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mimisempai · 1 year

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I want to be the one who makes you happy

Summary

Bill, still stunned by Frank's surprise with the strawberries, searches for a way to repay his lover. When he finds the solution, he will have to make some compromises, and then he will have to turn to someone he does not like very much: Joel Miller. But if it's for Frank...

Notes

Still amazed by the strawberry scene...

On AO3

Rating G - 2535 words

As he finished clearing away the breakfast dishes, Bill's eyes fell on the small basket of strawberries in the middle of the table.

Thinking back to the previous day and the incredible surprise Frank had created for him, he couldn't help but smile.

It had been almost six years since they had been together, but his lover always found a way to surprise him. He had a knack for finding little details about Bill's life, memories he had almost forgotten, and bringing them to light.

He had found an old, faded photograph of Bill when he was five years old. He was sitting among the rows of strawberry plants in his mother's vegetable garden, his hands and mouth reddened by the flesh of the fruit he had obviously just enjoyed. That was all it took for Frank to come up with this little surprise. But Bill told himself that the extraordinary joy he had felt biting into the berries after such a long time was nothing compared to the joy Frank's presence had brought into his life. And, of course, he wondered if he could do the same for Frank.

Frank had the opportunity to know a lot about Bill, in addition to what Bill had told him, since they both lived in the house where Bill had spent his entire life, filled with memories. Bill only had what Frank told him about his past life and had no other way to find out about his lover.

So what would make Frank happy?

It was not an option for him to ask directly, as he wanted it to be a surprise for him as well. Bill wanted to be able to read the same joy on Frank's face that he must have felt when Frank had taken him to the strawberry patch.

After putting everything away, Bill went to open the windows to let the warm summer morning air into the house. A light breeze surprised him, and his eyes were drawn to a piece of paper that flew out of the book Frank was reading and left on the coffee table. He rushed to grab the paper to keep it from flying away. He picked it up and gasped when he saw what was on it. It was a portrait of himself, drawn in pencil. A portrait of him at the piano. A portrait of him playing and singing just as he had the day Frank came into his life. On the bottom right was the date, a few days after their first meeting. He turned the small piece of paper over and saw something scribbled on it. He looked closer and gasped again.

"Bill-First Steps to Love."

He was so stunned that he had to sit in the chair and look at the black and white drawing for a long time. He had always been very conscious of his appearance. He knew very well that there was nothing particularly appealing about him. He had never found himself physically attractive in any way. But there, for the first time, under what could only be the tip of Frank's pencil, he saw himself as his lover saw him. He found himself almost beautiful.

Then, a little embarrassed, as if he had discovered a secret that was not meant for him, he quickly put the piece of paper back in the book and the book back in its place. Still a little dazed, he closed the windows and decided to go about his daily routine.

He called up the stairs, "Frank! I'm going to reinforce the fence, I think I'll be back in two hours.

Frank called back from the bathroom, "Got it! See you later and be careful!"

Bill's eyes slid over the book once more before he left the house, thinking again about Frank's drawing. He thought about it all morning and it was while he was reattaching one of the barbed wires that he had an epiphany.

He knew exactly what to do for Frank.

How to make him as happy as he had been the day before.

He needed art supplies.

The only unknown was how to get them.

He knew that there was nothing in town that even remotely resembled painting and drawing supplies. Which meant he would have to do something he really didn't want to do.

Contact Joel.

For some reason, he didn't like the other man very much, maybe because, as Frank had told him, they were similar in some ways, paranoia first. But the fact that Joel had never used their relationship to get anything out of him made Bill trust him. A little.

And then, he was doing it for Frank after all. For him, he could put up with Joel for a few minutes.

When Bill came home two hours later, he called Frank. No one answered and he found a note on the dining room table.

I went to see if there were any strawberries left, I'll be back by noon. Love. Frank.

Love.

That little four-letter word was enough to give him the courage to contact Joel. Bill went down to his basement, stood in front of the radio and played the playlist of 80's music.

He waited only a few minutes.

"HeyJoel, it's Bill."

"Hi Bill."

There was a moment of silence and then Joel continued, "Bill?! Never in my life did I think you'd ever contact us! After all, it's usually Frank who does that!"

I'm doing this for Frank. I'm doing this for Frank.

Bill repeated this phrase to himself several times to keep from ending the call, and then dryly replied to Joel, "Wipe that smug smile off your face, Miller.

Joel scoffs, "How can you say I have that smug smile when you can't see me?"

I'm doing this for Frank. I'm doing this for Frank.

Bill sighed and continued, "Never mind. I wanted to ask you something. Tess isn't here by any chance, is she?"

At least Tess seemed a little more understanding. But Joel replied, his tone clearly amused, "No, buddy. Sorry you have to deal with me."

I'm doing this for Frank. I'm doing this for Frank.

Bill took a deep breath and explained the reason for his call. "Here, I know you managed to extort a gun for a packet of seeds from my... from Frank."

Joel immediately protested at the end of the line, "What? What do you mean extort? He was the one who offered it, I would have given a lot less, but since he did that, I don't see the problem. You two share everything, right? With your... with Frank."

That little bastard!

Bill took another long breath to calm himself and said, "Yeah, well, that's not really the point. Here, I'm willing to offer you..."

He had to pause at the enormity of what he was about to say.

I'm doing this for Frank. I'm doing this for Frank.

He continued, "I'm willing to offer you anything you want from my weaponry if you can get me some art supplies, like canvas, charcoal, paint, whatever." He added, "This is for Frank."

There was silence at the end of the line, then Joel asked, "Anything I want from your guns? Telle me, have you been drinking, Bill?"

Bill replied curtly, "Shut up and don't make me repeat it, you got it right."

"Okay..." Joel chuckled, then there was a moment of silence before he replied, "While I'm very interested in your offer, I can't promise you anything that I'm not sure I have. But I'll see what I can do, I'll get back to you in, say... 48 hours and we'll discuss your offer then."

Bill simply replied, "Okay," then more reluctantly, "Thanks."

"Bye, Bill.” then Joel chuckled and added, “Say hello to your boyfriend."

This time Bill said out loud, "Bastard!" but the communication was cut off after Joel's farewell.

Forty-eight hours.

To say that those forty-eight hours were the longest of Bill's life would have been an understatement, for now that he knew what he wanted to give Frank, he couldn't wait to see his face light up with joy when he received it.

So, forty-eight hours later, he waited impatiently by the radio for Joel's call. When the music finally changed, he picked up the radio and called, "Joel?"

The other man answered immediately, "Bill, hi. So let's get right to it, I found a couple of canvases, assorted papers and blocks, a fairly substantial charcoal set, several boxes of watercolors and brushes. That's all I have."

Bill replied without a second thought, "It's already more than I expected. I'll take it all. So go ahead and name your price."

He repeated to himself that he was doing this for Frank and prepared himself for Joel's request.

He heard the other man cough and then Joel spoke up, "I...I don't want any of your guns or anything like that." Frank, surprised, was about to ask what he wanted when Joel interrupted him and continued, "All I want is for Frank to make a portrait of Tess. Something...that...I could keep on me."

It was a good thing Bill was sitting down or he would have fallen to the floor in shock.

"Are you sure? No gun, no ammo or anything?"

He heard Joel sigh on the other end as the man replied with exasperation, "Yeah, don't make me say it again."

Bill simply replied, "Deal."

They agreed on a place to meet halfway between their two locations before cutting off communication.

And a few days later, after a few little lies or distortions of the truth, it was he who led Frank, hands over his eyes, to his surprise.

"Bill, what are you..."

Bill, still with his hands over Frank's eyes, whispered in his ear, "It's a surprise, you'll see soon enough."

He spun Frank around the house several times so that he wouldn't guess where they were going and finally led him to the room he thought would be ideal for this activity.

It was the small sun room at the back of the house, which had the advantage of getting sunlight all day long because it was on the south side.

He had managed to get everything in order, building an easel and arranging the materials he had collected from Joel. He had put a comfortable chair in the corner and some of the green plants that Frank liked so much. He was quite pleased with the result, but was still nervous about revealing his surprise to his lover.

He murmured, "Here we are..." and removed his hands from Frank's eyes, standing next to him to watch his face.

He saw Frank's expression change from one of confusion to astonishment to wonder.

"Wow..." Frank muttered in awe, then moved over to the easel where a blank canvas lay and turned to Bill and asked, "May I?"

Bill nodded gently and Frank moved his hand forward, touching the canvas with his fingertips, almost reverently. He whispered again, "Wow..."

Then he turned to Bill and asked, "But how...I mean, how did you know I...and how did you get this material?"

Bill sheepishly replied, "Two weeks ago, the day after your wonderful surprise, I...accidentally came across your drawing of me...in your book. And so I contacted Joel, who-"

He was interrupted by Frank, who had just wrapped his arms around his neck and crushed his mouth to his own.

He responded to the passionate kiss and wrapped his arms around Frank's waist. When they pulled apart to catch their breath, Frank whispered, panting, "You... you are amazing. I know I never told you this...but the part of my life I had to give up, my studio, my painting supplies, all my paintings, it just hurts too much to think about. And since then I've resigned myself to just doing little sketches here and there like the one you saw. But now you're not only giving me the means to paint again, but you've created a space for me, in your home..." He paused, seeing Frank's expression, "Sorry. In our home. What you just did for me, Bill, is... it's huge."

Bill raised his hand and brushed Frank's hair back, "As huge as what you did by growing strawberries for me."

Frank leaned into Bill's hand and asked, "Why did you do that? And what did it cost you?"

Bill replied quietly, "Technically, you're the one who's going to pay for it, because all Joel wanted was a portrait of Tess. And the reason I did it is simply because I wanted to do something for you that would make you happy."

Frank turned his head into Bill's hand and kissed the palm of it before he replied affectionately, "Oh, Bill, you know that you have nothing to do or to offer me that would make me happy. Over six years ago you opened your door to me, shared your shower, your food, your..." He winked at him before continuing, "...bed, with me. You gave me a chance to live instead of survive. And most of all, you gave me your love. I'm perfectly happy as it is. You don't have to do anything more to make me happy."

Bill added, almost coyly, "There's something else... a slightly more selfish reason... when... when I saw your drawing. I mean, the one you made of me, I found myself..." Bill stopped, feeling stupid about what he was about to say, and Frank encouraged him, squeezing his hand gently, "You found yourself what?"

Bill swallowed, his voice barely above a whisper as he replied, "Beautiful."

Frank lifted his hand and traced the contours of Bill's face with his fingers, responding tenderly, "Of course you are beautiful."

Then he pressed his lips to Bill's again in a tender kiss. When he pulled away, he said with a mischievous look, "And now I'm going to draw you so many times that you'll only be able to see yourself through my eyes."

Bill shook his head, "You don't have to do that, you... I didn't offer you this for..."

Frank, who had already begun to sit down in front of his easel, interrupted him, "Shhh, first of all, don't interrupt the artist's inspiration, and secondly, know that I only paint what I love."

Bill raised his hands in surrender, "Okay, okay..." he kissed Frank's hair lightly and asked softly, "Mind if I stay and watch you paint?"

"Not at all."

With a broad smile on his lips, Frank picked up some charcoal and weighed it in his hand. Bill sat down on the comfortable wicker chair in the corner of the sunroom and positioned himself so that he could watch Frank.

He watched his lover for a long time, and what fascinated him most was not Frank's hand as it skillfully ran across the canvas. He couldn't take his eyes off his lover's face, which wore an expression of wonder. An expression of pure joy.

At that moment, Bill felt more elated than he had ever felt before, knowing that he was the one who had brought that expression to the face of the one he loved.

_________

Still not beta'd

Still not my native language

Still hoping you'll enjoy this story 🥰

Still thanking you for bearing with me 😝

Bill and Frank masterlist : here

#the last of us #the last of us spoilers #the last of us show #bill the last of us #frank the last of us #bill and frank #bill x frank #true love #strawberry lovers #the last of us fanfiction #established relationship

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nickmaghighlights · 10 months

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Nick Mag Highlights - #20 April 1996

Greetings and various apropos felicitations. Once again it’s time for another issue of Nick Mag Highlights! Today we’ll be heading back to the 90’s and taking a trip through issue #20. Ready to see if this “Mega Movie Issue'' is really as mega as it says? Then let’s get on with the show!

Man, that cover is a blast from the past for me, and it might just be the same for some of you. I haven't seen the film adaptation of James and The Giant Peach ever since I was a kid. I forget how I even first experienced it, since I couldn’t have seen it in theaters and I never owned a physical copy. I think a babysitter put it on for me once.

Whatever the case, despite the time it's been I can still envision a smattering of visuals and emotions from the experience. So it must’ve been good if it’s managed to still stick with me positively all these years later. I guess a grade-a art style and memorable visuals will do that for a film. So as shallow as these behind-the-scenes “previews” tend to be when it comes to Nick Magazine, I’m still excited to go down memory lane and hopefully gleam one or two cool bits of trivia.

Beyond my nostalgia bias though I’ve gotta say I’m surprised by the lack of promises this cover is making. A preview of James and The Giant Peach and a “Special Flip Book” is all you’ve got to wow the proverbial audience here, Nick? Even issue #1 promised more content on its cover to grab your attention if Ren & Stimpy weren’t enough for you. Let’s hope 20 issues in they weren’t starting to struggle for content.

You can read along too, if that’s what you wanna do. The issue’s right here.

Alright, go ahead and roll your eyes, but I’ve got a thing or two to say about this Cheetos ad. Or rather, “Chee●tos”, as it's called here and would be titled as such until Frito-Lays dropped the hyphen from the name in 1998. Not the worst name change, if I’m being honest.

First off, let’s just bask in the moment for a second. This is a wacky snack from the 90’s, even a “spinoff snack”, if you will, of a still very popular snack brand… that hasn’t been brought back to capitalize on nostalgia!

Yes, Cheesy Checkers have yet to return to shelves since their discontinuation in ‘98. Suffice to say, I’m stunned. In a world where Ecto-Cooler returned from the grave, Trix Yogurt is still readily available, Boo Berry, Count Chocula and all those other monster-themed cereals manifest themselves every Halloween, and the McRib seems to come back whenever the heck it feels like, Cheetos Cheesy Checkers of all things is barred from re-entry into the mainstream to take advantage of your sorely missed childhood.

Guess they really just weren’t popular enough? You can’t capitalize on nostalgia if there’s no nostalgia to capitalize on, after all. And yet it seems like a foolproof idea for a snack if you ask me. Waffles and waffle fries have already proven that checkerboard patterns are naturally delicious. And on top of that it even had a rad commercial featuring an awesome Chester Cheetah puppet. What’s not to like? I guess 33% more cheese is crossing the line of “Dangerously Cheesy” into something more like… “Hazardously Cheesy”.

Oh, and by the way. I may have never had a bag of Cheesy Checkers, but I sincerely doubt the snack pieces were that big. You really want me to believe one checker is nearly 1/3rd the size of this magazine page? They don’t even look that big in the commercial.

Just like the cover said, this is indeed a movie-themed issue. And I’ve got good news regarding this: I actually know about movies! Well, I like movies, anyway. Okay, I know more about movies than I do about music, which should mean my dissection of the content at hand will be a little more thoughtful than my retrospective of the music-based issue from last time. Hopefully, anyway.

Can’t help but feel these jokes are trying a little too hard. I guess when you’ve got to come up with twenty and base them all off of movies and TV shows, it can’t be easy. It probably doesn’t help either that there’s only like, three or four good puns in the whole world to begin with.

Anyway, look. Bugs Bunny in Nickelodeon Magazine. Woah.

Well, it’s a little less surprising for those, ahem, in the know.

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Nickelodeon actually aired Looney Tunes shorts for more than ten years, from 1988 to 1999. Once Warner Bros. established their new kids’ entertainment channel, Cartoon Network, they were pretty quick to take back their old school cartoons to bolster their numbers a bit. Although even following the departure of the classic Looney Tunes, Nickelodeon would go on to license other Warner Bros. content for their channel in the following years, airing shows such as Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures in the early 2000s.

Oh, how convenient! Now I can prove my film expertise by trouncing this quiz and-

Hey! Some kid already answered two of the questions. Well now there’s no point in doing the quiz now. Its sanctity has been compromised.

But yeah, this book’s been written in just a bit. Sorry if that bothers you, but it’s not like I can clean the pages off. I do kinda wish the scan was totally clean just for the sake of archival purposes, but as long as the marks stay minor I’m not too picky. If anything I guess it helps make things a little more interesting. Kinda adds to the whole “time capsule” aspect of it, doesn’t it?

Shouldn’t be an issue so long as it’s not-

Ah, criminy! The kid got me again! Now this is stepping over the line. Answering a quiz question or two is one thing, but completely solving the hidden pictures puzzle promoting the home video release of Babe? That sours my mood. I don’t even feel like watching Babe now.

This a neat activity: a screenplay for two kids to act out and potentially film like a home movie. It actually caught me off guard with its originality, and in hindsight it seems like a no-brainer. Kids love to play pretend after all, and I know I certainly loved shooting little movies with my family’s cheap digital camera. Well, here kids, we came up with the story for you. Go nuts. Not to mention it's a good excuse to whip up a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches.

Here’s a nifty fun fact for you: The writer of this screenplay activity, David Lewman, has basically been on Nickelodeon’s speed dial since the 90’s. He’s written tons of Nickelodeon tie-in books, spanning a bunch of different franchises including SpongeBob SquarePants, Jimmy Neutron, Rugrats, among many others. If you’ve read a SpongeBob book before, I say look him up. There’s a good chance you were reading something of his.

Kind of nice of them to make a whole game out of their adspace, eh? I mean, I’m guessing the amount of people who played isn’t particularly high, but… uh… The art is cool!

Speaking of the art, you never see these mascots in 2D anymore. Which I find unfortunate because I think they look a lot cuter and tolerable here.

Also wow, you can see the orange and brown candies before their designs were finalized. Or before their transitions, either or. Very proud of them regardless!

Pretty awesome article here about some of the gimmicks that filmmakers tried out during the black-and-white days of cinema. Love a bit of history alongside my Nickelodeon.

While we’re here, I’d like to contribute my own similar black-and-white movie gimmick factoid that I find amusing:

In 1961, a film called Mr. Sardonicus featured a gimmick called the “Punishment Poll”, where each audience member was given a card to decide the fate of the titular villain, Mr. Sardonicus, by either showing the side of their card with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on it right before the end of the film. Once the total was tallied, the theater was supposed to show the ending with the most votes.

The funny part is that the movie only has one ending. The gimmick was just a total lie and the only ending filmed was the one with the negative outcome for Mr. Sardonicus, so I guess the director was pretty confident that potential audiences would mostly be comprised of sadists that want to see a bad guy get his comeuppance.

Speaking of the director, Mr. Sardonicus just so happened to be directed by a mister William Castle, who also directed four out of the six films listed in the magazine article here. Guess those gimmicks really were good for profits.

Imagine watching a whole movie while sitting in a pool. Now stop imagining! I don’t like that very much. Your eyelids would prune shut before you could even see the ending.

Man, all these movie gimmicks and funky types of theaters is making me wish I was around when movies were more of an event. Y’know? The movie theater experience has pretty much been ironed out at this point, so the idea of watching the big screen outside or with the looming possibility of a big plastic skeleton popping out and waving around is particularly alluring. Take note, modern movie theaters, this may be your way of competing with streaming!

What? No, it doesn’t bother me at all that whoever owned this magazine already filled out this Sanrio quiz advertisement. Why would I be ENRAGED and UPSET about that!?!? IT'S NOT EVEN A BIG DEAL!!

… Anyway this ad is weird. I guess they didn't know how to market Sanrio in the west yet*. Cause I'm not exactly the most familiar but I'm pretty confident blaring red and yellow colors and funky multicolor Wow! text isn't exactly befitting of the Sanrio spirit. Also there's not really any point to the quiz. It's not like you can mail in your answers and get a free Hello Kitty lunchbox or something. I guess they just figured that kids love quizzes and will always jump at the opportunity to do them, circling the correct responses in permanent pen ink, and causing them to not consider the possibility that someoNE MIGHT WANT TO READ THE MAGAZINE AD AFTER THEM AND WOULD WANT IT MAINTAINED IN PEAK CLEANLINESS FOR THE SAKE OF THE SANCTITY OF THEIR ONLINE BLOG i must calm myself.

*Which is weird to me, because Hello Kitty feels like one of those characters who’s always been popular. Like Mickey Mouse or Steven Spielburg.

Don’t mind me, just gonna insert this contest page here so that if I ever do the issue that contains the actual responses, I can link back to here and go full circle. Pretty excited to someday see the responses! I wonder what they could be. I also wonder why you had to include a phone number with your response. Maybe Tommy Pickles congratulated you on the phone?

Okay, so I think this issue might be missing pages. I can’t prove that exactly, considering I don’t have the real thing sitting in front of me, but the way this ad has text that’s oddly cut off on the right side leads me to believe this was a two page spread originally. Maybe not, maybe the magazine was really like this and it's a printing error, maybe they spilled juice on the design document for page two and couldn’t fix it in time for publishing.

Whatever the case, I really wish I had that Aaahh!!! Real Monsters hat.

A rather understated cover for this edition of The Comic Book, and I can appreciate it. Simple and effective bit of zaniness with a spin on the old “fake-can-with-a-scary-thing-that-pops-out-when-you-open-it” gag. This comes to us from award-winning illustrator Jim Woodring, who’s got probably one of the nicest websites of any artist I’ve mentioned on this blog so far, so kudos. I took a look through his gallery, and it’s a lovely trip, so go take a look if you want some eye candy.

Been a while since we’ve last seen the Southern Fried Fugitives on this blog, one of Nick Magazine’s earliest recurring comic series. Unfortunately they’re not exactly in top form here, I’d say, even as someone who’s not the biggest fan of the comic to begin with. This is essentially a bit of filler so they could make their deadline and finish up the next “all new real adventure” that this episode tells you of at the end. I mean, I get it, this comic usually spanned a full three or four pages, I’m sure they took quite a bit of time. I just don’t really appreciate being shown a gross naked stitched up chicken.

A great hidden picture puzzle here, I could see kids having a lot of fun with this one and just looking through all the art. I guess my only issue would be that none of the answers are exactly hidden, since almost every figure in the page is related to one of the film titles below. But that’s a small nitpick considering that for just one activity of a much larger publication, it’s still pretty entertaining and eye-catching.

And here we’ve got ourselves what the powers at be call Smudgy and Scribbly. A comic about two inventive robots that I thought were supposed to be pencil erasers at first considering their names. I’m not sure if these abstract little guys ever had more than one or a couple of comics, but I know they didn’t stick around forever, since this is the first time I’m hearing of them. They’re cute! They’re fun! They don’t have a lot of personality per se, but that’s okay, because they eat fruit cocktails. And that’s a lesson for the kids.

I’ve been really impressed with this issue so far! They’ve really been making the most of the movie theme, what with aforementioned stuff like the quality movie gimmick article and the nice hidden picture puzzle. And to top it all off now we’ve even got an interview with Siskel & Ebert, two of the most famous film critics of all time. I’m not even sure how many kids at the time would appreciate this sort of thing, but whoever did must’ve been pretty happy. Said interview was conducted about three years before Siskel’s incredibly unfortunate passing, and three years after being parodied in an episode of Doug.

Anyway, yeah the interview questions are really silly, but that’s pretty par for the course by now. I just think it’s just cool they’re even in an issue of Nickelodeon Magazine at all.

Talking about the calendar included with each issue has become a bit of a tradition for this blog by now, hasn’t it? Although I’m sure I probably forgot to mention it one time. Overall this one’s not bad, it’s chock-full of facts and the little set-up & punchline at the Charlie Chaplin section is a ‘lil funny. And I think it’s sort of themed around artisans, maybe? Well worth being pinned on your bedroom door if you ask me, the only problem is that you’d also be ripping out a page of the Siskel & Ebert interview that’s printed on the back of this. At least the kid who wrote all over the magazine showed some restraint there.

Oh come on… I spoke too soon about showing restraint. The kid ripped out the flip book! What a trick… now I’ll never know what it looks like. At least we have the instructions here, which also could be doubly used for instructions on how to make your own flipbook by following the format, which is cool. Sorry for anyone who clicked on this post because you wanted to see the flipbook specifically. Sorry to you.

Moving past a five page article about the history of movies and movie effects (which is solid but doesn’t have much for me to say about), we now come across the cover story: James and the Giant Peach. And this is an alright interview, but it’s especially good for Nickelodeon Magazine! The questions for the film’s director, Henry Selick (director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline, among others), actually allow for some pretty nice informative detail regarding the process of stop-motion animation and how aspects of it work. For an interview intended for kids, this is great, especially for ones with an interest in the medium.

Interviews, interviews, and more interviews! If you’ve ever wanted to learn all that you could ever want to know Kenan & Kel, these are the pages for you. It’s nice to hear that apparently these guys were good friends off set, I guess. But y’know it’s never really bothered me finding out that seemingly inseparable co-stars actually aren’t best friends in real life like it does for a lot of people, I can still watch MythBusters perfectly fine even if I know Adam and Jamie aren’t going to go get drinks together after they finish dropping a car off a mountain for science. Acting’s still a job and I’m not expecting people to become friends just because they both stand in front of the same camera.

But hey, if K&K really were as good of friends as this magazine says, that’s really cool for them. Pretty lucky too, since this was just mere months away from the premiere of their own All That spinoff show, Kenan & Kel, which ran for four years, and less than a year before the premiere of their own movie, Good Burger*, so being friendly must’ve helped when they were spending that much time together. Not to mention they’re getting back together for Good Burger 2, so I guess when your legacies are so intrinsically tied together, I guess you’re bound to find some things to like about each other.

*One of my favorite comedies by the way, and no I’m not sorry. There’s very few films that match its vibes.

Feels like I should mention the 9th annual Kids’ Choice Awards was just around the corner, which featured such notable moments like Jim Carrey taking home two awards for Ace Ventura and his performance in Batman Forever, alongside Free Willy winning “Favorite Animal Star” for his(?) performance (?) in Free Willy 2: Willy Goes to Chile*. That category in particular got pretty heated, considering he was up against fierce competition in the form of Babe from… Babe. “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio won best song. Although Brandy would beat out both Coolio and Michael Jackson for winner of “Favorite Singer”, so it wasn’t exactly a Coolio sweep, per se.

But of course, the real big winner of that night was Tim Allen, for winning “Favorite TV Actor” and being enacted into the Nickelodeon Hall of Fame (yes, for real). All while Home Improvement won ”Favorite TV Show”, which I find is an outright snubbing of the also nominated Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Again, just my opinion.

*(Okay, it was actually called Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, but I like my idea more).

Before we go, I’d just like to draw attention to this winner of a parade float idea contest held in a previous issue, finally presented in all its glory here. No offense to the kid who designed it but I can only imagine the type of child nightmares that could spawn from a giant Elvis making its way down the street, pulled along by his Elvis impersonating minions. Just a thought.

This was a really good issue, I’m actually pretty shocked with how much of it I found interesting and entertaining, even now as an adult. They really put their all into this one and I think the movie theme really paid off.

Some parts I didn’t get to were the aforementioned article on the history of film and film effects, which isn’t a bad read, especially if you’re into the good old days of practical effects.

There was an interview with at-the-time child star Michelle Trachtenberg, to promote the upcoming release of the Nickelodeon film Harriet the Spy, which featured her in the starring role. I partly didn’t talk about it because I didn’t think there was much to say, and partly out of spite because that movie was pretty bad. Also because I’m running out of available image slots on this post. But mainly the first two reasons! Sort of.

Oh, yeah, and that alien mongrel QZ made another appearance, answering kids’ questions and just looking gross as usual. Avoid page 52 at all costs!

So yeah, that’ll do it! I’m glad I got to tackle another 90’s issue. I’ve also been thinking about branching out a bit, maybe talking about other Nickelodeon books, or heck, maybe even doing retrospectives of some of their shows! If anybody’s interested or has any requests (Nickelodeon Magazine related or otherwise), feel free to let me know. Otherwise I’ll just keep using my little spinner board that I use to make all decisions related to this blog.

Until next time, have a good one, and keep on reading!

#nmh post #90s #1996 #nickelodeon #magazine

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on-a-lucky-tide · 2 years

Note

For the wip game: Bear and Otter (plz tell me it’s School of the Bear I will cry) and We Didn’t Start the Fire. I was tempted to ask after Fruits of the Hunt because it’s a stunning work, but @round--robin beat me to it.

Thank you very much for the tag!! I’ll absolutely play once I’m on my laptop ♥️

You get We Didn't Start the Fire, dear Berry. This fic was inspired by this amazing art on Twitter, and it spiralled outwards into a whole thing. We know that young wolf Witchers spent some of their training at the Temple of Melitele; Geralt's education there included writing and arithmetic. I wanted to do something with that.

The basic premise is that Lambert is the last of his year group. Eskel, seeing how bereft and lonely Lambert is, to the point he isn't even being sarcastic, Eskel agrees to be Lambert's escort to Melitele for the season.

I reasoned that there is no way Nenneke would play host to a bunch of rowdy Witcher boys around her own initiates, and would thus demand the presence of an adult witcher to keep them in order (and maintain their physical training regime).

The other schools send their boys too. Same time of year. There are a bunch of hazing rituals, lots of posturing, pranks. The schools clash because of their different approaches; the noble, uptight Griffins, the laid-back, feisty cats. Lambert will make friends with Aiden and Coën here. Eskel will bed both the Griffin instructor (Remy) and the cat instructor (Cedric), because he's bored and horny. That's about as far as the planning has got.

---

The thinly stuffed mattress dipped at Lambert's back and a plate of food appeared at the edge of his blurred vision. "You need to eat somethin'," said a familiar voice, so deep it could've come from the bowels of the mountain.

"Not hungry," Lambert said, his words muffled into his forearms. "Piss off."

Silence followed but Eskel didn't move. His continued presence weighed at Lambert's back, and Lambert couldn't help but listen to the draw of his breath. Eskel acted like an anchor, tugging Lambert out of his own mind whether he liked it or not, and Lambert didn't like that one fucking bit. "If you're here to tell me that it's just the way things are. That he died for a greater cause, I'll–"

"Would it help?"

"What?"

"Would it help if I said those things? Do you want me to say 'em so you can throw a punch? Want me to say 'em 'cause you know half of it's true, and the other half's bullshit?"

Lambert's mouth opened and closed, unable to muster a response as he stared into Eskel's stern gaze. "Then why the fuck are you here?" he croaked out eventually. Eskel wasn't doing what the others had; telling him to snap out of it, or grow up, or sort his head out so they could get to filling it with their 'greater good' and 'destiny' bullcrap.

Eskel scratched at the smattering of stubble on his cheek, his gaze sliding away. "Figured you'd need somethin' to eat." He sighed. "I know what's goin' through your head. Same things were goin' through mine when Geralt–when they took him," Eskel waved vaguely at the wall, "but truth is… doing that would be spittin' on his grave."

"That's fuckin' different, Geralt came back. Voltehre, he's–he's gone. For nothing. For–for this, for–" Lambert suddenly felt suffocated by the medallion around his neck and tore the chain over his head. Eskel watched it sail through the air and land beneath the window ledge. He didn't comment as Lambert's breath hitched and he hid his face against his knees, but rose slowly from the mattress.

"Yeah. It's enough to make you want to jack it all in, but," Eskel's voice hitched as he bent down to pick up Lambert's medallion, "gotta ask yourself. What would Voltehre have done if your places were swapped?"

"What?"

"If you'd died, and he'd lived." Eskel returned to the bed and dropped down at Lambert's side again, reaching out only to steady the plate of bread and cured meat between them. "What would he have done?"

Lambert stared down at the plate even after Eskel's hand had moved away. "Dunno. Cried, probably. He was a baby like that."

Eskel had the wherewithal not to point out the tears staining Lambert's cheeks, but hummed to prompt him on.

"And he'd have to do all his potions work by himself, which he'd piss and moan about. Then–but what does it matter what he would do? He's not here. I am, and–"

"You're right. He didn't get to choose what he would do. 'Cause he's gone. But you, you get to choose what you do from here. Ain't nobody gonna stop you starving yourself to death, or throwin' yourself off a peak. A new set of boys will come trundlin' up that trail come autumn. But you'd be throwin' away an opportunity he never got a crack at."

Lambert glared into space as he sorted through his cherished memories of Voltehre. Every single one felt precious. He had always taken their friendship for granted, especially when they had both survived the Grasses. It had felt like they were invincible.

Eskel continued, turning Lambert's medallion over in his palm. "You're right. This doesn't mean anythin'. Not on its own. It's the Witcher that wears it that gives it meaning. Geralt made himself a code, you know. Something to live by."

"What about you?"

Eskel smiled, a slightly forlorn twist of the lips. "Me? I do my job, get paid and try to be palatable enough that the good folk of the Continent won't put me down before my time."

#witcher lambert #witcher eskel #tw3 #wip game #writing

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jammie3132 · 9 months

Text

Sir Knight and Prince Charming, Ch. 3

So...I haven't posted here in a while (DUH) and it looks like a lot of things have changed. Since I'm pretty confused, I'm just going to post this here like this. What I am going to do is put the link to AO3 ( at the bottom) because I don't remember if I posted the first 2 chapters. My timeline is all whackadoodle and I'm going to need more time (and a lot of wine) to go through that mess. Wish me luck!

THURSDAY…EXACTLY 2 WEEKS LATER

Santana stared at the 3x5 cards on the push-pin board in her office, uncertain of what to do with this new clue.

**June Dolloway cancels B’s Showcase & Met Gala**

Granted, it couldn’t be helped. Her sister-in-law broke her hip and she was going to France to take care of her. But, since June and her bad directions/wrong number brought Sir Knight into the picture in the first place, anything June related had to be included on the Blaine Board.

But where?

Trouty was in Kentucky for the twins’ birthday which meant it fell on her shoulders to get some answers. Seriously, it did, and this time it wasn’t for fun like when she figured out Berry’s sleazy ex was a gigolo. Ok, yes, she originally thought drug dealer but tomato-tomato. What bugged her was it only took 3 hours to solve that mystery and 2 weeks later she was no closer to figuring out what caused the change in Blaine.

He hadn’t left the basement in over a week. In one way this was completely understandable. Afterall, the place was called Blaineland.

None of them (even those who lived there) had ever been in the basement. Mercedes constantly reminded the group the record label declared it off limits and she wasn’t going to piss them off. Then the Andersons bought the brownstone and wanted some pictures of the furnace.

Everyone was stunned by what they discovered but Blaine fell to his knees and sobbed like a baby. The whole thing was a state-of-the-art recording studio with a baby grand piano and 2 lounges, one being a home theater and concession stand with a movie theater popcorn machine!!!

This was all amazing but not leaving the basement included Blaine’s classes at NYADA. Yes, he arranged excused absences for earlier in the week because he didn’t know what his state of mind would be with Tuesday being the one-year anniversary of the shooting at McKinley.

You say school shooting and people are a bit more understanding.

Today was Thursday…no classes but he flat-out stated he wasn’t going to his Song Writing Workshop tomorrow.

Damn it! She’d fallen down a rabbit hole yet again. Stay focused, Lopez! Back to the beginning, or what Blond Chameleon (dork!) believed was the beginning.

**Sir Knight=Sebastian Smythe?**

This never felt quite right. Don’t get her wrong, her psychic Mexican-third eye was screaming the SOB was somehow involved.

The only thing she couldn’t get past was Blaine’s insistence his Knight in Shining Armor couldn’t possibly be Slushie Smurf. There’s a sadness behind the denials. A sadness Blaine’s expressive eyes couldn’t hide, at least to her. How come she seemed to be the only one who saw it?

Wasn’t Blaine supposed to be the oblivious one, not his best friend and boyfriend?

Hummel kept insisting whatever was happening was no big deal. The day after the Thursday from Hell, Blaine met with his song writing professor and it didn’t go well. In fact, it went so badly the professor told him if he didn’t fix his assignment by the due date, she’d have no other choice but to fail him.

**Song Writing Fail**

She pulled off the card and moved it to align with the Sir Knight card. This made more sense to why Blaine practically moved into a music studio.

Well, that and the fact his old room was now her office/temporary bedroom and his new room was part of the remodel.

But the meeting with the professor happened on Friday which meant it couldn’t be the catalyst for Blaine’s change. Too much crap happened the day before, especially some events she believed hadn’t been given enough attention due to their (*cough* Sam’s) Sir Knight focus.

**Kurt’s temper tantrum saying Blaine was responsible for his getting kicked off the photoshoot**

**Kurt talks to Chinese Food delivery guy, has a complete 180 attitude change and apologizes for earlier behavior**

**Kurt never explains what happened at Vogue or what caused the attitude change**

Rachel (accidently) mentioned something about Kurt having to sign a big NDA agreement for the photoshoot but, of course, didn’t know details. Did everyone at Vogue have to sign an NDA? If so, there was no way to get information there. But what about the delivery guy? What did he say to flip Hummel? Should she go try to talk to him?

Should she add all this to the board?

She was still deciding when her phone rang. Looking at the clock, she remembered Pamela had scheduled a call at this time. But from the ringtone alert it wasn’t her but her husband.

That’s weird

“Hello, Mr. Anderson.”

“Good morning, Santana. How are you?”

“Um, a little confused. I was expecting Pamela so we could finalize the schedule for tomorrow’s demolition and the start of the remodel on Monday.”

The Andersons hired her (temporarily) to handle Pamela’s ridiculous (and constantly growing) To Do List. Blaine and Sam had too much on their plates, especially when it was announced Sam had won the role of Mike in the Magic Mike Musical.

She still couldn’t believe she caught Rachel’s reaction to the news. It was even better when Artie put the video on a loop (with cut ins of Sam doing his body rolls) and set it to music…Pony, of course.

Anyway, one day after she went (verbally) Lima Heights on one of the contractors (who Blam believed was mobbed up) the temporary title went away. Now she’s the Andersons’ personal assistant/house manager and unofficial Blam babysitter.

It was the best job she’d ever had and not just because she’d been fired by both Yeast-I-Stat and the diner (long story). Charles calling had her worried. He must have picked that up from her tone. “Santana, everything’s fine. Plans changed and Pammy left for LA this morning to see Cooper. You’re doing a great job. Better than we dared to hope.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Wait… “When you say plans changed, does that mean the record label got the judge to void the sale of the brownstone?”

His laughter made it clear that wasn’t the case.

“Nope. Like I said all along, it’s not mine and Pammy’s fault the producer who was supposed to live there funneled 3 million dollars from the company to build a studio and no one noticed. And even though the paperwork isn’t completely finalized, enough of it has been. It also helped we purchased the place in cash, as is, expedited closing at the label’s insistence.”

“As is being the important part. Right?”

“Smart girl but the label being the party to insist on the fast closing didn’t hurt. The judge did admit my getting the contracts pushed through in less than 24 hours tied his hands. It usually takes around 30 days to close on a property.”

“Not your fault you’re good at your job…whatever it is. It was fun watching the people from the label heads explode when they realized how badly they screwed up. But, Mr. Anderson, you haven’t said what the change of plans are?”

“Turns out you are not the only one who believes I’m good at what I do. The parent company of the record label offered me a job running the non-talent portion of the label. You know, the boring stuff. I’m flying into NYC in the morning to listen to what they have to say. Since today is Thursday, can you tell Blaine I’m coming? Sam told me you’re now the gatekeeper for emergency contacts and I’ve learned my lesson about interrupting his Blaine Time.”

This is your job…this is your job…this is your job

You love your job…you love your job…you love your job

“Yes, of course I’ll tell Blaine. Do you want him to call you?”

“That’s not necessary. My appointment/interview is more of a business lunch so I’ll call him afterwards.” There was a pause, but she could feel he wasn’t finished. “Santana, tell me the truth, at least as much as you’re comfortable telling me without breaking Blaine’s…I mean…it’s just, how is he doing? Sam said the anniversary of the McKinley shooting hit them all harder than they realized it would. Then June Dolloway cancelled his Showcase…”

“You know why she did that. Right?”

“Oh, yes. My mother fell and broke her hip last year. My brothers and I all took turns caring for her so, as a son, I completely understand. As a father, I’m worried about the ramifications for my child.”

A father who gives a damn, even after all the crap that happened when his child came out as gay. Must be nice.

“I do know he has a meeting with Carmen Tibideaux at NYADA next week, but otherwise he really hasn’t said anything. Remember, he only found all this out yesterday.”

“He’s not talking to anyone? I know Sam’s in Kentucky but not even Kurt? And what about that new friend of his…the guy he calls Sir Knight?” WTF? How does he know? “Sam told me the two of you have been trying to find out who he is.”

I…AM…GOING…TO…KILL…HIM!!!!!

“You know Sam. No way his Superhero alter ego can pass up on a mystery.”

“He said maybe there was a tie in with the Warblers. Pammy says Blaine tried to keep his friendships with them even after what happened with his eye but after the steroids everything fell apart.”

That was new. Ok, maybe Sam wasn’t going to die. Plus, Charles was referring to the Warblers as a whole and not one particular Warbler who nearly blinded his son.

“We did think there might be a connection to the Warblers but don’t see how it would connect back to June.”

“June?”

“She gave Blaine the wrong number which turned out to be Sir Knight’s. But our research didn’t go anywhere because neither of us knew any of the Warblers’ full names.”

“Having those names is important?”

“Can’t cyberstalk someone if you don’t know their name.”

They did know the name Sebastian Smythe. Why hadn’t they just Googled the ass? What an epic fail.

She blames Sam, or even better, Blond Chameleon.

“True, but please try to not call your research cyberstalking. Let me get ahold of Pammy and see what she can do, if anything. And Santana, thanks for helping look after my boy. Something’s going on and I don’t want Blaine falling back into the depression he was in last year. Pammy and I still haven’t forgiven ourselves for not catching on sooner.”

After their goodbyes ended, she started to write down all the new information Charles gave her. Right when she pinned the last new 3x5 card to the Blaine Board, an email alert from Pamela popped up on her computer screen. In it was her log-in and password to the Dalton Parent Portal. She’d just gone online and confirmed it worked.

After all this time? Blaine left Dalton nearly 3 years ago. You’d think a fancy private school would have better cyber security. Reading further, Pamela explained alumni bios were listed by graduation year. No graduation, no listing, and yes, that included Blaine.

Again…so why did Pamela’s log-in and password work?

Bios would include the college the alumni currently attend. Since the majority of Dalton boys usually wound up in the Ivy League, at least one of Blaine’s old friends should be close to the NYC area.

The email also contained a list of names to concentrate on. She almost fell out her chair when she got to the final name.

Sebastian Smythe

Even with that mind-blowing development, she knew going through the Dalton site could take hours. She’d have plenty of time for research tomorrow when the kitchen and bathrooms were being ripped out. The best thing to do was to stick to her original plan to try to find the delivery guy from 2 weeks ago.

There was something she had to do before she left.

When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she was surprised to see Blaine at the theater’s concession stand and not in the studio.

At least he’s eating.

“Hey Hermit, it’s Blaine Day. Go to a park and sit under a tree like you usually do.”

“Hermit? Isn’t it Hobbit?”

“Not after this week.”

“Santana…”

“Hey, it’s your fucking life. Do what you want. I just thought you’d like to know your dad called and is going to be here tomorrow for a meeting. If you don’t want him asking more questions than he already will, get some sun on your face!” As she quickly planned a dramatic exit for emphasis, she calmed down long enough to suggest “Call Sir Knight, or text, whatever.”

“I can’t.”

WTF???!!!

“What the hell do you mean I can’t? You’ve been communicating with the guy non-stop for 2 weeks. I’m still in awe how you convinced Hummel to give you a pass on the whole Klaine texting is cheating bull-shit.”

“It’s not a big deal. We agreed to end our chats. He left the country for work, or his grandmother is sick, or both. I don’t know. He said he’s going to be extremely busy and knew I needed to focus on my Showcase, although, that’s not a problem anymore.”

“When? When did you guys break-up?”

“We didn’t break-up and does it really matter when it happened?”

“Blaine…”

“Santana, it’s not like we were friends. He was a wrong number.”

From the look on his face, she knew Blaine was lying. Even in that short amount of time, Sir Knight had become important to Prince Charming. “Call June and ask her what the hell’s going on. We all know that so-called wrong number wasn’t random.”

“She’s in France taking care of her sister-in-law. I’m not going to bother her with this. Sir Knight is gone, so you and Sam can stop your not-so secret mission to prove he was Sebastian which I told you wasn’t possible in the first place!”

3 HOURS LATER

She let herself into the brownstone and proceeded to her office, ignoring the overwhelming desire to go to the basement and check on Blaine. No way he’d gone to a park.

Even though it was barely 1PM, she decided to change into comfy clothes. The best perk of her new job was getting to move out of the loft and into the brownstone. She didn’t care if it was going to be under construction for the next month. Had to be less annoying than Hummel and Berry’s constant bitching. And it’s not like she couldn’t escape if she wanted. Blaineland was completely soundproof due to the studio and home theater.

Sitting back at her desk, she checked her messages. She had one from Sam but if she had a guess he wanted the breakdown of what happened with the delivery guy…Ray. She didn’t even bother to read what he sent and sent one of her own reminding him to spend time with his fucking family. He’d be back in a few days and they’d fix the Blaine Board then.

It wasn’t that she was pushing Blond Chameleon out, he’d just be laser focused on the Sir Knight/Prince Charming (non) break-up. She’s 100% certain Kurt’s Thursday from Hell behavior was the key to all this and her trip to Manhattan only reinforced her beliefs.

Everything went better than she hoped. Not only was Ray working, he remembered her as a friend of Kurt’s (his words…not hers). The first thing she asked was if he knew who sent the food to Blaine. He said he had an idea but was curious why, after 2 weeks, she came all this way to ask.

She had prepared for this.

Her story was that Blaine knew who sent the food but won’t tell anyone. He did say all of them knew/at least met the person from high school. It was beginning to drive them crazy so she and Blaine’s other friends, other than Kurt, turned it into a bet to see who could solve the mystery first. She pulled out a $100 bill…

Still had no idea how to put bribe money in the petty cash ledger but had a feeling the Andersons would be fine with it.

“I’m willing to pay for information.”

The flashing of money brought others over to “help”. They all agreed with Ray when he said, though he couldn’t confirm it, the food had to be sent by the talent or someone in their entourage. The reasoning being unless it was Isabelle Wright, who all agreed it wasn’t, the Vogue employees working the photoshoot couldn’t afford the dinner(s) sent to the brownstone.

And while the NDAs were no joke, and Vogue employees were extremely careful with what they said in public, each of her new buddies had overheard bits and pieces about that night.

It was to launch the new face of a famous fashion house, and the person being shot was a guy. Also, he was an unknown who’d been discovered when a model went AWOL at one of last season’s Fashion Week runway shows in Paris. A friend of a friend (something like that) called this guy and begged him to do it even though he wasn’t a model. The rest was history. One girl added she overheard there was something else going on with the guy, something bigger, like maybe an acting role.

She thanked everyone and pulled out two more $100 bills for them to split as they saw fit. Then she took Ray to the side and asked how much of this information Kurt had. He told her the one thing he told Kurt was the talent sent the food to Blaine, not that it was only a theory. Then he reminded her Kurt had to know a lot more than any of them but wasn’t saying anything due to the NDA.

Must be one hell of an NDA.

She put all this new info on 3x5s cards but after pinning them to the Blaine Board she found herself at a crossroads. Everything was ready for the contractors’ arrival in the morning. There were no more errands to run. She could go down and watch a movie.

Relax and clear her mind of all things Blaine Anderson.

Who was she kidding? The reason she’d allowed herself to get tangled in this web in the first place was so she didn’t have to clear her mind. If she did, she might have to start dealing with the fact Dani dumped her by leaving a letter at the diner for when she returned from Iowa. And how that bitch Brenda found it and convinced the staff to do a routine to Taylor Swift’s We Are Never Getting Back Together as she handed her Dani’s letter. And how she punched that bitch Brenda and had the choice of being fired or having the cops called.

And how in the letter Dani asked her to tell Kurt Elliot had gone to Nashville with her, completely blowing up Hummel’s band. While she could somewhat see Dani in Tennessee the Glitter Rock Vampire made zero sense.

And couldn’t she have asked Berry who still worked at the diner? Who knows, maybe she left a letter for Rachel asking her and that bitch Brenda did something with it. She managed to keep all her other evil plans secret from her then roommate.

Stop it! She needed a distraction and even though she scheduled her Dalton website research for tomorrow, it wouldn’t hurt to check out the one surprise name on Pamela’s list.

Getting on the site was ridiculously easy as was finding the alumni lists. Assuming Smythe graduated the same year as Blam (although she would’ve sworn Blaine was a Senior, not a Sophomore, when they met) she went to 2013. He wasn’t there. That didn’t make sense. Was he still at Dalton?

She put Smythe into the home page search engine and the only things that popped up were Warbler competition videos (the last being last year’s Sectionals) and articles about the LaCross team from the previous year. All mentions of Sebastian end there. Did he leave Dalton before he graduated? Oh crap! Did he have something to do with the steroids? Both Sam and Blaine said there was no proof he was and the Warbler who ratted them out never mentioned the former captain.

*Ding…Dong*

Oh, thank God! While she wanted a distraction, she could see getting lost in this rabbit hole for hours and she had an early wake-up time.

Reaching for the doorknob she prepared herself for Kurt and whatever drama he’d twisted into an emergency to get her to call Blaine for him. She was pleasantly surprised to instead find a beautiful woman with a radiant smile and a killer body.

Not the time Lopez

“May I help you?”

“Are you Santana?”

“Yes…and you are?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought Sam told you I’d be stopping by. My name is Annabelle and I’m one of his manager’s assistants. I’m here to pick up the packet he left so we can get his tax and union paperwork filed before he officially begins work on the musical.”

“He didn’t…wait, he sent me a text but I assumed it was for something else. You don’t look like a serial killer so if you want to come in while I check, you’re more than welcome. Warning though, there’s nowhere to sit because remodeling begins tomorrow.”

Annabelle smiled a smile Santana was trying really hard not to read into. “I’m definitely not a serial killer, although my primary client might disagree. I have threatened him with bodily harm on more than one occasion.”

“Sorry, sounds like a douche bag.”

“No, he’s not, more like an annoying little brother. But I’ll never tell him that.”

“Ok, now I can totally sympathize but at least you don’t get a 2 for 1 like I do with Blam. I’ll be right back.”

As she tried to not look at Santana’s ass as the beautiful woman went to what she assumed was a home office, Annabelle took in her surroundings. There was a rumor going around that one of the major music labels had millions of dollars embezzled by a producer to build a studio in the brownstone they bought for him. In addition, they didn’t find out until after they sold the place.

The guy who bought it was some sort of genius and had a judge agree anything attached to (even just screwed into the wall) the structure was included in the as is purchase price.

Since everyone in the NYC entertainment (not just music) industry thought the CEO of the label was an asshole they were celebrating still unknown man as a modern-day Robin Hood. And while the odds this being that particular brownstone were astronomical, she was still going to ask.

“I got ahold of Trouty. Yes, he did send a message, the one I ignored, so here you go.” Santana handed over an envelope, both women going out of their way not to touch the other’s hand. “He also said his manager wanted to know about the study system Blam developed back in high school to help his dyslexia.”

“You keep referring to Blam. Who is that?"

"Sam and his best friend. It’s like they have one mind so it’s easier to give them one name.”

“Would it be possible to get his number so I can talk to him on how to help Sam?”

“He’s in the studio in the basement. Maybe Hermit will actually leave it if he knows it’s to help Trouty.”

Hermit? Trouty? Annabelle only cared about one word “Studio? There’s a studio in the basement?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty sweet. We found it when the Andersons bought the place. Hold on, I’ll have to send a text. The whole level is soundproof.” Santana watched as Annabelle turned into a cartoon character with as wide as her eyes got and how far her jaw dropped. “Is something wrong?”

“Holy Shit! The rumors are true?”

“Rumors?”

“The brownstone with the studio!! How the guy who bought it screwed the label out of millions of dollars. He’s a fucking legend!”

“My dad didn’t screw anyone out of anything. It’s not his fault the label had such shitty bookkeeping.”

Annabelle turned around and went straight back to cartoon mode. She’d recognize that guy anywhere. “Blaine Fucking Anderson.”

“Excuse me. Who the hell are you to call me that?”

Santana was put off as well. Things had been going great until that moment. “Annabelle…”

It was Blaine’s turn to turn into a cartoon character. “Annabelle? Annabelle who works as an assistant to an entertainment manager?”

Their guest still wasn’t talking and had gone so far as to put her hand over her mouth. Santana quickly came to the conclusion she was the only one with no idea what was happening. “Blaine, why does Annabelle’s name and job matter?”

“Because Sir Knight had someone like you who took care of shit for him but she was his manager’s assistant and her name was Annabelle. Joey, the driver, knows where I live but he didn’t know my name.”

“Blaine, I’m sorry…”

“Are you here to spy on me under the pretense of taking care of Sam? There’s no reason. Sir Knight left the country and told me he’d be too busy to chat so it would be best if we stopped.” Then it dawned on him. “How do you know my name? Did you do some sort of research on me?”

Santana huffed and threw up her arms in frustration. “If she did and got your name, she’s much better than me and the Blond Chameleon. We still have no clue who Sir Knight is. How did you figure it out? Is it because the driver guy had Blainer’s address?”

Annabelle pulled back her hair, obviously a nervous habit, and shook her head. “You don’t understand. I could lose my job for the little bit I’ve already accidently said.” She looked away from Santana to Blaine and saw the same pained expression on his face that she saw on Sebastain’s when he left for Paris. Yes, he was worried about his Nana but she knew it was also for the loss of his Prince Charming.

She had no idea why he cut Blaine off when he needed his friend (love of his life) the most. He had an international phone plan. Screw it! The jerk needed her too much to have Benny fire her.

“Sir Knight knew you were Blaine Anderson the second you called him the first time. You obviously hadn’t changed your number in years.”

Blaine and Santana grabbed each other’s arms as a means to keep balance. It was a bad time not to have any furniture to hold on to. “I haven’t changed my number. The Ohio area code should have been the first clue” Blaine said as he tried to remember his first conversations with Sir Knight. “But he had changed phones recently to a private line.”

“Yes, and I set it up with only the 22 contacts he was allowed to keep. Evidently, he later deleted his parents and put you in himself…under the name Killer. It looks like you both figured it out but if you’re looking for confirmation…Sir Knight’s name is Sebastian Smythe.”

“Damn it! The Blond Chameleon is going to be an even bigger pain in the ass once he finds out he was right all along!”

AO3

#blaine anderson #sebastian smythe #seblaine fic

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kettouryuujin · 2 years

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What'll Ya Have, What'll Ya Have?

[Inspired by @monsoon-of-art's Pokerus AU] Professor Laventon grunted, shooting towards the “ceiling” as a rouge Gible lanced through the air underneath him. Why had he let Akari and Cyllene talk him into accompanying the group on this trip to the Icelands?

…Ah, yes. They wanted someone unrelated to the Pearl Clan, in case Sabi or Lord Braviary had an adverse reaction. And she was insistent that he “pick up some moves!”

He couldn’t help but let out a sigh as he dove down at the draconic ‘mon, pulling up with a slight flick of his wings to launch the attack early. The Aerial Ace rushed downwards, striking down the stunned Gible with its trademark unerring accuracy. At least he had been able to use melee moves without having to get close to the enemy - according to the foregin vulpine, this was due to something called “Long Reach.”

Apparently this was a similar capability to a Zoroark’s Illusions - not a move, but a special trait a Pokemon could have. Oh, how he would love to be studying this in the lab right now! ‘But alas,’ he thought as he sent another Aerial Ace at a Sneasel accosting his assistant, ‘I’ll have to settle for field studies for the time being.’

Akari was busy fending off her own Sneasel, but she’d taken notice of the Professor’s shots. “Hey, you’re doing pretty good Prof.! You sure you only want to come this once?”

“Akari. I’m a researcher, not a combatant. As adept as I may appear, I’m certain that I will slip up sooner than later and cause us much strife. That, and I’d rather not be fearing for my life when I could be learning more about these ‘Abilities’.”

A chuckling, “pika”-laden laugh filled the room as he finished speaking. “Yeah, that’s the Professor for you. He’ll go into the field to learn things, but something like this is far beyond his comfort zone.” Ah, Rei had struck down the last foe in this room. Quite good!

“But…oh, fine. Let’s just focus on getting to Sabi for now.” the Water-type sighed, leading the group into the next room (which, thankfully, held stairs - one more floor was past, never for him to fly through again. At least, in this sort of situation).

—-

Akari had mentioned items occasionally being out in the open in Dungeons, and true to her word they had found some trinkets and Berries here and there. And now, they had found a wide array of items, laid out on a carpet.

But the most interesting thing was in the middle of the sea of fabric. The good professor blinked, looking up and up at the one in question. “Oh! I was wondering if any customers would come by. Welcome!” The human - human - bowed, smiling, blonde hair swaying over one eye. “My name is Volo, and I am a proud merchant of the Gingko Guild. How may I help you?” Volo? He’d heard the name before, the Gingko Guild had stopped by Jubilife several times and Volo was one of their best merchants to work with.

But the sight before Laventon’s avian eyes was impossible! Before anyone else could cut in, he spoke up - he had to know. “Well, I’d be most curious as to how you’re still human…”

A joyful laugh from the merchant. “I think I just got lucky, honestly… see?” One sleeve was rolled up, revealing a rather…pale-looking patch of skin. “For some reason or another, my changes are taking quite some time! This is the most that’s shown up after all these months…” A smile as he rolled his sleeve back down. “But I digress. Would you like to buy anything?” The slight upward inflection at the end of his sentence was a bizarre addition, enough to distract the Dartrix from the lack of real answer, at least until the Gingko Guild member turned to look at Rei - who was busy walking off with what seemed like an Orb of some kind.

“Huh wha? I…I was just going to show this to Akari, since she might know what it is…” The Pikachu defended himself, even as the orb crossed the edge of the fabric.

*KRA-KOOM!!!* “...ka…pi…” A puff of smoke escaped his muzzle as everyone’s eyes cleared, before the poor thing fell over with a loud *THUD!* “REI!” Dartrix and Dewott rushed over towards the charred Electric-type, quickly picking him up and checking his vitals.

“Ah, my security system…doesn’t really tell the difference between theft and trying to show someone something, my apologies.” Wait, when did Volo get over here? And he had the orb? “Ironically, this Orb works particularly well in this situation…” The human knelt down, tapping the azure sphere to the ‘chu’s forehead. The orb started to flow over Rei, shifting from azure to a white glow as it encased him. Eventually, though, it faded, revealing a much less injured rodent - who slowly groaned, rousing from slumber.

“Ugh… what the Distortion happened?” The other 2 Pokemon blinked, turning to look at the merchant.

“I had to use the Reviver Orb you had grasped to resuscitate you, seeing as you had tripped my security system.” The Dartrix saw Akari shiver out the corner of his eye - was this another thing she was familiar with? “It is a very rare item, and I don’t have many more, but… I suppose I can ask for a favor instead of payment.” Well, better to do a favor than have to pay for something that was likely quite expensive. Akari agreed, as she asked what sort of favor he had in mind.

“Oh, nothing major. See, there are these plate-like objects scattered around… like this, see?” The Gingko Guild member leaned down, sketching a rough shape on the dirt floor. “They’ve shown up in many a myth and legend, so I had been gathering several of them to look at when I far some free time. Unfortunately, the appearance of these Dungeons seems to have turned my bag into a bit of a sieve.” A laugh. “I’ve patched the holes, don’t worry, but I also lost what I’d had on me. If you would be so kind as to gather what Plates you can find and bring them to me, I would greatly appreciate it.”

“Sure, but…you’ll stand out like a sore thumb back at Jubilife…”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. When you need to find me, I’m sure I’ll be around.” A soft smile as the three Pokemon shared confused looks. “Now…what would you like to buy?”

—

Volo smiled and waved, watching as his best customers in ages left. Ah, it was always nice to make a good sale, especially for a worthy cause like theirs.

He did feel a bit guilty about dragging them into his search for the Plates, but he hadn’t necessarily lied about what had happened or why he needed them. So it should all work out, right? Right.

More importantly, there was the matter of the young one they were looking for. She was in rather harsh straits. He probably should give her a bit of help…

His visible eye glowed slightly, an abnormal red tint lighting up the room. “...It’s a shame this will make things more difficult for them. But I can only do so much.” A soft smile graced his lips as the glow faded, cries echoing from above. "Here's hoping you can succeed despite this added obstacle, heroes..."

#pokerus au #horror-lite au #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon legends arceus #pla #pmd #pokemon #Welcome to the Kecleon Shop~#Wait no that's the wrong shopkeep #Also hi Volo #Yes he's changing slowly #And still wants Plates #Wait what was that he did at the end???

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terpsichore-rhodes · 1 year

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try me a flashback self para

Usefulness had not exactly been Sichore's dream. She never had bought into the idea of a "dream job," as usually when she thought of what an ideal life was, it usually involved living by the sea, in a world free of disease, with plenty of attractive people bringing her fresh fruit. Unfortunately, she had been born and raised in Sylvania, where usefulness was next to goodness, or something like that.

She made it happen, of course. When she could, she would steal paper from her school to doodle on with sticks of charcoal. No one knew, but she regularly collected discarded pelts of small game to dry out and use as canvas. She had, on her own, invented three different types of paint by mixing mashed up ingredients like berries and flower petals with sap from trees or oil distilled from acorns.

But to the outside world? She was an architect. It was something she had developed at a young age - a talent for angles and structure. Her secret art practice also brought grace and beauty, which was something people needed, even if they were unable to articulate why. But that was something else Rhodesy prided herself on: an ability to see what the people needed, even if they could never return the favor. Seriously - how hard was it to get someone with nice arms to feed her grapes while she lounged on a bed of leaves?

She found her usefulness in design and engineering. And when that proved too meddlesome for her, she transitioned to teaching. Soon, students from all over Sylvania were flocking to her. She was adored. It wasn't quite the life of simple luxury she had dreamed of, but some recognition for her work was well deserved, and she would have to like it.

In particular, though, today was a trying day. A student of hers - Hyacinth Meadowland from an outskirt of a village far on the other side of Sylvania, simply could not understand why you needed ballast pillars deep in the earth if you wanted to build anything taller than one story.

"It's just balance, Hyacinth," Rhodesy explained - again. "If you want to build up, you must also build down. Otherwise anything that goes up will just topple sideways."

"But that would... double! the resources needed. You could save so much material by only building up!" This woman was insufferable. Rhodesy was a bit stunned - Hyacinth was several years her senior and had traveled here alone. Surely a bit of common sense had to have trickled into her brain during her travels.

"Okay. Okay. Let's try this." Rhodesy grabbed a mug off of her desk, downed the last drops of water that were in it, and then trotted outside. She bent down and scooped dirt into the mug until it was full. She brought this back to Hyacinth, who had busied herself with scratching a mole on the side of her neck. Rhodesy stopped dead in her tracks for a moment to process that sight, push her disgust deep into her soul, and then continued.

She grabbed a charcoal stick and stuck it into the dirt, where it was just barely planted. "Okay, Hyacinth. Imagine this charcoal is your building. Try to push it over." Hyacinth pushed her finger into the charcoal, and it toppled. "Good. See how easily it went over? Because I only built up. Now, if I build down first..."

Rhodesy stuck her finger into the dirt to produce a hole, into which she inserted the charcoal. "Good. Now try to push it over." Hyacinth did so, pushing her finger against it. She clearly needed to use more force, and the charcoal stick snapped clean in half.

"See?" Terpsichore said. "You couldn't push it over because it had the anchor."

Hyacinth blinked at her. "But I did push it over. In fact, I snapped it in half."

"Well, yes, because you applied more pressure. But if you had applied the same amount of pressure as before, it wouldn't have fallen over."

"But I got it to fall over. And the building was half as tall. So it seems like the takeaway is the building will fall over either way, but your way, we only get to use like half of it."

"No, that's not -" Terpsichore took a breath. "If you use the same force, it won't fall over. We're not going to be pushing against the buildings with our bodies. It's more likely forces like wind."

"Well wind has never blown over a building before."

"Exactly - because we anchor them into the ground."

"I'm saying we've never seen wind do that. So there is no need to take this precaution. I think we should be smarter with our resources and just build up."

"If you just build up, then the building will fall."

"That makes no sense. But if you're so worried about it, I guess we could do something like... I don't know. Could we build a building around a tree?"

Rhodesy clapped. "Yes! Yes, Hyacinth, you could use a tree. Because trees have...?" she used her hands to pass the end of the sentence back to Hyacinth.

"... never been blown over by wind. And are tall."

"No! They have roots. They build down first before building up!"

"I don't think that's right. The roots bring nutrients to the tree."

"Yes, and they also, literally, root the tree into the ground. They can have multiple uses. Unlike you, who will struggle to be of any use whatsoever."

Hyacinth looked at her, briefly flabbergasted. "Excuse... excuse me?"

"You are going to struggle to do anything useful for your town or nation, Ms. Meadowland. Truly the most benefit you have provided is simply traveling here, so that the paths between our villages are a little more worn down and therefore slightly more useable."

"I beg your pardon!"

"You may have my pardon, Hyacinth. No need to beg."

"I am leaving at once."

"I hope you do. And when you get back to your village, I want you to tell everyone how awful I am, and how you will never trust any of my teachings. I want you to build buildings and make absolute sure that everyone knows you didn't use anything I taught you. These buildings will be purely of your own design and I want you to make sure everyone knows that. Tell everyone I'm a hack, tell everyone I don't know what I'm doing. And that way, when your buildings fall over and mine do not, everyone will know that it was simply your incompetence that made that happen and not my futile attempts to pass a shred of knowledge onto you."

With a series of gasps, moans, and tiny, squirrel like squeaks, Hyacinth left the building at a speed that she would call quick, but anyone else would call glacial.

With this idiot summarily dispatched, Terpsichore stretched tall, a contented smile on her face. Hyacinth had been her only private lesson of the evening, and now it was free. She pulled a small pot of blue paint from a drawer in her desk and turned to the back of her office, where a small skunk skin was stretched tight on an easel. The beginnings of a landscape could be made out. Rhodesy began adding blue details to the waterfall that formed into a small lake. And, on the banks of the lake, a small, redheaded woman could be seen, eating grapes from the hands of a buff, naked man.

#self para

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mensnorsevikingjewelry · 2 years

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Home Improvement: 9 Quick Fixes

Do you want simple advice on how to improve your home? Then you've found the right article. Quick remedies are provided in this article. Stay with me here.

Doors that squeak at the hinges

If your door hinges are acting up, try spraying them with WD-40. Petroleum jelly can also be used to grease the hinges. If none of these solutions work, you can try raising the hinge pings halfway and then applying some oil to them. As soon as you do this, the problem will be resolved.

Floor Squeaks

To make the floor quiet again in the short term, simply sprinkle some talcum powder on the noisy spot and sweep it into the gaps. If you intend to refinish the floor at a later date, you should clean up any remaining powder.

Stripping Wallpaper

A piece of paper can be smeared with wallpaper paste using a sharp knife. Then, you can peel off the desired piece by rubbing the paper underneath it. Now you may smooth down any air bubbles with a cloth and finish pressing the wallpaper onto the wall.

Frayed and Worn Caning

Age is a natural cause of some drooping. The problem can be solved by applying lukewarm water to the bottom of the caning. The next step is to let it dry overnight.

A soiled crystal chandelier

Just give the fixture some time to cool down. Wear protective gloves. One glove should be dampened with glass cleaner. After that, use the damp glove to wipe each prism, followed by the dry glove.

Discolored Bathtub

Mix equal parts baking soda and cream of tartar to form a paste. Lemon juice should now be added to the paste before it is thoroughly mixed. The paste can then be rubbed into the stains with a clean, soft cloth. You should wash it off with water after an hour or so.

Locked Sliding Windows

Some silicone spray lubricant can be used to grease the skids of blocked sliding windows. To clean the tracks, simply spray the lubricant into a towel and wipe them down. So long.

Peel-and-stick stickers

When it comes to cleaning the regions around your decals, WD-40 is your best bet. To remove the decals from the back, you will need to raise the edges. When you're done, use a credit card to peel off the decals.

The Door Slammed

Applying some peel and stick wallpaper to the doorstop can reduce the harshness of closing them. Another option is to use a rubber band around both doorknobs. Please do not close the latch.

Add Elegance to Your Decor With Removable Wall Decals

No longer must you struggle with stencils, paint, and chaos in an effort to make your home more elegant. It used to take hours, if not a full day, to painstakingly paint elaborate designs like ivy, damask, scrollwork, etc. on your walls. Precut, removable wall decals allow you to quickly and easily adorn your walls, cabinets, furniture, and more. The best part is that you can easily remove it, reposition it, and try again until you achieve the desired effect. There is no need to repaint or clean up any sticky residue.

Create an eye-catching focal point in your room with minimal effort and cost using these high-quality decals. In addition to walls, you can use these appliques to adorn furniture, doors, windows, floors, tables, and anything else that is flat, smooth, and dry.

Do you yearn for some rustic charm? Our Country Stars and Berries, Country Signs, and even our Coffee Cup Chalkboard Decal are guaranteed to put a grin on your face, so don't miss them! You can make a statement with decals of tree branches, cherry blossoms, bamboo, or several branches.

Simply reapplying them to the original liner sheet after use will allow you to use them again in another space or gift them to someone else to use as decor. Because of how simple they are to apply, these appliques are ideal for renters whose landlords forbid them from using stencils, painting murals, or drilling holes in the walls to display artwork.

Even better for use in business or professional settings! If you want to wow visitors to your office or waiting area, try these tips. The addition of a stunning art deco Orchid or Birdcage will have your customers wondering how you accomplished it.

Do you feel like your space might need some spicing up with a rousing and encouraging quote? Simply peel and stick these sayings onto your walls to give a touch of warmth and character with phrases like "Always Kiss Me Goodnight," "Live Well," "Laugh Often," and "There's No Place Like Home."

Stick with smooth, flat, and nonporous surfaces when decorating with these peel and stick decals because they are not advised for sensitive surfaces like textured or wallpapered surfaces.

#peel and stick wallpaper

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harry-writings · 3 years

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My Birthday Girl

Another Drive Me Wild blurb for all my emotionless!h lovers out there! I hope you enjoy!! <3 I truly did not know how to end this but oh well, she’s cute anyways :’)

Masterlist

How to support me <3333

Chocolate covered strawberries.

They’re Y/n’s favorite — the snack she always asks him to make for her on special occasions, and even on her lowest days does he find her craving the sweet treat, an unbelievably easy way to her heart.

So here he is, dipping fresh strawberries in melted chocolate on the morning of her birthday. Their flat is silent as Y/n sleeps in their bedroom, Harry borderline exhausted as he is now on his third hour of being awake, his second cup of coffee already brewing beside him.

But his excitement is stronger than his lack of sleep as he runs through the day in his head, a small smile toying on his lips for everything he has planned for her. After their morning spent in bed, he arranged a picnic for them to go on at their local park — the basket already prepared and filled with cheese and crackers, wine and grapes — tickets for an immersive art exhibit she’d been begging for him to take her to, and a reservation to Y/n’s favorite Italian restaurant later tonight.

He wanted to make her birthday something she’d never forget, simply because this is the first birthday they’ll be spending together and he doesn’t want to screw it up. But also because last night, Y/n had told him that she had spent her last four birthdays alone, and something about that small confession was enough for him to nearly tear his own heart out.

It’s been eating him up all morning — thinking about how sad she must have felt on the days she was supposed to be her happiest. Surely, he’s been through that feeling practically his entire life… but something about Y/n spending her birthdays alone physically pains him to think about.

His stomach twists and churns whenever his thoughts wander off to Y/n sitting at her favorite restaurant, celebrating at a table for one with a glass of wine and a cup of ice cream, with nobody for her to talk to. And for him to fathom the idea of her going home to an empty house and an even emptier bed, ending her night without receiving a single happy birthday text, as if it were no different than any other day, makes his chest cave into a pit of guilt for not being the one there with her.

He knows it’s not his fault, but there’s nobody else to blame and he’d much rather take the fall than for her to ever blame herself (which she already does — another confession that had also slipped out to him last night). He frowns a bit at the remembrance.

And the emotional turmoil his body undergoes thinking about her past makes him ache being so far away from her now. So he finishes the last couple of strawberries in a haste, swaps the batch he made earlier with the new batch out from the refrigerator, and plates the chocolate covered strawberries on a floral serving tray.

With one last look around the kitchen, he makes his way into their bedroom.

He smiles softly as he enters, Y/n snuggled with the covers under her chin, soft snores falling with each breath she takes, as beautiful as ever in her dream state.

He places the tray of chocolate covered strawberries quietly against the nightstand, careful not to wake her just yet, before sitting down on the bed beside her legs. He reaches his hand out to pet through her hair, watching as her nose scrunches and eyes blink open beneath his touch.

He leans down to kiss her, his lips resting gently on her forehead as he continues to run his fingers through her hair, growing a hint of a smile when she huffs and puffs to her morning wake.

He removes his lips from her skin, sitting himself back up to admire the view. It never fails to amaze him just how stunning she truly is. No matter the time of day or the mood she’s in, no matter how done up or how done down, she always manages to take his breath away and make him fall more in love.

She pouts tiredly at him, her eyes blinking as they adjust to the light. And he pouts back at her, his fingers rubbing at the edge of her jawline back and forth softly. “I’m so sorry, pretty, but I missed you.”

She softens a little at his words, her cheeks turning pink beneath his touch. “I missed you, too.”

He smiles a bit as he continues petting her, the silence between them affectionate and comfortable. And she pushes herself deeper into his touch, in absolute bliss.

“Happy birthday, my love.”

She hums, in awe at just how perfect he is. His chest is on display for her to see, his tattoos prominent against his skin and begging for attention. And his face… so soft, so sweet, so precious… she wants it all to herself, all day long.

“Why do you look so good right now?” She frowns, her oozing with lust as they soak him in. It feels as if she’s seeing him for the first time all over again.

“Shaved for you.” He leans down to kiss at her lips once, twice, three times before he sits up again, his expression blank but his eyes full of love. “For later.”

She whines, her hands gripping his arm and pulling him back down to her, the sight of him no longer enough as her watering mouth finds its home against his cheek. “How about for now?”

She’s being greedy and she knows it, but who could ever blame her? It’s her birthday and her only wish is for him to fill all of her senses, to hold her close until she’s in a world that belongs to just the two of them, to touch every single part of him.

Her lips are persistent against him, her fingers in his hair as she kisses and kisses and kisses the soft and smooth skin. And Harry indulges himself in her affections, enjoying it all too well even though it should be him drowning her with love.

“But I made you breakfast.” He tries, his walls crumbling as his voice wavers between his words because of course he’d rather be doing this, but today is about spoiling her rotten, not the other way around.

“How could I possibly want breakfast when you’re right here, shirtless and all clean shaven?” Her teeth graze at his jaw, as if taking a bite of him, growling at his taste. “So scrumptious right in front of me.”

His breath falters and weakens at her touch, the breath of her words sending a chill down his spine he can’t seem to shake off. And curse her for being so irresistible and knowing exactly what he likes, he never fails to give into her in a heartbeat. “But I made your favorite.”

“So that’s a no to morning birthday sex?” She raises her eyebrow at him, pulling away from him and stilling her movements.

“Absolutely not.” He argues plainly, gently pushing her back onto the mattress, his blank and nearly cold expression making her chest jump from within her. She loves how much he loves her beneath it all.

He strokes her cheek with the back of his finger, his lips linear and eyes darkening with endearment, admiring every inch of her face. And she can recognize that look anywhere — he’s going to make a mess out of her.

He reaches over to the night stand, grabbing one of the chocolate covered strawberries and dangling it over her mouth. “Just one bite for me.”

She opens her mouth for a taste, pushing herself up on her elbows to reach, craning her neck. But right before she could sneak a bite, Harry pulls it away from her, making her head tilt in confusion as he looks at her with hesitation.

Rather, he opens his own mouth, his teeth lodging into the stem end of the berry, ready for her to take. And he leans back down, Y/n’s eyes glistening at the idea as she meets him halfway. Her teeth sink into the hardened chocolate and through the juicy fruit, her lips meshing with his along the way. And they both let out a moan at the feel and taste of it, never having done anything quite like this before.

Harry leans back with the fruit stuck between his teeth, eyes fixating on her for just a moment longer before he turns his head and spits the stem onto the ground. And if Y/n wasn’t so infatuated by the filthy sight of it, she’d grimace at the thought of the juice leaving a stain on their perfectly clean hardwood floor… but how could she ever care when he’s about to make his mark on her?

She licks her lips up at him, slowly and seductively, humming at the sweetness.

His eyes darken at the angel splayed in front of him, ready to be touched and ruined by him. And something about the way she wanted this, craved this, starved for this — over the chocolate covered strawberries he had made with love, delivered to her side, ready to be devoured — even when she has it every day, makes him want this so much more… as if it were even possible.

“You just lay back and look pretty.” He instructs, his hand running down the length of her shirt (that’s technically his, but she wears it nearly every single night for bed and it always drives him wild whenever she does) and onto the plush of her thigh.

She squirms into his touch.

“And I will give you everything you ask for, m’birthday girl.”

Harry’s got his hands over Y/n’s eyes, carefully guiding her toward the kitchen — where he had dedicated his entire morning to make everything look perfect for her — as she giggles and squeals and tries to guess what he could have possibly surprised her with.

He laughs with every other step they take, biting teasingly at her shoulders whenever she makes more guesses, already feeling somewhat accomplished that he’s found a way to make her this happy.

He stops them at the entrance of the kitchen, where he kisses the back of her head. “Okay. Are you ready, baby?”

She nods excitedly, clapping her hands in anticipation. He counts to three, taking a deep breath in before releasing his hands from her eyes and settling them around her waist.

Her jaw drops at the sight of it.

Dozens of baby pink balloons floating around the kitchen, the table full of gifts in pastel colored bags, white streamers hanging from the walls, bouquets of flowers scattered throughout the mix. And never has Y/n seen something so thoughtful or so full of love, she can hardly believe that it’s all for her.

She never knew things like this existed.

“You did all this? For me?”

Harry kisses her head from behind, tightening his arms around her front and squeezing her to him, resting his chin against her shoulder.

His heart sinks whenever she doubts his intentions, always unsettled at the thought of her insecurities fooling her to believe she doesn’t deserve to be loved like this. Because she does and she always will, every day for the rest of her life, and he intends to remind her of that every day for the rest of his.

“Wouldn’t do it for anyone else.”

He gives her one last squeeze before releasing her, allowing her to roam free and look at everything he had to offer. And she seems tentative and wary at first, but with one soft and gentle push from Harry, she makes her way over to what he had laid out for her.

Her eyes dance between the gifts and the decorations, slightly overwhelmed at how much there is… she doesn’t know what to look at first. Everything is just so perfect — beyond anything she could ever imagine and better than anything she’s ever dreamed of.

But something in particular catches her eye — there, set on the middle of the table, are two glasses of mimosas with a note laid before them, reading ‘Cheers to you, my love, for being alive with me.’

Her stomach dances, heart falling at the words he wrote out for her. They’re so simple, yet quite possibly the most beautiful thing she has ever been told. She’ll be sure to smother him with kisses for it later.

She diverts her attention to the gifts, her fingers dance along the pastel bags, ruffling the tissue paper, gleaming at how much thought and time he must have put into everything. Because they are always together — at home, at work, on their days off — and yet he still found a way to make this day as special as he possibly could for her, leaving countless of surprises along the way.

“You spoiled me.”

He leans himself against the counter, his eyes never leaving her. “What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t?” He pauses, then, trying to find the right words. “I know I’m not always the most expressive when it comes to our relationship, so I like to make up for it whenever I can.”

Her lips fall into a pout, watching as her fingers fiddle around the corner of a tissue paper, her heart dropping at the insecurity laced within his words.

It breaks her in two whenever Harry doubts himself, always saddened at the thought of him never feeling good enough in their relationship despite everything he’s done for her. Because he goes above and beyond every single day, in ways she never even knew was possible, and it aches to feel all the weight he burdens himself with.

“H... that’s never something you have to worry about. You’re very expressive towards me.” Her hand falls to her thigh in defeat, her frown sinking deeper. “It kind of breaks my heart that you don’t see that.”

“No.” Harry says instantly, shaking his head as he makes his way towards her, his hands resting at her shoulders to bring her attention back towards him. “No broken hearts today. Just forget I said anything, okay? And instead...” He grabs a particularly small bag up from the sea of gifts, holding it out to her with hopeful and anxious eyes. “Open this.”

She looks up at him, her cheeks flushed and lips twitching into a smile. She grabs it from him slowly, a small and quiet thank you falling from her lips, suddenly shy under his watch.

Her hands shake as they remove the tissue paper from the bag, her eyes curious when they spot a black velvet box laid delicately inside. She reaches for it, placing the gift bag back on the table before looking back up to Harry, trying to read his expression.

She opens the velvet box and feels a certain tug on her heart she’s never once felt before, stuttering at the meaning of it.

“You got us matching rings?”

He nods, rolling his lips between his teeth. It’s his nervous habit — the subtlest form of one but the only external sign he’s in a situation he’s unsure about. But she can’t imagine how he could ever be unsure of something like this… it’s one of the most romantic things he’s ever done for her.

“Look on the inside of them.”

She takes her ring out of the box, gleaming at the silver band for a moment longer before flipping it to its inside, and she gasps again. Engraved with the most perfect cursive writing, read the words forever and always.

“I know how much you love my rings. You’ve made this really cute habit of fiddling with them before bed to help you fall asleep, and — and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but… I stopped wearing any on my left ring finger once you and I had gotten together.”

She did notice, of course, but she didn’t want to make any assumptions. Especially since she first noticed the morning after their first night together. She was in a trance as she watched his hands work each ring onto his fingers, one by one, precise and confident and effortless. He wasn’t even looking and that’s what made it so much more mesmerizing to her.

But it wasn’t until he reached his left ring finger that he hesitated, his fingertips skimming the skin there, as if in contemplation. And her eyebrows furrowed, even deeper when he proceeded to the next finger as if nothing peculiar had happened at all, the question on the tip of her tongue but swallowed down in seconds.

He hasn’t worn one there ever since.

“I know it’s stupid but, my rings mean a lot to me, you know? They all have their place and their reasons and it just — it felt wrong once you stayed the night because I’ve always had intentions on spending my life with you, I just didn’t think it would ever happen.”

Her eyes water as he speaks, feeling more loved and cherished than she ever has before. And there’s this sense of peace that washes over her knowing that he’s always seen himself with her, even before they had gotten together, because that’s all she had ever seen since the moment she laid eyes on him.

“I just don’t like that it’s so empty when my heart isn’t, so I figured this would be perfect for us.”

Y/n sniffles, holding back a sob as she nods her head. “Yeah, it’s perfect.”

He smiles, his fingers gripping hers before taking the ring from her hand, holding it out to her. And he slips it onto her left ring finger, admiring the way it looks on her and drooling at the idea of them sharing something so sacred and promising together.

He kisses it.

And Y/n doesn’t hesitate to then take his ring out of the box, her stomach fluttering at the intimacy of it all as she slips the silver band on the only empty finger he has. It’s so real — the feeling of it all, seeing a token of his devotion to her out for the whole world to see.

“I love it so much, H.” She whispers, intertwining their hands together. “This is just… so much. All of this and you… it’s all so much. I love you so much.”

He pulls her to him, her lips so close to his he has no choice but to lay a kiss to them. But what was supposed to be slow and delicate ended as a mini makeout session — much like the ones they had in the break room at work, hidden behind closed doors, before they were much of anything besides two people absolutely desperate for each other.

“This is all I wanted.” Y/n whispers between their kisses, referring to the man she’s holding and loving and praising between her arms. “I got everything I wanted.”

Forever and always.

#harry styles fanfiction #harry styles one shot #harry styles imagine #harry styles imagines #harry styles preferences

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lucenties · 3 years

Note

I found your blog today 😳🌟 can you order hcds from the bucci gang, with a crush artist? Normally you will see me drawing nonsense in my notebook or on loose sheets, I am also a huge art supplies nerd🤙😎

with an artistic s/o

I added some short scenarios to each so this one is a little long :0

requests are also open for a limited time. thank you to everyone for supporting my works!

⤷ team bucciarati ; gn!reader

— GIORNO GIOVANNA

♡ Giorno uses Gold Experience to create plants for all your paint-related needs. From flowers to berries to herbs, he’s got you covered for any kind of tint you could want.

♡ From common marigolds to the elusive middlemist red, he frequently uses his stand to get you all sorts of pigments. Even when you don’t ask him for materials, Giorno often tries out making new species just for fun. The leftovers are gifts; yummy berries for dessert toppings, flavorful spices for your favorite dishes, and stunning bouquets dressed in white bows.

♡ Although harming any life form created by Gold Experience would usually revert the “attack”, Giorno specifically generates his creations for the purpose of grinding them up for artistic use, rendering them perfectly safe.

“GioGio, these are wonderful!” Soil-covered hands reach out to examine the petals of Giorno’s newest creation, taking note of their small size. It’ll take more than a couple of them to make the paint. You’ve never even heard of Japanese indigo before, but seeing its bright purple flowers illuminated by Gold Experience’s ability confirms your notion that Giorno really knows what he’s doing. “You’re amazing!”

The sound of stone stroking stone falters for a moment before resuming again. Giorno bends down next to you, still grinding down petals with the mortar and pestle. He takes notice of the nice contrast between the flower and its foliage and tucks away the idea of suggesting you replicate the sight using the very watercolors that will soon be produced.

“They’re very pretty,” he agrees. “I’m excited to see what they look like on paper.”

“It’ll be more blue, right?” Giorno mutters in agreement before standing back up. You look up as he offers a hand and despite the blazing sun rays obscuring your vision, you can make out his soft smile.

“This batch is ready. Would you like to pour the water on it?”

Giorno sees your face light up in excitement as you scramble back inside for the boiling kettle. He enjoys this routine more and more each time, seeing you preserve the beauty of his creations in the beginnings of yours. It’s… comforting.

— GUIDO MISTA

♡ As soon as he sees you whip out your sketchpad, Mista is absolutely delighted. In an instant, he is beside you begging to be your next project. He demonstrates a few poses, switching between badass and silly. Sometimes, he keeps it up until late in the evening, going about his usual routine while sprinkling a few dramatic poses just to elicit sweet laughter from you.

♡ He’ll try to pass it off as a joke, but the truth is that Mista wants to be your one and only muse. He knows that you have a passion for art and he wants to be a part of that passion. In his mind, inserting himself into your art will make you fall even more for him by association.

♡ Mista loves the faces you make in sync with the movements of your pencil. Out of frustration or delight, it doesn’t matter. It’s a different side of you, more candid and almost vulnerable as you concentrate on sketching your latest creation.

“Please, please, please, [Y/N]. I just want a small peek! Lemme see what it is!” Your boyfriend is on his knees, pleading his case wholeheartedly to the point you can’t help but laugh at his antics.

“I already told you, I’ll show you when I’m done.” You try to be stern but Mista’s “puppy dog” expression, an awkward contortion of facial muscles, draws out laughter instead of mercy.

“But you said it was for me and I wanna see it already! I don’t wanna rush you to finish so let me look at what you’ve got so far and I’ll leave you alone.” You mentally curse yourself for mentioning it prematurely, knowing his reaction is to be expected of him.

“Then stop distracting me so I can finish faster.” Mista is left with a defeated look on his face and a boop on his nose with the pencil’s eraser as you go back to sketching out lines. It made your heart soar knowing that Mista was this wound up over a silly little drawing. As you make the finishing touches, Mista hovers closely over your form, patience having run thin long ago.

“Finally,” he draws the last syllable out. Heat rises to your face as you hand over the piece of paper, but you feel better when you see Mista still, awe spread out all across his face. Contrary to his actions a second ago, he is still as his lips curve upwards. It’s him and his Sex Pistols, gun proudly held up to his face mid-fight. Your admiration translates onto the paper. He can practically feel the care you put into the lines he traces with his fingers.

Mista is so lucky to have you.

— LEONE ABBACCHIO

♡ Abbacchio mostly lets you do your thing, choosing to give you space while the ink from your pen flows across the paper. He likes giving you “me time” so you can fully focus on your work.

♡ Other times, when he’s either run out of things to distract himself with or when he feels the passage of time is too slow for his liking, he pulls up a chair beside you. He doesn’t opt for much conversation. Abbacchio is content with simply being at your side and watching you.

♡ He feels at peace. You and your drawings are just so… mundane, in a good way. They offer a direct contrast to his chaos-filled job as a gangster, which often gets to a point that frustrates Abbacchio. Watching you enjoy pursuing your artistic endeavors reminds him that you are his anchor, the wonderful part of his life that is refreshingly normal.

It’s been twenty minutes since Abbacchio heard your frustrated groan and the shuffling of paper, ten minutes since he heard the screeching of your chair against the floor, and seven minutes since you settled back on the kitchen table. He glances up from his place at the fridge and sees an assortment of pages sprawled around you, some left completely disregarded away from arm’s length. Should he even ask?

“Leone, I hate doing paperwork. It’s so unnecessarily complicated.” You huff and scowl and scribble away your frustrations. “And they expect me to pay to process this? I legally have to fill it out.”

Abbacchio walks towards you and notices that the very paperwork you complain about is the one across the table and you are, instead, drawing on a loose leaf sheet of paper.

“You know, you’re gonna rip that if you keep pressing so hard,” he teases, standing beside you.

“I know, I know. I’m just really annoyed. I thought maybe sketching would help me blow off some steam.”

It takes Abbacchio four minutes to silently take a seat next to you. He’s quite amused with your sketches. He knows you’re not putting your full effort onto them, but he thinks they’re cute.

Fragments of your pink eraser are wiped away, discarded on the floor. The sharpie in your hand makes faint noises as it is dragged across the page and Abbacchio takes it all in. Your face has softened by now, growing expectant when you show him your work and content when he mutters in praise.

It doesn’t take any longer for Abbacchio to become aware of your relaxing effect on him, a soft smile displaying itself at the feeling.

— PANNACOTTA FUGO

♡ Similar to Abbacchio, Fugo likes to watch you draw from time to time. He does, however, develop an interest in creating art so the two of you can share a common hobby.

♡ He picks up a couple of art books, from the ones that show basic pencil strokes and shading techniques to the step by step children’s guides. He fills them all out and practices when he’s alone (he’s too embarrassed to admit what he’s doing) which leads to many crumpled wads of paper littering his desk.

♡ One day, Fugo pulls out a loose sheet of paper and doodles a quick little animal. He nudges it in your direction and despite his nonchalant exterior, you can tell by the way he avoids meeting your eyes that he hopes it has gained your approval.

Your boyfriend absolutely loves Friday evenings.

As soon as he hears the jingling of your keys and the creaking of the front door, Fugo is at your side offering to take your bag for you. Dinner is already made and the table is set, all that’s left is for the both of you to enjoy your meals. Fugo listens to your work stories, letting you ramble on about your day. He actively pays attention and contributes quips here and there even though he's been waiting all day to show you what he can do.

While you offer to wash up the remaining dishes, Fugo sets both sketchbooks and an array of colored pencils down on the dinner table for your weekly "art night". It's almost embarrassing how excited he is to show you how much he's improved; he feels like a child presenting a macaroni necklace to their parents. He just hopes it comes out right and doesn't piss him off.

"What are you making tonight?" You have already taken a seat across from him and have begun mindlessly dragging a pencil across the page.

"Not sure yet." Fugo shrugs nonchalantly and tries to hide the fact that he's been practicing this specific drawing of your favorite animal. Maybe you hadn't noticed the crumpled up papers hidden in the trash bin.

Fugo is almost done, except for the stupid eyes that just don't look right. He knows he's followed the book's directions, he has them memorized word for word, but he just can't make his hands do it. By now you've noticed his frustrated face and excessive erasing.

"Let me take a look, Fugo."

Before he can even say no, his work is now in your hands.

"It's not even that good, you know." He looks away cool, pretending not to care but the blush rising to his face betrays him. He hates disappointing you.

But instead of a grimace, Fugo sees a wide smile on your face that he swears will be the end of him. "It looks great! You're such a quick learner, babe. It looks like it has a lazy eye, but I think it makes it even cuter!"

Fugo strives for perfection in nearly all of his work, but if lopsided eyes will make your smile widen just a little bit more, he will gladly mess up any drawing for you.

— NARANCIA GHIRGA

♡ Narancia is fascinated with your talent. How are you so good at making all those drawings? You make it look so easy that he can’t help but shout out compliments.

♡ He’s the type of person who asks you to draw things for him. Not complicated pieces; Narancia is content with literally anything as long as you make it for him. He just likes your drawings and wants to see everything in your style!

♡ You made a little sketch of him once and presented it as a gift. You shyly insisted it wasn’t your best work and that it was just a little something you whipped up as a warm up, but it made Narancia tear up. He’s kept it in his wallet ever since.

There was nothing quite as frustrating as having all your supplies out and ready to use only to realize you have no idea what to make. It’s so frustrating that even Narancia took immediate notice of your slouched form and furrowed brow, coming to the oh-so-elusive conclusion that something was bothering you.

“What’s wrong, cutie? Why the long face?” He pulls up a stool next to you expecting to see another one of your beautiful works only to find you staring holes into a blank piece of paper.

“I just… I don’t know what to draw,” you sigh, running a hand over your face. “I got a sudden burst of motivation to make something but I don’t know how to start, I guess.”

Of all the reactions he could have made, you weren’t expecting him to laugh. His small giggles are teasing and even though it’s at your expense, you can’t help the smile that creeps onto your face as you try to glare at him.

“It’s not funny, you know,” you pout.

“I’m sorry, you're just so silly. You can draw anything, why are you struggling to pick? Just draw Aerosmith.” He looks at you like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“I’ve drawn Aerosmith too much. I wanna make something different.”

“Not enough! Never enough!” He’s jumped out of his seat by now and you can see the faint glow of the little bomber plane manifesting behind Narancia. He quickly maneuvers the stand around the room, mimicking shooting noises along with the movements of the plane. It’s incredible how much he reminds you of a little kid just having fun.

There’s no way you can deny him his request, so the next hour or so is spent making little sketches of Aerosmith in action.

— BRUNO BUCCIARATI

♡ Bucciarati is your #1 supporter! His compliments are so sweet and welcoming that you find yourself trailing behind him as soon as you finish a piece so you can hear how proud he is of how it turned out.

♡ Whether or not you sell your art is irrelevant to him; he constantly asks for commissions. He requests specific details (“Make it monochrome”, “Add some flowers somewhere, please”, “I’d like a sunset”) but leaves lots of creative freedom to you. Despite your insistence to not charge him, claiming that you were unhappy with the results or that you simply wished to gift it to him, he does not falter and pays you a hefty rate for your work.

♡ Bucciarati buys you art supplies from all over the world. He uses his extensive connections to get you all kinds of materials, from French easels to Japanese stationery, nothing is enough for his precious s/o. He definitely gets you the best drawing tablet on the market to give you a hand with digital art.

Dates with Bucciarati are some of your favorite moments in the world because of how amazingly caring he is. He is a traditional gentleman, showing up at your place with a bouquet of flowers, opening the car door for you, and extending an arm for you to hold on to while you walk through the streets of Venice. He pays for your meals when you go out to eat and a smug smile adorns his face when he sees your overwhelmed expression when you realize the bill was in the triple digits for the night. Bucciarati loves that expression.

Bucciarati also loves spoiling you. On one of these dates, you notice a medium-sized box laying on the front passenger seat, your usual spot. It is wrapped in minimalistic white paper and topped with a cute golden bow and you can’t help but pick it up to examine. “What’s this?”

“It's a gift, darling. For you.” Bucciarati smiles at your curious face before stepping inside the car. He pats the seat beside him, motioning you to accompany him. “You can open it right now if you’d like.”

You give him a lovingly wary look; it was not uncommon for his gifts to be expensive and it made you feel bad sometimes that he invested his money into you. Curiosity got the better of you, however, and after some hesitation, the white paper was carefully discarded onto the car floor. Once you take a good look at the gift, your eyes go wide.

“They’re oil paints,” Bucciarati states. “I especially commissioned them from Belgium. They were made with the finest ingredients they had to offer, so make sure to make a special masterpiece with them.” Arms are flung to envelop Bucciarati into a tight hug, with some Thank you, thank you! being thrown around in a loving shout.

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honeybeezx · 3 years

Text

Armor - Oberyn Martell x Reader x Ellaria Sand - Part 2

Author’s Note: Hey all! Thank you for all the love on the first chapter! This one will have a lot more of our favorite prince and paramour and the reader is such a badass. I’m really having the most fun writing this you guys have no idea😄

Word Count: 2.4k

Warnings: mentions of murder, mentions of sex

Enjoy, love you all and as always, feedback is welcome!

——————

The brothel smelled of incense and sex. The men who had paid for the services apparently had no reservations about silencing their pleasure, nor the women. You were mildly annoyed by it all. You didn’t care or consider it lowly to work or attend a brothel, but it just seemed so...fake. People pretending that what they were feeling was love or passion when really it was just men finding release, both from sex and from their normal lives, and women getting their coin.

Not that you really knew what actual love was like, but you did know it wasn’t this.

One of the girls brought you to a room near the back. The ornate doors swung open to reveal who you could only assume was the prince and his princess. You weren’t really sure what you expected, but you found yourself shocked. He looked princely, certainly, but you weren’t expecting him to be so...striking. Bronzed skin against golden cloth...he looked like a work of art. And his princess was equally captivating. Her dark locks cascading against her dress seemed to compliment her lover’s own clothes. They both seemed to have a strong demeanor, even while they were allowing themselves to be vulnerable, wrapped in each other’s arms. Both of their heads turned to look at you, brown eyes meeting yours. You wondered how their gaze could even fall upon you when you were presenting them with the finest women the capital could offer.

The women you now know as Ros introduced you by both birth name and the one bestowed upon you through the tales spread throughout Westeros. The prince smirked and narrowed his eyes at you. The woman in his arms might as well have been undressing you with her eyes.

“The Silver Hawk.” He smiled, taking you in. He left his paramour’s side to stand before you. Your guard wasn’t easily lowered by attractive people, but even you had to admit they were both intimidatingly beautiful. The prince’s exposed chest and the heat of the princess’s eyes had your heart beating faster than you cared to let on. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. My brother told me the stories about you and your silver arrows. Is it true that they were enchanted by the gods so that you can never miss?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I trained hard to achieve the level of skill I possess, I assure you.” The stories people told about you these days were becoming more absurd by the day. And you were slightly offended. To just be handed a gift with no hard work, no sense of accomplishment was no gift at all.

“Will we get the chance to see you prove that?” Ellaria asked hopefully as she joined her prince’s side.

“Perhaps.” If the Lannisters or any other of the terrible people in this city continued to annoy you, you didn’t doubt it, but you were not going to put on a show...Even if the Dornish woman did make your heart beat faster in your chest.

“I’ll be looking forward to it.” She smiled with a wink.

You cleared your throat and focused. You were here for a reason after all, and that wasn’t to entertain the guests with your skill. “The hand of the king, Tyrion Lannister apologizes for his absence this evening, but he wanted to offer these ladies as a welcoming gift and hopes you’ll excuse him.”

“A gift indeed.” His eyes raked over you, the woman behind him smirking. “A shame that Tyrion hides such an exquisite woman behind the ugly walls of the Lannister dwelling. You should be out in the sun, letting more people admire your beauty. Too bad...In Dorne, it would be a crime to hide such a rare gem.” It almost seemed like the prince couldn’t hide his desire, even if he wanted to (which he most certainly didn’t). His eyes traveled everywhere, from the tips of your boots to the smallest hair on your head.

You’ve never experienced whiplash before, but you imagined it felt a bit like this. To say you were surprised was an understatement. Not many people could catch you off guard, but not many people were so bold, especially towards you. You could do little to disguise your shock and you took a moment to find your voice. “Prince Oberyn, I am not an option here if that is what you are implying.” You retorted, rather defensively.

“That is not what I am implying, but it is interesting that the thought occurred to you.” He flashed a devilish smile and you wanted nothing more than to punch it off his handsome face.

“That is not what I-“

The prince placed a finger to his lips and you wanted to scream with anger at how easy it was for him to silence you with one simple action. He grinned before backing away, returning to the Dornish woman. “Ellaria Sand, my paramour.”

“It’s a pleasure.” She greeted, her voice dripping with a sultriness that would have made someone with less composure than you blush.

“The pleasure is all mine.” You replied, trying to recover from their boldness. You tried to remain calm, you made a promise to Tyrion that you would make the guests feel welcome. Why he trusted you with this particular task was beyond you.

“Hmm, I doubt it.” Ellaria grinned her eyes still raking over you.

A room full of half-naked women and they settle on me.

Both of them, flirting with the same woman right before their own partners. It intrigued you that they both shared the same lover. Neither of them seemed to care much about the gender of whom they chose to sleep with, only their beauty. They possessed a different type of freedom, one you were unfamiliar with. Your freedom was found when you were hunting, climbing trees, the rare times you found yourself near an ocean. For them, it was shameless passion and love, taking pleasure anywhere they could get it unapologetically. Life was theirs to enjoy, nothing could take that from them.

Which is why you found the fact that they were singling in on your armor-clad body so shocking. You couldn’t comprehend how anything you were wearing could draw their attention in a lustful sort of way.

“You should reconsider, by the way. We are very generous lovers. What a privilege it would be to say we made love to the stunning Silver Hawk of the North.” Oberyn raised a brow at you as he took a berry between his teeth, tongue swiping against the tips of his teeth, making a show of himself before actually eating it.

You cursed your skin for becoming so hot.

“Let me make myself clear Prince Oberyn.” You began, finding some strength to your voice again as you remembered your place, your. “I am not a whore. These women here, they are your options. What you decide to do with them is your business, but I am a guard to the king’s hand and I demand to be treated as such. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must return to the palace.” You turned on your heel to leave, impossible without the prince having the last word.

“One more thing.” His voice stopped you in your tracks. You turned just enough to face him.

“When was the last time you experienced pleasure?”

All you could see was red.

“The first time I shot an arrow through an arrogant man’s chest.” Before you could stop your words they were already hung in the air. You were prepared for the prince to draw the dagger you noticed hanging at his hip, but he made no such move, his hands still around his paramour.

And he smiled.

“I look forward to seeing you again, Silver Hawk.”

“If I see the Red Viper again it will be too soon.”

You stormed out of the brothel, drawing looks from all those around you, but you didn’t care. They both got to you, in more ways than one. How did they break you down so easily? Not even the queen regent possessed such power.

And you prayed to the gods old and new that neither of them would tell Tyrion. You knew it was a false hope, but the last thing you needed was Tyrion scolding you and even worse, letting people know they could both get to you. Your whole life you let your rage burn quietly in your chest, letting it fuel you rather than consume you. But their smirks, their roaming eyes, their words made you feel something you hadn’t in a very long time.

And you threatened him, the Red Viper of Dorne. It wasn’t as if his reputation and stories escaped your ears. He was skilled with every weapon you could think of. To top it off, if he didn’t wish to kill you with a weapon, he was an expert in poisons as well. It was a relief that he wasn’t staying in the palace now, you’d have to find somewhere else to eat and drink every night just to avoid death.

King’s Landing was becoming its special sort of war zone. This was the game of Kings and Queens, Prince and Princesses, none of which you were. It was as if you had been dealt a hand that everyone knew you were going to lose. The Lannisters and the Martells, amazed you how two completely different families could be toying with you, a pawn in this royal game.

Oberyn and Ellaria were just the most skilled players.

As if you needed more people in King’s Landing to worry about.

—————————

“I like her.” Ellaria laughed, still in the arms of her lover. The couple had chosen their girls for the night but sent them waiting for a moment as they discussed you. “You were right, she’s stunning lover. And she has a bite, not many people would challenge you, a prince and a fearsome warrior. I fear we may have scared her off though.” Her smile faltered a bit at the idea of losing their next lover. She wanted you, and there was only so much time before they would be separated by their return to Dorne.

“She is a wild one. Not many women like her. I’m not sure I know many soldiers with her reputation and skill, whether they be man or woman.” He noted as he tucked a strand of his paramour’s hair behind her ear. “I did not expect her to be so offended by us. I don’t think she is as familiar with the pleasures of the bed as we are. We may have to...coax her.” He suggested, scanning Ellaria’s dark eyes, as if he were attempting to read her thoughts.

“She is a strong woman, in every sense of the word. That it itself is something rare, and she knows that. I suspect she thinks we are mocking her, somehow undermining her.” Ellaria noted, recalling your behavior. “She thinks we want to pay for her services, thinks she’s just another girl for us. You may have chosen the wrong moment to be so bold, my love.” Ellaria tried putting herself in your shoes, but it was difficult. Many people knew the legends of the silver hawk, the assassin who never misses, but fewer knew the origin of your tale, how a young woman came to possess the skill of men twice her age, maybe even better than that. But she imagined if she worked as hard as you said you did, only for a man, a prince, to single you out among brothel girls, as if you were one yourself, she could understand your anger.

“Think about it my love,” she began, “you did not exactly explain to her what we were proposing. You cannot blame her for assuming we saw her as another one of Little Finger’s girls.” Ellaria chided as she traced featherlight touches against her lover’s exposed chest.

“A gentler approach may do us good. You are anything but withholding when it comes to who you desire, and at least now she knows. But you may want to start winning her favor with some sort of peace offering.” She ran her hands through Oberyn’s dark curls as he looked at her like a man in the desert looked at water. The Sand woman knew her lover like she knew her own heart, and she knew she was not the only woman who had turned him on this evening. “Go to King’s Landing tomorrow and find her. Don’t apologize for wanting her, never that, but offer our friendship. That may be a good place to start?” She asked, wanting to know what her lover thought.

Oberyn gave a hum of approval before taking his lover’s hand and kissing her palm. “You are the wisest of women.” His hand moved her own so that her palm was now resting on his cheek, his soft, brown eyes still raking over his paramour. “I will go tomorrow to offer our friendship and make peace. I have a feeling that even if we remain friends with her, she will be a powerful and useful ally. She could be just the person we’re looking for to get me information on my sister’s murder.”

The prince’s face turned somber. Ellaria closed her eyes and placed a kiss to his exposed chest. “Do not forget that she works for a Lannister, lover. She may not be so willing.”

But Oberyn shook his head. “No. When I went to the palace the Hawk had her sights on Cersei the entire time. I thought she was going to pierce her with an arrow right in the throne room. She makes an exception for Tyrion, but otherwise, I suspect she has a distaste for Lannisters as much as we do. She may be at least willing to listen to my proposal.”

Ellaria sighed and ran her hand down the prince’s toned arms. “Perhaps, but I don’t want her slipping through our fingers. I want justice for your beloved sister, but I want her too. She is a strong woman, capable of defending herself, but she should not be put in harm's way.”

Oberyn nodded, but he could not shake the deep-rooted desire for vengeance. Every time he saw a Lannister all he could think of was his enchanting sister and her sweet children, and the unfair fate they were given. “I will simply speak to her and offer friendship tomorrow. Her spying was just a thought.” He added, keeping his calm. “We have to earn her trust first and foremost, a task that I’m sure will prove difficult all on its own.”

“Neither of us have been known to back down from a challenge.” She laughed before kissing his collarbone.

“We will just have to convince her of our desires.”

———————

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Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch14 Battle Gym Leader Bea

You two had found yourselves out of Hammerlocke by sundown that day. But not before you went back into the town and stopped by that cafe you both had passed earlier, and each gotten a free piece of cake and small cup of tea from those coupon things that Applin Boy had given to Gloria as thanks for helping him. Cake and tea weren't exactly what you would call dinner but you weren't going to complain about free food. Your drizzilie sure tried sneaking it from you but settled for the small bag of fruit you tossed at it after you told him no.

"So," you asked Gloria after taking another sip of the tea you received, "You mentioned challenging Bea next right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Remember how I told you there was four gyms that gave the same badge?" You nodded. "The Fighting Type and Ghost Type gyms give the same badge. While the Ice and Rock gyms give a different badge from the Ghost and Fighting gyms, they give the same one as well. So either someone can just chose the Fighting or Ghost type gyms then move on and chose either the Ice or Rock type gyms. But I plan on stopping by both. The closest one just happens to be the Fighting Type Gym run by the Gym leader Bea. Not only is she the top fighting type pokemon trainer, but she's been the winner of the Galarian Martial Arts Championship seven years running undefeated. They say she can go bare fists with her machomp and win."

"Wow. She sounds really strong."

"She is. Which is why I think that's why Hop's going there too." She frowned stabbing at a piece of her free cake. "He said he wanted to become stronger. Challenging another strong gym leader right after defeating Kabu but loosing to Bede sounds like he's trying to conquer another hard challenge to prove he's strong. ...I'm worried about him."

"I know, but don't worry," you assured with a smile. You remembered enough about the game to know Hop would definitely bounce back, and after hearing him speak the other day, you knew he'd be fine. "He's a strong and has enough determination in him to move a mountain if he felt like it."

...She smiled at you. "Thanks Y/n. I knew I made a good choice in my traveling buddy."

You paused a moment...before blinking. "That reminds me. Why did you want me to come along with you back in Postwick? I mean it's not that I mind, but we were practically strangers then."

She shrugged. "I really don't know. I know it's gonna sound weird, but there's a really good atmosphere around ya. Like...You just give off good vibes, and my gut feelings are usually spot on anyways. An' I wasn't wrong!" She smiled. "You've been a great friend ta us!"

You smiled. Well that was strange. It was almost like what Sonia said about your 'good aura', but you weren't going to complain about the nice compliments.

"You're one of the gym challengers endorsed by Leon, aren't you?" Both of you looked up and blinked at the sight of an older woman, who looked older than Kabu, dressed in a blue and pink outfit with accessories, an umbrella in one hand, was pretty tall for someone you'd expect, and aquamarine eyes looking at Gloria curiously. Stunned that you two hadn't noticed noticed her walk up to you before now, both you two looked at each other before Gloria looked back to the old woman and nodded. She hummed for a moment before suddenly holding out something to her you recognized right away. "My name's Opal. If you want to know more, have a look at my league card." Gloria's brown eyes stared at the card for a moment before taking it from the lady. "I'll keep an eye on you, Child. I want to see what you can do when you go all out."

Both of you watched silently as she silently just...turned around and walked right out of the cafe. Like nothing had just happened. Leaving the two of you sitting there looking after her blankly before looking at one another with blank faces wondering if that actually happened.

Eventually you blinked as Gloria looked at the card handed to her. "Who was that?"

"According to this..she's Ms. Opal." She looked up to you holding up the card in her hand, "And the Fairy Type Gym Leader from Bellonlea!"

"What?" You held out your hand as she offered it to you. "Lemme see that." And true to Gloria's word, it was an official League Card with the picture of the very same elderly woman you just spoken too on it. "Huh." You handed it back to her. "I wonder what she was doing all the way here in Hammerlocke then?"

She shrugged before pocketing the card. "The same thing as Lee? Like maybe she's seein' the Chairman too? Or maybe traveling since I don't think anyone would challenge her yet. March is almost over so it's still pretty early in the year for anyone to gather many badges."

Wow. Almost three months had passed already? You must've lost track of time from traveling so much. You weren't too sure but shrugged. "Who knows? C'mon. Let's finish eating and hit the road before it gets too dark outside."

After the meal the two of you headed back out on Route Six as the sun nearly set in the sky making everything lightly darker but had enough light to still see. The lights of Hammerlocke shining out as the two of you left the dragon town. You were a bit nervous about running into Raihan or that Mr. Rose again, but you ran into neither as you left the town. Thank goodness. You and her then fell into the familiar routine of walking, camping, and more shaking of berry trees as you passed by them by chance. Only this time Gloria seemed to pick back up her hobby of taking pictures for her dex challenge again. The photos Victor had given her had filled up a good sizable amount of the book already but there was still more photos needed for it as well as for that curry dex challenge book she needed. It was a bit random but you were glad she found something to keep herself occupied on the way there, and photography was a pretty neat hobby. Although she didn't seem to be as into it as Victor was. If she wasn't doing that, she battled a pokemon here n' there as you either watched or gathered food or some other needed thing to be done and like before you traveled past a few small towns, houses, or other travelers heading in the opposite direction. No signs of the boys, but you were glad not having any more run ins with those Team Yell grunts as days passed as you two slowly made your way towards Stow-on-Side.

"So how long until we reach Stow-on-Side?," you asked one day while walking.

Gloria hummed for a moment before whipping out her phone and flipping through the screen once it turned on. Lately the region around you had started to get rockier with more and more hills and cliffs jutting out of the earth until it slowly consumed both side of the path the two of you walked. "According to Rotom we should be there sometime tomorrow if we keep on goin' down this pathway." That was great news! "Also accordin' ta this, there's another historical wonder protected by the Galarian Conservation Society! ...Hmm. I wonder if she'll be down here too??"

You rose a brow at her. "Her who?"

She looked at you. "When I was chattin' with Sonia at the vault I showed 'er some old pokemon fossils I picked up. Useless really. Ye find 'em sometimes and see 'em in your science classes n' museums and the like. I was gonna give 'em to Hop as a gift since he's into that kinda stuff but she told me an old scientist friend of hers was in Stow-on-Side trying out this new fossil restoration or somethin' like that. But she couldn't find any fossils to try 'em out on."

......You blinked. "Since when did you get fossils??"

"I found two by accident back when we 'ere in the Wild Area. Y'know. When I fought that wild diglett in the cave." You groaned remembering that experience. "And then some bloke traded me two he didn't want at the pokemon center for the applin I was gonna put back when the red-headed bloke didn't want it. I completely forgotten I even had them til I remembered just now."

"That reminds me. Whatever did you do with those other pokemon you were given? Especially that baby toxel. It looked pretty young."

"Ah! I sent it to Mum to take care of! She mentioned being lonely without us there so I thought she'd like raisin' the wee tyke!"

You rose a brow. "Can she handle a toxel??"

"She sent me pictures of the lil thing sleepin' with Munchlax so I think they're doing just fine!"

"If you say so."

The both of you traveled until the sun went down and you set up camp under a shady ledge before quickly packing up the next day at day light and going to travel again. Until coming to a bunch of bright stony ledges and cliffs in a dead end where the path ended just a few yards in front of the cliffside. .......Which left the both of you confused looking around.

".....Does this mean we're at Stow-on-Side?," you asked pressing you hand against one of the rocky hills before yanking and waving it back from the heat of them sitting in the sun all day. Speaking of which it was hot as you traveled. Must be entering summer territory. Your f/c eyes scanned up and down the cliffs surrounding you all and a hand pressed above your brows to block the sun. "Or did we make a wrong turn somewhere??"

"Can't be! We followed nothin' but Route Six all the way here!" Gloria had already brought out her phone giving it a little shake. "Accordin' to this Stow-on-Side's just up ahead!"

"So either your phone's broken or we have to suddenly learn how to rock climb." Your eyes scanned the ledges more. They looked a little too dangerous to just be climbing without any professional gear or unless you were a rock climbing expert. To which you had neither...."What about that corvisquire you have?"

"It's not big enough to fly either of us up these mountains!...*sigh* We might have ta just call a flying taxi at this rate."

Yeah. That might be the best option either of you two had at this point. ....Your Drizzilie, which had taken to fully putting itself into your pack with just his head peeking out from under the lid to avoid the sun, suddenly gave a look towards something shiny. Before it's eyes widened and it gave a loud chirp poking it's head out fully to the both of you. You looked over your shoulder as it continued to make noises at you. "Whoa! Hey. What is it boy?" It's arm popped out and he pointed his hand towards the other side of the dead end you were at. You both looked over and you blinked at something against the cliffside shining in the sunlight. "Hey! What's that over there?" You pointed and began walking towards it...Gloria blinked, before putting her phone away and quickly following after you. You approuched the shining thing and soon discovered it to be a- "It's a ladder!" Walking forward more it was indeed a metal ladder. Secured and bolted to the cliffside and going up until it ended at the very top of it. "....What's a ladder doing here?"

"That must be how people get ta Stow-on-Side from 'ere," Gloria reasoned. "Ya think they'd actually make this more easier to get too."

"You'd think so. Good Boy!" Drizzilie gave a huff before returning to it's spot inside your bag. Ok be tsundere. Pausing to look at it for a moment you grabbed it before immediately letting go from how hot it was. "...You really think this is the way?"

"There's no other way around here other than a taxi, and what do we have to lose? The worse case scenario is that we'll hit another dead end or just climb to the top and hail a cab like we were thinkin' anyways."

She had a point. And if you did end up just going to the top of the cliffs here you could get a better look of your surroundings. So reluctantly you nodded. "Alright. But let me go first to make sure it's safe." Slowly and with a sigh you grabbed the metal ladder wincing in pain when the hot metal stung your hands lightly, and began to climb up. It wasn't too hard or high of a climb, and you were fast to release the ladder as hard as you can also considering the weight on your shoulders, it made it a bit more difficult. Once you reached the top however and climbed up all the way, you noticed there was nothing but more ledges, dead grass, and...another ladder leading somewhere ahead of you. Standing up, once you deduced it was safe, you carefully looked over the edge to Gloria looking up at you and waved. "It's safe! And I found another ladder!"

Gloria didn't even hesitate after that. In her excitement you weren't sure if she just didn't notice the pain or bared it to climb up but you were there to offer a hand and pull her up with you once she was there. And you two wasted no more time and got climbing. Not baring to stand in this heat anymore. The second ladder you climbed up lead to the top of one of the larger clifftops, a small pond of some sort, and another much longer ladder leading you further and higher into the mountain sides and you two went. Your muscles were sore and tired from the extra weight of your Drizzilie who peeked out and down from your bag every so often, and your hands burnt under the ladders' metal. You were sure it wasn't enough to be badly hurt for a long time, but it sure stung, and you were paranoid that at any moment you would fall. But luckily you didn't and by some miracle forced yourself NOT to look down before making it to the third ledge and ..another ladder. Gloria right on your heels. Rinse and repeat. Climb, pray to whoever heard you that you wouldn't fall, get to the top, and then do it again. The both of you must've been on your seventh or eighth ladder and ledge at this point and you were resting on your knees exposed to the hot sun tired, breathing heavy, and shaking your sore hands. Gloria doing the same with her hands before reaching up to wipe her brow and look around ...Before spotting and pointing to yet another ladder.

"Hey look! It leads up to a tunnel of some kind!"

You looked to the giant black whole that the ladder lead into and groaned. "Oh PLEASE tell me this isn't going to be another mine."

"Only one way to find out!" She happily bounded towards the ladder, and with another groan, you slowly forced yourself to stand and followed after. Where does she get so much energy? And in this heat? She was already half way up the ladder by the time you got there and began slowly climbing, grip so hard your knuckles turned white to keep yourself from falling. Gloria making her way right into the tunnel and disappearing from view as you got closer to the top yourself. "Y/N!!" She suddenly shouted echoed by the tunnel. "Ya gotta see this!!"

"I'M COMING!!," you strangled out in a shout still making your way up.

Gloria was waiting for you when you finally got to the top, letting her grab your arm to pull you with a grunt into the shady tunnel with her. With a sigh as your sore hands touched the cooled floor of the cavern, you twisted your legs around, and just sat there breathing and wiping at your forehead from the long trip you two had suffered. Gloria was kind enough to let you catch your breath, considering it must've been harder for you with your Drizzilie being no help, for around five maybe ten minutes before you turned your head..and blinked at the light coming from the other side of the short tunnel. Gloria went ahead and started walking towards it...and you again forced yourself up and walked after her. But slower this time considering how tired and sore you were. She stopped by the cavern opening and once you caught up, your eyes widened.

"Holy smokes!"

Carved into the cliffside was the BIGGEST statues you had ever seen! The stone digletts stared out blankly onto the horizon and were blocked off by a chained fence embedded into the stone ground below it. Was this the historical landmark Gloria spoke of yesterday? She started walking forward and after a moment you followed staring up at the massive stone beasts before you. A flash of light going off as she snapped a picture of it while passing....Before she turned and with a gasp that had you snapping forward pointed excitedly.

"Y/n! Look! We found it!" What was unmistakeningly a stadium shone brightly in the sunlight as you looked and blinked, and before it was a couple small buildings, one including that classic pink pokemon center. You two wasted no time in jogging towards it past the statues and up a small flight of stairs carved into the stone floor, past under a wooden gate of some kind and over to the buildings ahead. Where you saw people. PEOPLE!! Walking around doing their everyday lives as usual! You two had successfully found Stow-on-Side! The tall two story buildings were all carved from stone as well with a couple small tables in the pathway you two walked that had a few people yelling at passerbys to come and bye from them as they sat under umbrellas from the hot sun. As you walked past everyone Gloria took out her phone again and after a few taps on it nodded in glee. "This is Stow-on-Side alright! Apparently the diglett statues we saw are part of some famous ruins including an ancient mural up the path by the stadium! We should go check those out once I'm done with the battle here!"

"Once we rest first!" You sighed and again reached up to rub your temple. "I'm beat from all that walking and climbing! And it doesn't look like this place has any inn or public place besides the center we can rest up in."

You both turned right still walking along the path towards the stadium.

"Yeah? Well I can check on my regional map of Stown-on-Side. It should tell u-" She stopped. Freezing like someone paused her on tv. Her face suddenly drawing a blank. Curiously, you stopped too and turned around to give a raised brow at her suddenly blank expression. Before you turned to look where she was looking. A whine coming from your backpack as your Drizzlie poked it's full head out. And you under stood why she stopped. IT WAS THE BOYS!! Both were talking to each other walking down from the stairs leading to the big stadium, until they happened to look down towards the both of you and stopped. The four of you staring at one another in surprised silence...Before Gloria straight up BOLTED towards them both! "HOP!!"

"Glori-AH!!" The poor boy didn't even get a chance to finish talking before he was glomped by the brunette nearly knocking the both of them over in the process.

"I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!! YA PURPLE HAIRED LOONEY PONYTA!!," she shouted with a smile. "YA HAD ME SO WORRIED!! DON'T DO THAT!!"

"N-Nice to see you too!," he forced out strangled by the crushing hug, "M-Miss Y/N help!"

You walked on over but didn't need to pry them apart thankfully as she let go and let Hop breathed and clutch at his chest by the time you got there. Victor looking annoyed opening his arms. "And what am I? An invisible Sobble?" Gloria giggled before giving her brother the expected hug he wanted.

"We thought we'd miss you guys here by how long it took! Were you here that long?"

"Sadly yes," Hop answered rubbing at where Gloria nearly crushed him to dust. "Turns out there was a few people here itchin' to battle Bea before going on to harder gym leaders like Kabu, so we had to camp out for a bit for an opening."

Gloria paused...slowly retracting her hug from her brother and turning to him, face concerned. "Does...D-Does that mean you didn't win?"

...He smiled. "Took me two tries! But I managed to get my fighting badge!"

"You did!! Hop that's amazing! I told you, you could do it!"

He chuckled....before his face turned back to a neutral one. "But...Glory." His hands came to stuff themselves into his pockets. "I'm still not too sure what I should do about all that stuff I told you before. About me being weak and dragging down Lee's good name and all, yeah? "..He smiled again. "But the only thing I can do is get stronger right?"

With a sigh Gloria gave her own determined smile, reached over, and made him blink as she flicked his nose. "That's what we've always told you, Hop. I never lost doubt in ya."

He paused for a moment gold eyes blinking and looking cross eyed at his nose, before his face went pink again and he chuckled. "Y-yeah! A-Actually I was hoping for a b-battle with ya the next time I saw you." Your Drizzilie whined more. "Vi-Vic's been battling me and helping me build up my team and come up with new s-strageties on how to battle upcoming gym leaders. So I'm gonna try out all kinds of different things against you and see what works!..If you wanna battle that is?"

"Do you really need to ask? You're on!"

"Then let's do this! I bet an all out battle with my true rival will help me get my head on straight-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-"

A screech that pierced your eardrums interrupting Hop from saying anything else. Immediately all your hands shot up to your ears and you all made some kind of cringed face or closed their eyes from the scream that came from directly behind you. You forced yourself to turn around at your drizzilie's head poking out from your bag. Mouth open wide and yelling at the top of his lungs before he abruptly stopped upon noticing you had looked at it in utter shock.....How could such a small thing make such a noise!! Slowly, the others uncovered their ears as well giving the three back and forth looks, before also looking in the direction of your bored looking drizzilie.

..........Victor blinked and pointed at your backpack. "What the absolute Arceous was THAT!?"

"I......have absolutely no idea." You eventually managed to get yourself to talk. "I've never heard him make a noise like that before."

"Could there be something wrong with him?," Hop asked rubbing one of his ears, "It is pretty hot and he's a water type. Maybe he's gotten dehydrated from lack of water or something?"

You jumped. YOU HADN'T EVEN CONSIDERED THAT WHILE TRAVELING!? WHAT THE HECK!! YOU WERE AN AWFUL TRAINER!! "I...." You swiftly turned nearly nailing Gloria in the side with your back pack in a panic. "I-I gotta get him back over to the center just in case! You two go ahead and have your battle!"

"I'll come too!" Victor stepped forward. "I meant to stop by anyways to grab some potions from the center."

If you heard him you didn't pay him much mind as you practically stumble-ran your panicked self back down what few steps you had climbed up towards the stadium and RAN towards the center with Victor right behind you. You nearly tripped and slammed in your haste turning the corner and RUNNING past the vendors calling out towards that bright pink building. The people inside jumping and looking on in surprise when you practically ripped the doors off their hinges bursting inside and without missing a beat flew to the wide eyed nurse joy standing behind the counter, swiftly turning your back where your drizzilie still bored looking despite everything that was happening right now, and in panic DEMANDED she'd take a look at him NOW!! Surprisingly no one moved, too shocked to really know how to react. It took Victor coming in and explaining calmly to the startled Nurse Joy what the drizzilie did and politely asking her to look him over did she finally react accordingly. She took her sweet time in the next ten minutes pulling your water pokemon from it's hiding place, making it sit on the counter as you watched a nervous wreck with Victor assuring you he was ok, and slowly and carefully examining him as a doctor would a patient during a physical....All to just smile at you and tell you essentially......Your Drizzilie...Was throwing a tantrum akin to that of a moody angsty teenager during puberty. ....You blinked and had to be explained to again as, even though Drizzilie was a little dehydrated from the hot weather, he was actually throwing a tantrum because he was hungry. So you, worried you might have let something bad happen to your pokemon without knowing, had panicked over nothing and rushed him over here to be told he was acting like a toddler not getting their way because he was hungry......WHAT!?

"He's perfectly healthy, you probably just haven't fed him today yet and he was just expressing that to you in what way he thought you'd understand. Although in this heat he is naturally a little dehydrated, and you yourself look it too and exhausted. My advice to the both of you is to rest here for an hour or two out of the weather and have you both drink some water. I'll lend you some and some pokemon food so it doesn't happen again. After all we don't want anyone dropping from the heat."

You sighed. Relieved Drizzilie wasn't really hurt, but annoyed he had scared you for no reason. You shot a scowl at the pokemon standing next to you and as soon as it made eye contact with you looked embarrassed to the floor. Nurse Joy was nice enough to give you some bottled up water and a small bowl of pokemon food for the two of you and you thanked her before Victor was nice enough to help you carry them over to the table and chairs in the corner. You gladly plopped yourself down in one chair exhausted, sighing as at last your muscles got a chance to rest among the cool ac of the center. Victor sat across from you as your drizzilie plopped itself on the floor by your feet with it's newfound food and water to make it happy.

".....Hey. Y/n?" You hummed from where you had laid your head against the table. "Are you ok?"

".......Yeah."

".......Would you like some water?"

".....Yeah."

He was nice enough to hand you a bottle of water which you chugged down before resuming your position of laying against the table silently resting. Even when the other two finally caught up to you and entered the center.

"My strategy goes right to the pot when I've got all these bad thoughts running through my head," Hop's voice came as you heard the door open just didn't look up.

"Yeah. But I also barely won. I blame the heat. 'Sides you're gettin' better!," Came Gloria's voice right after him.

"Hrmmm. I tried switching my team members in and out to max out their potential in every match up but we just couldn't get it together somehow. Maybe that's why I'm still so weak?"

"Call yourself weak again n' I'll drag ya ta Lee myself kickin' n' screamin' and have him talk ye out o' that crazy mindset!"

"Ok! Ok! I won't! No need to go all charmander on me, Mate. .......Oh! Y/n! Hey!"

"......Hi," you mumbled to Hop.

"So how'd it go? Is everything ok?"

"Oh yeah. Turns out he was just throwing a big whiney fit cuz he was hungry like a big baby, but he should be fine now. How was your battle?"

"OH! That's good to know he's not hurt or anything. It was fine thanks. I got to see how my tactics work on the battlefield and what to improve on. In fact I think we're ready to move on. Are you ready to go, Victor?"

"What?! You mean you're both leavin' us again?!" This time you did force yourself to look up. More out of concern than anything as Gloria stared at the two boys, and you noticed Victor had stood up from his seat. "B-But we just caught up with you!"

...Hop sighed. "I know, and I don't really wanna split up either but I still have some things I need to work out myself. And I wanna make more good choices when it comes to battling and strategies for them. .." He smiled. "But Lee really is the greatest trainer, and I don't want people laughing at him all because his little brother is rubbish. It's not enough. I've got to try harder and harder and hard 'til no one's laughing!"

"But....you're not rubbish to me."

Hop paused again before sighing again. "I know...That's why you make such a good friend and rival, Glory."

"............Hey Hop." The three looked at you and you hesitated for a moment. Would this change the game's story events?? Well it wouldn't hurt to give him some words of encouragement like you gave Sonia. "Listen. You got the Fighting Type badge right?" He nodded. "Then you're not rubbish! You said it yourself that there was a few other gym trainers were here because they didn't want to challenge Kabu yet. But you did. And you won against the guy that supposedly makes their numbers drop."

He blinked wide eyed, not really expecting that. "Yeah...But just barely. And not exactly how I would've liked."

"So? That didn't stop you from winning on your FIRST try either way. How many trainers besides you two have those bragging rights?? The dude's so powerful he personally says congrats to anyone who does beat him. A guy doesn't do that unless only a few actually manages to get past him. Sure Bede may have beaten you. Sure he said a bunch of stuff about you and your brother, but he's just doing it because he's trying to get under your skin. He's trying to make you doubt yourself. He's trying to make you lose." You pointed to the wide eyed looking boy. "Hop. You CAN'T just be calling yourself weak. Leon and you are both strong. Just in different ways and Leon sees that in you. Why else would be agree to sponsor you in the first place? Haven't you seen what you've been able to do so far?" You gestured to his back pack. "In there somewhere is four badges ok? Four badges that you won on either your second or even first try. Do you think I could have done that? Absolutely not. You have four badges and you just need eight to compete at the end of the year! It's been three or four months and already you've come farther than most of your rivals in the challenge." You smiled. "That's not rubbish or weakness Hop. That's your true strength plain and simple."

Hop continued to stare at you with those bright gold eyes for a long moment, before the biggest smile you had ever seen on him came through. "...Yeah...YEAH!!" He pointed at you. "You're absolutely right! ...I...Still need some time to think about a few things, but I appreciate the words."

You smiled and nodded. "You'll figure it out eventually. Until then, just keep calm and work hard and you'll get there. Don't worry yourself over what Bede said because Gloria's right about him being wrong."

With a nod, Hop turned back to Gloria who blinked back at him. "I'm off, mate. Off to find the kind of pokemon that I can really draw the strength out of."

She frowned. "We'll meet up with you later tho...Right?"

"Oh you know we will! I still have to beat you sometime. I'll see you around. Ok?"

....Gloria nodded and the two of you watched as they bid farewell and after a moment they were gone. You two looking after where they left....before you looked over at Gloria's sad face. "Hey. Are you alright?"

After a second or two she nodded. "Y-Yeah." She inhaled. "Yeah I'm good. It's just a bit unfair y'know? Gah!" Her hands came up to grip her head. "I wish I could just get my mind off all this!"

You opened your mouth to speak- "That child." And practically yelped, jumping up, as the both of you whirled around face to face with....Opal. The elderly woman staring at where they boys left. "Gym Challengers should battle for the sake of their own pokemon. Why worry about saving the Champion's name? We all know he's unbeatable."......You exchanged a look with Gloria. "Anyway, here's a little something for letting me watch your battle." To your surprise what she handed out (more like put in Gloria's stunned hand-) was another league card. "Now on you go, Child. You're headed to the Stow-on-Side Gym next, no? The Gym Challenge is about having fun."

You both watched silently as she once again appeared out of no where, before ignoring anything she just did, and just...Left! Gloria finally blinked before curiously looking down at the card in her hands. Slowly turning to you as she rose a brow. And looked up to you. "..This is Bea's League Card."

....You blinked. "You mean the gym leader from this gym?" She nodded. "Why on earth would she have that?"

"I'm more confused on why she's here too."

"I'm more impressed she managed to do all that climbing required to get here. Wouldn't be surprised if she did the smart thing and grabbed a taxi....But she's got a point." You pointed to the card in Gloria's hands. "We came here so you would challenge Bea. If you want to get your mind off things, then a battle against her would be the best thing to do just that."

Gloria stared at you a moment. Before looking down to the card in her hands a determined look coming over her as she inhaled and pumped a fist into the air. "You're right again! I came here to challenge the fighting type gym and it's leader! I didn't spend days travelin' and climbing an unholy amount to just quite now! Hop plans on challengin' me 'n the finals! I owe it to him to at least try my best to get there with him! If he can do it then so can I too!" She turned, her mind dead set and seeming to forget you. "Look out Bea! Cuz 'ere I come to get that badge!!"

"You can do it!," you called after her as she suddenly ran out of the center, fist still high in the air. And leaving you sitting there by yourself. After a moment you sighed and leaned your cheek back down against the table. You were too tired and sore to move at the moment and your back could use a rest from days of lugging that troublemaker aro- The chair in front of you creaked as Drizzilie climbed onto it, before pulling itself onto the table and sat there next to your head, careful to not sit on your hair spilt over on the table behind you. After a moment it gave off a questioning sound and tapped your head as if expecting an answer outta you. You blew out a breath. "I get you're used to being carried around by now, but now you're bigger and heavier. And it's starting to strain my back out." It made another squeak noise. "That means you're a big boy now. One day you're gonna be taller than ME!" You were right that Inteleons were genuinely taller than most humans if you remember right. "What then? You can't expect me to piggy back ride you everywhere. It tires me out. So after today, how about you start giving walking a try?" Your answer was a few pats to your head. "I'll take that as a yes. Because there's NO way in heck I'm trying to carry you back down those ladders."

It was...mostly a blur right after that. It was almost embarrassing how fast you were to fall asleep sleeping half way on a table, but you must've been more tuckered out than you thought. You weren't even too sure how much time had even passed. All you can remember was waking up to a flash of light from behind your retinas making your sleeping body flinch....And your hearing picking up giggling from a far distance. And the feeling of something pressed against your neck. It felt like a cool water balloon just laying again your neck, not that you didn't mind being inside from the heat and all that, but you definitely shied away from the something that was shaking and as COLD AS ICE sniffing at your cheek. With a groan from being deep in sleep for so long, your eyes slowly blinked open to blurry yellow-....Yellow?? You blinked back more in your sleepy stupor as your drizzilie laid lazily like a cat in the crook of your shoulder and next as you yawned. Reached a hand up to rub at your eyes. And looked at the yellow dinosuar as it tilted it's head at you curiously. Blank faced you sat there and stared at it. ......It blinked and gave a small noise. And you yelled up immediately shoot up to your feet as the thing gave a scared sqawk like a parrot and dove itself to cower behind Gloria shaking. Drizzilie chirping in annoyance at being disturbed from it's spot of rest on the table next to you! Everyone in the center was either hiding behind the counter or like you pressed against the walls away the scary looking pokemon who looked like a giant yellow dinosaur trapped in a blue upside down acorn. The thing gave a sad noise as you stared at it, body pressed against the wall, your chair knocked over in the process of getting up. Gloria was already cooing at it soothingly and patting it's head, camera slung around her neck and a picture in her other hand........You pointed.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING!?"

"Calm down, Y/n. Ya gonna scare Arctozolt even more than the wee babe already is," she said calmly patting it's head.

......You blinked. "I SCARED HIM!? Gloria what IS that?!"

"Oh this?" She gestured to the thing glancing around nervously. The only ones not so freaked out about it was apparently her and your Drizzilie who looked more annoyed it's nap was cut short. "Remember that scientist las I mentioned before? Well I found 'er wonderin' around with the weird contraption in hand. You were still sleepin' when I went back out for food so I figured why not give it a try? This is only one of four new wee ones I've got....But I wanted to come to you straight away because...well..." She looked nervously at you with a strained apologetic look. "I think we might have ta make a run for it."

.........You blinked. "....Run from what?''

She hummed making a rolling motion with her now free hand. "That scientist lady may be lookin' 'round for me cuz I ran off with her 'research'." She gestured to the pokemon who pressed it's nose against her arm curiously.

......"Gloria." You peeled yourself from the wall finally. "PLEASE tell me you didn't steal those pokemon."

She scowled stuffing the picture into her pocket. "I nay stole anything! Especially since it was mine in the first place! They were my fossils she just did some science whatcha-may-callit to 'em. It's not my problem she throws a fit once she sees me flee with 'em. 'Sides. Do ya really want them cooped up in some lab being studied like statues?"

....Well...You couldn't argue with her there. So with a breath in you breathed out calming yourself and held up your hands. "Right." You quickly moved to grab your bag, Drizzilie taking the hint and hurrying to climb off the table to join after you. "Ok then. Let's leave. And put that thing in it's ball-" You paused. ".....hey. What about Bea?"

"I told you I came for the Fighting Badge didn't I?", she asked pulling out a pokeball, in a flash of blue the light the thing was gone. "And I walked out with it as well! No need to worry ye head off!"

You nodded already going to the door. TIME TO LEAVE!! The last thing you wanted was to be arrested by a scientist for tampering with her research or stealing or-...Or whatever Gloria did while you were out cold. Darn it you had to stop being such a deep sleeper! You should've went with her instead of sleeping in! "Which is the fastest way out of Stow-on-Side?" You asked speed walking to the doors with your pokemon at your heels easily keep up with Gloria in tow behind you.

"The fastest way out is the back path leading behind the stadium." She said pointing as you sped walked out into the hot sun. "It's up that long stairway past the mural!"

You nodded. Sounded good to you! And your body was well rested from that powernap so you had the energy now to spare. Footsteps slapping against the stone pavement the three of you sped walked past people who looked like they'd seen a ghost. Oh no. Don't tell me Gloria paraded whatever ancient thing that was on the way there! Looking around, you peeled your eyes out for any sign of an angry scientist with a machine or anything the like. And you did run into a scientist. Just not the one you were fearing. As you two made it up the first flight of steps that lead to the stadium and path to the mural, a dash of yellow side lined you.

BARK!!

WHOA! You yelped and swung your arms out as you stumbled a step, only saving grace was Gloria who thanks to her quick reflexes grabbed onto your pack and pulled you back upright. Catching yourself back onto your feet as the yamper culprit wagged it's lightning bolt tail and panted happily at the both of you before giving off another loud bark. ....Wait a second. A yamper?? What was a yamper doing all the way up here? That could only mean one thing.

Footsteps rapidly approuched. "I'm so sorry!" You both turned. "Is everyone ok?"...Yep. It was Sonia. You both sighed in relief to see her. Thank goodness! It was just her. The red headed scientist quickly approuched scowling at the happily panting pokemon before wagging a finger at it and placed one hand on her hip. "Bad boy! You know better than to run off and scare people like that!" The dog pokemon tilted his head at her but otherwise didn't change it's expression as she turned to you two apologetically. "I'm so sorry about that. He can get easily excited. But it looks like my yamper really likes you, huh?"

"Sonia." A hand on your chest as your headed tilted back with a smile of relief, "Thank goodness it's only you."

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to come examine the ancient ruins and mural around Stow-on-Side after flipping through all those history books in the Hammerlocke library." They had a library?? "I thought maybe something was here. Anyway, we've run into each other at a good time." She happily turned and gestured up the way towards the stairs you two were about to run up anyways. "You know the mural here in Stow-on-Side I just mentioned? It's said to tell the story of the hero of Galar as well. Though what's there today is actually a replica of the ancient art that used to be here."...She paused...and you blinked as she turned to Gloria with seemingly a bright new idea in her mind. "Say. You tend to have surprisingly sharp eyesight, so I was wondering what you might think when you see the ruins?"

Gloria blinked..her hand coming to rub her arm embarrassed. "Uh..Actually I haven't see the ruins or m-mural yet."

She blinked taken a back. "Oh really?,'' she asked surprised. Gloria nodded embarrassed and Sonia held up a hand in assurrance. "Hey that's alright. There's a first time for everything. Since you haven't see it yet, how about we go together since I'm heading there anyways?"

"Would we!?," Gloria beamed and you coughed to gain her attention.

"Aren't you forgetting we're supposed to be leaving town for something?," You pressed raising your brows.

"Yeah. We're still going the same place anyways. But don't ya think running would make us look more suspicious?"

You opened your mouth...but closed it. She had another point. It's make you both look suspicious if either of you just ran outta here like a ghost was chasing you, it'd make you look like you were fleeing the scene of the crime. Acting along with Sonia like tourists would probably help you both blend in here a little better with the other people walking up and down the stairs...You nodded. Alright. You'd do that but then you two had better skedaddle while you had the chance too. Sonia looked please at your answer and would've probably expressed it too, if it wasn't for the earth rattling KA-BOOM sound that went off like a bomb somewhere above all of you. The echo of it boomed across rattling the sky, and you and the other two girls, and a whole bunch of other people looked up in alarm at the frightening sound. Which had come in the direction of the very place you were about to head off too. Sonia's yamper made a distressed bark sound and scampered behind the woman's legs. Drizzilie too seemed mildly surprised at the sound. The best you would describe it as a far away grenade or a firework going off, but who'd have either of those around here!?

"Wha...What in the world was that!? What's going on up there?!," Sonia managed to asked out before another ka-boom noise had you all more startled. "Sounds like it came from the direction of the ruins, too!"

"Maybe some of the old things are collaspin' in on themselves from age?", Gloria suggested.

That made a worried look come over the young scientist and a hand came up to her cheek. "Oh no! That's not good! Those are historical sights we're still studying!"She gave a look to the pokemon still cowering and shaking behind her heels. "Let's have a look! Come along, Yamper!" Her heels left loud footsteps in her wake as she turned and ran towards the stairs the yamper whimpering like a scare dog before quickly running after it's owner.

You yelped as Gloria suddenly grabbed you too and yanked you into a run after her. "Come on! We gotta see what's goin' on too! That's are way outta here remember!?"

You didn't argue with that. Only willed yourself to ran with Gloria after Sonia who was already ahead of you running up the flights of stairs as fast as her legs could carry her. Without the extra weight on your shoulders anymore it was really easy to keep up with them as you all ran past people who were looking with concerned, confused, or scared faces up towards the top of the stairs. One little boy even gripping the pants leg of who must've been his grandmother sobbing in fright. Sonia was the first to reach the top of the hot weathered stairs and stop facing what must've been the source of the sounds because ANOTHER giant boom noise echoed throughout the sky. Your heart raced in your throat, and your lungs heaved as you picked up the place. The second one to get there was Gloria and then a minute later you right behind her and then your Drizzilie who had resumed to running on all fours just to keep up with the lot of you. And the source of the noises were laid at your all's feet. No it wasn't a grenade. Or fireworks. Or even ruins collasping in on themselves from old age. It was a HUGE elephant looking pokemon who must've been the size of a large soccer mom's mini van who had it's trunk halfway stuck inside the cliffside where this strange but beautiful looking hand painted mural was drawn onto the cliffside. A giant hole was in the mural sadly disrupting it's beauty as many spiderweb cracks surrounded it as the elephant thing forcibly pulled it's trunk out of it scattering rock dust and tiny fragments at it's base. And the white haired boy encouraging it on as he pointed.

"Yes! Destroy it! Destroy it all!," he shouted to the elephant pokemon in absolutely frustration, "We're going to find those Wishing Stars!" Your eyes widened in absolute SHOCK. Holy heck!! It was BEDE!! What in the world was he doing!? The others must've been in shock too because they didn't react at all staring in horror as the thing raised it's trunk again and with a sickening crunching gravel sound slammed it's trunk back into the whole it created. More cracks slowly forming across the pretty painted picture. "We've got to bring the chairman more wishing stars if we want to please him! Copperajah! If you're truly the chairman's pokemon then you should feel grateful for this chance to help him find wishing stars!" The thing gave out another elephant sound and repulled it's trunk out from the now slightly bigger hole it made.

"BEDE YA BLOODY KOOK!!," you both jumped as Gloria finally found her voice, hands flying to grip her head as she stared horrified at the destruction before her. At the sound of her scottish accent Bede let out a high pitched wail of surprise and whirled around back pressed to the pokemon's side as his wide purple eyes stared. Surprised no doubt to see Gloria there. She threw her hands at him and his mess. "WHAT IN THE WHOLE STUPID HAIRBALL BRAIN SCHEME OF YERS ARE YE DOIN' NOW!?"

Bede continued to stare at her wide eyed for a moment, before instantly righting himself and dusting himself off. "Oh my. You again." He was WAY to calm for this to be normal. "So you think that you can start collecting wishing stars now and get in the chairman's favor? That's the way of things, is it?!"

Gloria blinked and looked at him like he was stupid for accusing her of something so...so...Well stupid too. "Have ye stumbled and hit your head on somethin' or is your head so stuffed full of that fluffy hair ya can't see what you're doin' right there!?" She pointed even more at the destroyed mural. "And what are ye goin on about wishing stars for!? Like I give a ratatta's arse 'bout lil rocks when I already have the one I need!"

"I see. So you have some cunning in you. But I won't have it!," he growled pointing back at her in anger. "I won't allow anyone to stand in my way! I have to win this for the chairman! Do you really think I'd let you keep me from everything I want!!"

"Did ya even hear what I just said!? I don't want ta git in your way! I want ye ta stop damagin' that thing! Are ye deaf!?"

He chuckled without any happiness. "Oh yes. My partner's move is simply splendid, wouldn't you say?" He held up his hand and with a snap the copperajah as he called it gave a giant elephant roar before lifting it's trunk back up and striking back into the same place it had been before hand. "Now leave me be until I can figure out what to say to you officially!" He turned back around. "I have work to do."

"What do we do!?," you turned to Sonia in a panic as she as panickedly looked back to you as you helplessly pointed at the GIANT elephant thing. "I can't take that thing on with Drizzilie! I can barely beat my own sleep time!!"

"I-I-..." She stammered looking around panicked hands lightly shaking not sure what to do herself before whipping to the stairs to everyone there. Sweat on her face. "SOMEONE GET THE GYM LEADER!! SOMEONE GET BEA NOW!!"

Good idea! Bea would absolutely be able to stop this but by the time she got up here that mural would've been nothing but rubble- ?! "GLORIA NO!!!" Your hand snapped to stop the girl but she was too fast as your hand grabbed empty air.

Gloria had dropped her bag to the ground. Her hands gripping her camera so hard her knuckles were white as she charged forward with speed you hadn't seen her use before. The copperajah pulling it's trunk back again to slam it for the hundredth time back into place in the crater it made in the rock as Bede persisted in barking at it to do so. It's trunk lifted high to the point it was about to slam it back down, when Gloria slid her way between them and the mural, before holding up the camera- "SAY CHEESE!!" And a flash of bright white shot out. The copperajah gave out a pained wail as it turned itself away from the flash quickly shaking it's head. The trunk that was raised to strike the mural more instead coming to it's own body to rub at it's eyes. Bede himself flinching back with a angry cry followed by a growl and gritted teeth as he was stopped.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?," he cried out angrily to her arm wiping at his eyes before blinking wide purple eyes full of confusion at the scowling girl. "I'm doing this for you! I'm doing this for everyone in Galar!!"

"What you're doin' is destroyin' Galar! Not helpin' it ya dummy! Why would I want ya doin' this for me!?" Bede stopped seeming stunned and...it might've been your panicked mind but he looked a little hurt at her words as she glared and held up her camera at him like a weapon. "Now stand down before I get more evidence of yer crimes!"

"...I...But why? How can this be?" ..He numbly pointed at her. "How could someone like you get in my way? I was the one chosen by the chairman! I was the one to defeat the champion!" He cried out at her. "I'm one of the elite! Someone who can shoulder the future of the Galar Region!" He pointed at her. "YOU EVEN AGREED WITH ME!!"

"Since when did I agree with destroyin' ancient sights for bloody sparkly rocks!?"

He didn't get time to anwer. In fact none of you did as a group of footsteps made their way from from behind you and your Drizzilie chirped in surprise before diving in front of your legs to avoid being swarmed by a few people in police suits like you'd often see Officer Jenny wear, a few gym staff people in white suits, and at least three pokemon that you supposed was to help restrain the culprit. You and Sonia looked around yourselves surprised but relieved to see the police coming FINALLY, and Bede suddenly looked even more panicked hands at his sides and lookig around widely as he was affectively surrounded.

"Make way for the Chairman!" Hey! You recognized that woman's voice. And turned just in time for the Chairman himseld and an angry Oleana part their way through the crowd. But instead of feeling relief anymore, a bad feeling pooled at the end of your stomach. "Challeger Bede!" She yelled and just when you thought Bede couldn't have gotten any paler, his skin turned such a white the bright white of his hair could've been considered darker than his skin tone. "I wondered what you were up to when you asked to borrow Chairman Rose's copperajah.I can't believe you'd try to use the chairman's pokemon to destroy a historical sight!"

Wait wait WAIT! HOLD UP!! They actually let Bede borrow THEIR pokemon without asking what he was doing and surprised about this!? ..A low rumble noise came from the wall as a piece of it slid away between the cracks around it. A few pebbles falling from it and landing right behind Bede's feet. No one noticed but Gloria who was still standing between Bede and the destroyed mural, blinking and looking up at the stone wall. You all were too busy watching the show between Bede and his sponsors to notice.

Bede had stood there stunned for a moment before scowling and pointing at her, but his tone was obviously scared. "Who cares for some ancient ruin when the next thousand years are at stake!? Did you stand in the path of a pokemon's simple beam or something?" Wrong move. Oleana looked even more angry now. "How do you expect to support the Chairman with that sort of thinking!?"

More pebbles fell down and Gloria looked right up, twisting her body around as she took a few steps back staring at the wall.

"Bede." Bede Froze. Absolutely. Freaking. FROZE as the Chairman addressed him holding a hand up to Oleana who immediately stood down at his motion. "Young Bede." His hand was slowly returned to his pocket, the chairman's eyes scanning his pokemon who still shook it's head and the absolutely destructon of the once beautiful mural. And shook his head. How was he so calm about this? "It pains me to say this but I am truly disappointed."

".....W-What?"

"It's true that I'm the one who found you, back when you were all alone." He sighed reaching a hand up to rub his head. "I saw talent in you. You reminded me a little bit of myself back when I was young. That's why I sent you to a trainer's school, to give you a chance at success. But trying to destroy the mural, part of Galar's history! You show no love toward Galar!" He looked back up to the boy who by this point was lightly shaking. Just staring at him like a little scared mouth. "You are clearly not a worthy challenger for the Gym Challenge."

"W-W-WHAT!?," Bede shouted at him. "B-B-But all I have ever done was for you!" He placed a hand to his chest. "All I have ever done was for Galar! Y-You must be joking right!? You're disqualifying me from the Gym Challenge?! But you're the one who endorsed me! T-T-There are a hundred different ways we could sort this out!" He insisted more desperate. "Why are you chosing the worst possible option?!"

Mr. Rose just held up a tired hand again. "I don't want to hear anymore from you, Bede. We will decide what to do with you later. For now you will return to Hammerlocke with us."

"B-B-But-.." He looked around in a blind panic around himself at every staff, policeman, and other adult there watching him. More pebbles falling and Gloria's eyes widened in danger. "I-I REFUSE!! THERE WAS A MISTAKE!!"

"Challenger Bede," Oleana stated firmly, "I'll be taking those wishing stars you have gathered. And you WILL be returning with us to Hammerlocke."

"I- N-No wait!" He was grabbed by two men in those white gym uniforms and his purple eyes shrank as Oleana walked towards him.

That's when the Chairman turned towards the rest of you and smiled apologetically. "AH! Sonia! And Gloria and her friend too!" You both turned to the Chairman as Gloria paid no attention to you, the Chairman, or Bede's shaking form as Oleana collected what looked like more sparkling gems out of his pockets. "Terrible shame all this." he gestured to the seen before him and you wanted to hurl at how disgustingly calm he could POSSIBLY be about all this! "An absolute disaster." OH YOU THINK!? "I never wish to see us lose challengers for this sort of reason. Yet we do what we must do to keep things fair and sportsmanlike."

"Then why did you lend him your copperajah without watching him?," you found yourself saying with a frown, "Or have a young boy collect stones from possibly dangerous mines?"

He fell silent, giving you a look that could have been surprised at what you said as you still stared at him. The reality of what you had said not catching up to you then and there because on top of what just happened something else struck. The sound of cracking walls and moving gravel made everyone look up as the cracks and wall of the cliffside moved ever so slightly under the weight of the lose boulder as it slipped free and fell down towards the earth. Down right towards the scrambling and screaming people. Right towards the frozen form of Bede as his mouth opened in a silent scream at the heavy rock barraling towards him as he stood in it's shadow- Well the rock did made contact with the ground, shattering into lots of tinier pieces on impact. Everyone yelped and cowered, arms flying up to shield their faces or turning away as the tinier rocks flew everywhere. Bede and Gloria laid upon the ground sprawled out from where she tackled him out of the flying death maker's way. Both groaned out before sitting up. Bede once again freezing at the sight of Gloria being so close and pulling him up into a sitting position with a scowl!

"Ye alright?"......he slowly nodded. "That's good." Before she began shaking him. "WHAT THE ABSOLUTE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU!? NOW DO YA SEE WHY IT WAS A STUPID IDEA YA DUMMY!? YA COULD'VE BEEN CRUSH BY A STUPID FLYIN' BOULDER!!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?" A loud female voice cried out and if you thought Oleana's loud voice was scary it was nothing compared to the slightly smaller than you woman who stomped her way through the crowd barefoot, angry, and with at least three fighting type pokemon behind her. Just how many people were going to show up here!? And how could she stand walking around barefoot on the hot ground!? The grey haired woman looked absolutely shocked at the state of her town's mural and all the debry around the ground from it, but unlike everyone else who stood around taking a long time to react, her reaction was instant. Anger flooding her features and her face looked like a tea kettle ready to pop as it turned beat red. An accusing hand was pointed at the destruction caused. Wait. She looked familiar. "WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!?"....Oh right! You saw her on the card Opal had given Gloria! It was Bea the gym leader of this place!...And she did NOT look happy to see what happened. Even more unfortunate for Bede some people around him pointed him out to the angry woman and once she snapped his gaze to himself still half held by Gloria, you could tell he was just one more heart attack away from fainting. "SO IT WAS YOU!!" She pointed right at him. "IT'S BAD ENOUGH YOU INSULTED THE TRAINER I ENDORSED BUT NOW YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY OF RUINING MY TOWN'S SUPPLY OF INCOME TOO!? WHERE DO YOU THINK SOME OF THE MONEY TO KEEP THE STADIUM RUNNING COMES FROM YOU LITTLE PUNK!? I SWEAR BY THE TIME I'M THROUGH WITH YOU YOU'LL BE GLUING THE ENTIRE THING BACK BY HAND WITH NOTHING BUT A LITTLE CHILD'S GLUE STICK!!" By now Bede looked pale enough to pass as a ghost.

"Bea now, now." The Chairman held up his hands to her in a calm manner. "Calm down. I'll pay for all the damages and repairs to be fixed. We'll have an exact replica of the mural back up in no time at all. It'll be like this never happened."

"WHAT?!" She snapped a look towards the chairman. "AND LET THIS LITTLE TROUBLEMAKER GO UNPUNISHED FOR ALL THE TROUBLE HE'S ALREADY CAUSED!?"

"I never said he wasn't going to be punished. We were just about to figure that out just now I assure you."

She huffed crossing her arms. "Oh yeah? Is that right? If you ask me you should take away the gym badges from him-"

"NO!!" Bede gave off an 'Oof' as Gloria suddenly grabbed him to her in a protective manner and his face hit her shoulder as he blinked confused. The adults looking at her in a way that made you nervous just standing there watching.

...Bea got a look of realization over her before she pointed at Gloria. "Hey. I know you. You're the trainer that I just badge the Fighting type badge too. Are you in on this too?"

Gloria shook her head no. "NO!! Are ye kiddin' me?! I'd never do somethin' as stupid as this!" Her hand pointed at her. "BUT YA CAN'T TAKE AWAY HIS GYM BADGES!!" She then pointed at the Chairman who blinked at her. "AND NEITHER CAN YE!! BEDE WON THOSE FAIR N' SQUARE!!" Bede blinked and looked up to her in shock. "YER RIGHT THAT HE SHOULD BE PUNISHED FOR DOIN' WHAT HE DID!! BUT GYM BADGES ARE A SYMBOL OF ALL THE HARD WORK YOU PUT IN AS A POKEMON TRAINER JUST TO GET THEM!! ONCE A GYM LEADER GIVES THEM TO YA IT JUST SHOWS HOW MUCH YOU IMPROVED AND GROWN FROM THEN!! IF YOU TAKE THEM FROM HIM THEN YOU'LL BE DOIN' NOTHING BUT TELL HIM HIS WORTH AS A TRAINER IS NOTHING AND I WON'T ALLOW THAT!!" Her grip on him increased slightly. "Punish him for what he did to the mural if you want, but don't you DARE take his gym badges from him!"

You weren't sure whether you wanted to bury yourself under a rock or be proud of her in that moment, but her words got the Chairman to stare at her a moment. Humming and eyeing her protective stance frowning at him before he sighed and nodded. "She's right Bea. I won't tamper with the progress he's already made thus far, but he sure will be answering for the mess he's caused everyone today." He gestured back down towards the stairs. "Come. Lets discuss what we can do about the mural out of the hot sun alright? Ms. Sonia I don't suppose you could stand by until my team gets here could you?"

Sonia blinked."...OH! I-i-...Sure."

The two of you stood there as everyone and their pokemon trickled out of the destroyed area and back down the stairs after the chairman and gym leader who shot a nasty glare at Bede before she left. ...Bede slowly pried hmself away from Gloria falling back onto his bottom as she blinked. He got up shakily, dusting himself off in the process, before looking back to her. The two of them silently staring at each others for the longest time.

"Bede," He jumped and turned to Oleana as she stood there waiting for him expectantly, "Come along. You're aware the Chairman doesn't like to kept waiting." Bede paused for a moment looking between her and Gloria exactly once, before turning and started walking towards her. She turned and walked away from the three of you as Gloria slowly stood herself. Bede not sparing either of you a head glance as he walked past the two of you head down without a word.

The three of you stood there watching everyone leave down the long flight of stairs silently ...before you finally broke the silence by looking at the mess as the copperajah lumbered past after it's owner. ".....Well I can say for certain that this so fair has been the most eventful day I've ever had in my life."

"Tell me 'bout it!" Gloria grumbled dusting herself off as she walked over to you to which you looked at her.

"Hey. Are you ok? You're not hurt are you?"

She shook her head no to your relief as she still deeply frowned. "I know the show ponyta was a looney but I didn't think he'd have the gall ta pull somethin' like this."

You hummed. ".....Somehow I don't think that was exactly all his fault."

"Whatcha mean by that?"

You went to answer her but was cut off yet again by voice. "Now that I think about it..." Both of you looked to Sonia who hummed. "You know. During one of Bede's matches, I heard the announcer say that Bede has no family. Apparently it was Rose who took Bede under his wing, and so Bede was battling for the Chairman's sake." Gloria looked between you two surprised, but you were more angry than surprised at this point gaining a frown. You had pretty much picked up on that by now. "*sigh* But that's a story for another day." She looked to the destroyed Mural. "Oh poor Bea. What an awful turn of events. I hope the mural survived all that."

"I doubt that." Gloria kicked a decent sized rock away from her at the mention.

And then that's when the rumble started. Just like the sound of the rock that nearly crushed Bede, only there was a lot more of it! The three of you looked up in horror at the cracks in the once pretty mural finally giving away under the strained weight, and it fell apart.

"LOOK OUT!!"

You quickly grabbed Gloria and yanked her behind you as your Drizzilie once again ducked behind your legs for cover as the rocks fell away and crumbled to the ground in a heap. Sending smaller rock fragments and dust everywhere making the three of you cough up a storm. But it's when you looked up however, is when the REAL mystery began. Because when the two of you looked up....your eyes widened. In place of where the mural used to be was a pile of rubble and a hole in the cliffside. But in the hole ..was a couple of statues. Two of which were two GIGANTIC dog looking pokemon holding a sword or shield in their mouths, and behind them were two kings carved into the stone.

"...Hey." You glanced at Gloria shaking dust from her hat and Sonia walked up wide eyed to the statues. "Are you ok?" She nodded before plopping the hat back onto her head. "Good. What about you Sonia?.....Sonia?" You blinked and looked over to the orange haired woman gaping up at the statues...Huh. Why did they seem familiar to you?

"......Not a brilliant turn of events, but the ruins were brought into the light for us to see!," Sonia finally said after a long moment of silence. "What does this tell us about Galar's legends?"

"Uuuuh." You rose a brow up at the statues. Not really sure if she was talking to you or not. "A....sword and shield?" You guessed based off what the things were holding in their mouths...Hey. Wasn't this whole game's thing revolved around a sword and shield or something??

She nodded. "Right! More than any hero, there's those things that appear to be pokemon that stand out! Not just that, but those pokemon appear to be holding a sword and shield as if they were using them! Anything else look interesting to you?!"

"Uuuuh. ...Those two guys there." You pointed to the two king statues. They're the same as the tapestries aren't they?"

"I didn't notice that! Oh good observation! There really were two heroes. But if that's the case then why only the one statue at Budew drop inn?"

You shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe whoever built it didn't feel like making two giant gold statues."

She hummed. "More than any statue of a hero or old tapestry, these ruins made in truly ancient times must show us the real truth! Which means that....."

"....The sword and shield are pokemon?"

"YUP!!" She snapped with a smile to you making you blink. "I was thinking the same thing! Seems like at some point in history the sword and shield were combined with the two actual pokemon and treated as the same thing!" She hummed looking back to all the rubble. "But then what? They just faded from history? Two young heroes. The sword and shield were actually pokemon. But why would the truth of these ruins be hidden when their stories were depicted in artwork?"

"...Maybe they had something to do with it?" She looked at you and you pointed to the human statues. "The kings or whoever they are. They went through a lot of trouble hiding this..maybe it was to protect the things that protected them."

She hummed. "Possibly. We won't be too sure until I get Mr. Rose's approval to study it more. Thanks! With your help I really feel like we made a big discovery here!

"Not sure how I helped but your welcome!"

"..So there was history being covered up by all that over stylized artwork. I'm gonna have to look into this some more. OOHH!! IM SO EXCITED!! NO RESEARCHER HAS EVER MADE SUCH A DISCOVERY-" A bark caught both of your attention as Sonia looked down at her feet in time for her yamper to drop something white at them. And she blinked. "Hey boy. Whatcha got there?" Not a bone you hoped. She quickly reached down as you leaned over to look and she stood up with a white mask in her hands. It was covered in does and a bit yellowed with a few scrapes, and had three black holes in it presumably for a person's mouth and eyes. "Well would you look at this. I dont think this is from the ruins. ...It kinda reminds me of the one's Allister wears."

"Who?," you asked trying to see it. Sonia handed it over to you and you grabbed it from her to get a better look.

"Allister. He's the boy who's in charge of the Ghost type Gym just down the road there." She pointed towards the exit path from Stow-on-Side. "It's located by the Stow-on-Side cemetary, but it'll take a full day just to get there from here. I just mentioned it might be his since the only one I've ever seen with that kind of mask was him at the Entrance Ceremony....But I guess you'll be headed to Bellonlea next, right?"

You opened your mouth- "Y/N!!!" You were nearly knocked to the ground when Gloria ran up to you and grabbed you suddenly. Yanking you forward hard enough to send you stumbling a few steps as she panicked. "It's that restore scientist lady! She's headed up the stairs this way!" She pulled you into a run away from Sonia as she watched bewildered down the path away from here. Your Drizzilie running at your heels.

"Bye Sonia! Good luck in your research!!," you called back.

Guess you'd be able to finally leave Stow-on-Side.

#pokemon shield #pokemon sword #pokemon piers #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon piers x reader #Reader #Reader x Piers #Piers

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homeformyheart · 3 years

Text

first choice (part 1) - noah harris x mc (mtfl)

author’s note: i wanted to write something where MTFL mc puts herself first rather than getting wrapped up in relationships but still ends up with noah. i hope you enjoy! *heads up: there is a reference to both HSS and ROD :) i couldn’t help myself!

copyright: all characters owned by pixelberry studios. pictures from unsplash. series/pairing: my two first loves - noah harris x mc (emma price) cross-series references: jordan lee, michael harrison, myra khandaar (hss); logan (rod as a movie) rating/warnings: 13+; some teen angst word count: 3.2k summary: after the fiasco at the homecoming dance, emma decides what she really needs to do is focus on herself and figuring out what she wants. and so she transfers to berry high.

read part 2.

first choice (part 1)

emma sat on her bed with her legs crossed and laptop open. she was almost done with her application. all that was left to do was pick her potentially award-winning photograph from the two she had narrowed it down to. she couldn’t help but smile at the memories associated with each picture, back when things were definitely more exciting and drama-filled.

12 weeks earlier

mason parked outside emma’s house. the lights were on, so emma knew she only had a few minutes before her dad would inevitably walk outside and see she was sitting in a car alone with a boy. she felt like she was on an emotional rollercoaster and bit her lip in an attempt to stop herself from just breaking down into tears.

“you keep saying nothing’s changed, but everything changed when you started dating ava and when she needed to come first instead of me. i deserve to find happiness for myself too,” emma said, blinking rapidly to hold back tears.

“and you think that’s going to be with noah? he’s not a good person,” mason replied, the grip on his steering wheel tightening so much that emma could see the vein bulge on his right hand.

the part of her that was in love with mason desperately clung on to his words and attempted to convince herself it was jealousy, that mason wasn’t in love with ava and wanted to be with her. but the part of her that always tried to be rational scolded her instead to accept that mason had always seen her as a sister and was just being protective.

“noah’s been good to me and that should be enough. you don’t get a say in who i date, mason. not since you and ava started dating without giving me a heads up,” emma said after a moment and opened the car door.

8 weeks earlier

dave price read the piece of paper in his trembling hands, and then re-read it again. he read it a third time, just to make sure his understanding was correct. the words “accepted,” “transfer,” and “welcome” kept swirling around and he finally looked up from the paper to his daughter who was wringing her hands nervously and biting her lip.

“i just don’t understand why, or how, or when…?” he trailed off, looking back down at the paper again.

emma inwardly reminded herself it was too early to celebrate even though her dad’s initial reaction to the news was much better than expected. she would take confused over angry any day. she moved to sit down on the living room couch, motioning for her dad to sit down next to her. she grabbed the photo binder sitting on the coffee table and handed it to her dad.

“i realized that i haven’t really been thinking about my future or what i want to do after high school. i’ve been so focused on following in mom’s footsteps with cheerleading that i’ve ignored things i could be passionate about, things that make me my own person,” she started slowly, watching her dad’s face closely as he flipped through the binders.

“until recently, i forgot how much i love photography. after mom died, it was too painful to think about. i helped take some yearbook photos earlier this year and realized how much i missed it. i don’t want to cheer anymore, but i do want to pursue photography. eastridge doesn’t have a great arts curriculum but berry high does,” emma started talking more animatedly about the arts programs at berry high and the how arts are integrated with extracurriculars and school activities. mr. price looked on at emma, stunned. he couldn’t remember a time since his wife died where emma was this excited.

mr. price looked back down at the acceptance letter in his hand. emma continued softly, “i just looked into their transfer requirements to see if they would accept my credits and let me join the arts program. i think this could be the fresh start i need to figure out my own path.”

“your mother wanted to do the same thing when she was your age. and these photos are absolutely beautiful, emma. you have a real talent. go ahead and transfer,” mr. price said, giving his daughter a hug.

4 weeks earlier

every time he heard the bell that signaled someone opened the door to the diner, mason looked up, tense. and every time it wasn’t emma, his gaze dropped and he tried to take a deep breath. when it finally was emma, his gaze searched her face for some sort of clue as to how she was feeling.

emma could feel mason’s eyes on her as soon as she walked into the diner. she walked over to the booth before sitting down across from him, pausing for a moment to take in his appearance. a purple bruise had formed on his cheek and there were bags under his eyes, like he hadn’t slept the last couple of days. to be fair, emma hadn’t really slept much since the homecoming dance either. regardless, mason looked as gorgeous as ever in his gray sweater, which brought out the blue of his eyes that emma had loved staring into for as long as she could remember.

mason nervously cleared his throat. “thanks for coming, emma. i’m really sorry for what happened at the dance,” he said, taking emma’s hand with both of his on top of the table. “i didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“what are you sorry for, mason? crashing my date twice or getting into a fight with noah twice in one night?” emma asked sarcastically. mason flinched slightly at her tone. “you weren’t interested in me until after i started hanging out with noah. what happened between the two of you?” emma said.

mason dropped his gaze and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. “that’s not true, em. i’ve had a crush on you for a long time, i just wasn’t sure if you’d ever see me as more than just your best friend and i spent all summer trying to forget my feelings so i wouldn’t ruin our friendship. as for noah, it’s… complicated.”

“is that all you have to say?” emma pulled her hand out of mason’s grasp and crossed her arms over her chest.

“is this because of noah? if he hadn’t come back this year, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. this is not how i imagined senior year going with you,” mason said, his tone bitter and defensive.

emma’s eyes narrowed. “this has nothing to do with noah. you want to talk about how senior year was supposed to go? let me tell you how i imagined it. in wisconsin, i promised myself i would be honest with you about my feelings for you when i got back. and i stupidly hoped that something would change for the better and i was looking forward to senior year. instead, i find out that you decided to date my other best friend without telling me. do you know how much it sucks to be away from your best friends for months having a miserable time and then come back to what feels like the worst news since my mom died?”

emma unfolded her arms, her shoulders sagging in defeat before continuing, “the decent thing would’ve been to give me a heads up about you and ava before school started. finding out about the two of you in the parking lot on the first day is forever ingrained in my mind as the moment everything changed between us, and not in a good way. i was heartbroken and it felt like i lost the relationships i had with both of you at the same time. noah was a friend to me through all of that and was there for me all the times you weren’t this year.”

mason at least had the decency to look ashamed. “i’m sorry, emma. i’m not proud of how i handled my relationship with ava. but i broke up with her once i realized i might have a real chance with you, that you might actually feel the same way i do. i’m not sorry about taking a chance on that.”

emma let out a long sigh. even though it was everything she had wanted to hear from mason for the longest time, she was too emotionally exhausted to feel anything other than tired right then. “well, your timing sucked. i’ve been doing a lot of thinking and i realized something. since my mom died, i don’t think i cared to focus on what i wanted for once.” emma could see that mason was about to interrupt and raised a hand to stop him. “i don’t want to be an accessory to the story of your history with noah or your relationship with ava. i’m taking senior year into my own hands and changing what i can.”

mason’s eyebrows furrowed in thought. “what are you saying, em?”

“i’m didn’t come here to argue with you about homecoming or noah or ava. i came to say goodbye,” emma said, looking up from her hands to take in mason’s eyes that had just widened. “i’m transferring to another school starting next quarter. and i don’t think we should hang out for a while. maybe some time apart will help us figure out how to be just best friends again.”

2 weeks earlier

emma was already feeling more at home at berry high than she ever did at eastridge. it was only a couple of weeks but she already made a few friends. the yearbook editor-in-chief, jordan lee, who hadn’t given up trying to get her to join the cheerleading squad for winter quarter, band vice president myra, who wanted to hear all about her relationship drama at eastridge and set her up with someone at berry, and jordan’s boyfriend, michael, who had also been a huge help in helping her get up to speed on her photography skills. he was more into videography but some technical components like framing a shot and managing the lighting were things emma hadn’t really considered before. they both also made sure to introduce her to their friends and it was nice to be around people who created a supportive, rather than toxic, environment.

mason still came by at 7am every weekend for their jogs, but emma had started leaving at 6:30am so they wouldn’t cross paths. she meant what she said about not seeing him for a while and kept her replies to his texts short. it hurt and she missed her best friend, but it also meant she had more time to catch up on her photography and painting skills. and it’s not like she wasn’t busy. she was helping to paint the sets for the fall play and jordan’s friends dragged her to berry high’s football games every weekend.

noah was waiting by his bike in front of her house after school one day. they still texted even after she told him she was transferring but hadn’t really seen each other. to be honest, emma was kind of avoiding him after what happened at homecoming.

noah’s face was stoic as she approached but she thought she saw a flicker of emotion in his eyes. “can we talk?”

emma nodded. he drove them to the hill overlooking the city and they talked for a while about what happened at homecoming and everything that had happened at eastridge since she transferred. eventually, the conversation circled back to the one topic emma had been avoiding… “them.”

1 week earlier

“so, who are you going to be rooting for?” myra asked, earnestly. “hello? earth to price?”

emma’s gaze snapped up. “oh sorry, i don’t know yet. i’d be fine sitting with berry high but…”

“but mr. tall, dark, and brooding is playing for eastridge and wants to see you in his letterman jacket,” jordan teased, nudging emma’s shoulder playfully.

“oh my god this is just like a romantic movie…” myra stared off dreamily as emma hastily excused herself.

the game would be starting soon and emma had a decision to make. she stood in front of her locker, staring at the red and cream colored eastridge letterman jacket with the number 17 and thought back to the conversation she had with noah a week ago.

“i don’t want to wait around for someone who doesn’t want to be with me. i deserve to be someone’s first choice,” noah said, softly. he had taken her to his favorite hill and they were sitting side-by-side on a blanket he had brought.

emma fought the urge to scoot closer to him and lean into his shoulder. “i really like you noah, but there’s a lot i still don’t know about you and this beef you have with mason is concerning. i don’t want to get hurt.”

noah lifted her chin so she was looking him in the eyes. “i promise i’ll tell you what you want to know soon. and to be honest, you’re more likely to end up hurting me when you realize you’re better off without me.”

emma folded her arms over her chest. “i know how this story ends, noah. i saw ride or die last year. you would totally pull a logan and end things because you’re ‘looking out for me’ and that would just… really hurt.”

noah just smiled. “good to know you’re team logan. i promise, i’m all in. no more secrets, no more running.”

the bell signaling the end of the school day jolted emma out of her thoughts. he had handed his jacket to her and said she had a choice. she could wear it to the berry/eastridge game and cheer for him or she could give it back to him at the end of the game. either way, he would respect her decision. and as much as emma wished it wasn’t, it was decision time.

she grabbed the jacket and tied it around her waist before heading out to meet michael at the football field. she was helping him film the game from the sidelines, while taking photos for the yearbook as well. it wasn’t long before the stands were full, the cheerleaders from both schools were in formation, and the game was underway.

both teams were evenly matched and emma was furiously clicking away to get as many notable shots as possible from every angle around the field. she realized she was capturing moments for both schools, except her shots of eastridge were centered around a certain quarterback, who was calling plays and scoring touchdowns himself, running as though an angry mob with pitchforks was coming after him and his life depended on his ability to stay at least ten feet ahead of them. to be fair, it was football, so he was definitely being chased. eastridge was down by six points with the ball on their 30-yard line and one minute left in the fourth quarter. the game was pretty much over.

eastridge called a timeout and all the players came off the field. emma started reviewing the photos she had taken so far, making a mental note of which ones to review on a computer later when a shadow suddenly appeared overhead, blocking out the sun. she lifted her head slowly to find noah towering over her, with his sexy trademark smirk.

his eyes twinkled mischievously and emma felt the weight at her waist disappear and looked down to see that he had untied the jacket. he held it behind her without breaking eye contact. emma swallowed and put her hands inside the sleeves as noah pulled the jacket forward so it enveloped her berry high shirt.

“if i remember correctly, i asked you to make sure i could see you wearing the jacket,” he murmured, leaning in by her ear.

emma blushed. “well, you know, i’m supposed to be taking pictures for berry high and well—” she was quickly interrupted by a searing kiss, followed by another, and another that left her slightly dizzy and out of breath.

“does this mean you’re all in?” he asked quietly after pulling away. his smirk was still there but emma could see the vulnerability in his eyes.

she smiled brightly and nodded. she realized she had known all along what she wanted and was finally ready to admit it. “you’re my first choice, noah.”

“good. i’ll see you after the game then, babe.” noah winked and jogged off to join his teammates. emma took a quick picture of the eastridge team huddle with the number 17 front and center to try to calm herself down.

present day

the two photos in front of her were so different from each other that she wasn’t sure how she could pick just one for her submission. they were both from the day of the berry high/eastridge football game, when noah became her boyfriend.

even emma was amazed at the clarity of the first photo, which perfectly captured the exact moment noah made a game-winning touchdown. emma remembered it happening as if it were in slow motion, and her fingers moved over the shutter of their own accord. with less than a minute left, noah picked up the fumbled ball that fell from his receiver and ran over 50 yards, dodging defenders left and right to get to the goal line. emma had captured the exact moment he leaped over a berry high defender to score the final touchdown that brought eastridge a win after being down six points. the best part was that even though she was standing at least 15 feet away, and the football team had pulled him into a mob and were trying to raise him up, emma could tell that noah was looking at her and she somehow just knew that he had scored that goal for her.

the second photo was less action-packed but just as, if not more, sentimental to emma. it was later that evening, when he took her to his favorite hill and held emma close, with her head resting on his chest. it was their first date since becoming boyfriend and girlfriend and emma thought that night was very poetic in a way. they were looking up at the stars in the sky, perfectly framed by the peaks of the surrounding trees and she couldn’t help but take a picture. she wanted to remember that moment forever. she remembered noah telling her about his parents’ first date being under the stars and was reminded of how the stars were part of her own parents’ love story. now it was part of theirs.

emma really had no clue how she was supposed to pick one. so she picked up the phone.

“hi babe.” emma heard noah’s husky (not to mention sexy) voice after two rings and blushed immediately.

“i am never going to get tired of hearing that and i can’t believe i get to call you my boyfriend,” emma sighed happily. “but i’m calling because i can’t decide which photo i want to submit to the contest,”

“i’ll be right there.” emma put her phone down and laid out the two photos and accompanying write-ups to both out on her bed while she waited.

* * * * * mentions: @khoicesbyk; @nyastarlight; @chetachisblog; @robintora; @shows-simp-card;

#choices fic writers creations #mtfl #noah harris x mc #my writing #choices #pb choices #playchoices #playchoices fanfiction #my two first loves #choices mtfl #choices fanfics #choices fanfic #not twc #long fic #my choices fics

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cabaretcal · 4 years

Text

it would mean a latte / a.i.

An AU where Ashton works at the campus coffee shop, and you, someone who never even drinks coffee, find yourself wanting to come back to see him...

A/N: Hello babes! I haven’t wrote in a while, but I’m back with this very soft cute AU. This is a part of the 9to5!sos series i started a while back!

Warnings: None, just a lot of fluff, very cheesy

pairing: Ashton Irwin x reader

Word count: 2.7k

“Kate, I don’t even like coffee. Why would I want to study in a coffee shop?” You follow closely behind your friend, Katie, on the way to the local coffee shop to study for finals. You complained the whole walk to this “super hip coffee shop�� that Kate wanted to go to so badly. “I don’t even like coffee, so why would i study here?

“You can get tea or something, (y/n). Stop complaining!”

You groan at her remark. You usually would just study at the library, but Kate cannot handle having to be quiet in any scenario. That being said, you agree to go to the coffee shop instead. You both walked inside and it was just as you expect: Too loud to study.

You both walked up to the counter, and you had to study the menu for what seemed like forever. What can you get when you hate everything about coffee? The only option is tea. And there’s so many kinds you’ve never even heard of. Chai, english breakfast, London fog, green, mint green, very berry, and more. The amount of teas made you want to pull your hair out. You usually just ordered a sweet tea from mcdonalds. These were all so odd.

A cheerful, yet calm, male voice filled your ears, “Welcome to Good Coffee! What are we gonna make for you two today?”

You look up at him, and to say you were suddenly interested was an understatement. He had somewhat curly, sandy brown hair. His eyes were a hazel color, and he had a smile that could make someone's day go from a 0 to a 10.

“I’ll just have a latte without any flavors. She doesn’t like coffee so I don’t know about her.”

The cashier furrows his eyebrows and looks at you with a look of shock, “You don’t like coffee at all? Not even the frappucino shit?”

You blush, stumbling over your words, “I guess I just haven’t had a good kind of coffee before is all. I don’t really know…”

He hums, thinking for a moment, “I’ll surprise you then. If you don’t like it I’ll make you something else. How does that sound?”

You nod shyly, finding it hard to make eye contact.

He chuckles, taking Kate’s card from her and swiping it.He looks at you, smiling, “I’m Ashton by the way, just so you know.”

You feel heat rise to your cheeks and you quickly walk away to find a table. You set your backpack down by your chair and open your laptop, attempting to hide your face with it. Katie comes to the table holding the two drinks, setting yours beside you while laughing to herself.

“Stop laughing, Kate! After Ben and I parted ways for college I don’t know how to talk to guys…” You pick up your cup and see something written in sharpie on the sticker label, so you look closer for a better look.

if you have any questions, here’s my number ;)

You were shocked to say the least. That barista was quite attractive, but you made a terrible first impression, so you were confused as to why he gave you his number. You glanced up at the counter, scanning around for him. You caught sight of him steaming some milk at the espresso machine, and he glanced up and locked eyes with you. He smiled, mouthed ‘call me’, and turned back around to work on the drink.

Looks like Good Coffee is gonna be your new study spot.

You paced around your dorm once again for the 4th day in a row. You put his number in your phone and you had a message drafted out: a simple “hey”. But sending it was the real challenge. He was very nice, and extremely good looking, so you were intimidated. What if it turns out he just wants to hookup? Or what if he was only being nice because that’s his job? What if in reality, he’s an asshole? There were many risks involved, and you were not much of a risk taker. You didn’t go back to Good Coffee with Kate because you were nervous. She has been back everyday since, but it just made you nervous. Your phone dinged with a snapchat video from her. You opened it to see a video of Ashton she sneakily took from the table. He was wearing a collared striped shirt and he was laughing with a coworker. She captioned it, “Text your man before I go tell him you want to hang out myself >:(“.

You sighed, wanting to reply to him badly. But god, it was just really scary. Ever since you broke up with your past boyfriend from high school, you didn’t have good relationship luck. You went on a few tinder dates, but most of them wanted hookups. You will admit, some of the hookups were really good, but they just weren’t the relationship type.

Your phone dinged again with a text from Kate, saying “He just finished his shift if you want to come study”. You did have a biology exam in a few days, so studying would be highly beneficial. Defeated, you picked up your backpack, shoved your laptop in it, and walked the short walk to the coffee shop. Once you walked in, you sat across from Kate.

“He asked about you when I ordered. He really wants you to text back-”

“Kate, he wont like me. I’m too awkward and scared. There’s no use.”

The bell for when someone comes in the door chimed, and the voice was familiar, but you weren’t sure why.

“Forgot my jacket, as per usual.”

“Ashton, you’re always at work even when your shift ends!”

It was the barista guy. You hid behind your laptop screen, praying he wouldn’t see you. But unfortunately, he saw you. You sat up straight and looked at him, face red from embarrassment as he approached the table.

“I thought you weren’t coming back, miss ‘i don’t like coffee’.”

“Oh, um, you know college… really busy…” You fumbled for your pen, trying to occupy yourself.

“Don’t let her fool you. She’s just shy.”

Ashton chuckled, closing your laptop, “Well, well, well… now you don’t have to worry about texting me.”

You were slightly hurt. Did he just call you out for not texting him? Was he mad at you?

“How about you stop studying for the day and come get lunch with me? I can pay.”

You were shocked, and couldn’t find the words to say. The way his hair fell in his face was mesmerizing, and you found yourself staring at his hands, your mind wandering.

Kate took the pleasure of answering for you, “(y/n) would love to! I can take her bag back to our dorm. Take all the time you want with her.” She winked at you and your face just got redder.

You stood up, following him out the door nervously and went to find somewhere for lunch.

—

Ashton was quite an interesting guy. He was from Australia and was majoring in music education. He was extremely polite, holding open doors and keeping eye contact during conversation.

You guys both were walking from the restaurant back to your dorm, “So what about you? Tell me about you now. My life story is boring.”

You hummed, thinking of what to tell him, “Well I moved here to Portland from St Louis. I’m majoring in criminology, and a fun fact about me is that I play piano. I'm not very interesting.”

He shook his head, “I think you’re pretty interesting, babe.”

You blush at the nickname, looking down at your shoes, “Most guys here just want to hook up… they never ask about me.”

“Well, I’m not most guys then.” he laced his fingers with yours, walking the rest of the way to your dorm holding you close to him.

—

“Well, here we are…” You stopped in front of your building, letting go of his hand.

“Wanna meet for breakfast in the morning at one of the dining halls? I don’t work tomorrow… or have classes… because it’s Saturday.”

“Yeah, of course! Um… wanna just meet right here at 9?”

“Yeah that’d be great! Well… have a good night…” He started to walk away, but turned back around.

You looked at him, slightly confused. What did he want to say?”

He gently put his hands on your waist, kissing you softly and pulling away, smirking, “See you tomorrow morning, gorgeous.”

You watched him walk away, stunned. You smile to yourself, swiping your student ID and going inside.

—

“Good morning, sunshine.” Ashton greeted you when you walked out of your dorm building, holding out his hand for you to take.

“Good morning, barista boy.” He laughs at your remark as you take his hand and starts walking to the dining hall. On the way to the dining hall, you pass by the coffee shop. He takes a detour, walking inside.

“I need my caffeine fix, what about you?” He looks at you expectantly, waiting for an answer.

“Ash, I’m not much of a coffee drinker. I don’t know what i’d even get.”

He thinks for a moment, “How about I make you a drink that reminds me of you, hm? I can make tea or coffee, your choice. Or an Italian soda. But I’m choosing the flavors.”

You think for a moment. He seemed so enthusiastic, so you couldn’t say no, “Make me a tea of some kind I suppose.”

He grinned excitedly, going behind the counter, greeting his coworkers in the process. Watching him make drinks was always so mesmerizing. He was so fast and made intricate latte art. He made his and your drink, saying goodbye to his coworkers and leading you out, handing you your drink.

“What is it?” You took a sip, and it was the most delightful tea you had ever had. This beat McDonalds any day.

“So it’s a tropical green tea over ice, with 2 ounces of lemonade because you’re sweet like lemonade, and one ounce of pineapple because that’s my favorite fruit, and you’re my favorite gal, so it fits!” He giggled at his own comment, causing you to giggle as well.

“It’s amazing, Ash. Thank you for making me appreciate tea that isn’t from McDonalds.”

He smiled at your comment, walking the rest of the way to the dining hall. He held open the door for you and walked in behind you. You both swiped your dining hall cards and went to pick something to eat. You chose a waffle and some fruit, whereas Ashton went with a more savory option of scrambled eggs. You both sat across from one another at an open table and talked about everything and nothing all at once. He told you about his family in Australia and you told him about your family in St Louis. He talked about his passion for music, and how his family would only let him major in music if it was music education or music production, so he decided he would teach music to kids and give them a love for music, which you thought was just amazing.

“Wanna come to my dorm? My roommate is at work right now, so we can just hang out and like, listen to music or something.”

“Yeah, definitely!” You both put your plates in the bucket to be washed and left to his dorm.

“Well, here’s my dorm. Not very great interior design, but it’s home!” You looked around at his side of the dorm. There was a keyboard, a futon, a nintendo switch on the bed, and an espresso machine on his desk. Even outside of work all he does is make coffee. He picked up his switch and put it on the charging dock, plopping down on the bed and sighing.

“Tired of me already?” You grin, sitting cross legged on the bed facing him.

“Oh, I could never get tired of you, darling.” He pulled you into him and wrapped his arms around you, yawning softly, “God, I’m exhausted.”

You close your eyes, sighing into his neck, “Take a nap then.’

“No! I wanna hang out with you. I’ll just take a shot of espresso.” He got up and went over to his desk, putting some espresso into the portafilter and putting it in the machine. At first, you thought he was being dramatic and was just making a latte or americano of some sort. But he proved you wrong. He put the shot glasses underneath the portafilter and once he finished pulling the espresso shots, downed them immediately.

“Ashton! You’re crazy…” “Crazy for you, and espresso. That is absolutely amazing. I feel so awake.”

“How about you make me another drink, hm? Coffee this time.” You gave him puppy dog eyes, practically begging him.

He shook his head at your resilience, pulling another two espresso shots to make you a drink, “Do you want hot or iced, babe?”

“Hot please, Mr Barista.”

He chuckled, getting in his mini fridge and pulling out a small thing of milk and pouring it in the metal pitcher. He put the steam wand in and started steaming the milk, making it the consistency for a latte. You stared, mesmerized at his abilities. He grabbed one of the two mugs from the desk and poured in the espresso shots, then poured the milk in a circular motion first and then poured it closer to the top of the cup and wiggled it slightly, making a delicate design on the top. It was way too perfect to drink to say the least.

“I have a medium latte for a pretty lady in my dorm? Is she around?” He grinned at you, handing it to you carefully to avoid burning you.

“Thank you, Ash, but you made it too perfect to drink!” You giggled, admiring his latte art.

“Not as perfect as you! That was very cheesy, but I stand by the statement, darling.”

“You might have just made lattes my new favorite thing, and i used to not even like coffee.”

“I’ll make you lattes until all of the espresso in the world runs out.”

You found yourself at Good Coffee almost everyday. You’d always have Ashton make you a surprise drink, and every time you walked in his eyes would light up. He'd finish the current drink he was making as fast as possible so he could talk to you. On the third week of your Good Coffee addiction, you once again ordered a surprise drink.

“Surprise again for you, darling?”

“You know it, Mr Barista.” You smiled at him, but you were growing worried he wasn’t as into you as you thought. You had been talking for about a month and he hasn’t made any moves or anything. Did you get your hopes up too soon? You tended to do that a lot.

“It’s on me today.”

You took the five dollar bill you were gonna pay with and put it in the tip jar, smiling at him warmly. But you were still extremely paranoid. You went down to the pick-up counter and waited for your drink, thoughts invading your mind.

“Vanilla latte for (y/n)!”

You picked up the to go style cup and went to sit down, and you noticed some writing in sharpie on the side of the cup. Ashton didn’t usually leave notes, so what was it?

It would mean a latte to me if we could make it official :)

You smiled the biggest smile, looking at him to find him smiling at you, expectantly waiting for an answer.You nod, and he runs from behind the counter and kisses you on the cheek, “Come to my dorm after my shift for more coffee, yeah?” He winks, going back behind the counter. Who would’ve thought you would fall for the campus barista?

____

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