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theworldofotps · 6 months

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Lost Bets

Pairing: Hook x Reader Word Count: 2,017 Description: Listening to a few voice notes crushes your world.

Part Two

Listening to divorce dad playlists and that song Hate Me by Ellie Goulding and Juice WRLD created this. I got a majority of the idea from Juice's verse so I hope you all like it! Some angst, @madhatterbri I hope this wrecked you enough (If you've asked to be added to the list and you don't see your name, please let me know because I forget to write them down sometimes.) ________ Tag list: @omg-im-such-a-masochist @melissahausen @new-zealand-chic @writtingrose @99hook @sjwrites22 @sassymox @mrsacklesevansmgk @xladyxfatex @biforrollynch @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @demonqueen29 @itsicantbelievethis666 @lilred91 @rebellious-desires @claymorexpunisher @letsgivethisonemoreshot @ava-valerie @shortyiceheart @serpantscorpio8497 @thatpanpal @thatnerdwriter @wrestlersownmyheart @vebner37 @auburnwrites @aews-four-pillars @seeingstarks @whenimakeitshine1234 @legit9thlunaticwarrior @blaquekitty @ironshamelessyouth @unoficialy-married-to-ace-austin @ripleyswhore @moonrosekk @elevennbloom @melblacc @alliwant456 @xbreezymeadowsx @mcreignsera

If you wanna be added to the list lemme know. _______ When did it start? You didn’t know.

How long had it been going on?

Not a clue in your mind. But when you finally noticed that things between the two of you were rocky, suddenly you were scared and overthinking everything. What if he decided that he was tired of fighting and asked for a break? After all, it seemed like that was all you two did anymore. Arguing over stupid stuff, big or little, it was nearly every day that one of you were pissed about something. It hadn’t been like this in the beginning of your relationship, or for a while after. There was a love and connection that you’d never experienced with anyone before. Tyler coming home from traveling and shows to spend as much free time with you as humanly possible. All the backstage shenanigans, the late nights sat on the hood of his car snacking and chatting about any and everything you two could think of. You weren’t sure when things took a turn, but you wanted to offer an olive branch and try to fix things.

That’s why you were currently looking around backstage trying to find Tyler, two tickets to a movie he’d been wanting so badly to see for months in hand.

“Y/n what are you doing here?”

Turning at the familiar voice you give a slight wave to Maxwell and clear your throat holding the tickets up.

“I’m looking for Tyler I wanted to take him to a movie and dinner afterwards, have you seen him?”

“He left with Ethan and some of the guys a little while ago I think they were doing another of those vlog hunt things. I’m actually glad that you’re here I’ve been wanting to talk with you about something important but with Tyler around I haven’t had the opportunity.”

You did not like the sound of where this conversation was going but your curiosity got the better of you and you gave a nod of your head. Max motioned with his head for you to follow him, so you silently did fiddling with your fingers as you walked. You were a little confused on what he could want since you got with Tyler you could only recall two or three times you had spoken to the man considering you weren’t a big fan of his character, and he didn’t really care speaking to you anyway. When the two of you finally reached an empty corridor Max turned to you and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.

“Look I don’t really know how to say this and I’m not looking to start trouble, but I just figured it was best to tell you anyway. Tyler’s been playing you for a fool.”

“Excuse me?”

“Remember how you two go together?”

“Of course, I do, he came up after I got injured by Ruby and helped me to medical than we just started talking often. Then well the rest is self-explanatory.” “It may seem like that to you, but Tyler only came up to you because of a bet with Ethan Page. The wager basically was if Tyler could talk to one of the female wrestlers that normally they wouldn’t and could get her to fall for him than Ethan and the guys would pay for a couple of pricy items he’s had his eye on for a while.”

You couldn’t breathe, felt like the walls were closing in on you as your ears started ringing. Blinking you open your mouth to speak but stopped.

“I know this is sudden to you, but I figured it was time that you knew about all of this.”

“Why should I believe anything you say? You realize that what you’re saying is the only reason my boyfriend got with me was because of a bet.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying look I’ve recorded a few conversations between him and the guys here is an important clip you need to listen to. I didn’t manage to get him calling you trash recorded but I go enough.”

Max pressed play on a voice note holding his phone out for you to listen, Tyler’s voice filled your ears as your eyes welled up with tears.

“So how’s everything going since we started this?”

“It’s going fine it’s a piece of cake man I’m telling you this is one of the easiest things I’ve ever done.”

“Are you sure you’re going to be able to keep it up much longer?”

“Of course, I can it’s no worries she’s completely clueless of everything. She trusts me more than anyone she’s even told me herself.”

“Here’s another one.” Max said as he pressed play on another note.

“It’s simple man you get, break and replace that’s exactly what’s been happening for years now, I don’t know how you’re able to do it.”

“Honestly Ethan it’s not that hard I mean come on it’s me we’re talking about ya know? I don’t even really have to try at this point, it just falls right into place. But I’m ready for this to be over already, I hate this.”

“You really are a coldhearted devil.”

When they started laughing you pushed his phone away from you and turned to look at the floor trying to collect yourself. Your heart felt like it was going to pound out of your chest as you pushed a shaky hand to wipe the sudden sweat from your forehead.

“Thank you, Maxwell, lets not tell anyone else about this please.”

“If that’s what you want.”

Giving a nod you cleared your throat and turned silently walking away from him you just needed to make it back to your car without breaking down. You couldn’t handle this, couldn’t believe this was happening. After everything you thought you meant to him but that was obviously a mistake on your part. Stumbling out of the building you got in your car and started it, peeling out of the lot. A lump had grown in your throat and no matter how many times you tried to clear it you couldn’t. Thankfully the company was going to be leaving New York tomorrow, so they could get on the road for their next stop. You needed to start looking for a new place to live, needed to gather all of your stuff before Tyler kicked you out.

Parking your car in your parking spot at his apartment complex you could feel the tears welling up in your eyes but managed to get out of the car and hurry inside. Once up in the apartment you just fell apart, sobbing into a couch pillow as you sat down. Part of you was hoping that you’d wake up from this nightmare with Tyler’s arm wrapped around your waist and your head on his chest. But that was quickly being chased away by the weight of reality.

Crying for a while longer you finally managed to get yourself together enough to start packing a suitcase. You wanted to be out of here before it got dark thankfully you had some money in the bank to get you a hotel room for a couple days. As you were pulling shirts off the hanger and shoving them in the suitcase you hear the front door close.

“No no please.”

You weren’t ready to face him, you couldn’t handle seeing his face yet you needed time you were just going to leave a note for him to find.

“Baby you in here?”

His voice called out from what you assumed was the lounge, staying silent you continued packing your suitcase. When he suddenly came into the room you kept your eyes down as he looked at you confused.

“Where are you headed too?”

Finding it difficult to speak, you stuffed some jeans and your laptop into the suitcase, grabbing your hairbrush and deodorant.

“What did I do now that has you pissed off?”

Stopping you stared at him, Tyler was startled to see your glassy red eyes and the tears falling down your cheeks.

“Baby what happened are you-.”

“Don’t come near me.”

You were trying to be strong but the crack in your voice betrayed the pain you were feeling as his eyes widened.

“What?”

“I know everything so I’m leaving.”

“Leaving? What the hell are you talking about?” “You know damn well what I’m talking about, the fact that you’re only dating me for a bet you made with fucking Ethan. I want to hear it from your own mouth, tell me you hate me. Tell me you think I’m trash and how replaceable I am.”

Tyler froze staring at you, with a shake of your head and giving a humorless laugh you shove more stuff in your suitcase.

“So, you don’t deny it, I can’t believe you Tyler what the fuck?! You played me like a toy, used me to get something that you could have saved up for. After everything I thought I actually meant something to you, I thought you loved me but this was just a game.”

“Who told you?”

“It’s not important who told me, it’s just important that I know and that you understand it’s not going to continue. I’m done, I want you to lose my number, don’t try and contact me. I don’t know why I’m even saying this it’s not like you care.”

Zipping the case shut you pick it up and shove your way past him setting your case on the floor and grabbing a few of the important things you had brought over.

“Y/n please lets talk about this.”

“Why so you can go into detail about how you were fucking with me, I gave you everything I had in this relationship. I love you and you were just toying with my heart I can’t believe you’d do this.”

“Wait please y/n.”

Grabbing your arm Tyler kept you from pulling away, it hurt your heart being so close to him when all you wanted was him to wrap his arms around you in a hug.

“Okay it’s true that I started talking to you as a bet, but I never intend for our relationship to go past being friends. And when it did, I wasn’t sure how to go about telling you, honestly, I didn’t think you’d ever find out about it so after a while I just stopped worrying. But I don’t think you’re trash, and I do have feelings for you.”

“You’re unbelievable. Don’t lie to me, I heard conversations between you and Ethan about how you weren’t sure how much longer you wanted to do this. And Ethan saying how you get, break and easily replace. I’m a human with emotions and feelings, not some little plaything that you can use until you’re bored. I don’t want to continue this conversation.”

“But y/n you need to listen to me about this please.”

Tyler wasn’t one to beg but at this point he’d beg for as long as he needed to, he wasn’t expecting this to be what he walked in on. And the fact you were packing a suitcase was making his chest hurt, he didn’t want you to leave. He needed to find out who told you this shit so he could kill them.

“Baby please reconsider I want to talk about all of this, I know I should have before but I’m sorry for not doing so.”

It broke his heart watching your eyes fill with tears as your bottom lip wobbled slightly you searched his face for a moment seemingly losing the fight in you.

“I can’t not right now, maybe not ever. Goodbye Tyler.”

Pulling your arm away from him you left the apartment, closing the door behind you and going down to your car. Tyler felt numb as he stood there staring at the door willing, hoping you’d change your mind and come back up. When he felt his phone buzz, he grabbed it quickly thinking maybe you had decided to text him. What he saw made him want to throw up all over the floor.

MJF: Checkmate asshole enjoy being single

#hook fanfiction #aew hook #hook x reader #tyler senerchia #hook aew

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angelasscribbles · 1 year

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The Best Christmas Ever

Series: None, this is a one-shot and you can find those here.

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Riley x Max

Rating: G

Warnings for this chapter: none

Word Count: 2,181

A/N: This is an ask from @squid-princess-teach-swallow from my follower prompt list/wheel event. The ask was for Max x fluff x embarrassing.

I'm also submitting it to @choicesholidays for the prompt "I'm so glad we found each other" and tagging @maxwell-beaumont-appreciation

My other stuff: Master List.

Maxwell Beaumont flung his car door open and jumped out. He was late.

He hurried up the driveway to his childhood home hoping they hadn’t started dinner without him.

“Sorry, I’m late!” He called as he stomped the snow from his boots and flung his jacket in the general direction of the coat rack.

The sound of laughter floated out of the sitting room as he made his way down the hall. An affectionate smile played across his face as he regarded his friends and family getting along.

Bertrand was seated on the plush, oversized beige sofa with his wife Savannah on one side of him and Riley on the other. Liam and Drake stood behind the sofa looking over his shoulders at something.

“What’s everyone doing?” He asked then his steps faltered as he noticed the large photo album in his brother’s lap. His good mood turned to horror, “No!”

Riley looked up with a sparkle in her eye, “Bert’s been showing us pictures from your childhood, Max! And telling us stories!”

“Oh, no…we don’t have to do that! Isn’t dinner ready?” Max asked in distress.

“We were waiting for you!” Riley told him.

“It’s fine,” Savannah said, “a few more minutes won’t hurt.”

“But-“ Max was sure that he did not want his friends and family telling the woman he was secretly in love with about his childhood.

“Ah, what a cute dog!” Riley pointed to a photo of both boys hugging a Labrador retriever.

Max smiled, “Her name was Penny. She was a great dog!” This wasn’t so bad. Just focus on the dog.

“Wasn’t she a rescue?” Liam asked.

“She was,” Max agreed, “She was one when we got her and I was seven. Our father explained how dog years worked and I thought it was really cool that we were the same age!”

“Oh Max, that’s so cute!” Riley smiled at him and a flush of pleasure crept across his face.

Of course, his brother had to ruin it, “Yes but when she turned two, Max cried for a week.”

“Why?” Savannah asked in puzzlement.

“He thought since she was turning fourteen, she wouldn’t want to hang out with him anymore,” Bertrand answered, “because he was still only eight.”

“That’s hilarious!” Drake said.

“I think it’s cute!” Riley gave him a sympathetic glance as everyone else laughed.

“Thank you,” Max said as he walked around to stand in front of the sofa ready to snatch the album from his brother’s grasp if necessary.

Bertrand flipped the page.

“Oh, I didn’t know you wore glasses when you were younger!” Riley glanced from the photo album to his face.

“He didn’t,” Bertrand explained, “Somehow he got it in his head that wearing glasses was what made you smart.”

“Oh, so they were fake.”

“Yeah, yeah, they were fake!” Max agreed shooting a death glare at his brother.

“No,” Bertrand contradicted him, “he convinced our parents that he was having trouble seeing and got them to take him to an ophthalmologist where he pretended he couldn’t read the eye chart.”

“No!” Riley gasped in delight, “He did not!”

“Oh, he did,” Bertrand assured her, “then he suffered with blurry vision for a month before finally confessing.”

“I hate you,” Max said yanking the album out of Bertrand’s hands.

“Oh, come on!” Bertrand protested, “We’re just having fun!”

“Yeah, Max!” Riley agreed, “I love hearing stories about your childhood!”

“Really?” He felt his heart do a little flip.

“Really.” She assured him.

“Oh! I have one!” Drake exclaimed, “You’re going to love this one, Brooks!”

Max ran a hand down his face with a groan, “Not the fucking closet story!”

“Yes, the closet story!” Drake chortled, “They had come to the palace to visit. We were playing hide and seek-“

“No, we weren’t!” Max interrupted, “I was hiding from you because I broke your favorite action figure and I was afraid you were going to murder me!”

“Whatever,” Drake said dismissively before plunging on, “He wouldn’t come out of the damn closet and his parents were ready to leave so I threatened to suck the air out of the closet!”

“But he still wouldn’t come out,” Liam added.

“He was a very stubborn child.” Bertrand supplied.

“What happened?” Riley asked, looking from Liam to Drake to Max.

Max picked up the story, “I was sitting in that closet and I see a straw slide under the door and I hear a sucking sound….”

“He came hauling ass out of that closet like he was about to die!” Drake howled.

“Yeah,” Liam broke in, “he broke the door, it had to be replaced.”

“I really thought I was going to die!” Max shook his head, “You were all assholes!”

“It was a straw under a closet door!” Drake scoffed.

“I was six!”

“Remember when you fell out of the window and broke your arm?” Liam asked.

Max sighed as his head tipped back and he looked up to heaven for guidance.

“How did he fall out a window?” Riley asked.

“Our parents sent him to his room for setting his pet crabs loose in the house and he was leaning out the window crying-“

“Wait, you had pet crabs?” she asked in astonishment.

“They were the little ones that go in the aquarium with your fish.” Bertrand offered.

“Okay. Why were you leaning out the window?” Riley directed the question to Max.

“I wanted my peacocks to hear, and any servants that were outside,” he answered, “I was being dramatic. I wanted the world to know I’d been wronged. Those crabs were falsely imprisoned and they wanted to be free!”

“Anyway,” Bertrand continued, “he leaned too far and fell out! But no one knew it had happened, he had to ring the doorbell to get back in!”

The room was howling with laughter.

“Okay, okay, I was a dork but why are we only picking on me?” Max asked, “Remember the time you asked mom why there were different colors of people?”

“Yes,” Bertrand responded, “She told me it was because God wanted a variety of flavors.”

“Unfortunate word choice,” Max said, “for three years, Bert thought that when people died, God ate them!”

“No, he did not!” Savannah wiped tears of mirth from her eyes.

“Yes, he did!” Max replied smugly.

“Fine, but one time when he was about eight, Max found dad’s driver’s permit and started crying hysterically,” Bertrand put the focus right back on his brother, “It took us almost an hour to get him to calm down enough to tell us what was wrong.”

“What was it?” Riley asked.

“He saw the expiration date and thought that was when he was going to die.”

“Yes, well….in my defense, when things expire, we throw them away, I thought the expiration date was for him, not the permit.”

“Ah, Max, that’s sweet!” Riley said, “You were a sensitive child!”

“We should probably get to dinner now,” Bertrand stood up and turned back to help Savannah up.

Max had been returning the photo album to the shelf, he turned and tripped over the coffee table, “Ow!”

He caught himself but his shin was going to be bruised.

“You okay?” Riley stayed behind as the rest of the group trailed out of the sitting room and into the dining room.

“I’m fine,” he assured her as he sank onto the loveseat grasping his leg, “nothing hurt but my pride.”

Riley sat down next to him, “Hey, I hope you aren’t upset about the pictures and the stories.”

“What?” he glanced at her face then back down at his leg as he mumbled, “No, I mean, they were just embarrassing…”

“I don’t think they were embarrassing, Max,” she told him, “I think you were an adorable child and the stories were funny but cute.”

“Yeah?” He looked back up at her and his heart skipped a beat. His face flushed.

Why couldn’t he just tell her how he felt?

She and Liam had formed a close friendship during the social season but had agreed that a romantic connection wasn’t in the cards. There had been a spark, yes. But it had never exploded into a flame.

He had been terrified she would leave at the end of the season but she had decided to stay and finish out her graduate studies at Cordonia University.

“Yeah,” she said, “Now, why were you late? Is everything okay?”

“Oh, I, ah…” he flushed an even deeper shade of red as he fumbled in his pocket, “I was picking something up. I wanted to give you this before you left to spend Christmas with your family.”

She glanced down as he thrust a small velvet box into her hands, “I can open it now?”

“If you want.” He still hadn’t met her eyes.

She opened the lid to reveal a delicate gold chain with a golden phoenix curled around a brilliant sapphire. Her mouth fell open as she pulled it out of the case, “Max!”

“You don’t like it! It’s okay, I can return it-“

“Shut up!” She slapped his chest, “It’s beautiful and I love it!”

“You do?” He asked hopefully.

“I do! It’s gorgeous! But-“

His face fell, “But what?”

“Nothing, just, this had to be really expensive and-“

“And it’s too much, isn’t it? I’m sorry! I knew I shouldn’t have-“

“Max, stop! That’s not what I was going to say!”

“Sorry, what were you going to say?” He stared down at his lap while silently cursing himself for being so utterly bad at this.

“It is expensive…I’m just wondering what it means.”

“I saw it and it reminded me of you. All the crap you’ve been through in your life but you just rise from the ashes every time….what?” The way she was looking at him made him stop breathing.

“Nothing,” She said slowly, “could you put it on for me?”

She handed him the necklace then turned her back and lifted her hair.

His hands shook as he attempted to fasten the clasp. He was successful on the third try.

When she turned back toward him, she fingered the necklace thoughtfully. Her voice was soft as she said, “You know, this is the kind of thing you usually give a girlfriend, not just a friend.”

Max froze as panic sliced through him.

Shit! Shit! Shit!

As he struggled to formulate a response, she reached out and touched his cheek gently, “Do you ever think of me like that?”

“I….yes…I just didn’t think that you…I mean, you probably don’t …..I’m sure you don’t-“

She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.

His body jolted in surprise before melting into her with relief, happiness, and awed amazement.

“Maxwell! Riley!” Bertrand’s voice boomed from the other room, “Are you coming to dinner or not?”

They pulled apart, both a little breathless.

“In a minute!” Max yelled back.

“We should go,” Riley said.

“Can we talk when you get back from the states?”

“About that,” she replied, “I got you something too, I wasn’t sure if you’d like it, but now…”

“You didn’t have to get me anything, Riley!” He told her, “The fact that you like me is already the greatest gift I could get!”

“That’s so sweet, Max! And I know I didn’t have to, but, this is as much for me as it is for you.”

Curiosity swirled through him, “What is it?”

“A plane ticket,” she answered shyly.

“A plane ticket?” He repeated in confusion.

“Yeah, I was hoping you’d come with me.”

He blinked in surprise, “You want me to come with you to visit your family for Christmas?”

Riley felt her face heat as she responded, “Only if you want to! It’s okay if you don’t!”

Max’s face broke into the widest grin she’d ever seen, and that was saying a lot, “I would love to spend Christmas with you! I’d go anywhere with you, Riley!”

“Seriously you two! What’s taking so long?” Liam called.

“We’re not waiting anymore, I’m hungry!” Drake yelled.

“Coming!” They yelled back together.

Max jumped up from the loveseat and offered her his hand.

She took it.

He pulled her to her feet and they started for the dining room, hand in hand.

“So, am I like your boyfriend now?” He asked, his heart pounding in his chest.

She smiled as she cut a sidelong glance at him, “Oh, absolutely!”

“This is the best Christmas ever!” He told her as joy suffused his entire being.

And he meant it. Everything in his life had come down to this.

He had been slowly falling in love with her since that first night in New York. He’d never dreamed she would return those feelings.

As the snow continued to fall outside, they gathered around the table with family and friends. It was almost Christmas, he had a sister-in-law, a nephew on the way, and a girlfriend.

Riley was his girlfriend.

The thought made him feel like he might explode from happiness overload, and for the first time since his mother died, Christmas actually felt joyous.

#maxwell beaumont #trr au #maxwell x mc #holiday 2022 #choices fic writers creations #cfwc fics of the week #angelasscribbles #choicesholidays #christmas

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andthebubbles · 2 years

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i was gonna write this post after the race tonight but i’ll have to sleep pretty soon after it finishes so here i am at 3.07pm writing this. (i sure hope the race isn’t gonna piss me off/leave me tilted in some way!! i have work tomorrow, which so far involves picking up stuff from one person aka i’m gonna be PAID to DRIVE i mean fuck yeahhhh)

there’s one thing i’m pretty glad of and that’s about today being my last day of watching f1 (at least until/if seb gets a f1 job in management or something, but then i’ll probably just pay attention to the pictures/whatever video we have, and not watch the racing again until everyone i hate has left the grid). i will not miss f1. i will still be writing simi fic though (and sebson and martian and whatever tickles my fancy). i have not liked f1 since they got rid of the V8s. and it’s made me realise that with cars i go for the sound, the sound is important; in racing it’s almost all the same to me (it can be exciting, it usually has a chunk of boringness in it, and i always feel like i’d like it better if i was actually the one (capable of) racing) but the SOUND is what differentiates one series from another for me. i can watch heaps of rally because it sounds glorious, i can leave V8+ f1 on in the background and just enjoy the engines singing. but when they brought in the V6s they just don’t sound good to me, and that’s really the reason why i stopped liking f1.

people who aren’t max fans tend to hate rbr these days i’ve noticed, but i am almost 100% sure that every other team is as dirty as rbr (or has the potential to be). it’s just that rbr is more well publicised, it’s more hateable, it’s filling the niche as the bad evil team, idk. i don’t tend to hold things like this against them because it’s all the same everywhere, and if seb hasn’t boycotted them, seb who actually knows them, then that’s good enough for me.

i will always have a soft spot for rbr seb. maybe you could say that rbr seb is the one i still like. i think if i’d gotten into f1 when seb was at am, i might not have cared about him one bit/just been very indifferent towards him (apart from his rainbowness, but that’s not enough for me to like a person). (i’m not one of those people who like famous people based on their beliefs, but rather whatever i perceive their personality to be.) i liked how rbr seb wanted to win at all costs, i liked his little nuggets of wisdom about life and how to deal with things. i’m sure if am seb had a car that could win races, we’d probably get this ‘win at all costs’ mentality back, but that’s not what happened, and i really do miss it, i relate to it better. ofc what seb is doing now is very nice but i will always like more that singlemindedness to win, that huge focus on racing, because it means he’s still hungry (i know he still is, but when the car can’t win i think probably that just has to be shoved to the backseat or you’d risk being angry all the time, idk (i’m projecting, but this is me trying to understand it))

i love that this is a wall of text XDDD because that means less people are likely to read all of it

i’ve deliberately not found another driver to like on the current grid because i want to be away from f1 asap. the thing that kills you with watching any sport is the hope, imo. but i think maybe that’s just me feeling things very intensely and not knowing how to deal with it, apart from shoving it all away. and now i get to burn bridges! i’m good at that i guess, it keeps things simple.

i’m not gonna miss seb in f1, probably because i won’t be watching f1 anymore so it makes no difference to me. i’ll admit though that once i got away from all the (melo)dramatic posts i saw on the seb tracked tag that yeah there were some pics i saw that made me feel something. sort of like, ~the last track walk, the last whatever. i don’t remember such an outpouring of love for a driver retiring (the ones i remember are mark and kimi (i missed jenson’s retirement)) but i could be wrong, since i’ve never liked mark so i was glad when he left, and kimi... i was just getting back into watching f1 so i don’t really remember. i missed him more the next year when f1 started up again and he wasn’t there. but he looks really happy this year every time i’ve seen him, so hopefully seb will be like that too

yeah i just, idk. fingers crossed seb gets to do the whole race and that he’s happy by the end of it. i just want the dude to be happy, whatever happens. i don’t care about him leaving f1 as long as he’s happy

#ramble.txt #//#slightly off topic but i'd love it if someone could explain to me why a lot of people seem to be getting sad/crying about seb leaving #i mean that nicely... i'm just not very good at emotions and making sense of them #like... we are excited to see what he'll do next right? he's excited about it?#a little bit sad too because it's over but he's ready to move on?#and things are gonna be all fresh next year and it's just... yeah?#like #i can understand the sadness from it being over #and he won't do blah thing again #the thing he's been doing for the last blah years #but. is that what people are crying about? or is it something else that i've missed?

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qslovebot · 2 years

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A Fresh Start (Part Two): Max Cooperman

Part One

Summary: Max’s crush worsens and so does the reader’s, it worsens and worsens until they both cave.

Pairing: Sub!Max x Fem!Reader

Warning: major tension, kissing, smut, sex, oral sex, submissive Max <3, a little fluff here and there

“Max is just like that. He can’t stay in one place for long, don’t worry about it, y/n.” Sarah said, putting away the paper plates and tossing the garbage bag into the garage. “And he hasn’t seen you in like three years so I wouldn’t put it past him to be shy.”

You nodded, sitting back on the couch where Max was a few minutes ago before he fled. You were having some issues with the idea of Max in your head. He was so sweet now, not gross, not boyish and immature. Your chest was flushed and your lip was between your teeth. Was it bad you were having these thoughts about Max?

Thinking about making him blush. Thinking about making him avoid your eye contact. Making him fidget where he sits, making him feel restless and unable to sit still…

You ran your hand through your hair and let out a breath. No more thoughts about Max like that… no more imagining your hands in his curls while he- no. No more of that. No more imagining his pathetic whimpers of never being pleased properly before. You could just tell he was never actually given anything good- no! Stop thinking about that, stop.

You ran your hand through your hair and breathed out, hard. You needed to apologize, that was it. Nothing more, nothing less, just an apology.

“You okay?” Sarah asked. You couldn’t just tell her that you were trying to fight your attraction to her younger brother. “You’re all flushed, do you need water?”

“Yeah, thanks,” you replied. Sarah went to get you a glass. “It’s great being back, but a little overwhelming to see all the changes in person.”

Sarah nodded, bringing over the water which you drank immediately, “I can’t imagine, but I’m so glad you’re here to stay now. We can do everything we couldn’t. There’s a new movie theatre, there’s an old arcade that they revamped and reopened. Max goes there all the time but you and I could probably tag along with him one of these days.”

“Sounds fun,” you finished the glass. “We should tomorrow.”

“Oh my god, do you want to sleep over? Like old times, when we were younger?” She jumped once and it spread a smile on both of your faces.

You nodded, forgetting about Max a little better now. “Yes! Oh my god it would be perfect. Theres this guy I’ve been meaning to tell you about-“

“A guy?”

You and Sarah launched into conversation about this guy she liked at her place of work and it was like you never left at all. Everything was the same, you were laughing, having fun. And you were staying over, so it would be just like when you were younger teenagers.

Max lost another video game to Jake. He was not thinking right at all anymore. You were on the front of his mind. “Maybe it’s just the fact she’s come back into my life as an available girl and I want her because I think somehow I could get her but I can’t?” He said, laying on the floor.

“I still think she’s into you, dude.” Jake replied, still playing the game, but without multiplayer. “She is an available girl and you 100% have a chance with her if you actually put effort into it.”

“It’s more like 85% because she’s my sisters absolute BEST friend. From childhood. I’ve known her since I was like four and she was five. She never used to be so attractive to me, why can’t she just… be ugly?”

Jake guffawed, “I feel you. But stop stressing about the sisters friend thing. If anything, that issue makes it hotter. Forbidden.”

“I don’t want anything hotter I’m already burning in my skin,” Max sighed. But the forbidden part sparked something in his chest. But was it worth it? “I gotta find a way to deal with this.”

“I hate to bail on you, but Baja just called.”

“Seriously?”

“Her parents aren’t home. I’m going to go do what you’re too afraid to.” He chuckled again at Max’ fearful expression. “Have some tips before I go. Make her know that she’s safe, be dominant, and don’t stop until she’s squealing or tells you to stop. Oh and use protection.” Jake tossed him a string of five condoms and got up out of his chair. “Call me in a few hours okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Max looked at the protection in his hands and nodded. “Have fun.”

“You too. Let loose. Peace.” Jake walked out the bedroom and down the stairs, passing you and Sarah on his way out.

Sarah waved, “Thought you were staying over,” she said. He shook his head.

“I have a girlfriend thing to deal with. Nice meeting you, y/n. See you.” And he winked at you and gestures upstairs before quickly leaving. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Sarah didn’t even seem to notice it.

You shook your head and turned back to Sarah. “So tell me more about your guy.” And that went on until late. Sarah was on a sleep schedule thing apparently where she took melatonin and was asleep by 11:30, so you found yourself a little bored when the time came. You rid yourself of your top layer, leaving shorts and a tank top on in order to sleep.

Sarah pulled out the futon for you, but you lay there, bored, in only twenty minutes or so. And Sarah was already sleeping. You couldn’t just fall asleep with the embarrassing moment with Max looming over you. You touched his lip, that was horrible. He fled the room and he didn’t come back. Ugh.

You just wanted to walk over to his bedroom, open the door, apologize and slowly get down on your knees to properly apologize, and no! None of that! In the dark room your mind could wander but not this dark room, with his sister only feet away.

You decided to get up. Sarah was still a heavy sleeper, but when you accidentally tripped on her trash can, she stirred. So semi-loud noises would wake her. Noted. Be quiet.

Really, you just went to get more water. To down it, to try and drown out that burning in your chest. You hardly knew Max anymore, you couldn’t possibly be thinking this much about him.

Maybe it was just how he seemed so sweet. So untouched, in a way. And he wasn’t just hot now, he was pretty. Kind smile, warm eyes, long lashes, soft lips, clean curls. Taller, broader, a little thinner but not by much, more in the face and neck areas. Such a pretty face and under his shirt was most likely a pretty body.

You drank more water, then went back up the stairs to go try and sleep again, but just as you approached Sarah’s door, the door to Max’ room opened and you locked eyes. Your heart skipped a beat and so did his, seeing you like this. In this state, in the dim hallway light.

“Just getting water,” he said, going to walk past. He stopped for a second though, his heart pounding. At the same time, you spoke in unison.

“I’m sorry,” you both said.

“For touching you, I shouldn’t have-“

“For running off, it was shitty of me, I-“

Max cleared his throat and you tasked a second before you spoke again. “Won’t happen again.” There was a bit of Max who was silently screaming for you not to mean those words, because right now in your pyjamas, you could do anything you wanted to him.

“It’s okay…” he breathed. “Do you… want to come hang out in my room? I can show you more footage I have. Sarah sleeps pretty early, so.” He took a shot.

The fire continued to burn within you. “Uh… sure.” And you followed him back into his room quietly and he shut the door. You could speak up again. “Does Jake leave you a lot for his girlfriend’s sake?”

Max opened his computer, “Yeah. Not like I mind though, she’s important to him.”

“Are they just booty calls or actual genuine reasons to leave? Sex is great but I wouldn’t leave a friend’s to go have it.” You sat back on his desk again, feet dangling off the ground. You brought the idea of sex back into Max’ brain and it took him a second or two to realize you’d said it.

“I think today was a booty call but other times it can be serious.” Max said. He was getting distracted and you were getting bold.

“I consider friends more important than sex.” You mentioned that casually. The way you sat on his desk was currently driving him too crazy to be able to function. Your words, just the way you mentioned sex around him had his mind scrambled. “Would you?” You smiled a smile with a newborn fire behind it.

Something about being in his room… changed your thoughts. Was it really so wrong to think of him like this, especially as he stood across the room from you. Max shook his head, “I don’t really have anyone to leave anyone for… so hypothetically no.” Hypothetically. So he didn’t have anyone…

He was trying not to nervously sweat. You were in his room, in your shorts and your top. Your shoulders and thighs exposed. You were so pretty under the dimmed lights, how could he not think about what he wanted you to do to him under them? You tilted your head at his answer and smiled a bit. It made his heart skip a beat.

“Do you want to see some footage from the skate park?” He continued, breaking that tense silence.

“Sure.” You hopped off of his desk and walked over to where he was now sitting in his chair at the table in the corner in front of his laptop. “Do you skate too?”

“Sometimes. I usually stay out of most things to film. It’s better to be behind a camera than with a broken arm.” He smiled and you nodded. “I’m not that horrible, but I’m pretty bad.”

You looked over his shoulder down at him and he looked up. There was a moment of eye contact before you spoke again, “I heard that wipeout videos are trending now, so maybe we should hit the skate park and you can lend me your camera.” You joked.

“Probably not worth it,” he shrugged, looking back at his screen to pull up some videos.

“It would be worth it for me,” you reasoned jokingly. Max snickered a little.

He showed you some videos and explained both the skateboard moves and the camera lenses and film methods for them. You listened intently because you did actually care, but you also liked the way he spoke. It wasn’t in a mansplaining sort of way, it was the explanation of someone who understands what other people understand. And the way he looked when he was speaking about something he was passionate about was just… so… mmhm.

There was also those moments where you locked eyes for too long. Max’ heart sped up, his hands got extra gesturey, and you found yourself looking at his lips a lot, just as he was looking at your waist and your collarbones.

You were standing so close to him, like how you sat earlier when Jake was around. Max was hyper aware of every move you made because it would touch him. Every time your hand brushed his shoulder, he wished it would grab his face and force his face toward you. But he banished those thoughts every time…

You eventually backed up to sit on the edge of the desk again. Max moved too, to sit on the edge of his bed facing you. It was getting late. He was getting a little curious. “Did you think about anyone from here when you moved?”

“Sarah, mostly.” You replied. “I didn’t really have anyone else to care about.”

He nodded, “What did you think of me before you left?”

“I thought you were my best friends little brother who was always in the way,” you smiled. He chuckled.

“I was a chubby little shit,” he nodded. “I thought you wore too many sequinned shirts. And that you needed to put your hair down because it looked so tight.”

“It was so bad,” you laughed. “I didn’t know what style was.”

“You look prettier now… or, shit, just… pretty now.” he nodded. And the tension that had dissolved with friendly banter, was now back simply with one compliment. Max was losing his mind, immediately regretting it. But you smiled a little.

“Thank you, so are you,” you replied. The eye contact stuck for a moment more, then he looked away. He was imagining you calling him pretty in more than this context… he had to stop or he’d run into the same issue as earlier. You left his side for a moment. “It’s good to be back here again. There’s so much that’s new here to do, and old things to do again. Old friends to see and new friends to make.”

“Definitely,” Max was fending off his mind from those thoughts that kept creeping in. It was getting harder and harder to stop them, especially when you looked at him like that. He couldn’t do anything, he had to keep his morals. How would Sarah feel if you two made out? How would Sarah feel if she knew that you were in Max’ room after hours? He had to keep his head about him, he didn’t want her to be angry.

“You’re flushed,” you noted, that fire in your chest moving into your stomach. Was the flush from you? Was he pink because of you? You had to test this theory immediately.

“I’m probably tired,” Max lied to you. He had to lie. There was nothing else he could say. However, he had his eyes still trained on you. You gestured to his bed.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” You asked, knowing your plan. He shook his head, so you sat on the edge and with your arms folded across your chest, basically just brought attention to your chest. You pretended to look past him at his wall, but you noticed how his eyes flickered right where you wanted them. He must have turned a deeper pink because at this point his posture changed to hide his face.

He was not as confident as Jake. If Jake was here, he would tell Max to take control. But what if he wanted to be the one controlled? ‘Don’t stop until she’s squealing’ but what if Max wanted that to be him? If he were Jake, he would be able to make that move… if he were Jake he would have the confidence to.

You had to test him further. “I had my first kiss here, so now I’m realizing I might run into that kid again.” You sighed. “I don’t even remember his last name.”

Max smiled, “Sounds scary.”

“Does your first kiss still live around here?” You asked, leaning forward a little so his view was better. He swallowed hard.

“I don’t think so. I think she moved when she graduated.” He said, nodding.

“That’s sad. First partners suck.”

“She wasn’t my… partner. She barely even kissed me, she just thought it would be fun to. “I haven’t… really had anything.”

“I’m sorry,” you said. The desire to be his first was kind of killing you. If he hadn’t had a partner, had he really experienced anything sexual? Fuck, that fire within raged on. It was wrong, though… it was wrong. “It’s late.” You added.

Max’ eyes were trained on you. Were you leaving? Both of your minds were warning yourselves, the tension in the air was thick. It was bonding, it was magnetic. The air itself was warm and and filled with these electric currents which was exactly why you had to go. For your sake, you thought. And Max thought it was probably better that way, if you just went to bed.

“Mhm,” he said. It was hard to breathe with the tension in the air. He wanted you so badly, he wanted to touch you, he wanted you to touch him. Jake would already have you. Jake would make a move.

But Max wanted you regardless of Jake’s advice. Max was not Jake. Jake didn’t want you, he did. He watched you slip off his bed and walk quietly to the door, a friendly smile on your face. It hid the fact you were thinking the worst things about him.

“Thanks for giving me something to do,” you said, in his doorframe.

“Mhm.” He nodded, eyes on your lips. It was wrong, it was so wrong… All of Jake’s advice was bullshit. It would never suit him, Jake would never understand the urge he had to be used by a woman.

“Goodnight,” you replied, small smile still there. You kissed him on the cheek and that’s when everything broke. Your lips left his cheek and you took a step back to go back to his sisters room but Max grabbed your wrist and with rebound elasticity the tension exploded and he pulled you not only into him, but your lips connected perfectly in one swift but harsh movement. He would not say goodnight yet.

It was like the fire in your stomach spread like a wildfire through your veins the second he kissed you. Hot, burning, and if this was wrong, it was too fucking late. You kissed him back, pushing him with you back into his room and shutting the door behind you, to which Max kissed you against the second it was closed.

He was good at it. He tasted good, too. You grinned into it as you pushed him back onto his bed. He sat down and you continued to kiss him standing up, tilting his head back and allowing his hands to grip your waist. Your hands gripped his hair, kissing him like you were starved of him.

“Mmm,” he let our a noise close to a whimper, but similar to the sound you’d make when you like something and it was beautiful. You tightened your grip on his curls and instead of another sound like that, he let out a full groan to which he immediately muttered, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

You chuckled a little, “It’s okay, but we have to be quiet if this is what you want.”

“I want you,” he said, quite literally intoxicated by you already. Just a few long kisses and he was gone. His eyes were half-lidded as he kissed you again. You kissed him back with long-lasting strides, his soft lips against yours. There was no battle, he let you stay over him. In fact, he pulled you onto him, so that your knees lay aside his hips and you sat up over him.

He touched your cheek gently to move your hair from your face but he kissed you the same as you kissed him. “You can touch me,” you whispered, pulling his curls just a little more. “Is this your first time?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “I’ve only done certain things but never-“ he panted, “never in full.”

“I barely know you, though, is this really what you want?”

“Go out with me tomorrow?” He said shyly. You just smiled. “Please.” He followed up. That please meant more than just ‘please go out with me’. “This is what I want.”

You nodded, “Shhh,” and kissed him once more, this time pushing him onto his back as you did so. Very gently you pushed your lower half against his, grinding ever so slightly. He shut his eyes right, trying not to make a sound. He was so beautiful, so innocent, it made your heart beat hard.

Speaking of hard, Max’s predicament was back. The one he’d left to hide from you, you were now directly the cause of it through friction. You rocked your hips just a little as you kissed him just to feel him writhe, to feel him open his mouth soundlessly from how good it felt. He understood the sound rule, that was good.

His hand gripped your hip, moving upward to your waist. The grip was tight, but not harming you. It was good, it was right. This couldn’t be wrong. The way his lips touched yours, it was like sex itself. Sweet. So sweet. Your hand moved down between, rubbing over the bulge in his pants gently. “Ah-“ he breathed, trying not to make sound. His eyes shut tight and his nose scrunched slightly and he blushed. He blushed pink.

“Is it okay if I take these off?” You asked. He nodded, hesitating. “You know you can say no at any point, okay?” You whispered. He smiled a little.

“I know, I haven’t-“ he shrugged, “-actually taken anything off fully. Please continue, I’ll probably die if you stopped.” He chuckled a little and kissed you once more, gently. And then the kiss deepened again and instead of his pants being removed, he pulled your shirt off from over your head. He was taking his time, not stalling, but getting himself ready.

He gawked for a second and you pretended to judge him for looking, then you smiled and the kissing continued as you rocked against him. He pulled his own shirt off and you rid yourself of your bottoms. You watched him look down at his pants, “I can wait.” You said, to make sure he felt okay. He nodded, eyes on your lips, on your chest, on your thighs.

“Can I try something?” He asked, curious, hungry.

You nodded, “Whatever you want.” If you were going to take his virginity, you wanted it to be good for him to learn from, a good experience overall. It wasn’t just the rush of dangerousness anymore, there was a burn of genuine liking for Max.

He nodded shyly and this time, climbed over you. You kissed him as he laid you back, but that kiss of his strayed away. He kissed your chest, your stomach, and kept going down. You wondered if he’d done this before, but he’d asked you to try it, so you were thinking maybe not- but that changed as his nose brushed your clit first try.

He got into it, his tongue dipping gently, moving the way it should. You gripped his sheets, biting your lip so that you’d stay quiet. He was good at this, he was really good at this.

His nose touched the right places while his tongue hit others and it was like nobody ever before. He was the only one willing to without being asked or provoked. You’d only been with two others but this was by far the best. Your hands moved from the sheets into his hair like you’d imagined. He kept going and it was fast an you could feel an end coming. “Max,” you said breathily. “Max, don’t let me finish, not yet-“ He understood immediately and came back up and wiped his mouth. It was too good to end like this, you wanted more.

“I could do that for you,” you said, gesturing to his pants and the oral sex he’d just given you a heavenly minute and twenty seconds of. You’d give him whatever he wanted.

“I want to be inside,” he said, his face inches from yours, but shyly. Blushing, he was blushing again. At his own wants. You slowly undid the button of his pants and he did the rest, keeping eye contact. He smelled like you now, you noticed, and you kissed him anyways. “Can I please?” He asked.

“Mhm,” you nodded. He reached for a condom that you didn’t know he had. He was pink and hot and you didn’t want to draw too much attention to his dick that stood hard and erect, facing you with nothing to contain it. It was perfect and you looked back at him while he rolled on the protection. You sat up, pushing him back down onto his back for the final time. “Tell me everything you want, quietly. Don’t hold back on details.”

“Just you, just you in every way possible I just want you to fuck me… just fuck me, but face me and kiss me when you can and-“ his words were a jumbled mess. Gorgeous nonetheless.

“Can I?” You hovered above him.

“Yes. Please.” He sighed quietly. You hoped he wouldn’t make too much noise or this would be over fast. He gripped your waist again as you lowered yourself down. You gasped slightly and he stifled a groan. Would he last?

You started out slow, moving up and down and back and forth simultaneously and very slowly. “This okay?” You asked. He couldn’t answer, he just nodded. He was making muffled noises, little whimpers, small sounds that killed you.

“Faster,” he said. You moved faster for him, but he got a little louder. You held back from making noise as well, but it was hard, considering that this was a virgin and this was great sex. “You’re so pretty, fuck-“ he groaned.

“Did you rub one out in the bathroom when you ran off earlier?” You asked. His eyes watched your chest bounce as you bounced on him. You were realizing things about him now.

“Wanted- I wanted to then…”He said, tilting his head back. “But I already did- I- You’re just so perfect, I- I couldn’t help it. I needed you.”

“You have me,” you mumbled. His blush was now a full flush and you went a little harder. His fingers dug into your skin. You leaned over and kissed him to quiet how loud his groans got. He felt so good, you struggled to keep quiet yourself. You were surprised he lasted this long as a virgin, but you wouldn’t complain. “Are you close?”

He nodded as you kissed his jaw. You were lucky he had a new bed that didn’t squeak. “What can I do to get you there?” You continued.

“Harder, please,” he begged. You smiled, “Can I finish inside?” You loved that he asked for permission, even with protection.

You kissed his nose, “Mhm.” And then you went harder, faster, and covered your own mouth to stop from moaning. He made a new desperate noise that nearly debilitated you and made you finish on the spot. It was almost a cry for help from the pleasure and you let him do it out loud because it sounded so good. You kept bouncing, he tilted his head back again, hands on your waist tightening again.

He was so perfect himself, under you, writhing. His eyes were so glossed over, you could see how far gone he was just by looking at him. He whimpered again, followed by another muffled sound and his chest rose and fell harshly. He was really close, “Fuck-“ he said in a whisper. Then he said it again, louder, with more enunciation despite his teeth grit together. “Fuck.” He was reaching his absolute peak. “You’re so beautiful, I- fuck- I’m almost there.” He looked like he was close to tears and his chest rose and fell sharper, less rhythmically and you knew this was his end, so you went even harder, even faster until you were at your edge too, then watched as he spilled over and you followed, seconds after.

It was so good, your eyes lost their sight for a moment, fading in and back out like a 50s movie. You had to cover Max’ mouth to silence the sounds he made as he finished, while you quieted your own. Your orgasm had lasted over ten seconds, making this literally the best sex of your life ever.

You let yourself down to lay on his chest, him still inside of you. You were both recovering, breathing hard. “God, fuck that was good.”

“Really?” He asked. He sounded surprised.

“Yeah,” you said, nodding with it. “Probably the best I’ve had. I’m not even kidding, you’re good at this.”

“I didn’t even think this would be memorable. I just thought I’d get my virginity taken and you’d go back to your room immediately.” He sighed.

“Fuck no, Max.” You sat up a little and got off of his dick, but not off of him. “No, I like you. I wouldn’t have fucked you if I didn’t.” You assured him. He smiled a little. “Definitely memorable.”

“You’re not joking?” Who hurt him?

“No,” you chuckled. “I’m not joking, you’re perfect. Everything about what just happened was good. Don’t even think for a second I would regret this because… holy shit.”

“Holy shit,” he repeated. You both smiled. You got up quietly, used a few tissues to clean yourself off of anything, then put your underpants and shirt back on. He watched from his bed, his lower half now covered by his comforter, thinking about how lucky he was that you gave him everything he wanted from that experience.

“I wish I didn’t have to go back to the other room soon,” you said. “I’d stay here with you if I could.”

“You actually like me?”

You were kind of miffed, but you crossed the room again, put one knee up on his bed and used that to lean in and kiss him. He kissed back as you put your hand on his jaw gently, but the kiss was firm. You broke the connection for a second more. “Yes. Stop doubting me.” You smiled and touched his cheek. “I like you. We should hang out soon. Alone.”

“Like a date?”

“Yes.” You nodded. “You’re cute, you’re sweet, and I am admitting my crush on you after sex which is weird, but I know what I want. And you asked me earlier, remember? This is what I want.”

He was blushing again. “Then we figure out how to tell Sarah.” He said. You nodded, smiling. “I think I’m still in shock, honestly.”

“No, me too.” You agreed, smiling. “I really wish I didn’t have to go, but I do.” You kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll see you later.”

“Mhm.” He nodded. You put on your shorts, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Sex.” He smiled. You grinned, touching your hair.

“Thank you too.” You nodded. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” He repeated. You turned off his lights and shut the door. You returned silently to Sarah’s room and slept peacefully.

In the morning, you were downstairs with Sarah, making a smoothie for breakfast in their big family blender. You were talking about some new movies that were in theatre and Max came down the stairs, bed head and unsurprisingly clothed again.

“You look happy,” Sarah noticed. Max tiredly waved to you and Sarah generically, making eye contact with you a second longer. You shot him a smile.

“Good sleep,” he replied.

“You want some?” You gestured to the smoothie. He nodded, walking over to the other side of the counter as you poured him a glass too.

“Thanks.” He said, scrunching his nose a little before taking it and going to the couch.

Sarah nudged you and leaned into your ear. “Don’t tell him I told you, but I think Max has a thing for you.”

“Oh god, really?” You questioned innocently.

“He totally does. What a weirdo. But I’d support it. You’d be my sister-in-law if you and Max-“

“Too far,” you laughed, taking a sip of your smoothie. “Let’s not go that direction.” You glanced over at Max.

“Just saying.” Sarah shrugged, teasingly. Oh there was so much she didn’t know already, but at least the support was there. It might be easier than expected.

#max cooperman smut #max cooperman #never back down #nbd #Evan Peters #max cooperman fluff #cute #smut #never back down smut

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suchalonelysunflower · 3 years

Text

Hold you to it (h.s)

Pairing: Harry Styles X Fem!Reader

Requested: Yes!

Summary: Harry’s home for a mini break and you plan to take advantage of his time.

Warnings: SMUT. Oral (female reciving) Face sitting. Mentions of masturbation. Language. Some grammar mistakes (English is not my first language, I’m sorry)

Word count: 2.2 k

Author’s Note: Hey! I’m back with another Harry piece! I’m still new to writing smut and I really hope you like it. Reblogs, feedback, comments and likes are more than welcome and encouraged ❤️ hope you like it and Happy Reading ✨🦋🌻

My materialist // wanna be part of my tag list?

Picture found on Pinterest

Anon: can you do a fic like perks(calum hood), but instead its with Harry and its his facial hair instead of thighs?

You were so thankful for Olivia Wilde.

That was the only thought running through your head as you rested your back against the kitchen counter, sipping on your coffee as you watched your boyfriend play with different strumming patterns on his guitar in the living room.

Harry has always been a morning person, you knew you’d die before you see the day where he slept in more than you on a weekend. His bright smile always lit up the room, just like the sun itself when it sets through the window curtains of your shared bedroom. And today was no different.

After weeks of filming away from home, Olivia sent everyone home for a mini holiday before resuming filming the last shots of Don’t Worry Darling. And you couldn't be more grateful for that.

Harry took that opportunity to the max, planning to stay home for as long as it was physically possible. He felt incredibly guilty for leaving you alone all of these past months, even if you reassured him that you understood why he had to do it and that he had your complete support. But he was dead set on making it up to you, and so he did.

The first day came and went as you spent it tangled in the sheets, only getting out of bed when you really needed to, but never going too far to miss each other's warmth, catching up to all the things you missed, all the kisses you couldn't give and all the moments just being by his side.

The second day was not much different and neither was the third or fourth. All of your moments were spent together and you wouldn't have it any other way. You would never admit it to yourself, but you were secretly glad that Harry was as clingy as you.

It was almost like a drug, the love you had for each other. It was too much but at the same time it never seemed like enough. You would give the world to each other if it were possible, but you knew that your world was made as long as you were together.

You were addicted to him in every possible way. You knew his secrets and he knew yours. He knew just where to touch you, to kiss you, to love you, and you knew just how to make him feel like the king of the world as long as you were his queen. He showered you in delicate details that knew would make you happy, going from something simple as to make you coffee in the morning, to giving you the most expensive lingerie for you to show it off only to him. For him, you were his rock, his anchor to earth when the world became too much, sometimes even feeling like you were the only real thing he had and he would be an idiot not to appreciate you, to love you like you deserve.

Yet, sometimes you wonder if you could love him better, if you could ever be enough to deserve his kind of love. You knew if he could hear your thoughts right now, he would make all of those insecure thoughts go away with just a simple kiss. It was so easy to love him, so much so that you believe you’d never really love till him.

And, as you watch his fingers move against the strings, you know you will never love someone as much as him.

You held your mug closer to your chest, smiling as you recognized the melody he was playing. He knew your favorite songs by heart and he proudly sang them to you whenever you were around. This simple detail let you know that he was aware of your presence, even when his back was facing you. So you didn’t waste anymore time as you went up to him and sat beside him on the sofa.

“How’d you know that I was awake?” You asked, resting your head in the palm of your hand as you laid your elbow on the couch.

Harry just smiled without looking at you and without stopping his strumming “I always know it’s you” He said, his voice husky as it was still early “Hard to ignore your stare, my love”

You took another sip of your coffee, trying to hide the red that stained your cheeks at the sound of the pet name. Even after all this time you still get butterflies when he called you sweet names.

You concentrated all your attention on watching him as he played his guitar with such skill. You smiled as you watched how his curls started growing again, he had to cut his hair on a retro style for the movie and he always had to keep it neat and proper, but today it was just flying around everywhere with no direction, some of them even falling on his forehead on a perfect little curl that just made him seem angelical. You watched as his hands moved along the strings, his long fingers pressing the right chords as his strumming never stopped. You always loved his hands, his delicate touch igniting fires in you everytime he wandered your body like it was a finest piece of art and he was the sculptor.

Soon, your thoughts went deeper as you remembered the way those same fingers left their mark at the sides of your body, holding you tighter and closer to him as he fucked you roughly through the night. Touching every part of you that needed to be touched as he made you reach your climax over and over again.

You were so deep into your own mind as memories of the night before came flooding in, making you close your legs a little harder in order to feel some kind of friction that could ease your ache, that you didn’t notice that the song had stopped and that those beautiful green eyes you love so much were staring at you now.

“What’s on your mind?” He asked with a smirk, almost like he could read your dirty thoughts with just a look into your eyes.

You placed your mug on the coffee table, scooting closer to him at the same time he put his guitar to the side and rested his arm over your shoulders. You laid your head into his shoulders, lifting your gaze to meet his “Kiss me”

Harry needn’t to be told twice cause in the second you finished your sentence his hand was already flying to your cheek to pull you closer to him and capturing his lips with yours.

You were completely intoxicated on his lips, on the way they moved in sync with yours and the way that his tongue took control almost immediately, allowing him to deepen the kiss till you saw nothing but stars behind your eyes. Soon, his other hand moved to your back, pulling you on top of him so you were straddling his hardening cock.

“Feel what you’re doing to me, baby” He said with a groan after you started grinding his growing over his sweatpants.

“Harry..” You moaned as his lips moved from your mouth, to your jaw and to your neck, tracing the marks he already left and leaving new ones for you to see later. You loved the way he claimed you with every kiss, every bite. But you especially loved the way his scruffy beard was burning your skin with every move he made, making you crave that sensation over your whole body and more “I missed this”

Harry chuckled lightly, his hands going from your ass cheeks to under his shirt that you were wearing, grabbing your sides and making you grind ever harder against him, spreading your arousal all over him “If I remember correctly, we were in the same position a few hours ago, love”

“No,” You whined “I missed this” You grabbed his face softly, your fingers running over his cheeks and his scruffy beard and mustache “I’m so glad you are not filming anymore”

Whenever he had to be on set, Harry had to maintain his face clean as a baby in order to stay in character. You had complained a lot about it since you always love his facial hair, that month where he left his moustache growing was still one of your highlights of the year. And Harry was well aware of how much you like it, so for this break he let it grow all over again, knowing how much fun you’ll have with it.

He smirked like the devil before pressing his lips to your ear and whispering “If you missed it so much then why don’t you ride it?”

A cold shiver ran down your spine as he said those words, feeling your arousal grow with every moment passed “Harry..”

“Be a good girl for me, Y/N” He said, lifting your shirt and throwing it somewhere around the room. His hands immediately flew to your chest, massaging your nipples “You want to be a good girl for me, don’t ya darling?”

“Y-yes!” Was all you managed to say before Harry laid on the couch and pulled you on top of him. He waited for you to take off your drenched panties as he positioned himself on his back.

You put your hands at the sides of his face, lowering your head for one last kiss as Harry’s hand slapped your ass in order to get you to stop.

“I need to taste that little pretty pussy of yours” He said before pecking a kiss to your lips and giving you another slap on your ass.

Your legs were shaking with anticipation as you placed your center over Harry’s mouth, almost cumming right there and there when you heard him moan at the sight of your naked pussy.

“You are soaked, my love” He said, kissing the inside of your thighs “All of this for me?”

You could practically hear the smirk in his voice, but right now you didn’t give a damn “For you, Harry” You moaned, feeling his breath over your center “All for you, always”

“Hmm, good” Harry said before grabbing you by the sides of your hip and pulling you into him by surprise.

You let out a loud moan when his tongue lapped at your entrance, licking every single spot before moving to your aching clit. He started kissing your bundle of nerves, biting it lightly before he started sucking you clean.

“Oh my god” You said, hand flying to Harry’s head and tugging hard on his curls as he moved his face between your thighs, creating that burning sensation with his beard that you know you’d feel for days to come.

Harry started licking you up and down, holding on to your hips and moving them as he deemed fit, stopping at your clit every few movements to tease you as much as he could. He could die happy between your legs, savoring every part of you like you were his last meal on death row. He absolutely adored the way you tugged on his hair, making him moan as he felt you shiver above him with all your little dirty sounds going straight to his hard cock. It might be the little narcissist in him, but he relished in the fact that he was the only one who could make you come undone using only his mouth.

He knew you were close without even having to look at you. Your moans became louder and louder and your tug on his hair was almost painful. He loved that.

“You’re close, baby?” He asked in between your legs.

“S-so close, Harry. Baby. So close” You whimpered.

Suddenly, Harry’s movements stopped as his hands let go of your hips. Making you let out a desperate cry.

“Earn it”

That was all he had to say before you started grinding yourself onto his mouth. Your hips moved at a fast pace as you were selfishly chasing your orgasm.

Harry felt like he was in heaven as he felt you fuck yourself with his mouth, letting him taste every part of you as he gladly ate you out. Moaning inside of you with every hard tug you have to his hair.

You were drunk on him, completely intoxicated as you moved yourself against his mouth, not caring about the sounds that were coming out of your mouth or the way that you could hear how Harry was touching himself as he pleasured you. All of that only adding to your imminent orgasm.

“Harry- B-baby I’m cumming” You pant, moving faster and faster as you could feel the burn inside your thighs “Oh-I’m cumming!” You practically screamed as you felt yourself let go on top of him.

You felt Harry’s hand come and hold you in place by your sides, his tongue fucking you through your climax and licking every single drop of cum you had to offer.

A few moments later, you found yourself on top of Harry, tasting yourself in his tongue as he kissed you deeply “You okay?” He asked once he pulled away and saw your pleasure filled eyes.

“You love me too much” You said, smiling as he turned you over so he could be on top.

Harry chuckled as he lowered his head to kiss you again, this time a little rougher than before “I promise I can show you just how much more I can love you”

You moaned as you felt him grind his cock over your sensitive pussy, coating it with your juices as he was almost ready to push it inside of you.

“I’ll hold you to it”

Tags: @iknowyouthinkimbulletproof @multistann @tenaciousperfectionunknown @talksoprettyjjx @mystic-232

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furikakyo · 3 years

Text

a return to roots | 4

pairing: kita shinsuke x f!reader

summary: y/n is a rising star in the music industry, having almost everything you could have ever hoped for as a small-town country girl. now after releasing two triple platinum albums in consecutive years, you face the dreaded artist’s burnout… in order to recover, your manager suggests, you should return to your hometown in hyōgo for a long-deserved break.

genre: socmed/smau, slice of life

warnings/tags: timeskip!, mutual pining, slow burn? more like rekindling, slight canon divergence

masterpost

If you were to be completely honest, you'd wanted to wear a dress you’d been allowed to keep after a photoshoot. However, it wasn't a good look for someone of your status to re-wear outfits, especially statement pieces. You couldn't remember who had designed it, but it had been mostly tulle and made you feel like a princess... all things that could not be used to describe what you were wearing now. For your dinner plans, you chose to wear a simple yet smart-looking bodycon dress, one that you were regretting as you stepped out of the car. You pulled at the hem from over the long coat you wore, conscious of the fact that there could potentially be paparazzi waiting to snap a photo of you from an unfortunate angle if you weren't paying close attention. Unlike American paparazzi, reporters here didn't flock at the entrances of exclusive clubs or restaurants, but it never hurt to be cautious.

"I won't need a ride home," you told Ichiro, who nodded stiffly and then shut the door of the car after you got out, “I can get a ride home."

You adjusted the sunglasses on the bridge of your nose, aware that you looked out of place in the nightlife, and then walked to the doors of the hotel. A concierge opened the door to greet you and Ichiro, who trailed behind, scanning the area. "Welcome, Miss. Your party called ahead and made us aware of the arrangements to be made. You can follow me to the elevator, where I will escort you to your destination."

"Thank you," you said coolly, then took after them. While in the elevator, the concierge spoke nervously, emphasizing how much of an honor it was for someone like you to visit their establishment. You smiled politely, silently willing the elevator to reach the right floor faster.

A restaurant specializing in molecular gastronomy, Kuroo had explained to you on the phone the night before. He'd sounded probably the most excited you'd ever heard him. You had looked it up yourself after the call had ended. It was on the 29th floor of a luxurious hotel, one that you had never been to yourself. Only eight people max were allowed to dine in, and the chef made all of the food in front of you, four courses.

You were dragged out of your thoughts when the elevator finally dinged and the concierge guided you to the glass doors of the restaurant, where Ichiro recognized the occupants and left you alone to be greeted by Kuroo, Lev, his sister Alisa, and, surprisingly, Kenma. You took off your sunglasses and slipped them into the pocket of your coat before that too was taken by a waitress, who calmly swept them away from you and into a closet, presumably.

"Hi, guys!" you gave a bright smile and then slipped into the empty seat in between Kenma and Alisa.

"We thought you might want to sit next to Alisa," Kenma explained quietly, tugging on the collar of his dress shirt.

You smiled again, settling into the chair. "Thanks," you nodded your head. "You look nice, too, Kenma! You're all dressed up!"

Kuroo leaned back to make eye contact with you, laughing. "He almost cancelled on dinner plans with us when he heard that he couldn't wear his sweatpants. He lives in sweatpants exclusively."

Kenma sighed, muttering under his breath, "Maybe I wouldn't if you didn't make a big deal about whenever I'm not." Only you heard his comment, since he was on the edge of the table, but you didn't have any time to reply because the head chef came out of the kitchen, accompanied by a couple of workers behind him, holding the ingredients.

One by one, each round of dishes came and went. Earlier, you'd been worried about wearing a bodycon dress because of the impending food baby you were sure to conceive, but with only dessert left, your stomach felt hardly filled with the sizes of the previous dishes. The process of making each one was mesmerizing to watch, and the flavor profile of each small bite was beyond anything you could have initially imagined when the plates were gently placed in front of you-

You watched the chef spoon generous amounts of black caviar onto the dish. Not dessert, you corrected yourself. Why did you assume to get a deconstructed piece of fried dough when they had called the dish "Donut"? You eyed the tweezers which carefully placed tiny, delicate flowers on top of the spread. A single waiter poured out flutes of champagne and then distributed them to you and your friends, the only noise in the room the fizzing of bubbles in your drink. In fact, the entire affair had been silent aside from the head chef, who explained each meal to your group.

Once the waiter and chef cleared the room, Lev was finally the brave soul to break the silence, who cleared his throat and then, turning to you, asked, "So Y/N, you're moving back home, huh? Is there anything to even do there?”

You knew Lev didn’t mean to say anything offensive, but it still stung a little. He was just blunt to a fault sometimes, you reminded yourself, instead giggling and sending some witty remark back at him which made everyone burst into laughter. You shivered a little, finished the last of your remaining champagne in one undignified gulp, then stared out at Tokyo's skyline, shining and glittering like stars. It was cold in the room, you decided. Ridiculously air-conditioned to the point where you would be glad when you got your coat back and could leave.

The rest of the get-together flew by, only spending a little longer in the restaurant before exiting into the lobby. Kuroo had agreed to drive you back to your apartment, since he'd taken his own car and hadn't drank a lot. Lev gave you a bear hug and told you he would miss you, and that he would try to visit if his modeling schedule worked out in favor of it, but he wasn't sure. Alisa also hugged you tightly, telling you to take care of yourself in the countryside, to which she wrinkled her nose at playfully. When it came to Kenma you refrained from a hug, knowing that he didn't like physical contact. He gave a small smile, appreciative. "I might visit sometime; we can play Animal Crossing."

Then, just like that, the three of them left, Lev and Alisa taking the same car and Kenma having a driver. Kuroo turned to you and raised an eyebrow. "Well? Ready to go?"

You nodded, following him to the front where a valet had already pulled Kuroo's car to the curb, waiting for the two of you. Once inside, you pressed your forehead to the cool window, your breath fogging up the glass. Kuroo made no comment, the only sound to be heard the traffic in the streets.

For what seemed like a few minutes later, you felt yourself being gently shaken awake. "Y/N?" Slowly, you roused, rubbing at your eyes sleepily. You froze, sitting up. Shit, you'd had mascara on.

"Y/N?"

You turned to see Kuroo looking slightly concerned, but you just waved your hand at him. "I'm awake now. Thanks for the ride."

He stared at you, opened his mouth, then shut it promptly, stopping you from opening the car door. You rarely saw him speechless or without something to say. "What's wrong?" You frowned, trying to think of what could be worrying him or making him act like this.

Kuroo shook his head then leaned back in his seat. He scratched the back of his head and looked down. "I'm not sure how to say it, so I'm just going to say it." Immediately you felt dread in the pit of your stomach. Oh, god. Did he have, like, a middle-school crush on her? Was he tongue-tied? You did not want to lose one of your closest guy friends; plus, if you weren't friends with him anymore then you couldn't really be friends with Kenma-

"I'm worried about you, Y/N. Just... take care of yourself in Hyōgo, alright? You're there for a reason; to take a break." He ran a hand through his hair again, nervously. "You know what I'm saying? So just take care of yourself. Don't eat junk food all the time, it's not good for you. Also don't stay indoors all the time, it's good to get outside. You need to synthesize vitamin D," Kuroo rambled, "it's good for your skin, too-"

Finally you broke your silence, smiling and laughing at him. "Aw, Kuroo, you nerrrd," you socked him on the arm, evoking an 'ow' from him. "You're so sweet, what the hell? And don't worry, I'll be fine! I'm great at taking care of myself!" You gave him a thumbs up. When he looked at you dubiously, you added on, "Kaa-san and Tou-san don't live too far from where we used to live, so I can go to them if I need to, too." After a pause, more giggles bubbled out. "I thought- I was really scared that you liked me," you cackled, going into hysterics when he made a face. "I know, I know- I just got worried because I didn't know what you were going to say."

Kuroo rolled his eyes. "Uh, no, I don't like you. Not even platonically, after this," he grumbled, already getting into his theatrics. "I can't believe you're harassing me for caring. You're awful, Y/N!"

You opened your car door, still laughing. "Ok, ok, I'm awful, I'll admit it." You shut the door, and Kuroo rolled down the window.

"Whatever. Just make sure Osamu is driving safely. And text us when you get there. And," he levelled his gaze with yours, "do whatever you feel is best about Kita. Hopefully you take this break to sort through your feelings." Without giving you any time to retort something, Kuroo peeled off in his car, leaving you alone.

Quickly, you made your way into your apartment and finally took off your heels, leaving them near the entrance and sighing when you could walk flat-footed on the cool floor. Next you took off your coat and threw it on the couch, and instead of getting ready to sleep, jumped into your bed and face-planted into the pillows.

You fell asleep in less than five minutes.

You sent your Hyōgo address to Kenma and then flopped on your bed, accidentally banging your head on the headboard. “Fuck,” you hissed, clutching the back of your head. You sat there for a few moments, lamenting why you had to jump onto the bed and how the consequences of your action hurt so bad.

Then your stomach rumbled, begging to be filled, and you forgot everything you had been thinking about, making your way into the kitchen. You opened the fridge, peering in at the contents- or rather lack thereof. At least you didn’t have to worry about clearing your fridge by tonight, right?

Your stomach growled again as you shut the door, instead looking to the freezer. What did you have in there…? It slid open and you were glad to see that it wasn’t as empty as your fridge, rummaging through the frozen meals you had for a late-breakfast-early-lunch.

You pulled out a twelve pack of frozen gyoza and set it aside on the counter, pushing all of the other stuff back into the freezer. When you finally slid it shut again, you sighed in relief, and turned back to the food in question. You read the instructions on the back even though you were pretty sure it was easy to heat them up, and then turned the stove on. Pulling out a pot from your cabinet, you filled it with water and then set it on the stove, topping it with a lid to make the process faster.

Then you got to cleaning. Your apartment wasn’t all that messy since you didn’t spend a lot of time in it before going on hiatus, just a few stacks of paper filled with lyrics: some you’d tried working out, others hadn’t fit your two previous albums, but most you just didn’t like.

You checked on the pot of water to make sure it wasn’t boiling, and after seeing it wasn’t, you continued cleaning, moving into the kitchen once more. You scrubbed the plates and bowls you’d left in the sink for a couple days. Most of the stuff in the sink was silverware from eating takeout or having frozen meals, though.

When you heard and saw that the water was boiling, you added the gyoza and lowered the heat before going back to drying the dishes. By the time you were done with the task, your dumplings were ready, and so you turned off the stove and took the pot off. With a pair of chopsticks, you scooped up the gyoza and placed them onto a plate. You’d eat six and then leave the other half for dinner, you decided, putting them in a bento box for storage and then the fridge.

“Ah…” You sat down on the couch with your food and then turned on the TV, watching mindlessly and eating your gyoza one by one. After a couple of hours, you got up, washed and dried the dishes you’d just used, and then finally went to your room to pack.

Should you take all of your clothes with you? It’s not like you knew how long you were planning to stay in Hyōgo, so should you just pack everything, then? You opened up your closet all the way, clearing out the sections of your regular clothing and placing them on your bed. You turned back to your closet, now significantly emptier. All that was left were things you’d worn on tours or designer pieces you’d been allowed to keep. Most of them you could look at and remember the venues you’d worn them to; recall the quality of your performance and how big the crowd was. It would be pointless to take them with you, right? You couldn’t wear a custom Versace piece to the middle of nowhere.

You sighed and shut the closet door with a resounding thud, and then turned to face the monster pile of clothes you were going to try to fit into two large suitcases…

Ah shit, and you hadn’t even begun to think about shoes.

a/n: help the chapters keep getting longer even though i outline for this fic????? h o w

taglist (pm me to ask to be added): @papiibuprofen, @duhsies, @succulentmom

some ~fun facts~

- lev and alisa are models, as in canon

-the food was served in test tubes and other scientist apparatuses LMAO (kuroo got really excited because he’s a chem nerd)

- i based the restaurant off of an actual one in japan but changed some things about it... so for legal reasons™️ all similarities are a coincidence 🧍‍♂️

- i hope y/n doesn’t sound whiny but i find molecular gastronomy to be super esoteric,,, reminds me of that bar scene in parks and rec lmao

- kenma tucks his sweatpants into his socks like the wrestlers at my old high school do... this is unfortunately also canon...

- yaku couldn’t make it to the dinner event because he’s still in russia, playing volleyball there. he will be coming back to play for japan in the olympics!

- kuroo drives even though he drank a little... don’t do this

- kuroo is NOT interested in y/n romantically

- i made two kita shirts with my friends during a haikyuu watch party we had… my favorite one got a little messed up and i’m sad 😃 edit: i fucking hate it here they got put in the dryer without my consent and now they’re both ruined ❤️

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rhosyn-du · 3 years

Text

Never make a mess when a total catastrophe will do - Chapter One

Pairings: Jimon, past Clace, background Clizzy, a bunch of other minor background pairings Rating: Explicit Art: @cor321 Beta: @all-thestories-aretrue Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, fake dating, oh my god they were roommates, friends with benefits, idiots to lovers, pining, miscommunication, holidays, drinking games, mistletoe, symbolically significant Oreos, domestic fluff, brief mention of past character death, Jace’s self-worth issues deserve their own tag Summary: What do you do when you find out your sister is not only dating your ex and love-of-your-high-school-life but is also bringing her home for Christmas? Bring your annoying, hot, annoyingly-hot roommate as your fake boyfriend to show them you're totally fine with it, obviously! There's no possible way this could backfire. Link: AO3, Tumblr Master Post

Chapter One

“Lightwood’s Mortuary, you stab ‘em, we slab ‘em. How may I direct your call?”

“You know,” Izzy said, “that joke would land a lot better if you hadn’t turned green last week when I mentioned getting to do my first cadaver dissection.”

“First of all,” Jace said, abandoning his laptop in favor of flopping back onto his bed, “it’s creepy that you say ‘getting to’ instead of ‘having to.’ And second of all, no one wants to hear about how much fun you had slicing up dead bodies over Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Max wanted to hear about it.”

“Max also can’t wait to get to middle school because he heard you get to use actual fire in science class,” Jace pointed out.

“Max is just into science like his big sister,” Izzy countered breezily. “Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about Christmas.”

“Please,” Jace said with far more enthusiasm than the situation probably warranted. “I’m desperate enough for any distraction that will take me away from trying to memorize third declensions that I would love to discuss whatever family holiday drama is so colossal I’m hearing it from you instead of Alec. Is Robert planning to show up uninvited to Christmas dinner with his girlfriend again? Oh! Did Mom finally snap and kill him? Is that why Alec isn’t calling? Is he helping her hide the body?”

“Oh my god,” Izzy laughed. “Dad and Annamarie are spending the holidays in Provance with her family, and there are no bodies to be hidden. This is what you get for taking Latin instead of Spanish like a sane person.”

“This coming from a woman who’s studying both,” Jace pointed out.

“Yeah, because a basic understanding of Latin and fluency in Spanish will both help me get into med school, and I need all the help I can get if I’m going to get into Grossman. Besides, I’d never imply anyone in this family is sane. If you studied more, you’d know that ‘Lightwood’ is just Latin for ‘totally fucking cracked.’”

“Please,” Jace snorted. “It’s not even a Latinate name. It’s Germanic. ‘Lightwood’ is Old English for ‘totally fucking cracked.’ Speaking of which, what’s the Christmas disaster?”

“It’s not a disaster exactly,” Izzy hedged, and Jace felt a sudden frisson of actual unease. Izzy normally had no problem speaking her mind. “It’s not a disaster at all, actually. It’s just. I invited someone.”

“Oh.” Jace relaxed. He didn’t know why Izzy was making such a big deal out of this. In the years since the divorce, Maryse had often encouraged her kids to invite any friends without a place to go to join them for holidays. Izzy’s own roommate had come for Thanksgiving last year. “That’s cool.”

“No,” Izzy said, like he was missing something obvious. “Jace, I invited someone. Someone I’m seeing. Seriously.”

“Oh,” Jace said again, this time with dawning comprehension. “That’s great, Iz. I’m happy for you. Wait, Mom’s not doing her overprotective, no-one-is-good-enough-for-my-children thing again, is she? Is that why you called, you need me to run interference?”

“No, no,” Izzy reassured him, although her voice still held an underlying tension. “Mom’s been great, actually. They knew each other already, so that probably helps.” Jace heard a shaky inhale before Izzy continued. “You, um. You know her, too, actually.”

“Oh yeah?” Jace said with forced ease, wracking his brain for any clue as to what could have Izzy so freaked out. Whatever it was, Jace wasn’t going to add to her stress. As far as he knew, Isabelle had never even been serious enough about someone before to even use the term girlfriend or boyfriend, let alone bring them home for Christmas. “Who’s the lucky lady?”

“It’s Clary,” Izzy said in a rush. “I’m dating Clary.”

The world seemed to tilt on its axis, and Jace was glad he was already lying down.

“Clary?” he repeated. “M—” He just barely stopped himself from saying “my Clary.” Because she wasn’t, not anymore. Not for a long time. “Morgenstern?” It was a clumsy recovery, but it was the best he could manage. “You’re dating Clary Morgenstern?”

Jace and Clary had met at the beginning of Jace’s junior year of high school. Clary, a year younger, had just lost her mom, and the two initially bonded over the shared experience of having lost parents. But Clary was fierce and bold and so full of passion even in the depths of her grief that Jace really couldn’t help falling in love with her. They’d dated for nearly two years—practically forever in high school terms—and even though they’d both known they were growing apart by the time Jace had to choose between his first-choice college in Boston and staying in New York to go to NYU, Clary would always hold a special place in Jace’s heart as his first love.

“Yeah,” Izzy said on a heavy exhale. “For a while now. That—that’s why I called. I didn’t want it to be weird, you know? For us all to just show up and for it to be a surprise. But I guess I probably shouldn’t have done it over the phone, either. I just didn’t think—”

“Izzy,” Jace said, much more calmly than he felt. “Breathe. It’s okay.”

“God, I should have told you sooner,” Izzy continued as though he hadn’t even spoken. “I just knew it probably would be weird for you, so I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure—”

“But you are now,” Jace interrupted again. It wasn't really a question. “Sure.”

“Yeah,” Izzy breathed. “I’m so sure.”

“Then it’s not weird,” Jace lied. “I mean, come on, my sister is dating someone who makes her happy and who I know will treat her right. What kind of idiot would I have to be to complain about that?”

“Really?” Izzy pressed. “Because I told Clary I wanted to talk to you before we finalized plans. So, if it is weird for you, or even if you just don’t want to be the only single person at the table on Christmas—”

“I won’t be,” Jace interrupted.

There was a pregnant pause, and then Izzy squealed so loud Jace had to pull the phone away from his ear.

“Oh my god, Jace! That’s amazing! Why didn’t you just say you were bringing someone, too, you jackass? Do you know how worried I’ve been about telling you about me and Clary?”

Which wasn’t what he’d meant at all—he’d only meant that Maryse was single, too—but Jace couldn’t resist the excitement in Izzy’s voice, not after her earlier panic.

“If I’d known you were all freaked out, I would have said something sooner,” Jace improvised. “It’s kind of new, and I haven’t even had the chance to tell Mom yet.”

“Let me,” Izzy insisted. “I’ve been trying to get her to admit that she and Luke are an item for ages, and maybe knowing that we’re all happily attached will be the push she needs.”

“Hold up. Mom…and Clary’s stepdad?” Jace was starting to wonder if this was some bizarre stress nightmare brought on by impending finals.

“Yup,” Izzy confirmed, popping the “p.” “They’re not even subtle about how much time they’re spending together, but Mom keeps talking about how they’re ‘just old friends.’” Jace could practically hear the eye roll.

“Anyway,” she continued, “if I leave now, I can catch Mom closing up the bookshop and maybe finally get her to crack. Don’t worry about Christmas plans. I’ll take care of everything. Talk to you later!”

“Iz, wait,” Jace started, but he was interrupted by the telltale beep of the call ending.

Jace stared at his phone, wondering how, exactly, he’d managed to make such a disaster of things. He couldn’t deal with this right now, he decided, tossing his phone aside. He just had to get through finals, and then he could come up with some excuse for why his nonexistent girlfriend couldn’t make it for Christmas. An excuse that wouldn’t make Izzy suspicious. Or Clary. Or Alec. Or— Fuck. Not thinking about it.

He turned his attention back to his laptop only to realize after several minutes of staring blankly that he wasn’t prepared to think about Latin anymore, either. Fuck it. He was going to spend the rest of the evening on the couch, drinking beer and watching stupid people doing stupid things on TV and thinking about absolutely nothing at all.

Because Jace just couldn’t catch a break, he found both the couch and TV already in use. He wanted to be annoyed, especially since he knew this was at least the dozenth time this semester his roommate had watched Return of the Jedi. Part of him was annoyed. But another part of him was…not annoyed. And that was yet another thing Jace wasn’t going to think about.

Jace’s first impression of Simon Lewis, when he’d walked into History and Literature of Music their freshman year, had been that he was kind of hot, in a nerdy way. His second impression, when he actually talked to Simon a few days later, was that the guy was annoying as hell. Over the course of the year, as they somehow ended up hanging out with the same group of friends, it became a tolerable sort of annoying. So tolerable, in fact, that when Jace found himself desperate for a roommate the next summer when Raj bailed on him last-minute, he’d agreed to let Simon have the second room in the surprisingly affordable apartment he’d found.

Jace’s third impression of Simon came four days after they’d moved in together, when he happened to be walking down the hallway at the exact moment Simon stepped out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist, a stray droplet of water trailing down his surprisingly well-defined abs. In that moment, Jace must have lost his mind, because he had the sudden, almost overwhelming urge to follow the path of that droplet with his tongue and, oh. Oh no. Jace had been wrong this entire time. Simon wasn’t just annoying. He wasn’t just nerd-hot. He was annoyingly hot.

And Jace was maybe just a little bit in trouble.

Because he’d seen the kinds of people Simon dated. Thoughtful. Driven. Well-adjusted. Unlike Jace in pretty much every way that mattered. Not that Jace dated, but he wasn’t the kind of person Simon hooked up with, either, he was pretty sure.

(Jace confessed his fourth impression of Simon to Maia several months later, after many, many shots of tequila. Maia laughed at him for a solid five minutes, but she also poured them another round and never mentioned it again after they sobered up because she was actually a pretty good friend despite how much she always seemed to enjoy Jace’s suffering.)

“What’s wrong?” Simon asked around a mouthful of instant ramen. Jace refused to acknowledge that the way his cheeks puffed out when he ate was cute.

“Just.” Jace shook his head. “Holidays. Family stuff.”

“Your sister planning to make Christmas dinner again?” Simon asked.

“Worse,” Jace said, flopping onto the other end of their stained Goodwill couch. “She’s dating my ex.”

Simon winced. “Ouch, dude.” Simon poked at his noodles with a pair of well-used disposable chopsticks. “You still have feelings for your ex?”

“What? No, of course not. It was ages ago, and we were practically still kids. And the breakup was mutual.” He made a face. “But Izzy’s bringing her home for Christmas.”

“Okay, yeah, that could be a little awkward,” Simon conceded.

“It gets worse,” Jace admitted. “When she told me, I kind of panicked and said I was bringing someone home, too.”

Simon frowned. “I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”

“I’m not,” Jace told him. “Which is kind of the problem.”

“Wow. You really know how to make things difficult for yourself.”

“Thanks,” Jace said. “Very helpful.”

Simon shrugged, then said, as casual as if he were offering to toss Jace’s towels in with his to make a full load at the laundromat, “You could always take me home with you.”

Jace stared. “What?”

“I mean, I’m going to be in the city anyway,” Simon continued, “and it’s not like my family does Christmas. I think Mom and Becky can manage the traditional Chinese takeout and Fast and Furious marathon without me.”

“Your family watches The Fast and the Furious on Christmas?” It was the only part of that Jace was emotionally prepared to process.

“It used to be Die Hard, but Mom’s got a thing for Vin Diesel, so now we alternate years.”

Jace stared a moment longer, waiting for any of this to make sense. On the television, Boushh threatened Jabba with a thermal detonator.

“Right,” Jace said when it was clear the situation wasn’t going to make sense of itself. “Okay. Rewind to the part where I’m supposed to take you home with me for Christmas and, what, pretend you’re my boyfriend?”

He could picture it all too easily. Simon wielding his enthusiastic charm to keep Izzy out of the kitchen while Jace helped Maryse make dinner. Simon joining Alec in coaxing Jace toward the piano when it was time to sing carols. Simon flushed and smiling after a couple mugs of Magnus’s deceptively alcoholic eggnog. Simon’s hand in his because that’s just something boyfriends do.

It was a horrifyingly tempting prospect.

Jace pushed those thoughts away, crossing his arms over his chest and directing all the scorn he felt at himself into the stare he leveled at Simon. “What’s that supposed to accomplish other than giving me a headache?”

“Hey,” Simon said, setting the dregs of his ramen down on their secondhand Ikea coffee table, “I’ll have you know that I make an excellent boyfriend.”

That wasn’t exactly news. The fact that Simon was friends with basically all of his exes said as much. But Jace wasn’t about to let on that he paid that much attention to Simon’s dating habits. Or to pass up such a good opening. “That why you’re single?”

“Not the one currently desperate for a holiday date here, pal,” Simon pointed out.

“I don’t know, you seemed pretty eager to be my holiday date just a second ago,” Jace said, adding a wink just to be obnoxious.

“It was an offer, jackass. One which I now deeply regret.”

“Which you should,” Jace told him, turning to the TV and pretending to watch. “Now we can both forget this conversation ever happened, and I can go back to figuring out what I’m going to tell my family about why my nonexistent significant other can’t make it for Christmas this year.”

“Right,” Simon muttered, picking up his bowl and turning his own attention back to the movie.

Jace told himself he didn’t feel just the tiniest bit disappointed.

“The thing is,” Simon said several minutes later, as Boba Fett tumbled into the Sarlaac pit, “my cousin Rachel is getting married on Valentine’s Day. And my Bubbe Helen is still pretty cranky with me for breaking up with Maia.”

Jace frowned at him. “You and Maia dated for like a month and a half. Over a year ago.”

“Yeah, well,” Simon said, “Bubbe Helen really liked her, but I think maybe that’s because Maia’s the only person I’ve ever brought to a family function. So, I was thinking maybe if I brought someone else to Rachel’s wedding, she’d get the hint and drop the Maia thing. And then you suddenly needed someone to take home for Christmas, and I thought we could, you know, help each other out.”

It was a terrible idea, and Jace meant to say so. He really did. But what came out of his mouth instead was, “You want to introduce me to your grandmother?”

“I mean,” Simon said with a shrug, “she’d probably be happier if you were Jewish, but I honestly think she’d be happy to see me with anyone who’s not a total asshole. Ever since she found out Maia and I aren’t together anymore, she’s been acting like I’m going to end up a lonely old maid or something, which I totally don’t get, because A, I’m only twenty-one, and B, she doesn’t think it’s a problem that Becky’s single and Becky’s two years older than me.”

“Glad to know I meet the very minimal requirement of not being an asshole.”

“Not a total asshole,” Simon corrected with a teasing grin.

“You’re really making a compelling case for trying to convince our families that we’re a couple,” Jace said drily. But he was maybe just a little bit weak for Simon’s smile, so he added, “But you might as well tell me how exactly you think this would work. Theoretically.”

“Theoretically,” Simon repeated. “Right. Well, we’d need to come up with a game plan, obviously. And rules. Rules that we actually follow, because that’s where things like this always fall apart, when someone ignores the rules.”

“Where things always fall apart,” Jace repeated. “Is this something you do often?”

“What? No! I just mean like in movies and stuff. Fake dating is practically its own genre, so we have a ton of examples for how not to do it, and…” Simon frowned as his voice trailed off. “And now that I’m saying this out loud, I’m realizing how dumb it sounds. You’re right. We should forget this conversation ever happened.”

“Or,” Jace said slowly, knowing he was going to regret it but unable to stop himself, “we could spend some time coming up with a plan and then decide if we think it will work.”

“Wait, really?” The slow grin spreading across Simon’s face did nothing to ease Jace’s sense of impending doom, but it did fill him with a soft warmth that made the doom easier to ignore.

“Why not?” Jace shrugged with practiced nonchalance. “I’m done with classes at noon tomorrow if you want to do it then.”

“I’ve got a break from then till three if you don’t mind meeting near campus,” Simon said. “Say, Java Jones at twelve-thirty?”

“Sure,” Jace agreed to the background of Jabba’s sail barge exploding. He hoped that was less metaphorical than it felt.

~~~

“I thought we were planning a couple of fake dates, not staging a major military operation,” Jace said as he surveyed the notebooks and stacks of paper strewn across the rickety cafe table in front of Simon.

“Oh, sorry,” Simon said, hastily shoving exactly one of the many notebooks into his backpack. “I was just reviewing notes for my econ final while I waited.”

“Is all of this really necessary?” Jace asked, attempting to clear enough room on the table for his coffee and the banana muffin that was attempting to pass for lunch.

“It’s so necessary,” Simon told him, reaching over to steal a piece of Jace’s muffin. “I don’t want to end up like Melissa Joan Hart in My Fake Fiancé.” He popped the piece of muffin into his mouth. “Or Melissa Joan Hart in Drive Me Crazy. Oh! Or even worse, Melissa Joan Hart in Holiday in Handcuffs.”

“I have no idea what you just said.”

Simon sighed heavily. “I’m saying we need clear, well-defined rules if this is going to work.”

“Is rule number one ‘don’t be Melissa Joan Hart’?” Jace asked, snatching his muffin away when Simon reached for it again and taking a pointed bite.

“No,” Simon said, with far more seriousness than Jace thought the situation warranted. “That’s rule number two. Rule number one,” he continued, opening a blue notebook to a fresh page, “is ‘absolutely no sex.’”

Jace choked on his muffin.

“If there’s one thing everyone seems to agree with, it’s that things always break down when that rule gets broken,” Simon continued as though Jace weren’t struggling to breathe around a mouthful of muffin and why Simon thought they even needed a rule for that.

Jace washed the remaining crumbs of muffin down with a generous swig of coffee, then leaned back in his chair with a deliberately cocky grin. “I mean, I know I’m damn near irresistible, but do you really think you need a rule to keep from jumping me?”

“Rule three,’’ Simon said, scribbling furiously in the notebook, “treat each other with the same respect we’d treat people we’re actually dating.”

“Hey, I would have the same question for someone I was actually dating.”

Simon looked up from the notebook. “That explains so much about your dating history.”

Jace flipped him off, and Simon flashed him a shit-eating grin. “Nope, sorry, rule one. But,” he continued, serious once again, “we should have rules about what kind of physical affection we are comfortable with. Like, I know we don’t normally do hugs, but it would be weird if we never hugged in front of your family if we were dating, right? What about holding hands, is that too much? And what about kissing? I’m definitely cool with cheek kisses, but I don’t know—”

“Simon,” Jace interrupted before he could get too worked up. Or make Jace think about more things he really shouldn’t be thinking about. “You’re allowed to hug me. And hold my hand. Honestly, I’m sure I’d be fine with anything you’re comfortable doing in front of my family, so how about we just go with this: casual touches are fine and for anything else, I’ll follow your lead.”

The look Simon gave him was so searching that Jace almost worried for a second that Simon would be able to see right past his crossed arms and feigned nonchalance to the part of him that was less worried about showing physical affection than how much he wanted it, the part that avoided hugging Simon because he liked it.

“Okay,” Simon said finally. “But you have to promise you’ll tell me if anything I do bothers you even a little bit.”

“You mean like singing Shake It Off at the top of your lungs in the shower?” Jace asked.

“That was one time!” Simon protested. “I was up all night studying and under the influence of too many energy drinks. We agreed never to mention it again.”

“No, you told me never to mention it again and I laughed at you.”

“See, this is why we need rules. You’re already breaking number three.”

“Yeah, because we’re not pretend-dating yet,” Jace said. “That one might be a little rough, but I’m sure I can manage with some practice.”

There was that searching look again, but then Simon nodded like Jace had said something particularly insightful. “You’re right, we should practice.”

“We—what?”

“If we’re going to convince people who actually know us that we’re dating, then we should practice first,” Simon said, like it was the most reasonable thing in the world. “Not just the rules we know are going to be hard, but all of it, so we can work out any kinks in the plan before showtime.”

And maybe it was reasonable, but it was one thing to put on a show for his family, for Simon’s family, for a few days at a time in places that might be familiar to each of them individually, but that weren’t theirs. It was entirely another thing to do it here, in the cafe they went to at least twice a week, or on campus where they’d first met and had to keep on attending classes for at least another year, or even worse in the apartment they shared, around their friends—

“I really should have thought of it earlier,” Simon continued, blissfully unaware of Jace’s inner turmoil. “My best friend back home, she’s an amazing liar. Like, seriously, she got away with everything when we were kids. But any time she needed me to back up her story, she’d make me practice with her like a hundred times until she knew I could convince her mom and stepdad, even after I got good enough that I didn’t have to practice to convince Mom. Man, those two could sniff out the tiniest discrepancy in any story. Like, if normal parent bullshit detection is a one, my mom’s is probably a solid three, but Fray’s parents? Eleven, easy.”

“I’m pretty sure no one I’m related to has supernatural bullshit detection,” Jace told him. “And it’s common knowledge I’m a better liar than you are, so if you can fool your mom without practice, so can I.”

“Maybe,” Simon conceded. “But a little bit of practice couldn’t hurt, right?”

Jace was pretty sure that it could hurt, actually, but he was also pretty sure he was the only one in danger of getting hurt, so it probably wasn’t worth consideration. Especially weighed against the hopeful enthusiasm in Simon’s expression.

“What did you have in mind?”

“We could start by pretending we’re on a date right now,” Simon suggested. “We’re already sharing a muffin. So, just treat me like you’d treat anyone you were on a date with.”

“My dates don’t usually involve this many notebooks,” Jace told him. “And if my date stole my muffin, the date would be over.”

“Come on, you’re not even trying,” Simon said, gathering up the papers and notebooks. “You’d really ditch your date over a muffin?”

“Absolutely,” Jace insisted. “They’d have to be seriously good in bed to make up for it, and I’m pretty sure rule number one says you’ll never get muffin-stealing privileges.”

“If the biggest benefit to sleeping with you is getting to share your muffins, then I’m not the one missing out,” Simon told him.

“You selling your body for muffins now, Lightwood?” an amused voice interrupted. “I bet I know a few people who’d toss a bran muffin or two your way for a chance at that ass.”

“Which is why you’re not my pastry-pimp, Roberts,” Jace said, smirking at Maia as she helped herself to one of the table’s empty chairs. “I only trade this ass for top tier, gourmet muffins. If your muffins don’t have at least two Michelin stars, I’m not interested.”

“I give him a week until he’s working corners for Entenmann’s,” Simon told her. “He was just threatening to walk out on our date over a bite of mediocre banana nut.”

Maia’s eyes widened. “Your— Oh, shit, sorry,” she said, scrambling out of her chair and throwing them both an apologetic smile that Jace was pretty sure wouldn’t be directed at him if he were sitting with anyone other than Simon. “I swear I didn’t mean to interrupt, I just thought you were studying or something. You guys have fun, and I’ll just—”

“It’s a practice date,” Jace interrupted, “not an actual date. And Simon’s a dirty muffin thief who won’t even put out, so I’m not sure it really even qualifies as any kind of date.”

Maia looked between the two of them, then slowly lowered herself back into the chair. “I know I’m going to regret asking this, but what exactly is a ‘practice date,’ and why are the two of you on one?”

“Jace needs a fake boyfriend to take home for Christmas, and I need a fake date for Rachel’s wedding,” Simon explained, snatching the last bit of Jace’s muffin without remorse. “And we thought we should practice dating before trying to convince our families that were actually, you know, together.”

“That’s a terrible idea, and I regret any part I played in the two of you becoming friends,” Maia said flatly.

“Yeah, that would probably worry me more if you didn’t say that like twice a week,” Simon told her.

“Oh god, Simon, what did you let Jace talk you into now?” another voice asked, and suddenly there were three more people crowding around their tiny table, because apparently all of their friends were at Java Jones today. Which, in retrospect, Jace should have expected, given how often they all hung out there.

“It was actually my idea,” Simon told Maureen, sliding his chair closer to Jace’s to make room for her, Bat, and Lily. “Jace is taking me home to meet his family over the holidays, and I’m taking him as my date to my cousin’s wedding.”

This proclamation was met with a stunned silence that was broken when Lily turned to Jace and punched him in the arm.

“Ow! What the hell?”

“That’s for abandoning me, jerk,” Lily told him. “Not that I can really blame you—either of you,” she added, giving both Jace and Simon an appreciative once over, “‘cause damn—but I thought we had an understanding.” She sighed heavily. “Now that you’ve gone over the dating Dark Side, who’s going to be my wingman? You’re probably going to start doing all kinds of relationship-y things and talking about feelings—” she said it like it was a dirty word “—and crap like that.”

“I am not going to talk about my feelings,” Jace said, at the same time that Simon said, “We’re not actually together. We’re just pretending.”

“They’re planning to try to convince their families they’re dating even though they’re not,” Maia explained. “Because they apparently think that’s not just a disaster waiting to happen.”

“Oh,” Lily said, sounding oddly disappointed.

“Fifty bucks,” Bat announced, “says that when this blows up in their faces, Jace is the first one to break down and call Maia in a panic.”

“Hey,” Jace protested.

“Oh, you’re on,” Maureen said, ignoring Jace entirely. “Sorry, Simon, but no one panics quite like you.”

“I’m in,” Lily said, “and I agree with Maureen that Simon will break first, but his call to Maia will be interrupted by Jace calling five minutes later.”

“Why am I the one getting all of the panicked calls?” Maia wanted to know.

“Because you’re the only person at this table who isn’t an asshole,” Simon told her, “but nothing’s going to go wrong, let alone panic-inducing levels of wrong, so you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“Dude,” Jace said, “she’s an asshole to me.”

“You like it,” Maia and Simon said in unison, causing the rest of the table to collapse into laughter.

“Okay, fine,” Maia said around her giggles several minutes later, “if you’re all betting, then count me in, too. I bet that these fools,” she looked pointedly at Jace, then at Simon, “don’t call me when this whole thing goes to hell, but I somehow end up having to haul their asses out of trouble, anyway.”

“I rescind my assessment of you as not an asshole,” Simon told her.

“I’d think twice about calling the woman who’s going to haul your ass out of trouble an asshole if I were you,” Bat said.

“Back to this pretending to be together thing,” Lily said. “What exactly does that entail?”

“That’s actually what we were trying to figure out when you guys showed up,” Simon told her. “We started a list of rules, but we only made it to four so far.”

“Your list should definitely include making out,” Lily said decisively. “Having made out with both of you, I can say with confidence that you’re definitely missing out if you don’t. In fact, you should try it now so we can let you know if it looks authentic.”

“You just want to watch them make out,” Maureen said.

“Yes,” Lily told her. She didn’t add ‘duh,’ but it was implied. “I always want to make hot people make out. But in this case, I’m also being helpful.”

The ensuing argument over the line between helpful and self-serving was thankfully cut short by the opening guitar line of Blonde Redhead’s Barragan.

“Sorry, I’ve gotta take this,” Simon said, holding up his phone. “I’ve been playing voicemail tag with Becky all week.” He looked at Jace. “Talk more about this later?”

“Sure,” Jace told him.

“Tell your sister I said hi,” Maia called after Simon as he headed away from the cafe’s crowd.

“You know,” Jace told her in a low voice, “you could always tell her hi yourself instead of always asking Simon to pass messages.”

Maia gave him an unimpressed look. “After everything I just heard, I’m pretty sure you’re the last person in this room I should be taking relationship advice from.”

“Bite me,” Jace told her, but he didn’t disagree.

#shadowhunters #shmb2021 #jimon #jimon fic #jace wayland #simon lewis

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rosethornewrites · 4 years

Text

Fic: Breaking Point

Relationships: Caline Bustier & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug

Characters: Caline Bustier, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Alya Césaire, Max Kanté, Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Juleka Couffaine, Lila Rossi, Tikki

Tags: caline bustier salt, Reveal, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste Knows, Protective Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Caline Bustier Knows, ml salt, Harassment, Lila Rossi Lies, Bad Classroom Environments, Gaslighting, enablers, Bullying ,Salt, Identity Reveal, Spitefic, Swearing, Adrien Sugar

Summary: '“For instance, being a superhero is not a viable career path,” was what made her tune in, her attention fully pulled to Mme. Bustier, who seemed to be looking right at her.'

Note: This was written based on a prompt by @norakwami.

AO3 link

------

Marinette wasn’t really paying attention to Mme. Bustier’s lecture. To be fair, it was about career options and how to achieve them, something she had researched so completely she already had a list of universities she intended to apply to, along with possible companies to intern, all carefully tabbed in a binder at home that was also slowly filling with application and portfolio ideas.

Given that she was only fourteen and still had four more years before she reached the point of applying, she was ahead of the game. Perhaps she could be considering going to another lycée instead of the feeder for Collège Françoise Dupont, perhaps somewhere private that had a focus on fashion. But she didn’t want to put pressure on her parents, who would have to pay the tuition for such an institution, when she was already winning awards and making a name for herself through designing for Jagged Stone and the up-and-coming Kitty Section, among others.

“For instance, being a superhero is not a viable career path,” was what made her tune in, her attention fully pulled to Mme. Bustier, who seemed to be looking right at her.

What.

The.

Fuck.

Marinette felt frozen by that stare, pinned like a ladybug by an entomologist. How could she know? Did other people notice her stare?

“Ladybug is almost certainly harming her civilian future through these superhero antics, which prevent her from fulfilling all her obligations.”

Alya snorted. “That’s not Ladybug’s fault—it’s Hawkmoth’s. Ladybug protects the city. And maybe Paris should pay her for her services!”

“Ladybug is a teenager who should be concentrating on school,” Mme. Bustier declared, still staring holes into Marinette.

“Ladybug has never released her age,” Adrien murmured, his voice sounding strained. “So that’s conjecture, Mme. Bustier. How does this have to do with our future careers?”

To her horror, he turned and followed her gaze to Marinette.

She felt as though she might hyperventilate, panic rising in her gut. If she was compromised, that put her family and friends at risk, put the Miracle Box at risk, played right into Hawkmoth’s hands. She’d never been good at a poker face, and she wasn’t sure whether she was managing now.

Adrien’s eyes widened, and she knew she’d failed, at least with him. Kwami, she hoped she could trust him.

“I’m glad you asked, Adrien. For instance, Marinette, would you please share your current preparation for your future career.”

All eyes were on her, and she could feel the thoughts swirling around them as she was called out. She swallowed, trying to push it all down.

“I-I… I have a binder. At home. F-fifteen different universities with fashion p-programs. In order of where I want to go most. Also c-companies that offer internships.” She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves—it helped a bit. “I’ve started my portfolio, including the b-bowler hat that won M. Agreste’s contest, and my work for Jagged Stone and Kitty Section, and p-pictures of clothing I’ve designed and made.”

She could hear murmurs around her, and Alya gave a low whistle beside her.

“Girl, no wonder you don’t sleep. You’re on top of this!”

Mme. Bustier’s mouth became a thin line, her lips pressed together as though she was irritated.

Marinette wished keenly that Master Fu was still around, could handle this situation. She’d come to realize Mme. Bustier was a terrible teacher, enabling bullying and shaming victims as though they were at fault for their treatment. But this was a whole new level of awful.

“Still, the way you run off during Akuma attacks interrupts your daily life and prevents you from—”

“We all run away during Akuma attacks! They disrupt all our daily lives.”

Adrien stood, his back rigid from tension.

“Marinette has been personally targeted multiple times during Akuma attacks. So have I! A lot of this has been documented on the LadyBlog. It’s traumatizing—and we keep our memories of that because we’re not the Akuma. I run and hide, personally. Why would you shame Marinette for that?”

The class fell silent, and glancing around Marinette could see the tension in their faces, their own memories of being chased by Akuma.

Adrien had moved this away from the idea of Marinette being Ladybug to her being shamed for her reaction to Akumas. He was protecting her. And she loved him all the more for it.

“There was Evillustrator,” Marinette murmured, jumping on the red herring.

She glanced at Nathanaël apologetically. He offered a sad smile.

“I had to help Chat Noir with that. It was scary. André Glacier became Glaciator and came looking for me, and Chat Noir saved me from getting frozen. And Gamer was looking for me. Chat Noir saved me again.”

She could see Max wince across the aisle.

“Reflekta turned me into her clone because she was mad at me. And it was my fault.”

Marinette turned and mouthed ‘sorry’ to Juleka.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Juleka whispered, then cringed as she realized her voice had carried far enough for everyone to hear.

She smiled, then turned back to the front.

“My own grandmother tried to turn me into coal when she was Akumatized because she was upset I wasn’t like eight years old anymore—Chat Noir saved me again there, too. And then my dad was Akumatized and Chat Noir and Ladybug had to save me again.”

Marinette hadn’t been able to transform, needing to be saved as a civilian before she could get back as Ladybug. Too many of them had been so public she’d had to trust Chat Noir would be able to hold his own until she got there—and she did, but she was afraid sometime that would be fatal.

“And I saw footage when Adrien was dropped from a building and then when Volpina pretended to drop him from the Eiffel Tower. That’s terrifying!”

She didn’t turn around to look at Lila. Instead she looked at Adrien, who was still standing, alternating between glaring at Mme. Bustier and glancing back at her with concern in his eyes.

“And then there’s mind control Akumas, like with Miracle Queen. I’m scared of Akumas, Mme. Bustier. Even when they’re across the city, they won’t always stay there, and I want to hide. And I refuse to be ashamed of that!”

It wasn’t a lie, either. Civilian her absolutely wanted to hide—and did, just behind a mask.

She turned her attention to the teacher, keeping her back straight, remembering she had Adrien on her side, even if she wished he didn’t know—damn Bustier for that. Marinette steeled herself.

“I don’t understand why you’ve singled me out to try to imply I alone am somehow failing to perform because of Akumas, but you always seem to do this. I’m at fault for being bullied. I need to be an example and not react when my belongings are destroyed and my locker is broken into. Or when someone gets me expelled by somehow putting test answers in my bag and a new Gabriel-brand necklace—supposedly an heirloom—in my locker that’s been broken into before. I’ve spent the last year feeling I’m not allowed to have emotions. But this is the last straw.”

Marinette stood, picking up her bag. When she glanced down Tikki was giving her the Kwami version of a thumbs up.

“Frankly, Mme. Bustier, you have been toxic for my mental health for quite some time. Time I’ve spent researching to discover what you’re doing isn’t appropriate for the classroom; it’s abusive and reportable. If you’ll excuse me, I need to speak to the M. Damocles, as well as my parents. And perhaps the Board of Governors, as I am no longer willing to tolerate this treatment and its continued harm to my education.”

With that, she marched down the stairs, past an open-mouthed Bustier, and out of the classroom, holding her head high.

Once in the open hallway, clear of the windows, she deflated.

“Well, fuck,” she whispered. “I guess I get to do research on a new collège, too.”

She supposed, at least, she’d been successful at diverting Bustier from the Ladybug accusations; the last thing she needed was for Ladybug-hater Lila to know and come after her.

“You and me both.”

Adrien’s voice behind her nearly made her jump out of her skin. She was relieved to see no one else had followed him. She could hear the hullaballoo of the classroom behind her, all control having been lost.

He quirked a grin. “We’re in it together, Bugaboo. As always.”

She stared, feeling like there was a hamster lolling on the wheel of her thoughts instead of running to turn it.

Adrien took her arm. “Come on. I’ll support you. Let’s go talk to M. Damocles.”

“Ch-Chat?” Marinette managed in a hiss as her brain finally caught up.

He gently guided her forward. “My Lady.”

She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to laugh, cry, scream, or some combination of the three. But as they approached M. Damocles’ office, Marinette pushed the issue aside.

After all, she had work to do, and Ladybug didn’t leave work unfinished.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanfiction #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #bustier salt #alya cesaire #max kante #juleka couffaine #nathaniel kurtzberg #caline bustier #lila rossi #lila 'the liar' rossi #ml salt #adrien sugar #identity reveal #my fanfiction #miraculous salt

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claraswritings · 3 years

Text

I fell in love (with you) in stages - CH20- FINALE

Pairing: Steve Harrington x HendersonReader

Warnings: Series typical violence, language and spoilers for all seasons

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I have just been through a break up (my choice but still a hard choice) and it kind of put everything else on the back burner for a while.

Tags: @hannarudick @felicityofbakerstreet @sledgy14 @kiara-uwu @lookalivesunshine-x @loulouloueh @loco-latte @mikariell95 @queenofthehairharrington @lovelydaydreams15 @anonymousonion23 @mochminnie @prettysbliss

A few seconds later and the car collided with the side of Billy’s Camaro t-boning it and stopping it in its tracks before it reached the others. You felt yourself lurch forward then slide sideways into Steve.

The car came to a halt and Steve looked up, loosening his grip on the steering wheel

“You okay?” he asked, concerned turning to you almost immediately. He reached over to push your hair back. The worry over you was evident , the last thing he wanted was for you to be hurt due to his crazy idea.

“Never better,” you gave him a wry smile. “Are you?”

“Are you sure,” he asked again

“Steve.” you pressed. “I promise i’m fine, i’m just glad your idea worked, you are...amazing” You cupped his face with your hands and gave him a quick kiss.

The two of you sat for a second, catching your breath, before the smell of smoke coming from the Camaro, diverted your attention. Jonathan pulled up beside the now immobile Toddfather and gestured for you and Steve to get in. You didn’t even hesitate, scrambling in with your boyfriend following. He’d barely pulled the door shut before the creature leapt down with a roar and took off after the car, advancing after you.

You had barely taken your eyes off that...thing in hot pursuit of the vehicle. It was only the crackling of the radio made you jump and the sudden sound of an unfamiliar girls voice and your brothers perky tone told you it could only be one person.

“Wait. She’s real?” Steve turned to look at the radio too, clicking on at the same time. “Huh...gotta say I thought he was making her up,”

“I wish,” you rolled your eyes “He’s got some imagination but not enough to go on about her for as long as he did,”

If Steve thought hed had to listen to Dustin’s “Reasons why Suzie is great” monologue, he was in for a surprise. He had only heard the start of it. In the car journey back from the camp, you’d had hours of it. Not that you’d begrudge him, his first ever teenage romance. You were happy for your brother, after Max and Lucas had got together and Mike and El, you’d worried he’d be left behind.

Steve looked to be considering your reply “Eh yeah makes sense,” he shrugged. As a surprisingly melodic voice began floating through the radio. Steve wondered for a second if he was still drugged. It wasn’t until you spoke that he realised...nope, that really was Dustin singing.

“Is he singing? The song from Neverending Story?” your jaw was slack at the sheer madness of the situation. Being chased by some huge monster, in a car with your best friend who’d become your boyfriend in the past hour, his ex and your brother who had chosen now of all moments to start serenading his girlfriend over a radio.

“Is that one with the big white dog?”

“I think it’s supposed to be a dragon, Steve” you bit your lip, pointing out his mistake quietly. He was adorable when he was oblivious.

“Really” his brow knitted as Suzie began to join in with the singing. “They’re still going,”

“Are they going to do the whole song,” you remarked. “Don’t know if Dustins forgetting it’s kind of urgent” your face pulled into a grimace, and for a second your eyes flickered back to the monster.

Stomach churning, you looked away again, deep down, you feared the car would run out of fuel before you reached your destination and there was absolutely no way you’d outrun it on foot.

“Do you want me to sing to you” Steve offered casually. He sensed your discomfort and worry and even though he was freaking out himself, he hoped his lame attempt at humour would make you smile.

You snorted “Absoutely not...If you even try I’m throwing myself out of this car,”

“Even with that,” Steve gestured at the creature from the back window, pulling a face, as the love struck duo finished their song.

“I’ll take my chances,” you teased.. as Steve took his turn to scan out of the back window.

“Erm....” he poked you in the arm after a second “Why is it stopping, why is it turning around?” Before you could speculate, Steve leant forward tapping the others and sticking his head through to the drivers side to alert Jonathan.

“Guys that thing is turning around, It’s stopping, it must be going somewhere else,”

Jonathan eyed you both in the rear view before sighing, spinning the car, making a lurching U turn and following it back

“I can’t believe we’re actually going back, we must be dumb” You remarked under your breath

“Yeah i’ve been coming to that conclusion myself” he replied

“We should take Dustin to see her,” you commented as Jonathan began tailing the monster being careful to keep a reasonable distance from it. “We can make a road trip out of it, we’ll stock up on the nougat for Dustin and we can get a big bag of sours for us, we’ll get a motel along the way, obviously we’ll get a room to ourselves, i’ve got enough from working at the video store flat out, we can take your car, it’s nicer than mine and it’ll make Dustin look cool in front of Suzie. He’s probably told her all about you, y’know”

You were aware you were rambling but it was anything to take your mind of the idea that you might not have a tomorrow to think about as soon as you got to where that thing was going.

Steve nodded, he couldn’t quite say how much he liked the idea of getting a road trip with you, about how much he’d love to drop Dustin at Suzies for the day to let the young love birds catch up and for you and him to go out somewhere just the two of you, maybe even stay in a motel, order room service and make out. Instead he just leant over and gave you a kiss. In that moment he decided, If you were about to rush into probable death he wouldn’t let it happen without telling you.

He didn’t care anymore that Nancy or Jonathan could see if they glanced over their shoulder.

“I love you, I’ve been in love with you for ages” his tone was low, just enough for you to hear.

“I love you, Steve,” you kissed him again. The way you said it was different to how Nancy used to say it. You didn’t hesitate to return the sentiment, your eyes met his when you said it and you gave him a smile in spite of the beyond dangerous situation you were barrelling towards.

“We go together right,” you asked.

You didn’t need to ask. Steve knew.

“What? The road trip or certain death?” he quirked his eyebrows.

“Both,”

Lucas had briefed you all outside of Starcourt on his plan, and handed you all a fair amount of fireworks each. You’d break into sections; and surround the creature on the top, meaning El, Max and Mike wouldn’t be stuck fighting from the lower mall. His plan was basically “light, throw, grab another, throw again”.

Being completely to the point, you weren’t sure it would work but hell. It was the best you had.

Together you’d crept up the metal stairs of the fire exit, trying hard to stop your legs shaking. You could hear the low frequency roars of the monster from where you stood. It sounded like it was coming from all sides.

Once you made your way out of the door and on to the top level, there’d be no turning back.

You took a breath before resting your shaking hand on the door handle. The others had headed to the other entrances to the upper floor.

“Hey, we’ve got this” Steve who was only one step behind you, sensed your apprehension “Remember what you said. We stick together. You’ll have me with you the whole time, I promise I won’t let anything happen to you,”

You nodded and as you pushed open the door and crept to your positions, you could see the monster climb down through the wide open ceiling and advance towards El, who was trying to edge away from it as Billy watched expressionless.

Steve caught Lucas’ eye and nodded. The monster stilled, it’s mouth expanding.

“Okay [Name.]. Now” Lucas called over to you both, standing up and lobbing the firework directly into its side.

The creature let out a pained growl

“Flay this, you ugly piece of shit,” the younger boy called, his next firework hitting it directly in the mouth as it snapped around to the source.

“Nice aim” you called over

The mall lit up in a series of greens, yellows and reds as you broke away from taking turns throwing from different sides to bombarding from any direction.

“Erm guys,” Steve shouted over the crackling of the fireworks “We’re almost out over here,”

“I know” Will shouted back, his voice loud over the exploding “So are we!”

You threw one of your last large fireworks, and whipped around to Steve “It has to be now,” You told him, tossing your radio over before turning back to the dwindling pile. “I’ll keep throwing, call it in,”

Wasting no time, Steve forgone the call signs and scrambled for the radio “Dustin! We’re out of time!”

You could only vaguely hear your brothers reply. The crackling and banging from all ends plus the blood thumping in your ears was overwhelming everything.

Beneath you, you could see Billy had wrestled El to the ground and despite her struggling, hed gained the upper hand.

You fumbled back to the bag at the same time as Steve and you both reached inside, but your hands only found one firework left.

Shit.

His eyes met yours. “You or me,” he asked, a little breathless.

“You. You’ve got better aim” you rushed back, grabbing the lighter and lighting the fuse for Steve to lob the final firework.

From your glance over to Jonathan and Nancy you could see they had also ran out.

“What now?” you shouted, over the noise. The smoke trails of the fireworks were clearing and through the wisps and sparks, you could see Billy grapple with El as the monster inched forward.

“It’s not enough, we haven’t done enough,” you pressed your hands to your face. “Shit we need to do something,”

Steve glanced over at the floor below, he could see Billy stand up, as the creature let out a deafening roar.

“Come on come on come on, close the gate already” he muttered.

Billy’s arms shot out in an attempt to stop it, only to scream out in pain when it latched on to him.

“Fuck” you cursed. “What the hell is he doing? Should we help him?,” you turned to the others, your eyes wide. Jonathan looked pale white and Nancy shook her head

“I don’t think we can,” she bit her lip. “I don’t think we can do anymore,”

The monster took one last stab at Billy before dropping him, leaving him bleeding heavily on the floor of the mall. Max let out a loud scream that you could hear from your positions above even over all the chaos and you felt your heart break for her. Billy had never been the nicest brother to her but he was her brother nonetheless and he’d clearly sacrificed himself to save El. In spite of everything, he’d given himself up to save one of the kids.

Only a moment later and you heard an almighty screech and saw one of the many limbs flailing towards you, careening into the railing beside you.

“Get back” Steve turned towards you and pulled you back towards one of the walls and away from the edge, just in time.

With a groan and a thud that shook the whole mall, it fell to the ground with a weak snarl.

“Did...they? did they...” Steve couldn’t get the words out, as they fumbled over his lips unable to quite form a full sentence. One hand was still gripping the radio so hard you were surprised it hadn’t cracked, the other holding on to yours.

You could hear your brother and Erica on the other end but your ears were still ringing, and you could barely make out what they were saying.

You could only nod. “I think so”.

By the time, you were checked over, things had slowly started to set in, you’d been asked by about three men in uniform

what the hell had happened, and given the same version of events each time.

After that they’d given you a blanket and you’d joined Steve on the back of the ambulance, who wrapped in his own blanket had rested his head on your shoulder.

The two of you sat in silence, watching everyone mill around in the wreck that once was Starcourt. The skies had opened to rain for what felt like the first time in ages and you couldn’t help but turn your face up to the cool mist.

“I think I’m ready to go home,” you muttered to him, after a few moments. “We should get some sleep”

“Don’t. I... uh-,” Steve paused “I don’t want to be alone, not after all that,” he grimaced. “My dads out of town and...l”

“You won’t be alone, silly, you’ll be with me...and Dustin,” you reached for his hand in a small comforting gesture. “You didn’t think I’d leave you alone after all that, did you,”

Steve lifted his head off your shoulder and looked at you, taking in every detail of your face, the way the rain had plastered your tussled hair to your face, the wide eyed gaze focused on him, the curve of your nose and the tweak of your lips. You were without a doubt, in his mind, the best person he had ever known.

“What?” you eyebrows piqued.

“What did I do to deserve you?” he leant in pressing his forehead to yours.

Your heart broke a little at that. Your brave, bright, upbeat Steve didn’t even see how wonderful he was. How sweet he was, how kind he was to the kids, how dorky he was and how much you loved when he just embraced it. He looked completely drained.

You moved your hands up to cup his face. His cuts had been cleaned by one of the paramedics but he still sported a fairly nasty black eye. You kicked yourself mentally for having left him and Robin to the Russians, even though you knew if you’d attempted to take on a Russian soldier, you’d likely have gotten into a lot worse.

“Steve...”

“I seriously don’t know what I’d do without you,” he carried on.

“You’d be fine,” you traced his cheekbone, softly as not to put pressure on the bruises. “You’re better than you give yourself credit for”

“I really wouldn’t,” he broke your gaze for a second before you tilted his face back up to place a kiss on his lips. “Even still I wouldn’t want to ever be without you,”

“Well you don’t have to be without me, I’m not going anywhere,”

Steve offered his hand up only holding up his pinky “Promise?,”

“Forever and ever,” you kept one hand on his cheek before linking the pinky on your free hand with the one he had held up to you.

#steve harrington x henderson!reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington #steve harrington imagine #stranger things x reader #stranger things imagine #stranger things

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what-the--curtains · 3 years

Text

In a Week

Part 3/4 - Snowballs and cigarettes

(Frankie Morales x f!reader)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summary: The snows finally stopped and its about time you got to work unburying your car. With your friends all prompting you to move on from your toxic ex you find yourself becoming more and more aware of the kind of person you’d want to be with. And how Frankie was ticking all those boxes.

Authors notes: Ugh okay I was over the max block text so the finale is split into two parts!! But you get them both tonight💕🌻💕 .

Warnings: mentions of toxic relationships, allusions to sex (nothing depicted), PTSD, smoking, drinking, swearing

Tagged: @agingerindenial @icanbeyourjedi

Word count: 4.0k

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 4

It had only been three days but you had found yourself in a routine that you hoped you never fell out of. Each morning he’d wake up first and you’d be predictably wrapped around him for another 2 hours or so. He found it hard to believe you were able to wake up before 10am, let alone that you were up at 5am most days but he’d love to be around to see it happen. For the first time, he saw something he’d long given up on. A future with someone else ingrained into his and his daughters life. Maybe it was stupid feeling this way after a few days, but he was old enough to know when he felt a real connection, and he’d never felt as good as he did when he was with you. He would make his feelings known to you, one way or another, he’d regret it forever if he let you slip through his fingers. He just had to find the right time to do it. It had been a long time since you’d woken up with someone in the same bed as you and even longer since the person was someone who made you feel safe and secure. There was something calming about knowing that even if you pushed your freezing cold feet between his calves in the middle of the night he wouldn’t get angry, or push you off he’d just grumble and pull you closer.

It sounded pathetic but it was the nicest a guy had been to you in years. You knew how stupid it was to catch feelings this fast, and it definitely wasn’t like you to feel such strong emotions. Since the funeral you had actively decided to forego them although. This benefited your work, helped you in your field, made you a better doctor, but keeping all your emotions bottled up took its toll. Primarily on your love life. You’d had your fair share of flings with other residents, nurses, friends of friends, but between classes and shift work there wasn’t time. Plus what was the point when you had no idea where you’d be moved to. At least that’s what you told yourself. Then Jonathan came along and you’d let him in, let him know you and you fell for him in the process. Then he’d started dating someone else, told you he didn't realize you were exclusive, and it shattered you completely. You’d pieced yourself back together and once you were better, once you were finally over him, he’d cycle back round to you, determined to keep you on retainer. The whole ordeal had left you tired. You’d never had a real relationship and you were already done with them. You never understood how people would want to live with someone for the rest of their lives until now. Catching feelings had always happened in periphery to your life making it easy to push by a crush by simply avoiding them, but you couldn’t avoid Frankie. Each day you spent trapped inside with him he’d continued to grow on you, cementing your feelings for him tenfold. You yawn and stretch your leg out over Frankies torso propping yourself up onto your elbow so you can reach over him and grab the glass of water on the nightstand. He exhales as if your movement across him is an inconvenience to his meticulous strategy for winning whatever game he was playing on his phone. You take a sip and put the cup back down, rolling off the bed and opening the curtains.

“Hey!” you shout, causing Frankies head to shoot over to you, “It stopped snowing!” you exclaim, gazing out over the parking lot where the snow had fallen. The powder undulating overtop the cars buried beneath it. You stretch your arms up catching an unsavoury whiff coming from your armpits causing you to pull a face. Turning around just in time to see Frankie laughing from the bathroom door.

“Seriously man? Do you have to beat me to everything!” you pout, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Gotta be faster sweetheart.” he says, closing the door behind him. From anyone else the term would have driven you into a rage induced frenzy, but it was endearing not condescending coming from him. You take the time to call Stella, you’d been texting with her since you got stuck but you felt it was time to officially announce your arrival as permanently cancelled.

“Hey girl”

“Hey babe what's going on? You calling with good or bad news?” she asks, a constant bustle evident in the background.

“Don’t shoot the messenger, but only bad news on my end. I am so fucking sorry, I should have just flown down like you said” you offer, leaning back against the window allowing the chill of the outside to cool you off.

“Well this is why you should always listen to me, but i’ll forgive you just this once.” she laughs.

“God I can’t believe the one wedding I actually care about I’m going to miss!” you exasperated, shifting away from the window and flopping down onto the bed.

“Well I definitely won’t miss you, especially considering you’ve already sent a gift.” she teases.

“How, very dare you” you punctuate.

“Yup long con paid off, 10 years I pretended to like you just to get you to buy me a toaster from ebay” Stella laughs.

“You could have just stolen mine after the first year, then you could have had me gone!” you state.

“Ugh a huge mistake!!” she overemphasizes dramatically, causing you both to burst out laughing.

“So….” you say after your giggles subside leaving a gentle ache in your ribs that always occurred when you talked to Stella.

“What?” she asks, sniffling.

“ Did John make it out there?” you ask, in a painfully transparent way.

“Why?” she spits, her tone suddenly lethal. She hated the guy, she was the one who was always left dealing with you after he’d used you up, helping to piece you back together, just in time for him to get a hold on you again.

“He asked about me?” you query, once again failing to convey your intentions.

“I’m not indulging this anymore, it's bad for you. He’s bad for you, there's only so many times I can watch him emotionally manipulate you” she rants.

“Ya, but it's easy and it's so good with him.” you emphasize.

“It’s not easy, take it from someone in an easy relationship, it's not supposed to hurt that much.” she chides, determined to have you see the light.

“But..”

“Nope, I'm drawing the line for you, find someone else. You’re a gorgeous single doctor,

“Almost doctor” you interrupt, but the statement is ignored.

“Aren’t you currently shacked up with one of my stupid brothers friends?”

“Yes? And?” you say, your heart suddenly beating faster as your head turns to see Frankies hat on the nightstand.

“Frankie right? Statue like, soft curls, kind, deep brown eyes? And don’t pretend like you didn’t notice I know you like the back of my hand!”

“So what if I have, doesn't mean..” you whisper, not wanting him to hear you.

“Nope, don’t sell yourself short, I say get cozy with him and finally move on from dickhead McGee, even if it's just for a night, cleanse the palette. Besides, you know he’ll be doing whoever looks his way at my wedding.” you hear a muffled shout “alright I have to go, something about the bridesmaids fighting.”

“Your sisters? Fighting? Who could have seen that coming” you deadpan.

“I know, god I wish you were here.”

“I wish I was as well i'll call tomorrow in case you get cold feet, I have a five point plan”

“I won't” she chimes.

“ I know because you love her”

“And I also love you” she says

“And I love you” you respond before hanging up. Not even a minute after hanging up you get a call from Santiago

“Hey, I just wanted to verbally apologize for trapping you with ‘Fish, though he's definitely one of the better ones to get stuck with.” he says.

“Well that’s good to know” you laugh, rolling your eyes.

“He hasn’t tried anything has he? If he has I'll kill him, and get away with it, you'll have to help me with the body but...” Santiago starts.

“Santi, it's fine he's cool, really sweet, actually,” you offer heat rushing to your face for some unknown reason.

“Good. He touches you ill..” he warns.

“You’ll kill him ya I got it!” you snap, you understood why Santiago felt like he had to play big brother for you but sometimes he was a touch overbearing. “Is John there?” you try and ask casually, failing to head Stellas advice.

“Don’t...” Santi starts, you can practically hear his jaw clench over the phone “you know if I see him tonight i'm gonna knock him out for how he treats you”

“It wasn’t that bad.” you whisper.

“It was, still is, I heard him bragging about how if worse comes to worse he always has his plan D,” he offers, not to hurt you but to try and free you from the cycle.

“That dick. You know what Stellas right, fuck him!” you exclaim with a newfound determination to rid him from your life.

“Oh my god, are you finally seeing the light?” Santi asks “Praise the lord!” He shouts up into the sky.

“Ya I guess so” you say staring at Frankie as he dries his hair with the towel. “I gotta go, see you soon.”

“Not soon enough” he laughs as you hang up.

“Whose that?” Frankie asks, still curious about who you’d been hoping to see at the wedding and what they’d done to earn your affection.

“Pope!” you say with a smile, pushing your back off the bed and sitting up.

“Threatening to kill me?” Frankie predicts.

“Ya we have a plan” you murmur.

“We?” he asks, a twinkle in his eye and his mouth upturned at the sides.

“Well he'll kill you but, I cant have him go to jail so i'll have to hide your body.” you explain

“Good glad that got sorted” he says, his smile now in full effect.

“I'll go grab some breakfast” you say.

“No ill get it, you’re always getting it, plus gives you time to shower, I can smell you from here.” He prods, grabbing the key.

“Rude!” you yell out after him.

He's back when you exit the shower

“Oh thank you, you say grabbing the plate form him”

“Just what the doctor ordered, hey?” he asks, smiling stupidly big.

“Ouuuf that that was bad truly apologize to me” He laughs at how serious your face gets “You're laughing? I had to listen to that joke and you're laughing?” you say through a mouthful of eggs. “Here's something that'll wipe that stupid smile off your face, snow stops which means we have to clear off my car.”

“Using the royal we are we?” he asks

“Think of it as repayment for the pun,” you say waving your fork in his face

“How will we be clearing it off?” he asks, leaning over the counter.

“Brush” you say, as if it's obvious

“Where's the brush?” he asks, resting his chin on the back of his hands and smiling sweetly at you, waiting for an answer.

“In the….oh” you say, face dropping when you realize that the brush was in the car currently buried under a snow pile.

“Not so smart now” he laughs pushing back off the counter taking your empty plate with him, washing it up for you.

“Well I guess we just have to get to the door with our hands then” you say smiling.

“Once again, about this we,” he says, drying his hands on the dish towel, turning to see a dramatic pout plastered across your face.

“Fine, I'll only help because I think you may disappear in the snow if you go in alone” he responds, the truth was, he couldn't deny you.

You both get dressed into the most winter proof clothes you had, neither of you having packed for a snowy expedition. As you exit the room you see him grab a pack of cigarettes he’d been hiding, not wanting you to see his worst traits.

“Those will kill you, you know,” you say, causing him to roll his eyes dramatically.

“Okay mom” he laughs grabbing the lighter despite your disapproving glare,

“You have a daughter to think about” you say, feeling like you'd be letting your profession down by giving up so easily.

“It's why I smoke, the safest way to calm the nerves while staying clean” he murmurs with a look on his face that is enough to get you to drop it for now. You weren't about to pry into his struggle with addiction and you certainly weren’t one to judge, you’d faced similar issues after your brothers passing.

“I used to smoke,” you confess as the elevator doors close in front of you both.

“Seriously?” he remarks, not able to believe it.

“Pack a week for about a year” you say, slowly nodding your head as the two of you walk through the foyer towards the parking lot.

“You quit?” He asks, impressed.

“Ya I don’t think it was long enough to form a habit. When did you start?” you offer as you move your legs through the snow, it was dense your legs would be sore tomorrow.

“What? Are you gonna assess the state of my lungs?” Frankie laughs, moving easily through the snow you were struggling so hard against.

“Yes, but i'll only tell you the results if you want to know”

“Few years back, after...” he stops himself before confessing the worst thing that ever happened in his life.

“The mission” you finish for him, remembering how Pope had picked up similar habits once he finally returned home. “You were there with Santi?” you question

“He told you about it?” he asks, sterner than you’d seen him before, he was afraid that you knew what a monster he was. You shake your head, no and he thanks the gods. “You think i'm going to?” He queries lighting up a cigarette and taking a drag, making sure not to blow it out anywhere near you.

“I don’t know, maybe. It’s the one thing he wont tell me about, figured it would be easier for you if you were talking to a stranger about it.”

“Not much of a stranger now” he laughs, but there was something behind his eyes, a similar sadness that you saw with Santi when he talked about it. Your thoughts are interrupted when something cold hits you in the face, your mouth drops open, your forehead scrunches in disbelief.

“Shit, I wasn’t aiming for your face I swear!” he looks up panicked

“I guess it's what I get for asking so many questions” you say, hand still over your face playing into it as you formulate your attack.

“No, oh my god! No! It wasn't because of that, let me see” he says, you let your hands drop and you smile wickedly up at him. Before he has time to react, you rub a handful of snow into his face.

“Oh... you're gonna pay for that.” he draws out, wiping the snow from his face.

After 15 minutes of all out war, and a brief truce that was to be officially signed once back inside you managed to get to the door handle and lean into the back seat grabbing out the brush. You offer it to Frankie, but he's already started clearing off the rest of the car with his arms.

“Hey can you grab my spare charger out of the compartment there?” you say cleaning off the trunk, the front doors now accessible.

“Ya, holy shit is this a knife?” he asks, pulling out a knife.

“Maybe.” You say staring into his eyes as his mouth hangs open in amusement. “For safety, I didn't know who I'd be driving up with! You coulda been a murderer” you explain palms up.

“And you were planning on what? shanking me?” he laughs a huge smile on his face, weirdly endeared by your thought process.

“Only if I had to.” You say chuckling between shivers, the cold now seeping through your makeshift snowsuit hitting against the sweat you’d worked up.

“You want it?” He offers.

“No i'm good, thanks”

“Because you don’t think I'm a murderer or because you have another one hidden in the room already?” he laughs, but he stops when you tilt your head slightly and raise your eyebrows, averting your eyes.

“Wait, do I need this knife?” he calls as you trudge back through the snow.

You both change into less sweaty attire and you settle into the couch turning on to watch the latest forensic files rerun. You shiver as you sit down having caught a chill. Noticing you shaking, Frankie goes to the wardrobe and grabs down a spare blanket throwing one at you so it lands directly over your head. He laughs when he sees you slowly turn towards him beneath the blanket, like someone in a makeshift ghost costume.

“Excuse me!” you laugh

“Hey you should be thanking me, can't have you freezing to death.” he says, “Are you asleep under there?” he asks, when you don't respond

“I'm not a cat! I don't fall asleep when someone throws a blanket over me!” He's not paying attention to what he's doing and the bottle in his hand shatters against the counter, a shard slicing his hand open.

“Fucking shit.” you him sigh.

“Are you okay?” You ask maneuvering out from under your blankets to see Frankie in the kitchen, glass on the floor and blood coming down his arm.

“Wow you're out of my sight for 2 seconds and you maim yourself” you say laughing, stopping when you see the panicked look in his eye, the event evidently triggering something deep in his psyche. You quickly stand up and he goes to move towards you.

“No don't move Frankie, stay where you are.” you reassure softly, watching as his eyes lay into your own, his breathing calmer now “You're in socks, can't have you cutting your dancing feet” you say.

“You’ve heard of my dancing feet,” he says, grounding himself again.

“Only bad things” you say, throwing him a pair of shoes that he carefully puts on before moving toward the closet where the broom is “No come here, let me see your hand. The mess can wait, you're more important,” you stress leading him over to the couch and sitting him down.

“Wow, first time I'll be able to afford professional health care “ he jokes as you take his hands in your own.

“Ow” he says when you press down onto the hand to assess the damage.

“It's fine, not deep enough for stitches, should heal up on its own. I still want to clean it though, to stop any infection.” You return with a small bottle of over priced vodka opening it and dabbing some onto a cotton pad. He doesn't flinch when the alcohol cleans the wound and he watches as you bandage his hand up.

“You carry a med pack with you on every trip?” he queries, but you don’t hear him you’re too focused on wrapping his hand.

“There! good as new,” you say standing up and cleaning up the glass on the floor. “Hey did you bring a swimsuit?” you ask, dumping the glass into some newspaper that was left in the room.

“Why?” He asks.

“Answer the question Frankie” you say, folding the paper around the shards before placing it into the trash.

“Yes, you wanna go hang out at the pool with the fifty families stuck here?”

“Ya. You don't? Seriously this room is wildly expensive and has a huge jacuzzi tub, I'm getting in your welcome to join, but bathing suits are mandatory.” you offer.

“I was gonna get in fully clothed,” he offers, not missing a beat.

“Perfect even better”

As per usual he beats you to the punch and settles into the tub that was more akin to a hot tub than a bath, he wanted to get in first partially to annoy you and partially so his body wouldn’t be on full display, he wasn't as jacked as he once was and he’d become insecure about certain areas that he’d let go once his kid came along. He watches as you walk in and his eyes can't help but follow your figure around the room, a beautiful person behind a beautiful personality, he thanks the universe for placing him into your orbit.

“That why they call you catfish?” you ask drawing him from his daydream back into an equally pleasing reality.

“What?” he responds, blushing at having been called out on his gawking.

“Cause your mouth hangs open like a fish out of water when you're zoned out” you smirk, lowering yourself down into the tub.

“Rude” he says splashing after you settle in.

“Alright, Frankie, what is it?” you ask, causing his face to look up to you “what's your deal, apart from smoking? You gotta have flaws”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” he charms

“Sinister” you laugh, but he doesn't, you reach your foot up tapping his cheek with it,

“Disgusting,” he chuckles, grabbing it and rubbing the arch before pushing it back into the water.

“God, I miss the ocean” you confess, “ I hate the city sometimes.”

“You’re not planning on staying in Chicago after you're done?”

“Nope, gonna get myself out to the coast, or at least somewhere without winters.” you say stretching your arms out across the tub. “How about you, are you planning on staying?”

“ Probably, no reason to leave, plus it's close to my mom so she can take care of Arianna when I'm at work, though I wouldn't be opposed to moving if the opportunity presented itself she's young enough that it wouldn’t be too hard.” he says, wanting you to know that if you asked, hed follow you anywhere.

“Arianna, beautiful name. Did you pick it?” you ask looking up when a few minutes of silence pass. As you do you notice that the somber look from early had returned. “You okay?” you ask.

“I don't deserve her, I don’t deserve something so good.” he states, suddenly realizing he didn’t deserve someone like you either. You wouldn’t be sitting in the tub with him if you knew what he’d done.

“Frankie that's not true” you reassure

“You don't know the shit I've done. I'm not... I'm not a good person,” he says, still not looking over to you.

“Well, I…” you begin to refute.

“Seriously, I've done bad things… awful things'' he clears his throat, afraid to look at you, afraid you’d be terrified by him.

“People make bad mistakes, but that doesn't make them irredeemable, not if they are willing to change. You understand what you did was bad, that says something.” you reassure, knowing the guilt was likely left over from the military.

“Well, wise words coming from someone who's never done anything bad”

“You don't know me that well Frankie, I’ve done my fair share of stupid things, crappy things to numb the pain. It's what we do to make up for those shitty actions that count. At every turn, you’ve shown me that you're not an evil person. Everything I’ve seen is good, and funny and incredibly kind.” you finish and you continue to nudge him with your foot until he finally cracks a smile.

“Well now you're smiling again, my missions complete and it's time for bed” you say stepping out of the tub and drying off, unaware that you’d just made Frankie fall even harder for you. His eyes helplessly following you as you leave the bathroom.

“Since I'm an outpatient, does that mean I get the good side of the bed?” he calls out after you. You roll your eyes but let him have it, you preferred the sleeping situation the way it was.

#In a week #part 3 #frankie x y/n #frankie x reader #frankie catfish morales #triple frontier fic #triple frontier fanfiction #frankie morales x reader #frankie morales x you #pedro pascal characters

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dessarious · 4 years

Text

Guilt and Consequences Pt9

AO3 Beginning Previous Next

“Hey! We told you to leave Lila alone.” Lila groaned internally when she saw Kim, Alix, and Max walking towards them. This day was going to be one giant headache. She stepped between them and Marinette pinning each one with a glare.

“And none of you had any right to make that decision for me. Not to mention that if Marinette weren’t such a nice person all of you could be brought up on assault charges just for being there and watching Alya do what she did.” The boys looked worried but Alix just scoffed.

“That’s ridiculous, she can’t blame us for that. It’s not like we knew what she was going to do.” Lila could only roll her eyes. They were all idiots.

“You did know, and given that both Alya and Markov record everything, there’s evidence of you all talking about it as you were going to meet Marinette.” She’d found both videos when she’d hacked into Alya’s computer and now had copies. All three paled at that so she knew she had at least one weapon to keep them in line.

“You wanted to hurt me?” Marinette’s voice was small and the expression on her face was so shocked and hurt. The others just looked dumbfounded as if they couldn’t process the question. It’s amazing how quickly excuses die when you have to face the person.

“We just wanted you to know what it was like to be bullied so you’d stop.” Kim’s mumbled insanity actually made her eye twitch. Before she could lay into him for it, Marinette snapped.

“Are you kidding me? You stood by and watched Chloe bully me for years while you all did nothing and you think I don’t know what it’s like? You actually think I would do that to someone else? What possible reason would I have to do that?”

“We’ve all seen the crazy stuff you’ve pulled to get Adrien’s attention and it’s obvious he likes Lila more than you.” Lila could only shudder at the thought. Alix’s declaration actually caused Marinette to tear up.

“I’d never hurt someone over that. I even helped him when he wanted to go out with Kagami, but none of you seem to think about that. Just all the plans and situations you all goaded me into because you thought I needed to tell him. Maybe I did do some crazy things but you were all there cheering me on so why am I suddenly the bad person?” None of them seemed to know how to respond to that and Max actually looked like his brain had melted.

“And I’ll tell you exactly what I told Alya. Marinette has never bullied me. You all need a reality check before you do something so monumentally stupid it ruins your lives.” Kim actually puffed up at the insult.

“She’s been calling you a liar since you started here. What do you call that if not bullying?”

“She called me a liar because I was lying.” Lila said the words slowly and deliberately. She knew it wasn’t likely to make any more of an impact on them than it had on Alya, but she had to try.

“That’s ridiculous, you don’t have any reason to lie.” She blinked at Max, trying to follow his reasoning. He was supposed to be the logical one so she should have been able to.

“I’m going to regret asking this, but how exactly did you come to that conclusion?” Max looked like she’d just slapped him. The supposed smart one didn’t even bother to think this through. There was absolutely no hope for these people.

“Lying to us would be counterproductive.”

“You have no idea what my goals and motivations are. How can you possibly deem an action counterproductive when you don’t know the reasons behind them?” He frowned at her condescending tone.

“You want to fit in and make friends, just like everyone. Lying would only hamper that when the truth came out.” There it was. The underlying assumption that they all must be harboring. She supposed that people projected onto others to make them more understandable but, as this proved, it was dangerous to do so without cause.

“Wrong. I have no wish to make friends, certainly not with people who have proven they’ll turn on someone with no evidence. Fitting in was the last thing on my mind given that I was trying to be obnoxious enough to get expelled. Granted after watching Chloe, I suppose I should have upped my game a bit to stand out.” Now they were all staring at her like she was an alien species. That was more like it. “Now if you’ll excuse us, I’d like to get to class before I have to stop any more of you from teaching Marinette a lesson you should be learning yourselves.” She tugged on Marinette’s arm to get her moving because she seemed lost in her own thoughts. As they walked through the halls in silence Lila tried to calm herself.

“Maybe I should switch schools.” Marinette spoke just before they entered the classroom. The quiet, defeated tone was heartbreaking.

“I’m sorry.” Marinette just gave her a confused look. “If not for me, none of this would have happened.” She frowned in thought.

“Maybe. Or maybe it just would have happened some other time. I can’t say I’m glad that I know that the people I thought were my friends can think so badly of me, but maybe it’s for the best. Maybe there’s a reason things happened this way.” Fate was not something Lila believed in. Random chance and chaos, sure. Those could be mathematically quantified and explained to an extent. But fate? That was something people used to make themselves feel better about things they couldn’t explain. She was sensitive enough not to say that out loud as they made their way to the back to sit. Marinette gave her a surprised look when Lila slid on to the bench next to her but she ignored it. There was no reason to pretend to be friendly with anyone else anymore and she wasn't about to risk not being close enough to intercept any problems.

AO3 Beginning Previous Next

Ko-Fi

Tag List

@readeracctagmepls @aestheticnpoetic @akana-sama @schrodingers25 @runestarchild @paradoxal-occurance @heaven428 @animegirlweeb @deepestobservationwombat @iggy-of-fans @yin-390 @thehufflepuffranger-blog @trippingovermyfeet @misslenamooney @ladybug-182 @zalladane @pale-lady-dreamer @smolplantmum @peachedpocky @bezzy-d @naoryllis @sassakitty @18-fandoms-unite-08

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #lila rossi #lila redemption #class salt

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lightsupinthenorth · 4 years

Text

Harringrove teachers AU part 3

Part 1 - Part 2

Thank you to everyone who read, liked and/or reblogged the previous parts. Also, the people who said something nice in the tags or in reactions own my heart. Just thought you should know ;) <3

Tag list: @twoprettyboys, @inkedplume, @marianaosborne, @liglitterbug, @hmg621 @spreckle @goldenweatherharringrove @yikesharringrove @yogurtfordinner @wingedbears @charlotte-frey @hargrovesharrington

If anyone wants to be added to or taken off the tag list for the future posts of this AU, let me know ;)

I hope the tags are working because I recently had some trouble with them (ah, Tumblr is a mess).

I was planning on keeping the chapters short but every part has been longer than the last so far ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (then again, it’s still pretty short so I guess it’s fine ^^).

I’ll stop rambling now.

Billy didn’t know how he had ended up in this situation, this situation being Steve and he making out in the otherwise empty teachers’ lounge, but he certainly wasn’t complaining. He wanted to keep Steve’s soft lips on his forever. Sadly, he didn’t get his way: there was a loud bang, and suddenly Steve’s lips were gone. Steve was gone too, as well as the teachers’ lounge. Billy woke up at home, in his bed, hard as a rock in the basket-ball shorts he was wearing as pajamas.

Great, he got an erection just from dreaming he and Steve were kissing. What was he? A teenager? That was pathetic.

Billy was considering rubbing one out, despite the embarrassment, but there was another loud bang that made him remember why he had woken up in the first place.

What the fuck was happening this early on a Saturday?

Billy instantly worried Max had fallen or, worse, that someone had broken into the flat and would hurt her (highly improbable in such a small town, but Billy wasn’t alert enough to be logical). The concern killed his arousal in two seconds tops. He shot up from bed and exited his bedroom in a hurry.

He found Max in their open kitchen, mixing what appeared to be pancakes ingredients.

“What was that noise?” He asked, in lieu of a greeting.

“I dropped the pan. Sorry.”

“There were two noises.”

“I dropped the mixing bowl too. Let me live! It’s your fault, you stored both these things on the highest shelf” Max complained.

“Hey, no need for a defense, I’m not accusing you. I was just worried, shitbird.”

“Oh… well, I’m okay.”

“And you’re making pancakes, so I’m certainly not going to complain.” Billy added.

“Who told you I was making some for you?”

Billy pouted, even though he knew Max was bluffing. He could see the amount of batter in the mixing bowl. She had quite an appetite, but there was no way she’d be able to eat all of that on her own.

“So mean, so early in the morning.”

“What can I say, I love messing with you.”

Paradoxically, Billy was happy that she did. When they had first met, he’d been a perpetually angry teenager, and teeny tiny Max had done everything she could to stay out of his way. Once Susan had announced she was ill, though, Billy had tried his hardest to be the brother Max deserved. After Susan’s death, Billy had looked after Max and kept her safe from his father until he had turned legal. He had then fought to get Max away from Neil and had obtained full custody of her.

It had been hard to balance getting his degree, working part-time jobs, and taking care of Max. Even more so with Neil trying to steer trouble every now and again. But they had made it out alright, in the hand, and Billy didn’t regret a second of it.

“Sit your ass down.” Max said as she turned the stove on.

“Oh no, no way. You ‘sit your ass down’. I’ll take it from here.”

Max was good at finding the best recipes and at mixing ingredients, but the cooking process was another thing entirely: she had nearly burned the kitchen down almost every time she had tried using the oven or the stove. Her cooking privileges had been revoked after the fifth time.

“Ugh, fine.”

Billy had two plates full on pancakes in no time. He put one in front of Max and went to sit down with his own on the other side of the table. The second his ass touched his chair, Max asked:

“So, you have plans with Steve and Robin this afternoon?”

Billy frowned.

“First of all, it’s Mrs. Buckley and Mr. Harrington for you”, he started, just to get on her nerves (he didn’t give a fuck how she called her teachers), “and second, how do you know that?”

Max arched an eyebrow.

“You literally talked about it with Steve right in front of me yesterday”, she said, ignoring Billy’s reprimand (no surprise, there).

“Oh… right… I did.”

Truthfully, Billy had stopped paying attention to Max and El the second he had laid eyes on Steve and the dumb spot of blue paint that had been resting on his cheek as if it had any right to.

“So, what are you guys going to do?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but we’re going to grade papers.”

“Well, that’s exciting.”

Her sarcasm was off the charts.

“Tell me about it”, Billy mumbled, around a mouthful of pancake.

“Ew, gross.”

Billy stuffed even more pancake into his mouth, in defiance, before he spoke again:

“So, Art club, uh? What’s up with that?”

They hadn’t had an opportunity to talk about it the day before, because Friday night was movie night, and they had eaten dinner in front of the tv. Plus, Billy would have been too distracted to hold a conversation (Steve hadn’t left his mind).

“Steve said I should come. He noticed I haven’t been speaking to a lot of people, and he said it might help to do an activity in a smaller group…” Max wasn’t looking at Billy as she explained.

“Anyway, I think he was right. He’s the best!” She beamed as she said it, finally looking up from her slowly but surely diminishing pile of pancakes.

“That’s good. I’m glad.”

Billy was glad, really. He was also a bit frustrated that Steve had managed to talk to Max about making friends, when Billy hadn’t known how to bring it up without offending her, but he wasn’t petty enough to show he had a problem with it. Even if Max calling Steve “the best” was treason of the highest order, Billy just wanted her to be happy. If Steve’s intervention helped more than Billy himself could, then so be it.

They finished breakfast, got ready for the day and then went grocery shopping. As they got back to the flat, Max went to her room to chill, and Billy read for a while before he started preparing lunch. Keeping busy distracted him from thinking about seeing Steve in the afternoon. Well, he didn’t think about it too much, at least.

When Billy made his way into the coffee shop, Steve and Robin were already seated, talking animatedly… in another language.

“Hi. Was that Italian?”

They must not have noticed him approaching, because as soon as he greeted them, they stopped talking, and Steve looked up at him like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Hey Billy”, Robin said, “as a matter of fact, it was.”

“Don’t you teach French and Spanish?”

Billy was perplexed.

“I do. Doesn’t mean I don’t speak Italian.”

“It figures”, Billy shrugged.

He wanted to ask Steve where he had learnt Italian, because it intrigued him. However, he chose not to. He didn’t want to talk to him unless it was necessary. It’d be better for everyone if they had the bare minimum of interactions together, surely.

“Are these new piercings?” Robin asked, gesturing toward his ears.

“Uh, no. I’ve had them for a long time. I just don’t wear them at school.”

“Well, you should. They look really cool, and I’m sure no one would have anything to say about it.”

Billy stared at Steve pointedly, but Steve looked away as soon as he caught his gaze.

“I’ll think about it.” Billy finally said.

Steve and Robin already had their orders, so Billy took his wallet from his bag and went to the counter. He glanced at the display case and eyed the cherry pie with envy, but decided against it. After this morning’s pancakes, it wouldn’t be reasonable. Plus, he hadn’t hit the gym in a few days. He had to start indulging less if he wanted to stay in shape. He went for a simple black coffee. As the burly man behind the counter, whom Billy guessed to be Benny, asked him if he wanted anything else, Billy nearly surrendered, but he powered through. He handed Benny a ten-dollar bill and put the change he was given in one of his pockets.

When Billy went back to their table with his cup of coffee, Steve was blowing on his cup of steaming hot tea. Billy’s eyes caught on the ‘o’ shape of Steve’s lips, which reminded him of his dream. He averted his eyes, praying to God he wasn’t blushing, now that he couldn’t hide it behind his tan anymore (screw Hawkins, Indiana).

As Billy sat down, he noticed Steve had a piece of the pie he’d been eyeing. Not fair. He nearly started pouting but caught himself. After all, his pie-less state was his own fault. Why did he have to be reasonable?

Billy took his pen and the essays he had to grade out of his backpack to give himself something to focus on. But then Steve started eating. And he moaned. Quite obscenely.

“Mh, this is so good. Benny is a magician. You guys want a bite?”

Billy really wanted to say yes, not only because he wanted pie, but because Steve was the one offering. It would have been weird, though? Right?

“No thanks” he ended up saying. What a hard thing to say.

Robin had no such qualms. She needn’t have, since she and Steve were actually friends. Not only did she get to experience Steve warmth and kindness, she also got a bite of his pie. Did she even know how lucky she was?

Billy got into his grading. And he was already past the no-pouting stage of the afternoon. It sucked to be him, sometimes.

“You should probably wait for Steve to finish eating… and drinking too, to be honest, before you put your students’ paper on the table. That man is a disaster.”

Billy had to admit Robin was right. He ate lunch with Steve on a regular basis, and had therefore seen him spill a bunch of things on himself. Thankfully, nothing he had ever spilled had reached Billy, so they were probably safe.

“Oh come on! We’re on opposite ends of the table.” Steve objected.

“I know, but I’m sure you’d find a way.”

Steve scoffed but didn’t try to argue his case any further. He looked adorably ruffled when Robin laughed at his expanse.

They didn’t say anything more for a while, as they were finally doing what they had come here to do. At some point, though, Robin brought up a point one of her students had made about the French translation of “Newspeak” in George Orwell’s 1984, which led her and Billy to launch a discussion about the novel.

Steve offered no input whatsoever, but he had stopped grading and had been staring at them for five minutes straight.

It was making Billy’s skin itch.

At some point, he couldn’t take it anymore and asked:

“What’s your opinion Steve?”

“Uh… I… I don’t really have one.” He stammered, caught off guard.

“How come?”

“I, uh, I haven’t actually read the book.”

“Oh. Well, you should. It’s an amazing book.”

Steve fidgeted with his red pen, repeatedly taking the cap off and then putting it back on.

“Uh… I don’t know about that. It’s not really my thing.”

“How can you know it’s not your thing if you haven’t read it?” Billy asked, a tad defensively.

“I didn’t mean the book… I meant, reading.”

Steve bit his lower lip.

“Why not? Is that beneath a math buff such as yourself, or something?” Billy’s tone had become hostile.

And, by pulling accusations out of his ass like that, he had gone from defensive to straight up aggressive.

“No. ‘course not… It’s just… reading is hard for me… I’m, uh… I’m dyslexic, so…” Steve trailed off, looking down at the pen he was seemingly holding in a vice grip.

Billy was speechless with shame and regret, as Steve offered a wobbly smile and said: “I’m gonna… go get some more tea”, before leaving the table.

Billy stared at his retreating form before he turned to Robin and found her glaring at him. If he could have felt worse than he already did, he would have.

“So… should I go apologize right now or should I leave him alone and apologize later?”

Teenage Billy would have probably not apologized at all, but present-time Billy knew better. He felt like the biggest jerk.

“I’d say, go for it.”

Billy followed Robin’s advice and, with knots in his stomach, he went to Steve, who was waiting for his tea behind the counter.

“Steve, man… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay…” Steve said, but his eyes didn’t leave his own shoes.

That wouldn’t do. Billy had made Steve feel shitty, and he would make it better if it were the last thing he did.

“No, it’s not. I shouldn’t have pushed.”

Billy had let his frustration with Steve get the better of him, and that was unacceptable. Steve was not particularly nice to him, so what? It wasn’t a reason to be outright mean to the guy.

“Really, it’s no big deal… It’s not like it’s a secret… my dyslexia, I mean.”

“Yeah, but you obviously didn’t want to share this piece of info with me, and I should have dropped it.”

“I just… I was afraid you’d find me stupid… But you probably thought I was stupid already, anyway… what with me never having anything interesting to say when Robin and you talk about literature.”

“Hey, I don’t…”

Benny placed Steve’s cup of tea on the counter, cutting Billy mid-sentence.

“It’s on me”, Billy said, fishing his five-dollar bill of change out of his jean’s back pocket and handing it to Benny.

“You didn’t have to.”

Was Steve blushing or was it a trick of the light?

“I want to make it up to you.”

“There’s nothing to make up for, but thanks.”

Steve grabbed his cup of tea and was going to go back to their table, but Billy held him back.

“Wait… I want you to know I don’t find you stupid, okay? I know I’m kind of a jackass, but not enough of one to actually think dyslexic people are stupid.”

“Good to know”, Steve replied.

“So, are we good?”

“I told you, we are.” Steve assured, smiling brighter than he had ever smiled at Billy before.

The knots in Billy’s stomach loosened, and his heart filled with warmth. So that was how it felt, when Steve’s sunshine fell upon you? Billy couldn’t wait to experience that feeling again.

“We should get back to Robin.”

“We should” Billy echoed, before following Steve, awestruck.

#Harringrove #Harringrove teachers AU #Billy Hargrove #Steve Harrington #Max Mayfield #Robin Buckley #Stranger Things

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introductions-are-a-spook · 3 years

Text

Reblogs and feedback always appreciated!

@kissthe-gogoat Let me know if you want to be added to / taken off the tag list!

Aqua eyes slowly opened, and a hand reached to a pair of glasses nearby. Maxwell blinked a few times, adjusting to the light streaming through his curtains. And then he paused.

There, sprawled out on his couch, was Andrew. Sleeping peacefully, a piece of sheet music held over his chest. He looked very sunny, with rays reflecting on his hair and making his cheeks glow. Maxwell sat on the edge of his bed, still in yesterday’s clothes, and gazed at the other man a little longer.

Nothing had happened, other than them staying up far too late to keep working on the piece, which they had finished. Luckily it was the weekend, and while they had slept late, they had slept well. Maxwell checked the clock. Eleven. Stretching his arms above his head and throwing on a robe, he went to the kitchen and began to make breakfast.

He thought about the day before. What had happened to wanting to bring the hammer down? He had investigated Andrew a grand total of once, and even then, what had he done- look around his house a bit? Read over the obligatory and lifeless reports on him from the police department? And yet even that pathetic inkling of progress had been squashed as soon as he looked into Andrew’s indigo eyes.

Meanwhile, those same eyes were just beginning to open on the couch upstairs. He sat up with a start, before recognizing his surroundings and relaxing. He rubbed his eyes and looked around for his glasses. Stumbling his way across the room, he finally found them on Maxwell’s bedside table. Why were these here? He took a moment to remind himself that nothing like that had yet happened.

Yet. And that was the problem. Andrew wasn’t going to lie to himself, he had had a liking for Maxwell for a long time. And now he was almost certain that Maxwell felt the same, Andrew selfishly wanted more.

And yet everything screamed at him to turn back. Yes, Antigone was now the obvious reason. Who knew what he had in store? He seemed to think of Andrew as a sort of unwitting lackey. He might hurt Maxwell, might force him into the same position. Might simply manipulate him into going away. But what about the simple fact that Maxwell was a detective? Andrew had not missed the repetition of his own name on Maxwell’s case pinboard. What if this whole relationship was a ploy for information?

Maybe it didn’t matter, Andrew told himself. It was too early to tell much about these things, but it wasn’t too soon to attempt to continue the relationship, that both undeniably wanted.

As he thought, he found that he had wandered downstairs. He smelled something that had a burnt twinge to it.

“Max? Is something burning?” he called as he walked into the kitchen.

“Not anymore,” indeed, there he was, body failing to block the view of a singed frying pan dropped in a pot of water. “And did you just call me ‘Max?’”

Andrew tried and failed not to laugh. “Um. Yeah, is that okay?”

Maxwell hesitated for a moment. “I suppose I don’t see why not, if it’s just you. Just don’t confuse me for the cat.”

“Cat? What ca-” Andrew was cut off when he felt something soft and warm rub against his leg. Indeed, a black cat had taken to purring at him.

“Her name is Maxie, so you don’t get to call me that. So does this mean I can call- are you even listening to me?” Andrew hummed a yes while sitting down and petting the cat, who now had happily crawled onto his lap. Max chuckled. “I see you two are friends now. But if you’re going to call me ‘Max’ then I’m going to call you ‘Andy.’”

Another hummed a yes and a pitiful ‘no’ as the cat got up, stretched, and trotted off to find it’s water. “Sounds good to me. And…”

“Yes?”

“Maybe you should let me do the cooking and baking from now on.”

Max blushed. “Fine.”

~*~

The two had spent the day together, in Max’s library (luckily none of his siblings were around to ruin the mood). Occasionally they would stop to go on a walk or get sweets at the closed bakery.

When evening rolled around, Andy proposed the idea of a third date. There was a dance that he was invited to that evening, and he needed a partner. Max cheerfully agreed and they set to getting ready and meeting back up again when they were done.

Both looked positively dashing as they walked into the dance hall, turning a few heads. The room itself was beautiful, lit by a chandelier and decorated by all manner of gold. Mediocre in the eyes of the rich, but paradise in the eyes of the average. Someone called to Andy, to explain who his new partner was. Max laughed and dropped his grip from Andy’s elbow to his hand. And so, the music, drinking, and fun began. The two danced their way through the first few songs, laughing and talking like any other couple in the room.

“God, my feet are getting tired,” Andy laughed. “Where’d you learn to dance like this?”

Max grinned tipsily and relaxed in Andy’s arms. “My mother tried to teach me, but it was my sibling Casey who made me keep going. I suppose it paid off.”

“Hell yeah it did! I’m sure as hell glad you…” Andrew trailed off, eyes transfixed on a woman across the room. Her fiery emerald eyes shot right through him, holding his gaze and promptly sobered him up.

But just as Maxwell began to ask what was wrong, the next song started and Andrew’s mind cleared. The dance had them switch partners every thirty seconds or so.

They flitted from person to person, a cycle that eventually led Andrew to the green-eyed lady. As soon as he was up close to her. he recognized her. She was at the house he tried to burgle, just before meeting Antigone! But more than that, she was… Okay, stay calm, it’ll be okay.

She glared at him as she quickly and resentfully spoke. “Well, if it isn’t Andrew Winston. I figured you’d want to spend your evening on another heist.”

“Jennifer McAllen! I haven’t seen you since, uh, a while ago! Gee, I don’t think I know-”

“Oh, you know exactly what I mean.”

Andrew was going to ask more questions, but the music forced them to move along. But instead of continuing on, he pulled her out into the hallway. Away from prying eyes and ears, he became much more serious.

“Alright, cut the crap, Jenny. What are you talking about? What do you know?” he snapped at her.

“What don’t I know, asshole! You left me three years ago, just like that, and now you break into my house! And then you have the audacity to strut around with a goddamn detective? Especially Chapman of all people, what the hell is wrong with you!” Andrew tried to protest, but she cut him off and shoved him away.

They used to be best friends- partners in crime, even- before they had the argument. Jennifer wanted to settle down a bit as they got older, go back to her life as a higher-up, but Andrew wanted to keep going full speed ahead. They couldn’t work it out, and so one night, Andrew snuck out and drove to London, leaving Jennifer behind and taking her secrets with him.

Andrew shut up. He knew not to interrupt her when she got like this. She took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Alright, well, maybe this isn’t all bad. That pompous brat has been snooping around my life, trying to shake the skeletons out of my closet. Ones that you helped me get! So help me god, Andrew, if you don’t dump this guy and help me out, I will burn your life to the ground. Hear me?” Her words startled Andrew, and he backed away even further.

He took a moment to think and compose himself. He knew how conniving Jenny could be- he had seen it himself- but give up Maxwell to satisfy her? And then there was Antigone, who also wanted Maxwell gone. And he had shown that he was a much more violent man, over Jennifer’s scheming. The two of them combined, even if they weren’t working together, could be detrimental.

And yet, he simply wasn’t willing to let Max go.

“You’re insane if you think I’m going to give up the life I’ve built just to make you happy,” he said, beginning to walk back to the dance hall. Jennifer grabbed his wrist and dug her nails into his skin.

“If you think I’m not going to decimate you for this, you’re sorely mistaken,” she snarled.

Andrew laughed. “I know you, Jenny. And I know all your tricks.” He opened the door and took a step back inside. And then he hesitated.

“Tell you what. Since we both did some bad shit, if you get caught, I’ll give myself up too. Drop Max and everything. How ‘bout that?”

She raised an eyebrow and sneered. “Sure. But I’m going to hold you to it. I don’t believe for a second you’re going to do it on your own.”

“That’s my Gem!” He laughed. “Bring it on.” And with that, he shut the door and strode off.

#writing #my writing #📖 the detective and the crook 🖋#✒️ you write and i’ll read 📖

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steve0discusses · 3 years

Text

S4 Ep37: Return of O R B S

Heyyyyy boy, look who’s back, it’s orbs!

So we’ve seen a lot of orbs on this show and I fully admit that I kinda started...I started feeling a kinship for the orbs. Something about these mysterious death balls of Yugioh that we see over and over just became really relatable during a pandemic. Being trapped in a bubble and unable to get close to anyone you know is such a 2020 vibe, youknow?

These orbs that are apparently so normalized in this universe that everyone is just max chilling in an orb and just doing their best at not thinking about whether or not they’ll still have to poop in this completely transparent orb in front of all of their friends.

Also, welcome back, Yugi. Apparently he was just taking a nap this entire time. That’s canon and you know what? Good for him.

And then everyone else just kinda showed up, tired, in an orb, feeling kind of frustrated because there’s literally nothing else they can do to get out of this situation. It’s basically a zoom call in 2020.

(read more under the cut)

TBH if Pegasus was in a zoom call, you know he’d just be talking about wine. You know he’d just be in a zoom call with a bunch of straight-laced teenagers just going off about the weird wine he got from a subscription box that he bought when he was day drunk a week ago. You know he’d just be like “I mean is it good? Should I keep it? Should I drink it anyway?” While popping the cork on stream and just pouring it directly into a cereal bowl.

I can feel the orb life going on here. I can especially feel Seto Kaiba, who fell asleep during the zoom call without turning off the camera.

On the other side of the room is people dying as they get sucked directly into their impending doom.

Long ago, about...last year I think...I recapped an episode from the beginning of the season where Pegasus introduced this blank card--that I assumed was blank.

But that card from that episode--it wasn’t actually blank. It was a symbolic blank card and the show runners were like “our child audience will surely get that we just don’t want to spoil the ending” as I, a full grown adult, completely thought this card was blank.

But like...this is Pegasus. You can’t just be tossing out blank cards like that!

...anyway...it’s fine, because we get a little bit more about the time that Pegasus donned that quantum hat that is sometimes square and sometimes round and then just harassed a bunch of people in Egypt until one guy tore out his eyeball and replaced it with a Christmas ornament.

I freakin have the hardest time believing this guy was married once.

PS, now I know that when you uh put people’s hair into strips like this, it’s a lot of effort to animate and it doesn’t look anything like hair. Glad Yugioh taught me that none of us ever need to do that. Ever again. Erase that idea from your to-do list, it doesn’t work.

Anyway, Pegasus lets us know that while he was trying to revive his dead wife and putting a cold compress on his new golden eye-socket, he was also like...obsessed with finding these three dragons.

And he was like “but they didn’t exist anywhere else!” He looked in outer space?? In atoms??? all over the place (this was in the show, PS, he looked on a molecular level for these duel monster dragons) until he was like “ah! That’s because they DID never exist!”

PS...are there...molecular duel monsters?

Just asking for a friend.

...so they did exist, they just had exactly the same names they do now, but were humans so I guess Pegasus just...didn’t realize that they were the same. Kinda like how when I used to read manga as a kid or watch anime and they’d go into chibi forms I thought those were different people. It’s just like that.

Anyway if dragons are turning into humans please don’t tell that to Kaiba. Blue eyes white dragon wife is much funnier as a dragon.

But like...I get that mechanically, in the game, you have to change them to human to make the cards work but...why do we care if they’re human or dragons anyway? Dartz comes from a world where most people turned into monsters. And like if no one’s trying to date them, not even Kaiba...who cares? Dartz’ wife is a freakin monster and I don’t remember seeing him divorce her at any point.

Anyway, it was an odd thing for the show to throw in there about cards we have no relationship with. It’s a complicated season, and we spent way more time on our minibosses than we ever spent with the three tragic dragon characters that are going to actually save our asses.

Now back in the soul hut, Dartz has decided to do the strategy where he convinces Pharaoh to give up. Which youknow...

The show acts like Pharaoh has any idea of who he used to be and it’s like do you even know how long Marik spent trying to teach Pharaoh anything about his past? Like Marik stood there with his back exposed and was like “I wrote it down! See? That’s about you!! Read my back scriptures!!!” and Yami kind of squinted at it and was like “Nah...” and then the island exploded.

So anyway, the only way that Dartz can convince Pharaoh to kill himself is to show Pharaoh the invite code to the orb zoom call. And so Dartz like “your friends are having so much fun in death zoom right now, don’t you want to hang one last time? Don’t you want to see what they’re up to? Don’t you want to hear them complain about working from home and how small their orb is and how their back is cramped all the time because the park is closed so they never go on walks anymore? Don’t you want to hear and secretly enjoy how much weight Joey gained from eating Doritos for 8 straight months? Don’t you want that in your life, Pharaoh?”

And then he just...decided to possess his bean because obviously that wouldn't work.

Freakin Usagi Tsukino over here.

Speaking of:

I’m also imagining that this scene in the big ol bathtub was probably...longer...in the original version? Just saying that because...what’s the point of putting a shirt on the boy? Unless it was implied that at some point you saw the whole boy? Maybe I blinked and missed a shot of the whole boy?

Anyway this scene felt heavily edited, that’s my hypothesis, if it wasn’t and someone was like “yo put a shirt on the boy” then I...don’t know what to say about that. It’s a pair of shoulders. I’m pretty sure half of their cards are racier than that.

Do you like the evidence that we have here that Tea and Tristan totally biffed it last episode? I do.

Anyway, as the Orichalcos shrinks and threatens to take Pharaoh’s soul, the puzzle taps into his dark powers, and the power of friendship and also all the minibosses who died kinda formed a ring around him and bumped the orichalcos back into place.

Nice that Mai got added to the friend pile, but only in death. Also, I’m pretty sure Alister is here and Pharaoh never met him? But there’s more of a reason as to why the mini bosses are here, since they have their own agenda outside of Pharaoh and being his best buddy so I won’t question that too much.

This is friendship from Yami’s perspective, and like...Yami kinda wants to be friends with most people. Hell, if Bakura were introduced this season, he’d be here, too. That’s just how Pharaoh rolls.

Yami decided that, although he’s a huge mess of a human being and screw it at every possible opportunity, his core isn’t made up of a dark magic curse with a crusty soul left over from some kingdom that botched it 5000 years ago. He’s decided that he’s moving on from that sort of anxiety--becoming his own sort of person--separate from Yugi, separate from his past, and separate from the powers that he’s often defined by. And it’s about time. It’s about time he recognizes that he needs to stop clinging to the ancient past (although I’m pretty sure his ancient past will be the entirety of next season)

He should give himself a real name while he’s at it, but youknow, he's not going to. Yami hasn’t quite figured out names yet.

Nightmare foreshortening, that’s what this is. Like you have to just roll a dice when you do foreshortening, and sometimes you get snake eyes, the rest of the time, you get this.

So not only are these guys voiced by Seto, Yugi, and Joey, they have faces that are like a blend of Valon, Raphael, Mai and Alister (yes that was four people for three dragon people, just go with it)--but the show doesn’t really focus on that, or at least not in this episode.

But, it does give the three mini bosses a reason to be chosen by the Orichalcos, if it’s inferred that they were some reincarnated version of the original dragons. Especially since Valon had the ability to just punch out the Orichalcos when he was still alive, and apparently that is the same thing this card does.

I can’t believe that him punching stuff was foreshadowing. I should have known. The answer in this show is always punching.

And so the episode ends with some...something that happened, but don’t ask me about it.

One of the reasons I don’t go over card games here. I mean...c’mon.

Come the freakin on.

Anyway we have some more episodes before this is over but at least this guy is at 0 hp so like...how long can you draw out one single play of cards? (I say, knowing they can stretch this game out...infinitely)

anyway, here’s where you can read these from the top. Hope y’all are staying safe!

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

#ygo #yugioh #Yu-Gi-Oh #recap #photo recap #episode recap #yugi muto #joey wheeler #maxamillion pegasus #is dead #dartz #yami muto #just a mess of orbs #S4 #s3 ep37

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