#went to bed before everyone else Saturday night and woke up Sunday morning to just an amazing tableaux

[charmwasjess]

Super fun weekend at the music festival despite the 100F degree heat!

Traveling the first half of this month, I really missed my friends, and it was incredibly good to have the grimy intimacy of camping together at a 5K person festival: stacked together in a too-small tent, feeding each other sips of beer and water, hands to hold on the way home from the dancing.

The best music I heard was Tall Tall Trees which is a one man psychedelic banjo act (I know but seriously it was amazing) The best thing I ate was this steak my friend cooked on a camp stove - I don't even really like steak, but he's one of those people who make an artistry out of cooking it. The best thing I drank was a really tart, really super cold blackberry cider. My favorite thing was probably our little space: it was less attended than in years past so we were able to spread out with a few canopies and made a beautiful little camp for ourselves with rugs and tapestries and flowers from my garden.

[carbondioxidewater]

Make A Move (Pt. 5)

footballplayer!Sukuna x fem!reader

genre: slow-burn romance, college au, fluff, angst

warnings: none so far

word: 3.1

(-> Pt. 1) (-> Pt. 2) (-> Pt. 3) (-> Pt. 4) (-> masterlist)

On sunday morning, you woke up early, even though you hadn't been sleeping much. The events of the previous day came back to you one after the other. First, you thought about the game and Sukuna's impressive skills in it.

You reflected on the motorcycle ride with him and how he drove you to the Rainbow Bridge just so you could see the city at night. That must've been one of the most thoughtful things anyone has ever done for you. You turned over on your side in your bed, smiling.

And then you remembered how you almost kissed and how he treated you completely different later at the party than when you were alone. A feeling of embarrassment washed over you again at the thought that everyone present had noticed Sukuna not wanting to kiss you. Not that you were dying to feel his soft lips, probably salty from the sweat - no, that wasn't it. Because even if that were the case, it was more the fact of how and why he rejected you that was bothering you.

But asking him was out of the question. After all, you still had enough pride left to not give him that pleasure. After all, he wasn't obliged to kiss you. You shouldn't let anything show, otherwise he might get the wrong idea. And with that mentality, you went to your first lecture on Monday.

After the lecture, you entered the cafeteria. Today they cooked vegetarian pasta again and it always tasted delicious. You grabbed a plate, had it filled up, and walked over to the where the silverware was. As you were putting down your tray, someone spoke up directly from the side.

"I got your message, by the way."

You weren't startled this time.

"Did you know that people usually greet each other before starting a conversation?" you expressed calmly and Sukuna burst out laughing. You always managed to entertain him.

"Sorry, hi princess."

"Hi." you said quietly, a gloomy feeling at the nickname. "What message?"

"Yuji told me he should wish me 'good luck' from you."

"So?"

"Well, I certainly was lucky, after all you really came. But..." he didn't finish his sentence, obviously waiting for your reaction. Was he really trying to flirt with you again? This man was difficult.

You took your tray and moved towards one of the tables. Of course Sukuna followed you and sat down on the opposite chair. You sighed.

"But what, Sukuna? What do you want?" you asked in annoyance.

"You should give me your number. I couldn't even make sure you got home safe on Saturday." he flashed his shiny white teeth at you.

"Why do you care? I went home with my friends." you said, but not snippy, more in a neutral tone.

"I know that." he simply returned and didn't seem to have anything else to say. He just looked at you.

Seriously? He doesn't mention what happened at all? Well, if he can act like nothing happened, so can you.

"I don't like being watched while eating." you said bluntly and Sukuna couldn't help but smile.

"Why, are your table manners so terrible?" he countered. You puffed.

"Aren't you hungry?" you then asked, whereupon he told you that he had already eaten.

"I saw you and with you the opportunity."

"The opportunity for what?" you then questioned.

"Asking you for your number."

"You have my address already, that should be enough."

You would not let him get any closer to you.

He chuckled and you ate the first forkful of pasta.

"So you don't want to give it to me?" he carried on.

"Obviously not."

"Okay, I'll find a way. Oh, and enjoy your meal." he winked at you. And then he stood up and left the table.

Finally you could eat in peace.

You didn't see him for the next few days, which gave you enough time to concentrate on your studies. It was thursday evening and you had to give in your assignment for neurolinguistics, the due date was today. You quickly finished explaining how the priming effect works, when suddenly Utahime entered your room with the mail in her hand.

"Oh, are you finished for today already?" you asked, referring to her job, to which she nodded.

"But look at this!" she said, astonished, and waved a letter in front of your face.

The letter was addressed to you, but had no sender. Strange.

You opened it and the content was a single sheet of paper with a few lines written on it.

"You're right, your address is enough. If you don't want to give me your number, I'll have to try this way ;)"

Your face immediately heated up, you never thought he would go out of his way like that. But what was he doing that for? What was his ulterior motive?

Utahime saw your shocked face and read the letter. Then she laughed.

"Wow, he's really trying. Have you eaten yet? Should we order something?"

And together, you ended the evening with a juicy pizza.

But on the next day, you found a note in your locker too. You opened the folded paper and it said:

"Meet me under the bleachers"

Oh God, your heart was pounding. Just what was he thinking?

You decided to meet him at the stands to ask him to stop this whole thing. Even though you were really flattered by the attention, it still hurt your ego that he apparently thought he could win you over like that. Was it working? Maybe a little, but he didn't have to know that. And you definitely wouldn't fall for it any further.

When you finally got there, there was no sign of him. You asked the few players practicing on the field about him.

"Sukuna? No, he's not here. As far as I know he has a philosophy class right now."

Philosophy? You didn't even know that was his second subject. But that explained why he was around you so often, because philosophy and linguistics were taught in the same building. But why did he send you here then? Nothing he did made sense and you were slowly getting fed up with this chaos.

You were just on your way back into the building when all of a sudden, you bumped into someone's back on accident. He turned around and to your surprise, it was the menace himself.

"Careful." he laughed lightly. But you were a bit pissed at him right now and just walked past him. He walked after you.

"Hey, where are you going?" he yelled.

"I don't feel like playing your games. Find someone else to annoy." you said without even looking at him.

He grabbed your wrist and brought you to a stop. When you tried to escape his grip, he blocked you with his arm and caged you in.

"Calm down. What's going on with you?" Sukuna exclaimed.

"No, what's going on with you? Why do you leave those notes in my locker, arrange a meeting and then don't come?"

"That's what it is about?" He chuckled. "Now do you see how complicated it is? If I had your number, you would have known when I wrote the message."

You were flabbergasted, was that really his plan behind all this? To show you the need to exchange numbers?

"Or you can just write the time next time!" you spat out.

"Next time? So you like when I leave you letters?" he smirked and upset you with his presumptuous words.

"Don't twist my words..." you pouted and looked to the side. He let you go now, you had calmed down.

"Then what do you say: We have another game next Friday. If we win, I get your number, if we lose... well, you can choose."

"Why do you want my number so badly?" you probed.

"Because I like you. You're fun to be around."

This confession knocked you off balance, but you swallowed your speechlessness. In the end, two could play that game.

"Okay, if you lose, you'll never ask me for my number again." You smiled mischievously and he followed suit, tilting your chin upwards with his big hand before responding.

"It's settled then."

You stayed at Shoko's for the weekend, since you wanted to binge-watch the new season of your series. Utahime didn't like the show and had to work anyway, so it was just the two of you tonight.

After a few episodes, however, it turned into a deep talk session. You told Shoko everything that had happened with Sukuna so far and she reprimanded you for getting into this 'pact'.

"His team will win either way, the only ones who would have a chance against them are the UOT." she explained and you thought about her words.

UOT? Of course! They say their quarterback is on par with Sukuna. They are the biggest rivals!

"Are they gonna play against each other too?" you wondered.

"I think not until the very end of the season. That's the most important game after all."

The end of the season... So in about 8 weeks. But wait a minute...

"How do you even know that?" you stared at Shoko in amazement and she looked up at the ceiling.

"A few of my high school friends are on this team. Utahime knows them too."

"What? Why am I only finding out about this now?" you shifted in your seat, grinning at her. She shrugged.

"I never thought it was important. After all, you haven't been interested in football until now."

You nodded. Then your phone rang. You took it from the coffee table and saw that it was Utahime, but before you could even pick up, she already hung up.

"Who was it?" Shoko interrupted and you told her, but you two didn't think much of it.

You thought that maybe she called you on accident, so you sent her a message asking "are you okay?" and checked her location. She was still at the hotel. A few minutes later, she finally replied and confirmed that everything was indeed alright.

"Okay she just replied, she's fine. But next time we're all together, you two have to tell me more about your mysterious old friends." You waggled your eyebrows and Shoko laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, even if there's not really much to tell."

And then you were back in the stadium, this time, on your campus. It was a home game and the people on the stands were louder than at the last game, but this time you secured yourselves better seats. You were sitting in the front row now!

At the opening, all of the players walked onto the field and turned to the audience. Sukuna waved at the big crowd, his eyes moving from left to right, and finally rested his gaze on you, a small smirk spreading on his face. And then it was kickoff. As always, Sukuna's leading skills ensured a successful first half. It was clear that the team had been a unit for a long time, as well as they complemented each other.

After the first half, there was the usual break and you used it to quickly go use the bathroom. The line was long though, of course you weren't the only one who had to go after such a long time. But luckily, it quickly emptied and after you were done, the break was almost over. While the water was tingling on your hand, you heard a few girls coming in, chattering. You recognized the cheerleaders, one of them was the blonde girl named Manami.

"So, how are things going with Sukuna now?" asked Manami's friend.

At the mention of that name, you became very wary. You felt like you were eavesdropping, but you couldn't turn off your hearing sense after all.

"I think he likes me." Manami said the words dreamily, but you couldn't listen to their conversation any longer, because if you stayed at the sink for too long, you would attract their attention. You dried your hands and then went out the door.

What was their true relationship to each other? She thinks he likes her? What is he doing for her to think that? You had a weird gut feeling on your way back and when your friends noticed, they asked if you were okay. You lied to them and, thank goodness, that feeling disappeared as soon as the second half of the game started again.

And as Shoko predicted, your team won. The others weren't bad by any means, but Sukuna isn't feared in the world of football for nothing. He once again secured a great victory and after the game ended, his teammates all ran towards him to celebrate.

They picked him up and carried him to the front of the stands while you and the others clapped for their success. Many shouted his name, others shouted for the other players, but his grinning, smug look was only on you.

His comrades let him down and the crowd slowly started to leave the stands as Sukuna continued to keep you under his spell. He stepped on a bench in front of it, leaned his elbow on the railing of ​​the stands and pulled out a small piece of paper from his pocket. He pressed it between his fingers proudly and held it in front of his slightly tilted face, a mischievous smile on it, so that you could make out the numbers on the note.

You narrowed your eyes in an attempt to see more clearly and as the digits became visible, you recognized them as your phone number.

How did he-

You were about to ask him that, but Aoi intervened, jumping onto the bench and putting his arm over Sukuna's shoulder, happily dragging him into the locker room.

When you finally came down the stairs, you decided to wait for Sukuna outside. Your friends were talking about something you didn't pay attention to.

Then the door opened and you walked towards Sukuna expectantly, but he was stopped by Manami at that moment. You saw her putting her arm around his and how she walked to the parking lot with him. That made you abandon the whole plan and you went back home with your girls.

When you got there, you got a message from an unknown number.

unknown number: not even curious how I got your number?

That was definitely Sukuna. Your mood immediately worsened. You just couldn't figure him out. You threw your phone on the bed and made yourself something to eat. Cooking should calm you down, so you put on some music and started chopping. It took half an hour before you got the motivation to text him back.

you: aren't you out with the cheerleader right now?

You sent the message and threw your phone away from you again. Why had you been so direct? You were about to take your phone to delete the message, but Sukuna had already replied.

unknown number: oh you're curious about something else I see. u stalking me? ;)

you: no, I just saw you two together after the game. hope you had fun.

unknown number: yea sure had.

you: good for you.

Somehow the message came across as more bitter than you anticipated, and Sukuna also noticed the harsh tone.

unknown number: wait, you weren't seriously thinking I was after you, were you?

you: of course not? I was being genuine.

You were not. He typed.

unknown number: well then, that's good.

And then you left him on read. Asshole.

The whole weekend was spent trying to figure Sukuna out, but as much as you tried, his motives remained unclear to you. You even started listing different possibilities together with Shoko and Utahime, but for every idea there was something in Sukuna's behaviour that didn't add up. You set up three theories:

REASON NUMBER ONE: He really just likes you platonically. But then why did he flirt with you sometimes, why did he almost kiss you, why did he put in such an effort into getting your number?

REASON NUMBER TWO: He was just trying to get into your pants. Maybe there was something going on with this girl, Manami, and he didn't want her to find out. But then why did he never make a move on you like that? Apart from the teasing, he's never been disrespectful or dirty towards you.

And, this was the most unlikely one, but,

REASON NUMBER THREE: He had a serious interest in you. But then, why wouldn't he just be straight forward? Why was this girl all over him at all times? And why didn't he do something against it? Or was he keeping the both of you as mere options?

Whatever it was, it was getting on your nerves. And you decided you wanted to make clear to him that the both of you should either be friends or nothing.

You were just taking a few things out of your locker when there was a sudden bang next to you. You took the last book out of it and then looked at the source.

"Boo." Sukuna called out, pressing his lower arm against the locker. He was wearing a simple white sweater with the sleeves rolled up, but it was so tight that it highlighted his broad, big chest. His hand was clenched into a fist, which meant that you had a perfect view of his flexing muscles as well.

You gulped and tried not to let on how attractive that was to you, because you couldn't afford to seem weak in front of him.

"Wow I'm so scared." you commented and closed your locker.

"I bet you are, now that I've got your number." he claimed. Then you faced him.

"Where did you get it from anyway?" you wondered. You still didn't have a single clue.

He smiled wickedly again.

"Why don't you ask your friend Utahime?"

Safe to say that's not what you expected coming out of his mouth.

"You're lying." you doubted.

"Why would I do that?" he replied with a foxy grin.

You took a deep breath.

"Alright, I'm gonna ask her later. But can we stop with the constant banter, it's giving me a headache."

"Oh, why's that?" he came closer, but you pushed him away again.

"It was fun in the beginning, but it's getting annoying now. Let's just be normal friends." you proposed.

"Friends?" Sukuna raised an eyebrow gently, considering your words and quirking a small smile. "You wanna befriend me?" he seemed oddly delighted about that. You didn't know if he was poking fun at you or not.

"Yeah, isn't that what you wanted?" you inquired, dumbfounded by his reaction.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course. Alright, let's be friends then." he stared down at you, a gleam in his eyes that you couldn't make out.

Yes, it would definitely be better to be friends. That way, he wouldn't constantly irritate you with his mixed signals.

And with that, your friendship with the star player began.

RAHHH he's so confusing!!! Wdym you send me LETTERS to contact me?!?!?! And then say you're not after me? ARGHHH

What do you think his intentions are? As always, reblogs and comments are so so appreciated! I wanna hear your thoughts about it so bad! <3

taglist: @miakxn @aureliaborea @nonamevenus @silkija @sad-darksoul @joh-ahae @mysteriaqueen @rebirthbunbun @inflatabledinosaurs19

[nicistrying]

We had SUCH a busy weekend

Friday night we went out for dinner to celebrate Matt's brother finishing his PhD. All the family came for food and then the parents went home and we all stayed out for cocktails and actually had a lovely time considering there's been a lot of drama over the past year

Saturday we had our menu tasting and meeting with our wedding coordinators. They had set us up on the table where we'll be sitting on the day, brought us a glass of each house wine, and we had the whole room to ourselves to sit and eat. And the food was freaking delicious oh my god. Carrot & coriander soup, cheese tart w red onion marmalade, and heritage tomatoes w goats cheese for starters

We didn't try the mains but we'll be having beetroot gnocchi, mushroom & truffle risotto and something else I can't remember..

Desserts are chocolate hazelnut cake, tiramisu & raspberry pavlova

And they were all absolutely delicious. We were so excited after that meeting bc we worry about the money we're spending etc but to be honest, a lot of wedding food isn't great and we are so excited for everyone to actually really enjoy the food at ours! And it was so lovely to sit at our table and imagine what it'll be like on the day 🥹 The little tables will be pushed together to make bigger ones and I've finally finished the table plan with allocated seats and all. Sending that to them today

After that we went to my mams' for an hour as they were having a little bbq in their garden so we went just to show face. Picked Maggie up from Matt's parents' and came home, I did the grocery shopping and we went to bed early bc we were so full and nauseous from all the food 😂

Sunday, I did housework all morning, cleaned the car, picked up my bridesmaids and took them to get their dresses altered. They all look so beautiful omg. I've kept the scraps of fabric to make them each a little scrunchie or something as a thank you after the wedding bc I do not have time on my hands to be learning to sew 6 weeks before the wedding 🤣

Dropped my sisters off and stayed out for an iced coffee with my maid of honour.. we had a lovely catch up and her fiancé came to join us after a while too. Came home and refused to make dinner until I'd had a lie down out in the sun bc it was so hot and I'd been driving all day..

.. I fell asleep for 2 hours and woke up at 7.30 thankfully not burned bc I had put sun cream on before I went out, got up and made dinner in a hurry, had a bath and went to bed.

Just got back from walking Mags this morning, had breakfast, about to log on for work. I'm fucking exhausted but roll on a new week! 😂

Oh and bonus pic from Saturday's walk! She sat here to get her lead on and she looked so sweet in all the poppies

[dollycas]

Sunday Salon / Sunday Post – A Week in the Life of Dollycas – Weekly Rewind – New Arrivals

The Sunday Salon is a Facebook group that has become an informal week-in-review gathering place for bloggers. It is also a place to share our thoughts about things of a bookish nature. You can also link up weekly on Readerbuzz. The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received, and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE! Monday was my birthday. I received many birthday wishes all day long. Check-ins from the kids and grandkids are always special. We were all looking forward to getting together on the 4th but something tragic happened in our hometown in the early morning hours that could have changed the whole day. Columbus has a huge Independence Day Celebration that lasts several days with a carnival, live music, bingo, a parade, tons of food, and fireworks, but at 1:31 AM on July 4th, a police officer responded to what he thought were fireworks being set off in the downtown area. There were also 911 calls about a fight. When the officer arrived on the scene he found a man who had been shot. He died soon after at the hospital. Columbus is a small town of about 5500 people and a murder happening there is rare, but the small-town police department did a fantastic job. They assembled all resources needed from the city, county, and beyond. They gathered video evidence from the local business and the community to identify the suspect and the path he took fleeing the scene. They found the gun in that path. They worked the scene diligently knowing that in just a few hours tons of people would be arriving to watch the parade whose route went right through their crime scene. They also had to be sure there was no threat to the public. Before the parade started there was a plan to reroute the parade around the downtown area, but by noon, the parade start time, the police had cleared the scene and learned the suspect had left town and was probably in the state capital city of Madison about 45 minutes away. With the help of the Madison SWAT team, the man was apprehended shortly after the parade ended, about 12 hours after the shooting. The victim owned a popular restaurant in town and was very well-liked. There has been an outpouring of support for his family. My heart breaks for the family and this wonderful town I call home. After the parade, we were able to gather with our extended family. The mosquitoes were fierce and it rained off and on but we had our canopies up and plenty of bug spray.  Great food and conversation made for a very good time. Watching the kids running around and playing together tickled my heart. The city's fireworks had been postponed to Saturday night due to the rain but that didn't stop Son #2 from setting off a few of our own in the pouring rain.  Or me sitting in the rain to watch them. Sadly that rain got harder and harder and followed us home. When we went to bed the basement was fine. When we woke up there was a couple of feet of water down there again and it was still coming in and things were floating. We didn't fair as well as we did the last time. Totes had opened and things like a chest that held precious things that while up high fell in with everything else. My wedding dress which I hadn't opened since it was packaged to protect it from occurrences like this 41 years ago was recovered, wet, and with some mysterious blue spots, along with the jacket and the veil. I'm sure it can be cleaned and saved. Books, fabrics, DVDs, things that belonged to son #1, and more weren't so lucky. We are still assessing the damage and cleaning up the mess. We have decided not to tempt fate and store anything down there again. We hadn't had any issues with rain like this before but now if it happens a 3rd time that would not be the charm. How was your week? Weekly Rewind - July 1 - 6, 2024 Monday - My Reading Itinerary Monday! – Week #27 – 2024 Tuesday - Photo Finished: A Picture Perfect Cozy Mystery (A Snapshot of NYC Mystery) by Christin Brecher #Review / #Giveaway @christinbrecherbooks Wednesday - Cozy Wednesday featuring Come Shell or High Water (A Haunted Shell Shop Mystery) by Molly MacRae #Review / #Giveaway @MysteryMacRae Plus - D. S. Lang And - Ruth J. Hartman Thursday - Happy Independence Day! Friday - #FlashbackFriday – Dewey Decimated (A Haunted Library Mystery) by Allison Brook #Review / #Giveaway @AllisonBrookML @crookedlanebooks Plus - Paula Charles – Janna Rollins Saturday - Ghost and the Haunted House (Genie and Adriana Darling Cozy Paranormal Ghost Mysteries) by Carmen Radtke #Spotlight / #Giveaway – Great Escapes Book Tour Plus - A Chocolate is Announced (Bean to Bar Mysteries) by Amber Royer #GuestPost / #Giveaway – Great Escapes Book Tour #guestpost #giveaway @amberroyerauthor Happy Reading! Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent Read the full article

[ocean-anchored]

Dear future self... March 6, 2023

I was really excited to write this weekend and then I woke up quite grumpy today. I was really tired, I feel like I haven’t been sleeping the best even though I slept in Sunday morning as we went to the later Church Service. Work today pissed me off. Rod is driving me nuts, payables is overbearing and after a frustrating day Dillion just topped it all off. The ignorance he has is so frustrating. He knew exactly what he was getting into when he signed the lease, we all agreed that regardless, we were all splitting the utilities 3 ways. It didn’t matter if I were to go on holiday for 2 or more weeks, or he be working for two weeks, or Cody be house sitting for two weeks. You pay or portion because everything is split. Now to come back and tell me that it’s not fair that he’s paying for March utilities when he’s the one that is breaking the lease, he’s the one who put us in a position of having to find someone ASAP which fine, yes someone’s taking over when he said he’d be out by but it’s not my problem that he’s not coming back this month to “use the utilities”. For fuck sakes we signed an agreement, everything split. If eh wanted to be out by Febraury 28th he should have just arranged that and had Bob move in March 1st so he was paying. But for him to literally throw a fit that it’s not right that he’s paying and then go on to say how he’s paying more rent... like are you fucking kidding me? Because you have the master and ensuite, no shit you pay more when you wanted it that way. Not to mention that I pay the pet fee and I clean up after his fucking dog, I look after his dog when he leaves her for over 24 hours at a time, I clean up after him, I always arrange for his damn room to be clean before he’s home, I clean his fucking bed sheets, I clean the mess he leaves every single time he’s here, all I do is fucking help this shit head. Pick him up from the airport when he didn’t get on his flight, help him with every thing he constantly begs for help on, fills out his fire arms renewal forms, pick up his mail like for fuck sake what the fuck do I get in return? I get nothing. I maybe get taken out for Sushi for all the shit that I do for him yet he does absolute fuck all for me in return ever, for anything. He’s the most self centered man. This last time around, Cody really explained things better on how he is and no one is ever impressed with him. All he does is look out for himself and fuck everyone else around him. No offence but no fucking wonder he has no friends, because all he does is take. & then he has the audacity to be an asshole and say cry me a river. Fuck that. Fuck that friendship it’s over. I was so angry when I got home today. I’ve cooled down now but seriously I want nothing to do with him. I don’t care, I’m done. I’m literally done helping that kid, he doesn’t deserve all the shit that I do for him.  Anyways. Rant over. The rest of last week was good. I finally had a few down days where I just watched shows and stuck to myself. I needed that time. The last few weeks have been so insanely busy with back to back things that I felt like any downtime that I had, I just shut down and didn’t want to talk to anyone, just needed space. I feel a bit more refreshed now though. Recap of last week - Wednesday went to Jeremiah’s for a movie night with Steven, Amanda and Christian which was good. Thursday Jeremiah came over with Theo so he could check out the place and feel comfortable. Nova and him played so well, it was so nice to see how quick she took to him so that was really great. Went to a sushi place called Nupo with Sasha & her friend which was really nice. It was a fancy place, food was amazing. It was good company, I enjoy them and we had a good time. Probably not a regular hang out vibe I think but nice to get together every few weeks with her.  Saturday morning I decided to go out to Cochran for a walk and then ended up going out to Canmore for a good part of the day. Nova’s leg has been sore lately and she’s been limping off and on so I didn’t want to push it but she acted like nothing was wrong so I scooted to Canmore because it was so nice out. Went over to Grassi Lakes for once, it was cool cause I stopped to take a photo & a girl was just sitting down staring out & I struck up convo with her. Ended up sitting and chatting with her for probably 15-20 minutes which was really nice and we swapped IG’s as she’s from Toronto but has a big love for the mountains. Saturday night Jeremiah invited me for beers at Marda Loop Brewing with some of his English friends which was also a good night. Had fun and good conversation, good laughs. Sunday went to the late church service, as always it was so good. Worship keeps getting me in the feels. Came home & Jeremiah dropped Theo off for a few hours, took them to the park and they had a lot of fun, they did really well. I know Nova get’s this pack mentality that she has to protect whatever dog she’s with but she also is so much more out going, she actually will go run and follow the dog she’s with and visit with other dogs so it’s nice to see. I do love her more than anything. Went over to Ambers sunday night for a games night. She’s got such a cute place with her BF and I finally got to meet Evee. I love those dogs, they’re so sweet. & love that girl. They made dinner and we played Settlers with her brother & his GF, it was really such a nice night. It was a great week really. I feel like I’ve been having so much more of those now this year and it’s nice. I mean, I got in my head the other night about Jeremiah. After Saturday night I got into thinking & wondering if he’s just inviting me out because he feels bad that I’m watching Theo for nothing & that’s his “return” is inviting me out. Idk. I want to think that’s my anxiety and my lack of confidence. Again I know none of these are dates, I really don’t think he thinks of me like that anyways but saturday night was really just me, him and this english girl & guy so I mean I know he doesn’t have to invite me to any of these things, let alone out side of hanging with Steven because that’s how we originally got to know each other but he has continued inviting me out so it’s nice. I know he has a lot of friends so really it’s just nice to meet new people and slowly build community. Anyways. I’m tired and I have to be up early as Theo’s coming over tomorrow again for the day so it’ll be a busy day. I continue to look forward to this month and next as friendships keep unfolding and as I continue to not turn down opportunity. It’ll be interesting to see where I am in 6 months from now. Glad I have this space for writing. It really does help me gather and let out my thoughts. I remember re-reading last years post and it really was full of emotion. I wrote some frustrated, angry messages about Richardt & men (mostly because their stupid duh) but some sad about missing my brother but had some good happy moments too. It’s nice to be able to write that all out and be able to later reflect on it. Will I feel like I overreacted by next week, a month, 6 months from now with this Dillon thing? Idk. I guess we’ll see, but as of right now that bridge is burned and in my eyes there’s not really any friendship left. Mostly because there wasn’t really much of a friendship before except a one sided giver & taker.

[damiano-mylove]

How you met them and what dating the members of Måneskin would be like

GN!reader, slight NSFW for Damiano *Masterlist*

Vic

You'd definitely meet Vic at the grocery store

She goes grocery shopping every Saturday at 10 am, and you don't know that because you're creepy, you know that because you do as well (being an adult and such)

Over time, you'd both start to notice seeing each other at the same times and places

Vic would eventually come over, after having traded more than a dozen looks with you

At first, she would give you a random complement (that made your heart soar for reasons unbeknownst to you at the time), and you would immediately compliment her back because there are so many things to complement about the unknown girl at the shops

Those random complements would soon turn into full blown conversations that you both looked forward to, every Saturday at 10 am

Conversations turned into doing your grocery shopping together

Vic would ask you to lunch after one of your grocery shopping adventures, which you gladly accepted given the beautiful woman had stolen your heart at first glance

Lunch would go absolutely swimmingly, and it became the new thing

Your relationship with Vic would evolve from doing your grocery shopping together, then having lunch, to basically spending every Saturday together, then seeing each other other days of the week

One night, having drinks at Vic's place, just the two of you, Vic would join your lips together in a sweet harmony that felt all too right

You brushed off the night as drunken kissing

But she held you hand at lunch that following Saturday, and asked to kiss you before you parted ways

The conversation was bound to happen, and it did. After that, you and Vic were officially an item

She introduced you to her friends, and you did the same - your group loving Vic, and her's loving you

Dating Vic would be full of gentle love bites on your tender neck, fruity red wine, painting your nails matching colours, and late nights

On those late nights, Vic would hold you close, a film playing softly in the back, while her attention laid on you

You, her person, her rock. You made Vic's heart go ablaze and she wouldn't trade you for the world

Nor would you for her

Thomas

Thomas gives off strong Boy-Next-Door vibes

One day, your interest was sparked by moving vans outside your window - someone was moving into the flat above you

It was a very loud day (furniture scraping the floors, heavy boxes being dropped, many feet with much too heavy footsteps) but you were baking

You had a function to attend to the following day, so your day was already planned as a day for baking your famous biscuits that literally everyone loved

Ingredients may have a price tag, but kindness does not. Once all the noise subsided, you brought a plate of cookies up to your new neighbour (hoping to at least buy their friendship so they wouldn't annoy you constantly)

When Thomas opened the door, your stomach immediately turned to static

He looked a little tired, no doubt from freshly moving in, but his beauty was still breathtaking

Thomas smiled at you sweetly and thanked you profusely for the biscuits - he told you about how his grandmother made the same type and he loved them

The next day, right after you'd come back from your function, Thomas brought you back the plate with a bashful smile - 'The biscuits were divine, better than grandmama's'

You giggled at his statement, then invited him in for tea and to finish off the biscuits that were "left over" (you'd actually saved them for yourself, but there was no one else you'd rather share them with)

Happily for the both of you, Thomas accepted the invitation, and he stayed in your flat, drinking tea with you and eating biscuits, till the wee hours of the next day

You and Thomas shared smiles from your balconies and the street below, but when you'd be walking the stairs together, it always turned into an invitation for a drink, or to watch a game, or just a chat

About a month and a half of friendship, Thomas asked you to the cinema

You gladly went with him

In the middle of the film, your hands bumped together, both reaching for the popcorn on your lap - resulting in heated faces and looking away

Thomas walked you back to your flat that night, leaving you with a kiss on the cheek and legs made of jelly

That next day, Thomas asked you to dinner

'Is this a date or just a hang out?'

'It can be whatever you'd like.'

To no one's surprise, you chose the former option

You never officially confirmed your dating status, but you'd figure Thomas introducing you to his family as his partner was confirmation enough

Dating Thomas would include him singing you mellow songs in the evenings, longing glances shared across rooms, lots of tea at all hours of the day, and extremely stupid jokes that turned sickeningly sweet

Those jokes would occupy your mind for days on end, cherishing every single joke shared

Ethan

As cliche as it sounds, you'd meet in a bar

There was a game on between Lazio and Milan - and you both were dragged there by your friends

People clamored around the bar and television screens, screaming and yelling, and everyone decked out in jerseys (the Lazio jerseys outnumbered the Milan jerseys 3:1)

Funnily enough, you met Ethan in the corridor for the toilets

'With a line this long, I might as well piss outside'

For a first impression, Ethan really did make an impression. One that made you laugh and his cheeks tint red at the knowledge that someone heard him say that

It sparked a conversation while you both waited in the long lines

You discovered that neither of you held too much of a love of football, which absolutely tickled you that someone was in the same boat as you

Ethan waited outside the washroom for you, then suggested you both go outside for a smoke

With a drunken smile (the only way to get through a football match is to drink, lets be real), you agreed and told the friends you came with where you'd be disappearing to

Outside, you and Ethan shared three fags each and lots of laughter and conversation

Surprisingly to Ethan's friends, when everyone came pouring out of the bar after the game finished, Ethan had you pressed against the wall in a heated kiss

While being the most shy member of the band, Ethan reacted the most prominently to liquid courage, which you were more than okay with

You traded information, and the next day, you woke up to a sweet text from Ethan, asking you to a cafe to get to know each other in a sober environment

No complaints, you went

Ethan was just as funny as he was last night, and neither of you stopped smiling the entire time you were together

You saw each other quite often after that; sharing the occasional kiss, but full of laughter and stupid faces in silent moments

Eventually, you got brave and asked for Ethan to be your boyfriend

His face and ears went bright red, and he immediately looked to his slender fingers, chuckling nervously - but he happily agreed

Dating Ethan would include a hell of a lot of cuddles, lots of reassurance, few kisses but very meaningful kisses, and more laughter than you've ever shared with anyone else

Ethan will make you one of the happiest people on Earth, and in exchange, he is the happiest, just to have you in his arms in the mornings (even if you drool on him in your sleep)

Damiano

Without a doubt, you'd meet Damiano at a bar

There wouldn't be a game one, it was just a Friday night, and you felt like cutting loose with your idiot friends, whom you very much loved

Damiano would spot you immediately

You, of course, had already spotted him, but your friends were drooling over him, and every single person in the bar was as well, so you just put him out of your mind

That is, until he swaggered right up to you while you were grabbing drinks for your friends who were all on the dance floor

His expensive scent intoxicated you better than any booze behind the bar, making your skin tingle immediately. Damiano radiated heat, but that could've just been how warm it was in the bar from all the people

As the bartender was mixing your drinks, Damiano asked you your name

'A beautiful name for a beautiful person'

You thought he was just looking for a one-night stand, which you were actually quite down for

However, the night was still young, and you still had drinks to deliver to your friends, so you thanked him for the compliment and sauntered off to your friends with the drinks in hand

They called you a myriad of names for you basically turning Damiano down to do what? To dance with people you'd known for years?

Fortunately, walking off hadn't deterred Damiano

His eyes were on you for the entire night, until you built enough nerve to approach him

It didn't take too long for him to offer to bring you back to his place - you didn't need more than a second to accept

That night didn't lead to sex, however. Damiano thought you to be drunk to give him any meaningful consent, so he just left you to sleep in his bed, while he took the couch

When you woke up, you wrote your number with the lipstick in your purse on his bathroom mirror, and you left without a sound to wake him up

He called you that same day and invited you to the bar again

The entire weekend was spent going to the bar, sleeping either with or at Damiano's, which suited you just fine

Unfortunately, you had an actual job that required you to go to work, so when he invited you out on Sunday, you had to decline, then again on Monday

Tuesday, however, you invited him to your place for a couple drinks and you ended up falling asleep on his shoulder on the couch

Damiano woke up with you for your job and stayed with you as you got ready that morning, smiling at you through the mirror of your bathroom

Soon enough, your nightly encounters turned into real dates that changed location and theme constantly

Damiano was spontaneous and you loved it

He'd call you the cutest pet names under the sun, and bring you everywhere you were willing to go with him

Damiano never called you his partner; you were his lover

When you'd be alone, he always referred to you as 'Y/n, the light of my life, the only flower in my field, the cream in my jeans'

Made you blush like mad, but that was Damiano's favourite part

Dating Damiano would include doing each other's eyeliner, lots of PDA, reading side by side on the couch with a record playing softly, never falling asleep alone

Sleeping beside Damiano was like sleeping next to a furnace, so blankets were never needed, but cuddling was required

if it sucks, y’all gotta tell me😩🙏

for @fairyth0rns , i hope you like it

[sapiowoman28]

I can, I can't : Part 1 of 3

Pairing: Jaemin x female reader

Gener: best friends to lovers au, smut, fluff

Warning: mentions of sex, masturbation (Female)

Summary: Jaemin and Y/N are part of a group of best friends. One day, things change.....

They called themselves the dropouts. Brought up in good Catholic families, active within the Church community as kids, Catholic school education... the works. They then grew up and stopped going.

It wasn't some group thing were everyone agreed to stop going altogether at the same time. It was more like, one by one, they stopped going.

Jeno was the first to stop, at 15, after his parents got divorced. He became angry and withdrawn. By 16 he was mixing with the wrong crowd - think underaged drinking, partying, It was only after a close brush with the law that he - literally and figuratively - sobered up and decided to focus on healthier pursuits like education and sports. Thankfully too, the old Jeno that everyone knew and love came back.

Then were was Renjun. Renjun was always the one who wasn't really into religion anyway. He was more apt to believing in aliens and ghosts. His mother kept him going for as long as she could. By 18 he was out.

Haechan, as he got older, became a sporadic goer. After moving out on his own to live with the guys and Y/N in an apartment closer to campus, he stopped too.

Y/N? The older she grew, the more she learnt about the importance of gender equality. The more she embraced feminism, the more she found some church teachings hard to swallow.

All was left, of course, was Jaemin. Now Jaemin, he was still a "good boy", faithfully going to Church every Sunday. It wasn't that he was extremely religious. It was more that he had gone to Church every single week all his life. To not go one week felt odd and different.

The good thing was, nobody made fun of him or tried to stop him from going. Jeno even woke him up on Sunday mornings before he went for his 10km runs just so Jaemin would get to mass on time. (Mass is what Catholics call a church service.)

Y/N enjoyed hanging out with her friends. She was like one of the boys. It had always been like that since they were young. Everyone who knew Y/N knew she was not to be messed with. Not only was she capable of kicking anyone's balls, she also had four bros who would come after their ass too. In fact, guys who were interested in dating her would often try to get in good standing with the four guys so life would be easier for them. So it was hardly surprising that Y/N had never had her heart broken.

The problem was, Y/N was the one breaking hearts. Commitment wasn't her strongest suit, and more often than not she'd break off with whoever she was seeing with very trivial reasons, First she was dating Xiaojun. Then 7 months later she broke it off with him because apparently he "sucked at making out". The truth was, Xiaojun was good enough in bed but Y/N wanted to date the more exciting Yang Yang after meeting him at a frat party her gal friends dragged her to and making out with him. So Yang Yang it was. For a while she was happy. But then 10 months passed and Yang Yang was history. Now it seemed, was some guy called Lucas.

"Now, before you guys misunderstand, Lucas is not my boyfriend." Y/N declared over a pizza with Jaemin one Saturday night. "He's just... a friend..."

Jaemin raised his eyebrow. "You mean a friend with benefits? Cos based on what we have to hear every single Friday night, none of us think you guys are friends. Speaking of which.... Jeno wants me to talk to you."

"Let me guess, you lost rock paper scissors. Again. And that's why you're the one speaking to me."

"Well, we have house rules to follow..." Jaemin started, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

"Jeno and his stupid house rules." Y/N sighed. "What now? I can't bring Lucas home?"

"It's getting kind of weird for all of us...."

"You guys bring girls home all the time!" Y/N protested.

"I don't." Jaemin said. It was true.

"Jeno does. Haechan does. Even Renjun! Remember that weird Yoga chick he was seeing?"

"But they're not loud. Lucas sounds like he has a loudhailer in his throat and it's weird hearing him......we end up having to use headphones."

"I've tried asking him to tone it down. But he gets too excited when I blow him..." Y/N grinned as Jaemin covered his ears with his hands, not wanting to hear the details.

"Look, Jeno says he appreciates that YOU have gotten less loud since that time you were dating Yang Yang. But Lucas he's just.... too expressive. Can't you do it at his house or something? It's not the moaning as much as the dirty talk, you know?" Jaemin's voice was getting tinier and tinier.

"If Jeno has a problem, why can't he tell me himself?" I know it's not Haechan or Renjun who are complaining. Haechan's always gaming with his stupid headphones on and Renjun's always listening to music on his noise cancelling ones."

Jaemin sighed. "Don't put me in a tough spot, Y/N..."

He looked at her with puppy dog eyes.

"Fine. I'll speak to Lucas. But I'm only doing it cos of you, cos you good Catholic boy and virgin and all."

Jaemin rolled his eyes. "For the last time, Y/N, I'm not a virgin!"

Lucas took the news surprisingly well and he was happy to have her hang at his apartment instead. Which turned out to be a better thing, since his apartment was bigger and his housemates were never around. Y/N wondered why she insisted on making out at her apartment to begin with.

"I'm surprised Jeno was the one with the problem.." Lucas said after they had made out and she was snuggling in his arms.

"He has all these rules. The worst part is he makes Jaemin speak to me instead of telling me directly."

"It makes sense. You and Jaemin are close."

"I'm close to all four of them."

"No no no." Lucas said, "Each of them has a different thing with you."

"Explain, Mr Wong." she said, looking up at him.

"I think Jeno knows both of you have strong characters so he has Jaemin speak to you instead when there's an issue so you guys won't argue. He prefers to keep things light, so the most you're gonna get is Jeno making fun of you for having a thing for foriegn men."

"What about Haechan?"

"Haechan's your gaming bestie. You talk about gaming, and game together. But he'd kick the ass of anyone who gives you trouble."

"I think I'm least close to Renjun."

"I don't think it's that. It's more Renjun is kind of in his own world. He's like that with everyone. But he feels close to you guys."

Y/N was impressed.

"What about Jaemin?"

"Jaemin's like your total opposite. But you guys get each other. I like him. He's a good guy."

"Yeah he's a virgin." Y/N joked.

"He's a good looking guy! Heck, if I was a chick I'd go after him man!" Lucas said, his eyes expressive as always.

"Well, he's a good guy. I've never seen him bring a girl home."

"Come on man, when it comes to hormones, even good guys turn bad."

Lucas was driving her home when she got a call from Jaemin.

"Wassup?"

"Are you alone?" Jaemin asked. He sounded strange. "I need help."

"Are you ok?" Y/N asked. "I'm with Lucas. Where are you?"

"Oh. I'll call someone else..."

"Don't be an idiot, Jaemin. Where are you?"

"Hospital." he said. "Can you come? Just don't tell anyone anything. Not even Lucas."

She found him in a bad state at the hospital. Sitting in a daze, blood stains on his crumpled shirt. Y/N had never seen Jaemin look so small.

"Hey" she half whispered. He looked up.

"I can go now. I got an x-ray done. My nose is not broken. And it's finally stopped bleeding." he said. "I already collected my medicines. Mostly painkillers."

"What happened?" she asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." he said.

"Let's get home and get you out of these bloody clothes. And then you can tell me after you've had a good night's sleep."

"Can i sleep in your room tonight?" he asked. It was an unsual request. "I'm feeling quite shaken."

"Yeah. Sure. Let's do that."

It was 2am and he still couldn't sleep. She could feel him toss and turn next to her.

"Jae."

"Sorry."

"No, I can't sleep either."

He sat up.

"I need to get my ID card back. Can you follow me tomorrow?"

"Your ID card?"

"I was fooling around with a first year chick in her house. Her parents came back and caught us. Her dad took my ID away, said he was going to lodge a police report against me for tresspassing his house and taking advantage of his daughter. Well, that's after he beat me up."

Y/N sat up. This was interesting, she thought.

"She's 18?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"18 is legal you dumbass." she slapped her forehead.

"I thought it was 21.."

Y/N groaned. "I can't believe you're so stupid."

"But the trespassing thing?"

"They don't have a case Jae. I'm sure you can prove you were invited there. Even if she lies and said she didn't invite you. They can't prove it beyond a reasonable doubt."

"I'm so glad you're studying law."

"And Jaemin?"

"What?"

"It's illegal for him to detain your ID. YOU can report him."

"Oh. I didn't know that."

"Can you go sleep now that you know you're not actually in trouble?"

"Yes. Thanks Y/N." he said, turning to face the opposite side.

But Y/N couldn't sleep. Her mind was running a million miles a minute. Jaemin made out with someone. What was he like when making out? Was he gentle? Was he sweet like he always was to everyone? Was he a dom or sub? What did he do with the girl? Did he have fun?

Her own thoughts made her sick. Feeling a stir in her stomach made her sick. This was her best friend she was thinking of. She had to stop. Maybe she needed a shower.

Taking a towel with her to the bathroom, she shut the door, stripping quickly and getting under the hot jets of water. Damn it, Y/N, she scolded herself. Not Na Jaemin. What happened to your thing for Chinese guys?

She soaped herself trying to escape the mental picture of Jaemin, between the girl's thighs, lapping on her clit mercilessly, his eyes twinkling like they would whenever Jeno or Haechan said something witty. Suddenly, she was thinking of him between her legs, lapping at her core.

She brought her fingers to her clit, rubbing them from side to side. She leaned against the bathroom wall, moving more aggressively. She was wet. Biting her lip she pushed two fingers into her pussy, thrusting them in and out, the sound of the shower masking the wet noises as her fingers moved.

The muscles in her stomach were tightening. She could no longer hold back, thinking of Jaemin thrusting into her, looking at her with an intense gaze. She wanted him bad.

Slowly she came undone, as she moaned into her hands while cumming.

Suddenly, someone was knocking aggressively on the bathroom door. Y/N froze.

"I need to pee!" Haechan shrieked. "Hurry! I need to go back to my game!"

"Give me 2 minutes I'll be done." Y/N said, drying herself with her towel and getting dressed, mind still dazed from thinking about Jaemin. She knew their friendship was never going to be the same ever again.

She was just wondering how easy or hard it was going to be, to get Jaemin to join her on the other side.

[zackcollins]

like my next boyfriend || brock boeser + elias pettersson

masterlist

Author’s Note: Hi! I know I’m supposed to be working on part 6 of the Tyson Jost series. But I needed a break from that for right now. Undertaking a month long writing project is a lot and it drains you, man. I just need a breather for a little while. I’ll get back to it soon. Don’t worry! (Literally as I say that, Love Wins comes on my fucking Spotify, EYE--) GIF credit to halvedhab!

Warnings: There is mentions and depictions of unfaithfulness in a relationship. If that bothers you, feel free to not read this. Other than that, I think everything is alright. Let me know if anything else needs a warning though. I’ll add anything anyone else feels needs one!

Word Count: 1.2k+

Translations: The first Swedish word means “son of a bitch”. The second one means “moron”. Of course, both of these are translated using Google, so take it with a grain of salt. This isn't exactly a translation. But for anyone that wants to know, Brock is saying "Pretty good battle" in the GIF I chose to use. Being able to read lips is fun :)

Title: Next Boyfriend by Lauren Alaina

Additional: Gender-neutral reader this time! I tried to be as non-descriptive as possible when referring to the reader’s appearance because me and one of my friends @matbaerzal​ did a survey and someone said they liked that. I also used they/them pronouns to refer to the reader because the survey said that most people who answered preferred that the reader be referred to that way. I hope that’s okay with everyone! And I hope you all enjoy this!! Feedback, reblogs, and likes are always greatly appreciated! <3

You went to bed on Saturday night not knowing if your fiance, Brock, would even be in the house on Sunday morning. He had been spending a lot of time with his best friend, Petey, recently. So much time that you were starting to wonder if the time was beginning to leak over into the realm of more than friendly. There had been rumours floating around the Vancouver Canucks organization that Brock and Petey were more than just friends but you never wanted to believe it. You wanted to believe that Brock loved you and only you. You were his fiance. That meant that he had no reason to go elsewhere. He loved you enough to want to dedicate himself to you for the rest of your lives. You wanted to believe that, you really did. And you were pretty sure that you did.

That was until that Sunday morning.

Brock hadn’t been in your bed. That was nothing unusual. He was rarely in bed anymore when you woke up. He usually got up a few hours earlier to let Milo and Coolie out and feed them. So, you didn’t panic when you slipped out of the bed and out into the hallway to go into the kitchen for some breakfast.

No, you panicked when you found Brock in the kitchen. He was making pancakes. That wasn't what made you panic. Brock often made you pancakes on Sunday mornings when he didn't have team activities to attend to. What made you panic was the fact that Petey was plastered against Brock's back, his hands around Brock's midsection. Petey was pressing kisses to Brock's clavicle and you thought you could hear him saying things softly in Swedish.

Without realizing it, your cellphone slipped from your hand. It hit the tiles and made a resounding echo in the room. Petey jumped backwards, looking in your direction with the guiltiest expression you had ever seen his face convey. Brock gingerly put down the spatula he had been holding before he dropped his shoulders and turned around. His face looked much the same as Petey's did.

You leaned against the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room, your eyes letting go of the tears you had been holding back. Petey looked at you sympathetically before he conked Brock on the back of the head, glaring wickedly at him.

"Jävel!" Petey sneered, hitting Brock on the back of the head again. "You told me that they knew!"

"I thought they did," Brock said, rubbing the back of his head as he looked at Petey. When he turned to look at you, he looked guilty and mouthed 'sorry'. He turned back to grab the spatula and flipped the pancakes, ignoring the way you whimpered in anguish.

"You… you 'thought?'" Petey blinked owlishly at the back of Brock's head. He ran a hand down his face, sighing. He looked over at you, sighing again and smiling sympathetically when you shook your head to indicate that you, in fact, didn't know about Brock's affair. "You mean to tell me that you did not actually use your words and tell your fiance that you were in a relationship with me as well? You just assumed that they could read your fucking mind?"

"I, uh… I… um," Brock stammered. He didn't look at either you or Petey, choosing instead to take the pancakes off the griddle and place them on the plate next to it. He grabbed the scoop from inside the bowl, scooping more batter onto the cooking surface. He sighed as he put the scoop back. "I guess it sounds stupid when you say it out loud. But, yeah. That's what I did."

“Brock, wh… why?” You asked, your voice absolutely shattered from how devastated you were and how hard you had been crying. You saw Brock’s shoulders sink and you heard him sigh. He ran a hand down his face as he held the spatula against the edge of the counter. You tried to take a steadying breath but all that came out was something that was halfway between a whimper and a hiccup. “Why would you do this to me? You know how much I love you. I thought you loved me too!”

Petey walked across the room to stand beside you. When he offered his embrace, you accepted because he wasn’t the one you were mad at. The way he and Brock were acting made it genuinely seem like Brock lied to him about you knowing about their affair. And you knew how naive Petey was in the first place so you couldn’t hold it against him if he genuinely thought it was okay for him to have the relationship with your fiance.

As you cried into Petey’s embrace, Brock remained silent. You cried harder and more violently the longer he went without answering your question. Petey seemed to notice because he sighed and ran his hand along your back.

“Brock, answer their damn question,” Petey said with exasperation. “You are making things worse by staying quiet. You realize that, do you not, dumhuvud?"

"I'm afraid my answer is gonna upset them," Brock said so quietly that you barely heard him.

You stepped back from Petey, looking at Brock. He still hadn't turned around so you couldn't tell what his facial expression was or get an accurate assessment of what he was feeling because you couldn't see his face. All you could tell was that his shoulders were slouched and he was shifting his weight slightly to the left, his hands gripping the edge of the counter.

"If you don't love me," you said, voice trembling. "You can just tell me. I'd rather you go be with Petey and be happy than stay with me and be miserable."

"I'm polyamorous. I want both of you," Brock blurted, finally turning around to face you and Petey.

Petey looked at you; you looked at Petey. You both blinked in surprise, mouths slightly agape. Your tears continued to stream, though they started to taper off somewhat. Brock seemed close to tears himself so you walked over and looked at your fiance.

"Jesus Christ," you mumbled, dropping your head against Brock. Brock sniffled, crying softly as you ran your fingers through his hair. You ran your hands along his ribcage, making sure to be as comforting about it as possible. "Why didn't you say so?" Your tears had mostly stopped now, only a few stray tears were now running down your cheeks. "Being poly is part of who you are. I'm sorry that you felt like you had to hide that from me."

"Same goes for me, Brock," Petey said, walking over. He placed his hands on Brock's shoulders, massaging them gently. Brock dropped his head back against Petey as Petey kissed Brock's clavicle in much the same way as he had been when you walked in on them earlier. "It doesn't change anything between us."

You chuckled, wrapping your arms around Brock and putting them on Petey's back. Petey, in turn, moved his hands from Brock's shoulders, wrapping them around Brock and placing them into your back. Brock placed one hand awkwardly on Petey's hip and the other hand on your hip. The three of you stood there, wrapped together peacefully.

You were the one that eventually broke the silence.

"It will actually change things between us," you said, kissing Brock's jaw. You then kissed Petey's cheek after he gave you permission. 

"What exactly will it change?" Brock asked, somewhat concerned. "I'll understand if you're brea--"

"I'm not breaking up with you," you chuckled, flicking your fiance's chin.

"What is the problem then?" Petey asked, equally as concerned.

"We're gonna need a bigger bed."

[midnightwhispers12]

So, I have this idea in my head, and I’ll never write it out into a coherent fic, but the basic outline is:

The story starts with a montage of Stiles doing his caretaker-shtick - grocery shopping, cooking healthy meals, washing dishes, cleaning up the pack’s shared spaces, planning ahead for who needs to be where at what time, making sure everyone has everything they need, doing laundry, reminding the ‘wolves to schedule themselves off when they inevitably forget what day the full moon is again, etc, etc.

But.

The thing is? Stiles hates it. He HATES it. He started doing this stuff for his dad after his mom died and his dad disappeared into the office and a bottle of Jack, but it was always an obligation of the “if I’m more useful and less trouble, maybe he’ll want to spend time with me more often” variety. Their relationship eventually got better again (mostly), but if Stiles stopped doing the household chores, they just didn’t ever seem to get done. And eventually, they’d be out of food for the second week in a row, or he’d run out of clean clothes, or bathtub would be growing the mold that aggravated Scott’s asthma again, and Stiles would give in and just take care of it. And after enough times of trying to subtly shift some of the responsibility back onto his dad, and it failing every time, he just quit trying. It was less infuriating to do just do it himself.

When he moved in with Derek, some small, unspoken part of him was hoping that things would change. And, in Derek’s defense, it’s not like he just immediately refused to do anything around the apartment. But Stiles had a long habit at that point of just doing what needed done, and not waiting for someone else to do it. So he’d pick up groceries on his way home from work or class, and it wasn’t like he was going to intentionally not get the bananas for Derek’s nasty protein shakes while he was there anyway. He’d do his own laundry, and throw Derek’s laundry in too, because there’s no need to waste water on two half-full loads.

And slowly but surely, almost without even realizing it, he was back to being responsible for ALL the household chores. It only got worse once the pack filtered back in to living in Beacon Hills full time as they finished their degrees. A pack meeting needed to happen, so who was responsible for planning it? Stiles. Who was in charge of knowing when everyone was available? Stiles. Who had to clean up when the pack showed up uninvited and left their living room and kitchen in shambles? Stiles.

It’s not like he got to just stop taking care of his dad’s house either. He didn’t do as much anymore, but he and Derek had dinner at his dad’s at least every Sunday evening. They used to bring take-out over, but after the Sheriff gained 20lbs and got chewed out by his doctor for his cholesterol levels, Stiles went back to cooking for all of them every Sunday. Which turned into bringing groceries over for the meal he intended to make, because John didn’t have what he needed in the house. Which turned into bringing over a week’s worth of groceries, because the pantry and fridge were completely bare. Which turned into meal-prepping for the next week after dinner, while his dad and Derek watched whatever ESPN was showing, because seriously, eating fast food six days a week was just beyond unhealthy. And if he wanted space to cook, he had to do the week’s worth of dishes piled up in the sink. Plus, he always wound up cleaning whatever bathroom he used if he needed the toilet while they were visiting, because... gross. At least his dad seemed to be doing his own laundry now?

It doesn’t happen all at once, of course. Things build up over time, so slowly he doesn’t notice taking on one more task, and one more, and one more. No one likes doing chores, right? But someone’s got to do them. Someone has to plan ahead for the pack. If he sees that something needs done, it’s best to just go ahead and do it and get it over with, right?

Until one day, he’s just exhausted. It doesn’t make any sense, because he slept a full 7 hours last night, work is no more stressful than normal, there’s not a murderous monster of the week trying to kill everyone, nothing is wrong - everything’s actually been going surprisingly well for a while now. But Stiles is still completely and utterly wiped. Maybe he’s coming down with a bug or something? Since it’s Saturday, he decides to just take it easy and hopefully he’ll feel better tomorrow.

Derek comes over and scratches his scalp, taking a beyond obvious sniff of him (weirdo werewolves) when he sees there’s no breakfast happening, but just kisses his head and gets himself a bowl of cereal when he doesn’t smell anything amiss. The pack comes over and someone throws together sandwiches for lunch, and then they order takeout for supper. His dad shows up after his shift is over, and really, it’s a pretty typical Saturday, other than Stiles staying on the couch most of the day, instead of being up and moving around constantly. By midnight, he still doesn’t feel sick, which is good, and his mind and body both feel a little more rested. But he’s still somehow... existentially exhausted, maybe? Or something like that anyway, he doesn’t really know. It doesn’t make any sense!

But then he gets up to go to the bathroom and refill his water bottle. He looks around, and sees the clutter around the living room - the scattered pillows and blankets, magazines and books, cups and popcorn bowls, crumbs everywhere, water rings and greasy fingerprints on every flat surface. He walks into the kitchen and sees the sink completely full of dishes, the countertops piled with empty takeout boxes and trash. His foot actually sticks to the floor when he takes another step, where apparently someone spilled something and didn’t clean it up. The half-bath off the kitchen is occupied, so he shuffles toward the bedroom, and sees the laundry basket piled high; he usually does laundry on Saturday mornings, but he didn’t get to it this morning, and clearly Derek didn’t either. He finally makes it into the master bathroom, and sees Derek’s wet towels from this morning thrown on the floor.

As Stiles takes care of business on auto-pilot, he thinks about needing to go to his dad’s house tomorrow - planning what to make for the week, picking up groceries on the way there, cleaning the kitchen, cooking supper, cleaning up, making meals for the rest of the week to put in the fridge, cleaning up again, probably cleaning the bathroom.

He thinks about all the other things he’ll need to do tomorrow here at home - laundry he didn’t get done today, cleaning the living room and kitchen where it was left a mess, which means dishes, trash, sweeping, mopping, and picking up all the clutter, at least. Then MORE meal planning and grocery shopping because he didn’t get that done today either. The pack decided earlier that they wanted to go to the beach next weekend, so that’ll need planned - who’s driving, where they’re going, food and drinks to buy and pack, sunscreen, towels, after-sun gel (because werewolves always say they can’t burn, but then they do, and they WHINE, it’s so ridiculous), extra clothes because someone always forgets, talc powder and wet wipes to get all the sand off before they get back in the car, umbrellas, toys to make sandcastles (and enough shovels that the giant children won’t fight over them), a volleyball for the net... so many things. And if he doesn’t plan ahead for it all, and gather everything they need, then no one will, and it’ll be a miserable trip full of grouchy ‘wolves.

The more Stiles thinks about everything that needs done, the heavier the invisible weight on him feels, and he finds himself sitting on the edge of the bed, feeling more tired than he did when he woke up this morning. Derek walks into the bedroom, apparently to change out of his tight jeans and into sweatpants for the last movie of the night, but he throws his jeans down on the floor NEXT to the laundry basket, which is RIGHT THERE.....

And something snaps in Stiles. The proverbial straw has officially broken the camel’s back, and he’s just DONE. He can’t remember the last time anyone else did a chore, or cleaned up their own mess. He’s not entirely sure how everything got to this point, but he’s abruptly furious enough to make sure it doesn’t continue on this way.

Derek trails off from his last sentence, looking over at Stiles when he smells the boiling rage coming off of him, and follows after Stiles as Stiles stalks back out into the living room to glare at all the people gathered there, werewolf and human alike. One by one, the pack notices the steam coming out of Stiles’ ears, and fall silent in apprehension. Stiles is irritated and annoyed pretty frequently, but this level of anger is rare. What’s the deal?

The deal is - Stiles is on strike. They are a bunch of full grown adults, and as of right now, they’re going to have to pull on their big wolf undies and start acting like it. He is DONE acting like their parent, and he’s not going to do it anymore. If they want to eat, they’ll have to cook. If they want to eat nothing but fast food and die of a heart attack, that’s their choice to make. If they want to live in filth, so be it. If they have a miserable trip to the beach because no one planned ahead and packed the necessities, well, it sucks to be them. If they schedule themselves to work on the full moon, that’s their own problem, he’s not warning them or fixing it for them anymore. He’ll be getting a separate laundry basket for himself, and if Derek wants clean clothes, he can wash them himself.

They want to know what happened to family/pack taking care of each other? You know what, what DID happen to that? When’s the last time anyone attempted to take care of something for HIM? When’s the last time someone else saw something that needed done, and just did it? Or do they even SEE the things that need done anymore? No, because they’re too used to Stiles just taking care of it, and they don’t have to think about it. But this system has turned them all into spoiled, ungrateful brats, and he’s not enabling that anymore. He’s just not.

At first, the pack thinks Stiles is just being overly dramatic, Derek had warned them he wasn’t feeling well, after all. But over the next few weeks, they start to notice. Things just aren’t getting done. Who was responsible for this before? Oh yeah, Stiles. Why don’t they have want they need? Oh right, Stiles stopped packing for anyone but himself. It’s just little things here and there at first, but they add up quickly.

Meanwhile, Stiles has given himself permission to quit carrying the mental load for everyone, and he’s stopped trying to take care of every single little thing for a giant group of people, and he’s feeling so much more relaxed than even he expected. Yeah, it’s a little strange not cooking for Derek, but they had a long talk about it the day after Stiles exploded rage all over everyone, and Derek sees where he hasn’t held up his end. Stiles staunchly refused to do any household caretaking for the next month, and Derek agreed; they’re going to talk about it when the month is up, and decide then how they can fairly divide their responsibilities. No one else in the pack has even tried to talk to him about it, not even his dad. They did show up for Sunday dinner like usual, but when Stiles refused to cook or clean the kitchen so someone else could cook, they wound up just ordering from the local pizza place. Stiles felt a little guilty as he watched his dad eat greasy pizza, but he reminded himself over and over that his dad was a grown man who could make his own decisions.

It takes time for the pack to feel normal again, and Stiles sometimes feels a little guilty about that too, but Derek is on his side, so it’s bearable. Derek is the one that had to clean up the mess the pack left when they all stormed out the night Stiles went on strike, after all. Slowly though, one by one, the pack members come to Stiles and each one quietly apologizes for taking Stiles for granted, for not appreciating everything he did for them. Over time, they all begin to take up more responsibility for the pack, and as a result, they feel more invested in the pack too. They become less a group of people thrown together, and more a cohesive unit. Stiles does start contributing again, but he’s careful to only take on his share. And he has to take some deep breaths to not burst into tears the first time a pack member comes over with a haul of junk food for movie night, and they actually thought to bring him Reese’s cups and Twizzlers, his two favorites.

He thought life was good before, and it was. But this? This is better.

[miss-choco-chips]

YJ College au: Zatara

Zachary Zatara is both a myth and their housemate.

In which Bart has a cryptic-buddy, Tim is stressed because cute boy insists on being annoying, and everyone else just rolls with it.

Tagging @animemangasoul and @marudny-robot cause I know you guys like this au

--.--.--.--

As usual after pulling an all-week-er (he had left the ‘nighters well behind at this point), Tim was up late that saturday. The window had been left open last night, so a soft streak of sunlight wamed his bed, waking him up slowly and peacefully. Yeah, he would have liked a few more hours, but sunbathing in his sheets for a while wasn’t all that bad either. What would make this half-awake-half-dreaming experience would be some chill music.

Muddled mind made, he rolled in his bed, hand patting the mattress for his phone, squinting his eyes open when he hit something different instead.

He found himself to be almost nose to nose with a dark haired, grey eyed boy.

Tim started that fine morning screaming himself hoarse.

-.-.-.-.-

Sitting at the kitchen’s table, getting everything ready for a late sunday breakfast, Kon raised his head when he heard the strong sound of a scream, followed by… yeah, that was a body hitting the ground. It was unmistakable, in this house. 

“Oh, hey guys”, he called to the attention of the rest of his housemates, all in equals states of zombie-ness, with not as good hearing as his. “Zachary is here.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“The fuck, Zach? My bed? Did you HAVE to crash on my bed? Why are you even here?”

Tim, four coffee cups after his pseudo heart attack half an hour ago, was ready to face the day and their intruder.

“Dude I live here as well, you know. Also your bed is literally the softest thing I ever slept on, you rich bastard. Learn to share.”

“I’ll buy you your own fucking mattress if you swear to never crawl on my bed uninvited again.”

The boy’s eyebrows rose, suggestively. “What was that about an invitation?”

Distressed and not feeling awake enough (he was still two cups away from that) to deal with bi thoughts this early in the morning, he turned his most helpless look to Conner.

Because he was the best friend ever, he threw a pillow to Zachary. And because he was a suck up to anyone who brought him food, Bart intercepted the hit and gratefully accepted the candy bag he got in thanks.

“But actually, Zat, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Berlin?” interjected Cassie, her own tea (the heathen) cup warming her hands as she cuddled with Cissie and Greta on the couch, legs in each other’s laps and generally being the cutest shit ever.

Anita, not very keen on that kind of sweet love, had been wrestling with Slobo for control over the remote for the last fifteen minutes. Miguel was keeping count on their hits for them, though it was mostly assured he would rig the whole thing up to whoever had bribed him better before the fight.

Tim just wanted to go back to sleep in his sun-warmed bed.

“C’mon guys, keep up”, moaned Bart, candy bag half empty already, “he was there two weeks ago. He had an exam yesterday so he came back last monday.”

“...come again?”

“I’ve been room-hopping ever since, though none of you seemed to mind. Until I disturbed sleeping beauty over here, at least.”

Miguel’s eyes left the fight to squint suspiciously at them. “We weren’t aware you were doing that. Where did you sleep? How didn’t we notice?”

“I'ma mystery. I also move around a lot when sleeping so I probably ended up under someone’s bed after crashing from studying. Oh, Anita, if you were wondering, your purple bra is under Cissie’s bed.”

Anita slowly let go of the grip she had on Slobo’s neck. Her eyes shone something dangerous. Cissie, the one who was apparently hosting the boy all along, also stood up and frowned.

“How do you even know that bra is mine!!”

“What the fuck were you doing under my bed, you bastard!”

Tim sipped his coffee, bitterly. “At least he was under it, and not sharing it.”

Kon patted his back.

-.-.-.-.-..- 

“I swear, Jay, he thrives on making me lose my shit. He just… comes and goes whenever, leaving no proof he was ever there, or acting like he was always around. Drives me nuts. I’m not sure he even attends classes, and I only know he actually has a right to enter our house because his rent money always appears on the kitchen table a day before its due. He doesn’t even have a room, why does he even pay? To have an excuse to scare the shit out of the rest of us. Except Bart. The little shit lives for our suffering.”

Jason arches an eyebrow, sipping his beer as he carefully examines his brother. Tim looked less tired than the last time they saw each other, and the modifications done by his psychiatrist had done wonders to the shadows in his eyes. But he seemed somehow… frazzled.

“And he was just there when you woke up?”

“His nose was touching mine.”

“I bet your little bi heart couldn't take that, huh? Is he cute? Maybe you invited him to share your bed the night before and just don’t remember. You know how you get after a week of disregarding your general wellbeing.”

“Oh, shush you. I take care of myself. When was the last time you went to your check in with Patricia?”

Jason scratched the back of his neck, averting his eyes. “I missed one session, because I have exams too you know? But I’m up to date with Silvio, and we are working on slowly easing me off the medication.” He noticed the way Tim looked at his drink, expression screaming bullshit, and he scowled in response. “Fuck off, it’s alcohol-free. Kori and Artemis would have my head if they caught me mixing my dosage with anything stronger than tea, and I can’t deal with Biz and Roy’s disappointed eyes.” 

Tim thought of the last time he refused to see his therapist, and the look in everyone’s  (specially Kon’s) eyes, and had to agree. Having friends sucked when one wanted to wallow in self destructive conducts.

“Whatever, all I’m saying is, he’s not cute enough for me to forgive his weirdness. You know the people I roll with, so this is saying a lot. And I would remember inviting him to my bed, if anything for the mortification of it. I’m also…”

The ring of the doorbell distracted them both of whatever Tim was gonna say next. Waving his brother off, Jason got up to pay for their pizza.

When he returned to his living room, Tim was no longer alone.

“Who the fuck are you?” He exclaimed, eyes going back to the hallway at his back, then again at the black haired, grey eyed kid sitting next to Tim. “And how did you get in? We are on the sixth floor and I was just at the only door I have.”

Tim raised his eyes at him, and he seemed equal parts resigned and frazzled. ‘Told ya’, he seemed to say.

“Yo, the food’s finally here. I’m starving. The name’s Zachary Zatarra, by the way. Tim’s friend and housemate.”

“Allegedly” mumbled the other under his breath, earning himself a smile and pat on the back. “Don’t question it, Jay. He’ll be gone after a while when none of us are paying attention. Just let it be.”

“But while I’m here”, the other boy continued, grinning devilishly as he looked at Tim and then Jason, “instead of questioning how did I get in, what about I tell you all about your lil bro’s crush? It 's adorable.”

Tim raised an eyebrow “I don’t have a crush on anyone.”

“Like I said, adorable. He’s so oblivious, it’s precious.”

Decision made, Jason left the pizzas at the coffee table and went to fetch a soda for their guest. Gossip, especially about his siblings, was the best way to gain his immediate cooperation. And he could always force the answers about Zatara out of Bart; the brat was terrified of him.

-.-.-.-.-.-

“Hey, who has to cook tonight? Because I’m craving chicken nuggets.”

Cassie raised her eyes from her magazine, tapping a finger against her chin.

“Uhm… Zach, I think?”

Miguel nodded. “Okay, thanks, where can I find him to suggest my dinner idea?”

Cissie, legs on Cassie’s lap, dropped her head over the couch’s armrest. “Ask Tim? Wasn’t he crashing with him this week?”

That same moment, said boy entered the room, shaking his head. “No, he was sharing with Anita and Cassie.”

“No, he wasn’t… Slobo?”

“Not with us either”, denied Miguel, sharing a look with his roommate to confirm just in case.

“Conner?”

“Didn’t Bart say yesterday he was driving him to the airport?”

“Wait, he left the country again?”

“More importantly, can Bart drive?”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

When Tim came back home from class, Damian was in his living room. Using a laptop. Sitting side by side with Zatarra.

This couldn't be good.

“Hey, Timbo, welcome back.”

“Drake.”

Not uttering a single word, Tim turned around and walked out of there. Sleeping on a park bench seemed like a preferable choice, compared to finding out exactly why the two banes of his life were sitting together. It was healthier, good for his peace of mind.

Something something self care? His therapist would be so proud.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“Hey dude.”

“Zatara. Your presence here disrupts my room’s feng shui. Please remove yourself from the premises.”

“This disaster zone is the farthest thing from armonious. If anything, I’m improving it.”

Tim raised his eyes from the computer screen. He could always kick the other man out, but that would require leaving the nest he made out of blankets and snacks on his bed. Perhaps a more civilized option would be better. Besides, as boundary-less as the dude was, he didn’t step into the room, just remaining on the doorstep, so whatever he was here for, he most likely needed Tim’s willful compliance.

“If I listen to what you have to say, will you leave?”

Zatara smiled angelically, like butter wouldn’t melt on his mouth, but the look behind his eyes was nothing short of devious. “That’s actually what I came to speak with you about. I have a show…”

“I’m sorry, what?” 

“A magic show. Dude, you do know I’m a magician, right?”

Tim didn’t, in fact, know that, besides baseless suppositions about his disappearing-and-appearing abilities. But he had an all knowing facade to maintain, so he grunted in acknowledgement.

“Right, so, I have a show scheduled for tomorrow, but I took Bart out to dinner yesterday so I’m all dried up, and I need to buy a plane ticket asap.”

“Are you asking me for a loan?” he inquired, incredulous. As a general rule, all their housemates refrained from that. Something about not wanting to take advantage of their billionaire friend…

“No, no. I’m offering you a…. service.”

“Look, Zach, no offense? But you ain’t cute enough for me to stoop that low and pay for the… pleasure of your company. I can just give you the money and you pay me back whenever, dude.”

“No! I didn’t mean it like that! You wish I was offering something  of the sort” he laughed, arms crossed and side leaning against the doorframe, chest and arm muscles perfectly visible. Tim kept his eyes carefully above neck-level. No need to give any weakness away.

“Then?”

“I know you love me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t make you miserable, right?”

“That is correct, yes.”

“Are you familiar with the ‘Buy my silence, $8.000 a month’ meme? Then get ready for a ‘pay for my absence’, my good bitch. I thought maybe you’d like...”

“Sold. I buy it. Take my credit card and go, be free, roam the world. Just get out of my room and fucking text once in a while so I know you’re alive.”

[strongsassysexysloane]

Thirteenth Day of Twelve - An Epilogue You Weren't Expecting

A/N - Surprise to almost all. I wanted to write the teams reaction and I hoped I pulled it off along with other things...

. . . .

"Baby..." You moaned, as Jack crawled off you and headed for the bathroom.

She turned around with her hands on her hips, wearing only your hoodie and panties. "Didn't take you long to create that nickname."

"Shut up you like it." You smirked at her slight blush and she continued into the ensuite.

"You know I'm going to have to go home soon."

"I did not know this." You made it sound like it was the most absurd thing she's ever said. "What would posess you to do such a thing?"

"Shut up." You head the sound of flushing and then the tap. "As much as I loved spending the night and morning with you, hun. I need to get ready for work tomorrow."

You sighed, slumping back down into bed. You knew this was the inevitablity after spending almost the last 24 hours with her and only four of them were sleep. "fine. Still layout worst idea, ever."

"Well that's a lite dramatic." She smirked, standing in the doorway with her hand stretched up against the frame, making the hem of her shirt rise.

You knew it was her plan but to hell with being caught. Your eyes tracked from her feet up her toned calves, thighs that you could spend hours looking at and...

"Ahem."

"Please come here." You all but moaned.

"Ok but this time -" She walked slowly towards the bed.

"Anything you want. We agreed, now come here so I can kiss you." This time there was a groan just before Jack was in reach and you pulled her down onto you.

She left a few hours later before sunset claiming there were still chores to be done and washing to be put on. But you both agree of work wasn't busy this next week that.youd spend some 'school' nights over her place. Nothing was defined yet but neither of you cared. Whatever this was, was the best gift you'd ever gotten.

Monday morning came around and you walked into the bullpen. It looked like you were the first one into work, other than Gibbs, it was 0800. After you dumped your gear at your desk, you heard the laughter of all five of your friends walking down the main stairs. They caught your eye and all grinned like cheshire cats. You eyed them suspeciously until a certain beautiful blonde walked out of the hallway and jogged to catch them.

"Kasie you forgot-" She stopped half way down the stairs when she saw you and almost looked guilty.

Your suspicious gaze moved from the five cats to your Jack. "Okay, what the hell am I missing?" You questioned with your hands on your hips.

"Her gun is locked in the drawer right?" You heard Jimmy not so quietly whisper, taking a step back.

"Too many cameras for her to get away with six homicides." Nick added, taking a step closer to Ellie.

"Five."

"Five?" Jimmy questioned looking from you to everyone else, double checking his numbers.

"I wouldn't kill Jack." You shrugged with a smirk, locking eyes with Jack who had joined the rest of you in the bullpen.

You heard awes from you assumed Kasie and Ellie. Jack stepped through the group and came around to stand beside you behind your desk. She placed a quick peck on your cheek which you leaned into before whispering, "They all came to ask how my final present went Saturday night." She tucked your hair behind your ear before placing another kiss on your cheek.

You were meant to be smiling, she was being all touchy feely in front of the team and you had dreamed of this for months but you could only frown.

They knew?

"Here it comes." Jimmy took a step back, hiding behind Nick who was half standing behind Ellie.

"You all knew?!" You all but shouted.

The grins were back up except for Jimmy, you couldn't see his mouth.

"Known for a while actually." In walked Gibbs, squeezing past the group and sat at his desk.

"Wait he knew?!" You looked at Gibbs who was glaring at you. "Sorry- wait no I'm not. You told Gibbs?" You turned to Jack who was trying her best not to laugh but failing miserably. Her eyes always gave her away.

She intertwined your fingers, giving your hand a gentle squeeze. While your other hand still stayed on your hip. "Told him first. Had to have an inside man before I left for NOLA -"

"So Elaine didn't tell you I ordered. Jack did." Gibbs nodded slowly. "Lucky I didn't interrogate her."

"I'd pay to see that." Gibbs chuckled, your glare didn't help.

"Tim found out next then Kasie and then somehow everyone else found out." She raised a brow at Kasie.

She held up her hands. " I did my best but Nick caught me at Y/ns desk and then everyone else found out." Eyes were on Nick.

"I'm still slightly offended you couldn't trust me to keep a secret, Agent Sloane." Jimmy stepped out from behind Nick.

"Oh please you couldn't lie to save your life." Nick pointed out kind of harshly but Jimmy swayed his head and agreed.

"No offence Jimmy but I really wasn't planning on telling anyone until I got called away to NOLA."

"Called away?" You all turned to see Vance standing on the halfway landing on to stairs.

You went to let go of Jack's hand but she held on tight. "Please don't tell me-"

"Oh I figured it out on day one." Leon smiled at you.

"Only because you saw me putting the chocolates on Y/ns desk, Leon." Jack rolled her eyes and Leon shrugged.

The others laughed, Tim and Ellie going and sitting at their desks leaving Nick to rest against Ellie's desk and Jimmy and Kasie to keep standing near yours. Leon continued on his journey to his actual destination.

"Now that the cats out of the bag can we get back to work?"

"Sure." Jack answered Gibbs and then turned to you with a big smile. "Want to have lunch with me later?"

You grinned, ignoring everyone watching you. "Just us?"

"Just us."

"It'll be-" Gibbs actually stopped. Stopped mid grumble at Jack's pointed glare.

"The sooner I finish my conversation, cowboy, the sooner she'll get to work. Plus work doesn't technically start for another..." She checked her watch. "Ten minutes."

There was silence from everyone. Kasie and Jimmy slowly stepped back, retreated to the elevator while Nick walked over to his desk.

"It's a Christmas miracle." Nick joked but soon shut up when Gibbs glare moved from Jack to Nick.

"I'd love to." You beamed and leant in to kiss Jack on the cheek but she turned and you connected with her lips. You heard a flurry of clapping from behind you which could only be Ellie before you succumbed to Jack's touch before it melted away all too quickly.

"I'll come down when I'm hungry and pick you up." She smirked, the twinkle in her eye only for you to see which almost made you blush.

You could only nod and she was gone. "I still can't believe you all knew. Even-" You looked down at the clock. "Still got a few minutes. Even Gibbs." You continued and saw a smirk appear on the bosses' face.

The hunger happened at just after midday. No new case for the team so Jack grabbed your hand and tugged you out of the office. Ellie couldn't stop smiling.

"Wait Jack-" She piped up and you both stopped walking and turned.

"Was Dinner the final gift or..."

You both smirked and looked at each other before turning back to Bishop.

"Or?" Jack raised a brow while.you stayed silent. To be fair, she hadn't really clarified it either.

"You know..." Nick popped up beside Bishop, waving his finger between you both.

You couldn't help but laugh, Jack however held her poker face strong. "I do know, Nick, and that's something you'll never find out."

You groaned and Jack looked at you, your cheeks flushing, knowing what was about to happen.

"See by not answering that, you've answered it loud and clear." Nick grinned, having bested Jack Sloane, sort of.

"Well played Nicholas." She conceded. "Now I need food and a makeout session so I can get my head back in the game."

You couldn't believe the words that flew.oit of her mouth.

"I said it and I don't regret it."

Luckily the elevator doors opened and you both hopped in.

"Don't hold up the elevator!" You head Nick shout before the doors closed and you both laughed.

"That's what cars are for." You mumbled before Jack's lips were on yours, your hands immediately gripping her waist and pulling her close.

The kiss didn't last long because you hadn't held up the elevator but it was enough for you never want to stop. You'd missed her. It seemed silly but not having her beside you in bed last night just felt wrong.

"Come home with me tonight." You breathed, as she stepped away and the elevator came to a stop.

She interlaced your fingers together and walked.off the elevator. "Miss me last night?"

Even though she was being lighthearted and teasing, you saw the hope in her eyes. "Yes and this morning and about half an hour ago...sorry."

She stopped walking, tugging you close, ignoring all the people walking around you on the path. "Don't be sorry. I missed you too." With her other hand she reached up and tucked some hair behind your ear. "Missed the little purrs you make in your sleep, the steady rise and fall of your breathing, the smile I saw when I woke up Sunday morning and the constant whining-" She laughed into the kiss but it disappeared slowly and time stood still.

"Is that a yes?" You ghosted over her lips, mission the corner of her mouth, then her cheek.

"Yes." She breathed. "Yes to tonight, yes to tomorrow and yes to me being.your gift and now the dinner."

You threw your head back and laughed. She knew how to perfectly ruin a moment but make it better at the same time. "I knew it!"

Jacqueline Sloane was the perfect gift. She was a gift to whomever she met and came across and you were one lucky son of a bitch to get to call her yours for as long as she'd have you.

. . . .

Unsure how far out of character Jack may be in this one but 🤷🏼‍♀️ it's my own creation so who knows what JS is like behind closed doors. Hope you liked it. I'll get back to writing other things now.

[theycallmebecca]

February Ice Storm

It just occurred to me that I hadn’t really told you guys about the experience I had back in February with the ice storm that nailed us and knocked out power for us for 3 days but people in my city for up to 10 days.

Originally, I had planned to turn it into a drabble and I actually started it, but it wasn’t exactly something I wanted to revisit. Mentally, I wasn’t in a good place thanks to anxiety and an emotional rollercoaster of what’s going to happen.

I know I shared bits and pieces of what had gone down, but this a more in-depth account of my experience from the ice storm that hit Oregon Valentine’s weekend of this year.

Let me preface this by saying that we knew that we were going to get an ice storm... but it was the worst ice storm we’ve had in a long time. And it did an astonishing amount of damage that we are still trying to recover from a month and a half later. Driving around, it looked like a tornado had ripped through and knocked down trees randomly. With as many trees that fell, it’s shocking how many didn’t.

The storm hit Friday night, February 12th, and it was just cold. Then about 3 am, the power went out. I know this because that’s when I suddenly found myself in the complete dark (no alarm clock, etc.) I didn’t think much of it and went back to sleep.

I was rudely awaken a few hours later by the sound of trees cracking and crashing to the ground. Let me tell you, that is a terrifying experience.

Knowing I still didn’t have power, I put on multiple layers and tried to make myself comfortable. However, by this time, it had started to warm up so there was lots of trees cracking all around me. Which was great for my anxiety.

Neither was the fact that the power outage had taken out the cell phone networks in my area. More on that in a moment.

Then I heard some neighbors outside, so I went out to talk to them and saw that a large limb from the pine tree by my building, was practically laying on my car. Some guys walking past, assured me that it was just on my car and not in my car.

It was cold, so I went back inside and tried to distract myself. But my main source of distraction, aka my phone, wasn’t really an option to me. And I could not access any of the music I would normally use to help myself relax when my anxiety is acting up.

I finally found a place in my apartment where I got good reception... by the sliding glass door that over looks the backyard where one tree had already uprooted itself and where more trees could easily come crashing down.

Anxiety is being amazing at this point. I’m sure you can tell.

Especially when on top of the trees cracking... I got the beautiful thunking of ice dropping out of trees as it warmed up. And we’re talking like chunks of ice as big as baseballs!

It was about that time that I heard a crack that was too close for comfort and knew, without a shadow of a doubt that the limb had broken and it was on my car. Two steps out my front door confirmed my fear, but when I tried to go see how bad it was, I heard the cracking of limbs and had to run back to the safety of my apartment as more limbs and ice baseballs dropped.

I was able to text my parents and asked if someone could try and come get me. They live parallel to me across two major roads, so it wouldn’t be a long trip if they could make it a little later once it had warmed up some more.

While I waited, I packed some stuff and tried to read, but it honestly was just too much.

And as annoying and little brother like as my brother-in-law can be, I have never been so happy to see him as I was that day when he and my mom showed up to get me.

By that time, I was flinching at every little noise that seemed to echo through my small apartment. And it was just becoming way too much. Even as I write this, the memory of that morning has me crying because I was too scared to cry on that day.

While he was waiting for me, my brother in law looked at my car and saw that the branches were resting on it, but the car looked ok.

The short drive to my parents house was shocking with the number of trees and power lines that were down. Also shocking was how many trees that didn’t land on houses. We did see a couple of cars smashed by trees though. And street lights were out every where.

I was very happy when we got to my parents house which is bigger than the building with 8 apartments that I live in. Their backyard is full of pine trees and they had lost a lot of limbs and stuff, but with everyone else there, you couldn’t hear the noises that had ramped up my anxiety.

Once I was there, the rest of the day passed relatively easy. I was with my family and that helped calm my anxiety because I knew I was in a safe place. We ordered pizza from a place that still had power. My brother in law built fires my parents fire places and my mom and I played dominos by flashlight. I also got some reading done.

Then I slept in my parents guest room... and the bed isn’t comfortable and the house was probably in the 45F range.

Sunday morning aka Valentine’s Day was warmer than the day before and my mom and I drove to my apartment to see what we could do about the limb on my car... only to find that someone had already pulled it off and chopped it up. We confirmed that my car was ok and the only damage to it was that my $5 license plate frame had been broken and the corner of my license plate was bent.

After that, we drove out to a grocery store that had power for some food, more logs for the fireplace and coffee... that my mom had to stand in line for 20+ mins to get.

When we got back to their house, we found a flurry of activity happening as my parents next door neighbor had rented a giant generator the day before to keep his house going and offered to let us plug some extension cords in so we could charge stuff, use small appliances and use a small heater.

So our Sunday afternoon was spent with our phones plugged in and a small space heater barely keeping us warm. But it was an improvement from the day before.

Then my uncle showed up. He’s been going back and forth between living with his ex girlfriend and living with my parents. With him at my parents house and knowing that my own apartment was still above 50F and therefore warmer than my parents house, I opted to sleep in my own bed that night.

So after getting pizza for dinner again (🤢) my mom dropped me off at my apartment for a cool night.

I started in my living room knowing that my back wouldn’t like 10+ hours in my bed and I actually got some light from a lamp by plugging it into my computer’s battery backup, which really did raise my spirits a bit.

But eventually I ended up in my room with the door closed, knowing I’d be able to lock in more heat that way. And it did work... but it was still a long night.

Because of no power and the fact that I’ve been working from home since March 2020, I told my boss I was taking the day off. At that time, the power company still still quoting power back on Monday. For me, they were even saying early Monday.

But my apartment was still cold and dark when I woke up. Which meant I cleaned out my fridge and freezer and then took my laundry out to the laundromat by my mom’s office that had power and heat.

So I took care of my laundry and then was going to head back to my parents, until I decided to see if Office Depot had any sales going on with laptops. And I ended up driving across town to buy one in case I needed to find some place to work other than my apartment for a couple days.

After that, I went to my parents house and watched a movie with my niece while power crews worked outside. I was still hoping they’d be able to get the power and internet back up so I wouldn’t have to drive to work Tuesday, but it wasn’t looking good.

By 5:30, I knew even if the power did some how come back on, I was still going to be without internet, so I left my parents and went to the grocery store for things to make a lunch that didn’t require a fridge since I still didn’t have that. And they were operating on their backup generators and actually stopped letting people into the store as I was checking out.

That evening, I played on my new laptop a bit and chatted with friends since my cell network was almost back up to speed, but I was in bed when the power came back on around 10 pm. And you sure as hell know I got out of bed and turned on every light switch just because I could!

I slept much better than night and did end up going into the office the next day for a partial day, but when I got home I had internet again.

For me and my family, we were without power for some 56 hours or so. But we had family friends and coworkers who went a good 10 days without power.

We don’t get storms like this and we were not prepared for it to be as bad as it was.

But the biggest take away for me is now necessarily how dependent I am on technology to entertain me... but for how to help me get through a rough situation.

Other than seeing a few members of my family once a week, I’ve been relatively on my own for the last year. And it’s been my “pocket friends” that have been my saving grace, my connection with the outside world. They’re the people that I turn to when I’m having a problem. And I was almost completely cut off from them for two whole days.

Add to that the rain storms and other anxiety reducing sounds that I’ve come to depend on. With the networks down, I couldn’t access any of those coping tools either.

My anxiety was the worst that Saturday morning than it has been in a long time. But by Monday evening, I was so tired emotionally and physically that I was just a mess. The roller coaster of the unknown was the worst part. You could make plans... but without power, there were things you just couldn’t do.

All in all, it was a once in a life time experience. As in, I don’t want to experience it again. Ever.

I think it will be a long time before a power outage doesn’t trigger anxiety within me. Because this last one was rough.

And now that I’ve relived this all in hopes that it might help me recover a little from what happened, it’s time for me to try and get some sleep. Probably shouldn’t have written this at night.. but oh well.

[mrsdr-ethan-ramsey]

God, Have Mercy pt. 2 (Ethan Ramsey x f!MC)

You all asked, and now you shall receive...here is part 2 to God, Have Mercy (linked if you haven’t read it). I hope y’all like it part 2! I loved writing Ethan and his father. Part 3?? Yes please? No, stop you’re butchering this idea? What do y’all think?

Part Three Here!

Tag List: @the-soot-sprite​ @ethandaddyramsey @silverlitskies @trappedinfandoms @samihatuli @sherlockedmcu @marywitchjane @awalker965 @openheart12 @flyawayboo @hatescapsicum @edith-eggs1 @princess-geek @akacalliope @my-heart-beats-for-ya @hipstercoffeeshop @miyakokurono @riverrune @chasingrobbie @sekizincimektup @canthandlechoices @thatysn @virtualrain202 @myusualnerdyself 

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x f!MC (Parker Kennedy)

Summary: Ethan posts his first pictagram thanks to his father’s photography skills and Parker knows it was meant for her.

Warnings: Swear words? 

Word Count: ~1300

Ethan never expected to actual use his new social media account. He had intended to delete it as soon as he got what he needed from it, but now? He could see the perks of social media. One of them being, seeing all the photos Parker would post. Since the ‘incident’ in his office, Ethan became addicted to checking the website just to see if she had posted anything else. Nothing since that day. Deciding that he needed a distraction, Ethan made the snap decision to visit his father for the weekend. Hopefully the distance from Parker would clear his mind.

Ethan arrived in Providence late on Friday night, in time to talk to his father before they both went to bed. He had spent most of Saturday helping his father with projects around the beach house and cleaning up the space. Since Ethan left and his father was living on his own, he had gotten better about keeping the house tidy but Ethan would always clean when he would visit. There was always something worn or broken for him to help. It was the least he could do for him.

On Sunday morning, Ethan woke up early as usual. His father was already up, as when he went to the kitchen the coffee pot was freshly brewed. Pouring himself a cup, Ethan went outside where his father was sitting on the porch drinking his own cup of coffee like he did every morning. This was always the highlight of Ethan’s trips home, just sitting with his father in the morning simply enjoying that they were together.

“Good morning,” Ethan said, his voice gruff from just waking up. He sat down in the chair next to his father, relaxing back into it.

“Good morning Ethan,” Alan replied, eyes staying on the waves rolling in from the ocean.

They stayed quiet for a while, letting the sound of crashing waves be the only thing to listen to. It was peaceful, completely different than the usual sounds of Boston traffic that Ethan listened to in the morning. Ethan’s eyes stayed on the horizon as he brought his mug to his lips, not expecting the next words out of his father’s mouth.

“So Ethan…when are you going to settle down?”

For the second time this week Ethan coughed out his coffee, the brown liquid landing on his lap and the deck this time (instead of the picture of Parker practically naked...great now he was thinking about that again).

“What??” he choked out, his head snapping to face his father.

Alan chucked as he watched his son’s eyes widen, a red tinge coming to his cheeks. “You’re 37, don’t you think it’s time you found someone? Unless…you already have someone?”

“No.”

Ethan said it too quickly, making his father just smirk and turn back to the view. Ethan tried to clean the coffee of his pants as his father spoke.

“Not even that colleague of yours? The blonde you call Rookie?”

“I’m her boss, it would be inappropriate.”

“Plenty of colleagues date Ethan. It sounds to me like you’re just making excuses,” Alan argued, taking a long drink from his mug.

Ethan narrowed his eyes at his dad, shaking his head he replied, “I’m not making excuses. It could hurt her future career if anything happened between us. I need to be able to push her professionally.”

“So we should set you up on online dating?”

Thankfully Ethan wasn’t drinking because he knew he would have coughed up his drink, again. Online dating?? What was his father doing in his free time? Reading Cosmo?

“I am not doing online dating,” Ethan said flatly, trying to deter his father from the idea.

“And why not?”

“I will not use the internet to date. The internet is for research, not relationships.”

“Well, if you change your mind…”

Ethan’s phone buzzed in his pocket as father put his own down. As he unlocked it, he had several photos of himself sent from his father. They were all taken here, in Providence, but he couldn’t remember him taking any of the pictures.

“When did you take these?!” Ethan asked, scrolling through what he had sent. He had never seen these photos before. 

Alan shrugged, “I knew you wouldn’t let me take photos of your visits so I did it when you weren’t paying attention. Figured I could create a…oh what’s it called…Timber?”

“Tinder.”

Alan smiled, “That’s it! I figured I could make a Tinder account for you to find someone to introduce you to. That was until I thought you’d probably want someone in the Boston area.”

“You were going to steal my identity to find me a partner?” Ethan asked, completely baffled that his father was admitting this to him.

“I figured one of us should be trying to get you a spouse. I’m getting old Ethan and I want grandchildr-”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Ethan cut him off and put his phone away. He wasn’t going to entertain the idea of him being in a relationship with his father. He wouldn’t use those photos to create a Tinder, but as he looked through them some more...maybe they could be useful.

***** “Holy moly!! Ethan has a pictagram! I repeat, Ethan Ramsey has a pictagram!” Sienna shouted as she ran out of her room and into the living room where Parker and Elijah were currently watching Spider-Man: Far from Home. Parker tried to look shocked, like she hadn’t been there to help him set up the account.

“What??” Elijah asked, his jaw dropping as he paused the movie.

“He has a pictagram! Danny texted me that everyone in the hospital is talking about it! He even posted!” Sienna said rather loudly, causing Jackie and Aurora to join the other roommates in the living room.

Jackie cocked a brow, “You’re kidding, right?”

“No! Go look up @ethan-ramsey!”

Each of the roommates pulled out their devices, searching the username in the app. When Parker’s timeline finally loaded her eyes widened. Holy. Shit. There in all his shirtless glory was Ethan Freaking Ramsey at the top of her page. Scrolling through the likes and comments, it was obvious that all of the hospital and more had found his account. He had blown up with one post. How was that even possible!?, Parker thought to herself as she scanned every inch of Ethan’s bare chest. He looked more relaxed than Parker had seen him in a long time.

“Look at all those thirsty comments…” Jackie mumbled.

Aurora read aloud, “ ‘I would catch a disease just to see this doctor’. Who comes up with this stuff??”

Parker could practically feel herself turn green. She had never been one to get jealous, but see all the people throwing themselves at Ethan made her only see green. She had always known that Ethan could get anyone he wanted, but this just made it way more obvious to her. Ethan Ramsey could honest to God get any man or woman he wanted.

“Huh,” Elijah said with a furrowed brow. “He’s only following one person, but I can’t see who it is.”

“I-It’s probably Edenbrook,” Parker said quickly, trying to control the color in her cheeks. She knew it was her profile, but she couldn’t tell her roommates that.

Sienna eyed her, thinking about the recent photo Parker posted on her pictagram. Parker could see her connecting the dots in her head. She quickly shook her head no at her, begging her not to say anything to the others. Parker could handle Sienna knowing, but she didn’t feeling like airing her dirty laundry to the rest of them.

“Yeah, it probably is,” Sienna agreed slowly. She sent Parker a look though, telling her that she’d have to give her all the details about why Ethan Ramsey was following her later.

The excitement of the event quickly went away and everyone returned to what they had been doing before Sienna had run out. Everyone except Parker. She looked at the image, imagining being there with him. The wind blowing through his thick hair, the smell of salt in the air. He looked like an angel. Parker chewed at her bottom lip as she thought. Did he post this as a reply to her photo? He must have…he said he didn’t want to post anything. Now he was on his way to be as famous as Bryce on pictagram. If this was how he was going to be, Parker could easily keep up with him. She smirked as she double tapped the image, a red heart covering his chest. Game on Ramsey. Game on.

[doublegrinch]

Charmed! 2021 con log

takes out a chair and sets it down, sits on it backwards

Alright, shouting void, we need to talk.

So...last weekend, I attended Charmed!. Me, a tenured lurker who only a few short months ago was struggling to say one (1) thing in a Discord.

I can't tell you what that means to me.

(I mean, um. I'm gonna try. This is a con log.)

Now, obviously I can't name names, because of the private nature of the event; I'm gonna err on the side of caution on that one, as I understand one is meant to do. Some people reading this* might recognize themselves – and if you do, hi! You're awesome! – but I'll keep all the non-public details vague enough.

Thursday!

No, actually, things started the night before for me.

Wednesday!

As the server opened, people were posting intros, and after obsessing over mine for mumble I posted one. I'm sure glad I did, because a wonderful person decided to reach out to me.

Like...what? Someone wanted to talk to me? Just like that? I had gone into this thinking "oh these social rooms are so intimidating, welp guess it's wallflower time" but then this person just ups and talks to me. And we totally clicked! We'd end up chatting all through the weekend and beyond.

Like...what?! It's not even day one and I'm already making friends?

What?!

Thursday (for real this time)

Came right out of work – which was not a productive day, lemme tell you; somehow I was distracted – and into the 101. Four hours of intense learning goodness, and a perfect introduction to the wonderfulness that was that weekend.

I stayed engaged throughout – a testament to the skills of the presenters! – but socially crashed right after. That would become a running theme of the weekend; turns out even after being deprived of social contact for a whole-ass year, I am very much still an introvert.

Friday

Started the day off right with a class on consent. Not only was this very useful info and a great class, it was smaller and much more chill than the previous one, which was a perfect start for the day.

Then, I went to the coolest class on behavior and conditioning. Seriously, it was so informative. And funny! I kinda know the presenter too, and it was their first class, so I was all like "get it!!!" I came out of it with two main takeaways:

A whole new lens through which to view behavior and how it's influenced. Like, all behavior

A powerful need to buy a particular pen

Then the class on Imposter Syndrome. This was honestly just a balm on a lot of old fears. Not really about kink, because I'm so new I'm "pre-imposter", so to speak; but about writing, and work, and life in general.

I expected to come out with a better understanding of my feelings; I actually came out with not only that, but also some actionable techniques I could use to help with some of my nastier brain goblins. Seriously, if that class's presenter ever reads this : thank you, sincerely.

(Also, seeing some actual living legends attending that class drew in sharp relief what I always suspected to be true : we're all like this sometimes. We're all in this together.)

And then – are you exhausted reading this? Cause I sure was living it! – I went to my fourth class that day, and watched two presenters with such obvious chemistry demonstrate clearly how to Do Things and how Not To Do Things. It was funny, it was instructive, it was lovely. There was a cat at one point.

(Seriously, how is everybody at this con so nice?)

Then in the evening, I was the only one who showed up to a card game (I think everyone else was just exhausted). Only instead of having an Awkward Social Moment I ended up having a lovely chat with someone I'd seen in passing on the Discords but never really talked to before. I dunno what it is about the con atmosphere that just allows these connections to be made; just the tiny push you need to go out and meet people. It's great.

And then I went to bed EXHAUSTED, but so happy.

Saturday!

My brain woke me up at 6 am that morning. Which, since I live in the same timezone as the con, and had planned to skip the first round of classes, it did NOT need to do. Thanks, brain.

Classes!

Since I was up, I went to a class on safety. Good info, cause safety's important, yo.

I went to the Ace and Kinky roundtable! This was such a moment for me. Just sitting around and sharing experiences with people. Just...wow. As I said at the time : I am experiencing validation. Still processing what it means to me actually.

A class about how different dom styles are all valid! As someone who's very insecure in their toppiness, that's a wonderful help

And then, in the evening, the actual card game. Like any good Cards Against Humanity game, this had

Lots of people saying "oh no"

Being kind of skittish about being really awful, then getting a round so horrible you go "oh wow, people came to PLAY huh?"

"That one's too real"

Saying stuff aloud you really wish the neighbors don't hear

A whole bunch of quotes that #overhead-at-charmed was mercifully spared from

Laughter

Human bonding. From my end, at least

Then after we gave the winner the Shame Crown, I went to bed with an even bigger smile on my face. I mean come on! I'm supposed to be Double Grinch, no fair making me all happy and shit.

SuNdAy!

(Can you hear the exhaustion in that title?)

Started the day off with a writing class. Y'ever sit in on a panel of your favorite hypno-smut authors, some of whom have had a direct hand in your own work finally getting read after years of anxious avoidance, and watch them talk about a whole bunch of stuff that makes you go "they're just like me" among other wisdoms? Cause it's a weird, wonderful feeling

Also of note is I was "chatting in the back of the class" a lot of the time on Discord. Which was the best, most belonging-est feeling. And since it wasn't IRL, it didn't bother the presenters!

Weird non-convention pocket of time

So I was torn between which class to attend on the next block, or whether I should take it easy cause I was so tired you guys, oh my god, but then that choice was made for me when a friend from real life – remember real life? – called me to chat. I had A Real Time™ booting my brain in normal human mode for the duration of the call.

That call lasted until five minutes before the block after that one – I talk a lot. You're shocked, I know.

End weird non-convention pocket of time

Aaaand we're back in con space! Last class of the con was...intense, to say the least. Like not even in a bad way, necessarily, but with the exhaustion and all eventually the demo got to be Too Much and I had to bail. It was still good and informative and I took down lots of notes, but yeah, weird feeling.

And then, just like that, it was over! Just like my social meter.

When I went in to this, I had two goals:

Learn things

Be social

That's absolutely a check and check. Gotta think of some more ambitious goals for the next one. But keep those, too.

So, shouting void, what have we learned?

We've learned that I Can Go To Cons™. And that they can be wonderful, intense, magical, intense, spectacular, intense moments filled with learning and human connection.

And to the community builders out there. You know who you are. You folks made the spaces that felt safe enough for this aging fool to dust off an old dream. Thank you.

* except nobody reads this, right? Right.

[erics-meep-morps]

One Lonely Weekend

A self-ship fic with Lapis and Peridot

Friday morning started out like any other. I got up, made breakfast, took a shower, and headed for work as I looked forward to the weekend. Lapis, Peridot, and I were planning to head into the city and visit a few bars. Peridot didn’t drink, but Lapis did occasionally. We’re definitely not heavy drinkers, just enough to get a little loose or buzzed at most. 

While I was at work, Peridot was working in the garden. She had gotten up before Lapis, which was normal since Lapis typically slept in. However, usually Lapis would be around by late morning. A few hours of gardening later and there was no sign of Lapis. Curious, she took a break and went inside to find her. 

Peridot looked in every room where Lapis would usually be, and checked our bedroom last. Surprisingly there was Lapis, still laying in bed with all but her hair covered by a blanket. 

“Lapis,” Peridot said quietly. 

“Yeah,” Lapis responded in a somewhat groggy voice. 

“Have you been laying in bed this whole time?”

“Mhm.”

“Are you planning to lay in bed all day or...?”

“I don’t know. I’m having difficulty motivating myself to get out of bed.”

Peridot sat on the edge of the bed and stroked Lapis’s hair. “Are you feeling okay? Do you need something?”

Lapis thought for a moment and then shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Okay, well, I’ll let you rest,” Peridot said and got up after softly patting Lapis on the head.

Meanwhile at work I was trying to stay busy to make the day go faster since Fridays tend to feel longer than the other weekdays. My busyness paid off as the day was over before I realized it. I excitedly headed to the train station and didn’t have to wait long for the next train to home. 

After gardening, Peridot went inside and browsed the internet to pass the time. She became interested in chess and quickly became an expert at it. She checked in on Lapis periodically, and Lapis was still laying in bed, having barely moved. 

When I came home Peridot was in the living room on the laptop.

“I’m going to have a quick snack and then we can head out,” I said. 

“Well... there’s a problem,” Peridot said.

She brought me to our bedroom where Lapis was laying in bed. 

“She hasn’t gotten up the entire day as far as I know,” Peridot said quietly as we went in.

Peridot and I sat on the edge of the bed. “How are you feeling Lapis,” I asked quietly. 

“Right now my mind is asking me what’s the point in doing anything. I just... don’t have any motivation. Not even to get out of bed.”

“So I’m guessing you don’t want to go to the city tonight?”

“Oh shoot, I forgot about that. I- I’m sorry, I’m just not in the right mood for it, or for doing anything.”

I gently stroked her hair. “It’s okay. I’ve been in that mood plenty of times before.”

“You two go ahead and enjoy the night.”

“You sure you don’t want us to stay here and keep you company,” Peridot asked.

“I’ll be fine. I just need to rest.”

“Okay, if you need anything don’t hesitate to call or text me,” I said.

Lapis nodded and moved her hand out of the blanket to give a thumbs up.

“See you later Lapis. We love you,” Peridot said softly.

Lapis waved and then tucked her hand back under the blanket. 

Originally we were planning to take the train, but we decided Peridot would fly us to the city and we would just go to a couple bars. Both bars we went to had a relaxed atmosphere, which I liked. They also served hard cider, which I really liked since I never developed a taste for beer. 

After a couple drinks at both bars we walked around the city, which was surprisingly quiet for a Friday night. 

“You think Lapis is doing okay,” Peridot asked.

“Well, no and yes. Right now she’s not since she’s having a depressive episode, but I’ve had those too and it just takes time to recover from them. We’ll be there to support her and do our best to help her feel better, but if she wants to be alone that’s okay too.”

“How long does it take to get out of these depressive episodes?”

“It varies widely. Sometimes it only takes a few hours, or a few days, or... months.”

Peridot had a nervous expression on her face. 

“But as long as we’re there for her she’ll be okay, though I should see if she would be interested in coming with me to a therapy appointment.”

“Is that what you do when you have a depressive episode?”

“Not every time, but if I feel like I need some assistance getting out of it then I do, but also there are times when I’m feeling okay but see my therapist anyways. Sometimes it’s good to talk stuff out with a professional.”

“Interesting. Well we’ll see how she’s feeling for the next few days. Obviously no pressure on her to feel better.”

“Right. Positivity and support from us is what will help her.”

Peridot nodded. “So, anything else you want to do before we head back?”

“Want to sit at the park that overlooks the tracks and watch trains for awhile?”

Peridot smiled and wrapped her arm around mine. “I’d love to.”

After a little over an hour we headed back. Lights were on in the house, but there was no sign of Lapis. We checked our bedroom and surprisingly she wasn’t there, so we checked her private room and sure enough it was closed. We were kind of disappointed since we wanted to see how she was doing, but we respected her choice of wanting to be alone. 

For the rest of the night Peridot and I played chess. Although I had longer experience with chess she was able to beat me quite easily. 

“Not gonna lie, the fact you’re already an expert with this makes me kind of jealous,” I said with a chuckle. 

Peridot giggled. “I should challenge Pearl sometime. I have a feeling she would get close to beating me, but I would still be champion.”

We laid in bed and cuddled, though still thinking about Lapis. She had a bed in her private room though, so we took comfort in the fact she was probably just sleeping in there.

On Saturday Peridot and I went on a bike ride around our area. She didn’t quite understand the purpose of biking, especially when it didn’t involve going to a destination, but she did enjoy the breeze and the ability to move faster than on foot. Lapis was in her private room when we left, and it appeared she had been in there all day since her door was still closed when we got back. 

Although there were times Peridot and I got nervous enough that we wanted to knock on Lapis’s door, we knew we shouldn’t. We had all agreed that when someone was in their private room we were not allowed to disturb them. Lapis likes her alone time and we respected that. However, occasionally we would walk by her door to see if it was open. 

While I made myself dinner, Peridot tended to her garden. After finishing my meal and watching the sun start to set I could see Peridot standing with her feet in the water at the lake. 

I went outside to check up on her. “A little chilly isn’t it,” I asked.

Peridot turned and gave a soft smile. “It’s not that bad.”

I dipped a finger in the water and just that gave me a shiver. “Well maybe to you, but for a human that’s way too cold.”

“How about some warm water then?”

I grinned. “Jacuzzi?”

Peridot nodded. 

“Sounds good to me.”

We rested and cuddled in the jacuzzi for a couple hours. The warm water and Peridot’s soft body felt quite comforting. 

“What should we do tomorrow,” I asked as I nestled my face in Peridot’s hair.

“Hmm, well first let’s see if Lapis leaves her room, and then we’ll go from there,” she replied and intertwined her fingers with mine. 

“Alrighty,” I said and kissed her on the cheek before nestling my face back into her hair. 

After we dried off we went to bed. In the middle of the night I woke up and couldn’t help but walk to Lapis’s room. The door was still closed, and I quietly sighed. Just being out in the dark and silent hallway for a few minutes felt lonely, so I was quite worried about Lapis. Even though I really wanted to see her, I would just have to wait. When she was eventually going to come out of her room there was going to be a lot of hugs and kisses for her. Hopefully she wouldn’t mind. 

I tiptoed back to bed and fell asleep shortly after. 

Sunday arrived, and still no sign of activity from Lapis. Peridot and I decided to go out and get brunch. Peridot didn’t eat, but she was always a nice presence to have while I ate. 

“Did the server give me a weird look when I said I wasn’t getting anything,” Peridot asked.

“Yeah, I noticed that. I guess they prefer everyone who’s in here buys something, but whatever. With the amount of food I’m eating they’ll get enough money to look like we both ordered food.”

“Human culture can be quite weird sometimes.”

“Trust me, having lived with human culture my whole life, I can say that it’s weird all the time.”

Peridot giggled. “So, anything else you want to do today?”

“Part of me wants to stay occupied with other stuff so I don’t worry about Lapis, and part of me wants to stay home just in case Lapis wants to see us.”

“Well, what if I stayed home and then you can do whatever you want to do?”

“You sure? If you wanted to do something I could stay home.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I’m exhausted from the weekend we had.”

“If Lapis comes out of her room can you text me?”

“Of course.”

After finishing my brunch, Peridot and I hugged and kissed before parting ways. While she headed home I decided to go for a hike in an area I haven’t seen much of. I ended up at an amazing viewing spot with rolling green hills and meadows surrounding a small lake. I knew I had to bring Peridot and Lapis here sometime. Even though I tried not to, I occasionally checked my phone to see if Peridot sent anything. By the afternoon as the sun began its descent towards the horizon I decided to head home. However I took a long and scenic route back both to kill time and see more picturesque views. 

After getting back I assumed Lapis was still in her room since Peridot hadn’t sent a text. I sighed and went inside. 

The rest of the day was uneventful. Peridot went to her private room to work on projects that required a lot of concentration. Meanwhile I browsed the internet, and as quickly as the weekend started it was now coming to an end. Even though I didn’t have to get up early for work I decided to try to get to sleep early. 

When I woke up my nose was pressed against Peridot’s gem. I giggled and gently kissed it before getting up. As I walked to the kitchen I passed by Lapis’s room. For a moment I kept walking but then stopped and turned around. The door was open. My heart started racing and I ran into the kitchen. With her sitting on the couch, almost immediately Lapis and I made eye contact.

“Hey,” she said with her beautiful smile. 

I ran to her and nearly knocked the couch over as I threw myself at her for a hug. 

She snort laughed and held me tight. “How are you?”

“I should be asking you that!”

“I’m feeling better, especially after I realized my motivation for getting out of bed and living life.”

“And what was that?”

“Seeing my two wonderful partners and being with them,” she said and kissed me on the cheek. 

“I’m really glad you’re feeling better, and that Peridot and I indirectly helped you through this.”

“Me too, and I’m sorry I wasn’t around this weekend.”

“It’s alright. I know how you felt and sometimes it’s best to take a mental health break. Also, if you’re ever interested, my therapist may be able to help with depression episodes. She’s helped with mine and other issues I’ve had, so if you ever want to give her a chance let me know. No pressure of course.”

“Yeah, I’ll definitely keep it in mind, though for me I think it just simply helps to be alone for a little bit to think things through. But now that I’m better all I want to do is spend the day with you and Peridot.”

“Well... I have to go to work since it’s Monday.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right,” Lapis said with a slight frown.

“Hmm, I do have paid time off though,” I said with a grin.

“Is- is that a good thing?”

“It means I can take today off and still get paid.”

She became starry eyed. “Do that!”

I chuckled. “Alright, the three of us are going to spend the day together, and we’ll do whatever you want to do.”

“I would love that very much.”

As we continued embracing each other we heard footsteps quickly coming down the hallway. Peridot rushed in and practically attacked us with a hug, and it was enough to knock over the couch. 

For a moment we were shocked but then laughed as we laid on the floor hugging Lapis. For awhile we just laid there and cuddled together before eventually getting up and starting our day. 

[transientwordsmith]

Don’t Fall-- Chapter 9

This is technically a bonus chapter! It picks up right where chapter 8 left off because they were originally going to be one long chapter, but it was too disconnected. This has been a fun journey! | Word Count: ~1300 | Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Ned Leeds | Link to ao3

After finishing breakfast, Tony and Peter saw Dr. Strange out.

“Thank you for this. If you ever need anything, just call,” Peter told him.

Then, Peter got ready to go see that movie he had been waiting for. He was sitting in his room, deciding on a shirt, when he got a text from Ned:

so did you convince mr stark to come with us?

Peter gave a long sigh. A lot has happened since that conversation, he thought. He responded:

no not yet lemme ask

Then he added:

also ive been calling him tony now btw

Peter left his phone on his bed to avoid it buzzing like crazy in his pocket after what he just said.

“Hey Tony?” he called out into the hallway.

“Yeah?” Tony responded from the living room.

“D’you want to come to the movie with me and Ned?”

A moment of consideration.

“Sure.”

Peter returned to his phone, and sure enough there were a bunch of messages from Ned:

since when???

peter explain

p e t e r

so is he not coming

is this like a secret thing

Peter smiled and wondered how he was going to explain everything. He responded:

tony’s coming

also ill explain everything when i see you it is a  l o n g  story

Ned responded by sending Peter a facetime request. Peter hung his head in defeat and clicked the accept button.

“You can’t just say ‘ill explain when i see you’! Tell me now!” Ned said. Peter chuckled.

“Wow, impatient much?” he said.

“Yes, I am.”

Peter explained everything from the first Friday to this morning. He explained the moment he realized he couldn’t keep any notes and that nobody would remember anything. He recounted the moment when he realized that falling asleep before midnight was what was resetting everything. And, of course, he explained when he went from calling Tony “Mr. Stark” to just calling him Tony.

“I just realized that it must be such a sudden change for him,” Peter said. “I had a week to adjust, but he didn’t.”

“Yeah, man. I mean, I last saw you on Thursday and you were calling him Mr. Stark,” Ned said.

“Thursday?” Peter said. “But I went to school on Friday…” He trailed off, remembering that the only Friday, May 7 that would be immortalized in history was the one when he skipped school.

“Damn, I’m going to have to make up so much work!”

Ned and Peter chatted for a bit longer before getting off the phone. About 15 minutes later, Peter and Tony left for the movie theater. They went to the store to buy candy first, because the candy at the store is much bigger than whatever you can get at the theater, but they bought sodas at the theater.

They met Ned outside the theater.

“Ned!” Peter called out to him. Ned saw him and they did their handshake. “It’s good to see you,” Peter said, a sincere look in his eye.

“That must have been the longest week of your life,” Ned said. Peter nodded. Tony placed his hand on Peter’s shoulder.

“Come on, we’re going to miss the movie,” he said and walked inside. Tony didn’t often show his concern, but Peter knew it was there. Peter also knew he was going to get told he needed therapy after this.

The movie was okay, but not as good as Peter thought it was going to be. It was incredibly predictable and most of the characters were flat. The action sequences were confusing at best, and the indoor scenes were so poorly lit you could barely see anything.

“So how’d you guys enjoy the movie?” Tony asked as they were walking out of the theater.

“It was good,” Ned said.

“Well, I didn’t like it that much,” Peter said. He told Ned what he thought.

“Ok, all of those things are true, but I still liked the movie,” Ned said.

“That’s fine,” Peter told him.

Peter invited Ned to sleep over at the tower that night because he still wasn’t sure he wasn’t going to wake up again on Saturday morning. When they got back to the tower, Tony went to go to corporate business things while the boys played video games.

“Minecraft?” Ned asked.

“Minecraft,” Peter agreed.

Peter played on his laptop while Ned played on the TV. For a while they played on one of their old private servers where they just built whatever they wanted wherever they wanted. They had planned multiple cities there and had built scale replicas of fictional buildings, such as the Death Star or Trump Tower.

Then they moved to Hypixel where they could play games like hide and seek or build battle, which was a lot of fun even though they frequently lost to strangers. During one of the rounds of build battle, “The Avengers” was the prompt. Peter and Ned both tried to convey a chaotic scene in the kitchen, everyone else drew giant heroic statues. Peter and Ned came in last place.

After a few hours, the two got hungry.

“What do you want?” Peter asked. Ned shrugged. 

“I don’t know either,” Peter said. They both thought for a moment. Then, Ned had an idea.

“What if we filmed ourselves making viral food or something,” he suggested. Peter did finger guns at him.

“You’re a genius,” he said.

Peter got on his computer and looked up some recipe trends.

“I can only find ones from 2020,” he said.

“That should be fine,” Ned said.

One recipe for no-churn ice cream looked interesting.

“Does Mr.--Tony even have cream?” Ned asked.

“He has everything, I’m sure he does,” Peter reassured Ned.

Most of the recipes looked too difficult to try at 9.30 pm so they fell back on something it turned out both of them had wanted to try since it became popular: whipped coffee.

“I know Tony has coffee here, he practically lives on the stuff,” Peter said.

It was late, so Peter and Ned agreed to try and find some decaf. It took a bit of searching but at the back of the drawer they found an almost brand new jar of instant decaf. They added two tablespoons of that, two tablespoons of sugar, and two tablespoons of warm water to a bowl. Then they went rummaging through the drawers in the kitchen again in search of a whisk. Once they found one, Peter whisked the mixture until there was a layer of foam on top. A glass of iced milk was poured and the foam was added bit by bit. The boys put in two straws and each had a sip.

“This is good,” Ned said.

“I know, right?” Peter agreed.

After they finished the whipped coffee, they cleaned up and washed the dishes. It was getting late so they decided to move into Peter’s room and get ready to go to sleep. Eventually, Peter got settled in his bed, and Ned got settled on the air mattress Peter set up for him. The pair started chatting about the day. They talked about the movie, about the games they played, and the coffee. And what would happen in the morning.

Peter got hesitant when talking about the morning.

“Are you okay?” Ned asked. “You’re getting all quiet.”

“Yeah,” Peter assured him. “I guess I’m just a little nervous that I won’t wake up on Sunday, you know?”

“I get it. Well, no, I don’t, but I can imagine how you feel.”

“Thanks.”

After a little while, both boys fell asleep.

And both boys woke up on Sunday.

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