#~but they have an open relationship in the sense that they’ve been together so long that they have complete trust in each other

[feraecor]

Nanna and Ningal are considered poly/multiship. But there won’t be cheating or hiding or any drama like that. They are very open with each other and the bringing in other partners is thoroughly discussed and often a joint decision.

[corevibeself]

𝓦𝓱𝓸 𝓲𝓼 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓕𝓾𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮 𝓢𝓹𝓸𝓾𝓼𝓮?

The energy of love that I have been feeling around me for the past month has been as intense as swallowing sugar by the buckets. I feel like my insides are turning pink. I'm now realizing my insides are already pink as I'm writing this. Anywho loved doing this reading xxxx

ℙ𝕚𝕝𝕖 1 ℙ𝕚𝕝𝕖 2 ℙ𝕚𝕝𝕖 3

ℙ𝕚𝕝𝕖 1

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙈𝙮 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙚 - 𝙈𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙠𝙞

Your future spouse is going to be such a best friend! The energy I’m getting from this reading is that you two might be mirroring each other. I like to say same vibe tribe because you’re vibrating at the same frequency—so if this sounds like you, that may be why.

Your future spouse is the kind of person who gets along with anyone as long as they’re kind and respectful. They steer way clear of drama-seekers and can’t stand judgmental people. They’re deeply empathetic, and I feel like they’ve had experiences that made them someone who stands up for others.

One specific scenario I saw (which may not apply to everyone, but still serves as an example) is that they might have a sibling with a disability who was made fun of, and that experience shaped them into this sensitive, socially aware person who cannot tolerate hate. They know judgment brings nothing but misery, and they refuse to contribute to it.

They’re incredibly compassionate and understanding. You never have to be afraid of making mistakes with this person because they don’t see mistakes as something to hold over you. To them, as long as you’re honest and open about where you’re coming from, that’s all they need. They believe real relationships are built on mutual understanding and vulnerability—and trust me, they walk the talk.

Emotionally mature? Check. Emotionally intelligent? Double check.

They’re also very opinionated, but not in a bad way. I’m seeing a situation where someone says something rude, and this person immediately shuts it down, defending you without hesitation. Or, let’s say you’re watching a reality show together, like Love Island—if they see something unfair, they will speak up about it. They’re passionate about fairness, kindness, and doing what’s right.

I also get the sense that they can be selfless to the point of giving more than they should. They know they have a tendency to take on too much, but at the same time, they don’t mind if it drains them—especially if it means helping someone they care about. Noble souls, they are.

This might also be why they spend a lot of time indoors. Not because they’re antisocial—more like their energy gets scattered easily. Honestly? Big neurodivergent vibes, possibly ADHD. They’ve got this huge heart, a million interests, and a natural tendency to care for others.

They’re what I’d call an introverted extrovert. They’re not shy, but people can drain them quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised if they work in the mental health field, something related to justice, or are super passionate about social justice in general.

And let me tell you—this person has your back in every sense of the word. If you’ve ever craved a connection where you’re fully understood, where you can be 100% yourself without fear of judgment—this is it. They’re exactly what you’ve been needing.

They just have this gift for making people open up. They see the beauty in others, in the world, and they bring so much balance. I wouldn’t be shocked if they have Libra in their chart—Libra rising, maybe?

Their energy is so sweet. I can see them genuinely asking how your day was, really listening because they truly care.

And honestly? If I could tell this person one thing, it would be to see how beautiful of a soul they truly are.

They feel like a modern-day knight. Hehehe.

ℙ𝕚𝕝𝕖 2

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 -𝙇𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙈𝙞𝙭

This person’s been through some tough shit, but I see them bippity-bopping their way out of it like the fairy godmother. They might’ve been through foster homes—I also had a vision of couch-hopping—so it could be that they’ve got lots of connections and friends who support them because their family may not. I just get the feeling they dealt with a lot of challenges in their childhood or teen years, and it sparked this change in them. Instead of turning to darkness and letting it define their whole life, they became a doer.

They just know how to grind, how to better themselves, and how to be a good person—which they are. They’re willing to do what it takes to heal. I don’t want to get graphic, but this person may have developed coping mechanisms in the past but has grown out of them.

They’re the type to drop anything they’re doing to help you if you needed it. And they have this way of surprising you. I literally just saw a vision of a guy in a store, minding his business, buying groceries or whatever, and then he just randomly sees something that reminds him of you. It’s a funny energy—like, he’s impulsive like that. He’ll just grab it and bring it back to you, and it’s something completely stupid. You’ll be like, “Why did you buy this stuffed penguin?” and he’ll just shrug and say, “It reminded me of you.” It’s cute, but like... what?! Hahahaha.

This person tends to suppress their emotions, unsure whether to communicate them or not, because they might have some fears around vulnerability. But trust that when they feel safe, they’ll open up to you.

I also kind of saw that this person might be loud (relatable AF). Not in a bad way—just very expressive. I feel like they were the class clown, secretly depressed because shit was bad at home, and teachers were like, “Why are you so loud?” No, but seriously—they’re hilarious. I felt very giggly during this reading.

This person has charm—like, their humour is their superpower. You really wouldn’t guess what they’ve been through because they’re such a ray of sunshine.

And kids? This person is hilarious with them. It’s like they can fully be themselves around children, or they just have this youthful energy no matter their age. If you’re into someone who brings the fun, is goofy but surprisingly deep—this is your person. Genuine. Authentic. I love ittttt.

ℙ𝕚𝕝𝕖 3

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙎𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 - 𝙋𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚

Daddy Vibes, HA! This person has a great drive—like, a very determined person. I see them getting up constantly, even if they keep falling. This has made them into someone that gives off major "They can do anything" vibes.

Need to kill a spider? Done. Craving something from the store late at night? They’ll do it so nonchalantly, like, I see them just going, "So what do you need?"—face blank AF.

Okay, if anyone is a K-pop fan, Yoongi from BTS totally gives these vibes. He’ll do things for you even if he doesn’t look happy doing it, but it’s not that he’s unhappy. It’s just that taking care of people comes so naturally to him that he doesn’t even see it as a big deal. That’s this person. It’s their role—to take care of you.

They have lots of goals. Like I said, they’ve got this drive. I see backup plan after backup plan after backup plan. Like, "This job isn’t for me? That’s fine. I also really like this. And if that doesn’t work, I have connections. I can travel. I know how to charm and talk to people. I have ways." That’s the energy they give.

Scattered AF, though, but they’re working on it. This person just always has money. You don’t gotta worry about them ever being a lazy bum. It’s not that they’re a millionaire—they’ve just healed their wound around security. They don’t see work as a passion; they see it as "I get this done so I can do my passions." And that’s awesome. Some people need to work in a field they’re passionate about, but this person? They just trust that the universe has their back so they can enjoy their passions, because their passions have nothing to do with work—and they’re fine with that.

If you’re the type of person that doesn’t wanna work your whole life, this person doesn’t mind working for you, honestly. Like, they love you.

They might come off a bit intimidating at first when y’all meet. They just have a good head on their shoulders because of past experiences. Don’t be afraid. I’m getting very mature vibes—like I said earlier... DAAAADDDYYYY.

Some of y’all may have daddy issues, like... that’s okay. So does 90% of the population—we’re on a healing journey here, HAHAHA.

This person looks ahead. They don’t get stuck in the past, so they won’t ever hold shit over your head. The past is the past. We grow as human beings. They’re open-minded and see things from other perspectives, which is so refreshing. Don’t be afraid to express your opinions or feelings—this person wants to help.

If you want a family, they’ll be an amazing father. Also, they might look like a working person. I’m seeing that if their job is physical, you can see it on them—like, maybe they smell like oil because they’re a mechanic. A job where you can literally see the results on them physically.

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

<3<3<3

AHHHH my first reading on here. To whoever reads this, I enjoyed doing this. I love everything about this. I'm so passionate, and I'm so grateful to whoever this reaches. XXXX

[steddieas-shegoes]

stay the night

for @steddiemicrofic prompt ‘guard’

rated m | 532 words | cw: implied/referenced sexual content | tags: established relationship, Steve is self-conscious, they’re idiots

😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬

They’ve been dating for nearly a month, fucking for even longer. Eddie practically spends every day with Steve, most evenings, too. But he never spends the night.

Steve doesn’t ask him to and Eddie’s too scared of this new thing they have to ask if he can. There must be a reason that Eddie doesn’t get the same treatment that so many girls used to get. It has to be a problem with him.

He tries not to think too much about it. It could still be nothing. It could just be that Steve prefers sleeping alone. Or maybe Steve thinks sleeping together is more important than, well, sleeping together. He’s a hell of a romantic, so that makes sense.

But even that seems strange because Eddie’s done everything to show how much he cares about Steve without actually saying that he loves him. He’s gone through all the stops. He’s done more flower buying, jacket sharing, hand holding, cuddling than he ever thought he’d do with a partner.

He’s sitting on Steve’s bed, waiting for him to finish showering after a long work day, when he decides he’s gonna ask. Steve has the start of a migraine and he wants to be here to hold him and make sure he takes medicine and gets decent rest so it doesn’t get worse.

Steve comes out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist, hair dripping onto his shoulders. Eddie’s human; He looks him over from head to toe.

“Can I wear your shirt to sleep?” Steve asks as he grab sweatpants from his drawer.

“The one on my body?” Eddie asks, looking down and back up. Steve nods. “Sure, if I can stay the night.”

Damn, that was easier than he thought it’d be. Steve left it wide open for him to be able to sneak it in.

“Oh,” Steve sounds unsure now. “Um.”

Eddie waits. He’s pretty sure saying anything to try convincing Steve will just make him more nervous and feel more pressure to say yes, and as much as he wants him to say yes, he doesn’t want him to feel like he has to.

“Yeah. I just, um.”

Eddie stands up and takes a few steps until he’s close enough to Steve to cup his face in his hands.

“It’s okay if not. I just wanted to see if you were ready for that,” Eddie offers. It really is okay, but it doesn’t mean Eddie isn’t gonna cry about it on the way home.

“No, no. I just have um.” Steve breathes out, closes his eyes. “I have to wear a mouth guard when I sleep?”

Eddie blinks slowly. “A mouth guard?”

“Yeah, uh. I had braces when I was younger and started grinding my teeth together and I had to start wearing a guard for my teeth,” Steve explains in one breath. “And it looks stupid so. I just didn’t want you to see that.”

“But. Other people have, right?”

Steve shakes his head. “I usually skipped it if I had someone over one night.”

“So-“

“I want you here all the nights, not just one.”

“Oh.” Eddie smiles. “So I can stay?”

“Yeah, please stay.”

[cozycottagetarot]

Your Next Relationship 💖

Reading Contents ✨

Who is this person?

When will this relationship manifest?

Patreon Extended 🧁

What will the early stages be like?

Where will this relationship be in 6 months to a year?

As always this reading is for entertainment purposes only. ✨ Take only what resonates!

LINKS: Reading Masterlist | Dividers | Ko-Fi | Patreon | Patreon Masterlist | Paid Readings | Paid Readings - $10 and Under - Open 🥂

Pile 1

Who is this person?

Cards: The Hunter, The Painter rev, The Storyteller rev, King of Summer, Queen of Spring, Strength, The Wheel

For some, getting into a relationship with this person has been a long time coming! They’re someone who exudes a sense of safety and security, making it easy for you to trust them. You can bring anything to them—problems, concerns, or just a need for comfort—and they’ll make time to be there for you. This person seems to have a remarkable ability to juggle multiple responsibilities, and they carry a nurturing, almost parental energy. This quality might even help heal something deeper within you, offering a kind of emotional rejuvenation you didn’t realize you needed. They’re gentle and loving, with a depth shaped by their own resilience. It seems they’ve been through a lot, and those experiences have molded them into someone dependable and compassionate. However, they might occasionally try to shield you from their struggles, either by intentionally hiding things or unintentionally giving the impression that everything is fine. The rest of the reading could shed more light on this dynamic. It’s also possible they deal with self-esteem issues or struggle with self-doubt. Despite this, they have a focused and determined nature. When they set their sights on something, they pursue it wholeheartedly.

When will this relationship manifest?

Cards: Two of Autumn, Seven of Autumn, Nine of Summer, Nine of Winter, Ace of Summer

This relationship feels like something you’re going to manifest.

At first, it might feel like you’re working hard toward something and not seeing results. You could be juggling a lot of things at once, or maybe it happens during a time when you’ve decided to pause and take a break from all the effort you’ve been putting into other areas of your life. This pause might even be related to your career, but it doesn’t have to be about material things. It’s more about stepping back, letting things flow, and giving yourself room to just be. During this waiting period, you might unexpectedly shift your focus back to love. It may not have been something you were prioritizing, but you’ll come back to it and work through any fears or doubts you’ve been carrying. That’s when you’ll consciously decide, You know what? I’ve put in so much work elsewhere; it’s time to open myself up to love. And that’s how this relationship starts—it’s born from you choosing to welcome it (a relationship in general) into your life, even if it feels a little scary or uncertain at first. It’ll happen while you’re in a season of stillness or waiting for something else to unfold.

✨ What will the early stages be like? 👀 Will you still be together in six months—or a year? 😱 Find out in the extended reading and uncover what awaits you in the next chapter of this love story! 💖 Preview the Patreon Masterlist.

Pile 2

Who is this person?

Cards: Princess of Winter, Two of Winter, Ten of Summer, Ace of Spring, The Hunter, The Acolyte, The Sleeper, The Miser

This person seems to struggle with balancing their own needs with their sense of responsibility to others. They deeply value their friends and family and often put their loved ones' needs ahead of their own. While they don’t let people get close to them easily, once you’re in their inner circle, their loyalty is unshakable. They may have perfectionist tendencies or at least prefer having a clear plan to follow. When they decide on a goal, they focus intently and work hard to make it happen. That said, they might find it difficult to strike a balance between being considerate of others and prioritizing themselves. Curiosity is a core part of their personality—they’re always learning, exploring, or diving into something new. However, they might have a habit of repeating the same mistakes, which could be a learning curve they’re working through.

When will this relationship manifest?

Cards: The Star, The Magician, Ten of Summer, Unity, Prince of Autumn

This relationship will come into your life when things start looking up for you—like a shift in your luck or energy. If you’ve been feeling stuck or down, this is when you’ll notice things begin to align. You’ll feel lighter, more optimistic, and like the things you’ve been hoping for are finally falling into place.

It might manifest in a serendipitous way. For example, you could casually wish for something and suddenly find an opportunity or unexpected offer that fulfills it. Similarly, this relationship could come through your social circle—perhaps family, friends, or even a mentor or elder who introduces you to this person. There’s a chance you meet them during a gathering or event involving loved ones. There could also be a contrast between you two: maybe an age difference, or one of you might have more traditional values while the other is more free-spirited.

This person appears as the Prince of Autumn—someone steady, thoughtful, and deliberate. They’re cautious and like to plan things out in advance. While they may take their time opening up or committing to the relationship, it’s not because they’re uninterested. Instead, it reflects their careful and intentional nature. Once they decide they’re ready, they’ll fully invest in making it work.

✨ What will the early stages be like? 👀 Will you still be together in six months—or a year? 😱 Find out in the extended reading and uncover what awaits you in the next chapter of this love story! 💖Preview the Patreon Masterlist.

Pile 3

Who is this person?

Cards: Queen of Wands, Three of Autumn, Five of Autumn, Four of Summer, Balance, Two of Summer, The Priest (Reversed), The Aspirant, The Smith

This person might be naturally solitary or has been single for a while, preferring their own company over relying on others. They’ve been through a lot and carry a diverse set of life experiences, which makes them someone who is both interesting and wise to talk to. While they give off an independent "I don’t need anyone" vibe, they’re also incredibly personable, funny, and talented. They have a lot going for them and are quite the catch, though they might not always see it themselves. When they feel connected to their spirituality or the divine, they thrive, but when that connection wavers, they may feel off balance or even lost in their own thoughts. Overthinking and difficulty accepting setbacks are areas they might struggle with. Despite their occasional self-doubt, they’re someone who complements you well. There’s a strong potential for you two to hit it off right away, feeling like a perfect match. They bring a mix of humor, skill, and depth to the table that makes the connection exciting and meaningful.

When will this relationship manifest?

Cards: The Wheel, Nine of Autumn, The Dreamer, Eight of Autumn, Seven of Summer

It’s giving meet-cute vibes!

This relationship will likely manifest after you make a big choice to move forward with something important in your life. It feels like you’ll be embarking on a new adventure—something you’ve been working toward for a while that finally comes together. This could be related to personal development, career, or even educational pursuits, like learning a new skill or trade. Once you decide to take that leap of faith, it sets things into motion. The actual meeting could happen in a super specific or niche setting. It might be related to work, school, or an event tied to this new adventure you’re embarking on. It’s not so much the meeting itself that’s remarkable but rather the series of events leading up to it that makes it feel almost fated.

When you look back, you might feel like everything—your choices, their choices, and even setbacks—was leading up to this moment. It’ll have that "meant to be" energy, where it feels like all the puzzle pieces fell into place to bring you two together.

✨ What will the early stages be like? 👀 Will you still be together in six months—or a year? 😱 Find out in the extended reading and uncover what awaits you in the next chapter of this love story! 💖Preview the Patreon Masterlist.

[tarotbyjam24]

Pick a card : Your future spouse's unsaid thoughts and feelings:

Masterlist\ pick a piles feedbacks piggy bank

This reading a collab between @tarotbyjam24 and @asyatarot 💗

pile 1 pile 2

pile 3 pile 4

If you like my work you can now tip me on kofi too ,leave 🖤

I also offer paid readings you can book one as it'll help me a lot and don't forget to check the free readings offer ✨

Likes , reblogs and feedbacks are very much appreciated 💗 Thankyou for stopping by let's dive in ☄️ Choose the pile you feel most drawn to 🧸

Disclaimer: this is general reading . It may or may not resonate . If reading doesn't resonate let it fly and choose another pile or simply there were no messages for you through this reading 😊 Take the reading lightly as nothing's set in stone until you believe so 🕊️

Exchanges : open , collabs for paps : open

Pile एक

read by @asyatarot🩷

Welcome pile1! Your future spouse’s unsaid thoughts and feelings reveal a powerful blend of confidence, introspection, and a deep connection to new beginnings and growth. They have a strong sense of accomplishment, pride, and victory. They admire you, and are very proud of you. They may not openly express it, but they feel that they’ve overcome significant challenges in their life and are now ready for the next chapter. There’s a quiet sense of self-assurance and success, and they might be hoping for recognition and validation in their relationship, even if they don’t vocalize it.

They may be feeling the need for rest, recovery, or reflection. Perhaps they’ve been through emotional turmoil or have been working hard to reach their goals, leaving them needing some time for healing and quiet contemplation. They may feel a little worn out from past experiences and are likely longing for peace, rest, and space to recharge, though they may not openly ask for it.

Hmm they are very passionate about you;)  You give them this spark. They want to give you the world, but don't think it's just their thoughts and no action. No, they are action oriented. They are ready to embrace new beginnings, and their heart may be eager to explore the possibilities that the future holds with you. There’s an excitement in their energy that they may be holding back, not wanting to rush into things but feeling strongly about taking bold steps forward.

They may be silently longing for a deeper connection, one that’s rooted in love, care, and growth. They may not express it directly, but there’s a strong desire to nurture the relationship and create something beautiful and fulfilling together. They want to build a life filled with warmth, comfort, and mutual growth with you)

Thank you for reading pile 1)

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Pile दो

read by @asyatarot 🩷

Welcome pile 2! Your future spouse's unsaid thoughts and feelings are layered with both burdens and hopes for stability. They may feel a little bit overwhelming, because of responsibility. They may be carrying a heavy load, whether it’s from their  past experiences, personal challenges, or commitments they haven’t yet fully shared with you. They feel the weight of their obligations and the stress it brings, but they’re determined to push through, even if it’s taking a toll on their energy. Despite this, they may not be expressing just how hard it’s been for them, possibly because they don't want to burden you with their struggles.

They may have experienced a heartbreak in the past, or some wounds are still open. While they may not openly discuss it, the pain from a past relationship, betrayal, or loss lingers in their heart. They may fear that this hurt could resurface in the future, making them hesitant to fully open up or trust again. It’s a painful part of their emotional world that they might keep hidden, yet it’s influencing their approach to love and connection. They think and hope you will help them with it. Though they may not speak about it often, they are focused on creating stability and long-term success. They are pragmatic and reliable, working diligently toward their goals. They want to ensure that they can offer a stable, grounded life to their loved ones, including you. However, they may feel like they are moving slowly, carefully weighing every step to ensure they’re making the right decisions. They may be quietly hoping for mutual give-and-take, seeking a partnership where both of you share responsibility and support each other equally. They long for fairness and reciprocity, though they might not vocalize it. They hope they will stand it with you. Thank you for reading pile 2)

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Pile तीन

read by @tarotbyjam24

Hello pile 3 , your fs wish they could share their wins and achievements with you right now . And how they're feeling their best in the life . They would like to tell you that life's in working in their favour for now and everything's so smooth in their life. This energy of feeling fulfilled and grateful is coming to them after a long time. They wanna tell you how much inner work they did on themselves inorder to come where they're right now. When noone came to them they held themselves very gracefully. They showed themselves the kindness they wish others could show them but didn't. And now they're the just having it all in their favour. They wanna tell you how much they worked on their mindset to get it right and not always being pessimistic about the life. They really took the when life gives you lemon make lemonade seriously. They understood that all they needed was a inner change [changing themselves] and the world changed for themselves. All they think is right now if you were there with them they'll take you somewhere good and have a good time with each other and few drinks and share things about life and the hardships they went through. I feel they'll want to let you see their vulnerable side but it's only for you not for everyone. They'll want to tell you how they made peace with their inner demons and people around them. At some point in life they may have felt that they were all talks and no actions but they literally changed so much almost they became a new person for you as they were haunted by the thought that thye won't be enough for you when they meet you and it'll result into unreasonable clashes between both of you which is gonna break their heart. They wish at this point they could just talk with you about anything they just wanna talk with you. They wanna hear your voice. They're so lovesick almost like new lovers who just got into fresh relationship with no past experiences

thank you for reading 😊

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Pile चार

read by @tarotbyjam24

Hello pile 4 , how're you ? I feel your fs just wanna tell you that they would just want to sleep with cuddling them like a baby and just get lost in dreams while being asleep . They would like to compliment you if it was possible for them they'd just speak through mirror and pump you up with confidence everytime you look yourself in mirror. They wanna tell you to not doubt . They wanna tell you to not cage yourself and being so close headed. They wanna tell you to start thinking out of box. Their thoughts are just about how can they bring you out from the facade you trapped yourself in. They'd tell you to help yourself and not think that anyone else will come up to save you. Although it might feel like you're just at the verge from falling down but all of this is not real the rope you're tieing yourself with isn't real it's just a illusion. Your fs actually wants you to chill and think calmly because being serious for you didn't work so well lol. Your fs just wanna give you some rough love . Idk what about you pissed them off. But they're not leaving you know that they'll be by your side always holding your hands. Your future spouse actually wants to be your companion. They just wish they were with you all the time and they would protect you from hardships. Your fs wants you to meet their family . With you they're willing to go through unconventional and non traditional paths too. They would even keep family values aside for you. They want you to walk a unique path and not follow the rat race . They'd want you to take out for getting some fresh air , go to some religious places and pray together and have you in their muscly arms like squish you but cutely 😭

Thank you for reading 😊

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I hope you liked the reading . Thank you so much for letting me read for you . Wishing you best ahead . 🎀Bless you and have a nice day🌸🐰 I'd love to hear which pile you chose Loads of love , jam\gem🩷

[blueberrybirdsworld]

The Cat Distribution System 5/5

Summary:

When a stray kitten adopts Lando Norris, the self-proclaimed cat hater accidentally starts a soft-launch spiral with his secret girlfriend the ballerina Ariana Riverria.

Pairing : lando norris x original female character

Genre : Fluff, SMAU

Warning : none, just yeah the kitten will be different in some pictures

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

CHAPTER FIVE :

@landonorris

"She likes ballet and cats, I like girls with pink bows. Seems fair for me to fall in love of you 🤍🎀"

@oscarpiastri: okay FINE you guys are cute or whatever 🙄

@maxfewtrell: glad i don’t have to keep dodging questions anymore

@maxverstappen1: does this mean we can all talk about it now? asking for a friend

@charles_leclerc: finally. no more pretending i don’t recognize your cats 😂

@carlossainz55:

happy for you, mate. and for the cat. looks like he's running the house 🐱

@pietra: i literally screamed

@pierregasly: really glad you two are out in the open now

@arianariverria: glad you came around, glad you waited, I love you to mon coeur 🧡

@catdadconfirmed: for real they are the cutest

@f1slowburn: wait… “glad you waited”? what do you MEAN. was this enemies to lovers?? did he mess it up at first?? i need context

@ballerinaxboosted: ok now i need to know what happened before this. why did he have to wait?? WHO LEFT WHO??

@gridoftenderness: oh this is some “wrong time, right person” energy and i am SOBBING

@softlaunched: “glad you came around ” is gonna haunt me for weeks. they better give us the how we met story soon or i’m writing it myself.

@arianariverria

"And he said he hated cats 🐾"

@pietra: this might be my favorite post, you are perfect for each other ❤️

@alexandrastmleux: the perfect balance of grace and humor. you two make sense in a way that feels effortless 🫶🏻✨

@kikagomes: everything about this is so soft and real. happy for you both 🤍

@pierregasly: very glad you’ve tamed him. no one else could’ve

@maxverstappen1: finally. took you both long enough

@oscarpiastri: i was going to say something sarcastic but honestly this is sweet as hell. glad you posted it

@landonorris: well I like cats now but I love you even more 🧡

@chaoticpirouette: he’s SO GONEEEE 😭

@f1girlsunite: she pulled the man who got beat up by a kitten and turned him into boyfriend material. ICON.

@slowburnf1: "he said he hated cats" girl this is enemies-to-lovers pet edition

@balletxf1squad: i don’t think you guys understand the power of “i love you even more” from a man who used to flinch at commitment and cats 😭

@landoandariaupdates: this is the first time we’ve seen him say that out loud. publicly. fully. not a joke. not a tease. i’m emotional

@mcLarenhearts: this is what happens when you fall for someone who feels like home 🧡

📱@f1sleuths

THREAD : Lando & Ariana — how long has this actually been going on? Because “glad you waited” says a LOT.

1. okay soooo after Lando posted and Ariana replied with that, I went digging. I’m not saying I cracked their relationship timeline but I cracked their relationship timeline.

2. Remember when Ariana randomly gained like 15K followers in December? Now scroll back to Lando’s Brazil trip during winter break, 11 months ago. Guess who was also tagged in background stories ? 👀

3. Also, Pietra and Max started commenting and liking Ariana’s posts exactly 11 months ago. Kika and Alexandra followed her a week later. All the girlfriends followed her right after the Brazil trip that wre organised with some drivers and their girlfriends, where Ariana must have been too.

4. But the wildest part?

There’s an old pic floating around of Lando spotted leaving the Royal Opera House in London last December. It was Nutcracker season. Ariana danced the lead that month.

5. Which means — they’ve possibly been seeing each other before Brazil and then goes on couple holiday together with the group were she met the other drivers and girlfriends

6. But then around day 7 of the trip... Lando disappears from all group pics. No more candid tags.

Other couples still doing beach days, dinners, pool shots. Lando? Gone. And Ariana’s not in the rest of the trip either 👀

7. Which begs the question: what happened? Because right after that: Lando posts a cryptic IG story: "Sometimes space is the kindest thing you can give someone.”

Ariana goes totally radio silent. No ballet pics. No stories. No updates. No public sightings for weeks.

8. So maybe there was a shift. A fight? A misstep? Maybe she got overwhelmed. Maybe he messed something up. Maybe they both did.

But the point is — they separated, then go back together after he waited for her.

@gridromantics: this went from soft launch to literary drama. the slow burn. the waiting. i’m crying.

@f1archivegirl: so it was Nutcracker > Brazil trip with the crew > soft separation> reconciliation > the kitten > hard launch? that’s the arc???

@charliespurrlog: and don’t forget—Lando’s entire vibe changed 11 months ago. man started journaling, reading, wearing calm colors. the girlfriend effect is real.

@danielricciardoteapage: also… HE STARTED LIKING BALLET CONTENT. ON HIS PUBLIC ACCOUNT. WE HAVE SCREENSHOTS.

📱@balletxf1archive

THREAD: so can we talk about how the Brazil photos that just resurfaced basically confirm Ariana and Lando were already a full-on couple 11 months ago??? not “talking,” not “flirting”—a whole relationship.

@catdadconfirmed: they were already gone for each other. we were the ones late to the party 🥲

@mcLarenmutuals: it’s wild how Lando looks exactly like a man in love in all these pics and we STILL missed it for 11 months

@slowburnsofties: "not flirting, not a situationship — a relationship" YUP. and she meant every word when she said "glad you waited"

@gridromantics: people talk about the girlfriend effect like it’s about aesthetics but honestly? he just looked happier in Brazil

@heartonsleeveera: I know they’ve never posted an anniversary date but if they don’t celebrate it in December I’ll riot

The glow from Ariana’s phone screen was the only light in their quiet Monaco apartment. She was curled up on the couch in one of Lando’s hoodies, legs tucked under her, Charlie asleep at her feet. Lando walked out from the kitchen with two mugs of tea, pausing when he noticed the look on her face — soft, distant, maybe a little sad.

He placed the mug next to her. “You okay?”

She blinked, glanced up at him, then tilted the phone so he could see.

“Someone made another thread,” she said quietly. “About us. Brazil. The pictures.”

Lando settled beside her, his arm brushing against hers as he read over the thread. Blurry beach photos. Grainy candid shots. Theories. Timelines. A caption that said:

“They weren’t flirting. They were already each other’s.”

And then:

“Imagine loving someone that much, losing them, and still choosing them again.”

He exhaled slowly. “They’re not wrong.”

Ariana didn’t say anything for a long moment. She set her phone face-down and picked at the sleeve of the hoodie she wore. Her voice came quieter than usual.

“We almost didn’t make it.”

He looked at her, heart tightening at the truth in her words — not as regret, but remembrance. Because they had come so close to walking away.

“I know,” he said softly. “And it was my fault. I was stupid. Too proud. Too used to running when things felt hard.”

She shook her head. “It wasn’t just you. I shut down. I pushed you away.”

“You had a reason to,” he said. “I should’ve shown up for you better. But I meant it, Ari — I would’ve done anything to get you back”

That made her let out a soft laugh through her nose, but there were tears in her eyes now — not the heavy kind, just the full kind. Full of everything that had been held back, then let go.

“I hoped you would,” she admitted. Her voice cracked a little. “I hoped you’d fight for me. I told myself I’d be fine either way, but I wasn’t. Not really.”

Lando leaned in, pressing his forehead gently to hers.

“I would’ve followed you to every ballet in Europe if you hadn’t picked up my calls,” he whispered. “I would’ve sat front row until you looked at me again.”

Her breath hitched — part laugh, part sob. She reached up and touched his cheek.

“You’re such a softie now,” she whispered.

He smiled. “You made me soft. And really good at apologizing.”

She kissed him, slow and quiet, like she was still processing the weight of all they’d made it through. When they pulled apart, Lando nudged her nose with his.

“We messed up,” he said, “but we didn’t give up.”

She nodded, resting her head against his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her, fingers lacing with hers. Charlie stirred at their feet, mewed softly, then promptly rolled over and continued sleeping.

Ariana looked down at him, then back at Lando.

“You, me, and the catS,” she said with a small smile. “We turned out okay.”

He kissed the top of her head. “We turned out better than okay.”

@landonorris "Pics from our first date. The moment I knew I was falling for you. Happy 1 year, my love 🤍"

@arianariverria: How was I supposed to not fall for the boy who brought me flowers on first date? I love you too 🤍

@oscarpiastri: Okay but this is actually disgustingly sweet, I’m happy for you or whatever 🫠

@maxfewtrell: He went from cat-hater to flower-bringer in 12 months. love really is a personality shift.

@carlossainz55: One year already? Bro… you’re soft now. I like it.

@pietragoncalves: AND THE BOY KEPT SHOWING UP. proud of you two 💛

@landoinlove: who gave him the right to be this soft???? literally a flower boy now 😭

@gridgossipgirl: “the moment I knew I was falling for you”??? yeah I’m crying in the club

@charliesfavhuman: Lando: I hate cats and romance

Also Lando: posts anniversary love letter with a bouquet in frame 🧡

@carbonfiberhearts: oh so we were watching a love story and didn’t know it yet. I feel betrayed and blessed at the same time.

@balletbunfiles: he took her to see Monet on the first date??? meanwhile I’m dating men who think “romantic” is sharing their fries

@F1wagsupreme: this post just proved Ariana wasn’t a rebound or a crush. this man planned a real date with flowers and art 😭

@mclarencore: it’s giving ‘boyfriend of the year’ and I’m not even mad

@w14tears: Happy for them but also deeply unwell

@gridgirlfriendenergy: I love how everyone thought they were just flirty when this man was fully in love on date one

That morning, tucked away from the buzz of the internet, things were quieter. Softer.

Lando stood in the kitchen barefoot, while Ariana leaned against the counter next to him, half-asleep, nursing a mug of tea and wearing his hoodie that swallowed her whole.

Charlie and Aria had claimed the sunny patch of rug by the window, curled into one another like they always did.

Lando looked at Ariana, smirking as he flipped a pancake. "Rate my domestic skills. Be honest."

She blinked up at him, unimpressed. "They’re pancakes. You mixed stuff and didn’t burn them."

He feigned offense. "These are artisan. You’re eating Michelin-starred flour and vibes."

"You’re lucky you’re cute," she muttered, stealing a slice of fruit from the counter.

He grinned, pulling her closer by the hip. "You like me because I adopted a kitten."

"No," she said, teasing, "I like you because the kitten adopted you. Big difference."

They both laughed.

The kettle whistled. The cats yawned. And for a moment, the world felt simple.

"Hey," he murmured, tapping her chin so she’d meet his gaze. "Thanks for being patient. For the waiting. For everything."

She smiled, leaning into his chest. "You’re worth it. Even if Charlie is still my favorite."

He kissed her hair. "I know my place."

Ariana tilted her head up, fingers curling into the collar of his shirt. "Still, I guess I could remind you who ranks second."

Lando grinned and leaned in, his lips brushing over hers. It started soft, playful. But soon her mug was set aside on the counter, and he had her perched on the edge, hands gripping his hoodie like it anchored her.

"This is unfair," she mumbled between kisses. "You’re distracting."

"So are you," he murmured, trailing his mouth along her jaw. "Wearing my hoodie like that."

She was halfway into tugging him closer when—

Mew.

They froze.

Mew.

They turned their heads slowly to the left.

Charlie sat by the rug, head tilted, big round eyes fixed on them like he’d caught his parents sneaking candy before dinner.

Lando groaned. "Oh my god. He’s judging us."

Ariana burst into laughter, covering her face. "You said he was clingy, but I didn’t think he was Catholic-school-principal levels of judgy."

Lando carefully scooped her into his arms. "Alright. To the bedroom. My son must never witness this."

She giggled against his chest. "You’re ridiculous."

"I'm respectful," he said, already heading down the hall. "Let the child nap in peace. We’ve earned this."

Charlie let out one last dramatic mew.

Ariana shouted over Lando’s shoulder to the cat, "You’ll understand when you’re older!"

The end

Thank you so much for everyone who have been following this serie Maybe I will post some bonus parts to this if I get inspo, I think it could be interesting to have a prequel story of their meeting and what happened between them in Brazil, let me know if you will like to read it and to give me your review on this story !

Taglist : @angelluv16, @httpsxnox, @anunstablefangirl, @chocolatemagazinecupcake, @mayax2o07

[bucketbueckers]

I'D RATHER PRETEND

extra 3: life “over and over the only truth, everything comes back to you”

tags: @angryflowerwitch @avvwritesstufff @melpthatsme @rebecca-woso @bueckersg1rl @l0verl4ne @clouded-whispers @dolliest-thena @katemartinlvr @numberonepartyanth3m @glamourdaya @pbbucks @unadulteratedcyclepaper @paiges-1vur @thelightknight21 @ellehoops

wc: 9.0k

notes: finally getting through the last of the irp extra requests 😮‍💨 yes i didn't make a new banner and no i didn't want to. this is def the last extra chap i'll do (this is the end for real...that's crazy) bc after a while i feel like im beating a dead horse. tess kennedy you will always be famous. thank you all for loving irp, i loved writing it but she must go on her own way now 😓 poorly proofread but as always lmk what you guys think 🫶

i. why does ‘TessKennedysControversiallyYoungGirlfriend’ want you to step on her and how do i tell her to get a job

APRIL 2025, POST NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP

If you were to ask Tess, she would probably say, no, I’m not a jealous person. In a materialistic sense, she doesn’t make a habit of looking at what other people have and deciding that her life has any less value because of what she may lack. She’s a wholehearted believer that she could get anything that she wants (barring that slight crash out from a year and a half ago when she thought she couldn’t have Paige…but that’s neither here nor there) and if she couldn’t immediately get it, then she knows she could work for it. Those are the two fundamental truths of her life.

However, in the sense of her and Paige, Tess still doesn’t think she’s jealous. They’ve been together long enough that Tess is comfortably secure in their relationship. She has no reason to not trust Paige, Paige has no reason to not trust her, they’re happy and committed to each other and all is well.

But the lack of jealousy doesn’t mean a lack of possessiveness. Maybe possessiveness isn’t even the right word. Tess doesn’t necessarily think that Paige belongs to her and feeling owned honestly gives her the ick, so she’s fortunate that Paige doesn’t really think that way, either. There’s a simple understanding that they’re girlfriends – that means something, and if Tess had to admit anything, it’s that she enjoys Paige’s undivided attention a lot more than she lets herself realize or more than she will ever tell Paige (although there’s a small part of her that’s sure Paige has her suspicions).

Which brings them to where they are now.

The bathroom door in their hotel room is cracked open, the sound of water hitting tile echoing as Paige showers before their date. Following UConn’s championship win, Tess and Paige were treating themselves to a vacation before the draft rolled around. They knew they would immediately be in training camps and moving across the country, so they just wanted to enjoy this last bit of uninterrupted time together before shit truly hit the fan and the only way they’d get to see each other is during games. That was honestly a hard pill to swallow – being apart for so long, but they had a long, thoughtful discussion about it, promising to communicate and be present and all of that other sentimental shit.

Tess frowns down at her phone, her eyes all but burning a hole through the device as she reads Maddy Siegrist’s comment on Paige’s latest Instagram dump. Honestly, it’s not even that bad, but what is Tess if not a crash out? It was simple, reading dallas is about to get a whole lot hotter. First of all, ew? Second of all, Tess feels like that should be illegal. It feels like draft tampering. She can’t argue why but it just does. And third of all, has she said ew yet? She knows it’s probably teammate banter, but if she said that to Raven, then Raven would probably kill her before she got the chance to kill herself.

“Paige!” she calls, sliding off the bed and into a pair of slippers to pad into the bathroom.

“Yeah?” Paige says, opening the textured glass door to poke her head out.

Tess keeps her gaze respectful, not allowing her eyes to trace the water droplets as they trail down Paige’s cheek and jaw, dropping onto her chest. She flips her phone around, showing the comment section to Paige. “Tell your thirsty ass teammate to stop trying to homewreck.”

“My who?” Paige echos, biting her lip to stop her laughter as her eyes scan the comment.

“Your thirsty ass teammate.”

The look Paige gives her is nothing short of wicked. “One, she’s not my teammate.”

“Not yet,” Tess huffs.

Paige rolls her eyes. “Two, she’s engaged.”

“You do understand that you knowing that is like, worse, right?”

“Three,” Paige emphasizes. “Look who just followed you.” Tess resists an eye roll as she navigates to her notifications, her eyes catching on the one reading cameronbrink22 has followed you! When Tess glances back up, Paige looks smug, raising a brow. “You got a thing for blondes or sum?”

“You are so annoying,” Tess admonishes.

“Tell your thirsty ass teammate to stop trying to homewreck.”

“Not teammates!”

“Yeah, just like you’re not jealous,” Paige retorts.

Tess gives up on restraining herself and rolls her eyes fully. “I am not jealous.”

Paige grins insufferably. “Whatever you say, ma. You gettin’ in?” she asks, referring to the shower. “Save water?”

Tess huffs again, already reaching for the hem of her shirt. “Don’t say it like that,” she states, but she can’t help the way she preens when she feels Paige’s gaze fixed on her.

“I didn’t say nothin’ any type of way,” Paige says. “Just tryna be environmentally conscious and all that, let my jealous girlfriend know I ain’t showerin’ with nobody else.”

Tess turns, narrowing her eyes at Paige. “I’m gonna put my shirt back on,” she threatens.

Paige’s bottom lip juts out in a dramatic pout. “Noooo,” she whines. “Please don’t.” She reaches for Tess’s wrist, water droplets splashing against the bathroom tile and Tess lets herself be dragged in. “C’mon. Let’s talk. I know I’m being annoying but you’re being kinda passive aggressive so now I know you’re not just fucking around.”

Tess sighs as Paige shuts the sliding glass door behind them. Paige guides her under the shower stream, her hands rubbing her shoulders as the warm water envelops them. “I’m sorry. You’re right,” she concedes, drawing a hum from her girlfriend as she reaches for the loofah and the bodywash, beginning to work on scrubbing her back. “I’m not like, actually jealous, you know? I’m secure in our relationship and we both know neither of us are going anywhere. So I don’t feel threatened, but it’s just – she,  and the rest of your teammates – are gonna get to see you on a constant basis for four years and I – I don’t know. You’re not even gone yet but I miss you already. I know it won’t be that different from college and we’ve made our peace with that, but I guess some part of me had hoped otherwise for so long and the realization that we’re actually going to play away from each other professionally is sinking in. It’s stupid –”

“Not stupid,” Paige interrupts, leaning in to press a gentle kiss to the back of her neck. She places the loofah on the rack in the shower and wraps her arms around Tess’s waist, pressing their bodies together. It’s the casual intimacy like this that Tess will probably miss the most now that she’s had a taste of it. There’s no expectations right now, just her and Paige, and she sinks back into her hold gratefully. “It’s a big change for us, right? Even if we’re used to it, or whatever, it’s different ‘cause we’re like…locked in, you know? We’re not just girlfriends.” Paige huffs. “I’on even know if that makes sense.”

Tess shakes her head, her hands coming down to rest over Paige’s. “No, I know what you mean,” she agrees.

Paige squeezes her gently. “Point is, s’okay to be a little upset about it. Just don’t be scared of it. It’s not easy to…I’on know, think about right now, but once you’re actually livin’ it up in LA, playin’ with KP and Rickea and Cam, it’s not gonna feel as bad. This is your dream, baby,” Paige reminds her, kissing her cheek as she rocks them side to side. Tess can feel the smile Paige presses against her skin, one of her own growing despite herself. “Whether I’m right next to you, at UConn, or in Dallas, I’m blessed to even be part of your life. We’ll make it work. We always do.”

It’s then that Tess twists around in her arms, resting her hands upon Paige’s shoulders. Her thumb absentmindedly brushes across the slope of her collarbone but neither of them fully register it. “Are you…?”

“Upset?” Paige finishes. “Scared?” Tess nods, not trusting herself to speak. Paige’s expression melts into one of soft understanding. “‘Course I am,” she murmurs. The tension in Tess’s shoulder washes away under the shower stream, but she finds herself feeling guilty. Paige was also struggling with this change, and here she is comforting Tess about it. Paige seems to recognize the look on her face because she shakes her head. “I wish we could be closer, too. Like, if everything lined up perfectly and somehow we went to the same team. The league wouldn’t know what to do with us.” That makes Tess laugh, which makes Paige’s face brighten. “I just…gotta remind myself that it’s just different, not impossible. I promised you don’t gotta be scared with me. I meant that. And I know I don’t gotta be scared with you, either. So…it might be a little hard for a while, but we’ll settle in and we’ll be okay. It’s new and different but it’s exciting, right? Us, getting drafted? Me kicking your ass in the championship?”

“Okay, you ruined the mood,” Tess complains, extracting herself from Paige’s grip as the blonde laughs smugly. Despite her words, her tone lacks any real heat and she fights to keep the smile off of her lips.

“Hey,” Paige calls out to her, passing her the bottle of her shampoo. “Good?” The check-in is a gentle reminder that regardless of their conversation being softened by humor, Paige is still looking out for her, for her feelings.

Tess nods, wrapping Paige in a gentle hug as the blonde presses a kiss to her temple. “Good,” she confirms. “Thank you. For…” Her words falter, not because she doesn’t know what she’s thanking Paige for, but because she knows that there’s so many things that she could be thanking her for. 

Paige understands her all the same – she always has, which is just another thing on the long list of things that Tess finds herself thankful for. She smiles softly, her hand squeezing Tess’s hip. “I got you,” she promises, and Tess knows that���s the one thing she’ll always be certain of.

This brief period of peace doesn’t last for too long. They finish out the rest of their day, lounging around and enjoying their postseason vacation. They post a few TikToks together (which consist mostly of Paige roping her into thirst traps and funny couple’s challenges), DoorDash an unhealthy amount of snacks, and binge-watch movies until midnight when Tess falls asleep in the middle of a trashy rom-com.

Tess is in the middle of a strange dream – one wherein she and Paige are, for whatever reason, football players (although she supposes the recent football fixation is because Paige forced her to watch the Superbowl with her this year), when she’s gently shaken away. The voice in her ear is a soft murmur, pulling her out of sleep. The exhaustion makes her eyelids heavy but when they open fully, she sets her gaze on Paige. “You better have a good reason for waking me up this early,” Tess grumbles, pressing her face further into the space where Paige’s neck meets her shoulder, and she feels Paige’s body shake as she laughs.

“It’s 10am,” Paige says. “And I was bored. Tried waiting for you but you just kept on snoozing.”

“Paige Bueckers complaining about someone sleeping in,” Tess teases, mock-amazement filling her tone. “Someone pinch me.” Paige does, which makes Tess yelp and grab her hip. “Jackass,” she says. “Maddy Siegrist can have you. I don’t even care anymore.”

Paige’s eyes light up in remembrance. “A’ight, so I woke you up for a reason, actually,” she starts. Tess groans, but Paige’s hand traces the dimples on her back and that makes her forget all about her indignance. “So I was scrolling through TikTok. You remember that one we posted yesterday, the boogie on down trend?” Tess hums tiredly, the drag of Paige’s fingers lulling her back to sleep. “Never in a million years will you guess who commented on it.”

“Was it Sab?” Tess asks hopefully.

Paige huffs. “Worse.” Paige angles her phone to show her and at first, Tess is thankful that she had the foresight to at least turn her brightness down. “Why does ‘TessKennedysControversiallyYoungGirlfriend’ want you to step on her and how do I tell her to get a job?”

“Who?” Tess blinks once, lifting her head to look at Paige’s phone. True to her word, there was such a commenter, but what truly makes Tess giggle is the comment reading, ‘i want tess kennedy to step on me if only so she can scrape me off of her sneaker like day old gum.’ “Holy shit. That’s actually the craziest thing I’ve ever read.”

“That’s what I’m sayin’!” Paige cries. “We need to do something about this.”

Tess snorts. “Yeah, okay, let me just message my controversially young girlfriend and tell her my actual girlfriend is crashing out so she needs to stop commenting weird shit on our TikToks.”

“You laugh now but I’m serious,” Paige says, her tone leaving no room for argument. The pleading expression on her face tells Tess all she needs to know. She sighs again as Paige continues. “We need to post another TikTok.”

Tess gazes at her, amused. “Do you really think that will solve anything?”

“Prolly not,” Paige concedes. “But it’ll make me feel better. You don’t want me sad, do you?”

Tess narrows her eyes. “You are such a pain in my ass.”

“That’s not a no!”

Paige was correct. It was not a no. It became an okay, fine after Paige DoorDashed her a coffee and a bacon, egg, and cheese for breakfast, and once she was finally awake and coherent, she let Paige guide her to her heart’s content. Tess was actually pretty familiar with whatever trend Paige was trying to get them to do, but she kept that to herself because Paige had seemed so proud of herself and Tess wasn’t trying to take that away from her. It was simple – Tess was going to apply a thick layer of her lipstick – her go-to shade when she’s not settling for her usual gloss – and she would kiss lipstick stains onto Paige’s face. The actual video would start with Tess swiping the lipstick onto her lips and “accidentally” smudging it, then Paige would reach out to try and clean it, only for the camera to pan over to her face, revealing all of the kiss marks.

If Tess was being completely honest, she wasn’t sure how this was going to deter anyone. She’s sure it’s more fanservice at this point than anything else, or maybe Paige just wanted an excuse to post something like that. Regardless, Tess knew her intentions weren’t as pure as they seemed, but truth be told, she didn’t really care.

“Are you ready?” Tess asks, endlessly amused as she watches Paige inspect her face in the mirror, a ridiculously proud expression on her face.

Paige hums. “Nah. You missed a spot,” she says innocently, motioning to her lips. Tess rolls her eyes, but she obliges, kissing Paige soundly and leaving a red smudge across her lips. Paige examines herself once more, tilting her head back and forth each way like she’s actually going to find an inch of skin that Tess hasn’t stained, but she eventually settles down. “Perfect. Now we can start.”

Tess chuckles and locks in. The TikTok counts down from three before Daniel Caesar and Kali Uchis’s Get You starts playing. Tess swipes the applicator across her lips – her hand falters, dragging the lipstick off course. Paige reaches in, her thumb finding her chin and wiping the lipstick away as Tess pans her phone over to Paige, showcasing her covered in lipstick stains and the sickeningly in love expression on her face. Despite herself, Tess can’t help but be a little shocked – from the slight blush on Paige’s cheeks, the dopey grin, and sheer amount of affection that is reflected in her eyes, and she finds herself melting, too. She knows that Paige loves her – she says as much everyday, shows her how much everyday, but seeing how much when Paige isn’t doing or saying anything is a good kind of different.

Tess stops the recording, watching it back with Paige once. They’d gotten it perfect on the first try and after a lot of deliberation, Tess captions the video with the lipstick stain emoji and posts it. Paige looks unbelievably smug as they watch the comments roll in, a large majority reading, “just fell to my knees in a Walmart parking lot” (whatever that means).

“You done being jealous of fangirls online?” Tess asks teasingly, to which Paige kisses her teeth and shoves her shoulder lightly. Tess hardly moves and all it does is make her more amused.

“Wasn’t jealous,” Paige states. “Just wanted you to do that trend with me and make it very clear that you’re off the market and you’re not stepping on anyone. Let alone your apparent ‘controversially young girlfriend.’”

“Don’t worry,” Tess croons, squeezing Paige’s hand. “You can be my controversially clingy girlfriend. Or my controversially annoying girlfriend. Or–”

“Chill!”

ii. how many golden state valkyries does it take to screw in a lightbulb (spoiler: a lot)

LATE APRIL 2029

When Azzi suggested a team bonding activity to welcome in the Valkyries’ newest free agency pick-ups and their single draft selection, Tess had a couple of ideas. Maybe they’d all gather in the gym for some friendly scrimmage. Maybe they’d gather at someone’s house to have dinner and play party games like they weren’t pushing thirty. Or maybe they’d even go out on some fancy teammate preseason vacation – in her fourth year with the Sparks, Tess and her teammates went to Greece. But this? Tess didn’t even consider it.

“An escape room?” she repeats.

“Hear me out!” Azzi exclaims, water bottle in hand. The Valkyries had just wrapped up their first training camp practice of the season and even though it was grueling, Tess couldn’t deny that she was incredibly excited to play basketball with this roster – Azzi had developed into a monster in her last year at UConn and her time with the Valkyries had only strengthened that. Tess herself had improved her game tremendously and she knew that between her, Azzi, and Paige, the Valkyries would be a force to be reckoned with. Logistics and basketball aside, Tess was over the moon to be able to play with Paige – her wife, which Tess still isn’t used to thinking about. Life in the Bay was amazing so far. “So, an escape room teaches you how to work together, right?”

“Sure,” Kiki agrees, stretching her legs out. A few more of their teammates hum, their gaze set on the shooting guard.

“But most importantly, working together in high pressure situations,” she states. “Like, have you ever been in an escape room with your friends and you’ve got less than five minutes on the clock and you’re not close to finishing and everyone is screaming and yelling?”

“I’ve never done an escape room at all,” Tess admits, and Azzi’s eyes nearly bug out of her head.

“What?” she cries in disbelief. “You’re twenty-seven and you’ve never done an escape room?”

Paige nudges Azzi, a mischievous smirk playing on her lips as she wraps her towel around her neck. “Not too much on her now,” her wife says. “She ain’t even have an Xbox until I first made her play Fortnite with me.”

That draws more disbelieving gasps from their teammates and Tess throws her hands in the air, exasperated. “This isn’t about me! Azzi, please tell us more about your wonderful idea. Or literally anything else so Paige stops talking.”

“You married her,” Ayoka reminds her.

Tess shrugs. “I didn’t have enough community service hours at South Carolina,” she says. “Cathy said I couldn’t get picked up out of free agency unless I gave back to the world. Hence me marrying Paige so she learns to behave.”

Paige rubs her temples, opening her mouth like she wants to argue, but Azzi groans. “Guys! My turn to talk.” Everyone goes quiet, sheepish looks on their faces. “Thank you. So, I think we should do an escape room. Teamwork in high pressure situations, learning how to work together even when you’re pissed, ‘cause let’s face it, we know Paige is gonna pass to Tess religiously–”

“I’m a 64% three point shooter,” Tess interrupts. “There are worse things that could happen.”

“–and because I think it would be fun,” she finishes. Azzi scans the team with hopeful, doe eyes, and Tess knows in her heart of hearts that it’s not possible to say no to Azzi Fudd. “All in favor?” Simultaneously, every hand in the huddle raises and Azzi grins proudly. “Perfect. We’ll go on Saturday.”

The rest of the week passes in a blur of practice, shopping for more home decor, and even more practice. Finally, Saturday rolls around and Tess and Paige load up in Paige’s Jeep to head out to the escape room facility. They’d paid a little (okay, a lot) extra to rent out the entire place, knowing that if the media knew where they were, they wouldn’t be granted a second of peace. Paige offered to drive a few of their teammates, although Ayoka and Kiki adamantly refused, claiming that Tess and Paige were in a perpetual honeymoon phase and they couldn’t sit in the back and watch them make heart eyes at each other.

Contrary to popular belief, Tess and Paige could keep it together, but whatever. Riding alone just meant they could sing along to the High School Musical soundtrack in peace without being mocked.

They arrive at the escape room facility and only have to wait around five minutes for everyone else to show up. Azzi leads the Valkyries into the building, signing them in and delegating teams. They’d decided to separate into two groups of six with Tess, Paige, Azzi, Ayoka, Kiki, and Kate in the first group and the rest of their bench in the second group. Tess is quiet, taking her new team in, and a slow smile grows on her lips before she can truly process it. Paige has her arm wrapped around her waist, almost absentminded in the touch – Paige always has to have a hand on her one way or the other; over the years, it just became something that Tess doesn’t think twice about – as she bickers with Azzi over something stupid like “This escape room is ‘get away from your kidnapper’ themed? Az, we have got to get those Ellen Mover books away from you!” to which Azzi responds with, “First of all, it’s Colleen Hoover. Second of all, I don’t read her books – you were the one who dared me to read one and it made me throw up. And third of all, she’s literally in jail. There are no more Colleen Hoover books.”

Moving her attention away from her wife and her best friend’s latest debate (there was just something in Paige’s genetic code that made her want to test everyone’s last nerve), Tess glances at Kate, who’s grinning excitedly at Ayoka and Temi as she shows them photos of her dog. Kiki and Janiah are in the middle of a long-winded argument about a USC/UCLA match-up from last month where, according to Janiah, “The refs were blind as fuck, Kiki!” and, according to Kiki, “Invest in some LASIK for you and your bum ass Bruins so y’all can see what winners look like.” That makes Janiah gasp in indignation, but both she and Kiki dissolve into cackling laughter that draws the attention of Madison, Kayla, Celeste, and Dorka. The six of them lapse into an entirely new argument about which of their colleges were better.

Tess tunes them out, her smile turning fond as her heart constricts with happiness. She’s pretty sure that the second group – Temi, Janiah, Madison, Kayla, Celeste, and Dorka – is going to be just as much chaos as the first group, but she gets the impression that they’re going to make it out in time.

Finally, the escape room operators return to let everyone know that the rooms are ready. Without further argument, the Valkyries separate, although Janiah glances back to taunt, “See y’all after we win!”

Tess and Paige share a glance. Then they look at Azzi, then Ayoka and Kiki, and then Kate, and they don’t need to say anything else to know they’re going to make Janiah and her team eat shit.

The six of them are led into a dim room, locking hands to make sure none of them trip or stumble, although someone — Paige — seems to bump into the wall as evidenced by a high-pitched “Ow!” that causes Tess to snicker. The operator sits them down and adjusts the bindings on their wrists and ankles. They’re loose enough that they could easily slip out of them, but where’s the fun in that? The door closes without another word and the Valkyries sit in silence until the overhead speaker crackles to life. 

The operator’s voice is affected by a voice modulator, sounding distorted and mischievous as they explain the set up. You’ve been kidnapped! Luckily for you, your assailant is away for an hour to collect supplies. You and your party must work to escape before he returns. Pretty standard stuff. Per the operator’s instruction, one person’s bindings weren’t fully locked, so it’s their responsibility to figure out who it was, and then they must locate the master key that’s hanging on the wall by the door. 

“Okay,” Azzi says calmly. “Who’s not locked up?”

Tess stretches out her wrists and her ankles to no avail. “Not me,” she states, followed by agreements from Paige, Kiki, and Ayoka. Tess hears the click of someone’s bindings before their victorious cheer. 

“Don’t worry, guys,” Kate says proudly. “I got this.”

“Our hero,” Kiki mutters dryly as Kate begins feeling around the room in search of the key. 

Tess eyes the clock in the corner of the room. 59 minutes left. “No rush, Money,” she says nonchalantly. “There’s not a kidnapper on his way back or anything.”

“Paige, get your wife,” Kate gripes. 

“I said no rush!”

“Feels like you’re rushing me,” she says, her tone clearly teasing, and Tess grins despite herself. Kate makes another noise in celebration once she’s finally found the key. “Okay, I’m gonna unlock Azzi first, give her the key, then I’m gonna try to find our next clue.” After Azzi is free, she makes her way around the room to unlock everyone else as Kate begins her search.

Soon, they’re all free, and Kate has narrowed down their next step. To open up their next clue box, they have to replace the flickering lightbulb in the room. Removing the old bulb requires them to solve a puzzle, so Kate directs their group to split. Kate, Azzi, and Paige work on solving the puzzle to unscrew the lightbulb while Ayoka, Kiki, and Tess work on solving the puzzle to get the new bulb.

Evidently, this task is incredibly difficult. Paige curses under her breath as she reads the instructions again, adjusting the number sequence and pulling. The lock doesn’t budge. Meanwhile, the clue to unlock Tess’s puzzle is written entirely in a cryptogram – albeit, a really simple one, but the six of them are operating on one shared brain cell (which Azzi probably has) – and Ayoka and Kiki can’t seem to figure it out.

It’s then that the operator phones back in to offer some advice. “How many Golden State Valkyries does it take to screw in a lightbulb?” the operator asks, their voice deep and teasing, and all it does is cause the room to let out simultaneous groans. “Time’s ticking, Valkyries. Perhaps you should consider how…connected, these clues are.” The room goes silent again and instantly, Tess knows what to do. Cryptogram in hand, she spins around and meets Paige, who is on the same wavelength. They pore over both of their clues until Tess keys in on the strange spacing between the letters of Paige’s clue and the symbols on her cryptogram. Placing the papers over each other, Tess and Paige cheer when the cryptogram symbols line up with several letters. It gives them enough to work with and Tess inputs the answer. To everyone’s relief, the lock gives and Tess produces a lightbulb and another clue from the chest.

The new clue lines up perfectly with Paige’s initial clue and she puts in her new sequence, too. Her lock opens up and she extracts the lightbulb, swapping it out with Tess’s, screwing it back in, and locks it into place. Finally, the light in the room returns fully and the Valkyries cheer now that they can see better. Paige raises her hands in a high five, bumping chests with her wife, and nobody in the room can truly keep the grins off of their faces.

From then on, the six of them work like a well-oiled machine. There’s no true “leader” as everyone showcases their strengths on different puzzles. The clock in the corner of the room serves as motivating pressure, but they don’t let it get to them, staying focused and working together quickly. 

With five minutes left on the clock, they’re struggling through the last puzzle together, searching for the final key to unlock the remaining door to escape. It’s Paige who clutches up with less than thirty seconds remaining, finally solving the puzzle and securing the key. Ayoka, Kiki, Tess, Azzi, and Kate all cheer as Paige fumbles with the key, sticking it in the lock and twisting. The door opens with a click! and the six of them rush out, high fiving each other with huge grins on their faces.

The operator meets them at the exit, grinning and congratulating them, but the sweetest reward of all is the maniacal laughter coming from within the room across the hall from them, followed by screaming. The six of them share a glance and within moments, the other half of their team exits their escape room, defeated looks on their faces, but no one is truly upset. Temi claps them all on the back, expressing her pride and the sentiment that “you don’t win them all,” and Tess softens a little bit.

Tess locks eyes with Janiah, who smirks at her. “Don’t wanna hear it,” she says, drawing laughter from the shooting guard as she raises her hands in surrender. “I ate my words – that’s okay.”

They gather for pictures, posing with weird props, and Paige rests her arm on Tess’s shoulder as if she’s more than two inches taller than her. Tess rolls her eyes, but grins when Paige presses a cheeky kiss to her temple, her lips curling into a faux snarl as she holds up a prop knife. Tess knows better than anyone else that these photos are going to cause the Internet to explode once the Valkyries media team posts them, but she can’t find it within herself to care, especially not when Paige pulls her a little tighter into her side.

The ensuing argument about where they should get lunch eclipses any argument or disagreement they had while they were in the escape room, but they eventually settle on a steakhouse not too far away. Everyone loads up, driving away without a second glance, but Paige hesitates for a moment in her Jeep.

“Everything okay?” Tess asks her, concerned as she places her hand over her wrist.

“Yeah,” Paige says softly, her shoulders relaxed. Tess knows instantly that it’s the truth. “I just…I’m really happy. I’m here with you. I love our teammates. Everything’s perfect.”

“It is,” Tess agrees, which makes Paige squeeze her hand gently. It’s a little strange to think back on everything they had to do to get here. The whole fake dating thing – to go from that to being married for real is hilarious in retrospect, but Tess wouldn’t change anything about them – the hundreds of miles apart during their rookie contracts, the countless hours of work and commitment and honesty. All of that has led Tess to where she is now – married, playing professional basketball with her best friend, and living the kind of life she used to always dream about.

iii. bueckers-kennedy to bueckers-kennedy for three, good if it goes…

OCTOBER 2029

Tip-off wasn’t for another ten minutes, but the Chase Center was already roaring. The cheering from both sides of the arena was almost suppressive, half of the stands donning the Valkyries white and purple and the other half clashing with the Indiana Fever red. Both the Valkyries and the Fever were equally matched – after DeWanna Bonner and Natasha Howard’s departures/retirements, the Fever scouted for young talent just as the Valkyries had. A couple of free agent steals added to their already stacked roster, but Tess knew that she was leaving this arena with another ring on her finger tonight, even if the Fever made her work for it.

To be honest, Tess didn’t really plan to go to the finals in her first year as a Valkyrie. Playoffs, sure, but the league was stacked. The Valkyries, however, rose to the challenge. They dominated the league with a staggering 39-5 record. Their starters were deadly and their bench was full of energy and experience. It took weeks of practice, drills, and film to get here, but Tess knew that her team was willing to do what it takes to shut down the Fever tonight.

Tess makes her final rounds to her teammates, offering words of encouragement. She’d truly grown into her own leadership role on this team, too, providing excellent veteran experience. She knew how to push the right buttons to get her team going, a trait she’d picked up from five years with Coach Staley, who was in the crowd tonight. She was actually courtside next to Geno. Knowing the both of them, they’d probably spend the entire game roasting their respective players. Smiling at that thought, Tess finally makes her way over to her wife, who is working on her handles and sinking the ball in from the midrange. Paige grins when she sees her, pulling an airpod out of her ear and joining Tess for their silly, pregame handshake with several steps.

“You ready for this?” Tess asks teasingly.

Paige kisses her teeth, waving her off. “‘Course I am,” she states confidently. “Just make sure you land your shots, a’ight? Azzi already thinks 75% of my passes go to you.”

Tess snorts. “That’s because they do, babe. And because I do land my shots, thank you very much. 67% three point shooter, remember?”

Paige smirks. “You tryna flirt with me before our big game?”

“Oh, are you turned on by numbers now?”

“Just the ones that show my girl’s the best shooter in the nation.” Tess rolls her eyes, unable to stop the blush from lighting up her cheeks. “You ready?” Paige’s voice softens.

“Yeah,” she confirms, no hesitation. “We’re unstoppable. We’ve got Azzi. Ayoka. Kiki. Kate. Madison–” Paige clears her throat, raising a pointed brow. “Oh, right. Saniya, Kayla, Celeste–”

“Heard,” Paige mutters. “I’m only passing to Azzi tonight.”

Tess laughs, her eyes shining. She squeezes Paige’s hand quickly, not wanting to do too much in front of the cameras that she knows are undoubtedly trained on them. “And the best point guard in the country,” she finishes in a murmur. Despite herself, Paige’s lips quirk into a smile, a little bashful. “What do you say about winning our first chip together tonight?”

“I’d say you’re running out of fingers to put your rings on,” Paige jokes.

“Well,” Tess hums, raising both of her hands and examining her ring fingers. Her engagement ring and wedding bands are both absent – because playing with jewelry was hazardous and Tess would lose her mind if her rings ever got damaged – but she smiles at the sight of the dual tattoos on both of her ring fingers. During the All-Star break, she and Paige had finally mustered enough courage to get matching ring tattoos so they could show it off, knowing that they couldn’t wear their rings as much as they’d like to due to their professions. “At least I always have the important ones.”

Paige’s smile turns impossibly tender. Seeming to forget about the cameras, she lets the ball fall to the ground, stopping it from rolling away with her foot, and takes both of Tess’s hands in her. Delicately, she presses her lips to both of Tess’s ring fingers, giving her hands a gentle squeeze. “I love you,” she whispers. “You and me?”

“You and me,” Tess agrees, smiling widely. “I love you, too.”

The time passes quickly and finally, the ball is tipped. Ayoka just barely beats Aliyah, awarding the Valkyries the first possession of the game, and Kiki passes the ball to Paige with haste as she begins directing traffic to her liking. The offense rotates seamlessly until a hole in the passing lane opens up and Paige sails it swiftly to Ayoka, who lays the ball in with ease.

The Fever open up their possession with a signature Caitlin Clark three. Paige, Tess, and Azzi share a glance as the ball falls through the net cleanly. If that’s the pace they want to play at, then the Valkyries are happy to oblige.

The first quarter passes in a series of back and forth buckets, crucial defensive stops, blocks and steals, and Tess ends it off with a clean eight points. Azzi trails her with six, then Paige with five (although she’s racked up five assists of her own), and Ayoka and Kiki combine for another eight points in the paint. The Valkyries hold a slim three point lead over the Fever, 27-24, but going into the second half, they’re unwilling to let that lead go.

And they don’t. The Valkyries double down on their defensive pressure, holding the Fever scoreless for the first four minutes. Kate, Saniya, and Madison provide great minutes for the Valkyries as they log a combined 14 points. Paige and Tess sit for the last three minutes of the half. They head into the locker room 53-48, where Natalie emphasizes the need for stops. The Fever were a very powerful team offensively – if they were able to shut them down there, then their defense would falter, too.

Although the Valkyries come back stronger in the second half, the Fever do, too. Caitlin opens the third quarter with two back to back threes that put the Fever in the lead by 1. One possession later, when they’re all in the huddle after Kiki was fouled by Aliyah in the paint, Paige reminds them to get their head in the game, to refocus. Caitlin was starting to take the game into her hands, which means she was passing less and shooting more. Applying pressure on Caitlin would get the ball moving, and since the rest of her team wasn’t as hot yet, applying pressure on them would stagnate their offense.

The rest of the third quarter passes quickly. The Valkyries are able to hold Caitlin out, but the rest of the Fever start warming up. Lexi Hull is explosive from the wings, adding to Aliyah’s paint dominance, and by the time the quarter ends, they’re tied 71-71.

This was their final game of the season. Win or go home. They’d played six games against the Fever already with the series tied at 3-3. The Valkyries need to put an end to this game, now. The final quarter was a defensive battle through and through. Tess comes down with two critical steals which allow for two, quick transition scores from Paige and Azzi respectively. Kiki and Ayoka own the paint, sending three different lay-up attempts flying into the fifth row of the stands. And Tess? She’s hot from three, sinking two back to back shots in seamlessly and forcing an early Fever timeout.

With three minutes left in the game, they’re still tied 82-82. They’d played a clean quarter and had a couple fouls to give, so the final minutes of the game were a test of clean clock management or getting the ball to their sharpshooters to hopefully make the deficit too large to come back from. After the timeout, the Fever have possession, and the game starts back up again.

The last minutes are tense, a mix of shots and bricks and running down the clock to try to get a hold of the last possession. The game is still tied 87-87 and with twenty-five seconds left on the clock, it appears as though the Fever are letting the time run down before they try for a final shot. Tess is on Caitlin like glue, the look in her eyes reminiscent of the second Final Four they’d ever played against each other in college. Tess has spent enough time playing against her and watching her play to read her tells perfectly. So when Caitlin steps back, gearing up for a deep three to either send the game into overtime or send the Fever home with a championship win, Tess jumps with all the power she can muster, the muscles in her body rippling as she extends her fingers as far as they could go.

The ball scrapes against her fingertips, sending it off-course and directly into Paige’s waiting hands. Tess and Paige are speeding off in tandem without another thought, but the Fever are quickly back on defense. With five seconds remaining, Tess makes a break to weave around Caitlin, acting as though she’s driving to the bucket, although she plants her feet and steps back, watching as Caitlin slides harmlessly across the court. She angles her body to receive the incoming pass from Paige and without a second thought, she pulls up to shoot the three.

Over the pounding of her heart, the roar of the crowd, and the commentator’s cry of, “Bueckers-Kennedy to Bueckers-Kennedy, good if it goes…”

The buzzer rings, echoing in the arena, but the swish of the net is all Tess truly registers.

“It’s good! The Golden State Valkyries are your 2029 WNBA Champions!”

Tess is immediately swarmed by her teammates, their laughter and cries and cheers like music to her ears. She feels the tears spring to her eyes as she wraps her arms around whoever, she doesn’t know, but she holds onto them as tightly as she possibly can. The one thing she does know like the back of her hand, however, is the looping arm around her waist, the warmth of the palm against her stomach, and Tess turns in their group hug to throw her arms around Paige’s neck. Her wife’s hold on her tightens as they share elated giggles. Tess can feel Paige’s tears as they soak into the fabric of her jersey, and this feeling right here – winning a championship and having your wife be the first person you see after sinking the game winner? There’s no better feeling in the world. Paige lifts her clean off the ground, the rest of the arena fading into nothing behind them, and the one thing Tess is certain of is that she and Paige have plenty more wins in front of them.

Tess lifts her head, scanning the crowd, the sea of white and purple jerseys that are here for her, for her team, at her home in the Bay. She watches as Azzi pulls Kate into a bone-crushing hug – they were truly a dynamic duo; Kate, becoming the face of the organization after the expansion draft and Azzi being the organization's first drafted Rookie of the Year. The both of them had truly put so much into this team and Tess can’t help the fresh wave of tears that pools in her eyes. Temi and Kiki pull Natalie onto the court to celebrate with her, too, because why wouldn’t they? Natalie is the fucking coach of the year and she’d just guided her team to a championship win in her fifth year as head coach.

Her feet touch the ground again, dragging her out of her thoughts, and Tess all but beams as she glances up at Paige, her hands resting atop her shoulders once more. “What I say, huh?” Paige jeers, a wide grin on her face. “Game winning three? You’re like that, baby?”

“Game winning assist?” Tess echoes, tangling her fingers in the fabric of Paige’s jersey. “We’re like that?”

Paige’s nose brushes hers, her teeth bared in excitement, although the look in her eyes is impossibly soft, reserved just for her. The kiss that Paige plants on Tess’s lips, in front of the crowds and the cameras and the eyes, softens the heat and the thrill of the moment, and Tess can’t help but sink into Paige’s embrace. They’d done it. They’d really done it. She almost can’t wrap her mind around it, but Paige is firm, tangible, here, and it’s all the proof that Tess needs to know that this wasn’t just a dream.

When Paige pulls away, her smile is tender. “Same time next year?” she murmurs, and all Tess can really do is pull her back in, whispering the same promise against her lips.

iv. no, sweetie, mamma does not have more championship wins than mommy, she’s lying to you

SOMETIME IN 2044

“And so that’s how you and Mamma fell in love? Like for real?”

Carter’s voice is childlike, full of wonder as she stares at both of her mothers in awe. At five years old, she’s the oldest of Tess and Paige’s two children. Their youngest child, another daughter named Alessia, is only a year younger than her sister, but Carter holds onto that year like it’s the most important thing in her life. To be honest, Carter probably gets that from Tess, which is something that Paige teases the both of them for on the daily. Both of their children are laid in their beds, having demanded a bedtime story like the hours they spent running around all day didn’t tire them out.

“For real,” Paige agrees, wide-eyed herself, and even after fifteen years married, nearly twenty together, her antics still make Tess smile like they’re lovesick twenty-somethings.

Both of them had retired in 2039 after ten successful years with the Valkyries. After their first championship win, they added on four more, which would probably be enough to secure their spots in the Hall of Fame. They’d long since retired their jerseys – both at the collegiate level and for the Valkyries. Numbers 5 and 25 would never be worn again, although at the rate Carter and Alessia are progressing, Tess and Paige think that they might have to make an exception for the next generation of Bueckers-Kennedys to carry on the torch. Carter and Alessia, fortunately, aren’t at the age where they want to argue about who gets which mother’s jersey number, but Tess knows that day is coming sooner rather than later. Following retirement, Natalie brought them on as assistant coaches, although Natalie herself retired a few years later. Tess and Paige were going into the 2044 season with Paige as the official head coach of the Valkyries and Tess as the associate head coach. Tess was content to let Paige have it, knowing the sheer amount of paperwork that came with being the head coach, although that was for naught as Paige tends to drag her into head coach conversations, anyways.

At first, Tess and Paige had wanted to adopt, but after looking at the IVF options, Tess quickly found the appeal in carrying. Paige was a hard no, which Tess wasn’t really bothered by, but pregnancy was a discussion that took a long time before they ever truly reached a consensus. It wasn’t that they were in disagreement on a lot of things. It was more so the fact that pregnancy was huge, even for them, and they wanted to give themselves enough time to fully consider the ins and outs of it and the extensive process that was IVF. Ultimately, Tess ended up carrying both Carter and Alessia, and that was that.

“And then you had me and Carter,” Alessia states matter-of-factly.

“I came first,” Carter points out proudly, puffing her chest out, and Tess and Paige share an amused glance. 

“Yes, you did,” Tess agrees, brushing her fingers through Carter’s hair, her heart swelling when a toothy smile lights up her daughter’s features. 

“Why couldn’t I have been born first?” Alessia complains. 

“‘Cause you’d be named Carter,” Paige retorts, which makes Carter gasp and Alessia nod as if it makes a ton of sense.

“I like being Alessia,” their youngest daughter says, yawning when Paige adjusts her comforter, tucking her in and pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“Wait,” Carter says, a confused expression on her face as she sticks up her fingers to count. “So Mamma has one…two…champ-ships in college. Mommy has one.”

Paige’s eye twitches and Tess fights the urge to laugh. “Championships,” Tess enunciates slowly, smiling when Carter tests the syllables out on her tongue and strings the word together. “But yes, honey, Mamma had two championships in college and Mommy had one.”

“Then Mamma beat Mommy in the other champ – championship –” Tess nods proudly when Carter looks up at her for reassurance, “– and then Mamma and Mommy won five together.”

Tess hums in confirmation. “Your Mommy could never really win when it came to me, huh?”

That makes both of their children giggle, although Paige huffs dramatically. “Mamma wins more?” Alessia asks.

Tess nods again and Paige kisses her teeth. “No, sweetie, Mamma does not have more championship wins than Mommy, she’s lying to you,” she argues.

“Babe, what’d we say about lying to the kids?” Tess teases, but she knows Paige is just joking, too, matching smiles on both of their faces.

“Lying is bad,” Carter agrees wisely, waggling a small finger at Paige. The blonde swoops down, pretending to bite her finger, and that just sends Carter into another flurry of giggles.

“You’re too smart for your own good,” Paige murmurs, kissing Carter’s forehead. She makes sure to turn back around, brushing Alessia’s hair out of her face and grinning at her. “You, too. You both are the smartest, most beautiful, kindest girls in the world.” A smile grows on Tess’s face as she watches Paige interact with their children. When they were first seriously talking about pregnancy, Paige was always a little worried that she wouldn’t be a good mom. She thought motherhood had to be natural, that it couldn’t be trial and error. Tess finds that Paige is a mix of both. She’s a natural in the way she uplifts and encourages their daughters, in the way she teaches them how to be better humans, although it took her a few attempts to figure out how to discipline them (on the rare occasions it was warranted – Tess and Paige truly lucked out and got the perfect children).

Tess used to think that one day, it would be impossible to fall anymore in love with Paige, but she continues to surprise her. Watching her be a mother to their daughters activates a different part of her brain entirely. It’s like it was something she was destined to do, and Tess can’t help the way her heart swells at the sight.

“Time for bed,” she says softly. Surprisingly, Carter and Alessia don’t complain, only sticking out their tiny arms. Tess and Paige both wrap them up in tight hugs, leading them both through their goodnight prayers and making sure to whisper their I love yous. With a gentle chorus of “Night Mamma, night Mommy”, Paige shuts off the light in their room, closing the door with a gentle click.

Paige doesn’t waste anymore time after. She wraps her arms around Tess from behind, sighing against her softly as her head falls onto her shoulder, pressing a chaste, innocent kiss to her neck. “You’re really good with them,” Tess comments.

Paige squeezes her waist a little tighter, a soft noise that sounds vaguely like disbelief building in her throat. “They’re my girls,” she murmurs. “So are you.” Her hands trail to her stomach, fingers brushing against the soft skin of her navel, the sinew and the power in her muscles despite how motherhood has softened her. “I love you so much, you know that?”

Tess chuckles, twisting around in Paige’s embrace to hug her fully. Her body is warm against hers, solid. It’s always the easiest way to ground her after long days where being a mother tests her patience. Paige’s arms envelop her fully and Tess sighs, melting into her. “Been told a time or two,” she murmurs, which makes Paige huff out something akin to laughter as she sways them back and forth.

“You’re good with them, too, you know,” Paige reminds her after a while.

“You make it easy,” she states.

“We’re a team.”

In lieu of a verbal response to that, Tess presses up on the tips of her toes to kiss her wife, soft brushes that make her feel like it’s their first kiss all over again. The peace in her heart feels like contentment, like relief. She has everything she’s ever wanted in life; her wife, her family, her legacy. Wrapped up in Paige’s arms outside of their childrens’ bedroom is truly what fulfillment feels like.

When Paige draws back far enough to whisper, “Thank you for giving me this life,” Tess knows exactly what she means. Her love, her heart, their children – they all add up to be the greatest successes of their shared life together. Tess couldn’t be anymore thankful, more appreciative of the way her life has played out. Paige is worth it. Their children are worth it. And for as long as she has her family, she knows that home isn’t so far away.

[offscreeneddie]

I close my eyes and all I see is you, buddie, 3,5k words, mature

“Dad. Has anyone ever told you that you’re gay? I think you might be gay.” Chris finally asks the question we have all wanted to ask Eddie Diaz for years.

“Dad. Has anyone ever told you that you’re gay? I think you might be gay.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I’m just saying, Dad. It would kinda… track. You know. With your history and everything.”

“Chris, what are you talking about? I’m not gay.”

“Dad.”

“Why would you even think that? I mean, not that there would be anything wrong with that, obviously, I know a lot of gay people and I love them and you know I would still love you if–”

“Dad! I know that, but I’m not gay. You are.”

Eddie pulls the car over. They’re on their way home from the El Paso Museum of Archaeology. After Chris moved in with Eddie and quit playing chess, they’ve been using the newly opened time slot to try to mend their relationship again by trying different things together. Slowly but surely they’ve opened up to each other and Eddie feels like they’re almost back to where they were before everything went down.

They’ve been talking about Shannon. About Kim. You made a mistake, Dad. And I just needed some space. About how Helena and Ramon kept Eddie in the dark and how they had been doing the same to Chris, thinking they were doing what was best for them both. They had been wrong. What was best for Eddie and Chris was for them to just… talk it out. It might not have worked right after it happened, but if Eddie had been brave enough he would have made it happen sooner than this. But he hadn’t been brave enough.

You don’t need to protect me, Dad. But it was hard. Protecting Chris was engraved in Eddie’s whole being. He had sworn from the day Chris was born that he was going to protect him from everything bad this cruel world had to offer, but he had failed, over and over and over again. Leaving him with Shannon. Twice. Having her leave him with Eddie. Leaving for LA with no plan for Chris. The tsunami. Chris running away. Kim. Not stopping Chris from leaving. Not going after Chris when he left. Waiting for Chris to say he wanted to come home. Waiting too long to go back to El Paso. He had failed countless times. The car comes to a stop.

Eddie sighs. “Care to share why you’ve come to this conclusion?”

“I think you’re gay,” Chris says, smiling with his whole face. “And in love with Buck. You’re always talking to him.”

Eddie’s heart skips a beat. Buck? That is, in fact, hilarious, he thinks. He is totally laughing out loud right now, slapping-his-knee-laughing-out-loud. Hollering. Except he’s not. He just sits there, hands still on the wheel, staring at Chris with his eyebrows up to his hairline.

“Dad, come on. It would make a lot of sense.”

“Chris. You know I’m straight. I loved your mom.”

“See? Loved mom. That’s past tense.”

“I will always love your mom.”

“Did you love Ana?”

He hadn’t loved Ana. That’s the reason it didn’t work out. He had wanted to love Ana so badly. She was the picture perfect person for him, and for Chris. Everything he wanted. Or, everything he thought he wanted in a partner. “No, I didn’t.” He owes Chris to be honest with what he does know, after all their progress.

“And Marisol?”

“I– no. No.”

“And Buck?”

His heart skips a beat again. Of course he loves Buck. But not like that .

“Chris. I love Buck, but he and I are just best friends, you know that. Just because he came out as bi doesn’t mean I am too.”

“I know that, dad. I said that you’re gay .”

He groans. “Please stop. We need to get home, it’s getting late.”

“Come on, Dad.”

Eddie signals and pulls out in traffic again. “I’m not gay. Okay? I’ve never even thought about it, anyway.”

Chris huffs. “Well, maybe that’s the point I’m trying to make.”

Eddie just shakes his head and doesn’t say anything. He’s not gay.

-

He’s… maybe a little gay, actually, when he thinks about it.

Eddie went to bed early. Chris was in his room on his computer anyway and was done hanging out with him for the day, and Eddie had no interest in rotting in front of the TV as he had done other nights. And Buck was on shift so he couldn’t talk to him either, not that he wanted to tell Buck about this anyway. He shifts in bed and tries to find a comfortable position, but everything feels uncomfortable. He tries for another ten minutes, maybe, before he gives in and grabs his phone from the bedside table.

“how do you know if you’re gay”

You feel sexually aroused when you see attractive people of the same gender as you. You've had crushes on people of the same gender as you in the past. Your past opposite-sex relationships have felt "off," uncomfortable, or not romantic or sexual. You have sexual fantasies about people of the same gender as you.

Eddie reads that third sentence again. Your past opposite-sex relationships have felt “off”, uncomfortable. Oh. He clicks in on the wikiHow article and scrolls down a little.

4. Reflect on your past relationships and how they made you feel. You can be gay even if you’ve had straight relationships in the past. Okay. Right. He continues reading. Think about who you dated in the past and how comfortable you felt in the relationship. Shannon. He loved her. Ana. She was nice. Marisol. Well. Ask yourself if you felt attracted to this person and what type of attraction you felt. This can help you figure out if you might be queer.

Eddie had been attracted to them. They’d had sex, and it had felt good. Maybe they’d never… done anything more than the normal stuff. He liked going down on them, them going down on him. He liked the way their soft skin felt under his fingers, and how nice it felt to be inside them. But anything else hadn’t really been interesting to him. With Shannon, they were still teens, and after she got pregnant, they tried to sometimes but it had felt wrong. And after Chris was born… he left. And then she left. And came back. And they used sex instead of talking. And with Ana... they didn’t sleep together until a while into their relationship, mostly because of Chris. But Marisol was a different thing. They had so much sex, all the time. But that stopped when he found out about the nun thing. But that was just the Catholic guilt, right? He scrolls down again until he finds something else that sounds interesting.

wikiHow Quiz: Am I Gay? Well. It won’t hurt. First question. Have you ever had feelings for a same-gender close friend?

These answers are… interesting. I think so. That’s why I’m taking this quiz. Well, he had never thought about it before. Wait, what’s the difference between a friendship and a crush? Shannon was his best friend when they got together. She made him feel warm and safe, and she made him laugh. She never made him nervous. Ana and Marisol had made him feel nervous. He had a panic attack at the thought of Ana being Chris’ mom. Marisol made him panic too, eventually. Oh. Don’t think so, but we’re so close people joke that we’re dating. Buck is his best friend. He makes him feel warm and safe. He makes Eddie laugh. Nope. We’re just friends.

He exits the browser and opens up the photos app and scrolls that instead. He doesn’t take that many photos, really, but the ones he has are of Chris, him and Chris, Chris and Buck. Him, Chris and Buck. Buck alone. Eddie takes a deep breath and sighs, long and loudly. Buck.

He rubs his eyes and chuckles, and opens up a picture he took of Buck a while back, standing in Eddie’s kitchen, apron on, holding out a dish looking so proud that Eddie just had to take a picture. Looked like one of those people who pose with a fish. But it’s Buck in an apron and Eddie is… so in love. He doesn’t need the quiz anymore.

He looks at the time and he really did go to bed early, it’s not even nine in LA. He calls Buck.

Buck answers quickly, and he sounds a bit worried. “Hey, Eddie, is everything alright? Is Chris okay?” Oh, right, Buck is on shift. He forgot.

“Everything’s fine! I just… um. How’s it going? You at work?” Eddie swears he needs to stop acting on impulse again.

“We just got back from a call, some kid got stuck in a swing. Got him out, safe and sound!” Buck’s voice is calm again and it makes Eddie’s whole body feel warm, knowing he will always want to know if Chris is okay first. Eddie loves him.

“That’s nice to hear. Kids, man.” Kids, man?

“So, what did you and Chris do tonight?”

“We uh– we went to a museum we haven’t been to before. It was fun. Nothing happened, really.” A lot of things had happened, actually.

“Eddie, are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. I just wanted to… say hi.” He hesitates for a second and his voice goes a little quieter. “I miss you.”

Buck’s voice is soft when he replies. “I miss you too.” And then the alarm goes off. “I need to go. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay? Bye, bye, bye!” And he hangs up.

Eddie groans. How could he not know ?

Okay. So, he knows he’s in love with Buck. Chris was right about that. But the gay thing? Is he attracted to Buck? Is he attracted to men ? He had been honest with Chris that he had never thought about it. His mind had never even gone there. But Buck’s hadn’t either. He opens up his browser again, but this time he clicks incognito mode and grabs his AirPods. He only puts in one so he can still hear Chris if he needs something but he won’t risk him hearing what Eddie was about to do.

He’s familiar with the ordeal if he is in a rush to get off and his mind is tired. It isn’t often he does this, usually he does it in the shower. No clean up necessary, as a stress relief after work. When he does do this however, he searches for those real-life couple videos. He likes it when it feels like they actually enjoy it and there’s no exaggerating. This time, however, he adds “gay” to his search. His pulse goes up and he already feels his boxers tightening. Oh, that’s… interesting.

He clicks on a video with a good enough title and a thumbnail that doesn’t look too vulgar. He takes a deep breath and presses play. The two men in the video are on a bed, dressed in t-shirts and sweats, just kissing softly. One of them is stroking the other one’s face with his thumb and the other one’s hand is rubbing his side, fingers slowly exposing skin and Eddie shivers . He’s already hard. This does it for him? When he’s been watching porn before, he usually has to get to the actually fucking parts before he’s even there. He palms himself for relief.

The men in the video start grinding against each other and he can see their hard cocks through their sweats. The one who was rubbing his side slides his whole hand under the shirt and pulls it up, making them break the kiss to remove it. Sitting up, he can clearly see their tented sweats. Eddie groans as quietly as he can, looking over at the door to see that it’s really closed before he starts rubbing at his cock through his boxers.

He continues watching as they undress each other just to their boxers and the one on top has kissed his way down his body to mouth at the wet spot that’s clearly showing. Eddie’s sure his looks the same. He closes his eyes and thinks about Buck doing that to him. His lips would be swollen after all the kissing, his eyes would be big, the arousal making the blue almost disappear. He imagines Buck’s big, calloused hands, fingernails bitten down to the skin, stroking his hard cock through his boxers and he has to put his phone down to the side and put his fist against his mouth to stop the sound coming out from him. The audio keeps playing in his AirPod, but it’s enough. He finally slips his hand inside and wraps it around himself. He thinks about Buck, his hard cock rubbing against his own, their precome mixing, Eddie’s big hands wrapping around them both.

Oh. He’s definitely attracted to Buck. He’s just never… thought about it. And now when he is , he can’t stop. He’s thinking about his eyes, his lips, his birthmark that gets redder when he’s working out. How it would be intensely red during sex. Eddie’s stroking himself fast, imagining how Buck’s body would move against his, how good it would feel to kiss him, to touch him, to be inside him. Eddie comes. Hot and sudden and so intensely fast, just at the thought of fucking Buck. Oh, he’s down bad. The video is still playing in his ear and he’s pretty sure it hasn’t even been five minutes.

So. He’s definitely not straight. Maybe even gay, actually. And he’s in love with Buck. He should get Chris a present.

-

Buck calls him the next day when he gets off shift. Eddie’s dropped Chris off at school and he’s getting himself ready for another day of Uber driving. The only good thing about that is that he can choose his own hours, and right now he can be at home, trying to figure out what to say to Buck. It’s a FaceTime call. Eddie answers. Buck looks so soft.

“Hi.”

“Hey, Eddie. You good?”

He can be brave. This time, he can be brave enough.

“Chris thinks I’m gay. And in love with you.”

He thanks his impulses this time.

“W-what?”

“And he’s right. I am.”

“Eddie, what?”

Eddie takes a breath and he feels his cheeks burn, looking anywhere but directly at Buck.

“Chris asked me if anyone’s ever told me I’m gay. Which no one has, obviously. Never even occurred to me to think that I could be.”

“Eddie–“

“And you know I loved Shannon. She was my best friend.”

“Eddie–“

“And Ana, you know that story. And Marisol–“

“Eddie!”

He looks at Buck again.

“I-I think I’m in love with you too?”

Oh.

“I mean. I couldn’t– I wasn’t– you’re straight. Or was. Maddie told me it wouldn’t be so crazy.”

“You’ve talked to Maddie? About that?”

“Eddie. I-I couldn’t sleep in your house for days after I moved out of the loft. And then I couldn’t shut up about you to Ravi at work and then he brought me Tommy at the bar and w-we hooked up and he left after he accused you of being his competition! The whole time!”

Eddie’s heart beats fast. “You brought… Tommy to the house?”

“That’s not the point, Eddie. He implied I had feelings for you and I said, no, of course I don’t have feelings for you because you’re straight. But–”

“Was that your reason?”

“Uh–”

Eddie starts laughing. Wholeheartedly laughing. For real, this time. “Wait, when does Maddie come in in all of this?”

“I kinda ran to her place after Tommy left and told her what had happened. And I told her I was not in love with you. Because you’re straight.” He pauses. “But you’re not.”

“I’m not.” He feels so high that he doesn’t even try to stop himself from saying it. “I got off thinking about you last night.”

Buck goes bright red. “Oh?”

“I– It was like a light switch, Buck. I had no idea. I’ve never let myself think about it.”

There’s a spark in Buck’s eyes now. The same spark he had seen when he had flipped the iPad in Eddie’s kitchen. “What did you think about, Eddie?”

“Oh. I, um, I watched some porn.” He coughs. “Gay porn. And all I could think about was you. Doing those things. To me.” His face is still burning.

“And you liked it? Thinking about me?”

“You could say that. I don’t even think they were fully undressed by the time I came.” Eddie shifts in his seat, the picture of last night fully in his mind right now. “I only kinda half-listened to it. Was imagining you.”

Buck moans a little. “Oh, and uh, what did I do? In your mind?”

“We were in bed. You on top of me. Kissing my neck… touching me.” Eddie is straining against his jeans, desperate to touch himself. Buck looks like he is in a similar situation, his face flushed and, yeah, his birthmark does in fact, get redder during arousal. “I could fit my hands around us both.” He finally gives in and zips down his jeans, freeing himself and puts his hand around his swollen cock again. The relief is instant and he moans very loudly. “And then I lost it when I imagined fucking you.”

Buck groans at that. “ God , Eddie, I want you to fuck me.”

“I don’t want to think about God right now, Buck. Not in the same sentence as fucking you.”

Buck snorts. “Sorry. Forgot you have that Catholic guilt thing going on.”

That gets another genuine laugh out of Eddie. “I love you, Buck. No Catholic guilt about that. It’s in fact the most not guilty I’ve ever felt about anything.” And he means it.

He gets a soft look up at him. “I– I love you too, Eddie. I think I didn’t let myself think about it because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to stop, if I did.”

“Do you want to come and visit us soon?”

“What I would like to do, right now, is to come , Eddie. We can talk about visiting after. Please .”

Eddie scoffs. “Yeah. Okay. I’m right there with you.” He points his camera down at his cock. “See?” The precome is literally dripping.

Buck lets out a sound he’s never heard him make before and does the same. “I wish I could touch you. I want to suck you off. I need to suck you off.”

“Keep talking, Buckley,” he says, and the look he gets as a response is everything. His mind goes back to the night when Buck told him he was going to sublet his house and giving up a part of his life for him. Eddie loves him so much, and he wonders for how long he actually has. Probably always.

Buck is stroking himself fast now, panting into the microphone. The camerawork is under all criticism but Eddie doesn’t care. He knows he doesn’t need much now, either. Seeing Buck like this is enough. “I am going to suck you off until you see stars and then I want you to fuck me. I want you to fuck me so deep that you will never want to do anything else ever again.”

Eddie groans loudly as he comes all over his hand. Buck seems to follow right after, phone tossed to the side as the wet sounds stop. A moment later, he’s back on the screen, face flushed and his bottom lip caught on his teeth. They’re just looking at each other now, and they both chuckle. “That was… nice.” Eddie says. “Can’t wait for us to do it for real.” Buck somehow nods and shakes his head at the same time.

“Yeah. I have some PTO saved.” Buck says. “I think Bobby will gladly approve it, after these weeks. He too got an earful of your name the first shift after you left, not just Ravi. But he also kept calling for you instead of him. Poor guy, really, big shoes to fill. I should apologize.” Buck looks like he really feels bad about it.

“If we play our cards right, maybe he doesn’t need to fill them. Maybe he could join us instead.” Eddie smiles fondly as he says the next thing. “I have a feeling Chris would love it if you were to help me ask him if he wants to come home to LA after all of this.”

“Yeah?” Buck’s eyes literally sparkle.

“And I kind of want to keep this a secret until we pick you up from the airport, making a big scene of you arriving, just kissing you like we’re long lost lovers. Or something like that.”

Buck’s face scrunches a little in concern. “Are you sure you want to lie to him again?”

“I think this is the only thing he would find hilarious if we kept from him. As long as you visit, like, as soon as you can because I’m not sure I will be able to keep it a secret for too long. He will notice something is up. Oh, and you need to help me find something nice for him. I need to thank him.”

“For what? Making you gay?”

“For being the best kid in the world.”

[traveler-at-heart]

Lessons of love - Part 3

Nerd!Natasha x Rogers!F Reader

Wdym I'm writing fic instead of resting 😅 anyway, I just had to finish this to give my brain a break.

Whatever this is, blegh, enjoy it.

Part 1, Part 2

--

Melina’s study was an amplification of her daughter’s room. It was all neatly displayed, wall to wall covered in books, some in other languages that you were sure she was fluent in. 

There was a laptop on her desk, atop it a pair of reading glasses; a gentle reminder that geniuses are human too.

“It’s not what it looks like” Natasha spoke first. You and Melina scoffed at the same time.

“You two look like a couple. So, am I to understand that it’s incorrect, and you’re going around kissing every girl that crosses your path, Natalia?”

Natasha turned to you, her eyes pleading for help. You crossed your arms.

“No, go on. I’d like to hear what you have to say about this” 

“I… uh…” your girlfriend mumbled and you turned to her mother, finally giving Nat a break. 

“Mrs. Romanoff, I’m terribly sorry for the way you found out. Truth is, I’ve been crazy about Natasha for such a long time, but never really thought I had a chance with someone like her. And then, Fury paired us in Chemistry and things just went from there” you turned to look at Natasha for a moment, smiling. “To be fair, we only made it official on Wednesday”

“Natasha, she’s a keeper” Melina said, blown away by your sincerity. Natasha had to agree. You had a way with words that she admired. “Well, congratulations. I know you’re both responsible girls, but there’s not gonna be late night outings during school days. I can’t obviously speak for your parents, Y/N, but I hope Natasha keeps her excellent grades and you both focus on school”

“I agree, of course” you nodded.

“Now, as for safe sex” 

“What?” you jumped, while Natasha stared at the ceiling. She pleaded in Russian, but her mother dismissed her words. “Mrs. Romanoff, we’re not there yet. At all, so don’t worry”

“I’ve had the talk with Natasha, of course” Melina spoke, and it was as if she didn’t listen to you at all. “I know your father is a surgeon, but if he’s not up for helping you with birth control at some point and you need an adult to accompany you, please know I’ll be happy to come with you. You must be responsible when having intercourse”

“Which hasn’t happened yet, Mama!” Natasha intervened.

“Right” you said, though… to be fair, it had crossed your mind. Especially when your girlfriend was towering over you as she opened the car door… or did anything, really.

You might be the horn dog in this relationship.

“I’m just obligated as a parent to mention it. If you have questions, please come to me” she said, reading your flustered expression. Busted.

“Yes, Mrs. Romanoff” you said.

“Very well! Now, please, would you like to join us for dinner tonight? We should go out and celebrate!”

“Yes, of course” you smiled, sensing the hard part was over. Melina clapped excitedly, walking you out of her study. 

“I’m so sorry” Natasha rushed as soon as you were out. You stopped her with a short kiss, smiling against her lips. “Why…?”

“I’m just… happy. That’s all” you said. “It’s ok, baby. Your mom is looking out for you. I don’t mind the talk, or anything else”

“That thing you said… about liking me for a long time. That was just to get her to calm down, right?”

“Oh, Nat” you leaned to kiss her again. “You’re so clueless, my love” 

The girl blushed. She had a hard time deciding which term of endearment made her knees weaker. 

“I have to go, tell my parents and all. Remember we’re going to the movies with the twins, and then dinner with your family, yes?”

“I’ll come with you, we’ll tell your parents together” 

You shook your head no. Natasha was about to protest, when you placed your hand on her chest, letting out a shaky breath.

“I told you, Nat, they’ve been having a hard time with me lately. I’m worried they’ll scare you away”

“They won’t” you gave her a gentle look to remind her how her own mother had made her trip with her words. “Ok, I know. I’m not as good as you when speaking to people. But, whatever they say, it won’t scare me away. If I have to go through a background check or take a test or cure cancer to be with you…”

You cut her off with a kiss that turned frantic as she pulled you closer. 

“Nat?”

“Yeah?” she said against your lips, eyes closed.

“I’ve thought about it… about, you know. That”

“Oh” she looked at you, and you swore her pupils dilated.

“It’s too soon, I’m aware. But… I guess I wanted you to know”

“Ok”

“Ok” you repeated, pecking her lips. “I’ll see you at the movies. Ask Yelena if she wants to come”

“You sure you don’t want a ride home?”

“Yes, darling” you nodded, squeezing her hands. You could use the time to walk and think. “I think I’ll stop by my mom’s gallery. It will be better if she’s the one I talk to first”

Natasha nodded.

“Text me when you’re there? Or if you change your mind. I’ll go pick you up”

“Thank you” you nodded, smiling as she opened the door for you.

“I like it when you call me all those things… baby, love” she confessed on your way out. “Not sure which one I like the most, though”

“Well, then I’ll have to come up with new nicknames to see which one is better. Lucky for you, I’m good with words” 

—

You were hoping to prolong the walk, but in the end, it only took 20 minutes to get to your mother’s gallery. It was a Saturday, which meant Wanda was working until noon. 

“Hey” you greeted your friend at the reception. Wanda looked up from her notebook and smiled at you. You placed your hand on the desk and she gaped at the bruises.

“Holy crap. You weren’t kidding” 

“Trust me, he had it coming”

“Everyone’s asking me about it. Your popularity has gone up a bit” Wanda leaned forward and you frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“Jessica Jones asked me if you’re single. Darcy was similarly interested. I didn’t know if you wanted the rest of the school to know about Natasha so… I just said I had no idea”

You sighed. Considering Natasha’s concerns about hiding your relationship, it was better if everyone knew. You just had to figure out how.

“Well, I’ll fix that later. Right now I have to tell Mom”

“She’s in her office, speaking with a Japanese artist”

You nodded, walking past your friend to the back of the gallery. Knocking with your good hand, you waited for your mother to answer.

“Come on in. Oh, hi sweetheart. I thought you’d be staying home, recovering from yesterday”

“It’s just a bruise, Mom. Nothing to recover from” you took a seat in front of her, looking at the board behind her desk and the Art History books that she kept all over the place. It was an interesting contrast to Melina’s study, the image of order and chaos mirroring their own disciplines. Creative and scientist.

“Well, what are your plans for the day?”

“Uh… going to the movies with the twins and Natasha”

“The Romanoff girl? She’s so nice. Very shy, but sweet” your mother noted, still writing on her notebook.

“Yes, actually… we’ve been lab partners this semester and we’re also kinda… dating” you said the last part while your heart was beating out of control.

You gulped, as your mother put her pen down and looked at you. 

“Please don’t be mad” you begged, but she smiled that comforting smile that let you know she had your back.

“Mad? You’re 16. At your age, I was leaving a trail of broken hearts”

“Mom!”

“Don’t tell your father, though. He was a late bloomer”

“Speaking of Dad… can you be the one to deliver the news to him? He’ll get grumpy and you’re the only one that can handle him” 

“Don’t you worry about him, darling girl. Leave him to me. Now, will you wait for us to finish here so we can go to lunch and you tell me all about Natasha?”

“Of course” you smiled, always happy to know your mother was on your side. “I’m having dinner with her family tonight”

“Well, then she’s having dinner with us tomorrow”

“Yes, Ma’am” you nodded, thinking you’d have to prepare Natasha for meeting Captain Joseph Rogers.

—

Pietro and Wanda picked you up for the movies, the music booming across the street.

“Are you insane?” you leaned over Wanda to lower the volume on the stereo. Pietro laughed, his fingers drumming against the wheel.

“He’s been playing that stupid song since I told him you punched Rumlow”

“Eye of the Tiger is not a stupid song” he protested, finally stopping as he drove you to the movies. “She’s our Rocky Balboa!”

“Dork” Wanda mocked her brother with an affectionate smile and then turned to you. “Why are you dressed so fancy?” 

You had a burgundy cashmere sweater, camel colored pants and boots.

“Well, I’m having dinner with Natasha’s family. Do you think it’s too much?”

“You look amazing” Pietro assured you and you went to hug him  from your place in the back of the car.

“My favorite Maximoff”

“Hey, I called you fancy!” Wanda protested and Pietro laughed. “So, are you nervous?”

“Not really. I’ve spoken to her family, and I always see them when Natasha and I work on Chemistry homework. I’m more concerned about what Captain Rogers will have to say about Natasha”

“I’m sure it will be fine” Wanda said with a soft smile. She knew how hard these past few months had been, with the accident and the fallout between your parents and Steve.

Seeing Natasha eased some of the tension. Yelena was looking around the cinema when you arrived and after making the proper introductions, you moved over to greet your girlfriend.

“Hi” you said, kissing her softly. “Missed you”

Pietro pretended to gag behind you and you elbowed him.

“Wow, that was harsh”

“I’m Rocky, remember?” you winked, taking Natasha by the hand. Pietro insisted on buying popcorn and Yelena followed suit. 

“Don’t spoil your appetite, we’re going out for dinner tonight” Natasha reminded her. Yelena pouted.

“I can eat popcorn and have dinner, Natasha”

The redhead roller her eyes, but was soon distracted by your hand on hers. Either way, Yelena got away with it. Once at the theater, Pietro squeezed his way between Nat and you, saying he’d sit in the middle holding the giant popcorn bucket.

You gave him an angry look that he ignored and you had to play dirty to sit next to Natasha.

“Hey, babe” you called for her, leaning over Pietro so he would listen to everything. “We should go shopping tomorrow. You ripped my last pair of underwear, remember?”

“Ew, no” Pietro moved, allowing you to change seats.

“Ha. Easy” you mocked, leaning against Natasha. 

The movie started and you could tell Yelena and Pietro were hitting it off, making similar comments about the movie. Wanda was no better, pointing out things that the other two had missed.

“Oh, no, if they team against us we’re done, baby” you whispered against her ear. Natasha tried to reply, but moved against the back of her seat, pulling at the fabric of her pants. “What’s wrong?”

“I have a very good imagination” is all she said, trying to cover her crotch.

“Shit, sorry. I was just trying to get Pietro to move. Try to think about… something else”

“I’m trying” she said through her teeth.

“What are you going to say to Selvig tomorrow when we meet him?” you asked, hoping that would do the trick.

“We’re meeting him?” she turned to look at you and you shrugged your shoulders.

“Yeah, why not? If they don’t let us, I’ll use my press badge from the school paper and demand a Q & A session or something. Shutting down a teenager looking to learn more about the universe might be bad press”

Natasha chuckled, relaxing against your side. You could tell she was feeling better and the tension had eased. Just to be safe, you let her approach you first, and she reached for your hand, placing a small kiss at the back of it.

“I can’t wait for Virus XX!” Pietro clapped as you left the theater. 

“There’s gonna be more? We’re gonna be married leaving the kids with the sitter just to watch the next one” you whistled.

“I’m sooo full” Yelena complained.

“I warned you” Natasha said. The sisters began arguing and you waited for Wanda and Pietro.

“Ok, now I’m feeling nervous” you admitted. Wanda placed her arm around your shoulder and Pietro patted your back.

“You’ll do great and they’ll love you. You care about Nat and make her happy, that’s all her family wants” 

“Right” you took a breath, trying to slow your heartbeat. As you reached the exit, you waved goodbye to the twins and walked to Natasha’s car.

Your girlfriend was quiet during the car ride, and Yelena filled the silence with questions about practice and the twins. You were happy that they hit it off. Once at the restaurant, Natasha opened the car door for you while Yelena walked to the entrance. You took her hand, and followed her sister.

“Wait” Natasha asked, pulling you back.

“What’s wrong, Nat?”

“My family is a lot sometimes. They’re just loud and crazy and ask the weirdest questions…. If it’s too much…”

“Natty, it’s fine” you promised, kissing her cheek. “Come on. I’m starving” 

“You look very beautiful, by the way”

“Thank you, I wanted to make a good impression” you blushed.

“They already like you. My mom couldn’t stop talking about how wonderful you are” Natasha commented, pulling the restaurant’s door for you to enter.

“Well, I’m very fond of your family too. But you’re my favorite, sweetheart”

The Italian restaurant had a nice atmosphere, with warm lights and soft music playing in the background. Melina waved at you and you walked towards their table.

“The girls are here, come, have a seat!” she said, excitedly. “I do hope you’re hungry”

“Yelena is starving” Natasha mocked and her sister glared.

“I am, actually” 

“Oh, Alexei, you know Natasha’s girlfriend, right?”

You waved at Alexei and he nodded. 

“Wait, how do you know? Mama just found out today” Yelena said.

“Well, they do homework together and go to the movies. Isn’t that what friends do?” Alexei looked at the two of you.

“No, Papa, they are girlfriends. As in holding hands, kissing and… bleh, other stuff. I don’t want to lose my appetite now that it’s back” 

“Oooh. Our little Natasha, quite the Casanova, eh?” he teased his daughter, laughing when she blushed. “Well, I’m very happy for you two. Tell me, what do young people do for dating now?”

“Well, movies, picnics, the mall. We’re going to the Planetarium tomorrow”

“Oh, we used to go there all the time” the man said, taking his wife’s hand. “And the minute it got dark, Melina would pinch my butt” 

“Ew, why?” Yelena dropped the menu, looking upset. 

“Because your mom is a butt girl, aren’t you, sweetheart?” 

“No, that’s not what I meant, Papa”

“Oh, I see where Natasha gets it from” you joked, unable to help yourself. Your girlfriend looked around the table, turning red.

“I am officially not hungry” Yelena grumbled, making everyone laugh.

—

You focused on some homework during Sunday morning. Since you were meeting Natasha later, you also cleaned your room and got a chance to do your hair and make up, opting for a loose dress and a light jacket.

“Dinner isn’t until 7:30, young lady” your father said as soon as you walked down the stairs. He was wearing a polo shirt and slacks, carrying a book about World War II. His idea of a relaxing Sunday was very different from yours.

“Oh, I’m going out with Natasha”

He groaned, removing his glasses. 

“Yes, your mother mentioned this Romanoff girl”

“So, what do you think?” 

“You’re too young” 

“I’m not marrying her. Yet” 

Your father glared and you had to laugh at his stern expression. So dramatic.

“This isn’t funny”

“Dad, do you know what we’re doing today? Going to a talk about Astrophysics. You really have nothing to worry about.”

“There will be rules”

“I expect nothing less from Captain Rogers”

“And curfews”

“Those are like suggestions to me, but sure, go ahead”

“Young lady” 

Stepping forward, you hugged your father. Guess you can’t really take the military out of the man. But still, he had a soft spot for you and conceded, his arms around you.

“I love you, Pops. And I’m happy. So, just trust me on this one?”

“Ok, sweetheart” he nodded, sighing. “I guess I just refuse to believe you’re growing up”

You broke apart when the doorbell rang. Natasha was waiting at the door, wearing a white shirt with jeans, blue blazer and oxford shoes. 

My God, glasses too. 

“Hi” you greeted, staring. She looked… dashing. “Uh…”

Your dad rolled his eyes, stepping forward and introducing himself.

“Captain Joseph Rogers”

“Natasha Romanoff, sir. A pleasure to meet you” she shook his hand and you were surprised by her confident demeanor. Double fuck, she looked even hotter now.

“Dinner is at 1930” he informed your girlfriend. “No speeding, no texting while driving. You understand me?”

“Yes, sir” Natasha nodded. Your mother shouted from the kitchen, making you snap out of your trance.

“Joe, just let them go and come help me!”

“Thanks, Mom! Bye, Dad” you kissed his cheek, taking Natasha by the hand and pulling her towards the car. “You look… wow”

“Yeah? I thought it would be more formal, considering the event” 

“Handsome” you blurted out, making Natasha blush. Oh, yeah. She liked it a little too much. You played with the lapel of her blazer, feeling hot everywhere. “My father is probably staring out the window but know that if he wasn’t, I’d be all over you right now” 

Natasha groaned, opening the car door for you. Unable to help yourself, you gave her a quick kiss, smiling as she began the drive to the Planetarium. 

During the ride, you went over some basic information about your family that would probably help her with conversation. You mentioned your mother and her time living in Paris while she got her Masters in Art History, your Dad and how he went from Army medic to surgeon at a private practice. You mentioned that Bucky lived with you because his father was working in D.C., and how your father and Colonel Barnes went way back to their days as soldiers.

By the time you reached the Planetarium, Natasha felt she understood where you came from a little bit better. 

“Wow, this is amazing” you admired, looking at the scale models of probes sent to explore space. NASA had collaborated with the museum, sharing materials and information that came first hand from their work. Natasha explained things and concepts that sounded totally foreign to you, but you nodded, appreciating her enthusiasm and admiring the way her eyes lit up every time you came across some fascinating space rock. 

“Please join us at the conference room for Doctor Selvig’s talk” the hostess announced, and you let Natasha guide you to your seats. 

You were fully expecting the talk to be full of science terms and concepts that were above your comprehension, but Doctor Selvig was a great speaker, and the hour went by in the blink of an eye. There was a standing ovation as he delivered his last remark, and before it was over, you pushed Natasha to the side of the stage.

“Let’s say hi to him”

“Why?”

“Because he’s cool and you look like you want to cry from being in the same room as him” you whispered, intercepting him as he walked down the steps. “Doctor Selvig, Y/N Y/L/N with the Daily Shield. My girlfriend Natasha Romanoff is a great fan of your work”

“Hi” Natasha greeted him, starstruck.

“Romanoff? Any relation to Doctor Melina Romanoff?”

“She’s my mother. Do you know her?”

“We met at a conference in Berlin a few years ago. She has some interesting ideas about the composition of minerals we found near meteorite sites”

“Right. Molecular astrophysics. I’d love to study all of that” Natasha said excitedly.

“If you’re half as brilliant as your mother, I’m sure you’ll be very successful” he said, patting her shoulder. “It was a pleasure to meet you both”

“Likewise, Doctor Selvig” you said as he went to greet the people from NASA. “How cool was tha…?”

Natasha kissed you, pulling you by the waist. 

“Thank you” she whispered against your lips.

“No, thank you” you smiled, enjoying her closeness. “We should get going. I just need to use the restroom first”

“Ok” she nodded, kissing you again. God, she made you weak in the knees.

You felt light as a feather as you walked to the bathroom. Everything was coming together so nicely; Natasha’s family liked you and you were sure your girlfriend would manage to turn around your father’s bad mood.

Coming back to the auditorium, you searched for Natasha. To your surprise, she was speaking with a girl that looked ready to pounce on her any minute.

“Hey” you greeted, standing next to Nat. 

“Oh, hi. Ready to go?” Natasha turned to you.

“Aren’t you gonna introduce me?” you eyed the other girl, who smiled and extended her hand.

“Jane Foster”

“Y/N Y/L/N. I’m Natasha’s girlfriend”

“Oh, I had no idea you were dating anyone” the girl commented and you had to resist the urge to punch her. “Natasha and I met last summer at Science Camp. No wonder you stopped texting back, Natty” 

Jane reached out, squeezing Natasha’s arm playfully. Your anger transferred to Natasha when she just stood there and did nothing.

“Yeah, well. We should go, we’re having dinner with my parents” you said, although the last thing you were was hungry. 

“Nice seeing you, let me know if you’re going to the Winter Retreat. We’ll have the best time” Jane said with a wink.

“Nice seeing you too” Natasha said goodbye, while you rolled your eyes, walking to the exit as fast as you could. “Y/N, wait for me. Y/N!” Natasha insisted, chasing after you. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“She was flirting with you” you accused, looking down. Since when were you the jealous type? “And you didn’t tell her you had a girlfriend. What was that about?”

“I just… don’t really think of her as anyone worth talking to?” Natasha admitted. “We spoke for a bit during summer, but that was it. I’m not interested in her”

“It’s just that…” you sighed, kicking the floor. “She’s smart, right? She probably understands everything about this exhibit and more, and could talk to you about all these science things while I’m… just me”

“Stop right there. You’re funny, and beautiful, and smart, kind, caring… I could spend all night listing things that drive me crazy about you”

“Crazy good?” you blushed, taking her hands.

“The best type of crazy” she promised.

“Ok” you nodded, allowing her to pull you closer. “I’m calling a truce because you look too damn good right now”

“Yeah?” Natasha smiled. Unfortunately for her, you spotted her good friend Jane Foster, still looking at you as if she wanted to continue the conversation.

Whatever Natasha was about to say next died on her mouth, because you crashed your lips against hers in a searing kiss, nibbling at her bottom lip until she groaned, allowing you to explore her mouth with your tongue. Her hands slid to your lower back and you scratched the base of her neck, fingers threading through fiery hair.

“Are you hungry now?” you whispered against her mouth, satisfied at the way she chased your lips, whining when you stepped back. 

“Huh?”

“Dinner. We can’t be late” placing a hand on her cheek, you smiled. Natasha nodded, following you to the car, her little friend long forgotten.

Yeah, that’s more like it.

—

During the drive back, you were still thinking about that Foster girl, and Natasha could read you like an open book, holding your hand as she went back to your home.

As usual, she opened the car door for you and allowed you to lead her to your house.

“Want a tour of the place?” you offered, taking her blazer so she’d be more comfortable. You appreciated the way the shirt clung to the muscles in her arms.

“Sure” she nodded, following you and looking at the framed pictures on the walls. Most of them were of Steve and you throughout the years. 

“Living room, that connects to the entertainment room” you pointed to a door where you’d usually have movie nights with the twins. “The pool table is close to the back shed, dining room, kitchen over there… Rooms are upstairs” 

“I guess I never noticed how big your house is”

“My mom has a studio and my dad has his reading room as well. Come on” you walked to the kitchen and got everything to set the table.

“Hi, girls. Did you have fun?” your mom greeted and you nodded.

“Can I help with anything?” Natasha offered and your mother nodded. 

“You can take the potatoes to the table, darling, thank you” 

She admired the way you set different silverware, including glasses and a bottle of wine that you knew your father liked. It all looked extremely fancy.

“We’re foodies here” you explained. “Hope you like greek lamb”

“I’ve never had any” 

“Oh, I do hope you love it” your mom said, carrying the tray with the food, fresh off the oven.

“Food’s ready, chop chop!” you shouted, assuming Steve and Bucky were playing pool. 

“Smells delicious” your father complimented, setting his book down.

“How are you liking Ryan’s book so far?” Natasha asked, sitting next to you. Your father seemed pleasantly surprised that she was interested.

“It’s good. About time I read The Longest Day. Though I still have to finish Churchill’s volumes. I’m stuck on the second half of the third”

“It took me two summers to read it all” Natasha agreed as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“All four volumes?” he said, clearly impressed.

You should have never doubted Natasha’s ability to win over a nerd.

“What did we miss?” Steve walked in, nodding towards Natasha. “Hey, what’s up, Nat”

“Romanoff” Bucky said and you glared. He sure as hell could be nicer, but alas. Boys will be boys.

“Just discussing some interesting books about World War II” your father replied and they both groaned. “Boys, it is an integral part of our history as a nation!”

“Pass the potatoes” Steve said, but your mother stopped him. 

“Guests first”

You poked your tongue out in a mocking gesture, passing the food to Natasha. 

After everyone had their plates ready, you started eating, talking a bit about your day and stuff you’d done during the week. Sundays were the only days you all had dinner together. Sometimes, your father was in the hospital for 24 hour shifts and your mom would stay late working at the gallery. 

“How was the conference?” your mother asked.

“It was fascinating. Did you know asteroids can have rings? And moons? There’s a whole world out there and we know so little” you said, inspired by Selvig’s speech. “Lucky for them, Natasha will put her brilliant mind to work on discovering new things pretty soon” 

“So, I’m guessing you’re going for MIT, Natasha?” your father asked.

“Yes, sir. That would be my first choice. Followed by Harvard and then CalTech”

“All very fine schools, right, Y/N?”

“NYU is also a very fine school” you defended, taking a sip of the wine you were allowed to have with Sunday dinner. Very European of your mother.

“Too many distractions in such a big city” your father complained; sensing the potential of a fight, your mother changed the subject.

“Bucky, still thinking about UCLA?”

“Yeah, some sun would be good for me”

“Next year you’ll both be gone, I can’t wrap my head around it” your mother pondered.

“Maybe we can finally get a dog” you proposed. “He’ll behave a lot better, that’s for sure”

“Very funny” Steve said.

“Not a joke, bro” 

“Natasha, what about your parents?” your father said.

“What about them?” you jumped, eyeing him suspiciously.

“I just want to know what they do”

“Well, my father is a retired football player. Alexei Romanoff. He was with the Patriots for six seasons. And now he’s a coach at school. It’s more of a hobby than anything. My mother is the lead researcher on a project to develop a treatment for Alzheimer’s” 

“Wait, Romanoff as in Doctor Melina?”

“How many Romanoffs do you gather live in Westview” your brother joked.

It was the second time someone mentioned Natasha’s mother and you were honestly impressed.

“I’ve heard about your mother’s work, it is very interesting. Perhaps your family can join us for dinner one day” he proposed and you locked eyes with your brother. That was as good as it was going to get with your father.

“That would be lovely, thank you” 

The conversation kept flowing  and by the time dessert was served, you were full, sleepy and happy to see Natasha relaxed and smiling next to you. You reached for her hand, squeezing it.

“Y/N and Natasha set the table so you’re on cleaning duties, boys” your mother instructed.

You took Natasha to the backyard, walking along the edge of the pool.

“What’s going in that mind of yours?” you asked, seeing her eyes getting lost in the water.

“We’re also going to college in a few years”

“Mhm” you nodded, taking her hands. “And?”

“What will happen to us? I mean, I know it’s too soon, but I hate the idea of not seeing you every day and being away… you’ll probably make so many new friends…”

“Nat…” you said softly, until she looked at you. “I’ve waited for so long to be with you, do you really think being in different cities is gonna stop me?”

“Really?”

You laughed, taking a deep breath.

“If I were a poet, I’d write a haiku; you should know I really like you” you recited.

“How did you… You wrote it” she gaped. 

“It wasn’t my best work, but to be fair, we were 12”

A note that had been left at her locker, on Valentine’s Day. 

Natasha thought it was a prank or a mistake.

“That’s how long I’ve liked you” you nodded, your arms around her waist. “So, we will cross that bridge when we get there, in approximately two years. Ok, love?”

“Sorry, I know I get crazy…”

“Yes, but that’s part of your charm” you smiled, leaning forward to kiss her. As you broke apart you yawned, laughing. “Shit, I’m sorry, baby. It’s the wine”

“It’s ok” she said, kissing your cheek. “I should go, it’s getting late”

“Come on, I’ll walk you out” you said, leading her to the kitchen to say goodbye to your mother. Natasha thanked her and was forced to take back a giant piece of cake. Yelena was going to be extremely happy, that was for sure. 

As you opened the door, your father called for Natasha, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“It was lovely to meet you, young lady. You are always welcomed in our home”

“Thank you, Captain. And thank you for a lovely evening” 

Holy shit, holy shit, you kept saying in your head. And there was Natasha, looking super chill.

“What?” she asked, as you covered your mouth to keep yourself from screaming in pure joy.

“Uhm, that thing he said? He might as well ask you to call him Dad. He likes you, Nat” 

“Really?”

“Really” you nodded. “Can’t blame him one bit. Ok, drive safely, text me when you’re home” 

“Will do” she kissed you. And God, you wanted it to last forever.

You were so in love with her. The realization hit you hard and fast, but you decided to leave it for another time, when you weren’t so dazed by her presence and the little bit of red wine you had with your dinner.

Staring out the window, you watched her drive away.

“That was nice” your mother said and you nodded. The sound of plates crashing against the floor made her sigh tiredly. “Oh, boys” 

By the time you went up to your room, it was almost 10 PM. While you took off your dress, your phone pinged with a text from Natasha, letting you know she was home, and that Yelena had stolen the cake from her hands as soon as she opened the front door.

You laughed, sending heart emojis, as well as a picture of Natasha during the exhibit. She was smiling, looking up, the soft glow of the lights giving her a mysterious aura. 

Y/N: Stunning view

Leaving the phone on your dressing room, you went to the bathroom to wash your teeth, and brush your hair. As you settled in bed, you got a new text.

Natasha: 

each kiss is perfect

your smile is like summer breeze

our world is magic

Counting the syllables, you laughed. Of course Natasha wrote a haiku for you.

Y/N: Show off.

Y/N: I love it.

[seresinhangmanjake]

Simon "Ghost" Riley is afraid to propose to his girlfriend (reader)

notes/warnings: fluff, angsty-ish, cursing, typos i'm sure (i wrote it in like an hr and then lost all energy to closely proofread. sorry)

words: 1367

Simon Riley Masterlist

Forty-Two months. You’ve been together for forty-two months, and Simon Riley is no fool. He knows what he has. Through every imaginable horror, you’ve been by his side. You’ve held his hand, kissed his forehead, brushed your fingers through his hair, let him lay on top of you after a night of sex when he’d just needed to feel you and know that you’re with him. You’ve cried with him and for him. And when it’s asked of you, you’ve waited for him. 

You’re absolutely everything. Of perfect quality despite your flaws. A reminder that things in this world are soft, beautiful, gentle. When he loses faith in the concepts of decency and humanity because of the things he’s seen, you refuel what has been depleted. You make things make sense in a cruel existence. And yet, he hasn’t asked you to marry him. 

Ok, maybe he is a bit of a fool.

For forty-two months you’ve watched your friends get married, cousins and second cousins, and even your mother and your aunt—all of whom began relationships with their new spouses long after you and Simon declared yourselves officially together. You’ve taken Simon to so many weddings in the past three and a half years that you’d both agreed you’d had your fill. But Simon is under no illusions that if it were for you and him, you’d manage to find the energy for one more wedding. 

You don’t pressure him or drop painfully obvious hints, and if he’s honest, that almost makes it worse. Price and Gaz and even Johnny have faced threats of their own in the past by the women they’ve been with, with varying results. Price was happy to agree. Gaz a little less, but his lady was pregnant and it was the right thing to do. But Johnny…Johnny wouldn’t marry his current broad if it meant a quick death. You, though, are a gift. Better than all of them in Simon’s eyes. You deserve to have the man who loves you acknowledge that love by asking you to be his wife. Simon just can’t bring himself to ensure that that man is him.

He attributes that roadblock to your relationship not being equal. He doesn’t provide you with everything you provide him. While he does his best to be supportive and loving and comforting, you’ve mastered those skills and he can’t compete. And how is it fair to ask you to pull that weight for the rest of your lives?

It doesn’t stop him from wanting to ask, but when the question is on his tongue, he can’t get it out. However, because you’re stronger than him, more open and sure of what you want, it turns out he doesn’t have to.

—

“Simon, will you marry me?”

You’re not looking at him. You’ve been spooning on the couch for the last three hours watching mindless TV, and he’s refused to let you up from your spot. At the question, his hand under your shirt that has been lazily fondling your breast freezes. He’s half hard and was about thirty seconds from trailing that hand down your body and into your sleep shorts, but now he can’t. 

Simon swallows. “W-What?” he asks, though he absolutely heard you. Does anyone mistake those words for anything other than what they are? 

His pounding heart clogs his ears, but to his surprise, his cock gets a little harder. 

After too many beats of silence, you guide his hand out of your shirt, and with a sigh, you stand, round the couch, and go into the bedroom. In your absence, he sits up, running a hand through his hair and blowing out a breath. 

What just happened? He thinks. And what the fuck did he just do? He didn’t answer the way he should have and now you’re gone. He’s hurt you, and he’s so focused on his fuck up that he doesn’t notice you come back until you’re standing directly in front of him. 

A black band is trapped between your thumb and index finger. You’re not smiling. There’s no glimmer in your eye. You simply hold the ring, staring at it. 

“I just want to marry you,” you say, your voice dripping with the disappointment he knows you’re expecting. “And you haven’t asked me.” 

“Love–” he starts, but then you drop to your knees, calves folded under your thighs. 

His heart cracks right down the middle, jagged and splintered. A few pieces fall into his gut. You still won’t look at him, so he reaches out a hand, cups your cheek, and turns your face up to his. 

“You don’ kneel to me, Love,” he tells you, his thumb stroking your cheekbone.

Half-heartedly chuckling, you say, “Sometimes I do.”

Simon lets his lips curl into a slight smile because his girl is still in there. Despite the forlorn look on your face, he didn’t completely break your spirit with one unanswered question. And thank fuck for that.  

He doesn’t mean to, but he forces you to sit in limbo as he thinks. The woman he loves is on her knees asking for something that she so evidently believes she isn’t going to get. And yet, it’s from that risk—that display of your love for him and the leap you’re willing to take to prove it—that Simon snaps out of every negative thought that has held him back. 

Hand dropping from your face, he rises from the couch and, just as you had, makes his way into the bedroom. He has no idea where you’d hidden his, but yours has been in a dresser drawer for nearly a year, tucked behind the socks that are never worn because he has too many pairs. 

When he returns, he stops dead in his tracks because you’re still sitting there but your head is down again and a teardrop falls onto your bare thigh as you fiddle with the ring, and that is unacceptable; his behavior is unacceptable. And now he’s more sure than ever. 

Simon discards the box and goes to sit back on the couch. Your embarrassment is palpable, and he hates himself for yanking that out of you. Shame is the last thing he has ever wanted you to feel in his presence. 

Ring between his fingers, Simon lowers his hand until he’s sure the diamond is within your line of sight. 

Your gasp is faint but he catches it—a master at catching every little sound you make and savoring his ability to have you make them. Your head shoots up, eyes wide as they connect with his. 

With his free hand, Simon brushes away the tears that have yet to fall from your cheeks. 

“Switch,” he says. 

“What?”

He takes your hand, pulling you with him as he rises to his feet, and turns your bodies. “Sit,” he says, and you do. Then he eases onto one knee, ignoring the crack of his bones, and holds out the ring. “I’m so sorry it came to this, Love. I didn’—” he shakes his head, “’s my fault.”

Your head cocks to the side. “Your fault?”

“My fault,” he nods, his brow pinching as he decides how to say what he needs to. “You’re my wife,” he says. “I know you’re my wife—I’ve known it—but I get in my head and I start going through the list of things that I don’ think I deserve, and you’re the Queen of that list, Love. You make everything else on that list seem so unimportant that they have no right bein’ there.”

“Simon…”

“But I’ll make you a deal,” he continues. “I’ll marry you, if you marry me.”

You snicker and, excluding the tears he’d caused, your face does exactly what he’d hoped it would do wherever he imagined proposing. The only detail unaccounted for is your answer, which he supposes is fair. He hadn’t directly given you one either. 

But then you say one the best damn things he’s ever heard leave your mouth. 

Your pretty lips part and you tell him: “Yes.”

A/N: I don’t think love has to be affirmed in the form of a proposal and wedding, but for the sake of the fic…

[peachhcs]

Can you do a lil blurb of Sammy and will still crushing on each other even though they’ve been in a relationship for a while now (like from the start of it to now). Like they still get memorized by each other to this day and it’s just too cute

waittt yesss samy and will still have such a “honeymoon” stage relationship and are always trying to find ways to “wow” one another because they’re just both so in love with one another. like it’s such a playful relationship of continuously crushing on one another and being shocked that they even pulled one another still ahaha

(btw i just got back to school which means i won’t be as active but i promise i see all of your requests!!! i’m posting this to hold you all over until i can get to them :))

au masterlist

when samy got a text from will earlier that day telling her to dress up when he got back from practice because he had something planned, she couldn’t deny the little skip her heart did reading the text nor the smile on her lips.

it was the way he wrote it and added a bunch of cute little emojis that made her swoon just a little bit. he had practice today, so say busied herself doing things in downtown san jose. she was starting to become a regular and a pro at navigating the city without will. now, she wondered what exactly her boyfriend could have going on him his mind that wanted her dressed up.

samy got back to the house and searched her suitcase for something that screamed “dressed up.” she never usually packed a lot, only really trying to stick to basics, so she was struggling and believing that what she packed wasn’t dressy enough. samy should’ve known will would do something like this.

with what she had, the soccer player threw together something that she hoped met what will had in mind. the long, pink satin skirt fell to her ankles and sat at her hips and the white crisscrossed tank top that hugged her midsection and left her lower stomach open screamed dressy enough. at least the floor length satin skirt was dressy. the girl stood in the bathroom touching up her makeup when her phone buzzed again and her boyfriend’s name lit up the screen.

WILL <3

when you’re ready come outside :)

she smiled at his message, hurrying to finish her mascara and add a touch more of lip gloss. samy stuffed her purse with her essentials, shoved her feet into her sands wedges, and then headed down the stairs to the front door where will supposedly was. her stomach was doing little somersaults as she pulled open the door and her eyes widened when she saw will dressed in a nice button down and shorts leaning against his car holding a bouquet of flowers in his hand. samy’s cheeks heated up as she slowly descended down the steps.

“hi,” the blonde grinned, eyes drinking in her outfit and his own cheeks heated up seeing how pretty she looked.

“will, what is this?” samy grew confused when he handed her the beautiful blue, purple, and pink flowers. she smelled them, the scent of fresh flowers filling her senses.

“just a little something for my girl,” the hockey player hummed, snaking his hand around her waist and thumbing the open skin on her hip.

“you’re so sweet. these are gorgeous,” she beamed, leaning up to peck his lips.

“get in, there’s more surprises,” will urged which just made samy even more confused, but she hurried around to the other side to climb in.

“what do you have planned?” she giggled catching the glint in the boy’s eyes and his mischievous grin.

“you’ll see. it’s a surprise,” will argued.

they rolled out the driveway and will wouldn’t say anything else, so the girl was left to wonder until they got to their destination. the hockey player reached his right hand over to squeeze her thigh, a soft smile on his lips. samy quickly latched their fingers, squeezing back and looking over to admire how good will looked. his curls were a bit damp from the shower he took after practice, but they were the perfect amount of wet and dry that they fell perfectly on his head samy just wanted to reach out and touch them, but she didn’t because will probably styled them just how he wanted them. instead, her heart fluttered again when he began rubbing his thumb across his hand.

it was a small gesture, but it was one that made samy giddy with excitement still anytime will did it. she felt like such a teenager on her first date right now with the unknown of not knowing where it was or what it was, but the butterfly nerves both of them were feeling and sharing.

when they got on the main drag and will started driving in the direction of santa cruz, she guessed it had something to do with the beach because why else would they go to santa cruz? she kept trying to find his eyes and get him to drop a hint, but will was really good at keeping his face set and secrets in.

“how was practice?” samy broke the silence because she still wanted to talk to will and hear his voice after not seeing him all day.

“it was good. we ran some plays and did a few technique practices,” the boy explained and the girl smiled.

“feeling ready for the game tomorrow?”

“i think so, yeah. it should be a good game,” will agreed which was the first time he’s said that in awhile, so samy was glad to hear that. she let him know that by squeezing his palm.

“what about you? how was your day? buy anything cute?” will turned the conversation to her and she flushed.

“it was good. i walked around downtown and just window shopped. i didn’t buy anything. i don’t know if i have money to buy anything right now,” the girl admitted with a laugh.

“if you saw something, tell me and i’ll buy it for you,” will was quick to cut in and her face flushed

“will, i can’t ask you to do that.”

“then don’t ask, i’m already doing it,” he beamed and the girl just rolled her eyes playfully. it would be a miracle if will had any money left after spending all of it on her.

“well, i didn’t really see anything i wanted, so you’re in the clear for now,” the youngest hughes joked.

“you act like it’s a burden for me to buy you things,” the blonde rolled his eyes back.

“don’t forget our roots. you never would’ve bought me something willingly when we were 12,” samy teased with a small chuckle. younger samy and will were such enemies back then, it was hard to believe this was how they were now.

when they pulled into the parking lot samy wondered what will was getting from the back that she wasn’t supposed to look at yet. she stood away from the car like will instructed just waiting for him to tell her what they were doing for the night. she couldn’t lie about the excitement bubbling in her system because will had always been the best at planning these little surprises.

“okay, you can look,” will said and samy spun around.

her boyfriend had a picnic basket slung on his arm, a beach blanket, and a bottle of wine in his hands. the girl’s eyes widened as a large smile crept its way to her lips.

“oh my god, will,” she gushed and the blonde just loved seeing that smile on his girlfriend’s lips.

“how do you feel about a sunset picnic on the beach?” he grinned back.

“i love you,” samy reached up to place a sweet kiss to his lips before letting him lead them down to the warm sand.

luckily, it wasn’t too crowded as they found a spot far away enough that the tide wouldn’t get them wet. samy watched as will opened the basket and pulled out two wine glasses and then the entire grocery store—he seriously must’ve bought all of the pastries, deserts, and appetizers.

“where’d you even get all of this stuff?” samy wondered as she helped lay it out around them.

“the basket is christina’s. i pitched the idea to her last night and she was very much on board. the beach blanket is mack’s. i got the food at the grocery store after practice,” will beamed feeling pretty proud of himself for doing this and it really was worth it to see the smile on samy’s lips.

“and the wine?” she raised her eyebrow.

“eklund.”

“ah, makes sense. well, this is really sweet, will. you wow me,” the girl giggled.

“you wow me too. thought we could have a little date since it’s been so busy lately and i probably won’t see you for awhile after this,” will admitted and a soft smile fell on both of their lips.

they dug into the food and the wine. for being best friends their whole lives, they never seemed to ever run out of things to talk about. samy and will talked about everything and anything while they ate and got (mainly samy because will had to drive home eventually) somewhat wine drunk. they talked about college and everything samy didn’t tell will over facetime. will talked about his teammates and if he could assign them a shred character who would they be. they talked about next summer and where they think they’d be besides the lake house. samy teased will about how much the fans loved his and mack’s friendships and how she was getting replaced (no one could ever replace samy in will’s mind).

by the time they covered all of their bases, two hours had passed and the food was nearly all gone. the sun was almost all the way set below the horizon for the night, but the lights from the town above kept the beach lit for them.

samy was laying on will’s chest. her head found a place over his heart where she listened to its steady rhythm. will’s arm was hooked securely around her waist, still thumbing the open skin between her skirt and shirt. now they were just admiring the starts starting to come out as the sky grew darker and the sun disappeared. it was so perfect.

“did i tell you how beautiful you look?” will mumbled making samy look up at him. he peered down at her while she peered up at him, a soft smile finding its way to her lips.

“you may have mentioned it,” she stroked her thumb over his chest where some of the buttons on his shirt were undone and exposed his toned muscles.

“well, you look really beautiful. you had me speechless when i saw you come out,” the hockey player said making samy blush from the bottom of her neck to the tips of her ears. those compliments would always get her no matter how many times will said them.

“you’re just saying that,” she mumbled.

“i’m not. you make me speechless a lot,” the blonde mumbled.

“you make speechless too. you look pretty handsome yourself. i didn’t know you had these clothes hiding at practice,” she half joked.

“i grabbed them before i left. been thinking about being here with you all day,” will used his other hand to thumb some of samy’s loose strands of hair away from her face.

they gazed into one another’s eyes as the moment closed in around them and it was just samy and will in their own little world.

“how’d i get so lucky?” samy muttered quietly.

“you tell me. how’d i get so lucky?” the boy echoed her words.

“would you have guessed we’d start dating when we were 12?” the girl giggled and will rolled his eyes lightly.

“you’re back to this huh?”

“i’m just saying. we hated each other so much when we were 12 and now we’re confessing our love to one another on a beach,” it just made samy laugh that this ended up being their fate even though she would never ask to change any of it.

“i mean i did have a crush on you when were 12, so it’s not that far off,” will shrugged with a small smile.

“what? you did?” this was news to the soccer player.

“i mean we were 12 and like having those weird phases and moods where we were first developing feelings..i don’t know, but yeah kind of. maybe that was why i was so mean to you because i didn’t know why i was feeling that way towards you. it eventually faded obviously until we got older,” the blonde laughed.

“wow, i didn’t even know that. i just genuinely disliked you.”

“alright,” will mumbled, but samy pushed herself up to peck his lips.

“i couldn’t imagine anything different though. i love you so much,” the brunette beamed. god, will loved that smile so much, especially when he was the cause.

“i love you a lot, samy. you’re my girl forever,” he wrapped both arms around her torso and held her ad close as he could even though they were already as close as they could be.

“you’re mine forever,” she kissed his chest before turning her gaze back to the stars that were now shining brightly above them in all their glory.

[watermelonlicker]

Hi!!!!! I’m back with more thoughts!!!!

The (more recent) breakup rumors genuinely don’t make sense. Obviously, there’s a reason behind every stunt, so let’s think realistically. The most common reasons are to boost publicity, manage damage control, distract from something bigger (like a lawsuit, for example), or to maintain privacy (which can be general or specific like protecting your real love life.) blah blah blah we know this stuff already.

Is it plausible that they broke up during LOT? Of course. But why was H stunting? He didn’t need publicity, he didn’t need to distract from something bigger… so what would he need to be stunting for? Privacy? Covering a real relationship? Is that absolute? No. Is it very possible? Mhm.

Why was he still stunting after? Same reason? Probably.

Now, is it possible that they broke up and that’s why they’ve both publicly been single? Yes. H doesn’t exactly have a reputation for long-term relationships. His music consistently challenges that so, it doesn’t add up . Is it possible he’s in a long-term relationship with someone who isn’t Louis? Yes. But that doesn’t explain why their music still feels like two sides of the same story, the patterns, the “coincidences”, the disappearing acts,ect.

Now, onto Louis. Obviously, he was publicly single for a long time. Longer than he had been previously. Could that mean they broke up? Yes. However, H was mostly off the radar until recently. He also allegedly took the “breakup” with TR very hard. There isn’t really a need for him to stunt, especially considering how good they’ve gotten at disappearing when they want to, though he’s still linked to any women he’s breathes the same air as. There isn’t a clear reason for L to stunt either,though. There’s no clear goal. Not a goal for the public at least. All it’s doing is damaging his image. 

If the patterns around stunting become too consistent, it’s going to be noticeable — and, it already is if you’re looking.

Now, about Mcstunt: it’s not helping Louis. He generates publicity just fine without stunting. This isn’t distracting from something bigger. He’s not cleaning up his image. If anything, it’s ruining it.

So what logical reason would he be stunting? To push a heterosexual image or to maintain privacy and deflect rumors? It’s clear this wasn’t his choice. He’s not trying to make it look real. He’s not trying to make himself look straight. He’s still singing “I love him” on stage.

It feels unnecessary because, publicly, it is. There’s an invisible aspect to it — something behind the scenes.

Possibilities? Harry? Mhm. Privacy in general? Mhm. Seeding something? Maybe. Some sick and twisted way to fuck Louis? Mhm. Image change? Ehhhhhhh. Push a heterosexual image? Mhm.

You tell me which sound most plausible considering the weird circumstances, patterns, and history.

Basically, the point is: the patterns are there. Louis isn’t trying to sell the stunt. H is suddenly being seen everywhere. Nothing’s changed. It’s the same story over and over. It’s consistent — and that should tell you everything you need to know. Make of it what you will, Just keep the consistency in mind.

Keep watching. Keep an open mind. Keep recognizing patterns. Keep loving. Keep fighting. Always. ❤️

in a second i’m gonna start thinking you’re a member of their teams bcos not you saying lol we’re still together without saying it my dear long form anon

[steddieas-shegoes]

sing for me

for @steddieholidaydrabbles prompt 'sing'

all of my holiday drabbles will be from the bear hugs universe. many of them could probably be read standalone, but will make the most sense and be enjoyed best if you read that first!

rated e | 772 words | no cw | tags: established relationship, hotel sex, anal fingering, anal sex

😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉

It’s rare that Steve gets to come with Eddie when he travels for work. Away games are usually one or two day trips, so it doesn’t make much sense to try to find someone to watch Rory when they won’t even have much time to enjoy themselves.

Steve’s taking advantage of this hotel room, though.

Eddie’s face down against the pillows, Steve’s straddling his thighs. He started by giving him a back massage, using things he’s learned from trainers years ago to make Eddie moan and relax into the sheets.

But a few minutes ago, he let his hands drift down. He poured a little lube on his fingers and started to open him up slowly.

So often they rush. So often they have to be as quiet as possible.

Not this time.

Steve has three fingers inside Eddie, stretching him and doing everything that drives him crazy. Rubbing against his prostate in no specific pattern to keep him on edge. Dipping just the tip of his pinky alongside the three fingers already inside to make him tense. Pausing for long moments to kiss up and down his spine.

Steve knows the pillow is muffling so much of the noise Eddie can’t contain. He wants to hear it all.

“C’mon, baby. Sing for me,” Steve is half-joking, but there’s one particular whine that Eddie makes when he’s overwhelmed that sounds like he’s singing. Steve knows he’s doing everything right when it happens.

Eddie turns his head, breathing heavy, and Steve crooks his fingers just right.

“Hmmm,” Eddie hums out.

It’s music to Steve’s ears.

“That’s it, baby,” Steve groans. “Let me hear you.”

“Need more, Stevie,” Eddie rasps. “Want you.”

Steve will give him everything, anything he wants. He’ll fuck him slow, or fast, somewhere in between. He’ll hold him down or let him ride him. He’ll fill him up or he’ll make a mess on his back. Anything Eddie wants, Eddie can have.

He maneuvers himself off of Eddie so he can lift his hips, slide a pillow under him, and let him fall again.

They both moan as he pushes into Eddie. He does it slowly, but without pausing, because he’s stretched enough and he can take it. He wants it.

He’s settled deep inside him when Eddie tries to find friction, pushes back against Steve and rubs his leaking cock against the pillow under him. He’s sure housekeeping has seen worse, but he makes a mental note to leave a nice tip.

Steve blankets him, covering his entire back so that his weight is keeping him still. He kisses his shoulder, his neck, his jaw.

His movements are small, short thrusts that probably don’t do much for Eddie. Steve isn’t trying to get to the finish line yet; He’s perfectly happy drawing this out.

“Feels good,” Eddie says as Steve moves against him.

“Yeah?” Steve asks as his lips find Eddie’s. “Could just stay inside you until you fall asleep.”

“Better not,” Eddie laughs against his mouth. “I wanna come first.”

Steve groans against his jaw as he moves faster. He still doesn’t want to rush, but Eddie’s tightening around him, and he’s so warm, and they’re so close. He won’t last much longer, and he’s gonna have to be fine with that.

“C’mon, sweetheart. Come in me,” Eddie says, almost teases. He knows Steve’s close, and he knows how to get him there.

They’ve been doing this long enough now, he knows exactly how to get what he wants out of Steve. Steve lets him.

Steve puts space between them so he can fuck into him faster, chase his release that he didn’t intend on rushing only a moment ago. Eddie’s just good at changing his mind.

“Fuck yes, Stevie.” Eddie bites the pillow and Steve wants to laugh. They have fun, they have so much fun together. Even when they’re serious, they’re having fun. Eddie moans and pushes back and Steve’s done for. “That’s it.”

Eddie is clenching around him as he fills him up, turning his head so Steve can see how flushed he is.

“Get yourself off,” Steve says breathlessly, wanting to watch, wanting to still be inside him when he does. “C’mon.”

“Jesus, okay.” Eddie slips his hand around his dick, and the friction of the soft pillow and his hand gets him there quick enough that Steve isn’t even starting to go soft yet.

Steve collapses against his back, and he nearly slides off from the sweat between them.

“We’re gross,” he says, but doesn’t really care.

“You made us gross.”

“And I’ll do it again.” Steve bites his shoulder, laughs.

“Promises, promises.”

[steveseddie]

pity hand-hold

for @steddie-week day two “hands”

rated: t | cw: none | wc: 1,7k | tags: post vol. 4, pre-relationship, hand holding, steve is curious and eddie is happy to help

click here to read on ao3

Steve doesn’t know for how long he’s been staring at Eddie’s hands as he paints his nails. But it’s enough that by the time Eddie is already applying the second coat, Steve is still on the first page of the comic book he picked to pass the time. 

The problem isn’t the comic book- it’s not particularly boring or anything like that. It’s just that watching Eddie is more entertaining. From his focused expression, mostly obscured by his hair falling like a curtain over his face, to the delicate movements of his hands as he moves the small brush over his nails. 

He’s painting them black like usual, but it’s the first time Steve is there to watch him do it. He didn’t know Eddie was such a perfectionist- working slowly and carefully so he doesn’t get nail polish on his hands. And he didn’t think Eddie could keep his fingers still long enough to not smudge the freshly painted nails. 

Eddie rarely sits still for long, and if he does, he’s always moving his hands- wringing his fingers together, playing with his rings, picking on his chipped nail polish. 

Not that Steve spends a lot of time paying attention to Eddie’s hands- just a normal amount. They’re nice hands, that’s all, and right now Steve is taking advantage of how still they are to study them closely.

Eddie’s fingers are long and thin and Steve spends some time trying to figure out if they’re bigger than his. He knows Eddie’s hands wouldn’t be soft like all the girls’ hands he’s held over the years- they’d be calloused from playing his guitar and from occasionally helping Wayne work on his truck. They’re also scarred- a demobat bit a chunk of his left hand and the skin didn’t heal properly, there’s also a long, thin scar across his palm from when he cut himself while trying to open a can using a knife (“Can openers are a thing, you know?” Steve told him in a bitchy tone the day he told him about that one.)

Steve finds himself wondering what it would feel like to hold them- Eddie’s hands or just a guy’s hand. He wonders how different it would be from holding Nancy’s hand or Heather’s or Kelly’s. Steve’s fingers itch to reach out and grab Eddie’s- find out if he likes rough hands as much as softer ones, if he likes long fingers as much as smaller ones, if he likes short chipped nails as much as long perfectly manicured ones. 

It’s not the first time he’s thought about it. It’s not even the first time he’s thought about it while staring at Eddie’s hands, but unlike those other times, Steve actually brings it up.

“Have you ever held hands with a guy?” He asks, breaking the silence they’ve been sitting in for a while. 

His voice startles Eddie, who jumps and knocks over the nail polish bottle. Steve quickly gets it upright again before it can spill over the sheets.

“Whew! Thanks,” Eddie chuckles. Steve holds the bottle still so he can stick the brush inside, already done with the second coat. “Have I what now?” He asks, bringing his fingers close to his mouth to blow on them. 

Steve blinks his eyes away from Eddie’s pursed lips after a few seconds to repeat himself. “Have you ever held hands with a guy?” 

Eddie’s hand freezes. He blinks at Steve, his cheeks going pink. “Uh, no,” he mumbles. 

“Never?” 

“Nope,” Eddie says, biting his lip. 

“Why not?” Steve asks, genuinely confused. Eddie has very nice hands- it doesn’t make any sense that no guy has ever wanted to hold them.

Eddie snorts out a startled sort of chuckle, eyebrows raised in amusement as he resumes blowing on his nails. “Well, for starters, most guys in this town would punch me in the face if I tried.”

Oh. “Right,” Steve agrees. That does make sense even if it sucks. “What about girls?”

Eddie screws up his lips, eyes narrowed as he thinks. “Maybe when I was a kid? Before everyone thought I was Satan’s spawn, but not recently.”

“Hm.”

“Why?” He asks, making grabby hands at the nail polish bottle so he can apply a final coat. Steve uncaps it and holds it still for him. 

He shrugs. “Just that I’ve been wondering what it’s like to hold a guy’s hand,” he says and watches as Eddie’s hand twitches and the brush misses his nail, leaving a black stain on his sheets instead. 

“Shit,” Eddie mutters, grabbing a cotton ball and some nail polish remover to try and clean it up. “You- uh, you want to hold a guy’s hand?” He asks, keeping his eyes down, not meeting Steve’s.

“I don’t know, maybe. I want to know how different it is from holding a girl’s hand. I’ve held plenty of girls’ hands but not a guy’s.”

Eddie gives up on the stain, tossing the cotton ball away and picking the brush back up. “Uh, well, I don’t think I can answer that for you. Sorry, man.”

“No,” Steve agrees, but then he perks up with an idea. “But you can let me hold your hand.”

Eddie squeaks, his hand slipping again and leaving a bigger stain this time. “Motherfucker!”

“Dude,” Steve chuckles softly, shaking his head at Eddie’s clumsiness. 

He decides two coats of nail polish is enough and screws the cap back on the bottle. Then he narrows his eyes at Steve. “You want me to hold your hand?”

Steve nods, his eyes darting down to where said hands have started fiddling with his rings. Steve has held hands with girls who wore rings, but they were all small and dainty. Eddie’s rings are big with skulls and devils and horns. Steve wants to know how they would feel against his fingers. Cold probably. “Uh-huh.” 

“For how long?” Eddie asks, narrowing his eyes further. 

Steve snorts. “What? Are you afraid I’ll give you something?”

Eddie’s lips twitch into a smirk. “Maybe. You did say you’ve held a lot of girl’s hands. Who knows what they gave you.”

“I think you’re safe, man. The last time I held a girl’s hand was-” He trails off, trying to remember when that was, and when he does, he gasps. “Right before Spring Break actually.” Right before he met Eddie and they were thrown into yet another interdimensional crisis. 

“Damn, Harrington, you’ve been striking out lately,” Eddie sniggers.

Steve makes a non-committal sound. Truth is he hasn’t been trying hard enough to consider it striking out. He’s been busy- saving Hawkins at first, then taking care of Eddie as he recovered, and then hanging out with Eddie as they grew closer. Among other things, of course.

“Is that enough to make you hold my hand out of pity?” 

Eddie chuckles. He shifts closer to Steve on the bed, careful to avoid the nail polish stain, until they’re sitting next to each other, their backs against the headboard. 

“Sure, Stevie, I’ll give you a pity hand-hold,” he says, waggling his eyebrows. 

Steve feels heat climb up the back of his neck. “How do you make that sound dirty?”

“It’s a gift!” He says with a smirk. Then he holds out his left hand with his palm up on the bed between the two of them. “There. Go nuts, big boy.”

Steve gives a fond shake of his head before he looks down at Eddie’s hand. Knowing he’s about to hold it, he feels nervous all of a sudden, butterflies fluttering in his stomach. 

He subtly takes a deep breath and places his hand on top of Eddie’s, palm to palm. The touch sends blood rushing through his ears, but he thinks he hears Eddie inhale sharply at the same time. 

For a few seconds, he just rests his hand there. Then he finally intertwines their fingers together and just like that he’s doing it. He’s holding hands with a guy. With Eddie. 

Right away he realizes that it’s different in all the ways he thought it would be. Eddie’s hand is bigger than any other hand Steve has ever held, his fingers are longer than Steve’s but thinner. The callouses on his fingertips are rough against the back of Steve’s hand. He can feel the scar on Eddie’s palm against his own and the one left behind by the demobats under his thumb. 

But it’s different in other ways too- mostly in how it makes Steve feel. Eddie’s hand being as big as Steve’s makes something hot burn low in his stomach. His fingers being so long makes Steve wonder what they would feel like somewhere else. Eddie’s calloused thumb rubbing over Steve’s knuckles makes his cheek flare bright red.

“So?” Eddie asks and Steve jumps a little as it snaps him out of his thoughts. 

“What?”

Eddie holds their hands up with an amused expression. Steve’s eyes zero in on them just as one of Eddie’s metal rings catches the light filtering through the window. He thought they would feel cold against his skin, but Eddie’s hands kept them warm. They feel nice against Steve’s fingers, he bets they would feel nice somewhere else too, around his throat maybe-

“What’s the verdict?” Eddie asks, and Steve has to shake his head to stop that train of thought. “Is it different than holding a girl’s hand?”

“Yup. Yeah. It sure is.” He never thought about Nancy’s tiny hands wrapping around his throat, that’s for sure. So, yeah. Different. 

“Bad different?”

“Nope.”

“Huh, so you like it- holding hands with guys?” Eddie asks, and there’s something off with his voice that Steve can’t quite pinpoint. 

“I do,” Steve says because he does. He likes this. He just doesn’t know if- “Or maybe I just like holding hands with you.”

Nervous laughter tumbles from Eddie’s lips. “Ha! Well, I’m happy I helped,” he gestures vaguely with his other hand, “satisfy your curiosity or whatever.”

Except Steve’s curiosity isn’t satisfied yet- he answered one question, but he’s still left with many more. There are other things he’s done with girls that he doesn’t know if he’d like to do with guys. Or with Eddie at least. 

Steve feels Eddie trying to free his hand from and he tightens his grip. 

“Steve?” Eddie asks, big brown eyes blinking owlishly at him. 

Steve’s eyes drop to his lips. His pink, slightly chapped lips. Much like with holding hands, Steve finds himself wondering if it would be different to kiss a guy. To kiss Eddie. 

For the second time that day, he perks up with an idea. “Hey Eds?” He says, his eyes finding Eddie’s again. He gives him a cat-like grin. “Have you ever made out with a guy?”

[diamond-champagne]

4. I Lost You

Paige Bueckers x Azzi Fudd

Warnings: Slightly suggestive

A/N: Thank you so much for the support <3 This chapter is a bit choppy as it is a filler but I hope it provides clarity for the chapters to come! As always, feedback is always welcome! Enjoy. :)

The next few days fly by as far as Paige is concerned. She spends it going through the motions. Before she knows it, she’s making arrangements to go home for Thanksgiving. It’ll be the first time in years that Paige is only going home to Minneasota. She won’t be heading to Virginia to visit Azzi and her family. Riley would be going home with her this year. The thought makes her want to vomit.

The younger girl hasn’t asked her about her plans for break. In fact, they haven’t seen each other outside of practice. It’s a strange reality for Paige because she never thought she’d have to miss Azzi when they’re finally so close to each other. It’s funny how they felt more connected when they were hundreds of miles apart. Paige sighs deeply. 

A knock on the door interrupts Paige’s thoughts. She quickly checks her phone before opening up the door. Blair is waiting on the other side. The basketball player promised to drive her friend to the airport. 

“We’re going to be late. Let’s go!” Blair rushes Paige. She quickly gathers her keys and her phone before quickly walking to the car. Paige is very happy that Blair gets to see her boyfriend. They’ve made so much progress in their relationship despite the obstacles thrown at them from being long distance. However she’s sad; because Blair is leaving and Paige doesn’t know how she’ll get through the rest of the semester.

It’s a shared sentiment between the two. They had a conversation while eating dinner.

It’s around 8pm on Tuesday when Blair texts her.

You. Me. Noodles and Company?

Paige immediately agrees. Beyond the mention of the place that makes her favorite Mac and Cheese, her friend is leaving tomorrow. The blue-eyed girl isn’t sure how to cope with that. Paige is deep in thought when her phone vibrates again. It’s another message from Blair.

Let me in!

Paige figures that the girl had already been on her way when she initially texted her. This distance between her apartment and the restaurant is too far for her to get here as fast as she did. Nonetheless, she moves from her spot on the couch to let the brown-haired girl in. The smell of the food attacks Paige’s senses immediately.

“Hi, Paigey” Blair greets as she moves into the kitchen. 

“Hey, B” Paige responds. The two girls are quick to pull out their food and dig in. The silence between them is comfortable, at least for a moment.

“I’m gonna miss you, B” Paige confesses. She isn’t sure how she became so close with the girl in front of her in a matter of weeks. The blue-eyed girl would’ve never thought that she would be friends with the girl who bought her a tequila shot, but here she is. 

“Stop! We’ll say goodbye when you drive me to the airport tomorrow.” Blair demands. She also thinks about how she’ll miss Paige. 

“What am I supposed to do without you?” Paige whines. She really doesn’t know.

“You’re going to heal your heart.” Blair responds softly. “You’re going to move on because this is killing you. You have to do this for yourself.” Paige can only nod. “When I come back, I want to see a happier version of you. One that gets all of the love she deserves in this world.”

Paige gets up to hug the girl. She only hopes that she understands what she means when she replies “Thank you”. Blair hugs the basketball player a little tighter before pulling away.

“This is our last night together. We need tequila shots.” Blair laughs. She doesn’t want the entire night to feel heavy. Paige laughs but agrees and pulls out a bottle from her cabinet along with two shot glasses.

The rest of the evening is spent enjoying each other's company. Both girls were so glad that they had met the other.

When they finally reach the airport, silence settles between them. Paige gets out of the car to help Blair grab her bags from the trunk. They aren’t ready to say goodbye just yet. It’s simple.

“I’ll see you soon, Bueckers.” Blair smirks. Her tease lightens the mood. This is what she said when they first met.

“I can't wait!” Paige flirts back. 

They hug before Blair turns to walk in the airport. She’s almost through the door when she turns back to gain the basketball player's attention. 

“Paige!” she yells which prompts the blue-eyed girl to look at her. “Take care of yourself.” It’s not an easy task but she says it anyway. 

“I will. Promise” Paige confirms.

“You’re too full of life to be half loved.” and with that, Blair walks into the airport. She doesn’t give the girl a chance to respond. She doesn’t need to. Blair can only hope that the blonde girl listens to her.

-

For the next few days, Paige carries those words with her. 

“You are too full of life to be half loved.” echoes in her head at all hours of the day.

She carries them home to Minneasota for Thanksgiving. She looks for any type of love within the people around her. 

She sees it with Drew. It’s in the way he naturally gravitates to her. It’s in the way he looks at her like she can do no more.

Paige sees the same thing with her dad. His eyes hold a certain type of admiration. She can tell that he’s filled with a sense of pride when he looks at her. He’s proud of her. 

She hears it when talks to Blair’ and her other friends. They naturally include her and accept her. 

She feels it when the Fudds call and text her individually on the holiday. Katie, Tim, Jon, and Jose each make an effort to wish her a happy Thanksgiving despite her not being there with them. They don’t have a reason to think about her; but they do.

She understands it now. Why should she settle for only half of that? 

Paige decided over Thanksgiving break that she won’t.

-

Azzi spends the week of Thanksgiving with her family and Riley. The decision to bring her was last minute and slightly impulsive. Okay so maybe slightly more than slightly impulsive. The curly-haired girl had essentially thrown a wrench into everyone’s plans by bringing the volleyball player home with her. 

Everyone had planned for Azzi to walk through the door with Paige. 

Her grandparents had come with the hopes of being able to see the pair for a little while. Jon and Jose were disappointed that there wouldn’t be someone to play 2K with besides each other. Katie had felt completely unprepared for the unexpected guest. She didn’t know what food Riley liked but she made sure to stock up on the ingredients for mac and cheese for Paige. Tim simply just couldn’t get past the fact that his daughter knew anyone else besides Paige. He really couldn’t get past the fact that they had washed this hideous fluffy purple blanket, only for the owner to not occupy their home.

Azzi knows this because she feels it too. It begins the day after Thanksgiving.

Riley and Azzi are cuddling in the basketball player's bed. Riley has an arm swung over Azzi’s waist while her face is buried in her neck. Azzi rubs small circles on her back while scrolling through tik tok. She’s bored and antsy.

Azzi is restless. She spent one full week with her girlfriend Riley and she hated it. It’s not that Riley isn’t fun to be around; but she wasn’t Paige. She didn’t know her way around her parents’ house or have inside jokes with her brothers. She didn’t understand why certain tik toks were funny. She didn’t smell like vanilla or have blonde hair. And she certainly didn’t have big, bright, blue eyes..

Azzi missed Paige. The concept isn’t exactly new to her. Their entire friendship is built off of them missing each other. But even in the times that they’re apart, they’re together. There’s a never ending stream of phone calls and text messages. They have a widget app that allows the other’s picture to appear on their home screen. They wear each other’s clothes more often than not. Paige and Azzi are always intertwined in some sense. Paige and Azzi are more like PaigeandAzzi.

If she’s thinking about it, Azzi suppose that’s why it was so easy for her and Paige. It was so easy to kiss Paige. It was so easy to touch Paige. They had already known everything there was to know; secrets, crushes, dreams, and fears. This was simply just something to add to this list. Now she knows all that she did before plus some.

Now Azzi knows that when she kisses Paige right below her left ear, the blonde lets out whimpers that one can only dream about. She knows that when they’re making out, she should bite the older girl’s bottom lip. Azzi knows that Paige lets out the most pornographic when she kisses the birth mark on her inner thigh. She also knows that she has to give Paige praise because even though she’ll never admit it, she loves it when Azzi calls her a good girl.

So, Azzi knows it all. She even knows that Paige is in love with her. She can hear it in the way Paige speaks to her. Her voice held a certain softness that is reserved specifically for the younger girl. She can feel it in the way Paige looks at her; like Azzi can hang the moons and the stars. She can feel it in the way Paige touches her. The blonde is gentle but Azzi feels every emotion when they hug. It feels like home.

It felt like home.

She hasn’t heard that voice or looked into those eyes in a very long time. Azzi knows it is her fault. She took all she could from the girl without giving anything else back in return. She didn’t have anything to offer the girl; so she didn’t.

Now Azzi is home during Thanksgiving Break; holding a girl that isn’t Paige. And that’s why Azzi hated it; because she wanted those eyes with blonde hair. Everyday. She wanted every holiday with Paige and everyday in between. 

She can’t have that though. Azzi has taken so much from Paige; she doesn’t even know where she would start.

So, she pulls Riley closer. She isn’t Paige but she hasn’t lost her.

PREVIOUS | NEXT

[carothepoet]

The way I *desperately* need Deborah to be the one who apologizes first.

In my head, it would go like this: Deborah reaches her breaking point after the screaming match at the show taping, gets drunk, and impulsively calls Marcus. She tells him the whole story (with herself as the victim, naturally), leaving out the specifics of the Bob Lipka situation, just saying that “Ava has some sensitive information about me and blackmailed me into making her head writer.” Then she relays how awful and hateful Ava has been ever since, minimizing her own part, but of course Marcus knows Deborah and reads between the lines. So he lets her get it all out and then gently suggests that she may have played a part in this, and in fact set it off by betraying Ava at the start. He explains how it might look from Ava’s side.

Deborah is PISSED, yells at him, and hangs up. But she can’t stop thinking about it, because goddammit if Marcus wasn’t *right.* (He’s always right, and she HATES it. What a relief that he doesn’t work for her anymore.)

She sulks about it for a few days, avoiding Ava as much as possible, but Marcus’s words eat away at her and she isn’t sleeping and she’s rearranged her salt and pepper shaker collection 14 times.

And normally she wouldn’t DREAM of apologizing, but the constant fighting is affecting the show, and the magic is gone, and she’ll be damned if she loses her dream a second time if there’s any way to prevent it.

So she shows up at Ava’s apartment. And she’s there for 20 minutes before she works up the nerve to knock on the door. Ava opens it, and she immediately sees Emily and Dev in the background and feels that overwhelming surge of something like jealousy (but it’s NOT) and Ava’s standing there staring at her like she has three heads.

“Deborah? What are you doing here?”

“Can—can I talk to you for a moment?”

Ava hesitates and then steps out, closing the door behind her and crossing her arms over her chest. “Without Stacy?”

“It’ll only take a moment.” She bites her lips and takes a deep breath. “I’ve been doing some thinking, and…I don’t see how we can continue this way. “You were”—the words are physically painful coming out of her mouth—“you were right; our relationship is what makes the writing work. So I apologize.”

Ava furrows her brow. “You apologize? For what? For lying to me? For acting like I’m disposable after all we’ve been through? For screaming in my face and calling me names, in *addition* to fighting me on every single fucking suggestion I’ve made since?”

“First of all, I will *never* apologize for fighting back against objectively bad ideas, and second of all”—she grits her teeth—“yes.”

“Hm.” Ava regards her for a moment, clearly questioning Deborah’s sincerity. “Fine,” she finally says coldly. “I accept your apology.”

Deborah tries to hide the rush of relief that floods her body. “Okay. I’ll…let you get back to your guests.”

“Sooo…you’re just gonna be, like, *nice* now, or whatever?”

And Deborah’s hackles go up, in the good way, in the old way. “Oh yeah, that sounds like me.”

She proceeds to tell Ava the throuple situation is stupid and she’s going to regret it. Ava says something like “WOW, jealous much??” and they proceed to bicker in the old way, the Love Language way, and then Ava’s face softens a little and she says, “I missed this,” and Deborah says, “I did, too.”

The next day in the writers’ room, they argue all day long, but it’s different because the vitriol is gone, and everyone can sense the change in energy. They put together the best show they’ve ever done, and the ratings SOAR.

And Marcus watches the show with a smile, sipping a drink and knowing it was he who gave Deb the kick in the pants that she needed to do the right thing.

THE END