#plus my niece is here

[drivemysoul]

every time i say i want my septum pierced someone says id look bad with it so now i’m sitting in my bathtub crying over other things and being upset that i’d look ugly with the piercing i want really bad

[deus-ex-mona]

“a sicks’ dream come true; coming soon to fanfic channels near you”

[nerdstreak]

waddles in

,,,,fn.af ruin.

faceplants

[tinymarsupial]

.

[clamorybus]

i got a babysitting job set up for tuesday!

( ﾉ^ω^)ﾉ☆°`~

[jesytr]

I've got a late family Christmas planned for today.

[rafecameronssl4t]

Babysitting || Drew Starkey x fem!reader

Summary: day out babysitting Liliana 🙈 fake social media pics at the end aswell!!

Warnings: NONE! pure fluff

Word count: 1,478

A/n: Baby fever is astronomically high rn and those pics Mackayla posted did NOT help whatsoever

MASTERLIST

Divider by @yoonitos

“Babe! They’re here!” Drew calls out from the front door, his voice brimming with excitement. You quickly make your way downstairs, your face lighting up with a broad smile. Today, you and Drew are babysitting his niece, Liliana, while Mackayla and Garrett enjoy a much-needed day together.

“Hi!” you greet Mackayla warmly, pulling her into a tight hug. “Thank you for letting us look after her,” you say, your voice filled with genuine gratitude. Mackayla giggles, hugging you back. “I know how much you love looking after her. Plus, Drew mentioned you were missing her more than usual these past few weeks.”

You glance at Drew, who’s smiling at himself. “Garrett is just getting her from the car. She fell asleep as soon as we started driving,” Mackayla explains, looking back at the vehicle. Drew steps closer, wrapping his arm around your waist and planting a gentle kiss on the side of your head.

Moments later, Garrett comes into view, carefully walking up the steps with Liliana fast asleep in her capsule. He approaches with a quiet smile, trying not to disturb the sleeping baby. Drew reaches out and gently takes the capsule from Garrett, cradling it with care. “Thanks again for agreeing to do this,” Mackayla says, her smile broadening as she looks at both of you.

“Of course! You know Drew and I are always here if you need someone to look after her,” you reply, your voice warm and reassuring. Mackayla pulls you into another hug, her appreciation clear. “You guys have fun!” you call out as she and Garrett begin to walk back to their car, waving at the two of you.

~

“She awake yet?” Drew asks as he enters the living room, pulling on his shirt. “Yeah,” you reply, smiling down at Liliana who is standing on your thighs, her tiny hands gripping your fingers for balance. Her wide smile mirrors your own, and her eyes light up at the sight of her uncle.

“Look, who’s that?” you say, pointing to Drew as he approaches. Liliana’s face lights up even more, and she starts squealing with delight, her excitement contagious. “Hi baby,” Drew grins, putting his hands out to her. Liliana leans eagerly into him, her little arms reaching out.

Drew scoops her up effortlessly, bringing her close and planting a kiss on her cheek. She giggles, her small hands patting his face as she snuggles into him. Drew looks at you, his eyes shining with happiness. “She’s so happy to see her uncle,” you say, watching the sweet interaction between them.

“She’s my favorite little girl,” Drew replies, bouncing her gently in his arms. “Did you have a good nap, Liliana?”Liliana babbles happily in response, her bright eyes taking in everything around her. Drew laughs, his heart clearly full as he holds her close.

“I got the bags ready, and her stroller is already in the car,” you say, grabbing the car keys from the kitchen counter. You glance at your phone, where the weather app is open, showing the perfect temperature for Charleston. “The weather is perfect today,” you add, looking up with a smile.

“Let’s go then,” Drew smiles. “You excited, Lili?” he asks, turning his head to look at Liliana in his arms. She grins widely, clapping her hands with glee, making you giggle at her infectious enthusiasm.

“Here, I’ll put her in her car seat,” you offer, taking Liliana gently into your arms. She coos happily, her little hands reaching out to touch your face as you head outside. Drew follows, locking the door behind you and grabbing Liliana’s bag.

You carefully secure Liliana in her car seat, ensuring the straps are snug but comfortable. She looks up at you with wide, curious eyes, her smile never fading. Drew places her bag in the backseat before getting into the drivers seat. He adjusts the rearview mirror to get a better look at his niece, “All good?” He says to you as you put on your seatbelt, “Yep.”

As Drew drives into Charleston, you both glance back a few times, smiling as you watch Liliana’s wide, curious eyes take in every building and tree that passes by. Her excitement is palpable, her little hands occasionally pointing at something that catches her attention.

“You think we need the stroller? I can always just use the baby carrier,” Drew suggests as you carefully lift Liliana out of her capsule. “Whatever feels more comfortable for you, babe,” you reply, glancing at Drew with a reassuring smile as he retrieves the baby carrier from the back and packs it into your bag.

Arriving at your favorite café, you and Drew walk in together, Liliana balanced comfortably on your hip. Drew pauses to chat briefly with one of the staff members, arranging for a table outside.

Liliana squirms with excitement, her eyes wide as she takes in the surroundings. You settle into your seats, Liliana comfortably sat on Drew’s lap as you both look at the menu.

“Want some table water?” Drew asks as he stands up to go place the order. “Yes please,” you grin, feeling Liliana’s little hand wrap around your thumb as you gently bounce your leg up and down to keep her entertained.

While Drew is away, you take a few photos with Liliana, capturing her adorable expressions and joyful demeanor. As you’re admiring the pictures, you notice a group of teenage girls across the street. They clearly recognize you and Liliana, excitedly pointing their phones in your direction.

“Hi y/n!” they call out enthusiastically, prompting you to wave and smile back at them. Liliana lifts her small hand, joining in the wave, which elicits delighted squeals from the girls. Just then, Drew returns with the water. “Who are you waving at-” he begins to ask before he sees the group.

You chuckle as smiles, and he waves back at the girls. Their squeals of excitement make both of you giggle. “Do you wanna go thrifting after this?” You say to Drew as you cut up a small piece of your pancakes and feed it to Liliana. “Yeah, why not,” He smiles, watching you and his niece interact, quickly snapping a pic of the two of you.

~

With Liliana snug against Drew in her baby carrier, you walked to your favorite vintage thrift store, occasionally stopping for photos with fans along the way. Inside, the elderly lady behind the counter greeted you warmly.

“Well, aren’t you an adorable family,” she smiled. “Oh, she’s-” you began, but Drew interjected with a gracious smile, “Thank you.” You exchanged a glance with Drew, both amused and touched by his charm. Turning back to the lady, you smile.

“Let me know if you guys need a hand with anything!” she called cheerfully as you and Drew looked around at the assortment of vintage items. “Will do, thanks,” you replied, your voice tinged with gratitude.

The day continued with shopping in Charleston—Drew spoiling Liliana as always—and a visit to the beach at sunset. The moment she was strapped into her capsule, she fell asleep and you made sure to snap a photo to send to Mackayla.

When you arrived home, Drew decided to let Liliana continue her sleep on his chest while you prepared dinner. The house was quiet and calm until the doorbell rang and your phone buzzed. You pouted at Drew, saddened that it was time for Liliana to go home. Drew chuckled softly, carefully rising from the couch with his niece still asleep against him.

“Hey,” you greeted as you opened the door to find Mackayla and Garrett standing there. “How was your guys’ day?” you asked, stepping aside to let them in. As you all settled on the couch, Mackayla began sharing the details of their day, and Liliana ended up resting on your chest as you listened.

“Did you guys want some dinner before you leave? I made a lot tonight,” you offered, hoping to extend Liliana’s visit. Drew chuckled, knowing you were making excuses to keep her longer, and Mackayla caught on too.

“Thanks for the offer, but we already ate,” Mackayla giggled as she stood up to retrieve her daughter. You turned away playfully, a mischievous grin spreading across your face while Drew struggled to contain his smile.

After a few moments of playful evasion, you finally gave in and handed Liliana back to her mother. “Promise you’ll come back soon!” you called out as Mackayla placed Liliana in her car seat.

“Promise!” Mackayla replied with a smile. Drew draped his arm around your shoulder, and you both waved as they drove away.

yourusername

Liked by madelyncline, mackayla_davila, drewstarkey, brooke_starkey and 4,974,028 others

Squishy 🥰

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madelyncline: CANT WAIT TO SEE HER AGAIN 😆

↘️ yourusername: me neither!!!

mackayla_davila: thinks it’s about time you have your own @/drewstarkey 🫢

↘️ yourusername: that’s what I’ve been saying :(

↘️ drewstarkey: 👀

↘️ user01: HELLO?! DREWS COMMENT??? WHATS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN

user02: we can all agree that y/n and Drew’s babies would be hella cute 🥹

user03: can’t get enough of Drew and his niece!!

user04: they’re so cute it acc hurts 😭

~

drewstarkey

Liked by yourusername, garrettdavilla, odessazion, jonathandavissofficial and 6,048,272 others

@/yourusername would be a great mom.

view all comments

yourusername: so make me one 😢

↘️ drewstarkey: yes ma’am

↘️ yourusername: come upstairs then!!

↘️ jonathandavissofficial: oh?

↘️ user01: I CAN’T WITH THIS

↘️ user02: YES MA’AM?! R U KIDDING ME

odessazion: ya’ll are cute

user03: how does it feel to live my dream @/yourusername???

user04: living for the Y/n x Drew x Liliana content 🥰

user05: SHES SO CUTE!

~

[fingertipsmp3]

I’m not sure if I’m actually in a reading slump or if it’s just that every single book I’m currently reading is a lot

[rangerbarbz]

Mail Call

Here is my first Stan fluff because my mans deserves some love. Let me know what y'all think and thank you so much for all the support. I love you forever babes <3 (I didn't look over this so i apologize if there's any grammatical errors or typos)

“Mail Call”

You worked for the Post Office at Gravity Falls, Oregon, and you absolutely loved it. It was a relatively easy gig that had great benefits. Plus, you got to meet some “interesting” people to say the least. One of those people was the owner of the Mystery Shack himself, Stan Pines. 

You delivered mail to the Mystery Shack every day but Sunday, so you saw him quite a bit. The first time you met him, he happened to be outside with a young boy and girl who you assumed were his grandchildren. You parked your mail truck beside the mail box and reached behind you for a package addressed to 618 Gopher Road. 

Your presence caught the attention of the young girl who began running over to you. The older man was right behind her with an unhappy expression on his face. “Good afternoon! Is this for you, sweetie?” you asked the girl. She was beaming at you with a glimmer in her eyes. 

“Yup! Thank you mail lady!” She snatched the package excitedly from you and started to turn around, but was blocked by the older man who now had his arms crossed. 

“What is that and how did you pay for it?” he asked, scrunching his eyebrows together. You were surprised by the depth and raspiness of his voice. It was quite attractive, if you were being honest. 

“It’s pig shaped cookie cutters for my new baking show I’m filming with Waddles, and I paid for it with your credit card. Okay, bye!” she said all in one breath. Before he could even respond, she was bolting around him to get inside the house. The man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Is she your granddaughter?” you asked. He looked at you like he had forgotten you had been standing there. 

“Ah no. Mabel’s actually my grand niece” He chuckled. “Good kid when she’s not spending my money.” 

You laughed and glanced up at the broken sign above you two. “I’ve actually never been here before. You work here?” 

He scoffed. “Work here? I own this place, toots. I’m Mister Mystery himself.” He was grinning from ear to ear. You held your hands up in defense.

“Oh, I didn’t realize I was in the presence of a celebrity,” you replied jokingly. He laughed in return.

“Name’s Stan Pines.” He held out his hand towards you. You smiled and reached out towards him. The size difference between you two was made even more obvious when you wrapped your hand around his to shake it. You introduced yourself to him, but he raised an eyebrow and leaned in closer to you. You realized that he had not heard you and repeated yourself. 

“Huh. Pretty name,” Stan said, releasing his gentle grip. You let your hand fall to your side and began to play with a stray thread from the seaming of your work pants. Was he making you nervous?

“Thank you, Stan. Yours too.” He laughed once again and gazed down at his shoes. You suddenly heard a fire alarm blaring from an open window followed by black smoke.

Stan groaned. “I better go see what the hell that kid’s doing. I, uh. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” His eyes crinkled as he smiled. “Hopefully with no more packages that is.”

You giggled. “I cannot guarantee any more packages, but I will 100% be seeing you tomorrow.” 

He winked at you. “I’ll be looking forward to it.” You felt your cheeks grow hot as you gave him a little wave goodbye and entered your mail truck. He was giving you a toothy grin and waving back at you. What you didn’t see was him wiping the sweat from his brow and palms. Very few people made Stan Pines nervous, and you had become one of them. 

The next few weeks, you continued flirting back and forth with each other. It became the highlight of your day when you stopped at his mailbox to already see him standing there. He always asked you how your day was before telling you some outrageous story. Some days it was about a kooky visitor at the Mystery Shack while others it was You enjoyed listening to his gravelly voice and watching his borderline theatrical gestures as he spoke. 

He was undeniably sexy for a man his age. His glasses accentuated his strong jaw, and his thick ashy hair was to die for. You also found his blunt personality and his confidence to be alluring. You only ever saw him in his Mr. Mystery suit, but you weren’t complaining. It helped show off those muscles from his boxing days, and he always looked so sophisticated.

One day when you drove your usual route around Gravity Falls and stopped at the shack, he wasn’t there. You frowned and looked around to see if maybe he was walking up to you. Alas, you couldn’t find him. You put his electric bill in his mailbox and left wondering where he could be. 

You eventually returned to the post office after tapping anxiously on your steering wheel the entire time driving back. You stepped out of your mail truck and walked into the office to begin sorting packages. 

The bell above the door jingled meaning someone had walked in. “Hello, welcome to the Gravity Falls Post- Stan?” You had turned around to see him standing sheepishly in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts. He was missing his fez and you got to see his thick gray hair. In his hands, he was holding an envelope decorated with shiny, brightly-colored stickers.

A slight blush started to spread across his face. “Hey, Doll. Sorry I didn’t see ya earlier today. I was working on this letter.” His eyes wouldn’t meet you. This wasn’t the suave man you usually spoke to. 

You grinned. “Stanley, you know you could’ve just put that in the mailbox, and then I would’ve come to get it, right?” He snorted and shook his head.

“Yes, smartass, I am aware.” He approached the counter that you were standing behind. “I came here because this letter is for you.” You could feel your face heat up as he handed you the sparkly envelope still not looking at you. 

“You… You wrote me a letter? Why?” you asked, running your fingers over the pink letters that spelled your name. Stan then turned his head to you and shoved his hands in his pockets. 

“Look, I, uh,” he paused, “I like you. Our talks make me… happy. And… Oh just read the damn letter! That’s why I wrote it anyway. I’m no good at these things.” He crossed arms in frustration. He scoffed. “If you don’t feel the same, that's fine. I mean who would? Especially-”

“Stan!” you interjected. His eyes met yours. You gave him a reassuring smile. “I like you, too. Like a lot. Between the looks and personality, it was impossible not to fall.” You couldn’t believe you just said that last part out loud. Hopefully you didn’t scare him off. 

Stan gave you a toothy smile and rubbed the back of his neck. His face was beet red. Frankly, it was very satisfying to see him so flustered. “Well, thank you, Doll. You’re a babe, too. Inside and out.” 

You giggled at his strange way of complimenting you. “Thank you, Stan. You’re a sweetheart. I can’t wait to read this letter on company time.” 

Stan laughed. “That’s my girl,” he said as he began walking out the door. He opened it and before he left he said, “You should come over after your shift is done. I know Mabel is dying to hear what you thought of her handiwork there.” 

“I’ll be there.” 

“Good. I’ll see you then, Doll.” He gave you a slight wave and shut the door behind him. You could hear the sound of him yelling “YES!” from the other side. As soon as he peeled off in his Diablo, you carefully opened the envelope to reveal a piece of notebook paper with just as many stickers. It said in the same pink ink your name was written:

Dear Y/N,

I hope you don’t think I’m some dork for writing you a letter instead of telling you face to face how I feel about you. I’m a little rusty in the romance department. I wanted to tell you that I always look forward to our talks. I never thought I would crush on someone who delivers me bills and tax forms. What are the odds?

You make me feel young again. I like how you cut up with me and how you don’t treat me like some old man. I like how kind you are to the kids and how you make my pacemaker work extra hard. I really hope you will come around more often. I also wanted to invite you on a date this Saturday night out of town. I’ll pick you up. You do enough driving. Plus, only tools don’t pick up their date. 

Love, 

Stanley Pines

P.S. I think you’re cute in your work uniform despite what you think. 

[angelicsoka]

BEAUTIFUL THINGS, l. hughes

pairings | luke hughes x fem!actress!reader, platonic!quinn hughes x reader, platonic!jack hughes x reader

summary | in which luke and his girlfriend announce to the world the secret they’ve been keeping

warnings | not proofread. no use of “y/n”, use of the name “winona” change if need be :). lowercase intended. this is a work of fiction, i am by no means saying this is how they act in real life.

a/n | i’ve had no motivation to write as of late but this won the vote so i figured i’d post it! the quinn fic should be up in the next few weeks (hopefully). i feel like this sucks ass but i wanted to post it. ive never posted a social media fic on here so this was very different for me

liked by jackhughes, _quinnhughes, and 3,223,034 others

yourusername i want you, i need you, oh god, don't take these beautiful things that i've got <3

1.9.23

welcome to the world, miss winona ellen hughes 🌷

tagged lhughes_06

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user1 oh. my. god

user77 i think i might explode

_quinnhughes my favorite niece!!

yourusername your only niece... _quinnhughes

_quinnhughes 🤫🤫 yourusername

jackhughes WINNIE!!!

jackhughes proud to hold the title of favorite uncle 😎

_quinnhughes i beg to differ

jackhughes kys

lhughes_06 i hate both of you

yourusername hey! be nice! plus i’m pretty sure nicohischier holds the title currently.

nicohischier suck on that jackhughes _quinnhughes

_quinnhughes he’s not even a blood relative?!

jackhughes i can’t anymore

nicohischier she’s so cute! you need to bring her around more :)

yourusername definitely! she loves you and the team

elblue6 my sweet granddaughter ❤️ can’t wait to see her again!

yourusername we can’t wait to see you both either <33 soon i promise!

liked by yourusername, edwards.73, and 2,559,162 others

lhughes_06 my daughter winnie, sending the internet into absolute chaos even as a baby :)

tagged yourusername

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user2 a sad day for luke girlies all around the world 😔

user1 bro if you actually cared you would be happy for him! it’s not a “sad day” whatsoever!!

edwards.73 bro her caption is so cute and then there’s yours.

lhughes_06 hey! it’s true!

yourusername it’s a good thing i love him 😔

yourusername i love you lu <3

lhughes_06 i love you mamas, and our beautiful lil winnie

edwards.73 congrats to both of you!

yourusername thank you eddy !!

jackhughes bro she’s too little to be sharing feet pics

comment deleted by lhughes_06

jackhughes i liked yourusername’s caption better

lhughes_06 i’ll revoke your godfather rights

yourusername don’t listen to him he’s all bark no bite

_quinnhughes bring her to vancouver please i have a gift for her.

lhughes_06 only hughes 43 jersey she will be wearing is a devils

yourusername luke quit being a baby! she can have both!

lhughes_06 -_-

rutgermcgroarty winnie has broke the internet i think

lhughes_06 that's my daughter!

rutgermcgroarty we expect no less from the daughter of a hughes brother

user100 my heart just shattered into a million pieces :(

user6 girl be so fr you never had a chance.

[shirefantasies]

hii! love your writings, I was wondering if you could do a reader x fellowship (plus eowyn and arwen) where reader is usually seen in armor and unkempt garments + dirty hair but then one day they show up (probably for an event) in beautiful fancy clothes, hair did and everything? Thanks!!!!

scREAMS I LOVE THIS YES. Warning: minor blood mention in two

LoTR Characters Seeing You Dressed Up For the First Time

Aragorn

Both of you had only borne witness to the other in times of battle and survival, not exactly the most formal of circumstances, but such had never even occurred to you until the night of celebration in Rohan. King Theoden invited you to the company of his family, offering his niece or nephew to take you to a bathhouse and present you with a new outfit. Aragorn turned your way the moment you stepped out, eyes positively glowing with reverent awe focused entirely on your form, your smile as your gazes met. He said nothing, simply drew closer until you could feel his warmth upon you. "The people of Rohan have been good to us," he said. "Yes," you agreed with a nod, "I wish we can give as much back. But perhaps we should start by enjoying their hospitality, hm?” “Indeed. Let us keep this night for ourselves. I fear if I stray too far, though, I may get lost in you.” “Don’t worry,” you whispered, lips quirking upward as you pulled Aragorn into the fray of dancers, “I’ll be here to pull you back, too.”

Legolas

Legolas managed to seem dressed up in nearly anything he wore, a feat you certainly envied! Your travels left you feeling like a drowned rat half the time or else just dirty and bedraggled. When the elves of Lothlórien offered you housing, bathing, even food and dancing for two nights, no had fled your vocabulary entirely. Taking their hands, you were swept off into a river of luxury, emerging clean and smiling and draped in the finest fabrics. An elf on either side, you made your way down to the lower flet upon which your hospitality lie, the way Legolas turned his head not once but twice unable to escape your notice. "What?" You teased, aware at least of his shock to see you clad so differently. "You didn't know what I looked like beneath my helmet?" "I didn't know you looked so nice beneath it," He conceded with a smile, stepping closer, "Perhaps we ought not to return it after this night."

Boromir

Had someone asked him, Boromir would never have said he wanted someone with blood under their nails and sword in hand. That was him, that was his job. And yet he felt something different when he clapped a hand to your shoulder after you saved him in combat. When you emerged at the party dressed up, though? His heart swelled five sizes. He should have known- you could do anything. “Putting everyone to shame here, aren’t we?” “What do you mean?” You asked, gaze flitting deliciously down to the hand Boromir laud upon your shoulder, all but challenging him. Accepting it, he rested the other on your hip, urging you out into a dance. “Looking better than them in both mail and finery.” “I suppose I’m just lucky.” “No, I am,” Boromir shot back, “For I am the one who gets to have you in my arms.”

Gimli

To use Gimli's words, around each other you two tend to remain "fully armed and filthy". It is Lord Elrond, of course, who offers an alternative state upon your entry to his homely-house, granting you the reprieve of your first bath in far too many days and even a new outfit. Elvish craftsmanship was like nothing else, delicately embroidered and soft and light unlike anything that has ever graced your skin. Reactions were something you hadn’t considered in the slightest, but as soon as you emerged you found yourself giggling at Gimli’s parted lips and removal of his helmet as if in some reverence you had not earned. “Now this,” he nodded with a smile of approval as he swept an arm over your entire form, “This is the one thing the elves have gotten right.”

Frodo

The tailors’ shop was busy this morning. Bilbo needed a new set of threads to replace some tugged-off buttons, but every working hobbit was rushing around before Frodo could even ask if they had a spool of forest green to spare. What were they- “Frodo!” He would recognize that voice anywhere. Turning, he caught sight of you in the middle of a fitting, the tailors having been flitting about your form as they worked on quite a fine outfit for you. “What do you think?” Spinning around and then striking a joking pose, you fixed him right in the eyes, and it was like an arrow struck him, taking the very breath from his lungs. Finally Frodo’s sense and words returned to him, bringing a smile to his lips. “It’s perfect.”

Sam

You had worked with Sam plenty of times in the gardens, so he had seen you countless times in things like overalls or pinafores or aprons and thought you looked fit for any king and castle. But then came Fatty Bolger’s birthday party, a bash all his friends were invited to…and plenty of other hobbits would find themselves at anyway. One such was you, and knowing you’d be dancing you got cleaned up quite nice, standing at the edges of the lantern-hung floor hoping you might be noticed. And noticed you were, for you caught Samwise Gamgee as he controlled his gaping expression and shook his head out before he approached you, asking if you’d honor him with a dance.

Merry

Gimli was teasing you as Merry entered the room, feeling his heart shoot into his throat at a mere glimpse. He caught a few spare words from the dwarf, including him asking you if you had someone you’d like to impress. “Hush,” you chastised him, “What if he hears you?” At that, Merry couldn’t resist stepping forward. “I don’t know who you’re trying to impress,” he told you, eyes full of wonder, “But he’s an absolute fool if it doesn’t work.” “You really think so?” Your tone, your hopeful look, those beautiful eyes Merry could drown in. “I know so.” “Well,” you glanced away, “That’s good. Very good, since it was you.”

Pippin

Tired and bedraggled, you all but fell into the arms of the elves of Lothlórien, blissfully bathing and shyly accepting the fine garb they offered you. Tugging it into place, you emerged through the doorway, unaware the rest of your fellowship waited beyond the threshold. Soon as his eyes fell upon you, Pippin's jaw dropped, his lips slowly curling upward into a wide smile that had you mirroring it, gaze dropping from his. “Wow," Pippin breathed as you drew closer still, hands hovering in front of him in the space between your bodies, "You- you look- Wow. They’ve certainly given you a fine…wow.”

Faramir

On the battlefield you had fought side by side, faces obscured by steel and focus. Soldiers from two armies melded as one. Yet here you were simply citizens, representatives of your people. Diplomats even on the dance floor. All thoughts of such relations fled from Faramir’s mind, though, as your form filled his vision. “Never did I think I would be granted such a moment as this,” he confessed as you took his hand and gripped about his neck, body swaying against his.

Eomer

Theoden, Rohan's king, was giving a celebration all were to attend. Something of a victory revel, but you must confess that you just looked forward to the dancing. Stuffy as it may have been, it was also quite fun donning a nice outfit, your reflection beaming back at you. The expression carried on all the way into the great hall, shining into the hanging lights. You caught sight of a head turning the moment you emerged. A golden head. Eomer. With a wave, he dismissed the man he spoke to- a fellow soldier, you presumed- and strode before you. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" "To the same thing everyone else does, I suppose," you teased in response, "This revel." "Well, remind me to thank my uncle later," Eomer replied with a wide smile, extending a hand in a clear invitation to dance as his eyes traveled up and down over your form, "Shall we?"

Eowyn

She had worn a smile of surprise when you even removed your helmet for the first time in her presence, let alone donning your finest. When it came time for a celebration with her people, a far different garb hung from your body, all in gorgeous fabrics and colors perfectly complimenting your own hues. As soon as you stepped into the light of Rohan's hall, Eowyn positively grinned, her eyes of soft blue alight. Taking up a cup from the table by which she stood, she crossed over to stand before you and offer you a drink, which you accepted. "The garb of Rohan suits you perfectly," she complimented, "Do you plan on dancing?" It was worth seeing the progression of shock and speechlessness melting back into a grin when you extended a hand and replied, "If you will have me."

Haldir

Working side by side meant seeing each other in some of the worst moments, sleeves slashed and blood seeping from wounds. Armor caked with dirt and quivering devoid of arrows. Body carried to healers with reddening bandages hastily tied around limbs. And yet this, this is what shocks him. Haldir’s breath is utterly stolen, not of concern or fear this time, but in the manner of one first seeing the falling stars. “Stay still,” he breathes, almost pleading, “Let me take you in for a moment.”

Galadriel

You were a warrior by profession. In a way, at least. One such that mail was your garb far more often than any dress or robe. Thus, when you made to visit the elves of Lothlórien, you were shocked to see the fine things they'd lain out for you, pulled gently onto your body as if you deserved servants. In fact you had tried to protest, but they had simply smiled and shook their heads as fine jewels were hung about your neck. That you had earned an audience with the Lady Galadriel, was a testament to your service you would not soon take for granted. Thus, as you stood before them, you made first to lower yourself in reverence. Before you could fully adopt your posture, though, you felt the grip of a soft hand beneath your chin gently pulling you back up. Soon you were raised to meet Galadriel's eyes. "You need not bow to me. I confess I wished very much to see you like this. Come with me, if you please."

Elrond

Some might say the Lord of Rivendell should not look upon a soldier such as he did. Some of those same voices might have spoken up of the love of man and elf that had brought forth his ancestors. Not that he would not have understood. Yet as it was every time you removed your helmet something stirred in Elrond that had not done so for some years. And then one night came the celebration, a festival to which all in his counsel were invited, you included. It was that very night, in fact, that he realized how little he had seen of you outside the patrols you took together, and the same in which he would confess to you how he felt beneath the moonlight, finally spilling forth every word of your beauty you deserved.

Arwen

Had you asked her, she would have thought not at all of your dress. Your heart was what she loved, the way you cared and the way you smiled whenever you looked upon someone dear to you. Yet the day of her birthday, you draped yourself in your very finest, emerging in the view of an Arwen who could not bear tearing her eyes off of you. Grinning her beautiful grin, the elf took your hand and immediately twirled you, viewing you from every angle with her expression never faltering. “You look amazing,” she told you, "For a moment, I thought I was dreaming."

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[masonmontz]

heyy, how are you? :) so, since it's father's day here in brazil, i decided to do something cute for this special day

REMEMBER: english is not my first language

fluff word count: 2k

this is a bonus of pinky promise with mason and olivia, you can read it separately if you want.

✦‎۟    ࣭   ⊹

“But am I your favorite? You need to tell me.” Olivia asked Mason. You were working and they were watching Barbie and the Three Musketeers for the second time, as Olivia had become obsessed with the movie, but now she started to get bored and started asking Mason random questions.

“Yes, you are my favorite, you know that.” Mason was paying attention to the movie, unlike Olivia. 

“But you have other nieces, you swear to me that I am your favorite?” She stood up from the mattress they had placed on the living room floor, then looked at Mason with her hands on her hips and a serious expression on her face.

“I swear to you, pumpkin.” You smiled to yourself watching the two interact.

It had been three months since you and Mason had been together, and just like his promise, you were happy, but most importantly, Olivia was happy, and that was enough. It took you a while to tell her that you were dating Uncle Mason, but trips to Manchester were frequent or Mason would show up in London and sleep at your house even if he has to leave the next morning.

“Don't be jealous, Summer is your friend and Mason is her uncle.” You said, still paying attention to the computer in front of you. Olivia left Mason and went to you, holding your neck in a hug while he was still watching the movie. 

“I know, mum, but I like Mase and I want him to like me too.” She whispered, so you laughed.

“He loves you, Olivia, you know that.” You squeezed her cheek, leaving a kiss on her nose, which was a little red from the cold. Ever since you and Mason told her you were together, she stopped calling him "Uncle Masey", just because she understood that he was now her stepfather, but Mason said he had no problem being called Uncle Mason, because he was already used to it. “Go put on a coat, you're freezing.” 

You traveled to Manchester and would spend the weekend with Mason, also taking advantage of the fact that the game on Sunday would be at Old Trafford and you would be able to see Mason play. Olivia loved the days you guys traveled as she would spend time away from home and get to know new places with you. 

Not to mention the fact that Mason decorated a room for her, exactly the way she wanted. You didn't know it, but Mason and Olivia had already talked about the decoration and when you arrived one weekend, you found a decorated room. Olivia almost cried when she saw the room the way she asked. 

The room was white with pink details, butterfly drawings on the wall and a huge bed just like Olivia always asked for. Mason even put a desk for her to study and a small bookshelf with some interesting books for children. It was much better than her room in your apartment in London, and that's why it was always hard to go home when she had so many comforts in Manchester. 

Mason spoils her too much, and she is getting used to this life very easily.

“Mum, can you help me take a shower?” Olivia asked quietly, so you agreed and closed your computer, walking her upstairs to help her bathe. Olivia is an independent child, but sometimes lazy and most of the time she would ask you to help her so she wouldn't have to do everything alone. Plus, the bathroom in Mason's house is different, so she can never get the water to the temperature she wants.

“Have you and Mason picked out dinner yet?” You asked as you helped her take off the coats she was wearing. Even with the house being heated, Olivia liked to stay warm. 

“Mase said we can order pizza.” She walked past you and stepped into the hot, running water of the shower. You grabbed her shampoo that Mason had bought just for her to use, as well as her favorite strawberry soap.

Mason has always been attentive to Olivia, he never stopped listening to what she likes, what she says, and she always felt comfortable sharing everything with him, just because Mason made her feel comfortable.

“That's a good idea. Here, shampoo your hair, do you want some help?”

“No.” Olivia was thoughtful, but the day was tiring for her, as she had fun before deciding to watch a movie with Mason. “Mum, can I ask you something?” 

“Of course, honey.” 

“Can I call Mason dad?” 

You froze. You didn't expect that question coming from her, in fact, you never thought she liked Mason so much that she wanted to call him dad. You had only been together for three months, who would have guaranteed that you would be together forever? 

“What?” 

“He's your boyfriend now, mum, and I love Mason so much, I also wish I had a dad like my friends in school.” 

“Babe… I don’t know, Olivia. We have to ask him about this, and what if he doesn't want to? You'll be sad about that.” You rubbed Olivia's hair as she played with the water that was falling on her. 

“Oh, yes, but what if he wants me to call him dad?” She looked at you with teary eyes, and you were touched to realize that she really wanted Mason's presence in her life.

You always thought you could fill her lack of a father, but realizing now, Mason was always there for her, just like Robert. 

“Oh, babe, why did you never tell me anything about this?” You knelt down and didn't care about getting your clothes wet. Olivia came up to you with her hair full of foam, and she placed her hands on your face.

“I don't want you to think I'm sad. You're the best mommy in the world, but Mase would be a cool daddy too.” It would be a lie to say you didn't want to cry about it.

“We'll ask him then.”

✦‎۟    ࣭   ⊹

“Mase, can you get me some juice? I'm thirsty.” Olivia asked Mason, who was walking to the kitchen to set the table for you guys to have dinner, and she was lying on the mattress on the living room floor again, watching Pinocchio.

“Olivia, go get it yourself.” You scolded her, knowing that Mason does whatever she wants. You were walking down the stairs after taking a hot shower, and Mason had already ordered the pizza for you. 

“I'll get it.” Mason said and walked to the kitchen, so you followed him and watched as he poured the grape juice into a glass for Olivia and took it to her. He quickly returned with the empty glass.

“You can't do everything she asks, Mason. She's taking advantage of you because you can't say “no” to her.” You were serious and Mason looked at you, shrugging.

“She just wanted some juice, love.” Mason came closer, grabbing your waist and pulling you against him. He was wearing a hoodie, just like you, and he was so warm that you just wanted to lay down next to him and sleep in the warmth.

“Yeah, juice, shampoo, bedroom, toys, shoes, clothes…” 

“Guilty.” Mason laughed and you wrapped your arms around his neck, lifting your head and kissing his lips. You sighed as he deepened the kiss, and it felt so good to kiss him that you could spend hours like this, just being around him. “Hmm, I love you.” 

“I love you too.” You spoke and the doorbell rang, so the two of you went to the living room while Mason went to get the pizza. Olivia stood up and held your hands, walking with you to the kitchen.

“May I ask?” She spoke quietly, knowing Mason was behind the two of you, so you nodded, giving her a smile and encouraging her. 

Mason placed the pizza on the table, oblivious to Olivia's nervousness, which was now transparent. She was fidgeting with her hair and kneeling on one of the chairs, and you knew she fidgeted when she was nervous. Mason served you slices of pizza while the two of you chatted randomly, and Olivia still hadn't said anything. 

“I left it reserved for you tomorrow at the game, you can stay close to Anouska, she's going with the kids there.” 

You agreed, but Olivia was still nervous and wasn't eating, you were sitting next to her, so you placed your hand over hers, reassuring your little girl.

“Mase, Olivia wants to ask you something.” You spoke for her, and Mason nodded and finished chewing before looking at the two of you, paying attention to what Olivia wanted to say.

“Mom, I got nervous.” She said shyly and you smiled, running your hands over her back and rubbing. Mason had a smile on his face even though he didn't know what it was. “Mase… Hm… I want to know if- hm… I want to know if I can call you dad.” 

You could see the shock cross Mason's face, because he clearly wasn't expecting this. Olivia also looked at him as he didn't look away from her for a second.

“What?” That's what he managed to say, swallowing hard. 

“Only if you want to.” Olivia spoke softly, and you could tell that Mason's delay in responding made her feel insecure, and she snuggled closer to you. You looked at Mason with a small smile, knowing that it was a lot of information for someone.

“For real? You want to call me dad?” Mason asked and Olivia nodded, and you could completely see it as his eyes filled with tears and he put his hands over his eyes, trying to stop his emotion.

“I want to.” She smiled. Mason got out of his seat and walked over to her, kneeling down beside her on the floor and pulling her against him, hugging her. Olivia wrapped her arms around his neck and it was probably the most beautiful scene you had ever seen between them. 

Mason had his eyes closed as he hugged her, but a huge smile on his face as you saw a tear run down his face. That's when you felt like you were crying too, because a tear fell down your leg.

“Only if I can call you my daughter too.” He whispered, but you heard. Olivia let out a loud laugh of happiness, and you felt your heart explode with so much love and happiness as you finally felt complete.

“Yes, yes.” She cheered and you smiled, then Mason let go of her and wiped his own eyes, looking at you next. She jumped into Mason's arms, ignoring the pizza she wanted so badly, and looked at you. You stood up and walked over to the two of them, so Mason wrapped an arm around your neck while holding Olivia in the other arm. “We are a family now.”

“After seven years.” Mason mumbled and you smiled, leaning in and leaving a kiss on his lips. Olivia smiled and left a kiss on Mason's cheek and yours. “Can you believe it? I have a daughter now.”

“It's a big responsibility, you know.” Mason rolled his eyes and you smiled.

“Thank you for this, really. I couldn't ask for anything better.” He spoke to you, then to Olivia and smiled at her. “I love you both, my girls.”

“I love you too, dad.” Mason's eyes filled with tears again when Olivia spoke, but he held back from letting them fall. “Mum, we need to move to Manchester, families live in the same house.”

“Hey, easy girl. One thing at a time.” 

“She’s right. She can't live in London while her father lives in Manchester.” 

“Calm down too, that's a topic for another time.”

“Yes, now I want pizza.” Olivia spoke and you smiled, then Mason placed her in the chair again and looked at you gratefully.

Maybe it would take you a while to move, or maybe not. No one knows what might happen the next day, but you hope things will work out forever.

yourusername

liked by masonmount, declanrice, yourfriend and 359 others

yourusername It's been a great few months 🤍

↳ masonmount Love you so much, my girls! ❤️

↳ debbiemount I miss you, great pictures ❤️😀

↳ jazbenham Can't wait to see you again, the girls miss you and Olivia 🥰

[lovexjoe]

PENPALS Part 5

Mike wakes up along with Dorn and Kelly. Everyone completely confused on why Marcus was this fired up at 8 in the morning. He tosses the Polaroids on Mike’s lap and he picks up the naughty one first. How convenient.

“Goddamn she got a body-“ Mike brings it close

“Look at the rest of the photos Mike!”

“Wh-Oh! OHH SHIT! Lord forgive me for saying that about my niece.” Mike puts his hands up in the air for a mock apology cause he ain’t mean that shit at all.

“Your SON! Is fucking my DAUGHTER MIKE. OH MY GOD! And they SLEPT IN THE SAME ROOM LAST NIGHT. They was fucking Mike they was doing the nasty” Marcus was pacing the room while Dorn and Kelly just stood there wide eyed trying to process everything.

“Marcus she’s a grown adult now-“

“That’s not the point Mike! She was in school when they met….how the fuck you think he got those pictures?”

Mike couldn’t even save you on that one cause what were you doing being penpals with a prisoner? You were truly in deep shit. Marcus headed straight to the guest room and busted the door open to see you two snuggled up.

“WAKE THE FUCK UP!”

Your eyes shot open and so did Armando’s. You both looked at each other than at your dad. Oh goody. Wonderful way to wake up after getting the best sex of your life last night.

“Hiii dad,” you gave an innocent smile

“Oh no you got some explaining to do now before I kill this motherfucker get dressed and be in the living room in FIVE MINUTES.” Your dad, Dorn and Kelly headed to the living room while Mike stood back for a little bit.

“Happy for y’all but you missy you in some shit alright. Good luck. AND Y’ALL BETTER BE ASHAMED OF YA SELVES.” He acts as if he’s scolding you guys on the way back to the living room.

“Why did you have to get the chill parent” you groaned as Armando laughs.

“You really are in some shit but I’m here for you.” He kisses your hand.

You both got ready and headed to the living room for the inevitable.

Your dad motioned you to sit on the couch while everyone stood around you. Armando sat next to you and held your hand and Marcus looked like he was gonna throw up.

“Now how the fuck did this motherfucker get these” he waved the Polaroids around.

Aw fuck. I thought he just found out we fucked not that we met prior.

“I-“

“You wasn’t busy study bones and shit?! I don’t get it do you just like trouble?! I thought your frontal lobe developed already!”

“CAN YOU LET ME TALK?!”

The room went silent.

“It happened. I was bored and I just did it okay? I’m sorry but I love him. I understand I could have met someone completely different and dangerous but I met Armando. I regret nothing. Plus you ain’t say shit when Mike kissed me before I left for college”

“HE WHAT?!” Marcus and Armando was ready to fight.

Uh oh …..

Taglist: @yeahnohoneybye @cardi-bre91 @onlysarang @romanreignsluver1 @minwn

@armandosbabymama @dyttomori @bbyplutosblog @vergilnelosparda @believeinthefireflies95

@ebsmind @hopetookourvibe @omg-mymelaninisbeautiful @poppetbaby02 @bitchyglittersuit @marley1773

@jacobscipioswoman @sunrisesfromthewest

@midnightheat @ky44

[justmystyles]

Baby-Baby-Baby

read my other work here!

pairing: Harry Styles x plus size reader

*i say it's a plus size reader, but it is not something that i focus on explicitly in my fics, because your size should not define you. it will only come up if it comes into the story organically.*

word count: 2,993

summary: Harry meets his niece for the first time, the joy and excitement are quickly replaced with a whole new set of feelings when his best friend, Y/N joins him at the hospital.

a/n: throwing my hat in the unclerry ring with this big ball of fluff. i actually just thought of a new series idea that this would have fit so perfectly with, but i'm nowhere near ready to start releasing that, so here's a little bestierry fluff instead!

tags: @abby8694 @allthelovehes @ameerakane20 @ash-craze @bethanysnow @blue-ballad @blueraspberryreader @brightlightsinlife @creativelyeva @cute-as-ducks420 @deannaard @fanficismydrug @gem1712 @golden-hoax @gothmingguk @groovychaosavenue @hillzrry @iceebabies @indierockgirrl @jerseygirlinca @jng4kook @jooniesbabie @kaverichauhan @laurxn-robinson @lexiecamposv @likeapplejuicenpeach @lilfreakjez @mrs-anna-styles211994 @n0vaj3an @potterheadandsherlocked @rach2699 @ravenclawdirectioner @stylesfeverr @superchrystaldrug @tenaciousperfectionunknown @tiaamberxx @thechaoticjoy @theekyliepage @walkingintheheartbreaksatellite @youknowwhaaat

The sound of her phone ringing breaks Y/N from her deep, peaceful slumber. With an annoyed grumble, she blindly slaps her hand around until she finds it and answers it with a grunt. 

“It’s happening Y/N, it’s happening!” 

As she slowly starts to come to, she rubs the sleep from her eyes and sits up. “Harry? Wh-what’s happening?” She responds groggily. 

“Gem! She’s having the baby! She’s at the hospital right now!” He shouts, causing her to furrow her brow and pull the phone away from her ear slightly. 

“Okay, Harry, deep breaths, calm down.” She says trying to talk him down. “Are you going to the hospital?”

“Not yet, mum’s there with her and Michal now. They’re going to let me know when she’s here and then I’m going to go.” 

She could hear the anxiety in his voice, she could see it clearly in her mind, Harry pacing back and forth in his living room, likely with a glass of wine in his hand. “And what are you doing until you get that call?” She says knowingly. 

Harry notices her tone and knows exactly why she’s asking. “You know, just taking it easy.”

“Liar.” 

Harry sighs and rolls his eyes. “Well what do you want me to do? My big sister is having a baby! I’m going to be an uncle!” 

“I’m coming over.” She replies as she slides out of bed and starts grabbing some clothes to change into. 

“You don’t have to…”

“Yes I do,” she interrupts. “If I don’t, I’m just going to get a bunch of stream of consciousness texts and phone calls from you while you sit alone freaking out. I may as well just get them in person.” 

“I don’t need a babysitter.” Harry says. She can hear his pout from the other end of the phone.

“I’ll be there in thirty minutes.” 

There’s a brief silence on the other end of the phone. He definitely wanted her to come over, he didn’t want to wait alone, he just felt bad dragging her out of bed and demanding her time. “Thanks, Y/N.”

She smiles softly at his appreciative tone. “Of course.” She hangs up the phone and gets dressed. 

Thirty minutes later, Y/N was standing at Harry’s front door knocking gently. When he answers, he’s noticeably frazzled. 

“Hey, Uncle Harry.” She says cheerily.

In that moment, Harry’s nerves and anxiety drift away and the corners of his mouth turn up into a wide, dimpled grin. He takes her hand and leads her into the house. “Wine?” 

“Half a glass.” She says as he leads her to the kitchen. She takes a seat at the kitchen island as he pours her some wine, and a little more for himself. She arches a brow at him. 

“It’s only my second, and I’m only having it so you aren’t drinking alone.” He says defensively. 

“Fine, we have one now to pre-celebrate, and another when you get back from the hospital.” She holds up her glass. “To Gemma and Michal.” 

“Mhm,” Harry hums in agreement, clinking his glass to hers and taking a sip. “Wait, what do you mean when I get back from the hospital?” 

She looks at him like he’s crazy. “Isn’t that what this is all about? You’re waiting to get the call so you can go meet your niece.” 

“Yeah, no I get that, but you said when I get back, not when we get back.” He arches a brow. 

“Because we’re not going. You are. I’ll just wait for you here, or go home and sleep…” 

“What do you mean go home? You’re coming!” 

“Harry, this is a family thing, your sister will have just gone through labor. This isn’t some party I can just tag along to.” 

“Don’t be an idiot!” Harry laughs and shoves her playfully. “You’re practically family, you know Gemma loves you.” 

Y/N rolls her eyes and shakes her head as she takes a sip of her wine. “So, should we narrow down what baby gift you’re bringing to the hospital? I know you have a room full of toys and outfits for her.” She expertly changes the subject. 

“Probably just one of the stuffies, she’ll only be in the hospital for a few days, I can bring everything else to the house when she gets home.”

She chuckles at his answer. “God, you’re already spoiling the hell out of this kid.” 

“You’d better believe it!” 

The two of them continue to chit chat and laugh, passing the time and successfully keeping Harry distracted, and then his phone rang. Harry looks at the screen, his gaze flitting up to Y/N. “It’s mum…”

“Well answer it!” She insists. 

“Mum?” Harry answers the phone, Y/N watches Harry’s expression, his eyes quickly light up, a bright smile growing on his face as he gives her a thumbs up, indicating that everything went well. 

“That’s great! Yeah, okay.” He continues to respond to his mother on the other end of the phone. “Yeah, on my way.” He looks up at Y/N. “Oh, Y/N is here, do you think Gem would mind if she came too?” His proud brother smile is quickly replaced with a shit eating grin. “Great, we’ll see you soon. Love you too.” 

“She said it would be wonderful if you came. Now they’re expecting you, so you have no choice.” He says smugly, causing her to roll her eyes. 

***

They enter the maternity ward of the hospital, and walk down the hallway to Gemma’s room. When they arrive in front of the door, Harry pauses, his hand resting on the door handle.

“You ready to be an uncle?” Y/N says softly, placing her hand on his back. 

His smile widens and he nods his head, turning the handle and pushing the door open. The friends enter the room together, Harry going straight to his sister, while Y/N goes to greet his mother, Anne. 

“Congratulations, mum.” Harry says to his sister with a chuckle. 

Gemma laughs and hugs him tightly. “Thank you.” When they pull apart, Gemma nods to the bassinet beside her. “Say hello to your niece, I know she’s the reason you’re really here.” 

Harry looks down at the sweet little bundle before him, reaching down and running a finger over her small cheek. “She’s perfect,” he coos as his eyes travel over every feature, wanting to memorize everything about this moment. 

“You can pick her up, you know.” Gemma teases. 

Harry rolls his eyes and reaches down gently, lifting his niece into his arms for the first time. He takes a seat in a nearby chair and cradles her closely in his arms, whispering softly to her, promises of protection and love, and being spoiled rotten. 

As Y/N and Anne catch up, Y/N watches Harry out of the corner of her eye, for as long as they’ve been friends, any time she saw Harry with children, it would give her a warm fuzzy feeling. He was such a natural with them, but to see him with his niece was on an entirely different level.

Y/N was so focused on Harry that she didn’t notice the knowing glances shared by Gemma and Anne. The two of them had always noticed the chemistry between Harry and Y/N, they’d drop hints now and then, but ultimately wanted to leave it to the two of them to figure out for themselves. 

Eventually, Y/N pulls out her phone, knowing Harry is going to want a picture of this moment. She snaps a few candid shots, a warm smile spread across her face. 

“You should hold her too,” Gemma says, pulling Y/N from her impromptu photo shoot. 

She looks up and smiles at Gemma, walking up to her and giving her a hug. “Congrats, Gem. I’m sorry for tagging along, I’m sure you’re exhausted, the last thing you need is extra people tagging along.” 

“You’re not an extra person,” Gemma scoffs. “You’re practically family.”

“Told you so.” Harry says smugly from his seat, the baby still in his arms. 

“Oh shut up and hand her over.” She teases. 

Harry laughs quietly, not wanting to startle his niece. He stands from the chair and waits for Y/N to be seated before carefully placing the baby in her arms. 

Once she’s holding the baby, she looks down and smiles. “She’s so beautiful, Gemma.”

“Yeah, we’re pretty fond of her.” She chuckles in response. 

Y/N’s eyes stay locked on the soft features, her light eyelashes fluttering across her delicate cheeks. Her petite mouth opens in a wide yawn, and Y/N swears her heart is going to explode. 

“You are just the most precious little thing in the whole world, aren’t you?” She coos at the newborn. “Don’t worry, when your Uncle Harry gets too annoying, you can just come find me…”

“Heyyy!” Harry whines. Y/N looks up and sticks her tongue out at him, while Gemma and Anne laugh at the exchange. 

“You look like a natural holding her, Y/N.” Anne redirects the conversation. 

Y/N smiles up at her. “Thanks, I love kids. I’d love to have a couple of my own someday…”

Those words, combined with the sight of Y/N holding a baby cause a switch to flip inside of Harry. It’s as if his world of black and white suddenly turned to color right in front of him. In that moment, he thinks about what it would be like if she were sitting there with their baby in her arms. 

His mind starts racing with thoughts, sure during their years of friendship, there have been a couple of lingering glances and drunken kisses here and there, but they were friends. He’d never even considered going beyond that, not even with the not so subtle hints that his mother and sister would drop anytime Y/N’s name would come up in conversation. But now, it was all he could think about. 

After spending a bit more time at the hospital, it was clear that Gemma and the baby needed their rest, so Harry promised to come by again in a few hours, and the pair made their way back to Harry’s house. 

The car ride was surprisingly silent, Y/N was sure that Harry would be talking nonstop about meeting his niece, and how cute she was, rehashing every gurgle and squeak that came out of her tiny little mouth, but he kept his eyes on the road, looking as though he was deep in thought. She didn’t say anything, she figured he just needed some time to process everything that had happened, and she was happy to give him that. 

When they arrived back at his house, they go inside and hang up their coats. “Wine?” Y/N asks, hoping it will open the lines of communication between the two of them. 

Harry looks up,  hint of surprise on his face, as if he forgot that she was there. “Hmm? Oh, yeah, wine would be good.” 

When they get to the kitchen, Y/N pours them each a glass, they clink them together and take a sip. 

“Oh, I got some really cute pictures of you holding her, by the way.” She pulls her phone out of her pocket and shows Harry the photos. “I’ll text them to you.”

“Thanks.” He says, a dreamy smile plastered on his face. Has Y/N always been this thoughtful? Of course she had, that’s one of the things he’d always loved about her. 

“Hey,” Y/N says softly, pulling him from his thoughts. “You okay? You’ve been quiet since we left the hospital.” 

Harry smiles nervously, waging an internal battle on whether or not to disclose what’s been going on in his mind. “Yeah… yeah, I’m good. It’s just been a big day.”

“I get it. I swear, if this is how you get just from becoming an uncle, you may go catatonic when you have your own kids.” She chuckles and continues to sip her glass of wine. 

Harry feels his heart rate pickup, and he decides that he needs to get it out, he needs to tell her. “You know, you looked pretty at home holding that baby…” He says, opening the door for this conversation, that could either end really well, or really poorly. 

“Yeah, I think I felt my ovaries stir a little while I was there.” She chuckles, completely unaware of the conversation to come. 

Harry lets out a soft laugh as he takes a sip of his wine, trying to play it cool, even though he felt anything but. “You know, I had this crazy thought when I saw you holding the baby…”

“Oh yeah? What kind of crazy thought?” 

Harry smiles softly and looks down at his feet, swirling the wine in his glass. “Well, the way you were holding her, the look on your face, you just bounding her in your arms so gently, her smiling up at you, her tiny hand grabbing your finger, it just got me thinking…” He looks up, locking eyes with her, searching for some kind of reaction. 

“Thinking what, Har?” She asked tentatively. 

Harry shrugs shyly. “I dunno… it got me thinking, what if that was our kid you were holding?”

Y/N’s eyes go wide in surprise. “Ours? Like yours and mine?”

Harry nods sheepishly, but there is an intensity in his gaze. “I know we’ve never talked about that before, but, I don’t know, I saw you holding her, and it seemed so natural… and that look on your face… it changed something in my heart, and I just realized that I want that.”

“With me? You want that with me… your best friend?” 

“Yeah,” he nods, his expression never wavering. “With you, but not as my best friend, as my wife.”

“Harry…” She gasps softly. “This is all kind of out of the blue…” 

Harry takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I know, I know, but can you honestly tell me that you’ve never thought about what it would be like if we were together?”

Y/N is silent for a moment as she considers his question. “I mean yeah, of course I’ve thought about it, you’re sweet, funny, good looking. I’d be crazy not to think about it every now and then. But I just always assumed I’d been friend zoned since day one.” 

“That’s fair… and honestly, I think you kind of were. I don’t know, something changed today. I realized that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He pauses for a moment, but continues when he sees that she’s still trying to process. 

“Think about it, we know each other better than anyone else. We’ve been there for each other through so many breakups, we know exactly what the other wants and expects in relationships. I know for a fact I’d be way better than most of those idiots you waste your time with.” 

She lets out a soft chuckle, he was definitely right about that. Y/N thought about it for a minute, and she was right, there had never been a more constant, supportive presence in her life. She considered all the things she wanted in a partner, and realized that Harry was all of those things. 

“You realize if we do this, there’s no going back. It’s all or nothing…”

“I don’t want to go back, only forward. Only with you.” Harry says confidently. 

Y/N takes a deep breath and nods. “Okay, yeah… let’s do it…”

Harry’s eyes light up, his expression mixed with relief and joy. “Yeah? Are you sure?” Y/N smiles shyly, biting the corner of her lip and nodding. 

He places his wine glass down on the counter and takes a step towards Y/N, taking her glass and putting that down as well. “So, I guess we should probably kiss now?” He asks softly, reaching up and brushing a strand of hair out of her face. 

“Seems like the next logical step…” She replies quietly. 

They both start leaning closer until their lips touch. The kiss is gentle at first, but Harry quickly runs his tongue along the seam of her lips, she parts them, granting him access. He places his hands on her hips, pulling her flush to him as they explore each other’s mouths. Unlike the drunken kisses they had shared in the past, this wasn’t sloppy or rushed. It was slow and deliberate, taking their time to truly explore this new side to their relationship. 

When they finally separate to catch their breath, they keep their foreheads pressed together, and look into each other’s eyes. 

“So what, we’re like engaged now, or something?” Y/N asks in a slightly teasing tone. 

“No way,” Harry says promptly. “If we were engaged, you’d know it. You’re gonna get the big, fancy elaborate proposal, and a big ol’ rock to go along with it.” He says confidently. “But it’ll be coming. Probably soon…”

“Soon?” She asks, slightly surprised. 

“Sure, the whole point of dating is to get to know someone. We’ve seen each other at our best and our worst. You know all my little quirks, and I know all those annoying little things about you, and I still want this…”

“Heyyy,” Y/N protests, causing Harry to laugh. 

“I know all the cute, sweet, endearing things about you too.” He adds, kissing the tip of her nose. 

She narrows her eyes playfully, her wide grin giving her away. “You know we do have one little problem…”

Harry’s brow rounds in concern. “What?”

“Gemma’s gonna take credit for this.”

Harry throws his head back in laughter. “You’re not wrong, but it’s a small price to pay if it means I get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend.” He leans in and kisses her again. 

[soxcietyy]

Racer Yuta Au

Yuta x fem reader

Part 2

Your dragged to a car meet up by your uncle and you have a wonderful time. Though you and your babysitter keep getting under each others skin.

˚₊‧꒰𓆩 ♱ 𓆪꒱ ‧₊˚ forbidden love, brat, 5 year age gap. Illegal activity’s,

"Uncle Gojo, are you sure it’s okay for me to tag along? Isnt my dad going to get mad?" You yell as he turns on his loud car. The exhaust roared loudly in the garage making it echo. Gojo was a illegal street racer, number one to be exact. He would drag race anywhere anytime. He used to work under his dad but having so much money made him pick up an expensive hobby like this. Your dad was currently in a buisness trip trying to recover lost data from the company. He might of agreed to let you explore the underground racing world when he was younger but now he retired from that. Ever since then you were to not go anywhere near such thing and he made that clear.

"Geto isnt here, plus it’s not a race it’s a car meet up. You’ll just be my plus one for the night. Cant really afforded to miss it." He says as he opens the door to his dark blue Supra.

You mumble that it’s going to be his fault if your dad found out about this as you got in. He rolls his eyes and closes the door as you got comfortable. When he got in you tightly grip the seat knowing this wasn’t going to be a smooth ride. You’ve seen your uncle drive and it did not look safe nor fun at all. Your dad would always talk about how many tickets Gojo has gotten and the cars he’s wreaked. All you could do was hope for your safety and not complain. As he drove out the garage you held your breath and with a hard step on the gas you guys were on your way.

When you arrived you reached inside your black purse and popped a mint into your mouth hoping it would relieve your anxiety. You weren’t sure if it was due to the terrifying drive or the amount of people starting to surround the car. You look at Gojo to see him smiling wide. This probably fuled his already exploding ego. You know he loved the attention and loved being the best at everything. He loved the girls, the money, but most importantly he loved crushing peoples hearts. That dream of destroying Gojo in a race might never come true for some people.

"Relax, don’t be scared nothing is going to happen to you. Nobody will lay a finger nor look at you dirty once they know your with me. Just make sure to stay clear from a few folks around here." He said before stepping out. You watch as people cheered and were asking him to rev his engine. He said a few words before coming to your door and opening it. When he did the noises from the crowed silenced. They’re probably not used to seeing him come with a plus one. From what you hear at get togethers was that his relationships are not allowed near his hobbies at all. So who knows what could be run in through these peoples minds.

When you appeared you saw that everyone had their eyes on you. Scanning you up and down to see what was good about you. Your clammy hand grabbed your other arm as you stood there shyly. Maybe you should have stayed home. Why did your dad think it was a bright idea to let Gojo babysit you. You were 18 for crying out loud.

Before you could ask Gojo if you can go back inside the car you saw someone emerging from the crowed. You watched how a tall guy with black hair and dark eyes approached your uncle and gave him a hug.

"Gojo, I didn’t think you were coming today. You told me you had business to attend to." He said as he backed up and looked at you. "Oh" was the only thing he said at you.

"Yuuta this is my niece, y/n this is Yuuta. He’s also a street racer and I guess you could say my pupil. Not trying to brag but I don’t think he would be the second best racer without my guidance." Gojo said all smug.

You’ve heard of this guy before, Gojo talked about him here and there. He’s 23 years old, one of the best drag racers, your uncles pupil, calm, friendly, but had a scary aura around him. He was in your dad’s last race, Yuuta ended up coming second meaning he beat your dad. Then your dad simply retired, not because he lost but because he knew it was time to look for something new.

You give him a small wave as you stepped behind Gojo a bit. This guy was pretty scary looking, not only because of his hight but you could feel something off.

"So is she also a far distant relative to me?" Yuta asks bringing his attention back to Gojo.

Ah that’s right they were related in someway now that you remember.

Gojo laughed and shook his head. He leaned towards Yutas ear and whispered something only you could hear. "She’s Geto’s daughter."

Yuuta looked at him shocked before looking at you again to see if he could spot the similarities. You glare at Gojo knowing that your dad wouldn’t want these kinds of people knowing about his daughter.

"Hey now that you’re here, I kind of have to talk to Sukuna for a bit as much as I hate the thought of it but it’s about the next race. Can’t have y/n around or Geto will kill me if people know who she is. Can you watch her for me? She’s a good kid and won’t be a bother." Gojo said as he pushed you towards him.

"Oh yea that’s fine." Yuta said as he looked down at you to make sure you were okay with it too.

Not like you had much of a say since Gojo smiled and gave you a thumbs up as he left. You both stood there for a minute until Yuuta spoke up.

"There about to start doing doughnuts want to go look?" He asks.

You give him a nod and follow him to where a crowed was forming. Pushing your way through to the front you could see a large space in the middle. You could see burnt tire marks from past meets on the road. You were so excited when you saw a mustang come out from the crowed. It was bright orange with black streaks. It had custom rims and such cool details on it. The crowed started cheering as the show started. The car started going in circles leaving skids on the floor. You could hear how it screeched at sharp turns and how the rubber burned. This was way better than seeing it through social media. You look behind you to see Yuuta smiling but he wasn’t looking at the car. He was looking at you.

After that finished he took you around the lot to look at other cars. So many different models, so many different body kits. No car looked the same and some were exotic. You met so many new people and had great conversations about how they managed to get there car to look at that. Yuuta also spoke to people but you didn’t pay much attention nor did he pay much attention to yours or so you thought. A guy came up to you and started to flirt with you. Saying how he would love to take you on a date and talk more. He said he loved your energy and style. He then proceeded to ask for your number but Yuuta stepped in and put a stop to that. You were kind of irritated by it seeing that he just cock blocked you.

"Let’s head to my car, I need to make sure nobody is messing with it. We have to be more careful and make sure nothing is tampered with now that Sukuna is here." Yuuta says as he leads you through the crowed. It was a bit hard for you to keep up seeing how he took long fast strides. You were wearing heels didn’t help the situation either. People looked shocked seeing Yuuta with a girl. Did these men lack in women or is their a rule to not bring a female to such gathering? Though when you took a good look in the crowed there was a good mix of everyone.

Eventually you made it to a white Nissan GTR. It actually quite suited him but you also took him for a Subaru type of guy.

People surrounded his car too, taking pictures of it and while looking at the details. "Alright I’m going to chat with these guys for a while so just do whatever 16 year olds do. Also don’t accept anything that isn’t from me, understand?" He says,

You looked at him in disbelief that he thought you were younger. "I’m actually 18 sir, we’re not that far apart according to Gojo. Five years to be exact." You say as you walk to the back of his car. He stood there shocked, probably trying to figure out how old your dad was when you were born. Spoiler alert it was when he was 15! Usually people think you’re joking when you say he’s your dad.

Suddenly a girl grabbed his arm taking his attention from you. She was tall and had short hair, almost like a greenish black hue. They seem to be fond of each other if they’re smiling and hugging. Maybe that was his girlfriend.

You sigh as you lean on his car while you scroll through social media. The car meet was going great but you didn’t appreciate being passed around to be babysat when you were a grown adult. The breeze blew making you shiver. Maybe it was a bad idea to wear a tight skirt with a small top. While you cursed under your breath everytime the wind blew someone was getting closer.

"Got bored of watching your boyfriend flirt with another girl?" You hear someone say. You turn to see a guy with blue hair and Heterochromia eyes.

"He’s not my boyfriend but I am bored. Came to entertain me?"

You lift up a brow curious to know why he came up to you. He makes up a small conversation that had you actually happy to engage in. Finally someone who didn’t belittle you nor treat you as a kid. He was somewhat surprised that you knew more about car than he initially thought. All those hours of watching your dad nerd out about cars payed off. He offered to give you a free ride around the block but you declined knowing Yuuta would freak out about it. Though you were interest what ride he had. Could it be a classic? Or a newer car that was modified.

"Hey don’t you think wearing something like that is too scandalous? Such a short skirt for this cold weather too." He says looking at your body.

Your hand touched the tiny goosebumps on your leg.

"Yea I was kinda rushed out the house so I didn’t really plan this outfit out. Are you trying to say you don’t like it?"

He held his hands up in defense, "no no I quite love it. It suites your body so well and- oh it seems we might be in some trouble. Seems your guard dog has finally payed attention to you." He says nodding his head to the person walking behind you. "Glad we could exchange contact information. Here just in case you get parched. Seems like you’re not being well taken care of right." He says as he hands you a water bottle.

You happily accept it as you watch him walk away. He was right about not being taken care of right. You have yet to eat dinner and would have loved if someone handed you a jacket. Bringing the bottle to your lips you take a sip. The cold water made you shiver a bit. You suddenly felt your body be pulled by the arm. Then shoved to the side of the car. You look up surprised to see a not so happy Yuuta over you. You back pressed hard against the car as he looked at you with thoes dark eyes. He ripped the bottle out of your hand and poured it onto the floor.

"Did I not say to not accept anything that isn’t from me?" He says.

You let out a sigh as you cross your arms and look away. "I’m thirsty, at least someone cared for me. Your busy chatting with a girl and left me alone."

"And what the do you know about being treated right? This place isn't safe for innocent gullible girls like you." He sighs as he runs his hand through his hair. "Get in the car, clearly you can’t be trusted to follow directions." He says as he opens the door next to you.

You couldn’t believe Gojo said this man was calm and friendly. That was an absolute lie, he was such an ass and so much more.

You stood in your spot refusing to do what he says. He looked at you with such a demanding look but that wasn’t going to make you break. Your dad taught you to be strong. No man was going to tell you what to do. You both stood there for a minute before he slammed the door closed and grabbed you. In a quick second he lifted you up and sat you on the hood of the car. You gasp as he spread your legs open causing your skirt to slowly lift up. He then proceeded to put his body in between you.

"Didn’t think Gojos niece was such a brat, listen I’m in charge of you and your going to do exactly as I say even if you don’t like it, it’s not because I hate you but this is for your safety." He said as he placed his hands on both of your sides.

He was so close that you could see the turtle neck under his black leather jacket. The veins in his neck that pulsed as he grew more irritated. You could smell the cologne that he was wearing and feel his warmth. You couldn’t help but notice how good looking he looked like this as much as you hated him right now.

Okay maybe he was a little bit too good looking right now. All of a sudden you felt too shy to meet his gaze. "I don’t want to go in, I want to stay out here with you." You say as he sighed sounding unconvinced.

He looked down as his watch before responding to you. "Fine, but you better be on your best behavior. I don’t like girls who don’t listen." He says as he takes of his leather jacket and wraps it around you. You have no idea why but those words did something to you. For the rest of the night you stood next to him listening to him talk. You looked at the way he spoke, the way he laughed, how his Adam’s Apple would move up and down, how the veins in his arms showed when he opened his hood and showed the inside work. You were almost like a dumbfounded little puppy looking at its owner. Sometimes he would smile when he caught you looking at him.

you weren't embarrassed to admit to yourself that you've grew a crush on him just in the few hours that youve spent with him. It was normal for a girl to fall for a guy this fast right?

You end up falling asleep in his car by the time Gojo decided to appear. He lazy strolled towards Yuta who was getting ready to go for the night.

"Sorry I took so long, kind of got into an altercation. Hes not so easy to talk too." He says as he points at his busted lip. "Oh I see she fell asleep, tired the little brat out huh?" Gojo says as he looks at you snooze from the open window.

"So you knew she was a brat but painted her as an Angel huh?" Yuuta smirked.

"She’s my niece, obviously I’m going maker her seem like that. Hey you didn’t do anything funny right? She has a tendency of somehow getting what she wants." He said looking at him serious for a minute. Yuuta knew what he meant by that and simply shook his head.

"I respect you too much to lay hands on her." Yuuta spoke as he walked to the door and opened it.

"Good, I’ll take her from here then, also the next race i-" a crowed of running people caught Gojos eye before he could finish. Both of the men watched in silence waiting to see what was the cause of chaos. The second they saw red and blue lights they looked at each other.

"On second thought you keep her for now. She’s going to slow me down if I take her right now. Meet up at your house." Gojo said as he started running to his car that was across the parking lot.

Yuuta quickly ran to his car as people began to yell that 12 was in the area. Cars began to turn on to escape causing the place to light up. Yuuta reached for your belt and tightened it on you, soon after he pressed on the gas and left the area speeding. This wasn’t his first run in with the police so he was confident in not being caught. That was until he reached sudden traffic causing him to break hard, both of your body’s lurch foward and then back. This waking you up with a panicked expression.

"What’s going on?!" You say looking at him.

"Just going out for a ride.” He says trying not to freak you out.

"Oh that’s really lovely did the police department also decide to tag along? You have four of them a few cars behind us by the looks of it." You say.

The second the light turned green he accelerated, weaving through the slow traffic. You squeezed the door handle as he easily went over the speed limit. You were too young to already have a criminal record. You may not get charged as bad as he does but they will still charge you as an accomplice. How would this affect you college application? The car swerved every sharp turn he made until he made it to a dark neighborhood. In one go he turned the wheel completely to the right and drove up to drive way. He quickly turned the car off and unbuckled his belt.

"We need to get off now." He says as he opens his door. You proceed to do the same but by the time you get out you could see the cops patrolling the area, shinning there flashlights to every car. Yuuta quickly grabbed you and pushed you on the floor behind some bushes. His body laying low on top of yours. Both of you are breathing heavily as you could hear someone approach the car. Shinning the light inside the car to see if he could find anyone. Those few minutes felt like eternity and while you should have been worried about being caught all you could think about was the body over you. You look up at him to see his serious face looking around. Trying to figure out if the coast was clear. His face was dam from all of this. Sweat slowly rolling down his face even if it was a cold night.

You wanted him so bad, you wanted to pull him in and kiss him, you wanted to make him yours. You could just imagine being with someone like him. So mature, so tall, so protecting. His chest rose up and down quickly as he tried to catch his breath. He looks at you once again and leans into you.

"What are you looking at like that?" He whispers into your ear making you burn up.

"Nothing! Im just scared, this is a first for me." You say sitting up as he backs up.

When you guys tried to look for the officer you noticed he was now gone. You flatten your skirt down and brush off the dirt from yourself. He proceeded to stand and helps you up by grabbing your soft hand.

Walking to his car he reaches inside to grab something out of it. You follow behind intrigued by his actions. When he gets back to you he’s holding your purse in his hand that you must��ve left. Seeing a big guy like him holding your tiny hand purse made you feel like he was your boyfriend. You could just imagine how that would be like. You shyly thank him as he hands it to you.

You ponder weather you should drop a hint of you being interested in him or just dropping the bomb. You debate until you decided not to drag things around. "Have you ever wanted something bad but knew you had no chance?" You ask him.

He stood there for a second. Hands in his pockets as he thought about the answer. You guessed he did have something like. It made you wonder if he was able to achieve it. "What has you feeling that way? From what I heard you have a tendency of getting anything you want. So I really wouldn’t be worried about it."

You laugh as you lean onto his car. Looking at him in the eyes as you smile. "If I tell you want I want, will tell me if I’m capable of achieving it?"

He gives you a nod signaling for you to continue. You put your purse on top of the car as you approached him. Wrapping your arms around his neck and getting onto the tips of your toes, you whisper three simple words.

"I want you."

You say as you pull back to look at him. You could see the tips of his ears turning red from the dim light his house provided. His cheeks than began to flush. You were astonished seeing him act this way, you’ve seen him interact with girls today but he didn’t act like this. Did this mean he also had some interest in you?

"You don’t want me y/n, I’m not the type of guy you think I am, you don’t know me." He grabbed your arms from around his neck and put them down. "Well I’m going to get to know you." You intertwined your fingers with his.

"I’m a very jealous, serious, and aggressive guy. I wouldn’t want to ruin your innocence and take advantage of a girl like you. To top it all off your Gojos niece, and your dad wouldn’t want to see you with a guy involved with illegal things."

"I have a feeling that it’s because of our age gap." You cross your arms. You were disappointed in being turned down like this.

"Listen Angel I could give less fuck’s about being five years apart. I just don’t think I’m capable of maintaining something so pure and innocent. It’s like giving a tiger a bunny. He’s just going to eat her alive." He said holding your chin up so you could look at him. "So run while you can and find someone better."

You push his hand away "and what if I don’t run? What if I keep crawling back to you? You have no idea what you’ve done to me Yuuta. I’ve never felt so desperate for someone before." You say as you hug him.

"I need you so bad Yu." You bury your face in his chest.

"Y/n we can’t, I- what about Gojo? If he finds out he’s going to kill me." He says trying to fight off the urge to embrace you back.

You let go of him and look at him with your puppy eyes. You were begging him at this point to give you a chance. You just needed him to see that you were worth his time. He slowly runs his hands through his hair stressed.

"Fine but don’t make me regret this."

[cleolinda]

The Scariest Movie I Ever Saw in a Theater: The Ring

I'll tell you up front that the story I'm going to tell you is about "The Ring (2002)," in the sense that it is about The Ring in the year 2002.

See, I don't know what The Scariest Movie Ever is. A quick google says that the consensus is The Exorcist (I haven't seen it, because I never felt like scheduling a day to freak myself the entire fuck out). But horror is specific, and not just to a person, but to a time and place, even. When I saw The Shining as a teenager in a well-lit living room with other people, I didn't even really flinch, but I bet it would play very differently to me now. I don’t think The Ring is at the top of anyone’s list, but twenty years ago, I had a personal interest in it—at the time, I was running a dinky little Geocities site devoted to movie news. Links curated and compiled from all the other, bigger sites I followed—basically, it was the linkspam format I have used on multiple platforms, including here on Sundays. And so, as someone who followed theatrical releases pretty closely for two or three years, I saw the trailer for The Ring, and I immediately knew it was going to be huge.

To locate you in time, this was just after three self-satirizing Scream movies and the Overcomplicated Serial Killer films of the '90s. The Ring was something completely different: chill aqua-blue color grading a good 5-6 years before Twilight; a mournful Hans Zimmer score; no jokes, no quips; and a slow, inexorable sense of doom. Grief, even, given that the movie begins with the death of the main character's niece. What immediately struck me about the first trailer was 1) the melancholy of it, and 2) how much it doesn't explain. Onscreen, you get the title cards,

THERE IS A VIDEOTAPE IF YOU WATCH IT SEVEN DAYS LATER YOU DIE

Concise! Understandable! A woman (Naomi Watts) is freaking out upon discovering that her young son has just watched it! Admirable job setting up the premise and the stakes of this entire movie in thirty seconds flat, without even any dialogue. That's all you need to know, and thus, the remaining minute of the trailer can do whatever it wants, and what it wants to do is be fucking weird. Echoing voices, TV static, a closeup of a horse's eye, ladders, a girl with dark hair, people reacting to things we don't see, drippy doorknobs, rain. Characters don't give us the whole plot in convenient soundbites of dialogue (like they do in a later trailer); we just hear lines, overlapping, murmured out of context—

did you see it in your head? she talks to you... leading you somewhere... showing you the horses... you saw it. did you see it in your head? she shows me things. Everyone suffers.

That you saw it has lived in my head ever since, and not once have I charged it rent. But the "best" part is Naomi Watts screaming at the end, because you don't hear her voice; you only hear this heartless telephonic beeeeeeep. It's 2002 and I'm watching this trailer, thinking, I have no idea what the fuck I just saw. This is going to be huge.

And it was, to the tune of $249 million on a $48M budget.

At risk of recapping what you might already know, Ringu, aka Ring, is a media franchise that spiraled out from a trio of Koji Suzuki novels into Hideo Nakata's film Ringu (1998), a landmark of Japanese horror, plus several other movies, some TV series, many comics, and even a couple of video games. The overarching story is about a murdered girl/vengeful ghost named Sadako Yamamura whose rage and pain have created a cursed video tape, you watch it and you die unless you pass the tape around like a virus, seven daaaaays, etc.

The "ring" in question is the rim of a well. Keep that well in mind.

The movie I saw is the U.S. remake, which itself had two sequels. (The iconic Sadako is now named Samara Morgan. Keep her in mind, too.) Director Gore Verbinski moved from The Ring to Pirates of the the Caribbean (!), and so Hideo Nakata himself would direct The Ring Two. I... honestly have only seen the first one. And I was right, it was huge, and it kicked off the American J-Horror Remake genre, for better or worse. But what gets forgotten about The Ring is its marketing campaign, which I followed pretty closely for my doofy little news site.

It was inspired.

The story of The Ring is partly the story of the sea change in the media landscape—how we watch movies. And the story of its marketing is a picture of the very last years before social media changed the wilderness of the internet into something that feels so big, like a billion people could see anything we say, and yet so small—only a tame handful of places to say it, owned by three or four companies, and corraled by algorithms.

Back around 1997-1998 or so, I worked at a video store (Movie Gallery, where the hits were there then, guaranteed) for about a year and a half. By the time I left, we had started adding DVDs to the VHS tapes on the shelves, but we hadn't replaced the entire stock. Video stores might have transitioned fully to DVD by 2002, I'm not sure, but people still commonly had both VCRs and DVD players in their homes. And I remember that The Ring was sold in both formats when it eventually hit home video. Which is to say—you know the analog horror genre today? Marble Hornets, Local 58, The Mandela Catalogue?

Analog horror is commonly characterized by low-fidelity graphics, cryptic messages, and visual styles reminiscent of late 20th-century television and analog recordings. This is done to match the setting, as analog horror works are typically set between the 1960s and 1990s. The name "analog horror" comes from the genre's aesthetic incorporation of elements related to analog electronics, such as analog television and VHS, the latter being an analog method of recording video.

Okay, but this is just what home media was like, and 2002 was at the very tail end of that—boxy black VHS tapes that degraded with time and reuse were just how we lived. At the same time, I'd been using CDs for music since about 1991, and all our software installs came on CD-ROM discs; a "mixtape" by that time had shifted to mean a rewriteable CD rather than a cassette tape. In college, I—well, I'll plead the Fifth as to whether I downloaded mp3s via Napster, but I was also taping Mystery Science Theater 3000 on VHS over the weekends. It was Every Format Everywhere, All At Once, and we kept half a dozen kinds of players around for them. Here in 2023, we stream and download everything invisibly, unless we choose to engage in format nostalgia. (I've already run into the problem of Apple Music deleting songs I really liked, due to this or that licensing issue, because I was really only renting them.) The year The Ring hit theaters was the edge of a last shimmering gasp of physical media where iTunes had only come into being the year before, and iridescent discs were still mostly what we used, but cassettes, both video and audio, were still viable. And so, people did not think it was terribly weird when they started finding unlabeled VHS tapes on their windshields.

Movieweb, quoting TikTok user astro_nina:

"Their marketing strategy was essentially 'let's get this tape viewed by as many people as possible without these people being aware of what this is, sort of raising intrigue," she says. One way they achieved this was by airing the tape, which allegedly marks its viewers for death within seven days, as a commercial with no context. The video would air between late-night programming "with no words, no mention of a movie, for like a month...so people would run into it and it would just go on to the next thing, and people would be like, 'what the f--k is this?'"

I remember seeing the Cursed Video as an unexplained ad at least twice, by the way. That TikTok also indicates that DreamWorks straight-up sent copies of the tape to Hot Topic stores, as well as planting them under actual movie theater seats. While running my movie site, I heard at least one story of someone finding a tape on the sink counter of a restroom at a club. Did the marketing department actually plant tapes in bathrooms—or did a freaked-out recipient leave it there, hoping to dodge the "curse"?

(I haven't embedded the Cursed Video here, by the way—but I could have. If you'd like to see the American take on it, you can watch both the full version and the shorter variant that appeared in the movie itself. A text description of what the fuck you're even looking at is here [content note for both: blood, insects, animal death, body horror, and suicide by falling]. The original version from the Japanese film is shorter, and it's eerie rather than gruesome.)

BUT WAIT, THERE WAS MORE: DreamWorks had something of an alternate-reality campaign going with a handful of in-character websites. This was only a year after Warner Bros. ran the groundbreaking "The Beast" ARG for A.I.: Artificial Intelligence: "Ultimately, fifty websites with a total of about one thousand pages were created for the [A.I.] game." (I lurked in the Cloudmakers Yahoo group.) Marketing for The Ring did not go anywhere that in depth, nor did it need to; it was both a smaller film and a smaller story. I saw at least two “personal” websites (seemingly amateur and a little tacky, like my own), but the one I particularly remember was about someone who owned/trained horses? I'm not sure if it was meant to be the actual Anna Morgan character—Samara's mother—or maybe someone who had noticed that the Morgans' horses were disturbed? I'm not even sure anyone even remembers this but me. Reddit users dug up a few other archived websites, but they're about Sadako, the curse and/or videotape; they aren't as subtle or character-oriented as the site I remember. (Honestly, I wonder if weird shit like "What Scares Me" or "SEVEN DAYS TO LIVE" were made by fans rather than a marketing department, but who knows.)

[The “About” page from Seven Days to Live on the Internet Archive.]

[The entirety of An Open Letter on the Internet Archive. “UPDATE” is a now-blank pop-up. I would bet $5 that it was originally a pop-up of the cursed video.]

I need to point out here that Facebook did not exist in 2002. It would not exist for another two years, and Twitter wouldn't exist until 2006. Even MySpace was not a thing until the next year. I didn't start my Livejournal until October of 2003. What we had, for the most part, were independent forums and blogs. We also had Creepy Internet Fiction like "The Dionaea House" and "Ted the Caver"; their use of the blog format, of people out there seemingly living their lives until something fucked up went down, gave the stories the shape of reality. And it helped that these blogs had comment sections, sure—sometimes more story unfolded there—but for the most part, an author could "abandon" a blog, and you'd just find the story there via word of mouth. Like the Ring blogs I remember, it wouldn't seem strange if no one replied to you, whereas today, you'd have to hire a writer to sit on Twitter, or Reddit, or even Tumblr, and interact with people in character. Could you do something like The Ring's mysterious, weird-ass blogs today? Would anyone even notice?

So: It's 2002, my head is full of Alternate Reality and eerie images and you saw it, and I'm hype as hell to go out and see The Ring. I'm perfectly happy to go see movies by myself, so I went in the early afternoon (best time to get a good seat). The movie ended up being a sleeper hit, and the first weekend, the public was still sleeping on it, so there were only 7-8 other people in that theater, grouped in maybe two clusters. I was off in my own little pool of darkness in the upper right quadrant. Functionally, once the lights went down, I was alone.

Despite some middling reviews at the time, The Ring is something of a horror classic nowadays. If you want a scary movie this Spooky Season, check out The Ring. Or don't, because it nearly killed me.

We're at the last, I don't know, third of the movie? And Our Heroine has tracked down the origin of the Cursed Videotape to some creepy mountain motel or whatever. SPOILER, it turns out that it was built over the Cursed Well (everything in this movie is cursed) that Our Villain was thrown into—that's why Sadako/Samara is a vengeful wet murder ghost crawling out of TVs now. While investigating this decrepit hotel room, intrepid journalist Rachel and her, who is it, her ex-husband? her kid's dad, idk, discover the well under the creaky old floorboards. And then, wouldn't you know it,

NAOMI WATTS FALLS INTO THE WELL

NAOMI WATTS FALLS INTO THE FUCKING WELL

THAT'S WHERE SAMARA'S BODY IS

[The rather slapstick moment when Rachel falls into the well. Does not include what actually happens next.]

I go absolutely rigid in my seat. Naomi Watts is splashing around this dark-ass death swamp of a well and I know, with as much certainty as I have ever known anything in my life, that Samara is about to pop up in all her pasty, waterlogged glory. All the sad creepy dread, all the desperation to figure out what the fuck all that shit on the tape was and stop Samara from killing Rachel's son, all the horrible contorted victim faces, all the alternate reality I’ve been soaking in, it has all come to this. I have to leave the theater. I cannot be having with this. I have to be gone from this place. My legs do not work. I cannot feel them. I am frozen. I want nothing more in this life or any other to get up and leave this cavernous pitch-black room, and I cannot. I start praying for death. I want you to understand that I am not trying to be flippant or humorous. This is genuinely what went through my head. I was too scared to even think, "You know, you could just pray to pass out or for motion to return to your limbs or something." No, I sat there in The Ring thinking, Please for the love of all mercy just let me cease being.

You know that scene in Mulholland Drive (also starring Naomi Watts)? Winkie's diner and the EXCRUCIATING tension? It was a little like that, except I wasn't watching it, I was experiencing it, and Samara was my dirt monster out behind the diner.

Except that the jump scare didn't actually happen. I mean, yes, Rachel finds Samara's body down there, but—I don't remember exactly, please don't make me go watch it again to tell you what actually happens. It's played more sympathetically on Rachel's part, as I recall, and she and her ex get Samara's body out so that she (Samara) can have a proper burial.

And then it turns out that this is not the end of the movie. It turns out that Rachel has Fucked Up.

I think I was relatively okay through the rest of it, although the climax is Samara emerging from a TV in her full glitching swampy glory to scare [SPOILER] to death. I don't recall praying for death twice. There's a point when you're so exhausted from fear chemicals that you're like, yeah, this might as well happen. Bring it, Soggy. I did have a hard time prying myself out of that seat afterwards, though, and my mom says that when I got home, I had the classic thousand-yard stare. How was the movie?

"It was great," I said, and I meant it.

I've seen things that were objectively scarier (I watched much of The Haunting of Hill House from behind a pillow, to be honest), and it's not like I've never experienced fear in real life. But I respect when a movie that can make me feel so intensely, and there's something weirdly precious about the way horror is a safe roller coaster, as it's often been said. So I love telling the story about The Time The Ring Nearly Killed Me—a movie that actually made my body stop working—and I love thinking of how embedded in a specific time and place that movie was for me. The last gasp of VHS when the Cursed Videotape still seemed plausible; the way the internet was still wild and weird and free; where I was in my life, keeping up so avidly with all the movie news, and finding myself in such a little pool of darkness early one afternoon. It's the scariest movie I saw in a theater; that's the alchemy of circumstance.