#bug race 2024 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

500-moths-in-a-trenchcoat · 11 months

Text

for the new year, i have decided to make a couple edits and additions to the almighty Calendar. happy 2024.

IT JUST HAPPENS

DAY 15 GIVE IT UP FOR DAY 15

Thursday the 20th

The Fifth of Wednesday

Second Week of May: Eurovision

Sometime in June: That One Halloween Post Starts Circulating

Sometime in July: Dancing Pumpkin Man Video/Gif

WEEKLY EVENTS (at least the ones i celebrate)

Every Monday: Garfield Hates Mondays

Every Tuesday: Tom Servo Tuesday

Every Wednesday: It Is Wednesday My Dudes

Every Thursday: Out of Touch Thursday

Every Friday: Flat Fuck Friday

Every Saturday: Sea Slug Saturday

Every Sunday: Energy Sword Sunday

YEARLY EVENTS

January 1: Copyright Expiration Day

January 8: Spiders Georg Day

January 16: Appreciate a Dragon Day

January 18: Bug Race

January 29: Threshold Day

All of February: Funguary

ALSO All of February: Femslash February

February 3: WOE, VANILLA EXTRACT BE UPON YE

February 13: Galentines Day

February 14: Aromantic/Asexual Day

March 9: Miku Day

March 10: Mario Day

March 14: Pi Day

March 15: Ides of March

March 23: Ever Given Got Stuck Today

April 1: Mishapocalypse

April 2: Dashcon Announcement Anniversary

April 3: Dannypocalypse

April 8: Rex Manning Day

ALSO April 8: MARGARET THATCHER IS DEAD

April 13: Neil Banging Out The Tunes

ALSO April 13: Homestuck Day

April 20: haha 420 blaze it

April 25: The Perfect Date

April 28: Ed Balls Day

April 30: It's Gonna Be May

All of May: Mermay

May 3: Beginning of Dracula Daily

May 4: May the 4th Be With You

May 5: Revenge of the Fifth

May 25: The Glorious 25th of May

All of June: Pride Month

ALSO All of June: IT'S HALLOWEEN TIME TO GET SPOOKY

June 5: Barricade Day

ALSO June 5: RONALD REAGAN IS DEAD

June 12: Another Homestuck Day

June 16: Let Papyrus Say Fuck

June 22: Summerween

All of July: Disability Pride Month

July 13-15: Dashcon Anniversary

July 20: Moon Landing

September 8: The Queen Is Dead and Sans Undertale Killed Her

September 11: Mole Interest Monday

September 19: Talk Like A Pirate Day

September 21: DO YOU REMEMBER-

All of October: SKELETON WAR

ALSO All of October: People Draw A Lot Month? (so many names)

October 3: Mean Girls Day

ALSO October 3: Fullmetal Alchemist Day

October 13: Treat Yo' Self

October 20: Unnecessary Feelings Day

October 31: HALLOWEEN

November 5: honestly what didn't happen that day

November 19: Goncharov

November 29: HENRY KISSINGER IS DEAD

All of December: Will the Gävle Goat Get Destroyed Again?

December 10: Please, It's Christmas

December 12: Hawaii Part 2

December 23: Christmas Adam

December 24: ALMOST CHRISTMAS MEANS IT WASN'T CHRISTMAS

ALSO December 24: Cabinet Man Day

December 27: Porn Ban Effective Today

#there's definitely more but i'm not versed enough in this #tumblr holidays #add more in the tags/comments please #look i'm trying my best here i've been on tumblr for just over a year at this point #tumblr #tumblr calendar #it's complete. now i may rest.#holidays

32K notes · View notes

luviemax · 1 month

Text

big jet plane- oneshot

a/n: i'm alive.... trust... song inspo here

-> carlos sainz x fem!reader, no physical descriptions of reader

warnings: i'm a time traveller, puking, inaccurate portrayal of appendicitis

word count: 1,640 words

masterlist

2024 is a tense year.

For you, mostly.

Carlos is out of a seat for the 2025 season.

Although you know he'll probably be fine in the end. He has the skill, speed, talent and intelligence for any team to be on their knees to be signing him. Any team would be lucky to have him, and it would be simply illogical for Carlos to be out of a drive next year.

Yet, much to your dismay, you're not a team principal, and you're not really in charge of those things.

"Y/N." Carlos sighs, not in frustration, but more with a sense of concern. "Hm?" You hum absentmindedly, pushing at your food with your fork. "What's wrong?" He moves from his place from across the table to the empty seat next to yours. When he settles down on the seat, you simply rest your head on his shoulder, "you can tell me, you know?" You simply nod in agreement, thinking of the words you aren't quite able to say. "I'm just..." You suck a breath of air through your teeth, "frustrated. I can't believe they just...." "I know," He runs your fingers through your hair in a soothing manner, "but there's nothing you could've done about it, amor. Neither could I." You don't respond, but you wrap your arms around his waist and sink further into caress.

Of course, you trust his word.

You're over the moon when he scores a podium upon the first race of the season.

That joy doesn't last long, though.

You're worried sick when he spend half the next week bent over the toilet spewing out whatever had gone in.

You feel helpless.

All you can do is sit next to him and rub his back in soothing circles as he continues to spill his sick into the toilet bowl for the millionth time of the day.

He looks pale and frail as he lies asleep underneath the sheets.

In hopes of making him feel better, you wipe a damp towel all over his face, but much to your dismay, his face feels hot and burning under your touch.

"Carlos," You whisper, hoping to wake him up gently. He cracks his eyes open, just slightly, "can you open up for me?" He opens his mouth, just enough for you to slot in a thermometer. The display of the device blinks an angry bright red as it read 39.9°C. "I'm going to call your doctor, okay?" You ask him, running a hand through his hair and stroking his cheek under your thumb. He simply leans into your touch and gives you a faint nod. "What day is it?" He rasps, voice sounding hoarse and exhausted. "It's Thursday baby, why?" You scoot closer to him, running your fingers through his hair to brush his scalp in a way that you know he'd love. "Fuck," he groans, "what if I'm not well in time for the race?" "Let's not be so hasty, okay?" You reassure him, "let's see what the doctor says. I'll get him to come over here." He simply nods and shuts his eyes to get some rest.

"Doctor, do you know what's happening?" You ask the man as he walks out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind him as Carlos slept, albeit restlessly. "I can't say for sure," the doctor replied, walking to the exit for the door, "it could just be a bug. I'd suggest that you just wait it out for the time being." "Alright. Thank you for your help." You give him a tightlipped smile as he waves goodbye and gets into his car.

You spend the entirety of the flight to Saudi Arabia observing Carlos anxiously, holding his hands in yours and soothingly running your thumbs over the back of his hands. Perhaps his nausea had settled down slightly, but his skin seemed clammy, and he had been having hot and cold flashes which made it nearly impossible to get a good night's sleep. How was he meant to race in these conditions?

Just before he got into the car for FP1, you pull him aside into his driver's room for just a moment. He simply pulls you into his arms as you bury your face into his neck. You pull away, but still keep both your hands on his face. "Carlos," You start, caressing his face underneath your fingertips, "I don't want you to push yourself if you feel like you can't do it, okay?" He simply nods in response, but that's not enough for you, "I want to hear you say it." "I'll stop if I can't do it, I promise." He reassures you, and leaves to race with a kiss on your cheek.

Your foot is tapping anxiously on the floor of the Ferrari garage for the entire hour of FP1. "Are you okay?" Alex asks halfway through the session, a concerned look gracing her face. "Yeah, yeah," You say dismissively, "it's just that Carlos isn't feeling that well. I just don't want him to overdo it." She simply nods in understanding.

When Carlos finally gets out of the car, he looks pale and stressed. "Are you ok?" You ask him, inspecting him from head to toe. "I think I need to sit down." You nod, and quickly guide him to his driver's room. You hand him a cup of cold water which he eagerly gulps down. Although he says that he's fine, you don't buy it. He doesn't seem mildly alright, so you leave the room with the excuse of using the restroom, but you go get the team's doctor instead.

Unlike the family doctor which you had called over to the house, this one seemed far more thorough. "I think you should go to the hospital." He tells you and Carlos, speaking in English so that you could understand too. "What?" You exclaim, eyebrows furrowing with confusion, "But why? The other doctor said that he would be fine." "Perhaps his symptom weren't as apparent then, but based off what you've described to me, I think that he might have appendicitis. I don't have the proper equipment now, of course, but I'll make arrangements for you to go to the hospital. I suggest you get your things packed." The doctor gave the two of you a curt nod before leaving the room. "C'mon, why don't you change into something more comfortable?" Out of your travel bag, you hand him a t-shirt and sweatpants. You help him into his clothes as you help him into his change. You pack up all of your personal belongings as the two of you are led outside into a van which is meant to bring you to the hospital.

When you arrive there, a doctor gives Carlos an ultrasound, where he's formally diagnosed with appendicitis. "It's a minor surgery, and it should be done within a few hours. The recovery should be a week or two." the doctor informs you as he begins to instruct the nurses to prep him for surgery. You nod, simply unable to speak. How could you have failed to notice something so big?

Once he's out of surgery, you've called his dad, who was in town for the race. You sit by his side, holding his hand as he slowly awakes from the anastasia from the surgery.

"Cariño," he rasps, "how long has it been?" "Few hours." You hum, pouring him a glass of water. "Hijo." Carlos Sr materialises from the bathroom, rushing in to check on his son. "Papá." Carlos greets. "Are you feeling okay?" His dad asks, taking a seat on the other side of his bed. "Been better, been worse." Carlos shrugs, wincing at the movement. You place a hand on his shoulder, halting his movements. "The doctor told you not to move too much." You whisper, keeping your voice soft. "The doctor told you to tell me that." Carlos retorts. It's amazing how he's still so witty despite his weakened state.

The next day, you and Carlos are on a plane back to Madrid to rest. He spends most of the trip resting. You're glad, though. His bout of illness had brought him weeks' worth of exhaustion and tiredness.

For the next two weeks, the two of you are in your own sort of comfortable bubble.

Ollie would drive in place of Carlos, so that wasn't something for him to stress about.

The two of you would have slow mornings, breakfasts' in bed, and walks around the estate to hopefully rebuild his flexibility for movement before Melbourne.

Mornings are filled with gentle, adored kisses and peaceful naps and simply... repeat.

His physio recommends swimming as part of his recovery too, so the two of you spend a copious amount of time basking under the Spanish sun and spacious swimming pool.

He's all back to good by the time Australia comes around.

You accompany to the race, and admittedly, you still baby him a little, but just a little bit.

"Remember, don't push yourself, okay?" You remind him, placing a chaste kiss on his cheek before he gets into the car for qualifying. He simply gives you a knowing smile and gives you a warm hug.

You're beyond amazed at the fact that he's going to start at P2. Even more shocked that he almost starts on pole. And you're beyond overjoyed to see that he seems as fit as a fiddle when he gets out of the car.

On race day, you're stunned that Max's car malfunctions. But your worry for a friend quickly turns to an ecstatic buzz that runs through your body when he takes the lead of the race.

When he wins, you're standing front row, cheering him on as he approaches the Ferrari crowd and takes your lips into a sweeping kiss in front of the roaring mob.

#carlos sainz #cs55 #carlos sainz x reader #carlos sainz x you #carlos sainz fluff #carlos sainz smut #carlos sainz jr #f1 #f1 x reader #f1 imagine #carlos sainz imagine

463 notes · View notes

mostlysignssomeportents · 12 days

Text

Rebecca Roque’s “Till Human Voices Wake Us”

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in TOMORROW (Apr 17) in CHICAGO, then Torino (Apr 21) Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

"Till Human Voices Wake Us" is Rebecca Roque's debut novel: it's a superb teen thriller, intricately plotted and brilliantly executed, packed with imaginative technological turns that amp up the tension and suspense:

https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/till-human-voices-wake-us-gn3a.html#541=2790108

Modern technology presents a serious problem for a thriller writer. Once characters can call or text one another, a whole portfolio of suspense-building gimmicks – like the high-speed race across town – just stop working. For years, thriller writers contrived implausible – but narratively convenient – ways to go on using these tropes. Think of the shopworn "damn, my phone is out of battery/range just when I need it the most":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIZVcRccCx0

When that fails, often writers just lean into the "idiot plot" – a plot that only works because the characters are acting like idiots:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot_plot

But even as technology was sawing a hole in the suspense writer's bag of tricks, shrewd suspense writers were cooking up a whole new menu of clever ways to build suspense in ways that turn on the limitations and capabilities of technology. One pioneer of this was Iain M Banks (RIP), whose 2003 novel Dead Air was jammed with wildly ingenious ways to use cellphones to raise the stakes and heighten the tension:

https://web.archive.org/web/20030302073539/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.03/play.html?pg=8

This is "techno-realism" at its best. It's my favorite mode of storytelling, the thing I lean into with my Little Brother and Martin Hench books – stories that treat the things that technology can and can't do as features, not bugs. Rather than having the hacker "crack the mainframe's cryptography in 20 minutes when everyone swears it can't be done in less than 25," the techno-realist introduces something gnarlier, like a supply-chain attack that inserts a back-door, or a hardware keylogger, or a Remote Access Trojan.

Back to Roque's debut novel: it's a teen murder mystery told in the most technorealist way. Cia's best friend Alice has been trying to find her missing boyfriend for months, and in her investigation, she's discovered their small town's dark secret – a string of disappearances, deaths and fires that are the hidden backdrop to the town's out-of-control addiction problem.

Alice has something to tell Cia, something about the fire that orphaned her and cost her one leg when she was only five years old, but Cia refuses to hear it. Instead, they have a blazing fight, and part ways. It's the last time Cia and Alice ever see each other: that night, Alice kills herself.

Or does she? Cia is convinced that Alice has been murdered, and that her murder is connected to the drug- and death-epidemic that's ravaging their town. As Cia and her friends seek to discover the town's secret – and the identity of Alice's killer – we're dragged into an intense, gripping murder mystery/conspiracy story that is full of surprises and reversals, each more fiendishly clever than the last.

But as good as the storytelling, the characterization and the mystery are, Roque's clever technological gambits are even better. This book is a master-class in how a murder mystery can work in the age of social media and ubiquitous mobile devices. It's the first volume in a trilogy and it ends on a hell of a cliff-hanger, too.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/16/dead-air/#technorealism

#pluralistic #books #reviews #novels #mysteries #thrillers #technorealism #gift guide #rebecca roque

77 notes · View notes

drewsbuzzcut · 2 months

Text

The Worst Of Me Is Racing All Around Your Mind

Nick Moldenhauer x Dallas Blankenburg

A so it goes fic

Warnings: mentions pregnancy, mentions abortions, false positives pregnancy test, panic/anxiety, cursing, mentions wanting to vomit, angst and angst (let me know if I forgot anything) this is also lightly edited

This takes place May 2024

Dallas walks on shaky legs out of the restroom, her shaking hands gripping the used pregnancy test. She already knows the answer, she was way too curious to wait to look at the test with Nick.

“Here,” she hands it over to him and waits for his reaction.

“It’s positive,” he states once looking at the plus sign.

He looks up at her and his eyes glimmer in what seems like excitement. Dallas finds it slightly terrifying.

“I know. I need to book an appointment with an OBGYN to confirm if it’s true,” she says, fingers carding through her hair as she paces around her apartment.

She tries to calm her erratic heart, but it’s no use. The more she thinks about being pregnant, the more panic fills her every thought.

“Hey, June bug, it’s going to be okay. I love you, baby,” he wraps her in his arms and kisses her forehead.

“It’s not okay! I can’t be pregnant. I can’t be. A baby will change everything,” Dallas pulls away, too panicked to think about anything other than the fact that a baby could ruin everything.

“What’s so wrong with you being pregnant? We’re married and we’ll be living together next school year,” he points out, eyebrows dipped down in confusion.

“Are you hearing the words coming out of your mouth? We just got married! We should be enjoying our time as newlyweds, not worrying about children. Children that will take our time away from school! Children that will take me away from my clothes and children that will take you away from hockey,” Dallas stresses, her hands flying out at her sides to convey her clear point of view on the situation.

She’s passed the point of staying sane, she’s too worried about their futures. She stares into Nick’s eyes, daring him to counter her argument even though he can’t.

“We can work around those things. If anybody can do it, it’s us. I’ve said those words to you when you were hesitant about getting married. I meant them then and I mean them now,” he says, voice eerily calm.

The girl walks up to him, placing her hands on his chest. She hopes the beat of his heart can help calm her down.

“This isn’t the right time for us to have a baby,” she says in the simplest way. Her hands move to the sides of his face to make sure his eyes peer into hers.

His eyes aren’t the normal, ocean blue. They’re like stone, dark and void of anything.

“I don’t know what to say,” he mutters.

“Say you support whatever choice I decide to make. If I’m pregnant, I can’t promise that I won’t seriously consider getting an abortion. At least just understand why I’m making the choice I decide to go through with,” Dallas’ bottom lip trembles when he stays silent for too long. His support is the most important thing to her at this moment.

“What can I do to convince you that we should keep the baby? I get that it’s ultimately your choice, but we’re married. That isn’t just your baby,” he points to her stomach, and this is when it hits Dallas.

This is very very real. She’s pregnant and she’s lost at a crossroads. Even though she wholeheartedly knows that if she keeps the baby, she wouldn’t be doing it for herself. And for once, she doesn’t know what to say to her husband.

Dallas waits with a bated breath, eyes zeroed in on the screen. Nick’s hand is clutched in hers, his eyes also focused on the screen.

There’s no heartbeat pounding through the silence and there’s no black and white blob popping up.

“Okay, Mrs. Moldenhauer, it appears that you are not pregnant. It’s very likely that you had a defective test. False positives aren’t rare, but they also don’t happen often. If you don’t have any questions, then I’ll leave you to get cleaned up and you’re free to leave,” the doctor says.

She feels her shoulders fall in relief, she’s so happy she could cry. Dallas doesn’t notice at first, but Nick is quick to pull his hand out of hers.

“I don’t have any. Thank you so much,” she says and hastily cleans herself up when the doctor leaves.

She lets out a breath she felt she was holding in forever. Her eyes return back to their usual shine and she can’t stop the relieved smile from taking over.

Nick stays silent, walking out of the room before Dallas can even button her pants. By the time she makes it out, Nick is already walking out the front door and heading towards the car. She’s not naive, she knows he’s upset. However, there’s really nothing to be upset about anymore. She’s not pregnant so their problems are solved.

“Nick!” She shouts after him.

“Are you happy you got what you wanted?” He asks, voice harsh.

It makes Dallas flinch.

She takes a moment to process his words, eyes blinking in shock.

“Jeez, Nick, you’re acting like I was actually pregnant and got an abortion,” she snaps and jumps into the driver’s seat of her car.

“Same difference. You didn’t want the damn baby, so I know you’re just so fucking happy to not be pregnant,” he snaps back, making Dallas’ blood begin to boil.

Her face is red and her chest heaves, desperate for some type of soothing air.

“I’ve given you all of me, Nick! I gave you my time, my heart, I gave up my last name in order to take yours! How can you ask that I give you this ONE THING when I’m not ready?” She shouts, too overcome with anger to think about what she’s saying, or how it's being perceived.

“You make it sound like you had no choice but to marry me. If you truly didn’t want to marry me, then you shouldn’t have, Dallas! Do you honestly think I’m ready to have kids right now? Because I’m not, but I was willing to try and to work hard for our family. I was willing to go all in with you, because I love you and I eventually want a family with you. You just thought about yourself, and I understand because it’s your body. I’m your husband, though. Would it kill you to have any consideration for my feelings or for the things I want? I would’ve taken care of my baby- even if it meant you leaving us behind and me being a single dad,” he unloads each of his thoughts.

Dallas can’t help the way her tears roll down her cheeks. It hurts to even fathom a thought about Nick being a single father to their child. It absolutely kills her that Nick would think that she’d leave them behind.

“You can drop me off at my dorm. I need to think about whether or not we should continue with our marriage,” Nick whispers, the words burning his throat.

Dallas whips her head over to him, but quickly refocuses on the road ahead. She’s left in silence. Well not complete silence. She can hear the labored breathing coming from husband and the way he sniffles after his tears loudly smack against the leather interior of the car.

Her stomach twists and turns, but she forces the bile down with large empty gulps.

“Nick,” she searches her mind for the right words to say, but she doesn’t know how to fix things without causing more damage.

“I’m sorry, Dallas. I’m sorry if I’m too much for you,” he apologizes when he doesn’t have to.

Dallas shakes her head repeatedly, her hand coming up to wipe away her tears. A stuttered gasp rips up her throat as she starts to sob. His words cut her open and leave her out to dry. Their distance becomes stark when he doesn’t even reach out to console her, but she honestly doesn’t think she deserves it anyway.

a/n: Some rough waters for the newlyweds…

#nick x dallas #nick moldenhauer x oc #nick moldenhauer #umich imagine #umich hockey #so it goes au

103 notes · View notes

slowestlap · 2 months

Text

After parting with Bradley Scanes following four years together at Red Bull, Verstappen is now working with Rupert Manwaring, who had been Carlos Sainz’s long-serving trainer. Sainz and Manwaring started working together eight years ago when Sainz was at Toro Rosso (now RB).

“We had an exceptional time together,” said Sainz. “We felt it was time to move on. Our lives were becoming different, and him living in the UK and me being more in Italy and Spain, I felt like it was time to change paths. I’m sure Max is going to enjoy the time with him.” Verstappen said it had been “nice” working with Manwaring given his F1 experience, saying he “knows what is needed.”

Verstappen noted managing sickness as being particularly important, as illness becomes inevitable with so much traveling throughout a season. Last year in Saudi Arabia, he came down with a bug that made Red Bull question whether he’d be fit for the race weekend. He only missed media day in the end.

“Everyone gets sick once a year at least,” Verstappen said. “You really try to minimize that, you try to be on top of things, and you know that when you go to certain countries, you know what you have to do to be careful not to be sick or whatever. Jet lag, traveling, it’s really about being well-rested.”

Even at 26, Verstappen is already implementing changes in his approach. “It may sound a bit weird, but I’m not 18 anymore,” Verstappen said. “At 18, you can do whatever you want, even the day before (the race)! Slowly, that is changing as well. I already start feeling that. But I’m sure we’ll come up with good plans on what to do.”

[...]

Verstappen, the overwhelming favorite to win a fourth title in 2024 and, one presumes, the majority of the 24 races, said he wanted to “make it as fun as possible” between races and find downtime away from his duties.

“Twenty-four races is a lot, and not only just the race weekend itself,” Verstappen said. “When we get back, there’s a lot of commitments. You have to get back to the factory as well to prepare with sim days, which almost takes a month as well in your schedule already alone.

“(I’m) just trying to make the best of it. Everyone knows I’m not a fan of it. But I don’t decide the calendar.”

How F1 drivers and teams are preparing for 24 races in 2024, the longest-ever season | Luke Smith, the Athletic | 26 February 2024

#max verstappen #rupert manwaring #bahrain gp #mp #quotes #articles #welcome to the getting old club!!#they really don't tell ya how young the pains starts #i used to think it's gonna hit when i'm middle aged but boom #then you're in your mid twenties and need 7+ hours of sleep to function properly #but if you sleep in a slightly wrong position your neck is fcked and back hurts #it's cold outside and it makes your joints slow #get a fever and can barely get out of bed #i thought i had more time before it all hits 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

56 notes · View notes

afterdarkprincess · 3 months

Note

Hi can you do #8 with Jey uso X female please thank you

8. Can you feel how much I want you?

Thank you for the prompt!!! This one really pushed me out of my comfort zone, I've never written X reader before but I hope I did it justice!!

Prompt list can be found here

Pairing: Jey Uso/Reader Rating: Mature Word Count: 775

tag squad: @feelschicken @elementaldoughnut12 @harmshake @southerngirl41 @imabillyami @jeysbvck

===

It’s the night after your triumphant debut at the Royal Rumble, and you’ve been dragged out of your hotel room to a club to celebrate with the rest of the locker room.

“Come on, y/n,” Trinity had whined, “What fun are you gonna have all cooped up in here?”

You’d had a hot date planned with a bottle of rosé and the jacuzzi tub in your suite, but she didn’t need to know that.

Trinity recruited Chelsea and Maxxine to help you get ready, throwing together an outfit and helping with makeup since you really hadn’t planned on going out this weekend, not with the Rumble weighing so heavy on your shoulders. But things had gone well, your position in the company was now secured, so what harm was there in going out and having a little fun?

The harm, of course, came in the shape of drink after drink being bought and passed your way until your body was loose and the dance floor started calling your name.

You drag the girls to the floor as the music blares, holding your drink overhead as you sway your hips to the beat.

That’s when you spot him, across the room with his dark eyes locked in on you.

Jey Uso, Iron Man of the 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble, and your best friend. At least you hope so. Things have been strained between the two of you in the last few months, and as much as you’ve been trying to explain it away with how busy you’ve both been, it’s been bugging you.

Having caught him staring, you get the bright idea to wave him over, beckoning him with your fingers.

He rolls his eyes but obliges anyway, making his way through the crowd to your side.

“Hi Jey,” You wrap an arm around his neck and lean into him, and it feels like the most natural thing in the world.

An unreadable look crosses his face and he frowns, “C’mon, Y/N, that ain’t fair.”

“What? I miss you, that’s all.” You pull your hand back as doubt and self-consciousness creeps in, but he grabs your wrist before you can get too far away.

“Miss you too,” He looks so serious and out of place under the bright flashing lights. Normally he’s the life and soul of the party, but not tonight.

“Jey…” You breathe, just barely audible amongst the noise around you both.

The air between you is electrified with tension. His eyes, those gorgeous gorgeous eyes, look into your soul as he inches closer to you, wrapping a strong hand around your waist and pulling you to him.

“Y/n…” He whispers your name into the few inches of air between you before connecting your lips together.

You melt into his arms and even deeper into the kiss. You’ve been dreaming of this moment for years, never quite daring to believe that Jey would really want this with you.

When finally you part for breath, you open your mouth, mind full of questions, but he shushes you with a finger to your lips.

“I been wantin’ to do that for a long time, but it was never the right moment. Then with not seein’ you the last few months, I was goin’ crazy. Then seein’ you at the Rumble? And how you look tonight?” His eyes roam over your body and you feel your cheeks flush with heat. “Just couldn’t wait no more.”

Your mind races, searching for a way to reply that will convey the depth of your emotions and feelings, but words are escaping you.

You grab Jey’s shirt and pull him in again for another bruising kiss. The hand on your back clutches you even tighter, his other hand coming to cup your face. His tongue licks into your mouth, deepening the kiss and causing you to moan.

The room feels 10 degrees warmer than it did before, and your hips grind forward to brush with his and you feel heat and desire drip down your spine.

Jey’s hands go to your hips, turning you around to pull your back up against his, and what you felt before against your thigh is even more prominent now against the swell of your ass. He leans in, brushing his lips against your ear.

“Can you feel how much I want you, baby?” He grinds the heat of his dick against you and all rational thought leaves your mind.

You rock your hips to feel every inch of him, this man that you’ve loved for years, before turning back around to cup his cheek in your hand.

“Let’s get outta here.”

#jey uso #jey uso x reader #jey uso x y/n #jey uso x you #smut prompts #anon answered #my writing #wwe fanfiction

56 notes · View notes

gaym3bo1 · 5 days

Text

can't watch the gmmtv 2024 part 2 trailers yet so i'm gonna predict all the plots based off of the thumbnails and titles:

2 tattoo studios led by gay couples are on opposite sites of the street. they compete for business. the competition is led with a kissing booth, a golf-off and a bike race

Someone's 29th birthday falls on the 29th of february. gets stuck in a time loop. or transported into another dimension, unsure.

one guy has a sweet tooth, one guy is a dentist, they have a hot anger fuck and then fall in love (noteworthy: the guilty pleasure of the doctor is the sweet taste of the dude's mouth)

a friendgroup of 4 people gets split in half by some stupid horrible turn of events and misunderstandings and now they beefing but they're stuck together in a mirror dimension and have to work together to get out

(MORE GAY MECHANICS???) the flower 4 / boys over flowers (?) but it's gay mechanics

lesbians who cheat on each other idk i'm getting sad cheating vibes

knock off adams family. weird group of college roommates that lowkey formed a cult and live in a haunted mansion. the one girl died? disappeared? is running from them?

ball game meets musical actors.

if u want to break up with ur partner and dont know how u can hire them to pretend to cheat with you? is this just a comedy or does it have actual fake relationship romance plot can't decide looks like pure awkward comedy

Squid game but it's all shot with a pov camera and the pov is "you're a bug about to get squashed by 10 teenies"

#i hope it's obvious that this is just for fun #my anti-bingo if u will #and if any of this is correct i will never stop laughing #what a treat #i have the other 4 too but no more space for pics here and also theyre kinda giving nothing #rambles #gmmtv 2024 #firstkhao #the heart killers #joongdunk #mark pakin #sweet tooth good dentist #gmmtv 2024 part 2 #gmmtv 24 #gmmtv #thai bl

49 notes · View notes

leprosycock · 2 months

Text

been putting some thought into things and with some tinhatting from joan and sea, i'm settled in the offbrand debacle theory hinging either mostly or entirely on the combined debacle of jrma's soft retirement and the streaming bubble popping along with the offbrand xmas party . follow this with me if you will:

jrma announces his soft retirement early last year. it's springtime. post-str3amer awards, pre-house fIipper. it's set to happen in 2024, but who are we kidding, he made his decision right then and there. 2023 was soft and unremarkable and the biggest streams he did were house fIipper and the shuffle stream. not very remarkable for a sendoff, but it was a sendoff nonetheless.

Iudwig hires jrma to be part of offbrand. he says it's the coolest thing about working there. jrma has always said he's wanted to retire in production and creative direction. it seems like an eventual happy ending for the time being.

Iudwig is extremely volatile, bitter, mean, standoffish, jealous, and snippy during house fIipper 1. he softens only when he gets to talk to j, who showers him in endless praise in turn. it's a fairly normal dynamic for them with lud just being especially pissy when jrma divides his time simply due to the nature of the game.

jrma and Iudwig are close enough over the summer where Iudwig races ahead of the group in qt's twitchcon vlog to hug jrma when they meet up for dinner, borrows jrma's con pass to give to qt when she loses hers, and offers jrma's setup to spu/uky to use at his leisure. things are going remarkably well.

2023 is sparse for collabs and the next biggest stream we get between them is the shuffle stream, where jrma puts on his typical self-fellating charade with costume changes and an elaborate performance and he and lud gaybait and play around with each other for hours. lud beams and glows and he and j are ecstatic just to be in close proximity to one another, touching each other whenever they can. they seem to adore each other.

the next stream we get is house fIipper 2. lud is noticeably weird and overly sentimental, full of stilted, out-of-character praise, petting jrma whenever he can and cooing at him, telling him how good he looks. it's rife with tension and it's easy to tell that something is amiss just from Iudwig's attitude.

next we have the offbrand christmas party that qt was forcibly absent from. she asked when it was, Iudwig said they weren't having one. she bugs him and bugs him and he dismisses her at every turn. he lies and says he's just gonna go out for the night and qt finds out that he was at the offbrand party via shakedrizzIe posting about it on instagram. she has a breakdown about it on stream and lud offers no real excuses, avoiding the subject instead. jrma was present. qt was not. on purpose. for reasons unknown.

this coincides with a very steady and rapid decline of streaming numbers. twitch is falling apart and youtube isn't fairing much better. especially when you've been maligned as a react andy and the public has turned against your bread and butter.

almost immediately after this party, dodgeball takes place and lud is mysteriously absent from all credits despite this being an offbrand project. st4nz is less than friendly towards him. afterwards, lud sharply and shortly mentions on stream that he had nothing to do with the production of the project at all.

sure enough, his name is largely removed from the company website and references to him being the founder and owner.

after this, lud lashes out at a small streamer who remarks that she's only familiar with him because of dollhouse and he has a mental breakdown rife with bitterness and indignation, wondering furiously if he's only ever going to be known for that stream, if that's all he'll ever be.

he and jrma are not seated together at the 2024 awards. jrma gets a vague passing mention in the offbrand ad that plays a few times and one more mention during a clip comp. that's all, compared to last year's insane tribute montage narrated by lud, the two of them sitting together, tweets, etc etc. he is also mysteriously absent from the name your pr1ce photoset posted by austin and will despite being a highly anticipated guest at the con show.

very odd timeline with a very sudden turn of events. it makes you think. it also makes one consider how Iudwig, in all his former trauma kid and personality disorder glory, links money to affection and affection to money. his love language is buying gifts. his love language is being gifted to, being showered with riches and glory, and i believe that something like that being revoked from him is akin to outright abandonment. abandonment is a terminal disease and one that becomes necrotized over time and rots from within and Iudwig is a devastating victim to it. his daddy dies and leaves him for dead to fend for himself and then, decades later, his second daddy dies and leaves him for dead to fend for himself once again.

i believe that once he realized that jrma was not going to be able to singlehandedly finance their fake fucking company where they scribble in lisa frank coloring books all day and poke st4nz with a cattle prod for fun, lud assumed he was in yet another state of abandonment and this didn't truly hit until lud either came to terms with this suddenly or he discussed it with jrma during the christmas party. jrma cannot keep offbrand afloat, he can't keep Iudwig afloat. by being unable to keep Iudwig afloat, he is no longer loyal. he no longer adores him. he is no longer Iudwig's teacher/mentor/father/crush and he is instead a selfish, unloving predator looking to take advantage of Iudwig and offer nothing in return—the offer that was always meant to be given was his body and his money and his time and his work.

because Iudwig is an insane person, i believe he took this as a personal jab and thinks that this was a long con in order to undermine Iudwig and the plan that he had for them to retire together. after everything that Iudwig has done for him and offered him, it's thrown back in lud's face. dollhouse was a scheme. replacement was a scheme. bro v bro was a scheme. everything that jrma has done is for the sake of entrapping Iudwig, making him soft and pliable, working his way into lud's heart in ways that no other person has managed to do before. and that's terrifying to Iudwig. compliments mean nothing to him, except when they come from jrma. it makes his chest feel warm. jrma gives and jrma takes and this time he took too much. and it hurts.

#long post #im on sleeping meds and this might not be coherent at all #but this might be the actual answer #and i believe lud has managed to get ppl to turn against jrma #really odd. really strange. really fascinating.#bunnyvommit

41 notes · View notes

inchidentally · 3 months

Note

I dreamed that there was a misunderstanding between Lando and Oscar, which turned into rough sex and then an apology. I don't know if anyone would want to write fan fiction based on it.

anon I've been mulling this over and going through multiple scenarios! but I find it impossible to go the full rough sex over a misunderstanding w those two bc my hc Lando doesn't give even a whiff of aggression during sex and Oscar would never be the type to let his aggression slip out uncontrolled - I can only imagine it like in fics where it's established relationship and negotiated kinks etc.

absolutely if someone else sees this idea and feels inspired then lmk!

BUT ! I did write something in my shitty sort of a fic sort of just an expanded idea style - idk if it will suffice?

I thought of like media duties at the start of a race weekend in Vegas 2024 and they have a group of drivers at a bar for a Q&A - crucially it must include Daniel, Carlos and ofc Lando and Oscar.

to kick things off, the Sky team have a makeshift bar set up on the small stage and have the drivers taking shots and having the other drivers try to guess what they're drinking (water, vodka, tequila) they've made sure to include far more shots of water bc they're not wanting the drivers so loose that things get out of hand around fans with their phones up.

except Lando hates the taste of tequila or vodka so he makes a face and pushes his shots over to Oscar begging him to down them instead, which of course Oscar gamely does. it's too late when he hears the tougher guys sputtering bc damn, whatever that tequila was it was definitely too strong. Will Buxton is hahaha good jokes but very awkwardly bc genuinely some of the guys are struggling. Oscar is red in the face and coughing and Lando is laughing but kinda feels bad. they decide to move on from the shots challenge before anyone's gone multiple rounds bc dinner was only an hour before and group vomiting isn't what the fans stumped up several hundred each for.

ironically it ends up that the rest of the guys can swagger through the tipsiness but Oscar's famed self-control decides to drop just one barrier. and it's with his hands concerning Lando. the drivers are now doing stupid challenges with decks of cards and magic tricks and shit and ofc Lando is the favorite person for them all to get paired with and Oscar starts to get weirdly… rowdy about it?? Daniel and Carlos are as usual shoving Lando around and using their hands on him a lot and Oscar is sort of half-joking half-aggressively heckling them to fahck off. Lando starts sputtering and his eyes are bugging out bc Oscar never swears where there's fans and since when is he this loud ?? fortunately everyone finds it hysterical when Oscar finally barges in when Daniel gets too touchy-feely and Oscar bodily wrenches Lando away and back to the barstools set up on the far side of the stage. he sits down and tugs Lando back against him, between his legs. hahaha so funny! nobody knows Oscar's at half mast against Lando's lower back so everyone else can just laugh!

at first, Carlos and Daniel are doubled over cackling and the whole thing seems like a hilarious teammate jealousy bit. Oscar is nowhere near drunk but apparently any level of tipsy has him absently pushing a hand up the hem of Lando's shirt and mumbling nonsense into the hair at Lando's temple. it's infuriatingly hot and Lando has to fight every cell in his body to keep pretending to laugh and not just melt into Oscar finally doing what Lando's been silently begging for for what, a year and a half?? except it's in front of fans and their friends and god knows how many cameras and Lando can only keep the smile hitched on his face and keep tugging Oscar's hands away from his nipples and the hem of his boxers. Daniel is doing his best work selling it as a gag but Carlos keeps catching Lando's eyes and seeing the little twist of the knife each time Oscar's mouth smiles hot and pleased against Lando's head.

Lando can't decide if he's relieved or in agony when it's time for them to move to the autograph tables. it means Oscar will be able to drink water and sober up, but it also means breaking the daydream he'd drifted into of Oscar's hands being at home on Lando's body. of Oscar holding him just like that all the time, and not just because he happens to be a handsy drunk. he can blame his usual shyness around crowds for staying fairly mum as he scribbles his name over and over, safely positioned between Daniel and Liam who are loud enough for anything. Carlos seems to have corralled Oscar into the purgatory of being dead last at the table where fans hover awkwardly on one side, and Carlos himself on the other. Lando doesn't see - 'on purpose' - that Carlos is able to steer Oscar by the elbow ahead of the rest of the group when they're finished, so that he can corner him alone in the desert cold outside. give him the whip crack of his dark eyes and a tanned, hairy finger jabbing at Oscar's chest and "if you don't fix this now I will be hearing about it all weekend long from him." all Lando sees is the tail end of the exchange when Oscar's face is dutifully humbled and he looks sheepishly small, even though by now he stands at least three inches taller than Carlos.

by the time they're dropped back off at the hotel, Lando's lovesickness has turned into righteous fury. Daniel had given up trying to include him in filming a reel of the inside of the other guys all singing off-key in the Escalade. he shoots Oscar a sympathetic glance as Lando storms off ahead and gives Oscar's sleeve an angry tug to follow him.

the degree, if not the specifics, of how badly Oscar's fucked up starts to sink in during the long, silent elevator ride. all he can think is 'dead man walking' as he follows Lando to his room.

the door has barely snicked shut behind him before the dam bursts.

"you know we don't touch like that. you know that. you're Mr. No PDA with anyone! and I've just about managed to get used to it. you weren't even like that with Lily most of the time so it was, y'know, fine. and then you down one shot of tequila--"

"--and a shot of vodka…" Lando's face makes Oscar instantly regret interjecting. "Sorry."

"and suddenly you're all over me as if there wasn't an entire audience? as if we aren't going to have to turn this into some hilarious joke tomorrow so people don't get all… frickin' stupid! and I'm gonna have to see all these stupid fancams and…." Lando makes a hysterical noise of frustration here that one normally hears from children under the age of five. the way he hurls his own body onto the sofa adds to the image.

the silence is suddenly so loud that Oscar can hear his own fingernails against his jeans as he struggles with what do with his body. Lando has his head thrown back and is staring a hole into the ceiling. he no longer looks furious, just rumpled and… small.

Oscar gets a horrible feeling of tunnel vision, like the always-distant idea of Lando as something more than his casual friend and teammate is suddenly pulling away from him at an alarming rate. it makes his throat inconveniently close up.

"I'm sorry," feels like the correct start, even if it's choked out. no, he doesn't want it to sound like he's barely choking it out.

some instinct makes him move forward and drop down to one knee in front of Lando, who lifts his head inquisitively. already a big improvement.

"seriously, Lando. I'm s- so sorry for putting you through that. it was fucked up and probably borderline harassment and jesus." the enormity of it all starts crowding in and he has to press a hand over his eyes before he can bear to meet Lando's eyes again. "god, I know it's not like a 'compliment' but there's a reason why I don't go out and get drunk around you. fuck, I've been such a dog. I'm so sorry, Lando. believe me, I feel like absolute shit. as I should."

a curiously rapid change has been taking place over Lando's shape on the sofa - starting first with the clench of his jaw softening to a curious little 'o' between his lips and spreading out until his posture eases completely under the bulk of his hoodie and baggy jeans.

now he sits upright and leaning slightly forward, hands fidgeting in his lap.

"I mean. you don't have to be like that about it. Daniel's done more than that to me on camera. not like he ever asked for 'consent'. it's not a big deal."

"yeah, but he didn't actually mean it."

Oscar bravely holds his gaze steady, is almost blinded by the the daybreak of hope that crosses Lando's face. Oscar can see him debate back and forth three times before he finally speaks, mouse-like.

"you meant it?"

Oscar thinks he could give up food and drink to live entirely on the way Lando looks when he's this open and trusting, body in perpetual small motions like a creature let out of a cage and looking up at the big human hand hovering over it and hoping for a caress instead of a blow.

he rests his hand on Lando's knee, rubbing little circles with his thumb and offers a slow blink and a gentle smile.

"you know I do."

for a split second he worries when Lando's face crumples that he's going to burst into tears. instead, Lando slips off the sofa and bundles himself urgently into the circle of Oscar's arms. relief rolls like a tide over the panic he hadn't fully realized had hold of him and Oscar really lets himself put his hands on Lando: clutches him close around the shoulders, the back of his head, pressing grateful kisses into the curls and pulling the scent of Lando's hairline into his memory.

Lando sniffs and possibly wipes his runny nose against Oscar's shirt. he raises his face to be kissed properly, eyes closing when Oscar can't just kiss his lips and has to bless the tender, dusky skin of Lando's eyelids and the smooth warmth of his cheeks.

when he finally pulls away, Lando looks almost too beautiful to bear. his fists have wriggled between their bodies where Oscar's arms hold him close. he's compressed himself impossibly small in that way he can and smiles kittenish and sunny-eyed.

"do your knees hurt yet?"

and then Oscar bursts into high pitched giggles and Lando joins him and they roll in a ball of idiot boys on the floor and kiss. because there will be big decisions and awkward conversations with members of McLaren staff happening tomorrow and probably for days after. but right then it's all still their little secret world and all their only decision is between making out all night or trying to sleep.

#inchreplies #my writing #landoscar #landoscar fic prompt

47 notes · View notes

alex-the-nonsensologist · 18 hours

Text

In some unexpected, but exciting news, Tokyo Disney Resort has announced that Tokyo Disneyland is set to receive an attraction based on the popular Wreck-It Ralph film franchise! The new Sugar Rush attraction is scheduled to open in Tomorrowland at Tokyo Disneyland during fiscal year 2026 or later.

The upcoming attraction will replace Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters, slated for closure in October 2024. Sugar Crush will be an indoor interactive gameplay experience perfect for guests all ages. The reimagined attraction will be the first Wreck-It Ralph-themed ride at any Disney Park worldwide.

According to Disney, the attraction will see guests enter the candy-themed racing game Sugar Rush, which is being attacked by Sugar Bugs – glitches created by King Candy. Guests will team up with the beloved film characters Ralph and Vanellope to transform the Sugar Bugs back to their original “kawaii” confectionery including as cookies and cakes.

Tokyo Disney Resort has released concept art of the ride experience, featuring guests aboard omnimover ride vehicles equipped with laser guns, zapping away Sugar Bugs. Additional renderings have been released of the Sugar Rush ride entrance, alongside the revitalized Tomorrowland Square, as depicted in the concept art for the forthcoming Space Mountain rebuild and Tomorrowland renovation.

In addition to with the opening of Sugar Rush, Tokyo Disney Resort has announced that the adjacent shop “Planet M” will also be renovated and rethemed to fit into the colourful world of Wreck It Ralph.

From: TDR Explorer Source: Tokyo Disney Resort

#wreck it ralph #sugar rush #vanellope von schweetz #wralph #tokyo disneyland #tokyo disney resort #disney parks #wreck-it ralph #WIR fandom rise up 2026 is our year

26 notes · View notes

sophie-hatter-jenkins · 2 months

Text

Enigma

Written for @ladiesofhpfest Monthly Mini - Hermione Granger, 1st March 2024.

Word Count - 2359

Summary - Hermione is different. She doesn't fit in, and she doesn't understand why. If only she could find the answer.

Rating - General

It's my first Monthly Mini, so please be gentle with me!

Hermione is four years old, but only just. Her fifth birthday is in exactly two weeks. Hermione is very excited today, because it is her first day at school. She walks there with both her parents, skipping along in between them, each of them holding one of her hands. Hermione knows all about school, because her parents have told her. At school, Hermione can learn lots of new things, and make lots of new friends. Hermione already knows all her letters, and all her numbers. She can write her name, and she can read most of the storybooks on her shelf in her bedroom at home. She is looking forward to telling the teacher all about it, and she is looking forward to meeting the other children.

Hermione doesn’t skip on the way home, because school wasn’t at all what she expected. When Hermione’s mummy asks her about her day, she tells her about the teacher, Mrs Woods. Mrs Woods is a nice lady, and Hermione likes her. She smiles a lot, and answers Hermione’s questions with patience and kindness. Mrs Woods has a hamster in a cage on her desk, and Hermione tells her mummy all about him too. She laughs as she explains that Speedy escaped from his cage, and Mrs Woods had to chase him around the classroom to catch him, exclaiming about how inconvenient it was that he lived up to his name.

What Hermione doesn’t tell her mummy is how Speedy escaped from his cage in the first place, because Hermione really isn’t too sure herself. One moment, Hermione was standing in front of the cage, imagining how soft his brown and white fur would feel, and the next, there he was, in her hands. Hermione was so surprised, she shrieked and dropped him. No one saw it happen, and once her heart had stopped racing, Hermione was sure she must have imagined it. So no, she doesn’t tell her mummy.

She also doesn’t tell her mummy about the other children, because they were not nice to her. One of them, a boy called Trevor, kept snatching her book from her hands when Mrs Woods let them use the library corner. Others jostled her in the playground. A girl named Vanessa, who has long, straight, blond hair, laughed at her teeth and called her Bugs Bunny. It made Hermione feel sad, and a bit scared. She doesn’t understand why the other children were mean, and that upsets her too. Hermione hates it when she doesn’t understand.

When Hermione’s mummy asks if she is looking forward to going back tomorrow, Hermione smiles and says yes, because she knows that is the correct answer, and Hermione always gives the correct answer. But inside, Hermione really isn’t so sure about going back at all.

-------

Hermione is eleven years old, but not for much longer. It is mid-July, and her twelfth birthday is in two months. Yesterday was her last day at primary school, and Hermione isn’t quite sure how she feels about it.

There is a lot about primary school that Hermione loved. She loved the warm, sunny, comforting library corner. She loved all her teachers. She loved the satisfaction that comes from learning a new skill, or concept, or fact. She especially loved when she knows the answer to her teacher’s question.

But, there is one thing that Hermione didn’t love at all, and that is the other children. Or, to be more precise, the way the other children made her feel. Trevor and Vanessa and the other children were not openly hostile towards her. Well, not very often anyway. Mostly, they just left her alone, which Hermione still tries to tell herself suits her fine. It doesn’t though - it just hurts. This is because Hermione is different. She isn’t like the other children, not at all, and she is painfully aware of this fact. She has tried so very hard to fit in, but never with any success. Her classmates remain as much a puzzle to her as she is to them. Hermione finds this frustrating - she hates not belonging, but not as much as she hates her own inability to understand why.

It isn’t being alone that is the problem, because Hermione is used to this. She has spent much of her life alone. Mum and dad do their best, when they are not busy with the dental practice, and Hermione is not at school. There are many fun, family days, trips to the theatre, holidays to sandy beaches, visits to historic sites - castles, battlefields and ancient woodlands. Hermione loves spending time with them. But, with no siblings, and no school friends, she inevitably spends much of her time with no company but her own.

She thinks it would bother her more if she didn’t have her books. With a book open in her lap, Hermione can lose herself entirely. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a fairytale, a detective story, an autobiography or an academic textbook, the words melt off the page and into her brain, wrapping themselves around her like the very warmest of hugs. When she reads, she almost doesn’t see the words themselves. Instead, she inhabits the worlds they create within her own mind. She sees the characters as clear as day, moving through landscapes deftly painted into her imagination with vivid prose and printer’s ink. When she reads, she is transported.

Hermione wonders how very different this will all be in September, when she starts at Secondary school. Keen to stretch her, academically, her parents have found a place for her at a very well regarded private school. None of her former classmates will be there. Hermione hopes, desperately, that she will find kinship amongst them, but she is scared that she won’t - that the differentness of her will follow her to this new school, like a shadow.

In the early afternoon, there is a knock at the door. Hermione’s dad answers it. Hermione can’t really hear the conversation at the doorstep, just two voices, her father and a woman with a voice that she does not recognise. They talk for quite a long time, until eventually, her father leads the woman into the living room. She is tall and slender, wearing a tartan skirt suit in shades of muted green. Her black hair is pulled back into the neatest bun Hermione has ever seen, and Hermione is immediately envious of how pristine it is.

Once Hermione’s mother has served everyone a nice, civilised cup of tea, the woman introduces herself as Minerva McGonagall. She tells them, in what sounds like a well practised speech, that magic is real, and that she herself is a witch. Hermione and her parents are, naturally, extremely sceptical, but the woman seems prepared for this. To prove her point, she promptly turns herself into a cat. She then turns herself back into a woman and produces a slender wooden rod from her sleeve, which she uses to repair Mrs Granger’s broken teacup and clean up the spilled tea.

After this extremely effective demonstration Minerva McGonagall explains that she is the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and that she is there to offer a place to Hermione. Hermione, it seems, is also a witch.

Hermione’s parents are sceptical of this, too, even when Professor McGonagall asks them if they have ever noticed any times when things seemed to happen around Hermione, strange things, things they could not explain. Hermione’s parents seem sure they have not, so Professor McGonagall turns to Hermione and asks her instead.

“Hermione? Can you think of any times?”

Hermione thinks back. She remembers the time that Speedy the hamster escaped from his cage, on her first day at school. She remembers the sports day when her egg and spoon suddenly became welded together after everyone laughed at her for dropping them. She remembers the Halloween when Trevor tried to scare her with a spider made of pipe cleaners, but somehow when he picked it up it was a real one, and Mrs Woods had to hit it with a shoe to stop everyone screaming.

Hermione looks at Professor McGonagall, and nods, slowly.

After an extremely long discussion, it is agreed - Hermione’s parents will turn down the place at the very well regarded private school. Instead, on September the First, Hermione will board the Hogwarts Express, bound for the Scottish Highlands, and the whole new world that awaits her there.

Conversation turns to the subject of trunks, wands, books (so many books!), cauldrons, and a hundred other details. Hermione is enthralled and excited, and tells both her parents and Professor McGonagall this. At length.

What Hermione doesn’t mention is the flicker of hope that she feels, curling up inside her, catching light in her chest. She is so, so excited. Yes, she is excited to be a witch, and yes, she is excited to begin on her journey, but these are not the only reasons. No, the other reason she is excited is because she knows. She finally has the answer. This is what makes her different, this is why she has never fitted in, this is the reason for all the mean comments and scathing glances. Well, no more. Finally, Hermione is going to belong.

Finally, Hermione understands.

-------

Hermione is twelve years old, and today she feels stupid. It isn’t a feeling that she is very familiar with, which is probably why she’s finding it so hard to deal with. Hence, she isn’t dealing with it very well. This, it seems, is the theme for the day, because Hermione has also had to accept that she was wrong, and this isn’t something that happens very often either.

Hermione was wrong, because actually, she doesn’t fit in at Hogwarts after all. She’s been here two months now, and being here is so much like being back at primary school that it makes her want to scream. Just like primary school, she loves the teachers, and the library, and learning all the new and wonderful things. And also, just like primary school, none of the other children like her at all. She doesn’t belong here, any more than she belonged back home. So she was wrong; whatever it is about her that makes her different, it clearly isn’t being a witch. She feels stupid to have thought that it would ever make a difference in the first place.

The girls, she supposes, are mostly alright. The others that share her dormitory are pleasant enough, in their own way. They aren’t openly mean to her, anyway. They just seem to have so much more in common with each other than with Hermione. She exists in their orbit without ever truly interacting with them. She is adrift, always at arm's length.

No, it’s the boys who are so much worse. Being a Gryffindor, she doesn’t have to spend too much time with Draco Malfoy and his Slytherin cronies, who, as far as she can tell, dislike her purely because her parents are dentists. But, she can’t honestly say that the boys in her own house are much better. In fact, one of them is the reason she’s spent the afternoon sitting on the loo, crying.

It was such a stupid thing, really. She was only trying to help. Hermione always wants to try her best, and she doesn’t understand why other people wouldn’t want to do the same. So, if she sees someone struggling, she’ll always try to help them improve. Today, that meant she tried to help Ron Weasley, and look what happened - he called her a nightmare, and mocked her for the very thing that haunts her the most: her lack of friends. It felt as though he had physically punched her.

She did think, for a while, perhaps he wasn’t so bad, Ron and his best friend Harry. They both seemed nice enough when she met them on the train, but then came that awful night when she tried to stop them getting into trouble for sneaking around the castle at night. She tried to explain that she was only trying to help, but it didn’t seem to matter to them, not at all. Afterwards, though, a funny thing happened, as she pelted back to the common room with the boys at her heels, running from Filch and his cat and a three-headed hell hound. Alongside her annoyance and her fear, she felt a thrill of exhilaration, a glimpse of what it was like to be one of the gang and she wondered if maybe, just maybe, this was what friendship might feel like. But, a glimpse was all it was. Now, with hindsight, that glimpse seems more cruel than any words could be, because Hermione finds herself alone, again. Worse, she’s now alone, and hundreds of miles away from her mum and dad, the only people who have ever seemed to actually like her.

Hermione sighs, and leaves her cubicle, trudging over to the sinks. Somewhere in the distance, she can hear shouting, and a distant thumping noise, but she doesn’t pay it too much attention. Instead, she gazes at the face in the mirror, blotchy and puffy, evidence of the misery she’s spent the afternoon hiding from the rest of the world. She’s missed the Halloween feast, but she doesn’t care, no matter how much her stomach rumbles.

Tomorrow, she knows, she’ll get up and start again, always trying her best, and never giving up, because it’s all she knows how to do. Right now, at this second, all she wants to do is go back to the dormitory and curl up behind the curtains of her bed, losing herself in a book; the ultimate comfort.

As the rhythmic thumping sound becomes louder, Hermione takes a deep breath. She so desperately wants to feel like she belongs, that she fits in. She desperately wants to make some friends. It’s really all she’s ever wanted, but as she stands there, gazing at her reflection in the girl's bathroom, it feels further away than ever. She wonders if it will ever happen.

Behind her, the bathroom door opens.

#ladies of hp fest #ladies of hp monthly minis #hermione granger #harry potter fanfiction

14 notes · View notes