#there’s very little to no chance that these 3 will share the same screen as a family so let me just

[it-meant-nothing]

My perfect ✨Magnet Family✨

[harfanfare]

I like to think that romance with Idia widely differs depending on the time you’ve been in a romantic relationship.

1. “Just started dating” stage.

If you're reading Idia fanfiction, there is an 80% chance this is the stage your relationship is on.

Idia is… treating you like a very precious stranger. He's on his toes and seeks your approval in whatever he's doing. He is going to great lengths to understand the theory of dating and your hobbies - so you can maybe share even more interests - but won’t really act on anything.

He’s constantly surprised by every romantic move you make and you have numerous occasions to adore his cherry blush and various puckles of hair igniting with pink and red. He stutters a lot and can’t focus on anything in your presence.

Idia will outright reject any suggestions for bolder moves. He’s unprepared, and although guilt is eating him from the inside, he is not up to anything you two weren’t doing as friends. Well, maybe handholding, kissing, and cuddling get a (hard) pass, but you are the only one initiating these things.

He will try his best to reciprocate effort, though.

2. “Have been dating for a while” stage.

It’s an interphase between two very different stages, so he’s a funny mix: a very shy outsider and a cocky genius at the same time.

Gaming sessions will be the centre of your couple's time. Idia regularly invites you to his dorm, sometimes even on spontaneous sessions when a new event comes up or he has found a new game that looks very cool. You share snacks, drinks, and clothes (read: you have unwritten permission to claim his blouses).

This boy would be dead without you and Ortho, and with that knowledge, you make it your mission to (somehow) tidy up his room, buy some cosmetics, healthier food, etc. If you are up to organizing a “self-care evening”, he will be hesitant at first but will be looking forward to it after a while, with some older anime. (I like to think it would be a magical girl series like Sailor Moon, Tokyo Mew Mew or Chobits, or some shoujo).

In exchange, he might construct some little gadgets (maybe anime-themed?) for you, helps you get the merch you want, and supports you in your games.

At this point, he doesn’t weigh his words much. He’s still easy to fluster, but he comes with comebacks right away. The most flirty he gets on the phone when it’s late at night and you are using a chat to talk, especially when you are not in the same room. 3. Long-term relationship stage.

He knows you are doomed to him and shamelessly takes advantage of that.

He has no claims against calling you in the middle of the night to watch him sharing his screen when he pulls for a character he wants to get in the gacha system. He believes your presence brings him luck, so he must have you when he does crucial things!

Idia disses your taste in fictional men. Sometimes, he reads the dialogues out loud from the otome games you play. He may alter them, which can make you either huff or laugh. If you read or write fanfiction, he might read them too, giving you an out loud commentary on some fragments and asking you if you are that desperate for dates so you are sending fanfiction to inspire him. If you say yes, he will hum and return to whatever he was doing before, but he might plan something out that you will preferably be able to do in his room.

Chatroom with him and Ortho is quite calm, almost polite, but your private chatroom with Idia is the most chaotic one you’ve ever been. You learned to not leave your phone openly if you don’t want to explain some inside joke with a layered backstory. An app you use to chat with Idia is the one your screen time is counted on most, and writing with Idia is your guilty pleasure.

If you are interested in IT, he might program you an app or something to help you with it! He will give you the best feedback ever, and although it may be harsh, the last thing he wants is to discourage you from learning further.

On one anniversary of your dating, he will gift you this kind of couple bracelet which lights up if the other person touches it. He created them himself. When he receives signals throughout the day, he thinks of them as a promise from you, that no distance can sever your bond.

If you bring up some serious talk, you will be bullied with memes. It’s Idia’s coping mechanism. He will plan his future with you, don’t worry, but wait for him to muster up the courage to get on one knee and ask the question.

[penelopepine]

Don't be a stranger! Pt. 4

Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Simon "Ghost" Riley x FemReader

Content: Neighbors AU, fluff, developing relationship

Johnny has silently been sitting across from him for 20 mins now; his eyes were narrowed with a wide smirk on his face. It was clear that he had something on his mind that he wanted to bring up, but Simon is refusing to be the one to bring it up first. 

“So…Lt.” Johnny leaned forward, “Who did you meet?” 

Simon paused with what he was writing and looked up to meet Johnny’s eyes. The two of them were close, but he doubts that the other can read him so well to know that he met someone while away. “Why do you think I met someone?” 

"It's written all over your face, and I'm reading you like a book." 

"My covered face?" 

"It's written on your mask then, either way I can tell." 

"Hmm." 

Simon decides to do what he does best and ignores the conversation; if he doesn't react Johnny would eventually get bored of poking and leave him alone. This must be the most interesting happening in the sergeant's life though because he doesn't seem ready to let go.

"Is this mystery person a new friend or partner?" Johnny continued to stare at Simon as if he was actually trying to read him.

"Do you have anything you need to be doing right now or do I need to find you something?"

Right away he watches as Johnny jumps out of his seat and walks towards the door with his hands up. That grin hasn't dimmed even the tiniest bit though as he turns to Simon once more, "Oh by the way the reason I came to find you was that the mail room says they have a care package for you." With that Johnny is quickly out the door. 

Simon glared at the spot the other once stood. That explains what had Johnny so bothersome he supposes then. He'll also need to talk to the mail room about not announcing what he's getting to nosy sergeants. 

With a huff he stands from his seat and also makes his way to the office door. Simon isn't going to show it, but he is always very excited whenever he gets another package from you. He's been away for a little over a month now. The two of you have talked over the phone plenty of times, but there's something more intimate about exchanging letters and packages with one another.  

Once reaching the mail room he is quick to gather his things, and make his way to the confines of his private space. He would have made it there without any interruptions, but he just had to run into Price on his way. 

"Ghost." Price smiles and gestures towards the box, "What you got there lad?"

"A box, sir." 

"From anyone special?"

Simon wasn't sure how to answer that because you were special to him, but he really didn't want anyone knowing about you right now. He's not ready to share who you are and what you mean to him yet. It's bad enough that Johnny already has an inkling about who you are; bad things always seem to happen when everybody finds out.  

As if sensing his internal struggle, Price asks, "Is this the same person who gave you that bracelet?" 

Looking down at his wrist the bracelet was out for all to see. Simon swiftly moves his sleeve to cover it once again out of sight; giving Price a hard stare. "It might be." 

Price gives a small chuckle and as he walks past gives him a pat on the back, "Well then, I won't keep you any longer."

Not needing to be told twice Simon rushes to his room. Right away he opens the box from you; right on top is a note reading, “Facetime me, if you can, while you open the rest of the box!!!” 

Looking at the time you should be home already. Good, he’d hate to miss a chance to talk to you. Simon takes a few moments to make sure his space is presentable for you before calling.

You answer on the second ring. Your face appears on screen with a wide smile as you move about the room. “Simon!” 

There it was again the feeling of his heart threatening to burst from his chest. You’re able to stop all other thoughts as soon as you say his name, “Hello, love.”

"How have you been? Did you get my package? I put an extra special item in there for you!" 

"Oh really? Well let's see what's in here then." Simon pulls the box into the camera view, and takes out the first item. It was a large container of chocolate chip cookies. He had asked for more after the first time, and now you always add baked goods whenever you send him anything. 

"Those are to share by the way. I packed extra so your friends could enjoy some too!" 

That was another thing he really admired about you. You were always thinking of others and wanting to help when you could. He had told you all about the team; little stories of them around base or out at the pub. You also asked about them once in a while; wanting to make sure everyone was doing ok. "They're my coworkers." 

"You can't lie to me Simon. I know you care about them more than you would a normal coworker."  The camera view on your end now showed you in the kitchen preparing to cook dinner for yourself. "Take out the next one!"

"Whatever you say love," he reaches back in and in hands now sits a tin of his favorite tea. 

You gasp and lightly clap, "Here it is!" 

Simon had complained during one of the phone calls that he hadn't had a good cup of tea in ages, and whenever good tea does come onto base it's usually gone within the hour. "I don't deserve you, love, thank you. This is going to make my time here much more enjoyable."

"That's what I like to hear! Just let me know when you run out and I'll be sure to send more." Simon would do anything to make sure that the smile you're giving him never leaves your face, "There should only be one more thing in there now!"

Pulling out the last thing was a small envelope. At first he thought it was a letter, but after opening it he found that the envelope actually had several polaroid pictures inside. Carefully he pulled them out and examined them carefully. 

One of them was of a sunrise on the street he had always walked you to work on. Another was one of your hands in the shape of half a heart in front of his flat door. The next one was you; you were smiling at the camera, at him. 

"I got a polaroid camera just a bit ago, and thought you'd like some pictures of home." 

“They're perfect.” These were worth more to him than you would ever know, “What about you, love; did you get your package?” 

You grab the phone and start to walk again, “Yeah, let me show you what I did!”

The camera is soon flipped and there on your living room window sill are all the rocks he has been sending you. 

“What’s the story behind this one?” You hold up the most recent rock he had sent you. It was palm sized and vaguely resembled a mountain peak. 

“That’s the very stone that took down Johnny.” He couldn’t help but smile at the memory, “He was running away from Gaz, and before either could get very far Johnny trips and falls straight on his face. It deserves the honor of being in your company for that.”

The two of you continue to talk as you make dinner for yourself. Talking about your day, work, and future plans for about another half hour. He can’t stay with you forever though, and he still has things he needs to do today. 

“I’ll call you later love.” 

The two of you exchange goodbyes and Simon is left with the silence of his room, wishing that he could be with you right now. 

Looking at the time he noted to himself that Price has a briefing planned in just a bit. He placed some aside for himself for later before grabbing the box of cookies from you and started to make his way towards the meeting room. 

Taglist: @nexthyperfix @yourdaydreamerfan @tf141gloryhole @just-pure-trash @definitelynotaclown

@141tfsan @arminarlertssword @openup-yourmind

[dairy-farmer]

Imagining Jason feeling so guilty about everything he's done to Tim, so now he treats Tim like he's a princess. Spoiling his Timmy any chance he can get, feeding him, getting him gifts he just glanced at in vague interest. Maybe at some point when the others see what's happening they get a little jealous cause they keep seeing Timmy's small smiles and red face, they've gotten so used to his rbf that they forgot what he looks like excited. So one after another each person starts to try to do what Jason has been doing with varied success. Anyways, I just really like the idea of Tim being pampered and fawned over, and being treated like the princess he is~ <3

-🐁

jason being all ashamed because when things finally sort of simmer down and become civil it turns out that tim...jason actually enjoys being around tim. like...the two of them have so much in common. jason makes some obscure reference or joke and tim actually gets it, he gets it and lets out a quiet snort of amusement from behind his phone or laptop screen. the two of them share the same sense of humor, the same interest in cheap gory movies, the same food tastes that have the rest of the family grumbling and whining about ordering in from the same place every time because tim and jason both voted for the same place again making them the majority vote. unlike the rest of the family tim is also...easy to get along with. very easy. there's an ease, a humor at being with tim like they're constantly on the same wavelength. so it makes jason feel more than a little...ashamed at how their relationship started. because it means that things are...tense when its just the two of them. like when they're home alone because the rest of the family is out or when they're both up in the middle of the night and sneaking ice cream. tim has this cute little smile that showed off the small gap in his teeth and made his cheeks all pink when tim makes a particularly clever quip and it just makes jason...makes the desire to see it more grow. so jason tries, dare he say it, charming tim. buying him his favorite candies, inviting him to hang out, buying him gifts like that new game he'd talked about his civilian friends playing. he wants to treat tim...well. partly to make up for the rough start and partly because he wants to and so when they start getting closer and jason starts making some progress of course the others notice and just have to ruin it for him by trying to take up tim's very limited time.

[0oolookitsme]

Harryween ...Night-In!

Type - A One-Shot!

Verse - Singer!Harry x Ceo!Y/n

Word Count - 2k

Warnings - none, just talks of pregnancy and descriptions of the changes her body has made.

A/n - I miss Harry, and I'm too sad that we aren't celebrating Harryween this year. So of course, I wrote about it.

Consider this one a closure for 'kinktober' (just bc it's the last fic of Oct <3)

MASTERLIST | please rb to share!

They were sitting on the small-cozy sofa, a blanket draped over their legs as they sat in utter silence, the light from the TV screen illuminating the whole room.

It was a small area, the TV sat on the drawer-set that had mainly thrifted crockery inside. A coffee table was placed in front of her sofa, over which for now Harry had laid his legs in order to make himself comfortable.

A nineties horror film played on the screen in low volume, the room not yet warm due to their recent reign. Anne was in the kitchen, putting sweets into different bowls before the kids came to her door for trick-or-treating.

Everyone on the street loved her, especially the kids. She was like a grandparent to all of them, having read them stories when they'd come up to her house, and built different Lego peices with them while some tea brewed in the kitchen for all of them.

And now that she was on the brim of becoming an actual grandparent to her son and daughter-in-law's child, there was a different kind of sparkle in her eyes, tint on her cheeks and a forever imprinted smile on her rosy lips.

She had welcomed the pair with open arms and an excited shriek when Harry asked her the permission to come over for a few days. Y/n wanted to be in the comfort of another woman, someone who'd had a kid – she wanted the comfort of a mother a woman gets when she's got a baby in her.

And, unfortunately enough, she'd had to cut ties with her mother years and years ago. So, to have a chance at a second mother, who was as much of a dearie as Anne, she knew that she just needed to be embraced by her just once and it'd be enough.

Y/n's bump had grown so huge that the nurses at the hospital told her that there might be a chance she's carrying more than one baby. So, when her bump was abnormally huge in the first month of the trimester, she wasn't very tense bacause she just wanted the babies to be comfortable inside.

When she talked to her doctor about the possibility, she was told that during their first ultrasound only one baby was seen. But it could be that the second one hadn't developed enough to be caught.

Other than her, it was only Anne who knew of that. Harry knew about the whole scene, but he was yet to confirmed about it. Out of the many things that Y/n feared, one of them was that she and Harry would be disappointed if it came out that there's only one baby.

They lived with the uncertainty of the number of babies, a little scared. But, Harry reassured her every morning that no matter how many babies she was carrying, he'd love her and the baby – or the twins, all the same.

"H? Can you bring me some more popcorn, please?" Y/n requested, already putting the bowl in front of him that only had a few curnels left of the snack. And, when Harry did up and go to the kitchen, she wasn't sure what she had started missing – the endless number of popcorns going in her mouth one after another, or the constant pressing of Harry's soft thumbs against the swollen plush of her feet.

"You're lucky you're pregnant," Harry came in saying, handing her the bowl with a faux glare that he had fixed on her face.

A sheepish smile pulled up on her lips before she quickly passed him a flying kiss without the action of her hand, causing Harry to let out a laugh. He sat down and placed her feet back in his lap, his hands getting back to work as his eyes caught up with the scene currently playing on the TV.

The kid had just sneaked inside their parents' room and slipped between the two with their plushie in hand. "Do you think I'll be a good father?" Harry asked, almost seeming absent-minded but she knew better.

"Gonna be the best one out there," she assured him, passing him the bowl of popcorn to share. In return, he passed her a smile – a quiet form of his gratitude for her, and moved his hands up to massage her calves a bit as well.

As Harry's eyes remained on the screen, Y/n's head had lulled back onto the soft cushion and eyes had shut down. She had only doen it because the TV was beginning to strain her eyes, but realised just after how good it felt to do that as she snuggled-up farther inside the quilt.

Harry looked over at her just in time before the bowl of her cravings fell on the floor. She hated popcorn before pregnancy, and now she found any and every excuse to have them. His mouth stretched in a soft smile, dimples carving in his cheeks as he looked at her.

Both of her hands were on her bump, head lulled back slightly to the side, away from the screen and mouth carelessly left open. The light from the TV screen hit her face in a manner that made her features look more prominent – her cupid's bow shined profusely because of the balm she had put rubbed on her lips before cuddling up in the couch. Her lashes rested on top of the high of her cheeks, her skin gleaming in the light.

He could tell that here she was less anxious and stressed, and more at comfort than ever. He loved to see her bond furthermore with his mum, watching her listen to Anne tell her about the course of becoming a mother made Harry feel too emotional.

She always seemed to be glowing, and her cheeks were fuller now. She mostly left her hair loosely tied, and god, her hips had grown wider too – it made him lose his mind everytime he saw her love handles. Her thicker-thighs closed around his head just perfectly, and her stretch marks reminded him of the way her body was changing every single day to adapt to caressing a baby.

"Darling –"

Anne cut herself off before she could wake Y/n up, bunching her shoulders up before she sighed deeply, glad that she didn't disturb her.

Harry chuckled, letting Anne know that his wife had turned into a heavy sleeper now that she was pregnant. "You were saying something, mum?" He asked her, watching as she walked closer to him.

"I came to say that the kids should start come knocking any time now," Anne told Harry. "This darling wanted to hand a few out herself. Do I wake her?"

Harry nodded in response as he got up and started patting Y/n's hand. "Love, do you want to hand out treats?"

Y/n remembered then, and started moving to get up. She had no idea as to when she fell asleep, but as Harry helped her get up she grunted in discomfort.

"Are they here?' She asked after pecking Harry's cheek in gratitude.

Just when she asked that, the doorbell rung for the first time and she had never wished to get up fast so hard over the course of the past few months of pregnancy. Harry's hand automatically placed itself on her lower back as she started walking slowly and slowly.

"H, I can walk to the front door just fine. I'm pregnant, not paralysed," she stated, suddenly feeling annoyed.

"Okay, okay. But you do need some time to adjust to walking before you start padding your way around," Harry giggled, kissing her temple from beside her. But the moment he saw that she didn't exactly have a pleased expression on her face, he put up a finger on his lips, almost promising her that he wouldn't utter a word again.

Anne already had the door open, and the moment Y/n's eyes landed on the little one on their door, she couldn't help but squeal. "Eeek! Dorothy!" She exclaimed, turning to look at Harry with starry eyes crinkled at the corners.

She was their neighbour's kid, y/n realized. And, as she got closer she saw that in the basket, there was a paper that was flipped upside down, considering she could see the ink that had leaked on the back side of the page – probably due to the pen being pressed too hard.

"Hi!" Y/n greeted the little one, two bowls full of treats in both of her hands. She tried to bend down to talk better, but because she was unable to, she just sat on her knees on the tiles.

"I love Dorothy," she giggled, and the girl in front of her grinned as well.

"I love her too! My name's Dorothy as well, so I decided to dress like her," the sweet girl bubbled. She was bouncing on her feet, full of excitement. "Happy Halloween, by the way," she wished them all.

As they wished her back, she began picking out the treats she wanted. Once she was done, her head whipped to meet Harry's gaze who was just standing behind Y/n with gleaming eyes and a wide dimpled-smile.

"Hey, Harry," she greeted him. "You dressed up as Dorothy once, and now I have too!" She shrieked, jumping to high-five Harry who now had an open-mouthed grin on his face.

"We have great taste, now, don't we?" Harry wiggled his eyebrows at the girl whose eyes suddenly went as wide as saucers.

"Oh no!" She cried before she took her basket and placed it on the ground.

"What – is something wrong?" Y/n stuttered, her face molding into a frown.

"Oh nothing," the girl said nonchalantly, getting back up from where she was crouching to take something out of her basket. "Here," she grinned, handing a post-card sized paper to Y/n.

Harry leaned over to see what it was, and once he did, a surprised laugh left his throat. Y/n was already gushing over how good the painting was and just leaned in to press a kiss to the girl's cheeks, who accepted it with a bright blush.

It was drawing of a pumpkin, over which she had marked the carving that said 'HAPPY HARRYWEEN' on it. "I know you did this on your shows for Halloween, so I thought it would be kind of me to give you this because I know your tour is over now," the girl pouted at Harry as she babbled off.

Harry looked at the her with glossy eyes, leaning in to hug the little girl. "Thank you, love," he whispered.

He had been so emotional about Halloween this time, that Y/n had to comfort him every single day for the past week leading up to today. Even this morning, he had to stop his tears from falling as the feeling of not being on stage all dressed up crippled him.

He loved that he was spending the day with his mum, his wife and his unborn baby. But he still felt the need to be comforted because it still hadn't settled in him that he wasn't going to be onstage for a while now. So, he wrapped his forearms around Y/n's shoulders in order to calm himself down, and keep himself in the moment because he knew that he wouldn't want to leave her side any time soon now.

"Wait!" Y/n shouted at a sudden thought that had struck her mind, scaring Harry out of his small meltdown. "It's Harryween – Night …In!" She squealed in delightment, giggling along with the girl as Harry sniffled and laughed at her lame humour, feeling love sick.

[little-miss-dilf-lover]

Dad tan?

Either like headcanons or a full little prompt. Anything of the sorts

hii!! yes yes and yes, I love dad tan. some of these are probs mentioned in other hc’s. but hope you like it💌

DAD TAN HC’s

wc. 721

— I think it's been established that tan is a girl dad. he suits a son too though a daughter fits him so much better

— he is a great dad, the kind of one who didn't have a solid father figure growing up but wants to be what he couldn't have. just bc he didn't have a good dad, doesn't mean his kids have to have the same

— he wants to give them everything he didn’t have

— he was very anxious about being a dad, constantly worrying about messing up and being shit or them turning out like him, but with your reassurance, he got more comfortable with the idea of having kids

— he also worries a lot bc of work - something bad happening to him and leaving you on your own with the kids

— I feel like maybe he wants lots of kids, like a big house full of your children, though he is a man and he has no say in how many kids you have (had to be said lmao, can't stand when guys say they want 6+ kids) but realistically that's not possible or suitable for his lifestyle/ occupation, so you have 2 kids, one boy, one girl (but both under 7)

— he has small pictures of all of you (you and the kids) tucked in his wallet so he can have you close at all times. his lock screen is a picture of all 4 of you from a recent family holiday. and then you're his home screen <33 

— you've both taught your kids very well; good manners, polite, not too spoilt (even though they get LOADS of gifts from dad tan) they have things in moderation, so they're well-rounded and behaved kids. they have their moments, but overall, they're good. I think he hates snotty, shitty and bratty kids, so he's made sure that his are nowhere like that

— the boy looks like tan and has more aspects of your personality, but the girl looks like you and has more aspects of tan's personality. they're a perfect mix of you both, AND IT'S REALLY FUCKING CUTE !!

— one of the kids (or both) definitely copied a swear that tan said, so now you put a ban on curses around the house. no swearing when the kids are awake

— you have sunday dinners at your shared house with the kids and uncle lemon comes over. he accidentally gets them all hyper and wound up before dinner, then tan curses him out, saying how they're going to be a nightmare to get sorted. he apologies then turns to the kids and laughs, basically mocking tan and then helps get them cleaned up for dinner

— you both have a system, one of you is in charge of one kid getting ready for bed, and the other is in charge of the other kid. you swap over halfway to share time between both kids. you do things together and it works, sharing the responsibilities to lighten the load

— after the kids are in bed, you and tan have some time together. as much as he loves his kids, you still come above. either you want some time apart to recuperate, like you have a bath, tan watches football or you both snuggle on the sofa watching shitty tv and having a couple drinks

— loves his kids, loves his family💔

— when he gets the chance, he'd plan dad days, where he does something special with the kids or one of them at a time. either taking you all out for the day, going to a kiddy theme park, or taking the son to a westham football game or the daughter on a shopping day around harrod's

— he minimises time away from work to spend as much time at home with you and the kids

— he takes the kiddos out to places he and lemon liked as kids. taking them to cafes they used to regularly visit 

— has afternoon naps on the sofa when the kids wear him out. he dad snores too. sometimes you find all 3 of them on the couch, each kid tucked into the sides of tan

— in conclusion, something 'tangerine' something, is the bestest husband and dad ever

— — — — — — — — — — ☆ — — — — — — — — — —

no tan taglist for this one as don’t want to spam you

[keelt9]

Chapter 12

Masterlist

“Are you nervous?” If I sit for more than 3 seconds I feel my heartbeat increase like hell making my chest hurt. 

Lewis is sitting calmly in one of the chairs in the middle of a huge conference room; in one of the offices of his friend/investor, even though you can see a big blue sky and the sea; isn’t calming at all.

Lewis put his cellphone on the table and stopped me in the middle of the room after interrupting my 21 spin around the table. 

“Hey, hello? Y/N you have this, it’s going to be fine.” His hands on my shoulders makes me feel a little bit calm. “After all, it’s repeat what Mika, Thomas, mom, dad and I have been hearing all these weeks.”

Roscoe barks, laid down on the floor. “Sorry, and Roscoe too.”

I giggle pitching his arm for he let me go. 

After the GP of Monza, Max stayed in London for two days until family duties claimed him back.

My parents were very confused with the news; being more specific, mom shares the same caution of Lewis but both agreed giving him a chance. Thomas congratulated us with a nice welcome, Mika well, she was surly most of the time.

When I found out the meeting for the final presentation of the shelter will be in Monaco, I called Max right away, but in a twist of fate Max will be in Cannes for a party for his family. He insisted that he can stay but I don't want him to waste time sitting in his house waiting for a meeting to finish when he can be with his family.

“Sorry, sorry, we're ready.” Lewis' friends entered, my panic faded away seeing Thomas walking inside too.

He made it, he came and not alone; Emma is with him too.

The meeting passed by in a calm and friendly ambience, they heard me all the time, moving their eyes to the big screen and the fields on their hands, asking a few questions on the way, which I answered with confidence, even a few questions were directed to Thomas, for the construction of the shelter.

“That's all, if you have another question, I'll gladly answer it.” I said taking a deep breath sitting in the chairs.

“So, you don't lie to us when you said Roscoe will be the face of this.” Carol asked, seeing the paper of the logo, the sketch of Roscoe's nose. I shake my head. “Fascinating, let's do it.”

I see Lewis and he smiles at me. “Why Moon path?” Fran inquired, raising his hands. “Don't take me wrong Roscoe, but I like this one.”

“Oh, we began this for an old dog we had years ago, his name was Moon.” I smiled remembering Max helps with the name of the shelter.

“So sweet, what are we waiting for?” Fran said, closing the file.

“In the inauguration I hope we can have Leo Lecrec with us.” Kat closes her eyes, putting her hands together like a prayer.

Lewis laughs. “So it's a green flag?” My fingers hold on tight to the sling.

“Green flag.” All said in unison, making Roscoe barks when we clapped.

As a way of celebrating we had a small dinner, after all this is the beginning of a long and hard working path. 

With two no race weeks Lewis spent the following week with us in London, relaxing and enjoying time with friends and family along going with me to Newport.

The shelter construction will begin this week, and the last phase of my house is in progress.

“Please!” Mika tosses me a gummy. “You're so…”

Emma laughs, taking her stuff, her shift over an hour ago but she stops for chatting as Thomas finishes talking with the people in charge to furnish my house.

“It was a simple question, let’s not make so much show about this.” Emma said, giggling as Mika rolled her eyes.

“Tell her she doesn't lie to you.” I smile tossing the gummy back. 

“I'm not lying!” I move my shoulder trying to distract the attention with the sling which is perfectly set and comfortable but I'm starting to feel shy. “I can't remember wearing lipstick that day.” 

Emma innocently asked about the lipstick I had one week ago, when I made a video call with Thomas who was in my house about a few things that I had trouble with. That night I was flying with Max to London.

“Of course you did!” Mika laughs one more time. “It was Dutch kiss number 1. That was her lipstick.” 

Emma got it as her face turned red waving her hand before going home.

“You're a different kind of person.” Mika laughs so hard as she hides her face between her hands.

“This is so much for a kid?” Thomas said sitting in the backyard where a small living room was created for me.

His attention was so lost in his phone that he missed the attack of laughter of Mika, who's battling for breath normally.

He showed us a mini car, a mini Range Rover car.

“It's fine for a 3 year old boy.” I said almost choking with my drink. “He's 3 months old.”

A quick peck on my cheek makes me turn around mystified, finding a word wide champion behind.

“You!” I smile as I stand quickly putting my healthy arm around his neck. 

Max holds me tight around my waist, breathing slowly as his body relaxes.

“HER ARM!” We chuckled hearing Mika. “Jesus! It's so hard you wait a couple of days?”

This week, I finally will be able to get rid of the sling.

“Mika, let me hug my girlfriend freely.” Max said but he didn't let me go, I missed Mika's reaction.

This is how they've been building a teasing friendship, bothering each other endlessly with their sarcasm and irony.

“Max, do you have nieces, right?” Thomas asks, still lost in his phone, Max lets me go but he grabs my hand as we sit.

“Three.” He smiles proudly.

“What are you doing here?” I asked after waiting for Thomas to say another thing but he kept scrolling in his phone.

He smiles as he tingles our fingers. “I want to surprise you, and spend a lot of time with you.”

Mika rolls her eyes in a funny way. “Emma let you in right?”

Max nods. “She was kind of surprised when she saw me, her face was red.”

“Told you, Dutch kiss number 1.” I kick her under the table as Max looks at us with narrow eyes.

“What would you give to a 3 month old baby boy?” Thomas asked one more time, the way Mika looks at him with a soft smile expressing so much in one peek.

“I'm confused.” Max looked at me but I couldn't respond because Thomas went ahead.

“He didn't know?” I shake my head feeling the intense eyes of Max on me. 

I sigh before telling him. Mika has an older brother, Reagan who he and his wife had a wonderful baby boy three months ago; they have been celebrating every month, like if it’s his birthday; normally just with family, but this time, his monthly party will come along with Reagan’s birthday so they will make a small official party with family and friends.

“I didn’t tell you anything because you mention you have a party too for one of your friends, so I don’t want you to put on that face.” The straight line lips and the hard eyes are the only thing I see. “It’s ok.”

Mika smiles. “We keep an eye on her.” 

I know Max is disturbed; not because I didn’t tell him it’s because he wants to come with me, as a couple.

I grab his face, giving him a peck. “Cheer up, and take me from here, I’m hungry.”

Max chuckles, kissing me back. 

“Oh my word! People get out of here!” Mika covers Thomas' eyes and hers.

Max and I went to dinner in a small restaurant near the beach, not too far away from the coffee shop where we met the first time he was here.

Even when he tries to keep his mood up I know he’s kind of a bother.

After we finished our dinner, he was about to walk to the car but I pulled him over so we could go to the beach.

“Please?” Max scoffs, grabbing my face for a long kiss. 

We cross with a few people who keep staring at him for more time than he wishes, making him tense, and taking a few sighs on the way.

“Don’t feel so overwhelmed.” I said looking at the waves tint on a soft lilac with the sun hiding. “You’re walking with a girl who has a broken arm and pretty face, obviously you call the attention.” 

Max laughs, stopping standing in front of me, the tense jaw is far gone and his shoulders are relaxed.

“I mean it.” Max shakes his head. “It’s ok you won’t go, I've never been a girlfriend of a multiple worldwide champion but I am a sister of one.” 

Max laid back his head, clearly unnerved. “I know time with friends and family is a treasure.”

Max sees the sea behind me. “I want you to know I can be with you even if I travel around the world all the time.” I smile smoothly at him. 

“You are. You’re here even if you could be somewhere else resting or gaming, you are here, and that’s more than enough for me.” I hugged him but still his tense body betrayed him, that’s my cue to go. 

“I've been thinking… It's Singapore next week, I can’t go, Thomas and I have tons of work here but… Japan sounds nice I have never been there.” Max grabs me by my shoulders. “Besides, Yuki owns me a snack tour.”

“It will be amazing! I’ll love to have you around there.” He doesn’t get what I’m trying to say.

“Yes, but I mean, I want to go with you .” He narrowed his eyes, I can’t believe he didn't see how nervous I am.

“Yeah, I’ll come to pick you.” I scoff, pushing him.

“God! I want to go with you as a couple Max.” I said cover my face shy enough to be unable to look at him. “Never mind, forget it.”

I feel so timid looking at him, so I just keep walking but he hugs me back in a second.

“Mika is going to kill you if you hurt me.” I feel Max tighten his grip around my waist and rest his chin softly on my head, I could bet he has a wide smile. 

“I know, believe me.” In an embarrassing attempt to get rid of Max hug, he turns me around so I can face him, unable to hide his smile. “I love it. I love to go with you.”

I shake my head, faking a annoyment. “I LOVE HAVE YOU THERE.” He starts to raise his voice and people start to look at us. “I LOVE TO HAVE MY GIRLFRIEND THERE!”

Definitely this time people kept staring longer, they recognized him. “ME, MA…” I cover his mouth with the palm of my hand.

“You want it louder? Got it.” He mumbled taking my hand with his.

Damn it! Good moment for having a broken arm. 

Max clears his throat taking a deep breath before he keeps raising his voice in the middle of the beach. 

“M…” I grab the back of his neck pulling closer to me for I kiss his lips, the Dutch takes advantage putting his hand too at the back of my neck keeping me closer. 

When I tried to speak, the small gap between my lips was enough for him to quickly deep kiss one more time. 

“Who is slow now?” He said when we split, I hit him softly in his chest. “I mean it, I’ll love you to come with me.” 

I lift on my tip toes hugging him. “It’s not going to be a soft lunch.”

Both of us giggle with the moon above us now. 

“And it couldn’t be better.” Max kiss my head.

Saturday morning, Thomas and I arrived together in Liverpool where Reagan lives. Mika arrived a day earlier to help in everything they could need.

The airport is calm even for being a Saturday morning, a few kids walking hand by hand of their parents, couples walking around looking for their gate, but meetings full of love and screams.

“Still a month?” He asked, taking my bag.

Friday morning, Max went with me with Dr. Hank to finally get rid of the sling, the cast must be with me another month.

“At least.” I nodded, texting Max we arrived safe and sound.

Liverpool is windy, more than we expected, but the forecast indicates a warm afternoon.

We found Mika waiting for us in the parking lot. “Sorry, I have a baby emergency.”

Mika adores her nephew, you can tell by the way her face is sparkling and her clothes have multiple stains of baby drool doesn't bother her at all.

The party will take place in a lovely garden, we will take a quick stop at Reagan's house to change our clothes and leave our bags.

The garden is adorable, white and pastel yellow all over the place, round tables around the place, big balloons that you can see in the distance and by the way small light bubbles hang around, I bet in the night this will look cuter.

“There she is!” Scarlet, Reagan’s wife approaches in a white dress with a baby on her arms. “Aunt Y/N.” 

“Omg, baby Conrad, you’re bigger than in the photos.” The 3 month old baby is peacefully sleeping in his mother's arms.

Suddenly I feel my feet left from the ground in a single motion.

“People is blind or what?” Mika complains holding Thomas hand. “She still has a broken arm.” 

“Have a little fun, please!” Reagan's voice makes me laugh, he carefully puts me on the ground pitching his sister's cheek. “It’s so good to see you Y/N.”

Reagan hugged me, this time more calmly under his sister's gaze. I can’t count the times Reagan and Scarlet found me crying in Mika’s apartment, even when they were so busy they always made space for comforting me when words didn't come out. 

“You look amazing.” I hugged him too. “You’ll be here all weekend right?” 

He splits to stand next to his family and careness his baby face. “I’m all yours.”

We hear someone cough but all we’re enjoying is a special moment of reunion so anyone pays attention until Mika turns around.

“Look what the wind brings.” I turn around when I see a shocked expression on Reagan and Scarlet. 

Max is standing, handsome as always but with icy eyes as he keeps holding his sleeves. 

“No way!” I can’t tell who said first, Thomas or me. 

In three steps I reach him, finally two arms lock around him. Still his body is hard as a rock.

Mikas’s family had never been huge fans of F1, until we met in college, however even now, I know what all they could possibly know is because they cherish Lewis. 

After a short introduction, Conrad opened his eyes ready for a change of dipper, everyone leaving us in our small spot under a tree.

“I can’t believe you were jealous.” I smile standing next to him holding back a smirk.

“I… I… I was, fuck, sorry it’s just…” He stretched his back. “You’re looking gorgeous, and the first thing I see it's a man lift from the ground followed by him holding you tight.” 

His eyes wide open, making himself angry remembering the scene, it has a charm seeing him that jealous.

“I keep with the gorgeous compliment.” I stand next in front of him holding his coat, tilting my head. “Let’s go, I want you to meet Mika's parents.”

Max breathes in and out, as he relaxes, like a cute cat he stretches all his body before walking. 

“Wait.” I stop making him turn around. “You have something here.” I reach his eyebrow as he closes his eyes.

I stole him a quick peck. “Yes, a kiss that you own me.” 

Max walks next to me complaining. “I should kiss you first.”

The party went out fantastic, Mika’s parents were over the moon when they knew I’m dating Max, and only went higher after seeing how lovely he’s with baby Conrad carrying him a few times and talking with him when he thought no one would see them.

We’re saying goodbye late at night, Conrad is peacefully sleeping with one of her grandmas in the house they rent next to the garden, and people started to leave. 

“You’re coming for breakfast right?” Scarlet asked, holding Reagan's arm.

Tomorrow morning they prepared breakfast for their guest who came to Liverpool from far away.

“May…” I know Max isn’t a fan of British food, but he accedes.

“Of course, I’m afraid I have to go after that, but I’ll gladly come.” I only stare at him confused, nodding.

In the car I bothered him with the fact it’s going to be a British breakfast, but he said, sometimes you have to make sacrifices, making us laugh.

“Are you too tired?” He grabs my hand as drives in the soothing night.

I giggle holding his hand between mine. “A wee hour plan?”

He smiled as he pulled my hands to kiss, especially on the one with the broken arm.

We walked around The Royal Albert Dock, sharing memories and silence as we saw how the sky is changing one more time.

But I will keep the kiss he gives me, holding my face as he breathes slowly, as he keeps his eyes close.

Next morning we arrived and Max had a hard time eating everything on his plate, the perfect occasion for Mika to play with him a little bit more. 

“Delicious, right?” Mika asked him knowing Max is fighting to swallow his last bite. 

All eyes on the table, on him. She made us sit with her parents, next to him.

“Yeah.” He looks at me winking his eyes.

Like Max said, after we finish our breakfast he must go. He said goodbye carrying for the last time Conrad and kissed his forehead carefully.

“Take care of her.” Regan said, holding his hand. “She’s pure gold.”

“Don’t have to tell me.” Max said, holding his stare.

I’m stubborn, what can I say, even though I knew I had to take a cab to go back here, I refused to let him alone.

We arrived at the airfield where his jet was waiting for him.

I came out first as he picked up his bags, seeing a Sunday morning normal in Liverpool people coming and going along the street, some with bags, others meeting or saying goodbye to family and friends.

“Y/N?” My blood freezes and my body reacts, turning around so quickly that it makes me feel dizzy.

In front of me, a guy with dark hair, and a brown jacket is standing amused to see me.

“God, are you ok?” My breath is stuck on my throat and my heart is beating fast, when he touches my arm I hiss.

It isn’t the physical pain that makes me react, it’s the pain on my chest that makes my heart feel in pain every second.

“You’re pale, let me take you to the hospital.” My breathing is erratic and I feel I could cry at any minute. 

Until Max appears in front of me grabbing my face, taking the other hand away from me. “Hey, look at me, are you ok?” 

But my eyes instantly go back to the guy at his back, I want to hold Max, I want to hold him so tight, but I can’t move.

“Caleb.” It’s the only thing I’m able to whisper.

[pulisicsgirl]

spaces between us - christian pulisic

summary: Y/N and Christian's relationships has been strained lately due to conflicting schedules and minimal effort to spend time with one another. Y/N's plan to talk to Christian about it goes awry and drives the couple further apart from each other.

pairing: Christian Pulisic x reader

word count: 5.3k

warnings/tags: angst and arguing (but it turns out okay in the end don't worry), Christian is a little bit of a dick, Y/N is a little bit overdramatic, but also sickening fluff, Christian is a lovesick twat, use of the phrase "whooping and hollering" (I'm sorry, I'm painfully American), hasty proofreading (because I’m posting this at 3 am and I have classes tomorrow morning), and like one suggestive comment

requested: yes!!!

notes: thank you so so much to @chelseagirl98 for sending this request in!! I had so much fun writing it, and I hope it lives up to your expectation! I tried a little something new with the text messages, so let me know what you think of that! Also, I think this is my first time writing a fight/make-up fic like this, so it might not be very good, but I welcome any constructive criticism! :)

As always, requests are still open! Send any ideas my way! 💙

You moved quickly around the kitchen, juggling bowls and ingredients as you did your best to prepare a homecooked meal to surprise Christian with when he got home from training. It wasn’t anything all that special, and you weren’t a five-star chef by any means, but you were trying your hardest—and that had to count for something, right?

For the last several weeks, you had sensed a distance forming between you and Christian. With his busy life as a footballer and your inconsistent work hours, it had been difficult to find time to see one another. On the rarer days that you were home together in the evening, you were both exhausted, quickly finding something to eat (often some takeout delivery that you ordered online) before setting things in order and going straight to bed. You couldn’t remember the last time you and Christian had just sat down to spend time together, sharing a conversation with any amount of substance.

After a particularly bitter morning where the two of you had moved around each other in the kitchen and bathroom without sharing a word or interacting almost at all, you had miraculously gotten out of work early. Deciding that enough was enough, you ran to the store to pick up some ingredients, resolving to cook a nice meal that you and Christian could sit down and eat together. You hoped it would give you a chance to catch up after the last few weeks of simply living in the same house but not truly being together.

It took you about an hour, but you completed the recipe successfully. As you turned off the burner on the stove and began dishing the food onto plates, you heard the jingle of Christian’s keys as he walked through the front door.

“Babe?” you called out. You listened for his footsteps as they rounded the corner into the kitchen. He was looking down as he came into your view, eyes locked on something on his phone screen. “Hey,” you addressed him uncertainly, wiping your forehead from the heat that had built up in the kitchen from the hour you had spent cooking. Your voice cause his head to snap up to look at you.

“Hey, babe,” he smiled, glancing back at his phone quickly before he turned it off and shoved it in his pocket. He walked around the kitchen island and pulled you into his side, kissing the top of your head. “What’s all this?”

You couldn’t help but feel a little bit disappointed, hoping for a little more than a side-hug and a kiss on the head from your boyfriend after not seeing him all day. You tried to brush the feeling off.

“I made dinner!” you replied, a hopeful tone to your voice. You pulled from his side to grab his plate, handing it to him.

“Oh thank goodness,” he took a whiff of the food before walking to the other side of the kitchen island, sitting down in one of the tall chairs. He mumbled a quick, “thanks so much, babe,” before he began devouring the food swiftly.

Again, you tried to brush off the weird feeling that washed over you. You knew he must be hungry after a long day of training—they had even gone a bit late today. You tried to focus on the short expression of gratitude instead as you picked up your own plate, choosing to stand across from him, leaning on the countertop so you could face him while you ate.

The two of you remained there in silence, him scarfing down the food like it was his last meal while you just moved the food around the plate as you stared at it, still feeling uneasy.

You opened your mouth to ask about how training had gone that day, hoping to spark a conversation between the two of you, but movement from the other side of the counter caught you off-guard before you could speak. Having cleaned his plate already, Christian stood from his chair, stepping around it before he pushed it in. He moved to the sink, dropping the empty plate in. He walked behind you, pressing a quick kiss to your temple.

“It was really good, babe. Thank you.” He walked behind you, pressing a quick kiss to your temple. “I’m gonna head up to shower.” He stepped to walk out of the kitchen and down the hallway.

“Are you serious, Christian?” You felt the anger finally spilling over in your chest, the heat rising up your neck an into your face. You were beyond frustrated that all of the effort you had gone to had lasted in a five-minute shared silence before he rushed upstairs to shower and go to bed.

Christian turned back around to face you, eyes wide with confusion. You could see him obliviously wracking his brain for what he had done wrong.

“I’m sorry, I can wash my plate,” he spoke quickly as he took two steps back toward the sink before you stopped him with a hand on his chest.

“It’s not about the stupid plate, Christian.” You rolled your eyes at him, and he took a step back from you, surprised by the anger you were displaying. “I went to all this trouble to go get the ingredients and spent all this time to make a home-cooked meal, and all I get is five minutes and ‘it was good, thank you’?”

Christian’s eyes were still wide, taken aback by your reaction. “I’m sorry, it was a really long day. I’m just pretty tired.” The way he said the words made them seem like more of a question.

“You’re always ‘tired’, Christian!” You put air quotes around the word, feeling yourself get more and more worked up about the situation. You felt like now that you were finally voicing your frustrations, all of the emotions were starting to spill over. “You’ve barely spoken to me in weeks! We never see each other anymore, and I’m sick of living in the same house as my boyfriend, but never seeing him!” You began raising your voice without meaning to and you felt your eyes burning with tears. You mentally cursed yourself for crying so easily when you were angry.

“Y/N, I-“

Sensing another excuse coming on, you cut him off. “You didn’t even kiss me goodbye this morning!”

Interrupting Christian and not allowing him to explain himself was a sure way to irritate him, and it immediately put him on the defensive.

“Well, you didn’t kiss me before I left either!” He knew it was a weak defense, but in his frustration, it was the only thing he could come up with. “I’m not the only one in this relationship, Y/N! You could afford to put in a little effort once in a while, instead of just pointing fingers.”

Your mouth fell open in shock at his words, and Christian instantly wished he could take them back, not having meant them at all. “You are unbelievable, Christian. Unbelievable.” You scowled, pushing past him to walk out of the kitchen.

He grabbed your wrist to keep you from walking away, and you shook your head, pulling your arm from his grasp. “No, stop. Come talk to me when you’re ready to act like a half-decent boyfriend.”

You stormed down the hallway to your shared bedroom, slamming the door to the bathroom closed and locking it in case Christian tried to follow you and take back what he had said. Moments later, you heard the doorknob jiggle softly, confirming your prediction.

You felt the tears rolling down your cheeks as you glumly went through your nighttime routine, brushing your teeth, combing out your hair, and washing your face. You tried to ignore your red and swollen eyes from crying as you looked in the mirror.

Once you had finished, you unlocked the door and walked into the bedroom. You did your best to ignore Christian sitting silently on the side of the bed as you walked over to the closet and changed quickly into your pajamas from the night before, scoffing quietly as you realized that it just entailed one of his bigger T-shirts. Nonetheless, you slipped it over your head and flipped the closet light off, closing the door behind you as you exited.

Without a word, you walked to your side of the bed, pulling the sheets and comforter back, crawling in, and covering yourself up, facing away from Christian.

His heart had broken at the sight of your tear-streaked face before you had climbed into the bed. He knew that it was probably best to give you some space for now, so he stood to collect his things and go take his shower. You didn’t miss the soft sigh that left his lips before he stood.

You heard the sound of the bathroom door closing, then the rush of water as he turned the shower on.

You finally allowed yourself to let go, crying out all of the hurt that had built up over the last several weeks. You felt the pain physically in your heart, a hollow feeling in your chest—you were a part of a whole, missing your other half.

It didn’t take long for Christian to finish his shower, and you heard the water turn off. You tried to calm yourself before he left the bathroom, not wanting him to see you in such a weak state after your fight.

A few minutes later, you heard the sound of the bathroom door opening and Christian moving around the room. You did your best to silence your sniffles, but he still heard them, and he felt the painful cracks in his heart tearing open a little further.

You felt the mattress dip behind you as his weight settled into the bed. His arm appeared in front of your body for a moment and you felt him leaning over you to place a soft kiss on your temple.

“Goodnight,” he whispered softly. “I’m sorry. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” you mumbled. As petty as you wanted to be, you knew you wouldn’t be able to sleep if you didn’t say it back to him.

His weight settled into the bed behind you, not daring to pull you into his arms. The light in the room disappeared with the click of the lamp turning off, and the two of you lay there in silence.

A thousand thoughts were running through both of your heads, but you remained on your side with your back turned to him. You wrapped your arms around your torso, attempting to hold yourself for some sort of comfort against the foreign feeling of falling asleep without being tucked into Christian’s side.

*****

Since it was the weekend, the sun was already peeking through the curtains when you awoke. By instinct, you rolled over, reaching toward the other side of the bed, but your hand only landed on the cold, empty sheets. You snapped your eyes open, finding no sign of Christian’s presence, and the memories of your argument from the night before flooded your mind.

You let out a long, frustrated groan, pressing your face further into the pillow. The uneasy feeling that you always had when you and Christian fought settled in your chest, and you spend a few moments staring at the wall, allowing yourself to give in to the self-pity for a moment before getting up to face the difficult situation.

A buzzing sound coming from your bedside table pulled you from your thoughts, and you rolled back over, lazily grabbing your phone from where it was charging. As the screen lit up, you saw that you had a text from Mason.

You dropped your head back on the pillow for a moment with a sigh. Fighting like this wasn’t doing either of you any good—you both knew it, but this was the main problem you two seemed to face. You didn’t fight often, but when you did, you both struggled to get over your own pride and make it up to each other.

You sent the message and threw the sheets off of your legs, deciding to make yourself a cup of coffee and try to wake up. The tiles of the kitchen floor were cold on your bare feet as you walked across them.

You placed your mug under the coffee maker and started it, leaning against the counter. The cold marble touched your back through the thin material of your—well, Christian’s—shirt and the feeling sent a shiver through your body. You tucked your arms around your stomach, trying to find some sense of warmth and comfort in the otherwise bitter morning.

As your thoughts wandered, you found yourself missing the mornings that you and Christian had previously shared in this very kitchen. Lately, you had barely interacted as you moved around each other, making your coffee and packing lunches, barely mumbling a few words to one another. But before all of that, when you had first moved in together, you couldn't get enough of each other in the mornings. You would always find yourself in his arms, standing between his legs as he leaned against the counter. His large hands would run up and down your sides, sometimes finding their way under his shirt that you wore to stroke the bare skin of your back gently. You would nuzzle your face into his neck, inhaling his scent while he pressed a kiss into your hair. The only audible noise was the coffee maker and the steady drip of coffee into the mug as the two of you waited for it to finish brewing. It was the perfect start to every day, and frequently you found yourself getting out of bed earlier than you needed to just so you would have more time to waste, wrapped in Christian’s arms. Even on your days off, when he would still have training, you would get up with him so you could share those brief moments together before he left for the day and you crawled back into bed.

You snapped back to reality, shaking your head to rid it of the daydream you had nearly gotten lost in. The lights seemed to be more dull now that you were left standing in the kitchen on your own, no lover to hold you close and share his warmth.

You rubbed your hands over your arms, attempting to rid them of the goosebumps that has risen up. Your phone lit up with another notification.

 Your eyebrows knitted together in confusion for a moment. It was then that you remembered—Chelsea had a game today. You sighed, rubbing your hands over your face in frustration with yourself—the game had completely slipped your mind.

Clearly, you weren’t completely innocent in the fact that you and Christian hadn’t been spending time together recently.

You grabbed the finished cup of coffee, pouring a bit of creamer in it before you hurried back up to your bedroom to get changed.

You turned the phone’s screen off, tossing it onto your bathroom counter before turning on your shower and stepping in. You tried to move as quickly as possible, hoping to make it to the stadium and set things right before the game began. You knew that Christian didn’t play as well when he was upset, and the last thing you wanted was to be the reason Chelsea’s golden American had a poor performance.

Plus, you selfishly just wanted to be rid of the empty feeling that came with any separation between you and Christian.

When you stepped out of the shower and onto the soft mat, having completely rinsed off, the room was stuffy and the steam had fogged up the mirror. When you checked your phone again, Mason had texted you several minutes before, right after you had jumped in the shower.

You finished getting ready in record time, running out of the front door with your hair still slightly damp, and you prayed that no one noticed how hastily your makeup had been done. You tapped your fingers nervously on the steering wheel as you drove toward Stamford Bridge, the minutes creeping closer and closer to the time for kickoff as you sat in the London traffic.

When you finally arrived, you rushed to the private entrance, sending Mason a short text as you walked to let him know that you had arrived. The face that greeted you was not Mason’s, but one of the security staff that you recognized from your many trips to the Bridge over the last couple of years. He greeted you with a warm smile, explaining that Mason had sent him to fetch you since they were already beginning to leave the changing room and line up for the tunnel walk when he had gotten your text.

The security guard led you through the winding halls of the stadium and up to the box where the family and friends of the team would sit together. You found your way into an empty seat next to Sophia, Kai’s girlfriend, and she greeted you with a warm welcome and a quick embrace.

When you turned your eyes to the pitch, your heart sank as you realized the players were already standing on the field, in position and awaiting the starting whistle. You realized you would have no chance to try to wave to Christian to get his attention before the game started. Unless Mason had told him, he likely didn’t have a clue you were even in the stadium.

You were, however, thankful to see that Christian had still made the starting lineup, despite his run-in with Potter earlier in the morning. But as the whistle sounded out and the boys began moving around the pitch, it quickly became clear that he wasn’t playing up to his usual standard. He seemed to be two steps behind on every play, making sloppy touches that would give possession to the defender. He was in his own head, and it was affecting every move he made on the field.

Sophia and you didn’t talk much through the first half. She knew how intensely you typically watched the matches, but she noticed how quiet you were compared to the lively and rambunctious cheering you usually brought on game day.

When the whistle blew to signal the end of the half, Chelsea was trailing, 1-0. With Christian on the front line unable to focus enough to make a proper play, the entire offense struggled to create opportunities, and the whole team seemed to be lagging.

You watched as Christian walked sullenly toward the tunnel, head hung low. You knew he was frustrated with himself for his performance so far in the game, and you resented the part you had to play in that.

Sophia, noticing the solemn way you looked at your boyfriend, knew that something was off. She draped her arm over the back of your seat, asking you about your somber mood as soon as your attention had shifted away from Christian since he had disappeared down the tunnel. You sighed and began recounting the former night’s event to her in a quiet voice, hoping none of the other family members in the box were listening in. You told her about how Christian had come home, barely eating the dinner you had prepared before trying to leave the kitchen. You told her about the foolish words you had both let fly out of frustration, stupid accusations that neither of you meant. You told her how you were afraid that you and Christian had lost your “spark,” that feeling of never wanting to let the other go that every couple felt when they first got together. You told her that you were afraid that you didn’t know how to get it back.

You hadn’t even realized you were crying until a teardrop splashed on your hand. You used your fingers to wipe carefully under your eyes, trying not to smear the makeup you had hastily put on only a couple of hours before.

Sophia opened her mouth to address your concerns when something caught her eye over your shoulder. You turned to see that the boys were walking out of the tunnel, and you waited impatiently to try to catch a glimpse of Christian.

When he finally emerged, Mason’s arm was slung over his shoulders, holding him close as Mason seemed to be trying to give him words of encouragement. His head was still hung low. Mason squeezed his arm around Christian, turning him to face the stands once they were standing on the pitch, and pointed in your direction. A frown creased his eyebrows as his eyes followed where Mason’s finger was pointing.

When his eyes landed on you, his face softened immediately, the frown vanishing from his expression. His eyes grew big, his arms falling to his sides as he took you in, wearing the blue jersey that he knew bore his name across the shoulders. Mason ruffled his hair with a grin, walking away to let him have his moment, but Christian didn’t pay him any mind, only focused on you.

You raised your hand, giving Christian a shy wave. The faintest of smiles curled his lips, tainted with a hint of sadness. He brought his fingers to his lips, blowing you a short kiss before he moved further onto the pitch. He walked backward for a few steps, still looking at you before he turned and jogged to his starting position for the second half.

Sophia drew the arm that had been draped over the back of your chair back to her side, nudging you gently. She had a grin on her face when you looked over. “Yeah, that spark is still there. Don’t worry,” she reassured. You covered your face with your hand, trying to hide the blush that you knew was covering your cheeks. “You’ve just hit a rough patch. It happens to every couple, especially after you’ve been living together for a while.”

“Really?” you asked hopefully.

“Really,” she smiled. “It happened with Kai and I, too. A few months after he transferred to Chelsea and we moved to London, there was about a month where we barely ever saw each other. It took a screaming match and then us both crying on the floor of the kitchen with a bottle of wine for us to get past it.” The two of you laughed at the story, and you wiped another tear from your face. “But we were stronger after we got through it. And you and Christian will be too, I know it.”

She took your hand in hers and squeezed in an effort to comfort you. “Just remember to be intentional about spending time together. Life will get crazy from time to time, but if you keep pursuing each other, you’ll be okay.”

“Thank you, Sophia,” you smiled genuinely at her. “You really give the best advice.”

“Don’t mention it.” She pulled you into a side hug, over the arm of the stadium seats. As you pulled away from each other, the sound of the whistle rang through the air, and the second half was under way. You took in a big breath, letting it out slowly and praying silently that this 45’ would go better than the first had.

In a matter of minutes, it was clear that Christian was a completely different player than he had been in the first half. He was positioning himself well to make runs, taking much more controlled and calculated touches, and beating his opponents to the ball. Chelsea had made several great plays, pressing up the field and creating several breaks that resulted in near-goals. The whole stadium seemed to be holding its breath, hoping that it was only a matter of time before one of the presses ended with the ball in the net.

It finally happened in the 54th minute. With renewed fervor, the back line moved the ball around the defensive half before Thiago played the ball up the field toward the left wing. Christian broke through the opposing defense, carrying the ball up the line with players right on his heels. With quick feet, he came up to the side of the penalty box, crossing the ball toward the center.

A hush fell over the crowd as the ball floated through the air, toward a mess of players from both teams in the box. You and Sophia leaped to your feet, along with the rest of the audience, watching as the ball landed at Kai’s feet. With a quick touch to settle it, he shot the ball through the maze of defenders into the top corner of the goal. The keeper’s fingers just missed the ball, and the entire stadium erupted in a roar of cheering as the net shook with the ball’s impact.

Kai ran towards the sideline, embracing Christian in celebration, much the same way that you and Sophia clung to one another, jumping up and down as you yelled and cheered.

As the game resumed, Chelsea seemed to have hit their second wind, the game-tying goal driving them in their desire to get another. Several chances were created in the following minutes, the crowd letting out groans at the barely-missed shots that held the potential to propel Chelsea into the lead.

You were starting to get nervous as the game approached it’s last 10 minutes, not wanting the game to end in a draw after Chelsea’s incredible turn-around. You anxiously bit at the skin around your fingernails as you watched.

In the 86th minute, as fans from both sides were beginning to get restless, Reece played a quick ball through the line, Christian sprinting to catch up with it as he broke through the defense and drove quickly down the field. It was a one-on-one between him and the keeper now. He approached the penalty box swiftly as the keeper came out to meet him, trying to force a mistake. But Christian kept his head about him, taking a calculated touch to curve the ball around to the right of the keeper as he dropped to the ground in an attempt to block the shot.

The ball bounced off of the goalpost and across the line. Once again, the fans erupted in a chorus of applause and shouting. Christian sprinted back up the field, coming to stand at the sideline in front of where he knew you were sitting. The rest of the Chelsea boys ran up behind him, embracing him or ruffling his hair in congratulations. Ignoring all of the chaos around him as his teammates whooped and hollered, Christian locked eyes with you, tapping his hand over his heart.

You raised your fist to your lips, pinky pointed up as you kissed your hand. Christian mimicked your action. It was a silly thing the two of you did that had started back when you were still only friends and continued throughout your relationship. You would link your fingers together in a pinky promise, kissing your hands, as a reminder of the promise you made to always be there for each other.

The boys pulled Christian away from the sideline, still thumping him on the back as they yelled in celebration.

The last minutes of the game passed quickly, and Chelsea fans voiced their approval as the final whistle blew, signaling the game’s end in a 2-1 victory for the Blues. The players and staff for both teams made their way onto the pitch, shaking hands cordially, offering words of congratulations to one another, and embracing their own players. You and Sophia moved down toward the barrier that separated the seats from the field, waiting where the boys would usually come to greet their loved ones.

It didn’t take long for Kai to come running over, leaning up to bring Sophia into a sweet kiss. They smiled at each other, sharing quiet words as she congratulated him on his goal. You saw nothing but adoration in their eyes as they looked at one another, and the sight warmed your heart.

Kai looked over to you after a few moments. “Your lover boy will be over here any minute,” he laughed. “As soon as he can get all the guys to stop hounding him for his game-winning goal.” You giggled at his words, eyes still searching through the mass of people for him.

Christian finally emerged, pushing through the crowd in your direction. As soon as he set his eyes on you, he ran the last few yards, arms outstretched to pull you into an embrace. Not caring about the layer of sweat that covered his body, you leaned over the short barrier, wrapping your arms around his neck as your bodies finally met.

Unsatisfied with the space left between you, Christian carefully pulled you over the barrier separating the two of you. You squealed in surprise before he set you on the ground in front of him, still holding your body firmly, refusing to let go of you for fear that you could slip away.

His face was buried in your neck and you brushed your fingers over his damp skin to soothe him. His arms still kept a firm hold on your waist when he pulled back to look at you. His eyes were moist with tears when as he gazed down at you.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry. I was being stupid, and I never should have—”

“Shhh,” you cut him off, cupping his jaw with your hand. You ran your thumb over his cheekbone as his eyes darted around your face, searching for any reassurance that the two of you were okay after the fight. “I know, Christian. It’s okay.” You saw the relief washing over Christian’s body as he pulled you into a gentle kiss, pressing his lips firmly to yours as he tried to communicate all of the things he was feeling.

“We can talk about everything when we get home, okay?” you asked softly, and he nodded, smiling down at you. “Right now, I just want to tell you how proud I am of you.”

The pink blush immediately painted his cheeks as he grinned sheepishly and hid his face in your shoulder. You giggled at his actions, knowing that he never took compliments well, yet you refused to stop telling him how highly you thought of him. You held the back of his head and felt him place a couple kisses to your shoulder before he stood up to look at your face again.

“I’m sorry I got you all sweaty,” he pulled the long-sleeved compression shirt over his hand, using it to wipe your neck off as you both laughed together.

“It’s fine,” you smiled at him. “You’ll just have to help me wash it off in the shower later.”

He raised his eyebrows, surprised by your suggestive comment as a grin spread across his face.

The two of you waved to Kai and Sophia as Christian took your hand in his, lacing your fingers together as you walked away from them.

He brought your intertwined hands up to his face, kissing the back of yours as you made your way toward the tunnel so you could leave the stadium.

[sea-of-dust]

Till it becomes a pumpkin

Yuta Maki Inumaki x Gn! Reader

Summary: part one of the tamaki s/o series this one ant for my moots its for me 😻

Notes: the reader will be referred to as boss sometimes. Reader has a curse technique to suppress certain things and extends this ability to objects. Little Halloween snit bit at the end of eatch one. IM SORRY IM A DAY LATE.

Warnings: swearing, pretty long headcannons, not proofread some parts im half asleep.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

When he joined jujitsu high, you had this werid welcoming feeling about you. He couldn't put his finger on it...that was till you,Inumaki and Panda cornered him. "As your classmate I cannot stand by and watch you suffer" you pull out two hairclips "please hold still" utterly confused yet letting it happen you carefully put the hair clips on. "Rika didn't come out..." "that just means my cursed technique is as amazing as ever" "Bonito flakes" "Shut up inumaki" you pull out a mirror showing him the hairclips in his hair. "It only suppresses Rikas will to attack people you consider allies, only take it off when you feel you have full control"

He stuck around you more than anyone else there, sometimes hiding behind you. "Wait till he realizes you can barely flight" "keep talking and I'm going to suppress your hairline into next week" you held Yutas hand with that same welcoming warm presence. "You'll be fine" Even when he got to know you all better he still stuck by you and inumaki the most.

"You're so cute Yuta!!" Is something mostly everyone's heard for the past year, you'll never stop showering him with praise and affection for the most minor things. "You're into him" "PFTTT please yutas my best friend plus he's always so gloomy I'm only trying to cheer him up" "Bonito flakes" "I swear to god Inumaki" "you're into him!!" Panda walks back to Yuta and then to you "you have a fat chance!" "STOP WITH THE STUPID POSE" thank god he somehow didn't hear half of that conversation

He did try to confess to you...multiple times. "So I was thinking we could go out sometime" "oh? So you finally proposed a spot?" "I really like you y/n" "I like you too Yuta!" "Really?" "Yea you're my friend!" He'd never correct you thinking you were just avoiding the topic when in reality you just never got it. Until most of your friends called you out on it. "I don't know he just seems more glum than usual" you pause looking up when two figures hover over you "has anything happened over those few days" "well...he said he liked me and that he wanted to go out" your friends stare in shocked silence. "What?" One of them finishes up a few pencil strokes "have you considered the fact he has a crush on you" your eyes widen at the thought. "WAIT HE DOES?!" "You tone deaf idiot" and so they set up a plan to isolate both of you from the rest. "Turn em down like him back I don't care" as soon as the door locks you sigh lightly "Yuta...do you have a crush on me" his eyes widen with his cheeks turning pink. "Why would you think that" "you lock arms with me alot you say things that kinda flew over my head at first and" he shushes you quickly avoiding eye contact, moving his hand off your mouth as you begin to speak up. "I love you too Okkotsu" you could have sworn you saw his heart skip a beat "are you serious?" "I wouldn't joke with someone's feelings, especially yours" you could have sworn he was on the brink of tears watching him walk up to you, gripping you waist tightly and hiding his face in your chest. As soon as you pat his head the waterworks flow. "There there Yuta" hugging him back gently you let him cry into your chest

"Sooo who's the lucky lad boss" "I'm not telling you" "you don't have to he's your lock screen" "WHEN DID YOU GET MY PHONE" you link arms with your friend "MAKE THEM STOP PLEASEEE" "I would but this Yuta person has me intrigued aswell" "...you can't be serious" "were very serious, we should share cake with him!" "..oh no" they did meet him sadly and found out how easy it was to fluster him. "So how's the boss like around you" "eh?!" "Do they not treat you differently at all" Yuta hesitantly takes a bite of cake "now that you mention it they do hug me more often" your friend stares at him narrowing his eyes watching Yuta flush up. "Something tells me boss kisses you before bed too" "HUH?!?" "Knew it cross it off bingo!" "I got a cross already" "I already filled mine" "dammit"

He probably has a bingo too with how open he is to showing pda. Hugs from behind that feel like he's trying to be as close to you as humanely possible, whispering into your ear small little things he wanted to do later, kissing you suddenly but somewhere private, and the free space casually calling you "honey or babe" infront of everyone but Gojo. This is mostly how your friend group outside of school found out about the people you go to school with. "So you're here for the bingo of your life huh?" "First one to fill their board wins" "you're on" turns out Yuta was the one everyone got bingo on first.

This is also why you two mostly go on dates in the night. "Pst yuta yutaa" he rolls over "pookie" "NO NOT AGAIN oh-" sitting up suddenly he sees you at his window "WHEN DID YOU GET HERE?!" "No time to explain I wanna take you somewhere" "where?" "A surprise" you lead him out the window to a small hill sitting down on the grass. "Wait for it" he does only looking at you though until you suddenly point at the sky, his eyes widen as stars begin to fall not noticing when his head lands on your shoulders. "I'm sorry I heard the news and didn't wanna be the only one to see it" his hand reaches for yours while he watches the stars. "I just wanted to show you this then we'll be off" "then let's stay a while" he moves a bit closer "but you can barely keep your eyes open" he hugs you suddenly "then let's stay till I fall asleep" you only hum in response you two watching the stars together.

You two couldn't be separated even for two secounds. Of course if it was for a mission you'd be understanding but that wasn't gonna stop you from your u.f.o accusations. "HES BEEN TAKEN GET THE HELICOTPER I BEG OF YOU" "Why do you have one at the ready? But relax he's in Africa for a mission" "of course.." "nothing to worry about" as soon as maki tried to hang up "ALIENS KIDNAPED EM AND NOW THEYRE KEEPING HIM IN AFRICA" "HES FINE CALM DOWN" she sighs into the mic "listen..Yuta is gonna come back he'll be fine mostly unharmed now please go back to sleep" she hears a sniffle on the other line "thank you Maki" didn't stop you for nearly losing all energy and barely able to perform starlight kicks "Boss what was that?" "Starlight kick more like bummy poke" they're waiting for the random rain so you can reach maximum dramatic. "I know you two text everyday but if you miss him call him" "you cake devouring monster what a great idea!" You call him near instantly and suddenly your emo arc is over. Wait till you learn Yutas been the same way while away.

As soon as he gets back you do almost instantly notice his change in demeanor. More confidently standing infront of you and smiling warmly. "Yuta..." "yes?" "YOURE SO CUTE HOW COULD ANYONE BE INTIMADATED YOURE LIKE A PUPPY" that demeanor instantly broken by how you showered him with adoration. "Super soft too" you hug him for a long while everyone coulda sworn that guy turned a new shade of red just because of you. "And you took off the hairclips I'm so proud of you Yuta" you hold his head to your chest hugging him close not noticing just how flustered he is yet happy to be by your side. "That reminds me" you feel Two objects clip to your hair with him showing the same hairclips you gave when you first met him. "They look nice on you" giggling softly he takes a picture of your confused face. "DONT TURN THIS ON ME YOURE WAY CUTER WITH THESE ON" "I don't need em anymore!" "I don't care put em back on!!"

"Close your eyes and" Click, as soon as that's heard a bunch of lights and decoration were turned on. "It looks amazing Yuta I can't thank you enough" "don't mention it" "I will mention the cutiest Halloween decorator in the world!" You cup his cheeks ready to give him a small kiss. "Ew cut it out" "what if kids see" "you two need to get a life" they both shake their head in unison "simp" "oh my god" "they just came to remind you we had a party at the school" one of your friends hand you a flyer "yes I know I was just about to leave my candy bucket out" "that's not the problem" your friend looks at Yuta "where's his costume?" Your eyes widen at this realization. "...I'll be right back" you drag him inside quickly opening your drawer of make-up "when did you have this?" "You doubt how many times people ask for either a pad or makeup, always prepare for everything!" You run around gathering things while panicking and looking back at him only to get some of the best smiles in modern day. "Yuta don't look at me like that it's making me wanna give you dog ears" he turns away hearing tou ravange your closet when finally you settle on an outfit for him. "Here here we don't have time put it on I beg of you" "you think boss is going through hell up there" "have faith in y/n if they can manage to make probably criminals into club memmbers well be ok" they all look at their rabbit loving friend. "What?" "AHHHHHHHH" "that's bosses "I SAW SOMETHING WAYYY TOO GOOD THE TWINS SHOULD DO SOME DIGGING AND MAKE FUN OF EM SCREAM" "you're adorable" your on the brink of tears looking at him after putting on the outfit "the most handsome phantom I've ever seen" "are you sure-" "I'm very sure I'll just have to change my outfit last minute but" you sit him back down grabbing your eye liner "please hold still this shouldn't be long" "oh no please take your time" the same guy enjoying how close your chest was to him watching your eyes narrow as you figure out what to do. It's a great view on his end. Unfortunately, you finish quickly with you quickly changing to match him. "Alright lets-" you were stopped by him hugging you tight placing kisses all over your face. "I couldn't pass up this chance for the world" he kisses you again "you're gonna ruin your make-up Yuta" you avoid eye contact "I don't mind if it means you get to cup my face more" "Yuta!" You walk downstairs with him with the others. "Alright dearest" "blerg" "Shut up, anyway let's go win that contest" "that you're suddenly interested in" "Why yes since I have the best partner for it ever there's no wa-" your friend shushes you casually throwing you and Yuta into the car you all shared "lets go before they start monologing" "YEAAA"

She wonders why you don't use a ball instead of those needles for weapons... Because while you were playing with friends outside of school all she heard was "IVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU TWO, STARLIGHT KIIIIIICK" and a few secounds later she got knocked out cold. Woke up in your bedroom with you crying next to her. "MAKI YOURE AWAKE!!" "What the hell happened" "you were hit with bosses starlight kick" "it was for them! I didn't mean to hit you!" Sincere sounding enough didn't save you from her attempting to train with you.

"It's either you teach me that kick or we train together for a week" "please don't ive seen what you've done to Yuta" you did attempt to teach her your kick and it mostly failed miserably, didn't stop you from suddenly getting determined to try harder. "Welp looks like you're training with me" you move her leg a bit "try kicking it now and with wind up" "ok?" "And kick it like Panda made a weird comment about you" she performed a starlight kick flawlessly at that momment. You cheered watching that ball go into orbit while maki grumbled under her breath. "That was amazing Maki!" "First try too" She always seemed to come up to you more often to flex her achievements just so you could stroke her pride a bit.

You even spoke about her outside of jujitsu tech. "Boss is into people that would most likely step on em. As usual they're always this werid" "CUT IT OUT YOU TWO, Makis super cool though you'll love her!" Little to say they did love her, so much she's basically apart of your friend group outside of school now. They're debating on making her the new vice prez to witch you friend did NOT approve to say the least. "Atleast she won't take pictures of us while asleep" "actually I have them while most of you were awake and those have been selling better than the sleeping ones suggest you get better sheets" "Awe man" "wadya mean awe man he just confessed to having cameras in our houses" "unless you wanna sell them for free" there's a long silence. "I don't think we should demote em guys" "yea totally not illegal im blind" "bliinndddd" three of you say in unison

She does like dragging you around to do stuff with her. "Y/n!" "Yea!" "Lets go to the supermarket together" "what could be waiting for us there-" "instant coffee" "SAY NO MORE" you do this happy go lucky little dance whenever you drink it even though she finds it childish it is pretty fun watching you enjoy instant coffee. "Thank you Maki I'm gonna drink the entire box" "save some for me" "maybe" "wadya mean maybe?" She did have to hide any mention of instant coffee around you.

The twins use her to mess with you, knowing to exploit your totally not obvious crush on her. "Hey boss wanna play" "I'm busy right now" "shame I guess we'll just have to plan our wedding with Maki then" you turn your head around almost like an owl as soon as maki and marry were in the same sentence. "I'll play" your voice suddenly more threatening and low as the twins shrug "alright then-"

She did like being around you alot, that changed from like to loved the day you hugged her when she got back from a mission. "MAKI!" no time for her to respond she braced for impact, not expecting a quick yet tight hug from behind. "I missed you a bit" "seems like more than a bit" you huff softly "I..." You tighten your grip even more "just had a bad feeling atleast I was wrong" sighing she pushes you off "you're gonna crush my ribs" "OH-" You let go of her backing up "I'm glad you're ok Maki" she couldn't sleep after hearing those words, you're the worst for saying that you owe her!

So she makes it her mission to ask you out. Shouldn't be that hard except she doesn't know how to put it. "Oh so you're trying to ask out y/n" the twins giggle "don't worry we got you covered" your friend pushes up his glasses before him and the twins get to work "remmber Wednesday by their window and be there by sundown" the twins smirk while your friend finishes up the thing he was scribbling. "Put this in their mail" "Sure thing!" She did what she was told opening your window to see you turned around "Maki, I must confess this is kinda...unlike you" "wadya mean?" You give her the note "IM IN LOVE LOVE. EVRYTIME I LOOK AT YOU IT FEELS LIKE MY HEART BEATS OUTTA MY CHEST PLEASE MARRY ME!!" That's all she got through before crumbling it "im gonna end em" letting her in from the window and closing it. "They usually do that thinking they'll help, they're not very good at love notes" you cringe remembering one of them, looking to see Makis embrassed expression. "So they tricked me" "I mean they got your message across" laughing softly she narrows her eyes walking closer "I like you, go out with me" "so straight foward" she looked at you seriously "I love you aswell if it wasn't odvious" sighing she hugs you hesitantly.

She won't be lovey dovey in public she mostly hides it, infact you didn't even know she had a crush on you till she told you. Won't stop her from bluntly declaring it. "Soo" the twins stare at you two walking in, you not sure how Maki will feel about it decide not to say anything, fortunately for you she smirks "we're dating" everyone stops in their tracks before an uproar of "WOOAAAHAHAHHAAHHAHH"'s were heard. The clubroom sounded like a frat house. "Congrats boss!" "CONGRATS Y/N!" The look on one of your fangirls faces were priceless exactly what she aimed for when doing that.

As SOON as you two are alone, it's a different story. "You should kiss me" "you just closed the door maki" your laugh only makes her even more lovesick. "You owe me two now" "so unfair" she's all over you when your alone as if acting on every thought she held off in public. "Maki dial it back-" she kisses your cheek "what scared?" As if teasing you she holds your hands pinning you down "I've been waiting all day for this you know" you go to school the next day looking a bit stunned by thise events that anytime you think of maki you just kinda pause. This happened way too much. Thank god no one figured out why.

She dosent understand why you help people so much its kinda painful to see you walk into odvious traps. Such as the one set up by a newspaper club. "Excuse me you know y/n correct" "yes why?" "Is it true they have a dark side?" She thinks back a bit "you mean the emo phases?" "NO NO not that! The evil dark side kind" she realizes what's going on rather quickly "No matter of fact y/n's a ball of idiotic sunshine" "Maki!!" You shout out to her suddenly "come on! We're about go start the next round without you!" She walks off toward you ignoring further questions from the newspaper club. Unluckily for them they had gotten a surprise visit from the club memmbers aswell as her. "They disbanded? What a shame" "indeed" "you two just pushed up your glasses in sync that was cool" "do it again"

She took you to a haunted house not expecting to carry you the entire time. "AHHHH MAKI A GHOST!" "it's super small tho" "SAVE MEEE" "MAKI!!" As much as she would admit your cute when scared she wasn't gonna let em jumpscsre you like that. "Hold my hand" you blush a bit "oh I cant" "you wanna get outta here?" You grab her hand as she leads you out with ease, almost avoiding all jumlscares. "What about this" she presents to you a small cart. "Now we can't run" "don't worry too hard about it" swallowing your fear temporary you went through the ride with her resting on her shoulder fully admiring the scenery. "Thsnk you for bringing me" "don't mention it" she pinches your cheeks "your reaction to all this is key ya know" "they really are scary!" "One was just a cut out" "still scary!" She laughs softly at that "what?" "Maki protect me!!" Qouting you as your face turns red "your the worst" "oh please you love me" she kisses your cheek not thinking much of it, but leaving you speechless. "You know you never kissed me in public before..." You get a bit bashful "maybe I should be scared more often" "too late already know your tactics" "awe"

"BONITO FLAKES!!" "STOP SQUIRMING" he kept moving his head away as you tried to give him a spoon. "Inumaki you're gonna taste this so I don't lose to those two idiots and you're gonna be honest" "Mustard leaf!" "Gojo was being dramatic he didn't pass out!" You see disgusted fear in his eyes before he swallows down and opens his mouth. To his surprise its pretty amazing. "Sooo" he narrowed his eyes "salmon" "YES!" "I never knew you cooked" Panda walked in. "Why I do, to make everyone happy I mastered many things" "so you mastered leaving the teachers bedridden" "I TOLD YOU HE WAS JUST BEING DRAMATIC, that won't stop me from beating the twins in this bet" you smirk "maybe I'll even get that little bunny holding monsters approval!" You reach your fist to the sky. No one was sent to bed because of your cooking that day.

You've always forced inumaki to do stuff with you and in exchange whenever he'd as you'd use your curse technique to limit the effect his abilities had on him. He just had to sit through a make-over scene. Sometimes he thinks you can just nerf his powers entirely if you tried but you'd always respond "last time I tried to cancel someone's cursed technique I think I was too broad with it, think the guy ended up with like 50% fish 50% human it was really awkward". He "looses" the clips you gave him and you always have the same "WHAAA we must set up a funeral arrangement" "salmon" "don't agree your paying for it" "fuck" "don't speak normally while I'm reconsidering our friendship"

You're also the Inumaki decoder, which is why you two are usually partnered for missions, totally not because Gojo sees it happening. "Those two are married" "Why yes they are" "what-" "Bonito flakes" "not what you said last time this question came up" you could feel inumaki go deadpan you could tell the guys smiling under there "Bonito flakes" said in the most "I'm lying" way ever "I swear- give it to us before this guy ends up six feet under"

He definitely would find out the hard way what club you do outside of the high school. This "cooking competition" was actually a setup for something else something with rose petal involvement... "Welcome ladies" "AAAAAAAAHHH" "I've made eatch one thinking of all of you please savor every bite" "oh y/n you remembered my favorite dish!" "How could I forget something that important when it reminds me of you" "tuna tuna" "oh y/n please not in public" "don't worry my dear no one would mind this display of my adoration" "ah-" the girl causually faints into your arms and you put her in the preprepared bench to rest. "That's the 32nd boss" "I bet you guys couldn't reach 20" "we just had our 19th" "eh. HUH" "Tuna tuna" "you two idiots!!" You ran off once again never noticing inumaki trying to get your attention so he did the next best thing. "Next guest-" "tuna" it was as if someone had suddenly decided to jumpscare you, your eyes widening as you instantly break character finally hearing his voice. "...well if you don't mind" you drag him behind a table" trembling as you grip his shoulders "inumaki...what the hell are you doing here" "followed" "ARE YOU SERIOUS" you sigh "whatever listen you're gonna pretend to be a normal customer and then we move on with our day" "salmon" "yea you better" he enjoy that day knowing you watched his every move, kept it a secret just so he could keep messing with you.

He does sometimes wonder what it's like for the girls that come by so he does try to get you to seriously put on your theatrics, unfortunately you see him as a friend. Just means to try harder. "Inumaki?" He gets closer to you laying his head on your shoulder "are you alright would you like me to get you some water?" He dosent respond only holding your waist. "Inumaki...I don't know what's wrong but" you play with his hair "you always seem to brighten up when I do this" the twiddling with his hair strands was amazing to say the least. "I like you alot" "huh?" "I mean it I love you" you stop playing with his hair "wait...YOU TWO?!" You blush heavily "I've been inlove with you for a while aswell" smileing fondly he hugs you even tighter. "Salmon" "salmon you jerk" teasing him you kiss his forehead, you could feel him melting.

Everyone just automatically knows you two are dating without even saying it. "So did you two get together over the weekend?" "?" "I can feel it it feels like I'm third wheeling" "don't worry too much about it" "salmon" "yeaaa" Maki narrows her eyes at the both of you. "Inumaki there's a spot I wanted to try out nearby" "?" "They're even setting up dates right now" "it's gone too far" "who the hell are you two" your friends turn to her one with a bunny in hand the other looking like if megumi cut his hair and got taller. "A fanclub" "They're leaving" "GO GO" she did finally got conformation you two were dating when inumaki held your hand and looked as if he were about to teasingly kiss you, thank god your friends were so painfully odvious as stalking. "Inumaki you mustn't,wait...WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE" "sorry boss just wanted to see it happen since you had to cancel" "WHO PUT YOU UP TO THIS" your friend raises his hand "I'm jealous" "that's the worst excuse you came up with.

He will admit one of his favorite activities is getting involved in your out of school shenanigans. "I order you to master the sassy chicken by the end of this week!" "Salmon" "inumaki not you unfortunately you can waltz...right?" "Bonito flakes" "UNACCEPTABLE, get over here were gonna dance!" He lied he just wanted to see you flustered, unfortunately he realized you were incredibly serious on this. "So what if you might not be there it's still worth it to teach you" you teach him quite quickly. Now let him buy those magazines of you.

The twins love him. So much infact that he helps mess with you. "Heyyy pookie" "who told you to call me that-" Inumaki waves from the distance. He 100% uses the twins to send you letters while your in the middle of club activities. "Now now ladies" "Boss it's from tuna" "...give it to me" you take it gracefully opening it to reveal "ditch the ladies and get over here" you turn your head to see inumaki stuffing his face with cake with the other two turning around just to smirk at you "that little" you fold it neatly putting it in your pocket "apologies ladies" "AHHHHHH" "SELL YOUR BATHWATER" "Alright now that's a little too werid"

He does like making you his personal nap post, trust as soon as he gets the chance he hits you with the "so tireddddd" waddle and lays on you. Ofc the first few times you gave him piggy back rides letting him sleep on your back but then he kinda ruined it when he didn't even use his curse technique at all. "Wait a minute you didn't use it at all!" Your eyes narrow as you point at him "no free piggy backs you can walk!" "Bonito flakes..." "you have a bed at home" you are his bed at home! He does NOT let you go as soon as he's napping you're gonna have to rizz people up with him latched onto you.

As soon as you two are alone he's up to something. Biting your cheeks texting you the most random things so he doesn't accidently curse you. "I wanna go to a park" "marry me" he deletes that text "sorry my cat typed" "you're right next to me you're such an idiot" and the best part a kiss to the forehead. The best thing ever in his opinion is when you get all affectionate. "You're always so needy, one can only assume you'd want to spend every waking momment with me" kissing his forehead again while playing with his hair the guy basically turns into puddy. "I should do this more often so you won't be jealous of the fans" you pull him closer "not to worry I'll be as affectionate as need be to make up for that" "salmon" he dosent even look up at you but he's very amused by the idea cuddling up to you continuing to play with his hair

"Salllmmmoonn" "you're a very depressing zombie ya know you're worse than Yuta" "Bonito flakes" "true you're much more adorable" "salmon" "salmon" you repeat back at him watching his cheeks puff. "Don't worry zombumaki well scare the other team easily!" "How long till they get here" "10 minute" "perfect" you continue on with your plan to jumpscare the next people in the room. "You'll be down in just a secound inumaki" waving at him from up there while he's stuck to the ceiling suspended by a few bits or ropes. "You know your lines right?" "Salmon" "perfect" you and your friend hide in the corner together bickering about small things. "You're such a jerk" elbow jab strike one "we wouldn't be friends if I wasn't" "true I like you like this" "me too" strike 2 "Oh they're comming!" You grab your friends wrist pulling them closer "shush shush I swear" "Relax I'll cover your mouth if you scream too loudly" "you're the worst" he quickly shushes you, strike three there wasn't time to glare at your friend as someone had triggered the trap set by you and your friend. He suddenly drops down infront of the guests "boo" "AHHHHHHHHHHHH" They all ran off without a secound thought. "Great job inumaki!" You untie his ropes so he's able to get out "I'm sure you got then good" "salmon" he hugs you suddenly glaring at your friends before back at you. "Alright next stage" he pulls you down suddenly whispering something in your ear making you blush. "Go on without me" "Alright if you insist" your friend leaves the room, with that happening Inumaki hugs you tighter making you pat his head. "You were a great zombie good job" giving him small head pats you stand there with him for a little while. "We're gonna win cause of you" "salmon" "of course you'd say that" you move his head to face yours. "Yes im helping you take off your makeup" "salmon" "yep"

[ladydaybreaker]

Thoughts on the ending

So this isn't going to be as in depth as what some others have done...just my own personal thoughts. So, spoilers ahead y'all under the break

I felt the finale should have been longer. I felt that, especially towards the end, things were rushed and just slapped on in a 'well this happened'. Granted, this makes me have a bit more fun time with my 'job' writing out what happened for my stories as I get to play around...but at the same time, I wanted to see more.

I felt there definitely could have been more with J and Tessa (or "Tessa's" relationship, giving a better reason of why she sided with them than "I want to live". I kinda did the "Oh...so she knew the whole time." response when I saw J's reaction to the Solver bringing the ship down. Personally, I kinda hoped that she didn't know, which would have gotten a lot of very interesting interactions ranging from grief to confusion to absolute effing fury that the Solver took another thing from her. Which would have meant J fighting alongside N and V rather than against them...which imo could have been a cool thing. The "I hate you but I hate this thing more."

V I expected to be alive. In one way or another. Either she was going to be fully ok like what we saw in canon (that oil drag away in the ep7 teaser clued me in she survived) or we'd have Eldritch V to deal with before messing with "Tessa".

I do wish that the "Bus Crash Trio" had more of a relevance other than delivering the gun to Uzi and Khan getting to slam the door down on "Tessa" and stop her from eating N's core.

Also literally everyone but Doll and Tessa living was just a "aw come on..." from me (though there might be a chance to get Doll back from what I could see since we see Uzi's HUD flash her purple, Cyn's gold and Doll's red.)

I felt the entire episode could have been at least ten minutes longer.

Now, enough with the complaining and on to the stuff I liked.

The horror and action was wonderful. I adored the final fight against "Tessa" and J. The Hallway scene with "Tessa" stalking Uzi and N while giving Callback Pings to call Uzi back to her was chilling. Not to mention the whole "LetMeInLetMeInLetMeIn" scene. (I wish these scenes were longer, make the Solver horrifyingly threatening as it's toying with them/hunting them down). Also. Uzi's core literally trying to rip itself outta her chest as she's getting pinged was just horror fuel.

V and N's PTSD kicking in when "Tessa" confronted them just MWAH! Yes. All the Trauma for the cute murder bots. V's shrieks of terror and panicked "I need to get away!" moments were absolutely gorgeous and I will gladly enjoy messing with that in my own way.

The callback pings also made me squeal because that was something my awesome friend @banyanas created for their DD headcanons and we all kinda went feral over them. I'm glad to see them there!

Cyn lived. Even if she's not in her own body, I am happy to see the silly little chaos gremlin alive. I am STILL of the opinion that Cyn and the Solver are not the same person. As I kinda got that vibe when Cyn was talking to Uzi at the locker...it was a lot more kind and innocent compared to the earlier battle. Maybe it was her resignation of being stuck like that, I don't know.

Cori, effing Cori. I love the purple spitfire, still my favorite character to traumatize and love on and oh my god yes the Khori content. I am so glad she actually lived. Khan still loves his crazy beautiful wife even if she doesn't have a proper body (yet...I'm not convinced they don't eventually give her her body back). Tsundere Nori was sweet as she saved him and oh I'm totally not gonna weaponize this :3

Nuzi confirmed! My Biscuit Bites lovin' heart is happy. (Picks up Orion and Astra) Look! You two are somewhat canon now!

Uzi kicking god in the screen. CROSSROADS CREW! LOOKING GLASS BEAU AND FLIPSIDE VERA YOUR GIRL KEPT HER PROMISE AND KICKED GOD IN THE SCREEN!!

A detail I haven't shared much but have been thinking on was Uzi's eyes now. How they're a gradient of yellow and purple. I...will admit I did have the thought of when she gets stressed/frightened/angry there are little yellow glitches in them even though the Solver is destroyed in Suns, Moons and Stars.

All in all, still kinda 'ok' on the episode. My favorite is still Episode 4 though 7's up there. I wish some things went different but eh, that's what my job as a fanfic writer is.

As it stands, Thank you Liam, thank you Glitch, thank you Michael, Elsie, Nola, Daisy, Fitzy, everyone. All of you did your hearts' work and it very much shows. If not for you guys, I never would have met people I am honored and blessed to call friends. And I never would have started writing probably the longest story project I've ever done.

May you dance among the stars from adversity.

-Lady Daybreaker

[lyinginbedmon]

I know full well that I've got an uphill struggle when it comes to marketing Various Types, because it's 2024 and everyone already uses Origins and thinks it's the bee's knees (and to their credit, Origins is a good mod), so you'll forgive me for harking on about VT but I do earnestly believe that it is more than viable as a competitor of the aging popular mod.

All this was true as well back when what is now Various Types was part of Various Oddities (which itself enjoyed some considerable popularity whilst Origins didn't share space in the same modloader), but I'll try and break it down a bit to drive home why I think it's worth giving a look:

First, it doesn't work like Origins. In Origins, you choose (or are randomly selected) a "origin", of varying levels of "impact" usually between 0 and 3. Depending on server config, you might get another one after dying, but that's it. This means the range of gameplay is only as diverse as the datapack in use, because each player is locked into just one component.

Various Types, in stark contrast, actually presents the player with a full-blown character creation system. You choose a species, which is similar to an origin, and are then able to choose templates that modify it. Moreover, those templates can be stacked on top of each-other, in different orders and with different results. So whilst the range of gameplay is still limited by datapack, it is roughly combinatorially massive. The default species and templates that presently ship in the alpha, by itself, theoretically offer up to 286 builds (template conditions permitting). The server has a "power" setting that helps to constrain how drastically overpowered characters can be, but the variations possible without even breaking 5 power are staggering against the dozen or so origins that Origins ships with even today.

This ultimately means that players are always able to be at least a little different to one-another. Even if they share the same species as the foundation of their character, an Insectile player is quite distinct to an Aquatic one.

Even among the less-impactful templates, a Gravekin Orkin (essentially a still-intelligent zombified piglin) has some stark distinction from a Reptilian Orkin (roughly a lizardman). Though personally, I'd rather not get on the bad side of either one of them, especially if they just heard me call them piglins...

Secondly, and by absolutely no means least, the core component of the mod (the character sheet) has intentionally been constructed such that it is incredibly easy for others to expand beyond its current and original confines.

Want to build a magic mod and need to track what spells people have and how much mana? All you need to do is register a couple things to the right registries, and it'll work just fine. Want to build a class system on top of it and player an Othall Ranger or Muckie Druid? Same thing, same ease.

In essence, and with no shred of hyperbole, Various Types has the capacity to be the foundational element of any conceivable per-player customisation mod. Just as long as people give it a chance.

Thirdly, the laborious devotion to clean visual aesthetics. I'm not gonna give Origins much sheet for this one, it's very much a product of its age from when Minecraft didn't really support anything that wasn't a texture rendered on a repeating dirt background.

But Various Types really fits in with the more recent era of Minecraft UI. The character creator screen alone really deserves a look. Each species can be given a distinct background to complement its lore or function, such as the Crioch species being from the End and therefore having an End City as their background, versus the sunny green forest background used by the Overworld-native Linn species.

Every species, template, type, or ability can even be given custom lore text. All of them. The sheer volume of options for RP alone are staggering.

Oh, and did I mention that your avatar is visible in the creator screen? As well as the character sheet display screen?

Which doesn't sound like much on its face, you can see your skin in your inventory screen all the time after all. Except that's not actually a player being rendered in either screen.

It's a custom entity. With a custom model. That can play animations.

Every time you open that screen, your avatar will wave at you to say hi. Stick around on it long enough, and you'll even see them strike a pose right out of a fighting game or casually sit down for a moment.

You can even see what your build will look like in full on the character sheet screen before you finalise it.

And that screen is itself no slouch. It prioritises clean minimalism whilst still giving access to every detail of a given build.

Which is great, but especially so because Various Types has four favourite ability keys (which you can assign activated abilities to quickly and easily from the ability menu, from which you can also just click on any ability to activate it) and absolutely no limit on how many abilities you can have. Passive OR activated.

It's really more comparable to the UI screens of Minecraft Dungeons or Legends than anything on offer by any other mod in the same niche.

Seriously, go check this mod out. It's in alpha right now, but more or less the only thing missing from it is just more abilities, and I've got a list as long as my arm of those to implement.

[bittrlys]

Season 4 ruined TDP for me and I haven't been able to drum up the interest to watch it since, so maybe this is an out of date take but...

Terry is kind of a pointless character. His role is sort of presented as being Claudia's last tether to her morality, but his actions are otherwise so ride-or-die it seems weird when he calls her out or gets upset about what's happening (especially since they've seemingly been together a while so he should be familiar with how Claudia operates). Plus there was already a character who could serve this role: Soren.

After season 3 I was excited to see their sibling bond evolve as their outlooks were beginning to diverge. And then with Viren resurrected I wanted to see how that affected things. I was deeply disappointed when the established familial relationships fell by the wayside in favor of a timeskip romantic one (and I usually LOVE romantic plotlines).

See, I get Soren leaving his family behind and hopping to Team Hero and thus becoming unavailable to Claudia as someone to bounce off of. I don't love the execution because I think he feels rootless and lacking in significant depth in his relationships with the main cast, but I think it works for his character. He's a prodigal young knight who swore vows to defend his king and his nation, and he's a very straightforward guy. He shares pragmatic qualities with his family, but at the same time, their pragmatism operates on an abstract level he doesn't exactly understand. Once he was forced to choose between family and what he's always known and how he's vowed to live his life, I can see him making the very hard choice to pull away from them. I think him staying as Claudia's morality pet would have been a disservice to his character, though he may have more interesting things to do just because Team Dark Magic are always doing interesting things ... but again, that's more to the execution than the conceit. I don't mind characters moving apart from people they were closest to at the start of the series, and like when they can bond with new people.

I think the limited number of episodes + breakneck pace of the plot does leave their lack of interactions more noticeable, but also more inevitable. Technically, we've seen all this: Soren and Claudia have met again and fought over their differences, and Soren and Viren got their chance to hash it out a little bit. We've been informed of the status of their relationships and their feelings for one another. For a nine episode twenty minute children's animated TV show, this is relatively decent screentime offered to their relationships considering they've been apart so long. I'm not necessarily defending it as 'good' because I'll gladly say this show has very weak screenwriting with my whole chest, but the Magefam would have to be proper protagonists and not just deuteragonists to the Main Three for the screentime to really shift in their favour. But they're not, and you can't even imagine stuff happening off screen because almost everything in the plot happens one after another barring the mid-season timeskip -- and not a whole lot of interesting things happened during that.

(Like, seriously, other than some romantic relationship statuses changing characters are basically the exact same post timeskip as they were before it. It's like ... okay!)

I hope this doesn't sound like I don't get your frustrations because I do; the Magefam are one of my favourite parts of the show and it's always better when some combination of them are on screen together. And it's like, sure Viren and Claudia were hanging out in the later seasons, but he was borderline comatose for most of that, so it doesn't feel like they were. The fracturing of a family is interesting, but you always hope for more of a resolution or at least a sense of poignancy this show is never quite going to master. I'll actually say that my feelings still hinge on season 7 or god forbid the final arc. If we see Soren and Claudia get more than one or two scenes as all our players move into place for the final confrontations -- if Soren were to learn what Viren wouldn't tell him -- if Claudia gets to have a properly satisfying confrontation with Aaravos about the death of her father if she learns the truth ... if Soren and Claudia get to mourn their father together, even if it's briefly -- if we have Claudia have complicated feelings if she were to learn about Soren asking Viren to do the spell -- of Soren offering his heart, but Viren sacrificing himself instead ... I mean, all of that could be really good, and for me it would serve as a kind of epilogue to tie together the seasons of separation and growing apart from each other.

How hopeful am I for any of this? Well, about as hopeful as I am for this show ever pleasing me. But hey! I do think it's possible, with the narrative they've already established.

Anyway, to get to the Terry of it all: I think he serves a purpose as not just Claudia's tether to morality but as someone to work off of, so I get why he's here. I also think Claudia getting a random elf boyfriend is still extremely funny and charmingly quirky of her. As I said in response to a previous ask I think Terry could use more personal development but I like his dynamic with Claudia. People call him an enabler but he does offer her some pushback, generally gently. He's just someone who loves Claudia enough to stick with her, and hey, I love Claudia too so that's nice to see. Honestly, even if Soren were around, you're obviously going to have a different relationship with a romantic partner than you would a sibling, so Terry could easily fit in the group that held Soren as well.

This season Karim (love him) was like "Janai is my sister! Of course I love her! But I'm still going to depose her violently!" and like that is great. That's siblingcore. That's I love you but I want to beat you up. That's no matter how far apart we drift you're still bound to me. Soren and Claudia are this. Meanwhile Terry and Claudia are your first serious relationship. They're young and passionate and desperate to make it work because who else would match their freak quite this way? But if they fall out there's nothing to keep them together anymore. They'll just be forced to move on. Soren can walk away from Claudia and know that on some level they are always close; if Terry walks away from Claudia he may end up meaning nothing to her. So, just like real life, there's a lot of stuff they're willing to overlook and rationalize because they WANT to keep wanting each other ... and Claudia can use someone like that on her side, as we see Soren and Viren both leave her in time.

I think Terry being down to clown but taking issues with some things is fine; he often frames his objections around the harm they will cause Claudia, and that's nice. The one thing I still don't get is his reaction to Claudia threatening the coins. I will preface this by saying I can believe he's more sensitive to elf death after he murked Ibis, and doesn't like reminders of the differences between him and Claudia when it feels very her, a human, against an elf. Yet whenever I rewatch it, I still find his censure unusually stern for him, and it's hard to shake the feeling that this is the writer's doing as they do best, that is not knowing how to write from their own established lore and character motivations.

Like, in-show it says, Claudia was cruel to mockingly threaten the lives of Rayla's loved ones, and trick her into thinking they nearly burned in agony, not offering her the real coins. Is that cruel? Sure, sure. What's the context? Oh? Rayla was THREATENING TO SLIT TERRY'S THROAT? Rayla, the Moonshadow elf ASSASSIN they have every reason to think would go through it, even if we the viewer know Rayla probably wouldn't? Hmm! If Claudia is cruel, Rayla is a monster. Rayla, who was offered the coins in fair trade as she THREATENED TO SLIT TERRY'S THROAT, but refused. Like, Terry? Are you this mad at Claudia because she did an actually extremely reasonable thing to save your life (+ her father's life) in as pacifist a way as possible, or are you mad because the writers need to tell the audience This Was Bad and ensure Rayla gets the real coins while not having to change that emotionally charged sequence they were probably really proud of writing? I still think this was Terry's characterization faltering just so they could get the outcome they wanted.

Ultimately, I see Terry as someone who is lacking in prejudice, maybe due to his own presumed desire to be taken at face value. He can date a human and not have a kneejerk reaction to dark magic, but he isn't amoral. Nothing he's really seen has been enough to push him away but he is cautious that Claudia may stop walking the knife's edge and fall off of it. He's realized even he can do terrible things out of love and this has bound him more tightly to Claudia. He's someone who is CHOOSING to join this life, and wasn't just pre-built loyal as a sibling would be. All of this does give him a role in the narrative that's pretty unique to him and their dynamic, and I like that. Again, I hope he gets more to do beyond just being Claudia's partner, but I really don't mind him existing.

Thank you very much for the ask! ♥ Really don't blame you for dropping the show post season 4 .... if I wasn't Virenpilled I would have dropped it after season 1 I think.

[canaidliafail]

untitled

streamer ellie Williams x dancer reader 🌿

Id call this an excessively long shitpost. It is in the same timeline with staygrounded but I wrote it down for self indulgent reasons such as -to no ones surprise- venting. It ain’t good btw but its getting better I think.

CW: first of all, reader is a dancer/ dance teacher || short mention of self harm || MDI: there are sexual themes if I remember correctly || Ellie being very gay

If you by any chance do enjoy this concept I don’t mind writing a part 2 tho. Requests are open ��

“you blame it on the drugs I dont give a fuck cause the damage is done,

and you talk about suicide, its the way you manipulate”

1:35 ───ㅇ───── 3:47 ↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

gossip, rumors, spreading a false narrative and falling in love with being a victim of life and most importantly a victim of you.

So many things that could have been said about her. So many and yet all sat stale at the tip of your tongue. You wanted to rip her to shreds, put a curse on her and considered spending life in prison for premeditated murder. Then you cried and just prayed she would leave you alone and that she would find happiness and that you would never hear anything about it. You scratched your arms, the stitches holding your flesh together getting irritably itchier day by day. flesh that you so willingly sliced a week ago and regretted right after.

It was fucking embarrassing to fall to such depths of despair and misery cause of love. In life we allow things to happen to us. Saying that was comfort of some sorts. It gave you control over a situation that you were dragged around like a puppet.

Could truly another person's venom poison you this irreversibly?

And while you did crave love and attention you refused to humiliate yourself by asking for it,let alone admit to it.

“she didn’t love you, she loved the idea of being with you. You have to realize it baby, You are a known figure now…People will do that to you. This is a whole new world you just entered”

You shook your head and dully stared at the screen playing lo-fi on loop

“New world ? Feels like I'm back in high school”

You sat on the other end of the couch numb and mute. It had been a week since you spoke to your roommate and two since you last saw your whole friend group. You warned them

“I can’t talk but I really need you”

and they came and would chime in to whatever little but you were willing to share that night.

You all woke up around the same time the next day, exam season not really willing to cooperate with your mental breakdown and started getting ready. You had already failed 2 subjects. shit was not going your way so on the fourth day you just gave up and decided to go with the flow

“how bad can it get”

bit of advice fellas, never fucking say that cause it CAN get worse.

While initially you were well prepared for exams, You mixed up the days when you were supposed to submit assignments and the days when you were taking a written exam.

2 failed subjects, 4 more to go.

4 failed subjects… 2 more to go

Hot girl summer just doesn’t feel the same once you hit your 20s it seems.

_________________ 𓆩♡𓆪 _________________

You were aimlessly watching one story after the other,barely there and hardly caring what exactly you were looking at. Abby had just posted one cryptic photo with a girl you saw around in the community and smiled. You could tell something was going on with her and that other streamer girl and you smiled. You thought they were a good match and quite frankly you were just glad to see that some people were doing better in their love life than you ever could. It gave you hope that things like that still existed even if you weren't meant to experience them. Ellie had also just posted and you took a minute longer to appreciate her slender form dressed in tights and a top while horse riding. She was hot and she knew it and you liked that attitude of hers. You checked the next story which was a black screen with a text

*I fell off my horse two minutes after taking that pic*

And chuckled. Your eyes drifted off to the green square mark and cocked a brow

Oh?

So you were in her close friends ?

You sat up

“Wait since when has she-” You asked yourself out loud and noticed that indeed she was following you. In the midst of working on new content and getting out of your depressive slump you started checking your social less and less too busy with dance practice and trying to enjoy life and it seemed like in the middle of your subtle break things…. Happened

Maybe a few months ago when you were down bad for her this would’ve affected you but now you just shrugged and closed your phone. You need to get back to practicing a new dance combo for a video and you couldn’t be bothered. Your ex had scared you off from dating public figures for good. Dating was a strong word…You hardly wanted even a fling at this point.

You got dressed up and put on a wig, fixing your makeup in place and making a movement test before you went to the studio to record the new choreo so that you could only worry about the variation and not have any unnecessary technical issues. The studio was a few minutes away from your place by bus and you put on the songs you planned on rehearsing to get in the mood on your way there humming softly and tuning out any other thought polluting your mind.

There's was a text notification from the user

Elliefuckingwilliams

Which you forced yourself to ignore refusing to entertain whatever she could have texted you. If this was a month ago maybe you would have but now you didnt want to.

_________________ 𓆩♡𓆪 _________________

Ignoring her was your plan until you posted the new video of your dance which admittedly you did look good and may have been one of your best videos up to date. Ellie Was the third like on that post and she had shamelessly double texted you. You chewed on your lip nervous and uncertain

“She texted me again”

Ophelia, your roommate, peeked her head from her iPad and looked at you curious

“Who?”

“Ellie”

“ELLIE?! WAIT THE ELLIE?!” She jumped up and for a moment you for sure she came for your throat but instead clutched the blankets on your couch

“And what do you mean again ?! When did all of this happen ?”

“Relax it all started today and you know I wanted to tell you once we had time to properly hang out” You said fighting back a smile knowing that this was a victory. Ophelia had suffered you for months crying over your ex, then thirsting over Ellie and then back to square one. You owed her an update on your emotional affairs which you swore that they would stay stagnant.

“So what did she say ?”

You opened the Direct messages

Elliefuckingwilliams: Hey I have a question

Elliefuckingwilliams: Is your studio in Seattle ?

Elliefuckingwilliams: I have a project and am looking for a dance instructor. Let me know if you would be interested in a collab

“Ah. Just work stuff it seems”

“EXCUSES SHE JUST WANTS TO EAT YOU OUT AND IS LOOKING FOR A EXCUSE”

“You are shameless”

You stared at each other with a smirk fighting to break through, wanting to seem equally serious despite the ridiculous situation.

“She does not”

“She does. I’m betting 50 dollars”

Oh fuck off ill just roll you a blunt”

“A WIN IS A WIN” she said with her hands in the air “No come on! Respond already you are driving me crazy”

You rolled your eyes and considered her offer. You were taken aback cause Ellie didn’t seem like she would do anything with…dancing. However you weren’t new to influencers trying new things to get back on the algorithms favor so you brushed it off as her chasing new heights to her already growing fame.

-Hey, I’m not sure where you are exactly and it isn’t my studio. I am just renting the space but I could give you a lesson or two

Elliefuckingwilliams: Sweet! When are you available ? I have a gap next week otherwise it can be next month

You stared at her immediate response and quirked your brow in approval. Professional and straight to the point. You could respect that. Not what you were aiming for. You tried to ignore the previous conversations you two had that showed above her new messages. Your fruitless attempts at getting her attention in the most stupid of ways. Can’t blame a girl for trying. Shoot for the stars they say. You’ll land on dirt but hey, at least you gave it a fair shot and therefore no one could blame you for trying.

-This week is good. Say Friday ?

Elliefuckingwilliams: Yeah yeah cool! I'll text you the day before so that you can tell me your location and everything

You pursed your lips and turned to look at Ophelia who was on all fours on your couch desperately trying to steal a glance at your phone screen. You tossed it on one of the floor cushions

“Not a date. I’m just gonna be her dance instructor so looks like you owe me that blunt”

“Nu-uh. Bet you’ll be raw dogging in the studio. We will see who wins on Friday”

_________________ 𓆩♡𓆪 _________________

“And the dance floor is filling up with blood, But oh, Lord you’ve never been so in love”

ELLIE’s POV

Ellie was convinced that God had specifically hand crafted her body to be incapable of dancing. She had no coordination and perhaps was even tone deaf which was ridiculous for someone who played the guitar and sang. Not that she was a pro at that either but who creates a musician who doesn’t understand how to step on notes in any way other than with an instrument ? So now that she had texted you she was frantic, bouncing her leg up and down and chewing on the flesh around her fingernails.

“What's gotten into you?”

Dina asked while folding clothes. She was at her and Jesse's apartment for the night and she had yet to tell them about her new crush and her impatient attempt at getting to see you as soon as possible. Ellie was aware of you as a creator. Be it from a post-share on her friends stories or you falling on her timeline she would see you here and there. She vividly remembered a month where you peaked and she went from seeing you once every two months at best to seeing you every week. And she was curious as to why was everyone going crazy over you and your content. You seemed to interact mostly with Abby’s girl.

That’s how Ellie referred to the girl Abby seemed to be crushing on. In a game of broken telephone and who told what, Ellie planned on seeing how close Abby was with her girl and if that was close enough for her to ask if she could…well ask her about you and then somehow for that information to get back to you.

But all that plan failed the second Ellie asked

“So is Cotton dating anyone?”

And Abby took that horribly wrong and now was set on gatekeeping her. Ellie was awkward and a mess and couldn’t communicate properly what she wanted because to her, what she asked was obvious and had no hidden meaning or intention but the world around her didn’t work like that and she struggled so fucking hard with it.

Ellie’s second grant failure was when she followed you back. She was sure that you wouldn’t have missed it. But the silence was so loud it was deafening. You were still posting but you were otherwise quiet everywhere else. You rarely even watched her stories at this point so Ellie decided to grow a backbone and some balls and directly message you.

She flinched at the dry responses she gave you to your previous interactions which back then seemed professional but now they seemed…So distant.

Finally, she texted you.

and you responded.

“Dina I did a stupid thing”

Dina tossed the clothes in the wardrobe and kicked close giving up on tidying Jesse’s shit

“Ok, stupid how? Like speaking money or-”

“I texted my crush-”

“You have a crush?”

“Yes and so I texted her and-”

“Who is she ?”

“A content creator, anyways so I texted her”

“WHo?”

“Dina can you let me talk?!” she said frustrated and Dina grinned. She went to the kitchen aisle to grab a bottle of water and tossed another one Ellie’s way. She leaned against the counter listening to her friend endless yawping about this new crush. she called her twice a day until Friday, and would recite every move and gesture she planned on using to seduce you. Dina would turn each one down by saying

“You do realize that when you see her you will just shit your pants from excitement and won't say anything right?”

So ellie would hang up and call a few hours later with a new plan that aligned more with how she typically acted.

When Friday came she showered twice and changed outfits over and over again, as a result she was late. She was proud of her fit since the sleeveless turtleneck did a nice job at hugging her slim, well built frame and showed off her toned arms that took years of calisthenics to build and paired with a baggy pair of sweatpants she felt like she had the biggest dick in the city.

But once she parked outside of the studio you mentioned cold sweat ran down her spine and her hands felt clammy and sticky from anxiety.

what the hell am I doing

she questioned and rested her head against the steering wheel. She drummed her fingers on the soft leather and hummed a melody to ease her nerves till she heard light tapping on the window. She lifted her head and looked up and there you were. hair loose, shorts and a baggy graphic T that had a faded graffiti-like artwork of spiderman.

She hated how much she loved the sight in front of her.

she opened her door and slid out trying to gather her stuff in a hurry

“Hi sorry, were you waiting long? I missed the bus and had to wait a bit until the next one came…”

“no no! Its cool I was just, ugh trying to calm down cause I'm nervous”

you smiled and lowered your brows in empathy

“I assumed you would. You don't have experience in dancing right? Or at least you haven’t mentioned it anywhere”

She winced at how obvious her lie was and she didn’t know how to answer to that

I don’t dance but If that’s what it takes to fuck you then sure I can learn how to do a Ronde de Jambe

“ah yeah you got me there, I’ve never danced before”

“That’s cool with me. Just curious on what piqued your interest to start now. New hobby or…?”

“yeah new hobby!” she hurried to answer, glad that you inspired her on what lie to use for the day.

You nodded while checking her out head to toe and before she had time to boost her ego and assume that you did because you found her hot you said-

“Hm. I will need you to wear tighter pants next time so that I can see what you are doing with your legs. But for today it's fine”

and took the keys out of your duffel bag

“Well. Ellie williams. Ready to start?”

“ah yeah just, be gentle…? I've never done anything remotely close to dancing with my body and I might be pretty stiff”

“Don’t worry about it. I've had every type of student and all of them managed to pull a few cool moves in their second month. If there’s a will there’s a way”

she smiled more nervous than before. You were formal and professional leaving little close to no space for her to get flirty and she was at a loss. She should’ve done more research on dancer etiquette so that she wouldn’t have looked like such an uneducated swine but there was no point in getting angry over that now.

“We will start with basic breathing exercises and a warm up just to get you in the swing of things. We will start with body isolations”

Ellie stared at you from the mirror as you showed her the first few basic motions

“Alright so for the warmup just follow my lead”

you grabbed the remote and put on “never ending song” by Conan Grey which had a pretty standard rhythm and was easy to dance along to. Ellie was in awe with the plasticity of your body, every move being a continuation of the previous one all like a rolling tide of emotions complimenting the beat and the beat complimenting you.

On the other end, Ellie was too embarrassed to look at her own reflection

“alright so first to isolate your hips from your chest” you said and let the next song play. You laid your palm flat on her back and pointed a bit below her collarbones holding your fist in the air

“move with me, breathe in” you said and she tried to copy your move watching your chest rise. You shook your head

“no, I need only your chest to move. Relax your shoulders love” you teased with an easy smile and Ellie by now was a mess, from the proximity and from the simple exercise of trying to move your breathing pattern

You were oblivious to it all going from one body part to another occasionally fixing up her posture and tapping the part that she had to focus on, but all hell broke loose in your brain when you laid your hand on her stomach asking her to clench and unclench her core hunching within herself.

“You were so dramatic before, look at you Els. You just needed a little basic guidance “ you encouraged and she smiled and looked at you in excitement, oblivious to the fact that when she turned her head she was a breath away from accidentally kissing you

“ah! I-“

you smirked and pulled away

“I've been rehearsing this one choreo, best way to understand these exercises is through a dance routine. How do you feel about that?”

Ellie agreed and while dancing she kept being thrown off balance at the sharp turns that she had to take which in return slowed her down and she would miss a few steps. You let the music play in the background and let out an awkward chuckle

“Fuck ok this is my fault see I forgot to tell you about spotting”

“Spotting?”

You nodded and you pushed her back by her shoulder freeing up a line for you

“See when we turn, we always have a spot” You said and stepped into the appropriate preparation to do 8 simple turns, your head always snapping the back to the invisible mark you held with your eyes

Ellie pursed her lips. Seemed like such an obvious trick but one that went completely over her head

“Now I see that you struggle to look at yourself in the mirror, Which is fine. I’m sure you'll get used to it eventually, so instead try taking a few turns while holding eye contact with me, yeah ?”

You offered and she took a couple steps back

“Ugh…what were all those moves you made before spinning?”

“Oh don’t worry about that,thats ballet stuff. Just spin. Bent your elbows and hold your arms against your chest if it helps”

Ellie started off slow, picking up the pace as she neared you, eventually losing sight of what was in front of her

“Wow-wow-wowwww I got you” you said and steadied her by her shoulders and held her in place. She looked up at you taking in deep breaths, cheeks flushed and eyes wide open with her lips parted in a soft smile

“That went well, How do you feel?”

You said and you gently rubbed your thumb against the naked skin of her biceps.

“Great, I… I liked this it makes more sense now”

She said filled with excitement

_________________ 𓆩♡𓆪 _________________

Every time Ellie liked your story you felt your heart skip a few beats. You were in the studio for your solo dancing practice and kept bouncing from one leg to the other to keep your muscles warm while you scrolled through your phone to find some inspiration or a pic that you could post and in return give Ellie an opening to respond to. The image of her timidly trying to follow along through your every move, her flushed cheeks and her voice shaking did things to your brain chemistry, re-wiring its entire structure and flow. Every time she posted a story with a smug smile and pants lower than her boxer briefs you just laughed remembering what a shy and soft mess of words the girl was and felt an unhealthy amount of endearment. A spark re-ignited in your dead heart and you liked it. You liked ellie when you didn’t know her, and you liked her even more now that you did.

By now it had been…a good two weeks that consisted of 4 dance practices that you had with her. The first time you saw her up close all you thought was a “huh”

And then a “she is shorter than me-“ which for you was dangerous. You had an incredibly soft spot for masc lesbians who were shorter than you. Unfortunately they were never attracted to you though. You had always attracted the exact opposite of what you wanted and you blamed that on your overly dominant attitude.

On the second day you both had the same idea of treating each other to a coffee and so you ended up with 4 paper cups of iced almond milk lattes which you laughed about for a good 10 minutes

“We are so in sync!” You commented and she nodded excitedly, blushing all the way to her ears.

On the third dance practice you purposely pretended to assist her and correct her to find an excuse to touch her and when you saw how positively she reacted to it you pushed on the advantage that you had, heavily , which made you believe that maybe there really was some kind of ulterior motive as to why Ellie was so set on having you as a dancing coach.

On the fourth day there was a shift in the tide and something was in the waters. Ellie had her hair gathered and decided to wear the sluttiest outfit on earth ( aka a white top and grey sweatpants )

She went to greet you with a hug and you noticed her perfume, subtle but there to make you lust after it. She asked if she could record the Dance you were rehearsing for a post and you felt alright with that. And she excelled. She was a fast learner and her body had a good flow. It did need polishing but she wasn’t half as bad as she claimed to be. The fifth video take was close to perfection and in her excitement she yanked you towards her and wrapped you in a tight hug which you immediately reciprocated eager for the contact with the sex God standing before you. You took in the blended smell of her perfume and her sweat which had you feel insufferable discomfort with how tight your pants were. Something about her raw scent had you horny like a dog and you had to clench your jaw in patience not to act out of instinct and try to get closer than needed.

You both laughed and she yelled in excitement “I fucking did it”

And then your voice followed, a bit quieter “I told you, you could do it” she pulled back her arm still on your waist, her thumb caressing the skin as she watched the video a second time in excitement. You took the chance to stand a bit closer to her while she in sync wrapped her whole arm around you and leaned her head against your chest enjoying the dance and pointing out things that you could do differently next time, all in the comfort of each other’s embrace.

She posted the video and in the daze of the excitement of seeing what you two looked like next to each other you forgot to worry about the fact that you were yet again getting entangled with a public figure. An actually big one. While your previous relationship was just your ex leeching off of you and your success, this one…it had to be different. Ellie had nothing to gain from you and you put your trust in that and in the fact that the two of you seemed to genuinely get along

You decided to text her first

“You impatient fuck. We could’ve filmed a better take tomorrow”

“You are such an ass, let me enjoy my accomplishments”

You started tidying up the studio and decided to leave your bag with your ballet clothes and pointe there since you would come tomorrow for Ellie’s lessons anyways. You chatted back and forth all the way back and you almost tripped on your staircase too busy typing a response. You banged your head against your door though thinking you had unlocked it to find that you didn’t. Ophelia opened it for you

“Girl?”

You looked at each other and you immediately broke into a smile the split your lips

“Ellie posted our video. And she left in the part where she hugged me”

“Oh-hooooo” she exclaimed and rushed you in. She tossed the mop on the side of the wall and nudged you to the couch abandoning whatever housework she was in the middle of to listen to you

“Aaaand we are still talking” You said smiling and Ophelia clapped cheering for you while you swung your way inside the house and fell dramatically on the couch.

“Oh my, I’m so glad the Gods heard our prayers cause I was sure I was about to send you off to priesthood”

“It wasn’t that bad”

You said with an offended gasp and she scoffed

“Honey, one more month and you were about to grow back your virginity. I’m just happy to see you back out there and not just with anyone but with The Ellie fucking williams!” She said getting louder with every word. You joined her cheerful demeanor hopping on the couch and you both started bouncing on it like kids in a playground

“I can’t believe this. I wanna wear something good for our practice tomorrow”

“Shorts and that nice red bodysuit!”

“But-“

“No buts! I know it’s uncomfortable but she will see you and rip it off right away so how much will you really suffer, you know?”

Ophelia coming through with the obvious answer to any and every world known issue was exactly what you needed to finish off your day. Though to be fair, if there was anything you should have listened to regarding -making a move on your crush- that would have to be her. She had a banging record of pulling every single guy she set her eyes on and one night standing them for her own satisfaction. Of course now she had her sights on someone specific but that didn’t change or erase all previously acquired skills in the flirting department. Despite all of that, You ended up rejecting the bodysuit idea because that would be a hassle to actually get off if things would go anywhere and even if they wouldn't, anything that tight during summer was a nightmare in general.

“Hey can I borrow that white top you have?”

“Borrow whatever you want and do whatever you want just never let me know about it”

_________________ 𓆩♡𓆪 _________________

on the day that you fully planned on making a move a couple things went wrong. First and foremost well, It decided to rain down which meant you had to run all the way from the bus stop to the studio in a hopeless attempt to preserve your hair and outfit. It didn’t do much since you ended up like a drenched cat either way but you refused to let your mood falter.

You tried texting Ellie to ask if she could bring coffee for you two.

Few minutes later she came in with two iced coffees, not a drop of rain on her which you were awfully jealous of. Her cropped hair was once again all gathered in a short ponytail and she wore two sports wristbands around her arms which did unimaginable things to you. It was good sight with her sleeveless baggy tshirt. Ellie just knew how to dress plain and attractive.

“Looking good” she teased when she found you furiously trying to dry the ends of your hair with a towel

“Shut up. Please shut up”

“So sensitive” she said and rolled her eyes making her way to you and taking the towel from your hands

“Let me help” it wasn’t so much of a request as it was a demand when she pulled the towel out of your hands and moved behind you, wrapping your hair in it and squeezing it to get most of the water out. You felt your body temperature rise at the awfully tender gesture and unsure of what to do you just fidgeted with your hands looking at the floor

“ I can drive you back to your place if you want”

“No, it's fine. Ill wait it out”

“No no, I insist. Let me drive you back and look cool while doing so”

A soft chuckle escaped your lips as she rounded you up to give you the towel with a small shy smile, her cheeks a shade of pink now.

Practice was good if you were to ignore that Ellie seemed a lot more focused on your assets rather than the moves you were showing. You knew the biker shorts you were gave her a 4K view of your ass but you didn't expect her to be this obvious about it. You stepped back after a moment and just watched as she rehearsed the dance on her own and you were in awe on how much more comfortable she seemed with her body now

“Good. This one was very good. Want me to film you so that you look at yourself?”

you asked and she shook her head satisfied with the progress. You slouched on the ground, legs spread and ankles on your knees wiping the sweat of your brow carefully as not wipe your brow completely off with it and looked at the time

“Well we are pretty much done then for today. Unless there’s anything you wanted to ask me or anything else you wanna try doing?” you asked and Ellie followed your lead walking over to you across the room and crouching down on her knees in front of you

“Oh yeah I did wanna ask something”

“go ahead then” you said dreading having to get up. You didn’t have to though

“Can I take you out on a date ? for coffee perhaps?”

[lopsided-whiskey-grin]

Ghostsoap but it’s the Steve/Bucky Cap America/Winter Solider dynamic…the angst of it all would just be 😙👌🏻

Anon, if there's one thing I love writing more than smut, it's angst. I had so much fun with this, you have no idea! It's sad boy hours, my friends! Let's make these men suffer 😈 ( also, don't come after me for the plot, it was just some half-baked idea I had about Makarov being like a hydra equivalent or something idk lol)

I Knew Him - chapter 1

Summary: Soap was never the same after he lost Ghost all those years ago. He still has nightmares about it. But when he learns Makarov is back after taking Ghost from him, he'll do anything to exact his revenge. Until he discovers Ghost was never really gone.

Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | AO3 link

It had been five years since Soap had last seen Ghost. Five years since he had seen him fall. And he was still plagued almost every night with dreams of him. Tonight was no different. 

Soap awoke with a start, heart pounding wildly in his chest, soaked in sweat. He sat up, drawing his knees to his chest, burying his face against his forearms. Goddammit. Would this ever end? He slowly looked up to get his bearings. Moonlight filtering in through the window cast the room in a soft silver glow. He was at home. The salt of unshed tears burned at the back of his throat, remembering the nights he had shared with Ghost in this very flat. In this very bed. Fuck.

After giving himself a few minutes to catch his breath he made his way into the kitchen, knowing he wouldn't be getting back to sleep after that one. He had been holding Ghost's hand this time, holding on as hard as he could, but it wasn't enough. He wasn't strong enough to pull him back into the helo. And then he was gone, disappearing down, down, down into a rising cloud of dust. 

The ending to the nightmares was always the same: Ghost falling and falling. But sometimes, like tonight, Soap was able to grasp his hand, to touch him one last time. It almost made it even worse. Because in the actual memory of it from all those years ago, Soap hadn't ever had a chance to grab on. 

Rubbing a hand roughly over his tired face, Soap padded barefoot to the stove. A headache was already beginning to form in his left temple. He squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose as he started the kettle going. For a brief moment he considered something a little stronger than tea, but then thought better of it. He knew that the bottle of whisky in his cabinet only made him think of Ghost and getting black-out drunk at 3 o'clock in the fucking morning probably wasn't the best idea. 

He was numbly watching a bag of Earl Grey steep in a mug of hot water and checking emails on his phone when a text came through. It was Price. "Rendezvous at the base at 0500. New intel on Makarov."

Soap's heart plummeted. Well, shit. 

It was still dark out when Soap walked into the base to meet with his team. He had showered and shaved, but still felt tired way down to his fucking bones. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a full night’s sleep. Before Ghost fell, that’s when. The headache in his temple started coming back and he groaned, digging in his pocket for the small bottle of ibuprofen he kept on hand. He tipped a couple back onto his tongue and swallowed them dry, then made his way into the conference room to find Price already there, cigar in his mouth, waiting. 

The rest of the team filed in slowly and when everyone had taken a seat, Price stood. Soap watched wearily as Price loaded a military brief onto the giant flat screen on the wall. “Morning, gentlemen. Let me get right down to it. We received classified intel of an attack being planned by Makarov in downtown D.C. happening twenty-four hours from now. And we have been tasked with stopping it."

A murmur swept across the room.

Soap sat forward in his seat, unchecked anger simmering just under the surface. “I thought we bagged that Russian prick after…” he stopped mid-sentence because he knew the next words out of his mouth were about to be after I lost Ghost. He cleared his throat and started again, “after Kyrgyzstan.”

Price shook his head, not quite meeting Soap’s eyes, and looked back to the screen. “Negative. Intelligence indicates that while we did get a positive lock on his location and obliterated his base, he escaped to a hidden shelter. He’s been operating underground for the last five years, working on a new secret weapon -- a weapon he’s planning on using in D.C.” He sighed and ashed his cigar before putting it back in his mouth. “We thought we were done with him, but he apparently wasn't done with us. The details have been sent to all of you. We rendezvous at the meeting point in two hours. Let’s nail this bastard once and for all. Dismissed.”

Everyone began leaving the room. Soap stood slowly on legs that were not quite steady. Price’s news made him numb, forcing his mind to relive that day with a heartbreaking clarity. The mission, the missile making contact on Makarov's compound, the helo taking a hit, Ghost. They were never able to recover his body. Soap never even got to say goodbye. It was just so fucking unfair. 

Soap was so lost in himself he hardly even processed Price saying his name.  

“MacTavish, a word.” 

Blinking, Soap nodded and made his way across the empty room to Price. He stood before him at parade rest. 

“Soap, I know you and Ghost were close.” Soap swallowed against a lump that formed in this throat, but pushed down any other emotion trying to show on his face. Price continued, “It wasn’t easy on the 141 when we lost him, but I know it was even harder for you. Will you be able to carry out the duties assigned to you in this mission, Lieutenant?” 

A tic bunched in Soap's jaw and he straightened his back. "Aye, Captain." His voice was hoarse. "There is nothing I want more than to bring this motherfucker down for what he did. And what he plans to do.” For Ghost.

Price’s mouth set in a hard line and he studied Soap for a moment. Finally he said, “All right. Let's get this done, then.”

Soap nodded sharply once and left the room. His breath left his lungs with a whoosh. He found the nearest empty office and closed himself inside. Leaning back against the door, he slid slowly to the floor, blinking back tears. A mixture of emotion battled within him. Shock, grief, sorrow, anger. The anger ultimately won, though, as it usually does. He held onto it, allowing it to simmer hotly deep in his chest, burning up everything else but the raw demand of bringing Makarov down. He owed Ghost that much.

The next two hours passed in a blur. Soap operated on instinct alone; cleaning his guns, sharpening his knives, packing a rucksack. He tried his best not to dwell on much of anything at all except to prepare himself for what was to come. It was an effective technique apparently because he soon found himself at the rendezvous point at the airfield with no real recollection of how he got there. He joined up with the task force on the tarmac as they loaded themselves into the awaiting C-130. And they were off to D.C. 

Soap’s exhaustion finally caught back up to him on the three hour flight and he was actually able to sleep for most of it. He, thankfully, had no dreams at all. 

********************************************************************

After touching down, the 141 wasted no time in gathering in a caravan of SUVs and heading toward the location they received from Laswell’s intelligence brief. They were just about to exit off the Roosevelt Bridge when they were ambushed by Makarov's team, who seemed to come out of fucking nowhere. Straight adrenaline took over Soap’s whole body on the first collision of the Hummer behind them that slammed them sideways into the concrete barriers on their right. Another Hummer drove the wrong way up the highway, weaving between oncoming traffic, firing out the passenger window with a high caliber rifle. The second shot took out Soap’s driver who immediately plowed into the car in front of them, bringing them to a shuddering stop. 

Soap’s heart thundered in his chest, but a lethal composure doused the fear rising up inside him. This was Makarov’s doing. And that bastard was going to fucking regret doing it. Ducking down in the back seat, Soap quickly dug his AK from his bag. He waited for a break in the rapid fire then exploded out of the vehicle in a hail of bullets. He found cover behind an empty utility truck. It was all out chaos with people running and screaming, gunfire cracking from all angles, and the remaining men of the task force shouting orders. 

Soap peeked around the corner of his cover, taking out three of Makarov’s soldiers in a row with perfectly placed shots. Gaz, hunkered down behind him, took out a few more. For a moment, it appeared that they were gaining the upper hand. But then a man, hulking in height, dressed in all black with a hood shrouding his face in shadow, grasping a Kastov-74u in a gloved hand, exited one of the Humvees. Soap felt a chill shoot straight down his spine. 

Sweet screaming Jesus

Soap emptied the last rounds of his last clip at the man but it did not slow him down in the slightest. He was blazing a path straight at Soap, like he had a personal vendetta against him. Fuck. The hard set of his broad shoulders, his imposing gait, all seemed to light up some forgotten memory in Soap's brain that he could not quite put his finger on. He surely couldn't even try to remember with the utter fucking bedlam happening all around him

"I'm empty," Gaz shouted at him.

Soap looked back over his shoulder. "Aye, same here!" This was going fubar faster than he was ready for. 

His attention returned to the enemy stalking up the highway toward him. The man popped off two rounds, drilling into the truck right next to his head. 

"Fuckin' hell," Soap gasped for breath. Then he heard the click of a dry fire and knew this was his only chance to bring this fucker down. 

Securing his blade in hand, Soap made a run for it, swiping at the assailant fiercely with his knife. The man blocked the incoming attack but not before Soap was able to get a couple brutal slices to his forearm. The other arm was impenetrable though, surprising Soap momentarily. It was made of some kind of metal, something Soap had never seen before. 

He looked up at the man with wide eyes, then tried sweeping his feet out from under him. The man was unmoveable. A feral growl rumbled up from the man's chest and Soap knew he was well and truly fucked. 

He lunged at him, ringing his hands around Soap's neck, picking him up off his feet and throwing him back against the concrete barrier behind him. Pain shot up Soap's lower back when he connected with it but it was the furthest thing from his mind. All he could think was shit shit shit. 

Soap scrambled up from the ground, knife still in hand, and slammed it into the man’s metal bicep. It sparked momentarily before the man knocked the knife from his grip. It went sliding across the pavement. Soap tried for hand to hand combat but it too was quickly shut down. The man was too fast, too strong. Still, Soap gave it his all. 

It just wasn't fucking enough. 

Snarling, the man picked Soap up by his flack jacket and attempted to hurl him up and over the bridge. Soap grasped for something, anything, as he fell over the edge and was able to grab his assailant's vest, holding on for everything he was worth. It tipped the man enough off balance for them both to fall over the precipice. 

Soap squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for impact, almost hoping for the end. But it was only about a six meter plummet onto a grassy berm that led down to the river — enough to knock the breath from his lungs as he managed to land on top of the man currently trying to kill him. He rolled onto his feet, ready to keep going, ready to fight for his fucking life. The man gained his feet too, but this time with his hood pushed back, exposing his eyes. The lower half of his face was still obscured, covered by a skull mask.

Soap straightened abruptly. Everything came crashing to a halt. He knew those eyes. He knew that face. Even if it wasn't completely visible. His heart contracted painfully in his ribcage at the realization. 

"Ghost?"

The man's chest heaved, but he paused. His brows were drawn together, like he was just asked the most complicated question in the world. "Who the fuck is Ghost?"

Soap stared at him in disbelief. He took one small step forward. Was this really happening? Or was he trapped inside another nightmare?

He wanted to rush forward, to pull Ghost into his arms, to ask him how any of this was possible. “I thought I lost you…” he began, but before he could reach Ghost, an explosion rocked the bridge behind him. Soap looked back over his shoulder, but when he turned back Ghost was gone.   

*****************

Later that night, Ghost was sitting in a chair in Makarov’s underground bunker while a man in a white coat repaired the gash on his robotic arm. They were surrounded by armed guards in the small room, but Ghost knew there was no point to them. He could clear the whole room of every breathing person within a matter of minutes if he was given the order to. 

He was bare from the waist up, ambivalently watching the glow of the tool as it patched the defect caused by the knife held by the man on the bridge. Something gnawed at him, deep inside. Some memory that was just out of his grasp. It made him uneasy. He remembered falling, he remembered the man from the bridge, reaching, screaming for him. He remembered darkness and pain. And more pain. But the memories were fractured, hazy.  

Ghost heard Makarov walk into the room that led to the one he was currently in. He was talking to the handful of men that followed him wherever he went.

“He’s unstable. Erratic,” one of Makarov’s men said. 

Ghost didn’t look up when they walked in, only continued staring at the man working on his arm. He was trying to dredge up long forgotten memories, but it was so hard to focus. 

“Mission report,” Makarov barked, coming to a stop before Ghost.

Ghost looked up at him slowly. The barest hint of a memory sparked in his mind of the man from the bridge. They were laying in a bed together. He was holding the man’s face. The man had his eyes closed and he was smiling.

A confusing emotion knotted up his stomach and he only stared at Makarov, not really seeing him, trying to pull more of that memory out of the jumbled mess of his brain. 

“Mission report, now!” Makarov ordered, bending closer to Ghost’s face.  

Ghost didn’t hear him. He blinked owlishly. A bed. The man on the bridge. Smiling so softly. 

He was suddenly pulled out of his trance by a swift backhand across his face. The pain of it stung across his cheek, but he barely registered it. He looked up at Makarov slowly, his brows drawing together as he tried so hard to remember. 

“That man on the bridge. Who was he?” 

Makarov was quiet for a moment. “You met him earlier on another assignment.”

Ghost shook his head. He knew that was a lie, but his memories were so clouded, he didn’t know if he could trust his own mind. “I knew him,” he said softly. 

Makarov sighed and pulled up a stool to sit at Ghost’s eye level. “Your work has been a gift to mankind,” he began, but Ghost immediately tuned him out. The memory was just out of reach. If he could just remember the man’s name.

Makarov finally stopped talking. He looked at Ghost expectantly. Ghost felt a wave of sadness crash over him for the life he couldn’t remember. “But I knew him,” he said again with a shaky voice. 

Makarov frowned and stood abruptly. He began walking away. “Prep him.” 

One of the white coat men stopped him. “We can’t do that, sir. He’s been out too long.”

Makarov turned toward Ghost, looking him up and down with a disapproving glare. “Then wipe him and start over.” 

Ghost’s heart rate jumped at those words, even if he didn’t really understand what it meant. In the back of his mind, deep, deep down, he knew he had been through this many times before. 

The white coat men pushed Ghost back into the chair while Makarov’s soldiers all watched. And then a rubber dental guard was being shoved in his mouth. Fear flooded his senses as he was locked into the chair and he fought to drag in oxygen. The man on the bridge. His soft smile. The tender press of his lips on mine. Ghost replayed the only memories he had, holding on to them, trying not to forget this time. Please, don’t forget this time! 

The plates came down over his face. They were cold against his skin and had an electrical scent to them. Terror immediately swept through him. Don’t forget don’t forget don’t forget. And then there was only pain and the echo of Ghost’s scream as he fell and fell and fell. 

[phosphorescentspaceman]

what if,,, it was a college au (yogs)

ha now i have all of the americans' attention - its actually a university au because i DO NOT UNDERSTAND your system. at all. (this isn't even really relevant)

SO xephos is a biomedical translation PHD student who did his undergraduate's degree and honours year at another, more prestigious university at his parents were Mega donors at - he's kinda taken this chance to run off and escape the choke-hold they have over his options. he's staying at the postgraduate student housing because the university is paying for it - he has 30 dollars to his name on a good day and is Not Used To That, but he's loving having options!

honeydew is a mature aged student (literally just means he enrolled over 21, but here specifically hes like 35 to xeph's 25) doing his masters (research) in sustainable mining practices and they somehow become very good friends after he finds xephos staring blankly at the washer/dryer because xeph's never used one more than 5 years old and that thing is from the 70s

lalna is doing his doctorate of medicine and he's been lumped into the postgrad dorms because he got into medicine by completing a degree of biomedical science first!

the three of them share a kitchen. its a ride.

lalna keeps forgetting he has online quizes and has to take them minutes before the deadline because someone (xeph) double checks to make sure hes done them.

xeph's phd advisor is related to the guy advising honeydew's masters (its fumblemore and swampy) they do not like each other and the rivalry via the achievements of their students is legendary. the rest of the staff assume honeydew and xeph must hate each other.

sometimes xeph can't be bothered making food but he has Texture Issues so he'll regularly be seen eating one whole raw carrot, or salad bowl full of diced water melon. the nurses are like 'you aren't gonna get scurvy, which is new a different for us, but you might die of a b12 deficiency so.'

lalna keeps eating his food other the sink because he doesn't want to do dishes. honeydew just eats straight from the pot for the same reason. xeph doesn't even cook. everyone is amazed at how clean their kitchen is and assume they must be so on top of their lives.

all 3 of them have random medications to take and always forget their own, but not the other's. there is always a 5 minute kitchen huddle each morning where they rattle off the other's random crap. xeph keeps trying to dodge the b12 tablets because they taste and smell terrible in a way that is difficult to describe. honeydew has threatened to wrap it in cheese and cram it down his throat more than once.

lalna thinks its funny to slide ominous notes under their doors - it is, in fact, funny, but the RN saw him do it and he had to take a 3hr long sensitivity training activity run by the university.

honeydew forgets his key all the time, so he just leaves his window open. he's very short though, so getting in via the window requires a pretty significant feat. of athleticism every time.

there is a possum that breaks into their kitchen at 1am via the broken screen door none of them have reported over fears they'd have to pay for it. they keep finding little hand prints on their bread. they are numb to this.

[nevermindirah]

🎁 🍬 🤔 🎨

🍬 Do you write for multiple fandoms? If yes, what is your favorite fic of yours for each fandom?

I do! Overwhelmingly TOG these past few years but I may still write more MCU here or there. My very favorite of my MCU fics is the one I'm afraid I may never write: Eartha Grit, in which Sam Wilson is a drag queen. How the hell to choose between my TOG babies I have no idea, so I'll pick one on impulse: every shutter click I wish was a kiss. We really knocked it out of the park with that one 🙏

🤔 Would you ever want to write something canon if you got the opportunity?

I have no desire to face any of the stresses of professional fiction writing, and I don't think that's where my skills are at, but I would leap at the chance to contribute to the story outlining that would result in Daisy Johnson officially returning to the MCU. They should've put her in The Marvels! She would have such interesting relationships with Monica and Kamala especially!! But since they didn't go this route I'm sure I can find other fun and exciting ways to get her on movie screens. Kevin Feige don't call me just accept my emails pls and thank <3

🎨 If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

I would die of joy and come right back screaming with delight if someone made fanart of my work. Two very different scenes pop immediately to mind. One: the moment in Wouf Wouf when Nile is enjoying a gentle wake-up cuddle with her wolfy bestie and its following moment where all of a sudden a very hot very naked human man is halfway pinning her to the bed. Two: Olympic gold medalist Nile and her hockey player doing something cute, like for example trying out a pairs skating lift. ok also Three: anything from every shutter click I wish was a kiss >:)

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

saving the best for last. have TWO snippets! <333333333

(fanfic writer asks!)

Meeka/Vincent

It has now been fully three days since Meeka has had a proper workout. This trip was supposed to include at least a little light mountain climbing! Snow is still piling up and at this rate she doubts she’ll get to do more than snowshoe a few meters to the airport taxi when it’s finally safe to leave the cabin.

Her circuit between her bedroom, the kitchen, and the far side of the living room with its cozy fireplace is laughably inadequate exercise. The lack of better options is starting to make her physically itch.

The summit organizers are doing their level best to continue with the planned events over video conference, but some of the delegates aren’t showing the same commitment to the summit’s success, and some of the unplanned moments of an in-person meeting that get people to see each other’s humanity across political difference are simply impossible to recreate online. Meeka is finding each session more frustrating than the last.

She was able to keep her one-on-ones with the principals from Haiti, Brazil, Bangladesh, and Vietnam, all of which went well, and she’s going to have an exciting follow-up call when she gets home with the leaders of Vietnam’s solar program. Both Egypt and Mexico had to cancel on her due to tension headaches from all the unexpected screen time. A video call from home in a week or two is just as good as a video call from nearby cabins they can’t leave on this frozen mountain, or perhaps better, without the frustration of cabin fever.

Last night’s video happy hour with some of her friends and their friends and a handful of new allies was decently amusing! Though a good portion of it was spent ragging on France, which brought one of the largest delegations to this trainwreck and yet had not a single representative at that afternoon’s Francophone countries roundtable discussion. Extraordinarily disrespectful.

Meeka declined invitations to social events tonight. Eye strain hasn’t gotten to her, thankfully, but her temper can only take so much frustration. She needs a break from screens. She needs to move.

When she logs off after the last of the day’s sessions and leaves her bedroom, she finds Vincent on the floor with Mila.

Sugar Daddy AU

(this is a rougher draft prose-wise but the vibes are there!)

“Boys, this is my friend Nile I’ve told you about.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Nile,” says Philippe.

Jean Pierre says a quiet hi but his lip is trembling. As they move into the living room and Booker offers Nile a glass of water, JP bursts into tears. Booker scoops up JP to comfort him, murmurs all kinds of reassurances. Philippe goes and gets Nile a glass of water.

Nile’s heart melts for this kid. She was only a year older than him when her dad was wounded in action and she recognizes the turmoil behind the responsible-kid exterior.

Nile asks him about his pottery and they talk about that for a little bit while Booker sees to JP. When things are starting to calm down, she tells Philippe that he was very brave and responsible tonight, reassures him that Dad’s home now and you can relax, it’s all going to be ok. Booker of course overhears this and melts over how great Nile is.

They’d had snacks at Astra’s party but ended up leaving before eating a real dinner, and the boys hadn’t eaten yet either when Joe started having trouble breathing, so now everybody’s hungry. Before either of the adults can really think through logistics or say the should-say things like “I can call you a car to the MARC station” or “I should probably leave y’all to it”, Philippe asks if Nile is going to stay for dinner.

“Yeah, Papa, can she?” JP adds. “We could watch a movie!”

The boys egg each other on about yeah! Let’s watch a movie! Booker sets the oven to preheat then asks if he can talk to Nile for a moment in the other room.

“I’m sorry to just invite myself over like this,” Nile says. “I should—”

“If you’d rather not stay I could—”

They both trail off and look at each other.

“What’s for dinner?” Nile asks.

Booker looks down, sheepish. “Pizza casserole.”

“I bet it’s delicious. You wouldn’t mind if I stayed?”

“If you want to stay, you’re very welcome.”