#the show was amazing though i wish they came to toronto more

[mercible]

i saw the front bottoms last night and while i was waiting in the merch line, this guy was talking to his friend pointing at the peach and plum crewneck and he said “i think i’m gonna get the peach and grape shirt” ???? my dude you just outed yourself as the biggest FAKE TFB FAN

[thatrickmcginnis]

BANDS: MEAT PUPPETS and the GO-BETWEENS, 1987

The Go-Betweens' "Cattle and Cane" might be one of the greatest singles of the '80s - one of those songs I remember hearing early in the decade that made me optimistic for what was to come. I photographed the band when they came through Toronto in 1987 mostly because my favorite local band, The Lawn, was opening for them at the El Mocambo; their lead singer Gord was a huge fan, and he got me hyped about the show. I don't know if I managed to place these pics, however, so their publication on my old blog might have been their first appearance anywhere, though that was enough to get a couple of them in The Go-Betweens: Right Here, a 2017 documentary about the band.

The band were not prepared for a photo shoot when I showed up at soundcheck, so my single roll of portraits was done with five slightly put-out people. What I remember is that they seemed like adults - moreso than almost any other band I'd photographed up till then - though several of my frames were spoiled when drummer Lindy Morrison couldn't stifle a giggle. I was, as with everything else around this time, working against the limits of my competence with my Mamiya and a flash bounced into an umbrella, so I'm amazed that anything turned out at all worth reprinting over 35 years later. One thing I wish is that I'd asked guitarist and singer Grant McLennan (the man who wrote "Cattle and Cane") to take off his sunglasses. Bassist Robert Vickers would leave the band after this tour. Grant McLennan died in 2006 of a heart attack.

My first regular subject as a photographer was our local hardcore scene - basically the place my editors at the Nerve sent me when I showed up and asked for assignments. But hardcore punk was undergoing a metamorphosis at the time, embodied in two bands I shot early on - the Minutemen and the Meat Puppets. Between their first record in 1982 and their third, Up On The Sun, in 1985, they'd gone from being one of the more abrasive bands in the SST stable of bands to the grooviest - a transformation that contined with the two records they released in 1987, Mirage and Huevos, though I couldn't tell you which one they were promoting when they arrived at RPM, the cavernous warehouse-turned-club on Toronto's waterfront where I photographed them.

My shoot with the Meat Puppets would have been called ambitious by me at the time, mostly because I brought a backdrop. They were a southwestern band from Arizona, so I was inspired to bring a Mexican blanket from my apartment - a souvenir my sister and her husband had been given by her in-laws, which by that point mostly lived on my futon couch; give me a break for at least trying something. It wasn't a very big blanket, though, so I had drummer Derrick Bostrom and the two Kirkwood brothers, Curt and Cris, jam themselves together next to my flash and umbrella. The biggest challenge was managing the band's mugging for the camera - almost inevitably a problem when photographing a band. The Meat Puppets would go through a lot of lineup changes over the years, with two breakups, but they're back together with the original trio along with a keyboardist and Curt's son Elmo on guitar.

[nct-lian]

relationships outside of sm

JENNIE + LIAN: JENLI

so iconic omg like how they do it, i have no idea

they hang out all the time and lian is literally ALWAYS on jennie’s instagram

the two of them once had an instagram story conversation over pigtails

like,, jennie posted a picture of lian’s pigtails for that one bicycle performance on her story and captioned it “pigtail baby” and then lian reposted it on her own story with a picture of jennie’s pigtails, captioning it “pigtail eomma”

speaking of eomma, jennie is genuinely her mother

jennie takes her shopping all the time

and in return, lian buys her food

the interactions these two used to have at award shows were SO CUTE

everyone remembers when jennie pretty much yelled out lian’s name and she just came running over to the members of blackpink after taeyong let her leave :(

i’m crying just thinking about it help

jennie also posted a full on instagram post for lian on her birthday and had such a sweet caption with it

it was something like “my daughter is finally 21 today! i hope she has an amazing day and i can’t wait to see her later tonight to give her a gift :) haneullie, lots of love from jennie eomma”

SPEAKING OF THE GIFT,, jennie bought her a whole ass $9000 necklace from chanel because she knew that lian was looking for more

IM IN TEARS AND SO ARE YOU ADMIT IT RN

jenli kpop bestest duo

dispatch once thought jennie was on a date with a girl but it turned out to just be her walking lian home after going shopping with her so they never posted anything about it

they were embarrassed they got something wrong so i get it

omfg when news came out that lian and jinwoo broke up mama jennie was threatening to punch the shit out of him

KEVIN + LIAN: LIMOON

what i’ve been waiting to write for so long okay here we go

so mf chaotic like there are compilations made of these two that scream “go crazy go stupid”

their time as guest mc’s for inkigayo was probably some of the best kpop content we’d gotten in a long ass time

KEVIN IS CAUTIOUS WHEN LETTING HER MEET HIS MEMBERS

cause she’s such a good friend to him and wtf why would he wanna share

“mine mine mine mine” constant dory vibes 24/7

lian thrives off of calling him by his korean name because she knows it annoys him

he’s constantly teasing her for having bagged milk in toronto so he deserves it

the one time lian and jacob talked to each other they seemed to be getting along too much for kevin’s liking so he really went:

“okay lian isn’t it time for you to go” because he WAS GETTING JEALOUSJCLSJX

their styles are pretty much complete opposites and everytime they take pictures together kevin never forgets to mention how off it all looks

“tf is that why are your clothes so boring”

“okay sNaKe pAnTs” because of that one eric moment on kpop daebak show where he said kevin had pants with snakes on them

ALSO BTW LIANS CLOTHES ARENT FUCKING BORING SHES JUST FANCY LIKE THAT

i’m getting heated let me calm down.

they normally speak in english to each other but since lian seems to be stuttering over her words when she isn’t speaking korean, he mixes in a few korean phrases every now and then to help her out

kevin is arguably the most hype every single time lian performs, like he really thinks there isn’t anything better

LIAN MAKES SURE TO UPDATE HER INSTAGRAM STORY WHENEVER TBZ HAVE A COMEBACK SO NCTZENS GO SUPPORT THEM

LIA + LIAN: LILIA

more lian x the canadian line WOOHOO

lia spent her trainee days really looking up to lian and she’s even mentioned before that she’d love for itzy to get the chance to collab with her for a song

she really has her fingers crossed for that btw

they actually met during an award show when ryujin, chaeryeong and yuna all had to leave because it was past curfew

lian decided to sit next to them and during all the intermissions between performances she, lia and yeji conversed to pass time

they ended up growing a friendship together but lian has a stronger bond with lia

she loves all the girls either way but yk

lia and lian love going to cafes together and taking adorable pictures :(

like whenever lia posts on itzy’s instagram midzeys don’t exactly know whether or not lian would be on it too :0

like lian normally posts all the scenery pictures she gets to keep her instagram pleasing whereas lia posts the pictures the two of them take together

my heart </3

lian treats lia like a whole daughter because it isn’t often she finds girls that are younger than her

*screams in the fact that majority of sm’s female artists are all from 2015 and under*

like when i say lian SPOILS her i’m not joking

she will randomly call lia up like:

“hey i’m gonna get you out of that dungeon, come get some chicken with me”

and then they’ll just hang out together

but only if lian is out of the dungeon herself because wbk she ain’t treated very well </3

EUNWOO + LIAN: WOOLI

their chemistry is fucking insane holy shit

like their acting for past to present was seriously so praised, netizens found it hard to believe it was all just for the show

dating rumours follow these two everywhere,, like everywhere

it’s one of the most popular ships inside ncity when it comes to lian and other idols

i kid you not one tweet said “chanhyeok treated jihye so well in past to present, i’m only wondering how well eunwoo would treat lian 👀”

LIKE STOP PUTTING IDEAS INTO PEOPLES HEADS YOURE KILING ME HERE ISTG

but yeah they do look really good together

and they’re an amazing pair for acting

when eunwoo started working with inyeop for true beauty, he said:

“hyung’s dating my girlfriend” because of the fact that both of them have acted with lian and BOTH of them dated her in the dramas

what a coincidence though

we all cried when we saw chanhyeok and jihye kiss for the first time DONT LIE

EUNWOO FOLLOWS HER ON INSTAGRAM

and they wished each other happy birthday on their instagram stories

there’s actually people who like to think that they dated while filming for past to present andddd they radiate big delulu vibes

like you know liskook shippers? wooli shipped are kinda the same, but not as intense (thank god)

BUT CAN WE BLAME THEM LIKE THEIR CHEMISTRY? THE WAY THEY TALKED TO EACH OTHER? PLEASE

they took a lot of cute pictures together behind the scenes (ノ﹏ヽ)

MOMO + LIAN: LIMO

DANCER DUO DANCER DUO

this ship isn’t actually as popular as we would like it to be, but nonetheless people love limo

a lot of interactions during award shows !!

like for example momo’s fancams always captured her dancing perfectly to lian’s choreo

and lian smiling in momo’s direction

i love them

when lian found out about heechul and momo’s relationship, she asked momo if she was her mom now because of how much of a father figure she considers heechul to be JDFJK

“i mean sure”

they’ve actually done a vlive together before (ᗒᗨᗕ)

it was when lian visited her at the twice dorms and they ended up getting bored so they decided to do a vlive in the living room

THEY PLAYED DARE OR DARE AND LIAN HAD TO DO THE TEARS CHALLENGE (so chan whee) ON MOMOS KARAOKE MACHINE

her throat was dry for the rest of the night

after seeing momo’s hair for the i can’t stop me era, lian actually wanted to cut it like that

but she decided against it because she loves her long hair too much

the two of them met on hit the stage where they competed against each other in a freestyle dance battle

after that they just started casually talking over the phone and became great friends

with the way momo talks about lian, you’d think they’re dating-

“oh, lian- she’s so pretty! i love her a lot!”

and the same goes for lian, she loves talking about momo’s dancing skills

JACKSON + LIAN: JACKLIAN

her dad :/

adopted her with amber liu like a year ago so now she’s just his daughter

supports each other like crazy not even joking

jackson promotes her on instagram and twitter 24/7

THEY HAVE SO MANY INTERACTIONS THANK GOD

lian was once given a ridiculously short dress while attending an award show and jackson gave her his jacket to wear over her legs because she wasn’t provided a blanket :(

(keep in mind, she went there without the members!)

lian added all his music to her playlist :)

once got drunk together and spent like three hours doing karaoke but it’s okay cause it was fun

speaking of getting drunk, jackson’s the cool dad that lets her do whatever she wants

he has his protective moments where he’s like “ma’am where are you going on that short of a dress” but he’s also like “hey wanna go get chicken and soju”

they both appeared on a radio show together as guests and they ruined the whole broadcast because they were too loud

like they kept getting out of their seats to go wave at all the fans outside the window and they were just fighting back and forth about whether or not lian’s extensions look real

according to jackson, they’re “NOT AUTHENTIC ENOUGH- LOVE YOUR HAIR FOR WHAT IT IS, LIANNA HANEUL BAE.” lian’s hair lives matter :/

PLSSS WHEN HYOSEOP AND LIAN STARTED DATING- no

jackson was so proud that his good friend was smooching his other good friend but the protective dad instincts really kicked in

“break her heart and you die no cap”

was surprisingly chill when they broke up though, he was just glad lian didn’t cry

SUNMI + LIAN: SUNLI

SUNMI IS HER MOM OHMYGOD

so many interactions

honestly took lian under wing once she debuted as a soloist

female kpop soloists gotta have each other’s backs in this industry man :(

sunmi calls lian her princess SOBS

lian always hugs sunmi at award shows, like if they’re sitting close together

or if they’re standing next to each other on stage

you bet your ass lian is gripping onto sunmi for dear life

did a photoshoot together for marie claire korea

they’re so hot bro

BUT THEY FIRST MET ON WEEKLY IDOL NOT LONG AFTER LIAN DEBUTED AS A SOLOIST

they were kinda awkward ngl uh

but by the end of it they were besties :DD

and they’ve been besties ever since

lian is the ceo of doing dance covers for sunmi’s songs

cmon lian we’re waiting for tail 👀

sunmi has actually met lian’s grandma </3

like her and lian were hanging out at the dorms while the boys were out on a schedule and her grandma just randomly showed up with homemade food so that was definitely a win

BANG CHAN + LIAN: LICHAN

they’ve been friends for a LOOONGGG time

and chain’s known her since dating back to like, smrookies era when lian was still a red velvet member

like at that time she had no idea he existed, but he was keeping up with her daily :(

chan plays her music on vlives all the time and he always knows the dance moves

like he just dances along in his chair and mumbles the lyrics

we love to see it

a lot of fans ship them together

SURPRISE SURPRSIE AH

only because chan gives off big pining energy

lian only looks at him like “:D” whereas he looks at her like “♡•♡”

kinda sad but

lian promotes him on live so often HVKSVU

“my friend chan is coming back with his group soon, you should check it out! :)”

and the way she just says “my friend chan” LIKE ITS SO OBVIOUSLY A FRIENDZONE BUT HE THINKS ITS ADORABLE

he once got a comment on a vlive to react to lian moments, obviously complying because who wouldn’t

there was this one clip of her saying “my friend chan from stay kids!” and whoever edited the compilation added in squishy noises right after while zooming in on her face

AND CHAN BLUSHED SO HARD NOO

“oh- hahaha, uhh, she’s so cute aw hahahah”

ASHLEY + LIAN: ASHLI

oh god not another lian x mom ship

ASHLEY LOVES LIAN WOAH

like she’s submitted lian’s resume to bm so many times so they could be part of the big tiddie committee together

ashley is constantly, and i mean constantly, reposting all of lian’s posts on her story with captions like “LOOK AT HER GO”

and lian has even discovered all the cool instagram filters because of ashley, and now we get the quality content from her that WE DESERVEEEEE

back when lian’s album came out, all ashley’s story really was was just screenshots of her streaming all the songs and calling them bops

when they first met in person after texting back in forth, ashley spammed her instagram story with pictures of lian that she took without her looking

these two radiate a lot of “YES GIRL WORKKK ITTT TURN THIS WAY OKAYYY POSE POSE POSE” energy

lian’s been featured in one of ashley’s youtube videos and it was when they met for the first time :)

they exchange a lot of gifts through the mail

like lian once found a mug when shopping with doyoung and she thought that it would fit ashley’s taste so she sent it to her apartment

and ever since then they just send random little gifts to each other’s houses

it’s so cute

MATCHING BUCKET HATS THEY HAVE MATCHING BUCKET HATS !!!!!!

ashley talks about lian all the time

she always says that for someone so young, she’s accomplished a lot and she’s really proud of her

they wanna do tiktoks with each other but they never have the time </3

lian spam comments on ashley’s instagram like “WOAH” “OKAYYYY” “YESYESYES”

[xxjewellynwatts]

The shop owner - A James Gillies x OC (you!) story

Request: Hello:))) I don't know if you still write for James Gillies... but if you do then it would really be great with some fluff or something. I'm honestly a sucker for any James Gillies x reader content! Also, you're an amazing writer and I really appreciate that you write for Murduch Mysteries!! Hope you have a great day!!:))))

Answer: Thank you so much ! I haven’t written in ages, so I hope you’ll enjoy this! @mylifecrises

Warnings: contains spoilers of Gillies’ first episode.

The sound of a bell got you out of your daydreams. A tall, confident, well-dressed ginger-head boy who seemed to be around your age got into the shop you now owned ever since the death of its owner.

His eyes paced for a while around the room, glancing back and forth from item to another, thinking fast before he at last locked eyes with you and briefly smiled.

Charming, you thought with a hint of mockery.

‘Good morning, how can I help you?’ you said politely.

He stopped walking towards you for a second, taken aback by the elegance of your voice. You were one of those people who didn’t ‘sound like they look’ but in the most flattering way.

‘I need a few tools for a physics experiment’ he said as he walked again towards you while showing you some of the said tools.

As you packed them for him, you looked curiously at him.

‘Are you a student at the Toronto university?’ you asked without sounding too intrusive.

‘Yes’ he smiled, happy you were quick to understand. ‘I’m Professor Bennett’s assistant.’

As soon as you heard that name, he could have sworn your mood shifted. Your face seemed a bit darker, and you had subconsciously furrowed your brows.

‘Oh’ you coldly said. ‘Well, have a nice day’ you quickly said as you handed him the package.

He smiled, less convincingly, very intrigued.

‘Thank you, you too’ he said slowly as he headed back to the University.

You sighed as he got out and went back to daydreaming the life you could’ve had had it not been for an unfair society.

A few days later, the young man came back to the shop. He noticed you had a different dress, nonetheless unique in the way it looked like it had been made just for you. Your (h/c) hair was tied up and your curls loosely fell around neck. You were reading a book before he interrupted you.

‘Oh, hello again’ you said with an unintentional smile. ‘How did the experiment go?’ you enthusiastically asked.

‘Quite well’ he said with the same smile. ‘If you ignore the fact one of the nails fell right when the machine was starting to work’ he sighed.

‘Oh’ you puckered your lips. ‘Isn’t it the most frustrating thing when something creating with our own hands fails us?’ you empathised.

The young man frowned and smiled at the same time, surprised by your poetic choice of words and relation to the situation.

‘Actually, yes. It’s really... frustrating. How come you know that feeling?’ he asked, curious.

‘Oh, trust me, I’ve been on both sides of the “creation”. I’ve felt the strong pride of succeeding in creating something as much as I’ve suffered from the pain of failed attempts. I like creating things, little objects to make my daily life easier like small machines just to... test a theory’ you shrugged.

‘Why, isn’t that quite surprising!’ laughed James. ‘Oh, I’m James Gillies by the way’ he said as he reached for your hand to shake.

You shook his, surprised by the sweetness of his touch as he was of your little enthusiastic roughness.

‘I’m (y/n), nice to meet you’ you smiled, suddenly shy.

‘It’s really nice to meet people who are so imaginative and creative. Sometimes I feel as though all students want is their degree, sadly missing the experience of intellectual stimulation thereby’

‘Oh, trust me I know...’ you answered, raging inside again. ‘Had it not been for this... stupid professor, I would have been experiencing things by your side, as the student I deserve to be.’

James starred in shock.

‘Wait... are you... a physicist?’

‘Officially? No, because I’m a woman. But in reality? Absolutely.’

You pointed towards the book you had left on the counter to meet him. It was a physics book, of a higher level than James’ current syllabus.

When James left your shop, he couldn’t stop thinking about you and how unfair it was that you were rejected from the University on the basis of sex. Had it been up to him, he would have gladly accepted you. You were certainly smarter than most of the students here.

It was already dark when he left. You two had been discussing Physics theories the whole afternoon and did not notice the sun setting down nor the moon coming up. James didn’t even want to leave deep down. He was eager to talk to you and discover your wonderfully unique ideas and contributions to the field. But the rage he felt could not even represent a quarter of yours. You were a passionate, determined and very curious person. And it made you sick people stopped you from showing your true potential.

Ever since that afternoon, you’d meet up occasionally in a café with James to discuss Physics or anything. You two got along so well you seemed to have known each other for years. You were even one of the very few people who could make James actually laugh.

One afternoon, as you were sitting in front of each other, leaned a bit due to your eager interest in your conversations, a silence fell between you two and you got lost for a split second in each others’ eyes.

‘It’s a shame’ said softly James. ‘I wish I could study and work with you everyday.’

By the time the words were out, James realised what he said, and got a little bit nervous. He never felt that way, it intrigued him. He starred down, and around, trying to ignore your (e/c) eyes.

‘I wish so too’ you answered, not ashamed a bit but sad. ‘If I could kill Professor Bennett, I would.’

James immediately looked back at you.

‘Wait, who?’

‘The professor Bennett. He is the one who convinced the jury of teachers I wouldn’t be able to stand the competition and would never be better than all those young men. He refused my application even though I had a perfect education and threatened to leave the University if they accepted me.’

You had spat the last words with the quiet rage and sadness you had confined within you for months. Tears rolled slowly down your face and James did not even notice his eyes were discretely tearing up too. He suddenly wanted to take you in his arms, reassure you, just like he wanted to shout at the professor Bennett he used to admire so much. He suddenly took your hand. Startled, you looked up at him, across the small table. He hesitated for a second and, too nervous from the proximity he had created, stood up. He gave you one final hesitant look before turning around and nearly running away.

After that meeting, you thought James had had enough of your conversations. After all, no matter how intriguing and curious he was, perhaps you didn’t intellectually stimulate him anymore. But your ego was not shattered yet. His absence had only brought up a feeling of longing to see him again, for reasons you couldn’t understand at this point. Weren’t you supposed to be jealous of him? After all, he was studying something you were desperate and passionate about. He wasn’t the victim of his own gender.

A few days had gone by and you were starting to really miss him. But there was no way you would ever go back to the university.

Then one day, you woke up to read a really intriguing news in the newspaper. The Professor Bennett had been killed by an ‘invisible’ murderer. Your eyes paced restlessly trying to grasp the meanings of the words printed. You felt your heartbeat accelerate dangerously as a suspicion crippled dangerously in the back of your mind. You turned around, hoping you’d see James coming running to tell you about the professor’s death and how deeply he was affected by it. But there was no one around.

You hardly fell asleep that night. And you had to say farewell to the idea of ever sleeping well when you heard a strange noise at your balcony at three in the morning. You stood up, covering yourself in your blanket on top of your nightgown, and slowly approached your balcony (you lived just above the shop you owned).

You had to cover your mouth to shut down your terrified scream once you saw James climbing on your balcony. He stood up at your window and smiled once he saw you. Startled, you didn’t move until he softly knocked on the window-door. You shook your head, trying to get a hold of yourself and ran to open the door.

It took you by surprise when James immediately punched his lips against yours in an adrenaline rush. You stood back. You immediately understood.

‘What have you done?’ you whispered, your voice shivering in terror.

James slowly smiled. He knew you would understand. He knew you would receive his love letter through a terrible - but brave - act: a revenge.

‘I love you’ he said, smiling even more. It felt good to say it. He never felt anything like that for anyone. He didn’t even care that much about his own family.

You thought, fast. James was clearly a dangerous person. Yet as twisted as it could have been, you felt touched by his act.

You kissed him, finally making your decision. He kissed your hands and forehead.

‘Don’t worry. Even if they find out, I will always get back to you’ he promised.

[woah-were-halfway-there]

Along For The Ride: How it Started

Word Count: 2.4k

October 12th, 2016

"Carse?"

Although Carson was aware someone was talking to her, she didn't respond since she was a little distracted by the direct message she had just received on Instagram.

She was in her seat on the VIA Rail train she and her friend Stephanie were taking from Toronto to Ottawa. It was the first Maple Leafs game of the season, so they were making the commute to watch since it also happened to be Mitchell Marner's, Carson's cousin and Steph's boyfriend's very first NHL game ever.

"Carson?"

"Yeah?" She asked, jumping slightly as she was suddenly brought back to reality.

"I was asking how your class was this morning," Steph chuckled while shaking her head.

"Oh, uh, it was fine," Carson tried to play off her distracted state. "Lexie and I did our law presentation. I think it went alright."

"Law? Aren't you in journalism?"

"Yeah, we took intro law as an elective," she explained before looking down at her phone screen again and biting down on her bottom lip.

Steph observed as she did this and knew well enough that Carson would not mention whatever was happening on her phone unless it was brought up. "What's got you so flustered?"

"Nothing!" Carson insisted but only received a pointed glance in return from the girl sitting across from her. Thanks to Steph's relationship with Mitch and just how close Carson was with her cousin, the two girls formed a great friendship which led to them being able to read each other like books. It tended to be a blessing and a curse. "Ok fine, maybe not nothing."

"Explain, please."

Carson sighed.

"Well, you know Auston, right? Like, Matthews?"

"I've heard of him," Steph teased, knowing that Auston started following Carson on Instagram entirely out of the blue a little over a month prior. "Kidding. Yes, of course, I do. He and Mitch have gotten pretty close since he moved to Toronto."

"Right, 'cause he's not from here, is he?" Carson asked, genuinely curious.

"No, Scottsdale, I think. Why?"

"Uh, no reason," she replied. "It's not that important, I guess. He just messaged me on Instagram, though."

"Did he!? Let me see," Steph gasped before snatching the phone right out of her friend's hand.

Carson watched as Steph effortlessly typed in the passcode and opened Instagram. She was still kind of surprised that she'd gotten a message from Auston at all, but it did make sense.

When the two girls first got on the train, Carson took a selfie of her and Steph in their Maple Leafs gear with a Go Leafs Go hashtag. They were sporting matching Marner jerseys and had received a few compliments from other fans getting on the same train.

The brunette thought nothing of the post she made, so when she received a DM from Auston replying to her story and saying "wish us luck," she was very caught off guard.

"Well, are you going to reply?" Steph asked while handing the phone back.

"I guess," Carson told her and looked back to the screen. "It's just a little weird that he messaged me, don't you think?"

"Not really. People message people on Instagram all the time."

"Yeah, but like, he's this huge hockey prospect, is he not? So why message me, of all people? Let alone follow me in the first place..."

"Ok, I will admit that Mitch and I have hyped you up a bit," Steph said while sinking back into her seat.

"Why?"

"He's new to the city," she explained with a shrug. "When he first got here, he didn't really know anyone other than the guys on the team and some of their girlfriends. So we were telling him about people he'd probably meet eventually, and you were one of them."

"I see," Carson responded and looked back down at the cellphone screen. She typed back a quick response to Auston's message saying "good luck" before tucking the device back into her bag and glancing up at her friend again. "I guess it's not that weird; I have made friends with a few of the guys on the team."

"Yeah, I know. Mitch told me how you ran into Willy and Kappy a couple of weeks ago while you were out."

"Mhmm, what started as a date night with myself ended up being a night of hanging out with those two... Oh, shit, we're like 20 minutes away from the station. Any word from the fam in Ottawa yet?"

"Your aunt texted me saying that she, Paul and Chris were almost there. Is anyone else coming?"

"No, just me," she said. "Dad and Nate are watching from home, but they'll be at the game in Toronto on Saturday. Mya said she'd watch the game as soon as she was done class too. She wasn't sure what channel the game would be on in Vancouver."

"Is it not the same there as it would be here?"

"That's what I said!"

"Fair," Steph replied with a smile. "Anyways, guess we better make sure we have all our things. It's going to be a long night."

And it was a long night... but it was also insanely fun.

The two girls were picked up by Carson's aunt Bonnie, uncle Paul and cousin Chris at the VIA station in Ottawa before going with them to grab something to eat and eventually making way to the Canadian Tire Centre to watch the game against the Senators. They definitely weren't the only Leafs fans in the building, but the Ottawa fans kind of outnumbered them. However, that didn't dampen their mood, and they were more than ready for the game to start.

It was the most surreal feeling for Carson to not only witness her cousin and lifelong best friend skate out onto the ice wearing the jersey of their home team but also just to see that he was finally living out his dream. She couldn't have been more proud and was convinced that she and Steph alone were two of the loudest cheerers in the entire arena as they began yelling along with the crowd.

Not only did she think it was cool seeing Mitch out there, but she also loved seeing all the other players that she'd gotten to know over the past couple of months. Carson quickly spotted Willy and Marty. She then chuckled when Steph sent a zoomed-in Snapchat video of number 17 skating around to his girlfriend, Sydney. However, it didn't take long for Carson's gaze to fall on number 34.

Leading up to the beginning of the season, all Carson heard about how good this Auston Matthews guy was; she would've been lying if she said she wasn't a little excited to see him in action. And boy did he put on a show.

With less than 12 minutes left of the first period, Auston scored the first goal of the game and the first goal of his NHL career. The Leafs fans went wild, as did Carson and her family while they watched the other guys skate up to congratulate their teammate. That was pretty cool to see, but Carson was not prepared for what the rest of the game held.

The Senators pulled ahead by scoring two goals, but that didn't last too long because Auston scored another goal before the period was even over.

"Oh my god," Carson said aloud as everyone went nuts again. "He's really good."

"I know," Steph replied, looking just as shocked as Carson felt. "I mean, Mitch said he was good but... wow."

A couple of minutes into the second period, he scored again, and Carson was speechless. It took her a second to register that this kid had just gotten a hat-trick in his first NHL game, but she was quickly brought back to reality when a ton of ballcaps started flying past her as they were thrown onto the ice. She looked down at where Mitch was on the bench and smiled as she observed him cheering along with his teammates about what had just happened. The energy in the arena was just insane.

After watching her cousin for a few seconds, Carson moved her gaze to the people in her section and saw a couple cheering so loudly a few rows behind them. The woman then started crying and was pulled into the embrace of the man next to her.

"That's Auston's parents," Steph explained, and Carson could basically feel herself melt after witnessing the genuine reaction of two very proud parents, sending Auston's mom a soft smile when they briefly made eye contact before looking back to the ice.

Then, just before the second period ended, he scored a fourth goal, and none of it seemed real anymore.

The Leafs ended up losing 5-4 in overtime, but that still didn't prevent a buzz in the crowd after everything that happened in that game. Once everyone began clearing out of the area, Carson and her family made their way down to the wings, so they could congratulate Mitchell on his first game as a Maple Leaf before eventually having to head back to Toronto.

The five of them knew they'd have to wait for a little bit, seeing as Mitch would have to change out of his equipment and possibly do a post-game interview. Still, soon enough, the NHLer made his way to his family and Carson couldn't help but laugh when she heard her cousin approaching before actually seeing him.

She stood to the side as she let her aunt, uncle and cousin greet their superstar, but as soon as Mitch was done talking with them briefly, he looked in Carson's direction, shaking his head before taking a few short strides and engulfing her in a hug.

"Congratulations! You killed it out there."

"Thanks, Carse," Mitch replied before moving away. "It would've been nice to score a goal, but it still feels amazing regardless. Thanks for being here."

"You know I wouldn't miss it," she told him with a smile. "And it looks like you'll just have to score in Toronto on Saturday to redeem yourself."

"I'll try," he told her with a pointed gaze before moving on to Steph and pulling her into a tight hug next.

Carson watched with a grin as the two lovebirds interacted for a second before going to step away and stand with her family. However, when she went to step back, she came in contact with what felt like a brick wall and completely lost her balance.

"Oh, shit," she muttered as she blindly reached out to grab onto something so she could steady herself, all while bracing herself for impact. However, the impact never came. Instead, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and was able to prevent her from falling on her ass. With a sigh of relief and embarrassment, she straightened herself out and stood back up straight before finally turning around to look up at the person she had just collided with. "I'm so sorry..."

Before she could say anything else, Carson felt her breath hitch as she realized she was face to face with none other than Auston Matthews.

"It's alright," he told her with a slight smile, giving a look as if to say that he definitely recognized her. "I wasn't watching where I was going either."

"I-." Before she could say anything else, an arm wrapped around her shoulders and Mitch's voice sounded from beside her.

"Auston, I see you've officially met my baby cousin Carson."

"Baby?" Carson scoffed and looked up at her cousin with a mortified expression. "Mitch, you're literally 12 days older than I am."

"Older and wiser."

"I don't think so," she told him before elbowing him in the gut so that he'd take his arm off her.

He groaned and hunched over in pain, making sure to send her a death glare as he tried to recollect himself.

"Uh oh, the twins are at it again," a voice spoke as someone else approached from down the hallway, and Carson looked up to see William Nylander approaching.

"Twins?" Auston asked and looked between Mitch and Carson with an amused expression.

"The more you see them together, the more you'll see how true that statement is," Steph said as she wedged herself between the two cousins to keep them from annoying each other any further. She then looked at Carson and nodded. "We have to get back to the station real soon if we want to catch our train back to Toronto."

"Right," Carson responded. "I'm good to go whenever you are."

"Ok, cool, let's just say our goodbyes, and then we can split on a cab there? Deal?"

"Deal."

The small group that had formed dispersed as new conversations formed, and Steph started saying bye to everyone seeing as Mitch was driving back to Toronto with some teammates, he was going to visit with his family. They were in no hurry to leave. 

Unfortunately, though, Carson had class at noon the next day, and Steph had to return to London for her classes as well, so they really did need to get going.

Before moving to say goodbye to Mitch and the rest of her family, Carson looked back to Auston once more to see him still smiling at her.

"You played a really great game tonight," she complimented and smiled back. "Congrats."

"Thanks," he chuckled. "It's all pretty crazy to let sink in. I definitely think your good luck message helped, though."

"Oh, I'm sure it did."

The two laughed before becoming quiet again. Unsure of what else to say, Carson, glanced at her family and figured she should start making her escape. She looked back to Auston, and surprisingly enough, he was the first to speak up again.

"I, uh, I guess I won't keep you from catching your train back to Toronto," he started and looked away slightly. "It was nice... officially meeting you, Carson."

"Yeah, I should probably get going before Steph comes back over here and starts dragging me out," she replied, causing him to laugh. "It was nice meeting you too, Auston. Congrats again, maybe I'll see you around."

"I'd like that. Get home safe."

"You too, well, to wherever you're going," she mumbled and sent him one last smile before walking away, trying to keep a straight face at the look Steph was giving her as she approached everyone else and said her goodbyes.

What she didn't notice, though, was how Auston watched her for a second as she walked away, intrigued by the entire interaction he just had with her and couldn't help smiling to himself as he shook his head and went his own way.

[spine-buster]

The President Wears Prada (William Nylander | Chapter 18

A/N: Remember that there’s a DOUBLE POST this week because of my birthday that happened yesterday!  Look out for Chapter 19 to be posted Thursday at 7:30pm.  I think you guys will reeeeeally like that one :)

January 24th, 2020

Aberdeen Bloom was amazed.

The welcome reception that the NHL planned in the hotel was full to the brim of what seemed like every NHL president, general manager, and their assistants mingling and munching on perfectly prepared hors d’oeuvres.  Everybody was staying at the Ritz-Carlton, a fifteen minute drive from the Enterprise Centre where all the hockey-related festivities were taking place.  While the all-stars had already been bussed to the Enterprise Centre, she was here with Brendan and Kyle, trying to assert her presence in a room full of men who thought they were gifts to God’s green earth.  She wondered if any of the other executive assistants – a good 99% male, from her observations – felt the same way.  It was when she was standing in that room that she realized how much of an anomaly she truly was, and if some guy gawked at her because he hadn’t seen a female since October, she wouldn’t be surprised.  Hockey was an old boy’s club, and there was no better proof for that than the makeup of the people in this room.  

Many people came up to speak to Brendan and Kyle – Aberdeen thought they were almost like the star debutantes at the ball, except one debutante already had three Stanley Cup rings; the other debutante was like the belle of the ball, as one of the youngest GMs in the league, and everybody wanted to talk to him.  The only thing they’d do is give Aberdeen a quick nod after they finished their conversation before walking off.  It was like she ceased to exist, or existed only as a figure to nod to once the discussion with the ‘big boys’ was over.  Nobody was giving her the time of day.  She didn’t even know why she had to come here and do this when—

“Aberdeen,” Brendan’s voice cut off her thoughts.  She straightened out her back and looked more attentive as he looked back at her.  “Who do you think will come and speak to us next?  Let’s make a bet.”

She smiled.  She knew that instead of sulking she should be working the room as much as possible, inserting herself politely into conversations Brendan and Kyle would have with some of the other presidents and general managers.  “BriseBois has been eyeing Kyle for five minutes, so twenty bucks and an extra day off says it’s him,” she said confidently.  

Brendan laughed, as did Kyle.  “My bet’s on Ken Holland,” Brendan quipped.  “Here to talk to us about Tyler Ennis.  Everyone knows they want him.  Hometown boy.”

“It’ll be Sakic.  To talk to us about Naz,” Kyle said.

“DUBBIE!”

All three of their heads turned to see Brisebois smiling and making his way over.  Aberdeen smiled.  She leaned into Brendan.  “I’ll take that twenty bucks in a Starbucks gift card.”

***

Aberdeen thought that maybe Frederik Andersen should be the one seemingly babysitting Auston Matthews, but she digressed.  Because he was attending the All-Star Weekend but not actively participating in any of the festivities due to his slight wrist injury, he was free to do (what seemed like) whatever he wanted.  He could visit both locker rooms, he could chat with all the guys, he could take pictures with everyone.  All she had to do was make sure he got to the benches during the Skills Competition and she could consider it a job well done.  

She didn’t want to follow him into the locker room – that was a bit much – so she stood outside and watched as he interacted with Fred and Mitch before moving on to some of the other players: Jack Eichel, Brady Tkachuk, and Mathew Barzal, for the most part.  When he was finished, he looked almost surprised that she was still there waiting for him.

“They’re going on in ten.  Where should we be?” he asked.

“I’m just gonna lead you down quickly, but I’m watching with Brendan,” she informed him as they began to walk down the corridor together.

“Aw, come on.  You can’t keep me company?” he asked.

“There’s no way I’d be caught dead on a camera beside Auston Matthews, thank you very much,” she joked, but at the same time, was totally serious.  If even one hair on her head was caught on camera, she was sure Auston’s fangirls would know her name, address, social security number, and blood type within the hour.  “Let alone at the All-Star Game.  And let alone with you looking like that.”

“Like what?!” he wailed.  

“Oh, come on Auston.  You look like you were a cast off of Anchorman and you know it.”

“I’m fashionable.”

“If you say so,” she rolled her eyes.  

“I thought those types of comments were only meant for Willy, anyway.”

“They’re meant for any of you when you look like this,” she covered herself, giving him a full up-down, causing him to laugh and shake his head.  

They walked past the Western Conference locker room, bustling with all the players and the media walking in and out of it.  Auston stopped again to say hi to some guys that he could see – Tyler Seguin and Connor McDavid – before Aberdeen watched another player making his way towards them.

“This your girl, Matthews?” Matthew Tkachuck asked, a devilish smile on his face.

Aberdeen crinkled her brows.  Gross.  “Ew Matty,” she watched Auston as he made a face.  “This is Shanahan’s executive assistant.”

“Oh!” Matthew’s face and demeanour completely changed as he took off his glove to shake her hand politely.  “I’m Matthew Tkachuk from the Calgary Flames.  It’s nice to meet you.”

Aberdeen laughed at how these boys could switch from being rats one second to upstanding gentlemen the next.  “Nice to meet you, Matthew.  How do you know Auston?”

“U.S National Development Program,” Auston answered for him.  “We were on a World Junior team together.”

“Yeah, not to mention I was on a line with Mitchy in London,” Matthew added, referring to his junior career with the London Knights of the OHL.  “It’s like I’m practically on the Leafs,” he smiled.

“You wish,” Auston scowled.  

“You’ll be on the bench watching, yeah?” Matthew directed his question towards Auston.  Auston confirmed he would be.  Matthew’s attention went back to Aberdeen.  He gave her a very visible up-down before biting his bottom lip.  “How about you?  You gonna be on the bench with Auston?”

“I’ll be sitting with my boss, but thanks for thinking about me,” she smiled over-politely.  She heard Matthew chuckle but he still didn’t take his eyes off her.  “We should go, Auston.  I don’t want Gary Bettman angry at me for keeping the star of Toronto backstage for too long.”

Matthew said his goodbyes.  Aberdeen and Auston continued walking down and around the corridors until they came to the entrance to the ice.  Some of the arena workers, recognizing Auston, began showing him the way.  “Now stay here and be good,” she said.

Auston smiled mischievously before winking and walking away from her.  “Only for you, Aberdeen.”

“And tell Matthew Tkachuk if he even thinks of me, I’ll kick him in the balls.”

“Will do, baby.”

***

She saw the number pop up on her phone and the request for a FaceTime call.  She hesitated at first, not knowing if she should accept.  Sure, she was alone in her hotel room, it was late at night, and she was sure everybody had gone to bed, especially Brendan and Kyle.  Nobody would be knocking on her door.  Nobody would be calling her asking her to get a suitcase ready so they could take a private jet to Phoenix to fire a head coach.  And even though her first thought was that this had to be some sort of practical joke, she quickly reconsidered.  The last time this was requested it was in the back of a cab and an automatic no.

Not for anything, but less than 24 hours ago he was in her.

So she accepted.  

William’s face popped up on the screen.  He was clearly already in his pajamas, his hair tied back with an elastic atop his head.  Aberdeen remembered that Toronto was an hour ahead, so it was even later for him.  “Hello minskatt,” he smiled.

She’d just showered, and her hair was in a towel.  She tugged it off so she didn’t look too ridiculous.  “Hey Willy.”

“How are you, minskatt?” he asked sweetly, biting his bottom lip slightly as he watched her hair fall out of the towel.  “How was today?  Long day?”

She nodded her head.  “Long but good.  I met a lot of the other GMs.  Well, most of them just sort of nodded their head at me after having conversations with Brendan and Kyle before moving on.  It’s like they don’t know how to speak to women.”

“They probably don’t,” he quipped.  “Did Auston behave?”

She smiled.  “Yes, Auston behaved.”

“So I don’t need to kick his ass?”

Aberdeen giggled.  “No.  You’d never, anyway.  He’s one of your best friends.”

“I’d still kick his ass if he gave you a hard time.”

She continued to smile.  “How was your day?  What did you do?”

“Miss you all day,” he said.

She rolled her eyes.  She did that a lot today between him and Auston.  “What did you really do?”

He shrugged.  “Went to the gym.  Talked with my brother.  Just the usual boring stuff.  Nothing as exciting as what you did.”

“Nothing I did was too exciting,” she admitted.  She hated to admit it, but it was true.  “I don’t mean to be rude when I say that.  It’s just – I could have networked, I really could, I mean I know how to work a room, but these guys just weren’t having it.  Well, everyone besides Julien BriseBois from Tampa.  He was super nice.”

“It’s okay, minskatt.  I’m sure tomorrow will be better,” he said encouragingly.  “There’s a luncheon, right?”

She nodded her head, a bit surprised that he remembered her schedule.  She hoped that would run smoother than what had happened today at the welcome reception.  But now, at this moment, with Willy on FaceTime and two more days until she got to see him in Nashville, she didn’t want to talk about work.  She’d only left him this morning and she was already missing him.  “Hey Willy?”

“Hmm?”

“I…I’ve never really asked, but why do you always call me that?  Minskatt?” she asked.

“Because that’s what you are,” he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.  

She knew that it meant ‘my treasure’.  She remembered that quite vividly.  “Yeah, but like…why my treasure?  Why not just darling or honey or whatever?”

“Do you want me to call you those?” he asked worriedly.

“No!  Not at all.  I…I like minskatt.  I love it, actually,” she admitted for the first time out loud.  After months of blushing about it and hearing him say it in her dreams, she was finally able to admit it.  “I just don’t know why you’d choose that over the hundreds of other things.”

William shrugged his shoulders again.  “I just heard it a lot growing up from my grandparents.  My grandpa would call my grandma that all the time.  When I was really small, I thought it was her actual name.  And I just…I don’t know.  I think it’s the nicest thing.  Because you’re my treasure.  That what you are to me, always.  From the moment I met you.  You’re my treasure.”

Aberdeen smiled sheepishly.  God, he was so…good.  So pure.  So characteristically William that she honestly didn’t have another word for it.  “For what it’s worth, you’re my treasure too, Willy.”

***

January 25th, 2020

Aberdeen decided to get breakfast on her own, without waiting for Brendan to call.  She’d fallen asleep talking to William last night – they both had, gag – but she still felt pretty energized and ready for the day.  She threw her hair in a bun, knowing it would be easier to style when she got back from breakfast for the luncheon, and put on a simple pair of yoga tights and a University of Toronto hoodie.  

She figured that most of the guys were either still asleep or would have ordered room service, and she was pleased to see that the dining room for the continental breakfast was basically two-thirds empty.  She grabbed a plate and loaded it with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, and hashbrowns.  She then poured herself some coffee and orange juice and settled into a table, taking out her phone so she could browse the news or read an article while she ate.  

She was in a completely tranquil state of mind until she heard a voice from behind her.  “Hey!”

It startled her.  She turned around to see Mitch standing behind her, holding a plate stacked with food.  “What are you doing up so early?”

“Same thing as you – eating!” he smiled.  He looked behind him.  “Hey guys!  Aberdeen’s here!”

She leaned back to look past him and saw Fred’s giant body towering over the egg buffet and Auston looking like he literally just rolled out of bed pouring some cereal into a bowl.  Fred smiled and Auston waved.  She looked back at Mitch.  “You’re all up?”

“You seem shocked,” he said as she settled into the seat across from her.

“I’m not shocked about you, because you’re just an excitable puppy,” she said.  “I’m more surprised about Auston.  Does he usually get up this early?”

“You’d be surprised,” Mitch shrugged.  “When we’re on the hockey grind, early wake up calls are just a part of life.”

Fred and Auston came to the table eventually, with Fred sitting beside Aberdeen and Auston beside Mitch.  They spoke casually – about the events of last night and the upcoming day ahead of them, what they would do with their day off tomorrow before having the fly to Nashville on Monday to meet the rest of the team.  Auston suggested that they all go to the big arch.  Mitch wanted to have lunch at a smokehouse.  Fred wanted would arrange the Ubers.  

They looked at Aberdeen.  It was a while before she noticed.  “What?” she asked with a mouth full of breakfast sausage.

“What do you want to do Sunday?” Mitch asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world.  

She was confused.  “I’m coming?”

“Obviously,” Auston piped up.

“Why would you think you’re not invited?” Fred asked.  “You’ve been with us for how long now?”

“I just…I don’t know,” she digressed.  “I know I’m, like, part of the team or whatever—”

“So why wouldn’t you come?” Fred followed up.

“I—you guys constantly freak me out, you know that?” she asked.  “Like, I don’t get why a bunch of hot shot hockey players want me to tag along with them on their day off.”

“Why wouldn’t you think that?  Willy likes you tagging along everywhere,” Auston said.

Aberdeen suddenly stiffened at Auston’s words, thrown around so casually, but they were so charged for her.  “So does Jason,” Mitch added quickly.  “And Brendan, even.  I mean, Brendan wouldn’t have invited you here if he didn’t trust you with us, or you with us, you know?  I mean, the All-Star Game is Peter’s thing.”

She’d heard that once or twice before.  “It’s just it’s still new to me, that’s all,” she said, trying to remain calm.  “I don’t want to intrude on your private time.  I’m already around you guys practically all the time as it is.  I don’t want to overstay my welcome.”

“Not sure that’s possible,” Mitch said.  “You’re always welcome with us.  We love you, Aberdeen.”

***

When Aberdeen went back up to her room after breakfast, she took a long look at herself in the mirror.  Long.  She knew she was loved by many people: by her parents, her grandparents, her siblings, by Kasha, by friends like Masani and Tom and Margot.  By Brendan, at least in his own way.  By William.  She was loved by William.  

Could she add the Toronto Maple Leafs to that list?

***

February 5th, 2020

New York City in the beginning of February was much different than, say, New York City in the summer, even New York City at Christmas.  With nothing to really look forward to – no holiday or event, no long stretch of time where the city swelled with tourists and it felt so alive – New York City was just…well, New York City.  Big.  Imposing.  Busy.  

Brendan had lived here for a few years, both as a player and an NHL executive, and he’d gone out for an extended lunch with a friend, so Aberdeen had nothing better to do than to walk down to Magnolia bakery and grab a half dozen cupcakes to eat and then bring home to share with Kasha – two red velvet with cream cheese icing, one confetti, one lemon, one coconut, and one truffle.  It was her way of saying thanks, because Kasha had been picking up donuts from Bloomers or Glory Hole at least once a month since they moved in together.  The perks of flying on a chartered flight was that she knew the cupcakes would be safe all the way back to Toronto.  

When she got back to the arena, she made sure the box of cupcakes was placed in the box where she’d be with Brendan and Kyle that night, knowing that nobody would touch it. It was when she exited the press box and began making her way through the corridors between the locker rooms that she saw someone she was not expecting at all: Saylor, Kasperi’s girlfriend.  She looked very glamourous, with her hair and makeup done professionally.  

When she looked up from her phone – which she didn’t do often – and saw Aberdeen, she smiled excitedly.  “Ohmygod, hi Aberdeen!” she greeted her enthusiastically.  

“Hi, Saylor.  You traveled to New York with Kasperi?” she asked, trying to make small talk.

“I actually had a shoot booked, but I scheduled it so I could come to New York the same time as the guys came,” she revealed, clearly proud she was able to get the gig.  “You know, because I model.”

Aberdeen resisted the urge to roll her eyes.  Saylor reminded her every time they spoke about her modelling.  Well, Instagram modelling.  Aberdeen didn’t think she’d ever walked a runway or appeared in an editorial.  It was mostly just the aforementioned Instagram modelling with a YouTube channel where brands would send her clothes or “collab” with her for exposure.  “Yeah, I remember Saylor.  Sounds fun.”

“It is!” she smiled excitedly.  “I’ve been super lucky so far.  But I mean hey, with a bit of makeup and good angles, lots of girls could be models.”

“I’m sure,” Aberdeen giggled.  “Wouldn’t be me though.  Not with these bushy Persian brows,” she joked, knowing full well thick brows were very in right now and that a lot of girls got them dyed or microbladed to look like hers.

“Persian?” Saylor was confused.

“Yeah.  My dad’s Persian.”

“Ohmigosh, I knew you were mixed with something!  Your nose totally gives it away.”

Aberdeen froze, though a strained smile was on her face.  She knew she had a Greek nose, that it was pretty big with a prominent bridge, not elegant at all like Siena’s, but she didn’t think it was that big of a deal.  She didn’t know what Saylor was trying to say or imply, but she tried to play along anyway.  “I thought it’d be my hair.”

“Well, that too.”

Aberdeen nodded her head.  Before she could say anything else, Saylor’s phone began ringing.  “It’s my agency,” she said as she looked down at her phone.  “I’ll talk to you later.”

“See ya.”

Aberdeen watched as Saylor left, her hips swaying back and forth in her skin tight Levis.  She brought her hand up to her face, feeling the bridge of her nose before patting down her hair.  She sighed.  At least Saylor didn’t see the Magnolia cupcake box – she probably would have made a comment about that, too.

Aberdeen thought back to New Year’s Eve, when Morgan and John sat at her table and told her the story about Bee; about how she’d gotten messages from fans making fun of her weight and looks and how they’d called her the team cum bucket.  Aberdeen shivered.  She didn’t understand how people could have such vitriol in their heart for another person they hadn’t even met.  And having it be directed towards Bee McTavish of all people.  Those were targeted attacks, mostly because they were jealous of who Bee was dating (as they should, because Morgan was a great guy).  But Aberdeen wondered if Bee ever got those types of comments from people she knew – other wives or girlfriends who maybe couldn’t hold their tongue or thought that looks were the be all, end all of someone’s worth.  

Aberdeen knew better than to think that way.  She knew it was all bullshit.  How you presented yourself to the world was one thing – with your clothes, your hair, your makeup – and it was somewhat an extension of you, but it wasn’t who you were as a person.  Like, Aberdeen always liked to look fashionable and presentable at work, because she knew she was in a highly professional environment and on any given day she’d shake hands and speak with a billionaire, but her clothes didn’t define her.  Her personality defined her.  Her work ethic defined her.  Her respect for her job, her bosses, and her colleagues defined her.  Her ambitions defined her more than her clothes ever would, than her clothes ever could.  She knew Saylor didn’t mean any harm, that it probably wasn’t said maliciously at all, that it was only said because she didn’t know any better and nobody in her privileged life had called her out on her language that bordered on offensive.  Aberdeen wasn’t going to hold it against her unless it kept happening and it did get offensive.  

But she highly doubted that.  

***

The Leafs lost to the New York Rangers 5-3.

William had knocked on her room door.

She let him in.  

He kissed her the second the door closed and she felt overwhelmed by the feeling of his lips on hers, like she always did, really.  They hadn’t been able to connect in Nashville or Dallas after the All-Star Game because her room was right beside Brendan’s, so they had to wait until the night they got back to Toronto.  The Leafs weren’t doing particularly well lately, but nobody would be able to tell by the way William was acting.  He brushed off the losses fairly easily, not liking to dwell on them too much.  

“You okay after tonight?” she asked.

“It’s fine, minskatt,” he said as he kissed the tip of her nose.  “Better now.”

She smiled slightly.  She highly doubted that she made the situation better, but she’d take it.  “Come to the washroom with me.  I have to wash my face.”

“That’s sexy.”

She smacked his arm.  He just gripped onto her hips tighter.  “I can ask you to leave.”

“You’d have to make me at this point, and I’m a strong boy,” he raised his eyebrows.  

She scoffed, dragging him into the washroom with her as she took off her makeup and cleansed her face.  William leaned his body against the wall behind her, so she was able to see him and look at him through the mirror.  He was so patient, and literally just watched her as she went about her nightly routine.  He didn’t say a peep, didn’t complain, didn’t rush her.  He just watched her with a look in his eye that told her, fascinatingly, that he was enjoying just watching her, like he was captivated by her simplest movements.  

She pat her face dry, looking at him through the mirror.  “Can I ask you something?” she asked.  It was so quiet she could practically hear the electric current going through the lightbulb.  

“Of course, minskatt.”

She was hesitant, mostly because she didn’t really know if William knew anything about it, but also because she should probably be asking Morgan.  She set the towel down on the counter.  “Do you know what happened with Bee last year?”

William didn’t look too bothered by the question.  “You mean when her mom passed away?” he asked.

“No,” she shook her head.  “The…the other thing.”

“Oh, that,” William nodded his head.  “Yeah, I know what happened.”

“Morgan said it was someone who knew Kasperi’s ex.”

“It was.  Her name was Cassie.  Kasperi’s ex, I mean,” he clarified as he stepped closer towards her.  “The girl who actually approached Bee in the restaurant was named Danielle.”

“Had you ever met them before?” she asked.

“Cassie, of course.  Danielle, no,” he said.  “Why?”

“Does Kasperi exclusively date models?”

“Basically,” he giggled slightly.  “Why, minskatt?”

“It’s nothing,” she shook her head.  “I just—I saw Saylor earlier tonight, and she mentioned how she was in New York City for a photoshoot with a brand or something.”

“She’s one of those Instagram models,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and nestling his head into the crook of her neck.  He placed light kisses on her skin that made her feel temporarily drunk.  “You should be a model,” he mumbled against her skin.

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Aberdeen replied sarcastically, though the feeling of his lips still on her skin made her brain mush.  

“Oh come on.  You’d be a great model.  My model,” he continued with his compliments and with his kissing.

“Not with this nose,” Aberdeen quipped.  “At least that’s what Saylor said.”

William stopped his movements.  It was quiet again.  She continued to watch him through the mirror as he looked at her, speechless.  It shouldn’t have come out like that.  She didn’t plan for it to come out like that.  But like most things to do with William, nothing ever went according to plan.  Ignoring him certainly didn’t go to plan – look where they were with that.  “Excuse me?” he asked, finally.  “What did she say to you?”

“It’s honestly not even a big deal,” Aberdeen said, trying to sound as confident as possible.  “She found out I was half-Persian and was like ‘Oh your nose totally gives it away’,” she mimicked Saylor’s voice.  “Then when I mentioned as a joke that I thought it would have been my hair that gave it away, she was like, ‘That too’, like it was so obvious.”

William looked angry – a confused angry, like he couldn’t believe something like that was said to her by someone so close to one of his best friends, but at the same time, could totally see it being said by her in particular.  Nobody else had commented on it when they found out – at least nobody on the team had – but of course Saylor did.  “Minskatt—”

“Please don’t make this a big deal,” she interrupted him, seeing the look in his eyes.  “It’s not the first time someone has said something like that to me and it’s definitely not going to be the last.”

If she didn’t want him to make a big deal out of it, he wouldn’t.  That didn’t mean that he wasn’t still angry about it, though.  And it didn’t mean he’d look at Saylor differently now for what she said.  “But minskatt…you know I think you’re beautiful, right?” he asked softly.  

Aberdeen nodded her head.  “I do,” she said confidently.  “I know you do.  But, like – and no offence – but I think I’m beautiful.  And – again, no offence – that’s more important than you thinking it.  I have enough confidence in my appearance to not let it affect me.  That’s why it doesn’t matter what she said.”

William smiled at her.  Proudly.  “No offence taken,” he said, biting his lip.  “That’s all that matters.  Still makes me want to talk to her though.”

Aberdeen whipped around so she could face him.  “Don’t you dare,” she warned.

William’s smile turned from prideful to facetious.  “Gotcha.”

Aberdeen scrunched her face at him, but he didn’t care.  He dipped down and kissed her again, refusing to stop even as he picked her up in his arms and placed her on the vanity.  He stood in between her thighs as he kissed her and kissed her and kissed her, not wanting to ever stop.  “You know I think you’re pretty great, right?” he mumbled against her lips.

Aberdeen stopped, their faces only inches apart as she stared at him, smiling slightly.  She brought her hand up and let her thumb caress his bottom lip, the slightest bit swollen from all their kissing.  His eyes were so, so blue as she looked into them.  Sometimes she didn’t think he was real.  “I think you’re pretty great, too.”

[wordsandshawn]

Secret | Part 1 | #ShawnMendesWritingCircle

A/N: I’m so excited to get to be a part of this writing circle. Thank you @saysweartogod-og​ for coming up with this amazing idea. This fic is a little spin off of a secret billionaire trope, and I can honestly say I’m so excited to see where some of the amazing writers participating in this decide to take it. I hope you enjoy this first chapter, and feel free to send feedback or thoughts about the chapter and where you think it might go, because my guess is as good as yours, and I’d love to talk about it! 

WC: 2.6K

~

From the moment you met Shawn six months ago, you knew that letting yourself get involved with him was a bad idea. It took you about three seconds to come up with a handful of reasons why you could never let yourself fall for him, but it only took him one night to make you forget them all.

You stepped into his condo, spotted him, and knew who he was immediately before the words, “Hey, I’m Shawn,” Even fell from his lips. You told yourself you’d never come back here before you spoke a single word to him. You also vowed to kill Brian and Alicia the second you got them alone.

Brian is dating your roommate, which is how you wound up here in the first place. Alicia knows you rarely ever go out because you’re either working or studying, so when she found out you weren’t working for the first time on a Friday night, she practically begged you to come with her. She said she was meeting some of Brian’s friends for the first time and didn’t want to be alone. Despite you telling her that she’d obviously have Brian there, she refused to give up, and finally, you reluctantly agreed to go. You had no idea that Brian’s “friend” was Shawn Mendes.

At first, your only focus was getting through the party and out of the condo without anyone posting a photo of you online, knowing that photo would be circulated within minutes if it had Shawn in it too, and that’s the last thing you’d want. You didn’t expect it to be too difficult to avoid being in a photo with Shawn considering the condo was not small by any means, and there’s no reason for him to take any type of notice of you.

Even though you regretted accepting the invitation, you still decided to make the most of the night. Since you rarely let yourself go out, you were determined to enjoy the one night you had. You’re still nursing your first drink, despite it already being warm. As time passes, you watch as everyone around you becomes more and more inebriated. Phones are out, as they often are at parties like these, and you’re tired of hiding in the darkest corner you could find, so you slip outside. You’re not outside for even five minutes before you hear the sliding door open, the music drifting out from inside.

“Y/n, right?” Shawn questions, stepping outside, and you try to hide the shock on your face over the fact that he remembered your name.

“Mhmm,” You respond intentionally looking away from him.

“What are you doing out here?” He asks, taking the spot beside you by the railing so the two of you are standing shoulder to shoulder, except his shoulder is about five inches above yours.

“I could ask you the same thing.” You respond, not wanting to give him the real answer to that question.

“They’re all taking a lot of pictures in there.” He says, as though that’s an answer to the question, but it’s not.

“It’s your party, why wouldn’t you want to be in the pictures?” You question, surprised. You know why you don’t want to be in them, but you can’t seem to fathom why he wouldn’t want to be in pictures with his friends at his own place.

“Don’t want people to know where I am,” He says with a shrug. “What about you, why’d you slip out just now?” He asks again since you avoided the question the first time.

“Needed some air,” You lie, keeping your eyes trained on the city lights.

He doesn’t press the topic anymore. You’re expecting him to wander away, back inside to the party, but he doesn’t. Shawn asks about how you know Brian and you explain that he’s dating your roommate. To be polite, you ask him the same question and he shares that they met when they were six and on the same soccer team. For some reason, conversation comes easy with him, and you almost let your guard down. Almost.

After a talking for a while, he asks, “Can I get your Instagram?”

Suddenly you remember the promise you made to yourself earlier. “I don’t have one.” You say before slipping past him and heading back inside in search of the bathroom. You don’t need to see his face to know he’s wearing a perplexed look. When people hear you don’t have an Instagram, they look at you like you’re from outer space. That’s how ridiculous they think it is, and then they think you’re lying because you’re not into them. Even though you’re not lying, you never really cared if that’s what they thought.

By the end of the night, you’re just glad to make it out of there. Alicia is drunk enough that you drive her car back to your apartment, and the whole time, she’s mumbling about how she thinks Shawn likes you and about how Brian told her that he thinks you two would be good together. You tell her she’s talking nonsense, and Shawn would never like you like that, but deep down, you knew you already liked Shawn more than you would want to admit.

Brian gave Shawn your number, and you texted for two months before moving beyond friendship, even though you both knew it was heading in that direction from the very beginning. It took that long for you to finally be convinced that he was a safe person to be with. Shawn knew from the very beginning, before you even got together, that you did not want to go public with the relationship. He knew that you were completely off of social media, so it made sense that you wanted to keep your life private, and he agreed that it would be for the best. 

Even after you got together, he was rarely ever in Toronto. He was busy traveling for work, and you were busy with work and Uni, so it was mostly a long distance relationship with a lot of texting and facetiming, but you’ve managed to make it work and treasure the small amounts of time you have together. 

Shawn’s finally back in town, and you spent most of the day lazily hanging out. When night hit, a bunch of Shawn’s friends came over, including Brian and Alicia. This party feels a lot different from the last one. In that one, you were keeping to yourself, mostly in the corner or outside. Tonight, you feel like you can let your guard down, at least a little bit. Shawn had made it clear that his friends couldn’t post any pictures with him in them because he was supposed to be in Miami and his management would basically kill him if it got out he slipped away to come home to Toronto. Shawn was determined to come home for the weekend. He missed you, so he made a promise to his management that no one would find out he was here.

It worked out better for you because you felt like you were safe from worrying about pictures posted online. What you didn’t realize was that his friends never promised not to post pictures at all, just that they wouldn’t post pictures of Shawn. You’re standing around the kitchen island, laughing about something Alicia is saying when you spot Brian looking down at his phone. Out of curiosity, your eyes fall on his screen to see you and Alicia. He clicks post before you have a chance to say anything. In a second, you’re standing in front of him. “Hey, what did you just post?” You ask him.

“Don’t worry, it’s a nice picture.” He says, shrugging.

“Brian, delete it.” You say. He’s already drunk, and you’re starting to wish you had more than one drink because of the anxiety raising up within you. “Please, you have to delete that. Delete it right now, please.” You swallow your anxiety and fear, trying to keep your emotions from getting the better of you. It’s only now that you realize that you were basically screaming, and all the other conversations going on stopped because everyone is focused on you.

“Chill,” Brian says, but when you make it clear that you’re serious, he finally concedes. “Fine.” He deletes it, showing you his phone as he does so.

“Thanks,” You mumble before pushing past everyone still standing around staring at you and disappearing into Shawn’s room, slamming the door behind you. You pace across the room a couple of times before you hear a knock on the door.

You don’t say anything or make a move to open it. You’re still trying to calm your breathing and remind yourself that nothing happened. The picture was only up for no more than a few minutes. Everything’s okay, and you’re just being paranoid, at least that’s what you tried to tell yourself.

The door opens, and you turn to see who it is. Shawn’s standing in the doorway, questions swimming in his eyes, but he doesn’t ask any of them right away. You sit down on the bed, taking a deep breath, readying yourself to face him. He steps inside, closing the door behind him. “You okay?” He asks.

You swallow hard to keep your emotions down, “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m sorry about that.” You nod toward the door, but you don’t offer an explanation.

Shawn takes a seat next to you, “That wasn’t just about us keeping our relationship a secret, was it?” He questions softly. He’s putting the pieces together. Shawn wasn’t even in the Instagram story, and even though you know Shawn’s fans keep track of his every move and watch all of his friend’s stuff, you’re not delusional enough to think that if you’re in one story everyone will know about you and Shawn. But as soon as you realized that Shawn’s friends get tens of thousands of views on their stories, it worried you. You’re worried that someone would see it, someone who you didn’t want to see it.

“I’m sorry I freaked out.” You respond. “But you should get back to your friends. I think I’m just going to go.” You say, starting to stand up.

Shawn reaches out for you, taking your hand in his. “Please don’t go.” He says. “I just want to know what’s going on with you. Whatever it is, you can tell me.” He seems concerned. Even though you’ve only known him for a couple of months, you already trust Shawn more than you’ve trusted anyone else. But with all of his friends here, along with knowing he’s already had a few drinks, you know now’s not the time to talk about this.

“I really think I should go. I’ll see you later, okay?” Shawn doesn’t try to stop you again. He’s already made it clear that he wants you to stay, but if you want to go, he’ll let you.

You get into your car and drive back to your apartment. When you arrive, you see that Shawn has texted you a few times. He asks you to text him when you get home safely. He also lets you know that if you want to talk about what happened, he’s there.

You text him back, letting him know you made it home, but you don’t say anything about the picture. After replying to Shawn, you turn off your phone and get ready for bed, trying to fall asleep before you worry yourself sick.

The next morning, when you wake up, you’re surprised that you don’t see a message from Shawn. He must still be sleeping, you think to yourself before getting out of bed. After brushing your teeth and putting your contacts in, you start walking toward the kitchen in search of breakfast. You stop short as soon as you step out of the hallway because you see Shawn sitting at your dining room table. He looks up from his phone when he sees you.

“Hey, Alicia let me in.” He explains before nodding toward the donuts, “I brought donuts.”

“Thanks,” You whisper, pulling out a seat and sitting down.

“Can we talk about last night?” He asks, hesitantly.

You knew that you would have to tell him sometime, but you were hoping you could avoid it for at least a little while longer.

“My dad’s really,” You pause, searching for the right word, finally saying, “Controlling.”

Shawn’s eyebrows knit together, and he watches you closely. He doesn’t know where this conversation is going, and you don’t blame him.

“Both of my parents wanted me to go into the family business, but I didn’t want to. They didn’t want to hear it or even consider letting me do anything else. When I turned eighteen, I left. I got a scholarship to a university they never knew I applied to. I deleted all my social media’s and I moved away.” You haven’t spoken those words aloud to anyone, ever, and you didn’t realize they would be so difficult to say.

“You ran away?” Shawn questions, his voice barely above a whisper, and you know that he’s just trying to wrap his mind around all of it. It’s a lot, so you don’t blame him.

“I’m not a teenaged runaway. I’m not a missing person.” You respond, knowing how it sounds. “I was eighteen. I told them I was moving away to go to University. I just didn’t tell them which one because I didn’t want them to just show up or think they could buy their way back into my life. I needed to do it on my own.”

He’s not quite understanding how you could just cut your family out of your life, and you know it’s a difficult concept. “Buy their way in?” He asks.

“Yeah, knowing my dad, he’d do something like buy a building on campus or something and then make a whole show of dedicating and opening it, or find some way to show up and manipulate their way back into my life, and I just didn’t want that.”

“So, what does your dad do?”

“You ever heard of Ardes Corp.” Shawn’s eyes widen. Everyone’s heard of Ardes Corp. “My real name is Y/n Ardes. I started using my middle name as my last name, so people wouldn’t know.”

“Okay, but why go through all these lengths to still not be found by them? You clearly did it all on your own, putting yourself through Uni and everything. Why would it matter if they saw a picture of you online?”

“You know how I said I told them I was leaving, so I didn’t just run away?”

“Yeah?”

“Well it wasn’t the best conversation. They kind of disowned me, and I kind of don’t want them to find me and confront me or tell me I’m living my life wrong or do whatever they might do if they change my mind and try to drag me back home.” That may not be the full story, but you think it’ll be at least enough to satisfy Shawn for the time being.

When he nods, and hands you a napkin, you take it gratefully.

“I guess that’s why you won’t even step outside with me, huh?” He questions, opening the box of donuts.

You bite your lip, meeting his eyes and nodding.

He nods back, a silent understanding passes between the two of you. Even though you just threw a lot of information about your past at him, he doesn’t seem to be put off by it, instead, he took it all in stride.

“Thanks for buying the donuts.” You say, as he motions for you to choose first.

“You’re welcome.” He says with a smile.

You choose the twist and Shawn takes one with chocolate on it, and the two of you eat in comfortable silence. You have no doubt that Shawn has more questions, and there’s a lot more that he deserves to know, but he’s only here for another day, and you’d much rather focus on this delicious donut and the idea of some quality time alone with your boyfriend instead of rehashing your past.  

[wondershawns]

Blurb night ! 🍾 8 for Shawn please!! 🥳

A/N: I had to stop myself from writing more because this could be such a good start to a proper fic. Anyway, the prompt was “If you ever need a friend, I’m right here.” Thanks for sending this in!

 Word count: 937

.

           It was your first day in LA. Everything was too big in your opinion, it wasn’t the kind of city you’d see yourself living in at all. You already missed the Canadian cold, but this was only temporary. Promoting your music meant travelling and spending time doing interviews, which you always enjoyed. The part you enjoyed less was having to show up at label events where managers and other important people looked at you like all they saw was a price tag.

“Hi,” The man you recognized as Shawn Mendes came up to you while you stood by the bar, trying to avoid the crowd. You wished you could have dressed as casually as him. You’d give anything to be in skinny jeans and a shirt right now, the dress you had to put on was a little itchy. “I don’t think we’ve met before, I’m Shawn,”

“We haven’t,” You smiled back at him and shook his hand, introducing yourself.

“So, how long do you think you need to stay?” He leaned on the bar by your side and looked over the room.

“What?”

“These events suck, how long until you can escape? I usually have to stick around for an hour, two if I’m unlucky,” He explained, too used to showing his face and leaving as soon as he could for a good night of sleep.

“Oh, um, it’s the first time I come to something like this,” You admitted, wishing you could get rid of your heels, or at least sit down. Sure, the outfit looked amazing, but it wasn’t worth it for tonight. You would rather have been comfortable.

“Ouch,” He cringed. “The first time I had to do this sucked, and I was underage, so painfully sober,”

“Yeah, I guess a drink wouldn’t hurt right now,” You chuckled, wondering why you still hadn’t gotten yourself one, but Shawn took care of it.

“What would you like?” He turned to wave at the bartender, ordering for both of you as soon as he got your answer.

“So, how do you escape this?” You asked him, your glass in hand a few seconds later.

“Over there,” He pointed to a tall and bald man. “That’s Jake, he knows I hate this. He helps me sneak out, my manager hates it, but he pretends he doesn’t notice when we leave and covers for me,”

“That’s cool,” You noticed your own manager mingling with other people, she’d definitely hate it if you left early.

“Yeah, it is. You’re from Canada, right?” He kept the conversation flowing easily.

“Born and raised in Toronto,” You confirmed, knowing he lived there too. Shawn was nice to talk to, and you were surprised you still hadn’t been interrupted.

“LA feels weird compared to that, doesn’t it? It took me so long to get used to,”

“A little yeah, I’m not sure I can get used to it though. It’s my first time coming here, and I’m kinda hoping it won’t happen too often,” You admitted out loud for the first time.

“It probably will, that’s where everyone else it. How long are you staying?” Shawn understood where you came from, but he also knew how these things went. The best he could do was make sure you had someone to talk to around here.

“Two weeks,”

“Well, during those two weeks, if you ever need a friend, I’m right here.”

“Thanks Shawn,” You felt better just from this conversation, he was the first person you met around here, and it couldn’t have gone better.

“Of course,” He smiled, but it faltered when he spotted his manager and yours coming over. “Uh oh,”

“Shawn, there you are,” Andrew said, immediately following up by starting a conversation with you and saying it was great the two of you had met.

           You exchanged a look with Shawn, who was stuck with your manager. You could both tell the collaboration ideas and PR possibilities were bubbling in their heads. He gave you a slight nod towards Jake and politely excused himself from your manager, moving to the other side of the room. For a second you thought he was leaving, but he kept on looking at you, waiting for you to join.

           You somehow managed to ditch Andrew and hurried to where he was standing, letting him take his hand in yours.

“So, that’s how we escape,” He told you as he walked into a deserted corridor. “Everyone leaves through the main door, the back one has an alarm,”

“How are we leaving then?”

“Jake took care of it for us,” Shawn explained just as the man came into view, holding the door to freedom open for the both of you. “Man, you really are the best,” He told him as he stepped out.

“Thank you,” You nodded along, making your way to fresh air.

“Come on guys,” Jake let the door fall shut, stepping ahead of you to show you to a car. “Where are we going?” He checked with Shawn, knowing the plan to go back to his hotel had probably changed.

“You want me to show you around?” The curly haired man offered. “LA isn’t as bad as it sounds once you know where to go,”

“Does it involve a lot of walking?” You asked first, feeling the blisters on your feet worsen with every step. Shawn glanced at your feet, giving you a sympathetic smile.

“Where are you staying? We can stop by and then explore,” He opened the door to the car and let you in.

“My manager is going to kill me.”

“Then let’s make the night worth it.”

[aion-rsa]

What We Do in the Shadows Season 3: What is an Energy Vampire Anyway?

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains spoilers for What We Do in the Shadows season 3’s first two episodes.

Boredom, tedious, tiresome, flat. These are not the first words which jump to mind when thinking of vampires or comedy, but What We Do in the Shadows wields them like secret weapons without sacrificing a single laugh or scare. The FX horror farce, which is a series adaptation of the 2014 feature film created by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, follows four vampires. They have been roommates since, well, forever, but one is different from the rest.

Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak), Nadja of Antipaxos, (Natasia Demetriou), and Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry), are traditional vampires. They drink blood, a virgin’s if possible. This is usually supplied by their familiar-turned-bodyguard Guillermo (Harvey Guillén). A probable virgin himself, but off limits. Even vampires know not to feed on their own supplier, especially one who has taken down the entire local vampire hierarchy. The fourth vampire does not drink blood. He subsists on the lifeforce of others. He is an energy vampire, and no one is safe from his appetites. Familiars are fair game, and so are the other vampires.

Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) looks like an office drone, talks like an automated menu, and has the presence of an interdepartmental meeting memo. A simple watercooler chat can drain a listener of the very will to live. It’s tasty. The Staten Island vampires have been named head of the entire Tri-State vampire community and Colin, who will be celebrating a major milestone this season, is undergoing a search for self.

You don’t have to look far from Colin to find Mark Proksch, the actor who plays him. In Better Call Saul, he played Daniel “Pryce” Wormald, the ineptly arrogant pharmaceutical connection who was very particular about his baseball cards. On The Office, he played Nate, a proven entity, but not without handicaps, like hearing, vision and cognition. With offbeat roles on This Is Us, Modern Family, Portlandia, Drunk History, Bob’s Burgers, and Adventure Time, Proksch has spent his career playing yo-yos, his first appearance was as a self-proclaimed master.

Proksch spoke with Den of Geek about vampire centennials, television perennials, and freezing his genitals playing kickball in the snow.

Den of Geek: Hello and thanks for doing this, and I wanted to wish Colin Robinson a happy birthday.

Mark Proksch: Well, it’s a little premature, but thank you.

I know the season is building to it, but will you be throwing a big celebration?

Yes. There will be some festivities, Colin Robinson style.

Do you know his sign?

I don’t know his sign. Gosh, that’s a good question. I don’t think he knows it, even.

Is there anything he wants for his birthday?

I think what he wants most is to know where he came from, and where he’s going. He’s in a bit of an existential funk right now. And he’s doing a lot of research about energy vampires. The problem is there’s not much out there on energy vampires because no one likes them. So, there aren’t many books about them. When he goes into the big Vampiric Council library, he can’t find a single word about energy vampires. And that’s probably because they’re so reviled within that community, that they don’t respect the energy vampires, or have any of their books.

You’ve been doing a lot of research on the history, and the nature, of energy vampires, as you said. What do you think, or, what do you call what he is feeding from? Is it Prana? Chi? Neurotransmissions?

Oh, yeah. We haven’t learned. He still doesn’t know. I think he’s feeding on the exhaustion of others. The everyday life exhaustion of others, I think, is what he feeds on.

Does Colin ever contemplate the carbon footprint of the energy vampire?

No, I think Colin’s in for it just for himself.

How come Colin can stand fire, he laughs it off, but he can’t deal with a cattle prod?

Yeah. Tony, you’re poking holes here. I don’t know. That’s, again, a very good question. Why doesn’t fire hurt him, but a cattle prod shocks him? Maybe, because one is energy? I mean, electrical energy, I should say. I guess heat is its own energy.

In the Cloak-of-Many-Nandors episode, how did it feel to hear Kayvan Novak do you? And did you give him pointers? Did he drain you in the process?

Yeah. Well, Kayvan has been doing all of us, since day one of shooting. So, it wasn’t a revelation to hear him do my voice. That said, we all sent recordings to him so he could perfect it. I haven’t seen the episode yet. The night we were filming my scene, it was about 4:00 a.m., it was one of the coldest nights in Toronto. So, I didn’t stick around to hear him do my voice. But I’m sure it’s as good as he was doing it on day one.

There’s a lot more location and exterior shooting this season. Is that more fun? Or is it just another day in a different cubicle?

I love our set. Kate Bunch, who is our set designer, is an absolute genius. And we film in the cold months, in Canada. So anytime we get to be on set, near the fireplace that actually works, is a plus. Filming on location has its limitations. We can’t film during the daytime, because the vampires will be burned up. So, we always film at night, when on location. And it looks like it’s 11:00 p.m. or 10:00 p.m., when in fact, it’s usually 3:00 a.m. or 4:00 a.m. And so, when we go on location, we’re usually shooting pretty unpleasant evenings. So, I’d much rather film on set. Filming on location can be fun though, because you have a lot more interaction with real people. And I think that’s one thing that makes the show really funny, is seeing these idiot vampires dealing in the real world. So, it’s kind of fifty-fifty for me.

Did you have fun in the snowball fights?

Yes. There are a lot of snowball fights, yes.

The last time I spoke with you, Colin had just gotten a promotion and it kind of went to his head. How is it for Colin now, to be in power at the Vampiric Council?

I think, as much as Colin loved having some power, I think his M.O. is really, just fading into the background. That way, he can prey a lot easier. Just trying to mix into the group. Be a spider with his web, in the background. I think that’s how he prefers to prey. And so, even when he becomes part of the Vampiric Council, he still allows others to exceed him in power. And so, this season, when Nandor and Nadja are the heads of the Vampiric Council, he’s more than happy to be the secretary. The most boring job you can have in a council setting, taking the notes.

Who do you think Colin would prefer on the throne, Nadja or Nandor?

That’s a great question. I think he would probably prefer Nandor, because Nandor is so stupid. Nandor is very, very dumb. And so, he, Colin, can get Nandor to do pretty much anything he wants. Whereas Nadja, I think Colin likes Nadja. And I also think that Nadja’s too smart to fall into Colin’s traps.

Does he get a jolt out of things like the heart ripping?

Yeah, I think so. I think he does enjoy that type of stuff. Yeah.

Can you feed off Nadja’s ghost in the Nadja doll?

I can’t. And I think I’ve tried to several times. I don’t remember what made it on air. But there’s been several times where I’ve tried to feed off of the doll, and it doesn’t go anywhere.

Will Colin’s research turn up any famous energy vampires? And have you come up with your own?

I’ll drop in names for energy vampires, every once in a while. I don’t think any of them have made it so far. I mean, I’ve done Andy Warhol, who seems, to me, to have been an energy vampire. Truman Capote. I would love to have Bob Newhart on as an energy vampire, because I think he’s brilliant, and he would absolutely kill it. Yeah, I’ve thrown in some of those names. David Crosby, I’ve thrown in. I mean, the more left field, the better. But I don’t think any of those have gotten in. I don’t think they want to insult people.

When you look back on your character’s past, do you find any trace of Les Nessman DNA?

Only in my acting. I loved WKRP, and Les Nessman was definitely a good energy vampire. Just a great character, and acted brilliantly. Yeah, I’m sure I stole from him. You know, it’s interesting, I mostly watch classic television. And I’ll see something, and I’ll be like, “Oh, that’s where I got that. That’s where I took that from.” I haven’t seen him since childhood, but it made an impression on me that, “Oh, okay. That’s why I do that.” And that becomes very eerie to me, when I realize I’m just a culmination of things I’ve been watching my whole life.

I’ve recently been watching it and was amazed by the physical comedy. Arthur Carlson was a genius. So, tell me about the physical comedy in What We Do in the Shadows. Because you’re using not just you, the actors, but you have the effects, and there’s a lot going on, especially, in the backgrounds.

Yeah. I personally love being able to do physical comedy. And Colin Robinson is so great for that, because he’s so at two with his body. He’s not a physical human being. He’s not athletic, to say the least. And I think it adds an extra layer to the character, when you actually see him physically emote, really. Whether it’s dancing, or playing kickball, he’s very unsettling in his movements. Then when you add in the ability to fly, once in a while, or throw people against a wall, it really becomes a playground that not a lot of shows let you get to do. Explore those extremes of physical comedy. And so, I love it for that reason.

You mentioned being free to emote. In the opening episode, you actually are peeved when you can’t feed off of Nadja and Laszlo, and when they shut you down. Does Colin get drained when the feedees don’t give with the Prana?

Yeah, I think he gets really frustrated. It’s almost like a dog that’s always promised a treat, but never is actually given the treat. I think he becomes furious. And he thinks it’s unfair, I would expect, and thinks that they’re not playing by the rules. His bizarre social rules, in which he should be allowed to feed on whenever he wants. Because he gets to do it all day long at work. Anytime he’s out of the house, he gets to do it. But when he’s in the mansion, they know what he’s up to, and they can shut him down pretty quickly. I think he gets frustrated.

Also, still with the first episode, your toilet duties. They only seemed designed to annoy you. So, when you’re actually annoying yourself, isn’t that like cannibalism?

I don’t know if he’s annoying himself. I think he’s really into what’s going on in those toilet buckets. That’s all. I think he’s curious.

You meet a big fan in the rogue vampire house, in Queens. Does Colin’s reputation precede him? And will we see a growth in his vampire community renown?

That’s a great question. I think his reputation does precede him. That said, I don’t know what the writers have in store in that story. I mean, it would be interesting to see him rise to a level of energy vampire stardom, and how he would handle that. But I don’t know.

Is that a little counterproductive?

It would be in his mind, absolutely. Again, it goes back to him being the spider with the spider web, and just, kind of, hanging out in the background.

Do you think the connection you make with energy vampires is different from the connection traditional vampires make? And might we be seeing something of an underground, within the underground?

I think with the traditional, bloodsucking vampires, I think it’s mostly sexual. For them, they just want to get their rocks off. I think with energy vampires, it’s much more subtle, and a little more complicated. And I don’t know if those relationships could last, the energy vampire relationships. What we saw with Vanessa Bayer’s character, Evie, I think that ran its natural course, as far as romantic liaisons with energy vampires.

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What We Do in the Shadows season 3 airs Thursdays at 10:00 p.m. on FX.

The post What We Do in the Shadows Season 3: What is an Energy Vampire Anyway? appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3h0ZUX8

[tenglows]

in the name of the old days

summary: it’s the last day of the year and you’re feeling nostalgic. you come across the twitter of the boy who used to be your best friend a few years ago, and decide to message him.

category: fluff, a bit of angst? maybe??, internet friend!mark

it was currently december 31, at half past one am, and you were scrolling on twitter

some chuckles here and there while reading your friend’s posts about timothee chalamet

you were about to close the app to go brush your teeth and prepare for bed

when your eyes wandered off and focused on another tweet

“almost 2020 and still no flying cars” read the tweet

from @/markly_

this made you sit straight in your mattress

you clicked on his profile

you two still followed each other

there weren’t a lot of recents tweets, so that’s why you figured you hadn’t come across the boy’s twitter sooner

plus; lately you weren’t the type to be so active on social media either

you mentally counted the years since you first met mark lee

it was 2019 (almost 2020) now and you guys had met in 2015

you had gotten involved in a drama with a one direction stan, you being part of 5sos stan twitter

and mark, little mix stan, had defended you

it was in the middle of the zayn and perrie scandal, so he assured both of your teams had to stick together to defeat one direction’s fans

you became mutuals after that

and you soon realized that mark had the tendency to initiate lots of twitter fights

often with the people that would bash perrie and her group

your friendship rose as the two of you took turns defending the other one on those enfrentations

you don’t know how but all of the sudden there was no day you wouldn’t talk to mark

you were both 16 at the time, you being older just by a few months

you guys would talk about everything and anything

and basically grew up together

you were there for him when school got hard and future scared him

he was there for you when you faced a pretty bad relationship

and you honestly considered him your best friend

sleepless nights with him on facetime were one of the things you looked forward to the most

hearing him talk about his day

him showing you a new song he learned on the guitar, or him playing some melodies and lyrics he composed himself every now and then

watching the same movie or show at the same time on your respective screens

struggling to press play together to match the exact second

“i totally knew he was gonna die”

“shut up you’re way ahead!!!!”

you had other friends at school, too

but mark was just mark

and you two had such a loving bond, you were so close you took him with you to everywhere you went

you just wished you had him closer

at least you were both from canada

him being from vancouver and you from quebec

you had made lots of plans about meeting in real life, and you genuinely believed they would come about

but it is true that time passes and people drift apart

you were about to begin college and made new friends

mark moved out to toronto

and gradually, the responses took longer

and the calls had kinda been left aside

until one of you just stopped replying

you honestly don’t remember who it was

but there isn’t really a reason, either

you just parted ways

and it’s fine, it’s human and natural and normal

but now looking at his profile picture: a polaroid of him hugging another boy

you felt as if a bucket of cold and frostbound nostalgia had been dumped over your head

you recognized his moles, and how he had the same smile

his header picture was a guitar

and it wasn’t the same he used to have, but something about him still liking music made you feel warm

it’s always astonishing to see how the life of a person who is no longer in yours just,,,

goes on

and you aren’t aware of a thing about their existence

or even think about them

so it’s almost as they don’t exist

but now you know mark still exists

and it’s so weird to think about how your lives had been so overlapped, so united

and now you didn’t know anything about him

the mix of reminiscence about this and the year ending

resulted in your impulsive fingers pressing the envelope icon in mark’s profile

you stayed like that for a few minutes, writing and deleting messages. the sentences you thought about never feeling enough

you sighed as you told yourself this would be the last attempt

“hi mark, i’m not sure if you remember me but i saw you on my tl and it made me want to check on you! maybe this message will disappear into thin air but i just wanted to try. i hope you’re doing well <3”

you stared at the blue bubble of text almost without blinking for a moment

maybe he didn’t want to talk to you, and it was okay. you stopped talking in 2017, almost three years had passed

you thought looking at yourself in the mirror while you brushed your teeth

you came back to your room and turned off your lights, ready to go to sleep

but when you grabbed your phone with the intention to charge it, you saw you had a twitter notification

“y/n! how could i forget about you? haha it’s been so long two years without talking. how are you? how’s life? tell me something”

an instant smile started growing upon your face

the way he texted was the same as before

and you missed his haha

two and a half hours into the night you felt as if you were stuck in 2015 all over again

you had always had this fluidity at the time of talking with mark

the conversation just,, bloomed

he told you he still lived in new york, but he was actually gonna move back to toronto in a couple of months

he was majoring in music and owned a soundcloud rap account, and he had gotten quite popular as well

you mentioned how you had changed majors

what started as you being a marketing management major ended up on you leaning towards philosophy

something that no one had seen coming

so you expected the same reaction from mark

“i can totally see it, you always liked to think and question everything a little too much”

and that comment made you feel thrilled in your stomach, to say the least

even after all these years

mark was probably the person who knew you the most

days passed

weeks, even

and what you thought was just a conversation remembering the old days and filling the other in on your life

just,,, never stopped

mark and you went back to talking every day

everything felt the same as it did before

because after all, it was the same mark. it was always mark

still, the day you had agreed on facetiming for the first time again you felt kinda nervous

what if you ran out of what to talk about? what if it was suddenly weird?

and when you picked up the call and found yourself face to face with a flustered mark you knew he felt the same

you both hesitated as to who would speak first

him being the one to break the ice

“hey y/n” he giggled

“wow, your voice has gotten deeper”

he laughed loudly at your honesty, making you laugh back

“your hair is shorter”

“i know right? it was so long, i just got fed up of it reaching my waist”

“i like it, it looks pretty” he paused “you look pretty”

and in that moment you wondered how your heart could be beating this hard at a blurry screen with poor connection

comments like that kept making an appearance as time went by, sometimes from mark and eventually from your part

and that was the only thing that differed from the relationship you used to have with the one you had now

was it flirting? you didn’t know

but you had never thought of mark the way you think about him now

“so? what do you think?”

you set the phone on your desk as you walked away and showed mark your white dress. you were on your way to a costume party one of your friend’s brother was throwing, and even though it was cliché, you couldn’t be bothered to think of a more ingenious costume than a traditional angel

mark took his time fixing his gaze on you, his eyes getting closer to concentrate on what the vague wifi let him

“i can’t recognize the costume”

“what do you mean? i’m literally wearing wings and a halo”

“could it be because you always look like an angel?”

“ayee mark that was cheesy”

“i know, i’m sorry” you both laughed

“but really, you look amazing. go and have fun babe”

then pet names came into play

you weren’t sure what you were doing, but flirting with mark was sweet and fun and innocent

you always found yourself wanting for more

you were yearning for mark, you wanted to see him, listen to him, touch him

and you didn’t know what to do with yourself

until one day he called you out of the blue, which startled you, since he always asked before calling

“hey! were you busy?”

“no no i’m just doing the dishes, what’s up?”

“okay, so you know how i’m moving to toronto in two weeks, right?” you nodded “well, i just managed to change my flight so i would go to quebec for some days before properly settling in toronto, you know since it’s not that far”

“you’re kidding”

“i’m going to visit you!!!!!!!”

he squealed in your ear and you squealed back, scaring your poor cat who was sleeping soundly

after some more yelling, the excitement died out a bit and you stayed in silence for just a few seconds

“i don’t really have a place to stay though” he snorted, embarrassed

“you can always stay with me, mark”

after some long and never-ending hours and days (you had seriously convinced yourself some wrinkles had appeared on your forehead from all the waiting)

it was finally the day you would see mark

it was currently 11 am, mark’s flight was at 1 pm and he would arrive at quebec at approximately a bit less than 3 pm

now, he was at new york’s airport taking care of all the travelling procedures

and you were cleaning up the same spots in your aparment for the fourth time in a row

to say you were nervous was an understanding

you felt like you were going insane

you barely had gotten any sleep the night before, not being able to defeat the crowding thoughts about finally meeting your long-time friend

(who now you wanted to be more than a friend and seeing him physically could totally help with that)

you arranged some lunch for you and your cat (magnus) and sat in front of the tv, wanting to find literally anything that would keep your mind occupied

luckily, it worked, and you let yourself lose track of time

until your phone beeped, indicating you had received a text

“i’m boarding now!! i’ll text you when i get there, can’t wait to see you”

“have a safe flight love”

you sighed dramatically and rested your arm against your forehead

magnus stared at you in confusion and boredom

“magnus, i think i’m going to die”

as promised, mark texted you as soon as the plane landed

you offered to go pick him up at the airport, but he denied, saying he had already scheduled a taxi

so now you were ready and dressed, going all over your apartment non stop

mark was texting you through all the taxi drive and updating you on his location, you growing more and more anxious as you knew he was getting closer

you went to the bathroom and as soon as you stepped out, a knock was heard on your door

it was soft and steady, and you opened your eyes widely when the realization of who the owner of the hand was hit you

you panicked, one last time

you even eyed your room window to check if you had any chance of jumping out and running away

but you took a deep breath and walked decidedly towards your door

you just had to remind yourself it was the same mark as always, and nothing could go wrong if there was him

thus, you opened the door

and the facetime pixels and instagram pictures could have never prepared you for how dreamy mark looked

you two stayed like that for a bit

just watching the other with shy eyes and smiles

you eventually snapped out of your trance and helped mark get his luggage inside

"it's a bit small but i hope you can make yourself comfortable"

"oh please it's perfect, don't worry" he gave you a reassuring smile before getting totally distracted by the fluffy ball of hair in your couch

"oh my god is that magnus!!!!"

after letting mark get comfortable and installed, you guys decided to take a walk and go over your apartment zone, showing mark all your favorite places and memories you had there

it was a bit cold and you were both tightened around your coats

eventually, it was getting late and more chilly

so you opted for going back to your place

as you walked there in a bit of silence, you could feel mark's body getting more close in proximity

you looked at him, his gaze fixed upon the path with a small grin on his lips

you got closer too

and you liked it

it was cold outside but when mark brushed against your body

canada has never felt more like summer

you guys were really close now

as you took step after step, your jackets made static sounds, rubbing against the other

you looked at mark and delicately touched one of his fingers with your pinky, as if asking for permission

he finally looked up from the way and focused on your eyes instead, breaking into a smile once again

he took a peek at your close hands and softly intertwined your fingers

both of your faces reddening, from the low temperature and the feelings that were growing in your stomach

when you got to your apartment you guys were still holding hands, but you realized you had to open the door with that one, and couldn't find the keys in your pocket

"y/n, you will have to let go of my hand to get the keys"

"that's the point. i don't want to"

"y/n, i'm freezing. please open the door i can still hold your hand when we're inside"

and yeah,,

he did

you changed into comfortable and warm clothes and prepared some hot chocolate while mark chose a movie in your laptop

when you entered the room, two mugs in hand

mark was lying on his stomach on your bed, his hand on his chin with his mouth a bit open while concentrating on the variation of movies netflix offered

you felt a shiver down your spine

he really was here

after taking a while to decide on a movie, or at least its genre, you just selected a random title

you turned off the lights and went back to your bed, getting under the covers

and you just felt warm

and whole

maybe more because of mark than the actual sheets that were meant to keep you heated

(he also held your hand the entire time, rubbing his thumb against your palm and drawing invisible figures on it)

your head rested on his shoulder and you went up as the same time his chest did with every breath he took

in some moment you stopped paying attention to the movie

your mind wandered off to thoughts about the boy, about how you have never felt this close to him. you felt like you were really inside his ribcage

still from his shoulder, you moved a bit so you could look at him

his face was glowing

yeah, the images and lights of the computer were reflecting on him

but you meant this boy glowed in the dark

he just had something in him

it was either rays of sunshine or neon paint

but he, in this frosty and amusing night within your bedroom walls, glowed on his own

he turned his gaze towards you too, and tightened the grip on your hand

you felt mark’s arm on your waist and he rearranged the position so you would be on his chest

hearing his heartbeat, it was music

mark always did music. and he himself was music too, his heart creating your new favorite beat

“markie”

“hm?”

“i’m falling asleep” you confessed with a drowsy voice, making him laugh

“let’s turn off the movie, shall we? we can continue it tomorrow”

he shut the laptop closed and placed it on your desk, quickly making his way back to the bed so he would hold you

you had prepared him another bed next to you, a mattress already covered

but he was showing no intentions of moving a muscle

“are you going to sleep here?”

“that was the plan, yeah” he giggled on your neck. you shuddered

“i made the bed just in case”

“i can go there if you prefer”

“no” pause “i want you here”

and he smiled proudly as he hid his face in the crook of your neck

you smelled nice, like coconut and vainilla and all his sweetest dreams combined

and with his arms around your waist he felt strong, like he could defeat anything that the world aimed at him

“do you think it was meant to be that we’re here after all this years? would you consider it destiny?” he thought out loud, gazing at you

“i can’t give you an answer right now”

“fine, philosophy major” he mocked, making you both laugh

“as a philosophy major, i don’t know. destiny is always a tricky thing to discuss”

“but as y/n, yeah, i believe it was meant to be”

he stared at you in awe

“i really want to kiss you right now”

[dontworrysunflower]

Oh Baby | Shawn Mendes

(Not my gif)

Anonymous requested: I had this idea stuck in my head. Can you do and imagine of Shawn having and concert on Father’s Day and the reader being a few months pregnant and surprised him by putting together a video that says “ happy fathers days Shawn” with the sonogram or something in it, and playing it on the screen in the middle of the concert. Btw I love your writing 💖

A/N: thank you so much? I already have a similar fic HERE but I thought this was cute so imma write it. ALSO THANK YOU FOR 2K FOLLOWERS. I love writing and and it makes me incredibly happy that others like it and that I inspire others to write. i’m not gonna put a taglist cuz i’m lazy and nobody cares soo...

P.S. pls pls reblog! even though likes are amazing reblog get the fic around and more notes which would mean a lot to me

Warnings: mentions of pregnancy, future dad!shawn fluff

Enjoy! Masterlist in my bio

•••

Shawn shuffled in the white hotel sheets, the early morning sun rays peeking through the swaying curtains.

He groans and rubs at his right eye, turning his body to tangle his legs with the his girlfriends cold ones.

She hums when she feels his lips lazily nip at the skin, his hands tightening around her torso.

“G’morning.” He spoke, his sexy, raspy morning voice enticing goosebumps all over her body. He rolls over her, his body on top of her, crushing her. Lovingly, of course.

She groans underneath him, but she has a small smile on her face, one of her hands moving into his hair. “Morning rockstar.”

“Can we stay here all morning?” he mumbled into her neck, his calloused thumb rubbing back and forth on her fleshy hip.

She chuckles and pats his shoulder, telling him to get off her-so that he won’t crush his child-and she sits up and pats her hair down, grabbing her locks and laying them on her clothed shoulder. “Unfortunately honey, you’re an international superstar. You have a show to get ready for and with you, it’ll take all day.” She smirked and watched him crawl closer to her and lay his head in her lap, but not before kissing her thigh.

He sighs. “I know.” His arm drapes behind her. “You know, there are days that I just wish-like very rarely, that I wished I had a normal life. I can be there for you all the time and I’m not half way across the world from my family for three fourths of the year. But then-”

“But then you realize you’re living your dream, and no matter the cost, your family is so beyond proud and happy for you, that you would never change it for the world?” She smiles down at him, her fingers raking through his messy morning curls.

He chuckled into her lap. “Yeah.”

“C’mon bub, we should get ready.”

•••

Shawn stood under the stage, a sigh escaping his lips as everyone’s ears rang with the intro playing out there, fans already losing it.

She rubbed his muscular arm and kissed his jaw, giving him a smile. “You’ll do great babe, just like you always do.”

“Ten seconds Shawn.” Cez exclaimed before giving him a smile and running off somewhere else.

“I love you.” Shawn muttered as someone handed him a guitar and lights came from above as the stage floor opened above him.

“I love you too, now go be a rockstar.”

Shawn kissed her lips quickly before slowly making his way up, cheers getting louder as the piano intro to Lost in Japan began.

“Is everything ready?” She asked Andrew as she made her way out, walking around the arena to the side stage.

“Everything’s set. It’ll happen before Fallin’ All in You.”

“Thanks again, for doing this.” She smiled shyly even though she’s known Andrew since the beginning of Shawn’s career.

“Nothing to thank me for.” He gave her a side hug. “Congrats. He’ll be so happy.”

•••

“Now to,” Shawn paused, taking a moment to take in the millions of fans staring back at him. “my favorite part of the show.”

He pushes his fingers through his hair and adjusts the microphone on its stand. “I know today’s father’s day, and i’m sure many many dads are here taking their daughters and sons to see such a handsome man on stage tonight.” The arena roars in laughter.

“If you’re here with your dads today, make sure to give them a big hug and thank them for everything.”

There’s a static behind him, and she watches in the wings, biting at her nail in nervousness.

Shawn’s eyebrows crinkle in confusion as a video begins to play. Then he smiles when he sees her on the screen.

In the video, she’s in the bathroom of their shared apartment back in Toronto. Her hand covers her mouth in a silent sob as she looked down at the stick in her other hand.

“I’ve been feeling really sick lately and I know Shawn has been worried. I realized- today that I missed a month...” She wiped at her eyes and brings the stick up to the camera. “I’m pregnant.”

The arena is so loud she has to cover her ears. She looked out on the stage and sees Shawn standing there in shock, staring up the screen as it changes to an ultrasound picture of what seemed like a little bean.

Shawn covers his face with his large tattooed hand and his shoulders shake. He wipes at his face and moves the strap of his guitar and slowly puts it on the ground and makes his way to her.

She can only take two steps onto the stage before he’s enveloping her in a big hug, sobs filling her ears and tears stain her shirt.

“You’re-there’s a baby in-” He can’t even get the words out but he places a hand on her stomach.

“There’s a baby in there. You’re gonna be a dad.” She whispers in his ear, her own tears flowing down her face.

He hugs her tighter and kisses her neck. “I love you so much,” He kneels down in front of her and kisses her stomach. He comes back up and gives her a big kiss on the lips, the crowd seeming to get even louder. “Okay,” he said against her lips. “I should probably get back.” He chuckles and cups her face as she giggles and nods.

“I’ll see you la-see you guys later I mean,” He corrected himself, his eyes sparkling in love and adoration for the woman in front of him.

The mother of his child.

“Go on daddy.” She teased before kissing him and walking back to side stage.

She places her hand on her stomach, the skin burning under her shirt where he kissed.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Why I won't buy an Ipad: ten years later

Ten years ago, Apple released the Ipad. I was in a hotel room in Seattle, jetlagged and awake at 4AM while my wife and daughter slept.

I had been thinking about Apple's impending Ipad release and what a reversal it meant for everything I loved about tech: taking away your right to decide whose code you'd run -- even your right to change the battery! I wrote about my feelings and many people read it. It even rated a mention in Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs.

A decade later, the Ipad is ten years old and Apple has killed 20 state Right to Repair bills, in part to lock out third parties who might change you batteries for you.

I just reread that piece, and I still stand by it.

Why I won't buy an iPad (and think you shouldn't, either)

I've spent ten years now on Boing Boing, finding cool things that people have done and made and writing about them. Most of the really exciting stuff hasn't come from big corporations with enormous budgets, it's come from experimentalist amateurs. These people were able to make stuff and put it in the public's eye and even sell it without having to submit to the whims of a single company that had declared itself gatekeeper for your phone and other personal technology.

Danny O'Brien does a very good job of explaining why I'm completely uninterested in buying an iPad -- it really feels like the second coming of the CD-ROM "revolution" in which "content" people proclaimed that they were going to remake media by producing expensive (to make and to buy) products. I was a CD-ROM programmer at the start of my tech career, and I felt that excitement, too, and lived through it to see how wrong I was, how open platforms and experimental amateurs would eventually beat out the spendy, slick pros.

I remember the early days of the web -- and the last days of CD ROM -- when there was this mainstream consensus that the web and PCs were too durned geeky and difficult and unpredictable for "my mom" (it's amazing how many tech people have an incredibly low opinion of their mothers). If I had a share of AOL for every time someone told me that the web would die because AOL was so easy and the web was full of garbage, I'd have a lot of AOL shares.

And they wouldn't be worth much.

Incumbents made bad revolutionaries Relying on incumbents to produce your revolutions is not a good strategy. They're apt to take all the stuff that makes their products great and try to use technology to charge you extra for it, or prohibit it altogether.

I mean, look at that Marvel app (just look at it). I was a comic-book kid, and I'm a comic-book grownup, and the thing that made comics for me was sharing them. If there was ever a medium that relied on kids swapping their purchases around to build an audience, it was comics. And the used market for comics! It was -- and is -- huge, and vital. I can't even count how many times I've gone spelunking in the used comic-bins at a great and musty store to find back issues that I'd missed, or sample new titles on the cheap. (It's part of a multigenerational tradition in my family -- my mom's father used to take her and her sibs down to Dragon Lady Comics on Queen Street in Toronto every weekend to swap their old comics for credit and get new ones).

So what does Marvel do to "enhance" its comics? They take away the right to give, sell or loan your comics. What an improvement. Way to take the joyous, marvellous sharing and bonding experience of comic reading and turn it into a passive, lonely undertaking that isolates, rather than unites. Nice one, Misney.

Infantalizing hardware Then there's the device itself: clearly there's a lot of thoughtfulness and smarts that went into the design. But there's also a palpable contempt for the owner. I believe -- really believe -- in the stirring words of the Maker Manifesto: if you can't open it, you don't own it. Screws not glue. The original Apple ][+ came with schematics for the circuit boards, and birthed a generation of hardware and software hackers who upended the world for the better. If you wanted your kid to grow up to be a confident, entrepreneurial, and firmly in the camp that believes that you should forever be rearranging the world to make it better, you bought her an Apple ][+.

But with the iPad, it seems like Apple's model customer is that same stupid stereotype of a technophobic, timid, scatterbrained mother as appears in a billion renditions of "that's too complicated for my mom" (listen to the pundits extol the virtues of the iPad and time how long it takes for them to explain that here, finally, is something that isn't too complicated for their poor old mothers).

The model of interaction with the iPad is to be a "consumer," what William Gibson memorably described as "something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It's covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth... no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote."

The way you improve your iPad isn't to figure out how it works and making it better. The way you improve the iPad is to buy iApps. Buying an iPad for your kids isn't a means of jump-starting the realization that the world is yours to take apart and reassemble; it's a way of telling your offspring that even changing the batteries is something you have to leave to the professionals.

Dale Dougherty's piece on Hypercard and its influence on a generation of young hackers is a must-read on this. I got my start as a Hypercard programmer, and it was Hypercard's gentle and intuitive introduction to the idea of remaking the world that made me consider a career in computers.

Wal-Martization of the software channel And let's look at the iStore. For a company whose CEO professes a hatred of DRM, Apple sure has made DRM its alpha and omega. Having gotten into business with the two industries that most believe that you shouldn't be able to modify your hardware, load your own software on it, write software for it, override instructions given to it by the mothership (the entertainment industry and the phone companies), Apple has defined its business around these principles. It uses DRM to control what can run on your devices, which means that Apple's customers can't take their "iContent" with them to competing devices, and Apple developers can't sell on their own terms.

The iStore lock-in doesn't make life better for Apple's customers or Apple's developers. As an adult, I want to be able to choose whose stuff I buy and whom I trust to evaluate that stuff. I don't want my universe of apps constrained to the stuff that the Cupertino Politburo decides to allow for its platform. And as a copyright holder and creator, I don't want a single, Wal-Mart-like channel that controls access to my audience and dictates what is and is not acceptable material for me to create. The last time I posted about this, we got a string of apologies for Apple's abusive contractual terms for developers, but the best one was, "Did you think that access to a platform where you can make a fortune would come without strings attached?" I read it in Don Corleone's voice and it sounded just right. Of course I believe in a market where competition can take place without bending my knee to a company that has erected a drawbridge between me and my customers!

Journalism is looking for a daddy figure I think that the press has been all over the iPad because Apple puts on a good show, and because everyone in journalism-land is looking for a daddy figure who'll promise them that their audience will go back to paying for their stuff. The reason people have stopped paying for a lot of "content" isn't just that they can get it for free, though: it's that they can get lots of competing stuff for free, too. The open platform has allowed for an explosion of new material, some of it rough-hewn, some of it slick as the pros, most of it targetted more narrowly than the old media ever managed. Rupert Murdoch can rattle his saber all he likes about taking his content out of Google, but I say do it, Rupert. We'll miss your fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the Web so little that we'll hardly notice it, and we'll have no trouble finding material to fill the void.

Just like the gadget press is full of devices that gadget bloggers need (and that no one else cares about), the mainstream press is full of stories that affirm the internal media consensus. Yesterday's empires do something sacred and vital and most of all grown up, and that other adults will eventually come along to move us all away from the kids' playground that is the wild web, with its amateur content and lack of proprietary channels where exclusive deals can be made. We'll move back into the walled gardens that best return shareholder value to the investors who haven't updated their portfolios since before eTrade came online.

But the real economics of iPad publishing tell a different story: even a stellar iPad sales performance isn't going to do much to stanch the bleeding from traditional publishing. Wishful thinking and a nostalgia for the good old days of lockdown won't bring customers back through the door.

Gadgets come and gadgets go Gadgets come and gadgets go. The iPad you buy today will be e-waste in a year or two (less, if you decide not to pay to have the battery changed for you). The real issue isn't the capabilities of the piece of plastic you unwrap today, but the technical and social infrastructure that accompanies it.

If you want to live in the creative universe where anyone with a cool idea can make it and give it to you to run on your hardware, the iPad isn't for you.

If you want to live in the fair world where you get to keep (or give away) the stuff you buy, the iPad isn't for you.

If you want to write code for a platform where the only thing that determines whether you're going to succeed with it is whether your audience loves it, the iPad isn't for you.

https://boingboing.net/2020/01/27/nascent-boulangism.html

[flickwatches]

Toronto vs Vancouver: Civil War

I decided to follow an Overwatch league on here for the season.  I wanted to avoid a team with too many favorite players, a top tier team, and an APAC team (I gotta sleep).  I thought about Vancouver, Boston, maybe even Houston.  Boston released Soon, pissed me off. Third Impact 7k buyout leaks with Vancouver came out but I let it slide.  I like too many players on Houston and I stopped believing in them.  But than I saw Toronto and its rebuild.  KDG, Heesu, Sado, Na1st, Michelle, and Lastro.   Power pieces on an unproven team that wants to be good.  I didn’t know which team to choose still so I let the first game of the season for Vancouver and Toronto decide who I would pick.  

Vancouver Pros:

I love Dalton.  Dude has been grinding for a very long time and deserves every bit of success he has earned.  Huge fan of Teru from O2 Blast.  Even bigger fan of FRDWNR for surviving this long.  Dude is a nut.  I still remember Frdwnr winning the Second Wind 1v1 tournament.  Roolf is a veteran.  Fire gets a chance to be the main main support.  Linkzr rebirth on a team in need of firepower. 

Vancouver Cons:

I’ll keep it short, Shredlock is a weakness (I hope he improves) but I really don’t want to be writing about Shredlock the entire season.  Also the Org is scummy.  Cut Runaway.  The official original #1 Fan Favorite Runaway.  How you release the most loved team in the history of Overwatch.   And when you wanted to start small you wouldn’t pay out a small 7k buyout for all of Third Impact.  Sigh. 

Toronto Pros:

After trying to build a team from scratch.  After trying fan favorite local talent.  You invested money in proven coaches and players.  The org wants to win.  The org wants there fans to be happy.  Toronto is trying to do good things.  Shoutout to Karq, Agilities, and Fran for being content creators for Toronto.  Now lets list the roster.

Aztac

Ansoonjae

Lastro

Sado

Beast

Michelle

Na1st

Logix

Heesu(god)

Will get more into each player later on but I just wanted to list them as Pros for now. 

Toronto Cons:

I miss Agilities and Surefour.  I wish the pandemic didn’t exist so I could consider traveling to there local events even though it would be quite a drive for me. I don’t have a lot of cons they seem to be willing to invest in the team.  Could of done more for the last 2 rosters and staff.  They struggled to keep it together last 2 seasons. 

The Battle:

Vancouver vs Toronto.  The Battle for Canada.  The Battle for my love (and hate).  I can’t keep avoiding this.  I knew Heesu mite be special this season when he was playing over Carpe at the end of last season. I knew how good Na1st was on Fusin Uni back in the day.  Happy to see him in OWL.  Sado is a veteran and looks much better on a non-contender for best team in OWL.  Michelle got perma benched on Seoul for some reason.  Logix is good and great when its online play. 

Wow, ok.  I’m just talking about how amazing the Toronto roster is.  

Map 1: Busan

I want to point out that Shredlock didn’t look that bad on Wrecking Ball.  Toronto looked strong.  Heesu started to showcase his future Role Star level of play.  Toronto dominated the meta Rush and Dive plays.  Vancouver struggled with objective priority.  Which player would be responsible with contesting the Objective. When playing Wrecking Ball and Tracer usually one of them is responsible for touching point.  This problem showed thruout the entire match.  At one point neither Shredlock (Ball) or Dalton (Tracer) touched point while Na1st (Tracer) was capping. Forcing Linkzr to roll onto point to contest the cap.  Forcing FRDWNR to peel for Linkzr which left Roolf alone as Zen.  Toronto contested point and in the same motion turned onto the suddenly lonely Zen and killed him.  While Shredlock and Dalton only attacked the Toronto backline.  Toronto traded faster and more efficiently.  While taking point control.  

Toronto hard dominated Vancouver first map.

Map 2: Eichenwalde

If Vancouver was your average team the timebank they created on defense would of made the map winnable.  But Toronto is obviously better than Vancouver (especially at Rush).  And dying efficiently isn’t enough to win. Vancouver at least show cased its ability to lose fights and start the next fight well.  They played as a team.  Toronto at one point spawn camped Vancouver so long during Streets that the payload rolled back to first point.  The Castors coining the phrase “Touch the payload challenge”.

Toronto walked away with this win even if they were forced to walk a little slower than expected. 

Map 3: Watchpoint Gibraltar

Some people would say Toronto threw this map by playing its bench but KDG and the coaching staff wanted to make sure every player got to play first game.  They put out Heesu, Logix, Beast, Michelle, Aztac, and Lastro this map.

This was obviously Vancouver’s best map. Double Bubble meta with no Rush.  Linkzr had more power over the map as hitscan on high ground.  The biggest factor was the payload almost getting to the end of Shuttle phase forcefully making Vancouver play the objective correctly. 

Both Frontlines played the Double Bubble positions and cooldowns very well.  A lot of great plays and team fights broke down correctly for both teams.  Winstons making correct jumps, getting the bubbles, using there own bubbles correctly.  Solid cleave and good primals.  Zaryas played really well and Anas supported extremely well.  The DPS had a field day with how well fights went for both teams.   

Titans played there best and won there first map of the season.  Even Shredlock looked good. 

Map 4: Hanamura

Look at us, playing a map 4.  Vancouver looked like they had a chance.  They didn’t.

Hanamura was hard Rush vs Rush.  Toronto was good at Rush and Vancouver was bad at Rush.  FRDWNR tried really hard to hold it down but with no Cooldowns and too far away they eventually C9′d the match away.  

Toronto played the Meta better and had the better team.  Don’t be surprised if Toronto is a top 5 team in the West this season. 

Conclusion:

Hello Toronto. Hello Defiant. And most importantly, Hello Heesu.  I cannot wait to watch every Toronto game this season.  Heesu and Na1st look strong. Lastro is still great.  Big fan of Beast even if everyone else is down on him.  Logix will get his chances on certain maps and metas.  I hope they commit to this team and staff long term in Toronto.  Not sure which jersey I’ll be buying this season.  I’m not sure what the Defiant catchphrase is but Lets Get Rebellious or something. 

PS Its 5am and I’m about to watch APAC.  Sorry for any mistakes.  

[lithalwrites]

There Was Only One Bed

“How was your trip?” Yaku asked Kuroo, stirring his drink.

“Aren’t you curious?” Kuroo asked with a smirk. “You never cared about how my trips were back in high school.”

“Yeah, because you never went on any, you shithead. And I’m bored, so there’s that.”

Kuroo clutched his chest, pretending to be offended. “We meet up to hang out after a whole year and you treat me like this, Yakkun? You break my heart.”

“The hearts of people like you don’t break this easy.”

“C’mon, Kuroo-san, tell us about your trip!” Lev said, bouncing excitedly in his seat. He was still as excitable as ever, even in his third year.

“Why are you here again?” Yaku asked Lev, arching his eyebrow.

Lev pouted, and Kuroo watched in amusement as Yaku instinctively patted his head as if he was a puppy. “I wanted to see both my dear senpai.”

“How sweet,” Kuroo said. “Are you sure you wanted to see both of us?”

Lev nodded a little more forcefully than needed. “Now tell us about your trip!”

Kuroo sighed and put on a show of giving in. “Fine. Since you want to know so badly, I guess I’ll tell you.”

“You know, maybe we’ll ask Kenma instead.”

Kuroo laughed. “We all know how that’s going to go. I’m your best bet if you ever want to know what happened.”

“Fine. Continue,” Yaku said.

“So last summer, I found this amazing deal for really cheap airline tickets to Canada, and I decided it would be an excellent opportunity for me to go practice my English. And Canada seems like a nice enough place to visit, plus I figured I deserved a break, so it was really a no-brainer. And because I’m always nice and think about my friends, I asked Kenma if he wanted to go with me.

“He said yes, on the condition that I’d do all the planning, because he trusts me, and also because he was way too busy with the freelance project he was working on to actually be able to help me. Obviously, the major reason was the fact that he trusts me and not how busy he was. (“Obviously,” Yaku rolled his eyes.)

“Anyway, I planned our trip out in a lot of detail, because the cheapest round-trip tickets were for a month, and I was going to make the most of that month away from school and work and everything. My mom was a little skeptical when I told her about this plan, but she eventually came around to it. She knows she can trust me to be responsible (“More like she can trust Kenma to keep your ass in line,” Yaku muttered.).

“So when the time came for us to go, we had one large carrier between us, plus our carry-ons, mine mostly containing things we’d need, and Kenma’s containing his laptop and gaming consoles. I told him he wouldn’t get a whole lot of time to game while we were there, but he ignored me and packed them anyway. I suppose it was a good thing he did that, but I’m getting ahead of myself in the story. All will be revealed in good time.

“The flight was very long, mostly because we had two layovers, and one of our flights was very delayed because of the weather. By the time we landed in Toronto, we were both very tired of being inside planes and airports, and just wanted to sleep.

“When we got our passports stamped at the airport, the border agent asked us what we were visiting for, and she looked very surprised when we said we were there for a vacation. She said it was an interesting time for us to visit Canada, and wished us luck. I think she also mentioned something about warm jackets, but I didn’t really catch most of it. She was speaking pretty fast. Anyway, after that, it was time for us to get our baggage and head to the hotel. Baggage claim was uneventful, and we got our bag pretty quickly.

“I suggested we take public transport to our hotel, but Kenma glared at me and so we got a taxi instead. The taxi driver was a very nice and very talkative man, but he spoke way too fast for me to understand what he was saying. He didn’t seem to mind that I barely said anything for the whole ride. (“The thought of you staying silent for any considerable length of time sounds like a dream,” Yaku snarked.)

“We got to our hotel without a problem, and it turned out to be fairly decent. It was clean, which was pretty much all we hoped for, really, for the price. We stayed there for the two weeks we were in Toronto for, and then I went and picked up the car I had rented. Kenma was a little wary because they drive on the right side of the road, but I was confident I could do it. It would save us all the hassle of public transport, and we could easily bring our luggage with us, so really, it was a pretty solid idea. It’s not like I get the chance to drive a lot here, so I didn’t think the adjustment would be that big of a challenge.”

At that moment, Kenma walked up to their table, and slid in next to Kuroo. “Hi, Yaku-san, Lev,” he said. “Was he telling you about our trip?”

“Yes, and it’s been pretty standard so far. A logical progression of events,” Yaku said. “Kind of boring, not going to lie.”

“Oh, don’t worry, it gets more exciting after Toronto,” Kenma said, shaking his head slightly. “Did you order for me?”

“Of course,” Kuroo answered. “I told the server to wait though, but it’ll be here soon now that you’re here. Okay to continue the story?”

“Yeah, can we skip to the good parts?” Yaku asked.

“Yaku-san, you have to be patient,” Lev said, surprising everyone there. “What? I can be serious,” he said defensively, when everyone stared at him, Yaku turning half in his seat in his shock.

Kuroo laughed. “Clearly. How you’ve grown. I’m proud of you, kid.”

“You sound like an old man,” Kenma said.

Kuroo chuckled, and put on his story voice again. “Where was I? Ah yes, the car rental. I successfully managed to pick up the car, but I hadn’t realized how terrible traffic in Toronto would be. Well, let me tell you, it was pretty bad. It’s a good thing I’m patient, or it wouldn’t have worked out very well. Once we were out of Toronto, it was fine though, and we were soon off to Niagara, because I had heard the falls look great when they’re frozen over.

“I didn’t know if they’d be frozen though, because there didn’t seem to be a lot of snow around. Nor was it extremely cold, and I wondered if all the stuff about how cold Canada is was just an exaggeration. The drive to Niagara started off fine, and I decided to stay off the highway because I wasn’t really used to driving at all, and didn’t want to start off with driving really fast. Kenma agreed with that decision, but maybe it was so he’d be able to play Pokemon Go more conveniently.

“Funnily enough, the only real prep he’d done for this trip was to purchase a roaming data plan that worked in his favour. (“What a Kenma thing to do,” Yaku said with a smile. “I like to have internet access at all times,” Kenma said.) Anyhow, the trip takes around three hours if you don’t take the highway, and when we started it looked a little cloudy, but we didn’t pay it any mind.

“Turns out, we really should have. About an hour or so into the drive, it started snowing real hard, real fast. Which probably explained why there was so little traffic on the roads. The visibility was so poor that I had to pull over at the side of the road before we got into an accident.”

“That sounds really scary,” Lev said, looking a little concerned. “How long were you in the car for?”

Kuroo looked at Kenma, who shrugged. “I think it was about two hours. We ended up getting back on the road while it was still snowing, just not as much.”

“We had to crawl along at a snail’s pace, because the road was covered with snow, and I wasn’t sure if the tires on the car were suitable for snow. I hadn’t really thought to ask at the rental office, which was an oversight on my part but it was too late to lament that. Since we weren’t very close to our destination, I asked Kenma to look up any motels nearby, and I’ve never been more thankful for his insistence on having a working internet connection.”

“There was a motel fairly close by, thankfully,” Kenma piped in, before taking a bite of his apple pie.

“So we decided to call ahead to confirm that they had a vacancy. Kenma dialed, and then put it on speaker so I could talk to them. They informed us that they had had a sudden influx of people coming in and that most of their rooms were taken, but that they’d probably still have one or two left by the time we made it. They couldn’t promise to hold the room for us, which is reasonable. They couldn’t just turn other people seeking shelter from the storm away. Since we were only a few minutes away, we decided to stop by and hope that they still had a room left for us.

“So that’s what we did. We pulled into the motel parking lot, which was pretty full, and thankfully the sign still said ‘vacancy,’ so we went in to the office to try our luck. There were a couple of people ahead of us still, and when we got to the front, we were told that there was just one room left. We didn’t really have a choice but to take it, so we did. I casually asked the owner how long the snow storm was supposed to last, and he looked at me a little strangely and told us that there was a lot more snow coming. The region was under a blizzard warning, and people were being told to stay indoors. He also told us that they offered breakfast in the mornings, but couldn’t really offer us lunch or dinner, and that there were a couple vending machines that we could use.”

“I told you we should’ve gotten more snacks,” Kenma said disapprovingly.

“Yes, you did, and I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. We did have some snacks, though,” Kuroo said.

“Yes, but not nearly enough. And most of them were healthy,” Kenma said with disdain.

“Kenma, I’m not going to apologize for healthy snacks. It’s a good thing they were healthy, particularly since we didn’t have much else to eat,” Kuroo said. Kenma huffed, but didn’t answer. Yaku watched the exchange with interest, and Lev just seemed excited to get back to the story.

“The room wasn’t very large, but it was a room and it was clean, and there was a bed to sleep in, so we were happy. We were still pretty tired, what with jet lag and all, so we decided to turn in early and then take stock of the weather the next day.

“Well, the next day didn’t look any better, and everything was white when we looked out the window, so we had to accept that we could be stuck at the motel for a while. Hopefully not for too long, since we had less than two weeks left of the vacation.”

“This isn’t very exciting, still,” Yaku commented.

“Patience, Yakkun,” Kuroo clucked his tongue. “Learn from Lev.” He ignored the glare Yaku leveled at him.

“We were inside for three days straight, subsiding on snacks and the breakfast the motel provided. I spent most of that time reading, or watching Kenma play games. I even played a little, but I was really bad at it, and Kenma didn’t want me to take over the console for too long. On day four, we had a fight.”

Kuroo paused for dramatic effect, and Lev filled the silence with a shocked gasp. Even Yaku looked surprised. Kenma rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t call it a fight.”

“It was as close to a fight as we’ve ever gotten,” Kuroo amended, but Yaku and Lev remained shocked. “I woke up to find Kenma already awake, sitting on the chair, playing a game. I asked him if he’d slept okay, and he gave me an annoyed look before he said he’d slept just fine, but he’d have slept much better if someone hadn’t left crumbs in the bed. I refused to believe that I was the culprit behind the offending crumbs, but Kenma held firm, and I got a little annoyed.

“I was also very tired of the breakfast they served us every morning. I know it was stupid to complain because they were doing their best, but I was still tired of it. Plus I was getting antsy from being cooped up in the room. So I decided that it would be a great idea to go out and find us something to eat, since it wasn’t snowing outside.

“Kenma didn’t look happy when I told him I was going out to the nearest grocery store, which wasn’t all that close, but he didn’t say anything other than to drive safe. I think he also wanted to be free of me for a little while.

“I made it to the store, and took my time picking out things we could eat with only a microwave and a kettle at our disposal. I can’t have taken that long, but by the time I was done, it had started to snow really hard again. So I had to stay in the store and hope it would subside soon.

“It let off a little about thirty minutes later, and I decided to try to get back before it started snowing again. I didn’t get very far before I found myself caught in a blizzard, the visibility practically zero. At this point, I was pretty freaked out, and my phone had turned off because it was too cold, so I was relying on my vague recollection of the directions to the motel.

“Well, the snow stopped about ten or so minutes later, and I found myself kind of in the middle of nowhere. There were trees on both sides of the road, and I have no idea how I got there. I didn’t remember taking any turns, but I must have at some point, because I didn’t remember coming this way. I tried to turn my phone on, but it stubbornly refused, and I didn’t even have a charger on me to plug it into the car.

“I contemplated turning back, but then I saw a house tucked away in a small clearing, and someone was out shoveling the driveway, so I figured I’d go ask them for directions. I stopped the car, got out, and called out to the person. It was a man of indeterminate age. He could’ve been my age, or five years older or younger. I couldn’t tell.

“He seemed nice enough, though, and when I asked him if he could direct me towards the motel, he said he was actually heading out that way, so I could just follow his car. That seemed like a great enough idea, so I thanked him and waited until he pulled his car out on the road. It was a very old car, but looked like it was in great shape for how old it must’ve been. He drove fairly slow, so I could easily keep behind him.

“By this time, it was starting to get dark because winter, and I hoped we’d be back soon. I hadn’t been able to text Kenma about what had happened, and I didn’t want him to worry.”

“How did you feel about that, Kenma?” Yaku asked Kenma, eyebrow raised.

“I was very worried,” Kenma said. “It was out of character for him to be that late and not send a text. He didn’t answer my calls so I figured his phone must’ve died, but still.”

“Sorry about that,” Kuroo said. “I should’ve taken my charger with me. Anyhow, this car led me straight to the motel like I had been promised. He pulled into the parking lot ahead of me, and I followed a few seconds later. But when I pulled into the lot, I couldn’t see his car anymore. It was like it had vanished into thin air. I honestly felt a chill down my spine at that moment, and I’m pretty sure I was saved by a ghost that day.”

“Really? You told us this whole long-winded tale and turned it into a ghost story?” Yaku asked, eyes narrowed in disgust. “He probably just left via the other exit.”

“There was no other exit, though. That parking lot only had one entrance and exit. There’s no way he could’ve left without me seeing him. It was bizarre. I can’t make you believe me, but I’m convinced he was a ghost. A nice one, luckily for me, but a ghost nonetheless.”

“That’s so cool!” Lev said, excitedly flailing his arms. “I want to meet a friendly ghost. Yaku-san, let’s go to a haunted hotel and stay there.”

“Not a chance,” Yaku said. “And don’t tell me you believe the ghost story.”

“I do. My grandma tells me stories about ghosts she’s seen in Russia all the time. They’re real,” Lev said sagely. Yaku didn’t argue. Instead, he turned to Kenma.

“Do you believe the story?” he asked.

“Yes,” Kenma said. “I saw the car pull in and fade away, so.”

Yaku stared at Kenma, as if trying to gauge if his leg was being pulled, but couldn’t make up his mind. He let it drop.

“That’s probably why Kenma didn’t yell at me, if I’m being honest. He told me he’d swept the crumbs off the bed, and that I was an idiot to have gone out when the weather was like that, and a bigger idiot for not even taking my charger. The end.”

Lev clapped. Yaku didn’t.

“So,” Yaku said slowly. “I can’t be sure, but from your story it sounds like there was only one bed in your motel room.”

“That’s because there was,” Kuroo answered easily.

“Oh,” Yaku said, and stared at them.

“Wait, why is that imp—ohhh,” Lev said, as it clicked. He laughed. “This sounds like a romance novel where the main characters are forced to share a bed in a hotel. Did that incident bring you closer together and spark a romance between you?”

“Lev!” Yaku said, looking both curious and scandalized at Lev’s audacity.

Kuroo laughed, and Kenma smiled. “It didn’t need to spark something that already existed,” Kenma said, amused at the shocked looks on Yaku and Lev’s faces.

“Wait, since when?” Yaku asked.

“End of high school,” Kuroo answered.

“There was only one bed that time too,” Kenma added.  

[woah-were-halfway-there]

Can you do one where Mia gets a bad cold or something and you freak out and take her to the emergency room because Auston is away on a road trip or something but everything is obviously ok with her.

A/N: Yesssss of course, here you are my dear!

Word Count: 2k

The chances of you sleeping at all that night were slim to none.

Mia had come down with some sort of cold, and it was taking a lot out of her. What started as the sniffles just the day before, soon turned into a nasty cough and an all-around uncomfortableness that really showed.

Gone was your bubbly toddler who was so amazed by the world around her and replaced by a way less upbeat version of herself that refused to leave your side. Not like you wanted to be away from her either, though.

It wasn’t the first time Mia had gotten sick and surely wouldn’t be the last, but you weren’t expecting it to be as bad as it was. You felt terrible, but what made it even worse was how Auston knew nothing about his daughter’s state.

He was in New York for an away game against the Islanders and wasn’t expected to return home until the following day. When the two of you Facetimed earlier that afternoon, he witnessed just how clingy Mia was with you. She kept quiet, not being as chatty as she usually was with her dad while she leaned against your shoulder and cuddled her stuffed whale. Auston knew it was because she wasn’t feeling well, you made sure to tell him that, but because of how busy he was with having to go to practice and play hockey, you weren’t able to give him any updates on Mia’s condition. Which, unfortunately, had only gotten worse.

Whenever she coughed, you could tell it wasn’t comfortable with how she’d look at you with teary eyes before hiding her face in the crook of your neck. Your heart was breaking just watching her, so you immediately called your doctor for some guidance. When you called, the office was due to close in less than half an hour, and you knew there was no way you’d make it through Downtown Toronto traffic in time to get there. Calling was your best option at the time and did help temporarily.

Your doctor told you that honey should help with Mia’s cough and how it was safer than ordinary cough medicines for a child her age. After giving Mia some honey, she then said for you just to watch and see if your daughter got worse or developed any more symptoms. If she did, you were advised to take her to the hospital’s emergency room to get the proper care she may need. You absolutely hated the thought of a hospital trip being a possible outcome but still did as you were told and waited to see what would happen.

The honey helped. After giving it to Mia and explaining how it would help make her better, her cough became less aggressive and seemingly less painful, putting your daughter in a much better mood. She was still very clingy with you for the rest of the evening, which was fine because you knew she still didn’t feel great.

When it came to bedtime, she did not want to sleep in her room at all.

“No, mommy,” she pouted and clung on to you harder when you went to set her in her crib for the night.

“Oh, baby girl, you want to stay with me until you fall asleep?”

She nodded in response, and there was no way you could argue. You and Auston developed a bedtime routine for Mia that she had done really well sticking too. It was still a bit early for her to transition from a crib to an actual toddler bed. However, she had gotten used to going to bed in her own room at the same time each night without you or Auston being nearby until she fell asleep. However, this night was very different, and there was no way you were going to force her routine. So, you settled on taking her back downstairs to watch a Disney movie, knowing the songs would probably put her to sleep like they usually did, but even that didn’t happen.

Throughout the film, you would glance down at your daughter as she stayed curled up beside her and see how she was fighting to keep her eyes open. She was utterly exhausted, but whatever it was she was feeling kept her awake, and you hated it. Even Frank seemed to know something was up with how he laid on the couch near Mia and was always nearby wherever you took her.

As the movie came to an end, she looked up at you with sleepy eyes, and it felt like your heart shattered into a million pieces.

“My sweet girl, I’m sorry you’re not feeling good,” you said as you went to rub your hand through the mop of dark hair, she had grown but paused when your fingers brushed her forehead and felt how hot she was. “Oh, no.”

You were immediately standing up off the couch and carrying your daughter into the kitchen to grab the ear thermometer you knew resided in one of the drawers. Once you located it, you sat her on the counter and took her temperature. She didn’t fight, just sat there and rubbed at her eyes tiredly until the device beeped a moment later with the answer you were looking for.

“Oh no, no, no,” you whispered when you read the tiny 104F that flashed on the screen. “Crap, ok. Mia, we’re going to go see a doctor, alright?”

“Tired, mommy,” was all she said while cuddling into you again as soon as you picked her up.

“I know, baby, but we have to make sure you feel better soon.”

“Frank come?” She asked as you put on her coat and boots before setting her down briefly so you could put on your own.

“No honey, Frank has to stay here,” you replied and leant down to pet the Goldendoodle that waited nearby. “We’ll be back soon, buddy.” And with that, you picked Mia back up, grabbed your keys and wallet, and headed out the front door.

It wasn’t until you climbed into the driver’s seat of your car after buckling Mia into her car seat, that you realized how much of a hot mess you looked like. Your hair was in a messy bun, and the baggy hoodie of Auston’s that you stole did not match the track pants you wore, but you didn’t care. There were more important things to deal with, so after a quick text to your husband telling him to call you as soon as possible, you put the car in reverse, backed out of the driveway, and headed to the nearest emergency room.

It was around 11 p.m. that you finished talking with a nurse and finally received a call from Auston.

“Hey, is everything alright?” His voice sounded through your phone as soon as you answered. “I got your text, are you at home?”

“No, uh, we’re at the hospital,” you sniffled, trying to recompose yourself after all the crying you did while sitting in the waiting room with your sick daughter.

“Wait. What?”

“Mia got worse,” you explained. “Her cough went away for a bit, but it came back, and she now has a fever.”

“Fuck,” he whispered, and you could only imagine him stressfully pushing his hand through his hair like he always did in similar situations. “Is she ok? Have you talked with a doctor?”

“Not yet, just a nurse as she took us to a room. The doctor should be here soon. Mia is passed out in my arms right now, she couldn’t sleep earlier even though she was exhausted, and I feel awful because she’s going to get woken up again once the doctor comes in.”

“I see, so she’s not doing great, huh? And how are you, babe?”

“Not good,” you blubbered, feeling as though you were on the brink of tears again. “I’ve cried a bit tonight. I called your mom and sobbed, and she told me to stop thinking I was a terrible mother because I’m not. I swear she’s a mind reader sometimes.”

“You and me both,” he chuckled. “But she’s right. You need to stop beating yourself up over this.”

“But Aus-.”

“No, buts,” he cut you off. “You’re doing the best you can, babe. I wish I were there right now, but I know Mia is going to be perfectly ok with you watching out for her.”

At that, you smiled.

“She misses you,” you told him, not to make him feel bad for not being there, but to let him know how even in her sick state, Mia still very much so wanted her dad. “Was asking about you when we first got here.”

“God, I want to be there so I can give her the biggest hug.”

“I know, Auston, I’m giving her one for you. I promise.”

“Thank you,” he responded, before falling silent for a moment. “Do you mind if I stay on the phone until the doctor comes?”

“Not at all.”

The two of you caught up and talked about each other’s days. Auston told you all about the game you missed due to these unforeseen circumstances, and you shared the details of your exciting day at home with Mia and Frank. About ten minutes later, someone knocked on the door before it opened, and a woman popped her head inside.

“Hello, I’m here to check up on an Amelia Matthews,” she greeted as you stood up from your seat.

“Yes, this is her.”

“And you’re her mother?”

“I am.”

“Perfect,” she smiled while writing on her clipboard. “If you don’t mind, please bring her over to the examination table and we can see what’s bugging your little girl.”

You did as you were asked, and stood back to let the doctor do her job. However, after you set her down, Mia woke up and wasn’t long before reaching out towards you as she started crying.

Not missing a beat, Auston immediately ended the call before Facetiming just a second later to see his daughter. At the sight of her dad, Mia relaxed. The stress of waking up in a foreign place seemingly vanished as she sat there, leant against you listening to Auston speak.

As that unfolded, the doctor could retake Mia’s temperature and check everything else without interruption.  Once she was done, it was determined that Mia had the flu.

She then explained to you (and Auston, virtually) how the flu was common in toddlers and that Mia should be much better in 24-48 hours. You were given tips on how to treat the flu but were mainly advised to let your daughter rest. That’s all she’d be wanting to do for the next day or so anyway.

The doctor then told you that you had nothing to worry about, and how you did the right thing by taking Mia to see someone, before eventually leaving the room and saying you were good to go and that she’d contact your family doctor about what happened.

“Well, I guess it could have been a lot worse,” you said to Auston as you buckled Mia into her car seat again.

“I know, still sucks a lot, though.”

“You’re telling me, but at least we can go home to bed and not stress too much.”

“True,” he replied. “I can’t wait to give her all the cuddles once I’m back tomorrow.”

“I’m sure she’ll love that,” you stated. “Anyways, babe, I’m gonna have to let you go so I can drive back to the house.”

“Ok, sounds good. Call me as soon as you’re back, please.”

“I will. Love you.”

“And I love you,” he responded. “Bye, babe.”

After that, you hung up the phone and drove home. Once you put Mia to bed, you called Auston again, and he reminded you of how much he loved you, and that the two of you were doing fine as parents. You couldn’t help but agree, knowing that Mia was always going to be ok because you or Auston would make sure of it and not too much later, you were finally able to fall asleep without any more stress.

[carrotsofavonlea]

Drive Me Crazy

Epilogue

[AO3]

It had been a year since the centennial dance (and since Anne and Gilbert had officially begun dating for real). College life had been tricky at first, but Anne soon sunk into it, finding some new kindred spirits along the way, although she still had her beloved Diana with her at Queens. Gilbert was a thousand miles away in Toronto, but that didn’t stop them. Thanks to modern technology, they were constantly texting and calling - but what Anne adored even more where the occasional hand written letters from Gilbert. Some of the other girls in her dorm sneered whenever Anne received the little notes in the familiar handwriting, but she didn’t let it get to her. They were just jealous that their boyfriends didn’t write love letters to them.

“Are you doing anything special tonight?” Diana had just come back from a lecture, dumping her bag on her bed as Anne looked up from her desk.

“No…” Anne sighed, leaning back in her chair. “Maybe a video chat but that’s it.”

It was their anniversary of their first official date. Things had not started conventionally between Anne and Gilbert: did they choose when they started fake dating? The centennial? The first time they met as kids? But instead they went with an impartial first official date as the anniversary day.

“It sucks not being with him, today of all days.”

Anne sighed, looking back at the small framed picture on her desk. It was from the summer when they had organised a big group bonfire. In the photo, the sun was almost setting and Anne had her arms around Gilbert as he gave her a piggyback, her head fitting perfectly in the crook between his neck and shoulder as he leaned in to kiss her cheek. Her pinboard in her room was like a scrapbook mixed with a diary with all her timetables scattered between notes from Gilbert and photos of all her friends at home. Diana often called her side of the room a “Gilbert shrine” but Anne knew she didn’t mean any cruel sentiment behind it. Besides, from the photos Gilbert had sent of his room, he had done pretty much the same.

“It’s only a few more weeks until spring break.” Diana held out her arms and Anne sat next to her, leaning her head on her shoulder as Diana comforted her. “You’ll be able to make up for it.”

“I suppose so...I just wish he could be here, even for just the day.”

Diana smiled, but there was something behind it that Anne couldn’t read. She shrugged it off, not giving it much thought any longer.

“I better go, I’ve got practise.” Diana stood up, gathering some papers and shoving them in her bag.

“I’m glad you’re still playing piano.” Anne went over to her own side of the room, flopping onto her bed. “But I thought you didn’t have a show for a while?”

Diana hesitated for a moment, “Oh well...you can never be too practised. I don’t know how long I’ll be. See you later.” And just like that she’d practically run from the room.

It was strange...Diana didn’t normally keep secrets from Anne.

But she didn’t have time to dwell on it too long before her phone lit up; a big picture of Gilbert pulling a stupid face she’d set as his contact photo told her he was trying to video call her.

“Hey!” his big cheesy grin filled the screen, but it dropped when he saw Anne didn’t match his enthusiasm. “What’s wrong?”

Anne shrugged, “Just missing you, I guess.”

He smiled, never tiring of hearing that. “And I miss you, carrots.”

The video quality was worse than usual, and there was a lot of background noise.

“Are you going somewhere?” Anne tried to see what was in the background, but Gilbert held the phone closer to his face.

“Uh, just a walk…”

“...Ok?” he was acting weird.

“What have you been up to today?” he tried to steer the conversation to something casual.

“Not much. Studying. Lectures. More studying.” she laughed, leaning on her elbow as she talked, kicking her legs behind her on the bed. “What about you?”

“I didn’t have any classes today. Oh sorry!” he was too busy looking at the screen that he bumped into someone on the street. The camera panned up slightly, and Anne thought there was something oddly familiar about one of the buildings behind Gilbert.

But it must just be her imagination.

“I’ve got a gift for you.” he said, once again looking at Anne. “But it’s on it’s way from Toronto so I don’t know how long it’ll take to get to you. Should be soon though.” there was a boyish grin on his face, and Anne knew something was definitely up. She’d known him practically all her life and knew when he was lying or hiding something.

“Hang on a moment.” he said, lowering the phone to his side so all she could see was the side of his jeans. There was muttering but Anne couldn’t make out what was being said. “Sorry about that.” he said, holding the camera so only half of his face was visible.

“Gilbert Blythe what are you up to?” she laughed.

“Nothing, nothing.” but his voice was higher than normal.

There came a knock at Anne’s door and she sighed, couldn’t she have just one moment?

“Hold on, someone’s at my door. I’ll go tell them to go away.” she left her phone on her bed, getting up to politely shoo away whoever was at the door.

“I hope you don’t tell me to go away.” Gilbert stood at the door, phone in his hand.

It took Anne a second to register what was happening. He was here? Gilbert? But the phone? And Toronto? But he’s…”Gilbert?”

She threw her arms around his neck, almost knocking him to the floor. He wrapped his arms around her in return spinning her around in the small hallway.

“What are you doing here?” she cupped his cheeks in her hands as if to check he was real, brushing a curl from his forehead.

“I couldn’t miss the chance to celebrate a year since Anne Shirley Cuthbert says she loves me.” he smiled, leaning forward to kiss her, but their lips had just touched when Anne pulled back.

“But wait, how did you even get in the building?”

“Diana knew all along, she helped me plan it all.” he said, his arms still holding her waist. “That’s who I was talking to just now, she let me in.”

It all started to make sense now, why everyone was acting weird. Anne made a mental note to remember to thank Diana later. But right now, all she wanted was to focus on Gilbert.

“How long are you here for?”

“I want to say as long as you’ll let me, but I have class Monday. My flight leaves Sunday afternoon but we still have one and a half days together.” he pressed his forehead against hers before properly kissing her.

“Do I have to stay in the hallway?” he raised an eyebrow, making Anne laugh as she grabbed his hand and pulled him into her dorm room.

Over the years whenever anyone asked them, “ how did you get together?”, the answer was always met with a laugh and a response of “ It’s a long story ”. But Anne would enjoy telling it: the tragical romance of best friends turned enemies turned fake dating turned real lovers.

It was complicated and messy, but it was real.

///

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Thank you for all the support this fic has recieved! I can't believe it! None of my fics have blown up like this so it's crazy and I'm amazed this many people wanted to read something I've written! I'm so glad people enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!