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natrogersfics · 1 year ago

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Game Plan - Chapter 12: I Almost Do

Artwork by @faith2nyc Read on AO3

“Do we already have the promotional pictures from Clint’s last photoshoot?” Natasha asks, her eyes closed as she sits in the makeup chair and Nikki, the in-house stylist and makeup artist for the team, sweeps eyeshadow across her lid.

“Yep,” she hears Darcy say. “They’ve been captioned and queued up on Hootsuite. First post goes out tomorrow at 10 EST. And yes, before you ask, the hashtags have been selected and cleared as well.”

“I wasn’t going to ask,” she says, peeking one eye open as Nikki reaches for a different eye brush to see Darcy’s subsequent eye roll. She chuckles. “Good to know, though. What about the reels Pietro recorded for StruckerAide?” Her question is met with silence, prompting her to turn her head to see Wanda in the corner, her back to them. “Wanda?”

“Just a second,” Wanda calls back, turning to point towards the phone she’s holding up to her ear before whispering, “Mommy has to go, Tommy, but I’m sure your cleats are in the mud room, all right? Check in there first and call me back if you still can’t find them. Okay. I love you, baby. Bye.” As she places her phone back in her pocket, Wanda looks up, a sheepish smile on her face. “Sorry about that, the boys have soccer practice at four-”

“Wanda,” she says before her coworker can go on. She smiles. “Don’t ever apologize. Your boys come first, always.”

“Thanks,” Wanda says, a grateful smile gracing her lips. “But yes, we recorded enough Reels with Pietro yesterday to space out for the next six weeks.” She shakes her head. “Though I will say, whoever thought giving my already hyperactive brother a deal with an energy drink company clearly has not had to handle him during a shoot.”

“Why do you think we gave his sister the assignment?” she quips, chuckling when Wanda only sticks her tongue out at her. “Okay, but what about-”

“T’Challa’s appearance on Trish Talk?” Darcy supplies, prompting a nod from her. “I already called to confirm that he’ll be in the studio first thing Saturday morning.” Darcy places both of her hands on her shoulders, giving them a squeeze. “Nat, we have everything covered. Relax.”

“She’s right, girl,” Nikki adds. “Seriously, I’ve never seen someone look so tense while in my makeup chair. If I weren’t so sure of my magic glam powers, I might be a teensy bit concerned that you don’t like” – she gestures towards the blush-colored blouse and olive skirt she’s wearing – “all this.”

“Of course not,” she reassures Nikki instantly. “You did a wonderful job, Nikki. Thank you, truly.” The last thing she wants to do is make Nikki feel as though she’s not grateful for pulling together the makeup and wardrobe team for this shoot, but ever since Pepper had informed her that Forbes wanted to profile her for being the youngest woman to make Vice President in the NFL, she’s been a ball of nerves. She’d tried to convince her boss that this time would be better spent with her working than participating in a photoshoot and interview, but Pepper was having none of it, citing the need to celebrate her achievement and the opportunity to convince little girls around the country that this too was a career path they could take. And once the kids were thrown into the argument, she knew there was no use in arguing. She sighs. “I’m just a little nervous. I’m used to being behind the camera, not in front of it.”

“You have nothing to be nervous about,” Nikki says, to which Wanda and Darcy chime in in agreement. “And you better get used to it, because once this cover hits the newsstands and the world gets a load of you? Girl, they won’t be able to get enough!”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Darcy says, eliciting a laugh from everyone in the room.

“Just remember who to call when that happens,” Nikki says, winking.

She chuckles. “You got it.”

It takes a couple of test shots of her behind her desk and Darcy blasting music on set, but eventually, she finds her groove in the photoshoot. While she doesn’t think she’ll ever take to being front and center this way, by the time the photographer asks her to stand by the plaque outside her office, she feels comfortable enough that they’re able to grab a couple of candid shots of her laughing at her team’s antics behind the camera. Upon her insistence that she would have never made it here without the two women causing mayhem in the back, the photographer had even agreed to snap a few shots of her, Wanda, and Darcy. That had resulted in a ruckus, with the three of them failing to keep a straight face for more than one take, but she surmises that the case of champagne Tony and Pepper had sent for the entire crew to enjoy would more than make up for it.

It's when the photographer declares that they have their cover shot that she finally sits down for her interview with Christine Everheart, the editor-in-chief of Forbes Magazine. Christine was the first person to make her interest in profiling her known, and having done Pepper’s profile when she was appointed General Manager of the Avengers way back when, Pepper had assured her that she was the best person for the job.

Not that Pepper would ever steer her wrong, but it only takes a few minutes into her interview with Christine to know that her boss’ glowing recommendation of her is well-merited. As Christine asks her to recount her journey from Executive Assistant to PR associate and now Vice President, she notes that unlike many of the interviewers she’s seen try to bait players into providing a zinging soundbite, Christine’s questions are thoughtful, complex.

“So we talked about how becoming Vice President has always been the apogee of your life goals,” Christine says, “now that you’ve made it, can you say that it’s all it’s cut out to be back when you were only imagining it? Is becoming Vice President for the Avengers everything you’ve dreamed of and more?”

“That’s a great question,” she says, shifting in her seat as she ponders her response. It’s the first time during this interview that a question has truly given her pause, and it’s not because she’s never considered it. As Christine said, this is what she’s been dreaming of her entire career. All these years, she had drilled it in her mind that achieving this feat would bring her the ultimate happiness, but up until this very moment, she hasn’t given herself the opportunity to truly consider how she feels now that her dream is a reality. She wants to say that she’s in nirvana, that she’s over the moon. But while she’s proud of what she’s accomplished and all the hard work she’s put in to get here, she’s not sure why providing Christine a resounding yes feels an awful lot like she’s lying. Even so, she finds herself mustering the best smile that she can as she gives Christine a nod. “Absolutely.”

Christine smiles at her response, but as the reporter moves onto the next question, she finds that for the first time all day, keeping the smile on her face is an arduous effort.

Weeks pass.

Natasha is swept up in her new duties as Vice President. It’s an endless flurry of meetings, events, paperwork, and interviews. In the midst of it all, she manages to have a small dinner celebration with Yelena. Even Loki drops by for a weekend, a bottle of vintage in hand. Her new life is exhausting, but also oh so fulfilling. She has the job of her dreams. Her family and friends are all behind her. Life is perfect.

On a rare night where she manages to make it back to her apartment before midnight, she’s curled up on the couch with a glass of wine when news comes on about the Avengers winning their second straight game. As the camera pans to Steve on the field, the commentators go on about how his improved performance has helped put the team back in good standing. Even as her lips pull in a little smile, she can’t help but feel the little ache in her chest. She’s happy for the team. She’s happy for Steve. But as she looks out into the vast expanse of her apartment, the space illuminated only by the light from her television screen, the quiet feels all too deafening.

Steve is on his way back home from his early morning run. He nods and waves to the occasional fan that recognizes him, even stopping a few times for a quick photo. Since the team has gone on a winning streak, slowly but surely, he’s been winning the supporters back over, and for that he’s glad.

He stops by his regular bodega, glancing at the newspaper headlines on the rack as the attendant, MJ, fills a to-go cup with his coffee. Despite knowing that their sentiments are ever fleeting and only ever as positive as his last performance, part of him is relieved to see that the coverage of the team is positive. He shifts to his left, eyes now roaming over the various magazines when he sees it – on the cover of Forbes Magazine is Natasha, looking like heaven on Earth with her green eyes gleaming and her hair pulled back neatly. He reaches for a copy, smiling as he runs a hand over her picture. A million and one emotions rush through him. Joy rises above all else, but with it is sadness, too. What he would give to be able to run to her right now, to take her in his arms and tell her how proud he is of her.

“One coffee, just as you like it,” MJ announces, breaking him out of his reverie as she sets the cup down on the counter. “Black as my soul.”

Steve chuckles. “Thanks, MJ.” He shows her the magazine in his hand. “I’ll take one of these, too,” he says, reaching for his wallet. He pulls out a bill but pauses as he begins to hand it to her, his gaze going back to the rack holding multiple copies of the magazine. “Actually, I think I’ll take them all.”

The team is gathered in the media room of the facility for a photoshoot. The Avengers partnered with a local dog shelter to create a calendar, with the proceeds going towards the shelter’s upkeep and the medical expenses of their rescues. Steve is standing with a puppy in his arms, watching as Pietro and a large Siberian Husky ham it up for the cameras. As he looks towards the entrance of the media room, he sees Natasha walk in. Though they haven’t spoken much since the press conference – only exchanging a few pleasantries here and there as they’ve passed each other at the facility – he’s been meaning to congratulate her on her recent cover and figures this time’s a good a time as any to break the ice.

With that, he makes his way over to her, and he barely contains his chuckle when he catches the way her eyes widen when she sees the massive tarp of her magazine cover, carefully nailed to the wall. “Jesus Christ.”

“Not a fan, huh?” he asks. His question startles her, prompting him to cringe when she turns to face him. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re good,” Natasha says before gesturing towards the tarp. “I just can’t seem to escape” – she gestures towards the wall – “all this.” She turns back to him, and a smile immediately forms on her lips when she sees the Basset Hound he has in tow. “And who is this handsome fella?”

“This is Humphrey,” he says, raising the pup in his arms. “He’s in search of a forever home.”

“Is that so?” Natasha says, taking Humphrey into her arms and chuckling when the dog proceeds to lick her face. “Well, with a personality like this, I’ll bet you’ll find your home in no time.”

“I concur,” he says, smiling as he watches Humphrey all but melt into Natasha’s arms. “Also, for what it’s worth, I think the cover looks great.”

“Thank you,” she says. “I don’t mean to act ungrateful or anything, it’s just…” She crinkles her nose as she tries to find the words, the way she always does when she’s uncomfortable, and he has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling further. “It’s a bit much, is all I’m going to say.”

“The team’s ecstatic for you,” he says. “As am I. Seriously, Nat. I couldn’t be happier. I know this means everything to you.”

“Yeah…” she says, her tone faltering just a bit. “Yeah, it does.”

An emotion flashes across Natasha’s features then. What it is, he’s not entirely sure, for she blinks it away as quickly as it had appeared on her face. Nevertheless, he catches it all the same. “You okay?”

“Never better,” she says, shaking her head. Her lips turn up in a smile, though he notes the way it doesn’t truly reach her eyes. “Anyway, I actually have to get back upstairs for a meeting soon. I was just dropping something off for Bucky. Have you seen him anywhere?”

He doesn’t get to answer the question, because the man in question appears then, grinning from ear to ear as he approaches. “Congratulations on the promotion, Veep!” Bucky says, wrapping an arm around Natasha. “I’m surprised you even have the time to grace us lowly footballers with your presence these days.”

Natasha rolls her eyes, but smiles nonetheless. “I actually don’t,” she says, shifting to show the paper bag she has in her hand, “but I wanted to drop these off for you before my next meeting.”

Bucky takes the bag, his eyes lighting up. “Aw, thanks, Nat!”

“Don’t mention it,” she says, looking at her watch. “And on that note, I really should go.” She looks back at Steve, offering Humphrey back to him. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all,” he says, taking the dog back. “See you around?”

Natasha nods, and with a smile, bids the three of them goodbye. It’s as he and Bucky are walking back towards where the rest of the team are gathered that he nods towards the bag. “Get anything good?”

“Only the best plum pastries in the city,” Bucky says, chuckling at the amused expression he shoots his way. “Nat knows I hate photoshoots because I get uncomfortable in front of cameras, so every now and then she brings me my favorite treat for agreeing to do them.”

“Gotcha,” he says, trying and failing to ignore the way his heart pulls in yearning for the thoughtful woman he’s unable to stop thinking about.

Steve visits his mom over the weekend, and though he and Sarah enjoy spending the day together, Sarah notes as the two of them sit on the stairs of her Brooklyn brownstone that despite the mess with Peggy being resolved and the Avengers going back to their winning ways, Steve seems unhappy.

Steve reveals that he misses Natasha terribly, to which Sarah quips that he really should be telling Natasha this, not her. Steve rolls his eyes, earning a playful shove on the shoulder from Sarah. Eventually, he sighs, confiding in his mom that one of the reasons he’s also keeping his distance from Natasha is the fact that he’s realized that he’s the problem. No matter what he does, with him being in the public eye, it’s clear that chaos will always follow him. And though Natasha told him before that she was in this with him come what may, that is also the same thing Peggy told him back then and look how things turned out. Steve admits that he cannot stand the idea of Natasha coming to hate him because of the trouble he brings.

Sarah puts an arm around Steve, saying that while she understands where he’s coming from, she’s not sure she agrees. She goes onto say that in relationships, fit is highly underrated. Sometimes people have this idea that love is supposed to be this all-encompassing force, that it can fix anything and sustain an entire relationship through all the rough patches. That’s not always true. Relationships work out because the people in it fit. Sarah points out that Peggy and Natasha are not the same person. Peggy needed Steve to make her the center of his universe – that doesn’t make Peggy a bad person for wanting that nor does it make him a bad person for not being able to do that for her. All it means is that they didn’t fit. Meanwhile, all Natasha wants is for Steve to let her be there for him. To be his equal. Natasha doesn’t need him to put everything on the line for her or to make himself smaller so she can shine, she just wants them to be a team.

“I don’t know her as well,” Sarah concedes, “but I have a feeling that she’s a lot stronger than you give her credit for.”

The next day, Steve paces the hall outside the locker room, his mind still on his conversation with Sarah. Admittedly, there’s a part of him that wants nothing more than to take his mother’s advice, run to Natasha’s office, and plead for another chance with her. On the other, he knows it would be the height of foolishness to pretend as though he hasn’t already seen this story unfold before.

I have a feeling she’s a lot stronger than you give her credit for.

His mother is right. Natasha is one of the strongest people he has ever had the pleasure of knowing. Then again, so was Peggy. Even after everything, he knows that his ex-wife is tough as nails. But the spotlight on him is heavy, always has been, and as long as he continues to play this game, it’s likely to stay this way. It’s capable of making even the strongest of people bend. He trusted that Peggy could handle it way back when, so he hadn’t protected her from any of it, and look where that got them. Was he willing to take the chance that this time around, he and Natasha would be stronger?

He isn’t sure of the answer. But the second he sees Natasha making her way down the hall with Wanda and Darcy on her flanks, he thinks that while he may not have an answer, maybe he can start by speaking to her.

As Natasha passes by, he asks her if she has a second to talk. She doesn’t, citing that she’s actually rushing for an impromptu meeting in the Executive Box, but that she can find him after the game. Steve agrees, a smile suddenly on his face as he watches her walk away. In any case, he needs to get in the zone. A win today could decide whether or not the Avengers have a shot at making a Wildcard spot for the playoffs. He puts the blinders on. It’s game time.

The game starts as well as he could have hoped for with the team up by a touchdown by the time the whistle blows for halftime. It isn’t until the kickoff for the third quarter that it all changes – as Clint goes for the kick, the defenseman tries to block, only for him to collide full-force with Clint’s knee. It’s a scene right out of every athlete’s worst nightmare, and as he runs to where Clint is flat on the ground, one look at the way his teammate is clutching his knee and his gut drops.

As Clint is carted off the field by the Avengers’ medical staff, Steve has flashbacks to the last time he was injured badly, remembering the fear that coursed through his entire being as he stared at the possibility that his career was over.

The Avengers manage to win the game by a slim margin, but it’s a somber victory for the entire team as they think about Clint.

Steve visits Clint at the hospital. While he himself is shaken, he swallows the feeling down to be there for his teammate. Natasha is already there when Steve enters Clint’s hospital room, and to give them some privacy, she excuses herself by telling Clint that she’ll meet Laura and the kids at the lobby and bring them up. Steve asks Clint how he’s doing, only for Clint to confirm the worst – while it’s still early, the doctor’s doubt there’s a way back for him. In any case, it doesn’t matter, Clint says that he knows it’s time to hang up his cleats. Despite the revelation, Steve notes that Clint doesn’t seem all that sad. Instead, Clint happily says that he’s looking forward to finally spending Thanksgiving with Laura and the kids.

Steve leaves when Clint’s family arrives. As he exits into the hall, he sees Natasha there, seemingly waiting for him. Natasha takes in his forlorn appearance and asks him if he’s okay. Steve insists that he’s fine, that Clint’s the one who just had his career ended by a freak accident. Natasha doesn’t fully believe him, but elects not to pry, reminding him instead that he wanted to talk to her awhile ago. Steve says not to worry about it, it wasn’t important, and leaves.

Steve sits on his couch later that night with the TV on. The talking heads on SHIELD Sports dissect their latest game, but he doesn’t hear a word they say. His mind is zeroed in on Clint’s accident today. He takes the injury as a reminder that he needs to keep his focus on football and football alone. There are no guarantees in this game, and all can be taken away in a single moment. With that, he decides that he can’t spend any more time worrying about his heart.

As if to punctuate his decision, SHIELD Sports moves onto the Soccer portion of the evening just as his attention goes back to the television. The panel discusses Matt Murdock’s latest brace for the Red Devils before one of the commentators infers that his run of form lately may be due to the new lady in his life. Just as the rest of the panel prod for more details, a picture appears on the inset of Matt at a gala with a mystery blonde. It takes a second, but eventually, Steve realizes that it’s Natasha in the photo. He shuts off his TV. Just when he thought his heart couldn’t grow any heavier, it does.

“I was wondering when you’d finally show up.”

Natasha bites back a snort as she walks up the front porch steps of her childhood home to see Melina already leaning against the doorway. She smirks. “I was a little busy making a living.”

“I know,” Melina says, raising the hand she had hidden behind her back to show her a copy of her magazine cover. “I saw.”

She chuckles just as she makes it up the final step and walks straight into Melina’s outstretched arms. As Melina wraps her tightly in her embrace, she lets out a sigh. “Hi, mom.”

“Hi, malyshka,” Melina whispers back, rubbing a soothing hand up and down her back. When they pull away, Melina cups her face between her hands. “Come, let’s go inside.”

After Melina insists on feeding her as though she’s going into hibernation, they end up in the farmhouse out back that Melina had converted into her home lab. As her mother explains her latest research – a genetics study on pot-bellied pigs that sounds promising – she finds herself transported back to her childhood. If she could pinpoint one place where all her dreams began, it would be here, right in the very stool she’s perched on, the one right across from where Melina is standing, a microscope laid out before her.

This is where she had spent many afternoons watching Melina hard at work, scrupulously taking notes on the pad to her right while she examined a plethora of petri dishes and test tubes lined neatly before her. Though she was supposed to be doing her homework all those times, she couldn’t help but find herself entranced by the way her mother got lost in her work and the sheer concentration she placed into it. She can’t say that she’s always understood what Melina was working on, nor has she ever been truly intrigued by the field the way Yelena was and still is, but what she does know is that this where she realized that with hard work and dedication, all her goals could be within reach. After all, she’s watched Melina do it all her life – raise two strong-willed girls on her own, touch the lives of many students as a professor, and work to revolutionize her field day in and day out.

“Your sample preparation could use some work,” Melina says later on, playfully bumping her shoulder with hers. “You want to place the cover slip at an angle so it covers both the slide and the drop.”

“I’m the Communications major, remember?” she says. “If you wanted perfect samples, you should’ve called Yelena.”

“Maybe so,” Melina says, “but when both your daughters are busy bees, you take whichever one shows up at your front door first.”

“Mom…” she says, rising from her seat to stand next to Melina. “We’re really sorry it’s taken this long for at least one of us to come up here. It’s just the last few weeks-”

“Have been really busy, I know,” Melina finishes for her, putting an arm around her and dusting a kiss to her temple. “I was only kidding, malyshka. Well, partly kidding, at least.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m really glad we did this today, mom.”

Though she makes a mental note to prioritize visiting more often, her words aren’t just meant to placate her mother. In the few hours since she’s arrived back here, she finds that the time she’s spent with Melina has been the antidote she’s been searching for all this time. Here, watching her mother go about her work as the both of them recount stories of her childhood, she’s found the much-needed solace she’s been yearning for all these weeks.

“Why did it take so long for you to come here?” Melina asks, turning to face her.

She rolls her lips, contemplating her response. Truth be told, it’s not as though she didn’t want to come here all along. It’s that she knew that if she did, she would inevitably have to tell Melina why she’s been avoiding this very conversation, and she just wasn’t certain she could handle seeing the disappointed look on her mother’s face on top of everything else that’s been on her plate as of late. But she’s here now, and though she still dreads seeing it, she knows she can no longer skirt around the explanation. She sighs. “I didn’t come here because I was ashamed.”

“Ashamed?” Melina says, a V forming between her brows as she ponders the word. “What in the world of?”

“Of… everything, mom,” she admits with a shrug. “I am the Vice President of the New York Avengers. I am the youngest person to achieve this in the industry. This is all I’ve been imaging from the time I got the job, and now…” She lets out a shaky breath. “And now I can’t seem to be happy? And why… because I can’t be with the person I’ve fallen for?” She shakes her head, swallowing the lump that’s formed in her throat. “I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

“Oh, malyshka.” Melina reaches out to wipe the tears she hadn’t even realized were rolling down her cheeks. “Hey, look at me,” Melina implores, and the second she looks up to meet her eyes, she smiles. “You have never been a disappointment to me. I am so proud of you.”

She shakes her head. “I’ve made so many mistakes, mom,” she says. “I was in so deep that I almost threw everything away. I wanted to escape the pain I was feeling so badly that I nearly accepted a job from a person I barely knew, and if Steve hadn’t…” She pauses to take a deep breath, unable to finish her sentence as she’s reminded of the consequences that’s kept her up every night since the press conference. She sighs. “That’s why it took me so long to come here. Because I was so ashamed. Ashamed that you taught me and Yelena that pain only makes us stronger and to never lose our hearts, and then here I am, crumbling under the weight of all my actions after serving my heart to someone on a silver platter.”

“Natasha,” Melina coos, pulling her back into her arms.

It’s there, engulfed in the safety of Melina’s embrace and with the admissions she’s been struggling to come to terms with finally out in the open, that she feels a weight lift off her shoulders. For the first time in weeks, it’s as though she’s back on the ground, truly finding her footing. She gives Melina a squeeze, forever grateful for the woman who has never failed to set her right, to keep her going even when she herself couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

When they finally pull away, Melina chuckles quietly. “Oh, my darling, you have always been the most methodic of my girls.”

“Last I checked, that isn’t a bad thing,” she quips even as she swipes away her tears.

“It’s not,” Melina concedes, “but life rarely goes by the book, malyshka.” She shoots Melina a confused stare at that, prompting her mother to smile softly. “I assume you’ve been keeping your distance from Steve?”

“I’ve seen him here and there,” she says. “Hard to avoid someone you work with.” Melina shoots her a withering look, to which she sighs. “Before all of this, I told him that I choose him, come what may, and I meant it. I didn’t care about his past or the firestorm that he was about to get sucked into, regardless of how ugly it was going to get. But then when he told me he couldn’t be with me…” She sighs. “And I know the truth now, I know he only did it to protect me, but… these past few weeks I felt as though I completely lost who I was. As though I didn’t know what to do, how to move forward… I was prepared for the media, and for Peggy, and for everything else that came with loving him… I guess I just didn’t think I’d have to prepare for him breaking my heart.”

Melina nods silently. “I understand,” she says. “It’s difficult, isn’t it? Accepting that the people we love the most can be the ones to bring us the most pain.”

“I thought I knew why you told us way back when not to lose our hearts,” she says. “I suppose I didn’t understand its importance until now.”

“Oh, Natasha, that’s still not why,” Melina says with a shake of her head. “When I told you girls not to lose your heart, I never meant for you to take that as to never give your heart to anyone.”

“You didn’t?”

Melina shakes her head. “Natasha, you will get hurt in this world,” she says. “As much I wish I could protect you from that, I can’t. People will hurt you, even and sometimes most especially, those that love you.” She sighs. “The ones that truly love you, they will never do it on purpose. But sometimes, life… it deviates from the plan, and when that happens…” She moves closer to her, placing a hand over her heart. “Don’t let it harden you, especially not in there.”

It’s the day of the Wildcard game. The stadium is electric – the stands reverberating with the stomps of thousands of fans. Steve stands by the mouth of the tunnel, going through his pre-game ritual when Natasha approaches him. He tries not to dwell on his decision the night before, but the air between them is stiff and they both feel it. When he asks Natasha if there’s anything he can help her with, she concedes that while she knows this isn’t the perfect time to talk given that the game’s about to start, she hopes he can find her after if he has the time. He’s reluctant – afraid of what this conversation might entail – but ultimately tells her that he’ll try to find her after the game. Satisfied with his response, Natasha wishes him luck before making her way to the Executive Box.

The game against the Thunderbolts is intense, with the bad blood from the Pro Bowl still unforgotten. Hoskins, the Thunderbolts’ quarterback is a gun slinger, throwing perfect spiral after perfect spiral. But it’s the intensity with which John Walker plays that’s been sending the game into chaos.

The score is tied in the second when Steve lines up to take the throw, but within seconds from receiving the ball, the pocket collapses and he has no other choice but to run. He makes it a few yards when he sees Walker coming for him, but he doesn’t have enough time to make it out of bounds before the defenseman barrels into him, full force. The ball flies out of Steve’s hand and into the turf as he falls to the ground, but unlike the last time, he’s unable to get up.

Chapter 11 | Chapter 13

Disclaimer: scenes in this chapter have been abbreviated in light of my decision to step away from writing. As such, a shift in writing style from the earlier chapters may be noticed.

#Game Plan #Romanogers #one night stand AU #Steve Rogers #Natasha Romanoff

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ugh-yoongi · 1 year ago

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I have two recommendations for Yoongi’s 90’s/00’s playlist whenever you do it! Filter - Take a picture & Duncan Sheik - Barely Breathing

i have it queued to post tomorrow morning, but these are good choices! there were a lot i left off and thought would fit: sheryl crow - strong enough, fuel - shimmer, nsync - bye bye bye.

i tried to limit these to 20 songs only and it was impossible 😭

#jewel answers

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declanscunt · 2 years ago

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BYE I FORGOT I QUEUED THE RONAN GODS COUNTRY ETHEL CAIN NOT STRONG ENOUGH BOYGENIUS POST FOR MONDAY MORNING OF ALL DAYS SORRY LADS

#sorry lads

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bhaskarlive · 14 days ago

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Polling begins for Wayanad, Chelakkara bye-elections in Kerala

Polling commenced at the high-profile Lok Sabha constituency in Wayanad on the dot at 7 A.M, on Wednesday morning, when voters were seen queuing up in good numbers even before the polling began.

Source: bhaskarlive.in

#Lok Sabha #Wayanad #BYe elections #elections 2024

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lavendersheetmask · 3 years ago

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#tw death #i will be taking a break from social media #my grandpa passed away this morning and I am so completely heart broken #i have some things queued but other than that I will not be active #bye for now

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legilimensims · 7 years ago

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*Hugs you real tight* Would you please send this to the first 10 people in your dash? Make sure someone gets a hug today and stay safe. ♡

#storylegacysims #so sweet bye ;____;#thank you #finally i managed to be 'one of the first 10 in someone's dash' lmao #halp im awkward #i saw dis this morning and drafted it instead of queuing it oh well

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sanderssideswriting · 3 years ago

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ship: prinxiety, background intrulogical

genre: fluff

warnings: swearing, like one sexual innuendo, very breif mention of murder (as a joke, this is fluff after all)

summary: Radio AU where Virgil runs the 11-1 am radio on his college and every night someone calls to complain about his music selections and request disney, and Virgil never plays disney.

Virgil sat in his swivel chair and put on the headphones “sup bitches I’m back and this time with like three monsters because finals are a bitch and sleep can suck my dick. The first song of the night is Lotta True Crime by Peneople Scott. Why? Because I say it is that’s why.” Virgil put the song on and worked on his final project as the songs played.

The phone rang and Virgil groaned and checked the number. This dick again. He picked up and put it on air since people seemed to love listening to him and disney guy argue.

“listen asshole if you want to listen to Disney so fucking badly then apply for a spot and stop calling me.”

there’s a laugh “how about you just play some disney then? if you do I’ll stop calling. Because your music taste sucks.”

Virgil rolls his eyes “bitch apply for an opening and have a disney hour. And let me listen to my music, because not everyone loves fucking disney.”

“Well many people do so why not play one song.”

Virgil snorts “first no, and second if I had to I’d make everyone regret it and play let it go.”

“Let it go is great!”

“bye bye Princey, stop calling”

Virgil hung up “and since Princey called you know what we’re playing? MCR because I know he hates it. So this one’s for you princey, up next after this ad because this place needs money. By the way if you’re not a broke bitch donate because this job is like kinda decent and I like making you all listen to the music I like. Blood by MCR is up next” Virgil played the ad and leaned back in his chair.

“Why do you take his calls if you know he’ll just be annoying?” Janus asks in class.

Virgil shrugs “since it started I get more listeners which is good for the station.”

“I think it’s funny, cause you two have cute pet names for each other, princey and emo nightmare” Remus says.

Virgil elbows him “they’re not pet names.”

“they are,” Janus says, moving so Virgil couldn’t elbow him.

Roman waits to dial the number, he had to admit he sort of enjoyed his and emo nightmare’s conversations, who refused to reveal his name or grade.

At first they’d been annoying and he’d genuinely complained about all the emo music and asking to play disney but it’d soon become a nightly ritual, that had very quickly ruined Roman’s sleep schedule.

He dialed the number “seriously, why all the emo music, emo nightmare?”

“you just answered your own question princey, why the obsession with disney songs princey? See? Sounds fucking stupid.”

Roman sighs dramatically “you wound me emo nightmare. But seriously what’ll it take to get you to play ONE disney song?”

“a hundred grand, that’s how much the station needs to keep running, do that and I’ll play ONE disney song.”

“four.”

“Three songs and a hundred and fifty grand, fifty grand per song. final offer. and I get to pick the songs.’

Roman nods “deal,”

“oh and, you have until the end of finals to get the money donated, and I’ll make the gofundme, not you.”

That’s like a month and a half away Roman thinks I’ll have enough time. “sure thing emo nightmare.”

Roman’s emo hung up. He smiles like an idiot.

“Why not ask him out? it’s clear you’re fond of him” Roman’s roommate Logan says from his side of the room.

“ask out a guy I don’t even know the name of? yeah sure” Roman snorts.

“what? Scared you’ll be rejected? I cannot believe I’m saying this, but Roman I am getting more dick then you have been ever since you started talking to your radio boy.” Logan says in an even tone.

Roman pretends to gag “you don’t need to tell me how much you and my brother have done it Logan, you two being together is enough for me to want to bleach my eyes.”

“you’re no better whenever you’re going out with someone, or even hooked up with a slightly above average guy.”

Remus barged in “Loooo I need help studying.”

Roman stood up “that’s my queue to leave.”

Remus watches Roman go “so what where you two talking about?”

“oh you know, he’s still calling the campus radio station to ask for disney songs” Logan says.

“Wait, Roman is Princey?” Remus asks, he starts laughing

“Yes? You didn’t know?”

Remus cackles “no! oh this is great! My best friend Virgil does the 11 to 1 radio, he’s Emo Nightmare and Roman is his Princey”

“We could set them up, Roam is so lovesick, I swear he’s head over heels for him and he hasn’t even met Virgil” Logan says.

Remus gasps “this is why I love you! Of course we’re going to set them up.”

Logan and Remus came up with a plan, they’d invite Roman and Virgil to a study session and then never showed up, leaving Virgil and Roman to wait.

Virgil puts on his headphones and starts loudly playing panic at the disco and reading over his shitty notes.

Someone taps him on the shoulder “hey can you turn the emo shit down, I’m trying to study and it’s really loud.”

Virgil turns it down a bit “that good?”

he nods “yeah, where you also ghosted for a study session?”

“Yeah I was, my best friend and his nerdy boyfriend where supposed to help me study, they probably forgot all about me.” Virgil says.

“Logan And Remus? Remus is my brother and Logan’s my roommate” Roman says.

“Yeah, well since we’re both here we could study together if you want” please say no please say no.

“Sounds good!” Roman says.

Fuck.

Virgil and Roman studied for awhile and Virgil very slowly started warming up to Roman. “ah shit I have to go, see you round I guess” Virgil says packing up his stuff, he wanted to have some alone time before his shift.

“ok Bye Virgil,” Roman says packing up, he had to go do his own thing, which would probably end up becoming a quick nap before his emo nightmare started his turn being the radio host.

Virgil sat in the chair “what up bitches, so far the goal has 10k, so no disney tonight, or ever because this is on a time crunch and 150k is a fuck ton of money for broke college students. And now onto Fuck you by Lily Allen. Why? Because she’s underrated and because I said so.” Virgil played the song.

Virgil got the call around 12:30 “you’re calling later then usual princey, and no, no disney tonight.”

“Oh I was just about to ask. And also I was asking how to find the gofundme.”

“It’s on the UCLA radio website, can’t miss it. Now let me do my fucking job” Virgil hung up and played MCR as was tradition.

What he didn’t know was Roman recorded the phone call and posted it everywhere he could anonymously and waited.

Virgil checked the go fund me in the morning “it has fifty k already?! What the fuck? Princey what did you do?”

Virgil waited for the nightly call “Hey what the fuck how is the goal at sixty k? How the fuck princey?”

He laughed “I asked the internet for help, I think most of it’s from tiktok, you’re going to have to play disney emo nightmare”

“fuck you princey and your stupid obsession with disney.”

“you have an obsession with my chemical romance and Brendon Urie”

“name three other artists I play on here then bitch.”

“Mother Mother, Lily Allen and as of late Derivakat” Roman says without hesitation.

Virgil was speechless for a second, then hung up. “fucking bitch, you guys know what time it is” he played Teenagers.

A week and a half passed and the funds had slowly been going up, and Virgil and Roman’s calls continued nightly as usual.

Virgil and Roman met up a few times to study for finals, sometimes with Remus and Logan, sometimes without.

the goal just barely missed the end of finals. Virgil smirked “No disney today, or ever because you people missed the goal byyyyy” Virgil checked the go fund me “three thousand dollars. I’d say better luck next time but there won’t be a next time.” he chuckled. The phone rang and Virgil picked up, knowing it was Princey.

“oooh too late princey no disney songs during my shift.”

“you might want to check the gofundme one last time my dear emo nightmare.”

Virgil refreshes the page “first of all, I’m not yours bitch second- what the fuck, how?” the goal had been met.

Roman laughs “play the disney emo. Play. The fucking. Disney.”

Virgil could tell he was gonna gloat so he hung up.

Virgil grumbles and gets the disney queued “ok fine the goal was met, so time for my suffering, I have queued Fixer Upper from Frozen because it’s a shitty song with a shitty message. Make a man out of you because I like Mulan and for everyone’s inconvenience I have How Far I’ll Go so have fun with that stuck in your head.”

Roman was a bit insulted when Emo nightmare hung up on him, so he called him back once the songs had ended “wasn’t so hard was it?”

“for you maybe, it was for me,” Virgil hung up and blocked the number.

Over the Summer both Virgil and Roman found themselves missing their talks. Roman so much so he applied for one of the newly opened spots for the next semester from 2-5 pm.

Virgil drove onto campus at 4, putting on campus radio and was met with disney. the song ended and the new host spoke “and I hope everyone liked that, up now is a short commercial break.”

Virgil nearly swerved off the road and pulled over and called the station.

Roman picked up. “Hey what the actual FUCK?” Virgil says as soon as he does.

Roman laughs “oh how the tables have turned Emo Nightmare”

“I hate you, I fucking hate you what the actual fuck princey”

he laughed more “You yourself said that working here is nice, and there was an opening, so I took it. You should be happy, I mean now I won’t brother you about playing disney.”

Virgil frowned “yeah yeah, whatever princey have fun with that.”

“oh I will emo nightmare, I absolutely will.” Roman hung up feeling happy in a way he hadn’t felt all summer.

Virgil unpacked his stuff in his new dorm, he was a little pissed but also excited. Maybe he and princey would finally meet face to face. Why am I excited about that? I hate him, at the least he annoyed me every day for months, but he did raise a bunch of money. Even if his disney obessed ass is super annoying.

Roman walked in at 6 “hey Virgil, I’m guessing you’re going to be my roommate?”

Virgil looked up from his laptop “I guess, don’t take my monsters from the fridge and we’ll be golden, or blast disney 24/7″

Roman chuckled “what do you have against disney?”

“Micky Mouse killed my parents in front of me after I said that Merida was my favorite princess.” Virgil said dryly.

Roman chuckled “that’s why I dedicated my life to the mouse.”

“That’s why I swore to get my revenge on the mouse.”

“I won’t blast disney 24/7 but you can’t blast your emo music.” Roman says

Virgil snorted “dude I have the worst anxiety I don’t even own a speaker. so you don’t blast your music, I won’t blast mine and we’ll be fine.”

“Deal,”

Roman called that night like always and Virgil was ready “aww Princey, did you miss me that much?”

“not really, but I’m still trying to get you to willingly play a disney song.”

Virgil rolled his eyes “you know what, it’s a new year, time for a new leaf, I’ll humor you princey and play a disney song.”

“wait really?”

Virgil queued up Mad At Disney “no.” he hung up and the song started.

Virgil and Roman went back to their usual routine of lowkey flirting with each other during Virgil’s shift, and sometimes during Roman’s.

They where getting along well as roomates but hadn’t figured out that they where each other’s Princey and emo nightmare.

Somehow he and Princey had gotten into an argument about if Cruella would be a good or bad movie. Roman had hope it would be, Virgil wasn’t so convinced.

“Princey, she is a completely evil character, she can’t be redeemable, she shouldn’t be. She wanted to make puppies into a coat, that’s fucked up. There’s no black and white she’s bad and that’s that.”

“Maybe if you gave the movie a chance!”

“fuck no! did you not hear what I just fucking said?”

“then how about we see it then we can see who’s right?”

“fine, I’m free at three this Satuday.” Virgil said, way too caught up in the moment.

“same, see you then emo nightmare, I’ll be by the doors waiting.”

“fine, but I’m going to be right.”

“then it’s a date!”

“I guess it is!” Virgil hung up.

he didn’t realize he’d said yes to going out on a date with a guy he didn’t even know until the next day.

The whole campus was freaking out about it since the station had blown up quite a bit because of Virgil and Roman’s nightly arguments.

Roman left early, he’d dressed up a bit, and had a disney shirt with a little crown logo on it, it wasn’t that obvious but he figured it’d be telling enough.

Virgil put on a bit more eyeliner then usual and fishnets under his ripped jeans but that was about it, he chose to be petty and waited until about 3:20 to go to the doors where Roman wait waiting.

Virgil walked passed him at first. Roman saw him “emo nightmare?”

Virgil stopped “are you fucking kidding me?” he got a few glares from parents. “You’re princey? my fucking roommate?”

“I did not plan that, but yeah I am, and you’re my emo nightmare.”

Virgil rolled his eyes “still not yours princey, come on the movies about to start.”

They exited the movie and Virgil grinned “I fucking told you it’d be bad, I told you!”

“yeah yeah, you did it was bad. Want to get some coffee?”

“sure, I’ll pay,” Virgil said casually.

Roman grinned “I’ll win you over one day my emo nightmare.”

“stop begging me to play disney music and maybe you will.”

#roman sanders #virgil sanders #sanders sides #thomas sanders #sander sides #prinxiety #roman x virgil #roman sanders x virgil sanders

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thetiredstuff · 2 years ago

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i have so many posts queued up in about an hour from this morning. now I gotta study ugh. bye everyone

#me #not spn #school

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princeprince81 · 3 years ago

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Adventure#53: Chicken Pot Cum Drinks

Continuation from last story, we went for our Chicken Pot late lunch after our hot sweaty morning activities. (Which mall you all go find out yourself ba). The plan is after lunch then we come back to bath.

The mall is rather quiet, probably due to covid and also the thunderstorm. Joey is in her black tube (bra less as the tube is rather tight le), with a jacket over it, a pair of old denim shorts from BKK with loose opening and tiny black thongs.

Surprisingly there is a small queue outside chicken pot due to the cold weather. We joined the queue and wait for our turn.

While waiting for our turn, we saw my ex retired boss (chinese in his 60s), with his grandson, queuing slightly behind us.

"Isn't that C?" Joey asked as she recognised him, since she always joined me for the company events previously.

"Ya, he shiok lo. Retired liao and now can relax with grandson." I replied and I waved at him.

"Hello, nice to see u guys around. You all stayed around here too?" C came over to talk to us. "Long queue sia today"

"Ya, we just shifted into this area recently. Why not you join us lo with your grandson. Almost our turn anyway" Joey offered.

C went back to get his grandson and joined us at the table as we got our table, a corner bench table for 4. Me and C on 1 side while Joey and C's grandson on the other.

The first half of the lunch was normal, we were chatting about old times while C grandson ate quietly while watching his ipad (kids nowadays).

Halfway through the lunch, Joey is getting hot as I saw her unzipping her jacket. C who was sitting diagonally opposite Joey obviously saw her glistening cleavage and said "Hot right. This kind of weather eat this the best. Eat liao will sweat out."

Joey nodded gently and continued with her food. I can tell that Joey is being careful so that her jacket will not expose too much of her cleavage and her nipples through her tight tube as she is not wearing bra.

Then suddenly C's grandson ipad slipped from the stand and onto the table. Instinctively Joey stretched out to catch it, but at the same time hit the grandson's bowl. As a result, spilling the food and soup onto the table, and spoon onto the floor.

"See la. How you eat. Tell you don't watch ipad when u eat" C chided his grandson as he reached under to retrieve the spoon. After a long while, trying to reach for the spoon, I also bent over to try help C.

What a view we were seeing. Joey was sitting cross legged (her habit) with her black thongs clearly in view from the loose openings of the short shorts. No wonder C is taking his time. To make things worse, the spoon is right at the corner below Joey and C was squatting under the table reaching out for it, with his face right smack in front of Joey pussy. I am sure he can see glimpse of her pussy and even smell her sweaty and wet pussy which has just been fucked and cummed into.

Finally C emerged from under the table with his face all red. Joey is almost done cleaning up the mess on the table, with the help of the staff. By then, her jacket is already wide opened, cleavage in clear view with nipples clearing showing thru the thin black tube.

"Sorry for the mess. Thanks for cleaning up Joey." C apologised as we continued with the chatting and lunch. Nothing much happening.

"It's a pity here don't serve alcohol, if not we can enjoy better." I commented.

"Ya, I have a bottle of xo in my car. Sometimes bring to restaurant to drink. Still got 3/4 left. If you don't mind we can go your new place for second round." C offered.

Joey and me agreed as we headed over to our new place.

Once at the new place, we proceed with the usual of show flat walk around before settling at the sofa for our XO. By then, C's grandson is tired and fell asleep, so we let him nap on our bed.

Joey and C is seated on each corner of the small 2 seater while I sat on the floor in between them. "Looks like you are doing fine. Got pretty house and wife. That's good." C commented.

"No la, house so so only leh boss. Thanks to your guidance also ma. You more lucky. Can retire early and relax life now. Thanks for the XO also. Quite nice." I replied.

"Then wife leh? Haha." Joey interrupted as she adjusted her legs up onto the sofa and sat crossed legged. She must be getting high. As she was adjusting her position, once again, the tiny black thongs is visible from the loose openings of the shorts.

C eyes lit up as he replied, "Wife confirm good la. Pretty also la. Happy wife happy life ma. Cheers."

Soon we are almost finishing the bottle with C enjoying his views. By then Joey already dozed off on the sofa, with her head leaning against the arm rest, legs curled back towards C, showing the curvature of her round butt and butt cheeks.

C's grandson woke up and walked over as we finished up the last glass. He was standing in front of the sofa where Joey's butt was and tapping C with his sleepy eyes and spoke softly, "Yeye. I am hungry le. Can we go back?"

C bent forward, turned his ears closer towards his grandson's mouth and said, "Sorry boy, yeye cannot hear clearly. What did u say?" Unknowingly by doing so, C also ended up very close to Joey's butt with his nose almost at the opening.

It's pretty obvious that C is also awkward and turned on by it, as I can see a small bulge appearing in his shorts. At this distance and opening, he can definitely see glimpse of Joey's wet pussy and thongs and maybe even the ass hole. He can also smell the musky, sweaty pussy smell after our morning session of packing and fucking at home and also sweating at chicken pot.

What it seems like a short question from the grandson feels like an eternity. "Oh ah... Okok. Ah. Let's go back." C replied as he slowly stood up reluctantly.

"Joey is so tired ah. Haha. It's ok, let her sleep. We make our way first. Thank you for having us." C stood up and left.

I went back to the living and started clearing up. Joey is still well asleep with her position unchanged. What a sexy sight and I felt horny again after the drinking. I sat down next to her and adjusted my position and angle to be as where C was. Indeed I can see her butt and pussy clearly. I took a deep long sniff. Wow the smell is very obvious too. I continue to enjoy the smell and sight as my cock gets harder.

Then I slowly slid one hand in and caress her sexy round butt, also sliding my fingers along her barely covered pussy while stroking my cock with the other.

"Hmm.. Ahhh.." Joey let up a soft moan as she stirred from her sleep.

I slowly removed her shorts, leaving her in just the thongs and then slowly parted her legs. There she is, semi naked at the bottom, on the sofa with her legs wide apart.

As carefully as I could, I slowly ran my tongue along her wet pussy, savouring the salty pussy taste, tongue fucking her at times.

"Ahhh.. Hmm ahhh dirty ahh. Leh. .. Ahh" Joey moaned as she is enjoying with her eyes closed. "Nice.. Hmm..... Hmm.."

Seeing her getting wet enough, I inserted 2 fingers in one swift action as I continued licking her. That got her startled as she sat up.

"Ahh.. No... Ahhh. Its you ah. Scared me." Joey said in relief. "Where is C? Ahh...... Ok... Havent.. Ahh. Bathe leh.. Dirty.. Ahh"

I ignored her question and continue finger fucking and licking her pussy. "Your hubby is drunk and sleeping in the room ahhh. What a hot wife you are. Sexy big butt. Your chee bye taste so nice. So salty. Smells musky. Can smell the pee, sweat, pussy juice and cum smell." I began to role play.

"Noo not here C. Ahh. I haven't bathe.. Ahh.. Not there. This morning sweating. Ahh. No.. Ahhh.. Wet le.. Ahh." Joey joined in the role play as she is already turned on by then.

"You want it too right. Ahh. Wear so shorts and so small piece of thongs, teasing me since at chicken pot already. U horny little girl. What a naughty and dirty chee bye u have.又臭又骚." I stood up and placed my unwashed cock next to her mouth. "Come and let me enjoy too. You deserved this dirty cock too. Come enjoy the taste."

She bent forward and sucked my dirty cock in one go. It feels so wet and warm in her mouth. "Hmm ah.. Smelly. 好臭。好咸。ahhh. Ahhhh." she commented.

"You deserved the taste. Come let me give up more." I took my cock out, turned her over in doggy position on the sofa and fuck her hard. "So wet but still tight. Ahh. Ahh fucking wet u horny girl. You like it right. Getting rammed by my old cock. What a nice wet ass hole u have too. Its nicely lubricated by your juices le. You like it here?" I slowly push one finger into her wet ass hole as I continue to doggy her.

"Noo. Ahh. Not... Ahh. 屁股 dirty. Ahh not the ass.. Ahh. So wet.. Ahhh ahh. Le... So... Easy.. Ahh go in.. Ahh fucking..ahh my ass.. Ahh." Joey moaned out loud as I trying to make up what she is trying to say.

I continue finger fucked her ass while doggy her hard. All we can hear are our moans and piaking sounds. I fasten my pumping and fingering as we reaching climax. I took my cock out and cummed onto her ass, just outside her ass hole as she orgasmed together. She slumbered down with her head resting on the sofa seat with her ass still high up, while I stood there recovering and watch the cum slowly slid down onto her puckering ass hole and fucked pussy. What a sight.

We rested for a few more minutes before bathing together for the day. What a tiring day.

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bqstqnbruin · 4 years ago

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Teach Me Something

I am slowly but surely making my way through the requests that I have and I am sorry that I suck at writing them, but here this is. Also, ignore the fact that this can’t actually happen how I have it set up, but I started writing the beginning and really liked it and then looked up more information about the Stampede and didn’t want to change it (don’t judge me).

Thank you, thank you, thank you to @luvsherleafs for reading through this and helping me figure this out, you are an absolute angel human and I appreciate you.

Here is the original request! Hope you like this!

EDIT: Read the other parts: part 2 // part 3 // part 4

__________________

“Alright, I need you guys to start cleaning up, the bell is going to ring in five minutes! Beakers in the cabinets, lab goggles away, paper towels in the garbage. Lab calculations are due at the start of tomorrow’s class, and you have your nuclear quiz when?” you yell to your students as they finish up their lab.

“Wednesday,” some of your students answer.

“Cooper and Eugenie, when is the quiz?” you say louder, trying to get two of your students to stop distracting each other.

“Wednesday,” they chorus, the rest of their classmates running around the room trying to get everything away.

“That’s right!” you say with a smile, trying to keep your teacher face on for the last few minutes. It was the end of the day, and you had to get home and change before you went over the Stampede for the show that night. What sucked, was that instead of doing just a July week of shows, they decided it would be fun to do a preview night for some groups in March in some tent instead of outdoors like normal, overlapping with your school year.

The bell rings, your students scrambling to get out the door. “Bye, guys, see you tomorrow,” you say as they scurry out, saying things like ‘thank you, bye Ms. Y/L/I, see you tomorrow.’ You sit down at your desk, letting out a long sigh as the sound of students in the hallway gets louder from chatter, lockers, and overall high school chaos. Going through your lesson for tomorrow, you get lost in typing out your plan that the administration wanted to see, finishing the worksheets that you needed to print, and figuring out what other prep you needed to do before leaving for the day.

You lean back in your desk chair, debating whether or not you should send the worksheets to the printer now and make the 100 or so copies you needed, or come in and do it during your prep that you had first period tomorrow. “Hey Ms. Y/L/N, any chance you could tell me about capillary action?” you heard a familiar voice say from the doorway.

“Considering you learn about that in Biology and I teach Chemistry, I would say no,” you laugh, getting up to go greet your boyfriend, closing the door behind him as he steals your desk chair. “The US education system failed you, didn’t it?”

“Well, it’s not like I paid attention in science anyway,” he shrugs, “But what are you doing tonight?”

“I’m out tonight,” you say. You and Matthew had only been dating for about two months, and you still hadn’t brought up that you were one of the dancers with the Stampede. You didn’t know why; it just never came up. “Why, what did you have in mind?”

“The guys and I were going to go out for some Flames promotion thing, I wanted you to come.”

“If you guys go out after ten, I can try to catch up with you, but I also need sleep with school tomorrow,” you say as he pouts. You also needed more money, but that wasn’t something you were about to tell him. You ruffle his curly hair, him swatting your hands away as the pout turns to a smile. “You can come and make copies with me if you want. You have to wait to leave right now anyway, the buses are still outside,” you tell him, sending the documents to the printer down the hall.

“Do I get to press the buttons?” he asks like a child, getting up to follow you down the hall.

You start walking, the sound of your heels echoing through the hallway as Matthew trails behind you, some of the students trying to figure out what he was doing in their school in the first place, him not knowing where he was going with you. “No, the thing is ancient and I don’t trust you not to break the one copier on this floor because then I’m the one who’s responsible for fixing it.” He starts to pout again, following you into the room with the copier. “Ok, then do you want to fix it when it stops working?”

“That would end well for no one,” he says, looking down at his shoes.

You can’t help but laugh as you go to start making the first set of copies that you needed. You sit down at the table in the center of the room, taking Matthews fidgeting hands in yours. “So, how did you even get into the school, to begin with? I didn’t know you were coming to tell the office.”

“You’d be amazed by what you can do when you’re a professional athlete. I just said I was visiting you and they told me I could go once the bell rang,” he shrugs.

“That is an issue on so many levels,” you say, him just smiling and kissing the back of your hand.

“Eh, well. Are you sure you can’t come out with us tonight? The guys love you and I think you’d have a really good time tonight.”

You hear the copier stop, groaning as you get up to make the next batch. You could have just queued them all up at once, but that would make the copier angry. “What are you guys doing?”

“It’s Flames night at the Stampede, so a bunch of us are going.”

You stop what you’re entering into the copier, thankful that your back is facing Matthew. You should just tell him you were going to be there tonight, too. If you told him you were going to be there with other friends from work, that wouldn’t be a lie. Why weren’t you telling him in the first place? Maybe it was because you were slightly upset that you had to have two jobs just to make ends meet while he was living a life of luxury on one paycheck. But at least both jobs were ones that you loved, so that made things a little better. “Oh, cool. I’ve never seen one of the shows there, actually,” was all you could get out. That wasn’t totally a lie; you couldn’t see the show when you were in it.

“See, more of a reason why you should come out with us tonight!”

“I said maybe. That’s not a no. Now come on, I need to get home,” you hand him the stacks of paper to bring back to your classroom.

“Can we at least do something tomorrow night?” he pleads, putting the papers down on your desk.

“I need one copy of these in the yellow and orange folders and one copy of this one in the pink folders, and one copy of this in the blue folders,” you instruct him while you check to see if you have another rehearsal or anything that you need to be at tomorrow night. “But what do you want to do tomorrow night?”

“Uh, well, I was planning on getting in an early workout with Noah and Johnny the next morning since we have a late flight to Colorado so nothing that involves anything late,” he says, trying to concentrate on putting one piece of paper into each folder. “Why do you do this again?”

“Nothing late is the best, so I’m down for whatever.” That also, hopefully, meant that it was something that involved little to no money being spent, “And it helps me know who is missing that day or just didn’t take their papers and it helps them make sure they get their papers. I put them out before each class and they take them when they walk in.” He just shrugs, not completely understanding the method to your madness, but it worked for you and your students, so who cared? “How much time do you have before you have to meet the guys?” You ask him, even though you really don’t have time yourself.

“I gotta run; this was the only time I had to see you, so I wanted to come by,” he says, putting the folders in neat piles, handing them to you.

“That’s so sweet. I feel like we haven’t gotten to see each other a lot lately, with the season picking up and all.” You put the folders on one of the counters in your room, dropping the two on the top.

As you bend down to pick them up, you hear Matthew exhale, “Is it bad that all I can think of is picking you up and doing some very bad things to you on that counter?”

You turn around, pretending to be disgusted. “Matthew! The students leave their water bottles here!” you squeal, thankful that your classroom door was closed since students were still roaming the halls. “That might be something we can do tomorrow night, just not on this counter.” You pack your computer in your bag, grabbing that, your keys, and Matthew’s hand to drag him out of the school before he says anything else that shouldn’t be said around children.

“Can I at least kiss you in the parking lot?” he whines.

“Nope, my spot and therefore my car faces the track, some of my advanced kids are on the track team and I do not need them bringing up my romantic rendezvous with my boyfriend in class tomorrow and for the rest of the year. But where are you parked?”

“I ubered. Can I get a ride?” he says, giving you the puppy dog eyes that always made you say yes to him.

“Get in, pain in the ass.” You drive him home, the entire drive spent with him constantly begging you to go upstairs with him, but you really did have to get home and change. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Your place or mine?”

“Your pick, just text me when you decide,” he says, leaning over to give you a kiss. “Wait, are we far enough away from the school for you to kiss me now?” he teases, ghosting your lips as a mischievous smile dancing across his face.

“Shut up and kiss me,” you say, taking his face in your hands, kissing him instead.

“Are you sure you can’t come upstairs for just a minute?” he begs once he pulls away, his forehead against yours.

You wanted to, but he did say he had to run and you definitely had to get home and change. Looking at the clock out of the corner of your eye, you had about an hour to get home, get ready, and get over to the grounds before the parking was so full that walking from your car to the grounds would be considered your warm-up. “I’ve really got to go,” you say.

“Fine. I’ll see you tomorrow, though,” he says, giving you another quick kiss before getting out of your car.

“Yeah, bye,” you call as he runs inside. You did have to tell him eventually that you had another job, but he was going to find out tonight anyway. Would he be mad that you kept something like this from him, especially when he told you that he was going to be there tonight and you stood there and didn’t say anything?

You spend your entire drive home freaking out a little. This is a pretty big part of your life that you hid from him, especially since dancing has been part of your life for as long as you could remember, but you just couldn’t figure out how to tell him you needed a second job to live. What if he hates you because you’ve been keeping part of your life a secret from him? No, he couldn’t hate you, could he? Not for something like this. In all your freaking out, you completely mess up your makeup. Frustrated and in a hurry, you now had to completely redo your face in what would be record time, or be late enough that you risked walking a mile from your car.

You restart your makeup, deciding that you were going to do as little as possible, only to be distracted by your friend Rory's face popping up on your phone with an incoming call. “So is your hunky boyfriend going to be at this thing tonight?”

“Hello to you, too. And yeah he told me he was coming.”

“So he knows you’re going to be there?”

You hear her drop something on her end, which is perfect since it gives you time to avoid her question, pretend not to hear it as your finish your face and try to run out the door. “Sorry, Ror, didn’t catch that, I’m running out the door to my car,” you tell her.

“That translates to: no, I didn’t tell him.”

“Well, he’s not stupid, he’ll be able to figure out it’s me when he sees my face. It’s not like I look that different when I have makeup on.”

“You could call him and tell him right now.”

“Nope. He’ll find out when he gets there if he even notices.”

“Alright, love. Just make sure you find me after he freaks out,” she says, hanging up. He wouldn’t freak out, right? It’s not like you were lying per se, you were just not telling him the truth of things. He might be a little mad about not telling him exactly where you were going tonight, but none of what you told him was wrong: you were out with people you worked with. You just didn’t say you were going to actually be at work.

You spend your entire ride trying to justify to yourself why you shouldn’t be freaking out over tonight, which then inadvertently caused you to freak out anyway. After parking what felt like a mile away and pretty much running to the room where you got ready, Rory is standing at the door, waiting for you.

“Come here, I’m finishing your makeup.”

“I finished my makeup!” you protest as she takes you by the hand and drags you in front of a mirror.

“If your boyfriend is coming tonight, then you need to look better than that.”

“He came to my classroom earlier and I almost never wear makeup to school. I look fine.”

“Eyes closed,” she instructs. You do as she says. You can hear the crowd coming in to watch the show that you were about to put on for them. You were in the opening act, one in the middle, and then the end, so you had plenty of downtime to worry, pace, and freakout, while trying to remember your routine and get a headstart on your lessons for next week. “I don’t understand why you’ve spent this entire time dancing here with us and then dating him for what, two months now? And he still doesn’t know that much about you? Like I understand keeping mystery in the relationship to keep everything exciting, but this seems like basic information that should have been shared. It’s not like you’re doing something illegal.”

“If my eyes were open, I’d be rolling them at you,” you mutter. You didn’t need a lecture from her about this. You were already well aware of the fact that this was something you should have told him, but what could you do about it now?

“I’m just saying,” she starts again.

“Yes, I know, I know. You have been just saying since I first showed you his picture.” Thankfully, she stops talking, finishing your makeup in less time than you thought it would take. You can hear your phone buzzing in your bag, Matthew’s face lighting up your screen. “Hey, what’s up?” you ask, trying to change while also holding the phone to your ear.

“Just wanted to say hi before the show started,” you hear him say, the guys screaming in his ear about him already being whipped. “Shut up,” he yells at them. “I thought I saw your car in the lot, though. Did you and your friends end up coming here or something?”

Shit. You hear someone calling that it was almost time for the show, everyone needing to get ready to be in their place as you struggle to get your other shoe on. “Fuck, sorry, I have to go. I’ll talk to you later, bye!” you spit out, hanging up before he can say anything else.

“Ready to be exposed?” Rory asks, getting next to you with the lights out.

“That’s what she said,” you slip in, the music and lights coming on, blinding you instantly as you went into the routine like it was something you were born to do. At one point in the routine, you’re off to the side, out of the spotlight and giving your vision enough time to see the audience, make out their faces and see who was paying attention and who was on their phone and trying to hide you. You glance to the left, seeing a sea of red, each man wearing the familiar C logo that you were suddenly mortified to see. You spotted Matthew’s curls instantly, thankful that you weren’t able to tell if he could see you or not since you had to go back under the light, erasing the outside world from you.

The routine ends, you running back to where you get ready to see your phone lighting up with texts from Matthew.

Hey, what the hell?

Anything you need to tell me?

I’m going to be by your car once this is over.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. He was mad. He was breaking up with you. This was it; your best relationship was over before it really got started. You should have just told him. Why didn’t you tell him? “Did he see you?” Rory asks, breaking you out of the trance you forced yourself into.

“Yep, and he’s mad. After tonight I’m going to be single again, so that’s fun.”

“Well, Ryan’s had a crush on you since you started here, so there’s always him.”

“Rory!” you yell, trying to tell her she’s not helping without actually saying so.

“Are you going to be ok to go on?” she asks, sitting you down on the floor with her.

“I don’t know. I just want to talk to Matthew,” you admit. You can feel yourself start to cry, the commotion of everything around you muted as she just looked at you.

“Hey,” she says, putting her hand on your knee, “Why didn’t you tell him?”

You take in a deep breath, shaking your head because of how dumb the real reason is. “Do you know what it’s like to date someone who makes so much money that he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants financially? I’m not mad about it, it’s just difficult when I have to work two jobs to make ends meet and that’s just not something he has to worry about. He always wants to go out with the guys and begs me to come but then I’m sitting there with like, ten dollars to my name meanwhile all of he and all of his friends can buy the bar if they wanted to and still have enough money to jet off to Australia or somewhere.”

“If he really likes you, then that kind of stuff shouldn’t matter. His first clue that you didn’t have a lot of money should have been when he found out you were a teacher.” You shoot her a look, “Ok, ok, but you know I’m right. From what you’ve told me, he just wants you to be happy. Go talk to him.”

“But the show?”

“I’ll find your partner and tell him not to go on unless he can find you first. Ok?” Rory says, picking you back up off the floor, “Go to your man.”

You send him a text to meet you out by your car as soon as he can. You beat him to the car, pacing back and forth in front of the hood. You see him walking towards you, your heart beating like crazy. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” you blurt out to him before he can even get a word in.

His eyes meet yours, his lips pressed into a thin line. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

You just shrug, trying to figure out the words to say. “It never came up? I don’t know. I should have. It’s not a big deal, I just have to work the two jobs to make ends meet, especially since this is normally during the summer when I don’t have school and I can get a paycheck and I told you that I’ve been dancing since I was like three, I just left out the part about me still dancing and I’m sorry are you mad?” you let out all in one breath.

He shrugs back, his hand in his jean pockets as he kicks a pebble back and forth with his foot. “That’s not the real reason. I know you well enough, Y/N, you’re not a good liar.”

“You have everything. I have to struggle to make ends meet, and even doing this, it’s still tough. I love both of my jobs; I was always worried that I would have to choose between teaching or dancing, and yes I have to do both in order to survive, but I would do both even if one was enough. I’m sorry,” you say again.

“This isn’t something that’s going to work if we keep things from each other. I mean, what if I had a secret family? I mean, the guys know who you are, too. What do you think it was like having them see my girlfriend dancing out there and me sitting there like an idiot not even knowing this was something you do?” he counters, his hands starting to wave around with frustration.

“Not telling you about a job is a lot different than you keeping a whole family from me. It’s not like this is some sort of scandal, this is something that I’m insecure about, I don’t know what else to tell you. Sorry I made you look slightly stupid in front of your friends.” you turn away from him, starting to go back inside when he grabs you by the arm, turning you towards him.

He bites his bottom lip, face scrunched like he’s trying to figure out what he’s going to do next. “This is something that makes you happy?”

“Yeah.”

“What about teaching?”

“Same feeling.”

“Then that’s all I care about. Come on, you think I would be angry that you had two jobs, or something? I would be angry if you had two jobs and you hated both of them. You’re doing what you love. Every time you talk about what you did at school that day, your eyes light up and I don’t even think you realize how much energy you get just thinking about your students and I feel so proud to be with someone who’s so passionate about what they do. If you’re like that about this, then oh my, god, I think the guys are going to kill me for talking about you so much.”

“Aw, you talk about me to the guys?”

The line in his lips turns into a small smile as he moves towards you, pulling you closer to him. His hand finds the small of your back, lips close enough that you’re sure he’s about to kiss you. “Are you kidding? I don’t shut up about you.”

“I talk about you a lot here, but if I did that at school my Principal would get very angry at me for not teaching.”

“Damn, your kids would go wild if they knew you were sleeping with one of their favorite athletes.”

“Yeah, and I would be fired for telling them and also lying to them since their favorite player is Sean.”

He pulls away, a shocked look on his face, “I’m better than Monny,” he says, acting like he’s hurt. You throw your head back laughing as he pulls you closer to him. “Is it bad that I’m still thinking about fucking you on the counter in your classroom but now you’re wearing this?”

“How about somewhere that my students don’t have access to and I wear one of your jerseys instead?”

His eyes grow wide before he closes them, obviously thinking about it, “Fuck,” he lets out, his face going towards the sky. “Please do.”

“Calm down there, Tkachuk, you still have the rest of the show to get through first.”

#matthew tkachuk #matthew tkachuk imagines #calgary flames #calgary flames imagine #flames #flames imagine #nhl #nhl imagine #hockey #hockey imagines

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