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satansapostle6 · 10 months

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Josh Futturman has always had a crush on his beautiful coworker, the sharp, sexy scientist he thought he could only dream of talking to.

Warnings: Mature themes/language. Sexual content.

Part One

Part Two: Sensory Processing

Josh Futturman was actually excited to go to work. This rarely happened, but the prospect of Brynne Johansson made it happen. All day, he had done all of his work as a janitor and Kronish Labs as quickly as possible, hoping to see her by the time he got to her office.

Of course, his closest work friend, Ray, had noticed this upon seeing Josh pass Brynne Johansson’s office as slowly as possible.

“Aw, come on! Not you, too!” Ray exclaimed.

“What?!” Josh said defensively.

“Man… I’ve been trying to woo Dr. Scarlett Johansson with my security guard charm fiancé I started here! I swear, I’ve seen half of the other security guards pretend to hear about ‘situations’ near her office,” he frowned.

“I’m not spying on her!” he promised, going about his work. “And she does kinda resemble Scarlett Johansson…”

Ray just shook his head, leaving him to whatever he was doing. Josh quickly took care of cleaning the floors, anxious to peer into Brynne Johansson’a office. Luckily, she appeared to be in at the moment, peacefully filling out paperwork as she listened to music on her headphones.

Josh remembered the first time he ever came near her office, surprised to see that she was a music person.

“Hey,” Josh spoke up nervously.

Brynne took off her headphones as she looked up, surprised to see him. “Hi,” she said.

“What are you listening to?” he asked her out of curiosity.

“Depeche Mode,” she replied, before her one-track mind kicked in, “What’s going on, did something happen in the lab?” she asked automatically.

“What? Oh. No,” he responded quickly, “Sorry. I just… had something to give you,” he said sheepishly.

The young woman looked up curiously, not understanding.

“I, uh… Got stuff for a couple people around the office. Christmas, you know?” he asked awkwardly.

“Oh. That’s thoughtful of you,” she replied.

“Yeah, it’s just small stuff, you know? I got Ray a gift card for that sandwich place he likes, and I got Kronish one of those candles he likes. Mostly because Dr. Camillo hates that he burns them in the office,” he admitted.

Brynne smiled. “I got him one too.”

“Really?” Josh laughed as she just nodded.

He nervously reached into his pocket, pulling out a small box of chocolates, with a small note attached.

“Anyways. Kronish said you liked these, so I thought I’d wish you an early… whatever you may or may not celebrate,” he concluded.

“Oh, wow. Thank you,” Brynne said kindly. “I appreciate it, a lot. And as for celebrating, you could say Christmas, but I honestly don’t really celebrate apart from doing stuff for other people,” she confessed.

Josh nodded understandingly.

“But thank you, wow, this is perfect,” she told him, opening the note in front of him.

Josh watched her in fear, hoping she wouldn’t think he was weird and hate him.

“‘To Dr. Johansson. Thanks for letting me take out your Redbull cans and chicken Caesar salads. From, Josh’,” she read in amusement. “Wow, my garbage sounds sad.”

“Personally, I think it’s pretty cool garbage,” Josh joked.

“Well. Thanks, Josh,” she remarked. “You can just call me ‘Brynne’, by the way.”

“Right. Brynne. Sorry,” he nodded quickly.

“Thanks again, for the chocolates,” she said softly. “That’ll probably be my lunch.”

Josh stopped for a moment, remembering what Kronish had told him the day before.

“It—It doesn’t have to be!” he offered without thinking.

“Hmm?” she questioned.

“Uh… I was actually just about to head to that Indian place across the street for my break… if you’d rather do that,” he stumbled over his words, praying she wouldn’t think he was creepy.

“Oh. Yeah, that sounds fucking great, actually,” she nodded, looking down at her designer watch. “Ten on the dot. Let’s do it,” she nodded.

“Great,” Josh blurted out, holding in his screams of excitement.

He was shocked she actually said yes, following her as she walked out of the office.

“I haven’t actually gone out for lunch in months,” Brynne sighed as she took off her lab coat.

As the two of them left the building, Josh felt as if his going to lunch with the Dr. Johansson should’ve been illegal. He saw Ray’s suspicious glance at him as they left together. Josh walked out of the building feeling like he had just committed some sort of heist.

“Have you ever been here?” Josh Futturman asked her as they reached the restaurant.

“Yeah, it’s kind of my go-to whenever I leave the office for lunch,” she explained. “Have you?”

“No,” Josh said truthfully, “I’ve actually just been meaning to try it out.”

They entered the restaurant, a couple of the men in the room naturally turning to look at Brynne. Josh felt incredibly out of place, standing next to her in his janitor’s uniform. He silently cursed her perfectly fitted black dress.

“What do you want?” Brynne asked as they approached the cashier.

“What should I get?” he asked her, never actually having had Indian food before.

“Most people tend to get the butter chicken,” she explained, “With the garlic naan.”

“Sounds great,” Josh nodded, turning to the guy at the counter. “I’ll have the butter chicken with the garlic naan. What about you?” he asked her.

“I’m getting the same,” she responded.

“Two of the butter chicken with garlic naan, then, please,” Josh said as he handed over his card.

“Are you sure?” Brynne asked him, surprised.

“Yeah,” he said kindly, “You want anything to drink?”

“Uh, just a Coke,” she told the cashier, “Thanks.”

“Two Cokes, please,” Josh smiled as the guy took his card.

“Thank you,” Brynne said, pleasantly surprised.

“No problem. My treat,” he said nonchalantly, “You haven’t eaten out of the office in a while.”

“True,” she nodded as they sat down at a table with their drinks. “So,” she began, making him nervous.

He panicked, and couldn’t stop staring into her pretty brown eyes. Josh couldn’t think around Brynne Johansson, mostly because being around her heightened and engaged his senses entirely. The perfection of her face, and the beauty of her body, and the distinct smell of her perfume captivated him.

She was like no woman he’d ever met before. She commanded respect from people in a way that explained why she was the head of her department. Something about Brynne made the hair on Josh’s arms stand up, and something told him it really had nothing to with her job title.

And many other male employees at Kronish Labs, including Ray, would’ve said she also made something else stand up.

“What do you do in your free time, Futturman?” Brynne asked as she sipped on her soda.

Josh had no idea how to answer that question. He had no real hobbies; all he really did was wake up, go to work, play video games, and then sleep to do the exact same thing all over again.

“Uh… I don’t know, I like playing video games,” he shrugged nonchalantly, hoping he wasn’t coming off as too pathetic.

“Oh, that’s cool. I wish I could’ve gotten into that sort of thing,” she admitted. “I don’t really do much outside of work.”

“At least you’re a scientist,” Josh provided kindly, “That’s pretty impressive.”

“In a way,” Brynne shrugged nonchalantly.

“What’s that like, in the dating world?” Josh wondered, although simultaneously trying to seduce for himself whether or not she was in a relationship. “I’m sure that’s definitely a talking point.”

“You’d think so, but saying that you work for an STD treatment center isn’t exactly as sexy as you think,” she pointed out.

“Hmm,” Josh nodded, frowning as he realized he wasn’t exactly being flattering.

He figured at least he knew she was probably single. He watched as she thanked the servers for placing their food on the table in front of them. Josh realized that no matter what she did, no matter how simple or mundane it was, Brynne always looked beautiful doing it.

It was something about the way her lips moved when she smiled, and the way her eyes moved in her head. Josh couldn’t quite explain it, but he was taken with her.

“What do you do outside of work?” he asked curiously. “I mean… I know you probably don’t, like, rescue pandas, or anything, but… I don’t know, do you have any interests?” he rephrased.

“Mmm…” she considered the question, her face appealing to look at even as she thought. “I used to do photography,” she told him.

“Oh, that’s so cool,” Josh commented in surprise. “What did you take pictures of?” he asked as he ate.

The food was spicier than he’d expected, but he held in his reactions as best as he could so as not to seem like a child in front of Brynne.

“I picked up photography from my uncle,” she explained. “He was a big car guy; belonged to a car club and everything. I mostly did cars, and motorcycles.”

“That’s awesome,” Josh said in awe, not expecting that from her.

He knew he should’ve realized she was a huge car person. He’d seen her get out of her car in the building’s parking lot before. It was a beautiful classic car, some kind of black Impala or something from the 60’s. It was in perfect condition, and always seemed to shine, not unlike its driver.

“I wish I got into cars,” he confessed. “As a guy, I kinda feel like that’s something I’m supposed to know about.”

“It’s never too late,” Brynne pointed out. “It’s good to know about cars.”

“Your car, it’s that black one I always see in the parking lot, right?” he asked. “The classic car?”

“Yup,” she nodded.

“It’s nice,” he complimented her, “Really nice. What is it?”

“It’s a ‘66 Impala,” she responded. “It was my dad’s.”

“Cool,” he remarked.

He didn’t mean to, but he watched her as she ate. He’d been talking to her for at least ten minutes now, but he still couldn’t get over her; he couldn’t get over the fact that he was actually having a conversation with Dr. Johansson, let alone having an early lunch with her.

Then, she said the worst thing possible.

“Are you staring at me, Futturman?”

Josh froze in disbelief. “I— Uh…”

“It’s okay,” she said coolly, her eyes dark with mischief. “I don’t mind.”

Josh felt himself falling apart as he struggled to explain himself. But ultimately, he realized he couldn’t.

“You make me nervous,” he smiled awkwardly, embarrassed at himself.

“How do you think I became the head of my department at twenty-four?” she raised an eyebrow playfully.

Josh watched her as she just continued on as if everything was perfectly normal, realizing she hardly considered the effect she had.

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

#josh hutcherson #josh hutcherson x reader #josh futturman #josh futturman x reader #future man #future man 2017 #future man x reader #futureman #mike schmidt #mike schmidt x reader

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cowboylikeghost · 3 months

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Ranking of Taylor Swift albums by seasons (north hemisphere) *ೃ༄

Summer TS albums:

⊱Debut: beginning of summer, Spring just ended and it's the start of the first hot days of the year with some rainy mornings.

⊱1989: July, beginning of August. You left somewhere with your family or friends, probably at the beach. If not, then it's the time of party and going out. It's hot as hell, you don't sleep so good, but the days are so worth it.

⊱Folklore: it's mid august, you came back from your vacation and/or stop going out. You're resting and make the most of the last days of summer break. Beginning of September, you're sad summer is ending but kinda excited for the start of the new school year/ year at college.

Autumn TS albums:

⊱Fearless: Transition from summer to Autumn, it's doesn't really feel like fall and it's still cool outside. School/College as begun, but it's not too serious yet. The trees start to get yellow-ish.

⊱Red: October/November, it's Autumn, the trees loose their leaves, the mornings are chilly and foggy. Halloween happend, you partied and/or watched scary movies. Assignments start to pile-up, and you start studying for exams. It's time for apple and cinnamon tea and late study night while the sun set at 5pm.

⊱Reputation/Midnight: December, it's cold and dark and it probably snowed a little. At night everything frost, you probably have to scratch your car's windscreen a few times. It's also finals seasons, which means you probably haven't seen your friends in a while. December feels hopeless, but that is until christmas seasons!!! The shops start to decorate and there's pretty lights everywhere, it gives you hope in these dark times. During break you spend time with family and/or friends, and you celebrate the New year.

Winter TS albums:

⊱Midnight: Christmas break ended, and you're back to class. The euphoria from the festivities is still there and you're excited to see your friends. The New Year is symbol for change and new opportunities, you're hopeful and start to daydream about the cooler seasons.

⊱Evermore: As the excitement for christmas and new year start to wear off, january feels hollow. February isn't much better, Valentine's day lighten it up a little, but it doesn't take long before the apathy and yearning for vitamine D come back. It's a time for reflection and observation. The semester as begun and it's time to go back to your studies.

⊱The Tortured Poets Department: February as ended, it's March, which mean it's almost spring! The days are getting cooler, beanies and gloves are back in the closet. The trees are still naked but you can fell the change in the air.

Spring TS albums:

⊱Speak Now: It's Spring! The days are getting longer, and the first burds are here. You might feel a bit nostalgic of the christmas seasons but the excitement for spring and summer is bigger. You fall in love with nature all over again. Easter day is here, and the stores are all decorated in pastel colors and bunnies are everywhere, you can't stop thinking about all the chocolates you're gonna eat.

⊱Lover: It's well into april, jun is almost there, all the flowers are blooming, the days are long again and the sun start to hit in the right way. You can't wait for summer and summer break. After eating and showering, you spend your evening drinking tea and reading outside. You start to go out again. It's fun. Life feels good.

Disclaimer: this is my interpretation of the albums, obviously it will be different for everyone. I understand that these interpretations came from a priviledge life. Thank u and be kind. ♡︎

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chicgeekgirl89 · 9 months

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Festive Friends- Read on AO3

Rating: T

Words: 8600

This one is for @strandnreyes as part of the @tarlos-santa 2023 exchange! I chose the prompt: AU - Carlos and TK unknowingly have each other for the office secret santa exchange. Up to you if they’re pining idiots, “enemies”, secretly dating, or anything else! Hope you enjoy and have the most festive of holidays!

“Good morning Mr. Reyes.”

Carlos looks up to find the office intern, Mateo, standing cheerily next to his desk, a stack of envelopes in his hand. “Good morning Mateo. And again, you can call me Carlos. Mr. Reyes really isn’t necessary.”

“Sorry Mr. Reyes, I’m just not really used to being like, a real adult yet I guess,” Mateo says sheepishly.

Carlos keeps a chuckle to himself and doesn’t admonish the kid again. “I understand. Whatever you feel comfortable with is fine.”

“Cool. Thanks Mr. Reyes. I brought your mail over for you.”

“Thank you,” Carlos says, accepting the stack from him.

“Can I get you anything? A coffee? Oh! I think Mr. Strand has some new kind of energizing smoothie or something in the break room. Although, it looked kinda gross to me,” Mateo says.

The thought of that smoothie sends a shiver down Carlos’ spine. He hasn’t known Owen Strand for very long, but his health nut tendencies have quickly become too much for Carlos’ taste. “No, that’s okay. I don’t need anything right now. Besides, your job here is to learn about the business, not fetch everyone’s coffee.”

“Right. Yes. Learning. I love learning all the things. Hey, are you coming to the office tree lighting on Friday afternoon? I heard they’re gonna have those little pigs in a blanket.”

Carlos’ eyes dart back to his screen and the half finished email staring at him. “Um, yeah. I’ll be there for a little bit.”

“Awesome!” Mateo seems genuinely thrilled and Carlos once again has to bite back an amused smile. The kid is ninety nine parts enthusiasm and one part overly helpful. “Well I’ll let you get back to it. Lots of…what exactly does HR do?”

“Emails,” Carlos says. “Lots of emails.”

“Right. Sounds fun. Good luck with that!”

Mateo sends him a parting wave and then disappears around the side of his cubicle.

Things have been absolutely crazy at PD and Sons since they merged with 126 Designs a few months ago. Owen Strand had been brought in to manage the merger and insisted on hiring a significant number of new staff. Onboarding the new hires like Mateo has been a ton of work, especially since Owen insisted on being extremely involved in the entire process. Carlos has been in non-stop meetings for weeks and today is the first day he hasn’t felt completely overwhelmed in forever.

He flips through the stack of mail, tossing a few random flyers in the recycling, and setting aside the important envelopes to open later. He wrinkles his forehead when he finds a folded up piece of red paper at the bottom of the stack. When he opens it his eyes immediately widen in horror.

What. The. Hell?

“Lexi.” He stands up and looks down into the cubicle next to him where his work wife is busy with some kind of design project. “Why did I just get a paper telling me who my Secret Santa is this year?”

“I signed you up because I knew you wouldn’t do it otherwise. It’s the season of giving and part of that means giving up your Grinchy ways and pretending like you’re interested in getting to know all the new people in the office,” Lexi says without looking up at him.

His jaw drops. “Okay, first of all, I’m not uninterested in getting to know them. I just haven’t had time to get to know them. And secondly, I hate Secret Santa. Nobody ever really knows what to get you, so you end up with all this random crap and candy that you don’t want and it all sits in a drawer for three or four years until finally you throw it out.”

She finally stops and turns to look at him. “Wow. Okay Uncle Scrooge. First of all,” she echoes him, “it’s not Secret Santa, it’s Festive Friends. Not everybody celebrates Christmas. Get your terminology right. And secondly, it’s not about getting good gifts, it’s about spreading joy for the holiday season. So take the Christmas tree out of your ass and start fa la la-ing with the rest of us.”

“Lexi,” he grinds out her name between his teeth and quickly glances around to make sure no one is in earshot. “I got T.K.”

Lexi is the only one in the office who knows what an incredible disaster meeting T.K. Strand has been for his life. A week after the PD Austin and 126 Designs merger the entire office had gone out for drinks. One thing led to another, which led to another, and ultimately ended up with T.K. very naked in Carlos’ bed.

They’d been incredibly hot and incredibly heavy for a couple weeks after that, sneaking around together, making out in the supply closet, booty calling each other in the dead of night, and Carlos had been so ridiculously happy. T.K. Strand had turned him into a horny freaking teenager.

And then he’d made the mistake of surprising T.K. with dinner. He’d thought it would be romantic. That it might move them from booty call status into something a little bit more permanent.

But T.K. had freaked out, stormed out, and shut Carlos out of his life. Thank god his cubicle is all the way around the corner on the other side of the building. They barely have to see each other except for the occasional awkward brush in the break room or men’s room.

Carlos’ heart has been more broken than he’d like to let on, not to mention his ego is bruised too. The whole thing has made getting to know the other people from 126 Designs like Marjan, Paul, Nancy, and Judd very awkward.. They’re T.K.’s friends. And he doesn’t want to piss T.K. off anymore than he already has.

Of course he has to interact with T.K.’s father, Owen Strand, he is the manager after all, but other than that he’s kept everyone else at an extremely polite and professional distance.

So finding T.K.’s name in his hands is like a punch in the gut.

“Good,” Lexi says, surprising him. “You’ve been pining for him for weeks anyway. Might as well do something about it.”

“Lexi, this guy hates my guts,” Carlos says. “He doesn’t want presents from me.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t hate you. You’re Carlos Reyes. No one hates you.”

“Please switch with me.”

“No.”

“Lexi!”

“No! I got Paul. I already have ideas. I’m not switching. It’s only three gifts, you’ll be fine.”

“Three?! I thought Secret Santa was only one gift!”

“God, do you even read your email? It’s three gifts in the week leading up to the holiday break. This will be good for you. Now go away. I’m working.”

Carlos sinks back down into his chair, misery settling in his stomach. This is going to be absolute torture.

He takes another look at T.K.’s scrawl. His writing looks hurried in a way that suggests he’s so excited that he can’t be bothered to slow down and shape his letters more carefully. It has that same kind of frenetic, joyful energy that drew Carlos to him in the first place. Now the only energy he exudes toward Carlos is coldness.

Carlos catches himself tracing his fingers over the letters of T.K.’s name and balls them into a fist before forcing himself to read T.K.’s answers to the Festive Friends questionnaire. T.K. has written down that he likes sour candy, Harry Styles, boba, and interesting tea flavors. He doesn’t like black licorice, the Mets, or anything with alcohol.

Carlos frowns at that. He doesn’t remember T.K. mentioning anything about alcohol during their weeks together. But then again, they didn’t exactly spend much time talking. Their mouths had been occupied with other things.

It feels unfair to have this scrap of T.K., to get this little glimpse into his life. These are things he doesn’t want Carlos to know. He made that clear when he stormed out the door of Carlos’ condo and left nothing behind except Carlos’ fractured heart.

He takes a breath and squares his shoulders. It’s just a stupid office tradition. They’re colleagues. They’re going to have to become cordial at some point. Maybe this is how he can start to smooth things over. Besides, it’s not like he has to talk to the guy. That’s literally the point. To keep it secret.

This is going to be fine.

It is not fine. It’s not fine because Carlos is the type of person that agonizes over gifts. And in this case, there’s even more pressure because the gifts have to be perfectly impersonal so they don’t say, “Your dick was life changing and I don’t think I’m ever going to recover because now you hate me and I don’t really know why.” He’d much rather they say, “I’m fine and I don’t ever think about you and that thing you did with your tongue that one time.”

Ugh.

He arrives Monday morning the week before Christmas with a gift bag in hand, a Yankees baseball cap tucked inside. It’s a lame gift. Perfectly impersonal. And the rest of his gifts for the week aren’t much better. There’s a small part of him berating himself for not doing a better job. He could at least try. The guy broke up with him, he didn’t murder anyone.

But then he remembers how miserable he was in the days after T.K. had stormed out. Whatever. He didn’t sign up for this anyway. T.K. deserves his boring gifts.

The office is quiet as he makes his way to T.K.’s cubicle. Even just the sight of his desk makes Carlos’ heart ache a little. There’s a picture pinned to his bulletin board of T.K. with their other co-workers, Marjan, Paul, Judd, Mateo, Nancy, and Tommy all smiling and having fun, clearly out for a night on the town together. He’d known 126Designs was small and that was part of the reason for the acquisition; to bring on a tightly knit team to help their own, but seeing T.K. so happy with them all doesn’t really feel great.

He’s been so preoccupied by his own shopping that he completely forgot that he is also getting gifts until he steps into his cubicle and sees a bright green bag with little white Christmas trees all over it. He inspects it carefully, relieved to find there’s no glitter anywhere.

He hates glitter.

There’s a little card attached to the handle and when he opens it it reads “Hope you have a Write Christmas- FF.” It takes him a second to figure out that FF must mean Festive Friend.

He carefully extracts the tissue paper and looks into the bag. It’s office supplies. Pens, post-its, a new stapler, blue paperclips, and a ball of rubber bands.

The pun on the card makes sense, even if it is as terribly lame as the gifts inside. At least it’s practical. He can always use new pens.

“Hey!” Lexi pokes her head in. “Ooh what’d you get?”

He shows her the bag and she nods in approval. “Your Festive Friend knows you like office supplies. Nice.”

“If you’re expecting a thank you for going behind my back on this, you’re going to be waiting a long time,” Carlos tells her as he sits down and opens up his laptop.

“Pretty sure people with that attitude get coal in their stocking,” she tells him, flipping him off before heading to her own cubicle.

It’s midway through the morning and Carlos is about to make yet another phone call when Owen Strand steps into the middle of the bullpen. “All right, attention everyone!” he calls.

The ambient sound of typing and low chatter ceases. “Thank you,” he says. “I just wanted to remind everyone that we have our first team building activity this afternoon. So if you have anything scheduled this is your last chance to rearrange. Mandatory fun is in store for all!”

Carlos bites back a groan. He is really not into mandatory office fun. Especially when it means he’ll be in close proximity to T.K. But he’s also not one to flaunt the rules, so he’s going to have to suck it up and deal.

No one has been allowed in the conference room all morning and when one o’clock rolls around Owen waits at the door with a massive grin on his face. The man is clearly thrilled with whatever he’s cooked up to torture them today.

When Carlos walks through the door he sees why. The tables have been covered in red plastic tablecloths and every two feet or so sits a pile of materials like graham crackers, marshmallows, frosting, and candy. It’s immediately obvious how they will be team building today.

“All right everyone!” Owen says when they’re all assembled. “As you can probably guess our team building activity for today has taken a turn for the festive. And I’ve taken the liberty of assigning you all a partner to work with. Each team will be assembling a pre-determined part of our gingerbread village. Paul, you’re with Marjan.”

They immediately turn and high five, clearly thrilled.

“Nancy with Lexi, Judd with Tommy, Mateo with me,” Owen flashes him a smile and Mateo lets out a whoop.

Carlos’ stomach drops. That leaves him with—“T.K., you’ll be with Carlos.”

Fuck.

“Send one person to grab your pre-assigned building assignment! Remember this is not a competition. We’re all working together to build our village. Just like it takes a village to run a company.”

There’s a brief silence in which everyone internalizes what a dumb, schticky thing Owen has just said and then he claps his hands. “Okay, get to work!”

Everyone claims a spot around the tables. Carlos takes a paper slip from Owen and then looks around to find T.K., who is sitting across the room with his back to Carlos.

Carlos reluctantly walks over and sits in the empty seat next to him, all the while wondering if he can fake sick or claim a family emergency to get out of this. When he finally looks up at his partner he recoils in shock. T.K.’s lip is split and swollen, and there’s a dark ring of bruising underneath his right eye. “What happened to you?” Carlos asks, a surprised reflex releasing the words from his mouth before he can stop them.

The look T.K. sends him immediately reminds him that they’re not friends anymore. It’s full of vitriol and misery and…Carlos looks a little closer. Pain. There’s a rawness there that Carlos doesn’t remember seeing before.

“Sorry,” he says. “I just…that looks like it hurts.”

“Doesn’t feel great,” T.K. agrees, his voice stiff. “What are we supposed to be making?”

Carlos looks at the paper. “Police station.”

“Perfect. Way to read the room Dad. ACAB and all that,” T.K. grouses as he reaches for a pile of graham crackers and immediately begins squeezing icing all over.

“Um,” Carlos hems and T.K. stops.

“What?”

“Don’t you think maybe we should make a plan first?”

T.K. sighs and dramatically drops his piping bag onto the table. “Fine. Do whatever you want.”

“No I—I didn’t mean—” Carlos struggles to find the right words. “It’s fine. Let’s just try and get something standing first. That’s the hardest part anyway.”

They spend a couple minutes in silence gluing graham crackers together with icing and using some marshmallows to prop them up until they have something that roughly resembles walls and a roof. “You’re kind of good at this,” T.K. says.

It’s the closest thing to niceties that they’ve shared in weeks.

“I have a lot of nieces and nephews. Not my first gingerbread house. Although it is my first police station,” Carlos admits.

“Cool,” T.K. says, then winces, his lip clearly hurting.

“You sure you don’t want to tell me what happened?” Carlos asks, feeling a little emboldened by T.K.’s compliment.

T.K. shoots him a glare. “You’re kind of annoying. You know that?”

“So I’ve been told,” Carlos says, trying to let the jab roll off his back. “But I know you’re new around here and you’ve obviously gotten into some trouble. Sometimes it helps to talk things out.”

He gets silence in return. God what the hell is wrong with this guy? He’s literally just trying to help. “Fine. You don’t have to tell me. But you should probably tell someone before whoever gave you that shiner comes back to give you a matching set.”

T.K. goes quiet, fiddling with the icing bag in his hand. When he speaks his voice is soft.“I went to a bar last night.”

“Ah. A little drunk and disorderly,” Carlos says, aware that he’s being snarky and not caring in the least. “So you have an idea of how the inside of this police station should look then.”

“I wasn’t drunk,” T.K. says quickly and Carlos remembers his Festive Friends answers. He looks down. “I just went through a really bad break up. Like nuclear bad. And then I relapsed.” He looks around and lowers his voice. “I relapsed with substances.”

Oh.

Carlos sets down the graham cracker in his hands, his full attention now on T.K. as memory slices through him. “I tried to pour us champagne during dinner. I’m such an idiot I’m sorry—“

“It’s fine, ” T.K. cuts him off quickly, like if he gets interrupted now he won’t ever be able to find the strength to share this again. He fiddles with the peppermint wrapper in his hands. “Ever since I’ve gotten here it’s just…it’s grey. And I just feel numb all the time. So I went out to a bar looking for trouble. And I found it. Big time. I guess I just…I wanted to feel something.”

He’s pulled in on himself, his body looking vulnerable and wounded. Carlos gets it now. The overenthusiastic sex. His no-strings attached mentality. The complete meltdown during dinner. This is a man who has been hurt, and he’s struggling to find a way to heal. Carlos had unknowingly probed at the wound in his soul and T.K. had lashed out. It makes sense, even if it wasn’t fair.

T.K. looks miserable and despite their history all Carlos wants to do is make him feel better. “Judging by that lip, I’d say mission accomplished,” he says, trying to lighten the moment.

“You’re really busting my balls right now?” T.K. asks, an unreadable expression on his face.

“No,” Carlos says. “I’m busting your jingle bells.” He tries and fails to hold back a smile at his incredibly stupid joke.

T.K. blinks at him. “That’s terrible,” he says, but he is also struggling to keep his face neutral.

“And yet you’re smiling,” Carlos says. He feels lighter, like there’s been an ominous blizzard hanging over him in the weeks since they stopped seeing each other. Now it feels like the snow has finally started to fall and all the ugliness of the bare world in winter is being covered in a fresh layer of soft white powder. There’s a sense of hope to it.

“I’m laughing at how stupid it is,” T.K. says.

“Well laugh while you work,” Carlos says, reaching for a bar of Hershey’s chocolate to put on the roof. “I know your dad said it wasn’t a competition, but Marjan and Paul seem to be working on a second story. So I’m not sure they know that.”

Together they finish the roof, adding on lots of dripping icing as snow and icicles. Carlos carefully starts to add windows while T.K. works on the landscaping.

“Tommy I don’t know why you’re trying to make me do these little details when you know I’ve got fat fingers,” Judd is saying across the way as he and Tommy try to add a steeple to their church.

Marjan and Paul’s apartment building does indeed have two stories and they’ve somehow managed to chisel out actual windows in the graham crackers. Lexi and Nancy are creating a ski chalet that includes a chairlift, and Owen and Mateo’s fire station sports a fire pole made of pretzel rods.

“There,” T.K. says, plonking a creation down in front of where Carlos has crafted a front door out of Kit Kats.

Carlos raises an eyebrow. “What is that?”

“A snowman.”

Ah. Now Carlos sees it. There are two marshmallows stacked on top of each other and T.K. has shoved pretzel sticks in each side for arms. There is a lifesaver on each one and they’re connected by a thread of Twizzler. “What’s on its arms?” he asks.

“Handcuffs,” T.K. says.

“The snowman is getting arrested?”

“Or getting ready to do something kinky.”

“In front of a police station?”

“Some people get off on a little exhibitionism. Don’t judge Carlos,” T.K. says, a smirk on his face.

Damn it. They should have stayed mortal enemies. Now that they’re talking again, Carlos feels the urge to drag T.K. into the nearest cubicle and kiss the shit out of him. He didn’t need to go to a bar to find trouble. He could have shown up on Carlos’ doorstep and gotten into plenty.

Carlos’ attempt at a police cruiser has them both laughing; the oreo wheels keep falling off the rice krispie body (which T.K. snuck out and stole from the break room and has loudly been declared illegal by half the staff in the room) no matter how much icing he uses to try and stick them on.

“Stop eating our building materials,” Carlos admonishes a few minutes later when he goes for another red gum drop and finds they’re nearly gone.

“Why? They’re delicious. Tis the season for sugar,” T.K. says.

Carlos goes to give him a look and notices a dab of frosting on the corner of his mouth. “You’ve got some—“ He mimes brushing it away.

T.K. grabs a tissue and wipes, but misses completely. “No other side,” Carlos directs without success. “Here just, let me.”

He swipes the tissue from T.K.’s hand and dabs carefully, taking care not to pull on T.K.’s split lip. Their eyes meet and a heat passes between them, setting Carlos’ bones on fire. He clears his throat. “Got it.”

“Thanks,” T.K. says quietly.

They spend another half hour decorating before Owen makes them put all the buildings together into a little town while he snaps a picture for the company social media accounts. It’s actually pretty adorable once assembled and Carlos goes home that night strangely optimistic about what the rest of the week has in store.

Tuesday is business as usual and by the time Wednesday morning rolls around Carlos finds himself excitedly driving into work, his gift for T.K. in the passenger seat. He’s scrapped all his other gifts and spent the last two days looking for better items. Last night he visited a local tea shop and probably went a little overboard. They’d definitely upsold him on a few things and he’d let it happen because Monday’s gingerbread decorating had put a kernel of hope in his chest and…it can’t hurt to make sure T.K. likes his gifts, right?

He drops off T.K.’s gift bag and is only mildly disappointed when he walks into his own cubicle to find his desk is empty. It doesn’t matter; at least, that’s what he tells himself. Honestly, he’s not surprised. People are terrible at doing Secret Santa, it’s very likely that his person has forgotten him in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

He heads to his desk and gets right to work because they’re all heading out early to help with a toy drive at the local fire station; another of Owen’s brilliant ideas to encourage office camaraderie. It means he has a lot more to take care of than usual to try and make up for the lost time, and by mid-morning he’s in desperate need of a second coffee.

He’s about to get up and make one when his phone rings. It’s Ernie, their security guard from downstairs informing him that there’s a delivery waiting for him. Confused but intrigued Carlos heads for the elevator.

“Hey Ernie, all set for the holidays?” he asks when he reaches the desk on the ground floor.

“Just about. Got a couple more things to pick up today, but then I should be good to go,” Ernie tells him. He nods toward a bag and a coffee cup on the desk. “That’s for you.”

“Thanks.”

Carlos picks up the white paper sack and has to hold back a snort when he sees what’s written on the side. Hope the holidays don’t make you “cronuts”- FF. He peeks inside and inhales the scent of cronuts from Twiggy’s. Cronuts are a massive weakness of his, and a sip of the coffee tells him it’s made just to his specifications, a little bit of cream, no sugar. Whoever his Festive Friend is, they know him well. His suspicions are definitely leaning more and more toward Lexi.

He gets back in the elevator and when he steps off he nearly runs over T.K. “Whoa, sorry,” he says, holding up the coffee so it doesn’t spill all over T.K.’s chest.

“Lunch?” T.K. asks, nodding toward the bag.

“A snack from my ‘Festive Friend,’” he says. “Cronuts from the Twiggy’s.”

“That place is great. Enjoy,” T.K. says.

“Do you want one?” The words are out of his mouth before he can stop himself. God he’s needy. “I um, I got two and I can’t eat both. They’re really only good fresh, it’s not like I can save one—“

“Sure.” T.K. thankfully interrupts his ramble and the affirmative response sends a jolt of electricity through him.

They step into the break room and T.K. boils some hot water for tea before settling down across from Carlos at one of the high top tables, a kitschy little vase of fake flowers between them.

Carlos pulls out the cronuts and puts each one on a paper plate. They’re decorated for the season as little Santa bellies, and hopefully they’re as delicious as he remembers. He slides one toward T.K. before picking up his own and taking a massive bite. He has to hold back a groan. They’re freaking amazing.

When he looks up he finds T.K. staring at him with an amused smirk on his face. “Sorry,” Carlos says, feeling his cheeks heat. “I um, these are my favorite.”

“So I can see,” T.K. says, the smirk widening a little. “The last time I saw that look we were both way more naked.”

Carlos feels his entire face go red at the reminder. He finishes chewing his bite, trying not to let memories of said naked time take over his brain. “So your dad,” he says. “He’s really into the holidays huh? We’ve never had so many festive office events.”

“Yeah my dad doesn’t really do anything by half measures,” T.K. says. “I think he might be overcompensating on the holiday cheer a little bit this year. The move down here was kind of a lot and I haven’t exactly been a bundle of joy lately, so he’s trying to fix it with cocoa and faux Christmas wreaths.”

Carlos takes another bite and thinks carefully about his next move. This new dynamic between them still feels tenuous, and he doesn’t want to fracture it. But at the same time, he can see the unfiltered hurt in T.K.’s eyes and he longs to help bear the weight of it. “You mentioned a breakup the other day,” he says quietly. “Is that part of why you came?”

T.K. blows out a breath and looks down at his cronut. “It’s the whole reason we came.”

Carlos watches as he wrestles internally and he’s just about to say that T.K. doesn’t have to tell him anything, when T.K. starts to speak again. “I had a boyfriend, in New York. Alex. We were together for like…I don’t know, a year I guess? He was the first boyfriend I’d had since getting sober and I wanted it to work so badly. Like this relationship was proof I finally had my shit together, you know?”

Carlos nods.

“I had this plan, I was going to propose to him. Had a ring, a restaurant, the whole thing. I was basically down on one knee and he—he told me he’d been cheating on me. With his spin instructor.”

Something hot and violent shoots through Carlos. “That motherfucker,” he says, before he can stop himself.

T.K. looks up in surprise and lets out a startled laugh.

“Sorry,” Carlos says. “That’s just…wow what an asshole.”

“Yeah he definitely was,” T.K. says, looking a little more relaxed now, as if Carlos’ angered sympathy has put him more at ease. “For a long time I think. I can look back on it now and see little moments. We only ever went where he wanted to go for dinner. He was always busy when I asked him to meet my friends. There was stuff I was overlooking because I was trying to prove to everyone else that I was stable.”

“I get that,” Carlos says.

T.K. shifts a little. “I went home after that, found a bottle of pills and…took them until I couldn’t feel anymore. My dad had to bust down the door to save my life.” He shrugs. “And that’s how we ended up here. He knew I needed to get away, so he took me as far as he could get.”

He looks up at Carlos. “I’m doing better now. Well, kind of.” He indicates his black eye. “But that’s why I freaked out on you that night. It wasn’t the champagne or anything you did. You were—you were so kind to me Carlos. I just wasn’t ready for it. And I’m really sorry that I walked out on you.”

The urge to reach over and touch him, to hold his hands and soothe away the hurt that’s painted into the lines of his forehead is overwhelming. But he’s not sure T.K. would be into that so he grips his own thighs instead. “Thank you for telling me,” he says. “That all sounds really difficult. I’m sorry I ambushed you. And I’m sorry I wasn’t more understanding when I realized you were uncomfortable. I think um, I think my ego took a little bit of a hit,” he says sheepishly.

“Oh you think Mr. ‘I Know It Doesn’t Look Like a Lot of Work’?” T.K. asks with a grin.

“Hey, that fish took me like three hours to make,” Carlos teases. “You missed out.”

T.K. sobers a little and fiddles with his cronut again. “I think I missed out on a lot.”

Carlos opens his mouth to offer a response, but Lexi pokes her head into the break room. “Carlos, your phone is ringing off the hook.”

“Coming,” he says, sliding off the stool and picking up his plate with the last couple bites of cronut on it. “Are you going to the toy drive this afternoon?”

“Boss dad said be there so yeah, I’m going,” T.K. says. “Thanks for the cronut.”

“You’re welcome,” Carlos says and then hustles back to his cubicle, where his phone is indeed ringing off the hook. He shoves the last bite of cronut into his mouth as he sits down, chewing furiously before he picks up. “This is Carlos.”

An HR crisis means Carlos is the last one to leave the office and arrive at the fire station’s toy drive. He looks for T.K. as soon as he gets there, but Lexi pulls him over to a table where they’re taking donations for one of the local food pantries.

“So,” Lexi says as they fill boxes with canned beans and stuffing mix and mac and cheese, “looks like someone’s back on Carlos Reyes’ nice list. Although with the way you were looking at him, seems more like you’d prefer he stay on the naughty list.”

“Lexi!” Carlos hisses, looking around. “There are kids here!”

“Oh they can’t hear me,” she scoffs, handing him a bag of flour. “They’re all at the make-an-ornament station.”

Carlos looks over and finds T.K. hunkered down by that very table, laughing and smiling as he helps a couple kids glue pompoms and sequins to colored paper. It’s adorable and Carlos’ heart melts a little at the sight.

“See? That look right there. You’ve got it bad. You want him to jingle your ba—“

“I’m going to remind you that I’m your HR rep and you probably shouldn’t finish that sentence,” he says quickly.

“Fine.” She rolls her eyes. “But you two did look pretty cozy in the break room earlier. The great branzino war is over I take it?”

“Yeah we had a good talk,” Carlos says.

She clears her throat. “You can say thank you anytime now you know.”

He furrows his brow. “For what?”

“For making you do Festive Friends and fixing your broken heart.”

“My heart was not broken,” he scoffs.

“You have been acting like you’re in the last ten minutes of a Hallmark movie for weeks. Time to finally realize you’re in love and kiss under the mistletoe,” Lexi tells him.

“Just because we’re friendly now doesn’t mean we’re going to kiss.”

“Okay. Sure. Believe whatever you want.”

There’s a massive influx then from a church group and thankfully the matter is dropped for the rest of the night.

On Friday Carlos stops at home to change his clothes before heading to a local bar for their holiday party and the big Festive Friends reveal. He puts on a pair of dark jeans and winces when he pulls on the ugly sweater that Owen insisted they all wear. As far as they go, his is pretty tame, albeit with a bit more sparkle and pizazz than he usually goes for. It says Feliz Navidad in tinseled letters with some primary colored pom poms decorating the rest for good measure. It had been part of a family white elephant a few years ago and has sat in the back of his closet since for good reason.

He gabs the box he wrapped up for T.K. on the way out the door. It’s nearly as brightly colored as his sweater. Generally he tries for a more sedate theme in wrapped gifts, but T.K. is so vivacious and colorful that he broke into the stash of wrapping paper he usually saves for his nieces and nephews.

He’s nervous as he drives and he can’t quite put his finger on why. Is it because he wants T.K. to like his gift? Because things between him and T.K. have shifted in a more positive direction and his stupid heart can’t quite stop believing that tonight might be like that first night at the honky tonk? Is it because he feels very stupid in this sweater and he really hopes everyone else obeyed Owen’s instructions from the email invite?

Probably all of it.

Ah well. At least if things don’t go well there will be liquor around to help drown his sorrows.

There’s immediate relief when he walks in through the doors of the bar and sees holiday themed knit-ware all over. “Hey Carlos, glad you came,” Owen says, greeting him at the door in a sweater with a massive reindeer head on the front.

“Mr. Strand,” Carlos says, giving him a nod.

“Carlos we’ve been over this. You can call me Owen,” Owen says, a tinge of good natured exasperation in his tone.

“Yes, right, sorry” Carlos says, embarrassed. Didn’t he just chide Mateo for the same thing last week? Somehow this seems different. And definitely a weird way to address the man who fathered his most recent hookup.

“Go ahead and grab a drink, there’s hors d’oeuvres, I highly recommended the stuffed mushrooms, and then when the time feels right make sure you deliver your gift to your Festive Friend,” Owen says brightly. Then he leans close. “I got Judd a new belt. Italian leather, handcrafted, this thing is a masterpiece. He is gonna love it!”

“I’m sure he will,” Carlos agrees.

“Oh! Nancy! Come on in!” Owen gives Carlos a pat on the shoulder and moves past him to greet her.

Carlos says hello to Judd and his wife Grace, his eyes searching the room and finally landing on T.K. who is standing at the bar chatting with Mateo. Carlos’ heart flutters at the sight of him even as he tries to figure out what the heck is knitted on the back of his sweater. It appears to be a long, yellow tail, but that can’t possibly be right, can it? He takes a breath and then abruptly loses courage and goes to find Lexi instead. “Nice earrings,” he says when he gets to her table.

“Thanks,” she says, pushing her hair back so he can see them better. “They’re from my ‘Festive Friend’ Marjan.”

“Great,” Carlos says as he grabs a chip from a bowl on the table. “Did you give Paul your gift?”

“Yes, he is thrilled with the crime novels I got him. He hasn’t read that author yet so hopefully he likes them.” She gives him a look. “Why do you still have T.K.’s?”

“I haven’t seen him yet,” Carlos says defensively.

“You mean you saw him and you’re too chicken to go over there because you’re having feelings and don’t know what to do with them,” she says bluntly. “Are you going to ask him out when you give it to him?”

“I—I don’t know,” Carlos says. “That seems pushy.”

“You two were practically making out in that break room.”

“We were literally sitting three feet apart,” Carlos says dryly.

“Fine. You were emotionally making out.”

He wrinkles his nose. “That’s not a thing.”

“I think you should ask him. It’s Christmas. The season of miracles. And wishes. And Santa shit. This is your chance!” she says enthusiastically.

“How much have you had to drink?” he asks.

She scoffs. “This isn’t drunkeness. It’s my Christmas wish that you grow a pair and ask T.K. out.”

“That is a terrible wish,” Carlos says.

“Well it is what it is. You wouldn’t want to break a girl’s heart at Christmas would you?”

He opens his mouth to respond but Paul calls Lexi’s name and beckons her toward him. “That’s my cue,” she says, hopping off her bar stool. “Gonna go kick Paul’s ass at darts. Good luck!”

And with that she’s gone, leaving Carlos alone with his feelings and his gift box. He stares at it for a moment and gives himself a stern pep talk. It’s a gift. Not a marriage proposal. If T.K. hates it, it’s whatever.

“Hey Carlos.”

He’s waited too long. He looks up to find T.K. standing on the other side of the table, a smile on his face. Carlos can now see the front of his sweater. Some kind of lizard smiles at him, clearly the front end of the tail he spotted before. Above it are the words “Merry Crickets.” It is truly the most hideous thing he’s ever laid eyes on, but somehow T.K. makes it look adorable.

“Hey,” he replies..

Excellent. Great. He’s crushing this.

“Nice sweater,” T.K. says, taking a sip of the drink in his hand.

“Thanks. This is some party. Your dad is quite the host.”

T.K. rolls his eyes, but there’s a fondness to it. “Just be grateful I talked him out of chartering a party bus. And roller skating.”

“Your dad thought our holiday party should be at a roller rink?”

“He was going with an 80’s holiday theme at first,” T.K. says. “It took a lot of bargaining to get him down to ugly sweater instead. I think he was an event planner in a former life.”

“He definitely has a flair for it,” Carlos agrees. He looks down at the present in front of him. He should have gotten a drink before doing this. “So um, actually, I’m your Festive Friend. Surprise. This is for you.”

He slides it across the table and T.K.’s eyes immediately light up. “Can I open it now?” he asks eagerly.

He looks like a kid on Christmas morning and it’s so endearing that Carlos can barely breathe. “Yeah, yes, it’s all yours.”

T.K. pulls off the bow and rips open the paper, lifting out the soft yellow sweatshirt inside. He doesn’t say anything for a moment and Carlos feels a flutter of nerves. “It’s—“

“The sweatshirt Harry Styles wore in New York last summer,” T.K. says. His tone is almost reverent, his thumbs moving back and forth to stroke the material. “Oh my god. I have Harry Styles’ sweatshirt.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s not the exact one he wore,” Carlos says, feeling sheepish. “But I know you like him and hoodies so it seemed right.”

“It must have taken forever for you to find this,” T.K. says.

“Oh, no, it was…it was no big deal,” Carlos says, omitting the entire night he spent on instagram combing through Harry’s outfits of the last few years and trying to find them for sale.

“Thank you Carlos,” T.K. says, sincere gratitude in his voice. “This is amazing. All your gifts were amazing.”

“I mean, that hat was kind of lame,” Carlos says, still embarrassed that he bought something so generic.

“No it’s great! I’m going to wear it the next time I go to an Astros game,” T.K. says, a twinkle of mischief in his eye.

Carlos chuckles. “Yeah good luck with that.”

“Did you get your last gift yet?” T.K. asks casually.

Carlos shakes his head. “Not yet.”

“Any guesses who it might be?”

He has no idea. There’s no one in the office that knows him well enough to send him cronuts besides Lexi and he knows she had Paul. “No,” he says. “Usually I’m pretty good at figuring this kind of thing out, but everyone in the office is so new I haven’t really been able to get a read on anyone.”

“Marjan?”

“She had Lexi.”

“Paul?”

Carlos looks around until he finds him standing in a corner next to a Christmas tree, laughing at something Lexi just said. “I don’t think so. He’s from Chicago, I doubt he would know about Twiggy’s.”

“Judd?”

“Something tells me he wouldn’t know about cronuts either,” Carlos says with a laugh. “I feel like it has to be someone who knows me pretty well, but Lexi is the only one—“

His eyes land on T.K.’s face and he knows. He can see it in his eyes and he feels stupid he didn’t realize it before when T.K. used that false casual tone. “You?” he asks in surprise. “You’re my Festive Friend?”

T.K. reaches into his back pocket and pulls out an envelope. “Merry Christmas,” he says as he hands it to Carlos.

Still in a little bit of shock Carlos carefully lifts the flap on the envelope to reveal a printed out email inside. “A cooking class?” he asks, looking up to search T.K.’s eyes.

T.K. nods, a flicker of nerves flashing over his face. “It’s bruschetta, pasta, and a dessert. A husband and wife team run it out of their home. I thought, I mean you obviously know how to cook, but I thought it might be fun.”

“It sounds amazing,” Carlos says genuinely. He’s always wanted to try his hand at homemade pasta.

T.K. nods and takes a breath. “I um, I got you two tickets. You can take whoever you want, but I—“ He runs his hands nervously over his jeans. “I know I fucked things up between us, so I was hoping that maybe this could be kind of a do-over for us. If you want?”

“Yes,” Carlos says immediately. It’s embarrassingly fast and absolutely gives away how badly he wants them to try again, but he doesn’t care. “Yes I would love a do-over.”

“Yeah?” T.K. asks, his eyes full of hope.

“Yeah,” Carlos says. A smile plays on his lips and he’s about to thank T.K. for his other gifts when something occurs to him. “You little shit!” he says incredulously. “You bought me those cronuts and then sat there and ate one like you had no clue who’d given them to me!”

T.K. sends him a wicked smile. “I was counting on your holiday generosity,” he says.

“How did you even know about that bakery?” Carlos asks.

“You mentioned it,” T.K. says. “I don’t know, it was the second or third time we hooked up. I saw a flyer for them on your fridge and you told me how good they were.”

“You remember that?” Carlos asks in surprise. After their blowup he’d convinced himself that he was just a warm body for T.K. to be with, another notch in his bedpost who’d meant nothing to him.

T.K. looks at him, his face serious. “I remember all of it Carlos.”

The words make his heart swell and he hysterically wonders if this is how the Grinch felt when he heard the Who’s singing on Christmas. “I remember too,” he says. “It was incredible.”

“That first night, in the honky tonk. Best bathroom hookup of my life,” T.K. tells him.

“Only bathroom hookup of my life,” Carlos says.

“Yeah, I know,” T.K. says with a roll of his eyes.

“How could you know that?”

“Because you kept looking around like it was the most unsanitary thing you’d ever seen in your life,” T.K. tells him. “So I made it my mission to make you forget all about it. Pretty sure I succeeded.”

Carlos flushes as he thinks about T.K.’s mouth and his hands and the way they felt on his body. “You definitely did.” His gaze drops to T.K.’s lips. “God, I want to kiss you so badly right now.”

T.K. smirks, clearly please that he’s turned Carlos on in the middle of this bar. “What’s stopping you?”

“Um the fact that all of our co-workers are here. And also your dad,” Carlos says with a laugh.

As if on cue Owen’s voice rings out over the crowd. “All right everyone!” He claps his hands a couple times. “If I could have everyone’s attention please! Thank you all for coming to the 126 Designs holiday party. I have a little surprise up my sleeve. Tonight, we are going to be participating in some holiday karaoke!”

A bar employee rolls a karaoke machine in out of nowhere to cheers from the crowd. “Did you know?” Carlos asks.

“No,” T.K. says. “But I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“Get on over here!” Owen encourages them. “Judd! Let’s hear a little Deck the Halls buddy!”

“Come on.”

T.K. reaches for Carlos’ hand and pulls him toward a side door. “Wait, what about karaoke?” Carlos asks.

“Do you really want to stay here and listen to my dad attempt a version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town?”

Carlos considers this. “Actually…”

T.K. laughs and tugs him again. “Come on Reyes.”

They step outside into the night, the door closing behind them. It’s quiet and the air has a slight chill. Nothing that would even hint at a white Christmas, but enough that it feels like the holiday season instead of the dead of summer. A few stars have managed to permeate the light pollution and the moon shines brightly above them.

The side of the restaurant is lit by a single streetlamp, giving them just enough light to see each other, but also the illusion of privacy from anyone else who might be walking by. T.K. leans against the brick of the wall and tugs Carlos toward him, dropping his hand so he can grab his waist, his thumb pressing into the crease between Carlos’ thigh and his hip through his pants. “Well,” T.K. says, the cocky ass smirk on his face that shoots something hot through Carlos’ veins. “Go ahead. Kiss away.”

Carlos looks around in fake concern. “Mmm, I don’t know. Someone could still see us out here.”

“Don’t worry,” T.K. pulls a sprig of mistletoe from his pocket and dangles it over their heads. “I swiped this from inside. Now you have to kiss me. Christmas rules.”

“Oh is that right?” Carlos asks with smile, pressing in a little closer, and lifting a hand to run it through T.K.’s hair before sliding it down to cradle the back of his neck.

“Definitely,” T.K. says.

Carlos doesn’t waste another second before leaning in and fitting their lips together. The sparks inside him whirl and dance before bursting into full on flames. It feels like coming home.

T.K. opens up and invites him in, their bodies coming flush together, searching for as much contact as possible. Carlos fists one hand into T.K.’s hair, the other landing solidly on his lower back and urging him closer, while T.K.’s roam everywhere, traveling Carlos’ biceps, his chest, his back, his ass, and everything in between.

Carlos slots a thigh between T.K.’s legs, pressing into him and T.K.’s head falls back against the wall, eyes closing as he lets out something between a groan and a sigh. Carlos smiles and uses the change in position to press kisses into the sensitive spot just below his ear. “I missed you,” he says in between breaths.

“I missed you too. Am I going to have to report this to HR?” T.K. asks.

Carlos pauses and pulls back, sending T.K. a withering look. “Haha,” he says dryly. “Thanks for reminding me that I’m going to have my hands full with this one in the new year.”

“My ass is quite a handful,” T.K. says with a smirk. “But you can handle it. It’s just a little bit of paperwork. And someone got you really nice pens for the holidays.”

“Yeah someone did,” Carlos says, poking him in the side until he squirms. “Speaking of paperwork, you owe me a thank you note for your gifts.”

T.K. bites his lip. “Why don’t you take me back to your place and I’ll do a little better than a thank you note?”

Fuck. Carlos swallows hard. “What about the party? Won’t your dad be upset?”

“I’m spending Christmas day with him. He’ll live.” He slides a finger along the waistband of Carlos’ jeans. “We can go back in if you really want to though. I do a mean rendition of Jingle Bell Rock. We can stand in there with all of our co-workers and you can try not to think about how good I’d make you feel if the two of us were in bed together.”

Carlos strokes a thumb across T.K.’s cheek. “As much as I would like to hear you sing Jingle Bell Rock, I think I’d rather take you home.”

T.K. gestures toward the street. “Then lead on Festive Friend.”

It’s the merriest Christmas Carlos has had in a long time.

#Tarlos #Tarlos Secret Santa #tarlossanta #tarlossanta23 #Festive Friends #Office AU #Christmas #Secret Santa #Christmas Fluff

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talestales-art · 6 months

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Reverse 1999 events/lore I would like to see mmmmmm (explodes)

GOLDEN AGE HOLLYWOOD EVENT

This is mostly because I love Bette. I would love to see a Hollywood focused event, especially with Sweetheart & Bette (and maybe even Blonney). Commentary on the film industry and on theme considering how much film related stuff is in the game (tickets, movie review achievements). At least a sweetheart anecdote. Films have also been mentioned multiple times in the daily login.

Black centered event

Can’t comment too much about this as I’m not black, but black people have done A LOT for the world and it often goes unrecognised. Deserves recognition. The game also needs more black characters. I would especially love to see a music focused event, since there’s not many music themed characters and black people invented essentially every music genre. African folklore is also really REALLY cool and I think that would be nice too see. But yeah mainly there need more black characters.

Early Iron Age Scandinavia (aka vikings)

I think it would be interesting to start it off with the 80’s with meeting Erick. Then going back in time to the Iron Age/viking age, and that’s where she gets her i2 garment. It would also be nice to see other Nordic characters, one I would LOVE to see is Njals from the Icelandic Fairytale Njals Saga. They also mentioned vikings in one of the daily login. Also it would be cool w folklore /viking stuff that’s not romanticised. Perhaps even Nordic mythology & folklore (folklore creatures > asatro gods imo).

Rabies lore

If you’ve read his story, you’ll understand. I really hope we get an anecdote or an event featuring Rabies. I would love to see who he was in his past, the emotions he experienced losing all of his patients. I also need bluepoch to release their Alicia/Alicja design. I want them to kiss. Please. Also read his story if you haven’t, it’s so tragic.

Yule event

Shamane yule goat garment when🕯️ also I like Yule, it’s an easy way to celebrate winter time without tying it to one specific religion or practice (as many places do yule in their own way). Also it would generally be nice to see yule talked about more, since christmas usually get the spotlight.

Mesmer Jr Protagonist

Mesmer Jr gets to be the protagonist of an event, just like Vertin, Sonetto, Regulus and Matilda (kinda) got to be. She deserves that. It would also be very interesting with more Mesmer Family lore, especially her finding out about Scott (three doors). Hopefully it would end with her joining Vertin’s team officially and distancing herself from the foundation/her family. Also she gets to change her name, she deserves a proper first name. Please bluepoch give her a happy development please I’m begging. At the very least there’s NO WAY there’s not gonna be a Mesmer family heavy event/lore, there’s already so so so much and they’re building it up for something I swear.

Tragic ballerina character

I physically need a tragic ballerina reverse 1999 character or I will implode. That’s the only reason I made my r1999 ballerina OC Aigrette. ALSO there’s a painting of a ballerina in the suitcase. Bluepoch, ballerina character is a need.

#reverse 1999 #Mesmer jr #rabies #Shamane #Bette #sweetheart #erick #reverse 1999 theory

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schrodingerspsycho · 9 months

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Maybe This Time - Part 1

Pairing - Van Palmer x Band Kid!Reader

Warnings - drug use (weed), blink-182

Word Count - 7.6k

Summary - Van falls for a band kid. What will it take for them to realize that you’ve fallen for them too?

Author’s Note - Merry Christmas everyone!🎄🎁🎅☃️❄️ (and happy holidays to everyone who celebrates other things!) I’m so glad I got this done in time, it ended up being a lot longer than I expected. Lots of fluff. No crash AU. They/them pronouns used for Van and reader, both are referred to as girls. And I can’t bear to write Tai and Van in the same story and not have them be together because they’re soulmates, so Taissa just doesn’t exist in this one. I also created a whole marching show for this and it was the most difficult scene I’ve ever written so please show this some love🙏

Help Palestine by clicking this link!🇵🇸

On the very first day of school, Van noticed you. You were in their English class and you were cute, far cuter than they remembered. But you were quiet and you sat in the row in front of them, so they never really got the chance to talk to you. Sure, they were loud and outgoing with their friends and their team, but they were much more reserved with people they didn’t know. Especially a girl that they liked.

It was easy enough to keep you off their mind for most of the semester. It wasn’t an all-consuming crush or anything, just a reason for them to love a class they’d never been very good at. That was until the few weeks after fall break when soccer practice overlapped with marching band rehearsal.

Coach Martinez always likened the distant sounds of the band to a stand-in for the crowd cheering and claimed it was good to practice ignoring outside distractions. It bothered some of the other girls, but Van always liked listening to them while the team had the ball on the other side of the field during scrimmages. Then one day as they were heading toward the locker rooms after practice, they heard a laugh from the direction of the band room. It was loud and melodic, and when they saw you smiling with your friends, their heart skipped a beat. Screw soccer; they already won nationals last year. Their new goal was to be the one who made you laugh like that.

“What are you looking at?” Natalie asked, coming up behind them. Van didn’t even realize they’d stopped walking.

“That girl’s in my English class,” they answered, pointing. “I didn’t know they were in the band.”

“Oh yeah, Y/N. They play the trombone, I think.”

“Wait, you know them?” Van asked, sounding a little too excited. Thankfully, Nat pretended not to notice.

“Yeah, they’re friends with Kevyn. I’ve smoked weed with them a few times. They’re cool but kinda nerdy. Kinda like you.” Nat gave them a knowing smirk, and Van turned away to hide their blush. “C’mon, let’s go. Jackie’ll have a conniption if we’re late for the post-practice meeting.”

Van nodded and followed her into the locker room, but they barely heard a word of Jackie’s speech. They couldn’t stop thinking about you. And as much as they hated having crushes, the butterflies in their stomach weren’t as painful as they’d been in the past. Maybe with you, things could actually go their way this time. You knowing Nat certainly seemed like a good sign. It was like Lottie said, Van decided. There’s no such thing as false hope.

Van Palmer sat one row behind and two seats to the left of you in English class. You’d been going to the same school for four years now, but this was the first class you’d had together. You couldn’t help but hope that you’d be able to get to know them better, but the way your heart pounded every time you walked into the room made it impossible to even say hi to them. You’d had a huge crush on them ever since last year when you and Kevyn went to see his friend Natalie play in the state championship game. That’s when the beautiful redheaded goalie caught your eye, and you’d been dreaming about them ever since.

Luckily, you didn’t have to talk to them on your own. After three months of less-than-stellar class discussions, your teacher decided to let you pair off into groups to talk about the latest reading assignment. You took a deep breath as your classmates shuffled around you, but before you could even get up from your chair, Van was standing beside you.

“Hey, Y/N, do you want to work together?” they asked, wringing their hands nervously.

“Yeah, sure,” you nodded. They returned your smile and slid into the chair next to you, its usual occupant now giggling with his friends in the back row. “So, what did you think of Frankenstein?”

“It was the scariest book about parenting I’ve ever read,” they quipped. You snorted, and their eyes shone as a proud grin spread across their face.

“That’s one way to describe it,” you smiled. “So who do you think was the villain, Frankenstein or his monster?”

“Oh, Victor was the villain, no question,” they declared. “To create life only to abandon it when you know its existence is cursed? C’mon, he’s literally the definition of a mad scientist.”

“Yeah, but the monster did some pretty fucked up things too. I mean, he killed a kid.”

“And that was horrible, obviously. But I think the real question is whether his circumstances made him evil or if the darkness was inside him all along. And then if it was inside him the whole time, then isn’t it really Victor’s fault for creating him in the first place?”

“That’s a really good way of looking at it,” you said, and they glanced down at the floor. “I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

Van shrugged. “I really liked this book. I don’t know, something about it just clicked with me.”

“Well, then you can speak for both of us when Ms. Fite comes over because I’ve got nothing,” you chuckled.

They smirked. “Yeah, alright. I think I can do that.”

Despite the rest of the conversation flowing naturally with you trading jokes as you discussed the book, you didn’t talk to Van much after that. But they did smile and wave at you every day when you walked into class, so you considered that a win. And you noticed that they were speaking up more in class discussions, which you knew had to be a coincidence. But they were really smart, and it brought a smile to your face every time you heard them speak. You were starting to feel like Frankenstein’s monster, with your perfect girl just out of reach, unable to make them yours.

“Hey, does anyone want to go to the movies with me Friday night?” Natalie asked as the team got changed after practice a week later. “I’ve been wanting to see Bound.”

“Ooh, I’ve been wanting to see that too!” Lottie exclaimed, getting up to stand at Nat’s side.

“Jackie? Shauna? What about you? I heard you talking about it a few practices ago.”

“I wish we could, but Shauna and I are gonna go see Jeff play in the football game,” Jackie smiled, winking at Shauna.

“But the football team sucks,” Mari said with a look of disgust.

“Yeah, but it’s kinda fun to watch them play like shit,” Shauna smirked.

“It’s very fun to watch them play like shit. And us national champs get in free!” Jackie grinned.

“Can I come to the movies?” Misty asked eagerly, bouncing over from the equipment closet. Lottie scoffed, but Nat turned around slowly and looked her up and down.

“Sure,” she said, and it was clear Misty was trying hard to contain her excitement. She was practically vibrating. “Meet us by the field after school.”

“Okay! I can’t wait!” Misty beamed, skipping away. Lottie raised an eyebrow at Nat.

“Oh, fuck off,” she defended, smirking. “She’s awkward, but she’s harmless.”

“Yeah, be nice to her. She’s a great manager,” Laura Lee chimed in, and Jackie gave her an approving nod.

Lottie, Shauna, and Mari rolled their eyes, and Van chuckled. They were too preoccupied with thoughts of you to join in on the teasing like they usually did, but they’d been listening to every word.

“What about you, Palmer?” Nat asked, walking up to them as she grabbed her bag. “You wanna come see Bound with us? It seems like your kinda movie.”

“It is. That’s why I saw it opening weekend,” Van replied. Nat nodded.

“Alright, suit yourself,” she said, slamming her locker door shut. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See ya,” Van smiled as Nat followed Lottie out of the locker room. Then when the conversation died down, they walked over to where Jackie and Shauna were giggling together, their hands stuffed into their back pockets. “Hey, can I come with you guys to the game on Friday?”

“The football game?” Jackie asked in disbelief. “Since when does Van Palmer have any interest in football?”

“I don’t. I just wanna get out of the house,” they shrugged, glancing at the floor. It was believable enough. None of their teammates knew any of the details, but they knew their mom was a bitch. “I mean, if we get in free, then it seems like a pretty good way to pass the time.”

“Sure,” Shauna smiled. “I can give you a ride, too.”

“Thanks.”

“Great!” Jackie exclaimed, reaching out and squeezing Van’s hand. “This is going to be so fun!”

Van nodded in agreement and turned back to their locker. It would be fun, but not for the reason Jackie thought. They just had to make sure they didn’t find out that they only wanted to watch you march.

By the time Friday rolled around, Van still hadn’t worked up the courage to talk to you again. You did smile and wave back at them every time you walked into class though, so they considered that a win. But Van could never be satisfied with small victories. They were a national soccer champion, after all. They hoped that stepping into your world would give them something to talk to you about. Then maybe they’d be closer to winning the prize they were really after.

Van didn’t have to wait long before Shauna pulled up, with Jackie calling out to them excitedly from the passenger side. They greeted them with a smile as they climbed into the backseat, and Jackie turned to look at them as Shauna sped away.

“So, are you excited for the game?”

“Excited to see our team get their asses handed to them, more like,” Shauna said. Van laughed.

“Well, now I am.”

“Oh, you’re gonna love it. They’re awful,” Jackie sneered. Before Van could respond, Shauna reached out and switched the tape to Nevermind. Jackie whipped around to glare at her playfully. “Hey!”

“Sorry, were you listening to that?”

“Yeah, I was, actually.”

“Well, too bad. Van likes Nirvana, and so do I. You’re outvoted.”

Jackie scoffed, pretending to be offended, and Shauna grinned. “You didn’t even ask Van. Maybe they should get to choose the music.”

“No, I like listening to you two bicker like an old married couple,” Van deadpanned, which sent all three girls into a fit of laughter.

“See, this is why we really go to the football games,” Shauna said, glancing at Van in the rearview mirror. Jackie nodded.

“Oh, for sure. It’s never about the boys.”

Van chuckled and turned to stare out the window. If only they knew, they thought to themself with a smile. If only they knew.

They arrived at the game just as the band was marching around the track. And although it took more effort than they would like to admit, Van managed not to look for you as they followed Jackie and Shauna into the bleachers. They would have plenty of time to admire you when you performed at halftime. That was when the band played, wasn’t it?

“Why are those seats empty?” Van asked, pointing to the section next to them. They were in the student section, which was far less populated than it was for their games, right next to the stairs and a few rows from the top.

“That’s where the band sits,” Jackie explained. Van’s eyes widened. They sat down and started bouncing their leg, trying not to picture you sitting just a few feet away from them. Luckily, they were distracted when the band began to take the field. Oh, right, there was a pregame.

“So why did you really want to come to the game?” Jackie asked, leaning forward to peer at Van.

“What?”

“Oh, come on. We all know you’ve never wanted to see a football game before. There’s gotta be a reason,” Jackie smirked, and Van stared at the ground. “Do you like one of the guys on the football team?”

Van made a face.

“Leave them alone, Jackie,” Shauna said. She was sitting between them, and Van was suddenly very grateful for the small buffer she provided.

“I’m just asking! You don’t have to tell us who it is, Van. But I can tell there’s someone you were hoping to see.”

“I don’t like any of the football players,” Van said, repulsion evident on their face. But before any of them could say anything else, the band began to play the fight song. Van turned to watch, smiling unconsciously when they spotted you in the front row.

“Oh my god, wait! Do you like one of the guys in the band?” Jackie exclaimed. Van felt their face heating up. “No way, you totally do! What instrument does he play?”

“I don’t like any guys,” Van defended weakly.

“Oh, come on! Your face is as red as your hair, I know you’re lying. Just tell us about him! We can keep a secret!”

“Jackie, just drop it,” Shauna growled. “They don’t have to tell you anything.”

“Jeez, we’re just talking about boys,” Jackie said. Van shifted uncomfortably, and Shauna gave them an apologetic glance. “Y’know, if you tell me who it is, I might be able to give you some advice on how to woo him. I mean, this is so exciting! You’ve never liked a guy before!”

Van scoffed.

“I don’t think they want to talk about boys,” Shauna said pointedly, but Van missed her inflection and Jackie’s response. The band had begun filing into the stands and they sat up to watch, their eyes never leaving you. Their heart beat faster the closer you got until you finally found your seat, right next to the stairs and one row in front of Van. You started when you locked eyes, a shy grin spreading across your face, and Van beamed and waved at you. You waved back before turning to hear what your director was saying, and Van let out a shaky sigh.

“Holy shit! You like that girl, don’t you?” Jackie practically yelled in surprise.

“Shut up!” Van hissed, whipping around to glare at her. “What the fuck, Jackie?”

“I’m sorry,” she said sheepishly, much quieter this time. “I just didn’t know you were a lesbian.”

Van put their head in their hands and groaned.

“We won’t tell anyone,” Shauna said softly, patting Van’s back. “Right, Jackie?”

“Of course not! And we totally support you. I-I was just surprised- which now that I think about it, I probably shouldn’t be. It actually makes a lot of sense.”

“Seriously?”

“No, it’s fine,” Van sighed, giving Shauna a grateful glance. “I don’t really care about people knowing. I mean, don’t tell anyone, please, but it’s fine if you guys know. I just… don’t want Y/N to know that I like them.”

“Why not?” Jackie asked, her voice genuine. “If you like them, then you should ask them out.”

“I can’t just ask them out, I barely know them.”

“You did come to a football game just to see them play in the band,” Shauna remarked. “And they smiled at you. That seems pretty friendly to me.”

“They’re cute,” Jackie grinned. “Do you wanna tell us about them?”

“Well, they’re in my English class, and we did an assignment together last week. They’re really funny, and sweet, and… beautiful- god, I don’t know! This is stupid!”

“It’s not stupid,” Jackie chuckled.

“You’ve never talked about a crush before, have you?” Shauna asked warmly. Van shook their head.

“Before today, the only person who knew I was a lesbian was Nat, and that’s not really her thing,” they sighed. “And it’s not like I’ve ever done anything about a crush before anyway. It’s different for me! Before I can even ask if they might like me, I have to figure out if they like girls! And spoiler alert, most of the time, they don’t.”

“But you don’t know that. You just need to talk to them and ask. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“No offense, Jackie, but I don’t think you know the first thing about homophobia.”

“You’re right, I don’t,” Jackie admitted. “But I do know about flirting. And Y/N has been staring at you for, like, five minutes.”

Van’s eyes widened as they fought the urge to turn around. “What? Really?”

“Totally. They’re trying to be subtle, but they’re not very good at it.”

Van grinned in spite of themself. “What do I do?”

“Smile back at them!” Jackie encouraged. “You’ve gotta let them know you’re interested.”

“Okay,” Van nodded, trying to swallow their nerves. They turned around slowly to find that you were indeed staring at them. They gave a little wave when they met your eyes, and you nearly missed when your director called your instruments up. “Oh, shit! I distracted them!” Van groaned. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“It’s fine! They’re still playing, aren’t they?” Jackie said, louder now over the sound of Eye of the Tiger. If they weren’t so embarrassed, Van would’ve marveled at how great you sounded.

“And their ears turned red,” Shauna whispered, leaning over and pointing. “You should at least talk to them as a friend. Y’know, get to know them. That’s probably the best way to find out if they like girls.”

“Okay, maybe you’re right,” Van conceded.

Jackie clapped her hands excitedly. “Yay! And you have to tell us how it goes, okay? I want to know all the details about you and your soon-to-be-girlfriend!”

“Fine,” Van smiled, rolling their eyes. “But neither one of you is allowed to talk during halftime. That’s when they perform.”

“Yeah, okay,” Shauna smirked while Jackie buried her head in her shoulder to hide her laughter. “We’ll be quiet.”

Van knew for a fact that Shauna and Jackie had never been quiet in their lives, but they just shook their head and kept their mouth shut. Luckily, the conversation shifted to other topics, and Van started to feel relaxed. And when the buzzer finally rang at the end of the first half, all their nerves had been replaced by eager anticipation.

Well, most of their nerves.

“And now, please welcome to the field your 1996 Wiskayok High School Marching Yellowjackets!” the announcer boomed. Someone slapped Van’s shoulder. They didn’t see if it was Jackie or Shauna, but they didn’t really care. All of their attention was focused on you. “This year’s performance is a tribute to the greatest spy in movie history. Please enjoy Bond, James Bond.”

“No way,” Van breathed as the first note rang out through the stadium. You were playing the 007 theme. It sounded exactly like it did in the movies! And Van should know, they’d seen all seventeen of them.

But just when they thought they couldn’t be more impressed, they noticed what formation the band was marching into. They had started out in lines like they were for the parade, but as they went along, parts of the band would break off and play in place, the squares forming five dots across the field. Just like the beginning of the gun barrel sequence.

“Holy shit,” Van whispered, scooting up to the edge of their seat. And if Jackie and Shauna were laughing at them, they didn’t notice. They watched with rapt attention as the band played, the sound filling the entire stadium. Then everyone began marching again, all moving in different directions at different gaits. How anyone could remember where to go was completely beyond Van as they gazed in wonder at the picture you were creating. The dot in the middle of the field had morphed into a circle, and everyone else formed eight curved lines spiraling away from it. Now they were the gun barrel! And when you all moved in sync across the field to move the gun barrel to the left, Van considered their mind officially blown. Then the drums made a sound like a gunshot, and they all began to trickle down to the front of the field, starting from the top. Just like the blood, they folded together until they were in one big row on the sideline. And when you played the final note, Van leapt to their feet and cheered.

“Oh my god, you’re so whipped,” Jackie laughed.

“Shut up,” Van said, still smiling. “I mean, come on! Tell me that wasn’t the coolest thing you’ve ever seen!”

“It was cool,” Shauna agreed. “But Jackie’s right. You’re totally whipped.”

“Alright, well, fuck both of you,” Van retorted, sitting back down as the announcer’s voice filled the stadium once more.

“The Wiskayok Marching Yellowjackets will now perform their second movement, “Nobody Does It Better” from the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me, featuring trombone soloist Y/N L/N!”

“Oh, shit, that’s them!” Van cried. The band all ran to stand in an arc, but you stayed on the sideline, front and center. Van fought the urge to leap to their feet again.

“Looks like your girl’s a rock star,” Jackie smirked.

“Hell yeah they are,” Van grinned. “I have great taste.”

The band started playing, and Van could hear Carly Simon’s voice in their head. It was incredible how the music could be played on a completely different set of instruments and still sound the same. And when you began to play your solo, the notes ringing out clear and beautiful through the microphone, Van couldn’t help but quietly sing along.

“But like heaven above me

The spy who loved me

Is keeping all my secrets safe tonight”

“In 1973, “Live and Let Die” earned the Bond series its first music-related Oscar nomination for best original song, performed by Paul McCartney and Wings,” the announcer explained when the second song ended. “And now, the Marching Yellowjackets will close out their performance with their version of this chart-topping hit, arranged by our very own Director Frank Jones!”

“Wait, “arranged”? What does that mean?” Jackie asked. Van wouldn’t have been able to answer; they were clueless about music too. But they didn’t hear her, because once again, they were too busy watching you. You had run back to stand with the other trombone players in the arc, and they could tell you were smiling even from the stands.

Once again your performance sounded exactly like it did in the movie. Even Jackie and Shauna were singing along this time. And before Van even realized “Live and Let Die” had ended, the band was playing the 007 theme and moving again. And when you played the final note, you formed the 007 logo in the center of the field. They leapt to their feet again, cheering even louder than before, and they only sat down when the band started making their way back to the stands.

“Woo! Way to go, band!” Jackie shouted once you were in earshot. “You guys were great!”

“What are you doing?” Van hissed.

“I’m just showing my appreciation for our music department,” Jackie shrugged coyly while Shauna snickered. “Do something, they’re looking at you!”

Van blushed and turned to find you smiling at them. They grinned back and flashed you a thumbs-up, which you returned with a chuckle.

“Aren’t you glad I’m here to be your wingwoman?” Jackie smirked.

“Yes,” Van sighed reluctantly, rolling their eyes. “But I will set you on fire if you do anything like that again. That was mortifying.”

“Oh, bite me,” she said sarcastically, a smug grin on her face. “Without me, I bet you wouldn’t even be able to say hi to them.”

“Well, maybe I like pining from the shadows.”

“Again, you came to the football game just to watch them march. That’s not very ‘from the shadows’ of you.”

“Shut up, Shauna,” Van laughed, nudging her.

The football team lost sixty-five to three, apparently their worst game all season. But Van couldn’t care less. They were on cloud nine for the whole second half, the world seeming to stop every time you turned around and grinned at them. They were barely able to pay attention to Jackie and Shauna’s playful bickering as they left the stadium.

“Van, look, there they are!” Jackie exclaimed, pointing subtly to where you were walking through the parking lot with your friends.

“You should go talk to them,” Shauna encouraged with a warm smile.

“No, I… I can’t do that,” Van stuttered, all their nerves returning at once. “They’re busy, I don’t want to bother them.”

“C’mon, they’re not doing anything!” Jackie said exasperatedly. “Just say hi, it’s not that hard! Go on, go!” She pushed Van toward you, but they just stood there, trying and failing to not stare at you.

“I just don’t wanna mess this up,” Van murmured.

“You’re not gonna mess it up,” Shauna said gently. “Just talk to them as a friend, remember? You got this.”

Van stepped forward hesitantly, biting their lip. Then a gust of wind knocked a feather out of your plume and blew it into Van’s left cheek. “Yeah, I can’t do this,” they gasped, turning back quickly.

“Yes, you can! There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Shauna said, but Van just hugged their chest tightly and shook their head.

“Look, either do it or don’t, but can you make a decision, please? It’s freezing out here,” Jackie complained. Shauna gave her a side-eye.

“It’s okay, Van. You’ll get another chance on Monday, right?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess,” they sighed. You were moving farther and farther away, but their anxiety kept them rooted to the spot. So much for their usual cocksure attitude; they couldn’t even say hi to a girl they liked.

They climbed into Shauna’s car and pressed their forehead against the window, watching you walk up to the band door and feeling sorry for themself. Then you made eye contact with them, your beautiful smile shining on your face. Van waved, but you disappeared into the band room like they weren’t there at all. I knew it. They never like girls, Van thought bitterly, putting their head in their hands. Or maybe they just don’t like me.

“They just waved at me again!” you exclaimed once the door had shut behind you.

“Oh my god, when?” Your two best friends ran up to you, grinning eagerly.

“Just now! They were leaving in their friend’s car, I just saw them!”

“Did you wave back?”

“No, I… I freaked out. I froze.”

“Oh, come on!” Lauren cried.

“You’ve been flirting with them the whole game, how could you drop the ball now?” Liv slapped you in the arm playfully.

“I didn’t mean to!” you groaned. “Trust me, no one’s more disappointed in me than I am.”

“I don’t know, I’m pretty invested in your love life,” Liv quipped.

“Do you really think Van likes me?”

“Of course they like you!” Lauren smiled. “You saw how they were looking at you, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Then you’ve gotta talk to them!” Liv insisted. “On Monday, in class. It’s the perfect time to make your move!”

“My move? What’s my move? I don’t have moves!”

“Just talk to them,” Lauren said. “The moves will come to you in the moment. All you gotta do is be yourself.”

“Yeah, Van would have to be a real idiot if they didn’t want you,” Liv chimed in. You smiled.

“Thanks, guys. I’ll try to talk to them on Monday.”

“Don’t try, just do it!” Liv smirked.

“We believe in you!” Lauren grinned. You rolled your eyes. It was a lot easier for them to say. They weren’t the ones who risked getting rejected by the most beautiful girl in school.

Despite your friends’ encouragement, neither one of you made an effort to talk to each other on Monday. Van still smiled and waved at you, and you returned the gesture like always, but that was as far as you had the guts to take it. Van tried not to let it sour their mood at practice that afternoon.

“Hey, how was Bound?” they asked when Nat and Lottie walked in.

“It was great,” Lottie answered. “It was what happened afterward that was a nightmare.”

“What do you mean?”

“Misty! She went fucking berserk on this old lady, it was crazy!”

“Some housewife was saying some homophobic shit after the movie,” Nat explained.

“And now, Misty’s banned from the theater,” Lottie huffed before walking away. Van raised an eyebrow at Nat.

“She was possessed!” she grinned with an adoring look in her eyes. “I was wrong, man. She’s definitely not harmless.”

Van scoffed. “Maybe I should’ve gone with you after all.”

“Naw, I bet you had fun at the football game,” Nat smirked, nudging them. Van looked away as she leaned in. “Did you enjoy the band’s performance?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, yeah? Then I’m sure you have no idea why Jackie and Shauna keep glancing over here either, do you?”

Van groaned.

“Did you tell them or did they find out?” Nat asked softly.

“They found out.”

“And are you good?”

Van smiled at her. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.”

“Good,” Nat nodded. Then she winked. “You should totally ask Y/N out, by the way.”

“Fuck you,” Van chuckled.

“It’s not me you should be fucking,” Nat teased. Van gaped at her as she scurried away, laughing. Van just shook their head and got changed for practice, avoiding Jackie and Shauna’s piercing gaze. If anything could get you off their mind, it was soccer.

It worked for a while. It was their best practice so far this season; they didn’t let a single ball get past them. But the respite was short-lived. Their thoughts of you returned the moment Coach Martinez blew the whistle at the end of practice, and so did their sour mood. And it only grew as the week went on and the idea of talking to you became more and more impossible. Luckily, Nat noticed Van’s pain and offered them the perfect solution.

“Hey,” Van greeted as they approached the spot behind the dumpsters where Nat had instructed them to meet. “Thanks again for hooking me up.”

“No problem,” Nat smiled. “Happy to help.”

Van nodded, ignoring Nat’s uncharacteristic cheeriness, and handed over the small wad of cash. Nat pocketed the money, and after glancing around to make sure no one was looking, handed Van a small bag of weed.

“I think you’re really gonna like this stuff,” she said with a wink.

“Thanks,” Van smiled, eyeing the weed hungrily. Then they heard footsteps behind them and they snapped their head up to stare fearfully at Nat.

“Don’t worry, it’s cool,” Nat said. And before Van could react, someone else had walked into their little hiding spot.

“Sorry I’m late,” a familiar voice said. “My trig teacher was being a bitch again and held us after the bell.”

“No problem,” Nat grinned. “I was just finishing up another sale. Have you, uh, met my teammate?”

“No, I don’t think I- Van.”

Van had finally turned around, and they were now face to face with their worst nightmare. Or their dream come true, depending on what happens next. “Hey, Y/N.”

“So you have met,” Nat said, breaking the silence after a few moments. “I figured, I’ve got two people buying from the same batch, why not do it at the same time?” She gave Van a knowing grin, and Van fought the urge to throttle her.

“Uh, yeah, that’s uh… smart,” you said. Then you handed her the money and she gave you a bag just like Van’s. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Nat replied. “Now, I’ve gotta run, but it would be better if you two could wait a minute before you leave. Y’know, make this look less like a drug deal.”

“Yeah, sure. We can do that,” you nodded, avoiding Van’s eyes. “Thanks again.”

“See ya around, Y/N. Van, you’ll have to tell me how you like it at practice next week.”

Van watched her go, and then they were left alone with you. The only sound was the pounding of their heart, and they prayed you couldn’t hear it.

“So, uh… how have you been?” you asked nervously.

“Good. You?”

“Good.”

“I saw you at the football game last week. Your show was really great.”

“Thanks,” you smiled. “I’m glad you got to see it.”

“It was so cool how you did the gun barrel sequence. And your solo sounded amazing!” Van gushed. “It was just like the movies! If I’d known that marching band was so cool, I would’ve gone to a football game a lot sooner.”

You blushed, and Van’s anxiety skyrocketed. They hadn’t meant to say that. Now they’d really messed up.

“I’m glad you liked it,” you breathed.

“I, uh, I have to go,” Van announced, clearing their throat loudly. “I have to catch the bus.”

“But the school buses have already left.”

“No, the city bus,” Van explained. “The nearest stop is a mile away, so I need to start walking.” They turned and left the spot behind the dumpsters, but you stopped them before they could get any farther.

“I could give you a ride,” you called. Van turned back around slowly. “If you want.”

“Are you sure?”

“Totally. I mean, I’ve got a car and nowhere to be. It’s not a limo or anything, but it’s better than the city bus.”

Now Van was the one who was blushing. “Yeah, that sounds great,” they grinned shyly.

“Perfect,” you beamed, pulling your key out of your pocket. “Right this way, m’lady.”

Van giggled and followed your lead. Maybe they really did have a chance this time.

“You can throw your backpack in the backseat,” you said as you climbed into the car. “And you can pick some music, my tapes are in the glovebox.”

Van nodded, placing their backpack at their feet and opening the glovebox. They were expecting to find two or three tapes, maybe four, but you had nearly a dozen stacked in there. “Woah!” they exclaimed, glancing between you and the tapes. “How do you have so many tapes? Are you, like, rich or something?”

“No, I’m not rich,” you chuckled. “My aunt owns the record store downtown. I get a discount on all the music I want, and they gave me a bunch of their old tapes from the seventies. David Bowie, Queen, the Ramones, stuff like that.”

“No way, I love Queen and Bowie!” Van cried.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah! I went as the Aladdin Sane album cover for Halloween a few years ago!”

“You did? That’s awesome!”

“Well, I already have the red hair,” Van joked. You laughed. “I love that record store, it’s so cool that your aunt owns it.”

“We’ll have to go there together sometime. I bet I can get you a discount too.”

“Yeah, that would be fun,” Van said softly, turning back to look through the tapes. They slid David Bowie’s Let’s Dance into the tape deck as you pulled out of the parking lot. You began tapping out the rhythm of “Modern Love” on your steering wheel, and Van joined you on air guitar. When the chorus came on you belted it out, both of you singing off-key. Everything felt so natural that Van almost forgot about being anxious.

“Do you usually buy from Nat?” you asked them.

“Yeah. I don’t smoke a lot of weed, but when I do I get it from her. I think everyone on the team does, it’s just easier. What about you?”

“I usually buy from Kevyn, actually. But he sent me to Nat this time. I guess he doesn’t have anything to sell right now or something.”

“Huh. Yeah, something like that,” Van muttered.

“Do you ever smoke with your teammates?”

“Sometimes I’ll smoke with Nat and Lottie, but most of the time I smoke alone. I usually have to smoke it right after I buy it since I can’t keep it at my house.”

“Can’t let your parents find it, huh? My folks are the same way. Couple’a hardasses,” you smirked.

“No, my mom will steal it and smoke it herself,” Van said humorlessly.

“Oh.” You sat in silence for a moment, not quite comfortable but not as awkward as before. “Do you have to be home by a certain time?”

“No,” Van shook their head. “Why?”

“Well, if you don’t want to go home yet, I was thinking we could head to the park a few blocks over. Maybe this time we don’t have to smoke alone.”

“Yeah, I’d really like that,” Van beamed. You returned their eager expression and changed course, turning the music up. Van couldn’t believe their luck.

“Why don’t you guys play at our soccer games?” Van asked while you were rolling your joints.

“We can’t march on the soccer field. We need the yard lines to figure out where we’re going,” you explained. “But we play at basketball games, and we don’t march at those. Y’know, I’m actually not sure.”

“I wish you did play at our games,” Van mused. “That would be so cool.”

“Yeah, it would be fun. I guess I’ll just have to go to them on my own. I can get some of the other trombones to come too. We’ll sing for you.”

Van chuckled. “I bet we’d be undefeated again this year if you did that.”

“Naw, you don’t need our help with that. I saw you playing at states last year. I don’t know anything about soccer, and even I could tell that you guys are amazing.”

“You saw us play at states?”

“Uh, yeah,” you said quietly after a beat, nearly dropping your joint as you tried to light it. “Oh, hey, the album ended.”

“Yeah, it did.”

“Here, let me play you something,” you said, reaching past them for the glovebox. “My cousin visited us from California last summer, and he introduced me to this awesome new band down there. They’re called blink-182.” You pulled out a tape that said Cheshire Cat and put it in and a punk rock guitar riff filled the car. “I think you’ll like them. They don’t take anything seriously.”

“Rude,” Van scoffed, taking a hit and blowing the smoke out the window. “I’m taking that as a compliment.”

You continued talking and laughing together as you got high, the weed and conversation relaxing you both. And by the time you got to the end of your joints, you were discussing one of your many shared interests; Star Trek.

“Riker’s actually the reason I started playing trombone,” you said proudly. “The best instrument for the best character.”

“You think Riker’s the best character?” Van repeated, trying to hide their disappointment. “Most girls have a crush on Picard.”

“What? No, I don’t have a crush on Riker,” you insisted, shaking your head. “He’s my favorite character for sure, but I don’t have a crush on him.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, he’s definitely not the character I have a crush on,” you breathed.

“Then who do you have a crush on?” Van asked quietly, unconsciously leaning in. You mirrored them.

“Doctor Crusher,” you answered. “I love how caring she is. And she has such a cute smile… beautiful red hair…”

“You… you like girls?”

You froze. “Um, yeah, I, uh… I do.” You shifted uncomfortably. “You don’t have, like, a problem with that or anything-”

“No, I don’t,” Van said quickly. “I like girls too.”

“You do?” you whispered, leaning in again.

“Yeah, I do.”

And then Van closed the gap. Your lips were chapped, and the smell of weed was almost suffocating, but they never wanted this moment to end. They chased after you clumsily and you cupped their left cheek, deepening the kiss. Then, just when they started thinking the kiss could lead to something more, they caught one of the lyrics in the song.

“I’m so sorry, what is this song about?” Van asked incredulously. You cringed.

“It’s, uh… it’s about a woman who accidentally sleeps with her estranged father.”

“Yeah, okay, that’s what I thought,” they said before bursting into a fit of laughter. You let out a nervous chuckle.

“It’s one of their joke songs,” you explained as you turned off the music. “If I’d known we were going to be doing this I would’ve picked a different album.”

“No, no, it’s hilarious. Now I’m never going to forget our first kiss.”

“First?” You raised an eyebrow. Van just shrugged and smiled at you, their face flushing a beautiful shade of pink. “Wow,” you breathed, and Van saw the desire they’d been feeling reflected in your eyes.

“Yeah, would you, uh… wanna go out with me sometime?” they asked after a moment of comfortable silence.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that? Y’know, since I’m the one with the car?” you smirked. They grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, I’d love to.”

“Perfect,” Van said before pouncing on you again. You gripped their hips as they leaned over the gear shift, quickly regaining control and kissing them passionately. Van melted at your touch. “Hey, we’re pretty good at this,” they quipped, maneuvering to sit in your lap.

“Hell yeah we are,” you grinned.

By the time you took Van home, it was already getting dark. And over the next few days, the piece of paper with Van’s messily scrawled phone number got more use than your trombone. You agreed that the best kind of first date was dinner and a movie, and you decided to go and see Wes Craven’s new horror movie Scream. Its opening night lined up with your last day of school before winter break, and you both had a major crush on Drew Barrymore, so it was the perfect fit.

When the day came, you were both nervous wrecks in English class. And not because of your final; although you both probably should’ve studied harder for it. But this was it. Before you’d just been talking, and kissing when you got the chance. But a real date. That made it official. You would be girlfriends.

After deliberating for longer than you would like to admit, you pulled on your favorite button-up shirt and your trusty leather jacket. Then you checked your appearance in the mirror one last time and headed to Van’s house, your heart racing the whole way. You arrived a few minutes early and waited anxiously out front. Van had asked you not to go to the door, but you were starting to feel like you were in the wrong place.

“Hey, Y/N!” Van called excitedly, opening the passenger door and pulling you from your thoughts.

“Hey, Van,” you smiled. They were wearing a denim jacket over one of their rugby shirts. It wasn’t terribly different from what they normally wore, but it was Van. You’d never seen anything more beautiful. “You ready to go?”

Van nodded eagerly. “I’ve been looking forward to this all week.”

You leaned over and placed a quick kiss on their lips. “Me too.”

“Then let’s go already,” they laughed. You drove away and they slid Queen’s Greatest Hits album into the tape deck. You both sang along at the top of your lungs until you reached the cheap Italian place by the theater.

As much as you wanted to hold hands as you walked in, you knew you had to pretend like this wasn’t a date. Neither one of you wanted it to get out that you were lesbians. Too much trouble could come from that. But thankfully the server sat you at the corner table, so you were able to enjoy some modicum of privacy. Still, being together in public was a lot more nerve-wracking than stealing kisses in the janitor’s closet between classes.

“What are you going to get?” you asked as you looked over the menu.

“Spaghetti and meatballs. Easily the best type of pasta,” Van smirked.

“My thoughts exactly.”

“Maybe we should share. That way we can do the thing from Lady and the Tramp.”

You laughed, loud and melodic, and Van beamed. “And which one am I?”

“The tramp, obviously. Have you ever seen a more sophisticated lady than myself?” Van said with an exaggerated posh accent. You laughed again.

“If you want me to be a tramp for you, just say so,” you whispered. Van giggled.

“Only if you’re the one paying.”

“I was already planning to,” you smiled.

“You’re too good to me,” they grinned, blushing. You winked.

It was the best meal you’d had in months, and Van would’ve said the same. And the food was good, sure. But it was the company that put this meal above the rest. Being with Van made you happier than you could’ve imagined, and it was only the first date! You were already looking forward to all the memories you knew you would make together. And they would never tell you, but Van was doing the same.

Wes Craven’s Scream was the perfect end to the night. The perfect mix of horror, comedy, mystery, and more movie references than Van makes in a day. Neither one of you was scared of Ghostface, of course, but you held hands anyway. On the way home you forwent the music in favor of discussing the queer undertones of Billy and Stu’s relationship and arguing over who was hotter; Sidney or Gale. And when you dropped Van off you sealed the night with a kiss, a soft, lingering kiss that promised many more to come.

“I’m really glad we did this,” you sighed dreamily as they left the car.

“Yeah, I can’t wait for our next date. Girlfriend.”

You grinned and waved goodbye, already missing them. You were thinking about calling them before they even reached the house. Maybe things are finally starting to look up, you thought as you drove away. Maybe this time we’ll get to be happy.

#van palmer x reader #van palmer #yellowjackets #yellowjackets fanfic #yellowjackets x reader #fanfic #maybe this time

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bluedilute · 8 days

Text

I got bored so I decided to share some of my headcanons for Venture. I can't stop thinking about them so I thought this would help

I'll also probably add more as I think of them, so this list might change a little over time

Also no warnings, completely sfw

¤ Their background says they constantly come back from assignments covered in dirt and bruises, which makes me think they probably forget to drink water or eat food often

¤ They're either autistic or have ADHD or both. There's no way this person is neurotypical

¤ I read someone saying that they think Venture is kinda closed-off, and I honestly find that hard to believe. They have an interaction where they told a literal stranger (Lúcio) that they've always wanted to be eaten alive by scarabs. That's not a closed-off or normal thing to say

¤ They're definitely an oversharer. They obviously have the foresight that there's some things they shouldn't tell certain people (I.E. telling an enemy/rival key information) but if it's an everyday acquaintance they'll talk about anything

¤ Eats rocks

¤ That was a joke but seriously they'd definitely fw those chocolate rocks and might have a stash of them somewhere for snacking. I used to eat those all the time but I had them so much I eventually got sick of them. Haven't had one in a few years

¤ I feel like they'd be one of those kids who can't wait to find out what their Christmas presents are so their older family members would have to keep an eye on them so they don't snoop around the tree

¤ Related, they don't seem religious at all, but I think they and their family would still celebrate Christmas anyways, as a family holiday

¤ Also related, their family is probably pretty huge. I like to think their parents are both from Mexico and they just moved to Canada where they had Venture, and all of their family is in Mexico. Probably Dorado

¤ Their Abuelita they mention in Dorado is probably some kind of Historian or even also an archeologist, and loves hearing her grandbaby talk about their passion

¤ They definitely like old people. They always have a bunch of stories from when they were younger, and Venture would love hearing about them

¤ They'd like old music. 1970s-1990s for the most part, since it would technically be old music by then (it is 2077 in the ow universe). Their favorite band from back then is probably Queen

¤ Would love learning about unsolved mysteries. They'd totally watch those essay videos about weird unsolved crimes, and would honestly probably crack a case or two

¤ Their background says they had an affinity for finding lost things since they were a child, so I feel like they'd pick up on things that most people don't, which most of the time happens to relate to things from the past

¤ They would cuddle their friends. Based on their dialogue, they're a very open and kind person, so I think they'd view cuddling as more of an act of trust rather than something you do with a romantic partner

¤ I think they drink alcohol, but never that much. Even on special fancy occasions or whatever, I don't think they'd have too much to drink. They'd probably stick with mocktails mostly

¤ They have a ton of tattoos from cultures all over the world, mostly with some kind of symbolism of the past

Thank you for taking some time to read my silly little headcanons! I hope ya liked them

¤ Being a historical archeologist, I think they also dabble in natural history. They'd think the titanoboa skeleton is super cool

-- --

#venture overwatch #sloan cameron #overwatch #ow2 #venture headcannons

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daddyfordaeddy · 9 months

Text

Pairing: Soobin x fem!Reader

Word Count: 754

Warnings: cursing and thats all i think (smut warnings under cut)

Genre: smut, fluff, rated m for mature, established relationship au

Summary: You’re home alone for Christmas...or so you think. Your boyfriend surprises you with a warm, warm welcome.

Smut warnings: fingering...the end that's literally it lol

To @gyuhanniescarat <3 i'm ur cod secret santa !! sorry it's kinda sloppy!! i swear i had more written then google docs fucked me over and i just wanted to get it out on time :')

Thank you to @wongyuseokie for the banner <33

When you arrive home, you’re expecting a dark house. Your boyfriend, Soobin, was visiting his family for the holidays so you were expecting to spend your Christmas busy, on phone calls and video chat with your family. But when the door cracks open, you see the lights are on and a delicious smell wafting through the air. And to your pleasant surprise, Soobin stands in the doorway with his signature cute smile.

“Bin-ah? What are you doing here?” He opens his arms and you slip into his hug easily. “I wasn’t expecting you back for another week.”

Soobin hums, cupping your face with his hands that you oh-so adore. “Wanted to surprise you, baby. Are you surprised?”

You laugh, leaning up to press a quick kiss to his lips. “Very. It’s sweet to see you here and a welcome break from my back-to-back Christmases with my family online and my friends in person,” you giggle and Soobin nods seriously as if you were talking about your thesis.

His arms wrap around your lower back as he pulls you impossibly close. “Shall we celebrate together? There’s cookies in the kitchen but they’re cooling down so we have to do something else in the mean time.” His hands slide lower and your lips pull into a crooked smile at his insinuation.

Instead of gracing him with a response, you just drape your arms over his shoulders and pull him in for a deeper kiss. One of his hands grasps at your thick thighs and the other wraps around your waist and you take the hint, jumping up and letting him hold your weight up as he brings you over to the couch.

“Couch, Soobin? That’s a new one,” you tease, and Soobin grins a boyish grin as he sets you down gently, letting his hands roam all over your body. You’re quickly silenced, however, when his hands squeeze at your boobs and his lips press against your clavicle.

“Just let me enjoy you, baby,” Soobin groans, his hand snaking down into your sleep shorts and your hips buck up as he presses his long fingers against your clit. “God, look at you, so eager for just my fingers?”

You nod quickly, eyes shining as you pull him in for yet another kiss. You can’t seem to get enough of Soobin’s lips, but he won’t complain. Not when you’re so excited about what he has planned.

His fingers slowly push inside of you and you throw your head back in pleasure. “Fuck, baby,” you moan, hips jerking. “More, please please please,” you plead and Soobin’s cock jumps in his pants at how blissed-out you sound already.

“Fuck, you’re so needy for me,” he groans, leaning down to mouth at your neck, his teeth scraping over the sensitive skin. “Love the way you beg so nicely for me, could have you under me like this for days.” He curls his fingers up and you let out such a loud moan you’re glad your neighbours are away for the holidays because you surely would have noise complaints.

Your hands grip his shirt and your thighs clench around his hand but Soobin pays it no mind, using his thumb to rub at your clit. You’re so close, the way his hands move bringing you to your orgasm so perfectly and you bury your head in his shoulder as tears form in your eyes at the waves of pleasure washing over you. You’re pretty sure you’ve soaked through your underwear at this point and his shirt has wet spots from your tears but neither you nor him seem to mind.

“So perfect around my fingers,” Soobin sighs, pulling the digits out of you and bringing them to his mouth. “Could do this all day, would you like that? Your Christmas present just letting me ravish you?”

You nod happily, your hand moving to press against the obvious bulge in his pants but Soobin steps away, leaning down to scoop you up instead. “Ah, wait–” you gasp in shock but Soobin chuckles and presses a kiss to the top of your head.

“Not yet, baby,” Soobin hums into your hair. “Tonight’s all about you. Let me worship you tonight and I promise you can do whatever at the end.”

Instead of waiting for a response from you, he dips his head to take your breath away with a kiss. Your hands come up to tangle themselves in his hair and you gasp into your mouth at the prospect of what’s to come.

@cultofdionysusnet

#codn: santa23 #cultofdionysusnet #kvanity #txt #txt x reader #txt smut #txt fluff #txt fanfiction #txt fanfic #txt soobin #soobin #soobin x reader #soobin smut #soobin fluff #soobin fanfiction #soobin fanfic #smut

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dwreader · 1 year

Note

How do you go about figuring out what references the show is making (besides the ones they just say directly)??

Ohh ykw on this show I think they hit you over the head with so many both allusions and direct callouts that its almost more like trying to figure out which ones are true thematic references and which are just fun little namedrops. For example Daniel mentioning Kevin Durant imo is just a pop culture/worldbuilding namedrop to show that he's a ~cool guy~ from brooklyn and goes to basketball games (and to further establish these characters live in OUR world with the same celebrities). We're not meant to read Kevin Durant's bio on wikipedia and think of all the deep parallels. On the other hand, my pal blueiight has brought up that Basquiat paintings hanging around the penthouse could be read more deeply about the two men's biographies but maybe you don't necessarily HAVE to get the reference to understand the show. It's like an easter egg.

Also some references are simply bc modern tropes all stem from some origin and not the show deliberately making the connection, like yk the gothic romance tropes are abounding in this story and its not necessarily the show directly being like hey guys this is just like Jane Eyre! imma right? rather the conventions are so ingrained in our culture now that they bleed into everything. Or like my My Fair Lady posts it's like is this really a My Fair Lady specific thing or is it cause all professor/student or mentor/mentee romantic fiction all kind of stems from Pygmalion?? Anyways I'm gonna put the rest under a read more cause it's gonna be long af. sorry.

The ones I tend to take really seriously are books, plays, etc where the show goes out of its way to give you a bit of plot summary like Iolanta (blind princess who doesn't know she's a princess) where Louis crying at the opera kinda like Julia Roberts crying at La Traviata in Pretty Woman signals a thematic parallel between the characters (shoutout to slaygentford for that post that changed the world). Whereas they don't for Don Pasquale so while that's like a little funny joke cause its heheh its also about an old ass man looking for a wife that's like less serious to me than Iolanta. Louis casually reading Madame Bovary as his voiceover says he was "neglecting the duties of the role Claudia mocked me for the unhappy housewife" is a clear HELLO LOOK HERE moment, as well as Louis reading Edward Carpenter's book about marriage trying to regain his sight after his beating. Whereas I think him reading the Origin of Species is just like aww he's so cute and intellectual trying to find a scientific reason for his eating disorder.

A Doll's House is the biggest one imo cause it's both a direct callout in ep2 (Lestat mentions not wanting to miss the opening scene of Nora and the Christmas tree) and an allusion in ep7 (Louis shown decorating a Christmas tree), AND the "doll" theme runs throughout most of the show so even if you know nothing about that play, there's like hints being thrown at you with Louis bringing paper dolls to the twins bday party, decorating Claudia's room full of dolls and Lestat designing his Mardi Gras outfit like he's a doll. Maybe you've never read or heard Nora's monologue where she says all her life she's been treated like a doll and now she treats her children like dolls too cause she doesn't know anything else but you can literally SEE the dolls on the shelf in Claudia's room.

Streetcar is also the other one that the show is so so soooo obviously Leonardo Dicaprio pointing meme at itself. Even if you've never read the play or seen the movie, the image every fucking person on earth recognizes is Marlon Brando in a wifebeater cause that quite literally changed the course of pop culture history and male sex symbols AND you probably know STELLLAAAAA!!!!! These are both referenced quite directly by the show with Lestat wearing wifebeaters in ep5,6 and 7 and in Lestat's attempts to get Louis back after the DV as that's literally the context of STELLAAA he's screaming her name after he got kicked out for beating her btw if you even care. Plus they are riding an actual streetcar in ep7 even though they have a car??? and they're way too rich to be taking public transportation like what's that about.. unless!

Then you have things that Rolin has brought up himself in interviews like Bogie & Bacall (famously massive age gap hehe), John Cassavettes films (I would say Faces and A Woman Under the Influence as the primary sources of that comp), Francis Bacon art that you can definitely pick out from the show as well! So this show is chock full of cool references and inspirations and its very cool that people are being introduced to some of these older pieces of media through the show!!

#iwtv #interview with the vampire #im sorry this is so long im bored at work and got carried away #but there's soooo many of these rolin you sick bastard #asks

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lalalian · 6 months

Text

alruna dr plot | part II : alodian culture

Today’s post is going to be specifically about the Alodias Empire, empyreanism, and food. Kinda boring… but I think it’s important to get all this shit out the way before getting to the cool stuff.

The Alodias Empire is considered to, debatably, be the most powerful empire. Others may say it’s the Umbrian Empire due to their military strength.

As mentioned in the last post about the plot, this empire’s largest export is in magitech. The most well-known and prestigious schools are located in the Alodias Empire, but the capital, Wyndrial City, is known to house some of the most talented mages and magic schools. Tourism also brings in a lot of wealth because of the intricate and unique architecture.

The most practiced religion is Empyreanism. Empyreanism is a polytheistic religion that focuses on twelve gods (yes all of them are Greek Gods, I was too lazy to come up with names).

Some virtues that Empyreans follow are:

-All followers should pursue knowledge, regardless of status and gender

- People of higher status should help those who are in need

- Celebrate Nightmyrrth to honor Selene, the Goddess of the Moon, Protector of Hidden Civilizations and the Night Sky

- Always treat those older than you with respect and kindness

- Introspection, meditation, and self-awareness

- Respect to the environment, meat isn’t outlawed to consume or anything, but instead, it is usually not the main course of the meal like how it is in American cuisine.

- Strive to be skilled and passionate

- Strive for elegance in actions, speech, and appearance, as well as seek to embody grace in their interactions with others.

Most followers, especially elves, favor the Goddess of the Moon most because of her role in a lot of tales. She’s often known as the Protector of lost civilizations because she helped rebuild the Alodias Empire and protected elves until they were strong enough to hold their own (will talk about this sometime in a tales post <3).

Because of this heavy favoritism for Selene (moon goddess/protector of lost civilizations), Nightmyrth is the most extravagantly celebrated holiday (it’s essentially Christmas except the aesthetic is more ethereal). Nightmyrth is celebrated in Decimbrius (December) which is the month of Selene. On Nightmyrth eve, families pray to receive good luck, and children often eat a dessert called Melrie. It consists of very finely ground ice, mixed with creamed unicorn milk, topped with mild fruits, especially Yuva. Nectar from winter flowers are drizzled on top of the cream, ice, and fruits. It’s served in a hand sized bowl that is charmed cold on the inside. A common drink eaten throughout the main course meal during Decimbrius is creamed unicorn milk smoked with kayanise candles (imagine milk with a hint of black tea). The drink is called kayan milk.

took a short break on scripts, will be continuing to work on them as soon as I stop obsessing over stardew valley again

#reality shifting #shiftblr #shifters #shifting blog #shifting community #shifting diary #scripting #desired reality #lalalian #shifttok

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safyresky · 10 months

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I am once again asking if tscs even knows what pacing is

Episode 4 once again has my brain itching and not in a good way. I'm so infuriated and also perplexed and also very much just. What?? Did I just watch????

Part of me is like "Man, maybe I should stop watching this show. I dislike it it. Every episode takes down my hp permanently. my brain KEEPS ITCHING AND YOU CAN'T SCRATCH YOUR BRAIN WITH YOUR FINGERS UNLESS YOU DO SOME QUESTIONABLE SHIT THAT WOULD GET A MEDICAL LICENCE REVOKED!!!!" and the other part of me is like "You know what's fun? Getting angry while also still wondering if perhaps it will get better!"

SURVEY SAYS. IT AIN'T GETTING ANY BETTER FOLKS!

I don't even know WHERE to begin, so I'm just gonna point form this bitch and see what happens (chaos I imagine)

UM. CURTIS EXPLODED????

I REMEMBER READING THAT IN A FIC SOMEWHERE and I can't remember what fic it was, but the OC that was the head elf before Bernard exploded into confetti bc of stress. I gotta find that fic again.

BUT UM. CURTIS-ITIS??? WHAT A WAY TO GET WRITTEN OFF THE SHOW. KINDA SAD FOR THE LIL GUY, HE WAS STRESSED BUT DIDN'T DESERVE TO BE EXPLODED ):

Hey. Don't cry, don't cry. I have a list of misdemeanours Scott has done that would surely get him in trouble with the Council. Wanna see it?

YOU'RE GONNA.

Based on really shitty math that I did NOT fact check, about 2 billion counts of exposing the SOS (giving snow globes to all the families that celebrate Christmas to rejuvenate Christmas magic, that HAS to go against magical secrecy things)

Turning EB into a BB. Yes, Sandra did it, but given the "family business" angle...¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(one count of Legend-napping?)

Breaking into EB's house

Stealing his basket of tricks

Taking over his holiday and not telling the Council

Using Legendary Figure's powers on and against them

Lying. So much LYING.

So that's about 2 billion and 5? Ish? Penalties?

HMMM.

In Jack voice: I commit 273 acts of upstaging of Santa and I nearly get booted from the Council, but when SANTA commits two point five billion injections, he gets off scoot free! Unbelievable.

So, yeah. I am mad about that. And on the SUBJECT of Jack Frost on this Jack Frost Stan Blog, WHY ARE ALL THESE SANTA'S MAKING SNOW???? I KNOW IN TSC2 SANTA MADE SNOW BUT IT WAS OBVI FAKE AF AND BAD. AND NOW THIS???? JUST, MAKING FLURRIES AND LETTING IT SNOW AND SNOWBALLS AND THE ICICLES FROM LAST SEASON??

AHHHH

Okay. I'm cool. I'm chill. I'm calm. Uh

(clearing my throat)

The way. The ladies are all interacting. Is ICK. It's like, trying to be woke and then going back and doing the EXACT OPPOSITE. Like. Just. I can't DEAL with every woman to woman conversation, especially when Carol is involved. She just keeps going back on things she says, and I dislike EVERYTHING about the ladies and ladies chats. I was SHOOKETH when they went "Let's use EB's house as a rage room!" THE MAN WAS KIDNAPPED AND BUNNY'D GUYS. COME ON! The Claus's really are out here just CRIMING IT UP, HUH.

Man. I haven't done a second watch and I'm not sure I'm going to??? I may attempt it again tomorrow. But it really really does seem like the plot is getting kinda lost. I honestly thought Mad Santa would make it to the Pole this episode, and my guess about him getting there end of episode 5 or beginning of 6 was like. NOT CORRECT

BUT FELLAS. I THINK IT WAS CORRECT. I THINK THEY'RE REALLY GONNA LAST MINUTE THE PLOT. AH.

Seeing Sandman was fun! I thought the elves lulling him to sleep was goddamn funny as FUCK. I did NOT like hoe easily he gave into Scott's gaslighting.

Also, holy hell. If Santa can't look like Santa delivering eggs, then perhaps maybe you should uh. MAKE THE WATCH TURN HIM INTO A BUNNY? NOT INTO REGULAR SCOTT CALVIN? HATE THAT. I have always had a hc that Santas totally could poof into their civilian selves for whatever reason, BUT NOT LIKE THIS. And I know it's just bc TA doesn't like the Santa prosthetics. Every single instalment of this franchise has him not being Santa-ie at some point and it is. EXHAUSTING. Scott's just exhausting. I miss movie Scott so gd much y'all

Also love that Mad Santa's plan was "maybe he'll notice me" lol. That's fucking funny. The elves sure did! But they don't want to be EXILED and I'm like, uh, I KNOW there was a clause for it but Scott doesn't know so maybe you guys need to chill? IF SANTA DOESN'T KNOW HE CAN EXILE YOU THEN YOU ARE SET!

Also x2, it has just occurred to me that we are 4 episodes in and have yet to:

meet the other gnomes

see this amulet Magnus keeps talking about

see Kris have any other part that isn't just "look we got fluffy on here!"

see ANYONE make the EB was kidnapped connection

See Befana put EB back

be given more substance on being exiled as an elf

like. do exiled elves turn into gnomes? given Olga's like of marshmallows?? HMM

Man y'all, I'm all over the place, much like this episode. I wonder what the heckeros is going on behind the scenes. I feel like the plot is so derailed and uh also. THEY EXPLODED MY BOY!!

#dani speaks #man i've never been a curtis fan big time but like YOU DIDN'T NEED TO GO AHEAD AND EXPLODE HIM #tscs #the santa clauses #tscs2 #tscs spoilers #dani watches tscs2 #LIKE. COME ON! ):#ana and I are debriefing and trying to wrap our heads around this episode and like #the magic does not exist in tandem with the real world like it did in the movies and that's sad #it doesn't feel heartfelt it feels cold and i dislike that #A LOT #anyway i'm getting the vibe that this episode is gonna have me like AND ANOTHER THING-ING allll week #i'm gonna go and get chapter 25 ready for us all bc i need HEALING and to BELIEVE in magic existing in our world!!!!! ah!#text #long post #tscs wank

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futurequibblerjournalist · 9 days

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Wow wow wow wow!!!! I love Lucretia!! She's so fun !! :3 gosh I just love love LOVE your takes on the Blacks!! I love your takes on everyone tbh but ahhhh she's just so fun! I bet Ignatius felt on top of the world with her lol !

Jeez idek what to say!! Aghhh such a good job like always! I love them! I love Remus! You just,,, get him so right! You understand him! I've never thought of Jewish/Polish/big noses LOL Remus but I'm in love w it now! Is his nose big in size or shape? Or both? :0 I really really like slash appreciate that you give him a good relationship with his parents! I've never really seen him as a mummy's boy but I've always Def thought that they all love each other!! A lot!! Ahhhh and Lyall's guilt,,,, ah! I love them! How do you think the dual religion works? :O

Umumumumumunumummmmmmmmmm if you're not tired of me yet LMAO I would really love to hear all about like,, pretty much everyone! Ik you'll probably talk more about them in your Knights post but if you have any thoughts about like,, the Averys that don't really fit in there I'd love to listen to them :3 I love your blabbers!!!!!!!! It'd also be really cool to hear about the Rosiers! Like Evan's dad :3 idkidk they're just so ! yk??

- 🍃

Ahhhh I'm so glad you love her!! She's seriously one of my favourites!!! I'm gonna do a yap on her brother and cousins at some point,,, I'm considering doing individual posts about the different families in the Sacred 28, mentioning things commonly associated with them, family scandals, known family members, family values etc jfnbjnjgb Ignatius was definitely in disbelief for a good bit honestly but once they got together I feel like he was over the moon,, it was one of those "pinch my arm so I know it's still real" situations for sure

Also ahhhh I'm so glad you see the vision for Remus,, I kinda feel like he's not the typical take people have on him?? Or maybe I've just seen a lot more of different takes which is making me feel like that vjnfjbngjbng

I think his nose is probably more noticeably big in shape? It's quite protruding I think vnjfnbjgb though it is also just a big nose in general. He's got a bit of a slope going on too, I think

YES YES YES!!! Remus having a good relationship with his parents is so important to me,, if I had to choose one Remus headcanon it might be that one tbh it just forms who he is for me in such a significant way. I think Remus being a mummy's boy or like,,, closer to his mother more so comes from the fact that Hope's trying to make up for Lyall not always being as present as he wants to be because of his guilt.

As for the dual religion, like I said, I don't think Lyall is extremely religious so as for holidays and traditions they'd likely be more Jewish leaning, especially cause I think Hope would be someone who got really focused on preparing everything etc. Depending on when Chanukah was they'd celebrate either Chanukah or Christmas but I could see them doing both if it fell on different dates? I'm not super sure but yeah!!!

I did a bit about the Avery family a few days ago jcnfjcnfj and I’m gonna do more in another post but yes, let me yap about the Rosiers!!!

So generally speaking I don’t portray Evan and Pandora as twins. Their parents are Druella’s older and younger brothers and their grandparents are Felix and Minette Rosier (I will likely be changing Minette’s name as I learned that there’s actually already a Minette Rosier, she just married into the Lestrange family). I think the Rosiers speak exclusively French when they’re home and they kinda look down on people who are able to but don’t.

Alabaster is the eldest, born in 1928 and he was the only Slytherin of his siblings. For context he’s a fifth year at Hogwarts when Tom Riddle, Edmund Avery Senior, Bruce Mulciber Senior and that whole gang are all in their sixth year. I’ve changed Cygnus Black’s age (so he doesn’t become a father at thirteen like Joanne apparently thought he should) so Alabaster and Cygnus are dorm mates in my head. Alabaster dies when he’s fairly young, either just before Evan is born or a month or so after,,, I haven’t decided yet. I just know Evan does not grow up with a dad. Alabaster married Ursa Brown (I might find a different last name for her cause I like the idea of her being French), a fellow Slytherin in his year.

Druella was born in 1930 and was a Hufflepuff. She enjoys watercolour paintings and home decorating and she’s quite close with her mother. She puts a lot of value on being a good future wife,,, there’s still a bit of drama that goes on when her and Cygnus gets engaged because before it gets announced she doesn’t know if she’s gonna marry Alphard or Cygnus (the latter who she’s had a bit of a crush on)

Acelin is the baby of the family born in 1931. He was sorted into Hufflepuff like his sister. He was noticeably close with a certain Eileen Prince who was also in both his year and house. Acelin marries Adaline, a French witch who attended Beauxbaton during her younger days

Also as it turns out, I’ve got a drawing of them from when they were in their fifth, third and second year!

My favourite headcanon for the Rosiers is that they frequently mix with Veelas. Alabaster, Druella and Acelin’s grandmother was a Veela and so they’re a quarter Veela. I like the idea of the family frequently mixing with Veelas which is how they have the white-gold hair. I could see Adaline being part Veela tho how much idk. I’m also just a sucker for Rosier family who’s odd and alluring and in theory a good handful of them are so freaky no one should want to be near them but still there’s just something inexplainable about them. Also the Rosier family who use it to their advantage to gain relationships with important wizard in families,,,,

I don’t have a lot for Evan’s dad other than like,,, his design? Though I do really like that,,, Evan is pretty much identical to him the genes are strong lol. His marriage is arranged just as both his siblings are, though he ends up quite happy with Ursa for the short time that they have together before he passes away

#the lupin family #remus john lupin #remus j lupin #remus lupin #lucretia elladora black #alabaster claude rosier #druella marseille rosier #acelin harlem rosier #the rosier family #knights of walpurgis #ask #anon ask #🍃 anon

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6okuto · 2 months

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🍙 for @satorisoup from my fruits basket :3

Long Post. but i (Rlly) summarized the questions for viewing ease 🫡

1) life & school

i Am nervous about school hbdfhbg i’m a sociology major!! ^^ love soc but i switched to honours so i have to keep my gpa up, and most of my classes this year are really reading/writing/presentation heavy.. plus i'm trying a full course load for the first time so doing my thesis next yr will be easier, but i'm already easily stressed and burnt out.. lol.. ;; it's probably fine though

life’s getting busy.. and i’m not sure my cosplay will get here in time for my con but it’s ok tbh! the good outweighs the bad for those things. i wish i had money for the con outside my grants/loans but LOL that's life

2) celebrating my birthday with keiji :3

tmi maybe. i haven’t had a great birthday since i was 15/16 to be honest FBHBDJ i'm so burnt out and depressed in dec that the past few years i haven’t done anything at all LOL but hearing this,, keiji makes it his mission to give me a good one ^^ !

he takes the day off and makes sure the day is just for us! practices making heart shaped pancakes and cooks breakfast.. i walk in on him in the kitchen super focused and accidentally scare him LOL he wanted it to be a surprise but it’s ok!! i watch and talk while i wait

it’s usually cold so i don't go anywhere ;; but we still have fun!! it’s nothing crazy,, we just talk, put on a show while we work on a puzzle or bake… play some co-op games.. order dinner.. yeagh

if it isn’t awful outside, we might make a little snowman or snow angels at the park nearby :]

he gets birthday gifts separate from his christmas ones.. since they're so close my birthday’s kinda overshadowed & i tell people to get one gift or none but keiji refuses!! he writes a long heartfelt letter, commissions art of us & our cat, and buys custom matching necklaces + little crochet accessories + ribbon 🙂‍↕️ (also macarons. i rock w macarons.)

3) favourite aki scene :3

his morning routine changed my life. they didn’t have to do that (not in the manga) but they did… my beautiful domestic soft morning dreams… it’s so Aki… and then i think about how he’d include u in his routine when ur together the way he does with denji and power… ouh..

4) art app + ur new stylus :0

looks down and kicks rocks. krita user over here. not that anything’s wrong with krita. i just feel lame when i see brushes i want because of course they’re never for krita. but it’s cool! how's ur new pen!! bro sometimes krita’s pressure sensitivity doesn’t work on start-up and i didn’t realize i could just restart the window settings . i kept reinstalling it. it’s fine but Wow i was miserable for so long (Months. like a stupid poopoo head)

5) Secret Art Opinions.

olivia wilde nodding gif. smoking duck gif. no one knows what i know no one’s seen what i’ve seen. BEAUTIFUL!! PERF!! i love his smile and jewelry (🤯) and hair and EVERYTHING!! your art style is SOO lovely cutieful lene!! and a 17 layer max seems nonsensical?! HELP.. how big is your canvas.. what app are you using bc isn't there ones made for what u want to try.. I believe in U!! no matter what i’m sure it will turn out awesome!!! he would be so flattered. his lips would wobble and he'd gasp/whine and hug and kiss u like WHAT!! FOR HIM..?..!!! yeah.

6) akaashi and i’s song :00

wanna say i will by mitski but that’s gonna be in every self-ship playlist of mine. maybe home by reese lansangan.. hesitate to say it’s Our Song but it’s a good one!!

My bones are safe / And my heart can rest / Knowing it belongs to you / My world is changed / And it's cradled by / The comfort that is you

7) monster lover post + ones i like

i wish i had good specific hear me out's but i don’t consume a lot of media with them so the ones i can think of are super basic and boring… i’d need a list in front of me so i could smash or pass. (if u have any in mind let me kneow.) but

the teacher from the girl from the other side. Like it’s my fault. doting adoptive self-sacrificial father figure DON’T TALK TO ME. also i must mention tokoyami. + shirou from BNA if he counts

tai lung from kung fu panda just once. the plague doctor (scp-049) obviously

probably some transformers. i like bumblebee 🩷 THE PACIFIC RIM JAEGERS . gipsy danger of course. striker eureka of course. gipsy avenger & november ajax & valor omega (Sorry.). azure defiant omgg PILIPPINS! 🇵🇭🇵🇭

i can usually get behind a “hear me out” if it isn’t like.. super slimey(?) or spikey. they could all hurt me but anything Very sharp/spikey i’m like nooo owwww ouchie nooo..

8) JJK since hell started on earth (+ lenoso!)

I Have been keeping up. unfortunate for my happiness. but Dear God. finding that out two hours after a comm and on FORTNITE is CRAZY? I’m so sorry. I get it. there’s like 3 vids and 6 pics of me crying. …did u at least win the fortnite match. i thank god every day my main thing is HQ because i just watch guys play volleyball. the manga.. a bit exciting.. hoping for an Ok outcome… maybe if gege has love and megan thee stallion in his heart

9) demon slayer opinions (+ genya specifically)

i watched the first season of kny but dropped it after hebfhsbjb nothing against it, just not rlly my cup of tea!! but i know quite a few deaths and the manga ending.. i don’t have a fave demon though.. i liked tanjiro + giyuu + sabito (predictable x3). also fond of rengoku (predictable) and mitsuri/obanai (predictable). Is akaza awesome and beautiful. i don't rlly know genya but i’ve seen him and his brother!! I will like him In Ur honour!!! ur friend reporting u for an edit is crazyehsbfjhb STAY STRONG… GENYA! i’m sure he’s fantastic!!

10) bnha + izuku thoughts!

Who’s calling izuku ugly. ☹️ i get u btw Like it’s my fault i’m always fond of the main characters and want the best for them. i don’t usually read stuff for him bUT i fr see the appeal, and he can be soo super interesting/fun to write and read about!! AND HE’S NOT UGLY!! ☹️ he’s very cutieful handsome. grown up deku… vivid and beautiful in my mind…

11) favourite food, drink, etc. :3

rice . LOL i don’t think i have a favourite food but i love pinoy chicken dishes! my mom's adobo + caldereta + niligang manok. also been eating chorizo de cebu lately.. yummay..

sweet drinks.. frappes & taro boba… i need to expand my palette but y'know. and my fav soda is crush

i said this but i Love Macarons. you give me a plate of macarons i’m inhaling that shit like kirby. also sapin sapin and cheesecake! a great cake in general is so yummayyy

big hazelnut creme chocolate fan. I Love hazelnut chocolate. started when i was a child with kinder eggs and purdys chocolate hedgehogs and here i am

fav cereal is kellogg's krave. obvious chocolate fan here

SUSHI VIBES IS SO INTERESTING i’m pretty sure i’ve never had a piece. like ever. i do like fish… do u have any fave sushi.. i doubt i’ll be trying any soon but for future reference!!

12) anything and everything else ^_^ (mammon + mlp ment.)

Lene i have stuff to talk about at all times and will overshare every time

YAGH! mammon is the avatar of greed and 2nd eldest brother of 7 in Obey Me: One Master To Rule Them All. i actually didn’t like him at first (I’m sorry.) but he grew on me real bad. it’s serious. he's very tsundere which is Not my type but. something happened. He's a softie.. he cares about you and everyone So Much.. he's very empathetic and emotionally intelligent even if he struggles with being vulnerable.. he can generally control his emotions better /gets angry less than his brothers… he gets teased/mistreated a lot.. he loves money and hates working but he loves U even more So Of Course He’d do/give up Anything 4 U.. he's insecure and has called himself worthless on his own Which Devastated Me So Bad i love this guy so much Let’s All Just. oh man.

i Did like MLP. i stopped watching at some point but i want to go back and watch it all.. predictably obsessed with princess cadance and shining armor. I wanted to be her and I wanted him. Predictably. i cried over BBBFF when i was little btw /pos but hm.. my fav show was gravity falls maybe. so good.

we finally fixed what was wrong with the water in the one bathroom in the house that has a bath tub. exciting because i’ve never taken a bath… want to see what it’s like… perhaps use a bath bomb 🤔..

don’t think i’ve processed we’re going to have another person living with us. wow

been thinking about p5 akira a lot. my stupid beautiful loser sopping wet cat idiot handsome prince guy. Do u think 13 year old me would be surprised i still like him or that my bff likes goro or that i ship akeshu. i have 150 ss's from the p5 vn. and when i say he's written like my version of akaashi keiji.. hah......

might deactivate at some point tbh. saying this because i don't think people will read this far so it's like a little secret convo but i feel like i've overstayed my time / don't rlly fit anywhere bshdjsd i'll click delete account and just Stare for a while. like at some point u think about it so much it's like.. girl stop clinging on and just do it. but i don't want to lose my stuff so it won't happen until i put it all somewhere else. which won't be soon because i'm lazy as shit so. that's life i guess. 🤷🏻‍♀️ def won't until i finish my event.. will see if i can at least make it to my blog anni if not my birthday 🤔 would probably come back at some point anyway. also my users... can't lose 6okuto r u joking...

been rocking with pleasure delayer by between friends & rock-paper-scissors by katzenjammer lately.

broken 3 nails this week and may unfortunately break a 4th. my stupid baka life. might just cut the rest and restart... they were all Even. 1/2 cm long bro.. why does this happen to me...

excited to call and ask about my joke bear plate in a few days. i'm 100% sure i didn't do an even number of coats for everything and it'll look wonky in places, but i think that's part of the appeal. the nia 6okuto joke bear brand

thank u for joining and asking lene!! 🙆🏻‍♀️🩷🩷 i like 2 talk so do not worry. would u like some q's back.. a similar amount.. less.. more.. let me kneow. meow

#nia's fruits basket #<3 lene #yaaaaayy #if theres typos.. um. be kind. idk

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