#that’s a lie loads of people asked for this on twitter

[thegimleafs]

Body of my Own is out now on AO3!

aka the sauron-as-galadriel/galadriel selfcest fic that no one asked for

[b3ach-bunn7]

LEATHER COATS AND PIZZA PART 2

You and Touya’s unspoken feelings come to head on the hood of his car

No quirks AU, a bit nsfw but nothing too bad

—————————————————————————

You don’t care how much you miss Hawks. Nothing is worth being at this party.

Too many people all crowded in the hallways and the living room. The stench of alcohol, the stupid music that you can feel thumping in your chest. The only blessing is Hawks is loaded beyond belief, evident by the fact his hallway was probably the size of your living room. This means there is ample room for you to hide away from all the noise and chaos.

You’re nursing a cup of coke mixed with what you think is probably vodka. You weren’t paying much attention when Toga had poured it for you. You’re sitting on the stairs just close enough to the front door that when your social battery is drained you have a quick getaway. You're sure Toga is bugging some guy on the dancefloor with Twice at her side, and Shigaraki doesn’t even show up to these things. He’s probably at home watching TV, and you can’t help but feel jealous. You think Spinner’s in the kitchen, and Dabi. You haven't seen him all night.

Or Touya, you should say. It’s been about a week since that day, since he asked you to call him Touya. Which you have been. Nobody’s commented on it and you’ve chosen to ignore the smug looks Toga is so insistent on sending you every time you use it. She’d asked about the kiss, too. According to her, it had looked just as passionate and intense as it had felt. You told her it was just a game and she told you that she wasn’t stupid.

The leather of Touya’s coat warms you even though you're sure you don’t need it. You still can’t help but wear it wherever you go. You keep telling him that you’ll give it back and he keeps giving you a hard time about it. But he doesn’t actually mind, you think. Because he’s had ample opportunity to take it back. Two days ago when it had been hung up on the back of your chair at lunch, or when you’d left it in Spinner’s car.

You think he likes it, honestly. You know you do. You’d caught the eye of some girl you knew he used to hook up with last lunch period. You saw the way her eyes had darted to you, to the coat, and then to where Touya had been sitting next to you. You had to admit you liked the jealousy on her face a little.

You wonder where he is now. You decide to just scroll on your phone for a bit. Maybe your Twitter feed is more entertaining than this. If not, an Uber was calling your name.

“Someone’s not having fun.” You follow the voice and look up, quickly enveloping Hawks in a hug.

You could definitely have a crush on Hawks. You think everyone does, just a little. His hair was always so perfectly windswept and dirty blonde, tan skin shining even in the winter months. He was training to be a pilot and so you’re sure the promise of future plane rides is enticing to anyone. He’s charming, charismatic. You’re yet to meet someone who doesn’t like him.

And yet, even with his arms wrapped around your waist, feeling the hard line of his lean muscle under his shirt, you just can’t seem to break that barrier.

“No offence, Hawks, but parties aren’t my thing. Especially ones as loud as yours.” You smile bashfully, and he laughs.

“Don’t worry about it, birdie. I take no offence.” He nudges you and you shuffle so the two of you are sat side by side on the stairs.

“So. Why the long face?” He asks.

“Not sure. Not feeling up to it today.”

“Are you sure it’s not because we’re missing a certain emo at my little party?” He wiggles his eyebrows.

You roll your eyes, looking away. “Shush, you. And I wouldn’t call this little.” You huff as you watch another few people walk into the house with a case of beer.

“I’m only teasing, but. I’m not entirely wrong though.”

“Well…” You trail off, unable to even lie to him.

“Yeah. I’m never wrong. It’s one of the greater curses of life.” He hangs his head and you snort.

“No, I don’t. I don’t know. We’re just friends.”

Hawks lifts his head up. He shuffles further back on the stair. “Didn’t you guys kiss?”

You feel your face heat immediately. “How do you know that?”

“Toga told me.”

You pinch the bridge of your nose. “That girl. Look, we were playing truth or dare. It didn’t mean anything.”

Hawks frowns. “I disagree.”

“Were you there? No. I’m telling you, it was. It was fine.”

Hawks studies you for a moment. He suddenly says,“If i asked you out on a date would you say yes?”

You choke on the sip of coke you take. “What?” You splutter.

Hawks taps your back. “It’s okay, birdie i'm not actually asking you out. If i were, would you say yes?

You think for a moment. “I. No, I don’t think I would.”

He hums. “Why not? I’m good looking, I’m smart.”

“Modest, too.”

“I’m being serious. We get along well. You like me and I like you. It would be fun. What reason do you have to say no, other than the fact that you like someone else?”

You’re speechless. Hawks grabs your cup and downs the rest of it. You tut, but don’t make much of an effort to take it back.

“Now, if say, Dabi asked you out, would you say yes?”

“God. I think I would.” You rest your face in your hands.

Hawks rubs your shoulder sympathetically. “It’s not all bad. He’ll ask you out one day.”

“I doubt that”

“He will. Maybe he’ll even be all romantic with it.”

You giggle as Hawks pulls his hair over his face, drops his grin to brood at you. He grabs your face and you bite your lip to keep from laughing.

“Oh, Y/N, please do my cold dark heart the honour and go out with me.” He deepens his voice to the low gravelly tone Touya speaks in and you shove him away.

“Fuck off, weirdo.” You grin. But it doesn’t last long before you knock your head on his shoulder, your face falling.

“Doesn’t matter. He’s more emotionally stunted than I am. I doubt he’d admit it to himself, let alone to me. It’s hopeless.”

“Well, you- Oh hey, Touya!”

You shoot up from your seat on the steps. Touya is standing by the front door, looking very good in a black top and joggers. It seems Hawks forcing you to admit that you might like him has upped Touya’s attractiveness level, and you very purposefully look at anything but him.

“You two look close. Having fun without me?” He drawls.

You stammer, “I- We weren’t, I wasn’t-“

“It’s okay, baby, I’m not jealous.” He grins.

There he goes again with the ‘baby’. That nickname had seemed to be in his vocabulary much more the last couple days.

Him and Hawks do some weird boyish handshake and you watch from the foot of the stairs, arms wrapped around your waist. You ignore Hawks as he makes a kissy face behind Touya’s shoulder.

“So what are you two up to?” Touya asks.

“Nothing much. Y/N was just about to leave.”

“I was?”

“She was. She thinks my party’s not good enough.” Hawks pouts.

“I- Hawks.” You frown. “I didn’t-“

“It’s okay, I know they’re not your thing. And I know Dabi hates them too, so why don’t you guys go do something you’ll enjoy more?” He grins innocently.

You know what he’s doing. You know exactly what he’s doing and it’s so painfully obvious that you’re sure the weird way Touya is eyeing you means it’s obvious to him too. You curse under your breath and wish that you had something in your hand you could throw at Hawks.

“Cool. We can go get food if you want.” Touya says, eyes moving from the jacket around your shoulders to your eyes.

“Uh, yeah. I could eat.” You nod.

“Perfect! You two go have fun, I’ll stay here and make sure nobody breaks any more of my mums china.”

Hawks hugs you, ignoring the threats you whisper in his ear, and disappears into his house. Touya turns to you and the two of you walk out.

He showed up in his car so you quickly climb in the passenger seat. Touya told you once the only positive to having the father he did was he had money, and his love language was throwing it at him and his siblings. The seats of his Audi are warm and you fall back into the soft leather.

“So what are you feeling?”

You hum, thinking. “Something greasy and cheap that’s probably going to give us food poisoning.”

Touya grins. He’s driving with one hand on the wheel, the other hanging out the open window. It’s only eight in the evening, so the sky is just light enough you can make out everyone walking around outside. You can also make out how good Touya looks.

“Alright, Wallies it is.”

Wallies was the local chicken shop every person under the age of twenty inhabited. It was cheap, fast, and the easiest food for you guys to stop by. Touya parks quickly, bringing one hand up to rest on the back of your seat as he reversed into a parking spot. You look out the window for something to do that isn’t ogling him.

You wait while he orders food, cheering when he comes out of the shop with a bag of burgers and fries. He’s dumps them in your lap through the open window and you reach in and grab a fry. Once he’s sat back down, Touya holds out his hand and you drop one in his hand.

Once Touya starts driving, the wind from the open window tussles your hair, blows over your face. You shiver slightly, pulling the coat closer against your body.

“My coat not warm enough for you?” Touya says.

You huff a laugh. “Nah, it’s awful. Might throw it out.”

“I’d hope not. It’s looking like I’ll never get it back.”

“Oh shit, sorry.” You wince. “I’ll give it back to you tonight.”

“No!” He says suddenly.

You look at him, confused at his sudden reaction. He averts his gaze. The tips of his ears turn red, and you think this is Touya nervous.

“No, it’s fine you can- You can keep wearing it. Looks good on you.” He clears his throat.

You smile softly. “Thanks, Touya.”

He has the look on his face again, the soft one you find yourself doing anything you can to make it appear. He doesn’t reply, just nods his head once.

Touya ends up driving you two the field you seem to be frequenting a lot recently. He parks just on the top of a hill, the hood of the car facing the setting sun and expanse of grass. You both prop yourselves up on the hood, spreading the food out in front of you.

No

It’s a messy, impromptu picnic that you decide might be the best meal you’ve ever had. Conversation with Touya comes easy. It always has from the very first moment the two of you met. Part of you wonders why nothing happened between the two of you before. Why your first kiss had been at the hand of truth or dare, of all things.

You wonder if Touya still thinks about it. You know you do. His hand in your face, the feel of his shirt curled around your fingers. You wish it had gone on for just a second longer, that you could’ve tasted him for a breath more.

“You alright there?” Touya asks suddenly.

You look up at him. He’s tilting his head slightly, a chip hanging out his mouth.

“Yeah. Just thinking.”

“About me?” He flutters his lashes at you.

You snort. “Why, of course. What else?”

You hope he doesn’t realise nothing about what you just said was sarcastic.

“That’s alright. I’m doing the same.”

Your eyes widen. He cleans up the remaining wrappers and crumbs away from you two. He gets up and chucks the rubbish away. He grabs his packet of cigarettes from his back pocket. You wrinkle your nose at the sight but say nothing. It’s an useless argument you’re not bothered to have right now.

“You are?”

Touya nods. Leans against the car right next to you. You move to the front of the hood so that you’re closer to him. The smell of fast food still lingers in the air.

“Have been since last week.”

You swallow shakily. “Last week?”

“Mhm. When we kissed.”

He says it so easily. Like it means nothing. You laugh nervously. He puts out the cigarette, tossing it on the floor and trodding on it with his shoe. He turns so that he’s facing you. Even on the hood of the car, you're shorter than him, and he looks down at you, placing his hands either side of you.

“You. You think about it?”

“It’s all I’ve been thinking about. Every time I see you. Or every time I think about where my jacket’s gone.” His fingers fiddle with the zipper, right where it’s closed against your throat.

“When else?” You whisper.

“Every time I see Toga. She keeps bringing it up, you know. Hawks, too. He thinks I should ask you out.”

You feel your face heat. He’s close enough that you think he might be able to feel it. Blue eyes trail up your body, up your chest and over your lips and back to your eyes.

“It’s why he was acting so weird. At the party.”

“What do you think about that? Asking me out?”

Touya smiles slightly. A hand comes up and brushes a strand of hair behind your ear. His hand stays there, resting against the side of your cheek.

“I was going to. I am going to, if those two stay out of it.”

God. You think he’s trying to kill you. He just stays there for a moment. You swallow roughly, impatience spiking in you.

“Touya?”

“Yes?”

“Are you going to kiss me or shall I do it?”

He grins, eyes shining with something much more heated then the soft way he usually looks at you.

“No dare this time?”

“No. No, just-“

You can’t really finish that thought because Touya uses the hand resting against your face to pull you impossibly closer, pressing his lips against yours. Your arms immediately snake around his neck, a noise erupting in your throat. Your lips move against each other fiercely, his tongue licking into your mouth. After a while he breaks apart, the both of you gasping for air, and he groans.

“So beautiful. Did you know that? Gorgeous, baby.”

He clumsily unzips your jacket, hands immediately descending on your body. His hands trail up your waist, over your chest. You sigh, leaning your head back, and he takes the opportunity to kiss down your face, down your neck. He sucks a dark spot right by your collarbones and you moan, hand running through his dark hair.

“Touya, don’t- My parents will see.” You say, breathless.

“Don’t care. Need everyone to know your mine.”

He continues kissing down your body, down your collar bones, the valley of your breasts and right over the hem of your dress. His fingers slip beneath your dress, but you stop him. Despite the fact it takes very single ounce of self control to do so, you are in public. You tell him as much and he frowns, placing another lasting kiss on your lips, teeth nipping at your bottom lip as he breaks apart. He frowns, hands refusing to leave your body.

“You’re killing me, Y/N. I’ve waited forever for this.”

“Forever? Why didn’t you ask me out before, then?” You giggle. You trace your fingers across his face, following the lines of his smile.

He pauses for a moment, pondering. He kisses your lips, your jaw. “I had to be sure you liked me.”

“And how did you become sure?”

He leans back. Touya looks at you again so full of feeling you feel like you might burst.

“That kiss at Shiggy’s. It sounds fucking stupid, but. I don’t know. There’s no way you can kiss someone like that without having any feelings for them.”

So it wasn't just you who felt it. He did too.

“Alright. I guess that’s a good excuse.”

He rolls his eyes and you laugh. “So now what?”

Touya thinks for a moment. He lets his hands fall to your waist, dragging you closer, until you're practically sitting between his legs. He leans forward, his mouth right against your ear.

“How about I go show you what I would’ve done to you here if you hadn’t stopped me?”

—————————————————————————-

the highly anticipated part two 😱 I think I might try write some established relationship stuff, because I always write how they get together but never after? We will see. Hope you enjoyed!

[nancy-reads]

you belong with me

pairing: fred weasley x reader

summary: fred wakes up after a wild night with his team to his phone buzzing nonstop after his latest tweet. Turns out he accidentally invited his old chemistry partner (and long-time crush) to the second game of the season. pining and fluff ensue.

warnings: a tiny little bit of spice at the end (it's really not that much i just want to warn you guys)

authors note: i promise the sequal to am i the one you think about will come out, i just got a bunch of inspiration to write this all of the sudden and wanted to share it with you guys!!

CROSSPOSTED TO AO3

As soon as Fred woke up, he regretted everything. His head was pounding, his throat was dry, and his muscles ached. Every part of him wanted to lie back down and never get up again. 

His memories of last night were fuzzy at best. He was hanging with some of the boys from his team, celebrating after their first game of the season. Many beers were passed around, and for some reason, Fred had a vague memory of the team shouting at him over and over to do it.

Strange. They probably wanted him to take a bunch of shots or something. Usually, he’d be down, but not during football season. He had games to win, and Superbowls to play at. 

Fred opened his eyes and blinked sleepily. As the world came into focus, he realized that his phone was buzzing, and had been for a while. He rolled over, chugged a glass of water, and grabbed his phone.

His jaw dropped as he saw the flood of notifications. 

Fred Weasley’s Secret Crush?

Fred Weasley Invites Mystery Girl to Sunday’s Game Over Twitter

Football Hearthrobb Fred Weasley Has a Girlfriend?!

Holy shit. 

There was only one person this could be about, and he might just die from embarrassment if he was right. You had probably completely forgotten about him, while he still liked all of your Instagram photos on his private account. 

Fred scrolled through his notifications to see what looked like a million from Twitter alone, and a text from nearly everyone he knew. 

Taking a deep breath, he tapped the Twitter app and clicked on his profile.

Fred Weasley @thebetterweasley

never would have gotten to the nfl without my college chem partner @ynln… tickets to the next game on me?

Fred’s eyes widened as he reread his tweet over and over again. He could feel his entire body heating up as he fought the urge to bury his head in his hands. 

He just blew it. Entirely. You would never be interested in him now. You’d just think he wanted the attention, or worse, just for a quick fling.

Fred couldn’t imagine ever only wanting a fling from you. You and your gorgeous hair, beautiful eyes, and the way you talk way just mesmerizing. He could never focus during Intro To Chemistry because you’d be sat right next to him, eyes sparkling and pen flying as you took notes. 

And he saw your grades. You were basically a genius, acing every test and perfecting every project. You were probably in grad school right now or in some sort of job for brilliant people who are saving the world. 

You probably had no idea who he was. 

*

After an embarrassingly long time spent moping, Fred got out of bed and reluctantly headed to the gym to work out. In between reps, he responded to the thousands of texts that he received, either congratulating him or calling him an idiot. 

He definitely knew which ones were right. 

His tweet had millions of likes by now, so there was no chance that you’d missed it. He’d been contacted by loads of news outlets, asking for a quote or an interview or anything about you, and he’d denied all of them. The passive-aggressive text from his manager, Alicia, was enough to make him want to delete every social media account he owned. 

Fred had just finished his last stretch routine and was headed toward the showers when he got a notification.

Y/N L/N @ynln

maybe i’ll swing by…see if we still have chemistry

Fred could feel the heat spread from his neck all the way to his hairline. He wanted to giggle and kick his feet like a lovesick teenager. Maybe he didn’t ruin everything after all?

You tweeted it a minute ago..would it be weird for him to like it immediately? 

Yes. Yes, it would. 

That didn’t make him want to do it any less. 

As Fred headed to the shower, a massive smile adorning his face, he immediately hit the call button because he had to tell someone about this. You responded to his tweet. He wanted to jump around and squeal like a kid with a crush. 

Which was pretty accurate, to be quite honest.

 “George,”

“Freddie, I just finished my workout, is this really that imp-”

“She responded to my tweet!!” Fred nearly shouted. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, eyes shining with excitement. He didn’t recognize himself as he looked in the mirror. His smile was too big for his face, and his ears were bright red. 

“It did have more than a million likes, Fred. I think she kind of had to.”

“Don’t ruin this for me George. I’ve liked her for so long, what do I even do now?”

Fred could hear George’s exasperated smile from miles away. “First, you are going to take a deep breath. You are a cool NFL football player, not a horny teenager. “

“Right. Yes.”

He took a deep breath, but his heart was still racing and the butterflies in his stomach would not go away. Come on Fred, you are gonna be normal about this. You can do it.

“You got that Fred?” George asked. Fred murmured an affirmative. “Okay, now you are gonna get tickets to the VIP booth, four of them.”

“Four? Why-”

“Because one of them is for Mum, as you know she will get there somehow if you’ve invited a girl.”

“That’s fair, actually.”

“Also, the public loves her so I assume that your girl will want to meet her too.” Fred pointedly ignored how his heart raced at the words “your girl.” George continued, “You’re also not going to be the asshole who makes her go alone, so give her a couple tickets for her friends.”

“When did you get so smart with girls?”

George chuckled. “Oh this is all Angelina. I don’t know anything.”

“Yeah, that makes a lot more sense, Georgie.”

“Hey!”

Fred hung up as he orders four VIP tickets for the game. He immediately sends one to his mum, but he pauses before sending it to you. 

see you at the game! you better be wearing red and gold…

Fred added a winky face, then immediately deleted it. He didn’t want to seem too juvenile or worse, weird. His thumb hovered over the blue send button, rereading the DM over and over. At last, he admitted defeat and sent a screenshot to Geoge.

F: does this sound okay?

G: yes. stop worrying.

F: you act as if you were not the same way when you asked angelica to the yule ball

G: shut up

Fred snorted as he switched back to Twitter. He took a deep breath, steeled himself, and pressed send.

*

For the rest of the week, Fred practiced harder than ever. All eyes were gonna be on him this week, and he needed a win. More importantly, you were gonna be at this game, and he knew who he wanted to dedicate his touchdown to.

He’d been thinking about it since that freshman year chemistry class when he was nothing but a rookie tight end, and the NFL was nothing but a dream. The crowd goes wild, but the only person he’s looking at is you.

Christ, when did he become such a romantic?

He felt a smile split across his face when his phone buzzed during a break.

Y: i looked through my closet and i don’t know if i have any red and gold…might have to steal something of yours

F: stay after the game and maybe we’ll see

The two of you didn’t text often, maybe a couple of times a day, but it was always a highlight. Locker room talk had devolved into just making fun of Fred’s puppy dog eyes and lovesick smile whenever he opened his phone. 

Someone from the press got a picture of him smiling at his phone, and the internet exploded even more. 

Fred Weasley Caught Blushing At His Phone During Practice

Fred Weasley’s Smile Has the Internet Swooning

Fred Weasley’s Mystery Girl: Who Is She?

Part of him wanted to feel embarrassed with all the attention, but he was too grateful that you had finally given him the time of day to really think about it. He was laser-focused on every play and worked extra hard at the gym. They would win the game this week, even if it was purely by his will.

*

Fred had never been this nervous for a game before. Every single playoff game, championship, or even the Superbowl hadn’t prepared him for this feeling. 

His girl was up there, and he had to impress you today. 

The crowd screamed louder than ever as he ran onto the field with his team. There were signs everywhere, asking if you were here and making jokes about Fred being a loverboy. He couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face as he looked around the stadium, taking it all in.

There was nothing he loved more than football, and having other people love him for it was even more special.

Still, Fred tried to catch your eye in the VIP booth, and his smile widened when he saw you talking to his mum. Embarrassing as it was, everyone loved her, so she was probably the quickest way to your heart. Eventually, though, his mum took pity on him and pointed him out to you.

And shit, your smile when Fred finally looked into your eyes. The two of you were far away, so it was hard to tell, but he already knew it was beautiful. He stared at you, probably for longer than was considered normal until the whistle blew and he was forced to follow his team.

*

This was probably the best game his team had ever played. Everyone was in sync, and the plays they’d worked on all summer were gaining them yards across the field. Everyone could feel the energy in the stadium as people cheered his name.

The only problem, Fred hadn’t yet scored a touchdown. Halftime had just ended, and the team was up thirty-one points. He could feel the coaches wanting to pull him out and let the best people rest while they had such a great lead, however, he silently begged them to let him stay in. 

Just one good play and I’ve got this.

And his chance finally came halfway through the third quarter. They were only a few yards away from the endzone, and Fred knew that this was his chance as Oliver called the play. 

The whistle blew, and Fred didn’t even see the other players as he sprinted into the endzone, dodging anyone who attempted to get in his way. He and Oliver were in perfect sync as he threw the ball straight into Fred’s hands, securing another six points for the team.

The crowd screamed as the touchdown was announced, and Fred couldn’t stop himself from doing a little victory dance. His eyes found your booth as he headed to the sideline, and he blushed from head to toe at your reaction. You were jumping around and screaming with joy (he hoped) and you looked adorable. 

In a moment of confidence, he caught your eye, placed his hand on his chest, and held out half a heart, mouthing “This one is for you.”

Part of him wondered if he was coming on too strong, but the other part was enamored with you as you clasped your hand over your beautiful smile and held half a heart back. 

The crowd let out an “aww” as you showed up on the screen beside him, and he couldn’t stop himself from beaming at the nearby camera. He could feel people tapping away at their phones to post on social media, but he didn’t care. You were cheering for him.

The game continued, and Fred was mostly put on the sidelines to give some of the rookies a chance to play, as it was looking pretty good for his team. He couldn’t stop himself from stealing glances at your booth, so much so that the team was beginning to notice.

“Fred, loverboy, the game is this way,” Lee Jordan teased. 

“Staring at your mom, Weasley?” Andrew Sloper asked.

Even Oliver, who usually had a stick up his ass, joined in on the fun. “God, Fred, you’d think Taylor Swift was here or something.”

Fred was happy to laugh with them. He hadn’t remembered feeling this giddy in a long time, and he couldn’t push the smile from his face. Part of him was eager for the game to be over, so he could go see you. 

Still, his hands shook and butterflies erupted from his stomach when he thought about heading up to your booth. Would conversation flow? Would you even like him in person after all these years? Did you only come for free tickets or for internet clout?

That wasn’t it, he knew. You were too kind, too good to do that when it was obvious how head over heels he was for you. Still, part of him worried.

*

Fred was sure his team was sick of him by now. He’d been agonizing over his hair for the past thirty minutes as he prepared to leave the locker room and finally see you. He’d blown you a kiss as he left the field, and he was wondering if he’d come on too strong, and clearly if his hair was wrong it would ruin everything. 

Maybe he was panicking a little bit. He’d texted you a few minutes ago, giving you instructions on how to get to the family and friends area outside the locker room. He hoped his mum would guide you there, as the last thing he wanted was for you to get lost and attacked by rabid football fans. You didn’t deserve that. 

After a few more minutes, he realized that his hair was hopeless (it looked fine) and decided he would rather not leave you waiting. With a last look in the mirror and a deep breath, he headed out of the locker room.

The area was crowded; full of girlfriends, wives, children, and all sorts of family and friends of the team. There was a buzz in the room of people talking, laughing, and generally celebrating the win. The sounds got even louder as he entered, and Fred could see people acting like they weren’t staring at him.

Still, he wasn’t paying attention to anything but you as you locked eyes across the room. You gave him a shy smile, and he couldn’t stop himself from beaming as he headed straight for you. 

“Hey,” you said. Your eyes were piercing, and very distracting. He couldn’t seem to form a thought as he stared into them.

“Hey,” he said back, stupidly. He hesitated for a moment as the butterflies felt more like stampeding wildebeest in his stomach. “Did you enjoy the game?”

There was a teasing lilt to your voice as you responded. “I don’t know. It was alright, I suppose.”

“Alright?” Fred asked in mock annoyance. He placed a light hand on your back as he guided you out of the family area. “I guess next time I’ll give my free VIP tickets to someone else.”

You snorted. “As if you have someone else to give them to.”

“Hey! I have plenty of people to give tickets to.”

“Like who?” you asked. “Your mom?”

Fred smiled and placed a dramatic hand on his chest. “You dare insult Mother Weasley?” 

You smiled and stared at the ground as you shook your head. “Never. We had a great time hanging out tonight.”

He gave you a soft smile. “I’m glad. I have a feeling that you’re going to be her new favorite.”

As the two of you neared the press area, Fred straightened and pressed his hand slightly closer to your back. He didn’t want to be too forward, however, he knew how aggressive the press could be. “For this next part, just be careful of the reporters. Our security is really good, and honestly,” he chuckled a bit, “I could take most of them, but I don’t want anyone making you uncomfortable.”

You nodded and pressed a bit closer to him, making him blush even harder. 

It was a small hallway, and the press was kept behind some silver barriers that allowed the two of you some space to walk. Cameras flashed and videos recorded Fred and you walking past. You had the prettiest smile in the world, and Fred couldn’t stop looking at you as you gave an especially beautiful one to the cameras.

He’d have to find that photo later. 

Fred was desperate to grab your hand as the two of you walked toward his convertible, but his hands were sweaty and shook at the thought. You looked gorgeous in the moonlight, and he couldn’t stop his eyes from dropping to your lips.  

As the two of you sped off, you looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “I believe I was promised a jersey after the game.”

He smirked. “I’m pretty sure I said we’ll see.”

“So you don’t want to see me in your jersey next game?”

“Who said you were getting invited to my next game?”

“Seemed like someone enjoyed having me there tonight,” you said, looking away from him, a teasing smile on your face.

Fred smiled. “When did you get so confident? I remember it took forever for us to actually talk when we met.”

“I know it may surprise you Freddie, but some of us grew up a bit after college.”

“Really?” he gasped, dropping his jaw. “That's crazy.”

“And,” you added, “some of us have learned how to tell when someone is flirting with us.”

That's when Fred’s jaw dropped for real, and red spread all the way to his ears. He turned back to the road, focusing on driving as hard as he could. Letting you see the giddy beam on his face was not an option. Your hand moved toward the center console, right next to his, and every part of him itched to hold it.

He cleared his throat. “So, uh…how have you been?”

He listened to you describe your life and your job as if he had not been stalking you on Instagram since he met you. It seemed like you had thrived since college, and Fred felt his heart soar when he heard how happy you were. You deserved everything, and Fred silently hoped he would be there to see you get it.

As the two of you pulled into the parking lot, Fred caught you staring at him, biting your lip as he backed into the spot. He smiled to himself as he got out of the car and opened the door for you. 

“Dinner?”

*

Dinner was perfect. Fred couldn’t stop laughing and smiling in your presence, and it seemed like you were having a great time as well. Every so often the conversation would lull, and he would catch you staring at him as the two of you enjoyed your meal. 

He did his share of staring as well, but he hoped that he was less obvious about it. 

(He wasn’t.)

Fred finally found the courage to grab your hand as the two of you were leaving the restaurant, with your head thrown back in a laugh that rocked his world. You just looked so adorable that he had to hold you, even if it was just your hand. 

He knew it was the right choice when you immediately squeezed his hand. He squeezed back, which caused you to do it again, beginning an all-out hand-squeezing war that only ended when the two of you were laughing too hard to continue. 

Christ, your laugh was just so beautiful. You looked so free and so happy when you simply threw your head back and laughed, letting your joy overtake your entire body. Fred could feel himself staring, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to be a part of your sunshine. 

Too soon, you stopped laughing and just stared back at him. He held your gaze for a moment, letting his eyes flick to your lips every so often. He stepped closer to you. Close enough to touch you. Close enough to lean in…

Close enough to kiss you. 

You’re eyes slid shut as Fred leaned in and placed a hand under your chin to tilt your face up to meet his. Slowly, so terribly slowly, he leaned in and pressed his lips to yours.

Your lips were soft, and they seemed to meld with his perfectly. Fred could feel his pulse racing as you tugged on the lapels of his jacket to get closer. Christ, he just wanted to be closer to you, closer, and closer.

You opened your mouth slightly, and Fred took that opportunity to part your lips and deepen the kiss. He felt you inhale sharply and panicked for a moment until he heard your small moan at the movements of his tongue. All Fred knew was that he wanted to hear that sound again, and again, and again until you couldn’t make it anymore, until you were tired and sick with pleasure-

You gasped as you pulled away from him. Your lips were raw and red, matching the blush that colored your cheeks. It was silent for a moment as the two of you gazed at each other. 

Fred smirked. “So…do you think we still have chemistry?”

[lesbiandanhowell]

Sam reacts to: Dan and Phil React to Phan Twitter

- The title immediately gave me a visceral reaction, because it feels like they shouldn't know phan even tho they came up with it.

- bad start I got soooo mad because my Internet didn't load the video for 20 minutes.

- Why are they reacting to memes directly implying they are dating, like I thought we're being vague what happened to that.

- DAN IS WEARING A TANK TOP AND LOOKS SO GIRLYPOP

- Dan is so happy and smily, like he genuinely seems so much happier these days it makes me emotional.

- Nikki mention twice now, you really are just hilarious @energeticwarrior

- What happened to them why are they reacting to these this is insane (I can not remember which one this was but applies to half the video)

- I know half the people that are in this video, I do see quite a lot of what goes on on twitter it seems I just don't interact much with anyone.

- I NEED THE JELLYCAT

- Watching this while wearing my Catboy sweater really elevates this experience, it has been brought up so much and honestly I still love the sweater so much.

- "Are these the people we have created? Is this my legacy?" Yes dan yes it is, and at the end he says how proud he is aww.

- They are talking about each others eyes a lot, like is it just me of have they been talking a lot about each others eyes.

- YES GAYS GRAVITATE TOWARDS EACH OTHER. Glad they finally acknowledged their entire early youtube group is gay.

- "What can I say" Dan looks genuinely terrified and the way Phil knows but doesn't care at all?!

- "I doth yap"

- I feel so seen by the stage door Phil Lester on the bike reference, because you can not imagine how fucking funny that was when it happened. Truly a 'you had to be there' moment I wont lie.

- Dan genuinely thinks he and Phil are the funniest people alive and he is so valid for that.

- Should have included @danrifics' car and all the stickers.

- No you don't want to know what is under those blurred things Phil, you really don't.

- Thanks for coming back dad's, you really did have our backs and saved us and I am glad you know how much the gaming channel means to us.

- Phil you literally look like that happy every time Dan yaps.

- DID DAN JUST THEY/THEM THEMSELF AM I HEARING THINGS

- The memes are just, recycled, like some of them hit less the third time ngl.

- Dan elaborately calling Phil old and Phil full naming him like he is a naughty child.

- Something about the whole restaurant thing is so wholesome and cute. Like Dan almost let Phil do that, what is he that he can let you do things?

- Phil being mesmerised by Dan's boobs is now a real sentence we can say.

- You asked for good shit, are you sure you did?

Dan literally does not stop looking at Phil why is he like that? I think during the whole video he looks 80% at Phil and 20% at the memes and basically never at the camera.

[andipxndy-writes]

I saw that you read The Ones We Burn by Rebecca Mix this year and you enjoyed it. I've seen a number of people saying that its racist and antisemitic, but I noticed that a lot of those reviews are based on a twitter review that came out quite a while before the book itself. I've also seen more recent reviews (after the book was released) from both Black and Jewish readers stating those claims are false. Did you find anything like that during your read through?

Not gonna lie, as soon as I mentioned that I'd read The Ones We Burn I know someone was going to come into my ask box and ask this question so I've been waiting for something like this.

In short: No. I did not find anything like this. I am a black woman, and I did not find anything racist towards black people in this book (and I've read the HP books, I have a good idea of what racism looks and feels like in writing lmao).

Not gonna lie, this book was on my TBR list for ages and I pre-ordered, and when everything came out I was ridiculously disappointed by the number of people who would go out and slander/cancel a book without reading it simply because someone lied. And I was especially disappointed in the black people who went online and started rallying to cancel the book. The whole "reverse racism" claim was a lie, the two main characters are black because, spoiler, their mother is black and their mother was a witch from another coven (so not a white people in power constantly thing; I'm due a reread to confirm this, though). Not only that, but they're surrounded by rich white people the whole time, and there are witches with different ethnicities/skin tones throughout the whole book. I could not find ANYTHING suggesting racism or reverse racism in this book and for someone to imply that without having read the book is absolutely obtuse. (I also absolutely HATE cancel culture because some of the people I've seen get cancelled by people spreading rumours and lies. Absolutely ridiculous.)

As for the antisemitism claim, I didn't spot any of that in the book either but I actually went to research that because I wanted to know exactly what people not on twitter were saying, and I found this review which was pretty long and has links. I didn't find any, and neither did this Jewish reviewer.

Honestly, there were a lot of reviews about the book before it even came out, and even though ARCs were sent out I get the vibe that not many (if any) of the readers actually posted any of those reviews attacking the book. All those reviews came from people who were talking about another review and basically saying "this was on my tbr but because xxx said racism and antisemitism I'm taking it off bye", which isn't how reviews work but go off I guess. It got tanked on goodreads for what I believe was a couple of lying or jealous reviews that everyone jumped on as true. And people actually thought it was okay to bully someone off the Internet and send them death threats? And don't sensitivity readers usually get called in to prevent this happening when the book comes out? Sensitivity readers were called in on this book. It just baffles me that so many people cancelled the book so quickly based on a couple of pre-release reviews and probably aren't even looking at the post-release reviews because they think they've done their job or some dumb shit like that.

Anyway tl;dr: No, I didn't find any racism in the book, and any claims of racism in the book from before the release should be taken with a pinch of salt, imo. Or a load of it. The affected communities need to actually look to reviewers from their communities post-release and see what they're saying before attacking, and they certainly shouldn't be attacking before having the chance to form their own opinions.

Anyway, people are gonna come after me for this but I've said what I've said and I believe it. I've stayed away from making comments online mostly because I 1) would probably not be heard online because I tend to stay in my little corner for the sake of my own mental health; and 2) know that people are stubborn once they've formed their own opinions and didn't want to say anything before reading the book myself.

[dannydehek]

Stephen McCullah Lies, Corruption, Fake Crypto Schemes - Apollo Currency/Fintech, LunaOne & Gold Inc

The Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger strikes again. Stephen McCullah, a young zoology enthusiast based in Beaumont, Texas who failed to find and capture a living dinosaur and dog-sized tarantula on expedition in the Congo. It was also alleged he misappropriated funds from a kickstarter campaign that raised $29,000. This was only the beginning... Ten years later, he now has his own country that he is the president of, called the United Allied States (UAS), he was voted in by three people! He will be providing countries a platform where they can run their countries on, this ecosystem will have their own version of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Tiktok. This ecosystem will also have its own currency that is backed by real gold, he will be running a tourist attraction where people can go and visit a real mine, watch explosions and test machinery and the like. Lies, Corruption, Fake Crypto Schemes, always making announcements and claims that are unsubstantiated. In the meantime headlines around the world are reading "Meta (facebook) laying off more than 11,000 employees, due to lack of interest for the MetaVerse" which even makes it more unbelievable that he believes he has the answers to all the world's problems. I've done quite a lot of research and investigating on Apollo Currency/ Apollo Fintech / Gold Secured Currency/ LunaOne/ Hyper Technologies/ Stratus/ Gold Inc and more. There's so many lies, claims, corruption and many fake Crypto schemes. Many of us are now starting to build a database of information, so we can at least slow or stop Stephen McCullah from profiteering from people who don't do their due diligence. Below is some information that may help you, if you are thinking about investing with any of the above companies/schemes. LIES TOLD BY STEPHEN MCCULLAH provided by(The Real Phantom) - Why has Steve lied over the years claiming that Apollo hardly has any NXT code left? It was just proven in court that Apollo is made up of 75% of NXT code. - Why is Steve telling people on the GSX website that GSX holders have a claim to the mine without the documentation proven so? - Why did Steve lie about signing a deal with CBZ? Marc the chairman has responded stating no deal between them happened. - Why did Steve lie, telling his investors that he will have Apollo listed on all of the top 20 exchanges in 2019. - Why has Steve always claimed to know people at the very top of Binance but still struggles to get Apollo listed and asks all his dogs to beg cz on twitter for a listing. - Why is Steve not down as a trustee on any of the GSX documents, this is because the mine is not owned by him or Apollo fintech. Its his daddys. - Why did Steve lie about gold inc when it first got mentioned in 2019, he claimed a gaming company had approached him and ask if they could use Apollos blockchain for its game. When in fact the game is something he and his best friend kyle failed to get funding for years ago. - Why did Steve lie about the UAS. Why did he claim he was approached by the people who behind this idea, when in fact it was his and fat boys willies idea. Steve was always going to be made president because UAS is his creation. All the interns have said they were approached by people who work for Apollo, which shows Apollo is the only company behind the UAS. - Why did Steve catfish TT and had Atlas claim to be an underage girl to catch the pervert out. - Why has Steve never told his community that the mines that will be providing the gold for GSX belongs to his dad and was not given as a Government deal. - Why did Steve give away untold 100s of million of Apollo at the start, why did he say it wasnt of value at the time. - Why has he not uploaded the documents backing up the recent price increase for GSX to 10 cents, he did this moments before the lease because he does not want to give out loads of GSX - What ever happened to this deal with a nation, 20 million Apollo wallet users would be issued. - When will he admit that HitBTC has delisted them and its never coming back. - When will admit to the community that he sold Apollo otc cheaper then its all time low and its most likely those who are selling. - When will he admit that he has paid devs in Apollo and it has been proven that they've been dumping over the years, bringing Apollos price down to rock bottom. - Why did he lie claiming he was waiting for his visa to fly out of south africa so he could return after his trip to the USA first state, this was a lie just to by him some time. - What happened between Steve and Cobus Swanepoel? 🤔 - Why did he claim Jorge was validating Sharding FORMAL RESPONSE (to Harmans Lawyers) This letter is to serve as formal response of your Cease and Desist demands in your communication. 1. We will not be removing any videos from YouTube exposing Stephen Mccullah, LunaOne or Apollo; 2. Nor will DANNY : DE HEK LTD be writing any retraction statements; 3. We will definitely not be paying any of Stephen Mccullah’s legal fees. However, we would consider removing the videos if Stephen McCullah returned money to the following people that invested: NAMES AND AMOUNT Sultan K APL/ GSX $70,000 and Gold Inc $40,000 Martin K £10,000 Tracy P $18,700 Ann B $5489.50 Susan A $75,000 Vinka C $7500 John A $921.90 Martin T $17,504 Steven D $3987.75 Brian B $5000 Dean S $6000 Rebecca R $1200 Amanda K $4950 Donivan W $25,312.20 Andres C $6000 Todd J $12,800 Brandon G $3600 Laura S $5000 Franco F $5500 We reserve the right to seek legal recourse against you if all affected financial losses are not made right. This includes refunding all people who have lost money across all your several projects, these include: Apollo Currency/ Apollo Fintech / Gold Secured Currency/ Luna One/ Hyper Technologies/ Stratus/ Gold Inc and more, as well as compensating any other persons or entities that may have suffered a loss or damage. Furthermore, we reserve the right to add names of those who may have lost money at a later date if they are identified through investigations. Please respond within seven (7) business days regarding your plans to remedy the situation. If our requests are not followed, we will be forced to take alternative methods to achieve our goal. We reserve the right to pursue such action and any potential legal implications that may result from it. Let me remind you that everything that has been promulgated (promoted or made widely known) by Mr. Stephen McCullah has been a serious fraud; Stephen Mccullah (LunaOne) promoted a presale offering to people where they could purchase LunaOne tokens / coins before they were listed on an exchange. Stephen Mccullah (LunaOne) didn’t release the tokens / coins for the people to sell on the listing day. The presale promotions claimed that Stephen McCullah (LunaOne) would launch coins on the exchange at $0.25 each instead the LunaOne tokens / coins were launched on the exchange at release at $0.05 each. Stephen McCullah (LunaOne) even wrote an apology to the community admitting liability. Stephen McCullah (LunaOne) then purchased tokens / coins from the exchange at $0.05 or less and gave them to the people that purchased them at $0.10-$0.15 each. This is fraud and we have evidence to prove this. We also have numerous videos and statements from many people alleging they have been scammed. We’re willing to testify in the New Zealand High Court to expose Stephen McCullah and LunaOne for serious fraud. No video that I’ve produced is inaccurate. I interviewed people who were telling their story, the facts, on how they have been scammed by Stephen McCullah and LunaOne. If any video is in violation, then you have a choice to report it to YouTube who will review your claims. If after review, YT identifies the video inappropriate for their platform, they will take action to remove it. On the right corner Steven Mccullah (LunaOne) Here is a list of other videos also claiming they have been scammed by LunaOne. These video speak for themselves. https://youtu.be/HGNGZd9msdE https://odysee.com/@dehek:6/Steven-Mccullah-CEO-LunaOne-Serial-Ponzi-Scheme-ScamDemic-Leader https://odysee.com/@dehek:6/Steven-Mccullah-CEO-of-LunaOne-Serial-Ponzi-Scheme-ScamDemic https://www.businessinsider.com/a-young-man-from-missouri-is-using-kickstarter-to-fund-an-african-dinosaur-hunt-2012-4 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2133781/Adventurer-hopes-capture-living-dinosaur-dog-sized-tarantula-expedition-Congo.html https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/817864170/new-species-expedition-to-congo https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/dangers-kickstarter/ https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/921m2l/the_ceo_of_apollo_is_a_known_scam_artist/ https://youtu.be/0nHgtDR5A9o https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3233704.40 https://uas.govt.agency/united-allied-states-elects-stephen-mccullah-as-first-president-of-sovereign-entity/ https://cryptoslate.com/investigating-scam-allegations-apollo-currency/ https://youtu.be/KDrQUI9qKqQ https://cointelegraph.com/news/court-finds-blockchain-firm-guilty-of-license-violation-but-ceo-vows-to-fight-back https://www.jelurida.com/news/jelurida-apollo-public-statement https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/aimysg/the_apollo_currency_team_apl_just_engaged_in_a/ https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/ai5b62/apollo_apl_is_a_massive_scam_and_you_are_all/ Left corner Danny de Hek (Danny de Hek Limited) Danny full-page article in the New York Times about my quest to name and shame anyone running Ponzi schemes or Scams. Mmmm Featured in the The Otago Times, interviewed by Radio New Zealand and a Page in the NYT Talking & Interviews; New Zealand Herald, Stuff, The Listener Also are you talking to producer of Netflix documentary “The Great Hack” that being commissioned to do another documentary called the rise and fall of Crypto they’ve asked if I would be interested in telling my story for the next documentary. Been approached by two whistleblowing companies in America who asked if we can work together “Whistleblower Justice Network” and “Constantine Cannon” Both of these companies have been given full access to our research on Steven Mccullah we also have a dedicated team of fact finders. I will not be removing any content that I have published from my YouTube Channel or retracting any statements that I have made after the fact about LunaOne or Apollo The man that you are representing is a bully online, we have evidence that he has threatened people with their lives. He can throw his money around and get away with scamming people if he wants, I’m here to name and shame anyone promoting Ponzi schemes for scamming people, with the fall of FTX Online crime is more rampant than ever you can represent a man like this if you want but I can assure you I’m very transparent and everything I do and I’ll make it very clear that a New Zealand law firm is representing an American scam artist. I interviewed three people that wanted to tell the story Because they felt they were scammed by LunaOne At the very start of the video I made it very clear I didn’t know anything about LunaOne However Both these people Steven and Ann a happy to testify in court and tell their experience with LunaOne. Other people saying they have been scammed https://youtube.com/shorts/aXnYpqP8nbM https://youtube.com/shorts/BttvE42Lbpg https://youtu.be/Ic9Om5b8sPY https://youtu.be/cyA-z5Cm7pk https://youtu.be/or6T-rsUrKs https://youtu.be/oX7FSU5WVl8 https://youtu.be/sQo6KhRwJiQ https://youtu.be/va2cXoQOehs https://youtu.be/_vBfDEywyQ8 https://youtu.be/yGTLT2PmBHg I’m a little surprised you actually took on this case. The way I look at it, some crazy Kiwi decided to take on these big time Ponzi scheme companies, that are scamming people out of millions of dollars. I wonder how many other law firms decline to get involved, rather than going after the money? If you haven’t already been paid do you know you’re getting paid with money collected from committing fraud. It’s the same as working for the cartel. This is very unethical, I’m so proud of the other legal companies that decided not to take this case on and get involved. I’m very transparent you can see this with the work I have online. I’m a New Zealander who is published over 180 videos exposing Scams and Ponzi schemes. You’re supporting a guy that got traction in life by his rich family and creating kickstarter campaigns that allege he's using the money to hunt for dinosaurs. I also have screenshots voice recordings from Stephen talking about their strategies which you can be privy to what you’ve already been handed on to whistleblowers companies mentioned above. If you are going to represent this guy, it will be in the public arena “Harmans Lawyers” chases the money, doesn’t have anything to do with ethics or supporting New Zealanders instead supports scammers such as Stephen McCullah the self appointed dinosaur hunter. PS On a personal note, you may be familiar with the company I closed down a few weeks ago ELITE : SIX Business Networking. Over the nine years I owned and ran that company I met the majority of lawyers and solicitors in Christchurch, many of these people are in my business family and still give me good solid advice. A little history with Harmans and ELITE : SIX at the start we had a real advocate for my Business Networking company “Brent Selwyn” it was obvious Brent had a big influence in Harmans at the time. I met up with one of your staff at your work do at Evil Genius who confirm the history you guys have with “Brent Selwyn”, didn’t seem to have left your company in a good standing, for whatever reason. I personally never connected with them not my type of lawyer and obviously not very good at spotting a scam when percent it to him by slimy sales people let me explain… There was an event at Chateau on the Park, a group of Australians thought they would come along and try scamming a bunch of Kiwis. I spotted Brent in the audience, I was there with three of my colleagues doing research and development about scams. Brent didn’t listen to my advice even though I was texting them as the event was running, so he new better and invested, two days after the event it was in the paper everyone at the event lost the money including Brent. I’m very street savvy when it comes to these scams and I’ve been researching them for years and I have saved people from losing a tonne of money. I’m proud of my efforts to date rather than supporting these animals I would recommend not getting involved specially if it could tarnish your reputation. Help me fight the scammers, don’t support them nor take their blood money, there’s a real ScamDemic going on at the moment do not give them the fuel to continue. I have good support network but it would be awesome if companies like yours actually gave pro bono advice to individuals like me to take on these ugly scammers. If you are going to reply to Stephen Mccullah please pass on other correspondence from his victims MARTIN KINGSBURY LETTER TO ROBERT MCCULLAH (Stephen McCullah Father) I wish to warn you about Mr Stephen McCullah, who in my opinion is one of the lowest lifeforms on this planet, super seeded only by a cockroach. I am a victim of the McCullah Hyper Technologies Inc trading as LunaOne XLN token and well versed of the numerous outright lies and misrepresentations claimed by this company. Much of the lies and misrepresentations fall under civil law, and you will be well aware as to why I have not taken action myself. Mr McCullah has in fact committed the crime of fraud, a criminal act which I and my community are pursuing for authority to investigate. I have sent details of this crime many times to LunaOne, even asking if I am incorrect please explain. To date I receive no reply. Please see my last email to LunaOne below. Remember they were accepting investors payments right up to 31/10/2022 and released the statement on the 01/11/2022. Read the full article

[somegrayvyperson]

If there’s anything I’ll say about tumblr that I much appreciate over Twitter is that the format this site has is LOADS better for people who actually read.

I get that due to the past this website has had a lot of flack, but considering how I mainly stuck to my own crew here years ago i think there’s an odd sense of nostalgia with it. Like I could type up whatever without restraint and be as expresive with words as I want. So to some of the people who might be wondering where I’ve been with Twitter and you didn’t go there because of whatever... Ho boy twitter has been something.

So one thing that twitter initally gave me that I was first off happy with was being around people I actively talked to more. These people that stemed from Discord, Skype (at the time) and irl places and there was finally a place to talk to them and express myself...

...Only to be limited to 200 characters per post. Now this wasn’t horrible for sure as I could make up for this with follow up posts but good gravy it’s hard to really fit in the ways I like to type out and word things.

And I honestly believe that limitation is what also gets people set ablaze, even without an ability to edit.

Generally speaking things were pretty smooth for the first 2 years. Retweeted fan arts and memes, gave likes to a lot of things, alas I could never crack twitter as much as when I cracked Tumblr here years ago. Granted I never cared about numbers but for a social media platform all about being social, twitter sure tends to leave you feeling more lonely.

What probably made this exceed ridiculous levels is with how cancel culture is handled there. Now you thought tumblrs cases of this were bad (and they are still bad, never forget the Steven Universe fan art thing) Twitter with how it’s structured tends to be 10x worse especially if you’re not a thriving account.

If you remember back in the day, I was pretty big with Smash Bros. I loved that series to my core and adored almost every aspect of it... I think given some obvious incidents that happened in 2020 my respect has since gone down the toilet. Even further was with how a local I went to eventually treated me. Now for those who have heard the story before I’ll at least outline it so you can skip over it but good gravy whenever I think about it, I just have to vent in some form.

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I’ve told this story on repeat through the Discords I regular and even the rare instance on Twitter after it happened. People that attended the local made up a lie about the ages of myself and my ex-girlfriend to make it seem as if I was a pedo. Without even asking her consent about it no less and they still had that story be believed over my own pleas of defense.

It lead to a pretty big downward spiral for myself mentally and emotionally. Honestly I don’t think I’ve fully recovered after that and I honestly feel my relations with my ex are all the more damaged by it and the deterioration we both took from it.

You’re probably wondering how old my ex was. It was a 4 year gap between us. I understand the age gap of 21 to 17 isn’t appealing in most countries but that was when we showed feelings (which I thought would generally be fine in Australia but again, I get it isn’t socially exceptable even within law here now) with actual proper dating not even beginning until she was 19. We broke up as soon as Febuary of 2020 began so... Yeah that Smash thing really put me through the god damn wringer.

Worst defense I tried giving myself was a by word description of a drawing she did when she was 18, which they took that and rode out the lie with it.

Now considering a month and a half after that the whole community was covering up a whole bunch of creeps, around a year ago one of those predators (Nairo) was unbanned because of some unknown document and cut to now where practically most of the bans from a google doc titled the “Global Ban Database” were merely suggestions and not full bans... It’s left me pretty damn sour on Smash as a whole.

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So unless it’s a fan game, mod or inspired game; I got nothing positive left to say about Smash. Screw that game and screw the nepotism that drives the community.

Honestly with that local also gas lighting me on my take of Pokemon Sword and Shield of all things also, that also just inadvetently tainted my appreciation for Pokemon also, so Pokemon’s gonna be lacking in terms of retweet and what not.

I guess generally speaking though, I think I’ve had more falling outs on Twitter than I ever had here. Least here I can type as long as I want to and be more clear about my intentions. Honestly the only thing holding back a permanent return is how NSFW is treated on this website.

I mean look; as a 26 year old man (going on 27 soon) I have DEFINITELY found myself more enamered by things that are basically rated as porn. If anything I’d definitely become a more borderline porn blog if it weren’t for the supposed ban on the content still on this site. I get nudity is allowed by some extent but good gravy some of the stuff I’d love to share about can be a LOT more detailed.

I suppose even if that ain’t the case I hope to at least be back as a guy who loves to enjoy stuff. I’d love to talk about various Touhou fan games on here for example. And OH BOY there’s definitely some write ups I’d love to do on some pretty obscure stuff.

That being said, I guess the shut down scare on Twitter at least reminded me why I use to like this site in the first place. Despite the particular people that made this site infamous in the first place I honestly dunno how else I’d properly socialize and find out about myself due to it.

Hope I can see some old faces again and meet some new ones!

[skepticalarrie]

hello! Why are so many people today saying babygate is real all of a sudden? Did something happen? What happened?

Hi, darling. I’m going to go ahead and make this post with all the info, I’m sure it will be useful for future reference. So thank you for your question 😊

So, earlier this year Louis started to interact with this girl (Tanika) on twitter, she sent him *hundreds* of videos of her 4/5 year old son (Bentley) singing Louis’ songs. The videos are absolutely adorable, the kid is very sweet and clearly adores Louis. The interaction resulted in Louis inviting them to one of his shows (they’re from Australia) and also a facetime call so Louis could talk to Bentley.

She posted several videos of the call - although it was supposed to be a private conversation between them - Louis talking and having fun with Bentley in the videos.

Not long after it, she started to answer questions on TikTok like these:

And she did posted a video of Louis calling Freddie (off camera) and then him asking her to stop recording.

So let’s just stop here for a second to appreciate what happened. Tanika seemed to be a larrie(ish). She posts hundreds of pictures and videos of her kid online to get noticed by Louis, and when she gets a chance to talk to him privately, she also posts a bunch of videos of that. Including Louis talking with “his son” (that conveniently doesn’t appear on the video) just to shut larries up since everyone was saying it was bullshit. Just to prove a point. On the screenshots, she says she immediately “unlarried” after talking to him.

That was months ago. Last week, Louis was finally in Australia and they met, Tanika shared a bunch of pictures of her and Bentley and everything.

And yesterday, these rumours started to spread:

Tanika said that this is a lie and I couldn’t care less about the beef with this other person. But there’s a lot of back and forth and a lot of people being put in hot waters and trying to save their own asses for talking about something they “shouldn’t”.

But there is this one screenshot of what Louis allegedly DMed her, and that’s what made her “unlarrie”.

Tanika (so far) doesn’t seem able to confirm or deny (she confirmed to everyone who asked her privately) whether this message is real, although she seems very interested in knowing where the screenshot came from. Confirming that would put her in a very uncomfortable position, since she would be leaking a “private conversation” about something personal that Louis “confided” her (just like the videos).

The situation is absurd. People seem to believe that out of all the things in the world *the* Louis Tomlinson would confide her and only to her - someone who gained his trust and honest friendship - such a thing because “he doesn’t think people really know how he feels about Larry”. Because, of course, he doesn’t seem able to express that publicly, since he doesn’t stop engaging and encouraging everything Larry related, basically admitting he is in fact larrybaiting.

Personally I’m very inclined to think the screenshot is real, although obviously a huge ass lie. He did call Freddie off camera after all, so IMO this is just one more time being used to push babygate and once again put fans against each other, because they knew she would spread everything about it. This is as old as time, like “the prank call” where people happened to be conveniently recording and all the other times because larry is a load of bullshit. I think he’s very lucky he didn’t come across larries that have been to hell and back when trying to push that shit down our throats, he would have a lot of explaining to do.

[myherowritings]

welcome to the family

SUMMARY. After mistaking the guy on your lockscreen as your boyfriend, your grandmother knits him a sweater to welcome him into the family. Childe sees your tweet about it the next morning.

PAIRING. celeb!childe x reader

WORD COUNT. 1.0k

GENRE. celeb au, loosely based off a tweet

A/N. small drabble because i kind of got excited at the thought of celeb au childe o.o also like...have u listened to his english va sing those cheesy songs? i absolutely love it HFJKGHG pls enjoy xx sof

You weren’t a fan of the celebrity with the title Tartaglia, alias Childe, real name unknown to the public.

Definitely not a fan.

The only reason you knew even that much about him was simply due to social media blowing him up as the infamous white boy of the month. And from there his fame only grew. (Though you had to admit, he was at least more interesting than the previous other candidates.)

You weren’t a fan, but you couldn’t deny he deserved the recognition he received. His acting was pretty captivating, his singing voice pleasing to the ear, and his body... Well, his body...

“Earth to Y/N,” your mom called, drawing you out of your rapidly spiraling thoughts. You were visiting your family home for the weekend and you were currently in the living room with your mother and grandmother, watching bad reality TV and snacking on junk food. “You’ve been spaced out today. Too busy thinking about your boyfriend?”

Your eyebrows shot up. “Huh?”

Like most grandparents, your grandma seemed to have a special radar to let her know when her grandchildren had a potential suitor at hand. Just the mere mention of the word made her perk up. “Boyfriend?”

“Yeah! I don’t know why they were keeping it a secret from us, but I saw the picture on their lockscreen,” she whispered to your grandma conspiratorially, loud enough for you to hear. “He’s a cute guy with ginger hair.”

The picture on your lockscreen off a cute guy with ginger hair… You were only half-embarrassed to recall that it was a picture taken from Childe’s outdoor picnic photoshoot where the poses they made him do attempted to paint the image that he was there on a date with you. His clothes were casual and his smile was familiar.

You absolutely hated that marketing strategy but you’d be lying if you said you didn’t willingly fall for it each time.

But again, you weren’t a fan…

Oh, who were you fooling? You were halfway from breaking and making a Childe fan account if your dignity didn’t get the best of you.

“Childe? He’s—”

“Your boyfriend! My grandchild finally found love in this world?” asked your grandmother, teary-eyed as she completely ignored her favorite trashy reality show on the television to get a better look at you. “I’m so happy for you! This is so exciting.”

“Grandma, wait—”

“You have to bring him home and let us meet him,” she rushed on animatedly, giving you no time to squeeze a full sentence in. “No, before you do that, let me make him something for you to give to him! What size is his shirt? Is that a picture of him? Oh he looks nice and strong! I’ll knit him a turtleneck. You give it to him the next time you see him, okay?”

Your grandma ran to get her knitting needles and yarn, leaving a whirlwind in her wake as you stared open-mouthed at the spot she once occupied.

That was how you ended up going home the next day with a brand new turtleneck sweater your grandmother made for your non-existent boyfriend.

The situation was so bizarre, you decided there was only one thing you could do: Pull your phone out as you sat on your bed to tell Twitter about the events of your weekend.

— ✩ —

It wasn’t everyday Childe woke up to check what the top tweets of his tag were on Twitter.

Okay, that’s a lie.

It was everyday.

He had an image to keep, after all. And it interested him to know what others had to say about him, despite how bad that might actually be for his state of mind.

Childe didn’t like deceit, but showing some parts of himself to only some people and other parts to others wasn’t lying. It was self-preservation. Everyone had a persona of sorts, and he preferred for his to be intact. What was the point of showing everyone every side of him?

He knew who Childe and Tartaglia were. He knew who Ajax was. As long as he knew, he’d be alright.

Was it a lonely path? Maybe. But it paid well and made his family proud. What more could he ask for?

Acting may not be as cool as being, say, a toymaker as his younger brother would proclaim, but at least he got to travel the world and explore places he never could’ve before. And the cute fans of his were also a definite bonus.

Childe continued scrolling through his phone when he stumbled upon a tweet that seemed to be gaining numbers quickly. It was posted only a few hours ago last night (his time, at least) by what looked like a personal account.

@y/n: Y'ALL WTF my mom saw my lockscreen (which is a pic of childe) and told my grandma that he was my bf and then my gma got so excited she knit him a WHOLE SWEATER and told me to give it to him. how could i break her heart and tell her he’s just a celebrity i like omg

@y/n: here’s a picture of the sweater she knit. isn’t it adorable? i almost feel too bad to just wear it myself though hjfkhg [Attachment: 1 Image]

A surprised chuckle escaped his lips as he looked at the picture of you holding the cream-colored turtleneck up, the large sleeves covering most of your body in the photo. You were right. The sweater did look adorable. As did a certain little fan of his who was also featured in the image.

Without giving it a second thought, he began to type his reply.

@TartagliaOfficial: Why wear it yourself? Didn’t your grandma say it’s meant for me? :( It’d be a shame to disappoint her.

In only a matter of minutes, he refreshed the page and found your name in his notifications. For some reason, he felt a rush of adrenaline flow through his veins as he waited for your tweet to load.

@y/n: am i being punk’d or r u asking me out???

Childe laughed to himself, exiting the tweet thread so he could click on the private message icon on your profile.

This would be fun.

[bastillewolf]

Hello idk if the requests are still going but if not then its okay ignore this and if they are please don't over work yourself and you don't need to do my request if you don't want to just stay healthy and eat well and drink lots of water we all live your work (and are simps for corpse-)

The ask : could I ask for a corpse husband x reader where they used to get shipped together before they even meet each other and when they meet each other corpse goes soft for reader and they play two rounds In among us together where they are imposters together and corpse is an imposter alone in the other round

Reader info : reader has a very soft voice and is a softie and the pronounce is she/her or they/them ( as you wish)

Again you don't gotta do it if you don't want to

Thanks so much for the ask, An. I was feeling like shit and this was a lot of fun to write. I’m sorry though, I completely read over the part where the reader was supposed to have a soft voice. I’ll see if I can make another one with this specification sometime. Also, I wrote this rather quickly because I’m watching Twilight for the first time and now my feelings are hurt.

#CorpseBride - Oneshot

Pairings: Corpse / Reader

Twitter wasn’t really your forte, but you knew how to get around. It’s just that you never really had the time to check it, let alone to see what’s on the trending page every single day. At the very least, you were capable of replying to your friends’ stuff and letting your viewers know when you were streaming or when a new video would be up. Again, you weren’t a pro, but you got by.

Until you didn’t.

“Hey, everyone,” you greeted, and immediately went to change your Among Us figure to its usual colour and outfit before someone else took it.

Everyone welcomed you, while it seemed Toast was still busy trying to get a last person to join.

“Whaddup, baby,” Corpse’s shot out from the rest of them. It was pure teasing, something he’d grown quite comfortable with ever since people had blatantly started simping for his voice. “Nothing much, honey. How’ve you been?” You cheekily replied. “Pretty good. Streaming still makes me nervous, though.” “You greeted me with ‘Whaddup, baby’ and then proceed to tell me you’re nervous? Don’t get upset when I say that I don’t believe you.” He chuckled at that.

5… 4… 3… 2… 1…

Impostor

“Ha!” you called out, “I doubt this will soothe your nerves, Corpse. You’re teamed up with me now.” You sneaked in a glance at chat. “We are not an old married couple! If anything, he can be my bitch for this round. I’m just not gonna murder anyone.”

And that’s basically how it went. He managed to kill three people and still wasn’t being sussed. “Alright, I think I’ve tortured him enough,” you laughed, “I’ll even spare Sykkuno for the man.”

You managed to corner Toast and killed him in a corner where the water wheels were, before heading out into admin. You vented until you found Corpse in Labs and jumped out. It was right when Sykkuno walked in.

“Oh, god no. Please, Sykkuno.”

Your kill count still wasn’t down yet and he was obviously planning to run straight out the door to hit the emergency button, but he was stopped. Corpse had murdered him in an instant.

Your mouth was hanging open. “Did… Did he just kill Sykkuno for me?” Chat was going absolutely wild. “What the fuck just happened?” You decided to report the body anyway.

“I can’t fucking believe it,” Corpse growled, “Not my best friend, Sykkuno.”

You had to mute yourself to keep the laughter at bay. Corpse evidently vouched for you, saying you’d walked in on the body together. Felix was sussed and voted out.

“Corpse, you killed me!” Sykkuno cried out.

“I’m so sorry, Sykkuno! I wanted to spare you but you walked in at the wrong time!” You pleaded.

“Sacrifices had to be made,” Corpse merely responded.

“Wait, what happened?” Sean asked.

“I walked in on one of them venting and then Corpse killed me!”

“Collateral damage. You watched me get killed one time, too.”

“Blame me, Sykkuno. It was my fault,” but you were laughing as you said it.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard such regret coming from an imposter,” Sean laughed along, “Also, why the fuck were you two being so slow? Three meetings in and you’d only killed three people.”

“Corpse was simping for me,” you replied.

“I was not.”

“Yes, you were. Otherwise you would’ve asked me what the hell I’d been doing that entire time.”

“Fuck off,” he laughed.

“Corpse is an UWU-boy!”

“Oh my god, you guys are already trending.”

“Wait, what?”

Your phone was being blasted off to space, getting tons of messages with the hashtag #CorpseBride. It was number 1 trending on Twitter.

“So… whaddup, baby?”

“Oh no, you better buy me a drink first.”

“Sure.”

 You hadn’t thought he’d been serious in that moment, until he’d asked you to meet up after the game had ended. You hesitantly agreed, but reminded him that he absolutely did not have to participate in this just for the meme. “I’m not doing this for the meme,” he’d said, “I’ve been wanting to ask you out for a while, I just never knew how. It seemed like the perfect timing.”

You met him at his apartment, knowing how he was about going out in public, and feeling extremely nervous. You’d brought takeout, and because you hadn’t been sure what he wanted you’d ordered way too much. Upon opening the door, he looked at you, down at the bag, and said, “Shit, you got food?” Not really knowing what else to say, you simply replied, “Uh, yeah.”

“Well, I guess we’ll have lots of leftovers, then.”

He smiled, gave you a hug that ended way too fast and left you paralyzed for a minute, and then invited you in. It turned out he’d already ordered food, too. “Plenty to choose from,” he laughed awkwardly. “Uh… You got any neighbours who might want some?” you asked.

“I-I don’t really talk to anyone outside of my friend group.”

“Oh, of course. I could go around, if you’d like.”

“You’d do that for me?”

You furrowed your brows. “Of course I would. Why not?”

“Alright, but let me at least come with you. You just do the talking.”

Three knocks at three different doors later, and someone accepted the offer and took over some of the food. “Hang on a minute,” the elderly man said, clad in only his pyjamas and a bathrobe, managing to make the situation even more uncomfortable, “Aren’t you my neighbour? You always scurry off before I get the chance to talk to you!”

You looked at Corpse, and he back at you, and you turned back to the elderly man. “He, uh… He’s very people shy. He has anxiety. I’m trying to help him cope. Also, his vocal chords are damaged.” Nothing you’d said so far had been a lie, technically, but the man still remained sceptical. “Then why didn’t you just leave a note or something?”

“Uh…” you jumped at the small voice appearing from behind you. It’s just that his ‘small voice’ is still nothing close to small. “I know, I’m terribly sorry, sir. I also just wanted to let you know that if you ever need anything, I’m just a few doors away.”

This seemed to please the man enough.

“I can’t believe you made me do that.”

“I made you?!” You gasped, “I didn’t make you do anything, you filthy liar! You’re just as bad in real life as in Among Us, when you’re the impostor and I’m the innocent crewmate.”

“No comment.”

“I didn’t even ask you a question.”

“No comment.”

“Deadass?”

“Deadass.”

You both laughed. Corpse hesitated for just a moment, but decided to ask anyway, “Were you nervous when I opened the door?”

You chuckled awkwardly, admitting, “Yeah, I was. I always get anxious meeting people. Well, we’d met before, of course. But just, you know, in real life.”

“I get it.”

You stood there in silence for a moment, until you noticed the rest of the takeout in your hands was getting cold. “Come on, wife,” he joked, linking his pinkie finger with yours, “Let me get you that drink.”

If he hadn’t dragged you along then and there, you could’ve sworn your knees would’ve given out.

TAG LIST CLOSED

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[creepytoes88]

Let me spoil you, baby

Y/n’s Pov

Dating Vinnie wasn't what I expected I never was a big social media person but everyone and their uncle has tiktok. Chances are if you have tiktok you have seen Vinnie so needless to say I had a major crush on him. After seeing all the seemingly “Perfect” girls he hung around with. I never thought I had a chance, ya know besides the fact that I was a nobody. However living in LA is never boring and it never disappoints I saw Vinnie's cute ass on melrose, I'm not what you would call a “skinny” girl I have relatively small breast and a pleasantly plump butt as my mother would say. I'm not ashamed of my less then flat stomach either I don't need anyones approveal to be happy with myself. However back when I first met Vinnie that was a different story I was too shy to come up to him and say hello so I just admired him from where I was standing before walking away right passed him and his friends.

I walked into the nearest store and began to look at clothes picking out a pair of nice mom jeans and a vintage Cheech and Chong shirt. I heard the bell attached to the top of the door jingle as I walk to the jewelry part of the store I began to look at the earnings and necklaces. “How’s your day been so far beautiful?” I look up towards the voice ready to tell them to fuck off but I look up to see Vinnie Fucking Hacker. I quickly recover and Smile pulling myself together “I've had a great day! how has your day been?” I smile at him “it was alright but like 10 minutes ago I think I saw the most beautiful woman in my life walk into this store so I had to pray and hope that she didn't leave.” I widen my eyes looking around seeing no one “Did she leave?” Vinnie let out a laugh “No I'm actually talking to her, if you have time I would love to grab coffee or lunch with you, right now, on me of course!”

I drop my mouth a little before looking around for the cameras “um I would love too... My names Y/n by the way, I won't lie to you I know who you are Vinnie.” I say with a sad tone half expecting him to cancel “good now I don't have to explain why people are taking pictures of me” he says as he holds out his hand “are you ready to check out or are you still shopping?” he says with a small smile “Oh yea I'm ready I can always come back anyway” I smiled back at him as I grab his hand and walk towards the cashier setting down my clothes and jewelry she quickly rings then up “That’s gonna be $357.45.” I smile and start to take my card out when suddenly Vinnie hands her 400 hundred dollars I turn to him with my mouth wide “Why did you just do that please get your money back” Vinnie laughed at me grabbing his change and the receipt “you can pay it back to me by going to dinner with me again tomorrow?” I look at him we haven’t even gotten food yet and he’s trying to schedule another date “your not paying for my food this time or next though you just lost those privileges” I say with a sassy attitude grabbing my bag and walking out Vinnie following close behind.

Fast forward to now we never really tried to hide our relationship we just let it grow naturally and didn’t speak on it. Everyone has recently been hating on me jealous girls calling me ugly and fat, at first it didn't even affect me. I know Vinnie love me but in the back of my mind it bothered me it hurt my feelings. I didn't tell Vinnie, I don't want him to feel bad or worry there is nothing anyone can do to make them stop so I just lived with it. It's been 3 weeks since I've been getting hate in my DMs on every platform everyday I wake up and it keeps piling up. I look at them again before clicking my phone off and getting in the shower to release some tension and stress.

Vinnie's Pov

“Alright ill see you guys later!” I yelled at the boys running up to my door step we just got back from the skate park and I was so Gross and sweaty. I open the door and make my way upstairs as I walked into Y/n and I’s room slipping off my shoes and stripping myself of all my sweaty clothing except my boxers I fall flat on the bed. “Ouch” I said as I felt my forehead connect to a hard surface “what the fuck” I said in a soft voice holding my head I look down and see Y/n phone a smirk spreading across my face. I'm gonna tweet weird things off her twitter I think to myself as I open her phone I see her DMS are open and people are saying some pretty nasty things I look at the other social media platforms. I'm shocked and I'm pissed how could they even say such thing about Y/n the sweetest, most humble and beautiful person I have ever met or seen for that matter. I click off the phone and place it on the bed side table hearing the shower turn off quickly I pick up my clothes off the floor and shut the door I watch as my beautiful girlfriend comes out “boo.” I say behind her seeing her jump in the air slightly “fuck baby you scared me” she said turning around kissing my lips before turning and grabbing her lotion. Now usually when Y/n gets out of the shower she drops her towel and puts on lotion before getting dressed this time she picks it up along with her clothes and speeds off to the bathroom quickly shutting the door. “What are you doing sweetie?” I ask softly before tapping on the door “n-nothing...just getting dressed”

I bit my lip slightly “baby this doesn't have to do with what I saw on your phone does it?” no reply so I tried the doorknob and it was locked “baby let me in please” I hear sniffles and shuffling “let me g-get dressed fir-” I growl slightly not even noticing “now princess” I once again her shuffling before the door clicks. Pulling the poor open I rushed in seeing Y/n naked and basically covering herself looking at the ground “oh no baby look at me” I say softly walking over to her “please beautiful” she sniffles before looking at me I see tears are running down her face. I simply kiss them away “please don't hide yourself from me baby” I kiss her cheeks and her forehead “I love you and I care about you I think you're perfect” I say before kissing her lips. Slowly she dropped her arms kissing me back harder I take my hands to her thighs picking her up which we usually don't do she would always complain and get uncomfortable. This time was no different “mmm no vinnie put me down” I kissed her lips squeezing her thighs “i got you I promise baby just to the bed” she finally wraps her legs around me her arms leaving the wall going to my hair. She wasn't even hard to lift let alone carry 20 feet I wish she didn't think and feel this way about her self. I walked her straight to a wall completely skipping the bed.

“I'm gonna show you how beautiful and amazing you are my sweet girl” I began kissing her lips and grinding against her my hard shaft against her bare clit moans spilling out of her mouth immediately. I grab her full breast in my hands playing with her soft nipples as I kiss down her neck whimpers coming from her mouth. My hard cock grinding harder against her as my mouth attacks one of her nipples my hand attacking the other pinching and pulling. Her moans get louder as I switch nipples I leave little hickeys on her boobs and chest making my way up her neck. I could feel her legs gripping onto me and her hips thrusting against mine “oo-ooh shit Vin... I'm gonna cum” she says in a hot breathy tone I kiss her lips pulling one of her knees up onto my shoulder and gasp leaves her mouth letting me enter my tongue I grind faster as I abuse her sweet mouth with my tongue swallowing her moans and pants. Her thighs shaking slightly pulling away I kiss her cheeks grabbing her other leg tossing it over my shoulder so her full body weight was against me and the wall. Her sweet pussy staring me in the face I could smell her and I moaned spreading her legs wider hearing her gasp I smirk “you smell so good baby mind if I have a taste?” she just whines and kicks her legs slightly “mmm I'll take that as a yes baby.”

I say with a smirk dropping my head slightly my nose poking around her clit and my tongue plunged as deep as I could possibly get in moans spilling from my mouth as her taste fills my mouth. Clouds cover my brain all I can think about is making my baby cum. I was making a deep growling sound in my chest and didn't even notice it everytime she tried to pull away from my mouth and nose it got louder almost like a warning to stay still. “Ahh Vinnie baby please” I started to get curious and before I know it I feel my tongue swipe across her pink button and load moan and gasp along with her grinding her hips into my face I assume she likes it. I do it again this time swirling around it making it known I'm doing it on purpose “Vinnie why are you doing that?” she say grinding against me “Do you want me to stop?” I answer her question with a question she throws her head back and moans “noooooo please more!” I pull her from the wall walking to the bed I drop her. Y/n spreads her legs apart looking up at me “butt in the air Princess spread your legs as far as you can get them.”

She flips over her hands and elbows holding her up that's not exactly what I want tho “spread your ass and pussy for me baby” I say with little smirk she lays on her face and knees as her hands pull her butt cheeks apart with a little moan. I look down admiring her sweet little holes staring at me I let out a wolf whistle “damn beautiful....i can't wait to taste you again” I grab ahold of her soft asscheeks in my hands as hers fall to her sides. I lick a thick stripe over her clit all the way to her button slightly entering my tongue before licking around it again “please daddy” I look up at her pushing my thumb in to her greedy pussy “yess daddy more please” I chuckle “what more could you want baby?” she slightly blushes turning her head the other way “mmmm baby Daddy isn't a mind reader if you want something you have to speak up.” I say with a smirk “p-please ea-” she shakes her head and takes a deep breath “please eat me” I chuckle she's so cute “eat what baby?”

I rub her thigh with my other unused hand and kiss her squishy butt cheeks definitely enjoying myself “God I love your bubble butt princess it's amazing If I had my way I would sleep on it, roll on it, and most definitely eat it” I say giving her the ok to ask biting down on her ass “YES YES DADDY EAT MY ASS PLEASE” I laugh before spreading her open and I lay a kiss on her wet hole as a moan leaves her mouth I lick around for a second before slipping my tongue in slightly before pulling out. Her moans and whimpers music to my ears I repeat this a few times till I think she's loose enough to put my tongue fully in “ready my dirty little girl” she moans in response and I slip my tongue fully into her as both my thumbs attack her clit and slit “FUCK DA-ADDY MORE PLEASE” I eat her like crazy shaving my tongue in between both holes as I slap her ass and clit “OOOOH FUCK IM CUMMING” she yells as I feel wetness on my chin and fingers.

I pull away dropping down next to her before turn my head to meet her gaze “sit on my face Princess” I say as I pull her hand she slowly moves over to me with wild eyes I pull her over me before pulling her hips down to meet my face she was completely sitting on my face with all her weight as I dive my tongue in for a third time occasionally slipping it in her butt making her moan and grind against my face “Daddy I'm coming already” she says humping my face with her hands in my hair “MMMMM” she gasps as she cum on my face for the 4 time “fuck princess you ready”

I say as I pull my boxers down she nods as she lays down spreading her legs for me “such a good girl for Daddy” I pick up one of her legs wrapping it around my hip tossing the other over my shoulder before slipping into her. I grunt as her walls squeeze around me I hear her moan “shit daddy your so big” I give a breathy laugh “i think your just tight baby” I say before I thrust into her. Moans leaving both of our mouths as I pound into her I pull out flipping her over and push back in “AH” she groans “you good baby” I say as I thrust softly “ye-YES” I smirk pushing into her as deep as possible “can I put my babies inside of you baby” she gasp and turns her head to look at me “i wouldn't want anyone else to spend my life with and I can't think of ayone I would rather raise my kids with then you baby” she drops her head moaning as she thrust her hips back in to me “flip me back over so I can hold it in Daddy we might not get lucky the first time but it's worth a shot.” Y/n moans grabbing my hand I flip her over putting her legs on my shoulders fucking into her “mmm baby I'm gonna fuck my baby into you honey” I bite and suck at her neck “would you like that?”

She moans and throws her head back moaning “hold it princess please just a little longer” I pant kissing her neck quickly I grab my pillow and shove it under her ass before stuffing my entire length inside of her moaning. Releasing my load deep inside of her before pulling my hips out almost all the way fucking my cum inside of her till I couldn't feel it sloshing around anymore. “Do you wanna cuddle baby” she nods her head I turn her to her side putting her under the cover getting up to turn the light off climbing back in behind her “stay still princess I wanna make sure nothing comes out tonight” she smiles holding out her hand. Knowing she was going to be sensitive I grab it kissing her shoulders and back as I slowly slip my limp cock inside of her before it hardened back up “oo-oh shit Daddy I love your big cock” she says sleepily I pull her close to me kissing her lips “well we love you too” she opens her eyes “ew” she laughs making me laugh too “go to bed brat I love you beautiful” “I love you to handsome I'm very excited to have a mini you running around”

[tommytranselo]

i probably said this already but "how's your english so good?" still drives me up the wall because i can't think of any other explanation besides being a hint henry was a rat but it's so fucking STUPID. first of all the family album corroborates his backstory and those are evidently meant to be lore given to the players entirely outside the context of the game (as in, not presented by any of the characters and therefore presumably unbiased) so i have no idea why it would be false info, and the frankie potts files corroborate it as well and even though those aren't strict canon it does suggest the original intention was for his story to be true.

but second of all WHY WOULD HE LIE? why the fuck would he give that as his cover story if it's so easily verifiable? like if clemente DIDN'T promise a family friend to look after his son when he arrived in america, and henry claims he did, i feel like that would probably raise some red flags with the boss! it would be extremely easy to ask him. there's almost certainly other people who would remember henry joining as well. that's a horrible cover story.

anyway daniel vávra's comments on twitter about henry being framed make me think the rat thing was probably a relatively late decision and the original plot went differently (i mean with the intended multiple endings and loads of cut content, almost certainly) so i'm willing to bet they just kind of threw that line in as a way of foreshadowing even though it makes no sense. like honestly loads of shit in mafia 2 make no fucking sense but this one really drives me nuts bc i see people (mostly in youtube comment sections) act like this is proof henry's a rat when honestly it's more of a plot hole than anything

[kaypeace21]

Analyzing the 5 plays in this drama club poster .From the bts pics of stranger things 4.

So... some of ya’ll know I'm going through the st s4 films given to us by the official st twitter + the films reffed in the show itself or mentioned by the Duffers in interviews .

So I decided to look at the plays mentioned here. Because even if we don't see the monologues in the show directly - the Duffers wouldn't name drop anything unless it inspired them in some way. Similar to films name dropped in the show. Tw : for some dark themes .

This is just a quick little analysis I decided to do since we probably won't get any new st content today (3/22). Nothing too deep. Just mentioning things that caught my interest especially cause these plays have a lot of narrative connections to the st s4 movies I've been watching.

Invitation to a march (Authur laurents)

Reminds me of the stancy/jancy love triangle. "A young woman is having second thoughts about doing the right thing and marrying a respectable , rich, kind, young man with good prospects.By way of a prewedding diversion, this woman becomes interested in the passionate but poor and entirely unsuitable son of a local landlord.Basically, the plot concerns the efforts of Norma Brown to choose between a conventional fiance who "puts her to sleep" but is wealthy (like what her own mother did) or go for this new-poor guy. The play is principally interested in how this youthful love triangle affects the three mothers involved (whether the kids like it or not)

12th night (Shakespeare)

 - viola (el) wrongly assumes a family member (hopper) is dead. She dresses up as a man named 'cesario'. A girl named Olivia falls for 'cesario' (violet dressed as a man). "Finally, when 'Cesario' and Sebastian (violet's twin brother: assumed to have drowned - Will) appear in the presence of Olivia there is more wonder and confusion at their physical similarity. Taking Sebastian for 'Cesario', Olivia asks him to marry her, and they are secretly married in a church. Cough if Olivia is 'straight' cause she fell for Viola (as a doppleganger dressed like her twin brother).Mike being into el who multiple characters in s1 said looked like a boy and specifically like Will is...suspish and a hint he's not straight lol. just like Olivia they're both into guys . plus, this play just has a butt load of love triangles (ugh i hated that aspect). There was also romantically coded letters (which was in the s4 films) . One character is also thrown into an insane asylum and framed as 'insane'.'Pretending that Malvolio is insane, they lock him up in a dark chamber. Feste visits him to mock his insanity'. We all know the psych hospital will be narratively important- talked about it more here.

The seagull (Anton Chekhov-russian)

similar to how I believed s4 will show m*#even already broken up since the months between s3-4 : act 3 (s3) ends with Nina begging for one last chance to be with Trigorin before he leaves/moves away. They kiss and make plans to meet again in Moscow.And in act 4 there's a timeskip where it shows they've been broken up for a long time between acts- and its established they never actually loved eachother. Do i even have to spell out why this parallels the m*#even ending in s3? There is also a play within the play (this is common in a lot of the st films- they have plays- or a story within a story- which illustrate certain themes or emotions of the characters within said film : blackswan, children of paradise, highschool musical, Rushmore, book of Henry, welcome to marwen, never ending story, romancing the stone, wet hot American summer, etc).The play is Konstantin's latest attempt at creating a dense symbolist work. There is also alot of love triangles in the seagull. TW!: for se#ual ab*se/su*cidal thoughts/ inc*st (here and in other play segments). The seagull motif reminds me a lot of Jonathan's rabbit story.Konstantin romantically into Nina shows up to give her a gull that he has shot. Nina is confused and horrified . Trigorin sees the gull that Konstantin has shot and muses to Nina on how he could use it as a subject for a short story: "The plot for the short story: a young girl lives all her life on the shore of a lake. She loves the lake, like a gull, and she's happy and free, like a gull. But a man arrives by chance, and when he sees her, he destroys her, out of sheer boredom. Like this gull."  This immediately reminded me of jon's rabbit story and some of the movies on the s4 list . Like in forrest gump- Jenny (who is poor) was se*ually ab*sed as a very young girl by her father. As a child she runs away into a field-away from her alcoholic father yelling at her -there she prays that she can "be a bird so I can fly far far away" .

Jenny as an adult struggles with this unresolved trauma- being with ab*sive partners, doing dr*gs, and having su*cidal thoughts . She as an adult when contemplating su*icide, jokes 'you think i can fly like a bird ?' while looking down at a bridge.God-i'm worried about jonathan (Jenny was also a musician sort of like jon). In another s4 movie example ' mystic river ' :(in the 80s) a preteen baseball playing boy is r*ped by men in the woods. He later says he wishes he could become an undead monster to not feel the pain of that experience - cause quote " if I'm not human anymore maybe the pain will stop" (Will) . slightly off topic but he also has another personality, imagines a alternate word that dissappears when he turns his head. And as a less direct animal parallel to the play - the boy from the film also imagined his perpetrators as monsters and wolves to cope.In 'getout' the photographer character sees a dead deer in the woods and it represents a parent/his own childhood tra*ma relating to his past. similarly in 'prince of tides' the 2 siblings as kids were ra*ed by men. The older brother remembered it and the younger sibling developed DID (so didn't remember but she would draw wolves- as the perpetrators/villains in her picture stories she created . In the film they also had an ab*sive dad and were very poor. She also tried k*ling herself multiple times-but started to get better after remembering the source of her pain and trauma.  There is also the theme of multiple attempted su*cides in the play- and the play ends with yet another attempt- and the audience is left unaware of the artist's fate at the end of the play.

The tempest (Shakespeare)

Prospereo - (the perceived antagonist) is a wizard with monstrous looks, storm powers , and ability to create monster-dogs

He wants revenge on a man who tried ra*ing his family member & revenge on his other family member who wronged him years ago. I mean... pretty much my did theory.But in the end.Prospero decides to show his enemies the mercy that they did not show him twelve years earlier. He tells Ariel to bring the men to him, he will restore their sanity and then renounce magic forever.Prospero breaks the spell that the men are under .

Diary of a scoundrel (Alexander Ostrovsky-Russian)

-  I suppose this could loosely relate to Jonathan? Glumov, is a young man from an impoverished family lacking status seeking entrance into society's pampered class. A 19th-century Russian scoundrel must scheme his way out of his meager life in a small apartment -whatever it takes.He has a quick mind and some talent for seeing through the hypocrisies of people around him ( Jonathan does make a lot of social critiques about society). That gives him some advantages. A tale of one man's mission to finagle his way into upper-class society and find a cushy job. Set in 1874, this social comedy follows Glumov, a Russian youth who begins his ambitious ascent to social esteem. He progresses by wit, guile and rhetoric. Pitting one stupid person against another, he soon gains his ends. To reach these goals, Glumov will lie, flatter, and cater to the vanities of the wealthy. Unable to contain his disgust with his victims, Glumov decides to relieve his unvoiced satirical comments by recording his schemes in a diary. But he is tripped up by his uncle's wife, to whom he has made passionate love on his way to success. At the end of the play, his diary is stolen and his duplicity exposed, but he can nevertheless suceeds. The author is much more critical about the high society itself than about the main character, so the play keeps attracting generations of directors by opening possibilities for political criticism while also avoiding naming names of the current rulers.The play's aim was to overthrow bourgeois tradition and establish a class-conscious art called eccentricism giving a deliberately comic portrayal of reality.

I suppose I notice some possible commonalities-  besides s3 critiquing the wealthy/capitalism in comedic ways . jonathan since s1 has worried about his family's finances / had some resentment toward the rich . In some of the s4 movies ‘orphan’ & ‘ girl interrupted’ someone reads their diary out loud to get at them (in girl interrupted the winona character’s diary even had critiques of her new friends).  Alot of movies also have someone (usually a teen/young adult) making a documentary about their life -which could narratively replace said diary? A few movies have a poor guy adjusting to snobby rich social circles (or being poor and then getting money)- titanic, kingsmen, karate kid, the craft , godfather,  wardogs,into the spiderverse,flashdance, and many others . And movies like wardogs has a poor-young-character do shady things to finacially support his family . There’s also that whole uncle’s wife thing- which makes me uncomfortable for obvious reasons (but I’m just thinking of Lonnie’s creepy gf who was into him). A few movies had the guy’s step mom innappropriately hit on him- orange county & you got mail. And him trying to avoid her advances. Or...not to mention ... it may be a problematic coincidence /trope. But in enter the void -the guy who needs to finacially support his sibling/ does dr*gs -hooks up with his dr*g dealing friend’s married mom (who would give him money).  Or in gilbert grape- the poor teen-who has to finacially support his siblings/single mom-has his endgame relationship be a girl his own age. But before that he h*oked up with a married woman -who would give him money. Don’s plum -young film guy-propositioned by older female film director (for dream job). Not even mentioning the other films that have the guy hooking up with toxic older women (like ‘the graduate’). Or analyze this-where the therapist accuses him of having an Oedipus complex (not touching that one... but the guy in ‘enter the void’ a 100% had one). It’s possible those movies were just- inspo for s3?  A coincidence? Or s3 was foreshadowing for this in s4- but unlike s3 it will accurately be played as wrong  and a sign of Jonathan recreating past tra*ma caused by Lonnie (cough like the photos) /being desperate for money. And not played ‘comedically’ like how it mostly was in s3. But shown as self destructive  (for Jon) and immoral on the Woman’s end. Like... Billy and Jon are character foils. Both are older siblings into rock music, with ab*sive dads who shoved them into walls. Both lose it (and beat steve to a pulp when Steve accidentally triggers their daddy issues). In s3 it’s established womanizer Billy has mommy issues, than he tries ho*king up with someone his mom’s age, and the characters ref ‘back to the future ‘ and Steve incorrectly says it’s about “alex p keaton trying to bang his mom.” This could illustrate his subconscious issues with parental figures/adults cause of Lonnie’s  possible past se*ual ab*se . One film the friend even says to the guy “you don’t have friends!” guy b: i have friends! him:  no you have acquaintances! ADMIT IT! YOU’RE AFRAID OF MEN!I mean-Jonathan liked Nancy- but he initially hooked up with her cause he wanted to prove he didn’t have ‘trust issues’ from his dad. Also it’s prob a bit of a reach (and maybe a coincidence)- but the fact Murray in the same breath compares Steve (Nancy’s then bf) and Lonnie  ... uh... if you think too long about it ... it’s very sinister .  Especially because in s3: muray tells Joyce  that despite her wanting to be with a nice guy, she’s curious about “the brute” Hopper despite him reminding her of a past “bad relationship”(aka Lonnie). Like- yeah connect some dots.  Quite a few films (other than forrest gump) also have the character who (as a kid) was  r*ped by their dad/parent-  begin to do dr*gs/be pr*miscuous as adults since they never learned to properly cope with their trauma (’girl with the dragon tattoo’,  ‘black swan’, and ‘magnolia’). Unfortunately the whole relative doing such things to kid-relatives is in at least 30+ movies. 

Personally, i would be MUCH happier if Jon had a age appropriate romance- and had not a single creepy adult near him. A few movies actually imply Lonnie gets yet another ‘new model’  replacing his gf in her 20s with a new gf- who is ‘barely l*gal” and just turned 18. so there’s that possibility as well- that she’s jonathan’s age.I just want Jonathan-happy &safe. GOD. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?

[shadowfromthestarlight]

Thought some of y’all might be interested in this Gab newsletter:

Just days after joining the grift operation Gettr, Joe Rogan slammed the platform this week calling it “fugazi” and was questioning live on his show about how to leave the platform. As I mentioned earlier this week former CNN contributor Jason Miller’s Chinese billionaire-funded Gettr is falsely claiming to be a “free speech” platform and an alternative to Big Tech, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Gettr not only depends on Amazon AWS for hosting along with Apple and Google App Stores for distribution, but the app is also tracking users for Facebook and Google according to a bombshell report from Talk Liberation Investigates.

As I have written in the past I have no problem with competition. Competition is great and encourages our team to work harder to provide the best product on the market. What I do have a problem with is grifters, hypocrites, and liars. I have a problem with foreign billionaires trying to astroturf Christians and conservatives into a Big Tech honeypot. I know many good and decent people will be signing up for Gettr at the behest of the talking heads they trust on Fox News and elsewhere. I think they deserve to know exactly what they are getting into.

Some Key Findings from the report include:

-Numerous trackers from Facebook, Google, and other third parties are embedded in GETTR web and smartphone apps.

-App permissions facilitate the surveillance of a wide variety of information about GETTR users, including fine-grained behavior and location data. This data is then used to profile users and shared with third parties.

-“Getome,” a previous version of the GETTR app that targeted Chinese-language audiences, is still published in Google Play and effectively provides a backdoor to GETTR. Users can log in and interact on the GETTR network via the Getome app, bypassing updates on the newer application.

-Content on GETTR such as news is loaded directly from external sources, opening connections between GETTR users to dozens of domains. This introduces serious privacy and security risks. Some of this content is delivered via unencrypted HTTP, further jeopardizing users.

-GETTR infrastructure is hosted by cloud vendors such as Amazon AWS and company email accounts are hosted by Google.

On top of this report, there has been extensive coverage about Gettr’s rampant censorship.

Gettr is already banning America First patriots for no reason.

Gettr is shadowbanning reporters who ask why.

Gettr is banning certain words they do not like.

Gettr is using Artificial Intelligence to ban “hate speech” just like Facebook and Twitter.

Gettr banned a black conservative for using a word they didn’t like in his account bio.

Another fake in the alternative technology space is Rumble.

Rumble positions themselves as the “free speech” Youtube alternative. Conservative talking heads from Fox News have been pushing it for the past year and earlier this summer President Trump joined the platform. On the day that President Trump joined the platform Rumble updated their terms of service to ban “hate speech.”

I was watching an interview with Tim Pool and the CEO of Rumble last night and it was really something. Tim pressed him on why their terms of service are exactly the same as Big Tech’s by banning things like “hate speech.” He correctly stated that Rumble is adopting the censorship language of the left.

The CEO of Rumble said that their terms of service are “legacy” from when they launched in 2013 (which is a lie because they added the hate speech rules on the day President Trump joined Rumble recently,) and mentioned three times that they have to ban “hate speech” in order to stay on the Apple and Google app stores.

So the reality is Rumble and Gettr are platforms that are de facto owned and operated by Apple and Google. If you have the same Silicon Valley rules in order to play in the Silicon Valley sandbox, you are necessarily part of the Silicon Valley swamp.

[caramelcal]

Fool for you

a/n: eye- y’all wanting a part 2? cause i have it planned lol x

it gets much more interesting i promise oml...the enemies arc really do be one of my faves tho

word count: 3.15k

warning: swearing

She couldn’t believe how much shit that stupid kiss had landed her in. Her head was clouded, arms crossed over her chest as she stared down at her lap, trying not to grumble. Not only her own manager was sat in the room, but 5 seconds of summer’s too, along with their bassist, one of the people she hated most, Calum Hood.

“We have seen how everyone reacted to the speculation,” The woman in front of her started, legs pressed together with a large binder sitting on her lap, hands folded gently on top. Normally Y/N got on quite well with her manager, Caroline, but right now she wanted to scream due to the words coming out of the woman’s mouth, “You’ve been gaining popularity from it, Y/N. This could be a great way for you to gain more of a following.”

Y/N had dreamed of the day she started to trend on Twitter, but this was not what she wanted to be trending for. She wasn’t trending for her music, not even her newest single. No, she was trending because everyone thought she was Calum Hood’s girlfriend.

Speaking of the boy, he sat beside her, keeping quietly to himself. This had to have been the first time that he had ever been in her presence where he hadn’t been annoying the shit out of her. Must be because his manager is in here. He had already been approached about it and seemed sold on the idea.

An idea of them being in a fake relationship.

Her, with Calum Hood. She wanted to scoff at the thought. He was unbearable at best, constantly annoying her to the point where she wanted to rip her hair out. When she had first been asked to be the opening act for 5 Seconds of Summer’s tour she had been ecstatic. The boys were nice, welcoming her onto their tour with open arms. Honestly, Y/N got on with all of them, apart from Calum. From the moment he set eyes on her he seemed determined to do anything and everything in his power to piss her off, slowly waiting until she finally lost her cool and lashed out. It was frustrating, especially considering Y/N knew she couldn’t do much about it.

Now, not only did she have to put up with Calum normally, but they wanted her to get close with him. To be in a fake relationship, which, obviously, meant spending more time with him.

“So, of course, you guys will have to be seen out in public with one another every so often so we were thinking you guys get ‘caught’ kissing my paps again, then we’re thinking dropping hints,” Ink began to get scribbled across a piece of paper, writing out a messy and brief plan which Y/N didn’t even want to look at, “Possibly y/n being caught wearing Calum’s shirt...We aren’t entirely sure yet but we will make sure to keep you updated. Do either of you have any questions?”

Despite the question seeming like it was for both of them, it was directed at Y/N, and she knew that. PR stunts and fake dating amongst celebrities were never unheard of, but she never thought she would be getting into one herself, not now and definitely not with Calum, “I do, actually. What’s in it for him exactly?”

The question was asked towards the two managers, y/n honestly didn’t want to even look at Calum right now. He probably wanted to do this simply to annoy her because he knew that he was the bane of her existence, but y/n just hoped that he wouldn’t get even more annoying, despite knowing he definitely would take advantage of the situation.

“Publicity,” His manager stated simply, nodding his head slightly in her direction. Y/n didn’t know what else to say, and they all were enveloped in a very uncomfortable silence before Caroline let out a sigh, snapping her folder shut.

“Well if that’s all,” She stood up, making y/n’s eyes travel up to her as she began to walk away, “We will leave you two be.”

With that, the two managers left without another word, shutting the door behind them. Y/n and Calum sat in awkward silence for a few moments, y/n’s eyes set firmly in the door before she stood up, going towards the door before Calum caught onto her hand.

“Where are you going?”

“Away,” Y/n huffed, tugging her hand away from the boy’s grip as she glared down at his hand. He awkwardly pulled his hand back, putting his hands down in his lap, “Going to get my last few hours of peace before we have to start this PR stunt.”

“Aw y/n/n, not wanna spend time with me, huh?” Calum teased, making her roll her eyes. He was already annoying her and he had barely spoken three sentences to her; something he had a special gift for.

“No, not really,” He gave her a fake pout before a smirk rose to his lips, making her roll her eyes.

Calum was acting as if she would actually enjoy his company. The same Calum Hood that woke her up by pouring a bucket of water on her that morning. Freezing cold water. Dickhead.

“Why are you doing this? Like why are you actually doing this?” She asked suddenly, making Calum meet her gaze with those brown eyes of his.

He shrugged, averting his gaze for a moment before speaking, “Publicity. It might not get us any more listeners but it’ll get people talkin’.”

They fell into an uncomfortable silence before y/n nodded her head, “Fair enough. I’m gonna get going. Bye.”

And with that, y/n left the room.

  Both y/n and Calum were walking together, hand in hand after a lovely ‘date’ together. It, honestly, was nothing short of awkward. Honestly, they didn’t know what to talk about with one another when they weren’t fighting; something that they became painfully aware of on their trip out that evening.

Calum, despite normally being reserved and quiet in public, actually took the lead in the conversation. Mostly because y/n didn’t know what to say and they knew that they couldn’t sit in silence, especially if someone noticed them and noticed that they didn’t even talk to one another.

It was the first PR date that had been set up, only three days after their meeting discussing the start of their fake relationship. Y/n couldn’t lie, she was incredibly nervous and uncomfortable, her white dress doing nothing to protect her from the cold air nipping at her skin.

As instructed, she was holding onto Calum’s arm, one wrapped around and intertwined with his bicep and the other one clasping their hands together. It’s a strange and awkward movement to uphold, especially when walking but they do it nonetheless.

“Calum, stop going so fast, I can’t keep up properly,” Y/n muttered to him quietly, almost tripping over her own feet when she felt herself getting tugged yet again due to her hold on Calum.

His eyes briefly flicked back to her, “I can’t really help it, y/n. I’m already going as slow as I can.”

“Well sorry I don’t have legs like the BFG like you, I’m trying not to fall ‘cause you keep tugging at me. This dress was not a good move for this,” She grumbled quietly again and Calum doesn’t even reply. Instead, he started walking even faster, “Calum! Slow down!”

She was pulled into a lane by Calum by the time she had finished that sentence, his hands on either side of her arms holding her in place. His broad shoulders are obstructing her from being able to see out of the small alleyway but before she could ask why he did that, he’s shushing her quietly and whispering, “Saw the paps. They saw me, too. It’s time.”

God, he made it sound so dramatic. It wasn’t like they were fighting off any evil spirit or villain, all they had to do was get caught kissing by the paps. It didn’t seem like it was going to be a particularly difficult job, just one they had to execute properly, and right now everything was going pretty smoothly. They just had to make sure that it looked authentic and like they actually wanted to do it.  

He let out a breath he was holding as he looked down at her, asking her silently for permission to start as his fingers went around the back of her neck, thumb resting on her cheek. She nodded her head and he began to lean in, y/n standing on her tip-toes with her arms splayed over Calum’s shoulders woth him bending down and pressing his lips on hers.

They kissed for several moments, taking little breaks in between. No tongue was a rule they had decided on so instead they stuck to closed mouth. On the last peck shared between the two of them, Calum gently pulled away, y/n’s bottom lip trapped between his lips before her feet hit the ground, their lips now completely disconnected.

She, discretely, tried to peek around Calum to see the paps, but couldn’t, so instead, they stayed in that position for a little while longer. Her eyes glanced up at Calum, seeing him still staring down at her, she whispered, “What?”

“Nothing,” He dismissed, shaking his head hesitantly before he took a small step back before putting his hand out for y/n to grab onto. She shot him a smile as she laced their fingers together, tugging him along and out of the alley.

The games had begun.

  It’s only about a week later when y/n was doing her washing as normal in some hotel’s launderette. She had been off of social media for the past few days, paying no mind to the several thousand people talking about her and Calum's 'relationship’. It surely had blown up, and some might say more than they had expected it to. Y/n had accumulated thousands of more followers after the whole fiasco and although she wouldn’t admit it, she enjoyed seeing the fan theories.

Calum had actually been a lot nicer to her recently, something she hadn’t expected, but enjoyed very much. A smile is on her face as she thought about the lack of pranks that he had been playing on her, and sure, he was still irritating her but it was simply with his words. He walked her down to the launderette, before turning to get his own load of dark clothes.

Surprisingly, despite having rather heavy music, y/n owned quite a lot of white clothes. Sure, she mostly wore black, but right now she was washing her white clothes. Well, what were her white clothes...

Now? They’re pink.

She took the wet fabric out of the washer, noticing one of her favorite white dresses is now dyed an ugly pink, one that she knows she won’t pull off. Her eyebrows are furrowed, a frown settling on her face as she tried to pull the clothes out, trying to find the root cause of the problem.

That’s when she found it. A red sock; Calum’s red sock.

Suddenly everything seemed to make sense as to why he was being so nice to her; so he could pull another prank on her when she least expected it. That’s why he had waited behind once she left the launderette, that’s why he seemed so interested in her white, now pink, clothes that she apparently ‘hadn’t washed in a while and should definitely wash’. 

“Calum!” She screamed out in anger, glad for the lack of other people in the small room, clenching her fists around the wet, pink clothes in her hand. They’re all ruined, inconsistent blotches of different shades of pinks coating the fabrics.

It was only seconds later when Calum popped his head up in confusion, “Yeah?”

Except, Y/n didn’t reply, and instead trained her e/c eyes onto his brown ones with a firm glare, one filled with frustration and anger. He, however, hadn’t seen her glare just yet as he surveyed the room before he catches onto her crouched-down figure. She watched as they trailed down to the pink clothes in her hand and he struggles to fight a grin off of his face.

“Thought you were doin’ a white load, y/n/n?” His voice had snide amusement in it and it only made y/n even madder.

However, before she replied, she grabbed onto the red sock of his and threw it at his head, letting out a complaint that sounds more like a whine, “You’ve ruined my favorite dress, asshole!”

“Woah calm down sweetheart, don’t be rude to your boyfriend,” Calum teased, walking around to where y/n was sat, reaching down to ruffle her hair. She quickly swatted his hand away with a grumble.

“Fake. Fake boyfriend, Hood.”

Calum simply rolled his eyes in reply, waving her off, “Yeah, yeah whatever. Enjoy your pink clothes.”

     It was only a week later when management is rushing them to take nice pictures together and becoming Instagram official. Theories are still burning in the air, especially after they were ‘caught’ by paps, kissing, for a second time. Everyone knew something was going on, that much was obvious, but they wanted to hear it from them.

They snapped pictures off stage, the last one being of Calum’s arm over y/n’s shoulder, holding her close to his body with her lips placed on his cheek. Her eyes are closed upon instruction, and he has a bright smile on his face, looking straight at the camera. The photos they snapped were quickly looked over before they’re approved to post on Instagram.

Y/n doesn’t know what to say, and in fact, she’s finding it hard to breathe. It was only fifteen minutes before she had to go on stage for their next concert, and this was the most nervous she had felt in ages. What if she gets hate? What if the whole fandom hated her? She knew that most likely some fangirls would be jealous, that was perfectly understandable, she just hoped no one went far enough to send her tons of hate; especially considering it was fake.

Y/n didn’t like this situation any more than they did but there was nothing she could do about it. Watching over Calum’s shoulder, she saw him press post, and she felt like she couldn’t even breathe. She felt like the air was being restricted from her lungs, and she can’t even bring herself to opening her phone to see people freaking out over the announcement of their ‘relationship’.

“Well, that’s that.” Calum looked at her over his shoulder, letting out a soft sigh as his brown eyes wrack over her face. She’s pale, and she didn’t even seem to hear his as he talked, making his eyebrows furrow in confusion, “Y/n? You good there?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” She dismissed quickly, taking a step away from him, wringing her hands awkwardly. She’s nodding her head, but her eyes are firmly set on the ground now and Calum knows that she’s nervous. Sure, the two weren’t close and Calum took enjoyment in annoying her, but he was surprisingly good at telling how she was feeling simply from her body movements.

He hesitated, lips parting as he thought of what to say as he stared at the smaller girl who looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her whole, but after a few moments, his lips snapped shut. He wasn’t good at consoling, especially not her. And even if he did want to try, what could he possibly say?

This situation wasn’t ideal for her. Sure, it got her publicity, but he knew it wasn’t the type that she wanted. She hadn’t been fully introduced to the famous lifestyle yet, articles written about her, fan accounts, everything so he knew this was going to be hard for her. It took him a while to adjust to the lifestyle, and sure things like paps were still uncomfortable but they weren’t scary anymore.

As he stared at her, a frown prominent on his lips, he studied her. He noticed how awkward and uncomfortable she had become from the moment that he had posted the photo, almost as if she was awaiting an attack. He knew it was scary, the paps, the fangirls, and he also knew that this abrupt change in lifestyle from this moment on was going to be difficult for her; so he would make it easier.

He would answer the questions, take the heat about the relationship. He would protect her from all of the nasty comments as best as he could because no one deserved to be flung into the lifestyle like she was being right now, despite wanting publicity. This was a whole new life starting for her from the moment he posted the picture and as he nodded his head discretely, it was like a deal had been sealed with himself.

He was going to help her through this, even if she still hated him.

      It was three hours after the show had taken place and she still hadn’t turned her phone back on yet. She felt sick to her stomach, staring at her phone almost as if it was taunting her; itching for her to open Instagram but at the same time, wanting her to stay far, far away from the app.

Yet, soon enough she found herself booting up her phone and going onto Instagram, almost immediately finding Calum’s photo. She clicked on the comments and was pleasantly surprised. People were actually being supportive.

“omg look at them!!!”

“THEY LOOK SO GOOD TOGETHER WTF”

“I want someone to look at me the way Cal looks at Y/n”

That last one made her smile. She knew exactly what picture they were referencing. The one where y/n has her back to the camera in Calum’s embrace, and he’s staring down at her with a smile, arms wrapped around her, pulling her flush against his chest. She remembered her face buried deep into Calum’s shirt, surprised that the makeup she was wearing didn’t rub off on the material.

She was subconsciously shaking her head as she pulled her knees to her chest, resting her chin on top of them. She flicked back up to the pictures, almost analyzing the way Calum stared down at her. The fan was right, Calum looked at her with so much “love” in his eyes, a look that y/n had never seen on Calum before.

It was crazy. If y/n didn’t know any better she would think that Calum actually was in love with her but the only thing he loved about her, was how annoyed he could get her. Calum was certainly a good actor, looking at her like she was the sun and he was the revolving planets; like the only girl in the entire universe. Well, at least if Calum got bored of music he could go into acting.

They already had everyone fooled, and they were just getting started...

[thenovelartist]

Burned Beginnings, Chapter 4

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10. Tutoring

When Marinette entered the bakery to help Adrien complete the handfuls upon handfuls of special orders, he could tell she was on a mission. He really liked the strong set of her posture and determined glint in her eye whenever she got that way, which meant he’d have trouble ignoring that distraction and keeping on top of the schedule.

“So,” she began, turning her fiery look towards him. “I think I’ve made a decision.”

Adrien raised a brow. “What?”

“About the fashion world.”

“You have my attention.” After all, she’d been researching non-stop for over a month, now. He’d seen how much it was wearing on her. At the moment, she looked revitalized.

“I need you to be my own private tutor for a moment.”

Adrien couldn’t help but grin like a cat that got the cream. He sauntered up to her, striking his best pose. “Oh? Just what am I gonna be teaching you, milady? And is this really the place for it?”

Marinette’s expression fell flatter than a crepe. “Adrien.”

“Hint taken,” he said, straightening himself up. “What am I teaching you?”

“I want every story you have to tell,” she said. “You may not have been a designer, but you first hand witnessed your father’s fashion empire and were involved in several different sides of it. I want to know your own personal experience with everything. Good, bad, ugly, right, wrong; I want to know.”

His mouth set in a hard line. “I… I wouldn’t mind it,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “But fair warning: I’m biased.”

“That’s what I want to know, too,” she said. “The fashion industry is extremely competitive. And from the data I’ve seen, there’s plenty of people who go in with high hopes, only to get chewed up and spit out. What are your dark secrets? What am I actually looking forward to if I go in?”

Adrien frowned. He had plenty of stories to tell, that wasn’t the issue. What was the problem was the likelihood they’d discourage her from pursuing fashion any further. And if she did end up wanting to go into fashion, he didn’t want to crush any hope she currently held.

But looking at her now, he realized he wouldn’t be able to tell her no. She had a determination in her eyes that was both sexy and frightening. That look warned that she was on the verge of a decision, and whatever she chose would be ultimate and final.

Part of him loved that fire in her, and part of him wished he had half the gumption she did.

“Okay,” he relented. “But before I do, can you promise me that you’re not basing everything off what I say? That it will only add to all the other research you’ve done.”

She nodded resolutely. “Promise.”

He sighed. “Well,” he said, giving her a sheepish smile. “Guess the question now is where do I even begin?”

 11. Truth or Dare

Marinette had come to her decision, and no one would sway her from it.

The tales Adrien had told her were mostly along the lines of what she expected, while there were others that more strongly leaned towards “that’s pretty good,” and still others that crossed into “that’s really bad” territory.

So, after that evening, the question she had faced herself with was not “could I handle this?” but rather “do I want to do this?” and “do all the potential benefits out way all the negative?”

But really, that brought her back to “what do I even want out of life?” because her answer changed everything…

Which make her realize that maybe she wasn’t so resolute in her decision after all.

She was almost nineteen. By now, most of her classmates had plans for the future they were all pursuing. She had thought she’d had plans, but when they all crumbled beneath her feet, she found herself lost, wondering around the Land of What-Do-I-Do-Now?

“Marinette!”

With a squeak, she practically leapt five feet into the air at the sudden voice right beside her. When she realized it was Adrien, she leaned against the bakery table with a heavy sigh. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“Someone was lost in thought.”

“Yeah! And the last thing you do when someone is lost in thought is purposefully surprise them by suddenly appearing right beside them. Jerk!” With a hint of a smile, she took some of the flour on the table and flicked it at him, knowing that if she did, he’d wipe that apologetic look of his face and loosen up a bit.

“Hey!” He turned away, but not quick enough. Flour dusted his perfect jawbone and perfect collar bone and perfectly fitted t-shirt. But it was the perfect smile that he wore that made the rest of the heaviness she felt on her shoulders disappear, even if only for a moment.

“Don’t do that again,” she warned, her voice not really holding any bite in it.

“No promises,” he said with a chuckle, dusting the flour off him. “That was a pretty cute squeak, princess.”

She just sighed. There was no getting him off the name by now so she’d just learned to roll with it. “I am not cute! I am fierce.”

“Yeah, like a little fluffy Papillion.”

She gasped, flicking even more flour at him. He laughed again.

“Is the bread in the oven yet, Marinette?” her father called out, bringing her back to reality.

“Almost!” she cried, quickly hurrying to score the tops of the loaves on the last pan before hurriedly sticking all the pans she’d made in the oven. “Done!”

“Thank you.” That was when her papa reappeared. “The fridge is clean now, so I’m off.”

“And I’m on,” Adrien said with a grin. “There’s only a couple special orders to handle tonight, right?”

“Yup. You’ll finish those in a flash.”

Adrien beamed. “Perfect. Got to love when my days are easy.”

Her papa chuckled. “Can’t disagree with you there. Being a baker is more fun when you don’t have too large an order burden.”

“Exactly,” Adrien agreed, already tying on his apron.

After Marinette saw her papa off, leaving just her and Adrien in the kitchen, he sidled up to her. “Let’s play a game.”

She quirked a brow at him. He looked way too mischievous at the moment. “You just got on shift, and you want to play a game?”

He was positively beaming. “Yup.”

Although she shook her head, she didn’t mind it. She enjoyed running shifts with Adrien or just hanging out with him in general. But she knew that if they started up, she was the one who’d have to keep them on track for the night. “Start in on something first. Unless you wanna be here all night.”

“Point taken.” Immediately, Adrien set to work weighing ingredients and then mixing up a dough.

“So,” he said as he worked. “Truth or dare.”

Marinette dropped the bench scraper in her hand, less out of shock and more out of annoyance, as she shot him an incredulous look. “Are you kidding me?”

“No.”

“You want to play truth or dare? Now?”

“Yup. Just for a couple rounds.”

Little red flags went up in Marinette’s mind as she studied the overly happy blond. “Why?”

“Because I want to. Now! Truth or dare?”

She should shut this down before they got into trouble, but she had the feeling he’d tease her for it if she did. And she was not going to give him the chance. “Which one do you want me to pick?”

Adrien turned to study her a moment. “Dare.”

“Truth, then,” she countered with a grin.

“Yes!” He pumped his fist in the air. “I was banking on that.”

This time, she almost did drop the bench scraper out of shock. “What?”

“I know you,” he twittered, grinning like the idiot he was. “I know you. You weren’t going to give me the satisfaction of picking what I wanted; you never do. So, I just played you like the cheap fiddle you are.”

Marinette tried to look offended. She really did. But it was hard when her cute, idiot coworker was doing a happy dance. That, and she rather enjoyed this banter they always had. “Excuse you, who are you calling a cheap fiddle?”

“You, princess.”

“Oh really? The kazoo is calling me a cheap fiddle.”

“Kazoo?”

“Kazoo.”

He pantomimed being stabbed through the heart, and while he tried to keep the smile off his face, she could tell he was struggling. “Ahh, the ice princess is so cold. The light is fading. Limbs. Growing. Cold.”

She failed suppressing a laugh, turning and hiding her growing grin behind her hand. He was such a dork.

Adrien seemed to pull himself together, laughing along with her as he went back to measuring more ingredients. “Okay, okay. Back to the topic at hand.”

Marinette calmed herself, but her smile refused to budge. “Okay, you were asking me truth.”

Adrien came to stand right across from her. He reached across the table, grabbing her hands and pulling them closer. Her smile was gone now, and so was Adrien’s, as their combined hands rested in the middle of the table. “Scale of one to ten, how much do you trust me?”

Her cheeks and neck and chest flushed red as she stared into his green eyes. “W… what brought that on?”

His grasp on her hands tightened. “I just want to know.”

That was a lie. Or, at least only a half truth. He had a different reason for asking that specific question. She knew it. She could tell. Eight months of working together, and she’d come to be able to read this man like a book.

When had they gotten so close?

She took a breath to clear her mind. She’d probe him later, or maybe their little game would give her the answer she was looking for in that regard. But for now, she quietly responded, “A solid 8.5.”

Adrien paused, taking in those words before slowly nodding. “8.5,” he murmured. “I’ll take it.”

With that, he pulled his hands away. Marinette felt the loss immediately, but there wasn’t anything she was willing to do to make them come back. Not yet, anyway.

And would her heart calm down already? The way it was racing made it hard to think.

“Truth or dare?” she asked, voice quiet.

“Truth,” he answered.

“How many secrets would you say you’re hiding from me right now?”

A loaded question, Marinette knew. But she just had a feeling, an inkling, that she knew the exact number. One for what he was hiding now, and one… if he had feelings for her.

It wasn’t the first time that thought had popped into her mind. She’d had her suspicions for a while now that his flirty banter wasn’t just out of good, playful fun. And maybe she was reading into it too much, but she felt like he’d been more… touchy with her lately. A fist pound here, a pat on the shoulder here, a playfully light punch to the arm in the heat of their teasing; things like that. And if not touching, then he seemed to like being close. And and and…

And was she wrong, or did when he ask her ‘truth’, he purposefully make it that intimate?

Do you like me, Adrien? Or am I jumping to a conclusion?

And to I like you in return? Or am I mistaking our friendship for something more?

Because I don’t want to hurt you. And I don’t want to get hurt by you.

But…

It might be too late for that.

“Like…” Adrien began after a moment’s pause. “Define secret.”

“Something that you do not, in the near future, intend to tell me or would be comfortable in telling me.”

Adrien pursed his lips. “How will you know I’m being honest about the number?”

“I trust you 8.5 out of ten, right?” she softly reminded. “A number that can go up or down at any time.”

That got Adrien to wince. “Yeah,” he murmured.

There was a long pause, one Marinette wasn’t sure he was going to break.

“How far is ‘near future’?” he finally asked.

“Does it matter?”

“Yeah, it does.”

She paused. “Then answer how many secrets are on the line here.”

“Only one.”

“Only one?”

“Something I am not comfortable telling you or don’t intend to tell you in the near future, per your words, yes. Only one.”

Her brows knit together. Only one? Which meant… either the thing he was hiding now or the feelings. It was one or the other, but not both. “So…” she said, trying to hide her disappointment. “Are you saying that you intend to tell me this sometime in the future? But don’t know when in the future that will be?”

His brow knit together nervously, before he played it off with a warbly smile. “I’m pretty sure I answered my truth, already, princess.”

She frowned. Technically, he did, in an odd, roundabout way that somehow left her with more questions than answers. “Fine. How about we just drop this already?”

Part of her didn’t want to drop it. Part of her wanted to be able to pull another truth out of him. She wanted… needed to know which secret he was hiding. But she wasn’t sure her heart could handle it if it wasn’t the secret she wanted it to be.

“One more round,” he quickly begged.

Marinette quirked a brow but surrendered without fuss. “Fine. Dare. What are you gonna make me do now?”

He grinned. “I was hoping for that.”

“Why?”

He stopped the mixer, then came over to her and once again leaned in close. “I dare you… to come to New York with me.”

Marinette was frozen. She blinked her eyes several times, and her tongue felt glued to the roof of her mouth.

Eventually, she found the words to say. “I’m sorry, repeat that?”

 12. Seatmates

It had been a month since Adrien had gotten the pleasure of surprising Marinette with a trip to New York.

After Marinette had asked him for his stories of the fashion world, Adrien had been so worried that she’d walked away with the determination to surrender her former dreams, and that made him feel too guilty to handle. So, breaking the unspoken vote of confidence she’d placed in him, he’d talked to her parents.

He hadn’t divulged everything, just the bare essentials necessary to get them to understand. Mr. Dupain had seemed surprised, but the information didn’t seem to have caught Mrs. Cheng off guard. It made more sense when she admitted she’d been suspecting something was up for a while, and this had confirmed it.

So Adrien had told them what he wanted to do: give Marinette’s dreams one last encouraging push by taking her to fashion week. His original plan had been for it to be Paris’ fashion week, but he’d been keeping tabs on Chloe and her whereabouts as well as taking into account that Marinette had been barred from several Parisian schools. If she wanted school to be a reality, she wouldn’t be in Paris, meaning it might be beneficial to take her outside the country. It would give her the chance her to explore and stretch her wings in a way staying inside France would not allow.

With her parents’ blessings on the idea, Adrien had started planning. And then had come the fun part of surprising her with it.

The roller-coaster of emotions she’d gone on after his dare had been a joy to watch. Disbelief to doubt to shock to excitement. She’d been so expressive that Adrien had found himself falling even harder. And when she’d agreed to let him take her to New York—which took no small amount of convincing—he’d been over the moon.

However, there was one thing about that day he couldn’t forget. Mostly because it hung of his head. Marinette had only remembered by the end of her shift that she still had one last round of truth or dare.

“Dare,” he’d answered. It was only fair.

She’d seemed relieved almost at that. And with her words, he understood why. “I dare you to let me save my dare for another time.”

After recalling the way she’d tortured him by cashing in her last favor by making him clean out the deep, dark crannies of the freezer and storage room, he had been hesitant about this one. Even if she had repaid him for that torture with the best dinner he’d eaten in months, he still couldn’t forget the devious sparkles in her eyes as she cashed in that favor. It made him worried for just what kind of dare she would make him do.

Hopefully it wouldn’t be too bad. After all, he was taking her to New York. She wouldn’t be cruel, would she?

Quietly, he scoffed. No, this was Marinette. She could be downright devious if she wanted to and make him think he was okay with it.

A weight on his shoulder called him out of his reverie. They’d been watching a new anime he’d downloaded on his computer for the plane ride. When they started, Marinette had seemed intent on watching it, but at the moment, it seemed his seatmate was too tired to keep it up.

“Hey,” he whispered, gently shaking his shoulder.

She took an earbud out but didn’t look up. “Hmm?”

“Do you want to just watch this later and sleep now?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Okay.” He paused the anime, then shut his computer screen.

Marinette shifted just enough to take out her earbuds, but then she was back to leaning against his shoulder. “This okay?” she asked, her groggy voice barely above a whisper.

“It’s fine,” he assured even though his heart protested. It was a little too okay with him. “Get some sleep.”

With one last hum, Marinette fully settled against his side, and within a little while, she was out.

Adrien sighed, leaning his head against Marinette’s.

“Truth or dare?” she asked, voice quiet.

“Truth,” he answered, going back to the mixer to turn it off.

“How many secrets would you say you’re hiding from me right now?”

He let his eyes drift closed at the memory. If only he had the courage to go for it. But this was the girl he considered to be his closest friend, and he wasn’t ready to take that plunge quite yet.

I really like you.

If she didn’t feel the same, he was sure they could go back to almost normal in time, but there would always be that rift.

A small, bitter smile suddenly crossed his lips. Here he was, trying to encourage her to follow her dreams or at least press forward to take a chance, and he was too much a coward to take his own advice.

What a hypocrite.