#i hope they win the rodeo if they enter

[eternallyunrested]

Pov: you stole their cattle and they're going to beat you

Idk whats with the western vibe, it kinda just popped in my head and I couldn't get Donna's hat off my mind

[parkerluvsu]

Sorry if i'm asking for too much but girl we desperately need a full fic of cowboy!Art 🛐. Like Art seeing another cowboy approach you and him feeling so jealous and possessive even you're not his yet and him finally finding the courage to confess his love to you but you reject him or something and he starts working harder to get you to accept him 🧎‍♀️🛐

omg not asking for too much at all!!! tried to make this as long as i could but im just so bad at translating my thoughts to words so.. hope u like it <3 (also no i don't know anything about cowboys or rodeos so please forgive me)

PonyBoy (Art Donaldson)

cowboy! art donaldson x fem! reader

late summer nights in july were always your favorite, the captivating sunsets and low-flying june bugs only adding to your enjoyment. usually, people in your small town could be found smoking or knitting on their creaky front porches on a pretty night like this but tonight was a special occasion, with every person who could manage the walk to the outskirts of town or snag a ride in the bed of a truck packed into the rickety seats of the outdoor arena, waiting for the rodeo show to begin. you near the entrance to the venue, tapping your foot anxiously. the most famous rodeo cowboy in your town, art donaldson, is facing another challenger from the next town over. of course you wanted your cowboy to win, there's always been rivalry between your two towns, and now that there was an outlet to outperform each other, both towns showed out for their cowboys.

art donaldson had been the talk of the town since he hit the scene a couple years ago, renowned for his skills and many trophies in rodeos across the state but especially popular among young women and men who found themselves extremely attracted to his strong frame and pretty blond hair. you never caught onto the craze though, thinking he was too good to be true. you'd been scorned a few times in your life by those pretty cowboy types, so you just leaned back in your seat and watched as fans of art crowded around the entrance where he would soon emerge.

as the lights dim over the arena the crowds roars become louder, the claps and woops of fans young and old echoing through the space. you almost have to cover your ears when the announcer yells at the crowd to settle down and welcome the challenger from the neighboring town. boos and yells now fill the stadium, as arts opponent preens at the attention coming from the crowd, tipping his obscenely huge cowboy hat at you, winking smugly. you roll your eyes, turning your head to the spotlight illuminating the entrance where art would soon emerge. the energy in the arena immediately changed when art entered the ring, and even you couldn't resist standing up and clapping and cheering for him like the rest of the fans in the crowd. you swore you felt his eyes on you when he was waving at the crowd, but you were just imagining it.. right?

the rodeo goes by in a flash, you're not surprised that art comes out on top in the end. he rides his horse in a celebratory circle around the ring, when he gets to your section your stomach drops as he tips his hat at you, a small smirk on his face. you look away, reasoning that he probably does this with every girl he sees, a big celebrity like him is sure to be a playboy.

exiting the arena, you looked for your car in the parking lot, lost in the sea of beat up pickups. not looking where you were going, you suddenly hit a wall of muscle, looking up, immediately annoyed before you notice a familiar smirk. "art.. art donaldson?" you step back, looking around for his roadies and drunk friends that always seem to follow him around. "in the flesh darlin'" he flashes that smirk again and you have to fight the urge to roll your eyes. "no offence but shouldnt you be like at an after party or something? you won today, im sure you'd get free drinks at any bar in town" you don't mean to stereotype him but.. he truly seems like the type to have a different girl hanging off his arm every night. he smiles, "parties ain't really my thing, actually i was hoping id find you out here". you look at him with raised eyebrows, wondering if he's got you mixed up with another girl. "see, well i saw you in the crowd, most people at these things just go crazy for me but, honestly you didn't seem too interested at all" he shrugs. you shake your head, hoping he's not out here to lecture you about his sport, "no, no that's not it.. i just don't exactly have interest in watching men preen themselves, i mean your opponent was being a total duche to me". he frowns immediately, "are you serious? jesus.. im sorry darlin' ill keep my eye out for him, wouldn't want you to get scared and never come see me again.." he trails off. you tap your foot on the ground hoping he'll get to the point soon. art catches your drift, "well anyway, i was wondering if you'd let me prove you wrong, im a little more than a famous cowboy yknow". you look around, almost expecting cameras to pop out and announce you were on some sort of prank show. "are you kidding?" he shakes his head. "listen i.. i don't doubt that you're fun or whatever but i don't date celebrities" you say matter-of-factly. he frowns, finally taking off his hat for the first time that night, letting you see his slightly sweaty blond hair, curled in the heat, "you're kidding. i promise, just lemme take you on one date-" you cut him off, pressing a finger to his lips, "i said i don't date celebrities. im flattered really, but i have my morals. goodnight ponyboy" he bristles at the nickname and you giggle, turning quickly and letting out a breath of air you didn't know you were holding. you barely register his call after you, "just gimme a call princess, ill prove you wrong!". you shake your head, finally making it to your car and shutting the door, placing your head on the steering wheel. that couldn't have actually just happened.. the art donaldson hitting on you.. you knew all the girls in your town would kill for a chance to be in your place, and they would never turn him down. driving along the winding roads to your house, you bite your lip, wondering if you made the right choice. shaking your head slightly you push the idea out of your mind, he's probably out finding another girl to flatter and take home. it was settled, you wouldn't think about him anymore. but as your head hit the pillow that night the last thing you thought of was that stupid smirk of his.

the rest of your week goes on like normal, repeating your routine every day, without thought of your weird encounter with art. it's wednesday, meaning the local farmers market is open. you grab your bag and head out into the world, immediately wishing you grabbed a hat to shield you from the sun. making you way down to the center of town, bustling with buyers and sellers of fresh food. you walked around the market, thinking about what you needed, you stopped at a peach stand to look at your list, not noticing who was next to you. "so we meet again sweetheart.." you recognize the drawl of the familiar cowboy next to you, letting out a deep sigh. "are you following me ponyboy?" you question, looking up at his blue eyes, shadowed by his cowboy hat. art shakes his head, chucking at you, and you hate to admit it but it's a very attractive chuckle. "no, 'course not, you turned me down remember? i know when im not wanted.." the way he says that, you almost get offended. "i- you know i didn't mean it like that, i just don't date celebrities, no matter who they are" you say, looking up at the now very confused peach farmer, looking between the both of you. you pay for your peaches and leave, and to your (partial) annoyance you hear arts cowboy boots against the gravel behind you. "can i ask you somethin'?" you nod, and art takes his place at your side. "why don't you date celebrities, just curious of course" you smile, shaking your head, he really won't give up, will he? "well, i guess i just don't think they're real, too good to be true yknow? most of the once ive seen are just total players, i feel like it's in their nature to be greedy and always want more. no offence obviously.." art nods along with what you're saying, truly looking like he's thinking about it. "geez, you're an expert on the topic aren't you? i would hate to find out you think of me that way, cuz i really aint that type of guy" art looks down at you, walking slowly to match your pace. "well.." you look him up and down, "you don't exactly have the presence of someone who likes to keep to themselves" art laughs, now letting silence seep between you as you make your way back to your home. arts quiet presence is surprisingly comforting for a showboat like him, if you closed your eyes you probably wouldn't even notice he was there. reaching the porch of your house you turn to face him, not sure what to say next. art takes off his hat, placing it on his heart, "let me prove you wrong. please, im begging you sweetheart, ill do anything you want me to do to convince you" your eyes widen, shocked at the sudden advance. "you.. aren't gonna let this go are you?" he shakes his head quickly, "not at all, no." you sigh, "you're very sweet art but.. i don't even know you-" he cuts you off. "then get to know me, i won't disappoint you darlin'" you weigh the options in your mind, the cons and the pros of the situation, with art right in front of you, you can't help but take a chance. "alright, alright. one date okay ponyboy? one." his face lights up immediately, placing his hat back on his head. "thank you, thank you seriously, ill prove you wrong about me" you nod at his promise. "i should get inside but.." he nods, looking almost sad at the thought of you leaving. "alright.. ill pick you up tomorrow at seven, does that work for you" he's eager, more eager than you'd expect, and you're flattered. you agree, heading inside and preparing for the next day.

one date turns into two, then three, the next minute you're seeing each other every night. most of the time art comes to your place, he tells you it's because he doesn't really have a permanent residence at the moment, but you know he does it just to get to know you better, peeking through your books and trinkets, looking for something to boost his knowledge about you. he cooks too, something you didn't expect from him at all, to his credit, he's absolutely proving you wrong, but you'd never admit that to him, he's too cocky as it is. he hardly ever talks about rodeo when he's with you, separation of work and pleasure he tells you, but truthfully he just doesn't want you to see him as that celebrity, he just wants to be art with you. and you let him be normal with you, spending lazy days in bed with him, not worrying about anything. you can't imagine your life without him anymore, he's there when you wake up, when you're preparing breakfast and going about your chores for the day, he's there, when you get in bed for the night he's certainly there too. he'd never tell you, but he thanks his lucky stars when you fall asleep in his arms, he shudders thinking about where he'd be if you turned him down. luckily, he'd never have to think about that anymore, now that he was yours, your ponyboy.

[amoristt]

Alive | König/Reader

anon: hello i see u do requests for mw2 now! can i request konig being sent on a hostage rescue mission, and when he gets there he finds of them is his partner (reader), who went MIA months ago and was presumed dead?

a/n: i hope you like it! sorry if the german is wrong i had to use google translate gffjhdgjfh

reblogs + tags and replies will make my entire day as i put a lot of effort into this :)! it also helps motivate me!

story continues beneath the read more. let me know if you can’t access it!

want to support me? heres my kofi!

Besides the frequent chatter of voices emerging from the radio on his tactical belt, there is a cold silence that blankets the halls König travels down. Years spent training in the force had taught him well to be light on his feet despite his size, eyes focused on every micromovement in front of him. A rat scurries from a pile of crates on the floor and into a vent. Flies gather at the swinging lamps overhead. It feels like the hallways are endless. 

“König, position?” A voice rings from the device. He offers a short response. 

“West wing.”

“Anything yet?”

“Nein.”

Faintly, voices echoed down corridors. He’d entered the base like a ghost in the night, and mowed down every enemy that stood in his way. This was his specialty, after all, and this wasn’t his first rodeo in gutting out the base of human traffickers. However, this was the first time in a long time. The last time he’d been sent to a hostage rescue, there were… issues. He remembered it almost all too clearly. The worst night of his life thus far.

You’d gone in first despite his protests, and that was it. He had been too far away, minutes behind you. Moments later the building was up in flames, with your poor soul trapped inside. König hadn’t known peace since that moment, an ocean of turmoil overtaking him. The sight of glowing embers raining down over him as he stood, helpless, on the sidelines.

You’d been presumed dead the moment the monumental flames could have practically knocked at heaven's door.

Even despite his rank, his team had to damn near peel him away from the scene. Never had he felt pain like that in his entire life.

Until, the next morning, that was. When his weary eyes opened to see nothing but his dull ceiling, and he realized the night before hadn’t been some awful nightmare. 

It took weeks for him to regain enough composure to properly work again. But, in some ways, he felt like he never left that night. Sometimes he felt he was still there- staring up at the monstrous glowing flames and fighting to not think about how you spent your last moments.

After months, he'd agreed to another rescue mission. Perhaps a win, perhaps saving someone, may put some of his demons to bed.

He passes doors upon doors, all blown wide open as evidence of men fleeing his approach. Scattered papers line the floors, chairs knocked to their sides. Window's thrown open with little care.

One door, however, gathers his attention almost instantly. The way it was shut tight with a deadbolt locked on practically begged for him to investigate. He reaches out and makes quick work of breaking the metal bolt, hearing the metal clatter to the floor. Tentatively, he twists the knob and shoves it open, weapon ready to fire. Inside, a cluster of women gather in the far corner, eyes as wide as owls, fingers all clutching each other in fear. 

“I’ve found them,” He says into his radio, taking a head count. “Three of them. West wing, fifth door to the left.”

“Intel says there’s a fourth.” Comes back the answer, and he frowns, peering through his mask to recount. “We’re sending in reinforcements.”

König lowers his weapon cautiously and counts again, just in case. Just as before, it’s three women, all frightened beyond belief. He steps to the side and motions for them to exit the room, knowing his teammates were bounding towards the room and would be able to lead them to the safety of their vehicles outside. As they filter past him one by one, he doesn’t miss the glance one of them takes towards the closet at the other end of the room before darting into the hall. Quietly, he takes steps towards it, lifting his weapon. He could practically sense a presence from within, eyes narrowed, creeping closer and closer. 

Without even bothering to demand the person inside to come out, he grasps the door and tears it open, his gun pointing directly inside, his hulking figure shadowed by the ceiling lamp behind him. The flashlight on his gun beams over a figure inside. The person’s hands are over their face to escape the blinding light. He could see purple bruises on their elbows, finger marks on their biceps.

The fourth hostage. 

“Go on. Go.” He says quickly, lowering his gun. He expects the hostage to turn tail and run, rip past him and scurry down the trashed halls to their freedom. But, instead, they lower their hands, big eyes gaping up at him. His heart nearly seizes as he makes out the person's features.

“König?” Your voice is a strange version of soft. Afraid, confused, relieved. You’re frozen in place, holding your hands to your chest, as if you can’t believe the sight before you. As if you can't believe it’s really, truly. him.

But it is. 

König’s actions move faster than the speed of his thoughts. His gun is slung behind his shoulder, his hands find your arms and he’s pulling you out from the confines of your hiding spot. His mind is reeling, his fingers shake, he can’t hear anything other than his heartbeat and the soft sounds you make as he practically crushes you against him. Time stands still for a moment. The flickering yellow of the hanging light pauses. He breathes into your hair and the scent of you almost has him losing his composure. There isn’t even time for tears to gather in his water lines when he squeezes his eyes shut and clutches you to him, so close, afraid if he lets go you’ll disappear all over again. 

“Du bist lebendig, du bist lebendig.” The desperation in his voice is more than apparent. He can barely even think. “I thought I lost you, meine Liebe, Ich dachte, du wärst tot.” 

German spills from his lips in a warble, all the little things he’d thought he’d never get to say to you again. His lungs heave as he rambles, feeling your arms wrap around him. He’s sure his words are barely even meeting your ears, but he doesn’t care. 

From his belt, his radio calls out to him. Two voices now, both demanding to know his current position and why he hadn’t been answering. He has to force himself to pull away from you to answer, and it nearly hurts as you leave his embrace, his voice harsh and shaky.

“I’ve found ___,” He remarks frantically, his free hand clutching your shoulder. “She’s alive, mein Gott, she’s here.” 

“___?” A male voice chirps over the line. "She's alive?"

König breathes, nods as if they can see him. His hand flattens over your back and tugs you back into him. “Ja, I’ve got her. Coming back now." He presses his lips to your head through the thin fabric of his mask. “I’ve got you.”

He nestles his radio back into its place and wastes no time scooping you into his arms. He knows his hold is almost too tight, likely uncomfortable against the severe amount of bruising littering your body, but he couldn't help himself. You were right there. Alive. 

Alive, and clinging to him like he was your lifeline, like if you didn’t wrap your fingers around whatever you could manage to grasp, he’d drop you and you’d fall back into that awful place. He rushes down the halls with a newfound urgency, frantic to leave this horrible place as a memory. Frantic to get you back to where you belong. 

König could feel you peering up at him, taking in the intensity of his eyes as he used his shoulder to shove open the door to your freedom. The cold outside bites at him, but he welcome the feeling, the dirt shifting under his large boots and he picks up pace. 

“I’ve got you.” He says again, into the crisp air, and he feels you nod quickly, surely unable to find the energy to respond. In the distance he can see the calvary waiting for him. The hostages were loaded into a larger buggy while he took to a smaller vehicle. His lungs heave as he runs with you, heart thrashing in his large ribcage. His teammate throws open the door of the vehicle and he’s quick to load you inside. You limply lean against him as he settles in beside you, arm wrapped tight around your shoulder to keep you up right. With a yank, he rips his gloves him his hands, presses his palms into your skin to feel you, really feel you.

Even with your bruises, even when your marks and scrapes, you're just as soft as he remembered. You're everything he remembered. Everything he thought he'd never get to have ever again.

As you look up at him, he blinks down at you with misty eyes. His fingers pull hair from your face and tuck the strands behind your ears. When you smile at him, König feels a boulder lodge itself in his throat. Try as he may to gag it down, his efforts are fruitless, and he bumps his forehead against yours. 

The tears he’d been running from bite at the corners of his eyes as the vehicle rolls to the a start. You let your body relax against him, his head falling back against the headrest, bare fingers petting over your skin. 

It's over, you're safe. He has you.

He kisses the top of your head as the vehicle roars down the open road, and billows of dirt clouds obscuring your prison before it disappeared all together under the night sky.

[happyselves]

Law of Attraction { Lando Norris x reader }

Disclamer : Swearing !!!

It was a busy weekend for the Mclaren team, they were about to get associated with a new partner. It was a huge contract and it was your first big deal. Mclaren just hired you, you were on probation before your contract will be real. You couldn’t mess up, you needed this job, needed to make your proof. You just got your law degree and it was your first job as a lawyer and you got lucky that you found yourself working as a Mclaren F1 Team new attorney.

This contract was important for both parties and it would go to the press as well. You were set to make your client sign during the next grand prix weekend and it was this weekend.

You spend hours and hours in your office reading the partner offer but something was bugging you and you couldn’t put your finger on it . You had to fly this afternoon to join all the team in Austria and you were starting to feel stress because you knew you had to put that deal on your boss table for him to sign, but that it wasn’t a good one and that we would basically get screw over by some clause or something, you knew it in your guts, you just need to find which pieces of puzzle you were missing. If the partner attorney thought he could easily screw you over like this because you were in your first year of work, he was wrong. You might be a newbie but one thing your mentor had taught you was to never show your weakness. That’s why you spend all night writing a new contract, word by word like the original, to find that little detail and you end up finding it. You were ehausted and tomorrow was the signing day, but now you were ready to show that we can’t fuck you over easily and that nobody should ever underestimated you. That was probably why mister Brown had give you the job, hearing things from is old attorney and your mentor was one thing, but proving how worth of the job you were is another and it will be soon be your moment of glory, but you couldn’t celebrate victory to soon, another thing you mentor had teach you.

Today was the day of the signing, you were stressed, you didn’t know how this would turn out. You were scared to have made a mistake and the lack of sleep was starting to rub on you. You had your plan in your mind, letting the other party think they had the upper hand and not tell them you had found the hair in the soup that will make your client profit and not lose all his money. It was important for you to not show your whole game to the adversary, but let him build his ego before you put that last card that will make you win the whole game in hand.

To make it official, Mclaren had to make the deal in their motorhome, Mister Brown wanted his two drivers to be there with him while signing as well because it was an important partnership for the whole team. It will be your first time seeing them since you entered the company, you were based in the factory back in Woking, but never had met any of them. You were quite intimidated, but the job was coming before anything else, no matter how many hours you spend in your free time to search about these two drivers, focusing on one in particular because he was around your age and something was telling you that the two of you were somewhat alike in certain ways of your life. You would lie to yourself if you didn’t find him attractive as well, but your personal preference when it comes to man can’t interfere with your work, it was your first and most important rule in your code of conduct you had set yourself on when you started studying law.

You arrive early in the paddock, hoping to visit around and discover this whole new world that you knew nothing about. You gotta visit the garage of your team, mechanics were happy to explain to you one thing or two, having a silent competition between them for the one that will have the testosterone level at his highness and find a way to make you fall for them. You already know their little trick going to law school with men, nothing could surprise you anymore. You knew you were pretty or had a little something more perhaps, but seeing gentlemans thinking the same was actually really flattering. After this pleasant little escapade, you find yourself walking the stairs of the Mclaren motorhome reading to meet everyone in the meeting room. You were the last one to enter the room, but you could give yourself the right to make an entrance after the thing you discovered during your sleepless night of searching dirt on the company represented by the douchebag sitting on the opposite side of the table. By his face you knew this man was an asshole and that it wasn’t his first rodeo and you were ready to put a stop into his little illegal business.

However when your eyes meet the drivers, especially the youngest one, your heart skips a bit, before you turn yourself and find your boss judging your rather late presence. You quickly apologize with a nod of the head before inviting them all to sit around the table and start the meeting.

Everything was going smoothly, everyone was happy, except you. You already hated what you were about to do,but you had to act fast otherwise it will be too late and the papers would be signed in front of your eyes.

“ Excuse me, I have one more question before we head toward the signature. “ You interrupted the conversation, looking at your boss, waiting for his approval to continue. After all you were only doing your job to assure everything is well covered, he couldn’t argue on that. The opposite camp didn’t have any objection for you to give a go to your wonder, thinking it would be innocent coming from a young lawyer that is still learning about the job. He made a gesture toward you, avoiding getting over this.

“ Well, mister Backfield, without due respect I was wondering why you were so eager to help our company, I did some research, you know. Usually you are investing in smaller businesses, which will lower profit. Why show the Mclaren F1 Team when it's new territory for you ? “

And action, you knew that every word that was about to leave this man’s mouth would only be total lies, but he didn’t know that. You had the upper hand by far and you won’t give him the satisfaction to put down this team and family.

And he tried hard to explain, save his case, defend himself and if you were naive you would have believed the guy but you weren't and could give a shit about his speech.

" Well I'm afraid I can't let this go on further. "

Everyone around the table was stunted, not knowing what to say. Mister Brown was reading to make you go before you heard him a piece of paper and that's when his face changed and he let you continue.

" You see Mister Backfield, you thought you could screw us over and try to go fish at a bigger price. Unfortunately for you I find out who you truly are. A piece of garbage buying company when they must need it, making them believe you will help them develop until somehow by some miracle they are forced to declare bankruptcy a couple years ago and then you buy them twice the price they truly worth before miraculously going back on the high to sell them three times the price. I don't know you but I call that stealing and corruption and I'm not ready to let my company get fucked over by an asshole like you so you can take you goddamn deal, walk away from here and never show your face around us again or I can talk to the press and trust me they are going to love it. One thing for sure is that if it happens I might win big and no negotiation put on the table will make me give you your money back. " You threw him middle fingers as you stood up and showed him the door.

Everyone was so shocked they couldn't speak, not because of the revelation in itself but how you had handled the whole situation like a true boss, with confidence and pride.

Someone in the room was even more impressed and couldn't even close his mouth, clearly admiring you. If you knew better you would say that right there Lando Norris was falling in love with you and if that wasn't boasting your ego then you didn't know what will.

Mr Brown was the first one to come to you as you all watched the security guys escorting Mr Backfield out of the paddock. He was about to say something but the rush of adrenaline was making you bold and you beat him to it.

" I am so sorry mister Brown I know I should have informed you before the meeting, but honestly I wasn't even sure before entering in that room that my information was right and I only received the confirmation a minute before being here, explaining why I was late. Truly I'm sorry if I put your entire team in a difficult position, I will try to find the best replacement for you I promise you. " You were almost out of breath as you finish you log apologize but realize soon enough that it didn't really matter here.

" I am impressed with you, first month on the job and you are already making yourself irreplaceable, you shouldn't have to apologize and I certainly should be thanking you and giving you a raise. Your mentor was right to gush about you. You are someone else." Proud could be seen in his eyes and his smile couldn't leave his face as he hugged you awkwardly saying thank you one more time before leaving and going back to the garage with Daniel who made sure to wink at you and make a big thumbs up at you before heading out.

However, someone hadn't left his seat, Lando. You thought he was just going to stay there and ignore you but as you were opening the door he smashed it back close behind you.

" I observed you all weekend, wondering why such a little fragile person was headlining such a big deal like this but it turns out I was wrong, never judge a book by it's cover. I'm learning it the hard way. "

You turn to face him ready to get back at him but his lips on you made you shut up. He pushes you against that door again, putting his hands on your lower back. At first you were confused as to why he was kissing but eventually you just stopped resisting and let yourself enjoy the moment. You had a thing for him and you were now sure that these weird eye contacts weren't that innocent. He had a thing for you too.

His kiss could make you reach the roof, you never felt something like that before, not that you had much experience, he knew exactly what would make you moan into his lips and lose balance so he could tighten the grip around you. You needed air but you would not allow it to yourself, you wanted more, you wanted him.

The adrenaline in your system was still pumping through your veins and you couldn't really think straight, your hands found the back of his head, playing with his loose locks of hair. You were holding on for dear life on this ride despite the fact you barely knew the guy.

Lando ends up breaking it up and you realise you were hooked around him as he put you down on your feet again.

" Just for the record, what you did before was so fucking hot that I would gladly be a criminal if that means you would be the one to put me in jail. "

He made you laugh, you were gasping for air, messy hair, swallow lips and redness on the cheeks, no speaking of your clothes being runned and unfolding and your shoes not even on your feet anymore. Everyone knows what they say about aan that can make a woman laugh and you wouldn't argue on that, not with him anyway.

Now that you had a taste of Lando, you wanted more, so much more and by the look on his eyes he was willing to explore the " more " area with you too.

" Okay that was unexpected, but the good kind, so here's what we're going to do. You will knock twice on my door at 23pm tonight, room 344, not a minute before and not a minute after, hope you know what punctuality is because you won't get a second chance. " You gathered all your things, trying to clean yourself to make it look like nothing had happened before you caught Lando's chin in your palm.

" Hope you will have a good defense, because tonight is going to be the trial of your life " You blow him a kiss before leaving his sight, a pride face drawing on you.

MASTERLIST

[wild-lavender-rose]

Busted Lip

Pairing: Luke Duke x fem!reader

Category: Hurt/comfort

Summary: Luke enters a dangerous bucking bronco contest because Boss Hog dared him to. However, while he competes you’re faced with a dangerous competition of your own.

Warnings: Blood, injuries, mentions of fighting

     You were grinning as you waited outside the arena for Luke to appear, the expression causing your bloodied, busted lip to sting. The fact was, you were covered in a hundred bloody scrapes and blossoming bruises. Bruises that would probably hurt a lot worse once the excitement and adrenaline ran out. 

     But for now, you ignored them easily, stretching up on your toes to look for any sign of Luke or Bo in the exiting crowd. Boss Hog had dared Luke to ride Hot Shot, the bucking bronco featured in Hazzard county’s annual rodeo. Despite Uncle Jessie’s misgivings, Luke had entered the contest. And he had won. 

     You had slipped in near the back of the crowd to watch Luke compete. Him winning had made you scream with happiness. However, little did you know that the group of men surrounding you had made bets against Luke under Boss Hog’s guidance. And had been none too happy that they had lost. 

     Your obvious support made them even angrier. Words were exchanged, insults were thrown. Your temper had flared. Next thing you knew, you were in a fight with five full-grown men. And while you had sent them packing, (Daisy and the boys had made sure that you knew how to defend yourself) it was not without receiving a few scrapes of your own. Scrapes that you hoped Luke wouldn’t make too big of a deal over. 

     “There she is!” Bo’s voice sounded over the noise of the crowd. 

     You looked to see the boys cutting through the crowd to get to you. “Luke!” You cried, running to meet him. 

     “Hey, darlin’,” Luke grinned as you jumped into his arms, holding you for a moment before sitting you down in front of him. That’s when he noticed. “What happened to you?” He asked, grin vanishing as he reached up to touch your bloody lip with his thumb. 

     “It’s nothin’,” You shrugged, then winced as he brushed at the bruise forming on your cheek. “I just got into a fight, is all.” 

     “A fight?” Bo’s brow furrowed as Luke continued looking you over. “With what, a bear?” 

     “Nah, just a few guys.” 

     “A guy hit you?” Luke’s concern tripled in intensity. “Who are they? Where are they now?” 

     “I think they’re over by the ambulance they had on standby for the contest.” 

     “Right, take care of her.” Luke gave Bo a look before turning and starting off in the direction of the ambulance. 

     “But honey, I already broke all of their noses!” You watched as Luke continued on the warpath, sighing. “Talk about kickin’ a man when he’s down.” 

     “If Luke gets ahold of ‘em, I doubt he’ll stop at kickin’.” Bo was trying his best to act like he wasn’t disappointed that he had to stay behind and take care of you. 

     “Don’t worry,” you gave Bo’s arm a nudge. “It won’t be much of a fight.” 

     “You got ‘em that bad?” 

     “Worse.” 

     Bo smiled. “Luke’s lucky to have you.” he put an arm around you. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” 

Fanfic masterlist

[authorangelita]

It's that time again! Here's a little missing scene/post-episode scene with Jack and Mac for @macgyverrewatch2020 S01E20 Hole Puncher.

~~

Jack glanced at the clock on his microwave while he cleaned his P30. It was nearing 3 am, and he had no intention of going to bed yet or maybe at all tonight. There was half a pot of coffee left in the Bunn, and his cell phone was fully charged. He was just waiting for the –

A guitar riff from "Enter Sandman" broke the calm of the night. The irony was not lost on him that Riley had set that ringtone for the insomniac in their little family. Jack tapped the accept button and then the speakerphone button with his least greasy pinky finger.

"Hey, hoss, awfully late, isn't it?"

The line was quiet, but he could hear the muffled sounds of Mac pacing across his back deck. "Jack," his partner breathed like he was afraid of speaking any louder.

That raised Jack's hackles like a dog catching sight or sound of a rattler on the ranch. "Mac," he matched the tone and volume despite being alone in his own apartment.

"I can't sleep," Mac confessed, still speaking in hushed tones. "Every time I close my eyes, I see Josh dead, but really dead, not just staged in a bathroom to look dead. There's blood on my hands, and... he's dead. I killed him."

It was such a monumentally bad idea to let Mac go undercover as Murdoc. Jack should have fought harder against it, should have offered himself up as the imposter.

"You didn't kill anyone, bud. Josh is alive and well and home with his family, thanks to you."

Mac took a few minutes before he finally said, "This doesn't feel like a win."

Suppressing a sigh, Jack wiped his hands off with a rag, grabbed the phone, and went in search of his keys. "It might not feel like it now, bud, but I think you'll change your mind. Maybe when Josh sends pictures of their new baby in a few months. Or maybe when you get some sleep and can look at this with fresh eyes."

His partner was quiet again, and Jack's soul ached at the fact that Mac was beating himself up so hard about this mission. Especially since the outcome had actually been one of their better ones.

"Listen, you sit tight, and I'll be there in fifteen."

"No!" Mac protested immediately and vehemently. "You don't need to come over. I just... I needed to hear your voice. I'm okay. I'm going to try to sleep now."

"Calm down, bud. I won't come over, but I'm not ready to stop talking yet." Jack sat down on his couch and made himself comfortable. "There's a condition to this plan, though. You need to go and get into bed."

"Jack-"

"No arguments. I can make it there in 10 minutes. I've done it before."

"Okay, okay." The background sounds indicated Mac was doing as Jack asked, so he waited for the sheets to rustle before he started to talk.

"Did I ever tell you about when I was a rodeo clown for about three months? Well, I lost a bet, and my buddy Bull – that was not his real name but damned if I can remember it now – dared me to be a clown. You know what? I was good at it!"

Jack rambled on about the rodeo circuit for another twenty minutes until he could hear that Mac's breathing had deepened and evened out in sleep. He ended the call and headed to bed himself, hoping that Mac would rest well.

[des-the-girl]

Hello can i request a smutty scenario or headcanons whatever you want for Bokuto with the kink body worship? He goes into his emo mode and his fem s!o tries to cheer him up? Thank you!

You’re welcome!  This is my first ask, so I hope this is okay!

Calming Emo Bokuto  (Kotaro Bokuto x fem!Reader)

Warnings!  Body worship, slight praise kink, aftercare, anal fingering, general softness.

🦉So I can see Bokuto coming home after losing a close match.

🦉And of course he's upset! He practiced so much! And so did his teammates!! He feels like he let his team down.

🦉So you're at home and hear him enter.  You just finished making his favorite meal in celebration of his win. It was cooling down in the kitchen while you were watching tv on the couch.

🦉 But he didn't shout that he was home. Uh oh.

🦉 While you’re no Akaashi, Its not your first rodeo handling your 'simple-minded’ boyfriend.  

🦉 He isn’t as bad like back in highschool,  but he is a moody man 

🦉 You just need to show him that you appreciate him! 

🦉 You turn to see him and he’s already undressed.  His eyes are practically begging for comfort.  

🦉 Open your arms and he’ll immediately goes in for a hug. 

🦉 Pepper the top of his head with kisses while he rests his face in your breasts.  

🦉 (Big titties, small titties, no titties, it doesn’t matter as long as he can lay on your chest)

🦉 (You are 100% the big spoon when this happens)

🦉 You gotta whisper how much you love every part of him while you grab his dick and stroke his length

🦉 Watch how red his face gets as you use your other hand to tease his ass

🦉 (Its a open secret that his ass is his weakness.  Atsumu once teasingly slapped his ass and Bokuto almost came in his shorts)

🦉 It isn’t long before he’s panting and cums into your hand. He covers his face and you gently pry his fingers off, kissing each one

🦉 As he comes down from his high, you quickly leave and return with a damp towel to clean him.

🦉 This is the perfect time to reassure him that you love him the way he is

🦉 You end your comfort session with leading him to the kitchen and feeding him some of his beloved Yakiniku

🦉 While you didn’t cum, he’ll help you out later~

[apexqueenie]

For One-Punch man : S-Class psychic (with the power of telepathy) male superhero reader x Tatsumaki

Ooooooooh yes, sorry for taking so long! Work and School are REALLY taking a toll on me ugh. Welp, here’s bby Tatsu❤️

Enjoy!

Warnings: Foul language, dead monsters

“Ehhhhhhhhh? Some nobody made it to S-class right off the bat?” Tatsumaki crossed her arms. She hovered over the tech guys in the Hero Association headquarters impatiently and just happened to see a new document come up on screen. The name was cut off at the top of the monitor, but the large S above the nearly perfect score was clearly visible.

The nervous tech man jumped at the S-class heroine’s voice, “uhm, yes ma’am, he was just registered today”

“Tch, first King, then Demon Cyborg, and now this guy? So I guess anyone can just waltz into the S-class instead of earning it like the rest of us? Ugh, weaklings” she scoffed. “Also, I don’t know if any of you morons remember but I came here because you guys said you needed help so get on with it!”

She looked around the room at the various operators all furiously typing away at their keyboards, some taking distressed phone calls from powerless civilians encountering lower level monsters. Sighing, she floated around looking for the staff member that called for her aid. Tch, if there were copies of her around, there won’t be so many monsters wandering the streets. Waiting around here was so goddamn booooooooooooooooring.

“Who called me here anyways?!” She yelled, “It’s taking so long for them to show up that I might as well just go look for the monster myself!” She raised herself far above everyone else, hoping that someone would notice and give her some coordinates. ANY coordinates.

Her hopes were answered when an association worker, Scruff man she calls him, entered the room, laptop in one hand as he adjusted his headset in the other. She growls with impatience and hovers over to him, fixing his headset for him so he could pay attention to her quicker.

“Where’s the monster I need to clean up?” she said, poking the man’s head.

He sighed, still heading over to his desk to set his laptop down. “Actually, we already have a hero there, but we have reports of the commotion attracting a huge energy signature from the-”

“Yeah yeah, give me the location already! I have to do ALL the work here” she interrupts.

He typed at his keyboard seemingly unbothered by the heroine’s rude mannerisms. “City J, watch out along the border in city K though,” he says. He was about to say more, but the green haired woman already vanished. He shook his head, getting back to other important matters at hand. “She’ll be fine” he mutters.

***

City J wasn’t that far by any means, not if you could fly there like the Terrible Tornado. She could hear the screams of frightened people before she even got to the scene...at least...she thought they were screams. Listening closer, Tatsumaki realized they were...cheers?

Oddly enough, she saw people smiling, taking videos and selfies of an abnormally big bear monster that laid sprawled across the floor, a massive dent in its head as well as a destroyed cafe in front of it. The hero of the day stood next to the corpse, smiling at the crowd as they swooned over him. She didn’t recognize him however...was it some lower class trying to get a rank boost? She flew over, hovering above him for intimidation.

He turned to look at her, unfazed by her presence. “Oh, hi partner! You must be the Terrible Tornado! I heard they were sending you as backup-”

“BACKUP?!” she yelled, “I am NOBODY’S BACKUP! If it weren’t for those STUPID HQ workers, I would’ve been here faster and without all this damn mess!” She waved her hand to the remains of the destroyed building to prove her point.

The hero blinked at her and smiled again, “so, this must be the award winning personality that coined your name huh? Well, you’re not the only one with a powerful mind you know. Mine takes over weak ones- anyways, we need to evacuate these people. They came back once the alarm stopped, but HQ warned us that there’s another beast hiding somewhere…” he trailed off, concentrating at the crowd of people that still cheered for him. He was sensing an approaching danger…a BIG danger. Suddenly, he turned to Tatsumaki and called her name, pointing to a cluster of people urgently.

She barely got the message as the ground began to crack underneath them. In between the cracks, she spotted a blue and disfigured monster, its drill like teeth boring its way to the surface until it suddenly froze, its eyes turning milky white. Subconsciously, she had already picked up everything in that area: people, cars, street signs, rubble and all, placing them gently out of harm’s way. Next to her, the unnamed hero holds both his hands out towards the monster, his eyes reflecting the same white as the monster he controlled.

“Tornado!” he yelled with a bit of difficulty. Quickly, she pulls everyone she sees far away from the battle scene, clearing the debri from the streets simultaneously so they can make their escape. The alarm sounds again, warning everyone of a threat level demon terrorizing the city. Tatsumaki rises above the buildings, scanning the area for more threats, but to her surprise, she sees none. Before she could start worrying about the monster at hand, the hero below lets out a triumphant yell at the area being cleared of civilians.

“Hah! This is where the real fun begins!” He says.

Tatsumaki looked down to see the male jump right above the monster before it unfroze and launched itself far above the ground. She moved out of the way to let the blue salamander-like monster pass her, its impossibly long body covering her view of the sun. She stared in awe at the hero riding the nearly 200 foot long beast to the sky. He felt no fear as he dropped with the giant, yelling with glee like a child playing with a new toy. It fell to the ground, crushing uneven buildings with its soft underside, the sudden takeover messing with its head and making it uncoordinated and confused. This gave the hero the perfect opportunity to control it with ease. The Salamander’s eyes turned milky white in its confusion, ceasing his movements and almost robotically repositioning its body. A split second later, it began bashing its head against the ground, quickly losing the strength to stand up as the hero rode on top of it like he was at a rodeo. Tatsumaki could only stare in shock as it took one last hit and stumbled on its side, dying next to the previous monster who met the same fate.

She was speechless. Never had she seen someone use an enemy’s own power against them, not like that. What did he say again..? ‘Well, you’re not the only one with a powerful mind you know. Mine takes over weak ones.’. Huh, so someone on the opposite side of the Esper Spectrum.

The hero turned to smile at her from below and Tatsumaki couldn’t help but turn a bit red from embarrassment. She was the number 2 hero, yet, she barely did anything to aid in stopping the attack. She didn’t know why, but for the first time in a long while, she felt ok with someone else handling the monster. She floated down a good distance to meet him, hoping her green aura would cover up some of the redness.

“Thanks for the help back there, I don’t really like taking over human minds all that much, so it was a big help for you to move them yourself.” he says as he begins to make his way down from the monster’s neck.

Tatsumaki only responded with a ‘hmph’ as she hovered in pace with him. She wasn’t used to being the backup, but what’s done is done. Even if she was impressed, she couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit salty.

Sounds of sirens, helicopters, and news reporters became audible soon after the hero’s feet touched the ground. Few people came back to the aftermath to take pictures and film the dead beasts.

“Well,” the hero says, fixing his outfit, “looks like people are coming to interview us already. S-classes really are a big deal huh? I don’t think I’m ready to spend the next hour or two being asked boring questions, so I'm gonna dip. I’ll see you around?”

“...Sure.” She says.

“Great!” He smiles, before turning around to head off away from the paparazzi.

Tatsumaki eyes him for a second, trying to figure out again if she recognizes him before the curiosity gets the better of her. “Wait!” She calls out.

He turns around, giving her his full attention.

“What’s your name anyways?” She huffs.

He gives her a playful smirk, “I thought you knew already. I’m your new S-class companion, and I’m comin for Blast’s number 1 spot.” He says, pointing a thumb to himself as he turned back around and continued walking.

“LIKE HELL I’D LET YOU TAKE THAT SPOT” he heard Tatsumaki yell before she let out a frustrated growl and began heading off to her next task.

The hero chuckled to himself. The Terrible Tornado could be cute sometimes if she wasn’t trying to kill you.

***

As Tatsumaki flew off, she couldn’t help but feel a bit giddy. Finally, there was someone who could pull their weight... someone she could share the load with and who wasn’t quite normal like her and Fubuki. It was an odd feeling of..relief? Comfort? She didn’t quite know just yet, so she shook that feeling away. The number two hero doesn’t catch feelings that easily, at least, that’s what she told herself. Aside from her sister, relationships were hard for Tatsumaki...but deep down, she secretly hoped she would work with him again soon.

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[butcherknives]

Howdy,

On account that I am your favorite cowboy, may I please request something special for a special someone?

“May I ask for some headcanons about "Monopoly night" for the DMC crew (or just some of them, whatever you feel most comfortable with!)?”

Take Your Time,

Rodeo

As my favorite cowboy and sister, I guess. 🤍 You know I’d die for you. lmao ugh I love this request and the special someone requester. I hope I do this justice! Please accept my attempt at humor.

Monopoly Night

SFW: Sparda family bonding (ft. Lady)

—

As with most things involving the Sparda family, they enter this situation in haphazard flourish.

It’s an hour into lazing around the adjacent sofas and chairs at Devil May Cry when Dante announces his boredom. There are no theatrics in his delivery, only the gruff exhale of a man who needs a stiff drink.

He’s tired of watching Vergil and Nero read in the hollow silence of resounding discomfort. The palpable tension and pointed aversion is stifling despite the gentle breeze through the open window.    > Ugh.

Vergil exhales a long-suffering sigh. “Entertain yourself.”

The tin static of the music blaring from Nero’s headphones punctuates the itch Dante has to disturb.

Nero’s foot bounces in idle while he turns the page. He doesn’t look up, as if he’s purposely refusing to acknowledge the room.    > He is.

Dante is forced to reconcile with the uncomfortable tension and his own exasperation as he kicks his boots up on his desk with a heavy thud, leaning back into his chair to close his eyes. All these years of longing for a family, of homesickness for a reality that isn’t his own, and this is what he’s given?     > He isn’t actually mad, of course.

He’s saved when Lady pushes open the doors, surveys the room and says, “Wow. Who died?”

An hour and a frustrating amount of digging later, Dante and Lady uncover an unopened box of Monopoly from the depths of one of Dante’s closets. As if it’s Jumanji, they handle it with care.

...until Dante slams it on the coffee table between Vergil and Nero.

Nero jolts, on his feet with his headphones off in seconds. His alarm melts into simmering anger. “C’mon! What the fu –”

While Vergil closes his book with a shadowed scowl. “What is the meaning of this?”

Lady circles the living room. She’s watching them. Dante catches the mischief gleaming in her eyes and reciprocates with a grin of his own, and as he folds his arms over his chest, Lady drops her heel against the table. Jarring and definitive. “It’s Monopoly, boys. Loser buys dinner for everyone.”

Nero caves without a fight, which Dante is both surprised by and, honestly, perhaps not at all surprised by when Nero starts to unbox the game. It’s Vergil who Dante (rightfully) assumes will decline.

“I’d prefer to finish my book. I have no inclination to play your childish games.”

What he doesn’t expect is for Nero to be the one to engage.

“Childish? Why? Because you're so fucking superior reading books in Latin?” Nero slams his palm on the coffee table, rattling the metal character pieces. “Would you just pick the damn top hat?”

There’s a long pause in which Nero and Vergil stare each other down. Lady looks between them, lips pursed, while Dante merely rolls his eyes.

Vergil folds first. With a derisive huff through his nose, he places his elbows on his knees and leans forward to retrieve the top hat.

Nero only squints as if to say, “That’s what I fucking thought you said.”

Everyone takes a seat and collects their pieces. Lady takes the boat, Dante claims the boot, Nero has the dog, and Vergil is already tapping his top hat on the table.

Lady dubs herself Queen and lays out the rules. She also acts as a referee, although she often instigates internal bickering in an effort to sabotage. Dante starts to call her out on this when she pits Nero on him – “You’re gonna let Dante buy your space?” – but Lady only smiles and winks. (“No one will ever believe you.”)

Vergil plays with strategy. He’s read the board and determined where he would like to build, although he doesn’t share and takes them by surprise when he chooses what seem to be lesser options. He’s the best equipped for victory with his methodical approach, but his money handling skills leave a lot to be desired. He overspends too quickly.

Nero plays on defense, too concerned with wasting the money he’s earned.

Roughly midway through, Vergil gets into a rant about the effects of late stage capitalism, and how this game isn’t meant to be fun, it’s meant to be disheartening. To crush spirits.

“This information is crushing my spirit,” Dante says as he, once again, hands money over to Lady.

“Nah, you’re crushed because you’re losing,” Nero answers.

The thing about Monopoly that the group either didn’t know or conveniently forgot is that it can, and often does, take hours to complete, depending on the intensity. And this game goes on for so long, Dante orders pizza and no one complains.

Dante swears he had more Monopoly money left, but Lady snatches it all from him and counts it out as they all stare.

Poor even in Monopoly, Dante loses it all to Lady who claims there’s a rule about accrued interest. He demands to see the rulebook but she tucks it into her shirt, eyes locked on his. Dante is neither brave nor rude enough to pursue further, although he does throw his head back and groan like a 42-year-old child.

With Dante bankrupt, Nero makes his way into jail for the fifth time before he stands up and says he’s had enough. Too competitive and sensing he’s on the brink of losing, he folds before he can have his ass handed to him by Vergil, who is absolutely 100% targeting him specifically.

Nero steals a slice of pizza straight from Dante’s hands as recompense. (And to distract himself from his frustration by riling up the man he looks up to for entertainment.)

Vergil and Lady continue for roughly another hour. Lady drops snide comments but Vergil refuses to take the bait, only ever offering the occasional raise of his brow or a roll of his eyes. Yet for all of his composure, Dante notices Vergil’s stack of money dwindling.      Further.          And further.

“Luck’s not on your side, Blue Twin,” Lady says as she opens her palm. “Cough it up.”

When Vergil hands over the last of it, Lady rises. She stands in front of her claimed chair, crosses her arms, and looks the picture of Rightfully Smug.

“So. Change of plans, guys,” she says when she has their attention. “You all owe me dinner. Separately. Whenever and whatever I want. Anyone have a problem with that?” 

No one argues.

Lady always wins.

[dreatine]

Fic: Nirvana

Title: Nirvana

Author: dreatine

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Elle/Spencer

Summary: This story is part of @fortheloveofcriminalminds 600 celebration. The two sentences to be used are :       "Just so you know, this isn't my first rodeo." and " In the likely event that this all goes pear shaped, just remember I told you so."

Plot: Elle/Spencer undercover at a casino.

Word count:   1723 (give or take since I handcounted it in longhand)

Phrases Used: Both. It will be in bold.

Notes: I own nothing/CBS owns all.

Notes 2: Thanks to Sharon for betaing. Title comes from reading a 33 1/3 book on the making of 'In Utero' by Nirvana.

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

Glancing one last time in the mirror. Elle dabbed at her lipstick with a tissue. It had been awhile since she'd worn this dramatic of makeup but knew she had to look the part of glamorous girlfriend as part of the undercover operation with Reid. Chuckling to herself, she remembered the conversation from the precinct earlier in the day.

"We know the unsub targets couples of older women with younger men at casinos. It's most likely the place where he lost his wife or girlfriend to a younger man. It's the location of the stressor." Hotch explained, eyeing  Elle. "So, we're going undercover."

"Why're looking at me?" Elle asked, incredulously. "You're acting like I'm Grandma Moses." She shook her head."No way. This isn't going to work."

"You're the oldest woman here." Gideon replied, matter of fact.

Elle shot him a look. "Thanks."she huffed. " Fine. But, I have to buy a dress and I'm charging it to the Bureau."

"I'd expect nothing less." Hotch answered. Turning to Spencer, he said. "Reid, you get dressed too."

Spencer looked up. "What?"

"Reid, you're the youngest man. It has to be you." Gideon answered. " Derek is too old."

"Thanks, man." Derek smirked.

"But...umm..." Spencer stuttered, fidgeting nervously.

"Besides, you play poker." Hotch reminded him. "You'll be able to stay in the game for awhile."

Swallowing hard, Spencer replied, dejectedly. "All right."

Elle got up and went to him. "Thanks,Reid. I'll try not to take your reluctance personally."

"What?" Spencer replied, surprised. "No! I didn't mean.."

Elle smiled at him. "I'm just kidding." she patted his shoulder. "FYI, in the likely event that this all goes pear shaped, just remember I told you so." She pointed to everyone before dragging JJ out the door to keep help her buy a dress.

Elle smiled at her words to Reid. She was only teasing him about his reluctance to be paired with her. She knew or she hoped it wasn't because he didn't want to paired with her even as pretense. She was fond of the genius, perhaps too fond if she was honest with herself. Especially after the train incident.

'Stop thinking that.' she mentally chastised. 'I can't think about that now.'

Looking at the full length mirror once more, she grabbed her purse and left the hotel room.

*****

Spencer combed his hair back a few times, his nerves getting the best of him. Going undercover was nerve wracking, pretend to be someone he's not wasn't exactly his forte. But, doing with Elle was causing him to stroke out. He recalled his conversation with Derek at the precinct after Elle left to buy a dress. The thought alone of Elle in a dress causing him to get hot under the collar.

"Man, good luck with Elle."

He glanced up curiously. "What do you mean?" he asked, worrying that his unrequited crush on Elle was starting to show through. Ever since the events on the train, he noticed that they had gotten closer since then, talking more, sitting together on the jet, being more comfortable around her. Having to be in a pretend relationship with her was definitely not going to be comfortable. He had a crush on her before, but now, if he was honest with himself, he was a little bit in love with her. And having to pretend was going to be hard without admitting his feelings outright.

"I mean." Derek sat next to him. "She can be a handful."

Twirling a pencil, Spencer quickly answered. " I've never thought that. She's professional and.."

"Reid, I'm not criticizing her." Derek assured him, " I'm just saying she's more experienced that you at..well.." he trailed off.

Blushing, Spencer picked up his belongings and replied. "Derek, don't worry. Both are virtues will be intact."

He sighed recalling the conversation.Of course, Spencer knew he wouldn't be in Elle's league but he hated to be reminded of it. Smoothing down his jacket, he glanced at the mirror once more.

It was going to be a long night.

*************** Precinct later:

"All right, you two." Hotch explained, going over the plans a second time, which was needed because both Elle and Spencer hardly paid attention. Both couldn't keep their eyes off the other.

'Reid's hot.' she mused, running her tongue over her lips which thankfully Spencer didn't see because he was too busy blatantingly staring at her, his pupils blown.

'She's the most beautiful woman ever.' he thought, his eyes roving over her, admiring the way the red sating hugged her curves. This wasn't helping with his feelings for her.

"Reid, you got that?" Hotch barked.

Nodding, he answered. "Yes. I'm ready." he glanced at Elle who was smirking at him. 'Great.' he thought.

********

At the casino:

Looping her arm through his, Elle whispered to Spencer. "Nervous?" she asked, looking out at the potentials in the place.

"A little." he replied. 'But, not why she thinks' he mused. Clearing his throat, "Just so you know, this isn't my first rodeo." he told her, a sense of confidence peeking through.

She raised her eyebrow in question. "Really? Pretending to be a couple?" she asked, a little bite in her query that didn't go unnoticed by Spencer.

He shook his head." No, not that." he looked down at her. "I mean that I've participated in poker tournaments before."

"You have?"

He nodded. "I can count cards. I used to win all the time until I got banned from the casinos in Vegas, Laughlin and Pahrump."

"I'm impressed." Elle replied, smiling beatifically at him.

"I'm glad." he answered, grinning widely at her, causing Elle to laugh at his response.

"Guys, get going." Gideon blasted in their earpieces, breaking up their intimate conversation.

"Right." Spencer said, steering Elle to the tables. "This way, milady."

Elle grinned. *****************

Elle had never felt more alive than she did at this  moment. It had nothing to do with the potential nabbing of an unsub or the slightly chaotic tense atmosphere. No, it had to do with Spencer himself. Watching him play poker, beating every opponent mercilessly, admiring his long fingers caressing the cards, imagining them caressing her. It was a sight to behold. It was intoxicating. Adding to the fact that they had to be a couple and every so often, he would wrap his arm around her waist or place a kiss on her cheek was driving her crazy. She was falling fast, her defenses around him collapsing.

'Keep it together, Greenaway.' she chastised. reminding herself to focus on the case at hand.

"Hey, baby." She leaned down, her head resting on Spencer's shoulders "How's it going?"

He whispered. "Good. Just need one more card." An involuntary shiver went through him at Elle's breathy words in his ear. Spencer didn't know if he could take it anymore. Not the poker playing, which came naturally to him as breathing, not counting of cards or profiling bluffs. No, what was driving him to distraction was Elle. All night having her so close to him, whispering sweet words in his ears, kissing his neck was igniting at fire in him that he was afraid would explode soon. If they kept this up any longer, his feelings for her wouldn't be kept a secret much longer. 'My resolve is wavering'. he thought as he got his card.

"You're gonna bet or what?" A gruff man said, tapping his hand against the table. Both of them glanced toward him. This guy, mid-50s, big and demeanor throughout the tournament, alternating between obnoxious and quiet, fit the profile to a T.  As the night wore on, he became increasingly agitated as the losses kept piling up and his stares toward them anytime they kissed or cuddled, confirmed to them that he was the unsub. They just needed to wait till he made a move.

"Um..yeah." Spencer laid down two chips. "10." As in 10,000 dollars.

"Call it."

The unsub laid his hand down, grinning triumphantly. "Straight flush." The audience gasped.

Spencer lightly tapped his fingers, pondering. "Well?" the unsub asked, impatiently.

Without missing a beat, he softly laid down his cards. "Royal flush."

Elle smiled widely, pride surging through her. He was in his element. 'He wasn't lying when he said this wasn't his first rodeo.' she mused. as the crowd cheered.

"Fuck!" The unsub yelled, slamming his hands on the table. "I'm out."

"Hotch, he's leaving." Elle whispered. "He's wearing a black leather jacket, black newsboy hat."

"Gotta it."

Quickly, Spencer gathered his winnings, staying at the table a few beats, not wanting to arouse suspicion. Leaning down, Elle stated loudly. " Honey, we should leave while you're perfect." She kissed his cheek as he looked slightly taken back at her words."Don't want you to get cold."

"You're right." he answered, squeezing Elle's leg. Standing up, he grabbed the chip holder and Elle, leaving to the immense relief of the other players. Out of eyesight, they walked briskly to the exit, when the heard Gideon say in their earpieces. "We got him."

******************** Later that night:

Entering the hotel, Spencer held the door for Elle. "Thank you." "You're welcome."

Walking slowly to the elevators, each one was quiet, lost in thought. Ever since they wrapped up the case, they hadn't had a chance to talk, only able to sneak glances at each other.Both had taken a lot of ribbing, primarily from Derek on their undercover work. He kept making comments about the cuddling they did and how they'd make a cute couple, which did hit a little too close to home for both of them. Neither one had been so thankful to get back to the hotel after Hotch let them go.

Trying to break the tension, Elle offered. "Too bad you couldn't keep the money."

"I know." he smiled softly.

"What would you have done with it?" she asked, curiously.

DING! The elevator door opened and Spencer, ever the gentleman, let her enter first. She gave him a smile in thanks as she pushed the floor button.

"I'd given some to my mom. Some to local charities." he answered, as the car went up.

"Nothing for yourself?" she inquired.

He shrugged." Maybe some books, I guess."

DING! They arrived at their floor. Spencer indicated for her to go first, and they began to walk down the hall.

"So, just books?" she asked again. wanting to keep him talking. "No cars, no IPods? Or new clothes?"

Smirking, Spencer shook his head. "No." They arrived at her door, when he asked in sudden seriousness. "Do you think I need new clothes?"

She shook her head, looking into his honey brown eyes. 'He's so beautiful.' she thought. Aloud, she replied. "I meant what I said earlier. You're perfect."

Staring into her dark eyes, searching for something. He must have found what he was looking for because the next thing she knew, he grabbed her face between his hands and kissed her. She immediately wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him into her.

The kiss went on for what seemed like forever, neither one willing to let go of the other, fearful that if they did, it would break whatever spell that cast over them.

Reluctantly, the need for air became too much and the broke away, panting harshly. Spencer was the first to recover.

"Elle." he strangled out.

She shook her head, putting a finger to his lips. "I don't want to pretend. I want it to be real."

Grinning widely, Spencer replied. "Me too."

They both stood outside the room, smiling brightly, both basking in the new development in their relationship. It felt right, it felt perfect. It felt like nirvana.

******

The End

[we-are-inevitable]

Is spot in the small town au?

yes!!

okay so i'm just gonna list everyone and give a little rundown of their place in the au!

this is REALLY long, but please feel free to ask me about any of them !!! i love them so much!! please !! so, here it goes:

SMALL TOWN AU CHARACTER LIST:

Jack Kelly:

17 or 18, depending on when it takes place

Birthday: July 3rd

Jack is involved in the rodeo circuit. He primarily participates in barrel racing, though he also participated in steer riding- basically the junior equivalent of bull riding for 7-13 year olds.

He has two horses, Dolly (10) and Cash (6). Dolly is his pride and joy and is the horse he trains with most often. She's also his main rodeo horse. Cash is ,, just kind of there, but he's a fun time and Jack works with him as well, though Cash isn't as experienced in the rodeo circuit. He's more of a recreational horse.

Jack is also a student, entering his senior year. (All fics that have been uploaded take place in the summer between junior and senior year.)

He's bisexual (though it's a long process for him to be able to admit it, to himself and to anyone else).

He lives on a farm on the outskirts of town with his father, Daniel, a harsh and unsupportive man who rarely shows up to any of Jack’s events. The farm is fairly large and successful; they raise cattle for stock shows and have had a long partnership with the butcher in town. Jack also raises hens on his own and sells the eggs as a side hustle for some extra cash because, like, why not?

side note: his chickens are his 'ladies'

Jack has an interest in art, the history of the 'wild west', and politics. He hopes to go to university and major in either Studio Arts or Graphic Design, but he's scared that he will have to stay home on the farm.

David Jacobs:

18

Birthday: May 11th

David is everyone's favorite city boy. He was born and raised in Manhattan, though his family relocates to a small, rural town in the American southwest because of a job opportunity for David’s father.

Naturally, David has no clue what to think. He goes from being an out-and-proud gay teenager to being shoved back into the closet, and he doesn't come out to anyone until at least two months after they arrive in town.

He’s Jewish, and is actually a polyglot; he can speak English, Hebrew, Yiddish, Polish, French, and Spanish. All of the Jacobs kids can speak Hebrew, Yiddish, and Polish- just because it’s kind of a family thing? David’s grandparents don’t speak much English, and Esther and Mayer wanted their children to be multilingual.

David is also a student going into his senior year. He's very active in extracurriculars; he takes all AP classes, he does public speaking, he enjoys volunteer work, etc. His resumé is extensive and impressive.

He meets Jack because Les, ever the inquisitive child, saw an ad for the rodeo and basically begged to go. Since Esther and Mayer were busy, and Sarah already had work, David volunteered to take him.

This is where they meet Jack, and David falls head over heels for the boy.

Anyway, David doesn’t exactly *like* living in a small town like this, but the people he meets are more genuine than anyone he’s ever met in the city.

When he goes to university, he wants to major in English Education, with a double-minor in Creative Writing and Comparative Literature. But there’s something about this little town that makes him want to stay close and not go to a huge university across the country.

Katherine Pulitzer:

17

Birthday: January 30th

Katherine is a barrel racer, just like Jack. She’s actually one of the best around; she’s beat Jack more times than he can count, and has the most wins under her belt- more than anyone in their group.

She’s whip smart, too. She takes AP classes, she’s taking concurrent college courses- she’s basically the golden child.

Her horse is named Shakespeare. I will not budge on this.

She loves reading, obviously; she has, like, three bookshelves in her bedroom alone.

She actually doesn’t look like a typical Southern girl. Unless she’s barrel racing or training with Shakespeare- when she wears jeans, a button up, and boots- she wears skirts and heels and has very extravagant makeup; she doesn’t like taking herself too seriously.

She’s going to college for Journalism, and hopes to be a reporter for a big news station. Her father isn’t particularly fond of this decision, mainly because he wants her to stay in town for the rest of her life and run the town newspaper, but Katherine has bigger aspirations.

Charlie “Crutchie” Morris

17

Birthday: August 12

Though Crutchie isn’t directly involved with the rodeos, he’s a huge helper- mainly because he’s the one who takes care of everyone’s horses.

Not really, but kind of. His family owns the veterinary clinic in town, so he often goes with his parents on farm calls, and basically works for them. Everything he knows about animals has been learned from a lifetime of living behind the vet clinic, spending lunch hours watching surgeries, and going to different farms every weekend.

He’s best friends with Jack Kelly. They actually met because of the clinic; Crutchie would often come to the Kelly’s farm with his mother whenever they went to check on the horses or the cattle.

He does a few different sports, both through the school and through different leagues in the surrounding areas.

He's going to major in Animal Science in university, then go to vet school! He hopes to expand his family's clinic.

Antonio "Racer" Higgins

17

Birthday: February 14th

This boy. Thiiiiis boy. He's one hell of a fun time. He throws the best bonfires, he knows all the line dances, and he's the life of the party wherever he goes.

But he's also really fucking intelligent. Like, 32 on the ACT intelligent. He could go to any school he wants to go to, and he's going to major in Animal Science like Crutchie- but he's actually planning on participating in the collegiate rodeo circuit, and hopes to go professional after college.

He's a snarky little smart-ass, but he's one of the most genuine people. He tells it like it is, because being honest is more important than saving feelings.

But he's also a complete softie! He gives really good hugs and is one of the most affectionate people in the group.

Albert DaSilva:

18

Birthday: October 30th

Albert is a senior like the rest of them, and he's one of the only ones- like Crutchie- not directly involved in the rodeos.

He's always there, though! He loves the atmosphere and likes supporting his friends!!

Albert works at his Uncle's auto shop. He's really handy and loves it. He loves cars, loves working with his hands, and loves the technical side of things.

Whenever Jack needs help with his truck, an ancient Dodge Dakota, Albert is right there. He also works on trailers and stuff!

Albert is also really into welding. He's been welding with his Uncle since he was, like, 13, and he's going to go to a technical school instead of college so he can get his welding certification.

Sean "Spot" Conlon

18

Birthday: December 10th

Spot is involved with the rodeo! He doesn't barrel race, though; he does saddle bronc and bull riding.

He also used to do calf roping when he was younger.

He's one of the most intense guys around. He loves rodeo and loves the community; he's serious about it, and- like Race- he hopes to go professional as an adult. He's also, of course, looking to be involved on the collegiate level.

But he also knows how to have fun. He likes bonfires and likes getting together with his friends, and he has the best sense of humor; he makes the funniest, quickest jokes and no one ever expects it from him.

I've talked about this before, but Spot isn't the best at having heart to hearts. He's very business-minded, but his love language is gift giving! He's just,, not very conventional at it.

He gives random gifts like sticks and rocks, but everyone loves it anyway. He's good. He's a good guy.

And that's that !! There are a few more background characters, of course, but these are the mains. I hope you guys enjoy this !!

[thoughtfullyyoungduck]

a little jealous

A/N: this was requested by anon, I hope you enjoy, let me know what you think!

request: Could you write a fic post it chapter 2 where Richie and Eddie start dating, but then Richie starts to feel jealous of Eddie with an attractive coworker?

warnings: a few curse words, a very brief mention of homophobia, a bit of self doubt

They’ve been officially dating for two months when Eddie invites Richie to join him on a work related business party. It’s not the first one Eddie has had to go to, but up until now he had always made up an excuse so that he only had to stay for about an hour, not nearly long enough for Richie to tag along to.

The difference between this one and the others he has already been too, is that this time he needs to stay to the end. Eddie might be up for a promotion if his boss takes a liken too him, which is why he is determined to make a good impression. If Eddie gets turned down, he’ll probably leave his job and search for another one, Richie thinks, since Eddie had been going on none stop about quitting.  

Richie has been to his office before, on more than one occasion, when Eddie was so stressed he forgot his lunch, so it’s not his first Rodeo. He knows a few people that will attend, like Anisa who is the secretary on the bottom floor, Emmet who is Eddie’s coworker and works in the office adjacent to his, and Karen who is about as much a pain in the ass as Eddie’s mom, but Richie loves to fuck with her.

Anisa is his best friend in the office, well of course besides Eds, but whenever he stops by, he always leaves some form of candy on her disk, a references to the first time the two met, when Richie accidentally dropped all the candy he was planning to surprise Eddie with. It had been Halloween, and even though Eddie didn’t celebrate it, none of the losers actually, Richie still felt the need to do something. They hit it off straight after, especially when Anisa confided in him that she had never seen Eddie smile as much as when he got together with him.

Emmet is a bit of a hardass, work till he drops, party till he drops kind off guy. Full-on in everything he does, which sometime is a little of putting, but it can also cause hilarious comedy gold moments, which Richie has used multiple times in his sketches.

He’s pretty sure his winning Karen over aswell, since he has even managed to get a small smile out of her, which is a hell of a lot more than he ever got from Sonia.

The others he knows only vaguely by the nicknames he gave them, ranging from boss man to toilet man, the latter spending all his time on the toilet if Eddie is anything to go by.

Still, Richie is very excited when he gets permission from Eddie to go with him, so much so that he’s practically bouncing on his foot whilst he gets ready. Eddie is less keen on going tonight, but that has nothing to do with the fact that Richie is going.

Ever since returning from Derry, the two of them don’t go out much. They meet up with the losers, but apart from that they usually spend their time inside of the confinements of their home, either fighting over he gets the remote, cooking, working or annoying the shit out of each other.

Neither of them want to either, they enjoy each other’s company, and those of the other members of the losers club. When they do go out, they always seem to run into someone they know giving them shit about being gay. ‘Oh Eddie, I thought you were still married to your wife?’ or ‘If it isn’t the trashmount with a boy. What happened couldn’t get enough girl anymore?’

Most of them don’t mean bad, and Eddie nor Richie are ashamed of their love, they’re just tired of having to explain over and over again, so they stay in.

Work parties are the worst for Eddie, who doesn’t even like most of his coworkers to begin with, but sometimes they are mandatory, and he has no choice but to drag his ass over there.

So Eddie grumbles his way through getting ready, shaving and brushing his teeth with a stern look on his face, picking out his and Richie’s cloths. ‘There’s no way I’m letting you dress yourself, you’ll look like a walking Christmas tree.’

They lose some time while they get ready because Richie tries to cheer Eddie up a bit, by threatening to dose him in cold water, welcoming the snappy warning Eddie sends his way.

By the time they make it to Eddie’s workplace, where the party is going to be held, it’s a quarter past nine, while they were supposed to be there at nine.

This does not do any wonders for Eddie’s mood, who’s scowl turns impossibly bigger. He almost trips over his own two feet in his haste to make it inside, but before they do, he tugs Richie aside by the hem of his sleeve.

‘Please act normal, I need this job alright?’

‘My Eds, you wound me. You think I would throw away your honor just for a few laughs from a couple of lads, I could never.’ Richie’s British voice thick his words with an accent, having the intended effect. A smile tugs up the sides of Eddie’s mouth, even when he desperately tries to hide it, rolling his eyes extravagantly.

‘See that’s what I mean dickhead, don’t do the fucking British guy or I’m dumping you.’

He’s clearly joking, so Richie doesn’t dignify it with a response, though he does snort a little in amusement. ‘Sir, yes sir.’ He calls out long after Eddie has turned his back, cackling when Eddie flips him the bird behind his back. Fondly, Richie follows him through the long corridors, first turning right, then left, left again to eventually enter a massive open space, not to far from the bathroom Richie always uses when he comes to visit.

‘Hey, if you want to get out of here, just use the word salmon for whatever, than we’ll skoot on right out of here, Eddie Spaghetti’, Richie whispers inconspicuously to Eddie, trying to avoid being heard by somebody else. He hopes he succeeded, but by the looks of it, he did.

Eddie shakes his head fondly, his hand interlocking with Richie’s with a warning squeeze.

‘Shut up you idiot’, he mumbles fondly, the look in his eyes radiating nothing but love for the man in next to him.  

They spot Anisa first, the sour look on her face melting away when she sees the two of them entering. She grabs two more drinks, balancing a total of three drinks in two hands, and offers it gracefully to them.

‘What took you guys so long?’ The voice of Bon Jovi booms through the room, originating from a djs-table in the left corner, making it hard to understand what she’s saying.

‘Mister clean over here had to be completely dosed up for this occasion, I think he changed cloths like three times, isn’t that right Eds?’ to be fair though, Eddie looks horrendously handsome, it’s almost criminal. His suit accentuates all the good features of his body, which is everything, his dress shoes make a squeaking noise every time they walk over the floor, and his hair is neatly combed back, making him look even more attractive than he already is daily.

A huff is forced out of him when he feels Eddie’s elbow dig slightly into his side. Eddie glare is turned up to a hundred.

‘Do you know how unsanitary it is to not wash every day? Do you know how many germs are transferred onto your hand by just touching a doorknob? If I didn’t wash up you know statistically speaking I have a 40% change of catching a disease? You know this asshole, why would you need to-‘

He’s intercepted by Anisa; ‘you two are so cute together’, and Richie couldn’t agree more. He takes a sip of his drink; which is champagne apparently, and is seconds away from asking Eddie who his boss is supposed to be, when a man Richie has never seen around the office makes an appearance, sliding in front Eddie’s left to give him a tight hug. By doing so, he breaks the link that Richie and Eddie hands still had, rudely shoving Richie slightly back.

He frowns, but does nothing as he waits for Eddie to introduce them. Anisa, who is still standing with them, looks to be as flabbergasted as he is.

‘Eddie, look at you. Handsome as always’, the man compliments while pulling back, his eyes shamelessly raking over Eddie’s form.

Eddie laughs politely, thanking him while reaching for Richie’s hand again. ‘Yeah, good to see you to Seth, this is my boyfriend Richie Tozier’, Eddie explains when the guy, Seth, makes no move to introduce himself.

Seth forces a curt nod towards Richie, not so much as a hello. It irks Richie to no end, but this might the one Eddie’s trying to impress, and Richie is not enough of an asshole to ruin Eddie’s chances because he’s annoyed.

‘I’m going to find Emmet, I’ll see you guys later’, Anisa tells them, as she turns around and walks off, something Richie would love to be doing now too.

He stays rooted to his spot though, trying to make himself as big as possible. It must look a bit ridiculous, but he can’t help it, there’s something about this guy.

‘So, have you managed to talk to the boss man yet? The guy really likes fresh workers.’ He tries to joke, but it falls flat, and Richie can’t help but feel smug and a little sympathetic towards the guy, so he laughs a bit awkwardly. It’s better than not responding at all, he argues, but then Seth levels him with such an annoyed look that Richie can’t help but feel a little intimidated by.

He hasn’t seen that sort of look since Sonya, and for all his joking about her, he really was terrified that she would manage to convince Eddie to stay away from for good. Uneasiness sweeps it’s way through Richie’s body, the only thing keeping him slightly calm and stable, is the hand he’s holding.

Richie tries to change the subject, to distract himself from how weird he finds the guy, by asking how he and Eddie know each other.

‘We collaborate on projects from time to time, Seth works for one of our client companies.’

‘Yeah, and we wouldn’t be coming back to the same firm if it wasn’t for Eddie over here,’ he gestures to Eddie as if Richie didn’t know who the fuck that was, ‘I’ve never had a more dedicated, ambitious, articulated, clever –‘

While he continues to dish out compliments, Richie reaches his arm over Eddie’s shoulders, pulling him flush to his side. Obviously it’s wonderful to hear compliments, and god knows Eddie deserves nothing but that, but it’s quite off putting that the same guy keeps praising him at every turn, and not even acknowledges his boyfriends presence instead being rude.

Eddie response by pressing a kiss to Richie’s cheek, which is a lot of PDA for him, maybe to sooth Richie, maybe because it was an automatic reflex, either way, Richie takes a deep breath and manages to hold his tongue till the guy is finished talking.

‘Yep, that’s my Eds, nothing but the best. I’m lucky to have him.’

He looks up from Eddie’s face to smile brightly in Seth’s vicinity, not even trying to compete with him, just being brutally honest.

‘He’s just as ambitious at home by the way, you should see the poses he can bend into when we’re-‘

‘Beep beep, Richie’, Eddie’s voice, sharp as the edge of a knife cuts in. ‘Don’t you dare finish that sentence you prick. And don’t call me that.’

Richie cackles, gripping his stomach with the one hand that isn’t occupied to stop himself from doubling over, Eddie’s angry face only making it worse.

‘Why do you call him Eds? He told you he doesn’t like that.’

Richie’s head snaps back up again, and this time, he feels actual anger. It’s one thing to flirt with Eddie in front of him, or be rude to him, Richie can deal with that, at least on the outside. But insulting their nicknames? He knows for a fact Eddie only tells him to stop calling him that out of habit, Eddie having admit to that himself, but this guy had no right commenting on it.

Eddie himself seems agitated now, in a truly fashion, one that he has never used to talk to Richie, but before he can say anything, another man steps their way, extending his hand and waiting for Eddie to shake it.

‘Mister Duke, how are you sir?’ Eddie asks a little nervously, and Richie lets his arm drop down. He refuses to let Eddie be denied this opportunity by homophobia, even if he isn’t sure that the man is homophobic, he’s not ready to take any changes.

With a gesture over his shoulder, Eddie follows who Richie presumes is his boss over to a table with man who looked like they stepped right out of the TV show suits, but Richie declines to walk with him.

Eddie needs a chance to prove himself, and Richie was just going to support him from where he was standing.

For a minute, he forgets Seth is still standing with him, until he opens his mouth again.

‘You know you’re only dragging him down right?’ He asks cruelly.

Richie frowns at him, his hands closed in fists, trying to lure himself away from his breaking point.

‘He would do much better with me. What do you have to offer? Money? I’ve got plenty of that, and at least I have status. Some small town comedian who flunked at his show that one time, and still hasn’t made a comeback yet. You look about as disheveled as a homeless men, and I can’t say I see much love between the two of you. You annoy him, and you might find it funny, respectable people don’t. Leave him before you ruin him like you ruined yourself. I could take better care of him than you ever could.’

After his monologue, he stares Richie down with a cocky expression, seemingly daring Richie to respond. When he doesn’t get one in ten seconds, he trudges on, probably to on to the next person to bother.

Richie feels like all the bones in his body have turned to liquid as he struggles to stay upright. For a moment he gazes around the room in shame, because it seems like a scene from a movie where everyone looks on to the bully annihilating some nerd, as that is the exact same emotion Richie comprehends, before he realizes that everyone is caught up in their own conversation, and he too walks off, going to the bathroom.

He knows Eddie will search for him when he’s done with his conversation, but for a moment that thought is put on the back-burner as he starts to get a little faint. It takes longer than it usually does to reach the toilet door, in the meanwhile he’s had to shrug Emmet of and ignore Anisa’s callout, but none of that matters when he finally gets there.

As soon as the door closes behind him, a loud sob leaves his throat. Only one sob is allowed to leave his lips, he argues with himself, so he resumes to silent tears only after that.

Overreactor, his traitorous mind hisses at him, and he knows it’s right, but he can’t help how he feels. He survived a fucking clown alien attacking him, and even that didn’t make him cry until he thought Eddie might have died.

However, he knows that Seth had a point, Richie is really not good enough for Eddie. And maybe Seth could be, at the very least, he did have a stable job, and he thinks highly of Eddie, maybe he was right, and he should leave Eddie so he can grow to his full potential.

Some times goes by while he’s thinking it over, and in the meanwhile he has moved to wash his face by the washing bins, scrubbing the area around his eyes to make it appear like he wasn’t crying. As he’s doing this, he hears Eddie call out to him. ‘Hey dickhead, you in here?’

The door whips open, clashing against the wall with a loud bang so hard that Richie flinches for a moment. A worried looking Eddie is standing in the door opening, his tie undone atop his blazer, and his frantic eyes searching the door, calming down slightly when he sees Richie.

‘Hey, why are you taking so long, you fall in the toilet or something?’ Eddie tries, a futile attempt at ignorance, Richie can clearly see how perturbed he is, but he’s kind enough to let Richie come to him.

Instead of telling Eddie the things that are on his mind, Richie tries to force a way around the topic, by using humor and creating a joke. ‘Well Eds, I was just about to call your mom, to declare my love for her.’

‘Richie’, Eddie sighs, running a hand over his face like he’s trying to mentally prepare himself? By the tone of his voice, Richie understands that Eddie is asking him to tell the truth, to speak what’s on his mind, but that can be so hard sometimes, so in lieu of having a conversation with Eddie, Richie starts to cry.

A hand pushes it’s way up to his mouth, trying to desperately to muffle the cries of despair, shame was again white hot present in his mind. Eddie looks shocked for about a second flat, before rushing over to Richie, grabbing his neck and pushing his head against the crook of his shoulder, rubbing his own hand up and down Richie’s back, and the other one through his hair.  

‘Rich, it’s okay. You can talk to me dumbass, that’s what boyfriends are supposed to do.’

There’s nothing but silence for a few minutes, which Eddie grants Richie, just trying to get him to calm down.

‘do you ever doubt our relationship?’ Richie finally asks, feeling the way Eddie’s entire body freezes up as if he was told Pennywise was back.

Richie hurries to continue. ‘I mean, if I’d had to choose between me and Seth, I’d pick Seth too. He has a good job and I might be out of one after waiting so long to go on stage again, and I look ridicules, and I push your buttons,’ Richie takes a break to gulp in a large gush of air. ’I’m just saying, I’d get if you would want to break up with me.’

Yet, when Eddie pulls back slightly, Richie panics before letting him get too far. Eddie laughs again, still close enough that their noses are pressed together with Richie bend down the way he is.

‘Hey Rich, you’re really fucking stupid you know that?’ Eddie says with a voice so incredibly soft and fond, Richie nearly melts to a puddle. He’s still stroking curl after curl on Richie’s head, comforting him best he can when they’re in a public bathroom.

‘You’ll have a job. You’re so good at being funny Richie. Even if I don’t say that enough. Besides, let’s say you don’t, you will but just hypothetically, I don’t care about that. I only want to spend time with you. You dress like a toddler, but I like that, it makes you look goofy, just like your personality.’

With a smile that’s showing his teeth, Eddie presses a quick kiss on Richie’s mouth, pulling back fast and firing two more in rapid succession.

‘I love you Rich. Not fucking Seth, Fuck that guy. I could never want to be with him, ever. I mean it when I say I love you dickwad, despite my questionable decision, I choose you.’

Richie giggles, hearty when Eddie stands on his tippy toes to kiss his forehead, and for a moment he feels like he’s five years old. He’s glad to have Eddie, and he’s even more satisfied that Eddie wants him back. Not amnesia could stand in their way, he’s so idiotic to believe a guy from Eddie’s fucking job could.

‘Now, come on. First I have to kick Seth’s ass for making my boyfriend cry. I have to set an example here. Then we’ll go home and cuddle okay? We'll clean the salmon or whatever the fuck sentence I'm supposed to make with that and skoot on home’

Richie shakes his head negatively, ‘what about your job promotion?’

As if suddenly remembering so, Eddie grins like a cat that go the cream.

‘Don’t worry about that, I got the job.’

When they cuddle at night in their bad, after a heavy make out session, and a small skype party with the losers in honor of Eddie’s promotion, Richie falls asleep, safely knowing that Eddie was with him, and he no matter what, he wasn’t leaving.  

[timbertumbr]

Boneafide Gamer (A Reverse Harem Fic)

Chapter 2, Reality VS Fantasy

Previous Chapter

Quotev Link

Big thanks to my friend for making a caption for the picture and big thanks to another friend who took that meme worthy photo!

List of Usernames with Nicknames-

Blue (Underswap Sans): Magnificent Blueberry

Stretch (Underswap Papyrus): Carrot

Edge (Underfell Papyrus): Captain

Red (Underfell Sans): Red

Mal (Swapfell Sans): Maleficent 

Rus (Swapfell Papyrus): Rus

The next day arrives and you’re rudely awakened by your alarm clock, basically yelling at you to get up and get your butt moving. Groaning, you shut off the alarm and quite literally roll off your bed with a thud. 

You get up from the floor, abandoning your pile of blankets as you shuffle around your home doing your morning routine. Once done, you throw your blankets back onto your bed and grab your phone as you head out the door, lock it, and begin walking to work. To entertain yourself, you unlock your phone fully intent to play a phone game when you see messages from discord so you open that instead.

Cheesepuff: Good morning Fart. Or (Username) whichever you prefer. Whenever you have time, could we set up a time to introduce a few of my cousins to you and possibly the game itself. 

Cheesepuff: Also, I may have given Blue your discord. So expect lots of messages.

Raising a brow, you check your friend requests and see that a “Magnificent Blueberry” asked to be friends. Huffing in amusement, you add him as friends and type out your reply to Carrot.

(Username): I get off work at 5:00. So we could get online at around 5:30. Can’t wait to meet your cousins! 

You go to check other messages to see Totally not the writer left a message at 3 A.M. Not again…

Totally not the writer: So… I may have stayed up all night to think of how to use this meme so… you are my first test subject.

You snort at it and shake your head amused.

(Username): Get some sleep you ADHD nutshell.

Totally not the writer: Will do.

Shaking your head again, you pocket your phone and enter your workplace. A GAME STORE! :D You quickly make your way to the counter and greet your co-worker Chris. 

“Sup dude,��� They respond while you grab your employee clip on name and head to the back to restock shelves.

“You’re pretty peppy today,” They comment as you leave the back with a box of games, figurines, plushies, and other stuff. 

“I’ve had a good morning so far!” You respond as you start stocking shelves, they hum and fiddle with their phone.

“Didja get the game you’ve been waiting all year for?” They ask.

“Yup! I even met some new people there!” They raise a brow as you move to another shelf.

“Really? From what I’ve heard they had a bit of a server problem so not that many people were able to get on,” So THAT’S what happened.

“Then I’m one of the lucky ones!” They were very amused.

“Seems like it. Care to tell me about these new friends you met?” You raise a brow and turn to Chris.

“But I didn’t-”

“Totally told me,” They cut you off, showing the screen of their phone in your direction. You lean forward to see that Totally did indeed contact Chris through discord.

“Of course they did,” You comment before going back to stocking the new PS4 games. The electronic bell sounds when some customers enter the store. You peek from the shelf to see four skeletons. 2 tall skeletons, one of them slightly taller than the other and two short skeletons, one with a large crack in his skull.

Hey, they look familiar-

“Welcome to the Game Store, if you need any help let me or the one stocking shelves over there know,” Chris says in the ‘customer is here, act like you’ve been happy all your life!’ voice. One of the taller skeletons smiled.

“THANK YOU KIND HUMAN! I WILL COME TO YOU FOR ASSISTANCE IF NEED BE!” He says enthusiastically and quite thankful. Both you and Chris' smiles softened into a bit more genuine smiles as the similar looking skeletons split up and began looking around the small store. You sigh softly as you go back to stocking shelves. 

You soon finish the box and stand up to return the box and grab another one when someone taps your shoulder. You put on a smile and face a short skeleton in a blue hoodie.

“Oh hey! Need help looking for something?” You ask, the skeleton nods.

“Yeah, need help looking for a game called ‘Basic MMORPG VR edition,’” He says so casually you can’t help but relax around him.

“Oh yeah! I know where that is. Follow me please,” You say before walking toward the beloved game with the small skeleton in tow. 

“Here it is!” You exclaim, making little jazz hands at the case making the skeleton snicker.

“Thanks bud. I guess you could say you were... playing your role?” 

Processing…

Processing…

“PFT-” You burst out laughing. You could even hear Chris and a very deep voice snicker in the background.

“Oh my GOD that was terrible,” You say collecting yourself, the short skeleton shrugged.

“But I guess I don’t have enough EXP(erience) with good jokes!” You fire back and his eyelights twinkled. 

“Guess you’ll have to farm for some,” The same deep voice from earlier said, earning a snicker from you and the short skeleton by you.

“SANS PLEASE!” You hear an exasperated voice yell.

“Brother No…” Another voice chimes, somewhat similar to the first but somewhat softer. The short skeleton used blue magic to get the game and walked over to the counter still snickering. You smile as you begin walking to the back to replace your empty box. When you return to the store, all the skeletons are at the counter with one of the tall ones yelling.

“PLEASE FORGIVE MY BROTHER AND MY COUSIN FOR THEIR TERRIBLE PUNS!” The other tall one nods. 

“It’s alright, did you find everything you needed?” Chris says as you go to stock the shelves once again. Just as you were finishing up with this box, the skeletons had paid for their games and left. 

“That was… interesting,” Chris comments as you go to the back to get ANOTHER box.

“You’re telling me! They look like the avatars Carrot and Blue use!” Chris furrows their brows as you leave with another box and go to the shelves again.

“Isn’t… there custom avatars in Basic?” Chris asks as they type away on their phone.

“Um… Not that I can recall… considering the list is SUUUUPER long,” You respond as Chris nods their head.

“There is, just looked it up. Isn’t it strange that they looked practically identical except for some slight changes?” Chris asks, looking up from their phone. Now that you think about it…

“Yeah, that’s kinda odd…” You comment aloud as you toss the last box into the back.

“Maybe they were all born as twins or something?” You suggest, Chris shakes their head.

“I dunno… oh hey, it’s break time. Want a rematch in SMASH?” 

“OH HELL YEAH, I’M GONNA WIN THIS TIME!” Chris laughs at your enthusiasm as you both make your way to the employee break room, passing by Max and Alex, your other co-workers who you say ‘hi’ to. You and Chris began to duke it out in Smash.

The rest of the day went by quickly, only a few customers stopped by the Game Store, you lost to Chris is Smash… again. At the end of your shift you say goodbye to Chris and leave the store. While walking home, you check your messages and see that Blue and Carrot messaged.

Magnificent Blueberry: HELLO HUMAN FART! I HOPE YOU ARE DOING WELL! UNFORTUNATELY, I AM UNABLE TO JOIN YOU AND MY BROTHER’S GAMING SESSION SINCE I HAVE IMPORTANT THINGS TO ATTEND TO! I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE FUN! - SINCERELY, BLUE!

You smiled at how professional yet caring Blue’s message was and began typing your response.

(Username): Aw man! I hope you can join us next time! Good luck with your important things!

You go to Carrot’s message next.

Cheesepuff: Okay, so the server’s are REALLY crowded today. I think we should set up a place to meet up as well.

(Username): That’s alright! How about the Creature Care Center? 

Cheesepuff: That works. See ya in 15.

You leave the personal conversations to see you were added to a group chat with Totally and Crispy Chris (You may have laughed at Chris’s username as soon as you saw it.)

Totally not the writer: Right, so I made this group chat so we could play games and just chat with one another.

Crispy Chris: Cool. 

(Username): Awesome! But I’m busy tonight, I’m going to be meeting Carrot’s cousins in game.

Totally not the writer: There’s more of them? Didn’t you and Chris just deal with two sets of doppelgangers that YOU said looked like Carrot’s and Blue’s avatars?

Ah, Chris must’ve told them about that.

(Username): Maybe, maybe not. I may be meeting those doppelgangers. Who knows?

Crispy Chris: Just don’t reveal your address or your full name. Or, like, any personal information that’ll hurt you.

(Username): I know, I know. This isn’t my first rodeo. Gtg tho. 

You shut off your phone and stuff in your pocket as you enter the home. Locking the door behind you, you check the clock. 5:15. Nodding to yourself, you begin setting up the game and once done with that, you put on the VR goggles and enter the Basic world.

When Carrot said it was crowded today, he was not kidding. There were a LOT of players in just the town square alone! Wincing to yourself, you pull up a map (Blue was kind enough to give you pointers with your exploration) and begin weaving your way through avatars and houses.

You eventually arrive on the street where the Creature Care Center, Merchant Stalls and many other interactive buildings lie. You look up from the map to see Carrot pacing back and forth in front of two sets of, you guessed, more doppelgangers. And they sure as hell didn’t look like the ones that visited the store, but they were similar. They looked terrifying, wearing red, black, or purple armor/robes/clothing.

You gulp and make the map disappear before approaching the group of skeletons. Carrot notices your approach and waves with a small smile.

“Hey, glad you could make it,” He says, earning an annoyed huff from a tall skeleton in red armor.

“FINALLY, I COULDN’T STAND WAITING ANY LONGER,” The short skeleton wearing purple armor nodded. Carrot sighed.

“Edge, Mal, please…” He muttered tiredly, you raised a brow and looked at the usernames above their avatars. The tall angry one in red was “Captain,” the short one in purple was “Maleficent,” the short one in red clothes with a hood was “Red,” and finally the tallone in dark purple robes was “Rus.”

“Interesting names,” You comment, Captain puffing out his chest and smiling proudly.

“OF COURSE IT IS! YOU’VE WITNESSED THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE EDGE AND HIS MAGNIFICENT NAMING SKILLS!” He states proudly, so he’s a narcissist. Good to know. Maleficent shakes his head with his arms crossed.

“BY ‘MAGNIFICENT’ YOU MEAN BASIC, CONSIDERING YOU WERE THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD,” Maleficent counters bluntly, Captain whips his head to face the short.

“WH- HOW DARE YOU?!” He screeched before the two got into an argument, the other two were snickering about something and Carrot looked dead inside. You place a virtual hand onto his shoulder.

“I am sorry you have to deal with this,” You say half serious half joking, earning a tired amused grin from Carrot.

“Trust me, it was harder to convince them to actually PLAY the game,” Carrot admits looking even more dead inside. Red approaches the two of you.

“He’ll get used to it, eventually,” Red comments before holding out his hand.

“Nice to officially meet you Fart, my name is Red,” He says with an amused smile. You shake his hand which opens a menu with his stats.

“Woah, a rouge! Nice,” You complement, Red smirks more.

“Thanks,” He says simply before you break apart the virtual handshake. Rus approaches the small gathering.

“Can I join the party?” He asks, holy shit his voice- Red starts snickering like a mad man while Carrot stares at you in disbelief. Rus blinks and looks away.

“Um… thank you?” He says with uncertainty and a tinge of amusement, CRAP YOU SAID THAT OUT LOUD! Red starts laughing harder and Rus chuckles. 

“You’re something else aren’t ya?” He asks with a smirk.

“Uh…” You intelligently reply, Carrot steps in.

“Okay, I think they need a bit to process everything,” You nod trying to unclog your brain to find words. Red finally calmed down and wrapped a virtual arm around your avatar’s neck.

“You’re a riot, Fart!” He exclaims, you smile.

“Th-Thank you,” You manage to respond before Captain's booming voice breaks the chill environment.

“CAN WE GET A MOVE ON?! I WANT TO BE DONE WITH THIS AND DO SOMETHING MORE PRODUCTIVE!” Confused, you give Carrot a raised brow. 

“He wanted to know what there is to this game so… another exploration adventure. Whooooo,” He says tiredly, jeez, he needs to sleep.

“INDEED. NOW QUIT YOUR LOLLYGAGGING AND LET’S GO,” Maleficent follows up, you swear, whenever those two talk, you feel like you’re losing brain cells. And off your party went to look around the areas Captain and Maleficent were interested in. And once they found a weapon stand, they were VERY dedicated to look for their perfect weapon so the rest of you went to the fields. 

Carrot collected herbs while Ruse tried to get a fox as his familiar which was pretty cute. You were slaying slimes and Red was practicing his aim with the bow. After slaying some slimes, you decided to join Red with practicing your aim. You stand by him and use your multiweapon to practice.

“Hey Fart,” He greets as he shoots an arrow into a tree.

“Hey,” You respond, shooting and missing the tree.

“How are you liking Basic so far?” You ask as Red shoots and hits the tree again.

“It’s alright,” He answers vaguely as he glances at you and does a double take.

“Woah, what the HELL are you holding?” Red asks genuinely curious, you show Red your multiweapon.

“Multiweapon, I… couldn’t decide on just one,” You admit, Red snorts.

“Yeah, I can tell. But it’s still impressive. Think there are anymore like this in Basic?” He asks, now that you think about it, there is weapon customization in this…

“Most likely but they’d probably use different weapons,” Red hums and you both fall into comfortable silence while continuing to practice your aims.

“How did you get into gaming?” Red asks suddenly, oh boy. He just set off a tidal wave. You tell him how and why you got into gaming and he listened intently, even telling YOU how he got into gaming. Then it moved to conversing about video games which you both were REALLY into.

“I shall name you… Butters,” Rus declares as he holds the golden fox in his hands. The fox yips and Rus aww’s from the fox.

“Butters huh? Neat name,” Stretch comments as he walks by Rus to pick some herbs.

“Thanks,” They fall into silence before Rus breaks it again.

“Hey, I know you introduced us to this game to socialize but… don’t you find the human a bit TO accepting?” Stretch mulls over the question and faces Rus.

“Well, to them they think we’re using avatars so there’s that,” Rus hums and pets Butters.

“True, should we go get Edge and Mal?” Rus asks.

“Nah, they’ll be fine. Besides, they can find us with the friend tracking system, remember?” Rus shakes his head.

“There’s so many features to keep track of…” Rus mutters, earning an amused smirk from Stretch.

“Eh, you get used to it. Eventually,” 

Hours went by and before you knew it, you had to log off. You got Red’s discord and planned to have a Smash match one day. While the others were interesting, they didn’t seem too keen to give you their discord just yet. Understandable, after all they just met. 

As you wind down for the night, you check your messages to see Red, Blue, Carrot and Chris messaged you.

Red: Can’t wait to kick your ass in Smash, when you have time that is.

(Username): Oh, you’re on hot topic! Saturday, noon.

Red: Deal. See ya then sweetheart. ;)

Your face totally didn’t erupt into a tomato, nooooo.

Magnificent Blueberry: I HOPE YOU HAD A WONDERFUL DAY FART! AND THANK YOU For YOUR LUCK EARLIER, IT REALLY HELPED! HAVE A GOOD NIGHT FART! -ALL THE BEST, BLUE!

You couldn’t help but chuckle that Blue still used Fart. You send a quick “I did, thank you and goodnight!” Now onto Carrot.

Cheesepuff: Hey, thanks for being patient enough to meet them. I know they can be a bit of a… nuisance.  

(Username): It was no trouble! Plus, I got a new gaming buddy so it works out!

Cheesepuff: Huh, well I’m glad at least ONE of them made a friend. Or acquaintance. Whichever it is. I wish thee farewell, as I have to attend an important matter called Sleep. Till we meet again Fart!

You laughed at his goofiness and moved onto Crispy Chris. (God it’s so stupid yet so funny!)

Crispy Chris: Hey, we don’t have to go to work tomorrow. Boss found an announcement that anti monster protestors are targeting our store. 

(Username): Really? Why are they still at this? It’s been 3 YEARS since monsters came and STILL can’t see reason?

Crispy Chris: I’ll say it once, I’ll say it again. Humans are stupid.

(Username): Agreed. Thanks for telling me.

Crispy Chris: Np. Good night and sweet dreams.

With your socializing done for the day, you place your phone on your night stand and go to sleep.

I- don’t know why I keep writing long chapters but HERE WE ARE! That’s 3 sets of boys that got a “proper” introduction. Only 2 more too go and onto the plot! (Which I’m totally making up as I go along.)

Next Chapter

[worldofroleplay]

I don't want to fall asleep, not that I would be able to. The weather and the copious amounts of coffee I'd been numbly downing all evening are both seeing to that. I'm sitting up in bed, watching the snowflakes drift through the beam of light cast by the lone lamp at the steps of the patio. My gaze is unfocused, I'm thinking only of her.

I don't know who she is, but she is why I don't want to sleep. I dream about her. Often. She's not very remarkable at a glance, not like the Hollywood elite most would dream of, not angelic with a pillar of holy light illuminating her. She just radiates a magnetic aura, a pull so strong I can't escape. And the dreams are always the same, we're looking for each other. The reasons are never clear, just that it's imperative we find each other. I need to get to her.

Sometimes, we win. When I see her, the wave of relief is so great it could drown me. Once I even held her, as close to me as I could without opening my chest and letting her in, as if I'd lose her forever were I to let go. When I woke without her, I felt a lonely ache in my chest that stayed with me for hours. The times we don't, I wake feeling like something was torn from inside me. I spend the day feeling like I'm recovering from the shock. It's been three years now, and I've still not worked out how I can feel like this over someone I've only ever seen in a dream.

I blink, coming back to the room, the darkness split by that solitary lamp. There's something poetic about it shining so brightly despite being alone, but I shoo the potential metaphor away. I don't feel like thinking that hard right now. There's a strange energy that peaks at night, simultaneously managing to be peacefully calm and bursting with excitement. A pseudo-high I crave, I'd much rather be focusing on this. Oh... I suppose another reason why I don't want to sleep. This isn't a feeling I can bring on at will, and I want to submerge myself in it for as long as I can.

It starts to fade as the pale grey light of morning slowly begins filling the room. I hadn't slept at all. It's almost 8 by the time I shove myself up from the bed, crossing the room still in a bit of a daze from the sleepless night. I don't turn the light on when I enter the bathroom. I just stand at the sink, staring at the mirror, my own reflection not immediately registering. I briefly consider shaving but decide against it, I don't want to take the time and where I'm going isn't anywhere that would require clean dress. Small shops in a small town are forgiving that way. You're allowed to be comfortable. You're allowed to feel at home. There's a small piece of that home that's still missing, for me. Everything here is wonderful, but there's just one thing off. Like an otherwise complete sentence that still has no punctuation at the end.

It's a forgettable day, not unlike so many others I've had. When I've finished the more tedious of my errands, I duck into the only restaurant in town for a break. Recollect myself. Reset. It's still snowing, still cold. I could use something stiffer than the coffee sitting untouched in front of me, but it isn't that kind of restaurant. I've been smuggling in a flask for weeks, and I know the waitresses know. They look the other way, likely because I keep it to myself and don't become a rodeo clown when I've had a shot or two of it. I tip in a bit of the dark rum and give it a stir before taking a mouthful. Much better. I don't order anything else, but I accept a refill and notice that this waitress has slightly underfilled it to allow room for my customisation. I smile a bit, it was such a small gesture but it means so much. The smaller gestures are more personal, more touching. Anyone can guess you'd be excited to get a new car, few would note the scattered little themed trinkets around your house and surprise you with a similar one. I leave her a generous tip in return and start back out, I need a few things from the corner store before I can go home.

Life has not been subtle to any of us regarding how it feels about our plans. There are times when life decides to cooperate, though these situations are too few and too far between. Today, life has decided to stop torturing me. There were no other customers when I walked in, but I 'm vaguely aware of the door opening a few minutes after me. Not at all noteworthy until the person asks the cashier if they carry some specific product. I freeze with a box of lightbulbs in my hand, a fleeting panic hitting me that perhaps this time, I didn't hold my rum very well. I have to be asleep, I have to be dreaming. I immediately know that voice. I've heard it a million million times, reaching out across the dreamlands, searching for me. I don't want to look. I take a shaking breath before finally turning to her. Her face is the one I see every time I close my eyes. I can live without whatever I came in here for, but I can't live without knowing her. My throat closes when she happens to look at me.

I don't think I've ever had an out of body experience before, but I imagine it would feel something like this. I'm walking to her before I'm aware that my legs are moving. I almost expect them to give seeing as I don't fully feel in control of them. I stop maybe a foot away from her. Her expression softens, her eyes are warm and I think she might be smiling. The cashier hesitates, then opts not to interrupt, thankfully. I don't even know what I want to say, so many thoughts I'd never know which to start with. She speaks first.

"It's you." Her voice is gentle. Her tone, almost factual. "Of course it would be you. It's always been you, hasn't it?" and now I'm smiling. A genuine smile, the kind I haven't felt on myself in what feels like years. Then she laughs. "I really hope you know my face, because I know yours very well."

"I was afraid I was being haunted by a dream," I confess. "I was afraid you weren't real." She looks relieved, her smile is still there.

"I was nearly convinced you weren't, either. I'm glad you are."

"I can confidently say I never expected to find you here. Now I just don't want you to tell me you aren't staying." The words tumble out before I can stop them. I still don't know her name, and I'm begging her to stay.

"We've been trying to find each other for years. Now that we have, there's nothing that would ever make me leave." She seems to suddenly realise where we are. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything. Are you busy?"

"I'm not. Even if I were, I would much rather spend my day finally getting to know you. I mean, if you aren't busy, either," I stumble. Without breaking eye contact, I feel her take my hand. I squeeze my fingers around hers, not wanting to ever let go.

"We've been so busy looking for each other. Let's now instead be busy learning each other."

[clrecrossing]

Art Contest

Setting up a big art contest for everyone in New Hope hasn’t been easy. Isabelle thankfully has lots of experience organizing events, and the community immediately started working together to figure out how we would run it. I, Isabelle, Digby, Blathers, and Tom Nook would work together to judge the pieces submitted. We posted announcements all over town so people would have time to prepare their pieces, and then on the 10th we cleared out the plaza and set up displays for everyone to put up their art.

Everyone was really excited. Merengue was shy about displaying her own art. O’Hare was more than happy to show off his own and brag about it to everyone who came by. Eventually everyone who entered the contest had put their piece up, and then they were free to roam and look at what everyone had done.

Everyone loved it. They talked with each other about the various pieces of art done. Merengue, Canberra, and Hazel had actually joined up to make treats for everyone to snack on as they looked around. The event was so lively. Everyone loved making the art and getting together to have fun together. Puddles’ idea was a huge success.

Eventually it came time for the judges to look around at the individual pieces.

First we came around to Rodeo and his display.

His drawing of a rocket heading to the moon on the surface of an unknown planet was beautiful. Rodeo shyly mumbled that he’d thought a lot about what would be good to enter. He loved space, and he thought that maybe something that captured the fantasy of a trip through it would be good. I agree that looking at it captures the feel of looking out on an alien world and setting out to explore.

Puddles had done an amazing painting of the sun rising over the ocean. Puddles said it wasn’t much. Looking at it though I have to say that it’s absolutely gorgeous, and beyond anything that I could create myself. It’s clear that this is where her passion really lies. She’s got a lot of talent. Isabelle asked her how she did it, and Puddles said she’d just seen it one morning and known that’s what she wanted to do for the contest.

Fang’s own submission was very simplistic. Looking at it gave me a rather odd feeling. What was it supposed to be? A portrait of some sort? But the inner drawing was simplistic as well, to the point of not seeming to be anything in particular. Fang explained to all of us that he’d wanted to capture the focus of looking at someone. I wonder if this drawing really does capture what he feels when he’s looking at someone else. If the portrait is supposed to be a stand in for almost anyone, the more simplistic inner drawing does make sense.

Merengue was very bashful about her own offering. It was a design she’d come up with for a cake. She admitted that sometimes she just sketched out designs for her pastries later, and hoped that we didn’t think too badly of her submission for being more of a sketch of a plan than actual art. We all assured her that it was fine. Tom Nook joked that a bribe of an actual slice of cake would be acceptable as well.

Hans’s own submission was as stylish and detailed as his own passion. He had picked a clock that he had picked up some time ago and decided to do a drawing of it. Hans admitted that he wasn’t very satisfied with it, as the drawing couldn’t capture the depth of the history of the clock. Blathers said he thought the detailing was rather fine.

Blather’s little sister Celeste was the next contestant. She was almost hopping with excitement to talk with the judges and show what she had created.

She had wanted to do a picture of the night sky with her favorite constellation. She loved Gemini and liked the idea of doing a piece of the twin constellation. Digby joked asking if she was trying to appeal to him and Isabelle with that. Celeste flustered some and admitted that she’d actually been thinking of herself and her brother, despite them not being twins. Blathers gave her a huge hug.

Pancetti revealed that she had come up with a design for a dress. It wasn’t something that was actually finished of course, as making such things wasn’t for someone like her. She did think that it rather fit the quaint rustic feel of New Hope. I have to agree that the design is rather nice, even if I don’t like how Pancetti worded her ideas for it.

Hans was super proud to show off his art of a bunch of fireworks. He explained in great detail his passion for color and standing out, and that fireworks represented him perfectly. What else could capture his style and flash? The chalk art was nice. I don’t think it was quite as flashy as O’Hare imagined it would end up though.

Croque’s submission was shockingly basic, just the kanji for “oneself”. He seemed quite proud of it and told us that it represented what he thinks everyone should strive for: being centered in one’s self. Its symbolism is nice. I guess I should have expected something simple with a lot of thought in it from Croque. He’s no artist, but he is a deep thinker.

Hazel’s submission was as colorful and crazy as she herself is. It was busy and had so much going on in it it was hard to keep track of. Hazel talked at a mile a minute about how much trouble she’d had trying to settle on one thing, before finally deciding that all of it would be fine to include. The more there was the better after all, right?

Canberra’s submission was a design idea of color she’d been working on. She told us that she’d been playing with shapes and how they interacted, and decided that something showing off colors layering over each other in interesting ways would be a good submission. Blathers Isabelle and Digby all seemed to agree with that at least, pouring over the art with a sharp intensity.

Last of all was Leif’s submission. It was very simple. You could tell that a lot of time and effort had gone into this flower. It wasn’t complex, but what there was had been carefully layered with color to show off. Leif told us that he had wanted to share something that made him happy. I had to give him a hug for that.

Now that we had looked at everything we had to actually judge it. Let me tell you, doing that was hard! Puddles was clearly by far the best artist in the group, but would it really be fair to judge by that standard? Our entire town is so diverse. Not everyone chooses to do art, but everyone has something they shines with. Leif’s love of gardening, Merengue’s treats and pastries, Hazel’s crafts, Hans’ collection of antiques. Tom Nook suggested that we judge by the heart of things instead.

Puddles was rewarded first place. She puts a lot of heart and love into her creations. She was almost in tears over winning and promised us all that she’d never forget us. There was a lot of congratulations and hugs from everyone. Puddles had come back especially for this event, and we knew we likely wouldn’t see her again for a long time.

Hans came in second place. Tom told Hans that he was impressed by his choice in what to create, and Blathers complimented Hans heavily on his detail. I told him he’d have to tell me the story behind the clock after.

Canberra came in third place for her piece. She was shocked by the win, like she’d been expecting someone else to come in and say that it should go to someone else instead. Everyone told her that they loved her colors. Even Pancetti said it, though Pancetti was clearly miffed by the fact that she hadn’t won despite her “clearly superior design”.

We kept things out for the rest of the day for everyone to browse before moving the submissions to a special exhibit in the museum for everyone in New Hope to be able to go to and see the pieces. Hopefully we’ll be able to run another art contest in the future. Everyone had so much fun.

Credit for creating Rodeo and Hazel’s art goes to dderidex from Discord

Credit for Puddles’ sunrise painting to @summerartist​ 

Credit for Merengue’s cake design goes to CatWithHumanHands from Discord

Credit for Hans’ antique clock drawing goes to Cessi from Discord

Credit for Celeste’s constellation art goes to emmy451 from Discord

Credit for Pancetti’s dress design to @gleefully-macabre​

Credit for Leif’s flower to @easydias​

[whirlybirbs]

If you gave us some modern au Arthur x miss Turner head canons I would OWE YOU MY LIFE

let’s think about MODERN ! SIMPLER SAID ALOUD:

THE TURNER FAMILY RANCH is known far and wide in the southern states for it’s high turn out in derby winning horses. THE TWO TURNER DAUGHTERS are recognizable in the media, often photographed by their parent’s side at races, poised in expensive hats and regal expressions. in the racing world, they’re very much royalty.

ARTHUR MORGAN IS A RODEO COWBOY WITH A DARKER PAST -- he’s served time for assault, robbery and grand theft auto, and with a record like that has a hard time finding work despite his eagerness to put it all behind him. he falls back in with his old bad crowd, and with help from DUTCH VAN DER LINDE, his makeshift trainer, and HOSEA MATTHEWS, his manager, arthur beings to climb the rankings in the national rodeo sport.

barrel racing, bull riding, bare-back bronco riding... you name it, the cowboy excels at it.

HE MEETS THE OLDEST TURNER DAUGHTER WHILE LOOKING TO BUY A NEW HORSE AT THE FAMILY RANCH. she handles the deal, rather than her father, and sells arthur a palamino thoroughbred named sugarcube for a discounted price. she says, half-heartedly, because she’s a fan of his riding.

ARTHUR MAILS HER TICKETS TO A RODEO, on a whim and a hope that maybe the flirting had been mutual -- and she goes, despite the protests by HER EVER PRESENT EX-BOYFRIEND, WAYLON ROBBINS, she goes -- her waylon, though, have been broken up for months after a dicey night that ended in more than just words being thrown. being a business associate of her father’s though, she can’t seem to escape him. 

ENTER SPICY RODEO ROMANCE.