#meanwhile i could have like 4 shots of vodka for the same feeling

[thebestofthebestofthebestof]

Since i became an alcoholic my pee has become neon yellow and frothy ;_; and im a person that exclusively drinks water....i feeel like if i wanna have nice clear healthy pee again i gotta quit drinkin for at least a month/widely reduce my intake of vodka specifically...if i was gonna wean myself off of drinkin i think id become a beer guy...

Will it happen? Who knows....i have half a bottle of vodka in my bag as we speak....tho last night i didnt stay up to drink so thats nice at least....1 day is better than zero days....

Maybe if i gave up booze id have to replace it with another vice...

[xsixxx]

Bad Influence, Chapter Three

Authors note: I have had the best time getting dark & weird & really over the top with Nikki towards the end of this chapter, I really hope you all enjoy it!

ps if you think you know what happens after this, you definitely don’t 😏

Warnings: Language, drug use, Nikki being a dick as per, some serious sexual tension

Tags: @triplehaitches @freddiessmallnipples @fire-and-blood-got @scarecrowmax @lovesick-heart0 @littlesunnymoon @80sheart-strings @cranberribread @inthebackofmycarlaytheirbodies @deaconsroger

Summer ‘82

“Well, well, if it isn’t Elizabeth fucking Reynolds, the one that got away.” Laughed the beautiful blonde, as he waltzed up to the bar & leaned over to smack my ass, smiling from ear to ear.

“Oh my god, is that Vince fucking Neil, the worst kiss I ever had?” I smirked, “How the hell have you been rockstar?” I asked, genuinely happy to see him, grabbing him his usual drink.

“I’ve been touring Canada, singing, partying & fucking every single night, how the fuck do you think I’ve been?” Vince laughed, “Although, it’s nice to come home to your fine self.” He added, winking & taking the beer I handed to him. “We weren’t too sure if you’d still be working here.”

“Yep, still got rent to pay, Vinny! I think I’ll be working behind this bar for the rest of my days at this rate. I miss the old days of living with Daddy, when everything was paid for & taken care of,” I sighed jokingly.

“Well I’ll tell you what, you come live with me & I’ll be your new Daddy & I’ll take care of you.” He drawled, stroking the side of my face. I scoffed, moving away from his touch.

“Excuse me, you blonde haired bitch, I know you’re not trying to convince my roommate to move out to go live in that disgusting ‘Mötley House’ you degenerates live in, right?” Came the sharp, witty voice of my best friend, Sophia.

“You can join too babe, you know Tommy would love to have you there.” Vince said laughing, eyeing her up & down.

“Where is my drummer boy anyway?” Quizzed Sophia, looking towards the door of the famous Whisky A-Go-Go, waiting for him to burst in with his usual energy.

“Oh they’re on there way, Nikki was arguing with the bouncer outside, something to do with us not being on the list. I slipped in when they weren’t looking because I couldn’t wait to see your beautiful face.” He said, flashing that killer smile at me.

“Lets hope they don’t fucking let him in.” I said, ignoring Vinces cheesy compliment. I was used to them by now. A few months after the Nikki-Maddie incident, I moved out to finish my final year of school as a fully fledged, independent adult. I met Sophia through an ad she put out, looking for a roommate & we hit it off immediately. We lived just off the Sunset Strip & Soph got me a job working with her at the Whisky. It still wasn’t my scene but money is money &, turns out, being an independent adult ain’t cheap. Of course, Mötley Crüe were regulars, playing shows & partying there all the time &, as much as the sensible part of me hated to admit it, I’d grown to kinda like them. I’d become a chase for Vince, who was convinced he could charm me into bed like he does every other girl, although he definitely wasn’t getting anywhere. Meanwhile, Sophia & Tommy had a no-strings-attached thing going on, although Sophia had that going on with a lot of band members that played at the Whisky. She definitely had a type.

Hanging out with Mötley Crüe was fun, but I still didn’t party like they did. And I definitely still hated Nikki fucking Sixx.

“Sophia, Beth! How’re my favourite barmaids?” Tommy yelled, bounding up to us like a gangly, excited puppy who’d just seen that their owner’s home. “I’m so glad you’re both here, Nikki was convinced you wouldn’t still be working here by the time we came back off tour!”

Speaking of the Devil, he was purposely stood at the other end of the bar, being served by someone else as to not have to interact with me. Our hatred was very much mutual, only speaking to each other when we had to &, more often than not, it ended up in an arguement. He looked up when Tommy mentioned his name, shooting him a look before making eye contact with me. He tipped his bottle of Jack at me, before flashing that arrogant smirk he knew I despised.

“T-Bone, it’s good to see you man! You too Mick,” I smiled warmly at the eldest Mötley member, who nodded at me as he swigged from that hip flask he always had on him. “How was the tour guys?”

“Fucking INSANE” yelled Tommy, “we kicked Canada’s ass!”

“So when do you girls finish?” Vince asked, eyeing us both up & biting his lip slightly. Me & Sophia looked at each other & laughed.

“In about 10 minutes.” Sophia answered. “So I know you’ve been on tour & all of those drugs have probably scrambled your brain, but you know Beth’s still won’t sleep with you, right Vince? She’s practically a nun at this point!”

“I am not!” I yelled, laughing, swinging the dirty dishcloth I had in Sophias direction as she tried to dodge it.

“Well how about a little holy water to loosen you up doll face,” winked Vince as her lent over the bar & swiped a bottle of vodka & some shot glasses, pouring out 4 & gesturing for me, Soph & Tommy to take one each. I shook my head as the other 3 knocked them back. “Guys, you know I don’t drink like you do!”

Nikki was walking past & stopped when he heard me say that. “Same old stuck up Lizzy, still too fucking good to drink with us.” He looked at me, that smirk playing on the corner of his lips. I knew he was trying to provoke me, but it worked. I picked up the shot of vodka &, without breaking eye contact with him, downed it in one.

“Yes Beth, that’s my girl!” Yelled Vince as Tommy stole the bottle from his hands & poured out 4 more.

“Now let’s see you do that twice in a row, Reynolds!” Yelled Tommy. I picked up the shot glass, tipped it to Nikki who was staring at me from under his lashes, the irritation flashing in his green eyes & knocked it back. “What’s wrong Sixx, you too good to drink with us now?” I asked, my voice fake & patronising as I offered him a shot.

“Fucking groupie.” He scorned as he stormed off to a booth. I laughed out loud at his tantrum & turned my attention back to the 3 boys & Sophia.

“So Beth, now that your shifts finished & you’re a couple of shots in, let’s see how fun you’re feeling,” teased Tommy, “I dare you to do a body shot off of Vince.”

I rolled my eyes, ready to decline, before I caught sight of Nikki, still glaring at me from his booth.

“Ok Tommy, you’ve got a deal. But only if you do one off of Sophia,” I bargained.

“Babe, I’d have done that for fucking free!” He laughed, jumping over the bar to Sophia. “Doll, lie your ass down on that bar,” shouted Tommy, as Sophia, up for anything as per usual, obliged & got on the bar. Tommy balanced a shot glass full of tequila on Sophia’s chest, poured out a line of salt across her breast & placed a slice of lime in between her teeth. Then he winked at her before slowly licking the salt off her body, expertly downing the shot & sucking the lime from her mouth. Tommy stood back up, looking pleased with himself, a huge beaming smile on his face. “Your turn Beth!”

“Ok Vinny, let’s get this over with,” I laughed. He jumped up on the bar, pouring the shot of tequila himself, lying down & placing it just above the waist band. I glared at him. “You’ve got to be kidding, come on man!” I whined.

“Nope, that’s the rules Beth, sorry!” said Tommy, pouring out the salt parallel to the line of hair leading down from Vinces navel to beneath those too-tight leather trousers that left nothing to the imagination. “& for the final touch..” Tommy howled with laughter as he placed the slice of lime on the Vinces clearly outlined member. Sophia giggled hysterically as Vince tried to stifle his laughter as to not spill to shot glass resting on his stomach.

“Drink up Beth!” Giggled Tommy.

“Guys, come on!” I complained, half grumbling, half laughing. A couple of shots of vodka to someone that doesn’t drink can have quite the effect & I could already feel my usually prominent sensibilities slipping as I gave into the idea of having fun. I looked at the grinning faces of Vince, Tommy, Soph & even Mick. Fuck it, I thought. Just before I bent my head down to Vinces crotch, I made eye contact with Nikki, who’s stare was fixed on me. I winked at him & smirked before licking the salt from off of Vinces toned body, grabbing the shot glass & downing the tequila, & placing my lips around the lime, applying the tiniest bit of purposeful pressure as I sucked on it, making eye contact with Vince as I did.

I let go of the lime, stood up & laughed, letting myself actually enjoy the situation before I realised my tongue felt sort of numb. I moved it around my teeth to see if I could regain any sensation. I frowned &, as I did so, Tommy & Vince burst into a fit of giggles.

“What’s so funny, assholes?” I asked, slurring my words slightly due to the lack of feeling in my mouth

“How’re you feeling Beth?” Asked Vince, sitting up & snorting with laughter.

“I feel pretty good to be honest, I think I’m starting to feel those shots, except my mouth feels kinda weird..”

“I don’t think it’s the shots you’re feeling babe”, giggled Tommy, covering his mouth to try & muffle himself.

“What are you on about?” I demanded. Why couldn’t I feel my tongue?! The feeling was spreading the the back of my throat & I started to panick that I was perhaps allergic to something I’d just ingested. And then it hit me.

“You fucking idiots! Have I just licked coke off of Vinces fucking stomach?!” I yelled.

Vince & Tommy collapsed onto each other in fits of giggles as I looked horrified between Sophia, who looked mildly concerned, but mostly amused, & Mick, who was shaking his head at the boys before looking up at my worried face.

“You’re gonna be fine Beth, you’ve only had one line & you haven’t snorted it. You’ll feel it a bit but nothing intense.” He promised, patting my hand & giving me a reassuring look.

“Thank you,” I mumbled, as my head started to feel a little strange. Not bad, but different. I was focused & alert, like I’d drank a good, strong coffee, but at the same time, I suddenly felt at ease & like a blanket of calm had been draped over me. I wanted to be mad & scream at Tommy & Vince for being so damn irresponsible, but the blanket wouldn’t let me. I didn’t want to do cocaine, but I wasn’t hating it either.

“You pair of mother fuckers!” I yelled, punching them both in the arm.

“But don’t you feel good though?” Winked Vince, seeing that I’d visibly relaxed into the mild high.

“Well, it’s not as bad as I thought..” I admitted, “But I mean it, don’t ever fucking do that to me again.” I said seriously, giving them both a stern look. They each appeared a little sheepish.

“I’m sorry Beth, we didn’t think it was a big deal, honestly!” Tommy offered, sounding genuinely sincere.

“Sorry doll, just thought you could do with having some fun & letting loose..” Vince mumbled. I shook my head at both of them, to wrapped up in this strange new feeling to commit to my anger.

I was scanning around the room when I happened to look over at Nikki, who was obviously flirting with a pretty brunette in a black pvc dress. He was stroking along her collarbone with his index finger, whilst his lips brushed against her ear as he whispered to her. I suddenly had this burst of confidence surge through me & I marched over to them.

“Sweetie, from one girl to another, he’s going to fuck you & break your heart. Yeah the sweet nothings he’s whispering in your ear sound tempting now, but once he’s had his fill.. or you’ve had his fill, I guess..” I babbled, the coke doing me no favours. “He’s going to throw you out & move on to the next. Don’t be one of those girls. You can do better than him anyway, you’re way hotter than he is.” I shrugged, flashing her a smile. She looked taken aback & glanced up at Nikki for reassurance but his anger was evident & she quickly shuffled away from him.

I sat down in the booth, opposite him, folded my hands across my chest & sat back, holding his glare. “She seemed nice,” I smiled.

“What the fuck is your problem?!” He fumed.

“What? I’m just trying to save yet another girl from your twisted little games so they don’t get played like my sister. I like to think of myself as the angel that stops people from getting tempted by the devil.” I mused.

“You think I’m the devil?” Nikki asked, amusement breaking down the anger in those green eyes as that infamous smirk tugged on his lips.

“Basically, yes.” I said, my confidence wavering slightly under the intensity of his stare.

He let the smirk take over his face as he relaxed back into the seat & causally rested his arm along the backboard of the booth. “So tell me, Lizzy, why am I the devil?”

“For the hundredth time, my name is Beth. It’s not Lizzy. And you really don’t know why?!” He shrugged, looking intrigued & uniterested all at the same time. “Because you manipulate people, Sixx! You tempt girls in with that smirk & arrogance & they fall for it, meanwhile having no idea they’re dancing with the devil & you’re only going to leave them heartbroken. You have no regard or respect for anyone, you only love yourself.” I stated, feeling the weight of that stare, but not once breaking eye contact with him. The coke was making me brave & I couldn’t stop. “You have a dark heart, Nikki Sixx.”

His smirk was from ear to ear. “You’re fucking hot as hell when you talk to me like that.”

I faltered, his statement catching me off guard. I inwardly chastised myself for the spark of desire that his words momentarily ignited somewhere deep inside me. That was not me.

“You know, you’re one of the only girls that’s never tried hard to win my interest.”

“I’ve never tried to win your interest, Nikki. It’s called having dignity.” I scoffed, annoyed by the cocky look on his face.

“I know. It’s irritatingly sexy.”

“Well, that’s too bad. I didn’t trust or like you before you screwed over my sister & I like & trust you even less now. I know better than to fall for your tricks & lines. Remember, according to you, I’m the stuck up posh girl with the education & the clean lifestyle & you’re the dark & edgy rockstar with the sordid life & the makings of a drug habit. I’m the angel & your the devil.” I taunted, flashing a smirk of my own.

Nikki leaned across the table to me, his face so close I could feel his hot breath on my face, smell the whisky on his lips. His eyes pierced mine, looking at me with a mixture of disliking & desire. He smiled “But there’s a little bit of devil in your angel eyes, I can see it.” He whispered. A shiver ran down my spine. He noticed & he smirked wider, leaning in closer, so our lips brushed lightly. “And you inspire the Devil in me, Lizzy.”

My heart raced, my knees went weak & my skin crawled. I couldn’t tell in that moment if I craved him or was repulsed by him. Every inch of me screamed to push him away, to yell at him, to stop whatever was happening. But for that brief moment as his seductive words lingered in the space between our lips, that spark of desire I had felt had turned into a raging fire, engulfing my better judgement. All I wanted was to feel his lips on mine, to taste his arrogance & fall pray to his devilsh temptation.

“Ahem.”

Oh thank god.

The judgemental, fake cough from my best friend snapped me back into reality & relief washed over me as I immediately moved away from Nikki, embarrassed & frustrated with myself. Nikki casually leaned back, draping his arm around the back of the booth once again, looking conceitedly at Sophia, as she stood with her hands on her hips, looking at me with intense disapproval.

“Come on Beth, we’ve gotta go collect our wages.” She said cuttingly, throwing a snide look at Nikki before stalking off, back towards the bar.

I stood up, regaining composure, refusing to look back at Nikki. I could feel the smirk without even seeing it. I went to walk away without a word when he grabbed my hand & pulled me back, so I stumbled & fell on to his lap. He entangled his fingers into my hair & pulled me in so his lips were against my ear.

“There’s something dangerously attractive about dancing with the devil. It’s truly going to be heaven dragging you down to hell with me, Princess.”

[bts-svt-mx]

Maid For You (Part 7) - Taehyung x Reader (M)

Author: bts-svt-mx

Taehyung x Reader

Rating: Fluff, angst

Tags: Enemies to Lovers AU, slight smut (future chapters), Idol! Taehyung, Taehyung x Reader, Jungkook x Reader, Hoseok, mentions of other members, sexual tension, mentions of alcohol abuse, mentions of partying

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (M), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Word Count: 5,700

Description: Wanting to get out of your parents house and experience what the world had to offer is way more expensive than people tell you it will be. So when your glamorous “manager to the stars” cousin Hoseok hooks you up with a  job as the live-in maid for a hillside, massive mansion, you feel as though life might actually be looking up. That is until the mansion’s absentee high profile celebrity owner surprises you by moving back in leaving you to wonder if this mansion is big enough for you and his huge ego. 

Chapter 7:

You’re warm. Too warm actually. The sunlight streams into your room directly hitting your face forcing you out of your heavy slumber and bringing you straight back to reality.

Ugh.. What time is it?

Picking up your phone on your side table, you see a plethora of notifications littering your lock screen. One missed call and voicemail from Hoseok, two texts from Minjee, and some random tagged Facebook pictures of you. But it’s not the overwhelming amount of notifications that concern you. It’s the clock on your phone that reads 11:15 am.

Ah, shit. You slept in. But now, no matter how much you want to go back to sleep, you really need to get up.

Your bed is just so comfy though..  If you could, you would stay in bed all day long, but of course, you have a job to do every weekend morning. A gross, tedious job, but a job you were contractually obligated to do nonetheless. You throw the heavy duvet off of you and as soon as you sit up, an intense pain shoots through your head immediately causing you to recoil back and wince in pain.

Ok, ow, ow, ow. Why does my head hurt so much? What happened last night?

Then it hits you. Oh yeah that’s right, you spent last night partying into the wee hours of the morning at one of the weekly crazy parties held at the mansion. The same one you were late to cleaning up after since you usually get started on the weekend long clean up around 9:00 am the next morning.

Another throb pulses through your head. Damn you really needed some Advil right about now.

Honestly, how much did you have to drink last night? It honestly couldn’t have been that much, right? Actually wait, no. It definitely was a lot now that you think about it.

Thinking back, you had lost count after the 5th shot in a row with Hobi and on top of that you had drank by yourself earlier in the night too before he came and found you. So in total you had at least 7 or 8 shots, which was definitely enough to knock you off your ass.

Jeez, you really hadn’t partied like that since your college days. And now, at the ripe age of 23, you were practically an old woman! The constant pounding in your head would suffice as a good enough reminder to you as to why you intentionally gave up that partying lifestyle you once lived.

Massaging your hand between your thumb and forefinger to ease the pain (an old trick you learned from your mom), you walk over to your wing’s kitchen sink to take some Advil with a glass of cold water.

Maybe you shouldn’t have mixed 4 different kinds of alcohol last night… Best to stick to just vodka next time. And that next time will hopefully be a long time from today.

Seriously, even the thought of alcohol made you want to gag.

But wait, didn’t you sober up after Taehyung ran up to you screaming in the middle of the dance floor?

Then, like a punch to the gut, you remember another important detail of last night. Oh god. Taehyung.

You almost forgot about the whole ordeal that happened with him. Inwardly you cringe at the events of last night as you start to piece everything together.

To be completely honest, the party was a lot of fun up until Taehyung came barging in between you and Jungkook. And yeah, maybe you did some questionable things with Jungkook after meeting him literally that night, but who cares? He’s hot and charming and everyone there was drunk off of their asses too, including Hobi and all of his friends. So really, no one could judge you.

And if they even tried to, you took enough funny and embarrassing videos of Hoseok and the rest of his friends doing keg stands and body shots off of random girls that you could hold that over Hobi if he ever started to tease you about your dance floor hookup with Jungkook.

You let out a small laugh at the memories of last night at the party but then your mind wanders back to Taehyung and the way he opened up to you. He had shown so much of himself that you never knew he was even capable of sharing with anyone let alone you, but you’re glad that he did.

He was so drunk last night though... Did he remember anything that happened between you two? Especially that almost kiss that happened at the end of the night? And if he did, would he go back to his cold, defensive personality the next time you saw him? Or worse, the gross, horny version that tried to get you into that sexy maid costume?

A shiver runs down your spine at that thought. No thank you.

Speaking of Taehyung and parties, you had to get ready and start cleaning up the mess that you were sure was spread all over the mansion. Yay, can’t wait to clean up spilt drinks, plastic cups, and who knows what bodily fluids that usually littered more than just the living room floor.

After brushing your teeth, taking off your makeup under your eyes leftover from last night, and fixing your rat’s nest you call hair, you venture out of your wing to head to the cleaning supply room.

You’re almost out of the long hallway of your wing of the house before you hear a large crash! come distantly from the main living room.

What the hell was that? Panic begins to flow through your body as your walk turns into a light jog, trying to find the source of the noise.

You doubt there is anyone still here from the party. People the last few weekends that stayed the night have usually gone home once they’ve sobered up around 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning as you started to clean up. And with the security that was here last night, you’re sure they would have made sure no one was left in the house this late in the morning.

The pool boy, the maintenance guy, nor the gardener were scheduled to be here today though, so who could be making all of that noise?

Turning the final corner to the living area you see the large figure of a man’s back side bent over by the couch struggling with something on the floor. A hoodie covers him from your vision and prevents you from seeing his face but as you draw closer you hear him… cursing to himself?

Instinctively, you grab the closest heavy object you can find, which just so happens to be a tall, very heavy, blue marble vase on top of one of the hallway countertops.

Ooofff!  The weight of the vase instantly causes you to almost fall to the ground, almost breaking your cover but you save it just before it hits the ground. Wow, this thing is way heavier than it looks.

Slowly, you walk closer to the hooded man, vase in hand, out of sight from his vision as his back is still turned to you. Now about two feet away, you raise the vase higher in preparation to hit him. Suddenly, his large frame begins to straighten and his hood falls down to reveal that stupid unmistakable half pink/half yellow hair from underneath.

Before you can lower your arms with the vase, Taehyung turns around and jumps back in surprise at your position, eyes wider than you have ever seen them before.

“Ahh!” He screams, right hand moving to cling over his heart which sends the vacuum he was holding back down to the floor in another crash! very similar to the one you had heard just a few minutes ago.

It takes a second for his vision to adjust, but his wide eyes relax a little when he sees that it’s just you. “God dammit, Y/N! I just fixed the vacuum!” He breathes, trying to gain his bearings back.

In the midst of recovering himself, he takes in your position, clad in sweatpants and an old t-shirt, no makeup on, and still holding the heavy vase in your hands quite close to the previous position of his head.

Meanwhile, you take in his appearance as well. Yellow rubber gloves on, spray bottle in his left hand, vacuum now on the floor, and his bright hair pushed back in a Nike headband.

This whole situation was so odd to you. What was he even still doing here at the house? Usually he was nowhere to be found the day after his parties. You had figured he was either avoiding dealing with the mess or too hungover to make it out of his room.

“Taehyung?” You sputter in disbelief.  “What are you doing?”

As expected of him by now, his expression morphs into one of annoyance at your question like it always does when you have a conversation with him. Well, a sober conversation with him.

“What am I doing? What are you doing?” His words come out with a bite. Obviously not too happy about being scared shitless just a minute ago. Taehyung places the spray bottle down on the glass side table next to him and his eyes snap to the gigantic blue blob you’re holding.

“Is that my vase?” Taehyung gestures to your hold on his expensive decoration. Which is still raised high above both of you.

Oh, right. Well that’s embarrassing.

“Uh.. Sorry, I heard a loud crash and thought someone broke in...” You confess earning a scoff of a laugh from Taehyung. “It was for self defense!” You swear as you lower the expensive vase from its position, looking for a place to put it down.

Settling on the floor next to you to keep it safe from harm, you turn back to the boy in front of you realizing why you were even out here in the first place. “But seriously, Taehyung. What are you doing out here?”

He lets out a sigh. As if he doesn’t need to answer your silly little questions. That they’re a waste of breath to even answer. But to your surprise he speaks up again.

“What does is look like I’m doing?” He waves the vacuum in front of your face. Your eyes almost go cross eyed from the movement and from the fact that you are still severely hungover. Everything starts spinning for a moment but you force your eyes to focus once again. “I’m cleaning.”

You can’t believe it. Taehyung? Cleaning?

A laugh bubbles up inside you. What kind of alternate universe did you wake up in?

Were you actually the mega huge pop star that parties 24/7 and was Taehyung now the maid of the mansion? You could really get used to this life if that was the case. Do whatever you wanted all the time. Buy anything you want. Millions of adoring fans around the world. Cute guys on your arm all of the time. What a life that would be.

But sadly, no. This was not a Freaky Friday like situation. Unfortunately, you were still the maid and Taehyung was definitely still the millionaire. There was no denying that. I mean jeez, even his sweats were Gucci.

At your laughter, Taehyung dismisses you and leans back down on his knees next to the contraption. His hands work on the appliance, trying to fix the vacuum, grumbling to himself about how “if you weren’t going to help then you should just leave him be” and something else you couldn’t really catch.

“Taehyung, do you even know how to work this thing?” You gesture to the vacuum, momentarily making him shift his gaze to you. Before he makes a face at you and goes back to trying to attach the carpet extension to the bottom.

“Of course I know how to work a vacuum, Y/N. I’m not a dumbass.” He snaps. Jaw hardening at the effort he’s putting into the vacuum.

His tone wipes what’s left of the amusement you had off of your face as you put your hands up in defense, moving away from him slightly. Was it stupid that you felt a little bit let down at the fact that he was still being short with you after last night’s talk with him? It might have been selfish, or maybe even naïve of you, but you had really hoped something would have changed in the way he talked to you once he had sobered up today.

 But if emotional and vulnerable Taehyung was only a one time thing and he was going to revert back to his old ways, it was best to give him some space like you used to do when he was like this.

Taehyung takes notice to your reaction of his rudeness and to your surprise, lets out a long sigh as he stops his work on the vacuum. Turning to you, he gives you his full attention as he sputters an apology. “I- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.” Taehyung concedes, scratching the back of his head and looking away. He frustratingly tries and fails to click the attachment into place once again.

“It’s just, this vacuum has been giving me trouble all morning,” The annoyance that he had directed towards you, now all focused on the vacuum in his hands. “The attachment won’t stay in place and the hose keeps disconnecting from the bag too. I don’t know why it keeps doing this,”

You glance at the large contraption and immediately know what’s wrong. Well of course it’s been giving him trouble, that’s the wonky vacuum. The cleaning supply closet housed two different ones and you much prefer the other one that can actually hold up for more than 10 minutes without breaking. You had been meaning to throw out that vacuum actually, but just hadn’t gotten the chance yet.

But you won’t tell Taehyung that he grabbed the wrong one, not when he actually admitted he can’t do something by himself. And not when he looks so adorable as he tries to fix this one.

Wait- Adorable? Did that thought just cross your mind?

No, no. Not adorable. You definitely definitely meant silly, right? Yeah, that’s it. Taehyung was not adorable. No way.

But he did seem to be struggling with the vacuum currently and as the maid and expert in this situation, you might as well put him out of his misery and help him with it.

Dropping on to your knees next to him, you get to work on fixing the placement of the attachment.

After a moment of silence and contemplating the best way to word it, you finally ask him. “Taehyung what are you doing here?”

Lost in his own little world of concentration, he doesn’t register your question fully at first. “Y/N, we literally just went over this,” He speaks softly, his eyebrows furrowed together and his tongue kind of sticking out.

With his hair pushed back you could actually see his whole face clearly. Usually his objectively handsome features were slightly covered with his hair framing his face, but now, without anything to obstruct the view, his face appeared boyish. Youthful even. Resembling the young boy you used to love when he debuted his first album 5 years ago.

You had stopped your work on the vacuum while studying his features and he didn’t even seem to notice. “Yes Taehyung, I see that. But I meant what are you doing here? Like why are you physically at this location? You’ve never helped me clean up a party before...” You explain. Come to think of it- “Actually you’ve never helped me clean up anything before.”

At your words, Taehyung stops his own work on the vacuum and turns his attention to you again.

“That’s not true,” He denies folding his arms in front of him, the slightest trace of a smile on his lips.

You mimic his movement, folding your arms across your chest too. You don’t even have to say anything in reply since your face says it all. That’s he’s full of shit.

Suddenly, his hands move up in defense. “Ok so I guess I haven’t, but does that mean I can’t help you now?” Taehyung finally looks you in your eyes, and dammit, even though you could swear you’re over your youthful crush on him, every time his chocolate eyes stare into yours, you can’t help but get a little flustered.

“Of course not, I mean- Of course you can.” You start, words stumbling over each other. Dammit, this always happens to you.

His long legs begin to move under him to help himself stand up. “Because if you really want to do this all by yourself then I totally understand. I have other things to do. So I’ll just leave you to it-”

Wait no, he can’t leave. You need an extra set of hands to help clean all of this shit up. The past couple of weekends it has taken you literally all day and even part of the next day after that to clean up the party. You could save so much time if someone else were to help you out.

“No!” You exclaim, instinctively reaching out to grasp his arm in your hand, preventing him from fully standing up. And effectively almost making you fall on your face if it wasn’t for his solid form steadying you above the ground.

Your knees were still in contact with the carpet but he was basically holding your upper body up with just his arm. If he were to move you would legitimately fall on your face.

The fabric of his sweatshirt bunched under your tight grip but you could still feel his muscles flex underneath and coincidentally, your face just happened to be parallel to his crotch area.

Oh, you could feel the blush creep its way up on your cheeks. Clearing your throat, you ignore the heat in your face and try to flash your most innocent, convincing smile up at him. “I mean, I can really use all of the help I can get.”

You could be imagining it, but you think you see amusement flash in his eyes as the popstar looks to your compromising position in front of him and the predicament you seem to be in with most of your weight on his forearm.

Ugh, this boy. Always making you flustered in some way shape or form. Can’t you make it through one interaction with him just acting like a normal human being?

Like a kid who convinced their mom to stop at McDonalds even though they definitely had plenty of food at home, Taehyung’s smug little smirk stretches across his stupid little face. “Well if you insist,”  Taehyung moves back to his original spot on the floor, breaking your grip on his arm and sending you face first onto the carpet. “Now if you’ll help me figure this vacuum situation out, I can get back to helping you clean up,”

Um ok, OW. If your hangover headache hadn’t already been pulsing through your head, you’re sure you would have had one now. Groaning to yourself, you turn back to the laughing Taehyung, snatch the vacuum from him, pop the attachment in its place quickly and secure the hose.

Taehyung’s smirk is quickly wiped from his face from how easily you had fixed the vacuum that he had been struggling with all morning. He opens his mouth as if to say something but you cut him off.

“Alright, let’s get to work,” You say and the roar of the vacuum fills the room.

-----------

“When I volunteered myself to help clean up the party I didn’t realize that meant that I had to clean the whole house!” Taehyung groans, wiping a drop of sweat from his forehead and taking a long gulp of water on the stool he was sitting on at the kitchen island.

“As I recall, it was technically your party. So now you have to deal with the repercussions like a big boy,,” Humor laced in your words. You can’t help but smile at the child-like whine Taehyung lets out in reply.

What a sight to see. Taehyung. Actually wiped out from cleaning of all things.

After about 3 hours of cleaning the main living room (the messiest of the rooms), the balcony, the halls, the foyer, and the kitchen, you had just broken the news to Taehyung that you still had to check the extra rooms of the mansion to see if any wondering party goers had managed to weasel their way in. Whether it be to hook up or have their own private party in the midst of the craziness that had ensued upstairs, you still had to make sure you didn’t miss any extra clean up among the many, many rooms of the mansion.

At your words Taehyung requests another couple of minutes of rest and a snack to gain back his energy, which you gladly give him as you had begun to feel your stomach actually crying out to you for food as well. Turning to the pantry to grab a cereal box, you began to think back at the events of this morning.

Throughout the hours of clean up, Taehyung had been… Well he’d actually been kind of pleasant. Of course he still had some snarky comments to make here and there but for the most part, he was actually very helpful and nice to you. He even cracked a couple of jokes about random leftover “party favors” from the guests and there wasn’t even a hint of the old snarky douchebag he once was when you first met him.

Your conversations felt natural. It felt like you two could actually be friends.

After a loud gulp and a satisfactory Ahhh! from Taehyung, the chair he was sitting on scrapes back on the marble floor as he stands. “Alright Boss, where to next?”

His choice of nickname amuses you. Boss? Hm, you could get used to that.

You stuff your mouth with one last handful of Cheerios and take a sip of water before turning back into the pantry to put the cereal box back. “Well I was thinking that we could actually split up to make the search go faster. You could take the movie room, spare garage, closets, and game room and I’ll take the sauna, pool room, recording studio, and the rest of the random rooms. Sound good?” You yell from the pantry.

There’s no reply to your suggestion which makes you stick your head back into the main kitchen to see where Taehyung went. You’re surprised to find him standing there with a concerned look on his handsome face. Brows knitted together in uncertainty like he’s trying to figure out what to say.

“Uh, Taehyung?” You wave your hand out in front of you to get his attention. Taehyung is never at a loss for words. Something’s off.

He looks up at your movement before his eyes advert to the ground from your questioning gaze. “Actually… Can we, uh, look through the rooms together?” He questions, voice a little shaky.

“Why would we do that when we can cover more ground if we split up and report back to each other?” You inquire back to him, not really knowing how he’s going to answer you back.

Why would he need you to be with him just to check some rooms to see if anyone made a mess? Could it be he wants to spend more time with you? That’s unlikely since you already just spent 3 hours together cleaning.

The mansion is quite big, maybe he’s scared or something? That thought makes you laugh a little to yourself. Wouldn’t that be cute if he was scared. “Are you afraid of going alone or something? I wouldn’t blame you, the downstairs hallways can get pretty frightening,” You tease, moving to the side of the counter opposite of Taehyung.

Taehyung’s hand goes to scratch the back of his head like he’s embarrassed or something. Obviously something is bothering him. Come on kid, just spit it out already. “No, it’s just…” He pauses, looking like he’s debating on admitting whatever is bothering him to you. After a moment he finally speaks again. “I... Don’t really know where those rooms are,” He admits, eyes still trained at the floor.

Your head instinctively cocks to the side like a confused little puppy. Was he joking again? This has to be a cover for something. For what, you don’t know. Your eyebrows narrow in suspicion. “What do you mean you don’t know where those rooms are? This is your home. You literally designed this house,”

You could tell he was embarrassed as you see his cheeks redden in front of you. And by the way he won’t meet your eyes as he talks. You’ll have to start taking notes of times when he gets flustered as it doesn’t happen too often. “There are just so many random rooms and corridors that branch off of each other and I… I would get lost down there. I didn’t realize at the time how big it was going to be!”

“What do you mean you realize?” You shoot back. How could someone building a house and just not realize all of the rooms that were being put in? Didn’t they each have a function that he specifically wanted? Hell, there’s even a room dedicated to just his award show trophies!

“Well now you’re just repeating what I say, Y/N,” Taehyung’s hands are now on his hips in defense. A casual look on his face like he didn’t just tell you he doesn’t know how to get around his own house.

“Taehyung,” You warn. Eyes obviously searching his for an explanation.

After a minute long stare down between the two of you, his neutral expression finally breaks. “I WAS DRUNK OK?” He yells, causing you to recoil back in surprise at his sudden outburst. “I told the developers I wanted all of this pointless shit that I thought would be cool in a house and I approved the plans without even looking at them,”

Woah. You definitely weren’t expecting that answer. Taehyung moves to sit back in his stool in defeat trying to make himself smaller in front of you because maybe then you wouldn’t judge him as hard. The playful tone of your conversation had taken a turn, and it seemed as if Taehyung was genuinely embarrassed by his own words. “I was at a kickback with some of my crew on tour, too far gone to even remember my own name and... I don’t know, Y/N, this place just kind of happened,”

His explanation and his defeated body language made you wonder. Was this grand mansion, dripping in frivolous, priceless items, and unnecessary extravagances a mistake to Taehyung?

If Taehyung literally had a mansion built for him while he was drunk, you couldn’t imagine what other crazy things he has done with his ridiculous wealth when he wasn’t in the right state of mind. The air in the room had suddenly lost its warmth as you could tell Taehyung was slipping into memories of his past couple of years of stardom.

As you looked at him with his head between his hands in shame, shoulders slumped, and eyes staring at the white granite countertop like he hated it, you realized something. Maybe Taehyung didn’t even like the mansion he spent more than your whole family’s life’s worth of salary on. Maybe he was ashamed of this place instead of proud of it. After all, just because this was his house, it didn’t mean it was his home.

“Have you ever wondered why my room looks so completely different from the rest of the house?” His words startle you from your thoughts. You didn’t even notice him taking his head out of his cradled position. But before you could answer him he continued.

“It’s because after they built the house it felt so.. Sterile. So lifeless. So… White.” He continued, seeming to regain some of his composure as he looked around the kitchen and over to the rightful placement of his grandmother’s rooster on the kitchen counter.

“I tried to liven it up with the art but that still didn’t cover up the blandness, and since I couldn’t justify redoing the whole house, I had them redo just my bedroom to make it how sober me wanted it. Now it’s the only place in this massive house that I truly can relax and feel at home.” Taehyung’s voice had considerably lowered in volume until he finally finished his confession in a whisper. “I think that’s also why I avoided living in this house for as long as I did before I met you. And even now that I do live here, I still haven’t brought myself to venture downstairs,”

A lot of things had started to make sense about Taehyung in these past couple of minutes. Like a glimpse of what he had been up to while he was on the road for so long and why you never had come across him when you first started your job here.

But also, lots of questions had been raised too. What drove him to party so much that he would black out and make such rash decisions? And why is it just now that he seems like he decided he didn’t want to be that kind of man anymore? What had changed?

You decide not to push him any further, as he tends to close up more when you try to pry.

Taehyung would offer you as much information into his private life as he saw fit if you just let him talk and didn’t interrupt him. Just let him let it all out the way he wanted to.

It seemed like he was in need of someone to be more of a confidant than a therapist, and for whatever reason, ever since last night, he had picked you to be that person for him.

Not that you were complaining in any way. No. This was much better than him jumping down your throat with insults or sexual innuendos. You would much rather take this kind of conversation with him any day. But it was tough to see him retreat into himself from time to time.

Deciding to lighten the mood, you offer your hand to him with a smile from his position on the stool. “Then let me give you a tour. Out of anyone, I think know this house the best. After all, I have been cleaning it for practically a year,”

Taehyung’s apprehensive look goes from your smiling face to your outstretched hand that’s beckoning him to stand up. You can tell he’s trying to assess if you’re being serious or not.

At this you roll your eyes. Of course he would be wary of your intentions right after he just confided in you. It’s like he doesn’t trust you or something.

Instead of waiting for him to take your hand, which quite honestly might have taken all day, you grab his hand off the counter. His skin on yours is surprisingly smooth and oddly very warm, his hand instinctively latching on to yours as you give it a pull to get him on his feet. The action seems to catch him off guard, but he recovers quickly.

Now with Taehyung back on his feet, you could hopefully take his mind off of his own thoughts and show him that the house he created for himself isn’t actually that bad. It’s actually a really cool house that has tons of features that could really use some love after going unused for so long. You actually were a little bit excited to show Taehyung everything his house had to offer now that you think of it.

It isn’t until you feel a slight squeeze on your hand to bring you out of your thoughts that you realize you were still holding onto Taehyung’s hand. You drop his hand from yours in sight embarrassment and walk to the two small hampers of dirty towels that you had used to clean the upstairs rooms of the house.

Taking one of the baskets, you begin walking in the direction of the elevator not bothering to wait for Taehyung to join you. “Chop chop, Tae. Last tour of the day leaves in two minutes and I’ve heard the tour guide waits for no one,” You say over your shoulder at the boy who’s still staring at you frozen in his place. “Oh, and take the other basket of laundry for me, will you? We can stop at the laundry room while we’re down there!”

It isn’t until the elevator dings and the doors slide open that Taehyung springs into action, gathering the rest of the laundry and making it into the elevator beside you just in time.

You look up at the boy next to you with a satisfactory grin as the two of you hold your respective laundry baskets in your arms. His face no longer trained into a look of regret, rather with what seems like joy.

You don’t know why, but something compels you to knock your shoulder with Taehyung’s to get his attention. “You know, I’ve always had an irrational fear of elevators,” You confess. It’s true. Ever since you were a little kid you were afraid of getting stuck and not being rescued, or a cable snapping and you falling to your death.

Taehyung looks down at you in a confused wonder at first, but then a second passes and he’s jumping up in the air, subsequently causing the whole elevator to shake in its descent.

Immediately, your right hand darts out to try to push Taehyung’s shoulder downward and prevent him from jumping, but he’s too large and the hamper in your left arm is doing nothing to help. A fit of giggles bursts out between you two as you begin to hit his arm and scold him for trying to make the elevator break down.

As the elevator slowly comes to a stop so does his jumping, and with the widest, boxiest grin, Taehyung looks down at you from his inherently taller viewpoint. In that moment of pure happiness you grin back up at him finding yourself wondering, not for the first time, why your relationship couldn’t have started off like this in the beginning. Completely unaware that at the same exact time, Taehyung just so happened to be wondering the same thing too.

<-- Previous Chapter | Next Chapter -->

[rogmeaddows]

Part 2: Do you call my name?

Ben Hardy!Roger Taylor x Reader // Roger Taylor x Reader

Concept: This is loosely based off of Letter to Hermione by David Bowie. You moved to London for a student exchange program in college. Met Roger there and ended up dating for 4 years only to break up once you moved back to the states for a publishing deal on your book. Now, 5 years later, you are married, work as a studio drummer (roger gave you a few lessons and you were actually quite good at it, started taking professional lessons and so it went), also are an author with one successful book, own a house in a boring neighborhood with your husband, and overall have a very steady life, and yet you are still deeply in love with Roger. When Queen comes to America for their tour, you and him meet again unexpectedly. It causes havoc in both your hearts and lives.

how I see the characters

Part 1

Warnings: (Angst, almost infidelity, drinking, alcohol, puke, long-term pining, cuss words, crying)

Word Count: 2,300+

After dinner you and Nathan went back to the house, waiting for Rachel and Joe to come pick both of you up to go to the party. As you search through the back of your closet trying to find clothes that would fit the outrageousness of a Queen party. You stumbled upon a box labeled “don’t hang up” opening it you find some of your mini skirts and a few dresses a lower cut than you ever thought you wore. At the bottom of the box however was a very dark red velvet dress that has long arms that sprout out at the ends of the arms. You squeeze into it just barley, surprised that it still fits and turn around to see yourself in the mirror. The dress has a very low cut and is even shorter in length, leaving nearly nothing to the imagination. Your breath catches as you remember the last time you wore this dress, it was to one of Queen’s press release parties.

You were sitting in Roger’s lap making jokes about the state of the party and the people, and how the angry looks from the groupies was so familiar it was almost comforting. Snapping out of the memory you go to your bathroom sink and pull your messy (y/h/c) hair down from its tightly woven bun and throw on a little bit of eyeliner, just as you find yourself presentable your husband comes upstairs to tell you that Rachel and Joe are here, however he never gets to that part once he sees what you are wearing

“Hey (y/n), Rachel and- What are you wearing?” he asks in discomfort

“A dress?”

“Don’t think thats long enough to be considered a dress.”

“Well I thought, of all people, you would like it.”

“Well I don’t. I’m not about to go to party with my wife dressed like a-” just before he could say that last dreadful word, Rachel came upstairs asking if everyone was ready.

“Yes we are.”you say as your husband shoots you a death glare but left the argument where it lie.

Everyone then piled into Nathan’s car as he had already offered to be designated driver, as you all sat in the car Rachel just kept talking about how she had never been to a Rockstar's party and how you should’ve have told her that you knew Queen.

Once you got to the party, everyone in your little group stood out as they walked through door. Being surrounded by crazed fans, wild people, and wanna be rockstars, the only person out of the four of you who didn’t stand out was you.

“Do you guys wanna go get a drink?” Rachel asked everyone excitedly. But you payed no attention to her with the thought of getting to your long lost friends of Queen you quickly started searching the crowd, as you walked all three of them followed you like puppies to their new owner. Turning around and saying

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom, you all should go get drinks and meet me back here. That okay?” you didn’t wait for conformation just quickly broke away from them hearing your husband grumble something angrily behind you. Just as you were trying to escape their gaze by turning down the nearest hallway you bumped harshly into a unknown very tall figuring, getting a face full of curly hair. It only took you a split second to figure out who it was

“Oh shit, I’m sor- Brian! Oh my god! It’s been so long.” his face lights up when he realizes its you, but then is followed by confusion

“(y/n), we’ve all missed you so much! But um- what brings you here? its been years since any of us have seen you.”

“I was at dinner with a few friends and when I went to the bathroom I ran into Roger, my friend Rachel came looking for me and after her having a little fangirl moment over Roger he invited us. Guess he couldn’t resist a chance to charm another girl” I say this laughing but in truth I was a little afraid those were his motivations.

“Well he didn’t tell any of us he invited you, Freddie will be ecstatic to see you!  Here come on, we’re all hanging out over this way.” He put a hand on your back trying to guide you through the maze of people and just as you entered a room with a  crowded with couches, chairs, and a table filled with an assortment of alcohol you saw John sitting next to Freddie on the coach; both of them giggling. The sight brought warmth to your heart, you truly did miss them over the years. Then you turn a see Roger with some floozy under his arm, whispering in his ear.For a second you were afraid none of them would acknowledge you, like they had all completely moved on and forgotten you. Then Freddie saw you and exclaimed

“(Y/N)! Darling, jesus it’s been forever.” he then ran over to you and gave you a hug saying

“Oh dear I love the dress, I remember when I helped you pick that out, still look just as gorgeous.”

“Aw Freddie thank you! And you look just a gorgeous as the last time I saw you, except for one thing. What did you do to your hair?” noticing his now short hair and frumpy mustache.

“Sharks have to keep moving my dear. Now are you going to stand there or are you going to party?” he then hands you a glass of champagne and leads you over to John and Roger. John stands up to hug you

“Oh wow, I’ve missed you. Band hasn’t been the same since you came back to the states.”

“Well my life hasn’t been the same since I lost touch with you guys.”

You sit down in a chair next to John and Freddie, completely unaware that Roger had stopped paying attention to the poor girl trying to kiss her way back into his head. Instead he just stares at you, at the restaurant you had looked so different, a dress blouse and a long black skirt and hair in bun. It was like seeing a stranger when compared to the girl he fell in love, but seeing your hair fall in your face when you lean down, your smile so wide, your dress ride up when you move legs a certain way. It was like he was being thrown back in time and then you looked at him and your (y/e/c) eyes brought something out of him he hadn’t felt in front of a woman in years. Vulnerability.

He stood up and walked over to you, completely abandoning the girl hanging off of him. He sat down in the chair next to you and said

“Well I honestly didn’t think you would except my invitation, figured you grew out of this what with your new…” he paused and looked down at the ring on your finger

“…lifestyle and all.” You looked at him, trying to see if he was poking fun or not.

“Well I guess you would be confused about the confines of monogamy, but turns out only being with one person does not keep me from leaving the house.” he laughs and seeing his face light up makes your heart swell in your chest. However thats when his arm candy comes over and gets one top of him, almost uncomfortably straddling him and immediately shoves her lips against him. The encounter is unnatural and almost makes you sick to your stomach. A reminder of the barrier that is now and always will be between you and Roger.

Not desiring to sit next to the wet sounds coming from the two in the chair you get up and walk over to Freddie who was now pouring vodka into a glass, at first you thought he was just making himself a drink but when you walk up to him he shoves the glass your way.

“Don’t act like you don’t need it love.”

“Oh Freddie, you know me so well.”

“I just know two yearning hearts when I see them.” you put the glass to my lips and throw my head back downing the clear liquid.

“I’m not yearning for anything, other than a good buzz.”

“Oh for sure darling” you turn to the table filled with various glass bottles, picking up the same vodka he had just poured you and filled the glass about two shots full. Downing that glass and grimacing at the horribly bitter taste you slam the glass down. Meanwhile Freddie is just laughing at you

“Come on lets go join the party.” You and him walk over to the three other Queen members as well as a group of people surrounding the band. As the night goes on you forget about the three people who you came here with, after more drinks and dancing to every song you can feel the effects that the alcohol is having on your stomach. Stumbling out of the room, trying to keep the walls from spinning while in search of a bathroom, you don’t notice the blonde drummer following behind you. You search hurriedly for the bathroom only to feel a hand grab your wrist, turning around to find none other than Roger Taylor holding onto you. That’s when a sense of relief flushes your body as he leans down and says

“Here follow me, theres a bathroom this way.” you just nod and hold onto his arm, pulling you towards a pair of stairs only a few feet to your left. Finding this new task to be the most difficult task you’ve ever been faced with you say

“Rogerrrr, I’m sorry I- I don’t think I can make it up.”

“Come on I know you can, do you really wanna throw up all over this floor.”

“I don’ know if I have a choice.” you feel the puke coming up your mouth and cover your mouth with your hand. Roger, seeing the urgency of this situation, scoops you up and starts carrying you up the stairs, then he pushes open the nearest door and right as you see the toilet you can no longer hold in and puke goes hurling all over Roger’s shirt.

He flinches immediately, but walks over to the bathtub and sets you down gently.

“Oh Roger- shit. I’m so sorry, fuck. I’ll clean your shirt.” you tried to stand but then stumbled and fell back into the bathtub. He walks over to you squats down

“I can clean my own shirt, okay? Don’t feel bad about this, I’ve thrown up on your clothes a hundred times.” he chuckles at the memory of ruining yoour favorite dress after a particularly hard show.

You wanted to say okay and for him to stand up and put his shirt under hot water and help you find Nathan so he can take you home. But instead you look at him, his face so close to yours, his eyes bright blue, his hair messy hanging in his eyes, the stench of alcohol coming from his breath. You look him in the eyes and say

“I forgot how much I liked looking at you.” his eyes flash with wistfulness and he small smile spreads across his face

“I forgot how much I like looking at you too.” you run your hands through his hair and move down to his cheek. His hands meets yours and he turns his head slightly, placing a kiss on your palm. You then pull your hand away and lean your head against the wall of the bathtub.

“How did we get here Roger?” its a loaded question, one that brings up countless memories

“I believe it was your inability to ever know when to stop drinking.” You laugh quietly and he stands up, pulling the shirt over his head and putting it under the faucet. You stare at his bare chest and remember a time when it was the most familiar feeling your hands knew. Now you can barley remember the ghost of it, willing your finger tips to replenish this memory. You stand up shakily, stepping over the tub and walking over to him. You wrap your hands around his hips as he scrubs the puke shirt. You both look at the each other through the mirror and tears spring to your eyes. He turns around to face you and you collapse into him, he wraps his arms around you and whispers.

“I feel it too.”

You look up at him, tears falling down your face and you see that he is close to crying. You can feel your throat close up and your chest tightens, both of you carrying the weight of lost time and love. Just as you lay your head back on his chest and a sob dares escape your throat the door burst open and a very surprised Nathan pushes his way in. You watch as his brain asses the situation and his eyes fill with anger. But he didn’t yell, he barley reacted. All he said was

“Find a way home.” and then slammed the door behind him. You try to chase after him, pushing the bathroom door open and watching him walk down the stairs. You run after him, barley making it down the stairs.

“Nathan, wait!” but he doesn’t turn around, he just keeps pushing his way through the crowd. You collapse in the crowd feeling sobs rake your body and a hand place itself on your back. You turn around to find Mary whom you hadn’t even thought would be at this party, she pulls you up off the floor

“Come on, I have a hotel room near here.”

Taking a cab to the hotel and trying your hardest to keep quiet n the backseat of the Taxi, Mary softly rubbing your back. You both ride silently in the elevator up to her floor and as you crash on the bed you say the first words you have said to her in years.

“Thank you.” those were the last words you said right before you passed out on top of the covers on her hotel room bed.

[leelee10898]

Chapter 3: Slow Hands

Song inspiration Slow Hands by Niall Horan

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Pixleberry studios except those unique to my story.

WARNING contains NSFW (Ok this was my 1st time ever writing NSFW so bare with me lol)

pairings: Liam&Aria (MC), Aria&Leo

Summary: Social season is in full swing and the gang is heading to Lythikos for skating, skiing. Aria is having flashbacks from her summer in Italy. Meanwhile Leo returns to the palace will he be sticking around?

If you would like to be added to the tag list let me know... 

Tag List @scarlettedragon @annekebbphotography @bobasheebaby

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

Time seemed to be flying by since Aria arrived in Cordonia . Her first run in with the press at the derby went really well.. they dubbed her the mystery woman, which was quite fitting considering that's exactly what Liam called her at the Masquarade.

Bertrand managed to get under her skin a bit. He was still pissed at Maxwell for bringing her there. He was always mumbling about "house Beaumonts reputation is at stake" and her personal favorite her "damning house Beaumont beyond repair". Maxwell was her sanity. His crazy antics and being super hilarious saved her from going off the deep end. He was like the goofy older brother she never had.

She was starting to learn about the ladies at court as well. Olivia was the court bully. She was always degrading the other ladies, but Aria knew how to handle her. Kiara was fluid in several languages which Aria thought was astounding and admirable. Penelope had an obsession with poodles, which she thought was cute and weird. Madeline was well, Madeline. She was raised and bred for courtly life, and was very cold to the other suitors. Hana was her favorite, she is so kind and naive, you can't help but love her. Aria hated that Hana let everyone walk all over her, she knew she would have to fix that. The worst part was the lack of time she had with Liam, stealing whatever moments she could when she did get to see him.

She was learning about everyone but one person. She didn't know much about was Liams brother. Ever since she danced with him she just wanted to know more. They were never formally intoruced, she didnt even know his name and had no idea what he even looked like. She never found the time to ask but this long ride to Lythikos was the perfect opportunity.

"Maxwell, tell me about Liams brother." She question as she scoots up in her seat. "Huh? Oh Leo? Maxwell says putting his phone on his lap. "Well he is the former crowned Prince of Cordonia. He abdicated the throne and broke off his engagement to Madeline. He has been dubbed by the press the play boy prince.. he's a really cool guy though."

 "Soooo prince Leo.... wait... He was engaged to Madeline? And now she's a suitor for Liam?" Aria shouts sitting straight up now. "Will you two keep it down over there! Bertrand scoffs "I am trying to figure out how to keep house Beaumont from completely falling from grace" Aria and maxwell exchange a look and smile.

 "Yes, during Leo's social season before he was to take over as king he chose Madeline to be his bride. I guess they felt bad for her and asked her to come back to court as a suitor." Maxwell says with a yawn.. Aria couldn't believe it.. Madeline was a previous suitor? That didn't sit well with her, but she shrugged it off.. the thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was his name, Leo... so if Liams last name is Rhys, that would make Leo, Leo Rhys... that's so crazy. she thought to herself rubbing her head. They share the same name comparing Liams brother and the Leo she met in Italy. All of this made her mind drift back to that night they attended the Masquarade in Italy.

They had arrived at Leo's hotel, since Ellie had company she would be staying with him. Her first thought was how much nicer his hotel was then hers. Her second thought was the fact they were staying in fricken Rome!

"Hey what do you say we stop in at the hotel bar and get a night cap before we go up?" Leo asked as they walked into the lobby.

Aria already a bit tipsy wasn't quite ready to end the night yet.. " What the hell, let's go!." They walk in and sat their selves at a table.

 Already aria was feeling the atmosphere. The music was great and there were people on the dance floor. "Let's do shots Leo" Aria insisted drumming her hands on the table.

"you really want to do this?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Absolutely!" She jumped up and went over to the bar returning with 4 shots.. "vodka?" Leo asked "we are in Italy and you get vodka?" He chuckled.

"when in rome..." Aria winks as she takes the entire shot , Leo follows suit..

" I'm pretty sure that's not what they meant by that." Leo laughs hysterically. "Eh whatever." She waves him off before downing her 2nd shot. "Were gonna need more." She declares running back to the bar.

When Aria is gone for quite a while Leo wonders what she's doing . He finds her at the bar laughing with the bartender. "Leo dear, please come tell this lovely man that I am American pop star Britana Fontain." Aria winks and motions for Leo to come. Leo shakes his head and decides to play along.

"What's wrong Britana?" Leo saunters up to the bar wrapping his arms around her. "You don't believe she's famous?" Leo cocks an eyebrow .

The bartender laughed "Oh no I believe her,Here your drinks are on house." He says in broken English. "Salud" leo says raising his glass. "Salud" Aria does the same as they quickly gulp down their shots.

"Let's dance." Leo grabs her hand and leads her onto the dance floor. She shakes her hips and moves her body to the music. He pulls her in closer, body's touching. She turns around grinding against him. Leo puts his hands on her waist and whispers in her ear "why don't we head up to the room?"

She was so lost in thought she didn't feel the car roll to a stop. "We're here." Maxwell bounces up and down in his seat. "Aria.. ARIA!" He waves his hands trying to get her attention. "Sorry, sorry." Aria apologises.

They get out of the car to see a beautiful scene. Everything was covered in white glistening snow. "This is where Olivia lives?" Aria asks taking in the sight. "This is one of the duchess' homes." Bertrand informs her. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make a few calls." He says walking away.

 Maxwell dances in anticipation.. "Go ahead Maxwell." Aria laughs. Maxwell runs and throws himself down on the snow. He moves his arms and legs making a snow Angel. "This is gonna be soooo much fun." He laughs as he gets up to admire his work.

Olivia had planned skating and skiing before the nights dinner. Aria was able to steal a few moments with Liam thanks to Maxwell's quick thinking, he distracted Oliva with his Lord of the dance on skates.

After skating it was time to skii. At the top of the hill she met up with Drake. "Can you even skii Hale?" He teased. "Really Drake? Wanna race?" She enticed him, He was so easy to rail up. "Your on Hale." He accepted with a large grin. The both skii down the hill, weaving in and out of the other skiiers. Aria spots Olivia and Liam up ahead slowly making their way down. She can't help but be petty, as she zooms past and sprays snow all over Olivia. "ughhhhhh." She hears Olivia groan from behind her. Drake has a lead on her but she gains momentum. Aria zips past him and stops herself at the bottom of the hill. Drake comes shortly after. "ok, ok I admit defeat.. nice moves Hale, I especially liked the snow shower you gave ole livy there." he laughed pulling up his goggles. "I'm not sure what you are talking about." She feigned, trying to hold back a laugh.

As Olivia reaches the bottom of the hill. Covered in snow, Olivia almost looks like the abominable snowman. Drake and Aria look at each other and bust out laughing. Olivia scowls at them and announces "I have had enough snow, dinner will be in 1 hour."

At dinner Aria was pleased to find she was sitting with Hana and Drake, the disappointment was they were stuck all the way in the back.. They ended up being served last, the soup was cold and before they could even eat Olivia announced it was time for dancing. "But we haven't even ate." Hana sighed sadly.. "I don't think she cares."Drake mumbled starting eat the plate that was placed in front of him. Olivia had the upper hand here, her house meant she got the most time with Liam.

Having learned the Cordonia waltz through Hannah she danced flawlessly with Maxwell, before switching partners to Liam. "Lady Aria, I didn't know you knew the Cordonian waltz." Liam murmers taking her hand. "Yes, Hannah taught me last night." She twirled around. "we won't have much time before we switch partners again, but I wanted to see if you would meet me, tonight at my room." Liam inquired as they glide across the floor. "I have something I would like to show you." Before she could reply Olivia was back and Liam was gone. The last swell of the dance came as she looked over to see Olivia plant a kiss on Liams lips. Aria felt her stomach turn. Liam pulls away looking at Olivia sternly before escorting her outside the ball room.

 *****

Later that evening aria sneaks off to Liam’s room. As she reaches the door, she paused for a moment to gather her nerve. She exhales deeply before knocking softly.

 "I am so glad you came." Liam smiled stepping aside to let her in. "Well, I have to admit I was curious about what you wanted to show me." She said twirling her hair in between her fingers. He leads her through the room and out onto the patio to a hot tub, candles lit surrounding it. "Wow, this is.. this is beautiful." Aria exclaims taking in the site "did you do all of this?" "Well, yes.. I wanted it to be relaxing for you. I know how stressful court can be." He admitted as he places his hand in hers "So how about we get in" Liam said disrobing and climbing in. Aria does the same. "Ahhhhh, this feels nice." She sighed sinking into the water. "I am glad I got to share this with you." Liam looked at her, His eyes conflicted.

Aria smiles and moves closer placing a kiss on his lips. She felt him smile as he deepened the kiss. She climbs onto his lap stradling him, wrapping her arms around his neck and tangling her fingers in his hair. "Aria!" He says surprised. "Shh." She quiets him with her lips . He runs his hands along her side's and back removing her bra. She grinds her hips back and forth feeling the hardness in his boxers. "Aria, we shouldn't." He loosely protest. She stops kissing him. "If you don't want to..." she says as she climbs off his lap. He grabs her thigh.. He looks at her, licking his lips. "I don't know what's going to happen, truth is I have feelings for you, far more then I should.. but I have to do what's best for cordonia.. I don't want to hurt you.." He sighs running his hand down his face. "I'm a big girl liam." She says rubbing her finger in circles on his chest. "I understand you have to make the best decision for cordina." Liam rubs his hand up her thigh "fuck it." He says pulling off her underwear.

He leans over to kiss her as he sticks his fingers in her warm center. Aria moans quietly pulling at Liams boxers. She clumsily gets them off and climbs up onto his lap and lowers herself onto his cock. She rocks her hips slowly, watching his face with each movement she makes. Liam eyes roll back in his head as he lets out a soft moan. She picks up the pace and his hands firmly grab her hips. He starts to buck up thrusting himself into her, harder, faster, she matches his pace. She throws her head back and moans "Oh Liam, mmmm." It sends Liam over the edge he kisses her neck back down to her breast his hands firmly gripped on her thighs she can't hold back anymore as she lets loose and gives into the sensation. He moans loudly. "Oh fuck... Aria." She feels him tense up as he thrust into her deeply, her movements start to slow as he shoots his hot cum inside her.

She climbs off of him and kisses him gently. "That was amazing." Liam says " we should get some rest " aria gets out of the water and gathers her clothes. "Aria." Liam says leaning over the side of the tub "You are the most amazing woman I have ever met." Aria smiles at him "until next time my prince" She turns and walks away.

Aria sneaks back to her room. Once inside she takes a hot shower and puts something comfortable on. Settling into bed she hears a knock at the door. She opens the door to find Maxwell and let's him in. "Maxwell it's a bit late, did Bertrand send you?" She yawns and walks over to sit on her bed. "Yes, he did."Maxwell says as he walks around the room "he wanted me to tell you to be ready by 6am sharp tomorrow morning." "Why so early?! he is crazy you know that right?" Aria sighs throwing her slef back on the bed. Maxwell chuckles "yeah I know. But since the next event is at our house, he wants us to get an early start. "Ugh fine, I'll be ready.. good night max." Aria grunts still laying down. Maxwell turns to leave "Oh i almost forgot, we just received world that Leo would be attending the Beaumont bash, looks like you'll get to finally meet him." Aria sits up straight "LEO will be there?" "Yup, sounds like he will be around for a while." Maxwell says opening the door "Well good night little blossom." Aria could feel herself getting nervous. She tossed and turned for hours before falling asleep. In the morning they would head to the Beaumont estate.

*****

Leo arrived at the palace late that evening. Palace employees carry his luggage to his quarters as he walks to the study. After his run in with Madeline the night of the Masquarade he kept a low profile. She was not happy about his being there and she didn’t want him interfering with her second chance at becoming queen. Once he told her she wasn’t the reason for his return she laid off and left.

A knock comes at the door "come in." Leos back turned to the door, looking out the window. "Do you have what I asked for?" Leo questions as he walks over to pour a glass of scotch and sits down in the chair. "I do sir" the man walks over and hands him a large envelope. Leo slides the man an envelop full of cash. "No one is to know about this, do I make myself clear." He raises his eye brow. "You may go." The man nods and leaves the office closing the door.

Leo plays with the envelope for a moment flipping it back and forth before opening the seal. He pulls out several papers and a photo and lays them across the desk his mouth slightly agape “I’ll be damned." He mutters "Sorry dear brother." downing the rest of his scotch. "This may get a bit complicated...."

[toopliss-chewtoy]

HiJack Week Sum. 2018 Day 4: Past Accomplishments

A never before published but old as hell fic counts as Past Accomplishments, right? This has been sitting in my ‘to edit’ pile for way longer than I’d care to admit... So enjoy! Lots of super sweet fluff!

Summary:  Two huge-ass grocery bags filled with sugar, butter, chocolate and other ingredients was not how Hiccup had envisioned this Friday night to go. Warnings: n/a Size: 2299 words Also on AO3

Cupcakes

At long last, he was home. If he walked through that door, he could forget all about work. Once he put his key in the lock and twisted, it would be just him and Jack and maybe a cocktail or two with mandatory chill-time on the couch. Just a few more steps and it would be weekend.

He dropped his bag in the hallway and kicked off his shoes. “I'm home!”

No response.

“Honeypot, my sweetest dear?” Hiccup called out in a high little pitch. He walked into the living room. No Jack. Kitchen? Ditto. He wasn't taking a nap on the bed either. All there was to greet him was their cat and a note on the kitchen table: 'doing groceries – Jack'.

Hiccup shrugged and made himself a screwdriver with a liberal amount of vodka. He had no plans for tomorrow, after all.

Right when he was done, he heard the front door. He turned and was about to take a sip... but the glass froze mid-way to his mouth. Jack came into the kitchen with a big, fully loaded shopping bags in each hand and his little sister in tow.

“Hey, Hic!” Jack gave wide smile with a hint of apologetic worry in it. Before Hiccup could press him on that, Emma flung herself around his waist, almost making him spill his precious cocktail.

“Umf! Hey Emma, long time no see.” He gave her a little hug. “That's a surprise!”

“Good thing you like surprises!” Jack said. “Cause I have another one!”

Hiccup squinted at his boyfriend. “Jaaack, what's in the bags?” This guy was up to no good, he knew it.

“Have I mentioned how much I love you?”

“Is it that bad?”

“Cause I love you a lot!” Jack came over and took the cocktail, taking a little sip. He scrunched up his nose – too strong, probably.

“Out with it.”

“You see, Emma has a baking-sale tomorrow at school.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And I kinda said I'd help her out.”

“Jack promised to bake tons of cookies and cupcakes with 100 flavours!” Emma happily chipped in. She beamed at Hiccup and Jack in turn, obviously very excited about it all. “We just did the groceries, we can make TONS of stuff!”

Hiccup forced a smile. “That's sweet. Why don't you go give Toothless a treat, we'll get started here.”

Emma didn't need to be told twice. She grabbed the pack of treats from the cupboard and ran off to find Toothless. The moment she was out of the kitchen, Hiccup fixed Jack with a deadly look.

“You promised what.”

“Well we don't actually need 100 flavours...”

“Why do I only find out now, huh?” Baking a shit-ton of cupcakes and cookies was not the Friday night Hiccup had in mind. “You need these tomorrow! Why just now?!” Hiccup hissed. Jack shrunk away more and more, holding up his hand apologetically.

“She asked me a month ago and-”

“A MONTH?!”

“-and and I forgot! Come on buttercup, please don't kill me!”

Hiccup took a big gulp of his cocktail and squeezed his brow. “Damnit, Jack.”

“I can't say no to Emma... I’m really sorry, cupcake.”

Hiccup sighed. “Fine. I’ll help. Also, poor choice of petname.”

“I owe you one.” Jack promised. He gave his disgruntled boyfriend a hug, but Hiccup’s scowl only partially dissolved.

“Oh no. You owe me a lot more than just one.”

Emma came back into the kitchen, followed by a black, meowing beast. Somehow she always managed to twist Toothless around her finger; a feat not many were able to pull off. “What can I do?” She beamed at Hiccup.

“Let’s heat up the oven then…”

Dinner consisted of take-out pizza while the first batch of cupcakes was in the oven. They settled into a cycle of alternating cupcakes and cookies, with Hiccup making all the batters and Jack and Emma taking care of putting it in/out of the oven and bagging things once they had cooled down. Cookies were iced, the more wildly flavoured cupcakes were decorated, and everything got a nice foil, bow, and tag thanks to Emma. All the while, Hiccup himself was receiving an inexplicable amount of love too.

“You feeling bad for making me bake?” He asked when Jack was hugging him from behind once more.

“A bit…” He kissed Hiccup’s shoulder. “But I have to say I also quite enjoy it.” Jack slapped Hiccup’s ass. Hiccup frowned, mouthing ‘behave’ at his SO.

Immediately Emma dissolved into giggles. “There is a hand on your butt!”

Then Jack had to leave the kitchen for a bit, or he would find out exactly how sharp their kitchen knives were first hand. Later, when his back was turned, Hiccup took revenge by dropping ice down his shirt.

“I’ll geeeheeet you for that!” Jack promised as he performed the icecube dance. Emma and Hiccup just laughed… until a sheet of rolled fondant landed square in Hiccup’s face. And then there may or may not have been some flower and chocolate chips flying around. A full-on food-fight was only narrowly avoided, but Emma still needed to take a thorough shower before she could go to bed. Turns out blobs of unbaked cookie are very tasty, but also very annoying to wash out of your hair.

While Jack tucked Emma in, Hiccup crashed on the couch for a bit. He was deathly tired, and they weren’t even half-way yet.

He felt Jack sit down next to him. He kept his eyes closed.

“Thanks. You saved my ass.”

“You make it sound like we’re already done. We’re only just half-way.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too. I think.”

“You think?” Jack softly punched his shoulder and Hiccup creaked an eye open.

“You’re the one making me bake so much.”

“You’re going to use that against me for a long time, aren’t you?”

“Yup.” He closed his eye again. He felt Jack’s lips against his cheek and smiled a little.

“How many kisses would it take?”

“A gazillion.”

“That’s not even a number.”

“Yes it is.”

“No it isn’t!”

“It is.”

“Is not.”

“No no, I know how much it is. I’ll tell you when you’ve reached it.”

Jack kissed him again. “Now?”

“No. That was two.”

“Now?”

“Nu-uh.”

“Now?”

“Keep trying. Maybe-” beep beep beep beep.

Hiccup sighed and got up, dragging Jack back to his feet as well. “Aaand back to work. Only about half a gazillion cupcakes left.”

As time progressed, more and more cupcakes and cookies of various flavours started to fill up the inlayed boxes Jack had bought. At the same time, more and more hugs were exchanged, as Hiccup was drained of his last bits of energy. He shoved a new batch into the oven and threw his arms around Jack, who was wrapping cookies. He buried his face in Jack’s shoulder.

“You smell of sugar.”

“How sweet of you.”

Hiccup giggled, mumbling “Sugar daddy”.

“What?!” Jack tried to turn around, laughing. “Did you just call me daddy? You never call me daddy when we-”

Hiccup put a finger on his lips. “Pumbaa! Not in front of the kid.”

“Oh. Sorry. Ahem. WHEN I WAS A YOUNG WARTHOOOOOG!”

“Very nice.”

“Thanks!”

Hiccup stared into the bright blue eyes of the love of his life, and he realized two things: 1) Jack was just as tired as he was, which reduced the kisses required to just a mere billion, and 2) he too was trying really hard not to dissolve into a fit of giggles. His eyes twinkled and his lips were pressed tightly together to keep from bursting into laughter in a most unflattering manner. Hiccup chuckled… and that was the beginning of the end. He could feel Jack’s chest start to shake. Teeth broke through that smile and giggles poured forth.

“You’re saying I smell too, pegleg?” He managed between fits of laughter.

“I never -- hahaha -- never stand down- hihi -- downwind from you for a reason!”

It probably wasn’t all that hilarious. But then again it was late and he had had a few cocktails already, so anything could be funny at this point. Hiccup clutched at his sides as they roared with laughter. They held on to each other to stay upright. It really didn’t help when Hiccup fashioned a hula-skirt from a tea towel and started to do the hula-dance like Timon. Jack fell over, nearly taking a tray of cookies with him. They were wheezing when the oven bleeped the next batch was done.

“You dork.”

“Hakuna Matata.”

And there they went again. It was nothing short of a miracle they didn’t let those cookies burn.

Their temporary burst of energy didn’t last forever though. Another batch was in the oven, and wrapping was all ‘wrapped up’. Hahaha. Ha.

They were dead. They crashed on the couch together. As soon as they were comfortable, Hiccup put his head on Jack’s shoulder and closed his eyes.

“I love you.”

“I’m glad you still do.”

Hiccup wanted to reply again, but talking was just… so much effort. While simply thinking a reply and keeping your mouth closed was so much easier. Just like keeping your eyes shut was so much nicer than forcing them open again. Maybe just a little nap. The oven would wake them up again.

The oven did not wake them up again.

The fire alarm did.

WHIIIOOOOO WHIIIIOOOOO

“Holy shit!” Hiccup shot upright, instantly wide awake. He ran to the kitchen with a slightly groggy Jack on his heels. There was smoke coming from the oven. Hiccup opened it and was forced to step back, coughing. Black smoke filled the kitchen and he rushed to open a window. Meanwhile, Jack shut up the fire alarm.

“What’s going on?” A sleepy voice said from the doorway. Emma was standing there with her cuddle-bunny.

“We had an accident,” Jack explained, picking her up.

“Are the cookies all right?”

Hiccup retrieved a black baking tray from the oven.

“It’s all right. Lets go back to bed.”

When Emma was asleep again, they decided to take turns on the couch if they wanted a break. That way one of them would always be awake, and prevent this from happening again. Hiccup got the first nap.

The oven time did wake him up. He went to the kitchen, to find Jack taking care of things. Finally, the last batch was done. All the butter and sugar and flour had been converted into sugary goodness. There was only some stuff left to package, but it wasn’t much. Hiccup squinted. Wasn’t there supposed to be one more cupcake on that cooling rack over there? There were only 11, but a tray held 12. Maybe Jack ate one?

Jack took a break while Hiccup finished up in the kitchen, covering everything so cakes and cookies wouldn’t dry out or become soggy respectively. Then he called it a night. They’d package the rest tomorrow. It was already - he looked at the clock - HOLY SHIT! It was 4am! He groaned and trudged to the couch. Jack was sort of half sitting half lying on it. His mouth hung open and he was snoring quietly. Hiccup smiled. Very charming.

He sat down with Jack and snuggled up against him.

“Jaaaack. Beeeeed.”

No response. He shook his arm, being more insistent about going to a surface intended for actual sleeping instead of their couch. But Jack groaned and mumbled ‘no’, and went right back to sleep.

Too tired to argue, Hiccup gave in. Jack’s arm was an excellent pillow too. His hoodie was nice and soft, and even though eh smelled a lot more sugary and flowery than his usual self, it was still nice. Jack was safety and comfort. The white-haired man was usually more vocal about it, but Hiccup really loved him just as  much. Pressed close against his boyfriend, he quickly dozed off.

“You guys should marry.”

Hiccup moaned and opened his eyes. His neck and back were about as flexible as two slabs of concrete, and felt just as heavy. Sleeping on the couch in that position? Not his best idea ever.

“Emma? What?”

“Cause you are cute together!”

“She’s right. We are adorable,” Jack mumbled.

“Oh shut up. We need to finish wrapping.” With a groan that would put any eighty-year-old to shame, Hiccup sat upright.

“You got some chocolate on your cheek.” Emma pointed out.

“Oh. Thanks Em.” Hiccup wanted to wipe it off, but Jack beat him to it by licking his face.

“Jack!” The brunet protested.

Emma ran off to the kitchen making ‘ewww’ sounds and both men laughed. “Well. You make breakfast, I’ll finish with the wrappings.”

By the time Emma was ready to be driven to school, all sweet delights were nicely packed up for the drive. Emma was already at the door, bouncing happily, but Jack needed to say goodbye first.

“I’ll come back quickly, I won’t stay the whole time. Mom will be there too.”

“It’s okay. I’m probably gonna nap in bed.”

“First I want to give you this.” Jack went to the fridge and rummaged around in it. Then, he produced a cupcake with a huge, gorgeous rose of icing on it. Resting in the middle of it was a chocolate heart. “Made this for you. While you were asleep.”

“Awww. That’s so sweet! I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Youtube. Took a few tries but hey. Nothing less for my darling dear.”

“Oh please, you’re so sweet it’s making me sick.”

“Also you might want to shower before you go to bed, you’re a mess.”

“Ah that’s more like it.”

“Jaaahaaaack! Come on!” Emma called from the hallway.

“You better go before she sets the cat on you.” Hiccup warned.

The white haired man laughed and kissed him. “K thanks bye.”

[seoulfulcity]

July 20, 2018: Cruisin’ for a Boozin’

안녕하세요,

This cruise was just an excuse for us to stay up until dawn drinking nonstop, so I thank Hanyang University for giving us this opportunity, while we were in Seoul.

Friday is usually cultural activity day and the event saved for Friday was the Boryeong Mud Festival, which is held every year where attendees bathe themselves and play with others while covered in mud, which is said to have a lot of benefits for the skin. Boryeong is a two-hour ride south of Seoul and the event takes half of the day, from 10 am to 4 PM not counting the rides to and from Boryeong.

From the years prior, we were told that the bus ride home would take more than the usual two hours, since the majority of the attendees also leave during that time so traffic gets very congested. So, the attendees were looking at spending their whole Friday at the mud festival.

In contrast to our personal event on Friday, the Hanyang Cruise Party - or as we called it, the booze cruise, starts at 6 PM with unlimited free drinks for an hour and the cruise party lasts until 11 PM where it continues at the renowned Octagon Club until 5 AM with a complimentary free drink. People did want to attend both the Boryeong Mud Festival and the booze cruise, but from previous years' stories, they would be arriving back in their dorms at around 6-7 PM, where they have to shower and get ready, and then take another hour subway ride to Gangnam, where the ship was docked. They were not going to make it to the actual booze cruise, so people wanting to attend the booze cruise more than Boryeong Mud Festival dropped out from the latter: mostly Minki-hyung (민기형) and Matt. Thai, Joyce, Bonnie, and Anthony decided to opt out from the cruise and go with KU ISC to Boryeong instead; while Bonnie and Anthony headed straight to Jeonju for the weekend after the mud festival was over. Meanwhile, the rest of us stayed indoors until 6 PM for Hanyang's cruise party.

Darren (Minho/민호), Peter, Angela, and Cindy invited me to go out earlier in the day to eat before heading to the cruise ship together - they decided to try Cry Cheese Burger, a reminiscent of California's In-N-Out; and Darren, being a fellow Angeleno, was also very excited to see what Seoul's version of In-N-Out would taste like. Meanwhile, the rest of my friends were planning to leave closer to 6 PM.

The five of us going to Cry Cheese Burger left at 3 PM and headed to Gangnam under a 101-degree weather. I wanted to dress nicely, in a suit and everything, but the moment I stepped out of my dorm room, I started to become drenched in sweat - so I opted out for a nice dark blue short-sleeved buttoned shirt instead, which ended up looking similar to Peter's long-sleeved one.

Side Note: I constantly asked him why he still wore a long sleeve under that heat.

After wandering lost around Gangnam and collecting enough puddle on our foreheads from the humidity, we finally found Cry Cheese Burger. We all ordered the cheeseburger meal set, but I ordered an extra chocolate milkshake - which completed the usual In-N-Out meal I usually get when I was back in Los Angeles.

We received our meals and both Darren and I took the first bites to start our criticisms and comparisons with LA's pride that is In-N-Out.

It was surprisingly good - the cheeseburger was very similar to the ones back home, although the fries were a little disappointing. I could not be generous enough with my compliments with the chocolate milkshake just because I was sipping on it after being soaked by the 100-degree-Asian-summer sun. The meal set also got a big thumbs up from the other Angeleno.

The five of us took the subway to Apgujeong Station, where we had to walk another 10 minutes to reach the ship. The pathway leading to the ship had big signs pointing to the direction saying "Cruise 378: Hanyang x GSM Cruise Party"; it was hard to miss it.

We checked in and the girls gave us four vouchers for free drinks in the ship, and a complimentary sandwich and a bottled ice water.

The ship had four areas: the basement (where the finger foods were), the first floor (the main dance floor), the second floor (the bar), and the deck (where the other dance floor and performances were). Darren, Peter, Angela, Cindy, and I headed straight to the bar when we entered to see which drinks they were offering. They only offered four cocktails for the unlimited free drinks: rum and come, cranberry vodka, screwdriver, and tequila sunrise.

Since we had more than enough people, we each got a different drink so we could all try it. I am an avid fan of screwdriver - my first legal drink was the same cocktail in The Venetian in Las Vegas. Even with how much I liked screwdriver, the one they concocted for me in the cruise did not taste well. We also did not like Peter's rum and coke (yikes, that was the worst one), and Angela and Cindy's cranberry vodka was not the best one we've had either. I went back to the bar to try tequila sunrise and all five of us ended up enjoying it.

We found a table in the basement where we left our drinks and both Darren and I went back and forth from the basement to the second floor getting tequila sunrise until we filled up the table with drinks.

When we were lining up for another round, we came across my other friends who were also in the same line as us: Valentino, Cara, Wendelyn, Florence, Matt, Minki-hyung (민기형), Leonard, Erin and Jordan. Darren and I suggested which drinks for them to try and we walked them to our table in the basement where we finished the cocktails within half an hour.

It was still bright outside, so both dance floors on the first floor and the upper deck were empty while the party-goers were drinking as much free drinks as they could to feel that slight buzz enough for them to start dancing.

When night fell, the strobe lights and disco balls illuminated the dance floor and the crowd started gathering around the people dancing in the middle.

The ship did not move though - I expected it to cruise along the Han river. Cara said in cruise parties like these, the ships don't move to prevent adding motion sickness to the amount of people already vomiting from the alcohol.

Free drinks continued past 7 PM until the night at the ship ended. So, we were going and forth asking for tequila sunrise every ten minutes or so.

There was an itinerary to the event - a pair of Colombian dancers performed a traditional South American dance, followed by a hip-hop performance, and a raffle draw for scholarship money, bottles of champagne, and a table reservation at the Octagon from Hanyang University.

Per usual, none of us won.

The DJ played music that catered to the international population throughout the night, which had both pros and cons.

Pros - we were having fun screaming out parts of the songs while the fourteen of us huddled shoulder-to-shoulder in a circle in the middle of dance floor. We're a noraebang (노래방) group of friends, we love to yell out songs.

Cons - we were in South Korea dancing to Western songs. We had hoped they would play some songs in Korean, but we were out of luck that night.

At 11, we were asked to leave the cruise and head to the Octagon. The group who had the table reserved next to our photo (see above) left without opening their champagne bottles, so Cara and Wendelyn both grabbed each of the unopened champagne bottles and ran out of the cruise.

Five-finger discount, that's how Cara described it as.

We sat overlooking the cruise while taking turns chugging champagne from the bottle.

We debated how to get to the Octagon - some of us wanted to walk, while some wanted to take a taxi. We decided to split up instead, and Minki-hyung (민기형) lead the group planning to take the taxi to the closest big intersection and everybody followed him. We ended up being near the bus stop that had a stop next to the Octagon, so we all agreed to be rowdy in the bus instead.

On the way, we passed by a hotel where Se7en was staying in. There were lines of fans waiting outside until he came out waving at them in his car. He looked and waved directly at me until he closed down the windows, which impressed Peter because of how nice his vibe was.

After coming across Se7en, we took the bus and embarrassed Minki-hyung (민기형) with how stereotypically-loud we foreigners were becoming before being dropped off at the Octagon.

The infamous Octagon - I have heard so much about it within the local Korean community: from rejecting people who don't fit their rich and beautiful image to become very unwelcoming to foreigners. I have constantly avoided attending Octagon during my stay here in Seoul, or any clubs in Gangnam for that matter.

Octagon was huge - had multiple levels and two main clubs (EDM and hiphop). We were only given a voucher for one complimentary drink, which included a shot of tequila, a bottled water, a bottle of Jack Daniel's, etc.

I met up with Lina and her Puerto Rican friend, Maite, in the EDM dance floor. Everybody was in the hiphop area, while Darren, Peter, Angela, Cindy, and I stayed in the EDM area.

I did not enjoy Octagon at all. It got very crowded later in the night, too crowded that I could not even move to sway back and forth in the hiphop area or jump to the best in the EDM floor (plus, I just was not feeling both areas anyway).

So, I found myself going out of the club a lot - to catch some fresh air or to just get away from the crowd that was rubbing their sweaty bodies against mine.

I asked Peter and Lina to come to the nearest CU convenience store with me and everybody wanted to join in. I notified the group chat of our whereabouts just in case they look for us inside the club, and they all wanted to leave the club to eat at the CU with us.

We had ice cream, chips, ramen, kimbap, and soju together outside CU.

We shared stories and my friends finally got to know Darren, Peter, Angela, and Cindy in a quiet environment, outside the loud cruise and club. Maite had a heated rant about how Trump handled the Puerto Rican flood crisis when Hurricane Maria hit the country in September 2017, while the rest were taking turns sipping om Wendelyn and Lina's ramen broth.

We went back inside the club after chilling outside for an hour. Cara did Jordan a favor when he was getting thirsty and got him the expensive Octagon bottled water via the five-finger discount.

Salli joined us later in the night after Carolina and her friend were denied entry to Octagon. Since I already had a lot to drink in the night, I handed Salli my extra free alcohol voucher after winning it at the spinning wheel just after we entered the club earlier in the night.

In the hiphop room, there were two people, on the table next to the floor the 17 of us were dancing on, who have been heavily making out the entire night. They had an entire bucket of glow sticks and bracelets and we were slowly taking some one-by-one, and they never noticed with how occupied they were with each other.

Later in the night, the girl was performing oral sex with the guy out in the open, with all of is dancing next to them.

Without surprise, they were our topic of discussion for the rest of the night.

We had been sweating all night, which sobered us up very quickly; so Lina took initiative to take unopened alcohol from empty tables and made us chug them so we continue the night.

We all planned to stay until 5:30 AM when the subways start running again, but we had been drinking and dancing since 6 PM that we had to go home at 4 AM - 10 hours of partying, this was a new record for all of us. We all decided to hail for a taxi ride from Gangnam back to Anam.

Though, no taxi can stopped for us. A taxi cab would see us hailing but stop for a Korean behind us or deliberately ignore us completely. It took us about ten minutes to hail a taxi cab for one group, since nobody wanted to stop for the foreigners.

This was also an issue when Valentino was lost in Gangnam the week after at 4 AM and no taxi cab stopped for him. They usually opted for the Korean waving for their attention.

We returned back to our dorms at around 5 AM with a taxi fare of only ₩9,800.

This was definitely one of those nights we would remember during our time here in Seoul. Until then!

고마워요, Chris 「크리스」

P.S. I am currently alone on a night train to Busan for my final full weekend here in Seoul. I will be meeting with Bonnie, Thai, Peter, Salli, Davy, Deedee, and two people I haven't gotten to know yet - Peggy and Kyle.

Sophie is leaving back to Austria tomorrow morning and it had been an emotional reality check for all of us with how close this program is ending. It had been fun!

Florence talked to me about all of us separating today and it just made me realize how much I have grown so close with everybody - we even recognize each other's silhouettes and shadows. I never expected to get this comfortable with anyone during this program, let alone nine people, who are always down to do everything as ten, including myself.

It gets difficult to accommodate all of us in restaurants though, but hey! We're a really fun and rowdy group: Valentino, Matt, Sophie, Florence, Wendelyn, Joyce, Minki-hyung (민기형), Thai, and Cara; and to everybody else who would come join us every so often and make the ten of us become eleven, twelve, and sometimes even seventeen (cough, World Cup finals, cough).

We are already planning when to meet with each other when we visit the East Coast or Singapore in the future. I do plan to see both Valentino and Darren when we're all back in Los Angeles this summer.

[prettyblossoms]

Lost in Limbo Ch. 8 ( A Reddie Fic)

Summary: Richie and Eddie are struggling with their sexuality. Eddie is madly in love with his best friend. Meanwhile, Richie is trying to suppress the gay thoughts he has for the other boy. Will they be able to find the truth in each other or are they destined to crash and burn?

Pairings: Reddie, Stenbrough, Benverly.

Warnings: Angst, adult jokes, homophobic language, high school bullies, groping, kissing, making out, aged up characters, violence, and attempted sexual assault. 

                                   Chapter 8: It Ends Tonight

The gray clouds moved in closer together making the sky darken. As the wind blew harshly a loud rumble erupted, and a flash of light brightened the atmosphere in the distance It only lasted a short time before the darkness took over Quarry once again. Sprinkles of rain began trickling down wetting the rocks and turning the dirt into mud. Inadvertently, Eddie took a couple of steps back adding to the distance between himself and the imminent threat; Henry Bowers. He could feel the ragged rocks beneath the soles of his converse shoes, creating another level of discomfort. His whole body wracked uncontrollably under Henry's piercing gaze; those eyes were dark like burned coal, cruel and merciless.

Eddie wished he could walk right over and punch the look off of Henry's smug face. Anger still lingered deep inside of him from the last time they had taunted him, which caused a strain in his and Richie's friendship. Given the fact that he was all alone and Bowers had vowed to kill him, he knew he couldn't just throw himself into a fight. He had to get the fuck out of there. The amber orbs that used to glisten and shine were dull and widened causing his eyebrows to raise and his forehead to crease ever so slightly. His mouth moved, he wanted to scream bloody murder. He was in trouble, and he needed help. But no words ever managed to formulate. His airway was tightening, and his tongue felt thick in his mouth, blocking everything but muffled syllables. “Ri-Ri-tch-ie.” “Look, guys, the faggot is trying to communicate with us. Here I thought B-b-bill was the one with the stuttering problem. Or is that something you’ve picked up from your time in his bedroom ?” The dirty blonde spoke menacingly eliciting more shakes out of Eddie.

Eddie's face hardened as he clenched his jaw impossibly tight. His small hands clamped to into fists by his sides as a way to force his body to stop moving. It worked on his upper body, but his legs disobeyed him and continued to wobble together.

Shit, I'm about to die. But, I'm smarter than all of those idiots combined, right? Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! His eyes darted back and forth as he thought about finding a way out of the situation. The only reasonable thing that came to mind was a long shot, he knew. "Back off, Bowers." Eddie's said trying to sound convincing, despite the shakiness of his voice. "The rest of my friends are going to be here any minute. Seven against four is stupid, even for you." The smirk erased from Henry Bowers face, but those eyes still held the same fury. Eddie's heart was beating so loudly in his chest that he thought he was about to have a heart attack. The rain was soaking him, and his body shivered from the cold gusts of wind stinging his skin. If this didn't work, he knew he was finished. "Oh no! Did you hear that Belch, the Losers are going to come and get us!" Henry mocked as he began to move towards the smaller male. At first, he was practically sprinting, but out of nowhere, he slowed down.  He walked towards Eddie agonizingly slow, taking one step at a time while taking in Eddie's frightened expression. Like an animal taunting their prey right before pouncing on them. Eddie felt his heart fall deeply into his stomach burning when it came into contact with the acidic liquids inside. His eyes widened as wide as saucers, but his gaze remained transfixed on the male coming towards him. At that moment he knew he wasn't going to leave. Not without putting up a fight. Henry was so close now that their chests were almost touching. Eddie could smell the vodka and weed coming from the other males uneven breaths. He wanted to hurl, but he couldn't determine if the cause was the offensive odor or the fear making him nervous. Eddie peered past Henry, and he saw that Vic and Belch hadn't followed their leader. They only stared, waiting to be called on like the mindless puppets they were. Bowers had a weak spot, meaning he had a chance to get away. With as much strength as he could muster his fist plummeted into Henry's face, right into the bandage covering his injured nose. He must have caught the other male off guard again because Henry almost fell to the floor. Eddie pivoted his body and began to run through the mud, ignoring the heaviness of his feet. He could hear Bower's screams directly behind him, but he didn't dare to turn around. Instead, he ran faster as he began to go over the slippery rocks. Without warning, he felt a massive figure landing on him forcing him into the rocks below. His right wrist rolled beneath the pressure and his upper thigh collided with a particularly sharp rock, cutting him open. The pain was so intense that he bellowed out in agony. "Get the fuck off of me, you fat piece of shit!" He tried to push against the body but was forced down even further. Eddie could hear Henry Bower's slowly making his way over, the sound of his chain rattling was an indication of that. "No one is coming to help! You should have just taken the beating like a fucking man," Henry screamed wildly. "But you wouldn't know anything about being a man, would you Eddie? You're a fucking disgrace! A good for nothing faggot  !" The weight crushing Eddie came off, but before he had another chance to run away, he was grabbed harshly and shoved into Henry Bowers. A barrage of punches met Eddie's face, making sickening sounds upon impact. The adrenaline was rushing through his body so he could feel the punches, but the pain wasn't registering yet. Blood was seeping from his thigh and now his nose. Henry pushed the smaller man into the ground, securing Eddie in place by straddling his waist. Then he placed a bruisingly tight grip around the younger man’s throat, forcing it in the upright position. Eddie could feel the blood from his nose seeping into the back of his throat almost gagging him with the overwhelming taste of metallic. It rolled down his throat like a river so he had to swallow it to prevent choking. Fuck, he had to get out of there. Even having the strain on his throat, he managed to say, "They're coming, wait and see Bowers." Henry grabbed a fistful of Eddie's hair and yanked it to maneuver Eddie's face to stare into his. "I know for a fact that no one is going to help you, faggot. You wanna know why?" "They are coming. I don't give a fuck about what you have to say, Bowers!" Eddie retorted. "Are you sure you don't give a fuck, Eds? I'm sure you've fucked around with your faggoty friends. That's probably the only reason why they keep you around !" Eddie began to kick his legs, trying to get free from the older man on top of him. "Go to hell and don't fucking call me that!" Henry pulled Eddie's brown locks harder forcing a hiss to escape his lips. "So damn feisty! All of this isn't for nothing." He stared at Eddie, who was as pale as a ghost. "Oh, I get it. You've tried to, huh? But none of them wanted you . I'm right. Aren't I ?" Eddie's gaze averted away from Henry as he felt tears coming to his eyes. The thought of the kiss with Richie was still fresh in his mind, so the cruel words hit him like a bullet. Henry was so close that he noticed and moved his hand from the smaller boys hair to his chin. He knew the younger male's spirit was breaking. "You know, that is the exact reason why I found you. Your dear friend Richie helped me out." Something primal snapped in Eddie as brought up his leg and kneed Henry hard in the back. The blinding tears ran freely down his cheeks, mixing in with the rain. "SHUT THE FUCK UP! Richie would never do anything like that, ever!" Henry laughed at him in response. "If that's true, then how do I know you come here every Thursday at 4:00 PM? He told me he couldn't associate with a fag like you anymore." Eddie felt the hope drain from his body as Henry's words dawned on him. His mind began replaying the scene from yesterday. Richie dancing with him, kissing him, and then pulling away with a disappointed look on his handsome face. As he tried to get away, Eddie had reminded him about meeting at the Quarry at the usual time, which was just around the time Henry stated. 4:00 PM. His thoughts were interrupted by a crushing blow that forced his head to bounce of the ground.  Henry was above him, saying something, but all he could hear was the buzzing in his ears. The edges of the world began to close in on him going completely black. His vision cleared when he felt pairs of legs stomping on his stomach and his chest, knocking the wind out of his body. Once they seized, he felt his body being dragged upwards so that he was on his knees. The rocks scraped his skin on the way up. "Belch, Vic, go keep watch. Make sure to tell me if you see someone headed this way." The other two males didn't even bother to ask why and just did what they were told. Henry watched them walk away, and once he felt like they were far away enough, he spoke. "Tell you what, Kaspbrak. You can make all of this go away, for a price." Henry's hand moved to clasp onto his belt loosening the leather strap. Roughly, Henry shoved Eddie back into the ground causing the rocks to scratch Eddie's back. Eddie grunted in pain when he felt fingers underneath the waistband of his shorts. "I am going to take away all of your dignity, Kaspbrak. Everyone is going to see you for the faggot that you are after this." Eddie's body began to jerk, and he grabbed onto rocks that were arm's length away desperately trying to pull his way out of the other man's hold. "Hell, you'll probably like it. Kaspbrak." The asthmatic was wheezing so hard that he started to become light headed. Weakly, his hand reached out and ended up gripping onto a large rock. It fell out of its firm place in the mud and Eddie wrapped his fingers around it tightly. Without hesitation, he smacked it into Henry Bower's face using the rest of his strength. When Henry stumbled off of him, the bottom of  Eddie’s converse shoe met his nose, breaking it even further. Eddie scrambled to get away, crawling on his knees ignoring his body's cries of misery. He made it back onto his feet but fell back down; his body was so sore and heavy that his legs were unable to carry him. Sobs wracked through his entire form as more tears streaked down his cheeks. He was helpless, and there was no chance of him getting away. Those unloving hands snagged onto his hair once again pulling so firmly that some of his hair was ripped from his skelp. "You should have taken the easy way out, faggot. Now I am really going to fucking kill you !" Henry spat angrily, dragging Eddie into the Quarry's waters. Everything happened too quickly, giving Eddie no time to grasp what was about to occur. Upon making contact with the icy water, Eddie gasped. It jabbed Eddie's skin like glass, forcing him howl out in pain. Henry pushed him to lay down in the shallow end, completely submerging him in the water. He choked on a scream that threatened to come out when the water penetrated the wound on his thigh. The body on top of him weighed him down, making it impossible to come up for much-needed air. He tried to hold his breath but felt Henry grab onto his thigh to hold him down, digging his sharp fingernails into the injury. His mouth opened subconsciously to let out a yell, but the water muffled his plea. Involuntarily, he began to breathe in the liquid, burning his throat like hot lava. Everything around him began spinning, as the water started to overtake his body completely. He felt any resistance he had before come to an abrupt halt and his body went numb. Henry was about to dunk his head back down again for good measure when he heard Belch scream, "We gotta run! Someone is coming, Henry!" Henry grit his teeth together as he looked back down at the boy beneath him. "So long, faggot." He dropped the boy's face again in the water before sprinting off towards his vehicle.

It was now 5:30 PM and Beverly was laying in her bed waiting for 7:00 PM to finally roll around. Her thoughts consumed her to the point where she could hardly think about anything other than Eddie and Richie. Eddie was acting stranger than usual, exhibiting much more risky behaviors. Richie was quieter today than he had been all year, and no one even had to beep him to get to that point. He didn't try to joke around to get his way out of trouble. Instead, he avoided them all day long, which was not in Richie's character at all. Earlier that day it sounded like a good idea that she would be the one to convince Richie to go to Eddie's house. She was up for the task and knew that she could get Richie to slip some information to her, at least. The confidence she once had became dread when Richie ditched the classes he had with the other Losers. He didn't even try to cover his tracks with excuses. Worst of all, Richie didn't want to be around Eddie, which was undoubtedly a sign of the apocalypse. Richie hardly went anywhere without the other boy. Everyone noticed they were their best selves when in the presence of the other. In a way, Beverly thought they made each other better. By sparing the piece of them the other didn't possess, they became a whole person.   For Richie, he was always genuinely happy, leaving that fake facade at home for another day. Richie came up with the funniest jokes when the other man was around, and although Eddie would act like it didn't phase him, he eventually would begin shrieking with deep laughter.  Eddie's giggles must have been contagious to Richie because he would throw his head back and laugh right along with him, smiling as tears sat on the edge of their eyes. In Eddie's case, Richie made him more secure with himself. Eddie was usually very uptight about germs, getting hurt or in trouble.  The thought alone would have his nerves shot, and when he began thinking of the possible outcomes, he became inconsolable. All of that faded away when he was with Richie. He let himself live for the moment, soaking up all the carefree habits that everyone else took for granted. Beverly exhaled deeply.  She had no idea had to fix what was wrong with two of her closest friends, and it bothered her to no end. She rose out of bed and bent down to look into the container she had under her bed. She pulled open the drawer and caught sight of the large mason jar filled with light green buds mixed with small hints of browns and purple hues. She looked past it to see a bottle of scotch that was half full and a carton of cigarettes. Richie's favorite too, Marlboro Reds. Beverly's lips formed a thick line. Just sitting there doing nothing made her angsty. The fear of the unknown bothered her to no end. She needed answers, and she wanted them now. Right now. She ran out of her room and put on her black raincoat, sliding it over her red long sleeve shirt. She zipped it up with ease and grabbed her polka dotted umbrella from its place by the front door. "I have to go. I'll be Richie's house!"

As she got outside, she opened the device to shield her from the rain pouring out of the sky. This kind of weather usually made her feel uplifted and free because the water washed away the old and made way for the new, rejuvenating the earth. However, today the rain felt unforgiving and relentless. The wind blew garbage out of the dumpsters and the leafs off of the trees, leaving Derry a desolate trash-filled wasteland. Thunder roared, and then his brother flashed white in the sky, making any stray animals run and hide for cover. In a hurry to get out of the terrible weather, Beverly ran straight to Richie's house. Conveniently, it was only located a block away from her own. Once she reached the door, she twisted the knob and opened it. Richie's parents were still away at this usual time, and Richie wouldn't be able to hear the knock over his blaring music. She ran up the stairs and saw that Richie's door was not closed, so she walked right in. Richie was sprawled out on his small twin size bed, wearing only his jeans that hung low on his hips. He stared at her in utter shock before looking towards the bathroom door. "What the fuck are you doing here, Bev? I am kinda in the middle of something." Beverly's eyes were laced with curiosity, so she stomped over to the bathroom and opened the door. She was taken aback by the sight of Samantha pulling her pants back over her hips in frustration. Samantha let out a surprised yelp and attempted to shut the door, but Beverly placed her boot in the crack of the door stopping her in her tracks. Then she grabbed onto the handle and pulled the door the opposite direction so that Samantha couldn’t crush her foot. "Really Richie!?!" Beverly shouted, "We are all worried about you, so I come over to see that you're still with your supposed ex-girlfriend!? The one who talked shit about us all? You might as well have slept with Gretta Keene!" Samantha opened the door causing Beverly to lose her balance. Their faces were unbearably close now as Samantha laughed, "Oh, you came over for a turn, whore? Sorry to tell you, but he is damaged goods. You might as well crawl back to your fat ass boyfriend." Beverly slammed a fist into Samantha's face with enough force to push her back into the bathroom. The other girl lunged for Beverly, reaching out to pull her hair. But she never reached her. Richie's face flushed red with embarrassment and fury. He shot out of bed and stepped in front of Beverly. He grabbed onto Samantha's wrist when she tried to hit Beverly again. He had never wanted to slap a woman before, but he was so close he could almost feel it. "Fuck you! Get out of my house, now. Before I let her show you the way out." Beverly's body shook from the violent fit of rage. Samantha glared at him before pulling her arm out of his grip. She was so unfazed by Richie's threat that she stopped to look at the watch on her wrist then smirked. "It's my time to leave anyway. Richie, I hope you can at least get it up for Beverly. She looks like she is going through dick withdraws." Beverly was confused, but she turned her head towards Richie. The look of humiliation took over his features, and he averted his eyes to the floor in shame. Beverly growled as she slung her body over Richie's and slugged Samantha once more on the back of the head, "Leave before I break your fucking face, bitch!" The other girl clutched her head in pain and ran out of the room, not stopping until she was safely outside. "That's right," Beverly screamed, "You better fucking run! Run for your damn life!" Richie ran a hand through his hair and sat next to the window seal. He looked over to Beverly, who was staring daggers at him. "Before you start, can I please have a cigarette?" The brokenness in his voice caught Beverly off guard. "You have to tell me everything that's going on. Do that, and they are all yours." Richie only nodded, and she threw her pack of cigarettes at him. With a trembling hand, Richie grabbed one and lighted it immediately. He drew it up to his lips and took a long drag; the nicotine went through his lungs calming him down instantly. "You heard what was wrong, Bev. She was so repulsive I couldn't get my dick up. Are you happy now?" "I could care less about that, Richie! I need to know why you wouldn't eat lunch with us today and what about what happened between you and Eddie? There is something wrong with both of you! How can you expect us to help you if you don't let us?" Richie flinched when the other boy's name was mentioned, and Beverly's words penetrated his heart like knives. 'How do you expect us to help you if you don't let us?' It was too similar to what he had told Eddie, but now the shoe was on the other foot. Fuck. Eddie was right. He was a hypocrite. Most of all, he was an absolute fool. He placed his hand over his eyes as memories of the day before came rushing back to him. The fear he felt looking for the younger male and the relief when he found him. The way they danced around the room causing Eddie to smile through teary eyes. The kiss that not only set his body on fire but also ignited the fiery passion he had for Eddie all along. Richie fucked it all up like he did everything else. To add insult to injury, he ran off before he could be held accountable for his actions. Even going as far to ensure Eddie he would meet him today, but then went and tried to fuck Samantha instead. Karma was a bitch though that always managed to get her revenge. All he could think about when he was with her was Eddie’s crying face and the hurt in his voice. It was a boner killer. Beverly stared at Richie. Tears unwillingly filled his eyes as the thoughts of Eddie overpowered him. His mouth opened and he tried to speak, but nothing but whines of agony came out. Before he could say anything, Beverly grabbed his cigarette and threw it out the window. With that hazard out of the way, she enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug. Richie bit down into his bottom lip in an attempt to keep his emotions at bay; he didn't want to break down. Not now. "Richie, you're strong all the time. Please, let someone else be strong for you for a change. You can tell me anything. I'll never judge you." Hearing the amount of love and truthfulness in Beverly's voice obliterated all of his walls, and he shattered. He wept into the crook of Beverly's neck uncontrollably. He cried for all the mistakes he had made in the past couple of days and even sobbed for things that had happened past that. He hadn't been this emotional in a long time, but his body welcomed the change as more tears fell onto his freckled cheeks. He had needed this. For a long time, he had needed to release his pent-up frustration. Beverly was surprised by the intensity of Richie's cries. The amount of his sorrow caused tears to well up in her eyes too. She reached out to caress his hair, knowing all too well that it always seemed to soothe him. She could feel him calm down as he placed his arms around her waist, giving her a gentle hug. "I ruined everything, Bev. I single-handedly fucked up the friendship between Eddie and I.” Richie confessed as he wiped the evidence of him crying off of his face. “Richie, that’s ridiculous. Eddie absolutely adores you. Nothing you could do would ever change that.” The males brow tightened in apparent frustration. The one time he was releasing his emotions, and Beverly told him they weren’t valid. “Oh really? So his feelings haven’t changed even though I kissed him?” Beverly couldn’t help the smile spread onto her face, and Richie could only raise his eyebrow in question. “How is that not good news? You finally made a move on him, Richie!” “What the fuck are you talking about? Did Samantha rearrange your brain or something? He isn’t gay, and neither am I! So there weren't any moves made. I was stupid. I reached out and kissed him without thinking.” The smile on Beverly’s face was erased and her brows furrowed in confusion. “You really are blind, aren’t you Tozier?” Richie almost took offense to that before the redhead spoke again, “Were you looking at his eyes or his smile when you kissed him?” Richie blushed wildly as his heart began pumping rapidly in his chest. He knew the answer to that question, but why the fuck did he? “Both.” He answered shakily. “Since it was so ‘stupid’ it apparently meant nothing, right?” “No! I would never say that.” Richie retorted quickly. Too quickly. Beverly grinned at him like a Cheshire cat and pressed her luck even further, “How would you feel if Eddie suddenly started dating someone? Perhaps a handsome man?” Richie had never thought about Eddie finding someone. Not because Eddie wasn’t attractive or desirable, because fuck, he was so damn beautiful. He just hadn’t thought about it because Eddie’s uncomfortable around most people. But, he forced himself to entertain Beverly’s idea. Based off of his own experience in dating, Richie knew that there were many things you had to do. The most basic one was kissing. He had kissed Eddie only yesterday and could still feel sparks on his lips. Just the thought of someone else causing Eddie to feel that way made his stomach boil like a cauldron filled with jealousy and anger. The next thing most couples did was make out, which he had done many times with women. They would moan and writhe in a haze of pleasure beneath him as his hands roamed their bodies and touched their-. His body stiffened. Fuck, he couldn’t even think of someone else touching Eddie that way. How the hell could anyone be deserving enough for Eddie to lower his guard like that?  It felt fucking dirty and wrong just thinking about it. But his thoughts continued, now going into overdrive. He had thought about Eddie’s body before. The way his shorts fit hugged his body, more specifically, his hips and his ass. He remembered the muscles in Eddie’s back that became prominent when he would take off his shirt after track practice. Reality hit him like a ton of bricks.

What if other people looked at Eddie the way I do? Richie was snapped out of his thoughts when a pair of hands waved in front of him. “Woah! You’re practically steaming with envy. Please, don’t have a brain aneurysm over there Rich!” “So what if I am a little envious. That doesn’t change anything.” Beverly’s tone became more serious, “What if he dated someone and they broke his heart, how would you feel then?” Richie didn’t have to think before saying, “I would beat the shit out of anyone who dared to look at him the wrong way. So, I'd probably go to jail for attempted murder if someone hurt Eddie like that. Now, what exactly is your point?” He shook his hands up in the air, “Yeah, I care about Eddie but, that doesn’t mean we would ever be together. I’m not even gay.” “You don’t have to be gay to be in love with Eddie, Richie. There is such a thing as being open to love, despite a person's gender. You could be a bi-sexual.” Beverly relayed back to the curly-headed man. Fuck. That is so true. “Okay, Molly Ringwald . Who died and made you Cupid?” He tried to change the subject. Beverly flipped him off, “I’ve always been an expert on love. I’d like to know what you have done with the real Richie? The Richie I know wouldn’t be ashamed to admit his real feelings. Especially for Eddie Kaspbrak.” Richie scowled at her and started smoking another cigarette. “Fine. I like Eddie. More than a friend . Now, are you happy?” “Yes!” Beverly exclaimed as she pulled Richie in for another embrace. “You have to tell him how you feel!” Richie forgot to breathe while smoking and he choked, “ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?” “Fine. Let's make a deal. We won’t tell him until you are ready.” “ We ?” Richie interjected. “There is no we, toots. You have a man. I am the one who needs to worry about this. You hear?” “Well, now that I know I might accidentally let something slip.” “You wouldn’t dare!” Richie reached over and tickled her hip, causing an eruption of laughter from her. She smacked his hand away as she ran out of his room and down the stairs. “I just might!” She reached the front door, but Richie was on her in an instant. Playfully, he picked her up and began shaking her. After a couple of minutes, he stopped and held her steady so she wouldn’t fall from the dizziness. “If you come with me to Eddie’s house and at least rekindle the friendship, I will take your secret to my deathbed. Scouts honor !” Richie smirked at her as he grabbed his key from the table. “First off, you were never a fucking scout! So there is absolutely no honor in what you just said. Fuck, this was your plan all along, huh?” He watched as she shook her head in agreeance, “You’re a fucking sneak, Beverly.” "Shut up and drive to your boyfriend's house," Beverly teased.

[dual1pa]

Can you do a birthday imagine for Niall? When he's turning 24yrs in Tokyo and a little bit smut😏

girl yessssss! Enjoy! 

Birthday Surprise

Niall was turning 24 tomorrow and you were so excited that you were with him on tour. You decided to do the first half of the tour with him because you wanted to explore the part of the world that you’ve never been to. You decided not to do the American leg because you had to return to work someday. You considered yourself lucky that you got this much time off considering you were a writer. Instead of 2 pieces a week, it was only 1. The workload wasnt much anyway so you were okay with it. Niall was more than estatic when you told him you could tour with him for a while. You were going to miss him when you have to go back home in London but you’ll take everything you can get. You were more than grateful that you get to spend his birthday with him. You definitely had an idea on how you were going to wake him up in the morning. 

Tonight, Niall was gonna take out you and all his other friends out to a resturant in Tokyo. That is the next stop on his tour. Tokyo is such a beautiful city and you were glad that you were able to see it. Hand in hand, you and Niall walked the streets going into different shops and just enjoying your time together. Luckily, no one recognized Niall, he did get some looks but no one came up to you two asking for photos or autographs, which was nice. It was nice to not have to stop every 5 minutes to take a picture with someone, Niall enjoyed it and would do anything for his fans, but it was also nice to just be tourists in a city. 

The resturant Niall chose was a good one, the food was absoutely delicious. At the end of the night, Niall asked a waiter to take a group picture of everyone. Niall put his arm around your shoulders and pulled you in close. You could see through the corner of your eye that he had the biggest smile on his face. 

After the picture was taken, Niall leaned in and whispered in your ear. 

“Babe, let’s go dancing tonight. Wanna spend my birthday with just you now.” he gently kissed you. 

“Sounds fun! Are you talking about like a club? or?” you asked. 

“Yea, want to go to a club tonight. Havent been to one in a while so I think it would be fun  especially in a different country.” 

“Sounds like a plan. I’m glad I packed a few cute dresses.” 

After saying your goodbyes, everyone went their seperate ways. Grabbing Niall’s arm, he walked you to the car opening the door to let you in first. Once back at the hotel, you quickly changed into a little black dress (x). You walked out of the bathroom to find Niall sitting at the table scrolling through his phone. 

He looked up as he heard you walk into the room. 

“Damn, I have a smokin’ hot girlfriend.” he got up from his seat and walked over  to you. 

You giggled and pressed your lips to his. You looked him up and down. He was going to wear the same thing he wore to dinner, but he looked sexy as hell no matter what he wore. 

“I have a smokin’ hot boyfriend!” 

He kissed you again, this time it was more passionate. His hands traveled from your waist to grab your bum. He shoved the dress up so he was grabbing your bare butt now. You interrupted the kiss.

“Alright there, why don’t get get going yeah?” 

“Oh come on, let’s do a quickie and then go?” he was half joking. 

“Nooooo, later.” you winked. You grabbed his hand and locked the hotel door bedind you. Niall found out by one of his friends that live in Tokyo where the hottest club was. Luckily for you, it was a short walk away. 

The club was booming music, there were bodies everywhere, the strobe lights were blasting which you got disoriented for a while but then you got used to it, sort of. There were 2 floors. The 2nd floor was in a circle with tables and couches and the 1st floor had a big bar and a big dance floor.  

Before you entered the dance floor, Niall ordered some shots. Niall didnt have a gig the next day so he didnt have to be anywhere. The two of you took 3 shots of vodka each. Niall dig into his wallet to place 40 dollars on the counter and grabbed your hand and pulled you down the stairs and onto the dance floor. A dance remix to “Look What You Made Me Do” by Taylor Swift was blaring through the speakers. The DJ was bumping to the music. He had sunglasses on, you werent really sure why. It was probably because of the strobe lights almost blinding you. Niall twirled you with his hand and pulled you into him. You grabbed onto his shoulders and started swaying to the music. He grabbed onto your waist bringing you closer. Your chests were touching. The amount of people on the dance floor made you get hot fast. You lightly brush your hand over his crotch biting down on his lip and gently pulling. You decided to turn around so your back was to his front, grinding your ass into his crotch. You could feel himself getting harder and harder by the minute. You could tell Niall was getting agitated by the feeling. 

“Wanna get outta here?” you whisper. 

He grabbed your hand making sure he didnt lose you in the giant crowd. You still felt dizzy from the shots you took. Niall seemed just fine. Maybe the alcohol didnt effect him. Whenever you would go out, he would take more than 3 shots. 4-5 shots you would be drunk, with Niall his limit is like 6 but you dont even dare. You were sort of glad that the two of you didnt drink a lot. You still were feeling dizzy so you got a buzz which was nice once in a while, but not all the time. Even Niall could tell you were a tad drunk. He always told you he was there just in case you needed assistance walking if you were too dizzy he would always carry you. 

You finally made it back to the hotel and into your hotel room. Niall walked into the bedroom while you walked into the bathroom. Lucky for you, the dress just came right off there was no zipper in the back. You put on a more comfortable pair of underwear and a simple sports bra. You walked out of the room to see Niall already in his underwear waiting for your arrival. 

“Well, you look comfortable.” you crawl into bed with him wrapping your arm around his torso. 

“I am now.” he said. 

“You still have that hard on I gave you a while ago?” you smrked. 

“It’s a good thing you asked, because..” he took your hand and slid it down to the top of his boxers, you could feel his legnth growing harder and harder. You found your way into his boxers and started to jerk him off. He hissed at the sensation that just came over him. He grabbed your hand and motioned you to pump faster and faster meanwhile you shoved your panties down your legs using only your only free hand and shoved yourself on top of him, lining yourself up to your enterance and sitting on him. As soon as you were used to his legnth you started to bounce. You could hear the sound of your skin slapping against each other going faster and faster. He grasped your hips telling you not to bounce anymore, it was his turn to thrust up into you. He was going faster than you were, which caused you to moan out his hand and grab onto his shoulder leaning down to kiss him, 

“Fuck, Ni. I’m gonna come, god you’re so good at this Holy F-uck!” he flipped you over so he was on top and started to thrust faster and faster chasing your high. 

“Fuck, babe. You’re so tight. I’m gonna come soon, but I need you to come first.” he snaked his hand to your front and rubbed hard circles around your senstitive nub. Your mouth was in shape of an O and you closed your eyes when your orgasm shot through your body and Niall coming soon after, filling you with himself. He collapses onto you and almost falls asleep. He turns over and faces you, still out of breath. 

“Best birthday eve ever.” 

Soon enough, you both fell asleep in each others arms. 

You wanted to wake up before Niall was so you could surprise him with a birthday blowjob. You opened your eyes to see it was a beautiful day because it was your beautiful boyfriends birthday. Quietly, you rolled over to face Niall. He was laying on his stomach which gave you easy access. You ghosted your hand onto his boxers to find that he had some morning wood which made it easier for you. You slid his boxers down to his ankles and went in between his legs. You were susprised he wasnt awake by now, he was usually a light sleeper.  You grabbed his member in your hand and licked a strip up from his shaft before taking him fully inside your mouth. That woke him up. You felt his hands grab and handful of your hair as you continue to bob up and down on his legnth. You heard him moaning out and then his dick twitched, you could feel it on your tongue. You took him deeper until he hit the back of your mouth, causing you to gag. You sat up and came up from underneath the covers, you had a little bit of drool on your chin from all the spit. You quickly wiped it off on the t-shirt you were wearing. 

“Good morning, birthday boy.” you said jerking him off with your hand. 

Before he could reply, you put him back in your mouth bringing him to the back of your mouth again. You also started fondling with his balls, sweezing slightly. You heard him moaning much more than before. 

“Baby, I’m conna come. You’re mouth is so warm and wet. God.” he breathed in and out again. Just as he ended his sentence, you felt a gush of warm liquid running down your throat. You loved the way he tasted. After you swallowed and finally caught your breath, you crawled back up to him and cuddled into his chest. 

“Thought I’d wake you up with a little head.” 

“I love when you give me head, babe. Especially when you surprise me like this.” 

“Happy Birthday, baby.” you give him a bunch of kisses. Then you fall back asleep because that’s what you two plan on doing all day. 

[thorne93]

First Impressions (Part 15)

Prompt: Imagine your friend, Anthony Mackie, brings you with him to an event and introduces you to his friend, Sebastian, who’s blown away by you. He immediately starts flirting and acting silly because you make him nervous and he just wants to impress you

Warnings: flirting (adult style), language (always, with me, come on), and drama (later on in the fic) angst...

Word Count: 3755

Notes: If anyone has kids or wives out of the celebrities mentioned, in this universe, they sort of don’t exist….Just for the sake of keeping it concise. Beta’d by @like-a-bag-of-potatoes (because shes perfectly amazing) and I could NOT, not, just not have done any of this at all without my amazing girl, @amarvelouswritings

So sorry this is late. I was very sick (still am, but getting better) and I was waiting on my beta ;)

Forever Tags: @amarvelouswritings @cocosierra94 @essie1876 @magpiegirl80 @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked @harleyquinnandscarletwitch @iamwarrenspeace @marvel-imagines-yes-please @superwholocked527 @myparadise1982sand @missinstantgratification @thejulesworld @rda1989 @marvelloushamilton @munlis  @bubblyanarocks3​ @thefridgeismybestie​ @random-fluffy-pink-unicorn @hardcollectionworldtrash @igiveupicantthinkofausername @kaliforniacoastalteens​

Sebastian Stan Tag: @nedthegay @lostinspace33 @alwayshave-faith @elleatrixlestrange @buenostardissherlock  @lenawiinchester​ @the-red-world-of-jess-chibi​ @memory-of-a-goldfish

Chris Evans Tag (Normally wouldn’t, but he’s featured a lot): @nedthegay​ @camigt1999​  @lostinspace33​​ @alwayshave-faith​ @elleatrixlestrange

First Impressions Tag: @goodnightwife​​ @spacemarkimoo​ @masha-meow01​ @axelinchen @smuoooshie​ @hollycornish @seargantbcky @mellsstark @lyfewithtrish @cinema212 @sophiealiice @yes-this-is-doggo @sky-weirdo @feelmyroarrrr  @scamandaaaamn

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How did it go?” Hayden asked as he came into your bedroom where you were laying on the bed, staring at the ceiling and smoking. Once he saw you, he answered his own question. “Ah, that good, eh?”

“Hay...” you started before he climbed on the bed and kissed you to quiet you and your worries.

“Why don’t you just tell him how you feel?” he asked as he took the cigarette and took a puff.

“Because I did...and it scares me,” you admitted. “I’ve never felt this way with anyone.”

“I know that,” he said, still smoking. You turned to face him.

“And I don’t want the greatest love of my life to turn into the biggest heartache…”

He sighed beside you as he turned to face you and put his arm over you. “You can’t live your life like this. Wondering if everything will turn out alright. Worried or terrified if it won’t.”

“Hay--”

He gave you a look that made you stop talking. “I know...I know you’ve been hurt by people. I know you’ve opened yourself up and they destroyed your trust and love. So I know...I know how scary this is for you.”

“So what do I do? Just take the plunge?” you asked.

“You give faith a shot,” he tried.

“And then what? What if my fear of committing and his ability to commit to everything blows up in our face?”

“I doubt it would. Think about it,” he tried. “You’re only fearful because of losing a guy, right? Clearly that’s not going to be the case with him.”

“But what if we stay around each other too long and we begin to resent everything about each other? I mean, he was with Marissa for seven months, and he couldn’t stand her for five of them. I don’t want that for us.”

“No one does. But do you want to spend the rest of your life wondering ‘what if?’ or would you rather find out for yourself?”

“Are you back to the whole ‘better to have loved and lost’ thing?” you questioned, groaning.

“I am. Because it’s true. You know it too. Even when some of the guys were major assholes, there were still good memories with some of them, right?”

You reluctantly agreed. “Well, yeah.”

“So see? It’s not all bad. I can’t tell you what to do, Y/N,” he said as he put the hair behind your ear. “I’ll tell you to follow your heart. I’ll be here for you no matter your choice.”

You smiled gently at him, grabbing his hand and lacing your fingers through it. “How did I ever deserve someone like you?”

“You’re damned pretty, that’s how,” he said before he kissed your nose. “Now, pizza or take out? We’re having a movie night, we’re curling up on the couch, and we’re taking your mind off this.”

“Take out.”

“Okay then. I’ll order it while you find a movie and get the couch setup.”

“Yes, sir,” you said as you laughed.

--------------------------

A buzz woke you up from your nice, deep slumber.

“Birthday Party for Sebastian. Next Sunday. 4:00 PM!”

Invite from Bee. Joy. You put your phone back on the nightstand and got comfortable again as Hayden wrapped his arm around you. You two had a very laid back night and you didn’t think about Sebastian for the rest of the night...well, tried not to. The Romanian prick invaded your mind more than once without permission.

You wanted to be with Sebastian, of course you did. But between hiding that he was with someone and your fear that the relationship will fall apart like all the others, you just weren’t ready to do that. To ruin the friendship. Although...you weren’t too sure that wasn’t already happening.

“We’re invited to Sebastian’s birthday party,” you said sleepily with your eyes closed.

“Mmm, guess we need to go gift shopping,” he hummed to you.

“I’m not going.”

“It’s up to you,” he said quietly.

--------------

Once you were actually up for the day, you responded to the invite.

“I’m not coming,” you sent via text. You could’ve lied and said you couldn’t make it. Said you were sick at the last second. Said you needed to take your dog to the vet, but you hated lying. There was no point to do it. The situation between you and Sebastian was already fucked all to hell anyway, lying to your mutual friend wouldn’t help anything.

It didn’t surprise you at all to get a call from her as soon as you sent it.

“Hello?”

“Hi. What do you mean you aren’t coming?” she demanded.

“I thought it was pretty self explanatory,” you sarcastically replied.

“No shit. I mean, why aren’t you coming?”

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea,” you admitted as you poured your second cup of coffee.

“It’s his fucking birthday. You’re coming,” she insisted angrily.

“Precisely my point. It’s his birthday. I’m not going to ruin it with my presence there.”

“How would you ruin it?” she wondered, annoyance in her tone.

“I think it would be awkward. I don’t think he would have a good time with me there. It would be a sore reminder that we’re...not on the best of terms.”

“So don’t come as Y/N the complicated girl. Come as Y/N his best friend,” she tried.

“Bee…”

“Please? Just come. I think he would really want you there.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Okay, you think about it, and meanwhile I’ll hunt you down and drag you to the party myself.”

You laughed. “I’d like to see you try,” you said teasingly.

“Just please come,” she said in a more serious tone.

“I will think about it,” you vowed.

“Alright, I guess that’s all I can ask.”

-------------------------

“Come on, man! Let’s do another shot,” Anthony said as he tried to call Sebastian over from the kitchen.

Sebastian nodded to his friend and waved, signaling he would be over in a second.

“Chris, do something,” Brittney said to her husband in a hushed whisper as they gazed on to the birthday boy. He looked so depressed. Anyone could clearly see that. He barely smiled all night. Barely engaging in the drinking games and mingling.

It was 6:15 PM. You were supposed to be there by now and you weren’t. You and Sebastian hadn’t seen each other the entire week because he had to go to New York for a promo and an interview and you had to do the same in LA, so filming for your project was on hold.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Cheer him up, he’s your best friend.”

“I think we both know what’s got him down and nothing I do is gonna help. Unless I grow tits,” he said before drinking his beer. Brittney hit him on his arm, playfully.

“Ugh. I hate seeing him like this, especially on his birthday. I don’t see how she couldn’t come,” she said, getting angry.

“Bee,” he chastised softly.

“I know, I know, it’s not our place,” she said, mocking her husband’s voice of righteousness. “I just….why wouldn’t she come?”

“Well, according to Seb, they still don’t know where they stand,” Chris informed, his eyes following Sebastian to the table in the giant living room where he was going to do some more shots. Some of the Marvel cast was there, along with other friends of Sebastian’s.

He was on his fifth shot, ready to get blitzed drunk from missing you.

Suddenly, someone shouted over the music, “Y/N! You’re here!”

Sebastian’s head snapped up to the front door.

“Y/N,” he breathed, seeing you, and Hayden enter. A pretty wrapped present in hand. You were breathtaking even in a simple t-shirt and black jeans and boots.

“Yeah, sorry I’m late,” you said casually as you walked in. Brittney ran up to you and grabbed the present.

“You made it,” she noted.

“Yeah.”

“Thank you,” she said with a loaded tone. You smiled and nodded. Chris escorted Hayden to get him a drink as you walked straight for Sebastian, pulling him into a tight hug.

“Happy birthday,” you said.

“Thank you,” he said sweetly as you pulled away to look at him, your hands on his biceps.

“You look great,” you complimented with a sweet smile.

“I could say the same for you,” he replied as he looked you over, the biggest smile planted on his face, making his eyes crinkle at the corners.

“Care to play vodka pong?” he asked, gesturing to the table. “Much like beer pong, but more fun.”

“Sure, but I’ll have you know I’m the champion,” you said in a challenging voice.

“Oh, is that so?” he dared, his eyebrows shooting up.

You played against Sebastian, and won by a landslide. Aside from beer pong, there were board games set up, card games, the pool was open to those who wanted to swim, as well as the volleyball court. Sebastian was a kid at heart so all of these games were just up his alley. His mood improved by 100%, but you had no idea of that. You assumed he was having a good time with or without you.

Throughout the night you played a board game or two, card game, a drinking game here or there, and mingled with friends. You found yourself outside, leaning against the fence, looking out over the twinkling city when Mackie approached you.

“Hey, haven’t seen you for a while. How’s everything been?” he asked as he joined you, putting his arms on the fence, a beer in hand.

“Same ole, same ole. I’ve been good. You?”

“Oh, I’d be better if I knew a good friend of mine wasn’t bullshitting me,” he said, smirking slightly.

You laughed and dipped your head down. “So you know, huh?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard a little, how you and birthday boy have some relationship problems. That why you were late tonight?” he wondered, looking at you.

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure I wanted to come...or sure he wanted me here or…”

“So what’s the deal with you two?”

You sighed. “Oh, that’s a long complicated story…”

“I ain’t goin’ anywhere,” he said.

You half-smiled and explained, “Well, we had chemistry. Right? Well we work together, hang out, I’m starting to really feel something for him, when suddenly, one day, on set, his girlfriend walks in. At first, no big deal, right? He’s taken. I’ll move on. But I can’t. I couldn’t. I wanted him. Everything is cool, but then he knocks out the dick producer, and Marissa lays into him. I start dating Hayden, nothing serious, just to get me ready to move on, I guess. Then one night, we’re at a party, here, and she just lays into me. I think she was jealous because she could see what was going on between us. I don’t blame her for being jealous, but I do blame her for being a bitch,” you said, a small laugh coming from you. Anthony smirked and nodded.

“So, what now?”

“Now, now we’re trying to figure out if we--I want to make this work.”

“Well why wouldn’t you?” he asked.

“It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that I’m scared to do this song and dance again, to be let down. Sure, Sebastian seems different but...he lied about his girlfriend, and flirted with me. If he acted like that with her, what will be different about me?”

“Look, I don’t know him as well as Chris does or some other people, but I know him pretty well. I’d say the way he acts around you, I’ve never see that on anyone. Not for him. He looks at you like you’re the sun and the moon, man.”

“Doesn’t change how he treated the Marissa situation. Speaking of, why didn’t you mention that when you introduced us?” you questioned.

“Didn’t come up,” he said simply. “Not my place to put it out there that he’s not available. That’s between you two.”

You sighed. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

“I’m just sayin’, birthday boy in there looked like someone killed his dog before you showed up. Since then, he can’t stop smiling. As far as Marissa...I think he was caught. He told me he was going to leave her for a while, but he wasn’t sure you were all that into him. He didn’t know if you were just flirty or serious. He was still trying to repair him and Marissa and he probably didn’t want to throw that away on a hunch or a whim. He might’ve asked himself ‘Do I leave my girlfriend, the relationship I’m trying to repair. Or do I say to hell with it and try it with this new girl?’ I’m not saying he should’ve stayed with her, god no, that woman was trouble from the time she walked into his life, but you gotta cut him some slack. He might’ve thought he would break up with Marissa before you knew about them, and he could just be with you.”

That thought stuck with you. Perhaps that was an option. Perhaps he was hoping he would leave her before it even needed to be addressed and he could just go into another relationship without all the drama of a triangle that happened anyway.

Just as you were about to reply, a familiar voice called outside. “Present time! Get your asses in here!”

You and Anthony smiled at each other as he gestured for you to lead the way.

The two of you joined everyone else as Sebastian sat at the smaller dining room table in the dining-living room portion of the house.

“Jesus, I’m so nervous with all of you standing around staring at me,” Sebastian admitted, looking at everyone. Everyone laughed in response.

“Oh, shut up, just open the presents,” Bee lovingly said.

He smiled and nodded as he went one by one through the gifts. He got a gift card to a nice tuxedo shop, gift card to Amazon, a few ties, a travel mug, and then your gift came up.

“Ah, from Y/N,” he noted as he read the card. “This better be good after all the hours you made me work for this movie so far,” he said teasingly. Hayden stroked your back lightly with his thumb knowing you were nervous about your gift. Sebastian unwrapped it and looked at it.

“What is this?” he questioned, eyeing the box. “Oh, Jesus, it’s a gadget of some kind. Why the hell would you get my technologically crippled ass a gadget?” he asked in a joking manner.

“It’s sort of a nanny cam,” you said as you rounded the table to sit next to him to show him. “You set this up and you can remotely view your apartment on your phone. I know how you said you miss Spinee when you’re away for work, this is a way you can connect to him. It even has a feature where you can speak to him so you could talk to him and comfort him.”

Sebastian looked stunned. “Wow...Y/N, that is really thoughtful. Thank you.” He leaned over and kissed your cheek, making you blush.

He lingered, looking at your face a little longer before he got back to the other presents. He got quite a few nice presents, but yours seemed the most sentimental.

Afterwards, Bee presented a beautiful cake for him, sparkling candles on top as she carefully carried it into the dark room. Chris had to start the singing for Happy Birthday because no one wanted to be the sucker who started the most awkward song in history. He blew out the candle and cake was served.

By now, it was later at night and once a few people had their cake, they were making their way home. The party was dwindling down and you were outside with Hayden, catching a smoke break. You were trying your best to be “best friend Y/N” tonight and not “love-torn Y/N” as Bee had put it, but being around him, it hurt, so you had to take a breather and Hayden was your crutch so he joined you.

“Pretty out, isn’t it?” Bee said as she crossed the patio and lawn to you two.

“Yeah, it is,” you noted softly.

As soon as she reached you, she said, “Thank you for coming to his party.”

You knew that was a way to start talking about the issues between you two so you looked to Hayden who gave a small smile, nodded, took his cigarette and walked off.

“Are you here to tell me I need to just go for it? Just be with him?” you asked as you turned around and rested your arms against the fence, leaning over.

“Yes, I am,” she concurred, walking up and mimicking your action. “It’s not such a bad idea, right? One hell of a birthday present,” she said, elbowing your arm.

A sad smile crossed your face. “Bee...I can’t...Not right now.”

“Why not? What are you so afraid of?”

“I’m afraid of ruining this…I’m afraid of destroying what we have. I don’t want us to be bitter memories to each other.”

“Why are you so certain that’s what’s going to happen?” she questioned.

For this, you had no answer. You simply shook your head. “I’m not sure. I just don’t want it to.”

“I get that. I get that you're scared but….he’s really happy when you’re around,” she said desperately.

You laughed without humor softly. “So I’ve heard.”

“Just give it a chance. What’s the worst that can happen?”

“We could break each other’s hearts,” you said simply.

She sighed. “Or you could mend each other’s!”

“Why are you pushing for this so hard?’ you questioned. “Why do you care so damned much if we’re together or not?”

“Because I saw how you were before you knew about Marissa. How happy you seemed. How alive you were around him. And the same for him. Before Marissa he had a handful of women break his heart, and I waited so long to see him happy, so then when I saw him get stuck in that shitty relationship, I was sad for him. Then you came along and I thought you would be the one to get him out of it. And I was right. You two were so happy around each other, I saw it, I watched it. Now that you’re miles apart inside, it’s tragic. I just want my two best friends to be happy. Don’t get me wrong, Hayden is an amazing guy, but you act different with him. You two seem to gravitate to each other, reclusing to the corner of the room. When I met you though, you were vibrant, vivacious, so full of life...both you and Seb were. And now, it’s like watching the life die in your eyes. It’s heartbreaking to watch.”

You never noticed it, but she was right. You used to go out and do things, run parties, host charity balls for the animals, you did all sorts of adrenaline pumping activities. Now you sat at home if you weren’t working. You assumed it was being tired from directing and the long hours but now...you realized she was right. There was a definite switch from the moment you knew Sebastian wasn’t yours.

“Just give me some time, Bee. Please. I can’t make a decision with everyone telling me to do something.”

“I understand, I’m sorry,” she apologized lightly.

“Bee!” Chris called out into the dark yard. “Some of the guests are leaving babe!”

“Be right there!” she called back. “Well, I need to go grab the doggie bags for them.” She smiled at you and walked away.

You stayed out there, letting the cool breeze hit you as you stared over the city. Maybe Bee, Hayden, Anthony and everyone was right. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be with Seb. Even if he broke your heart. Or maybe it would hurt worse than anything you ever encountered. Hayden had a point that you couldn’t live your life in fear. And usually you didn’t but after a long string of failed relationships, you didn’t want to let Sebastian or yourself down. Bee and Anthony both said you seemed to make him happy, and you knew he made you happy...so what would be the harm? Well, the harm could be that you ruin a perfectly good friendship and destroy any semblance of a relationship you have.

You weren’t sure how long you were standing there when another voice hit you.

“Want some company?”

You smiled and turned around. “Well if it isn’t the Birthday boy himself,” you said in a flirty voice.

“Yeah,” he said with a bit of a laugh.

“The big three-five, right?” you asked once he got next to you.

“Yeah, I’m over the hill now,” he joked.

“Nonsense. You’ll always be impeccably handsome,” you admitted.

“It’s a beautiful night out here. Why are you out here all alone?” he wondered. “I didn’t scare you out here, did I?”

A sad smile fell upon your lips as you put your hand on his. “Sebastian, you could never scare me away.”

To this, he grinned.

“I’m glad to hear that. Thank you so much for coming, it means a lot to me.”

“I wasn’t going to, at first,” you admitted.

“Why?”

“Didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“That could never happen, Y/N.”

“Good.”

“You must’ve known you were going to come though,” he said.

“And why is that?” you wondered.

“Because of the gift you bought. That isn’t something you just swing by a store and grab. You put thought into it, which I highly appreciate. Everyone else got me...well...I love their gifts, I appreciate all of it….but no one knows me like you do.”

You laughed it off lightly as you held onto the railing of the fence and leaned back.

“Sebastian, I just listen is all.”

“That’s my point. You’re the first woman to ever do that with me. You actually give a shit about me.”

You nodded your head side to side. “Yes, I do,” you freely admitted.

After a moment, Sebastian suddenly asked, “Have you thought about what I said?”

You nodded. “I’ve thought on it every day.”

“And?” he pressed.

“And we’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”

Sebastian’s face fell a little but he nodded. He knew you needed your space. He knew your worries about all this. “Sure. Alright.”

You leaned over to kiss his cheek. “Happy Birthday, Sebastian.”

[grimmpitchftsnow]

Prompt "Can I kiss you?" For snowbaz?

its now 1am and i haven’t proofread this, its probably also not what you really wanted but it kinda gets there, the end is rushed and i had a million ideas for this but couldn’t plot out any of them. Here we goooo under the cut!! 

also there’s underage drinking and alcohol CW for americans bc i placed the characters at around18/19 but this is the legal age in England so im not really sure what to say!!

Word count: 1340

Characters: Penny, Simon, Baz, Agatha

TW: alcohol, underage drinking for Americans 

Read on ao3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10957530 

“Can I kiss you?” Bazsmirked.

“only if I can kiss you first” Simon replied, faux smirkspreading.

“You’ll have to beat me to it” “Deal”

“Time?” Baz’s tone flatlined, a stark contrast to the laughcovered seductiveness of the prior sentence.

“2 more seconds” Simon’s mirrored Baz’s own as he mentallycalculated.

“ok

“Time”

They opened the Stairs door and exited, crouching as theywent. Being tall was hard. As they stood up they were greeted with excitedfaces, eager of any news about their 10 second stay in the cupboard. Baz wasthe first to speak, geared up and drunk.

“what?” he eyed everyone. His tone light and hiding anundertone of laughter.

“Well, how was it?” Penny really played the part.

“I don’t know what you’retalking about” a false arrogance aired from Simon as he slumped back down,avoiding eye contact.

“I need a shot” Agatha exclaimed, changing the conversationin a generally well accepted manner. The game of spin the bottle was officiallyover.

Vodka, Tequila, around 12 cans of cider, and a newly bought monopolyboard were scattered around the little room in which they sat, telling tales ofthe night in of 4 teenagers who should perhaps know a little better.

Another round of shots went down, one by one in the circleof 4. Simon first, then Baz, then Penny, then Agatha. Each one quivering andraising the tiny glass in triumph. A loud incoherent cheer followed as they wanderedback to their places from the kitchen.

They were all pretty drunk at this point, the monopoly hadlong since been forgotten, too unable to focus and count the dice, never mindproperly move the pieces and count money.

Simon slumped, his long limbs fell where they wanted and hetried his best to focus on the conversations around him.

“Who wants to play never have I ever?” Penny suggested,slightly slurring as she adjusted her skirt around.

“Bad game, but whatever” Baz perked up.

“How many fingers?” Simon slurred. Thinking hadn’t alwaysbeen his strong point.

“bit personal” Agatha snorted before rolling over.

“shut it”

“waheeyyy” Penny and Baz chorused.

“You know what I meant”

“5”

They now sat around a stained coffee table, cluttered with arainbow of shot glasses, covered in a sea of tequila. Simon sat up alert andready to play, he looked bedraggled - his hair covering his eye in a mess of semidamp curls. He looked around and surveyed the night’s events which included,but was not limited to: the Chinese take away leftovers spread around thekitchen counters, smeared makeup, an ever-growing number of cans and shotglasses, a covering of green monopoly houses as a result of a drunken misjudgementin the living room, a secondary covering of cushions around the settees, and everyone’smessy hair and slumped posture. Though messy hair didn’t apply to Baz. Messyhair was Baz. Simon did have to admit it suited him a hell of a lot.

He remembered Baz’s geeky phase when his hair wasn’t so longand allowed to do its own thing, actually quite the opposite – prim and properwould be a good way to describe it. That was back in first year. His hair was whatdrove Simon to Baz, it intrigued him a lot for some reason and he was drawn tohim.

“Never have I ever…taken food out of a bin and eaten it”Penny started.

Not a single finger was down.

“wow, glad to know I made friends with the right people” shecontinued “Agatha your turn”

“Okay, never have I ever…had a paranormal experience”

Simons first finger went down as he remembered the veil. It wasstrange, he thought, that he was the only one with dead relatives, the only onethat could anticipate a familiar face that night.

“yeah, you guys know mine, the veil last year, that’s it, itis my turn?”

“oh yeah, that was so weird, and yeah it is”

“um… never have I ever” he was bad at this “looked throughsomeone in this rooms phone”

Simon didn’t know if last summer counted. He decided it didn’t.As he looked around, everyone else had a finger down, he eyed them allsuspiciously as a joke. Penny and Agatha started false arguing about what wasright or wrong to do and trying to get the other to crack, meanwhile Baz juststared humorously at Simon.

“Never have I ever injured myself trying to impress theperson I like” Baz continued coolly.

Surprisingly, Baz himself put a finger down without drawingattention to it, strange. Simon, again didn’t know what counted. There was thattime he pulled a muscle trying to run for Baz, and that time he thought itwould be a good idea to climb the old tree on campus. Though he wasn’t sure ifliked Baz, maybe he did, he didn’t have to explain himself. The finger wentdown. Baz looked at him with a puzzled expression. Or maybe it was a smirk.Goddamnit.

The game continued for the rest of the night, it was slowmoving but Agatha ended up losing because she stole a traffic cone one time. Itcame as a surprise to Simon, he thought it would have been Baz. When the game finishedthey assumed their original positions and began talking about life, Watford,the Mage, how unprepared for adult life they were. It was true, none of themhad concrete plans of what they wanted to do after summer. After the conversationdied down Simon checked his watch under the lamp, the face read around 3:34amwhen he stopped seeing double. Agatha and Penny were now yawning excessivelyand making their way upstairs to Penny’s bedroom where they would share thedouble bed. Simon and Baz were to share the living room and blankets.

“You know you snore, right?” Baz started.

“so you’ve told me”

“Well it’s true”

“You’re drunk”

Simon carried on, changing into his pyjamas of choice. They werecheckered navy and red with a plain navy top that had a pocket on the leftbreast. A present from Penny last year. As he changed Baz turned to him, therewas no way he was going to get those jeans off tonight. Simon moved his stuffinto a neat pile the best he could, fighting off sleep from the alcohol, andplaced it in a dry corner, picking up the blankets on his way back.

“Snow” Baz spoke rather quietly, almost hesitant.

“yeah”

“I’m drunk”

Simon chuckled, he never saw Baz drunk, he wasn’t toosocial. It was odd, he looked so open and soft, as though he had actualfeelings.

“I know you are” he replied, slightly unsure about how he wasmeant to go about these things, all he could think about was how gentle Bazlooked half asleep.

“I don’t like being drunk, it makes me open” Baz wasretracting into himself a little, but at the same time edging forward, closerto Simon.

“What does that mean?”

Simon now tried to keep himself busy to avoid eye contact. Hedidn’t know if he liked where this was going. Or if he even knew where it wasgoing.

“It means I like you Simon”

Simon stopped. Baz stared hopefully, scared, sober butdrunk. Simon turned around and looked at Baz, his dark eyes were uncertain andregretful.

“Um” came his reply as he halted.

“Crap”

“No no no, don’t take it like that, in fact- ““in fact what?” Baz slurred.

“I think I might like you too, I don’t know, I”

They were both drunk. Simon knew it. But drunkenness wasonly a pathway to bravery. And confidence. Before he knew it, he was sat nextto Baz on the sofa, his heart beating a million miles an hour he was certain itwas audible. Seconds felt like years. And there was never going to be enough ofthem.

“Can I kiss you?”

“Only if I can kiss you first”

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/agents-shield-season-four-episode-21-return-aida-explained/

Agents of SHIELD Season Four Episode 21: The Return and Aida explained

Agents of SHIELD naysayers who quit in Season 1 had better get their act together and order their DVDs, or stream where they can because they have really missed out. The latest episode of Season 4, The Return is probably the most awesome and emotional since the final episode of Season 2. This recap I’ll do here probably won’t do it justice which works out quite well. You can get to know what’s happened but you need to experience it for yourself as much as AIDA has now. Requisite SPOILER alert here but the point of articles like this is to inform you of what’s happened, how we think about it and get you excited enough to watch it yourself. So join AIDA and Team SHIELD in an action-packed, emotional roller-coaster ride. Last we saw of the team, they all woke up from the Framework. As expected, Fitz is filled with guilt over what he’s done while Coulson and May wake up feeling disoriented. While that’s happening, AIDA wakes up in her new body and snatches Fitz away by teleporting before anyone can shoot. Speaking of shooting, the Zephyr is under attack from Anton’s attack plane. The episode starts with Anton standing in a corridor reading the Darkhold while talking to someone. He hears the commotion in the other room and decides to go there but strangely says that he’s tired of talking to himself. Clearly, he wasn’t talking to his head on the table in some other part of the oil rig. He witnesses AIDA teleport Fitz. Coulson is frustrated while he and May deal with what amounts to time compression of living two lives. They remember their lives in the framework from the points of their respective regrets. Anton makes his presence known and attacks them. He overpowers them, but Coulson manages to chip Anton’s face off with the force shield in his artificial hand. Up in the sky, the Zephyr remains under attack until the crew manages to bring back the plane’s power and weapons systems with Elena’s help. It’s a situation that reminds me when Captain America was trying to keep the helicarrier up in the air in Avengers. They easily deal with the enemy plane when they get their power back. Back at the rig, Coulson is putting May up to speed with current events. May’s disappointed that he couldn’t tell the difference between her and the LMD.  It’s also a bit hard to believe that May wasn’t with us even before they dealt with Eli Morrow. They make it their mission to keep Mack safe while he’s plugged in. Meanwhile, AIDA, or rather Ophelia and Fitz are in a secluded beach where Ophelia is relishing what it’s like to be real. Like the others, Fitz is dealing with time compression but guilt as well. Ophelia continues to blame Radcliffe for all of her acts in the Framework, that everything she did was due to her following her programming. We also find out that Fitz first met Ophelia during his academy days. Since the moment Ophelia woke up as a human being, Mallory Jensen has done an incredible job with the character. Ophelia later professes her love to Fitz before they teleport from the beach. Speaking of love, Elena is arguing with Daisy why they left Mack in the Framework. Daisy is forced to tell Elena about Hope. Elena tries to jack-in to the framework, but Daisy convinces her not to go because it’s too dangerous and because they need to keep Mack’s body safe. At the oil rig, May and Coulson try to figure out a plan to fight more LMDs. May tells Coulson her guilt about her part in the death of Jeffrey Mace. Phil is still struggling to reconcile his feelings on what happened between him and LMD May now that he’s facing the real one. At the Zephyr, we find out the reason they can’t land the plane to refuel. Since their escape from SHIELD headquarters, Talbot has been on the hunt for the plane and whoever’s inside. Mace’s body was discovered on a beach after AIDA presumably disposed of it but not before Anton mutilated the corpse. Talbot is also assuming Daisy’s involvement in what happened at SHIELD HQ. Meanwhile, Fitz and Ophelia end up in a house similar to where they stayed in the Framework. Aside from the feelings Ophelia is feeling, Fitz asks her about empathy or caring for others. Ophelia says that her ruthlessness in the framework was part of her programing to make Fitz happy and that her adjustments there was to make everyone else inside happy. They lost me however with the Russian since he hasn’t really jacked into the Framework. AIDA also made efforts to make him happy. Fitz realizes that his friends were in danger and convinces AIDA to help. But to help means running into danger and Ophelia is afraid to die. The Superior has, at last, become an interesting character. Back at the rig, it turns out there was more than one copy of himself and those copies faced off with Coulson and May. The other copies went out and shot at the rig with torpedoes forcing May and Coulson to leave Mack as the rig gets flooded. This time, Anton seems more menacing and more dangerous and has grown comfortable in his current situation. Ophelia appears to a copy in the rig to tell him to cease the attack. Anton is free to do what he wishes and tells Ophelia the irony of feeling regret, fear and suffering. Ophelia goes back to Fitz and takes him. Daisy and the rest arrive at the rig to retrieve Coulson and May. Elena, however, insists on getting Mack out of the collapsing rig but Ophelia, Fitz and Mack appear inside the Zephyr. Jemma and Agent Piper ices Fitz and Ophelia. The team returns to the devastated SHIELD base to refuel the Zephyr as well as to temporarily keep Fitz and Ophelia contained. The base is practically done for. The team meanwhile decides what to do with Ophelia especially after she helped save Mack. They also discuss Fitz on what life he’ll choose after waking up. Jemma is afraid that Fitz still loves Ophelia. The gravity of the situation kicks in to Jemma when Coulson and May says that they now have two lives they remember; both can be considered real. There could be more to this when season 5 kicks in as well. Fitz and Ophelia talk in the containment cell while Jemma listens into their discussions. In a scene, Ophelia wonders if she’ll be forgiven as Fitz continues to struggle with his inner identity. Fitz realizes his similarity to Grant Ward being raised by an overbearing father figure. Ophelia continues to set herself up with Fitz and comfort him as Fitz has lost hope rekindling his relationship with Jemma. When Fitz said he'd lost hope, Ophelia takes the opportunity to build herself up to Fitz until Fitz says that he still loves Jemma. Jemma is relieved upon hearing that. But Ophelia’s behavior suddenly changes. She begins to sound like Madame Hydra again and gets mad with disappointment and heartbreak. Emotions she cannot yet control. It’s pretty hard to describe, and you’ll feel sad for her Fitzsimmons fans will feel relieved at the same time. Like a child, she thinks her devotion to Fitz is a two-way street and tries to force Fitz to like her. Simmons goes to get Fitz out of the room, but Talbot and his team suddenly arrive assuming everyone is an LMD, and assuming Daisy quaked Mace’s bones apart. Ophelia gets enraged that she couldn’t teleport out of the room. Agent Davis manages to get Fitz out of the room, but Ophelia exhibits another power aside from teleportation, Lincoln’s electrical power. She shorts out the room and proceeds to create havoc in the base. Fitz warns everyone that Ophelia is unstoppable as she now has the powers of every Inhuman they captured in the Framework. Coulson explains everything to Talbot, but he gets news that their opponent is everywhere and Talbot assumes that it’s Yoyo. Ophelia finds Fitz and kills his escort, but Agent Piper manages to shoot her repeatedly. Davis empties his clip into Ophelia, but she heals herself. The Zephyr launches and Talbot breaks the standoff and falls back to the base. At the Zephyr, Fitz continues to deal with his guilt unable to look at Jemma. This is perhaps the most emotional, heartfelt moment in the series since the Season 2 finale with Calvin, Daisy and Jia Ying. Maybe even more so. And if they can pull off such an effect, they have the chops to make it into the cinematic universe like fans have always wanted. Just a small part, cameo or mention Mr. Feige. You have the power to make many people happy and to truly connect the universe you created. I won’t spoil this moment for you guys. Watch it. During the standoff with Talbot, Coulson was wondering where Yoyo was. Daisy knew and they find her jacked into the Framework. Yoyo wakes up inside the burning HYDRA base strapped to one of the Inhuman chairs, maybe just as powerless as Daisy was and she screams. We then find Ophelia in Anton’s sub with him lecturing her about heartbreak. What heals it? Time. What keeps it at bay? A fifth of vodka. Most of us know the feeling and this scene is intense in itself. You’ll really feel something for her here.  To relieve Ophelia, Anton offers to help her build the Framework, for real, with the help of the Darkhold. So either the team stops totally Ophelia in the next episode, or she could rebuild HYDRA in Season 5. As Gratitude and perhaps intoxication, she tries to make love with Anton but ends up destroying the robot in rage just as another copy comes in. As mentioned, The Superior just got more interesting. Still flat, but interesting. Anton tells Ophelia that with all her powers, she is perhaps one of the most powerful beings in the universe. And if she is and they execute their plan, wouldn’t it be enough for the Avengers to look into? She is perhaps more powerful than Ultron now. Wouldn’t you AOS fans agree? Anyway, what can stop a being such as her? As Talbot leaves the SHIELD base, the interdimensional portal comes to life revealing Ghost Rider’s return. We’ll be in for an exciting finale folks. Just hope ABC has enough special effects budget to make sure it will be the best episode yet. Four and a half stars out of five if I am to rate this episode for its action with May and Coulson vs. Anton, for the range of emotions by the impressive Mallory Jansen and for the drama between Fitz and Simmons. Unfortunately, Agent Davis couldn’t make it as he and Agent Piper make good minor agents. Philinda is still on hold, and we still don’t have Ward or Tripp back. There’s still the season finale where Ophelia and Anton begin to reshape the world, perhaps by bringing over some help from the other side. Yoyo got herself into trouble, and it would be interesting to know the fallout of the events in the HYDRA Framework.

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

[ppandfm]

Parties, Formal Meetings and Pinetrees   Chapter: 4

Description:  Two gay men, a protective grunkle, and a bottle of whiskey all appear in this chapter.

After Dipper called out to whoever was at his room door it opened revealing a certain great-uncle of theirs. Ford standing there nerdy and proud with a grin on his face as he put his suitcases down by the room doorway. Dipper about forgot that their great-uncle was going to be staying for a few days to visit. Mabel about tackled him though with one of her bear hugs.

   “Great-Uncle Ford!!” Mabel practically cried out when she tackle hugged him. “Oh my gosh it’s so good to see you!”

   Ford laughed as he hugged his niece, “It’s great to see you as well, Mabel! How did that sweater you were telling me about turn out?”

   “It looked amazing, Great Uncle Ford. I wish I could’ve shown it to you in person, but I gave it to my friend Pacifica.”

   “You mean your crush, Mabes. Hey, Great Uncle Ford, how have you been?” Dipper said as he stood up to shake his relative’s hand. Ford took the hand and pulled him into a hug. His great uncle pulled away to look at his nephew and niece.

   “I’ve been doing fine. Stan just got over a cold, though, so he wasn’t able to come. Now, what’s this about a crush, Mabel? I thought you were dating that Mermando guy.”

   Mabel rolled her eyes, “First off, we went on one date. Second, it turned out he’s supposed to marry some duchess in Europe, so we decided to just be friends. Finally, Pacifica is a good friend of mine and she’s really pretty and I feel really warm inside when I think about her and I’m kinda sorta not really totally in love with her.”

   Dipper and Ford chuckled together at the girl’s lovesick look. Mabel shook her head and grabbed her great uncle’s bags, “Anyway, I’m gonna put these in your room so you can talk to Dipper. He needs some advice about coming out. You’ll thank me for this later, bye!”

   Dipper cursed his sister under his breath and sat down on the bed. He felt a dip next to him and a six-fingered hand on his back. The room was silent for a few minutes before Ford spoke, “So you are queer. I guess I owe Stan ten dollars. But, what’s this about coming out? I thought your parents weren’t really okay with all this queer business.”

   “It’s just a joke Mabel made. Also, I can’t believe you and Stan bet on my own gayness behind my back. I’m not really gay. I still like girls. I mean, all that business with Wendy wouldn’t really make sense if I were gay, would it? So, no, not gay. But, maybe I’m a little bisexual. I don’t know.”

    Ford rubbed for a moment, then asked a question, “Why is she bringing all this up now? It doesn’t really make sense unless you’ve just now met someone.”

   “Well…” Dipper trailed off. Ford cocked an eyebrow at his nephew, “Have you met someone, Dipper?”

   Dipper blushed slightly and cleared his throat, “Well, yeah, kinda. But, not in that way.”

   Ford chuckled and looked at his hands, “I said the same thing once. Then he asked me on a date. I still remember how heartbroken he looked when I rejected him. By the time I’d figured it out, he was already married and had a son. Point is, you ought to kiss your new man now.”

   Dipper’s blush worsened just as his phone buzzed. Ford snatched it up before his nephew could get to it and looked at the screen, “Based on this text, this fellow you’ve met is a decent man. Tell me when you’re thinking about asking him on a date so Mabel and I can properly prepare ourselves to give him the talk.”

   “Great Uncle Ford, I’m not like that,” Dipper said before taking his phone back and reading the text.

   Ash: Hey, hope you’re having a good night.

   “Wendy is Ash in my phone. It’s a movie reference.”

   “Whatever you say sir dippington.” Mabel quipped as she wriggled her eyebrows earning a glare from Dipper. “Okay okay but what about Bill? Wait, is that his name?”

    Dipper shifted in his spot.

   “Mabel- he’s just a friend-” Mabel chimed in. “A boyfriend.”

   “Mabel oh my god” Dipper about facepalmed when Ford quirked an eyebrow.

   “Okay- okay jesus. So I only met him a few nights ago and he gave me his number. We’ve been texting. I was only trying to figure out- figure out-” Dipper trailed off. Specifically he didn’t want them to know the other just snuck into his room because of a party he called the cops on. Not a good idea.

   “Figure out what?” Dipper was taken out of his trailing thoughts. “Trying to just y’know get to know him.”

   “That’s not what I was seeing before Dipper” Mabel grinned.

   “Mabel, I’m not going to date him because I’m not a queer. You might be and Ford might be ace, but that doesn’t mean I’m gay too.”

   “But I am not just asexual,” Ford chimed in. Dipper rolled his eyes as Mabel stood up and said dramatically, “You’re not?

   “No, my dearest niece. I am biromantic!!” Their overdramatic uncle shouted. Mabel fake fainted. Dipper face palmed at the horrible things happening in his room. When his uncle and sister began laughing their asses off, he got up and pushed them towards the door. The two continued laughing as they left the bedroom. Dipper huffed and sat down to do homework because that’s a thing he’s been trying to do for like an hour now.

   Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location, a certain triangle turned human was chugging diet coke and popping mentos into his mouth at the same time to impress a random guy he thought was cute. Weirdly enough, this guy looked almost exactly like a certain plant man he knew.

   “Bill, you’re fucking stupid. This is going to end in disaster,” Pyronica said. Bill flipped her off as foam began rushing out of his mouth in a disgusting way. The guy he was trying to impress gave him a look and moved away. Pyronica laughed at her friend as he almost choked on all the foam, “He’s gone, man. I guess you’ll just have to make a stupid mistake and call that kid you met the other day.”

   As soon as Bill caught his breath, he shot a glare at her, “Are you kidding me? I’m not nearly drunk enough for that. Hand me a vodka, then I might call him.”

   Without a word, Pacifire handed him the requested drink. The triangle guy pulled out his phone and began pouring the drink down his throat.  

   Bill: Dippppppppahhhhhhhh

   Dipper: Wtf

              What do you want?

    Bill: To tallllkkkbdhhch

    Dipper: Tf is wrong with you?

                Why are you typing all weird?

     Bill: Vvodka

    Dipper: I can’t believe you. Go get sober, then talk to me.

    Bill: N o

         Oooooo

        Oooooooo

   He looked around himself and realized all his friends were gone. He was surrounded by strangers, with a few of them looking like they wanted to kick someone’s ass. Bill quickly decided he didn’t want to be that someone. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey and got the fuck out of there. Once in the cool evening air, he started texting Pinetree again.

     Bill: Hahhhhhhhhh

          Cant socialize

         I donvt wanna get sobbah

     Dipper: Please? For me?

     Bill: Ppppinnnneeevvtrreeee

     Dipper: Wtf is even up with that nickname?

    Bill looked up, noticing a lack of natural light. The sun had gone down and the streets were dark, save for the few working streetlights. He quickly decided that since it was too far to walk to his own home, he’d go crash at Dipper’s again. He turned on the street leading to the Richie part of town and picked up his pace.

    Bill: Because your fvannel smells like pinetrees

    Dipper: That’s where my fucking flannel went.

               You jackass

     Bill: You didn’t objeext

     Dipper: Fuck u

               I was busy trying to get you out of my room for half the night.

     The man laughed out loud. He took a gulp of whiskey, loving the burn in his throat.

     Bill: Hhshshshhshshhs

          Youuuuuuuu

        Didn’t ttttt

      Noticeeessssssssss

     Dipper: I’m blocking you

    Bill finally reached his destination and jumped the fence as quietly as his drunk ass could. He started climbing a tree he thought led to Dipper’s window, but too late realised the room belonged to someone else. Instead, an older man was sitting on the bed, talking to someone on the phone. He seemed oddly familiar to the triangle man, but Bill couldn’t put his finger on it. A twig snapped underneath his foot and the man stopped talking. Bill scampered up the tree and climbed onto the roof. He pulled his phone out again to reply to his Pinetree’s texts.

      Bill: nnnnOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

     Dipper: I won’t if you don’t climb in my window again. My uncle is here now and he’ll

                actually beat the shit out of you.

     Bill: Okkkkkkaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy

          Wwwaaiittt who ddau

     Dipper: My Great Uncle Ford.

               He lives up in Oregon and is pretty much the reason for my lifestyle.

    Bill froze in his spot when he heard the window below him open. He could do nothing but stare at his phone screen. As the window closed again, Bill suddenly realised something.

      Bill: Wwait

           Wait wait wait

         Hold the phonbah

      Dipper: What?

      Bill: He got six fingwts oon esch hanndd?

     Dipper: Yeah?

     Bill clamped a hand over his mouth to keep from getting too loud. Sixer had almost caught him. And this freaking kid was that man’s nephew.

      Bill: you mean

           SIXER

         You’re relatedddd

        To

       SIXER

     Dipper: How the fuck do you know my uncle?

     Bill: I know

          LOTS

        Of people

      And lost of things.

     Dipper: Okay

               That’s not creepy as fuck

     Bill: I know them usually through deals, business, parties or just running into them in

          the past and all that xhit

        Sixerrr

      That’s a longfgg

     Story

    Dipper: Maybe you can tell it to me sometime

    Bill: Maybe now

        Im already on your vroff

     Sooooo

    Dipper: How the fuck…

              I don’t care

           Just get in here

     Bill: Life

         That’s how

       nO YOU SHOULD

     I fought a bIGGASSBIRD

   tO SIT UP HERE

    He couldn’t tell the truth about almost getting caught. A little lie wouldn’t hurt him.

    Dipper: How am I supposed to get on my roof?

              How dod you get on my roof?

           *did

    Bill: IiiiIIII

        Lend you a hannddd

      I used your biggass tree

    Dipper: The oak tree?

              Just give me a hand.

     Bill: Ye

         Okayyyyy

    Bill shoved his phone in his pocket and carefully moved so he could see the back side of the house. A window to his right opened and a head of brown hair poked out. A chuckle escaped the drunk man as he moved so he was over the window. The kid began climbing out. Then, he slipped. Bill reached down easily and caught the kid before he fell. He dragged him onto his lap.

    “Pinetree, I missed you.”

    The kid scoffed, but gave Bill a hug anyway, “It’s been less than a week, Bill. Let me go.”

    “Aw, c’mon, don’t be like that. I know you missed me too, kid,” Bill whispered into Dipper’s ear. Dipper’s breath hitched slightly. He pushed on Bill’s chest and let out a sigh when he was released. The duo sat together and looked up at the sky for a few awkward moments. Then, Bill realised he still had the bottle of whiskey in his grip.

    “Hey, kid, want a drink?”

    Dipper eyed the bottle suspiciously, but nodded anyway. Bill handed him the bottle and the kid took a swig. He coughed after swallowing it, “God- fuck- that shit is strong-”

    Dipper cringed a little after handing the drink back. Bill snorted when he cringed, taking another swig of his drink waving his hand around for a moment after trying not to fall on his back.  “Don’t laugh- how the hell do you even drink this stuff?”

    Bill chuckled, “That’s my secret kid.”

    “Bullshit” Dipper snorted. “The best bullshit I’ve ever heard was the time a guy I know named Jason talked about sleeping with his best friends girlfriend. And that was a harsh punch to his friendship before he realized it was a shitty joke.”

     “Oh yeah?” Bill looked at the brunette and quirked an eyebrow. “The best bullshit I heard was when Johnny DiMaggio and his boys down the road from my house got high and crashed a car in the police station and managed to get away from it with his boys. The trio doesn’t even smoke weed and you can tell.”

    Dipper waved it off with a snort but covered his mouth. “Oh my god why am I even laughing-”  

    Dipper motioned for the whiskey and Bill gave him the bottle.

    Bill elbowed the other wriggling his eyebrows with a chuckle. “What? You feeling them Misery vibes Richie’? I find it kind of funny that a good boy like you would even want a drink.”

    Dipper about choked on the whiskey before handing it back quickly to the drunk blonde. “Christ- don’t ever call me a good boy again jesus-”  

    Bill laughed, “Does that mean you’ve done something naughty, Pinetree? I wonder what you’ve done to piss off authority figures.”

    “I stole my sister’s ex-boyfriend’s car and crashed it into a tree. It put me in the hospital with two broken ribs and a concussion for a week. It was so worth it, though. That guy’s a major asshole.”

    Bill about choked on his drink. He looked over at Dipper in surprise. “Holy fuck really?”

    The blonde covered his mouth snorting at the other. “Oh my god.”

    Dipper smiled, then looked up at the cloudy night sky. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, passing the bottle and looking at the stars. Bill eventually whispered, “What do you think when you look at the stars, Pinetree?’

    Dipper thought for a moment before answering, “I think about home. The night sky makes me feel at home.”

    Bill chuckled at his friend’s response, “That’s so cheesy.”

    The teen scoffed, “Really? And what does the great Bill Cipher think when he looks at the stars?”

    “How small we really are. Compared to the universe, we’re just two tiny little specks.”

    “Isn’t that good? I mean, look around you. We’re all a part of something. Whatever universal force is out there, it specifically made this entire universe so we could be alive and be on this roof right now. Isn’t that amazing, Bill?”

    Bill stared at Dipper for a few moments, then took a sip of whiskey, “Do you always think this deeply, kid?”

    “No, not usually. I think the whiskey is starting to get to me. I’m gonna have to be careful getting back down.”

    Bill chuckled, “You’re so adorable, kid. I’ll help you out and probably stay the night again. I promise to leave before morning.”

    Dipper stared at Bill, then began laughing, “You think I want you to leave? No way, Cipher. You can stay all morning for all I care. I don’t give a damn.”

    “Really? You sure about that, Dipper?” Bill asked, one eyebrow cocked. Dipper simply nodded. “Yeah I mean it’s not like you haven’t before.”

    The brunette stated as he looked at the stars above them. “So why the hell not?”

    Bill gave Dipper a long look before grinning drunk pinetree was full of surprises. Bill leaned over and ruffled the brunettes hair. “Alrighty then Pinetree~!”

    The blonde snorted when Dipper moved the blonde’s hand from his hair with a glare.

    “Bill don’t do that again-”

    The blonde pouted, “Awh but Pinetree!” Bill whined in which Dipper snorted.

    “Nope. Not again.” Bill laid back with a small whine and stared up at the stars.

    “Okay Princess” The blonde huffed. After a few hours of laughter, tired gazes upon the stars above and talking about trippy things. The two lazily and carefully made their way back into Dippers room settling for the night.

[deztinywarriors]

The Linked Charms - Episode 14 (Multi Liverpool players)

[haleeskitchen-blog]

New Post has been published on http://haleeskitchen.com/homemade-cannoli-that-live-up-to-the-hype/

Homemade Cannoli That Live Up to the Hype

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[Photographs: Vicky Wasik. Video: Natalie Holt.]

Let’s get this out of the way up front: the most authentic part of this recipe is my reasonably Italian sounding name. The history of cannoli is steeped in more regional ingredients, cooking traditions, and family secrets than I could ever hope to honor, much less integrate, in a single recipe. The best I can do is take the same approach I use in developing copycat recipes like homemade Oreo-style cookies and Fig Newtons—focus on capturing the taste, texture, and appearance we long for, even when that means breaking certain rules along the way.

Which is to say, my recipe itself may aim to create the Platonic ideal of cannoli, but there’s nothing traditional about what it looks like on paper. My pastry shells don’t contain a single drop of Marsala or any eggs at all, but they’re blistered, crisp, and tender, and almost savory in their toastiness. My ricotta filling doesn’t include even a pinch of powdered sugar, but it’s wonderfully sweet and silky smooth. The two unite in a pastry that’s rich and light, creamy and crunchy, earthy and floral, mellow and intense—a study in contrast if there ever was one. It takes some time, and an arsenal of equipment to pull off, but the results are more than worth the effort.

Of course, it all starts with the right dough. Believe it or not, cannoli shells are really a type of cracker—nothing more than flour, water, salt, and a knob of butter. Many classic Italian recipes use Marsala as some of that liquid, not for flavor but for the same reason Kenji puts vodka in pie dough—to provide hydration while limiting gluten development.

Good quality Marsala can be hard to find here in the States, and it’s an expensive purchase for recipes that only call for a tablespoon. The far easier method for controlling gluten development is to choose a low-protein all-purpose flour such as Gold Medal or Pillsbury. This builds the right balance of starch and protein into the recipe from the start, giving the shells a perfect combination of tenderness and strength. Just toss all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until satiny smooth and a little…cobwebby, for lack of a better term.

Hypothetically, this can be done by hand if you have the patience to slap and stretch the sticky dough for an hour, but it’s a 90-second job in a food processor—the only sane option so far as I’m concerned. Transfer the sticky dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover, and set it aside for at least two hours or up to 24. Either way, that flexibility leaves more than enough time to make the filling at your leisure, so don’t feel compelled to tackle the entire recipe, start to finish, in a single afternoon.

On that note, my take on the ricotta filling is certainly where this recipe deviates most from tradition. Virtually all cannoli recipes use nothing more than powdered sugar to thicken and sweeten the ricotta. It’s the easiest method for sure, but the undissolved starch from the powdered sugar leaves a chalky ghost in every bite. If the ricotta is anything less than spectacular, the result is a filling that tastes like, as Daniel once put it, caulk.

My solution is to make a small batch of vanilla pudding, providing a sweet, thick, creamy, and flavorful foundation for the ricotta filling (it’s the same trick I use for making a super-stable cream cheese buttercream). Once the vanilla pudding is cool, beat it until smooth and creamy (either with a flexible spatula or the paddle of a stand mixer), then fold in the ricotta by hand.

It should go without saying that the ricotta needs to be of a very high caliber. Anything made with gums, stabilizers, preservatives, or other additives should be rejected out of hand. If you’re lucky enough to live near an excellent producer, locally made ricotta is an extraordinary thing (at Serious Eats, we love Salvatore Bklyn and Di Palo’s). Shy of that, look for ricotta made with nothing more than milk or whey and possibly salt and/or an acid or starter of some sort (true ricotta is made from nothing more than whey, but it’s a rarity outside of Italy). Ricotta is the backbone of cannoli, and if it’s not delicious enough to eat by the spoonful, your cannoli will be doomed to mediocrity from the start.

After you’ve made the filling, transfer it to a large, disposable pastry bag fitted with a plain, 1/2-inch round tip and refrigerate until needed—it will keep up to 3 days, another excellent make-ahead option.

Next up: rolling the dough. It will seem impossibly sticky in the bowl, but all it needs is a generous coating of flour. Seriously, don’t be shy. Excess flour can be brushed off later, so use as much as you need to feel comfortable handling the sticky dough. Roll it until no more than 1/16 inch thick, then brush it lightly with egg white and fold it in half.

Like a poorly applied screen protector, this results in tons of little air pockets trapped between the layers. In turn, these pockets help the dough to blister in the hot oil, giving the shells a delicate honeycomb crunch and plenty of surface area to fry up golden brown. Re-roll the dough until it’s 1/16 inch thick once more, then cut as many 3 1/2–inch rounds as possible—the largest cutter in Ateco’s graduated set is perfect for the job.

Gather up all the scraps and transfer to an airtight container until you have the time and space to re-roll. While you prepare the oil for frying, the cutouts can be left as-is; if you think this will be longer than 20 minutes, cover them with plastic wrap or a clean towel to keep them from drying out.

The most important thing about cannoli, since it’s a deep fried pastry, is the oil itself—an ingredient most recipes leave to chance, as if any old oil will do. Nothing could be further from the truth; for cannoli, choosing the right oil is just as important as choosing the best ricotta. That’s because cannoli were traditionally fried in lard, a solid fat. Modern recipes use liquid oil for sheer convenience, and that’s a huge problem.

Pastries may crisp when fried in liquid oil, but the oil they absorbs will ultimately create a sense of greasiness. Imagine a piece of bread dunked in oil for a few minutes, and the way it would squish in your mouth. That’s nice if you’re talking about a chunk of focaccia dipped in a fine olive oil, but it’s not exactly what we look for in a pastry. When fried in solid fats, however, the oil a dough absorbs will revert to its solid state once cool, creating a texture that’s light and crisp, with lingering richness as the oil melts on your tongue, like a generously buttered slice of toast.

If you can find enough leaf lard to deep fry, go for it! But my favorite alternative is refined coconut oil. Like lard, it’s solid at room temperature and liquid when warm.

Even better, it doesn’t produce the funky smell most often associate with frying at home; in fact, it’s totally odorless, so the only the thing you’ll notice will be the aroma of the cannoli shells as they brown. Little jars of refined coconut oil can be pretty pricey in supermarkets, but when shopping in bulk at warehouse clubs or online, that price will drop to less than $3 a pound. If coconut oil isn’t an option due to allergies, other solid fats like palm oil or vegetable shortening will do just fine.

Whatever solid fat you choose, use enough to form a 2-inch deep layer in a pot that’s at least 4 inches deep, and warm it to about 360°F, using a clip-on digital thermometer to monitor the temperature in real time. Meanwhile, form the shells by wrapping the cut-outs around tapered cannoli forms and sealing the flap with a dab of egg white.

When the oil is ready, fry the shells until pale gold, about 2 minutes. If the time varies significantly for you, check the placement of your thermometer; it’s normal for the fry-time to vary a little depending on the specific thickness of the dough and the conductivity of the form, but any major differences are a sign the oil is too hot or too cool.

Transfer the fried shells to a paper towel–lined baking sheet. Holding the shell itself with a pair of kitchen tweezers or tongs, rap the tapered end of the form to loosen the shell. Set the forms aside until cool, then continue shaping and frying the remaining cutouts the same way.

Fried in a solid fat like refined coconut oil, the cannoli shells will keep up to one week in an airtight container. Once filled, that solid fat will act like a waterproof jacket and keep the filled cannoli crisp for about four hours. Still, I think cannoli are best when the shells are freshly fried and filled, perhaps because at that point I’ve been anticipating them all day.

I can’t argue with the allure of dark chocolate and toasted pistachios, but, to me, fresh cannoli are absolutely perfect on their own, delicate and crisp and creamy—just begging for a shot of espresso.

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[awells933-blog]

Homemade Cannoli That Live Up to the Hype

New Post has been published on http://mycookingzone.net/homemade-cannoli-that-live-up-to-the-hype/

Homemade Cannoli That Live Up to the Hype

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[Photographs: Vicky Wasik. Video: Natalie Holt.]

Let’s get this out of the way up front: the most authentic part of this recipe is my reasonably Italian sounding name. The history of cannoli is steeped in more regional ingredients, cooking traditions, and family secrets than I could ever hope to honor, much less integrate, in a single recipe. The best I can do is take the same approach I use in developing copycat recipes like homemade Oreo-style cookies and Fig Newtons—focus on capturing the taste, texture, and appearance we long for, even when that means breaking certain rules along the way.

Which is to say, my recipe itself may aim to create the Platonic ideal of cannoli, but there’s nothing traditional about what it looks like on paper. My pastry shells don’t contain a single drop of Marsala or any eggs at all, but they’re blistered, crisp, and tender, and almost savory in their toastiness. My ricotta filling doesn’t include even a pinch of powdered sugar, but it’s wonderfully sweet and silky smooth. The two unite in a pastry that’s rich and light, creamy and crunchy, earthy and floral, mellow and intense—a study in contrast if there ever was one. It takes some time, and an arsenal of equipment to pull off, but the results are more than worth the effort.

Of course, it all starts with the right dough. Believe it or not, cannoli shells are really a type of cracker—nothing more than flour, water, salt, and a knob of butter. Many classic Italian recipes use Marsala as some of that liquid, not for flavor but for the same reason Kenji puts vodka in pie dough—to provide hydration while limiting gluten development.

Good quality Marsala can be hard to find here in the States, and it’s an expensive purchase for recipes that only call for a tablespoon. The far easier method for controlling gluten development is to choose a low-protein all-purpose flour such as Gold Medal or Pillsbury. This builds the right balance of starch and protein into the recipe from the start, giving the shells a perfect combination of tenderness and strength. Just toss all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until satiny smooth and a little…cobwebby, for lack of a better term.

Hypothetically, this can be done by hand if you have the patience to slap and stretch the sticky dough for an hour, but it’s a 90-second job in a food processor—the only sane option so far as I’m concerned. Transfer the sticky dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover, and set it aside for at least two hours or up to 24. Either way, that flexibility leaves more than enough time to make the filling at your leisure, so don’t feel compelled to tackle the entire recipe, start to finish, in a single afternoon.

On that note, my take on the ricotta filling is certainly where this recipe deviates most from tradition. Virtually all cannoli recipes use nothing more than powdered sugar to thicken and sweeten the ricotta. It’s the easiest method for sure, but the undissolved starch from the powdered sugar leaves a chalky ghost in every bite. If the ricotta is anything less than spectacular, the result is a filling that tastes like, as Daniel once put it, caulk.

My solution is to make a small batch of vanilla pudding, providing a sweet, thick, creamy, and flavorful foundation for the ricotta filling (it’s the same trick I use for making a super-stable cream cheese buttercream). Once the vanilla pudding is cool, beat it until smooth and creamy (either with a flexible spatula or the paddle of a stand mixer), then fold in the ricotta by hand.

It should go without saying that the ricotta needs to be of a very high caliber. Anything made with gums, stabilizers, preservatives, or other additives should be rejected out of hand. If you’re lucky enough to live near an excellent producer, locally made ricotta is an extraordinary thing (at Serious Eats, we love Salvatore Bklyn and Di Palo’s). Shy of that, look for ricotta made with nothing more than milk or whey and possibly salt and/or an acid or starter of some sort (true ricotta is made from nothing more than whey, but it’s a rarity outside of Italy). Ricotta is the backbone of cannoli, and if it’s not delicious enough to eat by the spoonful, your cannoli will be doomed to mediocrity from the start.

After you’ve made the filling, transfer it to a large, disposable pastry bag fitted with a plain, 1/2-inch round tip and refrigerate until needed—it will keep up to 3 days, another excellent make-ahead option.

Next up: rolling the dough. It will seem impossibly sticky in the bowl, but all it needs is a generous coating of flour. Seriously, don’t be shy. Excess flour can be brushed off later, so use as much as you need to feel comfortable handling the sticky dough. Roll it until no more than 1/16 inch thick, then brush it lightly with egg white and fold it in half.

Like a poorly applied screen protector, this results in tons of little air pockets trapped between the layers. In turn, these pockets help the dough to blister in the hot oil, giving the shells a delicate honeycomb crunch and plenty of surface area to fry up golden brown. Re-roll the dough until it’s 1/16 inch thick once more, then cut as many 3 1/2–inch rounds as possible—the largest cutter in Ateco’s graduated set is perfect for the job.

Gather up all the scraps and transfer to an airtight container until you have the time and space to re-roll. While you prepare the oil for frying, the cutouts can be left as-is; if you think this will be longer than 20 minutes, cover them with plastic wrap or a clean towel to keep them from drying out.

The most important thing about cannoli, since it’s a deep fried pastry, is the oil itself—an ingredient most recipes leave to chance, as if any old oil will do. Nothing could be further from the truth; for cannoli, choosing the right oil is just as important as choosing the best ricotta. That’s because cannoli were traditionally fried in lard, a solid fat. Modern recipes use liquid oil for sheer convenience, and that’s a huge problem.

Pastries may crisp when fried in liquid oil, but the oil they absorbs will ultimately create a sense of greasiness. Imagine a piece of bread dunked in oil for a few minutes, and the way it would squish in your mouth. That’s nice if you’re talking about a chunk of focaccia dipped in a fine olive oil, but it’s not exactly what we look for in a pastry. When fried in solid fats, however, the oil a dough absorbs will revert to its solid state once cool, creating a texture that’s light and crisp, with lingering richness as the oil melts on your tongue, like a generously buttered slice of toast.

If you can find enough leaf lard to deep fry, go for it! But my favorite alternative is refined coconut oil. Like lard, it’s solid at room temperature and liquid when warm.

Even better, it doesn’t produce the funky smell most often associate with frying at home; in fact, it’s totally odorless, so the only the thing you’ll notice will be the aroma of the cannoli shells as they brown. Little jars of refined coconut oil can be pretty pricey in supermarkets, but when shopping in bulk at warehouse clubs or online, that price will drop to less than $3 a pound. If coconut oil isn’t an option due to allergies, other solid fats like palm oil or vegetable shortening will do just fine.

Whatever solid fat you choose, use enough to form a 2-inch deep layer in a pot that’s at least 4 inches deep, and warm it to about 360°F, using a clip-on digital thermometer to monitor the temperature in real time. Meanwhile, form the shells by wrapping the cut-outs around tapered cannoli forms and sealing the flap with a dab of egg white.

When the oil is ready, fry the shells until pale gold, about 2 minutes. If the time varies significantly for you, check the placement of your thermometer; it’s normal for the fry-time to vary a little depending on the specific thickness of the dough and the conductivity of the form, but any major differences are a sign the oil is too hot or too cool.

Transfer the fried shells to a paper towel–lined baking sheet. Holding the shell itself with a pair of kitchen tweezers or tongs, rap the tapered end of the form to loosen the shell. Set the forms aside until cool, then continue shaping and frying the remaining cutouts the same way.

Fried in a solid fat like refined coconut oil, the cannoli shells will keep up to one week in an airtight container. Once filled, that solid fat will act like a waterproof jacket and keep the filled cannoli crisp for about four hours. Still, I think cannoli are best when the shells are freshly fried and filled, perhaps because at that point I’ve been anticipating them all day.

I can’t argue with the allure of dark chocolate and toasted pistachios, but, to me, fresh cannoli are absolutely perfect on their own, delicate and crisp and creamy—just begging for a shot of espresso.

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