#yeah maybe because she’s playing a fourteen year old guys

[freakassfemme]

anyways here’s Bella Ramsey being hot

yeah they’re going to DEMOLISH season 2

bella ramsey isnt hot and wasnt the right pick for ellie williams, fuck sake i do not want her on my feed we were robbed, i love her as a person. not as a character

#thelastofus

[nebulablakemurphy]

Moves & Countermoves (Part 24)

Part 23

Summary: No one ever wins the games, even fourteen years later, Y/N is still playing.

“Lean your head back, so I can rinse.” Y/N instructs Katniss, gently.

It’s been two weeks back in twelve. The Abernathy family, Katniss, Cashmere and Johanna. Peeta had to stay behind, not quite ready to be exposed to all the potential triggers of home.

Cashmere and Madge had no problem cozying up in the Abernathy home. However Katniss keeps to her own house in Victor’s Village and Johanna has agreed to stay in the house gifted to Y/N after her win. Finnick and Annie will visit too, of course. After the baby.

The girl on fire sits in the tub, knees pulled up to her chest, with both arms around them, as her former mentor washes her hair. Katniss can’t bring herself to do much these days. Rotting away on the couch, after Prim… But Y/N is nothing if not stubborn and loves Katniss more than her own mother ever could.

When Y/N is finished, she leaves Katniss to dry off. “I’ll bring you something to eat.”

Katniss blinks at her, nodding. She does not speak.

Y/N returns to her own home, bustling with life. Nothing here is still. The victor dances past her oldest daughter, twirling about the living room to music. Moving carefully behind the house of cards that Everest and Cashmere are building on the dining table and into the kitchen.

Haymitch follows her there, Daisy in his arms. He hardly puts her down. “How is she?” Katniss.

Y/N sucks in a breath. “You should go see her, Haymitch. Maybe she’ll talk to you.”

“What makes you think she’ll talk to me?”

“Because you understand each other.” Y/N says, “I love her, she knows I do. But it’s not the same. She needs you.”

“And if you’re wrong?” Haymitch frowns, “if it sets her off? Makes it worse?”

“The last thing Katniss needs right now, is to feel like another person has abandoned her.” Like her mother. Like Gale. “Especially you. You don’t have to say anything, just be there.” Y/N wrings her hands, anxiously. “Please.”

Haymitch shakes his head, bouncing between feet, when Daisy begins to fuss. “The things I do for you.”

Y/N half smiles, “gimme the baby.”

At this he hesitates. It is hard enough being in a separate room from his children. Or not to holler in protest, each time Y/N moves out of his sight.

“Haymitch?” Y/N rests a hand against his back.

It’s not you, it’s me. “Here.” He forces a smile, passing off their child.

“Haymitch, what’s wrong?” Y/N wonders, adjusting the infant in her arms.

“Nothing.” He clears his throat, “it’s nothing.”

“But-”

“I love you.” Haymitch tells his wife, pecking a kiss to her lips, “nothing’s wrong.”

Y/N pulls back, slightly, studying him. “I love you too.”

He pats her cheek, in parting. Hurrying out the door, before Y/N can get a word in.

“You guys are disgusting.” Johanna remarks, leaning heavily against the refrigerator.

Y/N murmurs. “Yeah.”

“I’m out of eggs.” Johanna adds, to explain her presence.

“We have plenty. Help yourself.” Y/N waves toward the fridge.

“There’s something wrong with him.”

“I know.”

“What are you gonna do about it? You’re Mrs. Fix It. That’s why we’re all here. So you can fix us.” Johanna scoffs, “you can’t even fix yourself.”

“I can,” Y/N cuts her off. “I will.”

“You think I haven’t noticed there’s a room you can’t even go in?” Johanna continues.

“It’s not what you think.”

“I think you’re afraid of old hunks of metal that used to record you getting your rocks off.” Johanna crosses both arms over her chest. “They can’t hurt you.”

“They can hurt me.” Y/N purses her lips, “they did.”

“You should get rid of them.” Johanna suggests.

“I can’t.” I just can’t.

“My head doctor would call it ‘exposure therapy.’”

“Will you help me?”

Johanna huffs a laugh. “What are friends for?”

————————————————————————

That night, after the children are fast asleep, Y/N tosses and turns in bed.

“Just say it.” Haymitch snaps.

“It’s nothing.” Y/N whispers, “I’m sorry.” She turns away from Haymitch, nuzzling her back against his chest, until he has no choice but to wrap his arms around her.

“Angel,” Haymitch pauses, trying to find the right words. “I’ve never done this before.”

“Done what?”

“Been free.” Haymitch confesses, “not since the games, never as an adult. Never as a husband or a father; and I am terrified that at any moment, all of this is going to be taken away from me.”

Y/N squeezes his hand, a bit tighter. “Sometimes I think that too.” We’ve been playing the game too long. “Do you think we’ll get used to it? Being free?”

Haymitch sighs, pressing his lips to her shoulder. “I hope so, angel.”

This is new. Haymitch having hope. “Me too.”

————————————————————————

Nights bleed into days. Days into weeks.

Daisy naps contently, in the sling against Y/N’s chest, while she tidies the kitchen.

Everest and Haymitch have set out to pluck weeds from the pathway between houses of Victor’s Village.

Arista is playing in the backyard.

The birds chirp.

The sun shines.

Then Arista screams. “Mommy!”

Y/N abandons the pan she is washing, into the sink, water still running, as she races toward the sound of her daughter’s voice. “Arista!”

“Mommy! Daddy! Hurry!”

Haymitch and Everest rush toward her cry. “Arista!”

Y/N finds her first, at the far edge of their yard, hunched over a mass of white feathers. “Arista? Are you ok?”

“He came back.” Arista tells her mother, with overjoyed tears in her eyes. “Louie came back.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Y/N chokes down the panic that has risen in her throat. “That’s wonderful.”

Everest comes to a stop beside his mother, panting as he takes in the scene before him. “She’s ok?”

“Yeah,” Y/N reaches a hand over, to ruffle his hair. “We’re all ok now.”

Haymitch joins them last, out of breath, face flushed. “Is everything-”

Y/N turns to him, with a grin. “Louie came home.”

“It’s just the goose.” Haymitch can’t help but laugh. “Just the god damn goose.”

————————————————————————

That night, at dinner, with Madge, Cashmere, Johanna and even Katniss, the phone rings. The sound of it still jarring, after being without a form of easy communication between districts for so long.

Maybe it’s Annie and Finnick.

Maybe there is news in the Capitol.

Maybe Effie.

“I’ll get it.” Johanna volunteers.

Y/N holds up a hand, not wanting to speak with a mouthful of food.

“Or not.”

“I’ve got it.” Y/N excuses herself from the table, into the hallway. Lifting the phone from the receiver to her ear; heart pounding. “Hello.”

“Y/N, it’s me.”

Her free hand comes up to her heart, attempting to quiet the ache. “Peeta, hi. How are you?”

“Better, I’m good.”

“That’s good, honey.” Y/N blinks back tears. “That’s so good to hear.”

“Dr. Aurelius says I’m free to leave the hospital, as long as I keep up with sessions over the phone.” He sounds nervous, like the other shoe is about to drop.

Maybe he’s staying with Effie in the Capitol.

“The train leaves tomorrow morning.”

“Can I- I’ll come get you from the train station?”

“Yes.” Peeta says, immediately. “That would be great.”

“Ok,” Y/N breathes, “that’s perfect. I’ll see you soon.”

“See you soon.”

Series Taglist: @praline357 @flowercrowns-goodvibes @justheretoparty420 @avocadotoastwithegg @treehouse-mouse @emo-markie @spilled-mi1k @magical-spit @greaser9902 @jessicamellarky @yourebuckingkiddingme @smuha2004 @sendhelplease @ninimackbrews @wittiestrain184 @r1dd1kulus @erenluvr69 @helpimhyperfixating @jackierose902109 @jellybear455 @dreammgc @dadbodfanatic-x @ftdtcmlovr @inky-sun @ms-brek-ker @undercover55655 @mischiefmanaged21 @avoxrising @koiphisch @drwho-ess @daisydaisybilly @misfits1a @nj01 @eruannaaa-blog @thatkindofgurl @solikeapparently @innercreationflower @nicksolemnlyswears @a-sweet-little-fangirl @champomiel @kate654 @maladptivedreamer @rainbow12346 @gabwitch99-blog @theseerbetweenus @qvnthesia @prettybiching @izziebreeziel @anneliese500 @scoliobean @mariechristine00 @hoslunix @frstlght @winter-jensen

[writtenonreceipts]

Rowaelin Month Day Ten: Concert @rowaelinscourt

Month Masterlist // Hey, Neighbor Masterlist // AO3 Link

a/n: blargh 2.0  The last few parts may play out rather quick development-wise. This is part 12 of 15. I may end up cutting out a part 15 though...

Warnings: mild angst, ~2.2k words.

.*.*.*.*.

Hey, Fool

For the first time since she was fourteen years old and about to have her first kiss with Chaol Westfold—Aelin had butterflies in her stomach.  It was disgusting.

The butterflies, not the kiss.

The kiss had actually been pretty good.

But the butterflies that were hurtling through her gut at breakneck speed were the exact definition of putrid.  How did anyone function like this?  Hell, why was she even reacting like this?  It was just a night out with a group of…friends…having fun.

Still, the nerves were getting to her.

“You look like you’re going to be sick.”

Elide sat perched on the bathroom counter watching with vague amusement as Aelin got ready.

“I think I am,” Aelin admitted.  She wrapped another section of hair around the curling iron, trying yet again to banish her nerves.

“Why?” Elide asked. “It’s just drinks and music.  Plus, Rowan’ll be there.”

That did not help Aelin’s stomach.  For many reasons.

“Yeah, but he didn’t invite me,” Aelin explained again. “And it just feels weird.”

“But you want to go?” Elide pressed.  She was absently twisting her own hair into a braid, not bothering to fix the strands if they were uneven or she missed a section.  She was mostly just present because Aelin had begged her to come over.

“I do,” Aelin agreed.  She bit her lip, setting the curling iron aside.

“You wish Rowan had asked you to go out instead,” Elide surmised, a slow smile growing on her face. “Right.”

Aelin scowled, re-sectioning her hair. “It’s not like that, Elide.”

“Sure, sure,” Elide said.  She grabbed one of the many tubes of mascara sitting on the counter and started fixing her own lashes. “So then why are you wearing your little black dress?”

Sometimes being friends with a hyper-observant individual was the worst.

“I like this dress.”

“You can’t wear a bra with it.”

“Exactly why I like it.”

Elide met her gaze in the mirror. “Have you, y’know, tried telling Rowan how you feel?”

“How I feel?” Aelin sputtered. She nearly burned her fingers on the iron as she picked it up again.  “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You’re an idiot.” Elide said. “You’ve been hanging out with him the last six months, calling in favors, introducing you to your parents—I don’t care what the circumstances were, you did it—Aelin, he’s not just some guy.”

“He doesn’t like me like that,” Aelin said. 

She finished the last section of her hair, arranging the curls around her face.  The strands were silky in her fingers as she separated the curls and shook them out a little.  Her make-up was still immaculate, thankfully.  She didn’t think she could stand still long enough to fix it up.

The motions were rote and easy.  They almost distracted her from Elide’s words.  Almost.  Because…Elide was right.  She didn’t have strictly platonic feelings toward Rowan.  And she hadn’t for a while now.

Maybe that was part of why she’d accepted Rowan’s invitation.  To show she wasn’t averse to going out.  But she’d accepted the invite from one of his coworkers, his friend.  Had she mucked this up for herself?

“Stop over thinking it,” Elide demanded.  “Just because you like the guy doesn’t mean you’re gonna marry him.  Go out tonight and see what happens.  Even if another guy invited you.  It wasn’t strictly a date.”

“I’m going,” Aelin said.  She straightened her shoulders and nodded at her reflection in the mirror. “And you’re coming with me.”

“Ah hell.”

.*.

East of Eyllwe was one of the only good things to come out of the bar, Rowan decided.

The band, composed of four main musicians, could actually hold a tune and write a good song that was more than a repeated phrase and kitschy base line.  The lead singer, Nehemia, was also a pretty cool person to talk to when she wasn’t inundated with fans.  Even though they were local, playing shows in the surrounding counties, Rowan was pretty sure they’d one day rise to a bigger stage.

For now, he’d appreciate the music while he had it.

As a whole, the bar was a decent place to hang out, as well.  It was one of the oldest bars in Terrasen with all the original fixtures still in place.  Even the old oak flooring hadn’t been redone.  The bar was also well known to most service men and women.  As it was a central location to both the fire station and police station, and the hospital was just a few blocks away—The Mistward always had a crowd.

Rowan entered the bar, later than intended, and shook off the chill from outside.  The promised storm was nearly at their doorstep, lingering just in the distance.  The snow had stopped at some point in the afternoon, leaving behind a desperate sort of chill that sank into your bones.  Soon, the floodgates would open and there’d be hell to pay.

For now, he embraced the warmth of the bar and the familiar scent of whiskey and wood.  It had been a while since he’d joined the rest of the crew for drinks.  Mostly to avoid being the subject of razzing.  They all knew his trials with Aelin and all enjoyed making a show of it.  If not that came the quest to get him a date.  And if all else failed—drunken pool.

The music filled the bar like a heavy weight.  The guitar and drums hitting out a steady beat that begged listeners to get up and move.  On the small stage Nehemia was at the mic, her long hair twisted into neat box braids, dark skin alight in flashing blue lights.

And this flood, this flood is slowly rising up

Swallowin’ the ground beneath my feet

Tell me how anybody thinks under this condition

So I’ll swim, I’ll swim

As the water rises up, sun is sinkin’ down

And now all I can see are the planets in a row

Suggestin’ it’s best that I—slow down

It was one of Rowans favorite songs they sang, he even had it downloaded on his phone.  It was made all the more enjoyable with Nehemia’s strong voice and the way she could slide from a low alto into a soprano without missing a beat.

And then Rowan saw the dance floor and who occupied it.

His attention glazed over Fenrys to the woman he was dancing with.  It was impossible not to notice her, with her tight fitting black dress that clung to her curves, hitting barely past the tops of her thighs, and her long blonde hair hanging in loose curls, that glowing, golden brown skin of hers—Aelin was impossible not to notice.  Especially when she smiled like that.

Rowan was sure he could only count on one hand the amount of times he’d seen her smile and laugh like that.

When they’d gone rock climbing, her parent’s dinner party, her impromptu dance party, when he’d been dressed as damned Santa Claus—

And they all seemed to pale in comparison to this.

The song faded away into a small piano riff as Nehemia announced a small break from the bad. As the music ended, a dull silence flooded the bar before natural chatter picked up. It felt like a weight was lifted from the room, but not in a comforting way.  Sometimes, that heady lull of music was the only thing that could keep you together.

Rowan felt that distinctly.

He watched as Aelin and Fenrys lingered on the dance floor, Fenrys leaning in to say something and Aelin letting out a laugh before punching his shoulder.  The sight had his gut clenching and a distinct flurry of…anger?  Irritation?  He didn’t know what it was only that it left a sour taste in his mouth.

Thinking about it too closely wouldn’t do him any good. 

Instead, he headed straight to the bar.  He needed a drink.  It hadn’t been a good day, even with the cookies Aelin had brought over.  He’d even had a few of them and, yes, they’d been delicious.  But that didn’t dull the exhaustion from being dragged through drills all afternoon.  In the snow. 

He reached the bar and signaled for a drink.  The bartender knew who he was, even if his record was spotty for coming it.  But Asterin had a sharp memory.  He leaned against the bar, trying to avoid where Aelin and Fenrys were still talking.  He instead landed on the sight of Lorcan sitting with a petite brunette on the other side of the bar.

That alone distracted Rowan enough from Aelin.  Lorcan hadn’t dated anyone, let alone shown interest in dating, since his ex left a year ago.  He’d be shocked about it later, he decided.

Asterin returned with his drink which Rowan accepted.  He downed most of it in one gulp.  The burn of the alcohol slid all the way down his throat and settled in his already roiling gut.  He should just leave.  No one had seen him yet anyways.

“Buzzard!  You made it.”

Aelin appeared beside him, one hand trailing across his back to settle on his shoulder.  The easy, gentle, way she touched him threatened to send a shiver racing over his skin.

“Surprised?” he asked looking up at her.

If he’d thought she looked good before, it was nothing compared to the up-close view.  Her make-up was flawless, the smokey shadow of her eyes and dark liner making her already vivid eyes pop.  Her cherry red lipstick hadn’t even begun to fade.  A sheen of sweat only made her skin glisten beneath the shadowed lights of the bar.

He was a fool, an idiot.  Ridiculous for even thinking he could keep his thoughts about her neutral.  Another reason he shouldn’t have come.  And why he should disentangle himself from her as a whole.

“Maybe,” she said, sliding onto the stool beside him.  She smiled as Asterin dropped a beer off for her. “I hear you don’t join the boys that often.”

“The boys?” he asked.

Aelin shrugged. “Fenrys and Connall are quite the pair.  And then Lorcan’s over there trying to hit on my friend.”

From the looks of it, Lorcan was actually having some success.  But Rowan wouldn’t say that.  He had a feeling Aelin was more than willing to rip Lorcan’s throat out at a moments notice.

“They’re good guys,” he said, because it was true and she deserved that confirmation. “Even Lorcan.”

“Jury’s still out on him,” Aelin admitted.  She took a slow pull of her drink as she looked him over. “How long have you known them?”

“Few years,” he admitted. “Even before moving to Terrasen, I did trainings and rescue missions with Lorcan and Gavriel before.”

“And Gavriel’s the captain?” Aelin asked, glancing over her shoulder to examine the crowd.

“He’s not here, he doesn’t come out with us usually,” Rowan explained.

“I didn’t think anyone liked people less than you,” Aelin said.

Rowan rolled hiss eyes while she smirked. 

“Smart ass,” he muttered.

“My ass is pretty great.”

“Great at getting into trouble.”

It was worse that she was so easy to talk to.  Worse that he wanted to talk to her.  He’d learned the hard way that the easy things, weren’t necessarily the best for you.  Maybe Aelin wasn’t Lyria.  And maybe she wasn’t prone to walking away, leaving people behind—but he wasn’t sure he could risk that.

He had a lot of issues and Lyria was only part of that.  But he couldn’t drag Aelin into any of that.  So maybe, maybe, he shouldn’t even try to get closer.  It would only make it worse for the both of them.

“C’mon,” Aelin said.  From the stage, a guitar chord indicated the music would start up again.  She reached out and took Rowan’s hand, her fingers lacing perfectly with his. “Let’s go dance.”

She took another pull of her drink before slipping off her stool and tugging on his hand.  There was something about her standing over him like that, with that small smile and the curve of her body—Rowan wanted to give into her.

But he couldn’t. 

If there was anything Lyria and his past in general had taught him it was that he didn’t get the happily ever after type ending.  It just wasn’t in the cards for him.

He stood, knocking back the rest of his drink before pulling away from her. 

“I can’t,” he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching out, from pulling her back against him.

Aelin paused, staring at him with wide, confused eyes.

Over the speakers Nehemia started singing a cover to The Fray, the most random song she could have picked for The Mistward.  The piano was slowly joined by a subtle beat on the drums, keeping a calm, if tense, atmosphere building, building…

As he goes left, and you stay right Between the lines of fear and blame You begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend

“Fine,” Aelin said.

And then she was gone, lost to the crowd.

Bile rose in his gut and Rowan was sure he was going to be sick.  Fenrys soon replaced Aelin, looking just as confused, if a little upset.

“What the hell’d you do?” he demanded.

Rowan only shook his head and left the bar.

Outside, the snow began falling. 

.*.*.*.*.

songs included are "dark blue" by jack's mannequin and "how to save a life" by the fray.

[mystwrites]

hello myst 😊 congratulations on hitting 200 followers!! May it grow even higher!

For my fic request, I'd like to suggest Ler!Mitsuri and Lee!Muichiro please.

2. 🫐 - let's hear those giggles!

3. 🌄 - Watching the sunrise.

The idea: Muichiro went to go watch the sunrise after patrol, and Mitsuri sees him on her way back from her own patrol and decides to join him. She reflects on how much he has changed after the Swordsmith Village attack, now that his memories have returned, and how he's slowly starting to behave a bit more like a child than an adult (I love how the fanbook mentions that the hashira were watching and observing the way he is changing with warm eyes 🥰). She notices his childish awe while he watches the sunrise, and mourns his loss of childhood due to all the pressure and responsibilities placed upon his shoulders as a hashira. She therefore wants to try and make him blissfully laugh, as a child should, and especially as Muichiro should because he deserves so much better 💔 So she tries to tickle him, and is pleased to find out that he is indeed very ticklish! She discovers that his back, sides, tummy, and his navel especially, are super ticklish 🤭 She is absolutely thrilled to see him laugh and smile so much, considering how he barely did in the past.

In the end, Mitsuri's tickling therapy really does help Muichiro to momentarily release the weight off his shoulders, and to just live in the moment as a carefree child spending quality time with a friend while watching the sunrise. A happy moment to add to his newfound and growing feeling of happiness.

Thank you for considering my request 💝 I know you mentioned that you get swamped with KNY requests 🙈 but I really wanted to share this cute idea with you 🫶

My 200 Followers Event is still Open!

After a rather uneventful night of patrolling with Muichiro, Mitsuri looked around for him after they finished checking in with Kagaya. However, the teen seemed to have disappeared.

It wasn’t unusual for Muichiro to wander off after a mission or a patrol. He liked being alone sometimes to collect his thoughts. However, Mitsuri couldn’t help but think about how much he was changing. He was starting to act more his age, like a fourteen year old should. Sure, he was still a sassy little guy when moments called for it but he was significantly happier.

Thinking of where he could run off to, Mitsuri remembered how once Tanjiro woke up, they all watched the sunrise after returning from the Swordsmith Village. Maybe Muichiro was there.

Sure enough, Muichiro was on top of the hill by his estate. Walking over, Mitsuri realized how down he actually looked. His eyes weren’t focused on anything in particular, not even the sliver of the golden sun rising above the horizon.

“Hey Tokito kun.” Mitsuri said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay? I was looking for you.”

Muichiro jumped and turned to look at Mitsuri. “Oh! Y-yeah I’m okay.” he replied, relaxing as he saw it was one of his fellow hashira. “Just deep in thought. That’s all.”

Mitsuri hummed, acknowledging her comrade. “About what?”

Muichiro shrugged. “Just about how much I’ve missed out on and the fact that there’s a huge weight on me being the descendant of a swordsman.”

The way Muichiro’s eyes clouded over slightly showed Mitsuri he was a little distraught. He was only fourteen with a huge responsibility placed on his shoulders. They all had the same responsibility of protecting those who can’t fight but Muichiro was only a child, someone who shouldn’t be put on the front lines. Yet here he is fighting without fear and saving people who are weaker than him.

“I just wish I had a normal life sometimes.” he finally said, his eyes now looking at the grass and his fingers fiddling with the teal tips of his hair. “It’s a lot of responsibility and I only realized now how much rides on my shoulders…”

Had Muichiro always played with his hair when he was upset? Mitsuri didn’t know but she definitely noticed a difference in his behavior now. It was more appropriate for a boy of his age.

He was more talkative around those he was comfortable with. Gyomei and Muichiro had very long conversations over a nice steamed bowl of miso soup on the rare chances they could meet up after they returned from fighting.

He genuinely got along with Giyuu since they both shared a quiet demeanor and genuinely enjoyed hanging with Tengen and Rengoku if the Sound Hashira wasn’t being a “monkey” as Muichiro worded it.

He even got into an argument with Sanemi and Obanai at one point which caused everyone to hold in their laughter as Muichiro’s sass caused Sanemi to nearly explode while Obanai was too stunned to speak.

Muichiro also smiled way more than he used to. Mitsuri dares to even think he’s a bit chaotic with Tanjiro and the others all around his age. His laughter was still rare, but there was a rumor that aside from Rengoku who could make anyone laugh.

“It’s okay, Tokito kun.” Mitsuri reassured, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You didn’t miss out on too much. You still have so much to live for, even if you’re a Hashira with responsibilities.”

A squeak escaped Muichiro and he shifted away, his shoulders rising to trap Mitsuri’s hand. The two looked at one another for a few seconds before Muichiro stammered out a response.

“Y-your hand is kinda cold…”

“Oh? Sorry. I didn’t think it would be cold. I thought it was on the warmer side last night?”

“I get cold easily…”

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to analyze what was going on. Mitsuri passed Muichiro and his friends all chasing one another around and laughing. Maybe, just maybe…

She reached out and gently poked the teen in the ribs, gaining a violent flinch and a giggle. Grinning, Mitsuri grabbed Muichiro before he could flee, her hands latching onto his waist and gently squeezing.

The giggles that exploded were music to Mitsuri’s ears. Never in her life had she heard Muichiro laugh this loudly or hysterically.

“Let’s hear those giggles!~” she sang, poking all over the teen’s tummy.

Muichiro shook his head and covered his face with one hand while the other tried to shove Mitsuri’s hand away.

“I can find your giggle spot…it’s right…” There was a pause and Muichiro nervously peeked through his fingers only to shriek loudly as Mitsuri’s finger poked him in the bellybutton.

The sun continued rising until it was fully above the horizon. The sky changed from a deep purple and pink to a light pastel orange and blue. Muichiro’s giggles continued to escape and Mitsuri smiled, knowing that he was going to be resilient.

A/N: Thank you for the request! Sorry if this was a little short. It’s the final stretch of the semester and I’m tryna balance everything👍🏼

[pixystixx]

Hi again! can you colby x young bestfriend reader where the reader is fourteen years old and shes bestfriend with colby since the trap house and she goes with brennen and colby are going to a restaurant and brennen is filming a video and brennen explains about how colby wont stop hugging the reader and colby hugs her to annoy and brennen goes silent and rolls his eyes and they almost go inside the restaurant and the reader trips on the floor and brennen stops his moves and looks at the reader and colby helps the reader and he's worried and he hugs her tightly and he tells her if she's okay and the reader is like I'm really okay and colby asks the same question again and the reader is looks at her and is like" I'm really okay ;D!) In a innocent mode and they go inside and colby tells her what she should eat and the reader looks at brennen and is like "what's wrong with him" and brennen like laughs and stuff happens

Bear Hugs

i hope this isn't badd. i'm sick and it's really late lol. ps sorry for taking forever to get around to this request. tysm for it babes! xx

colby brock is bestfriends with f!reader

Summary: You’re best friends with Colby and he takes you to a restaurant with Brennen. Colby is super protective and caring towards you, since you’re younger than him. Maybe sometimes a little too protective! (682 words)

༻❦༺

Colby pulls you into the thousandth bear hug of the day. You let out high-pitched giggles as you try to wriggle from his tight grasp. “Let me go!” you laugh.

“Colby quit hugging her. I need to film,” Brennen says, rolling his eyes. Colby lets go of you and scoffs before laughing. You guys are heading to a restaurant to film a video and are in the car, Brennen driving.

“Where are we even going?” you ask, looking out at the city passing by.

Colby replies, “This new Italian restaurant. A lot of fans say its good!” You nod your head and continue to look out the window. Brennen must’ve started filming because he started his intro, explaining what you guys are doing today.

“Okay, we’re here, Y/N and Colby!” Brennen calls out, parking the car. Colby helps you carefully out of the car. Brennen pulls his camera out and says, “Everyone, meet Y/N!” You wave shyly at the camera with a smile on your face. You aren't very comfortable on camera, despite hanging out with the whole trap house. “Colby has been hugging Y/N this whole drive here. He will not stop,” Brennen explains to the reader, poking fun at Colby.

“Yeah, so?” Colby laughs. Colby runs over to you and embraces you tightly in another bear hug. He’s hugging you in spite of Brennen, so you help him play into it a little. Colby’s around 6 inches taller than you, so he effortlessly picks you up off the ground in the hug. You kick your legs and laugh at the sudden loss of ground under your feet.

“See, you guys? This is what I have to deal with,” Brennen scoffs, rolling his eyes. Brennen starts to walk into the restaurant without you guys. You and Colby laugh before trailing behind Brennen.

While walking into the restaurant, like the clumsy person you are, you trip on a raised brick in the ground. The trip sends you flat onto your face. You lay on the floor for a second while Brennen bursts out laughing. However, Colby quickly springs you off the ground and pulls you into another hug.

“Y/N, are you okay?” Colby asks, genuine worry plastered onto his face.

“Yes! I’m fine!” you respond. You stand on your feet and brush all the dirt off your clothes. Colby pulls you into another tight hug.

“Seriously, Y/N, are you alright?” Colby asks frantically.

You clear your throat and laugh, “Seriously! I’m fine, Colby.” You smile cutely to convince him. Colby nods his head and gives you another quick hug. Brennen, laughing at the whole ordeal, gets you all a table.

You all sit at a table and begin to look at the menus. You rub the remaining dirt off of your clothes. The menu contains a lot of classic Italian dishes. They all sound SO good! Colby leans over behind your shoulder.

Colby starts, “One fan told me the chicken parmesan is so good! You should get that.” He points to the item on the menu and continues, “Or if you’re in a different mood, the fans also say the pizza is good!”

Colby is getting oddly excited over this food, slightly weirding you out. Like, what is he doing? You look at Brennen with a weird look pasted on your face. Colby continues rambling on about the food. “What’s wrong with him?” you ask, staring Brennen in the eyes. Brennen tries to hold in his laugh but fails and bursts out laughing.

Colby looks at Brennen and then at you. He has a confused look on his face. You immediately join Brennen in loud, high-pitched laughter. Colby stares, dumb-founded, at the two of you laughing your asses off.

“What?” Colby asks, looking innocently at the two of you.

“Oh, nothing!” you say in between giggles.

You eventually decided to get a chicken parmesan and shared it with Colby, who got pizza. Colby also continued to hug you throughout the entire day, earning many complaints from Brennen. The three of you had so much fun at the restaurant and made a great video.

[duhragonball]

Neon Genesis Evangelion 04

"We have to use fourteen-year-olds to pilot the Evas. And we have to make rainbow scans of their skinny little butts! The future of mankind depends on it!"

This episode, Shinji runs away from home. Or maybe he's going back to wherever he lived before he came to Tokyo-3, so he's running away to home? He's running away is the point here.

Misato isn't very surprised to discover this, but she's still frustrated. Then Shinji's classmates, Suzuhara and the other guy... I was gonna look him up but I looked up Suzuhara and just got spoiled so fuck that. We're calling him Big Rigg Mahoney now. Yeah, Suzuhara's taller, but I don't care. We're going with it.

Anyway, Suzuhara and Big Rigg Mahoney show up at Misato's apartment because they haven't seen Shinji at school for days. Suzuhara wants to apologize for punching Shinji in Episode 3. He only did it because he blamed Shinji for fighting the Angel so close to the city, which got his sister hospitalized, but his sister chewed him out for this, and he and Big Rigg Mahoney got a first-hand look at what it's like for Shinji when he's piloting that Eva. That's his motivation, Big Rigg Mahoney's mostly involved because he likes war movies and likes playing soldier, and he's fascinated by the Evas, NERV Agency, etc.

They did not expect a grown woman to be living in Shinji's apartment, so they hand her his assignments from school and leave, but now they think Shinji is even cooler, because he's a badass pilot and he's living with a hot babe.

Let me get this out of the way: I did find this episode much more enjoyable than the last one. I had a good feeling about it, since the next-episode preview promised that Shinji would run away, which was encouraging because at least Shinji would have to make a conscious decision and act upon it, like some sort of fictional character might do. But then it occurred to me that maybe Suzuhara and Big Rigg Mahoney might have kidnapped Shinji and told him to run away, in a misguided attempt to help him. And Shinji would be like "hai!" and go AWOL simply because someone told him to. That would suck, so when these two show up early in the episode and they have no idea where he went either, it was very reassuring.

Not that it's too much of a change for Shinji. He's off on his own, but he's still mopey and dead inside. He rides the subway all the way to the end of the line, listening to his playlist of "Track 25" and "Track 26" over and over again the whole way. Then he realizes he has to "go back". I'm not sure what that means, but I assume he's talking about going back to Tokyo-3, since he doesn't seem to have a destination in mind. And yet, he's in no hurry, stopping off at a movie theater that's running some sort of film festival of Second Impact documentaries.

He watches a couple making out in the theater. I don't know if he's envious or fascinated or disgusted, or he just doesn't know what else to do.

Meanwhile, Misato discusses Shinji's disappearance with Ritsuko. We flash back to the aftermath of the battle in Episode 3. Misato had ordered Shinji to retreat before his Eva ran out of power, but Shinji went gonzo and killed the Angel instead. She scolded him for ignoring her orders, but he acted cavalier about it, reminding her that they won, so it doesn't really matter. She warned him that his attitude will only get him killed, and he replied that his attitude doesn't matter, because he's the only one who can pilot the Eva. It's either Shinji or Rei (who's still injured), or nobody, so they might as well let Shinji fuck around and find out. If he gets himself killed they're no worse off than if he doesn't pilot the Eva at all.

In hindsight, Misato is kind of relieved he's gone, because at least this way he won't bring this fatalistic mentality onto the battlefield. The disconnect here is that she's some sort of career soldier, with loyalties and duties and causes to respect. Shinji got drafted last month, and he doesn't want to do this and he's only participating because he's the indispensible man. But Shinji hates himself, so if he gets killed through incompetence, it's no better or worse than winning every battle, or abandoning his post. It's all the same to him, he's got nothing to gain or lose here.

Meanwhile, Shinji happens upon Big Rigg Mahoney, who's playing soldier out in the middle of nowhere. He's got a uniform and a tent and everything. When he spots Shinji he invites him over for whatever he's cooking, and they hang out. See, this is nice. Shinji took matters into his own hands, and now he's hanging out with his friend, Big Rigg Mahoney.

Finally, a bunch of goons from NERV show up and take Shinji into custody. The next day, Suzuhara is upset to hear the Big Rigg Mahoney let them take Shinji without a fight, but come on, man. Big Rigg Mahoney didn't get this far in life without learning to know when to fight and when to take it easy.

Back at the base, Shinji expects Misato to scold him, but she doesn't. She just asks him if he enjoyed his time away, and he says he doesn't know. Classic Shinji. They continue their argument from before. He doesn't want to pilot the Eva because he sucks at it and it's scary and painful, but he doesn't think it's right to leave it all up to Rei and the others. Misato tells him that has nothing to do with it. If he's only forcing himself to go along with this, then he'll never be in the right mindset to do any good as an Eva pilot. Better if he just calls it quits now and forgets he ever got involved.

Meanwhile, Shinji's dad could not give a shit less whether Shinji leaves or not. He's already figuring out what to do when he's gone. If Shinji won't pilot Eva Unit 01, then they'll just reconfigure it for Rei. Apparently that's a thing they can do now. I thought each pilot had their own specific Eva Unit they were bonded to, but I guess not. According to this conversation, Rei was injured while piloting Unit 00, but it wasn't in combat. They were just running experiments on Unit 00 to get it working, and there must have been an accident.

So some of this is becoming clearer. We still don't know why only certain teenagers can pilot the Evas, but we do know that there are others besides Rei and Shinji. They just haven't located very many candidates, so it's not like Shinji is completely irreplaceable. And Rei is recovering, so there's that. And Shinji can resign whenever he wants. He only got arrested last night because he left without resigning. Today, he's decided to go through with it, and NERV doesn't seem sorry to see him go. Shinji asks if he can say farewell to Misato, but they're like "You quit, so you're not authorized to see her." At this point all NERV cares about is escorting him off their base.

Suzuhara and Big Rigg Mahoney do show up to see him off, though. Suzuhara finally apologizes to Shinji for punching him, and insists that Shinji punch him back to restore his honor. Shinji reluctantly agrees, and at first he kind of holds back, but then Suzuhara tells him to hit like he means it, and he does. See, this is nice.

Shinji apologizes for leaving Tokyo-3 in a lurch, but the boys are used to classmates moving out, and they know how hard it is for Shinji to pilot the Eva, so they don't blame him for quitting. Suzuhara promises to beat up anyone who doesn't respect Shinji's decision to leave.

Finally the NERV goons decide it's time for him to go to the train station, but he pulls away just long enough to tell Suzuhara and Big Rigg Mahoney that he has been cowardly and weak after all. It's like he's having second thoughts about the whole thing.

Back at the base, Misato mulls the whole thing over, and it finally hits her that this is how Shinji expresses his feelings. He runs away and waits for someone to care that he's gone. Realizing this, she rushes to the train station to see him, but she sees the train pull out just as she arrives. For a second she thinks she was too late, but then when the train is gone...

They see each other on either side of the tracks. Shinji couldn't go through with leaving, I suppose because Suzuhara and Big Rigg Mahoney were enough to make him question his decision. But now he looks up and sees Misato cared about him too, and that puts him over the hump.

Then Shinji declares that he's home, and Misato replies "Welcome home." And that's a beautiful moment. Everything kind of came together. Now I'm starting to see what the fuss is about here.

I stand by my criticism of Episode 3, though. I don't think they needed four episodes of this show to get to this moment. Two episodes, maybe. They could have ditched all those scenes of Shinji staring at Misato's beer cans in Episode 2, and trimmed a lot of fat from Episode 3. Suzuhara could have found out about Shinji being an Eva pilot some other way before the episode started, instead of that long scene in the classroom.

Still, we're here. Shinji has decided that he actually cares about Tokyo-3 and its people, and he wants to pilot the Eva to protect his home, not just because someone else told him to do it. We'll see how well that goes, but it's a big step forward.

Also, the next episode preview shows Rei looking healthy and doing things, so that seems like a big improvement too. Everything's coming up Milhouse!

[frostbeees]

like she wants to try me on

2023 wrappedmas day two • song: silk chiffon by MUNA, Phoebe Bridgers

ao3 · masterpost

Seamus always assumed she’d have to get over Gavin. Over her not-so-little crush on her best friend. She figured Gavin would eventually find some other girl or guy to bring home and she’d be left behind, still holding her feelings inside because no way in hell was she ever going to admit them to Gavin. She’d rather die, honestly. Gavin had never shown anything but friendly feelings towards her, even if they were both on the touchy, handsy, cuddle up together, hug longer than necessary, and occasionally swap drunken kisses type of friends. That's just how friends are, in her opinion, even if Gavin is the only friend she's like that with.

What Seamus didn’t assume is that one sweltering summer evening she’d be UNDER Gavin, hands buried in the soft, tight curls on top of Gavin’s head while Gavin’s mouth was–

But how they got to this point is a different story. 

~~~

They had been out basically just killing time in town all day, rollerblading up and down familiar palm-tree-lined streets and repeatedly having near accidents with tourists who couldn’t keep their eyes forward. The day was hot and humid, a typical mid-July Florida weekday and they had just ducked inside a corner store to avoid the daily rain shower, flipflops making obnoxious sounds against the shiny tile as they roamed the aisles with their skates under their arms.

Seamus was happy to just follow Gavin around for the day. It wasn’t like they had anything better to do. But Gavin turned on her halfway down the aisle of dog toys and treats, beach equipment, marked-down Fourth of July garb, and baby formula.

“Hey,” Gavin flashed her sharkiest smile and Seamus just knew she meant trouble with it. “How much do you trust me?”

And that’s the question, isn’t it? Seamus trusts Gavin with her whole heart, to hold it, to break it, to set it free. She trusts her enough to follow her from their youth field hockey league to a travel league to the high school team to Ann Arbor where they’ve both committed to play in the fall. She’s trusted Gavin since they were four years old and she knew what it meant. 

“With my life,” Seamus shoots back, matching Gavin’s energy. 

Gavin holds out her hand and Seamus takes it without a thought, letting Gavin tug her down the aisle and back out the door into the rain. They make quick work of switching back from their sandals to their blades and then they’re off, Gavin’s fingers intertwined with her own as she pulls Seamus with her. 

Seamus has an inkling of an idea of where Gavin is leading them. There was this baseball park that they used to frequent as kids that now sits unused and basically abandoned. It’s where a lot of their friends would go after dark to smoke and drink and just exist away from the eyes of watchful parents. It’s where Seamus first realized that maybe she liked Gavin as more than a friend, when, at fourteen, she watched Gavin kiss one of their girl friends during a game of spin the bottle and felt intense jealousy bubble up inside her.

Sure enough, Gavin turns down the street just past the diner that leads back to the park. They’re drenched at this point, despite the rain being light, and when they reach the dirt paths that connect the road to the ballparks and outbuildings they both abandon their blades and trudge barefoot through the soaked grass. Gavin leads them towards one of the dugouts so they’re mostly sheltered from the rain and they sit in silence for a few minutes as they catch their breath. 

Seamus can’t help but start thinking about how this is probably the last time they’ll get to do this. It won’t be long until they’re packing up Gavin’s beater car that she insists they drive all the way up to Michigan. And then after that, everything’s going to change. They’re going to share a dorm but they’re only in a few overlapping classes. And, yeah, they’ll have field hockey but Seamus just knows that Gavin’s going to go all in on getting involved in campus life and that’s just not Seamus’ scene unless she’s being dragged along by Gavin but who wants to be weighed down with their childhood best friend when they could be out making new friends and finding new people to make out with at crowded parties. And there won’t even be endless miles of sandy beaches to escape to when she’s feeling ungrounded. 

She’s dreading leaving this bubble they have here, despite how excited she is. 

“Tell me again, Gavo, how close is Ann Arbor to Detroit?” Seamus asks even though they’ve talked about this a million times. “How far are we gonna have to drive to get to water?”

Gavin grabs her hand, smushes her fingers together to keep it mitten-shaped, and presses her finger into the fleshy spot just left of her thumb.

“This is Ann Arbor,” Gavin slides her finger over to the edge of the base of Seamus’ thumb, “and this is Detroit.”

Seamus nods. 

“But there are lakes everywhere. Big ones. You won’t even miss the ocean one bit. The Hugheses already said we’re invited to their lakehouse any time so all you gotta do is say the word and we’ll go.”

It’s a conversation they’ve had a hundred times at this point, that started from the day Gavin first brought up the idea of leaving home to play field hockey. And it’s a ploy, to keep Gavin talking about home and their life together. 

Seamus expects Gavin to drop her hand after that but instead, she links their fingers together again, resting their hands on Seamus’ thigh. They sit like that, quiet, just listening to the raindrops hit the wood roof until Gavin breaks the silence. 

“Hey Shea,” she whispers.

Seamus grunts an acknowledgment. 

“Remember all the times we used to come here after school? The parties?”

“Of course, Gavo.”

“How come you never tried to get me in spin the bottle?”

Seamus ignores her own shock at the question to look at Gavin. Gavin’s not looking back at her. She’s looking down at the ground under her dangling feet and Seamus wants to scream because she never sees Gavin look so vulnerable, so shy, so– worried that Seamus is the one who’s about to do the heart breaking. 

“That’s not how the game works?” Seamus poses it as a question.

“Oh fuck off,” Gavin says gently, with a huff of a laugh. “You know that Riley and Sammi both knew how to get the bottle to land on whoever they wanted. It was easy.”

“I didn’t want you to tell me no,” she admits honestly. 

“That’s not how the game works,” Gavin parrots back the answer and grins up at Seamus, finally looking up from the ground beneath them. “Plus, I’d never tell you no.”

Seamus can’t think of anything to respond with but thankfully it doesn’t matter. Gavin’s closing the distance between them, pulling Seamus closer by her shoulder with her free hand. She waits a moment like she’s trying to give Seamus the chance to say no but Seamus nods her head and then Gavin is crashing their mouths together. It’s a rough kiss, more teeth than soft lips but Seamus doesn’t want it to end. 

Unfortunately, it does, as Gavin pulls back, a small string of spit connecting their lips and then breaking between them. 

“Wanted to get that out of the way before I cracked in our dorm room and pinned you against a closet.”

“Gavin!” Seamus whacks her on the chest, harder than she means to. 

“Want to do more, too.” And the shark smile is back as Gavin leans back towards Seamus’ body, pushing her down against the cracked wood of the bench, pinning her in place. “Wanna do everything with you.”

[sukirainbow]

[+18 Fic] Messing around

Fandom: NARUTO Rating: Explicit - 18+ Content Pairing: Nagato x Yahiko x Konan Characters: Nagato, Konan, Yahiko, Jiraiya, First Akatsuki characters Content: Alternate Universe, Canon Divergence, Not Canon Compliant, Explicit Sexual Content, Trans Konan, polyamory, Fluff and Smut, Jiraiya not cringe AU, wholesome childhood flashback then it comes back to them as horny grown ups, blowjob, Shower Sex, Nipple Play, Teasing, Threesome, Grinding, Anal Sex Word count: 8787 - 4 chapters, complete work Summary: As they went out of their way to buy Konan a gift, Nagato and Yahiko get grounded and are forced to stay home together as Jiraiya and Konan go into town. The two boys explore a new side of their relationship, but are interrupted by their master and their friend. Later in life they remember this moment and decide to explore once more what they crave so much: each other’s romantic love.

I wanted to write an AU where Nagato and Yahiko kissed as teens to try it and then have to navigate their feelings into adulthood, especially Nagato who wants his two bff to be together but also isn't indifferent to how hot they are. It's "oh shit wait let's just be a triad" again im sorry 🙈

Chapter one under the cut (SFW), read the rest on AO3

Seeing how happy Konan looked with her skirt on, Jiraiya thought that maybe he got it wrong. 

When he accepted to take care of these three, he thought he was looking after three boys. But Konan corrected him, and the other two insisted vehemently: Konan is a girl. He corrected his language soon, but was hesitant in which direction to guide her so she would not encounter suffering when she'd grown up. He had told her she'd wear the same outfit as her peers, so that way they were a team, but she got upset by that. 

Without his knowledge, spending the little cash that he had been willing to give them, Yahiko and Nagato snuck out and bought her a skirt following her birthday. The fourteen year old was ecstatic, she tried it on immediately and insisted on going on training like that, which Jiraiya allowed, hesitantly. During the training, her two friends kept commenting on how nice it was, and she voiced how easy it was for her to move in it and reassured Jiraiya that she could fight in it with no issues. Jiraiya was impressed by the solidarity between these three. He thought that with these two to help her, she'd definitely do fine in life. He remembered how the two boys had severely scolded him when he called her a boy at their first meeting.

Back at the hideout for lunch, Jiraiya joyfully put the food he prepared on the table.

“Good job on your training you three! I'm very proud to have you as my pupils. Konan, I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh?”

“This afternoon, I'm taking you to town to get some new clothes for you! Anything you want you'll get it.”

Konan was very surprised and couldn't hide her joy.

“Teacher that's...! For real??”

“Yeah!”

“What about us, teacher? Do we tag along?”

“No. You two are going to stay there nicely and do chores. Because you're grounded.”

“What?? what for ??”

“Sneaking out during the evening. Even if it was for a good cause, you still disappeared and made me almost have a heart attack. Even Konan was worried for you twos.”

Yahiko and Nagato looked down, sorry to have worried their teacher and Konan.

“... Sorry... We didn't think about that…”

“We just couldn't stand how sad Konan was, we had to do something.”

“I understand and I think standing like that for her was an outstanding and kind move, but STILL. You two will stay there today.”

“Okay teacher.”

“Tidy up the house then read a book, build up your teamwork and friendship or play a game, I don't know, but don't move from here.”

“Gotcha.”

As planned, Konan and Jiraiya left right after lunch and the two guys were left alone. They swept the floors, cleaned the bathroom, cleaned the windows and finished by doing the dishes.

As not much was left to do, Yahiko, tired, went to sit down on the futons while his friend was finishing the dishes. He sighed looking out the window.

“I hope she's okay. And that Jiraiya keeps his promise to get her anything she wants.”

“Mmh. Same.”

“So do you want to do anything? Once you're done I mean.”

“I'm almost done! And no, I don't have anything in mind. What about you?”

“Hmmm, maybe I'll do like you usually do and read.”

Nagato smiled at him and got back to washing. Yahiko sighed, feeling a bit awkward to be left alone with Nagato. 

He remembered when Nagato first joined their group, he used to not really like him, feeling like Konan had brought a stranger into their home. But now he considered the redhead his best friend, just like Konan. He had saved his life once, killing a thief that wanted to harm them, and was very protective of both him and Konan. Yahiko always felt a bit flattered whenever he was being his extremely protective self. 

Ever since that man's death and Jiraiya discovering Nagato's powers, he had been wearing his hair split so that one of his eye was visible, in contrast to before where both his eyes were covered by bangs. 

One day as they were playing, Nagato's bangs let Yahiko catch a glimpse of his eyes. Right after Yahiko reached for his bangs to catch a better look, looking in awe at his two big beautiful purple eyes. Nagato had very quickly pushed his hand away, telling him that his parents had always told him to never let anyone see his eyes. The three kids understood when Jiraiya panicked that it was because these eyes held great power and people could have harmed him if he let them be seen by everyone as a child.

Even if Nagato's powers were scary, Yahiko never felt scared by him. He liked that he was leaving one of his eye visible now. He liked looking at it. He really really liked his friend's appearance, thinking he almost looked as pretty as a girl.

Yahiko looked longingly at him while he finished his chore, realizing how far he had gone in his thoughts. Nagato dried his hands and came to sit next to Yahiko and smiled again.

“For once I can sit right next to you since Konan's not there. Usually she hoards the place next to you.”

Yahiko was still staring at him, frowning a bit.

“... What's wrong Yahiko?”

“I don't know, it feels awkward to be here alone. With you.”

Nagato was a little taken aback and made a sad expression.

“Oh... You don't like spending time with me?... Is that why you'd rather read?”

Yahiko regretted his choice of words and felt terrible that Nagato deduced that from what he said.

“No!! Nagato, I like spending time with you! I don't know, I just feel awkward today.”

He put a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. 

“You're my best friend Nagato.”

Nagato smiled back, reassured.

“Wouldn't that be Konan?”

“It's both of you. I really like you, I do!”

“Ah, I'm so relieved then. I really like you too, Yahiko.”

Yahiko thought, since no one was at home, he'd try telling Nagato how much he actually liked him.

“... I was just thinking about how much I like how you look now. Your hair really grew nicely. And I think out of the three of us, you're the one on which the green kimonos fit best.”

Nagato smiled, a little surprised, and blushed.

“You really think so? You look nice in it too, and so does Konan.”

Yahiko smiled, feeling warm in his chest. He didn't really understand why he felt that weird toward Nagato. Somehow, he ended up realizing that it was the same feelings as when he was alone with Konan. He was wondering why he'd be feeling that way considering Nagato was a guy like him. His young self did not realize yet that one could have romantic feelings for the same gender. He felt compelled to press on these feelings and see what would happen.

“Nagato… Can I touch your hair?... They always look so soft, like Konan’s.”

“Oh, s-sure…”

Yahiko gently passed his hand in Nagato’s hair, temporarily clearing his face from his bangs. The two teens felt their heartbeat spike up as Nagato’s two eyes gazed into Yahiko’s. Yahiko then softly caressed Nagato’s cheek, trembling a little. He was acting on an impulse, not really knowing what he was doing, or how Nagato would react. His red haired friend just kept looking at his eyes, he did not protest. Which was weird considering how usually awkward with physical contact he was. His cheeks were a little red. 

He felt more warmth in his heart for his friend than ever, he gathered his courage and broke the silence.

“N-Nagato… Have you ever kissed anyone?”

“No… But you knew that, we’ve grown together all this time and never met anyone else our age…”

“Would you like to try to do it… To see how it feels?”

Nagato’s eyes widened and his cheeks got redder. He felt all warm at his friend's tender caress on his cheek too. Considering no one was home but them, no one would know about it, he gathered up his courage as well and approached his face from Yahiko’s.

“Yeah… I don’t mind trying that with you.”

Yahiko approached his mouth from Nagato and the two teens kissed gently, closing their eyes. After the kiss lasted for a few minutes, they interrupted it and looked back into each other’s eyes, only hearing each other’s breathing. Then they kissed again, and again... They eventually fell lying down on the futons, and continued kissing each other repeatedly.

They hadn't planned to make it last this long, so when the door opened both of them jumped and looked horrified at Jiraiya.

Their teacher gasped and they hid under the cover. Jiraiya gently asked Konan to go into the bathroom to try on her outfits and approached the two boys.

“God this is going to be awkward... Hey you two, it's okay. I'm not mad.”

“... You're not?”

“No, of course not. I guess the hormones started their work... Get out of there and fix your hair, Konan wants to show you her stuff."

“... We're sorry…”

“Nagato, Yahiko, you don't have to be. You two are experiencing something natural. Nothing to be sorry about, don't feel any shame or guilt. There’s nothing wrong with kissing one another.”

“Even if it’s another guy?”

“Of course, it’s all good. Don’t feel bad about it. Plenty of men love other men. You can even like women too.”

Yahiko and Nagato fixed each other's hair, then sat down waiting for Konan to show them what she bought. She came out of the bathroom wearing a white dress paired with a butterfly hair clip. The two guys hyped up her little show, cheering for all her new outfits and being so glad to see her so happy.

After she was done, Jiraiya started preparing dinner. As they were sitting at the table, Nagato, fidgeting with his hands, whispered to Yahiko:

“Yahiko... Thank you for today, it was nice.”

His friend didn't answer but his cheeks turned very red and he looked away awkwardly.

Konan arrived at the table after changing into her pajamas and sat next to them, smiling at them, and took Yahiko’s hand.

“You two, you know I'll love you no matter what?”

“Konan…”

“Give me your hand too, Nagato.”

Nagato hesitated for a bit but gave in upon Konan's insistence, very awkwardly. She grinned and squeezed their hand.

“You're my best friends, and my only family, I love you both and nothing will make me hate you. Okay?”

“Konan... Thank you. You're so kind.”

“It's normal. If you two become lovers, it's my job as your best friend to support you.”

Yahiko and Nagato's face turned red and they both vehemently shook their heads trying to formulate something intelligible.

“It-it's not what you think!! We're not -”

“We're not in love!!!”

“Y-yeah we're friends just like with you.”

“But you two... When we came home with teacher Jiraiya, you two were gently kissing on the floor. I saw you. Yahiko was on top of you Nagato. You were very cute.”

Their embarrassment increased as they had no idea their friend saw it all, since she didn't say anything until then.

“Y-y-you... You saw us???”

“Ohmygod she saw it all…”

“It's okay!!! I didn't want to embarrass you two, you don't have to feel any shame!”

“.....”

“It- it was just a one time thing... Nagato and I...We just wanted to try kissing... But it will never happen again.”

“Yeah. It was just today.”

“Oh... Well. Still, if one day you two change your mind and decide to be together I won't mind.”

The two guys smiled at her and she squeezed their hand again.

“We love you too Konan, you're the best."

“Yeah. I'm glad it was you who saw us and not some stranger.”

“Yeah. At least, even if we're a little embarrassed, we know we're safe with you and Jiraiya.”

“Still, it's too bad. You two were really cute. You had such serene expressions before Jiraiya entered and ruined your fun. Nagato, Yahiko, you're so cute when you blush.”

The two guys flinched and hid their red face, their heart racing from being called cute by objectively the cutest of their group. The three of them chuckled and hugged as Jiraiya put the hot dish on the table. These three’s friendship really was made to last.

[adh-james-version]

Years (ALICE x LILY)

Okay to preface this I see them with like a Riley/Val Dynamic

Its in the 70s (roughly) 

- - -

"Mary shes so pretty, I want to talk to her so bad." Lily said looking over at Alice who was sitting with her friends not to far in the courtyard.

"Then talk to her."

"But don't forget she's a fifth year, and we're third years."

"Age doesn't matter when I want to be her friend." Lily said as she turned back to her friends before craning her neck backwards to look towards Alice again.

Mary and Marlene exchanged a look before Marlene smirked.

"Ay, Fortescue!"

Lily turned beet red and turned her head away so fast her hair couldn't keep up.

"Yeah?" Alice replied turning her head slightly.

"Say something Lils" Mary whispered as she and Marlene held in laughter.

Alice turned away recognizing the game the girls were playing. As both girls friends laughed at them Lily made note to kill her friends and Alice made note to talk to the girl just to be nice.

One Year Later

"Hey Little Red"

"Hi Alice!"

"You trying out for Quidditch this year?"

"Oh GOD no, I'm gonna be a Mathlete though."

"Oh that's cute" Alice laughed, "You know if you ever DID want to play quidditch, I know the captain."

"We get it you're dating Frank." Lily said rolling her eyes

Alice's face screwed up, "DATING!?", she fake gagged, "No. Way. Frank is my best friend, actually no he's my brother at that."

"Really? Everyone keeps telling me that you guys are dating."

"No, trust me, we are not  dating."

"Okay, well I'm headed to the library if you want to come with?"

"Sure."

The two headed to the library and as they sat down Alice couldn't help herself from borderline staring at the redhead in front of her. 

Wait, what? No. Shes fourteen, I'm sixteen, that's not okay. It's just a little sister feeling nothing serious, yeah lets leave it like that. That makes senses

 One Year Later

Lily woke up to a knocking sound on her door. Lily groggily stood up and unlocked the front door, grabbing the flowers off of the floor and placing them on the dorm living room table she glanced at the note, "To Lily Evans" Dorcas probably sent Marls some- wait what."

"Huh?"

Lily opened the letter attached to the flowers.

---

Dear Lily,

You don't know who sent you these or maybe you do  because you're clever, it's one of the many reasons I love you, although you don't know that. I love you're smile and how it brightens up my day and any room you walk into. I love your hair and how pretty and silky smooth it is, especially when you tie it up in a bun and use a pencil to hold it up. I love your bubbly but nonsense attitude and I love the way that you  are the only one who scares James and Sirius (and me if I'm honest). I love the ways that you are compassionate and I love how you are always there to listen and help anyone who needs it, even if what they need is the stone cold truth.

This is all just to say that I love you, Lily Evans, and we can't be together even if you love me back because I am too old for you right now. And I just wanted to get it off my chest even if you won't know who I am. I sincerely hope we find each other later in life. 

With Love

---

Lily was in shock and had tears in her eyes, who could this be? She scanned through the letter again looking for clues to who it was, but she came up with nothing. She grabbed the flowers smelling them. It was a mix of Lilies and a flower that Lily recognized quickly, Pink climbing flowers otherwise know as...

Oh.

Alice Roses.

Lilies tears were let loose now, there was nothing she could do, the semester ended two weeks ago and Alice had already left. Lily had no way of knowing where she was, only knowing that she was somewhere in Britain. Lily potted the flowers in her room as the tears kept flowing. Alice admitted her love and now she'd never see her again.

She knew she probably wouldn't see Alice again when term ended but this was too much to bear. She could've at least told her how she felt and now she'd lost her last chance. The tears stained her face as she locked her room door. Her pillow was soaked as she laid back down, one thing repeating over and over in her head.

She'd lost her chance.

Six Years Later

Interning at a News Station was educating for sure but it was definitely tiring.  But luckily the Station (for some reason) gave her a day off and she was taking advantage. As she walked to her favorite Coffee shop she basked in the lack of stress the day has brought. She walked in and walked up to the counter and placed her order. She turned around and walked in to a frame slightly taller than her but not by much. "Oh I'm...sorry....." 

"Little Red...? Well I guess you're not so little now."

[tiredspacedragon]

I had a quick look in the notes before voting, and I'm kinda surprised by what I saw. Because a lot of people seem to be forgetting a key factor in this matchup: These are all the same person. Which means, as the Doctor gets older, each one of these incarnations remembers being the others, so the younger ones are at a massive disadvantage.

Especially Eccleston. Like don't get me wrong, this is tumblr, we all love Nine here. And yeah, hes angry and bitter and one of the most physically fit out of this bunch. But he is also freshly traumatized, and trying really hard to be Less Violent, Actually. And, this is kinda hugely important, all of the others know all of his tricks. Nine was only 900 years old, he's a baby compared to most of the rest. If it came to a straight grapple, then he has good odds, but he is losing the mental game.

Now Ten is capable of great and twisted violence, and is also spunky and a little unpredictable. However, he also goes down in one punch. Like canonically, it happens more than once. He can take falling from a spaceship, through a glass window, and onto a hard marble floor, but the man has a glass jaw and basically everyone here has a mean punch. So he's out.

Eleven is being criminally underestimated in the notes. Like I get that it's currently trendy to hate on him, but come on. Reducing him to a baby-faced twink is a huge mistake. Eleven was a vicious, cold-blooded, survivor of a bastard, who lived longer than everyone else here put together. He used that baby face as a weapon, underestimating him plays straight into his hands, and Nine and Ten absolutely would underestimate him. He might be hampered by the others though, because again, they'd remember being him and would consider him a high-priority target.

Twelve is an angry chihuahua of a man, and he has a solid hook on him, but he is also physically the oldest here and definitely has a far worse bark than bite. I don't see him winning, but I do see him being a persistent nuisance to all the others, chasing after them, snarling and biting at their heels and just not staying down. He did shoot a guy in the face that one time, but I don't think a fight with his other selves could push him to that level of desperation. In the end, he's sass, not brass.

I don't know much about Thirteen yet, but from what I do know, she's a little deranged and would absolutely fight dirty. I believe she's physically the smallest here, so that could hurt her, but eh... Like I said, fighting dirty. Can solve a lot of problems, that.

Fourteen has no chance. Like actually none, I am sorry. He might not go down as easily as Ten, might stay standing for a while, actually. But he is not going to fight. Absolute heap of a man. Actually, paradoxically, he might not lose, either? Like the others would just look at him and go "Y'know what, I'll leave him alone, he very clearly does not want to be here." Fifteen would probably get him a blanket, sit him down on the sidelines, and periodically go check to see he was alright. So maybe I'm wrong, maybe he actually would win if all the others took each other down.

But I think my bet goes to Fifteen. Yeah he's brand new, so we know basically nothing about him. But he is also the oldest by far, is the only one here with the ability to accurately judge all the others' capabilities, and has one key advantage none of the others do: Mental Health. Fifteen's defining trait so far seems to be that he is Doing Okay, Actually. Fifteen has had therapy. He has had rest and recovery time. He is refreshed. That might take some of the edge off him, but like. It certainly wouldn't make him stupider. And does that edge ever really go away? And would it really matter that much in a straight up brawl? Like plus, have you seen Ncuti Gatwa? This is not your classic skinny Doctor, the man is sculpted. So yeah, we'll see how he turns out, but right now my money's on the new guy.

okay if you were to pit every modern-era Doctor against each other in a fight. no holds barred. they can fight as dirty as they like. physically or mentally. just full on duking it out. who do you think would win. this is not a "who is your favorite" poll it's a "who would beat the shit out of the others most effectively" poll

[ahungeringknife]

365: March 23

This is like… an anti shipping fic that also makes me laugh so fucking hard thinking about

---

Cat looked over from where they were playing a game of war with Bear and Lizard when the clubhouse door opened and Wolf positively slumped in. She leaned against the door looking absolutely defeated which Cat hadn't seen on her in a long time.

"What's up baby girl?" Cat called. The game was forgotten because if their clan leader was depressed it had to be something.

"I can't like the guy I like," Wolf groaned.

"You like guys again?" Lizard asked sarcastically. Wolf just whined wordlessly.

"What happened?"

"Come away from the door and tell us what happened," Bear said. Cat were surprised when Wolf slouched off the door and climbed into Bear's lap. "Oh. Must be serious," Bear said, adjusting himself so Wolf could lean against him.

"It's so stupid," Wolf complained.

"Why can't you like this boy?" Cat asked.

"Also what boy? I haven't heard you talking about any guys?" Lizard said.

"Is Wolf talking about boys?" Fox called from where she was across the room reading.

"Maybe," Cat called back.

"What's the matter with this boy, Wolfy?" Bear asked her, rubbing her back.

"He's actually a boy," Wolf bemoaned.

"What?"

"Also who is it?" Lizard pressed.

Wolf grimaced. "You're all going to be so mad about it," she sighed.

"Why would we be mad?" Cat asked.

"Because it's Shin Malphur," Ghost said when Wolf couldn't bring herself to say it.

Cat got a wild mad grin on their face. "Wow! You are so right. I am mad," they said.

"Ew," Lizard said.

"Wolfy there are way better guys out there," Bear said.

"I knowww. I know!" Wolf cried. "But I am not going to date him. I can't."

"I don't follow?" Bear asked. Cat had an idea but they weren't about to ruin Wolf's confession.

"So I saw his face for the first time today," Wolf said.

"He ugly?" Lizard asked. "Bet he's ugly."

"Worse," Wolf moaned.

"Don't tell me that string bean is hot. I refuse to believe anyone born in the Dark Ages was hot," Bear said.

"He might be eventually," Ghost said.

"He's like fourteen," she groaned.

"What?" Lizard asked and from the couch Fox also yelled that. She'd been listening.

"He took off his helmet and he's a fucking teenager under there. I knew some Guardians were young but??" She slumped against Bear. "I can't like a fourteen year old looking guy that's fucking weird," she complained.

The table was quiet for a moment. "Wait Shin's actually a kid under his helmet?" Cat asked. They knew he was juvenile and a bratty shit they'd kicked the shit out once or twice when he'd erroneously crossed into their turf with his shitty friends but actually a child???

"Yeah," Ghost said gravely. "He uses some voice changing module on his helmet to sound older. Probably knows no one would take him seriously otherwise."

"I thought he was just weird but nope. Doesn't know how to talk to women or what to do with one because he's a little teenager," Wolf sighed dramatically and slid halfway off Bear's lap until he caught her.

"I'd say that's rough but at least you'll be forced to get better taste in men," Cat said.

"But I liked him," Wolf whined. "I still kinda do but that's not going to happen now uggggh."

"There are other men out there, Wolf," Lizard said.

"I know. I'm just mad the one I was flirting with is a fucking child," and she made an appropriate gagging noise to show her dislike.

"I'm surprised he never grew himself up," Cat said thoughtfully. Wolf looked at them. "What? You think I started out all gray? Also I know Ghost changed how you looked." When Cat had met Wolf she'd had move curves and a bigger chest but other the years Ghost had smoothed those out because Wolf didn't like being viewed as a sexual object by people she didn't know.

"It is Malphur. From everything I know about the... heh, kid, he's a self important idiot," Bear said. "Also he's not Risen. He might be stupid enough to not think like that."

"Even still. He's fourteen," Lizard said.

"I could never, knowing he's fourteen. He should have just kept his stupid helmet on," Wolf complained.

"Feel better having cried about it?" Cat asked.

"Yeah," she whined and Bear hugged her.

"You'll find a real man for yourself, baby girl, don't worry about it," Cat assured her. "You want to play war with us?"

"No," she whined but just stayed on Bear's lap. "I just want hugs and will watch."

Bear chuckled. "Lucky for you I am excellent at that," Bear said and hugged her some more. Cat was glad Wolf was just a bit pouty and went back to the game with Bear and Lizard.

--

I think it's semi confirmed Shin is actually like... a child Guardian. Idk if Bungie walked that back but GOD it's so funny to think about because that explains SO MUCH about his behavior. Dude's perpetually stuck at the start of puberty. I'd be a little shit who starts cults too if I was 14 for 300+ years XD

[sunnyie-eve]

Devastated || 3. Fumble

Paring: (Christopher "Sully" Sullivan x Original Female Character Mance!)

Word Count: 1993

Warnings: slight language

Last: Untimely | Next: Perceive

"During the party last night, you weren't so hard on Sully." Abby smiles as she and Jennifer relax in the pool.

"He apologized for how he was yesterday. And he's never apologized before, so he's slightly learning." Jennifer lays back.

"Are you going to give him a chance, maybe?" Abby laughs.

"Depends. I've always had a thing for him, but I didn't want to risk it." Jennifer explains with a sigh.

"And if he shows a change, you're willing to take the risk?" Abby asks, so Jenny just shrugs her shoulders as they both relax.

"Abby! Jenny!" Beth yells, making them look over at her, saying hi.

"Come on in." Abby tells her.

"If you say so." Beth shouts.

"Incoming!" All the guys yell, coming out, jumping into the pool, and messing with the two girls.

"How old are you idiots." Jenny coughs on water.

"Up and breathe." Sully holds her up, patting her back.

"It's your fault you made a tsunami wave into my mouth playing around." She keeps coughing.

"Do you need to get out for a minute?" He keeps patting her back, "Need mouth to mouth?"

"I'm okay now." She can finally breathe, laughing at him.

"Just trying to save your life." He laughs with her.

A little time passed, and they were all drinking in the pool while Beth sat on the edge till she and Sully played around.

"Looks like Cal is still recovering." Abby says so they all look at him with Chloe.

"Yeah, I'm surprised to see them out at all this morning. They were at each other all night." Danny says.

"Whoa, he-he was pissed at her?" Sully asks.

"No, Urkel. Going at it. Like howler monkeys. I'm amazed anybody in the hotel got any sleep." Danny corrects him.

"I heard them, too. What's a boozzle-wozzle?" Booth asks.

"I don't get it."

"He's a nice guy, Sully. Sometimes, that's enough." Abby tells him.

"Exactly, you wouldn't know that." Jennifer eyes him getting out of the pool.

"Well, you pissed her off." Danny laughs while Sully swims over to Chloe and Cal.

"Hey, man... Hey, sorry again about leaving you hanging. That was totally my bad. I owe you a beer, okay." He tells Cal and eyes Chloe as Jennifer passes them.

"Glad to see you doing well Cal." She lets him know as she passes them.

"Jen," Sully sighs as she keeps walking away. "Fuck," He groans. "Abby..."

"Nope, I'm not helping you with her." She says as her dad shows up.

As Jennifer walks to her room with her towel wrapped around her, she bumps into Henry, "Sorry. You okay? You look angry." She asks him.

"I'm fine. Just stressed with some wedding stuff. That's all." He forces a smile.

"Do you need any help? I have no plans for the day. Don't really want to spa because of your best man."

"What did he do now?" He sighs.

"Nothing different, that's the thing." Her voice slightly cracks, "I'm just going to be in my room so if you need anything, that's where I'll be." She walks off so Henry follows her.

"Jenny, do you actually have a thing for him?" He closes her door behind him as she looks for clothes to change into.

"Would you hate me if I did because sadly I kind of do." She throws her towel into the bathroom then goes in there herself shutting the door.

"How long, Jen?" Henry sits on her bed.

"Kind of since you introduced us fourteen years ago, but I was smart not to do anything. Why did I think he could change for me?" She opens the door dressed, "There's nothing special about me. To him, I'm just another attractive girl he wants to hook up with." She falls back to lie down on her bed.

"Hey, you are special. He's just not that bright to see what every other person on this planet sees in you." Henry lays back beside her with his head turned towards her.

"Where are all the sweet guys like you, Cal, and my brother at? I just want someone who looks at me the way you look at Trish, Cal to Chloe, and Jimmy to Abby. I want to be someone's number one and only one." She looks at him before grabbing her pillow to put over her face.

"Hey, hey, hey. No, don't do that." Henry sits up, removing the pillow from her. "Look at me." He pulls her to sit up, "There is someone out there for you. Just give it a little more time. Any guy would be lucky to have you. Sully is just one guy in the entire world full of other guys."

"Are you really just giving me the there are plenty of other fish in the sea speech without actually saying that?"

"Hey, I'm trying to be a good friend here." He playfully pushes her.

"And you are, trust me. You're someone I can always count on. Now give me a hug please." She opens her arms, "I really need one, and you look like you do, too, with how stressed you are."

"Hugs fix anything and everything we used to say." He hugs her.

"And they still do."

"You just relax in here stress-free from Sully while I have wedding stuff to do." Henry gets up.

"Don't overwork yourself!" She shouts as he shuts the door.

Jennifer's plans for the day were to nap all day, so when later Sully was knocking at her door, she stayed in bed pretending not to be there.

"Hey, Chloe." Sully walked over to her while she was outside on her yoga mat. "I have a favor to ask." He bends down to her.

"That's funny coming from you."

"It's about Jennifer." He sighs.

"You mean she doesn't fall for your charm either?" She laughs, getting up.

"I've been trying for eleven years."

"Eleven years? You never give up, do you." She laughs more.

"I mean, normally I do after some time, but this is Jennifer. I really like her." Sully explains to her.

"If you really liked her... You wouldn't eye me, Sully."

"Just help me, please. Henry and Abby won't, and none of the guys want to either." He begs her.

"I'll give you some tips when you join me for a spa treatment..." She smiles, having two ideas.

"Thank you so much." He runs off.

For the spa, Chloe had Sully basically covered in a honey mask to clear his pores, "It makes your skin very touchable. Jennifer can't resist you." Chloe smiles.

"Well, I like touchable. So you think she'll tell the difference in my skin?"

"She'll completely tell, trust me. After this, you should go find her and ask her. Once she can tell, she won't take her hands off you." She smiles.

"I'll be back in about ten minutes." The lady puts cucumbers over his eyes.

"So I gotta ask, this English guy- you know, he seems decent enough. Apparently, Jenny says she can see what you see in him. So what does he got that I don't?" Sully asks.

"A pillow." Cal speaks up, dumping the feathers on him. "Well played my love." Cal kisses Chloe before running off with Sully chasing him.

"Come here, you English piece of crap!"

"Looks like Pooh Bear got in the honey pot." Danny jokes as they run past, causing the guys to laugh.

While Jennifer was waking up from a nap, she heard tapping on her window just to see Sully still covered in the honey mask and feathers.

"What the?" She laughs, walking over and opening her window, "What happened, Honey." She laughs.

"Chloe and Cal. Umm, can you help me?" He asks, embarrassed.

"I'll be out in a sec." She closes the window and heads outside. "There's a hose this way." She motions him to follow her.

"You're gonna hose me down?"

"What other way are you getting those feathers off? The shower, no. Hold that sheet tightly because I don't wanna see anything." She tells him so he rolls his eyes as she turns in the hose.

"OUCH! HEY!" He shouts as she squeezes the trigger making it come out hard.

"Start rubbing yourself like you're washing your body."

"You told me to hold the sheet!" He yells at her.

"You have two hands, Sully." She goes over to spray him and help him get off the feathers. They don't even know how long they were outside getting the feathers off, "Okay, now you can go take a shower. You're welcome." She puts the hose up.

"Thank you." He kisses her cheek, running away to get to his room while Jenny just giggles, watching him.

On the way to dinner, Jennifer sees Sully walking by himself, and she can hear him cursing to himself, "Hey, Pooh Bear. How was your shower?" She jogs to catch up to him.

"Hard to tell if I got it all off because of how your skin looks and feels." He huffs.

"You do look shiny. Let me feel how soft you are." She grabs his arm to stop him from walking. "Wow, that's nice. You smell really good, too, from it. Maybe you should do that more often. You'll give me a reason to be around you." She jokes.

"So something good came out of my miserable experience."

"Yeah, if you take me hosing you down while you wear just a sheet around your waist and complementing how good you smell and soft you are from it." She laughs.

"So Chloe was kind of right?" He thinks out loud.

"Did you ask Chloe for help since no one else will help you out with me?" Jennifer crosses her arms, laughing.

"Maybe I did, and she said it would make my skin very touchable, and you couldn't resist me." He says, embarrassed.

"Well, she wasn't wrong because I stopped you to feel how your skin felt." Jennifer laughs, "Come on, I know you're still butt hurt about Cal with the pillow, so let's go get you a drink. But you did deserve it for forgetting him."

"Hush,"

"It's Pooh Bear." Danny jokes.

"Very funny, like I didn't hear Jen already call me that." Sully takes his spot at the bar to drink.

"Dude, you are so shiny." Malcolm smiles.

"Yeah, and I smell really great, too." Sully adds.

"Sorry about today, mate. Totally my bad. I owe you a beer, okay?" Cal comes up and then walks away.

"That's harsh." Danny smiles.

"Truly,"

"Our best player just got played." Malcolm says before they all fake sneeze feathers at him.

"Okay... I am going to kill Cal." Sully tells Henry as he walks by.

"No, no, you're not. You left him hanging like a piñata. He got you back. You're even." Henry pats his arm.

"The groom is 100% correct. Yes, your buddies are laughing at you but think of what good happened because of it. I technically stop being mad at you ." Jennifer pats his shoulder.

"Wanna smell me better?" Sully smirks, wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her closer to him, so she puts her hand on his chest, laughing at him.

"I can smell you from right here, Pooh Bear."

"See, I don't have a problem with you calling me that, but Danny is a different story." Sully kept his arm around her, and she didn't care.

"Is that my new nickname for you?"

"Whatever you want. If I'm Pooh, you're Piglet because you're small size." He causes her to giggle.

"Okay, I'm a coward, have anxiety, and insecure, so I'm a perfect Piglet."

"What are you insecure about? You have nothing to be insecure about, Jen." He leans back to look at her.

"I appreciate that, but everyone has something they're insecure about. You might not know about it no matter how close you are to them." She explains to him, so Sully nods his head, leaving it at that.

[briamichellewrites]

44

Things were changing. Both Brad and Matt had girlfriends. Matt reconnected with an old girlfriend, Luciana Bozán Barroso while Brad was dating Angelina Jolie. Brian knew that she was the reason why he and Mike broke up but he tried to be friendly to her. Mike assured him he was okay with her in his life. He didn’t hold a grudge against her. Brian was unsure what he thought about her. Whenever he visited his father, she was always there. He always got the feeling that he was in the way.

“I got up around ten and I already took a nap after breakfast.”

“Your body needs it. Take today off and don’t worry about not getting exercise”, Brad told him.

He had driven over and was out of breath, so he sat down on a chair in the kitchen to catch his breath. His lungs felt like he had just climbed a mountain. How was his heart? It was beating fast. After five minutes, he started breathing more easily as his lungs filled with air and his heart rate dropped back to normal. Brad mentioned he should take tomorrow off, too if he was still tired.

He gave him a glass of water. Thanks. He started sipping on it. With Mike and Dave going back on the road, he didn’t want to leave him behind when he went to film his new movie, Oceans Thirteen because of his health problems. What if he had a heart attack or a stroke and there was nobody there to help him? That was his biggest concern. At least on set, someone would be able to help him if the worst happened. He joked about it being just like when he was a child.

He would have to find a picnic table to play at before taking a nap in the afternoon. Brad laughed. Maybe he could get on the ground and watch the insects. That would be cool. He had to get the okay from his cardiologist to travel. They didn’t think it would be a problem, since he wouldn’t be alone. Still, they wanted to make sure since they didn’t want him to have a heart attack while in the air.

Maybe he would need oxygen or something. They weren’t experts. That’s why they had the cardiologist, who spent many years in school and practicing medicine. Despite his condition, he still managed to have a sense of humor about it. He got up slowly to use the bathroom. Did he need help? No, he got it. Some days were harder than others. This was one of those days. When he got back, he sat back down as Angelina walked in. They both said hello to her.

“How many times can you steal thousands of dollars without going to prison?”

Brad laughed. “We’re experts on avoiding prison sentences and it’s millions of dollars.”

“Oceans Fourteen, everyone goes to prison.”

He laughed again. After a while, he left to take another nap before eating dinner. When he got home, he got a text from Mike asking how he was doing. He replied that he had woken up tired and had taken a nap after eating breakfast. Then, he drove over to visit his dad for a while and he just got back. He was still very tired, so he was going to take another nap before dinner.

Take it easy for a couple of days. How’s your heart doing? – Mike

I was out of breath when I got to my dad’s and my heart was racing. Right now, it’s doing okay and I can breathe normally. My dad also wants me to take it easy tomorrow, so I’m going to do that. Are you guys still at home? – Brian

They were still at home. He wanted to talk to him about his next album, but his resting was more important. Could he text him or Dave when he woke up from his nap? Yeah, he would do that. He put his phone in his pocket before slowly walking to his room. Thankfully, it was right off the kitchen so he didn’t have to walk very far or go upstairs. It was one of the reasons why he liked his house. It was almost one level, with a step-down living room.

Hey, I just woke up and I’m feeling a lot better. I’m still going to stay home tomorrow and take it easy. I’m going to eat dinner now. I will be going on my usual walk around the neighborhood but I’ll bring my phone with me, just in case. – Brian

That was great news. He was just tired. His body was telling him to slow down and rest. With his health condition, he needed to do that every once in a while. He wasn’t as active as he used to be but he was okay with that. There were times he had too much energy, especially when he was younger. It was part of his ADHD. He had calmed down significantly after puberty.

This time, he remembered to put a hoodie on before going outside. His phone and keys were in his pocket. He double-checked. The sun was shining but it had gotten cooler. If he was feeling okay, he was going to take a bath before going to bed. The warm water always relaxed him. As a baby, he would be given a bath whenever he was fussy and couldn’t sleep. Brad tried everything from checking his diaper and feeding him but he couldn’t figure out why he was crying.

Until he tried bathing him. He stopped crying when he felt the warmth of the water. Brad was exhausted because it had been hours of trying to get him to calm down. He was also so relieved that he had found a solution. After that, he bathed him every time he was fussy. When he got older, he loved bath time because he loved being in the water and playing with his toys.

As long as he didn’t have to get his hair wet. For some reason, he hated that! Brad tried washing his hair as quickly as he could to get it over with. When it was dry, he was a lot happier. He loved running around in his fresh diaper until it was time to put his pajamas on. Years later, he didn’t mind getting his hair wet, though washing it under the faucet was harder than it was when he was younger. That was why he preferred taking a shower when he had to wash his hair.

His bathtub was deep and could hold a lot of water. The only thing sticking out was his head. That’s why he loved it. He had pulled his hair back into a high bun to prevent it from getting wet before opening the window a little to let the steam out. His boom box was on the counter next to the sink. He had it set to the local country station.

When everyone was back home, they were going to meet to talk about his next album. Maybe he would do something different, like ZZ Top. They mixed blues, country, and rock. But without the signature beard. He would not look good in a beard. His face was freshly shaved to give it a smooth look. His long hair was growing past his shoulders. Maybe he would get it cut before leaving with his father. He thought about getting it shaved underneath. That was a cool look.

He used the water to wash his face. When he got cold, he drained the water before grabbing a towel and using it to dry himself off before wrapping it around his waist. Brad was trying hard to keep his girlfriend happy. She didn’t like the attention he gave to his son. He was realizing how mentally unwell she was.

She pushed him away from her before begging him to come back. He was not allowed to talk to anyone. Not even his son. She was very jealous and accused him of cheating. He felt trapped because he truly loved her. She also started throwing tantrums where she threw things at him, slapped him, and threatened to hurt herself if he ever left her.

The physical abuse hurt but the verbal abuse was the worst. She called him pathetic whenever she was angry with him. He was the worst boyfriend ever and she couldn’t believe she put up with him. Brad felt alone and ashamed because he couldn’t tell anyone. Instead, he started drinking to get away from her.

He wished he was still with Mike. Even when they were fighting, they were very careful about what they said because words hurt. They couldn’t take back what they said. Angelina never apologized for what she said, even when he tried talking to her about it. He was being abused but he couldn’t admit it to himself. She had come to him and told him she was pregnant. He hugged her happily and then kissed her.

@zoeykaytesmom @feelingsofaithless @alina-dixon @fiickle-nia @boricuacherry-blog

[eunoiathewriter]

okie since christmas is coming up i was wondering if you can do a little fluffy imagine with xavier where maybe the nightshades are doing like a secret Santa and Xavier gets the reader and he gives her like the most thoughtful present ever and she’s just so overwhelmed that he knows her so well and maybe the confess their feelings for each other? thank you so much in advance and if not no worries :)

✧.* 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐆𝐢𝐟𝐭

X. THORPE X F!READER

Sypnosis: Secret santa was a fun thing for the little secret society, they'd done it for a few years, but this year his gift have a bit more thought behind it as its for her.

Word count: 1.6k

She simply stared at him, her eyes asking if he was truly serious. This was not the reason she had thought he would ask her to come down there—well, to be frank, she had thought all Nightshades were called to their little hideout, not just herself, and not for this reason.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she wondered if Xavier was for real. He was not supposed to give her the present personally, as it was tradition for the Nightshades to do a sort of "secret Santa" thing. Bianca had promised she would figure out who had y/ns present for her and give it to her the next day—without telling her who it was from, of course—before she went home for Christmas.

"You're not supposed to give it to me; have you not realised that in—? Three years?" y/n asked with a teasing tone while looking up at him.

"Of course I have; I just thought that you were going home so I could just give it to you." He shrugged his shoulders without really thinking much about it all, although his heart did most certainly beat faster and harder in his chest. He would never admit to that, though maybe in his head but not out loud.

"Bianca said she was going to find out which of you got me and get it for me so I could open it when I got home." She was not going to lie; it warmed her heart and cheeks that he wanted to personally give it to her.

"Well, now you have no choice but to open it here." Xavier held out the wrapped present for her to take and could see her suspiciously looking at it.

"Are you nervous I won't like it, Thorpe?" She narrowed her eyes at him, gently taking the present from his hands, and she waited for an answer.

"Me? No."

To be honest, he was terrified. That was because if he read a book for the entire month of November and added his own personal comments on things in it, and then spent another month adding his own take on how the characters looked, only for it all to go down the drain, he would melt like the wicked witch of the west when she got water on herself.

For two months, he had to put up with the teasing from the other guys in the neighbouring dormitories because whenever they decided to play games or something, Xavier would still be there but his nose would be deep into a book the entire time.

"Yeah, right," y/n mumbled as she started to fidget and try to find where to open the present. There was a light smile on her face as she focused on being careful, as always. The limited lighting in the Nightshades society was not the best, which made it even harder.

"Okay, so what if I am?" Xavier asked the question as if it were hypothetical. y/n almost felt like he should have just added hypothetically before, just for her own amusement.

"Relax, when you got me three years ago for this, you honestly got the best gif ever. I doubt you'll disappoint me this time; give your fourteen-year-old self some credit."

Yes, when they were fourteen and had just started this thing back up, doing secret Santa for the first time, Xavier had gotten her something she liked. The only thing different between then and now was that now he had a major crush on the girl before him, and this time he had switched with Ajax to actually get her this year.

He shouldn't have; Xavier knew that, but when he read the name on his note and it said Devina, he sneakily glanced over at Ajax's note, which said y/n. As soon as they got away from the others, he pretty much had to bribe Ajax to switch sides with him. It had cost him three weeks' worth of chores in the dormitories that were assigned to Ajax, but in a way, it was totally worth it.

Without saying another word, he watched expectantly as she finally unwrapped his gif. She tilted her head slightly as she looked down at it—a book. Not just any book, but her favorite. The black cover with simple white text was familiar, as she had an exact copy on her bookshelf in her dorm.

For a second, it looked as if she was about to say something; she opened her mouth but quickly shut it as she spotted something else. Holding the spine of the book, she turned it so she could see all six hundred and forty pages of it, only to see a familiar sight of sticky notes. It was as if her brain short-circuited, going dead as she blinked at the book with an obviously perplexed face.

"This is my favourite book." y/n stated the obvious, eyes still on the book in her hand, fingers brushing over the neatly placed sticky notes.

"Mhm," Xavier said, his heart racing.

Opening up the book to see what the notes were, she was met with a hand-drawn picture of what she assumed to be the characters. They were all lined up and identifiable by their distinct characteristics. The narrator of them all was easy to spot; he was drawn looking slightly nervous.

A smile tugged at Xaviers' lips as he could see she was appreciating the gift. He watched as she marvelled over the drawings he'd done of the six main characters.

"They're exactly like I imagined them in my head," y/n did not look up as she made the comment but instead flipped to her favourite page, earning a chuckle from the boy in front of her.

A bit flustered, he scratched his neck before saying anything, letting out a sigh of relief. "Good, I thought I had gotten them completely wrong."

"No, they're spot on; you even added his pince-nez glasses and the chain to them." She was referring to the character Francis.

She found what she was looking for after flipping to her favourite page of all and finding the line, "Cubitum eamus." The Latin question was underlined with an arrow to a written comment that made her snort a little.

I had to Google that.

"So?" Xavier pressed on, unsure of what to make of what she thought. Sure, she liked it, but did she love it?

"I love it!" y/n exclaimed. "How did you even know how to do all this, and how did you know this is my favourite book?"

"I had some help with learning." He told.

"This is the sweetest gift ever."

Her grip on the book was gentle so as not to destroy it, and she wanted to be extra careful now that she knew the inside of it was adorned with his own personal thoughts and drawings he had made. y/n could feel her cheeks heat up, seeing the way he let out a breath of relief and smiled while looking down at the floor. His hair covered his crimson-coloured cheeks.

Before he could say anything, he felt a hand on his left cheek, followed by a kiss on his right. It stunned him, seeing her still holding the book with a sweet smile. Xaviers' eyes darted over her face to search for her reason for doing what she did.

He felt her hand leave his cheek and reach down to his own, taking a gentle hold of it. "Maybe we can do something when I'm back after the new year."

"You mean like a date?" His eyes widened, and a smirk formed on his lips as he closed his own hand over hers, the two of them now holding hands.

"If you want it to be one." Her tone was teasingly amusing.

"Don't put words in my mouth; you want it to be one, but you just didn't say it."

"But you were still the one who asked." y/n pointed out to him, a grin replacing her sweet smile. With a roll of his eyes, he answered her.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

Xavier enjoyed the wide smile that he could clearly see her fighting, loving the way she looked off to the side while swinging their interlocked hands back and forth between them. He followed her every move and never let his eyes move from hers.

Then as she let out a sigh, y/n looked up at him. "I need to go and pack; I haven't even started."

"Go," His hand loosened around hers, missing the warmth it provided, as he motioned with his head for her to go and do exactly that. He was feeling completely content with how this had gone.

Sliding her hand from his, she held the book in one of her hands while walking towards the staircase. Her heart and brain were racing marathons inside her, while the butterflies in her stomach refused to stop. Before she could get too far, however, she stopped.

"I hope you understand that this means I like you, more than friends." She was about eight steps up the stairs when she turned toward him.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Xavier playfully asked.

"Well, you're not the smartest, Xav." She leaned against the railing while looking down at him from the staircase; he still stood in the middle of the room the Nightshades occupied.

"I like you too, more than a friend."

"Good to know; call me."

"I certainly will."

"Merry Christmas." With that, she walked up the stairs, book in hand, with a gleeful feeling inside. Was she going to scream into her pillow out of pure happiness? Yes. Was she also going to rant at Ophelia? Yes.

"Merry Christmas."

Finally I have Christmas break and can now deliver you guys more with this guy.

Taglist

@getbillzoned @honeybubblepopp @mrskeery-mclaughlin @wonderlandco @alicews @l4venderia @navs-bhat @ariianelle @moose-ubi @lomllino @honey-with-tea @rayliz793 @moatsnow @s0ftdr1nks

[leafs-lover]

The Birthday

Another blurb from the Auston Matthews X Friend Series, taking place about six months after this one

Warnings: drinking and a swear word or two, largely un-proofread

“Happy Birthday YN!”

You hear his deep voice seconds before thick arms snake around your core, lifting you off the ground with ease. After eliciting a slight squeal that’s barely heard over the music, he sets you back down on your feet allowing you to turn around to face him.

“Auston,” you giggle. Ignoring the conversation you had been having, you jump up and wrap your arms around his neck, “you made it!”

“Of course I did,” he laughs in your ear, his breath hot and drawing goosebumps to the nape of your neck. “You’re my best friend, I wouldn’t miss your birthday!” he continues as if it was the most absurd thing he had ever heard. Holding you tight to his chest, maybe a little too long, it should be weird, but him being your best guy friend (and the excessive amount of alcohol you’ve consumed) you barely notice.

“Hey man, I’m Joey,” a somewhat assertive tone forces you to reality. Stepping back onto your heels, Auston lets you go and glances to the hand being held out for him. Keeping his left hand on your back, almost protectively, Auston extends his right and shakes the hand.

“Auston,” a tinge of annoyance is obvious in his tone.

It gets quiet. Not actually. The music is playing loud, and the bass is vibrating the floor under your feet. There are groups of people scattered around the apartment, beer pong being played in one corner, a basketball game on the TV, various overlapping conversations. The stillness only hovers amongst the three of you.

It’s a heavy, uncomfortable silence. Their eyes narrow ever so slightly, and Auston’s shoulders subconsciously buff out. Your eyes dart to Joey and his tightened jaw, back to Auston and his furrowing brows.

“Auston is one of my best friends from back home,” you offer in an attempt to defuse the bomb threatening to erupt the silence. “He was the first friend I made when I moved to Scottsdale.”

“Oh yeah?” Joey brings his gaze to you, and his face begins to ease, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

“Yeah,” Auston fights out a fake smile as your words sting the small wound in his chest. Friends. That’s all he is to you.

He had spent the better part of the last six months trying to navigate his conflicting feelings for you, trying to gauge where your interests lie. That night, lying on his couch when you asked him if he’d know when the girl' was in front of him, he froze, then he lied. He told you he didn’t believe in soul mates, because the alternative is to risk a decade long friendship if you don’t feel the same way.

It hurts, but the pain is intentional. Better to hurt himself than allow you the honour.

Pulling you in closer to his chest, the faint scent of his woodsy cologne fills the air. “Known each other for over ten years,” the smile that forms on his face is one only you can see through to the fakeness.

“That’s nice,” Joey counters, smugness radiating off him.

“Yeah,” Auston turns to look at you. His piercing glare beginning to soften, and the golden-brown hue you love so much starts to poke through. “She’s one of the most important people to me.”

It’s said in a ‘I love her unconditionally and would do anything for her because she is my best friend’ kind of way, but there is a weight behind it you can quite pinpoint, and for a second, it’s just you and Auston. The entire party fades and you’re the fourteen-year-old girl with sweaty hands, in the bathroom in your best friend’s basement, stuck between hating “Seven Minutes in Heaven” and wanting to kiss him and see what if what’s building is real.

Auston is that seventeen-year-old boy from prom, stuck between the unexplained feeling in the pit of his stomach but also the desire to close the gap. Your eyes light up the room, just like they did the hall years ago, and if he had a second or two longer, Auston would have done it. His lips would have been on yours, for what would have been his greatest decision or biggest mistake, but he didn’t get that chance.

“Yeah,” Joey speaks a little louder than necessary. “She is pretty important to a lot of people.”

Heat hits your cheeks, but you’re unsure if it’s the alcohol, Auston’s touch and scorching gaze, or Joey drawing you back to reality.

“I uh,” you finally force your eyes away from them both, towards Kayla whose are widening with shock. “The beer pong table is free.” Swallowing the dryness in your mouth, you brush past Joey and leave Auston’s hand to fall, making your way to the beer pong table.

Auston was around. You saw him throughout the night, chatting with a few of your high school friends, making drinks, playing beer pong. You talked occasionally throughout the night, mostly small talk. He updated you on hockey, you updated him on school. You never spoke of Joey, or any of the women you know have been walking through his door, which in itself was weird. Besides Kayla he knew basically everything about you, but these details felt too intimate to be shared, best to be locked away.

You talked with Joey, flirted with Joey. You teamed up for a round of beer pong, laughed at some stories classmates shared, and tried to act as you were before Auston arrived. Tried to act as if he wasn’t constantly burning a hole into you.

Auston didn’t like the way he felt, drenched in jealousy. Or that his jaw tightened every time you smiled at Joey, that his heart fluttered every time you smiled at him. He hated that the person he wanted to talk to felt oceans away, while only a few meters separated him from you.

You hated how confusing Joey’s touch was. Over the last few weeks, you found yourself flirting with him during parties and your shared classes. That felt natural, like there was a kiss was hovering on your lips and you genuinely thought at any second it would happen. Then Auston showed up, and everything became very convoluted. Sometimes during the party Joey felt right, other times it felt as though the hand that should be on you, the lips whispering in your ear, actually belonged to the man across the room.

“Haven’t seen you in a while,” Auston pops up at the drink table, his cup so full it’s almost overflowing.

“Been busy,” you lie with a hollow smile. “Everyone wants to talk to the birthday girl.”

“Right.” Auston reaches out over the table and grabs your alcohol of choice, and pours some into a shot glass, then dumps it into your glass. “Almost seems like you’ve been avoiding me.” Next, he puts a few cubes of ice in your cup and reaches out for your preferred mix.

He isn’t wrong.

After the update on his life, it was weird between you, an unexplained heaviness you never really experienced loomed over the two of you. You waited for him to leave the drink table to refill yours, watched as he walked away from a group of people before you walked up to chat with them. You ducked behind crowds, spent way too long in the bathroom, did just about everything imaginable to avoid him.

“No,” your voice cracks, never really being able to lie to him.

“Okay.” His voice is almost unrecognizable, void of the usual confidence.

It becomes apparent there is something he isn’t saying in the way his voice breaks and a deep, staggered huff catches in his. The silence that falls between you is enough to activate the flurry of thoughts that had been sitting in Auston’s mind on and off for years.

Tightening the cap back on, he pushes the bottle back and opens the fridge. Finding the bowl of lemon slices, he tosses one into your drink and swirls it with the straw, then waits. Lifting the cup up to your lips, you take a small sip and smile, such a simple thing to know your favourite drink, but the intimacy of it is undeniable.

Your gaze is locked in front of you, staring directly at his chest. The top two buttons of his shirt are purposely left undone, a few chest hairs peeking out under the taut fabric that outlines every curve of his hardened muscles. The gold chain pokes out and the urge to trace the pattern of the metal down to his abs washes over you.

You have to look away, to anything other than his firm chest and broad shoulders. Instead, they go to the next place they shouldn’t, to his. An amber halo surrounds the slightly darker brown iris’, golden flakes constantly catching the light. They are soft, and instantly you regret clawing your gaze from his chest.

“Auston, you –“ you stutter, crumbling under his gaze as he shoves a rectangular box into your hand.

“Stop.” He laughs, he knew you would instantly object to the gift. “It’s your birthday, and on your birthday, you are supposed to get presents.” Grabbing your wrist, Auston forces the box into your hand, “now, open it.”

It’s obviously jewelry, the shape immediately gave it away. And the second you see that red box and gold leaf eloquently painted around it; it’s confirmed. A large smile starts to form as you push the release to first reveal the white satin, then the beautiful bracelet.

“Auston,” a lump forms in your throat, staring at the simple yet stunning rose gold bracelet with an inset diamond. “It’s beautiful.”

“I’m sure it’s even better on,” he takes it out of the box. Fumbling with the tiny clasp and large thick fingers, he finally fastens it and allows it to hang from your wrist.

“It’s stunning,” you whisper, unable to look away from the shimmering gold that perfectly wraps around your skin. It's expensive, elaborate and excessive, all things Auston has a tendency to do for your birthday.

Gently lifting your chin, a calloused thumb brushes away a tear you didn’t realize you had shed. Tilting your jaw ever so slightly, his lips are soft and warm, gently brushing against your cheek. Pulling back an inch, his lips hover over yours, to a point you could kiss him without even trying. “Happy Birthday YN,” his words are whispered, both of your eyes fluttering closed.

“Thanks Auston,” you try to hold it together as best you can.

Time actually freezes when he steps forward, eliminating all space between you. You swear your heart is beating louder than the music in the apartment, pounding in your chest. Your throat is dry like the Sahara, but between your legs is wetter than Niagara Falls.

You watch his Adam’s apple bob in his throat as hope flutters in his stomach. Wetting his lower lip, he is going to do it, he is going to close the almost non-existent gap and cross the line the threatens your friendship. Instead of feeling your choppy exhale it will be your lips, your soft and perfect lips molding to his and your hands tangle in his hair. Ten-year-old Auston is nervous, fourteen-year-old Auston is intrigued, seventeen-year-old Auston is eager and done waiting for this opportunity. And twenty-two-year-old Auston is once again interrupted.

“Hey YN,” Joey cuts in and you swear you heard Auston mutter a curse word under his breath. “How about a birthday shot?”

There is a split second where you consider ignoring Joey and the eyes of almost everyone at the party to kiss Auston. And fuck you want to, but the line between friends and something more is a dangerous one, one you might be too drunk to safely navigate your way through.

“Yeah YN,” Calvin actually walks between the two of you, forcing you to separate. Disappointment is obvious in the way Auston’s shoulders deflate and his head falls to the floor. Within seconds the crowd migrates into the kitchen, and the space between you only grows. Every part of you wants to reach out to Auston, but you stiffen as a hand finds your back.

“How you doing babe?” Kayla leans in. Having been a silent observer all night, she has seen it all. Watched you carefully skirt away from your Auston, saw the two of you teeter on the ledge, witnessed disappointment engulf him as the moment was stripped away.

“Yeah,” you quench your thirst with a sip of that perfectly made drink Auston made. “I’m doing good.”

“You sure,” she presses in closer to ignore the rowdiness erupting around you.

“Yeah,” you swallow back a lump, still trying to process what just happened.

[keepcalmandshrugorsomething]

Unfinished Fanfic Idea

So I got this idea in the middle of the day and I just sort of wrote it but not really? It took me like 2 hours. There's over 3000 words. And it kind of phases in and out between my rambling self-dialogue and the actual story. So. If anyone out there is interested, feel free to write it. Properly, I mean. Just. Yeah. And send me a link to the fic. I'd like to read it. (To be honest anything would be better than I stuff I managed to write.)

--

In all the MCU time travel fanfics where someone went back in time to stop Thanos, Tony's always the one chosen to do it. Either it's just Tony, or it's Tony and Stephen and then they make it Ironstrange. 

Personally, I think it unlikely Stephen would bring Tony back with him. Given how hard Tony would be to handle and control and how tempted he'd be to change things. Stephen on the other hand, was willing to die countless painful deaths to stop Dormammu and without recognition. Tony is selfless, much more than Stephen, but at the same time he has too much compassion. Stephen is bother line sociopathic without how great he is at distancing himself and blocking out emotional shit. I mean, the man just watched these people die some number under fourteen million times. And he's willing to trade their lives on a bet that Tony Stark would bring the back? Yeah, I don't think Tony would've handled that after knowing Peter was going to die.

I think Stephen might have been able to do the forbidden and go back in time, but I doubt he'd bring Tony. For another thing, if Tony acts any different, his company would be affected and his company affects the world. Tony's changes in behavior are not as insignificant as a celebrity surgeon who was known for being an asshole either way. So. Yeah.

Now, Stephen goes back in time. Where does he go? How far does he go? Given that he only saw the future, he might think that by not being on Titan, a possible victorious timeline might emerge. So he does that. He goes back in time to try, again and again. He's almost sick of saying: "Tony Stark, my name is Stephen Strange. I need you to come with me." Again and again and again. The Battle of Wakanda has been fought thousands of times, in his mind, at least, as the Time Stone plays in out before his eyes in the privacy of his room where Wong could not discover his breaking the natural order. 

He gives up at 10 million, when the differences started to become more and more insignificant. When the wind blowing somebody's hair at the right time. Or Stephen choosing to run to Kamar Taj as  opposed to fighting Ebony Maw and the hammer guy.

Regardlessly, after watching Tony Stark grow old and die with his wife, best friend, daughter and son-in-law and in his bed was getting kind of sick for Stephen. He started to wonder if he wasn't looking far enough. He decided that the end point would be when even Tony Stark of all people had given up on finding a way. At least, given up for real. 

So Stephen goes further back. He starts wondering just what he could change. Stark said he couldn't contact Vision because he ran off, yeah? Well, Maybe Stephen can prevent that. If they got in contact with Vision earlier... When who knows what might have happened with another infinity stone in play?

...Except he didn't expect why exactly did Stark's synthetic-bot-human-thingy-guy decided to run off. With Maximoff, seriously??

The bot really could have done better than that.  Well, then again, he's only several years old. 

So now Stephen tries to stop the Avengers from splitting up at all. He's finally gone back far enough that he sees the Ancient One again. And she warns him: 

"This is a slippery slope you're going down, Stephen. The consequences of your actions increase the further you go into the past."

But what choice does Stephen have? He uses the mirror dimension to spy on the Avengers in the Avengers' Compound. He finds out about the Sokovia Accords. He watches as Steve Rogers break Tony's armor. Watches as Bucky Barnes, confused and still amnesiac, follows his best friend to Wakanda and request to be put on ice, the image of what he and Steve had done to the last Stark haunting him. 

There is nothing he can do. The Avengers were always slated to break, always fractured. They were never a truly cohesive team. They trusted each other' with their lives on the field, but not their secrets or their true selves. Toney wore the facade of the genius playboy, Steve forced himself to act like the Captain America of the legends, unsure if that was who he truly was and what he was supposed to be. Not understanding that he was Steve Rogers not Captain America. (Tony was right, later Stephen would think, everything special about Rogers came from a bottle. Bravery means nothing if one was an idiot. It would only be stupidity.) 

So Stephen goes further into the past and tries to prevent Ultron, prevent the Sokovia Accords, prevent the breaking of the Avengers. He contains and Scepter with the subtlest magics he could, hoping against hope that the Asgardians would not notice and if they did, decide that it as only a Midgardian sorcerer who allied with the Avengers and not that they there was no foul play. Disaster averted, Stephen withdrew from the timeline and returned to his set point- on Titan. When Thanos comes, he has Mind. Time was the last stone. Loki had given it to Thanos. And Tony was not able to steer the ship from its course and their crash land meant that it was destroyed. The Guardians of the Galaxy were utterly useless, as Thanos was waiting, not coming. He took advantage of Tony's distraction and sent himself back once more. 

He had to keep the stone on Earth. If it went to Asgard, that meant Loki would steal it and later be forced to give it to Thanos when he threatens Thor's life. 

So now what was Stephen to do? At this point, almost half a decade before Thanos' arrival, there are so many possibilities that even with an eidetic memory, he wouldn't be able to remember them all. On Titan, there were fourteen million possibilities. With so much time in between now, the number would have to be in the trillions, at least. If he attempted to see more, he might just lose his mind. 

Stephen broods and for the first time since his frantic tampering of time, he rests. He broke into his old penthouse while his current self was in a particularly challenging surgery and breaks out one of his old wines. For the first time, he indulges and lets himself just... fall. The Ancient One appears, after his second glass. Stephen's not particularly inebriated, having an admirable tolerance to alcohol. The Ancient One watches him as he sips the fine wine, overlooking the New York skyline, illuminated by lights.

"Go back, Stephen." She tells him.

He laughs, "And what? Surrender to fate or something?"

His mentor miles indulgently, "Yes. Surrender to the flow of time and trust that everything would end peacefully. We swore to uphold the natural laws, did we not?"

"Ha!" Stephen laughs again, "You're one to talk! You've only lived for so long because you've been siphoning energy off the Dark Dimension! What part of that is natural? I have to do this. I've got to. If half of all living beings die-" Stephen cut himself off. "I may have been called a fucking sociopath but I've not as- as cold- not crazy enough to just let trillions and Vishanti knows how much people die!"

"The choice is not yours to make," she says.

Stephen didn't even let her finish before sending her through a portal with a twitch of his fingers and a sweep of his arm and a "FUCK OFF!"

He breaks down, the strain of living so many years without any mental support or confidant or anything weighed heavily on his mind. His soul. 

When Stephen Strange with the steady hands returns to his apartment, everything was in its original place and only a single bottle of wine gone. No matter, Stephen Strange with the unmarred hands believes that he must have drunk it one day and disposed of it. His eidetic memory did not extend to when inebriated. 

Stephen wonders since when did using the Time Stone feel so much like using his magic normally. It's like the Stone's become an extension of himself... Like it's accepted him. The Time Stone's become familiar over the years in his time loop in the Dark Dimension, but time loop is different from traveling in time. He wonders if he can now use the time Stone's abilities without even being in contact with it . He wondered if he could touch the Stone with his bare hands and not die from the power of it. According to the legends, the Stones had to be handled with care, or it would turn on you, it overwhelming power running through yours veins. 

The Power Stone was rumored to be able to explode anyone who held it. The Reality Stone to slowly kill whomever it merged with. The Mind Stone to take control of one's mind and destroy your sanity. The Time Stone to revert your age to before you were born. The Space Stone to teleport one to an unknown place in the universe. As for the Soul Stone... well, no one even knows where it was. 

Stephen wondered... Well, what's he got to lose? He opened the Eye of Agammotto n and the Stone floated out of the Eye. He reaches and as his fingers curled around the green gem-

Stephen finds himself back on Titan. In his original timeline. He wonders if there was anything he could possibly do to stop Thanos. Or if the Ancient One was right...

But then he looks around. "Where's Stark?" He asks Peter Quill. "Or the other Peter- Peter Parker?"

"Hey, man, you just... did whatever you were doing... you looked like you were having a seizure..." 

"I'm fine." Stephen tell him, "Now where is Iron Man and Spider-Man?"

"What are you talking about?" Quill asks him. "Iron Man, what kind of name is that?"

"No... Stephen whispered under his breath. Memories from this timeline- the result of a single bottle of wine drunk... The Butterfly Effect... Tony Stark was dead.

"How-? No..." Without warning, he grasped the Eye and sent himself once more, back in time. He now realizes that he must make changes, but at the same time, Tony Stark's habit of putting himself in dangerous situation and coming out by the skin of his teeth and some serious luck meant that only a little change was needed to kill the man. So Stephen sends himself back in time once more, this time, he would keep the man safe and unharmed.

He had to go further back, much further than before. There was only one way. He had to use the Time Stone directly. The Eye restricted the power of the Time Stone to prevent the death of the user, but now that his drunk ass has already proven that the Time Stone would not kill him...

Stephen finds himself in his younger body. He knows so because his hands are steady and unmarred. His chest bore no signs of being stabbed through the heart. His head held no pain from the needles the Maw had put through. He felt... good. 

He also had no sling ring or anything. The only thing in his possession from the future was a glowing green stone in his hand. The green light shone from between his fingers and he feels a little power-drunk. Or just normal drunk. Because he's at a party. In his tux. And there's a champagne glass between the fingers of his left hand and his stead hands did not let the glass fall even when Stephen finds himself jumped back in time. A single blink and Stephen easily slipped back into his old behavior. The smooth, arrogant surgeon. The one everyone sought after because of his perfect record. And the one who turned away surgeries of no prestige or challenge. For a second, his future humility peeked through and he grimaced, before dropping the Stone into his pockets. Then he blinked and the half-smile was back on his face. He takes a sip of the champagne and watches the room. Wait- Was that Tony Stark? 

Jackpot. 

Stephen takes a deep breath before dropping of his glass to stroll over to the other genius' side at the bar. 

"What's a handsome guy like you doing at a party like this?" Stark asks.

The response was almost automatic as Stephen beings to panic in the deep recesses of his mind. The flirting was almost autopilot as Stephen beings to weigh the pros and cons of sleeping with Tony Stark. For one thing, Stark was notorious for never seeing a former lover again. For another, if he dated Stark, he could keep him alive and ensure that the Avengers would not split much more easily. 

He's not completely present as he tells Stark about the surgery that landed him in this party of old, rich men. 

"Then shouldn't you be out smoozing and landing yourself your next gig?"

Stephen smiled, "Too easy. I don't have to go to them, they'll come to me if they need me. After all, I am the best."

At his display of arrogance, Stark's own arrogance shone through. They trade barbs and snarky comments before Stark offers to show him his lab. Stephen agrees. He's still not sure if Stark wanted to fuck him or just genuinely wanted to see what he could do with his tech but Stephen will take what he can get. Becoming an acquaintance of the man was the first step to a friendship. He only needs to be friends with the man to affect his actions. And his actions could result in saving the universe. 

So Stephen agrees. 

So yeah, Stephen agrees to years of friendship and eventually falling in love with Tony, except after he meets Pepper he realizes what kind of future he was taking away from the man if he did so and he couldn't pursue a relationship with him. Until Tony started initiating a relationship. Honestly, never mind. It's just they get together and they fight Thanos. They've built a little family of three, the two of them and Peter Parker, their adopted son. Stephen fails to keep the Avengers together, either way. To be honest, he wasn't sure if he wanted to have Steve Rogers around Tony after he remembers the Siberian bunker where Stephen witness the end of the Avengers silently. On Titan, Stephen looks forward to see the futures and he finds. 

There was no victory. He watches fifteen million futures. Then sixteen. Then seventeen. He doesn't notice as his nose begins to bleed and Tony's coaxing him out of the trance. 

"Stephen, baby, you're okay. I'm here. You're here. You're okay."

Stephen's gasping, holding back the tears the's desperate to escape. Every future he sees, they lose and their family is torn apart. 

"Tony... I've seen seventeen million futures." He swallows, "We don't win. We just... don't."

An orange portal, sparkling, appears before him. He remembers suddenly, of his mentor appearing in a ring of orange sparks to tell him that it was time for him to fight Dormammu and become the Sorcerer supreme. And like before, the Ancient One steps through. "Stephen."

"...Master."

"I've told you, in a future you erased, that you must let go. That you must trust in fate. Do you see now?"

Stephen swallows and tears fall from his eyes. "Yes, I- Master-" He says brokenly before she envelopes him in a hug. Tony's hovering over the Ancient one's shoulder. 

"Go back, Stephen. And let go. Surrender to the universe."

"It's not about you."

With tears rolling down his cheeks, Stephen takes the Time Stone and then he falling. Falling into Tony Sark's arms. 

"Hey, doc, you're okay."

He tells Tony Stark- This Tony Stark who's engaged to Pepper Potts, whose Peter lived with May Parker, who never met him, Stephen Strange, up until several hours ago. 

With a heavy heart, Stephen outlines a plan, a plan that he has no idea would succeed or not. Above all else, he keeps Tony Stark alive, because Tony Stark was the only one to ever come close to saving the universe. 

"Tony, it was the only way."

He wasn't sure who he was talking to, this Tony or his Tony from another lifetime. But he knows that it didn't matter. Because it wasn't about him. He feels himself turn to dust but all he felt was peace. 

When Peter Parker blames him for Tony's death at his funeral, he says, "I know. I have tried everything to save him. I even traveled back in time to the past to change everything. But we either lose and half the universe is dusted or Tony is dusted or... or this. You know, in another timeline, I met Tony, more than ten years ago. We fell in love. I loved him. We adopted a child. A boy named Peter who loved to watch my operations and Tony's tinkering. But in that universe I watched seventeen million futures until I almost blacked out. There was no victorious ending in any of those timelines. We just don't win. So I came back. I put my faith in the universe that it would guide us to a way to win. And it did. But Tony dies. Every time. But that's alright, Peter. Because it's not about us. It's about the universe. About he greater good." Stephen turns around to find that Peter was crying as much as he was. Except that Stephen's eyes were resigned and sad, but accepting. Peter's were horrified and grieving. "I've lost more than you know, Peter. But it's fine. Because the universe comes first. Our suffering does not compare to the suffering of the entire universe. We chose this, to sacrifice ourselves and hurt those around us to protect others, This is what it means to be a hero, Peter. I'm sorry, for all it's worth."

Peter let out a cry and a chocked, "Doctor Strange-" before launching himself at the man and buried his face in Stephen's chest and cried. Sobbed. Stephen embraced the boy. His arms arranged easily around the boy, his movements practiced, even though not in this world. They stood there, the father and son duo that could have been, mourning a great man that they both lost.