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gradiant-fantasy · 2 years

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The 2nd round rookie receiver who will soar to dynasty super-stardom

Ahead of the 2021 season, to say that then-dynasty-darling, Saquon Barkley, who had an overall dynasty ADP of three (according to DLF mock drafts), would drop to 31, in just nine months, would have gotten you laughed out of a few Reddit threads. Conversely, you would have been #canceled on Twitter for suggesting that Ja'Marr Chase would rise from an ADP of 31* before last season, to the top overall ranked player in dynasty start up drafts in less than a full calendar year.

The shifting tides of dynasty values can be as aggressive as they are cruel (sorry Calvin Ridley managers), but that is not to say they are entirely unpredictable. If you were somehow able to foresee either of the aforementioned ADP swings, you could have leveraged those seismic deltas to get off of the Giants running back before he suffered a bitcoin-esque crash or acquire the Bengal's super-stud for a fair price, before his value peaked.

Another time we may dive into a few players who are at risk of dropping off the fantasy map as Barkley did, but for this article we are going to focus on the positives and try to identify a player who has a chance to shoot up dynasty startup draft boards before the start of next season.

Although Chase's climb was faster than many had predicted, he was an indomitable prospect being paired with a talented QB and one that he was familiar with after playing with Joe Burrow at LSU. All these signs pointed to a likely jump in ADP, even if the number one overall player was a step above what even the biggest fans could have predicted. To stake a bolder claim for this article, and one that will cost you a bit less in your dynasty leagues, I only considered players who are currently ranked outside of the top 24 at their position in startup dynasty ADP and identified a receiver who I think has a shot at being ranked amongst the top 12 WRs heading into the 2023 season.

George Pickens WR, PIT | Age: 21 | Current ADP: 43

For years, there had been a pervasive thought in fantasy football, and especially in dynasty circles, that first year wide receivers were unlikely to contribute to winning a championship. When studying an incoming class, it was common to hear "there's no Julio Jones or AJ Green in this crop of rookies," referring to the excellent duo of WRs taken in the top 6 picks in the 2011 draft. While there were outliers like Michael Thomas (2016), Mike Evans (2014), and Odell Beckham Jr (2014) who all posted impressive stat lines in their first year, this belief persisted until Justin Jefferson set the record for the best rookie WR season of all time in 2020 and his former LSU teammate, Ja'Marr Chase, bested it just one year later.

No longer do contending fantasy managers assume WRs cannot contribute to their championship chase in year one and as such, Treylon Burks (18), Garrett Wilson (21), and Drake London (23), all find themselves within the top 24 dynasty receivers, by ADP. For that reason, I had to look a little deeper in this rookie class to find this potential riser.

Enter George Pickens, someone who I predict will be the next great WR in a line of many great WRs that the Pittsburgh Steelers have drafted. Now, I don't expect Pickens will have the same supernova-esque season that Jefferson and Chase have had over the past two years, but with Pickens, we're playing for 2023. In 2022 the polarizing receiver has to deal with a rookie quarterback, serious target competition from Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool, Pat Friermuth, and Najee Harris, and has the cloud of "off the field concerns" hanging over him. You can easily make the case that 8 or 9 other rookies should have better seasons than him this year, but that's exactly the type of player that we want to identify if there are reasons to believe his situation will improve and we can get ahead of the market correction.

So, if he's dealing with this murky situation in 2022, why should we be so high on George Pickens?

Pickens is an elite prospect. The former Georgia Bulldog is 6'3", weighs 200 pounds, profiles as a prototypical x-receiver, and had a college breakout age* of 18.5, which is in the 97th percentile. Athletically, Pickens best comparable pro is Jerry Jeudy of the Denver Broncos, who was a first round pick just two seasons ago. During his time at Georgia, Pickens compiled 1,300 yards and 14 touchdowns over three years. These numbers would be even more eye-popping had he not torn his ACL which forced him to miss nearly all the 2021 season. That ACL tear, coupled with the off the field concerns, could explain Pickens falling to pick 52 on day two of the NFL draft.

While there is always risk of a re-injury, in today's NFL, it is not foolish to be optimistic about his recovery and the likelihood of him to return to pre-injury form. As far as the troubled past or character concerns that seem to be cast about frequently when analysts are describing Pickens, I fail to take issue with what is being highlighted during his college career. The first incident was when Pickens was suspended for fighting Georgia Tech cornerback, Tre Swiling during a game, and the second dealt with the mercurial talent spraying Tennessee QB, Jarrett Guarantano with a water bottle when he was tackled along the Georgia sideline.

These antics are reminiscent of actions from players like Jalen Ramsey, Aquib Talib, Andre Johnson, and even AJ Green in recent years in the NFL. If Pickens can be as productive as any of those players, I think his lack of conflict avoidance can be overlooked in pursuit of production. And even if they do persist, what team over the past decade has handled difficult personalities better than the Steelers? If Pickens continues to be magnet for controversy, I have full confidence that Mike Tomlin, who handled the egos and eccentricities of Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell masterfully during their time in Pittsburgh, has more than enough structure in place to keep Pickens focused on the field.

So, if we feel comfortable that Pickens is an elite talent, as he proved to be in college, has an easy path to full health, and are comfortable with why he fell to day two and doesn't have the same draft capital as other elite receivers, all that stands in his way of skyrocketing up fantasy draft boards is opportunity and the talent of the QB who has to get him the ball.

Let's tackle opportunity first. While there are 163 targets available in Pittsburgh, in part due to the vaccuum of JuJu Smith-Schuster's absence, who departed for Kansas City this off season, Diontae Johnson still owns a 28.4% target share in this offense which is good enough for the 4th best such mark in the NFL. With Chase Claypool (18%), Pat Friermuth (13%), and Najee Harris (14.5%) all commanding heavy pass catching roles as well, there may not be much left for the rookie. But that is just for 2022. Diontae Johnson is set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2023 and with the explosion of FA WR deals, there is not guarantee that Pittsburgh is going to want to re-sign him at the level he is sure to receive when he hits the open market. Pittsburgh may have tipped their hand at this by drafting two WRs in Pickens and Calvin Austin III this year, but that could also have just been a way to replace the outgoing Smith-Schuster. But if you follow the money on this offense, you can learn how the Steelers view their offense. In an alarming and unsettling surprise, FB Derek Watt is actually the largest cap-hit on the Steelers offense at $4.75M. If Pittsburgh is intentionally keeping offensive salaries down, paying Diontae Johnson $80M+ over four years may not be high on their list of things to do.

So, if Diontae Johnson does leave in 2023 and the door opens for Picken's skyward ascension, only one small hurdle could trip him up on becoming the Steelers' WR1. One small, but tall and fast, hurdle named Chase Claypool. After a promising rookie season in Pittsburgh, the ND almost-turned-TE-but-not-really-WR, Claypool laid something of an egg in his second year, failing to capitalize on the momentum that he generated as a rookie. Despite starting 7 more games in 2021, Claypool recorded less catches, less yards, and less touchdowns than he did in 2020. This may have been caused by the linguini tendons in Ben Roethlisberger's elbow, but Claypool critics would be quick to point out that Big Ben's arm strength was somehow worse in 2020 than last year. Either way, if Pickens is as good as the Steelers expect, as a much more well-rounded and productive player in college, climbing past Claypool on the depth chart should not be much of an issue for Pickens.

If that path to massive opportunity does present itself for Pickens, the hardest remaining part of his projection, is what the quarterback that will be throwing him the ball in 2023 will look like. Unless he has one of the most catastrophic rookie seasons of all time, that player should be former Pitt Panther and the first QB off the board in this year's NFL draft, Kenny Pickett.

It is easy for us in the fantasy sphere to poke fun at Pickett because of his perceived lack of mobility (FWIW I think he has a little more juice than he gets credit for), his small hands, and the fact that he was the best of a bad group of QBs a year after we saw 5 potential franchise signal callers taken in the first round of the 2021 draft. But if you take a step back an assess who Pickett is as a player, you can see why the Steelers felt so confident in drafting him. In his final season at Pitt, Pickett accounted for 47 total touchdowns and committed just 13 turnovers and his EPA* was in the 94th percentile among drafted QBs over the past 17 years. While his lack of elite physical traits, limited production in college, and apparent inability to look past his first and second read will likely limit his ceiling, there is reason to believe that Pickett can go on to be an average, if not good NFL starter for at least the duration of his rookie contract.

If Kirk Cousins can do what he has done for Justin Jefferson over the past two years and Ryan Tannehill was able to support AJ Brown as the top dynasty WR this time last year, Kenny Pickett should absolutely not be the reason that you shy away from taking a shot on the supreme upside of George Pickens' talent and potential opportunity.

* * *

*Remember the concerns we all had about his drops in the preseason and his inability to see and catch an NFL football?

*Breakout age is defined as the player's age at the start of the college football season when they first posted a Dominator Rating above 20%. Dominator rating is a calculation of the number of touchdowns and receiving yards a player is responsible for on his team.

*Expected Points Added is the difference between a team's expected points after a play versus their expected points before a play.

#nfl #fantasyfootball #georgepickens #dynasty #pittsburghsteelers #dynasty_tom #rookie #draft #adp

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pupiiaye · 3 years

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Reminiscence of Violence //. A yandere Diluc x GN reader.

They were a virus, a disease that needed curing, a simple tune that needed listening. They were a pill, an addiction if you will. He had to have it, he craved it more than the bloodlust that trickled through his veins and caused up a storm. What exactly was this feeling? Why did he feel it? Why was it more intense than the deaths and bloodshed he's seen a thousand times over? And why… why did he want it so badly? Why did he want to rip it from its core and feast upon it like a starving man? Tonight, he will have his answer.

Fair warnings: knife play, character death / threat implied, possessiveness, spankings, dirty talk, a rather dark Diluc, markings.

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The stars in the sky glistened above them, whispering secrets told from different lands, different stories. The clear wind danced through trees, kissed against skin, leaving their invisible mark against the bare flesh. It was not odd to be seen wandering around the grassy plains of Mondstadt, travelers and knights had duties to attend to, commissions to complete and bounties to conquer. Moonlight blessed those who decided to wander without any real reason, the wanderer in question being a simple soul. One who had found themselves living amongst the city of freedom for quite some time. Not a knight, but a fair citizen who took the pleasure in helping others. They didn't consider themselves to be a savior, nor did they consider themselves to be someone without any purpose. This was the main reason as to why they've managed to catch the eye of /the/ the richest man in Mondstadt.

It goes without saying that this was rather impressive, everyone can see the clear hook they had on him. The addiction they provided without even doing as much as lifting a finger. Their eyes screamed of excitement, and in return the ex knight's heart would scream with desire. Diluc, quiet noble man who had his morals, his regrets, and his fancies. Diluc, the man who didn't take pleasure in affairs or hit offs, the man who cared not of looks but of trust and genuine emotions.

This drove a man crazy, off the walls even. It was not of hate, but confusion as to why or how one person could pull the heaviest of beats out of his once dying heart. Frowns that once covered his features turned into ones of admiring grins, turned into little smirks whenever they would ramble and rant about their passions. Beauty, they were littered with it, from the very gleam of irises to the movement of plush lips. Archon's, he wanted to taste them, wanted to nibble and bite into those moving pillows they called lips. He wanted to make them bleed and bruise after getting done with kissing them, and would he stop there? Absolutely not.

His daydreams were becoming worse, and the only thing that could snap him out of them were the blissful sounds of laughter. The symphony of little chuckles mixed in with a breathy hiccup of air. Oh, he knew this sound like he knew the scriptures of poetry, this sound was one he got drunk on. Instead of wine, he could listen to his baby's sweet giggles until death slayed him where he stood.

The reason as to why it was happening, however, was enough to make a man see red. How dare he? How dare that betraying drunk prick, the simple audacity of this … Fool. Was he asking for another death wish, perhaps? Did he wish to watch the flames of hell rise once more? Did he want Diluc to throw him out in the coldness of oceans and watch him choke and gasp and cling on to whatever breath of fucking air he could get? So many questions, not enough action. The solid glass in his hand could shatter from how tight he was gripping it, however Diluc was a man with pride, a man with patience and logic on his side. He would not yell, he would not allow his nerves to get the best of him. What he will do, is way worse than a simple “get the hell out” will do.

“Sir Kaeya, last time I checked, that was your fifth drink as of tonight. I suggest you wrap it up quickly before it gets too dark.”

The words were not of an option, but rather one of a demand. Those blazing embers Diluc called eyes were boring into a crystal one. He did not care where Kaeya went, how he got there, or where he will end up. All he knows is that he best make his decision quick before patience thinned out. The look he got in return did nothing to calm his raging pulses of blood either, he could kill this man given that chance again. This time, Diluc wouldn't forget it.

“My, what a rush… Pardon me, Master Diluc. I was not aware you had other things to tend to, throwing me out so soon. Or do you wish to have them to yourself, hm? Very well, I mustn't interrupt your … Desires. Just do not have too much fun whilst everyone are away, it would only make me jealous. Ain't that right, sweetheart?”

This chattering baboon talked too much, he was too touchy with what clearly belonged to Diluc. He did things too much, talked too smoothly, acted as if they had any interest in him when Diluc knew for a fact who the real winner was. As expected, Kaeya always thought certain things belonged to him, and for once in his life Diluc had the urge to be as competitive as his brother.

“Are you quite done? Hurry up and take your leave, or do I have to throw you out myself?”

Venom laced with every word, hands turning white from how hard he gripped onto the table. Mark his words, when he's done laying claim, this man was next on his overdue hit list. His thoughts were so loud that he didn't even hear his brother mocking him before the tavern doors closed with a squeak. So loud that he didn't even hear his soon-to-be — no, that's not right. They are his dearest, his love, his desires, and everything more. Right? Why would they look at him with such concern if not were true? Why would they touch his arm and smile so sweetly if not for him? Did they not come to him, and only him when scared, if not because they held dear feelings that he too reciprocated? They loved him, it was plain as can be. They adored him even, yet they were too shy to admit it to his face. Figures, Diluc knew this, he knew them more than the back of his hand. They just need a little help expressing It, right? Especially with the way they were chatting and laughing up a storm with his dearest, soon to be dead, brother.

Clouded eyes came back down to heaven, that heaven being the warm smile of his love. That's so much better, he didn't want to see that smile directed towards anyone else but him, it wasn't their fault. They didn't know that they belonged to Diluc yet, and that was okay. This is why he must teach a very simple lesson. One that will engrain itself in their memories until death.

“I find it funny…” eyes hands smooth over the wooden surface of the bar stand. He took in the smoothness, the patterns that followed along his fingers. “I find it hilarious even, how he thinks you belong to him when we both know that isn't true, right?”

What was that expression they wore? Confusion? Oh, how Diluc loved it when they played stupid, they were nothing of the sort. Perhaps they wanted to entice Diluc further, pull him in deeper, so he could ravish them against this here bar stand. Yeah, that's exactly what it was, Diluc could tell, he knew the signs all well. Being the observant man he was, he would not allow this one to wiggle free from his dangerous palms.

Slowly, gloves slowly began their journey off of slender fingers. Those red eyes burning into ones of a pretty little thing, just waiting to be taken. Their body screamed to be claimed and taken over by, but not just for anyone — no. He danced those same eyes up and down, taking their time to design the way they'll look, shivering and begging for more of him. He took his time imprinting the thought of them choking on air as he drew breaths and sweet words out of them. Bare hands reached for the blade tucked away in the waist band of his pants. Hands gliding over the wooden surface as long legs carried him out to where they sat. Confusion on their face turned into one of interest, and oh Diluc could not wait until that face of theirs turned into one of pleasure, pain, and agony. He wanted to make them beg, scream, chant his name like a god-damn song. It will happen, he's sure of it. They had nowhere to run, nowhere to escape. The only thing saving them from Diluc's hands was Diluc alone.

“Now, I hate to be the giver of bad news, but he doesn't own you. You do not beckon to his every call, and you certainly do not belong to him. Your thoughts, your words, your actions, even the way you move…”

A small sigh, eyes casting down on sweet thighs that were soon to be marked with the carvings of his name

“You know it all belongs to me, correct? When you lay in bed, and you drift your pretty head to sleep, you are aware you dream of me, yes? When you bat those eyes and look up … At me, you know I am the one who controls that seemingly empty head of yours, right?”

There's so much silence, but Diluc has enough patience to see the way their legs clench at every word, could hear the way their breathing thickens and stutters in the back of their throat. That's all he needed to see to know what he was saying was nothing far from true. Finally, hands are reaching forward, moving to caress and then cup at warm cheeks. Blushing, he can tell just from how abnormally hot they were. Their temperature is never this warm, he should know since he memorized their normal body heat.

“So you do know that. Then why is it, why my pretty flaming flower…”

Remember back when he thought he had patience? Apparently he had thought wrong of himself. He found his hands gripping tightly to their jaw, the free hand coming down to cup at smooth thighs. Oh, oh how they flinched so beautifully in his grasp, oh the hopeless look in their eye made his dick sing. They way they didn't resist, the way their thighs rubbed together. Their body was so damn honest, what was he to do? How could he not take them when they were basically asking for it?

"Why is it you let him touch you? Why did you allow him to touch and flirt with something that clearly belongs to me? Answer me, quickly."

He saw their mouth open to talk, and for a moment he had nothing but the thought of making them choke on his cock. Soon, not tonight, but soon enough.

"I'm sure he wasn't flirting, Diluc. You know Kaeya, he talks with charm, theres nothing I can do about that."

Wrong move.

A deep breath was taken before a hot hand reached up to grab at their arms, pulling them up just to twist them around and push them against the edges of his very own bar.

"Give me a good reason why I should not mark this body with my name at this moment."

He didn't give them time to answer, too busy trailing the edges of a blade down their clothed back. No matter, they do not need to talk all too much. Diluc only wanted to hear their cries and begs, nothing more nothing less. "Tell me that you desire me. I need to hear you speak your truth before I continue, I already know that you do so do not try to lie to me, dear flower."

His words spoke deep into their ear, tone clear and free from hesitation. And when their lips opened to plead for him, oh it made it all the much better. His pride hit the ceiling, he knew it. All those signs from before were so true, and now he was able to hear it for himself, soak in those desperate words of, "yes Diluc, please take me. Make me yours, please." oh how polite they were, always so obedient, always listening out for any command. What a good pet they were, what a good flower they were.

The sounds of material being cut open filled the thick air, along with those rough fingers feeling up the smooth of their back, enjoying the way his canvas felt right under his flaming tips. Diluc could not wait to sink his teeth in and taste their sweet necture himself. Those eyes drunk up their topless form once more before trailing the knife further down, he had other days to take his time with them. Tonight they were his to destroy and break down.

Lips and teeth ran free on their body. Leaving purplish marks against sweet tender skin, his knife work not being cut short. He made sure to tear at their bottoms leaving them in nothing but the bruises he had gifted them. Their sweet moans and whimpers filling his ears, filling his desire to ruin them even further. He wasted no time in running possesive hands down their waist, grabbing at thighs just to pull them apart. The squirming under his palms not going unnoticed, infact he laughed something dark at the way their body twitched and pathetically squealed under his touch.

'Look at you. Isn't this just pathetic, if it were any other day I would give you the honor of laying under my damn boot just to watch your body squirm for me. Just to watch it beg for me to continue, Archons look at how you move, and you expect me to just stand idle while others try and get of piece of you? No, I refuse."

It didn't end there, his touches only got more intense. Grabbing a handful of their ass, manhandling it under a rough smack was placed upon them. Oh he hoped that left a bruise, he hoped that with another smack they would cry out /louder/ for him. He deserved to hear. After nights and endless nights of not being able to see them under him, Diluc deserved to watch them grow more desperate for him.

"Look at that, look at you squirm for me and not him. Listen to the way you call my name and not his. Do you know what that is? It's the signs of you belonging to me, nobody else but me. And if I catch anyone, and I mean /anyone/ putting their damn hands on you I will make sure to take you in front of them. That is a promise, my flower."

He made sure they could feel his now slicked up warm fingers prodding at their entrance, the dark chuckle exiting from his lips and into their burning ears. The warmth of their gates of heaven fans against his fingers and diluc can't help but groan out in pure need. Oh how crazy they make him. With caution diluc moves his fingers in, one and then the next and then the next after that. Each finger slipping inside once pained gasps turned into ones of satisfaction and greed. They were so good for him, taking him like he was no damn problem. As expected of course, it were only his fingers after all, but soon...

Sounds of metal and then thick clothing could be heard hitting the ground. Their ears can pick up the way diluc's breathing deepened, showing signs of how badly he needed this just as much as they did. Hot hands suddenly slam on either side of them, their skin touching so they can feel how hot Diluc was at the moment. No words were spoken while a hand came behind them, caressing that sweet throat just to pull their head back. Lips coming in contact with their own, connecting in this brutal dance of love, crazy untammed and dangerous love.

This was a great time for him to distract them, leading his aching cock with the other free hand he had. Poking at their entrance with the demand to be let in, eyes glowing with determination. Inch by inch walls wrapped tight around him loosened up the more they took him in. Archons the way they arched against his chest and lips trembled against his own, the way they whimpered and furrowed their eyebrows, gods help him for he is a man weakened by the simple sight of them breaking down.

"That's it... There we go, you take it. You take it like the good bitch you are, yeah? Look at you, god damn look at you. Do you think kaeya could make you react like that? Here allow me to help you answer that."

Hips finally got sent flying home. Making contact with their skin, kissing at the thin layer of sweat, evidence of how much work was put in. Diluc felt his grin widen, something so foreign to his features, yet he invited it in whenever they were involved. One hand came down to grip at those hips, pulling them back home to the base of his cock every single time. They cries, oh their sweet cries encouraged diluc to destroy that willing hole of theirs. The tears that began to bubble up brought him nothing but satisfaction, the gush and mess made was art against his now squirming canvas.

"Harder. Cry harder for me if you wish to cum, I promise you I'm not allowing you out of this damn tavern until your tears beg me to. You can squirm and gush all over my fucking cock as much as you please, but until I start seeing some real tears... Well, baby love, you can kiss Kaeya goodbye, would be a shame for him to lose a friend, hm?"

This was followed by harsher thrust, his dick swelling up to the brim, damn near ready to explode and unload deep inside of their aching fuckhole. Oh but the harder they teared up and rushed out with tears, the more diluc couldn't help but wish to fill them up with his thickening seed. His hand on their throat growing tighter and tighter until one more thrust sent them jerking against the edge. Hand now moving to their head, pushing them down until their faces squished against the wooden table. He kept them there while hips rolled his name out against their ass, unloading his cum inside of their shivering walls. Feeling them clench and gush with their own orgasm, oh how proud he was to know they knew when to cum. How proud he was to know that his flower could milk him for everythiing he had.

"That's it.. There we go, you are so good for me, sweet flower. Unfortunately I am not finished with you."

Diluc, a man who will never be satisfied until things were perfect. Diluc , a gentlemen , a man who only believed in trust and hard work. Diluc, the man who could go more than one or two rounds. Diluc , the man who made them scream until their throat went dry and their vision went blurry.

Tonight he laid his claim, and much like many other nights, he will make sure the entire city of Mondtstadt knew who they belonged to.

#diluc x gender neutral reader #diluc ragnvindr #diluc scenarios #diluc ragnivindr x reader #diluc smut #genshin diluc #diluc imagines #diluc #genshin impact #fanfic #yandere

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anxious2dsimp · 3 years

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Reki, Miya and langa from sk8 ☁️♀

Hi anon! Thank you for requesting Sk8, I've been waiting for this one, turn it up >:) Since you didn't specify theme or format I'm just gonna write a random fluffy drabble for each!

Random Fluffy Drables! | Reki, Langa, & Platonic!Miya

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾｡･:*:･ﾟ★｡*✧･ﾟ:˚۰˚☽˚｡･:

Pairings: Reki x Reader, Langa x Reader, Platonic!Miya & Reader

Flavor: Fluff ☁️

Reader: Fem!Reader (she/her)

Format: Drabbles

Warnings: None!

A/N: I decided Miya's is gonna be platonic bc I feel comfortable writting about him that way, sorry!

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾｡･:*:･ﾟ★｡*✧･ﾟ:˚۰˚☽˚｡･:

Reki

If there's two things that are consistent about Reki is that he loves skateboarding more than anything and he's great at it. How you managed to change those two main things about the redhead not even a minute into meeting him is truly baffling. It was a sunny afternoon when Reki was aimlessly riding his skateboard around town, his eyes drifting around the relatively busy store-filled street. That was, until you came out of one of the buildings a couple stores ahead, because once he spotted you he couldn't look away. You were putting on your headphones, brushing the hair out of your face to reveal the prettiest girl he'd ever seen, features graced by the warm sunlight as your eyes were lost somewhere among the clouds. A million thoughts raced through his mind; would it be creepy to approach you, there's no way you'd notice him, maybe he could impress you with a cool trick? Unfortunately for him he had nearly caught up to you and couldn't make up his mind, but suddenly he snapped out of his thoughts by a thunk and a force propelling him forward. He was so busy looking at you he didn't notice the uneven sidewalk, his front wheels getting stuck and sending him flying only to land in front of you. "Oh my god, are you ok?" You asked worriedly as you crouched down before the stranger that had been catapulted by his board. "I- uh- hi?" Reki sounded more panicked than you were, and mentally kicked himself for being such an idiot, but the sound of your stiffled laugh made him stop that line of thought in an instant. "Hi, please tell me you're ok, or else I should really stop laughing," you commented wittily as you offered him your hand. "No, it's fine! I'm fine, you can keep laughing, it sounds so pretty you're making me feel better," Reki confessed as he took your hand and brought himself up, dusting his jeans before his cheeks begun burning a darker shade of red when he lifted his gaze to meet your flustered face. Did he really just say that outloud? He must have hit his head hard then. "Thanks! I'm (y/n), and you are?" God, you're smile was making his heart race more than S. "Reki," he said, probably a little to quickly, but at that point he didn't care. "Well, Reki, you should probably be more careful when you're skating," you teased, silently hoping your conversation didn't end there and he was as intrigued in you as you were in him. Little did you know that he would try his best to get to see you again, because in that brief interaction, you had transformed his world and what he thought he knew.

Langa

"Langa! you were amazing out there," you exclaimed breathily as you jumped into your friend's arms after him winning the S race. The pale boy squeezed you in response and thanked you, his smile still ecstatic from all the adrenaline. "We've been friends for so long, I can't believe this is the first race you ever invite me to," you said once he put you down, only half joking. "To be fair, S is kind of dangerous, but it surprises me too," Langa said truthfully, but before you could reply you heard some new voices behind you. "Who's the new slime?" "Langa brought a girl, he's learning from me!" "Well this is unprecedented." You whirled around to find a black-haired middle schooler, and three rather unique looking adults. Not really knowing what to reply, you were lucky your other friend Reki made his way past them and introduced you in the process. "This is (y/n), Langa and I's friend from school," the redhead said proudly. After they introduced themselves, you made some small talk with the group, but had to excuse yourself to reply to a phonecall. "So, Snow, what's up with you two?" Joe asked as he wiggled his brows. "What do you mean?" Langa replied, clueless as ever as everyone else stared in disbelief. "We mean that this is the first person you invite to S, and whenever you look at her your eyes sparkle like you're talking about skateboarding," Cherry attempted to clarify. "Or how during the race you pulverized the guy who was hitting on her earlier," Shadow chimed in once he saw Langa was still not getting it. "They're asking if you like her bro," Reki said with a rowdy smile as Langa turned totally red at the suggestion. "Wha- I care for her as a friend! Right? That's what friends do?" Langa didn't know why he was getting defensive, but he felt that his heart was gonna explode if they didn't change the subject. "Well, your slime buddy is getting hit on again," Miya said, slightly amused as he pointed with his head. Langa's body moved before he could even tell, and next thing he knew he was standing beside you as he silently glared at the guy he won against. "I'm sorry," the guy who was now clearly uncomfortable said as he lifted his arms in fake surrender, "I should have known you two were together." You just became a flustered mess, watching the guy leave as you turned to face your friend, stoic as ever but with a faint pink dusting his cheeks. "What was that about?" You asked. "You looked uncomfortable," he stated simply as he grabbed your arm, softly dragging you back to the group, who were all smiling knowingly. "Also, I wouldn't oppose to it y'know," his voice was barely above a whisper, but you were sure you heard him right, the sound of your heartbeat filling your ears immediately after. That night definitely was important for your relationship, just not in the "friendly" way you both initially thought.

Miya

Miya's gaze fell to the floor as his name was called to come up front for the freestyle skateboarding competition he was at. You had promised to come see him and support him like the good friend you were, but had yet to show up, leading the boy grit his teeth to bear the dissapointment that weighed him down. 'Of course (y/n) wouldn't show up, she's another slime, I should have known I'm stuck in a single player game,' Miya thought to himself as he walked up to the center of the area, readjusting his helmet while turning to face the judges. He was so caught up in his head that he didn't notice the commotion going on in the corner, where amongst the crowd whispered complains were heard followed by a seemingly neverending loop of apologies. Out of breath and hoping you weren't late you finally managed to squeeze past the group to end up in the front row before the area, seeing that much to your delight Miya had yet to start. However, your content smile at having made it in time despite your setbacks quickly vanished at the sight of his frown. Did he think you had forgotten? "MIYA! GOOD LUCK!" You yelled over the loudspeaker music and monotone sound of conversation from the crowd, the blackette's eyes instantly lighting up at the familiar voice. His eyes finally landed on you, and you could visibly tell he was holding back from grinning too hard as he gave you a small nod of acknowledgement; I'm glad you made it. After a great routine, he got off the judging area and headed to the water fountains, where you two had previously scheduled to meet. "I'm so sorry I was late, I had some problems that held me back, but I'm glad I made it on time! You were great out there," you rambled to your friend as he took a swig from his water bottle. "It's whatever," he replied contently, yet you knew something was up with the way his eyes avoided yours. "Miya, I can tell something's bothering you, y'know." After a hesitant glance, the boy sighed and finally looked you in the eye. "Sorry, it's just... I was scared you were gonna ditch me," he confessed, adding in a voice barely above a whisper, "like my old friends." Your heart broke at his words; though he kept up this unbothered facade, he did care for all of this stuff on the inside. "I would never, Miya. You're a great friend, and you deserve nothing less from me," you reassured him, giving him a tight hug that he barely reciprocated, but you knew him well enough to see that he appreciated it from the look in his eyes. "You better keep your word, or else you'd go down from being a friend-slime to a regular one," he joked, earning a lighthearted chuckle from both of you as the sadness cleared from the air around you two.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾｡･:*:･ﾟ★｡*✧･ﾟ:˚۰˚☽˚｡･:

#Cassie likes Sk8!#sk8 x reader #sk8 the infinity #langa x reader #langa x y/n #reki x reader #reki x y/n #sk8 fluff #miya chinen #sk8 drabble

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ptergwen · 3 years

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oooh oml how about a blurb w peter in his spider-man suit (or not but the kids look up to him) playing basketball with a few kids and you see him interacting with them and he makes you join him. like just a whole lot of fun and the kids say, "are you two gonna get married?" and you're both like 😳😳😳.... "maybe??" or wtv (ily tonnes)

knock(it)out of the park

w/c: 1.8k

a/n: oh my goddddd :( ilyt thank you for this <3 also the gif is super unrelated he just looks cute

there are few people in this world as generous as peter parker. whether it’s saving the city as spider-man or doing food drives with may, he’s always helping someone, somehow. his desire to give back comes from the kindness in his own heart. he’s shown you that so many times before, but there’s one that stands out to you most.

your general chemistry class had made a group chat so you could ‘collaborate’ with each other. there were a few particular topics you were struggling with at the time. you’d texted everyone asking for help, but they were either busy or didn’t understand themselves. science and specifically chemistry being peter’s best subject, he reached out to you separately.

he felt for you because you had a pretty big exam coming up. he’d offered to call you so you could work through some problems together. why, you had no idea. you two had exchanged no more than a “hi” or “can i borrow a pencil?” now, he wanted to give up his night to tutor you? how could someone be so sweet?

that test ended up being your highest grade so far. you thanked peter in person with a hug that turned his cheeks a deep shade of pink. after that, you asked him to be your study buddy. he didn’t hesitate to agree. you met at your school library twice or sometimes three times a week.

peter really liked talking to you. he found himself smiling through your conversations and the funny comments you made when you got frustrated. you loved how genuine he was, how he wasn’t afraid to wear his heart out on his sleeve. not literally, even though you were studying chemistry.

he’d wanted to get to know you beyond your hatred for balancing chemical equations, so he asked you out for coffee. it was something simple that no college student would pass up. you’d had to push peter’s hand away so he’d let you buy the drinks. you insisted that he already did so much for you, so you could pay it back.

that lead to you properly taking his hand in yours while you waited for your coffees. his palm was a bit sweaty, probably from nerves. he laced your fingers together once they died down and gave you that soft smile of his.

that was almost two years ago. since then, you’ve fallen completely in love with peter. peter has fallen at least ten times harder for you.

instead of walking you to your dorm like he usually does, peter asked you to meet him at the park today. he’s been spending a lot of time there lately. it’s close to campus and he always comes back grinning ear to ear, which is all that really matters. you’d be lying if you said you weren’t curious what he does there, though.

you head over to the basketball court like peter had told you to earlier. you can’t imagine what you’re doing here. laughing to yourself, you drop your bag on the nearest bench, then take a seat. you’re not in the dark much longer because you hear someone call your name. you recognize their voice as peter’s.

“hey, y/n! c’mere!” is followed by the sound of a basketball dribbling. you look up and realize he’s playing with a group of kids. they’re all in a line, watching peter in awe. he easily jumps up and shoots a hoop in front of them. you hear a “woah, how’d you do that so fast?” and “you’re sick, peter!”

that makes him chuckle while he high fives some of the boys and fist bumps the others. this must be why he’s been coming to the park. peter was never quite the athlete until he got his powers. everyone in high school knew him to be terrible at sports, so he couldn’t exactly join any teams out of the blue. it’s nice he gets to show off his skills now.

it’s also adorable seeing him with his own mini team. they’re a group of five boys who can’t be any older than twelve. peter definitely has a soft spot for the little ones. he’s always talking about morgan, who he babysits whenever pepper isn’t around. you’ve never seen him in action until today.

a grin spreading across your face, you make your way over to the basketball court. peter passed the ball to one of the boys so he can block him while he tries to shoot. he goes easy on him, and he makes the basket. “nice job, shawn!” peter compliments and holds open his hands for the ball back. shawn beams at peter, throwing it to him.

peter notices you coming over and hits gabe with a “think fast” to pass the ball off again. you’re still smiling as peter jogs up to you. he slings an arm around your waist and pecks your lips at the same time. you squeal, pleasantly surprised as you rest your hands on his chest.

“not in front of the kids,” you tease and glance over at them. they’re fighting over whose turn it is. peter wraps his other arm around you with a knowing smirk. “how’d you meet them, by the way?” his smirk becomes a shy smile. “i was walking around here the other day and they needed a sixth player,” he explains, you biting on your lip.

“they asked me to join. guess i’m an official member now.” you trace peter’s jaw with your thumb, making him tilt his head to the side. “you’re the best person i know. best person ever.” he dismisses your words with a click of his tongue. “i can’t say no to a kid, or five.” “god, i love you,” you giggle softly, peter threading his fingers through yours.

“i love you more. you wanna join us?” he raises an eyebrow to urge you to say yes. unlike peter, you’re just terrible at basketball. you’d be better off on the sidelines. “i don’t know how to play,” you sigh and roll your eyes at your confession. “what about knockout? think everyone learned that at some point,” peter suggests in that same persuasive tone.

you give in with a huff. “okay, i think i remember that.” “awesome.” he takes your hand and happily leads you over to the court. the kids stop their bickering once peter gets there, everyone falling back into a line. they must like him a lot. “alright, guys. how about we do a few rounds of knockout?” peter rubs his hands together.

“who’s that?” david ignores peter’s question, pointing at you. he has the ball in his other hand. max hits it out and grabs it for himself. david is about to get him back for it, but peter speaks up again. “this is y/n,” he introduces you and puts an arm around your shoulders. you give the kids a small wave. “hi!” “is she your girlfriend?” shawn blurts out.

kids really have no filter. peter breathes out a laugh, drawing you into his side more. “yup. she’s gonna play with us.” “no girls allowed!” anthony yells out and crosses his arms in defiance. he’d been the quietest, then that happened. you try not to take it to heart because these are only children, but damn.

peter ‘pffts’ at him. “oh, come on. who made that rule?” everyone points at gabe. his face falls, and he pokes max’s arm harshly. “it wasn’t me, it was him!” max shakes his head side to side. “no! it was-“ “never mind, it doesn’t matter who it was,” peter finally decides before they all accuse each other. you give him a look to say you can handle it.

“you know, some of the best athletes are girls,” you tell the kids gently, offering a devious smile. “don’t you want a challenge?” you’re not referring to yourself, but you’ll let them think otherwise. no one’s too young to have their misogyny shut down. peter proudly presses his lips to the side of your head.

the boys whisper amongst themselves before shawn replies on their behalf. “we accept.”

peter gets on the line after finding another ball, you behind him. the start the game right away. first is shawn and anthony, and anthony loses that round. he’s up against david next. anthony can’t seem to aim right, which makes him lose that round and get out of the game. he shoots a glare your way. that gets a snort from peter.

max goes against gabe after that. gabe gets the ball in first, leaving max to go with peter. he gets it in while peter is shooting his first basket. it’s you and peter now. there’s no way you’re winning this, even if he’s easy on you. he’s not. he makes his basket while you’re in mid-air trying to get your own.

“sorry, y/n/n!” peter shouts and goes off to the back of the line. you groan, shawn being your opponent. he’s the better of the kids. you keep shooting baskets while he aims for his first. neither of you make it, except you get closer. the two of you go on for a couple of minutes before you both shoot at the same time. your ball hits into his and, well, knocks it out.

you make the basket.

the kids all gasp, including shawn, as you run back over to peter. he high fives you with both hands, then locks his with yours. “babe! you made a basket!” peter cheers for you. “i made a basket!” you repeat, jumping up and down. everyone is going to take you as serious competition from here on out.

by the time you finish the next couple of rounds, you’re all out of breath. you managed to win one. it would’ve been two, had peter not been the other person left in with you. it definitely helped that you have a few feet and around ten years on all the kids. they did try their hardest either way, and you all had a really good time.

the boys each grew respect for you. you’re glad you gave them a new perspective.

“good game, y/n,” shawn says like he’s wise beyond his years, shaking your hand. “you too,” you grin at him and give him a firm handshake back. peter squeezes your waist from where he’s standing behind you. “we’d ask you to join the team, if it didn’t make us an odd number,” david explains, gabe nodding in agreement.

you lay your head back on peter’s chest. “dang, you’re right. i had a lot of fun, though.” all the boys look at you two suspiciously. max asks what they’re all wondering. “peter, are you gonna marry her?” you feel him stiffen against you, his breath hitching. “wh- what?” he stammers out and subconsciously tightens his grip around your waist.

anthony gags at the question, shawn slapping him on the back for that. he asks this time. “yeah, are you?” your lips pull into a smirk, you looking at peter over you shoulder. “are you, peter?” this is something you’ve talked about before, so you’re not putting him on the spot. peter meets your eyes and tells you the same thing he said last time. “one day, i hope.”

#tom holland #peter parker #tom holland fluff #peter parker fluff #marvel #spiderman #tom holland x you #tom holland imagine #tom holland fic #peter parker x you #peter parker imagine #peter parker fic #peter parker x reader #college!peter parker

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nejiraez · 4 years

Text

rollercoaster | bakugou katsuki

anon said: IM IN LOVEE WITH YOUR WRITING UGH i got so excited when requests opened!! idk if you’ve already written something like this but can i request a first date with katsuki where he takes her to an amusement park? either headcannons or a scenario is fine :)

genre: fluff

word count: 1,438

"You should've at least eaten something before we got on the ride."

"Yeah, I probably should have."

The inviting scent of salted popcorn and sugar-coated sweets carries throughout the air. Its lingering trail attracts buyers to their stands to see what they had to offer, which was accompanied by the joyous chorus of screams of the passengers on nearby rollercoasters. No area within the park wasn't occupied by large masses of people hoping to get their fix of entertainment.

It seemed to be that everywhere you looked, something was bound to happen. There was no place of tranquillity to be found in the amusement park except on the outskirts.

Seated on a park bench away from the chaos, Bakugou was left to stare down at your hunched figure, watching you take careful sips from his water bottle now and then. His mind wanders back to the incident that took place before you two had wound up here.

"What happened back there?" Bakugou questions, referring to your slight fainting spell. Having you pass out mid-ride on the most mundane rollercoaster in the park was the least ideal situation for him to be in.

You shake your head and breathe out a curt sigh. Frustrated with yourself that you've managed to cut your fun short due to feeling lightheaded. "I don't know. I just got dizzy out of nowhere..." Your wrist is quick to catch the droplet of sweat that trickles down from your forehead. "Sorry 'bout that."

Bakugou grunts and flits his eyes away from you. He didn't mind it. You two managed to squeeze in a lot of rides, so he was content with the notion of tapping out for the day.

While you take the time to poise yourself, Bakugou steadies his gaze on the groups of friends and families that pass by the bench that you both occupied. They were busied away with their conversations. Their voices are fleeting yet still loud in volume adding to the boisterous commotion within the fair.

'Noisy.' He thought to himself, clicking his tongue in disdain.

Bakugou opts to shift his gaze elsewhere until his sights hone in on a couple who were tethered together by hand, laughing amongst themselves as they ambled their way through the park. Their blatant form of affection reminded Bakugou of the fact that you two were on a date.

The first one at that.

The utter thought of you two on a date together was enough to have his heart pumping back up with adrenaline again. The pressuring tempo of his heartbeat rang throughout his ears and wouldn't let down in its momentum. How he managed to snag a date with you was beyond his comprehension.

It was selfish reasoning, but he wanted you all to himself. He just wanted one day away from his classmates. It could be just you and him alone, and what Bakugou desires, he gets it. He got you alone, which was why he was starting to get in over his head about the whole situation and tricked himself into becoming nervous.

"You're dehydrated," he grumbles, rubbing any trace of his anxiousness away onto his bottoms. His palms were starting to do that thing again. Building up in moisture whenever he mulled over something for too long, shit was annoying for him to deal with, and they always came at the wrong time.

"Stupid quirk," he hissed, his tone was low-- muffled even --but it didn't fly under your radar since you were within earshot of his presence.

"You okay?" You join Bakugou on the bench and seat yourself beside him. Close enough that the two of you would be brushing knees with the slightest of movements. The contact of your skin grazing his was faint, but it spooked Bakugou nonetheless. "It must be hot, yeah?"

Hot? Definitely. The weather didn't agree with you both today because the one day he chose to take you out, happened to be the hottest day of the week. However, that wasn't the main motive as to why he was reacting this way.

"I'm fine," Bakugou takes the bottle out from your outstretched hand and skies it. He wasn't audacious enough to press his lips against the rim of where yours had once been. With every swig of water he takes, it assists in decreasing the intense sensation of heat that he has felt throughout the day. Hoping that along with it could also wash down and ease his nerves a little bit.

Screwing the lid back on shut and wiping at the corner of his lips from his peripheral vision, Bakugou was able to see you staring down at the bright green wristband on your wrist. A faint smile graced your lips while you fiddled with the flimsy material, and he swears his heart just skipped a beat.

His heart drops, so sweetly and there's a sinking feeling that he could feel in the pits of his stomach. The sensation was akin to what he had experienced on the ride prior. It was like he was on a rollercoaster all over again. But instead, you were the cause.

Although you had to be pulled off the rollercoaster ride due to your motion sickness, Bakugou hoped that you were able to enjoy your outing with him.

"Thank you for this Bakugou, I mean it," you say, expressing your genuine gratitude to your male counterpart. There's a muffled 'You're welcome' hidden somewhere in between the incoherent mass of grumbles he releases.

Something about the fact that you didn't tell him about your inability to withstand tall rides was something that brought him great interest. You falling ill could've been avoided if you approached Bakugou with the fact that amusement parks weren't the ideal date for you when he was choosing date spots.

But it seemed that your kindness overruled your common sense, which-- something that he wouldn't admit out loud to --Bakugou found to be quite endearing at times.

There's a brief silence that is shared between the both of you until you decide to break it and pipe up once more. Laughing, you kick your feet at the pebbles that reside near your shoes. "We should do this again, but perhaps in a different setting?"

Your abrupt statement takes Bakugou off guard for a second. He's quick to hide the startling look pooling in his scarlet eyes. He couldn't quite place his finger on the emotions that he was feeling, but it all came crashing down at once. You wanted to see him again.

A dangerous yet exciting sensation that flourished throughout his chest, and it was uncontainable. He wanted to stand to his feet and pump a fist in the air, shouting cries of celebration. But alas, Bakugou had to keep himself grounded, his mind levelled to keep himself in check.

Scoffing, Bakugou stands to his feet and brushes himself off. You wanted to see him again; he repeated in his head once more for good measure. Your request for another date without a doubt was enough to replenish his overflowing ego. "I should be the one asking you that, not the other way around."

Your eyebrows quirk up in amusement at competitive nature. Out of all the moments for his pride to butt its head into the picture, it just had to be now. You decide to let it slide, though, judging that it came from him a good place. "Does it matter?" You ask.

"Yes, the guy always does it."

There just was no getting through to Bakugou. You already were aware of the fact of his stubborn drive, and that it was difficult enough as is to talk him out of a topic. "Alright," you nod your head once at the male before you, "you ask me then."

Bakugou swallows down a snarky reply at your smug comment. You were having way too much fun with this. Bakugou wasn't keen on being told what to do. However, he technically did ask for it in this case.

Building up the determination just like he had done the first time he approached you, Bakugou's eyes dart away from the small crowd, and they land on you. He releases the insides of his cheeks from his teeth, and words follow soon in its wake.

"Would you," a cough interrupts his line of speech, and he brings a hand to his reddening neck to rub at it, "want to do this again?"

Your answer could very well determine if this would be the beginning of many dates that you'd get to share with Bakugou.

"I'd love to."

And you didn't mind that one bit.

tagging: @simplybakugou @kirishimaseijirou you two were my sprinting buddies earlier today and this is the final product of the dekusprint that i showed you two! hope y’all don’t mind the tag~

#bakugou katsuki #bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugou x reader #bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha imagine #bnha scenario #bnha x reader

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reyescarlos · 3 years

Note

YES!!! 14 “Please don’t tell me you filmed that.” “Of course I filmed it.” for tarlos and maybe a little bit of that yeehaw firefam if you would be so kind thank you i love you

omg the shenanigans! thanks for getting me to branch out and attempt writing the rest of the crew! oh how i love the 126 🤠

#14 “Please don’t tell me you filmed that.” “Of course I filmed it.”

It’s become something of a custom for the 126 to gather outside of work. Where most people would be tired of seeing their co-workers constantly, the station’s team never seems to shy away from any excuse to extend their days. Even after a long shift, just the mere mention of plans gets the crew excited.

Owen affectionately calls it family time, an opportunity for the crew to get together periodically after shifts and try different activities together. TK can’t actually say he minds the opportunity to bond even further with the team. In a lot of ways, in almost no time at all, the 126 has come together and formed quite the family, one that TK is sincerely proud to be a part of.

As an only child, he’d spent a great deal of time on his own, admittedly curious about what it would have been like to have a big brother or sister looking out for him or even what it could be like to be an older brother himself. Life was funny in the way it brought the various members of the crew into his world. Now he knew precisely what it was like to be surrounded by siblings and all the highs and lows that came with that. They could bicker amongst themselves but at the end of the day, there was nothing but love between them all.

Outings like this, bowling on a Friday night after their shift, were moments that TK has quickly come to cherish. It’s made all the more special with tonight’s guest joining in on the fun. TK’s relationship with Carlos is still new, just a month and a half underway but without question the man’s presence is always a welcomed thing at any and all times.

Owen and Michelle head over to the stand to get food and drinks for everyone, the rest of the team piling into their seats. Marjan commandeers the center console, her eyes glossing over the buttons for a moment.

“I’d just like to go on record saying that bowling is not my thing,” Paul announces the second he flops into his seat.

“Josie still hasn’t managed to teach you?” Carlos asks.

Paul smiles and TK can’t help but to do the same. He was all too happy when Josie and Paul amended things, the two of them meeting up and having a serious conversation. It had been a tentative road, one that TK had worried Paul wouldn’t care to repair. He certainly wouldn’t have faulted Paul if he decided not to but TK had easily picked up on the chemistry between them and had been hopeful that one day they’d be able to reconnect.

It’d taken a few weeks for Paul to be open to the idea of putting his heart out there with Josie again and it seemed to be paying off now.

“We, uh, kinda get distracted during lessons,” Paul says with a shrug and a smirk.

“Alright, so you’re definitely not on my team then,” Marjan quips, double checking her laces on her rentals. “How about you, Carlos? Are you any good at bowling?”

“Yeah, I’ve been playing since I was a kid.”

Marjan grins. “Excellent, you’re with me then.”

TK raises a hand in protest. “Wait, wait, wait. You can’t just start stealing all the best players for your team.”

Marjan looks to the left, then the right, then back at him.

“Says who? That’s the whole point of calling dibs,” she says. “It’s not my fault you guys are just slow.”

TK jokingly narrows his eyes at her. “Alright, then we get Judd. We need at least one solid player on our team.”

Her mouth twists to one side in thought. “Fine, I’ll allow it. Judd, I wish your back well. It’s going to take a lot to carry your team.”

“What else is new?” Judd muses.

Paul places a hand over his heart. “Ice cold, Marwani. I knew you were competitive but damn, is it really like that?”

“Oh, that’s precisely how it is.”

Carlos laughs and shakes his head. “Who knew firefighters could be so vicious?”

“Marjan is the worst of all when it comes to games,” Mateo says. “But she’s pretty much undefeated so she’s doing something right.”

TK wishes he could argue the point but Marjan’s competitive nature always gives her an extra edge over the others. Sometimes he gets to bask in the warm glow of victory if they’re paired up. Other times he has to admit defeat.

“Alright, so what are the two teams looking like?” Mateo asks Marjan.

She starts typing in her name first. “So it’s me, you, Carlos, and I think we’ll snag Cap.”

“Pitting me against my father and my boyfriend? A little cruel, don’t you think?”

Marjan laughs. “Clearly I’m out to get you today.”

She continues typing in everyone’s names until all eight are on the board. “Cool, we’re good to go.”

Judd stands up first and gets his ball from the ball return. It’s a weighty all black ball that he sends flying down the lane without much buildup at all.

TK watches it streak down the lane, tipping over eight pins.

“That’s how you knock ‘em down,” he proudly boasts, turning back to the others.

Marjan rolls her eyes but TK can see she’s actually impressed with how well Judd has done right out of the gate. Mateo has his phone out, taking pictures and videos as he always does during their get togethers.

TK sits beside Carlos, placing his head on his shoulder as they all watch Judd set up his next frame. He can feel the press of Carlos’ lips against the crown of his head and he smiles to himself at the move. TK shifts and steals a kiss, a hand resting on Carlos’ chest.

“No fraternizing with the enemy,” Paul grumbles. “Don’t make me get a hose for you two. You know I can make that happen like that,” he says, snapping his fingers for emphasis.

The crew takes turns and before long, Marjan is calling TK up to take his turn. It strikes him how odd his feet feel inside of his rentals. The floor is so much smoother than he was anticipating and he glides a bit as he heads to the ball return.

“You alright there, Happy Feet?” Judd calls out, earning a few laughs from the team.

“I’ve got this,” TK assures, placing his fingers into the holes.

“Famous last words,” Marjan says at the same time as Paul who says, “Dead man walking.”

TK picks up his ball and draws in a breath as he raises in front of him. Bowling is not his forte. The last time he stepped foot in a bowling alley had to have been when he was in high school, if not junior high. He and his friends didn’t know or care to learn the rules and that suited him just fine. This was as simple a concept as any. Even little kids were capable of knocking over pins. Surely he, an adult, could do the same too without incident.

He studies the little arrows on the floor before him all pointing towards the pins as if he needed reminding on which direction to go. TK rolls his eyes at them and lowers his arm, swinging it back. As he goes to release the ball, his wrist locks a bit. His body tugs with the momentum and it dawns on TK that this is not about to end well for him.

The ball slips from his hand clumsily and in his haste to try and maintain control, his left foot slips. It happens in the blink of an eye, the time it takes for the ball to hit the wooden floor and for his butt to do the same.

Marjan’s cackle is the loudest of them all, practically filling every square inch of the bowling alley.

Carlos is beside him quickly, holding out a hand to help him up. TK’s face burns hot with embarrassment, his backside already aching. He looks to where his friends are, Mateo’s phone angled a little too perfectly at him.

There’s only one conclusion to draw from such a sight and TK, as foolish as it is, hopes against hope that he’s wrong.

“Please don’t tell me you filmed that.”

“Of course I filmed it, are you kidding me? I’m totally making this into a boomerang. That was gold,” Mateo laughs, shoving his phone towards the others and tapping the screen.

Judd is wiping away tears from his eyes, Marjan’s cheeks are flushed, and Paul is doubled over in his seat as they watch the video. To his credit, Carlos is doing his best not to join in but his cheekbones are raised so highly on his face, his lips pressed tightly together in a valiant effort to suppress a laugh.

“You too?” TK jokingly reprimands.

“I’m sorry but if you saw it go down like we did…,” he trails off, placing a kiss against TK’s temple.

TK groans and buries his face against the side of Carlos’ neck as he wraps an arm around his waist.

“What’s going on here? We leave you all for five minutes and you guys are falling to pieces,” Owen says, Michelle just a step behind him, their hands filled with packed trays of nachos and drinks.

“I got you, Cap. Look at this,” Mateo says a little too eagerly, surrendering his phone to Owen.

TK groans yet again and Carlos merely pulls him in a little closer as the team watches the two captains view the video. It’s mortifying but the crew relishes in it, watching eagerly. TK can hear the bowling ball thud and a second later himself. The laughter of the crew plays back, only this time with his own father’s laugh and Michelle’s joining the mix in real time.

“Is this online? That’s just what this station needs, another firefighter going viral.”

#tarlos #tk strand #carlos reyes #marjan marwani #paul strickland #judd ryder #mateo chavez #the 126 #pauline pocket #kimmy writes

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currywaifu · 4 years

Text

𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: rival 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩: sumeragi tenma/reader 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: sfw 𝐰𝐜: 2.9k words, 3 images

𝐚𝐧: two people from the filo discord (ty to sel & kai) gave me the idea for this! i meant to push this out a while back, but only got the time to finish it tonight! at... 5 am... sorry for the long delay, @chewie-santatoast !

If someone were to ask Tenma why he was stalking your Instablam right now, he’d be able to spout off various excuses— all with varying levels of believability.

His first excuse was that you were going to be one of his latest co-stars in a drama. Just because the both of you were going to be part of only a few episodes doesn’t mean he’s gonna stop being diligent. He’s just doing his best to be up to date with you and the other cast, for social reasons.

Why is he so focused on your page, then?

His second excuse would be that he’s only looking, following your account because you’re one of his rivals! Not only were you someone who also started acting at a young age, but you also recently started getting into theatre! Not only were you a threat to any possible awards he could get this season, but any notable troupe was a rival to Mankai for any possible competitions or awards! He’s only looking after the company by scoping out the competition!

Why is he so focused on a specific set of images?

His third excuse, actually still pretty believable, was that he was looking at your most recent posts wherein you were clearly promoting a new play, your repost of the poster signifying that you were the lead. Rival or not, he was still interested in plays or musicals— of course he was going to learn more about the production you were going to be a part of, right?

Why is he looking so intently at the caption and comments, then?

Even in his own brain, this is where Tenma began fumbling. You were just supposed to be promoting, so why were you posting a selfie with another actor, even mentioning that same person in the caption? And- and the people in the comments! Why were they talking about “shipping” you and that guy? Comments about how cute of a couple you’d make… were they fake fans of theatre or something? People who were more engrossed with the actor’s lives than the show?

That’s exactly it… he’s repulsed by people’s audacity. Fan service was alright, but you shouldn’t be feeding your followers anything unnecessary— and why were they so adamant in taking things too far and out of context anyway?

The door creaked open, and he quickly locked his phone as he hastily stashed it underneath his pillow, face unknowingly painted with a blush as though he was hiding something scandalous instead of a picture of you doing finger hearts at the camera.

… thank God it was just Misumi, who doesn’t mention anything possibly wrong with his appearance or attitude. The older boy mentioned something about eating triangle cakes together with the rest of the troupe, and he eagerly replied in agreement as he gets up from bed.

In his head, Tenma justified his actions by telling himself it’d just be a hassle if anyone (note: Yuki or Kazunari) caught him and automatically made assumptions.

When Tenma arrived on set, you were exiting out of your car as well.

‘I should probably be friendly and greet them, right?’ he thought to himself as his body was positioning itself to avoid you instead. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for him, you had already spotted him and with a loud “Tenma-kun!”, his gaze was forced to meet with yours.

You made your way beside him with a blinding smile, not giving him the time to formulate a greeting in return as you began talking up a storm.

“I’m excited to work with you again!” you said, briefly pausing to greet his manager as well before turning back to him. “The last time we’ve worked together was for a drama 6 months ago, right?”

“No,” he corrected immediately, the ‘you idiot’ that would have followed thankfully left out by Tenma. “We filmed a commercial 3 months ago, and then we had a magazine spread last month.”

When you blink up at him in surprise, he found himself getting a little conscious. “It’s… it’s not like I memorised it because of you, though!” he said, beginning to explain himself, “obviously a good actor remembers the things they’re a part of, right?”

When you giggled in response, a part of him started to feel… no, not worried, but something.

“No, no, I totally get that!” you raised your arms up in surrender, “I just meant like an actual acting gig, I guess? Nothing beats having a whole new script to learn, and getting to act with the people you admire. Right, Tenma-kun?”

Inclined to agree with you, he nodded in agreement. “Right…”

You looked at him with a blank stare on your face, like he was missing something (what was there for him to miss, though?) before quickly turning away to greet some of the production crew passing by with a wave and grin.

He, for once, managed to tune out the coos and comments of, “it’s so cute that they stayed friends after all these years!” and “aww look they even entered the set together!” in favour of wondering if there was something he said (or didn’t) that ended the conversation.

…

After filming finished for the day, he decided to lag behind instead of immediately leaving. He’s worked with a bunch of the cast beforehand, so it was a good thing to catch up with them.

“Mini Sumeragi,” one of his more… out there seniors, a friend of his father, began “are you gonna keep staring at their dressing room?”

Freezing up, he mentally took note to stop darting his eyes in that direction before anyone could make something out of it; it was too late, though, when the lead actress asked who occupied that room and several people replied your name in chorus.

“Ohoho~ our young boy is finally growing up,” the lead actor said with a grin, and the whole cast amusedly watched Tenma’s cool mask forming cracks.

“Could it be you’re waiting for them to go out? Is that why you’re staying behind to chat with us oldies?” none of them look the least bit offended, but while he was safe on that aspect, the little smirks and chuckles that escaped the others made him want to justify his actions somehow.

“It’s- it’s because I— have something to tell them!” Tenma explained, despite not knowing a) what he would even say to you, and b) that he was planning on talking to you in the first place. Even though all the signs were pointing to him wanting to do so, at least to an outsider’s perspective.

With widened eyes and an over-dramatised look of shock, the show’s director herself let out a gasp. “Sumeragi-kun, you don’t mean… you’re going to…“

Tenma’s perceptive after all, especially when it came to body language. He had to be as the Summer Troupe’s leader! He could tell there was something bothering you a while ago. As co-workers, he just doesn’t want you to have an issue with him is all! Not— not that he was super concerned about what you thought about him though, it was just—

“Tenma-kun?”

The whole group turned to look at the source of the voice, and who else could it be other than the devil itself.

“I’m glad you’re still here!” you exclaimed, a smile gracing your face as you approached the ginger. “I actually had something I needed to ask you about.”

“Huh? Oh, of course you did,” he crossed his arms, averting his eyes from your expectant gaze. “What did you want?” What— what else was he supposed to say?

Unexpectedly, you bring out your phone and hand it to him. Hold on, wasn’t this like those scenes in the dramas he acted in? Or Muku’s shoujo mangas? Where the main character would hand her phone to the guy she liked and asked for his number?

“Could we start chatting on LIME?” Tenma stiffened at your words, until you followed up with “Since you got into theatre before me, you’d probably have some tips or advice, right? I’m still inexperienced, so…”

After what felt like minutes, his thumbs quickly moved to enter his phone number, adding himself as a friend on your phone.

“I’m only doing this because it’s theatre related, okay? There’s no other reason!”

“Yes, yes, I know… Tenma-kun is always very nice to me,” with a closed-eyed smile making its way to your face, the both of you remained unaware of two things. First, the reddening of Tenma’s ears, and second, the hushed commentary of the others in the room.

“… that felt like a scene from a high school drama,” the director commented as soon as the both of you were out of earshot, looking contemplative, “they’re cute. Maybe I’ll cast them as the leads in my next show.”

Several laughs come out of the group, knowing glances thrown around from one person to another. The usually professional Sumeragi Tenma finally acting his own age, and the one who caused him to act that way. Whether you two knew it or not, you two’d become the hot topic amongst the crew for the next few filming sessions.

Unsurprisingly, Yuki’s the first one to notice something was up; while Tenma was good enough to be able to hide whoever it was he was chatting with on his phone, he was not slick enough to hide how affected he got upon hearing his phone ping, or the look on his face as he read and his fingers poised themselves to reply.

What kind of person gets smiley so early in the morning without eating breakfast, just because of a text message? Disgusting, really.

Also unsurprisingly, Kazunari’s second to notice, but unlike Yuki he’s the first to properly try and figure out who Tenma’s talking to instead of just making comments here and there.

After all, the blond can only conclude two things— first, they must be a special enough person to have the always busy actor chat with them consistently during his free time; second, Tenten… probably hasn’t noticed that he’s being so, so obvious to the point that Misumi thought their very own leader found a “very special triangle”.

Kazunari found it was a little difficult, trying to figure out who it was exactly that caught Tenma’s attention, especially with the latter keeping a tighter on his phone than usual.

However, it was not impossible.

It wasn’t uncommon for several members of the troupe to gather around the living room to watch the latest episode of whatever drama Tenma was currently in. It wasn’t that uncommon either for him to watch with everyone as well, judging his own acting and seeing how it turned out through the camera.

Tonight was different though, and it would seem that always having his phone on his possession had become his own boon… or perhaps the true boon was sitting in front of Kazunari, giving him the perfect view to have a bit of a peek without being evident about his intent.

…

Tenten—

Tenten, why—

Kazunari found himself sending a mental prayer to whatever deity existed in the universe, not just for his own sanity but for…

His eyes go to the one person on screen that Tenma’s clearly been hyper focused on. ‘Yes, I pray for your sanity, too…’ he thought to himself. It was so clear that you had some semblance of more-than-friendly interest towards his friend, and you were clearly fishing a compliment out of him— if not just for the sake of a compliment, then to gauge his interest level in you.

Honestly, he can’t let this go any further— him snooping getting revealed be damned. Tenma’s been typing and hitting the backspace key for a solid two minutes now, he was clearly hopeless, and Kazunari? Why, he was a texting MASTER— it was his duty to help out his poor disciple.

“Tenten~♪,” as soon as the ginger’s attention broke from the phone, he quickly grabbed the device out of said person’s grasp, ignoring his indignant noises as he quickly typed in a response that seemed in-character enough for Tenma, but enough to pander to you.

When Tenma finally got his phone back, Kazunari resisted the urge to take a photo of the former’s face, morphing and reddening as he registered the rest of the messages.

“Why’d you… why’d you call them cute?” Tenma whisper-shouted, looking around to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation, before turning back to Kazunari.

“Awww, so you don’t think they’re a cutie?” Kazunari asked, clearly baiting Tenma to refute.

“That’s not what I— that’s not the point!”

Unable to hold himself back, he let out a laugh while one of the more serious parts of the show was playing out, causing several people to look at him in wonder. He doesn’t really have an explanation without exposing Tenma, so he gave the vague excuse of seeing something funny on his phone.

Not his phone, but hot diggity dog, did he see something funny alright.

There was no way he’d ever admit this to you, or to anyone for that matter, but he genuinely doesn’t understand you. You were rivals, weren’t you? Sure he expected you to be civil, but you were being so friendly and kind… and even worse, you were making him feel weird. You were making him do things he normally wouldn’t do.

He glanced down, the newly bought bouquet of roses seated on his lap as he waited for the play to start— the opening night of the play you were going to be in.

Opening night… when the others found out about it, they gave him knowing glances, playful nudges, teasing comments but really, what did it matter if he just so happened to watch on opening night of all nights? It was the night he was free on!

Besides, you were his rival in acting! Obviously, he was going to watch your performance to simultaneously check out your strengths and weaknesses as an actor— how you differed on set and on stage.

… no, that didn’t sound right, even in his head.

Then, he’s watching you because you went through the trouble of asking him for tips about acting on stage, and getting into theatre. He’s kind of like your teacher, right? So he has to support you

… that didn’t sound right, either.

Even after the play ended, he waited for the audience area to be mostly deserted before coming to find you backstage, the stage manager apparently recognising him and letting him pass without much questioning on who he was here to see.

When he finally found you, he stilled in his spot. Oh, you were with…

For a few seconds, his stomach churned, like a fiery pit burning his insides on fire without so much a regard towards any pain he’d fill and—

“Tenma-kun!”

As quickly as it arrived, the fire gets extinguished at the familiar shout of his name. That person turned to you, quickly muttering something that made you giggle, the forming frown on his lips only leaving as the other man did.

“I’m really happy you came to watch me~” you told him, a little bashfully. “My parents couldn’t come tonight, so it was nice to have someone I recognised other than my manager in the crowd.”

Right, opening night was… a lot for him, too. Tenma nodded understandingly. “Obviously? Oh and congratulations, by the way, you did really well,” he added in, watching you gingerly take the bouquet of red roses from his grasp. Your eyes turned a little softer at the present, stuck on the little tag even though all that was written on that pre-made to and from card was your name and his respectively.

“I said I’d watch you, right? Besides, just because you’re my rival doesn’t mean I’m gonna go break a promise.”

You remained silent for a minute, and he worried again if he somehow found another thing that would cause you to stop talking to him, at least for a little while— a time period just enough to bother him.

When you break your silence, you make sure to make direct eye-contact with him.

“… rival?”

“Yes?”

With a heavy sigh, you began muttering to yourself. While he wasn’t able to pick up on comprehensible sentences, your expression was enough to tell him you were annoyed.

Before he could question you, the smile returned to your face.

“You think we’re rivals? That’s a shame… I don’t see you that way at all,” you remarked offhandedly, watching Tenma’s face morph into a mixture confusion and hurt.

“What? Do you not think I’m good enough to be your—“

“Okay! Stop the thought right now!” you interrupted, shaking your head vehemently. What kind of derivation was that? “I think of us as more than rivals, is what I mean.”

Tenma’s blush seared through his cheeks, looking almost as though his face was lit up on fire. Despite this, he made no attempt to move to shield his face from your gaze, or any movement at all really— save for how he sputtered in search of some semblance of a viable reply.

“What do you… what are you trying to imply? Are you saying you think of me as a friend or—“

He gets interrupted by the sound of you giggling. “Well, the meaning can be whatever you want it to be!” you exclaimed, the tone of your voice a little mischievous as you continued, “so just let me know which one, okay?~”

#a3! act! addict! actors!#a3!#tenma sumeragi #sumeragi tenma #cafe: dessert menu

111 notes · View notes

hobeymakar · 4 years

Text

My Lover | C. Parayko

Words: 2,356

A/N: this one is based off the music video for the song My Lover (Remix) by Not3s Ft. Mabel. In this, COVID never happened and the NHL schedule never changed. Also shoutout to my girls @hockey-and-wine @grenawitka and @pizzasloot for being my cheerleaders in the gc love you girls so much!

Warnings: swearing

You and your three best friends pull up to a local fall carnival near St. Louis to ring in the start of fall. The temperatures in the city have already started to drop which has already signaled the end of summer.

You get your tickets and start walking through the carnival, taking in the bright lights from the booths and the rides. You and your friends get on some rides and scream your asses off. You make your way to the booths with games and take your shot on one of the basketball games. You played on a youth basketball team back in the day, so you definitely can hold your own.

Just as you're about to take your first shot, you feel someone looking at you. You turn your head to the side and see Colton Parayko of the St. Louis Blues staring right at you. You shoot him a challenging look in response.

He turns his attention back to the game and his teammates Vince and Sammy keep stealing glances at you and your friends. You play the game but manage not to get enough points to get the prize. You turn your attention to Colton and see he got enough points to win the prize. He takes the prize and walks over to you with it.

"I'm not really a stuffed teddy bear kind of guy," he says, handing you the big teddy bear.

"Thank you. I'm flattered, but don't you have someone you know you can give this to?" you ask.

"I actually don't. It would just take up space in my apartment," he replies. "I'm Colton, by the way."

"I know who you are. I was at the Stanley Cup parade last year," you inform him.

"So you're a fan then?" he asks.

"Yeah, but I was a casual fan until the playoffs, then I became a bigger fan," you admit.

"Well since you know who I am, it's only fair I at least get to know your name," he suggests.

"I'm Y/N," you smile.

"Well Y/N, will you accept this teddy bear as a gift?" he asks.

"Sure," you nod, a smile on your lips.

You hand the teddy bear to your friend who takes it to your car.

Vince and Sammy finally walk up to the both of you.

"What brings you three to this fair?" you ask curiously.

"We got a few days off before our next game and we wanted to do something different," Colton replies, not letting the others answer.

"Well, I hope you guys have fun," you smile, knowing they'll probably want to have fun by themselves.

"Yeah no, you're not getting rid of us that quickly! It''ll be more fun if we do stuff all together!" Vince suggests, referring to your friends.

You look at your friends and see them nod and smile, letting you know they're on board with the idea.

"Alright, let's do it!" you smile.

You all start walking towards the rides, falling into conversations with each other.

“Can we stop at the concession stands? I want some cotton candy,” you ask.

Colton leads you to the concession stands to buy the cotton candy. You order the cotton candy and before you can pay for it, Colton hands the worker the money, causing you to whine.

“I wanted to pay!” you cry out.

“Too late now,” he replies, causing you to hip check him lightly.

The worker hands you the cotton candy and you take a piece and put it in your mouth, enjoying the taste of sugar on your tongue.

“Is it good?” he asks, as you all start to walk away from the stands.

You take a piece of the cotton candy and feed it to him. He eats the piece and smiles back at you. Your friends and his teammates just give each other knowing looks.

“You guys wanna go on the teacups?” Vince asks.

Everyone else agrees with the suggestion, leaving you and Colton alone to eat the cotton candy. You and Colton go to a nearby empty table and sit down.

“I can’t believe they really ditched us!” you giggle, shaking your head.

“They’ll come back after they’re done with the teacups,” Colton replies. "So what brings you to the fair?"

"I come here every year. I used to come with my parents when I was little, but now I just come with my friends," you explain.

"Funny how I've been in St. Louis for years now and I've never been here before," he explains.

"Well now that you know, you're gonna come back right?" you ask.

"It's obviously difficult with the schedule to come out here, but I wanna come back next year,” he explains.

“That’s great to hear,” you smile.

You two finish the cotton candy, just in time to see your friends and Colton’s teammates come back from the teacups.

“So where to next?” one of your friends asks, as you and Colton get up from the table.

“The bumper cars are right over there!” another one of your friends points out.

“Let’s do it!” you suggest.

The others agree and you make your way over to the bumper cars. You wait in line for a bit before being allowed into the bumper car rink. You get into cars and after a minute or so, the cars start and you all start trying to bump each other. Vince, Colton, and Sammy get super competitive and start trying to kill each other. You and your friends get competitive as well and you start bumping the shit out of each other. You spend the majority of the time laughing as you bump into everyone. After a few minutes, the ride ends and you guys all get out and start walking away. You and Colton walk ahead of everyone else and start walking to the main area of the fair.

“Alright guys, where do you want-”

You turn around and stop yourself in your tracks, when you notice your friends and Colton’s teammates are gone. They were behind you and Colton and decided amongst themselves to leave you two alone.

“I can’t believe they ditched us!” you groan, shaking your head.

“I guess it’s just us two then,” he replies, trying to fill in the empty space.

“So what do you want to do now?” you ask.

“We can play some games or we can get on some rides,” he explains.

“We can go play some games,” you suggest.

You two walk over to a line of games and you decide to play the water gun game. Colton pays the worker and you grab the gun. You start shooting the water but you’re having a hard time hitting the red target.

“Let me help,” Colton says, pressing himself behind you.

He puts his hand over yours and steadies the gun, aiming it at the water. He hits the target perfectly. You win the race and get another bear as a prize.

“Since you gave me the bear earlier, it’s only fair that I give you this one,” you explain.

“Like I said earlier, it would just take space at my apartment,” he replies, shaking his head.

“Your loss,” you tease, hugging the bear tightly.

“So where to next?” he asks.

“We can do the ferris wheel,” you suggest.

“Alright, let’s do it,” he smiles, leading you towards the ferris wheel.

You wait in line for a few minutes, before getting into a cart. You put the seatbelts on and you start feeling the cold breeze hit you as the night goes on.

“Are you cold?” he asks, wrapping his arms around you.

“Yeah,” you nod, resting your head on his shoulder.

The ride starts and you start seeing the view of the city.

“Isn’t the city so beautiful from up here?” you ask, taking in the view.

“Yeah it really is! My place has a nice view of the city too and I’m blown away by it every time,” he adds.

“You live in a high-rise? I might have to invite myself over sometime,” you tease.

“The view is ten times better with you in it,” he adds, kissing your forehead.

You lift your head up and feel the heat rise in your cheeks. You have no idea how to respond to that. You open your mouth but then close it, like a gaping fish.

“Y/N, can I kiss you?” he asks, cupping your cheek.

You nod sheepishly, not being able to form thoughts or words at the moment. He leans in and kisses you softly and you feel all the cliche bullshit that every teen romance and romcom talks about; the sparks, the butterflies, the hummingbirds singing. After your moment of temporary paralysis, you get with the program and kiss him back. Your hands make its way to the back of his head and you dig your fingers into his hair. You two keep kissing for a while before you finally break apart to breathe. You both take in the surroundings and notice you’re almost on the way down to the ground again. You straighten yourselves out and enjoy the last minute or so of the ride before coming off. You come off the ride holding hands and make your way back to the main area. Once you arrive there, you see your friends and Colton’s teammates show up.

“I see you two had fun,” one of your friends points out, referring to you and Colton holding hands.

“Yeah, you can definitely say that,” he replies, as you bury your face in his shoulder from embarrassment.

Your friends start talking about the time and how they have to go do stuff at home. They exchange numbers with Vince and Sammy, with Vince talking about them all hanging out soon. Your friends say goodbye and head towards the parking lot.

“And then there were three,” Colton announces.

“Actually, it’s getting pretty late. So, Dunner and I are gonna head out,” Sammy says, making it obvious what he’s trying to do.

“Yeah, we’ll see you around,” Vince adds, playing along.

They both say goodbye and head towards the parking lots.

“So now it’s just us,” he says.

"How are you getting back home?" you ask, hoping that his teammates weren't his ride.

“I was actually gonna take an Uber back,” he replies.

“Yeah no, I’ll take you back home,” you inform him.

There’s no way you’re gonna let him take an Uber back home, when you can drive him back to his place.

“You just want to see the view of the city from my balcony,” he teases.

“You caught me!” you tease back, giggling lightly.

“So you wanna head out now?” he asks, not wanting you to leave.

“Actually yeah. I wanna see if the view of the city from your place lives up to my expectations,” you tease.

“Lead me to your car then,” he smiles

You two walk hand-in-hand to the parking lot and towards your car. You get into the driver’s seat and he plugs his phone to the speakers. You drive out of the parking lot and make your way to his apartment in the city. After almost half an hour, you arrive at the parking garage under his building. You park in the garage and you both make your way inside the building. You take the elevator all the way up to his floor and he leads you towards his apartment.

“Welcome to La Casa de Parayko,” he smiles, opening the front door.

He gives you a quick tour of the place and it’s very luxurious. But you shouldn’t expect anything less from a multi-millionaire hockey player.

“So, where’s this view you’ve been talking about?” you ask.

“Right here,” he says, leading you towards the sliding door.

He opens the door to the balcony and you step outside. He shuts the door shut behind him and you’re immediately hit with the chilly autumn breeze. He comes from behind and wraps his arms around you. You place your hands over his, as he rests his head on your shoulder.

“You weren’t lying. This view is beautiful!” you cry out, loving the view of the Mississippi River and the Golden Arch.

“Not as beautiful as you though,” he replies, kissing your cheek.

You turn around in his arms and kiss him, throwing caution to the wind. He kisses back right away, keeping his hands firmly around your waist. After a few minutes, you pull away from the kiss, biting your lip.

“We have a game tomorrow night against the Avalanche, one of our biggest division rivals. If you’re free, I would love for you to come,” he explains, looking slightly nervous.

“Yeah I’m totally free, but I’m pretty sure it’s sold out already,” you reply, not wanting to get his hopes up.

“I can save you a ticket for the game under my name. Do you own a jersey of mine?” he asks.

“Actually no. I only have an old Backes jersey,” you inform him.

“Well I’ll have a jersey for you as well. You just have to go to the box office and say you have a ticket under my name,” he explains to you.

“Will I see you after the game?” you ask.

“Yeah, I’ll have somebody bring you back to see me,” he explains.

“Colton, I don’t know what to say. This is a lot,” you smile, not expecting all this to come out of going to the fair.

“I like you and I want to get to know you more, if you give me a chance,” he explains.

“So it’s a date then?” you ask, biting your lip.

“After the game, it’ll be,” he explains.

“What are we doing after the game?” you ask curiously.

“If I tell you, it’ll just ruin the surprise,” he teases.

“As much as I’d love to stargaze with you out here, it’s cold,” you inform him.

“Sure, we can go inside and watch a movie?” he suggests.

“Movies and cuddles? I’m definitely in,” you smile, kissing him sweetly.

You’re so glad you decided to go to the fair again this year.

#colton parayko #st. louis blues #hockey #nhl imagines #nhl players #colton parayko imagine #hockey imagine #nhl writing

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moghedien · 5 years

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Love Me, Love Me - An Overly Obsessive Analysis of All You Wanna Do

Here it is. I’m finally writing a far too long and overly analytic essay that no body asked for (well one person did) about All You Wanna Do from Six the Musical. More realistically, I’m going to discussing Katherine Howard throughout the musical and specifically how she manipulates the audience throughout the show to make All You Wanna Do all the more effective. I use the word manipulate and will probably do so again, which has a negative connotation, but I don’t mean it in a negative way. It’s just the most effective word to use. I should also note that I’ve never seen Six…live. I may have happened upon some less than legal video, and all of the knowledge I’ll be pulling from beyond the cast recording and some audios will be from that. I know it was an earlier show and that there have been some changes since then, and I don’t have any way of knowing what those changes are so please bear with me if some details aren’t completely correct or still accurate. I do have every intention to see a production of Six eventually, but I live in the very, very Deep American South, so getting to a city where its playing is gonna take some time. Also, due to the nature of this song, I’m putting a heavy content warning for sexual assault, child grooming, pedophilia, etc. If you’ve listened to the song, you know what its about, so you know I’m going to be discussing all that.

Now that the preliminary disclaimers are out of the way, let’s begin.

From the beginning of the show, Katherine Howard is trying to win the audience over more than any other Queen. They’re trying in various ways, yes, but Howard is the one putting the most work in beyond just trying to make herself look better or justify herself to them. From her introduction in Ex-Wives she’s doing this. She interrupts Cleves’s dick joke with “Prick up your ears,” turning Cleves’s joke that probably would have landed somewhat, and making it her joke that definitely lands with the audience. After Ex-Wives, she looks directly at the audience when she delivers the line “The Thomas Cromwell Amongst the Royal Ministers, between 1532 and 1540” which is a line that only works because it goes on too long and is weirdly detailed and specific enough to be funny. She looks and points at people in the front row when she says “between 1532 and 1540” as an acknowledgement that she’s breaking from her stage persona for a moment to give them this line, and that sells it to the crowd. They know that she’s purposely being overly detailed and they’re with her. It’s not expected, especially not from her, and so its funny. The entire goal of K Howard throughout this show is the make sure that the audience stays with her and to use what people expect from her to her own advantage and, at some points, against them.

Really, that’s the goal of all the Queens to win over the audience, but the rest approach it differently. Aragon tries to convince the audience that she’s right and therefore deserves to win the competition. Boleyn tries to make her whole situation out to be ridiculous (including the fact that she got beheaded). Both of them heavily fall into basically going “can you believe what Henry did?” And I mean, neither of them is wrong. Seymour tries to pull on heartstrings and play into love and loss. Cleves…is interesting. Cleves is basically just there to prove that she’s above Henry and his nonsense. Parr I’m not really going to touch on, because her song is more a reaction to everyone else and the scene that happens after Howard gets “real” with her song. The other queens will occasionally interject to try to further win people over to their side, but they do so using the same point they were making in their song. They aren’t subtle about it, though they try to be. To the audience, though, its always clear what they’re doing, and for the most part that’s the joke. The one who actually is subtle about it, though, is Howard.

Being the fifth wife, Howard goes second to last. She knows this, and knows she can’t dump her trauma on the audience before her song, so what does she do make her case throughout the show, before she gets her shot in the spotlight? She makes sure the audience is on her side already by the time it gets to her. She steals Cleves’s punchline. She makes winky jokes with the audience and acknowledges that she’s doing so. She’s overall charming and she never once tries to convince them to be on her side in the competition, or at least never makes it seem like that’s what she’s doing. She just wants them to laugh at her jokes and like her, but that has nothing to do with the competition, surely? Well, considering she uses these exact same methods in her song, you can assume that this is an intentional manipulation. Again, I don’t mean manipulation maliciously, but she’s definitely making the audience want to like her before she even begins her story. But that’s for more reason than just winning the competition.

When it does get to her turn, the other queens try to again interject with their own points (the same points they’ve already made) and belittle her. It’s actually somewhat interesting because you can see Howard trying to speak up before Parr tells them it’s her turn, but she seems kind of meek in the background as the other queens bicker amongst themselves. Even after Parr has to kind of push her forward because its her turn, she looks intimidated. She seems to be trying to make herself small, and she’s holding onto the microphone like it’s a security blanket. She actually looks nervous, and she’s right in the middle of the stage, so all of the audience sees her being frightened and will probably feel for her in that moment. She looks like someone who needs help.

Then she begins roasting the other queens like chestnuts upon an open fire. It begins with their “Good luck trying to compete with us” to which she responds “You’re right, I mean your lives all sounded terrible, and your songs…” and then she shrinks back into her meek, awkward pose a moment before adding “…do a lot to convey that.” She’s using the sympathy she gained with the audience to pull off that joke, because they see that she’s being bashful but then she just pulls off this burn in the middle of that bashfullness. So they feel sympathy for K Howard, who’s already been charming throughout the show, who’s being shy now, but still manages to be funny. So the audience is with her already. Then she goes to the queens one by one and points out holes in their claims to having the Worst Time, but she does it in a humorous way. She does it in a way that makes the audience feels like it’s for them. She even looks at the audience when she gets to Parr, making a “can you believe her?” expression at them instead of actually addressing Parr. Howard is with the audience and the audience is with Howard. Its never been more true than in this moment.

When she gets to Cleves, she doesn’t insult Cleves in any way and instead decides to use the moment brag about herself. Not in a way that has anything to do with Henry or the competition. “Being rejected for your looks legit sounds terrible. I wouldn’t know anything about that.” And its not Cleves she’s addressing at this point, because again, she’s speaking to the audience when she says “Look at me, I’m really fit,” and in the version I saw, there are lots of cheers at this. People were whistling at her. People not only agree with everything she’s saying now, but they love her.

And then we get to her song. She drops her song like its her mic drop saying she has no idea how she’s going to compete with other queens. “Oh wait, like this” and the lights drop and the music starts and it’s a big seamless conclusion to the roast. Only its not the conclusion, you’re only just beginning, and haven’t even begun to realize what Howard is doing to manipulate you to make her point.

So Howard uses the audience in a way that others don’t do in their songs. In Aragon and Seymour’s songs, they act as though Henry is their audience. Boleyn and Cleves acknowledge the actual audience more, but its still as part of the song. Certain moments will be sung to specific audience members, but its only moments and again, its sung. It’s part of the song. Howard, on the other hand, doesn’t sing all of her story. A lot it’s a conversation with the audience; she’s telling them a story, and she’ll stop her song occasionally to continue the conversation. Bear with me, because I��ll be going line by line now.

She opens by speaking to the audience:

“I think we can all agree

I'm the ten amongst these threes”

And that’s both bold and presumptive, but by this point, she’s won over the audience. They do agree with her. They like her. They think she’s funny. They think she’s hot. And these lines aren’t only meant to boost her, but it gets the audience to belittle the other queens by agreeing with her. It’s also one last reminder that she’s on their side and they’re on hers. One last reminder that they can trust where she’s going to take them, and she trusts them.

And ever since I was a child

I'd make the boys go wild

Take my first music teacher

Henry Manox

I was young, it's true

But even then I knew

The only thing you wanna do is...

She starts out speaking these lines, then begins singing them as she goes on. Note the last three lines in particular. She’s going to mention her age again in a moment, but before she even gets to the exacts of that, she’s telling you that “even then she knew.” So she’s making it clear right off the bat that she at least wants us to think she knows what people want from her. Also note she’s not saying “the only thing men want” or “the only think Henry Manox wanted.” She’s using you. I’m going to go more on that later, but her switch between third and second person pronouns is interesting. Also she doesn’t ever finish the sentence of what it is “you” wants to do. You’re forced to fill in the blanks by the kiss and breath she gives instead of the completion of the sentence. Again, more on that in a moment.

Broad, dark, sexy Mannox

Taught me all about dynamics

He was twenty three

And I was thirteen going on thirty

This is the first real indication that something’s off. This is also the first place that a lot of people will stop and think “wait what did she just say?” I remember the first time I listened to the song, I definitely noted the ages and I definitely was disgusted. In the live versions I’ve heard, Howard’s voice will fall a little when she says “I was 13” but she’ll immediately pick up again and add “going on 30” like it’s a joke that she’s telling everyone. Sometimes people laugh at it. Sometimes they don’t. When they do, it’s either that they don’t take in what she’s saying or it’s an awkward, uncomfortable reaction. A “oh ok that was a joke then?” It makes people uncomfortable, especially since she begins the verse by describing Manox as “Broad, dark, sexy.” She’s making him sound appealing, suggests that she finds him appealing right before dropping the fact that she was 13 and he was 23. That’s information she can’t drop and have it be ok without either breezing past it and hoping you don’t notice, or making light of it and trying to say it was ok. Howard does both of these, which makes it so that she doesn’t really accomplish either effectively. It sounds wrong. You, the audience, notice it, but you still go past it and keep watching/listening to the rest of her song.

We'd spend hours strumming the lute

Striking the chords and blowing the flute

He plucked my strings all the way to G

Went from major to minor, C to D

This happens immediately after the age reveal, in the same verse. Howard just blows past the age thing and starts to make it clear the relationship was sexual. She tries to convince the audience that she was on board. She puts herself in an active role saying “We’d spend hours” but then two lines later puts only him in the active role. A subtle thing, but it’s as if she can't keep up the claim that they were both active, willing participants in this. Her tone is still suggesting that everything is fine, that she’s on board and being taken care of in some way. Look, she’s so much more excited and outgoing than she was earlier when she was standing meekly in the middle of the stage, so she’s probably ok.

Tell me what you need

What you want, you don't need to plead

She changes who’s she’s addressing here. She’s no longer talking to the audience, or at least makes it seem like she isn’t at first glance. She’s talking to Manox, and frames it as if she’s trying to reassure him. “You don’t need to plead” suggests that he is pleading, which is a weird way to frame a 23 year old man trying to pressure a 13 year old girl to have sex with him. But this is coming from the point of view is of the 13 year old girl, who’s already been trying to put herself in an active role in this. But note that she’s never actually saying “this is something I want,” and instead saying “this is something he needs.” She’s not framing herself as “needing” anything, but instead trying to make herself understanding to his supposed needs. She makes it seem like she’s doing something for him, again putting herself in an active role. Making it seem like this was something she decided to do.

'Cause I feel the chemistry

Like I get you and you get me

And now she’s explaining why she’s “deciding” to do this. She feels a chemistry with Manox. He gets her. You get her, because she’s still using second person when referring to Manox. Manox still isn’t he anymore. Manox is you. And isn’t it interesting that she’s putting you (the audience) in Manox’s role when she’s been addressing you and building up a rapport with you (the audience) for the entire show? She gets the audience and the audience gets her, right?

And maybe this is it

He just cares so much it feels legit

She switches back to third person now, removing any suggestion that she might be referring to anyone but Manox. Because now she’s trying to justify this. To herself. To you the audience. It’s ok if she “lets” him do this because he might be The One, right? He seems to care for her, so wouldn’t this be caring for him? Didn’t she already say that she understands that he needs this? If she’s letting him, then it’s not bad...right?

We have a connection

I think this guy is different

Ah, the first “connection.” This is the part in the song where Howard gets touched for the first time. It’s not too much. Parr and Seymour stand in either side of her, facing away from the audience, and they put their hands in her shoulders. You might not even realize that they’re doing it at first. Howard doesn’t seem bothered by it, and doesn’t acknowledge it. She looks at the audience while two people put hands on her and she sings that “this guy is different.” And the audience watches still, witnessing all that’s happening. The two people touching her are looking away from you, clearly not wanting to be seen, but still clearly doing it.

'Cause all you wanna do

All you wanna do baby

Is touch me, love me, can't get enough, see

All you wanna do

All you wanna do baby

Is please me squeeze me birds and the bees me

The first chorus, and I should note the music at this point is very pop-y. It’s upbeat. It’s happy and gives you no reason to think anything’s off at this point.

So for the chorus, Howard switches back to second person. All YOU wanna do is touch her. All YOU wanna do is love her. It’s obvious that the “you” here is Manox, but the frequent switches from “you” to “he” is disorienting, especially since she goes on to address the audience directly immediately after the chorus. So it’s not so much that she’s addressing You the Audience instead of Manox, and what she’s actually doing is making Manox a part of You the Audience. She’s focusing on him for now, but don’t these claims also apply to the audience? They cheered and whistled she said she was really fit. They laughed and agreed when she said she was a ten. They’ve been on her side every time she made a claim like that. So while You the Audience may not be Manox, Manox is among you, and you have some things in common with him. That combined with the plucky, pop music doesn’t seem bad right now. The audience doesn’t even notice the 23 year old man in their midst that is forcing sex on a 13 year old, especially since the 13 doesn’t seem to be suffering or anything. Look at her, she’s fine and she’s encouraging it, isn’t she? She seems happy. You’ve seen what it looks like when she’s afraid. And let’s be clear “birds and the bees me” leaves no illusion as to exactly what’s going on. She’s telling you what’s going on, so there’s no way to deny that or suggest otherwise. You know what’s happening.

Run your fingers through my hair

Tell me I'm the fairest of the fair

Playtime's over

The only thing you wanna do is...

Last part of the chorus, and I wanted to separate it to point out the language. The language isn’t inherently aggressive or violent here. “Run your fingers through my hair” that’s almost nothing. We know what’s going on because the lines above tell us it IS sexual, but this is rather tame for the most part. The accompanying music is rather tame too, and still perky. The “fairest of the fair” allusion adds fairy tale language and the next line “playtimes over” here work together to reinforce the impression that she’s 13 here. She’s a kid who thinks that this man might be Prince Charming. She tells herself it’s romantic, it’s a fairy tale. But then playtime is over. The line repeats through each chorus but here it has two meanings: Manox is done with her, and childhood is done. She may not even realize the latter yet. She may not even realize that this man hurt her, but this man who “felt legit” and might have been “it” is clearly done with her. The only thing he/you wanted was to....

She never actually directly says sex, but she makes every possible reference she can to make it clear that sex occurred. But she can never finish the line “the only thing you wanna do is...” She can never bring herself to claim it. Instead she just blows a kiss and makes you figure out the rest. The only thing you/Manox wanted was sex, and when he got it he was done. You know that. She knows it but can’t completely acknowledge it and make it real. It’s obvious though, and the audience is still watching this happen.

So for the next lines, I’m going to use the spoken dialogue from the show rather than the cast recording because I think it provides better context.

[Spoken]

So then there was another guy, Francis. And at the time I was living at my step-grandma’s house and he was working for her. Working so, so hard. So he asked me to be his little piece of ass...sistant.

So Howard speaks these lines rather than sing them. As I mentioned already, she’s the only queen who really stops her song multiple times to turn to the audience and talk to them. But she isn’t only acknowledging them, she’s giving them a story. She’s providing context. She’s being friendly with them. Yes, she’s the one performing on stage, but she knows that the audience is there and she knows what they want, and she’s so willing to please. To give people the entertainment and the story they want. It’s like she wants to make sure that the audience really understands.

So to get to what Howard actually says here, she just breezes past Manox and moves onto the next guy. She doesn’t let herself dwell on Manox any longer and quickly rushes forward and onto Francis. The context for Francis, like Manox, is unsettling. She’s living with her step-grandmother and her grandmother’s adult secretary turns his attention on her and gets her to “help” him. However, like with Manox, she makes a joke about it. She acknowledges that he wants her around so that he can objectify and sexualize her. She uses that fact as a punchline, and people do laugh at the line. Even when she’s clearly saying “he employed me because he wanted to have sex with me” the audience laughs, because her joke was funny, she seems to be fine, and she has a happy tone as she’s saying all of this. Manox didn’t turn out that bad, did he? She still seems happy, doesn’t she? The audience is still watching, aren’t they?

Serious, stern and slow

Get's what he wants and he won't take no

Passion in all that he touches

The sexy secretary to the Dowager Duchess

A few things here. Howard’s tone is still meant to make it seem like she was into this, like these are attractive attributes of Francis, but literally the only positive words here are “passion” and “sexy.” She’s literally telling you that he doesn’t take no for an answer. She’s also pointing out again the Dowager Duchess, her step grandmother. The woman who was supposed to be in charge of keeping an eye on her, but didn’t. The woman who definitely could have given Francis the boot or made sure, at the very least, that he didn’t make Howard his “piece of ass…sistant.” It’s not something that happened once and no one could have known about it. Howard mentions the woman twice, pointing out her prominence here. A woman who probably saw what was going on and did nothing, or who decided not to actually see what was going on and still did nothing. Who else is seeing what’s going on right now and doing nothing?

Helped him in his office, had a duty to fulfil

He even let me use his favourite quill

spilled ink all over the parchment

my wrist was so tired

Still I came back the next day

as he required

So Howard is again making it perfectly clear what’s going on without actually having to say it. If you didn’t get it at “his favorite quill” and “spilled ink all over the parchment,” you probably get it when she says “my wrist was so tired” which she speaks instead of sings and delivers it as if it’s a joke line. But then the next lines are “Still I came back the next day/as he required.” Her use of the word “still” really makes it clear how much agency she had in the situation, though at this point she’s still mostly trying to claim an active role in everything. What she’s saying here is “he made me do this and I did, but look, I still came back the next day.” You don’t say “still I came back” when you’re in a pleasant situation. The illusion she’s trying to create is starting to slip some. She’s starting to have trouble painting all of this out as something she enjoyed and chose.

You say I'm what you need

All you want you don't need to plead

'Cause I feel the chemistry

Like I get you and you get me

This bit of the pre-chorus is nearly identical to what she says about Manox, and again she slips into second person. Instead of her asking you/Francis what you need like she did with Manox, though, you/Francis are telling her. She’s not acting, but being acted upon. Still, she has to reassure that you/Francis don’t need to plead because obviously you have chemistry. And you/Francis get her. So, the “you” now consist of Manox, Francis, and the audience. Those two men are among the people watching this whole thing go down.

And I know this is it

He just cares so much this one's legit

We have a real connection

I'm sure this time is different

So the language here is notably different than it was with Manox. First I want to point out that this is the first indication from Howard herself that something with Manox was wrong. She’s “sure this time is different” meaning that she’s trying to convince herself that this time won’t be like last time. But she seemed so happy and into what happened last time? I mean, anyone with enough common sense to know that a 23 year old man should not be with a 13 year old would know that something was wrong, but Howard gave no indication herself that anything was wrong. Up until right now, retrospectively. And again, at the word connection, two of the queens touch her shoulders, grabbing her while they face away from the audience, wanting to remain anonymous while doing it.

What she is doing is trying to convince herself that this time, its ok. Whereas before she thinks they have a connection, now she knows. She doesn’t think this guy is different, she’s sure this time is different. Francis doesn’t just feel legit, he is legit. She’s telling both the audience and herself, “last time was bad but this time is real and fine!” And yet, we continue.

'Cause all you wanna do

All you wanna do baby

Is touch me love me can't get enough see

All you wanna do

All you wanna do baby

Is please me, squeeze me, birds and the bees me

You can't wait a second more

To get my corset on the floor

Playtime's over

The only thing you wanna do is...

The only lines in the chorus that aren’t identical to the first are “You can’t wait a second more/to get my corset on the floor” replacing the lines about telling her she’s the fairest of the fair. So the line that alludes to fairy tales gets replaced with a line about her getting naked. Meaning that the previous line that suggests her youth and wasn’t inherently sexual is replaced with a line that directly sexualizes her. She’s not that much older here than she was when the Manox incident occurred, but ever since the incident with Manox occurred, playtime has been over. The repetition of that reminds you of that, and again, suggests that Francis is done with her once he gets what he wants.

[Spoken]

So yeah, that didn’t work out. Turns out some guys just employ women to get them into their private chambers. Different time back then. So I decided to take a break from boys. Focus on my career, and my dad got me this amazing work placement in court and you’ll never guess who I met.

This time Howard does acknowledge that “that didn’t work out.” She acknowledges directly that her impressions about Francis were wrong. She was sure about him. She phrased everything in absolutes, not hypotheticals, and it still “didn’t work out.” But Howard is still working the audience here. She’s glib, makes it sound like a joke. Then drops the line “Turns out some guys just employ women to get them into their private chambers. Different time back then.” That may be the most important line here. It’s a joke, but one that we get because we know its ironic and not accurate. We know now more than ever that men still hire women to “get them into their private chambers.” We know that in this instance, times aren’t different. This still happens, and its something that has been ignored and not talked about until very recently. Howard knows that we know this. She knows that “different times back then” will land, and she uses that line and that knowledge to connect what has happened and will continue to happen to her to those abuses we know about now. We know those things happen, and they happened to Howard back then too, and we’re still just watching it happen to her.

So this is where the song also really starts to shift. She says that she’s taking a break from boys and focusing on her career. She gets a good job. She stops sexualizing the situation and trying to justify what’s going to happen before hand. She’s starting to realize what she actually wants, and that’s to have a good job at court. She’s making career choices, not marital choices. She is now making the decision herself that she doesn’t want men or a relationship, but a job.

Tall, large, Henry the Eighth

Supreme head of the Church of England

Globally revered

Although you wouldn't know it from the look of that beard

How she introduces Henry is already different. She attempted to sexualize the prior two men and make them sound appealing. In most audios I heard, Howard pauses between “large” and “Henry the Eight,” as if she’s trying to come up with some more appealing way to describe him but she can’t. The best descriptions she has is “he’s big and the head of a religion. Some people like him and his beard is funny.” Very sexy description. It’s like she can’t even make herself sexualize him. With the others she could at least tell herself that they were attractive so she must be interested in them. Not with Henry.

Made me a lady in waiting

Hurled me and my family up in the world

Gave me duties in court and he swears it's true

That without me he doesn't know what he'd do

Still, Howard is doing nothing to attempt to sexualize Henry. She’s not even suggesting that their relationship was sexual or romantic, whereas before she was explicit about the sexual natures of her relationships. She’s talking about a job. He gave her a job. He elevated her family by giving her a high placement in court, and clearly its because she deserves it, as he says he doesn’t know what he’d do without her. She’s doing nothing to build to the marriage that we know is coming. She’s doing nothing to romanticize this. She’s here to have a career. She wants to do her job, and she’s proud that she seems to be doing such good work and making Henry (her boss in this situation) pleased with her work.

You say I'm what you need

All you want we both agree

This is the place for me

I'm finally where I'm meant to be

These lines are, to me, maybe the saddest in the entire song. Worse than the chorus about Thomas Culpepper even. Howard has done nothing up until this point to suggest that she and Henry’s relationship is sexual or would become sexual. She’s been talking about her job in court. These lines, unlike with the previous two men, don’t read as if she’s trying to agree to their sexual advances. They read as if she’s meeting with her boss. They read as if she’s interviewing for a job or a promotion. She’s what he needs in court. They both agree that court is the place for her. And she’s finally realized that this, the work she does in court, is what she wants. Not a relationship with a man. She doesn’t even seem to comprehend that Henry could go after her. As she said earlier, she’s focusing on her career. Then Henry comes to her with this and she thinks they’re on the same page. But they’re definitely not talking about the same things.

And once again, she’s making Henry a part of you. He’s in the audience with the other two. You, the audience, came here knowing what would happen. Howard is only here because Henry did go after her and married her. You know this. You know where he’s going with this. And you’re watching her not realize what’s happening until she accidentally agrees to this and gets into the situation. You’re still watching. You’re still with Manox and Francis and now, you’re with Henry.

Then he starts saying all this stuff

He cares so much he calls me love

Now Howard is realizing that Henry wasn’t talking about her career. He was saying that he needs to be with her. And for the first time, we get no indication about exactly what’s going on except “he starts saying all this stuff.” But he does seem to care, doesn’t he? He calls her love, doesn’t he? That’s not nothing, right? That has to mean something. She legitimately struggles with this, because two of the queens try to touch her shoulders again, and she swats them away. She can’t even make it seem like she’s interested. The “he cares so much” is a half hearted attempt to comfort herself.

He says we have this connection

I guess it's not so different

At this connection, two of the other queens grab her shoulders like they did before, but another comes from behind and puts an arm around her waist. She doesn’t see it happen and she can’t do anything to break away because she’s literally being held. But this time she isn’t the one saying they have a connection. He is saying they have a connection. She doesn’t seem to agree, and she has to tell herself that this relationship isn’t so different from the previous ones, and also that this outcome isn’t so different from what she wanted. Isn’t being queen like a promotion? But she literally has to use the two times she previously taken advantage of by older men to comfort her in this situation. It’s not so different from those times. This time it’s just your boss who is also your king, the head of your religion, physically imposing and by all accounts repulsive and sickly, about 33 years older than you, has a daughter that’s older than you, and also beheaded one of his previous wives who happens to be your first cousin. It’s not THAT different.

'Cause all you wanna do

All you wanna do baby

Is touch me, love me, can't get enough see

All you wanna do

All you wanna do baby

Is seize me, squeeze me, birds and the bees me

There's no time for when or how 'cause you

Just got to have me now

Playtime's over

The only thing you wanna do is...

Before I even get into the language here, I’m want to talk about the choreography of this verse. Howard all but stops dancing. She’s pretty much just standing there, occasionally shifting or making a hand gesture, but she’s not dancing. She looks like someone who is trying to look like they’re dancing but failing terribly at it. She just looks so defeated. Before she could go along with it, or at least seem like she’s going along with it, but now she’s just standing there. And all around her the queens are still dancing, and their movements seem more violent juxtaposed against how little she’s doing here. They’re moving around her, touching her or almost-touching her, and she’s just letting it happen. Does nothing to protest it or join in with it.

The language in the chorus is getting more and more violent. “You” no longer want to please her. Now its “All you want do baby/is seize me.” Unlike with the last two men, Howard didn’t know what Henry was after from the beginning. She was on a different page with him until she had gotten into the situation, so even though the other two men had also been predatory, even though they had taken advantage of her and lied and manipulated her, the situation with Henry is much more violent because it’s not expected. She doesn’t have time to mentally prepare herself or try to convince herself that she has a choice in it. “There’s not time for when or how cause you just got to have me now” shows how suddenly this all was to her. And with Henry, she has the added complication of him being Henry. He’s not only forcing this, but she’s now the queen. Please remember that Katherine Howard was most likely either 16 or 17 when she became queen. Right here we’re talking about someone who wouldn’t even be out of high school yet and a 49 year old man who’s already had four wives.

[Spoken]

So we got married

Wooh...

Before, Howard can monologue a little bit between each chorus and verse, usually saying something that is supposed to make the audience laugh. After the chorus about Henry, though, this is all you get. She sounds so defeated/distraught and even chocked up when she says “So we got married,” and in some versions will sound like she’s trying to come up with more to say, but ends up just going “Woooh..” in a really unhappy way in attempts to make the audience laugh. A lot of people do laugh, because they’re supposed to. It’s a joke. It’s a joke being delivered by a teenager who just recounted one of the most horrifying experiences a young girl/woman in a job can experience, and afterward just married her boss who put her through it because she didn’t really have a choice. Wooooh. And you’re still watching this all go down, even now that you can see that she’s clearly uncomfortable because she can no longer pretend otherwise.

With Henry it isn't easy

His temper's short and his mates are sleazy

Except for this one courtier

He's a really nice guy, just so sincere

So Howard does absolutely nothing to introduce Thomas before this moment. She doesn’t even say his name yet, and she never says his last name. Manox, Francis, and Henry all got introduced or hinted at before their respective parts of the song. With Thomas, she opens up with countering him against Henry and his sleazy mates. She’s making it clear she can’t even pretend to have a good relationship or good opinions of Henry. She’s queen and the only thing good she has is that one of Henry’s friends is nice to her and not a complete sleaze. Remember that prior to this, when she was describing court, she was so happy. She said that she belonged there, that she was happy and she liked it. She’s still in the same place and technically she’s higher in rank, and its miserable. Miserable to the point that even with what’s about to happen, her voice lifts slightly when she says Thomas is “just so sincere,” as if it’s a relief to her. As if it’s a pleasant memory, and not the thing that will soon end with her being taken advantage of once again and then beheaded for her “crimes.”

The royal life isn't what I planned

But Thomas is there to lend a helping hand

So sweet, makes sure that I'm okay

And we hang out loads when the king's away

So Howard went from being excited for her job in court, to being thrust in an extremely powerful and heavily scrutinized role with little to no help. Except Thomas, who to her, seems to be genuine. Why wouldn’t he want to help her? She’s his queen, and the wife of one of his friends. And now she’s married, so there’s nothing that could come of their relationship anyway. Howard now might be the safest she’s ever been from men (other than Henry) because not only is she married, she’s married to the king. That should de-sexualize her entirely, right? So Thomas’s help must be genuine and his friendship must be genuine. Howard has no reason to worry about his motives.

This guy finally

Is what I want, the friend I need

Just mates, no chemistry

I get him and he gets me

Howard doesn’t switch to second person here, like she usually does. She doesn’t make Thomas a part of that “you” that consists of Manox, Francis, Henry, and the audience. Because she has no reason to. Because he’s just a friend. And she realizes that’s what she’s needed this entire time: a friend. Someone that will make sure she’s ok. Only now, after all that’s been through in her short life, does she realize that’s all she’s ever wanted or needed. Someone who can just help her and spend time with her without sexualizing her or having any kind of ulterior motive. She can pretend to have chemistry with the other men, but Thomas is and will always be her friend. Someone who gets that she just needs a friend.

And there's nothing more to it

He just cares so much he's devoted

She feels so compelled to insist that there’s nothing beyond platonic friendship here. In some versions she sounds almost frantic to point out that there’s nothing more to it. He cares about her. He’s devoted to his queen. So that means that there’s no possible way he could want more. Men who care about her don’t want or expect more from her. She’s pacing the stage, pointing at people in the audience. At “And there’s nothing more to it,” Parr and Seymour put hands on her shoulder and she quickly shrugs them off without acknowledging it. She can’t acknowledge it, because she finally has a friend. He can’t want anything else from her. He can’t.

He says we have a connection

At this point the music stops. The other queens surround her and grab her arms, her legs, her shoulders, her chest. She’s just frozen in the web of hands touching her from every direction. She just freezes for several seconds, doing nothing to fight the hands on her. Because she’s at the most secure and powerful she’s ever been and could ever be, and it’s not enough.

I thought this time was different

Why did I think he'd be different?

But it's never, ever different

The hands stay on her through most of this, and she mostly just stands there. Her voice goes from shock/disappointment in “I thought this time was different” to self-deprecating at “Why did I think he’d be different?” to fury at “But it’s never, ever different” to the point where she pretty much screams the last word. It’s not that she’s only just realizing now what’s been happening to her. She’s known. She’s known this entire time. She begins the song by telling the audience that “I was young, its true, but even then I knew.” It’s that now, she can’t lie to herself about any of it anymore. Because even if she knew that Thomas wanted sex from her, she also knew that he couldn’t do anything, because she’s the queen. If he tried anything, he’d be dead. He can’t touch her, so she can say that he’s just her friend and shrug off the moments where he suggests otherwise like she shrugs off Parr and Seymour’s hands initially.

But now, apparently even that doesn’t protect her. Even being married to one of the most powerful men in the world, a man who has already beheaded men for supposedly sleeping with his wife, isn’t enough to protect her from every single man that wants to put his hands on her and assault her and abuse her. They’re going to do it no matter what, because its never different. Not even for the queen.

'Cause all you wanna do

All you wanna do baby

Is touch me, when will enough be enough?

See

All you wanna do

All you wanna do baby

Squeeze me, don't care if you don't please me

Bite my lip and pull my hair

As you tell me I'm the fairest of the fair

Playtime's over

The only thing

The only thing you wanna do is...

I’m just going to cover all of this at once. Howard is still stuck in the same spot. Her voice is some combination of screaming, crying, and singing, and she’s constantly being grabbed by the queens and either trying to push them off of her or waiting for them to let go. She goes back to the pronoun “you,” finally putting Thomas among all those other men and the audience, and she’s screaming. She’s furious, she’s finally accepted that she can’t accept this, that “you” don’t want to love her, just touch her constantly. You just want to squeeze her and pull her hair and hurt her to please yourself, and you don’t care how she feels about it. You’ll say kind things to her while you’re hurting her, as if that’s supposed to make it better. It just makes you feel better.

Then she’s on the ground, and all the queens are facing her, surrounding her and gradually stepping closer and closer as they sing “Playtime’s over” at her. Because its over, and its not just that she’ll be tossed aside again. Everything is over now, because of what men have done to her. Her life is over, as she literally is going to be beheaded because of everything that happened to her. Katherine Howard was either 18 or 19 years old when she was beheaded because men have been sexually assaulting her for years, and it was only acknowledged when they decided to condemn her to death for it.

After every version of this song that I’ve seen and listened to, there is a moment of shocked silence from the audience before they’ll start applauding. They’re startled by this turn in the song. They don’t expect Howard to start screaming at them or to start crying or to have this strong of an emotional reaction. Yet, they’ve been watching the whole time. They’ve been seeing everything that’s happened to her and listening to everything she’s said. And they have been listening and seeing because they’ve been laughing at her jokes and responding to her comments. The audience, or you, laughed at her jokes when she was making light of her sexual assaults. She has been making sure for the entire show that you were paying attention to her. You knew what was happening. And you just kept watching, shocked when at the end it got that dramatic.

If you were wondering why Howard makes the audience a part of the collective “you” that includes Manox, Francis, Henry, and Thomas, this is why. Because they may not have been doing the acts these men did, but they just sat there and watched as it happened, pretending--like Howard--that this it could have been consensual acts and that those jokes were funny. If those who knew from the beginning that it wasn’t ok just watched and did nothing to get in the way or help, they may not be these men, but they allowed the men to abuse her.

Howard does everything she can to endear herself to the audience and make herself noticed throughout the entire show, in preparation for her song. And by the time it gets to her song, they love her. They’re listening to her and interacting with her and noticing her, seeing everything she’s doing. And they still don’t stop what happens to her. So even if they don’t actually want to assault and hurt her, they might as well because it’s happening, they know it’s happening, and they did nothing.

Now am I saying that the audience is actually, literally complicit in this. No, obviously not; this is a musical. But the audience is a stand in more or less for everyone else that had to have seen what was going on and did nothing to prevent it from getting to the point where Howard’s head was on the chopping block. But the audience is meant to feel complicit because there were people complicit in letting these men abuse her, just like there are people complicit in letting abusers and rapists get away with it to this day. Her step grandmother did nothing to watch her when around Francis. Her family did nothing to watch her when around Manox and they placed her in the position where Henry would take notice of her. People laughed at Howard’s “different times back then” joke because they know that this still happens today, and she knows that they know. So, what are people doing when they see it going on? Just pretending not to notice? Still? Howard, like so many others, is a victim of not just the men who assaulted her, but the societal structures that think its better to let one girl be hurt and killed than it is to upset the power structure or punish the powerful, important men who abuse that girl.

Katherine Howard was a young girl. In Six, she just wants people to love her, and loving her is not sexual. In Megasix, she changes the lyrics so that its:

All you wanna do

All you wanna do, baby's

Sing along to your favourite queen's song

All you wanna do

All you wanna do, baby

Love me, love me

She wants to be your favorite queen, and she wants you to love her. The part where she’s trying to endear herself to the audience has never been a lie. She wants to win the audience over. Because if there’s one thing Katherine Howard has never had, it’s an adoring crowd that will listen and support her and sing along with her and just love her without wanting anything else. She’s done sexualizing herself in an attempt to make her point or to win people over, now she’s just telling you to love her, because she realized that all she ever needed was friends. So, love her, take care of her, be her friend, and ensure there aren’t other Katherine Howards in the world, because there have been too many already.

#six the musical #six: the musical #katherine howard #all you wanna do #catherine howard #long post

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kotoplasm · 3 years

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𝐈.: FATE

synopsis: bokuto's philosophical outlook on life has him wondering whether there is a place for him in the universe. you exist to make sure that he knows just how priceless that his existence is to you.

i have not proof read this at allll 😔

masterlist ...... next chapter

society liked to believe that amongst caffeine driven adults and stressed beyond repair broken teenagers, the world still ran on an abstract emotion known as intimacy, to put things simply, love. in the urban streets of tokyo where the lights never seemed to darken, bokuto koutarou was left to wonder whether he was just another puzzle piece waiting to be slotted into that very society.

to begin with, despite his callibrated ability to read emotions to a decent standard, he has failed to keep a single relationship intact. not that he was the problem but rather the confusion that would arise when he began to question why he was even in this relationship to begin with. (okay so maybe to an extent he was the problem). it would seem dangerous, yes, and some would even deem the following as something that was portrayed to be unspoken territory. the girls that he would inevitably find himself with were pretty, yes, and undeniably mesmerising to look at, but that was all there was to it.

he didn't enjoy the said intimacy that some people shared in those said relationships, but he wondered whether he would ever be able to find himself in a situation as such. the term seemed so unearthly and out of sight so he had lost all hope of ever being able to experience something so euphoric and long-lasting. now he just drags his newly found setter to the gym to practise perfecting his cross spikes until his hands were satisfied by the red tinted bruises forming on his calloused hands.

within tokyo, the city was busy and you would only be able to speak to pedestrians for a few ephemeral moments before the current of today's age and time carried you away. today, bokuto had opted for a more quieter route to bid farewell to akaashi, who had told him that he didn't need him to walk him home. bokuto being himself obviously ignored that.

so here they found themselves, exhausted from practise and admiring the scenery of sub-urban tokyo. their clothes were drenched in sweat and fatigue from their intensive practice, to which akaashi could only really scowl at. the pungent smell of body odour wasn't new to him of course, but that didn't equate to him enjoying its scent.

the area was a hotspot for dogwalkers and evening strolls, he had noted as he watched a couple walk by them with their children scuttling past their limbs. it took him a few moments to process that children probably saw himself and fukurodani's spiker as big friendly giants.

"ne akaashi," bokuto called out to him, hands folded behind his head. "do you think you'll ever get married?"

"that's a very random question bokuto-san," he replies, eyes never leaving the road ahead of them. he spots a glass garden in the distance but pays no attention to it. "but i hope so. i don't like the idea of spending my adult years alone."

"yeah, i guess you're right," he replies back. and then he stays quiet, looking ahead.

odd. akaashi says to himself but doesn't prod further. he wishes to go home and shower, hopefully being able to finish some of his homework before the due date arrives.

"i never knew there was a florist in this area," the same golden-eyed boy calls out, pointing to the very building on his mind.

"yeah, it's a family owned one. the owner is very close friends with my family," he notes.

"are they nice people?"

"i guess. i've only ever spoken to their daughter but they don't tend to speak a lot."

"hmm."

before he knew it, bokuto was jogging towards the very store, peering into the garden to stare at the bouquets and nosegays of variously coloured flowers, water dripping from their freshly watered pots.

"we should go in akaashi! maybe you might see something you like!" says bokuto with an expression of joy and excitement on his face.

reluctantly following after him, akaashi embraces the fresh scent of grass cuttings and fertiliser. it was the same smell as always: where some people might finding it to be unbearable, he found it homey.

one of the two go around the store to explore the rest of the interior whereas the other went to greet the owner, a newspaper on her lap as her spectacled eyes skim through the fine print of todays paper. to the right, a paraffin lamp was lit; the smell was irritating but he tried his best to ignore it.

"ahh akaashi!" the older woman pats his shoulder a little harshly, a warm grin on her lips. "haven't seen you about for a long time. how're your parents? are they feeling alright?"

he answers the questions modestly, curtly nodding when appropriate and returning a friendly smile.

"[ l/n ]-san, isn't [ y/n ]-san usually here, helping you?" he questions, scanning the area for any clues as to where you might have wondered off to.

"i'm afraid not akaashi. she started school a few days ago and she's been complaining about the sudden surge in work load," shaking her head, she continues. "says that it's been tough to manage the latter so i told her to forget about the shift she was supposed to cover this evening."

"she's a second year now, isn't she?"

"yes. but if you're worried about her forgetting you now that you don't attend the same high school, don't fret too much."

"no, umm, it wasn't that. i just wanted to remind myself, that's all. hard to believe that she's a year older than me."

"i still can't comprehend how," she replies, letting out a chesty laugh that stimulated a small smile on his non-chalant face.

concurrently, bokuto found himself strolling through each aisle, his eyes erratically jumping from one flower species to the next. akaashi side glances at him occasionally to keep an eye on him but it didn't look like he was doing anything extraordinary.

up until he disappeared. and in quite literally an instant.

from what the silver tipped boy could remember, he had remembered tripping over something and collapsing onto the soil stained gravel, bracing himself with his elbows.

"are you alright?" she calls out from behind the checkout getting ready to stand up.

the boy waves a thumbs up in reply. despite wanting to pry further, he decides against it, dusting off the soil particulates and heading back towards the till. it couldn't have been....

the pair of them bid a farewell and continue their walk up until they got to akaashi's house, to which the very boy could see his upperclassman fidget with his hands.

"akaashi, you didn't happen to see anyone with us in that store did you?"

"why, did you see someone?"

he pauses. did he see anyone? whatever he tripped over felt too warm to have been a random object and had disappeared the moment that he'd tripped over it.

"actually, i don't know. maybe i'm just imagining things."

he gives him a funny look before sighing. "yeah, maybe you were imagining it."

bokuto sighs. "maybe i was."

it's the second day of the week; fukurodani's and nekoma's weekly practice looming over bokuto koutarou and akaashi keiji. it was a periodic occurrence, only happening on the tuesday of every fortnight and the friday of every other week.

if he was being honest, bokuto was excited, ready to show off their new setter, who was still wary to the idea of co-ordinating the offenses of a powerhouse school. afterall, he was still only a first year trying out the position for a few games before sitting out to observe. what he felt was new but refreshing and thrilling, so he tried not to think of the nerves trying to seep beneath his skin.

the satisfaction bokuto felt was all driven by an act of competitiveness with the middle blocker of the opposing team, kuroo tetsurou, someone who, despite cherishing as a good friend, didn't mind the level of rivaled tension that was thick in the air.

"hey, sorry i'm late guys!" came the voice of the boy in question, stepping into the gym in his blue coloured kit. the moment his eyes settled on bokuto, his lips curled into a coy smirk. "hope you're ready to lose, ya horned owl bastard."

"i don't intend on it," bokuto retorts, blowing a silent raspberry with his arms folding out of habit.

"kuroo! i thought you said that you've found someone!"

"yeah, um... give her a minute. i might have ran and left her behind," he responds. "she's coming though. i can promise that."

despite that comment, practice commenced regardless with the first ten minutes being used for warm-ups. as usual, bokuto rushed into spiking drills, the spherical object hitting the ground with an absurd amount of strength, reflected by the vibrations of the hardwood.

"that could've gone through a little sharper," he told himself as he prepares to retrieve the free ball.

it felt almost surreal when he'd picked it up.

you appeared through the open gym doors a little tired but okay nevertheless, attempting to fix your school uniform. your hands instinctively went to straighten your skirt which had crumpled up a little and tights which had sagged slightly near your knees.

he couldn't help but stare at you because he was wondering how it was possible for someone to look so breathtaking when they indeed had their own breath taken from them trying to catch up with an athlete, the very person now taking time out of his drills to come and greet her, or rather that's what bokuto was thinking.

"you ought to ..... run a little slower kuroo," you panted back. "i'm not used...... to running such long .......distances."

"then maybe we should make it mandatory for new recruitments to join us during our runs," he quips back with a smirk. it lasted for a few moments before you had swatted his arm rather harshly, scowling.

"remember that you forced me to come here, against my own will."

"you could've gone back and i wouldn't have noticed."

"no, you would."

so the pair of you walked away towards your coach and current third year manager who looked ecstatic to see you.

and yet, bokuto couldn't bring himself to remove his peering gaze away from you.

so much, that he didn't even realise konoha calling him out of his daydream.

"oi, the game is about to start! get up!" as they're slipping on their coloured bibs, akaashi takes a glance at the golden eyed boy, wearing a questionable expression.

"are you feeling okay? you don't need to sit this game out do you?"

he pries his eyes from your figure to face akaashi with a bright smile. he couldn't tell if it was feigned or genuine.

"yeah! i'm just excited to finally show off our new setter!"

"but i'm not playing for the whole game..."

"details akaashi! do we really need to get bogged down by them?"

the whistle sang its last song. all worries from the first year faded away. maybe he was worried about nothing afterall.

adolescence taglist:

@sirachano0dles (send an ask to be added)

#myworks #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu!!#haikyuu scenarios #bokuto scenario #bokuto headcanon #bokuto x you #bokuto hq #bokuto x reader

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snusbandxknifewife · 4 years

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Photo Fic 2: Electric Boogaloo

Ok so this is the sequel to the first fic I ever posted on this account. (If you wanna read that one first, click on the photo fic tag at the bottom.) I think it’s cute as hell and I’m soft about it so 🥺 Jude and Cardan wanting to take pictures together makes me 🥺🥺🥺

~~~~~~~~~

In the year after Cardan and Jude took their very first photos in a photobooth, photography became a bit of a fascination in Faerie. Jude didn’t intend for it to happen, but what royalty does tends to become the fad in the kingdom.

It started when they’d bought a Polaroid and began to take pictures of one another, eventually amassing so many that they’d dedicated an entire hall to photos of them. It was both of their favorite place in the entire palace, where they both went to see the other smile and drown in happy memories.

Then a servant had left a door open and a visiting dignitary had seen inside. After that, word quickly spread around the kingdom of the King and Queen’s portrait hall: the place where they’d managed to capture pieces of real life. Jude and Cardan had sighed and agreed to throw the doors open, allowing people to tour the wonder.

(Of course they’d continued to take dumb photos and risqué ones too, but they were much better at hiding those. Jude was insistent that only the dramatic or kickass photos get sent to the hall.)

They’d graduated to a better camera and they’d started to send requests for Vivi to print them. As the photos got bigger and more detailed, the people of Elfhame grew more impressed. All over the kingdom, tinkerers and witches and everyone in between began trying to craft devices that would capture photos in ways the mortal devices couldn’t. It had become a fierce competition, one that amused both Jude and Cardan.

Now, on Cardan’s birthday, the entire kingdom was watching with bated breath. The Living Council had announced a competition to find the best camera creation and, in addition to all the gifts people were bringing for the king, the great hall was full of photographs. The king would be choosing the most realistic picture, and he’d also be awarding the most beautiful one.

Jude sat on her throne, her red empire waist dress floating down to her feet and glittering in the light. She’d worn it at Cardan’s insistence; since he’d announced that their subjects would undoubtedly be taking pictures of them and he wanted his wife to shine just as much as her.

Beside her, Cardan smiled and greeted the family of a soldier from the Court of Termites. Bomb took their gift and stacked it on a table to the side of the royal dais. The picture they brought with them is a gorgeous rendering of a hill overlooking a lake at sunset. It appears to be painted, the work of an extremely diligent artist who had undoubtedly spent days getting everything right.

The photos people came with weren’t all actual photographs, most were art pieces, but it made Jude smile. She couldn’t help but feel proud at the fact that she’d inspired her kingdom to try something they’d never really focused on before. At least she knew she wouldn’t have to keep going to the mortal world to get pictures with her husband. She’d be able to stay in Faerie, safe in what she was familiar with, and she’d still be able to capture important moments in her life.

Still, she’d had to go to the mortal world to get the gift she wanted for Cardan. She’d done that a few times in the past year—her husband’s favorite had been the pinup shoot she’d done about five months prior—and he had a habit of rotating the framed pictures of her he kept on his desk.

She knew she’d have to stop eventually, so she took all her chances while she still had them. She was glad that the timing of this one has worked out.

Time passed and she played the dutiful queen and adoring wife, dancing with Cardan and eating to her heart’s content, greeting her subjects and accepting gifts that didn’t come with any strings attached.

Cardan watched her over the top of his chalice, grinning at how effortlessly she swayed across the floor. With her head held high and her shoulders back, she commanded the whole room without a word. His wife was gorgeous, she was his everything.

Eventually their people became antsy, looking around at the pictures hanging all around the hall and wondering who would be announced the winner. Members of the Living Council were interviewing everyone who’d put in an entry to find out how they made their picture as Cardan led Jude to look at each piece. They’d make the decision on the most beautiful picture alone, and they’d take the Living Council’s input on the best camera entry.

Jude’s favorite was definitely the picture someone had turned in of a revel from a few weeks back. It had been outside, everyone barefoot and dancing until the sun had long come up. The picture showed a dance floor lined with faeries in all manner of dress, watching on as she and Cardan danced. Her dress that night had been a spring green piece with a dangerously low back and skirts that danced around her ankles. Her husband, shown smiling as he swung her around, had a ruffled shirt open low on his pale stomach and breeches of forest green.

Cardan’s favorite was a picture put in by a guard, one that showed his wife dressed in fighting gear as she practiced out in the gardens; her hair sticking to her skin and her face fierce as she lunged towards her sparring partner. He always adored little reminders of how deadly his wife was, loved to see glimpses of the creature that he’d managed to tame, the one who’d tamed him in turn.

They retreated to their thrones to deliberate as Cardan opened gifts. The whole hall went silent, watching the king’s reaction to each parcel. While gifts had to be freely given, everyone knew that those who gave the best gifts would be looked upon favorably.

Jude watched the room for threats as her heart began to race. She knew that the last gift Cardan would open would be the one from her. She’d made sure that Bomb arranged everything that way.

She’d worked her ass off to keep her gift a secret from him. Cardan had been a pain in the neck for WEEKS, trying to catch her in a slip up. She had to engineer a diplomatic mission for him to go on just so she could sneak away to the mortal world and she’d threatened a few lives to keep it from him. Thankfully, it would all be over in a few hours.

Cardan opened all manner of magical gifts: cloaks meant to make the wearer invisible, doublets of impenetrable spider silk, jewelry that helped you understand and speak other languages. Everything he was given was gorgeous and unbelievably expensive.

Everything except for one thing.

Cardan was just about to grab the parchment from Randalin that announced the best camera so they could make their announcements when Jude stopped him.

“Cardan, you’ve got one more gift,” she gently announced and his brows furrowed. One, Jude was hardly ever gentle and two, he had opened everything he’d been given.

Bomb walked up and handed Jude a box, one made of lush purple velvet and wrapped up in a bow of the cleanest white satin.

“What on Earth?” Cardan tilted his head to the side as he accepted the gift, his long fingers wrapping all the way around it as he tried to weigh it to guess what was inside.

“Consider it my entry into the photo contest,” she grinned, only confusing him more.

He pulled the bow off and the entire crowd watched closely. Some were intrigued, others were angry—nobody had been told the queen would be submitting a photo—and others were just being quiet to avoid the ire of the royal family.

When Cardan took the top off the box, he found a picture frame upside down and he snorted. It was just like Jude to prolong the drama.

Jude grabbed fistfuls of her fluffy tulle skirt and bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to make it bleed. She knew that she’d have to explain what it was and that was making her nervous enough to shake.

She’d debated for hours if she should give him his birthday gift in private or if she should do it at his party. Eventually, at the insistence of Vivi and Heather, she’d taken the plunge and decided on a public announcement. She knew everyone would find out eventually.

“It’s.....a photo?”

Jude snorted at Cardan’s evident confusion as he looked at the black and white fuzzy picture, no larger than his hand. She’d put it in a pretty white frame, one that she would eventually write a name on.

“You’re right, my love,” she agreed. “It’s a photo from the mortal world. You see, mortals have figured out how to take pictures for medical purposes. They can use special devices to see inside the body.”

He looked to her, delicately clutching the frame in one hand. She fought the urge to laugh at how he still hadn’t put two and two together. Out in the crowd, faeries were tittering amongst themselves, trying to figure out what their queen has given their king.

“Is this a photograph of you?” He turned back to the picture, gripping it in both hands again and turning it like a different angle would make it make more sense.

“Sort of,” she shook her hand in a so-so gesture. “I’d say I’m the background of the photo. You should be focusing here.”

She walked over and pointed, her nail with its unchipped purple paint tapping against the glass over a strangely shaped white blob. Cardan naturally leaned closer to her, as he always did when she got near, one of his arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her close as he tilted his head and squinted his eyes.

Silence stretched out for a few more seconds before Jude, near giddy with mirth, stepped away from her husband.

“Maybe it’ll help if you know where the photo was taken,” she offers as she grabs the frame from his hands. Cardan, his mind still swimming with possibilities, allowed her.

Then, as his wife turned the photo to face him and drew it back so the frame was flush against her lower abdomen, his jaw dropped.

If she was the background, and the photo was taken inside the body—

“Jude, gods above, how long have you known?” Cardan’s eyes welled up with tears and he fell to his knees, his hands coming up to cup his wife’s hips and his thumbs running over where the frame covered her stomach.

Just that quickly, her throat closed up from emotion and all she could do was nod. Cardan grabbed the frame from her and tucked it against his heart as he pressed his face into her skirts, trying to kiss her stomach and hide his crying all at the same time.

Some faeries had put the clues together and were watching with gaping mouths, unsure of what to do as their king hugged their queen.

Then, Jude pulled Cardan to his feet and she turned to the crowd. “The gift I present to my king and husband is the first photograph of our child, which grows inside me as we speak.”

And, just like that, the entire hall erupted with celebration. Most of their subjects had grown to love their new king and queen and, even if that weren’t the case, a pregnancy was always cause for celebration among the fertility-challenged fae. A royal baby, especially so early on in both the king and queen’s rule and their marriage, was unheard of.

Randalin—who looked a bit annoyed at not being informed of the royal pregnancy before the court was—led the partygoers in a toast, one that Cardan happily joined in. Beside the beaming king, Jude raised her glass of water in solidarity; no wine for her for a few more months.

“How long?” Cardan asked her, near giddy with excitement.

“The doctor said twelve weeks,” she whispered back, wrapping her arm around her husband’s hips as they raised their glasses again. “I’ve suspected for a month or so. I should’ve known sooner, but my first missed period was during that last uprising attempt, so I was a bit distracted.”

Cardan held out the photo and Jude pointed out the body parts that were already forming. When she told him that she’d be going back, that he’d be able to come with her and hear their baby’s heartbeat while it was still inside her, he nearly began to bawl again.

“When do we announce the winners?” Jude asked, thinking back to that gorgeous picture of them dancing.

“I can’t think of anything more beautiful than this.” He held up the photo of their baby and Jude blushed, elbowing his side and telling him to be serious.

Cardan told her that he was being serious and she bit her lip, looking down at the photo she’d already stared at so much.

The party would grow into a week-long celebration of the new heir; a practice run for the celebrations that would rock Elfhame when the child was born. Eventually, both the faeries who made the two pictures Jude and Cardan had enjoyed the most were made aware that their works were hanging in the royal picture hall and another faerie who’d made the best camera was given a job by the Living Council and they became the first official royal photographer.

Elfhame would grow to love photography, all because of a mortal queen who wanted a picture with her husband.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hnnnnng pregnancy announcements are so cute lol

Tag list: @cardan-greenbriar-tcp @hizqueen4life @slightlyrebelliouswriter23 @thewickedkings @aelin-queen-of-terrasen @cheekycheekycheeks @queen-of-glass @b00kworm @doingmyrainbow @andromeddea @jurdanhell @thesirenwashere @sweetlyvillainous @clouds-and-peonies @clockworkgraystairs

#cardan greenbriar #jude duarte #tfota #jurdan #judecardan #photo fic #tyrannosaurus lex writes #pregnancy announcement #im SO fucking soft for this

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kerikaaria · 4 years

Text

If I Never Met You: Chapter 8

(??? X Reader) Idol!AU, Manager!Reader

Genre: (PG13) Fluffy fluff!

WC: 3.1k

Warnings: None

Series Masterlist

Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9

December. The time for my review with the boss and the decision of whether or not I’ll be staying with the company was so close, it made me nervous. And a lot of the finer details for the boys have been getting finalized, including their songs being in production. The boys were starting to get close to being ready for debut, so I was a bundle of both excitement and nerves.

After my last class, I waited for Jin so we could head to the company together. As I sat on one of the benches outside of school, I felt my phone vibrate to notify me of a text message. It was from Seokjin, he said he finished class early and had something to do so he went on ahead. I responded with a quick “Okay, I’ll see you there soon then” before heading on my own way.

I felt glad for it to be Friday so I could spend the next few days focusing on the boys. I had an idea for them that I couldn’t wait to share with Sejin oppa. I made my way down the hallway at the company, heading to the dance studio. I usually stopped by to see if anyone were practicing and would stay and watch for a little bit if I could. Even if no one was in the room, the light usually stayed on. But for some reason, it was pitch black.

I slowly opened the door to walk in and started touching the nearby wall to find the light switch. I halted my actions when I saw a flicker of a light in the far corner of the room and started to hear some voices sing. It took me a second to register what was going on, but when I did it had me really surprised. I finally got the lights on for the last line of the happy birthday song and saw the eight people, all seven members of BTS and Sejin oppa, in the room. They were holding a cake and harmonized the last note both comically, but somehow beautifully at the same time.

I had completely forgotten today’s date. It was December 7, my 20th birthday. Their surprise had me floored. I wasn’t expecting anything like this. “Oh my gosh, guys. What is all this?”

“It’s a surprise, noona!” Hoseok said excitedly.

“You didn’t think we’d forget your birthday, did you?” Namjoon said with a smile.

“Yah, blow out the candle quick,” Yoongi, who was the one holding the cake, whined. “Before it burns my hands off.”

I chuckled, and quickly tried to think of a wish. Only one thing came to my mind, and I blew it out before he could complain any further. “Actually, I forgot about it myself.”

“How did you forget?” Seokjin asked. “You just told me happy birthday three days ago, and you somehow forgot yours so quickly?”

“I’ve just been so wrapped up in work the past couple days that it escaped my mind,” I said. “This is really sweet guys, thank you so much.” I made sure to hug each of them individually, including Sejin oppa.

“We wanted to get you a gift, but we don’t have any money,” Jungkook said, frowning.

I smiled as I comfortingly pat his head, “It’s alright Kookie. I have everything I need right here.”

“That was pretty cheesy,” Hoseok said, cringing a little.

I poked him in his side. “But it’s true!”

“Did you make a wish, noona?” Taehyung asked as he wrapped his arms around my neck from behind.

“I did. But if I tell it won’t come true,” I teased. The only thing I could think of as a wish was for BTS’ successful debut. And superstition or not, I wasn’t about to ruin a wish that important. “Don’t you guys have schedules today?”

“They’re all free today,” Sejin oppa responded.

“What about you oppa?” I asked.

“Oh, I have a few things to take care of, but not much.” Sejin replied. “But as for you, you’re taking the day off.”

“What? Why?”

“Because we want to play with you!” Tae jumped up and down, his arms still around me.

I laughed. “You guys just said you don’t have money, so what are we supposed to do?”

“Do you like games?” Jimin asked, a playful glint in his eyes.

“Well, yeah.” I raised my eyebrows. “What kind of games are we talking about?”

I was turned around and being pushed toward the door. “Let’s go!” Seokjin exclaimed as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

I turned back to say goodbye to Sejin who just laughed and waved us away.

They took me back to their dorm, where they had a bunch of snacks prepared in the kitchen and decks of cards and board games in the living room.

Taehyung tugged me by the arm towards the living room excitedly. “What do you want to play first, noona?” He asked with the biggest smile on his face.

The silent air in the room was full of tension. We sat in a circle on the floor, our eyes all on Jungkook, waiting to see what move he was going to make. All of our fates rested on his shoulders, and it was obvious how nervous he was.

Finally, he made his move, which elicited a cry from Yoongi next to him. “Seriously?!” He drew another card from the Uno deck pile, upset that his win was thwarted.

Then from next to him, Seokjin cheered as he threw his last card on top of the green one Jungkook placed just a few seconds ago. He stood up, pumping a fist into the air. “Yes! I won!”

“Wait what?!” I exclaimed. “Since when were you on uno?”

The rest of the boys released grunts of frustration, some sprawling out on the floor.

He just winked at me. “I’m the master of this game, (Y/n). Never underestimate my skills.”

“I still can’t figure out how this game works!” Taehyung said, messing his hair with his free hand while at least 20 cards were in his other.

I had completely lost track of how long we had been playing games. All I knew was that I hadn’t won a single one yet. I had no idea just how competitive all seven of these boys were until tonight. But even if I didn’t win, I was having the most fun I’d had in a long time.

“What should we do next?” Jungkook asked, stuffing a handful of chips into his mouth.

“Can’t we just go to sleep now?” Yoongi responded.

“You’ve said that every time we’re done with a game,” Seokjin said.

The group started chatting and laughing amongst themselves. I smiled and released a content sigh as I leaned my head on the shoulder to the left of me. It was Namjoon’s.

“Everything alright, noona?” he asked quietly.

I nodded. “I just feel so happy right now.” I wrapped my arms around his waist.

He flashed his cute dimple smile and placed his hand on my head, lightly stroking my hair. “Sometimes I question why I deal with them, but then there’s times like this when I just can’t help but feel they’re so lovable.”

I chuckled. “That sounds like our leader.”

“Noona!” Hoseok suddenly yelled.

I straightened up at the sudden sound. “What?”

“Jimin is saying I’m not as cute as him,” Hoseok said, frowning. “But I can be cute, too! See?” He proceeded to make a few aegyo poses, making high-pitched cooing noises to try to add to the effect.

“Oh come on, that’s not as cute as me,” Jimin retaliated, slightly pushing his hyung to make him lose his balance where he was sitting. “Aren’t I cuter, noona?” He followed Hoseok in making a bunch of poses to prove his point.

I turned to my left and made eye contact with Namjoon, then looked back at the two boys who were looking pretty ridiculous at this point in their aegyo battle before I broke out into laughter, falling onto my back.

“Yeah, that ‘lovable’ moment didn’t last too long.” Namjoon stood up to walk away, shaking his head.

At some point, everyone decided they wanted to watch a movie. But none of us seemed to be paying all too much attention to it as there was still a lot of conversing going on, and a some of the members were starting to have trouble staying awake. I sat in between Taehyung and Seokjin. When I felt Taehyung’s head rest itself on my shoulder, I looked over to see his eyes shut and his breathing seeming to slow. I started to stroke his hair and placed a light kiss on the top of his head.

He straightened up at the gesture and looked at me, a bit of a shocked look in his eyes. “Noona, what was that for?”

“Sorry,” I responded, rubbing the back of my neck with my hand. “It just felt comfortable in the moment. Was it weird? I won’t do it again.”

Tae smiled and shook his head. “No, it’s not weird. I was just shocked is all.” He placed his head back on my shoulder, nuzzling in a little closer this time.

I chuckled and placed my hand back where it was, lightly stroking the boy’s hair as I felt him fall asleep.

Eventually the ending credits for the movie rolled, and the energy that once filled the room became calm. A few of the members were either already asleep or starting to doze off, and those still awake were obviously worn out.

“(Y/n),” Jin spoke up from beside me, “when is your meeting with PD-nim?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t heard anything yet,” I responded.

“You’ll be able to stay right?” Jungkook chimed in. I thought he was already asleep, but apparently not.

“We’ll have to see, Kook-ah.” I offered him a smile. “To be honest, I have no idea how it’ll go.”

“You don’t think it’s been going well?” Yoongi asked. I was kind of shocked he wasn’t asleep, seeing as he’d been laying down with the hood from his hoodie pulled over his eyes for quite a while now.

“I mean, I feel like it has. But I also haven’t had the chance to do that many actual managerial things yet. It’s mostly been learning and training with Sejin oppa. The most I got to do was communicate with others in the company about getting things ready for your debut. How can I prove that I’ll be good at the job when I haven’t really had a chance to do it yet?”

“I know you’ll do well, noona,” Tae said somewhat groggily, his head still on my shoulder as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

I rested my head on top of his. “To be honest, I still can’t figure out why he hired me in the first place. I’m young, don’t even have any experience, a foreigner, and am college student. Like, what could he possibly have seen in me that he wanted to put your guys’ future in my hands?”

“I don’t think those things really matter,” Yoongi said. He turned on his side and pulled his hood up enough so his eyes could meet mine. “If you haven’t noticed, PD-nim doesn’t think conventionally. Yeah, others would think you are under-qualified and want some type of proof you’d do well. But there must have been something about you not on paper that impressed him.”

I felt Taehyung nod his head against my shoulder. “If I was a CEO, I’d hire you in a heartbeat, no matter what job it was.”

I laughed. “Thanks, Taetae.” I looked around at all the sleepy boys, then checked my phone to see what time it was. “It’s late, guys. You should all get to sleep. You still have stuff to do tomorrow.”

“But noona,” a very sleepy sounding Jimin whined from where he laid on Namjoon’s lap, “We’re having so much fun, I don’t want to go to sleep yet.”

“Says the one who fell asleep on my lap,” Namjoon chuckled.

Jimin sat up quickly. “I’m refreshed and ready for round two.” He tried so hard to sound energetic, but it just came out sounding sleepy.

Namjoon grabbed his shoulders to start guiding him to the bedroom. “Let’s go to sleep, Jimin-ah.”

“Oh, we’re going to sleep now?” A heavy-lidded Hoseok sat up on the floor. “I have some clothes you can change into, noona. I’ll go get them for you.”

“Thank you Hobi,” I said, yawning. I turned my attention to Tae who was still attached to my side. “Taehyung-ah, you should go to sleep.”

“I’m staying here,” he replied.

“No, you should sleep in your bed.”

He whined, still refusing to budge. I couldn’t help but think how adorable the sight was. But Seokjin luckily came to my rescue and pried Tae away from my arm to take him to their room.

“Good night, (Y/n),” Jin smiled as they left the living room. I waved in response.

Jungkook and Yoongi lazily followed suit, as Hoseok brought me a set of comfy clothes.

“Thank you, Hoseok.” I took them and started walking toward the bathroom. “Maybe I should consider bringing my own set of pajamas here in case I’m dragged here unexpectedly again.”

Hoseok came over to wrap me in a hug before saying, “Good night, noona. And thank you.”

I returned his embrace. “Thank you for what?”

“For hanging out with us tonight,” he elaborated. “We haven’t had a chance to have fun like this in quite a while, and to be honest the members all really needed this. This was a gift for all of us. And we had so much more fun because you were here too, so thank you for joining us. We all really appreciate it.”

I smiled as we released each other from the hug and placed my hands on either side of his face. “Anything for my boys.”

I woke up to my alarm at 6:30 the next morning, and quickly got up to take a shower and get ready before carefully making my way into the bedroom where all seven members were still sleeping to wake them up. We needed to be at the company by 8 today, so there was no time to waste.

I started trying to wake them up, but they were all being stubborn this morning, not wanting to budge. I nudged their shoulders, talked to them, and even tried pulling some of their blankets off. But there was no reaction.

I retreated to the living room to get my phone, found the most annoying alarm sound I could and made an alarm for one minute away, setting my phone volume at maximum. I stood at the doorway to their room, holding the phone as far away from my ears as possible while waiting for the alarm to go off.

As soon as it did, a few of the boys instantly sat up in bed, shocked at the sudden noise. Others just squirmed around uncomfortably, hoping it would stop.

“Come on guys!” I said loudly so they’d hear me over the alarm. “Time to get up, you sleepyheads!”

I started hearing whining noises from a few of the beds.

“Noona, turn it off,” Namjoon said, dragging out the last syllable.

I decided to comply, satisfied that I at least got them all to no longer be asleep.

“Guys, we have to leave in half an hour,” I said. “You better be ready in 20 minutes.”

Namjoon, Hoseok, and Seokjin climbed out of their beds while the others remained laying down, continuing to grumble.

I left waking up the rest to the three that got out of bed while I went to the living room and focused on my phone to give them privacy to get ready.

Surprisingly, they were all ready within the twenty minutes I requested, although some of them were still trying to fully wake up.

“Noona, that was pretty harsh, waking us up like that,” Jungkook said.

I raised my eyebrows. “Well, none of you seemed to set any alarms, and when I tried to wake you up nicely you didn’t budge. So, I did what I needed to.”

“I mean she is our manager, so she can’t just be our friend all the time,” Seokjin noted.

I nodded in agreement. “Alright, time to go guys.”

We all walked to the company together, with only a little chatting since some of them – especially the ’95 line – were still not fully awake. My first stop when we got there was Sejin oppa’s office. I needed to talk to him today about an idea I had.

We needed to try to get BTS’ name out there before they debut. It wasn’t easy since we were a small company and don’t have the money to spend on a lot of advertising. But I had thought of something just the other day, which I had intended to bring up yesterday before I knew I would be spending the day with the boys.

I knocked on the door before opening it, and was happy to see he was already here. “Good morning, oppa,” I greeted with a smile and slight head bow.

“Good morning,” Sejin responded. “Did you guys have a good time yesterday?”

“Yes, we did. We had a lot of fun. But don’t worry, I got them all here on time today.”

“That’s great to hear,” he responded with a smile. “I’m sure it was a good break, not only for you but for the boys too.”

I nodded and slowly approached the chair across from him to sit in. I wasn’t quite sure why, but I suddenly felt pretty nervous about offering my idea. I guess I was worried it wouldn’t be good.

Sejin oppa must have noticed my hesitancy because he asked, “What is it, (Y/n)? Do you have something you need to say?”

I took in a deep breath before speaking. “I just had an idea for something the boys could do for promoting themselves before debut.”

“Oh, really? That’s great. I actually have a meeting with a team who’s working on that on Monday, and I was intending on bringing you with me. Why don’t you tell all of us about it then?”

If I felt nervous telling just Sejin oppa,d then I had a full swarm of butterflies in my stomach at the idea of needing to tell others. “I can’t just tell you now?”

Sejin chuckled. “I get that you’re nervous. Don’t think I haven’t noticed during the past few months that you have a tendency to get shy and nervous about talking to people who you aren’t as comfortable with.” He paused, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Take this as an opportunity to step out of your shell a bit. You’ll need it if you intend to stay with us.”

I slowly nodded my head.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Now, how about you head to your acting and vocal lessons?”

Series Masterlist

Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9

Tags: @calling-dips-on-j-hope

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#BTS #fanfic #BTS x reader #thebtswritersclub #If I Never Met You #IINMY #Manager!reader #Idol!au #jin #seokjin #suga #yoongi #j-hope #hoseok #rm #namjoon #jimin #v #taehyung #jungkook #fluff

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