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[lishapbs]

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[norrizzandpia]

Masterlist 2

Lando Norris:

It’s Your Birthday. Of Course, I’m Here

It’s Lando’s birthday and Y/n can’t make it. Or so he thinks.

A Sign Of My Love

In which Lando chooses the most obvious way to declare his love for his best friend and she is the only one who doesn’t get it.

All He Needed Was Her

Following the Vegas ‘23 crash, Y/n and Adam find Lando in his hospital bed, yearning for the comfort of his girlfriend’s touch.

A Second Chance

Secrets are a hard thing to live with, they always come out in the end. When it comes to Y/n and Lando, their loved ones struggle to understand what occurred between the two when both of them refuse to discuss it. What happened that night that warranted two people so in love to separate? What triggered Lando to become so violent, so hostile? Why is there a lone engagement ring lingering in Lando’s apartment when it’s meant to rest on Y/n’s finger? What’s happened?

You Were Never What I Wanted, Pt. 2

Lando and Y/n have never liked each other and it’s only the distaste the world has for them when McLaren forces them to “put on a show for the public”. At first, a few hand holds and light, quick kisses seem to be tolerable, yet feather light touches turn into longing stares and, suddenly, they’re falling in love. Although, hatred is a powerful emotion. Can love really trump it?

Ski Trips and Smiles

A proposal on a snowy ski trip.

Showing You My Love

McLaren’s forced Lando into a PR stunt of a relationship and his girlfriend, Y/n, back into hiding just when she was ready to go public.

One-Sided Fake Dating Pt. 2

When Y/n has continuously been used for the image that has pristinely been constructed for her and the connections she has through relation to her parents, she has cultivated a dark image on the world, especially on love. However, when Lando comes into her life and shows her what it’s like to be wanted for who you are and not what you can provide, she begins to open up and she begins to explore what it’s like to be loved and to love. Although, nothing is permanent and what happens when the man she had thought to be better than everyone who had previously screwed her over turns out to be worse?

Love You the Way I Do

When Y/n starts to pull back, Lando knows exactly what to do.

When?

Apparently, to Lando, it is not a question of if he will marry Y/n, it is when.

Safe With Me, Love

When a man at a club makes Y/n uncomfortable, touching her, grabbing her, Lando’s the first to stop it.

The First Time

In the midst of the dirtiest act, Lando’s loose lips stall his impending orgasm.

Let Me Be Happy. Don’t Be Mean.

Y/n is not experienced in the realm of dating. For years, she has convinced herself that no man sees her as lovable. So, when a guy steps into the picture who checks off all the boxes, making her feel secure in his feelings towards her, she’s elated. However, when she goes to share in the excitement with her best friend, he ruins it all, along with it her happiness, by uttering three small words.

My Coat, Your Coat

Y/n is freezing. Lando is her boyfriend. There’s only one remedy.

Whatcha Readin’?

It was a good story, that was her only argument.

Look How Amazing You Are

After Lando’s disastrous qualifying in Qatar and redeeming podium just hours later, Y/n is there to remind Lando of where his worth truly lies.

Sparkling Eyes

When Y/n is distracted, Lando usually takes the opportunity to admire her. Although, this time, he has an audience.

She Calls Me Daddy Too

When Y/n and Lando are having dinner at her house with her parents, Y/n asks her father to pass the salt. Too bad she didn’t specify which one she was referring to.

His

When a fun pool party turns into a hurtful disaster, the only good thing to come from it is two confessions.

I’ve Got You

In the midst of the FIA determining whether his lap times will be deleted, Y/n finds her boyfriend sitting in front of multiple cameras, but that doesn’t matter, he’s upset and she’s got him.

Lala

When Y/n meets Lando’s family for the first time, Lando warns her about his niece who glues to his side whenever he’s around. What she isn’t expecting, however, is the heart melting nicknames he has been given. It prompts some interesting confessions.

My Name

Y/n and Lando have a painful past together. When they go their separate ways and are left to pick up the pieces, Lando realizes he can no longer hear the woman he loved’s name without feeling deeply ashamed.

We Can Be Kids For Right Now

When her week has tried to suffocate her, Lando turns up at her door and forces her to remember just how worthy she truly is.

Wrong Number, Right Person

A wrong number leads Lando right to Y/n, but even the beautiful love they find together struggles to stand a chance against Lando’s lie of identity.

HE WON! LAN WON!

A long awaited win warrants a shouting Y/n, the proud girlfriend of Lando Norris, 2024 Miami Grand Prix Race Winner. Not only that, but also a smiling Lando now ready for questions about their future.

Olive

After a massive loss, Lando and Y/n find themselves losing sight of the love they once shared. A ghost town in a house they once imprinted their love in is riddled in pain and grief. Right at the edge of the cliff, ready to give up and part ways, an anniversary pulls them back together and reunites them in what they once had.

What Died Didn’t Stay Dead

Y/n’s close to fatal car crash and the epiphanies that followed.

Can You See Me Using Everything To Hold Back

Lando and Y/n have always been as close as can be, but unresolved and disregarded feelings threaten everything they thought they once knew.

Oscar Piastri:

British v. American

In which Oscar tries to teach his girlfriend how to drive in England. The only catch? She’s never driven on the other side of the road. Oh, and she’s never driven anywhere else except for California.

Don’t Worry Everyone. I’m Alive.

The fans love her, so when they hear their favorite driver, her boyfriend, killed her, they aren’t happy.

Sleeping Buddies or Dating?

Oscar and Y/n love to sleep next to each other. They don’t love each other. That’s it.

Storms

Where Y/n hates thunder storms and Oscar’s the only person who can calm her down.

Let’s Have A Baby, Baby

There is nothing Oscar wants more than for Y/n to get pregnant with his kid, and everyone knows it.

When’s It My Turn

When Oscar can’t find Y/n and realizes she’s off with Logan, he gets possessive over how much time his girlfriend has to give.

Chuck a Uey

Blurb when Non-Australian!Reader misses a turn and Oscar tells her to “chuck a uey”. Long story short, she has absolutely no clue what that means.

To Be Loved Is To Be Seen

Oscar knows his girlfriend well and it’s obvious to him when she starts breaking down. He’s happy to help or, more specifically, remind her how worth it she is.

Just Benefits Right Now

It’s common knowledge they love each other. Just not to them - even when they’re sleeping together.

Y/n and the Piastri Sisters, the Piastri Sisters and Y/n

Oscar knew that Y/n and his sisters were close, but to wake up on a Saturday morning to find all of them gone, he wonders if he really underestimated how much the girls loved each other’s company.

[prettymase]

Meant To Be

NOTES: This fic is completely newly written and I haven’t written in ages but I hope this is good enough. Before you get into it I want you to know that some parts of the fic are quite personal to me and I was contemplating on whether to add or not, but I have included TW warnings. This fic had also been requested by my love @footiehoemcfc I hope you enjoy reading it babe. There will be a part two to this but I wanted to get the first part out first bc I’ve left @footiehoemcfc waiting too long for this 🫶🏼 ✨

WORD COUNT: 4.9k words

TW: mentions of car crash, drunk drivers

You promised yourself that you would never be in this situation.

This is the kind of situation you told your best friends to avoid. It’s basic girl code, telling them not to be stupid in going back to their ex. You know it never ends well. Most of the time anyways.

Most of the time they end up falling for their bullshit and then that causes them hurting even more.

You know right now, you are a dumbass.

Your relationship with Mason ended shortly after Christmas.

It’s bad enough you saw it coming but you didn’t expect it to happen quickly after Christmas as the way he broke up with you, you thought he would want to mend things. Things that haven’t been easy in your relationship the last few weeks. You thought he wanted to apologise for being a dick.

Before the World Cup, you both knew the relationship was falling short. However, you were determined to make it work. No matter how had you tried, you couldn’t afford losing him.

You tried to support him in every way possible. Travelling to Qatar, showing your moral support. You also suggested couples therapy, tried to get him to talk about his feelings he was keeping inside. And everything else that was on the list. Making you feel useless at times.

Mason however, wasn’t having any of it. He liked to feel like he could take care of himself. He knew he was pushing you away and he didn’t want to but this is what it has come to and he can’t stop himself now.

In Qatar, there wasn’t much you could do with him not being able to see everyday with the World Cup consequences. Which you understood. You tried looking at the positives, maybe time apart from you would make him realise how much he misses having you around and helping him out. You thought he would he would take his time to think about how shitty he has been with you the last couple of weeks leading up to the World Cup. To your surprise, it was the complete opposite. Mason came to the conclusion it would be better if the two of you went separate ways.

The night you two broke up, well when he broke up with you, always replayed in your head.

-

“I think we should break up,” Mason started to say, showing no emotion on his face whatsoever.

“What?” you definitely wasn’t expecting this.

He had planned a a nice romantic evening or so you thought. The dinner table was elegantly decorated, with rose petals and candles around the table, with two glasses of wine, which you dismissed because you didn’t feel like drinking.

You thought the best of things, thinking that he’d apologise for his behaviour these last couple of weeks. Instead he did all this to break up with you.

“I want you to know don’t think I don’t love you because I do, it’s just the things that’s happening this season, I can’t love you the same when I’m feeling like shit.”

“You’re having one bad season and you’re throwing me out of your life?!” You asked confusedly and annoyed. “You’ve had problems before but this was never the solution!”

“Y/N you don’t understand. This is my life, I have to try and help and the tea-”

“This is not your life!!” You snapped. “It’s what you do for a living, big difference Mason.”

‘It is now okay?! Everything else seems like a distraction!”

“I’m a distraction? Your girlfriend who has been trying to help you for weeks is a fucking distraction? Are you fucking kidding me?” That hurt. It hurt how little to no appreciation he showed for your effort. The tears that you tried to hold in just fell. Maybe it could’ve been from sadness but now you were just mad.

Mad at him.

“Baby,” he sighed trying to ease the tension. Both of you had arguements before but it was never like this. He’s now thinking of throwing the years you had together, which you thought of convincing him to not to do this but it was useless and once he makes his mind up there’s no going back.

“You have no right to call me that anymore. You’ve clearly made up your mind.” You snapped.

“I’m sorry, okay. I didn’t word that right. But you need to understand me.”

“Understand what? That your job is more important than me and everything else in your life? That all the things I’ve done for you in the past meant nothing? Our relationship was for nothing? And that I mean nothing to you?!” You managed to say In between your sobs that you have been keeping in for too long, and this was your thirteenth reason.

You couldn’t hold it in anymore.

Mason stepped closer to you and tried to hug you which you refused at first, but you always found yourself giving in, in the end. This could be your last hug ever so you wanted to treasure it. Wanted to get close to him. Wanted to smell his aftershave that was lingering on his clothes. Wanted him to run his hands up and down your back for comfort.

All for the last time.

You could feel his tears dropping on your shoulder. This couldn’t have been easy for him too. Although you know he’s doing wrong but you also know the past year hasn’t been the best for him and no matter how much this is hurting you, you also know he’s hurting too. “I’m so sorry, my love. I know you think this is easy to do but i promise you it’s not. I love you so much and if it’s meant to be I’m sure we’ll find our ways back to each other soon.” He pulled away from the hug and held the sides of your face, planting a kiss on your forehead. His lips lingering on your forehead a lot longer than anticipated which relaxed your mind for a second.

“I’m going to go gather my things and go.” You sniffled.

Mason just nodded in response and let you get to it. You go into your shared bedroom, where you gathered most of your things, one thing that made you break down instantly was your scrapbook you made for his 21st birthday. It was his first birthday you celebrated with him and it was special too, so you wanted to make it memorable. You flicked through the book where you come across the first page which was the first picture you took together, him positioned behind you, his head buried in your neck while you looked so happy. The happiest you’ve been in a long while, you forgot what that felt like.

This book was meant to be what you show your future children, but you didn’t get that far ahead. You hesitated in whether to take it or leave it with him. However you decided to take it with you as you felt like he wouldn’t look back at it.

Once you finally got your things together, you looked back at your shared room which was now Mason’s for one last time. The good times you had in there would be looked back at for sure, at least for you anyways.

Mason who was waiting for you to be done was on the sofa, his head in between in his hands. When he saw you were coming out of the room he offered to help with your luggage but you refused.

“You can stay here for a little while once you get sorted out if you want?” Mason mumbled.

“I think it’s too late for that Mase. Thank you though.” You said as you walked to the front door and remembered that his front door key was in your bag which you handed to him. There was a keyring with the photo of the two of you on there. You walked towards the door until you heard Mason speak again.

“Y/n wait a second,” you looked back at him, hoping he would say this is a mistake and he wants to start fresh with you but was that the case? Nope. “Where are you going to go? It’s late. I don’t want you wondering about at this time of night.” He asked genuinely worried for you.

But you couldn’t help but answer coldly as this wasn’t his problem anymore. You weren’t his problem anymore. “You have no right to worry about that anymore. You start your life from scratch and forget what I ever meant to you. If I ever did mean anything to you. Good luck with the future, Mase.” You choked out.

Quickly, you got out of the door but you weren’t sure how much more you could hold your tears in for. Opening the boot to put all of your things in the back before you got into the drivers seat and drove away from his house for the last time.

There was tears streaming down your face the entire journey, luckily you still had your own flat that you didn’t end up getting rid of, but it’s been a while since you been in there so it will be weird at first but you’ll have to get used to it. After all this was your life from now on.

During your journey to your now new (old) home, you looked back on all the positives that your relationship had. For example; when he took you away just because he felt like it that was also when he said ‘I love you’ for the first time and you were wondering what you did to deserve this man. Now you were wondering what you did to deserve the situation he put you in.

‘Where in the relationship did we go wrong?’ You thought. You always thought you made him happy. But clearly not if he felt like he needed to chuck you out of his life like that. You clearly weren’t as important to him as you thought you were.

When you got to your old flat, as soon as you walked through the door, it’s like you were almost looking for a feeling of home come to you. But that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that it was Mason who made it feel like home. And now you had to live without him.

You had started talking to Mason in the most weird ways ever, you were going through so much at the time so him coming into your life during the most hardest times of your life you would describe it as was truly a blessing in disguise.

Let’s recap to that day..

-

It was one of those days.

One where you felt like God was never on your side, trying to understand what you did to deserve the last few days of chaos you’ve had.

Eyes closed. Trying to remain calm, steadying your mind and the pace of your breathing.

It had been a long day. You had just come back from the hospital 45 mins ago. No that wasn't your job, your mum had been admitted to hospital after having a traumatic car crash as you'd call it.

On Saturday night she was on the way back from dinner with her friends, until a drunk driver crashed into her and she remained unconscious up until Tuesday morning for a few minutes and remained unconscious again.

When you first got a call from the hospital your first instant reaction was shock and denial because as far as you'd known your mum was all about being a safe driver and she was always scolding you to drive safe. It hadn't settled in until you had seen her. All your emotions started crashing down at once.

You felt a bit helpless and guilty by not being able to do anything to help her, and you were losing hope slowly but deep inside you, you knew your mum will power through this, she's a strong woman after all. After having to raise 6 children when your father left you at a young age deciding that he wanted nothing to do with you, if she could go through that alone, you had hope that she'd get through this.

You couldn't help but feel alone. All your siblings were in their own little bubble and you didn't want to disturb them and you know that they wouldn't care because all of you were all so close but you couldn't help feel like you were burdening them.

All of you were equally upset, each one of them had their own distraction to help not think about this, but you had taken days off to visit your mum during hospital hours and just pour you heart out even though she hadn't had her eyes open you knew she could hear you.

Days prior to this, you had been struggling with your emotions already.

You had given your notice in for work because the environment was becoming so toxic and this guy at work would non stop harassing you until you couldn't take it anymore, mentally it was taking a toll on your mental health. Your ex had gotten back into contact with you repeatedly changing numbers, making different social media accounts to contact you, after numerously blocking him.

Overall you felt like crap, you didn't want to tell your friends about this because you felt like you were asking for sympathy when you didn't want that and you felt like they were all happy within their lives and you didn't want to burst that with your sad feelings.

So you just put a fake smile on your face which was believable to people, and when you were alone tears wouldn't stop flowing.

You hated yourself for not being strong enough.

The peace and quietness lasted about 2 minutes before a message came through your phone. You instantly thought it was someone from the hospital updating you about your mum but this message had confused you even further

Anna?

You most definitely weren't Anna and you most certainly didn't have a date today.

(Imagine you can see the face. Thank you😌)

It was like an addiction messaging each other, you just couldn’t stop. It was flirty banter most of time, he arranged for you to first meet him at a small cafè because he was eager to see you, and this meeting made you feel something for him, even more than you did.

The next meeting you decided to count it as a date, and ever since then you didn’t look back.

He was seriously a blessing in disguise. Your mum was getting better, you got a new job and you couldn’t be more happier that everything finally was starting to fall into place.

-

Over the months since your breakup you tried to forgive and forget; Forgive because he genuinely did have a lot going on and you also knew his passion for football and maybe you just need to find your way back to each other once the time is right. Forgetting about him and what he meant to you was the hardest thing to do.

It’s been five months now since your breakup and not a day goes by without thinking about him. You just had to remind yourself that he’s probably not thinking about you anymore and he’s probably moved on and as much you wanted him to tell you that he wanted you back probably wasn’t the case. Which hurt you deeply thinking about it but if that’s what helps you to move on then so be it.

The first month was incredibly difficult for you, wanting to text him every hour of the day to try and work things out, even though he ended it you wanted him to fight for you, you once thought you meant the whole world to him, and now acted like you were strangers.

His friends had found out about the break up and checked in on you to see how you were doing. They didn’t see it coming, especially Ben, he thought he was head over heels for you and he was always going on about how perfect his relationship is. Ben insisted on talking some sense into him but you refused, not wanting to force his way back to you, you’d much rather him come back to you when he was ready.

Whenever that was.

At this point you were starting to think that it would only happen in your dreams.

You felt a like crap and thought you were being over dramatic, thinking that Mason’s probably isn’t doing the same and moping over this, so over the next two months you tried pushing him out of your mind and start focusing on your mental health and yourself, getting your self love back.

Saffie, Libby and Imogen, who had been your support system since helped you through it and you couldn’t be more grateful. They also were shocked about the break up but as of right now you didn’t care. You had come to terms with that it wasn’t meant to be and you tried convincing yourself that you were fine with it.

When you moved in with Mason, it was difficult to see them, as they lived out of town and at the time things were just getting hectic that you didn’t have the time, even though you hadn’t seen each other for a while you had still kept each other updated on every little detail.

Tonight, you were going on a night out with your girls. It had been a while since you had a girls night and you couldn’t wait because you had missed your girls.

“Cheers!! I want to make a toast to Y/N. I want you to know that you’re the most strongest person I know and you don’t need no mannn that makes you feel like shit!!” Libby screamed through the loud music that was playing at the club, and you all took a sip of your cocktails. You promised to yourself and the girls that wouldn’t cry tonight and so far you were failing but you decided to blink the tears away and have the time of your life with your besties. It’s the least you deserved.

-

You don’t know how you got here but you’re not complaining.

You barely make it inside the house. As soon as you both are nside, you’re kissing, making out against the front door. Pushing him back, desperately wanting more, trying to suck every last drop out of the love that is still left.

You’ve missed him. Missed him so much.

“We shouldn’t do this,” Mason pants, pulling away, framing your face with his hands, and you nod.

“No, but it feels good, doesn’t it?” You say with a grin, that’s all your willpower gone out of the window.

Mason grins at you. Just like he used to; it’s just like it used to be.

“Fuck yes. Let’s go upstairs.”

You knows this will only hurt you in the morning but you can’t resist, you’ve missed him, missed how he feels, how he tastes. And all that matters right now is that your legs are wrapped around Mason’s waist and the way he groans when you push yourself into him.

Fuck, it feels good.

It’s not a long, drawn out fuck, no changing positions, no words. It’s not hasty either, but it’s desperate, both of them fighting for the perfect angle, chasing their release, needing it.

Still, it’s loving. The way Mason’s hand is in the exact right spot on your back, the way they kiss, breathlessly moaning into each others mouths. And the way they lock eyes, reading each other’s faces.

They’ve done this many times - spent so many nights entangled, making each other moan and pleasuring themselves. They know this, every part of it is familiar.

It happens too quickly, but you wouldn’t have the strength to prolong it anyways. It’s too much, there is not a single clear thought in your head as you kiss Mason through his climax.

“It will hurt more tomorrow,” Mason whispers when you pull him closer under the blanket. You know he’s not just talking about you aching. His tone is soft, laced with a shadow of a sorry, his hand gently stroking your arm, the gesture putting you to sleep.

-

When you woke up it was around four AM you weren’t surprised to find yourself sleeping next to someone but you couldn’t pinpoint on who it was as you were too drunk and didn’t remember a single thing about your one night stand as you rarely have them, silently cursing yourself for drinking too much.

This room seemed familiar to you though, you don’t know if your mind was playing tricks on you or if it was actually familiar to you. That was until the person next to you turned to face you, still asleep and you were met with none other than Mason.

You shot up at the exact second, accidentally waking up Mason doing so. “Y/N, what’s wrong? Let’s get back to sleep yeah?” Mason says in a sleepy voice but you were still in a state of shock of how this happened, you were about to reply until you turned around to face him to see him asleep again.

How did you let this happen.

You went downstairs to compose yourself with a glass of water and watched your reflection on his window.

‘You stupid idiot. Why did you do this to yourself?’ You thought. The more you thought about everything that had happened last night, how much you missed him touching you, kissing you, tears were forming because it just wasn’t fair that he was making you feel like this.

In the middle of your thoughts, Mason entered the kitchen. He wrapped his arms around your waist, buried his face in your neck, kissing it repeatedly. “Baby, why are you here? It’s 4am,” he whispered in your ear. You were just staring blankly outside at his patio, tears threatening to fall. Your lip started wobbling.

How could you be so dumb? He starts seducing you whilst drunk and it worked so easily he had you right where he wanted. You were never that girl to have one night stands, but this one felt like one because you knew what Mason’s decision was.

“Listen, you were drunk. We both had a little too much to drink. I saw you in the club alone, I don’t know where your friends were and you looked like you had a little too much to drink. I offered to take you home but you mentioned you left your keys with Imogen because you know how clumsy you can be and lose them. So I took you back to mine and I don’t know how it happened but there was sexual tension in the air and we both started kissing and one thing led to another, but I want you to know it doesn’t mean anything to me.” Mason said so confidently.

You needed a moment to hear the last sentence alone, but you wanted him to think that were coping well without him because he had moved on and somehow you needed to do the same, but after last night it’s become hard again. It’s like having sex with him has brought your feelings back again but it doesn’t matter because he doesn’t feel the same about you anymore, even though when you broke up he told you that he’ll always love you. You guessed that was lie.

You wanted it to mean something to him, you wanted him to ask for you back. You wanted him to fight for you.

Which will only happen in your dreams by the looks of it.

You wondered if he ever loved you? Now you just believed what your negative thoughts were telling you.

“I’m going to get my stuff and leave,” you said with a lump in your throat and glossy eyes.

Mason saw the expression on your face and was the sick of the sad expression you had on your face and he snapped, “Okay. Don’t expect me to stop you then. I have moved on.”

It’s like this was a different man in front of you, you don’t remember getting to know this guy, you don’t remember falling in love with him. The Mason you remember falling in love with wouldn’t let you go without a fight. You weren’t going to let him treat you like this so you snapped back. “Yeah because you sleeping with me last night really tells me that you’ve moved on doesn’t it?” You rolled your eyes.

“It was a mistake! I told you, I was drunk, you were drunk, one thing led to another and it’s a regret of mine now letting you think that you’ll ever get close to me again. Maybe, just maybe if you weren’t so needy all the damn time we could’ve given this a second chance.” Mason frustratedly said, with what he said, sounded like you hurt him, when he was the one to break up with you. It just didn’t make any sense to you.

You wished he hadn’t pushed you away. You pushed past Mason to get your things, not wanting to stay here a minute longer.

Mason stayed quiet, knowing what he said was wrong but in the heat of the moment it just came out. Once you came out of his room and got your things ready, you walked out his front door whilst he watched you leave.

-

It had been two nights since that night you encounter with Mason, you started thinking outside of box and tried moving on as he had, it was lot harder than you thought it would be. Maybe because the Mason you saw two nights ago was a completely different person in front of you.

Maybe if you went on a few dates it would help? You thought.

You never did see yourself separating from Mason, but that’s how things currently were and you had to accept that. You decided to scroll on Twitter for bit and what first came up on suggested posts surprised you a little because you weren’t expecting that when you opened the app.

To say you were more than hurt to see how he’s moved on quickly, but also you were convinced that the paparazzi make things worse from what they were. You experienced it when you were with Mason, so part of you were hoping that this girl pictured with him was just a friend but looking at the picture it was telling you something else.

You know it has been more than a few months that you’ve broken up now but a part of you wasn’t ready to let go. But you always promised yourself that if you saw Mason happy with another person you would be happy for him no matter how much it hurt you inside and you weren’t going to ruin his happiness.

That’s if this article was true.

Now you needed to move on because it seemed like Mason wasn’t going to come back to you by the looks of things and you need to accept that.

-

Mason didn’t know how to feel when the paparazzi photos came out, first of all the pictures were completely misleading to what they actually were.

He wasn’t on a date.

The only thing he was doing was playing Cupid, and setting this girl up with his mate, Ben. When Mason spotted Y/N on a night out with her friends, he was with Ben and a few of his other friends. This girl caught Ben’s attention but he was too much of a scaredy cat to go up to her. He thought he missed his chance.

That was until, the girl, Chloe, reached out to Mason on DMs and asked if they could meet to talk things through. He knew Ben wouldn’t dare to ask her outright, so they planned to call it a ‘blind date’ because Chloe actually had her eyes on Ben and it turns out that when she was about to go up to him that night he had disappeared, she couldn’t find him but she also knew Mason was good friends with Ben so she’s shooting her shot the long way.

Mason still deeply loved Y/N, he only said he moved on because he wanted Y/N think he’s doing okay without her. He really doesn’t know why he started pushing her away, and he regrets it because all he wanted know is Y/N between his arms. He would do everything for their relationship to be normal again, but instead he had to fuck it up.

Mason won’t be stupid enough to lose you again at any given chance. He was already stupid enough to know what life was like without you and he’s not risking that again.

He knew he needed to fix this.

—

taglist: @chilwellspulisic

[ferg0s]

Still looking for short requests. Any Blue Lock boy you want, they find their bored, time killing s/o playing with a soccer ball, but she's using it like a basketball or volley ball

Imagine Isagi paying a couple months of rent worth of money for an other wise ordinary looking ball. But if you were knowledgeable in the soccer - sphere, you could easily recognize it as the Adidas Al Rihla, the official soccer ball for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. It had cost him an arm and a leg to get that, not to mention the various hurdles he has to cross to find some one willing to sell him an authentic one that wasn’t in the 6 digits.

In your shared apartment, he had this own bookshelf filled with various trophies and other Soccer memorabilia. With one little book dusted and saved for his newest addition. He was like a child on Christmas, waiting for it to be delivered, ready to proudly show it off to his teammates and friends - be the coolest guy in the group.

But the timing of it couldn’t have been more worse. He had been running late to practice that day, having forgotten to set his alarm earlier to account for day light saving , and almost ran into the delivery man when he on his way out. He grabbed the package, and rushed inside to place it in the table next to the entry way. But his eagerness got the better of him, and he opened the package to at least examine the ball. Perfect. It was perfect. He didn’t have much time to bask in the glory of his new possession, placing it next to the box it came in and running off as to avoid doing the 15 lap penalty for being late.

The entire time at practice that’s all hr could think about. Wondering where he would place it. How he would casually bring it up in conversation. He practically ran off the field when practice was over, speed running the shower and putting on his boxers backwards - not caring how uncomfortable it felt during the drive back. He took the stairs, the elevator took too much time and he was faster on foot, the key to the apartment already in his hand. He didn’t want you waste any time. Opening the door the first thing he did was look to the little table he had left the ball on and… it was gone….

The box was still there, but the ball… no where in sight. He figured it must’ve rolled off, which prompted him get on all fours and look for it in every nook and cranny within eye sight. That’s when he noticed your shoes - you were home. “Babe!” He called out, still on all fours. “Oh you’re home-“ he heard your voice call out. “A delivery came for you. It’s on the table by the door-“ you added. “About that-“ he sighed. Maybe you had assumed it was one of his practice balls and put it with the others, or maybe his closet.

He got up, dusting him self off before going towards the living room. “Have you seen-“

It seemed like you had. He watched in horror, his eyes widening and his body seeming to stiffen up. You, on the couch, tossing the ball in the air and bouncing it off your finger tips. Casually playing with a literal modern antique - in his eyes. He could have shed a tear right there. You turn to him, catching the ball and putting it in your lap. “How was practice?” You ask, blissfully unaware of the crime you had committed. A worried expression beginning to form when you noticed how distressed he look. “Are you okay?” You asked, placing the ball to the side of the couch as you got up.

He was not okay. You watched him inspect the ball under the light of the lamp, trying to find any dents and scuffs. You told him that you had come home 10 minutes before he did, and you doubted that it would have damaged the ball by the 3 minutes you were playing around with it. But you soon figured he wasn’t one to listen to reason at the moment.

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

A 47 years old mother and her 15 years old son were seriously injured in a Hezbollah rocket attack today, aimed at the northern city of Kiryat Shmona. I'll just point out that even though the Iran-funded terrorism group always claims their attacks on Israelis are a retaliation for this or for that, they chose to open fire at Israel on Oct 7 (when this country was busy with Hamas terrorists still infiltrating it in the south), and they haven't stopped since.

I just wanted to show you what it looks like when Israel's border is being fired at, but please keep in mind that Iron Dome was only implemented in 2011, but we have been fired at by one hostile entity or another (often more than one) for a very long time. I can't remember a time when we weren't afraid of rockets being fired at us. And Iron Dome, as demonstrated again today, with all due respect to it, is like every other defence system: it's not foolproof. Any person who wouldn't accept being at the receiving end of these rocket barrages, has no right to demand that Israel continues to accept this distorted reality.

(audio: Golda Meir)

So this is a reminder that this is what Israel has been dealing with almost non-stop since Oct 7 from several fronts.

Here in Israel, we continue to follow with alarm the rise of antisemitic incidents around the globe. This time, I have to share with you this horrifying bit of news, about a Jewish student, Lahav Shapira, being beaten so badly, that he had to be hospitalized and undergo surgery for the facial injuries that he endured at the hands of an Arab (so called "pro-Palestinian") student. Police says this was following an argument over the war in Gaza, Lahav's family says he and his gf were stalked, then he was jumped, while the attacker shouted, "Why are you posting pictures of kidnapped people?" To make matters worse, this happened in Berlin, and Lahav is the grandson of an Israeli athelete who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in Germany, while he was participating in the 1972 Olympic Games. Berlin's Free University's response was weak, focused on explaining that the law prevents them from expelling the attacking student.

While ignorant social media users insist that what's happening to the Palestinians is a genocide, the niece of Qatar-based Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh gave birth in an Israeli hospital. Her baby was born prematurely, and is taken care of in the NICU. Haniyeh has 3 sisters who married Israeli Bedouin Arabs, got Israeli citizenship through that, and live in Israel with full citizen rights. I've worked with so many victims of actual cases of genocide, and NONE went to get medical treatment from the people who were massacring them.

I've now seen Tumblr posts accusing Israel of bombing over one million people in Rafah. These are posts referring to the rescue raid, where Israeli soldiers raided one apartment, SAVED two hostages, and then left. If you're trying to save two hostages from terrorists who would kill their prisoners and themselves first, you wanna sneak in there as discreetly as possible. You wouldn't bomb an entire city. Even Hamas' false spin, blaming Israel of a massacre (and don't forget that Hamas is the organization telling the world how many died during this operation), didn't try to claim that the IDF attacked the whole population of the city. There's something insanely wrong in a reality where people on social media uncritically pass along lies that not even a terrorist organization dares to tell.

The graduating student in the cap is Matan Levi.

He studied law, and was about to have his graduation ceremony when Hamas' massacre took place. He left everything, and went south to fight as a reservist that verey day. On Oct 14, he was hit by a mortar, and when he woke up in the hospital, he discovered that he had lost his eyesight. According to his own account, that was very hard to hear, but his first thought was regarding how this won't break him, how he can move on from this. Since then, he's been accompanied by a former soldier named Amit Barel:

Amit fought and was injured in the Second Lebanon War, back in 2006. He lost his sight, too. He has since developed a career, married, and had kids. He's a part of a program where wounded former soldiers are helping those who have been recently injured to cope with their new challenges. He said that simply seeing that life is possible even with serious injuries is very helpful to a lot of the newly wounded soldiers. I thought it's inspirational, how people can put their misfortune to good use, to help others, how these new bonds and friendships get formed, so I wanted to share the story of this touching project.

But I also wanted to reflect on how Israel is a society of wounded people. Not just physically. We have the collective trauma caused by thousands of years of antisemitic persecution, including the Holocaust and the expulsion of Mizrachi Jews from Arab and Muslim countries, and we have the on going trauma caused by the continued use of violence against us in a war that was started against us in 1947, and has never really ended, whatever form it has taken at different points in time. No one has a right to speak about this conflict, unless they're willing to acknowledge this hurt, too.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[andy-wm]

Do you realise that this is it for them?

Soon their relationship will be a criminal offence.

Jimin and Jungkook will enist when they return to Korea.

This little getaway will be the last chance they have to spend quality time together. These are the last few days they have to be young and in love and free to be together.

Dont ruin it for them.

I am BEGGING armys to leave them alone so they can be together. Don't follow them. Don't photograph them.

Please, let them be.

Who knows when they will see one another again?

The military criminalises same sex relationships, even outside the barracks and on leave passes.

Imagine that for yourself.

Imagine the person you love most in the world being taken away from you for 18 months, and even when you get to see them you can't be with them.

They've lived together for 13 years and loved each other for almost as long

They've been inseparable from the start.

Other enlisted men can go home to their lovers when they are on a pass but for same sex couples that's so risky.

The cruelty of it is palpable.

Stigmatisation and homophobia are scaled up to criminalise their love, when men in same sex relationships are in the military.

My heart breaks for them and for every man in a same sex relationship doing their MS in Korea.

With recent revelations that Jimin accompanied Jungkook to Qatar, we know for sure that even when we think they're apart they are not.

They've been there for each other through all the challenges and turmoil, from struggling to make ends meet, to dealing with the pressures of fame.

And soon they will be on their own.

So, how do you come to terms with spending 18 months far away from your person, knowing that if you're lucky and your leave passes line up, you can be sentenced to jail time for being with them.

No wonder Jimin won't let go of Jungkook for a single second.

So please, if you are trailing after them to take pictures or spy on them or even if you just want to catch a glimpse, please think twice.

[kanmom51]

Just dropping these here for a sec

Obviously I will talk about this when I write about my impressions about Standing next to you, but that might take some time, and this popped out at me and well, I had to share this like NOW!!!

Letter

Baby, don't leave Just stay by my side, yeah To you, who see me bigger than what my little self is (to you) So that I can give as much as I’ve received (oh-oh) So that I can keep my word (oh-oh) Don't worry, just stay by my side, yeah (Yeah) We don’t know what the future holds (holds, yeah) And that’s scary and makes us afraid (oh-oh) But don’t forget that we’re always together (don't forget)

Standing next to you

Screamin', I testify that We'll survive the test of time They can't deny our love They can't divide us We'll survive the test of timeI swear that I'll be right here

And side by side:

I will also say this without getting into it too much at this point, but Standing next to you is heavily Jikook coded. For example:

Yeah

And this one:

and:

So, we have rain (rainy day fight which both JK and JM brought up kind of out of nowhere again in their June lives), we have the pain (JM's Like crazy lyrics in English: "Can you help me numb the pain?"), the very visible 13 again. We have JK as probably a dark angel, but looking very much like his Black swan back in 2020. A black swan that a one PJM really liked. Like REALLY LIKED.

And it's kind of a circle here, cause when you think of black swan you think of:

And when you think about this Jikook, you think about this as well:

And there you are, we are back to the sun and moon.

Now, JK did say this:

And yes, the lyrics were not written by JK.

But: a. JK not writing the lyrics does not necessarily mean that he did not have an input as to certain words or descriptions he wanted inserted into them; and b. People shouldn't read the songs as autobiographical, as in, unlike what fans have been farting out of their asses (and do forgive me for the language, but it had to be said), JK doesn't fuck a different woman seven days a week, and hasn't just broken up with his gf, whom he still loves but has to hate cause that's the only way he can handle it, you know, that same gf he was seen making out with back in LA Dec 21, or maybe Nicole? or was it the blond from Qatar? No, it's the pregnant gf from the clip of the apartment that isn't his. Bottom line being, JK saying this was telling stupid ass fans that he's an artist, just incase they didn't know that already, and as such he is performing songs that he did not write and that do not necessarily represent him in real life.

There is definitley more to say, but I think I'll stop here for now.

Like I said, just dropping this here for a sec.

[hero-israel]

Same anon who asked about Gaza post 2005 and pre war. I want to know were they just laughing at dumb westerners that they took advantage of? Was it all a scam? Or was it an elite living on the backs of a brainwashed underclass who lived in poverty? Did these formerly comfortable Gazans buy into the martyrdom thing or was that only for the poor? Because if they did it kind of makes me believe that to the average rich to middle class Gazan it's not death before dishonor but death before discomfort. Like they're happy to die as martyrs but G-d forbid they have to eat canned food. Because that's just bizarre to me. .

Is it true that they're willing to die, that they love death more than Israel loves life? But that the average Israeli soldier is willing to suffer for their survival and cause in a way most Hamas members aren't?

The hardest-core apocalyptic fundies in the leadership (and certainly everybody pulling the strings from a safe distance in Iran and Qatar) believe in martyrdom and eternal war. I believe the average Gazan is likely to both hate Jews and also to not want to be killed or surrounded by violence, and that's a position I can accept.

We also need to bear in mind the very high likelihood that Hamas never thought they could make Oct. 7 as big as it was, and wound up with a "catastrophic success".

I have mentioned here repeatedly that Netanyahu weakened Israel militarily. In his desperation to avoid whatever trivial prison sentence comes with his trivial crimes, he pushed through a judicial overhaul plan that tore society apart, and he could only be defended by a coalition with the West Bank Race Riots Party which set about eagerly causing more West Bank race riots. With all eyes focused on totally avoidable protests and riots, the army was redeployed away from Gaza. I was losing sleep all through 2023 fearing something like that would happen - it was too obvious that Israel was distracted, even to a layman like me. Probably not a coincidence that they also struck during the period when the U.S. Congress was paralyzed and couldn't choose a Speaker.

But even Hamas surely could not have anticipated the complete failure of the IDF, that some towns would see no defenders arrive for 12+ hours. It's a small country - you could probably cross it on a pogo stick in 12 hours.

I could totally see them planning to kill 100 and kidnap 7, then found themselves with the opportunity to kill thousands and kidnap hundreds. Drunk with victory, they took it to a level beyond Israel possibly negotiating, beyond Gaza possibly left standing.

[multifandomfanfic]

could you do something where ronaldo is your ex and you broke up because he cheated but he saw you with another man at a party and he got really jealous??

Cold Air

Word Count: ~2.2k

A/N: I hope you enjoy! Sorry this took so long and sorry if any descriptions of Qatar are inaccurate. Just suspend reality for a bit :)) (also, I proof-read this, but it hasn’t had a second pair of eyes look at it)

The city lights passed by your car as you made your way to the club. The World Cup was in full swing and, today, Portugal had beaten Switzerland by five goals. You wrinkled your nose. Portugal. As good of a team they were, any mention of their team, and especially a certain player, left a foul taste on your tongue. 

It wasn't like you didn't love Ronaldo. You did.., well, you had loved him at one point. Months ago you had been positive your relationship was going to last forever; you were living together, you went with him to his events, and you were even certain you had spied an engagement ring in his bag once. All of that was squashed within seconds thanks to Ronaldo’s unlocked phone and a few Instagram DMs. 

Within days, you had moved out of your shared house and into an apartment far away from Manchester. Ronaldo agreed to pay the first year of your rent in return for you not going public about his infidelity, but you took the high road. You did not need his help and, after what he did to you, you decided that you did not want to have any connection to him any longer. Enough was enough.

But here you were, in Qatar, the day his team beat the Swiss.

Your phone vibrated and you dug it out of your purse. 

I'll have to leave a little early tonight, Emi texted you.

What? Why?

Coach wants us to get at least eight hours of sleep before some extra practice in the morning. He explained, I'm free to do whatever you want tomorrow night.

You groaned and slumped back into the car seat. Great. Just great. The only reason you were going to this club was to celebrate Emi’s friend’s birthday, whom you had never met. In fact, you hardly knew anybody on his team. You had spent so much time with Portugal and Manchester United that you hadn’t become acquainted with any of the other teams. Besides, you had only been seeing Emi for a couple of months. 

“Is this it?” your driver asked. 

“Yes, this is it,” you sighed. The cold night air raised goosebumps on your skin as soon as you pushed open the door. It was refreshing and briefly distracted your mind from the awkwardness awaiting you inside.

The bouncer opened the rope as you approached. The club’s exterior was lit by LED lights, beckoning people to venture inside. Quite a crowd had amounted outside, drawn by the possibility of seeing a world-class futball player in person. They watched you as you entered the building. Who were you? And why were you here?

The interior of the bar was as exuberant and bright as the exterior. The only difference was the number of people crammed within its walls. Bodies were pressed against each other, moving to the music blaring from the speakers. Two bartenders were hurriedly making drinks for the growing crowd. They had been instructed to prioritize the futball players and serve them first, but they were struggling to keep up with that demand.

You scanned the throngs of people. One or two of the men close to you looked familiar, but the lights were set just dim enough that you couldn’t distinguish people from a distance. Their forms blended into one, swaying mass.

Person after person bumped and shoved you (whether on accident or on purpose, you couldn’t tell) as you forged your way to the bar. Surely, there were too many people in the club to be safe, but nobody paid attention. They were all having fun. You were the walking embodiment of dread.

You tugged on the end of your dress. It wasn’t yours–one of the players’ girlfriends had lent it to you–and it wasn’t exactly your taste either. The color was off and it fell awkwardly on your thighs. Anyone who knew you would know the dress was not your first choice. 

“Excuse me?” you asked the bartender closest to you, “Can I get one of those?”

The mixture of alcohol he was making was taking all of his attention, and he made no effort to respond. You groaned, leaned against the bartop, and began people-watching. There was no sight of Ronaldo or Emi. You weren’t expecting Ronaldo to be there, but you could never be too sure. 

“Y/N!” a familiar voice called from behind you.

You turned around and smiled, “Emi!” 

He pushed his way through the crowd, nodding and grinning at his friends. You recognized none of them, despite going to many of Emi’s games. Maybe you were too stuck in the past.

Once he reached you, Emi grabbed your waist and pulled you towards him. 

“It’s so good to see you,” he said, leaning over slightly and began kissing your neck. Several people’s eyes landed on the two of you. 

“Babe, please,” you whispered, “Not in public.”

He stepped back, “Why not?”

“I just don’t feel comfortable with it, ok?” you replied. To be honest, you had no idea why it made you so uneasy. People looking at you was one thing, but something else was off.

Emi smirked and loosened his grip on your waist, “Fine. But I will be seeing you tomorrow night.”

“It’s a date,” you chuckled. He left you one more kiss on your lips as he started to back away. He smiled and nodded his head goodbye. Before you knew it, Emi had disappeared into the mass of people.

The bartender continued to pay attention to other patrons, leaving you drinkless and bored. There was a full-length mirror behind the back of the bar. You examined yourself in it, rubbing off the lipstick that had made its way off of your lips and adjusting your hair so it fell just right on your face. A figure began to form behind you. Someone was making their way to the spot to your left. The way the lights were positioned and flashing, you could not tell who it was.. that is, until they spoke.

He ordered two of your favorite drink and, like clockwork, the bartender had them finished within seconds.

“You look good,” he almost mumbled as he took the first sip from his drink. His eyes scanned your figure, soaking in every aspect of how the dress fell on your body. You could have slapped him, “Although, I wouldn’t peg you as the type of girl to wear something like that.”

“What do you want, Ronaldo?” you spat. His face changed for a moment at the use of his last name instead of Cristiano–what you used to call him–but, within seconds, it was back to his usual, sly look. On the other hand, you could feel your face turning red. Months of pent-up rage and regret flooded back into your head. Why had you come here? Why did he have to be here?

“You haven’t changed a bit,” he said as you picked up your drink. You slammed it back down on the counter. A little sloshed over the edge and the bartender immediately wiped it with his towel. He scowled at you but smiled at Ronaldo. You pushed the glass to the farthest point on the bar that you could reach. You refused to drink it. That would make it seem like you were diving in.

“I asked you what you wanted,” you seethed, arms crossed across your chest, “Can you answer my question?”

He rolled his eyes and looked around as if you were the only person in the room who did not know what he was going to say. He then leaned closer, “You could do much better than an Argentinian. That’s all I wanted to say.”

You froze. Your mouth hung agape, your mind was apparently empty of any good comebacks. After a moment you managed a “Are you kidding me?” and a small, all-too-exaggerated laugh. The audacity this man had. He cheated on you, not the other way around. 

“Do you think I’m joking? I’m just stating the obvious, darling,” Ronaldo smirked. He leaned against the bar, drink in hand. Triumph was written all over his face. 

You pulled out twenty dollars from your purse and slammed it onto the bar to cover your drink. You stood up straight, staring your adversary in the eyes. 

“I’m done with your bullshit, Ronaldo. Do I need to remind you whose fault it was that we broke up? It wasn’t me!,” you shouted just loud enough so the people closest to you could hear, “Have a good life.”

You stormed past him, purposely bumping into his shoulder on the way to the back. Your feet carried you past the mob of bodies. Instead of annoying you, they acted to your benefit, creating an almost impenetrable sea for Ronaldo to cross to get to you. You made it to the back exit swiftly and, without hesitating, escaped the room.

The chilly air greeted you like an old friend. Your dress was hardly enough to keep you warm, but it didn’t matter. Compared to the inside of the bar and its patrons, it felt more friendly and calm in the frigid night.

You pulled out your phone and started searching for an Uber to take you home. You began walking down the alleyway, enveloped in the screen in front of you rather than paying attention to your surroundings. That was why you nearly jumped out of your skin when you felt a cold hand grab a hold of your arm.

You whipped around and tried to strike the attacker with your bag but, after a moment, you saw that it was none other than Ronaldo. Despite recognizing him, you still managed to hit him with your purse. You ripped your arm from his grasp and backed up. You weren’t truly scared of him, not at all, but he repulsed you so much that you wanted to distance yourself from him as much as you possibly could.

“What the hell are you doing?!” you exclaimed.

“Y/N, listen to m–”

“No, tell me what you think you’re doing!”

“I don’t know what I–” he stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly and shifting his weight.

“You don’t know what you’re do–”

“Y/N, would you just listen to me, please?!” Ronaldo finally begged. He stood with his arms extended to you, silently pleading with you to let him speak, “Please?”

You checked your phone and then crossed your arms, “You have two minutes, Ronaldo, then I never want to see you again.”

“That’s fine, that’s perfect,” he took a step back. He looked at the sky as he took a deep breath. The stars were shining down on the two of you, illuminating the alleyway just enough that you could see Ronaldo’s breath and the sweat dripping down his face. What was bothering him so much?

He sighed, exasperated with his own thoughts, “Y/N, I.. you know I love you right?”

You did not reply, nod, or shake your head. You kept your eyes glued on him but, on the inside, your stomach was turning. This conversation could lead nowhere good. In the months since your break-up, you had thought about getting back together plenty of times. Yet, in reality, you could never let yourself do that. He cheated on you once. He had broken your trust. That could not happen again.

“I know you do. And I know, I hope, that deep down you still love me,” Ronaldo continued, trying to get any reaction out of you, but none came, “I will never love another woman as much as I love you. You were the light of my life, the thing that made me smile every single day without fail. You enchant me, Y/N,  and I went and screwed everything up. Will you forgive me?”

You scoffed, your arms only crossing tighter in front of your chest, “Don’t give me this ‘I love you most ardently’-esque crap. You cheated on me, Ronaldo. I have proof!”

“And I regret it every day! Y/N, you don’t understand how much I’ve beat myself up over this. I love you! You make me happy!”

“Ronaldo, if I really made you happy, frankly, we would not be in this situation right now,” you said, pursing your lips. You shrugged, “I am sorry, but I can’t forgive you.”

With that, a grey sedan drove to the end of the alleyway behind you. You checked the description on your phone–it was your ride.

“That’s me,” you said. The amount of water vapor in front of Ronaldo’s mouth only increased as he grew angrier and more confused. His mind was running, trying to find some solution to have you back, or to get you to at least forgive him, but he could not find one.

“Can you at least call me Cristiano?” he finally called out as you started to walk away.

You turned around. After a moment, you nodded, and made eye contact with him once more, “Alright, Cristiano. As I said earlier, I hope you have a good life.”

[lishapbs]

Looking for rental apartments in Qatar? Urban Capital, with the best estate brokers, provide a wide selection of luxurious homes and apartments for rent .click here https://www.urbancapitalqatar.com/

[evilwickedme]

(image description in alt text)

@wyf-of-bathe I actually love this question because it's definitely something I feel like doesn't really get addressed! I tried to answer it last night and my connection timed out just as I was saving the draft and it fucked off unfortunately, but let's give it another try.

Ok so important figured to know:

Obviously, President Biden, the current head of the USAmerican government

Also obviously, Bibi Netanyahu, the current prime minister of Israel, member of the war cabinet

Yoav Gallant, current Minister of Defense in Israel, member of the war cabinet

Benny Gantz, a minister without a portfolio, entered the government when the war started in order to join the war cabinet

Gadi Eisenkot, another minister without a portfolio of the same party as Gantz, also joined the government to join the war cabinet

Itamar Ben Gvir and Betzalel Smotrich, extreme right wing ministers (Minister of National Security and Finance Minister, respectively). Not in the war cabinet

There are other members of the Biden government that are in practice important to the relationship between Israel and the USA, but aren't important to general understanding of what's going on, so I won't name them

Same for members of the IDF

I'm going to try to paint a general picture of the development of relations between the Biden administration and Israel over the last seven months since October seventh. Considering I am a human being I might get certain dates wrong; please forgive me, I will try to be as accurate as possible.

October seventh, as I'm sure most people here know, is the start of this narrative. Following the brutal attack on Israel by Hamas and PLJ, with the attack on land happening in the Israeli south and the rockets reaching as far as Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Netanya, leading to the deaths of 1200 people and kidnapping of 250 Israeli citizens, member of the IDF, and foreign workers, the majority of them women, children, and the elderly, Israel launched a counter offensive on Gaza. At the time worldwide sympathies were mostly on Israel's side, especially as the number of deaths and severe injuries rose as well as the brutal nature of the attack became clearer. The Biden administration immediately contacted the Israeli government assuring them they were on their side, and offering aid, including armaments. Biden even visits Israel, the first US president to do so during wartime. Biden personally meets with several families of hostages, especially those which are American citizens.

The US was also extremely involved in the process to achieve the first (and so far only) hostage deal/ceasire between Hamas and Israel in late November, alongside Qatar and Egypt. 112 people total were released during this deal in exchange for several days of ceasefire and humanitarian aid, but when Hamas insisted on returning dead bodies instead of live women and children as per the agreement, the ceasefire fell apart and the war resumed.

Following this the IDF attacks expanded from Gaza City to Khan Younis, at which point talks between Biden and Bibi were becoming increasing tense. While the US continued to support Israel in public and continued to veto various resolutions in the UN which did not call for the immediate return of the hostages alongside the end of the war, the phone calls between Biden and Bibi made it clear that the Israeli government had no clear plan for what is referred to as "the day after", and as the death toll in Gaza continued to rise and the majority of the population became refugees the American government became more and more concerned with the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. Biden often ended up essentially chastasing Bibi for both of these, and asked Israel to come up with a plan for who will take control of the Gaza Strip following the end of the war, as well as putting particular emphasis on letting more humanitarian aid cross the border into Gaza.

Bibi and Gallant's relationship also becomes strained as they disagree on what the war efforts should look like, such as Gallant calling for entering Rafah, something that would ruin Bibi's relationship with the USA permanently at this point. Biden continuously asks for the IDF's plans to clear Rafah before attacking there and is unimpressed with the response.

A concurrent focus of the Israeli government as well as the families of the hostages was to get medication to the hostages, many of whom are known to have received grievous injuries on October seventh or who have conditions that require regular medication. Especially the elderly men, who at this point are about a third to half of the hostages still remaining in captivity. A mini deal is reached to bring in to Gaza a large amount of medication in exchange for Red Cross access as well as medication being given to the hostages. This access was not given, even though the medication did enter. Oddly enough, while obviously all the other intermediaries were involved, France was also involved in this one, and many summits since then have also taken place in Paris.

Following this the US abstaining rather than vetoing a UN resolution calling for ceasefire, as it while not conditioning it on the return of the hostages did still call for their return (hence not a veto, but also not voting for it). This was incredibly bad timing as just then Bibi was supposed to send a team to the US to explain and discuss the current war plans with the USAmerican, but this abstaining led to Bibi pulling the plug on that.

As this is happening, Bibi was calling for the war cabinet to convene less and less, and was sharing essentially no information with its members. The war efforts are still focused on Khan Younis, but frankly, the army is rapidly running out of things to do. Hostage deal negotiations are going nowhere. However the only reason Bibi even still has a government is because of Ben Gvir and Smotrich's presence, and they continually threaten a. to veto any hostage deal which involves the end of the war and b. to leave the government if the war is ended. Bibi puts extreme restrictions on the negotiating team, as well as constantly pulling them out. The relationship between Bibi and Biden continues to worsen, and the US continues to pressure for more and more aid to come in.

Then, without warning, Gantz gets on a plane to Washington. This is extremely unprecedented and frankly out of line, but ultimately in my opinion a good move; it temporarily improved relations between the US and Israel, as well as finally revealed the strained relationship that had been worsening for months to Gantz and Eisenkot, who had somehow (and this is frankly ridiculous, it was constantly on the news) completely missed how terrible this relationship had gotten.

Gantz and Eisenkot are constantly pushing forpre cabinet meetings, which Bibi does occasionally call. These debates are frustrating and circular. Biden continues to be disappointed with the lack of planning for Rafah and the day after, as Gallant continues to clarify that the IDF is ready to act on Rafah anytime, should Bibi actually decide to do so.

Things take another turn for the worse on Bibi's side when the US starts dropping aid and creating the harbor without consulting Israel. Meanwhile the US starts to put sanctions on Israeli citizens who commit acts of terror in the West Bank, and following what is actually a several year investigation, also against the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, a Haredi majority battalion known for committing acts of terror against Palestinians in the West Bank as well.

If this seems bad for Israel, it's because it is. As much as people on this website love to claim that Biden is "supporting a genocide", the truth is Biden is an old school diplomat. Israel is a long standing ally of the US, and the Trump style of making grand statements in front of crowds is considerably less effective than the constant pressure Biden is putting on Israel behind closed doors. This pressure is why the aid to Gaza is constantly increasing! No, it's not enough, but it is increasing. This pressure is also why until this week, following the sudden rockets shot at south Israel once more, Israel did not enter Rafah.

The current situation is more of the same. The US continues to be involved in the negotiations with Hamas for a hostage deal/ceasefire, which I detailed in a post a couple of days ago; their involvement is even more important now that Qatar has dropped out. Biden continues to pressure Israel to avoid activities in Rafah, and recently threatened to forbid the use of American weapons and armaments if it becomes more serious. There have been no new sanctions for a while, but I don't think the US would hesitate if that came up. The Biden administration, including both Kamala Harris and Biden himself, has started even criticizing the IDF on television!

What do I think is going to happen next? Personally I genuinely have no idea. Best case scenario, the current negotiations for a ceasefire/hostage deal succeed, and the IDF pulls out of Gaza, while somehow managing to replace Hamas as the people in charge in the Strip, followed by Bibi's resignation. This is not going to happen. The definitive victory Bibi keeps promising is not in reach, and if the IDF go for it without essentially emptying Rafah over the course of weeks or even months (currently a few hundred thousand out of 1.9 million (!) Gazans have fled to Khan Younis), the US is going to follow through on their threat and forbid the use of their armaments (the worst case scenario). The best case scenario that could actually happen is a hostage deal that leads to several months of ceasefire followed by a POSSIBLE cessation of the war, and Hamas continuing to control Gaza. The issue of who will take control of the Rafah crossing is also on the table, as Israel is interested in building a subterranean wall on the Egyptian border like the one that exists on the Israeli border. I suspect it'll be Egypt, which views the possible escape of Gazans into Egypt as a security threat; but this will probably lead to fucking riots in the street in Egypt, where public opinion is on the side of the Palestinians and often also pro Hamas, which will lead to the end of current Egyptian president el-Sisi's career.

Another issue I should have brought up and forgot to was the normalization process between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which the US and Biden were overseeing before the start of the war. It was progressing really well til October seventh; while it is getting back on track, following October seventh and the way the Palestinian issue has been brought to the forefront, the normalization can no longer go through without Bibi giving lip service to the possible future of a Palestinian state, the two state solution that Biden believes in. Bibi will simply not do this. Even if he wasn't a right wing nut job would never do that, it would definitely guarantee Ben Gvir and Smotrich's exit from the government, and Bibi's government falling immediately.

I think I've covered the main points (in uh... So many words. Probably too many words.) I'm currently not taking any more questions on i/p, I'll let y'all know when the inbox is "open" so to speak. If this was helpful to you and you feel like supporting me, my ko-fi is linked in my bio.

[applejuicefruit]

Hola angel❤️ can i request something? i have this on my mind:

Reader and Kylian are dating but reader is Oliver giroud’s daughter (maybe adoptive daughter because i mean he’s 36 and reader would be 18/19) and one day he finds about them because they tried to keep it secret❤️

Have I mentioned before that I need Olivier to be my father?

I really hope you like this ❤️✨

A father’s love

You moved to Paris when you were 18, fresh out of high school, to pursue your dream of being a photographer. You moved a lot during your childhood due to your father being a famous football player. He’s Olivier Giroud who plays for Milan and the Equipe de France. He’s the one who saved your life after being abandoned by your parents in an orphanage only when you were 5. You always thought you would have a miserable life, you never understood why your parents left you but when you were 7 your life changed completely. He adopted you, he welcomed you into his family and he cared for you like a parent should do.

You lived in Milan for a few years where you graduated high school but it came time for you to leave and chase your dreams.

Your dad fully supported you and you couldn’t be happier. He got you this small parisian apartment with a beautiful eiffel tower view and you couldn’t ask for me.

You started attending photography class and learnt a lot from there but the biggest opportunity of your life came when your accepted a stage as a photographer for the psg. You weren’t allowed to meet the players but you were grateful you could see all the psg matches.

Until one night you were attending a game, as usual, and you started taking pictures of the team. You were very good with portraits, even if you preferred the nature you were happy with the job you were doing.

You took a lot of pictures that night and PSG posted them all on their social.

That same night Kylian poster a picture that you took but instead of tagging PSG he tagged you.

You were shocked.

How did he know you were the one taking that picture?

You were completely shocked.

The day after he approached you while he was training. You were sat on the bench currently studying your program and occasionally taking pictures of the team while they were training.

“You have talent” he said sitting next to you

“Ehm-thank you” you replied in a soft tone

“I’m Kylian by the way”

“Y/n…”

“Y/n? Why does it sound so familiar? Wait…You’re Olivier’s daughter?” he asked a bit shocked

“Yes it’s me” you said smiling a bit

“Wow…”

“Does it shock you?”

“No-yes-I mean…what are you doing here? I thought you were all in Milan”

“I was…I was accepted into photography school here in Paris so I moved here…”

“That’s amazing…well I have to go back to training but I hope we can talk more afterward” he said and with that he left.

After that day you two became friends.

He would take you out in Paris and you would invite him over at your place for movie nights. But you were falling for him.

You couldn’t help it but you started feeling emotions everytime he looked at you. Like butterflies exploding into your stomach. You kept it a secret for a while before you told him. You knew he didn’t like you back but you had to tell him. You were wrong though.

When you confessed he kissed you. Passionately.

He told you he fell in love with you the moment he saw you the first time.

So you started dating.

But no one knew. Not even the team or his family. You wanted to keep it private, firstly because you were a very private person, secondly because he was terrified of your father finding out. You knew your dad wouldn’t approve.

You dating his teammate? Absolutely no!

So you dated, hiding from everyone and always been careful. And now it’s been a year you’re together.

But the World Cup moment came and you had to go in Qatar to support your dad (and your boyfriend) team.

You were terrified of him finding out but you also knew you couldn’t stay away from Kylian so you had to be very careful.

The first week was easy. Kylian would sneak out into your bedroom when everyone was fast asleep but more the days went on more it became complicated for you to see each other.

He trained more and you stayed in your bedroom more.

One night you decided to surprise him and went into his bedroom. It was a bit risky because his room was on the same floor your dad’s room was but you didn’t think about it so much.

What you didn’t know was that your dad saw you and Kylian kissing each other right in the corridor before he took your hand and led you into his room.

Your dad waited two hours outside Kylian’s room hoping you would come out but eventually he gave up. He definitely would have talk to you in the morning so he woke up earlier and waited for the rest of the team to go down and have breakfast.

“Où est Kylian?” your dad asked to his teammates pretending he didn’t know what was really going on

“Je ne sais pas” Adrien Rabiot answered before eating his breakfast.

Your dad finished breakfast before everyone else so he had time to go to Kylian’s room.

But before he could say anything he saw you coming out to Kylian’s room with him behind you holding your hands.

“Don’t you have anything to say?” your dad asked and you both jumped because of fear

“Dad I-“ you tried to say but honestly you had no idea of what to say

“Kylian?” your dad asked, while he crossed his arms and tensed his shoulder a little bit

“Olivier I swear I would never hurt her” Kylian admitted while not being able to hold eyes with your father, who, in that moment looked a little bit much intimidating

“Oh you better not. If you hurt her, if you break her heart, if you cheat on her, if you even think of cheating on her, if you make her cry, if you treat her bad, I’m gonna find out and you’re dead. Clear?” he asked in a very serious tone

“Yes sir. But I promise you, I would never ever hurt her. She’s the love of my life, I can’t even go a day without seeing her…” Kylian said to your dad and he soften his hard look a little bit

“I believe you Kyks…” Olivier said “now back to you y/n…why didn’t you tell me?” he asked a little bit disappointed

“I thought you wouldn’t approve. I mean you hated all the guys I’ve dated so…” you said in a soft voice

“Yes because at the time you were fifteen and the guys you dated were dickheads but now it’s different, you’re almost 20, you have your own career, you’re own place, you’re a young woman and whether I like it or not, you won’t staying single forever, I can’t protect you like I did when you were a kid so it’s okay for you to date and make new experiences…I just wished you weren’t scared to tell me…”

You couldn’t hold back tears and hug him “I know I’m so sorry dad”

“It’s okay honey, what matters now is that your happy”

“I am - I swear, Kylian makes me so much happy you have no idea” you said smiling while your dad wiped your tears away

“Good” he then said “Kylian, you better treat her good”

“Yes sir. You know I will” Kylian replied and your dad left to change into his training suits.

You and Kylian looked at each other trying to process what has just happened. You were shocked. Happy that your father approved cause having his approval was the most important thing for you.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Yaakov Katz

A person could be excused for thinking that Borrell and Albanese live in an alternate reality; unfortunately, they do not. Sadly, these useful idiots who pretend to run serious and influential organizations are promoting a system of values that will consistently give terrorist organizations a victory, for at least as long as they are attacking Israel.

Borrell and Albanese pay lip service to the rescue of the hostages, but the truth is that they don’t want Israel to be rescuing anyone. They are promoting the reality that if Israel comes under fire while rescuing its people, it should not shoot back and instead let its soldiers die. What they want is for Israel’s hands to be tied so that they are unable to launch a rescue operation to begin with.

Sadly, when it comes to Israel, we already know that brains go out the window, replaced by moral insanity and hatred that prevent understanding why Israelis are fighting. This moral absurdity allows people to shed tears when Israelis are killed and subsequently declare that Israel has the right to defend itself, but then, when Israel does exactly that, these same people immediately condemn Israel and call for it to stop.

Instead of promoting false claims of a massacre, why do these people not ask why hostages were being held in apartment buildings in Gaza to begin with? If they care so much about ending the war, why do they not raise questions about Hamas’s war crimes and wonder why the hostages were being held in civilian areas in the first place? That, of course, they won’t do. Instead, they willfully fall into Hamas’s trap and blast false accusations against Israel, condemning it for doing what any country would do: rescue its people.

And while we never really needed the proof, what The Wall Street Journal revealed a few days ago underscores the point. According to the article, Gaza-based Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar wrote to his terrorist colleagues in Qatar that the deaths of Palestinian civilians were “necessary sacrifices.” Sinwar went on to compare it to the civilian losses in conflicts like that in Algeria, where hundreds of thousands of people died fighting for independence.

Anti-Israel activists prolong war

THIS HAS long been Hamas’s strategy: civilians are killed in Gaza, and the terrorist organization knows that no one is going to bother to ask why it embeds itself in civilian infrastructure, why it keeps hostages in apartments, or why it shoots rockets from children’s bedrooms. Instead, Sinwar knows that people will blame Israel and Israel alone.

The problem is that when Borrell and Albanese do this, they are emboldening Hamas, putting Israel – as Sinwar himself wrote, according to the WSJ report – “right where we want them” when it comes to the question of who is winning the war. When Sinwar sees that Israel rescues hostages and comes under fierce international criticism, does that make him feel motivated to release hostages in a deal or to hold on to them for longer? Why wouldn’t he feel emboldened when Israel is slammed every time it attacks Gaza?

[peaky-shelby]

Define me | Neymar x Oc [1&2]

Summary: Famous Singer and Actress, Gabriella Hamill, travels to Qatar after being invited on live television by her favorite player, Lionel Messi. Despite the invitation, Ella tries to avoid the cameras and hide in plain side, wanting to enjoy the games without the chaos that comes with being in Public places and it all seems to be going well until she meets Neymar Jr. in this bad boy meets good girl story, the definition of good and bad is lost between the lines and redefined by the past and future.

Writer's note: originally posted in Wattpad, for quicker updates you can follow me there. Let's see how much you guys wanna read 👀

GABRIELLA’S APARTMENT – BOSTON

“Are you sure you packed everything?”

Gabriella zipped her suitcase closed and let out a big sigh, letting her body fall on It. “No but it doesn’t fit anything else anyway.”

Maggie was standing by the door, her eyes stuck on her employer and friend of course. She didn’t say anything, she just stood, hands crossed on her chest and biting her lip.

Ella glanced at her, frowning her eyebrows. “thought we were over it Maggie.”

“Can’t say we are.”

“I’m going.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you looking at me like that?”

“There’s a lot of controversy around this Mundial.”

“Not this again.” Gabriella got up, lifting her suitcase with one hand “I’ve been invited by the Goat himself.” She smiled and the repeated “I’m going.”

NEYMAR’S HOTEL ROOM – QATAR

He reached his hand over to the nightstand and slapped the alarm on the floor, breaking and shutting it off. He groaned a little, hid his face on the pillow, groaned a little more and eventually sat on the bed, rubbing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh. Just a few seconds later, there were repeated knocks on his door by his captain that passed every morning though everyone’s bedrooms, yelling for them to get their asses of the bed.

Cold water woke him up. It sharpened through his skin, his face and his eyes and it got him ready for training. A quick breakfast, a quick run by himself outside the hotel where he met his buddies from different teams and then straight to their training area. More running, kicking balls, drippling, laughing, falling, sometimes fighting with the opposite teams that were training at the same time and then a break on the bench.

He was drinking one of his energy drinks, watching his teammates still going round and round with each other. Silva was kicking Richarlison’s ass again about something and Neymar smiled at himself, having being in that position many times in the past. Raphinha came and sat next to him. Patting him on the shoulder.

“Ja disistiu, amigo?” [Already gave up, buddy?]

Neymar laughed at his comment and shook his head “Nao. Estou a chegar.”

“Falta apenas uma hora”

He nodded and went in the field again with Raphinha. Just one hour left for the scheduled training, good news was he could finally take an actual break after 9 hours of running around non stop. Bad news was that he never felt his training was enough, he always wanted more. Today it felt even worse, his mind wasn’t all there, he was distracted and tired like a someone had put a spell on him to be this way and when training was over and all his teammates went to their rooms he felt… lonely.

QATAR UNIVERSITY HOSTEL – ARGENTINA’S BASE

Gabriella walked in her mouth hanging open behind her mask while Maggie was talking with the security to check their invitations. When she was done, they walked deeper into the building, enjoying the beauty and how expensive everything looked.

A man run up to them from the other side of the hallway smiling.

“Ola! Ms. Hamill, welcome!” he reached out his hand smiling. “I’m Leo’s assistant. He left a few minutes ago for his training.” He said in his broken english.

“Bad timing. Its ok.”

“No no. He has told me to help you find your way to the pitch.”

“That won’t be possible!” jumped in Maggie. Stepping forward. “Ms. Hamill doesn’t want to risk been seen.”

“I understand. We have a private car that will drive us there and she can stay with her mask on until we reach the training area.”

“That could work.” Said Ella under her mask, giving maggie a look. Maggie thought about it but pretty much knew she wouldn’t be able to stop her.

The truth was Gabriella was excited. She hadn’t been this excited about something since the first time she met Meryl Stripp at the oscars. She hated being surrounded by many people unless she was drunk or unless it was the right people. Through the whole drive she’d look from the window at the views, spotting flags from different times and listening to the foreign language on the radio. Suddenly this great feeling crept on to her that she was a nobody here. She had managed to escape from the chaos of the states where everyone was chasing for a picture and screaming for a comment. No one knew where she was, she was under the radar, hiding in plain sight. Most of all she had the opportunity to do something she loved, watch football, meet heroes she had grown up with and admired with her father.

She smiled at the thought, little her sitting on the couch next to her dad who was yelling at the tv for Messi to score as if he would listen to him through the screen. She laughed, “silencio!” her mother would yell because she had just put her little brother to sleep and when her dad would yell again she’d throw him one of her flip flops to shut him up.

Her smile faded suddenly. It was weird, how one second thinking about them made her happy and the other it made her feel lonely.

They reached the pitch a few minutes later, Gabriella came out wearing her sunglasses, her hoodie and her mask. If it wasn’t for leo’s assistant, security would proably think she was part of a gang or something. She could hear the balls getting kicked, their feet running, it sent chills to her skin. She reached for Maggie holding her arm tightly. Maggie glanced, scoffing but didn’t say anything. They walked in slowly through the large hallways and then sunlight blinded her and she saw them all around the field, running back and forth. Tackling each other, playing with each other until her eyes fell on her childhood hero. Messi.

He waved when he saw her and gave her a smile. Gabriella felt safe enough to take off her disguises now and pulled down her hoodie, her wavy long hair falling like a curtain on either side of her face. She pulled off her mask as well and only kept her sunglasses, letting her hazel eyes covered for a little longer. Messi signaled for her to wait a moment for him to finish and she sat on the bench with Maggie taking in the beauty of the large stadium.

“For the record I still think this is a bad idea.”

“bloody hell can you stop whining for a second?” she asked, nudging her shoulder.

“Are you happy?”

“Haven’t been this happy in a while.” She admitted, smiling. Maggie smiled back. Truth is Gabriella would be nothing without her. She was her best friend and her protector and she knew how much she cared. She had seen her at her worst and she had stayed.

“Listen. Just cause I don’t enjoy watching men sweating as much as you do, I’ll go walk around the block. You stay here and call me if you need anything.”

“Yes mum.”

“I’m serious!”

“Go!”

Maggie rarely did anything for herself ever since she had started taking care of Ella. So whenever Ella had the opportunity to encourage her to take time off she’d take it.

A little after Maggie was gone, the legendary Messi called for her down on the field. She sprinted down the stairs quickly. Messi kicked the ball to her, smiling and she caught it with the side of her foot, laughing.

“Estas Bien?” he asked nearing her.

“Si! Gracias por la invitacion!”

“Sin problemas. Quieres jugar?” he smiled, looking at the ball.

She still remembered the basic words in spanish. She’d speak it often with her mother when she was a kid and speaking it again now, even though hers was more than broken, it made her emotional. So.. did she want to play?

“Si!”

“Espero que juenues mejor de lo que hablas espanol!”

“Hey I understood that!” she complained and kicked the ball back at him. He caught the ball with his foot without even looking when it was close enough.

“No english!” he said “you need training.”

“Why don’t you train in english instead?”

Messi laughed “you win. I speak Ingles with you. You lose you speak espanol.”

She shrugged, knowing exactly what she was getting herself into.

She wondered why she was even trying to steal the ball from him. Everytime she’d end with her back on the ground, groaning and the few times she managed to kick the ball it was while she was falling and messi was distracted trying to keep her up so she wouldn’t fall on her face.

After her 20th fall, she stayed on the ground, laying down and breathing loudly. Messi looked at her, almost like he was enjoying it. A wide smile on his face.

“You win!” she said, begging with her eyes to let her off the hook. Messi put his hand behind his ear, like he was expecting something else. Gabriella shut her eyes, took a deep breath and repeated what she said this time in spanish “Tu ganas!” she mumbled. Messi clapped for himself and sat besides her, patting her knee.

“It was good try.”

Gabriella smiled “Garcias!”

“You spanish… no that bad.”

Ella laughed and lifted her body, balancing it on her elbows “Yo no lo hablo. Um… mucho tiempo.” She nodded towards him “Tu ingles… no tan malo?” she wasn’t very sure if she had said it correctly but messi didn’t try to correct her.

“I try. It is hard.”

“Easier than you think.”

“LEO!” It was a man’s voice behind her calling. She pulled her sunglasses down to her eyes again. Messi got up to greet whoever it was, suddenly he was speaking spanish quicker making it harder for her to understand anything that he was saying. She got up, rubbing the dirt off her knees. She thought she heard messi saying her first name and she turned around, automatically raising her hand as well to greet the new guy.

“Nice to-“ her words trailed off. She knew him. She had seen him play, she had even read articles about him and his horrible behavior. She tried not to show it and finished her sentence quickly “nice to meet you.”

Neymar held her hand only for a few seconds before letting it go and turning his attention to Messi. Like she wasn’t even there. He hadn’t recognized her, not even a little. She felt relief, she felt happiness. Yes, he was rude to ignore her existence the way that he was doing but she was more happy than not.

Suddenly The vibration of her phone on her pocket rang and she picked it up quickly.

“Si?” She stopped herself “I mean yes?”

“Listen I found a great place with food.” Maggie went on to tell her about all the dishes they had and what she would prefer for lunch. After Gabriella made her order they agreed to meet each other at the airBnB they had rented. Ella would go with her driver and Maggie with a Taxi.

“Messi!”

He stopped talking with Neymar and turned to face her, smiling.

“I need to go! Garcias por hoy!” she leaned in, kissing him on the cheek “I’ll see you tonight!”

“Nos Vemos! Adios!”

She waved quickly at Neymar as well and she left.

The car was outside the stadium but her driver was nowhere to be seen. She waited for about 20 minutes until she got bored and her new talent of being a nobody took over her. She decided to walk, taking in the sunlight as much as she could under her hoodie and getting lost in the crowds of people. She stopped in the edge of the sidewalk, stepped on the street while she waited for the light to turn green and just when the light sparked her entire body was pushed on the ground.

TRAINING STADIUM - QATAR

He went to Messi because truth was he was his closest friend in the sport. He was there are at his worst and the first time he ever felt like giving up, and every time after that. Ney didn’t expect to see anyone else on the field and wasn’t in the mood to have small talk with fans either.

When she left he noticed a mark of white paint in the back of her hoodie, he looked at Messi questionably.

“¿Quién era esa chica?”

Messi smiled and ducked to pick up the ball, put it in between his arm and his chest.

“Gabriella Hamill. Una actriz”

“¿Te gusta la Actriz, amigo?” asked Ney, teasing him. Messi slapped off his hands, laughing.

“Basta! Basta! Es una Amiga!”

Neymar smiled. Messi invited him on today’s dinner in his suite but he declined quickly and said he needed rest and he left.

He headed down the street, walking slowly in between the crowds when he noticed that same white paint mark on the black hoodie. He knew it was Messi’s friend. He walked a0 little quicker closer to her when he realized a bus was driving directly towards her. She mustn’t have noticed because she didn’t seem to bother. Ney jumped on her pulling her down on the ground last minute.

“¿Estás loca?” he yelled.

The girl kicked and punched to be let go. She released herself and got up.

“what the fuck are you doing?”

Neymar stood up and pointed at the street, looking shocked “you almost died.”

Gabriella reached for her shoulder, stroking it gently “you fucking Pushed me.”

“it was me or the bus Linda!”

“Who the fuck is Linda?”

Neymar sighed and let out a chuckle. He lowered his head and rubbed his eyes.

“just be more careful! People usually look around before crossing the street!”

With that he left. He turned his back on her but something in his chest told him he’d regret leaving her alone. According to Messi she didn’t want anyone to know she was in Qatar and Neymar knew all too well what it was like to get chased down by fans and paparazzi. He stopped on his tracks and walked back to her.

“You need a ride?”

“my driver is gone.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“you need to learn some manners!”

“you need to learn to say thank you! Now do you want a ride?” Gabriella didn’t answer and Neymar walked closer to her. Both of them hidden by their hoodies, their masks and their sunglasses. “I know who you are. Leo told me. I can help”

She crossed her arms and frowned her eyebrows “thiught you didn’t understand who I was”

“I didn’t. But I do now. Let me help so you don’t get ran over by a car again.”

She kicked on the ground, looking down “thanks for that. Sorry for reacting the way I did.”

Neymar signaled for her to follow him. They got in his private car. Gabriella was trying to distract herself by looking out of the window but ones in a while she’d glance at him.

“you sure I’m not taking you out of your way?”

“Brazil base is very close.” He answered her, giving her a kind look. He had taken of his sunglasses but she had stayed with her disguise. “You can take off the mask now you know.”

She looked away immediately. He scoffed and looked out his window. This girl was a piece of work. “I’ve watched a couple of your movies”

“Thanks- this is it.” She pointed outside of the window and Neymar called for the driver to stop.

”it was nice to meet you linda” he laughed when she frowned her eyebrows again, he reached for her sunglasses, taking them off her. “it means beautiful in  Portuguese.” For just a few seconds he could enjoy her hazel eyes, they honesty in them, the mix of brown and green. But then she slapped his hand away and took back her glasses.

“my knowledge cause as far as Spanish.”

“I could teach you.”

“Im good.” She opened the door quickly and left. Neymar stayed looking, smiling.  Then he turned towards his driver.

“Vamos, por favor”

The driver turned a corner and just a minute later he was outside Brazil’s hotel. The Westin Doha Hôtel and Spa.

GABRIELLA’S APARTMENT – QATAR

Maggie got up from the couch when she heard the door opening. She moved quickly to the entrance holding her hands wide open in aspiration.

“Where the hell have you been? The driver couldn’t find you.”

“He wasn’t there when I went to find him.”

“So you decided to walk over here?”

Gabriella walked over to the living room, the packages with the food were still closed. She took one and opened it, taking in the smell “what’s this?”

“Kapsa” Ella squinted her eyebrows smelling it again, she picked a fork from the table and took a quick bite “Are you gonna tell me what happened?” Maggie sat on a chair close to the table and put herself some water.

“I started walking here-“

“It’s a 20 minute distance with” She took a sip from her water.

Gabriella sat on the couch, placing her legs on it “Then I almost got hit by a bus.”

Maggie chocked. She coughed and ducked her head down. Gabriella watched, feeling guilty but she didn’t say anything.

“I leave you alone for 2 minutes.”

“I’m fine. I promise. Nothing happened, somebody saved me.”

“And I repeat. I leave you alone for 2 minutes and you’ve had an almost death experience and met a guy. Sounds exactly like you.” Gabriella stared at her like she was expecting her to ask who the guy was and Maggie took the bate. “oh my god who was it?” she left her glass on the table.

“Neymar.”

“The famous one?”

“how many are the chances it was juts a random guy In qatar?”

“Unfortunately low.”

Gabriella laughed and took another bite from her food. “Don’t worry I don’t even like him.”

“He’s exactly your type.”

“No he is not! Don’t you remember? My type is white privileged horrible men. E! News wrote a whole article about it”

“That’s 3 out of 4. So you get my point.”

Gabriella took one of her pillows and threw it on Maggie’s face. Maggie caught it quickly and shot her a smile. She liked to believe that no one knew Ella as well as she did. She knew from when she was a kid and they had been through all the stages of her career together. Despite their difference in age which was 15 years, culture and ethnicity, they were each other’s best friend, sometimes more like sisters.

Being worried for her was maggie’s 6th sense.

NEYMAR’S HOTEL ROOM – QATAR

Of course he googled her. It would have been the first thing he’d do if he didn’t have to shower and spent a couple of hours just give interviews. She hadn’t been in a movie for more than 4 years and her tv credits for those 4 years were too small.

He scrolled through the articles about her break ups, the list would go on and on but there was one name that stood out the most. Peter Evans and then articles about an abortion-

He put his phone down when someone knocked on the door. He got up and opened it, returning to the bed before even checking who was on the other side. Richarlison came in, mumbling about something and laughing by himself at his own jokes. Neymar kept scrolling through his phone, not even trying to pretend like he was listening. Richarlison sat on the chair across from the bed.

A few seconds later Neymar felt a sock on his face, he sat up on the bed cursing.

“Que porra e essa?” he yelled, throwing the sock back at him.

“What are you looking at?”

Neymar laid back on the bed, focusing on his phone. “I met someone.”

Richarlison laughed and clapped! “That my boy!” he teased “you checking the instagram?”

Neymar glanced at him “google. She’s Gabriella Hamill.”

“the famous one?”

“They very famous one apparently.”

“Nice!” he smiled “when did she get here?”

“I don’t know. But don’t tell anyone. It’s supposed to be a secret! She doesn’t want people to know.”

“Are you gonna see her again?”

He shook his head and he shrugged “Leo invited me over for dinner. But I don’t know if I should go.”

“Dude are you dumb? Get your ass off the bed and get dressed. She’s literally a goddess.”

A picture of her on his phone, he looked at it. She was a challenge and he was never one to shy away from a challenge.

MESSI’S SUITE – QATAR

Neymar knocked on the door twice. There was a lot of music coming from inside. Eventually Antonella opened the for him and let him in. Everyone was helping set up the table while the kids were running around being chased by… her.

Her, with her long brunet curly hair and her white like snow skin. Her laugh was loud, like a kid’s laugh. She bumped into him while trying to make a quick turn to watch one of leo’s kids. Ney held her, she raised her eyes at him, he was finally able to examine every feature of her face. No mask to hide her red lips or her charming smile. No Sunglasses to hide her shiny eyes or hoodie to hide the rest of her face. She was much prettier in person than she was in any of the pictures and he wondered how he barely noticed her the first time they met.

Gabriella’s smile faded quickly when she realized it was him, she pulled away, mumbling another quick thank you and running behind the kids again. While watching her Messi came up behind him, patting him on the back.

“Has Venido!” he said excitedly and neymar turned to hug him.

“Si! Garcias!”

Messi told him to sit down and called for everyone else to come as well. When they sat on the table Ella made sure to sit as far away from Neymar as possible. Her friend, who looked Asian to neymar, would translate most of the conversations for her when she couldn’t follow. He found out later that maggie could speak 4 languages, including portoguese. Her spanish was broken but not completely horrible, when he got the chance he changed the subject and made it about her.

“We’ve missed you on the screen.” He said, watching her closely. Ella paused on her movements, staring at her plate for a while. Messi asked for Antonella to translate and then he agreed.

“Si! Si!”

Gabriella looked at messi smiling. “I have some new projects coming.”

“Really?” asked Neymar, trying to get her attention. “What are they about?”

“Can’t say yet.” She said without looking.

“Anything good?”

“what do you care?” she snapped, finally giving him a look. Maggie held her hand as if to tell her to calm down.

“I just asked a question. You asked a lot about football.”

“Eh! Que pasa? Que pasa? Tranquilos chicos!”

Gabriella already fell bad. Neymar kept his look on her, while taking a sip from his wine. Maggie changed the subject of the conversation again, something about christmas that Neymar didn’t give any attention too. Sometimes she’d glance at him and she’d find him looking but he wouldn’t look away.

The group moved over to the living room, Neymar noticed her absence while Antonella was serving the cake to everyone. He stood up and looked in the kitchen, he found her on the balcony, smoking. He glanced behind him to make sure no one else was there and walked over to her, hands in his pockets.

“Got one for me?” he startled her, so much so that she jumped a little. He chuckled at her reaction and mumbled an apology.

Gabriella looked in the pocket of her jacket and took out the box of cigarettes she had, offering one to him.

“Don’t tell messi” he said while holding the cigarette in between his lips, lightening it “he’ll have my head.”

“Don’t tell Maggie, cause she’ll have mine.” She mumbled.

“Deal.”

For a while they didn’t say anything. The smoke was making up for the silence, as if the signs it would draw on the wind were words that they were keeping in their mind.

“I’m sorry for before.” She said, surprising him. He looked at her, the way she had the cigarette placed in between her lips. He smiled.

“You get very feisty around me, should I get it as a compliment?”

“I’m feisty around everyone I don’t know.” She shook the ashes of her cigarette over the railing of the balcony and he moved closer to her to do the same.

“we got that in common”

Gabriella faked a smile and looked away. Neymar kept his eyes on her, trying to pick out one by one the thoughts on her mind. He moved even closer, but discreetly so she wouldn’t step back and balanced both his hands on the railing of the small balcony.

“so you like football?” he asked, taking a quick drag.

Gabriella laughed, keeping her eyes on the street below. She shrugged. “I do”

“it’s a little weird isn’t it?” he said, instantly regretting the words that came out of his mouth when she glanced at him threateningly.

“Why? Cause I’m a girl?”

He laughed awkwardly and looked away, nodding. “I mean…” he looked back at her, smiling “its just not usual. I saw your interviews-“

“You googled me?”

“you didn’t Google me?”

She didn’t answer. He knew that he was right but he let it go and continued to what he was saying “usually girls don’t get so obsessed with it unless they are playing.”

“who said I didn’t play?” she asked quickly. For a moment he wanted to take back everything he said, he wasn’t sure If she was just trying to bait him or if she was being honest. But he liked it.

“do you?”

She didn’t answer, she looked at the sky again. Ones more managing to keep some sort of mystery around her. He let out a laugh and threw his cigarette from the balcony.

“You like playing with people’s minds, don’t you?”

She smiled. Threw the cigarette over the railing the same way that he did before, she went to walk passes him but he grabbed his arm, pulling her close to him. Their eyes met, a combination of green and hazel. But no matter the difference in color, he saw something he knew all too well from looking in the mirror: pain.

“Are you gonna come to the next Brazil game?”

She pulled her arm away from him but kept her eyes on his. “I don’t know. But right now I wanna go home.”

“Ill drive you.”

“no thanks.”

“Its on my way.”

She scoffed “im sure it is but it’s not necessary.” She moved away from him but before she walked inside.

“I’ll score a goal for you.” He said. He wished he could see her face, the possibility of making her blush made him proud but he’d never know if she did.

A little later she left with Maggie. She was silent during the drive, looking outside the window. His touch was still on her skin, tattooed like she could still feel him holding her. She stroked the part of hers he held, a smile tremble playing on her lips. That’s when she noticed the Brazilian flags outside a hotel, security and fans standing outside. She twisted her body as the car drove away, surprised.

“What’s wrong with you?” asked Maggie.

She didn’t say anything at first, she watched as the building hid in the distance. She sat back down at her seat normally and shook her head “it was the Brazilian base.”

“so?”

”nothing is just awfully close.” She said quickly.

The two women reached their apartment and went straight to bed, in their separate rooms. Gabriella spent most of her time scrolling through his pictures on Instagram, he was the definition of a fuckboy. She laughed at couple of the videos and felt her heart beat a little faster in a few pictures. She didn’t hit the follow bottom because she knew that would define their relationship for the media. She closed her phone and left it by her side as she fell asleep.

Little did she know that a few seconds later he hit that bottom himself.

Do you want to read more? Comment to unlock the next chapter 👀

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[charlie-lec-stories]

Dirty Little Secret - Part 2: Guilt // CL16

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Original Female Character

Series Summary: Charles' wife went to The Other Side and came back, but her past did too.

Chapter Summary: After going back home, Charles and Max notice that Y/N is acting strange, is it all PTSD or is there something else?

Series Warnings: Death, descriptions of CPR and a car crash, sexual comments and implied sexual acts, mentions of blood, mentions of suicide and depression.

Author’s Note: This is a special I decided to write inspired by Halloween and the Qatar GP, it's five parts long. It's the first time I write something for this page instead of editing thing I have written before, I hope you guys like it. Rate: +16 (descriptions of medical procedures).

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After two days at the hospital, Charles ended up not only taking his wife back home, but Max too. The Dutch lived alone and he was specifically told not to be unsupervised for at least a week. That's how Charles ended up back in Monaco, his wife sleeping on next to him and her best friend snoring in the guest room. Physically, they were both as good as one can be after a car accident, their bodies were sore, they had some cuts and bruises but nothing major. Max had passed out from heat exposure and dehydration, so once he was recovered from that, he was better, his legs took the worst part of the crash, they hurt a lot and had a lot of cuts covering them, three had to get stitches. He had some trouble walking and for his own safety Charles invited him to stay as long as he needed. Y/N got the worst part with the concussion, she ended up with some swelling and a lot of pain. The doctors did three MRI and everything seemed to be fine, nonetheless, no one could ignore the fact that she died, so she had to rest and be under extreme supervision. There were a few symptoms the doctors told Charles to stay alert to because they could indicate that late brain damage could be developing: black-outs, dizziness, nausea, disorientation, persistent headache, confusion, and worse, convulsions or seizures, sensory affections, slurred speech and severe episodes of loss of consciousness. Charles and Max agreed to keep an eye on her and make sure none of those symptoms were showing.

"Hey, good morning, mon amour. How are you feeling?". Charles kissed her nose when she stirred on the bed.

"Better". She simply answered and moved closed to him, hiding her face on his chest and sighing contently. He hugged her closer and stayed quiet for a moment. He wanted her to say more, but since the accident, she started talking less, always answering monosyllabically to everything he asked. She wasn't like that and it pained him to see her like this. The doctors told him that many patients of resuscitation suffered from depression, anxiety and some from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He knew that he had to patient with her, and he will, because he loved her and he had her back, he wasn't losing her again.

"Do you want breakfast now or later?". He ran his hand up and down her back and he felt her relax against his body.

"Later".

"Okay, amour, later then". He felt her tense up again. "What is it?"

"Worried". Her word muffled by his chest.

"About what?". It was so hard for him to understand her sometimes since she answered giving so little information.

"Max". He kissed the top of her head.

"What about him?"

"Guilt". The wetness he felt in his chest was all the proof he needed to know she was crying.

"Don't worry, Max knows it wasn't his fault. It was FIA's and if he ever forgets that, we'll remind him. He's your best friend, he would never hurt you on purpose, he knows you know that".

"Okay".

An hour later Charles was in the kitchen making breakfast for the two convalescent drivers. Max was the first one to get up, walking to across the apartment with the help of his two crutches. He sat down at the kitchen table while Charles served him his breakfast. The monegasque was a terrible cook, but his childhood rival choose to ignore that and eat anyways, after all Charles was kind enough to let him stay at his home and cook for him. The truth is, even though they liked each other now, they didn't have a friendship and it was kind of awkward whenever Y/N wasn't there with them. For Charles there was something strange about Max's friendship with his wife, like they both shared this huge secret that Charles wasn't part of, which made things kind of uncomfortable. For Max was this guilt that stung at the depths of his chest for such secret, he was fully aware that Charles suspected something and all he could wish for was for the monegasque to never find out. Their time alone together was so weird, the atmosphere so charged with unspoken words that the air felt heavy, literally heavy. But there was also moments when they genuinely liked each other and Max was notoriously happy that his best friend married Charles.

"This is great, Charles. Thank you". Max lied through his teeth, praising the awful breakfast. Charles clicked his tongue, accepting the lie.

"You're welcome, mate". He placed two other plates at the table and then the mugs, sitting down and waiting for his wife to join them. "How are you feeling today? Is the pain any better?"

"Yeah, I think that the medication is working". Max took another sip of coffee. "But I think I'll feel a lot better once I finally get rid of this dreadful stitches. Can't stand them anymore".

"Give it time and keep them clean and you'll get rid of them before you know it". They both heard some muffled sounds coming from the main bedroom, Y/N getting up and ready for breakfast.

"How's she doing? Anything weird?". Max whispered at Charles, trying to find out how his friend was doing.

"She's fine". Charles answered on the same tone as Max and then continued. "She's worried about you. Maybe you two should talk".

"She's not speaking, mate. That's the problem". Max sighed. He really wanted to talk to his friend, but she wasn't doing any talking with him.

"I know, Max. Be patient with her. I know that she's not speaking, but just try. Okay?". Max nodded his head and then they heard the footsteps getting closer. "Morning, mon amour. Breakfast?". He asked once she was at the kitchen's doorway. She nodded and sat down, mumbling a soft 'morning', which Max mimicked.

"I need to get some things from my apartment". Max started after a few moments of silence. Charles looked up and Y/N just picked on her food. "I was thinking that maybe we all could go together and get some fresh air. What do you guys think?".

"I think that's a good idea". Charles instantly agreed. Y/N barely nodded her head. "Fresh air will do wonders for you two".

After Charles' horrendous lunch attempt and the take-out he brought to compensate that, they all changed out of their pijamas and started their long process to get down to the garage of the building. Between Max's difficulty to walk and Y/N not being allowed to be unsupervised, going out took time to do it right. After twenty minutes of Charles helping Max putting on his jeans and sneakers, while they both bickered at each other in the process, they were ready to go. Charles helped Max in the backseat, making sure that his legs were comfortably placed across the seat, then he watched Y/N get in the passenger's seat, always keeping an eye on her to see if she did alright on her own. Charles' Ferraris had little room for three people, so he ditched the sport cars and switched to a SUV for them all to have more space, specially Max. The drive to the Dutch's apartment was not long, but the traffic on Monte Carlo was pretty bad that day. They were at stop light when Charles felt his wife's breath change next to him. It became irregular and she looked pale, her eyes big and focused. Max felt the change too and Charles saw him sit straighter in the backseat through the rearview mirror.

"Everything alright, Bunny?". Max asked and Charles took her hand to try and calm her down. Her eyes were looking at the corner across the street, but Charles couldn't see anything that could have freaked her out like that. The light changed to green and Charles kept driving, Y/N following the corner until it was out of sight. She spent the rest of the drive looking at her lap, notoriously shaken up.

At the apartment Y/N seemed to have calmed down and Charles made the mental note not to take that street driving back home, she didn't need to be more stressed out after everything she went through. Max showed him the clothes he wanted to take to the Leclerc's household and they started packing everything up in a suitcase. Charles had been at Max's apartment a few times, but never in his room. It was everything Charles expected though: messy and full of Red Bull's merchandizing. There were a few pictures hanging off the walls, mostly from his childhood, he would have never guessed for Max to be the melancholy type, but he always knew that he was a family guy. He could see the young and cheerful face of his wife's teenage and child versions in some of the pictures, both her and Max posing with trophies and toothless smiles in some. He took the time to admire them while Max looked through his closet and Y/N waited in the living room, relaxing on the couch. He noticed that there were a few familiar faces, like Alex, George and Pierre, he himself was even, in one picture. Fate had made it impossible for Charles and Y/N to cross paths when they were kids, but there was a girl in the pictures that he remembered from a few races when he was kid. He didn't remember the girl's name but he remembered her helmet, pink with a dog's paw draw on it, it was a peculiar helmet, that's why he remembered it.

"I remember this girl". Charles said out loud, Max just hummed without looking at him. "I can't remember her name...".

"Which one?" Max asked, still not looking at Charles.

"The one here with you and Y/N, with the pink helmet". Charles was met with silence, the sound of Max moving things inside his closet no longer in the air. He waited and waited, but Max never spoke up.

"She's a Dutch driver". Max said after a while and before Charles could ask more about her, Max continued. "I have everything I need. Let's go". The blond grabbed his crutches faster than the speed of light and limped out of the room like his life depended on it. Charles stayed behind, frowning at the door of the room, his mind racing with thoughts. He knew that Max and Y/N childhood was a sensitive topic, but he didn't expected to be that sensitive. With one last look at the picture, he walked out of the room.

Max's mood didn't get better after that. He asked to go back to Charles and Y/N's apartment right away, even though he was the one that suggested they went out in the first place. Once back at the apartment, Max went to his room and stayed there till the next day, not even coming out for dinner. In the morning, the Dutch acted as if nothing happened and Charles decided not to bring back the topic again. After a week, Max was getting better, his stitches healing great, but Y/N was getting worse. Every day she would get scared looking at literally nothing and Charles and Max started to suspect that she was hallucinating. They constantly asked her what was wrong, but she always dismissed their worries. 'Nothing', she would say every time and even thought they didn't believe her, she refused to tell them what had her so frightened. Charles knew that she had mandatory therapy and hoped that she was at least telling her therapist what was happening inside her head. Worried about his wife, Charles called her parents back in Netherlands and told them everything.

"She gets so scared out of nowhere, Mr. Y/L/N". Charles explained to his father in law. The older man hummed at the other end.

"Did you tell that to the doctor?". Charles sighed.

"Max and I believe that she could be hallucinating, but since she denies it, I'm not sure what to do. I can't force her to go to the doctor if she insist that there's nothing wrong". The older man hummed again. "Maybe she needs to go back home and spend some time with you two. Maybe I can take her there and we can stay for a few days".

"She doesn't like it here, never comes back when she feels alright, not gonna come home feeling unwell, Charles. But maybe we can go to Monaco". Charles found that strange, she went back every year.

"What do you mean? She goes back with Max every year on summer break". He heard the man scoff.

"Here? It's been years since she last came home". The silence that followed was so thick that it could almost be touched. "Charles, are you messing with me boy?"

"I think I need to talk to my wife, Mr. Y/L/N. I'll talk to you soon. Take care". Charles didn't even give the other time to say goodbye before he quickly hung up.

What the hell was his wife doing with Max then? Was she cheating on him? He never expected her to do something like that. He was sure that they had a sick friend or something when they told him that they were visiting an old friend, but now he didn't know what to think. She always told him that they stayed in her childhood home but now it turns out that they weren't? He never talked to his in-laws unless it was necessary, he didn't had a bad relationship with them, but he wasn't close either. He never thought about bringing up those trips to them, not wanting to talk bout such a delicate topic while they were having a nice time. Maybe he should have. He respected Y/N's privacy and it turns out that she was lying to him. He heard the living room TV from the bedroom, knowing that the movie Max and Y/N were watching was still on. He let Max in his home, gave him a bed, cooked for him and he had been screwing his wife behind his back all these years? He felt so betrayed that he could break something, probably Max's legs but before he could actually decide what he wanted to do, he heard his wife's scream like she was right next to him. He forgot about everything he was mad about once he set foot in the living room. She was sitting in a corner, crying her eyes out, while Max did the best he could to limp towards her.

"What happened?". Charles asked, Max looked at him panicked.

"I don't know! She just screamed and ran to the corner". Charles walked to Y/N, curled up with her face hidden on her knees.

"Y/N, what's wrong?". He tried to speak as softly as he could, not wanting to scare her more than she already was.

"I'm sorry". She mumbled between sobs. "I am so, so sorry. Please, forgive me!". She said louder this time, rocking back and forth.

"We'll get though this". Charles told her, not even knowing he could be so forgiving, for fuck's sake, she shamelessly cheated on him for years. She looked up, but instead of looking at him, she looked past Max, to the other side of the living room.

"I'm so sorry, Maud!". She cried. "Please, please, please!". Charles frowned, she wasn't speaking to him, she wasn't speaking to Max. Who the hell was Maud? There was no one else there. He looked back at Max and saw him pale, his eyes with a hint of hurt as they got glossy with tears. He had never seen Max cry before.

"Max, what is she talking about? Who's Maud?". But Max didn't answer him, he kept looking at Y/N, not moving a muscle as the tears kept falling down his face. "Max, answer me!"

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Second part is here! I hope I can finish this before Halloween.

[andy-wm]

hey andy, loving your posts recently; was wondering what your take is on why jikook chose to film their trip and share it with fans instead of just traveling on their own? any thoughts?

Hey Anon, thanks for the ask and your kind words :)

I have a few thoughts on this actually!

After a conversation with my semi-ARMY, BTS loving, ride or die Jikooker (with caveats) bestie (yes, it's complicated but I fully support their right to choose a safe place in (or not in) this fandom that serves them as an individual 💜), I took a moment to think about how often Jimin and JK get to spend time together.

(Tldr: not often, so they take what they can get)

I think their choice to share their trips with us hinges around a few things -

Contracts, MS rules, group hiatus, ARMY, schedules, and (hopefully) themselves.

BTS renewed their contracts not too long ago and those contracts would have specified certain obligations and opportunities for each member, in line with the planned group hiatus and MS.

It looks like, with the new contracts, they all signed up for heaps of individual projects. Everyone seems to be doing at least one album, a live performance, a documentary, a guest appearance/collab, an episodic format media project, and perhaps some sort of idol-ajacent work like endorsements (or maybe in Joonie's case the MOMA docent recording.)

I assume this series is their combined episodic media project box being ticked.

Why would they choose this and not a series like Jinny's Kitchen, or Suchwita?

Working independently on their own projects for the previous year would have meant their schedules didn't necessarily align too often. Although I have no doubt they would have made time to see and support each other (Jimin going to Qatar as an example), it would have been hard to be apart when they're so used to being together.

Seeing that they had the option to take a sanctioned trip together as a couple best friends, it makes sense that they did that instead of filming a scripted /directed program in a studio with other random cast members and more schedules to try and work around.

In all honesty, the likelihood of them getting the chance to get away together on a personal trip would have been slim, i think. No time for that!

Assuming I'm right about the contracts, if they didn't take this opportunity, they would both have been involved in other projects to meet their obligations. More schedules, more time apart, more energy spent interacting with random strangers (we know they don't love that).

Three trips away together! What a boon!

And all they need to do is be themselves.

They have done so many similar projects - Now series, Bon Voyage, ITS, and even JK's GCFs... This is relatively easy for them. Plus it's a 'tried and trusted' format that ARMY loves.

And they're so used to having cameras around them, and they know the staff so well, that i don't think the presence of a film/support crew would have significantly detracted from the fun they had.

The time they spent together would have been a blessing, especially before they knew the were successful in the companion bid. And speaking of that, they could not have had these trips unless they were work-related due to MS regulations.

They still have this bizarre idea we might forget them. Hilarious, right?

We all know that the reasons they do these programs are first financial (keep those army dollars rolling in) and second, fan engagement.

Reality type shows are the best for an authentic connection to these guys, and we love that. We don't need much more than them being and doing and exisiting, for us to be happy.

Just quietly, I dont think Hybe really realise how easy we are. I'd watch jimin scroll on his phone and occasionally laugh, or yawn, or eat a snack, and I'd find it endearing and a worthwhile use of my time.

In summary, this series is a gift for us, and easy money for Hybe, its a win-win.

And if Jimin and JK have fun and get time together, its a win for everyone.

💜🏕💛