#wake me up when it’s time for me to fly to canada

[rurinnfane]

Just when I started to accept that this is the suckiest Christmastime I’ve experienced so far, I came home to find that this is the only decoration that we’ll have up this year 😶

[norrisradio]

SMALL TALK

LINE BY LINE ᝰ.ᐟ “one night he wakes / strange look on his face / pauses, then says / “you’re my best friend” / and you knew what it was / he is in love” + “Morning, his place / burnt toast, Sunday / you keep his shirt / he keeps his word” - Taylor Swift, You Are In Love

ᝰ PAIRING: oscar piastri x reader | ᝰ WC: 1.7K ᝰ GENRE: strangers-to-friends-to-????, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time and other disasters, oscar piastri is a man on a mission ᝰ INCOMING RADIO: my first time dabbling in some mixed media (feat. texts, voice notes, and facetimes)! not entirely happy with it but hopefully it makes sense // sorry for disappearing i am back now i swear ꨄ requested by @princesspiastri007 !

send me an ask for my line by line event .ᐟ

Oscar Piastri ruins your life in a bakery line on a Tuesday.

You’re clutching your paper cup like a lifeline, half-hypnotized by the scent of cardamom buns and the threadbare sweater slung over your frame — navy, elbow-patched, fraying at the seams. It was your dad’s. Maybe even his dad’s. Handed down like a secret. You only wear it on soft days. The kinds that ask for warmth and not much else.

Then someone knocks into you from behind, and the tea goes flying.

A sharp breath. The hiss of liquid on wool.

You freeze. He freezes.

“Shit — God, I’m so sorry.”

The voice is breathless and kind of pretty. You look up, prepared to launch into an eloquent string of swears, but the apology is already in his face. He looks young. Startled. Dimples carved into his cheeks like a question mark.  A lanky frame, messy hair, and a voice that sounds like Sunday morning. And behind him, some tall blonde girl in sunglasses (who you’ll later learn is Hattie, his sister) gives a wince-laugh and says, “Nice one, Oz.”

You look down. The sweater is ruined.

“That’s not just a sweater,” you whisper, throat tight. And somehow, that matters more than yelling.

The stranger — Oscar, apparently — blinks. “Wait — wait, is it special? Oh God. Please let me fix it.”

That’s how it starts: a burnt-sugar Tuesday and a ruined heirloom.

He buys you another tea. Apologizes twenty-seven times. Offers you his hoodie while you shiver on the bakery bench. It smells like laundry detergent and something citrusy, like a life that doesn’t belong to you. When you say he doesn’t need to do anything else, he frowns like you’ve insulted him.

“No. I swear — I’ll find a way to replace it.”

You scoff. “What, are you gonna time travel to the '80s?”

He grins. “Not quite. But I travel a lot. I’ll find one like it. You’ll see.”

It’s a joke. You think it’s a joke.

Until he’s in Spain two weeks later, and you get a photo of a sweater from a vintage shop in Barcelona:

from: +61 *** *** *** [Attachment: 1 Image] from: +61 *** *** *** Closer? Still hunting.

Then he’s in Canada. Silverstone. Budapest. Portugal.

from: +61 *** *** *** [Attachment: 1 Image - a blurry photo of a sweater, tagged €35 ] from: +61 *** *** *** Found a jumper in Lisbon. Not quite the right navy, but it has the elbow patches.

to: +61 *** *** *** you don’t have to keep doing this, yk 

from: +61 *** *** *** I know. I want to.

Each time, a picture. A patch. A different shade of blue. An “Almost.” 

You hadn’t expected it to become a thing.

You hadn’t expected him to become a thing.

But there’s a moment, three weeks later, when you're eating leftover curry on the floor of your apartment and your phone lights up with a voice memo. You hesitate. Press play.

Hey. I know it’s probably stupid but I found one in Tokyo today that kinda reminded me of the shape of yours. Didn’t get it though. The color was off. But I thought about you.

There’s a pause. You can hear wind. Traffic. And then:

Anyway. Just wanted to say hi.

You play it twice. Then a third time.

You don’t respond for an hour because you don’t know how to say, you’ve been living in my head since Tuesday.

The voice memos turn into calls. Almost by accident at first. One missed message becomes a call back, and before you know it, you’re dialing his number like muscle memory.

You start calling him after work, when the sky is the color of chamomile tea and the streets hum with the soft ache of winding down. He answers from hotel rooms, his voice low and warm, surrounded by the soft rustle of sheets or the faint murmur of unfamiliar cities outside his window. Sometimes you hear the buzz of neon. The clatter of luggage. The echo of a TV in the next room.

It becomes routine. Sacred, even. A ritual made of static and silence and shared space.

He listens when you talk about your family, about the sweater, about how you’ve always had trouble letting go of things that feel like home. Your voice goes soft when you tell him how your dad used to wear it on cold Sunday mornings, how it always smelled faintly of espresso and cedar. How you kept it on the back of your chair even after he passed.

There’s a pause.

And then: “That makes sense,” Oscar says, quiet enough that you almost miss it. “You feel... anchored. Even when everything else isn’t.”

You blink.

No one’s ever put it like that before.

You want to laugh. Or cry. Or tell him that he’s the first person in months who hasn’t made you feel like you’re too much. Too sentimental. Too attached to the past.

Instead, you murmur, “I like the sound of that.”

“Of what?”

“Being anchored.”

He doesn’t say anything, but you can feel his smile through the phone. That small, secret one you’ve learned to hear in the silence between words.

And when you hang up, well past midnight, your chest is full of something unfamiliar.

Melbourne - 00:42 / Sao Paulo - 11:42

Oscar’s face is sideways on your screen. He’s lying on a hotel bed, hair a mess, thumb under his cheek like he fell asleep on his own hand.

“I’ve seen twenty sweaters today,” he mumbles. “All of them were wrong.”

You smile, half-asleep yourself. “You’re a menace.”

“I’m determined.”

“Obsessed, maybe.”

He grins. “That too.”

There’s a long silence. Not awkward. Just full.

You whisper, “Why does it matter so much?”

He looks at you like he’s trying to read something written in a language only you speak.

“I think,” he says slowly, “because it mattered to you.”

Melbourne - 10:48 / Monza - 02:48

I found a vendor near the paddock today who hand-knits sweaters. Said she doesn’t repeat patterns but she can make something inspired by yours. I asked her how long it’d take. She said six months. I told her I’d wait.

There’s a long pause.

I don’t think this is about the sweater anymore. 

The FaceTimes start to stretch longer.  Past midnight. Into morning. Sometimes you wake up to a dead phone, his face still ghosting your dreams. He tells you what the gravel in Bahrain smells like. You tell him about your mother’s lasagna recipe. He starts sending you pictures of things that have nothing to do with sweaters.

The sea. His breakfast. A dog in the crowd with a bandana that says Team Oscar. His knees pressed up against the seat in a too-small plane.

You start recognizing hotel ceilings. The texture of his voice when he’s tired. The sound of his toothbrush.

You don’t talk about what it is. But you know.

You fall asleep with your phone tipped sideways, face half offscreen, mouth slack. Oscar snaps a screenshot once (you find it later in a photo dump he sends, sandwiched between two blurry shots of the Monza pitlane and one of a knitwear rack in Milan).

You’re in bed, face crinkled into your pillow.

from: +61 *** *** *** [Attachment: 4 Images] from: +61 *** *** *** I like this one best. 

Melbourne - 03:23 / Abu Dhabi 21:23

from: +61 *** *** *** You awake?

You blink at the screen, the dim glow of your phone painting soft light across your face.

You shouldn’t be awake. You weren’t. Not really.

to: +61 *** *** *** only if you need me to be 

from: +61 *** *** *** always. 

You stare at it for a beat too long. Something in your chest tightens.

No FaceTime this time. Just voice. Just the warmth of him spilling through the speaker like something secret.

“Hi,” he says, a little breathless. Like he’d been pacing. Like he still is.

“You okay?” you ask, voice scratchy with sleep.

A silence. Not heavy. Just full.

Then: “It’s stupid.”

“Try me.”

Another pause, this one longer. Then he sighs, and it sounds like the beginning of a confession.

“I was at dinner. Team stuff. Everyone talking, laughing, and it was fine. It was good. But then I thought of something you said — about how your dad used to cut his toast diagonally, like it made it taste better.”

You laugh, soft. “Because it does.”

He smiles. You can hear it. But then his voice shifts. Warmer. Quieter.

“And I wanted to tell you. Just that. Just... share that moment with you. And I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I wanted to call. Even though it was nothing. Even though it was everything.”

Your fingers twist in the hem of your blanket. “Oscar-”

He exhales, quiet static against your cheek. “It just– it made me realize something.” 

You hear him shift again, maybe run a hand through his hair. When he speaks next, his voice is quieter. Barely above a whisper.

“I think you’re my best friend.”

And the way he says it — it’s not casual. Not flippant. It lands somewhere low in your chest, blooming slow and steady.

You don’t answer right away.

Because the truth is, you already knew. You’d known for a while now, tucked in the space between time zones and half-laughed voicemails. In the way your day doesn’t feel finished until you’ve heard his voice.

Still, you make a soft sound into the receiver. “I know,” you say, because anything more might break it.

He breathes out a laugh. You can hear him relax, like he was bracing for something bigger.

“I should let you sleep.”

“You should.”

But neither of you hang up.

You don’t say anything else that night. Just let the silence stretch between you like soft thread, pulled taut. Your hand stays curled around the phone long after the call ends, thumb brushing the screen like it might still be warm from his voice. 

And later, when you’re making toast in his kitchen for the first time and burn it so badly the alarm goes off, you both laugh like idiots, wheezing and barefoot. 

You keep his hoodie. He lets you. You wear it when he’s gone. You send him a photo of it hanging beside the ruined sweater, like they’re twin relics of something that matters now. 

He keeps his word. 

He never finds the same sweater. 

But somehow, you stop minding.

Oscar can’t look at a knit sweater without thinking of you, and maybe that’s the best kind of curse—a soft one, stitched with love, pulling him home.

[flemingsfreckles]

Physio’s Daughter Part 6

Jessie Fleming x Reader

Read the other 5 parts HERE

Warnings: just cursing and the angst :)

WC: 4.3k

A/N: okay, so I know the opponents don’t match up with who Canada will actually play in the group stage of the Olympics but I’m a superstitious mfker and I don’t want to be responsible for jinxing anything, so they’re playing different teams.

You had never been on a private plane, it was definitely a different experience flying with the Canadian team than on a regular plane, however it didn’t make your dislike of flying any better. You were nervous walking up the stairs to the plane, you were nervous walking down the aisle, you were nervous when you sat down in the incredibly large and surprisingly comfortable chair. Your nerves only grew when you felt someone plop into the seat next to you only to look over and see Jessie with her sweet smile looking at you.

“Hi.”

“Oh this has got to be a joke.” You don’t mean to say it out loud but you do. Jessie’s smile falls when she hears your words.

“Nope.” She holds her phone out to you showing her ticket that shows she was indeed sitting next to you. “Sorry, I can see if someone will switch.”

You don’t respond to her, she has every right to sit there but you didn’t know how you were going to handle being next to her for such a long period of time. She stands up and you watch her scan the plane looking for a teammate to switch with.

“Sit down Jeff, you're holding us up.” One of her teammates waiting in the aisle says, she listens not wanting to start any issues. She plops down with a sigh into the seat next to you.

She definitely didn’t help your nerves, now you were nervous about the actual flying and spending the 8 hour flight next to the woman you were attracted to, but couldn’t have. You sat in silence as she got herself situated in her seat. Grabbing out a pair of headphones, a bottle of water, and a bag of dried fruit.

She didn’t say anything to you and you didn’t say anything back. That was until the plane started pushing back.

You were clutching onto your arm rest with one hand, your phone in the other as your tried to shuffle through songs to find one to make the plane ride less miserable. Subconsciously your knees were both bouncing aggressively, trying to get out your nerves.

“You alright?” Jessie points at your knees.

“I hate flying. It just feels unnatural, you know?”

“I guess, it’s never bothered me much. I try to sleep

most of the time. It’ll be okay.” She puts out a hand on the small table between your seats. She’s offering to hold your hand.

You look at it for a second, before deciding to turn her hand down. You shake your head to indicate you were good, you didn’t need to hold someone’s hand, you were an adult. Except it was then that the plane began down the runway to take off, the plane rattling, making you reach for her hand just as she was about to pull it away.

You interlock your fingers and grip her hand tightly. You’re sure your hands are sweaty and clammy which is embarrassing. Jessie gives your hand a gentle squeeze as you feel the plane lift off. You look over at her and she mouths the words “it’s okay”.

Despite the flight being at night you didn’t sleep for a second. Jessie fell asleep less than an hour after take off, you felt her grip on your hand relax and you looked over to see her seat slightly reclined, her head back and her eyes shut. She looked peaceful and beautiful. Realizing your own thoughts you turn away from her, kicking yourself for thinking about her. You also pull your hand away, placing it into your own lap to pick at the skin on your thumb.

It’s a long and restless eight hours and you’re thankful when you get the announcement that the plane would be landing soon. The announcement wakes up Jessie, she shifts in her seat, making a few soft groans before her eyes blink open.

“Did he say we’re almost landing?” She asks, sliding her headphone off.

“Yeah, shortly.” You let her know.

“Oh wow, did I sleep the whole flight?”

“I think so, I’m not sure.” You didn’t want her to think you had been paying attention to her, you had been, stealing glances at the girl beside you every 15 minutes to just admire her, and envy her ability to sleep.

“Did you sleep?”

“Yeah a bit.” You lie.

She gives you a smile and her arm extends to give you a quick pat on the shoulder. “Good, see I told you it wouldn’t be that bad.”

As you approach the ground Jessie offers her hand again, only this time you’re smart enough not to take it. “Landing doesn’t bother me as much as taking off.” You tell Jessie, another lie, it still terrified you just as much.

Once you’re on the ground, you remove your hands from the armrest where you’re pretty sure you made indents with your fingers from gripping so hard. Everyone files off the plane and onto buses. You get on the bus and pick the seat next to your Mom, not wanting to risk an open seat next to you being taken by a certain brunette.

“Convenient seating on the plane eh?” Your Mom nudges you.

“Please stop.” You grumble at her. You were tired from your inability to sleep on the plane, overwhelmed from the stress and ready to be in bed. You were also bothered as she was the one making it such a big deal that you had a crush on Jessie, she shouldn’t get to joke around about it.

“Oh don’t be so uptight.” You stuck your headphones back on, and leaned over to place your head on your Mom’s shoulder. The bus ride was about an hour, most of which you passed by finally being able to sleep.

The next few days went by quickly, the players busy with training, photo shoots, drug tests, interviews, meetings, you hardly saw the players except during training or physio appointments. It worked out well for you, being able to avoid Jessie for the majority of each day. You got to go out and explore the city, most of which you did with Olivia, one of the other staff members.

Olivia was your assigned roommate for the trip, she was the other youngest staff member, still 2 years older than you. She worked primarily with the media team. She was blonde, tall, and loud. She was exactly your type.

You two quickly became close, learning to navigate the new city together, only a couple of times getting lost. You would get up and get coffee together each day, trying as many cafes as possible. You’d walk around with your coffee, enjoying the sites and the quiet mornings before you’d both split to go work, you to the training room while Olivia would go gather her camera gear and head to the pitch. On the pitch she would come over to you, talking to keep you company.

Olivia was nice, she worked as a good distraction, when you weren’t face to face with Jessie at training, you were able to keep her out of your mind, instead you kept Olivia in your mind.

The first few games of the group rounds were easy, Canada easily beating Japan 3-0, then drawing with Germany 1-1. The last group stage game was a 2-0 win over Brazil. You had just finished up work, giving players treatment after their first knockout game against Australia, a nerve wracking 1-0 victory.

It had been a long day, when you got back to your hotel room Olivia was already there, sitting at the desk working.

“Hi!” She smiled at you when you walked in. “You look exhausted.”

“Gee thanks.” You reply sarcastically as you flop yourself onto your bed, face down into the blanket. You were grateful that the semi final game wouldn’t be for 3 days. You’d still have work when the players trained, but it wouldn’t be all day and into the night like match days were.

“I took photos of you today, want to see them?” Olivia asked as you remained faced down on your hotel bed. You rolled over and sat up, looking across to the desk where she was editing on her computer, your face on the screen.

“Why did you take photos of me?” Skeptical of what she meant, you pushed yourself off the bed and over to stand behind her chair. The photo on her computer screen was a photo of you, talking with Ashley Lawrence as you wrapped her wrist with tape.

She clicks to the next photo, it’s one of you carrying a medical bag out from the tunnel onto the field. She clicks again. It's one of your Mom and Sarah chatting on the bench looking at paperwork.

“Well it’s more photos of the whole staff, you all don’t get enough recognition for what you do, so I asked my manager if I could spend some time taking photos of you all working, to make a little appreciation post.” She keeps flipping through the photos, there are a lot of you, some of you with players, some of you with other staff and then a lot of you just alone, standing watching the game, a couple of you on the pitch, treating a player for a cramp, one of you on the phone.

“You photograph well.”

“Oh.” You blush, you’re not sure what to say to the compliment. “Thanks, it’s probably more your photography skills.”

Olivia turns away from the computer to look up at you. Her eyes wander over your face for a minute before she says “Nope, pretty sure it’s just you.” There’s a moment of silence between the two of you before Olivia pushes back from the desk and over to her backpack. “You know, if you want, I have my personal camera, I can take photos of you while we’re out.”

Her comment brought you back to your text conversation with Jessie from weeks ago, when she offered to be your personal photographer on your travels.

“That sounds nice, tomorrow?”

“Yeah I’m free, obviously, since we have the same schedule.” She laughs. “Sounds good, we can do some sightseeing, and then maybe lunch?”

“Perfect.” You sit down behind Olivia as she turns back to looking at photos, watching over her shoulder as she continues to go through photos of the players. Every time Jessie pops up on her screen you feel a flutter in your stomach. You were doing such a good job of avoiding her, not thinking about her, here you were still having feelings about her when you were about to embark on your day with Olivia tomorrow.

Your phone rings, you scurry over to it, Jessie’s name on the screen. You answer.

“Hi.”

“Hi.” Her voice is soft, gentle, you could listen to her talk for hours.

“What’s up?”

“You’re off tomorrow, I’m off tomorrow. Can I finally get that coffee date?” She then quickly corrects herself. “Not a date, but us getting coffee, but not a date, us, coffee, tomorrow. And not coffee where its me bringing it to you in your office.”

“Um, yeah I can probably make that work. I’m going around with Olivia to do some sightseeing, but we can probably go later in the morning, we can grab coffee early”

“Oh, okay, never mind. That’s alright, enjoy your time with her.” You can hear the defeat in her voice.

“No Jess it’s-” you hear a beep and you then realize she hung up.

You put the phone down, slumping down to sit. Sure you were the one who maybe turned her down a little, but the way she hung up aggressively on you hurt.

“Jess? As in Fleming?” Olivia looks at you.

“Yeah, her and I are, we’re friends sorta. We’ve been trying to get coffee for a couple weeks but we’ve both been busy.

“Like a date?”

“Oh no, not a date.”

“Oh. Well you can go get coffee with her, I’m okay if we go mid morning instead.”

“Well she just hung up on me so, I’m not sure if it’s even an option.” You shrug.

“Alright then we can start early if that’s better. We can grab coffee and then do some sightseeing?”

The next morning you woke up to the sound of the shower starting, Olivia already awake and getting ready for the day. You check the time, it’s 7:40, technically sleeping in given your regular schedule. You lay in bed staring at the ceiling waiting for the bathroom to be free.

Olivia comes out in only a towel, making your eyes temporarily widen before you relax them.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t meant to hog the bathroom.” She smiles when she sees you’re also awake.

“Oh, no worries.” You roll yourself out of bed and head into the bathroom yourself. “I’m going to shower and then I’ll be ready to go.” You shower quickly and step out wrapping yourself in the soft towel. You dry your hair and open the door walking over to your suitcase, Olivia is already dressed, packing a small bag for the afternoon camera gear spread across her bed.

You rummaging through your clothes for something to wear. You pick out a white linen shirt, an undershirt to go beneath and then a black pair of jeans. You turn back, checking that Olivia is occupied with something else.

“You’re good, I'm not looking.” She notices your glance in her direction.

“Thanks.” You say before you quickly drop the towel before pulling on your underwear and bra. You then pull on your jeans and shirt. “I’m done.” You say to her.

“Ready to go?”

“Yep.”

You walk into the cafe, there’s a small line and a couple of people already sitting. You get in line, looking at the menu, allowing Olivia to translate for you, her being from Quebec coming in handy.

“Hey you two!” You hear a voice from behind you and Janine walks up to you and Olivia, behind her is Jessie who looks less than thrilled to be out of the hotel.

“Hi Janine, hi Jessie.” Olivia greats them both.

“Hi Olivia.” Jessie says, she just glances at you, not saying anything. Janine looks between you and Jessie quickly an eyebrow cocked, questioning the strange behavior.

Guilt flushes through your body, even though Jessie was the one who rejected your offer, you said you would’ve been available in the morning and she hung up. But the way she ignored you felt like you had done something wrong.

Saved from having any further conversation, it’s your turn to order, you order and you then get Olivia’s order, offering to pick up Janine and Jessie’s cost as well, Janine accepts but Jessie quickly interrupts and waves you off saying she’s got it for them.

“Good to see you guys, enjoy your day off!” Olivia says as you both walk out the door onto the street.

Despite the awkward interaction at the cafe, you and Olivia have a lovely rest of the morning and afternoon. You walk around, she takes photos of you, and the scenery but mainly just of you. You talk and talk. Finally your conversations go further than just surface level and about work.

You learn that she had an older sister and two younger brothers, she was born in Quebec but lived in New York for a bit as a kid. She originally wanted to study film production but got an internship as a sports photographer for her university sports department and fell in love with the work. Outside of photography she enjoyed baking but hated cooking. She didn’t like seafood, except for shrimp.

It was easy talking with Olivia, but it didn’t feel the same as your early morning chats with Jessie or the small conversation you’d have when she hung around training late just to be in your company.

Maybe you weren’t into Olivia like you thought you were. Maybe you just wanted her as a friend. She made you feel nothing like how Jessie did. You didn’t have the same nerves around her, you didn’t have the same heart racing when you thought about her, you didn’t have the desire to grab her and kiss her. You didn’t think about what it would be like to sleep next to her, your mind didn’t constantly replay the feeling of her hug. You didn’t want her like that. You didn’t have a crush on her, you just wanted to be her friend, and you were.

The rest of your day was easy, you had lunch before you both were tired enough to head back to the hotel for a nap. Your plans to nap were quickly derailed by watching a movie.

“Come lay on my bed, it’s plenty big and then you won’t be straining your neck.” Olivia offered as she looked at you laying in your own bed, having to lean your head over to see the TV. She pulls back the sheets on the side closest to you and pats the bed.

You get up from your own bed, fix the sheets and then climb into Olivia’s bed, adjust to be comfortable and start watching the movie. Unfortunately the movie being in French meant you weren’t paying attention for too long and your eyelids quickly grew heavy and you fell asleep.

You woke up to the sound of Olivia talking quietly before you heard the hotel room door close. You blink a few times as she walks back into the room.

“Who was that?” You ask, thinking for a second you had maybe missed something important, a meeting or an appointment.

“Just Jessie, she wanted to borrow a camera strap and tripod, I guess she’s going out to take photos. Sorry did we wake you, we tried to be quiet, she was only in the room for a bit.”

Fuck, Jessie had been in the room. You knew you were in for it, if it was anyone else they might not have noticed that you were sleeping in Olivia’s bed, but Jessie was too observant to not notice. There was no way she didn’t notice how your bed was still made, untouched and you and Olivia had both been in hers. She saw you hugging the pillow beneath your head, she saw the fact that you were only dressed in a sports bra and sweats. It looked exactly like what you didn’t want it to look like.

You flopped back into the bed, watching tv with Olivia and trying not to spiral about Jessie until dinner time when you met your Mom to have dinner together. Thankfully getting you out of the team dinner for a night not having to see Jessie who is probably still pissed off with you from this morning and now seeing you in another girl's bed. Your Mom offered to take you to a museum tomorrow, you only had training to attend in the evening, so naturally you agreed.

The next two days without games fly by and before you know it you’re back standing on the sidelines watching the team play in the semi-final game against France.

You let out a sigh as the whistle blew to end extra time and indicate the game was about to enter penalties. Canada and France had both played well, keeping it a tight game 0-0. You watched the coin toss, France getting to kick first.

You stood on the sidelines, arms linked with the other staff, your Mom on one side and Sarah on the other, as you all watched the girls take penalties.

The first French player makes her penalty. Julia steps up, easily slotting the ball into the net. The next French player makes hers as well. Leon takes the ball next, her kick deflected by the keeper, putting Canada behind 2-1. After the third French player misses her kick you watch as the ball finds its way into Jessie’s hands.

You had been nervous watching all of the kicks, but watching Jessie hold the ball made you unable to move or breathe. You watch her, you had seen her take penalties plenty in practice, you had her routine memorized just as you did every other players.

She placed the ball, adjusting it a few times before she was satisfied. She then took her three steps back, and looked down, closing her eyes for a moment. You waited and waited and waited, watching her. It was only a couple extra seconds but you watched as Jessie didn’t look up as quick as she normally did, you also noticed the small shake of her head before she opened her eyes, something she didn’t usually do, and began her approach. She kicked it and you watched as it deflected off the keeper's hands. She had missed.

You watched as she turned back to join her team, head down, not acknowledging as her teammates gave her pats on the back.

Thankfully, the next French player misses her kick as well, giving Canada the chance to tie it up. Janine successfully makes her kick, giving a quick celebration before going back to the line to watch the fifth French player take her kick. Her kick goes off the post and now Chloe steps up to take her kick. She set up, taking the kick and you’re not even sure you saw the ball go in, just the eruption from those around you and the sea of red running onto the field. You follow the rest of the staff, grabbing bottles to bring out to the players. Your eyes scanning for Jessie, you find her, head still down, Janine behind her trying to talk to her, Jessie just walking away.

“Jess.” You hold out a bottle to her.

“Don’t talk to me.” She puts a hand to your chest and shoves you out of the way, causing you to stumble back a step. It was probably a harder shove than she intended, but you get the message. She’s pissed off that she missed, she just needs some time alone. You don’t follow her, letting her leave the pitch as you turn back toward the field where the rest of the team was still jumping around and cheering.

“Don’t take it personally, she’s too tough on herself, she shuts people out.” Janine says, grabbing the bottle you intended for Jessie out of your hand taking a drink of it. “She’ll be fine.” She thanks you for the water, handing the bottle back to you. The team celebrates for a little bit longer before everyone starts moving back to the locker room to change and go to the hotel.

When you go back into the locker room you notice all of Jessie’s gear is gone, what was once her cubby is empty. You go check the treatment paperwork, seeing that she did do her recovery, just with Sarah instead of you and had already checked out of the facility for the night. It didn’t bother you too much that she didn’t do her recovery with you, you were glad she at least still did it, taking care of herself, but she wasn’t the type to rush out, leaving her team behind.

When you get back to the hotel you shower and crawl into bed, feeling emotionally and physically exhausted. You couldn’t get Jessie’s disappointed and angry face out of your mind. You couldn’t stop thinking about the way she shoved you. Janine had said it wasn’t personal but it sure felt like it was.

Olivia climbs into her own bed shortly after you do, she shuts off the lights in the room and wishes you a goodnight. It’s not long before she starts to snore, she snores quietly, not enough to bother you or keep you awake, if anything on the other nights it was like a white noise machine. But tonight it was Jessie keeping you awake. You wanted to text her, to see how she was, to make sure she was okay. But you were keeping your distance, you were staying invisible.

After trying to fall asleep for 3 hours and failing, just rusting around in the sheets, you get up and decide to leave the room, getting out of the sleepless bed would maybe help. You throw on your Canada hoodie and as quietly as possible leave your hotel room. You make your way down to the conference room that had been converted into Team Canada’s meeting room, game room, movie room, whatever activities the players wanted to do in their free time.

There she was, wearing a matching red hoodie, her ponytail making her easily identifiable as she sat at a chair with her head tilted down toward something on the table in front of her.

“What are you doing here?” You asked Jessie as you entered the room, not wanting to startle her too much. She was sitting at a table looking at a tablet, a tablet playing her missed kick, over and over and over.

Her head spins around, looking over to you. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“Couldn’t sleep.” You tell her.

“That makes two of us.” She replies. You stand next to her, she’s looking up at you.

“You know sitting here watching that over and over isn’t going to change anything.” You point at the tablet in front of her as you watch again the ball go into the arms of the keeper.

“I know, but this is how I handle it. So I’m going to keep watching it. Thanks.” You get the indication that she’s not interested in your company anymore so you turn to walk over to another chair in the corner of the room. You’re about to sit down when Jessie speaks up.

“I missed that penalty because of you, it’s your fault.”

[stereopticons]

On this Day in Schitt's Creek - February 21

2019

Ex marks the (sore) spot [david/patrick, E, 15,362] by fanfic_or_bust

Someone from David's past stops by the store unexpectedly, and Patrick is forced to confront the strong feelings this arrival brings out in him. OR David's ex shows up out the blue and Patrick turns into a bit of a green-eyed-monster.

Without a plan [david/patrick, E, 8,344] by JessX2231

Patrick doesn't have a plan after leaving Rachel, so he just packs his stuff and drives. Along the way, he decides to stop in a random town and takes a trip to the bar, where he meets David. When Patrick finds out the guy David matched with on a dating app never showed, he gladly welcomes the distraction. Even if it's just for one night.

2020

give me shelter through every bit of weather [david/patrick, G, 1,864] by thegrayness

There is a storm in the forecast and, historically, David’s tentacles don’t love storms. Patrick makes sure everyone feels safe. For #rosebuddwrites February prompts #15: thunderstorm.

hit me with your best shot [david/patrick, T, 6,034] by ignisgayentia

“Ow!” David yelps, for no reason at all. He’s not even hurt, not really. He’d be surprised if he even had a bruise. Still, he was attacked. By a flying baseball. “Do people often come here to be attacked?!” “Hey, are you okay? I am so sorry, I shouldn’t have hit it so late,” a soft voice says from in front of him. David looks over just in time to find Puppy-Faced baseball player leaning over into the crowd with a look of none other than puppy-like concern.

make your real dreams [david/patrick, T, 386] by oh_la_fraise

“So how’d you break the last coffee table?”

new forevers. [david/patrick, M, 17,756, CW: violence] by falconeggs

“Patrick wakes. He has no idea how long he was out, or where, exactly, he is, but he knows he’s awake.” Or, the second life of a young vampire.

Perfectly [david/patrick, T, 2,607] by metalshootingstar

An ex of Patrick comes to Rose Apothecary, and things don't go so well.

Red White and Blue Jays [david/patrick, M, 67,331] by @grapehyasynth

Red White and Royal Blue AU. David Rose, First Son of the United States, hates Patrick Brewer, First Son of Canada. That gets him into some trouble - and then a lot of trouble.

WTF Ghosts? [david/patrick, T, 12,023] by Zigster

Basically, everything is the same . . . except for the addition of three ghosts who not only haunt the motel but are bound to it by a mysterious, unseen force. No one is quite sure how this came to be but they have a sneaking suspicion it has something to do with Maureen Budd's death, the cinnamon buns in the lobby, and the Batman Forever soundtrack.

2021

15-3919 [david/patrick, E, 7,205] by @ratchet

The rest of the house was a manageable project for the two of them once Patrick had reassured David that the distinct aura of the seventies could be easily remedied with a lick of paint and a few replaced carpets. At the time, Patrick had assumed that the lick of paint would be applied mostly by him, having seen first hand David’s disinclination around what he deemed messy or dirty projects. What he didn’t account for was David’s self-professed superior knowledge of the correct aesthetic for their home. After two years and change, he reasons, he should probably have known better. or: David and Patrick repaint the cottage. David, it turns out, contains multitudes.

a sense of expectation hanging in the air [stevie/ruth, M, 6,548] by @hullomoon

Stevie starts to realize she has feelings for Ruth. How long though, will it take for her to tell Ruth that?

Bedtime David [david/patrick, G, 3,488] by SoonerOrLater

The evening after 'The Incident' David and Patrick remake the bed. Patrick tells David why he'd never need a divorce for that.

Better Be Good to Me [david/patrick, T, 11,271] by TheBasilRathbone

David was not Patrick's first. Patrick really, really wishes he had been.

Business/Casual [stevie/ruth, M, 8,968] by @treepyful

“I’m afraid we only have the one room left, Ms. Budd, and it’s a single queen.”

Comoros [david/sebastien, T, 300] by Rosey_Peach

David Does Believe in SoulMates [david/patrick, M, 23,476] by BeneficialAddiction

The thing is, David actually does believe in soul mates. People always seem surprised by this – which, rude. How could he not with the way his parents fit together so perfectly, so utterly devoted to each other, even after all these years, with all their ridiculous flaws? How could he not, when Alexis meets a handsome veterinarian on holiday in the Galapagos islands and grows up, seemingly overnight? No, David Rose believes in soul mates. He just... isn’t sure there’s one out there for him anymore.

money, money, money (it's a rich man's world) [stevie & johnny, G, 2,518] by @hullomoon

When Stevie mentions hiring someone for the financials during a meeting, Johnny worries it'll be another Eli situation

Rosebud Motel Group PR & Merch [gen, G, art] by @hullosweetpea

PR and Merch designs for the Rosebud Motel Group [Art]

Show Me Your Wounds and I'll Wrap Your Bandages [david/patrick, NR, 3,001] by TuttleAsHimself

The Hike Coda David and Patrick finally see all of their missed texts and calls about Johnny's heart attack scare. Buoyed by their engagement and the promise of a lifetime of highs and lows, Patrick helps to navigate David through his rollercoaster reaction to the news.

The Hatchet in my Hands [david/patrick, M, 2,469] by imtelevisionsmoirarose

A couple years post-canon, David is contacted by Sebastien Raine with an opportunity for the apothecary. Patrick's urge to protect him grapples with his desire to let David heal.________________ Writing referenced in this installation of the Commonplace Book is a quote from fabulous poet and performer Brenna Twohy. Content warning: mention of domestic violence

The Weekend Getaway [david/patrick, T, 1,187] by xslytherclawx

David and Patrick go away for the weekend for their very first Valentine's Day as a married couple.

This is My Greatest Adventure [david/patrick, G, 3,987] by @agoodpersonrose

On two different occasions, Patrick and David each have a conversation with their respective in-laws about the state of their marriage which come to vastly different conclusions. Although, they do come up with one thing in common.

We just need a body [david & johnny, T, 1,687] by @lastchancecafe13

Johnny can't push away the image of a much smaller David. Red-eyed and pleading after a little league game that ended with a run-in with a wild ball. Johnny had brushed his concern aside, assuring David it was all part of the game. His son was sensitive to the actions of others and shared his mother’s flair for dramatics. He hadn’t listened close enough to hear the truth of his words. _____ David is injured during the baseball game. Johnny and Parick struggle with their guilt.

2022

[Podfic] Infinity Mirrors [david/patrick, G, podfic] by HowOldAreWe

For 8jodaiko's prompt: David takes Patrick to a museum/gallery. Podfic of Infinity Mirrors by barelypink

everything in transit [david/patrick, T, 3,748] by @ratchet

The romcoms didn’t teach him how to do this, how to just exist in someone’s space. That’s something David has had to learn for himself, one unremarkable drive home at a time. or: in the passenger seat of Patrick's car, David falls in love.

Getting to Know You Activities [david/patrick, G, 2,428] by obsessedwithdavrick

David is 100% positively sure that Patrick in accounts hates him, all because of a tiny mistake he made in his first week on the job. However, when he's costing events, they need to interact and this leads to inappropriate workplace behaviour. This is not an euphemism... until it is. lolz.

like a memory you'll never know [david/patrick, T, 4,945] by orphan_account

"This is a dream. It has to be.Either this is fake or the time he spent in Schitt’s Creek, with Patrick and Stevie and his family, is fake and he absolutely refuses to accept that." - After years of living in Schitt's Creek with Patrick, David wakes up stuck in the past, on the day his family arrived in town.

Lullabye [david/patrick, T, 1,500] by @filet-o-feelings

Songfic for Lullaby by the Spill Canvas Just a bit of hotel conference/air travel husband fluff.

This Bed Wasn't Built for Our Love [david/patrick, E, 16,836] by @delilah-mcmuffin

Ohmygod. A voice that sounds a lot like his husband’s echoes in Patrick’s brain. His parents heard them. Heard them having sex. Heard them having sex so rambunctious that they broke the goddam bed.

Winning the Game [david/patrick, E, 8,377] by @ladyflowdi

This is what David had not known about Patrick’s family, before Patrick’s Year: the Brewer clan was hiding a dark underbelly of illicit gambling, questionable leveraging of homemade treats, and a frankly terrifying love of The Godfather.

2024

It's not good for our relationship. [david/patrick, M, 22,558] by @characterassassination-at-9am

David thinks it's fun to take what he sees on TikTok/Instagram/etc. and apply it to his own relationship. Patrick....doesn't. Title obviously from: "David, you have to stop watching Notting Hill."

Stats:

No fanworks for 2017, 2018, or 2023! 2019: 2 fics/23,706 words 2020: 7 fics/108,001 words 2021: 14 fanworks (13 fics, 1 fanart)/76,261 words 2022: 7 fanworks (6 fics, 1 podfic)/37,834 words 2024: 1 fic/22,558 words Total: 31 fanworks (29 fics, 1 fanart, 1 podfic)/268,360

[localdepressiongiver]

renga: snowboard the infinity

(I appologize for bad grammar in advanc, my first language isn't English, and if anyone wants to write a fan fiction with the same concept please do, just don't copy this one entirel)

Langas thoughts: "It took us a while for this moment, Adam has been defeated in skating, he's trying his best to act normal but.. wel atleast he's trying, the skating is fun, but summer vacation starts tomorrow, my mom wants me to go back to Canada, but atleast I won't go alone, Reki is comming with us, his mom thought that was okay, then maybe I can teach him how to snowboard.." Langa looks up, Reki is next to him, asleep. On his other side was his mother, also asleep, they were on the plane, flying in the sky to the Canada. Langa continues to think: "we can have fun, exactly how we used to when we were skating.. maybe not exactly, I mean there aren't any illegal races, but we can race togheter.."Langa was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize he was falling asleep. When he was asleep he started to lean against Reki, they slept like that for a couple of hours. Eventually his mom shook him awake, the plane was landing. Reki was also awake, seems like he already woke up. His mother gives him a brush to take care of his hair. "Finally awake, sleepy head?", Reki asks him. In response to that Langa just nods. The plane continued to fly for a few hours, those hours were mostly spend talking about plans of things they wanted to do once in Canada. After the landing they go to the hotel they'll be staying in, it has two rooms, one for Reki and Langa, and one for Langas mother. The three of them start to unpack their stuff. Reki lays down on his bed once done, staring at the ceiling with a smile, he seems excited. "Can you believe it? We're in Canada! You lived here your entire life.. I missed quite a lot.." Reki says. Langa looks at him with a smile. "That excited already?" Langa asks him. Reki sits up and nods. "You know, you should teach me how to snowboard, we could do that togheter." Langa nods when he heard Reki say that "alright, I'l teach you how to snowboard.. tomorrow." "Why only tomorrow, why not today?" Reki asks him. "So we can explore where we are first." Langa says. So that was their plan of that day, just exploring where they are. After every thing was out of their bags Reki and Langa went outside, Langa's mother decided to let them spend some time togheter. Outside they looked around where they were. It was clearly a tourist area, there were tourist shops and restaurants. They can see the slopes already from where they are, there is snow every where around them giving a cozy atmosphere. After a bit of walking they found an arcade. "We should go in there!" Reki says excitedly. Langa just nods, they go into the arcade. They had gotten some money from Langas mother to spend on food and stuff, so they could just play games. The next hours they spend playing games in the arcade, just having fun without any wories. It was fun, until Langa got hungry. "We should go back, my mom probably already started on dinner." Langa says. "Are you sure? But it's so fun here! Come on, are you really that hungry already?" Reki teases him. After a bit of playful fighting they go back to the hotel. The moment they open the door they are greeted by the smell of food, it smells good. They enter the room, they see his mother cooking spaghetti. "Ah! You two are back, sit down at the dinner table, dinner is ready in five minutes." She says with a smile. Reki and Langa sit down at the table, they continue to talk. After five minutes his mother joins them, with dinner. They continue to talk and eat. During dinner there is a cozy atmosphere. After dinner they continue to talk and joke around, but eventually they get tired and go to bed. Langa sees that Reki is stil in his phone, he seems to be texting someone. Langa doesn't want to seem noisy so he doesn't ask anything and falls asleep.

<Time skip to the next day>

Langa wakes up, he looks to the side, seeing Reki stil asleep in the other bed. "He's stil asleep.. today I'm going to teach him how to snowboard, just like how he reached me to skate.. we're gonna have so much fun.. maybe I should prepare breakfast for us..", Langa thinks. Langa quietly gets out of bed, leaving the room. He started cooking eggs and some bacon, to suprise Reki and his mom when they wake up. After a bit he heard a voice, "cooking for us? That's nice." Langa looks at the source and sees his mother with a smile. He gives her a plate. "Good morning.." His mom smiles, she sits down at the table, eating her breakfast. "Any plans for today?" Langa nods "yeah, I'm gonna teach him how to snowboard.." his mom smiles "that's a great idea! And maybe you can finally open up about your feelings to him" she teases him. Before Langa could respond the door to their bedroom opens and Reki comes out. "That smells nice.." he comments, Reki stil seems sleepy. Langa also gives him a plate. They all eat breakfast togheter while Langa was showing Reki snowboard videos. His mom watches them with a cheeky smile. After dinner they get their snowboarding gear. "Have fun you two! Your father would be so proud of you Langa!" His mother says excitedly. Reki nods and smiles. They pick up their boards and go outside, they go to the slopes. After lots of walking they start getting close to the slopes for where they can snowboard. They are going to the beginner slopes for Reki so he can practice. "This is insane!" Reki says excitedly. "You should wait for the tops." Langa says with a smile. They are surrounded by able, line trees and they can see other people snowboarding or skiing, it looks lively. There are people having fun, families talking, people falling when going down, all while they are going to a top. After a bit they arrive at a spot to practice. The next morning, they hit the beginner slopes. Langa taught with the calm of a seasoned pro, guiding Reki through the basics: stance, balance, turning. Reki fell. A lot. But every time, he got up laughing. They were laughing togheter, he didn't seem to mind failing, asking as they're having fun. Langa tries his best to learn Reki how to keep his balance. By the fifth time it seemed diffrent.. Reki was actually doing it, he was moving down and not falling. "You're doing it!" Langa calls out to him. Reki looks back "what did you-" he can't finish his sentence, looking back made him lose his balance and falls again. "Hey! You did that on purpose!" Reki sounds mock offended. "Sorry!" Langa calls back to him. They continue to practice and have fun. Until it happened again, Reki was doing it. He didn’t just stay upright—he moved. Smooth, instinctive turns. A natural rhythm. Even Langa blinked in surprise. "You sure this is your first time?" Langa asks him. Reki shrugged, adrenaline making his voice shaky. "Guess all that skating balance paid off." But Reki was smiling, he seemed proud of himself. "So, I did it good?" He then asks. Langa nods "yes, you did good.." By the end of the day, Reki was cruising down intermediate slopes, weaving past slower snowboarders with an almost reckless joy. They were just snowboarding togheter, having fun, without falling. Reki really was good at this... Langa felt proud of him, but he also felt something else.. he quickly pushed that feeling away and continued to snowboard with Reki.

<that night back in the hotel>

Langa was laying in his bed, staring at the ceiling, he can see Reki texting someone again. "Who are texting?" Langa asks him. "Oh.. my mom, I'm giving her updates on the vacation.. here! This is a picture that my mom send of what she and my sisters did today!" *Reki shows hin a picture of his sisters, they were making bracelets. Rekis mother must have taken that picture. Reki then takes his phone back and continues to text them. "Huh.. they seem to be having fun." Langa comments. Reki nods "they were having fun." Then there is a silence, wich is quickly broken by Reki. "Wanna go snowboarding again tomorrow?" He sounds excited. "Ofcourse.." Langa says. But something stil didn't feel right. Sure, Reki now also loves to snowboard, but he's good at it, and he learned so fast. Langa knows he should feel proud and happy for him, but something stil doesn't feel right.

<the next day back at the slopes>

"okay, so so you want to practice some more?" Langa asks Reki. Reki nods, they continue to practice, having fun. Reki then comes up with an idea "can you teach me how to jump with the snowboard?" Langa seems suprised but isn't against it, they go to another area where they can practice that. It's a practice park. The practice park wasn’t as crowded in the morning. A few locals were warming up, running rails and trying tricks off small ramps. Langa led Reki to the beginner line—modest snow jumps, about a foot or two tall. "These are good to start on," Langa said, pointing with his board. "It's all about your knees, balance, and commitment. You can’t hesitate mid-air. You’ll eat snow." Reki smirked. "Sounds just like an ollie." “It kind of is,” Langa admitted. "Except if you mess up, it’s not pavement. Just really cold punishment." Reki watched Langa demonstrate first. He carved cleanly toward the jump, crouched slightly, and then popped off the lip. His board leveled out midair before he landed smoothly on the slope. "Just like that," Langa said, looking over his shoulder. Reki rolled his shoulders and clicked his boots back into his bindings. "Alright. Let’s go." The first attempt was ugly. Reki approached too fast, panicked, leaned back at the last second-and caught his tail on the lip of the jump. He landed on his back with a THUMP that sent a spray of snow up around him. Langa slid to his side, laughing but concerned. "Are you okay?" Reki nods before he sat up, dazed but grinning. “I'm fine, but you weren’t kidding about cold punishment.” he stands up again with some help from Langa. "Try again. But this time: trust the air." Langa says. By the third run, Reki had figured it out. He didn’t just jump- he launched. Not high, not long, but with raw, undeniable potential.By the sixth run, he cleared the jump clean.By the ninth, he landed with style. And Langa, watching from the slope, felt his jaw slowly lower. “Reki,” he said as they rode the lift back up. “That was... good. Really good.” Reki leaned back against the chair, panting. “It’s like... I don’t know, my body just knows. Like the board wants to fly and I just have to stop fighting it.” Langa didn’t respond. His fingers tightened around the bar. Because Reki didn’t just look like he was getting the hang of it. He looked like he was born for it. Langa felt that feeling again, he doesn't know why, but he can't help but feel a bit bad, a feeling he hasn't had before but he doesn't understand it. "How can he do this already? It took me months to do that.. how did he do that already?" Langa thinks. "Something on your mind?" Reki asks, notecing that Langa seems to be deep in thoughts. "I'm fine, it's nothing." Langa quickly shrugs it off. "Alright, if you say so.." Reki responds. They then continue you to snowboard, going to higher ramps, just practicing and having fun. Langa can't help but notice the bad feeling growing, he just doesn't understand what it is.

<time skip back in the hotel>

"finally back?" Langas mother asks them. "Yes! And I even learned how to do jump!" Reki says, he sounds happy and proud. "Really? That's great! So us my son is a great teacher?" She asks smiling. "You bet he is! He is the best teacher! Reki responds happily. "Well, he learned it from the best!" His mom says hinting at langas father. "They seem so happy. How can she mention him that happily?" Langa thinks to himself. Langa listens to them talk, well not really listening, he's to lost in his thoughts for that. They eventually eat dinner togheter again. "You know, me and his father snowboarded here togheter." Langa hears his mom say. "Really? That's so cool!" Reki responds. "Yes really, I mean, I was terrible at it, but his father.. he was amazing, he moved around like it was nothing, taking the highest jumps.. hehe.. and there I was, falling constantly, but he tried his best to help me.." his mother said, she seems nostalgic. His mother continues to talk about his father during dinner, Langa doesn't get how she can talk about him without feeling sad. After dinner they watch a movie. Langa can't help but fall asleep, he started to lean on Reki while he was asleep. The next morning when he wakes up they're stil on the couch, cuddled up togheter with a blanket over them. Langa seems suprised but doesn't mind that much, he's actually kinda happy to wake up like this.after enough of asking Reki convinced Langa to go snowboarding again. It snowed lightly overnight, and the mountain was blanketed in fresh powder. Reki was already strapping into his bindings by the time Langa stepped out of the hotel. "You’re really not wasting any time, huh," Langa said, tugging on his gloves. Reki shot him a quick grin. "Can’t help it. I was dreaming about jumps all night." Langa forced a smile, but something in his chest twisted. He wasn’t used to seeing Reki like this,- laser-focused, obsessed, even more than he ever was with skating. Reki had always been good, yeah -but now he was improving fast. Too fast. Still, Langa told himself it was fine. They were here to have fun. This was fun. Right?

<back on the slopes>

By mid-morning, they were back in the terrain park, and Reki was flying.He nailed every jump from the beginner line and moved up to the medium kickers without hesitation. On his second try, he cleared it. On his fourth, he spun a small 180. It wasn’t clean, but it was there. "Did you see that?" Reki shouted, spraying snow as he skidded to a stop.Langa nodded slowly. "Yeah. I saw." Reki was buzzing, bouncing on his feet. "Man, I felt that! The moment I left the jump—it was like I knew where I was in the air. My board just listened." Langa swallowed. "Try it again. A little more rotation." Reki nodded and hiked back up.And Langa... hesitated. He’d meant to jump with Reki today. He’d even waxed his board early to keep up. But now-watching Reki hit those jumps with growing confidence-he found himself second-guessing. Not out of fear. Out of something uglier. They took a break in the afternoon, sitting by the lift with a pair of vending-machine sandwiches and sports drinks. Reki scarfed his down in two bites, eyes still lit like fireworks."I think I’m gonna try the box rail tomorrow," he said, licking mustard off his fingers. "Do you think I’m ready?"Langa paused with his sandwich halfway to his mouth. "The rail? That’s... fast." Reki tilted his head. "Is it too fast?" "No," Langa said, then again, quieter: "No. You’re probably ready." Reki frowned slightly, but didn’t press. He looked out at the slope. "It’s weird, you know. I thought snowboarding would feel like skating in winter gear. But it’s different. It’s like... it has its own rhythm. You don’t fight gravity you ride with it." Langa said nothing. Because Reki had said almost the exact words his dad once told him. Later that evening, back at the cabin, Reki passed out early on the couch, his cheeks still flushed from the cold, legs tangled in a blanket. Langa sat on the floor, back against the couch, watching an old video of himself snowboarding with his dad. The screen showed a ten-year-old Langa laughing as he stomped his first full spin. His dad clapped from behind the camera. "That's my boy!" Langa didn’t smile. He looked at the screen, then back at Reki. Then quietly turned the video off. Langa sighs and carefully picks Reki up, bringing him to bed.

<the next day>

It was still dark when Langa woke to the sound of wind whispering against the cabin windows. The fire had burned out. The air was quiet, heavy with the kind of stillness that comes before something changes. He didn’t move at first. Just lay there in bed, wrapped in a blanket, listening to the silence. Today was their last day in Canada. Tomorrow, they’d be back in Okinawa. Back to skateboards, asphalt, and ocean breezes. Back to familiar things. And yet... Langa didn’t want to go... Not yet. Reki, of course, was already dressed when Langa shuffled into the kitchen. "Dude! Morning!" Reki chirped through a mouthful of cereal. His cheeks were flushed, eyes blazing. "Last chance to hit that box rail. I can feel it. Today’s the day." Langa grabbed a mug and filled it with coffee slowly. "We don’t have a lot of time. We still have to pack." "Yeah, after! We’ve got hours," Reki insisted. "C’mon, man. Don’t bail on me now." Langa looked up, eyes a little duller than usual. "I wasn’t planning to." Reki didn’t seem to notice the strain. "You coming too, right? Maybe show me one of your old comp tricks?" Langa hesitated. "Sure," he said, voice quiet. "One last run."

<back at the slopes>

The snow was softer that morning, fresh powder resting like dust on every surface. The terrain park gleamed under a pale sky, the sun struggling behind clouds.Reki was already warmed up, flying over the same medium jumps like they were nothing. Langa stood at the top of the line, watching. It wasn’t just that Reki was good now.It was that he was better. His landings were solid. His movement-instinctive. He didn’t think anymore. He just moved. Langa finally understood what those bad feelings were. And that twist inside Langa’s chest-jealousy, fear, pride-only tightened. He finally understood his feelings. “All right,” Reki called, pointing to the narrow box rail near the end of the park. "I’m doing it." Langa’s eyes flicked to the rail. It wasn’t dangerous exactly, but it was precise. One wrong angle, and Reki could slip off. Worse, catch an edge and slam. "You should practice the approach once or twice," Langa said carefully. "Just feel it out before you commit." Reki looked at him, blinking. "You think I’m not ready?" "That’s not what I said." Reki paused. "No, but it’s what you meant, right?" Langa looked down. "I just don’t want you to get hurt." Reki's voice lost its usual edge. "Or... you don’t want me to pass you." Langa looked up sharply. Reki’s expression wasn’t angry-but it wasn’t laughing, either. "Langa," he said slowly, "I didn’t come here to beat you. I just... I found something I love, and I ran with it. Isn’t that what you did?" Langa opened his mouth.. then closed it. Because the answer hurt more than he expected. Reki then shakes his head and drops the topic. Langa’s heart leapt into his throat. Reki hit the approach clean: he bent his knees, arms out, board locked in. He landed the rail... Perfectly. And as he skidded to a stop, spraying powder into the air and throwing his arms up in triumph, Langa felt something inside him snap loose. Not anger nor sadness. But the deep, quiet fear of being left behind.

<Reki's pov>

"why is this happening? Maybe it was an mistake comming here... but I finally found something I'm good at.. I'm even beter at this then I am at skating.." Reki thinks to himself, he looks up to see where Langa is, realizing he's not there. "Langa has probably left to pack his things.. or maybe talk to his mother.." Reki waited at the base of the hill for a while, trying not to let it bother him. "Maybe he just went to the other side of the park. Maybe he was getting his board. Or filming. Or something." Reki thinks. But after five minutes, ten minutes, twenty...Nothing. “Guess he left,” Reki muttered, brushing snow off his jacket. "This trip-it was supposed to be our thing. Langa showing me his world. Laughing, falling, learning. I never expected to be good at snowboarding. I thought I’d crash, flail around, maybe land one clean run before we went home. But now... Now it’s like I found this version of myself I didn’t even know existed. Confident... Free. And I didn’t realize how much I needed that until now. Maybe it was a mistake coming here. No... no, that’s not true. I wanted this. I still do. I’ve never felt more alive. But-Why can’t he be happy for me?" But then... a cold memory trickles into the back of his mind. Langa racing against Adam. Langa breaking limits. Langa getting so good at skating that Reki felt like he couldn’t breathe standing next to him. "Maybe he feels like I did. When I thought I’d lost him. When it felt like I couldn’t catch up. Should I apologize to him? For what, though? For getting good at something? For not sucking long enough?But... if it hurts him, even a little... then maybe I do owe him something... He’s probably gone back to the hotel. To pack. Or maybe to talk to his mom.Maybe to get away from me. And somehow, that hurts worse than any fall I’ve taken." Reki thinks.

<back to langas pov, meantime>

He didn’t mean to leave without saying anything. But he also didn’t mean to stay and feel that: the tight, cold knot in his chest when Reki landed the rail. The explosion of the crowd in his mind that never came. Because the only person who mattered wasn’t watching.It wasn’t jealousy. Not exactly. It was... loss. Like watching a bird take flight and realizing it might not come back.He unlaced his boots slowly, fingers stiff, then sat on the edge of the bed in the room he and Reki had shared all week. The room was warm, cozy. It had the smell of pine and melted wax and whatever shampoo Reki used. It felt hollow now. Every board in the corner, every hoodie draped over a chair-it was all them. This trip, this place, the memory of Reki laughing as he faceplanted into a snowdrift on day one-it was carved into everything.And now, all he could think was: "I ruined it.. I ruined this vacation.. hos view of me.. I ruined us.. but.. was there an us in the first place? Did I even have a chance..?" The door swung open. Langa looked up fast. Reki stood in the doorway, flushed from the cold, boots dripping slush onto the floor. His goggles hung around his neck, and he looked- Conflicted, relieved, angry, and worst of all he looks hurt. "…Hey," Reki said, voice lower than usual. Langa opened his mouth but couldn’t form words fast enough.Reki stepped inside and closed the door behind him with a soft click. "You left." "I know." "You didn’t even say anything." Langa looked down at his hands. "I didn’t know what to say." Reki dropped his gear bag onto the floor. "You could’ve said ‘nice job.’ Or ‘that was sick.’ Or literally anything that didn’t feel like you were disappearing on me." Langa winced. "I wasn’t trying to disappear." "You did." Silence stretched out between them. The hum of the heater was suddenly too loud. "I landed it, Langa," Reki said, quieter now. "The rail. You saw it, right?" "I did." Reki paused. "And?" Langa’s voice was barely a whisper. "You were amazing." "…Then why do you look like you hate that I was?" Langa stood, finally facing him. "Because I wasn’t ready for you to be better than me." Reki blinked. Langa’s hands curled into fists at his sides. "I know that sounds selfish. It is selfish. But when we skate, even when you struggled, we were still side by side. You were my reason to push harder. You made me want to be better. And now-" "You feel like I’m leaving you behind," Reki finished. Langa nodded once, tightly. Reki exhaled, stepping closer. "Langa, I get it. I do. Because I was you once, remember? When you beat Adam, and I couldn’t even land a trick without spiraling? I know what it’s like to look at your best friend and wonder if they even need you anymore." Langa’s chest ached. "But I never wanted to leave you behind," Reki said. "I just… found something that lit me up. Like skating lit you up." Langa’s voice cracked when he asked, "So what happens now?" Reki looked at him—really looked at him—and smiled, a little sad, a little bright. "We go back. We skate. We talk. And if we need space to grow, we give it. But we don’t stop being us. Not for anything." Langa stepped forward.And for the first time in days, the knot inside his chest loosened. "…I’m sorry," he whispered. Reki bumped his shoulder gently. "Me too." They stood there, boards leaning in the corner, bags half-packed, the morning light spilling into the hotel room- And the weight of what almost broke between them finally lifted.

Langa silently looks at him. "I have one more thing to confess.." Langa says hesitantly. "That is?" Reki asks him. "So remember when I said 'Reki my love.. for skating'..?" "Yes, I remember that." Reki says, he sounds slightly confused. "Well, I actually wanted to confess to you, but I freaked out at the last moment, and my mom isn't here yet, so.. I geuss I should now.." Langa is looking down at his hands not even able to look Reki in the eyes. "So, wanna.. go.. out.. with me..." Langa asks hesitantly, finally looking up. Reki was blushing slightly. "Ofcourse.. ofcourse I will..." After that they just cuddled until Langas mother was back. After that they went back to Okinawa.

[belladrawschstuff]

When your shitty 13 colonies become the world superpower

General info

Nicknames: Ame, stars, the Phoenix (ThEn IlL rAiSe YoU lIkE a PhOeNiX) He's friends with a lot of people, he mostly likes you as long as you respect him. He really is just his dad.

HCs

Because he's older than most countries he's kinda known as a lot of peoples mentor and some see him as an older brother

Speaking of mentors America was taught by a lot of old empires. People like Prussia, Russian empire and all his uncles along with a lot of other countries who taught him about their culture and language. But America did learn how to fly because of Prussia.

He has a few gifts from people, the sunglasses were originally given to him by Scotland but when America was taking care of west Germany, he got weirded out about the fact he couldn't see his eyes, so he made them have an eye tracker, the guitar was given to America by Britain as a way to say sorry for the revolution and war of 1812

He loves fluffy and soft things which is why his coat is fluffy despite the fact he can warm himself up by his fire

His personality disorder is mostly the reason he acts differently in certain situations than others. Its not that he doesn't know how to act its just he needs to have that experience to know how to act. An example is when he 1st started to date Russia because the only affection he knew how to put on other people was to Either act like a child like he was when he was younger or act like a guardian because he was an older brother and also because he's a father. France had to explain to Russia to take it slow and show America what to do.

The choker around Americas neck is from when he was younger. Because he has fire powers, he's kinda allergic to water so he gets burned by it so Britain made a little gem to keep him immune to water, so now he can talk underwater with no consequences.

America is forces to go the presidential debates but he doesn't really care anymore cause he knows both of the people are gonna be shit so he just uses that time to make fun of them.

To torture America Canada makes him watch Hamilton. Like imagine there was a musical about reliving you least favorite time in your life and also the story of how your friends died.

He hates his singing voice so he'll go outside to the forest and play his guitar on the edge of a nice cliff and blast music through his headphones.

America has extreme Arachniphobia. every time Australia loses one of his spiders America says you better find that spider before it finds me.

When his siblings were younger he used to sing to them because he didn't want Britain and France to have to wake up and deal with it.

After 9/11 America has to wear a hearing aid because new York is technically his brain, he covers his ears because of it

Idk how I forgot this one but Americas eyes changes colors depending on his mood. Blue and red is normal, only red is mad or ticked off, green is protective or wary, yellow means he has his eagle wings out and purple means he's bout to nuke you cause he's really mad like lvl 5. His eyes show not only his mood but also which persona is in control at the time ( which I figured out is called split personality disorder

He can also talk to the ancients and dead countries, so he just talks to them when he's bored, Canada can do the same since he is a ghost. If America doesn't have pupils and it's just fully white or black he's talking to them, but its more his internal thoughts that talk to him. he doesn't just start mummbling luckily.

Hes immune to most of the different abilities of other people, he doesn't get frozen in time which came in handy during the cold war, he can still see Canada even if he is a ghost, though Britain can still use magic on him, bad magic like cursing him doesn't work, France can still see his memories, but its mostly because their his parents.

(I know I'm making him over powered but like you should've expected that, I do live in America and America does have the best military by a landslide, so L)

Oh also meme of the day ( don't expect this to be normal)

[holly-louisexox]

Ribcage X Andy Biersack- Part 30

Masterlist

"There's one thing you should know about me Delia Vincent, I don't date. Got no heart to break and emptiness is safe, keep it that way."

He was adamant in his choices...

...But then things changed.

Author's note:

One breif mention of the deadly C word (cancer). As always, please look after yourselves friends. Also dives deeper into Delia's PTSD.

------------

Sam Todd came from money, he was rich, and everyone knows that rich people can get good lawyers. Delia was terrified about going to court against him but she knew that she had to, if not for herself for the other women he had killed. However, Sam was smart and his lawyer even smarter.

"Your honour, I would like to bring forward the point that Miss Vincent had been drinking the night of meeting my client Mr Todd, she agreed to go back with him but clearly does not remember this. Linking this with the medical reports of PTSD and lack of sleep due to the tour she had just finished, of course, Miss Vincent would not remember this and would hallucinate the morbid things she claims Mr Todd had told her." The lawyer states confidently.

"Objection, Miss Vincent suffers PTSD as a result of the kidnapping and assault Mr Todd put her through. I have also confirmed with the band and their management that the tour was evenly spread out to allow time to rest and relax so as not to pressurise any tour members and to prevent illness." Delia's lawyer interjects.

"Objection, it can be seen that Miss Vincent went through a traumatic event 3 years ago when her Father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and was near death at one point. That is enough for PTSD to form, the stress of being away from her parents is enough to trigger those memories." Sam's lawyer states; how did she know about her dad Delia wonders.

 "Objection, relevance." Delia's lawyer shouts slightly.

"Overruled, I'll allow it." The judge states firmly back at Delia's lawyer "Please do continue your case, Miss Brown."

The court case went on for a few hours before the judge called the case to an end, allowing the jury to be dismissed and to make their decision on whether Sam was guilty or not guilty. Sam's lawyer was clever in twisting the truth. Delia's injuries? She had blamed Delia for being unstable and throwing herself out of the window. There were no weapons found in Sam's house and no blood was discovered either allowing the lawyer to deny Sam murdering those other women.

The next day the court was called back into session after the jury had reached a decision. Delia felt sick to her stomach and wished Andy could be there alongside her, instead, he had been stuck in Los Angeles leaving her alone in Seattle. Lonny had offered to attend alongside her however a snowstorm in Canada prevented him from flying and she would not dare ask anyone else.

"We have reached a verdict, your honour." A spokesperson from the Jury announces "We find Mr Todd not guilty and declare Miss Vincent insane."

"Very well, Mr Todd is free to leave and Miss Vincent will be taken to a secure facility to receive treatment." The judge confirms before hitting his hammer on the table "Court dismissed."

"Andy?" Delia answers her phone as she hears it ring.

"You know it was just sex right? I never actually liked you, I just pitied you." Andy states coldly "At least now you can get the help you so desperately need, goodbye Delia."

"Andy! Andy, please don't leave me!" Delia cries before hearing the call cut off.

"Delia?" Tamara then appears beside her.

"Mum! They're going to take me away!" Delia continues to cry "Please don't let them take me!"

"No one is taking you away Petal." Tamara explains calmly stroking Delia's hair.

"They're taking me away!" Delia is hysterical at this moment.

“Delia, listen to me. No one is taking you away, I promise." Tamara is now lightly shaking Delia's shoulders. "I need you to wake up for me."

--------------------------

"Mum?" Delia cries as she jolts up from her bed exiting her slumber; it was all a bad dream, but it felt so real.

"You're okay honey." Tamara smiles warmly pulling Delia into a hug and allowing her daughter to cry on her shoulder

"What time is it?" Delia asks noticing it was still dark outside.

"It's about 4 am." Tamara informs Delia as she continues to hug her close. "What happened Petal?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Delia sighs trying to calm her crying "Please don't tell Andy."

"Delia, you were shouting for Andy not to leave you and said someone was going to take you away." Tamara worries as she gently rubs Delia's back. "Andy seems a fine young man. I think he would want to know about this, and I know he cares for you, he'd want to reassure you."

"He'd think I'm  crazy." Delia sniffles pulling away from Tamara and looking at her.

"Delia, you've been through something I can only imagine was terrifying, it's okay to lean on those who love and care for you." Tamara tries to reassure Delia.

"Maybe you're right." Delia smiles lightly.

"Aren't I always?" Tamara teases earning a light chuckle from Delia "Try and go back to sleep for a little bit D. As much as I don't think Andy will not care if you fell asleep on him, I'd recommend you not do that."

"Good idea." Delia smiles settling back into her bed and duvet "Goodnight mum."

------------------------

"Delia, Andy's here!" Tamara shouts for Delia from the front door.

"Okay, I'll be down in a minute!" Delia shouts back from upstairs.

"Andy please, come in." Tamara smiles moving aside to allow Andy to walk into the house "How are you doing today?"

"I'm very well thank you, Mrs Vincent." Andy smiles "You're looking well, how was your evening with Delia last night?"

"Andy please, there's no need for the formality, just call me Tamara." Tamara smiles as she and him walk into the living room "Although I do have to confess, I'm a little bit worried about Delia, I was hoping you could help and maybe try and talk to her."

"What happened? Is she okay?" Andy panics; as horrible as it seems, seeing Andy panic reassured Tamara. It was nice to see that her daughter was in safe hands.

"About 4 am this morning I had to wake up her because she was screaming out from a bad dream. She was begging you not to leave her and claiming someone was going to take her away." Tamara smiles sadly.

"Oh God, the nurse at the hospital warned me about things like this after what she's been through. I know it's going to get worse before it gets better, but I'm worried it will get so bad that she'll do something reckless. She likely won't accept too much help either." Andy sighs.

"You're right about not accepting help, I love her and Nick dearly but their stubbornness drives me up the wall sometimes." Tamara shakes her head grinning slightly. "She won't talk to me about it either."

"I can try but I'm not sure if she'll tell me if she won't even tell you, I know you're both close." Andy smiles at Tamara.

"Mum? Andy?" Delia calls from the hallway.

"Living room dear!" Tamara confirms "Feel free to visit whenever you like Andy, even if that means staying a night You're always welcome here."

Andy understood what Tamara meant by that comment. She was suggesting Andy stay the night to bring Delia some comfort either to get her to open up about the bad dream if it were to happen again or to chase it away completely, but he had to be smart about it. If Delia suspects that Tamara had spoken to him about what had happened, she would never agree to let him stay with her the night. Instead, he had to think of a way to make it about himself.

"Are you ready to go Andy?" Delia asks as she hobbles into the living room.

"Yeah." Andy nods before standing up from the sofa "It was lovely seeing you again Tamara." 

"Feel free to visit any time Andy." Tamara smiles although Andy knew it was just a reminder of what they had just spoken about without Delia's knowing.

"Thank you." Andy smiles at her.

-----------------

"It's so nice to have a phone that actually works now." Delia laughs before taking a sip of her coffee; caramel of course. "Could you add my new number into the groupchat please? It'll be easier for the others to reach me then rather than send out a message to all of them."

"Yeah of course, let me do it now before I forget." Andy laughs alongside her grabbing his phone.

"Thank you." Delia smiles after receiving the notification that Andy had added her to the group. "Is it weird for you being back in Ohio?"

"A little, I kind of feel like a ghost." Andy smiles looking at Delia;  she looked anxious and he could guess why.

"So what? After Christmas you go back to LA and forget all about me?" Delia questions as she lays all of her anxiety on the table; the nightmare Tamara told Andy about, the fears of everything, it was hitting Delia and harder than what Andy wanted to see.

"Of course not, I could never forget about you Delia." Andy's smile falls and he carefully takes Delia's hand in his as if she may break from any sudden or hard movements, as if she was the finest china. "You know we all want you on our next tour, the guys and Shevy adore you and you're great at what you do. Plus I can easily come to Ohio or you can visit my place in LA."

"That's true." Delia nods timidly.

"Or a crazier idea, and there's no pressure for this, you could move to LA." Andy speaks casually as not to scare Delia as he watches for her facial expression "I know you've been trying to move out of your parent's house for a while now."

"I could never afford LA." Delia sighs looking down at her hand in Andy's; she'd love to move to LA, she was has as she knows it would give her better job opportunity and now she'd be closer to Andy. As much as she did not want to admit it, she needed Andy, but she was never good at asking for help or accepting help even when it was given to her.

"How about this then..." Andy begins before rubbing his thumb over Delia's knuckles "You could move into the spare room I have? I know it's out there and I won't expect an answer right nowbut that could also be an option and I know what you're going to be thinking, if the money side is going to bother you then I'll let you tag into the bills."

"I'll have to think about it, but that sounds great Andy." Delia nods tightening her grip on Andy's hand slightly as if she was scared he would slip away from her.

"Like I said, there's no pressure and I won't be offended if you choose not to." Andy smiles lightly squeezing her hand to reassure her.

"Andy?" Delia starts looking up at him "Can you stay with me tonight? I'm scared."

"Of course." Andy smiles back "Always."

[koolkat9]

Count Your Blessings

Rating: T

Relationship: England + Canada + Scotland

Word Count: 776

Read on AO3

Chapter 5

“Surprise! I’m home,” Alastair called through the empty halls.

There was no reply. Strange. Arthur wasn’t someone who went out often, especially in the middle of the day. He headed to the living room.

“You better not have done anything stupid while I was–”

Alastair froze when he spotted Arthur fast asleep with a young Matthew curled up to his side, sleeping as well. Maybe he was still asleep on the plane. He had to be dreaming. All he could do was just stare at the perplexing scene, searching for answers that weren’t there.

After a few minutes, he finally snapped out of the shock, rage jump-starting him as it sparked through his body.

Alastair stormed over to the couch, shoving Arthur awake, but mindful of not waking Matthew.

Arthur jerked, babbling nonsense as his brain caught up. When he finally met Alastair’s gaze, he tensed up, eyes flying open wide, fully alert, and awake all of a sudden.

“Alas–”

“What the hell did you do?” Alastair growled, eyes hard, jaw clenched, suppressing the urge to strangle him.

But Arthur didn’t seem to mind it too much and instead looked down towards Matthew who was starting to stir. He hushed him, combing his fingers through the boy’s hair until he finally settled again.

He turned back to Alastair, eyes burning. “I swear if you wake Matthew up–”

Alastair snorted bitterly. “Says the one who turned our kid into a literal kid.”

“Jumping to conclusions. Typical.”

“Really now? Then tell me, how did a hulking young adult become a wee thing like this?”

Arthur opened his mouth, eyes still defiant, but nothing came out but a strangled noise from the back of his throat. He closed his mouth, pink tinting his cheeks.

Alastair tilted his head. “Hmm…interesting.”

“I didn’t mean to…” Arthur said lowly.

“Excuses.”

“I really didn’t,” Arthur repeated, louder this time.

Alastair just shook his head, about to hiss back, when there was a small groan. Both Alastair’s and Arthur’s attention snapped towards Matthew. The boy gave a big yawn, stretching his arms over his head. His eyes cracked open, blinking away sleep. He froze when Alastair came into view. Like a deer caught in headlights.

Alastair immediately softened, crouching down so as to not tower over him and scare him more. “Hey…it’s okay. It’s just Uncle Allie.” He gestured for him to come over.

Hesitantly, Matthew slunk off the couch and stood in front of his uncle, fiddling with his hands.

“Did I scare you?” Alastair asked in a whisper.

Matthew cautiously nodded.

“I’m sorry.”

A small smile spread across Matthew’s face. “It’s okay.”

Alastair shook his head. “It’s not okay. I should have kept my temper in check around you.”

Matthew scrunched up his nose, eyes squinted. Thinking. Eventually, Matthew came closer, throwing his arms around Alastair’s neck, squeezing him tightly.

"Thank you,” Alastair murmured. “So…Are you staying with us for a bit then?”

Matthew nodded eagerly.

“Well then, I should check out your room. Make sure Arthur has everything you need. Meet me up there?”

“Okay,” Matthew cheered, rushing out of the room and up the stairs.

As the thumping footsteps became more and more distant, Alastair turned back to Arthur, scowling.

“How do we fix him?” Alastair’s voice was low, but it was still full of venom.

"We have to wait for the spell to reverse."

Alastair took a deep breath, eyes closing. "Do his bosses know?"

"They know he's here but not the full extent as to why."

"Does anyone else know?"

"Just you and me."

Alastair dug through his pockets. "We have to call Dylan."

"No!"

"He can help us. And it's not like he can stay mad at you long"

Arthur scrambled off the couch trying to grab at Alastair’s cellphone.

"B-But. I-I have been managing just fine on my own,” Arthur protested, “And I told you. The only way this will reverse is with time. Check the spell if you don't believe me. Page 39." he gestured to the book on the fireplace mantle.

Alastair scoffed. But he took a look anyway. Arthur watched him definitely as he scanned the page. Alastair let out a loud, groanish sigh. He slammed the book shut, muttering a curse.

“Fine,” Alastair finally said, crossing the living room to the door. “We don’t call Dylan. He needed this break. But promise me you’re going to put that book back in the basement. We don’t need another ‘accident.’”

He shoved the book into Arthur’s hands before heading upstairs like he promised Matthew.

With Alastair finally gone, Arthur collapsed onto the couch again, coiling in on himself, clutching the book to his chest.

[brunolover808]

Creamy Red

A new toy playing with his desires.

Just as expected, only a few weeks had passed from the departure of the golden boy's trainer. At first the good boy was behaving as though another waste of space was banished from his sight. Calm, ease, relaxed. Then it started to change. He began to go to every place his trainer would usually be. His eyes lingered as though she would appear from around the corner. But never did he see her pass by or just appear before him. Even in his dreams he waited to see her, to have her run back to him ready to throw a punch. But he would wake up paranoid and stressed. He needed her back. He needed to see her.

Such behavior did not go unnoticed by Stillwell or Edger. They both were waiting to release the new shining toy for the dog to bite at. But they let the time tick fill finally Homelander bit at the hand that fed him.

"I think I need to take on a new mission, and travel a bit."

Stillwell acts as though that was a great idea. "Perfect, we could send you to Hawaii or Canada to get more fame. That way you can start your world wide campaign."

"No, I was thinking of visiting each state till I reached Idaho, then I spend time there helping out for a while. Like a little vacation with work."

Homelander's expression relaxed and almost convinced this was a debate. So Madelyn had to step in with a rebuttal.

"We can talk about visiting every state, but... analytics show that the crime is down in Idaho thanks to Amrita." Stillwell smiled as she let that sink in before continuing. "Now if somehow you can prove that Crime Analytics was incorrect, then we can get you approved to head there."

The mention of the department made Homelander perk up. All he had to do was find a flaw and then fly straight to his lov-trainer. It was fool proof since he could just twist someone's arm and get them fired.

"Then I will be speaking to the department manager and will prove that Amrita needs help."

He was confident and just like that he was out the door before Madelyn could say more. She only smirked as she knew she had set the wheels in place to get this show running. Homelander was getting his new toy handed over in a way that he would not realize as a ploy. One to keep him occupied till he lost feeling for the undying woman was gone.

Homelander had entered the elevator with a smug grin. He already knew he was going to win this little fight. He knew that they sent Amrita away because he was getting more out of control. Well more out of their control because he felt all the more powerful when with Amrita. All he needed was some numbers moved or something fake made to make it look like he needed to be in Idaho.

The elevator ding and the doors opened. Before he could even step out, in came the red fox. Alice Ribbon, the flame in the Crime Analytics department. He froze in place finding himself not wanting to get off.

"Was this your floor?"

"Oh, no, no, I pressed the wrong floor. Main floor?" He asked as he stumbled over his words.

"Yes, thank you sir."

He pressed the main floor and then put his hands behind his back. He watched the numbers as they started to move. He would only look down at her every so often. Alice simply stood there with her phone in hand and a few files in a manila envelope.

"Any plans for the rest of the evening?"

"Just heading home. What about you Sir?"

"Please call me Homelander. I was going to go on a patrol of the city."

Alice nodded before she returned to doing whatever on her phone. It seemed she had no interest in what he was saying. She only did it out of kindness.

That message was loud and clear as they were left in complete silence. Homelander normally used to Amrita's small chatter, but not this casual silence. It felt awkward for him.

They reached the main floor before Homelander could attempt to extend their interaction. Alice was already off the elevator and running off to who knows where. Homelander just clapped his red gloved hands together before pressing the button to go back up. Though he was curious about her, for now he would take care of his main business before revisiting that idea.

Later as the moon came out, Alice had gotten home after some time with friends. She practically had all the time speaking about her new job as something she was enjoying. She couldn't say much more, but she did let her friends know she was well off. It made her the talk of the night, but Alice left early. She was worn out from work and the social encounter.

As she entered her small home of the outskirts of the city, she stripped down to nothing but her underwear. Even her bra came off as she let her body relax. She was free to be herself at home. Her arms stretching and a few pops out of her back. What sounded perfect was a bath. So she went to her bathroom that had a big tub in the center of the room. Her house was small, but very much a flex of wealth.

Now her friend did tell her about something that helps keep the skin smooth and allows soaking to relax the body. She turned the water on and let it get to a warm temperature as it fills up. She then grabbed a packet from her cupboards under the sink. It held a powder with dried roses inside. She pours it into the tub as it begins to get mixed into the warm water. The water turns into a creamy look and the roses grow as they are hydrated.

Alice looked satisfied as she stripped the last bit of clothing off and stepped into the tub. Her slim legs entered one at a time before her hands held onto the sides to lower herself down. The water pooling around her and brushing along the creamy softness of the powder over her skin. Her pale skin glistened as she relaxed back. The warmth dusting her face in a light sweat, but something new to her. she rested her eyes to enjoy the full bath experience.

Everything was peaceful and perfect...till there was a small feeling. The feeling that happens when someone is looking at you from across a room. Alice slowly opened her eyes before looking around. Nothing. She only noticed that her bathroom window was open letting in a cool breeze. She didn't remember leaving it open or even opening it.

Slowly her ears began to grow with red fur growing along the edge and back. Her ears stretched out and up, her hearing becoming stronger as her ears had turned to a rabbit ears. She even closed her eyes again to zone in on every sound. Then she heard it, heavy breathing from behind a door. Her eyes opened again as she noticed her bathroom mirror looked directly into the tub. She then sat up and wrapped her arms around herself before looking back.

There was a closet with the door just cracked open. Someone had to be there, it was where her senses led her to.

"Whoever you are, come out or I will call the cops."

No sound, not even a movement. The breathing has stopped as though someone was holding it. Worried Alice started to grow more fur on her body allowing this to cover her up as she stood up in the tub. She balanced herself before taking a step out. The milky water dropped down her fur covered body. Leaving streaks of white against red as she approached the closet. Her hand reaching out before...

Alice swings the door open to only find towels and cleaning supplies. There was a sense of relief as though she might have imagined everything. The fur disappears on her body along with the rabbit ears. She then closes the door before walking over and closing the window. She then got back in the tub to resume her relaxing experience.

[cross-word]

Snowed Confession

Ethan Landry x Male Reader

Non-ghost face, Ethan, Quinn and reader are Canadian

Word count: 1.2k

Walking into the hallways you hear cheers around you, celebrating winter break is finally here, Christmas, snow and the best two weeks off school, in one week you and your two best friends Quinn and Ethan are flying back to Canada for Christmas.

So your other friends decide to make this week the best week before leaving, “we should go skiing” chad said. “I’ve never done that in my entire life” you said “don’t you live in the good ‘ol north” mindy said sitting down next to anika.

“Yeah and I used to ride the polar bear bus to go to my igloo school” you sarcastically replied flipping mindy off “woah, where’s the Canadian hospitality” Tara joked “I will drown you in maple syrup” you said in a dead tone. “Oh come on it’ll be fun please” chad said dragging the please.

“Fine but I want Ethan to sit next to me” you said opening your phone. “Ohh and why is that?” anika asked, making her eyebrows go up and down. You throw a pillow in her face “Ethan is the only civilized person in this friend group, he doesn’t drool, he doesn’t take up that much space and he keeps to himself” you said listing reasons why you want Ethan.

That went on for a couple minutes “and that’s why ethan is the best person to have next to you when you go for a road trip” you finished your rant “Jesus just marry him at that point” Quinn added.

Everybody was focused on you and barely saw how Ethan’s face blushed the whole time you were ranting, he knew the only reason you want to sit next to him is cause he lets you sleep on him.

Chad coughed “well that’s it then we’ll go for a ski trip in the next week, let’s leave Thursday so we’ll have the whole weekend to ski” Chad proposed, everyone agrees.

Thursday comes around faster than you thought “come one Y/N they’re waiting” Anika groans on how you’ve been quadruple checking everything, “just go down I’ll be right behind you I have to make sure the windows are closed” you said going into each room to check.

You hear the door slam close, when you hear it slam close again, confused you check the main room you see Ethan standing there.

You had a confused look on you “why are you here” you asked triple making sure you had keys on you and lights were off. “It’s time to go Y/N,” Ethan said, grabbing your suitcase and walking to the door.

Being forced to leave you lock your door and walk downstairs seeing mindy and Anika in the car.

Ethan helps put your luggage in the back watching you. “Oh my god finally what took you so long” Mindy asked hitting her head on the steering wheel “I had to make sure we weren’t going to get robbed” you said as Ethan got in the car after you.

Ethan puts his hands on his face trying to get rid of the cold “it doesn’t matter just tell Chad we’re ready to go” he said smiling at you finally the car started and both your vehicle and chads start driving.

You groaned loud “why, New York why do you hate us” complaining about the New York traffic. “Just go to sleep on me I’ll wake you up when we’re close” Ethan suggested. Throwing two melatonin pills in your mouth you were passed out before anyone knew.

Mindy looked at you and Ethan sleeping “how does Ethan sleep when Y/N is snoring into his ear” she asked Quinn “I don’t know they’ve always been like that” she replied continuing to text her boy toy.

Anika looked back at the two of you “I don’t know I think it’s cute” she said smiling, causing Mindy to look back at the two “cute?? Y/N is literally drooling on Ethan’s shoulders” Mindy said looking at her girlfriend.

“Can you guys shut up and let us sleep?” Ethan said, flipping up the eye mask before laying his head on yours.

Before you knew it you were awoken by Ethan with gentle slaps to your face “we’re here idiot” he said wiping the drool off his shoulder with a tissue.

You looked at what he was doing realizing “sorry about that, your shoulders are really comfortable I guess”. You answered, taking a step out of the car and stretching, people passing by would think you’re trying to grab the air.

All of your friends grab their luggage and you all walk into the resort “hey yeah we spoke on the phone a couple hours ago my name Chad Meeks-Martin” he asked the receptionist.

She typed on the computer “three hotel rooms for three days” she asked Chad nods Chad gives you a key card “that's for you and Ethan quinn didn’t want to share a room with you two so she got her own room” he said walking away.

Chad gathers your friend group “ok so all of our rooms are basically together except for Quinn’s” you followed Chad walking in your hotel to see one bed. You and Ethan looked at each other.

You both settle your stuff on the floor and you jump on the bed and pass out for another three hours.

You look at the window to realize it was night time and you felt Ethan pull your body “good morning” Ethan joked at you feeling you wake up as he falls asleep again.

You lay in bed feeling Ethan’s arm come around your waist again “come closer, please” he said and you lay your head on his chest and fall asleep.

You two wake up because of a pounding at your door you open to see Chad “have you guys seen outside” he said barging in “what happening” Ethan asked being drowsy.

“It’s a complete blizzard outside” Chad said “our weekend getaway turned into weekend stay in a hotel” he said putting his hand in his face, “calm down Chad, did you check the forecast when is the blizzard going away” you asked sitting next to him.

“Saturday..” Chad said in his hands “Chad it's Friday, it’ll clear out tomorrow and we can ski tomorrow” Ethan spoke rubbing his back “you guys are right, I should go to Tara” Chad said exiting your room.

“Wow, he’s a bit dramatic” you said as the door closed “yeah and he's not even the gay one it’s you” Ethan joked getting a pillow to his face “let’s just go down stairs for breakfast” you said grabbing his hands.

You saw Mindy and Anika down there deciding to join them “you two are dating right” Mindy asked.

Getting you and ethan to choke on your food “no, why” you asked “cause you two are like me and anika” Mindy said “I mean it’s not like I wouldn’t mind” you confessed ethan looked at you with the biggest smile.

“I love you Y/N” he said, you stare at his beautiful curls and most amazing pair of brown eyes “I love you too Ethan” you confessed.

Maybe being snowed in wasn’t so bad you two thought.

[snugglebug-92]

The One Where They Finally Get Together

The time for world juniors came by fast and you were already on a plane heading to Canada. You had gotten picture of the guys getting on the plane before boarding yourself. You sat next to Logan and the two of you spent most of the flight talking about random things and making plans for all of the dumb things you would do once you landed. Time seemed to fly and the tournament was crazy. You and Logan as well as a few of the other guys got into all sorts of shenanigans all while Jimmy sat back and watched. One night after the game was over and there wasn’t one the next game you said fuck it and got thouroghly intoxicated. You don’t remember too much but you remember knocking on someones door.

“It’s 1 in the morning really Logan,” Jimmy grumbles as he opens the door in just a pair of basketball shorts. If it weren’t for that fact you were drunk you would have been a lot more fazed but you had one thing on your mind making amends.

“Look I get you hate me because you think the whole date with Matthew was a prank but it wasn’t. I didn’t know you were going to be there so when I saw you I freaked out and left. I’m sorry I did that. It was a really bad thing of me to do and I understand that you have every right to be mad at me but I just want you to know I’m sorry. I don’t want you to hate me because I really like you and that’s why Matthew sent the whole thing up. He was trying to set us up and I freaked out. I shouldn’t have walked out like that and I hope one day you can stop hating me or at least start talking to me again. Goodnight Jimmy,” and with that you walked off but not before Jimmy did the only logical thing in his mind. He chased after you barefoot, shirtless, without a phone, and a key to get back into his hotel room.

“Look I should have listened to your side earlier. I’m sorry I didn’t. I was just so frustrated because this girl who is seemingly my dream girl is interested in me. That seemed to good to be true so when you walked out I assumed it was a prank and I just built up a barrier because I didn’t know what else to do,” Jimmy calls out causing you to turn around.

“Hey it’s okay. We both messed up but it got us here. We’re talking again and that’s what matters in the long run right?” you question.

“Right. Now I feel really dumb but I kind of left all my stuff in my room including my key,” Jimmy trails off.

“I have an extra bed. We’ll figure it out tommorrow,” you shrug. The two of you walk to your room and you walk in. You turn on the shower and while Jimmy instantly falls asleep you throw up before getting into the shower. Once you are done you get out advil for the next morning and fall asleep. 

The next morning you almost scream when you wake up and see the extra bed occupied but then you remember the bits and pieces of last night and think to yourself whatever happened is a good thing because Jimmy’s talking to you again. You take the advil and turn over in bed. You were never drinking like that again. Jimmy stirs and the you hear a grumble and then he gets out of bed. You sit up and take in the sight of his bare back. He was good looking you weren’t going to deny it. After a moment he turns around and you quickly advert your sight.

“Hey um thanks for letting me crash here last night,” Jimmy says not sure what else he should say.

“Yeah of course. I wouldn’t leave you stranded like that,” you smile at the boy. 

“Also I’m sorry I’ve been such a dick to you lately. I just throught ignoring you would prevent me from getting pranked again. I should have heard out,” he sighs. 

“Hey it’s okay. We’ve both made mistakes but it’s okay,” you look at him and you can tell he feels bad. But you both messed up and now you’re here. He’s in your hotel room and the two of you are talking and the drunked stupor you were in last night ended up fixing everything between the two of you. Your eyes dart around the room and you know he should definitely be getting back soon but you had to be careful. If anyone saw him leave your room in this state things would get messy and rumors would fly around like there was no tomorrow which could cause you to lose your position as team photographer.

“How am I going to get back to my room?” Jimmy questions breaking you out of your transe.

“I have your roommates phone number. But you should probrally put more clothes on and shoes before you head back,” you sigh before running a hand through your hair.

“Okay and where am I going to get said clothes from?” Jimmy questions. You get out of bed reach into your suitcase and grab a t-shirt as well as a random pair of flip flops before handing them to the boy.

“There you have clothes and shoes. Do you want me to call Logan now?” you question as he puts a shirt on.

“Yeah sure. I should probrally get back before coach gets suspicious,” he shrugs. Your phone call with Logan is short and thankfully he’s more than willing to keep the fact that Jimmy was in your room last night a secret. He’s mainly just happy that things should go back to normal once the three of you go back to Minnesota. You walk Jimmy back to his room and ignore Logan’s pointed look before heading back to your own room. If you didn’t have to worry about game photography today, you were going to the hot tub. You go to bed early tonight knowing you would probably be up with the boys getting into some type of trouble tomorrow since it was New Years Eve. The boys end up winning their game and go out to celebrate. A few of the boys who were 19 decided to test their luck in the bars while you hung out with a few of the other guys. Of course, with it being New Year's Eve a few of the guys who were bold enough asked you to be their New Year's kiss. Your favorite was when Cutter came over his face beet red and a few of the boys laughing.

“So it’s New Years Eve,” he says.

“It appears it is,” you hum.

“I was wondering if you would be my New Year's kiss?” he questions. You look at him with an eyebrow raised before looking at the other boys.

“Oh, William, I’ll tell you what if it’s midnight and you still haven’t found a girl to kiss you, I’ll be your New Year's kiss but for now I’ll give you this,” you place your lips on his cheek and walk away as you see the boys go crazy. You laugh as his face is somehow redder than before then sit down at the hotel bar. The bartender makes you a drink remembering you from the night before and then places it in front of you.

“So how do you know all those boys?” she questions.

“Well, I go to school with a few of them but for the rest I’m their team photographer,” you respond as you take a sip of your drink.

“So, I know this isn’t exactly professional of me, but do you think you could set me up with one. I mean it doesn’t have to be a long-term thing because I know you aren’t from here.”

“Yeah sure, I should be able to do that,” you smile.

“The one who came up to you. The last one, you don’t have anything going on with him right?” she asks. You laugh and shake your head.

“Cutter no. He’s a sweetheart but we don’t have anything going on. I promise,” you hold out your pinkie and she laughs before interlocking hers with yours. The two of you talk inbetween the few customers she has and soon it’s 11:30. You excuse yourself and go to find Cutter. It doesn’t take long because he’s right where he last was. Sitting with the small group of boys who are whispering about something or someone.

“So, I might have found you an even better New Year's kiss,” you whisper to the boy and watch as his eyes go wide. He quickly gets up from the circle and looks at you.

“Who?” he questions.

“Well what do you think of miss bartender over there?” you question.

“Well she’s a smokeshow a real beaut but there’s no way she’d go for me,” he responds staring at her.

“I wouldn’t be so sure because it just so happens that she wants you to be her New Year's kiss,” you watch as his reaction changes and he becomes a lot more confident and then looks back at you.

“Really? You’re being dead seriuos,” he questions.

“I’m not joking. I’ll introduce you to her but I need one small favor.”

“Shit anything you name it.”

“What are the odds you happen to know the wear-a-bouts of a certain player?”

“Probrally pretty high. If they went to the program we all had a life 360 as a joke. Just tell me who.”

“Promise you won’t judge me or say anything.”

“Yeah sure,” he shrugs.

“No Cut please,” you beg.

“Yeah I won’t judge or you tell anyone okay.”

“It’s Jimmy,” you respond after a second and watch the emotions on his face go from happy to confused to happy once again. The boy pulls his phone out and checks Jimmy’s location before handing it to you.

“Does that make sense to you? He’s in the hotel but not on our side,” Cutter says confused. You zoom in a little and see he’s exactly where your room would be.

“Yeah that makes perfect sense to me. Now let’s go introduce you to your woman,” you say dragging him by the arm. The introduction is as quick as can you can make it before you are rushing off to your room. Thankfully you are on the same floor so when you get off the elevator you see Jimmy a few doors dowm and rush after him. You know it has to be close to midnight and you really have one shot at this so you have to be quick about it.

“Hey Jimmy,” you call out.

“Oh hey,” he smiles at you and it takes everything in you to not kiss him then and there.

“Do you want to watch the fireworks together? My room has a balcony,” you offer knowing that way the two of you would be alone.

“Sure,” he responds and the two of you head to your room. You get back and look at the time. 11:53. Shit theres not a lot of time to do this. You quickly grab the bottle of wine from your fridge before going out to the balcony. You open the bottle and take a sip before offering it to Jimmy. He qwirks his eyebrow at you causing you to laugh.

“Jimmy half of your teammate are out at random bars drinking who knows what but you’re afraid of some wine,” you roll your eyes before taking another sip.

“Fine hand it over,” he responds before taking the bottle from you. He takes a rather large sip and you just shake your head.

“Easy kid I’m not going to take it away from you,” you laugh as he hands it back. You take another sip before handing it back to him and he does the same thing. It’s when he does it the 5th time you say something.

“Jim look I’m glad your not afraid of some wine but why are you just about chugging it?” you question almost laughing. He hands the bottle back to you and takes a step closer.

“Because I need courage,” he say and that’s when you heard the faint count down.

10-9-8-7

“For what?” you question?

6-5-4

“To do this,” he says.

3-2 and then the count down hits 1 and his lips are on yours and you drop the bottle of wine out of pure shock causing Jimmy to pull away thinking he completely fucked everything up. Then you grab him by the sweatshirt and pull him back in as your lips meet his once again. The two of you kiss as the fireworks go off not even caring to look at them. Your hands are around his neck place with his hair while his wrap around your waist. When you eventually pull away you rest your forehead against his before placing one last kiss on his lips.

“You know you didn’t have to drink all that wine to kiss me. I was going to do it if you didn’t,” you laugh.

“What?” he says not believing it completely.

“You know I like you and the reason I wanted you to come here is so there wouldn’t be 10 people watching us kiss,” you look as the boy his face in shock.

“I can’t believe it. The pretty girl wanted to kiss me on new year's,” he says looking at you cupping your jaw.

“Well now I think you owe me a date,” you giggle.

“Oh do I now?” he questions.

“But first miraculously the wine bottle didn’t break so I think it’s a sign that we have to finish it once we go inside,” you smile pulling him back towards you and giving him another kiss.

“Okay whatever you say,” he just shakes his head at you.

The next morning, you both wake up but this time in the same bed and you help sneak him back to his room before you call Matthew to tell him everything. You promise that once you get back you can redo the double date, but you and Jimmy have to go on an actual date first. The tournament goes by fast and soon you’re on the flight back and U.S.A. has a bronze medal.

[stinkytrashman]

info dump about these two losers under the cut

so these freaks of nature are Zoe and Darcy. Zoe is a microbiologist (more like ex-microbiologist) who was hired by the big cool government thing to come on down to Ontario™ to find a cure for a super bad virus that was going around and killing lots of people. She’s like “👍” because she loves helping people and she gets hired along with this other scientist who’s like “wow you’re so cool let’s kiss” and they kiss and smooch and have a fun time until KABOOM the cure they were making turns out to be a SECOND deadly virus that instead of kills you turns you into a crazy mindless zombie with a weird fungal growth growing out of your body. She’s like WOAH WHAT THE SHITFARTBUTTNUGGET and ends up also getting infected by the zombie virus. She wakes up in her now broken lab all alone and looks outside and goes “woah” because she had been in a coma for 8 years and everything went to shit when the zombies got out. Now she’s like “shit this is crazy. Oh well there’s no cure and hey where did my crazy scientist girlfriend go?” And she’s like “SUPRISE MOTHER FUCKER” because her crazy scientist girlfriend actually SABOTAGED the cure and is using a special frequency to mind control the zombies and zoe is like “shit I gotta skedaddle”

across the country (in Saskatchewan (oh yeah this whole story takes place in Canada 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🍁🍁🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🇨🇦 btw because I’m Canadian as fuck and have never stepped a foot inside America)) there’s this loner biker girl named Darcy who is camping out in a warehouse for a while. She was away at college when the zombie apocalypse started, away from her whole family because they were in Alberta and she was off doing school or whatever in Quebec and so she wasn’t there to save her fam when they all got brutally MURDERED by zombies they got ATE they got DEVOURED. Anyways so now she’s in Saskatchewan and she’s trying to get to BC because there’s a human settlement there and she wants to go and stay because she’s getting lonely and missing her dead family. So on her way she comes across this abandoned mall and finds Zoe and Darcy’s like “AAAAHH FUCK A ZOMBIE” and Zoe is like “AAAHH FUCK A HUMAN” and they fight a lil and Darcy is like “why are you sentient????” And Zoe is like “idk man why are you attacking me?????”

so some lore there’s 5 “breeds” of zombie because there were multiple strains of the “cure” that they were testing that turned them into zombies. There’s the regular zombies, the hivemind zombies, the flying squirrel zombies, the hyper intelligent zombies (which barely even count as a strain because there are only 4 in the whole world) and the super buff zombies. So they all behave slightly different BUT they all eat flesh, try to spread the virus by biting people (which we later find out in the story it’s not a virus it’s a fungi) and they don’t attack others that smell like zombies. Also when the virus got out it only got out in North America ™ and so Canada, the US and Mexico are all an apocalyptic wasteland but everywhere else in the world is like. Fine. They just closed off their borders and they’re chill

so darcy ends up kidnapping Zoe to take her along on a big ass road trip to BC so she can basically use Zoe as a human shield to deter other zombies. Darcy hates hates HATESSSSSS the guys that made the virus because the zombies killed her entire family and Zoe doesn’t wanna tell her that she helped make it because uh oh she’s slowly falling in love with Darcy oooooooohhhhhhh. And at the same time she is trying to put as much distance as she can between her and Ontario so she can stay tf away from her ex and her crazy mind control powers oooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh

[my-chaos-radio]

Release: June 18, 2021

Lyrics:

I wanna wake up every mornin', feelin' better

'Cause I know you're sleeping by my side

And every moment we're together

I remember just to keep it all for you and I

I see that body in the sunlight

Feelin' the heat and it feels right

I wanna do this for the rest of my life

Oh, I know, I know, you know the vibe

I wanna stay with you every night

You and me underneath the lights

I'm always good when you're by my side

I know, you know you're on my mind

You really make me come alive

I wanna be here for the rest of my life

Looking for sun rays, needin' them good days

Fly me away-away, you're my holiday

Cool like the ocean, lost in emotion

Fly me away-away, you're my holiday

Whenever you're here it's a good time

Strawberry shirts in the sunshine

Ice-cold drinks 'til the moonlight

You're my holiday

Whenever you're here it's a good time

Strawberry shirts in the sunshine

Ice-cold drinks 'til the moonlight

You're my holiday

I wanna stay up 'til the mornin' with you talkin'

Just to listen to the things you say

And every time we're in the middle of the city

I imagine us so far away

I see that body in the sunlight (sunlight)

Feelin' the heat and it feels right (feels right)

I wanna do this for the rest of my life

Oh, I know you know you're on my mind (yeah)

You really make me come alive (yeah)

I wanna be here for the rest of my life

Looking for sun rays, needin' them good days

Fly me away-away, you're my holiday (you're my holiday)

Cool like the ocean, lost in emotion

Fly me away-away, you're my holiday

Whenever you're here it's a good time (good time)

Strawberry shirts in the sunshine (sunshine)

Ice-cold drinks 'til the moonlight (moonlight)

You're my holiday (you're my holiday)

Whenever you're here it's a good time (good time

Strawberry shirts in the sunshine (sunshine)

Ice-cold drinks 'til the moonlight (moonlight)

You're my holiday

Songwriter:

Ooh, ooh

Ooh, you're my holiday

Ooh, ooh

Ooh, you're my holiday

Jake Gosling / Nicholas James Gale / Olajide Olatunji / William Edward Vaughan

SongFacts:

"Holiday" is a song by British YouTuber and rapper KSI from his second studio album All Over the Place (2021). It was written by KSI along with his producers Jake Gosling, Digital Farm Animals and William Vaughan. The song was released for digital download and streaming on June 18, 2021 by RBC Records and BMG as the album's fourth single. An accompanying music video was released on the same day. “Holiday” is a folksy mid-tempo pop song that reflects on the honeymoon period of a relationship.

"Holiday" debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart and was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for selling more than 600,000 units in the UK. The song also entered the music charts of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, India, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Republic of Ireland, Singapore, Sweden and the United States. “Holiday” was nominated for the BRIT Award for Song of the Year at the 2022 ceremony.

Rob Copsey of the Official Charts Company described the song as a reflection "on the honeymoon period of a relationship" and a "hopeful, folksy mid-tempo track".

The song debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart on June 25, 2021, making it that week's highest-charting new entry and his seventh top ten hit.

[pbandjesse]

Today was not what I expected at all. It was really good in parts and really not and others but we survived to see another day.

I slept okay here. I was very comfortable. I did not really want to get up. And I woke up at 7:30 when my alarm went off and then reset my alarm for 8:30 and go back sleep. I would wake up a little bit before my alarm went off and it didn't really matter that I had slept in. My first group wasn't supposed to come till 9:45.

So I got washed up and I got dressed. I didn't wear the outfit I have planned but I really liked the outfit I ended up.

Help a little bit better about myself to die. I still feel like my face seems wrong. And I was talking to CJ about it and I think I might be holding my breathing in the wrong spot. Like I'm holding my face incorrectly and pulling my chin in. So I'm going to try to be mindful about that.

I also just think it'll help me breathing.

Because breathing was hard today. There's more wildfire smoke coming down from Canada and we were back in the 170s for air quality. Not as bad as it was a couple weeks ago, but hazy.

I didn't really know if it was going to affect us today because no one communicate than anything to me. I had my yogurt and I walked down to the lodge to get to cartons of milk to replace the ones I had used. And then I came back up here and I started working on my knitting while I waited for my group. I also started reading one of my dear America books that I have.

And then Alexi walks by and she's like are you ready to teach inside today? And I'm like what? Apparently the Y made the call that we need to be inside as much as possible and cancel any programs that are outside. But mine's kind of both so I was a little confused. And she said that I should try to have my group fit at my picnic table in the building. So I had to take as much of my materials outside inside and set up a new still life and set up spaces for the kids to work. Which is fine I just wish someone would have told me earlier. I don't like that I felt like I was finding out on the fly.

And it ended up not mattering anyway because none of my group showed up this morning. I was supposed to have the boys and neither came. That was really upset about that! I felt stupid. I just hate the lack of communication. I just want to know what's going on.

So I started working on my boxes for color wars this weekend. I got paper cut and a different paints collected and brushes and things. I got really frustrated with my big paper roll and I kept threatening to die of things were even a little annoying. I was just really frustrated and just had to find some way to make myself laugh.

While I was working on that Tony came up to ask about helping him turn a pair of pants and shorts but because of the way that the cargo pockets were it would have made them like 4-in inseams and he didn't want hochie daddy shorts. So that was no. And we chatted for a while about how bad the communication has been. And he told me that Jorge wanted to do arts and crafts still even in their group missed it. So I said I would bring some over to the woodlands village.

I came down there with watercolor paint for him and brought some extras in case I need the kids wanted to do it too but they were watching a movie. So I said bye and went back up to my art building to read.

I double check with Cody that we were having the same lunch as normal and then when the time came I went down to the lodge.

Meals were a mess today. Every single meal was chicken nuggets. With some other side. Lunch was chicken with mashed potatoes which were incredibly salty. And vegetarian chicken was very overcooked. Apparently all of the food that was in the fridge spoiled when we lost power and this was the stuff that was still frozen. So it makes sense but it just kind of sucked today.

I enjoyed Celia and Annabelle's company at lunch though and we had some laughs and talked about how we can improve the enclosures for the animals and it was just a nice time.

Eventually I went back up to arts and crafts to chill until they camp was supposed to come. I was told that they were coming and they did. But then there was only five of them. And one of them wasn't even one of their campers they were from day camp one. But it was fine. They were actually a lot of fun. And they worked really hard on their drawings and once they were done their art that I planned they asked to use clay and draw and we were just having a blast up here. And I was really enjoying talking to my co-workers. I let them stay a lot longer than the plan time so I lost my break but I had such a long break in the morning that I didn't actually care. I was just having a good time doing my job.

Once they left I tested CJ to see if tipis was coming but she didn't know. So I sat down to read my book but then all of a sudden they were there. And I wasn't sure what to do with them because the plan had been to have everyone sit inside but there was 14 of them and their teenagers and so they were not all going to fit at the stable. And so we caught Alexa but she didn't have a good answer so I just decided to tell them all to grab watercolors and an object to draw and we would go to the dining hall. And it was not an ideal situation at all but you know what we made it work.

And it was pretty good time overall. The kids worked really hard and they were a lot of fun to talk to and there was some other drama because apparently one of the little girl cabins tried to clean but mixed bleach and ammonia in their bathroom by accident and created mustard gas. And so they had to evacuate their building. And it was just a day. We were really going through it.

Once TV was done they help me bring everything back up to arts and crafts and I gave them some stuff for their award projects that they need to do and then they left me.

I would spend some time reading and eventually Ty and Quan joined me. They sat on my back tables and ate their meal and we just gossiped and talked and it was a lot of fun. They filled me in on some of their feelings about stuff and I got to learn some of the weird things that are going on different villages that I don't always know about. It was very much a field report and that was a lot of fun to do because I haven't done in a while.

Eventually Quan would have to go but before he did we all laid in the hammocks and just chatted and it was a lot of fun. I just really felt connected to other people in a way I haven't yet at camp and that was really really nice. It was funny though because I was telling Ty that our age gap is the same as the age gap between them and the kids. So I see them as children which is why I don't participate in some of the things that they do outside of camp. But while they thought it was very funny they did seem to understand what I meant. And it was just nice to talk to them.

Eventually they would both leave me and a couple of the tipi kids came back to wash my arts and crafts stuff that was donated from Camp Spencer for service hours. So I pulled a chair out front and gave them some scrubby things and a washbin and they worked for about 45 minutes and I read my book while they chatted and told me all their good gossip and weird stories. And it was a lot of fun.

Soon Tony would come by with Ty and they apparently were playing a game that is Camp wide where people are trading objects. Some objects are "worth" more than other things. Black plastic spoons are very rare and will worth a lot. So I happen to have a bunch of those so I handed those off. And other objects are worth more because you can trade based on someone's perceived value. And I have a whole box of weird objects so I let Ty and Tony go through it and they fought over it and ran around the building and it was very silly. But everyone was having a great time and there was lots of laughing. And everyone was like why do you have all this stuff?? And I'm like I don't know I just collect things over time. And some of it was old pieces of dollhouse furniture and collections and things I've come across and been given and I was glad that it was going to some people that would enjoy it even if it was for a silly game.

It ended up being called the trinket game and I decided I wanted it in on it too. So I held back a couple things that I thought were interesting and I gave a couple away to Louisa and to CJ. So that they can participate if they wanted to. Later in the night I found out that Louisa traded the pen I gave her for a battery and then traded that for a mini jenga block which she eventually traded for the god pen which is blue. And she's trying to trade it up for the god egg. I don't know who has the god egg right now but that's high prize. I have not traded anything yet but I will. Maybe tomorrow. I have some really neat little objects that I think I can get even more neat little objects for. And I just need it'll be funny to be part of the ecosystem. The economy if you will.

Dinner was fine. I really liked the roll. They also have very good tater tots. And I set up my table in the back again and CJ and Annabelle joined me and it was fun. It was nice talking to them. And just catching up about the highs and lows of the day. We're all kind of already a little burnt out and it's sucks that that's the position we've been put in when it's only the first week of camp. It's literally felt like a month. I really hope next week feels more normal because this week has been hard.

After dinner I wasn't really sure what was happening. There was a birthday so they sang and there was ice cream sandwiches and then they were talking about flag and honor cabin and Kona ice. And no one really knew what was going on. So I walked back up to the art building to look for more trinkets and then I came back to the lodge and would go with CJ to help collect the mail to go hand out at flag.

And at 5:00 they get honor cabin so that meant I'm going to go get Kona ice before there's a line of children. So I got my snowball and I decided to get pina colada like always but I put a little mango in it for fun. I may or may not do that again. maybe next week I will try a whole new flavor. There's one called tigers blood that I'm interested in.

I wasn't sure if I was going to go to skit night. But I decided to because CJ wanted me to sit with her. And it was long. We were there from 7:30 until 9:30. They really need to put a cap on how long the kids skits can be if they're going to allow them to do skits. Because those first three took a full half an hour. Blanche and her group performed a song. One of her original songs. She played the guitar while the kids song and it was so sweet. And there was a couple shadow boxing rounds and then the tipis did a hilarious inflatable boxing match which was so good. And then some of the girls did skit of counselor impressions but it was like more dynamic than normal so it was really really good. That was probably one of my favorites. They all pretended to be kids coming to ask to go outside in a storm and they would pretend to be a specific counselor and respond the way that that counselor would respond And it was very funny. They really captured the essence.

But it was long and all of us were kind of done by the end. The last one was the oldest boys doing shadow boxing which was fine but two other group sat down the shadow boxing as well so it was a little bit like ugh. And they took like 15 minutes to do their whole sketch because there was a highlight reel pretending that like these two guys were like teammates and then rivals and then they had a falling out and never played again and became coaches and it was a really good storyline but the actual shadow boxing took way too long. I do got to give it to them though Quan had spent $80 to buy a trophy that he had engraved and I just love the commitment to the bit. That is hilarious.

But finally we were done and I came back up to the arts building and wash my face and put on lotion and I feel a lot better. I did have to go back down to the lodge to get my picnic table because I had left it there because someone told me they wanted to use it for their skit but then that did not happen so it's fine. I mostly just wanted to be laying down.

And that is where I am now. I brushed my teeth and I'm charging my phone and I am hoping that tomorrow feels more normal. I have stockade and pioneers and woodlands and some day camp groups and then I get to go home. And I talked to Alexa before I came up here and she said she's not sure what tomorrow is going to look like because of the air quality. It's gotten worse as the day's gone by. But hopefully it continues on the other way and it doesn't get super bad again. Let's hope.

I hope that you all have a great night tonight. I hope that the smoke isn't bothering you. I love you all. Good night!

[jodilin65]

If the Honker went straight home and didn't stop anywhere in the US to visit anyone along the way, he's just in time for a 36° snowstorm. LMAO.

I'm back to being psychic in a neutral or a bad way. Neutral: The mystery girl told me she hates the word fat and prefers other definitions to describe someone on the hefty side. I have no idea if this is really true or not, so who knows? Negative: I was correct in suspecting that this lying dumbass pulmonologist wouldn't make things easier for us by simply writing a prescription for a CPAP.

When we saw him, he specifically told us that for insurance purposes, I would need to have an in-lab sleep study done. So when Tom decided to call and see if I was right or not — and whether we could get a break for once or rule that possibility out while I was sleeping — he was told it had absolutely nothing to do with insurance but that the doctor simply wanted to see what was going on because he's under the false delusion that I have insomnia rather than N24 because I'm not blind.

Any idiot can research multiple credible online sources and find out that although rare, it is indeed truly possible to be sighted and have this sleep disorder. Furthermore, I have every single symptom of it! It is similar in some aspects to delayed sleep phase, but that's definitely not what I have otherwise I could have and would have corrected it years ago. Unfortunately, this is N24 and it's 100% incurable. I'll never be able to get medication for it because it's a rich person's drug. No insurance company is going to pay for something that costs thousands of dollars and isn't a matter of life or death. Still furthermore is the fact that two sleep specialists confirmed that I have N24. So what more does anyone need — unless you just want to be a stupid, arrogant little fuck?

Although it may or may not cost us a little more and may not be quite as accurate, we're almost certainly going to drop this idiot and the sleep lab and go with the online option. Tom did more research, and they have good reviews overall. I'm going to be dealing with primary care doctors who will refer my results to a specialist. I’m not going to deal with the specialist directly.

Sometimes it helps to write out the ups and downs of things and sit back and look at it, and this is what I've come up with

Pros of Sleep Lab Study:

More accurate results

Possibly cheaper

Cons of Sleep Lab Study:

Unfamiliar and uncomfortable setting

More equipment hooked up to me

Might not be able to fall asleep when expected

Pros of In-Home Study:

More comfortable

Can do it on my own time

Tests for more than just sleep apnea

Cons of In-Home Study:

Less accurate

Potentially more expensive

We discovered some hidden rooms in Walkabout, but you really couldn't interact with anything. It was still kind of cool. It was fun to fly through this wall, then down the stairs and into a maze of hallways. There were doors along the way that you could peek through the windows of, but again, there wasn’t much you could actually do.

I'm on the third ride of the challenge. I went from Washington to Canada and then to Indiana. Two days ago, I was way too exhausted to ride, but yesterday, I rode for about 20 minutes. Despite sleeping 8.5 hours and getting a good sleep score according to Fitbit, I don't know if I'll have the energy to do any riding tonight.

I no longer need anything for my pulled tooth, but damn is my TMJ acting up lately. I don't understand why it's so much worse. While I would love to get the fatigue resolved, I hope this isn't going to end up being my next long-term problem since I’ve noticed they tend to overlap each other. It was when the worst of the anxiety began to fizzle out that the heavy fatigue set in.

Again, it’ll be a great test of just how cursed my sleep really is because if I get the CPAP back and get used to it, but other things start waking me up, well, that’ll pretty much reinforce the suspicion even more. God, I hope not, though! If I really am truly not meant to sleep well or have energy most of the time, then it would be a waste of time and money to go through the steps of getting the CPAP back.

Instead, I'm going to try to be hopeful and think of all I'd like to do once my energy is restored. I want to get into more forms of exercise and back to my creative writing. It’s hard to focus even on blogging when you're so fatigued so much of the time.

I just hope this really is the sleep apnea I think it is and not chronic fatigue or chronic leukemia!

So NaNoWriMo is going away. I don’t miss it. As soon as they radically revamped their site, both Aly and I got sick of it. It just wasn’t the same. Such stupid controversy over AI is the reason. As Tom and I were talking and agreed on, what the hell is wrong with using AI to help you write a story? How is it much different than using a dictionary as long as it’s used for the proper reasons? As long as you don’t have it write your story for you, it’s a great learning tool and really helps improve spelling and grammar, just like dictionaries and programs like Grammarly.

Camp NaNoWriMo still exists, but I deleted my account. They changed both sites and they just weren’t what they used to be or what I signed up for (and worse with Aly gone). I hate it when apps and websites become something totally different.

Instead of arguing about whether trans athletes should compete on women’s or men’s teams, why not create teams specifically for trans athletes? While I fully support trans — expressing oneself is one thing — identifying as something you’re not is another. I believe that, scientifically, sex is binary. You can feel something, and you can want to be something, but it doesn’t mean you are that thing, whether you like it or not.

I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I have a vibe about possibly moving in August of next year. I don’t see how we could get out that fast, but we’ll see. It’s just a feeling I’ve been having, even though it’s not overly strong. It will be interesting to see if it fades over time or gets stronger.

Later…

Started much of this entry before I crashed. So as I was saying, my TMJ had been acting up, but I’ve also been having sneezing fits, particularly in the bedroom. We suspected the sheets Tinkerbella plays in that are on the closet floor. Since rats do have dander, even if it’s not as much as cats, Tom washed them. Ironically, the sneezing fits seemed to help my TMJ, so I might have had congestion putting pressure on the eustachian tube.

The tomato plant has gotten so big and bushy that it literally tipped over the tube it's in, so Tom glued the tube down since tape wasn’t enough. He also planted some seeds in dirt and thanks to my fucked-up memory and being in a tiny house with so much stuff piled on top of each other, I can’t find the packet with the names of what they are. We just know they’re various kinds of berries. I should recognize any that make it.

Anyway, it's nice to have friends I chat with when I’m on days and then my nighttime buddy north of me when I’m on nights. I appreciate and value your friendship. 🙂

[yourbonafidelove]

Smith Street & S.Barlett - 1hr - 1:hr & 25 minutes ago

I hold my breath when they come through the 3 way stop, But it's only because they brake,

When it's another grill coming my way I close my eyes and say thank you. Relieved.

The cops braking in their unmarked chevy truck is like the going into remission one last time -- fucking pointless, with suffering included. More on this shortly.

Lunch Time: The Conversation At Mysticle With Steve Plays Back

Here's How Our Conversation At Mysticle Went, While You Sat On The Large White Deep Freezer by the Folding Doors:

You tell me to look her up. You tell me that's your dream girl.

And I don't care where it's going, You can tell me she's a fucking tranny, But I know it's all about the frame,

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Mercedes Blanche · Original audio

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And all I said was...

"I'm sorry, I love you so much but my heart is broken. [Teary eyes and a crackling pinch at the top of my nose] And I never want to see you again." And I meant it. I fucking meant it.

My heart and soul cry at how they pick n chose. The heart is on the surface, like a first heartache -- but the soul is the light that never comes back on, because you suffocated it of oxygen, and fuel, and life. "That conversation will have you taken for shallow" Says Char

"I'm good with shallow Char. What I'm not good for is being taken for not-push-into tracks-ready when you (Steve) already lost Dr. Elana

And for you to have the audacity to bring up with Mercedez shit with me, You had 2 occasions where you stood in a room with my best friend, Where you had his wife painting my sisters nails, passed out on a bed on the floor of a house in oshawa, You had the audacity to pull this shit twice, when I only gave you once,

And spread shit at the perfect time like that man that nearly killed me " That was a moment I had to look at my best friend, and Char, And tell them with my eyes alone that Steve kills me in the end. Just like Orville -- just like Orville and loving it.

-------

Steve looks at me amused --- he is amused with me dying The way it amused Orville when he tortured me In my wake and in my sleep Steve is amused with me dying.

--------

I repeat the following to myself in my head, Knowing the suffering is coming to a swift end Because I've fucking had it I don't give a flying fuck about that generator. I don't give a flying fuck about that generator. I don't give a flying fuck about that generator. I don't give a flying fuck about refueling the generator to a house that has had the power and light cut from it. I don't give a flying fuck about that last $5 or refueling the generator. Let the house go dark. Let my eyes go dark. I don't give a flying fuck about that generator.

2:50pm-3:15pm: I keep walking around like I'm gonna wake up and somebody is going to be there. But You don't come. You don't come baby. (Telling myself to suck it the fuck up, get over it, and move the fuck on -- With Steve/Harmony Rd getting a piece of me in the process. Yeah, the cops still show up in the middle of the night and take our children from their beds and homes. Fuck the colour orange, now they just dress in grey and call a mental health nurse for the suffering they created.)

5:00pm-5:31pm

Sitting At Smith St & S. Barlett, Kingston Ontario Canada then walking of to Giant Tiger on Princess Street

If Tomorrow Never Comes - Swiss & Etana Comes to mind, the lyrics play on my heart But I picture 2.57seconds in from Everytime When he's pulling her out of the bathtub I think of you holding me the same way And I'm telling you It's going to be okay And to let me go And there's nothing we can do because the cops on the wrong side set it up this way, And I promise you I am at peace, And I slip back under the water, And under the surface my eyes are closed But I'm still smiling, telling you I am okay. And I am at peace, If a Toronto person had run that stop and left me dead on that sidewalk, the cops lingering around still would have been too late

- To save me - To end this story differently - To catch a bad guy ---

Because the driver must've been/must be a good one. (Because God is good, all the time) 5:31pm: I ask someone crossing infront of Giant Tiger on Princess Street for the time. I am waiting for the 501 downtown.

The last 501 passed me as I left Smith St and S.Barlett approx 10 minutes ago. 6:11pm: Humming Cover Me Up - Morgan Wallen 6:11pm - Downtown I read the sign with the time and location just after I get on the 2 - Kingston Centre - SLC