#britt plays side order

[thelovelyblark-barg]

I love brushes so much

#britt plays side order #side order #splatoon 3

[andrewmoocow]

Steven Universe Snake Eyes chapter 8: The Cosmos Quiver (originally published on October 16, 2023)

AN: And so, everything begins falling into place. Steven has some leftover drama to resolve with the Diamonds, Black Rutile's redemption arc is on the horizon, and there's a giant snake monster about to wreak havoc and destroy the cosmos. And I still need to finish my notes on the remaining few chapters on my phone! How can Steven save the universe now when there's a monster of pure, unadulterated destruction on the horizon? Is there a chance he could receive some unexpected help from someone who is also in need of help herself? Stay tuned, folks, for everything begins coming to a head here.

Synopsis: Tensions are high on Serpentes when Nosiop announces his plans for conquest, while Black Rutile ponders if he really needs her.

Cast:

Zach Callison as Steven

Noël Wells as Black Rutile

Estelle as Garnet

Michaela Dietz as Amethyst

Deedee Magno-Hall as Pearl

Aurelio Voltaire as King Cobralan Jormagundr

Shirley Millner as Queen Constrictra Jormagundr

Cissy Jones as Princess Naja Jormagundr

Henry Rollins as Captain Boa

Jennifer Paz as Lapis, Laz, Zuli

Shelby Rabara as Peridot, Squaridot

Uzo Aduba as Bismuth

Kimberly Brooks as Jasper

Lauren Ash as White Topaz

Tom Scharpling as Greg

Grace Rolek as Connie

Ron Perlman as Inner Steven

Neil Flynn as Aescul

Alexia Khadime as Sardonyx

Billie Eilish as Turquoise

Sarah Stiles as Spinel

Nicole Sullivan as Sylvia Spectre

Kari Wahlgren as Envyrno, Pyrope

Wally Wingert as Rigby Starglow

Dominic Armato as Captain Gearfeet

JP Karliak as S-L1M3

Rob Paulsen as Monty the Moarchean

Steven Blum as Earthos, Deputy Edward

Beau Billingslea as Sheriff Spiegel

Britt Baron as Michelle Angelon

Julissa Aguirre as Lady Imagineer

Terrence C. Carson as The Decimator

Della Saba as Aquamarine

Charlyne Yi as Eyeball

Christine Pedi as Holly Blue Agate

Casey Lee Williams as Cat's Eye

Avi Roque as Cinnabar

Gina Torres as Andesine

Jinkx Monsoon as Emerald

Melissa Fahn as Demantoid

Halsey as Tanzanite

Hayley Kiyoko as Morganite

Jason Marsden as Prince Nosiop Jormagundr

Keith David as Pyth

Crispin Freeman as Mr. Manco

Sam Witwer as Torius Vosania

Featuring Ray Porter as Squamata

And Tim Curry as Velhallen Beo

--

Serpentes was in chaos. Just moments before halftime of the Contest of Champions ended and the competition could resume, Prince Nosiop abruptly stole his father's throne and claimed that he would now become ruler of Serpentes in place of Cobralan, for he believed that Cobralan was incapable of ruling. In addition, he proclaimed that there was an ancient evil Cobralan was hiding from the public for years, and Nosiop intended to fight it with an army of Gems to prove that the Slytherophidians were meant to conquer.

As the Slytherophidians were sent into a frenzy, Nosiop sat confidently on his new throne while Black Rutile stood by his side. "Ah, this is what it means to take command." Nosiop grinned with his fangs out. "Watching all these worthless insects scurry about while begging for someone to give them orders. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, I agree very much, my friend." Black Rutile declared snidely when she felt someone tug on her cape, that someone being Aquamarine. "Oh, Aquamarine, fancy seeing you here. It feels like we haven't talked in a long while. What's up?"

"We have a question about that army of Gems that Nosiop mentioned." Eyeball said. "How are you going to acquire one, if I may ask? What, will we just make more Gems to serve us?"

"Ah yes, then I suppose it's time for a little history lesson." Black Rutile smirked as she played a holographic video of the Lapidarist's history lesson she spied on. "This is what is known as the Lapidarist. As the name should imply, this being is the mother of all Gems through her creation of what would eventually become the Great Diamond Authority. She possesses the power to create life, and I'm certain she also can reset all Gems to their base programming."

"Wait, what do you mean by base programming?" Holly Blue wondered alarmedly.

"This is going somewhere that I surely won't like." Cat's Eye added morosely.

"Oh, you're going to like what I have planned for her." Black Rutile declared. "Once I plead my case to the Lapidarist and she recognizes me as a poor unfortunate soul in pain and in need of help, she will answer my cries by wiping out all Gems across the universe and forcing them to return to the states from which they first originated, thus making them perfectly willing to follow my every command!"

"So, you're going to brainwash us all?!" Emerald shouted as she combed through the Rutile Rebels to confront Black Rutile. "You're simply plotting to erase everything about us, our personalities, our experiences, our lives, just to fulfill your selfish agenda?! I have done horrible things under both the Diamonds' and your command, but this is going too far!"

"Oh, come now, Emerald, you would probably do the same to make yourself more capable of getting rid of Lars." Black Rutile assured her advisor. "Really, you all should've expected that I'd do something this cruel and unusual towards others."

"Yes, like poofing us, for example?" Cinnabar, now fully reformed after being poofed earlier, declared as she and Cinnabar revealed themselves to Black Rutile. "All because we fancied ourselves better leaders than you?"

"Backstabbing two of your closest confidants was bad enough," Andesine added hotly. "but threatening to erase us all, who have pledged our lives to serve you and your goal of a brighter tomorrow for all Gems?"

"Now, everyone, I know this may seem a little rash, but I promise you all that this is for the greater good!" Black Rutile nervously said, lying through her teeth as she felt her subordinates would soon turn on her like everyone else did. "Please, you all have to listen to me!"

"We are done listening to you." Tanzanite declared fiercely. "White Topaz was right about you; you're a bad leader and a bad friend to all of us. You'd sooner throw one of us to the wolves to see if it was safe before running away at the first sight of danger than actually admit how flawed you are."

"I am not flawed!" Black Rutile shrieked angrily, tears forming in her eyes yet again. "Just please, somebody take my side for once!"

"I believe we all knew this was coming." Demantoid proclaimed harshly before turning to the other Rebels. "Come along, Rebels. Let us find somewhere else where we won't be abused."

"No, wait, please, come back!" Black Rutile yelled as she fruitlessly reached out to her now-former pawns. "You can't just leave me like this! You know the Crystal Gems wouldn't dare take you in!"

"We are well aware of that," Morganite replied coldly. "But at least they'd treat us better than you have."

"Honestly, why did I bother continuing to side with her?" Pyrope scoffed as the Rutile Rebels left their master in the dust for greener pastures, causing Black Rutile to tear up again.

"So, after all we've been through, this is how I'm treated?" Black Rutile groaned as she started crying and groveling on her knees. "What's even the point anymore?"

"To give people hope, dear Rutile," Nosiop said as he hugged his partner in crime. "So we can rip it away from them."

"Indeed, my girl." Pyth agreed with the insidious prince-turned-king. "Now come along. We'd like you to meet the rest of what we call the Serpent Society." As the two Slytherophidians led Black Rutile away from the Ouraborium, Nosiop gave Pyth a firm nod, to which Pyth replied with an evil smile.

--

Elsewhere in the stadium, Steven roamed the halls as he brooded to himself over what he had just learned from the Lapidarist and the Diamonds. Not only was White Diamond more like Pink Diamond than he realized, but the Diamonds were also hiding the fact that they did indeed commit genocide on a few planets that they had conquered. He needed time to process everything he learned, to the point where he barely realized that Nosiop had just announced his conquest of Serpentes.

"You see what sparing the Diamonds will lead you to?" Inner Steven coldly stated as Steven imagined the manifestation of his darker impulses walking alongside him. "You should've let me shatter White when I had the chance back on Homeworld. Then we wouldn't have had to suffer all of this!"

"You and I both know I would never take a life!" Steven shouted angrily at Inner Steven.

"Then what about Jasper?" Inner Steven retorted snidely.

"Okay, you raise a good point," Steven agreed. "but I'd never intentionally take a life."

"Even after my change of heart, I always found it annoying how you'd rather sit back like a coward because you think everyone deserves a second chance." Inner Steven stated. "Much like you, I never fully trusted the Diamonds and thought they would go back on their word to destroy us again at any moment. If that day ever comes, you must be ready for the worst possible scenario."

"Yes, it's true that I feel so utterly betrayed, but I don't think the Diamonds would ever go that far." Steven replied. "I just want to live my life where everyone isn't lying to me and keeping secrets that could destroy us all!"

"You know, on that note, heard the news lately?" Inner Steven added as he tapped his foot, and a voice rang out in Steven's mind-space.

"As of today, I shall now take my father's place as your ruler, for he is not fit to be a king or a Universal Lord. Let this be a wake-up call to you Slytherophidians, the Universal Lords, the Gem race, and the ignorant masses across the entire universe!" the voice of Prince Nosiop declared as a holographic image of him appeared before Steven. "I shall soon arrive with an entire army of loyal Gems at my side to face down an ancient foe my father has hidden from you for so long! We all must answer to the hand of fate, and fate has chosen me to conquer this world!"

"Who is that?" Steven asked his darker half in wonder at the prince before him.

"Prince Nosiop Jormagundr, son of Cobralan and self-proclaimed next in line to become king of Serpentes." Inner Steven revealed. "I'm sure you heard of him before. He and Black Rutile teamed up to conquer the planet and reboot the entire Gem race to turn into their slaves. Don't think you met him in person, though."

"So what, is he meant to be like the Slytherophidian equivalent to Black Rutile or something?" Steven asked.

"Close." Inner Steven answered. "I think he may share some qualities with you. But he's the answer to a very important question."

"What was the question?" Steven asked, not expecting a good answer.

"What if you were more like Pink Diamond growing up?" Inner Steven answered forebodingly. "Think of it. This boy clearly wanted to get everything he ever wanted even though he had everything handed to him on a silver platter, so he resorted to drastic measures when nobody paid attention to him. Remind you of anyone?"

"So what do I need to do?" Steven asked his inner self.

"It's quite simple, really." Inner Steven said with his figurative hands on Steven's shoulders. "You must stop history from repeating itself, or it will mean the universe's destruction and possibly beyond."

--

"What is the meaning of this?!" Cobralan roared as he slithered into the throne room upon hearing the news. "Nosiop, you better have a very good explanation of what you are doing because you are in big trouble, young man!"

"I see you've heard, my old friend." Pyth declared as he ominously snuck up behind Cobralan and grabbed him by the neck with a jagged knife in his scaly hands. "It seems your son will be getting his coronation early. But unfortunately, you won't live long enough to see him all grown up."

"Pyth, what is going on?" Cobralan asked his insidious advisor. "What is Nosiop doing? What are you doing? Answer me, blast you!"

"It's just a little something I've been working on for the past couple of years," Pyth revealed to his former king. "I notice that Nosiop wants to be seen for his great ideas, introduce him to Squamata, and then covertly guide him along as I use him to gain ultimate power." He slowly pressed the knife to Cobralan's throat. "Now then, tell me where Squamata's resting place is, and I promise you'll only come out of this with a few scars."

"I'll never tell you!" Cobralan yelled fiercely and tried spitting poison in Pyth's face, but the vizier barely reacted to the attack. "It's a secret that our family has kept for generations, and I refuse to give it up to the likes of you!"

"So that's the way it is, then." Pyth cruelly hissed as he prepared to stab the king in his throat with the knife. "Long live the king." However, his murder of the Slytherophidian king would have to wait as a loud crash was heard from above, followed by a hearty "OOOOO-HOHOHOHOHO!" that made him jump. "What was that?!"

"Good day, your majesty!" Sardonyx laughed as she smashed a hole in the throne room's ceiling to view Pyth's attempted assassination. "Am I interrupting anything?!"

"What is that thing?!" Pyth screamed in terror as Sardonyx reached into the throne room and grabbed Cobralan in her giant hand.

"Oh, pardon me for being so rude." Sardonyx giggled. "You may call me Sardonyx. I'm here with my lovely assistant, Turquoise, to rescue the fair king of Serpentes and put a stop to your dastardly schemes! Turquoise, please take care of Mr. Pyth, s'il vous plaît"

"Already on it," Turquoise replied as she conjured up some liquid metal that solidified into metallic restraints to keep Pyth imprisoned while the two fusions escaped. "Catch you on the flipside, Dorkus."

"Get back here, you two! Unhand me at once!" Pyth yelled furiously as he tried to escape his imprisonment. "Ugh, this is what happens when you've been spying on Gems for who knows how long. Eventually, they'll overpower you in every way imaginable. Now, can someone get me out of this thing?"

--

On the other side of the Ouraborium, the competitors of the Contest of Champions were trying their best to stay calm amid the chaos. Still, each had their own views about Nosiop's planned takeover of Serpentes.

"Yes, Chief, I'm already calling for backup." Sylvia Spectre said to her boss over her communication device. "Prince Nosiop will be brought to justice by sundown. What do you mean what will the king think?! Nosiop just stole his throne and said Cobralan was unfit to rule!"

"Hey Sylvie, can you talk a little faster so we can get out of here?" Envyrno complained impatiently while leaning back against the wall. "I wanna get the Abe Due Dumballa out of here and cause a little mischief already!"

"No, we cannot!" Sylvia declared sternly. "As an officer of the Coalition of Galaxies, it is my sworn duty to root out evil wherever it may lurk and bring them to justice, no matter the species. And that includes thugs like you, Envyrno."

"Oh geez, another busybody rule-follower." Envyrno groaned in dismay. "You should embrace your inner bad girl already. Let's go kill some horrible bosses together, get a purge going! Live a little! In fact, I know of this great place to hang out at a few star systems away. It's a new club that plays really great hardcore techno for a really hip young crowd."

"The answer is still no." Sylvia turned down Envyrno's offer. "Though that club does sound intriguing."

"Now you're speaking my language!" Envyrno gave a hearty chortle while putting a lava-covered arm around Sylvia's shoulder.

Meanwhile, Rigby Starglow stood up on a makeshift stage in the middle of the arena while tuning his guitar. "Good evening, folks, or whatever time it is on this planet. My name's Rigby Starglow. I'm the biggest rock star in the universe and today, I'm going to play you all a song to calm everybody down." He then began to strum on his guitar. "Breath, should I take a deep? Faith, should I take a leap?" Rigby started singing. "Taste, what a bittersweet. All my, all my life. Let me face, let me face, let me face my fears!"

Within the city of Alethinophidia, Captain Gearfeet was having the time of his life as he tipped over market stalls and broke into shops to engage in some looting. "Hee hee hee, this is the most fun I've had in ages!" he laughed happily while diving into a store window to steal its contents. "Come on, everybody, it's the end of the world. Let's get looting!"

"Stop right there, Gearfeet." Sheriff Spiegel declared as he pressed a laser pistol to the captain's nose. "We're gonna need you to hand over everything you stole so we can return them to their rightful owners."

"I dare you to try, copper." Gearfeet said as he protectively held onto his loot. "I'm not even sure who the original owners are anymore!"

"Everyone please, cease this conflict!" Michelle Angelon exclaimed as she flew down from above to get between the sheriff and the pirate. "I understand that you are on different sides of the law, but there are far more pressing matters at hand, my friends."

"Yeah, yeah, the giant space snake is a-coming, or whatever." Deputy Edward replied. "Man, haven't had a day this crazy since we fought those spice cultists back home, eh Sheriff?"

"You said it, Edward. I can still hear them now." Spiegel smirked. "He who controls the spice controls the universe!"

"Can we please get on with it?!" Gearfeet yelled. "I just wanna find a ship and go back to my crew already."

"You and us both, Captain." S-L1M3 said as he slithered to the four with Earthos, Lady Imagineer, Monty, and the Decimator behind him. "I just want to go home already. I didn't even get a chance to fight anybody!"

"I, for one, am still not satisfied with the hand I was dealt on this planet." The Decimator replied in his trademark deep, booming voice. "I demand the greatest fight these creatures could offer, yet time and again, I've been greeted with nothing but disappointment! Whatever this ancient foe Nosiop speaks of may be, it has got to give me a satisfactory challenge!"

"Whatever you say, big guy!" Monty said meekly before pulling out a photo of his wife and children back on his home planet. "Hold on, my family, I'll be home soon."

"That your fam there, Monty?" Earthos asked about the photo. "Not a bad lot, I'll say. Maybe I can visit sometime, be like the cool uncle to your kids."

"That would be so nice, Earthos." Monty replied sweetly before all the fighters gathered in Alethinophidia looked up at the sky to find that the clouds had changed. "Hey, what's that up there?"

"I believe it's a message." Lady Imagineer answered and began reading the message. "I think it says, 'Meet us at the castle at once. Signed, the Crystal Gems'."

"That just spells out B.U.T.T.," Monty said as he read the message in the sky himself. "How are you able to get all that?!"

"Call it a hunch." Imagineer smiled kindly in reply before she flew towards the castle. "Come on, everybody, follow me!"

--

"Hey, I think I can see people coming towards us!" Laz exclaimed as she, Lapis, and Zuli watched the Contest competitors race towards the castle. "Our message worked!"

"Good, but next time," Lapis said before turning to Zuli. "let's try and get straight to the point instead of just writing funny words in the sky. You're lucky this didn't end up like last time, Zuli!"

"Oh, come on, Lapis, you told me it was a good idea back in the day on Tritek!" Zuli tried shifting the blame to Lapis. "Those Gremlins didn't know what hit them!"

"Can you three please stop arguing and get back in here?!" Jasper bellowed for the three Lapides to come inside. "We need to think of a plan!"

The three terraformers hovered into the main hall of the castle, where the Crystal Gems have gathered the royal family of Serpentes, Captain Boa, Aescul, the Metals, the various contestants in the Contest of Champions, the Diamonds, Bialyoom and Meinerr, the Little Homeworld gems, the Universal Lords, and the Off-Colors together to form an alliance to save Serpentes and the universe.

"Good day to you all." Connie announced to the ragtag band of misfits. "As I'm sure you're all aware of what has been happening lately, about the announcement that Nosiop is plotting to conquer the planet with an army of Gems. Today, we have gathered you all to stop that for the good of everyone in the universe."

"I can't believe my son would do this to me." Cobralan muttered in shame and regret while looking down at his hands. "I've done so much for his happiness, and this is how he repays me? What have I done that would warrant such a reaction?"

"Do you want me to be honest with you or not?" Greg asked Cobralan.

"I'll take any answer at this point," Cobralan replied.

"To be frank, you're kind of a mediocre father," Greg admitted bluntly, much to Cobralan's shock. "What? You said you'd take any answer!"

"Don't fret, dear husband, I'm sure he's just joshing with you!" Constricta tried to cheer her husband up.

"No, I'm being serious!" Greg exclaimed. "I can definitely see you're a great & loving husband and a pretty darn good ruler to your people, but this whole contest has distanced you from your kids and their needs. I mean, Naja probably has serious self-doubt issues, and Nosiop speaks for himself."

"The human is right, father." Naja agreed with Greg. "Ever since you made me the Contest's master of ceremonies, I've had to deal with the fear of disappointing the masses, that I'd be unworthy of being a princess if I make just one mistake."

"Oh my dear, you'll never be a disappointment to me." Cobralan said as he comforted his daughter with a hug. "No matter what you do to impress the masses, you'll always be my little girl. Now, please, Naja, your mother and I urge you this one time. Please stand, stand by us."

"Okay, Father, I will," Naja replied with a sniffle. "And hopefully, we can bring Nosiop back to his senses too."

"So, what do we do now?" Amethyst asked. "The Lapidarist said we needed an ultimate fusion to stop this Squamata guy once and for all, but which one is it? Opal, Sugilite, Sardonyx, Alexandrite? Maybe even Malachite?"

"Hey, speaking of which, anybody seen Steven lately?" Pearl added. "I haven't seen him since the Lapidarist's history lesson, and I'm getting worried. Hopefully, he hasn't decided to leave Serpentes early."

"No way Steven would ever do that, not in a thousand different timelines I've examined." Garnet proclaimed. "He has to be here somewhere; we just need to know where."

"Probably still somewhere in the castle." Peridot answered. "Hopefully, he hasn't gone too far."

"I'll go search for him." Squaridot declared as she tried leaving the group, only to be stopped in her tracks when Peridot grabbed her stubby green arm.

"Oh no, you don't!" Peridot yelled. "I've known Steven longer; let me search for him!"

"No, I'll do it, you obnoxious nacho!" Squaridot argued with her triangular counterpart before the two hissed at each other and got into a slapfight.

"Spinel, you find Steven." Bismuth ordered Spinel, who gave a hearty salute and ran off.

"Hang on, Steve Summers, I'm coming for you!" Spinel yelled as she ran deeper into the castle.

"I hope Steven can find it in himself to forgive the Diamonds for lying to him." White Topaz said.

"Then again, he's just a very forgiving person in general." Aescul declared. "So this should be pretty easy for him."

--

"Finding this resting place is not easy at all!" Nosiop complained as he, Pyth, Black Rutile, and a few Slytherophidian soldiers ventured into the desert plains of Serpentes in search of Squamata's resting place. "We could've stabbed the location right out of Father, but then we had a couple of fusions ruining everything! No doubt the Crystal Gems are plotting against us as we speak!"

"Thank goodness you eventually got me out of those restraints, Black Rutile," Pyth said with a sinister smile at Black Rutile. "Now look alive. We got some friends on the other side on the horizon."

"Yes, that Serpent Society cult you told me about." Black Rutile replied. "Shouldn't there be more of us?"

"Unfortunately, most of our ranks have been lost to time, except for a few members still alive and kicking today," Pyth explained as a massive spaceship began descending upon Serpentes. Upon landing, its passengers revealed themselves to be a few faces that Black Rutile found familiar.

"Well well well, Torius Vosania." Black Rutile said upon recognizing the crime lord and estranged criminal brother of Batsputin Vosania. "Fancy meeting you here after you got brought to justice by those Pearls."

"Indeed, Black Rutile and I brought along a few new friends I met in prison." Torius declared as he revealed two more thugs by his side who had joined the brother of Batsputin in his revenge plot. One of them was Mr. Manco, the cybernetic menace of East Walleef from Sergione-29 who, much like Torius Vosania, also formed an alliance with Cinnabar in the past before the Black Pearl Brigade foiled his plans. However, the next villain was an even bigger shock to Black Rutile's core.

"No, that cannot be!" Black Rutile gasped in shock at the humanoid figure dressed in green armor with a foghat gray mask, blank red eyes, a purple cape, and a red V on his chest. "Velhallen Beo?! I thought Batsputin defeated you in the Battle of the Night! Were you in prison this whole time?"

"Indeed I was, Gem." Velhallen Beo replied with an arrogant sneer. "But now, thanks to Prince Nosiop, I can retake control of the Twilight Zone with the power of Squamata! Now tell us, where is he hiding?"

"Unfortunately, I was outsmarted by a few of the Crystal Gems before I could extort His Majesty for information," Pyth said regretfully. "Anyone else got any bright ideas?"

"Oh yes, I have one." Mr. Manco declared. "A rumor spread by a fellow prisoner named Titanius Anglesmith says that there is an ancient temple hidden beneath the surface of Serpentes, and only one may be sacrificed for the beast within to be unleashed."

"And I think we know just the sacrifice." Nosiop declared as all the members of the Serpent Society turned to Black Rutile with evil grins. "Black Rutile, would you care to help us unleash total death and destruction at the cost of your life?"

"What?! You can't just betray me like this when I've already been betrayed!" Black Rutile yelled in horror while Beo tried to grab her by the wrists. "Let go of me!"

"Don't try to fight it. You've been craving the sweet release of death, haven't you?" Beo hissed eagerly, stunning Black Rutile for a few moments before she regained her composure and tugged at Velhallen Beo's grip before tossing him over her head, causing the former Universal Lord to lose his grasp on the Gem terrorist. "What the?!"

"I have to warn Steven!" Black Rutile shouted the absolute last thing she ever wanted to say before making her escape.

"What are you waiting for, you nimrods?! After her!" Beo shouted when Nosiop put up a hand to block him.

"Leave her. She's going to bring Steven to us." Nosiop proclaimed. "Now then, anyone else care to be sacrificed? How about you, Maverick? Would you like to give up your life for my cause?"

"Uh, what?" Maverick muttered before Torius picked up the snake guard with his new and improved cybernetics and dragged him away. "I do not consent to this! I demand a two weeks' notice!"

--

Back at the Jormagundrs' castle, Steven was sitting on one of the castle battlements as he gazed up at the bright afternoon sun when he heard someone approaching him.

"Hey, Steven!" Spinel exclaimed while sitting down next to her best half-human friend. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"Yeah, it's about the Diamonds." Steven said softly. "I thought I learned all I could ever learn about them, but then they whip out this whole coverup and make me even more justified in my paranoia! If it turns out someone who loved you was hiding a huge secret this whole time, how would you react?"

"You mean the whole Pink Diamond thing?" Spinel replied with a blunt expression on her face. "Yeah, I'm not sure how to react, considering she died and didn't even tell me because I was standing in the middle of the garden for thousands of years! But the point is, you can't just hold it against the Diamonds for as long as you live, especially since we got a crazy prince about to kill us all!"

"I have every right to hold it against them!" Steven argued with Spinel. "I have every right to be so wary of them, considering that they're acting like they didn't scar me for life, brainwashed my friends, and nearly killed me just because I'm family!"

"Wow, never knew you could hold a grudge, Steven," Spinel muttered in shock. "But hey, it's not like things could get any worse from here on out, right?" Just then, the ground beneath the two began shaking, almost like an earthquake had struck Serpentes. "Me and my big mouth!"

The skies began turning darker than the blackest void as a massive snake creature with green scales, a yellow underbelly, and ginormous sharp fangs emerged from afar and released a mighty roar. "I have turned hundreds upon thousands of worlds to dust in the name of darkness and devastation until I was robbed of my glory." Squamata, the fearsome god of Serpentes, roared for all to hear across the universe. "I will stride across the bones of my enemies and bask in the glow of pure evil, for all of existence shall be mine to consume!"

It turns out that forgiving the Diamonds for their past atrocities would be the least of Steven's worries.

The worst has finally come.

--

Yeah, you and your big mouth, Spinel. At long last, Squamata has been unleashed and is free to destroy all that he sees! At least until an army of Gems can bring him down for good, but it won't be the army that Nosiop desires. Plus, it'll only be a matter of time before Squamata goes out of control and betrays the Serpent Society to pursue his goal of destroying everything he sees. How can the Crystal Gems possibly survive against a creature that only knows and revels in such levels of destruction and chaos? We'll just have to wait and see.

#steven universe #steven universe future #fanfiction #steven universe alternate future #steven universe snake eyes #steven quartz universe #garnet #amethyst #pearl #peridot #lapis lazuli #bismuth #jasper #white topaz #king cobralan jormagundr #queen constricta jormagundr #prince nosiop jormagundr #pyth #princess naja jormagundr #greg universe #connie maheswaran #black rutile #captain boa

[plentyoffandoms]

Fall Again (Part 10)

Kenny Omega x f/Reader

Warnings: Some swearing. Mentions of past abusive relationship.

Just like all my other stories, this has not been proofread, but please enjoy.

Gifs & photos do not belong to me.

Story idea by @eddiekingstonsgirl89

Main Masterlist ♡ AEW Masterlist ♡ Kenny Omega Masterlist ♡ Fall Again Masterlist

Summary: f/Reader & Kenny were highschool sweethearts but broke up after graduation. They now work together at AEW.

Tyson - Kenny Omega ☆ Austin - Adam Cole ☆ Stephen - Adam Page

YN'S POV:

Tyson and I have been travelling nonstop once again. I have slowly been getting used to it but going across the country all the time is getting to me.

I have been more tired. At first I just played it off as that it was just getting up at odd hours of the night to catch the next flight.

Certain smells that I once loved make me now plug my nose or make me run to the nearest washroom and have my head hanging over the toilet.

Even poor Britt had to change her perfume because the one she wore was making me sick.

But then my boobs started to ache and the odd cravings come on, but I didn't put two and two together.

But I should of known that I was being watched not only by Tyson, but our friends as well as a group of us were having dinner.

Our group consisted ofd Britt and Austin of course. Nick and his wife Ellen, as well as Matt and Dana and Tyson and I.

It was my turn to order. "May I please have the chicken pot pie with a side of chocolate sauce."

The conversation died around me as they turned to look at me. The poor waitress asked me to repeat myself. "Chicken pot pie with a side of chocolate sauce." She wrote down what I said with a queasy look on her face.

I felt a hand on my forehead and moved my head away from Tyson's hand. "I am perfectly fine."

"Are you sure YN? Chicken pot pie with chocolate fudge?" Ellen asked me. I just shrugged my shoulders at her question. "Just have a craving for that."

"A craving?" Dana asked me.

"Yes a craving. Why am I getting all these questions? Can't I just enjoy something?" I was getting upset and I could feel the tears threatening to fall.

"It's okay YN, look why don't we go out and enjoy the nice cool air." Britt said as she stood up. I agreed and the four of us left the men at the table.

"YN, please do not take this wrong way, but when was your last period?" Dana asked me once we were outside.

I thought on it. I even pulled out my phone to look at the app I use. The three women watched as I scrolled back a few months.

"About three months ago." I said, finally realising what the hell was going on with me.

"I gotta get a test." I said as I looked up and down the street.

"Okay, according to Google, there is a store one just down the street. I'll go and grab it." Britt said as she ran down the street.

"You okay YN?" Ellen asked me.

"Well not really. I mean this isn't the most perfect timing to have a child with everything going on but other than the fact that I have a crazy ex-boyfriend running around, yeah I am fine."

It didn't take long for Britt to come back. She handed me the small bag. "I'll do it soon. I know they are probably wondering what is taking us so long."

The four of us went back inside, Tyson pulling me into his side and kissing my temple.

Our food didn't take long to come out after we sat down. No one looked at me at I drizzled the chocolate sauce all over the chicken pot pie.

~

Tyson and I went back to our hotel room and I rushed to the washroom. I saw that Britt grabbed three, so I pulled out the tests and read through the instructions on each box.

It has been awhile since I took one of these. I used to take them all the time in highschool whenever the two of us forgot a condom before I started to take birth control and even once or twice after.

I finished peeing on the sticks. I placed them on the counter and I waited. "You okay in there love?" Tyson called through the door.

"Yeah, I'll be out soon." I called back as I sat on the side of the tub, never once taking my eyes off the timer on my phone.

I ignored each and every message that came from Britt, Dana and Ellen. I will tell them later.

When my alarm went off, I took a deep breath and grabbed the tests to see what they said.

Each one was positive.

My whole body started to shake as I started to cry silently. This isn't the time for a child. Not with what is going on. But will a time ever be right with the two of us?

But as I laid my hands on my stomach, I calmed down a bit. I started to think about what our child would look like.

I was pulled from my thoughts as he knocked on the door once more. Time to tell him. No point on putting this off.

Kenny Omega's POV:

I am starting to get worried about her. She has been in the washroom for awhile now. Is she okay?

All through dinner she was acting strange and when the four women left the table to go out, I noticed Matt and Nick looking at each other.

"What? I asked them.

"Nothing. You will know soon enough I am sure." Matt said.

"What do you mean?"

"Not our place to say man." Nick said.

"Since when?" Austin questioned.

"She been moody lately? Throwing up? We can clearly see the peculiar food cravings." Nick said.

Then it hit me. "You think she is pregnant?"

"We have kids man. We have seen this time and time again." Matt said as he laughed at me softly.

The subject changed and I tried to engage in the conversation but what if she was pregnant?

We haven't been together long. We still have him to deal with. But first, I need to see how she is doing if she is infact pregnant.

The washroom door opening brought all my attention to her. "You okay baby?" I can still see the streaks on her face.

"Yeah, I'm great in fact. Tyson I got some amazing news to tell you." She held up the positive pregnancy tests and I felt my own eyes start to tear up.

This is all I ever wanted was to have a family with YN. Ever since the moment I laid eyes on her. Didn't matter if the child was biological ours or adopted, I just wanted to raise a family together.

She dropped the tests as I pulled her into my arms and kissed her. "We're gonna have a baby." I muttered against her lips.

"Yeah baby." She answered.

My arms moved from her waist and under her ass so I could lift her. She squealed as she broke the kiss.

"Tyson!" She moaned as I started to kiss up and down her neck.

"Let's celebrate baby." I said to her. Her giggle turned into a moan as bit that spot on her neck.

Part 11

Tag List: if you would like to be added, please let me know. @lghockey @eddiekingstonsgirl89 @hungmanhorsecarriage @xkennyxomegax @anaeve @crowleysqueenofhell @bduchrnskei @thenerdybaker523 @brie-mode-activated

#aew #all elite wrestling #reader imagine #female reader #reader insert #kenny omega x you #Kenny omega #kenny omega fic #kenny omega imagine #kenny omega x reader #kenny omega x female reader #kenny omega x oc

[findroleplay]

Hey, I'm an [18F] writer currently looking for an [18+] partner to write on Discord with! My side is going to be a FxF WWE/AEW roleplay! I can do doubles, I can play as pretty much anyone except my character's love interests. I'm mostly looking for these female wrestlers:

WWE (in order of preference):

• Rhea Ripley (JD era her. Please-- just-- mmmfff 😩, though, uh... disclaimer, I do have a pretty uncommon HC for her that I need for the dynamic with my OC, so we're going to discuss beforehand.)

• AJ Lee (got a pretty interesting idea in mind for this-)

• Dakota Kai (Damage Ctrl era)

• Alexa Bliss (Goddess gimmick)

AEW: (I don't watch AEW show much so I'm not as familiar with their storylines as I am with WWE, but we can work something out 🤷‍♀️-- also I might have limited slots, probably two, because I just wanna test the waters first-)

• Britt Baker

• Jamie Hayter

• Saraya

• Toni Storm

If you are interested, leave a note and I'll send a message!

(PS: I'll probably send random songs sometimes that remind me of our roleplay, so... yep. 😅)

_

#roleplay #rp #oc rp #fxf rp #WWE rp #AEW rp

[sohemotional]

Brittana OOA (handpicked part II): 5, 12, 14, 19, 56

5. Describe their cozy night in.

Just a simple night in. They order food or Brittany cooks (Santana doesn't cook much) and it'll be just them, their cats, and their babies watching movies together

12. Do they have many heated arguments? How do they smooth things over?

These two literally never argue. They're just not the type of couple who argue and they work as a team most of the time. They're also good at talking to each other maturely/calmly if something is bothering them. Of course there would always be things they disagree on but I can't really think of anything major they would disagree on that would become a serious argument, certainly not one that involved them screaming at each other.

Santana does have this jealous side always, although she is a lot more secure after they're married but maybe occasionally some dude might try to flirt with Britt when they're out, so that would put Santana in a bad mood for the rest of the day. That would make Brittany roll her eyes because Santana is being so moody but they'd have great sex after that and Santana would be back to normal again. Or Brittany might go a bit crazy with the home shopping network and buy a bunch of crazy stuff they don't need, or maybe adopt a new cat. Her zany side is usually cute to Santana but if she gets too eccentric, it would make San lose her temper and she might shout. Then Santana would feel guilty and they'd both apologize and cuddle.

14. How do their personalities compliment each other? How do they clash?

Their personalities complement each other quite perfectly which is one of the reasons why I love them so much as a pairing. They're completely different in many ways but if both of them had the same personality type, the pairing just wouldn't work. Santana tends to think in a more stable/practical way about most things which helps to keep Brittany grounded when she's getting too silly/eccentric. They need each other to keep each other balanced because without Britt, Santana would be too serious and without Santana, Britt could get too flighty and silly.

Brittany encourages her to lighten up and open her imagination while Santana brings her back down to earth. They complement each other in other ways too. Santana tends to be very fiery, dramatic and emotional about expressing herself, whereas Brittany is calmer/steadier/more pragmatic about her emotions. So when Santana completely flips out about something, Brittany is there to soothe her and calm her. Brittany is like coming home for Santana. Brittany helps her to feel more at peace in herself when her world is spiraling. Meanwhile, Brittany would feel protected by Santana's presence because she's so strong and take charge about most things.

19. How do they feel about PDA?

They're definitely a mushy and affectionate couple, despite what many would believe. They'd definitely be that couple who hold hands everywhere and dip kiss. However, Santana is not huge on PDA, except if it's say, something she can do with Britt to shock or gross out people like Rachel or their other friends. She's very private and only Brittany knows how passionate/romantic Santana is in the privacy of their bedroom but she's okay with that.

56. What do they do turn the other on/put them in the mood?

Brittany knows that Santana is totally turned on by her dancing, so she'll dance seductively just for her and put on a show. She also knows how much Santana is into her legs, so if she wears a super short skirt or tiny shorts, she is guaranteed some sweet lady lovin. Brittany has a thing about Santana being sweaty. It's a little weird but she loves when Santana just comes back from working out, it's a total turn on for her to watch Santana working out or playing sports too (even though Britt is the more athletic of the two). They both will whisper seductive things to each other. If she kisses the sensitive spot on Santana's neck or bites her ear, San can't keep her hands off of her.

#Brittana #Santana Lopez #Brittany Pierce #Brittana headcanons

[bookquotenet]

Rudy Baylor is about to graduate from Memphis State Law School. He secures a position with a Memphis law firm but loses the job when the firm is bought out by the large Memphis law firm Tinley Britt. As one of the few members of his class without a job lined up, a desperate Rudy is introduced to J. Lyman “Bruiser” Stone, a ruthless but successful ambulance chaser, who makes him an associate. To earn his fee, Rudy is required to hunt for potential clients at the local hospital and sign them up to personal injury lawsuits. He is introduced to Deck Shifflet, a less-than-ethical former insurance assessor who received a law degree but doesn’t practice law, having failed to pass the bar exam six times.

Rudy signs two clients. One is his new elderly landlady, who needs a revised will drawn. The other is a poor family, Dot and Buddy Black, whose insurance bad faith case could be worth several million dollars in damages. With Stone’s firm about to be raided by the police and the FBI, Rudy and Deck set up their own practice and file suit on behalf of the Blacks, whose leukemia-stricken son, Donny Ray, could have been saved by a bone marrow transplant for which his identical twin brother is a perfect match. The procedure should have been covered and paid for by their insurance carrier, Great Benefit Life Insurance, but the claim was instead denied.

Rudy, having just passed his bar exam, has never argued a case before a judge or jury. He now finds himself up against experienced and ruthless lawyers from Tinley Britt, headed by Leo F. Drummond. On his side, Rudy has several supporters and a sympathetic, newly-appointed judge. While preparing the case in the local hospital, he meets and later falls in love with Kelly Riker, a young battered wife recovering from injuries inflicted by her husband Cliff.

Donny Ray dies just before the case goes to trial. Rudy uncovers a scheme by Great Benefit to deny every insurance claim submitted, regardless of validity. Great Benefit was playing the odds that the insured would not consult an attorney. A former employee of Great Benefit testifies that the scheme generated an extra $40 million in revenue for the company. The trial ends with a plaintiff’s judgment of $50.2 million. Great Benefit quickly declares itself bankrupt, thus allowing it to avoid paying the judgment. This leads to a series of lawsuits which forces Great Benefit out of business. Ultimately, there is no payout for the grieving parents and no fee for Rudy, although Dot was never concerned with the settlement money, because for her helping to put the company out of business is an even greater victory.

During the Black trial, when Kelly is beaten again by Cliff, Rudy helps her file for divorce. While he and Kelly retrieve items from her home, Cliff arrives and threatens to kill Rudy, attacking him with a baseball bat. Rudy wrestles the bat away from Cliff and cracks his skull with it. Kelly intervenes and orders him to leave. Cliff dies from the injuries and Kelly allows herself to be charged with manslaughter to protect Rudy. Rudy gets the charges dropped, but Cliff’s vengeful family have made several death threats against them both. Rudy and Kelly leave the state, heading for someplace where Rudy – who has become disillusioned with the law – can become a teacher, and Kelly can attend college.

#john grisham

[zendyval]

Michael has said on feeds this week that his ideal final 4 is him Brittany Taylor and turner and I am here for it lol. Though they’d all have to band together to get Michael out. But Joseph and Kyle really rubbed Michael the wrong way the other day cause they were complaining about having to worry about jury management now to him. So Michael basically said he wants everyone outside of the leftovers out first and then Joseph, Kyle, monte (I think in that order). So at least he’s realized he needs to leftovers to survive at this point

I think Michael kind of changes his tune a lot so I'm not sure what he's really thinking. I know he said the former to the cameras but I also think he kind of says what maybe he thinks the public wants to hear? Unlike the other side of the house, I don't think he's an idiot so I'm sure he's put together enough from the DR right now to get a sense of Taylor's popularity and the other sides lack there of. That said, I hope he goes with the former but I can see the general thinking. Joseph is a legitimate social threat to win. I don't know if Monte is a threat yet as he's won one comp, but Michael may see him as a more athletic type that will competitive in comps. Kyle is just a threat because he's shady and on both sides of the house.

I also imagine Michael is thinking he would have the votes to beat both Taylor and Britt which he probably does. Turner is the real wildcard and I think it depends what he does from here. Because he has enemies (aka Jasmine) but game wise he has his moments and then other times he just plays the goofy stoner kid there for some laughs and I think as a result it causes some people to underestimate him. He literally got Ameerah out on his HOH and then faded into the background without becoming a target for anyone outside of Jasmine.

[outercrasis]

okay but hear me out...

monster max has to keep his wings hidden and confined most of the time right? well what if one day it's just causing him more pain than usual (which you notice without him having to say anything) and so you offer to massage them? i feel like the gentle care and comfort would be so foreign to him 🥺

The hiatus has ended 😌 This idea is so sweet Britt, I loved writing it and I hope you enjoy it too!!

Pairing: Monster!Max Phillips x F!Reader

Word Count/Rating: 2k / Explicit 18+

Warnings: Fluff city, f!receiving oral, consensual somnophilia

Series Masterlist (A/N at the end!)

Cramps

The hours Max has been working lately are long even for someone who doesn't require sleep. Some merger or acquisition forcing his entire team to work double in order to get everything done before a looming deadline. Getting him to take a single night off to relax has been difficult and there are only so many blowjobs you can give to distract him before it feels like your jaw is going to break off from your skull.

You wake up to see the bright red letters on Max’s alarm clock reading out 2:23 AM. You have no idea why a person who doesn’t sleep needs an alarm clock, but it does come in handy so you don’t complain. His side of the bed is very empty and very cold. It never really gets warm per se due to his general body temperature, but you’ve learned to identify the difference. Max has yet to come to bed tonight.

He usually relaxes in the late hours of night, sometimes quietly reading or playing a video game next to you while you sleep. It’s really unfair how good his Animal Crossing island looks. He only started playing semi-recently and it already looks better than yours. And he found Coco, who you’ve wanted as a villager since the game came out. Bullshit.

You’re willing to bet he’s not working on his latest island design tonight. Light coming from underneath the bedroom door tells you he didn’t even try to come to bed by one like he said he would. You stretch before pushing out of the covers, wrapping yourself in your robe to maintain some warmth.

Going out into the living room, you’re unsurprised by what you find. Max is sitting on the couch, hunched over his laptop as he tries to work through something on his laptop. From his muttering you’re guessing it’s not going well.

You pause at the end of the hallway, leaning against the wall and taking him in. If you’re honest, he isn’t looking great. Tension is clinging to him like a second skin, his wings pulled in tight against his back. Occasionally they’ll ruffle in irritation, matching the hand he keeps pushing into his hair. Still, he manages to take your breath away. You’ll take stressed, anxious Max over any other man any day of the week.

Max groans in irritation, his hand reaching back to rub at the top of his wing. “Fucking Evan, I asked him to do one thing and he can’t even do that right,” he grumbles.

You decide now is as good a time as any to make yourself known. “I thought we agreed to never speak that name in this apartment."

“Shit lamb, what are you doing up?”

“I should be asking you the same question.” You glance at his laptop screen to make sure everything is saved before closing it. Ignoring his protests, you straddle his lap, taking his face into your hands. “You need to rest a little, baby. Even you can’t go forever.”

You can see in his face just how overworked he is. His skin is more pallid, the color of his eyes dulled to where they nearly match the shade of his human visage. Even his horns show his stress, the bright red at the ends lacking in their usual pigment. He’s working himself down to the bone.

Max tries to reach around you for his laptop. “I just need to do one more thing-”

“No.” You catch his arm with your hand. You both know he could overpower you without a second thought, but he stills at your touch. “It’ll be there for you tomorrow. It wasn’t supposed to be your responsibility anyway.”

Max sighs, dropping his head to your chest. “Fine.”

He really must be exhausted to have given up that easily. You don’t mind the easy win though, still feeling tired yourself. “Let’s go to bed,” You say, placing a kiss on the crown of his head.

Max lets you off his lap, allowing you to pull him from his place on the couch and towards the bedroom. You watch him in the ensuite from the bed, slowly rolling through the motions before coming to lay down with you. Eternal life doesn’t mean Max slacks on his beauty routine. In fact, he’s the one who found your new moisturizer that has been doing wonders even with the harsh winter air outside.

Watching him, you can’t help but notice the tightness still present in Max’s wings. Typically he’ll let them relax in moments like these, but they’re still pulled in towards his body. It’s an unwelcome sign of his stress that you long to ease.

A dim lamp lights the bedroom as Max leaves the bathroom, flopping facefirst into bed beside you. You immediately move towards him. “Max?” you ask tentatively.

“Yes, lamb?” comes his muffled response.

“Are your- Can I massage your wings?” You have no idea if that’s something he might want. He just looks so tense, his wings packed into his body, and it’s the only thing you can think of to offer him relief.

Max turns his head to face you. “You would do that?” he asks.

“Of course.” His occasional timidness still baffles you. You’ve spent countless hours with him in his natural form at this point, lavishing love and affection on him with every opportunity. None of his less human characteristics have ever caused you to shy away and yet there are moments like these where it seems to catch him by surprise. As though you’ve done something earthshaking just for considering how his extra features might affect him.

You lay back against the plush headboard, pillows adding to the level of cushion, and tilt your chin to gesture him over. Max crawls on top of you, resting his head on your stomach and letting his wings unfurl with a groan.

“Do they hurt?” you ask, gently running your fingertips over the top ridge.

“They’re a bit sore. Working at the office late means I have to keep them hidden longer. Normally it doesn’t get this bad,” Max explains.

“So they’re cramped?” Being accepting of his differences doesn’t mean you always understand them clearly right away. You want to though, not liking the idea that a misunderstanding on your end could inadvertently cause him pain down the line. Things don’t always translate one to one and getting a clearer understanding never hurts.

“Basically,” Max confirms. He props his chin above your bellybutton with a wicked smile. "I know another way to relieve cramps."

You roll your eyes at the implication. "That's not going to work."

Max frowns. "You don't know that."

"I may not have a doctorate in vampire physiology but I'm pretty sure your wings aren't connected to your dick." You press your fingers into his wings a little more firmly, cutting off any further protest from Max as he groans in relief. “Tell me if I hurt you?” you say.

“Mhmm.”

He melts into your touch. You start off slow and careful, paying close attention to the way he responds. It’s not like any other massage you’ve ever given, but the more you press and knead into him the more it makes sense. They’re like additional arms, the muscle thicker towards where they attach to his back compared to the wingtips.

You keep most of the massage focused closer to his back, even kneading into the muscles around where the wings attach. Max seems to appreciate that especially with the low, bassy noise that it pulls from him. You match every firm touch with a gentler one, letting your fingers glide over him, stimulating his nerves in a new way before pressing in again.

The red glow of the alarm clock goes ignored as you continue the slow massage. The sleep you lose tonight will be well worth it and a double shot of espresso tomorrow morning should ease any tiredness. Max remains still and while you know he isn’t sleeping, he seems to have fallen into some sort of restful stupor.

He’s more relaxed than you’ve seen him in days now. Max easily falls into workaholic patterns when something important comes up. His passion for his work is a quality you admire in him, but not when it comes at the detriment of his well being. Sometimes you worry about the burnout he would have run himself into by now if it weren’t for you forcing him to stop and take a breather every once and a while.

You can feel your movements slowing, sleep slowly creeping back in to take you over. Max notices too but doesn’t complain, basking in the attention you’re still trying to give him while half asleep. Your hands are barely moving at this point, lightly brushing the top of his wings.

Max moves, pulling your robe open before settling back down on you. Half awake as you are, it’s difficult to do more than furrow your brow and hum in slight confusion. Max kisses his way down your body, keeping his fangs firmly out of the equation. He adorns your body with his love, kissing every exposed inch of skin before sinking down further.

He’s pressing sweet kisses into the sensitive skin of your inner thighs when your cloudy mind sharpens enough to realize what he’s up to. “‘M fallin’ sleep, baby,” you mumble. It’s on the edge of coherent, Max’s remarkable hearing allowing him to actually hear more than garbled sounds.

“I know little lamb, I just want to say thank you. I’ll be nice,” he promises.

You’re just awake enough to understand his offer. If he remains true to his promise, which with the tone of his voice seems more likely than not, you can easily admit it sounds like a phenomenal way to fall asleep. “Yeah m’kay,” you agree.

Max repositions you slightly, sliding you down the bed to cradle your head in the pillows rather than the headboard. You drowsily pull your arms free of your robe, not wanting to stay wrapped up in it overnight, and he pulls it out from underneath you. Knowing that you’ll get cold with the nighttime chill of the air and his body temperature, Max positions the blanket overtop of you, settling back down between your legs. His lack of required breath comes in handy, not feeling the slightest bit suffocated by the blanket cave.

You begin to doze off again, Max’s plush lips returning to your skin. He focuses his affection around your center, along your thighs and the top of your mound before travelling downward and kissing along the seam of your cunt.

He's gentle, slowly opening you up with the tip of his tongue. One arm is slung over your waist and the weight of his relaxed wings acts as enough pressure to keep your legs from squirming.

The first kitten lick to your clit makes you jolt slightly. It only takes a second for you to relax again with Max lethargically mouthing at your pussy. You're not sure if it's more for your pleasure or his, but you'll take it either way.

The edges of sleep start to press in more, the gentle cloud of dreams mixing with the slow, constant pleasure Max is providing. He's not working you up towards anything. This isn't being done with the intention to rile you up, he simply relishes in the little twitches of near sleep and hushed moans that echo through you.

It might be 5 minutes or 15 by the time you fully nod off, you aren't sure, but you don't really care. The sleep you fall into is heavy, drifting into a state of true bliss.

You'll find a way to provide a similar luxury for Max eventually. For now, you can be happy knowing that you've at least relieved his stress and provided him with his favorite distraction for the rest of the night.

A/N: Hey everyone!! Thank you for being so lovely and patient while I took my writing hiatus. I'm so excited to start posting again 😊 If you don't know I have a new taglist which you can fill out here! Please make sure you are discoverable, otherwise I will end up removing you from the list.

Everything Taglist: @radiowallet @sergeantbannerbarnes @pilothusband @max--phillips @starlightmornings @moonlight-prose @practicalghost @mylovelycomandante @sharkbait77 @honestly-shite @shadesofnerdlygrace @salome-c @artsymaddie @paintballkid711 @niki-xie @hotchlover @doin-stuff @magikfanatic @astoryisaloveaffair @donnaa @linkpk88

Monster Love: @iamskyereads @writeforfandoms @green-socks @girlwholoveswords @beskarboobs @fandom-blackhole @jediknight122 @littlemisspascal @escapades-to-rivendell @ezrasbirdie @tuskens-mando @anaaaispunk @cannedsoupsucks @jaime1110 @lellowberry @mando-abs @castleamc @missminkylove @tincanfics @lola766 @thirddeadlysin @maievdenoir @wordsnwhiskey

#monster!max #max phillips x you #max phillips x reader #max phillips x f!reader #max phillips fanfiction #bloodsucking bastards fanfiction #crasis writes

[ayellowcurtain]

This happen somewhere during season 3 - Their first date

Sander takes a deep breath. In and out, even slower. His heart is beating so fast and so loud he can feel it all over his chest. And he doesn’t know how to fix it, if that’s a thing it’ll happen every time he spends hours with Robbe, sharing a meal while talking about everything, so curious to know every detail of Robbe. He wonders if that’s what falling in love really means. It wasn’t his first first date but it feels like it. Robbe is the one that matters so that must be it, the feeling of anxiety, of not knowing what to do, how to behave to impress him. And Robbe has never been on a real date before so he had to make this perfect. A little bit of weight is off their shoulders because they were tipsy one night and did things in a different order.

But he still feels very anxious and excited. He's trying to behave like it's a real first date, like nothing ever happened between them, like he doesn't already feel madly, deeply in love with this boy.

He looks up carefully through his lashes, and Robbe looks at him the same way a second later. He snorts and Robbe laughs, looking back down at Sander's phone, finding the Bowie playlist he made for tonight. Robbe's new test, the advanced one he wanted a few weeks ago. Sander tried to be helpful that night but things went differently than expected, better than Sander could have ever imagined. The memories still are fresh in his mind, he can still feel Robbe’s soaking wet hair in between his fingers, the way Robbe left out a soft moan between their kiss that night. He can’t keep thinking about that kiss when they’re in public, acting like that kiss never happened.

They're standing so close they sort of make each other lose balance a little bit, swaying back and forth while Sander shares the link, sending it to Robbe. They are so close Sander feels like kissing Robbe, just pressing their lips together but he's not sure if he can so he waits, putting his phone in the back pocket of his jeans.

"I'll do amazing in this test." Robbe thinks out loud, and Sander sighs, gently pressing their foreheads together to push Robbe away just enough so it’s easier to resist the urge to kiss him.

"I'll be the one to judge that." Robbe tilts his head, looking at Sander with that coy smile, and bright, innocent eyes, and Sander sighs again. Robbe is so cute, and irresistible, and they get each other so well already that he knows Sander is sighing because he's thinking how gone he already is. The feeling between them is magical, like Sander thought it would be since that night he first saw Robbe. He feels seen, and heard, not just a fake act like it was with Britt. Robbe actually listens, and talks, and they get each other and Sander is in awe that it’s real.

"So you're an annoying teacher?" Robbe presses his lips together, with his narrow eyes trying to not smile. Sander nods his head, and Robbe moves his in that way he does when he’s too shy to ask something.

He looks around, people passing by them without giving them much thought standing there, outside the restaurant they just ate at. Once the last couple is at a safe distance, almost at the end of the sidewalk a couple of meters down from them, Robbe gatters the courage to ask.

“Do you wanna go somewhere else now?” Robbe lifts his shoulders almost as high as they can go, his hands deep inside his pockets. Sander lifts his eyebrows, taking the question in, surprised to be invited to go somewhere else. He was certain their awkward date was over, and successful, hopefully. They would walk to the nearest station, hug each other for a little too long, and walk their separate ways, text each other all the way to their homes, not feeling like ending the night if they didn’t have to. If the text conversation felt as good as the real date did, Sander would find a way to ask for another date.

“Do you?”

He has to ask, make sure Robbe is not inviting him because he feels any pressure to do so. Robbe nods his head very shyly, and Sander feels his whole body warming up and melting a little at the same time. Robbe is too cute.

“Yeah, let’s go somewhere else.” He decides for them, turning his heels uncertainly to walk to the right. He saw a fancy hotel on his bus ride here. Maybe if he gathers the courage he’ll drop a comment about it when they’re passing by to see if that’s what Robbe wants to do.

They walk in silence for some time, stopping to wait for the green light to turn on for them, when he tries to quietly check on Robbe, their eyes meet, and Sander smiles, nodding his head for no reason.

“Can I tell you something?” Robbe asks once they’re on the other side of the street, still walking with no rush.

“Anything.”

“I don’t feel like going anywhere without you these days.”

Sander looks at him, still walking with no extra weight on his shoulder for being so open like that. “That’s nice...I don’t wanna do that either.”

Robbe smiles, and they continue walking, carefully like even the sound of their steps could make things more real than they already are.

“That day…” Robbe looks at him when Sander doesn’t say a thing because he is not following which day they’re talking about. “The first test.”

“Oh. What about it?”

“Were you and Britt…?”

Sander knows what he means by the way Robbe lifts his eyebrows suggestively but he doesn’t understand how he would go to that conclusion. “She walked behind you wearing only a towel.” Robbe explains, and only then Sander remembers more about that day before their video call. He laughs, feeling stupid for talking about it.

“No. She wanted to, but I was busy rushing to create a playlist to find a way to talk to a guy I’ve met through her. So she got pissed, and went to take a shower.”

Robbe laughs, and Sander watches his tanned skin turn redder on his cheeks. They’re walking so closely their arms keep hitting each other, so they walk slower, and Sander plays with Robbe’s fingers quietly, acting like it’s an accident that their fingers keep brushing against each other.

“Were you surprised that I was calling you?”

Robbe nods his head, kicking some rocks on the sidewalk, finally looking at Sander, squinting his eyes a little bit because of the bright street lights.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about...I don’t know, talking to you in any way. So when you replied to my text right away and I saw you were online still, I did it without thinking much about it.”

“Do you regret it?” Robbe asks, closing one of his eyes so he can see Sander.

“No, never.”

“It was nice. I was listening to your playlist when you called.”

“Did you really like it or were you just being nice?” Sander smiles, and Robbe laughs, wetting his lips with the tip of his tongue.

“Of course I did! I wouldn’t lie to you about that. I know how Bowie is important to you, the love of your life.”

Sander snorts at that, looking at Robbe, holding his gaze.

“Do you really need to hear me say it?”

They both know what’s on the underlines of that question.

“We’ll go back to this in a few weeks.”

“Okay, Bowie.”

Robbe smiles, and he finally holds Sander’s hand, leaning against his arm a little bit, keeping Sander’s hand in between both of his.

#wtfock #robbe ijzermans #sander driesen #sobbe #robbe x sander

[oneshotsandheadcanons]

Lies - Marko Stunt

Request:  “You can’t play with people’s feelings, tell them you love them if you don’t mean it.” with Marko Stunt

Requested by Anon

Summary: The truth comes out.

Me and Marko had been dating for coming up to five years now, and we’d had a small discussion that had opened up the possibility of us living together.

I was excited, I love him and he loves me. I truly think I’ve found the one.

We had met properly when we did a storyline together, I was his ‘partner’ so I would help him win his matches.

Since we were together a lot for the show, it meant we spent a lot of time together. The storyline lasted for the better part of the year, and my the end of it, we had officially become a couple.

Tonight, we finally got to have a mixed gender tag match against Cody and Brandi. We weren’t happy with the way they ran AEW, and if they lost, we got creative control to ‘see how we did’.

After getting ready, I went to find Marko to go over the strategy for tonight, because tonight, a strategy was definitely needed.

I neared catering, when Britt stopped me. She looked sad. 

“You, uh, may wanna stay here for a few minutes.”

I was confused, but I did what she said.

“I can’t believe it’s gone on this long man.” I heard laughter, snickers.

“Yeah, five years is a long time for a bet.” A bet, what bet?

“Hey, you said every year the money doubled. I’m gonna rake it in.” I heard Marko’s voice. Wait, five years on a bet?

“You’ve gotta tell her soon, man.” I knew that voice. Orange Cassidy. “Stringing Y/N for five years ain’t right, you never loved her.”

This was all a bet to him? I stumbled, but Britt caught me. A bet, that’s all I was to him.

“Hey, once it gets to five years officially, I’ll end it.” Marko told them.  “Easiest money I ever made.”

“Dude, I can’t believe you made this bet in the first place.” Orange Cassidy piped up, clear disgust in his voice.

He got walked out, he saw me and opened his mouth. I quickly stopped him, much to his and Britt’s confusion.

He may win that money, but this bet is about to cost him a whole lot more. I went to find Cody, time to expose Marko.

“Hey Cody, change of plans. You guys are winning tonight.” Since we had a lot of creative control here, we were allowed to change storylines within reason. “Turns out Marko and I’s relationship was all a bet to him.”

“Wanna cost him the match?” Cody asked, making me nod. “Hey, as long as it doesn’t get too heated out there and the fans think it’s kayfabe, go for it.”

I avoided Marko for the rest of the night, with the help of Britt, Cody, Brandi and Orange Cassidy. Since we entered together, I had to see him just before we went out.

“Hey, where’ve you been all night?” He asked, going for a kiss.

I avoided it, turning my head to speak to Britt so he got my cheek. Before he could question it, it was time to head out.

I did the same entrance we always do, in love, ready to win. For now, the crowd had to think all was fine. I knew the winning move he was gonna use, so I could stop it.

The match was going great, and just as he went to do his move, I rushed in and took him down, invisible to the ref, as per Cody’s orders.

I gestured for Cody to pin him, Cody acted amazingly and went for the pin in disbelief.

They both ran off, leaving me and Marko in the ring. 

“What in the hell was that?!” Marko demanded, the crowd couldn’t hear us, but I wasn’t letting him go that easily.

I grabbed a mic. “That? Oh, that was sweet sweet karma.” I grinned. “Guess that’s what happens when you LIE.”

Confused, Marko got a mic so this wasn’t one-sided.

“What lie are you on about?”

“Easiest money you’ll ever make?” I said, making him pale. “The five year bet?”

He didn’t answer, so I continued.

“Nothing to say, good I’ll keep talking. I know you guys are probably confused.” I said, facing a camera and the crowd. “Here’s the downlow. I was walking backstage today to find Marko when I was told to wait, so I did. Turns out my whole relationship to Marko, the past five years, was a bet to him.”

“Y/N, listen.”

“No, you listen.” I rounded on him. “You can’t just play with people’s feelings, tell them you love them and not mean it! I loved you Marko, I thought you were the one, now I know you’re anything but.”

“But...”

“But nothing, And do you know what’s worse. The only guys here who I know stuck up for me are Cody Rhodes and Orange Cassidy. I’m sickened by the men’s division. We’re done.”

#writing #writing prompt #writing drabble #Wrestling #wrestling prompt #wrestling drabble #all elite wrestling #all elite wrestling drabble #all elite wrestling prompt #aew prompt #AEW #aew drabble #marko stunt #marko stunt prompt #marko stunt drabble

[thelovelyblark-barg]

Did Murch's palette in one go too

#britt plays side order #meme stream #splatoon 3 #side order

[filmista]

The Wicker Man (1973)

“You'll simply never understand the true nature of sacrifice.”

23 years before Nicolas Cage gave one of the most legendary over the top renditions from his – at least on that level – impressive career in the remake (all together: “HOW DID IT GET BURNED?!!”), the original Wicker Man was let loose on an unsuspecting audience. 

Unsuspecting, because the film is so bizarre – part horror film, part satire on the sexual revolution, part musical – that no one could predict in advance what they were going to be wathcing. But also painfully unsuspecting because the film was first shortened by 12 minutes by its own producer, Michael Deeley, and then buried in a double bill with Don't Look Now.

Deeley had taken over the British Lion Film Corporation studio while The Wicker Man was already in production. As is often the case with board-level shifts, he wanted to prove that the projects his predecessor had put on the rails were flawed, and he did everything he could to bring The Wicker Man down. It was actor Christopher Lee and B-movie producer Roger Corman who ultimately saved the film. 

Lee considered The Wicker Man to be one of his best films and lobbied for the film to reach the public in its original version. Roger Corman had somehow come into possession of a full version of the original film, making it possible to restore The Wicker Man. 

Most DVD editions of the film now offer a choice between the director's cut and the theatrical cut by default – although a third cut is also available, longer than the theatrical version and shorter than the director's cut, but featuring footage of the other two editions. It's complicated.

The genesis of this cult film is actually just as fascinating as the film itself – and those who feel like it can discover many more stories: Britt Ekland who was angry because she thought her body double’s butt was too big and so on. But underneath all that, there's still an intelligent, surprisingly witty suspense film that can't be pinned down to a single genre or style. Okay, it sporadically leans over towards the absurd and it's sometimes hard to judge when the movie is intentionally funny and when by accident. But that can sometimes happen when you dare to take risks with your film. The Wicker Man is full of bold choices.

The plot revolves around the Puritan, extremely religious and even virginal (he waits until he is married) Police Inspector Howie (Edward Woodward), who is sent to the secluded island of Summerisle to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. The islanders are friendly on the surface, but at the same time it’s clear that they don’t appreciate the presence of outsiders. 

As Howie investigates the girl's fate, he also becomes acquainted with their free-spirited way of life, which is rife with folklore: sex is not only discussed openly, but often practiced en pleine publique and pagan rituals are the order of the day. The conservative inspector soon has a hard time: he feels threatened from all sides, but in the meantime cannot deny that his collar is starting to tighten at the advances of the lascivious daughter of the innkeeper (Britt Ekland).

Released in 1973, The Wicker Man is definitely a product of its time: the swinging sixties were over, the country was in a deep economic depression, and people were making a predictable turn toward conservatism – economically, but also morally and sexually. The prevailing ethics mainly concentrated on working, doing your bit and not complaining and above all not deviating from the status quo. 

That is the conflict that The Wicker Man is fundamentally about: the establishment clashing with a sexually liberal subculture and not being able to deal with it. In practice, this takes the form of a clash between two religions: Howie's strict Church of England Christianity and the village's pagan faith. The more Howie feels cornered by the villagers, the more he returns to the rituals of his own faith: praying, using crucifixes, making crosses. But he finds less and less solace in it. 

Director Robin Hardy and screenwriter Anthony Schaffer boldly throw different genres into a blender: the main plot line is a traditional whodunit. The way in which the threat is subtly presented is reminiscent of an – albeit very restrained – horror film. 

But at the same time there is also a lot of humor in it, and a number of songs. As a fully-fledged pagan community, music plays an important role in Summerisle's rituals, meaning that Christopher Lee, who plays Lord Summerisle, the island's governor, suddenly gets to sing a song towards the end as the film's climax takes place.

That combination of elements is absolutely ballsy, even if it doesn't always turn out well. The sudden changes in tone make it difficult to get completely carried away by the story and no, you aren’t a childish teenager at all if you involuntarily chuckle at Britt Ekland's naked dance of seduction.

Yet The Wicker Man has a strange atmosphere that gradually gets under your skin. The acting is perfectly modulated – especially Edward Woodward's indignant, deeply repress Catholic and Christoper Lee as the ominously slick Lord Summerisle. 

Moreover, the last twenty minutes are a textbook example of carefully constructed tension that leads to a truly grotesque finale – a finale that is strictly the same as that of the Nicolas Cage remake, but at the same time completely different. In the 2006 edition, that ending was pure, laughable camp. Here the same plot twist is genuinely gruesome.

The Wicker Man is inspired and impassioned cinema – okay, it may lump things together that don't really belong together, but it's a beautiful clash of styles and genres that is endlessly fascinating in its imperfection.

@purecinema @mad-prophet-of-the-airwaves​

#what a trip of a film #the wicker man #the wicker man 1973 #robin hardy #britt ekland #christopher lee #edward woodward #70’s #70’s cinema #70’s horror #horror #musical #drama #movies #films #movie review #film review #movie analysis #cinema #filmista

[debbiechanclub]

Best Two Out of Three, Part 26

This is it: the last chapter of BTOOT 😭 

I wrote a long, sappy post about what this means to me *months* ago when I thought we would finish much sooner than we did (whoops), so I won’t get into all that again. However, I will say that this is a huge accomplishment for me because I have never finished a multi-part fic until now. But I didn’t do it on my own. I absolutely could not have completed this in the time that I did without @hotyeehawman, and BTOOT absolutely would not be the fic that it is without her. So thank you so much, Lauren. We wrote a whole ass 123,419-word, 228-page mf’in fanfiction novel in less than a year 😳

And, at the risk of sounding cheesy AF, we couldn’t have done it without you all, either. The response to this little wrasslin’ fic consistently blows us away. SO THANK YOU. It means more than words can say. So once you finish reading this last chapter, please come scream at me in your tags, in the comments, in my asks, in my DMs. Because I cannot wait to hear your thoughts.

Alright, enough of that 🤧 I’ll let you get to reading 😉

Best Two Out of Three

Part: 26/26

Pairing: Kenny Omega x OFC, Matt Jackson x OFC x Cash Wheeler, Adam Page x himself

Word count: 7.8k

Warnings: Language; MAJOR angst

Catch up on previous parts here.

Tag squad: @freshlysqueezedmox @comeasyoudar @heelchampbucks @bec0m @betsy-bradock @linziland13 @gabbynorth98 @exe-darbyallin-exe @librathepheonix13 @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @kingswitchblade

Callie pulled her phone out of her purse to check the time again. 8:57 a.m. She put it back and glanced anxiously around the hotel lobby. She and Cash had agreed to meet there at nine to head to Orlando, and with each passing minute she worried that it would be Matt who stepped out of the elevator instead.

Their conversation had played on a nonstop loop in her head all night. This all happened way too fast. Yeah, I guess it did. Over and over again. Except, in her head, it didn’t end the way it had last night. Instead of Matt walking off she called out to him to wait. She told him that the reason she’d been avoiding him was because she felt guilty about how much she enjoyed being with him. Her brain told her it was wrong, but her heart told her otherwise, and because she didn’t know how to reconcile the two it was easier to just avoid the issue all together.

And that’s exactly what she was doing now: avoiding the issue by going to Orlando with Cash. And she wasn’t just going for the day—she was staying the night at his place.

It had been Cash’s suggestion that she spend the night. It’ll save me a round trip, he’d said via text. It made sense; they both had to be back in Jacksonville for Dynamite tomorrow, so there was no point in making Cash drive four extra hours tonight. So, Callie had agreed.

But, deep down, she knew she’d mostly agreed because it helped her avoid Matt that much more.

She pulled out her phone again, but rather than check the time she opened the camera and flipped it to face toward her. Her double black eyes had worsened from last night, turning an ugly bluish color, but thankfully some full-coverage concealer had made them barely noticeable. Even so, she pushed her oversized sunglasses onto her face. The last thing she needed was people thinking she was a battered woman.

The elevator dinged, and Callie’s chest constricted as the doors slid open. Mercifully, it was Cash.

“You ready?” he asked as he moved toward her. “Sorry I’m a little late.”

She nodded and jumped up from her seat. “Mhm,” she said as she grabbed her suitcase. She couldn’t leave the hotel fast enough.

* * * * * * * * * *

The drive to Orlando was mostly quiet. Cash had asked her if there was anything in particular she wanted to do or see, but she’d just told him she was up for whatever. She knew absolutely nothing about Orlando outside of the fact that Disney World and Universal Studios were there and the little bit she’d seen when she’d stayed with Britt. But Cash didn’t seem bothered by her apparent lack of enthusiasm; he’d just grinned and said, “I got you.” It made Callie’s stomach flutter.

They dropped off their bags at his place and she met his English bulldog, Pawla, before they set off for their first stop of the day. Cash seemed excited as he steered his truck into a parking lot in front of a large complex. Callie, however, was more than just a little confused when she saw what it was.

“Go-karts?”

She hadn’t meant to sound so disappointed, but Cash just let out a laugh. “What? You don’t like go-karts?”

She didn’t answer, looking skeptically out the window at the building. For whatever reason, it made her think of Alex. Go-karts seemed more her speed. She frowned. I wonder if he took her here, too.

“Come on, it’ll be fun,” Cash said. “I think you could use the adrenaline boost.”

“I can think of better ways to get an adrenaline boost.”

As soon as she said it, Callie wished she could take it back. It had just slipped out, implication and all. She looked hesitantly at Cash. He was smirking.

“I’m sure you can,” he returned. Callie felt her cheeks burn hot behind her sunglasses.

“Come on,” he repeated as he unbuckled his seat belt. “I’ll let you pick where we go to lunch afterward.”

He got out of the truck, and Callie drew in a deep, calming breath through her nose as she did the same.

Maybe avoiding Matt wasn’t the only reason she’d decided to stay overnight in Orlando.

* * * * * * * * * *

Alex still hadn’t gotten over what had happened at the Labor Day party. In a word, she felt awful. She wanted to text Callie and apologize again, but between nearly breaking her nose and all but telling her to stay away from Matt, she doubted she wanted to hear from her. So, in hopes of boosting her mood, she’d decided to sit out by Kenny’s pool and soak up the last vestiges of summer while she still could.

But, so far, it hadn’t worked.

Her phone chirped next to her on the lounger, and she picked it up and unlocked the screen. She had a text from Trent.

Hey loser. You have plans today?

She rolled her eyes, but a smile tugged at her lips as she typed back. Not really. Why?

She hit “send,” but instead of setting the phone back down she opened up Instagram. She clicked on Jay White’s story and let it autoplay through a couple more people before it unexpectedly came to Cash’s story. It was a Boomerang video of an indoor go-kart track. Alex recognized it; he’d taken her there one of the first weekends she’d stayed with him in Orlando.

A banner appeared at the top of her screen with Trent’s reply. Because Sam is in town if you want to come hang out.

That caught her off-guard. Sam, the boys’ friend who she’d first met five years ago. Alex had had no idea she was going to be in Jacksonville. Had one of them told her and it’d slipped her mind? But she didn’t think too much of it as she opened the text and sent her response.

Idk. After yesterday I kind of just feel like being a hermit today.

She went back to Instagram and refreshed the page—and her eyes widened at the first picture that popped up.

Callie, a bright smile on her face as she posed in a helmet at the very same indoor go-kart track from Cash’s story.

“Are you shitting me?”

“There you are.”

Alex nearly dropped her phone on her face at the sound of Kenny’s voice. He gave her an amused look. “You alright?”

“Yeah…” she started. But she thought better of it and huffed, “No.”

Kenny cocked his head in concern as he sat down on the edge of the lounger next to her. “What’s wrong?”

Alex let out a sound that was half sigh, half groan. The last thing she wanted to do was to complain to Kenny about Callie and Cash, of all people. But if she couldn’t talk to him about it, who could she? “I’m just frustrated with the whole Callie situation,” she breathed.

She glanced at him from underneath the bill of her baseball cap. He frowned sympathetically at her. “I know, baby. But you didn’t hit her on purpose. If she doesn’t believe that it’s her problem.”

“It’s not just that,” she interjected. “According to Instagram she’s in Orlando with Cash right now.”

His brow furrowed in confusion when she said that. Alex knew exactly what he was thinking. “I don’t give two shits about Cash,” she assured him. “He can do whatever and whoever he wants. Honestly, I expect bullshit like this from him. But I don’t get where Callie’s head is at. Where the hell does she get off blaming me for ruining her relationship with Adam while she’s off driving fucking go-karts with the guy who stabbed him in the back? It hasn’t even been two weeks since she left him!”

“Because it’s what Callie does,” Kenny blithely returned. “She thinks she’s blameless in everything and doesn’t take accountability for anything. This isn’t the first time she’s shown you that’s exactly the kind of person she is.”

“But we were friends, Kenny! Somehow, we got over all the bullshit and became friends, and then fucking Adam…”

She trailed off, her voice growing thick with emotion, and looked to the ceiling. She didn’t want to get upset. But it was hard not to. She felt betrayed. That was the only word for it.

“Hey.” Kenny put a hand on her bare leg, drawing her eyes back to his. “Do you want my honest advice?”

She nodded.

“Stop wasting your energy on Callie and Adam. They’re not worth it, Alex. You’ve given them so much of your time and effort and what have you gotten in return?”

A tear rolled out of the corner of her eye and she quickly wiped it away. She didn’t need to answer him. They both knew the answer. “I know,” she softly agreed. “You’re probably right.”

A corner of his mouth quirked up. “Of course I am.” He leaned over and kissed the side of her head. “I was thinking about ordering sushi for dinner tonight. That always makes you feel better.”

She perked up a bit at that. “Can we get sake, too?”

He nodded. “Yes, I’ll get you sake, too.”

She smiled. “Okay.”

He gave her leg an affectionate squeeze and stood. “Well, I’m gonna go get a workout in. Wanna join me?”

Alex couldn’t help herself. “Is that a euphemism?”

He grinned. “No, despite how much I want to take that bikini off you right now.”

She just playfully rolled her eyes in response.

“Come on,” he said, holding out his hand. “Endorphins will make you feel better, too.”

Alex emitted a dramatic groan as she put her hand in his and let him pull her to her feet. “Not if you try to kill me like you did last time,” she argued.

“But I always take good care of you afterward,” he said. “That was a euphemism, by the way.”

She returned his smirk. “Yeah, I got it.”

* * * * * * * * * * 

To Cash’s credit, the go-karts had been fun—but Callie was more than happy to take the lead on the rest of the day. She’d picked out a restaurant on International Drive for lunch (Cash had groaned and said that was where all the tourists went, to which she’d cheekily replied that she was a tourist), and afterward he’d convinced her to ride the Ferris wheel at ICON Park, where he’d pointed out some of the different areas of the city to her (Callie, who was afraid of heights, had kept a death grip on his arm the entire time). Then, at Callie’s request, they’d driven around some of the neighborhoods so that she could get a better feel for them (“Obviously, I recommend my neighborhood,” Cash had said). Overall, it had turned out to be a good day after all, and Orlando was looking more and more like the place Callie wanted to move.

But, the more time she spent with him, the more she started to wonder how much of that feeling was due to Cash.

“What’re you craving?” he asked as they sat on the couch in his living room.

“You pick,” she returned. Pawla lounged between them, and she reached down to scratch her behind the ears. “I’m honestly still stuffed from lunch.”

“Chinese it is,” he decided, and he pulled out his phone to order. Callie did the same, but to open up Instagram—and she found that Alex was the first person in her stories queue. She stared at the little circle of her profile picture, hesitant. But she was too nosy not to look, so she angled her phone screen away from Cash and clicked.

There were only two pictures in her story. The first showed her in sweat-drenched workout gear lying face-down on a gym room floor with the caption, “@/kennyomegamanx tried to kill me again.” The second was of her smiling in satisfaction in front of a takeout container of sushi. “He made up for it,” the caption read.

“I guess Alex and Kenny aren’t hiding their relationship anymore.”

She froze and glanced at Cash out of the corner of her eye. That was the second time that day she’s put her foot in her mouth. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “They’re probably the last two people you want to hear about.”

But Cash shook his head. “I don’t care. They can have each other.”

Callie frowned. She wasn’t sure how to respond to that, but he spoke up again before she could.

“Do you prefer beef and broccoli or chicken?”

She thought for a second. “Beef.”

A few more clicks and he finished putting in the order. “It says it’ll be here in thirty-five minutes,” he said as he stood from the couch. “You want a drink? I have a bottle of The Rock’s tequila, it’s really good.”

Callie’s nose scrunched up. “Do you have vodka?”

“Yeah. You want it on the rocks or mixed?”

“Mixed please.”

He nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. Callie occupied herself with petting Pawla until he returned with their drinks a few minutes later. “Here you go; vanilla vodka and Coke Zero.”

“Oo, that sounds good,” she said as he handed her the cocktail. She took a sip. He’d made it just right, not too much vodka, not too little.

“So, what’d you think of Orlando?” he asked as he sat back down. “Did I convince you to become my neighbor?”

His choice of words made her stomach flutter again. “I think so. There’s more to do here than in Jacksonville, and a two-hour drive to work is a lot better than a cross-country flight.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I like it. Dax is planning on moving back to Asheville, but I think I’m gonna stay here. It’s grown on me. Plus, I like Disney and Universal Studios too much.”

“Yeah, I definitely want to check those out,” she returned.

“We should plan a weekend,” he smirked. Callie took a sip of her drink to hide her blush.

They fell into silence, and they both turned their attention to the random show Cash had put on the television. But there was something hanging in the air; Callie could feel it. She was about to speak up when Cash beat her to it.

“So, we’ve avoided the topic all day, but I kind of feel like I have to ask now.”

There was no need for him to clarify what he meant. “Matt?” she guessed.

He nodded. She shifted in her seat. “What about him?”

“Well… are you two not together?”

He sounded almost hopeful. She hesitated to respond.

“That was the rumor backstage,” he added.

She rolled her eyes. “Of course it was. But I guess, yeah, at one point it was moving in that direction. But… I actually told him last night that I think we rushed into things.”

“Oh,” Cash said. It was obvious that he expected her to continue, but her confusion over Matt was the last thing Callie wanted to get into right now. So, she deflected.

“There’s something I need to ask you, too.”

Cash arched his eyebrows as he raised his glass to his lips. “That doesn’t sound good,” he joked.

But Callie wasn’t joking. “Why’d you do what you did to Adam?”

He paused to cock his head at her. “What do you mean?”

She shot him a flat look as he took a sip of his drink. “I mean when you stabbed him in the back, Cash.”

Cash made a noise as he swallowed down the tequila. “Damn, not pulling any punches, huh?”

“You didn’t with Adam.”

He looked back at her in surprise. She didn’t waiver. He breathed out again.

“Alright, look,” he started. “I don’t have anything against Adam. I’ve known him a long time. But he and Kenny had what we wanted, and we did what we had to do to get it.”

She rolled her eyes again. That was such a canned response.

“What?”

“You did not have to do what you did,” she returned. “You didn’t have to manipulate him the way you did.”

His eyebrows arched. “Manipulate him? Callie, all we did was point out that Kenny and the Bucks don’t give two shits about him. He did the rest himself.”

“What?”

“I swear.”

“So you didn’t tell him to sabotage Matt and Nick in the gauntlet match?”

“No! He did that because he was upset about you and Matt!”

Callie’s brow puckered in confusion. “What?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “He told us at the hotel bar that night that he found out right before the gauntlet match that you were staying with Matt in California, so he retaliated by sabotaging their title shot. Dax and I didn’t have anything to do with that, I promise you.”

The room grew silent as his words sunk in, stunning her. That was exactly what Alex had surmised when Matt had confronted her immediately after the gauntlet match. But Callie hadn’t wanted to believe it, and after FTR had turned on Adam she’d assumed that they’d been the ones to put the idea in his head.

But if Cash was telling her that they hadn’t, then it meant she really was to blame.

“Hey,” Cash softly beckoned. She looked back up at him. His eyes were earnest. “It’s not your fault. I didn’t mean to make it sound like it was. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Callie stared down into her drink, tapping her fingernails on the glass. She appreciated the sentiment, but she didn’t agree. Not really. “Well, technically I walked out him, so…”

She trailed off and took a long drink. She felt like such a bitch. I shouldn’t be here.

“And?” Cash returned, drawing her out of her thoughts. “I’m sure you had good reason to.”

Callie didn’t answer right away, nearly draining her drink. Once she’d had enough, she looked down at Pawla and scratched her head again. “Let’s not talk about it anymore,” she said.

“Done,” he said, and she sent him a tight, grateful smile. “So what do you wanna do? Watch a movie?”

She nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good. I just have one request.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Anything but Mean Girls.”

* * * * * * * * * *

When Matt arrived at Daily’s Place on Wednesday, he had half a mind to go to Tony and tell him to cancel the mixed tag match. He had no desire to wrestle a match with Callie anymore. To be frank, he didn’t want much of anything to do with her at the moment.

He knew she’d been in Orlando with Cash yesterday. He’d seen her Instagram photo at the go-kart track and hadn’t thought much of it. But not long after, Kenny had texted him.

Hey, did you know Callie is in Orlando with Cash right now?

It had caught him completely off-guard. No? he’d responded. Who told you that?  

He’d been more on-edge than he cared to admit while he’d awaited Kenny’s reply. Alex. I guess they posted photos from the same place on Instagram or something.

A quick search for Cash’s Instagram profile—Matt didn’t follow that asshole—had confirmed the claim to be true. It wasn’t a photo, but a Boomerang video on his story that gave it away. It was unmistakably the same indoor go-kart track from Callie’s picture.

I just thought you should know, Kenny had followed up. Matt hadn’t responded. He’d tried to put it out of his mind ever since, but he couldn’t. He kept going back to what Callie had said to him the last time he’d seen her.

This all happened way too fast.

He didn’t disagree; they had moved fast. But what confused him was that Callie had been the one to set the pace, not him. He’d thought she’d wanted everything that had happened between them.

But the way she was acting now made him feel like nothing more than a regret.

“Matt.”

“Hm.” He looked up from his phone at Brandon. He, Nick, and Kenny all stared expectantly at him from across the EVP room.

“Do you want me to film the mixed tag match for BTE?” Brandon asked. His tone that conveyed he was repeating himself. Matt obviously hadn’t heard him the first time.

“Oh, no. Sorry,” he replied, and he looked back down at his phone. He saw the three of them exchange a wary glance out of his peripheral vision. Thankfully, they just left it alone.

“Alright, I’m starving,” Nick announced as he stood from his seat. “You guys coming?”

“Yeah,” Brandon agreed.

“No,” Kenny wearily returned. “I got that interview with JR.”

There was a pause. And then, “Matt?”

He looked up again, this time at his brother. He shook his head. “No. I’m not hungry.”

Nick let out a breath. “Alright,” he said, and he and Brandon went out the door, leaving Matt and Kenny alone. The silence in the room was deafening. But it didn’t last long.

“Have you talked to Callie at all?” Kenny asked. “About the match,” he quickly clarified.

Matt shook his head again. “No. I haven’t talked to her period. Not since Monday.”

There was another beat of uncomfortable silence. Again, Kenny was the one to break it. “Look, about yesterday. I wasn’t trying to—”

“Don’t,” Matt abruptly cut him off. He knew exactly what he was going to say, and he didn’t want to hear it. “I’m glad you told me. Let’s just leave it at that.”

He raised his palms in surrender. “Fine,” he said, and Matt hoped that really was the end of it.

But then Kenny added, “But I think you owe Alex an apology.”

“What?” Matt cut his eyes at him in disbelief. “For what?”

“Oh, come on, you know exactly for what. For the whole reason the mixed tag match is happening in the first place.”

That confused him even more. “The mixed tag match is happening because Trent can’t mind his fucking business.”

Kenny rolled his eyes. “Oh, okay,” he sarcastically returned.

“What?”

“You called Alex a slut, Matt!” Kenny burst. “That’s what led to the mixed tag match! You accused her of putting Hangman up to sabotaging your title shot and you called her a slut for being involved with both me and Cash. But where was Callie yesterday? In Orlando with Cash, even though she’s apparently with you. So yeah, I think you owe Alex an apology.”

Matt sat back, physically stung by Kenny’s words. They hurt because there was more than just a grain of truth in them. But, at the moment, he was too stubborn to hear it. “Oh, so Callie’s the slut now? Is that what you’re saying?”

Kenny expelled an exasperated breath. “No, that’s not what I’m saying.”

“It sure fucking sounds like it is.”

“I’m saying she’s making you look like a fucking idiot.”

They were thrown into silence again, their arguing replaced with quiet, palpable hostility as they sat opposed on either end of the room. Matt’s eyes turned dark. He didn’t need this. Not now. Not from his best friend.

“Fuck you, Kenny,” he spat. He stood and stalked toward the door, and as he gripped the handle he turned back, a cutting remark on the tip of his tongue. But in a moment of clarity, he decided it was better left unsaid. The shoe was on the other foot now. So he just went out the door, suddenly glad that he did have a match. He needed to hit something.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Are you guys going out for Jim’s match?”

Alex glanced across the locker room at Trent, looking for him to answer Chuck’s question. He met her gaze before responding.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “We’ll probably stay back here and focus on our match.”

Chuck nodded. “Yeah. I wish it wasn’t mixed tag rules. I’d like to see Alex hand Matt his ass.”

“Oh, she doesn’t even need to touch him to do that,” Trent returned. “Didn’t he train Callie?”

Alex knew he was asking her, but she didn’t look up as she rummaged through her suitcase. “I think so.”

Trent smirked. “So then kicking Callie’s ass will be kicking Matt’s by proxy,” he said. Chuck blinked at him.

“Wow, you actually used that correctly.”

He sucked his teeth. “Fuck off. I know big words.”

“‘Proxy’ is a five-letter word.”

“You know what I meant.”

“Spell it.”

“Are you serious?”

Alex smirked to herself and let them continue to argue while she grabbed the top to her gear and a pair of joggers and went into the bathroom to change. Truth be told, she didn’t want to talk or even think about the match against Callie and Matt. It was a complete one-eighty from a week ago—she’d been aching to kick Matt’s ass then. But now, she just wished the entire situation would go away.

She finished changing and returned to the main area of the locker room. Chuck was still challenging Trent to spell different words. “I’m going to hair and makeup,” she announced over them.

“What gear are you wearing?” Trent asked.

She turned to face him as she pulled on her zip-up hoodie. Her top was a sparkly dark silver-purple with black trim. “This gear. Why?”

“Because we should try to match. I knew I should have brought the gear from Fyter Fest…” he trailed off as he dug through his things and pulled out his dark gray tights with the blue and pink designs. “Do these work?”

Alex gave him a soft smile. “Yeah, those work. I’ll ask Stella to do a blue and pink eye look,” she said, and she went out the door.

Unfortunately, she didn’t get ten steps before she ran into Adam.

He slowed to a stop when he saw her. “Hey.”

“Hey,” she returned, and her brow puckered with concern as she looked him over. He had his ubiquitous glass of whiskey in hand, but he at least looked better than he had when she’d seen him at the hotel on Sunday. “Going somewhere?”

He looked confused at that. “No… why?”

She awkwardly fidgeted with the sleeve of her hoodie. “Well, you just look dressed for TV and I didn’t see you on the card tonight. I wasn’t even sure you were here.”

Adam hadn’t said a single word to her since she’d texted him to ask if he was going to the Labor Day party. But she hadn’t said a single word to him since then, either. Because the more she’d thought about it, the more she’d realized how right Kenny was. It was exhausting putting so much effort into a friendship where she wasn’t getting the same effort in return.

“Oh,” Adam regretfully said as he looked down at his pale blue button-up. “Yeah, I just had an interview with Schiavone.”

“Oh,” Alex repeated. “About—”

“Where I go from here,” he interjected. “I said I was still open to tagging with Kenny if he was.”

He laughed wryly to himself and took a sip of his drink. Alex frowned and looked away. Kenny was not open to tagging with him again; she knew that for a fact. But judging by the look on Adam’s face, deep down he knew that, too.

“Where are you headed?”

She looked back up at him. “Oh, hair and makeup. For the match tonight.”

Realization dawned in his eyes. And then, sadness and hurt. “Oh, right. You have the mixed tag against Matt and Callie.”

“Yeah.” Alex fidgeted and glanced away again. She couldn’t bear the look on his face. But then she wondered: did he know that Callie had been in Orlando with Cash yesterday? Should she tell him?

No, she quickly decided. It’s not your place or responsibility.

“Well, I should get over there,” she said, gesturing in the direction of hair and makeup.

“Oh, yeah,” he nodded as she started walking. “Good luck tonight.”

“Thanks,” she said, and she turned and hurried off as quickly as she could.

* * * * * * * * * *

In the years since she’d started wrestling, Callie had never felt as much of an outcast as she did now. As soon as she’d arrived at the arena with Cash, she’d realized she had nowhere to go. The EVP room was out of the question, and she didn’t want to go back to sharing a dressing room with Britt—she was the one who’d blabbed her business all over Daily’s Place to begin with. Cash had offered for her to share with him and Dax, but she’d turned him down; she could only imagine the rumors that would start if people noticed her sharing a locker room with FTR. No, she needed to keep a low-profile, and so she’d found an empty room away from everyone else. Now, she sat in one of the lounges watching the show as she awaited her match, alone.

Orange Cassidy had just beaten Angelico with the Orange Punch. Callie had expected Best Friends and Alex to be at ringside for the match, but they weren’t. She looked away from the TV and down at her phone as Bryce Remsburg raised Orange’s arm in victory, but a commotion a moment later redrew her attention. Santana and Ortiz had attacked Orange from behind. The assault didn’t last long, however, as Chuck and Trent ran out and chased them off like a pair of guard dogs. Callie couldn’t help but roll her eyes as Trent angrily paced the ring, shirtless in his skinny jeans. She sincerely hoped Matt would get a quick pin on him in their match.

Chuck grabbed a mike to speak, but Callie’s phone buzzed in her hands and she looked down at the screen. It was a text from Cash.

Are you free? I need a favor.

Her pulse picked up a bit as she unlocked her phone to respond. Yeah… what’s up? she typed back and hit “send.” She watched as the typing bubble appeared and, soon after, his answer.

Don’t laugh. I can’t decide on a shirt.

Despite his request, Callie couldn’t help but let out a little laugh. But she couldn’t blame him too much; FTR was having an in-ring celebration in honor of their championship victory at All Out that night. He probably wanted to look his best.

Usual room? she asked as she stood to leave.

Usual room, he replied, and she headed off in the direction of FTR’s dressing room.

The door was slightly open when she arrived, and she knocked to announce herself before she let herself in. Cash stood alone in the middle of the room in a pair of dark navy slacks and socks, shirtless. Callie’s mouth went suddenly dry as he looked over at her.

“Okay, I can’t decide between these two.” He motioned to a pair of dress shirts hung up in the cubby behind him—one white with tiny blue dots, the other with a subtle blue and white checkered pattern. She walked over and pulled them both out of the cubby so that she could hold them up next to him. He smirked at her as she studied them. She did her best to ignore it.

“This one,” she decided, handing him the checkered shirt. But she frowned as she returned the white shirt to its place. “Are those the only dress shoes you have?” she asked, nodding at the pair of black square-toed loafers on the floor.

“Yeah…” Cash slowly returned. “Why? Is something wrong with them?”

It took every fiber of Callie’s being not to blurt out with, “Yes, they’re hideous.” Instead, she said, “Just brown would look better with navy, is all.”    

“Oh,” he realized. “I guess I should have asked your advice before we left this morning.”

She smirked. “Is that all you needed?”

“Yeah, thanks,” he answered as he pulled on the shirt. Callie watched as he fastened the buttons, and she realized she was staring. She fidgeted and looked awkwardly away, but Cash didn’t seem to notice. “Are you ready for your match?”

She drew in a deep breath. “Physically, yes. Mentally… not at all.”

He snorted. “Make Matt do all the work. He’s the one who dragged you into this.”

Callie anxiously bit her lip. He wasn’t wrong; of the four of them in the mixed tag, she was the only one who hadn’t been present when the match was made. But even so, she couldn’t do that to Matt. “No, I don’t want to do that. And besides, Matt didn’t ask for the match, either—Trent did. All because he didn’t like Matt mouthing off about Alex.”

Cash rolled his eyes as he tucked his shirt into his pants. “That doesn’t surprise me. I think he has a thing for her.”

She scoffed. “You think he does? Please, it’s obvious he does,” she said. And then she muttered, “It seems like everyone has a thing for her.”

“Not me,” Cash abruptly announced. “I’ve moved on.”

Callie looked up at him, but he turned away to grab his suit jacket. She wondered if he had more to say—it felt like he had more to say—but before she could ask the door to the locker room opened and Dax walked in. He halted when he saw her.

“Oh, hey, Callie. I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

He glanced between her and Cash. They both quickly shook their heads. “No, I just asked her to come help me pick out a shirt,” Cash said.

“Ah,” Dax nodded. Callie didn’t miss the little smirk on his face. It was her cue to go.

“Well, I’ll go so you can get dressed,” she said to Dax as she started to leave.

“Good luck if I don’t see you before your match,” Cash returned, and she gave him a tight smile and went out the door.

* * * * * * * * * *

Alex’s hands were clammy as she stood at Gorilla with Trent. The mixed tag match was next. Unfortunately, it was right after FTR’s joke of a tag team championship celebration. She did her best to tune out Dax’s egotistical blathering as she rolled her neck and loosened up. She needed to focus. A match was a match, and even though she wasn’t looking forward to this one, she still wanted to do her best.

“You ready for this?” Trent asked.

She looked up at him and nodded. “Yeah. Are you?” she meaningfully returned. She still couldn’t believe that he and Chuck had challenged Santana and Ortiz to a parking lot brawl next week. On top of worrying that they’d murder each other, she was concerned that Trent’s focus was no longer on their match.

“Yes,” he assured her. “Don’t worry about me.”

Alex smirked. “Man, have I got bad news for you next week.”

He gave her a crooked smile; but then his eye was drawn to a spot just past her shoulder. She turned to look. Matt and Callie had arrived.

Trent scoffed. “They don’t match at all. Losers.”

Normally, Alex would have laughed. But it was obvious even in the dim lighting of Gorilla that Matt and Callie’s gear wasn’t the only thing off about them. Callie in particular seemed unsure of herself. Her eyes met Alex’s. She turned away without a second glance.

Back in the ring, the “celebration” came to a screeching halt when Jurassic Express dumped a cooler full of beer cans over Cash, Dax, and Tully’s heads. Thankfully, they returned backstage a different way than through the entrance tunnels.

Alex drew in a breath and shook out her arms and legs as the show went to commercial. But it seemed like no time had passed at all when she heard the distinctive beat of the Best Friends theme song sound throughout the arena.

“Let’s do this,” Trent said as he held out his fist to her. She bumped it confidently with her own, and they walked into the tunnel together.

* * * * * * * * * *

A boulder settled in the pit of Callie’s stomach as she watched Alex and Trent disappear down the entrance tunnel. She didn’t know why she’d expected Alex to be just as nervous as her. On the contrary, she’d looked laser-focused; her and Trent both had. It was glaringly obvious that they were ten times more prepared for this match than she and Matt were. The two of them hadn’t even walked to Gorilla together—they’d just happened to get there at the same time.

“I’ll start the match,” Matt said. “I’ll try to keep your ring time to a minimum.”

Callie looked at him in hurt and confusion. “Why would you say that?”

“Because it’s obvious you don’t want to do this,” he breathed. “So I’ll just make quick work of Trent and get it over with, alright?”

“SUPERKICK PARTAYYYYYY!”

The opening of the Young Bucks theme interrupted before Callie could say anything. Matt didn’t so much as glance at her before he walked into the tunnel, and she had no choice but to follow him out.

The crowd offered a mixture of boos and cheers as they walked out onto the stage, but Callie couldn’t hear them over the music. She stood awkwardly next to Matt and waited for him to do his signature pose, but he never did. He just glared into the ring at Trent, who glared right back.

BOOM!

The cannons on the side of the stage shot fake $100 bills high into the air, making Callie flinch. She looked back into the ring as the paper money floated down around them. Alex rolled her eyes in annoyance and turned to say something to Trent.  

She stood stiffly at the top of the stage until Matt moved, and they made their way down the entrance ramp. Trent started jaw-jacking, but Callie tuned him out as she took her place on the ring apron. Matt, however, took the bait; Aubrey had to push him back as they yelled at each other. Eventually, Trent scoffed and turned back to Alex.

“You wanna start?” Callie heard him ask.  

But Alex didn’t even get the chance to open her mouth before Matt yelled, “No, we’re starting the match!”

Alex and Trent exchanged a look, but she stepped through the ropes and out onto the apron next to the turnbuckle. Matt removed his leather jacket and tossed it to the floor. Aubrey called for the bell, and the match started.

* * * * * * * * * *

Alex didn’t know if Matt was ignoring Callie, if Trent just wanted to beat the shit out of Matt, or if it was some combination of both. But whatever the case, the match had been going on for nearly ten minutes now, and neither of them had even tried to tag in her or Callie. It was aggravating, but at least it worked in her team’s favor. The match had effectively become a singles contest, and Trent had far more experience wrestling on his own than Matt did. That, and his cardio was better. If it continued like this, it would only be a matter of time before they won.

Matt tried to whip Trent toward the ropes, but he reversed it and pulled him into a side headlock. He pivoted toward a corner and charged, running up the turnbuckle to hit a float-over DDT. He went for the pin—but Matt kicked out at two. Afterward, both men remained still on the mat, taking what chance they could to catch their breath. Alex eagerly stepped up onto the bottom rope and banged on the turnbuckle. She wanted in.

“Trent! Tag me in!”

She leaned into the ring, reaching as far as she could, and he looked over at her. But just as he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, Matt hit him with a clubbing blow to the back. He grabbed him by the hair and jerked him into a chinlock. It wasn’t a move that Matt typically did. Alex knew it meant he was getting tired.

The crowd started clapping in rhythm for Trent, and Alex stomped her boot on the ring apron in time. Trent wrenched at Matt’s fingers, prying them away from his face. In response, Matt pulled him to his feet and swiftly maneuvered to hit a float-over DDT of his own. Alex bit down on her jaw as she watched him hook his leg. Trent got his shoulder up at two.

Alex stepped back up onto the ropes. She was tired of this. “Why don’t you tag in your partner, huh, Matt?” she taunted. “Worried she can’t beat me?”

Matt glared daggers at her as he climbed to his feet. “I don’t want to subject everyone to having to watch you wrestle,” he spat.

But Alex’s wit was just as quick. “Oh really? You look awfully lost without your little brother out here doing all the work.”

That needled him. She knew it would. But what she didn’t expect was his response.

“Please, you wouldn’t even have a contract if you weren’t on your knees for Kenny every night.”

For a second, Alex was stunned into silence. But then a white-hot rage bubbled up inside her. She ducked through the ropes and charged toward him.

“What’d you say to me?”

“You heard me.”

“Why don’t you say it again.”

“Get out of the ring, Alex!” Aubrey ordered.

“Matt!”

At Callie’s warning cry, Matt instinctively whirled around and dodged—and what happened next seemed to unfold in slow motion.

Trent flew toward Alex like a bullet. He crashed into her and knocked the wind from her lungs, sending her violently back into the turnbuckle. She felt a pop in her right shoulder, and then nothing but searing hot pain.

* * * * * * * * * *

When Trent realized what he’d done, he felt sick.

He hadn’t known Alex was in the ring. That DDT had left him dazed, and he’d been oblivious to his surroundings until he’d spotted Matt with his back turned to him. So he went for a spear. But Matt dodged at the last second. Trent had absolutely no chance to stop himself or correct course, and he rammed full speed into Alex.

He watched in stunned horror as she writhed against the turnbuckle. She clenched her right arm, her face screwed up in pain. She was hurt. He’d hurt her.

“Alex—”

Smack!

He was abruptly cut off by a superkick to the jaw. He crumpled to the mat. Matt dragged him by the ankle further into the ring and pinned him. The count sounded distant and faint.

One.

Two.

Three.

The bell rung. Trent felt Matt throw down his leg as the music started, ringing in his ears. He stared up into the lights, unblinking, while Matt’s arm was raised in victory. He’d hurt her. He’d hurt her and then lost the match.

“Alex,” he said again as he rolled over onto his hands and knees. She was still huddled against the turnbuckle, clutching her arm as Aubrey checked on her. He felt sick all over again.

“Alex.” He crawled over to her and put a hand on her knee. She looked up at him. Unshed tears shined in her eyes. It broke him. “I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. “It was an accident—”

“Alex!”

Suddenly, Kenny was in the ring. He practically pushed Trent out of the way as he knelt in front of Alex. “What’s wrong?” he asked her.

“I think it’s dislocated,” she winced.

Trent looked at her right shoulder. It hung visibly lower than her left. His heart dropped into his stomach.

“Let’s get you to Doc,” he said as he tried to move toward her again.

But Kenny blocked him. “I got it,” he bit. Trent didn’t have it in him to argue.  

He watched as Kenny helped her to her feet and ushered her to the ropes; he held them open for her so she could gingerly duck through. As she stepped to the other side, Alex looked back. For a brief second their eyes met. But then Kenny put his arm around her, and she turned away and disappeared into the back.

* * * * * * * * * *

Callie couldn’t stay out there a second longer. She was horrified by what she’d witnessed. The way Matt had taken advantage of Trent’s awful mistake, how he hadn’t hesitated to kick him in the jaw—there’d been a viciousness in his eyes that she’d never seen before. And she didn’t want any part of it.

She stormed off before Aubrey could even raise his arm in victory, marching quickly up the ramp. Kenny nearly bowled her over on his way down to the ring, and she turned to watch as he ran to Alex’s aid. But then she saw Matt coming after her, and she turned back around and hurried through the entrance tunnel.

“Callie!”

She didn’t stop or even glance his way. She just kept walking.

“Callie! What the fuck?”

That got her stop and face him. “Me what the fuck? You what the fuck, Matt? What the fuck was that out there?”

If looks could kill, she was certain she would have been dead on the spot. “Are you serious?” he spat. “I won the match and you just ran off!”

Her eyes darkened. “Well, I didn’t want to be a part of it anyway, right?”

Matt bit down on his jaw. There was nothing he could say to that. She gave him one last glare and turned her back on him again, praying that was the end of it. She just wanted to leave. Alone.

“I want your shit out of my house by the weekend.”

Callie halted. His words were like a knife in the back. They hurt. And suddenly, she wanted him to hurt, too.

She turned around again, her head held high. “That’s fine, because I don’t want to move back to California anymore.”

She held his gaze in defiance. But Matt just laughed, cruel and low. “Let me guess, Orlando with Cash?”

She faltered. He knew about yesterday. But she steeled herself again. “No. I want to move to Orlando for me.”

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Okay.”

“That’s the truth!”

“Was all this just a rebound to you?”

If his previous words had been a knife to the back, those were a blow to the gut. Tears sprung to the back of Callie’s eyes. Her voice came out strained. Apologetic. “No. I care about you, Matt. So much that it scares me.”

He laughed again and looked away. “Coulda fooled me.”

She took a step toward him. “Matt—”

“Have fun in Orlando,” he cut her off, and that time it was him who stormed off and left her behind. Alone.

#aew fanfiction #kenny omega fanfiction #cash wheeler fanfiction #matt jackson fanfiction #trent beretta fanfiction #the elite fanfiction #young bucks fanfiction #best friends fanfiction #adam page fanfiction #hangman page fanfiction #hangman adam page fanfiction #ftr fanfiction

[if-you-built-yourself-a-myth]

Check Ignition: Part III

That Sobbe fake-dating Hogwarts AU that one person asked for and I dove into headfirst

Part I // Part II // Part III // Part IV

Requests are open if you have any ideas of what I should write next

After the second night of Sander and Robbe’s arrangement, Robbe couldn’t eat dinner in the Great Hall for a week. A whole fucking week. He had Jens and Aaron sneaking sandwiches into the dormitory at dusk using cloaking and levitation spells. Lunch would have been an issue, too, if he hadn’t been spending those with Sander. Unfortunately, one meal a day together was the minimum for a convincing fake relationship.

“I can’t eat alone, can I?” Sander had asked when they met in the Great Hall after classes. “Boyfriends eat together.”

Robbe could do nothing but give in. They tried for dinner at first, and the following dissolved into lunch. Sander sat on the edge of the Hufflepuff bench, as if he were not welcome there, and held Robbe’s hand on top of the table while he ate whatever finger food he could and engaged in pleasant small-talk with Jens. He normally spent his evenings roaming the grounds.

Of course, that left Robbe and his friends at the table come dinnertime, watching Noor stare daggers at them. And that wasn’t cool. Britt’s ice-cold mannerisms at prefect meetings didn’t help, either, and only Senne could balance her out.

This month was going to feel a lot longer than Robbe imagined. If Sander didn’t find someone better.

Robbe was relieved when the weekend rolled around, because it brought with it Hufflepuff’s first game of the Quidditch season, against Ravenclaw. Jens made Robbe and Aaron run drills until one AM the night before. Peak physical condition was more important than sleep anyway.

Now, Robbe flew out over the pitch, one hand poised over his eyes to shade them from the sun. It took only a moment to spot the green and silver scarf in Hufflepuff’s black and yellow section, and Robbe knew that he didn’t really miss getting Great Hall dinners. So what if it was fake? There was Sander, in all his bleach-blond glory, sitting next to Senne in the stands and waving a black and yellow flag.

Sander locked eyes with Robbe and started screaming something incoherent over the wind. It was probably more about what people in the stands heard than what Robbe himself did, so Robbe soaked up the precious minute of Sander’s bright and happy face instead of paying attention to the message.

“Alright,” said Jens, gathering the other players closer for a pep talk. Robbe flew up a little higher to be level with the rest of the team. “Ravenclaw’s good. Great, even. But we’re better. Keep the Quaffle away from Zoë—she’s too fast and we’ll never see it again. Robbe, stop looking at your boyfriend.”

He wasn’t looking at Sander. He just so happened to be gazing the direction of the Hufflepuff stands.

The other team members muffled their laughter.

“Obviously, Yasmina,” Jens continued, unperturbed, “you are smarter and more capable than all of us. Please fix our mistakes.”

Yasmina played keeper. No one could protect a post like her, and the Ravenclaws knew it. There would be some faceoffs today. “Good pep talk,” she said.

“I try. Alright, I think that’s it. Let’s have an amazing match, no life-threatening injuries, no deaths. Go Hufflepuff!”

With that, the team shot apart to their differing positions on the pitch. Jens and the other chasers crowded the half line, Aaron and his fellow beater stayed back a little bit with bats poised, and Yasmina lounged sideways in front of the goal. Robbe decided to circle the game from above for a better perspective. The view reminded him of that from the astronomy tower. As play began, it was difficult to differentiate between teams swarming the pitch—a hurricane of bludgers and broomsticks. Robbe waited for the glare of the sun to highlight the golden snitch.

“Hello up there!” Yasmina called up to him, around five minutes in. Hufflepuff had pretty steady possession of the Quaffle. “See anything?”

“Not yet,” he shouted back. Ravenclaw’s seeker tarried by their set of goalposts. She hadn’t seen anything either.

“Is Sander really your boyfriend?” There was no judgement in her tone, yet somehow, Robbe felt it anyway. He curled into the defensive.

“Yes, and what of it?”

“Nothing. Just, Jana said so.”

“He’s gorgeous,” said Robbe, dropping twenty feet to do so.

“I didn’t know you were gay.”

“I’m not—”

The Quaffle almost made it through the smallest of Yasmina’s hoops, but she batted it away before it could cost a point. Jens grabbed her rebound and sped away down the side, passing back and forth with a fourth-year chaser they called Macs. Another minute, and a gong-like noise signaled a Hufflepuff score. They were leading thirty to zero.

“It’s great, really,” said Yasmina. “I’m happy for you.”

Robbe didn’t know what else to say, so he mumbled, “Thanks.”

From the corner of his eye, he saw Sander’s unmistakable bleach blond move around. He whirled to the action. Sander was talking with someone, a brunette girl, with animated hand gestures. For some reason, it made his head buzz.

Yasmina followed his line of vision. “Who’s she?”

No one Sander wasn’t allowed to talk to.

“A friend,” Robbe said smoothly. “Watch the game.”

Sander could chat with anyone he wanted. It didn’t mean anything more than Robbe’s fake relationship with him did. Yasmina had the good sense not to push it.

The game passed at an alarming speed, no time to perseverate on anything going on in the stands, no time for any more casual conversation. Jens was a blur with the Quaffle, dodging bludgers and ducking under other players. Zoë was never far behind. The teams would have been locked into a helpless tie if it were not for Yasmina’s stellar guard of the goal. By the halfway point, Hufflepuff was ahead ninety to thirty, and not one sign of the snitch. Robbe busied himself by weaving in and out of the towers around the pitch, because he enjoyed the way the Ravenclaw seeker followed him around like a lost child.

He hadn’t seen a thing, and look at her go! Maybe he would nosedive to watch her streak beside him, or launch into the atmosphere with her along for the ride.

A bludger knocked into the side of his broom. “Shit, sorry!” yelled Aaron from his spot beside Macs.

By some bizarre luck Robbe kept his hold, but the impact swiveled him back to face the Hufflepuff section of the stands, and he’d been avoiding that particular sight. He didn’t have time to turn away again. Sander stood out like a sore thumb. No, better comparison—Sander stood out like a sunflower in a field of poison ivy.

Cool it with the similes, Robbe. Focus.

The girl was still around. Sander was allowed to talk to girls as much as anyone else in the world. Robbe was upset, though, because it messed with the believability of their dating life. That was the reason.

He swooped directly over their heads, hand outstretched, as if they were all too blind to see the snitch a few feet in front of him. Where the gesture came from, who could say? Ravenclaw’s seeker didn’t hesitate to join.

“The skinny bloke over there is Robbe Ijzermans, finally doing something purposeful this match,” Luca’s voice boomed from the announcer’s box. Robbe didn’t know her that well; Aaron had a thing for her friend, Amber. “He’s spotted the snitch. Or he looks like he has. Toss-up. Oh, and lovely Zoë has the Quaffle again. Give them hell, girl—”

What the hell. Robbe was supposed to be dating Sander. Sander was crammed into the Hufflepuff section for him. Really, it would be suspicious if he didn’t do anything about this.

He angled his broom to spin back around and make a second pass over the Hufflepuff stands. This time, he got so close to Sander that he could ruffle Sander’s hair before zipping away. Let Luca talk about what that meant. The girl scooted away from Sander on the bench. She stared at the wooden slats beneath her feet, while Sander put his hands to his mouth and called something that Robbe couldn’t quite make out over the rush of blood in his ears.

Then, a glint!

By the announcer’s box, there it was! He could see its golden wings fluttering about. Normally, he tried to tune out Luca’s long-winded description of the game, but it was a little difficult when her microphone boomed in his ears as he shot out for the snitch.

“Looks like our Robbe has spotted it now. Wonder what that bullshit was earlier, then. Sorry, sorry I’ll stop cursing. Oh, fucking hell—”

Ravenclaw’s seeker came in close on Robbe’s side. She seemed to be following his movements; she couldn’t see the snitch about fifty feet away from her face. Robbe did have 20/20 vision. Maybe he was just better. It danced around in the air and across the stands, forcing them both to flip over in order to keep the pursuit.

“Macarthy with the Quaffle, he’s headed toward Ravenclaw goal. If I’m allowed to mention this, I don’t think Ingrid’s actually caught the snitch ever—right, sorry.”

The snitch closed its wings and dropped from the air until it was barely above the ground, where it reopened them to cut a trail across the worn grass. And here was Robbe, pretty close to the other Hufflepuffs, still.

This was a risky move, riskier than the hair ruffle. But it was pragmatic, Robbe reasoned, and it got him to the ground as quick as anything else. If he ever wanted to convince other people that his thing with Sander was something, it had to be more than sneaky kisses that didn’t really count for much. Plus, Ingrid didn’t actually see the snitch. So no harm done if he just—

Robbe let go.

The freefall was shorter than expected; he kept one hand wrapped around his broom as if he were on the monkey bars at the park back home. His feet met the wood of the stands with a bit of a bounce. Right next to Sander. Thank goodness, because there wouldn’t be time to move over if he landed by the wrong person. He conjured the memory from last week, when Sander kissed him for the first time, and did the same, but briefer and with less tongue. Tongue would be a little too much for a game. The crowd roared. He could see the snitch spinning in wide circles just above the ground. Ingrid halted overhead, confused, and darted toward the Slytherin tower.

“Another point for Ravenclaw over here and—what the fuck, Robbe?”

Robbe broke away before the kiss could take too long, and Sander leaned inward after him, as if he did not want it to end. Spectacular acting. Noor stood up from her seat three rows down, their eyes meeting for the shortest of seconds.

Before he could regret the whole thing, Robbe gathered up his last bit of courage and bounded down the stands on his feet instead of flying, making quite the jump at the end. He barely got his broom underneath him in time to evade a broken ankle on the pitch underneath the stands. Macs swerved to avoid him as his feet grazed the grass.

He coasted the rest of the chase on the adrenaline pumping through his veins and the absolute shock on Noor’s face. In no way did Sander’s cutting smile make him weak, no way.

“Guys and gals, take notes,” Luca declared. “Oh, and he’s got it, that son of a— Robbe has the snitch! Hufflepuff wins!”

***

Jens was on Robbe before he’d even dismounted his broom. “The fuck is with the grandstanding, huh?” he demanded. “You could have hurt somebody. You could have lost us the game. What the fuck?”

“Sorry, I was—” Robbe tore his gaze away at the sound of Sander’s voice coming down from the stands.

Sander caught him in a hug and brushed his lips along the edge of his ear, whispering, “How dramatic do you want this to be?” Skin peeled from his chapped lips and beads of sweat caught the light on his forehead. He was still a Greek god.

“I don’t know,” said Robbe, barely keeping his composure. “You can—”

He cut off as Sander scooped him up and spun him around in a circle. At its end, Sander lowered Robbe enough to draw him into a long, deep kiss. If Robbe could do wordless magic, every tree within a fifty-mile radius would have caught fire and burned to ash in a second.

He had to stop indulging thoughts like that. Noor stood by the entrance to the stands, and this was all for her. Just Sander helping him out.

“Gross,” said Aaron, patting Robbe on the back. “Get a room.”

“Gladly,” Sander said. “How long before Jens tries to get back to the dorms?”

“Oi!” Jens wasn’t done being angry with Robbe yet. “You’re not having sex on my bed!”

“Somebody has to, and you certainly aren’t.”

“Wow, okay. You’re not even—” Jens cut off. They’d promised to play along. “You’re new here, shut up.”

Sander accepted gracefully.

The other fans swarmed the players like flies and followed them on the way back to the dormitories, where Hufflepuff common room would likely host a killer party to celebrate the win. Robbe lost Sander in the fray almost immediately, even though their hands had been intertwined. He should let the group carry him along; he knew as much. Now that the game was over, though, there wasn’t any energy left for something like that. Robbe sat down on the pitch and leaned against the wooden supports of Hufflepuff’s box.

He wasn’t gay. He didn’t like Sander, not like that.

There must be loads of straight guys who felt good when they kissed other guys.

It didn’t mean anything. The whole relationship was fake.

Why wouldn’t his heart stop racing?

He breathed in until his lungs burned, held it for eight seconds, and exhaled until there was nothing left in his lungs. When that was done, things were calmer. More rational. His lips stung from the kisses.

This was not the time for a sexuality crisis. Tomorrow morning, maybe, or Tuesday afternoon.

The crowd’s cheers and banter faded off into the distance. The last straggling fans stumbled their way to the castle. It would be dusk soon, and the sunlight painted everything a delicious shade of gold. Robbe couldn’t help but fantasize: Sander in the sun like this, Sander’s eyes in the sun like this, Sander’s long eyelashes in the sun like this. He hated himself a little bit.

“Hey.”

Robbe looked up. Noor stood a few feet away, wearing a Hufflepuff sweater and a pair of sweatpants. The late November temperatures were no joke.

“Hello,” he replied.

“I thought you’d be upstairs.”

I thought you’d leave me alone, he thought. He said, “Catching my breath.”

“It’s a good night tonight. Lots of stars.”

“They’re around every night.”

“I guess.” She shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. “You haven’t been at dinner.”

“I’ve been studying,” said Robbe. “Exams in three weeks, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Robbe opened his mouth to tell her to spit it out, whatever she had to say. He was tired of talking to her. He needed her to disappear, even if it hurt, and fuck, he was a bad person after all.

“He’s going to get tired of you,” she said. It wasn’t harsh. It wasn’t even that sad. She said it like a fact. “He’s… he’s not right. He’s going to get bored and leave you.”

That caught him off-guard. “What?”

“Sander.” Noor bit her lip. “He and Britt are going to get back together. They always do.”

Robbe scoffed. “I don’t really care about Britt’s take on this, no offense.”

“It’s not hers. It’s mine. Sander’s going to get bored of you, and when he does, he’s going right back to her.”

The whole thing was fake. Sander wasn’t even with Robbe. How could Sander leave if they weren’t together? Nothing Noor said had any bearing on Robbe’s situation at all.

He repeated that to himself.

“Is that all you came out here to say?” he asked. Hopefully that sounded confident. Robbe was still a little out of breath from the game.

Noor nodded. “I just thought you should know. Don’t get too attached. Sander’s—”

“It’s not really your business,” said Jens. Oh thank goodness, there he was, behind Noor. He must have turned around when he realized Robbe wasn’t with him. Sander was at his shoulder. “C’mon, Robbe,” he said. “We’ve gotta get back. I think they’re popping champagne.”

Robbe pushed himself up using the wall as support. He wanted to hear the end of that last sentence, even if he never wanted to hear Noor speak again.

What he knew:

He didn’t consider himself to be a particularly interesting person, never had, and today was the most brazen he’d been in his entire life.

The arrangement was made to be thrown away as soon as someone better stepped onto to scene.

Sander already knew that he was boring—Robbe was a prefect, for fuck’s sake.

Noor hadn’t said anything that wasn’t aware of already.

For some reason, it still stung. They started off down the worn grass that led out of the stadium and in the direction of Hogwarts’ main building, and, very purposefully, Robbe slid his hand into Sander’s. Because he could.

“Sorry!” Noor called as they headed away. She really did sound it.

“What was that about?” came Sander’s whisper in Robbe’s ear. It sent shivers down his spine.

“Nothing,” he hissed back. “Don’t worry about it.”

He wouldn’t worry about it either.

#sobbe #sobbe fanfic #robbe ijzermans #sander driesen #hogwarts au #requested fic #fake dating #my writing #wtfock

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

In a way the whole "Izuku is the Dragonborn" fic would need to leave most of the backstory of Izuku the 4-14 years old dragon slayer on luck or Inko doing all the work while Izuku is, like, put in a position of safety (he still needs to eat dragon souls tho, same for Miraaks... How would that work even?) So I might need to move things around a bit.

Basically here's the backstory on all major shit:

Helgen: Inko and Izuku run away with Hadvar. They are not scheduled for execution because, you know, Hadvar might not go out of his way for a stranger but there is a small kid involved, younger than his cousin dammit, way younger than your usual Stormcloak Child Soldier Conscript from Dawnstar (an actual canon thing believe it or not) so he puts his foot down. In the keep Hadvar does most of the work obviously, even if Inko does, in her desperation, cut down people getting dangerously close to Izuku. She is a better lockpick than she expected, especially with her Quirk, and Izuku in his curiosity ends up pawing off the book and a strange, mysterious ring inside the Mage's cell. They then go to Riverwood with Hadvar, where they are directed to both Farengar and the College for matters regarding magical space travel, so to speak.

Riverwood: However, they are pennyless and alone in a foreign world, so Inko tries first to make money by working at the local lumber mill as she sends a courier to Whiterun for the Dragon Thing. Assume we are playing with my modded version of the game, which means Riverwood is currently the home of one Triss Merigold from the Witcher. She is also spacially displaced as of late, and is searching for Yennefer, Ciri and Geralt, with whom she jumped into this reality before getting lost from them. Dorthe and Frodnar will direct the small Izuku to her, since Dorthe is the one "babysitting" Izuku while his mother works so he's playing with the slightly older kids. Basically, they know she is a mage of some sort since she showed them some sort of light show, and Inko still needs to make money if she wants to leave with the proper equipment so they can't even go to Farengarym yet.

This allows us to 1) Set up the Triss Merigold X Midoriya Inko endgame and NO I AM NOR FUCKING STUTTERING and 2) Give Inko a competent bodyguard of sorts before she actually does get used to the unforgiving land of Skyrim and starts giving people heart attacks with her Quirk.

Of the Major Guilds:

Companions: Inko Joins as a way to make money for Izuku. With the mercenary work she manages to buy the house in Whiterun, so now Izuku can be left in a safe location, with "Aunt" Lydia as his babysitter. Whiterun Shenanigans ensue with Izuku befriending Lucia and Lars. Also Braith but, like, after lots of character development. Lucia is obviously the first to be adopted.

Inko is the one who becomes a werewolf and the Harbinger in the end, Izuku is not involved in this Storyline outside of some encounters with "Aunt" Aela and "Uncles" Vilkas and Farkas. Inko renounces her condition in the end.

College of Winterhold: They move to winterhold together since Farengar can't help them. Izuku is actually a quick study, as exemplified to that one spell book he found in helgen that thought him within seconds how to shoot lightning from his hands, much to his mother's worry. He ends up killing a bandit in self defense that way when he's barely 5. It was either do that or let them get to his mom.

Anyway, Inko is enrolled, but so is Izuku, the two now living on College Grounds. Triss is also there as an honorary lecturer. Anyway, Whe most of the adventuring is still done by Inko, is Izuku who receives the visit of the Psijic Order and, ultimately, he is the one to kill Ancano and close the eye of Magnus. Inko becomes Archmage still, even if she tries her hardest to have Toldfir step up instead.

The way Izuku kills Ancano is actually more based on guile than actual magical prowess. He is the only one not paralyzed in the boss fight, so what he does, is grab one of J'Zargo experimental Scrolls, summon a Skeleton Minion (Oblivion spell he was recently taught so to have someone protecting him in times of crisis), and then run with it against Ancano, too busy as he is being a megalomaniac, suicide bombing himself. He survives, but only thanks to the Restoration Professor quick intervention as Ancano dies and the paralysis falters.

Restoration magic did save the day in the end.

J'Zargo, who is usually aloof and snarky over his experiments, is actually horrified his rival's son almost got killed because of him, so he pledges he will do everything in his power to find a way to help them with their issue. He is a great magician after all, and his class is one of the brightest to date, they can find a way out for them.

Dragon War: Since all they can do now is wait for the College, Inko returns to Whiterun with Izuku and Triss, but on the way the watchtower is attacked, Mirmulmir is slain, and Izuku absorbs his dragon soul. This jumpstarts the events of Skyrim, with Izuku and Inko having to go on a pilgrimage to High Hrothgar to better understand what is happening to her son, who is now terrified of talking least he blew his mother apart with his voice.

A 5 years old kid makes a poor warrior, so the Greybeard offer to train him for his destiny, but Inko refuses. They don't need her son to kill dragons, just to eat their souls, so what she can do, is do the actual dragon slaying, and then have Izuku eat the souls. This still forces her to bring Izuku on her adventures, which isn't ideal, but only the dragon related ones. Izuku still learns the shouts of unrelenting force and whirlwind sprint as well as Dragonrend, but is Inko the one wielding the blade.

As a side note, Paarthurnax, for once not having to deal with a 4th era Nord, can finally give the unadulterated lore of the order rather than the imperialized, akatosh centric one, which leads Izuku to grow interested in Kyne, Warrior-Widow of Shor, for how much she reminds him of his mom.

Anyway, Inko is the one doing most of the stuff, Paarthurnax isn't killed, and Izuku gets two dragon buddies, one a wise and aging mentor war criminal, the other a brash and snarky red dragon he can call with his voice.

Izuku and Inko go both to Sovengarde. Inko meets back Kodlak, but also Ysgramor, who she now recognizes as a war criminal bastard, and she is the one dealing the killing blow on Alduin. Inko, Breath of Kyne, is the one sand in the songs now, the mother of the dragonborn who delivered them from evil.

Thieves Guild: Inko also does it all, but is the start of Izuku's involvement with Daedras. Inko takes the pledge to Nocturnal, so her soul is now bound to her realm, but is her son that catches the Prince's eye. Inko also tries to reform the guild back to its old robin hood ways, with divergent results.

Explorer Guild: This is the Legacy of the Dragonborn Mod. Inko founds the explorers guild and moves to the now bigger home in the Museum in Solitude. Proudspire manor has been bought by Yennefer, now advisor to Queen Elisif, who thanks to her influence has grown more confident. Girlboss helping Girlboss prosper and all that. She lives there with husband and daughter, and there's a reunion with Triss. Usual angst about "is she going to leave me? Are our adventures over?" But Triss stays because she cares about Inko and shit.

Anyway, inko is the one doing most of the stuff here too, but she now has a big enough home to adopt more than just Lucia.

She adopts every orphan, as well as Sissel and Britte in Rorikstead after murdering their abusive father. She then kills Grelod in Riften, so to also be able to adopt the orphans at the orphanage. To do so, she catches the attention of the Dark Brotherhood since she just stolen their contact. She of course adopts Aventus Aretino too.

Dark Brotherhood: All Inko. Unlike thieves guild, Izuku isn't even aware she's doing this, since he's back in Solitude with his new siblings.

Princes:

Izuku does Sheogorath. He's playing in the streets with his siblings and the other Solitude kids, when he finds Sheogorath abandoned follower. So he sneaks in the blue palace, gets to the forbidden wing, and meets Sheogorath, the Hero of Kvatch. Does his quest since it's a pretty easy quest even for a 5 years old kid, and then gets the Wabbajack in exchange.

Inko does Sanguine. The sham marriage is actually to Triss this time, which leads to more angst obviously.

Inko also does Vaermina (destroying the staff), Dagon (Destroying the Razor), Hircine (Gets the Ring), Malacath, Namira (Saves the priest and kills the cannibals), Molag Bal (Just... Never completes his quest and leaves the bastard hanging), Boethia (sacrifices one of the two racist dudes in Windhelm after trucking him into following her), Azura (Uncorrupted Star) and Peryte.

Izuku finds Meridia's Beacon but it's Inko who does the quest.

Izuku is the one meeting Barbas and they have "A boy and his dog" adventures together before he manages to bring him back to Clavicus Vile and convince him to take him back without needing to do his quest. He gets the Mask as a Result, but also a dog in the form of Styx, the spectral wolf, another mod.

Izuku does Mephala, pretty early on too. He befriends Baalgruf's bastard son while still living in Whiterun, who tells him about the whispering door, and after a couple of deceptions he gets the blade. He never charges it tho.

While is Inko the one getting the Ogma Infinium, she can't open it, and is Izuku the one opening it and gaining the boost in knowledge, as well as becoming Herma Mora champion.

Dawnguard and Dragonborn are also done by Inko, but is Midoriya who is sent to Apocrypha when she opens a black book. There he has a odd "Older Sibling trying to murder Younger Sibling" relationship with Miraak, and is ultimately forced to see him get killed by Herma Mora. Aunt Serana becomes a permanent fixture in the house.

Bard College is done by Inko but Izuku is also part of the college now.

Most quests are done by Inko, but the misc quests that require either speech or guile are done by Izuku, especially if they involve children. This includes stuff like paying for Erik the Slayer armor in Rorikstead, or cheering up that girl in Solitude whose uncle was executed for aiding in regicide.

Speaking of which:

Civil War: Inko does it obviously, and she sides with the empire, because 1) Hadvar, 2) Baalgruf, and 3) Elisif.

And also because she went to Windhelm one time to stop a serial killer and gods she couldn't believe how racist those fuckers were.

Modded followers are obviously Inigo, Lucien and Shirley Curry, to name a few.

Forgotten City is done by Inko, Izuku is not even in the time loop. Project AHO is done by Inko and ends with her freeing the slaves and murdering every single slaver in the settlement. Most modded quest mods are done by her honestly.

Izuku obviously keeps himself up to date with his magical studies, which means around 8-10 years old he moves back to winterhold, still waiting for a way home, so J'Zargo can study him to reverse engineer his quirk, and he can learn more spells. Most of his siblings are almost of age by now too, and his mother has started calming down in her worry, since she trusts her old coursemates and teacher to keek Izuku safe...

Ok, no, she trusts Onmund and Toldfir to keep Izuku safe, in this order, but it's still more people she would trust if he started living with any of her other guilds.

Anyway, can't think of much else.

#skyrim #bnha #boku no hero academia #skyrim au #bnha au #midoriya inko x triss merigold #I will make this a tag mark my words

[chiwhorei]

SHIP UR MOOTS <3

shipping my moots because i lub them and they all deserve the world and apparently it would be weird if i married them all sksksksksks

~💖~💖~💖~💖~💖~💖~💖~💖~💖~💖~💖~

@10millionyearsdungeon and akaashi keiji ~ i have honestly never met a cooler, more compatible couple. (he may seem quiet but akaashi rocks britt’s shit on the daily and sometimes if bo is lucky he gets to watch)

@crushzone and tsukishima akiteru ~ akiteru and nin are my otp. every time nin has had a long day at work, she will always find some flowers wating for her at home.

@dabilove27 and dabi ~ rach and dabi are such a sexy couple, 10/10 would watch hahahaha jkjk... unless?👀

@daishou-s and daishou suguru ~ lune bug and daishou are that one couple everyone sees walking down the street and goes, “wow, what a perfect pair” (don’t let them fool you, they’re fucking FREAKY)

@deathcab4daddy and shigaraki tomura ~ tay and shiggy are cannon, okay? i don’t make the rules. emo hand daddy is whipped for her. man will turn the country to ash if tay asked him to.

@hisoknen and aizawa shouta ~ raph always loosens shouta’s bun when he’s hunched over grading papers, to which he returns the gesture with a flight of kisses to her knuckles.

@hoe-doroki and todoroki shoto ~ ana banana never has to worry about her tea getting cold and i’m disgustingly jealous. shoto also likes giving sweet butterfly kisses to her cheeks🥺🥺

@hqbbg and shinsuke kita ~ kita and ellen are literally the most precious couple, every time ellen is cold kita takes her hands and puts them in his jacket pockets.

@kingkatsuki and katsuki bakugou ~ sakura swears bakugou has a sweet side even though not everyone gets to see it. behind closed doors he is known to pout if he thinks he’s deserve lad more cuddles.

@kyovtani and kyoutani kentarou ~ this one shouldn’t come as a surprise in any way, zade and kyou are a match made in heaven. 🥺

@linestrider and takami kiego ~ nyki always has one of kiego’s feathers in her pocket or on a chain around her neck. it calms him when her fingers brush over it absentmindedly throughout the day.

@messwriting and iwaizumi hajime ~ iwa and lee are such a sweet couple, they are literally the most most beautiful and compatible pair— which is super convenient because our double dates with iwa and oiks are always epic

@milojwrites and ukai keishin ~ ukai likes to sit milo on his lap and talk about the universe when it’s slow in the store. the whole karasuno team asks about “coach’s super cool boyfriend” and he has to pretend is annoys him.

@mindninjax and levi ackerman ~ marquie and levi are so perfect, they’re one of those couples that eye-fuck across the table. the tension between these two is very sexy.

@pleasantanathema and erwin smith ~ i give it 3 months before lauren has a beeby eyebrow in the oven. he can’t keep her hands off of her.

@present-mel and mirai sasaki ~ mel and miria are so perfect together, they’re so cute together but then sir gives mel a look and you know he’s about to rock her shit.

@sawamooora and sugawara koushi ~ i’m telling you, this couple is hot as fuck. every time suga gets a little wine drunk he’ll let slip some super kinky shit.

@some-kindofgnome and mirio togata ~ mirio builds sara anything she sees on pinterest, last week he built her a cute shelf for all of the cute mugs he gets her.

@spicyness and oikawa tooru ~ tooru swears that he learned to cook while in argentina but ness always has to pull out the fire extinguisher. one thing he’s really good at? ordering ness’ favorite takeout.🥰

@sugardaddykenma and tanaka saeko ~ this is the power couple. mark me down as scared and intimidated and horny.

@thewheezingwyvern and hitoshi shinsou ~ hitoshi begs wyv to sing to him after he’s had a hard day, it’s the one sure fire way to calm his tense muscles.

@thisisthehardestthing and tanaka ryunosuke ~ claudia and tanaka are truly a couple completely unmatched in both humor and aesthetic.

@tsukkis-crybaby and tsukishima kei ~ tsukki might act big and tough but whenever felicity pouts he gets all soft and kisses her cheeks.

@undermattsun and issei matsukawa ~ miki gets split open on the horse cock™️ on the daily and honestly i’m violently jealous. she’s god’s favorite smh.

@vixen-scribbles and kenma kozume ~ kenma’s favorite thing in the world is to sit and play games while vixy plays with his hair and cuddles in his lap.🥺🥺

@whats-her-quirk and jean kirstein ~ jean is so in love with june it honestly makes us all just a little sick. he always carries an extra jacket with him to drape over june’s shoulders. 🥺

~💖~💖~💖~💖~💖~💖~💖~💖~💖~💖~💖~

if i missed any of my precious moots i am so sorry please ring the shame bell for i have failed you sksksksksksksksk.

#the congregation of moots #saint anon #holy letters