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the-lincyclopedia · 4 years ago

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* adapted from @librajiminn on twitter

A fun game to celebrate 2020 ending! The rules are simple: recommend your favorite OMGCP fics so everyone can enjoy them, while trying to fill in enough slots to get a bingo!

This is going to get long, so I’ll put it under a cut. Also, I’m too orderly to try to shoehorn my favorite fics into these particular prompts, so I’m just going to go right to left, top to bottom, taking the prompts literally, until it’s bedtime.

1. first fic you bookmarked: “Here Comes the Sun” by @doggernaut, 19k, G, no warnings, Zimbits

For the past month, the man with the baby and the sad blue eyes has been stopping in for a cup of coffee an hour before closing. He always sits in an overstuffed chair in the corner and drinks his coffee while his baby sleeps next to him in the stroller. Sometimes he pulls a book out from the diaper bag he carries with him; other times he just stares straight ahead as if in a daze. He never asks for a refill, always respectfully gathers his things and leaves ten minutes before the shop officially closes. Eric desperately wants to ask him what his story is.

My notes: I read Check Please over the course of two days in June of 2019. On the second day, right after catching up, I looked at @peppermintfeminist‘s AO3 bookmarks and found a fic by @doggernaut. Then I read just about everything @doggernaut had ever posted. It was glorious. This fic in particular is so cute.

2. most recent fic you bookmarked: “Flight Check” by @edgarallanrose, 15k, E, no warnings (though there is a creepy/handsy guy at a club to watch out for), primarily Zimbits with most of the other popular pairings in the background

Flight attendant Eric “Bitty” Bittle has been working his way up at Samwell Airlines for the past four years, and his new promotion has provided him the opportunity to work with a brand-new crew. Unfortunately for Bitty, that crew includes an incredibly handsome but equally grumpy pilot, Captain Jack Zimmermann, who seems to want nothing to do with Bitty. Even worse, Jack refuses to eat any of Bitty's baked goods. Will Bitty be able to win the captain over? Or is there another reason Jack has been avoiding Bitty?

My notes: There are a lot of great things about this fic--Jack’s character arc, Lardo’s dialogue, that scene in Seattle--but the reason I bookmarked it is the scene where Bitty’s basically slut-shaming himself and Jack gently but firmly tells Bitty not to do that and that it was the creep’s fault.

3. a fic that made you cry actual tears: “a little bit more” by @ivecarvedawoodenheart, 14k, T, no warnings, Holsom

“I just wanted,” he says, “a perfect day. With you. Because it’s our last day together and our last day being here as undergrads and we’re kissing the ice tonight, and the weather’s supposed to be beautiful, and you’re moving tomorrow and Holtzy I just — I don’t want to be missing you already.” Holster wipes his eyes before he even realizes he’s crying. Behind him, Ransom sighs. “One more day where everything’s the same,” he says, feeling around blindly for Rans’ fingers. He feels Rans nod as he laces their fingers together. “Yeah. Yeah, Rans. I’d like that a lot.” __________________________

Holsom after graduation and throughout the subsequent six months after Holster signs to an expansion team in Oregon, and realizes his feelings for Ransom too late. Holster's POV :) kinda angsty, but there's a happy ending :)

Inspired by shitty-check-please-aus: "Holster moves to Oregon while Ransom stays on the east coast. The time difference makes it difficult to talk and one day they wake up and realize they aren’t best bros anymore."

My notes: I almost never cry at fics. I searched “tears” in my fandom email account and only a handful of my fic comments came up, but Syd is a literal master of Holsom angst, always.

4. longest fic you’ve read: “Like Real People Do” by @xiaq, 153k, M, No Warnings, Kent Parson x OC

Parson gestures with his spoon toward Hawke. “So am I allowed to ask about the service dog or is that not PC?”

“My medical history is more of a 3rd date conversation," Eli says.

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“Because. No one sticks around afterward and I like to live in glorious denial for a short period beforehand.”

It comes out more self-deprecating than he intended.

Parson looks…thoughtful. “Well, does this count as one or two?

“Pardon?”

“This. Ice cream. I mean, technically it’s a second location, but still the same night. So is this one date or two?”

“One,” Eli says firmly. “If it’s happening within the same three-hour period.”

“You’re the expert,” Parson says, which, he’s really, really, not, but ok.

“So still two dates to go then?” Parson continues.

“I—what?”

“We’ve got a roadie coming up but then we’re home for almost two weeks. When does your semester start?”

“You want to do this again?” Eli asks.

Parson stops idly twirling his spoon.

“You don’t?”

He does, Eli realizes. He really does. Because apparently he actually likes Kent fucking Parson.

My notes: Okay, this fic has my whole entire heart. I’ve read it multiple times in its entirety, and it’s almost twice as long as the full-length novel I’m querying. Eli is one of my favorite OCs I’ve ever seen in a fic (probably tied with Damian Navarro and Ari Paxton, both brainchildren of @fozmeadows). Anyway, this is probably going to be the next thing @themeaningoflifeischeese and I read out loud to each other.

5. a fic you almost didn’t read: “when all else fails (i’ll still be right here)” by @whoacanada, 6k, T, Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings (and I don’t remember if I think there’s stuff to warn for, sorry), Zimbits

The National Hockey League is resurrecting the Quebec City Nordiques, and the expansion draft hits the Falconers much harder than expected.

My notes: Given that this was for @omgcpheartbreakfest, I was worried this would be all angst--all hurt and no comfort. Which made me sad, because I love @whoacanada‘s writing but I wasn’t up for reading unresolved angst. But @doggernaut reblogged the fic, so I asked if the ending was sad, and it’s NOT! There is quite a bit of angst but the ending isn’t sad.

6. a fic that convinced you on a ship you didn’t ship before: “it drops with the gravity of rain” by @geniusorinsanity, 16k, T, Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings (attempted sexual assault by an OC), Nurseydex

It happens like this:

“I don’t--this is a bad idea,” Dex says, his lips still tingling, his hands shaking on Nursey’s hips where he’s shoved him away. “This is a really bad idea, Nurse. I can’t--We can’t do this.”

And there’s hurt in Nursey’s eyes and his bottom lip is swollen from Dex’s teeth, but he says, “Okay.” And then, “It’s chill, Dex. Just friends, then.”

It happens like this:

“Actually,” Nursey says, talking more to his granola than to them, “I kind of have a date.”

It happens like this:

When Nursey calls, Dex almost doesn’t pick up the phone.

My notes: So I was really confused and a little disturbed when I first found out people shipped Nursey and Dex. Like, Dex just wasn’t someone I trusted. But then I was moving out of the house I’d been living in, and I needed stuff to listen to as I packed and cleaned, and @khashanakalashtar‘s podfics came in clutch. I gave this one a try even though I didn’t like Dex, and @geniusorinsanity blew. My. Mind.

7. a fic from an unusual POV: “Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy” by @porcupine-girl, 8k, G, no warnings, Zimbits

Jesse Snowden knows all the best restaurants and gourmet food shops in Providence, so when Jack Zimmermann starts bringing in incredible baked goods, he's eager to find out where the new bakery is. When he meets the man behind the pies, he decides that there's no way Jack could really appreciate this guy's talent the way he does, even if they are friends. He starts hiring Jack's chef on the side, in the hopes that maybe once Bitty's done with college he'll come work for Jesse.

Good thing there is absolutely no way whatsoever that Jesse could possibly be misinterpreting this situation.

My notes: Oh my gosh this is so funny. The secondhand embarrassment factor is huge, but like, the hilarity.

8. a comfort fic: “Don’t Need to Compromise” by @khashanakalashtar, 11k, E, no warnings, PB&J

“Hey,” said Kent, unknowingly setting off a chain of events that would change his entire life, “you said that like you know from experience. Have you done this before?”

Jack and Bitty have not done polyamory before, but they do know Ransom and Holster’s polycule, which contains March.

And March?

March is trans.

My notes: I’m in love with @khashanakalashtar‘s entire Directionverse series (and honestly a lot of their other writing), but “Don’t Need to Compromise,” which is the second fic in the series, just makes my heart swell especially much. The gender feels are so good, and all the characters are so good to each other, and when I listen to this on walks I have to actively try not to arm-flap.

9. a fic you wish could be a movie: “Ice Crew Please!” by @petals42, 61k, T, no warnings, Zimbits

Jack Zimmermann was drafted first by the Providence Falconers when he was eighteen years old. He is good at hockey. Very good. His team won the Cup his second year and now, in his third year, they are looking good. Jack should be on top of the world. And some days, he manages to convince himself he is.

He’s not, of course.

Enter the Ice Crew.

AKA: The Ice Crew AU

My notes: This fic has its tender moments, but what I love most about it is the sheer goofiness. Ransom and Holster and Shitty are HILARIOUS in this one. I’d love to see their shenanigans in movie form.

10. a WIP you read as it was updated: “Something Borrowed” by @fozmeadows, 48k, M, no warnings, Kent x OC

All things considered, Ari did his best to prepare himself for the advent of Kent Parson, Potentially Difficult Housemate and New Star Liney. The problem was that his best was an idiot.

My notes: So technically I didn’t start reading this until the first 19 chapters were posted. But there was still plenty of anticipation for the final few chapters. And like, @fozmeadows (as mentioned above) makes EXCELLENT OCs. And I love how their fics consistently convey that having bad things happen to you does not mark the end of your story.

Okay, it’s bedtime, so have 10 excellent fics. I got bingo twice, because I went straight across on the top two rows.

#mine #omgcp #omgcheckplease #check please #fic recs

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buckybarnesbingo · 4 years ago

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Titles Game

Tonight I'm Going Back to My Old Ways - suggested by @steverogersnotebook

@somesortofitalianroast - Bucky didn’t usually go for straight guys. Not since Brock in college, anyway. But tonight, all he could see was the blond across the bar. He was laughing with his friends, and he was gorgeous. Muscles for days, a body Bucky wanted to climb like a tree, and a wonderful smile that was a combination of Hallmark wholesome and downright dirty that shouldn’t have worked, but did. The piercing blue eyes just sealed the deal: Bucky was going to get him in his bed. (there would definitely be a tag in there about how they need to communicate and how Steve's not straight)

@wolfnprey - Bucky had settled down after he started a family. Everything told him he didn't deserve happiness, but he was beyond listening. Until some old ghosts showed up. Literal ghosts, and they were hellbent on making sure Bucky's life was upended. He'd buried the necronamicon in the basement ten years ago, but now he was digging it up with the help of his old partner. If only Steve was forgiving.

@steverogersnotebook - (Early recovering Bucky) finds it hard to come to terms with the modern Brooklyn, seeks out night clubs and smokes like a chimney in an effort to feel the way he remembers feeling.

@ribbonsflyingoutthewindow - Their relationship had been strained in a way that Bucky was pretty sure couple's therapy couldn't fix. Not that he had tried. He wasn't about to unload all of his trauma concerning not being his old self anymore on some poor middle-aged Brooklynite mother of three even if she did have a degree that supposedly helped. There was no way she was prepared to help a brainwashed assassin with a fault list from Coney Island to hell and back again. So instead he'd unloaded all of that on Natasha. As a best friend, she was legally obligated to listen to him anyway. And besides, she was cheaper; she could be bought with a whine and a wine. However, talking to Natasha also meant he got the cold, hard truth that his relationship was suffering not because he'd forgotten who he was and became a brainwashed assassin for decades, but because he'd forgotten who Steve was and hadn't spent a lot of time figuring it out again. So per his therapist's (Natasha's, whatever) advice, Bucky's getting back to his roots and rebecoming the man who knew everything about Steve Rogers and hoping that maybe somewhere along the line, he can figure out what it was that made the two of them work so perfectly together.

More under the cut!

Down the rabbit hole - suggested by @liquidlightz

@phoenixgryphon - MCU Nat going down the rabbit hole that is pre Cap2 TWS information

@steverogersnotebook - An edgy Alice AU where bucky meets the OUAT version of the mad hatter.

@somesortofitalianroast - Bucky wasn’t sure how, but he was constantly seeing the same figure out of the corner of his eye. A tall, muscular blonde, who seemed as though he wasn’t quite there, which was why Bucky was sure he was imagining the man, or confusing multiple tall muscular blonds. They weren’t as uncommon as one would think, and Bucky was so tired, so he decided not to worry about the blond. Until the day he literally fell down a rabbit hole - in Brooklyn, of all places - and ended up in another version of New York.

@wolfnprey - Stripper AU. Nat drags Bucky to Down the Rabbit Hole for a particular stripper named Alice who is a beefy blond with bright blue eyes.

@bookdragon13 - Or alternatively: Steve goes to Storybrooke during his quest to find Bucky and meets Jefferson. Steve immediately goes “Bucky?” And Jefferson, in his sassy way, says “who the hell is Bucky?” But proceeds to use his hat to help Steve find his Bucky, if only to meet his lookalike Whether or not this becomes angsty, I’m not sure

@psychiccatpanda - Bucky In the 21st Century: After spending too much time on the internet trying to figure out what some of the things he’d been hearing about really were, Bucky wishes he’d trusted Tony when he said, “Snowflake, there’s whole swaths of the interwebs you don’t want to know. Trust me, please?” Now, six and a half hours later, he knew that there was Avengers fan fiction (and what that consisted of) and Avengers cosplay porn. He wasn’t sure what to do with this information. But maybe he just needed to do some more research. After a snack.

@liquidlightz - Alpine was very protective. Bucky loved gardening and he'd planted many different flowers, but there was a fat rabbit that kept popping by and eating all the best tulips, daylilies, you name it. Bucky was hesitant to harm the creature, but Alpine was having no more of it. She chased said rabbit down its hole and Bucky had to dig her back out.

@ribbonsflyingoutthewindow - Bucky’s family owned a farm so he'd had a plethora of pets his entire life, but when he'd moved to the big city, Bucky had stuffed Top Hat the white rabbit in her carrier and told her they were headed for the adventure of a lifetime, no looking back. And truth be told, sometimes New York was lonely. But the other truth was he didn't miss Indiana at all. He loved New York, but he'd never regretted his move more than the day he came home to discover Top Hat not in her enclosure. He had to go door to door on the entire floor and maybe the floor above and below his. Everyone had to help find his missing long-eared, fluffy-tailed best friend. Cue everyone in Bucky's apartment complex searching the entire building for one white rabbit trying to pull her own disappearing act. And cue Bucky searching for a rabbit, but finding maybe a little more along the way.

You pull hope from defeat in the night - suggested by @somesortofitalianroast

@steverogersnotebook - After a terrible loss on a mission, Bucky and [strained relationship/preferred pairing] are nearly wiped out themselves. One has to get out and get help for the other before it's too late for them too. In dragging the injured party to safety, promises made in supplication reignite hope for a resolution.

@somesortofitalianroast - (pre-serum!steve/Winter Soldier!Bucky) After exhausting missions, there’s nothing Steve likes better than hooking up with a guy at a bar, preferably one who would believe him when he said he wouldn’t break. Tonight, he chose the guy carefully, a big, beefy brunet with thighs for days and something about him that made him look gentle. One night turned into another. And another. And another…. Who said hookups couldn’t lead to love?

@bookdragon13 - Just when Bucky was feeling his lowest, walking around Brooklyn at night, he hears a faint meowing. Bucky finds the white kitten and takes it to the local vet. Afterwards, he couldn’t just leave the white fur ball behind, adopting her and giving her the name Alpine. With Alpine around, Bucky couldn’t help but start feeling like he could climb out of the hole he’d dug himself in. He can’t help but laugh at Alpine’s antics and when he’s having a bad day, she cuddles with Bucky as he rubs his fingers through her fur

@liquidlightz - Bucky had written off more cheques than his body could cash, yet again. Losing badly at poker and getting beaten down for failing to pay up. This night was turning out better than the last, as he found himself in the hands of a gorgeous Doctor with gentle hands who seemed to enjoy his attempts at flirting through bloodied teeth. Things might be looking up, he was going to go all in and take another chance tonight.

@wolfarrowepz - (Winterhawk, hockey AU)The Avengers were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs.... less than a third of the team had been with them when they won the championship 3 years ago. Now all Bucky wants to do is go home and sulk and ice his knee in peace. Clint has decided he needs to come to dinner with the team to show all the rookies and new guys to show them that losing isn't the end of the world. Fuck it all if Bucky will do whatever Clint asks. Bucky he liked him since they joined the team together as rookies. Clint is 100% oblivious to every move Bucky makes but if Clint asks him to do something he will. Clint on the other hand is convinced Bucky isn't into him. Cue pining and the inevitable "of course I Like you, you dope!" moment.

With Steel and Silver Burning Heart - suggested by @ibelieveinturtles

@steverogersnotebook - Dragon trainer AU, Steve goes to slay the dragon, Bucky's the dragon trainer. They meet, they clash, they enemies to friends to lovers.

@phoenixgryphon - big beefy bucky the blacksmith. who builds broadswords to bring in the bills

@somesortofitalianroast - (Regency!AU) James Barnes was well aware that he was the Marquis of Buchannan in name only. With no money left in the estates coiffers and three younger sisters - the oldest a mere year before her official debut - to support, he was desperate. Desperate enough to approach the new Duke of Brooklyn - a known rake with a history of getting in duels - with an offer: he supplies the cash for Rebecca’s debutante and in return, he gets James. But what happens when the purely financial relationship is no longer purely financial?

@liquidlightz - Bucky was not amused when the blade pierced his heart. Fuck, that hurt! "You asshole", he berated his not-looking-so-hot-now date on the other end of that dagger, "I thought we were having a good time." Bucky had to thank his lucky stars, and not his wits, that this hunter was a moron and that blade was cheap metal and not silver. He should, maybe, start being a little more discerning in his hookups.

@bookdragon13 - As a Knight of the Realm, Bucky was sworn to protect the royal family. He didn’t mean to fall in love with the Princess in the process. Neither did Bucky realize he was a jealous man, until he saw another knight, Brock, try to kiss the Princess, with her unwilling. Bucky immediately called Brock out, challenging him to a duel. When Brock was wounded, Bucky threatened that if Brock tried anything with Her Royal Highness again, he wouldn’t be so lenient.

#buckybarnesbingo2021 #bbb2021 #bbb discord party #titles game #party game

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shinymooncolor · 4 years ago

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hey! you don’t have to answer this, but i know close to nothing about hockey and my family and i have never really watched it and i’m starting to get very interested, but i have no idea where to start 😅 what do you think i should focus on first, as a newbie? what should i absolutely know as a fan? what teams are pretty good in your opinion? again, thanks for your help if ever you see this p.s: i really love your posts and they bring a smile to me face, so thank you for your hard work! <3

Hi!

Ohhh well. First of all. Welcome to the nerve wracking, nail biting, jaw clenching, gut wrenching, heartbreaking and utterly incredible world of (ice) hockey. Angry muscle machines on skates chasing a tiny rubber puck in the nhl and their goddess equivalents in wnhl - what’s not to love?

You’ve decided on a hell of a year to join. Due to Covid, the normal system was paused and a recent bubble playoffs series played and later won by Tampa Bay Lightning a few weeks ago. The new season would’ve begun last week but is currently expected to start around December.

I’d say the best starting point would be to watch some games - YouTube has a lot of highlights, game compilations etc. and browse hockey tumblr. Hockey tumblr is a great combination of hockey gossip, game reviews, fans sharing their love, passion and (hateful) opinions about players, clubs and the sport in general.

My personal team faves are a handful - you see, the league is “split” into two conferences - east and west and within here a few other divisions dictating who the teams will play on a more recent basis. The clubs in the nhl being split over North America and Canada means a lot of ground to cover and therefore it’s split like this - time zones, distance and whatever. So maybe decide on a conference first? East or west.

I’m an eastern conference gal meself, but the west sure has its merits too.

So. Teams. You’re about to start a rumble here 😂

I am a personal fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins 🐧 they play good hockey, in spite of their idiot general manager (I’ve got posts detailing why he’s an ass hat extraordinarie). They’re captained by Canada’s hockey savior, Sidney Crosby: hockey robot, yellow crocs enthusiast , triple gold member (youngest captain to get all three?) and the goodest boy in the league. He’s been heralded as the next great one yada yada since he was about 5? And shot pucks into a dryer back in Canada - with that came a lot of shit for the poor guy who, in his own words, just wants to play hockey. And he’s good. He’s got his team of French Canadian d-men (letang, dumo), a whole lot of goalie drama which seems to be a pattern and his Russian (husband) assistant captain Evgeni Malkin who’s got the cutest kid, a really cool wifey (seriously her insta is 10000 better than geno’s own) and a wicked sense of humor which he conviently hides behind his “English big bad today” excuse to avoid media on a daily basis (he’s played this card since his wild escape and temporary defection from Russia back in 2006) seriously google it. It’s wild. They’ve won three cups since 2009, they’re contenders in the playoffs most years and their pr department provides some hilarious videos of captain Canada and his Russian (husband) A. It’s a true love story. Sue me. We’ve got an intense rivalry with philly and the caps. Seriously. That orange flyers jersey is intense - even if philly’s mascot is the next president.

Funnily enough, my strange obsession with Russian hockey players have led to the most disturbing but developing club crush on the Washington capitals who are the penguins’ nemesis.

I mean, this club led by the one and only gr8 8 mr Alexander Ovechkin is a rollercoaster of emotion and hot daddies in skates armed with sticks and a murder Swede.

So. Washington caps used to be a joke in the league until they went and drafted mr ovechkin first overall, brought him to the capital and let him do his thing. He’s got a rep for being a hell of a lot of fun on the ice (if you’re on his team) and one of those players that people love to hate (even if they can’t take away how freakishly good he is at hockey) - look up his impossible goal(s)! He’s an exuberant, fun loving Russian with a heart of gold and a missing tooth. In 2007, the caps went shopping for a center just for ovi who needed a playmaker and a slap shot feeeder - they went and drafted the Swedish angel (maybe assassin) (Lars) Nicklas Backstrom - and the purest hockey marriage was forged. The actual words (we needed a center for ovi and ovi wanted backstrom) have been said. Yes, these two Are now famously the mama and papa of the caps and they have a roster of unruly (and handsome) hockey babies with the fighting menace Tom Wilson, bird impersonator and Russian cat Evgeni Kuznetzov and a whole army of other adorable (albeit hockey playing menaces) babies. Most recently they had the leagues daddiest daddy goalie Mr Holtbeast as the fun and handsome canadien cowboy uncle but he’s ventured to Vancouver to adopt a new group of hockey babies. To compensate, the caps went shopping in New York and brought the one and only king Henrik from the crease in msg to be the goalie mentor for baby Russian caps goalie and to keep the daddy energy flowing.

(Seriously why are Swedish players part time models? Their national team strategy is to be so handsome the other teams are distracted. It’s a thing. Look it up)

I also love a handful of other players on other teams (I really don’t dislike any team in particular - but you’ll meet some dedicated and strong minded fans here)

Erik Horse Johnson, Cale Makar and Nikita Zadorov (Colorado Avs - zad have recently been traded to the blackhawks (not sure how I feel about that). Phwucking fun team. Who needs teeth anyways.

Marc Andre Fleury (Vegas now but hell always be a penguin to me)

The Russian gang in Tampa - and giant Swede victor Hedman (seriously he’s massive)

The canes (Carolina) and their collective of Finnish and Russian babies (aho, svech) with chaotic Marty and former penguin Baby Staal as captain

And a whole lot of others too. It’s hard to choose.

The Dallas stars and the most precious bean of them all (Russian) dobby - Anton khudobin their backup goalie turned playoffs hero and fashion icon. The man said we’re not going home and threw the entire team on his back and dragged them to the final. And their homoerotically charged captain and his alt captain and their Hollywood epic soap worthy relationship. Stallions, people, Stallions...

Btw we like to project our brash queerness onto this league. You’ll learn why quickly. There’s only so much talks about hot hands, slick moves, eternal love for teammates and quite frankly obscene (sexy) amounts of kneeling, roughing (let’s face its it’s just aggressive cuddling) and teammates honorably defending teammates.

Anyways. I love hockey. He. Sorry.

Fun fact I’ve dragged @canesinthecrease kicking and screaming into the hellhole that is the caps and I’m working on convincing @dontpuckwithme about the incredibly sexy thing that is Russians and Canadians being secretly married in Pittsburgh.

Great, sexy, amazing, cool, smart and wonderful hockey ladies to follow for even more amazing content on more clubs (the hurricanes - also a team I’m starting to love). They’re my queer sherpas and emotional support network.

Hope you can use this dear (new) hockey friend and mutual 💖🐧

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officialthiamlibrary · 4 years ago

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Hey! Do you know of any where one or both of them play a professional sport?

So sorry for the delay, but we are ready with our finds! These are what we could find, but if we are missing any then please let us know and we will add them to our list!

All the Quads Are My Friends by never_love_a_wild_thing (Teen | Complete | 10K)

Tags: AU - Ice Skating, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Idiots in love, Social Media

Summary: Liam and Theo go to Figure Skating Worlds in Milan, ready to prove themselves to the skating world and end up falling in love along the way.

A Peek Inside: “Theo!” Liam shouted, “You can’t just post pictures of me when I’m sleeping!”

“Aw, but you were so cute, though!” Theo smirked at him. Liam decidedly did not blush. “I don’t think you can even see the drool in that picture.”

Liam gaped at him, trying to figure out how to express his unbridled fury without actually killing anyone. “I do. Not. Drool.” He gritted out.

Breaking The Ice by Bookwyrm (Teen | Complete | 8.8K)

Tags: AU Hockey, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Coming Out

Summary: Theo and Liam used to play for rival hockey teams. Things got explosive everytime they shared the ice, but now they've both been traded to the Beacon Hills Wolves.

A Peek Inside: Theo sat on the ice, and gently pulled out the tissues. When no blood flowed he asked, "What the hell is your problem? Are you just the human version of an overly aggressive chihuahua or is it personal?"

Liam gritted his teeth. "My problem is you are the worst kind of hockey player. You don't care about the rules of the game or who gets hurt, unless of course you hurt them on purpose."

Rings Of Fire by LI0NH34RT (Teen | Complete | 3.1K)

Tags: Figure Skating AU, Ice Skating AU, Enemies to Friends to Lovers

Summary: Figure Skater Liam dreamed of being at the Olympics his whole life but when his partner Hayden breaks her ankle at a practice jump too risky, his dream seems over and done.

Theo is a single skater because his attitude makes him incompatible with a partner but that doesn't stop their coach to pair them off in training – Will the flame of their hate burn them out or light up a different fire?

A Peek Inside: “I absolutely do remember that day. Actually that... unfortunate incident made me aware of the sparks the dynamic between you two has.”

“Sparks? More like fire hazard...”, Theo mumbles to himself.

It is true. Every time Liam Dunbar and Theo are in the same room, they fight. It's lucky they didn't share any ice time yet and that has mostly been due to the fact that single skater and pair skaters trained separately on a team as big as team USA.

Going For Gold by AJP_37 (Explicit | WIP | 15K)

Tags: AU Olympics, AU Swimming

Summary: Scott had just up and quit from the Olympic Swim team.

And someway, somehow Coach thought it was acceptable to bring in Theo to take his place.

Liam was not impressed.

Until he was.

A Peek Inside: “But I want Scott back, I don’t want to swim with this guy.”

“Theo. His name is Theo.” Coach rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Liam when you give him the chance I’m sure he is going to be right up your alley.”

“Coach, he’s been in like three different scandals since the qualifiers.” Liam huffed, slumping down into the chair. “There was a reason why the selectors left him in college. He’s not ready for the big stage.”

“And funnily enough that is what every single member of the team and coaching staff said about you.” Coach snapped back, leaning forward on his chair.

finding love on the offroad tracks by xTarmanderx (General | WIP | 10K)

Tags: Slow burn, Motocrossed au

Summary: When Theo Raeken is injured before a major motocross competition, his twin Tara decides to step up to the plate. While their father is overseas looking for a new rider to take over for the event, Tara begs their mother to keep it from him and let her try and race in Theo’s place. Disguising herself as Theo, she takes up the racing circuit to keep the family name attached to the event. Enter Liam Dunbar, a professional biker from a different circuit that immediately can tell Tara isn’t who she claims to be. Theo pleads with Liam to keep their secret and he agrees: on one condition.

A Peek Inside: Despite the recently added dips and new curve to the track, Theo took each challenge effortlessly and sped past his father for a second lap. This time, he risked a glance at the man and saw him shake his head, scribbling frantically down onto his clipboard. His teeth ground together and he hit the curve hard, losing momentum as he sought to right his bike. His grip grew tight, lips pinched as he committed his focus back to the track. His father may be hard on him, but he was nowhere near as unforgiving as the dirt.

Melting the Ice by ExtraSteps (Mature | Complete | 29K)

Tags: Hockey au, Scott is a prick

Summary: Liam's entire world is shaken up when Scott McCall, the captain of the Los Angeles Rams and Liam's mentor at the club, unexpectedly asks to be traded to the Dallas Stars. As Liam struggles to deal with this in both his personal and professional life, his teammate and friend, Theo Raeken, is there to help him in any way he can.

A Peek Inside: He already feels a bit better. As much as they’ve had their differences in the past, he knows that Theo would bleed for him, has in fact done so on multiple occasions, putting himself on the line to protect Liam. If anyone can make Liam feel anchored, its him.

Don’t Forget To Breathe by snaeken (Explicit | Complete | 28K)

Tags: Ice hockey, disabled character, depression, anxiety, mental health discussions, smut

Summary: Formerly a professional ice hockey player in the NHL, Theo suffered a career-ending injury on the ice which resulted in the loss of everything he held dear to him. No longer able to cope with his teammates pity, and the speculation from the media and the general public on how bad his injury really is, Theo runs away. He goes back to the hometown he left behind when he turned pro, hoping to find solace in a place which has previously caused him so much pain. After a chance encounter in a graveyard of all places, Beacon Hills local Liam Dunbar slots himself into Theo’s life, wanting to aid him in both his physical and mental recovery. Theo quickly discovers he’s not the only one who has demons, and when feelings become involved… well that’s just inevitable, isn’t it?

A Peek Inside: Even at this time of night, his phone is still blowing up on his night stand. Colleagues and fans and hecklers and press and god knows who else. He can’t bring himself to unlock it and turn off the notifications. Hopefully the battery will run dry soon. Even when he’s tried not to, he’s still seen snippets of the questions he’s getting.

#thiam #professional athletes thiam #mod: mary #mod: tara #athletes #professional athletes #otlansweredask

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puccbunni · 4 years ago

Text

“Friends”

| Auston Matthews | Maple Leafs |

{ Fuck Up the Friendship - Leah Kate }

Sooo this is my first ever Imagine. I hope you guys like it and sorry for any mistakes, I think I got them all but... Honestly I got a little bored and with the return to play yesterday I figured I’d give a little love for our favourite NHL boys.

WARNINGS:

Swearing

Drinking

Smut (sorry!! Not sorry 🙄)

———————————————————————

You had grown up living next door to Steph and when she began dating Mitch, the three of you became as thick as thieves, so when you and Steph got excepted into Western and moved in together the bond only grew stronger. Mitch often joked around saying he was the real third wheel of the relationship, so he would often invite one of his team mates along so he had company whenever you, Steph and Mitch would hang out. For that reason you had gotten to know Auston pretty well over the last few years and had even became pretty good friends but that was all it ever was, Friends. Sure you had both thought the other was attractive, but you never acted on those thoughts.

After your mid year exams were finally over you and Steph had decided to go out and celebrate making it through the hell that was exam week.

“Would you mind if I invited Mitch?” Steph asked as she bought all of her make up in to your room and started getting ready for the night ahead.

“No of course not I haven’t seen him in ages!” You reply knowing full well that with Mitchs schedule lately and Stephs exams, she hadn’t seen her boyfriend in at least a month.

A wide smile spread across her face as she quickly typed a message to Mitch. He quickly replied back saying that he’d meet us at the club and was bring a few of the boys along cause they missed the two of you as well.

After you finished getting ready, you down a few shots before calling an Uber and making your way to the club. For the first time since knowing the boys you and Steph had somehow managed to beat the rest of the group to your destination. Not wanting to waste any time Steph dragged you to the bar and order two rounds of shots and two cocktails to ‘start off the night’. You down the shots of tequila feeling the slightly golden liquid burn it’s way down your throat and you quickly chased them with the fruity drink that the bartender had just delivered to you, you both thanked him and headed to the booth Mitch had reserved for the night. After 20 minutes and another two rounds of cocktails later the boys were still yet to arrive, feeling buzzed all you wanted to do now was dance, so you decided that you weren’t waiting any longer for the boys and moved down to the dance floor that was starting to become more crowed with intoxicated bodies as the minutes ticked by. A few minutes had passed and Steph who was somehow slightly more intoxicated than you indicated that she needed water, not wanting to leave your new found happy place you simply nodded and went back to swaying with the music. You stayed like this trapped in an alcohol induced trance swaying to the beat of the music playing loudly through the speakers of the club until you felt two large, muscular arms wrap around you waist and pick you up and start to spin you. Panic floods your body as your eyes shoot open to see who your attacker was, you look down and recognise the tattoos that dance up one of the arms of the man that still had you lifted off the ground. As he put your feet back on the ground you try to spin to face him but stumbled slightly due to the alcohol you had ingested.

“Wow there, easy tiger” Auston shouted, barley auditable over the music.

You slapped him in the chest.

“Auston you scared the shit out of me!”

Auston simply laughed and pulled you into a hug.

“Sorry Y/N, I don’t mean to scare you.”

“Where’s everyone else?” You ask looking around slightly as he released you from the hug but kept his hands resting on your hips.

“Over at the bar, we can keep dancing though.” He said leaning in a little closer.

You could tell that although he had just arrived, that Auston had had the same idea as you and had probably down a few drinks before he left because he seemed bolder, more confident, if that was even possible.

You raised an eyebrow at him.

“Oh no buddy, we can go to the bar and you can buy me a drink for giving me a heart attack!” you joked poking your finger into his broad chests, taking a step back to try and gain a little bit of distance between the two of you.

Auston just rolled his eyes but nodded, placing his large hand on your lower back and guiding you to the bar. When you get there you are greeted by the rest of the group. Mitch was standing with his arms around Stephs waist as she giggles at something Willy had just said to her. Kappy and Paige were stood next to him and Freddie was on the other side of Mitch ordering a drink from the bartender.

“Hey there she is!” Willy said pulling you into a hug.

“Long time no see stranger.” You reply with a smile.

You say hello to the rest of the group and turn back to Auston just in time for him to hand the same cocktail you had been drinking earlier with Steph. You thank him and down it quickly not realising how thirsty you were until you had finished the entire drink within a few moments.

“Ohhh so it’s going to be one of those nights.” Freddie laughs as you place the now empty glass back on the bar. You shrug with a smirk plastered on your face.

“Hey I deserve it! This last week has been hell!”

“Cheers to that!” Steph says raising her half empty glass then chugging the remainder of the contents down. Everyone laughs and Mitch rolls his eyes knowing that he is in for a very long an interesting night. You all grab a few drinks and head over to the booth and slip into an easy conversation about life, hockey, work basically just catching up with everyone. You were sat in between Freddie and Auston which left you with very little space and as the night progressed, the more the two of them spread out, leaving you sandwiched between them with no space to move. Auston raised his arm closest to you and placed it on the back of the chair behind your head.

“You comfortable?” He asks as you slid closer to him and into the small space he had created for you.

“Yeah, I forget how big you boys are.” You laugh.

You shuffled your legs as they still didn’t have quite enough room and Freddie’s foot kept getting dangerous close to stepping on your toes. Your knee knocked Austons and he looked down at what you were doing. He used his free hand to grab your legs and swing them over one of his thick thighs pulling you closer towards him. You look up at him with a questioning look.

“What?” Auston asks.

You shake your head and mumble nothing whilst going back to sipping on your drink and trying to pay attention to what Paige was saying.

But your eyes kept darting back to Auston. You had never been this close to him before, never close enough to smell his cologne, never close enough to feel his warm breath on your bare shoulder and maybe it was the alcohol talking, but you liked it. You liked being this close to him, it felt safe and warm. No one seemed to notice, that you were basically sitting in Austons lap, or if they did it didn’t really bother them the way it was bothering you. Everything was hazy and you weren’t entirely sure if it was just the alcohol that was impacting your judgement or Auston’s presence as well, but as his free hand dropped to you bare thigh and started rubbing small circles absentmindedly just above your knee, you knew he was definitely having some sort of effect on you and the smug look on his face told you he knew it too.

”You okay there Y/N?” He ask his lips almost touching your ear.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” You reply keeping yourself facing forward, not trusting yourself enough to make eye contact with him.

His fingers started to move closer to the hem of your very short dress and you instinctively squeeze your thighs together as an ache started to spread in between your legs. He let out a small breathy laugh,

“You sure your okay Baby.”

At the sound of the nickname he had just bestowed onto you, your desire spiked through the roof and you were about willing to let this man, your friend, do absolutely anything he wanted to you right then and there. But Freddie’s laugh bought you plummeting back to reality and you remembered that you were sat at a table, with your friends, in a very public club. You quickly grabbed Auston wrist before his fingers could go any higher.

“Someone will notice!” You whisper harshly.

“And?” He cocked his eyebrow.

“And, I am not doing this here!” You exclaim.

“Then let’s get out of here.” He said raising his drink casually back up to his lips, like he hadn’t just asked you to go home with him.

“What?” You ask shocked at his question. You quickly looked around the table and thanked your lucky stars that everyone seemed to be too deep in conversation with one another to have noticed your very shocked expression.

“You said you aren’t doing this here, so the logical solution would be to get out of here.” He stated like it was a commonly known fact. You rolled your eyes.

“I am not going home with you Auston.”

“Oh I think you will change your mind.” You weren’t looking at him but you could practically feel his smirk dripping off his words.

You tried to move your legs off his thigh but his hand grab them halting your movements, before sliding them back up his leg. You knew he was right if you stayed in this position you would change your mind, actually you really wouldn’t because your mind already wanted to go home with him. Your mind wanted to feel his skin on yours, his lips discovering every part of your body, that’s what your mind and your body wanted. But the small amount of common sense you had left was screaming out that this was a bad idea, a terrible idea, that you were friends and that’s all you ever will be and that this is just the alcohol talking not Auston, the real, sober Auston.

“I need to got to the bathroom.” You state and push his hand off your leg and half shove him out of the booth.

You quickly make your way through the crowded club and into the bathroom where you lock yourself in one of the cubicles. God you needed to get a grip. This is Auston we are talking about, Auston freaking Matthews. You were friends JUST friends, so why the hell did you want to sleep with him right now? And even better question since when did he want to sleep with you? You had never been flirty with each other before, granted you had always been seeing other people and had never really been single at the same time before. But still you had never thought you were his type or vice versa. After a few deep breaths you finally managed to pull yourself together and calm you nerves and your growing desire enough to face him again. You unlocked the cubicle and checked your appearance in the mirror touching up your lipstick up slightly and opened the bathroom doors. As you took a step out of the bathroom Auston grabbed you by the waist pulled you into him and smashed his lips down onto yours. You raised your two hands and shoved him off you slightly.

“Hey I just touched up my lipstick, asshole.”

Auston laughed and dipped his forehead down so it rested on yours.

“That’s all you have to say right now Y/N?”

“I- umm I..” you stutter as you fully take in the fact that he had just kissed you. Auston Matthews had just kissed you.

“You kissed me.” You state rather stupidly looking into his eyes.

“I did and I very much want to do it again.” He says using one of his hands to cup your face.

He starts to lean in.

“If you don’t want this just tell me to stop Y/N.” His eyes scanning yours for any kind of uncertainty.

But you couldn’t be more certain, you wanted him and that small ounce of common sense you had left evaporated the second his lips touched yours.

“I want you.” You whisper, you aren’t even sure if he heard you over the music, but the smile that spreads across his face confirms that he does.

“Good cause I really want to ruin that damn lipstick now.” He growled crashing his lips back into yours.

You weren’t sure how long it was that you were making out with Auston or who saw but honestly you didn’t really care. You were too caught up in each other, you know you had somehow managed to break apart from each other long enough to call an Uber and text Steph that you weren’t feeling well and were going to head home. The next thing you know you are stumbling through the front door of Austons apartment. He pushed you up against the wall after slamming the door shut behind you, his tongue tasting like the whisky he had been sipping on.

“Bedroom” you say as his lips moved down to you neck.

“Needy are we?” He chuckles against your neck.

“Shut up.” You moan as he starts sucking at your sweet spot just behind your ear. Your hands running up his neck and then up into his soft curls.

He takes you to his room and pushes you on his bed and takes of his shirt. You prop yourself up on your elbows and rake your eyes up his bare chest drinking in the sight of him before you.

“Like what you see baby.” He smirks.

You roll your eyes at his cockiness.

“Eh, it’ll do.” you shrug and he scoffs.

He grabs you by your ankles and drags you to the end of his bed. He pulls your dress up over your head, leaving you laying in a matching black lace set that you know makes you look good.

“Like what you see baby.” You mock him as you catch him staring at you the same way you were doing to him moments before.

“It will do.” He reply’s and you both start laughing.

He crawls on to the bed, your lips dancing with his as his large body covered yours with ease. You both shuffle up the bed until your head hits the pillows. He starts kissing your neck, sucking and biting slightly as his large hand squeezes you boobs over your lace bra. He reaches behind you and unclips your bra sliding the material down your arms and tossing it across his room.

You unbutton his jeans and helped him get them off. You start palming his already hard dick through his boxers and as you felt him heavy in your hand it became more and more unbearable not having him in you. You were thankful when he looped his fingers in the band of your underwear and dragged them down your legs. As soon as your underwear was discarded his fingers are dancing on your clit.

“Ah, fuck.” You moan causing him to smirk for the millionth time that night.

“God you’re so wet baby.” He says against your neck as his lips leave a hot trail down your neck to your left breast taking your hardening nipple into his mouth. Your back arches and you moan louder as he slips a finger into you entrance.

“Aus, please.” You gasp throwing your head back against the pillows.

“Want do you want Y/N?” He asks whilst slipping another finger in you.

“I want you.” You say for the second time that night, not caring how needy you sounded.

He quickly rids himself of his boxers and grabs a condom off his bedside table and rolls it down his length. He lined his tip up with your entrance.

“You sure Y/N.” He asks in a quiet voice, checking your eyes for any sign of hesitation.

You cupped his face kissing his lips softly.

“Yes.” You answer without a shred of doubt.

He pushes into you slowly aware that his length was a lot for you to take in. He stills momentarily once your pelvises touch and he is fully sheathed inside of you, stretching you in the most delicious way. Auston captures your moan in his mouth as he moves his hips back before snapping them forward again. His thrusts were firm and once you had adjusted, his pace quickened to a relentless pace that had you seeing stars.

“Fuck Y/N.” He groaned as you raked you nails down his back.

Sweat had began to gather on his brow and the base of his neck making some of his dark curls stick to the skin. The harder and fast he thrusted into you the louder you both got. You felt the small bubble in your stomach start to grow.

“God, fuck I am close.” Auston moaned dropping his hand down to your clit again to bring on your release on faster.

You felt his thrust become sloppy as you began to tighten around him.

“Don’t stop.” You begged as the bubble within began to burst and you came hard around his member, Auston found his high moments after yours. He rolled off of you and got up to discard the condom before slipping back into bed next you, pulling the blankets up over your naked bodies and you tightly into his chest where you both quickly fell asleep wrapped up in each other.

The next morning you woke up just before five, your legs tangled up with Austons, his large arm draped across your torso and you could hear his light snores telling you that he was still asleep. You carefully untangle yourself and slip from the bed, grabbing your clothes that were scattered around his room and you sneak out of his apartment before your ‘friend’ has the chance to wake up.

#imagines #auston matthews #auston matthews imagine #auston matthews smut #auston matthews x reader #toronto maple leafs #toronto maple leafs imagine #toronto maple leafs smut #nhl imagines #nhl smut #nhl #nhl return to play #fanfic #fiction #writers on tumblr

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iamtheblondestblonde · 5 years ago

Text

Slides and Serendipity

Part Eight (4.5k)

Masterlist

AN: Lots of stuff happening. Also I wrote most of this after emptying an entire bottle of cider by myself so I take no responsibility for any mistakes (yes I sunk that low)

Warnings: probably swearing (idek anymore), alcohol?

“I’m in trouble Lisa, he’s definitely trouble”, I said to my best friend as I stood in my closet, phone pressed to my ear. Ever since the party my thoughts had been running wild and I had come to the realization that I couldn’t handle being just friends with benefits with Tyler. Right now it was more like friends with one-sided feelings.

“Yeah I saw that coming from a mile away. What changed?”

I told her how I’d been the last one to leave Tyler’s house at the party last week. After dancing around with Roope and Jamie I’d sat outside for a while to cool off, Tyler joining me on the sofa not long after. He’d started pestering me for juicy details of my threesome, but Lisa and I had promised each other to not tell any specifics. As soon as he realized that I wouldn’t tell him who it was with he gave up on the topic, switching to something less intrusive instead.

We’d spent the rest of the night there, only leaving once to grab more blankets as the temperature dropped. With my legs tucked underneath me and his arm around my body, apparently I’d looked like I was cold, we’d spent hours talking and trying to see the stars dimmed by the city lights. As the time had passed I’d found myself snuggling closer and closer but at one point I practically couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.

He tried to convince me to stay, but with my house only being a five minute walk away there was no logical reason to accept his offer, even if I really wanted to. The dogs had all found comfortable spots on his couch to sleep and the sight was so domestic that it almost broke my heart to wake Yogi up so we could leave.

Tyler had insisted on walking me home again and as I hugged him goodbye I knew that I was in some deep shit. It wasn’t like I’d actively tried to avoid falling for anyone up to this point, I’d just had a more it’ll happen when it happens approach, meaning I didn’t particularly look for anyone either.

In hindsight I should have seen it coming with the amount of time we spent with each other and the way he reminded me of the one guy I’d ever had feelings for but yet it still took me by surprise.

He’d texted me a couple of times while being away and saying that I wasn’t looking forward to his snapchats would be a lie.

“So what are you going to do now?”, Lisa asked after listening to me telling her about what happened. I had thought about this a lot, especially since Tyler had asked me to come over for a bit before his first game of the pre season tonight. I wanted to go and watch in person but Mia wasn’t free tonight and I didn’t want to go by myself, so I promised I’d cheer on him from the confines of my couch.

Mia, Jason and I had finished working on our first day together an hour ago and I had just stepped out of the shower when Lisa had finally returned my calls.

“I don’t really have a choice, either it’s just friends or something more and I’m pretty sure that that isn’t what he is looking for right now.” I didn’t want to ruin our friendship by admitting anything to him prematurely so my only option was to wait for him to take the first step.

“You don’t know that.”

“Well no but I don’t know, seems highly unlikely.”

I put her on speaker as I put on some yoga pants and a loose shirt and when I looked at my screen I saw that I had a message from Tyler.

Ty: I’m cooking do you want some?

Me: Depends on what you’re cooking because I’m not in the mood for food poisoning

Ty: Funny as always..

Ty: Pasta, salmon and some salad I think even I can handle that

I hadn’t eaten lunch yet either, so I called for Yogi and then told Lisa that I had to hang up now.

“Go get your man.”

“Fuck off Lisa.”

The weather was nice today so it came as no surprise that Gerry was enjoying the pool, Marshall and Cash still wet from having taken a dip themselves sometime before we arrived. Yogi was more than happy to join the action and I already dreaded having to brush out the tangles in his fur tonight.

The food actually smelled really good and this time I let Tyler tell me what to do, as I didn’t want to mess with any pre-game superstitions. He did let me make some adjustments to the pasta sauce though. We took our meals outside so we could properly enjoy the sunshine, something I knew we both liked to do.

I tried to act normal and I was pretty sure that I was doing a great job or at least Tyler didn’t let it on if he picked up on something being off.

It was crazy, ever since my realization my feelings had snowballed and now I found myself overthinking every little action, trying to figure out what was going on in his head while also being confused of the mess that was my thoughts.

Afterwards we settled in the media room to watch some kind of animal documentary that Jamie had recommended, but we ended up mostly just talking and laughing until it was time for his nap and for me to go home again. Time always seemed to fly with him.

“I won’t wish you good luck because you’re definitely too good for that. Have fun tonight Ty, I’ll be watching closely.”

“Thanks, I’ll try my best to put one in the net for you.”

I hugged him closely and he pressed a kiss to my temple, making my thoughts go crazy. Perhaps him leaving for over a week on a roadtrip after the game would give me some much needed distance.

He didn’t put one in the net for me that night and I felt bad for him because of the loss, even if it was still only a pre season game. The team had been doing well after that, winning the following two games but Tyler hadn’t been on the ice for those.

Mia had asked me to go out with her because Elias would be staying with her grandparents for the weekend and without having any say in it I found myself in a crowded country bar on a Saturday evening. I’d even donned some boots that Mia had dug up from somewhere but I drew the line at the jeans shorts and a flannel, opting for long skinny jeans and a normal shirt instead. The boots were cute but I was nowhere near a country girl so the full get-up would only feel phony.

Mia taught me some dance moves and I even tried riding the bull-thingy, unsurprisingly not lasting very long. It did make me thirsty though so I made my way over to the bar, which offered a broad selection of beers to my delight.

“I could give you some lessons if you want me to”, I heard a voice next to me. I turned to my left and recognized the guy who had sat on the bull before me. While the time he lasted on the damn thing was impressive in itself, I’d been more captivated by his looks.

He had given me a ‘The Longest Ride’ vibe from the moment I laid eyes on him, a dark haired version of Scott Eastwood. For a second I contemplated shooting him down, but he gave off genuinely nice guy vibes with his bright smile and I could really use the distraction right now.

“How about we start with a drink instead?”, I asked, giving him my best smile. He chuckled but waved over the bartender nevertheless, ordering a round of shots and beer after taking a look at the bottle that I had in my hand.

His name was Mark and he had to lean down to hear me because he was so tall. This made me miss my heels but I also kind of liked the way he had to get close to me during our conversation at the bar.

“I’m actually here with a friend though and I don’t want to abandon her.”

“No need for that, why don’t you just bring her over to our booth over there?” He pointed over to a small group of guys that could have made up the cover of a cowboy calendar. Mia would be more than happy to spend some time with them.

She didn’t mind at all, of course, only telling me that this reminded her of our days in college when we didn’t have to spend any money at all and still stumbled out of the club drunk.

Hours later I was still dancing with Mark but what had started innocently was not so innocent by now. He had taken off his flannel long ago and his cowboy hat was now firmly planted on my hair while got to enjoy his tan skin and muscular built, results of hard work on his horse ranch.

I hadn’t gotten laid in almost two months and all the confusion from the situation with Tyler made me want to go further than I usually did with random strangers. It also helped that he could be the lead actor in any country romance movie. Mia seemed to really get along with one of his friends who promised to take good care of her and gave me his address so I could hunt him down if needed. Let’s just say it wasn’t like she minded me disappearing either.

It wasn’t until the next morning, after seeing Mark out, that I realized that I had forgotten to check on Tyler’s game, his messages from last night still unopened and portraying the frustration he felt after playing and having to watch Minnesota put six in the net.

Tonight I would finally get to watch Tyler play. I had to miss the game on Thursday because I had to attend some meetings for Bumble in Austin yesterday but now it was finally time.

After a brutal workout at the gym I’d gone over to his house in the morning to make breakfast after his morning skate, something that had somehow turned into our weekend routine.

It was the last game of the pre season and against Denver out of all teams. Mara had texted me earlier to tell me that while she was still rooting for the Avs, she wouldn’t be mad if they lost tonight, which was a compliment in itself.

Mia had arranged for a sitter so she could come to the game with me and I insisted on going over to AAC early so we could watch the warmups, wanting her to get the full experience for her very first ice hockey game. I didn’t have a Stars jersey but I did own a hoodie in victory green. Tyler had offered to hook me up with some merch but I declined because I honestly couldn’t handle wearing his jersey right now.

Mark had been an alright distraction but as soon as I saw Tyler again after the trip I was reminded of the mixed feelings that I was desperately trying to get in order.

The sex with Mark had been fun, although not mindblowing, and under different circumstances I probably would have hooked up with him again but I needed to get my shit together first. While throwing myself under someone else to get over whatever this thing with Tyler was sounded very appealing, I knew that it would only distract me for so long.

Mia honked from my driveway, ripping me out of my thoughts and I checked Yogi’s food and water again before grabbing my things and making my way out of the door. Following Emily’s recommendation I had installed a doggy door that would only open when a chip in his collar got close, meaning he was free to roam the backyard as he wished while still not enabling any instrusions. It was kind of ugly but I’d figure out a way to make it look good. This way he would be fine on his own for the next couple of hours at least.

I could tell that Mia was excited, her choice of music only pumping her up even more. I was really looking forward to this as well. My last hockey game had been during the playoffs in Denver and while watching the games on TV so far was fine, nothing beat watching them live.

We were early enough to still snatch a spot up at the glass for warmups next to a family, something I’d never experienced either. Whenever I’d go with the girls one of us had always taken longer than planned so by the time we’d make it to the arena we could only watch from our seats.

Mia and I had seen each other almost every day of the week so far, but yet we still found things to talk about until the guys finally stepped onto the ice. After passing some pucks Tyler skated a lap around the rink, stopping in front of us when he finally spotted me.

“Look who finally made it”, he teased and I was tempted to flip him off but I was also very aware of the many eyes watching our every move so I only stuck my tongue out at him.

“Yeah and you better win tonight or I’m not coming again.” I was kidding of course.

“I guess I have no choice then.”

“I know you’ll do great. Go ahead and crush them”, I said and he looked like he wanted to say something, but then stopped himself, which of course only made me curious. It was times like this where I was almost convinced that perhaps he liked me back as well but I knew how unlikely that was. I might not be a professional athlete but I did understand the perks of not settling down as well.

He was called over for some drills, effectively breaking the look we shared right now and he shot a quick smile at me before tapping his stick to the glass and then skating off.

“Just friends my ass”, Mia whispered in my ear and I elbowed her in turn. I was surprised that she’d picked up on the weird tension between Tyler and I. We’d talked about him a couple of times during the week, especially as we’d made plans for the game tonight, but I hadn’t told anyone but Lisa about my current dilemma. She sensed I wasn’t in the mood to elaborate though and quickly let it go after that, which I was really thankful for.

After the warmups we decided to grab some food and drinks before finally settling in our seats. Katie had asked us to join her and the others up in the box but I declined, wanting to spend some one on one time with an old friend during the game. Besides I’d be up there during opening night soon enough.

The game wasn’t off to a very good start and while the first period was action packed on both sides, it left the Stars trailing behind by two goals. Mia was a bit confused at first but I gave her a quick crash course and soon enough she picked up on the mood in the arena, following the lead of the other fans on when to cheer and when to boo.

I used intermission to wait in the ridiculously long line for the restrooms and to check my phone, Mara flooding the group chat with messages that were practically a play by play of the game. I shot a quick text to Tyler, even if I knew that he probably wouldn’t get a look at his phone until after the game.

It was different to watch a game when you actually knew the players on the ice. I probably hadn’t been this on the edge of my seat during any sporting event since the soccer world cup finals in 2014.

After Tyler finally scored my screaming could probably be heard by Mara all the way in Denver. Mia and I were hugging each other, way too excited for the Avs still being in the lead.

Colorado scored again in the third and at this point I was already considering my options on how to cheer Tyler up. Mentally I was already going through my cute animals folder to pick out the cutest puppies to show Tyler afterwards, something that always made me feel better.

With less than four minutes left the Stars scored and Tyler had the assist so it was back to screaming and jumping for Mia and I. By the time Jamie scored to even out the score we were practically wrapped around each other, hoping for one last goal.

It didn’t happen and overtime wasn’t any better, not for lack of trying though.

“Your first time watching a hockey game and you get to watch a shootout you lucky bitch.”

“I’m just glad because this time it will be easy to follow the puck, the stupid thing moves so fast that I lose it every few seconds.”

At this point we couldn’t even stay seated if we wanted to, not that we did, because everyone else was on their feet to see what would happen. Shootouts were always brutal and not for the first time that night I was glad that I’d put on some lipstick because otherwise my lips would probably bleed from constantly biting them. Life hack by the way.

With the sound of the final buzzer I was pulled into the arms of the middle aged man to my left that I had never seen before, but I didn’t mind because I was so happy that the Stars had won. For this being only a pre season game things surely had escalated quickly.

Mia was still buzzing by the time we made our way out of the arena, enthusiastically recounting her favorite moments of the game. She would probably never watch games on TV but I knew from experience that it was hard not to fall for hockey when you got to watch games live. Perhaps I could take her again sometime, I had a feeling that she’d like glass seats even better.

The amount of fans trying to leave at the same time had slowed us down quite a bit so we were still at the parking garage when I felt my phone buzz with a call.

“Hey Ty what’s up?”

“Sorry I just got out of the shower or I would have called sooner but I wanted to ask if you want to come out with us tonight. You should bring your friend too, we’re celebrating the end of a good pre season.”

I really tried not to think of him dripping wet from his shower but it still took me a couple of seconds to relay his invitation to Mia.

“Sorry I can’t, the sitter can’t stay over that late but you should definitely go out with them.” I didn’t want to abandon Mia in the parking lot like this, but she practically forced me to say yes and not soon after I was led through the arena by a security guard that Tyler had sent.

There was a group already waiting outside the locker rooms when I arrived, some of the guys greeting me enthusiastically. Roope even went as far as to lift me up so he could spin me around, saying that I was their good luck charm. I didn’t spot Tyler yet but I did see some of the girls so I made my way over to them. Some people must have already left, especially the players with kids, but the group was still big due to some of the rookies coming along as well.

I was just talking to Katie and Dominika about the game when I felt strong arms wrap around me from behind. By now I was very familiar with Tyler’s scent so I didn’t even hesitate before reaching up to put my hands on his forearms, tilting my head so I could smile up at him.

“We won so that means you can never miss a home game again”, he said and I laughed, not quite remembering that part of the agreement but also not willing to protest either.

The group must have finally been complete because now everyone was walking towards the exit, making a lot of noise and drawing looks from the few remaining employees.

I’d gotten my fair share of VIP treatment, money does solve a lot of problems after all, but yet I never really got used to the judging looks of people when security guards usher you through. The bouncers didn’t even question the presence of the rookies, even though some of them were definitely still underage, yet another bonus. It was the same club I’d been to with the girls a couple of weeks ago but up in the lounge everything was much more relaxed and the tables were actually clean.

“First round of shots is on me as a thank you for being so nice to me ever since I met all of you”, I called out before handing the waitress my credit card, loud cheering erupting from the rest of the group.

“Ooof our sugar mama, look at that shiny black”, Katie whooped and I just winked at her, receiving a kiss on the cheek in return. Meeting Tyler had been great in itself, but the friends I had made through him were a close second. I’d endure an eternity of unrequited feelings if it meant getting to keep everyone else in my life.

Several rounds of shots later I was out of breath from all the dancing, choosing to take a break in the lounge once again. Our group was split up by now, some lingering up here and others still tearing up the dance floor. I’d done my fair share of dancing as well, jumping around with the boys and pulling out the sexy moves with the girls. Hockey players definitely came in clutch for that part, as not a single guy came up to bother us, too scared of the human fridges that always kept a watchful eyes on us.

I’d danced with Tyler the most, his slight lack of rhythm being a great excuse to make him wrap his arms around me so I could ‘guide’ him. Perhaps I was a masochist after all.

I could spot Esa and Anna having a dance off with Klinger and Fanny from my spot against the railing and I watched them for a while before looking around some more.

Tyler was standing close to the bar, currently talking to one of his friends that had arrived some time after us. Tonight had been the first night where I could see his NHL fame in full action and it was both mesmerizing and terrifying to watch.

At all the other parties he’d known the other guests to some capacity at least so it wasn’t as bad, but tonight I got to watch girls literally throw themselves at him. Yes literally, I’d watched one of them ‘accidentally’ trip so he had to prevent her from falling not long ago. Some waited until I left his side, some just straight up didn’t care, interrupting our conversations or dancing without any regard for me. To my surprise I’d seen him turn down every single one of them so far but it was like a Roman battle formation, others always stepped up to close the gap. They were hot, there was no doubt about that and if I’d swing that way I’d definitely pick up some of them myself.

“I’m surprised Tyler let you out of his reach.” Roope’s voice ripped me out of my people watching trance and I looked up to him in question.

“I just overheard some of the rookies talking about how you’re fair game because they think that he hasn’t locked you down yet. I kinda want one of them to make a move so I can watch him put them in their place, he knows what’s going on.”

“You’re being mean. You were a rookie not so long ago.”

“Yeah and I had to deal with lots of shit so now it’s my turn.” I only shook my head at his ridiculousness, not really wanting to respond to his statement. Technically they were right and no matter how much I tried to convince myself of the opposite, that definitely stung a little bit.

“I’m being a good friend right now so I’m telling you that there’s this girl who’s been looking at you all evening and she looks like she’s nice. You could even braid each other’s hair,” I deflected, pointing towards the girl in question. Roope shoved me before flipping me off but his smile said that he’d go down to talk to her either way.

I chugged down the last few sips of my beer, quickly making my way back downstairs before any of the rookies could act out on their stupid idea. I doubted that Tyler would actually lash out at them if they did but I also didn’t want to tempt fate. Tyler waved me over as soon as he saw me walking down the stairs and I slowly made my way towards him, the writhing sweaty bodies and my height, or lack thereof, not helping at all.

I wasn’t even surprised anymore when he pulled me towards him as soon as I finally made it. Despite his bad boy looks I knew by now that he was a big teddy bear who loved to cuddle, the alcohol only making it worse. Or better, because he gave amazing hugs. He’d introduced me to his friend a while ago and I seamlessly slipped into their conversation until Tyler took me by surprise when he asked me if I was ready to leave yet. A closer look made it clear how exhausted he really was, his tired eyes not something I’d noticed up until this point.

“I honestly would’ve just gone straight home after the game but the others practically forced me to invite you along so I had no other choice because I wanted to spend some time with you”, he said once we had made ourselves comfortable in the backseat of the uber.

My heart was doing somersaults of course but my brain told me that it couldn’t keep up reminding me for much longer that there was no way he actually liked me back. I’d never been on this side of feelings and I definitely wasn’t handling it well.

#Slides and Serendipity #tyler seguin imagine #tyler seguin fanfiction #Tyler Seguin #Dallas #dallas stars #nhl imagine #nhl #hot hockey players #nhl writing

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stars-in-my-universe · 5 years ago

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Bad Idea: Part 7

Summary: When pop star Trixie can’t get her act together, her team makes a deal with the NHL…one that she can’t turn down. When NHL player Tyler Seguin can’t seem to get himself under control his team decides to thrust a certain Pop star into his life. Can the two play nice?

Warnings: Cussing.

Note: You guys have been wonderful, honestly with the whole world in lock down, it’ll give me time to write a bit more so hopefully I can get more out. Send me your thoughts, send me some prompts or drabbles I shall be here watching netflix and catching up on shows.

It was Friday and Trixie sat on the piano bench in a cute little summer dress and brown boots, hair done up and make up done perfectly down to her lipstick and Tyler wasn’t here, not that Trixie had been relying on him to show up. He said he would, even texted her the night before asking for the time and the address. It’s not like she expected him to show up; It just would have been nice for him to keep his word.

“Alright Trix, we’re ready for you to start.” Trixie nodded and traced the keys of the piano getting ready to start. They had already done the interview portion of it and now were moving on to the performance part. She knew the routine, the interview part was just the intro to her performance and to give a preview for any future tours or albums, and honestly an easy way to dig into her private life.

“Okay Trixie in 3...2...1.” She always got nervous performing no matter how many times she had done it and today was no different. Her leg started to bounce as she watched her team from behind the sound booth. Cami sent her a small smile encouraging her to go on; Trixie took a breath and grabbed the microphone to bring a little closer to her.

“So, hello everyone my name's Trixie, I’m sure you all knew that. I’m just going to be here in spotify’s lovely live lounge singing some songs for you all…” Her voice trailed off as she watched the sound booth door open and Tyler walk in. The butterflies had surprised her as she watched him apologize and look around a little confused in his black button up and jeans. He of course had on a snap back on with the Dallas stars logo which made her smile.

He had actually made it. Tyler was directed to sit on the couch which he did as quietly possible. Trixie took notice as to how her pr manager had whispered something to Tyler. He shook his head and looked over at Trixie, their eyes locking for a moment. She sent him a nod which he acknowledged with a small smile.

“So here’s Someone you loved by Lewis Capaldi, good man, great voice, great song.” Trixie cleared her throat and closed her eyes and started the beginning keys of the song.

“I'm going under and this time I fear there's no one to save me. This all or nothing really got a way of driving me crazy.I need somebody to heal, Somebody to know, Somebody to have, Somebody to hold ,It's easy to say .But it's never the same, I guess I kinda liked the way you numbed all the pain.”

Tyler watched as Trixie sang the song he had never heard of, he didn’t listen to much music on the radio but he couldn’t deny that she was talented.

“Now the day bleeds Into nightfall And you're not here To get me through it all I let my guard down And then you pulled the rug I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved…”

The last line is what hit Tyler, he could tell this wasn’t just a song to her. Trixie had been hurt, deeply and he had no idea how deep. She hadn’t opened her eyes, letting the music completely over take her. She continued to sing and play the piano effortlessly, kind of how hockey came naturally to Tyler, music came naturally to her.

Cami glanced over at Tyler, she had seen Trixie perform more times than she could count that she sometimes forgot how much vulnerability Trixie was actually showing until she saw the look of awe on Tyler’s face. Sighing, she got up and sat next to the hockey player on the couch making him jump slightly at her presence.

“I’m surprised you came.” She spoke in a hushed whisper; Tyler glanced at Trixie’s best friend.

“I told her we’d try to work through this and she asked me to come.” Cami nodded and looked back to Trixie. She wondered if Tyler realized how much Trixie was opening up in the sound booth without actually talking about anything.

“It’s about Anderson isn’t it?” Cami nodded without looking at him, so he knew about the ex.

“It’s always about him, Tyler. He did a number on her, I watched her have to walk down a red carpet nursing a broken heart, I watched her win an award for best female artist the day he ended it with her. The morning of that award show he had called her and broke it off.” Tyler nodded, what a dick.

“Yeah but wasn’t it mostly a publicity stunt?” Cami shook her head.

“She fell for him, hard, Tyler. She was head over heels, wanting to settle down in love. And then he had cheated and left her. You can ask her the rest if you want but she’s still healing Tyler.” He didn’t say anything.

“Don’t hurt her, please. She’s a good girl.” He went to ask Cami what she meant and to let her know it wasn’t like that at all, but the girl had already stood back up and continued to watch Trixie.

“I let my guard down And then you pulled the rug, I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved…”

Tyler watched Trixie play the final key of the song and when she opened her eyes he could see how they were rimmed red with tears; and a part of him wanted to know the whole story, what had happened. Josh Anderson always seemed like a decent person and who was Tyler to judge, he had broken his own set of hearts. Trixie seemed very hard on the surface But as he watched Trixie wipe her eyes with the back of her hand trying not to smear her makeup all he could think of was how fragile was she really?

X-x

She really thought she was in the clear, she really thought she could wrap this up and go get some Jamba juice and just relax the rest of the day. She was wrong.

“So I know we usually do the interview part before the session, however we noticed Trixie, you had a visitor during your performance, care to elaborate?” Tirxie knew this was part of the plan, Tyler had made a public appearance, they were supposed to be dating. She glanced back at the sound booth and saw Tyler nod at her. When the hell did she become so reliant on him?

“Yeah Jeff, I don’t know if you watch hockey or anything but I snagged myself a hockey player.” The host laughed and shook his head.

“Wouldn’t be your first one,” Trixie shrugged, not really saying anything, she just wanted to get out of there.

“What’s this one’s name?”

“Tyler, Seguin, Tyler Seguin.” The host cleared his throat.

“I’m assuming he plays for the Dallas stars?” Trixie nodded not saying much about his team.

“The same player who posed naked for the ESPN magazine? I remember when that magazine was released everywhere, nice job. ” Trixie cringed and glanced over at Tyler. He was no longer sitting, now standing in front of the glass that separated the two. Arms crossed and a hard expression on his face. Sighing, Trixie turned back toward the host.

“How did you even manage that? You two seem to be a match made in hell.” Of course, the world saw the two as a player and a princess. Why wouldn’t they be a match made in hell.

“We’ll see, it’s still fresh and new. I’ll tell you something though, he’s definitely arm candy.” The host let out another laugh, good. Keep them entertained, keep them from asking any more questions that she didn’t feel like answering.

“Well you heard it here you guys, Trixie and Tyler Seguin. Look out Dallas, you may have a new power couple on the scene.” Trixie rolled her eyes and shook her head, sometimes she wondered if any of this was worth it.

X-x

“So, thanks for coming.” Trixie and Tyler had decided to grab a quick lunch before he had to go home and pack for his plane tonight. He glanced up at her and nodded, with a small smile he watched as she ate her turkey sandwich from subway with a smile on her face.

“No worries, I told you I’d come. Sorry for being late though, there was traffic-” Trixie shook her head and took a sip of her drink.

“There’s always traffic downtown it’s okay.” The two ate in comfortable silence until Tyler decided to break the wall she was holding up.

“Tell me about him.” He could feel her tense up from across the table, taking notice to how all movement stopped.

“Tyler…” He put his sandwich down and stared back at her, he just wanted to get to know more about her, why she was so guarded and why Josh was the one who made her this way.

“If you don’t want to, it’s okay. I just want to know more about you, understand you, Trixie. You’re clearly not over him.” He took notice of the glare she sent him but honestly at this point he was going to dig until she caved. They were supposed to be working on being friends any ways, this would be a good place to start.

Tyler could tell she was having a battle in her head, he knew she was trying to decide whether or not she could trust him, but who was he going to tell without exposing his current situation? After a couple moments of silence and nothing but the cars in the street going by Trixie spoke up.

“What do you want to know?” Tyler raised an eyebrow at her tone of voice, she was hard and cold and he didn’t know if he hit a switch or if this is just how she was when it came to her ex.

“Start from the beginning, how did it become more?” He offered, he wanted her to feel comfortable talking about it without feeling too pressured.

“He uh, I guess he wasn’t getting the recognition he deserved in the hockey world. He was up against a lot of good players on his team. His manager didn’t like that he was so quiet, didn’t really attend events, so they sent me in. We got to know each other...for weeks. We were photographed together, we went out to clubs with his friends. I went to a couple of his home games, he showed up at a couple of my talk shows and performances. It was easy and comfortable and there was a friendship forming until it became more one night.” Trixie picked up a pickle off her sandwich and popped it into her mouth, she loved pickles.

“You’re gross.” She smiled a wide smile at Tyler making him laugh.

“He came over one night, a little drunk may I add. Proceeded to tell me how pretty I am, how he’s always thinking about me, the same old thing most guys tell girls to get laid and it worked. I slept with him that night. As time went on, we got closer and eventually it turned into us actually dating. Going out, introducing me to his friends as his girlfriend. I would stay over his house a lot of the time, I was happy. We dated for close to a year, the thing I didn’t know was the deeper I fell for him the further he pulled away.” Tyler was confused, he knew you couldn’t help who you liked but to waste at least a year on someone and then cheat? He also couldn’t help to think who the hell would cheat on Trixie? She was hot, really hot, gorgeous even. How did one just throw her away?

“We voided the contract half way through our relationship, they paid us both and we continued on with what we were but like I said he was pulling further and further away. He wouldn’t ask me to stay over anymore, I would fly from California to Columbus and spend hardly any time with him, after the games he would text me to meet him at home and he’d go out with the guys. TMZ loves me, I’m one of their favorite topics every week.” Tyler could tell she was annoyed.

“So as soon as they found me one night out alone at a club with no boyfriend on my arm they ate that shit up and decided to print it in their headlines that there was trouble in paradise and even though they were right, it was still annoying and still hurt to read.” She stopped and glanced down at the table, her leg shaking hard, a habit Tyler learned she did when she was extremely nervous.

“I had to go back to California for one of the music award shows, he couldn’t come with me because he had a game which wasn’t a problem. It was his job and I understood that. I had woken up that morning in California with a text from him a text that said ‘call me.’ So I did and that’s when he told me he wanted to be with someone else, he had been seeing her for months apparently.” Trixie let out a shaky breath and Tyler watched carefully as the woman in front of him slowly tried to keep herself together.

“I loved him Tyler, I really did. I felt my heart break into a million pieces that morning, I remember crying so hard and calling Cami, asking her to come pick me up and to call my manager to cancel the show. I had an award to accept, a red carpet to walk down and a performance for my fans and I felt like I wanted to just crawl in a hole and never come back out.” Tyler was starting to understand a little bit more how strong she was. He watched her and the two jumped when his phone went off, Trixie sighed and went to reach for her phone, assuming he was going to answer it but then he did something that surprised both of them.

He silenced the call and shoved it into his pocket looking back up at her.

“Sorry, go on.” Trixie stared at him for a moment and then continued.

“Cami knew how much of a mess I was but she also knew they couldn’t cancel anything on such short notice. So with a couple shots of tequila and a few pep talks from her, I walked down that red carpet, head held high, I accepted the award for best female artist with a broken heart and I performed for my fans with tears streaming down my face moments before.” She finally looked up at Tyler and he could see what she had been hiding this whole, the broken heart she was nursing.

“I haven’t talked to him since, it’s been months and I’m finally okay with that. It still stings though, to know I wasn’t good enough.” Tyler shook his head.

“He’s nothing, Trixie. He fucked up and lost something pretty great.” She let out a small laugh.

“You don’t even know me.” He shrugged.

“Exactly and I can already tell you are something great.” Trixie couldn’t hide the blush that took over. Maybe there was hope for the two after all.

X-x

“Hello?” Trixie stood in her kitchen with nothing but an oversized t-shirt and boxer shorts on. She had had a long day with her management deciding when her next appearance was, when she was going back into the studio and what other events she was going to be working on so when she got home she took a shower and changed into the comfiest clothes she could think of.

“I have two tickets for tomorrow night’s game with your name on them, just go to the front of the building and tell them Tyler Seguin sent you.” Trixie scrunched up her nose.

“How do you know I don’t have plans?” He let out a laugh.

“Okay, sorry princess. Do you have plans?” Trixie pretended to think as she mixed her fruit into her yogurt.

“Maybe, all depends. Is your hot friend going to be there? The tall quiet one who looks like he could beat a man to his death?” Tyler groaned.

“Are you talking about Jamie?”

“Yeah, that one!” She wasn’t actually interested; she just liked to tease Tyler; he could afford to be knocked down a couple of pegs.

“You wound me, Trixie. Be there or well there’s no other option; depending on if we win or not we’ll most likely be going out after.” Trixie made a noise of acknowledgement.

“Bring Cami, everyone knows you can’t go anywhere without your other half.” Trixie let out a squeal.

“Thank you, Tyler. We’ll be there.”

Which is how the two girls found themselves by the ticket booth at the American Airline center on a Tuesday night. Both in casual clothes, nothing crazy. When Trixie had asked for the tickets she could see the surprise on the employees face when they handed over the two tickets to her without any arguments.

Trixie was used to this attention which is why they arrived early to the game even before warm ups happened because she didn’t want to make it a big deal that she was here. Trixie and Cami made their way into the building as Trixie glanced down at the tickets in her hand to figure out where they were seating. It was at that moment she realized...shit. She was sitting in the WAGS section, the VIP section for family and friends and of course girlfriends and wives. Shit. She wasn’t ready for this and if she was smarter she probably would’ve asked Tyler about it.

“It’ll be fine, Trix. We’ll stay to ourselves and not really talk to anyone, we’ll watch the game. If it’s too much we’ll leave.” Trixie nodded and tried to keep her anxiety at bay. But of course she had no luck with anything tonight because as she walked into the booth, the usher checking her tickets to make sure they were valid, she took notice of a couple of the girls that were in there; all in which stopped to stare and gasp at her. Fuck.

“You’re okay, Trixie.” She listened to Cami’s voice and nodded. She could do this. But then her eyes connected with a tall brunette that was standing across the room and immediately she knew this wasn’t going to be a good night.

Aly stood talking to a blonde by the bar and when she glanced over to where Trixie was standing, Trixie could see the anger in her eyes.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

#Tyler Seguin #tyler seguin imagine #tyler seguin fanfic #tyler seguin smut #nhl #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #dallas stars #dallas stars imagine #hockey #hockey imagines #hockey one shots #bad idea

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ruthoakenshield · 4 years ago

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The Lady in the Black Leather (Ch 25)

Previous chapter catch up: [Chapter 24]

Scarlett and you dig through the clothes she brought for you. The nurse shows her how you can bathe in the bathroom area by sitting on the shower bench, and she helps you to the bench so you can get freshened up. She wraps your injured thigh with cellophane wrap tight enough to keep water out of the bullet wound, but not so tight it is uncomfortable or cuts off circulation.

You end up having a sponge bath since you can’t really stand to shower, and Scarlett washes your hair and helps you rinse it out. You hand her the hair oil and she applies it to your hair and combs it out while you sit on the shower bench.

“I never realized how much a bullet through the leg hurts. It’s SO uncomfortable to sit on anything with this damn hole in my leg!” you complain.

She just chuckles. “Well at least it’s in a place that didn’t have any major organs! Rich said Ben had the gun pointed at your chest!” she said.

You nod.

“I hope this doesn’t affect how I’m going to walk.” You reply. “I don’t get how he was able to shoot my thigh, though without hitting Rich!” you say, puzzled.

“Just chalk it up to a lucky shot, Sweetheart. Rich is incredibly lucky it didn’t hit him! Especially since your ex had the gun pointed at your chest. It would have really caused problems for Rich and the movie producers, since he is going to be so busy for the next few months with the movie promos and red carpets!” She reminds you. “Just thank your lucky stars it was ‘just a minor flesh wound!” and that you’re ‘not dead yet!” she teases, knowing how you both like Monty Python.

You giggle. Then say, “I know, Scarlett, but I hate just sitting around here! You know me! I’ve spent the last three months just sitting around doing nothing! And Rich and I were finally getting closer physically and emotionally! I finally felt comfortable letting him cuddle me and kiss me, and touch me more! Now we can’t cuz of the stupid monitors!!!!” you grumble.

Scarlett chuckles, “Hon, another week isn’t gonna kill ya nor your relationship!” she smirks. “So have ya gotten laid by him yet?” she asks with an evil grin.

You smack her. “None of your business!” you say and stick out your tongue.

Scarlett giggles… “Well?”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss my relationship with anyone but my Dr. and my Boyfriend.” You reply with a knowing smirk. “My boyfriend is a very private person and doesn’t like it when people get nosey about his love life.” You say with a satisfied grin.

“What?!?!” Scarlett teases. “We ALWAYS talk about our love lives and compare and swap notes!” she pouts. “Can you at least tell me if he’s a good kisser?” she asks.

You grin & nod.

She smirks. “So, what’s this ‘ice hockey’ I keep hearing Martin and Amanda talking about?” She asks.

You spend the next few minutes explaining it to her and how you and Rich came up with it. You laugh and tell her he wanted to call it, ‘pass the ice’ but you thought ‘ice hockey’ sounded better.

Scarlett laughed. “OOOOoooohhh now I’m gonna have to try that with Aiden! You should’ve seen how horny he was after we got home from the club the night we did the Pretty Woman and Abba dances! Oh my gosh!!! He fucked me all night long! I could hardly walk straight the next day!!!” she exclaimed. “He’s got the stamina of a stallion!” she giggles. “And his kisses are to die for!” she squeals with glee.

“Soooo, a much better lover than Sam was???” you tease.

“Uhhh, Duhhhh!” she replies smacking your head teasingly.

You just smile and smirk, thinking to yourself, “If you only knew what Richard’s kisses are like and how he not only has the stamina of a stallion, but is hung like one too!”

You are snapped back into reality when Scarlett pokes you, “Are you even listening to me?” she asks.

“Hmmm?” you say, “Sorry, was lost in thought dreaming about my handsome man’s kisses.” You reply, grinning.

Scarlett rolls her eyes. “I said, we need to get you back up and dressed. Shall I go get the nurse and see if she can find you a clean pair of shorts?” Scarlett asks.

You nod. “And see if they have a size smaller than what she gave me, those were WAY too big and baggy for me!” you tell her.

Scarlett nods and hands you a bath towel to wrap up in.

She goes to get the nurse, who comes back in with a pair of hospital shorts for you. She helps you into them and you stand on your good leg and hike them up the rest of the way. Happy they fit you better. You sit back down on the bench once Scarlett dries it off with the towel and the nurse helps you get a top on that Scarlett chose for you. The nurse helps you back to your bed, and you sit on the edge as the nurse hooks up your ports to the IV machines again. Then unwraps the cellophane from your leg and re-bandages your wounds. Then she helps you sit back down on the bed and leaves you to do what you like.

You scoot back onto the bed and decide to just braid your hair in two braids and let them hang down over your shoulders.

You had just texted Graham when you hear a knock at the door. You pull out your ylang ylang perfume bottle and put a dab on by your ears and on your wrists and one on your collar bone junction. You rub it into your skin and then nod at Scarlett to let the person in. You set your bag down on the floor by the bed out of the way.

You grin when you see your Honey come walking in with a bouquet of brightly colored red carnations, yellow daisies as well as purple monte casino and green button poms in a vase with colored ribbons around it and a “get well soon” mini balloon on a sick poking out the top of the bouquet, and a stuffed black dog parked in his arm.

Giggling, you say, “You already got me flowers!” and he chuckles as he sets them down on your table and gives you a kiss, and groans at how good you smell. He hands you the black stuffed dog and you grin seeing it has an “I love you” shirt on it.

“These are from the director of my movie. When he heard what had happened, we decided to film as much as we could on Friday and Saturday, so I can have tomorrow and Monday off. He felt bad not being able to give me more time off and so he sent the flowers with me to give to you.” Rich explained.

“And the stuffed dog?” you ask.

He grins. “I saw it in the gift shop on my way in and couldn’t resist. It reminded me of the pic you sent me with me and Phantom giving you the same look.” He grinned.

You chuckled as he sat down next to you on the bed. You scooted over more so he could have enough room to sit and be comfortable. He snuggled next to you and Scarlett giggled and rolled her eyes. “Someone missed you today!” she teased you.

Richard just grinned and peppered you with kisses. “You smell divine, my Love.” He whispered in your ear as he nibbled it. Ignoring the beeping heart monitor as your pulse increased.

“Romeo, you better reign it in or the nurses will be in here scolding you if you don’t.” Scarlett warned. Rich just smirked and stuck his tongue out at her.

She just chuckled, “Oh, that’s real mature, there big guy!” she giggled. Rich just looks at her and raises an eyebrow and gives her just a hint of a smirk.

“I know that look! You did it enough on Robin Hood! And No, they won’t let you get away with it.” She replies giggling.

Richard gives her a grin and goes back to peppering your face with kisses, making you giggle. He doesn’t stop till he hears Graham and Aiden coming up the hallway talking. Then he finally calms himself down and cuddles you in his arms and you enjoy leaning against his chest and having his arms around you.

“I missed you today too.” You whisper as you give him a peck on his cheek. He grins and looks down at you just as Graham and Aiden come in with Phantom.

Graham looks up and sees him sitting on the bed with you and says, “Hey! Where’s supper?”

Rich chuckles. “It’ll be here soon. I ordered it on my way here and told them to deliver it here.”

All of a sudden there’s a knock at the door and Phantom “wuffs” and goes to the door sniffing.

“I bet that’s supper. Phantom, come here.” Aiden says as he makes the hand motion for ‘come’.

Scarlett goes and opens the door and a young man gives her the food and a hand full of fortune cookies. She thanks him and hands him some cash for a tip.

She brings the food in and sets it all out on the table. Everyone’s mouths are watering seeing all the Chinese food Rich ordered. The scent of sweet and sour chicken, beef and broccoli, and other such goodness fills the room.

Aiden goes to the Cafeteria and grabs paper plates and plastic silverware and napkins and stuff for everyone to drink.

He comes in and they have the food all open and ready to go. (The nurses provided them with plastic serving utensils from the break room.) He hands out the plates and napkins and plastic silverware so they can dish up what they want.

You giggle and happily scoop up the beef and broccoli and Richard cringes when you dig for the big pieces of broccoli. “You like broccoli?” he asks.

You nod, and pop a big piece in your mouth with the chopsticks, then grin. He shakes his head and says, “Well, more for you then.”

You and Scarlett grin and dig into the beef and Broccoli, making everyone else chuckle. “Why did you buy it if no one else likes it?” you ask him after realizing no one else wanted any.

He chuckled. “Aiden said you and Scarlett liked it, so I got it for you two.”

Scarlett looks at Aiden and then at Rich and then at you. “Awwwww, I love our men!” she says and gives Aiden a big kiss. Making everyone laugh.

“I’ll let Harley give you your kiss.” She tells Rich. Making him laugh.

You giggle and go to kiss him, and he grins. “You can kiss me later, Love, when you don’t taste like broccoli!” he teases. You give him a mocking glare and punch his shoulder. Making Graham laugh.

He tosses you a fortune cookie and then tosses Richard his. Graham grabs one and so does Aiden and Scarlett. Leaving two extras on the table.

They all laugh when they open and read them.

Aiden’s says, “The fortune you seek is in another cookie.” He grabs another cookie and opens it, it’s fortune says, “Ignore previous cookie.” Which makes everyone crack up laughing and Aiden pouts. “I didn’t get a fortune!”

Scarlett just pats his shoulder. “You got me, sweetie, that’s all the good fortune you need!”

He grins and nods.

Graham cracks his open and it says, “Marriage lets you annoy one special person for the rest of your life.” He laughs and nods, “Well they got that one right!” and everyone laughs.

Scarlett cracks hers open and says, “Hey! I got TWO fortunes!!!!” one says ‘Remember three months from this date. Good things are in store for you.’ And the other says, ‘Good clothes open many doors. Go shopping!’

Of course, everyone looks at you and Scarlett and they all crack up laughing. Knowing that your shopping excursion with her lead to all them meeting you two!

Richard’s says, “You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly.” He grins and looks at you and kisses the top of your head. “See, even fortune cookies get it right occasionally!” you giggle & roll your eyes.

And Graham tosses you a second cookie. “You get the extra one since Scarlett got two fortunes in hers.”

You open yours and laugh cuz your first cookie has two fortunes in it. They say, “Someone truly loves you out there.” And “You or a close friend will be married within the year.” Which makes you blush a bright red. Of course, everyone wants to see what fortunes you got. They all laugh and tease you and Richard, but you point out it could be Aiden & Scarlett too!

Richard just grins a huge grin and hugs you. “Open up the other one, Sweetheart.” He says to you.

You look up and say, “I don’t know if I want to now.” he chuckles and hands it to you.

You crack it open and read the fortune. It says, “Don’t be afraid to take the next big step.” You groan, face palm and hand it to Richard, who cracks up laughing and hands it to Scarlett, who reads it, laughs and passes it to Aiden, who giggles and then passes it to Graham. Graham cracks up too and pats your shoulder. “I seem to detect a theme here, Sweetheart!”

You just groan. And bury your face in Rich’s chest. Making him chuckle. “You never know….” He teases, making you groan even more.

He pats your side and kisses your head again.

We’re just teasin’ ya lass.” Grahan tells you.

You nod and peek out from Rich’s side. Then you remember something your Mom once told you, which you remind him of when you say teasingly, “You do know that the Father of the bride gets to pay for the entire wedding, right… and now ya got THREE girls!” you remind him with a smug grin.

“Oh good Lord, I’m gonna be working till I die!” he replies teasingly and rolls his eyes, flopping back into the chair pretending to die.

Aiden laughs, “You asked for it Pops, teasin’ her like that!” he says with a huge grin. Graham chuckles and sits up.

“Are we all done eating?” he asks. Everyone nods. “I’m full.” You hear from everyone.

Graham gets up and picks up the untouched leftovers. “What do ya say if we go see if the nurses want some of this?” he asks Richard.

Rich nods and he grabs some of the leftovers and Aiden grabs the rest. They head out to the nurse’s station with the paper plates and napkins and ask them if they’d like the leftovers. The nurses are almost speechless that the three movie stars would share their food with them. They nod and thank them, putting it in the fridge for their breaks.

While the guys are off giving leftovers to the nurses, you and Scarlett are cracking up at the fortunes you got. “You better keep those, and I’ll keep mine. We’ll get a good laugh out of them if they actually come true! Here, write the date on the back of them so we know when we got them!” she tells you and hands you a pen from the counter.

You write the dates on the back of them and she hands you your messenger bag. You put them in your wallet, and she puts her fortunes in her wallet.

You both are giggling about them still when the guys come back in.

“Are you two still giggling about the fortunes?” Graham asks.

Scarlett nods. Giggling again.

Graham chuckles. “How about we play that new game ye brought?” he says to Aiden.

Aiden grabs it off the counter and he starts to hand out the cards for the game.

You five spend the evening laughing yourselves silly and playing the game. You stopped after a while though so that someone could take Phantom out to go do his business when he started whining and dancing around by the door. Aiden decided to take him outside with Scarlett for a break.

Rich took the opportunity to ask the two of you how the meeting went with the lawyer. You told him it went fine and that she got what she needed and said you could do the meeting tomorrow with the judge via Skype (He’s old school). She said she would be at the actual hearing in case the judge needed to discuss anything with her.

Graham nodded.

Rich could tell there was more Graham wanted to say, but didn’t. Rich figured that Graham didn’t want to say it in front of you for some reason. He looked at the time and saw it was close to 10pm. He tells you, “Honey, do you know if the hospital has specific times for visiting?”

You shake your head, no.

He stands, “I’d better go check to see if they have specific times. I don’t want to upset anyone if we are here too long.” He tells you. “I’ll be right back.” He says and heads for the door.

“You want some more water, Sweetheart?” Graham asks when you go to drink your water and find your cup empty. You shake it and feel a few ice cubes in it. You pop open the lid and grab one out, then nod and hand it to Graham.

“Could you see if they can put more ice in it too?” you ask.

He grins and nods. “Be right back, Sweetheart.” He tells you and heads out.

Stay tuned, more chapters to follow!!!

If you wish to be added / deleted from the tag list let me know :

Tagging: @fizzyxcustard @thorinthehottytotty @dumbassunderthemountain@deepestfirefun @thetherianthropydaily @daisy-picking-lady @spookybunny-blog @dabisburntnut @emrfangirl @midnight-reader-morning-sleeper @hilary456 @criminaly-supernatural @asraime @saviorsongwrites @mary-ann84 @thecavillchronicles @dancingwendigo @henrythickcavill @chamomilebottom @iloveyouyen @wolvesandhoundshowltogether @madbaddic7ed

#richard armitage #reader x richard armitage #Graham McTavish #Scarlett #Aiden Turner #Phantom #chinese food #fortune cookies #visiting #fluff #teasing #Apples to Apples game #the lady in the black leather #hospitalized #bullet to leg

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andrewuttaro · 5 years ago

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New Look Sabres: GM 12 - DET

One day my children will ask me what it was like to watch Jake McCabe in his prime. They’ll ask me: Daddy, how did our hero block shots so much and still have the strength to score goals and wreck fools? I’ll tell them it was the enduring power of the crossed swords crest and they’ll be Sabres fans forever. I’ll also tell them the Buffalo Sabres really turned the page from the dark days when they started responding. Responding to what, daddy? Losses, child: when they decided to start following losses, ugly losses, with shutout wins every single time, that was when they really turned the page. Speaking of the pages of history: I’ve been diving into the Buffalo Sabres 50Years Special Section of the Buffalo News for a couple weeks looking at their most historic games. I was prepared to default to that list for my reoccurring segment “Greatest Game Against” after each divisional matchup. When I put it out on twitter however I got some real beauties including a submission from @RegalMoustachio (Dan Ball) that is… for lack of better phrasing: Very 1980s. Allow me to paint you a picture: it’s December 23rd, 1987. Christmas is only a couple days away. Ted Sator is Head Coach and Phil Housley is the top defenseman (mind you Lindy Ruff is the Captain of this team) for a Sabres club mired in mediocrity for closing in on a decade. Sabre Kevin Maguire takes a run at Red Wings goalie Zach Stefan after Sabres goalie Tom Barrasso had apparently taken a fist in the shnoz earlier in the game. Here’s the link () go watch it, I can’t do it justice. For the next five minutes after the hit on Stefan it just escalates and escalates. Eventually Bob Probert fights Maguire and it got ugly. I don’t mean to glorify fighting but dear lord, watch that highlight and tell me that doesn’t color the history between these two teams. Last night’s game was Jake McCabe’s revenge game. He was taking revenge on all us nerds who said he’s not an absolute G. Sure he’s no Rasmus Dahlin, but he puts the Buff in Buffalo Sabres. And he did it in a game we really needed it. For the third time this season they responded to a loss with a win. For the second time this season they responded to a loss with a shutout win. For the first time this season my man Linus Ullmark has a shutout!

I was at Frightworld in Tonawanda for the entirety of this game, but the early returns clearly tended toward a snooze-fest. It appeared the Red Wings were dominating that telling statistical categories like 5 on 5 scoring chances and expected goals. They dominated the most basic statistic that is shots for the first period as they got doubled up 12-6. Luckily there were no goals against. You see a period like that and you kinda expect the worst. I went on record before this game and said if they don’t demolish the Red Wings then the first rant of the season from yours truly was coming. That rant was being prepared as I walked through the Storm Area 51 house fearing the Sabres would lose to two bad teams two nights in a row more than the face-panted acting students jumping out at me. Unfortunately we got another Rasmus Dahlin stinker this first period. I feel like I said everything I needed to say about Dahlin’s sketchy play lately after the Rangers game, but I didn’t say what I wanted to change other than don’t give over turnovers, bud. What I probably would’ve asked for occurred: Henri Jokiharju was moved up to Dahlin’s pairing and they had quite a bit more chemistry than Dahlin and Colin Miller had. In spite of that roster move, Dahlin was trying to move the puck out of the defensive zone and somehow yielded it right to Andreas Athanasiou. Athanasiou took a shot, got in back and passed it to another guy who almost out maneuvered a stick-less Ullmark. Luckily that was the worst it got in the first… well other than that Valtteri Filppula breakaway in the first five minutes… ugh, we were really lucky to survive that period scoreless weren’t we? Yikes.

The Red Wings are a team you’re not allowed to lose to. They’re like the Ottawa Senators, they’re biggest goal right now is to get a high-first round draft pick. They have real NHLers in the minors. Detroit has a team caught between then and now. You got the ghost of Niklas Kronwall on one line and USA Hockey Magazine poster boy Dylan Larkin on another. Evidently they’re taking one more dip in the tank in this year’s spicy good draft and so you have to beat them because frankly they want you to! Both the lines of REO Speedwagon and the Roaring Twenties had their chances through the first half of this game but how are you being out-chanced by the Red Wings! How? I very well could go on a rant but kinda like the night before I just have too many early good feels about this team right now to rant at em after a win. To their credit they actually got more shots and high-danger chances in the second period. All the while Jake McCabe is blocking shots like and absolute hero. And so it was his time to be the star before any of the big names that have found their way onto this club: Eichel gets knocked to the ice after laying a hit on Tyler Bertuzzi and Jake McCabe gets the puck near the Wings blueline and thinks for a moment. He decides to take the shot and it zings right past Jimmy Howard into the net for the first goal of the game. 1-0 Sabres with 8:20 left in the second. Buffalo finally had some good play for the remainder of the period including almost another goal from McCabe. Almost. Either way Jake McCabe became my Hard-Working again this game. He’s one of those phenomenons in cities like Buffalo where the populace just canonizes players they deem tough and diligent. I understand he’s not actually that good as anything more than a role player. That’s fine. Let’s celebrate the role players too because we’re winning games we don’t look so hot in because of them right now.

The third period was rowdy. So we’ve established Dylan Larkin is hot stuff. Evidently on a tanking team he takes on the role of penalty drawer. He gets Kyle Okposo for interference; he gets Colin Miller for tripping; watch the replays that data wasn’t all that convincing to me. No amount of powerplay time could save his team now though. The Sabres got a powerplay after Trevor Daley high-sticked Kyle Okposo and the mercenary unit that is this team’s powerplay that we fell in love with in the first six games came back with a vengeance. With all the video replay powers of modern technology I still don’t think I have enough angles on the absolute gem of a goal Sam Reinhart tapped in. It went from Jeff Skinner to Jack Eichel to Victor Olofsson to Sam Reinhart parked in front of the net and in. It was a thing of splendor and maybe one of those goals we look back on months from now. I mean… Jimmy Howard definitely botched that one hard but nonetheless the 2-0 goal here for the Sabres was just beyond magnificent. Unfortunately that goal deserved better than this game. For the remaining 18+ minutes Larkin went on drawing penalties, getting shots and Detroit never looked out of it. You look at 2-0 box score and think that may have not required a herculean effort from a goalie, this one did. Linus got his pad or a stick or a blocker on so many shots this game. He earned his first shutout of the season blocking 41 shots! That’s only 6 shy of the shots blocked Hutton got in his shutout Tuesday that earned him an NHL star of the week honor. I love Ullmark but he shouldn’t have had to do that much work against Detroit. This is a game the Sabres should have dominated a bit more than they did. They could not manage the clean zone exits and entries they did in the very early going of this season and had Detroit not skated around wasting minutes on end on offense then this game could’ve turned out differently. Nonetheless this one ended 2-0 Sabres and our squad improved to 9-2-1 leaving only one game left in October against a very hot Coyotes squad. Isn’t it nice to think at the absolute worst they’ll end this month 9-3-1? Crazy times we live in, eh?

A couple notes before we turn wholeheartedly into Buffalo Bills mode tomorrow: Sabres Stats tweeted in his 164 games as Sabres coach Phil Housley got them 5 shutouts while in 12 games as Head Coach Ralph Krueger has already gotten them 3. That’s a stat that one might call almost worthless, the Robin Lehner years were fraught but there is a grain of something telling in there. I also share the sentiment of many Sabres fans that a Skinner-Eichel reunion feels necessary at this point. “Skinhel” as I’ll call that combo because I’m feeling spooky, is something that can be unleashed like the blue shell powerup in Mario Cart. You use it when you really need to save your ass. We’re not to that point yet but I too feel that temptation. Before we warp this up your reply guy tweet of the game goes to none other than NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman who when asked about the efficacy of the current playoff format responded: “We think the format works well… unless you’re a Leafs fan.” BURN! That burn was so hot it just ensured it’s going to be a mild winter in southern Ontario! I can say for myself that such a comment is immediately my favorite Gary Bettman quote of all-time. There’s no beating that. Like, share and comment this blog as you go about your Saturday fun. I have nothing to say about the Coyotes Monday night other than maybe don’t let em get every shot they want like Detroit did last night. They will probably make you pay more often than not. Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. What are you looking to about the trip to Sweden for the Global Series? I am so not used to my sports teams getting fun opportunities like that. I don’t know how to get pumped for it.

#buffalo sabres #hockey #blog #NHL #detroit red wings

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juicehoee · 7 years ago

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All Along the Watchtower {Chapter One: Nevada} (Juice Ortiz)

One/Two/Three/Four/Five

New Juice story that I’m very excited about! I’m testing it out on Tumblr before I post it anywhere else so feedback is greatly appreciated! Not quite sure the direction it will take, but this is unedited and raw! Hope you Juice hoes enjoy it :)

-Solaris

Chapter One: Nevada

Juice was lost.

The stretch of road ahead of him seemed impossible to navigate. Everything was so dark and cold and endless. Nothing could save him. Nothing could help him. He was lost. So needlessly, helplessly, undoubtedly lost.

His GPS had died about halfway on his way home from Nevada. The run had gone as planned, but he hung back for the night while his brothers headed back to Charming together. He stood in line for three hours to see the new Star Wars on its opening night and crashed at a shitty motel before heading back in the morning. It was a stupid idea, considering how he had no sense of direction. Hell, he could get lost at the goddamned grocery store. He had to admit it was worth seeing the return of Han Solo: his favorite character of all time. He liked to think that if the kids back home in Queens could see him now, they’d compare him to Han Solo, with the leather kutte and general badassness (he just wouldn’t want them to see the way the club made fun of him for liking that nerd shit).

The pinks and purples of the morning sunrise had faded into a bright blue that hung in the sky above him as he tore up the road with his rubber tires. Juice pulled over to the side of the road, praying that his phone could get a signal out here. He had always trusted his GPS, but now the fucker had died on him and he had to turn to Google Maps- he didn’t trust the government to not be tracking that shit.

Two percent. His phone was on two percent.

An article that he read last week flashed before him in his head. Millennials nowadays would spend more time looking for a charger than they would asking a person for directions. Could he really consider himself a millennial?

He killed the engine and started walking with his thumb out, praying someone normal would stop.

{***}

After about twenty minutes walking backward, a pickup truck finally slowed to a stop next to Juice. The weight of the handgun in his waistband was heavy, reminding him of his defense in case this person tried to slit his wrists or skin him alive for their supper.

“Need a ride there, skippy?” An older man, late 50s to early 60s, looked at him through the open window of his rusty red pickup truck. “Where are you headed?”

“Nearest gas station.” Juice sighed, deciding the guy seemed sane enough for a ride down the street. “There any fast food places around here?”

“There’s a McDonald’s near the gas station, if that’s what you’re looking for.” the guy answered, unlocking the door for him to get in. “Man, I miss the days when I could shovel down two Big Macs in ten minutes. Now, the wife tells me it’s bad for my cholesterol.”

“I guess I’ll enjoy it while it lasts then.” Juice chuckled, swinging open the door with much resistance.

“Oh, stop it, Uncle Lenny! Let the young be young!”

Juice jumped a mile in the air from the front as a tinkling voice of a young girl came from the backseat. She had to be around his age, maybe a little bit younger. A chuckle escaped her as Juice settled back down, his heart racing.

“I’ll stop if you promise not to give the poor boy a heart attack!” Uncle Lenny bargained.

“I didn’t see you back there.” Juice smiled sheepishly and extended his hand to the backseat. He was still slightly embarrassed at his reaction. “The name’s Juice.”

“Priscilla.” the young girl replied, taking his hand in hers. “Pleasure to meet you, Juice.”

She had a firm handshake and smooth hands that made him want to hide his own callous ones (being a mechanic could put your hands through the fucking ringer most days. No wonder Clay had arthritis).

“Juice? Now, what kind of name is that?” Uncle Lenny’s booming friendly voice asked. “Some kind of nickname, isn’t it?”

Uncle Lenny was an intimidating guy. He was big and burly. He could fit right in with the Sons of Anarchy by the looks of him though he was a little more likable than the rest of the assholes in the club. Juice loved the guys, but he couldn’t deny that they could all be a little sour when tensions ran high, especially with the gun-running business. Uncle Lenny’s familial friendliness was a welcome change from the playful insults he faced back at the clubhouse (there were some days he still felt like a prospect).

“It’s a nickname.” Juice replied, smiling bigger than he had all morning. He’d even momentarily forgot about his bike on the side of the road or the Star Wars escapade of the night before. “I’m from New York and I’d call myself a Biggie man.”

“Biggie?” Uncle Lenny furrowed his brows in confusion.

“He’s a rapper, Uncle Len.” Priscilla piped up from the back.

“Exactly.” Juice nodded at her. She smiled back at him. “He’s got this song called Juicy and my real name is Juan Carlos. My friends called me JC and eventually, the two mixed together and everyone just ended up calling me Juice.”

“Juan Carlos, huh?” Priscilla smirked at him. “Nice tattoos.”

He brushed his hands absentmindedly over the tribal-style lightning bolts on his skull. A slight blush burned his cheeks.“Thanks. Got ‘em when I moved to California.”

“I like them.” Priscilla commented, imitating his movements on her own head. “Never seen anything like them.”

“Neither have I.” Uncle Lenny laughed. There was no judgment in his tone. “You don’t see a lot of ink around here; it’s all very backwoods and traditional and such.”

“And you’ve always lived here?” Juice asked, curious about this little country family in the backwoods of Nevada. Most people weren’t so welcoming considering his appearance.

“Nah, we used to live in a big city.” Uncle Lenny answered. “Been me, Cilla, and my wife ever since…”

“Boston. That’s where we were.” Priscilla cut him off. “Ever heard of it?”

He noticed the mischievous flick in the question. “ ‘Course I have.” Juice grinned at her, craning his head to look her in the eye. “Worst baseball in the country.”

“Oh, shut it.” Priscilla bit back at him. “I only know about hockey.”

“Even worse!” Juice moaned, putting a hand to his forehead with an air of drama. “I would know, I played a little bit in high school.”

“So did I.” she retorted.

He fucking loved this girl.

“As much as I hate Boston, I gotta admire that signature Boston attitude.” he relented with their joking rivalry. Juice tried to ignore the glint he saw in Uncle Lenny’s eyes.

“Well, here’s the gas station, lad.” Uncle Lenny pulled into the parking lot. “McDonald’s should be a five minute walk down that way.”

Juice turned his head to see the blessed golden arches just down the road and his stomach growled. “I can’t thank you enough man. It was so nice to meet you guys.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Juicy!” Priscilla put a hand on his shoulder. “I told Uncle Lenny it was a gamble picking up some riff raff with head tattoos and an MC vest.”

“It’s a kutte, actually.” Juice laughed. “And I’m harmless.”

“Even if you have terrible taste in sports teams.” Priscilla quipped back.

“Are you sure there’s nothing else we can do for you?” Uncle Lenny asked.

“You’ve already done more than enough, thank you so much.” Juice said, shaking Uncle Lenny’s hand in gratitude. “I wish there was something I could do to thank you.”

“Come to dinner?” Priscilla suggested. “I want to know more about that kutte.”

Uncle Lenny’s eyes widened in shock. “You’re only saying that ‘cause you think he’s cute.”

“So?” Priscilla winked at Juice with the widest smile he’d ever seen. “Humor me.”

To Juice, it sounded like a challenge and Uncle Lenny must have picked up on that. He shook his head, knowing it was a bad idea to invite this dangerous looking stranger into his home, but he couldn’t say no to his darling niece. That was for sure.

“Don’t pressure the poor guy. He must think we’re crazy enough as it is.” Uncle Lenny sighed.

“My number’s already in your pocket.” Priscilla said.

Juice shoved his hand into his pocket and, to his surprise, there was a note with ten numbers all written in the cutest curly handwriting. “You must think you’re really slick, don’t you?I’m holding you to that dinner.”

“That’s my cell. Only old people use the landline anymore.”

Juice shook his head and climbed out of the old, red pickup truck just as Uncle Lenny defended that he “wasn’t even that old, for your information, Cilla.” He waved them off on his way into the gas station convenience store to pick up a phone charger and head into the McDonald’s for the savory mess of diabetes he was about to shove into his mouth (on the rare occasion, he did like to treat himself).

His cheeks hurt from the goofy grin he couldn’t seem to wipe off his face.

{***}

“Now, was it really necessary to make me drive a truck here to pick up you and your dumbass bike because you have no fuckin’ clue where you’re goin’?” Jax shoved Juice in the shoulder, making him hit hard against the inside of the truck.

Juice was just glad to be on his way home with his bike in the back. Three hours of eating Big Macs and Mcnuggets waiting for Jax to pick him up made him feel swelled up like a big balloon. His stomach definitely didn’t feel right.

“Got a pretty girl’s number. That worth it?” Juice hit Jax back.

“Not for me!” Jax shook his head. “I already got a pretty girl so I don’t really gain anything from bailing your ass out in the middle of nowhere, Nevada.”

“Come on, man!” Juice groaned. “You got Tara! You hit the fuckin’ jackpot with her and I live alone with two cats.”

Jax raised an eyebrow. “You got cats?”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Maybe you gettin’ a little action outside the croweaters will be good for all of us.” Jax admitted with huge, shit-eating grin on his face. “First, you gotta learn to get to Nevada and back.”

Shit. He didn’t think of that Priscilla lived all the way out here in middle-of-nowhere, Nevada. It was a six hour drive both ways. A lot of miles in between them.

He had a habit of getting his hopes up for a pretty girl and then getting his heart crushed.

Jax must have noticed the look on Juice’s face because he put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, man. If she’s worth the drive, then you’ll make it.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“You think I expected to end up with Tara?” Jax asked, laughing quietly to himself. “I thought I’d never see her after Chicago and now she’s the mother of my kids.”

“She really lowered her standards to end up with you, man.” Juice joked, suddenly feeling lighter. “You’re a lucky guy.”

“Whatever, man.” Jax laughed with him. “Just do me a favor, alright?” “Yeah, dude. What do you need?” Juice asked, eager to please as he usually was.

“Charge your fuckin’ GPS next time.”

{***}

Juice was greeted by two distinct sets of meows as soon as he opened the front door. Shiloh and Dolly immediately pawed at his knees, making it hard for him to even make it the four feet from the door to the couch. He just wanted to sit for five minutes.

“Come on, guys, you can’t even be mad!” Juice bargained with them. “I left you plenty of food and water and you’re outdoor cats anyway!”

They just stared at him.

“Fine. Just let me sit for a little bit.”

Shiloh and Dolly (yes, she was named after Dolly Parton) were twins he happened upon at a shelter one day. They were older cats, way beyond the youthful years of the kitten age, but they were too of the most adorable cats he’d ever come across. That day, he wasn’t planning on taking the two of them home, but he couldn’t resist those beautiful brown eyes. The three of them had grown very close.

Dolly was very territorial of him while Shiloh just didn’t give a shit.

Juice shoved his bag onto the couch and plopped down, sinking into the beat up cushions and feeling that deep sense of comfort that only home can give you. He loved his house; buying it was the first time in his life he felt more independent than lonely. Like an actual functioning human being. Becoming part of the club solved a lot of his loneliness, but that part came after buying the house. It didn’t solve all of his loneliness. But some.

He felt the familiar sensation of fur crawling slowly over him. Dolly took her rightful place on his shoulder while Shiloh decided to curl up into a tight ball in his lap. Juice scratched behind Shiloh’s ears, realizing that they weren’t mad and hungry; they just missed him.

“Awww, I missed you guys, too.”

#juice ortiz #juan carlos ortiz #juan carlos juice ortiz #samcro #sons of anarchy #soa #samcro imagine #soa imagine #sons of anarchy imagine #juice ortiz imagine #solariswrites #theo rossi

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yourdailykitsch · 7 years ago

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Taylor Kitsch Gets in Touch With His Inner David Koresh in ‘Waco’

Taylor Kitsch loves being Taylor Kitsch, and one of the charms of the 36-year-old actor is that if you meet him, you’ll love that Taylor Kitsch loves being Taylor Kitsch too. It was a crisp afternoon in late October, and Kitsch was sitting at a picnic table on the patio of the Mean-Eyed Cat, a Johnny Cash–themed bar on West Fifth Street in Austin. Kitsch was enjoying the sunshine. (“The weather’s been insane. It’s why you live in Texas, you know?”) Kitsch was enjoying his barbecued pork ribs. (“Eating a plate of meat is rare for me, but it’s fun right now.”) Kitsch was enjoying his sleek and very expensive-looking BMW GS Rallye motorcycle, which he’d parked in front of the bar’s entrance. (“That bike’s spanking new. It’s like my child. I love it.”)

Over the past few months, Kitsch had gone on a two-thousand-mile motorcycle trip through the mountain west, riding up Glacier National Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road, winding along Idaho’s Salmon River. He’d visited Africa, “because I didn’t know what the **** was going on with all the poaching, and I wanted to know.” He’d traveled to San Diego to skydive with a bunch of Navy SEALs and his friend and mentor, the macho-man director Peter Berg. He’d gone to the “Harvey Can’t Mess With Texas” benefit show at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin—“a really great concert, like top five for me”—and afterward “tipped, like, 48 beers” with his friend country music star Ryan Bingham. Now Kitsch was preparing to leave the South Austin apartment where he has lived for the past decade and move into his dream house, a 6,500-square-foot bachelor pad on Lake Austin. His whole family—mom, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews—was coming down from British Columbia for Christmas, and Kitsch couldn’t wait to show off his new place. “My mom’s going to lose her mind,” Kitsch said. “We grew up in a single-wide mobile home, then moved to a double-wide—she’ll lose it.” Kitsch was going “full Griswold” on yuletide decorations. He’d already purchased a ten-foot-tall blow-up polar bear to put on his front porch, and he and his oldest brother, Daman, were planning to install an elaborate light display before the rest of the family arrived. “It’ll hurt your eyes,” Kitsch said. “Literally, I hope we get fined by the HOA. That’s our goal, so we’ll do it.” Kitsch became famous for playing the Dillon Panthers’ bad-boy fullback Tim Riggins on the TV show Friday Night Lights, and over the course of five seasons, he made the character irresistible to watch—a teenage jumble of empathy, anger, machismo, and freewheeling fun. When the show ended, Kitsch appeared to be on a rocket path to superstardom, but he still hasn’t quite gotten there. Instead, his career since Friday Night Lights has been defined by soaring expectations, big-budget disappointments, and consistently good acting. When Kitsch and I met in Austin, he had just finished back-to-back press tours for two fall movies in which he plays supporting roles—the espionage thriller American Assassin and the wilderness-firefighter drama Only the Brave. But we were there to talk about Kitsch’s latest part—“the best work of my career, for sure”—which forced the actor to command the screen as never before and might just turn him into a bona fide Hollywood leading man. On January 24, the first episode of this project, Waco, a six-part miniseries about the 1993 standoff at the Branch Davidian compound in Central Texas, will premiere on the newly renamed Paramount Network (formerly Spike). The show stars Michael Shannon, John Leguizamo, Rory Culkin, and Melissa Benoist, but Kitsch has the plum role. Kitsch is playing David Koresh. The Waco siege has been the subject of a dozen or so documentaries that range from serious-minded to crackpot, but the new series is improbably the first dramatic re-creation of the entire event: 51 days of stalled negotiations and rising tensions that ended in an inferno that killed Koresh and 75 of his followers. The project’s genesis is unexpected: it was written, directed, and produced by brothers John and Drew Dowdle, whose handful of career credits includes low-budget horror films like Devil and Quarantine and the poorly reviewed Owen Wilson–Pierce Brosnan thriller No Escape. (Harvey Weinstein was an executive producer on the series, but his name has been removed from the credits.) The Dowdles may not have had much experience, but they had a plan: though the Waco siege has been a political and cultural lightning rod for the past 25 years, the brothers decided that their film wouldn’t dwell on the controversies. They wanted to tell the tragic, human, “no-bad-guys version of the story.” To do that, they knew that their single most important decision would be casting someone who could bring tragic humanity to Koresh. “We thought Koresh as a character is a deeply flawed individual, but there’s something a bit everyman about him, there’s something about him that people liked,” Drew Dowdle said. “The Taylor Kitsch version of David Koresh is inherently someone you would enjoy being around.” When Kitsch first heard about the part, he had only a hazy memory of news coverage of the Waco siege. But the more he read, the more fascinated he became. After meeting with the Dowdles, he reached out to his agent and said, “If they want me to do it, I’ll swing. I just need prep time.” Shooting was set to start in Santa Fe in April 2017, and as 2016 was coming to a close, Kitsch steeled himself for the next half year of preparation and production. “I went to Telluride for New Year’s and just blew it out—like, pizza, anything you could drink, ski, just go all out, don’t even worry about anything,” Kitsch said. On January 2, he arrived back in Austin, ready to begin his transformation. When Kitsch first came to Austin, in 2006, to film the pilot for Friday Night Lights, he was 24 years old, “green and raw” and mostly in the dark about acting and the entertainment business. “I genuinely didn’t know what a critic was,” he told me. Kitsch had grown up four hours west of Vancouver in the city of Kelowna, British Columbia, with his mother and two older brothers—his dad was mostly absent—and until he was 20, he dreamed about playing professional ice hockey. When back-to-back knee injuries ended his career, he moved to New York to try to make it as an actor, beginning a scrappy period in which he took classes, modeled, and, for a several-week stretch, spent his nights sleeping on the subway. Kitsch had almost missed his screen test for Friday Night Lights due to visa issues, and when he arrived, Berg, the series’ creator, first made him improvise in character for thirty minutes. Berg was suitably impressed. “What you did in there, make sure you do in this screen test with all the execs, and I think we’ll be just fine,” he told Kitsch. Friday Night Lights never had a big audience, but to the people who watched it week after week, it might as well have been War and Peace, except about high school football, and way more fun. Kitsch was the heartthrob, and even while the show was in the middle of its run, he was getting movie work, playing Gambit in an X-Men movie and the war photographer Kevin Carter in The Bang Bang Club. After Friday Night Lights ended, in 2011, Kitsch was primed to really make it big. Going into 2012, he had starring roles in two massively hyped movies with enormous budgets, John Carter and Battleship, both of which seemed like good bets to turn into franchises. “I had two ten-year contracts,” Kitsch said. “I would have been going Carter, Battleship, Carter, Battleship, and maybe an indie somewhere in there if I could.” But both films fizzled at the box office, and Kitsch’s career was forced to become more interesting. “I still have my journal from when I was in acting class in New York where it’s like, ‘All I want to do is indies and these characters and Sean Penn, Sean Penn, Sean Penn,’ ” Kitsch told me. He got his wish. He’s spent the past four years bringing a coiled-up intensity to men as varied as Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy in Lone Survivor, Gay Men’s Health Crisis president Bruce Niles in HBO’s The Normal Heart, and patrolman Paul Woodrugh in the much-maligned second season of True Detective. Instead of conquering the world as an above-the-title star, Kitsch became our most finely featured character actor. When Kitsch arrived back in Austin after his Telluride bacchanal, he got down to studying. He read the memoirs of Branch Davidian survivor David Thibodeau, watched home videos of Koresh preaching, and made a stab at grasping the Branch Davidians’ end-times theology. “I literally had a beginner’s-Bible-study version of the Book of Revelation,” Kitsch said. Koresh was an enthusiastic rock guitarist and singer (followers wore “David Koresh: God Rocks” T-shirts), so Kitsch took guitar and voice lessons to pull off the on-screen performances. To physically transform into Koresh—who did not have movie-star muscles—Kitsch dropped thirty pounds, limiting himself to eight hundred calories a day and running around Lady Bird Lake while listening to Koresh’s sermons. As Kitsch dug into his research, he saw a clear path to playing the public persona of the Branch Davidian leader. “Before the siege, it’s his birthday every day,” Kitsch said. “It’s all about him. He’s got a go-cart track and a shooting range, and he’s a rock star—obviously the lead singer, obviously the lead guitarist.” In Waco, Koresh, as played by Kitsch, oozes charm and bravado and knows just how to manipulate the people around him. That’s not a stretch. The 33-year-old self-proclaimed “Lamb of God” was in the habit of waking up his followers in the middle of the night so that they could listen to him show off his savant-like recall of the Bible. He had about two dozen “spiritual wives,” including some who were already married to other Branch Davidians. After a claimed revelation from God, he commanded all men in the compound to be celibate, with the singular exception of David Koresh. (“I’ve assumed the burden of sex for us all, but not for my own kicks,” Kitsch as Koresh says in the show’s first episode.) He was good at a drawling, tough-guy act too: he drove a ’68 Camaro, loved his firearms, and famously sent a message to the FBI saying, “You come pointing guns in the direction of my wife and my kids, dammit, I’ll meet you at the door any time.” But Kitsch also had to reckon with Koresh’s darkness. Among Koresh’s wives were women whom he had married when they were as young as twelve years old, and even if you think the federal government acted disastrously at Waco, it’s hard to see Koresh as blameless in the deaths of the 86 people who perished in the initial raid and the final fire. “Taylor and I had long talks: ‘How do you play this guy in a human way?’ ” John Dowdle said. “That was a big part of the preparation, just trying to get through the ugly stuff so he’s not a monster from the get-go.” Kitsch seized on Koresh’s childhood to understand him, trying to find that part of the Branch Davidian leader that was still Vernon Wayne Howell, Koresh’s given name. During his research, Kitsch read about a phone call that Koresh placed to his mother during the ATF raid on the compound. Koresh had been shot twice, was bleeding profusely, and thought that he was minutes from the end. His mother didn’t pick up, but he left a message, telling her he was dying, asking her to “tell Grandma hello for me,” and saying, “I’ll see y’all in the skies.” “I broke reading it,” Kitsch said. “I was crushed. And after that, I was like, ‘I’m dialed in now and I’m ready to go.’ ” The call hadn’t been in the script, but Kitsch emailed the Dowdles and urged them to add it: “I’m like, ‘This will take fifteen, twenty minutes to shoot, guys, we’ve got to have this in there. This is not Koresh—this is Vernon calling his mom.’ ” The Dowdles agreed. When Kitsch arrived on set, cast and crew who were wondering what he’d bring to the role didn’t have to wait long. On the first day, the Dowdles had scheduled a scene in which Kitsch delivered a nine-page sermon on divine joy to his congregants. “It was pretty remarkable to see him get up and do that,” Paul Sparks, who plays Koresh’s deputy, Steve Schneider, told me. “I had heard some of Koresh on the internet, but to be in the room and listen to this person talk about these complex, different ways of looking at Scripture—it was like, ‘Right, that’s what it was like.’ ” Regardless of whether Waco is a hit, Kitsch has his next project lined up. He’s planning to go to a friend’s San Saba ranch in February to shoot a movie currently titled Pieces. It will be his debut as a screenwriter and feature-film director. Pieces tells the story of “three best friends who take an opportunity to change their lives.” In this case, that opportunity is to intercept a drug drop on the Texas-Mexico border, after which, as you might assume, “all hell breaks loose.” Kitsch wrote the script over the course of several motorcycle road trips, and he used the journeys not only to clear his mind for writing but as an opportunity to conduct research. “I remember being in Idaho and there’s this truck-stop hooker, basically, and I had a coffee with her,” Kitsch told me. “Don’t read into that, it was—literally, it was a coffee—and I just bombed questions at her, and she was just super cool. I put a character based on her in the movie.” Kitsch seems to have exactly the kind of fame that he wants. He can build a dream house and get a dream role, but he can drop by a truck stop in Idaho and bomb questions at people who don’t recognize him. He has famous friends and wild adventures, but every interaction he has doesn’t have to be about his celebrity. As we were sitting at Mean-Eyed Cat, Kitsch told me about turning down a role recently. It was a “little rom-com for five days’ work,” he said, and it was “stupid money.” He would have made more on that movie than he did on Waco, Only the Brave, and three Normal Hearts combined—“for five days’ work,” he said again. I asked him why he’d said no. He did the voice-over work for Ram Trucks commercials, after all. First he answered like an actor. “It’s just not where I want to be, it’s not the story I want to tell,” he said. Then he added a caveat that was pure Taylor Kitsch. “I mean, I’m for sale,” he said, a big smile breaking out over his face. “If you want to give me $20 million for something and my mom never has to work again and my family’s good for the rest of their life, yes, I’m going to do it—don’t care who you are. I come from nothing, so to give my mom that call would just be awesome. I mean, I wouldn’t do porn, but, you know?”

#taylor kitsch #waco #austin texas #interview

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hockeytexts · 7 years ago

Text

Damage- Auston Matthews

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH OKAY THANK YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY!

So maybe (Y/N) had a hard time understanding where life would take her, she after all was in her 20′s and apparently according to everyone around her. That is supposed to be her stupid period where she can make mistakes and live her life to the fullest.

Yet, as soon as (Y/N) had moved to Toronto in the summer before her school year started. (Y/N) had never felt more alone.

She had joined the University of Toronto and it was exciting, especially since she had never left home a day in her life like this at all.

Surely it was supposed to be fun and independence was a thing she had to learn, so that summer she adjusted and slowly started gaining friends in order for her not to be lonely.

An easy thing to do in a city like Toronto, so (Y/N) forced herself to be social and that meant going into clubs she didn’t remember the name of by the end of the night. It was fine with her because that’s how she became friends with Freddie Andersen and why she was currently in his apartment playing scrabble.

“You fucking cheater” (Y/N) said to Freddie who just laughed at her before placing an E on the board earning him a triple word score. “How do you cheat in scrabble (Y/N)?” Freddie asked his friend who just shrugged before looking at her letters.

“You know what this is bullshit I don’t even like scrabble who suggested this?” (Y/N) asked in a defeated tone, she hated to be defeated in any way possible. Freddie rolled his eyes at his over dramatic friend before getting her a cup of water.

“What’s this for Freddie?” (Y/N) asked before grabbing the cup and taking sips out of it before Freddie replied with a “you seemed thirsty”. The subtle jab making (Y/N) wonder why she was friends with the goalie, he was quiet but honestly that was just because of the media in Toronto being annoying.

Freddie laughed before getting a text and seconds later, six guys busted into the living room surprising the two of you. “What the fuck I gave you guys that key for an emergency” Freddie said to the group of guys who were looking at him expectantly.

“It is an emergency, Kappy is finally going to do it” A blonde piped up within the group, the proclamation of this making Freddie pop up and get his coat. All of the guys filing out while Freddie grabbed (Y/N)’s hand and bringing her along with the group before locking his door.

“Kappy! Kappy! Kappy!” The group chanted along with (Y/N), who was informed by the same blonde who said that Kappy is finally going to do something, what was going on. Whose name she learned was Morgan but everyone just called him Mo, he was a slight instigator but not meaning anything behind it and honestly was a generally funny guy.

(Y/N) had also met the rest of the group whose names she all learned, eyes lingering on Auston’s for just a little bit too long. He was attractive to her what could she say?

(Y/N) shook her head of the thoughts of the pretty brunette before continuing to chant for Kappy in order to eat one of the biggest cheeseburgers she’d ever seen. Learning that the burger just wasn’t a burger but a ‘I’m getting over my ex girlfriend, Annika, burger’ since she was vegan and meat was the last thing she’d ever touch.

This burger meant more than just earning a spot on the wall of a cool restaurant in Toronto, it meant getting over his ex. (Y/N) was in full support of this and when he accomplished eating everything, everyone cheered for him. Everyone happy that he could finally do it.

The group talked while Kappy was getting his picture taken, the pretty brunette (Y/N) couldn’t stop thinking about soon started up a conversation with her. “Wow you really are a nerd” he said in reference to her Star Wars shirt she currently had on.

“Hey fuck you Star Wars fucks” (Y/N) defending her movie before the brunette laughed before revealing that he was Auston. Names being all jumbled up in her head so she was thankful for the fact that Auston told her his name again.

“Explain those prequels then” Auston said to her, (Y/N) opening up her mouth to defend her movies when she realized something. “So you have watched them!” (Y/N) replied wondering how he had the audacity to make fun of her for something he was very much guilty for himself.

“You know what, I’m not going to tell you. I like to make people wonder sometimes” Auston explained.

(Y/N) smiled, she was completely fucked by this boy and she knew it.

“Auston what the fuck, why did you go into my Instagram DMs?” (Y/N) shouted at Auston who was looking grumpily at her. They had reached their one year mark and were supposed to be celebrating today, that’s not how it worked out. “Yeah apparently you’ve been going through the whole NHL” Auston retorted while trying not to yell.

“Just because I message a guy doesn’t mean shit, I have friends too. You have girls lined up for you and trust you” (Y/N) confessed showing an insecurity she never wanted to show. She was usually so confident when it came to Auston.

Not when the girls pictures he liked looked like models, not when they have history, and especially when they give (Y/N) a look of ‘I feel so sorry for you not knowing what’s going on behind your back’. She was kind of fed up with everything but not when Auston didn’t trust her and she trusted him, even with him giving her every reason not to.

“You know what I thought I could trust you but what is this?” Auston asked pulling a message on her phone with Clayton Keller telling her that he was “so excited to see her in Arizona”. (Y/N) snatched her phone from Auston’s grip before going through her phone and pulling up an email on her.

Soon (Y/N) threw her phone on the table and went into their basically shared bedroom while Auston read her phone. The email congratulating her on being accepted to a prestigious internship in Arizona, a once in a lifetime opportunity. Auston soon scrolling through the messages with Clayton realizing he had fucked up and it was more harmless than he thought.

That realization coming too late when (Y/N) walked out of their bedroom with a suitcase and a puck from a game where he promised he scored for her. She set it down on the table before looking up at Auston with tears in her eyes, giving him a soft kiss before leaving.

Auston standing frozen in place not knowing what he could do at that very moment. She was obviously broken and fighting for her would be pointless, Auston had thought. So he stayed in place while he looked at a picture of the two on their third place, it wasn’t supposed to end like this.

“Auston” (Y/N) had smiled a radiant smile as she stood in front of her now ex boyfriend seemingly happier than ever at a mutual friends wedding. “(Y/N)” Auston said while eyeing the boy she showed up with. Blonde hair, green eyes, and seemingly the picture of perfection which from what Auston saw; it was perfection.

The first jab at Auston’s heart was how he looked at her and only her, something Auston knew he should’ve always done for her. Yet they both knew his wandering eye got the pair into a couple of fights during their relationship.

“Auston this is Tanner” (Y/N) smiled as she beamed at him, another jab because she never looked that happy with him. At least towards the end of their relationship, she looked miserable dating Auston and he felt bad he caused that.

“Hi I’m Aus-” Auston started before Tanner interrupted and said “Auston Matthews, pretty much everyone in the hockey world knows who you are man”. Tanner beaming due to him not being an asshole, making the plan that was forming in Auston’s plan all the much worse.

“Oh thanks, so how did the two of you meet?” Auston asked in order to be polite, he didn’t care about their relationship whatsoever. “We met during a movie showing of a film we both like, we started having movie nights and coffee shop talks and it bloomed from there” (Y/N) said before Tanner kissed (Y/N)’s temple causing her to scrunch up her face in happiness.

The two laughing causing the last and final jab to Auston’s heart he could take, he had to get Tanner away from (Y/N). He texted Mitch who soon enough distracted Tanner enough to let (Y/N) slip away from Tanner.

“Yes Auston” (Y/N) said with an irritated tone proving that she wanted to be anywhere else. “I miss you” Auston said reaching out to touch her, (Y/N) backing away knowing that she would be putty in his hands if he touched her. Soon Auston had her putty in his hands just like he had planned, silently thinking to thank Mitch and he owed him big time.

“Auston we can’t-” (Y/N) said to Auston while looking up at him due to their height difference. Yet (Y/N) was the one to lean in and kiss him with a fervor she hadn’t felt in a long time. Soon letting Auston take her in the bathroom while he covered her mouth with his hands in order to not let anyone know what they were doing.

Auston falling more in love with her and (Y/N) letting all of the emotions she had suppressed reach the surface again after they both came. Setting (Y/N) down and letting her fix her hair and walk out of the bathroom to leave Auston with his thoughts while he waited for an acceptable time to leave.

Seemingly he left at the perfect time due to her breaking up with Tanner before she went off to the girls while the guys accepted Tanner for the night. Auston being a major player in that because he knew that he was a major reason the two broke up in the first place.

“We’re going to create a deal Auston” (Y/N) had texted Auston, explaining that until they got their feelings sorted out for each other, that they would hook up every time she came back to Toronto and he was there. That way the tension can be released when she came back and there would be none.

Auston subsequently agreed knowing that (Y/N) would be the death of her.

(Y/N) smirked as she saw a girl that supposedly was supposed to go back home with Auston tonight brag to all of her friends about this. She saw it in her eyes and the way she was acting, she knew she was going to be Auston’s next conquest but Auston hadn’t seen (Y/N) yet.

That would change everything and probably ruin the pretty red headed girls night, and honestly (Y/N) didn’t care about her. She had missed Auston and after being away for 3 months due to work sending (Y/N) Arizona, she knew she had to see him tonight.

So she made a plan to look amazing and dress in a way that would make Auston weak for her, and when they finally saw each other in the crowded club. (Y/N) knew she had made the right decision for the night, especially due to Auston immediately gravitating towards her.

“(Y/N)” Auston said while blatantly checking her out meaning (Y/N)’s plan worked and the red headed girl was the last thing in Auston’s mind right now. “Hi” (Y/N) said back before hugging Auston and pulling back to check him out noting his all black attire which also was matching hers.

“How was Arizona?” Auston asked before the red headed girl came back to try to get Auston’s attention. Not realizing that this was (Y/N) and that (Y/N) could easily ruin her self confidence with just one laugh. Which is also what happened because (Y/N) let out a bitchy laugh before smirking and looking at the red head.

“What?” The girl rudely asked (Y/N) before rolling her eyes and looking directly at Auston. “Sorry Samantha” Auston said before wrapping his arm around (Y/N) and pulling her close, meaning that anything they had going was immediately stopped by (Y/N) being there.

“Bye Samantha it’s so sad we couldn’t have talked more” (Y/N) said sarcastically before waving bye at the girl. The two of them looked at her until she broke out into a “whatever” Samantha said before turning away and searching throughout the club to look for the group of girls she was with.

“Anyways, Arizona was great Auston I had a ton of fun and actually ran into Clayton and he said hey by the way” (Y/N) explained to Auston knowing exactly what she was doing again. “Is that all that you guys did, talk?” Auston asked angrily meaning (Y/N)’s plan worked.

She wanted to make him jealous, maybe even a little pissed off, because she is the only person in the world who could possibly piss him off to the extent she does.

“Yeah and I ran into your parents, sweetest people still I see” (Y/N) replied causing Auston to smile. Auston’s parents really did love (Y/N), seeing her as a daughter in law already and they weren’t even technically dating. “So what are you doing in Toronto?” Auston asked another question causing (Y/N) to roll her eyes.

“What is this an interview? Come on let’s go back to my new apartment so that we can talk” (Y/N) said grabbing Auston’s hand and leading him back to her new apartment. The two doing more than talk but then again, they never just talked. The inevitable was unavoidable and they both knew it too.

“So I’m sitting there like what the fuck is happening, I started slipping and yeah it just wasn’t good” (Y/N) explained to the group of Leafs and their WAGs at brunch. Everyone laughing at (Y/N)’s recollection of one of her first times ice skating due to her being clumsy on the ice, which is funnier because she is friends with tons of NHL players who could teach her.

“You should learn to skate (Y/N), I could teach you” William Nylander telling (Y/N) since everyone was tired of her not knowing how to skate. This was especially due to her saying it’s okay and then moping while everyone else was having fun on the ice.

“Willie, I can easily teach her” Auston answered for (Y/N) before she shrugged and turned back to William and smiling at him. “Willie I would love that, don’t listen to Mr. Over Protective over there who never has time for me, and we could have some fun” (Y/N) said in a fake mocking tone.

(Y/N) soon winked at Willie who caught on fast and started insinuating that they would do more than learn how to skate. “(Y/N) maybe we have something to do that day” Auston said to the two who just looked at each other before turning back to Auston.

“Auston we didn’t even say a date yet” (Y/N) said trying to hold back a laugh before Willie smirked and slipped his arm behind (Y/N). “Okay but still and also-” Auston was about to say something else when he was interrupted by three fairly gorgeous fans.

“Hi can we take pictures with you guys” One with blonde hair asked while looking directly at Zach Hyman. “Sure” Mitch said to the girls who gave Steph the camera in order to take a picture with the guys.

“Auston can I just take a selfie with you” asked one of the girls to Auston, not missing the fact she was a gorgeous brunette who was one of those girls who was just hot. Auston smirking before nodding his head and actually smiling for once in a picture, causing (Y/N) to become angry.

He barely smiled for any of their photos, but here he was smiling for a random girl he just met and didn’t know the intentions of. (Y/N) rolled her eyes which Auston caught a glimpse of, making him more happy because he always seemed like the one to be jealous.

(Y/N) got annoyed but knew Auston wasn’t good with jealousy either so she went outside with Willie, they were close friends and they’d never try anything with him. Yet, (Y/N) wasn’t thinking straight and so she just went outside with him to calm down.

“(Y/N)?” Said Auston as he went outside to meet up with the two that left, not realizing he’d see Willie and (Y/N) kissing and his heart break into a thousand pieces.

“(Y/N)? Willie?” Auston asked causing the two to break apart and look at the broken boy. “Auston I-” (Y/N) reached out to him in order to take his hand, Auston soon flinching and moving away from the two.

He wanted an explanation but he also wanted to get as far away from the two as possible, he couldn’t do it right now. “I’m going to go now” Auston said before walking to his car, Auston not stopping to listen to the two screaming out for him.

Auston woke up with a leggy blonde next to him, becoming disgusted and angry with himself. This girl wasn’t (Y/N) and she may have been hot, but she wasn’t (Y/N) at all but then the feelings of yesterday popped up and soon he felt better.

“Austy” The blonde piped hugging him and trying to cuddle him, him shrugging her off him and soon telling her to leave. Her fingertips felt toxic and disgust slowly crept back into his conscious, he wanted her to leave faster but she took so long. He let out a sigh of relief when he was left alone, he had time alone to his thoughts which kept drifting back to (Y/N).

“Auston” Auston heard (Y/N) yell from his apartment, suddenly regretting the key he gave her but that was due to him being a little bit too overconfident about her coming back into his life.

“In here” Auston yelled knowing (Y/N) would continually look for him until she found him. Soon she was in front of his bed with a stern expression on her face, looking mad as he was looking at her. Their glares basically turning into daggers they wanted to take each other out with.

“We are going to talk about this right now, you can’t be mad at me for kissing someone and sleep with some random the next day are you fucking kidding me?” (Y/N) shrieked as her culminated anger with Auston boiled to the surface.

“I can do whatever I want, what are you my mother?” Auston snorted as he turned away from her icy stare. “No but I fucking care about you enough, I might as well be” (Y/N) replied back, soon crossing her arms over her chest.

“You care about me? That’s rich” Auston replied with a tone that signified he wanted her to hurt as much as he was right now.

“Yes why would I go through this with anyone else in the world unless I cared about them dumbass” (Y/N) countered. (Y/N) soon seeing Auston get up and roll his eyes before walking into his bathroom.

“Oh no you fucking don’t” (Y/N) said while putting her boot between the door in order to leave it open. “What (Y/N)? What could you possibly want right now, honestly fuck off” Auston replied with malice hoping to hurt her enough to leave.

“I have a key and I want to talk obviously, I can’t stop thinking of your face after everything that happened yesterday” (Y/N) said as she ran her hands through her hair.

“Okay so why’d you do it?” Auston asked quietly while looking at her expectantly like she could break with his next sentence. “I was jealous” (Y/N) admitted making Auston smile slightly, he was always afraid of their relationship just him showing constant jealousy. She felt it too, meaning that (Y/N) did care about what happened to them.

“Oh” Auston said as he tried to hide his smiling, (Y/N) soon catching meaning it was her turn to roll her eyes. “Listen both of us are miserable not being with each other, I care about you deeply so why don’t we just get back together?” (Y/N) asked Auston as she looked at him expectantly.

“I honestly have been miserable but I think are things we need to work on” Auston admitted as he looked at her. “Of course I kind of just miss you and life hasn’t been the same really” (Y/N) admitted.

Soon looking at him for the same kind of verbal confirmation, Auston just smiling down at her. “Okay fine, you are the only thing I think about” Auston admitted as he pulled her close and leaned down to kiss her.

(Y/N) soon pulled back before smiling at him, “whoa Matthews, I only kiss after the third date” (Y/N) said to Auston who smiled down at her.

“Let’s go ice skating, play scrabble, and go to a dog park then” Auston said knowing how she felt about each thing. (Y/N) laughed and smacked him lightly in the chest before smirking at him.

“Strangely enough that’s three dates, also I can’t skate. Scrabble is reserved for Freddie and if he found out I played with you, you’d be facing your death. Also, yes I’m always down for the dog park” (Y/N) said smiling at Auston while he got dressed.

The two joking around with each other before Auston took her hand and kissed her knuckles lightly. He promised himself he wouldn’t lose her this time, to try and keep her this time and (Y/N) meant to try the same for the sake of their relationship. They were going to try again in order to end up damaged.

#auston matthews #auston matthews imagine #Auston #Toronto Maple Leafs #writing #hockey

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romancevsreality-blog · 7 years ago

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vanderpump rules, season six, episode fifteen: jax taylor is an irredeemable demon who should be ashamed of himself

The episode opens at Sexy Unique Restaurant, where Sandoval’s arrived early to work on cocktails for TomTom! Both Lisa Vanderpump and I are shocked to learn that he’s a) arrived early anywhere and b) working on something he doesn’t have to be. I have the lowest image of all of the people starring on this show so expecting them ever to go above and beyond is a hard pill to swallow. I mean, I genuinely thought Tom&Tom were going to go to a bunch of cocktail bars and just jack all of those recipes1. Lisa wants to make sure that Tom Sandoval is on his best behavior because Nick Alain2 is coming into town and Lisa doesn’t want anything to get muddled in the process. Lisa wants Tom to know that the designing and organizing and generally knowing how working a job is all on her, and he just needs to stand still and look pretty.

Michelle Branch can tell him a thing or two about that.

Over at The Phoenix, Lala is introducing Stassi to the first black people she’s ever met, Lala’s music producers. One of them is named Blk Elviz, and the other is Sean2, and they’re both very fashionable and aesthetically pleasing. Of course Stassi uses the word “y’all” as soon as she meets them because code switching is real3. Blk Elviz is wearing a leather jacket that I envy so greatly I know that thing was $600. They’re getting ready for Lala’s performing and scouting the space. Stassi’s not concerned about the musical aspect but really creating a vibe and… you know, event planning. What bothers me is that the music producers are kind of just there to be there, and really, they should be asking more questions than Stassi is. What are the acoustics like? Are there going to be sound engineers? If Lala’s performing outside, will the audio be swallowed up?

I should be doing this job. Jusssayin. Stassi only listens to showtunes and reggaeton. Stassi loves Les Miserables, as most white people do.

Stassi and Lala sit down to split a giant pretzel and discuss girls’ night. Stassi’ really trying to listen and communicate with Ariana but Ariana’s not having it. Stassi’s not okay with feeling shamed for calling out bad behavior and feels no need to apologize. I agree with Stassi - she was made uncomfortable by Jeremy, and she told Ariana such, and Ariana doubled down on her anger. I don’t know if anyone else could have expressed that sentiment to Ariana, either. Unfortunately for Stassi, Ariana’s hatred of her makes her blind to the possibility that Stassi could ever be correct or have feelings worth validating.When Stassi says she’s not apologizing, Lala calls her a gangsta bitch.

That’s a little too far, Lala. We’re not going that far today.

Ugh, we’re at The Tomb of Jax Taylor, or Jax and Brittany’s apartment where it immediately starts with them bickering over the couch and to top it all off, Kelsey, Jax’s financial dominatrix - I mean, reiki coach, is coming over, and Brittany’s gotta skedaddle for a bit. Brittany’s a little jealous because Kelsey is not only good looking but she’s providing something to Jax that Brittany not only doesn’t know, she doesn’t even understand what it is. I mean, if I was a little concerned about that, I would take Kelsey aside and, you know, ask her about the process that my boyfriend of two years is making and how she’s helping him. These sessions aren’t just for him, BRITTANY.

I notice at this moment that Jax is wearing a Saturdays are for the Boys shirt. When did this become a thing? According to Know Your Meme it’s from a thing called Barstool Sports. I thought Barstool Sports was the game I played when I was trying to get laid in college and would post up at a bar for a few hours. But no, apparently it’s not even a game! It’s a podcast!

Jax loves Kelsey because she literally breaks him down and rebuilds him. I’m glad Jax is feeling the way he’s made women feel for 500 years. He’s ful of anxiety about the whole idea of the trip. Oh, and apparently someone offered Jax a job.

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No.

Jax Taylor did not get offered a job in Florida. No. He’s like “I get to be around sports all day” It’s apparently a job in hockey doing social media and marketing. I have friends who work for stadiums. No. This is not real. He’s mad that Tom & Tom have an opportunity so he’s going to pull a Ryan Howard and move to Miami. Miami, Ohio, that is, where this job likely is. That somehow makes Jax both Kelly Kapoor and Ryan Howard simultaneous and I don’t think this is what Greg Daniels and Michael Schur wanted.

And even so, why would he take this? I’m sorry, Jax has it made. He’s easily pulling in a mid-range six figures from this show, Instagram ads, and appearances alone. And he wants to give all of that up to live in a swampland and make, what, 60k a year? And even so, the Tampa Bay hockey team is really good. I can’t imagine them hiring a 75 year old who’s never had a job and didn’t go to college to study this. Sorry. I call bullshit.

My friend Celia’s doing reiki treatment right now for chronic pain, and she says it’s really working for her, so I’ll hold my tongue regarding Kelsey and what she does, because I really don’t have any knowledge and experience. What I can say confidently is that Jax is going to try to fuck Kelsey, and Jax will use reiki as an excuse to blame Brittany when he does so. That I’m sure of.

Brittany returns and Jax gushes over Kelsey, of course. He’s like “she’s amazing, my days are better after I see her,” and Brittany wants to help, and Jax immediately starts pitting Kelsey against her. It’s actually effortless. Brittany’s like, “Tell me what she does so I can try to help you,” and Jax is like “she’s just not like you at all in every single way, she makes you look like trash.” The appropriate response would for Jax to explain how Kelsey’s helpful so Brittany can learn, but no. Jax hates Brittany so much at this point and is literally taking every step possible to make her feel like shit. He tells her she’s not patient with him, and Kelsey calls Jax Jayson.

Brittany asks why Jax doesn’t want her to all him Jayson, and Jax is basically like “I’m trying to know Jayson and who I was before I became Jax.” Brittany. He is literally telling you he doesn’t want to be the person you’re dating anymore. He’s going so far as to change his name. Everything with Jax is a fucking transaction. That’s why he’s pitting this woman he’s known for a few weeks against his live-in girlfriend of two years. Does Jax not realize that Kelsey’s mostly being so kind ot him because he’s paying her, not because she actually likes him? And that she’s showering him with positivity and false platitudes like she’s RuPaul? Jax is that guy at the strip club who wastes his entire retirement fund because that’s the only way he can feel good about himself.

At this point the Trump administration should just hire Jax, he’s a member of their tribe of Transactional Relationships.

Jax tells Brittany about this fake madeup job in Tampa. After he’s told Kelsey already. Jax is that friend who gets an idea in his brain and is 100% in on the idea without considering the reality of the situation. He tells Brittany to her face that right now he doesn’t see anything holding him back and there’s nothing there for him - the implication being that being in Los Angeles with her was the problem. He doesn’t want to be Peter Pan anymore… but as soon as Brittany’s like “great, I want you to grow up, too,” Jax gets mad. She’s giving him support and agreeing with his opinion but he doesn’t want that. The minute Brittany agrees reminds Jax that his behavior isn’t just for him, it effects other people. That’s why he’s like, “God, just say yes. Not ‘you’ or ‘me’ or ‘I’ or ‘us’.” He literally tells her not to talk about the way his actions affect her, positively or negatively. She tells him that she has opinions too and she, in fact, doesn’t have to just stand there and say ”sounds good, honey.” Kelsey, who I only hate because she’s enabled and provided a sociopath with the tools he needs to continue his abusive behavior, told Jax that he needs to put himself first because he never does anything for himself. Brittany rolls her eyes at this entire notion, and so do I.

Brittany will never leave this man. She loves him and she truly believes everything she has will go away if she chooses to leave.

Because the producers want to give us an example of a healthy, functioning relationship, we’re over to Scheana’s apartment where she’s hanging out with her true love - her cat. Oh, and Rob’s there and Scheana’s “made food”4. Scheana immediately pretends like she wants what’s best for Brittany and wants her to get her mojo back by fucking a ton of other dudes. Rob, forever the voice of reason and rooted in some sense of reality, reminds Scheana that Brittany has agency and if she doesn’t want to break up with Jax, Scheana can’t force that to happen. Scheana clearly sees herself in Brittany and thinks Brittany’s just afraid of being alone and would rather stay miserable than be alone.

As soon as Scheana starts on this path, Rob is like OKAY LET’S TALK ABOUT THE ONLY REASON I DATE YOU, to get publicity for the app I’m starting! It’s an e-commerce site where divorced people can selll their shit.

I am literally sitting next to my roommate who works in e-commerce and if she wasn’t paitiently working I would ask her on a scale from 1 to Offset cheating on Cardi B how stupid this idea is.

“The Divorce Closet”. Not everything is a business. Isn’t it a crime to sell someone else’s things without their consent? How is this not just Nasty eBay?

Scheana so admires Rob’s work ethic in creating a brand that literally caters to only her. I don’t want to buy Shay’s broken snowboard or your old Indique hair extensions, Scheana. They’re looking at logos, Scheana’s asking about copyrights, and Rob’s like “well, I have majority equity and you’re the face of the company.”

Read: I make all the money and you do nothing. Get this shit in writing, Scheana. He’s fucking you over. But then again, Scheana is so dickmatized and love-blind that it wouldn’t be romantic to go through all the nitty-gritty of contracts and whatnot with Rob. Rob can install a television in seven minutes and he would never screw over Scheana in The Divorce Closet. She’s so distracted by his baby blue eyes and how much she wants to marry him.

I don’t feel bad for Scheana. We’ve seen Scheana’s delusion in action before - remember when she was convinced Shay’s substance problems could be fixed by him just not drinking as much? Or how after one therapy session she thought all of their problems were fixed? Scheana sees these men as her saviors and her biggest enemies. Shay wasn’t perfect but god damn, I don’t think he deserves the on-camera humiliation that Scheana puts him in week after week. It doesn’t reflect poorly on him. It reflects poorly on her.

Lisa Vanderpump is kissing a horse. She’s at the stables riding Prince Tardon, her sexy horse. Brittany arrives and she’s terrified because she hasn’t rode a horse in forever. These are nothing compared to the tiny horses Brittany has on her farm in Kentucky. Brittany brings up the fact that things with Jax aren’t as bad as they had been in the past, and that she’s even planned this trip to Mexico for them. Why? What is the point of this trip? Lisa asks her why she feels the need to make it all better and celebrate him when he’s done nothing but treat her like crap, and it’s an entirely logical question. Why isn’t Brittany torturing Jax more? Brittany thinks Jax just needs to get away. She wants Vacation Jax. Lisa doesn’t understand why Jax is doing reiki and basically calls bullshit. She doesn’t understand why he’s not going to a convetional therapy.

Lisa tells Brittany she needs to look after herself and take care of herself. Lisa doesn’t understand why she puts up with it, doesn’t see anything changing any time soon.

In effect, Lisa is trying to tell Brittany that she won’t lose everything - she won’t be fired from the show - if she decides to break up with Jax.

We’re back at Tom Tom, and Tom Sandoval is wearing one of the ugliest shirts I have ever seen. Lisa, Ken, and The Toms are waiting for Nickel Lane, Lisa’s restaurant designer. They’re putting a fucking pendulum in TomTom. What is he doing? They want it to look like the inside of a clock inside TomTom. I guess TomTom will just be a long metaphor for how fleeting time can truly be, tick-tock, tick-tock. Sandoval has created some cocktail ideas for the restaurant, one including scorpion chili5. Lisa loves them. Tom finally got some sort of approval.

Over at Stassi’s, she and Kristen are packing their bags for Mexico. Kristen has a dearth of sequin tank tops with spaghetti straps. I love that Kristen is the most consistent person on earth in terms of her fashion choices. T-shirts with “romantic” or “funny” phrases, sequin tank tops, jeans. Wash, rinse, repeat. Stassi’s not excited to be rooming with Kristen because she’s a disaster of a person.

Lala got a spray tan, so he’s ready for Mexico.

Jax has a matching shirt and pants, and Ariana is bringing 100 bikinis.

We get a plane/shots/van/hotel montage, and they’re staying in one of my favorite locations I think I’ve seen on reality TV. Poor Peter has to room with James, and I bet he’s mad he agreed to go on this trip. I really don’t know what’s worse - the idea of James Kennedy having a hotel room to himself or being his roommate. All the rooms in the hotel are nice, but Jax and Brittany’s suite is the best one, it even has a private pool. Jax is wearing a NASCAR shirt, he deserves nothing.

We get an entirely unnecessary scene of Katie and Tom gushing over how happy they are in their relationship and how this first year of marriage has been the easiest and most fun time ever. They give a montage of all of the great moments these two have had as a couple who definitely should have gotten married, but it’s okay, they can eat $10 peanuts now.

Jax and Brittany are skinnydipping and shaming Peter and James for not having their own pool. Brittany mentions to Jax that he seems to be in good spirits and in a good mood and he’s like, “yeah, that’s Kelsey.” To the face of his girlfriend who arranged (along with producers) for this trip for his birthday in the suite she set up. God, I fucking hate him.

Are these people not allowed to leave the hotel?

Stassi and Kristen are trying to come to terms about their arrangement and basically having respect for each other’s space and desires. Stassi tries to tell Kristen that after 2 AM if she’s asleep, let her sleep. This is clearly a problem that’s happened before, and Kristen called Stassi selfish for not staying up all night partying for Jax’s birthday. Honestly, when my friends are going to bed and I’m wasted, I’m tucking them into bed and getting Goodnight Moon out. Kristen seems like the type to wake you up by pouring a glass of water on your face and calling you a bitch.

Stassi especially wants Kristen to stay away from their balcony, particularly with tequila.

Sandoval is ironing a shirt and complaining that it’s harder to get ready in Mexico because of the weather. He’s exfoliating, using less pomade, and somehow he adapts. Somehow.

Jax is 95% going to take this job in Florida and is going to tell Tom & Tom tonight. This is Brand New Information to Brittany, who is right to be upset. They’ve had one conversation about it and Jax is like “you knew this, I told you.” If it’s the same conversation we all saw, he told Brittany but there was no discussion about the reality of of it all. It was more of a “this is a cool thing that happened to me today,” and now it’s a real thing. I HATE THIS MAN. Jax doesn’t understand why Brittany wants to stay in LA and Jax immedaitely goes on the defense. Brittany points out that this is not a overnight decision at all, but to Jax it is. He’s making choices about their future without asking her, and he doesn’t see anything wrong with that.

Can you believe?

Jax is so abusive, I really can’t with him. He’s trying to isolate Brittany by doing this. The fact that the first thing that came to mind in terms of reasons to stay in Los Angeles is “we’re not staying for friends, we’re not children.” Who has been the most vocal regarding Brittany breaking up with Jax? Her friends. This is so tragic, bordering on disturbing. He is trying anything he can to make sure that she cannot make choices for herself. He cheats on her and she’s supposed to blindly support him and not say anything or stand up for herself.

Jax honestly needs to get a blow-up doll. Jax is the prime candidate for one of those sex robots. You know how in come countries they castrate pedophiles? Jax Taylor should be forced to never interact with women ever again once he gets his sex robot. We will all be better off.

Jax keeps saying this is his dream and he fully thought Brittany was on board, and Brittany basically is like, “what about my dreams, Jax?’” He never once considered her feelings in all of this, he assumed she would follow him anywhere. He has clearly made up his mind in the way he’s talking to her - there’s no reflection on what she’s saying, he honestly just thinks she’s upset because they’re leaving Los Angeles. Yes, Brittany can be a bartender anywhere, but right now, she’s being a bartender in Los Angeles and she’s okay with that. He thinks she’s going to force him to give up his dream, but he’s never considered hers.

Why does she stay? I really don’t understand why she stays. I really, really don’t. At this point, it’s just sad. I get it, you love the lifestyle he provides. But she can’t grow with him. And honestly, if she’s staying with him after he cheated, she doesn’t get to bring up the fact that he cheated over and over again to win arguments. Jax had done an abundance of awful things that should be thrown in his face, but she told him she forgave him and was trying to move past it. She can’t move past it if she’s continuing to weaponize it.

Ugh, did I just defend Jax?!

For some reason we get a scene of Lisa Vanderpump at Sexy Unique Restaurant, saying hello to Billie Lee and yelling at someone for their not-sexy plating. There are some good bartenders behind the bar for once and they get their time in the spotlight, finally. One is Daddy Bae Adam and the other is WeSley.

You’re probably wondering why I capitalized that S. The response is that it’s not pronounced “Wisley” like you’re used to. The S is emphaised - WeS-ley. Daddy Bae Adam wants to see about moving from barbacking to bartending, and Lisa is immediately skeptical. Lisa’s like, yeah, you’re cute, but can you muddle for five hours straight, because that’s what the Sexy Unique Bartenders are expected to do. I’m not making this up. There one-third of the cocktails on the Sexy Unique Website for Sexy Unique Restaurant have a muddled ingredient. I am now concerned for Ariana’s wrists. No one else’s.

Sorry, though, Lisa. Adam is far too hot to keep behind the bar and not in front of it. Why are you letting Jax, a bag of steroids disguising itself as a person, be one of the faces of your bar? Lisa asks Adam to make her a mojito, and he fucks it up right away. He’s better than Jax ever could be as a bartender, though. We get a loving montage of Jax making bad drinks and not giving a fuck. Who cares if Adam mistakes sweet-and-sour with soda water? Jax once served someone a cocktail with broken glass in place of ice.

How is Jax not in jail.

Back in Mexico Musical Cue: “we don’t need so sleep because the party don’t stop / so put your hands on me and turn me on, turn me on”.

I don’t need to go further into the fact that these lyrics have no relationship to one another, right?

The Mexico group is off to dinner, and they’re talking about the plans they have for the next day. They’re going to a water park! They take shots celebrating Scheana’s divorce because it’s finalized! Scheana’s gushing about Rob again because she has nothing else to talk about except her significant others, and Stassi says she needs to find a new hobby. I agree. Stassi is literally how I am when my friends go on about their significant others for more than I feel appropriate. Rob has infiltrated Stassi’s psyche and she’s even having nightmares about him now.

A former friend of mine in college6 lived in a house with three of her sorority sisters and she happened to be only single one. The fact that her roommates were sleeping not in their house but over at their respective significant others bothered her so deeply that it was all she talked about for three months. Because she couldn’t go to them about this problem, she came to me. Every conversation we had was about how she didn’t feel comfortable with staying in her house alone. To this day, I wonder if she ever talked to them about it. Anyway, the point of all of this is that her complaints began to effect me. I was having nightmares and full of anxiety about her situation. Stassi’s joking, but really - people who lack the awareness that their bombarding the conversation with one topic are the most selfish people on Earth. This girl was a walking red flag.

Jax takes the Toms aside to tell them about his Fake Job opportunity. The Toms are devastated to lose Jax and the band breaking up. Who are they going to hide behind and pretend they’re better than? How are they going to feel better about committing bad behaviors if they don’t have Jax to compare it to? They don’t want Jax to leave because they might have to feel remorseful.

Brittany tells the girls about Jax’s fake job opporunity, and I love that everyone’s skeptical. Kristen’s like “so, it’s real?’ And Katie asks if they subjected him to a spelling test. Remember Jax’s sweater line? Or his fitness app? All the girls are mad that Jax assumed that Brittany’s just going to pack up and move along with her, and Stassi is the first to explode about it. All the girls are telling her he treats her like shit and she doesn’t need to deal with that. Scheana tries to defend Brittany but everyone’s like, wait, weren’t you trying to set her up with the hot new bartender just last week? Shut up.

Jax approaches and Stassi tells him he’s Public Enemy Number One.

He sits back down at the table, and everyone’s like “So, Tampa?” And Jax is like, “Y’all can come visit!” They ask Jax what he’s doing for this Fake Job, and he says “events and social media.”

Okay, Jax. Sure, Jan. I don’t know a single company that would link their events team and social media team. They’re both marketing but very different types of marketing. And no, he is not “in charge of social media”. Jax literally cannot come up with a title for his job because he does not have this job.

Ariana brings up that she really wants to make sure that Brittany can do what she wants out of life, even if she does go with Jax to do this or not. This turns into Jax literally learning what his girlfriend’s life dream is. They’ve been together for two years and he literally cannot recall that Brittany wants to work with children with mental disabilities. She did it in high school, and it’s what she went to fucking school for.

Brittany, why? Why do you do this?! I DON’T UNDERSTAND.

She’s giving him so many chances to be a good boyfriend. She’s literally like, “You know, I’ve told you what I want to do a bunch of times, don’t make a fool of me in front of my friends, just pretend you know what I’m talking about.” And Jax is too dumb to play along and further humiliates her. He doesn’t care about her whatsoever. All he had to say is like “oh yeah, of course I’ve heard you say that.” But he doesn’t. This information he should know, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t even want to.

Lala wins the fucking episode when she reminds Jax that he is no longer single, he’s in a partnership of two years, and he needs to respect her. Jax tells her to shut up, and she loses it in only the way a woman tired of being told to be silent does. She’s fed up and she’s had enough of his blatant disrespect. Lala can’t get any respect from these men and they really do need to stop telling her to shut up when she’s holding them accountable.

Imagine a bunch of people telling you you’re treating someone like shit and to change and your response is to tell them to shut up instead of considering maybe you’re a bad person. Just imagine.

Jax tells Lala she doesn’t know him well enough to speak to him the way she is, and we get to see Lala’s old face and Jax before his hairline decided it was disgusted by him in a montage, where we remember that a) Jax really wanted to fuck Lala and b) Jax diminished and disrespected his relationship with Brittany in order to try to fuck Lala. Lala knows firsthand what a shithead Jax is and is definitely allowed to speak on it.

When Jax tries to shut Lala down, that allows Kristen to rise from the ashes, because if Lala doesn’t know him well enough, Kristen/Katie/Stassi definitely do. Jax tries an ad hominem attack, this one being “Why isn’t Carter here, Kristen? What’s wrong with your relationship?” And Kristen literally is like “... yeah, that has nothing to do with what’s going on here.”

My personal favorite defense is when people are getting held accountable for shitty things they’ve done and their response is “well, you’re not perfect.” No one was ever saying that they were (Especially not Kristen). You don’t have to be perfect to know when someone is being bad. You just need to be a decent person. Jax is the most manipulative and abusive asshole and I hope someone runs him over.

Ariana has a napkin over her head, and Sandoval decides it’s time to jump into the conversation because Jax needs a defender at this time. No, Jax doesn’t, and Sandoval can fuck right off for this. Stassi is telling Jax that she stays quiet whenever she hears the way Jax speaks to Brittany even though she’s not okay with it, and Sandoval tries to tell her that she doesn’t have a leg to stand on because Stassi is Jax’s ex-girlfriend so of course her opinion is biased against Jax. Sandoval, your opinion is biased FOR Jax. He’s acting like losing Jax to Florida is somehow equal to Jax’s awful, abusive behavior. He’s acting like his devastation is equal to the devastation Brittany’s self-esteem is suffering.

Next Week: Watersports, and not the sexy kind. Oh, that Kristen vs. Stassi thing is going to be an actual Thing, apparently. Scheana tells Rob she’s trying to be present and he tells her to shut her phone off (supportive, right?) But no, Scheana discovers Rob basically doesn’t want to hear from her. Lisa is aware of Scheana’s meddling in Jax and Brittany’s relationship, and so is Jax, and Jax is mad that Brittany might actually want better for herself than him. Who woulda thunk it?

Random Assessments from the Desk of Amanda:

Who told Brittany and Jax that robin’s egg blue is a good color for a living room area?

Jax doesn’t want a partner because that would require him to see women as companions. Jax wants a mother and a his buddies.

Scheana apparently only watches her scenes. I love that. She’s awful.

Honestly, the fact that Lisa Vanderpump doesn’t have restaurants called Sous, Dans, Devant, and Derriere is a loss for her. This is a French language joke, brought to you by my tenth grade French teacher and the direction song.

I really want to go to Mexico.

Brittany hasn’t realized that Jax tired of his shiny new toy and she thinks she can get him to fall in love with her again. And the harder she tries, the less interested he is. I’m not going to say I’ve been in the situation before because I never know who is reading this, but man, I can see Jax’s side. Like, when I’m done with someone, I’m done. And the more they try to make me change my mind, the more done I become. By the end of my last relationship I would be ideal for Donald Trump with how done I was.

Further evidence that this job does not exist: Jax only lies to protect himself.

I can't wait to see The Divorce Closet on Shark Tank.

Bartenders, or if we’re being obnoxious, mixologists, or if we’re being pretentious, “cocktail artists”, are some of the most protective over their intellectual property. Then again, if I made a cocktail with 15 different ingredients that I had to source from the bottom of a gold-plated barrel, I would be too. ↩︎

I had to turn on the subtitles because I spent the last episode like “What kind of name is Nicole Ain?” Or “Nickle Ayn”? ↩︎

Yes, I know Stassi si from New Orleans. We’ve never heard her use “y’all” until now, and honestly, I’m so pro a gender-neutral plural that I think y’all shouldn’t be exclusively for Southern people. SORRRRRRRY. But y’all also can’t tell me she didn’t say this just because she was around black people. ↩︎

Why are people still replating carryout food and pretending they made it?! I know you didn’t do this. ↩︎

I fucking hate spicy cocktails and I judge cocktail bars with them on their menu. Oh god, I’m totally going to get myself into a lot of fucking trouble with my bartender friends SORRY Y’ALL ↩︎

One of the three people on Earth who knows that if we’re ever on the same sidewalk she better cross the fuckin’ street. ↩︎

#vanderpump rules #I HATE JAX I HATE JAX I HATE JAX #oh my god i was in a rage when i wrote this #i have never been so angry in my lyfe

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earpdearp · 7 years ago

Text

not just best friends

Wherein Nicole and Waverly spend an afternoon deep in discussion about what to do about the latest addition: Willa Earp, back from the dead. Phonecalls, texts and flirts galore. Plus, they kind of sleep together. It’s a long day.

Takes place in early 1x11. Utilizes Road to Purgatory content for flavor. Domestic as all get-out.

Also on AO3. Approximately 7620 words.

Other WayHaught “not just friends” fics in this series: not just any first date | not just a secret | not just heavenly | not just a long day

Nicole Haught woke up smiling.

While she was exhausted from all that extra overtime last night (and into the morning), Nicole still felt a warm sense of accomplishment all the way down to her toes.

It had been one of those defining moments of becoming a cop. The chaos of so many people, staying calm in that chaos, while working together to get statements down and families found… it was a magical thing.

“A hidden forest cult of runaway women rescued from the hands of a charismatic lunatic.”

It was one of those things you heard about on TV and couldn’t believe existed. Except in Purgatory: anything seemed to be possible. Good and bad (oftentimes bad).

All Nicole’s emergency management training had finally paid off, too. All those binders of situational procedure she’d brought with her to Purgatory from the Academy put to use. For once, Nicole had been the one teaching Lonnie, Nedley and Phillips how to properly engage with a sudden influx of victims at the station (and not just pack them into the drunk tank to deal with like a rowdy bar fight).

No, those women needed blankets, they needed coffee, they needed a sense of community and support. Favors were called in, mostly from the other cops’ significant others.

Lonnie’s wife, Marlene, helped keep their little coffee pot humming long into the early morning (or with hot chocolate to those who asked). Maggie Nedley and Chrissy threw their weight at the volunteer fire department to make sure they had plenty of blankets, plus cots for the women whose families couldn’t arrive til the morning. They also made trips to the 24-hour truck stop for bags and bags of trashy burgers and sandwiches when everyone got hungry around 10PM.

Phillips’ girlfriend Sasha was a little too dense to help do anything, but boy could the woman talk. And, if Nicole was being honest, she was probably the most useful of all. Sasha flitted around those girls like a hummingbird, catching them up on reality TV plots, some current events, the best clubs and bars in the city, and who the hottest movie actors were. Nicole had to keep redirecting Sasha away from Phillips so he would stay on task making those family calls/arrangements, but otherwise the woman was the perfect conversational butterfly to put those rescued women at ease.

Nicole had texted Waverly that she’d seen Wynonna there, hovering in the background like a grumpy guardian angel. The answering [“Thank you <3”] was all Nicole needed. A small part of Nicole wanted to ask Waverly to come down to help, but she knew Waverly was dead on her feet from the past few days.

Plus… they hadn’t really talked about outing their relationship like that. It would be a pretty big dick move just to show off “her girlfriend Waverly” when they hadn’t even used the word with each other, yet.

But… something to talk about nonetheless. There were a lot of empty checkboxes in their relationship status yet. Title, how serious or exclusive, who all could/would/should they tell… Still plenty of time to figure that out, though. And the right time probably wasn’t “late at night in the middle of the sheriff’s department.”

The number of victims winnowed down to less than three. Even Wynonna had signed a custody release on one woman who went by the name “Eve.”

“Just until someone steps forward to claim her,” Wynonna had said with a stern look. “No one should have to spend the night in this shithole.” Her expression switched to one of mock-sweetness with a few rapid, insincere blinks.

Nedley had cleared it with a gruff nod, though he promised the elder Earp that he was going to attend to Eve’s missing persons report personally. “If I have to assign a caseworker, I will.”

Wynonna drawled back with a smirk. “Oooo, threatening me with bureaucracy. …Relax, Randy. I’ll keep her safe.” Nicole had thought she heard the woman mutter under her breath, “…or she’ll keep me safe.”

Around midnight, Sheriff Nedley had taken Nicole aside. The bags under the man’s eyes were more pronounced than usual, his mouth a hard line under his light moustache. At first, Nicole thought she had done something wrong when he closed his office door behind her.

Instead, he offered her a seat. And a drink from the decanter of whiskey on his side table.

“You did good today, Haught,” Nedley said after clinking the lowball glass in his hand against hers on the desk. He drained his glass of the amber liquid in one deep swallow before Nicole had the chance to even raise hers to her lips.

Following suit, Nicole resisted the urge to cough against the burning bourbon. It puffed out her cheeks from the sheer amount of booze, but she swallowed it down with a weak smile.

“Th—thank you, sir,” Nicole stuttered out with a small, throat clearing cough. She felt herself squinting against the burn rolling down her throat. She also stifled a yawn that started in her jaw and shivered its way down her shoulders and into her chest. Sitting down just made Nicole realize how dog-ass tired she was after such a long day.

Nedley poured himself another and studied the sloshing liquid in his glass a moment. “I know you’ve had a long night, and you’re due some comp time. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t offer…”

Tilting her head, Nicole asked, “Offer what?”

“We’ve got a big poker tournament going on tomorrow night. Lot of old money and friends of the Judge come in and throw chips around. Big well-to-do to raise some funds… usually for the Judge’s re-election.” Nedley rolled his eyes slightly.

“But it’s good side pay,” he continued after downing his glass of bourbon. “Lonnie worked it last year and Phillips worked the year before, though I’m offerin’ it to you first this time. Usually around five hours of work, mostly involves standing around and making sure no one gets too rowdy. Standard gig. What do you say?”

“I’m game, sir,” Nicole said, then cringed at the accidental pun.

The Sheriff’s gaze was withering, but he nodded and drummed his fingers on his desk. “Good. I’ll email you the details. Proper protocol, all the standard operating procedure, all that. Pretty easy stuff.” He stood up and Nicole followed suit (taking the hint that this conversation was over). “Represent us well and you’ll get asked back to do more side jobs. Homecoming at the school is another big one, some hockey events, weddings, stuff like that.”

Nicole returned the lowball glass to Nedley’s desk and adjusted her belt. “Looking forward to it, sir.”

Leaning forward, Nedley offered his hand to shake. “Just a small thank-you for all your hard work. You’ve been in Purgatory long enough. Time for you to see some of what it has to offer. You’re part of this community now, Haught.”

“Yes, sir.”

Despite the fact it meant piling more work on her shoulders, Nicole was oddly touched by the gesture… at being included in the town’s outer-workings, at the very least. Integrating into the normal part of Purgatory would be nice for a change.

And maybe one day, I’ll be included in the inner-workings, Nicole thought with a scowl as Dolls and Wynonna came to mind.

She made a mental note to ask Waverly about the poker tournament later.

Nedley glanced across the station to his wife, Maggie. “And try not to get cornered by any of the Judge’s out-of-towner friends. Or the Mayor’s wife, Vicky. You’ll never escape. They can talk.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Standing up, Nedley gestured for the door. “Anyway, great work tonight. Get home, get some sleep, Haught.”

“Yes, sir.”

Stretching in her bed, Nicole stared at the ceiling. She stroked the ginger cat that was curled in her lap, while her other hand reached subconsciously for the cell phone on her nightstand. Her thumb hovered over her home screen wallpaper: a smiling Waverly with Nicole kissing her cheek. Their first date outside the movie theater. Just a little over a week ago and it still felt like yesterday.

With a wistful sigh, Nicole swiped over to the first starred contact in her list. It connected after a couple of rings. “Hey, good morning you,” Nicole said warmly, her other hand rubbing at Calamity Jane’s cheek.

[“Hey, how’d it go last night?”] Waverly sounded tired still, which made Nicole reflexively frown in sympathy.

“Good. Almost all the women’s families were local and drove in pretty much straightaway. A couple had to catch flights from out of state and should be there in the morning.”

[“That’s awesome, Nicole.”]

“Yea, it was a pretty early morning, though,” Nicole yawned almost on command. “How are you doing? I saw Wynonna took one of the women home? Did she crash with y’all last night? How was that?”

[“Uh… yea… yea, Wynonna made a… friend. A woman named Eve. She’s…”] Waverly trailed off.

Sensing something was off, Nicole sat up in bed. Calamity Jane meowed in irritation and left Nicole’s lap in a huff. “Waverly? What’s wrong?”

[“I don’t even know how to say this, because I didn’t think it was possible…”]

“What is it, baby?”

[“It’s Eve… there’s a good chance that she’s—she’s really our big sister, Willa…”]

Nicole felt her eyes widen and her hand went to her mouth.

She remembered the news article she’d found when she was looking up Wynonna Earp (and, admittedly, Waverly). That Willa Earp was taken during at attack on the Homestead, the same night Wynonna accidentally shot their father. A six-month search kicked off, but no trace of the girl was ever found other than some bloody clothes and Willa was presumed dead. For 15 years.

“Oh my God, Waves…”

[“Yea, she—she started to freak out when we brought her home. Luckily, Dolls was there and gave her some medication to help her sleep. He’s doing a rush job on a DNA test right now, so we should know soon for certain. I just—I don’t know…”]

Leaning over, Nicole cradled her phone to her ear. “How are you doing?” she asked softly.

There was a moment of silence on the other end, followed by a brief sniff. [“I don’t—I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about it right now. Not with—just… not right now.”]

Nicole took the hint. Maybe Wynonna or Gus or “Willa” was nearby and Waverly wasn’t free to talk. Nicole decided to change the subject to (hopefully) happier news as she switched to speaker phone.

“Okay, we can talk about it later. But hey, can I ask you something?”

[“Anything.”] Waverly said, her tone enthusiastic.

Opening her email, Nicole studied all the notes from Nedley again. “Are you familiar with the ‘Purgatory Poker Spectacular?’”

[“Oh! Yea! Big, glitzy affair that Judge Cryderman throws every year.”]

“Have you ever gone?”

[“Uh, no. That’s where the rich d-bags from the city come into town and throw money around. Then they usually went to Shorty’s after and drank us dry. Super rude. And handsy. Not a fan.”]

Nicole scowled at the thought as she switched back to the normal phone setting. “…do you remember any names? Or what they looked like?”

A chirp of a laugh at the other end of the phone. [“Aw, are you gonna defend my honor? That’s so sweet! …don’t worry about it, Nicole. It’s so not worth it. Frankly, I’d pay money to see what happens when those jerks stroll into Shorty’s-now-Bobo’s and try to act like dicks to his gang. Won’t they be surprised.”]

“Fair point,” Nicole agreed.

[“Why do you ask?”]

“Oh, I’m on duty for it tonight. Extra security. Nedley put me up to it. And it’ll give me a chance to earn some extra cash… to take out pretty girls… That sort of thing,” Nicole said airily.

[“Great! Anyone I know?”]

“I think you do. She’s pretty amazing.” Sighing with relief, Nicole leaned back against her headboard. “Are you free at all today? I have some time to kill before the poker thing tonight.”

I’m really racking up the overtime. Next paycheck should be incredible.

Nicole paused before rushing into a semi-apology. “Of course, I totally understand if you need to spend time with your sister—sisters. I just—I’m here if you need me, Wave.”

[“Oh God, I’d love to come over. It’s been a weird vibe in the house since Eve—Willa?—showed up. Frankly, I could use the break. What time?”]

“I’m off til around five, so any time before then would be great.”

[“Okay, let’s plan for lunch then! I’ll text you when I’m on my way over. I’m pretty sure you still owe me a meal from yesterday.”] Her voice a teasing warning, Waverly was starting to sound like her old self again.

With a light laugh, Nicole agreed, “You got it. I’ll get that Chinese I promised and failed to deliver on. Text me what you like and I’ll have it waiting. See you in a bit.”

They trailed off with fond goodbyes before hanging up.

As Nicole was finishing getting ready to pick up lunch, her phone pinged with a text.

[Waverly says: “It’s official. She’s Willa”]

Chewing her cheek, Nicole tapped out a response.

[Nicole says: “How are you holding up?”]

[Waverly says: “It’s a lot to process”]

[Nicole says: “I know”]

[Waverly says: “She’s been gone almost my whole life, as far as I remember”]

[Nicole says: “I can’t even imagine”]

There was a long pause. Nicole was uncertain what to say next. Then the trademark “…” held her attention as Waverly replied.

[Waverly says: “In other news, Wynonna asked me if we’re ‘best friends’”]

[Nicole says: “…whaaaa?”]

They exchanged a pair of unicorn emojis. Nicole chuckled under her breath.

“Best friends.” I would think so.

…”Girlfriends?” …Oh God, I hope so.

[Waverly says: “I’m heading over”]

[Nicole says: “Okay, I’m heading out to pick up the food. See you at my place <3”]

[Waverly says: “Okay <3”]

When Nicole returned with a plastic bag bulging with Chinese food containers, she saw a familiar red Jeep already sitting in her driveway. Parking her cruiser next to that Jeep, Nicole hopped out and scanned the front porch. Waverly Earp stood at the far side, leaning against the banister and looking out at the small swath of land behind the house.

“Hey you,” Nicole greeted Waverly warmly, which turned the woman’s head.

Dropping the bag of food lightly on the porch near the door, Nicole strode straight up to Waverly and pulled her into a tight hug. The smaller woman’s arms snaked through Nicole’s open coat to wrap around her waist, and her head fit perfectly into the space below Nicole’s chin against her collarbone and breasts.

They held there for several minutes, not saying anything.

It was Waverly who started to pull back, so Nicole loosened her grip around Waverly’s shoulders. Nicole ran one hand along the back of Waverly’s neck to her cheek and held it there.

Waverly wasn’t crying, but there was a pensive line in her brow and her eyes were glazed. On the verge, but she was holding fast. Waverly stood still as Nicole leaned forward to place a kiss on her forehead, which caused a smile to curl her lips.

“Hey, best friend,” Waverly said, her voice cracking slightly with the joke. She cleared her throat.

“Hey, best friend,” Nicole echoed back as she stepped aside, leaving one arm around Waverly’s shoulders. “It’s cold. Let’s get you inside.”

A thought crossed Nicole’s mind that she should get Waverly a spare key to her house. But… she wasn’t sure if that was Too Soon. She smiled to herself that she was already thinking like that. Like… long-term.

…Whoa there. Still plenty of time.

Scooping up the bag of take-out, Nicole ushered Waverly in after unlocking the door. She helped the woman take off her leopard-print coat and beckoned her into the kitchen to sit at the table. Nicole pulled the chair out and waited for Waverly to sit down.

Waverly balked at the attention. “I’m okay, Nicole. I could help you set the table, or—?”

With an emphatic shake of her head, Nicole gestured to the chair again. Waverly obliged with a small smile. When she sat down, Nicole pushed the chair in and kissed the top of Waverly’s head.

Then Nicole went to work.

Her motions were smooth and deliberate. Turning on the oven with a beep, Nicole set the temperature to low and stuffed the bag of Chinese food in before closing the heavy door with a thud. Then she swept over to the pantry for the open bottle of zinfandel. She filled a wide-brimmed wine glass—a jingling unicorn charm at the stem—with dark red liquid (as well as another glass nearby, this time with a cowboy hat charm).

Nicole set the glasses down on the kitchen table then made her way over to the refrigerator. She pulled two small pints out of the freezer, claimed two spoons from the cutlery drawer nearby and brought them to the table as well.

A chuckle caught in Nicole’s throat when she saw Waverly downing her glass of wine, clearly the stress of the last few days getting to her. Without a word, Nicole fetched the bottle of zinfandel and brought it over to the table. She waited for Waverly to finish before emptying the rest of the bottle into her glass.

“Okay. Now we can talk if you want,” Nicole said simply as she settled into the chair across from Waverly at the table. Nicole popped the top off the pint of chocolate chip cookie dough and motioned with her spoon for Waverly to do the same with her mint chocolate chip.

Her smile slanted, Waverly dug in with a large spoonful. She rolled the cream around her mouth for a moment, savoring the taste. It was a few more bites in before Waverly finally spoke.

“I don’t know what to say, really. She was taken when I was just a kid… and she’s been gone all this time, brainwashed and probably worse…” Waverly’s face contorted with profound sadness. But also, something resembling… guilt?

What could Waverly have possibly done to be guilty about?

Nicole reached out and stroked Waverly’s wrist. “I can’t even imagine what she’s been through, Waves. It’ll be a hard adjustment phase. For everyone.”

“Yea… Wynonna is trying to ease her into what all’s happened. Which… I don’t know. I remember… Daddy was hardest on Willa. Which made Willa… she—she wasn’t a very good sister.” Waverly stopped herself, her eyes widening. She took a deep breath and started to ramble. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t say that… she was taken and—and God Knows what she’s had to deal with all these years and just because she was… that’s probably not who she even is and here I am—“

Nicole tried to interrupt. “Waverly.”

“—here I am holding on to grudges from when I was six and how childish is that? She’s our sister and of course I love her… even though she was kind of a bully… even though she and Wynonna were always closer and Wynonna is nothing like how she was when we were kids and—and now Willa can be the Earp she was meant to be and—and—I—“

Gripping the woman’s wrist more firmly, Nicole tried again. “Waverly…”

Waverly finally looked back up at Nicole from where she had been talking to her pint of mint chocolate chip.

“It’s okay. I understand.”

“You do?” Waverly chewed her bottom lip.

Nicole rolled her thumb over the back of Waverly’s hand. “I think so. I get the feeling you bottled up all the resentment you had as a kid after Willa was taken and never felt like you were allowed to be mad. And now that she’s back, the bottle’s open. Does that sound about right?”

Waverly gave a weak nod. Her voice was just above a whisper. “Does that… make me a bad person, Nicole?”

It broke Nicole’s heart. “Waverly… you are the kindest, sweetest person I’ve ever met. Hands down.” She smiled softly as her fingers stroked along Waverly’s hand before she threaded their fingers together. “Family is… complicated. It feels like it shouldn’t be, because it’s Family and you’re supposed to just love each other, but… it doesn’t always work that way. I know.”

Nicole’s advice was supposed to be directed at Waverly, but it was more to convince herself.

Waverly seemed to notice, her head tilting curiously. “How do you know?”

“I don’t… speak to my family—to my parents. They’re just… not a part of my life and I’m—I’m better for it. We had a falling out before I went away to college and I’ve been on my own since. And it just—it just is,” Nicole trailed off with a shrug. She didn’t want to elaborate, partly because Nicole didn’t want to make this about her and partly because she didn’t want to dredge up the pain.

Squeezing her hand back, Waverly offered a slanted smile. “I’m sorry… I didn’t want to dump this on you. I mean, I could be making a big deal about nothing. It’s just… rough, you know? On the bright side, I think Gus might try to stay a little longer.” Waverly chewed her cheek. “Though I think she feels guilty, too. Since she was the one who became our guardian after Daddy died and had to be the one to call off the search.”

“Y’all didn’t do anything wrong, Waverly,” Nicole consoled. “How could any of you have known?”

Waverly sighed with a nod before taking another deep sip of wine. They ate their ice cream in companionable silence for a few minutes, accompanied only by the sound of clinking wine glasses and the scraping of spoons.

“Thanks—thanks for listening, Nicole,” Waverly said finally, her smile soft and sweet.

“Of course,” Nicole replied as she drained the last of her wine. She offered a teasing smile. “What are best friends for?”

“Just the best,” Waverly agreed as she beckoned Nicole forward with a finger. They leaned across the table to share a soft kiss.

Nicole stood to replace the lids on the pints and tuck them back in the freezer. “You hungry?” Waverly’s wicked smile actually made Nicole laugh. “…I meant for food?”

“Actually, yes. Being an emotional wreck leaves you with an appetite.”

Fetching their food from the oven, Nicole doled out warm cartons across the table along with chopsticks and plastic spoons. Vegetarian potstickers, lo mein, and hot and sour soup for Waverly, while Nicole had General Tsao’s chicken and wonton soup.

Waverly asked Nicole if she had any peanut butter. Her cheeks reddened slightly in embarrassment.

When Nicole headed into the pantry, she stopped, turned and demanded, “What’s the best kind of peanut butter?”

An eyebrow quirked. “You’re testing me?”

Nicole nodded back.

“Uh, smooth. Obviously,” Waverly said with a dismissive hand-wave.

“Correct. I also would have accepted: ‘Nutella is the best.’”

Retrieving the plastic jar, Nicole handed it over to Waverly with a raised eyebrow of her own. With a guilty smile, Waverly grabbed a spoonful and dumped it into her hot and sour soup.

“Not… what I was expecting…” Nicole said as she watched the hot liquid dissolve the dollop of peanut butter.

“It’s super good. …Don’t tell Wynonna I still do that, though. She’ll never stop making fun of me.” Waverly scowled, her nose wrinkling.

Nicole raised three fingers in a Girl Scout sign as she stabbed another forkful of chicken. “Won’t say a word. Is that, like, a Purgatory thing? Or just a Waverly Earp thing?” She smiled endearingly before taking a bite.

“Just me!” Waverly chirped with a smile as she swirled her spoon in her soup almost like a whisk. “Though I agree: Nutella is the best.”

With a light laugh, Nicole went back to her pantry and pulled out what amounted to a small drum of Nutella. Her smile was skewed with embarrassment. “I might have a small problem. …I won’t tell if you won’t.”

Waverly repeated back Nicole’s Girl Scout sign with a laugh. “Deal!” Her fingertips found their way to Nicole’s wrist and errantly stroked along the back of her hand. A familiar wide, crinkling smile remained on Waverly’s face for the rest of lunch.

Nicole was not able to convince Waverly to take it easy this time; she insisted on helping clean up, going so far as to shoo Nicole out of her own kitchen.

“You’ve done enough! And I waitressed a rowdy bar for three years, Nicole. I think I can handle cleaning up some Chinese food,” Waverly announced as she draped a dish towel on the opposite shoulder as her side braid. Wiping her hands on her colorful, floral-print skirt, Waverly shot a pair of finger-guns. “Plus, it’ll help take my mind off things for a little longer… and give me a chance to go through all your drawers.” Her smile was toothy with mock-sweetness.

All Nicole could do was laugh and hold up her hands in surrender. “Well, let me know if you find anything good while you’re looking for skeletons. Or this purple mouse-slash-catnip toy of Calamity Jane’s that she probably stuck somewhere weird.” She made a measuring motion with her thumb and forefinger. “About yay big.”

Another pair of finger-guns. “You got it, Haught!”

“Thanks, Earp.”

Settling onto the couch, Nicole left a spot open for Waverly. A multitude of blankets were already at the ready, as was the DVR remote. She checked her watch. Still a few hours yet before she needed to head off to the poker tournament. They had time.

Nicole couldn’t help craning her neck to watch the woman work behind her. Waverly was humming a nonsensical tune under her breath as she swept the cartons into the trash bin and wiped down the table. She poked around the lower cabinets and a few of the higher ones, but gave up after a few stretches on her tip-toes yielded no results on the out-of-reach shelves.

She did dig around under the sink for a few minutes longer than necessary, but just as Nicole was about to ask, Waverly stood up. Her arm shot up over her head in triumph.

“Ha! Challenge accepted!” Waving in Waverly’s hand, like a Golden Snitch from Harry Potter, was a lumpy purple mouse toy.

Oh God… It was… so nice. She was a vision. Graceful and sweet and just so—

Before Nicole could finish that thought, Waverly chucked the mouse at Nicole where it bounced off her forehead. The woman’s laugh was pure music as Waverly covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh shit! Sorry! I was just trying to throw it to you, not at you.”

Still too awestruck to be offended, Nicole smirked before grabbing the toy where it landed on the couch back. She tossed it over to the side closet where the door was open a crack. A ginger paw stretched out, felt around, then snagged the toy and pulled it inside.

“You’re welcome, you little gremlin,” Nicole muttered under her breath. She was too amused to be annoyed by Calamity Jane’s antisocial behavior.

A moment later, Waverly swept in re-serving their wine glasses (freshened with moscato this time). Her small smile was apologetic. “A peace offering. I didn’t mean to bean you in the face.”

“I can check and see if there are any more openings on the PSD softball team. Put that deadly aim to use,” Nicole teased as she accepted the glass. They clinked them together before Nicole pulled back a blanket to welcome Waverly next to her.

They snuggled together for a few minutes, Nicole’s arm draped lazily around Waverly’s shoulders.

A text message ping broke the quiet. Waverly sighed and slipped her hand under the blanket to pull out her phone. Hazel eyes skimming the bright screen for a moment, Waverly chewed her cheek as she put the phone away.

“Something wrong?” Nicole asked, tilting her head.

“I don’t think so? Wynonna took …Willa…” Waverly still stumbled over the unfamiliar word, her brow creasing. “…out on the Homestead… to tell her what happened to her. Who she is. I guess she started to remember some things.”

“That’s good, right?”

“I guess? She remembered Daddy, which…” Glancing over, Waverly hesitated and took a deep sip of her wine. She offered a fake smile as she held up her glass. “This is, uh, pretty good. No zinfandel, but I really like the—“

“Waverly,” Nicole interrupted with a soft smile. She rocked her arm against Waverly’s shoulders in reassurance. “…You don’t have to tell me. But, I would like to know if and when you do. And yea, the moscato’s pretty good, if sweeter.”

“I’m sorry, I just… Daddy was… tough. Especially after Momma left. He drank a lot. He was really hard on Willa. And Wynonna, too.”

Nicole felt herself tense in anger at this man she’d never met. Her imagination was filling in what Waverly wasn’t saying. “What about you?”

A bitter laugh. “Daddy barely knew I existed. He was so focused on Willa. Wynonna was the one who took care of me, got me ready for school or helped me brush my teeth or packed my lunch. She was the one who kept the family together in spite of everything.” Waverly had gone back to chewing her cheek. She glanced at Nicole out of the corner of her eye.

Police training started to creep into Nicole’s mind, particularly: risk assessment for domestic abuse victims. But Nicole managed to stop herself before her anger spiked further… especially considering she knew that Ward Earp had been the Purgatory Sheriff back in the day.

That son of a bitch! …This was 15 years ago, this explains a lot and… this is not what Waverly needs right now.

“I’m so sorry, Waverly,” Nicole said instead, leaning over to rest her forehead against Waverly’s temple. She saw Waverly’s eyes close at the touch and stay closed while a sad smile tugged at her cheek.

Only the sound of soft breathing carried through the room as Nicole held against Waverly. Rubbing small circles on Waverly’s shoulder with her thumb, Nicole felt a hand give a similar, soothing stroke along her thigh.

Nicole traced her lips over Waverly’s cheek before taking a sip of her wine. “Anything you want to do? A movie or something? Take your mind off things?”

A slanted smile as Waverly followed suit with a sip of her own moscato. Her tongue flicked out to lick traces of wine off her lips. She blinked blearily. “God, I’m so tired from the last few days, I’d probably just fall asleep.” That slanted smiled crinkled with apology.

“A nap, then?” Nicole suggested as she checked her watch. “I could probably use one before the poker tournament.” She gave a playful wink. “Wouldn’t do for Purgatory’s Finest to pass out while rubbing shoulders with Purgatory’s Elite.”

Eyes widening, Waverly took an unusually large swallow of wine. She gave a small, nervous cough after draining the rest of her glass. “You mean… together? …Are you—are you sure? I mean, I don’t—I’m not really…” Waverly trailed off with a fretful drumming of fingernails on the glass.

Nicole chuckled and pulled away slightly. “Not like that. …plenty of time, remember?” She tilted her head and gave a small yawn. “If you’d rather I stay here and you take my room, or vice versa, I’m fine either way. Or if you’re okay with my room, I have some—“

“Okay,” Waverly interrupted.

“Okay what?”

“Er… I’m… okay with… your room. …Together.”

“Are you sure? Cuz I can take the couch. I don’t mind, Waver—”

Waverly jumped in again, her smile shy. “No, it’s—it’s fine. I’d… like that.” The shyness pushed outward into small confidence. “As long as I can bring some extra blankets.” Her gaze hardened, stern negotiation written on her face.

“How can I say no to that?” With an airy laugh, Nicole nodded as she finished her wine. The cowboy charm made a tinkling sound as it jangled against the stem. She set it, and Waverly’s glass, on the coffee table and started to push herself upright.

A hand held at Nicole’s thigh. “Wait!”

Sliding back onto the sofa, Nicole’s eyes focused on the small plastic-wrapped cookie that was thrust in front of her face. Waverly demanded, “You have to read your fortune.” In the woman’s other hand was a second fortune cookie.

They both unwrapped the crinkling plastic and, at Waverly’s pensive nod, snapped their small brown cookies in half together. Nicole popped one half of the crispy treat in her mouth as she unfolded the thin white paper inside.

“Advancement will come with hard work.” Don’t I know it.

“What’s yours say?” Waverly asked, leaning over to try and read over Nicole’s shoulder.

Smiling to herself, Nicole hid the paper in her fist. “It says ‘You will totally platonically sleep with a pretty girl today.’ Weird, huh?” She grinned wider and crunched loudly on the rest of the cookie.

“Really weird,” Waverly agreed with a smirk. “What’s weirder is mine said the same thing.” Her cheeks reddened slightly, but then her cheeks bulged as she crammed both cookie halves into her mouth with a muffled laugh.

Nicole leaned over and kissed Waverly. She tasted so, so sweet as the wine and the wafer mixed together on her lips. Nicole’s hand at the woman’s shoulder ran back along Waverly’s neck and held her cheek. A hand returned to Nicole’s thigh and gripped against her jeans as they held fast for a few moments.

Reluctantly pulling away, Nicole gave Waverly one last peck before standing up. She helped Waverly carry a couple of blankets up the stairs and down the hall to her room.

There was a brief moment of panic as Nicole struggled to remember if her room was clean. Cracking the door open, she was relieved to find she hadn’t left any dirty clothes or underwear strewn about. And the bed was crisply made, as it always was. Old habits die hard.

Nicole offered some spare clothes for Waverly to sleep in, which the woman shyly declined. It only took a moment for Nicole to slip into her bathroom and pull on a pair of sweatpants and a camisole. By the time she’d returned, Waverly had already reassembled her blanket nest on the right half of the bed.

Part of Nicole wanted to tease, but there was something fragile and sweet about this moment that she suddenly felt awkward about ruining. Maybe because it felt… big. Significant. Another small but important step forward.

Instead, Nicole settled under the covers on the left half of the bed. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and set a timer for a couple of hours from now. Enough time for her to shower and get ready for the Poker Spectacular.

Waverly fiddled with her side braid before laying down facing Nicole. Her hazel eyes seemed to be taking in the room from that perspective. Nicole prayed she liked what she saw. After a moment, those eyes settled on a Nicole peering back at her.

“Is this weird?” Waverly’s brow and nose crinkled with worry.

“A little,” Nicole agreed as she shifted on the pillow against her cheek. “You okay? Or do I need to get a few dozen more blankets?”

The worry changed to narrow-eyed insult. “No,” Waverly scowled back, her eyes twinkling. “And I’m in a skirt, thank you. It’s chilly.”

“I noticed,” Nicole said, more seriously than she’d intended. It did make Waverly smile, but also made the air heavier again. More awkward.

God. Damn. It.

Clearing her throat, Nicole rolled over to her back. “I’ve got an alarm set. Sleep tight, Waves.”

“You too, Nicole.”

Nicole closed her eyes when she felt a soft hand trace along her temple and cheek. She smiled in response at the tender gesture, mostly because there was something… possessive about it. Promising.

Oh God, how am I supposed to go to sleep now?

It had been a long time since Nicole had slept in the same bed as another person. She felt hyper-aware of every stir and shift Waverly made. Her eyes shut so tight didn’t help at all, because the after-image burned into Nicole’s mind was Waverly in the kitchen, laughing as she wiped her hands on her skirt, the side braid bouncing on her shoulder.

She listened for Waverly’s breathing to slow before Nicole hazarded opening an eye. Under a trio of blankets, Waverly lay still on her side, a braid of hair tangled at her neck. Her lips were softly parted as she took in steady breaths, her brow smooth of worry for the first time in awhile.

Smiling, Nicole settled back in and closed her eyes. She mentally ran through the security procedures Nedley had emailed over. Eventually, she felt light pressure across her shins as Calamity Jane climbed across the bed. She heard the cat sniff disdainfully at Waverly before deciding to settle into a familiar spot on Nicole’s stomach.

A chiming alarm woke Nicole, a slight snoring breath rumbling in her throat. She glanced over to Waverly, who blinked languidly as she gave a quiet yawn.

When Waverly caught sight of Nicole over her pillow, her lips curled in a warm smile. “Hey, you.”

“Hey back,” Nicole replied with an answering smile before yawning, too. Some of Waverly’s hair had come loose from her braid, her bangs in loose wisps at her temple. Nicole reached over and tucked the errant hairs behind the woman’s ear. “…you sleep okay?”

With a lazy stretch, Waverly inhaled deeply through her nose. “Actually, yea. And I made a friend.” She made a small pointing motion down to the foot of the bed.

Pushing herself up with her elbows, Nicole craned her neck over the covers. Sure enough, in the valley of space between Waverly’s ankles, was a ball of ginger fur. Calamity Jane was fast asleep.

“You little traitor,” Nicole muttered insincerely.

“You leave my foot-warmer alone,” Waverly warned with a mock-frown, her eyebrow quirking in challenge.

The alarm on Nicole’s phone pinged again, the snooze reset. She turned it off and made a motion to get up when she felt a hand on her arm.

Waverly didn’t say anything, just chewed her lower lip and stared back. Her eyes alternated between crinkling and smoothing, evidence of something going on in that head of hers.

Leaning over, Nicole gave a deep, lingering kiss. She whispered, “I have to shower and get ready. …You can stay if you want.”

Please stay. Forever.

Waverly squinted one eye upward as she considered it. “We could probably use some coffee, huh?” Nicole felt her eyes widen and she involuntarily nodded, which made Waverly chuckle, “Okay, I’ll go pick us up some. Since you did get lunch, after all.” She reached out and tugged at the front of Nicole’s top, pulling her down in another kiss with a sighing gasp.

All that shifting woke up Calamity Jane, who shot them both a baleful glare before hopping off the bed in a huff. Waverly blew a sarcastic kiss in CJ’s direction, her shoulders shaking in silent laughter.

Nicole was reluctant to leave the warmth of her bed (and Waverly), but she didn’t want to run late to her first security job. As she made her way to the bathroom to turn on the hot water in the shower, she heard the shifting of blankets behind her as Waverly got up, too.

In the reflection of the bathroom mirror, Nicole could have sworn she saw Waverly pause at the bedroom door and look at her back, a gleeful, lip-biting smile on her face. But then Waverly turned and left, her footsteps disappearing down the stairwell.

A half hour later, Nicole met Waverly in the kitchen as she pulled a hairbrush through red strands and adjusted the heavy belt at her waist. There was a nervous flutter in Nicole’s chest, that familiar excitement for a new situation. She had studied Nedley’s emails a dozen times already.

“You’re part of this community now, Haught.”

Waverly presented a tall travel cup of coffee to Nicole, who accepted with a grateful thank-you. The woman had taken the time to re-braid her loose hair and smooth out the wrinkles in her top and skirt. Waverly leaned awkwardly against the kitchen counter, an anxious smile on her face.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Nicole asked after taking a long sip.

“Oh, I just—I don’t want to go home. And I feel terrible about feeling that way,” Waverly said with a sigh. She fiddled with a bracelet on her wrist.

“Waverly,” Nicole started with a soft smile. She put a hand on Waverly’s waist in reassurance. “Try talking to Willa. Get to know her, maybe? Or at least let her know you?”

I know she’d love you. Anyone who’s met you loves you. Why wouldn’t they?

Another sigh as Waverly chewed her lip. She nodded and leaned against Nicole’s chest, pressing their foreheads together. After a moment, Nicole kissed Waverly’s nose before reaching up to start braiding her own hair.

A different sort of lip chewing as Waverly asked, “May I?” Her gaze skimmed Nicole’s half-wet strands, a small smile pulling her cheek. “…Not my first rodeo.”

“Absolutely.”

Nicole almost—almost—laughed when Waverly shot her a withering glare before motioning to a chair. She was tempted to make a joke about Waverly’s height, but sitting down and feeling fingertips on her neck froze Nicole in place.

It reminded her of the shooting range, so many weeks ago. She’d been the one to braid Waverly’s hair when the woman’s healing hand wouldn’t cooperate. At the time, it’d been the closest Nicole had ever been to the young Earp. And a “friendly” gesture it most certainly was not.

She’d accidentally touched Waverly’s cheek and ear as she threaded fingers through those thick waves. It was a simple, practiced motion of over-and-under for each section. Easy. Except Nicole remembered the heat of her blush, how lost she’d been just touching Waverly’s hair.

God, I was such a sap.

…”was.” Still am.

The warm breath on her ear and the back of her neck was not lost on Nicole. Nor was what seemed like a lot of unnecessary fingernail-scratching on her scalp. She just smiled and stay still, spying a lurking cat around the kitchen corner while she waited. The coffee went rather quickly.

After a few minutes, there was a flourishing of jazz-hands in Nicole’s peripheral vision accompanying a triumphant “Ta-da!” A second later, Nicole felt a kiss pressed to her cheek.

Turning in her seat, Nicole saw Waverly raise her coffee cup in salute as she winked. “Go get ‘em, best friend.”

“You too, best friend.” She drew Waverly in with a soft kiss.

Nicole led Waverly out of the house by the hand, refusing to let go as she locked her front door with one hand. The afternoon sun was already half-set on the horizon, a blob of orange diffusing against a heavy gray sky.

They said goodbye with a tight hug this time, foreheads pressed together.

“Let me know how it goes with Willa.”

“I will.”

The Poker Spectacular was anything but. There was an awkward pall to the evening, mostly from Judge Cryderman himself. While a lot of the guests seemed content to gamble boisterously and drink, the Judge kept to himself at one of the craps tables.

Otherwise, it was rather uneventful evening. Nicole introduced herself to people and smiled politely while keeping a close eye out. She had to resist the urge to check her watch.

Late in the evening, Nicole took a short break to text Waverly.

[Nicole says: “Did you talk to her?”]

[Waverly says: “Ugh, yes. It went terribly. Said all the wrong things”]

[Waverly says: “She tried to touch me and I accidentally flinched. She freaked out and ran”]

[Nicole says: “I’m so sorry, Waverly”]

A hollow frustration gripped Nicole’s chest. She wanted to call, to be there, to help. But… she had a job to do. She’d made a promise to the Sheriff. This was supposed to be the start of Officer Nicole Haught, Pillar of the Community. Maybe… maybe she could be Sheriff someday herself.

How weak was she, that she was willing to drop everything—everything—and go running off only because Waverly might need it?

The rest of the evening passed with guilt gnawing at Nicole’s chest. She knew her expression had turned hard and manic by the way poker patrons started to avoid her. Nicole made a point not to be rude, but she knew wasn’t being approachable by any means.

Around 1AM, Nicole called Waverly’s cell a few times after the event ended and the hotel cleared out. Voicemail every time. It took every fiber of Nicole’s being to keep her cruiser steady towards her house.

“Best friends” don’t show up at the other’s house in the middle of the night, she had to remind herself through gritted teeth.

When Nicole got home, she attempted another text and call, but they went unanswered.

She crawled into bed next to that empty pile of blankets, that hollow feeling remaining. She slept restlessly, tossing and turning every few hours (and once connecting a foot with a very unhappy Calamity Jane).

The next morning, her phone finally pinged.

[Waverly says: “Oh God, I lost Willa”]

#Wynonna Earp #waverly earp #nicole haught #wayhaught #fanfic #1x11 #wynonna earp fanfic #calamity jane #sheriff randy nedley #willa earp #canon dialogue #canon adjacent #fluff #dorks in love #mushy idiots #not just friends #but what i want most

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