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bathomet-writes · 2 years ago

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a view to a thrill

summary: It’s been months since the Kraang attack on New York, and Raph has been acting a little strange lately. He’s been doing something in secret, that much Leo knew. And tonight, his brothers are gonna get to the bottom of it!

relationship: Raph x F!reader

warnings: romantic, fluff, humor, secret dating, forehead kisses, sfw

word count: 4,033

author's note: this is a request for @/snipersiniora!! enjoy!!

It’s been months since the Kraang attack on New York. After all the clean-up and recuperation efforts, the city was mostly back to normal. A new normal, anyway.

Leo sat at the kitchen island, munching on the last slice of leftover pizza as he thought about all the changes he and his family had been going through lately.

They had all talked about and dealt with most of the fallout of the Kraang. It was hard, but necessary. Leo hated having to watch all his brothers live through each of their experiences all over again, every time the subject was seriously brought up. The healing was almost harder than the pain, weirdly enough.

Shaking his head, Leo tries to stop himself from spiraling back down that rabbit hole. He didn’t like how conscious of his own emotions he was becoming. It made him jumpy, on edge.

It also made him a lot more hyper aware. Not just of himself, but of his brothers too. He found himself becoming much more of a helicopter parent of sorts. It came with being the leader, he supposed. Didn’t make it any less annoying.

As he swallowed the final bite of pizza, Leo’s thoughts went to Raph.

“Where is that guy anyway?”

It wasn’t like Raph had to be at the lair the same time every night. He was free to do whatever he pleased! But it was nearly 7 PM, and Leo hadn’t seen heads or tails of Raph all day.

Going out on ‘solo missions,’ volunteering to grab pizza, take out, what have you. Raph had a clever excuse for every time his brothers asked where he was going. Leo noticed that he was taking longer and longer to come back each time, but that wasn’t enough of a reason to be suspicious.

In his lab, Donnie was casually checking in on everyone’s pins during a break from his video game when he saw it. Raph’s little red icon was nowhere on the map. Was his tracker glitching out or something?

“Not possible,” Donnie seethes. “My tech is immaculate.”

He zoomed out to get a wider view of the sewers. It was only a 10 mile radius, but surely Raph was somewhere around.

Nothing.

He zooms out again, looking at a 15 mile radius.

Zip.

“What…?”

He didn’t usually keep tabs on his brothers like this, but Donnie was starting to get worried. Quickly, he taps into the city’s surveillance systems and gets a complete view of New York. Far off on the other end of town, near the docks to be precise, Donnie saw a red dot blinking away.

“Ah. He’s probably busting up a mafia ring or something. Yeah!” Donnie nods to himself.

Couldn’t be anything else.

Suddenly, the blinking stops. Donnie scrambles to the edge of his chair to grab at the computer screen. Raph turned off his GPS…

“Okay, that’s it.”

In the rec room area, Mikey had been pacing around for a while. With board games and phone in hand, he was starting to panic. Tonight was supposed to be family game night, and Mikey was the only one who showed up. Even Splinter bailed on him, having accidentally passed out on his bed after dinner.

“This is so not cool. I had the games picked out and everything!”

Right as Mikey drops the box of Scrabble and the container of dominos, Donnie storms in.

“This is ridiculous.”

Mikey spins around, equally exasperated. “You’re tellin’ me! Can you believe it?”

Leo had sauntered in as well, his curiosity piqued when he heard the commotion all the way from the kitchen. Crossing his arms, he leans up against the entryway.

“It’s so frustrating. Is it so much to ask for a little communication? A little honesty?”

Donnie and Mikey approach, nodding their heads furiously along with their brother.

“Right!”

“Precisely!”

The three of them stand there for a second, in total silence. Leo slowly blinks his eyes open.

“What are we talking about? I mean, I know what I’m talking about.”

Donnie points at his wrist. “I’ll tell you: Raph, our brother, has just turned off his tracker. How did he even do that? It’s subcutaneous!”

Leo clears his throat with a furrowed brow. He was just going to ignore the fact that Donnie somehow managed to implant tracking devices inside all of them. For now.

“He couldn’t have chewed it out. Mine’s all the way back here!” Mikey spins around, grabbing pitifully at the back of his neck. “Dang, almost.”

“Wait— He what? Lemme see that.”

Leo grabs at Donnie’s wrist, scanning over the map display. “You didn’t happen to—“

“Near the docks, I already committed it to memory.”

Donnie gives his brothers a haughty grin as they applaud his excellent memory.

“Impressive!”

“Very sneaky,” Mikey smirks.

Then, Leo brings them all in for a short conference.

“Okay, it’s clear to me now that Raph is most certainly hiding something. He’s not in trouble, or else he’d be calling one of us. Right?”

Mikey whips out his phone and dials Raph. “Let’s see…”

They watch with bated breath as the line rings. Raph wouldn’t ignore a phone call from his youngest, goodest brother, would he?

“Hey, you’ve reached Raphael! I can’t come to the phone right now—“

“HYAH—!” Mikey tosses his phone against the wall. “Not the voicemail!”

This wasn’t like Raph at all, they wonder to themselves.

Surely he, of all people, would want to keep his loved ones close after the invasion. He didn’t have to stay put in the lair all the time, but he could have at least had the decency to keep his tracker on. Leo nods, making the executive decision.

“Then it’s settled.” He pulls out his portal lying sword and slices through the air. “C’mon.”

Leo calmly walks through, with Mikey and Donnie following close behind.

Raph’s been doing something in secret, that much Leo knew. And tonight, his brothers are gonna get to the bottom of it!

—

Quietly, Raph hops in-between shipping containers. He was running late, so he resorted just to using his ninja skills to get him to his destination.

He didn’t even check his phone when he felt it buzz.

“No time! Can’t talk!” He speaks to the inanimate object before stowing it away.

Finally, he sees it. Albeartoland!

Raph zeros in on the silhouette of the roller coaster in the distance before flash-stepping. It wasn’t like he would be breaking in, there weren’t exactly any security around the place, but Raph tried to creep in as stealthily as he could.

It was never in great shape before (the Mad Dogs made sure of that when it first opened), but Albeartoland was officially closed after the invasion. The NYC Clean-Up Project just didn’t have it in the budget to refurbish a dilapidated amusement park.

The rides were all mostly destroyed, the main roller coaster barely being held together. The ferris wheel was somewhere in the ocean below the pier, most likely. But what didn’t rely on electricity was still intact.

Carnival games, abandoned food stands, and walkable attractions. It wasn’t ideal, but Raph hoped to himself that they would be enough entertainment for tonight.

Once he finally made his way to the entrance, he quietly surveyed the area.

“She must have left already…” Raph sighs to himself.

“Nope, still here.”

Suddenly, Raph twists around to see you standing just behind the front gate. You smile, giving him a small salute. “I wouldn’t give up after only…15 minutes of waiting?”

You glance down at your phone, checking the hour. “Plus, you actually gave me enough time to find the breaker. Maybe you can use your brute strength to kick it on and we can see if this place has any juice left.”

His spirit lifts immediately as he brings you into a spine-breaking hug. “You’re the best!”

You weakly fight back against his hold, blushing as he places a couple of smooches on the top of your head.

“I know! Now put me down before you break something.”

He gives you one last kiss before setting you back down. His face was starting to heat up as well.

“You’re right, you’re precious cargo.”

Chuckling, you lead him over to the power breaker in the center of the park. You didn’t really have any knowledge about circuitry, but most of the wires were either torn out or fried. Couldn’t hurt to try it anyway.

“After you. I’m pretty sure you won’t get electrocuted…” You shrug, moving to the side to allow him to pull the main switch.

“Pfft, I’m sure it’s fine.” Raph spits onto the palms of his hands, rearing up to grab ahold of the handle. “Stand back, wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”

You back away, putting your arms up defensively. “From the sparks?”

“No, from the gun show.” He smirks, flexing his impressive arms.

You ogle him from afar as he pulls the switch up. With a loud mechanical sound, the power kicks back on and the park slowly begins to light up. You get momentarily distracted from Raph as the twinkling lights blink on around you.

“Not bad, Red. You better start charging me admission.” You slink back over to him, letting your fingers walk along his toned muscles.

In the distance, you swear you hear something. Maybe it was all in your head, but you swore you just heard someone vomit.

“Hm?” You look behind you.

Nobody. Weird.

You feel Raph begin to pull away from your touch, flustered at your compliment.

“Ahaha…” He smiles goofily at you. “Why don’t we take a walk around? There’s probably a game that isn’t completely trashed.”

You glance back one more time before going to catch up with Raph. “Yeah, right.”

For a while, the two of you busy yourselves with trying out various attractions. The sledgehammer bell game instantly caught your eye. A test of strength would be the perfect thing to impress Raph, you thought to yourself.

With a bit of swagger in your step, you make your way over to the game. “Check this out, stud.”

Lifting himself out of a toppled food cart, Raph looks up at you with a piece of funnel cake in his mouth.

“Dude, how old is that?” You grimace as you lift up the hammer.

Swallowing the rest, Raph wipes away the crumbs. “Tastes pretty old.”

He giggles watching your face twist with disgust.

“Whatever. Prepare to be amazed!”

You lift the hammer high over your head before bringing it down. The rubber collides with the sensor, causing the dial on the machine to shoot up. It bobs a bit near the top before dropping to the middle, right around the ‘weakling’ marker.

You stutter, feeling sheepish. “That…that one didn’t count.”

Before you know it, Raph walks up behind you and politely offers his hand. “These games are all rigged. Here, let me.”

Raph gives you that warm, confident look that always fills your stomach with butterflies. Blushing, you hand the hammer to him.

“Well, you’ll probably just break it anyway. Go ahead.” You scoff.

He squares his legs to about shoulder-length apart, almost like he’s about to tee off at golf. Raph takes his sweet time getting ready before finally hitting the sensor.

Gingerly, he brings his arms up and taps the hammer. “Boop.”

You throw your head back, rolling your eyes. “Okay, wise guy. How ‘bout you try for real now?”

Raph tosses a snarky look your way, his fang poking out of his mouth.

“If you say so.”

In a flash, you watch as Raph summons his mystic powers. His red, glowing arms expand out to grab ahold of the hammer. It was dwarfed by his large hands, but his grip remained tight. With a boost of speed and power, Raph reels back and practically smashes the sensor.

The dial on the game goes much higher this time, unsurprisingly. Just when you both think it’ll hit the bell at the top, it sinks back down to the lowest marker.

You blink, stepping forward. “What does that say…? Wimp?”

Smirking, you hear Raph shuffle next to you.

“No. That can’t be right!”

“Oh yeah, you’re right. It actually says ‘Shrimp.’ My bad.”

Raph’s face breaks out into a deep red color before he shakes his mystic fist at the game. He sure did like to talk to inanimate objects a lot.

“Callin’ me shrimpy, huh? You wanna go?” He growls.

Then, he leaps up high into the air, locking his fists together. If the hammer wasn’t enough to prove his strength, his fists certainly could.

You nonchalantly walk back a safe distance, watching him relentlessly smash the sensor with his massive hands. He moves on to just destroying the rest of the game in a blind rage, flattening the bell with a resounding crunch.

With a dry chuckle, you walk back up to him after his mystic energy disappears.

“You sure showed it who’s boss.” You kick at the remnants of the game.

Raph pouts, folding his arms across his chest. “Serves it right.”

You have to stop yourself from ‘aww’-ing at his angry face. He was just too adorable! Thinking on your feet, you skip away from Raph.

“Hold on!” You shout.

You look around at all the nearby booths, digging through the rubble and debris. To your disappointment, there really weren't any carnival prizes left. All the plushies were either taken by young delinquents raiding the park or destroyed in the Kraang invasion, apparently.

You nearly give up before you walk past the last booth. There was exactly one Albearto plush left, hanging sadly on the side of the counter. You snatch it up and quickly try to dust it off.

You tip-toe back up to Raph, plush hidden behind your back. He was still sulking, but he had moved to sit at the edge of the dock. His beefy legs dangled off the pier.

You smile cheekily, poking his shell. “Since you did technically hit the bell, I think you deserve a prize. The law of the amusement park demands it.”

Raph peeks up at you, still scowling. “Whaddaya mean?”

You present him with the Albearto plush with a flourish. “Ta-da! I know you hate kinda hate this guy, but…”

Before your slightly embarrassed ramblings can go on, Raph takes the toy from you. His eyes go wide and watery at your kind gesture.

“F-For me?”

You and Raph stare at each other lovingly.

“You don’t need a carnival game to tell you that you’re literally the strongest dude alive.” You wink, moving closer to scratch underneath Raph’s chin. Right where he liked it.

In the background, another voice calls out. It was…cheering?

There it was again! You spin around toward the source of the noise. Was someone following you?

Raph’s contented sighs of happiness soon drown out your errant thoughts. You were just paranoid, you thought. Facing him again, you give Raph a couple more scritches.

“That’s so weird.” You whisper.

“Mmm…what is, baby?”

His cute pet name sends a bolt of lightning straight to your heart. You think it might actually stop beating for a second.

“What did I tell you about calling me that?” Your eyeball twitches, trying to reign in your emotions.

Raph sighs, lumbering to stand up. He moves your hands away so that he can slide his up to your face.

“You said that you’d probably have a heart attack and die. But I think you were lyin’ to me.” He smirks.

You tuck your head into your shirt collar, feeling positively bombarded with affection. Raph knew that whenever he called you that, you melted into a human puddle.

“Stop! I’ll push you off!” You joke, playfully slapping his hands away.

Raph laughs, moving away. “Okay, okay. Do you think the carousel still works—“

The wood plank Raph was standing began to creak and whine under your combined weights. Maybe the park was in worse shape than he thought. Suddenly, the edge of the pier shifts, the weather-worn wood snapping.

All Raph can do is stare dumbly into your eyes as he starts to fall. Even his ninja reflexes weren’t quick enough to catch him.

“Raph!” You shout, reaching your hands out to somehow catch him.

Without even thinking, your body launches forward on instinct. You knew you didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell, but you knew you had to save Raph. Even if it meant dislocating your shoulder.

Your hands shoot out as you fall to the ground. The wood was weak, but it had you up. The splintered edge dug roughly into your stomach, but you didn’t care. You grit your teeth, feeling your hands grab onto something.

Somehow, you manage to grab a hold of Raph’s wrist.

Raph gulps, his voice shaky.

“I thought you were kidding.”

You quickly grab him with your other hand, trying with all your might to pull him back up. It didn’t help that Raph weighed…well, as much as an insanely jacked mutant turtle weighed.

“Shut up and get back up here!” You groan.

You don’t even pay attention to the sound of something landing behind you.

Raph strains a bit, but swings his other arm up. He catches the edge of the pier with his index finger and slowly pulls himself back up.

“Thank God I didn’t skip arm day,” he hisses.

Finally, you pull Raph all the way up. Dragging you both over to the prize booth nearby, you pant and try to catch your breaths.

“T-Thanks,” He wheezes, grabbing his chest. “I almost took a swim.”

You bend down and lean onto your knees, shooting Raph an apologetic frown.

“Don’t thank me. You did most of the work.”

“You’re probably right, but your bravery was commendable. Well done.”

A nasally voice echoes behind you, giving you a half-hearted clap. Donnie walks forward, cocking his head to the side. He was sizing you up, analyzing your face.

“Woah, who’s the babe?” Leo pops his head over Donnie’s shoulder, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

You feel yourself start to sweat under their scrutinizing gazes. You definitely knew Raph had brothers, you’ve seen their blurry images on social media. But you’ve never officially met them. Raph and you have had many conversations about it, whether or not he should tell them about your relationship. You both came to the conclusion that, at least for now, it’d be best to keep it on the down-low.

With the blue and purple-clad turtles eyeing you up and down, however, that might be a little difficult.

You gulp. Time to make a good first impression.

“Hey, isn’t there an orange one?”

Well, maybe just an impression.

“That’s me!”

Mikey slides in and places an arm over your shoulder, bringing you into a friendly side-hug.

Soon enough, the three brothers crowd into your personal space, trying to get a better look at you. Their heads press up against one another, making you snicker.

“Uh, hello.” You take a step back.

“Wait—!” Raph marches over to stand in-between you and the others. “What are you bozos doin’ here?”

Taking the lead, Leo pushes himself forward.

“We’re just here to check up on our dear older brother. We didn’t look up your location and follow you all the way out here to snoop, because if you’re thinking that, you’re dead wrong.”

Raph narrows his eyes. He looks over to a meek looking Mikey and Donnie, waiting to hear their excuse. They didn’t even try to lie, simply shrugging to him.

“You turned off your tracker. Could you blame us?” Donnie sighs.

“And, you missed family game night! We were gonna do our domino rematch like you promised.” Mikey’s lip quivers, giving Raph big puppy dog eyes.

“That was tonight? Ugh.” Raph slaps his forehead.

He did feel like he was pulling away from his brothers a little bit lately, but he was always sure to keep his schedule straight. There was family time, and there was you time.

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t…”

Raph looks back at you, politely standing off to the side.

You didn’t want to interrupt, or accidentally say anything stupid. This seemed like a more personal matter between brothers, so you just kept to yourself. When Raph looks back at you, eyes searching for the right words, you bite at your lip.

Quickly, you introduce yourself to Leo, Donnie, and Mikey.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take your brother away from you guys.”

Your heart was pounding in your chest as they looked at you curiously. You don’t know how else to behave in front of them, so you just bow. It’s a formal, almost awkward way to greet them. But how else could you react to meeting more of the people who basically saved the entire world from alien invaders.

“Thank you for saving New York. Not just from the Kraang, obviously…” You chuckle, looking at the ground. “But for all that other stuff.”

Suddenly, Leo breaks out into laughter.

You straighten your back, looking even more awkward. Did you say something wrong? Did your bowing offend them somehow? Your mind raced as Leo continued to guffaw at you.

Suddenly they all realize, in their own unique way, that Raph had a girlfriend. A real, flesh-and-blood girlfriend!

Leo was a little surprised, but proud nonetheless. He was just relieved that Raph wasn’t hiding some deep, dark secret about moonlighting as a vigilante or something.

“Holy shit! This one’s a card! Nice going, brother.” Leo playfully slaps at Raph’s back.

Donnie hangs back, seemingly trying to do endless math equations in his mind. If his brother had been dating, surely he would have seen all the signs? How did Raph manage to evade his expert perception for months?

“For no reason in particular, could you give me all of your personal information? Phone number, work place, social security number.” Donnie approaches you, notepad in hand.

“I’m gonna go with ‘no.’” You smirk, pushing him away.

Mikey was nothing but ecstatic! He jumped forward, wrapping you up in a big, cuddly hug. He was a little miffed at Raph for skipping family time, but how could he stay mad knowing that his big bro had finally found love?

“Welcome to our messed up family! Our dad’s a rat!”

You stumble a bit when he crawls onto your back, but you give his hand a friendly pat. “So I’ve heard.”

Raph watches with slight disbelief as Leo walks up and greets you as well. You all exchange your names and get all the pleasantries out of the way.

Was it always going to be this easy, you meeting all of his brothers? Suddenly, Raph felt pretty bad for being so nervous about introducing you. Not that he didn’t trust you, or that the others wouldn’t, it’s just that he didn’t know how to navigate that part of your relationship yet.

Then, Raph feels a pang of love deep in his gut. He knew that as long as he had his brothers and you, he’d be okay. He’d be more than okay.

“I didn’t know how else to react, okay? What, did you want me to say ‘thank you for your service’?’” You joke.

“Yikes, that’s worse.” Leo scratches the side of his head and laughs along with you.

Raph silently approaches, moving to stand behind you.

“Sorry guys. I know I’ve been kinda—“

“Ah-ah. Say no more. We know.” Donnie waves him off with a lazy smile.

“Yeah, you’ve only been dating for a couple of months. You were just taking your time!” Mikey flashes Raph a bright smile, giving him a thumbs up.

Then, you look back to Raph, quirking up an eyebrow.

“Should we tell them?”

Raph chuckles, a sweat drop running down his face.

“A couple of months, a year, what’s the difference?”

The five of you stand there for a second. You could hear a pin drop.

“WHAAAAAAT?”

Leo, Donnie, and Mikey collectively scream, attacking Raph and tackling him to the ground.

You cackle watching them playfully fight with each other. Your life was bound to become a lot more messed up now, but that was just fine with you.

taglist: @saspas-corner

#rottmnt x reader #raph x reader #rottmnt raph x reader #raphael x reader #tmnt x reader #sfw #requests

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lonelyroommp3 · 7 months ago

Note

would you share the video essay? i also would like to be doing nothing rn

honestly it was not very good so i won't share that particular one lol but my favourite casual watch channels in general include -

if you want to get a recap of drama you would otherwise not know or care about:

emma in the moment - craft/fibre arts related drama (think dodgy yarn dyers, crochet plagiarism accusations, etc)

treacle tatts - tattoo related drama; mix of longer drama recaps & tiktok reaction vids. you could definitely waste an entire afternoon just watching the tattoogate series

izzzyzzz - very much in the sarah z/strange aeons school of "old fandom drama i almost forgot about" but i find izzzyzzz's videos tend to focus more on fandoms i'm not as familiar/don't have history with (my little pony, creepypasta, deviantart in general, etc) so it kind of fills a different niche for me in terms of learning something new as opposed to getting a cursed nostalgia hit. their mary sue video is a particular fave

if you like messy pop culture drama throwbacks:

casey aonso. honestly one of my fave youtubers in the game atm as someone with a big interest in 2000s/2010s pop culture, i've mentioned it before but her fifth harmony video is quite possibly my number one comfort watch of all time. cracks me up every time without fail

if you are a public transport enjoyer:

both geoff marshall and jago hazzard do very interesting & informative videos mainly focusing on the transport for london network but also going further afield. mostly shorter form content but there are a couple of interesting longer ones like geoff's video about riding every tfl bus

i find noel phillips' videos interesting from a pov of exploring various niche airlines but i can't lie him talking to camera on an otherwise silent plane & also surreptitiously recording his interactions with airline staff DOES give me potent second hand embarrassment and genuine moral qualms respectively so tread carefully on those ones i suppose

if you REALLY want to turn your brain off and just have some background noise i am a big fan of 1) level crossing videos. just search "uk level crossings channel" and go wild. 2) livestreams of planes landing in various airports. pairs well with flightradar24 in another tab especially if you happen to live somewhere underneath an airport's flight path so you can get what i like to call the "dual monitor experience" of seeing the plane irl and on the stream

if you want oddly satisfying content

HOOF TRIMMING VIDEOS!! if you just want something clean and satisfying watch horse hoof trimming vids. if like me you don't mind or arguably even prefer complex & occasionally graphic medical cases then cows are where it's at. the big two cow hoof youtubers - mootubers, if you will - are the hoof gp (scotland based, mix of straightforward short form trims and longer vlog style videos, more comedy & banter sprinkled throughout) and nate the hoof guy (usa based, more straightforward and calm delivery, come for the hooves stay for his commenters' absolute vendetta against the hoof gp under nearly every single video)

i love girl with the dogs for dog/cat grooming videos. she has two channels, one with very short (2-5 min) grooms and another with longer (15-20 min) more in depth videos

back in my last year of undergrad i got really into soap making videos. mainly watch royalty soaps who can be... a bit gratingly cheerful in her delivery but if you don't mind that the actual content is very relaxing to watch

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mysteriouslyjovialcolor · 23 days ago

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China 2018

-Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull lockout

-Nico (from the last few races I’ve watched) has been pretty consistent in qualifying top ten. I can’t believe he’s never made podium

-Oh wow Sebastian just sped ahead like he was thrown from a sling shot

-Kimi and Lewis both losing positions because of that

-Max gained because of that though, Nico too

-“Did you see how many places we lost because of Sergio right now? It’s unbelievable” The girls are fighting again

-Haas implementing team orders for this race was not on my Bingo card (I’ll take it though, cause Kevin is higher now)

-“Do we think that Kimi Raikonnen is kind of sleep-walking Lewis Hamilton into a slower pace?”

-Nico casually going past Charles. The Renault looks like they were actually good this season

-✨Red Bull double stack ✨

-That was actually so hot

-“Box, box, box, box, do the opposite to Raikonnen” I love pit stop games

-“The one team that aren’t reacting is Ferrari” Why is it always them

-“Bottas gets past Vettel, the undercut worked!” That was so close, Mercedes really did a great job

-Lewis stuck in a Red Bull sandwich

-Nico on the other hand picking off cars one by one and Carlos right behind him

-Charles?? Why is he p20??

-I’m surprised the Force Indias are still out of the points

-The top three now less than a second away from each other

-Andd Valterri has made his move! He’s gone past Kimi and now so has Sebastian!

-Max p3 now, after Kimi pit

-“Charles was expected to be the wonder boy wasn’t he” Excuse me?? I don’t care that he’s p20- you shall not talk smack about him!

-Eeh Pierre running into his teammate

-Fortunately not something that needed a safety car though

-Never mind, I was wrong, there is a safety car

-Another Red Bull double stack!!

-“Red Bull definitely not sleeping on that pit wall”

-Renault double stack as well

-Somehow Nico didn’t lose out track position because of that, but Carlos did :/

-“We haven’t had a retirement so far” These guys about to jinx it

-“Is it just me or have I got a bunch of cars that have new tires behind me” Oh Lewis

-“And the two Force Indias almost touch” I’m surprised they haven’t already

-Let’s go Daniel!!!!

-Oh shit Max fell behind Danny, still covering off Kimi though

-Daniel!!!!!

-“If he’s going to do this, he might as well be pulling rabbits out of his hat. That was magic from Daniel Ricciardo” 👏👏👏

-“Alright next one is Vettel, let’s get him” That’s a man on a mission now

-Woah!! Max getting past Lewis too!! No falling back this time!!

-Who lit the fire under Daniel’s car?? Ohmygodd has he come alive towards the last few laps of this race!!

-“Well done mate, easy pickings” GP is so chill

-Oh no! Max hit Seb! GP spoke too soon!!

-Aaaaah that was so hotttt from Nico!!!!

-Daniel leading!!!

-“Don’t give up, you can pass Hulkenburg” What if I actually don’t want him to though

-10s penalty for Max. This has happened to me three times in a row now. Someone make it stop

-Ah Max and Lewis wheel to wheel! That one was fun!

-“He can’t just run me off the track like that” Sebastian’s day going from bad to worse because Alonso decided to be a menace

-Nico stays p6 though!!

-Daniel “Race Winner” Ricciardo!!!

-“Absolutely clinical moves. Cutthroat. Scary” haha

-Go Aussie babyyy

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osleeplessflowero · 10 months ago

Note

hi!! i JUST finished reading your cowboy!stretch x reader oneshot on ao3 and i absolutely loved it, would you mind making a continuation of it? probably with them riding a horse. thank you so much for writing that i love it so much!!! :D

// HII omg!! I'm so happy you liked the oneshot, that one was super fun to write! I'd be more than happy to write a continuation. Hopefully I do your request justice! (Especially considering it's my first one!!)

🧡You can find the first oneshot Here. :)🧡

❤️ Reader has They/Them pronouns, and their SOUL type is up to you! 🧡 Country AU! Cowboy skeletons my beloved.. 💛 This takes place in a Crossover universe, so common fandom nicknames will be used!

It's been a few weeks since you met that dashing skeleton, Stretch, at Grillby's. After taking a few days, you worked your hardest and finally managed to fix up that old barn. Now she looks good as new, and you..need to find something else to do.

You sit in your house, kicking your legs back and forth as you lie on your stomach on your couch. Some random show plays on the tv in front of it you recognize, but you're not really focusing on it since you're facing your left scrolling through your phone. Nothing really sticks out to you, searching for something of interest before you see a little notification pop down from someone. You miss it the first time, pulling down the top of your screen and realizing it's from Stretch.

You sit up abruptly on your knees, shifting to face the tv and letting your legs rest on the wood floor. It's always nice to see what he's up to.

honey enthusiast🍯 - now -> heya, what are you up to?

You - now <- nothing much, just watching tv and dying of boredom lol ive got nothing to do now that the barns all fixed

honey enthusiast🍯 - now -> you could come over to me and my bro's place, it's just us here today

You - now <- rsally? *really?

honey enthusiast🍯 - now -> rsally

You - now <- stfu

honey enthusiast🍯 - now -> lmaoo but yeah im fr could show you the animals and stuff

You - now <- bet uh idk where you live tho

honey enthusiast🍯 - now -> i'll send you the location or i could just come get u if u want

You - now <- i think ill drive there i wanna remember the way in case i come over again :)

honey enthusiast🍯 - now -> alr sounds good to me lol i'll wait at the front gate for you sent attachment

You hop up from your seat on the couch, petting one of your dogs who'd decided to lie down in front of the couch and walking into your room to change.

"Okay, he..he lives on a ranch?? Well, I guess I should've gotten that from the cowboy getup, huh? I should probably wear somethin' I'm okay with gettin' dirty.." You browse through your closet, picking out some casual clothes that'll keep you cool and comfortable in the summer heat.

"Time to go." You walk out of your room, playing some music from the stereo in your living room and giving your dogs some pets before bidding them goodbye. You walk out to your truck and climb inside, turning the key and beginning to drive to the location you set your GPS to. A few familiar songs play while you make your way down several sets of roads. You promptly bop your head to them, lip syncing some of the words.

You knew you were at the right place the moment you saw it. The house was huge based on what you could see from the gate as you drove up to it, plenty of land surrounding it with fences up to keep any unwanted visitors out. You see a familiar shade of orange pop up as the skeleton opens the gate, walking over to your window and leaning his arms on it.

"howdy. glad you could make it, didn't get lost did you?" "Nope, got here a-okay. This place is massive- are you guys loaded or something?" You ask, flabbergasted. He chuckles at that, looking back at the house. "well, it just kinda happened when we exchanged monster currency for human currency. so I guess you could say we are." "Jesus." "you can go ahead and pull up wherever, it doesn't matter." He stands on the step just below your door, holding on. You smile at the action, driving further in and parking in a spot next to someone else's car.

He jumps down onto the ground and lets you get out, closing the door behind yourself and locking it before jumping down too.

You hear a faint "Hello!" in the distance as someone runs over, grinning wide. A skeleton, a pretty large one at that yet shorter than Stretch. His attire is pretty similar to the former, only his is buttoned up much more neatly and is blue rather than orange. Stretch's top button is currently loose, exposing a little bit of his sternum. You also notice how the two stick to one color scheme, Stretch sticking with orange and this one sticking to blue specifically.

"you're in luck, they just got here." "Yes, I'm Not Late! Hello, There! I'm Stretch's Brother, Blue. We Live Together Close To Some Of Our Friends." "It's nice to meet you, Blue. I'm.." You tell him your name, and the two of you chat about this and that before Stretch steals you away to show you around. You both walk around different parts of the ranch before you decide to go and visit the animals, saying hello to each of them promptly.

"You have so many horses-" "like. ten of them." "JESUS-" You pause, looking towards one, before turning back to him with a smile.

"..what?" He raises a brow, smiling as well with crossed arms as he observes you. "..Can we ride one?" "..you want to ride one?" "Yes- please-" "i mean, yeah, i don't see why not. though, we'd probably have to ride together. are you okay with that? if not, i can figure something out." "I'm okay with that. Won't bother me." "alright, just gimme a sec."

You wait patiently as he goes to get a proper saddle, walking over to a few horses and letting them smell your hands so they know to trust you. One in particular takes a liking to you, a black horse with a stripe of white from its muzzle to its forehead. It nuzzles its nose against the side of your head until Stretch returns, smiling as he walks over.

"somebody's attached. no, you can't bring the horse home with you." "Aww-" You fake pout, before smiling and gently petting its head. "but, you can come back to visit." "You bet I will." A determined look crosses your face. "you wanna ride this one?" He points with his thumb. "Yes- if they are okay with that, of course."

He nods, and after a few seconds the horse is saddled and ready to go.

"so, you're gonna have to sit in front of me. is that alright?" "Yeah, that's fine." "alright, cool."

He helps you get up onto the horse first. It's a bit of a strange sensation at first, but you gradually get used to it. He then climbs up and sits comfortably behind you and the saddle, gently taking hold of the reins. Feeling his arms around your waist has you feeling a bit flushed, your face heating up a bit as you hope he doesn't notice.

"comfortable?" He speaks calmly so as to not spook the horse, his head just above your shoulder. A shiver goes down your spine accompanied by an anxious smile. "Y- ..Yeah, I'm all good." You mutter, cursing yourself internally for stuttering as you hear him chuckle behind you. You don't realize at first when the horse starts to move before you snap out of a daze, looking ahead with a smile.

You feel..safe with his arms around you, even as you're very flushed. You can just blame it on the heat if he asks. What you don't know, however, is that he seems to be fairly flushed himself..a bright shade of orange lightly making its way over his cheekbones. He keeps his lazy smile as he looks over you, making sure you're alright and comfortable.

Blue has a cheeky grin as he watches you both ride around the field, leaning his arms on one of the fences.

His hold on your waist tightens a little when the horse picks up its speed, causing your face to heat up even more before that feeling is overcome by excitement. You cheer as it runs, carrying you both around.

This continues for a little while before both the two of you and the horse become tired. Stretch slides off and helps you jump down, guiding the horse back to where it can rest.

"That was fun! I wouldn't mind doing it again." "..maybe you can, next time you come over." "Yeah." You avert your eyes, your face admittedly still a little flushed. You can't fully bring yourself to meet his gaze until he reaches up to get some grass out of your hair.

"i wouldn't mind." He smirks, his eyes relaxed as he looks at you. You clear your throat. "Yeah, uh..looking forward to it." You smile in return as Blue walks over to greet you both.

"Why Don't You Guys Come Inside? I'd Love For You To Stay For Dinner. We Can Talk More!" He suggests with a friendly smile. You look over briefly at Stretch for a moment before turning back to him.

"Yeah, I'm cool with that. I'd better get home before dark, though. I've got dogs waiting at home for me." "you have dogs?" Stretch perks up, curious. "Yeah, two." "i wanna pet 'em-" "Well, maybe you can visit me next."

He grins as Blue guides you both inside, gently closing the door behind him.

Part 3? Ao3 Link:

#flower answers #sleeplessflower's oneshots #swap papyrus x reader #cowboy swap papyrus #cowboy swap papyrus x reader #stretch underswap #sleeplessflower's cowboy stretch series

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swgohgamer · 19 days ago

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WEEK 52: Couple of big headlines this week. First, I finished the Beskar Mando journey, which is something I started over a year ago, before taking a hiatus. Feels good to finally cross that one off the top of my-do list. I still need 30 more ship blueprints to 7-star the Razor Crest, and those are hard to come by, so I guess I can take my time leveling up the character. I’m moving my energy resources toward farming up the other bounty hunter ships so that I can finish the Millennium Falcon journey. Hard node ship farms are suuuper slow. Good news is, the bounty hunter pilot characters are all relic 5, and that happened slightly ahead of schedule thanks to the other big development this week…

…lightspeed bundles are back! Well, at least some of them. And I ended up buying every single one that came out this week. In hindsight the Starkiller one was way too pricey at $50, and I probably could have done without the Padme bundle. But both had relic characters who are part of my farming plan. There was a lot in those bundles overall that I wish I hadn’t spent time farming, but that’s how they get ya. Well played yet again, CG, well played.

The lightspeed bundles first came out when I was taking a break from the game, so I didn’t realize just how many of those had been released back then. If they end up,re-releasing all of them, we might have a bunch more to go. Makes sense that they would do that as we get closer to the holidays, when people are in a more spendy mood.

Anyway, adding all those relic characters really shook up the roster. I’m almost glad we’re in between Grand Arena seasons, because I need to work on mods & even figure out optimal squad compositions for all these guys. I’m short on omega ability mats & zetas too. I do have enough for my next omicron, but I’m not sure who should get it. According to Hotutils, my best bet is Mara Jade or Embo. I had been thinking of putting it on Poggle for TW, but my guild hasn’t had enough members sign up for TW the past few weeks, so I’ve been hesitating. Right now we’re up to 33 members & over 90GP, so hopefully soon we’ll be back in business there.

I went back to the Easy difficulty level for Conquest, which has been a breeze so far with all these new relics. I want to get to the final red crate this time. If I can do that, then I’ll give Normal another try next time.

I got my TIE pilot to G12, and I’m putting my fleet energy toward G13 there. Once that’s done, I’ve already got enough relic mats to bump him right up to R5, which is a requirement for Executor. The other relic requirements will take more work, but it’s only 3 more characters.

I guess since this is “week 52,” I should do a bit of a retrospective. The account is more like 5 years old (started in 2019), but I was very casual for the first few years. Didn’t really look up any strategies, just kind of opened the game when I felt like it & tapped on quests. Then in March 2022, about 2.5 years ago, I bought the hyperdrive bundle (back when it was $100, you’re welcome CG) and started this tumblr. I had less than 900k GP & was in the process of building up a Phoenix squad to get Palpatine & Thrawn. I decided at that time that I’d just work my way through the journey guides, & continued from Palpatine & Thrawn to GMY, Artoo, BB-8, Padme, CLS, Rey, and started Beskar Mando around September ‘22. But then I put the game down and didn’t pick it back up until June ‘24. So that was almost a two-year hiatus.

A bunch of different factors in my personal life caused me to drop the game for a while, which I won’t go into here other than to say that one big difference is that on “Week 30” when I came back, I had been sober for a little over a year, and still am today. And the only reason I mention that here is because I feel like there’s a marked difference between my play style post-hiatus, where I’m getting better results, and sobriety is a big part of that. (The other part being that I pivoted from strictly following the journey guides to following a path that’s closer to YouTuber Ahnaldt101’s 2024 farming guide, which is much more productive.) I guess what I’m saying is, I know the week numbering that I do at the beginning of each post is a little confusing, but it’s less about tracking actual time than it is about tracking progress. I don’t really expect anyone to read these anyway - it’s just a little hobby - but if you’re reading this and you’re struggling with a substance addiction, I see you.

#galaxy of heroes #star wars #star wars galaxy of heroes #swgoh

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oh-my-may · 6 months ago

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I'M NOT DONE YET.

After much consideration I have decided to dip my toes into Wuthering Waves!

Surprise is an understatement of my feelings and definitely still an unfit description of my feelings.

I remember seeing gameplay of some closed beta test like what... 2 years ago I think? Thought it looked really cool, like a darker version of genshin... right up my alley.

Of course things changed since then and my laptop broke snd I got a ps5 in the meantime... which meant I might not be able to play. However I also got a phone now that can handle games like genshin and HSR, so I might just try it.

So I did. Was a bit hesitant ofc because I much prefer playing huge games with open world on a big screen, it makes the whole experience more immersive and exciting to me. I only played genshin and hsr on my phone when I wasn't at home and didn't have another option.

I really wanted to try WuWa just to have a more casual approach at a game like this. I previously barely knew anything about the game except for very few small clips of gameplay and some character designs. With HSR I knew a lot about the game already due to it being a hyv project so I basically followed a lot of the process of the game between cbt and official release. I also thoight it would be fun to judt play a bit and blow all the pulls that the game gives out fpr free in the beginning.

SO. I was very surprised by how nice the beginning sequence looked on my phone. I was also immediately hooked with the OST of the starting screen. Very much liked the mysetery beginning - no talking, just these two characters interacting... yes.

When the actual game started I was a bit concerned that the graphics of the character designs might not look the part, because I saw that many people apparently had issues with this. But it was fine, looked very good actually.

BUT THEN. Launch day, right. Apparently WuWa was created on an engine that is usually used to make games for high end devices such as good PCs, so there was some issues expected for mobile right... but when it came to me actually playing and controlling MC... she was T-Posing floating around 😭💀 no walking animation just ... it felt like an awful issue tbh. Restarted the game several times but the issue kept coming up. It was so bad that I couldn't even climb up the first wall, so I just had to stop. Made me really sad because I really wantwd to get into the game but that was unplayable... when I logged back in sometimes she's get a climbing animation but then get stuck on the wall and nothing worked to get her off there... the graphics and everything looked fine... good even? But this just didn't work so I sighed and closed the game.

I wasn't the only person experiencing issues tho... and the devs were quick to respond on the issues saying they were working on solutions and giving out more compensation. So I wanted to wait until there was some update.

The next say a friend of mine asked me sbout the game and I explained my issues and because I was bored I opened the game again just to see whether something might have changed. And well what can I say... it worked just fine now?? The game had downloaded something and then it was as if nothing ever happened and I was SO HAPPY. Also sad because I could barely play that day because of work but I played 30 minutes and i loved it.

The combat is so refreshing! It feels really dynamic and even though I previously had my issues with the controls for genshin, I somehow managed to get used to it now. Ofc I still can't wait for a ps5 release (praying) but so far it looks really good. Love the designs of the first few characters we meet. First battles were also no problem.

A me-problem is definitely the wordy-ness(?) of the beginning. Just like in every other game they try to explain to you the basics of the world building and system in simple terms but there's just so many new words 😭💀 my gp to attitude is fuck around and find out. Wouldn't be able to explain what a Tacet Field or Echo is to save my damn life. But I can play the game! I have played like a maximum of an hour and haven't even unlocked the banner system yet but while the game lets you roam around freely between mission points... I got that dangerous feeling that I could spend hours doing that and that is definitely a good sign. Very excited to play more. Might make it a before bed routine.

I want to be more casual about it and I think the fact that it's mobile is gonna help. Can't wait to meet more of these cool looking characters. Gonna try and pull Jiyan :) wish me luck.

#may plays #mays gaming #wuthering waves #wuwa #kuro games #jiyan #wuwa jiyan #jiyan wuthering waves

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mp100fanworkstranslation · 4 years ago

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Reigen gets a Smart Phone

Reigen thinks: When did they all switch to smart phones?

So does that mean I’m the only one still using a flip phone?

No... No that cant be, the main purpose of a cell phone is to communicate. In that respect, it does great. More functions are not necessarily useful. Most of it is just entertainment and pointless frills.

The battery drains faster, the screen is a lot easier to break and they’re more expensive.

Haaaaa!! Check it out Losers! Six super rares! Told you I’d get ‘em!

Serizawa: WHOAA!! Ekubo Senpai, you’re amazing! That’s so much grinding, I’m not even close.....

Mob: My mom won’t let me to play on the phone at night, so I never get the chance to grind.

Ekubo: HAHAHAHA That kind of skill is difference between you ordinary people and gods like me! um... not including shigeo’s ???% form that is....

Reigen: Um.... Guys?

Reigen: Aren’t you guys spending too much time playing phone games at work?

Serizawa: Ah! I... I’m sorry.

Mob: But isn’t this our lunch break?

Ekubo: HAHAHAHAHA What, you guys can’t tell? Reigen’s just jealous cuz he doesn't have a smart phone.

Reigen backpedaling: I’m just curious is all. Why did you guys all decide to switch to smart phones all of a sudden?

Serizawa: The GPS app is really helpful, now that I’m no longer at home all the time. The other apps are really useful for work and school.

Mob: My mom got it for me after I did well on midterms.

Ekubo: How should I know. It came with the body.

Some time later, Reigen is outside the phone store looking at the ads.

The phones are free. The plans range from 90 to 100 dollars monthly.

Reigen: It’s almost a hundred dollars a month! Several times more expensive than my flip phone.

This is a money sink that’s not going to contribute meaningfully to my life.

Ugh.. when I really think about it, I don’t need a phone with so many functions. The phone I’ve got now is by no means old, and I’m pretty used to it.

Reigen: I can’t get carried away by vanity. I don’t blindly mirror the choices of others, that’s not who I am and how I want to live.

Little girl: Mom, that basic guy has one of those basic phones.

Mom: Shh! Not out loud! ------

Cashier: Thank you for the purchase!

-Later at Reigen’s apartment-

So this is the cutting edge of communications technology... It feels like opening a treasure chest. - as he opens the box -

WOOOOOW!!

Ah! so this is the user manual. I see... I see. What was the game they were playing?

Found it! Ooooooo! My avatar looks so cool.

Hahaha found Ekubo! What a fitting avatar for an evil spirit!

Ah! Mob’s avatar is adorable. Aww he’s going to sleep now.

-The next morning-

Ugghghhhh can’t keep grinding....

You can’t get past any of the bosses without seriously strong upgrades.

-Gets up stiffly-

Okay time to spin for the powerup bonus.

-He taps to draw a new powerup.-

.....................

NO RARES, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!

-throws phone- -nervously catches it again-

No gems left, no gold left.... is making an in game purchase the only way to get more draws?

No wait Arataka, it’s just an app game... be reasonable!

Calm down... think about this...

-LIMITED TIME ONLY! 100% CHANCE OF RARE ITEM-

Reigen taps “buy” and there is a cash register sound effect.

As the scene zooms out, the sound effect rings several more times. (ie, he makes a bunch more in-app purchases)

Mob: Master’s been working really hard recently. He didn’t even take a lunch break today.

Serizawa: Did something happen?

GODDAMMMMIT I maxed out my funds on in-app purchases. Have to take on more jobs to make up for it.

--For the first time in his life, Reigen Arataka realized the terrifying allure of escapism.--

I’m switching back to my flip phone.

By Tamadango

This is one of my absolute favorite comics. It’s got everything I love about ALL of the characters.

- The spirits and such team just hanging out around the office, not doing any work, just casually sharing something they all enjoy.

- Ekubo having to be THE BEST... Canonically he refers to himself as Ore-sama or “本大人” which is more accurately translated as “Your Majesty, I....” He is clearly better than everyone else and he needs to show it at even trivial things like a phone game.

-Ekubo possessing his host to play for hours and hours just so he can one up his FRIENDS (two of the most powerful psychics in the world)...and justify them as “followers” with “much to learn”.

- Mob is the most powerful esper in the world and can flatten cities effortlessly, The three adults treat him as an equal, and Serizawa even treats him as a superior. Yet he’s still a kid that needs boundaries. His MOM bought him the phone as a reward for good grades and takes it away at night.

- Serizawa stopped being a shut in and his GPS app is allowing him the independence to be out and about for the first time in his life. His smartphone gives him the agency to start living on his own terms, just as Reigen’s flip phone allows him to stay focused on what’s important to him.

- Reigen for all his sweaty conman disasterness is a dilligent, organized, autodidact, that started his own successful business at 25. He doesn’t play games, he’s constantly working on his business, and he understands and is proud of how offbeat and uncommon that is....but he’s not beyond moments of insecurity driven impulsiveness. It’s incredibly consistantly depicted, him being a spoilsport about the game, buying the phone, but also throwing it when he doesn’t get the in game item he wants.

- Reigen isn’t someone that does a half assed job. He gives 110% even on jobs he’s not being paid....so it makes perfect sense that he can’t seem to stop himself from becoming overly dedicated to a phone game.

-But lastly, some culture/language meta. The characters and series is japanese, the artist that drew this comic is chinese, and it’s being translated into english by an american. The little girl at the phone store says “Mom, that basic guy has one of those basic phones.” what she really says, is “Mom look that guy has a flip phone, it’s so provincial/rural.”

China has this interesting divide between the urban and rural population. Where people living in cities view people out in the countryside as dumb rednecks that are decades behind in education, technology, social norms...etc. This is not true, but saying that someone is from the countryside is a massive insult. No one wants to be seen that way.

English lacks this divide between urban vs rural, and the only word that fits even a little is “basic.”

So even if this is a fanart for a japanese series, the context of that line can really only be understood in chinese, and there’s no word that really comes close to that idea in english. From a translation standpoint I find that really interesting, when media hops countries it loses, but also gains things.

God I love this comic so much

#ekubo #serizawa katsuya #shigeo kageyama #reigen arataka #mob psycho 100 #mp100

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shadowofroses · 2 years ago

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Tales of Mitsukai Rikka

Demon Slayer

No Pairings as of Yet. I will update this whenever I get the inspiration to, but will not be my main priority writing wise. I'm writing this for myself, however if anyone else enjoys it I'll be over joyed. <3

Chapter 2

Warnings?: First Person, American Character, Electronics and Manga travels with character, Chubby Character, Short Character, Self Indulgent Piece, Mentions of Disabled sister, Itsukai, Possible Fix It, Character has Hypothyroidism, Language

English Normal Text

Japanese text Bold and Italicized.

Summery: Last night I said an Affirmation to connect me to the dimension of my Best and Highest Good, However I thought nothing of it, today I work on my PC only to get Electrocuted and travel into what seemed to be Demon Slayer and found by Kuwajima. Can I find a way back to my original World via becoming a Demon Slayer? Can I find Answers as to why I am now here? STAY TOONED!

Chapter One: Madness is the Gift That Has Been Given

Story:

I sighed as I turned to work on my Computer, determined to get it working after it died five months prior. I missed playing games, talking to friends etc, instead I lived off of a tablet, which wasn’t a bad thing. But I missed being able to multitask a lot of stuff on one device.

I put on my knock off Airpods and started to listen to Staind, Disturbed, casual Tove Lo, random anime and a lot of other miscellaneous music I had downloaded onto my Iphone. My one sister was helping take care of my older disabled sister. She was usually my responsibility, but I didn’t need her to electrocute herself by accident on my account.

I’m tired and have been testing out replacing different parts, at this point it would be more beneficial to rebuild or buy a new PC all together. However my dumbass decided to keep the PC plugged in, cause it was annoying having to go back and forth to plug and unplug it from time to time just to test things out.

I sighed looking down at my copy of Stories of Water and Flame, and shook my head. No, I could reread that once I was done. I used an orange bandana to cover my hair and keep it out of my face, and went back to work. I reached over with my screwdriver and accidentally tapped the metal of a loose wire, giving me a shock and falling backwards onto the floor.

I don’t know how long I lost consciousness.

I woke up to Disturbed Get Down with the Sickness. Line? Madness is the gift that has been given to me!

Yeah that was about right when I looked around. Grass? trees …Peach trees? I looked at myself, I was still wearing my red button up flannel, and jeans, and mismatched green and pink socks. My byzantine chainmaille necklace is still around my neck, Pods still upside down in my ears, phone in my pocket. I felt a sharp pain in my head, and I hissed and grabbed at it, “Fuck that hurts…”

I took my phone out to see if I could find where I was at. No service. “Of course…” I groaned, turning on the GPS, knowing that was one feature that would work without service. However I looked dumbly at my screen.

Why does this say I’m in Japan?

Yes exactly what I needed, to be kidnapped and whisked away to a foriegn country most likely to be put in a Hunger Games, or Battle Royale situation. Feeling the ground around me, I found a book, I grasped it as I adjusted my glasses to read the cover, and it was my cover of Stories of Water and Flame.

Odd thing for my captives to bring with me, the least they could have done is grabbed a damn knife!

Then again if Captive they wouldn’t want me to defend myself anyway. Probably thought my short ass at 190 pounds would be a free kill anyway.

Good thing my cousin took the time to teach me how to knock a taller person on their ass a few years back. Or at least a six foot two person anyway. Using the compass app I moved till I was facing North. If my GPS was correct, I was north of Yokohama and south of Tokyo?

Shit the Sun was setting too, you needed to find shelter. This wasn’t good. What would I do in Minecraft or ARK Survival Evolved?

Well that’s dumb cause I would have to punch a rock, and I’d have another reason to cry. I turned my phone off to preserve battery life, and put the ear buds in my pocket.

Well At least there were no dinosaurs…right?

…right?

I shook my head of the thought. “Okay Rikka, step one of any survival game stone hatchet, pick, torch and campfire.”

So get a few decent sized branches, a few decent looking rocks, maybe tear off a piece of my flannel for burnable material. I don’t think I knew enough to make proper twine out of plant fiber. Might be my downfall there.

Regardless, I went around gathering materials, getting them together for a campfire, which I surprisingly made a decently quick fire, the fire was surrounded by stones, so hopefully it wouldn’t get out of hand.

Using a sharp rock I split one end of a branch and stuck it inside the split. I quickly glanced at my clothes to see which had more excess, and it was clearly my pant legs. These pants were not made for a woman shorter than five feet.

I was trying to use a sharp rock to cut off the excess of my jeans, when my head shot up from hearing footsteps.

“Are you okay?” The man held a cane in one hand, a sword in his belt, and a familiar Triangle patterned jinbei kimono, his right leg seemed to be a peg leg? Cosplayer?

I frowned as he repeated it. I recognized he was asking me if I was alright. What was it that my ex-Japanese teacher said? When unsure, just make an ‘eh’ sound and twist your hand back and forth? Gosh I shouldn’t have dropped that class even if he had me embarrassing myself with singing the Sailor Moon theme song in Japanese. “Eeeh…” and I twisted my hand hoping to indicate more or less.

“It’s starting to get dark out here, come follow me.”

Okay Now that I know nothing. Yeah I should have stayed in my Japanese class even if the teacher humiliated me. “Sorry, I do not know Japanese.” I responded which made the man raise his thick gray eyebrows. I celebrated, at least knew how to say that, and I didn’t accidentally throw in any Spanish!

He pointed at himself, “I am Kuwajima Jigoro, ex-Thunder Hashira.”

NAME! And the word Hashira! HE'S SERIOUS OH GOD I’M IN DEMON SLAYER. “When I said that affirmation last night to connect me to the dimension for my best and highest good I did NOT mean this!” I shook my head, making the man confused. I then pointed to myself. “Mitsukai Rikka.”

Kuwajima nodded, repeating my last name, he held his free hand out, and opened and closed his hand to motion to follow. “Come with me. Demons hunt at night,” He paused and picked up the Manga I had left on the ground, he frowned looking at the flame haired man, but tucked it into his Kimono sleeve.

I gulped, not noticing him pick it up, however agreeing to follow him after putting out the fire. I definitely understood the word demons.

Yeah this is NOT my best and highest good.

However the olderman led me to his estate, where a couple of boys were bickering with wood in their arms. My eyes widened in realization, that these two teens were Zenitsu and Kaigaku.

Oh god, this was as everything was unfolding. Kaigaku shoved Zenitsu out of the way to get into the estate, leaving a twitching black haired Zenitsu. However, with hearing footsteps Zenitsu looked up, “Welcome back Gramps! Oh who is this?”

“Mitsukai Rikka. She doesn’t know Japanese, I found her fumbling around with a homemade hatchet, so I figured I’d give her shelter before she became Demon Fodder.”

I glanced over to Kuwajima as he said my name, and back to Zenitsu. “I am Agatsuma Zenitsu, please call me Zenitsu!”

Okay this was him saying to call him Zenitsu. “Rikka.” I replied with a nod.

“Slowpoke, the hell are you doing, get that firewood in here!”

“Kaigaku, what have I told you about respect!” Kuwajima raised his voice, causing the other raven haired boy to peak out the door and his eyebrows furrowed at me. “This is Mitsukai Rikka, she will be staying with us till she gets her footing, or decides to train with you guys. Tomorrow I’ll be sending you two to get some books to teach her Japanese. I believe I heard her speak in English. She knows some Japanese but it’s not much, seems to be a quick learner.”

Kaigaku shrugged, “Don’t care as long as she stays out of my way.”

“You boys gather the wood for the night?” Kuwajima questioned Zenitsu as he nodded brightly. “Good, I’ll get a hotpot started, you take that load in, and show Rikka to her room.”

”Of course! Follow me Rikka!” I tilted my head, but recognized the words Kuwajima said earlier. I nodded and followed Zenitsu, through the building, and he slid open a door, “This will be your room! There should be a spare Yukata as well! I’ll be back when the food is finished!”

Rather some food was brought to me as opposed to sharing a hot pot with them. A small amount of rice, some Miso soup, and a small loaf of bread. Upon finishing, I took the dishes out and washed them in a sink before going back. I got dressed in the provided Yukata, and noticed someone pulled out a Futon for me. For now they seemed to be giving me space?

I sighed. At least it was no Hunger Games, or Battle Royale. No Dinosaurs. But Demons…Not sure if that was the upside of things.

#Demon Slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #Tales of Mitsukai Rikka #Itsukai #Self indulgent OC #Original Character

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thosewickedlovelies · 4 years ago

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Into the Woods: chapter 1 | Frankie Morales x GN!Reader

Summary: Neither you nor Frankie are expecting to run into anyone in the middle of the woods.

Tags: none!! all audiences!

Word Count: 3,054

Note: HE’S HERE!!! Please enjoy the official first installment of the outdoors insta frankie series 🌳📷😍 So much love to the wonderful @yoditorian for coming up with this concept and Frankie’s IG name, and also helping me brainstorm 💗💗💗

Backstory

---

Francisco Morales loves this shit. Walking for hours without seeing another soul, nothing to think about but where to place his feet on the path ahead of him. Assuming he’s following a path at all. These are his woods- the country surrounding the house he’s lived in for years, a place just shy of isolated from the nearest town. They’re not really his, legally. He’s not exactly sure what the rules of land designation entail, but it’s not a national park, and no one has ever chased him up about the occasional wood-chopping or campfire-building he does.

So he walks.

It’s a damn perfect day for it, too. Brilliantly sunny with a hint of breeze, rustling the greenery around him and carrying the scents of sun-warmed leaves and late summer flowers. The birds are in high spirits, their vibrant chirping filling the air with chatter. Screeches of alarm, sometimes, too- a side effect of hiking with a giant energetic dog. Frankie watches ruefully as Oso crashes off into the undergrowth again, doubtless chasing down some poor creature.

He slows his pace to wait for her, taking the opportunity for a water break. His heavy pack thuds to the ground. Frankie grunts as he stretches, rotating his shoulders and flapping his sweaty t-shirt away from his back. I should really hike along the river more often, he muses. He doesn’t mind working up a sweat (obviously), but a ready supply of cool water during a long hike does wonders for one’s well-being.

“Boof!” Oso’s deep bark as she returns brings Frankie’s attention to her.

“Yeah? Would you like that, too? A nice swim in the river to cool you down?” He crouches to ruffle her neck fur the way she likes. Oso only pants in answer, blinking at him adoringly.

She slurps thirstily as Frankie pours some water from his bottle into her mouth. He chuckles. “Don’t worry, Osita, we’ll be near some water soon.”

Their goal today is a small pond Frankie had only found earlier this year. It’s a good spot for his campfire cooking, as well as endlessly photogenic. This is marginally important to him, as he attempts to keep a regular diary of his wanderings through instagram. It’s mostly for fun, but like anyone else, he isn’t immune to the particular buzz from his posts unexpectedly getting a high number of likes.

But he had also discovered that he wasn’t the only one with this hobby. There were whole communities of people out there who found peace the same way he did, and they happily gave advice if ever he posted about a struggle.

Frankie pauses again a short way away from the pond to make sure he’s on course. Oso sniffs around excitedly, bounding off again while Frankie checks his GPS. “Huh.” Looking around, he laughs at himself a little when it tells him he’s almost walked past it. He rotates to his left and thinks he spots the telltale gap in the trees ahead. He tucks the GPS away.

Oso barks from somewhere ahead of him. A split second later, a human yelp sounds from the same direction. His eyes widen.

“Shit!” Frankie breaks into a run. In all the years he’s been out here, he rarely sees other people this far from the trails. “Oso!” he yells. “Here, girl!”

Oso isn’t aggressive (unless the situation warrants it), but whatever new friend she thinks she’s meeting won’t know that. Frankie races toward where he judges the noise came from, heart pounding. He bursts through some bushes and is almost knocked down by his beast jumping up to greet him.

“Hey, girl, who was- no!” Oso peels away again across a bit of clear ground, her collar slipping through Frankie’s fingers. He’s barreling toward where her tail wags from behind a bush, when you stand.

Frankie skids to a stop so abruptly his feet slide out from under him. His ass hits the ground with a thud, his rucksack taking only part of the fall. He scrambles upright gracelessly, clumsy with the weight on his back, never taking his eyes off of you.

You stare at each other.

Nothing about this moment feels real to Frankie- you could announce that you’re the dryad who rules this forest and he would believe you, that’s how unlikely your appearance is. Shifting sunbeams dapple your skin, and even from several feet away he can tell that you have the most striking eyes he’s ever seen.

For a second your gaze flicks down to the side. You lean slightly as if something has nudged you, and as you move your hand away from it Frankie realizes you’re holding something.

Shit. He returns to his senses. Is that a weapon?

He’s met people on the trails before, most of them harmless fellow hikers. But occasionally there are some with weird vibes, especially the farther away from the paths you got. He’s fully capable of defending himself, but that doesn’t mean he wants to have to.

“Oso! Here!” Frankie says sternly. Your expression doesn’t change as you watch the dog trot over to him. Jaw set, wide eyes tracking his every motion.

He supposes he can’t blame you for being wary. Or armed. It’s a perfectly reasonable response to running into a strange man in the middle of the woods. He knows he’s not exactly the picture of reassurance. Tall and broad, probably too sweaty to believably claim he’s on a casual hike. He decides to speak.

“Sorry to startle you.” Frankie keeps his hands by his sides where you can see them, resting one on Oso’s head. “I wasn’t expecting to see anyone this far from the trails.”

Your tense stance doesn’t relax. “Me either.”

His head tips to the side. “Do you come to this area regularly, then?” He tries to keep his voice slow and soothing.

He can see you assessing him, trying to measure how safe he is. “I have been recently. What about you?”

“All the time. Me and Oso take nice long walks.” Frankie pats the dog’s head in a more formal introduction. “I like to come out here and cook.” Your brow furrows at that, bemusement appearing amidst your guarded features. Before you can respond, he prompts “What are you doing this far off the main paths?”

“Foraging. You come all the way out here to cook?” Disbelief is etched in every line of your face.

Well, when you say it like that.

Foraging. That makes perfect sense. Frankie follows a few of them on instagram. He’s always pleased when he notices the more obvious edible plants and berries, but it’s not usually his focus. His vegetable garden at home takes up most of his efforts. It’s managed to thrive in the years since he started it after leaving the army, and it’s become a source of pride for him to be able to wander out, pick some things for the day’s meal, and head right into the woods.

“Yeah,” he responds. “Here, I can show you. I keep an instagram.”

Your eyebrows rise even higher at that.

Moving slowly and watching for your reaction, Frankie holds his hands up as he turns, keeping one in the air while the other makes a show of tugging his phone from a side pocket of his pack. He keeps the screen visible as he opens the app, then pulls his arm back in the beginning of an underhanded throw. Poised as such, he looks at you expectantly.

Now you’re almost frowning. Clearly still suspicious, but possibly fractionally less concerned about danger from a man willing to give his phone to a complete stranger in the woods. Hesitantly, you raise your hands to catch it.

Finally Frankie can make out that the thing in your hand in a canister of mace. The sight inexplicably relieves him. Pepper spray is a normal person’s defense, something that anyone might carry to help themselves feel safe. Far from the kind of weapon he would fear from someone angling for true violence.

All of this decided in the space of a second, Frankie gently tosses you his phone.

You’re so distracted by delighting in the prolific blackberry bushes which surround your pond that you don’t hear the approaching creature until it’s upon you.

You screech in shock at the massive fur-thing’s appearance, bowling you over from your crouch. It doesn’t seem bothered about wanting you to pet it, only wiggling and sniffing at you enthusiastically. You register the collar around its neck at the same you hear the shout.

“Oso!” That must be its name. “Here, girl!” The dog dashes away, then back, clearly torn about leaving her new friend so soon.

Icy adrenaline douses your system. That was a man’s voice, rough and cavernous. Who knows what kind of person he could be, no matter the earnestness of his dog? Your hands shake as you rip open your bag for the canister of mace you’ve never had to use.

There’s a pronounced rustle and then his voice sounds again, terrifyingly close. “Hey, girl, who was- no!”

Shit. The dog is back, looking at you eagerly, rear in the air and tail wagging like this is an exciting game. You have to choose a course of action quickly. Twisting the safety off the pepper spray, you rise to your feet.

His reaction is almost funny; you think you might have laughed if this was literally any other scenario. Like a cartoon character slipping on a banana peel, the man wrenches himself to a stop with such force his feet fly up from the ground. The contents of his bulging pack crunch against the earth, but he barely seems to notice he’s fallen, keeping his eyes on yours the entire time he cycles back to his feet.

You stare at each other.

That’s a man all right. Towering even from this distance, with wide shoulders that help the impression. His eyes are round and stunned, the cap on his head knocked slightly askew and freeing sweat-dark curls to spring around his ears.

Your first thought is that he looks warm. Not temperature warm, although the gleam of sweat on his neck confirms that, too. But approachable warm. There’s a softness to his body that belies the muscle his motions highlight, creases around his eyes that wrinkle brown like tree bark in the sun.

Then his dog noses your thigh, reminding you that you have pepper spray in your hand because you’re in the middle of the damn woods with a potentially threating stranger. You risk a half-second glance down to move the canister away from her face.

You regard the man with stony distrust, fear flushing your face and neck with heat. Confrontation makes the blood roar in your ears, but it gradually quiets as he orders the creature away from you. For several more seconds the only sound is rustling leaves.

He clears his throat. “Sorry to startle you,” he says. “I wasn’t expecting to see anyone this far from the trails.”

His voice doesn’t sound as harsh now that he’s not frantically shouting for his dog. Still you keep your answer short. “Me either.”

His head tilts inquisitively. “Do you come to this area regularly, then?”

That’s a fair question. He has a right to be curious too. “I have been recently. What about you?”

“All the time. Me and Oso take nice long walks.” The man pats her head, and the dog’s ears perk up. “I like to come out here and cook.” Wait, what? Before you have a chance to process that, he continues. “What are you doing this far off the main paths?”

You won’t be deterred. “Foraging. You come all the way out here to cook?” If this is some elaborate murder setup, that’s not a very plausible lie.

“Yeah,” he answers. “Here, I can show you. I keep an instagram.”

You’re slightly more skeptical than fearful now. You watch silently as the man turns in place, putting the side of his backpack in your line of sight so you can see him fish his phone out. He makes his actions slow and obvious. The white background of an instagram page glows on the screen as he retracts his arm in a throwing pose. Clear eyes meet yours.

What? This guy is just going to...give you his phone, no questions asked? Taken aback, you can feel the deep grooves of a frown between your eyebrows as you consider.

You’re hesitant to reveal the pepper spray, but if there’s still some possibility this is a trick, he might second-guess attacking you if he sees you’re armed. You ready yourself for a catch.

Which you accomplish, easily, his toss landing the phone right in your hands. The dog lurches forward, but this time man has a grip on her collar and she’s forced to halt with a whine.

“Sorry, girl. We’re not playing fetch right now, okay? Sit!” The man doesn’t even seem concerned with monitoring you, looking down seriously at his dog as he speaks.

You keep one eye on them as you turn your attention to the screen. Frankieintheforest, reads the username at the top of the page. Just a guy out in the woods, continues his bio. Well, that’s accurate, anyway. Frankie, huh? You spare him another glance, matching various features of him to the ones in his photos. A broad hand here, sturdy hiking boots there. Several glimpses of the same flannel that’s currently tied to the strap of his backpack. His face in a few group shots. You click on an image which shows Oso parading around a yard with a grinning toddler on her back. “Ferocious beast carries away yet another victim,” quips the caption. An involuntary smile tugs at the corner of your mouth.

There are too many photos going too far back for it to be fake. You turn the screen toward him. “Cute kid,” you comment. “Is she yours?”

His eyebrows lift in surprise. “No,” the man half laughs. “My buddy’s. I’m just the godfather.” A small smile softens his face as he takes in the picture.

Being named godfather was nothing to sneeze at. You study the man carefully, keeping your face neutral. He seems genuine, his dog keen and friendly. Dogs were a good judge of character, right? Indicative of the character of their owner? He hasn’t demanded anything from you, not done anything threatening beyond just being here.

You glance between him and the phone again. “Frankie?” you question.

He raises one hand in a wave, directing a crooked sort of smile at you. “That’s me,” Frankie confirms.

You offer him your name in return. “Uh, you can have this back now.” You gesture with the phone.

He brings his hands up to catch it, and you thank every deity you know of when your throw connects. You’re at a bit of a loss for what to do next, however. You suppose this means you’re at a truce. But you still don’t think you’d be able to let yourself focus on foraging while knowing there’s a stranger wandering so nearby.

Frankie seems to be thinking the same thing. One hand rubs over the back of his neck. “Well,” he begins. “My plans for today were to sit by this pond and cook over a fire.” He points his thumb to the right, where not far away the reflection of sunlight on water wavers against the tree trunks.

“You can join me if you want.” He shrugs awkwardly. “I’m just gonna collect some tinder and then park it, so you don’t have to worry about me interrupting your foraging or anything.”

Oso finally wriggles free of his grasp and surges forward, leaping across to you with a triumphant woof! “Oso, no!” Frankie stumbles after her, only to stop after two steps, clearly unwilling to make you uncomfortable by getting too close. He looks on helplessly, hands flexing.

“It’s okay,” you assure him. This time you offer her your free hand to sniff, which she does, before promptly shoving her head beneath it for pets. Amused, you comply. Her multi-hued fur is soft beneath your fingers.

“You’re alright, aren’t you, Oso?” You dart a self-conscious glance back up to her owner, but he appears content to let you coo at his dog.

“She’s a good judge of character,” Frankie says simply.

You swallow. Those deep brown eyes linger over you, and this is all just a bit...much. “Right. Well. I’m just going to…” you ease back, hoping to convey ‘continue going about your business.’

“Oh, sure!” He takes a little hop backward. “I’ll be...here.” His hand makes a small circling motion to indicate a limited nearby area. “You’ll hear me before you see me. Or Oso.”

Frankie frowns slightly as if something has occurred to him. “Uh, she might want to follow you around today though. I can tie her to a tree if that would bother you? I don’t usually watch her too closely,” he admits sheepishly.

“Oh, that’s okay.” You realize that you mean it as your thoughts continue to form. “She’ll make for good protection if I meet any more big scary strangers.” You aim the last words down to the dog herself, sending a wry a sidelong glance to said stranger.

He chuckles again, a rasp of a sound like creaking branches. “That’s fair. But I meant it when I said I’ve never seen anyone else in this particular area. You’re pretty safe.” He punctuates his statement with a nod to the canister still in your hand, soft understanding clear in his face.

Your head ducks slightly. “Well,” you say again. ”I’ll..see you around. I guess.” You don’t wait for a farewell, turning to foist your pack back onto your shoulder. You strain your ears for any noise behind you as you flee, but there’s no sound of pursuit.

“Go ahead. Have fun, Oso,” Frankie calls, already at a distance from your quick pace. There’s a distinctly animal scurrying, and then the dog bursts into being by your side.

Your arms wheel as you jump. “Jeez, you are enormous,” you mumble, pausing to pet her again. Discreetly you look over your shoulder in time to see Frankie turn away from you, heading for your pond.

Post note: I know pepper spray is like, super illegal in the UK and other places, but it’s not abnormal to carry around in the US so just pretend it’s fine.

Taglist: @thirstworldproblemss, @leonieb, @computeringturtle

#frankie morales x reader #francisco catfish morales x reader #triple frontier fic #frankie catfish morales #frankie morales x you #pedro pascal #pedro pascal characters #triple frontier #outdoors insta frankie

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thatsthewrongwallcraig · 4 years ago

Text

Behind The Fence

-8- Wanna get drunk with me?

Summary: Things with Craig are getting more and more shitty, but working with Deran offers some solace to you.... maybe he himself will make you feel better?

Pairing: Female!OFC × Deran Cody, but we have some Craig and Nicky in here as well!

Content warnings: SmUt (18+!), explicit language, explicit sexual content, a bit of angst, Alcohol, a hint of Deran fluff 'cus he's bae

A/N: I've warned you that Deran is kinda bi in my AU! So please just let this Cody thirsty girl have some fun, hmm kay?

You can read Part 7.3 here!

So gimme all your poison and gimme all your pills and gimme all your hopeless hearts to make me ill

The Drop was quite the place to be on this Saturday evening. The bar was buzzing like a hive, filled with laughter, booze and people willing to tip me very generously. It seems that the outfit I had picked for tonight's shift played out like I imagined it to. It was casual and yet alluring: A dark grey denim dress that was a bit shorter than knee length, a pair of loosely knitted fishnet tights with a snake motive embroidered on their back and dark red Van's to have a comfortable walk throughout the night. To finish that grungy skatergirl look I had taken one of Craig's flanell shirts which served me well as some kind of oversized wearable blanket. It also had a nice touch of his musky cologne on it, which apparently stopped some of the customers from getting all too touchy with me.

Working at Deran's bar really was the most chill job I've had in quite some time and D appeared to be throughly satisfied with my working moral as well.

The shift passed by in almost no time and was all fun and games until shortly before closing time. Just like it did every few minutes the door swung open and I examined the new customer with a quick look. It was a younger girl, almost appearing to still be underage. She seemed to be rather stressed out about something and frantically looked around the bar. Before I even had the chance to make my way towards this very lost looking girl, she stormed off towards Deran and shouted: "Deran?! Have you seen Craig? I REALLY need to so him! Now!"

Leaning forward with his elbows set on the counter Deran rolled his eyes and scoffed back at the girl: "Do I look like his fucking secretary, or what? Nicky...get your bum out of here or do you want me to get shut down because of you? Try calling him or whatever."

"I already did!", that young girl, apparently named Nicky sounded almost hysterical "Deran...I. NEED. TO. SEE. CRAIG. NOW!"

"Congrats! Why not shove a GPS up his ass the next time?" Overhearing this conversation made me chuckle a little, but at the same time made me wonder who that girl actually was and what someone like her wanted from someone like Craig. She had the looks of a nice, polite girl if you sat aside her devastated behaviour for a moment.

"Uhm...", I carefully chimed in from the side "As far as I know he's busy at the moment." Busy actually was an understatement, but I had no clue how much this Nicky girl knew about the family business so I kept it on the low.

"Who are you even and why are you wearing his clothes?!" Nicky now snapped in my direction.

"Uh...excuse me? I'm his...friend."

"Girlfriend?!" She crossed her arms in front of her chest after flicking her long, glossy brown hair over the shoulder. Instead of answering that one I just remained silent, a little awkwardly tugging on the shirt Nicky was staring at in pure hysteric anger.

"Ugh..whatever.", she rolled her eyes on me "Gotta call up someone else then."

Blazing back out of the bar just as fast as she had come in Nicky stomped off, leaving me with a bunch of questions.

Just as if this little intermezzo didn't even happen Deran went back to swiping the counter tiles.

"Geez...who's that chick?" I asked after having collected a few empty bottles and glasses that had been left at the tables.

Seemingly thinking about the right way to answer, Deran bit his lip.

"Uh...well...she's J's ex and now Craig's annoying shadow."

"Shadow?" I poked a little further.

"Ooof...you know...after J broke up with her she literally jumped at Craig. He got her high, he got her that nice, carefree party life and now she's all strung out on Coke. Probably looking for her fuck buddy to get a fix in trade for a blowie or whatever."

"My goodness..." I sighed in shock about how dark things actually got around Craig. It wasn't much of a surprise, honestly, but still I had thought of him to have at least a minimum of decency. Also the way Deran talked about it stuck with me and kept me thinking for the rest of my shift.

It just somehow struck me that I clearly wasn't the only woman Craig preferred to share his bed with and I felt stupid for assuming that I was in any way special to him. No, I was just part of his neat little collection and being reminded about that didn't feel good at all. The thought of it dragged me down more than I was willing to admit.

Rather upset and pensive I helped Deran clean up the bar. After we were done we took a seat behind the counter to treat ourselves to a well deserved cigarette.

"That thing with Nicky kinda rubbed you the wrong way, huh?" Deran asked, snipping off the ashes from the tip of his cigarette.

"Yeah...uhm...it's just.."

"It hurts, doesn't it?"

I just shrugged my shoulders as an answer.

"Is Renn also still around?"

With a concerned frown Deran arched his brows and threw me what should have been a smile, but was rather the mere idea of one.

"Oh...she's very much around...where do you think Craig's getting his shitloads of blow from?"

"Hmm... I see." I mumbled, jamming the smoked up stub in the ashtray.

"Do you wanna get drunk with me?"

I looked at Deran, a little taken aback by this question. It somehow made me smile, even chuckle a little, because this offer was a very Cody way of cheering someone up.

"After that strange something something? Hell yeah..."

"That's my girl!", Deran cheered and pointed at the shelf packed with liquor behind him "Go ahead and choose your poison."

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

Without wasting a second thought on it, I'd went for the good stuff straightaway.

Treating myself to yet another big sip of Single Malt I smiled at Deran who was waiting on me to pass the bottle. We didn't even bother to use glasses that would've needed to be cleaned afterwards.

"I see you got lucky tonight?" He nodded towards a stack pile of bills.

"Indeed, some people around here just tip like crazy."

"I told you that a pretty face like yours would make a good deal working here. And I gotta say... you do be looking extra pretty today." Deran gulped down a few hefty drinks and placed the bottle onto the counter. His alcohol tolerance resided beyond my understanding, but I guess that's what came with being stuck with that family.

"Oh...uh...thanks." I blushed a little at his humble yet straightforward compliment. That's what I liked the most about spending time with Deran. He had his very own way of thinking, compared to his brothers and didn't lose no sleep about telling how he thought about things. He was such a chill guy that you couldn't help yourself but feel that calm wrapping you in, gently swiping away any sort of distortion. Unlike Craig he didn't throw a fit about every little thing that wasn't to his liking. Deran just dealt with and tried to make the best out of it. I appreciated that a lot and it was a welcome change to not be tip toeing around someone's temper tantrums. His presence just emitted a warm and fuzzy kind of solace I was starved of so much.

"To be quite frank, you too look like a total snack today. What's even up with you wearing a button up shirt?"

Deran smiled and let out a little laugh at me examining his clean, white shirt. It formed a nice contrast to his softly tanned skin and enhanced his sparkly blue eyes even more. In addition to that not so carefully put together top bun, that desperately tried to keep the upper half of his hair out of his face Deran almost looked professional.

"Before you came in today, I had an appointment with some liquor license dude. You know...to check if everything is set up accordingly to their standard and all that blah blah."

"That thing suits you, really."

"You think?"

I enthusiastically nodded and gave him a thumbs up.

"Huh....I'll think about it."

I knew that this was the best I could get him to do.

For the blink of an eye I just looked at him, trying to soak up all of the doubt free vibes that seemed to be oozing out of him just standing there. He made it all too easy for me to forget about my worries, about Craig being a total prick and about me gradually feeling more and more like shit since getting back in touch with the Cody family.

A bit sloppy I reached out to grab the collar of his shirt to pull him in. Confused at first Deran's eyes followed my movement, but he nonetheless gave in to my gentle tug.

Getting him closer to me I leaned in for a carefull kiss. I didn't really understand what got to me, but I could clearly tell that it felt good. His lips that softly pressed themselves onto mine tasted after the Whisky we were sharing. I felt the need of getting away from my self made misery growing stronger by the second and I almost shed a tear of relief as Deran reciprocated the kiss with another and yet another. The heat that was quickly engulfing the both of us was undeniable and neither of us had even the slightest intention of stopping that from happening.

In it's very own way it felt right, because it was such an alluringly wrong thing to do.

Not wasting a split second on anything else, Deran sternly pushed me towards the counter and grabbed me by the waist. In a effortlessly swift movement he lifted me up onto the tiles and pressed himself between my legs. With him being busy fondling around my tights I unbuttoned his not at all professional washed out pair of jeans just to pull them down alongside his shorts in one go.

"You're such a crazy rollercoaster, you know that?" Deran panted at me, grabbing his ass, drilling my nails into his delicate skin.

"That's what I'm all about, boy." I moaned in response while pulling him back in closer, feeling him inside of me within a rough thrust. Comfortably numb to anything else I buried my face in his shoulder and inhaled a deep drag of his smell. A hint of sweat mixed with an almost flowery cologne that got me high on the spot. The fabric of his shirt gently rubbed over my cheek as I felt him pounding into me with a firm and steady pace. He made me feel good for the first time in weeks and I didn't want this to ever be over. His warm body pressed against mine and the both of us panting and moaning away in the sheer pleasure of the moment made me feel whole again. Not to mention that just the act of having my senses fucked out of my body on top of a bar counter had it's very own charme.

Nevertheless it didn't feel like it just was about the sex. That was but a mere accessory to the whole situation Deran and I caught ourselves up in ,albeit a very pleasant one.

Clawing my hands onto his waist I lost myself in the sensation of him filling me up with every thrust. My body clenched around his I heard myself begging unto him to mess me up harder, to fuck every last shred of sanity out of me. Deran eagerly obliged to my demands as he pressed me in as close as he possibly could. If I hadn't been that close to cumming it would've hurt, feeling him so far up inside of me, but for that moment it was all I needed. In an agonisingly long instance I felt my orgasm working it's way up. I wanted that relief, craved it. Just as I was all too close to losing my mind, it hit me with full force. Screaming out Deran's name my entire body contracted in waves of pure pleasure, making me feel like levitating for a split second. Undisturbed by that Deran went on to pound further, seemingly very close as well. The thought of him blowing his load deep down inside of me almost had me hot and bothered all over again. And just as I started to regain my thoughts I felt him filling me up. Accompanied by an adorably vulnerable moan Deran's body tensed.

"Fuck..." he muttered under his breath, resting his hands onto the counter and slowly drawing himself out of me. As soon as he pulled himself out I felt his cum pouring out, dripping down and forming a milky puddle between my legs.

He smiled at me, little droplets of sweat all over his forehead. I wanted to smile too, but as soon as I got back in touch with reality the crushing weight of guilt hit me like a wrecking ball.

"Fuck, indeed..." I panted and opted for the bottle of Whisky.

Treating myself to an unnecessarily long sip I pulled my slip and tights back up and slid off the counter. I just had a fairly good time with Deran, no strings attached, and yet I felt terrible.

"Uhm.... you got some place to crash for me?" I asked, pulling down my dress.

"Sure...", Drean answered, occupied with pulling up his pants "Right next to the bureau there's a couch you can crash on."

"Thanks." I briefly said in return. Without really caring about Deran's view on it, I took the bottle with me, bearing the full intend of drinking myself to sleep.

Heading towards said sofa I sensed the guilt taking full hold on me. Shame, hatred and embarrassment all working together I just wished for it to wash over me for good.

Rather done with everything I threw myself onto the sleep promising furniture and took a drag out of the bottle. The alcohol lulled me in nicely, but my thoughts were racing still.

I was about setting the glas flask aside and tugging myself in Craig's shirt, as I heard a demanding, stern knock at the front door.

For a moment nothing happened. Another hammering knock followed.

"I know you are in there!"

It was Craig's muffled voice that got threw.

Jesus... fuck me, I thought to myself.

A lock clicked and a door was opened.

Oh please no...

I recognised Deran and his brother debating for a few muted down sentences with a stern few steps following.

I was about to drift off into a fairly drunk slumber as I felt another body pulling up to mine. Craig's huge build cramping up behind me, hugging me gently, almost needy.

"The job went well, babe." he uttered.

I just kept on acting as if I were asleep.

"I love you..." he kept on murmuring, wrapping his hands around my belly.

-----------

Taglist:

@ysmmsy

@demotalias

#animal kingdom #ben robson #fanfic #animal kingdom tnt #craig cody #craig x reader #craig cody crack #ak #deran cody #smut #Deran x reader #jake weary #Spotify

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keelywolfe · 3 years ago

Text

FIC: Someone to Drive ch.3 (standalone)

Summary: The road trip continues!

Tags: Spicyhoney, Melancholy, Hurt/Comfort, First Time, Developing Relationship

Part 1 | Part 2

~*~

Read Part 3 on AO3

Read it here!

~~*~~

Learning to sleep whenever and however he could was a skill Edge picked up when he was still a child living on the streets of New Home. If he needed any proof that he was getting out of practice, waking up stiff and aching in the back of his car certainly qualified. Dawn sunlight was pouring in through the side window, muted through the tinted glass and Edge bit back a groan as he struggled to sit up despite his grumbling joints.

Next to him, Stretch was still asleep, his face scrunching unhappily at the disturbance. He looked so very young, the circles under his sockets finally diminishing. Edge didn’t question the absurd tenderness welling in his soul. He only tucked the blanket closer around Stretch before opening the side door and sliding out to the pavement.

At this hour, there were only a few other cars around them and Edge took the time to go into the rest area to the bathrooms. He splashed cold water on his face, ignored the startled curse of the man who came out of one of the stalls and caught sight of him.

There were several vending machines and Edge dug out enough change to purchase two cups of coffee, watching the cup drop down to fill with steaming brew. It smelled like burnt rubber and tasted nearly the same. Edge drank half his cup anyway on his way back out to the car.

Stretch was awake or something like it, sitting up with the tangle of blankets in his lap as he yawned and scratched away any sleepy itches. The fly of his pants was still open and there was sliver of pale bone visible above the blankets, the curve of an iliac crest and lower. Edge discretely looked away. As easy as it had been to fall into each other the night before, any implied permissions evaporated in the glaring light of day. He waited as Stretch gathered himself and straightened his clothes. When he was slightly less disheveled, he turned to Edge and his eye lights brightened as he caught sight of the coffee.

“is that drinkable?” He nodded hopefully at the cup.

“Barely,” Edge said and held it out. The tarry aftertaste didn’t seem to bother Stretch, he drained the cup and licked the rim. The sight of his bright orange tongue made warmth stir in Edge’s soul along with memory and he coughed to conceal it, sliding into the driver’s side seat.

Stretch didn’t bother getting out, instead crawling over the middle console with his shoes in hand, knees and elbows bumping as he settled into the passenger’s side. Normally it would have irritated Edge, he couldn’t say why it didn’t this time. Stretch folded his long legs into the footwell, awkwardly curling up to slide on his shoes and watched curiously as Edge opened the GPS app on his phone.

“we headed someplace specific?” Stretch asked. It was the closest they’d come so far to discussing a destination. He didn’t seem terribly concerned about it.

“We are,” Edge focused on the rearview mirror as he backed out.

“huh, must’ve been some dreams last night if they gave you directions.”

The tone was light, teasing. Once, there might have been a veiled insult in those words. Or maybe not, maybe it was only Edge, who was so ready for abuse to be hurled his way when they first came to the surface that he interpreted far too much as a slight. “No dreams. I simply don’t plan on sleeping in the car again tonight.”

Stretch hummed agreeably and settled into his seat. He didn’t ask where and Edge didn’t offer, only pulled out onto the highway with the soothing voice of Siri guiding him.

He did have a destination in mind. As he was leaving the rest area, Edge had walked past a wall of brochures, bright advertisements for sightseeing and overpriced entertainment. He might have ignored them entirely, except for one with oversized letters that caught his eye, a tourist town that purported to be Monster-friendly. A quick google search confirmed it. It seemed as good a place as any to stop and better than some.

There were no games today, only the radio playing and Stretch occasionally singing along, louder than he had the day before as if he was less concerned with Edge’s reaction. Perhaps that was a reasonable assumption to make, considering the night before. Edge still didn’t know what to make of it and he was reluctant to ask, to do anything that ruin the easy camaraderie of the drive.

It didn’t have to mean anything, it would hardly be his first one night stand, only his first with someone whose name he was certain of. Better not to think of it right now, something that proved more difficult than he’d expected.

When they stopped for gas, Stretch went into the station for snacks and while he was gone, Edge took a moment to tidy the back of the car, putting the seats up and folding the blanket. He caught a whiff of sweetness as he folded it and banishing the flood of memory was not made easier by Stretch coming back out of the station at precisely that moment with a plastic bag swinging from his long fingers. He’d stripped off his sweatshirt earlier and was only wearing a white undershirt, the outline of his ribcage visible through the thin cotton. They’d been unseen last night in the dark of the car, learned only by touch, glossy smooth and delicate, and the sound Stretch made when the cartilage between his ribs and his sternum was gently teased—

Edge swallowed hard and looked away, focusing far too much on folding the blanket precisely. It wasn’t the first time he’d noticed Stretch’s attractiveness, but it was the first time noticing came with possibility.

Stretch didn’t seem to notice his attempt at distraction. Nor did he notice the stares of the Humans as he sang out, “got the goods, edgelord, water, juice, and the best snackies. got you a better coffee, too, just how you like it, black as your—” he faltered, and Edge knew without it being spoken what he intended to say: as black as your soul. Nothing more than a flippant remark, he’d heard Humans say the same thing with casual disregard to the importance souls to Monsters. Stretch was not ignorant to their importance; he should know better.

It was a fast way to cool the faint flush of his arousal, Edge thought absently as he finished folding the blanket. Stretch wasn’t silent long, he rallied quickly, instead finishing with, “—as a burnt marshmallow in a power outage.”

His smile was easy as he held out cup. His eye lights were not, overlarge and anxious, afraid that he’d broken the peaceful spell between them.

Edge took the cup from him and said lightly, “I feel less like that’s a simile and more like one of your cooking attempts.”

Stretch’s laugh was tinged with relief. “eh, they taste better burnt, anyway. especially if you don’t use scented candles, believe me, no one likes ‘fresh linen’ marshmallows, and i mean nobody.”

Crisis averted, they both got back into the car and headed out, the GPS guiding their path. Edge’s first sip of coffee was a pleasant surprise, particularly for being from a gas station. It tasted as if it came from a fresh pot, one made as recently as five minutes ago. As if someone requested it fresh and there were possibilities there, too, not as tempting as the ones the night before, but still. Edge didn’t think about them too closely, not now, and when a song came up on the radio that he knew, he tentatively joined Stretch in singing along to it.

His voice wasn’t anything as good, but Stretch’s widening grin said that he didn’t mind, the two of them joining in on the chorus on how they were going to ride the highway all night long.

~~*~~

tbc

#spicyhoney #papcest #keelywolfe #underfell #underswap #underfell papyrus #underswap papyrus #standalone

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mrsluthordanvers · 4 years ago

Text

Day 14: Midvale

Read on AO3 + my kofi

I’m Supergirl.

I’ve always been Supergirl.

I should’ve told you so long ago, I know that. I just kept making up excuses, because you’ve been hurt so many times. And...I convinced myself that I was protecting you.

And then one day you were so angry with me…with Supergirl…but you still loved Kara. And I just kept thinking if I could be Kara…just Kara…that I could keep you as a friend. I was selfish and scared…and I didn’t want to lose you. So, I kept pretending…and I never stopped. Every time I kept my secret from you, I wasn’t protecting you, I was hurting you. Just like everyone else. And I am so, so sorry.

I am so sorry.

Please say something.

Kara’s words ring in Lena’s head. The pain in Kara’s eyes haunts her dreams.

They haven’t said two words to each other in weeks.

Well, Lena hasn’t said two words.

But there’s a month's worth of text messages from Kara in her phone that have gone unanswered. They haunt her too. But nothing more than the eerie silence that eventually followed them.

The text messages gave her something to focus on, they fueled her anger and her pain. They gave her something to silently rail against. Without them, it becomes increasingly obvious how big Kara’s presence has been in her life since she moved to National City. Without them, she’s left alone with her anger and her pain and a Kara sized hole in her life.

She starts working through her lunches again, pretending to eat when Jess orders food and leaves it on her desk. She buries her phone in the bottom of her purse, so she can pretend she’s ignoring it instead of facing reality. She works deep into the night, only going home when she starts to fall asleep at her desk.

She starts making rash decisions. She knows she’s making rash decisions, but she can’t stop herself. She snaps at her employees and shuts herself away. She can feel the atmosphere she’s worked so hard to foster, shifting around her.

She’s angry. She’s angry at herself for letting things get this far. And she’s angry that this is the fight the girl of steel chooses to yield.

She wants a fight.

She wants to scream and cry until there’s nothing left inside her to be angry.

And then she wants Kara back.

It’s that realization that leads her to Kara’s door seven weeks after Kara told her the truth.

“She’s not here.”

Lena’s hand drops from the door as she turns towards Alex leaning against the wall in her jeans and a leather jacket.

“Then why are you here?” It comes out cold. Harsher than Lena intends but there’s no stopping it. They lied to her. They all lied to her.

Alex doesn’t seem bothered by Lena’s reaction. She lifts her eyebrows slightly as she watches Lena. It’s only a moment before Alex pushes off the wall.

“She asked me to water her plants.” Alex replies casually, stepping around Lena to unlock the door, leaving it open behind her.

Lena lingers outside the door. It feels different now, entering Kara’s apartment.

“Do you know where she is?” Lena asks, suddenly feeling very tired.

“Yes.”

Lena sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose as Alex makes her way around the apartment carefully watering each plant.

“Where is she?”

When Lena opens her eyes, Alex is watching her again.

“She tried to talk to you.”

“I know,” Lena says quietly, shifting her purse. It feels heavy with the weight of her phone, “I wasn’t ready.

“Are you ready now?” Alex asks seriously, putting down the small watering can and crossing her arms.

“I don’t know.” Lena answers honestly, unable to maintain eye contact any longer.

“Midvale.” Alex reveals in a soft voice.

Neither of them says anything as Lena nods and leaves the apartment.

---

Lena drives in silence the entire way. Staring vacantly at the winding road and following the automated GPS without much thought. She barely registers that she’s turned onto the Danvers’ stone driveway until she’s put the car in park.

An older blonde woman stands from the porch swing watching her. Lena can’t help but think how much more she looks like Kara then Alex as she leaves the car.

“You must be Lena.” The greeting isn’t as cold as Lena expected, but it’s not very warm either.

“And you must be Dr. Danvers.” Lena lifts her chin letting Eliza inspect her.

“Kara’s in the back.” Eliza says, leaving behind her coffee mug as she takes Lena through the house to the back porch. Kara’s standing with her back to them, wrapped up in a cardigan as she looks through a telescope lens.

“I believe you two have some things to talk about.” Eliza looks pointedly at Kara when she turns her head before leaving them alone.

“How did you know where I was?” Kara sighs after a moment of silence, still fiddling with telescope.

“Alex.”

They stand silent for a few more moments. Kara staring out over the backyard. Lena watching her closely, absorbing this new person. This blend of Kara Danvers and Kara Zor-El.

“What do you want Lena?” Kara sounds as tired as Lena. When she finally turns towards her, Lena can see the bags under her eyes.

“We need to talk.”

“I tried talking to you. You ignored me.”

“I need to talk.” Lena corrects, hating how intentionally level her voice sounds.

Kara gives one jerky nod, as she takes a visibly deep breath.

“Do you remember when you finally told me you were Supergirl?” It’s the first thing Lena can think to say, and it instantly fans the flames. Her anger roaring back to life.

“You cried when you told me. But I had already cried, for weeks.” Lena spits.

“How long had you known?” Kara whispers, her brow furrowing.

“Since the day you fought Lex.” Lena lifts her chin. “You didn’t kill him. I did.

He used his transmatter portal to escape. I knew where he would go and I was waiting with a gun ready. I knew the world would never be safe, my friends would never be safe if he lived. So, I pulled the trigger.” Lena hiccups. “I shot him in the chest, his final words to me were that I was a fool. That my best friend had been lying to me for years. He told me that you were Supergirl."

“I let you in.” Lena’s voice shakes, tears starting to roll down her cheeks. “You were warm and earnest and you convinced me to trust in people again, in friendships. I told you that everyone in my past had betrayed me, how much it hurt to have someone you love lie to you and betray you. I told you over and over again, begging you not to violate my trust. Begging you not to show me that once again I was a fool.

You told me you would never lie to me. That you would never hurt me.”

They’re both crying when Lena stops to take a breath.

“If you hate me so much, why did you come?”

“I don’t hate you Kara.” Lena sighs, “I’m in love with you. Since the moment you walked into my office.

I came because I miss having lunches together. I miss having my phone blow up with notifications from group chats and pictures of cute dogs. I miss watching movies together, and game nights.

I miss you.

But you broke my heart.” Lena shudders. “And then you ran away.

I’ve seen you fight until you’re within an inch of your life and not give up. The girl of steel. But you barely even tried to fight for this.”

“I was scared.” Kara takes a tentative step forward. “I was trying so hard to give you your space. I almost flew to see you everyday but Alex stopped me. Then she said something that made me need to think.” Kara whispers as she takes another step forward, almost encroaching on Lena’s space.

“You couldn’t think in National City?”

Kara shakes her head, “I needed some space too.”

“Have you had enough space to figure it out?” Lena asks softly.

“Yeah I have.” Kara nods, a shy smile turning up her lips. “I love you too Lena.”

Kara lets out a deep breath out as Lena lets Kara pull her into her arms. The two of them burrowing into each other’s shoulder.

“I’m glad to see you two worked things out.” Eliza says as they both turn to find her watching them holding two cups of steaming tea.

“There’s still somethings we should talk about.” Lena pulls away from Kara to accept a mug from Eliza before she smiles in Kara’s direction. “But I think we’re on the same page now.”

#supergirl #supercorp #supercorptober2020 #nemo writes #fanfiction #this was the hardest one to write. to really capture my idea #im still not totally satisfied #but hopefully you guys like it!

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starshine-hockey-girl · 3 years ago

Text

Teddy Drops the Mic

Warnings- language, alcohol use, Benn being a dick(sorry if you like him), smut, fluff and Smooshie Seguin

@miranda0102 @newlibrary @mattytkachuk19

Tuesday, October 2nd

Tyler called Teddy after practice, "Hey, do you have plans for tomorrow?

Teddy looked at her calendar, "Nothing right now. What's up?"

Tyler smiled, "Benn is putting together a dinner to celebrate my new contract. I would like you to be my date."

Teddy grinned, "Oh really? Well, I would just be tickled pink to be your date, Mr. Seguin. Are you doing anything on the 25th? My parents and I have tickets for Hamilton. I would love you to be my date. You don't have a game. I already checked."

Tyler rolled his eyes, "Of course you have already checked if I have a game. Yes, I would love to be your date. Now open your door."

Teddy looked up from her computer, walked to the front door and opened it. Tyler stood there holding a cup of coffee, "Get your shoes on. I am taking you on adventure." Teddy started to argue about editing and emails to return but he leaned in and kissed her. “Quit arguing with me, Pretty One, and get your shoes on,” he laughed.

“Do I need to change clothes? Am I good like this?” she asked as she pointed to her casual outfit. “Grab a jacket in case you get cold later,” he instructed, 'Wear comfortable shoes.``

They strolled to his car hand in hand. He opened the door and she slid into the car. Teddy sighed and relaxed into the seat. Tyler started the car and the GPS, "We are going somewhere I've never been but you have, so you'll have to be my guide."

Teddy squinted at him, "Hmmmm, can I guess? Are we going to a library?"

Tyler playfully pouted, "That's mean. True, but mean. Want a hint? It features a really tall man."

Teddy thought and noticed he had taken the exit to I-30 East, "Is it the Fair? Are you taking me to the State Fair? I love the fair. It's my favorite. Is it the Fair?"

Tyler smiled, "Yes, I am about to lose my Texas State Fair cherry. Be gentle with me."

Teddy did a double take, “How long have you lived here Tyler? This is just completely unacceptable.”

Tyler raised his hands in defense, “Hey, it’s always going on during preseason and the beginning of the season. I get a little busy and never had someone to take me. It’s big and I was afraid I may get lost.”

Teddy leaned over and kissed his cheek, “I am glad that we are rectifying the situation. It might have been a deal breaker.”

Tyler paid for the tickets at the self service kiosk while Teddy looked over his shoulder. She kissed it lightly and wrapped her arms around his waist, “Are you sure that you want to go to the fair with me? It can get pretty crowded and public.”

Tyler looked back over his shoulder, “We can’t stay at my house all the time as much as I like it. Why are you concerned?”

She bit her lip, “You might get recognized.”

Tyler turned around and stared at her, “Teddy.....”

She looked down at the ground, “I am overthinking this, right? I am being stupid. I just am nervous.”

Tyler wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled her closer, “Yes, you are overthinking it, but not being stupid. I might get recognized or stopped. I can handle it and you will handle it. I am not going to hide you away because of what someone may or may not say. I want to take my girlfriend to the fair, so I am. You’re cute when you overthink things though.”

Teddy walked over to purchase coupons and asked, "Do you want animal, carnival, educational, shopping or rides first? We could also do the car show."

Tyler looked around, "umm, cars."

Teddy followed up, "Old or new?"

Tyler laughed, "Too many choices. No wonder I have never come here- old cars"

Teddy laughed and started the walk to the old car corral. On the way, they passed by the infamous Big Tex statue. Tyler stood in awe, "It's bigger than I imagined. He is freaking huge. Are we supposed to take a picture?" He looked at the couples and family taking pictures with Big Tex. They tried to take a selfie but couldn't get Big Tex and themselves in the shot. Tyler resorted to asking someone so they could get a kissing shot.

When they handed the phone back, they asked , "Are you Tyler Seguin? He nodded yes and posed for a picture with them while Teddy took the shot.

When they continued to the old car corral, Tyler asked, "That wasn't so bad, right?"

She sighed, "I hope they are all like that."

Tyler spent an hour looking at all of the vintage cars, admiring their body lines and engines while making small talk with the proud owners. He was recognized multiple times and always politely chatted while Teddy played photographer. The routine was repeated in the Automobile building where they looked for new car ideas for Teddy. She began to get more comfortable and more affectionate with Tyler. By the time they hit the food building, they were starving and created a buffet of fried items- Fletcher corny dogs, Texas twister potatoes, and the brand new cotton candy tacos. They sat together on the bench and Tyler turned his snapback around. "Oh, look who is getting serious about his corny dog," Teddy giggled.

Tyler smiled, "Corn dog. I refuse to call it a corny dog no matter what the sign says. Yes, I am going to enjoy the hell out of this cheat day meal with my girl." They toasted their corn dogs and kissed.

By late afternoon, Teddy had led him through the Food & Fiber building to meet Elsie the cow, the celebrity chef exhibition, the butter statue and marionette show. They had watched the dog agility show and studied all the prize winning arts and crafts. It was close to dusk when they made their way to the giant Ferris wheel, The Texas Star. The ride operator recognized Tyler and he managed to sweet talk her into letting them have a car to themselves. "Help me out- I'm really trying hard to impress my girl," he said with a smile.

"Okay Seguin, just this one time."

When they started their ascent to multicolored sky, he pulled her close to him and kissed her neck. "You do this every year, Teddy?" he asked, "I'm exhausted."

"OMG Tyler, we haven’t even done everything.” she teased. “Yes, we used to come every year. It was Frankie's favorite event of the year and we usually came to celebrate her birthday. I haven't been able to make myself come to the actual fair since she died and I had forgotten how much I love it. Thank you for bringing me. Now I have some really good new memories.''

Tyler hugged her tighter as the Ferris wheel began to turn faster. Finally, Tyler blurted out, "How did she die?"

Teddy froze for a second, stunned by the question. "I'm sorry, Pretty One. You don't have to answer."

Teddy shook her head and answered, "it's okay. I am fine to discuss it. She was killed by a drunk driver on New Year’s Eve almost eight years ago. She was killed instantly so at least she didn't suffer.” Teddy looked wistfully at the Dallas horizon before turning to face Tyler again. “She was amazing- the best big sister ever. She always made me feel safe, loved and valued. She even let me tag along on her dates with Bish even though I was this obnoxious kid.” She looked at Tyler and ran her fingers through his hair, “She would have loved you. She would have loved us together. I wish you could have met her....." Her voice grew soft and trailed off.

They sat in silence, watching the Dallas skyline as the wheel rotated. “Me too,” Tyler finally broke the silence, “Is it weird to be the only child now?”

Teddy turned to face Tyler, “Yeah, it has been an adjustment. My mom was so happy to have a full house on Thanksgiving last year after it’s been just the three of us for so long. There is a hole in our family now and nothing we do can take away that pain. It’s always there underneath the surface. She should be here- living her best life, but she’s not. Her death changed everything for me. I wouldn’t have ended up with Chaz. She would have stopped that shit right away.” Tears formed in Teddy’s eyes, “I’m sorry. Short answer is yes, it’s weird. We don’t have time for the long answer.”

Tyler held her hand and stroked it with his thumb, ”One day though? You’ll tell me the long answer?”

Teddy sighed, “If you want me to, I will tell you everything.”

Tyler kissed the top of her head, “Yeah, I do.”

Their ride came to an end and they exited quietly. Teddy turned to Tyler, “Okay, we are not going to end our day on this depressing note. Are you up for something else? It is my absolute favorite part and if we go now, we can get seats.”

Tyler extended his arm, “Lead the way my love.”

Teddy led him through the crowds to a spot outside the Automobile building. The spot was directly in front of the laser and light show. “Okay, you sit here and save my spot. I am going to go get food.” When Teddy returned with a tray full of Belgian waffles, funnel cakes, cotton candy and caramel apples, Tyler was not at their spot. Instead there were two teenage boys staring at their phones. Teddy looked around and didn’t see him, growing irritated that they had lost their prime seats. “Fuck it Seguin,” she thought to herself and went off to search for him. Finally she decided to call him. When he picked up, she tried to calmly ask where he was but the irritation came through loud and clear.

“Turn around,” he joked. He stood in the middle of a gaggle of kids who were all clamoring for his attention. He walked over to her with a smile that was not returned and took the tray of food. “Are we supposed to eat all of this?” he joked.

Teddy pouted, “Well, I didn’t know what kind of dessert you wanted so I got one of almost everything.”

He walked over to the two teenage boys and handed them the tray of food. “Here guard this, don’t eat anything alright?”

Teddy looked up at him, “Wait, what are they doing Tyler?”

He walked back to the pack of kids, “I am paying them to guard our spot until it’s time for the show. I got surrounded by people and had to get creative.”

Teddy stopped and pulled his hand hard enough to pull his body to hers, “Tyler Seguin, if you are not the best boyfriend ever, I don’t want to meet the best. Kiss me.”

Tyler grinned before kissing her passionately, “What can I say? You inspire me.” Neither of them noticed the flash of the cell phone cameras nearby. “Okay, we have to get in our seats. The show will start soon.” Teddy pleaded.

Tyler groaned, “Okay, let me say goodbye to the kids first” Tyler turned and gave high fives, bumps and hugs to the kids gathered round, “Gotta go hang out with my girl. Have fun! Go Stars!” They walked over and the boys moved, revealing a blanket covering the ground. He paid them and sat down with the tray of food, “Come on Teddy, the waffle is getting cold.”

Teddy sat down and asked, “Do I want to know how you got the blanket?”

Tyler shook his head, “I’m resourceful when I want to impress my lady.”

Teddy sat down next to him and stole a bite of Belgian waffle.

“Hey,” he said, “Quit stealing my food. Eat your funnel cake thing. I am claiming the cotton candy too.”

Teddy rolled her eyes, “Note to self- Tyler is possessive of his Belgian waffles.”

He kissed her powdered sugar covered mouth, “Damn straight. Stay away from my waffle and my lady or I will fight you.”

Wednesday, October 3rd

Katie called Teddy the next morning, "Hey girl, are you on Tumblr?"

Teddy hemmed, "Yes- why do you ask?"

Katie prodded, "Do you ever go into Tyler’s tag?"

Teddy answered, "Why do I feel like this is a trick question?"

Katie laughed, "I check Jamie's all the time. I am just telling you that you need to check it now."

Teddy went to her computer, opened Tumblr, and pulled up the Tyler tag

"Holy shit," she gasped, "That's Tyler and I from the fair last night. Look at how many notes it has. It was only posted an hour ago. What should I do? "

Katie giggled, "Buckle buttercup, you're about to be WAG famous. At least it's a good picture. Did y'all have fun?"

Teddy sighed, "Yeah Katie, we did. He makes me so happy. It's scary how happy he makes me."

Katie sighed, "Awwww, look Tyler's not a fuck Boi anymore. He is a grown ass boyfriend."

Later that afternoon-Tyler’s house

"Tyler,' Teddy called as she walked into his house carrying her overnight bag.

He walked into the entryway from the kitchen, "Pretty One, are you hungry? I made grilled cheese sandwiches."

She rolled her eyes, "Nah, I am saving room for my ribeye later. I do have a question for you. Do you ever go on Tumblr?"

Tyler wrinkled his nose, "No,I stick mainly to Instagram, why?"

Teddy pulled out her phone and pulled up the Tyler tag. He grabbed the phone from her hand, "Wait, is that us? From last night? Fuck."

Teddy shrunk back, “Fuck? You don’t want people to see me?”

Tyler took a step toward her, “That is not what I am saying at all. I thought we would have more time before it got out. There are a lot of mean and nasty trolls out there Teddy. I wanted to protect you from them a while longer.” He wrapped his arms around Teddy, “I am not ashamed of you. If it was just a matter of pride, I would have posted a selfie from our first date but I don’t want you to get hurt. What are they saying on Tumblr?”

Teddy smiled, "Mainly people wanted to identify me, express their jealousy or compare me to Bree. So that's fun."

Tyler looked up at her, "There's no comparison between Bree and you. She’s not even in the same league as you Pretty One." He sighed, “You know this will make its way to Instagram and Twitter. They are going to find you.”

Teddy shrugged her shoulders, “Tyler, I knew that getting into a relationship with you came with that. I already get trolls on my professional stuff. I keep my personal Instagram locked down so they're not going to find much.”

Tyler sighed and scrolled the tag, "Hey, what's a thirst night? They are having one for me tonight."

Teddy laughed, "That’s when they discuss all the naughty things they want to do to you. It can be very inspirational."

He walked up behind her and pressed her into the counter, "Just how inspirational?"

Teddy jutted her ass out, "You know that thing I did with my tongue the other day? Learned it on a thirst night."

Tyler picked up the phone again, "What is Tyler x reader imagine?"

Teddy grabbed the phone, "Stay away from Tumblr. Your ego will get OUT.OF.CONTROL. A Tyler x reader imagines a fictional story about you and a generic reader. They can be sweet and fluffy or really raunchy."

Tyler’s jaw dropped, “Wait, people write fictional stories about me? Having sex?” He wriggled his eyebrows, “Is fictional me good?”

Teddy shook her head no, “Nope, not nearly as good as the real thing.”

Tyler joked, “I feel like I should prove it to you now.”

“What about the sandwiches Tyler? They’re going to get cold.” Teddy teased.

He scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder, “Fuck the sandwiches.”

Teddy pouted, “Wait, I thought I was about to get fucked.”

“Oh you are Teddy, you are going to get so fucked,” Tyler playfully retorted.

Teddy woke up with her arms and legs entangled with Tyler's. She tried to gently extricate herself from his grasp but he pulled her in tighter in his sleep. "Tyler, I have to take a shower soon. We need to leave for dinner in an hour."

His eyes fluttered open and he kissed her gently, "Stay here- you don't need a shower. Ten more minutes. Stay ten more minutes."

Teddy returned his kiss, "We can shower together but we have to get up now. We can't be late for dinner honoring you."

Tyler pressed his hands on her hips and held her down, "We won't be late. I promise. You'd be surprised at how quick I can be. Please say yes Teddy."

Teddy spread her legs, "I can't believe I am encouraging this, but yes Tyler-in the shower."

He pulled her off of the bed and showered her with kisses on the back until they reached the shower. "Are you washing your hair? Yes or no?" He quizzed as he reached for her hair tie and handed it to her so she could put her hair up as he turned on the shower.

She stepped in the shower and turned around, "Don't forget the condom." He grumbled but grabbed it. He stepped into the shower and pressed his body against her ass. "Mmmmmm, Mr. Seguin- I believe that you are on the clock."

He pressed her torso forward and grabbed her hips, ”I do my best work under pressure. Put your hands up on the wall, Pretty One. This is going to be hard and fast.” He thrusted deep and she moaned loudly. "Teddy-Yes. Fuck, I can't get enough of you. You get me so hot," he moaned as fucked her deep and fast.

She turned her head and bit her lip, "How do you make me cum so easily? I am almost there sweetie. Keep going" They retreated back into their rhythm until they both exploded. He left her in the shower with soft kisses and started getting ready.

She dressed in her royal blue off the shoulder dress and slipped into her sparkly heels. She was applying her bold red lipstick when Tyler walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, “Pretty One, almost ready?” She nodded her yes and they left.

Teddy fidgeted in the front seat as Tyler drove to the restaurant. She took out her phone and texted Lex.

Teddy: You around?

Lex: for a bit. What's up?

Teddy: going to Team dinner for Tyler. Nervous as fuck. Talk me down.

Lex: nervous about what?

Teddy: first time with Tyler and tram as a couple since you and I were attending things together. We weren't exactly subtle about the sex.

Lex: So? If it doesn't bother Tyler, it shouldn't matter to anyone else.

Teddy: He would say if it bothered him, right?

Lex: yes. You have a past and he has a past. Now is all that matters. Stop stressing.

Teddy: you da best. Ttyl

Teddy put the phone away and looked at Tyler. He looked out of the corner of his eye, "How's Big Rig?"

Teddy grimaced, "Fine, but I need to ask you a question and I don't want to insult you or hurt your feelings."

Tyler answered, "That sounds ominous. Shoot."

Teddy sighed, "Does me being with Lex at all the team things last year bother you now that we are together?"

Tyler turned to her, "No. It does bother me that you consulted him before asking me. I mean, I am right here, Teddy.” He reached for her hand as they sat at the red light, “Your past is your past. I knew about it before asking you out and I don't have any issue that you had sex with Big Rig. Trust me, my past is way worse."

Teddy looked into his eyes, "I am sorry. It's a habit to go to him when I start to freak out, but you are right. I will check with you first next time. I don't want anyone to give you grief for you like Crosby gave you in the spring. It would break my heart."

Tyler pulled into the valet station and walked around to open Teddy's door. He extended his hand to assist her and pulled her into his chest, "You look absolutely gorgeous tonight. There is nobody else I would rather be my date tonight- nothing in your past changes that fact. Chin up Pretty One and quit doubting us. Got it?"

Teddy wrapped her arms around his neck, "I like it when you say us. I am so glad that there is an us. I am really sorry about the Lex thing earlier and promise to do better next time. Thank you for telling me it bothered you. Honesty is really hot."

Tyler kissed her softly, "You are really hot. I am glad that you are my Pretty One."

Bishop approached the entrance, "Okay, lovebirds move so the old married people can come in."

Andrea swatted his arm and laughed, "Careful who you are calling old, buddy."

Teddy let go of Tyler and gave Andrea a hug who whispered, "Don't listen to Ben. He really is so happy for you. He shipped you two all along."

Teddy laughed and looked at Bish, "Really?"

Bishop extended his arm to escort Teddy inside, "Yep, I knew it the moment you called him asshole. It was true love."

She scoffed, "He was blocking my driveway."

She turned back to Tyler, "Sweetie, I am sorry I called you an asshole. Forgive me?"

Tyler held out his arm for Andrea, "Maybe one day if you are REALLY nice to me, " Tyler smirked.

Tyler and Teddy took their seats at the head of the table. Teddy whispered, "How nice do I need to be, Sweetie? To earn your forgiveness?"

Tyler whispered, "You know I am joking, right? However, if you wanted to do that with your tongue later, I would be motivated to forgive you."

Teddy smirked, "Oh, you like that? Duly noted. I am quite fond of all your moves."

Katie rolled her eyes, " What moves? Seguin's got moves? No way."

Teddy sing-songed, "Uh-huh, there is a wrap around thing that is always a sure shot. Then I also like when he goes top shelf." The women laughed as Tyler blushed. "Sweetie, do you want to order appetizers? I am starving. Someone distracted me at lunch," Teddy asked.

"Sure, get whatever you want," he answered as turned to talk to Radalov.

When the server came to the table, she ordered enough appetizers for the table. Then she ordered an espresso martini for herself and a craft beer for Tyler. She looked up to find Benn studying her and said, "Hey, you want a drink too?" He rolled his eyes and shook his head no.

Teddy turned her attention back to Katie. They were discussing Halloween costumes when Teddy felt Tyler’s hand on her thigh, giving it a light squeeze, before removing it. She turned and he was completely engrossed with Rads. When the server came to take the entree orders, Teddy ordered the ribeye steak that she loved so much during her first date with Tyler. Jamie choked, "Did you just order the most expensive thing on the menu? After all the appetizers?"

Teddy turned her head, "I didn't look at the price. Tyler told me to order what I wanted. Is there a problem?"

She looked at Katie who shook her head and mouthed, "He's in a mood."

Teddy looked back at Tyler who seemed oblivious.

Sometime during the appetizer course, Teddy asked Johns about his trip to Pittsburgh. He had gone to visit Lex right before Teddy. Radalov asked Teddy, "You visited Big Rig?"

Teddy nodded her head yes, "I went up while Tyler was at training camp. I helped him set up his new apartment for the season. Their training camp was after the Stars."

Benn muttered under his breath, "I bet she helped him in the bedroom alright." Johns, Bishop and Katie all made swift, "Not cool dude" remarks.

Teddy looked down and fidgeted. Tyler looked over and looked at her with a question on his face. Teddy forced a smile. Tyler mouthed, "What's wrong?"

She shook her head and said, "I am going to use the restroom. Be right back." She got up and walked toward the restroom. Once she was in the secluded hall, she turned and waited.

Tyler caught up after a few seconds. "Tell me what's wrong," he said gently.

Teddy blinked back tears, "Jamie has made multiple swipes at me. First about ordering appetizers for the table and the price of what I ordered and then he muttered something about my trip to Pittsburgh. I am trying not get upset but he is pushing all the buttons."

Tyler frowned, "What did he say about Pittsburgh?"

Teddy sighed, "I said that I went to help Lex set up his apartment and he said 'I bet she helped him in the bedroom'. Maybe I am overreacting but it upsets me."

Tyler pulled her close, "Do you want me to handle it? I can go talk to him."

Teddy shook her head, "No, but if he says another damn thing..."

Tyler interrupted, "Make sure I hear it. You can handle it any way you want. I got your back." He backed her against the wall and kissed her, "How did you know that I would come check on you? "

Teddy smiled, "Because that's what you do. You take care of me."

They returned to the table to a round of chirps. Tyler chirped back, “Do you see how gorgeous she is? I can’t help myself.”

The dinner remained uneventful until dessert. The subject of Tyler’s contract came up. Benn made a remark about Tyler needing a prenup now to protect his money from gold diggers. Teddy's head spun around and she caught the eye of Bishop gave her a sympathetic look. Teddy looked at Benn who smirked and then at Tyler who had returned to his animated conversation. She drew in a breath, "Hey Benn, can you say that again? I don't think Tyler heard you."

Tyler turned his head, "Heard what?"

Teddy looked back at Benn who looked uncomfortable. Bishop waved down the server, "I think I need a drink for this."

Benn squirmed, "I said that you'll need a prenup after this contract. You know- for the gold diggers"

Tyler gulped and raised an eyebrow, "A prenup? Dude, what the hell?" He reached under the table and squeezed her knee. She looked back at Tyler and smiled.

Jamie looked down and fumed, "Just looking out for you."

Tyler shook his head, "I am doing just fine. Thanks for your concern."

Tyler stared at Benn for a moment before leaning in to kiss Teddy's cheek, "Do you what you need to do." Teddy nodded her head and got up from the table. She walked calmly and found the waitress to make her request. Tyler raised an eyebrow when she returned. A few minutes later a round of shots arrived. Teddy asked if Benn wanted to do the honor of toasting Tyler. He declined so Teddy stood up, "To the man we are gathered here to celebrate- Congratulations on your new contract. You deserve every penny of it because you work your ass off on and off the ice, you are a good teammate and even better friend. I, selfishly, am glad that Dallas will continue to be your home for the next eight years. I wish you nothing but the very best in life. You are the best and brightest star in my life. So everyone raise your glass- here's to Tyler." Everyone raised their glass and took their shot. Tyler stood up and kissed Teddy hard. Teddy whispered into his ear, "I am sorry in advance for the flex I am about to make."

He simply laughed, “Oh, this is going to be good.”

They sat down as the dinner began to wind down. The conversations started to dwindle as they waited for their checks. The server entered and placed the check in front of Teddy who smiled and pulled out her Black AMEX. She glared at Benn as she handed it back to the server to process. Collectively the group's mouths dropped as they mentally calculated the bill total. As she was signing the slip, she looked up at Benn who was quietly seething. Teddy quietly spoke, "Mr. Benn, nothing to say now? Still want to make a comment about Tyler needing a prenup?”

He looked at Tyler and then around the room for any indication of support. There was none.

Teddy continued, “Are you really that clueless? Did the villa in St. Thomas not give you any indication of my financial status? How did you think I swung that? I am the only surviving child of the only child of the family that has dominated the Dallas real estate and construction market for five generations. You know that arena you play hockey in? My family owned that land. You know that rink you practice at? That's right we built it. If Tyler and I were to get married, there would be a prenup to protect my assets-not the other way around. I am with Tyler because I love and adore him. I don't need a goddamn cent from him. Do we understand each other now?"

Bish laughed out loud, "And that is how you drop the proverbial mic. Ouch."

Teddy stood up and gathered her things and walked around the room saying her goodbyes while Tyler watched in amazement. He snapped out of it and joined-her , wrapping his hand around her waist, "I don't know if I am terrified, in awe, or turned on, but good for you."

Teddy turned to him, "Take me home-now. I can't be here anymore."

He nodded and led her out to the valet stand. He handed the valet a hundred, "I need it now." They stood and waited impatiently.

"Seguin," Benn called, "You're leaving already? I thought we were having an after party."

Teddy's jaw clenched and the valet pulled up with the car. Tyler opened the door and let Teddy slide in. He approached Benn, "We'll talk tomorrow. Back the fuck off tonight. You have caused enough damage for one night."

He didn't look back when he got in the car and rev'd the engine, "Teddy, hold on. I'm taking you home."

Teddy spoke softly, "Can you take me to my home? To my apartment?"

Tyler looked at her, desperately trying to keep it together, "If you want."

She nodded her head, "I just need to be in my own space." Tyler clenched his jaw tight, lost in his thoughts. Teddy reached over and squeezed his knee, "Will you stay with me tonight? Can you find someone to stay with the boys?"

He glanced at her, "Of course."

Teddy sighed, "I just need to get to a place that I can ground myself. I am about to spiral. I can feel it." He pulled into the parking lot and parked. When he opened the door for her, she wrapped her hands around his and held on for dear life as they walked into her apartment. She locked the door behind them. "I have to get out of these clothes," she stated, "Do you want to come with me or stay here?"

Tyler watched her as head into her bedroom, then followed. She stripped off her clothes and put on a pair of pajama pants and a plain white t-shirt. Teddy used a makeup remover and cleaned her face then put her up in a messy bun. Tyler watched her move at a manic pace around her room. "Teddy, can you stop? You are freaking me out right now. You've got to talk to me," Tyler pleaded.

She stopped briefly and glanced at him." Oh sweetie, we can't both freak out right now. Okay, let's go to the couch. We can talk."

Teddy waited for Tyler to sit before crawling in his lap. "What are you thinking Tyler?" she asked.

Tyler inhaled, "I am afraid. You seem pretty upset and I don't know how to fix it."

She put her hands on both sides of his face, "it's not your job to fix it. You can't fix me. Do you understand that?"

He shook his head no.

Teddy continued, "I am having an anxiety attack. It will pass. I just need to stay with me to keep me grounded to reality. Otherwise my mind will convince me of the worst possible case scenario. Will you do that?" she took a deep breath.

He questioned, "What's the worst case scenario? Let's deal with it."

She blinked, "You are going to dump me."

He physically recoiled from her, "What, why would I do that? Teddy, Pretty One- I am not going to dump you. Promise!"

She continued, "Tyler, because that is what my brain thinks. Let me play something for you."

Unlovable tik tok

Tyler pulled her in tighter, "Pretty One, that is such a lie. Every single bit of it. All lies Teddy. I want to kill the person who told you otherwise."

Teddy smiled sardonically, "Chaz for the fucking win but I appreciate your kind words Tyler. I know that you mean them. My brain just can't believe them at the moment, but I will store them away in my heart."

Tyler spoke softly, "I am sorry that he hurt you."

Teddy sat in silence with Tyler's arms wrapped around her. She mentally replayed the remarks from Benn. The intellectual side of her brain was able to dismiss them easily, but her anxiety had picked all of them up and used them as a weapon against her. She thought to herself, "Man, it's like Chaz 2.0." She sat upright, "Holy shit. It really is like Chaz 2.0" Tyler looked at her with questions on his face.

Teddy continued, "Hold on- I am having an epiphany. Benn uses the same M.O. as my ex-Chaz. He is such a little coward- a big man but a coward with women. He waits, not sure if consciously or not, until I am figuratively alone to lob these grenades at me because he doesn't think I can hold my ground. With Chaz, I couldn't but with Benn I can because I am so much stronger. He fucking underestimated me, Tyler. That fucker. He thinks that I am this weak little woman who can’t stand up for herself. That's why I haven't liked him from the start. He is totally Chaz without the physical violence and rape." Tyler recoiled at the word rape.

Teddy looked at Tyler with a half smile. "Sorry, I know that he is one of your best friends, but it is such a relief to make the connection. I don’t have to give him power over me and that’s what I was doing. That motherfucker."

He opened his arms to her and she curled up against him. He held her close and kissed her hair. She could feel his warmth. He made no effort to take things further, content tonight with her proximity. She felt cared for. She felt safe. It was just what she needed. (Author’s note- I totally found that last part in italics on Pinterest but it was perfectly worded so I stole it.)

Thursday, October 4th

The next morning at the Stars rink in Frisco

Tyler: Meet me in the physical therapy room at 8:45

Benn: ????

Tyler: Just be there.

Tyler was pacing in the room when Benn strolled in, "What's up?

Tyler turned to face Benn, "I don't know - you tell me. Is there a reason you decided to take unprovoked shots at my girl last night?"

Benn scoffed, "What? She cried to you last night? She can't take the heat?"

Tyler stepped to him, "I think that last night she proved that she can certainly take the heat. Again, why are you taking shots at her? More importantly, why were you taking them when you knew I wasn't listening?"

Benn stepped back, "Dude, I am just trying to look out for you. She is trouble. Look what happened in the spring. You lost your Goddamn mind over some sloppy second pussy."

Tyler charged him, "What the fuck did you just say? Who in the fuck are you referring to as a sloppy second? Choose your words carefully Chubbs."

Benn stood his ground, "Everyone knows she strung you along while she was having a fuck fest with Big Rig."

Tyler pushed him back against the wall, "She didn't string anyone along. We were friends. We still are friends. I don't give a fuck what what she did with Big Rig. She doesn't owe anyone an explanation for her past especially you. Drop the attitude now. Treat her with the fucking respect she deserves."

Benn said, "Is there an or else that follows that?"

Tyler took a step back, "Hell yes there is. I am not the only one either. I don't think Big Rig is going to be thrilled with your comments. You don't have to be best friends with her but quit the bullshit."

Tyler stormed out of the room and ran smack Johnsy who was standing outside the room. Johns called out to Benn, “Chubbs, add me to that ‘or else’ list. This is not the hill that you want to die on, dude.”

Lex’s apartment- Pittsburgh

Lex picked up the phone, “Johnsy- It’s been a while. What’s up?”

Johns paused for a second, “You should probably check in with Teddy today. Chubbs went in on her hard last night. She took his ass down in true Teddy fashion, but you know her- she is probably struggling now.”

Lex instinctively balled his fist, “He did what?”

Johns explained the events of the previous evening to Lex in detail who listened in stunned silence. He followed with the exchange between Benn and Tyler that he had overhead. “Sloppy seconds?” Lex spit out, “He actually called her sloppy seconds? I am going to hurt him. You know that, right?”

Johns didn’t respond at first, “You know that I can’t tell you to take a run at my captain? So I am most definitely not telling you to take a run at my captain.”

Lex chuckled, “Duly noted. Keep an eye out for Teddy. I will call her.”

Five minutes later

“What’s wrong? Teddy asked when she picked up the phone, “You never call after practice.”

Lex tried to sound calm,” You were freaking last night before dinner so I am checking in with you.”

She chided, “Johns called you, didn’t he? You are such a bad liar Lex.”

Lex sucked in a breath,” Still want to know if you are okay or not.”

Teddy paused, surprised by the intensity of his voice, ”Lex, I am fine. It sucked in the moment, but I stood up for myself. I asked Tyler to stay with me so I didn’t spiral into a shame cycle. I had an epiphany about Benn and am taking back my power. I am not going to let him bully me.”

Lex let out a sigh of relief, “I am still fucking pissed off at him. You know that there will be consequences for his behavior. I will keep it on the ice, but he’s going to pay the price to me as well.”

Teddy asked, “How many people does he owe? You know besides me?”

Lex whined, “Don’t give me a hard time. You know what I meant. Tyler has already confronted him and I assumed collected his price.”

Her eyes widened, “Tyler confronted Benn? Shit- really? Look, you do whatever you feel is necessary. Personally, I am moving on from it and not going to let it affect me. My life is really good right now. I have my career taking off, I am in love with an amazing man, and my best friend is a pitbull who will tear apart anyone who thinks of hurting me. What else can a woman want?”

Later that afternoon

Teddy barely heard the knock on her door over the music she was blaring while editing videos. She stretched her arms over head and lazily walked to the door. The delivery driver struggled to hand off the large bouquet of flowers to Teddy who placed them on the kitchen island. She knew who sent them before reading the card, but opened the card quickly.

Pretty One- You are lovable and fuckable. Best month ever. I love you so much. -T

She smiled to herself and grabbed her car keys. She opened the door and he stood there holding coffee and warm Tiff’s Treats. She stood back and allowed him to enter. “Where were you going, Pretty One?”

She took the cookies and tossed them on the counter, “Going to find you.” She pushed him against the kitchen counter.

He laughed and placed his hands on the counter for support, “Aggressive much? Why were you going to find me? Am I in trouble?”

She placed herself between his legs and put her hands on top of his on the counter. “I have something to tell you, "I love you Tyler Seguin.”

A broad smile spread across his face, “Yeah?”

She nodded, “Yeah”

Tyler held her hand, “Want to make it official?” I have my post ready to go.”

She took a deep breath, “Yeah, “let’s do it.”

He took out his phone and clicked until the picture was posted, “No turning back now, Pretty One.”

Chapter Twenty One- Boundaries- https://starshine-hockey-girl.tumblr.com/post/665806764141379584/boundaries-magical-mystery-ride

12 notes · View notes

avian-writes · 3 years ago

Text

The day we kept moving forward

The Days Pt. 3

Word count: 2166

content warning: depression

The carpet was my new home. I had no desire to be anywhere else; not the bathtub where I could just lay in the cheap acrylic, not the closet where I could curl up in the familiar atmosphere I grew up with, not even my bed where I could spread my limbs out like a starfish.

The floor was my current sanctuary and I didn’t want to get up anytime soon. Not even when the doorbell continuously rang. I heard one of my roommates begrudgingly leave his room to answer. There was murmuring before my bedroom door crept open.

“Jake? You awake, buddy?”

I groaned into the dirty carpet and he stepped inside, closing the door behind him. A bag was dropped to the ground and crossed legs appeared in my line of sight. I tilted my head just enough to look Darian in the eye. “What is it?”

“I’m supposed to be helping you with your math, remember?”

“Can’t that wait until tomorrow? Or the day after? Or before finals?”

“Definitely not. Come on, what’s up?”

I rolled over onto my back, nearly smacking my head right into a metal bed leg. “I’m tired. So. Freaking. Tired. No, scratch that, I’m exhausted.” My body decided to send my sentence to irony by making me yawn.

“Exhausted?” Darian pulled out his phone and checked the time. “What have you done today?”

“Woke up, got up, then immediately went back to sleep here.”

“Jake, you’ve gotta get up.”

“No I don’t. Math can wait.”

Darian groaned and leaned back against my desk, staring off out the window. I kept my eyes trained on the ceiling while contemplating my whole existence. It was getting easier and easier to just, do nothing these days.

He scooted across the floor so he could lay on his back, head to head. “How about we go on another expedition? Will you get up off the floor for that?”

“Are you seriously asking me that after the last two times?”

He shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets. “We made it out alive didn’t we?”

“My ear drums didn’t. We nearly didn’t the first time either,” I countered. Our first little excursion still haunted me and probably still would until the day I died. Which would be soon if I had my way or the app did.

“Maybe this time will be different.” But I could tell by the tone of his voice that he didn’t believe what he was saying either. “To be honest, it feels like we should do one again. At least one more.”

I stayed quiet for a moment. I knew he was right; it was like we didn’t have any other choice. Something kept pulling us back to that damn app. Some might say it was a correlation of how kids these days were always on their phones and couldn’t go one day without them.

Good thing that, at the ripe old ages of 21 and 22, we weren’t kids.

I took the phone from him and slid open the app. The same three choices appeared and I took a deep breath before tapping anomaly.

Manifest what you want

“What do we want this time?”

“A reason to do this stupid game again.” I closed my eyes and waited. I wasn’t being sarcastic with my request. I really wanted a purpose for doing this and possibly subjecting us to more horror.

There was a tap on my shoulder and I opened my eyes to the GPS on his phone screen. I didn’t recognize the area but I could tell it was on the outskirts of Statesboro, surrounded by greenery. Great, another void location.

I quickly packed my normal bag: portable charger, water, pocket knife, flashlight, and granola bars. We got into Darian’s car and we followed the GPS in reserved silence. The only sound was the gentle hum of the engine and I prayed it wasn’t a sign of what was to come.

My eyes pleaded for sleep despite the tens of hours I had gotten the past couple days. It seemed all I did lately was work and sleep. No time was spent awake in the daylight; I was simply too tired to deal with anything not demanded of me. Food wasn’t even a priority anymore.

The coords took us as far as a gravel lot in the more rural area of the city. We parked and piled out, looking at each other in what I could feel was apprehensive fear. Why were we doing this again?

But before I could openly ask my concerns, Darian shrugged and started towards the woods. I got a sudden flashback to our first trip and swallowed hard. Quickly catching up to him, I kept close and within hitting distance of my best friend.

As we trampled through the brush, tall dark figures with no definite shape loomed in my peripheral vision. I snapped my head towards them but they disappeared into the trees. A shiver ran down my spine despite the burning sun in the afternoon sky.

“Still tired?”

“Extremely. I feel like I’m about to keel over.” I flexed my hands and my knuckles popped, a relieved feeling I wish the rest of me would follow.

“Have you had your medicine today?” Darian asked knowingly.

I simply nodded and reached for his phone. He handed it over and I zoomed in on the GPS. We weren’t that far away. Luckily, Randonautica wasn’t leading us to our deaths this time.

At least I hoped so.

I nudged him. “How’s your medicine going?”

“Ehhhh...”

“Dude. You’re supposed to be taking it every day.”

He shrugged and stared down at his phone. “I forget some days is all. Or I wake up too late.”

“Do you set your alarm?”

“Alarms don’t wake me up, remember?”

“I will drive over to your apartment and force you to take your meds, so help me.”

“You couldn’t even get up off the floor today.”

I stuck my tongue out at him and leaned over to check the GPS. The red dot was in the midst of fog on the screen. It didn’t even look like we were supposed to be in a forest, but we were for sure walking right towards it.

“What do we do if something happens again?”

“Run? What else?”

“We got knives.”

“If you want to try stabbing a supernatural entity, be my guest.”

“Listen you-”

Beep!

Darian caught my arm and pulled me back from stepping right off into a stream. I stumbled back from the riverbank and glanced at the GPS.

We had hit the coordinates. All they led to was a rushing river in the middle of the woods. Not the worst thing, definitely the most interesting find we’d gotten so far. I knelt next to the water and gently touched the top, the stream changing course to flow right over my fingers.

It wasn’t until then that I noticed the ever growing silence since we had entered the woods; no birds singing, no insects chirping, no crunching of leaves underneath our feet. Nothing.

SNAP

I spun around on my heel. Right behind us was a neat pile of river rocks that definitely hadn’t been there before. I shared a shaky look with Darian and a silent notion was agreed between us. We weren’t going back the way we came.

Shadowy figures returned to the corner of my eye and I glanced towards them. Rather than disappear, I could’ve sworn one darted into the underbrush. Leaves rustled with no sound and I took a step back, blindly reaching behind me for Darian.

“I’m right here,” he said as he obediently grabbed my hand. He gazed at the river for a moment with a strained expression. “We need to go upstream to get back to the road.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Darian looked up at the sun, shielding his eyes in the afternoon bright. “We came from the North, the river’s coming from that way.”

“Why don’t we get across and climb up the hill.”

“It’s 90 degrees, we can’t climb it.”

“So you propose we swim?”

“No, I propose we walk.”

“Through the river.”

Darian nodded, already looking like he regretted this entire expedition. “Through the river.”

Multiple viewed thoughts battled in my mind, all debating the pros and cons of being idiotic enough to either walk through the storming river or traverse back into the haunted forest. Neither was particularly pleasing and listening to Darian’s ideas had already gotten us into one tight spot today already.

But a small pile of rocks scared me enough to agree.

Luckily we were both wearing shorts. We took off our shoes and placed them in our bags. Then he carefully stepped into the river and held my elbow as I followed. The water was gliding fast past and I wobbled on my feet. I treaded the tiny waves for a bit before letting go of Darian and stood on my own.

Which proved to be a horrendous idea. As soon as I moved, the river kicked up and beat against my legs. I pushed them to cut through the force and instantly all the willpower was sucked out of me.

I trudged against the ever flowing current as it pushed back ten times as hard. I felt like a football player throwing all their weight against those training dummies on the field. My shoulders hurt and my legs grew tired with every feeble step I took.

I looked to my right and my eyes widened. Darian was walking through the water as if he was on dry land, just strolling along with no hint of the frustration or torment I felt. He went at a slow pace to keep up with me but besides that, he was completely fine.

I opened my mouth to voice my frustration, but no sound came out. I gingerly touched my neck and tried to speak. My throat strained and closed in on itself, tightening with my feeble attempts to say anything.

I shut up and waved my hands towards Darian frantically, but he didn’t seem to notice my plight. He simply continued his casual journey up the river. I tried walking over to him but as soon as I turned my feet sideways, the water cranked up a notch at my ankles and nearly knocked me to my knees.

Breathing uneven and panicked, my body heated up in a cool contrast to the cold water overtaking my legs. Even though the stream was only knee-high, my entire body cooled down to the same temperature and I shivered in the 85 degree heat.

The dark figures returned and overstayed their welcome as I suffered in the river. Growing darkness in my vision as every bit of strength I had mustered quickly depleted from my body. Time was irrelevant as fear gripped my heart the more I spoke silent pleas for help.

My feet started to sink and my heart pounded against my ribcage. I floundered forward and reached for Darian, but he didn’t notice. Or couldn’t.

We had hit the end of the stream and the edge of the woods. The car and consequently freedom wasn’t far away. If only I could break free.

Darian started to step onto the bank, turning to me when I didn’t follow. “Jake? You coming?”

I shook my head and tried lifting my foot, only for it to be dragged back down. My ankles were now sunk into the rocks at the bottom of the stream, piling around my scarred skin like a bonfire.

Suddenly aware of the danger surrounding us, he grabbed both of my wrists and pulled on them. Pain shot through my arms but I couldn’t yell it out. The stream pulled just as hard and I was in a tug of war for my life.

Darian gripped my hands so tight his knuckles creeped white around the edges. He yanked one more time and it was like the river finally deemed us worthy to be let go of its clutches. I lurched forward and into his shaking arms, my elbows dipping into the water.

He immediately grappled for the rest of me and, together, we scrambled onto the shore. Our shoes kicked up dirt behind us as he pulled me onto dry land. I dug my gnarled fingers into the soil, breathing heavily.

Coughing, I looked up at Darian and choked out, “Thanks.” The word felt like molasses on my tongue.

“No problem,” was his only response. He then took my hand and started rushing further up the river and away from the figures leering out of the trees towards us.

We held hands all the way back through the dense woods and back to the car. Darian reluctantly let go to fish his keys out of his pocket and we slid into the front seats. As we drove home barefooted, I took out my knife and held it open on my lap.

#writeblr #wip #the days #horror #depression #part three #wtwcommunity #wip update #the day we kept moving forward

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