#i don’t understand the drama surrounding them

[tadpoless4]

These two deserve the world (and more fanart /lh)

[m-a-d-e-l-e-i-n-e]

I’m not a fan of Mr. Beast’s videos but he’s honestly a king for putting so much of his money and time towards helping people AND for publicly defending his trans friend multiple times

[msmk11]

Just Like All the Other Angry Boyfriends Before

James Potter x Hufflepuff!fem!reader

WC: 4.2k

CW: angst; hurt/comfort; fluff; idiots

Summary: Two idiots in love who don’t know how to handle their emotions properly- aka school dance drama

A/n: yall said you wanted this fic even tho I lowkey hate it, so here it is!

Shrill squeals echo through the stone corridor as you make your way to the Great Hall after class. You turn the corner to find a group of girls surrounding Alice Fortescue and Frank Longbottom. Alice is blushing profusely as you hear her declare, “yes I’ll go to the formal with you!”

Frank whoops excitedly and draws Alice into a warm embrace. There are more squeals from the girls, so high pitched you’re sure they’ve shattered your ear drums. As you pass the happy couple, you smile at them warmly and share your congratulations. On the inside, however, you grimace. You’re no antagonist to fun, really, but as the winter formal continues to approach closer and closer, and you are still without a date, you find yourself beginning to reject the idea of any formal at all. It’s not that you have a lack of options either- plenty of people have asked you- but rather, you’ve been holding off in hopes that a certain special someone will.

Begrudgingly, you accept that if you put things off much longer, you will be dateless. And while you’re not necessarily opposed to going alone, you’d rather not when nearly all your friends have dates. Lily has Mary, Marlene has Dorcas, Alice has Frank, and Remus has Sirius.

That leaves you and James.

Although you’re a Hufflepuff, you throw your stuff down onto the Gryffindor table and plop into a seat next to Lily. You huff dejectedly and rest your head on her shoulder, “Why does everyone have to be all happy and in love? It’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid honey, you’re just bitter because P-“

You slap your hand over her mouth and glare at her, “SHH there’s people around.”

“Right, sorry,” she replies, prying your hand off her mouth.

“Also…” she pauses and sniffs your hand, “is that a new lotion? What scent is it?”

Before you can answer, you’re interrupted by Mary who sits down on the other side of Lily and kisses her on the cheek.

“Uh, babe, why are you sniffing her hand?”

“I’m not weird, I swear! She’s the one who shoved her hand in my face. I just wanted to know what lotion she was using.”

Mary gives the two of you questioning looks.

“Potter” Lily mouths.

Mary nods in understanding and smirks. She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively as she shifts her attention to the raven-haired boy a few seats down.

“Still waiting for him to ask you?”

“Mhmmm.”

“You know, it is the 20th century, you could try asking him for a change.”

“Excellent idea, love! Oi, Potter, come here,” Lily shouts.

You glare at them in panic and mumble, “I hate you both.”

James looks up from his conversation with his friends and slides down the bench towards you.

“We have a very important question for you,” Lily says.

You glare at her once again, “I think Lily here is actually far over exaggerating the importance of the question. I’m sure whatever discussion you were having with Remus, Peter, and Sirius was much more urgent.”

James chuckles, “It’s the opposite actually. Remus and Sirius were arguing over what they are wearing to the formal. So really, you saved me.”

You let out the most pitiful laugh, cursing your luck.

“So… what is this very important question you wanted to ask me?”

You attempt to act nonchalant as you ask him if he has a date for the formal yet.

“Oh, the formal? Not yet, though I have a few options in mind. But if you’re implying you want to go together, I’m totally down.”

You’re pretty sure your heart skips a beat.

“I mean, I don’t want you to go alone while everyone else in the friend group has a date.”

This time, your heart drops.

“Oh, so you don’t mind doing me a favor and taking me to the formal?” You ask, an accusing tone to your voice.

“Right, that’s what friends are for,” he says, innocently.

Nail in the coffin.

“So, let me get this straight. You’ll only go with me because you feel sorry for me and because you don’t think I can get a date to the formal?” you ask angrily.

“No I-“ he begins defensively.

“Well you should know, Potter, that I do have a date to the formal, and I was only asking if you had one because I was worried you were going to be the one going alone.”

“Wait! You’re going with someone?!” He says, shocked.

“Don’t act so surprised. Just because I’m ‘one of the guys’ to you doesn’t mean I’m not desirable to other people,” you retort.

Then, you stand up and snatch your books off the table. As you storm away you hear him yell, “Wait, but who are you going with?”

Great question.

*****

Back in the Hufflepuff dorms, you sit in one of the common room chairs stewing over your recent interaction with James. While your initial reaction was anger, time has led way to more intense feelings of hurt. While he didn’t outwardly reject you, the sting of the friend zone was just as painful. You needed to move on, but with who?

The universe seems to answer your question in the form of Amos Diggory.

Amos Diggory- an arrogant, handsome, girlfriend-stealer, with an intense fear of commitment. He would be perfect.

No foreigner to flirting, you put on your most charming smile and call out, “Hey Diggory…”

He looks in your direction and you motion for him to come sit. He smiles at his friends and shoos them away. As Amos comes and sits down next to you you know that, if this goes according to plan, you will royally piss James off. The two rival in looks and on the quidditch field, and James cannot stand Amos.

“Hey gorgeous,” he says, looking you up and down.

“So, you, uh, have a date to the formal yet?”

“No, I prefer to go alone. So my options are open.”

You smirk teasingly, “What if I can convince you to change your mind?”

Amos smiles at you seductively, “I’m listening.”

“Well, you like to go to these things alone so you can entertain the attentions of many girls. But, if you go with one girl, me, you’ll get even more attention. What is going to happen when all of the girls at Hogwarts think that the Amos Diggory is off the market?”

“You have me intrigued,” he says, “And how are you not in Slytherin with that devious little mind of yours?”

“I prefer to keep it my little secret.”

Then, you lean closer to him, “Though I guess it’s our little secret now.”

Amos is falling perfectly into your trap, and you know that he already wants to kiss you. You pull away before he even gets the chance.

“Before I agree, what’s in this for you?” He asks.

“Revenge on James Potter…”

If your flirting hadn’t fully won him over, this does.

*****

In the evening, you make your way to the Gryffindor common room where you always do homework with your friends. Though James, Peter, and Sirius consistently show up late, you make sure to leave extra early to avoid conversation with James at all costs.

You forget, however, that James sometimes knows you better than you know yourself. So when you arrive, he is already there on the couch, waiting for you. Lily and Remus are spread out on the floor, Mary is sprawled across a red chair, and Dorcas is lying in Marlene’s lap reading her textbook while Marlene writes a paper. James shoots up from his seat as you walk in.

“Hey! Can we talk?” He asks anxiously.

Although they pretend to hide it, you know your friends are secretly listening. Still, you don’t care.

“No, James, we can’t. Although it may be uncharted territory, you and I are in what people call a fight. So just let me be.”

“But shouldn’t we talk?”

“No, James. I don’t want to talk. Not right now.”

The fight leaves his body and he retreats, “fine. I’ll just leave you be.”

He grabs his stuff and goes up to his dorm as you settle yourself in his place.

“Don’t you think you’re being a little harsh?” Remus asks softly.

“Maybe,” you say, “But I’m sick of always downplaying my feelings to protect his. It’s not fair to me.”

Lily grabs your hand, “you’re right, it’s not fair. And I’m sorry for pushing all of this on you, it wasn’t my place.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry too,” Mary adds.

“Well, I’m not. This just encouraged me to get over my silly little crush and focus my attentions on someone who will actually take interest in me. There are plenty of people out there.”

“Hell yeah there are!” Marlene says encouragingly.

Dorcas smacks her arm, “Marlene! James is one of your best friends!”

“So is she! I love them both, but she’s right, she needs to do what’s best for her.”

“Just don’t push him away completely,” Dorcas tells you seriously.

“I won’t,” you sigh, “He‘s still so important to me. It just won’t be in the way that I hoped.”

Silence falls over the group.

“Who fucking died?”

Everyone jumps and turns to look in the direction of the voice. Behind you stands Sirius and Peter, both with perplexed looks on their faces.

“James, after she fucking tore him apart earlier,” Marlene replies, motioning to you.

Peter nods as he plops down by your feet, “Oh right! I heard about that.”

Sirius smacks you upside the head, “Yeah, what was that all about?”

“He basically called me a fucking unattractive loser. What else was I supposed to do?” You say, smacking him back.

“I think you’re over-exaggerating just a little bit,” Mary responds cautiously.

“I mean, I think he was just trying to be nice. Maybe it hurt because he essentially friendzoned you?” Lily adds.

“Wait, do you have a crush on James?” Sirius asks you.

“Sirius, have you really never noticed?” Remus responds disbelievingly.

Sirius only shrugs his shoulders.

“Okay, I get it, I get it. James is the perfect golden boy and I’m just another one of Potter’s stupid fangirls who follows him blindly and makes a fool of themselves.”

“Honey no,” Lily starts, “it’s not that it’s-“

“Can you not lecture me, please?” You interrupt, “Maybe I overreacted, but is it so wrong to be angry about being pitied. Especially by someone you really care about?”

“No, it’s not,” Peter tells you, “I get it.”

“Thank you,” you respond dejectedly.

It’s quiet for a moment and you’re stuck stewing in your own self-loathing.

Then, Lily speaks up again, “Uhm, I have one more question, and then I’ll drop the subject.”

You nod, encouraging her to continue.

“Who are you going to take to the formal? Because you told James you had a date, even though you didn’t.”

“Oh, yeah, uhmmm about that…” you say, laughing nervously.

“What rash thing did you do now?” Dorcas asks.

“I may or may not have asked Amos Diggory to be my date to the dance…. And he said yes.”

Marlene laughs loudly, “Oh shit!”

*****

To avoid conflict, you decide that it’s best for you to go to the formal with Amos and his friends rather than string him along with yours. Tension is already high between James and you, and you know Amos’ being there would only make things worse. You try to push it out of your mind, but you can’t help wondering who James is taking to the formal with him. You picture all the prettier, smarter, and better girls he could be going with, and your stomach begins to ache. You are also worried about what people will say in relation to you going with Amos.

Your thoughts start to spiral. Will people hate you? Will James hate you? Is your dress all wrong? Will you be the worst dressed there? The anxieties are endless and there seems to be no relief in sight.

Still, you push through and doll yourself up, masking your true feelings behind layers of hairspray, makeup, and itchy fabric. Your dress is light blue with a silvery sheer fabric over top, like fresh snow on a frozen lake. The top half is form-fitting with silvery straps, and the bottom spreads outward in a loose skirt. You twist back the front strands of your hair with silver clips and adorn your face with light makeup and shimmery eyeshadow. At promptly eight you drag yourself to the common room where Amos sits with his friends and their dates.

You put on a fake smile, “Amos, you look handsome.”

He looks you up and down, “I know. And you look hot.”

What a gentleman.

You say a polite thank you and avoid some of the stares you’re getting from the other girls. You can tell that some are jealous already, yet they maintain outward politeness, which you’re grateful for.

Amos, at least, extends his arm, which you grab, as you walk towards the Great Hall. Your walk is filled with polite conversation about simple things from quidditch, to class, and plans for the holidays. So far, it’s not as bad as you thought, though you wished you would have just gone dateless with your friends.

You cast these regrets aside, however, when you arrive at your destination. To no one’s surprise, the Hogwarts decorating committee has outdone themselves once again. The typical long, wooden tables are gone and in place is a magnificent white dance floor that seems to shimmer like the snow. Warm, golden globes of light hang from the sky and snowflakes fall from above, though never reaching the ground. The room is an explosion of silvers, whites, and blues, and you’re sure you’ve stepped into a winter wonderland.

“This is just-“ Amos begins.

“Wow” you finish, “Like a winter wonderland.”

“And you’re its queen,” he says.

You blush in spite of yourself.

“Compliments won’t get you a kiss so soon,” you tease, “It’s only eight.”

He bites his lip, “fine. But I can only restrain myself from a beautiful girl so long.”

You laugh lightly and swat him on the shoulder. Then, music begins to play.

Amos motions towards the dance floor, “shall we?”

*****

As James adjusts his tie in the mirror, he can’t help but think about what a pathetic loser he is. Although he’d had plenty of girls who he could have gone to the formal with, he continued to wait, assuming there would be someone better coming along. Who that person was, he wasn’t sure. But now, he was alone.

And then there was you. He doesn't know what happened. One second you two were fine, and then suddenly, you blew up. While he knows that he insulted you, he can’t understand why you are so angry. Sirius said not to overthink it, that girls are just complicated, but you are one of his best friends. He knows there is something else going on and it’s left a terrible pit in his stomach.

“Earth to James!”

“Huh?” He awakes from his trance and notices that Peter is waving his hand in front of his face.

“You ready to go?”

“Oh, yeah.”

They head downstairs and meet up with the rest of the group- Pete and his girl from Ravenclaw, Sirius and Remus, Marlene and Dorcas, Mary and Lily, and you-

Not present because he is an ass.

James wonders who you’re going with.

They all cheer loudly, “James, you look great!”

“Thanks, guys, but it’s you all that look great.”

“Hell yeah we do!” Sirius exclaims.

Everyone laughs and begins to file out the portrait hole down to the Great Hall. Despite being the only dateless friend, James’ spirits are lifted by their jokes and ramblings. When they reach the dance, everyone oohs and aahs over the shimmery decorations. Instantly, James cranes his neck, looking for you in the crowd as he walks with the group towards a table off to the left. As they all set their stuff down, the music begins to play and couples rush to the floor. His friends join them, excited to dance.

“James, you coming?” Sirius asks.

He shakes his head, “next song.”

Sirius shrugs and walks off with Remus. James continues to search the crowd, looking for you. He realizes he doesn’t know what you’re wearing- and he supposes he never asked. James wonders if best friends are supposed to do that sort of thing.

Probably.

It hits him, then. With everything that’s been going on lately- being head boy, quidditch captain, and taking ridiculously hard classes, he’d sort of ignored you. It’s no wonder you’re so angry with him.

James feels totally guilty until he sees you. It’s then, he realizes, that he has a reason to be angry too. There you are, after all his moping and worrying, with Amos fucking Diggory. James knows that he hasn’t been the best of friends lately, but Diggory? That was his rival! You were crossing a line.

But what really bothers him the most is the way you’re laughing at something Diggiry said. He is hardly funny, and has the personality of a piece of paper. And why are you leaning so close to him? He’s not even that attractive or charming.

As you swirl across the dance floor, he watches how your hands hold tightly to Diggory’s shoulders, like he’s your anchor. James also notices Diggory’s hands around your waist, far too close to your ass, and his blood boils. No way would he let his rival feel up his friend.

When the song ends, James begins to stalk towards you two, but is pushed backwards by Sirius and Remus.

“Not worth it mate,” Sirius warns.

“But Padfoot, this is unbelievable. She is unbelievable. How could she ever agree to go with him? She knows how much I hate him, and is just trying to get back at me.”

“Mate, it’s this type of thinking that pushed her into his arms,” Remus mumbles.

“What, what do you mean?”

“James, she asked him to the formal after you basically made her feel like shit. Whether she realized it or not, she turned to who she thought would hurt you the most. She wanted you to feel what she was feeling, even a little bit.”

“It’s not her best decision, but ignoring her wasn’t yours either,” Sirius adds.

James rubs his face tiredly, “God, I know.”

Sirius pats his back, “Just… take a few minutes and then come join us. Don’t let it ruin your night.”

“And while you’re sitting here, maybe reflect a little more on why you’re so upset,” Remus adds.

“Rem-” Sirius says with a warning tone.

He puts his hands up defensively, “I didn’t say anything. Let’s go.”

As they walk away James notices their slight bickering. He laughs at them in spite of himself. Secretly, he’s always been a little bit jealous of their relationship. Though they are far from perfect, they’re comfortable with each other in a way that he can only hope for. He thinks the fact that they were friends for five years before they dated helped. There’s this trust and friendship that is so necessary in order to support the love and passion that comes with romance.

As another song ends, James decides not to get up from his seat. He watches Amos and you some more. While his blood is still boiling, there is a twinge of something else.

“Maybe reflect a little more on why you’re upset.”

*****

Surprisingly, you’re having more fun with Amos than you thought you would. While you would never date him, you appreciate his company tonight. He’s been making you laugh all night, so you’re surprised when another song comes on and he suddenly gets serious.

“You know, gorgeous, I’m not one to waste my time on Potter, but he’s been glaring in our direction for the past fifteen minutes.”

“Just ignore him.”

“I would, but it’s kind of hard when he is burning holes into my head.”

You huff apologetically, “God, I’m so sorry. I hope it’s not ruining your night.”

“Eh, I’m used to Potter throwing temper tantrums when he doesn’t get what he wants. He’s clearly just mad he’s not dancing with the most beautiful girl in the room.”

“Pfft, yeah right. He’s just mad that I’m dancing with you. Otherwise, he wouldn’t give a shit.”

“Can I give you my honest opinion?”

You hum in agreement.

“As I’m sure you know, I have a reputation for girlfriend stealing.”

“Yes? And?” You say, confused.

“Well, with stealing girlfriends also comes a lot of angry boyfriends. And Potter over there, he looks exactly like all the angry boyfriends I’ve dealt with, who want to beat the shit out of me.”

“Which makes no sense, because he doesn’t act like a boyfriend whenever we’re together. It’s not fucking fair. He doesn’t want me, but it’s like he doesn’t want anyone else to have me either.”

“Listen to me. I may not know what the fuck is going on with you two, but it’s pretty clear to anyone that you guys both have feelings for each other. So, as your date, I think it's my duty to end ours early. We both achieved our goals- all the girls in the room want me, and Potter can’t take his eyes off of you.”

You release a shaky sigh, “Okay, fine.”

As the song ends he releases you and gives you a wink, “Well, for now, this is goodbye. Since I’m sure you’ll be Potter’s girlfriend by the end of the night, I imagine we are going to be mortal enemies from now on. Or until graduation at least.”

You chuckle a little as you straighten his tie one last time.

“Go get him,” he says.

You stand up on your tip toes and kiss him on the cheek, “Bye Diggory. Next time I speak to you, you better be settled down with a nice girl, at 9 ¾, with your rowdy kids for their first year of school.”

He laughs and you part ways for the night. Before you allow yourself to approach James, you walk outside to the courtyard nearby. You lean up against the railing and look out towards the stars. The cool breeze fills your lungs and is comfortable against your hot skin. It’s silent except for the soft notes of music drifting out from the Great Hall.

“So, you and Diggory huh?”

You jump at James’ voice and turn to him, “Yep, and you and the invisible girl. I thought you were Mr. Hotshot, with plenty of girls lined up as possible dates?”

“And I thought Hufflepuffs were supposed to be loyal.”

You scoff, “It wasn’t personal, James. Just a silly little date to a silly little formal.”

“Bullshit” he yells, “You were mad so you went and found a date that you knew I would hate!”

“God, you are so conceited! Not everything is about you. Maybe I just liked Amos’ company. He’s not all that bad, you know.”

“Oh, so now you’re defending him? Next thing I know there’ll be wedding bells.”

“Maybe there will be. He’s funny, attractive, and actually gives me the time of day!” you retort.

“Just so he can get you into his bed, fuck you, and then ignore you after,” James shouts back.

You stare at each other in silence for a moment.

“I mean, Merlin, is that really what you want? I know it's not my place to give my opinion about who you date or-”

“And that’s the whole problem,” you interrupt.

“What?”

“James, you're my best friend. I want your opinion about these things- even if I don’t always want to hear it. It at least shows you care about me. Lately, it’s like I don’t even exist.”

“I know, I know and I’m sorry. You deserve better. A better friend and…” he steps a little closer, “a better romantic interest?”

You let out a small laugh, “romantic interest?”

“What? If this night has shown me anything, I clearly don’t know what- or who- you’re looking for in romance. And that’s on me. But I want that to change from now on.”

You take a deep breath and step even closer to him. You look up into his hazel eyes, your faces so close your noses are almost touching.

“Well, in the name of change, I guess I have to confess, I do have a romantic interest… in you.”

“And as a part of my duties as your best friend, I believe it my responsibility to tell you that… you should go for it.”

Already so close together, you merely stand on your tip toes and lock lips with James. He kisses back and puts his hands around your waist. For a second, he pulls away.

You look up at him with questioning eyes.

His grip on your waist tightens, “I don’t ever want another man’s hands here ever again. It was driving me crazy tonight, the way Amos was touching you.”

You smirk at him, “Jealous are we?”

He grunts in affirmation and pulls you in again. The kiss lasts a few minutes with you up against the railing. At first it’s fast and passionate. But with time it becomes slower and more sweet. More loving.

Eventually, you slowly pull apart. You look at him softly and ask breathlessly, “So, do you have a date to the formal yet?”

[gothwineaunts]

Wow, hello!

So, I was actually feeling pretty motivated to write this post yesterday. But things have gotten exponentially worse, and I admit the pressure is getting to me. There seem to be a ton of expectations surrounding what I should be saying here, in order to… I guess, absolve myself? As if there’s a checklist people want me to go through to perform the “perfect” creator apology. But, I don’t see the point. I care a lot about this community and I think you deserve something a lot more sincere than some hollow chat-gpt apology. I understand that that’s foolish, on my part. Things are done that way so often because they work. But what you’ll find throughout this post, is that I’m kind of an idiot about some things. I’m stubborn and hard-headed and a little bit pretentious. And so, what I’m planning to do here is to simply tell you the truth about what happened. No cherry picking. All my mistakes, but also the context that goes with them. And at the end, my formal apology. This is a long and winding tale with a lot of characters. I’m going to be sharing some usernames as we go, in the interest of clarity and transparency. You’ll understand why with the context. But please do not seek these people out. Don’t pick fights with them. It will only make everything worse, for all involved.

Cool? Cool. But first I need to address the elephant in the room. This will probably seem like irrelevant drama at first, but this is the nuance and background that I wasn’t adequately able to articulate the night before last. In more ways than one, this is a story told in twos. The first set of twos is you, the readers. Who you are, and what you’re hoping to find out in this post.

1.      The overwhelming majority of you, are earnestly wanting to understand what has happened in the Nevermore Discord. You are concerned that I am not who you hoped I was. You are disappointed, and I understand why. To you, I am so sorry. I want to say that things are not as bad as they seem, but that is not for me to decide. You will need to draw your own conclusions from the words I write. And I understand, whatever you choose to do next.

2.      And there is a small, but incredibly vocal minority of people who are absolutely living for this. They are spreading complete fabrications with no screenshots to speak of. Horrible, horrible accusations. People who are more excited about watching a dumpsterfire than they are about the series that brought them here in the first place. I’m not going to attempt to cater to those people in this post. Because nothing will ever be good enough. Everything that can be taken in bad faith will be taken in bad faith. It would be pointless. But you’ll see them in the comments and reblogs. This is a known group to not only myself, but many others. I will share some of their names in a later section so you know who to watch for. They will make a lot of noise around this post because they’ve been trying to make something like this happen for actual years. And now that I had a genuinely concerning response that good people reasonably want me to explain, they’re lunging at the chance to throw absolutely anything at the wall. It’s parasocial levels of hatred. This is some deep and horrible lore.

The next set of twos is how two things can be true at the same time. And that is exactly what is going on here, in this situation. Let me be really clear, because I don’t want either truth to be lost in my explanation as they are intrinsically linked to one another.

1.      I did a downright terrible job explaining myself in the Discord when people started asking about crimson. I can give you all kinds of contributing factors for this, and I might later. But none of them really matter. It was incredibly careless of me to use “egging them on” and “cried wolf”  to describe what I understood. At the time I was really laser-focused on expressing what happened as simply and quickly as possible because the channel replies were paused and I felt like everyone was just waiting for me to be finished with my message. But after stepping back, I immediately understood how badly I messed up, because of course these idioms are routinely weaponized against survivors of SA and CSA. That is not how I intended to use them. It was an unfortunate case of one thing looking and sounding like another thing. Incredibly ham-fisted and irresponsible on my part. To the survivors who read my words and felt that it echoed their past experiences, I’m heartbroken that I did that to you. That lapse of judgement was a betrayal to both you and me. I don’t know where my head went, and I’m just blown away by my own lack of awareness in that message. So for that I am and will continue to be sorry.

2.      The second thing that can be true is that, while you are all absolutely owed an explanation and an apology, there are also some people amongst you who are using this fuck-up on my part as a springboard to take me down.  These people have been trying to get a call out post to pop off about me for at least a year, and they have been very quick to jump into the reblogs and comments about this very serious topic with complete lies and slander. Just, anything that might stick to the wall. We’ll address this later on as well. But please understand that me discussing the harassment I’ve faced from these groups is not at the expense of me also owning up to my faults and taking the proper accountability.

And the last set of twos is one I’ve alluded to in the first sets, concerning a pair of toxic side-servers that ran adjacent to the main Nevermore Discord. Completely unofficial cliques. And invisible to myself and Flynn and our mod team. We were eventually made aware that both of them were breaking laws and Discord ToS in ways that leaked into our server and affected our members negatively. As such, both groups were mass-banned. And the cliques are the ones running a majority of the discourse you’ve been seeing here, because while they are formally banned from the discord, we have absolutely no say in their participation on Tumblr. Now, keep in mind. Both of these groups were uncovered after crimson was banned the first time. That’s important later.

Clique #1

My understanding of the first group is that it started as a gaming server for people who met one another through the Nevermore Discord. I don’t know when or why it started being used to talk shit about other readers, but I do know that it got really vicious. And it was sort of an open secret for long before I knew anything about it. I found out after that there were a lot of people passively in this server, just observing. It was that much of a spectacle.

Now, this clique had been pretty rude. Like they’d try to start fights with me in the discord fairly often, both in the Patreon and free spaces. But it wasn’t grounds for dismissal until we found out about the baiting and the alts.  These people had a lot of grievances, but one really united them: they were extremely upset about anyone who would ship Prospero.

Many of you know, that Prospero is an aromantic character, canonically. And you may notice that canonically, he has no apparent love interest. But this group wanted to make sure other readers were not thinking about Prospero in relationships, or creating ship content of him for any reason on the grounds that it would be considered a “proship.” I told them (and I stand on this) that it’s not up to them to police the thoughts of other readers, and that aromantic people have widely varying lifestyles and experiences and do not need to be infantilized that way.

This turned out to be a bad move on my part, because it brought with it an onslaught of alt accounts coming in and "innocently" kicking up what I now refer to as the “prosp-aro” debate every time they had the chance. But because of this and what a common occurrence it was, we started being able to pick out the alts. And we realized that this group of people had been using the same alt accounts with different names to antagonize certain readers they’d decided they hated, and it had gone on for a long time.

I did a lot of investigative work in dms trying to figure out who all was responsible for the harassment, and settled on a list that was vetted by three different people who knew about the clique. And all three of these people insisted that, while Laci was in the group and in a lot of the screencaps saying pretty dubious things, that she was good people. So I believe them, and let Laci stay. This group was banned on April 3, 2024, and contained the following users:

-          lilnatx (nat)

-          suitino (sushi)

-          jj_the_jet_plane (layden)

-          rivsticks (jasper)

-          atheimee (athena)

-          jinxs.com (lanx/jinx)

-          smartestginger (nico)

-          thereallandofbugs (bugs)

-          rosienemui (rosie)

These were the names they were known by on the Discord. I don’t have the Tumblr accounts tied to these identities. But some might be the same. I know a lot of them are here.  It should be noted that jinx was later unbanned due to pressure from Laci that they had been banned in error, after the fact. We allowed them back in after a few days as a favor to Laci since the situation seemed like it was very stressful for her. This would prove to be yet another a mistake since, as you have probably seen in the screenshots from the night before last, jinx rapidly escalated things to another level while I was trying to figure out how to handle crimson’s unbanning and subsequent rebanning an hour later.

Clique #2

Phew. Still with me? Great. The second group we needed to ban was one that actually started long before the first one, but was a lot smaller and comparatively more subtle. This group, to my knowledge, cropped up around the time that ep. 39 of Nevermore was released. (11/10/22) We knew about this group but not who all was involved in it or in what capacity for a very long time. They would consistently post things on Tumblr trying to start a scandal. I recall posts alleging that we were racists, or SA apologists, or that we were sending death threats to a random confessions account.

To be clear, these allegations are completely false. This clique will say anything. Like a recent post one of them put up during this discourse said that hiwi (our mod) is both a r*pe apologist and a childhood friend of mine and that’s the only reason she hasn’t been banned. Hiwi is absolutely nothing of the sort, and I have never met her in person. In fact, she lives on the other side of the continent.

Now, this clique is a little different than the first. The first, to my knowledge, was a group of friends that got toxic and felt morally superior about their opinions and it all kind of got away from them. The vibe was a little catty, I guess. Gossipy. But this clique has more of a stalker vibe. It’s dark.

They’ve had it out specifically for me for as long as I can remember. And some of them (at least one, at all times) would subscribe to our patreon, both to sow dissent in our stream chats and also to leak literally all the content back to the others, including me talking about random shit like what I ate for lunch. Just so they could like. Laugh about it, I guess. I’ll never understand why. [Editing note: because in the final moments of proofreading this post I see one of these people has made some master post about what a terrible person I am? A lot of those screenshots are from Patreon channels and the guy STILL has them laying around. I’m telling you, they stole everything that wasn’t nailed down.] 

The biggest grievance this clique had is that any ship with Montresor is an “SA fetish ship” because to them he is a r*pist because of how he made Ada bark (?) and since Montrada is canon, that means we are supporters of SA, and that Morella and Ada should be together instead. Listen, I’ll level with you, this one baffles me. I don’t even know how to begin to untangle it. But if you see a lot of vitriol about us being SA apologists from these users, it’s because Montresor exists. That’s pretty much it.

You can ask them for screencaps ‘til you’re blue in the face, but unless they build fake ones from the ground up, they’re never going to be able to back up their wild claims. Simply put, they’re provocateurs, and they use the scariest words they can to whip people up into a panic.

We became aware that they were leaking patreon content when one of them was caught publicly referring to things that were being said behind a paywall when we knew they weren’t a patron. It unraveled from there.  People who knew about their antics shared screenshots and information with us, and we finally realized the scope of the clique’s hatred and banned whoever was even left in the Nevermore Discord. But they continue to be active in the community on tumblr. You’ll have seen them around. They were banned on 5/11/2024 and the names involved are as follows (again, a mishmash of discord names, nicknames, and tumblr accounts):

- percy (gremlinguy145 on tumblr)

- queenmorningrose (annabel-lee-nevermore on tumblr)

- spoopycactus630 (spoopy-nevermore-dump on tumblr)

- grif/horrorshow (conscience-grim on tumblr)

- unreqiknizd

- duke aralt (westofthestyx)

- eden (sapphic-mad-scientist on tumblr)

- priemium

Again I’d like to reiterate. The point in sharing these names is not to incite any sort of response against these people. But they are folding themselves into the fray and doing what they can to whip everyone else up into a mob, and all as we’re talking about a discord server that they have been banned from for months now. The above context is also relevant for the next section, which is why you’re all here in the first place.

What the hell happened with Crimson?

I hope it’s not confusing, but now we’re going back to 3/14/2024, before anything I just outlined above had come to light. The cliques were quietly doing their harassment and baiting and raiding and whatever-the-hell behind the scenes, but Flynn and I and the mods were blissfully unaware of how bad it was getting. We get a dm from Laci. The same Laci who was part of Clique #1 and was rescued from being banned with the others by her friends outside the group. Jinx’s friend, who managed to get them unbanned as well. You have probably seen these screencaps already, but I will show them to you again, just in case.

Sufficed to say, we were immediately alarmed by the information Laci shared in her DM with us. Now, I want to be very clear about this because it’s been lost in the game of telephone. What Laci outlines in her dm to me, were the events that occurred between six users (including crimson) in a group chat with minors. Everyone in the evidence was censored (pfp and username), as was the image that crimson showed them. When I asked, Laci agreed to give me one name of one of the minors in the dm. I’ll call them Alice, but that is not their real name. I asked if I could talk to Alice about this, I was told by Laci, no. Alice doesn’t want to talk. I was like, ok I understand, that’s fine. 

I hope it makes sense when I say that it is not feasible for us to moderate the things that happen in peoples’ dms. As you’ve seen above, the mod team doesn’t usually get involved with drama unless whatever is happening is directly affecting the experience people are having in the Nevermore Discord because that is all we can see and the only place we have any real authority.  But this was obviously a special case. We banned crimson very quickly without asking any follow-up questions, because of course we did!? I’ve seen people say I’m harboring or defending crimson or that we’re buddies but we barely spoke, ever. They were a stranger to me then, and they still are now.

But something about the entire situation wasn’t adding up to me. And I want to be clear that none of this is in any way meant to discredit csa survivors, I’m really just trying to put you in my headspace and walk you through my thought process. But I found that the evidence was just, sort of strange. Laci started her dm explaining that she found this information out because she and a group of people were investigating crimson for ‘art tracing’ which felt, to me, like a bizarre non-sequitur and totally irrelevant next to the evidence of them showing nsfw content to minors. Petty, kind of. Like I wanted to ask – why were you doing that in the first place? People trace Flynn’s art all the time. As long as they’re not selling it, it’s not a big deal.

Most of the crops are from a PC but the windows are oddly small, and only contain a couple messages at a time. Some have American formatted time and some have European formatted time. So different users, I assume? The names were blotted out, which I would understand for a public call-out but not for a private report to the mod team. Laci was not in this gc at any point in time, despite being the one to report. 

One of the users was apparently 12, to which I ask – what is a 12-year-old doing on discord at all? If we knew who they were, we would have reported the account. Discord is not a safe place for a child that age, let alone a small group chat. Along with 18-year-old Crimson, there was also a 22- and 17-year-old in the chat, which left us wondering – why hadn’t anything been done?

I had no evidence that anyone ever told crimson they were minors, and I feel if it existed, it would have been in the screencap dump (I find that sometimes a noticeable lack of key evidence is evidence in itself). No one seems to have tried to kick crimson from the group chat or report their account for inappropriate behavior. Then there’s the fact that this is a group chat. Anyone in it can leave at any time. 

Then I came across the messages that started this whole gc, and it only got stranger when I realized Alice started it, called it “Women Lovers” and created it “so we can talk about Nevermore women without having to filter ourselves” after they all reacted to a sultry but sfw drawing of Lenore that crimson had made and posted in our hideout channel. And all that made me wonder why Alice didn’t just kick crimson, if she had admin power?  Do you see what I mean? It’s just all a bit head tilty. I noticed it at the time. But I said nothing. Because it didn’t matter. Crimson, no matter what happened, exposed minors to nsfw content. And that’s on them. And I’ve never in my life defended it. We banned them.

Crimson was beside herself. She came off humiliated and apologetic, and insisted she had no idea and begged to come back to a community she said she loved. But we told her no, there’s no coming back from doing what she did.

Time passes and we uncover Clique #1. And while we figured out who the main players were, I dmed with Laci. And it was Laci herself, who tells me that it was Alice who made most of Clique #1’s alt accounts, and that it was Alice who used those alt accounts to harass people and try to get them to start fights or say something that might get them in trouble. 

And I’ll be honest with you, the mod team still didn’t think much of it, outside of – we need to figure out which accounts were the alts. So we did. We had several confirmed to us.  And those accounts were zeroing in on certain users that the clique didn’t like. At the time we noticed two notable targets in addition to the mod team. I won’t name them, it’s their business if they want to weigh in about all that. But in screencaps, they’ll be labeled Target #1 and Target #2.

More time passes and Clique #2 comes to light. As you can imagine, by now we’re feeling disillusioned, and very tired of trying to moderate shit we cannot see for ourselves. And that’s when crimson comes back to very hesitantly ask if they might be able to appeal their ban. It wasn’t until then that it occurred to us that Laci (on behalf of Alice) was the only one who ever reported anything to us about Crimson. 

And I want to just say that again. Because it’s gotten lost too. Laci was the only person who ever reported Crimson. There was not one single other person who ever sent a modmail or a dm or even a ping to anybody on the mod team. I have since (only yesterday) seen some screencaps that are rather skin crawly, but even those happened in yet another side server. Thinking on this, the mods went back through the known alt accounts Alice had used. And they found that Alice harassed crimson both on her main account and on the same alt accounts that she used to harass the other targets.

By now, Alice is banned for completely unrelated reasons. Not because of what happened with Crimson. I’ve seen that one flying around and I’m sorry it’s just not true. It’s because she was relentlessly harassing and cyberbullying people in the discord we moderate. Laci is still there, but had lost my trust, for being involved with both the drama I’ve mentioned here and more that I don’t care to dip into. It’s ultimately irrelevant. But what am I going to say to Laci? “Hey, did you and Alice, by any chance, coordinate some kind of bizarre trap together to get crimson banned from the discord because you suspected them of tracing their art?” And once again. Because I want to keep this top of mind. Even if that were the case, it doesn’t make what Crimson did alright, and it never will. Sharing nsfw content in front of minors is a disgusting thing to do. And one that we frankly are really irritating about in the moderation of the discord. I’ve heard people say that we over-moderate when it comes to art. 

But all this stuff about a “known pedophile?” If it was known, then we were on the outs. And to even this minute right now, I don’t have any conclusive evidence that Crimson is a pedophile. The evidence I have is that Crimson shared nsfw with a group of people whose ages they did not know. Which is fucking gross. It’s an adult’s responsibility to make sure they’re speaking with other adults before posting things of that nature. 

But at the time, the way I read the situation is that Crimson had only just stopped being a minor and was egregiously negligent in how they were speaking and what they were posting, likely in part due to them not being aware enough of their adult responsibilities.  And hey. I know some of you are chomping at the bit. You can call me naïve for this! This is what I’m referring to when I say that I can be a real idiot. But I feel everyone has been very quick to call Crimson a pedophile. I know this is pedantic to say, but the prerequisite for being a pedophile is “being attracted to minors.” Based on the information I had at my fingertips, I did not think Crimson sought out these minors. Crimson was invited to the gc, they did not ask to join. 

I have seen discussions about all the things crimson did to their victims since we unbanned them but I have not seen screencaps to support that whole ‘marriage proposal’ thing, and again I think it sounds a bit odd coming as a pedophilia accusation from someone only one year younger than crimson.  

But you know what? I don’t know crimson. Maybe we were wrong. But even if we weren’t, I realize in hindsight that it was a stupid decision for the mod team to give them a second chance. We didn’t have anyone to consult about what happened because all the other people in the chat had been obscured from me and I didn’t feel like Laci would give me a straight answer. 

The mods and I felt at the time that crimson, like the other targets of Clique #1, had been singled out and that they deserved another very closely monitored chance in the discord, which they said they still missed dearly. I’m a bleeding heart, alright? A total sap. I know that. But being honest with you, I felt bad. It feels horrible to be singled out and targeted. And I was probably too close to that feeling at the time, seeing as we were on the tail end of finding out the Clique #2 had pursued me so relentlessly for so long. 

So for my part, I’m sorry. I made a rash decision that was influenced by some very personal circumstances. And we should have left it alone. Based on the evidence I've seen, I don’t know if I personally would call crimson a pedophile and certainly I wouldn't call them a known pedophile, but I am regretful that we risked it either way.

When I was trying to explain all of this in the west common room channel two nights back, things had boiled over and were already getting out of hand very quickly. A lot of brand new accounts were joining the discord with one word intros just to start conflicts in the public server with crimson. Alts. Either from banned users or burner accounts. And I got panicky. One of the mods paused the messages in west common room but no one besides me was available to handle the situation at that moment. Reacts about being silenced were pouring in and I felt pressured to quickly take over and try to explain. 

In my rush, I stupidly didn’t backread more than a quick skim. And I ate shit, y’all. You saw. One thing I want to state outright. I’m talking a lot about my thoughts and my feelings and it’s because I don’t wanna speak for Flynn or for the mods. But I didn’t make this decision alone. In fact, I was dragging my feet and being really lazy about okaying the whole thing. Just because I was busy, not because I was fretting over it or anything. But I had to be pinged and then literally tapped on the shoulder by Flynn, asking me to respond to mod chat when this was being discussed earlier that day. That doesn’t change the fact that I was part of the decision. I agreed to unban crimson. Foolishly. I understand that, now. 

I hope that now it makes some more sense though, how it came to happen. I never meant to hurt anyone. My own past and present feelings got in the way, and I own that. But in the moment, my personal intention was to give crimson a second chance because I felt that they’d been targeted by Clique #1. Not to ignore anyone’s concerns or make them feel unsafe, even if those were the ultimate outcome.  

So, completely underprepared and defensive, I jumped into west common room and I just. Blew it. Totally fucking blew it. I knew it instantly but it’s hard to stay logical when people are telling you you’re vile and evil and they’re sick that they ever thought you were a good person and that they’ll never see you the same way again. My mind went blank and I don’t really remember much of what happened next. But I said what I said, and I should have done better. 

I wish there was a word bigger than sorry. I’m beside myself. I know there was probably a way to make everyone happy. To make everything okay. But I wasn't clever enough to figure it out in the moment, and it eats at me. So it’s like I’m sorry for my poor judgment and my terrible choice of words, but there’s another layer where I’m also sorry for not matching how wonderful this community is with how wonderful (or well, unwonderful) I was two nights ago. I promise I am going to work harder to be better for you all.

Again, to every victim of SA and CSA, my heart is with you, more personally than you might realize. I don’t think I could have handled my explanation in a worse way. And I’m so so sorry.

Moving forward, I am also going to take an enormous step back from moderating and participating in the discord in general. I feel like a lot of this happened because I was still treating it like it belonged to a smaller fandom, like Shiloh’s. But realistically, I don’t have time to both moderate and make the series itself, and I really dragged my feet on being honest with myself about that. And for that too, I apologize. We’re going to get more mods, they’re going to have full control of the moderation, and Flynn and I are going to do what we love more than anything in the world and just make Nevermore.

I understand if you won’t be there for it. This is not a flattering picture I’ve painted for you. And you’d be well within your rights, to decide not to give us another chance. But it's been a pleasure to lurk here in this wildly talented corner of tumblr. And I’ll never forget it. <3 Yours truly, -Kit Trace

[gasstationlady]

GUTS | a lando norris social media au | pt. 2

pairing: lando norris x singer!reader, ex!drew starkey x reader

drew is still hung up on y/n, but the grid’s new it couple couldn’t care less.

notes: final part of guts!! thank you so much for all the love you guys showed the first part <3 and dw i have so many more smaus in the drafts! tried to write and add a bit more but i ran out of space :/ i hope the plot makes sense! i feel like bc i know how i wanted the story to go i can't rlly spot the plot holes as easily.

disclaimer: NOT PROOFREAD. let's pretend that jennifer lawrence "kym illman" picture is olivia lmfaooo. btw the events in “GUTS” sometimes does not line up with the schedule followed in real life. again, no hate to drew and, now also, to ppl on the today show aha. (CONGRATS LANDO FOR P2 AHHH)

masterlist ⋆ previously

yourusername

liked by landonorris, drewstarkey and 4,810,592 others

yourusername thanks for having me vmas!!!! <3

View all 22,504 comments

yourbestie STUNNING

user pls not drew liking her post when he doesn’t even follow her 😭😭😭

↳ user no he’s actually so painfully desperate lmaoo

↳ user i’m glad lando and y/n are just ignoring him

↳ user girl i’m not, i want the drama AHA

user love u more than anything

user lando liking and the two of them now following each other 🤔 yup him and y/n are forrr sure together

↳ user yea after the deuxmoi post and lando’s soft launch it’s basically confirmed at this point

↳ user i wonder if she’ll be attending the next gp bc i’d actually die and then come back to life if it happens

user you look BEYONDDDDD 😍😍

user are we fr just gonna ignore drew like..

thetodayshow

liked by landonorris and 67,298 others

thetodayshow It’s GUTS day! We loved having @/yourusername on the TODAY plaza. 🍒🎤🧡

We sat with Y/N to talk about her new album and recent scandals surrounding the topics of her work. “I just write songs; it’s not my job to interpret them for people.”

Tune in on our Youtube channel for extra clips of our interview with Y/N and her performances!

View all 342 comments

user SHE ATE THOSE PERFORMANCES. DEVOURED.

user some of those questions were a bit invasive

↳ user i was thinking the same thing, but y/n handled that rlly professionally

user omg how have her vocals gotten better 😭

user lmaoooooo i see you hiding in the likes lando

↳ user it’s so cute that he’s following her activities 🥹🥹

↳ user he’s probably here bc of what she said in the interview

↳ user wait i didn’t watch everything, what did she say??

↳ user so they asked how she felt about her exes being a popular topic on the internet, and so she said “I just write songs; it’s not my job to interpret them for people.” they also asked about drew and whether they’re going to get back together (which, may i add, felt a little rude to me) and y/n replied with “Those who I’m close with can reach me anytime. I tend to not focus on anyone else.”

↳ user thank you for summarizing!! doing god’s work fr 🫡

user y/n handled the situation perfectly

↳ user no bc the way she said not too much but enough to stand up for herself and her privacy

user AHAHAHAHA SHE RLLY SAID AINT NO WAY SHES GOING BACK TO DREW

ynupdates

41,086 likes

ynupdates Y/n seen arriving in Singapore!

View all 462 comments

user wait you’re lying??? actually? waaait 😭

user IS SHE GOING TO THE GP OMG PLS

user i mean i knew they were together but imagine a paddock appearance 😩😩 i don’t think we can handle it guys

user if she makes an appearance at the paddock with lando, i don’t understand why he didn’t just go as her date for the vmas too 😭😭

↳ user i doubt they wanted to hard launch at the vmas lol y/n was barely even in the audience, tbh i think she left early

↳ user y/n has said before that award shows make her rlly anxious, so yea she probably didn’t want too much attention on herself esp with all the drew drama

user did i miss something, i thought lando was still in ny? why didn’t they just travel together?

↳ user lando probs had to leave earlier bc practice started on friday, and y/n still had a few tv show performances which i’m assuming is why she arrived today instead

kymillman

51,159 likes

kymillman F1’S NEW FAVORITE COUPLE

The first driver to arrive this morning was Mclaren driver Lando Norris. For the first time he is joined with his new girlfriend, Y/N L/N, a famous Filipino-American pop singer.

For A3 prints, hand-signed & numbered by a range of drivers/team principals head to kymillman.com

View all 343 comments

user omg it’s happening it’s happening

user HEY SIRI PLAY THAT SHOULD BE ME BY JUSTIN BIEBER

user this pic should be put in the louvre that is how monumental it is

user THIS IS HOW I FIND OUT?? FROM KYM??😭😭

user first💔hard💔launch💔is💔a💔paddock💔appearance💔

user the hand holding 🥹🥹

user don’t know if i’m more jealous of lando or y/n

user damn god really out here choosing favorites

user they’re already becoming my comfort couple omg i can’t i love them so much

landonorris

liked by yourusername, carlossainz55 and 1,135,226 others

landonorris Singapore 🥈

View all 3,229 comments

user so proud of you lando!!

user AHHHH y/n cameo

user god idk if i'm ever going to get used to seeing y/n with lando

user SHE LOOKS SO GOOD

user yay carlando podium !!! 🥹

— — —

8 months later

landonorris

liked by yourusername, yourbestie and 4,475,987 others

landonorris Happy one year, love ❤️

View all 24,395 comments

yourusername there's nothing i love more than those chips

↳ landonorris 😐

user they're the reason i believe in love

user damn i think this is about to be lando's most liked post lmaoo

user the fact that he calls her love 😭😭

user luckiest man alive i stg

user how does she always look so good

yourusername

liked by landonorris, carlossainz55 and 6,788,335 others

yourusername cause i love to love, to love, to love you

View all 35,719 comments

landonorris that guy's pretty handsome

↳ yourusername very :)

yourbestie LOVE seeing you happy

user omggg i'm crying i can't believe its already been a year

user might sleep on the freeway today

user let the light in is such a cute song to dedicate to someone

user LOL not the third pic

user i love them so much 🥹

user if you ever break up, love isn't real

[ladydostoevsky]

Idk of request are still opens, but if no you can just ignore this haha.

Sooo can you do an escenario of hua cheng x male!reader x xie lian where the reader was the best friend of xie lian before xian le fell and like with the power of character backstory they knew hua cheng aswell.

That was like the context, but my request is like:

After the 800 years of previous events, xie lian, hua cheng and the reader meet again at the banyue arc(with xie lian meeting hua cheng fisrt ofc) and when they saw the reader (who ill suppose died by saving xie lian from something and u know, ✨️drama✨️) they can't belive it cus his soul should have been banished and welp. After the end of the thing (timeskip) when the reader tries to leave after helping em' with the mission, both xie lian and hua chen stop him from doing so. But why did M/N tried to leave as fast as possible? Hoho, well let's say he accidentaly inhaled a flowers scent wich had an strong afrodasic and didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of his dearest friends and tried to leave (failling miserably) and we all know both of our bois are so fricking touch starved at this point and here is where the smut makes it's presentation. (idk much about that so u can just wite it however you'd like, but reader should be the bottom oh yes hahah)

ik its a large request so if its too much just ignore me haha 😭.

A tender touch🌺

Xie Lian & Hua Cheng x m!reader

Warnings: nsfw, 18+, novel and donghua spoilers, little bit violence, breeding, m!sex

A/N: I’m not the best when it comes to smut, especially when it’s threesome so warning, this is really cringe🥲 but I hope you like it

The floor of the temple was icy, freezing, just like the atmosphere which surrounded them. Fear seeped through y/n, who was kneeling on the cold ground, before the altar of a temple on which Xie Lian was chained on. He didn’t know if he was more afraid of the creature, the monster with white half crying-smiling mask or this thing hurting Xie Lian - his prince, his best friend, his beloved. The latter. In his hand, was the little ghostfire who tried to keep them out of the temple and warn them. y/n felt pity for it.

He bowed down, his forehead touching the ground. ‘’Please. I beg you. Take me. Have mercy on His Highness. Whatever you plan to do, please take me instead of him.’’ y/n straightened himself a little and looked with teary eyes towards the white clothed creature, pleading, ‘’I beg you… punish me for whatever he has done,’’ he whispered desperately. ‘’Y/N! STOP IT! I FORBID YOU TO SAY ANOTHER WORD. YOU WILL NOT SACRIFICE YOURSELF FOR ME!’’ Xie Lian screamed. The creature laughed out loud, slowly moving towards yn, like a predator. ‘’DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM, YOU FUCKER. LEAVE HIM OUT OF THIS.’’ The Crown Prince screamed but to no avail, the creature ignored him. y/n gulped as he got closer. ‘’My my, are you a brave one,’’ he stopped right in front of him and crouched down to be on the same eye level, the little ghost still in his hand, ‘’and so stupid. Willing to give your life for someone else's sins and choices.’’

y/n eyes widened slightly after the realization. He whispered to the mask in front of him, ‘’kill me instead then.’’ The little fire started to glow even more, little sounds coming from it. ‘’Oh I will. Let’s see what face His Highness will make after it.’’ The next second Fang Xin pierced through y/n.

y/n looked at the ground, in shame and sadness. He didn’t dare to look His Highness in the eyes, or even San Lang, who he knew was actually Hua Cheng. ‘’I don’t understand…how?’’ The Crown Prince was in shock, in disbelief. Xie Lian saw his best friend being killed in front of his eyes by White No-Face. Same as Xie Lian, Hua Cheng felt some kind of betrayal and hurt, he - being a little pitiful and weak ghostfire - also was in that temple and saw everything. If he really somehow survived, why didn’t he come looking for His Highness? It has been 800 years…

‘’Tell me, how are you here? What happened to you?’’ Xie Lian asked, his earlier shock turning into a sadness. y/n looked at San Lang then Xie Lian. ‘’Did you really think he would have let me die? That easily? My life was worse than hell, a constant torture after that night.’’ He looked away from them, towards the darkness of the cave. All hidden and locked up memories coming back to him. ‘’He did that only to torment and manipulate you. And me.’’ Xie Lian let out a sight he realized he was holding. Hua Cheng’s eyes were full of sorrow. They looked at each other then back to y/n.

He looked at Xie Lian, ‘’I’m sorry, Your Highness. After that, I didn’t dare to show my face anymore. Not like the monster would have let me. I was afraid. I hated myself for I couldn’t save you in the end. I blame myself till this day. You had to go through so much because I was too weak to protect you.’’ Hua Cheng’s dead heart warmed in that moment. After all, he felt the exact same way. He blamed himself for not protecting the two when they needed it the most. But he is here now, and he will protect them for eternity, from now on.

‘’Can you forgive me, Your Highness? I understand if you don’t want to or-’’ Xie Lian gave a sad smile and moved closer to y/n. ‘’There is nothing to forgive. You did nothing wrong. It was never your fault, it was White No-Face who did this. I just wish you hadn't been there. I’m sorry you had to go through this, because of me.’’ The prince leaned closer and hugged his former friend. It took the man by surprise but gladly accepted it. The warmth of his best friend being so foreign to him. He locked eyes with San Lang who looked at him with sadness. y/n gave him a sweet smile of reassurance, for which the Ghost King smiled back.

After that the three stuck together the whole mission. y/n and San Lang got to know each other more, surprisingly they clicked immediately. Hua Cheng and Xie Lian still didn’t know how y/n survived that night. He wasn’t a god, neither a ghost so what was he? But they understood that it was not their business if y/n didn’t want to tell them.

Currently, everyone was looking for the Banyue Fern to use as an antidote for the scorpion-tailed snake’s venom. Unfortunately, y/n had strayed too far from the others. He realized it when he found flowers that shouldn’t be growing in a desert. They were bright, colorful and smelled so nicely. They were tempting. They were so very familiar…

NO! The land of the tender! They were the tender flowers that contained strong aphrodisiacs. The moment he realized he backed off. Thank the heavens that these flowers didn’t speak or he would have surely done something he couldn’t even imagine. He ran back to the others, hoping that the aphrodisiac didn’t make it to his system.

After all the hell was over and the mission completed, Earth Master Ming Yi and Wind Master Shi Qingxuan came to take Pei Xiu back to heaven realm. The gods exchanged a few words. Beside Hua Cheng, y/n felt ill. His body temperature had risen after the tender flowers. He was sweating and his knees felt weak. He holds one hand in front of his lower face to hide his reddened face and to seal his mouth. Hua Cheng turned to him, concerned, ‘’y/n? Is everything alright? You seem… sick.’’ Only thing he could do was nod his head and turn away from him.

With every passing second he could feel more sweat forming on his skin, he wanted to let out sounds he thought he could never form. He felt a painful pulsing between his legs. Seeing Xie Lian and Hua Cheng next to him didn’t help, it made it all worse. Slowly, he started to back off but Hua Cheng grabbed his forearm before he could escape. Xie Lian walked over to them. ‘’y/n, what’s wrong?’’ He walked to him and put his palm on his forehead to feel his temperature. ‘’You are burning! You must have a fewer.’’ Feeling his prince’s touch he put his hand over his mouth even harder. He let out weird noises that neither of the two understood. y/n shook his head. ‘’Gege, we have to get him somewhere else. I don’t think it’s sickness.’’

The two brought y/n to an old empty house of Banyue. They put him on the floor, making him sit against a wall. Only sound that was heard was y/n’s constant breathing. With shaky hands he tried to open his robe. ‘’Y-you two… you h-have to leave.’’ Xie Lian was first to react. He crouched down in front of him, ‘’we will not. Tell us what happened?’’

He helped y/n and tore the robe’s front open so he could get some cold air. His fingers brushed against y/n’s hot skin which made him let out a little whine. Xie Lian’s breath stuck, but he didn’t back off. ‘’T-the flowers, t-tender…’’ the arousal he felt made it hard to talk. San Lang came next to Xie Lian and put his hand on y/n’s chest, feeling his fast heartbeat. y/n wrapped his fingers around San Lang’s wrist, not wanting him to pull away.

‘’That’s what I thought,’’ Hua Cheng whispered, mostly to himself. ‘’Please…’’ y/n’s other hand made it to his hard erection. His hand was quickly replaced with Xie Lian’s, ‘’you helped us today so well, it’s only fair if we help you now.’’ The prince and the Ghost King gave a knowing smile to each other. Hua Cheng tore the whole robe to shreds, freeing the whole body beneath it free to the cold air of Banyue. Xie Lian leaned in and kissed his old friend, his- no- their beloved.

His tongue taking the lead and exploring every corner he could find. His fingers ran delicately over y/n soft pink nipples. The man didn’t see the point to hold back anymore and let out all the sounds that were stuck in his throat. Hua Cheng also leaned closer and wrapped his fingers around y/n’s precum leaking cock. He slightly pressed on to the pink tip which made y/n whine against Xie Lian’s mouth.

‘’Don’t worry, love. We will take good care of you,’’ whispered Hua Cheng. Xie Lian leaned back, a string of saliva connecting the two. ‘’Have I ever told you how beautiful you are, y/n?’’ Xie Lian said while taking off his white robe. Hua Cheng followed and his red clothing was thrown somewhere he could care less. This time Xie Lian took y/n's pulsing cock and started slowly moving his hand up and down. San Lang latched his mouth onto y/n’s sensitive nipple, kissing and teasing it. y/n moaned their names, feeling himself nearing. ‘’X-Xie Lian…nghh San L-Lang, I’m g-gonna cum.’’ Xie Lian’s other hand played with y/n’s smooth hair, ’’cum for us, dear.’’ He came without a second thought.

The Crown Prince gave him a sweet, loving smile, pecked his darling’s soft lips and started moving towards his abdomen, leaving butterfly kisses behind. He took all of y/n in his mouth, swallowing his cum in the process. With his experience in sword swallowing in the past it wasn’t very hard. He had no gag reflex.

While Xie Lian was busy with y/n’s cock, San Lang used his own precum and saliva as a lube and smeared it on his own hard cock. y/n felt his second orgasm coming. In ecstasy he grabbed Xie Lian’s hair, not wanting him to pull away. ‘’Y-your Highness…mm,’’ The prince started to run his fingers gently across y/n’s body. Being so hot, bothered and sensitive, this act threw him over the edge again and he came deep into Xie Lian’s mouth. ‘’Xie Lian…’’ he breathed out a whisper, barely hearable. ‘’Such a good boy, aren’t you? So good for us,’’ Hua Cheng teased with his low voice. The man beneath let out a desperate whine, knowing what’s coming next. The black haired king leaned closer, giving him a gentle kiss on his forehead and lips. ‘’I’ll try to be gentle.’’ Xie Lian went to y/n’s neck and started to suck marks into his skin.

San Lang positioned himself in front of y/n’s unprepared entrance and slowly entered. Feeling soft and thigh walls around him he let out a grunt, entering inch by inch. y/n let out loud cries from the pain. Tears started to drip down from the corners of his eyes. Xie Lian shushed him, assuring that everything was alright. He kissed the tears away and started to abuse his mouth with his tongue again. When Hua Cheng was finally all in, and confirmed that y/n wasn’t uncomfortable anymore, he started moving his hips. At the beginning it was slow and gentle, as time went by he started to speed up. Rocking in and out like an animal in heat.

He pulled y/n’s legs more towards him to hit that one spot that surely made his darling lose it. y/n grabbed onto Xie Lian to steady himself. ‘’Gods y/n…’’ San Lang moaned, feeling his peak coming. He pressed y/n into a mating position, to look him into his beautiful tear stained eyes while he cums deep into his gore. y/n screamed, feeling overstimulated. ‘’S-San L-Lang… p-please,’’ with a few more pumps he came inside.

After a few moments he pulled out, panting. Feeling himself coming down from his high. He watched how some of his seed tried to come out of y/n. He pushed it back inside with his fingers, smiling, feeling some kind of pride. ‘’You are so beautiful like this. Now my beloved…’’ Xie Lian moved away from his side and placed himself on top of y/n. He already knew that it was going to be a long night.

[commsroom]

circumstances surrounding the “leaked” documents about eiffel’s sentencing in need to know, as i understand them:

one of the very first things kepler does is offer eiffel, minkowski, and lovelace a drink. in true “at any given moment, kepler has about eighteen ulterior motives” spirit, it is, among other things, “hospitality”, sure, a test for eiffel, definitely, but… i think the main reaction he was checking for was minkowski’s. will she look at eiffel, or react to his reaction? how much does she know? how much does he trust her?

in don’t poke the bear, jacobi and maxwell stop lovelace from breaking into kepler’s server by pretending to be in on it with her: “she’s very good. it might turn into a problem.” / “i’ll run it by kepler.” two episodes later, files from kepler’s very secure server are “leaked.”

(the words "need to know" are spoken offhandedly by eiffel in the episode itself, but it also calls back to the excuse maxwell gives lovelace: "colonel kepler practically lives by the words 'need to know.' and, apparently, nothing i can say will ever convince him that i 'need to know' everything that's in our databanks.")

need to know opens with minkowski finishing an eleven hour shift, and then finding out kepler moved that shift to, well. now. she’s already frustrated and sleep deprived.

minkowski complains to kepler. jacobi and maxwell, on cue, barge in and complain to kepler. kepler assigns minkowski, jacobi, maxwell, and lovelace to punishment detail, taking eiffel out of the group because “you’re the only one who hasn’t wasted my time with pointless whining.” lovelace says: “um, i don’t think that i did any complaining either, so…” but that doesn’t matter. it’s just an excuse to remove eiffel from the group; he could just as easily have been singled out for special punishment. either way, it was going to happen.

hilbert isn’t there. not the most significant factor, since he’s already been effectively sidelined by kepler, but remember he already knows about eiffel’s sentencing, doesn’t care (about eiffel’s history OR about anyone else’s personal drama), and will later respond to minkowski asking by telling her to grow up and get back to work. it simplifies things to not factor him in.

consider the files themselves: we know from happy holidays that maxwell not talking to her family is common knowledge, but jacobi reacts like it’s news. we know from hera’s performance review flashback in memoria that kepler and jacobi were aware of “multiple attempted crew member homicides” in her record. the file about hera’s bentham directory was on kepler’s server. if there’s one person who would’ve been briefed on everything there was to know about hera, it would’ve been maxwell; her shock is entirely feigned. in fact, almost every reaction from jacobi and maxwell here is feigned. they’re black ops specialists who arrived prepared with divide-and-conquer tactics. there’s no reason they wouldn’t know these things. also note that none of the “leaks” reveal anything about the mission they didn’t already know, and that nothing about the si-5 is incriminating - if anything, it’s mostly silly and even humanizing. and, yes, all of that contextualizes maxwell’s reaction to “skiing?!”

eiffel’s file comes through last, once they’re already worn out. kepler sends eiffel to check on them at the same time so that he’ll walk in. jacobi shows minkowski the file. he lurks around waiting to see how her not-confrontation with eiffel goes, and then cements the thought in her head: what about you? are you going to care?

it’s true that there are aspects of the mission only kepler knows, but as far as information on the hephaestus crew goes (barring one very particular detail about lovelace)? that’s part of the job they were chosen for. when they kill the plant monster, kepler says: “you think we didn’t know about that thing? please. we listened to every log that you beamed down to canaveral.” kepler’s entire foundation is shaken when jacobi turns on him because this is how they operate: “have one person take the blame, say the mean things. meanwhile, the poor, betrayed little guy gets a bit more leeway - just enough to sneak up and hit you from behind.” the show is not subtle about any of this. you can pick apart any early-s3 interaction between two hephaestus crew members and an si-5 agent and see the same divide-and-conquer tactics at play. jacobi and maxwell are always - in morals, loyalty, job description - closer to kepler than they are to the hephaestus crew, and to even sort of believe otherwise is falling for that facade. it’s worth remembering that the hephaestus crew are prisoners. some of them were aware of it from the start, and some of them were lied to, but none of them were meant to leave. the si-5, on the other hand, went up there with a unified goal, and the knowing intention they would be, among other things, prison guards.

[hariboz]

NEW YEARS KISS

“your best friend decides to volunteer when you complain about not having anyone to kiss on new year’s eve!”

pairing: bff!gyuvin x gn!reader

genre: fluff!!, friends to lovers!!

warnings: reader is somewhat of a romantic (?), reader is also said to be a little inexperienced in terms of dating!!, a little (implied?) jealousy from gyuvin, seunghan cameo (1. FREE HIM!! HE DID NOTHING!! 2. he was the first non-jebi guy i thought of <3), they’re cute <3, this is nawt my best work i literally wrote this on new year’s eve while with my family 😭

notes: HAPPY NEW YEAR MY POOKIES!! i hope all of you have an amazing, healthy and happy 2024 🥹🫶🏻 may all your goals come to fruition!! also, i’m very excited for a new year with my jebis, may they continue to thrive and be as happy as they can be <3 also, hope wakeone burns down xoxo MWAH LOVE U ALL <33 ALSO!! i picked gyuvin for this bc some knetz are pissing me off currently with their stupid hate for gyuvin, so i decided to write this bc i LOVE KIM GYUVIN!! IF YOU DONT MAY GOD STRIKE YOU DOWN

word count: 1.6k

you don’t mind being single, really. it’s not really the ‘being single’ part that makes you feel weird, but rather just…not getting to have the same experiences as your friends. always having to sit and nod along when they talk about a date they went on, or how they celebrated a holiday with their partner. it’s exhausting being surrounded by couples all the time. they’re all your friends and you’re happy for them, but when it comes to events like this, you really wish you’d have more single friends.

new year’s eve is supposed to be fun, filled with laughter and loud excitement for the coming year — it is all that, but it’s also you watching your friends huddle together once the countdown to midnight starts, sharing sweet nothings before celebrating the new year with a sickeningly sweet new years kiss.

all while you kind of just stand there, celebrating the arrival of yet another year on your own. for those few lips-locking seconds, at least. is it a little silly to feel left out? of course, but is it really that absurd to want to experience a new years kiss just like everyone else? well, you don’t think so. gyuvin, your best friend, sees things a little differently, though.

“it’s so stupid, i don’t get why you’re so hung up on it,” gyuvin huffs past his snacking on some chips, throwing you a sideways glance. “just think about it, most of them have a different new year’s kiss every year. does that seem like something you want?” you roll your eyes, snatching the bag of chips from his hands. “you don’t get it,” you stuff a handful of chips into your mouth, “it’s romantic. it’s like saying ‘i have no idea what the new year will bring, but at least i will always have you.’ you’re not romantic enough for this.”

gyuvin just gives you a skeptic look, turning his attention back to the drama playing on your tv. it’s silent for a while, both of you a little lost in your respective thoughts until gyuvin quietly speaks up, “does it really bother you? that you don’t have someone to….” he trails off, voice a little unsure. his voice is sincere and doesn’t have the teasing tone it had earlier so you’re a little caught off guard.

you clear your throat, answering in an equally small voice, “well…yeah, kinda? i don’t know. i just think it would be…nice, for a change, you know? i want to experience stuff like that too, instead of just always watching from the sidelines.” gyuvin nods, seemingly understanding where you’re coming from, and that was that. for now, at least.

you didn’t think much of that little one off conversation, neither of you bringing it up again in the weeks that followed. though, unbeknownst to you, that seemingly unimportant conversation kept knocking at the back of gyuvin’s mind every single day. he thought about it an embarrassing amount, really. he kept telling himself that it was because he thought you were being silly, and all those times he thought about being the one giving you your new year’s kiss were definitely nothing more than fleeting, stupid thoughts. nothing more.

which is why gyuvin is so conflicted when he walks through the door of your little friend group get together on new year’s eve, bags of snacks in hand, only to see you laughing with a guy he hasn’t seen before. there’s an unfamiliar feeling bubbling in his chest and he almost involuntarily thinks back to your conversation, to the fact that you really want to kiss someone once the clock strikes midnight — and it starts to mess with his head.

he’s quickly roped into a conversation with ricky and some of his other friends, though his eye seem to be glued to you instead of the people talking to him right in front of him; his eyes drifting back to you giggling along to whatever that strange guy was talking about every few minutes, the unsettled feeling in his chest spreading all over his body. “are you even listening?” gyuvin’s attention is ripped away from staring holes in that guys head when ricky addresses him directly, ricky’s hand on his shoulder bringing him back to reality.

“yeah, sorry.” the smile on gyuvin’s face is tight, ricky glancing to where you’re still speaking to the guy and it all makes sense to him. he sends gyuvin a sympathetic look and tries to keep up the conversation, though it’s clear gyuvin’s mind is entirely preoccupied.

when the calls for new snacks start, gyuvin immediately volunteers to filling the bowls back up in the kitchen, if only to avoid his eyes from drifting back to you and the guy — whose name is seunghan, he learned — and in turn dampening his mood even further. today is supposed to be fun, why is he moping around like this?

“what did the chips do to you? you’re practically glaring ar them,” gyuvin’s head whips around at your voice, the playful smile on your face lifting some of the heaviness in his chest when he sees you standing in the doorway.

“oh, hey.” gyuvin gives you a small smile and goes back to his snack duties while trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, “who’s the guy you’ve been talking to? you bring him along?”

shaking your head you reach over to steal a handful of cheese puffs gyuvin had just emptied into a bowl, “not me, but ahrin. his name is seunghan and she has her eye on him,” you mumble, “he’s funny and they both seem to like each other.” gyuvin nods, hand absentmindedly playing with his sleeves, “you think she’ll go for the new years kiss with him?” gyuvin asks, and you can tell he regrets the question as soon as he asked it.

you just shrug silently, the sudden mention of the kiss rendering you a little speechless. “ and you? you got anyone to kiss this year?” gyuvin says in an overly sarcastic tone, seemingly in an effort to loosen the tension a little. you snort at that, “ha ha, very funny. leave me and my romantic aspirations alone,” the lightheartedness in your voice makes gyuvin relax a little, and just when he’s about to speak, someone bangs against the kitchen door, demanding your attention.

“c’mon you two, we’re playing some games,” matthew calls before rushing back to the living room. you and gyuvin share a short glance before loading up on all the snacks and following suit, excited for the mess that is most definitely about to ensue.

two screaming matches, one round of (rigged, according to hao) just dance, three bowls of snacks and dozens of tears spilt through laughter later and the almost dreaded countdown to midnight is inching closer. the couples are slowly starting to separate from the group again, looking for an area that is less crowded and a little more romantic. your high mood is slowly starting to go down, the feeling of once again being the third wheel, in a way, accompanied by this off-putting feeling of loneliness in a room full of your friends bringing the self-doubt at the back of your mind to the forefront again.

gyuvin plops down next to you, stretching his long limbs with a groan, “god i hate sitting on the floor,” he looks around, the amount of couples in your friend group only now really hitting him, “damn, is that kiss really that important?” it was a rhetorical question, really, and he was speaking to himself more than anything, yet you turn to scowl at him.

you open your mouth to go on a rant about the lack of romance in gyuvin’s mindset when he suddenly turns to you, cheeks a little flushed but eyes filled with determination, “i’ll do it.”

you blink at him, “huh? do what?” gyuvin swallows, “kiss you. give you the new years kiss you want.” it takes a second for his words to register, before you splutter at him incredulously, “what— gyuvin why would we—“

“okay, time for the countdown! ten!” you hear from the other side of the room, and panic starts to fill gyuvin’s expression. “because i want to. i’ve been thinking about it ever since you mentioned it, and—“

“seven!”

“you said it was like saying that i have no idea what the new year will bring, but at least i will always have you, right?” his eyes search for yours, his pupils shaking and you nod, still a little stunned.

“four!”

“that’s exactly i want to tell you. so please—“

“three!”

“i want to be the one to give you your new years kiss. if you want—“

“two!”

and then, it happens. you grab his face and pull him close, hesitation for just a millisecond before your lips meet right as it reaches midnight. the fireworks outside colouring the sky feel almost pathetic in comparison to the burst of emotions exploding in your chest, it’s warm and fuzzy and just feels so right.

both of your faces are flushed bright red as your lips separate, but neither of you can keep from biting back the goofy smiles spreading on your faces. before you can even begin to think of something to say gyuvin leans back in, pressing another kiss to your lips.

and another. and another…and another.

you only separate for good when your giggles break through the kiss, gyuvin’s hands cupping your face, “i’d say that was a pretty good start into the new year, no?”

[queermania]

I don't want to start drama and I don't expect you to respond to this but I think you deserve to know what's being said about you. tumblr. com/transfagbenny/738678589192552448/and-id-appreciate-if-we-stopped-using-the-terms

i actually am going to address this because this person has been lying about what's been going on for months and they've apparently been harassing other people for months if not years, so. it's time to put an end to this.

before i start though i want to make it abundantly clear that if you take this as an opportunity to do anything other than block this person, then you are trash. do not send him messages. do not tag him in things. do not harass him in any way. leave him alone. if you need to block, do so and then move on. hate mail and harassment is disgusting behavior and i don't want to be surrounded by anybody who engages in it. and if you do it on my behalf, i think you are worthless and i want nothing to do with you.

so, this is what happened: back in february of 2023, an anon asked me if i had any opinions that would get me canceled with the dean girlies. i replied, "oh now we’re talking!! hmmmm let’s see. i don’t care about benny at all. deanbenny does nothing for me. deanbenny is dust. it is dust. drowley rights forever" and i did not tag it because i'm not an asshole. bear then sent me a message that at the time i thought was funny/cute because his url reflected that he was obviously a huge benny fan. we had a very cordial exchange. everything was good. we chatted a little bit about how neat it would've been if benny had been played by a black actor and how the racism problem with gordon would've been fixed if gordon had been played by a white actor. not all of our conversation is visible anymore (and i also don't think all of it was on this post anyway) because i've since blocked him so his replies no longer show up on my posts. the point is: everything was fine. it was a good tumblr exchange. he continued to follow me. i did not follow him then or at any point.

the problem is that he kept coming onto my posts and into my inbox to try to make things about benny. that is not okay. i had already said that benny was a character (and deanbenny a ship) that i was not interested in. to me, this is an obvious boundary i've established that he repeatedly crossed. it's not an egregious violation, obviously. more than anything it's annoying. what he should've done, if benny was that important to him, was unfollow me and move on. but he didn't and i indulged him for awhile but at a certain point i thought, "okay maybe if i stop indulging him, he'll take the hint." so i stopped responding. he did not take the hint. he got worse and he even started commenting on things that he couldn't make about benny, just to willfully misinterpret things i said and taking them completely out of context. unfortunately, i don't have receipts for any of this because at the time i didn't know it was going to become an actual problem (however I have since learned that this is an established pattern of behavior he engages in, so you can probably find examples on other people's blogs).

it got so annoying, though, that i very carefully broached the subject in a private server with people i trusted. without naming any names or using any incriminating language (i.e. not specifically referencing benny), i basically said that there was someone being annoying about a specific character on my posts and i wasn't sure what to do about it. immediately, a handful of people replied with some variation of "the benny stan? he's been doing that to me too." i do have receipts of this (and an entire server to back me up) but i hope you can all understand why i'm not going to provide those or name names (or ask anyone to get involved publicly). the point is, it became apparent that i wasn't the only one and this was a pattern of behavior. i also learned during that conversation that bear has a history of harassing people and calling someone racist or a transphobe if they block him.

at that point, i decided not to rock the boat. i would just continue to ignore him and maybe he would get bored and move on. well that obviously didn't happen. he kept doing it and as a fun added bonus, he started to make vague posts about me. the thing is i don't actually care if he vagueblogs about me. it's his blog. he can do whatever he wants. it's none of my business. i mean i personally think he should've just unfollowed but, again, his blog, his choice. it is annoying that every single time he would do it, someone would send me a link or a screenshot of him doing it, but that's not really his fault. so, again, i just ignored it.

this is where we get to the incident in question. after a private discussion among a small group of friends, i posted this obviously joke poll at the insistence of @letterstothedevil, a tumblr user who has given me permission to include her in this.

the original message about the poll:

the permission:

now EYE think it's abundantly clear that the poll was a joke amongst friends, but maybe it wasn't, and i'm not going to fault anyone for not magically knowing that. i am, however, totally willing to fault someone for being a gigantic asshole. bear commented on the post and i, admittedly, gave a somewhat dismissive response because at that point i was so tired of him being willfully obtuse and twisting every little thing i said that i just didn't want to bother. he then went and made a series of not-at-all-vague posts calling me racist and claiming that i simply do not care about the racism in the show and it's obvious because i've never ever discussed it on my blog (which is a hilarious lie given that i'd specifically discussed it on my blog with him). at that point, there was no reason not to block him. he was already doing the thing that i didn't want to deal with. so i did. and i thought that would be the end of it.

again, i was wrong.

i then started to get anon messages daily about benny and deanbenny and how i'm racist for not liking benny, etc. this was harassment that EYE was on the receiving end of. nobody else was a victim of the messages i was being sent. they were sent to me and it is not my job to make sure other people are protected from the harassment that i am experiencing. i'm pointing this out for two reasons: 1. because i did try to protect bear from it for awhile anyway. i knew that people would assume it was him and at the time i was still giving him the benefit of the doubt, if for no other reason than the fact that i didn't think he could send me messages since i blocked him. and 2. because when i did finally start to respond to some of the messages, bear acted like he was somehow the victim in all of this (and continues to act that way to this day).

i don't know if bear had (or currently has) anything to do with any of the messages i get (which, thankfully, have slowed considerably). what i do know is that at no point during any of this happening did he stop looking at my blog and vagueblogging about me.

when i finally did answer a few of the messages, bear had a bit of a meltdown about it. i know this because he used a separate account that i hadn't know existed to message me and because he talked to one of my friends about it. (i'm not going to name that person but if they want to get involved publicly of their own accord, that's up to them lol). i'm also not going to share screenshots of what bear said to me because he explicitly asked me not to (it's also the reason i'm not sharing screenshots of the numerous receipts i have of the things he's said and lied about on his blog but, unless he's deleted any of them, you can go and find the posts yourselves.) what i am going to share is that in the message he sent to me, he flat out lied about his behavior. he told me he hadn't been vague-blogging about me, that he would never ever do that about anyone, and that he would certainly never harass someone (all things that i have receipts of him doing).

it took me awhile to respond to this message because i was still trying to be gracious about the whole situation. i recognize that he is much younger than i am and i think it's important for me, as a full blown adult, to take that into account. i had a private discussion with a few trusted friends about how to handle this because it was important to me to not let him off the hook for his behavior and for lying just because he's young. this is what i ended up saying:

his response was to double-down on his lies (while, hilariously, vague-blogging about me and the whole thing) and then go into victim mode about something so completely unrelated and far-fetched that i decided i simply wanted nothing to do with him ever. (this is when he asked me not to share screenshots, so i won't, but this is me saying that i have ALL of the receipts, bear, so if you continue to lie, you will not like what happens.) i blocked his alternate account and tried to ignore him.

the harassment continued. again, i have no idea if he was actually part of it. the vagueblogging continued. he started to do it to other people he associated with me. many of them blocked him because of his behavior. i continued to answer some of the hate i received, continued to ignore and/or block most of it. it got so bad that i was sent seizure bait on more than one occasion, one time bad enough that i actually ended up going to the ER. there are receipts of all of this, too. you can see on my blog the messages i've been sent. i think at one point i even shared a snapshot of what my inbox looked like. i've shared privately with friends (who can confirm if they want to, but no pressure) screenshots of the kinds of messages i get that i don't respond to. the point is, that for a period of months, i was relentlessly harassed. and at no point during this time did i say anything to or about bear (or anyone else). the most i've done is respond to messages that have been sent to me. i've largely sat quietly while this thing happened to me and bear continued to make posts about me and act like he is somehow a victim in this. he's assumed things about me and my identity. he's violated boundaries i've set. he will not let this go. and i'm not the only one he's doing it to.

i'm so fucking tired of it. leave me alone. leave my blog alone. leave my friends alone. leave any and all of the people who have blocked you for your own inappropriate and obnoxious behavior alone. that's it. that's the end. none of this would be happening if you would just respect other people's boundaries. i don't want you on my blog. i do not want to interact with you. i don't want anything to do with you. that's it. the end.

[ace-race-ace]

The delusional Danny Ric fan make me so mad. (Not a Danny hate post)

You can tell most of them are purely in for the DTS-like drama (nothing wrong with the show itself as long as you take it with a grain of salt) who don’t understand anything about reality in a professional sport.

Why don’t they fire Checo??

Because he just recently signed a fucking contract! Do you know how hard and expensive it is to break something like that? Even with the “exit clauses” the teams still have to prove without a doubt that that Checo has breached them. That takes time and money. They much rather wait until the end of the season where they might have more “proof” and get the contract broken then, much easier. It’s also a question of reputation, the team doesn’t want to lose face and seem like they drop people harshly like this out of nowhere. That doesn’t bode well for fans, investors, and employees who would rather see a strong team.

B-but they fired Pierre and Alex like that!

Because those two were nobodies back then! At their time at RedBull, they never brought in a win. And of course the car was to blame at the time but as a team perspective, they had one incredible driver that was winning while his teammates were struggling to even stay in the points. Obviously they were going to try and change things up to see if they could get a better result. Those two didn’t have a big dedicated fan base yet, at least not as big as Checo’s. So switching them wouldn’t have as much impact.

Checo has been at RedBull for a while now and has proven he can win and get on the podium more consistently. He supported Max into getting his first WDC. He gave them their first driver championship 1-2. He’s got a hefty resume with them, getting rid of him isn’t as easy. If they do replace him, they won’t do when all the eyes are on them.

Danny also has a lot of wins at RedBull, and he’s a better driver!!!

He may be, maybe not. It’s so nonsensical to try and claim that another driver would immediately be better in that car. All the f1 cars are different, feel different, drive different. You can’t know for certain it won’t take a few races for Danny to get use to the car. Which displaces a driver who knows how to drive the RB20, Checo, which gives him a better chance of getting back up to form.

It also goes back to the point of how complicated it is to switch drivers like this. Both have contracts and are going to fight for their side. Danny can’t just swoop in, sign a contract and replace Checo. Checo can push against that. He’s been a driver at RedBull for a while now, living and breathing the brand while Danny has jumped around. So it’s beneficial to hang on to him at least till the end of the season.

Ugh it’s all about moneyyyy!

Yes. Welcome to how companies work. As long as they aren’t actively losing money by keeping Checo, they will wait until it is easier to get rid of him if they decide to do so. Checo is also incredibly popular in Mexico and other South American countries (and all around the world) which gets him a huge amount of sponsorship money. Danny is also well surrounded but he’s not as adored by a big country like Checo is. His sponsors won’t be as big. The thing he has going for him is a great PR persona, and that gets you pretty far until a certain point. And again, trying to fiddle with things now would cost RedBull a lot of money, so they will wait to make their move.

Do I believe in the whole Liberty Media/FIA meddling thing? Ehh maybe? They don’t actively have the power to tell RedBull to keep Checo but they might have used their data to discourage them from dropping Checo. In the end, it’s the company that makes the decision.

*keeps harassing the team and Checo*

Please stop. The team are never going to read shit immature fans post on social media and be like “oh yeah, they’re totally right! We need to fire Checo now!”. It just makes interacting with the content they post less enjoyable. You can watch a funny video of Checo and Max doing a challenge, and go to the comments to laugh at jokes people are making but instead it’s flooded with Checo haters that insult everything from his driving, his looks, his personality, his RACE in some extreme cases. It’s so annoying, and the poor admins that probably have to comb through all that, waisted time. Meanwhile people spam shit about Danny being better. Bro, these driver are just trying to do their job. Again, Checo isn’t going to read “Danny ric is better” and be like “oh shit they’re right, let me quit the job I’ve worked my entire life for!”. It just causes unnecessary hate and pain for everyone involved. Even Danny probably doesn’t enjoy how his “fans” are handling this shit. It only puts pressure on him to do something when he knows he can’t. And he’s on good terms with Checo and team as far as I can tell but constantly harassing/hating is only going to strain that relationship.

Please have some media literacy. Stop harassing people. And stop treating this sport like fictional story.

Sorry for the rant. Had to get it off my chest. (Btw, I don’t hate Danny or DTS fans so no need to come attack me in my inbox about that 😆)

[pitchsidestories]

God, it's brutal out here II Aitana Bonmati x Reader

barcelona women masterlist

"How do I look? What if I mess up my speech and people misunderstood the message?', Aitana asked you, licking her lips nervously and playing with her already done hair.

With the most soothing voice you replied:" First of all, you look beautiful as always, love. Second of all, don't forget to breathe, the audience will understand what you're trying to say." 

"And I can look at you while I'm delivering my speech.", she reminded herself, regaining her inner confidence and calmness.

"Exactly, I'll be there the whole time."

"In a sea full of men, I can easily spot you.", the midfielder remarked while hugging you from the side, resting her head on your shoulder.

Because of your injury you stayed at home in Barcelona, watching your girlfriend and your national team succed through the tournament.

The drama surrounding the  coach Vilda was only bringing the players closer together, making the team stronger than ever before.

On the final game, Spain against England you were in the stadium, seeing Aitana and her teammates lifting up the trophy.

Now, you would be watching her being named Europes player of the year by the UEFA. Well deserved in your opinion.

You knew how much work she put into the last season at Barcelona and that she had an amazing tournament.

Even as her girlfriend, you sometimes were in awe of her playing style. So to you, nothing made more sense than her winning this award.

Aitana, however, let go of your hug, bringing you back into the dressing room in Monaco where the award ceremony would take place.

There was still a glint of nervousness in her eyes when they searched for yours. You smiled softly as you gave her a confident nod, “Come on, love. Just get out there and get what you deserve.“

Your girlfriend wrinkled her nose, “Do I?“ “Don’t even question it. You know you do.“, you laughed, knowing that Aitana just wanted to hear it again from you.

She blew out a breath as if to say that she gave in and you were obviously right when the dressing room door opened.

One woman who was taking care of the organization part of this ceremony asked politely: "Miss Bonmati, are you ready?" "Yes, I am.", Aitana replied, her excitement was not audible anymore, only visible to your eyes as she tried to smooth out her sparkly dark dress. 

A few minutes later they announced her as the winner of the female UEFA Player of the season.

With confident steps the spanish midfielder went on to the stage, knowing all too well what she would do with her moment in the spotlight.

During her speech, she paused for a moment, before continuing, letting her heart speak the words she wanted to say the most tonight:

"I would like to speak a bit about what has happened. I think as a society we shouldn’t allow abuses of power in a work relationship, as well as a lack of respect. So from my teammate Jenni to all the women who suffer the same, we are with you."

You could not help but be moved by the sentences your girlfriend said out loud in a room which needed to hear it more than ever.

But you could also tell Aitanas relief  when she returned to her seat, immediately taking your hand in hers to watch the cerenomy continue.

She beamed as you whispered into her ear:" I'm so proud of you, the men in this room but also of the world needed to hear this and I love you so much." "I love you too.", the midfielder mouthed back, not letting your hand go.

Meanwhile Sarina Wiegman received her award for coach of the year. The dutch woman ended her speech with a dedication, you personally found very admirable considering her team lost against spain in the final:

"I would like to dedicate this award to the Spanish team. This team deserves to be celebrated and deserves to be listened to, and I'm going to give them again a big applause and I hope you will join [me]."

Immediately you joined the applause and so did the other guests. You could tell Aitana was clearly moved by the female coaches words, showing a female solidarity within the women's football community.

At the after party she thanked Sarina Wiegman for her speech in person.

Silently you observed the hug between those two small women, giving them a moment of peace before their fight would continue in the following days, maybe weeks.

But before that you promised to dance the night away with Aitana because her achievements should be celebrated.

[confused-rat]

Thoughts on this?

https://www.tumblr.com/lily-orchard-stuff/757954445061570560/excuse-me-if-this-is-out-of-line-but-youve

Oh wow, really? I remember watching 6teen myself—how could I have missed something like that—

Oh. Okay then. Milestone sure, but one half the people who watched it didn’t even know about because it was censored in the US for being gay. Almost like, homophobic channel heads were still in power and creators still had to actively fight to get their untampered products on the air. 🤔

It’s almost like they’re from a different fucking country with different laws, censors, and broadcasting companies.

Does Lily not realize why exactly Korrasami was particularly praised for its LGBT inclusion?

It’s because they canonized a gay relationship when gay marriage still wasn’t fucking legal in the US.

and wow, look at that, Loud House’s first gay couple showed up after Korra.

I enjoy watching Loud House, don’t get me wrong, they really are great with their rep, but when it first started airing, Clyde’s dads were background. They weren’t the focus of the show. This isn’t some wanime snobbery — SU, She-Ra, and Owl House had their LGBT stuff front and center. Loud House also included some great LGBT focused episodes later on, and it’s sad people don’t talk about it more (maybe because of the drama surrounding the og creator, maybe because it’s a sitcom, like damn, it’s not people’s fault if they do like action stuff more).

And again, Loud House probably didn’t have to fight tooth and nail for their inclusion, correct me if I’m wrong, but the praise and flack Nickelodeon got for Korra probably gave the channel heads a good enough idea of what to expect from the public for them to greenlight Loud House’s gay characters.

So to reiterate, it took “wanime” US cartoons longer to reach a point Canadian cartoons had reach because Canada legalized gay marriages in 2005 while the US didn’t until 2016.

Also, oh my god shut up about the coffin of Andy and LeyLey, oh my god shut up shut up shut up, stop thinking that copying the art style is the ultimate mic drop on incest debates, oh my god, you don’t even really understand the characters right, oh my god.

Also, also — does anyone else think it’s really fucking weird to call LGBT rep/content a trend? She sounds like a homophobic grandmother. “All this gay stuff is just a trend wah wah wah—“

[thewayuarent]

Handling an addiction. Part 1.

Cause oh we need to have this conversation

Disclaimer: I am not a professional, and I won’t pretend to be. This is based on my personal experience as someone who is/was in several relationships with people who struggle from different forms of addiction. I want to clarify that I do understand all characters and while I’m going to critique them I do not blame them. The very important thing to remember is that it's a very complicated topic and there is no clear right answer to it. Let's keep in mind that any conversation about any difficult topic is always mostly one-sided and it's impossible to talk about everything once. This is about addiction and only about it, but all characters are way more then that one topic. Are we good now? Let's go.

So, let’s talk about Ray’s addiction and how people in his life are failing to handle it. 

The most important thing to remember is: addiction is a disease. By definition of most medical associations all over the world. Addiction is not a personal choice. And while it doesn’t excuse Ray’s behaviour throughout the show, it explains it. And this is a big difference. Ray as a character is much more than just his addiction, absolutely. But his addiction is a huge part of who he is and how he behaves and we need to constantly remember about it.

This conversation begins every week after every episode. Most people who seem to understand the complexity of his situation are also people who have a lot of sympathy and understanding towards him, and this is great. There are also a lot of people who feel towards him mostly annoyance and desire for him to stop without understanding why he can't - and this list starts from characters in the show. It’s, again, understandable. It’s also the worst thing you can do towards someone who struggles from addiction. 

So let’s start from Ray’s friend group and we’ll go from the least harmful to most harmful characters’ behaviour.

Boston. Yeah, shockingly, I know. But the fact is - Boston actually has the best-ish (from the worst so it’s not a high ground here) approach towards Ray’s addiction. And why? Well, cause he doesn’t give a fuck and doesn’t pretend to do. Boston is way far from the good support system Ray actually needs but at least he never judges Ray for his habits. He won’t help him, sure, but he won’t damage him harder (well, he is, but on a different topic).

We don’t actually know a lot about this friend group dynamic outside of their current drama and one episode happened two years ago. But we kind of can assume (cause Mew said it twice - in episodes 1 and 6) that Boston at least on some level was periodically responsible for taking Ray home. Which is really weird for me, by the way, cause both times Mew said Boston will take care of him Boston was also drinking. Not on Ray’s level, but still not in a shape to drive. But whatever. 

Don’t get me wrong, Boston is a shitty friend. He’s the one called Ray a burden in episode 1 which led to Ray rushing out.

And he intentionally targets Ray more than once towards the show about Mew, which is absolutely harmful and not helpful (can we talk about the weird obsession Boston has about Ray and Mew having sex? Like dude relax, nobody cares. Well, Top does).

He is absolutely not someone you want to have in your support system while trying to heal (not if Ray’s trying but we’ll get to that in part 2). But at least he is honest about not wanting to handle an addict. And the truth is: no one in this friends group wants to. And it’s fine, actually, more on that in a minute. But oh the level of hypocrisy the other two have.

Cheum. So, I truly don’t understand what the show is trying to tell us with this one. It’s either a clear critique on the hypocrisy people tend to have towards addicts or an attempt to show how addiction ruins not only people with it but also their surroundings. And if it’s the second one then I have a problem with how it’s shown.

There is a gold rule of cinema: show, don’t tell. We are told more than once that Cheum and Mew were actively trying to stop Ray. But what we’re actually shown is way different. The thing is, they are college kids. They drink a lot. They party a lot. And if we see this group all together they are either in university or drinking (except for the iconic pool scene). And specifically Cheum seems to get drunk pretty often. So while we’re told they tried to help Ray we’re shown only how they actually (unintentionally!!) support his behaviour or ignore it. And what should I think?

I think that they missed the point when Ray’s habits became an actual addiction. And I understand why - it’s a very easy thing to miss. I think that before his suicide attempt they did’t notice his mental struggles. I think after that they were shocked and scared and they didn’t know how to handle it so they chose to ignore it. This is a very common reaction and it’s understandable. 

The very important moment to remember is they don’t owe Ray anything. They can choose to help him and support him or not to deal with it. Handling an addiction is so hard and frustrating and exhausting for every participant. And if they choose to not get themselves into it - it’s normal. It doesn’t make them bad people, as choosing to help doesn't make somebody a better person. It’s a choice and every choice matters.

But if you make this choice - be true to it. Don’t play the “I tried to help you but you don’t want it so it’s on you” card. People with addiction didn’t choose to be that way. But people in their lives? They have an actual choice. No one will judge you if it’s not for you (at least normal people won’t). It’s honestly way better than staying only to constantly remind an addict how bad he is - he knows it already.

The thing I have to say to Cheum is - go away. It’s harsh, but it needs to be said. Don’t lie to yourself or Ray. Tell him (in very careful way) that you are tired, that you can’t handle it, that he needs help you can’t provide. Or stay, but do your research and prepare yourself to long hard work. But don’t continue to constantly drink with him to then be surprised why he can’t get better. Cheum is absolutely not responsible for Ray's actions. But she is responsible for hers. 

The one time I was almost agree with her was that scene.

Because bringing drugs was a very fucked up thing to do - Ray puts at risk not only himself but the whole group and he deserves to be called out on that. But. She continues to put all the blame on Ray - the thing she does the whole episode and it’s just frustrating as hell -  forgetting about Mew. Mew, who actually has a lot of responsibility in that situation.

Mew. Well, he does the worst thing you can imagine to do with a person like Ray. I get it, he’s hurt, I totally understand why he does what he does. I don't think he intends to hurt Ray. But.

Mew forgets a critically important thing here - can you guess which one? - right, that Ray is an addict. Mew can do all this stuff and be fine afterwards. It is always a risk that he won’t, of course, but his superiority complex tells him he’ll be fine. And I also think so - I mean, he's a young adult, he can try partying and drinking and drugs and be totally okay after.

He can turn back. Ray can’t.

Mew did help Ray in his worst moment that one time two years ago, and it is worth remembering. And after that Mew tried his best to distance himself from Ray’s struggles - again, understandable. He was trying to talk with Ray and while it was really bad - I still give him the benefit of a doubt. He is young, he’s not a specialist, he didn’t do any research and he thinks it might work.

But a moment he decides to let loose he turns to Ray for help. Because Ray will never judge him - both cause his idolisation and cause it’s not his place to judge, he does all this stuff himself. And this is absolutely terrible. I’m sorry, but it is. Mew, the same as everyone else, doesn’t owe Ray his help or time or support. But while it is not necessary for him to help Ray, it is a necessity to not actively - and this time intentionally - support him in this.

For Mew everything happening is episode 8 is a journey, a new experience. For Ray it's a fucking relapse.

He knows Ray is an addict. He just doesn’t care at the moment. But it can be so, so dangerous for Ray. Mew started this spiraling down journey, but it’s Ray who will end up at the bottom.

And for everyone who says Ray is also an active participant - he is. But he is not. He has a disease. And he gets in a situation where a person he idolises, his favourite human being, finally doesn’t judge him. Instead, Mew supports him. Mew wants to be like him. Can you imagine even a possibility where Ray in this situation says no? It’s impossible, not in the state he’s in right now.

And this is why I critisize this friend group. This is why they deserve to be criticized. Because this is a depiction of how these things work in reality too. You don't have to help him. But the least thing you can do - if you deside to stay in his life - is to have a compassion towards him and don't get him worse.

In part two I will talk about Ray’s current state and of course about the one person who kind of does the better job here - and why Sand is able to do it.

[sparklz02]

Cat Out Of The Box

[Lyney One Shot…🪄]

[Contains spoilers from Fontaine Archon Quest. You have been warned.]

You scanned him very carefully, making sure what he was saying was the absolute truth. “If this is your testimony then…I must go on with the belief and understanding that what you are saying is the truth.”

Lyney gives you his charming signature smile, “I always tell the truth Y/N~. Thank you once again for being our attorney with the Traveler.”

You shake your head and answer politely, “This is me doing a favor for my friend. I believe that you and Lynette are innocent. You guys would never hide something from me.”

Lyney chuckles and flips his hat upside down and says, “Place your hand inside my hat mon ami~.”

You roll your eyes dramatically and place your left hand inside. You begin to rummage around until your fingers feel something very soft and fragile. You grab it carefully and pull it out to reveal a rainbow rose.

Lyney flips his hat dramatically before placing it on his head and asks slyly, “When this trial is over, care to join me for dinner at Hotel Debord~?”

You reply smugly, “Riddle me this Mr. Magician. Is this dinner to celebrate victory or is it a date?”

Lyney chuckles softly and says, “Why not both mon ami~. Or would you prefer mon chéri~?”

You chuckle amusingly, “Whatever helps you sleep at night monsieur. Now I must regroup with the Traveler and Navia. Don’t miss me too much now~.”

Lyney places a hand over his heart and wipes away fake tears with the other, “The idea of being away from you is already enough to hurt my fragile heart!”

Lynette walks in and sees the whole situation and looks at her brother with disgust. She grabs him and speaks to you in a gentle tone, “We won’t be bothering you anymore Y/N. Thank you for helping us.”

She begins to drag Lyney away by force and he whines, begging for Lynette to let him talk to you for a few minutes longer. You giggle at their unique interaction and walk away to regroup with the Traveler and Navia.

🎩🪄🎩

“And you didn’t hear anything else at all? Nothing that might leave an impression of any kind?” The Hydro Archon asks curiously.

Lyney replies with certainty, “No, nothing.”

Time begins to slow as you have come to a realization. You look down at the papers that contain his testimony and the evidence that you have gathered along with Navia and the Traveler.

‘Oh no….’

The Hydro Archon’s expression hardens, “I see, but when the count reached thirty seconds or so, there was a thud—one so loud that I believe practically everyone heard it.”

Lyney was stunned, “Huh!?”

The crowd began to whisper among themselves. Some even had the courage to speak up and testify that the Hydro Archon was correct and there was a thud. You drown your surroundings with the heavy thoughts that invade all of your senses.

You were left in disbelief that Lyney, who you were very close with, lied to you. You began to wonder what else he lied to you about.

The Hydro Archon drops another bomb, “Tell me. Aren’t you and Lynette actually from the House of Hearth?”

Another jab to your heart.

Lyney responds calmly, “That’s irrelevant. Our identities have nothing to do with what happened.”

Your grip onto the papers tightened harshly. The Traveler and Paimon were also left stunned. The crowd slowly gets out of control but Chief Justice Neuvillette quickly demands order.

Neuvillette asks Lyney calmly, “Are these claims true Mr. Lyney?”

Everyone held on to their breaths, waiting anxiously for Lyney to either confirm or deny the claim. Regardless of the answer, more thrill would be added on to the spectacle of the drama that was slowly unfolding in front of them.

Lyney sighs defeatedly and replies sadly, “Yes, they’re true your honor.”

The crowd began to whisper excitedly at the revelation and began to mock Lyney and Lynette. Some even took pity for you and the Traveler who were equally shocked by this newfound information.

Your heart shatters and you begin to shake slightly in anger. The Traveler was also hurt by this deceit and quickly requests for a brief adjournment.

Neuvillette nods understanding the situation, “This trial will reconvene in one hour.”

🎩🪄🎩

All five of you walk into a quiet space and stand there in awkward silence. Paimon and the Traveler cross their arms in disbelief, waiting for the twins to explain themselves.

Your mind was scattered, you weren’t sure if you were defending innocent people anymore. You didn’t have the heart to look at the twins who you held dearly to your heart.

Lyney quickly speaks to break the awkward tension, “I’m sorry—”

You couldn’t take his apology and slammed the papers on a nearby desk and left the room. Everyone flinched at your behavior and watched as you left. Lyney tried to go after you but the Traveler blocked him and looked at him disappointedly.

You left the four to converse if they even managed to get that far. You sit down on a sofa and cover your face with your hands. You sigh shakily as you try to cool your head and look back to the trial and the evidence you found and attempted to find the truth.

After fifteen minutes of recollecting yourself, you felt someone sit next to you and place a hand on your right shoulder. You tear your face away from your hands and look to the side to see the Traveler who had a sad smile.

They ask cautiously, “Are you alright? It’s ok if you want to drop out…”

You exhale deeply and fix your posture, “I’m assuming the twins gave you their true testimony?”

The traveler nods slowly. They retract their hand from your shoulder and say hesitantly, “The twins would like to see you…if you’re fine with it.”

You answer firmly, “I’m fine with it but before that, lay it all out for me. What’s our new evidence that we must present?”

The traveler updates you on the situation and you two brainstorm briefly before reaching a conclusion. The two of you begin to walk towards your designated room.

As you enter, Paimon’s eyes light up in joy and cheers in joy. The twins however looked away in shame. You ask the Traveler and Paimon, “Could you give us some privacy?”

The Traveler and Paimon nod and begin to leave you with the twins. When the door finally shuts close, you look at the twins and cross your arm and give them a sharp look of disappointment.

“How long were you two planning on hiding this information from me?”

Lynette looks down and whispers, “We are truly sorry Y/N…”

Lyney holds onto his hat tightly and also looks down but doesn’t say anything.

You shake your head sadly, “Was our friendship a lie as well? Did you guys become ‘friends’ with me for ulterior reasons?”

The twins quickly look up in shock and shake their heads. Lyney quickly spoke up, “No! Our friendship isn’t a lie! We just….”

“You just what?”

Lyney couldn’t continue his sentence and goes back to finding interest in the floor, same goes for Lynette.

You sigh, “I admit that I can understand why you guys wouldn’t admit this to me. But I want to hear it from the both of you, not from our archon, and not from the Traveler, and whoever else knows of your identity. From you two.”

The twins look at each other hesitantly and finally meet your cold gaze. Lyney holds onto Lynette's hand and answers firmly, "Lynette and I belong to the House of Hearth. We have no ill intentions and only wish to seek a solution to the prophecy that is threatening Fontaine and its people."

Your gaze softens and you sigh, "Well, I'm glad there was no resistance and the truth has been revealed."

The twins look at you anxiously waiting for you to say more. You quickly replace the soft expression to a more serious one, "I will still be your attorney. With the new evidence given to me by the Traveler, I still believe that you two are innocent and that there is something more complex going on."

The twins look at you in relief but before they could celebrate you said, "However,"

They became stiff at the sudden continuation. You continued in a serious tone, "After the trial ends, I wish for us to start all over again."

Their expressions drop. Lyney speaks in disbelief, "But why? We don't have anything else to share so why–"

Lynette tugs onto his arm gently, signaling him to shut up.

You replied seriously, "I feel very betrayed by what has transpired. I believe you two are innocent but only because the facts support this conclusion. My trust is…"

Lyney sighs and gently tips his hat, "I understand. Things could've been worse I suppose…"

Lynette replies quietly, "We perfectly understand Y/N…"

You place your hands on your hip and quickly change tune, "Seems like our time is up. Let's go show everyone and the oratrice that you two are innocent shall we?"

The twins nod and you add in a cheerful tone, “Don’t be too sad. Once this trial is over…how about we start our new journey over a meal at Hotel Debord~?”

[espresseo-cafe]

life is still beautiful | johnny | ch.1

genre: cappucino, romance, angst, university!au, dad!au, drama, slice of life

pairing: collegestudent!johnny x fem!reader

bean count: 4k

a/n: i’m so excited to be sharing this with you! it has been in the works since 2020 on and off and omg i can finally post this fanfic. this whole series has mentions of characters from different groups other than nct- red velvet, dreamcatcher, seventeen, sf9, etc to avoid confusion with people of the same name! note: this is only a work of fiction, it doesn’t reflect the artists’ personalities in any way.

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growing up, the continuous tingling feeling whenever you see your parents arguing at the end of your hallway always broke your heart. the raised voices, objects getting thrown around, and the banging of slammed doors against the doorframe deafened your ears. you remembered you had to knock on every single apartment on the floor; same, above, and below- to apologise the nuisance your parents caused. some with good hearts would understand out of pity for you, others would provoke to kick your family out of the building. so far, you’ve made it to several years without any notice from the landlord.

with that background, there weren’t any doubts that it affected the way you perceive everything in life. silence overpowered the joyous you like a large coat, it has been that way. the younger you wouldn’t understand the clash of your parents. the younger you wouldn’t know the problems they had. most importantly though, the younger you wouldn’t receive any love or support from them at all.

it was like you never existed.

as you hit the eighteenth mark, you’ve made the bold but practical decision to move out. the toxicity they emitted were too much for you to handle. with every penny or dime you’ve been saving everyday since you were twelve and some extra cash from various part time jobs since you were sixteen, you had your small carry on luggage packed and left first thing in the morning one summer. a dilemma kind of held you back whether to leave a note for your mom and dad, only deciding not to and tell them not to find you.

if there was anything you were blessed with even if you were put in a dire situation of a broken home, you had to pat yourself at the back for never failing your grades. just average and sometimes in the honorable mention’s list. thanks to that, you’ve secured a place at a university far from your family home.

and of course, choosing a location far off was more than intentional.

the first few months were a challenge, the surroundings took you sometime to familiarise. adjustment was never an issue though, running away from home was worth the change. as you expected, your parents didn’t bother to look for their only daughter. scoffing at the past, you realised it had almost been three years since you left.

making friends was easy too, to your surprise. known as the loner and depressed type in high school, you tried to change yourself a bit and managed to befriend a new crowd of people. of course, you were discerning on people who are worth to befriend, not the ones who’d waste your time. one of them being kim yoohyeon, who’s now your best friend and roommate.

“y/n, i’m going out to the store, want anything?” she asked while putting on a cardigan.

you hummed and rolled your eyes playfully, “hm, two packs of ramyeon and chips. you’re paying alright?” she threw a crumpled ball of tissue at you, gasping at the very direct response. “what? it’s two in the morning and i’m helping you pull an all-nighter for your fashion thesis due in two months and a half. i deserve a treat. be thankful i don’t have class tomorrow and that my part-time’s in the afternoon.”

“okay fine.” she dramatically slouched her shoulders down, “be back in a jiffy bub!”

as the door closed, you sighed and stretched your almost numbed body. yoohyeon’s project was half done, just needed a little more tweaking and you could say hello to a convenience store feast.

yoohyeon was the first person you met at orientation, she seemed to extract innocence at first glance. though as you got to know her, she was a meme in real life who possessed extreme talent in singing. you and her clicked, she had problems in her home but they were immediately managed. so she was all smiles from ear to ear. it was something you were envious of; to have a healthy relationship with parents, however, it wasn’t working with you at all.

sometimes you wondered how it felt like, to have someone love you like family. your aunts or uncles would message you to check on you, and whenever they brought your parents up, you shoved down the topic back to its grave. it’s dead conversation anyway. the latest update you heard from them was two years ago. they still lived in the same damned roof where they argued a lot, you wondered why they were still stuck to each other like glue. the only difference was that your dad worked the night shift while your mom on the mornings. so they probably never see each other eye to eye.

when they did though, all hell broke loose.

you were brushed off your thoughts when yoohyeon opened the door, “okay, here’s your food, time to pig out!”

“finally, i’m starving.” you had the hot water boiling before she arrived, immediately putting the ramyeon in the pot.

“so,” she started, opening a bag of potato chips.

“when are you planning to date? it’s been theee years since uni started and i’ve never seen you on dates before.”

you pressed your lips into a thin line, “not right now.”

“why not? you’re pretty, you can cook; you’re even taking an early childhood education course, specifically in special education.” she plopped one into her mouth and chewed shamelessly, “i bet you’re good with kids too.”

“so apparently that makes me an ideal girl?”

“an ideal girl worth to have!” she exclaimed, later reaching for your unlocked phone. “guess what, download this app and go have some fun.”

���if that’s tinder you’re planning on brainwashing me with, i’m not interested.” you joked, mixing the sauce and toppings with the now cooked noodles.

“you never know, it might work.” she singsonged.

you sighed, yoohyeon has been pushing you to date because she felt like you were like a hermit, always stuck in your own shell and would only go out if needed to. not that you were interested, you just wanted to get school done and make a stable living. love will come anyway.

she clicked on the app store and downloaded a trendy app named ‘love click’. “it’s an app solely made for university students within the state. kinda like tinder but you play anonymous with a made up nickname, no one will know how you look like.”

you raised a brow. “that’s dangerous than tinder, y’know?”

“this is different, they can detect fake accounts and do a facial recognition. anyway, once you put your actual photo and real age, it will automatically pair you with others similiar with yours; interests, and hobbies. then it will change your face to a random avatar if ever you do a video call.” she tapped away. “that’s how i met hwang minhyun.”

“eh, i still think it’s risky. besides, you just got lucky. you scored a hottie.” you slurped on the noodles. “i could never.”

“just try, you could always quit and they’ll never find you. and who knows? you might even receive the whole package.”

you sighed, “okay fine. i’ll do it just once, for you alright?” you finished the rest and threw the excess soup away. “i’m not doing any after that.”

“cool! all your details are in here already. let me know if someone messages you.” she gave you a playful wink before working on her project once again.

—

johnny stretched his limbs after a quick power nap, he haven’t had enough rest since he was on the clock 24/7. he turned to his side to check the time, sighing a relief when it was only 3pm. as if it was waiting for him to be awake, a text message from his mom appeared on the screen.

[ mom] : “don’t forget to eat, my dear john. you’ve got two mouths to feed ❤️”

johnny smiled at his mom’s reminder, he was relieved that the messages were reduced to a low, knowing how protective she was.

a loud thud on the floor made johnny stand on his feet and rush to the door next to his. his worried demeanor soon changed to a soft one when he saw a little smile beamed at him from the ground.

“youngmin-ah, what’re you doing on the floor? did you hurt yourself?”

the child just giggled, softening johnny’s heart every single he did so.

he remembered the night when the almost two year old came into his life. it was a rough beginning, but he managed himself and was proud how he actually did while still in school.

his friends were in full support of this unexpected scenario and would take turns in looking after the child while he worked the night shifts at a café. like any other people, his friends were in doubt at his decision of bringing him to lectures.

johnny again proved them wrong.

what surprised them wasn’t how the baby managed to be quiet in all of the classes, but how johnny effortlessly handled him if ever a fuss was made. kun recalled that in one of their exams in biology major, johnny had the baby cradled in one arm as the other wrote the quiz. the professor wanted to hold the baby boy while johnny did the exam, but young man refused to, saying that he could handle it. he wouldn’t want the baby crying in a stranger’s hold while everyone was so stressed for the exams. adding that the baby’s wails would be a distraction.

he became viral at the university page when a photo of him feeding youngmin a bottle of milk, that certain scenario made girls want him as a husband. sometimes they would stop by to say hello to him and the child.

“dada.” johnny smiled at title, the little toddler fiddling the bottle in his hand while his feet stretched up.

“seems like you’re alright.” he poked his nose, earning a giggle from the two year old. “i still have to check any injuries. say youngmin, your birthday’s coming up soon. what would you like?”

youngmin hummed, as if he understood the question clearly.

“well?”

“mama.”

johnny was caught off guard that he tickled the little toddler as he smiled. “buddy, you already have a mama though.” his phone dinged, indicating an incoming text message. “speaking of her, she just texted me.”

[ kim minji ]: sorry babe, couldn’t make it tonight for dinner. i got singing rehearsals.

[ johnny ]: it’s cool. how about tomorrow?

[ kim minji ]: i’ll see first, pretty busy.

he put his phone back into his pocket, sighing at the same excuse his girlfriend gave. he didn’t want to overthink but it had been like this for a while, he wondered if she had fallen out of love. shaking his head, he shrugged off the thought to the back of his mind.

youngmin turned his full body to the side before standing and climbed onto johnny’s kneeled figure, the bottle still in between his baby teeth. “mama, where?”

“she’s not coming home tonight. maybe some other time.” he ruffled youngmin’s soft hair, eyes closing due to exhaustion. but then the little toddler smiled and patted his cheek and johnny wrapped his arms around the little frame. “come on, let’s get you dinner, we’re having your favourite!”

“lasagna!” youngmin put arms up, and johnny could melt anytime.

“hey you said it perfectly this time! well done my so-“ he paused as his phone dinged, a snapchat notification from taeyong appeared on the screen. making the toddler tilt his head to why the young man stopped mid-sentence. “let’s go to wash your hands alright?”

while youngmin nodded then hopped away towards the bathroom, swiping to unlock his phone, a snap video that his said friend sent made his eyebrows meet in an ugly mood.

[ taeyongss ]: bro is that jiu? your mj?

it was his girlfriend giving a lap dance to someone he couldn’t seem to recognise due to the flashing lights, she was enjoying it and the shocking thing was, she wasn’t drunk at all.

kim minji, his girlfriend since senior high, had a few names labeled on her. one of them was jiu (pronounced as ji-yoo) a nickname everyone called her in school, being one of the main solos for the choir.

some of the juniors called her a pink princess because of her obsession with the said colour. owning almost everything in it.

and mj was a form of endearment that only johnny used. his expression changed from a smile to a frown, throwing his phone on the bed that it bounced off and landed on the ground; earning his phone a crack on the screen.

“dada?” youngmin peeked through the bedroom door. now it was him to hear the thudding sound. “happen?”

johnny jumped a little seeing the child standing by the door with a towel in his hands. “my phone fell. come on, let’s eat.”

lasagna was a favourite dish youngmin adored eversince he brought him to an italian restaurant. meatballs were a favourite too, but something about lasagna topped it. as youngmin was busy making his hands dirty, johnny called his mom at this hour, she was probably home by now.

“ah my love johnny! i’m glad you called, what is it?” her voice still bright and lively.

“um, i was wondering if i could drop youngmin off tonight?” he played with the fork. “taeyong messaged me and i think i need to have a drink and hang out for a bit.”

his mom’s soft laughter brought relief to his ears, “oh sure my dear, your dad and i could need some company. it’s been quiet around here since you’ve grown.”

johnny smiled at the reply, “great, we’ll be there in ten.”

“see you later.” she singsonged.

after dropping youngmin off, he made his way to the bar where his girlfriend was. everyone who met johnny knew that he could be reckless when someone crossed over the line, who knows what scene he’d make tonight?

“johnny.” taeyong called out after seeing him enter the bar, johnny walking towards the bar where his friend was stationed at. “please don’t make a scene. my boss let you off the hook the last time you broke loose.”

johnny’s eyes scanned the area, looking for mj before looking at back at taeyong. “don’t worry. i won’t. this johnny won’t do anything.”

“better keep your word. she’s by the corner over there.” taeyong pointed with his head, “she’s been here for the past three months. good thing i’m the only one from campus who has seen her. if anyone else did she’d lose her solo spot at the choir. so called ‘angel’, huh? no offense.”

“none taken, but thanks bro. see you later at the dorms.” johnny said, then he walked through partygoers, the blasting music was deafening so much he hated it.

“i know right? he’s such a sweetheart.” mj said to her friend as she patted the guy’s shoulder who she danced with earlier. “i’d love to-“

“mj.” johnny’s cold voice rung in her ears, sending shivers to her spine. what is he doing here? “i’m guessing rehearsals ended early or it never existed.”

“babe i-“

“ey johnny suh!” the guy seated next to her greeted him drunkenly, the more he looked closer in the dimmed light, his blood boiled. “haven’t seen you since you had a baby! minji has been great to me recently.”

it was his high school rival, takuya terada.

“we’ll catch up soon won’t we?” johnny said sarcastically. takuya wouldn’t know anyway, his vision probably already blurry to even comprehend a straight conversation. he looked at minji, who averted her gaze towards him as she rolled her eyes. “we need to talk, outside.”

he took her by the wrist and he didn’t care if he was hurting her. she hurt him first; for a while now actually. he just had to put up a front before he vent out when they exited the bar.

“what the hell, minji.” he threw his grip away, minji holding her wrist and tsk-ed at the attitude. “is that why you’ve been missing out lately? you were cheating on me with takuya?”

“missing out? johnny you’ve been missing out too!” she raised her voice, “i don’t know if you have noticed but it’s been straining on the both of us recently!”

“so your solution was to hang out with another guy when you could’ve voiced out to me about your feelings? mj, we’ve talked about this!” he wiped his face frustatingly. “i don’t think-“

“i don’t love you anymore, john.” she said blankly, her face didn’t emit any pain she felt, it was like she wanted it out there. “that’s why i’ve been ‘missing out’.”

“you don’t.. love me anymore?” johnny stood in shock, his voice shaking a little.

“i fell out of love. i’m sorry.. i’ve been planning to tell you but i couldn’t.” she hugged her arms. “i didn’t want to hurt you.”

“my gut feeling told me there was something up. i was hurt just thinking about it. i don’t know but somehow i knew it all along that you were out of it. i didn’t bring it up because i held onto hope and believed my guts were lying that you cheated on me.” he said, his hands rested on his hip. “turns out i was right.”

“i’m sorry.”

“save it. i’m not hurt at all. maybe i just had to come here to confirm if it were true. you can live with that guilt that you’ve broken me already before you even said anything. i’ll raise youngmin myself. we’re done.”

johnny walked away while the cold wind sliced through his cheeks. usually in a breakup, one would break down. him and minji dated since high school, and there were on and off arguments here and there. they would always make up through talking, but to be told that she was cheating on him by another person sure sucked. he’d rather find it out himself and vent out right then and there.

guess this timing was actually better. though he told minji he was broken, he was actually so much more than that. he expected to at least shed a tear, he didn’t, for youngmin’s sake. even though he felt like an elephant was lifted off his shoulders, his heart was anchored deep below.

he felt so heavy with betrayal that his heart ached so much in a way he didn’t expect.

he wanted to break down so bad.

the door swung open of his family home and youngmin screeched a high pitched tone loud enough to startle the old man beside him, who was reading a newspaper. “oh john’s back.”

“dada.” the little one ran towards him, hugging his long legs for a second before johnny picked him up. “back!”

johnny’s mood changed like a shooting star whenever youngmin’s in sight. “hey little buddy! i’m back, i had to meet a friend earlier.” he kissed his cheek, “were you good to granny bear and papa bear?”

“he was an angel, john!” his mom gave her son a quick peck on the cheek. “who knew you could raise him very well? plus singlehandly!”

“he got it from me, my dear.” his dad took the chance to say, “are your studies going well though?”

“still a dean’s lister, dad.” johnny’s ears tinted a light shade of pink.

“that, he got it from me.” his mom winked at his dad, who scoffed at the remark. “where’s minji? you haven’t brought her here for a while.” the look on johnny’s face was too readable that his mom knew in an instant.

“we broke up. she had another guy behind my back.”

the sudden snickers from his parents left him in question, were they laughing? “great ‘cause we didn’t really like her for you!”

“really?.. wait, what?” he asked in disbelief, “anyway, i broke it off and i kinda knew she was out of it already.”

“took you a while to realize it, john.” his father just sighed, “are you going to get a new one?”

“what? no.” johnny chuckled awkwardly, “anyway we’ll take our leave now.” johnny shook youngmin a little before his parents bid them a goodbye. he walked towards his car and buckled him up. “ready to go, buddy?”

“ready.” he wiped his eyes, sleep covering him very soon. “music please.”

“which one?” johnny asked as he set the rear mirror to get a good look at him, knowing well what youngmin was going to say.

“coldplay!” they said simultaneously.

“now that, you got it from me.” he laughed heartily while they made their way back to his shared apartment with taeyong, jungwoo, and kun.

the clinks of the apartment keys had the boys look up from their game on playstation. jungwoo sighing frustratedly when kun defeated him thrice in a row. “seriously? you’re cheating, kun hyung!”

kun stretched, “clearly not. you’re just a bad player.”

“could one of you dumbasses get the kimchi from the table?” taeyong shouted from the kitchen, only to be greeted with youngmin having the wanted side dish in his tiny hands. “see, youngmin just got here and he did a better job than you two!”

“it’s loud in here, damn.” johnny took his shoes off while youngmin had his phone in his hands.

kun sat on one of the couches, eating the kimchi fried rice taeyong just made. “so you met up with minji, how did the dinner go?”

taeyong nudged the younger boy, and jungwoo looked confused. johnny couldn’t blame the two, they didn’t know what actually happened. “these two lovebirds called it quits tonight.”

“what!?”

“yup.” johnny popped his lips, “takuya terada”

kun’s eyes widened, “like.. takuya from high school?”

“they suit each other anyway, the biggest flirts of ____ high.” jungwoo chewed on a kimbap. “no offense.”

“none taken, i feel relieved anyway.” he sat down spotting taeyong busy typing on his phone. “you still looking for girls on love click?”

“well yeah, someone should at least find me attractive.” he replied.

jungwoo snickered before choking on his food, “as if anyone would see your face through a filter system on the app. just what is the university thinking?”

“ha, wait until they see this handsome thing for real.” he turned to johnny, “bro you should try looking for new love, you’re in need of it right now, you know?” taeyong locked his phone to continue eating the almost midnight dinner.

“please, i’m still freshly ‘heartbroken’, don’t tempt me.” johnny rolled his eyes.

“mama.” youngmin shook the huge phone, a selfie of johnny and minji flashed the screen.

“not mama anymore.” he told him, then youngmin clicked on another app.

“mama.” he showed them the love click app; the color scheme of red and pink caught his attention. and johnny scrunched his brows, the other three smirking at each other.

“seems like he wants a new mama.” kun teased, earning a death glare from johnny. “what? that whole daddy look of yours is attractive to almost every girl in campus. just wife someone up already!”

shaking his head, he couldn’t believe the encouragement from his friend. “too soon my bros.” johnny chuckled, “maybe i’ll give it try after a few weeks or so.”

johnny sat by the bed while youngmin slept with his sausage pillow. now that he thought about it, the little boy hadn’t seen minji in months. it was obvious that he’d look for her. but what he didn’t get was that he showed love click; a dating app he didn’t remember installing.

“mama.” he recalled youngmin say.

he dimmed the lights and sat beside youngmin, patting his bottom gently as he drifted away into slumber, he too was getting sand in his eyes. he pressed his lips into a thin line, halfheartedly created an account just in case he really needed it.

“this is stupid.”

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taglist: @titanmaknae29 @joepomonerof @lovesuhng @studyingthemind @cheyehc

[acute-crashout-jeyuso]

Between the Ropes.. a Jey Uso x Rhea Ripley Fanfic.

Chapter 23: Words...

October 5th, 2024. 1:31 PM.

Jey kissed Rhea softly before heading off to catering, where she had requested brownies. He couldn’t help but smile as he walked away, feeling the warmth of their connection. Their relationship had been through hell, and now, despite the noise around them, they were pushing through. As he made his way through the backstage corridors, Jey bumped into Bayley, someone he hadn’t had much interaction with before.

Jey offered a friendly smile and a casual wave, but Bayley’s response was anything but cordial. Her expression twisted into a look of disgust, and as she passed by, she muttered, “Cheater,” just loud enough for him to hear.

Jey froze for a second, biting his tongue. He’d been hearing it more and more lately, and it still stung every time. The backlash was still very real and he prayed silently it would go away quicker than later.

He shook it off, reminding himself why they were doing this. It was for love, for something real. Still, it hurt. Jey continued walking, forcing himself not to look back.

When he reached catering, the familiar smell of freshly baked goods filled the air, temporarily soothing his frustration. He grabbed a couple of brownies, the ones Rhea specifically asked for, then threw in a few extra snacks just in case.

As he stuffed them into a paper bag, Jey took a deep breath. He wasn't just dealing with public judgment—he was navigating it while trying to move on with his life. For the kids, for Rhea, and for himself.

Walking back, he couldn’t shake Bayley’s words entirely, but he knew that he had to keep pushing forward. Rhea was waiting for him, and for once in a long time, that was all that mattered.

Jey continued on his way back from catering when he spotted Cody Runnels, better known in WWE as the "American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes. Unlike many others, Cody had been one of the few who remained friends with Jey, sticking by his side even after all the drama surrounding his relationship with Rhea and the divorces.

“Hey, Uce!” Cody called out with his usual upbeat energy as they crossed paths. Jey smiled, grateful for the friendly face, and they gave each other a quick hug.

“Cody, what's up, man? How you feelin' about tonight?” Jey asked, shifting the bag of brownies and snacks in his hands.

“Man, I'm hyped,” Cody grinned. “Going up against your brother and your cousin Jacob? This is a big one. I've been preparing like crazy. You know how it is, gotta stay sharp against the Bloodline.”

Jey chuckled. “Yeah, my family don’t play. You’ll be in for a fight, no doubt.”

Cody raised an eyebrow, curious. “Speaking of family… what are you doing here? I didn’t see you on the card for Bad Blood. Thought you’d be back home or something.”

Jey hesitated for a moment, wondering how much to say. Cody wasn’t the judgmental type, but Jey had gotten used to being careful about what he shared, especially after everything became public. But Cody had stuck by him, even after the TMZ headlines and all the backstage whispers.

“Honestly?” Jey started, then shrugged, deciding it was better to be straight with him. “I’m here for moral support—for Rhea.”

Cody gave him a knowing nod, a slight smile creeping onto his face. “Ah, I see. That makes sense. She's got a big match tonight, huh? Liv Morgan, right?”

“Yeah, title match.” Jey smiled softly, thinking about how focused Rhea had been. “She’s ready, but you know how it is. Being here means a lot to her.”

“I respect that, man,” Cody said, clapping Jey on the back. “Rhea’s lucky to have you in her corner. It’s tough to juggle everything, but I see you're doing what you gotta do. Not everyone would understand, but I get it.”

“Thanks, Uce,” Jey replied, feeling a wave of relief. Cody's words hit home more than he realized. “I appreciate that.”

Cody tilted his head with a grin. “No problem. Next time? Bring some of those brownies to catering for me, man.”

Jey laughed, feeling a bit lighter. “You got it, Cody Hakeem Rhodes.”

With that, they said their goodbyes, and Jey continued on his way back to find Rhea. Running into Cody had lifted his spirits, reminding him that not everyone was judging him for the path he’d taken. He knew the journey wasn’t easy, but moments like these made him feel like he could handle it all. Rhea was waiting for him, and that’s where his focus had to stay.

As Jey approached Rhea’s locker room, he saw that the door was wide open. Anxiously, Jey stood at the doorway, his heart skipping a beat as he took in the scene before him. His cousin Savelina, known to the world as Nia Jax, sat with a knowing look on her face. His younger brother Joseph, aka Solo Sikoa, looked a bit more stoic, arms crossed as usual.

Jacob Fatu leaned back in his chair, while Joe-better known as Roman Reigns-was as unreadable as ever. They had been talking, and from the looks of it, it wasn't just small talk.

As Jey stepped further into the room, his heartbeat quickened. He hadn’t expected to find his family here, especially not in such an intimate setting with Rhea. His mind raced, wondering how much they knew and what they had been discussing. The air felt thick with anticipation, and Jey braced himself for what could only be a tough conversation.

Nia was the first to break the silence. She crossed her arms, a smirk playing on her lips. "So, Jey… you failed to mention you proposed to Rhea," she said, raising an eyebrow.

Jey’s stomach dropped. His eyes flicked over to Rhea, who was sitting calmly but with a slight edge of defensiveness. He took a deep breath, biting his cheek to keep from snapping back. He didn’t want to turn this into a confrontation, but he could feel the judgment looming.

"We were gonna keep it a secret for a while," Jey admitted, his voice steady but cautious. He knew how his family could be, and he wasn’t sure how this news would sit with them. Especially not after everything that had already happened.

Nia let out a light chuckle. "Secret, huh? You know I’ve got an eye for these things. I knew what Rhea’s old wedding ring looked like, so when I saw something new, I put two and two together." Her tone wasn’t harsh, but it wasn’t exactly approving either.

Jey felt a pang of frustration. He wasn’t ready for this, for whatever this was about to turn into. "Look," he started, feeling the tension rise in his chest, "if you’re here to talk shit or judge us, then you can just leave. I’ve already heard enough from everyone else."

Before Jey could continue, Joe — Roman — raised a hand, signaling for him to stop. His voice, deep and authoritative, cut through the tension. "Hold up, Jey. That’s not why we’re here."

Jey paused, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at his cousin. Roman’s expression was calm but firm, like a man who had already thought through what he was about to say. Jey respected Roman, but there was still a part of him that was always on edge around him, especially given the power Roman held in the family dynamic.

"We’re not here to talk shit," Roman continued, his voice measured. "We’re here because we needed to understand. Things have been chaotic, and there’s been a lot of noise… but you’re still our family."

Jey’s eyes softened slightly, though he remained cautious. "Yeah? Then why does it feel like every time I turn around, I’m being judged?"

Roman leaned back in his chair, exhaling deeply. "Because, Uce, you made a choice. With choices come consequences. But that doesn’t mean we’re here to tear you down."

Solo, who had been sitting quietly the whole time, finally spoke up. "It’s been a lot, man. For all of us. But we’re not here to hate on you or Rhea. We just… we needed to know what’s next. Where do we go from here?"

Jey glanced at Rhea, who gave him a small, reassuring nod. She had been through so much with him already, and her presence in this moment felt like a lifeline. He appreciated the fact that, for once, she wasn’t the one under fire. But that didn’t make this conversation any easier.

"We’re moving forward," Jey said, his voice stronger now. "Together. Rhea and me. Yeah, I proposed. But I didn’t think it was something the whole world needed to know right away."

Nia sighed, her expression softening just a little. "We’re not against you, Jey. Or Rhea. It’s just… it’s hard to wrap our heads around everything that’s happened. One day, you’re married to Takecia, and the next, you’re with Rhea. It’s a lot."

Jey nodded, understanding where she was coming from, even if it still stung. "I get it. Believe me, I do. But life’s messy. Things changed. I love Rhea. That’s not something I’m gonna apologize for."

Roman stood up, walking over to Jey. The room was silent for a moment, the tension slowly dissipating as Roman looked his cousin in the eye. "We don’t need an apology, Jey. What we need is to know you’ve got your head on straight. That you’re not about to fall apart under the pressure."

Jey swallowed hard, his emotions swirling inside him. He had been through so much—public scrutiny, family drama, heartbreak. But in this moment, as he stood face to face with Roman, he knew one thing for sure: he wasn’t going to let anyone tear down what he and Rhea had built.

"My head’s on straight," Jey said, his voice resolute. "And I’m not falling apart. Not anymore."

Roman nodded, seemingly satisfied with Jey’s response. He placed a hand on Jey’s shoulder, a gesture of solidarity. "Good. Then we move forward. As a family."

Jey looked around the room, feeling the weight of the moment. This wasn’t just about him and Rhea anymore. It was about his family, his blood, and their ability to accept the path he had chosen.

"Thanks," Jey muttered, his throat tight with emotion. He wasn’t used to this kind of support, not after everything that had gone down, but it meant more to him than he could say.

Rhea stood up and moved to stand beside Jey, her hand slipping into his. She had been silent through most of the conversation, but her presence was powerful. She looked up at him, her eyes full of understanding.

"Looks like you’ve got a whole new chapter to write, huh?" Nia said with a soft smile.

Jey glanced at Rhea, then back at his family. "Yeah," he said quietly. "I guess we do."

—

After Jey’s family had finally left, the locker room settled into a calm silence. Rhea, unfazed by the earlier tension, was doing some light stretches, loosening her muscles for the match ahead. Jey was sprawled out on the bench, watching a movie on his phone, occasionally glancing up at her. It was a peaceful moment, one they both desperately needed after the whirlwind of drama that had been swirling around them lately.

Jey looked up again, admiring her for a second, before something caught his eye. His heart skipped a beat when he saw a small patch of red on the lower part of her abdomen.

“Babe, your stomach…” Jey said quickly, sitting up and reaching for a nearby towel. He was on his feet in seconds, concern flooding his voice.

Rhea glanced down, noticing the blood. “Shit,” she muttered, still stretching slightly. “Guess those stitches weren’t as fully dissolved as I thought.”

Jey knelt beside her, gently dabbing the towel against the small wound. His touch was careful, even though he was clearly a bit shaken. “Looks like one of them didn’t,” he replied, inspecting her stomach more closely. “It’s not too bad, though.”

He stood up and went over to the locker, where someone from backstage had stashed some medical supplies just in case. As he retrieved the wound sealant and a fresh bandage, Rhea smirked, watching him move with so much care.

“Always so careful with me,” she commented, her voice soft. There was a hint of admiration in her tone.

Jey gave her a small smile, his focus remaining on her as he knelt back down to tend to her wound. He applied the sealant gently, his hands moving with the precision of someone who had done this more than once, and replaced the bandage over the cut.

“I gotta be careful, baby,” he said, eyes focused on his work. “You mean too much to me.”

Rhea chuckled, leaning back slightly, her fingers brushing through his hair. “Who would’ve thought you’d make a damn good nurse?”

Jey laughed softly, finishing up the bandage. “I’d make a good anything for you, girl.”

—

It was September 2nd, 2024, and Jey and Rhea had managed to carve out a moment of solitude amidst the chaos. They’d snuck away from everyone, retreating to the quiet sanctuary of Jey’s hotel room. The two were cuddled up, scrolling through the movie options, looking for something that could distract them for a while. The room was dimly lit, the soft glow from the TV casting shadows across the room.

"How about Harlem Nights?" Jey asked, pausing on the title.

Rhea, resting against his chest, glanced up. "Never seen it."

Jey blinked, then shot her a playful look of disbelief. "What? You’ve never seen Harlem Nights? Oh, nah, Mami, we gotta fix that right now," he said, dramatically throwing his arm over his forehead like he was in physical pain. "It’s one of my favorites. Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor—it's a classic! Old school hustlers running a nightclub. It's hilarious and slick. You’re gonna love it."

Rhea couldn’t help but laugh at his over-the-top reaction, the sound of her laughter lightening the mood even more. "Alright, alright," she relented, "you sold me on it. Let’s watch it."

Grinning, Jey hit play and settled back down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as the opening credits began to roll. She leaned into him, their bodies fitting together naturally as they got comfortable under the blanket.

Just as the movie began, Jey’s phone buzzed on the nightstand. He sighed softly and leaned over to check it. It was a message from Takecia, something about Jeyce’s dental bill—$300 for his checkup and lab work. He read it quickly and, without hesitation, sent the money to her account. He labeled it 'Dentist + Groceries', not wanting to dwell on it, then tossed his phone back down.

"Who was that?" Rhea asked, her voice soft as she looked up at him.

"Just a reminder to pay my bill," Jey replied smoothly, his tone casual, not wanting to let anything distract from their time together. He pulled her in closer, brushing it off like it was nothing.

Rhea smiled, content with his answer, and they both turned their attention back to the movie. The lively, comedic energy of Harlem Nights filled the room, but as the scenes played out, Rhea found her mind wandering. She glanced up at Jey from time to time, the way he was so at ease, the way he fit into her life in a way she hadn’t expected. Suddenly, it hit her—this terrifying realization that she might actually be falling in love with him.

The thought scared her more than she wanted to admit. After everything they had gone through—the complications, the secrets, the baggage of their past relationships—it seemed like loving him was dangerous. But as she looked at him, she couldn’t help it. It was happening.

As if sensing her gaze, Jey looked down at her, their eyes meeting in the dim light of the room. They didn’t need to say anything. Their smiles said it all.

Before they knew it, their lips met in a kiss—slow at first, like they were testing the waters, then deepening, becoming something more intense, more passionate. The world seemed to slip away as they got lost in each other, the movie playing on forgotten in the background. Their kisses grew more urgent, hands roaming, their breath mingling as the temperature in the room rose.

It wasn’t until Rhea finally pulled back, gasping for air, that they realized how long they had been making out. Both of them were breathing heavily, their foreheads resting against each other as they tried to catch their breath.

"Well," Jey said, his voice still rough from the intensity of the moment, "that escalated quickly."

Rhea laughed softly, her cheeks flushed as she pushed a strand of hair out of her face. "Yeah, just a little. I feel like a teenager again..” She giggled.

“My teenage love affair…” Jey said as he pushed a strand of hair back from her face.

They shared a smile, still lost in the afterglow of the kiss, their connection deepening in a way that words couldn’t quite capture. Neither of them spoke after that, but they didn’t need to. The unspoken feelings hung in the air between them, undeniable and real. In that quiet, intimate space, they both knew that everything between them had just shifted.

—

October 5th, 2024 4:53 P.M.

Jey leaned over and kissed Rhea as they relaxed in the locker room, the atmosphere between them easy and light. As they lounged together, the door opened and Damian strolled in, looking relaxed but curious. “What’s up, lovebirds?” he teased, throwing his bag down and making his way over to them.

Jey glanced at Rhea with a smirk, and then turned to Damian, asking, “So, has she told you yet?”

Damian raised an eyebrow, clearly confused. “Told me what?”

Rhea, with a mischievous smile, held up her hand, her engagement ring catching the light. “This,” she said, her voice full of warmth as she displayed the ring.

Damian’s eyes widened, and a huge grin spread across his face. “No way!” He practically leapt across the room, grabbing Rhea’s hand to get a better look. “I’m gone for two days and y’all go and get engaged?” he exclaimed, his excitement evident.

Jey laughed, throwing an arm around Rhea’s shoulders. “It was overdue, man.”

Damian looked between the two of them, his grin never fading. “Well, it’s about damn time! I’m so happy for you guys.”

Rhea beamed, her fingers still in Damian’s grip as she squeezed his hand in thanks. Jey, leaning back a little, smirked. “Now you know what’s next, right?”

Damian raised an eyebrow. “You guys planning a wedding already?”

Jey nodded. “Actually, yeah. We’ve been talking about it.”

Damian sat back, crossing his arms and looking at the two with curiosity. “Alright, hit me with it. What’s the plan?”

Jey’s smile widened as he glanced at Rhea before turning back to Damian. “We’re thinking three weddings.”

“Three?” Damian repeated, intrigued. “Why three?”

Rhea jumped in, clearly excited about their plans. “First one at the courthouse, just something small and quick with Jon and Trinity. Then we’re doing one in Vegas—full-on party, wild vibes, you know? And the third, the big one, in Samoa.”

Jey nodded, adding, “Samoa’s gonna be more traditional, a proper ceremony with family, honoring our culture.”

Damian’s smile grew even wider. “Three weddings, huh? That’s bold. I love it.”

Rhea then shifted in her seat, looking a bit more serious but still smiling. “Actually, Damian… there’s something else.”

Damian looked at her, curiosity written all over his face. “Yeah?”

Rhea took a breath, and then asked, “Would you walk me down the aisle in Vegas?”

For a second, Damian seemed stunned, processing what she had just asked. Then, in true Damian fashion, he broke into the biggest grin. “Are you serious? You want me to walk you down the aisle?”

Rhea nodded, her eyes shining. “Of course. You’re my best friend, Damian. I wouldn’t want anyone else.”

Damian was so thrilled he couldn’t contain himself. He scooped Rhea up in his arms, lifting her off the ground as he spun her around. Rhea laughed in surprise, her arms instinctively wrapping around his neck as he twirled her, her laughter filling the room. “Damian! Put me down!” she cried, though she was laughing too hard to really be mad.

Jey watched the scene with an amused grin, shaking his head. “Careful, man. Don’t break her before the wedding.”

Damian finally set Rhea back down, still beaming with excitement. “I’m so honored, Rhea. You have no idea. I can’t wait. It’s gonna be epic.”

Rhea smoothed out her clothes, still laughing as she caught her breath. “I knew you’d be perfect for it.”

Jey leaned back, arms crossed, clearly pleased with how happy everyone was. “You know, this is gonna be one hell of a wedding. I can already see it.”

Damian, still buzzing with excitement, looked at Jey and Rhea, his eyes full of emotion. “I’m so proud of you two. You guys have been through so much, and to see this… it’s just, man, I’m happy for you both.”

Rhea smiled warmly, reaching out to take Jey’s hand, intertwining her fingers with his. “Thanks, Damian. It means a lot.”

Jey gave Damian a nod, his expression softening. “Yeah, man. Appreciate it.”

The room was filled with a quiet, joyful energy as the three of them sat there, thinking about everything that had brought them to this moment. The road had been long, filled with its share of challenges, but now they were looking ahead to a future that was full of promise, full of love, and full of celebration.

As the conversation shifted back to wedding plans, Damian started going on about what kind of suit he should wear for Vegas and whether or not there should be a theme for the reception. Jey and Rhea exchanged amused glances, knowing that with Damian involved, their Vegas wedding was bound to be unforgettable.

—

11:21 p.m.

After the PLE, Jey and Rhea arrived at the Waldorf Astoria, the city lights glowing softly against the night sky. The ride had been long and exhausting, especially for Rhea, who had fallen asleep on Jey's shoulder. Her championship match had left her physically drained, and she didn’t want to talk about it. She had quietly mentioned earlier that her stomach had been bothering her, likely from the bumps Liv had given her in the ring. Liv, trying to be cautious, had taken it easy, but it hadn’t been enough to keep Rhea from feeling the impact.

The Uber came to a smooth stop outside the hotel, and Jey carefully eased his way out of the car. He glanced over at Rhea, who hadn’t stirred. She was still fast asleep, her body slumped against the seat, completely worn out. Waving over the bellhop, Jey motioned to their bags, and the young man eagerly came forward to assist.

Jey gently shook Rhea awake, his voice soft. “Babe, we’re here.”

Rhea barely opened her eyes, her words a sleepy murmur. “Carry me,” she muttered, her exhaustion evident in her tone.

Jey’s brow furrowed in concern, but he nodded. He didn’t want to push her after everything she’d gone through tonight. He walked over to the bellhop and explained, “Reservation under Fatu.” One of the bellhops quickly moved to the desk to retrieve the keycards while another helped with the luggage.

Carefully, Jey scooped Rhea up in his arms, carrying her bridal-style toward the entrance. She nuzzled her face against his chest, still half-asleep, while he stepped into the elevator with the bellhops following behind. They rode up to the 6th floor, the only sound being the soft hum of the elevator and the quiet breathing of Rhea against him.

When they reached the suite, the bellhops opened the door and led the way in, setting the bags down carefully. Jey stepped in, carrying Rhea straight to the bed. He gently laid her down, her Damian Priest shirt wrinkling slightly as she shifted under the comforter. He gave a nod of thanks to the bellhops, reaching into his wallet to hand them each a generous tip.

“Could you put in an order to room service for some 7Up and soup, please?” Jey asked before they left.

“Of course, sir,” one of the bellhops replied, nodding quickly before they both exited the room, leaving Jey and Rhea alone.

Jey sighed softly and sat down on the edge of the bed, his hand resting on Rhea’s cheek. She barely stirred, her exhaustion overwhelming her. “I shouldn’t have come back so soon,” she mumbled, her voice heavy with fatigue.

“Don’t blame yourself,” Jey whispered, brushing a lock of hair away from her face. “You did amazing out there.”

Rhea’s eyes fluttered shut again, too tired to respond. Jey pressed a soft kiss to her forehead before gently undressing her, leaving her in just the oversized Damian Priest shirt. He pulled the comforter over her, tucking her in with care, and then held her hand, watching her as her breathing steadied into a deep, peaceful sleep.

Jey sighed, a mix of pride and worry swirling inside him. He hated seeing her this drained, but he knew she was strong. She always pushed herself to the limit, and even though he admired her for that, he couldn’t help but feel protective.

Leaning back on the pillows next to her, Jey kept her hand in his, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. He was tired too, but there was no way he was leaving her side tonight. Not after everything she had gone through.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Room service had arrived. Jey quietly got up, careful not to disturb Rhea, and opened the door. The server brought in the tray with the 7Up and soup, setting it down on the small table by the window. Jey thanked them before closing the door and returning to Rhea’s side.

He placed the drink on the nightstand next to her in case she woke up later, then laid down beside her again, pulling her gently into his arms. Rhea stirred slightly, snuggling into him, and for the first time that night, Jey felt a sense of calm. They had each other, and that was all that mattered.

--

Rhea struggled in her sleep, her body restless as her mind tortured her with vivid, painful memories. The hospital replayed itself in her head—Trinity’s face filled with sorrow as she told Rhea she had lost the baby. Then the memories shifted, dark and haunting: snorting the pills, the haze they put her in, and, worst of all, Matt’s brutal assault. It all came flooding back, a horrifying loop, each moment bleeding into the next, dragging her deeper into a nightmare.

Her body began to move more violently under the covers, her fists clenching, and she let out a whimper. Jey, who had been lightly dozing, immediately stirred. He blinked, realizing Rhea was tossing and turning more than usual. Sitting up, he reached out to her, worry etched on his face. “Rhea,” he said softly at first, gently shaking her arm, but she only thrashed harder.

“No!” Rhea yelled, her voice filled with fear.

Jey’s heart raced. “Babe, wake up,” he said more firmly, his grip tightening on her arm to try to pull her out of whatever nightmare was holding her.

“No! Don’t hurt me!” Rhea screamed, her voice raw with terror. She flailed again, this time her fist coming up instinctively—and before Jey could react, it connected with his face, squarely on his nose.

"Ow!" Jey yelped, immediately holding his nose as blood started to trickle down. “Rhea!” he shouted, more in shock than pain.

Rhea snapped awake, her breathing erratic and eyes wide with fear. She saw Jey beside her, holding his nose, and her heart plummeted. “Babe, are you okay? What happened?” she asked, her voice shaking, not fully comprehending what she had done.

Jey’s face contorted with a mixture of pain and amusement. “I love you,” he started, wincing as he gingerly touched his nose. “But you just punched the hell out of me…”

Rhea’s eyes widened, her hand flying to her mouth as the realization of what she’d done hit her. “Oh my God… I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to—I didn’t know—” she began to ramble, her hands trembling as she tried to check his nose, completely panicked.

Jey waved her off gently with his free hand, still holding his nose with the other. “It’s okay, babe, it’s okay. Just… maybe next time don’t dream about fighting me, yeah?” he joked, trying to lighten the mood despite the situation.

Rhea, however, wasn’t laughing. Her eyes were filled with guilt, and her whole body was shaking. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to. I was—” She paused, the memories from her nightmare still fresh, her voice breaking. “I was dreaming about… him.”

Jey’s expression softened immediately, his own discomfort forgotten. He lowered his hand from his nose, wiping at the blood with his sleeve, and pulled Rhea into his arms. She melted into him, burying her face in his chest, as tears silently escaped her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered again, her voice muffled.

Jey kissed the top of her head, his grip on her firm yet gentle. “You don’t have to apologize, Rhea. It wasn’t your fault.” He held her tighter, stroking her hair. “I’m here. You’re safe.”

Rhea’s breathing began to slow as she listened to Jey’s heartbeat, grounding her in the present. Jey winced again, reaching for a tissue to catch the blood from his nose, but he kept one arm wrapped securely around her, not wanting to let go.

After a few minutes of silence, Rhea spoke again, her voice small. “I hate that it still haunts me. I thought I was stronger than this.”

“You are strong,” Jey reassured her, lifting her chin so he could look into her eyes. “You’ve been through hell and back, and you’re still here. You’re still fighting. And I’ll be right here with you. Always.”

Rhea sniffled, nodding, her tears slowly subsiding. “I don’t deserve you.”

Jey smiled softly, brushing a tear away from her cheek. “Nah, I’m the lucky one.”

Rhea let out a small, shaky laugh, her heart swelling with love for him. She reached up to his face, gently touching his bruised nose. “I’ll get you some ice for that.”

Jey grinned through the discomfort. “Yeah, I think I’m gonna need it.” Rhea got up from the bed and opened the mini fridge and saw a small Perrier bottle of water, she figured it'll do. She brought it out and she sat next to Jey and gently pressed the glass bottle to his nose, he winced and Rhea frowned. "Babe… it's okay for real.." Jey said noticing her frown. "I guess I got that superman punch.." Rhea said.

They both laughed, the tension slowly easing as they sat together. Rhea pulled back the bottle once the bleeding stopped and she leaned her head back on Jey’s shoulder, and for the first time since the nightmare began, she felt a sense of peace returning. With Jey by her side, maybe, just maybe, she could continue to heal from all the pain.

-

Sunday October 6th

Jey woke up to the sound of the alarm blaring at 7:30 AM, the bright screen illuminating the dark hotel room. He rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock, realizing they had a flight to St. Louis at 10 AM. Nudging Rhea gently, he whispered, “Hey, sleepyhead, time to wake up. We’ve got to get ready for St. Louis.”

Rhea stirred, mumbling something incoherent as she rolled over. Jey chuckled, leaning closer to her. “Come on, we need to shower and hit the road.”

They had reached a level of comfort in their relationship where sharing a shower felt completely natural. It wasn’t about intimacy but rather a simple, affectionate routine that had become a part of their daily lives. As the warm water cascaded down, they enjoyed the peaceful moment together, laughing and teasing as they washed up.

After they finished, they dried off and began their morning routine. Rhea was in the middle of brushing her hair when she noticed Jey's bruised nose, the aftermath of her unintentional assault during the night. “Come here,” she said, setting her brush down and walking over to him.

Jey raised an eyebrow, a playful smile creeping onto his face. “What are you gonna do? Put me in makeup?”

“Actually, yes,” she replied, a grin forming. She reached for her universal contour palette that Liv had gifted her last year for her birthday, flipping it open to reveal a variety of shades. She found one that matched Jey's skin tone perfectly.

“Sit still,” she instructed, and Jey complied, a mock-serious expression crossing his face as he pretended to be a model.

Rhea focused intently, applying some primer first to ensure the makeup would set in place. She carefully used the creams and powders, blending them seamlessly over the bruising on his nose. “You might want to avoid getting into fights with your fiancée,” she joked, glancing up at him with a wink.

Jey laughed, his eyes sparkling. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

After she was satisfied with the base, Rhea gently covered Jey's eyes, carefully spraying setting spray on the small spots where the bruising was starting to appear. “There. You look almost normal,” she teased, stepping back to admire her handiwork.

Jey chuckled, touching his nose lightly and pretending to be impressed. “I should hire you as my personal makeup artist.”

“Only if you promise to wear my looks every day.” Rhea quipped, crossing her arms, referencing to her routine dark make up look.

“Deal!” Jey grinned, knowing she was joking but loving the playful banter between them.

As they finished getting ready, the lighthearted atmosphere helped to ease any remnants of tension from the night before. Rhea felt a sense of normalcy returning, and with Jey by her side, she knew she could face whatever challenges awaited them in St. Louis. They shared a quick kiss before heading out the door, ready to take on the day together.

--

Rhea sat by the airplane window, gazing out at the clouds as they soared through the sky. The steady hum of the engines was almost calming, but her mind was elsewhere, filled with thoughts of the future. She turned to Jey, her eyes catching the glint of the matching permanent bracelet on his wrist. A small smile played on her lips as she reached over, gently rubbing her thumb over it, feeling the connection between them in that tiny piece of jewelry.

Jey, sensing her touch, looked at her with curiosity. “What?” he asked, his voice soft, a tender smile spreading across his face.

Rhea’s eyes sparkled as she looked at him, feeling a warmth inside her chest. “What are your plans for us, Joshua Samuel Fatu?” she teased, using his full name.

Jey took a deep breath, the weight of his words forming in his heart before he spoke them. His hand found hers, their fingers intertwining as he began, “Demi Fatu… we are going to build a life together, one that’s everything we’ve dreamed of and more. You’re going to move in with me, and we’re going to make that house our home—every holiday, every season. We’ll decorate it the way we like, fill it with love and laughter. You’re going to become a stepmother to my kids, and in time, you’ll be a mother to our own children. I’ll adopt your dogs, and even that little fur-asshole of a cat,” he laughed, “and I’ll be a fur daddy, for real.”

His voice grew more serious as he continued, the intensity of his love for her clear in his tone. “We’ll get through everything, babe. The good, the bad—everything. I’m going to devote my life to you, to us. We’re going to marry as soon as these divorces are finalized, and then we won’t have to worry about anything else. No more secrets, no more fears. Just you and me, in this life together, for the long haul. I’m with you, Demi. Always.”

Rhea’s eyes glistened with tears she fought to hold back, her heart swelling with the depth of his words. She looked at him, her voice soft, almost breaking as she asked, “You’ll stand by me? Even with my true crime obsession?” She laughed, trying to lighten the moment, her usual playful self shining through.

Jey grinned, his thumb brushing gently against the back of her hand. “Even with your true crime obsession,” he chuckled. “Though I gotta admit, sometimes that stuff really does freak me out.”

They both laughed lightly, the moment shared between them warm and intimate. Jey leaned in and kissed her softly, their lips meeting in a quiet promise, the weight of their love felt in that simple act.

As Rhea pulled back, she turned her gaze back to the window, watching the clouds drift by beneath them. The future they envisioned together felt closer than ever, and in that moment, nothing else mattered but the two of them and the life they were about to create.

--

Jey and Rhea had just landed in St. Louis and were in their car rental heading straight to their hotel. The flight had been long, and both of them were ready to relax after the whirlwind of events from yesterday. As soon as they arrived at the hotel, they collapsed onto the bed, exhausted. They slept for a solid four hours, the fatigue from Rhea’s match still lingering in her bones.

When they woke up, it was nearing the late afternoon. Jey stretched out, feeling slightly more energized. He turned to Rhea, asking, “You wanna do something, babe? We’ve been cooped up for a while.”

Rhea thought about it for a moment, her body still aching. “I’m still tired, honestly… but something light would be nice. I just don’t wanna be stuck in this room all night.”

Jey nodded and pulled out his phone, scrolling through possible attractions in St. Louis. He showed her the famous Arch, suggesting they check it out, but Rhea made a face. “Maybe something air-conditioned? I’m not ready for the heat again.”

Jey laughed and kept scrolling, trying to find the perfect low-key activity. Before he could settle on something, Rhea’s phone buzzed with a FaceTime call. She glanced at the screen and saw it was Damian. “Babe, it’s Damian,” she said, answering the call. Damian’s face appeared on the screen, and he was taking a shot just as Rhea answered.

Rhea raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t it a bit early for that?” she asked with a smirk.

Damian grinned, clearly in a good mood. “Nah, it’s never too early for a shot, especially when you’re celebrating. Where you guys at?”

“We’re at the Marriott,” Rhea replied, turning the camera toward Jey, who gave a quick wave.

Damian’s grin widened. “Perfect! I’ll send you the address to where I’m at. Come meet me!” Before Rhea could respond, Damian hung up the call. A minute later, her phone dinged with a text message.

Rhea glanced at the message and then looked at Jey. “I don’t like how my fellow Terror Twin is acting already.”

Jey chuckled but nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I’m kinda worried too. Last time we hung out like that, I ended up getting fined. I’d like to avoid that again.”

Rhea laughed, but her eyes held the same concern. “We should come up with a safe word. You know, just in case we need an escape plan.”

Jey grinned, thinking for a second. “Alright, how about ‘Yeet’? That’ll be our code.”

Rhea blinked, giving him a blank stare before bursting into laughter. “Yeet? Seriously?”

Jey shrugged, laughing with her. “It’s effective, isn’t it?”

Rhea leaned into him, her eyes softening. “I’m marrying you because I love you… and maybe despite your questionable choices.”

Jey smiled warmly, pulling her into a gentle kiss. “I love you too. Now, let’s go see what kind of trouble Damian’s got us into this time.”

After Rhea had touched up her makeup, she decided to change out of her comfy sweats into something that felt more like her, something that would match the vibe of the night. Jey lay back on the bed, scrolling through his phone, but he couldn’t help stealing glances at Rhea as she moved about the room. He smirked, watching her peel off her sweatpants and slip into something a bit more her style.

“Go slow,” he teased with a grin, the playful glint in his eyes unmistakable.

Rhea rolled her eyes with a laugh. “Not even, you clown.”

Jey chuckled, enjoying the easy banter between them. As Rhea finished getting ready, she finally stood before him, dressed and ready for the night, her makeup perfectly done and her outfit on point. She turned to him with a playful smirk. “So, do I look good?”

Jey sat up, giving her a once-over, taking in how stunning she looked. “You’re my twin..” He said in referencing to his outfit.

He got up, moving to his side of the bed where his Cuban chain lay. It was something he admired, a piece of jewelry he had worn it often and held it close. Rhea saw what he was doing and immediately started shaking her head.

“No, babe, that’s yours—don’t,” she said.

But Jey was already behind her, lifting the chain and placing it gently around her neck. He clasped it and let his hands rest on her shoulders for a moment, his voice low as he spoke. “Now you’re dripping in diamonds.”

Rhea looked down at the Cuban chain resting against her collarbone and smiled, her heart swelling with love for him. She turned back to face him, her fingers brushing over the cool metal.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she murmured, feeling the weight of the chain.

“I know,” Jey said, meeting her eyes. “But I wanted to. It looks better on you anyway.”

Rhea’s smile widened, and she leaned in to give him a soft kiss, appreciating his gesture more than she could put into words.

“So, fast food, right?” Jey said, pulling back with a grin, breaking the moment just enough to lighten the mood.

Rhea nodded. “Yeah, can you Google directions? I’m thinking McDonald’s sounds good right now.”

“McDonald’s it is,” Jey said, pulling out his phone to look up the nearest one. As he typed away, he couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of pride watching Rhea wear his chain, like a quiet but powerful acknowledgment of the bond they shared.

With the directions sorted, he grabbed Rhea’s black jacket as they headed for the door and handed it to her, ready to grab a quick bite before diving into whatever chaos Damian had in store for them. But even amidst the excitement, it was the quiet moments like these—wrapped in love and laughter—that made everything feel right.

Jey and Rhea pulled up to the McDonald’s drive-thru, ordering two Big Mac meals with a sense of comfort in their usual routine. Once they got their food, Jey parked in the lot, and they sat there, enjoying a quiet meal together.

“Processed food to the rescue again,” Rhea quipped as she took a bite.

Jey chuckled, wiping his mouth. “Always does the trick, huh?”

Once they finished, Jey cleared the trash and put the directions to Damian’s place into his phone. “Twenty minutes away,” he told Rhea, who sighed in relief.

“Perfect. I don’t have the energy for anything longer.”

The drive was peaceful, the city of St. Louis passing by as they enjoyed the quiet company. As they turned into Damian’s neighborhood, they both noticed how packed the street was—cars lined up on both sides, filling every spot near the house.

“What’s going on here?” Jey said, eyebrows raised as he drove past the house. The music was booming from inside, and they could hear it thumping through the neighborhood.

“Is this… a party?” Rhea asked, confused. She pulled out her phone, double-checking the text Damian had sent. “He didn’t say anything about a party.”

Jey found a spot at the far end of the street and parked, the two of them getting out and looking back toward the house as the music grew louder. Rhea squeezed Jey’s hand, her unease slowly building. She wasn’t expecting this at all.

“Is that Bad Bunny playing?” Jey asked, a small smile forming as they walked toward the house.

Rhea nodded, letting out a breathy laugh. “Has to be Damian. But why didn’t he mention this?”

“I don’t know,” Jey said, glancing at her. “I thought we were just going to hang out. He didn’t say anything about a crowd.”

As they approached, they noticed the house was alive with activity. The booming music came from inside, but there wasn’t anyone outside to greet them. Rhea looked at Jey, her expression somewhere between amused and exhausted. “I don’t know if I’m ready for this.”

Jey gave her hand a squeeze, nodding. “We can always leave if it’s too much. Remember, ‘Yeet.’”

Rhea laughed softly. “Right. Yeet.”

Jey smiled, his gaze softening as he looked at her. “We’ll see what’s going on. If it’s too wild, we’re out of here.”

Rhea took a deep breath, nodding in agreement. “Let’s see what Damian’s gotten himself into.”

Jey knocked on the door, but there was no response. He knocked again, louder this time, assuming the music was too loud for anyone to hear. Finally, the door swung open, revealing a very buzzed Liv Morgan, clad in sweats and a hoodie, a glass of what looked like a fancy drink—maybe a cosmo—in her hand.

“Rhea!” Liv exclaimed, her face lighting up as she pulled Rhea into a hug. Rhea was surprised; she had seen Liv drunk on Total Divas but had never experienced it in person.

“Wow, you’re really feeling it, huh?” Rhea laughed, pulling back to assess her friend.

“Just a little!” Liv giggled, her eyes sparkling. “Come on in!” She stepped aside, welcoming Jey and Rhea into the lively atmosphere.

As they entered, the loud music surrounded them, and the energy was infectious. Liv led them to the kitchen, where they found Damian, Kayden, and Kayden’s tag team partner, Kacy, better known as Katana Chance. They were gathered around the counter, debating which bottle of liquor to take shots from.

“Look who’s here!” Damian shouted, his face lighting up when he spotted Rhea. He moved over to hug her tightly, his buzz evident in his embrace.

“Hey, Damian! You really started the party without us!” Rhea teased, glancing around at the cluttered kitchen.

“Just getting warmed up!” he replied, beaming with excitement. “Shots, anyone?”

Liv chimed in, pouring from an unknown tequila bottle. “This is going to be fun! Get the lime, Damian!”

As Liv poured the shots, Damian turned to Jey and Rhea. “Have you ever had genuine tequila from Mexico?”

They exchanged glances, then shook their heads nervously. “Nope, can’t say we have,” Jey said.

Damian laughed, handing the couple a pair of limes. “You’re in for a treat!”

Liv passed out the shots, and just as they were about to raise them, a very drunk JD McDonagh stumbled into the kitchen. “Awh shit, it’s Main Event and the Eradicator!” he exclaimed, slurring his words slightly.

“Hey, Funkopop!” Rhea greeted him with a smirk.

JD pouted, “I want a shot!”

Liv playfully chided him, “Slow down! It’s only 6 PM!”

Rhea couldn’t help but laugh at the scene. “Liv, you’re already buzzing! Are you sure you can handle it?”

“I’m buzzed, not drunk!” Liv protested, mock indignation in her voice. “There’s a difference!”

Jey rolled his eyes playfully. “Let’s just hope you remember this tomorrow.”

As the atmosphere filled with laughter and camaraderie, Rhea felt a rush of warmth, grateful for this moment of fun amidst the chaos of their lives. With a nod from Jey, they all raised their shots in unison and took the shots. Rhea’s face scrunched as she quickly sucked on the lime. Jey didn’t budge but he did feel the heat of the liquor down his throat.

Rhea turned to Damian, curiosity dancing in her eyes. “Who all is here?”

“A lot of people from the PLE,” Damian replied, his enthusiasm palpable. “I even invited Cody, and he’s not usually into these kinds of parties. But he brought the Wheatley vodka, and that’s what got JD to show up.”

Just as he spoke, JD stumbled back into the living room, dramatically slurring, “WHEATLEY SO GOOD YOU’LL DRINK IT NEATLY!” His exaggerated proclamation earned a few chuckles from the crowd, and Rhea and Jey exchanged amused glances.

As “My Type” by Saweetie kicked in, Kayden clapped her hands and shouted, “Come over here, my bisexual Undertaker!” She playfully dragged Damian into the dance, both of them moving to the rhythm as Kayden performed an infamous twerk on Damian, drawing laughter and cheers from the onlookers.

Jey shook his head, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Babe, you know I’m damn near 40 years old. I feel so out of place.”

Rhea shot him a teasing look, leaning closer. “You want me to do that on you?”

Jey’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “I’m open to it.”

“Maybe later if you’re good,” Rhea winked, turning her attention back to Liv, who was in the process of mixing a colorful drink.

Jey opened the fridge and noted the impressive collection of Wheatley Vodka bottles lining the shelves. “I need to have a word with Cody about this liquor situation,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Go ahead! I’ll be here with Liv,” Rhea replied, taking a seat at the counter, her demeanor relaxed yet alert.

With a quick nod, Jey ventured through the house, greeting various wrestlers mingling in the living room and dining room. The atmosphere was lively, filled with laughter and loud music. After a short search, he finally spotted Cody’s signature platinum blonde hair peeking from the backyard.

Sitting beside him was his younger brother, Joseph. Jey approached, and Joseph stood up to greet his brother with a warm hug.

“What's up, guys? What are you two doing out here?” Jey asked, sinking into a chair across from them.

Cody leaned back, a relaxed grin plastered on his face. “Just enjoying the evening and trying to keep up with the chaos inside. Damian knows how to throw a party.”

Joseph chuckled, glancing back toward the house. “Yeah, it’s a wild one. Just trying to keep it all together. The last time I saw Damian this hyped, we got fined.”

Jey laughed, shaking his head. “I didn’t think I’d feel out of place at one of these gatherings, but here we are. I feel like I need a T-shirt that says ‘I’m too old for this.’”

Cody raised his drink, clinking it lightly against Jey’s bottle. “You’re never too old to have a good time, man. Let loose! This crowd will bring your youth back in no time.”

“Speaking of that Wheatley vodka situation,” Jey said, raising an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you were the one bringing it. That’s bold.”

Cody shrugged with a smirk, mischief glinting in his eyes. “Gotta keep the fun going, right? Just a little something to spice things up. You want some?”

Jey shook his head, grinning. “I’ll stick with beer for now. I’ll leave the hard stuff to the younger crowd. Besides, I have to keep my wits about me with Rhea mixing it up in there.”

Joseph laughed, shaking his head. “You know she’ll be the life of the party. Just wait until she gets on that dance floor.”

Jey nodded, a smile spreading across his face as he thought of Rhea enjoying herself. “Yeah, she’s got that energy. I just hope she doesn’t go too hard. I’ve got to keep an eye on her.”

Cody smirked. “Good luck with that! But hey, you’ve got to have some fun yourself. We’re all here to unwind a bit.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Jey replied, glancing back toward the house. “Maybe I’ll join them in a little while. Just trying to shake off this old-man vibe I’ve got going on.”

Joseph leaned in, lowering his voice playfully. “Just remember, age is just a number. If you let the younger crowd have fun, you might just surprise yourself.”

Jey laughed, appreciating the encouragement. “Alright, you guys have convinced me. I’ll give it a shot when I'm ready.”

The three shared a laugh, the sounds of laughter and music from inside blending into a warm backdrop. As they continued to talk, Jey felt the weight of the past few months slowly lift, the night promising a much-needed escape.

Jey leaned back, curious. “So, Joseph, how does it feel working with Cody these last few months in the Bloodline storyline?”

Joseph’s face lit up as he spoke. “It’s been great, honestly. Working with a veteran like Cody has been an incredible experience. He’s got so much knowledge, and he knows how to tell a story in the ring. I’ve learned a ton just by watching him.”

Cody nodded in agreement. “It’s been a fun ride. Joseph has a natural talent; he brings a fresh energy to everything we do. It’s cool to see him grow into his role.”

“Yeah, it’s wild,” Jey replied. “I remember when I first started, and now here you are, holding your own in some of the biggest storylines.”

The three continued to chat about their experiences and the direction of the storyline, each sharing insights and anecdotes that had led them to this moment. As they laughed and reminisced, the atmosphere felt comfortable and uplifting, far removed from the tension of their past.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Rhea sipped her drink as Liv leaned against the counter, an eager expression on her face. “So, I’ve been meaning to ask you about the match yesterday. Any pointers for me?”

Rhea smiled, feeling the warmth of camaraderie. “Definitely. I noticed a few spots where you could have played to the crowd a bit more. You have the talent; just let your personality shine through. You’ve got the skills, and sometimes it’s all about connecting with the audience.”

Liv nodded, soaking in the advice. “Thanks, Rhea. It’s always good to get tips from someone who’s been in the game for ten years. You know the ins and outs.”

As they chatted, Liv’s curiosity piqued. “So, how are things with you and Jey? I’ve seen the changes, and you both seem happier.”

Rhea took a moment, a genuine smile spreading across her face. “I actually feel at peace now that I’m with Jey. It’s like everything just clicked into place, you know?”

Liv’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “I noticed the new ring! You’re not gonna spill the beans, are you?”

Rhea chuckled softly, appreciating Liv’s enthusiasm. “I’m thankful for you, Liv. I haven’t wanted to talk about the engagement with anyone just because of the backlash we have been experiencing from some people.”

Liv grinned, raising her glass. “Fuck the haters! You deserve to be happy. Anyone who has a problem with it can shove it.”

Rhea laughed, feeling a surge of gratitude for her friend. “You’re right. I’m focusing on the good things in my life now, and that includes Jey. He makes me feel safe and supported.”

Liv nodded in agreement, her tone earnest. “That’s what it’s all about. Finding someone who lifts you up and brings out the best in you. You two are great together.” Liv grabbed the tequila bottle and set it down on the counter.

Liv turned to Rhea with a mischievous grin. “Hey, do you want another shot?”

Rhea nodded enthusiastically, the buzz of the party mixing with the excitement of being with friends. Liv poured another shot of tequila and handed Rhea a lime, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. “Alright, on three!”

“Ready!” Rhea replied, her heart racing a little.

“One… two… three!”

They both slammed back the shots simultaneously. Rhea felt the burn as the tequila hit her throat, and she scrunched her face in reaction. Liv’s eyes widened, and she yelled, “Fuck! That tequila is strong!”

“Why are we doing this?” Liv asked, trying to distract herself from the intensity of the shot, her voice half-laughing, half-groaning.

Rhea chuckled, shaking her head. “I have no idea, but it seemed like a good idea at the time!”

Liv, always the instigator, laughed and suggested, “Let’s do another!”

Feeling a mix of bravado and recklessness, Rhea foolishly agreed. Just as Liv prepared for another round, the kitchen door swung open, and Bayley strolled in. She looked at Liv and then turned her gaze to Rhea, a mildly ugly look crossing her face.

“I’m leaving early,” Bayley said curtly, not bothering to hide her disdain as she shot a glance at Rhea.

Liv quickly said goodbye, her attention split as she sensed the tension. Rhea maintained her composure, her expression neutral as Bayley kept her eyes locked on her while exiting the kitchen.

“What’s with her and her staring problem?” Rhea muttered, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

Liv, already tipsy and swaying slightly, responded with a giggle, “Who, me?”

Rhea rolled her eyes at her already drunk friend. “No, not you! I meant Bayley.”

“Oh,” Liv replied, finally processing the comment. “I don’t know. Maybe she’s just jealous or something?”

Rhea shrugged, trying to brush it off. “Whatever it is, it’s annoying.”

Liv, ever the optimist, poured another shot for herself and Rhea, attempting to lift the mood. “Come on! Let’s not let her ruin our vibe. Cheers to bad bitches and tequila!”

“Cheers!” Rhea replied, clinking her glass with Liv’s. They both downed the shots again, the night continuing to swirl with laughter and chaos around them.

Rhea and Liv were deep into their drinks, the fun of the party washing over them, when suddenly, the unmistakable beat of Get it Sexyy by Sexyy Red filled the room. Liv’s eyes lit up, and she let out a joyful scream. “Oh my god, it’s my song!”

“Join me!” Liv shouted at Rhea, who looked a bit confused.

“Wait, what do you mean?” Rhea asked, laughter bubbling up as Liv tugged on her hand.

“Just follow my lead!” Liv exclaimed, practically dragging Rhea into the living room.

As soon as they reached the center of the room, Liv began dancing energetically, her hips swaying to the beat. Rhea hesitated for a moment before breaking into a smile and joining in, letting the music guide her. The two women laughed and danced, embodying pure joy.

Meanwhile, Jey was engrossed in his conversation with Joseph and Cody when he noticed Cody taking a sip of his drink and staring wide-eyed at something into the living room.

“Ude’, I wouldn’t look over if I were you,” Cody warned, a hint of mischief in his tone.

Jey, confused by Cody’s expression, turned to see what had caught his friend’s attention. His jaw dropped as he saw Liv dancing on Rhea, the two of them laughing and enjoying themselves without a care in the world.

“Are you serious?” Jey exclaimed, unable to believe what he was seeing. Just then, Liv and Rhea switched positions, and Rhea shook her ass while Liv smacked her butt playfully and repeatedly.

“Now that’s a party!” Joseph laughed, nudging Jey with his elbow. “You should be over there instead of Liv.”

“Yeah, what are you waiting for?” Cody chimed in, laughing at the spectacle. “Get off your Waffle House-made rear and go get your woman!”

Jey hesitated for a moment, a mix of pride and protective instinct rising in him as he watched Rhea have fun. But the laughter and camaraderie in the air were infectious. With a determined grin, he finally stood up, brushing off their teasing. “Alright, alright, I’m going in!”

As he made his way over to the dancing duo, Rhea caught sight of him and her face lit up with a smile. Jey slipped behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and joining in on the fun, much to Liv’s delight.

“See, now that’s what I’m talking about! An Australian sandwhich!” Liv cheered, dancing with them, and the three of them became the life of the party.

As the three danced, Liv suddenly paused, putting her hands on her knees, a look of concern on her face. “Hold on, I need a break,” she said, glancing around as if fearing she might throw up from all the drinking and dancing. Rhea laughed, giving her a playful pat on the back as Liv stepped to the side, trying to catch her breath.

Just then, a familiar tune filled the air, and Rhea's face lit up with recognition. It was Cupid’s Chokehold by Gym Class Heroes, one of her all-time favorites. The nostalgic melody wrapped around her like a warm blanket, and she couldn't help but smile.

Jey noticed the change in her expression and grinned. “Oh, this is a classic!” he exclaimed, and without hesitation, he began to sing along, his voice rising above the music. Rhea joined in, their voices harmonizing effortlessly as they swayed together, lost in the moment.

The energy in the room faded away as they danced closely, sharing smiles and laughter. Jey couldn’t help but reflect on how far they had come. Just a few months ago, their paths seemed worlds apart, filled with uncertainty and complications. Now, here they were, completely in sync, enjoying a carefree night together.

As they danced, Jey looked deep into Rhea's eyes, feeling a warmth spread through him. “Can you believe this?” he asked, his voice softening. “It’s crazy how life works out sometimes.”

Rhea smiled back, her heart swelling with happiness. “I never thought I’d find myself here, dancing with you like this. It feels perfect,” she replied, feeling grateful for the unexpected joy that had entered her life.

With each beat of the song, they lost themselves in the rhythm, the laughter of their friends and the vibrant atmosphere fading into the background. In that moment, nothing else mattered. It was just Jey and Rhea, dancing together under the glow of the party lights, savoring the connection they had found amidst the chaos of their lives.

As the party continued into the early hours, the atmosphere shifted with more guests having departed, leaving a tight-knit circle of friends. Now, it was Jey, Rhea, Kayden, Damian, Liv, Kacy, Joseph, and Cody lingering together. The clock ticked closer to 1 AM, and the music had lowered, creating a comfortable hum in the background as Joseph and Cody managed to gather everyone in the backyard for some casual conversation.

After people had left, Rhea had requested a song that held a special place in her heart: How Deep is Your Love by The Bee Gees. As the familiar melody began to play, Jey looked down at Rhea, who was swaying gently in his arms. He hadn’t heard the song before, but he could tell it was an old classic—definitely not something you heard in the mainstream anymore.

As they danced, Rhea’s buzz began to fade, replaced by a warm feeling of connection. She looked up at Jey, her eyes sparkling. “I love you,” she said softly, breaking the silence.

Jey smiled back, his heart swelling at her words. “I love you too,” he replied, leaning down to kiss her. They melted into the moment, swaying together in perfect harmony, oblivious to the world around them.

What they didn’t notice was Damian, standing on the patio, capturing the sweet scene with his phone. He grinned, already imagining blowing up the photo to display at their wedding. “This is going to be legendary at the wedding,” he muttered to himself, chuckling at the thought.

The others, curious about the couple's relationship, watched with admiration. Kayden playfully hit Damian’s arm, interrupting his daydream. “Forget he said that. Let Rhea tell us when she’s ready,” she said, nudging the focus back onto Rhea.

“Yeah, she’ll get us with that engagement ring eventually,” Joseph chimed in, a teasing grin on his face.

Cody joined in, a smirk on his lips. “I don’t wanna be on the receiving end of a riptide,” he joked, referencing Rhea’s signature move.

“They are perfect for each other, really,” Liv said, watching Jey and Rhea dance, their connection palpable. “Their chemistry has always been there. Did you guys ever see how he looked at her at Fastlane? It was like they were screaming, ‘We are in love!’”

Damian nodded in agreement. “I loved it when he said, ‘We Miss You… We ALL Miss You,’” he recalled, referencing a segment they had done together, showcasing their bond.

Kacy, intrigued, leaned in. “Did they ever say how long they’ve been dating?” she asked, genuinely curious.

Damian shrugged, though he secretly wanted to respect Rhea and Jey’s privacy regarding their relationship. “Honestly, I’m not sure,” he replied, deflecting the question.

Liv sighed dreamily, her gaze still fixed on the dancing couple. “They are just so beautiful together… I want that type of love,” she commented wistfully.

Cody, reflecting on his own experiences, smiled. “I have that with my wife… It’s really something, especially when you have a child. You learn to appreciate the good moments even more,” he shared, a soft smile crossing his face as he thought of his family.

“I definitely think he is finally happy… my brother was miserable up until he started with Rhea..” Joseph commented.

“Don’t say nothing. I caught him smiling at her one time… I looked at Rhea and asked what’s the Samoan want? She was like, probably an Australian.. I swear I didn’t know she was referencing herself.” Damian said.

“Men are clueless…” Liv added.

As the night wore on, laughter and light banter filled the air, but the undeniable warmth radiating from Jey and Rhea continued to draw everyone’s attention. It was a love that had flourished amidst challenges, and in that backyard, surrounded by their friends, it felt as if anything was possible.

As the last few notes of How Deep is Your Love faded, Jey and Rhea stopped swaying, caught in a moment of bliss. The warmth between them was palpable, but the spell was broken when someone cleared their throat loudly. They both turned to see Cody waving them down with a grin, gesturing for them to join the group gathered at the patio.

Jey took Rhea's hand and led her over, sitting down in one of the chairs before pulling her gently into his lap. The rest of the group couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the couple—there was an undeniable ease and affection between them, one that everyone else could sense.

Cody leaned back, chuckling to himself before making a comment. “You two look like something straight out of a fairytale. Honestly, I don’t know how else to describe it.”

The others chimed in with similar remarks, nodding their heads in agreement. Liv, sipping on her drink, added with a playful sigh, “I’m just saying… where’s my fairytale? Someone needs to find me a man like that.”

Jey glanced around, smiling at his friends' comments before resting his chin gently on Rhea's shoulder. “Y'all don’t even know… she makes me happier than I’ve ever been. Happier than I even thought I could be.”

Rhea blushed at his words, her heart swelling. She turned her head and kissed him softly on the cheek, making the group “aww” in unison.

Kayden, ever the jokester, raised an eyebrow and leaned forward. “Okay, Rhea, I gotta ask. How’s it feel dating an old man?”

The group burst into laughter as Jey feigned offense, throwing his hands up in mock disbelief. Rhea’s eyes twinkled mischievously as she fired back, “I don’t know, Kayden. I should be asking you… you’ve got Damian, after all.”

Everyone roared with laughter, especially as Damian, who had been lounging in his chair, sat up straight, narrowing his eyes at the playful jab. “Hey, hey, hey!” he protested with a grin. “For the record, I’m only 42. That’s not old.”

Cody, who had been taking a drink, started laughing so hard he nearly spilled it. “Damian, man, if you’re 42, then what does that make me? I’m 39! Guess that makes you the wise old man of the group.”

Jey couldn’t help but laugh along with everyone else as Damian dramatically shook his head. “Alright, alright, I’ll be the old Wiseman if that’s what y’all want!” Damian said, throwing up his hands in defeat.

The group’s laughter filled the air, the sound echoing into the warm night as the gentle breeze swayed the trees. In this moment, surrounded by friends, Jey and Rhea felt more at peace than they had in a long time. It was as if, for a brief time, all the chaos of their past melted away, leaving only love, joy, and the warmth of friendship.

Rhea leaned back against Jey’s chest, her heart full. “I’m just lucky,” she said softly, looking at the group with a warm smile. “Lucky to have all of you.”

The group continued to laugh and joke, it was clear that they all felt the same. No matter the trials that had come before—or the ones that might come in the future—in this moment, they had each other, and that was enough.

After saying their goodbyes and sharing hugs, Jey and Rhea headed out toward their rental car. The night had been filled with laughter, love, and good company, but now, it was just the two of them. As they walked, hand-in-hand under the moonlight, Jey looked over at Rhea with a soft smile. “You have a good time, babe?”

Rhea glanced up at him, her eyes sparkling. “The best time,” she replied, squeezing his hand. “I needed that… we both did.”

Once in the car, the drive to the hotel was calm and peaceful, a perfect ending to the evening. The streets were quiet as the city slept, and they soon pulled into the guest parking lot of the hotel. Together, they walked through the lobby and took the elevator up to their floor, savoring the calm after the whirlwind of the party.

When they reached their room, Rhea couldn’t help but feel a sense of peace and contentment. She dropped her bag onto the chair and turned toward Jey, giving him a playful look. “You know…” she began, her voice sultry as she moved closer to him. “I’ve been thinking… we haven’t exactly broken in the spa bath in this room yet.”

Jey raised an eyebrow, a mischievous grin already forming on his face. “Oh? Not just a regular bath, huh?”

Rhea let out a laugh, taking his hand and pulling him toward the bathroom. Before she could say anything else, Jey was already quickly stripping off his clothes, his playful side emerging in full force. “You’re not wasting any time, are you?” she teased, her own laughter filling the room.

The night continued in their own private world, laughter, and love shared between the two of them as they enjoyed each other’s company, with no one else around.

Monday, October 7th, 2024

The next morning, the soft buzz of Rhea’s alarm filled the room. She stirred slowly, opening her eyes to see the early rays of sunlight peeking through the curtains. She sat up in bed, stretching her arms before turning to see Jey still sound asleep beside her. His breathing was steady, his face calm and relaxed—he looked so peaceful that she didn’t want to disturb him.

Slipping quietly out of bed, Rhea grabbed some workout clothes from her bag and made her way to the bathroom. After brushing her teeth and tying up her hair, she threw on her headphones and grabbed a water bottle, deciding to head down to the hotel gym for a morning workout.

The hotel was still quiet as she made her way to the fitness center. Rhea always found peace in her morning routines, and with everything going on in their lives, she needed this time to herself, just to clear her mind. As she stepped onto the treadmill and started her warm-up, she thought back to the night before—the joy of being with her friends, the love she shared with Jey, and the way everything seemed to fall into place.

It was moments like these that made all the challenges they had faced worthwhile. With a soft smile, she increased the speed on the treadmill, letting her thoughts drift as she focused on the rhythm of her footsteps. This morning was just hers, a chance to breathe before another busy day.

Rhea continued her workout, the rhythmic thudding of her feet against the treadmill grounding her as she worked through the last ten minutes of her routine. She wiped the sweat from her brow and reached for her water bottle when something caught her attention. There was that unmistakable feeling of being watched.

Slowing down her pace, she looked to her left and, sure enough, there was Bayley, staring at her from the stair master with an expression that could cut through stone. Rhea felt her blood begin to simmer. She wasn’t in the mood for this—not after such a good night with Jey and their friends.

Taking a deep breath, Rhea hopped off the treadmill and walked over to where Bayley was. The tension in the air was palpable as she approached. “You got something to say to me?” Rhea’s voice was steady, but there was an edge to it.

Bayley glanced at her, barely breaking her pace on the stair master, before letting out a bitter chuckle. “Yeah, actually. If you had any common sense, you wouldn’t be messing around with a married man.”

The words hit like a slap. Rhea’s eyes narrowed. She could feel her pulse quicken, the adrenaline from her workout blending into pure anger. “Why don’t you fuck off, Bayley? You don’t know a damn thing about my life.”

The tension escalated instantly. Bayley stopped her workout, stepping off the machine as the two women squared up. "I know enough," Bayley shot back, her tone cold. "You’re playing with fire. Jey’s still technically married, and you’re acting like none of that matters. How long do you think this little fairytale is gonna last before it all blows up in your face?”

Rhea’s fists clenched at her sides, her jaw tight. She wasn’t about to let Bayley try to lecture her, especially about something she had no business in. “Why don’t you keep your nose out of my business? Maybe worry about your own shit. Last I checked, you shouldn’t even be here. You’re on SmackDown. What are you doing in St. Louis anyway?”

Bayley scoffed, crossing her arms. “Don’t worry about why I’m here. Maybe I had something to take care of.”

“Yeah, right,” Rhea fired back, not backing down an inch. “Sounds more like you’re sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

Bayley’s lips curled into a smirk, but there was no humor behind it. “I’m just saying—watch yourself, Rhea. You’re not invincible. And this thing with Jey? It’s not going to end well. Maybe take some advice from someone who’s seen relationships in this business go south.”

Rhea stepped closer, her voice lowering but thick with warning. “Back. The fuck. Off. You don’t know me, and you sure as hell don’t know what’s going on between me and Jey. So don’t you dare try to lecture me like you have any clue what you’re talking about.”

Bayley raised her hands in mock surrender, though her expression remained smug. “Whatever you say, Ripley. But don’t come crying when everything crashes and burns.” She turned, muttering something under her breath as she grabbed her towel, ready to leave the gym.

Rhea, still seething, caught the snide comment and clenched her jaw tighter, her hands still balled into fists. She wanted to let it go, but Bayley’s audacity was gnawing at her. “What was that?”

Bayley didn’t turn around, but her voice carried across the room. “I said, ‘Some people never learn.’ But you’ll figure it out soon enough.”

Rhea felt the urge to fire back, but something held her in place. Maybe it was the exhaustion from the workout, or maybe the fact that she knew deep down she had nothing to prove to Bayley. She wasn’t going to let her ruin her morning or plant doubts in her mind.

With a heavy exhale, Rhea turned her back on the situation, reminding herself that Bayley’s opinions didn’t matter. She had Jey, they were solid, and no amount of petty comments from someone else was going to change that.

But as she returned to the treadmill, her mind was still racing, her pulse still high. Bayley’s words lingered, unwanted, and Rhea couldn’t shake the sense that the confrontation was far from over.

Rhea finished her workout, her muscles slightly sore but her mind sharper. She headed back up to the hotel room, her thoughts still lingering on the tense confrontation with Bayley. As she opened the door, she spotted Jey sitting on the bed, engrossed in something on his phone. He quickly tried to hide it, a smirk playing on his face as if he'd been caught in the act of something mischievous.

Rhea rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what he was doing. "You don’t have to hide it, Jey. I already know," she teased, her tone light despite the frustration still gnawing at her from earlier.

Jey caught the change in her voice instantly. Putting his phone down, he stood up and walked over to her, his brow furrowed in concern. "Nah, babe, what’s up? You sound off," he asked, his protective nature kicking in as he placed a hand on her waist, pulling her close.

Rhea let out a heavy sigh. "I ran into Bayley in the gym," she said, her irritation rising again. Jey’s eyes narrowed at the mention of Bayley, sensing where this was going.

"What’d she say?" he asked, his voice now serious.

"She basically called me out for ‘messing with a technically married man,’ acting like she knows anything about us," Rhea said, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "We got into it a bit. I told her to back off, but she just kept pushing."

Jey’s jaw clenched, and he let out a slow breath through his nose, trying to keep his temper in check. "First off, she don’t know anything about what we’ve been through. She’s talking outta pocket, and that’s on her. Second, you don’t need to explain anything to her or anyone else. We know what’s real."

Rhea looked up at him, her shoulders relaxing a little as she took in his words. "I know, it’s just annoying. She doesn’t have any right to come at me like that."

Jey pulled her into a tight hug, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Forget about her. You’ve been through worse than Bayley running her mouth. You’re stronger than that, and we’re solid. She can’t break what we have."

Rhea softened in his arms, feeling the tension slowly leave her body. "Thanks," she whispered, feeling a sense of relief wash over her.

Jey kissed her again, this time softly on her lips, lingering there for a moment before pulling back. "Now, how about we get ready for tonight’s RAW? We’ll kill it, like we always do. Before you know it, tomorrow, we’ll be back home with Jon and Trinity. It’ll just be us, no drama."

Rhea smiled, the thought of being back with Jon and Trinity, away from all the chaos, bringing her some comfort. "Yeah, I like that plan," she said, nodding.

"Good," Jey said, grinning as he rubbed his hands together. "Now let’s shower and get this day started. We’ve got a show to steal."

Rhea smirked, her playful side resurfacing. "Shower, huh? Together, I assume?"

Jey gave her a mischievous grin. "You’ll get some head out of it..” Rhea grinned.

“Come again…” She said, while looking at him.

“If you don’t get your ass to the shower so I could eat you out…” Jey said and Rhea pulled his head to lead him into the shower with the quickness.

As the shower went on, the tension from earlier seemed to fade, leaving behind only the connection and trust they had in each other, ready to face whatever the world threw at them—together.

—

Tuesday October 8th, 2024.

Jon kept driving around the pick-up loop until he finally spotted Jey and Rhea waiting by the baggage claim exit. He hit the brakes abruptly, coming to a stop just as he was about to reach the exit once again. Jumping out of the car, Jon popped the trunk open, not wasting any time.

Jey groaned as the carousel continued its slow rotation. “Man, they always take forever with this luggage. They do this on purpose, I swear.”

Rhea chuckled softly, nudging him. “Relax, love. We’ve been through worse than waiting for bags.”

Jon smirked as he helped load their luggage into the trunk. “I’m hearing complaints about luggage like y’all didn’t just leave me for dead in this traffic.”

Rhea smiled warmly at Jon. “Thanks for coming to pick us up, Jon. You’re a lifesaver.”

Jon shrugged casually but grinned. “Anything for family. Besides, we need to get back. Takecia flew Jeyce out already, and he’s at the house.”

Jey’s eyes lit up immediately at the mention of his youngest son. “Jeyce is already there? Man, I can’t wait to see him.”

Rhea couldn’t help but smile, seeing the excitement on Jey’s face. He missed his kids fiercely, and moments like these were everything to him.

Jey leaned back into the car seat, still smiling, but his expression shifted slightly as he asked, “What about Jaciyah? Is he at the house, too?”

Jon paused for a beat, a little hesitation in his voice before he answered, “Nah, Jaciyah didn’t want to come, Uce.”

The happiness drained from Jey’s face, and the energy in the car shifted as silence fell between the brothers. Rhea, sensing his disappointment, squeezed his hand tightly, offering her quiet support.

The rest of the car ride was quiet, the earlier excitement replaced by somber contemplation. Rhea continued to hold Jey’s hand, giving him the reassurance she knew he needed.

When they arrived at Jon and Trinity’s house, everyone helped unload the car, bringing the bags inside. Jon made his way toward the kitchen, leaving Jey and Rhea to head into the guest bedroom, where Jeyce was fast asleep on the pullout sofa bed.

Jey stood in the doorway for a moment, watching his youngest son sleep. The sight calmed him a bit, but the weight of Jaciyah’s absence still lingered. “I’m gonna take a shower,” Jey mumbled, his voice thick with emotion.

As Jey disappeared into the bathroom, Rhea walked over to the pullout bed where Jeyce was peacefully sleeping. A mischievous idea crossed her mind, and she smiled to herself before gently shaking his shoulder.

“Hey, buddy,” she whispered softly.

Jeyce stirred and blinked sleepily, his eyes slowly focusing on her. When he realized it was Rhea, his face lit up. “Rhea!” he squealed, instantly sitting up and wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug.

Rhea chuckled, hugging him back. “Hey, kiddo. I missed you too. You’ve been sleeping in, huh?”

“Yeah!” Jeyce grinned, rubbing his eyes. “I missed you and Dad. What are we gonna do today?”

Rhea grinned, thinking about how to make this day extra special for him and maybe even lift Jey’s spirits a bit. “Well, what do you want to do today?”

Jeyce’s face scrunched up as he thought for a moment. “I wanna swim in the pool! And eat burgers! And hot dogs! And snow cones! And candy!”

Rhea burst out laughing at his enthusiasm. “You’re aiming high today, huh? That’s a lot, but I think we can make it happen.”

Jeyce’s eyes widened in excitement. “Really?!”

“Really,” Rhea confirmed with a smile. “How about this: you come with me and Auntie Trinity to the store, and we’ll get everything we need for the best pool day ever. Sound like a plan?”

“Yeah!” Jeyce bounced with excitement, practically bursting with energy now. “Let’s do it!”

Rhea smiled, brushing a hand through his messy hair. “Alright, get dressed, and we’ll head out as soon as you’re ready.”

Jeyce scrambled off the pullout sofa to find his clothes, leaving Rhea chuckling at his excitement. She couldn’t wait to tell Jey about the plan. Hopefully, spending time with Jeyce would bring some light back into his day, especially after the disappointment of Jaciyah not wanting to come.

With Jey in the shower and Jeyce getting ready, Rhea felt a bit of relief. Today was going to be a good day, no matter what. She was determined to make sure of it.

Rhea made her way downstairs to find Trinity sitting at the kitchen counter, finishing up her morning coffee. The house was filled with the relaxed sounds of a Saturday morning — light chatter from the TV, the faint hum of the refrigerator, and Jon rummaging around in the kitchen.

“Hey, Trin,” Rhea greeted her with a smile, walking over to the counter. “I’ve got a little plan.”

Trinity raised her eyebrows, intrigued. “Oh yeah? Let’s hear it.”

“Jeyce wants a pool day. Burgers, hot dogs, snow cones, the works,” Rhea explained. “So I figured we could take him to the store, grab everything we need, and make it a full-on summer party.”

Trinity’s face lit up at the idea. “Oh, I love that! He’s gonna have the best time.” She quickly finished her coffee and stood up, glancing toward Jon, who was busy cleaning up. “Hey, babe, you mind cutting up the veggies for the skewers? And check the pool, make sure there aren’t any leaves or anything in it.”

Jon looked up from the counter and waved them off with a grin. “I got you. Pool’s gonna be perfect, and the skewers will be ready by the time y’all get back. Don’t forget my ice cream, though.”

Trinity rolled her eyes playfully. “You and your ice cream. You act like we’d forget.”

Rhea laughed and started to head back upstairs to get Jeyce. When she reached the guest room, she found him already dressed, his excitement almost contagious. “Look at you, all ready to go!” she teased.

“I’m ready, Rhea!” Jeyce said, bouncing on his feet.

“Alright, alright. We’re leaving in a minute,” Rhea chuckled before hearing the shower turn off in the bathroom. She knocked on the door lightly before peeking in, finding Jey towel-drying his hair. “Hey, we’re about to head out. Jeyce is coming with us to the store. You need anything?”

Jey glanced over at her, his eyes softening. “Nah, I’m good. You girls and Jeyce have fun. Be safe, okay?” He walked over and planted a quick kiss on her cheek, the warmth of his affection lingering even in that small gesture.

Rhea smiled at him. “We will.”

With Jeyce practically pulling her out of the room, they headed back downstairs to meet Trinity. Rhea could see how happy the little guy was, and it warmed her heart. She wanted today to be perfect for Jeyce, and maybe it would help ease the tension Jey was feeling after the news about Jaciyah.

Once they were out of the house and piling into the car, Jey stood in the guest room, his thoughts heavy. After a moment, he grabbed his phone off the dresser and stared at the screen. He knew what he had to do — he needed to check in with Takecia.

As the dial tone rang, Jey braced himself. Their conversations had been tense ever since things with Rhea had become more serious. And the situation with Jaciyah… that was harder than anything he had expected. He knew his son was hurt and confused, and no amount of words could fix that overnight.

When Takecia picked up, her voice was calm but distant. “Jey.”

“Takecia, hey,” Jey greeted, leaning against the bedpost. “Just wanted to check in. How’s everything going?”

There was a brief pause before she responded. “We’re fine. Everything is fine.”

Jey winced at the formality in her voice, but he pushed through. “I heard Jaciyah didn’t wanna come to Jon’s.”

“Yeah, he didn’t,” Takecia said flatly. “He’s… He’s still having a hard time with everything, Jey.”

Jey closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the familiar guilt settle in his chest. “I know, I know. It’s just… hard, you know? I miss him.”

“You should’ve thought about that before,” she replied, her tone cutting a little sharper now. “This was always going to be hard on him.”

Jey let out a sigh, knowing she wasn’t wrong. “I just wanna talk to him. I wanna help him through this.”

“He doesn’t wanna talk right now, Jey. And I’m not gonna force him.”

The silence between them grew heavy. Jey rubbed his forehead, the weight of everything pressing down on him. “Alright. Just… let him know I love him, okay?”

There was another pause before she quietly agreed. “I will. Take care of yourself, Jey.”

“You too, Takecia,” Jey replied softly before ending the call.

He stood there for a moment, staring at the phone in his hand. The conversation didn’t leave him feeling any better — if anything, it made the weight on his shoulders even heavier. But he knew he couldn’t dwell on it right now. He had Jeyce with him, and today was supposed to be a good day for his youngest son.

Pushing the lingering thoughts aside, Jey went to get dressed, determined to focus on the time he had with Jeyce and the rest of the day.

--

Jey and Jon were by the grill, engaged in a casual conversation while keeping an eye on the sizzling food. The sun beamed brightly overhead, creating the perfect summer day atmosphere. Meanwhile, Rhea, Jeyce, and Trinity splashed around in the pool, the sound of laughter echoing in the warm air.

Rhea playfully splashed water at both Trinity and Jeyce, who squealed in delight. “Watch out for Trinity’s hair!” Jeyce warned, giggling as Rhea soaked them.

“Come here, let me get your hair wet!” Trinity teased back, her own hair slicked back from the water.

Rhea laughed, her heart full as she watched the two interact. The music played softly in the background, and the smell of grilled food wafted through the air, setting a relaxed vibe. Jey, watching from the sidelines, couldn’t help but feel a swell of happiness seeing his fiancée bond with his youngest son.

As Jon turned to Jey, he asked, “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s great,” Jey replied, a smile stretching across his face. He set his beer down and walked to the edge of the pool, where Rhea was twirling Jeyce around in the water.

“Are you having fun, buddy?” Jey asked Jeyce, who beamed back at him.

“The best ever!” Jeyce exclaimed, laughter spilling from him.

Rhea smiled brightly, feeling a sense of warmth and connection in the moment. She gently set Jeyce down and swam closer to Jey. “You should get in!” she encouraged, splashing him playfully.

“No way! I’m not getting my hair wet like Trinity!” Jey protested, trying to keep his composure.

Rhea laughed at his response and, in a moment of mischief, lunged forward, grabbing Jey’s arm and pulling him into the pool with her.

Jey let out a surprised yelp as he splashed into the water, his expression shifting from shock to laughter. “You got me!” he exclaimed, shaking his head to get the water out of his eyes.

Rhea giggled, loving the spontaneity of the moment. “Now you’re in! No backing out!” she said playfully.

Jey glanced around at Jon and Trinity, who were both laughing at the sight. "You are too crazy!” he protested, though it was clear he was enjoying himself.

“Oh you'll be okay.” Rhea shot back with a playful grin, splashing him again, and the two were soon caught up in a friendly water fight, surrounded by the sounds of joy and laughter that filled the backyard.

--

Jeyce was fast asleep on Rhea's shoulder, his lips still faintly blue from the snow cones Trinity had whipped up earlier. Rhea, Jeyce, and Trinity were comfortably settled on the patio sectional, enjoying the warm afternoon as they chatted. Every so often, Rhea adjusted her position, making sure Jeyce was snug and comfortable, her arm wrapped protectively around him.

On the other side of the sectional, Jey and Jon were lounging back, beers in hand, catching the occasional drift of conversation from the women. The smell of the grill filled the air, and the faint hum of music blended with the sounds of the backyard—laughter, the splash of the pool, and the soft breeze rustling through the trees.

Jey couldn’t take his eyes off Rhea. The way she fit seamlessly into his world—laughing with Trinity, gently cradling Jeyce as he slept—made his heart swell with gratitude. She was everything he'd hoped for and more. His gaze lingered a little longer as Rhea threw her head back, laughing at something Trinity said.

Jon noticed and smirked, nudging his brother lightly. "Yo, Uce, you good? You lookin' real lovestruck over there."

Jey blinked, tearing his eyes away from Rhea and smirking at Jon. "Yeah, man. Just… it’s crazy, you know? How everything’s coming together."

Jon chuckled, taking a swig of his beer. "Yeah, I see it. She's the real deal, bro. You lucked out."

Jey grinned, feeling the truth of that statement sink in. "More than luck, man. She's everything."

Jon leaned back, his tone shifting a bit. "So the idea for the wedding?"

Jey nodded, his smile growing wider. "Yeah. We’re starting with the courthouse, just keeping it small. You and Trin will be there. Then we’ll do Vegas with all our friends—get a little wild, you know? And finally…" He paused, his voice dropping slightly. "The wedding in Samoa with the whole family."

Jon nodded thoughtfully. "Three weddings, huh? You really making it a whole event."

Jey chuckled, setting his beer down. "Gotta make sure it’s right. Rhea’s all in on the Samoa wedding. She’s been learning about our traditions, she wants to honor that, and she’s been so supportive through all of this."

Jon smiled, clearly impressed. "Samoa’s gonna be special. Family’s gonna love it."

Jey’s expression softened, but a slight hesitation flickered in his eyes. "Yeah, but there’s something else, bro."

Jon raised an eyebrow, curious. "What’s up?"

Jey took a deep breath, leaning in slightly. "I wanted to ask you to marry us. In Samoa."

Jon’s eyes widened, a mix of surprise and honor crossing his face. "Wait, what? Me? You serious?"

Jey nodded, his expression growing more serious. "Yeah, man. I wanted you to marry us from the start. But Takecia wasn’t cool with the idea. Said she didn’t think it was right for you to do it."

Jon frowned slightly, understanding the tension behind the situation with Jey’s ex. "Damn, man. I didn’t know that."

Jey sighed, but his smile returned quickly. "Yeah, but Rhea… when I brought it up, she didn’t even hesitate. She was all for it, right away. Honestly, that just made me wanna marry her even more, you know? She understands what family means to me, and she’s willing to embrace all of it."

Jon leaned back, taking in his brother’s words. His face softened, and he nodded slowly. "Man, that’s something special. Rhea's got a good heart."

Jey smiled, glancing over at Rhea again as she shifted Jeyce slightly on her shoulder, still laughing with Trinity. "She does. That’s why I want you to be the one to marry us in Samoa, in front of everyone. It feels right."

Jon’s expression was a mix of surprise and pride as he sat up a little straighter. "Bruh, I’m honored. For real. You want me to stand up there, in front of Ma, Pops, the whole family, and do that?"

Jey nodded firmly. "Yeah. You’ve always been there for me, through everything. I want you to be part of this too. It would mean everything to me."

Jon rubbed the back of his neck, clearly moved. He looked at Jey with a grin and shook his head in disbelief. "Man… I don’t even know what to say. You really want me to do this?"

Jey smiled, clapping Jon on the shoulder. "Just say yes, Uce."

Jon exhaled, finally grinning wide. "Hell yeah, Uce. Of course, I’ll do it. I’d be honored."

Jey let out a laugh of relief and clapped his brother on the back. "Thanks, man. I knew you’d come through."

Jon shook his head, still processing the request but clearly excited. "Bruh, marrying my little brother in front of the whole family? That’s wild, but I’m in. We’re gonna make it special."

Jey’s smile widened, his gratitude evident. "We’ll figure it out together. It’s gonna be perfect."

Jon raised his beer in a toast, his eyes shining with pride. "To family, Uce. To all of it."

Jey clinked his bottle against Jon’s, a sense of peace washing over him. "To family."

--

Rhea carried Jeyce upstairs, his small arms wrapped lazily around her neck as he slept soundly against her shoulder. Jey followed closely behind, watching the tenderness in Rhea’s steps. When they reached the guest bedroom, Jey quietly opened the door, and Rhea gently laid Jeyce down on the bed. She carefully removed his sandals, one by one, and pulled the comforter over him, making sure he was snug and comfortable. As she looked at him, she noticed the blue remnants of the snow cone still smudged on his lips. Rhea grabbed a tissue from the nightstand, dampened it lightly with water from the bathroom, and gently wiped the sugary streaks from his face. She leaned down and kissed his forehead, watching him for a moment as he breathed steadily in his sleep.

Jey sat at the edge of the bed, quietly observing the whole scene. There was something about watching Rhea with Jeyce that filled him with a sense of calm, a feeling of completeness that he hadn’t known he’d been searching for. She fit into his life so naturally, like she was always meant to be there.

Once she was done, Jey called her softly. “Rhea, come here,” he said, motioning for her to sit beside him. Rhea walked over and sat down next to Jey, the quiet intimacy of the moment surrounding them.

Jey took a deep breath, knowing what he wanted to ask but unsure of how to begin. “I know,” he started softly, his eyes searching hers, “I know it’s been really hard… losing the baby. I don’t want to push anything on you. But once we’re married… do you think we could try again? I want to give this another shot, Rhea. I’m ready. I’m willing to go all in—even more—on my wrestling career for the next couple of years. I’ll do whatever it takes to take care of you, our kid, and Jeyce and Jaciyah.”

Rhea’s hand instinctively went to her engagement ring, the one that held so much meaning. It wasn’t just a symbol of their love, but also of the child they lost, whose ashes were embedded within the delicate band. She looked down at the matching bracelet on her wrist, the permanent bond they had forged together, and took a deep breath, steadying herself.

She finally looked up at Jey, her voice soft but firm. “I don’t want you to ruin your body just to take care of me and our family, Jey. I can’t let you do that.”

Jey reached out, taking her hand in his. “I don’t care about that, Rhea. I’ll do it for you. For us.”

But Rhea gently pulled her hand away, her voice catching in her throat. “Let’s just get through the divorces first.”

Jey’s expression shifted, confusion clouding his features. “Why do we need to get through all that first? We already know what’s gonna happen, right?”

Rhea hesitated, her eyes dropping to the floor. Her voice was barely above a whisper when she finally answered. “Matt… he hasn’t responded. He won’t sign the papers.”

Jey’s entire demeanor changed in an instant. He turned away from her, processing her words. Takecia had already signed their divorce papers as soon as she was served, and California’s six-month waiting period had already begun. Everything was on track for him. But now, hearing this from Rhea, he felt blindsided.

Rhea’s words came out in a rush, as if she were afraid of what would happen if she didn’t say them quickly enough. “Matt thinks there’s still some chance for reconciliation. He says he won’t sign anything until he talks to me. I… I didn’t know how to tell you.”

Jey stood up abruptly, walking to the edge of the room. His back was to her as he tried to gather his thoughts, his emotions threatening to spill over. He had thought they were moving forward, that the worst was behind them. But now it felt like they were stuck, like something was holding them back from the life they were trying to build together.

Rhea’s voice was barely audible when she added, “Everything’s been happening so fast. I just… I feel like maybe we should slow down.”

Jey turned to face her, his expression a mix of frustration and hurt. “Slow down?” he repeated, his voice tight. “I thought we were in this together, Rhea. I thought we knew what we wanted.”

Rhea couldn’t meet his gaze. Her hands trembled as she gripped the pillow beside her. She had never wanted to hurt him, but lately she felt everything was becoming overwhelming, and the weight of it all was pressing down on her.

Jey, sensing her retreat, took a deep breath, trying to calm the storm brewing inside him. He wasn’t angry—at least not in the way that made him want to lash out. But he was hurt, deeply. He grabbed a pillow from the bed, his tone quiet but firm as he spoke.

“We can finish this conversation when I’m not mad. I’m a man who can control his feelings. I’m not the kind of man who hurts his wife to the point where she needs a blood transfusion.”

With those final words, Jey left the room, the weight of the moment heavy in the air. The door closed softly behind him, but the silence it left behind was deafening.

Rhea sat there, her heart aching as tears finally fell. She hugged the pillow tightly to her chest and buried her face in it, the sobs breaking free as she allowed herself to cry for everything that had been lost, and for everything that was uncertain ahead.