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raiseyourcups · 4 years

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I Love You a Latte pt.2

A Modern Coffee Shop AU part 1 over here

Pairing: Din Djarin x Reader Warnings: an absolute tooth-rotting amount of fluff (hey remember that time I used to write nothing but angst?) Word Count: 2.2k of Christmas fluff

Summary: Detective Din Djarin and his son come back to your cafe with a single question in mind: What are you doing for Christmas Eve?

You struggled to close the back door of your car, arms full of presents and cookies. You knew you had gone a little overboard but you hadn’t been able to stop yourself. It was Christmas, the first one you were officially spending with Din and Grogu. Sure, they had come into the shop before to exchange small gifts with you but this was different. A smile crossed your face when you recalled how nervous Din had been when he came in after picking Grogu up from school for winter break.

He had once again timed it just right, the afternoon rush over and only a few people working in the book shop section. Most wearing headphones to block out everything so they could finish last minute projects. Grogu came rushing to the counter first, ears of his beanie flapping like usual, and placing down a card he had made for you in class.

“Whoa, look at this!” You had exclaimed, picking it up to admire it. It was a cute little card with a Christmas tree made of paper strips on the front with little pom poms as ornaments. The inside simply said Happy Holidays in Grogu’s handwriting but you loved it all the same. “This is so nice, thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” Grogu said quietly and you couldn’t hold back the smile from appearing on your face. He looked up at his dad with pleading eyes, gently tapping on the glass of the dessert display. Din pretended to think about it before nodding and gesturing for Grogu to head for their usual table.

“Let me guess, a hot cocoa with whipped cream and cinnamon sprinkled on top with a Christmas tree cookie for Grogu and a black coffee with a pump of vanilla syrup for you?” You asked with a smile still on your face as you placed the card Grogu made you on the counter top so everyone would be able to see it.

“It still amazes me that you’ve memorized our order,” Din said, a smile on his face as he let out a huff of surprised laughter.

You looked at him from across the counter with a sly smile, “I thought we established that I only do this for my favorite customers?” You pulled a tray you had prepared beforehand, hot cocoa and coffee ready to go minus the whipped cream and cinnamon. You opened the dessert case and pulled out a cookie, placing it onto the tray before reaching over for the whipped cream. You put slightly more whipped cream than you usually would before shaking cinnamon on top.

“I can take it to the table,” Din said, already reaching over to take it before you could stop him. He was walking away from the counter before you could say anything and you pouted even as you placed your “taking a break” sign on the counter. You would’ve made yourself a drink too but you had already had plenty of coffee to make it through the day.

You sat down across from the pair and watched as Grogu blew on his cocoa before taking a large sip. It was another reason you had made it before they came in, so it would still be warm but not too hot that he couldn’t drink it.

“So I know you two didn’t come in just to bring me the card and get free stuff in return,” you teased, looking at Din with a raised eyebrow.

Din took a sudden interest in his coffee, taking a sip before setting it back down. You tilted your head when you noticed that his hand was slightly shaking. “Um, I-we, I mean, we wanted to invite you over for Christmas Eve and I know you probably have family to go visit and it’s okay if you can’t-”

“Din, calm down,” you said, reaching over to place a hand on his arm. You had finally gotten used to small touches like this. You also had no idea how a detective could be so nervous asking you a simple question. “I wasn’t planning on leaving to visit anyone so I would love to spend Christmas Eve with you.”

Which is what leads back to you struggling with your arms full, walking up the steps outside Din’s house carefully so you didn’t slip. It had snowed earlier and the steps were still a little slippery.You would admit that you hadn’t been expecting to see a row house painted yellow with green trimming but you also knew that this was a historical district. Din couldn’t paint it even if he wanted to and you knew Grogu probably loved it anyway. You already did.

You lifted an arm carefully, hitting the doorbell with your elbow and waiting for someone to come open the door. You thankfully didn’t have to wait long before the door was pulled open and a gust of warm air met your face. It felt amazing in comparison to the chill in the air.

“Hey, hi, um come on in,” Din stuttered, pulling the door open more so you can shuffle in. “You didn’t have to bring anything.” He helped you out, taking the tray of cookies that you had brought with you. You were thankful because those had been balancing precariously on top of the presents.

“I wanted to, besides it’s Christmas,” you said as you walked over to the tree set up in the living room. You smiled when you took in the obvious space theme that was going on with the ornaments as you placed the presents underneath the tree. You looked back at Din who simply shrugged with a smile on his own face. “Grogu picked the theme, I presume?”

“You would be correct. Are you sure I’m the detective?”

“Oh you definitely are, I could never chase down a suspect. That’s what you call them, right?” You asked as you took off your coat to hang up on the coat rack back at the doorway.

Din laughed at your comment, the sound making warmth spread throughout your chest. “Yes, but I don’t do much of the chasing down anymore. I leave that to the cops on the street level.”

“Ah, so that’s why people think all you do is sit around and eat donuts,” you teased, laughing out loud and dodging away when Din tried to playfully swat at you. Once you two were done laughing, you took the tray of cookies back from him and followed him to the kitchen. You took in everything, from the way the place was decorated with pictures of Grogu along with his artwork from school. The warmth that had started in your chest moved throughout your whole body like it did every time you saw just how much Din loved his son.

“Where’s Grogu?” You had noticed the boy’s absence as soon as you walked in despite the TV in the living room on and playing a Hallmark movie. You knew Din had been letting Grogu watch all of the new ones, probably even the terrible Netflix ones too.

“Upstairs, he said he had just one more decoration to make,” Din replied, shaking his head in amusement. He nodded for you to follow him and you did with matching smiles on your faces. You two had just gotten to the bottom of the stairs when Grogu called out to you both causing you to both look up.

You let out a surprised laugh when you saw Grogu at the top of the stairs, holding what looked like a fishing rod over the edge. There was mistletoe attached to it and hanging over your heads. “What did I say about those Hallmark movies?”

“You know the rules,” Din shrugged before turning to you with a smile. He didn’t look too put out for being outsmarted by his own son and you wondered if he had planned this out before asking you to come over. Not that you really minded.

You shrugged your own shoulders, “You do still owe me for past orders and your time’s almost up.”

Din laughed loudly, shaking his head before pulling you into a sweet kiss. It was much too short for your liking but Grogu was still there watching you two. He let out a happy sound before you finally heard him rushing down the stairs. You let out a content sigh as you and Din separated, no matter how many times you kissed it was just as good as the first time. Grogu took your hand and led you back towards the tree before you could say anything.

You nodded and made comments for every ornament that Grogu pointed at, telling him which was your favorite one. He approved of your choice before pointing out his favorite. Neither of you noticed the look Din was giving you from his spot against the couch. Just pure love in his eyes as he smiled at the two of you under the lights of the Christmas tree. It just made him more determined to ask the one question he had wanted to ask after the first time you had treated Grogu like a normal kid. Or maybe it was when he had seen that you had changed your shop’s bell when you noticed how much it hurt his son’s ears.

“Anyone ready for some food?” Din asked, finally able to pull himself out of his thoughts.

The rest of the night went by filled with laughter, more cookies than were healthy, and a Christmas movie that didn't come from Hallmark. You had convinced Din to put on a classic from your childhood and even he had to concede that it was a good choice even if Grogu kept getting up to dance along with all of the characters. Eventually the hours and dancing wore Grogu down and Din was carrying him upstairs to his room with you following after.

"How many more sleeps?" Grogu tiredly asked after you finished reading the book you had brought with you.

"Just one more sleep 'til Christmas," you answered before tucking the blanket around him and giving him a small kiss on the forehead. You once again didn't see the look that Din was giving you and his son so you didn't know it matched the one you gave him when he leaned in to do the same. It didn't take long for Grogu to be completely asleep leaving you and Din trying to sneak out of the room as quietly as you could.

"Do you want a glass of wine?" Din asked, as he quietly closed the door though he left it open a little just in case Grogu woke up.

"Yes, please."

You and Din were curled up on the couch, fireplace still going and Grogu asleep in his bed. You were glad that he had enjoyed the book you had bought from the shop. You understood the hilarity of paying yourself for a book but when they had come in for the Christmas display you had just known that you needed to get one for Grogu. And you had been right, he loved the book after all.

“This was nice, thank you for inviting me,” you finally broke the peaceful silence that had fallen over you two. “I would’ve just spent the night drinking wine or something.”

“Couldn’t have that, no one should be alone on Christmas Eve.”

You smiled up at him before you glanced down at your watch and your eyes went wide when you saw the time. “Oh wow, I hadn’t even realized how late it was. I should, uh, probably get going?”

“Stay.”

“What?”

“I, um, that is-if you want to spend the night. I have a guest room or maybe, never mind." Din cut himself off, cheeks warm from the embarrassment. This was the first time he was even thinking of asking someone this question, you were the first person since he had adopted Grogu to even accept them as a package deal.

"No, Din, ask me." Your heart was pounding in your chest and you hoped you weren't reading things wrong. You knew you weren't, it wasn't like you were planning on doing anything other than sleep but you still wanted to hear him ask.

"Move in?"

You blinked a few times in surprise. That hadn't been what you had expected him to ask. Your brain took a moment to catch up with your mouth but eventually you replied, "I...yes?"

"Really?" Din breathed out, a disbelieving smile crossing his face. You found yourself falling a little more in love with him at the sight of it.

"Yeah, yes, I would love nothing more," you said. You didn't even care that you two had only been sort of dating for a month or so. You had been in love with him since the first time he smiled at you across your countertop and you had only fallen deeper in love as you watched him with his son.

Din let out a laugh and pulled you into a kiss, this one deeper than the one you had shared under the mistletoe. It was made better by the two of you laughing into it.

"This is the best Christmas present just so you know. Nothing will ever top it." You laughed out, laying your head down on Din's chest. You felt more than heard his answering chuckle.

"I don't know cyar'ika. I could have a few more surprises in a year or two."

"We'll see about that."

#din djarin x reader #din djarin imagine #din djarin AU #the mandalorian x reader #mandalorian imagine #mandalorian AU

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tateannawrestling · 3 years

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Call me

Another boring day on the job. I work at Don's Pizza. Nothing is ever happening here besides kids making messes 24/7. Which, guess who has to clean them up. Fridays were always busy for us. And to make things worse, I was the only one, well there were two other people on shift but they were too busy drinking and smoking out back while I'm actually busting my A-double dollar signs.

I was coming back to behind the counter (where I take orders) from cleaning a spill that some stupid kid made. As I got closer to the counter the sound of a dinging bell became more louder and more clear. "I'm coming! Jeez!" I yell making my way to the counter. Once I got there I noticed it was three men. The one in the middle was the one obnoxiously tapping the bell. He wore shades, and a nice denim jacket. He was kind of hot, but also annoying for ringing the bell as if was a child. "Hi, welcome to Don's, what can I get you?" I say almost out of breath. The guy slightly pushed down his sunglasses to get a better view of me. Smirking, he pulled them back up and looked up at the menu. "So, what's up with the shades inside? Do you think you're just the baddest boy in the wide world?" I ask, jokingly of course. The other guys laugh as the hot one just says, "Haha, funny. You should do stand up" "Uhm can we have (whatever the heck Trent likes to get)" One of the other guys asked "Uhm yes. And is that it?" I ask "Ye-" Two of the three guys began to say but was quickly cut off by the one in shades "No. Let me get your number" He says "Haha, funny. You should do stand up" I reply walking off preparing their order

- Cassidy's POV

"No. Let me get your number" I say cutting off Trent and Chuck "Haha, funny. You should do stand up" She replies causing Trent to laugh. She walks off swaying her hips and I can't hep but stare. "Damn, not going to lie that was hot. C'mon" I say to the guys as we get a table.

"So, that Y/N chic, you think she's hot?" Chuck asks me as we sit at our table "I mean duh, have you seen her?" I say "I think she is the only one here. I didn't see anyone else" Trent says "I know, I kinda feel bad" I say "Well if you felt bad then why were you a dick to her earlier?" Trent asks "Because man, you know I don't know how to express my feelings. Especially when it comes to girls" I say "Maybe you should apologize" Chuck chimes in "Whatever just forget it" I say . A few minutes later Y/N comes to our table. "Are you the only one working?" Chuck asks her "Yes, well, there are two other people suppose to be working but they care more about weed then they do their own job, so" She replies. Damn now I am really starting to feel bad for her. "It's okay baby" I say stroking her arm "Uhm..yeah" She smiles and walks away "Dude?" Trent says "What?" I reply "Baby? Really?" He says "So what? She liked it" I smirked

- Y/N's POV

"It's okay baby" The hot one says as he strokes my arm. I hate to admit it but, it made me really wet, so I had to leave immediately. "Uhm..yeah" I say walking, well, power walking away from there table. I walked behind the counter to take a breather. "Y/N! What are you doing" I don't even have to turn around to know who that is, I recognize that annoying voice anywhere. It was my stupid boss. "Sorry I was just taking a breather. I have been running around this place since the moment I walked in the door." I say "Yeah, I know. It can be hard at times..." She begins in a soft tone "...but sadly, I don't care. Life is hard. Everything isn't going to get handed to you around here" She says as her soft tone turned into a now rude loud tone. "Now. Where are those other two at?" She asks "Outback, smoking." I reply. She walks off with what seemed to be an even angrier attitude.

"Why would you lie on your co-workers like that?" I hear my boss' voice again "What do you mean?" I ask "Don't play dumb. Their in there cleaning up the kitchen, something I told you to do from now on." She replied "What?! They were just outside a minu- You know what, never mind." I say not wanting an argument "Yeah, that's what I thought" She replies walking off

- 2 Hours, 47 Minutes Later

Almost three hours later those guys were still here. My boss forced me to tell them to leave because they were taking up room for other people to sit.

"I'm sorry, but my manager told me that I have to tell you to leave. You've been here for a long time and you've only had one pizza and seven refills....EACH" I say "Look babe, I'm only here to get your number. I was going to wait 'til you weren't busy though" He says making me blush a little "Oh. W-well um, I-" I stutter "Y/N! Why aren't they gone yet? I told you to dismiss them not flirt with them" My boss scolds me "I-I-I was ju-" I struggle to get out any words "Look. It wasn't her fault, we was actually just about to leave." The hot guy says sticking up for me, oh my gosh, now I really want his number "Yeah you better. Now. Y/N clean up this mess of a table." My boss demands "Yes, ma'am" I reply. As I was cleaning up the tables I seen a napkin had some writing on it. Curious, I looked at it to see what it read.

317-421-9880 call me ;)

source: wattpad - tateannawrestling

#orangecassidy #aew #orange cassidy x reader #orange cassidy imagine #aew fanfiction #aew dark

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curseofaphrodite · 3 years

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It's been 5 days since I last messaged you because gosh the time at my mom's was partially a mess, SHE WAS HASSLING SO MUCH, I hate when she hassles because she starts to overthink and overreact and honestly I got to keep the whole house to myself from Monday to Wednesday and it made me wanna move back to my own place because THE PEACE aaaahhhh, you don't get peace when you're living at this nuthouse where I am (mom came home at like 8pm, ate a sandwich and went to bed and I could be playing my Playstation or write until 6am if I wanted because I didn't hear what she's doing in the bedroom and she didn't hear what I was doing in the living room, I MISS THAT, here, the walls could as well be made of cardboard), it was a dream to be honest. I could do whatever I wanted?? So I went to fetch fast food every single day like a health freak I am. (I eat healthily normally, I don't even have a chance to go eat fast food very often as the nearest store is like 7km away from my home...) At my mom's, there was Burger King, McDonald's and Taco Bell at like 5 minute walk and a store behind them. Sooo Monday, I went to test Taco Bell for the first time and got Fresh Burrito meal with nachos (liked it, though I embarrassed myself because I didn't realize that when they shouted 198, they meant me and my receipt had that number and they were calling to 198 for like 5 minutes and I was there like huh, why isn't anybody moving??? 🤦🏻‍♀️), but I didn't take into notion that when I eat my first meal at noon, I will be hungry as fuck by 6am... so when hunger struck through, I just had to suffer til next day, minus like one or two small pieces of bread.

So on Tuesday, I came prepared and first bought myself a buffet salad from the local store (my former home store back when I lived on my own, brought some memories) for dinner and bought myself a shitload of food for lunch (Big Mac Meal Plus, McFlurry with Smarties and a Pistachio Milkshake) because I still hadn't eaten much anything for 24 hours. At least I wasn't hungry after those XD I almost forgot about my McFlurry though... And on Wednesday, I fetched only a buffet salad because BK is also near my mom but on the other way from the store and I was too lazy to walk there and my mom gave me a permission to order a pizza 😂

And as I told you earlier, I got a Rummikub board game for Christmas and I bought two video games for myself (Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy rickrolled me the moment I first opened it and Kena: Bridge of Spirits is SO PRETTY even on my PS4??? It looks like some Pixar or Dreamworks animated movie???) But I came back home yesterday evening and still haven't unpacked.

But yeah enough about that. To mom's ex, yeah. I've met my share of toxic people so I noticed the red flags ages ago... ohhohhoo, if you ever wanted to hear the story of my ex-best friend H and me, you'd better sit back because that woman is a crazy bitch and still on me after 2 years of our friendship ending and has genuinely made me wish she'd die so this would stop. And me being like that needs a lot...

I also had a friend who lives here at the same place I do, she's slightly mentally disabled and I've looked at her rudeness through my fingers because of that but yeah, I finally snapped a couple of weeks ago and told her that she's unbearable and I can't take it anymore. That's another story, if you ever wanna hear the story of H, I can tell the story about this woman as well as a side story.

And yeah he's her neighbor now (not mine, I don't live at my mom's, I'm her guest when I'm over). He stalks her and bullies her. Mom is trying to get enough material for a restraining order right now. Feels like a setting for a soap opera.

Btw, when we were leaving and packing my mom's car so she'd take me back to my home, I saw someone half-running from behind the trash shelter hut thing (I'm not sure what it's called in English) and I turned to look at them, we stared at each other for a bit, it was snowing pretty hard so I didn't immediately recognize him but yeah it was my mom's ex who thought I'm my mom... 😂

okay your mother's place sounds so chaotic and fun at the same time, like the good sort of chaotic. Burger King, McDonald's and Taco Bell?? The HOLY trinity of fast foods. I try not to eat fast food either but i cant help it, theyre delicious 😩😩😩💓

I get the token confusion though. Fun fact, we don't use tokens on any shops here at all. we do them on hospitals tho! (but they show the number on the screen instead of shouting them, and its weird to sit in the chair and keep staring at the big screen especially when you're sick lol)

bestie buying all good stuff on the menu feels like HEAVEN. i googled mcflurries with smarties and omg that looks delicious???

Kena: Bridge of Spirits does look so pretty :0 (i googled that too jksdj) getting rickrolled by a video game is fun

crazy ex-best friends are a whole new species, we should start a Escaped From Them Yay club because toxic friends are just not it.

good luck with the restraining order!! i hope she gets it done soon cause that dude is just plain creepy ew.

LMFAO HE HID BEHIND A FREAKING TRASH CAN? Thats so funny and weird at the same time. Literally he needs to get a life of his own. 🙄🔪

excuse all my typos cause im in class atm (on a sunday ik, its torture)

#jenni the brilliant 🦢#tea with mutuals #🏷️ : lovely people

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hasspartacusdoneanythingwrong · 3 years

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The Flame-Soaked City, Part 4

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 5

Fresh off their first real victory as a master, our party faces a twofold threat, plus an uncooperative title character! What will happen next? (I’ll tell you what will happen next, we’ll completely fail at writing things quickly. This whole chapter was one bullet point when we started. We’re gonna be stuck in Fuyuki til LB 6 comes out, s2g.)

@hasishtardoneanythingwrong @haspaulbunyandoneanythingwrong

Our camp exploded with activity with Hundred Personas’ return. Fortunately, they brought with them their strategist, Farseer, to explain the current situation. While the other servants (minus Spartacus, of course) moved into a formation to intercept the closest servant, we talked strategy.

Unfortunately, even Hundred Personas’ scouting abilities had limited success. The caster had laid out traps to incinerate anyone who got too close, and the lancer’s spirit origin was warped like Medusa’s, so we were facing two servants with no retreat and no information.

Olga Marie: Isn’t there any other option? We barely held our ground against one servant, and now you’re expecting to take on two?

Farseer: You say that as if your own numbers haven’t increased. We will turn the tide of this battle.

Dr. Roman: I doubt there’s any other way. You’re standing in the Fuyuki Grail War. As long as you have at least one servant, the others will consider you a target.

Then, a voice rang out in the distance.

???: That is right! We won’t let anything stand between us and the grail!

The lancer found us first. He was massive, barely a head shorter than Spartacus, and he strode towards us as if he had already won. A couple of the Personas intercepted him, but they didn’t even slow him down, each one of them downed with a different weapon embedded in them.

Shadow Lancer: Go on, struggle! The misery of the weak is so entertaining.

Jeanne: Hundred Personas, fall back! Let Mash and Saber Lily deal with that one.

As the assassins cleared the field, Mash and the younger servant surged forth to meet the enemy. Between the clashes of weapon and shield, one thing quickly became apparent- both sides had impeccable defenses. The lancer’s weapons always met with Mash’s shield, but at the same time Lily’s sword was just as successful.

Jeanne: I don’t like this. Mash fought one war of attrition already. We need to break this stalemate.

We weren’t the only one who thought that. The slightest ripple of activity was the only warning we got.

Jeanne: MASH, ON YOUR LEFT!

Mash brought her shield up just in time to deflect the mystery attacker, but this left her wide open to Lancer, who dealt a crushing blow to her side.

Jeanne: Mash!

Lancer: I was handling this just fine, Assassin.

Assassin: Please, you play with your food too much. Finish this so we can go after that caster already!

Mash: No! I can still fight!

Mash gasped as the struggled to her feet.

Jeanne: Hundred Personas, can you keep that assassin off Mash?

Farseer: We will have his head.

The assassins darted off as Mash and Lancer continued their war of attrition. Mash was shaken, but for now, her shield held. Meanwhile, the sound of dozens of knives meeting rang out in every direction above them.

Hundred Personas: Greetings, predecessor.

Shadow Cursed Arm: Ah, you do recognize me! Excellent, this will make your defeat all the sweeter.

Hundred Personas: I wish we didn’t to be honest. It is disheartening to see a Hassan so far gone that even the Great Founder cannot be bothered to take his head. We will have to do so on his behalf.

Shadow Cursed Arm: You talk about falling from grace, and yet you can’t even respect your elders enough to give up and die!

The delicate dance of their fight was suddenly shattered by the cudgel that is Spartacus throwing himself into the mix.

Spartacus: Ahahaha! I see now! You who would oppress the future, you are my enemy!

Kat: <Seriously? Lancer’s been talking like a sentai villain for ages, and that’s what set him off?>

Cris: <Look I know he’s dumb as hell but this is the first goddamn thing he’s done all day.> Sorry Personas, just roll with it!

Between the Hundred Personas harassing him whenever he changed positions and Spartacus lumbering after him when he stopped, the shadow assassin was quickly losing the fight. But he wasn’t done just yet.

Shadow Cursed Arm: Writhe in Agony! Zabaniya!

The bindings on his right hand fell away, and the other hassans scattered to avoid the attack. Spartacus charged forward, completely oblivious.

Everything seemed to stop as the shadow assassin’s hand entered Spartacus’ chest. Mash and Lancer were still locked in combat, and the hassans looked on in anger, ready to avenge their ally. Spartacus just laughed. He laughed even as his heart was ripped out of him.

In fact, he was laughing afterwards too. That should have been the first warning sign.

Cursed Arm finished his noble phantasm, crushing Spartacus’ heart in his hand. Suddenly the magical energy in his heart spiked and became unstable, and the assassin didn’t have a hand anymore. Without his cursed arm, the shadow assassin was easy pickings for Hundred Personas. Spartacus collapsed from the wound, but he still tried to drag himself after the hassans as the fight continued.

Mash and Lancer continued their fight much as they had before, but Mash’s movements were slowing even faster than before. Before the fight could drag on any longer, a gout of flame burst from the ground, separating the two.

???: I appreciate your guts, girl! I guess I can’t leave you all like this after all!

Another servant teleported onto the battlefield between Mash and the lancer.

Lancer: Caster! Why would you side with these fools?

Caster: Simple! It’s better than being on your side! Now then kid, you’re the master here, right? The enemy of your enemy might not be your friend, but I think we can work together for a bit.

Lancer: Enough of this! I’ll end this grail war here and now!

Lancer struck, but his weapons found empty air. Caster dodged every swing, nimbly bouncing around the battlefield.

Jeanne: Mash, get in there and give him some breathing room! He won’t be able to get any spells off like this!

Mash: Right, Senpai!

Metal clashed with metal once again as Mash jumped back into the fray. Caster just stood there, bemused.

Caster: You have a lot to learn, kid. Not everyone has to chant to use magic, you know!

Sure enough, I could feel tiny motes of magic left everywhere Caster had touched the ground. Including one nearby his feet.

Jeanne: Mash, push him towards me! Trust me!

With a yell, Mash rammed her shield into her opponent. Like every blow before it, Lancer blocked it easily, but the sheer weight behind her shield was enough to make him move his footing. His foot brushed against the rune, and the spell ignited. That opening was all we needed. Mash was finally able to go on the offensive, and with my directions Lancer was forced into trap after trap, whittling him down until he finally collapsed.

Mash: hah, hah… All enemies… *gasp* defeated, Senpai!

#fgo #mastersona

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xyliane · 4 years

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AUgust 7: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS 12 YEAR OLD

PROMPT THE SEVENTH: CHILDHOOD FRIENDS wait how can you childhood friends au killugon, I asked myself, forgetting that I had a whole-ass idea in my drafts already. this one’s a proper fic, too (minus editing cuz l o l it’s an AU writing challenge, not editing challenge). T, aged-up killugon, modern day au. ft ambiguous descriptions of social media, alluka, kalluto, and leorio in killua’s corner, and zushi and spinner in gon’s, brief discussion of getting plastered and dealing with a hangover. 5000 words.

0o0o0o0o0

The first sign that today is going to be an absolutely terrible day, is when Killua wakes up with a hangover.

This does not happen. Killua can count on one hand the number of times he’s gotten so drunk he’s had a hangover, and most of them are the fault of his little siblings. Little siblings who are now living together, whose couch he is currently painfully existing upon, half too hot and his toes way too cold. And the couch is too soft, an old secondhand thing he’d helped Alluka grapple up the stairs months ago after they found it outside an old dorm. He makes a notch in his very sore brain to blame the current situation on them. Kalluto might be kind enough to let a drunk big brother crash with them, but Alluka has a devious streak a mile wide.

Yeah. This is definitely their fault.

One eye slowly creaks open, surveying his surroundings through blurry vision. Nothing out of the ordinary here. He’s in the pajamas he’s left with Alluka forever ago, curled up under an old blanket he gave her for Nanika’s birthday. It’s covered in the Matrix code, all green letters on black wool. It barely covers him from chest to knees, which explains the cold toes.

Sunlight flickers through the curtains, cheerful and bright, and Killua pulls the blanket over his face. He’ll take cold toes over being blinded by his headache.

The second sign that today is going to be an absolutely terrible day, is when a noise like a chainsaw burrowing through a marshmallow erupts from his phone buzzing on the coffee table, just barely out of reach.

Killua attempts to bury himself under the blanket. He’s not dealing with work today.

And then he remembers: He doesn’t have work. Work can’t bother him today. Not just because it’s a weekend—work never respected the sanctity of weekends, no matter that he was at least partially in charge and used to have a fancy degree hanging on his wall. He doesn’t have work anymore. Killua quit.

Which, well. That explains the hangover.

He’s still blaming his siblings.

His phone buzzes loud enough to break the sound barrier, and Killua decides, fuck it. He doesn’t have anything to lose. If it’s the-place-formerly-known-as-work, he can delete everything. If it’s Mom or Father, he can definitely delete everything. And maybe it’s a friendly person, congratulating him on giving up a job that for anyone else would have been an absolute money-making dream. He’ll delete those too.

It takes a few tries to unlock his phone, and it unfortunately involves opening his eyes, squinting against the glaring light of the screen. But once he does, he frowns. Maybe he’s seeing double. Or a hundredfold. Because he should not have this many notifications.

awwww cute, i hope u 2 find each other! the top one says. It has several hundred likes. Why is it in his notifications?

Scrolling down reveals that it’s not an anomaly.

wtf man how can you find a TWELVE YEAR OLD from FIFTEEN YEARS AGO.

Me and my mom went on a cruise around there once, it was really pretty!

this is so sweet T__T maybe this is him?

And then another hundred photos of brown-skinned men with varying degrees of shirt-wearing, all black haired and most of them buff in very appealing ways and all of them beaming at Killua.

“What the fuck,” Killua croaks as he scrolls through all of the images and messages. Maybe this is a dream. A really weird, hangover-induced dream about how little of a social life he has, that his phone is possessed by someone else’s. A warning of sorts, that he should never have installed any social media on his phone ever, not even for hookups.

The reason for all the notifications lies at the top of his own page. Just a few sentences, all-caps, with an image of an old crinkled photo of two boys on a tropical beach, grinning at the camera. Killua sees himself, white curly hair flying in all directions and pale skin sunburned and ruddy with the briny wind, happier than Killua can ever remember being. Next to him, one arm slung around his shoulders and the other holding a bucket full of seashells, is a brown-skinned boy with freckles dancing across his nose and the tops of his shoulders, brown eyes wide and laughing and black hair thick and spiked from some mix of wind and seawater and natural gravity defiance.

He didn’t know he still had this photo. It had followed him from childhood all the way through grad school, a carefully guarded keepsake hidden away from the watchful eyes of his parents and Illumi, before ending up in a box or a bag at some point in the last few years. Part of Killua thought he’d lost it in the move. He barely remembers much about being twelve, about the cruise he’d been forcibly dragged on. But he remembers…

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY? yells the caption. WE WERE BEST FRIENDS FOR A WEEK WHEN I GOT DRAGGED ON A CRUISE BY MY ASSHOLE PARENTS. HE WAS 12 ON WHALE ISLAND 15 YEARS AGO. IF FOUND, DM IMMEDIATELY.

“Gon,” Killua breathes.

He gathers himself, wrapping the blanket around his head in a feeble protection against the morning, and lurches over to Alluka’s room.

He gets to bang on her door three times, confused spite winning out over his own pounding headache, before Kalluto appears out of their room, blinking blearily at Killua. “Shut up.”

Killua kicks Alluka’s door for good measure, and brandishes his phone in front of him like a weapon. “Not until you explain what the hell this is doing on the internet.”

Kalluto pales, then flushes, then pales again. “Oh. Um.”

At that, Alluka creaks her door open, guilty blue eyes far too awake for how close to noon it is. Killua kind of wants to kill her on principle alone. If he has to be hungover, so does everyone else.

“Explain,” he grinds out through his teeth.

The third and final sign that today is going to be an absolutely terrible day, is when Alluka puts on her most winning smile, the kind she uses to ward off angry customers and idiotic faux-academics on the internet. “Congratulations, Brother! I might have made you go viral.”

Killua throws his phone at her.

—————

Today’s going to be a good day, Gon decides. He’s been in the forests of East Gorteau for the better part of a month, which normally isn’t so bad. But this group has been…They’re nice enough, when Gon’s not spending half of his time explaining that, no, that species of plant does not make a good stew, and no, that species is endangered please don’t hunt them, and yes Gon is sure he doesn’t date his clients even after the hike, and no the reason the tent fell over again is because it wasn’t properly set up in the first place—

All of Aunt Mito’s complaints about tourists on Whale Island make so much more sense, now that Gon’s leading backwoods hikes.

But last night had been fun! Spinner had met the group at a pre-set campsite not far from their pickup so Gon hadn’t had to work the whole night, and he could relax with his friend over good food, more alcohol than he probably should have drunk, and not having to explain to Mrs. Yuldvin the difference between marijuana, buckeye, and poison oak again. Spinner had even taken care of the fire, although she had left him to rescue the Podomos siblings from the ruins of their tent with nothing more than a smirk and a wave. Nevertheless, Gon smiled through his headache all morning, because soon he’ll be home, and he can sleep.

Zushi is waiting in the parking lot once Gon’s done packing up the last of the gear and saying goodbye to Spinner, jeep idling while he flicks through his phone, thick eyebrows drawn together in increasing concern. He doesn’t even look up until Gon drops his pack onto the hood of the car, and he jolts so badly in surprise that he tosses his phone in the air.

“Are you okay?” Gon asks, and tries to peek at the screen.

Zushi pulls it up and away, a frantic look in his eyes. It won’t really keep Gon from seeing what’s happening, not if he wants to, but Zushi’s height is enough of a deterrent to make it hard. “You were gone way too long,” he says.

Gon leans against the hot metal of Zushi’s car. It wasn’t an unusual length for a trip, not really—this backcountry needs the length to be able to see and understand the region. Not to mention the Small Billed Swan preservation society keeping the whole place locked down except to authorized guides and trekkers. Zushi knows this. They’ve been roommates long enough that this isn’t even the longest time Gon’s been gone.

“You knew I’d be gone til today,” Gon says.

“Yeah, but…” Zushi’s eyebrows descend even further, scrunching his whole face up in worry. “You haven’t checked your phone, right?”

“No?” Even if he did have cell service, Gon never brings his own phone. He borrows Kite’s satellite phone, because it is more reliable and doesn’t need to be charged constantly.

“Okay. Well.” Zushi takes a deep breath, then another, one of Wing’s old meditation techniques. Despite his exhaustion and single-minded determination to sink into a real bed and sleep for a week, Gon feels a minor pang of worry. On breath three, he unlocks his phone and turns it towards Gon. “You’re a meme.”

On Zushi’s screen is a photo Gon can’t ever forget about. Backed by Whale Island’s sunbleached white beaches and the humid brilliant colors of summer, Gon sees himself—twelve, smiling from ear to ear, hair a mess from swimming and his shirt practically covered in sand from digging up all the seashells in his bucket. He’s got an arm around another boy, who’s caught mid-laugh so his blue eyes burn the same color as the sky, white curls even messier than Gon’s hair. They look like they’ve known each other their whole lives, like they’d still be best friends even if they haven’t seen or spoken to each other since the photo was taken.

Gon hopes Killua thinks so, too.

He cradles the phone in his hand, carefully zooming in on their faces and the errant crinkles visible through the photo. His own faded copy is in a drawer, having survived a whole trip around the world and countless apartment jumps. This one looks just as well cared for, in its own way.

“That…is you, right?” Zushi asks carefully. “Because Wing was asking, and half of Kite’s guide company is yelling about it on your social media page that you don’t even use, and now people are messaging me, and they’re saying the weirdest things, and the post is from last week, so—”

“It’s Killua,” Gon says. A smile spreads across his face, a mirror to the one he’d had when he was twelve. “That’s Killua!”

“Who?” the others ask, but Gon isn’t listening.

He spins, frantically searching his pockets for his phone. “Spinner, can you do me a favor?”

She narrows her eyes suspiciously.

Gon knew today was going to be a good day.

—————

It’s been a week, and Killua has quit all social media forever.

The steady buzz of his phone informing the apartment of his notifications is not his problem. Alluka’s the one who decided to hack into his phone and post something to his old public account, the one he mostly uses for photos of cats and complaining about terrible business precedents. He hasn’t posted much since school, and if anything, it should have simply vanished into the void of the internet.

He finds the culprit fairly quickly, and for once it’s not his sister’s moderate but dedicated video following.

“Old man, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

Leorio lounges in Alluka and Kalluto’s living room, freshly out of his scrubs and looking pleased as all hell. “I just reblogged a fun post from my friend,” he says somewhat defensively. “You were a cute kid, Killua. What happened?”

Killua feels a growl creep up his throat. “You can’t just do that,” he snaps.

“It’s not my fault the people like my well-coiffed but rugged appearance and dedication to social justice in medicine.”

“You have 500,000 followers because you made a joke post two years ago, and some authorized user reblogged it five times. It has nothing to do with your ugly mug.” If Killua squints and plugs his ears, he can even see why people think Leorio’s attractive or whatever: tan skin, lean but strong as hell, actually takes care of his hair, not to mention a damn good doctor with one of the most prestigious institutions in Yorknew who spends most of his free time running health clinics in impoverished neighborhoods. That’s all swell. But then he starts talking, and Killua has no idea where the off button is.

Leorio spreads a hand out, gesturing vaguely with the glass of iced tea that he’d helped himself to out of Alluka’s stash. “It has everything to do with my ‘ugly mug,’” he says. “Which is why I used my powers for good and spread your post. Don’t you want to find him?”

“Not like this!”

“You were not going to find him at all,” Kalluto’s quiet voice pipes up from the kitchen. They have night classes tonight, but Killua has a feeling that even if they were supposed to be attending their Yorknew Uni lectures, they would still be here making Killua’s life worse. “You’ve had that picture for years, and you did not even try to look.”

Leorio gives him a judgmental look over the tops of his stupid tiny glasses. “You haven’t?”

It would be a losing game to bury his burning face in one of the throw pillows, so Killua does his best to cross his arms over his chest and glower instead. “I…tried.”

“And?”

“I don’t even know his last name!” Killua splutters. “I didn’t have his number or where he was from, other than his mom worked on the ship. And that cruiseline went bankrupt and liquidated everything before I could get out of the house, so I couldn’t even look that up.”

Kalluto crosses over from the kitchen and perches like a sweatshirt-wearing crow on the coffee table, their blue eyes carefully neutral under straight black bangs. “Alluka and Nanika would have helped. Or even Milluki, if you had explained the situation.”

“I was eighteen, okay? I just left home, and our parents were still being…shit, themselves, I guess.” He hadn’t even considered asking for help. Then again, he’d tried the moment he could, that first summer of undergrad where he didn’t have to come home and Illumi couldn’t spend half his time breathing down the back of Killua’s neck. He had a general idea of where they’d gone, maps of islands scurried away in the closet with the old photo and a bag full of seashells Gon had given him as a going-away present.

They’d been friends for a week, in the whirlwind way that only kids can be. The cruise ship was massive, and Killua’s parents were in meetings half the time and playing nice with the other rich people on board the other half. Killua had been bored witless, and Gon was everything he couldn’t have possibly imagined: encouraging Killua to go exploring, to stealing food from the kitchens, making him help clean up the decks, playing cards with the deckhands. Sneaking off the boat to visit an island without Killua’s parents while the ship was docked, scrambling over the burning hot sands and dashing through the jungle, diving into the waves fully clothed and competing to see who could find the biggest prettiest shells. Gon’d been Killua’s first friend, his first crush, his first…a lot of firsts.

Then the cruise had ended, and Killua forgot to give Gon his phone number. His address. Anything. They’d been so swept up in being friends, being best friends, it had seemed impossible that they would never see each other again.

Does Gon even remember? Why should he, when Killua hasn’t contacted him? Would they even be friends anymore?

Maybe he hadn’t searched hard enough. But part of Killua thinks he shouldn’t have tried at all.

The phone buzzes loudly, and Killua tries not to flinch.

“Hey, Killua. It’s okay.” Leorio leans forward, hands clasped over his too-long limbs and expression gentle. “If you want me to delete it, I will. Not sure I can help with the viral part of things, except maybe go through your messages and delete the gross ones, or at least find the weirdest ones for you to laugh at later.”

“Alluka and I have been doing this already,” Kalluto says, their posture a little too protective for Killua’s raw nerves at this point. “But perhaps you have some suggestions for what to do next, Dr. Paladiknight?”

Leorio smiles sympathetically. “Don’t read the comments? That said, most of your comments have been much more positive than anything I usually post. The masses seem to be genuinely rooting for you, kid.”

“I have only had to delete a dozen lewd messages for you this morning,” Kalluto adds, not mentioning the hundred or so that Alluka took care of yesterday.

Killua’s traitorous phone buzzes again, and that’s it. Time to bury himself in a pillow. Killua flops onto the couch, narrowly missing Leorio, and does his best to burrow into the cushions. “That’s just great,” he says into the fabric.

A comforting hand rubs against his hair, messing up the curls for a moment, and Killua refuses to admit that it’s nice, that he has friends like Leorio who even bother to care. “It could be worse. You could be dealing with this while still working a soul-sucking job making more money than most of us will see in our lifetimes, in exchange for giving up all of your morals.”

Killua groans loudly. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”

“You’re gonna need to do something, Killua! And hey, I might be able to set something up with my—”

“I already told you, no.”

“But it’s what you’re good at. And you wouldn’t be fucking people over to do it.”

“No.”

“Just listen for one—”

Killua lifts his head enough to glare as murderously as he can at Leorio. It must work at least a little, because the doctor shuts up.

Meanwhile, Kalluto is scrolling through Killua’s phone, poking at the screen occasionally. In the awkward silence, their sharp gasp is loud enough to shatter a window, and they hurriedly shove the phone in the pocket of their oversized sweatshirt.

Leorio raises an eyebrow. “Everything okay?”

Kalluto squeezes their eyes shut for a moment, then carefully places the phone on the coffee table, screen pointed innocently at the ceiling. “You will want to look at this one, Brother.”

“This isn’t another erotic sandcastle is it?” he says.

Kalluto shakes their head, and Killua’s stomach lurches up his throat. Alluka has been the one excited about this whole thing. But Kalluto, as reserved as they are, is a massive romantic. The whole thing might be Alluka’s fault, but Killua knows it’s Kalluto who almost lets themselves believe it’ll work. Despite all of the false positives, the people who send messages that don’t sound right or photos that have the wrong smile.

Killua doesn’t want to hope. It can’t possibly be Gon. But his hands shake nonetheless as he unlocks his phone and finds a new message in his DMs.

It’s not from Gon.

Instead, someone with the icon of a small-billed white swan in a soft small-billed hat and a handle of @flymypretties has sent a photo of a brown-skinned man with spiky black hair absolutely covered in dirt and grime. He’s waving at the camera, a backpacking bag propped against his shoulder and the widest smile Killua has ever seen beaming straight through the screen and into his chest. Next to him and half out of frame, a tall tanned man with massive black eyebrows and a tank top showing off an impressive amount of muscle has his head in his hands. Killua feels a sharp stab of sympathy, somewhere buried beneath the racing of his heart.

look im sorry about this but this idiot can’t find his phone and we r kind of in the middle of nowhere so reception’s shit. he wants to know if you admit he found the biggest seashell on the beach, whatever that means.

For a long, long moment—seconds? minutes maybe?—Killua can do nothing but stare at the screen of his phone. Leorio and Kalluto both look at him with a mix of curiosity and worry, Kalluto starting to slowly reach for the phone.

In a completely childish protective moment, Killua grabs it against his chest, like the image will vanish if he doesn’t keep it close.

“Is it…?” Leorio asks.

Killua swallows heavily, trying to think around the roaring of the ocean in his ears. “I think so,” he says faintly.

Kalluto’s eyes widen, and they spin on their heels towards their room. “I’m calling Alluka!”

—————

“Has he responded?”

“No!”

“…what about now?”

Spinner throws her hands in the air so violently that her hat falls off. “For god’s sake, Gon, it’s been an hour, you don’t even have your phone, and you still need to go home.”

Gon huffs and pouts. They’re still in the parking lot over an hour after the rest of the trekking group has left, and all the exhaustion that had settled into Gon’s body from the tour has been turned into a jittery energy that keeps trying to leak out from under his skin. He wants to go home immediately and dig out his copy of the photo, rub out the old fingerprints he and Aunt Mito have left on it over the years. He wants to find his phone and message Killua directly. He wants to wait right here until Killua responds, no matter how long it takes.

He knows it’s childish, to be this selfish. Spinner has work to do, work that she already put on hold to help with the last day of the tour. Kite probably will want to know what’s happening, or at least why his lead guide and his chief guide organizer have been stuck in a parking lot. And Gon can practically feel Zushi’s obsessive scrolling through social media, frantically trying to navigate Gon’s feeds without actually having access.

Gon needs to find his phone.

“Spinner, what if—”

It’s not that Spinner’s a large woman. Out of the three people standing in the parking lot, Zushi’s far and away the strongest, even if he is about as threatening as a large, muscular teddy bear. And Gon has only packed on weight and muscle over his years of backpacking around the wilderness, no matter that he’s not super tall. But Spinner goes for longer, harder treks on her own than anyone but Kite, and she packs in her own climbing gear on top of that, so when she tosses Gon into the back of Zushi’s jeep, he flies.

“Zushi,” she says in a low exhausted snarl, and he jumps right off the hood of his car. Gon probably would have felt bad for him, if everything wasn’t spinning. “If you do not take your roommate home, I am not responsible for the consequences.”

“What if you hear back?” Gon groans around the aches in his side.

Spinner rolls her eyes, and Gon knows she’s just tired. “I’ll let you know.”

“But what if my phone’s gone? What will I do if someone stole it, or if I can’t—”

“I’ll call you go home already,” she says, and slams the door shut on his face.

For a long moment, the only sound is Spinner storming away, boots thudding heavily in the dirt until her car door slams.

The jeep shifts slightly as Zushi quietly lowers himself into the driver’s seat and puts the key into the ignition. Gon wants to tell him to follow Spinner, so she can yell out the window as soon as Killua gets back to her. But Zushi looks about ready to bolt. So Gon slumps back in the seat, the rumble of tires crunching through gravel making his already jittery nerves shake.

A small voice that sounds a lot like Kite tells Gon that it’s better to wait, that it will be easier to have a conversation and determine if this really is Killua after a rest and a shower.

Gon doesn’t want that, though. He wants…

It’s been a long time since he was on Whale Island. Longer still since he saw Killua. That doesn’t mean he stopped thinking about either of them, during the quiet moments out under the stars. They’re part of him, like his lungs are part of him—essential and irreplaceable, buried so far inside that removing them would change him irrevocably.

What is Killua like now? Is Gon just as important to him as he is to Gon? He has to be. Right?

They make it home without saying anything else. Gon floats in and out between bone-deep weariness and electric sparks of nervous joy, and Zushi flinches every time Gon jolts himself from one to the other.

“Hey, are you…I mean, maybe not okay, but.”

Gon lifts his chin up sharply at the sound of his roommate’s voice, and notices the familiar apartment complex in front of him. Oh, they’re home. “I’m good,” he says, and grins.

“Sure,” Zushi says like he doesn’t believe Gon.

A dubious silence stretches out between them as they gather the rest of the gear, dropping it in a heap on the sidewalk. “You were kids, though,” Zushi finally says.

Gon shrugs and slams the door shut hard enough to make the vehicle rattle. “I didn’t forget. So I don’t think Killua would, either.”

Zushi’s eyebrows wrinkle on each other, like they can’t decide whether to go up or down and settle on some combination of the two. “What if he did?”

“He didn’t,” Gon says, more sure of that than anything else in his life.

Zushi’s eyebrows dance again, but he doesn’t say anything else.

Between Gon’s camping gear and Zushi’s leftover practice pads, it takes longer than Gon’s excitement can take to get everything settled enough to look for his phone. Well, Gon would have liked to look for his phone, but Zushi makes a pointed look at the shower. There are only so many places the phone could be in the whole apartment, after all.

Gon’s just drying off when Zushi knocks on the door. “I found it, but it’s dead,” he says, voice muffled.

“Then charge it!” Gon shouts. After a moment, he adds, quieter and less snappishly, “Please?”

A faint laugh echoes through the apartment.

By the time Gon can make himself a very early dinner of whatever he could grab out of the cabinets without thinking, the phone is charged enough to turn on. Sure enough, there are a wide variety of messages, mostly from Kite’s groupchat asking about the viral post. A few are from former hikers, people who Gon liked enough to share contact info, offering to see if they can get in touch. There are even a few—okay, how did they get ahold of his old social media page? It’s practically defunct, since Gon’s never had a phone capable of more than the most basic apps. And those are…

It’s flattering in a way, but Gon’s not really into that. Or them.

Zushi catches sight of the grimace, and takes one look over Gon’s shoulder before turning beet red.

By the time he’s gone through and deleted the vast majority of what had been filling up his phone, there’s still no message from Spinner, and nothing at all from Killua. Gon sighs and lies his head down on the table with a heavy thunk.

The other chair scrapes heavily along the tiles as Zushi sits, a mug of coffee in his hands. “What will you do? When he messages you, I mean.”

When, not if, an unexpected certainty coming from Zushi. Gon has the best friends in the world. “Talk to him,” Gon says. “It’s only been fifteen years, right? We promised we’d be friends forever.”

“A lot changes in fifteen years,” Zushi says.

“Not that.”

“Then why didn’t you look for him?”

Gon frowns. It had taken a long, long time, but Aunt Mito managed to track down the cruise captain the last time they were in port, tracing through old charters until the right names came up. But when she’d called them up, she’d been met with stonewall after stonewall, pleasant-sounding voices insisting in no uncertain terms that she would never speak with a member of Killua’s family, let alone let her son speak to his friend. By the time Gon was old enough to look himself, he found nothing but a mansion full of people whose eyes matched Killua’s in everything except for his warmth, who refused to even acknowledge Gon’s presence except to throw him out.

That had been years ago. It’s not that Gon stopped looking. Not exactly.

“I did, but I—” Gon starts to say, but his phone buzzes violently against the table, and they both jump out of their chairs.

“Is it—?” Zushi asks, breath in his throat.

It’s a message from Spinner. you owe me big time, kid, she says, followed by a phone number.

Gon rips his phone off the cable, a wide smile spreading across his face. “It is,” he says, and dials Killua.

—————

bzz bzz—

bzz b—

“H-hello?”

“Killua! Hi!”

“…Gon? Is that—It’s really…?”

“Killua, it’s you, I thought I’d never—”

“I did find the biggest seashell, and you know it.”

A breath, sharp and astonished. “The blue and white one, with green lines.”

“I found it, and I gave it to you.”

“I still have it.”

A snort of amusement, slightly damp. “I know. You promised you’d keep it.”

“I did. And I promised—”

“That we’d be friends forever.”

A laugh, delighted and teary at the same time. “I knew you remembered.”

“I did promise you that I would.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

(AUgust prompts)

#AUgust2020 #hunter x hunter #hxh #killugon #gon freecss #killua zoldyck #alluka zoldyck #kalluto zoldyck #leorio paladiknight #zushi #spinner clow #gone viral au #fluff #and then killua visits gon and they get together and everything is lovely and killua finally takes leorio up on his offer the end #thanks tumblr for fucking up my tag for this whole challenge #my writing

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dimension-after-dark · 3 years

Text

MC hanahaki drabble

I look into my mirror and frown, the pain in my chest has been getting stronger. It started not long after I helped the brothers make up with Belphie. My already sleepless nights were only made worse by the new cough.

I start to cough again and a petal comes out? Oh fuck. I'm in love, I thought that those were just little crushes. Welp i'm not gonna tell them, i'll die loving them too. I just hope I don't have any roses in there.

More coughing because everything hates me and guess what there's more kinds of petals. Lily of the Valley and rose petals, poison and thorns. This is just great, I've only known for hours and I'm coughing up an entire bouquet.

I pull out my ddd and write a really long text to Valefar, he's not going to be happy but he can't make me get the surgery. Just because he got it and is fine now doesn't mean I will be. He doesn't even see Kokabiel hiding his coughs, the small petals I don't know the names of hidden in his smiles. Yes my last words will be berating my brother for not confessing as I do the same. I know it's hypocritical but I decided a long time ago I was never going to confess to someone again.

The doors locked and it's pretty late, the only person who might still be up would be Lucifer. I've been blocking the pain in my chest for a long time so I know they don't know about it. If I survive til morning I can make up a vision or I can lie saying that I just had a nosebleed in my sleep. They still don't know how little I sleep.

I send the text to my brother and turn my ddd on, do not disturb, Mammon and Asmodeus will know very soon what's happening. They are friends with my brother after all, Solomon will know too but he's not here.

I can't speak anymore, my throat is far too torn at this point from the thorns. Every time I get hanahaki it progresses faster, I think this will be the time it gets me. If it was just a bit later I would die at the age of twenty, just a few weeks now. It's Valentine's day isn't it? Yeah it is today.

Ironic that I'm dying on a day of love a month from the age of twenty, or is it more tragic? Either way I wouldn't be able to get the surgery now, I can feel the various parts of the plants ripping out of me.

"Dimension let us in!" Asmos here, took him a while. He's going to wake up the rest of the house, through the pact I try to quiet him down. Lucifer needs any sleep he can get after all.

"No you can't die on me! Ya can't just leave your first man!" Mammon he sounds like he was crying, he must have tripped on his way over.

The plants are ripping out of me, it hurts so much. Am I screaming or is someone else? I can't block it all out of the pacts bond. I send the feeling of remorse and it's very cold. I'm cold and it all hurts. I can barely breathe anymore, everything looks fuzzy like tv static.

Mammon breaks down the door with Asmodeus, Solomon, and Valefar on his heels. Dimension is already dead and their corpse is more plant than body at this point. The rest of the house of lamentations are awake and they walk in one by one minus the twins who walk in together.

Dimension's corpse sits on the ground with an entire bouquet spilling from their torso and lips. Roses and thorny vines wrap around them, snowballs stained red are spread across the room, sprigs of enchanter's nightshade lay in the mess of flowers, globe amaranth lays covered in blood wet and red, buttercups and lily of the valley are intermixed in the mess, pink camellias and peonies complete the mess. As their body cools the plants continue to grow, they grow towards everyone in the room except for Lucifer and Valefar.

Dimension's feelings are revealed after their death but no one can understand what to do. Valefar is angry at everyone here but himself worst of all, he knew they were at risk for hanahaki.

#obey me imagines #obey me solomon #obey me mammon #hanahaki #obey me mc #the hanahaki gets worse based on how many times youve had it or how strong the feelings are #actually both make it worse #dimension was doomed the whole time #if they had gone for the sugery when they first coughed they would habe survived #also they would have not been rejected by the various males they loved #this isnt cannon to my fic about them

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prettyoddfever · 4 years

Text

recording AFYCSO in summer 2005

THE MAIN POST

EARLY JUNE 2005

The band waited until Brendon was done with school before they left for College Park, Maryland to record their first album (Spencer & Brent had been finishing online).

Brendon said in a livejournal comment in early June that they were leaving for Maryland on the morning of his high school graduation so he wouldn’t get to walk in the ceremony.

Ryan discovered The Hush Sound online before Panic left to record. He shared the link with Pete & helped them get signed. Then he posted their purevolume link on his own livejournal on June 3rd and said “this band is something you’ll all thank me for knowing about before they blow up.”

Pete had started subtly promoting P!ATD.

June 3rd – Ryan on FBR: “well hello there,my name is ryan. im in this band called panic at the disco, and right now we are just finishing up writing the record, we leave for maryland in two weeks. Matt Squier is producing it and i'm sure he'll make it sound wonderful.other than that not much has been happening as of late. the academy was in town a few nights ago..they played spectacular i'd have to say. oh tomorrow we are going to trl to meet fat joe and see fall out boy. i can't wait to get in the pool with all the frat boys and girls. thats all i got for now. i'll probably be back soon. i like the internet too much.”

June 6th – Brendon’s lj: ‘cause you could bend the truth, ‘til it’s suiting you. 8 days. i’m so ready but i’m so not. god, i wish she’d really get a move on things. the other girl should just move on. I love.

June 7th – Ryan’s lj: i’ll be missing someone special. perfectly horrible timing. “yeah, you do you do you do you do you do. you make me want you” “send me all your vampires”

June 13th – Ryan on FBR: “hey we leave for recording today. 6 day drive across the country, i can't wait. if i can find out how, i'll be posting some pictures from the studio in here soon enough.”

June 13th – Brendon’s lj: “‘when there’s nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.’ t-minus you’re out of time. destination: maryland. recording for the album. please, please try to stay open minded. thank you.”

The guys usually said that they left for Maryland 4-5 days after Brendon’s last day of school.

The sleepover pics might be from the first night when the guys were driving out east to record AFYCSO. They’re from around that time, though.

LIVING TOGETHER IN MARYLAND:

Several future articles said that the band flew straight to Maryland to record after being signed. Even John Janick claimed he flew the band out east to record… and no. It is not a glamorous story like that. The guys took turns driving their van across the country and stayed in a crappy one-bedroom apartment that was full of bugs (it was an affordable apartment that Matt Squire kept for bands who needed it). Brent said the dumpster outside had writing on it in what looked like blood. The guys lived off of cheap junk food and their toilet only worked sometimes.

The band was still trying to figure out how to work together and had some added pressure now. I mentioned a bit more in the post on Ryan’s writing about how Brendon & Ryan struggled to figure out how to work together.

Ryan also talked to The Daily Telegraph about how the guys got irritated with each other this summer: “We were making things up in our heads that weren't there, and on top of the stress of trying to finish the record, we were living in a one-bedroom apartment with four people on bunk beds. Everyone got on everybody's nerves. Someone would write a new part for a song and someone else would say they didn't like it just because you ate their cereal that morning.”

It sounded like Brendon was still having some momentary panic this summer that he wasn’t making a responsible life decision by pursuing the band as an actual job.

Brendon kicked a hole in the wall of their apartment (but Spencer & Ryan said in interviews that it wasn’t from stress or anger or anything… he was just being Brendon and doing backflips. He paid their producer for the damage).

MATT SQUIRE IS AMAZING

Brendan from The Receiving End of Sirens talked about how P!ATD picked their producer: “I remember Matt Squire had been introduced to Panic! and it was between Matt Squire and some other big-name guys. I remember we were in Racine Wisconsin… and Squiz had texted me saying ‘can you call this kid Spencer, he’s in this band Panic! at the Disco, and convince him to work with me?’ So I was like ‘heeeeyyy is this Spencer? You should work with Matt Squire.’ He’s like ‘oh. cool, man. thanks.’”

P!ATD and Matt Squire have all given different numbers in various interviews, but basically the band showed up in Maryland with anywhere between 4-7 drafts of songs and the rest were written there. Matt helped them structure their songs, gave them direction & ideas, somehow worked with their tiny $10k budget, stopped them from trashing some amazing parts, and really understood the unique sounds they were going for... I don’t think AFYCSO as we know it would exist without him.

Spencer told AMP a couple months later: “As far as the recording goes, all credit goes to Matt Squire. He really helped piece this together. We chose to go with Matt over a couple of people and we’re very happy with that.”

Brendon said in summer 2006: “It was awesome [working with Matt]. I love that guy… He had so many good ideas that fit perfectly. I should say we had pieces of songs and put them together. We had seven or eight full songs, and then he edited every single one of them. He really helped us out with some ideas. We were really uptight when we were writing. We were like, ‘Man this sucks. We have to work on this chorus.’ He was like, ‘No, man, the chorus is good. Leave it alone.’ He helped us pick the priorities for songs. He was pretty much on the same wavelength as us. He got the idea that we wanted. That's the first time we ever worked with anyone else. There's a lot you can learn from Matt Squire. He's quite the mentor.”

Brent said “Matt Squire made that record sound like we had a $150,000 recording budget and I don’t know very many other producers that could do that. Also, pre-production – I can’t even say how much he helped us structure those songs and turned them into real songs and gave us a direction. We went in there with 5 solid songs but then we had other songs that were just kind of pieces… that guy – he’s a genius. He really is.”

The guys basically gushed over how much they adored Matt Squire… even years later they were still saying how easy he was to get along with and how amazing he was at his job.

LATE JUNE & EARLY JULY JOURNAL ENTRIES

I’m going to be condensing the formatting on the posts for the sake of space. I don’t have every single one of their various journal entries or the pictures that went with some, but this is most of them:

June 27th – Ryan’s livejournal: de biasi de de biasi hello hellooo. i’m in maryland right now, today is the first day of tracking drums which also happens to be the first day i’ll be able to be on the internet. first of about four total. anyways we did preproduction for the past 7 days and the squiz is convinced we are ready to begin bringing the rock. ooooooooooh yea im a nerd. maryland is pretty nice i guess. we met a rapper named Dibiasi at danny’s sub shop, he’s from North Carolina. he’s street. thinking about having him do some guest vocals on our record. his manager “Big Easy” wants us to tour with him. so yea that has probably been the funniest and most awesome thing to happen since we’ve been here. i wear the same clothes almost everyday and have been getting lazier and lazier, started with just wearing basketball shorts everyday…then the same shorts…then same shorts and shirt…then not showering..then not combing my hair.. so if i were famous, this is what i would do to not get noticed in public. but it’s probably gotten so bad that i do get noticed in ways like “look at that poor homeless kid, we should feed him” okay i think i’m done. i’ve said to much. i miss you.you know who you are.

June 27th – Brendon’s lj: the drummer begins to drum. hanging out in the studio at the moment. started tracking drums today after a week of preproduction. the studio is in a little town called college park. the name IS the description. we've got a humble abode in beltsville (yes, like the thrice song) that we share with a few spiders and other insects. i've grown extremely fond of a little sandwich shop here called Danny's. when a restaurant has 3 locations within 2 miles of eachother, it MUST be good. the squiz is awesome. he and his girlfriend had a bbq and invited us over. when the squiz isn't in the studio, he's a master chef. i love my job/life.

July 3rd – Ryan’s lj: as soon as i start being kind of okay she realizes im the best fucking thing that ever happened to her. go figure. to late honey. i am heaven sent, don’t you dare forget. i am all you’ve ever wanted.what all the other boys all promised.

July 3rd – Brendon’s lj: i look at all the lonely people... sometimes watching others play is enough entertainment. you don't need to be good at halo to play, but it helps. finished tracking bass today. guitar begins. saw war of the worlds. if you're into sci-fi like i am then you'll probably like it. we've taken a lot of pictures since we've left home. ryan should be posting them soon. i hope everything is well with all of you. thank you for taking the time to read all of my lousy posts.

July 6th – Ryan on FBR: say hello to mike brooks, he's a friend we made in missouri on our way to maryland. this is much better than any picture i could post of us, so im going to wait a while until this one wears off so it won't be compared.

July 10th – Ryan’s lj: my boo is back home wutwut

July 14th – Brendon’s lj: the hotel fostini... fully loaded. we’ve been tracking guitar, electronics, and some vocals. all is going just fine. havent had any outside time from the studio. but id rather be here for 12 hours a day than at school for half an hour. we've posted some pictures on our website. maybe it'll give you an idea of how we utilize our time in the studio. as well as some people that we've met.

MISC STUFF FROM SUMMER 2005

here’s a tag for pictures from this season

Ryan called into DJ Rossstar’s Punk Rock Show on June 30th and fans could submit questions through AIM or online.

Brendon had started wearing the purple “reading is magic” bracelet from Borders this season... he didn’t even take it off when he was in costume for the summer 2006 tour.

The band’s first tour with Acceptance was announced in July.

the guys left Maryland in the third week of July to head back to Vegas. Some fans later said they saw P!ATD at a show that The Academy Is was doing in NYC on July 22nd, but other people said TAI was busy with their midwest Warped Tour shows that day so whatever idk.

I had definitely heard about P!ATD online by this summer and was vaguely familiar with what the guys were doing even though I wasn’t a fan yet. There was a strange amount of talk going on for a band that only had a couple demos.

Brent said “We were aware that we had too much of a fanbase for how much we released. It was kind of freaking us out that we have so many people listening to us on purevolume on these two demos that we hated cuz we didn’t want to be known by that. But at the same time, people were liking it so it’s like we didn’t want to just erase it because we were writing – we wanted our name out there.”

Brendon posted on his livejournal on July 28th that they had finally made it back to Vegas after a very long drive.

there’s no point in me uploading the band’s studio update since that’s all over youtube, but please ignore the wrong year in the title:

youtube

MORE ABOUT THE WRITING PROCESS

There were a lot of interviews where the band talked about recording their first album, so I’m just sticking in some quotes that summarize some of the more common points that stood out to me...

Ryan to AbsolutePunk.net in fall 2005: “If I could do anything to change the scene it would be to wake everyone up.”

Ryan to the Miami Herald in late 2006: “We’re trying to do things to make a difference in what rock music is seen as right now.”

Ryan to Big Cheese in early 2006: “Years back, bands were a lot better. Nowadays, I don’t know what happened. There’s this lack of effort to be different. We just want to open people’s eyes a little bit, and if we fail? What are you gonna do. Fuck it.”

Spencer (x): "There weren't any expectations with that first album… the goal was just to write the best songs we could.”

AMP asked Ryan in late spring 2006 “What kind of aspirations did you have for this band and this record out of the gate?” “We really had none. The only aspiration we had was to make a record we all liked… I remember times where we would be writing parts and somebody would say, ‘You know, I don’t think people are going to like this.’ Then it was just like, ‘Nobody likes us right now at all. Nobody even knows who we are, so let’s just write it for ourselves and see what happen.’ So our expectations for this record were if we could sell 20,000 copies, we’d consider it a success – as long as we could continue as a band and write another record.”

Ryan to Big Cheese: “It’s always been our intention to write songs that haven’t already been written a thousand times by hundreds of other bands and to really push ourselves. Maybe we can wake kids up and get them listening to more sincere music.”

Ryan to UpBeetMusic: “We wanted to write a record that you wouldn’t have to skip any songs on. Also an album that wasn’t just the same song 11 times repeated, we wanted a lot of different styles on the record. Hopefully it keeps people interested and they’ll listen to it over and over and not get tired of it.”

Brent in September 2005: “I think every song on the record is kind of its own thing, and rather than us have one single be the song that people say, "Oh, this is the song that Panic! At The Disco is known for," I think it needs to be the whole record.”

Spencer in August 2006: “It made us a little nervous thinking that – well, [Pete] likes these 2 or 3 songs but if we write stuff that sounds any different from this are they gonna not like it? Which was awesome that we didn’t really let that thought get into our heads too much and we wrote songs that didn’t sound anything like those and ended up loving them.”

Ryan to PlayMusic in summer 2006: “We’re definitely not a band who can write a song in two days. I don’t know if it’s patience because it definitely drives me crazy. It’s more of a perfectionist attitude that me and Spencer have. We won’t finish a song until we’re happy with every single part.”

(The fact that Ryan is the main person I’m quoting doesn’t necessarily mean that he was the only one with something to say btw... he’s just the person who was interviewed the most and/or spoke for the band a lot).

Nylon asked Ryan how he would sum up his band in one line and Ryan said “it was our goal to open people’s eyes and change what’s going on.” (Other relevant quotes are in the Esteban part of this post). When the band was asked what kind of music they made, they said that was hard but it was based around rock.

THE ALBUM’S TWO HALVES

The guys all talked a lot about how they started P!ATD because they wanted to make music that was different from what every other band was doing (The Summer League had been playing Fall Out Boy covers in early 2004). Their taste was constantly evolving, though... there was even a big difference between the demos P!ATD wanted to write in fall 2004 versus what they were interested in experimenting with by the time they got to the studio in summer 2005:

Brent: “We wrote in a phase that we were rapidly changing what we were listening to. Once we got later into the recording and writing songs – we were getting into like the sixth song – we didn’t even like the first five songs that we wrote, which are basically the first few songs off the record, the ones with the syth and dance influence. That music – we wished we could just scrap that part of the record, have the last half, and write 5 or 6 new songs.”

Just in case it’s helpful to point this out: the first half of the record has a futuristic sound with drum machines & synthesizers and the second half has a more old fashioned Vaudeville sound with the organ and accordion.

Spencer: “We started writing not having a good idea of what we wanted the whole album to sound like. We kind of went in a completely different direction halfway through.”

Ryan to Big Cheese: “For the first half of the record we were focused on the idea of writing songs that people could dance to. The second half came about because we were getting bored writing with only keyboards, guitars, and drum machines.”

Ryan told East Coast Rocker in spring 2006 that the album was easy to write and then he added:

“We all had so many ideas, and we were so excited that the songs just came out. The first half of the record is comprised of the first set of songs we wrote as a band. Throughout the writing process, we just naturally started using different instrumentation. I had also started listening to a lot of movie scores and soundtracks and that definitely crept into our writing. None of it was us at a band meeting figuring out what kind of band we wanted to be, it was all music that came to us naturally that made us excited to be writing.”

I’m not really looking at post-split stuff for info (mostly because I’m just going with the stuff I saved & know, but also because I don’t think the stories are really going to be any more accurate a decade later). But I do like this quote from Matt Squire to Billboard:

“The Vaudeville stuff was kind of all they wanted to do. By the time they got to the studio, they had this identity crisis. They didn’t want to sound like Fall Out Boy, so they wanted to do all this Beatles-y shit… I took them out to lunch and said, ‘Why don’t we tell the story of that creative evolution as the theme of the album?’ You guys are from Vegas and you did some dance shit… now you’re exploring new territory, and that’ll be the second half of the album. They didn’t want to put the rock songs on the album. This was the only way I got them to agree to it.”

Brent said “by making it into a concept it allowed us to go further with the electronic stuff on this side and further with the classical instruments on the other.” Ryan talked about how the album’s split was “two extremes of influence being put next to each other: the most electronic music... and the most old, out-of-style music we have on the record.”

Brendon mentioned that they would get tired of one sound and agree to switch it up & try something different. Ryan said in a fall 2006 Australian interview that "we wanted to make sure that we weren't leaving anything out that was interesting to us, or that we wanted to try."

Ryan to AMP in spring 2006: “We’ve seen so many bands just try and do one thing and then they’re only known for this one thing that they do. And then their fans expect them to do that one thing over and over again… We wanted to avoid that right from the start and we were listening to all different kinds of music all the time, so it was natural to try and incorporate all of those influences. We were getting kind of frustrated with the way the record was going and we came up with the idea of splitting it in half. And that was the turning point where we figured out that that was the concept we were going to do with the music. It made it a lot easier for us to experiment without having reservations.”

On a similar note, here’s Spencer explaining the album’s art.

update: I just want to emphasize how ironic it was that they were trying so hard to get away from sounding like Fall Out Boy & that whole scene... and then the media turned them into Fall Out Boy Jr because Pete had signed them.

THE RECORDING PROCESS

The band was in Maryland for about 5 weeks... it was a really tight schedule with the writing & recording. They didn’t really take a day off because they had so much to do – they were putting in over 12 hours most days. Brent said it was the most pressure he’d ever had in his life. And he turned out to not be very good under pressure in the future, but the other guys all said similar statements about summer 2005 being intense.

The band was really green – they didn’t even know how to work some of the basic gear in the studio.

here are some random quotes.

They mostly worked on the songs in the order that they appear on the album. Ryan said that they just re-worked each song until they were happy with it, so no full songs were thrown away.

Brendon said in summer 2006: “Pretty much all the songs we ever wrote were on the album. So it was kind of hard pulling stuff together. Some of the song ideas we didn't use because we didn't have the time. We're kind of perfectionists. We like to sit down with one song and really work it to our liking.”

they frequently talked about how they were writing for themselves – here’s more on their approach.

They said many times that they couldn’t fit all the lyrics into the songs sometimes, but they left them in the cd insert so fans could know what the full picture was.

They said the verses for IWSNT were written a day before Brendon had to sing them. They had to be done recording a few days later.

A good chunk of Brendon’s vocals were all recorded on the same day. His harmonies were done by recording his voice many different times and then layering that.

The album was recorded instrument by instrument (so they played separately).

Brent didn’t play on the album. Spencer told AbsolutePunk at the end of 2006: “We recorded our album on a very tight budget and tight budgets mean tight schedules. Having Brendon play the bass parts made the most sense, given our time constraints.”

It sounded like Brent still had ideas even if he didn’t play an actual instrument on the album. All four guys contributed to the songwriting process. Ryan said he wrote most of the lyrics and that the band wrote the music & figured out the songs together.

Brendon in a summer 2006 interview on LiveDaily: “Ryan writes all the lyrics, and me and him will have a music idea, and we'll sit down together and kind of work it out. And then when we have the basic idea, me and him sit down, we'll present it to Spencer and Brent, and we'll all collaborate, with whatever ideas we have. For the first half, we wrote the music first and then [Ryan] wrote lyrics to sort of fit the feel. For the second half, the songs, Ryan would write lyrics like this storytelling kind of picture. We would write music based around that--like, the feel, the theme of what he was talking about. If he was talking about a whore, it would have a sleazy feel to it. We're weird guys. I don't know if a lot of people get our humor. A lot of people probably think we're jerks. We're real sarcastic. Really ironic and stuff. We mean well, but we joke around probably a lot more than we should.”

Ryan talked to Helio at the end of the Fever era about the songwriting process for the first album: “when I had a little bit of the music and lyrics finished, I would bring it to Spencer and Brendon and we would all finish the songs together.”

Brent: “At the beginning we would all be together and we’d write music together and then Ryan would scrap together lyrics. At the end, the way that we prefer songwriting and the way that we think that the better songs turned out is when Ryan would write lyrics first because that would kind of set a mode, set a tone for how we wanted the music to sound.”

Brendon to Hearts & Sleeves in early 2006: “The way it comes out I guess is just a product of everybody in the band having huge similarities in music but we also listen to a lot of different stuff. For example Spencer listens to Fleetwood Mac and then will jump over and listen to Arcade Fire. I listen to the same stuff but then Iʼll listen to Journey more or some pop stuff. Or Ryan listens to movie scores or theatrical stuff. A lot of that was Ryan would pop up and be like ‘I think it could do this’ and Iʼd be like ‘whoah’ and Iʼd add some pop to it. Itʼs just a mix of different combinations of where we come from. Having only written maybe two songs together we didnʼt know what direction we wanted to go with the band or how we wanted to sound. Thatʼs why it came out two-sided. A lot of the second half was written in the studio and recorded in like the last five days. So that was really tough. We were stressing out pretty bad. We didnʼt have some songs written. We still didnʼt get to do some a couple ideas that we had but that was just due to a lack of time.”

SOME INFLUENCES

I think it worked out really well to have four people who had a similar creative vision, yet a wide range of musical interests that could blend together to create a unique sound.

Ryan to PlayMusic in August 2006: “Between us we had a lot of influences so we just thought, ‘let’s use them all!’”

Brendon to Alt Press (many years after the split): “We played each other’s music [in the van]. I showed them stuff I listened to: Hawaiian music, Sublime, jazz, Spanish fever music. We all just shared each other’s interests. We were helping push each other for a very long time.”

Ryan in October 2006 on gotv: “We just all had a bunch of different musical influences when we started this band and just kept growing throughout the writing process.”

Ryan mentioned several times over the years how Spencer got him into The Beatles this summer. Example: “I started really getting into The Beatles when we were recording [AFYCSO]. Our drummer, Spencer, started playing me some of their stuff.”

The guys all talked about being influenced more by movies, books, & musicals than by other bands sometimes. But the most common bands/artists they referenced as influences were Third Eye Blind, Counting Crows, Danny Elfman, Jon Brion, and Queen (Fleetwood Mac is kind of up there too, but wasn’t mentioned as frequently).

Ryan in October 2005: “Third Eye Blind was a big influence. You can’t exactly hear it that much, but just like the influence of how to write songs. I don’t know, just like our foundation, I guess. Towards the end of the writing, some of the songs are meant to sound sort of cinematic, and there’s a couple of composers I got into towards the end. Like Danny Elfman... and this other guy Jon Brion... So I think that was a big thing towards the end of it.”

Ryan in a fan interview: There’s some jazz-influenced stuff in [the second half] and musical/showtune-type of music. We were just listening to a bunch of different things at the time. Bands like Third Eye Blind, Queen, and I was listening to a lot of movie scores towards the end of the writing.

Ryan to Big Cheese in early 2006: “’The Nightmare Before Christmas’ is one of my favorite soundtracks. I really got into it at the end of the writing so it didn’t really show that much on this record.”

Ryan: We like a lot of bands, none of which have much in common other than they are unique unto themselves and they write great songs. So if someone asks if we’re influenced by Radiohead or Counting Crows or Third Eye Blind or Tom Waits and we say yes, it doesn’t mean we want to sound like them it just means we admire the way they do things.

Spencer: "You wouldn't hear our record and say, 'Hmmm, these guys are influenced by Fleetwood Mac or Counting Crows, 'but those are our favorite bands.”

Spencer in early 2006: “We took a lot of ideas from [Refused’s] ‘The Shape of Punk To Come,’ not directly from the music, but rather the idea of how the songs flowed into one another. We don’t like any hardcore, but the vision that they had, I think that changed music.”

THEIR FAVORITE BANDS/MUSICIANS IN 2005:

Spencer loved Tom Petty, the Beatles, Third Eye Blind, The Beach Boys, Counting Crows, Arcade Fire, Fleetwood Mac, and Queen. I don’t think he started talking about The Shins much until 2006.

Brendon was really into Queen and Journey. He also said he loved The Eagles, Counting Crows, the Beatles, Genesis, Fiona Apple, Fleetwood Mac, and Regina Spektor.

Brent was a big Third Eye Blind fan and also liked Thrice & Journey.

Ryan was into Third Eye Blind, Counting Crows, the Dresden Dolls, and Imogen Heap, but most of the favorites he mentioned in 2005 were movie soundtracks: Beetlejuice, Amelie, Fiddler on the Roof, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, anything Danny Elfman did, Moulin Rouge, Romeo & Juliet, Phantom of the Opera, and Chicago.

And Jon hadn’t met the band yet, but I still want to add that he was a big fan of the Beatles & Bob Dylan at this point.

It was fun to watch how their interests slowly spread to each other... like Brendon & Spencer got Ryan into the Beatles and Queen, while Ryan got Brendon into movie soundtracks like Amelie after a while.

Ryan mentioned many times how Adam Duritz from the Counting Crows inspired him, so it was cool to see this happen.

This MTV article mentioned that the album had “a whirly mix of circus calliopes and keyboards and horns that showed off the band's less-than-current influences (which, notably, included zero so-called "emo" acts). ‘Some of our favorite bands are, like, Third Eye Blind and Counting Crows, and stuff like Danny Elfman and Jon Brion movie scores,’ Ross said, adding that the band members also have a soft spot for the Decemberists and the Arcade Fire.”

THE INSTRUMENTS USED

Spencer in August 2006: “By the time we started writing our record we were pretty far from wanting to write blink-182 songs. We just had a really fun time experimenting with instruments we’d never really used before. I mean, we used trumpet and accordion and xylophone on our record and I mean, none of us have a ton of experience with any of those instruments so it was kind of figuring out as we went, you know, which was exciting and fun. I think we’ll continue to do things like that on our next record.”

The Times Union said in early 2008 that P!ATD had to call their label while recording the first album just to approve $300 to hire a trumpet player. The band did talk a lot in the early Fever era about how challenging it was to work with their budget when they had so many ideas they wanted to try. None of them were certain exactly how many instruments ended up being layered on the album. Brent talked about how the band wanted to make their album “more like a production, like an orchestra.” The cabin album was a natural extension of this whole direction btw.

A lot of the instruments were digitally created (in addition to the drum machines and synthesizers). The band didn’t even have the budget to rent a piano. Ryan told Alt Press that “we weren’t able to get real instruments for some things. Like the accordion. We couldn’t get an accordion and we didn’t know how to play one.” They ended up getting local kids to bring their instruments and record some stuff, which the band then messed around with digitally (Heather Stebbins played the cello, William Brousserd played the trumpet, and Samantha Bynes played the violin).

A fan interview: What sort of equipment do you use for recording and mixing your beats? Brendon: We did all that on a Korg Electribe Reason and a Korg MS2000… Spencer: What about that keyboard we rented from the place next to the studio? What was that called? Ryan: I don’t remember, but that thing was insanely cool! Spencer: Something like the Yamaha Motif, or something like that.

MORE ABOUT RYAN’S WRITING

I had too much saved for this topic, so I’m going to try to narrow it down and leave some main ideas here…

QUOTES:

“Most of the lyrics are based on things that have happened to me personally, or that I have observed in others. One of the big themes on the record is infidelity I’d say at least half of the songs have that in mind. A lot of it is fact-based fiction, I guess you’d call it. I tried to write things that would keep the listener’s attention.”

to Big Cheese in early 2006: “the lyrics for [AFYCSO] sort of turned into more fiction than fact… you can paint a bigger picture that way if you just take certain details of things that happened in your life and put them in a story it’s easier to see idea behind it, where it’s not just about me – it could be about anybody.”

“We’ve been called an emo band before which is a little off the wall. I don’t really see anything in the lyrics that’s ‘emo.’ We write songs that are sarcastic and angry and sad. We distanced ourselves from that later in the record. Not so confessional, more fantastical.” (There was also talk about how a lot of the band’s songs were telling a story about characters they were observing instead of going on about their own experiences & emotions like emo songs would).

in late 2006: “I just have this fascination with early 1900s culture in general. It’s something that I really got ahold of and sort of fell in love with. It just seems like such a more romantic time than what we have now; you see that from movies like Moulin Rouge and Titanic. What people care about is different. Like even with architecture and stuff, back then people put a lot more love into what they were doing.”

"That's one thing I don’t like about Vegas. There’s no history. I think that’s why I’m obsessed with the 1900s. It was such a romantic time: people wrote love letters, they got dressed up. Now everything feels so... cheap.”

(A lot of these quotes were given in fall 2006 over a year after the band recorded AFYCSO btw. At that point Ryan’s interests had evolved and he was in the mindset for writing Cricket & Clover, even though he was still doing interviews about the first album).

“Oscar Wilde once said no great artist ever sees things as they really are, if he did, he would cease to be an artist, and, two things every artist should avoid are modernity of form and modernity of subject matter. I like both these ideas and so I like to start with characters and a storyline. If the characters are interesting and the storyline is strong, the lyrics start writing themselves.”

to Kerrang in 2006: “I’ve recently gotten into movie scores, and when I saw ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ I bought the soundtrack, because I noticed in the movie how every song fit the mood of what was going on in the movie. It was conveying emotion without having lyrics. That really changed how I look at songwriting.”

in fall 2005: “for me, in the lyrics, it's supposed to create a picture in your mind when you're hearing it—and not only in the lyrics, but in the music accompanying the lyrics. I can't say that there's supposed to be a certain mood overall... it kind of differs in each song... but it's definitely more visual than completely literal.”

“The tracks were written chronologically so we wanted the last track we wrote to be the last track on the album. A lot of the lyrics on the first half are extremely auto-biographical then I started to get self-conscious and realized a lot of people would be reading the lyrics like a book. I didn't feel I wanted that much of my life out there so on the second half I wanted them to be more open, more dramatic” (x)

From a Big Cheese article: “most of the lyrics are based on things that have happened to me personally or that I have observed in others... A lot of it is fact-based fiction, I’d guess you’d call it.”

here’s Ryan talking about songwriting on the Live in Denver dvd.

“Most of that first record is based on what I was going through in my life at the time. I was trying to figure out what I believed in, the kind of relationships I wanted to have, those types of things.”

I just scanned this in instead of typing anything.

an excerpt from the spring 2006 Rock Sound cover article:

Without Urie, the lyrics would not be as sharp, as incisive or sarcastic, and the topics of revenge, anger, lust, and bitterness would not be palatable… “I am not really sure where it came from; one day I started to write like that,” comments Ross on the satirical and sometimes sadomasochistic lyrics. “I just wanted to use my imagination more than sounding like I had just copied something out of my diary. My lyrics are dressed up like we are, it makes us feel like we have alter egos, and I lose the inhibition that would stop me from saying all that stuff.”

Pete Wentz told AbsolutePunk:

“I did not assist them in writing their record. I consider Ryan to be a contemporary of mine when it comes to lyrics and we have traded lines back and forth. Some of mine ended up on theirs as will some of his appear in the new Fall Out Boy – in both cases like less than one percent of total lyrics. It’s like being a proud dad, I guess. I mean I will never again get to experience some of the adventures that happen to a band for the first time, and with bands like Panic!, I get to be part of that process again.”

THE TREATMENT OF WOMEN IN THE LYRICS

These are just highlights from a few of the times Ryan talked about this. The first part’s from a June 2008 article in The Guardian:

The anger towards women in a lot of emo songs has led to accusations of misogyny. Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz responded: "We don't hate girls. We hate everybody." However, Andy Greenwald's book Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo notes that in emo songs females are never given names; their whole existence revolves around the impact they have on the guys singing the songs. Urie ponders this for an age before conceding that Panic's older songs "are demeaning, in a way.” "But only to one person," counters Ross. "It was meant to make her feel bad."

(The “her” is his ex-girlfriend who cheated on him). And then this is from the early summer 2006 Nylon magazine interview with Pete & Ryan:

Pete: I have another question for Ryan. With both our bands, we get 14-year-old girls screaming along to these semi-misogynistic lyrics. How does that make you feel? Ryan: It’s weird. Sometimes you’re like, ‘Do you even know what you’re singing?’ It used to bother me but I’d rather that person love my band and then, as they mature, learn to understand what it means. Nylon: Do you actually think your lyrics are misogynistic? Pete: People take them to be, but for me they’re more misanthropic. It’s not about hating women, it’s about hating everything about the way people interact with each other. I can only write from my perspective.

from a Daytrotter article with Brendon in March 2006:

“At the shows, everyone knows all the words to every song. They sing them back and I don’t know if a lot of these younger fans know what they’re saying.”

BRENDON SINGING RYAN’S LYRICS

Here’s an excerpt from an Australian article in fall 2006 that was talking to Ryan about how his lyrics view women:

"’I would say that the lyrics are written very much in character, and also that it makes it easier for me to write what I want to write knowing that Brendon's going to be the one singing them, because he'll take the blame for it, I guess’ he explains carefully, before emitting a low chuckle. ‘Although sometimes it's frustrating trying to get across to him how I want certain parts to be sung and how I want it to feel like - sometimes that's hard to describe to somebody, and he's trying to interpret what I've written in his own way.”

The Miami Herald wrote in late 2006: “[Ross] says he likes to sing, but finds Urie’s vocals stronger than his own, ‘especially for what the lyrics were saying. He sounds a lot older than I do.’” In the same article, Ryan also talked about Brendon singing his lyrics:

“In some ways it’s good and in some ways it’s frustrating. On the one hand I can say anything I want to say and not have to worry about how I’m going to be seen, because I’m not the one physically saying it. But it was really frustrating at times, too, trying to get across to him how I wanted a part to sound or how I wanted it to come across emotionally. We’re still trying to find that balance of understanding each other.”

Even at the end of the Fever era, they were still trying to find a balance of how to work together while Brendon was essentially Ryan’s mouthpiece. The guys both talked a lot during the Fever era about their challenges in navigating their work relationship (which is different from their friendship). They repeatedly said they were getting along better in fall 2005, but then they kept talking about the same struggles for years... which made it clear that the source of the conflict had basically never been resolved. Ryan had a very clear idea of how he wanted his songs to be delivered, but Brendon was not a mind reader or an actual puppet.

here’s a bit from summer 2006 where they talk about some challenges.

here’s Ryan talking about using Brendon’s voice.

an excerpt from the spring 2006 Rock Sound cover article.

There’s more important info in this post.

From the September 2006 Blender article:

[Ryan’s approach to writing is] also a perfect way for Ross to remain armored and vulnerable at the same time. His writing on Fever is inspired by experiences that embarrass him — a nasty breakup with a longtime girlfriend and his father’s struggles with alcohol — but he installs trapdoors of ironic detachment throughout his confessionals. This helps explain Panic’s division of labor: Urie belts out words Ross would if only (a) he weren’t so cripplingly shy and (b) such a weak singer. In Panic! At the Disco, the prized emo singer-spilling-heart-to-audience dynamic takes a backseat to showmanship.

When Ryan was asked if there were any times Brendon looked at the lyrics and said “I can’t sing that!” or something, he said:

"Yeah. I mean, there've been a couple of times where he'd be reading over the lyrics and he'd be going 'Are you serious? You really want me to say this?' I don't know, it makes it easier on me, I guess. I mean, a lot of the lyrics are very sarcastic on purpose, and I've never toned anything down just for the sake of doing that. I guess I'm lucky in that the band lets me do what I want with them, and they're fine with that.”

from a Daytrotter article in March 2006:

“I think lyrics are a big deal,” Urie said of the words that guitarist Ryan Ross pens for Panic! “We’re pretty tired of lighthearted, soft lyrics. You can listen to so many things that when you take away the melodies and just listen to the lyrics, you’re like, ‘Oh my God, these suck.’”

OTHER STUFF

I’m just going to scan in some parts of this article where Ryan got to talk to Stephan Jenkins from Third Eye Blind for an Alt Press article (which Ryan mentioned a couple times in the future as being a big moment for him). Ryan is the red font:

Ryan told Kerrang in 2006: “[Semi-Charmed Life] was one of the first songs that made me want to play music. When we were writing [AFYCSO] we were still listening to Third Eye Blind a lot, really paying attention to the arrangements and vocal patterns. They were really sporadic and quick, and that was something we were really into.”

So here’s more on a similar note from the same Alt Press interview above:

I put a lot of other relevant stuff in different posts, so check out the link at the top... the main idea is that Ryan really wanted to create something that challenged people and was different.

A QUICK NOTE ABOUT SPENCER:

Spencer contributed a lot to the visually creative process even if he didn’t directly write most lyrics. But here’s a comment he made to the Denver Post in November 2006:

"Not unusually well-read. But we like books. The thing for us is, it's so annoying to listen to a lot of new music because ... lyrics are such a big thing for us. Most of the bands I like, the ones I'd consider my favorites, the ones I get inspiration from, have some of my favorite lyrics. No matter how good the melody is and the music might be, it does little for me unless the words are clever or good. There's a time where it's really cool to write lyrics that read like your diary. But for us, we were sitting in Las Vegas, 17-years-old and going to high school and college. Our lives weren't that exciting, and if we were just pouring it out on the page, it wouldn't have been that great.”

Spencer was a big Chuck Palahniuk fan. He was also the person who got Ryan listening to The Beatles this summer... you can see in Brendon’s summer livejournal posts when they were listening to Eleanor Rigby. Ryan told Kerrang in 2006 that Eleanor Rigby was a song that changed his life:

“There’s something about that song and how melancholy it was. I never really listened to The Beatles that much until I heard that song, and then I was like, ‘Wow, this is just amazing.’ It inspired me to look at rock music in a different way.”

Aaaand not to massively jump ahead, but every single member of P!ATD was a huge Beatles fan (especially Jon), so their NRWC cover of Eleanor Rigby was the perfect end to the Fever era.

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i-drink-and-i-write-fics · 3 years

Text

Mirror

Chapter 5: Cupid’s Arrow

Summary: Bucky’s been bitten by the love bug. Can he find his mystery girl again?

Bucky sat by the wall of windows in the aftermath of the party, the image of the blonde stranger smiling at him still burned in his head. Why did she feel so familiar? Those eyes. It was those damn eyes.

“Did you hear a word I said?”

He looked up to see Nat smirking at him. “Oh, I guess not. Sorry, I was just going over the night in my head.”

“You mean, like that blonde woman I saw you chase all over the dance floor?”

“Has there been any indication that Project Mirror showed up?”

“Nice try at a misdirect.” She sat down next to him. “But no, none that we saw. Mostly just some Cap fans trying to pry him away from Sharon. Your mystery girl was the only one who didn’t try to get near him. But she also didn’t try anything at all.”

Bucky sighed. “She didn’t stay long, but I had the weirdest sense of deja vu when I first saw her.”

“Winter Soldier flashbacks?” Nat asked hopefully.

He shook his head. “No, she wasn’t from Hydra. It was more like…. I had seen her face pre-Winter Soldier. Like back from the 40s.”

“Huh. Well, maybe she’s the granddaughter of someone you had known back then.”

“Maybe. Would explain why her eyes are so damn familiar. Like I had seen them a thousand times before.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I would swear you were bitten by the love bug, Barnes.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Over a girl, I barely spoke to? I just wanna make sure I wasn’t the one who let Mirror get away if that had ended up being her.”

“Mmmhmm.” Was all the response he got.

Steve walked up to the pair. “Ready to go? Coulson just finished having the last of the security footage sent to the compound. Stark’s already left with Pepper to begin analysis.”

Bucky nodded as he stood up. Then froze when he looked at Steve’s face. His eyes. They were exactly like hers. But how?

“Buck, you ok?”

“Uh, yeah. Sorry, it’s been a weird night.” Bucky walked past the two of them and towards the elevator. Steve and Nat followed, but not too close so Nat could fill him in on what happened to Bucky at the party.

Back at the compound, the Avengers went to their separate rooms for the night as FRIDAY began to analyze the videos. Bucky didn’t even bother trying to sleep, knowing the mystery woman would be on his mind. Over and over did those fleeting moments repeat in his head, like a music video on loop. The way she came out of the elevator. How she kept disappearing in the crowd without even trying. The way the song seemed to fit the mood perfectly. He pulled out his phone and looked the lyrics up, remembering enough of the song for a proper internet search.

Lay your heart into my perfect machine I will show you what you wanted to see Just a mirror ‘til I get what I need The reverie was not of me You never saw nothing Never saw nothing

That’s exactly how it felt. As if he never saw anything. But there was that sentence about being a mirror to get what they needed. Ok, clearly she didn’t write the song, but it was so odd for that song to come on as they were searching for Project Mirror.

And her eyes. Now he knew why they looked so familiar. They were the same as Steve’s. Which made zero sense. Steve had been an only child and no cousins that Bucky knew of. No one to pass down the Rogers genetics while Steve was frozen.

Bucky shook his head. As much as he thought he couldn’t sleep, he would need to try if he wanted the brainpower to figure this out.

The next day, Nat, Tony, Pepper, Steve, Bucky, Sam, and Sharon were gathered in the community kitchen trying to figure out what they had done wrong in luring out their target. Most were sitting at the table, minus Tony and Steve.

“FRIDAY,” Tony finished making his and Pepper’s cups of coffee as he stood at the kitchen island, “has all the security footage been analyzed?”

“Yes, Boss. Only a dozen people have been recognized as someone not on the guest list nor the staff list. And only one person used a different method to enter the tower.“

“Who was that?”

FRIDAY posted a projection on the glass wall next to the table of a woman sneaking into the tower via the side entrance. There was a quiet exchange with her and a busboy before heading to the restroom right next to the elevator.

“FRIDAY, pause, zoom, and enhance the footage of the lady in red.” Nat took a sip of her coffee while she waited. “Just as I suspected: it’s Bucky’s mystery woman.”

All eyes turned to Bucky, who groaned. “Thanks, Natasha.”

“What’s she talking about?” Steve moved to sit next to his long time friend.

“It’s nothing, Punk.” Bucky took a gulp of his coffee, silently cursing the Widow.

But Nat wasn’t about to let it go. Never, when it came to her friends. “Loverboy over here was struck by Cupid’s arrow last night. That lady on the screen? She had Bucky practically following her the moment she stepped off the elevator. Though, she didn’t stay long from what I noticed.”

Bucky looked at his coffee mug, wondering if it was physically possible to disappear into it. Weren’t spies supposed to be discrete about secrets?

Sam had the biggest shit-eating grin. “Well, well, well. He does have a heart. Or whatever you want to call it. Looks like you may still be human, Barnes.”

“I promise I will murder you and blame it on left-over Winter Soldier programming.”

Sam just kept laughing, clearly out of fucks to give. “Christmas came early! I gotta find Rhodey.”

Bucky tried to grab him, but Sam easily spun away and ran down the hall. “Bastard.”

Sharon cleared her throat and reached past Steve to place a hand on Bucky’s arm. “Don’t listen to Sam. I’m glad someone finally caught your eye. You know friends just love to tease.”

“Yeah? Well, it’s about to get better.” Bucky rolled his eyes. “I never got her number. Only a first name. So even if there had been something, I have nothing else to go on.”

“Now, now. You underestimate me and my mechanical children.” Tony chided. “FRIDAY, run a facial recognition scan on the lady in red. Look for anything matching….?”

“Sonya,” Bucky finished.

“Right, Sonya. Anything else we need to know?”

“She had an accent, but I couldn’t place it. It was as if she moved here from somewhere in Eastern Europe, but tried to lose the accent to fit in.”

“Add that detail, FRIDAY.”

Steve had been quiet most of the morning, but one thought wouldn’t leave him. “What if she was Project Mirror?”

Bucky sighed. “That crossed my mind. But if she is, why didn’t she attack? Or make any threats.”

“Well, there’s one way to find out. If FRIDAY finds her, we can ask her ourselves. Or rather, Bucky can.”

“Great. Can’t wait to be bait.”

Chapter 6

#fanfic #fan fic #clone #clone fic #clone anon #marvel #marvel cinematic universe #requests #request list #mirror #angst #canon typical violence #enemies to friends to lovers #winter soldier #original female character #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x original female character

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conceptuaiizing · 4 years

Text

I did EAs job for them and created a hypothetical teen-centered game pack. (Complete with jobs, aspirations, and events!)

All of the credit for this goes to this amazing person: @silent-spirits The original post can be found on Reddit. THIS IS AMAZING.

Teens need more in-game. They basically are just adults who don't work and it's really sad. I think teens could be one of the best life stages to play but there as of now just isn't enough for them to do. So I tried to brainstorm some ideas for a game pack based on them. Would love to hear your thoughts! If you have more ideas please tell me!

I wanted the main selling point for this pack to be an all-new group of teen-only aspirations, jobs, events, and interactions. This focuses more on the gameplay between teens than it does their interactions with adults such as parenthood.

I realize I've put more in this game pack idea than most expansion packs but listen I'm desperate for teen content and I ain't stingy the more the merrier.

Also, I know a lot of this would be cool as a free update but I decided to still put it here because it fits the theme okay.

New School Option:

Private vs Public School

When your sim becomes a teen the guardian will choose to send them to either a private or a public school. I think its ridiculous a family making $1,000s a day each sends their kids to the exact same school as families pushing $1,000 max all together. Obviously it happens in some cases but not too often.

Sims going to private schools have to pay money to do so and wear uniforms. They also have higher chance of getting scouted by universities cause that's life ya know.

Sims going to public schools don't have to pay or wear a uniform. They have a lower chance of being scouted but as a result, have a higher chance of getting a full-ride when they are because they have lower incomes typically.

Sims from the two become rivals and will play each other in games and other events like in University

Teen Only Aspirations:

Valedictorian

Reward Trait: Overachiever

Must not only have an A in high school along with high mental skill but also must be involved in some social activity. This would boost mental and social skills as a teen and once they get the trait they get two benefits. First, they have a higher chance of getting into a distinguished degree program in discover university if you have it. Otherwise, it allows adult sims to choose the socialize option while at work and still gain not lose promotion progress as an overachiever would have mastered the balance of work and socializing.

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Prom Queen/King

Reward Trait: Social Royalty

Focuses on mostly social but also creative skills. Sims must be friends with at least 7 teens and introduce themselves to at least 15. They also have to gain skills specifically in painting and charisma because they would be campaigning as a Prom Queen/King to other teens. Allows them to create posters to put up around venues with the teen hangout trait and they have a new school interaction to "gather support" for their campaign. Ties into the new prom event and allows sims to ask a teen to be the person they run with.

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Mr / Miss Evans

Reward Trait: Sole Lead

Your sim better be ready to bop til they drop with this creative aspiration. This focuses on sims who wish to go into acting, comedy, or music careers. Basically anything involving the big stage. Your sim will need to gain skills in the social categories as well as acting and dancing. Ties into the new school rabbit hole play event where sims can try out after school as they need to get one lead role at least to complete the drama route. They must choose to either be in the play (drama), be in band (music), or being in an improv club (comedy). This allows teen sims to have various interactions with other teens like "discourage from trying out" or "bost about being the lead." Sims who specifically wish to pursue music can join the after school band event which will be at stadiums for performances. Sims with the Sole Lead trait having higher success in stage-related careers, getting into the distinguished drama degree, and can mentor sims in related skills as long as they are a higher level (they don't have to be maxed out)

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Mandatory Participant

Reward Trait: Fighter of the System

For sims who are only at school because its a legal requirement. Sims boost all skill categories in this aspiration but the main focus is mischief and athletism (as they need to escape and play pranks). Sims in this aspiration will skip school with friends, crash prom, and skip their graduation ceremony. They also can't have more than a B in their class and must have a part-time job. This is for sims who believe they don't need school and are able to learn everything themselves. Sims focus on learning skills from books and mentors as well as a part-time career. Sims with the Fighter of the System trait earn higher for freelance, plopsy, and programming jobs as they don't want to work for the man. They also will have a harder time befriending those in the politician and education careers.

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Future 1%

Reward Trait: Big Brain

These teens aspire to be like Elon Musk or Jeff Besos aka the top of the top. Focusing on mental and social skills sims must reach the highest rank of a part-time job in either office assistant, tech intern, or tutor. Sims must also max out at least one skill by the time they become a young adult. Sims who get the Big Brain trait will have a boost to career/degrees related to the law, engineering, technology, and business careers. They also earn a new interaction to "destroy a sim with facts and logic" in the mean category.

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Advisors Pet

Reward Trait: Flexible

These are for the teens who have absolutely zero idea about what they want to do in life. Sims in this aspiration will need to quit at least one part-time job for another, have 7+ in at last 3 skills, and need to have a best friend. Sims will also need to do interactions such as "ponder about future" and "ask sim future plans" to get ideas. Sims with the Flexible trait will not get upset if they switch careers/degrees and have the ability to switch their degree mid-semester, unlike other sims.

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Future "Influencer"

Reward Trait: Attention Wench

For your classic insufferable teens dead set on being the next biggest youtuber, steamer, or simstagram model. Social media is fully opened up to all teen-elders (you don't have to be in the social media career to get all the options) and teens will have to grind for the numbers. Sims also can do interactions such as "ask for shoutouts," "invite to be in video," or "ask if photoshop looks real." These sims don't care about school much and focus on building up social skills. Due to their constant social media grind, they often will annoy other sims and if they annoy another influencer they can get in a social media drama. If they complete the aspiration they get the Attention Wench trait which makes them less embarrassed, gives a bonus to social media success, and makes them more successful at apologizing because they simply made a serious and severe lapse in their judgment.

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Teen-Only Careers:

Office Assistant

Gain experience in social and mental skills by working in a local office. Levels include paperboy/girl, secretary, intern, and future hire. Sims who make it to the future hire level will get offered to join the business career and gain promotions easier immediately when they grow up which will start them 2 levels ahead. However, they lose this opportunity if they goto University.

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Tech Intern

Sims must have at least 3 levels in programming to apply for this job. Gain experience in programming and logic. There aren't any levels (just bonuses) and the higher the bonus the higher signing bonus they will get if they immediately join the programming career. Like the OA they lose the opportunity if they choose to go to Uni instead of being hired by the company.

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Tutor

Sims must have 5 levels in at least 3 skills to be eligible to become a tutor. Sims gain skills in charisma, research and debate, and writing while working. They also will befriend the student they are tutoring. Becoming a tutor will give sims a bonus to the Valedvitorian aspiration and will also boost them in applying for distinguished degrees.

Note

I wanted to add more careers but I felt there are so many that shouldn't be locked purely behind a teen age. So I figured id stick to careers that actually hold benefits for teens in the future than simple pocket money ones.

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Events:

Prom

-Prom is an event that takes place at a lounge venue during a teen's lifespan much to the nature of the talent show event. Your sim will get notified when Prom begins and they can choose between three options, skip prom, attend, or show up late to crash it. When your sim travels to the venue for Prom they will change into formal gear (unless they showed up later to crash it then they'd be in normal clothes or a special outfit your choice) and have goals like any other event. Other teens that your sim know will be there and the venue will only have teens minus any workers at the venue or chaperons.

-Sims can dance with their date (who they must ask out before prom), try and steal someone else's date (and risk a fight), dance with friends (in case they went alone), take pictures together, and a prom king and queen/king announcement will be made.

-If your sims there to crash it they can mess with the music, steal the food, and even get up on stage to crash the prom royalty announcement. If you go as far as crashing the announcement you will have a little timer that pops up which is your time to escape the venue before the chaperons get you. If you successfully leave without getting got you will have a crown in your inventory and will receive a confident moodlet. If you get caught you get no crown and your guardian is called giving the teen an embarrassed moodlet and the guardian an angry one. Both however result in getting suspended for one day (they stay home) as well as a drop in school performance.

-The day after prom your sim will get texts from their friends regarding prom. If your sim went it will be about what happened there or someone asking since they didn't go. If your sim chooses to crash it they will either get congratulated by their friends for having the guts to do it or the prom queen/king will text them angrily. If your sim didn't go the others will inform them about what happened.

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Graduation

Graduation is much like the one in University where you only get it if you get at least a C and it is a rabbit hole. Your sim can choose to go or skip both results in getting a high school diploma either way. If your sim goes they will show up to the stadium in their uniform with their family if they choose to and will disappear. During the graduation a few things will pop up asking for a choice such as "your friend's name has been called do you A) Scream loudly or B) Act natural" or "your walking to receive your diploma do you A) Do something crazy or B) Act natural." Afterward, your sim will have a confident/happy moodlet and so will whoever attends. They will have time to mingle with the other teens and their families before being asked if they wish to bring their friends over to their house for a party.

Venues

Stadium

-Where sims go for graduation and athletic careers

-Allows sims outside University to go to sports games

-Includes NPCs that are food vendors, players, etc.

-Can be large football stadiums or a small town local one

-If a game or graduation is not occurring sims can play soccer, football, lacrosse, etc with each other on the felid

-Band kids will go here for performances

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After School Activities

Plays

-Anyone can try out for the play (as an actor, tech, or designer) and it happens twice in a teen sims lifespan. If your sim is high enough in acting to get a call back they will be able to choose a specific role to try out for and have the chance of being an understudy if they are beat out. Sims who choose to apply for a tech role will get it instantly. Sims who apply for a designer must have at least a level 3 in painting to receive it.

-If a sim is in production, no matter what aspect they will have to go to practice daily. They also must practice on their own and can do so with others. During practice, they will meet other teens and improve on skills related to what they chose. Sims can also ask others to go watch the play.

-After the play, you will find out how well your sim did relating to how much they practiced/the level. Sims who did great will get a moodlet bonus while sims who didn't will get a negative moodlet. Sims who did poorly also have consequences. If they acted badly they cant apply for the lead in the next play, if their tech or design they won't be allowed to participate next play.

-The night of the play sims and whoever they invited will travel to it as a rabbit hole.

-Allows for sims in the acting branch to get scouted by a college scout and will receive a college scholarship potentially.

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Sports

-Sims can apply for a sports team in various sports.

-All are rabbit hole except for soccer, football, and lacrosse which can be played at the stadium for practice

-Adds more variety of sports equipment that can be used by child-elders (which should also be a free update js)

-Sims on the sports team use the same system as the soccer team from DU

-Like the plays, sims have the ability to get scouted and they can either get a scholarship or if they decide to pursue an athletic-related degree a full ride

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Band

-Adds more instruments (which should be a free update)

-Sims must audition to be in the band and whether they practice or not will mean whether or not their position in the band increases

-Perform in their own rabbit hole events and at sports games for the highschool

-Can also get scouted which can result in scholarships

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Clubs

-Sims can also join various rabbit hole clubs such as anime club, chess club, social related issues clubs, cooking club, d&d club, etc you get the point

-Clubs happen after school but do not occur every single day some might be once a week while other might be three times which allows teens to either join multiple clubs or have time to do a job or simply their homework

-Clubs do not result in possible scholarships but they do increase skills and allow sims to meet friends

-Some clubs will have special weekend events like bake sales or trips

-Being an active club member will increase your sims chances of getting into a distinguished degree as they will look better to the schools

School Trips

-Teens will come home some days and be notified there is a school trip occurring the next day which can either be educational (a museum for example) or for fun (the beach, park, etc)

-If your sims grades are lower than a B they will not be allowed to go

-Sims must have a signed permission slip to attend the trip. When they get home they can ask their guardian to sign it (if you have parenthood and your sims not the best kid their guardian will be more likely to refuse) or if their mischief is high enough they can forge it

-Sims who forge a signature can get caught, sent home, and lose school performance while causing their guardian to get an angry moodlet

-If you have a vacation park (Jungle Adventure or Outdoor Retreat) and your sim has an A they will get the option for an overnight school trip

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sarcastically-defensive17 · 4 years

Note

Hey, so I really like your work so I have a request 👀 maybe you could write Luke and reader being best friends but both having deeper feelings, they're roommates but they fight over Luke's gf bc he says that she needs to move out bc his girlfriend wants to move in and she doesn't like reader so she ends up leaving and running with Crystal but she asks to not tell anyone (except Mike for obvious reasons) that she's there and Luke is really worried but he and reader end up together, pretty please

I LOVE THIS REQUEST!! Sorry if I didn’t do it justice, but I hope you like it!

Also I’m so sorry that the layout went weird! I posted it from my computer and now it looks odd on the phone!

Original story by sarcastically-defensive17

Love? Love. - L. Hemmings

"If she gets those fake blonde extensions wrapped around my straightener one more time, Lucas, I will rip them out myself."

He simply sighed, focusing more of his attention on his phone rather than his best friend.

Y/N and Luke has been best friends since they were 17. They kindled their friendship on the very last day of year 12, such as she did with Calum and Michael.

Since that day, as they sat in the barren English Room and discussed everything and anything that came to mind, her and Luke had been inseparable.

She was the Bucky to his Steve, the Yang to his Yin, the regular sized human to his giant stature.

Well, until Suzanna stepped into the picture.

She is 5"7, coated in fake tan that was applied by somebody with the vision of Stevie Wonder and fake blonde extensions that accentuate how beautiful she would be, if she toned down the Geordie Shore look.

Y/N couldn't help but wonder if her personality would be able to shine brightly through the thick foundation, if she had one, that is.

"Thank you for pretending to listen to me, I appreciate it so much," she rolled her eyes.

For the past few weeks the air in the house had been incredibly tense.

"Y/N?" He asked, his voice hesitant. "Can I talk to you about something?"

She couldn't stop her eyes from lighting up. This was the calmest her and luke had been with each other in almost a week, and she would take any chance to talk to him in a civilized manner.

To be honest, the idea of talking to him did nothing to quell the overflowing feelings she had for the man.

"Is that even a question? You can always talk to me, Lu," she sat opposite to him on the lounge, pulling her legs up underneath her.

He was nervous. That was obvious in the way he raked his fingers through his blonde curls. Suzanna constantly hounded at him to cut his hair but Y/N knew how much he loved his hair.

She couldn't deny that she adored the ringlets that decorated his soft locks.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about this for a little bit," he rung his hands together, spinning rings on his fingers. "I, um, I'm gonna need you to move out."

He mumbled the last few words, sighing softly when she asked him to repeat it. It's safe to say, she was at a loss of words.

"You - you want me to move out? Why?" Her eyebrow was cocked, and she tilted her head to the side slightly.

Luke couldn't help but admire how much she resembled a puppy dog. He always found her to be a mix of adorable and purely beautiful. Which is part of the reason he forced himself to say yes when Suzanna asked to take a larger step in their relationship.

He had spent so much time fighting his feelings for Y/N. Suzanna helped, but he still needed to force himself to deny his feelings in favour of the smaller ones he had for his girlfriend.

He was cruel, he knew it.

"Suzanna and I were talking, and we’re ready to move in together. And she couldn't move in here because of-"

"Because of what? Because I can't stand the woman that has cheated on you multiple times?" Y/N was angry, that much she knew. She couldn't believe the audacity. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Well I would love nothing more than for my girlfriend and my best friend to get along but you make it so difficult for Suzanna to get to know you," he snapped pinching the bridge of his nose between his long fingers.

"I gave her a chance before she slept with one of your mates, Luke. As far as I'm concerned, you should have gotten rid of her months ago when she did it a second time."

"Why can't you just be happy for me?" His eyes were narrowed and the blue orbs held the same lack of patience she had seen a lot over the past week.

She opened her mouth to retort but couldn't find the words to say. Truthfully, she was shattered when Luke told her about his relationship, but she decided to be the bigger person and let go of the idea that Luke could be hers. Their friendship has lasted too long for that to be a possibility.

Luke's comment set her off.

"Oh so I am meant to happy for you, with the Geordie Barbie who fucks another guy regularly, but you couldn't be happy for me with Daniel?"

"Daniel was an asshole!"

"And so is Suzanna!"

They were both on their feet now, staring each other down with a ferocity they hadn't seen since an argument in their teenage years.

Sure, Daniel was a bit of an asshole, but Luke knew he was in the wrong for hating the man so fiercely. The moment he had finally worked up the nerve to ask Y/N on a date - a real date - Daniel swept in and the two were together for almost a year until he started getting more controlling.

The last straw was when Daniel flipped because of the close relationship Y/N and Luke shared and Luke threw a punch at him.

"You're jealous," Luke scoffed, his blue eyes aimed anywhere but at her for he knew his anger was unwarranted but he couldn't bare to face the truth about his relationship.

"Excuse me?" She cocked a brow again and he had to glance away quickly as his eyes fell on her for a second.

"You are jealous that I can keep somebody around and you haven't been able to keep anybody around for almost a year." His brows were pinched tight together and he squared his shoulders.

It was easy for Y/N to notice the slight hunch in his posture, a symbol that he was immediately guilt stricken by his words.

"Oh, I'm so sorry that I can't settle for somebody who doesn't deserve me," she barked out a sarcastic laugh, slamming her hand on the bench to grab her keys.

Luke opened his mouth to retort, but she fixed him with a glare so angry that he physically recoiled.

She slipped her vans on at the door, grabbing her bag off of the hook where she organized all of her daily belongings. She was meticulous and Luke had always admired how neat she was compared to his disorganized chaos.

"You wanted me gone? I'm going. Don't bother contacting me til you wake up to yourself," she stomped towards the door, pausing as she pulled the wood open. "I'll have my stuff gone by the end of the week. Tell Barbie to keep my straightener. God knows she fucked it anyways."

The door slammed behind her and the entire house instantly felt as if the warmth was gone.

She went straight to Crystal's house. The woman was packing for the impending move to a new house; one which her and Michael would share.

"So he wants you to move out so that thing can move in?" Her voice was laced with disgust.

All of them despise Suzanna. The woman had hurt Luke more times than they could count, she blatantly ignores or insults both Y/N and Crystal for fear of any sort of threat in her relationship, yet she regularly cheats on him.

Go figure.

Y/N made a noise of agreement around her glass of wine. The minute she had stepped in the door Crystal had phoned Micheal and ordered a Girls Night, to which Y/N profusely demanded that she would make it up to the couple whose date night she disturbed.

"He better hope I don't get my hands on him, Y/N."

"It's not worth it Crys," she sighed, swirling the contents of her glass in a circle. "I've been basically invisible in that house since the Barbie started coming around."

Crystal pulled the girl into a hug. Not many knew of her hidden feelings for Luke, but Crystal figured it out after a week of knowing the pair.

"I'll cut her extensions and glue them to Luke's eyebrows."

<><><><><><>

Exactly a month had passed. Y/N had ordered Crystal and Michael to not speak a word of where she was because she didn't want to see Luke. Instead, she found a small apartment to live in, while she gathered her wits to find a better place.

She knew it was petty, but she didn't have the care to feel guilty.

Luke on the other hand, was going insane and harbored so much regret surrounding his decision that he couldn't bare to think straight.

Moving in with Suzanna did nothing to make the home feel less empty. Y/N had made sure to collect the rest of her things while Luke was out.

She knew his schedule inside and out and used it to her advantage.

Luke wanted nothing more than to see her face. To hear her voice. The time apart made him realize just how deep his feelings went. The same feelings he had spent many years attempting to bury.

Now his only fear was that he would never get the chance to tell the woman how much he needs her in his life.

That, and how he would manage to get rid of the woman who he had caught sneaking out of their house at all hours of the night.

He didn't know what to expect when he entered his house to hear pornographic moans echoing from the bedroom.

He didn't feel angry. He didn't feel sad. He didn't even feel betrayed.

In fact, he couldn't contain his laughter. After all, catching her in the act of cheating on him simply opened the window for him to break up with her without the guilt.

He simply walked towards their bedroom door, which was ajar, and entered with no hesitation.

He was met with the sight of a bare assed male and a moaning Suzanna.

"I'm breaking up with you," he had a wide smile on his face, already planning his next actions with severe determination. He pulled his long curls into a small bun at the back of his head, “Please get out by tomorrow?"

He didn't leave room for her to argue, instead choosing to snatch his keys off of the bench and exit the house while Suzanna called him from behind.

The minute his backside hit the seat of his Jeep, he had the key turned in the ignition and he was dialing Crystal's phone number.

If anybody knew how to get in contact with Y/N, it would be the woman she had the closest bond to.

"What do you want, Luke?"

"Is Y/N at your house?" He asked quickly.

He was met with silence for a moment. He knew that Crystal knew where she was, but he also knew Crystal would most likely be reluctant.

"Why should I tell you? Want to go kick her out of her own house again?" He heard the malice in her voice.

It was obvious that after a month the pain would still linger. He deserved to be spoken to in such a way.

He knew he had a lot to make up for.

A deep sigh sounded through the receiver, and Crystal took another moment to reply.

"She is going to kill me for this, but I swear, you better be taking your breadstick ass over to apologise or I will kill you myself," she recited the address for an apartment not far from where Crystal and Michael now lived, and hung the phone up without another word.

He arrived at the apartment block soon after, and rushed up the stairs - not having the patience to wait for the elevator.

Number 304 shone brightly in his vision, and his heart tugged at the thought of seeing Y/N again.

He knocked with such urgency that caused the girl inside to jump out of her seat.

The door swung open and before she could close it in his face a converse covered foot was wedged between the door and the frame.

He cringed at the pain but refused to move it.

"What do you want?" Her voice was hard, and his stomach lurched at the sound. Even if she was mad, she still sounded more melodic that he ever could.

He chose to jump straight to the point, not wanting to leave room for her to reject him before he could confess.

"I have been in love with you since a few months after we met. I realised it when we were at your house, and you were doting over your baby cousin," His eyes were basically smiling, as he retrieved the fond memory. "Since that moment, I have done my best to push down how I feel about you, but I am sick of hiding it. I just broke up with Suzanna. I walked in on her with another guy, but I can't do this without you. I can't go back to that house for another minute without you there."

She was at a loss for words. He spoke so fast that it took a moment to piece his sentences together, and when she did, she couldn't help the confused look that coated her features.

"You- what?"

"I broke up with Suzanna," he had a wide smile on his face that she couldn't comprehend.

"Finally?"

"Yes. And, I have been in love with you since we were 18."

"Are you sure?" She cocked her head again.

The action made his stomach erupt in butterflies. He truly adored how she could look so cute through a simple gesture.

Y/N was genuinely confused. She knew how she felt about Luke. The month apart from him hadn't done anything to stop those feelings.

She truly had feelings stronger for him than she had for any of her past relationships. If she were to think about it, she would even say that she loved him.

"How could I not be sure?" He pinched his brows together in confusion. He grabbed both of her hands in his, leading her into the house and to the lounge where they both slumped down.

She stammered, "Where did this even come from? How?-"

He moved his hands to the side of her face, framing her confused expression.

She didn't know how to feel. For so long, Y/N had longed for Luke to notice her in such a way, and now that he is admitting that he has felt the same way about her that she had about him for so long, she was truly at a loss of words.

His eyes were full of pent up emotion. He didn't necessarily look sad, but he looked the most apologetic she had ever seen him, and she had been there through many emotions with the man,"Y/N, I'm sorry. Not just for what happened last month, but for everything I have done. I'm sorry I couldn't work up the courage to confess to you so many years ago, I'm sorry I let my jealousy ruin your relationship with Daniel, I am sorry I wasted time with other girls just to try and deny how much I truly adore you, and I am sorry that I ever thought I would be happy choosing anybody over you. I can't stand to live without you, and even if you have zero feelings for me in the same way I feel for you, would you please come back-"

She pulled his hands from her face and put her own on his before crushing her lips against his in an urgent moment of passion.

The contact was full of so much emotion, and it was the most loving kiss she had experienced from any of those who she had kissed.

It was intimate, but not rushed. Simply lips against lips; no pushing to move it deeper.

They pulled back after an unknown time, and she bumped her nose against his.

"I can't tell you how long I have wanted to do that for," she told him, feeling most of her anger melt away along with her confusion.

Instead, they both felt a love that they hadn't felt before.

"Come back, please?" He was ready to beg. Hell, he was ready to not go back to that house until she was ready to go with him.

"My name's still on the lease, you can bet your thick ass I'm coming back. But if I see one blonde hair extension, I will go on the warpath," she smirked at him, staring at his plump lips.

"I'll make sure it's spotless for your return," Luke beamed at her, feeling his nerves both escape his body and ignite at her touch.

"Good. Now get back over here and kiss me some more."

#luke hemmings #luke hemmings x reader #5sos #5 seconds of summer #crystal leigh #michael clifford #calum hood #Ashton irwin

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hopeandtruth · 3 years

Text

Blind Date Event

WHO: Hope Clarington and Seth Evans (@xsethappeal) WHAT: Blind Date WHEN: Friday Evening, July 16th, 2021 WHERE: Breadstix TRIGGERS: Alcohol consumption, allusions of past abuse WORD COUNT: 2,965

Hope had no idea why she was here. Mainly for an eventual laugh, she supposed. Lima hosting a singles night was basically a way to get all the millennials and some Gen Z into Breadstix so they could have a really good night of profits, there was no two ways about it, yet, here she was.

Hope hadn't even been on a single date since she got to Lima, hadn't even hooked up. The last time she even looked at another person would have been in Italy or Paris or something, and she couldn't even remember it. All the world travelling, even with the writing and as much as she'd talked about it, there were large chunks missing from her memory because she hadn't wanted to think about anything. So, here she was, on a stupid blind date at Breadstix, pretty sure she was going to regret the whole thing tomorrow.

Approaching her table she could already see the man who was going to be sharing her time with her and she considered just ... leaving before he saw her too. That would ruin the fun though, so she sat and smiled. "Surprised you took the time off for a date, but I guess it could have been worse."

The fact that Anna had somehow convinced him to do this was… ridiculous. He didn’t date, not since they broke up. He wasn’t into monogamy or really relationships, so going to this on a Friday when he could make way better tips at work was clearly due to his inability to say no to Anna.

Seth was always early for things, including things he didn’t really want to do. He’d already ordered a drink, though it was rather weak compared to the ones he made. He sipped it and sighed as he waited.

When he locked eyes as Hope fucking Clarington started to walk towards him, he groaned, but put on a charming smile, playing the part once she got to the table. “Unless tonight goes incredibly well, I can still probably be at work by 10.” He chuckled, “I’m shocked to see you here at all. A Clarington slumming it with the rest of us.

Hope huffed a laugh of sorts at the cheap shot, a the only kind Seth Evans would be able to afford anyway. "You're almost cute," she replied, still smiling, not yet giving him a signature sneer, "has anyone ever told you that?"

Hope quickly ordered a bottle of wine, not intending to share but she didn't protest when the wait staff brought two glasses. "So," she said, pouring herself a glass, a little fuller than it needed to be, "why are you here?"

“I’ve been called cute with assurance, both drunk and sober, I don’t hear almost very often.” He winked, taking a sip of his water.

He ordered himself some Johnnie Walker on the rocks, leaning back. “Because my best friend wanted to come and I’m here for moral support. I don’t date.” As he got his drink, he took a sip. “Why are you here?”

Hope was thankful when he didn't touch the wine, not that she wouldn't have just eventually ordered more, but it felt more like a game of dominance right now and neither was giving in. It was almost fun, at least for the time being.

She shrugged at his question, not really having much more of an answer than he did, almost made her wonder if the people who did the pairing did this intentionally. "Figured why not. I'm told I don't do enough 'normal' things, so why not try it out before I inevitably regret it tomorrow."

“So you choose to come to a mediocre restaurant, with mediocre food, mediocre people, minus a handful that I’m close with, and drink mediocre wine?” He quirked an eyebrow, taking another sip of his drink, before waving to the bartender to order himself another.

“Well, I’m sorry that I’m well above mediocre and have exceeded your expectations for ‘normalcy’, Ms Clarington. I’m not really capable of being ordinary or boring.”

Hope feigned interest as he spoke, but the more he went on about mediocrity, the harder it was to do. The confidence was interesting though, it seemed pretty real. For how big a lot of the people around Lima acted, there were few that could actually walk the walk after talking the talk, and deep down, Hope was one who could struggle with it lately, she was just a hell of a lot better at pretending than most of the world. Fake it til you make it was essential when someone had been through what she'd survived.

"Technically, I have to be the judge of that, Mr. Evans," she told him back smartly. "You never know when people will lie to you for a simple lay."

“In the 15 years I’ve been getting laid, never once have I lied to get into someone’s bed.” He finished his drink just as the second one arrived. “People who have to lie to get laid aren’t even worth the time. I like genuine people, real people. Not the kind who would tell you want you want to hear so you take off your pants, or will do whatever they’re expecting.”

He leaned back, looking her over - she may be a bitch, but even he had to admit she was hot. He wouldn’t tell her that though. “If people don’t like genuine me, that’s on them. Not me.”

The confidence was real and it was growing more intimidating by the minute, and Hope had no idea how to deal with it. This was someone who came from nothing, realistically had nothing, no doubt less than 2 paycheques from homelessness much like the rest of the world, and he didn't seem to care. It didn't make a lot of sense.

The genuine him, huh? Hope wasn't even sure she knew the genuine her, let alone liked her all that much, so there was no way she was going to let other people try and get there.

"I'm sure all those nights in the backroom at Scandals have been incredibly genuine, I think that's absolutely wonderful."

“I don’t hook up in the back room all that often. I’m usually working, and I don’t do anything that unprofessional while I’m working. I may “just” be a bartender at a small town gay bar, but I take my job seriously because I love it. So, yeah, on nights off I sometimes have fun, but I’m much more into sex outside of my place of work.”

He crossed one leg over the other, “and I remember the name and face of every person I hook up with. Even if I never see them again, I remember them.”

Hope wanted so badly to be bored, but, much to her dismay, Seth was almost interesting. He held himself highly, without having the ego that most of the company she usually kept. She wasn’t sure if she believed he knew the name and face of all his conquests, but she had no room to dispute it, so she didn’t.

“You might remember them,” she shot with a small grin, leaning back, “but I guess the real question is if they remember you.”

Seth chuckled into his drink, taking another sip. His blue-green eyes looking at her. “I have a good memory for things. Some people don’t. We have fun in the moment and that’s honestly the most important part. One night hook ups are meant for that. Just fun. It’s not a relationship.”

He shrugged, ordering himself some spinach dip. “My goal is to make people feel good for a night. Or whatever time of day we’re having fun. That’s all I care about.”

Seth's stare was a little unnerving. Sure, people usually looked, or even stared, but not like this. They were only a few feet apart and she didn't have much to hide behind, except her words, which didn't have too much of an effect on him.

Hope took a long sip of her wine, she didn't have a response and didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that.

"Well, everyone has a talent, I suppose," she told him finally.

Seth wasn’t used to being around people who didn’t have a comeback for him. Anyone at scandals always did, so seeing Hope, this woman who seemed to be stoic and reserved, yet also had the reputation of the opposite, was a change of pace.

“I have plenty of talents, but I doubt you’re interested enough to hear about them.”

He was baiting her, that much she was sure of. It was pretty damn close to infuriating. Hope wasn’t used to not having the upper hand and she certainly didn’t like it.

“You can try me,” Hope retorted, raising a brow. “But if I start to doze off, that’s on you.”

“Some of them are more of a show than tell, but I can’t do some of those things in public, unless I crawl under the table.” He winked, smirking, “but I’m 6’1, so I don’t really fit.”

He took another sip of his drink. “I play guitar and sing, I mix the best drinks in town. I’m good at sports, and was probably second or third in my class in high school. I also know a lot about cars.”

Hope did her best not to react at how sure he sounded. He knew he had the upper hand here and it showed. It got a little easier when the chat was less suggestive, thank fuck.

“You almost had me interested there,” she confessed, looking at him through her eyelashes, the exact way she knew worked. “Last I checked I didn’t care about cars, I’m smart too, I know how to mix my own drink with my own liquor, and musics just music.”

Seth rolled his eyes, “bully for you.” He ordered himself another drink, looking across the table at her. “So, what do you find interesting, Ms Ivy League Trust fund?”

That shouldn't have been a hard question, and it wasn't for most. But ever since she'd left New York, Hope wasn't really someone who did a lot of of interest rather than need. She needed to get the hell out of there and she needed her family to never know what kind of condition she left in. "Travelling," was her instant answer, "I did a lot of it for a couple years after I left New York. I wrote for a lot of magazines, making sure I always had somewhere else to go."

Hope found him interesting, but there was no way in Hell she was going to tell him that.

Seth smiled, “we do have something in common.” He leaned a bit closer, “I like to travel too. I did a big road trip across the country a few years back. I really want to go to India at some point too. I have a long bucket list of places I want to go before I die.”

Hope knew that she had to take back the control somehow, so she reached for her purse and threw a couple bills on the table, knowing it way more than covered the bill and she stood. She started towards the door before quickly turning around, "you are coming, right?" she asked, as innocently as possible, but anyone would know it was anything but.

He had to admit that this response caught him off-guard. Being paired with Hope had not led him to even consider the possibility of them going home together, and yet, clearly, that was where her mind had gone. He also had never had a woman cover his bill before. He shrugged and stood up, “taking me back to your coven for a sacrifice? I’ll have you know I’m not a virgin.” He smirked.

"I guess you'll have to wait and see," Hope told him as they left the restaurant. "I Uber'd here, busted car and all, so unless you drove, will that work for you?" Hope didn't really want to get into a car with someone she didn't know very well, so if need be, she'd just meet him at her place.

He chuckled, shaking his head, “of course I drove. It’s a pick up truck though, you sure you’re okay with that?” He cocked a brow, eyes washing over her. “I promise you I’m not secretly the modern day Ted Bundy.”

"Absolutely not," Hope told him immediately. "So, you have one of two choices, leave it here for ... who knows how long, I haven't decided, or, take it home and I can pay for an Uber, it's up to you." Hope was sure nothing would go wrong, but, there also was no way in Hell she was stepping foot in his pick-up truck.

He rolled his eyes, “the princess doesn’t like trucks. Shocker.” He sighed, “I guess I can leave her here. I’ll come back whenever and pick her up.” He had a relatively new truck, it was clean, nice. 2017. But he wasn’t exactly shocked she was so against it. “Guess I’m getting in an Uber with a woman who could be a black widow for all I know.”

"You had a choice, you know," Hope replied, doing her best not to sound too annoyed at his annoyance. "I said you could do whatever and you're choosing to ride with me anyway, and it's not too harder to figure out why," she continued giving him a once over.

Pulling out her phone, she ordered and Uber and was given a quick estimate, perks of so many people being preoccupied right now.

“Ride in the Uber with another person, or do it alone and risk being murdered. At least in pairs we’re less likely to be a target.” He shrugged, thinking his logic was pretty sound. “Im used to driving myself, I don’t think I’ve ever used Uber in my life…”

"You're acting like you're in a big city and using the Subway for the first time, don't be such a baby, it's making you far less appealing," Hope sighed, still looking at her phone. The less she gave him, the more power she had, at least in her opinion. They were using her mode of transport, going to her apartment, and she'd paid. Everything was in her favour.

“No, I’m acting like someone who watches a lot of serial killer documentaries with his best friend.” He sighed, leaning against a nearby wall. “Im also almost never a passenger in a car.”

"Well that sounds like you're just setting yourself up for paranoia," Hope shrugged taking a step towards him, looking up at him. "I figure you can get over this little ... issue for one night, right?"

Seth always loved a good height difference, and considering he was 6’2, they were rather common for him. He smiled down at her, “it’s not an issue, but yes, I can get over it for one night, Princess.”

Hope smirked up and bit her lip, staring a moment too long, before sharply turning away to greet the Uber driver that had just arrived. Confirming he was who he was supposed to be, Hope got in without hesitation and waited for Seth expectantly.

In all his life, Seth had never taken a cab or an Uber. In a town like Lima he never needed to, and when he travelled, he’d done it by car. He took a moment before getting in, shooting Anna a text just so someone knew where he was going. The Uber was cleaner than he expected… even had a new car smell.

“Texting your girlfriend?” Hope asked, as Seth sat down and they started on the drive to her place. “Because frankly that doesn’t really matter to me, but if you’re having second thoughts, I’m sure he can let you out if need be.”

Hope knew it wasn’t the case, but Seth was honestly just making it all too easy.

“I don’t have a girlfriend, thank you very much.” He rolled his eyes, “just letting a friend know where I’m going.”

Hope sighed dramatically, enjoying the game of it all now. “Well I guess I really will have to let you leave mostly unharmed then, such a shame.”

“Oh, darlin’, as long as I make it home in one piece,” he leaned in a bit, “hit me with your best shot.”

"I'll keep that in mind," Hope smirked, letting him stay close but being very careful to keep her hands to herself, at least for the new few minutes. Sure, she hadn't entirely expected this when she'd seen who her date was, or even, at all. Hope knew there very much still could be regrets tomorrow, but right now this was good and fun and who was she to push that away when she'd spent the last few nights with nothing similar.

Seth wasn’t one to say no very often. The fact that he’d taken a Friday off from work to do this date thing for Anna was not something he would usually do, but he couldn’t say no to her especially. Plus, even if Hope was a huge bitch, she was hot as fuck, and he was clearly in for a wild night

It wasn't long before the Uber stopped at Hope's apartment. Politely, she thanked the driver and led Sam into the building, past the doorman, and to the elevator. "You're not scared of heights or anything, are you?" She asked, teasing in tone, pressing the button to the 11th, and highest, floor.

Seth rolled his eyes, “no, I’m not scared of heights. I went bungee jumping a few years ago.” He shook his head. It was going to be an interesting night, that’s for sure.

#hopexseth #para

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