#they still asked me to interview on Friday but told me that there’s a good chance that the job doesn’t actually exist anymore

[heich0e]

my life is a greek tragedy u literally cannot make this stuff up

[dreamauri]

♪ — 𝗦𝗛𝗛𝗛 lando norris x girlfriend! reader (fluff+smut) “. . . you're finally able to attend one of your boyfriend's races and he super exited things get interesting”

( my master list | more of lando norris ) ( requests | taglist )

"Lando." "Give me like . . . 5 more hours." The boy was sleeping, curled up on some blankets that he put together. One of the members of his team was trying to wake him up, because you were here. The team had put so much effort into flying you to Monaco, and now, Lando was being too lazy to see his surprise.

You were sitting beside him, but like an idiot, he didn't notice at all. "Alright, I'm out." You yawned, standing up and walking passing by in front of Lando and out the garage.

Lando was still half asleep, he thought he must've been dreaming. Sitting up and looking at your disappearing figure. "Am I- Is she?" He couldn't get a word out, not being able to differentiate between reality and dreams.

The team was laughing at him, gesturing and telling him to go catch you before you leave ( which you would not ). He quickly ran out, stumbling over his feet while looking for you. You, who knew he'd be searching for you like a maniac waited at the entrance where he wouldn't see you.

"Where did she-" "Tag. You're it, mother fucker." You tapped his shoulder quickly before running off. "No fair!" You could hear Lando shout as he tried to catch up to you. The first thing that came to mind was to go into the media pin. What you did not plan was hiding behind max, the blond looking confused as you and lando ran circles around him.

"Max don't just- Y/N! Come here! Max help me." Max chuckled taking a sip of his can, shrugging at the interviewer with a smile. "Max please!" "Max no-" you were to late, once the redbull driver put his hand up to stop you, you were immediately lifted up from your thighs by Lando, who quickly around away with you.

"My girlfriend!" He cheered again and again bouncing you up and down ad he ran through the paddock exited, showing you off to everyone. "The love of my life!" He laughed with the widest smile on his face.

You tried to turn around so you look down at him. You were a laughing mess, you've never seen him this happy. "Lando. Put me down." You said in between laughs as he continued to run around and spin you. "But you'll run away." He argued pouting. "I'll give you a kiss." You bribed with a smirk which made him quickly lower you and hug you by your waist.

His bashful smile spread across his face as he waited for you to kiss him. And you did leaning up and pecking his nose. "Heyyy." He whined trying to kiss you properly. "I never said where, I just told you I'd give a kiss." Lando pouted. "Oh my God, I'm dating a puppy."

You chuckled before you were pushed from behind into a kiss. Lando quickly savored it, cupping the back of your head so you wouldn't pull away. And once you did, you looked back to see Daniel Riccardo and Max Verstappen, standing there, looking around like they didn't do anything.

"Oh! Oh my God. Is that you Y/N? Long time no see." Daniel looked at you, pretending this was his first time seeing you, even though he was standing 2 feet away from you. "How are you, how's uni?"

"Going good." You nodded looking at max who still pretend like he was innocent, looking around nodding at random things. "She's looking at me and I know I'm going to pushed in the pool."

"Yes, she will." You chuckled taking Lando's hand, pulling him along. "So, see you all on Friday?" You nodded ready to leave with the ball of sunshine next to you. "You're not going to spend the day with us?" Max asked gesturing to the redbull garage.

"Yeah marketing has a few games for us to play, you don't wanna join." Daniel added. You've known this group for sometime. After growing up alongside Max on the track and being best friends with Daniel, you met Lando who eased into your life and made a cozy spot for himself.

"I'm sorry guys, but me and Lan have things to catch up on." You looked at your boyfriend smiling. "Back at the hote-" "Ew, aren't you two like 5?" Danny shook his head disapprovingly. "We don't don't need to know." Max scrunched his nose in disgust looking away.

"Max I can hear you and that Porsche driver from across the city." You told him in a matter of fact-ly. "Me and Mijn liefje are not loud." He nudged your shoulder chuckling. You and your ball of sunshine eventually made it out of there, running alongside each other to Lando's apartment hand in hand laughing together.

Running into his apartment, you two started undressing as soon as you shut the door, stumbling over your clothes as you made your way to the bedroom. Lando sat on the bed first catching you as soon as you straddled his lap falling on his back as you two began making out.

Laughs and giggles could be heard between you as hands explored each other's bodies. "Did they grow bigger? I feel like they did." He asked gripping your boobs gently. "Says you Mr. Abs, when did you get these?" You giggled pulling away as you look down at his bare stomach, tracing his muscles.

"Do you like them?" He asked holding your waist and pulling you further closer to him. "The look good on you." You nodded leaning down and kissing his jaw and neck. "Makes you look like a young Greek God." You hummed pulling away.

Intertwining your fingers together, you pinned his hands above his head, aligning yourself with him. The boy could only admire you. "Why are you smiling like that?" You chuckled raising an eyebrow. "What I can't smile at my girlfriend any more?" You giggled, leaning down and kissing him softly.

Lando swallowed the moans that came from your mouth, raising his hips out of impatience. He wanted more from you, all of you. "Slow down. We're not in a rush." You mumbled in between kisses, moans slipping from your lips as you finally settled down all the way. "Yeah but, I want you." He whispered back looking into your eyes.

You only chuckled, kissing him gently before sitting up and brushing your hair behind your back, you settled your hands on the boy's chest leaning forward slightly as you started moving. "Oh fuck, baby." Lando moaned holding your hips to guide you ( more like to touch you ). "You're so tight." He grumbled closing his eyes so he could only concentrate on you.

Much to his dismay, his phone started ringing. Leaning back a little, you peak through the door frame. The phone was in the pile of clothes you created earlier, desperately trying to get your attention. "Noo." Lando whined, hugging your waist and puling you back closer, his mouth found your skin where he took the opportunity to kiss and nibble, leaving marks behind.

You could feel him desperately try to thrust up into you, to get some friction. He moaned your name as you gently played with his curls leaning your head on his shoulder. Although Lando was on the average side, he fit you perfectly, and you wouldn't want no other.

"My love." He stuttered catching your lips. You smiled into the kiss, cupping his name as his hug tightened on you. Moving back a little, you laid you on your back with him on top, quickly wrapping your legs around his abdomen so he can continue with his thrusts.

Moans slipped from your lips as soon as he did. "How did I get so lucky?" He mumbled into your neck making you giggle. Lando's hand was trailing all over your body, exploring and admiring your being when he was interrupted once more. That stupid phone ringing again.

"I'll go get it." You mumbled attempting to break free from his hold. "Lando let go." The boy only held on, whining like a lost puppy. You chuckled kissing his head before breaking free and getting the phone. It was Carlos, which surprized. "Hola." You greeted walking back to bed to the impatient McLaren driver. "Y/N? What are you doing here?" . . . Well you were doing his best friend, but you could leave that part out.

"Doing? Me? Nothing important." You joked which made Lando look at you offended. You chuckled silently as you sat on your boyfriend's lap, holding his shoulders. "Well we might as well invite you too, is Lando there?" Carlos asked. You looked down at your boyfriend who was laying on his back looking at you disapprovingly. "No." You replied giggling down at the boy who only rolled his eyes.

"What's that idiot doing?" Carlos chuckled, as you covered said person with your free hand. Lando looked at you confused. He answered his own question as a moan escaped his lungs. "What was that?" Carlos cut you off hearing the noise. "Lando stubbed his toe. You want to talk to him?" "Yes please."

The brunette was shaking his head aggressively as you handed him the phone, you removed your hand from his mouth as you leaning back, moving again. Your boyfriend could only grip onto your thighs as he arranged plans with his friend. You were a pro at staying silent, unlike the stuttering boy beneath you.

His breaths were getting shorter and faster and he was more out of it with Carlos, holding one of your hands desperately. You knew he was close and you let him have it. "H-hey, I'll call you back." Lando cut off, ending the call quickly.

You could feel him begging for release, grunts and groans escaping his mouth. All he could do was take what you gave him. You could only laugh when his hips stuttered. "You- I- no idea." Failing to put a sentence together, you kissed him gently snuggling into him. "I love you." He finally said. "I love you." You returned kissing his cheek.

[luv4georgie]

moth to a flame.

Lando Norris x fem!medic!fwb!reader

in which formula one star, Lando Norris, suddenly feels light headed during an interview… or does he? he comes up to his favourite fwb who is McLaren’s medic, Y/n Y/l/n, and asks for a little help.

warnings: smut!!, just barley voyeurism, jealous ass reader, fluffy aswell

prompts 16 and 17- “jealous much?” and “don’t cover your mouth, i wanna hear you”

“he seems like he’s good for you”

it was a Friday and Lando was talking to this interviewer about how it went. he was saying he was quite happy and that he was ready for qualifying tomorrow. what he didn’t seem to notice was that the interviewer was getting a little but too close for someone’s liking. someone’s liking being mine. i was a medic for McLaren and i was watching from a-far, watching Lando. every minute or so he would eye me as-well. minutes went by and the interviewer kept getting close and i was kept getting jealous.

about 5 minutes passed and Lando’s smug smile was wiped off and he had a hand of his head, his middle finger and thumb on either temple. my brows furrowed and watched as he said something to the interviewer with his eyes squinted. she nodded and touched his arm before saying goodbye. i didn’t even notice Lando was walking over to me until he spoke “my head really hurts” he said vaguely grinning. i didn’t realise it so i brought him to the little room with my name on it and sat him down. before i sat down myself i felt strong hands on my waist. i looked down at Lando and he was smirking up at me. “jealous much?” he questioned. “i saw you, getting all worked up over me talking to another girl” he said again. “well, what you didn’t seem to notice is that she was getting rather close to you” “oh i noticed baby” he argued back.

my jaw clenched “well than why didn’t you do something!?” i said, almost shouting. he just smiled even wider, amused by my clear annoyance. “because i love seeing you get all aroused” he spoke. my face dropped and that’s when i felt it. the wet spot on my underwear grew. Lando just smiled impossibly wider and my cheeks heated up. he patted his lap “sit down sweet” i did as he said. i swung my leg over one of his and straddled his hips. he moved his hands from my waist down to my ass and rested them there. my eyes fluttered shut to the feeling of his hard-on against me. i slowly started to rock myself back and forth on him. the friction of my pants against him was enough to get me going. “shit” we both whispered.

we carried on like that for a few seconds until he told me to get up, in which i did. as i stood up, Lando’s hands slowly crept up from where they were in place, which was on my arse, and up to the hem of my grey joggers. he pulled them back and let go. he then pulled my pants down to my ankles and let me step out of them. his eyes widened and i blushed “you’re so wet already baby” he said as he ran his fingers down my stomach and over my clothed core. i moaned at the feeling, wanting more. he smirked. Lando then removed his fingers from their place and hooked them around the hem of my panties. he pulled them down in a swift, quick motion.

“it’s unfair” i said in a huff, crossing my arms. “what is darling?” “you’ve still got your clothes on” my eyebrows furrowed and my lips turned down ever so slightly. he chuckled and pulled his McLaren hoodie off of himself, revealing his bare chest. he unzipped his jeans and pulled them off which continued to reveal his black boxers, which had a rather large tent in them. i smiled at the sight and he stood up backing me up into a wall, taking my shirt off during the process. when he did that my flattering black bra was on show. he instantly looked up at me, i nodded giving consent, and brought his hands up to my boobs to massage them. i moaned and threw my head back at the feeling, a fluttering warmth in my stomach as Lando did so. he reached around to my back and unclipped my bra, letting it fall.

Lando moaned into my neck as he kissed it and slowly trailed his kisses down my collarbone and into my cleavage. my eyes rolled to the back of my head as i felt him kiss my right boob and then my left. his fingers went back down to my pussy and circled my clit a few times, before running his fingers up and down my slit. i moaned again at this. “please Lan i need you i-inside of me” i pouted. “to be fair i don’t think i can hold on any longer baby” he responded. Lando pulled down his boxers just enough to free is cock. “even bigger than i remember” i said, smirking. it had been quite a while since we last fucked. and no we aren’t together or anything, just work friends with benefits!

he snaked his arms around my waist and ran his hands down to the back of my thighs, where he tapped gently to let me know to jump up which i did. that earned a small grunt from the both of us. Lando then proceeded to be a dickhead and tease me even more. after, bare in mind, he said that he couldn’t wait any longer. i groaned and slapped his shoulder playfully. he chuckled and grabbed a-hold of his cock and guided it to where i needed him most. with one swift, slow thrust he was inside of me. he let me adjust like it was the first time and after a few seconds he got himself going, all the while holding me against the wall. i covered my mouth trying to cover up the rather loud moan i could feel bubbling deep within my throat but “don’t cover your mouth,pretty, i want to here you” was all Lando could manage. so i did. i let him here me, maybe the whole of the McLaren team heard me i was that loud. “that’s what i like to hear” Lando said deeply.

then he started really moving. it was euphoric. i felt like i was high it was that good. it was like everything was moving in slow-motion. from the way my head threw back to the way Lando pressed open-mouthed kisses to my neck. butterflies were in my stomach and i couldn’t control myself. Lando was thrusting in and out of me at an ungodly speed trying to get us both off. he groaned “fuck Y/n/n” then i started whimpering and looked Lando in the eyes. mine started to prick with tears. “oh i know baby, i know” he whispered lightly in my ear. he groaned and i whimpered and that’s when it really felt ethereal. it was like we were both floating on a massive cloud. Lando pushed down on my stomach and my head threw back so quick i could’ve broken my neck. then we both did it was the same time, we orgasmed together, something everyone loved to do. him inside of me and me on his dick. a string of moans and swear words came out the both of us. my body spasmed, which was still being held up against the wall my Lando. the orgasm lasted a minute or two and after that he thrusted a few more times, trying his best not to drive me into overstimulation.

“that. was. amazing” Lando said between kisses on my lips. i just smiled woozily and let my body go limp. he giggled breathlessly and kisses my temple. “cmon sweet, let’s get you cleaned up” he ripped a-bit of paper off of the paper towel roll and ran it under the sink. he cleaned me up and then himself. we sat down and held each-other for a few seconds, taking in the presence of the other that we both rarely see. “official?” Lando said. i hummed questionably, opening my eyes to look up at him while cocking my head to the right ever so slightly. “do you want to make it official? you and me, i mean” he answered my unspoken question. i smiled “yes” i whispered croakily. he smiled and pressed a kiss to my head until… “Lando!!” was heard from outside our little space.

-

AUTHORS NOTE‼️‼️ i feel like this is so cute ALSO first smut ever 😝✌️hope you guys enjoyed <3

based of off the lovely @slytherinholland’s request!!! ❤️❤️

[cheriladycl01]

Ghost - Oscar Piastri x UnknownDriver! Reader Part 6

Plot: Reader is the first female F1 driver of the century, however no-one knows that as you are a ghost on the grid. You started in 2022, coming in P12 in the championship. You get moved to Red Bull Racing in 2023 with the off year for Sergio Perez.

Warnings: Talk of reading taking anti-depressants etc.

After Bahrain you still had no word from Christian on whether or not he had contract negotiations for you. However, in this time you'd had talks with Williams, Aston Martin and Mercedes all having positions open. They knew you were an incredible driver and that it wasn't just the car you were given and they really wanted you on board.

You were in a difficult position of wanting to prove yourself to the RedBull team and stay in a top team while letting opportunities being given to you get thrown away.

Saudi was a strange feeling you stormed through FP1 and FP2 being P1 and P3, however by the time Friday racing came Carlos was out the race due to having his appendix taken out. Ollie Bearman the F2 driver was announced to be taking his place right away and he was thrown in FP3.

FP3 and you were told to calm down and work with your tyres meaning you went 5th fastest rather than topping the leaderboard. Qually came around and you qualified third, your team calling you into the pits and holding you there for too long meant you couldn't get another lap in when Charles did which sent him into P2.

Once again Oscar was starting right behind you, and you could feel the pressure was on. You needed to have a great start to get up there with Max.

Sunday came and went and it was another great day for Red Bull, but not so much for you. Once again your margins were showing that you were quicker than Max right now being on fresher tyres and on the softs from a later race stop.

You for the second weekend in a row were denied an overtake and were asked to ride Max's bumper. The last few laps had tears filling in your eyes from how ridiculous this was... Max was the golden boy and you were just not contracted. You couldn't tell what would work better in your favour to try and get a contract. Follow team orders and keep this 1-2 or don't follow team orders and go for the overtake.

After talks with your race engineer you decided to obey team orders. Meaning you got your second P2 of the season.

Australia was the interesting race, both you and Max were reporting problems with the car, Max's seemingly being fixed by the time qualifying came around but you were still struggling. Your engine fully cut out after going over a bump on an out lap meaning you were starting P17, your worst qualifying yet.

"Y/N, not a great qualifying yeah?" the interviewer asks.

"Nah, P17 i think that was a pretty good run!" you joke back making your PR manager elbow you and shake her head.

"No, obviously it wasn't what myself or the team were looking for. They managed to fix Max's car for today but not mine, I know the team will be working really hard on my car now that Max's is all good and I can just hope to fight tomorrow and grab the team some points!" you nod smiling towards the camera on you.

"And any new on contract talks, i'm sure there are many teams that are looking to have you in their driver line up!" she asks and you nod.

"Yeah of course, most drivers will tell you that there are talks with all the teams and it's true. You know if you work in a office and your in HR you go see the legal department, and hospitality and the receptionists from time to time even though they aren't within your area. It's very natural to talk to the people around me so of course there are talks!" you admit and she nods insightfully.

"So the pictures of you talking to Toto Wolff, Ayao Komatsu and Mike Krack are ... not to be read into?" she pushes and you laugh.

"Honestly read as you will into them. Right now I'm focused on Red Bull, regardless of my future there!" you admit, hoping that might be the jog that Christian needed to hear to keep you in the team.

"Ooooo Oscar!" the interviewer shouts beckoning him over. You start to leave thinking your portion of the interview was over and you could move on to going home.

"Wait no! Y/N don't go, we'll interview you together!" she grins and something in your mind tells you its malicious and she's doing this on purpose to spite you. But she was really just hoping to get you both together as you'd been better than Oscar this season.

"So Oscar how does it feel having finally outqualified Y/N for the first time this season? You did really well!" she smiles and Oscar is looking everywhere but next to him, which is where you are awkwardly stood, trying to get your PR managers attention.

"Yeah i mean, she had car issues so it wasn't really on skill?" he asks more than anything else, tilting his head to the side confused.

"Yes, so the battle is pretty tense between you both especially after last year. But now Oscar your looking really high up in the constructors along with Y/N, do you think you can beat her this year?" the interviewer asks hoping to get a little bit of dramatics.

"I mean, the battle for the top field cars is slowly closing with the upgrades we're all getting so we're looking forward to closing that gap that's up there now!" he nods looking down at you to see if you had anything to add.

For the first time, in months there was a softness in his eyes you hadn't seen for ages. He nodded at you to speak but you became a stuttering mess, not even remembering the question.

"Sorry, but I'm needed!" you stutter awkwardly handing back the microphone before trotting off looking around for anyone that could help the shaking of your hands.

You were struggling to breath.

Why now, why did he make you feel like everything was okay again when it wasn't. He was your best friend and he hasn't spoken to you in months, it ... didn't feel right!

You breathing became more and more strained as you looked around for someone familiar. Your eyes dart between the different motorhomes, just looking for any one of the other drivers. You eventually made it to Red Bull trying to get to your drivers room however, a body stopped you holding you shoulders.

"Hey, great race today Y/N!" the voice of Liam comes through and you just nod, a small thank you coming from you mouth as you try to make your way around him.

"Hey, Y/N? What's up is something bothering you?" he asks not fully noticing your panicked expression.

"I'm fine, just want to get some water from my room!" you nod back towards your room and his eyes glaze over you.

"No your not okay, lets go!" he smiles taking your hand and dragging you to your drivers room.

You knew Liam was just being kind and trying to help, but right now you just really wanted to be alone and think about whatever you needed to think about.

"Water... snack ... vitamin ... ooo pill?" he asks turning to you and you look down.

"Y/N, why are you on these?" he asks with a sigh, nobody apart from your trainer knew that you were on anti-depressants. It started at the end of the 2023, with everything with Oscar and it was manageable but the anxiety of not having a contract renewed mixed with it all, you were tipped over the edge when it came to your mental health.

"You werent supposed to see them. Please don't tell anyone!" you say tears building in your eyes as you can only hope he doesn't say anything.

"It's not my place to say anything Y/N, but ... you only need ask for help and you'd get it. We all love you and I just hope you know that!" he smiles pulling you in for a hug, one that felt genuine and like he was putting all of his comfort into it.

"Thank you Liam!" you say softly before tears roll down your race onto his Racing Bulls team shirt.

"Its okay, I get it!" he smiles down at you as he hands you the water, snack and pills he pulled out.

"Sometimes, i just wish i was Ghost again, it was easier back then" you harshly laugh wiping the tears out your eyes.

"Ghost, or Y/N you are still the same driver ... still have the same heart of gold" he smiles and you smile back thankful for the needed compliment.

"So, don't turn round and tell me this ... is boy troubles!" he laughs and you look down laughing a little.

"Well it's safe to say all of my problems are with men right now... so yeah we'll go with 'boy' troubles!" you joke.

Taglist:

@littlesatanicassholebitch @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @daemyratwst @lauralarsen @the-untamed-soul @thewulf @itsjustkhaos @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @summissss @gulphulp @starfusionsworld @jspitwall l @sierruhhhh @georgeparisole @youcannotcancelquidditch @tallbrownhairsarcastic @ourteenagetragedy @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @bigsimperika @blueberry64857959 @eiraethh @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @dark-night-sky-99 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @laneyspaulding19 @malynn @viennakarma @landosgirlxoxo @marie0v @yourbane @teamnovalak @nikfigueiredo @fionaschicken @0picels0 @tinydeskwriter @ironmaiden1313 @splaterparty0-0 @formula1mount

[where-dreamers-go]

"Cheesy" Part One - Leon Kennedy x Reader

(A/N: What if you were set up on a blind date with Leon Kennedy? This is extremely self indulgent. You could picture any age of Leon, I guess. Also, Reader works at a school in this.

Warnings: awkward/nervous interactions, use of (Y/N), (mx), and (Y/L/N) for your names, pizza topping preference for cheese, language, and mentions of Leon’s arms.

Word Count: 4,087 words)

~~~

~~~

Your friend knew people, could network like no other.

But set you up on a blind date?

You were anxious. Curious, but nervous at the thought of going on a first date with someone you had never met.

Your friend knew you well enough. Knew some of your preferences in a partner. A good amount.

You hoped.

They had gotten your permission to try finding someone.

“Stop giving me that look.” Your friend laughed. “I’ve only heard good things.” They sipped from their cup of coffee.

“Only good things?” You asked.

They crossed their arms. Staring at you from the other side of the table.

“Well, I mean…like what? What’s his name? What’s he look like? Does he know my name?”

They laughed and nodded. “He knows your name.”

“And?” You leaned over your lunch.

“He has a steady job, his name is Leon, he’s interested, and you’ll like what you’ll see. That’s all I’m saying.”

“But is he nice? Clean?”

“Yes and listen, I basically asked fifty questions before fully considering this guy. And he had agreed to the pizza place you suggested.”

“Oh. Okay, cool.”

“Everything’s set for Saturday.” They beamed.

You exhaled hoping to calm yourself from the news.

Maybe this’ll be fun.

. . .

Saturday afternoon and the lunch rush was on its way.

Thankfully, you managed to arrive early. You could not think of arriving to your destination any later.

Nerves and excited curiosity filled you.

The pizza place was one of your favorites. Kind staff, good food, and a chill atmosphere. A nice small restaurant for a date. Nothing fancy and you would be able to hear your own conversation.

At least I picked a Saturday, you thought, Friday evenings are wild. Especially right after school.

Entering through the front door, you did a quick glance around the small waiting area. The smell of fresh pizza was a welcome delight.

Definitely not them, you thought as you watched two families trying to shush their children. Probably waiting on someone.

Squeezing by, you walked up to the server station. The little podium looking thing no one was standing behind.

You waited a moment.

And breathe. This isn’t a job interview or anything.

Running your hands over your clothes, you were still happy with your choice of outfit. A flattering soft of casual.

“Hi. Welcome,” a young woman rushed up to stand behind the station. “Sorry for the wait. How many today?”

“Two,” you said. “I’m meeting someone.”

A flicker of thought shown in her eyes and she asked, “Are you (Y/N)?”

“Oh. Uh, yeah.” You answered, clearly surprised.

“Is your date’s name Leon?” A small smile peaked the corners of her lips.

“Yeah…”

I thought they didn’t do reservations.

She walked around the station and gestured toward the dining room. “Right this way, please.”

Wait. Can I pick for a booth or somewhere not by the restrooms? Who would make the reservation? You thought as you followed her.

A good amount of the tables had hungry guests chewing between conversations. None too obnoxious.

Still, the woman led you forward, blocking some of your view.

You were starting to get the feeling you weren’t early enough.

Coming to a stop by a booth, the young woman turned enough to speak to you and a man who stood up upon your arrival.

“Here we are. Do you know what you two would like to drink or should I give you a minute?”

Locking gazes with the man, you swallowed.

You really wished your friend would had told you how handsome your date was.

You blinked and answered, “Ice water.”

“Uh, water, please.” He said and cleared his throat.

You caught the server’s smirk.

“All right. I’ll give you some time to look over the menu and I’ll be back.” She left with her notepad.

The last window along the wall illuminated the man’s brown hair and expressive blue eyes.

“I’m Leon,” he said and offered a small smile, “hi.”

“Hi, I’m (Y/N). It’s nice to meet you.” You gave a smile of your own and a small wave you wished you hadn’t.

“Yeah—uh. I’m glad we could do this.” Leon glanced over to the booth and gestured quickly.

The both of you took your seats across from each other. Two menus lay on the table between.

Maybe he’s nervous too.

“So,” Leon tapped the menu, “I have to ask… What’s your favorite topping?”

“Not pineapple.”

“Oh, good,” he chuckled, exhaling some tension. “I wasn’t sure if we were going to have a debate on our hands.”

“I hope not. I’ve always preferred extra cheese. You?”

“I’m not too picky. I like pepperoni. We could—”

“One water and one ice water.” The server placed each glass on its own paper coaster. “Do you know what you’d like to order?”

Crap. You thought and eyed the menu.

“Would you like to share a pizza?” Leon asked. “Half cheese half pepperoni?” His blue eyes holding a soft kindness within.

Here come the butterflies. You took a steady breath and nodded.

“What size?” She asked, holding her tiny notepad.

“Medium?” You looked to Leon.

“Medium.” He agreed while glancing over to the server’s notepad.

“Alright.” She tapped her pen.

“Thank you.” You said as the server left again and took the menus.

That was fast.

Taking a long sip of the water, you were grateful for the coolness. A nice refresh to ease you and cool you down.

Because your date was hot. Simple as that and yet you were still taking time to process the fact: you were on a date.

No weird vibes. That’s good. You thought as you set the glass down. And he got here before me! Peering up, you saw your date glancing around the dining room.

When he caught you looking, Leon smiled. “This place is nice. Do you come here often?”

His words made you crack a smile. “A little bit. Not as often as I used to.” You lowered your voice and added, “I usually make my own pizza now.”

Lighting up with interest, Leon leaned his arms on the table. Quite muscular arms shown well with his button-up shirt.

“You make your own pizza? It’s better than any takeout, huh?”

“Not gonna lie,” you sat a little taller, “the dough’s a lot better and no grease on top.”

“Sauce preference?”

“Family recipe. Homemade.”

Leon grinned. Clearly you were making an impression.

The butterflies in your stomach returned tenfold.

“Favorite cheese?”

You crossed your arms over the table and thought on it. “My favorite cheese…is whatever I have at home.”

That earned you a snicker from your date.

“Have you made pizza before?” You tried your hand at a question.

Food was an easy topic it seemed. Pizza mostly.

Hair shielded some of his face as he tilted his head, Leon squinted his face and admitted, “I’ve made pizza orders.”

“So, no?”

“No.” He affirmed. “I should.”

“Maybe one day.”

He nodded softly.

So far, Leon was easy to talk to. Your date thus far would rank less awkward than talks you’ve had with overly curious neighbors. You were more than grateful for that.

And he has a really cute smile. You thought as silence filled the table.

“How are you?”

“What?” Leon perked up as if the question caught him completely off guard.

Perhaps it did.

“How are you?” You asked again, trying to put all of your honesty into your tone.

Exhaling, he turned his sights out the window, but only for a moment. “Better than I expected.” His blue eyes held your gaze. “I’ve never been convinced to go on a blind date before.”

You were surprised with how relieved you were with his answer.

“This is your first blind date too?” You whispered.

Both of you took a moment to read the other. Making sure and double checking. Learning through observation.

Once Leon nodded, you sat back with a relieved exhale.

“Oh, thank goodness. I thought it was just me. My friend wouldn’t even answer all my questions.” You laughed lightly at yourself. “I’ve been making myself nervous.”

“Is that a rule?” Leon asked. “My friends refused to tell me shit.”

Covering your mouth, you muffled some of your laughter. Mostly, anyway.

Sitting back against the seat with a light affectionate smile, Leon managed to look twice as handsome and twice as comfortable. It made you start to wonder why he didn’t already have a partner.

Then again, he was probably having a similar question.

“What questions did you ask? No judgement.”

“No judgement.” He repeated, thinking.

Bring it on. We need to know more about each other. More than just pizza anyway, you thought while drinking more water and waiting for the pizza.

“Yah know, I asked what you’re like first. It’s a good start.”

“Good question.” You said, partially stalling as you thought to answer. “I’m…a hard worker, creative, uh…,” you trailed off. “I sound like my résumé.”

He smiled and said, “I won’t ask for references. Promise.”

“I’m really honest and empathic. I make a lot of movie references. My friends say I’m funny, but that’s really based on preference…and timing.”

“I believe them.”

“Thank you.” You wiped your hands on your attire, out of sight. “So what were your other questions?”

“What do you do for a living?”

You perked up. Glad to have an easy question. “I work at a school.”

His eyebrows rose a fraction.

“I’m essentially in charge of the media center—all the books, book faire, and some tech. It’s not what I planned, but I like it.”

“Do you like to read?”

“Yeah. My reading list keeps growing though. Not that I mind.” You said, noticing how his hair framed his face, a balance of soft and sharp. “What about you?”

Blue eyes flickered away. “Not really. Work takes up a lot of time.” Leon seemed to be drifting away, mind elsewhere.

“What do you do for a living?” You asked softly, just in case.

Tension in his jaw fully took away his smile.

Is this a touchy subject?

Leon’s voice was hushed and somehow almost distant. “I work for the government.”

“Oh.”

Returning his gaze to you, Leon gauged your reaction.

“Sounds like a lot of e-mails.” You tried lightening the mood.

I don’t think he likes his ‘steady job’.

The corner of his lips lifted.

Okay cool. He doesn’t think what I said was stupid. Cool.

“Well, um,” you swallowed and hoped you weren’t being too awkward, “as long as your co-workers treat you like a person and not tech support.”

Multiple emotions ran across Leon’s face, none of which you could read fast enough. What you could discern was how the tension left his muscles. A mystery really, your date.

“I’m not the first one they’d call to help with a computer.”

“Maybe for good company?” You offered.

In midst of leaning closer, Leon’s attention veered over to movement at the far end of the dining room.

Walking into the room with a pan in one hand and a tray under her other arm, your server returned with another employee. Steam rose from the pizza more clear as she reached the booth.

“Here we are.” She announced happily.

Before either you or Leon could offer help, the young woman set up the tray beside the table in a swift motion.

“Be careful. It’s hot.” She set the pizza pan on the tray.

The other employee placed a pair of plates on the table along with a pizza server and a pile of napkins.

A couple of ‘thank you’s later and you were both left alone with a delicious smelling pizza. Seriously, the two of you were eyeing the pie with hungry intent.

“That smells good.” Leon grabbed the pizza server and reached over to the pizza. “One cheese pizza slice comin’ up.” A playful side shone through easily.

“Thank you,” you said as he plated a slice.

Oh, no. He’s cute, you thought, glad he didn’t see whatever silly grin was plastered on your face.

Out of habit or restaurant routine, you grabbed the shaker of cheese. You took a second to make sure the lid was secure. Then, despite the hot cheese all over the wonderful slice, you shook a generous amount of parmesan on top and a dash more.

You hadn’t lied about favoring cheese.

And apparently you and your date were equally craving a taste of pizza. By bite number two your eyes met for a second.

Trying to hide a smile while chewing was an oddly clumsy human act. Awkward during a date, but humble none the less.

Behind you and out of view, children spoke animatedly entering the dining room. Kid drama and discussing characters. Common conversations held even in school. You had heard plenty from students. Some more entertaining than others.

You took another bite of the pizza.

“(mx). (Y/L/N),” a young voice came from close by.

Quickly swallowing, you glanced over to a familiar face.

“Hi,” the little girl waved, perched backwards in a chair.

You gave a friendly wave with your free hand. A movement watched by the child and her two tables’ worth of family members.

So was the life of working at an elementary school.

The girl pointed and asked, “Is he your friend?” Curious eyes on your date.

Behind the girl, a woman looked at the girl with wide eyes and glanced to you with an apologetic expression. “I’m sorry.” She said. “Lottie, turn around please.”

“I finished the book.”

“That’s great,” you replied earnestly. “I hope you liked it.”

“Kinda.”

“Oh,” you chuckled lightly. “Well, I hope you like your food more.”

Grinning, Lottie, sat properly in her seat. All attention reverting to whatever was just passed her nose; her family included.

“Sorry about that.” You turned to see your date with an amused expression.

“No need. Thought she was going to give you review.”

“Same here.” You reached for your pizza slice again. “I think hers was about cats or kittens. Something.”

“Are there any books you’d recommend to someone who doesn’t read much?”

Now that was a question you liked to hear.

“Are you more into fiction or non-fiction books?”

“Fiction.” He took a sip from his water.

“Hmm.” You were left with more questions of his preferences. “I think I need to know a bit more about you first before I can recommend one just yet.”

“Fair enough. Ask away.” Leon finished off a slice and grabbed himself another.

“Okay. Are you an outdoor person?”

“Some days more than others.”

You took another bite of pizza.

“Some times I just want to stay inside. Don’t have to worry about weather or animals.”

“Are you an animal person? I mean—do you like animals?” You shut yourself up with another bite.

“I do. They just live their lives. Unless some…someone leaves a trap out.” A seriousness made his gaze on the table firm.

“Some people are real jerks.”

“Yeah.” He took a quick bite.

“Morning person or night owl?”

“Night owl. When I don’t have to be up early.”

“Sunrises are pretty, but sleep is really nice.”

“You a night owl?”

“Yup. Forced to wake up super early for work. Then go, go, go. No wonder so many people drink coffee.”

“Do you drink coffee?”

“I prefer not to make it a necessity to staying awake. I see people drinking it throughout the day. I can’t imagine doing that. There’s other ways to get energy.”

“Food.”

“Exactly.”

“Want another slice?” Leon asked, pizza server in hand.

“Sure, thank you.”

“Can’t let someone as hard-working and cute as you go hungry.”

He plated the slice onto your plate as you felt heat start at your neck.

“Thank you.” Your voice almost hushed in sound.

Small smile on his lips, Leon handed you the shaker full of cheese. The tips of his fingers brushed yours before retreating to his pizza.

Crap. What were we talking about? You swallowed and added more cheese to your new pizza slice.

“So, uh… How would you describe yourself?”

Leon thought on it for a moment or two, eating pizza. Dark eyebrows pinching together as he considered an answer.

Honestly, you deeply needed to know what Leon was like. To know if he was friend material and more.

Shifting in his seat, Leon answered, “Loyal to ones I care about. A little too hard-working.”

“Dedicated?”

“Yeah.” He ripped off a piece of the pizza crust. “Helpful, protective… This is a hard question.”

“It is.”

“I try to be optimistic.” He added.

“That’s good. Some times it’s really hard. Even on what’s suppose to be a good day. It’s a part of life. Some days suck and others surprise you in a good way.”

A silent exchange of understanding passed between the pair of you, deep and dense.

Slices of pizza slowly disappeared from the pan as the date continued more strongly. Less awkward and more fun. Bouncing questions back and forth while being a little too honest with answers. Laughter really was contagious.

Time passed well into the lunch rush and the two of you remained in the booth. Sharing and reminiscing taste in music and movies continued longer than some people’s stay in the dining room.

A conversation of one specific movie had you two in a passionate exchange of words. Both leaning close and speaking animatedly.

“And people probably think we’re only looking at the decorations to call it a Christmas movie.”

“They’re not use to action in Christmas movies,” Leon added.

“Only the family drama.”

“Yeah.”

“But that’s a part of why it’s a Christmas movie. They’re apart in the beginning, they work through their problems, and—bam—they’re together in the end with better understandings of each other.”

“And it ends with Christmas music. It’s great.”

“She also punched the reporter guy.”

“He had it coming.”

“Kind of satisfying. Not gonna lie.”

Leon chuckled.

“Okay,” you spoke up. “Random question.”

He nodded.

“Can you speak more than one language?”

“Sí.”

“Bueno.” You smirked along with him.

Eyes roaming the sight in front of you, you tried not to be distracted by what of Leon’s muscles you could see defined from his nice shirt. It wasn’t even tight fitting. Plus it was a nice color on him.

Does he have to workout for his job? Or is he the best looking in the building by chance? You thought as you reached for your glass of water, condensation cool against your fingertips.

Until it wasn’t.

“No.”

The glass fumbled from your grasp and the last of the melted ice water spilled onto your thigh.

“Whoa.” Leon already had napkins in his hand as he leaned over the table. “You okay?”

“It’s cold.” You placed the glass down on the table firmly.

“I bet.” He replied sincerely.

Gratefully, you took the napkins and pressed them onto your leg as well as the seat to absorb as much moisture as possible. They worked as well as thin paper could. Fabric was just too absorbent.

“It’s mostly the side of my thigh. So it’s not too bad.”

“Glad you didn’t get a refill, huh?”

You looked up at him. “Definitely.”

Behind his blue eyes, a flash of disappointment emerged and he said, “You probably want to get going and be dry.” It almost sounded like a question.

“Probably.” Your words didn’t sound too convincing.

A small raise of his hand and Leon signaled over your server. “Hey, can we have two boxes to-go?”

“Sure.”

If you hadn’t been watching you would had missed him handing her the slim black bill folder. He must had slipped a card or cash in there when you weren’t paying attention. Leon was quick, you could give him that.

After the server walked away, you rose an eyebrow at him.

“What? Did you want the pepperoni too?”

“No…”

Shuffling in his seat slightly, he asked, “Do you mind that I paid?”

“More so that you didn’t say anything. I don’t want you thinking it’s what I expect or something. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah. And it’s well noted for next time.”

“Next time?” You perked up. “Are you…wanting a second date?”

“I am.” Leon smiled confidently, hiding most of his nerves.

Your heart beat picked up in your chest.

He likes me? You thought in glee.

“Here we go.” The young woman returned with two descent sized containers. “Is there anything else I can help you two with?” She slid Leon a receipt folded around a card.

“No. I think we’re good.”

“Thank you.” He pocketed his wallet.

“No problem. Have a good day.”

“You too.” You replied to her retreating form.

The pair of you packaged the remaining slices into the containers. Each of you taking one.

Leon grabbed his jacket off of the booth. “Ready?”

“Yeah.” You scooted out from the seat, suddenly more aware of the large wet patch on your thigh.

“Here.” Leon whispered from close behind you. He handed you his jacket. “Hold that there and no one will notice”

“Thank you.”

Grateful and a little flustered, you led the way out of the dining room with your date’s jacket draped over your arm. A shield in hiding your water accident. And that was not even a start of mentioning the man walking behind you. He wasn’t in your space, keeping a respectful distance. Yet you could sense his proximity.

Was it too much for you to consider him even an ounce protective? You weren’t sure.

Two steps away from the exit, Leon deftly slid by you to open the door and hold it for you.

“Thank you.” You stepped out onto the sidewalk and out of the way of the door.

How long were we in there? You wondered at the sight of a full parking lot.

Leon came up beside you. “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

“True. Cheesy, but true.” You smiled and handed him back his jacket.

“From what I’ve seen, you like extra cheese.”

“Yeah, okay.” You walked further down the sidewalk.

Chuckling happily, Leon went alongside you.

Why did it feel like the date was too short for you?

There were so many more things you wanted to say.

“If it wasn’t for me being a klutz, I’d treat you to either the soft serve ice cream or the place with gelato in town.”

“A gelato and more time with you. That is a treat.” Leon flirted openly.

“So…about a second date.”

Stopping at the edge of the sidewalk, you looked to him with a flutter in your stomach. Luckily, you still had a good grip on your pizza box.

“You’re cute, you know that?”

You ducked your head as a smile immediately appeared.

“Can I have your number so I can call you some time?”

“Only if I can have yours.” You pulled out your cell phone.

“Twist my arm,” he teased sarcastically.

After he fished his phone from his pocket, you both exchanged numbers. Immediately double checking afterwards.

“And I’m not weird with how long or how soon to contact the other person,” you stated. “That’s too complicated for me to keep up with.”

Stepping into the parking lot, you headed towards your vehicle with Leon, not far from the building.

“Good to know.”

“And I really had a good time. So thank you.”

The features of his face softened. A twinkle in his eyes revealing his genuine relief and hope. Your words meant something to him.

“Thank you.” He shifted the jacket in his hold. “I wasn’t sure about any of this…until you showed up. I’m glad I came.” Shoulders raising, he made eye contact with you again. “I’d really like to see you again.”

Yes. Yes, yes, yes.

“You can call me later. That way I can check my work-school calendar.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll call you later.” He glanced at your vehicle. “Drive safe, (Y/N).”

“You too.”

He took a step back.

“And Leon?”

He paused, attentive.

“I’m really glad I came too.”

Fully grinning, Leon made his way to his own vehicle. Peeking over to you as he did so.

Why’d I have to be a klutz today?

Even if you had to shorten your time with your date, you were more than happy with how everything turned out. You couldn’t wait to see Leon again. Then, perhaps, you could recommend him a book too.

~~~

(If you love my writings and want to support me, I have a Ko-Fi where you can buy me a coffee. I would be eternally grateful.

coffee

Best wishes and happy reading.)

~~~~~

DreamerDragon Tags: @cubedtriangle

Leon Scott Kennedy Tags: @

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[jo-harrington]

Corroded Coffin Fest - Day 15 - Let's Talk About That

Summary: "It's easier if you think about this like an interview..."

Word Count: 994

Rating: T

Warnings/Themes: Older!Eddie, Wayne, Angst, hurt no comfort, death and grief, Eddie-centric, dialogue heavy, Jo pulls a Flanagan for the umpteenth time.

Check Out the Main Post for @corrodedcoffinfest here! Even if you didn’t start on Day 1, you can still join!

Tagging: @the-unforgivenn at her request.

You can find my masterlist here.

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Enjoy!

Scribbles in a notebook, the heel of a boot thudding against a carpeted floor, knuckles cracking...

Ambient sounds in a room that Eddie would rather not be in.

But he knew that he had to stay, promised the others that he would do this.

"Just get through it," they reasoned. "It's one...long...interview."

"I hate interviews," he grumbled under his breath and reached down to grab the bottle of water propped against the leg of his chair.

"Wayne..." The man who sat across from him--the interviewer--asked. "That's your uncle right?"

There was a tightness in his chest.

He promised.

"Yeah."

"Let's talk about him."

"What's there to talk about?"

There was a quick scribble and a flip to another page. Eyes squinted and then darted back up to Eddie.

"We could talk about your life in Hawkins? Time at Hawkins High?"

There was a beat before Eddie let out a breath, "Wayne was a really great guy."

The interviewer let out a laugh, then waved for Eddie to keep talking.

"He was a good friend, a good neighbor," he continued, figuring it would be easier to start at the beginning. "A good brother--better than my dad ever deserved--and a...he was a great uncle."

"Not just good?"

"He was the best. Not that I ever told him so. Well, maybe I did...after everything happened with my dad in '84. I mean, I started helping out around the trailer...leaving some extra money I made dealing so that he could make ends meet, get some of the things he usually went without."

Eddie snorted thinking about it in hindsight; the handfuls of bills that he shoved into the old folgers can under the sink...or tucked away in one of those dusty, unassuming mugs on the walls.

"I tried to put it right into his wallet once, but he just thought I was looking for...lunch money for school. Took the twenty I had just put in there and handed it right back to me. Maybe more? But he was always like that...giving. Selfless.

“Old man always...he always worked holidays. I don't remember holidays with my parents...but I remember the ones with Wayne. Christmas, Thanksgiving. Well, Black Fridays actually. We'd have Hungry Man Turkey Dinners for Thanksgiving--you know the ones with the apple crisp. Wayne always said we could have dessert first--and then he went off for his shift.

“When I was 14, I thought I'd wait up for him, make him breakfast. I'd just taken home ec and learned how to make pancakes. Ended up falling asleep in front of the TV. Woke up to the smell of McDonalds Hashbrowns. I'd never had 'em before...and that...shit I mean, that's...what is it people say nowadays? Love Language?

“That's my love language. Bringing people McDonalds hashbrowns."

He trails off thinking of the numerous people he's surprised with breakfast...partners, friends...even Wayne himself a few times. Especially when he'd go to pick him up at the airport.

The interviewer said something and Eddie broke from his thoughts.

"What's that?"

"Thanksgiving..." he paused. "It was a few weeks ago...did you get a chance to see him befo--"

"No," Eddie scoffed and looked down at his hands now to avoid eye contact.

He played with the rings on his fingers, those same rings that had been with him for years. Rings that his dad had apparently picked up one year for his birthday...but he was pretty sure Wayne had giving them to Al so he wouldn't turn up empty handed.

"Anyways," he continued to avoid the question. "I think that's why I pushed myself to keep going and going...because he pushed himself so hard. Fuck I could have given up...almost did. Could've gotten a job at Starcourt...but I had to prove I could do it for him. To thank him."

The interviewer asked him a few side questions about odd jobs he had during the years that the band struggled.

Maybe because Eddie had gotten a tear in his eye; a break from the heavy topics were welcome.

Eddie had that famous temper, after all, if the tabloids were to be believed; it wouldn't do to get him all riled up and do something drastic.

How many times had the phone rang after those articles had published? Wayne would be on the other end of the line asking if he needed a break.

"Come home for a little while," he'd say "Y'got me this house and I'm here all alone. Hardly spend any time anywhere else than the living room."

"No uncle Wayne, it's fine." Eddie would deflect. "Just gossip."

"Not asking you to stay long, just a few days."

"If you're so worried, why don't you fly out here? Since you think I need to be babysat so bad."

Those calls...they always turned into fights.

That famous temper...not exactly as the tabloids would make it seem...he never got rowdy with anyone but his uncle.

"Ed I'm only trying to help you."

"I never asked for help," he blurted out loud. He caught himself and cleared his throat, then straightened himself out in his chair. "S-sorry, sorry."

"It's ok," the interviewer dismissed. "We've been talking for a while now, it's easy to lose focus. I, for one, am thinking of the pint of Rum Raisin I have back at home."

"Reward for getting through this interview huh?" Eddie snorted. "Rum Raisin was my uncles favorite."

A sigh, another scribble, and then a shuffle of fabric as a sleeve is pushed up to provide easier access to a watch.

"I know that you only came because your friends were worried about you but grief is a really hard thing to process," the interviewer nodded gently. "Your uncle was a big part of your life, so it's understandable that losing him..."

The words faded out and was replaced with a ringing in Eddie's ears. He wrung his hands together and fiddled with his rings again.

Until the therapist said, "But we are out of time for today."

[paddockletters]

I would never get that effect on you | pablo gavi and pedri gonzalez

part 2 of i'll take the opportunity summary: after sharing an awkward moment with Gavi and Pedri, they will try to get you but on the day of the match, one of them will let you be happy and he will end up heartbroken, because he will realise that you have always loved him. pairing: pablo gavi x reader ; pedri gonzalez x reader warnings: some angst, hard decision, a broken heart words count: 3.1 k —wow, the longest fic i've ever written—. author's note: finally here is the second part of this fic. You don't know how much I suffered trying to choose one of them, but you guys already had your favourite, so… I hope you liked it as much as I did! just to let you know again, english is not my first language so pardon me if there are mistakes —feel free to tell me—

A couple of days had passed since that awkward breakfast with the boys.

Both Pedri and Pablo had sent you messages apologising for what had happened and you honestly didn't know what to think.

It was clear that something was going on between the three of you. Pedri's attitudes did seem a bit strange to you because he acted like he was jealous, although you wouldn't know exactly the reason. With Gavi, on the other hand, you knew there was something between you.

Although Pedri had promised to come to pick you up at the university one day after the breakfast you had had, you cancelled him because your head was a mess and seeing him wasn't going to help, although that day when you got home you found a box in your room. You had asked your mother about it and she had only told you that the delivery company had left it.

When you opened it you found Gavi's shirt, you put it close to your nose and you noticed the smell of fabric softener and his perfume, and also a note from him.

"Sorry for what happened the other day, I will keep my promise and I hope you will too" you couldn't help but smile, he couldn't be more caring.

By now you knew what to wear to the match.

It was Friday afternoon when you had received a message from Pedri asking if he would pick you up on Saturday to go to the match, you weren't sure but you still agreed, you didn't want to lose your friendship with him.

You were about to have dinner when there was a knock on your door, which was strange because it was 8 pm. "Who could it be?" you thought.

To your surprise it was Gavi, "but what was he doing here if it was late and he had a very important game tomorrow" you thought.

"Pablo, what are you doing here?" you asked as you stepped aside to let him into your house.

"hey y/n wanted to see you before the game" He said to you while scratching the back of his neck, he's nervous. "sorry if I didn't tell you"

"yeah yeah, no worries, I was actually just about to have dinner, do you want some?" You smiled at him as you headed to the kitchen. "It's chicken and vegetables, something without so many calories."

"sure, thanks for your interest" he said to which you both smiled.

"I have to, I'm worried you won't be able to score a goal tomorrow" you smiled at him and shook his elbow.

“que va, que lo de marcar el gol ya está hecho" scoring the goal has been done already

You both picked up your plates and sat down at the kitchen island.

"Well, have you spoken to Pedri?" Gavi asked without being able to help himself.

The last thing you wanted was for it to get awkward and he wasn't helping, why are boys so dumb?

"Yeah, in fact, we agreed that tomorrow he would pick me up to go to the game together" You told him in response he tensed his jaw.

"Cool" he thought.

" Awesome" He said to you and you managed to catch the sarcasm in his voice.

"Yeah, but good. Tell me, are you ready for tomorrow?" you said to change the subject.

"Well, I'm excited and confident that we'll manage to win".

So you continued chatting about other topics until he decided it was time to leave because tomorrow he had to get up early to go training before the match and other interview duties.

"I'll see you tomorrow, and I hope to see you in my shirt," he said as he winked at you.

"Okay, okay. Good luck tomorrow!" You were both already at your front door.

"Thank you, and I'll do my best to get that goal". He said as he said goodbye and gave you a kiss on the cheek and you smiled.

You watched as he got in the Uber and left.

The next day, you hurried to change into the shirt Gavi had given you, jeans, trainers and a coat on top.

Soon, you received a text from Pedri letting you know he was arriving at your house.

As you got into the car, you smiled at him.

"Hi, how are you? he asked and you could smell his perfume. How good he smelled.

"You smell great". You regret when the words come out of your mouth.

Why did you say that?

"Yeah, really? Thank you, you always smell so good." He says as you blush.

"Well... Are you ready for the game?" You ask him as he starts driving.

"I'm excited, and I know we'll win." He said smiling at you.

"I like that confidence, I know you will."

"Just to let you know, I'm not forgetting about the goal."

Jeez, you didn't know how you would handle the fact that if he and Gavi scored a goal and they would dedicate it. You didn't know at this point if you wanted to.

"Okay, I don't forget either." You gave him a somewhat forced smile.

"Put on some music I know you have good taste" He gave you his phone, ok... a lot of confidence, "I like it" you thought.

Inevitably you put on a song that you had stuck to thanks to Tik Tol and that somehow reminded you of Pedri because of the video a teammate of his had posted of him singing and yes, you were obsessed with that song.

“Estoy perdido en el club buscando dónde respirar bien o que me entienda alguien, caras conocidas muchas, pero amigos nadie. Dale, caile uh, uh” You both sang smiling.

"It's my favourite song right now, I swear" He tells you as he looks at you sideways.

"Pedri, it's mine too. You should know I've had an obsession with it ever since I saw that video of you singing it." You give him a slight nudge.

"Glad to know we have good tastes, me most of all." He said and winked at you and you smiled.

Was that a hint? Probably.

We continued our journey in comfortable silence listening to the music.

This afternoon was a bit warm, so you decided to take off your coat, just to stay in Gavi's shirt. Pedri turns to look at you.

"Look, you're wearing the team jersey". He smiles at you.

"Pedri, I come with all the attitude. Gavi gave it to me". You say and instantly regret it.

"Ah, ok" He mumbles and from then on you are silent.

He seems very focused on the road with his brows furrowed. You're worried that something has happened to him, or that you've said something to upset him. He's quite serious and not very talkative, which is unusual for him.

I'm so focused on watching him that I realise too late that we've arrived at the Camp Nou. There were already too many cars.

As we walk into the stadium, he turns to look at me.

"OK, I'll take you to the stands. That's where Gavi gave you the tickets, right?" He said.

"No, actually, he gave me to be behind you, behind the dugout." You said, to which he nodded. "Come on I'll take you."

With that, you both headed down some corridors, and finally arrived at your seat.

"I'll leave you here, you already know where to buy food if you want. My brother is actually a few seats away, if you need anything don't hesitate to ask him".

"Thanks Pedri, good luck. I strongly believe that you will get the win". You tell him and give him a hug.

"Thank you y/n, it means a lot to me". He said in your ear, and with that he left smiling.

While you were waiting for the match to start, you were looking at your phone and chatting with a friend. Soon, the boys started to come out of the tunnel as the game started and you could see the two boys trying to find you and when they both found you, they waved at you, and you smiled back at them.

Gavi when he saw that Pedri was also waving at you made that typical face of his, he became serious and tensed his jaw.

"I must score before him". Gavi thought and Pedri did too.

Both of them could define this match as the most important in their lives, and it was because of you.

The match had not gone the way Gavi or Pedri would have liked, the visiting team had scored a goal in just the first 24 minutes, now it was almost the end of the half and Barcelona could not score a goal.

Finally, the long awaited goal came and it was from none other than Gavi. The fans were shouting like crazy for his goal, you shouted in the same way, you were happy because he had managed to score a goal, the first one for his team. The illusion of him dedicating the goal to you was still there, he came closer to where you were and pointed at you while you watched him say " To you, I promised you".

You had a huge smile on your face and you were sure that you were extremely blushing, and even more with the fact that all the people were watching you.

On the other hand, Pedri's blood was boiling. He couldn't believe that Gavi had scored a goal before him. In another situation he wouldn't have been angry and he would have been with his team celebrating, but no, you were there, watching them both play and Pablo, he was ahead.

"Gavi, I thought you understood". Pedri said to him once they were walking down the tunnel.

"What are you talking about? Did you want me to pass you the ball?" Gavi answered him, clearly he knew what he was talking about, but he was playing dumb.

“Tío, no te hagas el tonto” man, don't play dumb. “You know it. I told you I like y/n and I'd go for it”. Pedri said angrily.

"And I told you I wouldn't stay away, I've seen her first. I'm sure that whatever exists between me and her is stronger than what you're trying to build. No me hagas cabrear, por favor" I ask you not to piss me off . Gavi said angrily and walked away.

Pedri was extremely wrong if he thought he would have a thing with you. The moment he saw that Gavi almost had you, he was trying to interfere, well he was a prick if he thought he would get anything.

Back to the match, both boys were more motivated and not only because of the encouraging words their coach Xavi gave them, but also from the fact that they wanted to prove something to a specific person. You.

You watched as the two boys were moving around the pitch trying to take the ball and score a goal, however, they were failing to get the last one.

It was 76 minutes and the second long awaited goal Gavi arrived and everyone celebrated by shouting and jumping up and down. You couldn't be happier for him as you knew how excited he was to score goals, you were proud of him.

Gavi was also on cloud nine with happiness, it was being a great day for him.

Pedri turned to see you and noticed the big smile you had, he could swear that even your cheeks hurt from smiling. He felt sad, angry with himself for not being able to score a goal; jealous to see that you were wearing Gavi's jersey instead of his. Gavi right now was the star of the match.

"Congrats man, what a goal" Pedri came over to hug Gavi.

"Thanks mate, you assisted me to score it". He smiled at him.

The match came to an end, with Barcelona being the winners.

You leave the pitch to wait for both boys in the family area. You were so happy because the team had won and obviously, because of Gavi's goals, however, you also felt sad for Pedri. You couldn't imagine how disappointed he might be that he didn't score a goal, even though he assisted Gavi's goal.

About an hour passed before Pedri appeared down the corridor with his other teammates and although he was smiling, it wasn't the lovely smile he had, it didn't reach his eyes.

When he reaches you, he immediately hugs you. You close your eyes as he pulls you close to his body and you bury your face in his neck. There it was, the smell of his perfume and soap, he was so freshly showered.

" I want you to know that I'm so proud of you" You whisper in his ear and he hugs you tighter.

"Hey, are you okay?" You ask him and you feel him nod his head.

"Yeah, no worries." He says and pulls away just a little to press a kiss to your hair. "I'm just a little disappointed that I didn't score the goal I promised you."

"Pedri... it's okay, you played amazing. I'm really happy just to see you doing what you love, that's all that matters, okay? And I want your shirt though" You tell him smiling and stroking his arm.

"I'll give it to you, just let me wash it and I guess today hasn't been my day, but I understood something today, so... Well, I'm glad you came". He tells you with a sort of half-hearted smile.

"The good thing is..." You don't finish your sentence because you just see over Pedri's shoulder that Gavi is coming towards you, smiling.

When Pedri saw that you didn't finish speaking, he turned to look in the direction you were looking and then he saw him. Again he looked back at you, you had a smile that you had never given him, he could swear that your eyes were shining as you looked at Gavi and he had the same reaction as you. You were definitely meant to be together, he understood that. "I would never get that effect on you". he thought

"Y/N! DID YOU SEE IT!!! WE DID IT!" Gavi shouted as he came with hurried strides towards you.

"YOU DID IT GAVI! I'M SO PROUD!" you told him as you gave him a hug and he carried you and spun around.

"I promised you and it wasn't just one goal, it was two" He told you as he put you down. He had a grin from ear to ear and it was contagious.

You were so happy it just looked like there were just the two of you in that room, looking so in love.

"That was a great match Gavi, you were amazing." "Thank you, you were bringing me luck too." He said to you and you blushed.

"Maybe, maybe..." you said playfully.

"Really, bonita, thank you so much for coming. It means a lot to me, and now with all this I wanted to tell you something." Gavi looked nervous.

"Well guys, I'll leave you. See you tomorrow Gavi, bye y/n." Pedri said with an awkward smile.

You had completely forgotten about him, it hadn't been on purpose, but since you saw Gavi just...

"Pedri, stay." You said, turning to look at him.

"No, I'm going to have dinner with my family. Don't worry." He said as he gave you a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Congratulations Gavi, you deserve it". Pedri said to Gavi as he also went over to hug him.

Maybe, just maybe those words had a hidden meaning.

"Sorry for how I behaved. Really, you guys are good for each other. Take care of her, she's amazing." Pedri whispered in Gavi's ear.

" Tío..." mate Gavi said. " You are meant to be together." With that Pedri pulled away from him and started to walk away from you.

"I feel sorry for Pedri, he's kind of down" You say to Gavi as you walk down the corridors of the stadium.

"I know". Gavi says.

"He's an amazing player and guy. were you telling me something earlier?" You say as you stop in the hallway and turn to look at him.

"Yeah, I wanted to tell you that...shit, I can't do it."

"Gavi, take it easy," you tell him as you take his hand.

"I just don't know how to start. Well, from the moment we met I knew you were a super nice girl, amazing, also to mention that you are gorgeous. I felt like we connected immediately, I feel like you understand me like no one else. When we are alone or with friends, sometimes I get lost watching you and when you are around me, all my attention is on you. I could listen to you talk about what you love all day , I love to hear you laugh, especially when it's about silly things I say or jokes that aren't even funny, my thoughts are all about you, I want everything with you.

When I say that it's because I want absolutely everything. I want to celebrate goals, victories, championships with you. But also, I want to be in your arms when I have a bad day. I also want to be with you when you're sad or happy because of your exams. I want to be with you in..." You didn't let him finish because you wrapped your arms around his neck to kiss him.

"I want that with you too Pablo, maybe it took us a while to realize it, but it's better late than never". You told him smiling, you were incredibly happy.

"Well then... do you want to be my girlfriend?" he asked you as he hugged you around the waist and brought his face close to yours.

"Of course I do, silly." You said and you brought your lips together again in a kiss, but this time with more intensity, it was a kiss full of love, feelings.

It was just the two of you, everyone had understood that you were meant to be together.

[xanticore]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐃 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐃 𝐁𝐎𝐘 𝐏𝐓 𝟐

part one

Genre: angst

Warnings: mentions of drug and alcohol abuse. Rehab. ( Sad ending for Kook but he understands why )

Setting: early 2000s ,, New York

Summary: After months of being in rehab, Jungkook was able to get fully sober and just wanted a restart. He's finally back in his band and ready to properly take on his career. The band was in New York just hanging out at the mall until he noticed you with a new boyfriend.

Rockstar!Jungkook

My brother picked me up from the rehabilitation center and I was greeted with my members sitting in the back of the truck. They all popped confetti and screamed in admiration for me as I was fully better. I couldn't help but smile and screamed with them. I felt like a changed man and I was determined to leave the drugs and drinking alone for good.

I was able to get over my father's death and my mother walking out. All I really needed was someone to talk to instead of having my emotions be bawled up. I was overwhelmed with my own self-stressing myself out. I had amazing resources but ended doing something that I wasn't supposed to.

The members really kept me in check throughout our comeback album. During interviews, I was prepared for the questions where fans were desperate to know. I told them the truth and made a promise to everyone, letting them know I won't go through such a path ever again.

I was diagnosed with major depression and still have to take anti depressants every day to keep me from doing anything stupid. My members- Jaehyun specifically, was on my ass about me taking my pills as if I was some kid. I eventually took an understanding and just listened to him.

It was a friday night and our band was backstage getting ready to go on the tonight show with Jay Leno. I was a bit nervous as it was going to be my first time being in front of a live audience in awhile. I was getting my hair and makeup done, as my leg were shaking on the chair. Yugyeom took noticed as he was sitting next to me reading a magazine.

"Kook, you alright bro?"

"Yeah..just nervous"

"It'll be okay"

Yugyeom gave me a reassuring grin before caressing my thigh. It honestly calmed me down a bit. I was nearly on the verge of breaking down into a panic attack. I did my breathing exercises before it was time to go on to national television.

The interview went very well and was comfortable after Jay didn't say anything about my addiction but instead asked if I was a-ok. The band went along to perform our new single flawlessly; leaving the fans screaming. I could tell people really did miss and care for me when I took a moment to take out my earpiece. They were chanting my name.

It made me a little teary eyed as I walked back to our dressing room.

Saturday afternoon came around and me and the gang was out just having a chill time. We walked around manhattan and eventually just ended up at a mall. We all had some shopping done and just took ourselves a break at the food court. Eunwoo was kind enough to treat everyone with a burger meal-which we dreaded on paying him back.

"Kook, I just wanna say- we all wanna say that we are proud of you. If you have any issues please..don't hesitate to tell us." Eunwoo said, giving me a purple and black box. "What is it?" I asked smiling out of curiosity..still having some burger in my mouth.

"It's a gift from us- to you." Jaehyun answered. "Open it." I went along and opened the box. Inside was a Vivienne Westwood ring. A ring similar to a character from an anime I took fond of while in rehab. There was also a note inside it that read...

Jungkook, were so proud of you that you made it this far in your life. We were all scared for you and wanted whats best for you. We hope in the future we will always bring a smile to your face as we play our instruments. We love you Jungkook and we will be here with you until the day we die. - The rest of owlsleep

I read the note at least three times before getting up to form a group hug. I put on the ring and it fit perfectly. I really don't think I would be here without them...more likely her as well. We continued our chatter on random topics and ate our lunch.

I eventually became full and just sat at the table listening to the guys bickering about power rangers. I wasn't really looking at anything particular in the food court but the second I did, my heart skipped a beat. (name) was sitting at a table, at least 7 tables away from us. My smile faded seeing a guy sit next to her , kissing her on the cheek.

I never stopped thinking about ever since that night me and Jaehyun gotten into that argument. I wonder if she knows that im alive...If im..ok? I couldn't just walk up to her after all I said to her. I felt defeated. I guess this was karma doing it's work.

"Kook you ready to go?" Snapping out of my thoughts all the trashed was picked up and Yugyeom was standing there waiting for an answer. I chuckled out of embarrassment. "Yeah.."

We walked out of the food court and I had made no moves. It's what I deserve and I know now, she's happy and relaxed with someone else.

That's all I care about.

a/n: i hope yall like pt2. somewhat happy ending but it's what kook deserves. yall like the Nana reference ?

dividers : cr to owners

[featheredenby]

Recovery

“In any case she can’t wait to see Grian’s article, nothing like some good old dislike for the GFHA to get the blood pumping.”

Written by: FeatheredEnby

Word Count: 1,430

Part Eight Of: Show Your Fangs

A Superhero AU of Empires SMP/Hermitcraft/The Life Series/Artimator SMP

Grian sits on his couch looking for reference articles for the newest article about the masquerade that he has to write. It’s not like he needs the references as he was there and can definitely write a better article with his eyes closed but there’s no way that he’s gonna track down any of the GFHA heroes. Not after he told the most famous one (Hotguy) the information that Poultry Man is a reporter who likes to fish and then as Grian brought him into his house. It would just be too risky, too easy to piece it together that Grian (the reporter with multiple fishing related keychains) is the same person as Poultry Man (the vigilante who admitted to being a reporter who enjoys fishing). However, that's when (because nothing can go his way) he sees an email from his coworker (and close friend) Joel, Grian the GFHA is looking for a reporter to do an interview with one of the heroes, they didn’t say which, we told them that you would do it. Go to The Mythical Tavern at 3:30 pm to do the interview. Of course. Now Grian has to once again hide his fractured wing and he has to do an interview because the government wants good press.

-

Lizzie sits on the sofa wrapped in a blanket next to Scott and Jimmy, seventy-two hours later and she’s still dealing with the unpleasant effects of a near hypothermic death. It’s nice at least that she doesn’t have any cases coming up and she gets to spend time with her family. Well that is her sibling and Scott, Jimmy’s boyfriend, they look pretty cute too, curled up and sleeping on one of the other sofas. Another brightside to her being home is that she doesn’t have to spend hours at a time hiding her mutant fetechers, it’s the same for Jimmy and Scott too. Jimmy doesn’t have to hide his wings and pointed ears and Scott doesn’t have to hide his antlers. Vrrt- Lizzie’s phone buzzes and she reaches to grab it, looking at the screen she sees a new text from Gem, Hey Lizzie! I know that you like gossip so, Sausage told me that Hotguy is at his restaurant doing an interview for The Hermit Times. Thought that you would find that interesting. Now that is interesting and if Lizzie wasn’t still suffering from hypothermia she would throw on her Mayor costume and head out. Maybe she can get Scott to go out as Cromia once he and Jimmy wake up. In any case she can’t wait to see Grian’s article, nothing like some good old dislike for the GFHA to get the blood pumping.

-

Scar stands at the bar of The Mythical Tavern and gets many strange looks which is honestly to be expected. To start off he’s technically Hermitopia’s hero and second he’s in his full Hotguy get up. Scar honestly wishes that the GFHA could have sent one of Empires City’s heroes; they have plenty to be honest. Then again when Scar was told that he would have to do this he was told that they had gotten some reporter from The Hermit Times, specifically Grian Helios. Of course said Grian Helios is Scar’s roommate who also patched up his burn and of course Grian has been less than about Hotguy in his articles. According to the last article (about when the Faker escaped from prison) “Hotguy is apparently a hero but according to statistics of his recent battle with the Faker, the vigilante C-fire saved thirteen more people that him.” Of course Grian had helped him on friday but then again Poultry Man had asked Grian to and it’s different when there were no civilians and this time it’s an interview. 

“Ahem. Hotguy?”

“Hm?” Scar looks over and sees that Grian has arrived.

“So you’re the hero that I have to interview?” Grian asks.

“Yep.” Scar tells him.

“Right let's get to the point,” Grian says,”My job wants me to interview you for a newspaper article on the fight that happened at Cleo Zie’s cafe The Cozy Cave.”

At this point Scar sees the owner of the Mythical Tavern who he heard referred to as Sausage comes up to them, “Welcome to The Mythical Tavern. What can I get for you?”

“I’ll just get a coffee.” Grian orders.

“Can I have hot chocolate?” Scar asks.

“Sure. I’ll get those to you in just a minute.”

Scar looks over and sees Grian pulling out a notepad, pen, and audio recorder. “Do you mind if I record this? I want to review it later when I get home.”

“Nope.”

Grian clicks on the recorder, “So,” he says flipping open the notepad,”Why exactly were so many heroes and vigilantes at the cafe on friday evening?”

“Well, as many people know the owner of the cafe Cleo Zie allows for the cafe to be used as an event venue and the vigilante Time Witch or as known by some people The Unkillable One was hosting a masquerade party.”

“Hm. Okay, and what heroes and vigilantes were there?”

“Well we were all in costume so I couldn’t tell you all of them but I know that the heroes there included The Wolf Spirit, The Huntress, and Canary Call.”

“So you’re telling me that all but two of the GFHA’s heroes were there that night?”

“Yes. As for the vigilantes there was Poultry Man, The Mayor, Cromia, and of course Time Witch.”

“And were there any villains other than The Red Ones?”

“Oh yeah, The Faker was there too.” Scar tells him.

Somehow Grian doesn’t look surprised in the slightest, “Okay then, can you recount the events of the night for me?”

“Sure,” Scar says,”When I got there a lot of people had already arrived but since I normally use crutches to get around I couldn’t dance so I wandered around for a bit before I saw someone standing in a corner. I introduced myself and we chatted for a bit before they left to use the bathroom, soon after they left the Red Ones arrived. When they got there I hid in a bathroom and learned that the person who I had been talking to was Poultry Man. The rest is a bit blurry but we fought The Red Ones, The Red Witch was taken into custody, and I got a nasty burn.”

“Mhm…” Grian replies as their drinks arrive.

“Well,” Scar asks, “Do you have any other questions?”

“Not really,” Grian sips his coffee, “actually I do have one. What is The GFHA planning to do about the fact that there are three villains currently on the loose?”

“To my knowledge there is not currently a plan.” Scar informs him.

“Interesting.” Grian responds while writing something down.

“Can I ask you a question?” Scar inquires.

“Sure.”

“You know what you wrote in your last article? About the vigilante C-Fire saving more lives than me?”

“Yes? What about it?”

“I’m just wondering why you wrote it.”

“I work for a newspaper and my job is to cover the political analysis section,” Grian reminds him, “It’s my job.”

“Okay.”

“Well,” he says while getting up, ”Thank you for the interview, I’ll make sure that you get one of the first copies.”

-

Knock. Knock. Knock. Someone is pounding at the door to Grian’s apartment. He stands up from his desk where his laptop is out with the first draft of his article “Cozy Cave Catastrophe” on it. It better not be Timmy the last time that he’d come knocking on Grian’s door he and Scar had had to disinfect, stitch, and wrap a stab wound. Grian enters the kitchen and realises the time, ten thirty-seven pm. Normally no one comes to the door that late. Looking around Grian finds a baseball bat that Cleo must have left the last time that she was there. He picks it up and walks over to open the door while clutching it in a visible manner. “Hello,” he says while opening the door, “Can I help you?”

It’s safe to say that the people who he sees outside of the door shock him. Crown, ears, cape and all in front of him is The Red King and standing next to him is the vigilante C-fire with a triumphant look on her face and a brand new outfit. “What do you want?” Grian asks them.

“Oh that’s pretty simple,” The Red King tells him, “We want bait.”

As soon as he says this something falls on Grian knocking him out.

[all-risejd]

A New Judgment Chapter 12: A DDT and a Request (Poly Judgment Day)

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6. Part 7. Part 8. Part 9. Part 10. Part 11.

The rest of the week leading up to Smackdown was much the same. Finn and Nessa building Legos for stress relief, the boys doing interviews online, training almost every day to take bumps and maybe eventually fight and Rhea calling when she can with the time difference, Nessa secretly staying up to never miss the calls.

Early Friday morning Nessa gets one of these. Thankfully she was in Dominiks kitchen cleaning, unable to sleep so she snuck out to grab a snack then clean. She answers the phone.

"Hey Dems, any news?' Nessa asks quietly leaning on the counter and she hears Rhea whimper on the other line.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry Demi, what do you need?" Nessa asks grabbing a bag of marshmallows out of Dominik's cupboard and popping one in her mouth.

"I just need to talk to you, the boys will try to fix things you will just let me feel," Rhea answers and sniffles again trying to not sob into the phone.

"Of course mamela, do you want to tell me how you feel or just tell me about your Nonna? Whatever you need babe" Nessa offers and sits on the ground eating another marshmallow.

"My Nonna would have loved you. She always encouraged me to follow my dreams and to unapologetically be me..." Rheas voice cracks.

"I would have loved to have met her Dems. You are amazing and kind and sweet and an inspiration to many. Your Nonna was an incredible woman to be such an inspiration to you." Nessa praises leaning her head against the counter. "Would you like me to tell the boys?" Nessa asks knowing this isn't an easy topic to talk about. Rhea is silent on the other end for a moment.

"No, I think I need to call and tell them. I just can't at the moment it's like admitting it makes it too real.. You already know how to read me so well... I don't have to actually say the words..." Rhea trails off and Nessa's heart breaks for the woman.

"Of course, anytime you need anything I'm here Dems. I know what that is like..." Nessa yawns.

"Oh Bunny I'm sorry for keeping you up it must be 3 am there" Rhea apologizes, sadness still thick in her voice.

"No Dem's it's fine, I told you I'd be here for you and I will be for as long as you need me..." Nessa tries to reassure Rhea.

"Ok, Bunny. Thank you for everything." Rhea softly thanks Nessa.

"I haven't done anything, Darling." Nessa shakes her head even though Rhea can't see it.

"Bunny you have done so much without even realizing it, you have been so good and I don't know how I could handle this without you," Rhea praises making Nessa blush.

"Look, when you get back and we are at your house I am cooking for you. I am going to show you how I learned how to grieve and we will see if it helps you yeah?" Nessa offers wanting to help not fix.

"Yeah, that sounds nice. I'm going to let you sleep I have to go, I'm getting on a plane so I can be at Smackdown tonight. Goodnight Bunny, see you soon." Rhea says goodbye and Nessa does as well and they hang up.

___________________________________________________________________________

Flying out the morning of Smackdown Nessa clearly tired, the atmosphere sad in the car as they drive to the venue. Rhea had called and told the boys the news. They get there 30 minutes before filming starts, The cameras already filming their first promo which is just them entering, Damien escorting Nessa with her holding his elbow as she did in previous shows since he is rolling in both their bags, security opening the doors for them. Dominik and Finn trailing close behind. Damien pauses and leans down to talk to Nessa his face close to hers, cameras catching every moment. Dom and Finn are behind the cameras, letting this Promo be shot.

"Mamita it has been such a pleasure getting to know you better." Nessa twirls her hair and giggles,

"It really has been great, especially the other night" Nessa strokes her finger up and down Damiens's chest, looking up at him even though he is leaning down to be closer to her.

"Well Hermosa, we can have a repeat tonight if you want" His voice deepens and Nessa wraps her arms around his neck and plays with his hair,

"I would like that very much" She answers and he wraps his arms around her waist. The cameraman raises his hand to signal the end of filming and Nessa breaks the embrace resuming the previous position where she grabs his elbow and they all walk to their assigned locker room. Nessa leaning more on Damien than before.

_________________________________________________________________________

Once in the locker room, Nessa takes a seat on Damien's lap on the bench, this being a less cozy room than previous shows. She feels that he is still apprehensive about touching her since the signing but not all the time and she is so confused.

"Luis, have I done something wrong?" She asks her voice sounding soft and little. Damien glances down to Nessa and sighs wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Of course not Mariposa. I'm just trying to learn when certain touches are ok with you I can tell when you are starting to get uncomfortable like now... and you are forcing it. Don't force something that doesn't feel ok." Damien rests his chin on her shoulder and she leans into the embrace.

"Im just trying to work through touch aversion. You are safe, I know that. Finn is safe, I know that too. It's just sometimes it gets scrambled and I don't know how to stop it. I don't want you to feel like you messed up so I try to power through it." She bites her lip and Damien sighs again,

"Nessa, you powering through it makes it seem worse. Remember to communicate I need to know what is and isn't ok this isn't just about me." He tells her seriously and she deflates.

"I'm sorry, I just want to prove you didn't, and don't go too far because you assume you do. Just trust that I'll tell you when you do ok?" Nessa asks tapping her fingers on Damiens's arms.

"Ok, ill work on that and you promise to communicate when the touch is too much. Are you ok with this?" Damien asks and Nessa closes her eyes and nods her head. His hand travels up and grabs her chin turning her head to look at him.

"Words Nessa, I need words." Damien orders.

"Yes, I am ok with this. I promise I will tell you when it is too much" Nessa promises and Damien smiles in relief and tightens his arms around her, Dominik glancing over and smiling at them while Finn is stretching preparing for his match. Nessa pats Damiens's hands and he releases her and she gets off his lap and stretches. Damien reaches out and tickles her exposed stomach, her shirt riding up as she stretched. Nessa giggles and jumps back.

"I'm going to change and since there is no privacy in here I'm going into the bathroom." Nessa grabs her bag and enters the bathroom quickly changing and doing her makeup, going with a purple lipstick to better match the colors of the Judgment day. She walks out of the bathroom to see Rhea standing there already in her makeup and just needing to change her clothes. Nessa runs over and wraps her arms around Rhea's waist. Nessa doesn't say anything, just squeezes tighter as Rhea wraps her arms around Nessa's shoulders, the boys joining the hug and squashing Nessa between them.

"Help me" She squeeks almost unable to breathe making Rhea laugh and the boys break the embrace.

"I'm gonna change and get ready we have a promo in a bit" Rhea announces, just grabbing her clothes and starting to change in front of everyone.

"Woah, Woah, Woah..." Damien holds out his hands to stop her.

"Is Nessa ok with this? Have you asked her if she is comfortable with this she just went in the bathroom to change" He starts to fret glancing between Nessa and Rhea. Nessa shrugs and plops down on the bench.

"I have no issue with her changing in front of me, that is her choice if she is comfortable. We talked about it when we shared our hotel room this week." Nessa crosses her arms and smiles as Rhea finishes getting in her ring gear.

"You look good Mami" Nessa calls out and Rhea blushes doing a little turn just for Nessa's amusement, grateful she is trying to act normal and not treat her with kid gloves like the rest of the locker room and her partners. Rhea was annoyed at being stopped every 5 seconds by people apologizing for her loss but she is thankful they care for her.

Rhea holds out her hand for Nessa to grab and pulls her into another hug and places a quick kiss on her lips muttering thanks before breaking the hug and grabbing her title belt and Dom's hand. Nessa grabs Damiens's elbow and follows them out to go meet Kayla at Gorilla for their Interview. They all smirk as Kayla introduces them. Damien throwing his arm over Nessa's shoulders and pulls her close to him to the point where she braces her hand on his chest.

"Now, Damien, Dom last week you picked up a victory over Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar... Despite Zelina Kind of embarrassing you, Nessa and Rhea..." Kayla starts and Rhea leans over and interrupts Kayla who puts the microphone in front of Rhea's face to capture what she is saying,

"Excuse me, Kayla! Embarrassed are you kidding me right now? She attacked our Nessa really!" Rhea rants and Kayla tries to say something but Dominik interrupts her as well.

"Kayla, just stop ok...You don't wanna make Mami mad. She is a little protective of our Nessa" Dom smirks and winks at Nessa. Damien speaks up, Kayla putting the Mic towards him careful not to bonk Nessa in the head.

"Kayla look, here's the deal. Santos Escobar, we all know he can go. What he can't do is pick friends. Rey Mysterio, The LWO, They shouldn't be getting involved in our business" He waves around the hand he isn't holding her with and Nessa bites her lower lip enjoying his accent that comes through when pronouncing their names and stares up at him as he continues talking, "And I know you are going to ask me about Bad Bunny, but I'm going to address that in the ring." He says and The Judgement Day's entrance music starts and he turns towards the curtain, Nessa still under his arm. Rhea and Dom following close behind after glaring down Kayla. Nessa steps out from under his arm once on the top of the ramp and stands between Rhea and Damien, her thumbs through her belt loop as the pyro goes off and they make their way down the ramp their names being announced and Damien doing his normal entrance moves. They reach the bottom of the ramp and he bumps forearms with Rhea before holding out his arm for Nessa again and strutting around the ring to the backside, Damien holds Nessa's hand as she climbs the steps before he joins her on the apron. This time stepping on the bottom rope and pulling up the middle rope to make it easier for her to get in since she struggled the last few times. This elicits cheers from the crowd. Once all four of them are in the ring the other three do their signature poses where Nessa does the belt loop thing similar to when Dom crosses his arms in front of himself before pyro. Damien goes to grab a mic and starts pacing around the ring, raising the mic to his lips, Nessa stepping back with Dominik and Rhea.

"Backlash is in San Juan Puerto Rico" Damien almost growls into the mic making Nessa shiver and smirk at Damien as he continues, " And the host, my friend Bad Bunny " Damien steps forward and grabs the top rope for a moment. "Now Bunny you wanna attend the show, sit in the front row again thats fine, have a great time. But if you put your hands on my family again" Rhea pats Doms shoulder and Nessa nods her head approvingly at Damiens Message as he continues "I mean we all know what can happen" Damien gestures to the Titantron. They all turn to watch the replay. Nessa and Dom clap watching Bunny go back through the table Rhea smiles in glee at what she saw and laughing doing a little jump in the ring as Damien lifts the mic to his lips again.

"I know that was bad" Nessa wipes away fake tears, "But I need you all to watch that again, can you play it in slow motion please" Damien asks gesturing to the Titantron again. Rhea laughs hard telling Damien, "that was amazing" And Nessa nods in agreement and claps again thanking Damien for defend Dom and her since Bunny wanted to mention her to goad Dom.

The LWO's entrance music comes on and Zelina comes out, Damien unzips his trenchcoat and takes it off, Rhea steps out of the ring onto the apron as Zelina waves a chancla and Rhea jumps down, Nessa leans on the ropes facing them. She jumps as Damien and Dominik fall to her feet having been attacked by other members of the LWO who after the one hit slid back out of the ring celebrating getting the jump on them. Damien whips around and glares them down, Dom doing the same as Rhea slides back into the ring to check on Nessa before also glaring.

Damien holds open the ropes where Nessa stands for her to get out, Dom does the same for Rhea and the three of them get out of the ring so the match can start between Damien and Santos.

Nessa claps and jumps up and down as Damien punches Santos after he tried to jump on Damien from the apron, Rhea calling out "You look like an idiot Santos." Before Damien throws Santos back in the ring and gets back in there as well. Damien gets a pin on Santos who kicks out at 2 and Rhea yells at the ref to learn how to count and Nessa yells out her agreement Dominik smiles like an idiot at the both of them. Nessa winces as Santos turns the match around and drop-kicks Damien.

"Come on Damien," Nessa yells out smacking the apron frustrated. Glad when Damien kicks out. Nessa cheers as Damien powers out of the corner and superkicks Santos out of the ring.

"That's right babe, Show him who is boss!"

Damien smiles at the encouragement and gets out of the ring and runs about delivering another hit to Santos that knocks him down and dazes him. Once back in the ring, Damien gets another pin on Santos who kicks out again causing Nessa and Damien to growl in frustration. Dominik whispers something in Rhea's ear that makes her laugh. Dominik stands on the steps raising his arms and Rhea and Nessa cheer as Damien stomps down on Santos maintaining control of the match and pulls Santos onto the lower rope from the apron. Santos gains control and lands a hurricanrana leaving Damien seemingly out in the middle of the ring.

"Damien" Nessa Calls out jumping on the apron only for Rhea to pull her off.

"Don't get ejected Bunny" Rhea whispers in Nessa's ear who relaxes in the hold so Rhea lets go. All three of them looking worried. Santos goes for the pin and Nessa sighs out in relief when Damien kicks out, Rhea on her knees looking relieved. Rhea gets up and the three of them bang on the apron trying to boost Damien and will him to regain control. Santos and Damien begin exchanging blows, Santos getting control, and ending in another pin which Damien kicks out of.

Santos picks up Damien who holds the top rope, Rhea pats Nessa's shoulder telling her it's time. Nessa and Dominik head over to that side of the ring while Rhea jumps up on the apron distracting the ref, Nessa and Dominik get on the apron, Nessa scratching Santos's thigh while Dominik hits his back causing Santos to Drop Damien and stumble into the ring gripping at both areas that were attacked. Nessa and Dominik dropping back off the apron, Nessa putting on her best innocent face as Damien hits the clothesline. Nessa gets pulled behind Dominik as the other two men from the LWO run toward them and start attacking Dominik. Nessa runs to Rhea to get to relative safety, eyeing where Zelina is. Rhea and Nessa look on concerned, thankful Damien hops out of the ring to save Dominik. Nessa throws up her arms as Santos dives out the ring shoving Damien onto the announce table and goes to grip her back which is still a little sore from her mishap.

Santos throws Damien back in the ring. Santos goes to the corner and Rhea grabs his ankle to stop whatever move he was going to do. Nessa backs up as Zelina slinks over knowing she isn't supposed to be physical this match. Rhea is prepared for this and turns int to it getting flung headfirst into the barricade. Nessa runs to check on Rhea seeing that Dominik is already back to his feet. Rhea is still on the ground gripping her head. Nessa grabs her face and looks into her eyes checking her pupils seeing they are the correct size and reactive. Once satisfied there is not a major head injury she kneels next to Rhea as Damien's entrance music plays signaling his win. Damien isn't finished punishing Santos yet, he throws Santos out of the ring and then Jumps out himself and goes over to the announce table. He rips everything off the table and gets ready to put Santos through the table as he did Bad Bunny but stops when Rey Mysterios music comes on.

Nessa and Dom turn to look at the Entrance ramp, Dom on one side of the ring and Nessa still kneeling next to Rhea who is clutching her head. Rhea powers through it to move in front of Nessa as Rey jumps over the barricade and attacks Damien and Dominik slides into the ring. Rey sets his sights on Dominik and gets in the ring. Nessa tries to move from behind Rhea only for Rhea to stop her until Rey throws the first punch, Dom fighting back, eventually Rey setting up the 619. Rhea and Nessa run around the ring to where Damien pulled Dom down out of the way and out of the ring, Nessa standing in front of them squaring her shoulders as the LWO start rolling into the ring, Rhea grabs her arm and switches places, putting Nessa under Damiens arm and then clutching her head as they back up the ramp, Damiens other arm over Doms shoulders. The two groups taunt each other Nessa holds up her hand to her hip taunting how short Zelina is even compared to her. Zelina sees and points to her,

"I'm coming for you again!" And Nessa Rolls her eyes and fakes scared again before waving off the threat as they disappear behind the curtain. Thankful they don't have to do anymore camera work they sigh in relief and Rhea stops clutching her head.

"Zelina is going to make me pay for that short joke next time we train together" Nessa groans leaning more into Damien and Rhea laughs.

"Hey Bunny if she goes too far let me know I'll take care of it" Rhea grabs Nessa's hand and they walk back to their locker room getting curious glances from a few people along the way. Nessa sees AJ sneer and she sneers back. Damien glances over and pulls Nessa closer.

"Ignore him Mariposa, he has a problem with anyone openly not straight." Damien whispers in her ear not knowing how angry that would make Nessa. Nessa spins out from under Damiens arm and Dominik is quick to grab her having heard what Damien said to her.

"Reinita it's not worth it, he's not worth it." Dominik struggles as she flails trying to kick out of his grip on her. Damien sighs and takes her from Dominik and throws her over his shoulder. She deflates knowing she isn't getting out of that and points to her eyes then towards AJ who just scoffs and rolls his eyes turning away from them. Nessa rests her elbows on Damiens's back and her chin on her hands just bouncing about as they walk back some other wrestlers laughing at the scene others waving at Nessa. Asuka waves joyfully at her, Nessa waves back and holds her hands in a praying position making Asuka laugh and shake her head, and Nessa pouts. Once they are in the locker room Damien puts her down and she huffs.

"I know Mamita but we can't go attacking people with different views from ours" Damien rolls his eyes.

"The difference of views is one thing but when he treats others differently and would celebrate and fight for the loss of our rights is another." Nessa grumbles adding on "may someone name a child after him and soon" She switches to yiddish she is so angry, "Lign in drerd un bakn beygl!"

"Uh what is that Mariposa?" Damien asks a little apprehensive seeing her so angry and pacing about the room.

"Basically wishing he would drop dead and burn in hell. The literal translation is may you lay in the ground and bake bagels" Dominik shrugs and laughs knowing she will burn through it soon enough. Nessa stops pacing about the room when there is a sharp knock on the door. Damien opens it and Zelina pushes in and heads straight to Nessa Rhea jumping in between them.

"It's ok Rhea, I got this" Nessa gently puts her hand on Rhea's arm and pushes so Rhea gets out of the way.

"Sorry, Thea got carried away out there. I know it is a sore subject." Nessa apologizes scratching her head.

"No that's fine the crowd loved it but now Vince is fighting with Paul about you wrestling me" Zelina warns and the rest of the people in the room start flipping out. The blood drains from Nessa's face.

"Hey no remember contractually that can't happen unless you agree." Dominik comes over and rubs Nessa's lower back trying to keep her calm.

"No, but he can try to punish you if I don't agree," Nessa says to the room and looks at Zelina who smiles sadly.

"Nooo Thea what did you do..." Nessa trails off.

"I told him I wouldn't do it you aren't ready and it is too dangerous. Little stunts here and there are fine because we practice those and you are learning the basics. You barely know how to take a bump let alone a match. So Paul and Vince are having it out about that too. I just wanted to warn you. And Jefe wants to talk to you." Zelina warns and Dominik violently shakes his head.

"Hell no, after last week he can't even come near her I won't allow it." He states as a matter of fact. Zelina and Nessa move in unison, leaning back and looking at him like "is he serious".

"While I agree I don't even want to see him right now you don't get to dictate what I do and do not do." Nessa pokes Dominik's chest who holds his hands up in surrender. "Thea thank you for looking after me and helping train me. You don't have to I know how you felt about mine and Doms relationship." Nessa genuinely thanks Zelina who glares at Dominik.

"You told her! Eres un comemierda!" She shoves him back. Nessa steps between them, knowing she can't win against Zelina but wanting to protect him nonetheless.

"Of course, he told me. What you said hurt him and he needed comfort." Nessa holds out her arm creating space between them.

"Wait and you aren't upset?" Zelina asks shocked and glances between the two of them.

"No, it is how you feel and you are allowed to feel that. You didn't try to break us up or come between us. You just stated your opinion and left it at that. It doesn't make you a bad person. You decided to take your own time to train me, you didn't have to do that." Nessa explains like it is the most obvious thing in the world. "Though I know Jefe probably asked you to train me" Nessa adds on knowing she is right. Rhea, Damien, Dominik and Finn smile at Nessa, at how kind and forgiving she truly is.

"Wow... Uh... Thank you. Just so you know I have no problem with you or people dating outside of their culture in general, It is just when those they date appropriate the culture and act like it is theirs. You are unapologetically you and you honor their culture while honoring your own and don't claim it as your own." Zelina steps forward placing a hand on Nessa's shoulder and continues "And this dynamic is weird, I don't understand it but I don't think any less of any of you because of it like some others. You be you" Zelina finishes, Nessa nods in thanks. Zelina takes that as her moment to leave.

Once Zelina is gone Nessa throws her head back and groans,

"I'm going to have to up the training, maybe Asuka will help me.."

"You know we can help you too? We are right here Luv?" Finn asks, partially offended.

"No I know but I am small and you guys are tall and can powerhouse. I'm not that strong or at least as strong as you guys but I can move. Their styles are more likely to work for me. I just don't want you guys to think I am trying to be too clingy with you all by spending all that time with you." Nessa fidgets with her fingers.

"We will help train you too if that is what you want Bunny, as will Asuka if you ask her. We want each other to be safe out there... for the most part..." Rhea explains and Finn looks happier with her response.

"Luv we have got to work on your self-esteem don't we." Finn shakes his head and goes to grab Nessa's bag so she can actually hold Damien's hand when they leave.

______________________________________________________________________________________

They return to the hotel that night, Rhea is quiet unsurprisingly with what she is dealing with. They are in the hallway, their rooms across from each other again, Rhea's hand in Nessa's. Rhea squeezes Nessa's hand before speaking up.

"I want us all to sleep together tonight, please." Rhea looks to Nessa her eyes pleading.

"Yeah of course, I've been sleeping in a room with them all week for the most part...." Nessa admits as they all pile into the boy's room.

"What is for the most part?" Rhea asks plopping on the bed and spreading out. Nessa doesn't answer she just joins her on the bed laying her head on Rhea's shoulder not realizing how much she had been missing Rhea's cuddles.

"We found Nessa on the kitchen floor this morning asleep with a bag of marshmallows in her hand." Dominik snickers stripping down to his boxers and jumping on the bed, ignoring the completely empty bed. Damien stands at the edge of the bed and crosses his arms.

"If we are all going to cuddle Rhea then we need to be on the floor or have Paul start booking us a king-size bed again" He starts stripping the covers and pillows off the other bed and tossing them on the floor. "Ooh" Nessa exclaims and jumps out of the bed and grabs her key card and disappears for a few minutes leaving the door open. She comes back with a bunch of pillows and blankets in her arms, piled high above her head and kicks the door closed.

"Hey can one of you macho men help me please I can't see where I am going" She calls out to the room causing Rhea to laugh and Nessa sighs in relief as the pillows and blankets get taken of of her. They make what can only be described as a nest of pillows and blankets on the floor. Nessa is the first to plop down and calls out to Rhea holding out her hand. Rhea smiles and joins Nessa, laying down and pulling Nessa onto her chest again. The rest of the group joining the cuddle pile.

The next morning they catch their flight to Arkansas for Raw the following day

______________________________________________________________________________________

All members of the Judgement Day are in their locker room getting ready for that nights Raw which starts airing soon. Nessa was quieter than usual and sitting off by herself after asking for a bit of personal space. The other members glance at her with concern, the young woman having been quieter than usual and just seeming off. Nessa looks around at them and sees their looks of concern.

"I just have a lot on my mind I am trying to sort through I promise it is nothing bad." Nessa gives a soft smile to the group who finishes getting ready, Rhea putting on leather pants which makes Nessa pout.

"I know Bunny, but I'm not wrestling tonight so there is no need for my ring gear" Rhea laughs and shakes her head at Nessa pouting, that pout changing when she sees Damien come out of the bathroom in a suit. He does a little twirl.

"Like what you see Mariposa" She nods and he chuckles as he walks over and kisses her forehead before continuing to let her have her space.

"All right looks like we are all ready and the dark match is over and the show is about to start. We need to head to Gorilla" Finn announces to the room gesturing to the door. Nessa gets up and grabs Damiens's arm, wearing one of Dom's flannels over her Judgement day shirt that is tied in the back to expose a sliver of skin and her shorts over ripped-up fishnets like Rhea normally wears.

"I wanted us to match Mami" Nessa pouts as they make their way to Gorilla, getting there just as the bloodline head out to their music.

"We can match next week Bunny. God I can't wait to be home and see my puppies." Rhea groans leaning against Nessa and Damien.

"I can't wait to meet them and make you some Kugel and Challah." Nessa momentarily grabs Rhea's hand.

"You don't have to do that Nes, I'm ok really." Rhea feels bad about how much Nessa has been doing for her so she tries to make her relax.

"I know I don't have to but I want to. It helps me so please" Nessa asks, fluttering her eyelashes so Rhea agrees.

"I thought Ojitos don't work on you Mami" Dominik pouts gesturing between Nessa and Rhea.

"Normally they don't, but who can deny this pretty face" Rhea coos while grabbing Nessa's chin making the people backstage laugh at them used to their antics and not at all surprised at the new member fitting in so well.

"Yeah yeah, let's not bruise that pretty face, right Hermosa" Damien gently pries Rhea's hand off Nessa's face as their music starts and he grabs a mic with his free hand.

"Yeah bruises are meant for below the chin" Nessa announces as they walk out smirking to herself knowing they have to control their reaction to what she said. They make their way down the ramp to cheers from the crowd, goosebumps rising up Nessa's spine. They reach the front of the ring and the other four just step up on the apron, Damien grabbing her hand and pulling her up to stand next to him. The other three get in the ring and face off against the bloodline while Damien sits on the ropes to give Nessa easier access to the ring. Once she is in she stands on the edge of the line Next to Damien so they are all staring down a member of the Bloodline except her. They stand like that for a minute, Jimmy pacing back and forth until Damien raises the mic to his lips.

"Paul." Damien turns to look at Paul before stepping in front of his partners and standing in front of Solo staring him down, Paul putting a hand on Solos chest trying to calm him down. The crowd chanting you suck. Paul holds out his hand to Damien,

"Mr Priest" He smiles his smarmy smile. Damien smirks and shakes his hand as Paul continues speaking, Damien resuming his position Next to Nessa

"Sir, an honor. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's a very good day to be a very bad buy. If there is a heaven none of us are getting into it except maybe Nessa and that is iff at best. A short-term deal engineered by the tribal chief Roman Reigns." Jey takes the mic from Paul,

"Hey OG we don't know anything about what you are talking about". He states and Paul takes the Mic back as Jey continues on about Roman not texting or calling him to tell him.

"I know, your tribal chief didn't want anyone on our side... well except for Solo" Paul explains and continues "You know because there aren't any raised voices or sudden moves from Solo because the tribal chief wanted his Usos to almost be caught off guard by the enormity of this short term deal. You see, Even mister Balor isn't that happy about this because mr Balor has deep-seated anger issues. Mr Balor is going to put aside his deep personal feelings about us aside in the name of good short-term villainy. Speaking of which the Judgment day has a concern a bunny concern a bad bunny concern and Solo is an expert in assuaging concerns." Paul praises Solo as Rhea just glares Solo down and he returns the glare. Paul noticing the tension asks Jey to switch with Solo and they do, but Rhea switches with Finn to stay in front of Solo.

"Is uh... is everything ok here?" Paul leans between them asking and Rhea leans forward to answer,

"For now" and Paul sighs,

"Let me get to this before this whole situation goes the wrong way. The Judgment day needs something taken care of that is the name of Bad Bunny, Solo will handle that before your concerns become a problem because we in the bloodline have problems, we have a Kevin Owens problem a Sami Zayn problem, we have a Riddle to solve. We all know at backlash a first-ever 6 man tag team match...." Nessa zones out getting annoyed at how long-winded this man is. She zooms back in when she hears the Judgment day but rolls her eyes when he just keeps talking. She has to bite her cheek to keep from laughing when Paul grabs Dom's wrist apologizing that he has to see Rey up close again and nods towards Nessa as Rey's music starts. Damien guides Nessa to the ropes and holds them open for her to step out which she does and stands there as he does the same. He jumps down and grabs her hips and picks her up off the apron and lowers her to the ground before offering his elbow again, their partners right beside them as they leave while Rey gets in the ring.

____________________________________________________________________________________

They go back to the next area they are supposed to be in for their next segment after the next 2 matches and just relaxing. Damien is leaning up against the wall Nessa leaning up against his chest, his arms wrapped around her. Dom and Rhea sitting in the two chairs provided, Finn lounging on their laps.

"What was that before we went out there Princesa" Damien whispers in her ear tightening his grip on her, and Nessa lets out a little embarrassed whine. Dominik glanced over and smirking not going to explain this one that has to be on Nessa.

"Sometimes, I like to... with... when...." Nessa struggles to form a coherent sentence and Damien kisses the top of her head. Nessa pauses and takes a deep breath steadying herself.

"Once I am more comfortable... I like to be handled a little roughly sometimes. sometimes I like the bruises because I can control when, where and who they came from..." Nessa blushes and turns to hide her face in Damiens's chest. He pats her head trying and failing to not laugh because if he did what he was thinking he would cross a line.

"Is that what has been on your mind all day." Rhea asks from her seat and Nessa groans and shakes her head no, careful to not rub her makeup off on Damiens's suit jacket.

"Then what is Mariposa?" Damien places his finger under Nessa's chin making her look up at him and she licks her lips trying to regain the moisture her anxiety has zapped from her.

"Can we table that until we are in Florida, I want to talk to you all together in private?" Nessa asks her voice cracking from the nerves.

"Why can't you when we get back to the hotel tonight?" Finn asks curiously.

"Oh,... I see," Rhea says out loud after seeing Nessa's expression.

"What?! What do you see?" Dominik asks, freaking out that he might have missed something when normally he is the one able to read Nessa.

"She has made her decision and wants us in a place familiar to us so we are more comfortable which will make her more comfortable" Rhea explains and Nessa looks at her grateful.

"Oh,..." Dominik softly responds, tension and worry filling his body.

"Oh calm down Dom Dom, I'm sure it is good news and she just wants to discuss some more boundaries with it" Rhea grabs Dom's thigh, Finn having hopped off previously to pace about the room. Nessa fights every muscle in her body to not nod and agree, wanting to discuss everything at once and not have to field a bunch of questions for the rest of the night.

"Ok the conversation is tabled as Mamita asked, don't pester her about it. Let her bring it up when she is ready" Damien announces to the group. He releases Nessa and pushes off the wall as the Cameraman enters signaling their segment is about to start. Nessa leans up against Dominik, Rhea looking at her nails and smirking before resting her hand back on Dominiks thigh.. Damien starts talking as the cameraman signals the start of the promo, Finn slapping Doms shoulders and squeezing them a maniacle smile on his face.

"Isn't that something huh guys? Bad Bunny returning to Raw next week. As long as he returns with a different attitude though..."

"Thats true" Finn agrees, the rest of them nodding along and Damien continues,

" For one he knows what can happen" Nessa cocks her head and raises her eyebrows like she is impressed looking Damien up and down. "And I'll just stop being his friend" Damien shruggs and Dominik scoffs and speaks up.

"Priest, You don't need to be Bad Bunnys friend, Just like I don't need Rey Mysterio to be my father." Finn puts one hand on Rheas shoulder keeping the other on Doms as he continues speaking, " But watching Solo rip piece by piece until there isn't any Rey mysterio left..." He trails off as they see Paul walk in.

Paul eyes them all, Nodding to Nessa who just maintains her stare.

"Satisfied?" He asks his phone in his hand. Damien turns to Finn and aks, "Finn what do you think?" Most of the members of the Judgement still looking at Paul who is smiling smugly. Rhea keeping her eyes on Dom and glancing to Nessa.

"Ehh" Finn answers crinkling up his nose and the smile falls off of Pauls face,

"Ehh?" Paul mimics back shocked and Nessa responds.

"Yeah Ehh", Paul rubs his palm on his chest thinking of how to respond,

"Allright I'll live with Eh, but now it is your turn to do Ehh, But do Ehh to Kevin Owens, Sammy Zayne and Matt Riddle tonight so you don't fall in to debt with your tibal chief." Paul explains and Nessah sighs in annoyance.

"In debt, no that sounds like an issue between Roman and the Usos, As far as the Judgement day goes we handle our business" Damien answers as he grabs Nessas hand and pulls her closer to him.

"The Tribal Cheif would also like to have a meeting with Miss Nessa, there is some business he wishes to discuss with her that is not for your ears." Paul announces. Damien tightens his grip on her and Rhea stands up blocking Nessa from Pauls view and gets in his face.

"Bye Paul" She nearly growls, getting protective of their newest member. Paul begins to side step away telling his phone to call Roman Reigns. They hear him explain what they said and that there is going to be a problem getting a meeting with Nessa. The camerman signals that the camera is off.

"Come on lets get ready for our match." Damien orders this time which surprises Nessa as it is normally Finn who keeps them moving. They all return to their locker room quickly only to be stopped before they enter it. Hunter leaning up against the door to the locker room.

"Ah Nessa perfect, I need to speak to you privately please. He pushes off of where he was leaning and gestures down the hallway. Damien gives her hand a squeeze for encouragement before letting go, Nessa following him down the hallway.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Nessa comes back about 15 minutes later, paler than before and knowing the news isn't going to go over well with the group who is already overprotective of her. She just walks in the locker room knowing they are already changed.

"Finally Mamita... Mariposa what's wrong" Damien gets up from where he was stretching and gently grabs Nessa's hand.

"Uh, please promise you won't get upset and you will not try to interfere with the decision." Nessa announces to the room but stays looking into Damiens eyes. Damien clenches his jaw but nods in agreement.

"Next week Bunny is going to come out with a kendo stick and attack you which you know,... I am to take a hit or two ." Nessa squeezes Damiens hand as he pops his neck clearly trying to control his temper, his jaw so taut she is afraid he is going to break some teeth.

"There is something else Princesa what is it?" Dominik asks coming over, Rhea and Finn doing the same. Nessa stares at the ground as she answers Dominik,

"There is going to be a fight ringside between me and Zelina instead of Zelina and Rhea. Rhea is going to get ejected because I won't do a match yet so I have to get physical. Vince is having a dick measuring contest with Hunter right now so if I play along nicely there may be more title opportunities, If I don't the draft may not go our way..."

"Nessa, I need to go for a quick walk, I am not upset with you but I need to calm down before our match so I don't go too far and hurt someone." Damien informs Nessa before storming out the room, the door slamming behind him making Nessa jump. Rhea grabs Nessas hand comfortingly. Nessa stands up on her toes to place a kiss on Rheas cheek.

"I think we are going to have to meet him at Gorilla because he will not be calmed down enough until then" Nessa says more so to herself than to the others but they hear and make varying noises of agreement.

"Nessa are you ok Luv?" Finn asks, remembering the last time Damien got that angry.

"Hmm... oh yeah, I was expecting and ready for that. I'm not as fragile as I seem not everything is going to trigger me. So please don't act like it. I will tell you or signal in some way if I am." Nessa sits down on Rheas lap as Finn and Dominik return to stretching and warming up.

"Thats fair Luv. When we get to Florida would you like to help me with some of the sets I have at Rheas place?" Finn asks trying to steer the conversation to something they have in common. Nessa's eyes light up at the invitation and she eagerly nods her head.

Eventually they get a knock on the door signalling it is time for them to head to Gorilla and as Nessa said Damien was there waiting for them. Clearly still upset but it is not radiating off of him as much. He relaxes more as he sees his partners and Nessa who bounces over to him and grabs his hand and tugging down making him bend over for her. She steals a quick peck on the lips before their music starts and they go out onto the top of the ramp, lights low and smoke billowing out at their feet. As the music swells Rhea lifts her title and Damien does his normal entrance moves before grabbing Nessas waist and pulling her close to him possesively as they reach the bottom of the ramp.

Rhea and Dom split to one side of the Ring, Finn goes to the immediate corner opposite and Damien and Nessa go to the far corner. Damien holds Nessa's hand as she walks up the steps then ascends them as well holding up the edge of his coat so he doesn't trip. Damien and Finn on the same side of the apron sit on the middle rope for Nessa who still has to hop over a little and is glad she doesn't stumble. Finn and Damien quickly join her in the ring and cross it so they can pose behind Dom and Rhea. Nessa standing between Finn and Damien holding the top rope and smirking glancing up at Damien and biting her lower lip appreciating how his arms flex and move when he bounces on the ropes and does his poses. Nessa and Rhea get out of the ring, Rhea tossing her arm around Nessas shoulders to keep her close and to drive home the point that Nessa is a full member of the Judgement day. Nessa and Rhea cheer on their men as the match continues on, Rhea and Nessa standing at the corner with Rhea as Finn kicks Kevin repeatedly until he rolls out of the ring.

"Oooooooh" Nessa giggles and jumps up and down as Rhea looks at him predatorially and drops her title as he rolls out on to his feet. She runs over and clotheslines him making him nearly do a flip. She keeps moving over to the barricade and sits against it smiling maniacally. Finn gets out of the ring and throws Kevin back in. Rhea gets back up once she is sure she isn't going to be ejected. Rhea struts back over to Nessa and pulls her in to her side and does her little running and jumping thing.

The match continues on with people getting tagged in and out leading to Sammy being the legal man with Dominik in the ring, Sammy getting on the top rope and Rhea jumping up and pulling his leg making him rack himself on the top rope and fall to the mat. Kevin seeing this picks up a shirt and throws it at Rhea.

"Hey don't you throw stuff at Mami!" Nessa yells at him as Dominik lands the frog splash and pins Sammy only for Kevin to slide in the ring and break up the pin. Finn gets in and drop kicks Kevin and Riddle gets in and knees Finn, only for Damien to get in the ring and hit the elevated flat liner. Sammy gets up and clotheslines Damien out of the ring. Sammy goes to slingshot off the ropes but Rhea grabs his leg and the ref sees ejecting her.

Nessa wants to plead Rheas case but Rhea is Yelling at the ref. Rhea storms out. Nessa tries to keep her hands from shaking knowing no matter how the match ends what comes after. Nessa groans as Kevin, Sammy and Riddle get the win. The Usos come out and before long there is an all out brawl with the LWO joining Zelina running straight to Nessa. Nessa is able to block a few hits and actually land a punch on Zelina who pauses shocked for a moment before preceding to land hit after hit on Nessa before landing a DDT leaving Nessa writhing on the ground in pain grasping her neck and head.

Finally the attacks end and the filming is over. Nessa knows she still has to sell the attack so she stays down on the ground, Damien and Dom helping her up, them also limping and selling their injuries. Damien picking her up holding her in both arms Nessa throwing her arms around Damiens neck and laying her head on his shoulder closing her eyes as they go up the ramp and backstage. Once they are safely backstage Damien gently sets Nessa down, Rhea already there waiting starts checking her over for injuries.

"Guys, i'm fine I landed right and she took care of me" Nessa tries to shrug off their hands and stretching to help with the tension she gained from the physical altercation.

She isn't shocked when Hunter comes up to them looking proud.

"Hey Nessa, you did great out there. He shouldn't be a problem going forward there have been some things brought to light again to the powers that be. That being said great job out there with having so little training you have a natural tallent for selling and potentially holding your own. In light of recent events I am cancelling your live events this week, you guys only have to do a few online interviews. So go enjoy a few days off and Rhea we are sorry for your loss. Take the time you need, we appreciate you coming back so fast after what happened." He shakes all of their hands individually before turning to walk away.

"Sir" Nessa calls out. He turns and she pops her neck before speaking.

"I need serious training, not just for bumps but for a potential future match that doesnt end with me getting my ass beat. I jumped in to this full time no training no clue what I am doing. I am a nurse not a fighter not a wrestler. If I am going to be expected to do these things to protect them then I need a new trainer. The current trainer is great but I Need more serious training than what he can offer. The judgement day will help but I need you to pair me with someone as well. I trust your judgement on that."

"I think I can swing that Miss Klein. After that excellent show you put on out there yeah we can swing that. I'll be in touch or Adam will be in touch if not me" Hunter smiles almost gleefully as he walks away.

"Come on the show is over lets pack up and head out so we can go get some sleep and be up early for our flight to florida tomorrow morning" Finn tries to herd the group who grumbles but follows along.

[shadowfromthestarlight]

>randomly submit resume to position that sounds vaguely interesting >promptly forget about it >get an email from the job poster asking to have a phone call >look up email address, verify it's really coming from that person, agree to call at 9PM on a thursday night >turns out he wanted to call because i live in the same geographic area as the office he really needs to put more people in >end up having hour-long conversation about the firm and learn that the work is actually very interesting >learn that they offer unlimited PTO and unlimited flexible hours >learn that the career opportunities they offer are beyond anything i've imagined for myself >partner (job poster) says he'll refer me to HR to set up an interview >HR person talks to me next week >don't hear back about an interview >in the meantime stay open to new opportunities, but keep this in the back of my mind >follow up a couple weeks later to see if we can set up an interview >HR person says he'll follow up with the partners and asks me for available times >respond with available times, don't hear back >follow up with person i initially spoke to just to see if the position is still available >have another call with him >hear back from HR, actually get an interview scheduled >prepare for interview, decide to give it my best shot because i'm unlikely to find a better opportunity >actually have awesome interview with three partners on friday >they actually tell me during the interview that they think we'll be able to work something out >get call from HR person that same afternoon saying he'll get back to me on monday >monday morning, get text from HR at 9:30ish asking for availability, set up a call for 10:00 >get offer at 10:00 >salary is within expectations, bonus structure is generous, good 401K plan, good health insurance, the unlimited PTO thing is real >they're letting me wait until january to start so i can wrap things up at my current position >they care about their people so much that they told me they'll put me on payroll on time to not lose insurance coverage and that they've put people on payroll early if their boss is a jerk and tells them to get out on the spot >already got an invitation to their holiday party

tldr i got the dream job that i didn't even know existed.

[bikefuckersoftheworldunite]

Wayne Rainey’s interview with Cycle News, 1997

When I'm watching a race, or when I'm watching qualifying, and I'll see a look on a rider's face, I'm analyzing a situation to what I think it is. I'll watch a corner and I'll say, "That guy's off-line there. Did you see that?" I'll see that stuff. It's all so clear to me how it needs to be done. But most of the people that I have to be around don't see what I see. So sometimes it's frustrating to me that I can't be out there doing it and sometimes I'm pulling that in because, it's just like if you just did it like this the people, riders can't comprehend or understand that. There's a lot to this analyzing that would take all day. It's just that I'm different, I guess.

This is the truth.

This is Wayne Rainey's life the past few years in his own words, what he's been through, how he's coping. Being in a wheelchair hasn't slowed him down as much as it should have. He still puts in 17-hour days and most of those hours are devoted to racing. Making his team better, making his riders better, making himself better. It isn't easy being Wayne Rainey, it never was, it never will be. He possesses that defect in his personality known as perfectionism. It must be viewed as a defect only because he lives in an imper- fect world that he can no longer control as he did when he was winning three 500cc World Championships in a row, and nearly four. "Riding for me is both a blessing and curse," he believes, and he means it. He asks of others what he asked of himself and cannot understand why you would want to give less. "He's the most amazing person I've ever met," says his team manager and good friend Tim O'Sullivan, whose previous vocation involved dealing on a regular basis with brain surgeons. No one ever beat Wayne Rainey by outworking him and they never will.

Every year brings a new challenge. First it was winning championships as a rider. Next it was winning championships as a team owner. He started slowly, but soon found himself in a very high-stakes rivalry with Kenny Roberts, a friend he considers a brother. Now that Roberts has moved on to his own project, Rainey is the standard- bearer for Yamaha and his job is to restore the factory to the glory that he afforded it as a rider. It won't be easy. But for Wayne Rainey, it never is.

Let's start with Marlboro. What happened to the sponsorship?

There's a few different stories I've heard from each different guy, three different Marlboro guys. But the one I think I have to rely on is that there was a budget cut, because that was the most senior guy that told me that. That came on the 20th of January. The 20th was a Mon- day. They said there was a budget cut on Friday.

And they called you up and said...

No, I was just making my weekly call. I usually make one on Monday, one on Wednesday, and one on Friday. And that was my Monday call. And it was like 6 o'clock their time in the evening. I guess they weren't even going to tell me that day either.

When they called, did they tell you at the time that it was a budget thing?

The guy who told me didn't know why. He was just told that there's nothing there for you. And so I called the higherups and asked what happened. They said, "Well, we had a budget cut." "You guys just recently had one?" "Yeah, we're sorry." So I didn't have much time to think about it. I had a team to put together so I was on an airplane the next day to Japan.

What did Yamaha say?

They, officially, I don't think have ever been told by Marlboro that there's been a separation. They were pretty upset about it because I had told them all along that Norick (Abe) looks good and there was never any question about that. That budget for Norick always came from (Phillip Morris) Lausanne (Switzerland). Because that was my (Tetsuya) Harada budget that was there the year before and that budget didn't change, the numbers on that. The only thing that we were trying to put togeth- er was the second rider. And I believe that what Marlboro was trying to do was get the second-rider program sorted out. Kenny (Roberts) and I just didn't know all the way through if we were going to have sponsorship. We were talking weekly too. So they started throwing (Jean-Michel) Bayle's name around with me and a proposal with Bayle at the beginning of January. I didn't like that so much because I thought that was Kenny's only leverage he had to keep his sponsorship. So I refused to speak to Bayle about it. When they made the decision, Kenny didn't know either if he was going to have it or not. I think Yamaha coming on board just shows that they're serious about Grand Prix racing. It was a big push on their part to keep the team going and just get on with it.

Was there any chance that they could have just said, 'No, we can't afford it."

They could have very easily, I think, if they would have had some more teams to choose from. We had never ever geared up for NO from Marlboro. We just kept planning like the Marlboro thing was going to happen. And when it didn't happen they were pretty much in a corner. It was either do it or we have to stay home. Within 15 minutes of me being there they did it.

When did you decide on the second rider?

About half an hour after that meeting. I had told them, being so late, we need a second rider. And they weren't really gung-ho on a second rider. And then I told them the problem that I've been having for the last couple of years is having one rider and not having a back- up for the riders to have some kind of rivalry in the team to push each other. And I said the only guy I'd really want to put in there would be Sete (Gibernau) because of the job he did for us on the 250, and he's a good-size kid and he speaks very good English and we'll bring him on to test. They agreed with that philosophy and so far it works well.

Did your money last year come from Marlboro Italy?

Loris's (Capirossi) money did, not Harada's. Harada's came from Lausanne, which was (Norick) Abe's budget.

What do you think the team has to offer to Marlboro?

The Yamaha factory effort. Abe, myself. It's a good image.

What is it they get by sponsoring you? Do they want to win races or do they want to sell cigarettes?

I don't know. I think when I raced for them they wanted to be on TV. Okay, after my accident they haven't been on TV much and I think that's the philoso- phy behind Phillip Morris, they want to be racing for the top three and that's what we were hoping to do with Abe this year is to get him up on the podium because this is his third year. Abe's a young kid, he's flashy, he's fun to watch, he's exciting. If you look at Mick Doohan, he's not real exciting, but he wins. But you can pretty much write down what he's going to say each time and with these young guys coming up it's exciting and it's a good image for Marlboro to get in behind. You've got the factory effort and you've got my experience and you have these young guys. I think there was quite a lot to offer. I don't know what else you can offer.

Maybe someone who speaks English?

(Abe) does speak English. In Malaysia we did a Marlboro press conference and he spoke English there. I told him if you're going to do this thing, if you want to have a better chance for your career, you have to speak English. He did it. He was nervous. When I asked him, his first comments were in Japanese, then he changed them to English. He's making an effort at it.

There was also a story that Marlboro came back to you at some point.

Well, it wasn't Lausanne, it wasn't Switzerland that came back. They've always been in charge of sponsorship, they've always been the center of the world. It's getting a bit tougher for the Europeans now. The Asian people came back, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Japan. They still wanted to keep the relationship with Yamaha and myself and Norick. So we did a deal with them.

But it wasn't for full sponsorship for this year. Lausanne didn't want to sponsor the whole team for this year and next?

I don't know where Lausanne stood on the whole thing. All I know is that I said no to them because they came to us two weeks before the first race. They made a decision January 20th and I haven't looked back. I've gotten trucks painted, everything's done.

What did they offer you two weeks before the first race?

It was the Asian group that came to us. And they said, 'Hey, we want you.' You guys were involved in the decision.

They were?

That's what I thought. They didn't know about it. Not at all. They still want to keep that going. They're enthusiastic, they want me to work on their Indone- sian program. Right now they like what they're hearing and they like what we're doing.

So that's why they're sponsoring you in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Right.

Any reason why they're not here (at Suzuka)?

Japan is its own market. There's a European branch that does worldwide sponsorship. And so then Malaysia and Indonesia are out of Hong Kong and they wanted that relationship. They didn't say no, they wanted it. And Japan is its own market. It's not part of anything else. It's like a third party.

Let's go back to last year. When the year started it was full of promise. You spent the winter with Loris Capirossi. It didn't work out as well as everyone had hoped. What went wrong?

I think there was a variety of things. One, Loris, he was World Champion in his first two years. He went from being a working man every day to being World Champion status and he missed a few years of labor, what the real world's really like, and the team catered to him before and pretty much took care of everything. Coming to my team, being with me, I was used to doing my own program. I trained my way, I developed a certain way, and it made me really strong. And when he came to my team it all worked really good, he understood the whole thing. But then he had a few accidents. I think he fell off nine times and some weren't his fault, some were. I think when he went home the star status wasn't as strong as it used to be and he started lashing out. I wasn't used to that. I was used to bearing down and reaching inside myself to find a little extra to pull out, but one thing that I've learned since my accident is that I did it my way and nobody else does and I see why I was successful. Most of these young guys come up, they get paid a lot of money and they don't want to work at it. And he had to reach inside to go find out what was wrong, and that's something I'm not going to push. I want a guy that's going to come to the team and wants to work at it. And that's what I've got with my two riders now - I feel that they're working hard. I think Loris just...he was worried about his career. Second or third year not thinking that he was going to be as sought out after as he was before. The beginning of the year was great, everything was on a roll. We had some good results. But in the end you could just see the fire going down. I wasn't used to that. I didn't really know how to respond to that because me being a racer was always wide open or nothing. It was completely different for me to do this.

He wasn't happy with the way the team was run?

I don't know if it was so much the way it was run as what he felt he needed out of the team as far as bike setup. He didn't really lash out at me so much. Every time I was hearing rumors about him being unhappy, he'd say, 'No Wayne, everything is fine.' But he was afraid to confront me, I guess. And then we'd read in the press, especially after he left, that the team didn't do what he wanted. It's hard to get the team to do what you want if you don't tell the guy who can make the changes. So, he wasn't honest with me at all.

What did he want? Anything specific?

All I know is that he wasn't happy with his mechanics. I went over each guy and he said, 'No problem, no problem.' I didn't know at that time that he'd already made a decision to leave. This was a couple of races towards the end of the year. I'd seen that there was a change and I was trying to get out of him what he needed. He had a deal with Aprilia that was a certain amount of money for three years and he wanted to go back to doing it his way, I guess.

Would you do anything differently?

No.

How about with Tetsuya Harada?

With Harada I could sense the frustration in him because of the tire problem. Yamaha didn't push that 250 thing real hard and I saw that. I could understand that, but I didn't understand some of the things he was doing on the race track by just riding around. I've been in those situations and I pushed hard, no matter how bad it was. And there were times that I rode my stuff that it was just impossible. But that's me. I can't expect that out of everybody. Especially the results that I had, from the outside they probably look like Wayne's thing was pretty good most of the time. But a lot of the times on Sunday morning, man, I had to suck it up and go after it.

Do you think that since Harada wasn't in the championship he wasn't willing to try as hard?

I was explaining to Harada, we could have a tire advantage and we could really make Max (Biaggi) upset if we keep pushing that advantage. I said, 'Hey, we're on a tire nobody else has.' But, again, I was thinking that was an ideal situation. I was trying to sell it to him and it worked, it worked for a while. In Indonesia, we won. He just flat out out- rode them. Here (at Suzuka), the Michelin should have been terrible here. He was pole position and he was a second behind and in three corners he caught right up, but Max sucked him in there and he fell off. And as soon as he fell off and he hurt himself a little bit, he was just like, some of the stuff that he was telling me is that "Wayne, I've already been World Champion. I don't need to go out there and prove myself anymore." And I said: "Yeah, you do, you do. When you're World Champion you've got to keep proving to everybody that you're World Champion no matter what situation you're in. If it's bad, you've got to do the best you can. But if you're going to ride around in 18th, I'm not used to that." I said, "All you're doing is hurting your career riding around in 18th."

But the tire choice was a bit controversial. You tested at Shah Alam, back to back, the Dunlops and the Michelins. They tested Dunlop in November and in December they tested Michelin. I wasn't there for that test. He was sold on it. Isn't that a track that favors Michelins over Dunlops, generally?

Probably. It's temperature. But 250s aren't hard on tires. It's more of a profile thing. Dunlop has always been quicker than Michelin in the 250 class, even in Malaysia. So, after the Malaysian test he liked the way the bike turned and he thought that there was a lot of promise there.

And he made the choice?

He didn't have the choice. Yamaha was pushing hard for Michelin. And Marlboro and Yamaha were tired of hearing about tire problems. Put the same tire on as everybody else, and to make everything smooth we went with the 250 tire. But Harada wasn't happy with it, honestly wasn't happy with it. But again, he could have been. The philosophy was working for a while until it threw him off. Then he wasn't willing to work anymore.

What was the final straw that caused him to leave the team?

He never said, "I'm leaving." I said: "Hey, Tetsuya you're riding around. I bring all these guys here and we need you to put the effort in." And he just couldn't do it. And I just said, "Hey, it's okay. Why don't you just stay home and I'll put somebody else on the bike. I know you're not going to push." I said "You've worked hard to get where you're at and we'll put somebody else on it." I think he was quite happy with that.

You knew at Barcelona that he wouldn't be back.

We had Sete (Gibernau) testing at Czecho. His (Harada's) last race was Imola. With Tetsuya there was no effort left. I had to fulfill the contract, but I didn't want a guy out there riding around. Especially when we had done some tests and I was talking to him and I could see that he just gave up and it just wasn't worth it to me to watch all that. I needed to give somebody a chance that was willing to ride it and do the best they could and Sete was the guy.

So the season ends, and you start thinking about this year. When did you make your rider choices?

Abe was always there. Everybody knew that, Marlboro, Yamaha, myself, Kenny knew that, that Abe was coming two, three races from the end of the year. We won the last race, but I knew something was up because Loris was just so distant there. He tested the '97 bike on Monday and I could just tell he maybe needed a break. He just wasn't the same kid; he was real distant. Then I got a fax saying he left the team. That kind of surprised me because Loris and I were pretty good friends and we'd worked good together. He and I never had a problem, but then he left. I had Abe and we were just wondering who the second rider was.

Who else did you talk to?

At that stage, the first people Marlboro had me talking to was Max (Biaggi). But I kind of got in the same position with Marlboro with Max as I did with Mick (Doohan) and Marlboro. With Mick, Kenny had a contract (with Marlboro in 1995). So I was talking to Mick, and Marlboro said we need a letter of intent so I got that. I was talking to Mick in '95 and Kenny had a contract with Marl- boro in '96 already done. It was already done. That's why I chased Mick because I wasn't taking nothing away from Kenny. And Marlboro said you need a letter of intent from Mick because he's done this a lot to us before. I'm thinking, well, that's news to me. So I got a letter of intent signed, everything was done. I did everything that Marlboro had asked.

Then Marlboro went to Kenny at the very next race and said, "You need Mick Doohan." After they had already seen everything that I had done. They knew that I had him. So that's when they were going to give me Loris. And Mick stayed at Honda because it got real cloudy after that and I just said, "Hey I don't want no part of that." It was kind of like what happened with Max. They said talk to Max. And Max was going: "You know Wayne, I hear you talking to me and stuff and Marlboro, they're also telling me to go race a 250. I'd like to ride a 500 but they want to keep me in 250." They had talked for a month. I felt like they were doing the same thing to me with Max. They'd say, talk to Max. As soon as you hang up the phone, they'd say, "No, no, you're going to ride a 250." So I said, "Well, what do you want me to talk to Max for?" That was the thing that was going on that just didn't make sense. And they said Max is not an option, talk to Luca (Cadalora). So at the end of November, beginning of December I was talking to Luca. Through this, Marlboro comes up and Luca wanted a lot of money to ride for Marlboro. He figured that there was a lot of money there for him, but there wasn't. I tried to tell him that.

You were always critical of Luca, both as a teammate and afterward. How could you hire him?

Well, I was talking to him and I was telling him why I was critical, which was pulling in when things weren't right. Or Luca, "What's it going to take for you to beat Mick Doohan?" With Luca, I don't hide that fact at all. I wasn't real high on Luca. I was really excited about Abe. But if it helped to sell sponsorship maybe I could work with Luca. This was all going to be up front with Luca and the stuff I was talking to him about, he knew I was critical of that stuff. I'm not afraid to tell people. The thing is, that I'm a racer still, I can't race no more. When I go to a race track I'm there to race. And I let everybody around me know that we're not here to make money and say hi to the crowd, we're here to win and everyone's got to do their job. And maybe that's where I'm different than other people. Maybe I push hard and stuff, but I don't think I push that hard. But looking back on what I did and how I pushed and how I got the team to do it a certain way, maybe it's a little bit hard on these guys. I don't know.

So how do you change that?

By example I guess. When I fell off at Donington, I had a concussion. I figured out a way to race the race and make something happen. But most people aren't like that. Most people are going to go out there and race and go, "Well, if I get a good start maybe somebody will make a mistake and I'll take advantage of it." That's just the way I thought about racing. It consumed me and there was never any compromise.

But you can't teach that, can you?

No you can't, you can't. It's hard. It's different now. I was never satisfied. I see a lot of young guys coming up and their salaries have to be there. For me to get motivated by money, I don't need it. I enjoy coming to the race track and I enjoy trying to help the riders and com- ing up with possible scenarios that could happen in the race and seeing it pan out. I was just talking to Ralf Waldmann yesterday and he was talking about his hand and stuff. I said, "Hey, Max can make a mistake this year," and he made one the very next day. That's the way you've got to think. With some people you get done talking to them and they say, "What's that Rainey talking about?" I don't know. I just look at it a lot different than everybody, I guess. I've had to tone down some things, and some things I'm not willing to.

Like what?

When I'm watching a race, or when I'm watching qualifying, and I'll see a look on a rider's face, I'm analyzing a situation to what I think it is. I'll watch a corner and I'll say, "That guy's off-line there. Did you see that?" I'll see that stuff. It's all so clear to me how it needs to be done. But most of the people that I have to be around don't see what I see. So sometimes it's frustrating to me that I can't be out there doing it and sometimes I'm pulling that in because, it's just like if you just did it like this the people, riders can't comprehend or understand that. There's a lot to this analyzing that would take all day. It's just that I'm different, I guess.

Can you accept what you have to accept? And for how long?

Yes and no. I accept the way I am now as far as what my life is because this is the way it is and I can accept that. But there are some things that happened in my life that I'll never accept. Some of it's personal and some of it is right here in front of me. Some of it's complicated, some of it's black and white. Sometimes I got to the race track... For instance I was in Phillip Island this year and I got very emotional because I just miss being out there on a motorcycle. I didn't miss the pressure of racing for a championship, that I'm over. But I do miss the physical thrill of riding a 500. I was watching Mick (Doohan) and I thought, "I know exactly what he's doing out there." It was nice to be able to watch Mick and relive that moment again. It was tough to sit in a wheelchair and watch it for sure.

But there are other times when you don't want to be out there.

Yeah, I have to be very, very patient right now, much more than I ever was when I rode because live got to realize that I raced for 28 years, or whatever it was, and how I did it, I was successful doing it all the way until the very end. I've got young guys now that if I tell them to change their line two inches, they're going, "How do you change two inches, Wayne?" I think, yeah, well, that's true. They wouldn't understand two inches because they're riding within 12 inches. I was so precise in what I needed that sometimes I showed up at a race track and I couldn't use the line I wanted until Sunday morning because the track wasn't clean enough yet. And that line I wanted to get to wasn't there until I kept chipping away at it for two days. Most people don't understand that, but that's how I thought about it.

And you haven't been able to find anybody that will go about it the same way?

I thought with Loris I got a guy that's wanting to do it and I was showing him some training stuff and I thought, "Wow, this is great." But, then reality set in and it really came time and he had to dig in on his own without me, it just wasn't there for him. That hurt me a bit because I was kind of trying to live through Loris a bit, and I did for a while. But when it stopped happening it was a real reality check for me that I have to be more patient. It wasn't like I was out there screaming and yelling. I was just like, "You should try that, you should try this." When it came down to it he just didn't understand and most people don't.

There are times that you're not even 100 percent sure that the way you did it was the right way. You didn't know when to back off.

That's true. You can get riders and most guys to a certain level pretty quick. You can show them the basics and they'll excel. But to really go past what I can feel or say they have to be willing to go out and search for it themselves. That's something you can't teach and that's desire. And that was my strong point. Not having it good all the time and trying to make something happen. But when I lined up to go out to race or out to qualifying I knew that I was going to be trying. I just feel that I was at a certain level in my life that consumed me that I can't get right now and it is frustrating, it really is. And I think the only way that I can get that is by riding again. And sometimes I just have to watch and stay back and let it happen and sometimes it's no fun at all.

Is there anyone out there who you see who's as committed as you are?

Mick's (Doohan) the only guy. The only guy I see that I can see is doing it right is Mick. And, I think he's doing a great job staying motivated and having fun and he's the only you can say, "You're doing it right." Because the other guys are just waiting for Mick to make a mistake instead of trying to push him into a mistake.

Do you ever point that out to your riders? Do they know?

I think the general thought when it comes to Mick is that we're racing for second. That includes (Alex) Criville. They're not racing Mick, they're racing everybody else. (My riders) see Mick doing it. He's flicking it a certain way and he's keeping it on line. And my guys say, "Well, I can't keep it on line." I say, "Mick does it right there." They say: "Yeah, but Mick's stronger. He's physically tuned his brain and muscles just to ride that 500." Well, you're not going to get there. You're not strong enough and it's going to take you a few years to get strong enough. They want the result now, they don't look it as a race by race thing. It's like if they don't have it today then we've got to change something else. I don't know what you're going to change.

What about after Mick? When he retires, what happens then?

I think it becomes exciting again. I think with Mick out of there I'd get new life. There's a lot of guys who are a couple of levels away from Mick. Everybody I think just races for second, but with Mick out of there it's exciting for them to talk on TV again and for us to go, "Hey, maybe we've got a chance this weekend." Mick's talking about racing another year. I said, "Why don't you race the 250 class or something?"

That's another change this year. How much different is it being able to concentrate on just one class this year?

It's wonderful. I can sleep in a little more because I don't have to get up. My day starts at 6 and ends at 11 every day. And most of that is just getting prepared to get up and getting prepared to go to bed. That 250 thing was a completely different set of circumstances, problems. The team was completely separate from the 500 team, the engineers, their particular problems, completely different than the 500s. There was no camaraderie between the two teams. And so I'd put on my red hat over here and mess with the 250 team and then I'd go out in the garage and come back in and change teams and go work with the other team. It was a lot of work on my end. You're trying to keep everybody motivated, because that's what it was - it was work. Keeping everybody motivated. And when I rode it wasn't work, it was just, this is the way it is. And, again, it's me understanding how everybody does it.

You've said that Tetsuya and Loris were completely different to deal with. Tetsuya could motivate himself more, at least in the beginning.

Tetsuya is really, really strong mentally when things are right. But when it's not right he's three-quarters throttle. I believe you have to be even more full throttle is when things are off a bit because the rider is going to have make up 70 percent of the deficit that we have. And Loris, he rides all on lap time. If the lap time's good, he's happy. But if it's not, it's like, fix it. I can't do it. If I could fix it, I'd be in my leathers.

Was that 250 Yamaha as bad as it was made out to be?

Yeah. It was electrical failures and seizing up on the warmup lap. I think at the end there Yamaha just gave up on the 250 thing and when they saw the effort Harada was giving they just went: "Hey, he's not trying, we're not going to try." Let's work more on this 500 thing. Kenny beating up on Yamaha in the press was hurting me and my sponsorship thing with Yamaha and Marlboro. I'm trying to do a good job in the 250 class and trying to protect the interest in the 500 class and I think both of my efforts suffered because of the effort Yamaha was giving.

But Kenny's always beat up on Yamaha.

Kenny's always beat up on Yamaha, but we were winning. Kenny said, "You know Wayne, we keep winning on that thing we're not going to get a better bike," and he was right. But I'm the one riding it and I didn't have a choice. And we would get in some huge arguments over there's no way that we can win on this thing and then we'd go out on Sunday and win. Kenny would go, "Wayne, how are we going to get a better bike?" But I didn't have a choice. But, now, the situation that he was in, and I was in, is that we could beat up on Yamaha all we wanted, we weren't going to win. I think Kenny convinced some people that that was the case and I knew all along that we needed the riders, the riders had to suck it up. Because. the Yamaha got so much better because they weren't winning the last couple of years. You can ask Mike Sinclair on Kenny's team about the Yamahas, a good rider could win the World Championship on it. Kenny's own guy would say that.

How's Yamaha's position changed from last year to this as far as development?

The problem we were having with Kenny last year, Yamaha and myself, was Yamaha wanted Kenny to stop all of his development. And there was some friction with Yamaha and Kenny. So then Yamaha was in a delicate position because they had Rainey Marlboro and Roberts Marlboro and if they showed more favoritism to me, they'd say Kenny's got this big team and you need to support him so Yamaha had to hold back. Whatever they give me they didn't want Kenny to have because I think they believed Kenny was doing something else. So, my effort suffered from Yamaha because they were trying to protect their sponsorship with me. It was really difficult with what Kenny was saying with Yamaha and the way things really were.

How does that translate to development?

For instance we showed up at a test and as soon as we started the bike Kenny's guys come over and said: "What's this? Oh, you guys got differ- ent cylinders on it, where's ours?" Kenny'd make a phone call to Marlboro and Marlboro would say: "Hey, what are you guys doing? You're helping Wayne, you're not helping Kenny." That's what I mean. We could develop, but with Kenny in there we couldn't do it.

So this year how's it different?

I tell you, it's been a joy. The way Team Rainey is now with Yamaha is a lot better for me because I don't have any controversy with taking something away from Kenny or Marlboro jumping in with, "How come the bikes are no good?" Now Yamaha has been able to develop stuff on Sete's bike, which is why he came, to develop. And it's really good, really good. Yamaha's putting a lot of money into it so we've got make sure it's right when they build it. We don't want to go off in some direction that's wrong. Right now we've got some new stuff that going to be really good when we get to Jerez.

[freakshowtwopointoh]

First Date / Last Night

Street lamp, dim glow

A light up like a night like summer snow

Well, let it pour

Just cover up whatever came before

Jordan wasn’t sure why they invited Marie out after class. They weren’t even sure what they were expecting - they’d been exchanging jabs for weeks now. Something came over them, and before they could stop themselves, they asked to walk her home. And for some godforsaken reason, she said yes.

Sea breeze, whips through

And makes you do some shit you'd never do

Talkin' queer, why the hell are you still here?

They looked at her curiously as they walked across campus, trying to understand why she said yes. They rejected her from this class, and they have not been easy on her since she got re-enrolled. But they couldn’t deny the butterflies in their stomach when she smiled at them, and they couldn’t ignore the warmth that spread through their entire body just being near her.

Don't know why

I decided to come

Don't know why I decided to come

Marie had no idea why Jordan was even speaking to her - they’d barely interacted outside of class. When Marie was admitted to Crimefighting over Jordan’s head, they made it their mission to prove that she didn’t belong there. It didn’t work, of course, she did belong in this program. So why did she agree to walk home with them? Why did they even ask? 

Meet me halfway

A touch and go of don't know what to say

Do we talk?

What?

Huh?

Don't expect too much

Just walk

Jordan kept their hands in their pockets, content with allowing the silence to fester. Their feelings were always confusing, and their feelings for Marie were even more so. They liked her, they hated her, they were impressed by her, they wanted her, they were pissed at her... Too many feelings for a girl they’d barely spoken to.

Blank slate, blank stare

Yeah you made her cry

Why do you care?

What took hold?

Marie tried to think of something to say, torn between the frustration she still felt towards Jordan for their immediate rejection from Crimefighting and what that would have meant for her, and the guilt she felt for the lies she’d told about the fight with Golden Boy. She knew she shouldn’t care about their feelings, or about their ranking. She was the one who was at risk of being sent away, not this cocky and very pretty person who confused the shit out of her. And yet, she did feel bad. She did want them to get the credit they deserved. 

“Look, Jordan, about the Miller interview. I’m sorry. You were right, and I should have said something right then.” She finally admitted begrudgingly. “I had my reasons, or whatever, but it still wasn’t fair. So I’m sorry.” Marie shoved her hands in her pockets as they continued walking, ignoring her dorm building without a glance.

Look at her, she looks so... cold

Don't know why

I decided to come

Don't know why I decided to come

Looking over at Jordan finally, their expression was unreadable. Their longer hair blocked their eyes, and they didn’t say much. Marie’s brow furrowed as she noticed the goosebumps on Jordan’s arms. “You’re cold.” She stated, sliding the trenchcoat off of her shoulders and thrusting it into their hands. They raised an eyebrow but put the coat on nonetheless. It almost felt like forgiveness.

Twisting lemons into lemonade

You'd be sleeping

You'd be drunk

If you had stayed

And you might miss

Any good that could come

After this

Half of Jordan cursed themself for even talking to Marie. They could be back in their dorm, catching up on sleep, or at the club enjoying their Friday night with their friends. But for some reason they barely understood, they had now circled the campus twice with Marie, wearing her trench coat, and chatting about everything that didn’t matter, and some things that did. At some point one of them finally took the other’s hand, but neither would ever admit it was them.

First date

Last night

Not quite what you pictured, but alright

So take her out

Give him a shot

Cause people can surprise you... or not

Years later, Marie and Jordan would consider this their first date, despite not putting a label to their relationship for months after that night - the last night they hated each other.

[all-the-things-2020]

Late Night Talking - Chapter Eleven

Summary: Dieter gets busier after the movie premiere and he and Emily go to NYC for The Tonight Show

Rating: PG-13

Word Count: ~6900

Tag list: @rhoorl @avastrasposts @readingiskeepingmegoing @runningmom94 @gwendibleywrites @weho2kcmo

Things got very busy for Dieter after that weekend. Meetings and auditions and interviews filled his schedule. Every day I got multiple texts and voicemails from him. I called him back when I got home, but he was a little frustrated.

”If you’d gotten back to me in time, I could have gotten you invited, too,” he said the day he’d left three voicemails about a party at a Warner Brothers executive’s Malibu beach house. 

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I keep my phone locked in my desk while I’m at work. I don’t really have time to check it except on my lunch break.”

”Yeah, I know,” he said. “I just … all this great stuff is happening and I want to share it with you.”

”I’m happy for you, Deet. You deserve all of it. And I don’t need to go everywhere with you.” 

“You kind of do,” he said slowly. “Carmen says that now that we’re red carpet official, we need to be seen together. It’s good for my image. The new Dieter Bravo is sober and in a stable relationship. Someone the studios can rely on, someone the general public can relate to.”

“I get it,” I said. “But what about privacy? A lot of celebrities keep their romantic partners out of the spotlight.”

”We’ll get there,” he promised. “But right now, while I’m still working on my comeback … I need your help, Em.”

A thought crossed my mind and I didn’t like it. “You … you didn’t ask me out because you thought I’d be good for your image, did you?”

”Hell, no! This is all shit Carmen spun. I mean, she’s good at taking what really happens and spinning it. She never told me to get a girlfriend, and she actually tried to talk me out of taking you to the premiere. She thought it was too early, that I needed some time in the spotlight alone to re-establish my image with the focus just on me, but I wanted you there.”

”Calm down, Deet. I believe you.” And I did. There was just a tiny little fraction of a percentage of my brain that didn’t.

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

Dieter showed up at my place that Friday evening with a smile on his face and a box in his hand. “For you,” he said.

I saw the Apple logo but I already had a phone and it was too small for an iPad or MacBook. “What is it?”

”Open it up,” he said. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet like a little kid. “It’s an Apple Watch,” he said before I’d even gotten the lid all the way off. “It syncs with your phone, so you can get texts and phone calls and stuff even if your phone is in your desk drawer. This way I can always get a hold of you.”

He pulled another package out of his pocket. “I even bought an upgraded band for you. Leather.” He snatched the box out of my hands. “Get your phone and let’s set it up.”

I picked my phone up off the coffee table. I wasn’t entirely sure I liked the idea of being at Dieter’s beck and call every moment of the day, but he was so excited, I couldn't tell him I wasn’t thrilled with the gift. For one thing, it was expensive. Even the most basic version was far beyond my price range. I wasn’t comfortable accepting gifts, anyway. I always made sure to pay my friends and co-workers back if they paid for lunch, or at least, made sure I treated them the next time. I didn’t like being beholden to anyone.

Dieter got the watch set up and helped me adjust the band to fit snugly but comfortably. “It‘ll count your steps, check your heart rate, all of that,” he said. “Like a Fitbit but you get texts and stuff as well. Real Dick Tracy shit.”

He pulled out his phone and sent me a text. The watch vibrated gently against my skin and a notification popped up. “See, you can read the text right on the watch,” Dieter said eagerly. “You can even send a suggested reply. And you can answer calls.” He tapped his phone again and this time the watch buzzed rhythmically as my phone rang. “Answer it!”

I tapped the green button and said, “Hello?” 

Dieter’s voice came out of my wrist. “You ready for dinner?” I couldn’t help but smile. It really was Dick Tracy level shit. 

“Yes,” I replied.

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

My watch buzzed on my wrist. I twisted my arm to wake it up and  saw a text message from Dieter. 

DIETER: U need to take next Thurs & Fri off. No questions

ME: What? Why?

DIETER: Hey no questions! Call me when u can xoxo

“I’m going to take a quick break,” I told Elaine, who as always was watching me from her office. . It was a quiet time of the day, so I grabbed my phone from the back office, stepped outside where the cell signal was stronger and called Dieter.

“That was fast,” he said. I usually wasn’t able to call him during the day.

“I can’t just take time off without knowing why,” I said. “What’s going on?”

“Remember on our first date, I told you I’d show you New York sometime?,” he said. “Well, I just got booked on The Tonight Show for next Thursday, and you’re coming with me.”

“Wait, what?”

“My agent booked me on The Tonight Show,” he repeated. “It’s filmed in New York. I want you to come with me. We leave that morning, we’ll come back on Saturday. I already booked the flight.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll put in for the time off,” I said. I knew we didn’t have much on the agenda the following week and I had plenty of vacation time banked since I tended to save it up for the end of the school year when I was tired. “I’ll call you again when I get home.”

“Great,” he said. “Talk to you then, babe.”

I hung up and went back inside. Elaine immediately asked if anything was wrong. The woman had an instinct for finding out bad news and spreading it around the entire campus.

“No, no, everything’s fine. But I’ll be taking a couple of days off next week,” I said. “Excuse me, but I need to put that in the system before I forget.” I knew she was dying to ask why I was taking time off, but it was none of her business and I liked to stymie her efforts at being nosy. I hurried off to the back office to use the computer, leaving her standing indignantly at the counter.

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

I had my luggage in the trunk of my car, so at the end of the day on Wednesday, I drove straight from work to Dieter’s house. It felt weird to be driving in during the middle of the week again. I’d done it quite a bit during the summer, when we’d first started dating, but now that I’d been back at work for a few months, I was used to fighting Friday evening traffic. Not that Wednesday evening traffic was exactly light, but it was better than usual and I got to his house a good twenty minutes faster than I’d expected. 

“Hey, baby,” Dieter said when he answered the door. “You got here fast.” He pulled me inside, wrapping his arms around me and giving me an exuberant kiss. “I ordered dinner but it won’t be delivered for about an hour.” He raised an eyebrow. “What should we do until then?” 

“Gee, I don’t know,” I said, playing along. We both knew full well we were going to end up making out on the couch. It was our typical routine on Friday nights. He’d order food to be delivered about a half hour after I got there and we’d occupy ourselves by making up for not having seen each other for almost a week. The doorbell always seemed to ring far too soon, but this time we had an extra half hour to indulge ourselves.

I was on Dieter’s lap, my skirt hiked up above my waist and my hand down his pants when the doorbell rang. We both groaned, frustrated at being interrupted. I climbed off him, pulled my skirt back down and went to the door, since it was going to be a minute or two before he was able to walk properly.

“Dinner first or do you want to pick up where we left off?” I asked when I came back with the food. It was Thai food, and smelled absolutely amazing, but I was willing to wait for it if that’s what he wanted.

He fastened the button on his pants. “Let’s eat,” he said. “Don’t want the food to get cold, and I think we’ll heat back up better than it will.” I rolled my eyes and took the food into the kitchen, where I started to unpack it onto the island. Dieter got out the plates and flatware, took a couple of beers out of the fridge, and soon we were perched on barstools, shoveling Thai food into our faces.

“What time is our flight in the morning?” I asked him in between mouthfuls.

“Six,” he said with a groan. “We get into New York at two, so they’ll probably take us straight to 30 Rock from the airport so I can do makeup and shit before the taping.”

“Flight leaves at six, so we need to get there at what … four?” I was feeling tired already.

“Yeah, I think the Uber is supposed to get here at 3:15 or something like that,” he said. “It’s all on my phone.” He took a swig of his beer. “I hate early flights, but NBC wouldn’t spring for an extra night at the hotel. It was hard enough to get them to include Friday night.”

“They’re paying?” I asked. “I thought you said you booked the flight.”

“Oh, yeah, they pay for your hotel, transportation, all that shit when you do a talk show. They don’t pay you, because technically it’s free publicity for you. I’m paying for your plane ticket, but that’s it.” 

“You didn’t have to do that, you know,” I said, playing with the label on my bottle of beer. I still felt weird having Dieter pay for things, even though he insisted it was no big deal. I knew he could afford it more than I could, but it still felt awkward.

“I wanted to show you New York, and this was a perfect opportunity to do it,” he said. “I know how you feel about me paying for stuff, so I thought doing it on someone else’s dime might make you less likely to turn me down.” He made a pensive face.

I sat my fork down and laid my hand on top of his. “Hey,” I said. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate everything, sweetheart. I do. I’m just not used to anyone spending money on me.” 

He flipped his hand over and entwined his fingers with mine. “I know,” he said, rubbing his thumb against my palm. “I’m trying to not go overboard.” He smiled. “It’s just hard not to spoil you, babe.”

I rolled my eyes. No one had ever wanted to spoil me before and I certainly wasn’t expecting it from him. We finished our dinner in silence, playing with each other’s fingers. This was one of the things I liked best about our relationship. We didn’t always need to say anything to communicate with each other.

I washed the dishes while Dieter dumped the leftovers in the trash (no point in keeping them if we weren’t going to be back for several days) and took the trash and recycling out to the bins. When he came back inside, he had that look on his face.

“So,” he said, taking the dish towel out of my hand and tossing it on the counter. “Shall we pick up where we left off?” He spun me around so I was facing him, backed me against the counter and gave me a deep, passionate kiss. He tasted like Thai food and beer.

“We should probably go to bed early,” I said when he came up for air. “Early flight and all.”

He hummed in agreement, already busy nibbling on my neck. I pushed him away and steered him backward toward the bedroom. He bumped into the wall a couple of times, but we made it eventually. 

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

The next morning was all a blur. We got up at 2:30, stumbled our way to the Uber, yawned through the security lines at LAX and slumped into our seats on the plane. Dieter fell asleep almost immediately, but I can’t sleep in that sort of situation, so I only managed a fitful doze. When we landed, we were met by a team of bright young interns from NBC who grabbed our luggage and whisked it off of the hotel in one car while we were bundled into another one for the drive to Rockefeller Center.

Dieter and I were crammed in the back seat of a town car with an intern who was consulting two different phones at once. She rattled off the schedule for the evening before making a call and carrying on a conversation while texting several people on the other phone. 

“Is it always like this?” I whispered. Dieter just shrugged and put his arm around my shoulder. I stared out the window at the city passing by as we drove along the expressway. He played with my hair as the intern tapped away at her phone, oblivious to us both.

The car pulled up in front of 30 Rock, the famous building that housed NBC Studios, the Rainbow Room, and other landmarks. I couldn’t help but stare up at the towering building as the intern ushered us inside. I was used to seeing skyscrapers now and then in L.A. but nothing this huge and imposing.

Suddenly, there was yet another intern at my elbow. “Hi, I’m Stephanie,” she said brightly. “Are you Mr. Bravo’s assistant?”

“She’s my girlfriend, Emily,” Dieter said. “Take care of her, okay?”

“Got it, Mr. Bravo,” she said. The other intern was already steering him away, chattering something about getting to makeup before she got killed.

“See you later, babe,” Dieter said, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek before he disappeared.

I must have looked a bit shell-shocked, because Stephanie patted my arm. “Karen’s a force of nature,” she said. “That girl thinks the world will stop turning if she lets off the gas even a smidge. Which is why she’ll probably be running the place in fifteen years.” She shrugged and consulted her clipboard. “Well, while they’re prepping your boyfriend for camera, would you like a quick tour of the studio? The show starts shooting at five, but they start letting the audience in at four, so we have a little time before then. I can show you the set and everything, let you pick out where you want to sit during the show. Unless you’d rather hang out in the Green Room with Mr. Bravo?”

“Oh, no, I’ve never been to a taping before, I’d like to be in the audience,” I told her. She looked me quickly up and down.

“Let’s swing by wardrobe, get you a scarf or something to brighten up your outfit,” she said. “The director likes to have some color in the audience.” I was wearing my favorite jumpsuit, which was not only cute but extremely comfortable, which was important during the flight. It was also black with thin white pin stripes, not exactly something that would pop on camera.

Stephanie led me into the depths of the studio, pointing out things right and left as we wended our way through the labyrinth. We stopped in the wardrobe department, where she talked someone into loaning me an adorable electric blue blazer that set off my jumpsuit perfectly. Then she walked me into the studio where The Tonight Show was shot.

Crew were bustling around, setting up cameras and lights and prepping the set, but Stephanie took me right up onto the stage. “So here’s where Jimmy sits,” she said, pointing out a chair behind the desk. “And the chairs where the guests sit.” She plopped down in one and patted the cushion beside her. “Come on, have a seat. This is the view Mr. Bravo will have when he’s on stage. So, where do you want to sit?” She pointed at an area of the audience. “You‘ll be in his line of sight if you sit in that section.”

“Oh, um, wherever you think would be good,” I said, a bit overwhelmed as I realized that in a short time Dieter was going to be sitting right here in this chair, being interviewed by Jimmy Fallon and looking into the audience to see me sitting among the hundreds of others, watching him. How did he do this all the time? Get up in front of strangers and risk looking like a fool? I got nervous just speaking in front of five or six coworkers that I’d known for years.

“Hey, Stephanie, you warming up the chairs?,” a stagehand said as he walked past. He had a headset on and a phone in his hand. How did these people keep track of all these conversations? 

“Just showing Emily around,” she said. “Her boyfriend’s a guest; wanted to show her what his view will be.”

“Well, we need to do some lighting checks so you need to clear the set,” he said.

“Sure,” Stephanie said, jumping up. She gestured for me to follow her. “Have you had lunch yet?”

“Um, no,” I said. We’d had some pretzels on the plane but hadn’t had time to stop for anything after leaving the airport.

She walked me up into the seating area, stopping to slap a sticky note on an aisle seat two rows up from the front. “We’ll hit craft services so you can eat,” she said, “but this will save your seat for you.” We continued up to the top of the auditorium and out into a waiting area where a bunch of people were milling around. “These are the audience members,” she said off-handedly, steering me to the left. “They’ll let them in after they finish all the checks but we can take our time.”

We went through a door that Stephanie had to unlock with a key card and through two more doors and down a hallway to a long room lined on one side by tables covered with sandwiches, fruit, cookies, and other assorted food. “Take whatever you want,” she said, grabbing a bottle of water out of a bucket of ice at the end of the table. 

I was surveying the spread, trying to decide what to choose, when I heard Stephanie say, “Hey, Jimmy.” I looked up and saw Jimmy Fallon grabbing a coffee and bagel off the table.

“Hey, Steph,” he said. “Who’s your friend?”

“Oh, this is Emily. She’s here with Dieter Bravo. Thought she should have something to eat before the show starts.” 

Jimmy nodded and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Emily,” he said, shaking my hand. “Dieter’s still in makeup but he’ll be out in a minute. He said you came straight from the airport so I’m sure you’re starving.” He waved his hand at the food. “Take whatever you want, it comes out of Seth Meyers’ budget.”

Stephanie laughed, and so did I, even though I was searching my mind to remember who Seth Meyers was. I didn’t watch much late night television, since I had to get up so damn early for work.

“Hey,” Jimmy said, leaning toward me. “Got any embarrassing stories I can ask Dieter about? They gave me the standard, boring questions but it’s more fun if I can put a guest on the spot.”

I grabbed some strawberries off the table and popped one in my mouth to give me a chance to think. “Um, you could ask him about the scar on his butt,” I said. “Even if he won’t tell the story, it’ll get him flustered.” 

Jimmy raised an eyebrow. “Oho, that sounds promising,” he said. He grabbed a napkin off the table and pulled a pen out of his jacket pocket, scribbled a note and shoved both back into this pocket just as Dieter came into the room.

“Oh, yeah, food,” he said as he came toward us. He did pause to give me a quick kiss but most of his focus was on the food. I followed him down the line of tables as we each filled a plate and then found seats on the other side of the room. People were running around, some eating, some carrying clipboards, others just running for no apparent reason. It was organized chaos.

“You coming backstage?” Dieter asked in between bites.

“No, Stephanie saved a seat for me in the audience,” I told him. “I’ve never seen a show taping, so I thought it would be interesting.”

He nodded. “I’ll look for you,” he said, winking at me. He popped the last bite of his food in his mouth. “They’re going to call for places soon,” he said. “I’ll see you after the show. Have fun.” He leaned over and kissed me before taking my empty plate and stacking it on top of his. He tossed them both in the trash as he headed back the way he’d come.

Stephanie reappeared at my side. “Let me get you settled in the audience,” she said. “We’re about twenty minutes from the monologue.” I was surprised at how quickly time had gone by. No wonder everyone was in such a hurry.

She led me back through several doors and back into the studio. The seats were all full except for a few that had large bright yellow “RESERVED” signs on them, including mine. Stephanie ripped the sign off my seat and waited until I was settled. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll meet you in the lobby after the show. Enjoy!”

Stephanie disappeared and I settled into my seat. I had an excellent view of the stage and she was right: I was going to be right in Dieter’s line of sight. An older couple was sitting in front of me and next to me on the right was a young woman who was practically bouncing in her seat. She was on her phone and I couldn’t help overhearing her side of the conversation.

“No, somebody took it,” she said with a dramatic sigh. “No, nobody important that I can tell. Some middle aged soccer mom type. Probably somebody’s mom or aunt or something. Yeah, I was hoping for the aisle seat, but I got as close as I could. I’m going to have such a great view! God, I hope he can see the audience from the stage. I wore purple because it’s his favorite color, he’d definitely see me if I was in that aisle seat.”

It wasn’t hard to figure out who she was talking about. She was in her twenties, wearing a low cut purple blouse and tight jeans. Her phone case had a picture of Dieter on it and her purse sported a Cliff Beasts themed tag. 

“I am so glad you told me he was going to be on tonight,” she went on. “I had to spend seventy-five bucks to get a ticket off someone in line, but it will be so worth it! I mean, I’m about ready to hyperventilate already just knowing I’m in the same building he is!”

Just then my own phone dinged and I pulled it out of my purse. 

DIETER: U should have come backstage they have skittles!!

Next came a photo of a giant bowl of Skittles. I stifled a laugh as I texted back.

ME: Don’t eat them all u will be bouncing off the walls all nite

DIETER: Too late The text was followed by a GIF of Tigger bouncing on his tail.

ME: U r crazy 

DIETER: Yup. Gotta go I’m on deck, i go right after the monologue

ME: Break a leg

I slipped the phone back into my purse. If the girl next to me only knew who I was texting … The awkward high school girl in me wanted so badly to rub it in her face, especially after the “soccer mom” crack, but I knew it was petty and childish. So I kept my mouth shut.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please silence or turn off your phones and other electronic devices,” an announcer said. “Remember, photography and recording during the taping are strictly prohibited.” I dutifully powered off my phone, but the girl next to me simply tucked hers into her purse, keeping one hand inside the handbag. I had the feeling she was going to live Tweet the entire thing.

A few minutes later, the lights over the audience dimmed and a young man came out to warm up the audience. “Folks, Jimmy will be out in a few minutes to do his monologue, but first let’s get to know each other a bit better.” He started into a spiel, asking those who were from out of town to raise their hands, then those who were in New York for the first time. He walked up and down the aisles, asking questions here and there, making stupid jokes that made everyone groan. 

Then, he bounded back down to the stage, consulted with someone who I assumed was the director (she had a huge headset on, three clipboards and an iPad). He nodded, the director lifted on hand, did a countdown, then pointed at The Roots who began to play the theme song. The announcer came back on. “Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon!”

The “Applause” sign came on and then Jimmy was walking on stage. He looked taller than he had backstage, but maybe that was because instead of scrounging for a bagel, now he was standing in a spotlight, delivering a witty monologue. When the monologue was over, he said, “We’re going to take a quick break, but when we come back, help me welcome our first guest, Oscar winner Dieter Bravo!”

The girl next to me practically screamed right in my ear and I winced. The director made a signal with her hand and the spotlight went out, Jimmy seemed to shrink back to normal size and the red lights on the cameras went off. “We’re out,” the director said. “Two minutes.”

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” the girl next to me was muttering. Her leg was bouncing so hard I was afraid she was going to work her seat loose from the bolts holding it to the floor. 

“Back in thirty,” said a stage manager. The girl started wringing her hands and she was breathing so erratically I was afraid she was going to pass out.

“Ten.” Were those actual tears in her eyes? 

“Five, four, three, two, one ….” The director pointed at Jimmy, who was now seated behind his desk, the lights went back up and the camera lights glowed red.

“Welcome back!,” Jimmy said. “And now, let’s welcome our first guest. He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Illusions and is currently co-starring in the hit film Time for a Change … give it up for Dieter Bravo!”

The curtains parted and Dieter walked out, waving to the audience, a huge smile on his face. The girl beside me was screaming, “I love you, Dieter!,” and it made my ears ring. I clapped politely.

He scanned the crowd as he walked toward Jimmy’s desk and I knew the moment he spotted me; his eyes lit up and he gave me a quick wink. “Oh my God,” the girl beside me said to no one. “He winked at me!”

I rolled my eyes but held my tongue. Dieter shook hands with Jimmy, turned to face the audience again, waved one last time, then sat down. As the applause died down, Jimmy tapped his stack of cue cards against the top of the desk.

“So, Dieter, it’s great to see you again,” he said. “I think the last time was, what, when you were in ‘Cliff Beasts 6’?”

“Yes, that seems like a lifetime ago,” Dieter said with a laugh. “Kind of was, actually.”

“Things really have changed a lot for you the last couple of years,” Jimmy said. “But this isn’t an Oprah interview, so don’t worry, I won’t ask any hard questions. Maybe.” There was laughter from the audience. The girl next to me was perched on the edge of her seat, hands clasped in front of her so tightly her knuckles were turning white.

Jimmy and Dieter chatted a bit about the film. It was standard stuff, nothing he hadn’t already said ten times before, but somehow Dieter made the same old anecdotes and platitudes sound fresh. 

Then Jimmy flicked his eyes up into the audience and I swear he looked right at me before smiling quietly. “And acting’s dangerous, too,” he said. “You don’t do a lot of action films but there are sometimes stunts involved. I think you got a scar on your elbow from a scene in Nightshade?”

”Yeah,” Dieter said. “The set had some exposed screws and nails on this one part and I accidentally fell against it. Cut me pretty bad. I had to get stitches.” He grimaced.

“But that’s not your only scar,” Jimmy said. “I heard you got another scar, more recently? In a more intimate location? Can you tell us about that?”

Dieter closed his eyes and I knew he was cursing me inwardly. He opened his eyes, gave me an “I’m going to kill you later” look and turned to Jimmy. “Yes, I do have another scar, but there’s two ways I can tell the story. One way embarrasses me, and the other embarrasses someone else, who I suspect is the person who told you to ask me about it. So … do I throw her under the bus, or do I throw myself under the bus?” He grinned wickedly and glanced up at me. I just smiled at him. It was up to him how he wanted to tell the story and whichever way he chose, I was fine with it.

“Oh, I don’t think you can throw her under the bus,” Jimmy said. “Believe me, never embarrass your significant other in public, or you’ll pay for it for years. My wife still brings up the time on our third date when I … well, I’d better not say anything else or she’ll lock me out of the house. Again.” Everyone laughed. 

Dieter sighed and sat forward, his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped in front of him. “Okay,” he said. “Here’s the story. The one that makes me look like an idiot. So … I was at my girlfriend’s house. It’s the middle of the night, we’re sound asleep, and the smoke alarm started peeping. Not going off like there’s a fire, just that annoying little ‘peep’ that means the battery’s low. And we wake up and I’m like, ‘What’s going on?,’ and she says, ‘It’s the smoke alarm, it needs a new battery.’”

“It always happens in the middle of the night, doesn’t it?” Jimmy asked. “What’s up with that?”

“Right?” Dieter said. “So, she says ‘I’ve got to get the step stool so we can reach it,’ and I, trying to impress her with my handyman skills and supreme manliness, reason , ‘Oh, no, I can just stand on the bed and reach it.’ So I get a battery out of the drawer and I stand up on the bed and unscrew the cover … feeling pretty proud of myself. And then I stepped back just a bit, my foot slipped off the edge of the mattress and I fell off the bed.” Everyone gasped. “Knocked over the night stand, which broke the lamp … and then I landed on the lamp. The broken lamp.”

Jimmy grimaced. “Oh, man.”

“Yeah,” Dieter said. “Landed on my ass right on top of a huge shard of glass from the lamp. Naked. Bleeding all over the floor. She’s freaking out, I’m freaking out —- because it hurt like hell — we rush to the emergency room at like one o’clock in the morning and I end up getting nine stitches.”

Jimmy was dying laughing by this point, laying across his desk. “Oh, man,” he said again. “That … that is … I mean, I know it isn’t funny, you got hurt, but …” He dissolved into laughter again.

Dieter laughed ruefully. “Yeah, at the time we were pretty traumatized, but now it’s pretty funny. I mean, no one wants to show up in the ER and have to tell the doctor that they’ve been stabbed in the ass … by a lamp.”

Everyone was laughing by this time, including me, and Jimmy had tears running down his face. “Oh, oh,” he gasped. “You have got to thank your girlfriend for telling me to ask you about this. This is hilarious.”

“Oh, I will,” Dieter said. “Trust me, we’ll be talking about this tonight.” 

Jimmy recovered his composure long enough to say, “We need to take another break, but just you wait … next up, Broadway’s newest Aaron Burr …” I was distracted by the girl next to me frantically tapping away on her phone, which was hidden in her lap under her purse. She was typing so hard she bumped me with her elbow.

“Oh, sorry,” she whispered. When I glanced over I saw part of her text: OMG that image him naked on the floor, so hawt, I’m gonna die

I shook my head. “And we’re out,” the director said. “Two minutes, folks.” I looked back up and Jimmy and Dieter were chatting about something, leaning across the desk to hear each other over the murmur of the audience. Then they both looked up at the same time, caught my eye and busted up laughing. I pointed at them and shook my head.

“Thirty seconds,” the call came and I realized the girl next to me had seen me pointing at the stage.

“You know Jimmy Fallon?,” she asked, her eyes narrowing. I could see the wheels turning in her head. Just how much had I heard of her description of me, and if I knew Jimmy, could I introduce her to Dieter?

“Not really,” I said. “Just met him today.”

“Then you know …?,” the light was dawning in her eyes.

“Ten seconds!”

“Shh, we’re almost back,” I said, turning my attention back to the stage.

“Five, four, three, two, one ….”

The lights went back up, Jimmy snapped back into host mode and was introducing the next guest, an up and coming young man who had recently taken over the role of Aaron Burr in ‘Hamilton’. He walked out, shook hands with Jimmy, and then with Dieter, who moved over one seat. 

I did my best to pay attention to the interview (which was extremely interesting), ignoring the girl next to me who was alternately staring at me, typing furiously on her phone and watching Dieter. Every time he flicked his eyes in my direction, she tensed up. It was extremely petty of me to enjoy it so much, but I didn’t care. 

At the next break, she turned to me, all bright eyed and smiling. “So, how do you know Dieter?”

As if you haven’t already figured it out, I thought. “He fell off my bed,” I said simply, then turned my attention back to the stage. She didn’t try to talk to me again until the show was over.

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

The girl followed me into the lobby. I tried my best to ignore her and was relieved to see Stephanie waiting for me. “Come on, Emily,” she said. 

“Oh, do you work here?,” the girl said, butting in. Stephanie gave her an irritated look and nodded. “Will there be a meet and greet with the guests? A stage door or something?”

“No,” Stephanie said. “I’m afraid not.” She turned away and ushered me toward the locked door we’d passed through before. “Let me guess, fan girl?,” she said as soon as we were far enough away for the girl not to overhear.

“Yes,” I said. “I thought she was going to have an aneurysm when he walked on stage.”

Stephanie snorted. “You should have been here when we had the Backstreet Boys a couple of months ago,” she said, unlocking the door. “A bunch of middle aged fan girls acting like teenagers … it was insane.” We wended our way through the backstage area again, this time going past the room where the craft services tables were laid out and through another door. “Welcome to the Green Room,” Stephanie said.

It was not green, instead a hodgepodge of browns and tans, with a scattering of comfortable chairs and couches. The table in the middle of the room held a tray of fruit and that giant bowl of Skittles that Dieter had sent me a picture of. “You can hang out here and Mr. Bravo will be out in a few minutes,” Stephanie said. “I’ll take your blazer back to wardrobe.” I handed it to her and she disappeared through another door. I sat down on the couch, grabbing a handful of Skittles.

“Ha, I knew you couldn’t resist them.” Dieter came into the room. He’d undone another button on his shirt and already mussed up his hair. He grabbed a handful himself and plopped down next to me.

“Sorry for telling Jimmy about the scar,” I said, bumping my shoulder against his.

He shrugged. “It made for a good interview,” he said. “Better than the boring questions his staff gave him, that’s for sure.” He chuckled. “QuestLove said when I write my memoirs the title should be ‘Stabbed in the Ass By A Lamp: The Dieter Bravo Story.’”

Karen popped through yet another door. “Your car is ready, Mr. Bravo,” she said abruptly. We knew it was best not to keep her waiting.

As we settled into the back of the town car (alone this time, thank goodness), Dieter let out a huge sigh. “I don’t know about you, but I’m beat,” he said. He glanced at his watch. It was almost seven. “Let’s just eat at the hotel and make it an early night, what do you say?”

“Sounds fine by me,” I said. We’d been up since 2:30 and even though we’d gained three hours and my biological clock thought it was only going on four, I was still running on fumes. 

The Benjamin wasn’t far from Rockefeller Center. Our car pulled up in front of the entrance, which was presided over by a magnificent carved owl. Everything was done in tasteful, calming browns and cream. We stopped by the desk to pick up our keys (the interns who had taken charge of our luggage had already checked us in) and rode the elevator up to our room. It wasn’t large but Dieter had warned me that rooms in New York were never big. “Real estate is precious in the city, especially in Manhattan,” he’d told me.

We ordered room service, deciding to split the Steak Frites and a Caesar salad. While we waited for the food, I unpacked our bags and explored the amenities in the bathroom, which included the fluffiest bathrobes I’d ever seen in my life. We ate dinner, then took turns in the shower. By eight thirty, we were both wrapped in our bathrobes, lounging on the queen sized bed, flipping through the channels on the television.

“Want to stay up and watch the show?” Dieter asked as he settled on a channel that was showing Raiders of the Lost Ark. We’d both seen the movie a million times but it was a classic and we didn’t have to pay close attention to it, so it was perfect for a lazy night.

“Sure,” I said. “Not like we’re going to do anything more exciting tonight.” I had rummaged in the minibar and was laying out a bounty of macadamia nuts, Toblerone bars, and tiny bottles of Chardonnay.

“Hey,” he said.

I laughed. “I mean, we aren’t going out or anything. Although I have the feeling we’ll be lucky to stay awake long enough,” I said, stifling a yawn. It really had been a long day.

We snuggled up on the bed, munching on our impromptu dessert and watching Indy’s exploits. During the commercials, I told him about the fan girl who’d been sitting beside me and I thought he was going to fall off the bed laughing when I told him my answer to her question of how I knew him.

“Oh, sweetheart” he said. “You are so snarky sometimes.” He kissed my forehead. “I love it.”

When the movie was over, we watched a PBS travel program about trains in Scandinavia before switching over to the news at eleven. I could barely keep my eyes open by the time The Tonight Show came on, and after Dieter’s segment, I gave up completely. I took off my glasses, laid them on the nightstand and slipped out of my robe and under the covers. A few minutes later, Dieter followed suit, clicking the television off and then the lamp. “Good night, baby,” he mumbled as he slid his arms around me.

“Good night,” I said, nuzzling against his chest. I always fell asleep quickly when I was in his arms. That night was no exception.

[jamneuromain]

MY MISERABLE JOB-SEEKING TRAGEDY

SO

Never thought this would happen to me even if I have endured the last two months' effort of trying to find a job

-which, an offer is *was* on its way, or so I thought

On March 17th, I applied for a English teaching position that requires "Master Degree" in English. The HR personnel of the Uni (Like, an actual Uni, instead of some crappy, illegal educational workshop) reached out to me in two weeks, on Apr. 1st, saying that I'm qualified for this position and invited me to the online interview a week later.

This is an esteemed university in the local province, one that can rank top 3 based on its reputation.

On Apr 7th. I presented thirty minutes of my curriculum design and delivers a small demonstration of how I would teach the class, after that, the panel of six raised a copious amount of questions that dragged the interview towards an hour.

By then, I thought this was going very well.

(Apr. 9th) At the end of that week, I asked for the result of this interview. The HR said they have one more interviewee to do.

(Apr. 12th) Finally, HR shared the delightful news that I have passed their one and only interview, that they have started the process to issue an offer.

I WAS FUCKING THRILLED.

(Apr. 19th) And then another week, I asked whether they had news on the offer, and the HR said "I'll go ask". And not another word.

(Apr. 23rd) The uni had announced a few of its positions being filled. So I asked again. This time, HR said, they had filed the papers and handed them to the School, which means that the next step would be the uni HR office.

(May 10th) No word. No news at all. The anxiety was killing me. So I phoned the University HR office, and was given the reply that the papers still hadn't got to the University level, which meant they were still in the School level.

I phoned the number of the hiring officer on the hiring ad. A woman picked up the phone and told me: We are holding another OFFLINE interview. Are you available on the 17th?

I was puzzled and asked: But I thought the online interview was the only interview needed? And I passed it? Why is there another interview now?

The woman said nothing. Only that "Someone will contact you regarding this information"

I'm like: Okay. Can you send me the address of the offline interview via Wechat?

And then a few minutes later, she said "Maybe not 17th. Definitely a Friday. Could be 24th."

I was so puzzled.

And the HR that initially contacted me told me an hour later: "Can you come to our uni for the interview on 31st?"

-- by then, my attitude is "okay. just another interview. no biggie"

(May 11th) And today, at nine o'clock in the morning.

The HR said: "Don't come on 31st."

I asked "why?"

HR: "Because our dean wants a doctor instead of a master"

I asked: "But your hiring add says master and above?"

HR: "Yes ... but we want a doctor, you see. And uh... there's a new doctor candidate cv in our hands."

I asked: "but I AM QUALIFIED. AND passed the interview. And you handed in the papers to hire me? I'm literally given an oral offer by you?"

HR: "Well ... things change. Good luck!"

Now, I have contacted the HR personally earlier today, ensuring what I have suspected. They have this "other candidate" that is neither stronger in academic records, nor in the interview/mock teaching process, only better than me in the sense of a more powerful relative. That's why they wanted me to go to the Uni for OFFLINE interview in the first place, so that "the other candidate" could win "fair and square". - They could easily give the other candidate the score of 90% while giving me a 60% "Well, your performace is not as good as his", so that they could justify the hiring process of this other candidate. But then considering an offline interview would require a camera and recording, they thought "Oh F- oh no Jam could easily outperform this poor bastard". So, "THINGS CHANGE GOOD LUCK"

The point of this rant is not that I think schools, unis, or whatevs should only hire me. No. But all I'm saying is, they have promised me an offer (in oral form, I sadly add, so that no legal way of punishing them), and in the duration of a month, they have stalled, dragged, even thought of a malicious way of "allowing me to go to their university just that they could say no to my face", changing dates and time, wasting my time and money (a lot of it, I might add, I have turned down two offers for this uni, just because they PROMISED - i am an idiot, I know), torturing my mind and triggering my anxiety because they delayed, and delayed again, and they did it without remorse.

Look, after two months of trying to search for a job, actually, nearly NINE, if you count the previous months where I worked towards the exams to get a job. I have been rejected/ghosted/ignored over four hundred times, and I accept them. I truly do. I don't expect HRs to spend their time carefully going over each applicant. I also don't expect every CV I send out there would be replied with a job offer. I'm fine with the results I get, and I have my conscience intact. That's fine by me.

But what I don't tolerate, is the fact that they have purposefully wasted my time for a whole fucking month, giving me false hope, promising me an offer and then denied it from happening.

Goody-news for them, those who wanted to stuff another dude by their ridiculous "connections". I don't care that guy they want to replace me with is some dean's nephew or some director's son. I'm fucking stubborn. They have stepped over the wrong line and as long as I live and breathe, I promise them, I will have my eyes over this position, and dare they put one person in it, I will send a report letter to the authorities, and let's see if their recruiting speed could compare to my ctrl+v.

This is a game they have started, but they don't get to decide whether it's finished or not. I don't care whether they want to continue. They are fucking playing.

[pink-tonic]

A New Week, New Trouble📰

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Warnings: Mentions of the reader's scar

I walk to school with both of the siblings. Last week on Friday, they were asking me where I went on Thursday, and I had to lie. I really had to. I didn't want them to get worried. But Taeko's satisfaction made it all worth it. She happily told me and Taro that Mr. Rana wasn't at school anymore, and the rumors of him getting arrested started to spread quickly.

"There really isn't a dull moment at this school," I remembered Taeko told me, and I can't tell if that's a good or bad thing. It makes things interesting, but it would be nice to have a normal week for once. I feel that ever since coming back to school, after the death of that first-year, everything has been different. It's like we crossed a point of no return as a school.

Either way, I still need to think about how I'm going to execute my own plan of sending Ayato to jail. How will this work? Maybe taking a picture of my scar would be a good move? It's evidence of his attack, but then again, there is no evidence that it was actually him. I know it was him because I experienced it, but outsiders looking in won't know that. Plus, he cleaned up all the evidence, and I doubt there would be any evidence left since it's been weeks since it's happened.

As I'm taking off my outdoor shoes, I start to hear what people are saying. I expected to hear conversations of Mr. Rana being arrested last week, but I heard something else.

"Wait, he's back? I thought he got kicked out."

"Why would the headmaster let him come back?"

"Remind me never to go to the incinerator."

"Did you hear? The leader of the delinquents is back!"

I guess my hopes of this week being normal are gone. Now, the leader of the delinquents is back. He's been gone for seven or so weeks because right before the murder of the first-year student, he was suspended. I'm sure people would have blamed him for the first-year's death, but he wasn't on campus at the time.

I never really talked to any of the delinquents, and I think it's better that way. I have no business with them, and they have no business with me. It would be best if I stayed clear of them.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

The day went by fast and it actually felt kind of normal, only for the fact that the leader of the delinquents came back, but as long as I didn't get involved it could actually be a regular week.

I go to the club room and I start to set it up with the siblings. We arrange the tables and chairs into a makeshift circle. When we're done, the other club members start to come in with their snacks and drinks. They each take their usual seat and scatter their snacks on the glossy, wooden tops of the desks.

I see the clock hit four o'clock and I take my own seat. "Alright, I know what happened on Thursday, which made it so the paper couldn't be published. I know some of you told me in person or texted me the information. So, this week, let's try to make something great! What ideas do you guys have or what ideas have you been working on?"

"Oh!" One of the female's club members raises her hand quickly.

"What do you have?" I ask, wondering and a little excited about what idea she might have.

"So... I went to bother someone for an interview," she said with a bit of embarrassment in her voice.

"Really? Who was it? I hope you didn't annoy them," I tell her, slightly scolding her since when we ask for an interview, I tell them that we should be as respectful as possible.

"Well, it's with one of the delinquents."

"What?" All the club members except me yell out in unison. They then start to whisper to each other about who the delinquent is since it could be any of the boys or girls, or even the leader.

"But there is one problem," she tells us with a bit of worry in her voice.

"What is it?" I ask as I tilt my head to the side.

"Well, I can't be the one to interview him. I annoyed them so much that they asked for someone else to do it, and they said that they wanted to talk to our leader," she quickly tells all of us. Her words don't fully process in my head, but it did for the other members.

I can feel all of them look at me with worry, and I know that I have to make them feel better towards my safety. "Alright, I'll talk to him. Did you set up a time?" I ask her, hoping that the time is a good time for me.

"He told me after all the clubs are done."

"Alright, I'll go," I then look at the rest of the club members, "Any other ideas?"

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

"You seriously want to go by yourself? Are you crazy?" Taeko asks me with both worry and anger.

I nod my head, "He wants to talk to me, and besides, I don't have bad blood with him. I don't even talk to any of them. I'm sure that I'll be alright," I try my best to make her less worried.

She lets out a sigh out of exasperation, "Just don't be so sure. C'mon, Taro."

Taro waves to me and yells out,'Good luck'. I wave back with a smile. I quickly start to make my way to the side of the school. It doesn't take long for me to make it, but I do find it a little creepy that the school is this quiet. Just earlier today, people were talking their heads off about the leader of the delinquents coming back.

As I walk closer to the incinerator, I see a tall figure standing at the entrance of the small structure. As I keep walking, my eyes widen. This isn't one of the regular delinquents. This is the leader. I start to get nervous, but I need to remind myself that if he sees that I'm nervous, he will use it against me.

I make it to the entrance of the incinerator, and I can feel the leader of the delinquents looking at me. I could feel his sharp eyes look up and down my body. It made me feel nervous, but I had to recompose myself. I can't let him know that I'm nervous around him.

"So you're the leader of that little reporter club, huh?" He questions me as he sees me walk up to him.

"Yeah, and one of my club members told me what happened," I told him as I stood in front of him. I stand up straight and look up to him. I curse myself because of my shorter height.

"God, she's annoying," he tells me without any hesitation, "Tell her not to come back here, or I'll make the girls set her straight."

"Yeah, I'm sorry," I quickly apologize to him, "I'll make sure she doesn't do that again."

I'm about to take my leave and leave the school, but I can hear his rough voice call out to me. I turn around and look at him.

"What is it?" I ask him, wondering what he would want from me now. I thought I took care of everything he needed. What more could he want?

We both stand in silence. He doesn't say anything and just looks at me. "Is there something wrong?" I ask, hoping that I would get an answer and leave.

I swear for a moment I could see him blush, but maybe it was because he was embarrassed. He most likely forgot what he wanted to tell me, and I was proven right.

"It's nothing. Just leave."

I quickly leave and make a beeline towards the exit of the school.