#i added the lady gaga part for ME

[buzziightqueer]

Common Ground (more common than you think)

crack fic

(casey gets jealous at a work dinner, oblivious that the man she's fuming over is gay)

1.1k words

Casey thought they would attend dinner together. Casey thought she and Alex had been dating for well over a month now.

Casey had been pining over the blonde since she started at SVU, months after she finally got the courage to ask her out. She’d be damned if she let some man get in the way of her new and all-encompassing escapade.

The two were deeply involved in conversation, Alex even letting out one of her real laughs which were typically reserved for Casey. The man was short, barely making it to Alex’s shoulder. Alex standing at five-foot-ten meant that many men fell short compared to her. Did she like that? Was it a power thing? Casey was almost directly Alex’s height– just barely hitting five-ten on a good day.

He wore a smart suit with a crisp blue shirt and a striped tie. He looked well-off, the suit tailored to fit him perfectly. His dark black hair combed back, letting a single strand fall forward– he was meticulous.

Casey couldn't stand it; the laughing, the brushing of hands, the whispering and sharing of secrets, it was all too much.

She made her way over, silently seething, but holding it back the best she possibly could. When she got close to them, it made her sick how his cologne and Alex’s perfume mingled in the air. Two rich scents intertwining as one.

Casey tightened the front of her maroon suit before reaching out a hand:

“Casey Novak, ADA working white collar crimes ,” she said, using her full title to, I don't know… intimidate him? Show him that she could be rich and important and smell like vanilla mahogany and a freshly pressed suit too?

He smiled, seemingly unaware of her strained attitude.

��George Huang,” he shook her hand gently. “FBI.”

“George, you’ll scare her. He’s working psychiatry at SVU,” Alex joked, shoving his shoulder gently. “This is a work party, no place to flash your FBI badge.”

George laughed, seemingly used to Alex’s teasing. How long had this been going on?

“I’ll make my rounds,” he said, reaching over to squeeze Alex’s hand. “Save me a spot at the table? Don’t leave me with the psychiatric department, please.” He joked, Alex immediately nodding and agreeing.

“I always do,” she rolled her eyes. “You can hide in the corner spot between me, Olivia, and Warner.”

They shared another brief laugh, Casey facing her body away to fully roll her eyes and rub a hand across her forehead.

When he left to socialize, Casey linked an arm around Alex’s waist.

Alex raised a brow. “In public? You’re not typically one for PDA.”

“I can be,” she objected, kissing her cheek chastely.

Alex briefly leaned into the touch, keeping her posture and persona professional. It wasn't like how she was when they were alone– Alex was colder, her usual ice-queen .

When the food was brought out, Alex indeed did put her suit jacket on the back of a seat to reserve for George. The act was so colloquial, Casey felt sick.

What kind of womanizer is integrated into a group of all women? The ADA, the best SVU detective, the most talented M.E in the city– he damn-near collected them all!

“Why doesn't George sit with some male friends in the psychiatry department?” Casey quipped genuinely, but Alex only laughed it off. She wasn't really joking.

“He says they all need psychiatric care. The men especially– apparently they all have this grand ego. He always sits with us since he practically lives at SVU with how much Cragen trusts his experience.”

Great. So now Alex’s boss also viewed him as some mastermind?

“I just feel like he–”

“Just in time!” George appeared, sliding in and giving Olivia and Melina a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’re a lifesaver, Lex.”

He reached across to grab a bread starter, Casey could only stare, mouth agape. Lex? No one called her Lex! Casey had never ever heard of the nickname. Alex wasn't short enough for Alexandra he had to drop the A?

Casey knew that she didn't belong in the group– she was younger, worked white collar crimes, she didn't fit into the conversation here. They talked about past cases, Alex almost turned in a way that completely iced her out from the table. Alex’s hand rested on her thigh, but it wasn't enough to ease Casey’s worries.

She got up suddenly, chair scraping across the ground loudly. The group and a few others turned to face her and find the source of the noise.

Casey left for the bathroom, walking quickly and not looking back.

She leaned over the sink. She wished she wasn't she jealous. She wished she fit in better. She just wanted to–

“Case?”

Casey whipped around to see Alex. She relaxed her posture, facing her, but not meeting her eyes.

“Casey, what’s wrong?” Alex said, increasingly worried. She placed a finger under Casey’s chin, asking for eye contact.

“I just… nothing. I don't know. It’s stupid,” Casey said, eyes flitting up.

“It’s not stupid if you’re upset, baby, you’ve been off all night,” Alex combed her hand across the back of Casey’s head, smoothening it.

“It’s… George.”

“George?” Alex’s brow furrowed at the unexpected turn.

“You two have been flirting all night! He’s all over you! “Oh, Alex, thank you soo much for reserving me a seat,” she made an exaggerated kissy noise. “You’re such a talented ADA, and I’m such a great FBI agent, let’s have smart babies!”

Alex let out a choked laugh, covering her mouth. “He’s not an FBI agent.”

“That’s what you heard out of all that?”

“God, Casey, you really don’t know do you?”

Casey squinted at her nonchalant nature. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Alex pulled Casey’s sleeve to align her with the door before slowly pulling it open just a crack so she could see the table where the group was sitting.

Huang, Melina, and Olivia all stared appreciatively at the male waiter. Melinda making eyes, Olivia fanning herself, and Huang making a whistling noise.

“He’s… gay?” She sputtered, disbelieving.

“Shh!” Alex said, shutting the door. “It’s no secret, but you’re shouting.”

“Sorry,” she ran a hand through her hair. “You’re serious?”

“Case, darling, your gaydar is horrendous, seriously,” she said, laughing while she scolded the redhead.

“Okay, one minor blunder,” she rolled her eyes.

“You thought I was straight until I practiced eye-fucked you at the hearing.”

Casey blushed a deep red. “That’s irrelevant.”

“Overruled,” Alex muttered, yanking the door open.

When they made their way to the table, Casey sheepishly sat down. The group acknowledged her, Huang, a knowing look in his eyes.

“So..” she started, Huang’s brow raising. “Did you see they put Lady Gaga’s VMA performance back on YouTube?”

[stuff-made-by-orose]

first day of summer feels like the last, 2023.

made this instead of doing! my! job! bless the work from home life.

[sandwhitches]

𝗰𝘄: language, crude humor, references to sex, reference to a friends (?) w benefits situation, suggestive, "kms" joke, they are once again beefing on twitter

<<< back ✱ menu ✱ next >>>

𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀:

��� whenever makki edits he does that one thing where they say smth out of pocket and it cuts to him editing in the dark like 🤨 i hope yk what i'm talking about ("sorry ur gonna have to edit that one out makki" then it just cuts to him with the haunting glow of a laptop on his face "no, no ur good...ur good...😕👍") he's a part of the soapbox experience

✱ atsumu and that damn orangutan emoji

✱ shoutout FNAF. tag a friend who never says no to a hot dog ayyyy

✱ hinata's rapper name is yung shoyo in case anybody was wondering

✱ also tear you apart is such a sexylish song it always makes me think of lady gaga as a vampire in ahs (my gay awakening, i know you were just dying to know that.)

𝗮/𝗻: yayyy!!! love writing messy tweets but they're kinda annoying too. the duality of man i suppose. next chapter is, you guessed it, another flashback!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this post was sponsored by trader joes coffee ice cream sandwich and cherry cola olipop but now my tummy kinda hurts stay tuned. i made a grammatical error somewhere in here if u notice it my sincerest apologies, i’m too lazy to fix it, i’ll just go die in a hole now.

𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁: @zumicho @nectardaddy @moucheslove @kodzu-ken @phoenix-eclipses @piopioo @lvtilzs @s777athv @localgaytrainwreck @reignsaway @savemebrazilhinata @pop-ghost @naweirdo @sunsribn @staileykout @milesmoralesluvs @chaconadine @aboutkiyoomi @m3gitsune @wizardhore @ineednanami @wakashudou @torkorpse @st4rdusttx @renkitsune @solaqes @sereniteav @eveyams @myromanempiree @saltypuffin1040 @nbcvs @gsyche @miiyas @starkyu @renardiererin @puppenpop @sleepystrwbrryy @yumiecheesecrackers @sp1ng @mfcherry @semieita24srockstargf @nanamis-right-tiddie @strawbrinkofdeath @piapiaweee3 @walllflowerrrsss @gigiiiiislife (blogs in bold could not be tagged, please check your settings!)

taglist status: open (46/50) (please send an ask to be added)

[todorkihoe]

show me your teeth

pairing: gojo satoru x reader

content warnings: smut, biting/marking, unprotected sex

song: teeth by lady gaga

thinking about satoru who's got a thing for biting. he's got that wide, almost wolfish smile with a nice pair of pointed canines to top off his perfect pearly whites. you often find your gaze lingering on his mouth, just admiring and wondering.

satoru, for his part, is able to read you like a book and absolutely uses this skill to his advantage. the descent into madness is a slow one.

it starts on a regular weekend afternoon with the two of you in the kitchen, whipping up some sweet mixture and playfully flicking flour at each other. just enjoying each other’s company.

"here try this, 'toru," you hum, swiping up some of the chocolate cake batter on your finger and extending it toward him. he grasps your wrist and to your surprise, slides your whole finger into his mouth, tongue twisting and tasting. you gasp and try to remove your finger, but he keeps hold of your wrist and just barely digs his teeth into your skin.

when he finally releases you, satoru makes no effort to conceal the grin on his face, admiring the blush rising to yours.

"whoops, sorry." you both know he's not.

you huff, examining the indents his teeth left in your skin, trying to ignore the heat building inside of you.

the second incident happens a little later, when the two of you are wrestling each other on the couch. you think you've got satoru beat but then he flips you onto your back and pins both of your wrists in one hand.

before you can protest, his free hand is tickling at your ribs, causing to shriek and squeal while he laughs. he further shocks you by beginning to impishly nibble at your neck, adding to your torment.

however, you shock yourself by letting out an involuntary moan when his teeth reach that sensitive spot right under your ear. you both freeze and your face feels like it's on fire when you notice a distinct hardness pressing against your hip just moments later.

satoru half-coughs and half-chuckles to break the tension, letting you sit up to finish pretending to watch the movie on the TV. you feel his gaze burning into the side of your face for the rest of the film.

the nail in the coffin is when he’s got you pressed into the mattress, hips lazily pushing into you. you’re moaning and sighing so sweetly for satoru and the sounds draw his eyes down to your throat and he watches as each noise and movements makes the muscles contract. mouthwatering.

you toss your head back into the pillows and satoru can’t help but bury his face in the crook of your neck, inhaling deeply and letting his tongue loll out to taste you. his teeth practically fucking itch and he rubs them against your sensitive skin, pleased with your lewd reaction, clamping down around his cock even tighter.

“f-fuck, sweetheart can I-” he begins, but you already know what he’s asking and enthusiastically nod, tilting your head even farther to bare your neck more. with shaky hands, satoru brushes the hair from your neck and grips your jaw to hold you in place and then he bites. 

and everything is all hot, burning agony. the initial sting fades into something even more pleasurable and your hands fly up from where they’re clutching the sheets to pull him in even closer.

his thrusts become rougher, erratic, and sloppy like he’s lost all control of himself. the thought of it alone makes you shiver and oddly enough, you find your own teeth aching, the sight of sweat beading on his neck all too enticing. without even thinking you lurch forward and sink your teeth in, the flavor of his skin bursting on your tongue.

you’re delighted at the strangled moan that leaves his mouth where he’s still connected to your neck, teeth digging in even harder, threatening to break skin. you think you might even want that as you get closer and closer to the delicious edge. 

when you pull back from his neck you can already see a deep, purple mark forming, sure to last for days. the thought of him parading around, letting everyone see just who he belongs to is almost too hot to bear.

your breaths sync up into something hot and gasping and satoru reaches down to messily brush over your clit once before you’re done for. you think you might scream when you finally cum but you’re not sure over the sound of your blood rushing in your ears. satoru is quick to follow, filling you up with one last slam of his hips before sagging against you and releasing your neck.

you spend the next few minutes unmoving and floating back down to reality and when you finally try to sit up, you wince at the dull, aching pain radiating from your neck.

“sorry, pretty girl,” he grins, tongue laving over the mark to soothe it. and once again, you both know he’s not sorry.

[heytherecentaurs]

***Spoilers for Vanessa 5000***

- It is so so so fucking good!

- “I want to doink you like a dinosaur”

- She is giving off real Lady Gaga vibes

- I need Courtney Pauroso and Caldwell Tanner to talk in robot voices at each other. (Context: Caldwell also has an amazing robot voice)

- the stepmom roleplay was ridiculous

- Courtney Pauroso is so talented and funny. Vanessa 5000 is an incredible commentary on the intersection of tech and sex and an amazing performance. Also a great warning against agreeing to terms and conditions without reading the fine print. She is a brilliant performer and also I liked when she showed her butt.

- I think this is one of the most unique things I’ve ever seen on tv. It reminds me of the crazy shit we used to do when I taught drama.

- The added detail that Tanya is 18 after the fact is hilarious and a mean trick.

- Ted Kaczynski references were WILD

- I was not expecting her to hold a disk with her butt. This is the kind of quality content you only get with a subscription

- Just absolutely remarkable object work throughout

- This show feels like it was made for tumblr

- what’s wrong with me that I think goblin mode is hotter?

- “I’m gonna lick your teeth” and then she SPAT IN HIS MOUTH!!! What the fuck!?

- I felt drunk by the end of that part

- I knew the turn was coming because after the heights of goblin mode you have to have this beat that changes things. But the turn wasn’t what I expected.

- showing up with a face of blood and it dripping down her front is so cool. I love women covered in blood tho.

- this is so entirely my shit it’s hard to express how much I love it. I guess, if I were gonna express it concisely, I’d sum it up this way:

- I wanna doink you like a dinosaur

[thesinglesjukebox]

LADY GAGA AND BRUNO MARS - "DIE WITH A SMILE"

14 years after "Grenade," Bruno finally found someone who would do the same...

[5.70]

Kayla Beardslee: Hey, when is that Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars collab being released? [5]

Ian Mathers: Mars and Gaga are both skilled at their craft in a way that often seems like a throwback to an earlier era of the art/industry, taking the biggest swings possible in terms of seeking mass appeal without feeling like they're compromising or calculated, talented mimics and style chameleons when they want to be. Working together on a big, heartfelt, suitable-for-all-occasions ballad actually feels perfect along those lines. The result is the kind of sturdily good (or "good," depending on your sensibilities) song that, if it catches you at the right moment in your life, might make you bust out crying. [7]

Joshua Lu: This collaboration would've been unthinkable in 2010; now that their careers have somehow converged, the outcome feels weirdly predictable. The emotional heft, vocal runs, and vague nostalgia are there, even if all it does is fill that "Perfect Duet"-sized hole in pop radio. "Die With a Smile" can't help but feel underwhelming in the context of their career trajectories — the kind of corny balladry that Bruno's outgrown and that Gaga mostly uses just to recapture the general public — but it's impossible to wholly reject when it's this nicely crafted. [6]

Grace Robins-Somerville: Most Obamacore song of 2024, hands down. "Die with a Smile" is this very specific meld of the era when you couldn't go to the supermarket without hearing a Bruno Mars ballad and when Gaga was doing a country pivot (although this is far blander than anything on Joanne). It's been a while since I've heard such blatant Grammy bait. [3]

Jackie Powell: Entertainment Weekly's Joey Nolfi wrote that “Die with a Smile” is a song that recalls “the emotional bravado” of “Shallow,” the Grammy- and Oscar-winning smash from Lady Gaga’s A Star Is Born. He’s correct. “Die With a Smile” thrives upon accented and intentional dynamics while making vague and simple lyrics mean more than it they do on the page. That’s also what made “Shallow” so convincing. The difference on “Die With A Smile” is that Bruno Mars is more Lady Gaga’s equal than Bradley Cooper ever was. Mars has more to sing on a song that has Gaga’s name billed first, but both artists shine without the other having to sacrifice. Gaga’s part, which begins at around a minute and a half until the song's end, transforms this from a Silk Sonic B-side into something that’s much more memorable, emotionally resonant and cinematic. It's a song that makes me wish I had someone to sing it to.  [9]

Katherine St. Asaph: So old-fashioned that YouTube's preroll ad recommended me Botox, and so definitively a Bruno Mars song that I'm genuinely unsure why the credits are in the order they're in. It works, albeit in an unexciting way, because Bruno and Gaga have practiced melodrama for years -- see "I'd take a bullet straight to my brain" and "not even the Gods above can separate the two of us," respectively -- and have also practiced singing pretty then belting big. [7]

Jeffrey Brister: When it comes to Bruno Mars, I want immaculately executed genre pastiche, something that sounds like the past but keeps a thrilling modern affect. Gaga, for all of her artsy subversion and slight avant-garde leanings, has just as much of a traditionalist impulse, if not stronger; under the right circumstances, the results can be explosive. That alchemy is present here: two artists synced up and bringing out the best in each other’s performances. There is absolutely nothing new here, but it’s polished and perfectly executed. I’m a mark for that sort of thing. [7]

Jonathan Bradley: It's not right to say Bruno Mars is so adept with pastiche that he transcends it; pastiche is his artform, his milieu, the genre that this genre artist seeks to perfect. "Die With a Smile" has two ideas: the first being the familiar terrain of the Bruno Mars ballad, and the second being "What if a Bruno Mars ballad was Jeff Buckley?" Even a few years after the 1994 release of Grace, pop music seemed like it only had room in its past for an artist like Buckley: a soulful and beautiful singer-songwriter who leaned toward rock-god charisma rather than folkish introspection. Mars has Buckley's swooning fragility as well as his stormy squalls of guitar, but for all that Buckley represented the last of something, he never sounded like he was going over someone else's territory. That fundamentally does not work for Mars's attempt to recreate the sound; navigating someone else's territory is Mars's entire point. If "Die With a Smile" has a third idea, it's the addition of Lady Gaga, who is herself no stranger to pastiche (see the Madonna-isms of "Born This Way," the heartland rock of "You and I," or the way she slipped effortlessly into the Hollywood prestige turn that was "Shallow"). Here, she delivers only competence, as if she'd been asked to sing backup on a new recording of "When I Was Your Man" and found out at the last moment that the assignment had changed. [5]

Harlan Talib Ockey: Once you get past the surprise of "Die With a Smile" being a Jeff Buckley impression, it's remarkably insubstantial. "If the world was ending I'd wanna be next to you" sounds clunky and hyper-literal next to, say, "I'd catch a grenade for you". At least the harmonies are nice. [4]

Iain Mew: Bruno Mars's progression makes it a fruitful idea to go back and invert "Grenade" from a distance. Back then, he took the prospect of death as an opportunity to bitterly prove his unmatched love. Now he meets no less than the end of the world with smooth certainty that it's a chance for mutual togetherness. Lady Gaga's way with projecting intensity and sincerity in the most extreme contexts makes her the perfect foil, and for two lines after she comes in, it's transcendent. Then Mars comes back in, and not only is there not enough space for Gaga to shine, there's barely any space at all. Maybe the old anxiety hadn't gone away completely after all. [7]

Alfred Soto: Bruno Mars hasn't sounded this convincing a love man in years, if ever. Too convincing: Gaga is a backup singer on her own single. Mars sure would fuck himself if he could. [5]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Someone pointed out recently how absurd it is that Lady Gaga's Twitter bio is literally advertising for the HBO Chromatica Ball special, Haus Labs cosmetics, Joker: Folie à Deux, and now "Die with a Smile." That sums up my feelings toward this entry into the Gaga canon: random and indicating a certain directionlessness—or perhaps overdirection?—in her career. She sounds great, and the bridge is perfect TikTok fodder, but she and Bruno Mars sound like they have as much sexual chemistry as brother and sister.  [4]

TA Inskeep: Mars and Gaga sound nice enough together, but there’s no frisson, no spark; they’re just two famous singers, singing a duet for you to stream and buy.  [5]

Scott Mildenhall: To the song's great benefit, the annihilatory proposition is underblown. Instead, its precise lilt is folded and finessed throughout, heading hither and thither without over-accelerating or escalating. It's a fine balance between ostentation and undulation. There's minimal vocal chemistry, but the blend is happening elsewhere. [7]

Hannah Jocelyn: I was with family over the weekend, and my brother asked “who is this??” like it was two stunning new artists on their debut single. Upon learning it was Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, his excitement dissipated. Only Andrew Watt could make two of pop’s best vocalists sound anonymous (don’t get me started on that weightless drum sound he's inexplicably made his signature). I can’t tell where Gaga ends and Bruno begins, which is a horrible mental image. [5]

Taylor Alatorre: The drums treat every other measure like it's a climax because the entire song, or more precisely its billing, is one undifferentiated climax. Which means no build-up, no peaks or valleys, no memorable grooves or meaningful sense of release. It's just those two names together on a lighted marquee, a chart-watcher fanfic straight out of 2012, What Could Be measuring short against What Must Be, which in this case is the greatest common denominator of softer-than-talcum piano balladry. At least "Grenade" had cartoon bloodletting on its side, and "Shallow" had the benefit of context. "Die with a Smile" reaches for that old doomsday rhetoric out of sheer reflex, even when the prophesized end is painted in washed-out watercolors, like a dream whose outlines dissipate five seconds after waking. Andrew Watt's approach to retromania is less playful than the Smeezingtons' was, but also strangely less reverent, since if you truly revere the music of the past then you don't try to half-seriously Mandela effect yourself into its hit parade. [2]

Nortey Dowuona: Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga getting to coast by cornering the market on having both vocal talent and a modicum of charisma -- you know, the old-fashioned model -- would be frustrating, but at least Watt's patient hand is keeping this over there next to the white Broadway crowd. Anything but more Bruno funk. [7]

Mark Sinker: Obviously I want to claim I’m only onboard with Bruno as a project at last thanks to Gaga’s in-video cigarette — casually centred, disgustingly compelling — but I have to admit it’s something entirely more wholesome: the actual topic, the actual melody, the actual delivery! He got me in the end! (Also, I like thinking of him as a little monster. He is a little monster….)  [8]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Would be a [6] with flipped Mars-Gaga ratio, but even then this would not quite get to the force of melodrama that would allow it to reach exit velocity and escape the great and depressing middle ground of tasteful 20th-century pop pastiche. These two have taken enough stabs at staid, boring pop songs for all occasions that they have become the legacy acts they once aspired toward and collaborated with. Good for them; bad for us. [4]

Kristen S. Hé: As much as I wish this Venn diagram had produced something more adventurous, it's arguably harder to write a song like this -- one that'll probably be on radio rotation for decades, and that I'll never object to hearing in any context. I've often found Bruno's schtick cloying and insincere, but here, I'd believe it even without Gaga's added star power. Bruno, please stay in this lane forever. (Gaga, please don't!) [7]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[dilemmaontwolegs]

Shades of Grey || CL16 {2}

Summary: You see the lasting effects of your crash on Charles and wish you could ease his suffering. Warnings: 18+ only, reader injuries, angst. Word Count: 2k

F1 Masterlist || Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four ||

Pierre and Arthur caught up to Charles before he could leave without them and Arthur shoved himself between Charles and the driver’s door he was opening, stopping his brother from getting behind the steering wheel. 

“You’re not in the right state to drive,’ Arthur said softly as he held his hand out for the keys. “Let me.”

Charles looked ready to argue but Pierre was quicker and swiped the keys from where they hung limp in Charles’ hand. “Fine, but I can’t go to the hospital. Just take me back to the airport.”

They nodded and Pierre opened the back door where you slipped into the seat and shuffled silently across before Charles followed. Pierre’s fingers ran along the inside of the door before he shut it and you frowned as he whispered to Arthur who nodded in agreement.

The moment the car started it connected to Charles’ phone and started to play one of his many playlists. Pierre’s eyes searched the rearview mirror for his friend as he reached for the stereo to turn off the song but Charles shook his head.

“Leave it,” Charles muttered dejectedly as the words to The Scientist began and Chris Martin’s voice filled the sedan. He stared lifelessly out the window not seeing the changing scenery as Arthur drove to Bologna. He was lost to the recesses of his mind and the words of the song that had taken on a new meaning since your accident. 

“Nobody said it was easy. No one ever said it would be so hard.” His lips silently sung along to the chorus and he pressed his forehead to the cool window pane. 

“Oh, take me back to the start,” you finished softly for him when his lips trembled and he pinned them shut with a deep swallow.

Charles startled as his eyes connected with yours in the reflection of the glass and he spun around only to deflate at the sight of an empty seat beside him. 

“Charles?” You waved your hand in front of him, hoping he could see you but he stared right through you. 

“Charles?” Pierre asked, pulling his attention away from you and Charles turned to his worried friend. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” he lied, “I just thought I saw…nevermind.” The car fell silent and Charles went back to staring out the window. It wasn’t until the car began to slow that he untangled himself from his head and realised it was not the airport parking complex they were pulling into. “No, no, I’m not…I can’t.”

He reached for the door handle, ready to flee on foot, but it wouldn’t open. He flicked the lock back and forth, ramming his shoulder into the trim, but it would budge. He narrowed his eyes at Pierre who slunk back into his seat as Charles realised who had activated the child lock on his door.

“Let me out of the fucking car.”

Pierre shook his head. “Charles, I know you’re scared but she’s alone in there. She would be by your side if it was the other way around.”

“And you’ve never spent a birthday apart,” Arthur added as he turned in his seat and pinned his brother with a stare. 

“I don’t want to have my last memory of her being laid up in bed hooked up to a bunch of machines. I want to remember her…alive.”

A growl of protest clawed out of Pierre’s throat but he kept his opinion to himself as they sat at a stalemate in the car. No one said a thing as the air grew heavy and a new song came on, one that you couldn’t stand. The moment was tense enough that you didn’t want the song adding to it and you reached over the seat, brushing through both Arthur’s and Pierre’s shoulders before hitting your hand against the stereo.

“What the…?” Arthur recoiled with a shiver and Pierre ran his hand over his arm that had gone through you.

The song skipped like a scratched CD and changed over Lady Gaga’s Hold My Hand. The song had quickly become a favourite of his after watching Top Gun: Maverick with you on one of the many late nights you couldn’t sleep before a race. Charles stared at the title moving across the small screen on the stereo and his trembling hand gripped his buckle, his thumb slowly pushing down on the release as the song called to him. 

Hold my hand, everything will be okay

I heard from the heavens that clouds have been grey

Pull me close, wrap me in your aching arms

I see that you're hurtin', why'd you take so long

The belt released with a deafening click and Charles swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked at his brother and friend. “Let me out.”

The words were barely above a raspy whisper but Arthur nodded and got out so he could open the back door. Arthur had felt the change in his tone and knew his older brother was done running from his fear.

“I need to do this alone,” Charles murmured as he reached your private room in the Intensive Care Unit. 

“Of course,” Pierre said, nodding his head to the waiting room and placing his hand on Charles’ shoulder. “We’ll wait over there. Take as long as you need.”

Charles waited until they were both seated before he worked up the courage to push open the door. He closed his eyes, picturing you as he had last seen you.

You had been standing off to the side of your car, your earplugs blocking out the world around you as you prepared for the race. Your eyes had been closed, your hands moving as you mentally practised the turns of the track, your fingers shifting up and down the imaginary gears. He had watched you with fascination when he should have been doing his own last minute prep. By the time you had looked up his team had already called him back to the front of the grid, far away from where you remained.

With a deep breath, he lifted his hand and pressed his palm to the cold metal plate but he didn’t have the strength to push it until you placed your hand over his. The door creaked as it swung open and the sharp scent of disinfectant filled the room that was quiet except for the steady whoosh of the ventilator that was filling your lungs with oxygen.

You froze in the doorway as you saw yourself on the bed and Charles stumbled to a stop too. His hands hung limp at his sides and a sob filled the room as he crumpled forward to grab your hand.

“Charles?” Arthur asked quietly as he followed the sound of his brother’s pained cry.

The ghost of a sensation tickled your face and you watched numbly as Charles stroked your cheek, careful not to touch the tube strapped to your mouth. 

“She looks like she’s sleeping.”

Arthur rubbed his brother’s back. “She is.”

Charles shrugged the touch away, not seeing the hurt in his brother’s eyes. “No, she’s not.”

“Stop talking like that,” Arthur snapped as he walked around your bed and sat at the edge of the window ledge. “You’re not the only one who cares about her. While you were off living your dream we were left behind, training together day in and day out, and you know what? You’re all she talked about! Even when you raced like shit and fucked up she would support you. She remained positive. The least you can do is have the same fucking decency.”

Charles tore his eyes away from your face that he still stroked gently. “She talked about me?”

“You’d think the sun shone out of your ass.” Arthur shook his head and dragged a hand down his face with a sigh. “She could be having the worst day but then she’d suddenly be smiling again because you sent some stupid meme to her.”

You hadn’t realised anyone had paid so much attention to you, or that you had been so transparent. Those small messages had meant the world to you because it meant that for that moment in time Charles had been thinking about you and spared a few seconds out of his busy day to make you smile.

Colour spread across Charles’ cheeks and chased away the grey pallor as he blushed shyly and looked nervously away from Arthur. The longer he looked at you, the more colour seeped into the room chasing away the shades of grey that had saturated your world since the crash. You could even feel the heat of his palm as it cradled your cheek.

“Oh, I didn’t realise Miss Y/L/N had visitors,” a nurse interrupted as the door swung open.

Charles wiped at the tears that had been silently falling since he walked in and rose from the chair, his hand slipping from yours. The colour drained away in an instant with the loss of touch and a chill swept over you as he stepped away.

“You don’t have to leave, I’m just checking her charts.” The nurse picked up the clipboard at the foot of the bed but it caught the sheet and lifted it up. Before she could tuck it back in Charles was there, pulling the sheet higher and reaching for your feet.

“She hated sleeping with socks on,” he said with a thickness that choked his voice as he started to pull them off.

The nurse’s lips turned down as she stopped him and she placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry but these are compression socks to help prevent clots from forming. They need to stay on for now. She won’t even notice them.” 

Arthur flinched as he knew how well his brother would take that piece of information and he pushed off from his perch on the window ledge to follow Charles as he stormed out.

“She only meant that Y/N won’t be uncomfortable. I read that coma patients can still be aware of their surroundings, Charles, she might still be able to hear you.”

“Please, Arthur, just stop.” Charles’ hands turned to fists at his side as he spun on his little brother. “You’re a fixer, I get it, but you can’t make this better! She’s gone!”

There was nothing you could do to heal his pain as he walked out of the room more broken than when he had entered and when you reached the threshold to follow you slammed into an invisible wall. The heaviness in your feet returned as it had been at the race track and you screamed for Charles as he walked away, and never looked back.

The door swung slowly shut, trapping you within the four walls as you pounded your fists uselessly against the small window that showed Charles’ retreating figure. He couldn’t leave, you needed him. More importantly, you needed him to know you were still there. He needed to know you hadn’t left him.

The shadows in the room grew darker with each step he took until nothing remained but a void threatening to swallow you whole and you slipped down the door to a crumpled heap on the cold floor. 

Time held no meaning in the void, it could have been seconds or years that passed before a shout drew you from the darkness and the steady squeak of someone running along the corridor had you pulling yourself back to your feet to peek through the window as the door slammed open. Heat filled you as Charles sprinted back in the room, passing through you as he rushed to your side and skidded to a stop.

The nurse cast her eyes over his dishevelled hair and red rimmed eyes before slipping out of the room quietly, closing the door behind her before Arthur and Pierre could enter. “Give him a moment.”

Click here for part three.

Tagging: @alwaysclassyeagle @abeanontoast @theslytherinwriter  

[mychlapci]

(resending this by launching it via trebuchet towards lady gaga) okay I need to exorcise some demons or they won't leave me alone and I need to hit the nearby ikea later

So there's a power outage on the Peaceful Tyranny, and naturally, all of the equipment in the kitchen aren't working. But Nickel wants some cookies, and she wants them now goddamnit.

Well, conveniently enough, a furnace is just a giant fucking oven, right? So she hauls Helex's poor aft in and makes him sit by the island, telling him to transform into alt mode. Confused, he does as she tells him to, only to have a Tcog lock (she carries like 20 around with her at all times considering Tarn's problem) slapped on him without warning.

Nickel then opens his doorflap, and tuts upon noting the lack of usable racks inside. He's a smelter, after all. You're just supposed to dump body parts into him! No one cares about how they go in as long as slag comes out afterwards!

She slaps his ventral plating, directly located outside his interfacial array, berating him for being such a shitty oven. He whines in response, like, he can't help how he was built, y'know? What's she trying to do in there anyways?

Without deigning a reply, she clamps a brace along his hinges to keep the flap stretched open to it's maximum arc, and climbs in. Warning him to behave himself and keep the heating elements off, or she'll trigger the stasis lock inducer in the Tcog immobiliser.

And so Helex has no choice but to sit there like a good boy as she tinkers and pokes around inside him, jolting when he feels her suddenly solder a few things to the insides of his chamber. He whines a little, pussy getting wet from all the stimulation.

Mistaking it for a sob, Nickel tells him to stop crying like a little sparkling, it's just a temporary solder to mount oven racks inside him. Now his smelter can hold baking trays like a proper oven.

She takes her sweet time preparing the cement and epoxy, adding tungsten chips and split iron hex nuts into the cookie dough while Helex gets to "preheat" himself. When she puts in the first batch, it immediately starts smoking, and not in the way intended by the recipe. Alarmed, Nickel quickly pulls the trays out, only to find that they've been fired too hot, each piece cracked and badly oxidised.

She spanks him over and over in that same spot below his door, making the plating sting and slightly dented, until he actually starts crying and apologising for burning her cookies. There's lubricant dripping out between his tank threads now, below the doorflap.

Helex gets a second chance, and uses a much lower baking temperature this time. And when the timer rings… the cookies come out perfect, this round. Mood lifted, she happily crumbles one into his refueling valve and prepares to put the next trays in, nibbling on one between her lips as she sings him praises. What a good oven he is!

In the meantime, Helex can feel his valve getting wetter and wetter. He's a smelter, after all. Furnaces aren't meant to operate at such low and precise temperatures for extended periods of time; they're supposed to be at full blast whenever they're active. But still, he perseveres, desperately trying so hard to not burn Nickel's cookies again, even as his charge mounts. Sometimes he fails, and the cookies come out less than perfect. Those earned him a few more spanking rounds until he's actually loudly moaning in place. But whenever a batch comes out perfect, well. Being heaped with praise is definitely doing wonders for his trapped, throbbing spike in his undercarriage.

When the ship's power supply is finally restored, they don't even seem to notice. Nickel is completely taken with her new, bigger and better oven, for one. And Helex? He's completely lost track of time from edging so hard while stuck in altmode, obediently baking tray after tray of cookies, following nothing but the "ding!" of the kitchen timer. He's gone past the point of needing to overload now, since it's become apparent that he won't be going anywhere any time soon. Since Nickel really, really fucking loves her cookies. And Nickel still has so, so many more cookies to bake. At least nobody else walked into the kitchen that day-🔌

yes yes yes god, use him! so very good, head empty.

[seeminglyranch87]

Taylor & Travis Timeline

October 2024 - Part 3

October 17 - Travis at training

October 18 - Taylor releases a video pre-show with her cat Olivia (x)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)

The Eras Tour, Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, FL N1. Rain show & the beginning of the final leg of the Era's Tour. Just 18 shows remain.

Donna, Jason, Kylie, Wyatt & Elliotte Kelce attend the Eras tour.

Juno by Sabrina Carpenter is added to the pre-show playlist - getting spicy Tay ;)

Taylor debuted new Fearless, Reputation, acoustic section & Midnights T-shirt dress costumes. as Taylor said:

''I got a new dress and everything.''

Florence & the Machine joined Taylor to perform Florida during the TTPD set.

Tim McGraw x Timeless (x guitar) & This Is Me Trying x Daylight (x piano)

I just wanted you to know that this is me trying and trying and trying… I wanted you to know this is me trying, I just wanted you to know this is me trying. You gotta step into the daylight and let it go, let it go, let it go. And I just wanted you to know that this is me trying to let it go.. LET IT GO (x)

October 19 - Travis arrives in California ahead of game.

The Eras Tour, Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, FL. Night 2

Taylor wore a new dress for Speak Now, Acoustic section & Midnights

Florence & the Machine guest appeared to perform Florida!!! with Taylor.

Should've Said No x I Did Something Bad* (x guitar) & LOML x White Horse (piano)

*The version where Taylor screams viciously "light me up!"

Your'e the loss of my life... but I'm not your princess, this ain't a fairytale I'm gonna find someone someday who actually might treat me well

October 20 - Chiefs v SF 49ers, Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA

Chiefs defeat 49ers 28 - 18. The Chiefs remain undefeated 6-0

The Eras Tour, Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, FL Night 3. Rain show.

Chiefs game on screens in the Hard Rock Stadium prior to The Eras Tour starting.

Notable events at the final Miami show:

Taylor notes this is the final rain show for the Era's Tour as all other shows are indoors.

during the Betty speech, Taylor shares that these songs were written from a narrators perspective but “it reflected my own personal experience through these characters”

Florence and the Machine performs Florida!!! with Taylor for the 4th time during the TTPD era.

Taylor wears a new dress for the acoustic section.

Taylor sings "Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me" in celebration of the Chiefs 6th consecutive win today.

Out Of The Woods x All You Had To Do Was Stay (guitar) & Mirrorball x Guilty As Ain (piano)

October 23 - Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? airs new episode with a reference to Taylor (x)

Natasha Leggero “We love Lady Gaga, but we don’t love her as much as any other blonde singers. There are some other blonde singers that we like more than Lady Gaga. Nikki Glaser "Not even close" Travis Kelce “I will have to agree with you on that. I do concur.”

New Heights Ep. 106 posted (x). The Kelce brothers discuss Jason's attendance at The Era's Tour in Miami

Addressing the photo (x)(x 12:50) that bestie Beau Allen posted to X, Jason fights back that he was not asleep but vibing and Travis wishes he was there (he had a game so could not attend).

Travis "we got to talk about it, you took a nap at The Eras Tour?" Jason "I did not take a nap" Travis "what is that all about" Jason "Travis you know I didn't take a nap I did not take a nap" Travis "how are you? This show is absolutely electric it's the greatest show that's ever been on stage and you're over here falling asleep!" Jason "Not only was it the greatest show but um obviously I went to the two London shows this Miami show was incredible and I think part of it's like I don't know if it's back the fact that we're back in the US because I think the London uh crowd was incredible but the rain and, dude it was like on another level I texted you halfway through it" Travis "You did" Jason "Like dude this rain, Tay is killing it, dude when reputation came on and she came out in the new outfit" Travis "was it gold?" Jason "and the rain was coming down and the the place could have [f**] erupted I mean it did like it was the amount of energy was insane, it was so exciting"

Travis "Well I had all the fomo in the world…. I wish i was there." (x) Travis “Shout out to Tay Tay for powering through a few rain shows”

A little lyric battle between Beau Allen and Jason Kelce on X ...

October 24 - Stevie Nicks interview with Rolling Stone

Taylor Nation post in celebration of 18 years of Taylor's music (x)....

LISTEN!!!!! Don't we know it @taylornation

Taylor sings "Everything has changed.... in the blink of a crinkling eye... I'll be eighty-seven you'll be eighty-nine, I'll still look at you like the stars that shine in the sky oh my my my" "dude this girl's in love! She is in LOVE!"

** sound up

Go to previous update -> October 2024 part 2

Go to next update -> TBC

[tiredstrain]

know you’ll wear my makeup well - sirius black x reader

cw: gn!reader, just banter, sirius being The biggest flirt in the world, yk the usual

a/n: title from g.u.y by lady gaga. i can’t stop listening to it. this is a result of that :]

sirius black has no issue with makeup. he thinks it looks great on other people, but he’s never been curious enough to test it out on himself.

“siri, can i do your makeup? please?” you ask.

sirius black is suddenly significantly more interested in testing makeup out.

he’s sat on the couch, nose in his phone and a blanket up to his shoulders. he always thinks it’s too cold, no matter how high you set the thermostat. he looks terribly comfortable, you think, which is why you really didn’t want to disturb him. but, desperate times. 

he sees you’re hiding something behind your back. probably a makeup bag, he realizes, because you know he wouldn’t deny you of anything. maybe remus is right, maybe he’s getting too soft. 

he laughs quietly. “why would you want to do that?” he asks, just cause he wants to see you squirm. just a little bit.

you shrug. “it would be fun. and you would look really, really good. i think.”

he clutches his chest. “am i really so hideous that you think i need makeup to look good?”

you roll your eyes. “yes, you’re painfully unattractive. now let me in,” you say as you pull the blanket away from him. he grumbles the whole time, 'but i was so comfy', until eventually you’re settled in his lap.

there's a moment of quiet where sirius is content to just lay back and let you put various powders on his face, but after about two minutes he gets bored. surprise surprise.

"what're you doing?"

"concealing."

he peeks one eye open. "what're you concealing?"

you copy the face he's making. "your skin. duh."

"duh," he snorts. "y'know, sometimes i miss the days when you were all shy and intimidated by me."

"remember how that lasted for a week, and then i saw james make you laugh so hard you blew champagne out of your nose? and then you started screaming about how bad it stung?"

"true, but what a week that was."

"yeah yeah. close your eyes."

another thirty seconds of quiet. "now what are you doing?"

"eyeliner."

he grins big. "oh i'm gonna look so rock n roll. so edgy. can't wait."

"actually," you sigh, "i'm just gonna give you blue eyeshadow and call it a day."

"nonono no need for that. as you were. make me look like a rockstar." you both hold your breath as your pencil traces around his eyes.

another bit of silence. you wonder, briefly, how often sirius would let you get away with this. doing your own makeup has become boring, just another part of your morning routine. with sirius, though, it's fun again. it's doing something for the first time again. his face is sharp where yours is soft, angular where yours is round. it's a completely new playing field.

"am i beautiful yet?" his voice brings you back to the present.

"i don't have enough makeup for that."

he gasps. "you wound me, you really do."

"shh, be still. we're almost done."

you clean up the eyeliner, brush out his brows, apply some tinted lip balm, then give yourself a minute to gawk. he’s so pretty. it's unfair. you'd made a joke early in the relationship about what deal he made with the devil for his bone structure, which kept his ego inflated for weeks, but now more than ever you're convinced his looks have to be supernatural.

you go too long without adding any makeup, so sirius blinks his eyes open. he's always been able to read your expression easily. now is no exception.

"that good, huh?" a smug smile takes over his face.

"what can i say? i'm very talented."

"i'm sure. lemme see the artwork." he makes grabby hands towards nothing, just waiting for you to find something reflective for him.

"referring to yourself as artwork… just when i think you can't get more vain," you mutter as you dig a compact mirror out of your makeup bag.

you watch in real time as sirius takes in just how good he looks. he clocks the contour that makes his cheekbones look unreal, the eyeliner that makes his eyes seem the brightest they've ever been, and the lip balm that even he gets distracted by.

"how would you feel about doing this every day?" he asks, wide grin replacing the smirk he was wearing.

"fine, until remus and james see it and then i also have to do their makeup every day."

"no just me. they can find their own personal makeup artists."

you smile. you think of a joke about them just doing each other's makeup, but it's lost as you go back to inspecting your work. you really are good.

sirius seems content with you ogling him while sitting in his lap for all of thirty seconds. “you’re really gonna have to do this every day if this is the reaction i get,” he says as he brings his hands to your hips and rubs long, rough strokes over them.

“yeah?” you say as you mess with the neckline of his shirt.

“mhm. i like being stared at, actually.”

you bend down the slightest bit. it’s gratifying the way sirius immediately leans up to meet you in the middle. “never would’ve guessed…”

[urf1lterr]

lovesick | pedro pascal [4]

"and on this night and in this light i think im falling, im falling for you."

previous chapter: [3] series masterlist

summary: in which a 1975-obsessed film student accidentally falls in love with an older man she can't have.

pairing: actor!pedro x intern!reader

genre: acting world!au, big age-gap!, strangers to friends- maybe lovers?? au | angst, mature, awkward, love- eventually

word count: 10.6k

status: in progress

author's note: so sorry for the long wait! but i tried making this chapter longggg. i typically have my days off altogether and the rest of the week booked with work/school. i try to post many chapters within my short timeframe (bc im booked af) so pls expect another update soon after this one! sadly, it takes me around 8-10 hours to write one bc its hard to think lol. also, i don't want this to be too long of a series and kinda wanna connect the dots- slowly but surely, ya know? not edited.

"So, he just came knocking on your door at 6am?" Joon questioned, taking a sip of his smoothie soon afterwards. "I can't even wake up that early."

"We had to do that everyday for our last job."

"I woke up ten minutes before I had to be out the door," he shrugged. "Men get ready fast."

"Anyway," you eyed him as he cluelessly did the same, confused as to why you wouldn't look away. "I don't remember him coming."

"Yeah, because you fucking freaked out and hallucinated over Lady Gaga," Jules exclaimed, you automatically cringing just at the horrible memories you've recently faced with that damn cat.

Once she explained what had happened hours after you had woken up, you were disturbingly shocked.

And the fact that your sleepiness was to blame had you going insane- imagine all the other odd things you may had committed while under the covers.

But you will admit you did remember some of that night's events clearly, again like you practically making out with Lady Gaga- although she was the one who licked your face endlessly first.

Mortified just by the thoughts, you will never be able to face Pedro again sanely.

How could you when you recently dreamed about a man 25 years older being intimate with you- that's...confusing. And the worst part of it all was you couldn't say anything to anyone with the fear of being judged or laughed at- maybe both.

The thing was you couldn't quite understand why you had to dream about that. Maybe your time of the month was coming and your hormones targeted the first guy you had nonstop contact with?

No, that would've been Joon.

Attraction may had played a part but Joon definitely had that, Pedro as well but a little different...age-wise at least. There's no way you felt allured for men with bad jokes and rough skin- no offense. Right?

He did text you that same morning he dropped by and commented on how creepy you are half asleep and whether or not you agreed to his 'business' proposal. Not trying to start a conversation you knew you couldn't finish, out of second-hand shame, you just replied a simple:

LOL but busy with school atm to make a final decision- tell ya later

That later still hasn't arrived.

Unfortunately, you forgot to ask him why he made a random visit that morning- but you weren't going to ask him days later. In your mind, you need to avoid him. There's no way you'd be able to act normal after have unholy fascinations about him.

Not that it'll be a problem, you two hadn't seen each other for weeks before your cafe encounter, you're sure you can do it again without him noticing your distance.

It's been about two days since then which meant you didn't have to prioritize so much of your time on homework, you'll just save that for Sunday when it's all due.

"Did you bother to ask him why?" Jules added, turning to you. "He obviously wasn't coming to see me- I barely know the guy."

"You do know him!" you argue as she rolls her eyes. "You literally got mad at me for not recognizing him the first time we met."

"He's a celebrity- everybody knows him," she defends before tilting her head in curiosity. "But you two are oddly close, it's kind of weird."

"No," you shake your head, trying to laugh off her suspicions. "We are casual friends who fan girl over the same things."

People did take notice how close Pedro and you were but it wasn't anybody's fault you two had so much in common. Both of you loved Starbucks, going on hikes- when you weren't lazy, and believe Matt Healy is extremely attractive.

If they have a problem with that they can sue you.

"I see it," Joon adds, jumping up a bit. "Him and I barely talk and we're men- we should be bonding easily!"

"You're...you," Jules cringes, making Joon glare in return. "I can understand why he chooses not to be close to you."

Laughing, you watch as Joon quickly flips her the finger before he continues on with the conversation. "I just feel like he always comes around only to see you, it was pretty obvious since the first time he took us home."

Furrowing your eyebrows, you didn't understand what he meant by that. Pedro offered all three of you a ride home, not just you.

Already feeling done with this topic, you wanted to switch it before things started escalating and freaky theories started unfolding. They had every right to question your friendship, but you were starting to think they might be leading down a road where they may soon develop other impressions as to what your friendship might have been.

Why are you even thinking that? That's so inappropriate to imagine.

"You two are silly, he probably needed my advice on something or wanted to workout," you suggest, their faces showing they weren't fully convinced. "But anywho, did you call Yoongi yet?"

"I don't think that's a great idea," Joon declared, adjusting in your warm sofa. "He's not really a skating kind of guy."

Since it was Friday and you had no plans, you thought it would be a fun idea to be adventurous for once and do something you would never do on a regular basis.

Ice Skate.

Your friends were extremely down with the idea, but you needed a fourth person to make the group complete. Why not a skinny, impatient blonde man who would probably spend the whole night complaining about why this plan was awful?

Right now you could use some other grumpiness in your life.

"Just tell him to go," you beam back, clapping your hands in excitement as you'll soon be able to fall countless of times on the ice. "I'll buy him hot cocoa."

"You better do it or he'll never let that go," Joon states.

After hours of sitting around and blasting random music through your speakers, the three of you were ready to set off on your journey of locating the ice rink.

If it wasn't for Joon's constant whining to stop walking to take pictures of the scenery you probably would've arrived 15 minutes sooner than your actual arrival, but too bad your friend is a nature freak.

"You taking pictures of the pigeons better not be the reason why you're late," you heard Yoongi grumble as the three of you finally found him sitting on a bench near the entrance of the rink, staring directly at Joon who just scoffed.

"I'm sorry if my happiness bothers you," Joon snapped back as Yoongi just stood up from his seat and made his way to your trio.

Grabbing your ice skates wasn't too difficult as the long line seemed to flow by smoothly, but standing on them was a different story.

"I can't do this," you squeal as your hurriedly motion your arms around to find some balance. "I'm falling!"

Yoongi sent you a questionable look as he watched your poor attempts to stay still embarrassing. "We're not even on the ice yet."

Feeling a hand grab a hold on your shoulders and practically drag your feet towards the ice, you glance up to see Jules steadily directing you to face your fears.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

"Are you going to push her in?!" you hear Joon gasp a few feet behind you but you couldn't turn your head as you rather focused your attention on yanking yourself off of Jules.

"It was her idea so she'll be the one going in first."

"Ahh!" you screech, putting all your pressure on your feet to stop her hard pull. Spiraling your ankles in the most crucial ways, you start to lightly slap her arms off you as she continues to fight them off.

One thing about her was she's going to make sure to remind you that this was your idea.

Feeling an arm gently tug you off her grip, you landed on Yoongi's side as Jules whined in return, offended that he ruined her vicious plan. Respectfully, he kept you stable with an arm wrapped behind your middle back as you gripped his other one, fearful she might snatch you away again.

"Why would you do that?!"

"I don't think watching her fall face first on the hard ice would be a fun sight to see," he bluntly returned as Jules huffed. "The sight of blood gives me the ick."

"I was waiting for that moment all afternoon," Jules sighed, disappointed that she wouldn't be seeing you fall- yet.

Waiting for her to walk away to go on the ice, you see Joon follow her before you released your friend, relieved that she wouldn't be partaking in her scandalous scheme just yet.

"You do know how to skate, right?" Yoongi asked, his uncertain eyes on yours as you crazily wave your arms in front of him to rub off his questionable thoughts.

"Do I? Of course I do!" you argue, making your way towards the ice until you were two feet away from it. Putting your feet on the edge, you hesitate as you could feel the cold breeze wrap around you legs. "I'm gonna go now."

"Yippy," he states, waiting at your poor attempts to convince him.

Giving him a thumbs up, you clap your hands together to try to reassure yourself that you could do this, forgetting that he was right behind you secretly laughing.

Taking one final breath, you placed your right foot on top of the ice steadily, trying your best not to make any harsh movements, until you felt a hard jerk on your upper body, making you lose yourself in an instant.

"God, if you don't know how to skate why would you suggest it?" Yoongi grumbled, gliding both your bodies along the ice as he held tightly onto your arms. You were practically skating like a wet dog in front of him, begging with your eyes for him not to abandon you.

"I always wanted to try."

Sending you an annoyed look, you zipped your mouth as his arms were now securing you, closing any gaps there may have been and giving you the ride of your life.

Shutting your eyes harshly, you didn't dare to witness the environment around as you felt the icy wind slap your face the faster you two- or at least by Yoongi's swaying, got.

There were times where he did pretend to lose his balance, causing you to cry in horror and him immediately placing his hand over your mouth by how loud you weaped.

But other than that, you came to enjoy his help as your two other friends rudely abandoned you guys in order to practice their poor attempts of leaping across the rink.

"Okay," Yoongi started, releasing his left hand from your side and keeping you close with only his other. "Now you try on your own."

Fear creeping up in your face, you rapidly shake your head in disagreement and try catching his recent abandoned arm, which he denied. "I can't."

"Can't or won't?" he countered back making you silent.

He did have a point.

"C'mon, it's not that hard. If Joon could do it, you can."

"He's literally on the ground right now," you whine as Yoongi quickly averts his eyes in search of your tall friend, soon finding Joon clutching his knee in pain as Jules records on her phone.

"No."

Sighing, he continues to look around, trying to plan out an idea that would at least convince you to slide a few feet alone without his help until he smirked and met your eyes.

"What would Matt Healy do?"

Widening your eyes, you were taken back by his question.

Only Pedro used that line on you.

And for some reason it felt odd when Yoongi did the same. You shouldn't be bothered by his choice of words...but you were a little.

He wasn't him to be saying it.

"He wouldn't force me to do something I didn't want to do," you reply back, causing him to groan.

"I feel like you just want to be in my arms," he retorted with a grin, immediately making you revolt and fly out of his arms, your bottom hitting the ice hard. "Well that's one way to make you skate."

Feeling immediate pain on the back of your thighs, you just knew you were going to be bruised and swollen the next day. But hey, this technically counts for your workout for the week.

Awkwardly swaying your body around, you couldn't get up off the damn ice. You were sure you looked like a fish out of water by how crazy you were moving.

"Get on your knees," Yoongi commented, causing you to send him a death glare as he lifted his hands up in defense. "It helps you stand."

Or he could just grab your arms and help you himself.

Cautiously following his suggestion, you slowly pull your right leg up and place it firmly on the ice before slowly trying to do so with your left one. As you began to feel satisfied with the weight being supported, you felt your body finally working and lifting up off the ground before he poked your shoulder- making you fall again.

"I'm going to murder you!" you threaten as you stare at him on your back, whole body restlessly laying on the ground in misery as he cackles loudly.

He may have advantage on the ice, but oh man- once you regain your balance off it you were going to end that slender man's life.

"Isn't this just a sight to see," you heard someone exclaim before hands grab your arms and soon lift you back on your feet.

Moving your eyes to the ones in front of you, you burst out in smiles. "Bella! Nico!"

"I take this as my queue to leave,'" you hear Yoongi mumbles but you swiftly grab his arm from his close proximity and halt his plans.

He was not going to desert you now.

"What are you girls doing here?"

Not seeing them for a few weeks didn't make things awkward, but different. It was like catching up with old friends, even though you barely met them less than three months ago.

"Had nothing to do tonight so why not ice skate?" Nico giggled.

Bella examined you up and down before pointing at your head. "My god, your hair grew so long. Has it really been that long?"

Rolling your eyes, you were about to answer her before Yoongi cut in. "No, it's her fake extenstions."

Gasping, you turn your body to him and smack his shoulder as he smacks you back. One thing about him, he's all about equality. You touch him, he touches you- simple.

You don't see the way Nico and Bella exchange smirks to one another before Nico slides in front of you and pulls out her phone. "We should take a selfie! You know, for memories."

Laughing, you agree. You took some pictures with them but never really out of the work environment.

Uncomfortably standing still, Yoongi hastily moves to the side a bit, not wanting to intrude this moment you were having with your friends. He was a pretty sociable person, but only if they had things in common and he fairly knew them.

Yoongi didn't know these two young girls and he sure as hell didn't want to be the one being kicked out of this picture- so why not kick himself out first?

"Where are you going, we need your long arm to get us all in the frame!" Bella exclaimed, motioning Yoongi to move back as he sent her a flustered glance.

"I can just take it with the three of you."

"Nonsense!" Nico argued back, shaking her head as you giggled. "We don't leave people out."

Biting his bottom lip a bit, he scratches the back of his neck swiftly before increasing the speed of his skates to the girl, accepting her phone. "I suppose."

Fixing your posture, you stand behind your friend as he carefully raises his right arm up in the air, positioning the phone that was able to capture all four of you in the frame.

Pulling out the gummiest smile, you bursted out a gigantic grin after seeing the rare radiant expression Yoongi was giving. He was never one to show much emotion so finding him giving in for a picture amused you.

Taking the phone out of his hands, Bella examined the screen before chuckling. "Wow, you've got one adorable smile."

You could've sworn you saw Yoongi blush as he lowered his head while shaking off her compliment, trying to act natural but he wasn't fooling anyone.

He was shy.

Gasping at the sight in front of her, Nico pointed at the concession cart near one of the exits of the ice. "They have hot cocoa! We must get some."

Faking a groan, Bella allowed her friend to drag her away but not before sending you a pout to follow, which you were happy to do. You were freezing to death without even realizing it until you stopped your attempts to skate for the picture.

"I was promised a free cup," Yoongi stated as he was gliding behind you, softly pushing your back as you proceeded to do nothing but allow him to direct you to where your desired hot cocoa was.

Scoffing a little, you shush him as you reached the exit ramp. Jumping off, the two of you slowly waddled to Bella and Nico who were next in line.

"Wait," you start, pausing your footsteps which resulted in him almost falling after slamming to your side. "Shouldn't we ask Joon and Jules if they want one?"

Peeking over your shoulder, Yoongi looks back down to you. "Nah, don't wanna ruin their fun."

Following his recent glance, you could see Joon and Jules in front of one another, both holding hands as they try to catch a faster pace while twirling in big circles.

You were sure they were eventually going to knock a small child over soon.

"Next," you hear the worker call out, sitting behind his register waiting for your arrival.

Quickly walking up, you place your order as nothing else but the hot drinks seemed to interest you. The total came out to be the cost as what four drinks at your local cafe would be, but you shouldn't be surprised since this place was pretty popular to the public.

Pulling out his wallet so fast, you didn't have to process what Yoongi was doing until you caught the view of his credit card as he handed it over to the man in front of you.

"No-" you try intercepting what had just happened by giving your card to the worker who just shrugged as he had already paid for the drinks on Yoongi's card. "Why would you do that?"

"You're too slow," Yoongi bluntly said as he grabbed the two drinks and moved to the side so the next person in line could place their order.

"But it hadn't even been three seconds since he said the total before you handed him the card," you protest.

He handed you your cup, hoping it'll shut you up as he took a small sip from his own. "And?"

Is he being serious? "'And,'" you question as he continued to be unaware as to what you were getting at. "Since the beginning I vowed to buy you hot cocoa."

Yoongi laughed at how stubborn you were becoming. "Vowed? What a great word choice for this scenario, fiance."

Rolling your eyes at his teasing, you hated the fact he was avoiding your question. You knew he did it because he wanted to be a gentleman, but the problem was he didn't want to admit he was one.

Again, he was being shy.

"I see you are kind," you smirk as he gave you a disgusted glance. "Don't worry, I won't tell people you have a heart."

Before he could leave a snarky comeback, Nico and Bella came back in giggles as Yoongi retreated back to his natural state of looking lifeless. "Oh my gosh- we went to get napkins and I kid you not I may have poured my drink on the back of this poor little girl."

Lightly gasping, you widen your eyes as Yoongi confusingly replies back. "May have? You don't know if you did or not?"

Bella makes an accountable face, scrunching her nose in the process. "Okay, I did. But she's the one who ran into me!"

"Well, she was really small and you kind of didn't search your surroundings before kneeing her," Nico exposed, causing Yoongi and you to give each other a concerned look.

"You kneed her?!"

"Only in her side," Bella excused herself, sending Nico a betrayed look. "It wasn't like it was her stomach."

"It practically was...," Nico mumbled but became silent when her co-star eyed her hard.

Coughing uncomfortably, Yoongi caught everyone's attention as he tried to avert the conversation into something that wasn't as horrific as striking a child with hot cocoa and a knee. "We should probably hit the ice again soon before Jules and Joon find out we got these drinks without them."

"Jules is here?!" Bella beamed, searching around for her through the large gatherings of people on the ice. "I missed that crazy lady, she was the only one who would get my coffee order right."

"She told me she would threaten to get the baristas fired if they kept getting it wrong," Nico recalled, chewing her mouth a little. "That's why I stopped letting her take my orders."

Sighing, you looked up in the ceiling in disapproval as you could feel Yoongi laughing his ass off beside you. That was very Jules of her to do.

After another two hours of trying to figure out how to skate, and basically latching onto Yoongi the whole time as Bella and Nico were doing laps around you guys, you finally made it home.

To say you were exhausted would be an understatement- you were drained.

No, seriously. You hadn't worked out this much since Jules and you almost missed the subway two months ago and had to run three blocks to catch it on time.

That day was dreadful, but you were sure if you went to bed you were going to wake up lifeless like a worm.

"I call the shower first!" you hear Jules scream, running to her room in order to grab her belongings but you were faster and instantly made your way to the bathroom, locking the door before she could break in. "You bitch! How dare you steal it with my back turned!"

Grinning evilly to yourself, you wanted to get your night routines over with so you could hit the pillows quickly. Even after taking off all your makeup, taking a very steamy shower, and doing your nightly skin care routine, you were sure you could easily knock out sitting on the toilet if you had the chance.

We all have done it once in our lives.

Opening the door, the steam flows out smoothly as you face your very displeased roommate on the other side, glaring at you. "All yours," you smile, stepping to the side but she roughly pushes you in response, causing you to yelp as you manage to catch your balance midway.

Mental note, burn her eggs next breakfast.

Stepping into your room, you change into an oversized hoodie and sweats before throwing yourself under your covers in excitement.

The moment you've been waiting for all day: sleep.

Closing your eyes, you feel all your senses slowly drifting away from your body as relaxation crept up from all around. It was truly intoxicating how in trance you were.

But of course with your luck, nothing goes as planned- ever.

Wildly jumping up from the loud blaring of your phone, you cover your face in agony as the vibrations and noise cause pain throughout your entire body.

Who the hell was calling you at 10 o'clock at night? This should be illegal.

After taking a minute to control yourself, the ringing stopped. Good, now you won't have to make time to engage in a conversation. Quickly falling back down onto your pillows, it wasn't even ten seconds later before you feel your phone going off like crazy again.

With you eyes shut, you move your hands around your bed until you feel the cool object underneath your pillow. Lazily pressing any button, without batting one eye open, you move the phone to your ear before releasing a groggy, "What?"

"What a lovely way to greet somebody, kiddo."

You instantly freeze, automatically thinking about the vivid dream you had about him, then Lady Gaga, and felt a blush creeping in.

Slowly pulling the phone away, you let out a loud but fast scream before moving it back. How the hell are you going to begin a conversation without thinking about his lips on yours. "What do you want?"

Pausing for a second, you can hear him move around through his end. "Did you just scream?"

It's not like you didn't just dream about him kissing all over your body two nights ago.

"Did you just wake me up to ask me the obvious answer?"

Act like you don't care. Like you are perfectly fine.

He chuckles lightly and you can tell by his tone he was close to passing out too. "Somebody's cranky, is it past your bedtime?" Pedro teased.

You were definitely not in the mood to handle his ridicules at this hour, especially by how nervous he was slowly making you. What did he want?

"Yes," you simply reply before hitting the red button, ending the call and laying your head back on your pillow. Good, just end it before you make a bigger fool out of yourself.

It hadn't even been another ten seconds before your phone was ringing once again. Pulling it up to your face, you let out a huff. What a shocker, it was him again.

"You better have an insanely good reason as to why you chose to wake me up in the middle of my dream," you immediately say as you press the 'accept' button.

Hearing him laugh, you just know he has a sarcastic comment coming any second. "Wake you up? Honey, you're still living your dream talking to me."

Honey.

No, not another nickname for him to call you in future dreams.

Shaking that thought away, you rejected the idea of him being in any more dreams- you forbid it.

Loss at words for a second, you almost let your next words trip over one another before calmly gaining your composure at the incidental choice of your pet name.

"So funny," you reply back, trying your best to sound sane. "Pretty sure I was dreaming of a very shirtless Matt Healy playing 'Please Be Naked' to me."

Why the fuck would you slip that out.

"Are you trying to hint at something?" he smirks, making you press mute and hold your hand over your mouth to hold back the screams you feared would release.

Feeling like your soul was about to leave your body, you couldn't believe he just said that.

Actually, you couldn't believe you would even recommend that song. God, your sleepiness was messing with your mind.

Finding your energy once again, you unmute the call and try to seem unfazed by his last comment. "Yes, that I want to sleep. Goodbye now."

Before you could hit the red button again, you could hear him chanting over the phone to do the exact opposite. "Don't!"

Groaning, you clutch the phone harder in despair. "I am so tired. Don't do this to me, please. I am a girl who values her sleep!" you whine as you hear him continue his light giggles in the background. "If I don't sleep I will die, is this what you want. Are you trying to kill me?"

"I can reassure you I don't plan on keeping you up long," he explains. "And I wouldn't dare wish for your death."

Your heart fluttering, you glare at your chest. "Then what do you want?"

Moving his phone from one ear to the other, he lays in his bed while smiling at his ceiling. "You," he declares, making you widen your eyes as he shuffles around in his blanket. "Tomorrow, let's hang out."

Sitting up against your bed frame, you furrow your brow. "Hang out? For what?" There's no way you will be able to act normal for a long period of time, your weak-self can't do it.

Placing a hand over his chest, he lets out a light hiss in fake hurt by your comeback before continuing. "Can't I hang out with you by choice and not by a work schedule? Unless you're so disgusted by me." That's when he started his fake cries. "I'm so sorry I am not Matt Healy and can't do a great British accent."

Shaking your head, you try to intervene as his ugly cries become louder through the line. "That's not what I meant, stop being dramatic," you complain as he instantly stops while smiling widely. "Is there a specific reason why you want to hang out?"

Taking a deep breath, he fiddles with the fingers on his non-occupied hand. "Does there need to be a reason?"

You pause for a second. He's acting too kind for your liking and it's making you question what his intentions are. In this point of time, you're sure he's going to take that moment to convince you to work with him in Canada.

"With you there's always a reason."

Scoffing lightly, he grumbles. "I just want to go on a hike and need a hiking partner."

Oh hell no, you already did enough working out this evening. You were not about to do that again, that's for sure.

"Yeah, nooo," you exhale lowly. "I already did too much working out with my body if you know what I mean and-"

"I don't know what that means," he cuts you off.

"It means I am going to be sore for days so my body has no strength to walk for more than five minutes," you declare as he falls silent.

After a few seconds that felt like forever, he replies. "Fine," he blankly states. "Have a goodnight, sweetheart."

The warmth as blood began drawing to your face became present as you quickly reply with a simple "night" before ending the call. And for some reason you felt as if you couldn't breathe normally by the pounding on your chest.

What the hell was happening to you. Looking up at the ceiling, you silently pray you don't have a Lady Gaga 2.0 fiasco.

As you were questioning why your heart made you feel as if you were going under cardiac arrest the night before, your body was currently making you feel if you really needed to make that trip to the ER by how tender you were.

It also didn't help that Jules was the one waking you up at the crack of dawn, half asleep with her eye mask clinging onto her forehead.

"W-why are you-" you grumble, rubbing your eyes as you look at the alarm clock near your bedside. "-waking me up at 6:18am? It's Saturday."

She sent you a death glare for assuming she randomly wanted to wake you up for the fun of it as she was the one who was woken up first. "Someone's here for you."

Positioning your body upwards, you squint your eyes up at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Why don't you take a look for yourself," she gritted her teeth, swaying her head towards your door.

Slowly standing up, you make your way to it before sneaking a peak of the view of your living room. That's when you see a very annoying man you were sure you both agreed on the phone last night to not go hiking.

Luckily, he didn't notice your wandering eyes as his were glued to his phone, scrolling through his social media.

What was he doing here? You can't face him without thinking about his body wrapped around yours and his lips doing dangerous things.

Oh no, you truly were screwed.

Lightly shutting your door, you nervously turn back to your roommate who looks displeased. "I told him no."

"No means yes, I guess," she replies, snaking her arms around her body for warmth. "I'm going back to bed."

You could hear her walk out of your room as you frantically begin searching for something warm yet comfortable clothes to wear on this undesired hike. You knew if you tried backing out he would stay until you caved, he was very persistent to get what he wanted.

And what he wanted was for you to get your ass up and exercise.

You were also certain you heard Jules let out a "thanks for the invite" to him before hearing her bedroom door shut.

Running out of your room, you made sure not to look in his direction so he wouldn't see your morning appearance clearly- well he already has but why reveal yourself in this state again?

Quickly brushing your hair, teeth, and washing your face, you change into a baggy green sweatshirt and some black workout leggings before slipping on suited running shoes.

Try to act natural. Give him little attention so he won't speculate anything. You aren't into old men and did not vision him smooching you on your sofa.

"You are so buying me breakfast," you deadpan as you walked straight out of your door, not even daring to wait for him to follow.

Good, be straightforward.

Laughing to himself, Pedro promptly jumped off the couch and jogged after you once you shut the door on him and continued down the halls to the elevators.

Finally catching up, he barely made it through the elevator doors as they were closing to find you leaning against the corner, mad and tired. "Good morning to you, too."

You let out a small cry as you lay your head against the wall in pain from how frustratingly exhausted you were. If one cold breeze hit you outside you were sure you were going to burst into tears.

"Oh, come one," he walks over to you and nudged your shoulder to wake up some more. If he unexpectedly touched you again you were sure you were going to rip his arm off. "In a few minutes you'll be wide awake and fine."

"How dare you assume I'm going to be fine!" you whine, trying to hit his side but he manages to capture your arm and that's when you give up and allow your worn out body to fall on him.

He instantly wraps his arms around you as your head falls just beneath his chin, your eyes slowly closing and your thoughts drifting away as his warmth was making you drowsy.

You tried to stay focus, but your poor state was taking over and you suddenly weren't as anxious as you once were. Being sleepy really made your mind roam.

"Hey, now," he whispers and looks down to see you snuggling up against him. "You can't fall asleep on me. I do not want your security guards thinking I drugged you."

Tightening your arms on how lower sides, you ignore him as you feel yourself easing closer to dozing off by the constant beating of his heart. "Stop," you mumble, clutching your ears softly before positioning your head on the other side of his chest.

"What?" he curiously glances down at you.

"You heartbeat's annoying me," you lightly whine. "It's pounding against my ears."

Pedro was extremely glad you were too tired to process his heartbeat and the bright red tint plastered across his face. Your drained-self definitely saved him from embarrassment.

Finally, the elevator doors opened and you still weren't moving. You were too comfortable to make any effort to walk on your own and if he really wanted you to hang out this morning then he was going to have to find a way to make you move.

And to him, dragging you was his best option yet. But with care.

Delicately keeping his arms secured around you, he gradually walked out with you still engulfed by him, eyes shut and only moving your feet with his pace.

Honestly, you were surprised how much rhythm you had.

Stopping to pull out his car keys, he unlocked his car and opened his passenger side door once you two reached the garage complex. Gently, laying you on the seat, you station you head against the headrest as he buckled you in. "God, I really hope security doesn't report me."

And once he made it to his side and hopped in, he laughed at the state you were in, head instantly bent to your side and legs tangled together in hope to create some kind of warmth. "Adorable."

But of course you were too dumb to not catch that.

You were awoken by a small speed bump and the instant hit of warmth through the heat vents, your eyes slowly glancing around your surroundings. Taking a quick peep at the screen indicating the time, you read that it was almost 7am.

Tilting your head and leaning against the headrest, you lazily stare at Pedro as he continues to drive to god knows where.

"Don't I look so handsome in the morning?" he jokes before meeting your eyes, sending you a warm grin.

And handsome on top of you.

Shutting your eyes tightly, you beg your imagination to please shut the fuck up.

"You mean drastic," you mutter, moving your head to the opposite side, against the window to force some sleep again.

Better to make time fly by faster knocking out where you were sure you wouldn't say anything stupid.

"Hey, no..." he whines, moving his right arm across to shake your chin softly to keep you conscious. "Don't pass out on me again, I'm lonely."

"And I'm tired, deal with it."

Shuffling in his seat, he looks over to see you curling yourself up in a ball with your legs to your knees and arms wrapped around. Not thinking things throughly, he hits the brakes hard for a split second and watches as your body jolts forward before swinging back against his seat.

"What the fuck!" you shriek, propping your body up and facing him in pure rage. "Are you trying to irritate me?!"

"I'm lonely and you're not helping," Pedro calmly states, shrugging as you continue your daggers his way.

You were beyond pissed. How could he think you would be energetic and talkative right now? How could he attempt to make you fly out the window? You could feel your nerves slowly fading away by the fury growing inside you.

If he wanted you awake then fine, you were going to be awake.

Doesn't mean you had to talk though.

Silently sitting up, you stare at the windshield in front of you and watch the cars drive as he continues to spare you a glance every once in a while.

Honestly, your silence was terrifying the fuck out of him. Normally, you would have some snarky comeback or violent punch to return to his evil tactics, but you were doing nothing.

Literally nothing.

And he knows damn well the sights of trees and cars did not interest you.

"Hey...," you feel Pedro lightly poke your side, pursing his lips once he saw your non-existent reaction. "You're not mad, right?"

Ignoring him, you continue your deep stare now onto more trees as you two were getting closer to nature than streets. You must've been out for some time as you barely noticed how far away from the city you really were.

Joon would really love this.

Gradually lifting his arm up, his places it on top of your own and gives it a small squeeze while laying it there. "C'mon, don't ignore me."

As if that would make you stop your scheme.

Blinking slowly, you acted like you paid no attention to his puppy dog pleads as the car was making its way towards an almost empty parking lot, all surrounded by a forest that only had one route starting within an old wooden bridge.

Pulling up to a nearby parking spot, Pedro parked the car before turning back to try and capture your attention but nothing was working.

You were so damn frustrating, it was infuriating. But he was still desperate to gain your attention.

"Are you just going to sit in here all day or what?" he questions as he waves a hand over your face to make you blink.

You didn't and that kind of frightened him. Work of the devil.

"I am going to cry," he warned, swatting his hand over his face to prepare for his fake tears.

Yet you showed no mercy. Sitting there patiently, you inhaled and exhaled softly, causing him to internally flip the fuck out because why were you being so aggravating when the two of you should be walking and pointing out the squirrels fighting over nuts.

And sadly, he was slowly giving up.

"Imagine if I really was crying," he began, offended you did not care one bit. "Really means a lot how unconcerned you are."

But when you suddenly started examining your nails and carefully picking at them is when he totally lost it.

Reaching over to you and moving his arm down your arm, he swiftly intertwined your fingers with his before moving you posture to face him.

His hand was huge.

"No, no-" he started, pulling a face as you gave him a blank stare back. Act natural. Pulling your shared hands in front of his chest, he sulks. "-please, for the love of whichever god you believe in, or if you're an atheist- for the love of you, please talk to me."

Watching him beg for forgiveness has always been funny in the past, but his pleading for attention now makes you feel bad.

"If you talk to me I will buy you breakfast and a very delicious milkshake that will make you extremely happy for the rest of the day," he continues, using his free left arm to wrap around you as his right one still clutches onto your palm.

He's so warm.

Pursing your lips a bit, you send him a skeptical glance. "Oreo shake with a lot of whipped cream?"

He instantly nods, a smile breaking out. "Of course, anything you want."

You look at the car's steering wheel before averting your eyes back to his. "And a red cherry?"

"I'll buy you a full jar of cherries if it makes you happy," he declares.

"And fries?"

Agreeing, he lets out a quick nod again. "With extra seasoning."

Biting your lip, you proceed to think about other stuff you may want with your milkshake and fries. "A burger?"

"My goodness, woman" he sighs, letting go of you and jumping out of the car before running around to your side and opening your door. "I'll buy you the whole menu, now let's go!"

With that, he vigorously yet cautiously pulls you out of your seat and throws you over his shoulders.

"Oh no!" you squeal, trying to find something to hold on to as he begins his journey, walking towards the bridge to start the hike. Grabbing a hold of his neck, you try not to choke him as you place your arm around it.

If you were going down, you were sure you were going to break his neck in the process. At least it would be a learning lesson for him.

"If you drop me I am never talking to you again," you threaten as he continues down a path.

"Said that before and just did it half the car ride here," he begins, moving his shoulder to give you a little fright of your life. "Now I just found out that all I have to do is buy you food and you'll yap again."

Glaring, you choke him a little to which he chuckles. "Didn't know you were into that."

Speechless, you couldn't believe his words. What the hell was he on this morning?

"Put me down!" you exclaim, immediately moving your body so he would lose his balance. Once he did so, you scowl as he ruffles your hair, making it tangle around. "Hey!"

"Can you stop being negative for a few minutes and enjoy the environment?" he asks, pulling his arms up to twirl around. "Just take in that fresh air mother nature gifted us."

Scrunching your nose, you frown. "It smells like rotten eggs."

"Because of the ducks," he pointed out before patting his pockets. "Which we will be feeding with the bread I brought."

Examining his pocket, you shoot him a curious glance. "How big are your pockets?"

"Not important," he states, grabbing your arms and dragging you along with him down the long trail. "What's important is finishing this trail to feel accomplished."

Pouting, you allowed him to drag you along as you miserably dreaded the next few hours to come. The energy you had to give off just for some damn breakfast.

Shame on you for loving food so much.

Encountering many frogs, lizards, and pigeons who loved flying right by both of your heads and scaring you to death, you had long forgotten about how anxious you were being around him. Being distracted constantly had you occupied which was a relief.

Eventually, you two finally found the drugs.

Or the ducks.

Walking by a huge pond, there were numerous amounts of ducks leaping around with their families following behind. It was really cute, but the smell wasn't.

"I wonder if they can choke on this?" Pedro muttered as he pulled out a large bread. Slowly nearing one medium-seized one in caution, he rips a piece apart and throws it. "It is kind of thick."

Taking a moment to check the bread out, you sigh. "Are you feeding these ducks bolillo bread?"

He pauses, not sure why you would care to ask. "Yes and?"

"They have thick crusts!" you exclaim. "And why not just feed them normal wheat bread?"

"Who even eats wheat? It's bland." he protests. "Plus, this is leftovers from my dinner last night."

"They're ducks! They don't care," you argue as he shakes his head.

"Just imagine if you were a duck," he began, making you huff in annoyance as you just knew he was going to say something ridiculous. "Wouldn't you love to eat this nice bolillo bread, maybe visualize a torta with some carnitas, onions, avocado, can't forget the refried bean-"

"The duck is choking!" you squeal and stare in fear as the poor duck starts to wheeze sharply.

Pedro's facial expressions drops as he sees the poor duck quacking in agony. Nervously rushing to its side, he looks up at you. "Do we pat its back? CPR? Call 911?!"

Pulling out your phone, you type away to find answers for your current problem. It was indeed true that you aren't supposed to feed ducks bread.

Especially thick Mexican ones.

"Give it mouth to mouth if you want chlamydia," you read aloud, causing Pedro to instantly leap away from the duck as it hastily begins to lay on the ground. "Wait, you get that from birds, not ducks. Silly me."

"Ducks are birds," he discloses, trying his best to softly pat the ducks back, finally giving it one powerful swat to help but instead the duck ends ups being thrown a few feet away by his force.

"Do I look like a fucking duck doctor?" you spit out, making him look up confused.

"You mean a veterarian."

Ignoring his last comment, you continue scrolling through more of google's suggestions, finally finding some information that may help. "You need to press down on its chest with 1-2 fingers or just give them water to drown it down."

Immediately grabbing the duck and placing it on its back, you worriedly watch over the duck from Pedro's shoulder as he works his fingers on the poor animal.

However, no luck was given as the duck was beginning to look weak and drowsy as pressure kept being projected on its chest. "We need water!"

Running towards the pond, you motion for Pedro to follow along with the duck as you look for a safe ramp to lead the duck onto. "Let's just lay him down near the water and splash him with it."

"He?" Pedro asks, stopping his movements. "But it looks like a she-"

"We are not arguing over its gender when its literally dying in your arms!" you exclaim, causing him to quickly nod and follow the ramp you found towards the water.

Gently, Pedro lowered his arms near the water with the poor duck taking over his hands. Trying to move the flow of water towards its face, he calls you over. "He's not accepting it, you need to scoop some up in your hand and pour it over his beak."

Rapidly nodding, you do as he says and take a handful and try not to spill it before gradually pouring it over the duck's beak. This water was not clean, but at least it was something. Nothing was happening until your third scoop once the duck began to actually swallow some of the water slowly.

"I-I think it's working! We did it!" Pedro cheered, trying to give you a high-five, failing incredibly as he somehow managed to lose his grip and dump the poor duck hard in the pond. "Oh shit!"

Squatting down, you try to reach for the duck as its face was buried underneath the water before Pedro's body slams into yours, causing you to fall into the dirty, cold pond.

The feeling of thick, muddy water overtakes your body as you lose all sight of air. Quickly moving your arms up and down, you rise back to the surface to find Pedro with his hands over his mouth and his jaw dropped.

He knew he wasn't going to hear the end of it.

"Fuck," he nervously muttered to himself before reaching out for you. "I am so so so sorry, the leaf made me slip AH!-"

He couldn't finish his sentence as you yanked his arm down with you, pulling with almighty to get him to land in the pond. The weight of the water going down with his body diving harshly against it, you knew he was completely soaked.

And probably pissed, but its okay. It's what he deserves.

Waiting for him to come up, he finally did so in seconds looking very unhappy. It made you delighted.

"You did that on purpose!"

Scoffing, you splash him and watch as he gasps harder. "You do a lot of things on purpose."

Using both hands to release bigger waves, he splashes you back. "Don't splash me!"

Growling, you slap his chest as he clutches your wrist afterwards. "You're so lucky I forgot my phone at home."

Gasping, you feel one of his hands fly underwater. "I didn't!" You hold in your giggles as he shuffles frantically before moving his gaze back up. "Wait, I never removed it from my glove department. Be fortunate I forgot it because if you destroyed it I would've made you walk home."

Furrowing your brows, you push his shoulders and make him move back by the force of it. "You're the one who started it. We're gonna get duck chlamydia now!"

Rolling his eyes, he pushed you back, causing you to fall under the water. Once you caught your breath again you notice the way he glares at you. "That's not even a thing."

"Just another STD to add to your list," you jokingly mumble to yourself, sure he didn't catch it.

You were wrong, again.

Launching himself onto you, the two of you fall underwater as he shoves you body around in revenge. Swimming back up, you gasp for air while slapping his arms off you as he tried blocking all your attempts.

Wrapping his arms around your waist, he clings his face on your shoulder as he proceeds to try and bring you down under but somehow you manage to wrap your leg around his thigh, causing him to lose his strength and fall backwards with you on top of him.

He sure has one strong grip.

Now, not saying you were going to kill him. But this was your chance to kill him with no witnesses.

Well- besides the ducks, but they wouldn't quack a soul.

Regaining his energy, he lifts himself back up and holds you up, about to drag you under again before you crazily oppose while shaking your head, "Don't! We're gonna get sick!"

"That's not a very sincere apology," he tilts his head, his wet hair scattered across his face as he awaits your alibi.

Huffing, you fight back a rude remark. "Do you understand how much poop were swimming in right now? These ducks are probably laughing at us by how much they are quacking."

Swiftly looking around, the two of you check the surrounding ducks around who blankly stare back. The older looking ones hollering nonsense, probably making plans to kill you and Pedro.

"I bet their releasing their chlamydia right now," you cry, hiding your face in his shoulder as he bursts out laughing.

"I don't think that's how it works."

Glancing down on him, you're surprised by his strength. He's been holding you up by your waist for so long you're shocked he hasn't dropped you accidentally yet. "Let's not find out, let's get out."

"You're forgetting something," he smiles, staring innocently at you, knowing damn well you can't leave without his release. "And I wouldn't wait this one out because I am pretty sure I feel toads swimming near my feet."

Instantaneously, you clung onto him tighter in fear as you could imagine the feeling of something swarming around your body. It was like hundred of spiders crawling all over you, you needed to get out of here.

Pulling yourself back up, you place your hands on his shoulders as he impassively stares back at you, waiting. "Fine," you huff. "I'm sorry for claiming you had STD's before."

Pedro just stays there, not moving an inch as if he wants more. Groaning, you knew he wasn't going to give in so easy. "And I am sorry for stimulating the idea that you would get duck chlamydia," you apologize. "But you can get E. coli."

That didn't help as he just helplessly eyed you, not impressed with your poor excuses of your so-called apologies. What more did he want? You can't necessarily beg on your knees, you're in the water!

Whining, you knew you had to pull out your sincere face. You just knew your Oscar-worthy acting was about to award you freedom.

Softly, you move strands of hair stuck near his eyes away from his face and brush his hair back before quivering your lips and looking down upon him in sorrow.

He has really pretty eyes.

"I'm really sorry," you start as you push your face inside his neck and lock him inside your arms. "I know you don't have any infections, you don't even have visible rashes or sores to prove it."

Pedro finds your plead for forgiveness charming as you squeeze him tighter. He begins to release you until he hears the mutter of your "-that are visible."

"You couldn't hold it in for a few more seconds?!" he whined at how fast you went back to insulting him.

Sighing heavily, you slap a hand to your face. "It's hard!"

Suppressing a laugh, he unwrapped his arms around you and let you get back to the sidewalk. But once you were back on your feet, you looked down to find your body filled with random pieces of dirt, sticks, and grass. "Ew!"

"You're not sitting in my car," Pedro states, waving his head side to side to release some water from his ears.

"You're worse than me!"

"My car, my rules."

Frowning, you weren't sure if he was kidding or not. "Well, you almost committed first-degree-murder so if you don't want people to know you must be my personal servant."

His instant glare turned into confusion as he abruptly moved his attention back towards the pond. "Where did the duck go?"

Widening your eyes, you forgot that you had a helpless duck in your hands minutes ago before your splash attack with Pedro. Scanning your eyes from the sidewalks to the ramps to the pond, you noticed a duck floating nearby. "I think that's them."

Pointing at a duck with the closest familiar colors than the rest, you felt Pedro let out of sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, I would have felt extremely guilty if she would have died."

"It could be a he," you snap back.

He was about to protest but honestly, you were done for the day. You just wanted to take a long and hot shower and knock back out. Not only that, but you ruined your cute running shoes you gifted yourself months ago for your work out journey.

You never really wore them, but it's the thought that counts.

"We can get breakfast another day," you plead to which he didn't argue over because he really wanted to remove the unknown substances off his body asap.

He wouldn't admit it, but he was genuinely scared he may have gotten duck chlamydia .

"Okay, but no sleeping in the car," Pedro states as you exhale loudly. All this and you still weren't allowed to doze off, how cruel is life at the moment.

Walking back to the car would've went down smoothly if the two of you weren't given disturbed looks from strangers and your clothes weren't clinging uncomfortably to your bodies, especially your shoes.

Luckily, Pedro had towels in his trunk and set them down on the seats. "God, I am definitely going to need a deep cleaning after this."

Slipping inside, your hands find the heater and turn it on full blast. Not only was it freezing outside, but your drenched state made you feel like an icicle.

Setting off back to the road, your mind begins to wander back to the question that has been flooding your mind lately. Craning you neck towards his presence, you make out his comfort state. Cool, he's calm.

Here goes nothing.

"So," you start, awkwardly playing with your hands as you try to make direct eye-contact with him as he turns his head to you. "Why did you visit the other morning?"

Lifting a brow, he pulls a face. "Other morning?"

Biting the inside of the cheek, you try to sound composed. "Yeah, remember? You dropped by around 6am-"

"-and you thought I was Lady Gaga, slammed the door on my face, and went back to bed?" he finished, grinning while finding your eyes again. "You mean that day?"

"Well if you knew what I was talking about why make me recall those mortifying details?" you grumble, leaning back against your seat. "And I thought you were a cat."

"I figured, I always questioned why Jules would ramble on about buying Lady Gaga a new electric litter box until I connected the dots," he confessed making you let out a small chuckle.

Yeah, you clearly remember how upset Jules became when Lady Gaga neglected the expensive box.

"But if you're curious, it wasn't because I wanted to go hiking," he smiled, referring to the current day.

"Then why?"

He paused for a minute, checking his mirrors before switching lanes. "I'm not really sure."

Tilting your head a bit, you express curiosity as you glance back. "I don't understand?"

Laughing lowly, he slightly shook his head. "I did wake up real fucking early that day," he started. "Maybe around 4am? Which sucked because I must've gotten like 3-4 hours of sleep."

"So you decided to wake me up so I could feel your pain?"

"No," he stifled another chuckle. "To plant trees."

Squinting your eyes, you become very confused. What is he talking about? He noticed your puzzlement immediately. "You know, go early in the morning to different areas in the city and help dig and replace old trees to plant new ones."

This whole time you were flipping out, wondering why he randomly came early in the morning just to find out it was because he's a nature boy who wants to help out the community?

It was very sweet of him to be as helpful as he was, but you were a little disappointment it wasn't something more.

"That's why?" you ask and he nods. "And why no warning?"

"Well, I was going to call but I figured all that studying you had done the evening before may have knocked you out early," he confessed.

Yet he still made you wake up early today knowing damn well you were exhausted last night. Strange.

"Why me?" you giggle. "I'm not your typical nature girl, Joon would've been perfect for the job."

Shrugging, he leaned his elbow on his middle console. "I thought about asking him, but to be honest I didn't want to pay for any damages he may have caused."

That was a very accurate insight of what Joon really was, clumsy. The amount of times he accidentally dropped his coffee cups, tripped over wires backstage, and face-planted against glass doors would be too much to count on both your palms.

You're surprised he hasn't broken his back again- but still glad he hasn't. That would really suck.

"But have you thought things over yet?" Pedro glanced your way before looking back forward. "About Canada?"

Stiffing up a bit, you move your eyes to the dashboard. You weren't dreading this conversation, but you didn't want to talk about it.

This was a situation where it was a win but also a loss.

Win as in gaining incredible experience, loss that your parent's wouldn't be pleased, it was in a different country, and you'd be missing out on your social life for almost a year.

"Not really," you admit and sense from the corner of your eyes his shoulders fall. "Still indecisive, as always," you try joking to lighten the mood.

Sending over a tiny grin, he mirrors your same expression, doubtful. His face turns concentrated again, leaning closer to you before he shuts down again, ultimately rejecting whatever idea he had going on.

The rest of the drive back to your place went by fast. The two of you made little talk about each other's life and how school was going for you, but he already knew so much already from past encounters.

Pulling up to the red curb you loathe, you crack a scowl as he only returns a smirk at his doing. "I will personally send my property manager to you so she can threaten you."

"I do love threats," he beamed, watching as you reach for the handle before stopping you by his voice. "-but I had fun this morning, despite our little uh...catastrophe," he chuckled, looking down at his clothes.

"I totally agree," you grin. "Dirt just looks so good on me."

He sniggers lightly before slightly sobering up. "But seriously, think about the offer," he begins, nipping at his lip a bit, not trying to put too much pressure on you. "It'll be good for you, you know- your future."

Sighing, you nod. You knew where he was coming from since he's been doing this for so long, but you were still young and had a lot on your mind.

"I'll think about it," you smile, reaching for the door handle and swiftly getting out, missing the way his smile slowly vanishes.

Taking your usual step back, you send him a farewell wave but he does his habitual goodbyes as he gets out of his car and grins to you. "See you around." Laughing, you walk inside the doors and make your way to the elevators, his followed soft "beautiful" being muffled by the traffic on the streets.

It seemed like both of you were screwed.

+

taglist: @thesapphirequeen @floralsightings @wrathofcats @avengersheart @fafik7  @chimchimjiminie16 @adriennemichelle98

[hislittleraincloud]

https://ew.com/lady-gaga-joins-wednesday-season-2-8744805 oh brother, season 2 is just a big pile of stinkers. Big names being added, main cast members being taken away, and for what? All for it to fail and get overshadowed by Stranger Things’ final season. 💀

Haven't read the article but Imma say that all of this stunt casting is going to draw attention away from the story.

And perhaps that's the point. Second seasons tend to suck, it's called the Sophomore Slump, and I really, really think they think they're going to avoid the slump with all of the stunt casting. They believe it's cute and will draw more viewers in, etc.

In Wednesday 1 the only celebrity stunt castings that stuck out were Ricci and Fred Armisen (I can't even really count CZJ, since I'm not sure that she was purposely put there to draw people, or if people were necessarily ✨excited✨ that she was cast as Morticia), Ricci being the more important one since she is part of Addams Family lore and is the one who was our sullen, deadpan 1990s Wednesday. But, that's justified, so it falls more into the area of nostalgia/nostalgia farming. And Armisen was just a 'surprise'.

But Gaga? 🤦🏽‍♂️ Maybe it's a token for the 🏳️‍🌈, though since this is supposed to be a Z-centric show, you would think they would've leaned more to catch some Z star and not a Millennial one. It's their tiny tidbit of ✨rep✨, even though she's an ally engaged to a man.

And all of that said, it's also stunt casting as a distraction to the absences that we die-hard, photographic memory, story-sticklers like myself will most definitely miss.

It also pisses me off that they can write whatever Gaga gonna be in but not write Weems/Gwendoline back in. But I guess Gaga's getting bored scrolling through TikToks already.

I don't often respond to anons without reading what they've sent...in fact this is the first time I've done so...but will read it in a minute. If I need to change anything in this response, I will. But these are my sentiments.

[kepler-station]

౨ৎ.𖥔˚ toph beifong — crush and relationship hcs with a chi-blocker martial artist s/o

— 𝜗𝜚 inspired by the should've been ty-lee x reader hcs i had in my drafts for a bit until i deleted it and the korra hcs 🫶🏻 also these exist because this is self indulgent writing ; my own avatar insert is a chi-blocker hehe 👍🏻

— adding onto that, some of these act like general toph hcs, and there's a somewhat long part at the beginning which explains the backstory i based the hcs off of but it still gives you the freedom to insert an oc or yourself in there (unless you/your oc is a bender in which, i'm sorry but you're a chi-blocker here 😓).

— had to rewrite the crush hcs 3 times bcuz i kept closing my tumblr on it w/o saving 😭 drove me flippin insane /j

— also a sort of rewrite of the toph hcs so that i can give it the formula i usually do when i make c&r hcs 🫶🏻

𔓕 ⸝⸝ ꒱ sumi radio ; bad romance by lady gaga

ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚ heads up ! — reader's parents are really adamant about keeping the air nomad descendant thing a secret, to the point where it may be a little excessive and annoying. describes reader as "diligent" & "independent" (and nothing else!).

— your descendants were descendants of the air nomads who existed 100 years ago, and since the massacre have integrated themselves into the other elements' kingdoms in order to avoid the fire nation from finding out some air nomads were still alive. and so, here you are, born in the earth kingdom as first-class nobility.

— some of your descendants riskily ventured into the fire nation (reference to the "ty-lee is an air nomad" theory), others went into the water tribes, others like you ventured into the earth kingdom, and some went alone into the world. in your case, you (and your sibling if you have one) were born in the earth kingdom while your parents integrated themselves via fake names and entirely new clothes. you grew up knowing yourself as from the earth kingdom, but with an unexplained difficulty to earthbend however you inherited the ability to chi-block from your parents' lineage, having them teach you in private when you were old enough to learn and perfectly handle yourself, and telling you about your lineage when you would inevitably found out about the whole 'air nomad descendant' thing. you were told to keep it a secret for as long as you live as to not arise suspicion from anyone who could inform the fire nation, in fear of death.

— likewise, you were told to keep your chi-blocking under tight wraps as to not arise suspicion of your heritage, and when the time came to teach "earthbending", they claimed you were a nonbender (and you are a nonbender) and instead trained you in a special martial arts technique ; close enough to the quick, agile and floaty style of chi-blocking and your airbending heritage to integrate chi-blocking into it, but with enough of a mix of the martial art styles of the earth kingdom that no one would be suspicious of a foreigner possibly hiding amongst them, let alone an airbender. over the years, you mastered your own martial art technique to utmost perfection, alongside secretly honing your chi-blocking by practicing into the night (aka beating up benders somewhere while no one was looking or would be suspicious, which gained you a reputation similar to toph with earth rumble 6).

— (also you never learned airbending.)

— you often watched earth rumble 6 as a way of entertainment and to secretly gain inspiration to add to your mastery of your martial arts, perhaps to add to your skill because you're already perfect (🫶🏻). and on one of your trips, you saw toph (as the blind bandit) for the first time. a little familiar, you may or may not have recognized her but she doesn't seem like she wants her identity to be revealed anytime soon. you were very intrigued by her earthbending skills, and even more so by her unique style of earthbending, nothing like you've ever seen from anyone you've seen fight there before.

— and soon enough, you recognized that face from a meeting your parents had with lao and poppy beifong. their daughter looked exactly like the blind bandit ! after getting some consent from you and your own confirmation that 'yes, you'd like to teach toph some of your own martial art style', your parents made an agreement with their parents and had allowed you to teach toph privately (of course with some (of their and your own) servants and bodyguards on watch to make sure either of you doesn't get severely injured while training, but they get dismissed during breaks because they have no reason to stick around, they can just be called whenever you or toph needs something from them).

— as the days passed when you taught toph your own style of martial arts, you two grew closer as friends and sometimes you two would talk and open up to eachother when taking breaks between training sessions. you found out that she was the blind bandit, and entered the competition behind her parents back (of course she told you in a way that the servants and bodyguards wouldn't tell lao and poppy), how she felt about her overbearing parents, and her desire for freedom and independence. however, you didn't have much to tell as you didn't open up as fast as she did (she didn't open up fast, but eventually she did. you just took longer 🤷🏻‍♀️) because the mentality to keeping the air nomad descendancy as a secret stuck around and you had to find out whether toph would truly keep it a secret (or if she even knows that the air nomads are supposed to be dead).

— after weeks of seeing whether toph was trustworthy and building your friendship with her by telling her other things about yourself, you opened up to her one day during a break between training. and naturally, showing toph your chi-blocking... someday when she runs away. you promised to come with her, not only to keep her safe (because you care, and later because you love her) but to stay with her because you wanted to use your martial art and chi=blocking prowess for good and [insert your own reason for running away from home].

— you came along with her when toph ran away from home (with you promising to keep touch with your parents and send them letters or whatevers every once in a while to let them know you're still alive and doing well) and joined team avatar with her. toph really only talked with you in a less distant way since you were the person she trusted most and the only person that truly understood her there.

— focusing more on the crush hcs, toph's crush on you first started as admiration for your strength. for the first time, she saw your true strength and techniques that allowed for your true potential to shine ; your chi-blocking combined with your martial art technique. she saw how you could handle yourself, how you were able to both defend and attack enemies at the same time. she underestimated you, even dismissed your prowess purely because you were a nonbender, but now she sees your true strength, and she admired it, how you were able to handle yourself and be independent (whether its only in battle or you truly are independent).

— not only admiration, she enjoyed how you cared for her. always keeping an eye out for her, and guiding her in situations where her feet can't. not because she was blind, not because you pitied her for being "helpless" and "fragile", because you simply cared for her (and because you love her).

— after overhearing how you loved her too, she confronted you about it late into the night when no prying eyes could watch, shutting up your love confession with a kiss that signifies the fact that she loves you too.

— later that night when you told her you'd be turning in for the night, she moved your sleeping bag into her earth tent (and every time you camp, next to her sleeping bag) immediately as you laid down.

— she'll never admit it to your face, but she enjoys cuddling with you, more so jetpacking. the training doesn't stop either and nothing about it really changes (maybe moments of flirting here and there but other than that none), other that the breaks turning into brief soft moments where you two can be vulnerable in peace. where just like old times when it was just you and her, you two can enjoy eachother's company and love in peace with no prying eyes. these times when you two are just alone and vulnerable with one another are times she cherishes and loves the most.

— at first, she definitely isn't the most perfect s/o. fights and arguments are rather occasional because it's toph, often due to a miscommunication that your care for her stems from the same reason her parents locked her in ; that you think of her as helpless and fragile due to her blindness. but it later gets resolved as toph accepts and realizes that you just care for her because you love her. you don't want to see her hurt, so you care for her and look out for her. not to say that that's the only topic that spawns arguments, that's just one out of them all.

— she gets really upset when people try to pursue you esp. when she's right there, and definitely is an aggressive jealous type. she'll throw rocks and pebbles at them until they (or you) get the hint and leave you alone, playing either the blind girl card or just outright demanding they leave you alone (and that you're already taken by her).

— power couple. POWER COUPLE. you two are definitely a power couple feared on a level on par with the avatar.

— (also when team avatar was practicing their plan to take out the fire lord, you and toph were chucking rocks at everyone atop the place where the "melon lord" stood.)

— remember that the general c&r hcs still apply here ! 🫶🏻

[steddietogo]

Made With Love

Part 3 of Steddie Tik Tok au: The Halloween Vlog

Read part 2 <<here

———

Robin is in a pinstriped three-piece suit, her short brown hair dyed black and slicked back, with a badly drawn moustache on her face. “Unhapphy, darphling?” She speaks around a rose stem she’s holding between her teeth.

“Oh yes,” The camera pans to Eddie lounging on an armchair. He’s ditched his usual band tee and ripped jeans combo for a tight black dress with the deepest neckline known to man, the long black fabric pooling around his feet. He raises his arm, bell sleeve flaring, and flips his straightened hair behind his shoulders with red painted nails. “Yes completely,” deep red lips curve into smile and he bats his eyes, heavily lined and dusted in smokey grey eyeshadow.

———

“Originally, we were supposed to be the Sanderson sisters for Halloween but someone—” Robin looks at something pointedly off camera, “—decided to go off and commit to a group costume with his long-distance babysitting wards without consulting us,”

“This—” Eddie strikes a pose as Robin gestures to them, “—was supposed to be a revenge costume but now we feel kinda bad because—” the camera flips around to show a pile of blankets on the couch, “Dingus is now down with the flu,” A hand emerges from its depths and flips them off.

“I think he’s going as The Thing,” Eddie says and they both snicker.

———

Eddie is in the kitchen using Steve’s recording set up. “My darling Gomez has gone off to party, it’s just me and Steve at home now,” he sighs dramatically, “Alas, I knocked him out with cough syrup so he won’t be up for a couple hours,”

“And I found this recipe for chicken noodle soup and I, Eddie Munson who cannot cook to save my own life, am going to put it to test since Steve keeps saying ‘anyone can make it’. Were gonna find out today baby,”. Eddie’s reading off of a book as he lays out everything he would need on the counter, announcing each item as he takes them out. “I hope I’m using the right pot and Steve won’t kill me,”

———

Eddie is slow dancing to Lady Gaga with a plastic skeleton meant for decoration, his dress swishing around him as he twirls with his inanimate dance partner. During a particularly enthusiastic dip, the skeleton’s skull breaks off from the rest of the body and rolls away.

“Betty! Noooo!” Eddie cries, falling to his knees.

———

“No one told me how sweaty cooking can make you,” Eddie’s twisting his hair up in a bun, “But I’m committed to it now, I will not be bested by soup,”

“Look at this, my make up isn’t the only thing melting in the heat,” He holds up a bent looking plastic spatula to the camera. “Its totally not because I put it too close to the stove but we’re going to hide the evidence so Steve doesn’t find out,”

———

“I accidentally added too much salt, went to the Internet for help and a lot of people say that adding a potato will help fix it,” Eddie explains as he is chopping one. “There are no potatoes in this recipe, so if Steve asks, I’m gonna tell him I have no idea how they got in there,”

“Here goes nothing,” Eddie shoves both sleeves all the way up his arms before dropping all of the potato pieces in at once, making a little bit of the boiling soup splash out of the pot missing him by inches. “Oh shit, that was close. Don’t try this at home kids,”

———

“Moment of truth people,” He’s ladling soup into a bowl. “Personally, I’m just surprised this came out edible, but let’s see what the chef has to say about it,”

The clip cuts to Eddie shuffling away from the camera that’s now facing the sofa where Steve is taking a nap. Eddie kneels before him, a gentle hand on Steve’s face as he nudges him wake. Cut to a bleary-eyed Steve sitting up and waving at the camera.

“Just know that if you give me food poisoning on top of the flu, I’ll never forgive you,” he says as Eddie is handing him the bowl. “Why’re there potatoes in here?”

“No reason,” Eddie smiles back innocently at the look Steve gives him before he takes a bite, and then another. Eddie watches, nibbling in his fingernails.

“Oh shit,”

“What?”

“The potato actually makes it better,” he looks like he’s trying to sound annoyed but the smile on his face gives him away. “I’m gonna have to add potatoes to the recipe,”

“Wait. Does that mean my soup is better than yours?”

“It’s still my recipe, Munson,”

“You’re avoiding the question, Harrington,”

“…Maybe?”

Eddie throws his hands up whopping and his sleeve smacks Steve in the face.

———

“I was standing there, Morticia-less,” Robin is back and the three of them huddle in the sofa in the darkness of the living room, the only source of light is the movie no one is actually watching.

“—and she’s was wearing that Kate Bush bat dress and we were like ‘that’s close enough’ and then we completely winged a little dance and I only tripped on my own shoe once, you should be proud of me,” Robin is wearing a sash that says ‘Hideout King’ and is going a mile a minute about the party she came back from.

“And then she kissed me when they announced us as the winners, she kissed me Steve!” Robin shakes Steve and then high-fives Eddie so hard he almost falls off the couch.

———

Robin is filming Steve launching candy corn from the couch and Eddie, now in his jammies, is on the other side of the coffee table trying to catch them in his mouth. Steve’s laughter is getting increasingly hysterical and his aim is getting poorer while Eddie practically dives left and right trying catch the candy. Steve looks like he’s going to fall off the couch in stitches. The video ends as three are celebrating a complicated twist dive Eddie executed and successfully caught the candy with in mouth.

———

Caption says:

@_eddie_munson who do you think edits all the footage?

———

Comments:

user80085: who else questioning their sexuality rn?

Dustin H: RIP Betty, you will be missed 😔

Reefing Rick: Why tf don’t I have an Eddie Munson in a Morticia Addams costume cooking in my kitchen? God really has favorites huh

spring roll: So no ones going to talk about how Robin basically came out?

Gayby replying to spring roll: good for her

———

Part 4

———

A/n: it’s so funny to imagine Steve sitting in his room alone and reviewing an hour-long footage of Eddie messing around in the kitchen. And it cracks him up that every time Eddie messes something up he walks up to the camera and whispers ‘don’t tell Steve’

Steddie tag list: @deehellcat @eddiemunsonswife @missarte-beltane @grtwdsmwhr @kit-means-death

[ts1989fanatic]

Have We Reached Peak Taylor Swift? The Psychology Behind When Someone Becomes Overexposed.

Is Taylor Swift about to be in her 'overexposed' era?

Midway through the Eras Tour, Taylor Swift is everywhere.

The ongoing tour ― Swift is scheduled to resume the international leg in November ― and the subsequent concert film are certifiable cultural events that have actually boosted regional economies. (In Los Angeles, for instance, where Swift performed six shows, the California Center for Jobs and the Economy predicted a $320 million boost to the county. No wonder Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau practically begged the Grammy winner to visit up north.)

She’s even bolstering the NFL’s viewership: Since the “Cruel Summer”

singer started attending her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs games, the league has seen some Super Bowl-level numbers thanks to all the Swifties tuning in.

Meanwhile, the media coverage is breathless. While daytime talk show hosts ask Kelce’s mom about Swift, there’s play-by-play of the couple’s dates around the web: “They were in a rounded booth sitting super close to each other in deep convo the whole time,” a diner at the Waverly Inn in Greenwich, where Swift and Kelce dined on Sunday, told The Messenger. “It looked super romantic and was super intimate.”

But given Swift’s cultural dominance ― and NFL fans booing an ad for her concert doc early this month ― even her fans are a little worried that Taylor fatigue might soon set in. Is Swift due for another “overexposed” era?

“Kinda overwhelmed by how close Taylor is to overexposure,” one fan tweeted on X.

“You either die the hero or live long enough to admit that you have Taylor Swift fatigue,” another wrote on the site.

On the main Swift subreddit, fans debate if Swift will eventually go back into pop star hibernation like she did after her “1989” album.

Indeed, this isn’t Swift’s first go-around with overexposure. The success of “1989” in 2014 was followed by a heightened interest in Swift’s personal life: her famous friends (or her “squad”), her ill-fated romance with Tom Hiddleston, her drama with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. In response, Swift made a “conscious choice to disappear” and opt for a more “lowkey” life, a source close to the singer told People at the time.

Her rollout of her next album, 2017’s “Reputation,” was relatively quiet. (“There will be no further explanation. There will just be reputation,” Swift remarked on Instagram.)

Swift seems to pay close attention to her fandom and cultivate those parasocial relationships, said Lynn Zubernis, a psychologist and professor at West Chester University who researches fan psychology.

“Who knows, she might consider withdrawing from the spotlight again at some point,” Zubernis told HuffPost.

The professor likened the “Anti-Hero” singer’s ubiquity right now to Barney in the ’90s. Parents loved the purple dinosaur initially (no one kept their kids as entertained), but that love soured by the 104th listen of the “I love you, you love me” theme song.

“Familiarity is part of what drives fandom — we’re wired to attach to familiar faces, whether they’re offline or on our screens — but there’s a limit to how much repetition we can tolerate,” Zubernis said. “Too many instances of someone popping up and behaving the same way or saying the same thing can start to grate.”

The overexposure is sometimes exacerbated by the celebrity being perceived as “trying too hard” or being inauthentic, Zubernis said: Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, even Lady Gaga come to mind, she said.

“At first their ‘antics’ were popular, but people soon grew tired and cynical about them,” she said. “Justin Bieber, James Franco, Shai LaBeouf and Kanye West fall into that category too, and all have been on lists of ‘celebrities we’re tired of’ as a result.”

There’s also a common trajectory that fandom tends to take: Fans love to root for their favorite celebrity ― or sports team or TV series ― because of that vicarious sense of success they gain, but there’s also a cost to that success and visibility, Zubernis said. Some fans jump ship.

“Fans also relish feeling ‘special’ and seeing their fandom as exclusive ― as in, we are the only ones who see how truly special this person is and appreciate her,” the professor said.

“Once someone like Swift becomes beloved by everyone, even ‘normies,’ the fandom doesn’t feel as exclusive anymore,” she added. (Think how in high school, you used to say, “Yeah, I liked that band when they were still underground.”)

Jaye L. Derrick, an associate professor of psychology who studies parasocial relationships at the University of Houston, has a different take: She thinks that most of the people complaining about Swift were never fans to begin with.

“She has a very large following, but no celebrity can make 100% of the population like them,” Derrick told HuffPost.

“As Taylor Swift is shown to new markets, she is meeting some pushback from people who may have been aware of her before but never sought her out,” she said. “I suspect that most of the negative exposure is from people who had maybe consciously avoided her before and are not able to avoid her anymore.”

Tracy Gleason, the chair and professor of psychology at Wellesley College and an author of a paper on parasocial relationships, agrees with Derrick. The fans at the Giants game who booed her ad, for instance, might have done so because she’s dating a player on a rival team.

“Another possible explanation for the football game is that people who are fans of football, some of whom are likely women, are not necessarily fans of Taylor Swift,” Gleason told HuffPost. “Seeing Taylor get more attention than the game itself might have felt distracting and annoying.”

“Who knows, though,” she added. “Maybe they are Swifties but just want to keep each of the things they enjoy in their own lane: Taylor belongs on the stage and football belongs in the arena.”

Is misogyny at play when we deem someone “overexposed”?

When it comes to conversations about fame, some have pointed out that it tends to be women that get the whiplash “love-hate” treatment: They’re celebrated at first, then they’re deemed overexposed, like Anne Hathaway or Jennifer Lawrence were after their respective Oscar campaigns.

For the most part, men have more room to navigate fame: There’s a double-standard for the type of behavior that is considered appropriate for men versus for women, Derrick said.

For starters, men are expected to express their agency, so they are allowed to promote their projects.

“For women, it is harder to engage in agentic behavior without people viewing them as too in-your-face,” Derrick said. “In American society, we traditionally expect women to be more communal and less agentic.” (Swift addresses this complicated bind for women in the song “The Man” from 2019 album “Lover.”)

The professor thinks these women would probably get a pass if they were “trying too hard” to promote something communal, like a charity, but over-promoting yourself is a cardinal sin in celebritydom if you’re a woman.

With male examples of overexposure, it usually results from some publicly frowned-upon behavior: Bieber was a notoriously bratty teen (which is hardly a crime, of course, but his reputation persists), West was accused of antisemitism, Franco and LaBeouf were both accused of sexual misconduct, and Elon Musk has been accused of not only damaging Twitter (or as he’s rebranded, X) but threatening democracy itself.

Women celebrities are shamed for bad behavior, too, of course, but also for deviating from social expectations, Zubernis said.

“The culture still isn’t all that comfortable with women being very visible or powerful or successful in some way; that idea is vaguely threatening to the status quo,” she said. “I think that would apply to Swift, Hathaway and Lawrence.”

If you were a fan of any of those women to begin with, though, you probably stuck by them through and through. Fandoms tend to be ride or die until something truly cancellable happens.

“There are times when fans will turn on a celebrity, but those are usually cases where the celebrity did something out-of-character that led people to become disillusioned with their brand,” Derrick said.

In other words, when it comes to these “overexposed” claims ― or criticism from non-fans who wish Swift would take a sabbatical ― Swifties worldwide are probably just going to “shake it off.”

ts1989fanatic:

So Michael Jackson in his prime was everywhere and until he went off the deep end was beloved by fans and none fans worldwide. But Taylor Swift who has in my opinion reached MJ status is over exposed, you know this was not really a thing until she started dating Travis Kelce.

So to answer the question posed above

Is misogyny at play when we deem someone “overexposed”?

In the case of Taylor Swift damn straight misogyny is at play, all these talking heads and college professors and the rest of the media jackals and TS haters need to just FUCK THE HELL OFF.

[littlegoblininyourshoe]

My opinion on SOME Noah ships :) (Please request some you want me to rate. In the ask box on my account.)

SPOILERS FOR TOTAL DRAMA PRESENTS THE RIDONCULOUS RACE!!!

Mickey x Noah

Yes, this exists. In concept, it's really cute. In execution, it's not good. I think this would be a cute ship... if Mickey wasn't 16 years old and Noah wasn't an adult. Maybe a one-sided crush on Mickey's end? With Noah saving him and giving him the ring in the "Hawaiian Honeyruin" episode, but, the crush soon falls apart when he finds out Noah is an adult. Anyways, the concept is cute. I just don't like shipping adults and children together, personally.

2/10 (2 points for idea.)

Noah x Emma

YIPPPEEE! Oh, they are so adorable together. Yes, I didn't really like how cringe Noah was before they got together or the broken plot point. But I get it, man's was in love, and they are SO cute together. They are perfect for one another, and I am also a sucker for canon ships aswell. Not much to say about this, just look at them :)).

9/10 (Removed a point for the cringe parts.)

Lindsay x Noah

AAAAAWWWW! They seem so cute together, I am a Lyler shipper (Lindsay x Tyler), but I am also a Lindsay x Noah shipper (dunno the ship name)! I just think they would be adorable together. Smart guy who doesn't care about fashion at all x dumb girl who is all about fashion. They are just perfect. It's so silly, and I feel like they would be friends outside of the show because even though Noah thinks Lindsay is a complete moron that sometimes frustrates him, he also finds it endearing in a way. Also, they are both my most favorite characters, so yeah.

8/10 (Just because I do like Lyler even more.)

Noah x Owen

If you look at my posts, you can tell my opinion on this ship... I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT- (/j)

In all seriousness, yeah, I adore this ship. I love best friend ships (aka, Friends to Lovers), and they are just silly together. They are so different that it's a very pleasant surprise that they became friends. Noah does have a tendency to be a bit mean to Owen (especially in Ridonculous Race, when he barely helps at all during the broken ark. I hate that ark so much, man.) But they are still quite cute together.

9/10 (Removed one for Noah being mean.)

Cody x Noah

I don't personally ship it, but there's nothing wrong if you do. It's perfectly harmless and apparently was supposed to be canon before it was changed. I see the two as friends, though. Not much to say, pretty harmless ship.

6/10

Noah x Alejandro

I, again, don't personally ship this, I am more of a fan of Alejandro x Heather, and I like them better as enemies or even rival friends. Nothing is particularly wrong with this ship, and I understand why you would ship it, but I dont.

7/10 (Added a point because "Alejandro" by Lady Gaga started playing when writing my opinion.)