#when she said 'i'll send you an email' i was like OH THANK FUCK

[koishikei]

this is gonna sound ultra shitty but one of the most obnoxious things about legally having a very common spanish name and being a white american who only speaks english is that services ALWAYS pair me with providers who primarily speak spanish

and yeah it's my fault for only speaking one language but i also have an auditory processing disorder which makes it extremely difficult to understand anyone with any kind of accent (including other regional accents and dialects of english, too, btw)

like, if i need subtitles to watch tv then i sure af cannot understand you through the garble of my shitty cell phone combined with your multi-line phone from 1998

[beerok23]

D: And then he came to offer you the part in Good Omens? M: Yeah, well, we became friends and we would, you know, whenever he was in town, we would meet up. And then eventually he started. He said, you know, I'm working on an adaptation of Good Omens. I remember at one point Terry Gilliam was going to maybe make a film of it. And I remember being there with Neil and Terry when they were talking about it. D: Were you involved at that point? M: No, I wasn't involved. I just happened to have met up with Neil that day. D: Right.

M: And then Terry Gilliam came along and that was the day they were talking about that or whatever. And then eventually he sent me one of the scripts for an early draft of, like, the first episode of Good Omens. And he said, we started talking about me being involved in doing it. He said, 'Would you be interested?' I was like, 'Yeah, of course I would. Oh, my God.' And he said, 'Well, I'll send you the scripts when they come.' And I would read them and we talk about them a little bit. So I sort of was involved. But it was always at that point with the idea, because he'd always said about playing Crowley in it. And as time went on, as I was reading the scripts, I was thinking, I don't think I can play Crowley. I don't think I'm going to be able to do. And I started to get a bit nervous because I thought, 'I don't want to tell Neil that I don't think I can do this'. But I just felt like, I don't think I can play Crowley. D: Of course you could play Crowley. M: Well, just on a sort of - on a gut level, you know, sometimes you have on a gut level, you go - D: Sure, sure. M: I can do this. D: Yeah. M: Or I can't do this. M: And I just thought, you know what? This is not the part for me. The other part is better for me. I think. I think I can do that. I don't think I could do that. But I was scared to tell Neil because I thought, well, he wants me to play Crowley. And then it turned out he had been feeling the same way as well, and he hadn't wanted to mention it to me. But he was like, 'I think Michael should really play Aziraphale'. And neither of us would bring it up. And then eventually we did. And it was one of those things where you go, 'Oh, thank God you said that. Oh, I feel exactly the same way'. D: Yeah. M: And then I think within a fairly short space of time, he said, 'I think we've got David Tennant for Crowley.' D: *Chuckles* M: And we both got very excited about that. And then all these extraordinary people started to joining up. And then off we went. D: The other thing about Neil, he collects people, doesn't he? So he'll just go, oh, yeah, I phoned up Francis McDormand. She's up for it. Yeah. And you're 'What-Wait-What?' M: I emailed John Hamm. D: Yeah. M: And you realize how beloved he is and how beloved his work is. And I think we would both recognize that Good Omens is one of the most beloved of all of Neil's stuff. D: Yes. M: And had never been turned into anything. D: Yeah. M: And so the kind of responsibility of that, I mean, for me, for someone who has been a fan of him and a fan of the book for so long, I can empathize with all the fans out there who are like, oh, they better not fuck this up and this better be good. And I have that part of me, but then, of course, the other part of me is like, but I'm the one who might be fucking it up. So I feel that responsibility as well.

D: But we have Neil on site. M: Yes. Well, Neil being the showrunner - D: Yeah. M: I think it takes a massive difference. You feel like you're in safe hands. D: Well, we think. Not that the world has seen it yet. M: No, I know. D: But it's been a joy to work with you on it. M: Oh, my goodness. D: I can't wait for the world to see it. M: Well, I mean, I've done a few things where there are two people. It's a bit of a double act, like Frost-Nixon some more, and The Queen, I suppose in some ways, and I've done - Amadeus or whatever. This is the only thing I've done where I really don't think of it as my character or my performance as that character. I think of it totally as us, the two of us. D: Yes! M: What I do is defined by what you do. That was such a joy to have that experience. And it made it so much easier in a way as well, I found, because you don't feel like you're on your own in it. Like it's totally us together doing this. And the two characters totally complement each other. And the experience of doing it was just a real joy. D: Well, I hope the world is as excited to see it as we are to talk about it, frankly.

M: You know. Having talked about T. S. Elliott earlier, there's another bit from The Waste Land where there's a line which goes, "These fragments I have shored against my ruin". And this is how I think about life now. There is so much in life, no matter what your circumstances, no matter where you've got, what you've done, how much money you got, all that. Life's hard. It can take you down at any point. You have to find this stuff. You have to find things that will. These fragments that you hold yourself, they become like a life raft. And especially as time goes on. I think as I've got older, I've realized it is a thin line between being surviving this life and going under and the things that keep you afloat are these fragments, these things that are meaningful to you. And what's meaningful to you will be not meaningful to someone else. But whatever it is that matters to you, it doesn't matter what it was you were into when you were a teenager, a kid. Doesn't matter what it is. Go and find them and find some way to hold them close to you. Make it go and get it. Because those are the things that keep you afloat. They really are, like doing that with him or whatever it is. These are the fragments that have shored against my ruin. Absolutely. D: That's lovely. Michael, thank you so much. M: Thank you. D: For talking today and for being here. M: It's a pleasure. D: Thank you.

This podcast is so underrated. I heard it tonight for the first time, and it blew my mind. The episode was published back in April 2019 (recorded after a photoshoot for Good Omens season 1). Listen to these babies, starting to knowing and respecting each other *_* Of course, Michael Sheen was probably the greatest fan of Neil and Good Omens out there, but the joy and the excitement was already there to feel, from both of them!

And Michael saying "The Two of Us" 4 years before July 2023... My heart - just - can't.

[selfloverrrrrr]

Helloooo... so i was thinking of like a request of Gojo and Geto getting mad because of what the reader was doing in public and like they both have sex w/ each other so like a threesome pls!

(I CANT THINK STRAIGHT FU-)

Play hard...?

Warning: Smut, unprotected Sex, rough sex, teasing, anal sex, nipple play, blow job, threesom....

( All characters are aged up/18+)

Minors Do Not Interact

Read the warnings carefully....if you don't like my stories block me not report

Y/n's POV

It's tough to find a perfect job. Especially when my college is going on. I'm a college student. And I'm not financially rich... and I really need to find a job. And I'm applying for some jobs too.

One day I was looking at my laptop for a job thing. "What you doing, babygirl" a voice came from nowhere. I looked. It was Gojo. "Gojo can you just stop calling me that?!" I said. "Oh but you liked it last night" he said with a smirk. "😑 We never did anything" I said. "Yeah I know but if I say it loud everyone will think we did" Gojo whispered. "What are you two doing?" A voice came. We looked at it. And it was Geto. "No....not both of you together right now" I sighed. "But you said you like threesom when it's me and Suguru " Gojo said with a smirk. I glared at him. "What kind of fun do you get spreading misinformation?" I asked. "That you'll maybe make the misinformation true " Gojo said. "Maybe?.... definitely " this time Geto said smirking.

"God I can't with you two!" I sighed. "Heyyy... sorry I'm late... what are you all doing?" Shoko asked. "I'm doing some serious work and this two dumbs trying to make me angry " I replied. "Why?... What did they do?" Shoko asked. "Nothing...was trying to impress her to have threesom with us" Geto said wrapping an arm around Gojo's shoulder. "Ewwwww" Shoko said and I laughed at the comment. Gojo and Geto both gave a 😑 reaction. "Tf do you mean eww?!" Gojo asked.

"That she won't have threesom with you two...so go and fuck each other" Shoko said. "We do" Geto replied. "We all know! What she meant by saying that is stop disturbing me! Idiot" I said laughing. "Idiot? Ok I take it as a pet name" Gojo said. "What are you doing anyways?" Geto asked. "What else? Some work to get a job" I said. "You don't need to work that hard to get a job.... I'll give you my entire bank account" Gojo said. "No I don't want to work like a whore " I said. "Oh come on... you're gonna marry us...that won't be a whore!" Geto said. "Anyways don't listen to them.... did you get any job?" Shoko asked. "Not yet but there's this small company of naobito zenin...I think I'm gonna get a job on this company..... they said they're impressed by my interview " I replied. "OMG that's great.... I'm happy for you " Shoko said. I thanked her with a laugh.

Few days passed. It was an evening. I was getting ready cause me and Shoko decided to go to the bar today. I wore a short black dress. I was touching up my make up when my phone rang. I saw it was an unknown number. I picked up the call. "Hello?" I answered. "Hello ma'am I'm talking from noabito company...are you miss y/n?" a man said from the other side. "Oh yes yes... I'm y/n" I said. "Ma'am your job is confirmed. We liked your interview we're going to send you an email in a minute... you just have fill up that...are you interested in this job?" The man asked. I became so much happy. "Yes yes... I'm interested!!!" I said. We talked a bit then end the call.

I was too excited that I finally got the job! I quickly opened my laptop and a email popped up. I opened it. It was from the job. But the strange thing is.... that company was noabito zenin's. But instead of Zenin there was written Gojo. Tf?! I got shocked. When I scrolled down I saw in the CEO's name there was supposed to be noabito zenin but instead there was written.... CEO of this company - Gojo Satoru. My eyes widened. It didn't take much time to understand that Gojo brought this company. He heard I applied in this company that day. I clenched my fist. My blood was boiling. I quickly filled up that form and send it to the company.

I run out of my room and locked the door. Then I run towards Gojo's room. I knocked on the door. Geto opened the door. "Where's Gojo?" I asked. "Inside...why?" He replied. I didn't say anything and went inside the room. I saw Gojo standing in the next room scrolling through his phone in his hand. He looked at me when he heard me enter. "Y/n.... what are you doing here? Did you agreed to have threesom wit-" before he could complete his sentence I slapped him. His face turned to the side from the slap. The whole room became silent. "Tf is wrong with you?! Why don't you fucking leave me alone????!!!!!" I said with grinded teeth.

"What the!!!! What happened?!" Geto said from behind me. "Satoru??? What happened?!" Geto asked again. "Do I look like I know what happened?!" Gojo said glaring at me. "You bought the company because you heard me that day in college, didn't you?" I asked looking at Gojo. "Oh Satoru you didn't tell me you bought that" Geto said. "Oh so you were also in his plan!" I said looking at Geto. "Yes I was" he replied. "Tf do you two think of me huh? A whore or something???!!!.... I'm late I've to go to the bar with Shoko that's why I'm leaving right now... I'm gonna talk about this again!" I said and went out of their room.

Me and Shoko headed to the bar. I didn't tell her anything cause I don't wanna ruin the night. I put a smile on my face and went with her. We were enjoying the bar. Dancing, drinking, enjoying. Some time later a male appear next to us. "Hey Shoko" the male said. We looked at him. It was Haibara. He's Shoko's boyfriend. "Oh hey... you here?" Shoko asked. "Yeah heard you're here so thought to come too" Haibara replied. "You missed me?" Shoko teased. "More than missed you.... come with me, please" Haibara said. "Uh...but" Shoko said and looked at me. "It's okey Shoko.... go enjoy!!" I said with a smile. She smiled back. "Ok...see you later then" Shoko replied and went with Haibara.

I was sitting there and having some more drinks. Suddenly a male sit next to me. I looked at him. He was smirking at me. "Hello ~" he said. "Hey" I replied. "What are you doing alone" he asked. "Actually I was with my friend... but she got busy" I replied. "You're looking sexy" he said and his eyes trailed over my body. "Oh?" I replied. "Yeah... that colour suits you so much" he said leaning against the counter. "Well....Thank you" I replied. "So? What plans do you have for tonight?" He asked with a smirk. I was about to reply when I heard someone's voice from my behind.

"Heyyy.." the voice said. I turned my head to see Geto standing behind me. "What are you doing?" He asked. He was standing so close to me. I could feel his breath on my shoulder. "What the fuck are you doing here?" I asked. "Our choice" another voice said. It was Gojo. I rolled my eyes. "Suguru asked you something" Gojo said. "Can't you see??? I'm talking with someone" I replied rudely and turned my head towards that guy. Gojo's and Geto's eyes drifted to that guy too.

"we're talking with you" Gojo said. "And I'm ignoring you" Gojo pinned me to the wall next to me. "Lower your voice.... I'm the owner of the company you work for " Gojo said. "Satoru you don't have to be hard on her " Geto said. Gojo was too serious. He was staring deep into my eyes. I've never seen him this serious. "Come with us" geto said. "No I replied" I replied. "No? Gonna kill every man you gonna talk... and you know we're capable of that" Gojo said tilting his head to a side. I stared at him. Then? They dragged me out of the bar.

Then there was I, in their room, on my fours. All of our clothes were on the floor. Gojo thrusting his dick in my mouth and Geto in my pussy from back. I squeezed my eyes. Tears flowing down. Because both of them were too much big. My mouth was wide open. Gojo's dick inside my mouth taking the whole length in slowly. It was too big. Gojo's breath hitched. He threw his head back mouth wide open. He grabbed my hair telling me to suck hard. I slowly sucked his dick and his legs shook. He bobbed my head up and down. His tip was poking the back of my throat. He grabbed my hair and started bobbing my head up and down faster. "Oh god...oh god.... don't...ahhhh... don't stop!!!!" Gojo moaned out loudly. He was bobbing my head up and down faster and faster. He suddenly felt that Gojo was close. In a few minutes he came inside my mouth. He grabbed my chin "Swallow it y/n" Gojo said looking at me. I swallowed his cum.

On the other hand Geto was thrusting too. He was slamming his whole dick inside me. I moaned. My legs were shaking with pleasure. And he was liking it so much. His thurst became harder and harder. I clenched around him tightly and he moaned loudly " ughhhhhh....ahhh s-so...ahhhh....so f-fucking tight, this pussy might be the death of me!!!" he started rubbing my clit with his thumb and I squeezed the bedsheet to control myself. With a few more thurst I came. He was still thursting roughly. I felt his cock pulsing inside me. Within a minute he came inside me I could feel his seed inside me. He pulled out. "You're ready for the round two..huh?" Gojo whispered in my ear and I blushed and I was breathless.

Both of them crashed their mouth on my each breast. Sucking, biting, licking harshly. I moaned and grabbed on each of their hair. They were so rough on my breasts.

They licked my belly and each of them squeezed each of my breast. I grabbed sheet and squeezed my eyes shut. "Uhhah..... eyes on us princess" Geto said and I did. They bite on my nipple. "P-Please" I moaned. " Please what baby?" Gojo asked. " Please fuck me already!!!" I moaned out. "Good girl, now you're begging for it, huh?" Gojo whispered.

Gojo threw himself on the bed and said " you're gonna ride me, baby" I get on him and sit on his dick slowly. The pain was too much. I almost screamed. " Shh... it's okey it's okey....take your time" they said. After I adjust the size I nooded and Geto went behind and put his dick inside me in anal position. Then I started riding Gojo and Geto started thursting in and out. Three of us were moaning mess. Gojo's one hand grabbed the bedsheet and another grabbed one of my breast. On other side Geto's one hand grabbed my waist and another one grabbed my another breast.

Time passed. Their Thursting became faster, rougher and harder. Sound of my screaming, our moaning, skin slapping filled the whole room. I felt their dicks twitch inside me. Then I came again. Came allover Gojo's dick. With a few more thurst both of them came again. We all flipped on the bed panting.

"Look.... told you a long ago... it's not like whore we're not gonna make you a whore!" Geto said. "More importantly.... told you....you gonna be begging for more end of the night" Gojo said with a smirk. I looked away from them with a red face.

Give me your requests guys....

I love when you give me your requests 💕

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

Yandere coworker (part 8)

Tw: noncon touching, noncon kissing, afab reader anatomy, violence, toxic family dynamics

Masterlists, part 1, part 9

Thanks for the asks about cyprus guys, it do be helping me to unclog that authors block for this stimky

Especially the ones who wanted to know more about him, got the idea from themm

"...She's sick and she has a cert' to prove it. I'll ask her to send an email after this call."

You were awoken by Cyprus's voice early morning. Softly grumbling under your breath, you pushed yourself up and rubbed your eyes. Realizing that you were lying on top of his bare chest the entire night. A calloused hand holds you in place by the ass, while the other held onto his phone that is being pressed against his ear.

"Me? I told you. I'm not coming in today. An emergency came up." The annoyance on his face evaporated away as soon as he saw that you were awake. You grunted in displeasure as he pressed an audible kiss on your very sleepy form.

You tried focusing on his banter with Jane. But everything was gibberish to you as you struggled to keep your eyes open. Cyprus gently pushed you back down onto his broad chest as he saw you swaying side to side, obviously not at all fit to go to work.

You pressed your cheek against him and closed your eyes, letting your consciousness slowly drift away again.

"You figure it out, you're the manager." He barked before hanging up on her. Cyprus stretched his arm to open the drawer of his nightstand, dropping his phone next to yours inside it.

The brunette turned his attention to you. He groped your buttocks, it made you stir a little, but it looked like you were too tuckered out to care.

"Hey."

You replied with a weak hum.

"I want to smoke."

You let out a grunt of annoyance. Struggling to push yourself off him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Cyprus pressed you closer to him.

You said that you're trying to get out of the way so he could do his thing.

He huffed. "You're supposed to stop me."

You said that he is an adult. You have no right to tell him what to do or stop whatever urges he may have. You told him that you wished he would extend the same courtesy to you.

"Oh yeah? Well, I have the urge to fuck you stupid right now." This woke you up immediately, making you push him away and creating as much distance as possible. You would have run away if it wasn't for him caging you against the bed.

You began whining and whimpering, about to break into a loud scream, until,

"Relax. I'm not doing that today." His voice took on a condescending tone. However, his fingers are still digging into your soft flesh, keeping you in place under him.

"Help me fight the urge to smoke." He ordered. "I won't let you go until you do something about it."

You frowned, forcing your brain to think early this morning.

You asked when and why he started smoking. His eyes darted to the side as he actively recalled the first time he did it.

"I started when I was twelve." He rolled to your side, but his arm still kept you in place. "My sister tried her best to keep me away from it, but I was a little shit. I stole a pack from her handbag and the rest was history."

You asked what kept him going. He shrugged.

"I looked... cool. And it calms me down, I had to work after school, to pull my own weight around the house. Juice boxes and candies weren't enough to soothe my nerves after a long night of dealing with fucking morons." Cyprus absentmindedly played with your hair as he reminisced about his youth.

You asked him what work he could have possibly done as a 12-year-old.

"You know, like. Shady ones. I would sell random shit on the streets, become a delivery boy for some local gangs, weirdos paid me to leave dead animals on doorsteps of specific people..." He trailed off.

You asked what he used the money on.

"Well, firstly, to keep the lights on. Secondly, on more cigarettes."

You asked how come the money from his mother and sister wasn't enough, that a young boy like him had to be robbed of his childhood to work. To that, he scowled, but not necessarily at you for asking such a question, but it was more like he wasn't fond of the memory.

"Looking expensive was apparently more important than her kids getting three meals a day." You waited for him to elaborate on that.

"We had a coffee machine when we couldn't even afford the right coffee. She had to outshine her so-called friends at church, wearing a new dress every week in her favorite color; gold. While we had to go insane and sleepless trying to put food on the table." He spat, feeling resentment for his mother for prioritizing her image.

"My sister was just like me, she had to juggle her studies while raising me and my mom." He mindlessly touched the back of his shoulder again. You wonder if his sister did something to him on that body part of his.

You asked if he still resents his mother for being materialistic.

He sighed. "...A little."

You asked him if she still is like this.

"Not anymore. It took me running away for a few days to sober her up. She was still shit at managing her money- my sister had to handle that on her own, but at least she knows she was a massive idiot back then."

You asked him how old he was when he ran away.

"Fifteen." A guilty look crossed his face. "My sister freaked the fuck out. It wasn't pretty when I finally decided to show my face again." You eyed the hand that touched the same spot as before.

You asked him if she hit him before.

"More times than I can count. She uses anything and everything, but it's mostly her cha- Slippers." He laughed.

You asked if she usually hit him on the spot that he kept rubbing whenever she was mentioned.

"Oh... no." He turned around to show you what he was touching. It's a long, large raised scar with mild discoloration, but it's clearly healed a while ago. You thought he had that while fighting. "She fucking stabbed me with a kitchen knife. Only once. But it hurt like a bitch, especially when she screamed that I was her biggest burden."

You offered him words of sympathy this time. He snorted.

"She didn't mean it. Because I heard her yell the same thing when she stabbed my mom in the hand. Plus, I was only 8, it wasn't my fault everything was the way it was."

You asked him if he gets to stab her as revenge. He chuckled at your question.

"Nope. My mom did, though. I stole her money and told her boyfriends that she has some sort of contagious disease instead." He pursed his lips and stroked his chin as he thought about the past deeply. "Yeah, I held a grudge against her for a while. I kept stealing her shit and laughed in her face whenever she breaks down. I have taken dodging and blocking seriously ever since I got stabbed."

You asked when you stopped being an asshole to his sister.

"About... fourteen. When I realized that my sister was more of a parent than my mom would ever be. It was awkward as hell, trying to make up for being this devil who's been sabotaging her for years."

You asked if he ran away out of guilt. He looked at you confused.

"Why would I..." He paused and thought about it for a while.

You continued, explaining that maybe he didn't want to be a burden to his sister anymore, so he thought running away was the solution?

"I ran away because I was sick of my mom leeching off me. She was the burden."

You asked if he thought about his sister when he took off.

"Yeah, I thought about how she's going to be fine without me. But I was mostly thinking about how I'm finally free from my mom siphoning my hard earned cash into her wallet."

You asked Cyprus what made him come back. He was chewing on his bottom lip throughout this conversation, possibly to try and suppress the urge to get up and smoke.

"My sister managed to find me one day and tore me a new one. She set my ass straight and put me back into school, kept an eye on me until I turned 18. Then, she told me that I'm free to fuck off and do whatever."

You asked him what he did.

"Finished university. I had some financial backing from my mom and my sister, but I still had to work like a dog to pay off my tuition fees. Thanks to them, I'm here today. Playing with my girl's cute and squishy ass."

You realized that he was fondling your rear during the entirety of this conversation. It made you slap his hand away.

He snickered when you angrily hit him on the chest.

"Oh come on, you liked it." Cyprus brought his face close to yours, to which you pushed him away with your palms.

You said that you did something about his urge to smoke. You asked if he would let you go now.

"Nope."

Exasperated, you let out a whine. Asking what more does he want.

Cyprus puckered his lips dramatically, even to a comical extent and made loud kissy noises. His thumb brushed your bottom lip, silently telling you that he isn't content just giving you kisses on the cheeks or forehead.

You told him that you're not interested in doing such things with him. But he cuts you off mid sentence by shoving his lips against yours.

You struggled, having Cyprus's unusually long tongue muffle your screams. But it only took a couple of seconds for you to calm down and grow limp in astonishment.

He is a... really, really good kisser. You grew more and more embarrassed each second you lingered, pathetically fighting back but clearly enjoying the dance of tongues. You liked the warmth, the erotic sounds he makes without the help of his vocal chords, the slickness and his rhythm. It's oddly satisfying and enjoyable.

He smelled of his body wash, a strong, earthy masculine odor mixed with a hint of cigarette smoke.

You couldn't tell what he tasted like except for the fact that he tasted nice.

You were too distracted by his skills to notice that his hands slipped under your oversized shirt that once belonged to your boyfriend. He's kneading your breasts and buttocks, perhaps adding to the pleasure train that you're experiencing.

However, despite not being a smoker, your lung capacity is much more inferior than Cyprus's. You panicked, repeatedly whacking him on the back as you tried to get him off you so you wouldn't pass out from oxygen deprivation.

He slowly pulled away from you, retreating his lewd hands along with him, admiring the string of saliva connecting your lips to his full ones. You're the only one panting in the room, Cyprus was calm and collected, yet you're there greedily gasping for air with your chest rapidly rising up and down.

"Thanks for the meal, princess. Next time, I'd like to know how it tastes down..." He brushed his fingertips against your clothed clit teasingly, making you jerk your hips away and squeeze your thighs together to process the sudden exciting stimulation. "...here. I bet it'll taste fucking delicious." Purred Cyprus with a pair of grey, bedroom eyes.

He laughed as you shied away from him. "You're funny" Cyprus cooed, tickling your sides until you audibly cackled.

He sat on the edge of the bed, yawning and stretching. He puts on his glasses as he rises from his seat, stretching his back muscles and arms even more.

"Oh and, thank you, doll." He looked back at you.

You asked what for.

"i don't feel like smoking anymore." He bent down to give you an appreciative kiss on the temple. "For now, at least." Cyprus continued.

"Come out in ten minutes." He said, walking out of the bedroom door and into the kitchen. You hear him start to gather the cooking vessels, utensils and ingredients needed for breakfast.

[bbanghiitomi]

| i think you're something i have been looking for

synopsis: one day your sister sends you a google document link to their position paper because she needs your help, you have no idea that she had a partner for the essay and that you didn't change your email account.

— nonidol!sportsjourn!mdanielle! × nonidol!athlete!fem!reader

(⁠ ⁠´⁠◡⁠‿⁠ゝ⁠◡⁠`⁠)(⁠ ⁠´⁠◡⁠‿⁠ゝ⁠◡⁠`⁠)(⁠ ⁠´⁠◡⁠‿⁠ゝ⁠◡⁠`⁠)(⁠ ⁠´⁠◡⁠‿⁠ゝ⁠◡⁠`)

BEEHIVE tavern

minji: [sent an attachment]

minji: y/n YOU LOOK GOOD

minji: finally!!!

y/n: fuck you mean by that?

hanni: SHE'S GONNA BE ON REGIONALSSS

hanni: i'm so proud you have an achievement other than being hopeless romantic!!

y/n: when can i actually get a compliment without an ill intent?

y/n: and thanks btw, this is like my 10th regionals my whole table tennis career

y/n: doubt i'd get any further, i always lose when i'm about to get a spot

minji: this is your time to change that!!!

minii: plus, you can't just weep when you've won. you're gonna be the talk of the region once you reach nationals!!!

hanni: IKR you can't keep being negative, just grab the chance!

hanni: you might meet the one in the regionals!!!

y/n: how many times have you said that???

y/n: thanks guys, that's why i always do my best during training.

y/n: i'll try reaching for the nationals spot, promise.

minji: we appreciate your hardwork bro! you're like super busy with training and such!

minji: and we want those hours of hardwork to be worth it!

hanni: ya plus, you really deserve it this time!

hanni: if you need something you can always ask us!

"unnie! come here!" you look up from your phone to the living room where your sister is sitting on the couch on her laptop for something. you sigh before standing up from the dining table chair and making your way to the living room with your phone. "what's up?" you ask, standing beside the couch, darting your eyes on your sister who is leaning on the laptop. her face is almost close to smothering the monitor of her laptop. "don't sit like that, do you want to be a shrimp forever?" you tell your sister before putting a hand on her back, causing her to stir and sit straight, looking up to you.

"oh hi!" youngseo sighs before turning the laptop for you to see. "unnie, can you help me? i've been working on this position paper for a while but i really can't take a grasp of it." you nod and take the laptop to read what your sister has written so far.

"i assume this is a position paper?" you ask, youngseo's face lights up and she nodded.

"yeah! we were asked to pick an editorial cartoon and make two positions for it, then choose one and make a position paper out of it." youngseo answers, she leans on the couch and scratches her cheeks, pursing her lips. you nod as you read the paper, apparently it's about the spread of fake information with the use of social media — having some experience in writing before, you expected the paper to be a lot more easier.

with that in mind, you turn to look at your sister with pure confusion. "what's so hard about this? it's just a position paper." you tell your sister who then sighs and shakes her head. "no! you don't get it! we were given a 10 page format for the paper, i really did think too that it was easy but it's not." youngseo protests, shrugging and standing up, she walks next to you and gives you a side hug. "come on unnie! please help me..." she whispers and buries her head to your shoulder.

you couldn't help but sigh of course, you still have the laptop in your arms and you look at your sister. "i'm really worried about you, what if i wasn't here?" you tell her with a chuckle, the younger girl pouts and sticks out her tongue. "but you're here and you have no choice." she lets go of you and you take it as a chance to place the laptop on the coffee table and cross your arms.

"alright, i'll help. send me the format and this google document link." you tell your sister who nods and smiles brightly at you. "thank you so much sis!" she laughs and claps her hands. you shake your head in faux disbelief. "make sure to check out the document and be updated." you remind her before leaving and making your way to your room which was upstairs.

"okay unnie! i love you!" you hear your younger sister as you leave.

it's funny, you really did have good intentions for your sister when you finally received the link of the document and the paper format — youngseo was right, the formatting of the position paper required was different than the usual, it followed certain paragraph forms that aren't usually used.

when you opened the google document link, you started editing some stuff and entering new paragraphs, making sure you follow the format and the right grammar — the thing is, you didn't know that you were using an email account you didn't mean to use.

minji'spinkytoe@gmail.com

another thing is that, you didn't know another person beside you was making edits and writing on the same document. your sister had never mentioned that the work she was doing that you were now working on was a project that is done by pair.

"minji's pinky toe..? is this youngseo?" a certain girl behind the account: mdaniellebasiceduc@hybe.com muttered under her breath, they've been working on this project for almost 1 week as the allotted time for the work is 1 month, in those 7 days she and jiwoo shared — the girl had never used this account and have been using her school account.

now this account that is sharing the same document as she was is an account she had never seen before, not only the name was questionable but it's also quite peculiar how much work the person behind the account has done in just a span of an hour — usually youngseo would be asking several questions and will take time before writing a new paragraph just to make sure she's doing the right thing.

danielle scrolls to the recent paragraph that the account is currently working on.

your eyes spots the anonymous puppy in the document and squints your eyes. "is youngseo active?" you look up to see there's another account working on the paper and click on it to see the email.

"huh?" you whisper to yourself. you watch as the person starts typing out a sentence besides the one you just finished.

youngseo? why is your email account named like that?

"like what?" you ask yourself before clicking to check the email you're using and to your surprise, you immediately gasp as your eyes lands on the account that hanni made in your laptop. "oh my god, what is this?" you start to panic realizing that the person in the same document might have thought that youngseo is the one behind the email account.

"holy shit..." you mutter before typing an answer to danielle's question.

oh my god, i'm sorry i was using the account my sister's friend made.

danielle blinked as the anonymous raccoon finally answered.

you couldn't help but sigh and slap yourself due to embarrassment and now you'll hear youngseo whining into your ears for putting her on an awkward situation.

BEEHIVE TAVERN

y/n: dude what the fuck?

y/n: [sent an attachment]

hanni: LMFAOOOO what's the context?

y/n: don't you ask my ass you know what's up.

hanni: what?

minji: what's the matter?

y/n: dude hanni made an account on my laptop named minji'spinkytoe and youngseo's classmate saw it.

hanni: NO WAY LMFAOOOO

minji: bro what the fuck? my what? ಠ⁠_⁠ʖ⁠ಠ

hanni: ur pinky toe.

minji: hanni what the fuck!!??

hanni: look it's supposed to be a joke since you sent me a pic of your toe.

hanni: and ofc i didn't know ms. lee right here wouldn't notice.

y/n: how am i supposed to know? ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ

y/n: my sis asked me to help her with her paper and i didn't know someone else besides her was working on the document.

minji: DUDE WHY MY TOE ┻⁠┻⁠︵⁠ヽ⁠(⁠`⁠Д⁠´⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠︵⁠┻⁠┻

minji: why not y/n's toe instead?

hanni: cause it's funny okay!!?? →⁠(⁠°⁠ ⁠۝ ⁠°⁠)⁠┗

y/n: youngseo's gonna scream on my ears tonight (⁠●⁠´⁠⌓⁠`⁠●⁠)

turns out you really weren't wrong because as soon as you got downstairs your sister suddenly appeared as if she was teleporting. "youngseo—!" you're caught off guard and your sister crosses her arms on her chest with a sharp glare. "why did you use that horrible account?" she asks.

"youngseo look, hanni made that account and i accidentally used it because i didn't know!" you explain watching as she turns her back to you and walks upstairs to your father's office with her feet stomping on the floor. "hey don't tell dad!" you tell her but she turns around to you with a frown. "then why did you tell dani that it was me using it?" you laugh sheepishly and shrugged.

"cause i didn't want her to think you're letting your sister do the work." you answer, youngseo takes some deep breaths and raises her hand to your face. "keep it, thank you for your help but starting tomorrow i will be working on that paper again." she tells you and leaves to enter her room, leaving you confused with her sudden change of mood.

marsh danielle

youngseo: hey dani, i was just gonna say it was actually my sister who was using that account.

youngseo: i asked for her help and lent her the google document.

youngseo: she just really has the most annoying friends ever.

danielle: hey youngseo!

danielle: it's alright, i did kind of think it was funny tho...

youngseo: yeah she's goofy and stupid.

danielle: her name's y/n right? and your youngest sis is hyein?

youngseo: yup, why?

danielle: nothing, i heard your older sis is joining the regional table tennis competition and might make it to the national team.

youngseo: ohhh yeah, but she has to win the regionals first and then she's going to compete in japan before qualifying for nationals.

danielle: that's awesome! good luck to her.

danielle: i'm competing for the regional journalism competition and i'm covering for sports so i was a bit curious.

youngseo:...so you want to meet her or something?

danielle: yes, kind of.

"oooh isn't that danielle?" hanni's voice rolls inside your ears while you are tying your shoes, you look up at your two friends who are whispering towards each other. "who?" you stand in the middle not too far from the duo who both look at you at the same time. "the sports writer for HYBE chronicles." minji answers, you look towards the girl's direction and then to minji.

"you know her?" you ask, minji shakes her head and looks at hanni. "do you?"

"of course not, she's pretty popular okay? and she's attending your competition for the HYBE chronicles." hanni answers, you look once again to danielle and try to decipher what memory you have that reminds you of her name.

but to no avail, you really don't remember anything.

"her name sounds familiar" you tell your friends who both look at you in unison. hanni laughs as if mocking you, she points her index finger towards you with a smirk. "what? she talked to you before?" she says.

minji raises her brows and looks at you with surprise written on her face. "wait really?"

you roll your eyes and shake your head. "duh, no. i just remembered my sister mentioning it once."

while the three of you talk, danielle turns her head around to spot you out of all the people that are present in the park inside the school premises.

"can i excuse myself for a bit?" danielle asks the people who are also a part of their organization, she gets an approval before she takes her leave and makes her way to you and your friends.

you feel minji nudging your sides and you glare at her. "dude what the hell do you want?" you tell her and notice she's staring right in front of you, hanni also was speaking. you turn your head to see danielle making her way to you with a smile.

"hi! your youngseo's sister right?" danielle asks you and you feel your knees shaking, your shoulders feel stiff under her graze. this must be your sister's classmate, yes you figured it really might be her. you look at your two friends who just had their eyes on you with a worried expression. you smile at danielle before scratching your cheeks and nodding.

"oh yeah, right. i'm her sister, is there anything i can help you with?" you ask danielle who only smiled brighter and even giggled. "wow, i've been hearing a lot about you since the division competition and i was so stoked to see you." minji and hanni exchanged looks as you and danielle stood face to face between the duo. you feel your blood boiling upwards to your cheeks causing it to glow red.

you're super sure you've never seen a girl as pretty as danielle, maybe there were some before but if you were to be really honest it really feels like you're talking to the sun itself with the way the girl glows right in front of your eyes.

it's blinding and even the way she smiles doesn't help it.

"ah, yeah... i'm also excited about it. you're also competing right? for the HYBE chronicles..?" you ask her, sounding so cheesy and sheepish hanni felt like she was about to vomit on the spot, but danielle only nodded and even gave you a small tap on your shoulders.

the way her soft fingers trailed on your blazer caused you to almost fall. almost.

"yes! we're publishing our online newspaper and we'll also take our legacy by printing out these papers and submitting them in an international competition." the way danielle talks about it, made her seem more amazing to your eyes — you barely even know this girl but the way she carried herself almost had you wanting to carry her too, with your not-so-flimsy arms.

"god... that sounds amazing." you barely even understand whatever she was saying but you were sure enough that you knew what that meant: danielle is everyone's it girl.

hanni grimaced at your response and minji couldn't help but chuckle, even putting a hand on her mouth. "i know right? you must feel very happy about yours too, i can't wait to cheer you on! good luck." with that, danielle bid her goodbye and left, leaving you with your two idiotic friends.

"ho! ho! hold on! what was that?" hanni asks, holding her hands to your face with a surprise look on her face, minji shrugs and smiles— seeing your lovestruck face at the encounter with such a gorgeous girl. you smile, blinking your eyes slowly, watching danielle go back to talking with her friends. "i don't know..." you mutter.

"wow, she actually knows you? i didn't expect she'd care." minji laughs, she's kidding actually, it's not like you're not that popular too but she likes messing with you sometimes. "you're pulling girls now?" hanni asks, raising her brow at you, you shake your head and bury your face on your palm, smiling. "no! god leave me alone hanni." you say, but smiling hard as you turn away — the duo looks at each other and shrugs.

"i'm still embarrassed by the fact i used an account named minji's toenail and danielle saw it." you sigh as you plopped down your bed, you had your two amazing friends to stay with you in your room before you go through a long training session for the tournament. minji rolls her eyes at your statement.

"how are you more embarrassed? that's literally my toenail." minji scoffs, earning a laughter from hanni who gripped the edge of your table. "i'm so sorry minji, just don't send photos of your toenail next time alright?" hanni says, wiping a tear from her eyes.

"why not? that was such a silly impression to make." you tell your friends, minji sits next to you on your bed — her weight sinking. "since when did you care about your impression to girls? last time i checked you couldn't even answer a simple mathematical problem to impress a girl." minji crosses her arms on her chest, looking down at you.

"and you used to have stomach aches when a girl talks to you." hanni adds, this causes you to scoff with how true their words are.

yes, you used to never care about your impression on girls even if you'd regret it after since you used to have the biggest and most pathetic crushes on girls you were sure you can never have.

maybe because you've grown or was it really because it's danielle — but you can't ever fuck it up, you don't want to mess this up, there's no way you'll let go of the chance god has given you to crawl your way to danielle's life.

"call it puberty hanni, but i swear i've never seen a girl as pretty as danielle before — not as smart and not as kind." you sit up on your bed and look at your friends, minji scrunches her face at you. "again, how sure are you? you don't even know her." she says. you give minji a deadpan look and answer. "do you? that's why i need to make a good impression and get to know her so we can be friends and eventually i can ask her out."

"i do admire you for considering being friends first with her. but hey, i think you've already made a good impression i mean she did approach you, right?" hanni being a good friend for once says. you look at her and shrug. "really?" you ask.

minji rolls her eyes. "you have a fucked up sense of self-esteem huh? she literally said she's stoked to see you because she's heard of you. she's the head of the sports writing and chief editor of the HYBE chronicles. how will she not have such an impression of you?"

you stand up and look at your friends, your back facing your door as you raise your hands. "woah, you mean i have the chance?" you ask your friends, causing them to grimace together. hanni looks at you with disbelief. "of course you have dumbass!" causing minji to laugh.

"we'll support you in your tournament just in case danielle's present there."

the door opens slightly and your friends all look surprised to see the person behind you, you turn around to follow their gazes only to see danielle standing there with the doorknob in her hand. "oh! sorry, i didn't know where youngseo's room was." you stare at her with no words and smile. "it's okay... you'll sleepover in youngseo's room?" you ask, fully turning your body around and blocking your friends' view of danielle.

"yes, we have another project together and i thought it would be a great idea to stay over for the night." danielle answers, smiling at you brightly — your face lightens up, warmth engulfed your cheeks and ears start to burn red. "really? have you eaten dinner yet?" you ask again, tilting your head with a silly smile. danielle shakes her head and giggles. "not yet, i have just arrived." you put a hand on your cheek and look away. "oh okay, the door next to mine is youngseo's room —"

"danielle! what are you doing there? my sis and her annoying friends are there." youngseo exits her room and looks at you with a deadpan expression. danielle nods and waves at your sister. "oh, i thought this was your room." danielle looks back at you and peeks at your friends waving her hand. "bye guys and..." she looks at your again and taps your shoulder. "bye y/n." before leaving and entering your sister's room.

"oh my god is that danielle!?" hanni stands up from her seat and puts her hands on her head with a surprised look on her face. minji laughs and slaps her thighs. you turn around and close the door with a stupid smile, limply making your way to your bed to throw yourself again. "you should be nice to your sister, she's carrying all these interactions on her back." minji says, patting your back.

you breathe heavily, trying to process the situation with the way danielle touched your shoulder. it felt like a feather fell on your way with how soft her fingers were.

you push yourself up with a determined expression. "i have an idea." you propose.

"you'll cook a meal for youngseo and her friend?" hanni asks, following you as you enter inside the kitchen and starts checking for ingredients around the cabinets. minji stands next to hanni, nodding her head. "no, i'll cook meals for us." you correct her and continue rummaging around any drawers or cabinets you see. "but technically because danielle's here. i mean, when did you cook for us anyway?" minji raises her hands and raises her brows.

"don't forget some nights." you grumble and glare at minji as you prefer the ingredients, minji scrunches her face. "reluctantly." she corrects you.

you ignore her and start chopping garlic and opening the stove, placing the pan on the stove to let it heat while the duo takes their time to gossip together at the kitchen diner table.

"i didn't think about writing academic papers being this hard before, i can usually ace them without doing so much." youngseo sighs as she leans on her coffee table with a small grumble, muttering a curse about how writing papers at their age seems to have been more difficult than it did before. lately, their projects have been revolving around writing lab reports and academic papers such as essays and position papers, even manifestos.

and youngseo is smart herself but usually she's more of a science and mathematics smart not writing smart, good thing she met danielle who's known for her writing wits, whether it may be creative writing or not.

"academic writing is like driving school, there's sets of rules you need to follow and it's really hard to master writing but once you get a hang out of it — you'll find yourself looking for the thrill again and again." danielle says, leaning on the table too and giving the younger lee a bright smile.

"oh, by the way — we haven't had dinner yet and i think there's food downstairs. wanna come?" youngseo stands up and rushes to her door with danielle following her. "okay, i don't mind." she smiles and follows youngseo downstairs where they walk past the living room to the kitchen where they see kim minji and pham hanni discussing personal topics as well as you cooking on the kitchen.

"woah why are you three here?" youngseo asks, walking behind minji who remains seated, while hanni follows youngseo with her gaze— danielle stands at the entrance watching the four girls. "your sister's cooking dinner for us and uh, i personally love her cooking." hanni laughs sheepishly and looks at minji who smiles at danielle and offers her a seat. "yes, i think danielle would love her cooking." minji says, danielle smiles at her and shakes her hand.

youngseo looks at you and to the pasta you're making. "i'm gonna remember this." she whispers and takes a seat beside minji, the three girls start a conversation and danielle makes her way to you. "what are you cooking?" she asks, hands behind her as she sways delicately to the melody of nothing, the delicious smell of the food wafts around the place and danielle just couldn't help but take a peek.

"oh vegetables? i love vegetables!" danielle says, you laugh but still have your eyes on the pan and nod at her. "yeah me too but minji hates them." you say, causing her to giggle too.

"i think it looks great and definitely tastes great too." you nod at her and smile, finally turning your head to look at her — it makes her heart flutter, something that feels nice but new, something she was happy to welcome with open arms.

"of course, i made sure it does." you tell her.

"come on minji, how are you almost 20 and still can't eat vegetables?" hanni grumbles as you all start to eat and you serve minji a plate of pasta without some of the vegetables. minji ignores hanni but earns a laughter from youngseo.

after eating dinner, you ask for all of them to leave as you were about to clean the table and plates but danielle insists on staying to help you out — this was a cue for the two of your friends to drag youngseo out of it. "oh come on! what are you doing you two!?" your sister complains as she was being dragged away.

"that was such a nice dinner, i loved it!" danielle says as she helps you take the plates out of the table, you smile at her and feel the way your blood runs hot to your cheeks, causing you to look down to avoid her gaze.

"thanks, i rarely cook here since our mom does most stuff but she's out with dad so — i kind of thought maybe i'll cook again." you tell danielle as you place the plates on the sink, she looks at you with glimmering eyes. "i did hear youngseo say the same thing before and she mentioned how she likes your cooking too."

"my sister is a little tsundere sometimes you know?" you laugh as you tell that to danielle, she giggles and nods her head. "she's so nice though and smart." danielle adds.

danielle helped you in washing the dishes, you talk about your experiences at the table tennis career of yours, what dreams you have for yourself as well as danielle's life as the chief editor of the HYBE chronicles journalism organization, how her journey started and what traits you share in common.

she's pretty spontaneous but likes to plan ahead cause it excites her, she likes vegetables and loves her family so much, she can get a little stubborn and she's always happy, she wants to bring positive vibes to everyone around her.

you tell her a lot about yourself too, your relationship with youngseo, how much your sport means to you and your friends too, how amazing they are even though you'd rather die than tell that to them cause hanni's gonna make fun of you.

"thanks for tonight." danielle gives her brightest smile, and it's almost like you were given the chance to take a peek of the milky way galaxy from her eyes the way her pupils shine bright lights. you couldn't help but smile too, you nod at her and try to keep looking at her eyes. "yeah, thanks too it's not much but i had so much fun." you stare at her for a while before looking away, both of you standing in the middle of the corridor where your room and your sister's room were located.

the lights were turned off already and the only source of lights were the window where the moonlight was present.

once again, danielle gives your shoulder a light tap to get your attention.

you steel yourself before turning around and you're greeted with her face close to yours. "don't tell this to anyone but — if you ever get the chance to compete in japan, let's go on a date, yeah?" danielle whispers and you feel yourself about to crumble to the floor with how close she was, you blink almost too many times to try and wake yourself up from what kind of dream this was but it wasn't working.

"ah, uhm... yeah, sure..." you mutter, still surprised but danielle couldn't help but giggle at your reaction, seeing how flustered you were.

you feel embarrassed but happy too, yes, you're definitely happy — who wouldn't right?

you began to laugh sheepishly and this had danielle laughing too.

"you're so cute," she pauses and reaches for your cheek to pinch it. "see you tomorrow." she continues before leaving and not even waiting for your response because she knows you wouldn't be able to function after what she did.

"i need to win and get to the nationals!" as soon as you enter inside your room you surprise your two friends with your shouting. "oh my god y/n! can you not do this tonight?" hanni grumbles before standing up and grabbing your shoulders. "what's gone into you?" she stares at your face.

"i need to train tomorrow!" you shake hanni's hands off of you. "18 hours practice, yes that's perfect!" you walk around your room whispering encouragement to yourself that had your two friends thinking you're possessed.

"you should cheer on your sister." danielle says as she enters your sister's room. youngseo sighs and rolls her eyes. "she's such a big baby." youngseo mutters before going back to reading her book, danielle laughs and sits next to youngseo, embracing the younger lee in a hug. "oh—! what's gotten into you? did her crazy friends possess you?" youngseo asks, trying to push danielle off of her.

danielle only smiles, not pulling away. "i just think your presence will help her win... i'll accompany you if you want." danielle looks at youngseo with a persuasive smile.

youngseo gives her a deadpan look before speaking. "you like her don't you?"

danielle laughs and shakes her head. "no!"

"really? danielle don't you dare lie to me!"

"i swear."

"dani...

did you really come here to see her?"

danielle pushes youngseo away.

"no!"

"i doubt it."

"well, yeah maybe a little."

"oh come on dani!" youngseo jumps on danielle on her bed, causing the girl to burst into laughters.

"sorry!"

that night made danielle realize that maybe it's not like something or someone has been missing in her life for a long time, it's just that maybe a part of her is looking for that something as an addition to her life — she needed a bit of color, she found that it might be that she have only realized it when she first saw you, it's not on that day you first saw her on the campus after you embarrassed yourself using your friend's account — but it's has been a long time since that fateful day when you handed her a copy of your textbook, you didn't even bother asking her name or telling yours, it's so funny because you don't even remember that day.

ever since then, danielle has been looking out for another day the gods above will tie your strings together again.

and when that time comes, she'll never let your strings go again.

she's been so patient, always cheering out for you from afar, hoping someday you'll eventually notice her and to her surprise — and to yours, that day brought you two together again as funny as it sounds, it was destined to her eyes, it was meant to be.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

One Message Waiting

Sequel to One is the Loneliest Number, One on One, One Little Thing, Only One I See, One Thing Leads To Another

Warnings: none, Professor Steve (that’s a warning in itself)

Dunno if I’ll be doing an exhaustive drabble series but there’s at least this. Let me know if you’re enjoying it or not and any thoughts you have. Love you!

Your phone lights up in the middle of the lecture and you flip it, ignoring the dual notification in the corner of your screen. Inez has no shame as she swipes through her feed, Professor Rogers' voice reaching the high ceiling as he expounds on the themes of FitzGerald. You note the title of the email before it flits back into the tool bar: Teacher's Assistant: Application Accepted.

You can't get ahead of yourself. Once you're through class, you can get excited. And anxious. Inez has taken to calling you goody two shoes over your extracurriculars but you'll laugh at her over your paychecks.

As the lesson comes to a close, Inez yawns and stretches, "you'll send me a copy of your notes?"

"Star student right here," you close your laptop and slip it in yoir bag.

"Who? You? You learn fast, Miss Sniper from the Side."

"You might get a bit better than a C if you wrote anything down," you chide as head down the row.

"Right, mom, I'll get on that," she follows you down the steps towards the front of the lecture hall, "right after I pick up my official geek badge from the station."

"You're stupid," you hurl back at her.

"Never claimed otherwise," she chuckles, "hey, you hear that, this bimbo used a big word. Otherwise!"

"Quit," you smile and stick your tongue out at her over your shoulder.

Your name smothers her response. Professor Rogers waves his pen at you as he nears, twirling it before hooking it over his shirt pocket, "so, you get the good news?"

"Hi, professor," Inez says deliberately.

"Um, hi," he gives and awkward smile before turning back to you, "so?"

"About my TAship? Yeah, I just got the email but haven't opened it–"

"So you don't know?"

"Um, it said accepted so–"

"Right, I won't spoil it," he beams, "sorry, I… you two have a good day. I gotta get across campus but if you have any questions about your placement, you know how to find me."

"Sure, thanks, professor," you nod and turn away, Inez hesitating before she trails after you.

"Uh huh, you know exactly how to find him, don't you?" She hisses as you pass into the hallway, "all you have to do is exist. Like Christ–"

"Really? You're still on this?" You huff.

"Oh, come on, you're not that clueless. He was shaking in excitement. Just to talk to you."

"Whatever," you take out your phone and swipe up. "I bet I got Laufeyson. Not even English, just my–" you pause as you open the email and read through, "huh."

"What?" She asks as she opens the front door ahead of you.

"I got… him. Professor Rogers."

"I knew it. I fucking called it," she hops down the steps in glee ahead of you, "oh my god, perfect opportunities for good old Professor Hunk!"

"Stop. Please. I'm already stressing and you're– you're freaking me out."

"Come on, I'm teasing you. We both know he's too squeaky clean to do anything like that. But it's funny, he's got a little crush on you. On you! The cutest little nerd on campus."

"Wow, thanks, you're an amazing friend," you say dryly.

"You should be flattered. He's a hottie, even for an old dude. Not exactly my flavour, you know, with the dangly bits and all, but I can tell a hot tamale when I see one."

"Do you stop? Ever?"

"No," she giggles, "come on, lets go get some tea. Then maybe you'll calm down… and we can plot how you can really make Dr. Heart Eyes squirm."

"No," you sneer.

"Aw, fine, just tea."

📱

The weight of the textbook weighs on your chest, your eyes half-closed as you lay across the narrow twin bed. In a minute, you'll finish, you swear. You just need a moment. Your phone vibes and you growl, Inez can be so annoying. And persistent.

You reach over blindly and bring your phone up, unlocking it with your thumb. The screen flashes and you hit the icon for your messages. You're surprised to find it isn't Inez, but a number without a name. You read through the last messages and realise it's Steve.

'Hey, can't wait to see you gorgeous. At the restaurant now.'

You blink and shove the book off your chest as you sit up. What the hell?

You put the phone back. Wrong number maybe? You don't know but you feel worse correcting him.

You let out a breath and grab the textbook, trying to refocus on your homework. He'll figure it out. Hopefully he can just laugh it off.

You uncap your highlighter as you contemplate another cup of coffee. It's late. You should at least try to sleep after.

You zone out to the buzz of your playlist, bulling through the last half of the chapter. History… it's like reading a story in a way but you just can't hold onto the details.

Your phone shakes again. You grab it and look at the time. You rest it on the closed textbook and yawn. It's veen thirty minutes since hisnlast text but you don't think he realises.

'Hey, you still coming?' Followed by the smiley emoji. Oh god.

You should tell him. You should let him know he's texting the wrong person. You key in the message and hover over send.

You can't. You feel the second-hand embarrassment through the phone. Hopefully he figures it out and just deletes the messages and pretends it didn't happen.

You black out the screen and plug in to the charger. You pile up your textbook and notebook and drop them on the floor beside the bed. You hit the bottom of the lamp and it turns off before you flop against the pillow. You're too tired to worry about all this.

You drift off easily. You sleep most of the night but wake at the noise of one of your roommates in the kitchen. The place is small and the walls are thin. You groan and rub the sleep from your eyes.

You get up and pull on your robe, dragging your feet into the hall and down to the bathroom. You take your time and come out as Ellie waits outside. You apologise and go back to your room.

You take your phone and look at the time, a speech bubble floating beneath. You hit it to expand the preview.

'So sorry. Wrong number. Hope you had a good night.'

You snort, slightly amused. At least he caught his mistake. You swipe away the notification and unlock the screen, going through the dailyl listless scroll of social media.

[angelsanarchy]

Glass Houses: Jack Thurlow x Y/N Series CH 20 -> CH 21

Tagging:@roryculkinluvr@thatsthewrongwallcraig@icarus-star @cc-luvr @madamemaximoff06@shady-the-simp @quicksilversg1rl @s-0lar @kristennero-wallacewellsver@ophelialaufey @mayathepsychic1999 @x-prettyboy-x @rorylover71 @auggiethecreator @tempt-ress @blacksoul-27

Jack had made progress, real progress that he was happy to report to Dr. Carty. He had attended one of the meetings Y/n suggested and as corny as it sounded, he felt less alone in the struggles of his past that he had a hard time remembering. He received some legitimate guidance on searching for answers through old media. The man that ran the survivors group had a similar story to Jack's only he was lost in the foster care system and passed around between pedophiles collecting state checks.

He explained to Jack that media searches aren't the best way to access your past trauma. He suggested petitioning to have the court records opened for his own mental health. It meant getting a lawyer or an advocate but if Jack really wanted to pick at the scab of his trauma, he had the best place to start.

"I felt like a fucking idiot when I started crying. Shit just got super overwhelming really fast but they didn't really press me to keep talking which was great. Gave me time to collect myself and actually hear other people talking about their own shit." Jack explained.

"How did it make you feel having a small group of strangers telling you their stories?" Dr. Carty asked.

"Honestly, it was sad. This shit happens too often. There needs to be a better system in place, a better reporting center. I actually talked to some of the people in the group afterwards, exchanged some emails..." He trailed off knowing Dr. Carty would make a comment.

"You made friends!" He said gleefully making Jack roll his eyes.

"You say that like I'm a total shut in." Jack argued earning a laugh.

"As your doctor, I can confirm you just now started going out to get your groceries instead of having them delivered." Dr. Carty joked as Jack pulled into the driveway.

"I'm proud of Jack. You're making such amazing progress in your healing. The crying is a release. Don't fight it so much." Jack nodded his head.

"Well I made it home in one piece and I've got to send Y/n a text thanking her for the recommendation." Jack turned the car off and started to gather his things.

"She's provided a lot of healing for you Jack. You should keep her around. You need that positive push." Dr. Carty said confidently. Jack didn't disagree. Before he could respond, her name lit up on his phone.

"She's actually calling me now so-"

"I'll talk to you tomorrow. Have a good night Jack." Dr. Carty bid him farewell and he clicked over the call.

"I was just thinking about you." Jack said with a smile.

"Oh yeah? With or without clothes?" She teased.

"Well now I'm thinking about you without clothes but that's your own fault." He laughed.

"I wanted to call and check on you but I also wanted to let you know I might have left you some stuff inside your house." Jack froze on his porch.

"You broke into my house?" He asked looking over to her house.

"Of course not...I used the key." She said firmly. Jack opened the front door carefully and could smell food.

"You broke in to make me dinner?" He laughed.

"Again, I used the key. I didn't cook it. I had it ordered. I figured today would be draining so I wanted you to come home and not worry about feeding yourself." Y/n explained as he walked over to see brown bag sitting atop the counter. He opened and it smelled heavenly.

"It should still be warm but you can heat it up in the package if it needs to be." Jack pulled the box of spaghetti out and took a bit of the bread.

"You can break into my house anytime." He said with a mouthful of food. She laughed on the other end of the line.

"That's not all...I also left you something to keep you company tonight on your bed." Jack stopped eating and climbed the stairs.

"This feels like Christmas." He joked. When he got to the top of the steps he saw Ace sitting on his bed.

"Oh hey buddy! You came to visit me." Jack's voice changed to baby talk for the pup as he leaned down to snuggle him.

"I figured you could use the company and he's been missing you." Jack almost forgot he was on the phone and he picked Ace up in his arms.

"You know one of these nights, I won't be on the backend of an emotional breakdown and I'm going to ask you out on a date. You better be prepared with a better excuse to not say yes than trauma bonding." Jack said with a smile. She chuckled.

"I've got to get back to work but I'll give you a call later okay? Just to make sure you're settled in and don't need anything." Jack hung up the phone and took Ace down stairs with him to eat dinner. He spent his evening making a grocery list, feeding Ace and turning on the TV for a change. He left Ace to watch the TV while he showered and it was around 11PM when he was finally snuggling down with the pup.

He was started to get comfortable and when his phone vibrated. He smiled seeing Y/n was facetiming him. She was still in her scrubs but looked like she was in the bathroom about to clean herself up for bed.

"Well aren't you two the cutest thing I've ever seen?" She smiled seeing Ace sleeping on Jack's chest.

"Don't be jealous he loves me more than you." She chuckled.

"I won't keep you up, just wanted to make sure you were okay." She kept her eyes on them and Jack smiled.

"Today was a lot but it felt good. I definitely needed it. Thank you for the recommendation." Jack watched her take her hair down and wipe her face with a makeup wipe.

"Of course. I'm so happy that it was able to give you some support." She said as Jack watched her carefully.

"Was the food okay?" She asked not looking at him as she continued to get ready for bed.

"How long do I have to wait before I ask you out again?" He ignored her question and she looked at her phone, stopping what she was doing and smiled at him.

"Sleep on it tonight. If you wake up and feel good, you can ask me then. I just want you to wait until you're ready and when you are, I will say yes." She explained making him smile.

"I'll hold you to that." He said with a sleepy smile.

"Get some rest Jack. I will talk to you tomorrow." She said seeing how tired he was. He nodded his head.

"Goodnight Y/n." The screen went black and he let out a sigh. He had never felt so content in this moment. For the first time in a long time, he was hopeful for what was to come.

[ashbrat488]

Candy - Chapter 3

Word count: 1191

Cassidy is at home with Joe when he receives a call from his boss inviting them to another party... August just can't let her go...

Minors DNI

Joe moans, distracted from the game he was trying to play as Cassidy wrapped her mouth around his cock between his legs. "Oh god." He rests his hand on the top of her head, glancing down to find her brown eyes on his. "Cass..."

She giggles around his cock, resting her hands on his thighs as she allowed him to guide her on him before his phone rang beside him.

He groaned, looking to see August's name on the screen as he tried to push her away. She didn't budge, grabbing his cock with her hand as she continued her work. "It's my boss!" He hisses as she only shrugs.

"Answer it," she demands, pulling his cock back into her mouth, eliciting a grunt from above her.

"Hello?" He answers gruffly, trying to control his breath.

"Joseph, how are you?"

He tensed slightly at the sound of August's stern voice on the other line. Even through the phone, August Walker was someone that commanded attention. "Sir... I'm good." He manages to stumble out as Cassidy deep throated his cock, causing him to hit the back of her throat.

Cassidy rolled her eyes at Joe calling the August 'sir' as Joe bit his lip, trying his best to keep quiet on the phone.

"Listen, the Mrs. and I are having a small New Year's Eve party at the house and we wanted to invite you. And bring your pretty girlfriend too," August insists. "What was her name? Carly?"

"Cassidy... sir," he offers, gripping her hand in his hand as he now began to push her down on him and she moaned softly around his cock.

"Cassidy, right. I'll send you an email with the details. See you next week."

Joe knew that it wasn't a question or an invitation, not really. It was a summoning. "Yes sir. Thank you!"

"Please, call me August."

"Ye—" Joe hears the line click, scoffing slightly as he tosses it onto the couch beside him. "Fuck, Cass..."

She hears him grunt, feeling his cock tighten without warning as he came in her mouth, pushing her down on him as she swallowed. She pinched his thigh when he released her.

"Ow! What the fuck was that for?"

"You're supposed to tell a girl when you're about to come!"

"Sorry," he chuckled, watching her stand up, grabbing his water from the table to take a large gulp, before plopping beside him on the couch.

"So... who was that?" She asks, already knowing the answer. She grabbed the book she had been reading earlier in the day and propped herself on the edge of the couch, facing him as he pulled his shorts back on.

"August Walker," Joe answers gleefully. "He invited us to his house for a New Year's Eve party this weekend. Can you believe it?!"

"Us?" She shakes her head, looking back down at her book, a little annoyed at his excitement. "No thanks."

"No thanks?" He repeats, placing his hand on her book to push it down, forcing her to look up at him. "What the fuck do you mean, no thanks? He said you were invited to. Sort of insisted I bring you. You're coming."

"No, I'm not. I do not want to go." She slams the book on the coffee table as he scoffs.

"You have to! I just started working there and I've been invited to the boss's house! There are guys that have been there for years that have never been invited. This is a big deal. It will be an even bigger fucking deal if I don't do as he asks and bring you."

Cassidy scowled, knowing she was the only reason he was invited in the first place. "I don't want to go. I do not like him."

Joe rolls his eyes at her childishness. "We always have to deal with people we don't like. It's a part of life. Please, Cass! This affects my career and how August sees me..."

His voice softens toward the end as he lowers his brows, doing his best to look dejected as she groans. "Ugh! Fine!"

Joe grins, pulling her to him to lay kisses along her cheek, down her neck and back up as she giggled. "Thank you. It means so much, really. Especially after you said you didn't think we were ready to meet each other's families for Christmas."

She groans softly with a sigh, resting her hand on his cheek. "I'm sorry. I'm just not ready. And I don't really think a big family holiday is the right time to introduce your significant other. It can be overwhelming..."

"I know." He nods with a small smile. "It's fine. Really? When you're ready, I'll introduce you to my parents."

"Sounds good. Can I go back to reading my book now like I was before you interrupted me?"

"I interrupted you?!" He laughs, squeezing her sides as she squealed, giggling. "I was sitting here quietly playing my game."

"You're so cute when you concentrate," she teases as he laughs, shaking his head.

He places a kiss on her nose before releasing her to allow her to prop herself back up in her spot beside him. She rested her legs in his lap as she returned to reading and he returned to his game. She took a glance back at him as he played, wondering how she would manage to date him while also trying to avoid August. She wasn't even really sure yet that she wanted to avoid August. Sure he was just a client and it didn't mean anything, but that didn't mean that she didn't enjoy her time with him.

August dialed another number after hanging up on Joe. He paced his office as he waited for the line to pick up. Finally, he heard the click. "Hey."

"Walker? What's up?"

"I might have a job for you."

"Who do I get to kill?" The man asks brazenly asks from the other line, making August scoff and roll his eyes.

"No one..." he stops pacing, glancing out the window with a small shrug, "well, I haven't decided yet. But you owe me."

"Yeah yeah. Whatever you need Walker."

"Good, I'll be in touch." August hangs up the phone, sliding it into his pocket just as he hears his office door open behind him and his five-year-old son comes charging into the room. He turns around with a smile, scooping him into his arms.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Walker... he got away from me."

August smiles at the nanny, obviously tired from chasing his son all day. "No worries, I'm done for today. Where is his mother?"

"I... I do not know, sir." She keeps her eyes drawn down, away from him. She knew he was easier to deal with when he was around his son, but she did not want to be the one to incur his wrath because of Sara.

"Right," August sighs, patting her shoulder gently. "Go home. I will get him to bed." He dismisses her with his hand as she quickly scurries away and he focuses on his son, setting him on his feet. "Go pick out a book, I'll be right there." He chuckles to himself as his son happily runs up the stairs toward his room as he follows him. 

Chapter 4 Candy

Taglist If you want to be added or removed from my list, let me know 🫶🏻

@identity2212 , @alicedopey , @propelkitten , @critfailroll, @mrsevans90

[barlowstreet]

I am so fucking proud of you! May I ask how your group project ended up going?

Thank you!!!

Honestly yeah I have tea, let's spill.

Under a cut for long math drama because WOW that a whole thing

Alright, so for anyone who missed it, the group project assignment was fairly simple. It was literally just pick an article about mathematical modeling (he suggested using covid 19 as a topic), read it, present our findings to our class. Four people in my group, 10 minute long at most presentation, could have all probably be done in 30 minutes, right? We started this March 20th and it was due April 10th, today.

I picked the article, sent it to my group partners, they were like "yeah sure that works". I set up a word document through office 365 which we all have access to through our school that we could all just put our notes in and I put my part in March 20th. And then I took a whole bunch of cold medication because that was when I was sick.

Then no one did anything. I emailed them again reminding them, hey, we do gotta do this April 5th. The one girl did hers that day. The guy in my group did his April 7th. I also made a powerpoint at that point because I was like "I am not just talking to the camera here, I need a prop". (I get camera shy and do a lot better if I have props.)

The other girl in my group? The last email I got from her was never. She never replied to a single one of my emails. We talked in class once in a breakout room, where I said "I will email you all, I have no voice and am very sick and it's probably easier to just use email" and she was like, "Yeah, sounds good." So to be clear, she knew I was going to email her.

I get to class today and the guy in my group is not there. Okay, sure, fine, one of us can read his part. GirlA messages me in the zoom chat and is like "did GirlB ever send you anything?" and I have to be like, "No. I have a slide with just her name on it, do we want to just be petty and pause on it for a moment when we get there?" and she was like "Yeah tbh she didn't reply to any of our emails and do any work, what else do we do".

(Meanwhile we were talking about grades and GirlB asks the instructor why he never gave her a time slot to do one of our quizzes. It was a take home quiz. He said that SEVERAL times in class but I suspect she isn't actually there a decent amount, she just opens the zoom link and does other things. But our classes are recorded. Watch the recording at least?)

And then GirlB messages me. At 7:25pm. And says, "I sent you my notes."

My class, I will tell anyone who doesn't know, is 6:30pm to 9:30pm. We were in class. Other people were presenting, and I'm frantically adding things to the powerpoint presentation that I made. AND she somehow didn't actually change the online version of the powerpoint (because I enabled editing for that too) so she had to send it to me.

And she sent it as a PDF.

Anyways, me and GirlA sounded like we knew what we were talking about. I fake being good at speaking well and she made a good joke that made her seem a little more relaxed. I will say that the other girl did send me a couple of diagrams which made things look nice, but she really struggled with presenting it and sounded very awkward.

Oh and the guy showed up literally in the middle of our presentation, which, you know, I'll take since I didn't have to present his part.

We sorta could tell that GirlB handed in a bunch of assignments technically late and her grade was probably Not Good so honestly the fact that we all got 100% on the presentation probably did her a lot of good.

And I swear to god, most of it is because people are impressed by powerpoint. GirlA, when we were gossiping, she thanked me for doing "all that work" on the powerpoint when, like, it took me 10 minutes because I downloaded a vaguely math-y looking powerpoint theme XD So, life lesson, a good looking powerpoint presentation will take you a long way.

[tyranasauruslex]

do you think rome has ever made a mixtape songs for lukas when he gets bored?

Roman takings tips from those early 2000's Cosmo "How To Impress Your Man" lists. I actually see Lukas as the mixtape guru - he'd make Roman his own Spotify playlist.

Bored Roman would wander around the house and send Lukas multiple voice notes about the stuff he finds:

"What's this green stuff in your fridge? It looks gross. Eww... it tastes like grass. Why are you eating grass? There's nothing normal in your fridge by the way... even your bread is weird. What is Limpa? Ohh ok that actually tastes nice... Eww pickled fish. Your country is weird. I ate all your bread by the way."

"Your mom called so I told her you abandoned me to work... she's gonna send me baby Lukas pictures via email. I might put them on insta... I haven't decided yet... Oh my god you look like a baby giant... Your poor mom having to shove you out of her vagina. Ok you're actually kind of cute for a baby giant with your little knitted hat on... Aww baby Lukas at the zoo... ha, that giraffe must be related to you. All my baby pictures are with the nanny... or with Shiv looking like a bald egg. Thats depressing."

"We should go to that new Italian on the upper East side... I called and they said they'd do plain pasta for you... only if you want to though. You probably have boring work stuff to do or Tom will want to take you to show off. I can just go with Shiv and listen to her complain about how the baby ripped apart her vagina for the millionth time. Having a baby sounds gross but at least Lilly is cute... and small, not a baby giant like you were. I'll just take Lilly to the Italian. Babies can eat pasta, right?"

"Just so you know I've taken one of your sweaters cus I can't work out the heating system. Why are your arms so long? Like, how to you even operate them? Ohh this kinda cosy... you'll have to buy another one because I'm keeping this one. I'm in your closet by the way and it's giving serial killer. Nobody is that organised. Or neat. I bet if you decided to murder me this is where you'd hide my body. Or you'd stitch me up inside a bear carcass. Ohh cool... you have the shirt I wore when I first stayed over. You're such a dork. But in, like, a cool way and FUCK! Don't worry I'm not dead, I just tripped over one of your massive shoes. Is that how you came to the US? Via shoe-boat? You know, cus your Mister Viking and stuff... Ok, so I have a question... Are your stupidly big feet an indication of how big other stuff is? Cus it kind of feels that way when you cuddle me but... actually forget I asked that. I'm just gonna delete this..."

"You're asleep when I'm sending you this but I think you need to know how much you look like a dead body when you sleep. Here... I'm sending you photographic evidence... Why don't you make any noise? Like at all? You keep telling me I say a bunch of random shit in my sleep and... oh you moved. I'm gonna whisper from now on... Wait, what if you're actually dead? I'd get the blame and end up in fucking prison being molested by the guards. I can't go to prison so I'd have to dismember you in the bathroom or something. Also thank you for not being mean about the whole dick to shoe ratio... and for the drawing. Cus you know i've never really... well, anyway it makes it less scary even if you can't draw for shit. I'm just going to pet your hair for a bit cus I know you like that... Oh fuck I woke you up!"

[theteablogger]

Is there by any chance a screenshot of the details of the shaman wizard battle in a better resolution? I cannot make any of it out

Here's a screenshot of another archived version.

In case that doesn't work, here's the full text of the LiveJournal entry in question. m_oquinn is Brittany, who wrote the emails from her and Andy. To avoid confusion, I've put the emails from Brittany and Andy in italics.

28th-Dec-2009 11:32 am

Okay, my friends, here is the sum total of the Astral Undead Shaman Wizard exchange. I am leaving out the contact info and also one entire email that contained extremely specific personal info about Cfc, who is completely innocent of all of this and had no idea this was being done behind her back.

The worst part of this? Cfc has kids, and Andy and company divulged her address and other personal info which should never, ever have been revealed. So that part is left out.

Keep in mind I never bought into this for a second...from my very first response, I was leading them on, for the lulz.

The good stuff is behind the cut. *passes out popcorn* Everything beginning with this > is from me. The others are from m_oquinn and Andy

First: Many weeks ago, I posted about a recurring dream I was having of wandering through the woods. Somehow, that led to this:

Dear [redacted], Look, I know that you were the one to talk to Luvcharlie, AND I know that you did not mean for anything that happened to happen. Someone has been fucking with us. Cfc is under some kind of attack, something is trying to literally eat her kids. She sent message and we didn't get it because we were on road-now when we contact her it is like no one is home. Cheerful, everything is wonderful mode-nothing has been wonderful for ages. there is something big and something dangerous and deadly-You have the capacity and strength and power to do something. We are powerless and have been rung out by trip. Please, this is your dream-the children are in the house in the woods being eaten by monsters-Andy is down and when his shield over those kids break. it. is. over.

> Oh my. > Anything and everything else aside, let's deal with the > important stuff. I can and will help of course. > > I need a general idea of where they are. If you have a pic > you could email that would help. Their names, if you know > them. Anything that would help me zero in on them, > y'know? > I'll do what I can right now, but it won't do much > good without something more specific to work with. > > Please get me whatever info you can asap. > Love you dear, be strong, all will be well. > xoxo > [redacted]

[Way too much personal info, redacted] We will have more info following. The most important thing is to get inside the house so to speak, and distract from the children. Thank you thank you thank you

>working. more info on nature of threat? >please tell andy he can step down and relax, not to burn himself out. i've got some serious >shields started and am trying to target the actual threat, but i can't pinpoint it yet.

Spirit/Astral form of technically dead but v. powerful Seneca Sachem-level shaman, plus allies and minions. I know this sounds crazy, but is true.

>ok. i'm enlisting some help. >do you know why this is happening? who's ultimately behind it? that would help...whoever's >sending the ill will is a tool. i want the source. >something isn't right here. this isn't shamanic energy, but something darker. and there's >only one energy signature, no sign of "allies" or "minions". are you sure of your source? >also, there seems to be a secondary target, but i can't identify it. what's really going on?

A source said that it was above " the wheel" with each spoke a world and the hub a connection place. it was a shaman/wizard cross in late 16th possibly but that has passed from place of dead to something above that. Several targets have been hit so far. Not sure who or what is current secondary. The "allies" seem to have been neutralized by someone from the hub as a favor to Andy.

[At this point, I grew weary of the insanity and decided to go to bed. This was my final reply. I have heard nothing since]

Okay guys, this has been vastly entertaining, but I've had enough. I don't know if you all are serious about all this and therefore either being duped by someone or are in real need of some help, or if you're just trying to draw other people into your little games, but really. This? All of it? A genius level of what-the-fuckery.

Some good lulz, but I like playing in the real world. You've failed your saving throw. Your low charisma stat made this inevitable. Is there a paladin in your party?

Evil twins, IRA, mysterious pasts, Claymore scars, now astral undead wizards? Really? And you all just believe this? Without a second thought? What next, a coma?

Such amazing energy and clear creative talent should be used for something a lot more productive than this nonsense. It's a shame that the talent doesn't seem to be enough.

I'm sorry. I just can't be a part of this drama and lunacy. I have a life, in the real world, and I like it just fine. I hope all of you find the same someday.

[leftoverenvy]

Tastes Like Sugar

Story alert! Hi guys, I'm back at it again. I'd like to give a special thanks to @milfprotector for helping me come up with a title, @sadgirlml for helping me with the header (you're always amazing at moodboards), and @will-on-the-internet for helping me with developing Emily's interests.

Summary: India Mae, or Indi, is a music major, struggling to pay bills, tuition, work, and make good grades.  Emily Prentiss is a BAU profiler, as well as a DC socialite thanks to her huge family fortune.  The two enter into a mutually beneficial arrangement: Emily will pay for Indi's school if Indi accompanies Emily to her social functions for a few months, posing as her girlfriend.  As weeks go by, the lines between their arrangement and their true feelings start to blur.  But money can't buy love, right?

Pairing: India Mae Banks x Emily Prentiss; OC x Emily Prentiss

Warnings: eventual smut; sugar baby relationships; age gap (16 years - but all over 18); very slow burn

Word Count: 1.5k

Read on Wattpad | Ao3 | Tumblr

Taglist: @ssa-sapphic 🧸; @5raysofsunshine 🌮; @reidselle 🦭; @milfprotector 🐝💚; @scargarcia-magshotchner 💜 @hotchs-bitch ; @multiverse-mxdness ; @sadgirlml ; @spencersendgame

Chapter 1 - Seeking Arrangements

My keys clattered on the counter, ringing out in the silence of my shabby, shared apartment.  I let my bag fall off my shoulder, books thudding against the floor.  Today sucked.  Not only did my professor keep me late to work on my recital piece, I was exhausted from waiting on tables all evening.  It seemed each table was more demanding than the last.  I hadn't eaten dinner, and I just wanted to shower and go to bed.  I quickly popped some leftovers in the microwave and sat down to check my email.

An email from the Bursar's Office caught my attention.  I clicked it immediately and my stomach plummeted to the floor.  "BALANCE DUE: $3,272.18"  How was this possible??  It was the middle of the semester, and my scholarships had already been applied.  I scrolled down for an explanation.  The email said I had been awarded a new scholarship; my loans were, apparently, reduced because my scholarship exceeded the cost of tuition.  I grabbed my computer out of my bag and logged into my financial aid portal.  How was it possible that being awarded a scholarship would cost me money?  Could I send it back?

After such a horrible day, this was the last straw.  I was busting my ass to make ends meet and was struggling to keep up with my courses.  In addition to my general requirements, I had HOURS of practice every day for my music degree.  And then I had to work on top of that.  I felt like I was drowning.  Tears flooded down my face without my permission, and after the first few, I couldn't stop them.  I started sobbing uncontrollably, unsure how I could possibly make over three thousand dollars in two weeks when the bill was due.

"Oh!" Penelope, my roommate, gasped in the doorway, keys hanging from her finger.  "Oh Indi!  What happened??" she asked rushing over.  She immediately put her arm around my shoulder.

"I don't know how I'm supposed to pay this!" I wailed.

"Pay what, sugar?" she asked, always so patient.

I pointed to my computer screen.  "I just got this surprise scholarship but then they reduced my loans, but they already gave me a refund on my loans, so now I owe the school $3,300!  I can't pay that Pen!  I'm barley making my rent payments."

"Oh that's fucked," she commiserated.

"I know!!"  I started sobbing again.  "I was barely going to make it to August when next semester's loans hit.  I can't make it through the summer at this rate.  Even if I work my ass off this summer."

"I thought you were working on your music this summer."

"That was the plan," I said dejectedly, "But if all of my savings have to go to this stupid bill, I'll have to find a job."

"You need a sugar momma."  I just stared at her and raised an eyebrow.  "I'm serious!  Hear me out," she urged.

"Come on, Penelope!  You know that doesn't work out in real life.  That's just for movies."

She scoffed, "There are real life sugar mommas, Indi."

"I know that, but it isn't as glamorous as you might think.  It would be hard enough to find a sugar daddy that 1) actually had money, and 2) wasn't disgusting.  What in the world makes you think I can find a gay woman to do that?"

"I think you'd have more success than you think.  Any woman would be lucky to have you as their sugar baby.  Think about it!  You don't like a lot of stuff…except for your ratty books, I suppose.  You'd be a sugar momma's dream!"

I laughed, wiping the tears from my eyes.  Penelope always knew how to make me feel better.  "No way, Pen.  I appreciate the pep talk, but I'll figure this out on my own."

"Fine.  Figure this out yourself but get online anyway.  You deserve to find happiness and love."

"Woah!" I protested, "When did love come into play?  I thought you wanted me to find a sugar momma."

"That'd be fine too."  Pity overran her eyes as she said, "I just worry about you.  You're always so alone.  You haven't dated since Hunter-"

"Pen!" I interrupted.

"And you NEED to get back out there," she continued.  "I don't want you to be lonely."

"I'm focusing on school.  My schedule is so crazy with this recital coming up and working enough to pay my share of the bills."

"And that means the only plans you can have on Friday and Saturday nights is burying your nose in a book?"  That one stung a bit.  A true romantic, I was always lost in my books.  Even as a kid, the universes created in my books were always preferable to real life.  And now, I could never settle for anything less than the perfect love story.  I didn't think it was a shortcoming until hearing Penelope say that out loud.

I sighed and grabbed all my stuff.  "Never gonna happen, Penelope."

"Wait - India!  I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Pen; you're not wrong.  I'm just tired.  I'll see you tomorrow," I finished as I was closing the door to my room.  I immediately fell on my bed, exhausted and confused.  Was it really so bad to want true love?  Sure, I had tried the casual hookup thing before - who didn't in college?  But it wasn't for me.  I couldn't ever follow through because sex was supposed to mean something.  Which is why Penelope was right.  I did find myself alone most Friday and Saturday nights.

I was a bit embarrassed.  Even if I did find someone who I could stomach being with, I was so inexperienced.  I'd only had one girlfriend - one sexual partner.  If I did find a sugar momma, how could I possibly be enough for an older, more experienced woman?  But that bill hung heavy on my mind.  Before I even knew what I was doing, I had google open searching for the best sugar baby website. 

I scrolled through several and finally settled on one and hit "sign up."  Jesus Christ what was I doing?  Paying the bills.  Who cares if you whore yourself out to complete school? 

It initially asked for a bio and a profile picture.  I silently thanked Penelope for insisting on always taking my picture when I looked nice.  Though I had always complained about it before, I had three good ones to choose from thanks to her.  I also included a video from my last piano recital.  I never felt beautiful except when I was behind the big piano.  I could hide behind music.  To fully capture myself, I took a last "candid" picture with the timer on my computer of me reading.

Before I could think twice about it and chicken out, I hit "create."  No going back now.  If I'm gonna do this thing, I'm gonna do it.  I started to scroll through all the profiles.  When I only saw men, I was disheartened.  But then I remembered I was supposed to change the filters.  I quickly turned off all men and my home screen was now flooded with older women.  As I began scrolling, I quickly discovered it was exactly as I had previously thought.  There was no one worth getting excited over.

And then my breath caught in my throat.  I prayed to every god I could think of that this profile was real because she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life.  Her black bangs framed knowing, smiling eyes surrounded by crow's feet.  My finger unconsciously moved the cursor over and clicked on "View Emily's Profile."  It wasn't even a choice. 

My eyes bulged at her net worth and annual income.  Jeez!  How was it possible to have that much money?  Someone that beautiful and rich?  Life was cruelly unfair sometimes.  Her profile was pretty basic; there weren't a lot of details.  Her bio simply read, "Emily, 38, seeking companionship and dates."  I could provide companionship and dates for money.  Dates weren't whoring yourself out, right?  It made me feel marginally better about what I was doing.

Was sixteen years too large an age gap?  Would we have anything in common?  Could I really allow myself and my time to be sold to some stranger?  But as I looked back at her eyes and soft smile, I realized that yes, yes I could.  There was something intriguing about her.  I couldn't put my finger on what it was exactly.  I just knew that I wanted to know more about her.  What would someone like her be doing on a site like this?  Surely she didn't have trouble finding someone in real life?  What was she hiding?  Or lying about?

Despite my reservations, I clicked the "like" button and hoped she would like me back so we could start a conversation.  And for another few minutes I stared at her picture, desperately wishing Emily could be the savior to pull me out of this financial mess.

_ _ _

Continue to next chapter

[blooddrinkingbartender]

theotherrookie

"Rook, what's all this nonsense about?" "The greys are like pixies, but nobody likes their jokes." Rook explained, "I'd pay for the chance to stick one of them in the containment unit." "Lovely." He rolled his eyes. He found it was never a good sign when Rook held a grudge against an entity. It only happened with those that were powerful enough to elude her. At least it looked like Bill had been successful in his hunt. Good. Now, if everybody could have been so kind to get off his lawn... "Oh, that's just Alexa." Rook explained, motioning to the bamboo sprout in question, "Lucien can teach spinach how to send emails. You've got to love that." Lucien was about to correct her, but refrained when she turned to give Antonio a not so gentle poke. She was definitely more upset than she let on. Still, it was the strange that the music was still playing. "Now, care to explain what the fuck is wrong with you? It's been a bloody mess at the office today!"

"You should consider yourself thankful you've not had an encounter yourself," Leofric replied, "They do enjoy mischievous spells. Some worse than others."

He wasn't going to get into the incident of the man who got turned into a merman and was so horrified he cut the tail off and almost died from the shock and blood loss.

"Huh, neat," Bill said, with a small grin, "The things you can do with plants other than the usual growing crops, prettying up gardens, helping keep bees alive, and maybe making a few things to smoke. Clever."

Leofric was wearing a frown of his own. He didn't like that the music was still playing like that. It meant that despite Bill being so confident that they had managed to stop Antonio, there was something not quite right.

Antonio gritted his teeth when he felt his side being jabbed at. He was in enough pain without that.

"Right now, I'm blindfolded, currently aching, my pride is wounded, and I'm trapped," Antonio only replied, although he didn't sound too torn up about that situation, "And I'd like to get out of here. Maybe I'll be up to talk more once we're back in the real world and not this place."

"Nah, come on, we got time," Bill said, "I know plants don't agree with me but I can hang about for a bit."

Leofric had already started to flip through a smaller grimoire that he had been carrying in his pocket. He knew the page he needed, and if he was lucky, he would already have a pill of the antidote on hand. If not, it would be easy to put together. He hadn't done decades of research into creating a simple anti-magic antidote with minimal ingredients after all.

"I'm sure Lucien would like to see me gone as well," Antonio added then, aiming to sway the decision further with just that statement alone. The man preferred his privacy after all, and this place seemed to be like a sanctum to him.

"Well, that's up to him more than you," Bill said, "Leofric?"

"I think I might have an antidote already on hand. I still don't like that music though. It's making me uneasy."

"I like it," Bill said, grinning, "Plant's got good taste."

"I suppose some have a redemption arc, and I suppose some go in the opposite direction," Antonio said, "On this occasion, you are the better person than me, I won't deny that."

He chuckled a little bit.

"Of course not," Antonio said, drumming a set of sharp claws on the top of his walking cane. When had they appeared? "You think I'm going to miss a rare chance to be something more than what I am now?"

Despite all of his efforts. It appeared that Lucien just couldn't be swayed. Antonio could see it in his face, especially his eyes.

"Heh, of course not," Antonio replied then, "Well, you've made your choice. Seeing as I can't have your mind..."

The green swirling mists disappeared from his eyes, and they instead turned a solid black, like that of a long abandoned tunnel. His teeth appeared sharper, and green energy formed around his hands. He then held one of that out towards Lucien, who might have started to feel a horrible stretching sensation inside of his chest.

"I'm going to have your soul."

[imaginationintowords]

Folklore [song series]

my tears ricochet

Modern Day AU! Bucky Barnes x Natasha Romanoff; Steve Rogers x OC!Reader

Plot: Inspired by Taylor Swift’s new album Folklore. The story follows the timeline of Bucky and Elizabeth’s life throughout the years

[warnings: death, and funeral]

word count: 4829

[a/n: sorry for such a long wait. I've been busy. I thought once I was done for the semester I would have a lot more time to work on my stories, but if anything my summer break has been more hectic. Just because I haven't been posting, doesn't mean I haven't been working on them. Just know that I am working on the new chapters for this and for TKWBA, just need a bit of patience from you all. Also thank-you for the continue love and support on all my work]

Series Masterlist

Tag list info here [if you want to be tagged please read this]

Age: 21

Year: Sep. 2015

Location: Brooklyn, NY & Stanford, CA

Elizabeth was sat at her desk doing her homework. She was anxiously waiting for Steve's call about the baby arriving. He had called her two hours prior to let her know that Natasha had gone into labor, and they were at the hospital. Steve told her that he'd call her as soon as he heard the news. She tried her hardest to focus on her homework, but she found herself constantly checking her phone for any updates.

Suddenly her phone started going off. She instantly picked it up and answered the call.

"Is the baby here?" She immediately asked.

"Liz," Steve choked out.

"Steve, what's wrong?" She could hear the distress in his voice.

"Natasha, she," he tried to say but the words got caught in his throat, and she could hear the soft cries.

"Steve, breathe," she tries to calm him down the best she could without actually physically being with him.

Elizabeth was simultaneously trying to keep herself calm, and not rush into any assumptions.

"She died," he said after calming himself down enough to tell her what happened.

"She died?"

"I guess there were complications, he tells her, still unsure of what exactly happened.

Steve hadn't thought to ask further into what exactly happened when Bucky's mom called to tell him the devastating news. He couldn't wrap his head around what she was telling him. He just never imagined that this would be the outcome of his best friend welcoming his first child into the world.

Steve clears his throat trying to force the lump back down.

"I'm catching the next flight out to New York," he tells Elizabeth, "I just gotta be there for Bucky."

"Yeah, of course," she says, completely understanding.

"I know you can't exactly fly out now, without letting your professors know, so as soon as I find out all the funeral," his throat catches at the word, he takes a small breath, "all the funeral information I'll let you know."

"Okay that works," she agrees.

"Okay. I haven't to pack real quick and get to the airport within the next hour," he tells her.

"Okay, I'll let you go."

"Wait, Steve," she calls out before he could hang up.

"Yeah?"

"I love you," she says with a shaky voice.

"I love you too, so much," he says, "I'll text you when I board the plane."

After one final goodbye, Steve hangs up the phone.

The flight seemed like Steve's longest one he's ever been on. As soon as he landed he quickly grabbed his carry on, the only thing aside from his backpack that he brought with him. Elizabeth had messaged him letting him know that she could bring more of his stuff once she flies out.

Steve made his way out of the airport to find his mom waiting for him by her car. He quickly made his way towards her and wrapping his arms around her.

On the drive to Bucky's apartment Steve sent Liz a text letting her know he landed. He then called Bucky's mom to let her know he was on the way.

"Thank-you for coming out Steve," Winnie thanks him, "The baby is just about to get discharged, we should be at the apartment before you get there."

"Of course, I'll see you guys soon," he says hanging up the phone.

Steve then sends a quick email to his boss and professors explains his absence and why he'll most likely be gone for a couple of weeks.

An hour later Steve's mom was stopping outside of Bucky's building.

"Let them know I'm here if they need anything," his mom tells him before he exists the car, "I'll come back at noon with lunch for everyone."

"Thanks Mom," he says leaning over to kiss her cheek.

Steve exists the car leaving his bags with his mom. He takes one final breath before walking to the front doors. Steve presses the call button for Bucky's apartment and was immediately buzzed in.

As soon as he reaches Bucky's door, he knocks quietly. The door opens and he's welcomed by Rebecca. He takes in the sullen face on the teenage girl.

"Hey Bec," he says.

"Hi," she quietly says, as they hug each other in the door way.

When they pull apart she steps aside letting him inside.

"It's just my parents and I here. Bucky didn't want to deal with a lot of people right now," she explains to Steve.

"Steve," he hears from his left, Keith, Bucky's stepdad makes his way out of the small kitchenette over to him, and embracing him, "Thank-you so much for coming. We know you're a very busy person."

Before Steve could respond Bucky's mom Winnie walks into the living room.

"Oh Steve," she immediately wraps her arms around him.

"Thank-you so much for coming on such a short notice," she says. Steve could hear the shakiness in her voice. He could tell she was trying to keep it together. No doubt the last 12 hours being the most stressful and emotional she's ever been.

"There's no need to thank me. This is where I need to be," he tells them.

"Let us at least pay you back for the flight," Keith says.

"No, don't worry about that," Steve waves him off, "I had a lot of miles that needed to be used."

"Well, thank-you again," Keith nods his head, understanding where Steve was coming from.

"You can go on ahead Steve. Bucky is waiting for you in the nursery," Winnie tells him, giving him an assuring nod, he nods back making his way towards the nursery.

The short walk seemed like it was much longer. Steve has never felt so nervous in his life. When he approaches the closed door, he softly knocks on it.

"Come in," Bucky calls from inside.

Steve walks in, closing the door behind him. He's immediately greeted by Bucky sitting in the rocking chair in the corner of the room, feeding his newborn daughter.

"Hey," Steve softly says, not sure what to say.

"Hey," Bucky greeted Steve with a sad smile.

It had been 12 hours later and it still didn't feel real to Bucky. The hospital had even offered the chance for him and Poppy to stay a couple of days, but all Bucky wanted to do was to go home and get away from the hospital. But now being back in the apartment without Natasha was surreal. He was trying his best to keep it all in, at least while the baby is awake and needs him.

He was determined in being the one that cared for her, even when his mom offered to take care of her for a few hours while he gets some rest. He assured her that he needed to do this. He had to do it alone, because he knew that soon enough it would just be him and Poppy.

Bucky was very grateful when he heard Steve was flying out. He felt like Steve was the only one he could really talk to about everything going on.

Steve was still standing by the door, just watching his best friend be a dad for the first time. He had no idea what to say in this kind of situation. The words were caught in his throat the moment he actually saw Bucky.

"Thanks for coming," Bucky says breaking the silence. Steve immediately looks away from the baby to meet Bucky's eyes.

"You would've done the same thing," Steve says, "And like I've said before, I'll always be here for you."

"I don't care how far, I'll always be on that first flight to you," Steve continues, he glances down at the now sleepy baby, "You're my brother Buck."

There was a moment of silence between the young men. Both understanding what the other one means with such few words.

Steve watched as Bucky gently placed the sleepy baby on his shoulder to burp her.

"It suits you," Steve quietly remarks.

"What?" Bucky looked up at him confused.

"Fatherhood, it suits you," Steve says again, stepping closer to his friend.

"You think?" Bucky looks back down at the now sleeping baby.

"Yeah. I know it's only been less than a day, but you look natural. Make it look easy."

"Thanks," Bucky smiled, getting up for the he chair and walking over to the crib to gently place Poppy in.

Steve walked over, standing next to Bucky, watching the little one sleep peacefully.

"What's her name?" Steve whispered, realizing that he hadn't found out what the name of the baby was.

"Poppy James Barnes," Bucky proudly says.

"That's cute," Steve commented, he placed his right hand on Bucky's left shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

Bucky looked over at Steve and they both nodded their heads in agreement, before falling into an embrace.

"I am so sorry," Steve quietly says.

"It happened so quick, she barely even got to see the baby," Bucky quietly cried into Steve's shoulder, "I never even thought of this would be the outcome. I never imagined I'd be coming home solo with the baby."

Steve tightened his embrace on Bucky, just listening to his friend.

"I don't know how I'm going to do this Steve. I don't know how I'm going to raise her without her mom. I'm trying to keep it together to not worry my mom, but fuck Steve, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm scared I'll screw this all up. I'm scared I'll screw her up.

"I'm so scared Steve," Bucky cries.

"It's okay to be scared," Steve tries his best to comfort Bucky, "I'd be more concerned if you weren't scared. This is entirely new territory for you. You're raising a child, a child who unfortunately no longer has her mother. That alone is a fucking terrifying thing to go through.

"It's not going to be easy. There's no point in lying to you, and saying it will. You and I both that won't be the truth. But if there's anyone I know who could do this, it's you Buck. You're the strongest person I know. Whatever has happened before this doesn't matter. The only thing that matters now is that little girl. And I know damn well you're going to give her the best life she will ever have," Steve pulls away from Bucky and holds onto his shoulders.

"And you're not alone in this. You have a lot of people who care about you, and now Poppy. You will never be alone. You'll always have someone to call, someone to help you. You're crazy to think we would ever leave you to do this alone. We're here, and we're not going anywhere. You and Poppy will never have to be alone. She might not have her mom, but she's got you, and I know damn well you won't ever let her wonder what being without one parent truly feels like.

"You've got this Buck," Steve assures him, "And we're here every step of the way."

"Thanks Steve," Bucky sniffles, wiping the tears away.

"No need to thank me," Steve smiles, "Now why don't you go take a nap. Get some rest. We're here if Poppy wakes up."

"Yeah I could use some sleep," Bucky yawns, his adrenaline from the last 12 hours fading away.

Steve walks Bucky to his bedroom and watches as he gets into his bed, and quickly falls asleep. He quietly closes the door behind him, with the baby monitor in one hand checking to make sure Poppy is still asleep.

He walks back into the living room, placing the monitor by the tv for everyone to see and hear.

"They're both asleep," Steve announces to the room.

"Oh thank goodness," Winnie sighs, "James hasn't taken a moment to rest since everything happened."

"Knowing Bucky, we'll probably have to be forcing him to rest for the next couple of weeks," Steve says.

"I just got off of the phone with Natasha's father," Keith said walking back inside the apartment.

"What did he say?" Winnie asked.

"He said that the funeral is all up to us," Keith sighs, "Something about how Natasha made her own path with getting pregnant, and that once she left she was no longer his responsibility."

"He really said that?" Winnie asked mortified.

"I'm afraid so," Keith sighed, "I tried reasoning with him saying we would handle everything financially and he can come to the funeral but he said no."

"What kind of father doesn't show up to his own daughter's funeral," Winnie shakes her head in complete disbelief.

"Explains why Natasha was the way she was," Rebecca whispered, so that only Steve could hear her.

He reluctantly agrees.

Two weeks later

Elizabeth was helping Steve with his tie in his childhood bedroom. She had flown in yesterday for today's funeral services. Elizabeth had gotten in late last night, so she still hasn't seen Bucky or Poppy yet. She was a let to get a week off of work and her professors gave her an extension on her assignments when she explained to them what happened.

"I still can't believe Natasha's dad isn't going," she says as she straightens out Steve's tie.

"Bucky's mom is still holding out hope that he shows up," Steve says.

"What does Bucky think of it all?" Elizabeth asks.

"He's not worrying about it," Steve explains, looking over himself in the mirror, "His only concern right now is Poppy and only Poppy. If Nat's dad shows up then he does. But as of now Bucky has made the decision that he will not be in Poppy's life. Not until he proves himself."

"That's very mature," she says grabbing her purse.

"This Buck is like a whole new one you've never seen before. Fatherhood has made him a thousand times more grown up these last couple of weeks."

"That's good."

"Ready to go?" Steve asked her, grabbing the keys to his mom's car.

"Yup," Elizabeth says following Steve out.

Bucky had asked Steve to pick him and Poppy up, and Steve had of course agreed.

They arrived to Bucky's apartment in fifteen minutes. Walking up to Bucky's door they could hear a lot of commotion coming from inside. Steve used the key Bucky gave him to let himself and Elizabeth in.

As soon as they walked in they were greeted by the sounds of a baby crying.

"Buck?" Steve called out.

"We're in here," he calls from the nursery.

They go to the nursery to find Bucky looking frazzled while trying to change Poppy's diaper.

"I'm so sorry. I'm running so behind," Bucky tells them, glancing over his shoulder quickly,

"Poppy didn't sleep well last night. And nothing I've tried has been working."

"It's okay Buck, just take your time," Steve calmly says.

"I still need to shower, shave, and get dressed," Bucky rambles, "She's going to need another change of clothes because she spat all over herself, and my mom only bought this one outfit for today."

"Hey Bucky, calm down," Elizabeth calmly spoke up, placing her hand on his back, "Take a breath."

Bucky felt the warmth and comfort from Liz's touch. He listens to what she says and takes a deep breath.

"Okay good," she says, "now you go get ready. Steve and I got this."

"Okay," he nods his head, handing the baby over to Elizabeth, "thank-you."

"Of course," she softly smiles at him, "now go get ready."

Bucky quickly makes his way out of the room and into his own to get ready.

Elizabeth looks down at the small baby in her arms. She could see so much of Bucky in the baby with hints of Natasha. It was a little strange for her to be holding Bucky's baby and it not being her baby as well. Not that she ever wanted to get back together with Bucky, because she didn't. There was just a little voice in her head, that of her teenage self, saying how it was supposed to be them, doing this together.

She quickly shut the voice down.

Elizabeth was incredibly sympathetic of Bucky's situation. All she wanted to do was be there for him, as a friend. She wanted Bucky to succeed as a father, and she would do what she could to make that happen.

Steve silently watched Elizabeth watching Poppy. He couldn't really read her expression. He hates to admit it to himself, especially with everything going on, but he was slightly worried about how Liz would react to all of this. He had faith in their relationship, of course he trusted her immensely. But he still couldn't help but feel like she might decide to leave him for Bucky. Elizabeth turned around to see Steve looking at her with a distant look in his eyes.

"You good?" She gently asked, breaking him from his self-destructive thoughts.

"Yeah. You?"

"Yeah," she nods her head, handing the baby over to him, "I'm going to try and find her a new outfit.

"Okay," Steve says sitting down with the baby.

"I love you," Liz quietly says to Steve, knowing what could possibly going through his mind, if hers was also wandering.

"I love you," Steve replies back, finding himself relaxing at just hearing those three words, any doubt slipping away.

30 minutes later Bucky was ready to go. He walked out to the living room where he found Steve and Elizabeth sitting with each other holding the baby. He paused for a moment taking in the scene in front of him. He felt a sense of warmth and low flow through him as his closest friends admire his daughter. In that moment he knew he had made the right decision in what he would tell them next.

Steve glanced up to see Bucky leaning against the frame of the hallway.

"Ready?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, but I actually wanted to ask you two something before we go," Bucky says walking over and sitting on a chair next to the couch.

"Sure, what's up?" Steve leans forward, leaning on his knees, giving Bucky his full attention.

Elizabeth tears her eyes away from Poppy to also give Bucky her full attention. She smiles at him, letting him know he could continue on.

"I first and foremost just want to thank you Steve, for what probably is the hundredth time," Bucky says, "I know you have a lot going on with work and school. So I really appreciate everything you've done for me and for Poppy. And you too Elizabeth, I know you're incredibly busy especially with law school prep. And with everything that's happened between-"

"Don't," she stopped him, "What's past is past."

"Well anyways, thank-you," Bucky says, "Now here comes what I wanted to ask you two. There's no other two people I wouldn't trust more with Poppy. So I wanted to ask if you would be her godparents?"

"Really?" Elizabeth asked taken back by Bucky's request.

"Yes," he nods his head, "There's no one else I wouldn't trust with her if anything happens. It'll help me sleep better knowing she'll have two people who'll love her like I would. Two people who have so much love between them, that I know will always be together."

Both Steve and Elizabeth were taken back by Bucky's last statement. They knew Bucky had accepted their relationship, but to actually have him not only say it out loud but to practically give them his blessing, it meant the world to the couple.

Steve and Elizabeth both share a look with tears glistening in their eyes. Elizabeth nods her head.

Steve turns back to Bucky, "We'd be honored to be Poppy's godparents."

Elizabeth and Steve stood up to hug Bucky. All filled with a wide range of emotions. Bucky felt a huge sense of comfort after asking Liz and Steve to be Poppy's godparents. He knew he made the right decision, and he knew he could now sleep better at night knowing his daughter would be taken care of. And by two people he knows can love her the way he does.

After what happened with Natasha, Bucky just wanted to make sure Poppy would be taken care of. If she couldn't have her parents, then she would have the closest thing to having parents. And Bucky knows Steve and Elizabeth would be amazing parents.

That alone allowed him to be at peace for whatever may happen.

Arriving to the funeral location Bucky felt his nerves start to spike. He sat in the backseat looking out the window at the familiar faces walking into the chapel.

"You okay?" Elizabeth asked turning in her seat, after Steve parked the car.

"I don't know if I can do this," he mutters, glancing towards the sleeping baby in the car seat next to him.

"We'll be right next to you along the entire way," Liz calmly says.

"If you feel too overwhelmed we'll leave whenever you want," Steve tells him, "We won't stay if you absolutely can't handle it. No one will hold it against you."

"Okay," Bucky takes a deep breath.

"Stay here, I'll get the stroller out," Steve says, getting out of the car.

"No one is expecting you to be brave, Buck," Elizabeth says, "You're allowed to be vulnerable. You're allowed to show emotions."

He nods his head, taking in what she's telling him.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small necklace. Clutching onto it as if his life depended on it.

Elizabeth catches the small 'N' on it, realizing that that was the necklace Natasha wore everyday since she was 13.

Bucky takes one final deep breath, trying to calm his nerves.

"Okay, I'm ready," he tells her.

"Okay, let's do this."

Bucky was grateful that they arrived only minutes before the service started. Everyone was already seated in the pews.

He slowly walked down the aisle pushing the stroller, Steve and Elizabeth walking right behind him.

Bucky tried his best to avoid any eye contact with everyone. He couldn't bare to look at the pity in their eyes.

He caught sight of his family siting in the second row. He also noticed a man sitting alone in the first row.

He instantly knew who it was.

Once Bucky reached the first row, the man made to movement to greet Bucky.

Bucky cleared his throat, "Mr. Romanoff."

The older man looked over at Bucky, then at the stroller.

"James," he stiffly said, turning his attention back to the front.

Bucky awkwardly sat down placing the stroller next to his legs, away from Natasha's father, while Steve and Elizabeth sat next to Bucky.

The service was going smoothly up until the priest announced that Natasha's father would be making a speech, catching everyone off guard.

Bucky looked at the older man as he walked up to the stand. He turned around to face his mom, "Did you know this?" he whispered.

"No I didn't," she shook her head.

Right as Mr. Romanoff was about to start speaking, Poppy began to cry. Bucky quickly went to get her out of the stroller, while Steve quickly went to grab a bottle to help him out.

As soon as the baby calmed down Mr. Romanoff began to speak.

"First and foremost, I want to thank everyone for coming," he begins, "I really appreciate it. Natasha would be eternally grateful for all of you."

Bucky started to get annoyed by the beginning of Mr. Romanoff's speech. As if the man didn't turn down the invitation for the last two weeks. Now he's trying to act like the perfect father, as if he didn't kick her out and cut off his pregnant daughter.

"Natasha was a kind hearted person. Only wanting the best for those closest to her. She was the most selfless person you would have ever met," he continued on with his speech.

Elizabeth couldn't help but be confused by Mr. Romanoff's speech. She hated thinking ill of the dead, but that man had no idea who his daughter truly was.

"Natasha was so smart, earning her way into Yale. She was only months away from graduating. I was so incredibly proud of her. If only we would've gotten the opportunity to watch her walk across the stage.

"Other than leaving an everlasting impression on all of us, she also left behind a part of her. Her last moments on Earth was spent bringing in another Romanoff," he says.

Bucky's head snapped up to Mr. Romanoff, then towards Steve.

"Romanoff?" Bucky whispered, "This man has the fucking nerve."

"Ignore him," Steve whispered back, trying to calm Bucky down, "He's just saying all of this to make himself look good."

"Natasha brought her daughter into the world," Mr. Romanoff continued, forcing fake tears to fall, "I remember being by her side as she was in labor."

Bucky clenched his jaw, forcing himself not to call Mr. Romanoff out on his lies.

"As she was dying," Mr. Romanoff paused for dramatic effect, "Her only request was to name her daughter after her."

Steve paled his hand on Bucky's shoulder, trying his best to calm him down. It was too late, Bucky was already placing Poppy in Steve's arms.

"What a fucking lie," Bucky stood up shouting at Mr. Romanoff, causing everyone to gasp.

"James," Mr. Romanoff said through gritted teeth, as a warning.

"How could you just lie to all these people?" Bucky shouted, "How could you lie as if you didn't disown Natasha months prior when she told you she was pregnant. Or when my parents kept inviting you to the funeral, you kept saying no and how Natasha's decisions led to their death. How dare you say you were in the delivery room. As if you didn't have her number blocked.  My mom and I were there when things took a horrible turn. We were there when the doctor walked out and told us Natasha didn't make it. Not you! Us!

"Then you go on to make some shitty story about Nat's last words. Which is completely false. Natasha never wanted to name the baby after herself, you'd actually know that if you were actually present in her life. But you weren't. And you sure as hell will never be a part of your granddaughter's life."

Bucky turned to Steve and Liz, "Let's go."

They nodded their heads and helped put Poppy in the stroller. They followed Bucky as he walked out of the chapel.

After leaving the funeral services, Steve was able to calm Bucky down. Winnie had called Elizabeth to let her know that the burial services the next day were officially going to be private. Liz agreed that that'd be best for everyone involved. Especially with what happened during the funeral services.

The burial service was only attended by Bucky, and his family, along with Elizabeth and Steve.

Everything went along smoothly. Everyone giving Bucky the safe space to grieve.

After the burial, everyone gave Bucky a few moments alone at the grave site so he can say his final goodbyes.

"Hey Nat," he pauses taking a deep breath, "these last two weeks haven't been the easiest. But boy have they been amazing. I may be more exhausted than I've ever been, but boy is she worth it.

"She may only be two weeks but I can already tell she's going to be the most amazing person ever," he softly cries, "You would've loved her so much. But like I promised back at the hospital, she'll never not know who her mother was. I will always make sure she knows who you were. Always."

"Goodbye Natasha," he whispered, before walking away to join his family waiting.

Age: 26

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Year: 2020

"Daddy, what's this?" Poppy calls out to her father from his bedroom.

"What's what petal?" He asked walking into the room, finding her surrounded by boxes, as they prep for their move uptown.

"This," she holds up the small necklace with the 'N'.

Bucky kept that necklace in a small box in his nightstand. He kept it at the bottom of his nightstand for safe keepings. Planning on one day to give it to his daughter. He always planned to wait until she was 16, but he figures now is as good as ever.

"That was your mommy Natasha's," he said walking over to her, and sitting next to her on his bed, "She got it when she was 13, and wore it every day up until when she died."

"It's pretty," she says admiring it in her hands.

"It is isn't it," he smiles at his little girl, "It's now yours."

He grabs the necklace from her little hands. He unclasps it, then gently moves her dirty blonde hair to the side. He places the necklace around her neck, and clasps it shut.

"Thank-you daddy," she smiles brightly at her father, admiring the necklace that now lay on her chest.

Bucky smiled at his daughter, watching as she kept admiring the necklace. It was a little big on her, but he knew she would grow into it.

"Anything for you baby," he kisses the top of her head, "Anything."

[jajanvm-imbi]

Headcanons of Krel living on earth because he’s my favorite and I love him and I haven’t seen anyone do this yet so I feel like I have to

^^^^^because of this very moment I love the idea of Mary and Darci befriending Krel.

Since Aja,Vex and Eli went back to Akaridion-5, Mother was destroyed, and Claire was busy with Trollhunting stuff, earth gets pretty lonely. So Mary and Darci adopt him into their friend group. 

At first Krel was a little apprehensive to joining their friend group, but he quickly warmed up to it because, he, being Krel, loves the attention.

like I can totally see Mary and Darci taking Krel to like a mall or something and doing those like teen romcom movie shopping montages where he goes into a changing room and the girls judge the outfit until they find the perfect one.

I personally believe Krel would adopt a soft boy look, with like oversized button ups and t shirts tucked into jeans, but thats just me.

anyway, because he’s friends with Mary and Darci, Krel has a new found social popularity in Arcadia.

because of this, Krel would prolly get nominated for Spring Fling king and shit

I would say Krel wouldn’t really care about being nominated, but seeing how he cared so much about the science fair and the Battle of the Bands, he would definitely care

Steve is conflicted because he wants to be Spring Fling King, but he can’t mess with Krel like he did with Jim and Eli cause Krel is his girlfriend’s brother 

Krel notices this and takes advantage of it to mess with Steve and actually tries to win.

like Krel would just dominate the contests, and his theme presentation would be the flashiest and most appealing and people would just generally like him, and that would really worry Steve

like Krel, with four arms would be really good at the Touch-a-Truck-athon or whatever its called.

Krel would prolly let Steve win anyway because watching Steve squirm and freak out over prolly losing the crown and not being able to do anything about it cause he's Aja's brother is much better than any highschool dance crown

also the school 100% asks Krel to DJ future dances and events to save money, and Krel absolutely loves it

He would also definitely do the school play. Seeing how much he enjoyed being in Toby and Eli's short film, and again, he loves the attention, he would totally be down 

Also it would just be another chance to mess with Steve to be the lead. 

Because of this, Ms. Janeth would do another Shakespearean play, but do one of those modern renditions. Like it's the same play just in a modern setting, to take advantage of Krel's Akaridion form like they did with Jim's armor. 

If not in the play he would do stage crew/tech.

Like he would create elaborate settings for them using A5 tech and Ms. Janeth would adore it 

moving on, because home life is pretty lonely with just the Lucy and Ricky for company, Krel loves to host his friends for parties and sleepovers and whatever

and since Krel lives in the coolest house on the block, they love coming over

He hosts girl’s night every other week with Mary, Darci, and Clarie (becauuse she deserves a fucking break) 

since we’ve all agreed that Krel is 100% a gaylien, I love the idea that he casually comes out during a girls night

like Mary would be like “So Krel, are there any girls you like?” and Krel’s just like, “*snort* Girls? Who ever said I like girls?” and the others are like “….....?“ and Krel just rolls his eyes and says "I like boys, ladies” and they’re like “ooooohhhh, okay. Cool.”

So now they spend girls night talking about boys. Claire and Darci about their mans and Mary and Krel about cute boys.

One day the girls give Krel a little rainbow pin and Krel’s just like “what’s this?” And the girls tell him that it’s an earth symbol for the gays and he’s like “theres a symbol for that here? I didnt think it was that big of a deal. On A5 it’s pretty normal” and the girls explain why theres a symbol and he’s like “oh shoot wow, thanks" and he put it on his backpack.

He’s pretty confused the first time someone is homophobic towards him cause like that kind if behavior doesnt happen on A5 and hes just like, “why does this bother you? I hardly know you” and just brushes it off. Its doesnt really bother him, mainly cause he doesnt know the earth insults towards gay people so he doesn’t even realize, but if the girls (or Toby, or even Steve, too) catch anyone being homophobic towards their friend they will attack that asshole on sight. Especially Mary and Steve

Random person on the street: Ha, *slur*

Marry: WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HIM BITCH???

Krel: Marry its fine, it’s not that big of a dealoHSEKLOSANDGAYLENMARYGETOFFOFHIM

Marry: SAY IT AGAIN ASSHAT, I D A R E YOU

Claire and Darci: *trying to hold Mary back* maRY NO

Steve: THATS MY NINJA KICKING SPACE ANGEL GIRLFRIEND'S BROTHER BUTTSNACK I'LL END YOU

Toby: *now chasing after Steve to stop him* stEVE NO

Mary would 100% find out who the rando is and destroy their life on social media. Like she would leak their job, phone number, email, school/college (if applicable) to her thousands of followers and absolutely ruin them with no remorse. And honestly, good for her

Also whilst on the subject, Krel can not drive or cook for 2 reasons: 1. Hes gay and 2. He’s a prince so he’s never had to do either before

Like he can obviously do math but that’s it.

Proof? That one scene in Wizards when Douxie had him drive the airship. You know the one.

Coach Lawrence refuses to get in a car with him at Drivers Ed after the 3rd day Krel shows up.

Krel gets addicted to sugary coffee shop-esc drinks thanks to Darci. Not coffee cause we saw in 3Below Part 1 that he doesnt like coffee, but refreshers, coolattas, frappuccinos etc…? Definitely.

As for warm drinks, he’s more of a tea person.

Moving on

He face calls Aja everyday because he really misses her

He tells her all about school and his friends and whatever and Aja tells him about the changes she’s making to the A5 government

Thanks to the wormhole they visit each other often. Sometimes Steve tags along cause he misses his ninja kicking space queen angel girlfriend. (And Eli, but that's also for another post)

They take turns housing Luug.

Krel genuinely loves it on earth, but he hates the primitive technology so he begs Aja to send him supplies and materials for his projects. 

He would 10000% apply to HexTech for an after school job. Seeing his reaction to HT in Wizards and the fact that “Akaridion tech and magic are so compatible”, he would be the perfect addition to the HT staff. 

The Wizards wouldn’t be sure at first but after he shows them A5 tech and Douxie’s email of recommendation about the time loop thing they made together, the wizards are like “oh yeah we definitely keeping this kid. This is going to be so much fun.”

Their inventions become more and more extravagant because Krel can and he's just extra and the wizards love it.

He would definitely find a way to use magic using A5 tech. But he would have to study magic in order to figure out how, so the wizards help him learn all about magic. And since he's learned everything there is to learn about science and technology and whatever, he's super excited to learn about something completely different and interesting. The wizards are happy to teach him. He would be the first Akaridion to learn and use magic

Like he would make his own staff with his serrator and everything. He's like "earn a staff? Nah fuck that going to make my own"

Speaking of which he really likes human swear words. But he doesnt know when it is and isn't inappropriate to say these swear words so he's gotten in trouble a few times for swearing at the wrong time

For example:

Ms. Janeth: excuse me Mr. Tarron?

Krel: what the fuck do you want?

Everyone in the room: krEL NO

Anyway, back to Krel at HT, thanks to Toby, he would definitely have a bowl of candy in his little lab. More like multiple jars of different candy just scattered around the room. Small candy like fun sized chocolate and skittles and jelly beans and whatever

And a mini fridge, of course.

Steve, Toby and Arrrgh come over to the lab alot to mess around.

Toby has a lot of sci-fi requests for Krel to make

Toby: do you think you can make a shrink ray? Laser blasters? Invisible ray? My own hoverboard? My own serrator *gASP* WITH A WARHAMMER SETTING???? WITH SPACE ARMOR TO MATCH???!!!???!

Krel: Toby you already have a warhammer and armor why do you need more?

Toby: I dont have a space warhammer and armor Krel!!!!!!

Going back to school life, I feel like Krel would take an interest in Spanish class. I mean, his human form is latino and in Trollhunters (I'm pretty sure the lightning in a bottle episode) he said "Si" in response to a question someone asked him, so I feel like he would like to learn another human language. 

I also feel like he would just like to learn about Latin American culture in general since Mother gave him that form. He'd like to get in touch with his human self. 

Claire (when she isnt busy Trollhunting with Jim and the gang) is happy help him learn about Latin American culture and help him with his Spanish. 

Krel, being a fast learner, becomes fluent quickly with a perfect accent. 

Señor Uhl, who already liked the Tarrons to begin with, would really appreciate this. 

Claire's dad would also appreciate this.

Since he has such a fascination with human music, Krel would especially love Latin American music. Specifically reggaeton, since its kind of like techno music in a way and he already likes techno music.

And naturally, he learns to dance. All the styles of latin american dances. And he becomes quite the favorite on the dance floor.

He and Claire become great dance partners cause they both have the natural Latino rhythm and because Jim respects and trusts his girlfriend he doesnt mind them dancing together at parties and stuff

Although, Jim does ask for dance help at some point cause it looks like fun and he wants to dance with his beautiful talented incredible amazing gf and Krel is happy to teach him and anyone else who wants dance help. 

GUITAR LESSONS with Douxie cause in 3Below Krel said he really wanted to learn how to play guitar, steals Shannon’s guitar from the bonfire and is seen multiple times strumming it throughout the series. So of course this is included.

Toby introduces Krel to YouTube and Krel instantly makes his own channel.

of course his channel is called DJ Kleb and he posts his tracks and remixes. and maybe even some vlogs

its a little slow at first, only Arcadia Oaks students are subscribed to it but Mary blows it up by posting one of Krel’s tracks on her own social media and now he has thousands of subscribers

he also gained other forms of social media like Instagram and Tiktok, platforms to post his music

At this point every girl in school wants to be friends with Krel but not in the toxic GBF (gay best friend) way, girls just genuinely think he's 10x more interesting than every other boy in Arcadia Oaks

I think that's it for now sorry this is really long I just really love Krel and I had so many ideas. Feel free to add on!!

[artificialqueens]

Take You to Heaven (And I'll Show You All Around It), 1/2 (Rosenali) - Mattels

summary: rosé is sure the woman who orders coffee under a different name every morning is trying to fuck with her (not, as jan put it, trying to fuck her.)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29601828/chapters/72762987#workskin

-

It’s a Monday and Rosé feels like death.

She’s sure she looks it too, if she’s being honest. She woke up early– like five-o’clock-sky-still-dark early– nursing a spectacular hangover and then promptly rolled out of bed to throw up in her and Lagoona’s shared bathroom. She has a killer bruise on her shin from God knows what last night, and her head is still fucking killing her despite the off-brand Advil Crystal had handed her, whilst pretending she wasn’t laughing at her state.

Don’t let Lagoona convince you to go out on a Sunday, she thinks to herself, rubbing her under eyes to find pieces of glitter stubbornly clinging to her skin.

“Are you okay, hun?” Gigi asks her when she arrives at her job in their seemingly perpetually-empty café, arranging delicate cakes in the fluorescently lit pastry case.

Rosé groans slightly in response, lowering her forehead to rest on the cool metal of the cash register.

Gigi laughs, “and remind me again why you decided clubbing on a Sunday was okay…?”

“Fucking ‘Goona.”

She barks another laugh at this, reaching behind her for a pile of croissants Jackie had baked earlier. “Getting old?”

Rosé lifts her head to glare at Gigi, who, of fucking course, looks perfect as ever. Her ginger hair is pulled into a sleek ponytail, bangs neatly straightened into uniformity. Gigi is easily one of the prettiest girls Rosé’s ever seen, even in their decidedly unfashionable company-branded aprons. She only works at the café part-time, spending the rest of it at one of the best fashion schools in the city; her designs are always executed with excruciatingly minute details, Rosé knows she wouldn’t have the patience for.

“We open in ten, girls!” Jaida calls from the back, where she counts inventory with Jackie on her heels, writing everything down neatly in a notebook.

“Geege, are you nearly done?” Crystal, who’s wiping down tables at the front with disinfectant, asks. “Can you help me with chairs?” She asks when Gigi responds with an affirmative.

Gigi wanders around to the front of the shop, planting a chaste kiss on Crystal’s cheek when she passes her to grab the chairs stacked in the back. Rosé mimes stuffing her fingers down her throat with an exaggerated gag to Jan, who’s refilling bottles of flavoured syrup behind the espresso machine.

“Fucking ew,” Jan says rolling her eyes in mock-disgust to Rosé. “You hear that guys?” She says loudly, and Gigi and Crystal both turn to look at her, “your love is fucking disgusting.”

Crystal laughs loudly, tipping her head back so Rosé can see into her mouth. “Okay homophobe, whatever you say.”

Jan rolls her eyes, flipping the pair of girls off, who both laugh lightly. “First of all, Crystal Elizabeth, I’ve slept with more women than you have fingers, so fuck off, thank you very much.”

Crystal coughs loudly, which sounds suspiciously like dry spell, leaning over to Gigi and planting a kiss ending with a resonant smack, snickering when Gigi blows an equally obnoxious kiss in Jan and Rosé’s direction.

“This is a workplace, sluts!” Rosé sighs, “if I have to clean ass prints off those tables one more fucking time, I’m sending HR a very strongly worded email!”

Crystal roars with laughter at a red-faced Gigi, who ducks her head and tries to bury herself into Crystal’s shoulder. “It was one time!” She squeaks.

“And that’s one time too many,” Jan says with a pointed look at Crystal, who gives her a shit-eating grin in return.

Crystal holds her hands up in mock-surrender, “sorry mom.” 

Rosé cracks a smile at Jan’s outraged face, busying herself with filling a plastic cup with tap water to avoid being on the end of Crystal’s razor sharp tongue. Her head throbs as she downs the liquid, filling it up again as she swallows.

She checks the time on her phone, cursing under her breath when she realises they open in two minutes. Already she can see a woman standing outside their glass doors, clearly waiting for Jaida to flip their sign to Open.

“Opening up!” Jaida calls, coming out of their back storage room to open their door. 

Rosé shoots Jan a look that screams help me I’m going to kill myself, to which Jan chuckles, moving over so Gigi can dart behind the bar and work their espresso machine.

The woman walks in, bell tinkling as the door pushes open, a pair of dark sunglasses obscuring her features. Rosé plasters on her best I’m approachable, please give me a tip! smile, flashing her perfectly straight teeth, (thank you, several years of braces).

The woman doesn’t stop to look at their neatly displayed array of pastries, instead parking herself straight in front of Rosé.

“Hiya, what can I get for you?”

The woman flips her glasses so they perch on the top of her head, and Rosé feels like she’s taken a punch to her stomach. 

She’s unbelievably beautiful, even with slightly messy eyeliner and already smudged lipgloss. Her icy blonde hair is french braided loosely, and is curved over one shoulder. When she politely smiles at Rosé, twin dimples are embedded into her tan cheeks.

“Good morning,” she says with a smile. “Could I get a medium americano to go, please?”

Rosé can’t stop her nose from wrinkling at the thought of black coffee. Ew, she thinks to herself, grabbing a takeaway cup from the stack to her left.

“What? Not good?” The woman cocks a perfectly manicured eyebrow at her. 

Rosé looks up at her, in surprise. “Huh? Oh, shit, no, no, I just–”

“–Oh no, you’re good honey, I’m only joking!”

Rosé can feel the tips of her ears burning red at the pet name, a tiny thrill running up her spine. “Can I get a name?”

“Julie,” she says with another smile, the dimples in her cheeks making Rosé’s palms slightly clammy, as she grips the thick marker to write the name in her loopy handwriting.

The woman pays, thanking Rosé and going to stand by the pick-up point to wait for the drink Gigi makes way too quickly, leaving before Rosé can snap out of her daze.

“Julie,” she murmurs under her breath when their door swings shut.

Jan turns to her with a grin, “alright there Rosie? Looking a little flushed, doll.”

Rosé rolls her eyes, pulling her phone out of her pocket, opening the camera to use as a mirror. Her stomach drops; she looks just as bad as she feels, she realises with a loud groan.

“Are you kidding me?” She groans to Jan, “I just met the hottest woman I’ve ever seen, and I look like this?”

Jan shrugs, leaning against the counter behind her. “You went about as pink as your hair too, so…”

“Fucks sake.” She swears, running her fingers through her greasy pink roots. She’d sprayed dry shampoo in it this morning, when she couldn’t be bothered with washing and blow-drying it, but clearly it hadn’t much helped the situation.

She stares at her image in the camera, trying to wipe the already-flaking mascara from her lower lash line. It could be worse, she thinks to herself, at least she didn’t try and blend out last-night’s makeup again. 

“Babe, I think that’s not gonna help.” Gigi says, watching as she tries to fix her appearance. 

“Shove off, little miss perfect,” Rosé all but growls, irritation running high. Her head is still pounding, despite being momentarily distracted by the pretty woman.

Gigi pretends to busy herself, dusting non-existent coffee grounds from her pristine work surface. She’s smart, Rosé begrudgingly admits, knows when not to push it. The same, however, can’t be said for Jan, who’s already texting Jan about it on their Stephanie’s Child groupchat.

goona: bahaha sorry rosie <3

goona: defo my fault shouldn’t have dragged u out last night babes

“Can you not?” She whines at Jan, “this is so embarrassing!”

Jan shrugs, “it’s so funny though.” She teases, mimicking Rosé’s drawn out inflections. “It’s fine, Rosie, she’s bound to come back at some point.”

“Will she?”

Jan stands, leaning over Rosé to pick up their tip-jar just in front of the register. “She left a nice tip.” She says, pulling out the ten dollar bill. “That’s pretty hefty for a three dollar coffee,” she notes, putting the jar back down. “Must be for our impeccable service.” She says, flashing a teasing grin at Rosé, who groans again, dropping her head in embarrassment.

☆☆☆☆☆

Rosé can’t pretend she isn’t a little surprised when the woman appears again at the same time the next morning. 

Jan nudges her in the ribs as she walks in, laughing a little at Rosé’s whisper to fuck off, please and thank you. But she says it with a smile, happily remembering how even her winged liner came out this morning, and makes sure to smooth any fly-aways from her curled ponytail.

She’s sure to give her the best smile she can muster for seven in the morning, butterflies happily swarming in her stomach, as the woman approaches her.

“Hiya,” she says, pretending not to have remembered her from the day before.

Her hair is down today, falling prettily in soft waves around her face. “Good morning,” she smiles; it’s all white teeth and dimples. “Could I get a medium americano to go?”

Rosé nods, grabbing a medium cup, “can I get a name?” She asks, despite already writing Julie on the cup.

“Naomi,” she says.

Rosé’s brow furrows slightly in confusion, staring at the cup she’s already written on. “Naomi?” She cocks an eyebrow, waiting for the woman to correct herself.

She nods, “N-A-O-M-I.” 

She reaches for another cup, writing Naomi on it, instead of the expected Julie. The woman pays with a smile, and Rosé is still too confused to notice the wad of dollar notes she slides into their tip jar.

Gigi makes the coffee, what feels like much too quickly again, and Rosé finds herself watching the door shut after the woman.

“I thought you said her name was Julie?” Jan asks when she leaves.

☆☆☆☆☆

By the end of the third week, Rosé’s figured it out. It was, in large part, thanks to Jan, rolling her eyes and telling Rosé how it was oh so clearly a game, Rosie, followed by both Crystal and Gigi’s insistence that she’s flirting with you!

She’s cycled through Kristen and Tracy and Laura and Rebecca and Violet, introducing herself as a new person every morning. Rosé started having a medium cup at the ready every morning, marker poised to scrawl whatever name she picks for the day.

“So,” Gigi says in the late afternoon, leaning her head against Rosé’s shoulder. “When are you gonna ask her?”

Rosé turns her head to look at her, “ask her what?”

Jan, who’s cleaning their blender, sighs loudly, putting her cloth into the sink and looks over at them. “Her name, dipshit.”

Rosé shrugs noncommittally,  “I like our dynamic.” She lies. She doesn’t want to admit how flustered she makes her– the butterflies at the pit of her stomach have only seemed to multiply, taking flight even at the mere thought of her bleached hair. 

Rosé never considered herself to be anything less than straightforward; she’s never had any sort of problem coaxing pretty women in bars to come home with her, and she’s definitely never had any trouble telling them exactly how to curl their fingers inside her to make her see stars. But The Woman, as they’ve dubbed her with a capital T and W, makes Rosé feel like she’s a middle-schooler, desperately trying to hide her first crush from everyone.

“I’m just saying maybe you could… y’know…” Gigi starts.

“I could what?”

“Get some pussy?” Jan suggests with a laugh, “Lagoona says it’s been a while.”

Rosé blushes high in her cheeks, “Lagoona doesn’t know shit.” She lies again, thinking back to the last girl she brought back with her seemingly months ago.

Jan arches an eyebrow at her, but doesn’t say anything, choosing to turn back to her sink instead. 

“How’s school?” Rosé asks Gigi, trying to casually change the subject whilst opening their register and grabbing a sticky note to note down their cash.

Gigi starts a long spiralling story about her midterms and the designs she’s trying to get Crystal to model for her, interjecting her speech with explanations of her school’s system of grading, coupled with descriptions of their intense assignments. It makes Rosé’s head spin, and for once she’s glad to have finished at her theatre school a handful of years ago.

Somewhere during Gigi’s tirade, the bell at the door goes off, welcoming in a new customer, unbeknownst to Rosé, until someone is awkwardly clearing their throat in front of them.

“Hi, sorry, how can I–” She stops mid sentence when she realises it’s her. “Oh, it’s you,” she says with a laugh that’s much too breathy. Calm down, she tells herself in an attempt to stop her palms from sweating.

“It’s me,” The Woman says with a smile. 

“You’re not usually– erm, it’s, uh, afternoon, and you’re usually, uh, y’know, morning.”

“Yeah,” she laughs, “I know. I just, er… wanted a coffee.”

“So, uh, what can I get for you?” She asks, already reaching for the medium takeaway cup.

“Can I get an americano? Having here?”

“Oh,” Rosé puts back the takeaway cup, “yeah of course. Can I get a name?”

She smiles, and Rosé wants to drown in her dimples, “Karen.”

Rosé snorts as she plugs in the name on the order, “Karen huh?”

The Woman gasps loudly in a mock-protest, placing a delicate hand over her chest in disbelief. “You don’t think I could be a Karen?”

Rosé grins, letting her eyes pass over her once. No fucking way was she a Karen of any sort. “So sorry ma’am, let me grab my manager for you,” she says with her eyes twinkling, beginning to turn around in an act of looking for Jaida.

“Denali.” 

She spins back around on her heels, eyebrows raised quizzically. “Sorry?” 

“That’s my name,” The Woman smiles softly,, “Denali.”

“Denali? Like the mountain?”

“Like the mountain.” She looks at Rosé, “why don’t you ever wear one of those, uh, nametags?” Rosé looks down at her apron with a shrug. “Y’know,” Denali continues, with a shy smile, “so I’d know the name of the pretty girl who takes my shitty coffee order every morning.”

Rosé’s face burns red– she can practically feel it radiating heat. Pretty girl. It reverberates around in her skull, making her feel a little dizzy for a second. “Rosé.” She stammers out, waiting a beat too long to reply. “It’s Rosé.”

“Like the wine?”

"Like the wine.” She confirms with a smile, her face still as pink as her bubblegum hair.

“Two dollars right?” Rosé looks at her dumbly, “like, erm, for the coffee?”

“It’s on the house!” Jan says over her shoulder, shooting a shit-eating in Rosé’s direction.

“Oh! Uh, are you sure?”

Rosé nods awkwardly, and Denali responds with a thank you so much , before wandering off to find a seat in the fairly empty café.

Denali. Rosé lets herself roll around the sound in her mouth for a second like it’s a caramel. Denahlee, she thinks to herself, stretching each syllable like taffy. She thinks it might be the sweetest sound she’s heard in a while. If she leans forwards, she can see her (Denali, she thinks to herself, Denali) sitting up on their bar that faces the window, a book held open in front of her.

Jan sidles up to her side with a knowing smile. “You’re welcome Rosie.”

“For giving her a free coffee so we get no commission?” Rosé jokes, trying to play it cool even though her heart is still beating like she’s just run a marathon.

“She clearly came in to see you, dumbass,” Jan says with a smile, watching Gigi click the grounds-filled portafilter into the basket.

“She told you her real name!” Gigi adds as they wait for the espresso shot to fill. “That’s, like, something, y’know.”

“She called you pretty!” Crystal reminds her from the pastry case she’s doing a half-hearted job of rearranging. 

Rosé sighs, “okay guys, I really don’t need this whole peanut-gallery thing– can you please get your big noses out of my life.” 

“Oh puh-lease, not a chance diva!” Jan says, already typing furiously on her phone.

Rosé feels her own phone buzz in her pocket, pulling it out to read the handful of texts Jan’s already sent to Jan through their groupchat. She groans at Jan, who gives her a nonchalant shrug in response.

“Do you want to take it to her?” Gigi asks as she pushes the steaming coffee mug towards her. 

“Please just fucking take it to her, Rosie.” Jan whines. “Let me live vicariously through your love life!”

Rosé laughs, rolling her eyes as she picks up the saucer the mug is on, careful not to touch the hot ceramic. She walks it over to Denali, putting it down in front of her with a smile. Denali thanks her with a grin, turning back to her book and letting Rosé sulk back to her job, trying to come up with witty conversation starters in her head.

☆☆☆☆☆

Denali sits in the café for a half hour before she gets up again to order another americano from Rosé.

“Can I get one of those little cake things too?” She asks, pointing at a miniature cake Jackie had neatly piped pink rosettes onto. Crystal pulls it out of the case onto a plate for Rosé to pass to her. “How much?” She says pulling out a wallet from her bag.

“On the house,” Rosé says, offering her a smile.

“No, c’mon, you have to let me pay for something–”

“–It’s fine, it’s on the house–”

“–I feel like I have to give you something,” she opens her wallet, “please?”

“You could give her your number,” Jan pipes up from the back with a laugh.

Rosé doesn’t believe in God, but if she did, right now would be just the time to pray for the ground beneath her feet to split open and swallow her up. Please God, just take me.

“Do you have a napkin?” Denali asks, snapping Rosé out of her momentary prayer. “And, like, a pen?” When Rosé doesn’t move to get one, Denali gives her a look that Rosé is sure is asking her if she’s hard of hearing. “For, uh, my number…?” She trails off, looking a little embarrassed.

Rosé’s mouth goes completely dry, and her hands reach for a napkin and a pen on their own accord. Before she knows it, Denali’s handing it back to her, a phone number written on it in chicken-scratch handwriting.

“Maybe you could take me out sometime?” She says with a laugh bubbling in the back of her throat, throwing Rosé a playful wink. “Thanks for the coffee, gorge.”

Rosé’s heartwhiz-bangs in her chest, and she’s sure she’s gone to heaven.

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