing, before rushing on, " and as for the book, it's only a couple of coffee stains. It adds character." I grinned, grabbing a napkin to wipe the rest of the coffee off of my face. 

He smiled softly, rubbing the back of his neck and biting his lip. "I-uh- um, is this seat taken?" He asked shyly. 

I grinned and shook my head, gesturing to it to let him know he could sit. His eyes widened and sparkled, and once again I was transfixed by them. 

He sat down across from me, setting his now empty coffee cup on the table. 

"I'm Wyatt, by the way, Wyatt Oleff." He said grinning, holding out his hand. 

I reached across the table and shook his hand, smiling softly. 

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Wyatt, despite the fact I'm covered in coffee," I teased kindly, "Im Y/N. Y/F/N." I replied. 

He nodded, holding my hand a couple of seconds longer. 

"Y/N. Such a pretty name for such a pretty girl" he murmured softly before blushing madly. 

I blushed and stammered, surprised by his comment. 

"O-oh, uh, th-thank y-you..." 

 He cleared his threat and looked down at his cup, trying to hide his ever growing blush. 

"Uh, I'm just going to go get another coffee, since you're wearing mine" he chuckled awkwardly and rose. 

I nodded, looking down at his empty cup also. As he walked to the counter, and I kept my eyes on the cup, the thing that had been nagging me clicked. 

The shops logo. I had seen it on Wyatt's takeaway cup the first time we meet. He must come here often. 

I smiled, thinking about the chances of us running into each other. And how we both happened to be at the same small cafe at the same time. It seemed as though fate was on my side. 

As I waited for Wyatt to return, I couldn't stop smiling as I thought about him. 

In the time gone by, I managed to clean up most of the spilt coffee, although I still smelt very strongly of coffee. Not that I minded, it was a welcome smell. 

Wyatt returned with a smile on his face. 

We chatted for several hours, getting to know each other. Neither of us had places to be, neither of us wanted to leave. 

We instantly clicked. We had many of the same interests, and we enjoyed each other's company. 

As he talked enthusiastically about Zelda, I rested my head on my hand and smiled. He was gesturing madly, his eyes wide and sparkling as he described it. He grinned while talking quickly, rambling cutely. God, I could feel myself falling for him already. What a fucking idiot. But I couldn't stop myself. 

His noodle curly hair shook as his head fell back and he laughed at his own joke. I giggled uncharacteristicly, smiling and shaking my head. I wasn't laughing because of his joke, I hadn't even heard it because I had gotten distracted by his handsome looks... but I was laughing at how adorable he looked and how focused on the topic he was. 

His eyes settled back onto mine and there was a moment of silence. His eyes searched mine until he realised he was staring and promptly looked down, blushing. 

"So, uh... do you come here often?" He winced at how he sounded, looking up at me with a sheepish grin. 

I chuckled and took a sip of my 4th? 3rd? coffee, nodding. 

"Yeah, I do actually. It's my favourite cafe. Best coffee for miles and miles," I leaned in to say the next part, "even if it's being poured on you" I teased him with a grin. 

He blushed and chuckled, sipping at his own current coffee before setting it down and leaning towards me. 

"Well, maybe, we should do this again. Have coffee and chat here. And although I can't promise I won't spill my coffee on you, I will certainly try not to." He said with a grin, his eyes hopeful and nervous despite his confident demeanour. 

My eyes widened in surprise, not expecting the invitation. I smiled shyly, fiddling with the teaspoon I had been given to stir my coffee. 

"Are you... asking me on a date, Wyatt Oleff? " I asked grinning. 

He looked into my eyes and I was once again mesmerised by their soft beauty. 

"Indeed I am, Y/F/N." he said with that cute smirk of his. 

I nodded slowly, tapping my finger to my chin and screwed up my face, as if I had to think very hard and long about the proposition. 

"Well, in that case, Mr. Oleff, I think that we should do this again, although I might have to wear a rain poncho to save myself from the dangerous risk of coffee stains again." I teased, smiling. 

Inside, my heart was beating 1000 miles a minute and my mind was screaming at me in excitement and disbelief. He nodded and smiled at me triumphantly, and I could see that he was glad of my answer. This made me soar even higher over the moon. 

"And so it's settled, Miss Y/L/N. and that is a fantastic idea, rain ponchos are highly recommended. So, uh, can I get your number?" He said the last part shyly, worried I would decline him and cancel the date-to-be. 

I nodded happily and slid my phone across the table to him, open on a new contact. He grinned and picked up my phone, quickly putting his details in and sending a text to himself so that he'd have my number. 

 After he had passed my phone back to me, I checked to see what he'd put his contact name as. 

'Handsome Coffee Spilling Boy' stared back at me. 

 I burst out laughing and nodded. 

"Good name choice. Very suitable." 

He grinned and winked. I gently plucked his phone out of his hands. 

"Now I get to choose my contact name." 

He nodded and held his hands up in mock surrender, waiting patiently. 

After thinking briefly I typed in: 'Cute Coffee Wearing Girl' And handed his phone back to him. 

I laughed as he read it and nodded. 

"Another very accurate name. I love it." He grinned before turning towards the girl wearing an apron who was standing by our table. 

I hadn't even noticed her, much less the practically empty cafe. 

"I'm so sorry to disturb the two of you, but I'm afraid we are about to close up." She said smiling awkwardly. 

My eyes widened, only just realising the time. 

"Shit. Time flies when you're having fun I guess." I said quietly, sneaking a look at Wyatt as we both collected our things. 

Once we were both out on the street and the shy employee had locked up behind us, we turned to each other, both smiling shyly. 

"Well, uh I better get going... it's my turn to cook dinner for my sister and I still have to buy everything... but I'm really really glad you spilt that coffee on me. I enjoyed talking to you..." I said shyly, looking down at my feet. 

Wyatt nodded, smiling. 

"Yeah, yeah no worries, and to be honest, I'm very glad I managed to spill coffee on you twice, because if I hadn't, I never would've been able to talk to you and ask you out on a date... speaking of, I'll text you tomorrow to see when you're free?" He smiled, almost embarrassed by the confession. 

I nodded quickly, over the moon with happiness. I stood up on my tippy toes, leaned towards him and kissed him softly on the cheek. 

"Can't wait." I whispered before quickly walking down the street to hide my reddening cheeks. 

Wyatt cute, surprised lopside smile stared after me. 

"See yah!" Wyatt called out after a few seconds of shocked silence. 

I glanced behind me to see Wyatt waving at me, still with that cute smirk on his face. 

I grinned and waved to him, almost running into an older man walking in the other direction. 

I apologised profusely, catching the sight of Wyatt laughing out of the corner of my eye. 

I turned and walked in the direction of the supermarket with a large smile on my face and a spring in my step. I got a couple of questioning stares, but I was far from caring. 

My smile only increased when the familiar 'ping!' of my phone alerted me of a text. 

New Text Message From: Handsome Coffee Spilling Boy 

'I'm beginning to think you've got a habit of (literally) running into random guys in the street😉' 

I giggled down at my phone, reading and rereading the text. 

I was so focussed on my phone that I ran into a teenage boy and almost fell on my ass. My eyes widened and I bit back a laugh as he glared at me. 

"Sorry!" I called out to his already retreating back. 

I burst out laughing as I started to reply to Wyatt. 

'I'm beginning to think you're the one making me run into random guys, since you've been the cause of them all! A brilliant example would be the fact that I ran into a guy on the street because I was reading your text😂'

It was only a minute later that he replied. 

'A women with kids just stared at me confused and scared when I started reading your text 😂 You really should look where you're going ya know, even though it's hard not to be distracted by me😉' 

I spun around on the street happily, a small squeal escaping my lips. I must have resembled Hermione Granger at the Yule Ball in 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' the movie, when Victor Krum kissed her hand and leaves. Here I was, talking to the cute guy that I never thought I'd see again, and he was flirting with me. 

'😂 terrorising little kids now are you? Shame you don't have coffee on you to throw at them😏 I swear you're distracting me on purpose at this stage😂' 

I pressed send and bit my lip. I shouldn't have sent that. It was weird and not funny... he'll probably never text me again now... 

My phone buzzed again, disturbing my thoughts.

'Damn it, you caught on! I knew I should've gotten a cup to takeaway before we got kicked out! And of course I'm distracting you on purpose, the only way to get your attention is to distract you or pour coffee on you! 😉'   

I held back an excited scream, reading his message. 

'I'm sure you would've grabbed one if they hadn't ushered us out in ten seconds flat!😂  hmmm hadn't thought of that... have you tried just asking for my attention?' 

I bit my lip before looking up and realising that I was at the supermarket. 

I went around, gathering everything I needed for dinner in a daydream, all the while chatting to Wyatt. 

We continued texting for the rest of the night throughout cooking and eating dinner and I didn't even notice the teasing comments from my sister. 

We were still talking as I climbed into bed, and we continued to talk as my eyes grew heavy. 

I warned him that I may fall asleep at any moment, and a couple of messages later I couldn't keep my eyes open. 

I fell slowly into a pleasant sleep with no dreams that I would remember in the morning. 

It may have been a different story if I had seen the text Wyatt sent me 10 minutes later when he realised I had fallen asleep. 

 My phone lit up and buzzed on my bedside table. In my sleeping state, I stirred, but did not wake, and settled back in again. The bright phone screen illuminating the room announced the text from Wyatt. 

New Text Message From Handsome Coffee Spilling Boy: 

'It seems like despite all that coffee you wear, you've fallen asleep. So you won't see this until the morning, but I just want to say that I really really enjoyed today, and I was wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner tomorrow night? (That way the threat of coffee being poured on you is lowered) I totally understand if you don't want to, but I would love to take you on a proper date. ' 

Ahahahahahahaha I'm terrible at endings. I always rush them sooo much. Also, does this count as fluff? I'm hoping so. Feel free to request more parts of certain imagines I've written, I may get around to them ages after, or I may decide not to continue them, but if you let me know that you want them, I'll definitely consider it!!

Taglist:

@alwaysmebeforeyou

@thedillpickleisnotafruit​

@that-kitty-dork 

@finnie-wolfhard

@anevenstrangerblog​

@it-reader

  feel free to ask to be on the taglist!

[zed-air]

Pandemic Thoughts

______

Strange times. Strange thoughts. 

Assorted and unstructured. Updated as needed.

- - - - -

2020-04-23

I spent a lifetime in the service industry, and I’m still very emotionally invested in it. A lot of restaurants will not survive the pandemic. Period. Pick a few favourites and support the hell out of them, as regularly as you can, if you want them to still be around a few months from now. Preferably independent ones that enrich your community. 

For those using third-party delivery services to bring you dinner, be aware: for every $10 a restaurant receives through Skip the Dishes sales, $3 of that sale goes to these delivery services (only $7 goes to the eatery). The pub/restaurant where I worked all those years wouldn't have lasted long with those margins. (link)

I've been hammering on about this for a while, and I'll probably continue doing so. If you're in a position to support local independent restaurants, go to the effort of calling them yourself and collecting your own order. Many offer their own delivery service, so use that when needed. Avoid using a third-party service unless necessary.

I still speak to local restauranteurs and pals in the service industry. They concur: these third-party delivery services are not about supporting local eateries. They were primarily useful for supplementing, not replacing, dine-in business. Overall, they are about convenience - and they are now crippling the businesses trapped into using them.

- - - - -

2020-04-27

Before I left the service industry, I fully expected to spend the rest of my life as a publican, performer, and venue operator. Had my fortunes been different and that proved possible, the current situation would have destroyed whatever I had built to this point. This will likewise be the case for countless others worldwide right now, including established successful ones. (link)

I have no idea what will remain after this - when we reach a point that public gatherings are an option again. Will there be anywhere left to gather? Will there be any venues left where performers and audiences can safely meet? Safely rehearse? Safely travel? 

Have I played my last concert? Have we all? Not a clue.

- - - - -

2020-04-28

I chipped a couple teeth some time in the last month. Thanks to PPE mask shortages and general public health concerns, I’m unable to get an appointment with my dentist of 20+ years. As a result, two relatively minor procedures are likely to spiral into major dental issues before they can be addressed. Probably much more expensive ones too. With a persistent jaw ache to keep me company in the interim. 

About two months ago, I wiped-out badly on slippery ground whilst entering my workplace, and I’m pretty certain I either fractured or broke my tailbone in the fall. It’s made sitting fairly painful, and resuming standing agonizing. Only time and avoiding sitting can really help mend it, so I’ve been trying to alternate between walking, sitting, and lying down whenever possible. Two months later, it’s only marginally better. No point bothering trying to get an x-ray these days. Same goes for the non-essential blood work a different doctor requested.

The pandemic is causing major interruptions and interference in many different areas of life, and might cause a variety of completely unrelated health issues in the process. People will die (and have died) just from the massive disruptions all this has caused. Please keep things like this in mind if your primary complaint is being bored at home, or that you’re being oppressed. 

- - - - -

2020-05-19

I was finally able to get into my dentist’s office today to fix my chipped teeth from a few months ago. Spent the appointment listening to a staff meeting with telephone earbuds, and trying to hear how COVID-World is affecting operations. This is modern life now: work from everywhere, go nowhere, remain active whilst being passive (possibly as your skull is drilled out), and do your best not to catch the plague in the process. Tough times, and tight days ahead.

Keeping busy. The weather’s finally stable enough to allow my wife to start working on her new garden. After a long winter and countless weeks delay, this will be very healthful for her. I’m taking any available radio shifts, workshopping various music ideas of my own, mixing songs for The Bolt Actions album when there’s time, and working with my daughter on her remote schooling. We’re also spending a lot of time learning math by playing cribbage, and trying to take walks when the weather’s agreeable. She misses her school friends and teacher. This is a bizarre time to be anybody, but it must be particularly strange to be a child right now.

Temperament-wise, this period hasn’t been as difficult for us as it has been for so many others. I can spend long periods indoors without irritation or issue, but motivation and action are sluggish as inertia reigns. I should be reading books like mad in the evenings, but I don’t remember the last time I felt like picking one up. As time grinds into a homogenous paste, weeks disappear. This has made keeping up with friends and correspondence far tardier than I intended. The atmosphere has been very good at dispelling impulse activity, though. I don’t remember my last drive-through hamburger or vending-machine soda. Nevertheless, it remains troubling to see so many businesses and friends struggling with the very real feeling that they won’t survive these times, and that what will follow might be unrecognizable.

I hope you’re coping ok.

- - - - -

2020-05-28

Keeping occupied during isolation. I’ve been listening to a lot of vinyl records, and I’ve also been enjoying my long-neglected CD collection now that I have the remote radio kit linked to my stereo.

I’m going through recordings at a pretty heavy clip presently. Keeping track of what I’ve listened to is bogging down my phone with photographs and notes. Decided to change how I’m sharing this information. My posts on zedair.net are a bit clunky and overlooked, and I don’t want to bog-down my own personal Instagram profile with music posts. 

So, I’ve started a new Instagram to better document the Zibliothek. Not ideal, but it’ll keep things orderly and more people are likely to see and/or enjoy it there than they do here. It’ll save me some extra cross-posting time too. Feel free to give it a follow if you like album art, books, films, and other cultural artifacts.

- - - - -

2020-08-13

I’ve now been tested twice now for COVID. Negative results both times, I’m relieved to say.

In Edmonton, most folks are being directed to the same facility in Mill Woods on the city’s south side - walking distance from the neighbourhood where I grew up. The building used to be a Grant MacEwan campus, but has since been converted to some kind of Covenant Health facility. The tests occur in the building’s gymnasium.

I keep hearing that the tests are quick, but both times I've gone there have been 400-500 people in a line snaking around a field. Off days, I'm told, but luckily both had beautiful weather. Each time I got inside, I asked if something was amiss to cause such a backup, and the nurses (who are working like crazy just trying to keep up) can only apologize for the delay. I would never give them a hard time about it, but I still don't know why some days there's a quad filled with bodies waiting to enter, and other days where one can get in and out in under 30 mins. 

The first time I went, I had an appointment for 10:30am. Not knowing what to expect, I arrived at 10:30 and found two long lines of people. The left line is for people with appointments. The right line is for drop-in testing. Finding it a bit perplexing, I asked a random person in middle of the left line if she have an appointment, and for when. Like me, her appointment was for 10:30, and she was a good 200 people ahead of my place at the back of the line. I have no idea if the people in front or behind had the same appointment times. You just joined the back of the line regardless of appointment, and waited for everyone before you to finish. I'm not certain what making an appointment actually accomplishes, but it seems to get you access to the faster-moving line once it actually starts moving. The actual time of the appointment seems meaningless. The appointment line was stationary until around 11:15 with zero movement, but then began moving gradually, slow and steady. I didn't notice much movement in the drop-in line. On that occasion, I was finished by 12:15. 

My second test occurred yesterday. The second time, I decided to try the drop-in. Hindsight has taught me that, though this line is much shorter than the appointment line, it moves far slower. I recognized several people from the appointment line who arrived hours after I had, who were tested and leaving before I'd advanced 50 feet. Lesson learned: always make an appointment, but never for earlier than 11:30am.

I seem to be a beacon to people with questions in situations like this. Behind me in the drop-in line was a very talkative, but friendly woman who was about to fly to Egypt with her husband. They required COVID clearance to be allowed to fly. Anyway, after the first hour she bailed to go collect her husband, who'd been waiting in the car due to mobility issues. I promised I'd hold her spot. They parked far away, so it was nearly another hour before they returned to the line. I enjoyed the quiet interim.

Husband didn't seem to like her talking with a strange man, but eventually decided I was harmless and struck up a separate conversation with me. Given that the line was moving super slowly, and that I'm chronically friendly when there's a language barrier, it made for a long slog when he led with "So, do you think this whole Corona hype is a media invention?" Especially when I'd already said that my profession is in radio.

I don't know whether it was a constructive conversation, but we parted friendly, and they will hopefully have clearance to fly to Cairo in a few days time.

[arrow-guy]

Language

Original request from the lovely @lady-thor-foster :  Okay thank you!! Could a request a Clint or Thor fluff piece where the reader is notoriously clumsy but she’s a damn good linguist (She knows more languages than Natasha honestly) so every time she trips she shouts in a different language? Clint or Thor find it hilarious but a little concerning so they start following her around to make sure she doesn’t injure herself? Just super cute and fluffy (female pronouns please!!) Thank you so much!

A/N: Alright, so this is my first Thor fic and I’m really excited about it, so I hope I’ve done him justice and that you enjoy what I did with the prompt!! (I’ll put translations for the curses at the end!)

Paring: ThorxReader

Word Count: 3744

Warnings: None

“This is (Y/N), she’s going to be working with us as our new linguistics specialist for a while.” Steve says as I walk it into the room.

“He says a while, but it could be permanent.” I add, plopping down in an empty seat around the conference table.

“Why do we need another linguist?” Natasha asks. “We’ve got me, haven’t we?

“We certainly do have you, but we need you in the field.” Steve explains.

“I’m more of a stay at home kind of girl anyway.” I shift in my seat and lean forward, resting my elbows on the table, “I’m not replacing you, Romanoff, I’m simply freeing you up to take on missions that are more your style. I’ll be staying here, deciphering important texts, while you’re off doing your incredibly impressive spy thing.”

“Alright,” Natasha nods, satisfied.

“Good,” Steve nods to Natasha before turning back to the group. “As I said, (Y/N) is going to be working with us here in the tower for the foreseeable future. She’ll be living here while she’s with us as well. ”

“Finally,” Wanda says, a smile stretching across her face. “Another girl in the tower.”

I flash her a smile. “Hopefully I won’t be too much of a disappointment.”

Wanda perks up, her posture straightening, a smirk settling on her features. “Something tells me you won’t be.”

A head with long blond hair pokes into the conference room. “Sorry to interrupt, but I have returned.”

Steve waves the man through the door. “You’re just in time, Thor.” He says.

Thor looks at Steve, confused. “I am?”

“We’ve got a new teammate joining us.” Steve explains.

Thor’s eyes travel over the table before resting on me. I shoot him a small smile and he grins back. “Hello, who might you be?”

“I’m (Y/N), the new linguist.”

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, (Y/N).”

I offer a small nod. “Same to you, Thor.”

–

“Son of a bitch!” I yell, just barely managing to catch myself before falling flat on my face after catching my foot on the leg of a chair.

“(Y/N)?” Thor calls, poking his head around the corner. “Is everything alright?”

“Peachy keen!” I answer. “I just need to watch where I’m going is all.”

His brow furrows. “Are you sure?”

“Of course. Nothing to worry about!”

“Please be more careful, (Y/N), I would hate to see you harm yourself.”

“I’ll do my best, blondie.” I grin at him and pat him on the shoulder before backing away down the hallway. “The team is still on for pizza tonight, right?”

“Of course. Stark complains when pizza night is skipped. We have made an arrangement with the pizzeria to bring us pizzas each friday.”

I feel my eyes go wide. “Wow,”

“Indeed,” He grins widely.

“Alright, well I’ll see you later then!”

“Yes,” He nods to me. “I will see you later.”

I turn on my heel and cover my mouth with my hand to muffle my giggling. Straightening out my features as quickly as possible, I head down the hall to the elevator so I can meet Tony in the lab.

–

A loud thud echoes through the hallway followed by someone shouting, “Merde!”

Thor quickly gets up from his seat in the most comfortable chair in his room to investigate. No sooner has he left his room does he find the new linguist sitting on the floor in the middle of the hallway, cradling her foot in her hands.

“Are you alright, (Y/N)?” He asks.

She looks up at the blond towering over her and grins at him.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just managed to stub my toe going around the corner there.” She points to the corner of the wall a little ways away. “Nothing to worry about.”

“Are you sure?” He offers her a hand up and pulls her to her feet when she takes it.

She nods in affirmation. “Entirely.” She tugs at the hem of her shirt and backs away a few paces. “I should probably head back to my room. There are a few files waiting there for me to translate them and I have to grab them before I can find the texts I need to start the translation.”

“Alright,” He nods. “Do be careful, (Y/N), I would hate to see you hurt.”

“Thanks for your concern, big guy.” She says, standing on tiptoe and placing a kiss on his cheek before shoving her hands in her pockets and backing away from him. “If you need anything, I’ll be in the library like always.”

Thor flashes her a brilliant smile and nods, scratching the back of his neck. “I’ll be sure to find you if anything comes up.”

(Y/N) laughs lightheartedly before turning on her heel and sauntering off down the hallway towards the library.

–

“Himmeldonnerwetter,” I hiss, sticking my right index finger in my mouth. I was a little too hasty in opening this file and slid the pad of my finger down the edge of the beigey-yellow cardstock of the folder effectively getting the worst paper cut imaginable.

“Did you just curse in German?” Thor asks.

I look up, surprised to see him sitting across the table from me. I didn’t notice him come him.

“I, uh… yeah?” He lifts his eyebrows, surprised by my answer. “What?”

He shakes his head and looks away from me. “It’s nothing. I just wasn’t expecting to hear such a colorful array of expletives from a mortal.”

“I’m a linguist, Thor. ” I laugh softly. “I know a lot of curse words.”

“I apologize, it was not my intention to misjudge you.” He reaches out and takes my hand in his, studying the papercut. “Is your hand alright?”

“I think so, yeah. Just need to go wash it off and put some neosporin on. The cut’ll practically be gone by morning.”

“Human medicine is strange sometimes,” He says softly, turning my hand over in his.

“In all honesty, the same could be said of Asgardian medicine.”

His eyebrows shoot up to his hairline and his posture straightens. “You know of Asgardian medicine?”

I nod once, resting my chin in my free hand. “I do.”

“How could you possibly have first hand knowledge of Asgard? Humans have not yet mastered interdimensional travel.”

“I may or may not have convinced an Asgardian man masquerading as a professor at my first university to take me with him when he went home one spring break one year. I’m sure your gatekeeper would remember it quite well.”

He smiles softly, amusement sparkling in his eyes. “Strange, Heimdall neglected to tell my father that a mortal had visited Asgard.”

“Mmm,” I hum. “Funny, I asked him to keep it quiet. Seems like he’s a bit of a rebel.”

He laughs and laces his fingers with my own. “You are different than I thought you were when I met you, (Y/N). You are so much more full of life than I expected you to be.” I lift my eyebrows in mock offence. “It’s wonderful, really. It seems that there isn’t much that surprises me on this world, but you do.”

I grin widely. “Oh yeah?”

“I truly mean it.”

“Well thank you, happy to be of service.”

He chuckles softly and brings my hand to his mouth, pressing a soft kiss to my knuckles. “Do be careful, (Y/N), I’d hate to see you hurt.”

“I’ll do my best. Can’t make any real promises, but I’ll try.”

He smiles widely, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “That is all I ask.”

–

“Barton!” Thor’s voice booms through the hallway, stopping Clint in his tracks.

He turns around slowly, eyes wide, shoulders raised almost like hackles. “Yeah?”

“Have you noticed that (Y/N) gets hurt a lot?” Clint’s shoulders relax and he raises his eyebrows, crossing his arms over his chest, almost like he’s inviting Thor to continue. “She curses in a different language each time she injures herself.”

“So she’s a clumsy linguist.” Clint shrugs. “Is there anything else that’s so incredibly groundbreaking that you had to almost blow out my hearing aids to talk to me about it?”

“It was not my intention to further damage your hearing, my friend.”

Clint shakes his head. “It’s fine.”

“As I was saying, I thought her clumsiness amusing and endearing to begin with, but I find myself quite taken with her now. I worry for her safety.”

“So you’re worried that your maybe girlfriend is too clumsy for her own good?” Thor nods and Clint barks out a laugh. “I hate to break it to you, but that is the opposite of a problem.”

“How do you mean?”

“You have an excuse to hang out around her and make sure that she doesn’t hurt herself.”

Thor frowns for a moment, mulling it over. “Perhaps you are right.”

“Of course I’m right. When have I ever had a bad idea?” Thor lifts his eyebrows questioningly. “Don’t answer that.”

Thor chuckles and claps Clint on the shoulder, pitching the shorter man forward. Clint barely manages to catch himself on wall before falling flat on his face and quickly spins around to face Thor again.

“Many thanks for your advice, Barton. I will let you know if I have any success.”

“Yeah sure, okay. You do that, big guy.”

–

“(Y/N)!”

I jump, startled by Thor’s loud voice, nearly dropping my bowl of cereal. I set the bowl on the counter and scrub a hand over my face.

“Good night nurse. You scared me half to death!” Laughing I smile widely at him. “You must be in a good mood today.”

“I am,” Thor nods and leans back on the counter. “I spoke with Barton earlier, and I believe he has helped me solve an ongoing problem of mine?”

“Oh? Care to share?”

“Not presently, but maybe in the future.” He casts his eyes to the floor, smiling to himself. “Would you mind if I spent the day with you?”

“You don’t have an assignment today?” I tilt my head to the side, folding my arms across my chest. “I thought Steve had everyone on a strict training schedule. Are you saying you’re going to skip out on Avenger practice, just to spend time with little ole me?”

“Of course. Specifically if it means spending time with you.” He smiles widely, eyes sparkling.

I bite my lip, trying to hold back a grin. “Alright, God of Thunder. What’d you have in mind?”

“I was hoping that you would accompany me in a brief visit to Asgard.”

“Wait,” I stretch a hand out to him, trying to get a handle on what it is he’s offering me. “You’re seriously offering to take me back? Even though I’m human?” He nods, taking my outstretched hand in his. “I thought my kind had no place on Asgard.”

“I think it could be argued that that is one rule that is meant to be bent.”

“I think you’re just throwing your hammer through that particular rule.”

“So you won’t come with me?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far.” I squeeze his hand firmly. “Just let me finish my cereal and change and then we can leave.”

He laughs and lets go of my hand. “Very well. I will wait for you in my quarters.”

“Great! I’ll be there in half an hour.”

–

A soft knock sounds on the door frame. Thor looks up only to have his breath catch in his throat. (Y/N) stands waiting, just outside his room, in traditional Asgardian clothing. He can’t bring himself to say anything, only a few croaks that were meant to be words escaping his lips.

“Hey,” She lifts her eyebrows and waves a hand in front of his face. “You ready to go?”

He shakes his head, blinking rapidly. “I-yes, of course.” He clears his throat. “You look stunning.”

“Oh,” A slow blush creeps across her cheeks. “Thank you. In all honesty, I didn’t know if they would still fit.”

“When did you acquire Asgardian clothing?”

“Remember when I told you I talked a professor into taking me when he went back?” Thor nods. “Well, he had to help me blend in somehow, and he convinced his sister to lend me an outfit. I use the word “lend” loosely because she’s never getting this back.”

“I should hope not,” He says softly, still taking in her appearance.

“What?”

“Nothing,” He says hastily, wiping his hands on the duvet and pushing himself to his feet. “Shall we go?”

–

“It’s nice to see you again, (Y/N),” Heimdall greets Thor and I with a nod. “Though I did not expect to have the pleasure for a great while longer.”

“I can’t say I was expecting to come back anytime soon either, but it’s nice to see you again, too. We’ll be keeping this little jaunt a secret as well, right?”

He smirks. “Of course. Though I cannot promise that there is not another who will not make your presence known.”

“He wouldn’t dare.” Thor growls.

“What?”

“My meddlesome brother appears to have returned.”

“Well, we’ll just have to avoid him, now won’t we?” Thor looks at me, brow furrowed, expression worried. “I can talk myself out of almost any situation if we get caught you know.”

“She can,” Heimdall says, not bothering to look at us. “I’ve seen it.”

“Fine, but we leave if he so much as glances at you.”

“Of course, safety first. Now,” I gently take his hand in mine. “Can we please explore that big ass golden city? It’s been almost six years and, from what I’m gathering, I’ve got about three hours till someone finds us out.”

“Alright, but never let go of my hand.”

“Fair enough,”

He leads me out onto the bridge and pulls me close to his chest, a strong arm firmly wrapped around my waist.

“Are we flying there?” A low hum rumbles in his chest and he nods in affirmation. “Real covert.”

He laughs loudly. “Just hold onto me. I’d hate to drop you.”

“Would be a real shame.” He hums in agreement.

In an instant, we’re in the air, hurtling towards the shining castle in the middle of the city. He lands on a balcony facing away from the prying eyes of Asgardian citizens. Thor carefully places me on the ground, holding onto one of my hands to allow me to regain my balance before letting me stand on my own.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m great,” I answer, shooting him a smile. He grins back before leading me through the doors and into the castle proper.

The doors close behind us, seemingly of their own accord. I get about three steps away before I can’t go any further. Looking back, I find the skirts of my dress caught between the closed doors.

“Zajebiste.” I curse. “Um, Thor?”

“Yes?” He looks back at me tugging at my dress, trying to free myself, and rushes back to me, carefully opening the doors to make sure that the fabric doesn’t tear. “I’m sorry. I should have warned you. The doors tend to close rather abruptly.”

I smile at him. “I should be the one apologizing, don’t worry.”

He takes my hand in his, gently lacing our fingers together. “I will make sure nothing else happens to you.”

I nod and he leads us onwards. He points out little parts of the architecture that he thinks I’ll like and allows me to peek into different rooms, explaining what everyone is doing, and then running off, giggling like children, when someone notices us and tries to engage us in conversation.

“Thor!” Someone calls after us and Thor immediately whips around, hiding me behind his back.

“Fandral,” Thor greets the man with a nod.

“We weren’t expecting you back so soon, my friend.” The man Thor called Fandral stops not too far away from us. “Who’s that you’ve got hidden behind you?”

Thor sighs softly and guides me out from behind  him. I look the man over, finding him handsome, but more ordinary than Thor.

“This is (Y/N). She’s a friend.”

“Where did you find her?” Fandral asks, sly smile firmly in place. “She’s quite pretty.”

I roll my eyes. “Gay kocken offen yom.”

“I beg your pardon?” Fandral’s eyes widen.

“I know exactly who you are.” Thor looks at me, eyebrows raised. “What? I read books on Norse mythology when I took a theology class in college. I know all about your little band of merry men, and I know exactly who thinks himself a ladies man.”

Thor snorts to cover up a laugh, amusement sparkling in his eyes.

“Another mortal?” Fandral asks.

“Yes,”

“You know how your father feels about her kind, Thor.”

“I know, which is why we are avoiding him,”

“And his brother,” I add. “We’d like to avoid him at all costs.”

“Of course, that’s a given.” Fandral looks to Thor again. “Do you plan on introducing her to your mother?”

“Not this time, though I’m certain she’ll find us regardless.”

Fandral nods. “Well, best of luck to you! It was a pleasure meeting you, (Y/N).” He takes my hand and presses a kiss to my knuckles, chuckling when I scowl at him and pull my hand away. “I do hope that we’ll be seeing more of you.”

“Depends on how this visit goes, I guess.”

“Indeed,” Thor smiles at me and takes my hand again. “How would you like to see the archives?”

“Are you kidding? That would be incredible!” I squeeze his hand excitedly. “Meeting gods is nice and all, but getting to nerd out in an alien library? That’s a linguist’s dream.”

“She’s a special one, Thor.”

“She is,” Thor grins. “Come, it’s this way.”

We bid Fandral farewell and Thor leads me down the hallway. He makes several quick turns and stops in the middle of the corridor occasionally to recenter himself. We walk quickly and I manage to get my feet tangled in the skirts of my dress several times. I would have fallen over every single time had Thor not been there to catch me each time.

Thor brings us to a stop in front of two ornate double doors. When he pulls one open, the hinges groan in protest, like they haven’t been moved in years, and Thor cringes at the sound. He pokes his head through the door and glances around before carefully guiding me through and closing the door behind us.

The smell of old paper and ink washes over me and I instantly relax. I close my eyes and breathe deeply, feeling an intense sense home among the rows of ancient texts. I can’t help the smile that overtakes my face and I turn to Thor, wrapping my arms around his middle and hugging him.

“I can’t thank you enough for this, it’s incredible.”

“Would you like to look around?”

“Well yeah, that’s what libraries are for, right?”

He chuckles softly and leads me down one row. As we walk, he points out different texts, explaining where they came from, occasionally pulling a book down and letting me flip through it. The texts are incredibly well preserved and the colors and illumination are gorgeous in each book I get to look at.

“You should have told me you were coming.”

“It wasn’t a planned visit, mother. If it were, I would have let you know.”

“Holy shit.” I breathe, my eyes going wide. “The All Mother. Holy shit.”

“Who’s this you’ve brought with you?” I can hear the smile in her voice and I slowly turn my head to look at her.

“This is (Y/N),” Thor places the book in his hand back on the shelf and steps aside so his mother can look at me. “She is a colleague of mine.”

“Another human, Thor?” She chuckles softly. “You certainly have an affinity for her kind, my son.”

“Her kind, yes, but she’s different from the rest.” When he looks at me, he smiles softly, an emotion I’ve never seen from him shining in his eyes.

His mother smiles knowingly and takes a few long strides towards us. She gently cups my face in her hands and looks into my eyes. “You possess a great knowledge within you.”

“I’m a linguist,” I say, mentally kicking myself for sounding so stupid. “It’s why Thor brought me here. He thought I’d be interested in the texts you’ve collected.”

She laughs softly and releases my face. “That is not exactly what I meant. You will come to understand with time.” She turns to her son. “You have chosen well.”

Thor nods to her and pulls her into a gentle hug. “Thank you.”

“Take care of her.” She says, her tone gentle but stern. “Be sure that your brother does not spot her.”

“Of course.” Thor nods once in understanding.

She smiles at us once more before slipping past us and out of the library.

“She’s amazing.” I whisper.

“She certainly is that.” He gently takes my hands in his. “I must tell you why I brought you here today.”

I shake my head. “Don’t worry, I already know.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, I heard you talking to Clint the other day. You weren’t exactly quiet.”

“Oh,” His shoulders fall and I place a hand on his cheek, making him meet my eyes.

“I think it’s sweet, Thor, I really do. I know I’m clumsy. The fact that you brought me here as an excuse to keep an eye on me and make sure I don’t hurt myself is hilarious, but no one’s done that for me before.”

“So you aren’t upset with me?”

“Of course not,” I see a shock of black hair stalking through the stacks and tug on Thor’s hands. “But I think we should get the hell out of here before your brother catches us.”

He barks out a laugh and gathers me up in his arms before running for the door. As soon as we’re out on a balcony he sets me down and wraps an arm around my waist before pressing a soft kiss to my lips.

“We’ll get permission to come back next time.”

“Of course. But first, we have to get out of here.”

“Oh, of course.” He grins widely at me. He lifts us into the air and angles us towards the rainbow bridge.

As we soar over the city, the sun is setting, and everything is perfect.

As promised, the swear word translations:

Merde (French): Shit

Himmeldonnerwetter (German): Heaven thunder weather

Zajebiste (Polish): Basically a casual way of saying “fucking awesome“

Gay kocken offen yom (Yiddish): Go shit in the ocean

I found all of these here!

Thank you guys so much for reading! If you liked the piece please reply to the post or shoot me an ask! Feedback would be greatly appreciated!!!

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[gabrielsinternship]

Weeks 5 & 6 (18HRS)

Wednesday | July 05, 2017 | 830am - 1130am (3HRS)

On Monday (07/03), I was unable to come into the office because of a scheduled car maintenance appointment that I had, and Tuesday (07/04) was the Independence Day holiday, which was another day off.

When I came in today, I continued to work on the closed captioning for the “Insights on PBS Hawaii” video that I had been working on previously and managed to edit from 3:44 to 16:20. This took up my entire shift today.

Towards the end of the day, Brian had shared with me the news that the entire Communications department would be soon moving offices to B216 and that we’d all be together now in the same office, along with Leila & Greg (the newest member to the Communications team).

Thursday | July 06, 2017 | 830am - 1130am (3HRS)

Today, I continued working on the “Insights on PBS Hawaii” video again and edited the closed captioning from 16:20 to 31:00. The video was roughly about 35 minutes and this was by far the most time I had spent on closed captioning thusfar. Hopefully, I’d be able to finally finish the closed captioning on this video with one more day.

Before today ended, Brian briefly mentioned the event that the ACM program would be hosting tomorrow in ‘Ulu’ulu regarding the Summer Bridge Program that was currently taking place. He told me that we’d be helping out with the event and to just be prepared for it, and I was really excited to actually be taking a break from the closed captioning tomorrow to be doing something else, whether that meant manning one of the cameras that were filming the event or helping out with another equipment and such. I definitely was looking forward to tomorrow.

Friday | July 07, 2017 | 830am - 1130am (3HRS)

Upon showing up today, Brian told me to be on standby to help out with whatever tasks that may come my way this morning during the event. I awaited further instruction from the doorway of my office and before I knew it, I found myself more so watching the event take place, specifically the speeches and the signing part of the ceremony.

After that was done and everybody dispersed, Brian then tasked me with trying to get some Boomerangs of everybody at the event, before people started to leave.

Here’s a compilation of the Boomerangs I captured.

Once the event started to die down and people started leaving, Brian then told me that there was a New Student Orientation event that was also taking place on campus today in the Multipurpose room in C-Building and he sent me out to get some photos of the new students and their parents, who were also on campus in room C-225.

Firstly, I went to the Multipurpose room and tried to get as many photos as I possibly could in there. The lighting was not at all ideal for photos being that the room was not at all well lit for photos, but nonetheless I continued to try and take the best photos that I possibly could. After getting a decent amount of photos from as many angles as I could think of without completely interrupting the event, I had to stop and head back to the office because the camera’s SD card was full. Unfortunately, I also don’t have any copies of those photos that I took to show in this post. ☹

Brian couldn’t find the other SD card that he had, so I went back to my office to continue working some more on the “Insights on PBS Hawaii” video and edited from 31:00 to 33:00. I didn’t have a whole lot of time left after everything today, so I only edited this much, but I would definitely have this video finished sometime next week.

Monday | July 10, 2017 | 830am - 1130am (3HRS)

Today was another day of editing the closed captioning, and I finally finished the closed captioning on the “Insights on PBS Hawaii” video. Feel free to watch the entire video with my closed captioning below.

After completing this longer YouTube video, I wanted to look through all of the shorter YouTube videos on the channel and attack those first, being I’d be able to finish them a lot quicker.

Here are some of the videos that I edited the existing closed captioning for.

UH West O’ahu 4-Year Degree Commercial

KGMB9 News 1/14/09 - UH West O'ahu Ground Blessing

I then began work on one of the last longer YouTube videos on the channel that didn’t have any previously created closed captioning, “UH West O’ahu New Campus Ground Blessing” up to 5:30.

Brian had a doctor’s appointment at 10 and was going to be gone for the last half of my shift today, but gave me the news that we’d be moving into the new office this coming Thursday (07/13). However, I’d actually be losing my office tomorrow (07/11) to Dr. Steve Taketa, who’d be moving in there and so he figured it would be the most convenient to have me take off tomorrow and the day after (07/11 - 07/12) just so that the moving process would be easier for everyone.

Thursday | July 13, 2017 | 830am - 1130am (3HRS)

It’s moving day!

I caught up with Brian as he was going back and forth between his old office and the new one and rather than having me help him move some of the smaller boxes, he instead had me work on the desk outside of the new office (being they were setting everything up in there) and had me do some research on Instagram Takeovers in terms of what would be good content to have the potential guest post on the official UH West O’ahu page. This was an idea that he had briefly mentioned to me the day before while I was working in the library of having potentially a student, faculty/staff member, or community influencer takeover the UHWO Instagram page to generate some more content and more traffic.

I read through a few articles and found an abundance of information that stretched further past just the types of content that could be potentially posted, such as guidelines, helpful tips and tricks, practices & security tips, down to specific details to look out for when executing the takeover. I plugged all of the information into a Google Doc and share it with him to review.

Doing this research took up the majority of my shift, but towards the end, I had some time to do some more closed caption editing on the 1-hour long “UH West O’ahu New Campus Ground Blessing” video I started editing on Monday. I was able to edit from 5:30 to 7:15 before today’s shift was over.

Friday | July 14, 2017 | 830am - 1130am (3HRS)

Brian emailed me last night saying that he had to take an emergency workday from home, but told me to call security and have them unlock the office for me. When I got in, I dove into the closed captioning for the “UH West O’ahu New Campus Ground Blessing” video that I’d been working on and managed to edit up to 17:30.

As I was working on this, Leila had stopped by the office and we actually got to chat for a bit and discuss the types of projects that I wanted to work on moving forward, as well as the length of my internship with them. I told her that I’d potentially like to work on more graphic design projects, seeing as the Campus Security signs I did in the beginning of my internship was the only graphic design work that I had done for them thusfar, which worked out perfectly as Carina, newest librarian/our latest addition to the UHWO Library family, recently had sent in a request to Communications to have some posters created to promote the library. Leila thought this would be the perfect project for me to work being that I work in the library, I’d be able to come up with some great ideas. In terms of the length of my internship, we discussed that once I met the minimum requirements of 120 hours, that I’d be on-call for any projects that they would need help on during the semester, and Leila was more than fine with that.

Going back to the posters, I quickly emailed Carina to see if she could send me some inspiration for the posters. I know she mentioned this idea to me the other day while I was working and I know she had some great examples, so I just wanted to refer back to them to get some ideas. These were the examples she had sent from WCC, as well as some other sources.

After examining these, I began brainstorming some ideas, and one very prominent idea that came to mind was the “INFORMATION” music video that I did for the library last semester. I wanted to in a sense promote that in a movie-poster style and definitely have it reference the YouTube video as there are tons of great bits of information regarding the library in there that could definitely be useful/possibly entertaining to the library patrons. I then noticed the “Ask Doug” posters and Carina discussed it a bit and realized that Alphie, one of our amazing librarians, would be a great fit for this in terms of altering it in his image, so I definitely ran with this idea. I also tried coming up with slogans to work off the posters that WCC had created.

I created a couple rough sketches of some of the posters ideas I had, which can be seen below.

I shared all of these ideas with Brian and I will further discuss this project with him when we return on Monday (07/17).

TOTAL HOURS: 72