#drop the clips nate

[hysteria-things]

ONE

ʚ♡ɞ 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 | 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 | 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 | 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 ʚ♡ɞ

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: chris x reader

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: guess who’s back in town: the sturniolo triplets. it’s for their birthday party their parents are throwing, the same party your parents force you to go to.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: swearing

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1,054

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: we’re locked in on the series, folks!

you can’t go a day without seeing something along the lines of the sturniolo triplets, and it fucking pisses you off.

your parents went to high school with theirs and were really close. your mom got pregnant with you around the same time marylou got pregnant with the triplets, your “best friends.”

the same triplets that left you months ago because of their career of being youtubers. the least they could’ve done was still message you, but no. they unfollowed you on everything.

you texted them multiple times, but all you got was one-word answers or no answer at all. as much as you didn’t want to, you stopped trying after a while because it was no use.

your parents still hang out with marylou and jimmy, sometimes even justin when he’s in town. at least you got one more best friend that you grew up with, nathan doe.

nathan is the youngest out of the four of you. nick, matt, and chris are turning twenty tomorrow and nate’s turning nineteen on the ninth. you’ve been nineteen since april, so you’re right in the middle.

you guys met him in elementary school and he was the last piece of the puzzle. you guys were even called the FOREVER FIVE, something you all made up at a sleepover in the fourth grade.

of course the three stooges didn’t drop him when they left. favoritism, i guess.

you scroll angrily on tiktok. it’s like the app senses your hatred for them and decides to put edits or clips from their videos on your for you page. this shit is definitely not for you.

then, there’s a knock on your bedroom door. “come in.” you call out, and your mother comes in. she sits on your bed and sighs. “what’s up?” you ask.

she gives you a face of sympathy, and it scares you a little. “the triplets are back in town.” she starts, and that gains your attention. “and i want you to come with me and your father to their birthday party tomorrow.”

“no.” you flat-out say. it’s no secret that your mom knows about your hatred either since you cried to her for a week straight about how they abandoned you.

“y/n, please.” your mom puts a hand on your knee. “marylou would love to see you there. she asks about you, you know. she misses you.”

frowning, you start to think. you miss her too. you never blamed her for what her sons did, but you haven’t seen her since they left. she is the sweetest lady you’ve ever met. “and they’re celebrating nate’s birthday, too. you have to at least show up for him, okay?”

you exhale sharply. “okay.”

you pull up to the party the next day with your parents, making your way to the backyard where it’s held. not a lot of people are there, just close friends and family. you scan the area at the top of the steps for nathan, getting disappointed when you don’t see him.

marylou engulfs you in a hug the moment you step on the grass. “hello, sweetheart!” she exclaims, pulling away with a big smile on her face. she places her hands on your shoulders. “how are you doing? you feeling okay?”

“i’m doing fine!” you reply in the same tone, putting on a fake smile.

“thank you so much for coming. i know it’s been a little… strange for you for the past few months. i’m sorry about that.”

“please don’t apologize. you did nothing wrong,” you say and she pulls you back in for another hug.

“if you want, the boys are standing by the chips and dip. if not, don’t be afraid to make yourself comfortable.” she points to the numerous folding tables set up.

god, you missed this woman. “i will. thank you so much.”

you walk over to the table where your parents are, placing your things down before joining them.

“twenty years old is fucking disgusting.” nick rants, dipping a chip in onion dip and popping it into his mouth.

the other two giggle. “yeah, well—” chris pauses when he turns his head and lands eyes on someone. “holy shit, guys.” he taps both of his brothers on the arm.

“look.” he continues, pointing at you from across the way when he gets his sibling’s attention. “we have to talk to her.”

“chris, no.” matt says. “do you not know that she hates us? it was shitty, what we did. that’s honestly my biggest regret.”

“we are petty losers for that.” nick chimes in.

chris crosses his arms. he would do anything to get you back into his life. there was no specific reason why they did what they did. they ghosted a lot of old friends ever since they moved to LA, and you got unlucky. “fine. if you guys won’t, i will. i want to get my best friend back.”

“chris, wait! that’s not a good idea!” the two scream at him as he starts to march over to you, who’s now pouring pepsi into a red solo cup.

you gasp out of shock when you turn around and see a brunette towering over you. “hi.” he says lowly. “i didn’t think you’d come.”

“i came for nate.” you say coldly. “where is he?”

“he has to do something before he comes.” you move over to start walking, but he steps in front of you.

“chris—”

“i’m so fucking sorry.” he apologizes. “we miss you.”

“should’ve thought of that before you woke up one day and decided to pretend i didn’t exist.”

his heart aches at your words. the three of them really are assholes. “can we just start over? please?”

“start over?” you scoff. “we can’t start over after all of that. i practically known you since birth, and you want to start over?”

“y/n, i’m—”

you peek over his shoulder and cut him off. “nate’s here.” you eventually get out of his way and start to head over to nate, but stop and turn back around.

there’s a hint of hope in chris that you changed your mind, but he was wrong. “i kept the note.”

he furrows his eyebrows. “what note?”

ouch.

you laugh to yourself. of course, he doesn’t remember. “never mind. happy birthday.” you mumble, walking off into the crowd.

𝐭𝐚𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭!

@bunbunbl0gs @lexisecretaccx @thy-mission @angelic-sturniolos111 @sophssturn @mattsneezing @janiellasblog @blahbel668 @meg-sturniolo @hearts4chris @mattslolita @sturnbaby @imwetforyourmom @tillies33ssss @sturnifyed @mayhem-72 @ripmattitude @p1xieswrld @alorsxsturn @txssvx @sttzee @multiluvr @delilahprentiss @matthewsspecial @idkhowtosleep @sturniolho

#chris sturniolo #matt sturniolo #nick sturniolo #nicolas sturniolo #matthew sturniolo #christopher sturniolo #sturniolo x reader #sturniolo imagine #sturniolo fanfic #sturniolo smut #sturniolo fluff #chris sturniolo fanfic #chris sturniolo smut #matt sturniolo fanfic #matt sturniolo smut #matt sturniolo fluff #chris sturniolo fluff #[ ✿ ] promise?

[m4ttsturn]

my brother's best friend (part 2)

Pt 1 Pt 3 Pt 4

pairing: Matt Sturniolo x y/n

summary: you find yourself falling for your brother's best friend

warnings: swearing, mentions of losing virginity

a/n: the first part is just the first day you met Matt, so you really don't have to read it. hope you enjoy (not proofread)

· · ─── ·𖥸· ─── · ·

(now)

"hey," Nate knocks on my door, "we're all going to the beach, you wanna come?" "sure, who all is going?" I ask him "it's Me, Nick, Matt, Chris, and you can invite a couple of your friends if you want" he responds. "ok, just give me like 25 minutes and we can head out" he nods and leaves the room.

I get up and call my friend Quinn, telling her to meet me at the beach. After I get off the phone I put on my bikini and a set of clothes over it. In a bag I pack a towel, sunscreen, my hairbrush, sunglasses, and a claw clip. I slip on a pair of tennis shoes and leave my bedroom.

"Nate I'm ready to go" he gets up from the couch and grabs his keys off the table. "alright, let's go". I hop into the passenger seat of his car, plugging my phone into the aux. we chat lightly, music filling whatever silence there may be as we make our way to the beach.

Once we arrive the triplets are already there, walking up to Nate's car. "dude what took you so long?" Matt questions. "sorry man I had to wait on y/n to get ready", they all turn to me and I just shrug. they all make their way down to the beach, caught up in their own conversation. Nick turns around once he realizes that I'm not following. "Yo y/n, you comin'?" "I'll meet you guys down there, I'm waiting on Quinn" he nods, giving me a small wave goodbye before turning back around and catching up to the others.

it takes about 5 minutes for Quinn to get here, she walks over to me and we start making our way to the beach. once we get there we lay our towels down on the sand next to where the boys set their stuff, and take off our cover clothing. my eyes find Matt, watching as he takes off his shirt, the sun perfectly illuminating his skin. my heart flutters.

"y/n, are you even listening to me" Quinn asks. I turn my head to hers, snapping out of the moment. "uh- what, sorry" "I was saying that its crazy you're 18 and still haven't lost your virginity" my face flushes at her comment "I know, I know, I just haven't been interested in anyone really" "the only reason you're not interested in anybody is because you've had a crush on Matt since like 7th grade" she practically screams. "Quinn!" I push her gently "keep your voice down" I look at her, and then look to Matt, only to find him already staring at me.

"fuck, I think he heard you" I speak, "no way he did, he's literally 20ft away from us" she sighs "look all I'm saying is if your so hung up on him, just ask him to take it. He's been with girls before, so you know he has experience, and he's hot". I whip my head towards her as she's speaking. I think for a moment then I shake my head, "Quinn, you know I can't do that, he's one of Nate's best friends" I say defeated.

our conversation changes, bouncing from topic to topic as the hours pass by. we continue to lay on our towels, the warm sun tanning our skin. the feeling calms me, lulling me to sleep. When I'm woken up, Matt's running towards the water with me in his arms. "Matt what the fuck, put me down" I scream at him. "if you say so" he smiles before dropping me into the water. "this is so uncool" I try to be mad at him but I just end up laughing, he laughs with me.

not long after, something grazes my leg "something just touched me!" I jump onto Matt, attempting to get away from it. "chill out y/n, it's just seaweed" he laughs. once I realize that I'm not in any danger, I take in my sudden closeness to Matt. my legs are around his waist, and my arms are wrapped tightly over his shoulders. I blush at the feeling of our bodies pressed together, I look into Matt's eyes, glancing down at his lips quickly before looking back up.

Matt also seems to notice how close we are and he stops laughing. he looks down at me, licking his lips, before looking over my shoulder. Nate is standing a few feet away from us with his back turned. he sets me down gently before turning away and running his hand down his face.

"sorry, I probably shouldn't have jumped on you like that, I was just scared" I attempt to apologize, wanting to get rid of the tension that's now formed between us. "it's alright, wouldn't want anything happening to Nate's little sister." he gives me a half-smile.

his words hit me like a slap to the face, reminding me that I shouldn't have feelings towards one of Nate's best friends. "uh, I'm gonna go grab some snacks, you want any?" I ask, trying to rid myself of the pit that's begun to form in my stomach. Matt shakes his head. I nod, turning to get out of the water. once I make it to the sand, I glance back at Matt, only to see him watching me. he seems to snap out of it, shaking his head to himself as he walks over to Nate and his brothers.

· · ─── ·𖥸· ─── · ·

a/n: I'm not sure how I feel about this part tbh

#matt sturniolo #matthew sturniolo #chris sturniolo #christopher sturniolo #nick sturniolo #nicolas sturniolo #sturniolo triplets #sturniolo fanfic #sturniolo x reader #nathan doe #nate doe

[life-winners-liveblog]

(( Hihi it’s me, the person who gave the “nicest threat” returns, just wanna say rq that everytime i come back to tumblr, this is one of the first things I check and EVERYTIME I DO, I KEEP GETTING JUMPSCARED BY MUCH HAPPENED SINCE I LEFT- Anyways You are amaaaaazing yes ik i already said that but that’s bc it’s true <3

Anyways I’ll actually interact with the winners for once ))

-[ Heeeellloo hello hello! Social anxiety is consuming me once again but nevertheless, y’all can call mee… *pulls out a list..* Nate. Y’all can call me Nate- cause this is my first time talkin to y’all but I have been observing for a while,,,

and FOR THE NEW GUEST BAD MAD SAD BOY JIMMY SOLIDARITYGAMING! our favourite canary, ima send him two whole packet of marshmallows, feel free to share them with everyone else! Or gatekeep it for yourself, up to you.. ima riot if the two observing steal them- aND also ima give Scott & Grian a bunch of plants/flowers bc i can, Pearl.. have a book & a pencil case full of stationeries And for martyn.. *gives him a note that reads* “you get nothing <3” *immediately after, another note drops* “ jk have these, choose your favourite! Share if you want but knowing you, you probably won’t “ proceeding to drop him a bunch of hair clips of different variants

Turning over to the two observers, don’t think I forgot about you even though I just mentioned you guys literally a paragraph ago.. Scar you can have my keychain collection, you seem like the typa guy to like keychains idk why, Scott you don’t get shit cause respectfully.. fuck you <3 ]

(( WOW THATS LONG! Sorry not sorry for that <3 but I am sorry if it’s difficult to read,, Im very tired rn & my brain is not braining! ))

(Aw thank you so much!!!! :D)

LimL!Jimmy: Marshmallows?!?! ✨✨

Scott:... Well that was an emotional 180, It's giving me quite a bit of whiplash... Also thank you for the flowers they are quite nice.

~~~~~~~

Grian: Plants? hmmmmm, we can use these on the base don't you think? Maybe if we put them over there or... Maybe up next to the lighthouse? We could make a garden somewhe-... Are you even listening?

Pearl: Oh, yeah sure.

Grian: What was I saying then?

Pearl:... Something...something...plants...?

Grian:....

~~~~~~~~

Martyn:... I am going to share them just to spite you because screw you.

#asks #trafficblr #traffic series #grian #scott smajor #pearlescentmoon #martyn inthelittlewood #author answers #Ohhh keychains!! #/You are like a puppy... It's just a keychain why-/ #Shut up you are mad they didn't give you anything #/Ah! As if I care/ #/I don't need their garbage/ #That's what someone jealous would say

[nelkenbabe]

Wayhaven WIP:

While hanging out in the living room, Nate once again encourages the Detective to put more effort into the improvement of her and Rebecca’s relationship. Unfortunately, he has to learn that goodwill is not all it takes. Set sometime during Book 2

"It's fine," Erin said casually, but with an undercurrent of finality.

Nate peered at her, slightly discomforted by the way she closed off ever so slowly. The silence didn't feel as amiable as before. Concerned that his words hadn’t been taken as intended, he decided to venture forth once more. Perhaps his tone hadn’t been well-meaning enough.

"I hope you two will continue to improve your relationship. I know the distance may seem insurmountable at times, but your mother loves you very much."

The reaction was so instantaneous that Nate almost flinched. Erin tensed under his arm, her blood pressure spiked, and a distinct scent of stress suddenly wafted off the detective. It took a moment to taste it on his tongue and identify not only anger, but fear, and in that moment Erin had already pushed herself off the couch. 

For two long seconds she simply stood there facing him, facial muscles frozen, her chest expanding and deflating at a rapid pace. Her lips opened, something on the verge of falling out, something crucial. Then she pressed them back together.

"I better get going," Erin finally said in a tone that was all-too-reminiscent of Adam, and Nate’s face fell.

Because with Adam, his clipped responses never meant the end of anything but the conversation. Regardless of how often they would disagree on something, his and Nate’s friendship remained untouched. There was a security there that he had thought he had with the detective as well, until now. And the sense of her potentially slipping through his fingers had a slick fear gliding through his belly, constricted his throat.

He rose from the couch slowly, smoothly, while Erin darted over to the table to grab her bag. She had trouble expressing her feelings, she’d told him so. But now she didn’t seem to trust him enough to meet his eye, and this hurt most of all.

“Erin,” he called out softly once her fingers clenched around the deep red strap of her leather satchel.

He could hear the way her heart skipped a beat, indicating that she’d heard him. She turned in a tightly controlled whirl, a strained smile on her lips that reminded him of Rebecca.

Talk to me. Tell me what I’ve done wrong.

“It was nice,” Erin said, voice softer than the stiffness in her stance would suggest. “Thanks for hanging out with me, Nate. I’ll see you soon.”

And then, with a deep inhale that she would not release, Erin started towards the door to leave the living room, pulling the mobile phone from the pocket of her jeans. 

I can tell you of the love you will share. Of a love so strong it may survive eternities. Of comfort. Of passion. Of truth.

Nate finally started to feel his limbs again. He couldn’t let her walk out on this note. Couldn’t bear to spend a day or more apart wondering if he’d irreversibly broken what they’d been building. If she would ever look at him with precious candidness again.

Just as Erin had exited the living room, he heard her exhale and sped after her.

“Erin, wait!” 

Look at me. 

She turned, the expression in her eyes weary and knuckles pale where her hand clenched over her phone. But she did return his gaze.

“I-” Nate’s mouth grew dry before he composed himself. “I didn’t mean to overstep. Your relationship with Rebecca is yours alone. As someone who cares for both of you, I simply meant to offer some support. Forgive me. I didn’t know this was such a sensitive topic for you.”

To his absolute relief, the air around the detective immediately lost some of its acidic tasting static. Her shoulders dropped immediately, her head tilted back, and her breath and pulse both slowed. She gave a short nod. Averted her eyes. Hesitated. Focused her gaze back on him.

“I don’t like talking to you guys about Rebecca,” Erin said, speaking in a slow and measured manner. 

Nate had noticed this way of speaking a few times now, and suspected she adopted it when she wanted to express herself with the utmost accuracy. 

This can be salvaged.

With renewed hope, Nate stepped closer, a warm, careful smile playing about his lips.

“May I ask why?” he asked, low, so the rest of Unit Bravo wouldn’t overhear too much.

It took Erin a while to reply. She simply looked at him, the same as she had after jumping off the couch, as if she were measuring how well he’d take her thoughts. Previously, he must have left her wanting. This time, he hoped she would reconsider.

“Because,” she began, “I feel like you guys think my issues with Rebecca just come from her lying about her job, and that’s not true. I don’t wanna put myself on a pedestal, but I think I handled myself well enough when I found out about the supernatural world.”

Nate choked his instinct to jump in and validate, lest the interruption cause Erin to break off. And sure enough, the more she talked, the more the tension in her jaw eased.

“My issue is that after I learned about everything, she told me we’d work on our relationship. No more lies or secrets, as long as it wasn’t something classified or whatever. But everything else I learn about supernaturals, or the Agency, I still learn by complete accident while everything is already going down the drain, and only cause I remember to ask questions. And even then I am sometimes blown off, like how nobody wanted to tell me what Trappers are.”

A pang of guilt hit Nate squarely in the chest when he remembered Adam’s dismissal of her question. He hadn’t even registered it in the moment.

“And then,” Erin continued, picking up the pace, “I learn, basically in a subclause, that my father knew about all this and was also a human liaison for the Agency.”

Her gaze shot up and fixed him with heated intensity, as though willing him to understand the urgency of that revelation. 

“Two months,” she said, voice wavering. “Two months, I barely hear from her, or anyone. Cause you’re all busy, I know. But she couldn’t make time to meet me once and fill me in on things she kept from me as a kid? About our family? 

“Do you realize that you’ve probably had more conversations with her in the last ten years than I had with her between the ages of ten and twenty? I spent more time with neighbors that I’d go to after school than my mother, cause she was never home. I had to teach myself how to cook and forge her signature for report cards and other documents cause she was never home. At age 15 I was running around town until after midnight and got picked up by cops, cause all I had at home was silence. 

“And I was willing to leave all that behind us, cause now I know the reason and Rebecca said we’d work on it. I’m not just holding a petty grudge for the hell of it, Nate. Nothing’s changed. She’s made no effort to fill the blanks. All she’s done is tell me she doesn’t want me to die. And she does this when all of Unit Bravo is around, too, where I have to choose between pretending everything is fine, or having you guys think I’m being a bitch for no reason. I’m sorry. But I think I deserve better.” 

Erin took a deep breath. 

“And I didn’t wanna talk about it because I know you guys love her. I didn’t want to put you in this spot where you could feel like you have to pick a side.”

Something in Nate melted, and before he could stop himself he closed the rest of the distance between them. The fingers of his right hand laced in hers, and he gingerly lifted his left to touch her cheek. She leaned into it as if almost by instinct, and he had to remind himself to breathe. 

She still felt safe around him. That was all he could ever need.

“It’s kind of you to worry about us,” he said gently, and watched the frown on Erin’s face smoothe over. Grimness gave way to grief. “I didn’t realize the situation was so complicated. And I’m sorry all of us weren’t diligent about keeping you in the loop. Believe me, I wanted to. Very much so, in fact.”

A soft, tired laugh escaped Erin that caused a tug in Nate’s chest. But she tipped her head forward and rested it against him.

“Yeah,” it came muffled from somewhere below Nate’s chin, “would have been nice to not feel like I was dropped off the face of the earth right after being mauled by a vampire.”

Nate frowned.

“That was not the intention. R-”

Erin’s head snapped back up.  A chill wound down Nate’s spine when he realized the mistake he had just committed.

“Rebecca said what?” Erin asked sharply. 

A little part of Nate had to almost laugh at how quickly she had pieced his choked off sentence together. And he might have. If he didn’t have the distinct feeling that he had just put himself in the exact situation that Erin had not-so-tactfully tried to avoid in the first place.

“Ah… she said… it would be best to give you space to heal after everything that happened,” he admitted after a few seconds. “To adjust.”

Anger flashed over her face, just for the briefest of seconds. Then she let go of Nate’s hand to raise both of hers to palm her face. A mix between a scoff and a bitter laugh came muffled through her fingers before she inhaled deeply and dropped her hands again.

“Do me a favor, please, going forward,” she said with a slightly ironic undertone, “and don’t ever assume that Rebecca knows what’s best for me.” 

“Done,” Nate replied.

“She really thought that after everything, I wanted radio silence from you guys?” Incredulousness was poured into every word. “The only people who could understand what-... what happened that night? The absolutely insane few weeks I’ve had? All of it, and I was alone afterwards. Without so much as a phone call from Farah. I thought you guys were busy with cleaning up the mess so I didn’t want to be a nuisance. But the longer I didn’t hear anything, the more I thought you had changed your minds about wanting to work with me, cause I was human and too squishy or something. Rebecca has no idea who I am or what I want. What I wanted was to see you.” 

Erin paused, holding her breath again for a long moment. Then she added, voice small and just barely above a whisper: “I-... I wanted to see you, Nate.”

#nelke writes #twc #the wayhaven chronicles #twc fanfic #n sewell #nate sewell #twc detective #erin

[fallinallincurls]

can i possibly ask for an erik johnson blurb from prompt list #1 with prompt #16 which is “"he treats me well-" "okay good for you." "- but he isn't you."” I WOULD DIE 🥹🥹🥹

thank you for the request ah!! i had fun writing this one!

it wasn't supposed to be like this. you thought you were going to marry erik, move into his house in california, travel the world and start a family. but when it all came crashing down and those dreams turned to dust, only one person was there.

nathan.

you didn't expect to fall in love with him so quickly. especially not so soon after the heartbreak and misery that your relationship with erik had caused. and although there might've been a time where you would've felt guilty about dating his teammate right after, you don't feel that now. erik is across the country playing in buffalo and probably has no idea you're even with nate.

that is until the sabres come to denver to play the avs.

you know most of the guys are going out to dinner with erik the night before the game to catch up with an old friend. and despite nate's devotion to you, erik is still one of his closest friends. you decide to be friendly if you see him and luckily escape dropping nate off at the restaurant without seeing a glimpse of the tall blonde haired man you used to love.

you go out with some of the girls and get your mind off the raging emotions rolling through you and the millions of thoughts and memories that haven't died down since this morning. you feel confident you might not see him at all, but when you park the car outside the restaurant to wait for nate, your heart sinks.

outside, by himself, is no one else but erik.

you gather all your courage and take a deep breath as you step out of the car to approach him. there's no way he doesn't know about you and nate now so you decide the best thing to do is to clear the air. get some closure and finally move on.

before you can say anything, let alone an apology, erik starts speaking.

"nate told me. i had no idea. but i'm happy for you." although the words are supposed to be encouraging, erik's voice is flat and monotone giving away how he truly feels about the situation. the need to defend yourself arises, but so done a realization that you hadn't come to terms with until this very second.

"he treats me well-" you start before being abruptly cut off.

"okay good for you." erik says in a clipped tone. those familiar blue eyes that used to be full of adoration for you are now icy and cold.

"- but he isn't you."

erik is stunned for a moment, processing what you just admitted. that after everything, all the heartbreak and pain, you missed him. you still loved him even though you were with his friend. and knowing that nate could never compare gives erik a small dose of satisifaction.

"i still love you too. and miss you more than anything. but a lot has to happen if you want to give us another chance." erik states, a glimmer of hope in his gaze. and before you can respond, tell him that you want him back, that you would do anything to be his again, nate comes out onto the street with a beaming smile on his face.

"my two favorite people! ej, everyone is looking for you. and y/n, do you want to stay? it shouldn't be much longer."

just like that, the moment has passed. but you catch erik glancing back at you as a reminder of what just happened.

#asks #ask bre #my lovely mutuals #bre's 4 year tumblraversary! #erik johnson #erik johnson blurb #erik johnson blurbs #erik johnson fic #erik johnson fics #nhl fic #nhl fics #nhl imagines #nathan mackinnon #nathan mackinnon blurbs #nathan mackinnon fic

[chainofclovers]

Ted Lasso 3x1 Thoughts

I’m going to continue my largely disorderly disorganized deranged within-12-to-24-hours-of-watching-the-ep-the-first-time Ted thoughts, as always reserving the right to add on once I’ve seen more and processed more! But let’s face it, I save my coherency for fiction and this is gonna be scattered as ever. The episodes dropping at 9 p.m. my time may end up making me more insane; I’ll have time to think before I’m ready to go to sleep, and then my sleep patterns will be interrupted by thinking more, I’ll wake up too early because I need to think more, and this fandom experience will continue to be unparalleled and ridiculous.

(Side note: I’ve been avoiding screener spoilers but I have read some reviews that are vaguely spoiler-y for the first four episodes of the show and I’ve also consumed a decent amount of press tour stuff that includes actors and writers talking a bit about the overall arc. I’m going to try to focus each of these posts on the episode that’s just aired and anything that came before it. If some speculation slips in, it’ll be just that—speculation, mildly spoiler-informed but not majorly spoiler-informed.)

First shot - last shot will be TED! The star of Ted Lasso! Seeing his stubbly spaced-out face, eyes like wells of endless sadness, I was just like……..yes. Here we go. Ted is back.

Henry looks so much older! Even though I think he’s basically eight years old in canon assuming he was about Phoebe’s age back when Phoebe was six. I think the conversational timings between him and Ted feel more natural than they did in past seasons and that makes me happy because Henry is clearly gonna be a major part of this whole season.

LEGOS. The contrast between the touristy London Lego set they do in s1 to the custom Nelson Road creation they come up with together, showing that Henry has gotten to know the people in Ted’s community in London?!?! I love that vehicle for showing the familiarity Henry now has with his father’s life, with people he’s presumably gotten to spend real time with too. And I absolutely loved that in that initial clip with Rebecca, Higgins, and Ted, Ted kind of expresses surprise at how he said what he said about winning “the whole fucking thing” and downplays his memories, but then at the end of the episode we have Henry telling his father he’s there to “win the whole thing.” I continue to absolutely love everything this show does with audience knowledge vs. character knowledge. Dramatic irony at its finest!

Speaking of dramatic irony and the tragedy of audience knowledge surpassing character knowledge…Nate Shelley, I love you forever. Everything with the car was so heartbreaking (Rupert’s control over him! Sounds familiar!?!), as is everything about the coldness he exhibits to his colleagues, his meanness with the players, his nervous desperation with Rupert, his panic symptoms at the presser, and his continued obsession with social media as a reflection for how successful or unsuccessful he is at any given moment. I absolutely love that everyone at AFC Richmond has their own Nate feelings, but Rupert is the true villain here.

Ted has learned some things about football, thank the lord. (And he learned more in part by playing FIFA with his son, who believes in his ability to win the whole thing.) I love all the ways the nature of competition has gotten more progressively complicated each season. I love the way it’s personal for Rebecca in both valid ways that she needs Ted to understand and respond to (that scene where she keeps referring to singular “he” Rupert instead of the “they” that is West Ham combined with the scene where it gets more emotional and she has that same conversational slippage but it’s to convey to Ted that she needs him fighting for her and the team? GOD), and in ways that speak to her own non-linear progress but mostly forward progress. I love that Roy is nervous about needing to step up tactically, and I love that we can’t quite tell if the “tried and true and solid” approach will net the same kind of success they could expect with Nate in that role. I love the constant presence yet slight emotional distance of Beard and that we still don’t know how his personal life is going to intersect with his professional life this season (beyond the Ted of it all). I love that the players are learning to put Ted’s emotional lessons into practice on their own.

Taking your entire team down the London sewers because you want to feel closer to your son as he flies away from you and constructing an entire poop metaphor to make it worth everyone’s while and then getting in trouble with your boss over it but that actually revealing a new layer of emotional vulnerability and mutual understanding that’s been missing between the two of you for a while even though you’re still fundamentally questioning your presence in the life you’ve presumably chosen for yourself is actually something that can be so personal.

I’m obsessed with how not over Michelle he is, and how Henry not having his own phone means the messages are still transmitting through his parents and that just makes everything kind of messy and poignant.

For a while in the 40 years leading up to s3, I was really convinced Ted would stay in London after the conclusion of s3/their first season back in the PL because part of his journey would need to be about finding his own home on his own terms and figuring out how his self-worth slots into a community he’s helped build but that has also helped build him. Then I spent a long time convinced he’d need to return to Kansas for basically the exact same reasons…everyone’s changed including him, and it’s time for him to reprioritize and return to his son’s home. After seeing 3x1, I no longer have super strong feelings one way or another because the existential questions Ted is asking are so much more at the forefront of the text than I thought they would be. He’s so uncertain of his worth in 3x1 but also clearly focused on making progress (the phone call with Sharon was soooo good and funny!?!), and I didn’t expect to feel like part of Ted was almost ready to go on and leave London now, one plane behind Henry. But that’s the feeling I got. But his conversations with Rebecca, Henry, and to a lesser extent Beard have me feeling that there’s a good chance he’s going to recommit to his job for this season and that the decision of whether or not to leave after that will be a bit more woven into the episodes rather than something he contemplates privately. I no longer have strong opinions on what I want most to happen because I’m so excited to just see it unfold.

KEELEY. She schedules time to cry! She double-booked Rebecca! Rebecca calls crying an orgasm for the soul! I love everything about them, including how full and wordy and familiar and intimate their conversational patterns are. Like Rebecca throwing in that she’s started eating meat again; the pacing of their conversations is so well-done because it actually realistically covers multiple topics the way they’d be doing whenever they pick things up.

It’s such a good contrast to the similarly realistic conversations Beard and Ted have, which tend to be a bit less wordy despite their closeness. Also, Ted showing up for work after another goodbye with Henry and having another “pet names” moment?! But this time he just goes on ahead and calls Beard “sweetie pie”? I’m here for it.

The stiltedness of Roy and Keeley with Phoebe! My heart! I love that Keeley has to hold herself back from expressing awareness about how scared Roy is about work stuff. The decision for them to have broken up over the summer and be on different pages about what that means is perfect and delicious and I love it and I love them.

My favorite scene this episode—by far—was Ted’s press conference. Rebecca needs him to step it up and communicates that with an intensity that differs from their previous conversation about West Ham’s pronouns. It feels more angry, more personal. I love the choices he makes in the press conference for what they reveal about where he’s healed and where he’s unhealed. I love that his first press conference in 1x1 was a complete disaster that Rebecca rescued him from even if she put him in that terrible situation in the first place. I love that Ted’s self-roast has echoes of Nate’s very successful roast of the team in 1x7. In both situations, Ted and Nate are bringing a blend of preparedness and the spontaneity that comes from feeding off a crowd’s energy. In Nate’s presser for West Ham, it’s his turn to panic, and he might manage to pull off the pretty pathetic joke about Ted being “shitty” but it’s clear that it’s far from his finest work. I love that Rebecca is starting to soften during the presser with Ted, but it’s Keeley’s (professional) opinion that she’s doing the right thing by letting Ted be Ted that allows her to fully relax into the way he’s working the crowd. I love that we know how much he’s struggling with his value as a coach, father, and human being. I love that this adds a layer of tragedy to his jokes about mental health. I love the kinda iffy decision to say he’s had a bunch of psychotic episodes when that is completely incorrect because it leaves space for the Twin Peaks reference and shows that he’s willing to cross the boundaries of accuracy and the earnestness with which he approached the mental health conversation before to just…organically respond to the energy of the crowd and do whatever it takes to shift the focus. I love that Ted and Rebecca are both correct in their feelings.

I am disappointed in myself because I think I could say far more articulate things about the press conferences, but it’s just too many feelings at once!

Press for s3 has been a rollercoaster, and I’ve been feeling soooo many things about the many unknowns related to stuff I care about. I have my predictions and feelings about it all, but the overarching feeling I have right now is about how last night’s episode was a great reminder that watching TV show Ted Lasso is the best way to get information about TV show Ted Lasso. 3x1 was an incredibly strong opener that confidently reacquaints the threads that were braided together in s1, then unraveled in s2. If s1 was about joy and connection with the lurking of dark shadows from without and within, and s2 was mostly shadow with the light moments feeling very separate from the dark core (to the point of feeling intentionally tonally uncomfortable), then I think s3 is going to be about the way dark and light are always together, all the time, forever, and what we can do with that reality.

#ted lasso #ted lasso 3x1 #ted lasso meta #ted lasso s3 spoilers #meta by me #hot dork club

[time-is-restored]

fellas that last ted lasso episode. hmm.

listen i'll be real no matter what im gonna be out here gushing abt trent crimm cause he's my special little guy and im obsessed with him, but considering the Literal Paragraphs ive been writing abt all the shit i LIKED about the show, i didn't know how else to process these Less Good emotions than by blurting it all out over like two hours (instead of doing the dishes, lmao).

tldr; s3e2 was such an emotional high point for me, since i really felt like it had something concrete + specific to say about physical violence + social/emotional violence, and how they're BOTH highly valued as masculine ideals. but the episodes since then...

it kind of feels like im watching the result of a long and bloody fight between different writers? writers who, apparently, wanted Very different things from this last season, so now we're getting this. bizarro world mish-mash of two hypothetical shows, where tone + content + themes vary WILDLY and inconsistently from episode to episode - and even scene to scene!

[cw: discussions of sexism + racism, in a doylist context, also s3e5 spoilers]

specifically, i feel really disappointed and hurt that they went that direction with shandy's arc. i understand that we're only half way through the season, and obviously anything could happen between now and then but... really? like, is there some kind of budgeting issue here? we can't afford for there to be more than three (complex, not sexy lamps) women in any given episode? is that why the second jack appears, barbara loses any depth (what happened to that lovely moment of connection with the snow globes????????), and THEN the second SHANDY goes off her head it's. jack time? apparently???? like. this would feel a lot better as a viewer if at this point the show hadn't PRIMED me for jack doing something insanely stupid + cruel for no reason except 'haha Keeley Bad At Her Job'.

like. the first thing we see of shandy fine is her pride in keeley, and genuine appreciation of her hard work and skill. she's CLEARLY not stupid, otherwise why would the rest of her introductory scene be her helping keeley out with filmmaking advice (the extras thing) AND random, life experience shit (knowing how to deal with goat shit)?? she knows her way around a set, and she doesn't make any of the footballers feel judged, even when she's clearly thrown by the clips they're providing her.

so why in the space of like, barely a few weeks, does ALL of that get thrown out the window? 'condoms for balls'??? why are we supposed to just take for granted that she's stupid + overly ambitious (other than the Fucking Obvious!) when the show put NO effort into actually setting that up???? like, if her first scene was her monstrously fucking UP the shoot for keeley, and keeley hired her on pure sympathy then like. sure. whatever. no room for bleeding hearts in business. but that ALSO sucks as a story line for ted lasso, a show that (according to its OWN press releases!) is supposed to be about kindness and human connection and breaking cycles!

it just. it hurts? in a way where its like, i don't believe even a little bit that this was what the writers were aiming for with those scenes, and it frightens me that there could be such a wide gulf between intent and result. especially when bonding about The Shandy Incident is what got keeley and jack together (which i am trying... So hard to feel positive about, because explicitly confirming keeley's bisexuality is amazing, least of all bc it makes her jokes with rebecca feel a lot less mean-spirited on the writers' parts, retroactively)... like how am i supposed to be enjoying their moments together when i feel like the show's whole premise has been betrayed???

and really? the one moment nate gets to feel good in this WHOLE season, it's bc the server at the restaurant who previously could not care if he dropped dead right in front of him showed him some affection + validation?????

like, sure, i GUESS im happy that this random excuse for an arc has lead to a slightly more sympathetic female character existing at least in the PERIPHERY of the show's main storyline, except no im fucking not? i don't care about this fucking restaurant, and even though ive been DESPERATELY trying not to hate jade (even though the writers themselves can't seem to decide if she's Literally Racist or just a depressed service worker) NATE shouldn't care about jade! the ONLY way i can see this being an actually interesting arc for nathan is if its another exploration of his inability to leave behind the things + people that have hurt him, combined with years of conditioning where he's never allowed to express being annoyed/upset at anyone (which richmond!!! contributed to!!!!!! 'if you're mad, count to ten. if that doesn't work, count again'??? cool speedrun tips for resentment ted!). like, an arc where we see that distance away from richmond hasn't helped nate as much as it's removed some of the worst triggers, so a taste of athens ends up in the same awful pit of resentment + loathing as ted did. which nate clearly hates! he doesn't LIKE being that person! he apologised to a PAINTED DOLL of ted!!!! but when he doesn't have the framework or tools or SUPPORT to do anything else...

like. where is his team? obviously im not expecting the show to start being about a bunch of football players that AREN'T from richmond but? even just a small moment of appreciation? or hell! maybe they hate him! if we could see LITERALLY ANYTHING abt the sport which nathan has dedicated his life to, and how his Actual Coaching style is positively or negatively impacted by the lessons he learned at richmond? this is a show ABOUT football!!!!!

i just. a taste of athens? again? a-fucking-gain?????

and honestly, the worst part is that i REALLY liked the little monologue that nate got to give about how important the restaurant was to him! as much as it showed that nate is still just as passionate + earnestly defensive of the things he loves, it ALSO shows that he 1. spends that energy explaining his passion to people who don't deserve it/won't care, and 2. gets attached to things that really fucking hurt him! and like. i am on my hands and KNEES for that to be the 'point' of this arc but at this point i feel like that's me being naive! but if fucking JADE from fucking ATHENS is the civilising white gf who FINALLY talks nate down from him ~ ignorant, vengeful crusade ~ against the absolute ~ matyrs ~ of goodness at afc richmond, i just. like. what are we even DOING here gang?

i don't know. it hurts that sam's gone from being an almost principal character in s2 to only getting passing lines in s3. it hurts that rebecca's off in her own world, talking to strangers, having life-changing revelations on her own, surrounded by sets we're never going to see again, where every scene she DOES get to spend w one of the richmond members feels hasty and rushed, like the episode wants to get a few characters obligatory appearances out of the way asap. it hurts that all the chekov's guns around zava's arc (jamie's resentment, ted's lack of guidance, dani being 'demoted' + colin being benched) were apparently all just blanks, to be hastily plastered over with one big long speech about... ted wanting everyone to have higher self esteem, or something?

and listen, more the fool me if another episode comes out next week that i completely adore, and i spend like five days singing its praises. im mostly writing this so i can go INTO the next ep without feeling resentful + upset! i'll be STOKED if i was wrong and all of those little details ARE actually important, and these arcs have more to them than this! but for now im just sad and annoyed :(

#ted lasso spoilers #ted lasso critical #<- this tag has like five posts in it total so i sincerely doubt anyone here needs it but i also Definitely don't want it showing up in the #main tag so??? fr pls lmk if anyone needs a specific tag for this #also. i swear im gonna stop malding and go to bed any minute now but #would rlly love if we got more than one episode dedicated to keeley doing her job. would love if we got more than one episode of ANY of #these characters doing their jobs?? hey what the fuck it just hit me there's been no training scenes since ep 1 #(not counting jamie + roy since that's JUST jamie and roy - not all the coaches and not all the team) #like . remember how that's how ted won over the players to begin with? his coaching style? and how energetic + involved + earnest he was? #the way he ran laps WITH the team and then made a joke out of how they all beat him? #its just. lots of telling and not showing this season which im really hoping changes soon

[aquilacalvitium]

Hey, I really liked learning about Nate from you. I also would like to hear about FNAF if you're up for it? I like the art I see around for it, especially the Sun and Moon boy, but have never really engaged passed that. I know it's based on a horror game which is Not something I've got the guts to play 😅 but I'd love to hear about the story of it and about the characters if you'd like to talk about them?

OH HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE

Gif from FNAF The Musical

Now I'm letting you know right off the bat that this post is very long. Much longer than my infodump about Nate. If it's too much I don't expect you to go out of your way to read it all.

I've explained the first three games and will explain the rest in a reblog :)

That means if you wanna know about the Sun and Moon boy, that'll be in a reblog too since they're very recent characters.

So if you rely know nothing about FNAF then I'm going to start with the fact that it does involve child murder. We never see anything on screen, but it's pretty obvious that it's happening/has happened. And of the very few gruesome events they actually show, they're all in 8-bit so it's just like a few red pixels.

I hope you're buckled in because I'm about to walk you through ALL OF THE GAMES FROM BEGINNING TO END. Also I'm not the best with lore, I'm not very smart, but I'm going to explain it to the best of my knowledge which considering how complex this franchise is, that's all anyone can really do.

FNAF 1

A small indie game called Five Nights at Freddy's drops suddenly on the 8th of August in 2014 and immediately blows up. This game was a last-ditch attempt by developer Scott Cawthon to create a successful game after several previous failed attempts. His previous game had recieved some negative feedback with reviewers saying his characters moved like "creepy aniamtronics", so he ran with the idea and made a game centred around creepy animatronics.

You play as a night guard keeping an eye on the four animatronics in this Chuck E. Cheese style pizzeria: Foxy the pirate fox, Chica the chicken, Bonnie the bunny and Freddy Fazbear. You're informed that the characters wander at night to stop their servos from locking up and that if they see you, they'll think you're an animatronic endoskeleton with no suit and will try to stuff you inside one. Now considering those suits are full of metal and electronics that would crush you to death, that's not really something you want to happen. So you must ration your limited battery power to keep an eye on where the animatronics are in the building and closing the doors to your office to keep them out. As the week goes on, the animatronics get more and more aggressive with only Bonny and Chica active at first, then Foxy joining in and eventually Freddy himself.

Now on it's surface this is already pretty scary, but then you realise weird newspaper clippings starting to appear on the walls in the cameras. A close-up look at these clippings tell the news story of five children going missing at Freddy Fazbear's. A suspect was caught but discharged due to no evidence being found. Papers dated a little later talk about complaints from restaurant patrons that the animatronics are starting to stink and weird fluids are oozing out of them.

While it's never officially stated, it's made pretty obvious to the player that the five children who went missing were killed and stuffed inside the animatronics. But wait, there are only four animatronics, right? Wrong! While Foxy, Bonnie, Chica and Freddy are indeed the only four on show, there is a secret fifth animatronic referred to as Golden Freddy.

Golden Freddy appears on rare occasions in the camera. Upon doing so, he will then force the camera to close, revealing that he's somehow appeared inside your office. Staring at him for too long will cause the game to crash and shut down, and the only way to survive him is to flip the camera back up as quickly as possible.

And for a few months, that was where the story stayed. Five murdered children and five murderous animstronics. Up until November of the same year.

FNAF 2

(Got sick of looking through the gif gallery, it's like 98% stim boards ugh)

FNAF 2 was like FNAF 1 but bigger! Instead of just five animatronics, FNAF 2 upgraded to eleven! You had the brand new "toy" animatronics with brighter colours, smoother textures and an overall much cuter appearance, and the old "withered" animatronics rotting away in the back room. On top of them, you also had two brand new animatronics referred to as Balloon Boy (BB) and The Puppet/Marionette.

This game's mechanics were pretty different where instead of having an office with two doors, you had two air vents either side of you, one massive hallway right in front of you and zero doors. Different animatronics would approach you from the vents or hallway and you and to remember which ones could be stopped with the torch and which ones would leave if you had a Freddy Fazbear mask on. The Puppet and BB were unique in their own mechanics. BB wouldn't kill you if he got in, but he would steal the batteries to your torch making you defenseless against certain characters and constantly laughing his extremely annoying laugh. And the Puppet remained inside his gift box in Prize Corner as long as you kept his music box wound up. Let the music box run out and you'll start to hear Pop Goes the Weasel which unfortunately means that you're now dead. 100%. The Puppet is on his way and once he's out of the box there's nothing you can do to stop him. At all.

Now the immediate impression everyone had was that this game was a sequel, until you looked closer at the evidence. For one, the withered animatronics - aside from being withered and broken - look very different to their FNAF 1 counterparts. The guy on the phone who talks to you every night (dubbed Phone Guy) is still alive even though he died on night four of FNAF 1. And the Phone Guy also states that once you've completed your week, you're free to move to a day position and Phone Guy himself will probably take up the role of night guard - the position we replace in FNAF 1 after his death.

FNAF 2 takes place before FNAF 1! But why do the animatronics want to kill you if the FNAF 1 killings haven't happened yet?

Now it has been a while so my knowledge about the earlier games is a tad rusty, but between every night there is an 8-bit mini game such as Foxy Go! Go! Go!, and Give Gifts/Give Life. In Foxy Go! Go! Go! You play as Foxy leaving his stage to entertain children. You do this once, then twice, and then three times. But on the third time, there's a strange purple man standing to the side of your stage. Once you leave the stage, you find not five children but five ghosts. The children are dead, and the purple man is to blame. We can prove this in the mini game Take Cake to the Children in which you control Freddy doing as the name suggests and taking cake to children who get progressively more upset the longer you take. But you notice that at the top of the screen, outside the pizzeria, is a single, lonely crying child. That child stays where they are until finally, a purple car pulls up and the purple man from earlier gets out. The player can do nothing but watch as the child's tears grow and grow until they become a ghost. Then the purple guy gets in his car and drives away. That child is dead.

Finally, in Give Gifts/Give Life, you play as the Puppet. There's no beating around the Bush here, you're in a room with four dead children. The Pupept goes to each four and gives them each a present, but that doesn't work. They're still dead. He then goes around again, doing as the title says and giving life. He places an animatronic head on each child. Once the fourth head is on, you get jumpscared by Golden Freddy and the nights continue. But if you're incredibly perceptive, you may notice that there is a single frame right before the jumpscare in which a fifth ghost child appears in the middle of the room.

These are previous murders, ones that all took place before the FNAF 1 location opened and ghosts that possessed the original now withered animatronics. But what about the toy animatronics? Well they're easy to explain.

Phone Guy explains how these new high-tech robots are built with face recognition software and have been programmed with a list of criminals in order to keep the children attending the restaurant safe. Whoever you are, whoever you're playing as, you are one of those people. Or at least you look like one. More on that later.

So then there came FNAF 3

This game is set thirty years after the closure of the last Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria - the FNAF 1 location and it doesn't actually take place in a pizzeria, but rather a low-budget horror attraction based on the rumours and myths surrounding the pizzeria franchise.

You work as a security guard keeping an eye on the attraction the week before it opens. You're accompanied by Phone Dude, similar to Phone Guy in that he speaks to you over the phone and gives you information, but a different person altogether.

Night one is entirely uneventful as you listen to Phone Dude drop a whole bunch of information on you and when he finally hangs up you realise it's 5am and nothing has happened. Yup, night one is actually completely harmless. But then night two starts and Phone Dude tells you that "we found one. A real one." He quickly has to go and leaves you with bunch of recordings that he mentioned in night one which all turn out to be training tapes from old Fazbear locations voiced by none other than our friend the Phone Guy! Quickly, you'll notice something moving in the cameras and sometimes even hallucinations. These are the Phantom animatronics and they're not actually there. They appear suddenly in various places and unless you manage to flip up/down the camera in time, they will jumpscare you. The good news is, they can't kill you since they're not real. Instead, they cause all of your systems to crash which you then need to reboot. Yeah, this game has various systems that break down randomly throughout the night that you need to keep active in order to survive.

But there is one animatronics that's both real and a real threat. Springtrap.

Springtrap is... disturbing. He's worse than all the other animstronics we've met so far. I mean, his jumpscare is a little tame compared to them, but when you realise just what he is? Yikes.

Focusing on his mechanics first, you need to keep him away from you by blocking air vents and luring him with voice recordings. He's actually not that difficult as long as you keep a close eye on him.

Now, just like FNAF 2, this game has mini games between each night. You can play them all normally and complete them all as intended, but that will lead you to receiving the bad ending. Getting the good ending requires finding clues within those minigames, performing certain actions in the real game and then playing bonus mini games which are now accessible. BUT, you then need to glitch out those mini games in order to find crying children and give them cake. It's weird.

Doing all of these will eventually lead you to the minigame Happiest Day. Technically you can access and beat this mini game on any night, but you must complete all the hidden mini games and then this one to get the good ending. In it, you control a child in a puppet mask walking through a Fazbear restaurant. You walk past the four children you met on previous nights now wearing character masks and give them one a big cake. A fifth child standing on the other side of the table and crying will then put on a Golden Freddy mask. Finally, all six children will disappear, leaving their masks behind.

Beating the game after this will give you to the good ending. The children's spirits have been set free and are no longer possessing the animatronics.

So, what is Springtrap, anyway? Well... gore warning.

The normal minigames throughout the week have you playing as animatronics following a mysterious "Shadow Freddy" through an abandoned and broken Fazbear Restaurant until Purple Guy from FNAF 2 shows up and dismantles you. On the final night, you then play as a ghost child. Going to the room where Purple Guy dismantled the aniamtronics will trigger an interesting situation. Four other ghosts will block the exit while you chase Purple Guy. He will be thoroughly freaking out and will keep running away until finally he runs inside a limp golden rabbit costume in the corner to hide. He seems victorious, laughing at you. Until you hear a sudden crunch and he starts shivering. Slowly, he collapses to the ground as red pixels spray out of the suit. So what happened?

Well in the tapes left by Phone Guy, you will learn about suits called Springlock Suits. These function as normal animatronics but include springlock mechanisms. These mechanisms hold back all the animatronic parts, allowing a person to get inside and wear it as a costume. But there's a huge problem here. That's a lot of animatronic parts being held back by tiny springs. So... what would happen if a spring failed while a person was inside?

You also learn from the tapes that after a certain sprinlock failure, the safe rooms in the pizzerias where the suits are kept are being bricked up permanently.

Springtrap is the Purple Guy. He's the child murderer. And he was crushed to death inside a golden rabbit springlock suit. He was then bricked up in a wall for around thirty years, rotting and decaying, until the room was finally reopened and the suit collected for Fabear Frights, the horror attraction.

That's pretty messed up, huh?

WHEW! Okay this post is getting pretty long and I don't want to overwhelm you. I'm going to leave it here, but I will reblog and it and explain the next three games when I can.

#fnaf #fnaf 1 #fnaf 2 #fnaf 3 #five nights at freddy's #aquila answers #aquila infodumps

[sysba]

untitled twc drabble

this has no title because the doc where i drafted it is just called "mommy issues" and it says all you need to know about it. told @night-triumphantt edith would say something to rebecca after that book 3 birthday flashback/convo so here it is, unfiltered unedited brainrot happy sunday i love siblings<3 i love hating rebecca<3

Edith’s eyes are fixed on the same spot even after Kiara leaves, a scowl so deep one would guess the door personally insulted her; in the busy aftermath of the mission no one seems to notice her troubled look, or the subtle shake of her shoulders as she folds her arms impossibly tight.

She swallows once. Then again. 

It’s been like this ever since she’s started working with Unit Bravo: she’s been biting her tongue, pushing down words that would’ve darted out of her before and hit their bullseye. Instead she’s been stuck with this acrid taste in her mouth, uncharacteristically docile as she ends unborn conversations and walks away before the hellos.

And that’s what her every instinct is telling her to do now, too. Say nothing, walk away. It’s the smart choice, the self-preserving one. But when it comes to her sister she can’t afford to do damage control.

“You don’t listen to her.” It’s out of her mouth before she can think twice of it, her tone clipped and decisive.

She hasn’t yelled, has not even raised her voice, but she feels like she might have. Everyone stops, sensing the shift in the air. 

Rebecca is frozen on the spot, looking right at Edith like she just threw ice water on her. Like she knew the accusation was directed at her.

Unit Bravo glances between them in confusion, but nobody speaks. Edith doesn’t even spare a quick look their way, all of her focus on Rebecca. She steels herself. 

Too late to go back now.

“You never listen to her.” She doesn’t have to say Kiara’s name to see Rebecca’s unyielding features soften, settling into hurt. “She told you she was hurt, and you made it about yourself.” 

Again. That last word hangs between them, unspoken and unforgiving.

Rebecca frowns. “That was not my intention.”

“It never is, no,” Edith sighs through her nose, shoulders falling a bit. 

Tiring, so tiring… She wants to do this for Kiara, stand up for her because she won’t, but it’s as if every cutting word she aims at Rebecca is shot back at her. 

She hugs herself tighter, the blood on her tongue feeling almost as sickening as her next words. “You remember organising a kids’ birthday party and feeling guilty about having to miss it. What I remember is a seven-year-old kid in a dress too big for her, trying not cry in front of all of her friends after you left. Even saved you a slice of cake that she knew was gonna get thrown away. She was staring up at me with those giant weepy eyes and I couldn’t do shit about it.”

“Edith…” Rebecca’s tone is soft, regretful, and it’s but a water drop on a pyre. “That wasn’t your responsibility.” 

“Then why’d you leave me to pick up your slack, huh?” Edith snaps, then reins herself in when she notices the way Nate is looking at her. “Whatever, that’s not what I–” Her jaw clenches briefly as she looks away. 

That’s not what she wants to talk about, it doesn’t matter. She’s glad Kiara isn’t here right now, lest she think she resents her. Truth is, taking care of her sister was never something Edith did just because there was no one else. It was a choice, one that she hasn’t stopped making (because having to choose, she would always choose Kiara). 

But telling Rebecca where she went wrong as a mother somewhat means reminding her she has two kids, something Edith is not all too keen on doing. It’s the same as throwing a grenade and then stand there, waiting for the shrapnel to tear into you. 

Right now I’d pick the fucking grenade. 

Edith’s lips purse as she meets Rebecca’s gaze again. “Two days later, at school, one of Kiara’s classmates made fun of her. Said ‘not even her mom cared about her birthday.’ I threw my lunch at him during break and got sent to the principal, so they called you. You didn’t show up there either,” she adds the last part with a smirk so venomous Rebecca almost recoils.

It’s true, though. Rebecca was too busy at work that day, so she had sent a sitter instead. And then grounded Edith for “using her hands and not her words”... as if a cold cheeseburger hurled at your head would hurt as bad as a punch.

Rebecca fidgets on the spot, the few wrinkles on her face more evident as her brow furrows in guilt. Edith can sense the apology before it comes.

“I am–”

“Don’t.” She doesn’t need any of this from her mother, doesn’t need her to be sorry. It’s too late for the two of them, anyway. 

But maybe there’s something they can both fix. 

“That’s not why I’m telling you. You get that, right?”

Edith’s gaze pierces through Rebecca, who faces it bravely this time. Eventually she nods, lips pursed and poise stiff. 

“I’ll do better. I want to be better… for her.”

Edith smiles at that. It’s bittersweet, and not all that trustful, but it’s there. 

Maybe there is something the two of them have in common, after all.

#twc fic #twc detective #mywritings #edith blake #kiara kingston #kiara & edith #agent rebecca #am normal about them [lies intensify] #myposts

[jellyaibo]

love-hate relationship with the recent episode. like yeah the toy/robots were haunting in a way i guess. but also?? what the fuck was that with cabby??? bots elimination was alright, i liked how accepting test tube was. silver was a little off to me but thats probably the everything he has going on

i didnt watch the ep except for like. 2/3 clips cuz i dropped iii a while ago, but yeah no idfk man god bless test tube i guess but that scene was. mid mild

its probably cuz of my nate bias but man . the fucking sticky note . like

thats it? thats the reunion? THAT WAS JSUT A BUNCH OF CHEAP WALK CYCLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#idk dont expect me to be spitting facts abt iii i legit havent watched it since uhh..........like idfk episode 8 or something? #i actually cant remember #ii spoilers #iii spoilers #iii 14 spoilers #ii neg #ask to tag #ask

[withgirl-sq]

Avalance- Nate and Ava as siblings

A follow-up from my last post about the AU where Ava and Nate are sibling, a few people seemed interested so I figured that I would post the word vomit that comes with outlining fics, this is as far as I got with this one!

With all of my WIPs I could do more of these so let me know if you would be interested in reading notes for fics that I won’t get around to writing! 

Just tagging those who responded to my last post :)

@weendycarr @heyfarfallina @zariscellphone

Click ‘Keep reading’ for the word vomit that emits from my brain when I’m planning fics! XD

Backstory- 

Hank was super homophobic so kicked Ava out when she was fifteen and she went to live with her Aunt Tamsin Sharpe. 

Nate missed her but he was only 12/13 so didn’t feel like he could say anything.

Ava joined the army when she was old enough because she and Nate were both super into Commander Steel when they were younger.

She gets injured and is honourably discharged - Rip recruits her for the Time Bureau because he promised Commander Steel that he would take care of his family.

Season 3- 

The Legends meet Ava in the same way as the show but Sara notices a look between Ava and Nate when she takes Ray down – She doesn’t find out the truth until the Romans take Ava and Nate says something along the lines of ‘I can’t let her go again!’ and he has to explain to the rest of the team that Ava is his sister.

The season would mostly go the same after that but add in Ava and Nate boding again after being apart for so long while the Avalance relationship blooms - Would also include *protective* brother Nate 

Season 4- 

Nate joins Ava to help with the bureau meeting like he does in the show but they both freak out when they see Hank is the one that arrives for the meeting and they try and send Gary to do it but have to intervene – Hank is super formal with her 

In this AU Hank isn’t working with Neron, he’s there to check on Nate but didn’t put it together that Director Sharpe was Ava because she didn’t change her name until she was recruited by Rip. 

This isn’t fully figured out in terms of how I would actually write it (which is why I haven’t lol!) but here’s some scenes that I would include:

- Nate tries to calm Ava down about the whole ‘Hank’ situation and so she gets high on a pot brownie just as Hank drops into the Waverider for a surprise inspection - Ava would snipe at him with this kind of exchange - Hank - ‘This place is a mess, it’s looks like it’s been abandoned’ / Ava - ‘Well you would know all about that, wouldn’t you Hank?’ — Sara pulls Ava away and finishes the inspection with him 

- Ava finding out that Nate dated Vixen and being shocked because they spent their childhood obsessed with the JSA 

-  The birthday scene in Ava’s office but 100x more awkward — There would also be a much more innocent birthday with the siblings sharing cake and avoiding the fact that Hank didn’t once mention that it’s her birthday 

-  Nate tries to invite Ava to Thanksgiving but she refuses — Something goes wrong at the Bureau so she has to come and get Nate and sees her mom for the first time since she was kicked out 

- Hank spends a lot of time antagonising Sara and she keeps trying to be respectful until she snaps at him for hurting Ava 

- At some point, Ava gets hurt [Maybe by Neron?] and needs a blood transfusion but Nate and Hank are not the same blood type as her so they get her mom to come and give blood- she snaps at Hank for letting this happen and apologises to Ava for not stopping Hank years ago and also hugs Sara when she meets her for looking after her daughter 

- Hank remains stubborn and keeps trying to be professional with Ava at work until Nate demands to know why since Ava has started coming home again (maybe she was invited to Christmas?) and Hank admits that he doesn’t know how he can make up for what he did

- Hank apologises to Ava and reveals that he has been carrying around a newspaper clipping about her getting a medal after her honourable discharge - Also reveal that he has been using his position to keep tabs on Sara and making sure that she has been good to her 

- Not sure how this would be achieved but their relationship would slowly start to mend 

- Just a funny scene to finish on, some time later Avalance find out that they’re having a baby and we can have the Friends-type scene- ‘She’ll have lots of aunts and uncles’ - Zari / ‘But I’m actually her uncle’ - Nate / ‘You’re all her family’ - Sara / ‘But out of all of us, who would you come to for a blood transfusion?’ - Nate / ‘Our baby is not getting your serum blood’ - Ava - Cue Nate being super offended!

#avalance #sara lance #ava sharpe #Ava Heywood #Nate Heywood #Hank Heywood #Legends of Tomorrow #AU outline #TW homophobia

[zipzin]

Neighborly Affections - Also on Ao3

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Relationships: Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe, Sara Lance & Zari Tomaz

Characters: Sara Lance, Ava Sharpe, Zari Tomaz, Ray Palmer, Nate Heywood, Nora Darhk

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - No Powers/Time Travel, Neighbors, Assholes to Friends to Lovers, Everyone is Gay, (except ray and nora), Crack, Humor, Youtuber!Sara, Lawyer!Ava

Summary: It only takes two seconds for Sara to hate her new (distractingly beautiful) neighbor. If only Zari would understand how serious she is instead of posting clips of her ranting.

The door clicked shut behind her and Sara stared at the mattress blocking the hallway. “What the hell?” She muttered.

The answer came to her as soon as she uttered the words, someone was finally moving in. Daphne, the previous renter, had been nice, in the, thanks for watching my plants, I’m pretty sure you would steal my prescription medication if you could find it, kind of way, and Sara hadn’t exactly been sad to see her go.

But still, the devil you knew was usually better than the devil you don’t.

“What are you doing!?” A woman screeched on her left.

Before Sara could answer, she was pushing Sara further down the hall, away from the stairs.

“Hey!” Sara shoved the woman’s hands off her, “What are you doing?”

“You’re in the way!” The woman was wearing a pantsuit of all things, and had a tight bun that looked like it was up to military standards. She was, well, beautiful, even if the pantsuit and bun were doing her no favors.

“I’m trying to leave!” Sara yelled back at her.

The woman ignored her as she turned back to the mattress, which Sara could now see was being carried by two men. The hallway was barely wide enough to fit it through. 

Sara clenched her fists as she weighed her options, and then under her breath, muttered, “Fuck it.”

She darted forward, trying to squeeze through the infinitesimal gap and the woman yelled again, “WAIT!”

“Can I just,” Sara knocked one of the movers back and slid past him and the mattress, “Sorry!” She yelled back as she raced down the stairs. She let out a breath once she made it outside, her momentary peace interrupted by a massive moving truck that was parked out front, emergency lights flashing alongside an incessant beeping sound.

Sara groaned as she started her watch for her run and hoped that they would be gone by the time her warmup was done. If only she’d brought her phone so she could tell Zari to move the filming to later and she could hide in the nearest Starbucks until this was all done

Whatever, Sara thought, as she proceeded to jog down the street.

She didn’t love running, privately, she felt that the only people who did were either self-identified masochists or depressed (and probably didn’t know it), but it was one of the easiest ways to workout, and one of the best ways to warm up for when they’d be doing a variety of dynamic exercises for circuits. She dodged through people until she got to the small park three blocks down and began her loop.

Her mood was not improving.

She should have decided to box this morning.

That annoying woman, Sara knew instinctively that would be her neighbor, but she still hoped that she was just some overbearing manager for a moving company. If those existed, Sara figured, they’d be just like her.

She reluctantly headed back and slowed to a walk as she approached the building, dismayed, despite her assumptions, to find the moving truck was still there. She should have just accepted Zari’s wrath and run for longer. Or gotten coffee.

The woman was on the sidewalk now, talking to one of the movers and waving her hands around like they’d dropped her mother’s ashes. They’re taking up the entire sidewalk, because why wouldn’t they be, and Sara tries to dart around them right as the woman turns.

The woman’s knocked back, and Sara can only wince as she makes it to the doors.

“Watch where you’re going!” The woman growled, her neat bun now knocked askew.

“Sorry.” Sara called as she opened the doors.

She watched the woman bat away the mover’s hand and stand. Sara slipped inside, but not before hearing the woman bellow, “You are the clumsiest idiot I’ve ever met!”

It wasn’t her fault, they shouldn’t have been taking up the whole sidewalk.

Sara raced up the stairs and slammed open the door, “What a bitch!”

Zari just hummed as she fiddled with one of their studio lights.

Sara let out a loud sigh, “She better not be our new neighbor.”

Zari rolled her eyes. “Who? And you’re late.”

Sara checked her watch, “I’m not, well, blame the bitch in the pantsuit who was yelling at everything that existed today. I get an inch in her way and it’s like I stole her purse. If she’s our new neighbor, I swear.”

She was not dealing with that woman everyday. Why did Daphne have to move? She barely used those muscle relaxers anyway.

“I’ll take that bet.”

Sara let out a sigh of frustration as she started on some dynamic stretches to keep her heart rate up. “I’m not stupid.”

Zari had made more money that Sara was willing to admit on stupid bets in college.

“If you’re sure,” Zari shrugged, “and everything’s ready to go when you are.”

“Yeah,” Sara nodded as she shook at her limbs. “I’m telling you-”

“Sara,” Zari warned and Sara nodded.

They weren’t the best taskmasters, it depended on the day for who derailed them, but Sara shut up and looked at the bulleted list she’d made this morning for the exercises she’d be doing. The video they were filming would be about creating your own circuit, so it was a lot less structured than some of her others.

“We’ll do the exercise shots first,” Zari said with her no nonsense voice that Sara knew she got from her mother, “And you better not change your mind halfway through.”

“Relax,” Sara said, “This is about making circuits, so the exercises just need to be examples. These are good.”

“There’s nothing else you want to add?”

“Nothing else,” Sara promised.

“I’m holding you to that,” Zari grumbled.

Sara bit a lip to keep from laughing. She knew that Zari wouldn’t actually be annoyed if Sara added one or two, she was more of a perfectionist than Sara was when it came to the videos. Though, in a lot of ways, they were more of Zari’s than Sara’s. They had started during university, three years ago, when Zari had asked Sara to help her make a video for one of her classes. Sara, almost finished with her kinesiology degree, had helped with the script on a basic workout video while Zari handled all of the technical bits.

They’d both been surprised when it got a couple thousand views in the first week, and had tentatively made a couple more, shocked at the climbing view count. When they’d graduated five months later, they’d decide to keep them going to make a couple extra bucks.

Today, they made plenty more than that, and had no trouble covering their shared living expenses with their other roommate and Zari’s girlfriend, Amaya. Sara still worked part-time at a gym as a personal trainer, but that was for the socialization and ideas with the cash just being a bonus, and Zari had her hands full with a bunch of other editing gigs and her own, albeit much smaller, gaming channel.

“Rolling!” Zari yelled and Sara jumped down to start a plank. Showtime.

Sara was in the middle of her second set of clap push ups when the knocking started. It’s loud, irritating, and there‘s no way that Zari will be able to edit it out in post. Sara finished the set, cursing whoever is behind the door and that Zari made her film by herself today.

“WHAT?” She demanded as she threw open the door.

The woman didn’t even flinch back, “Finally! You took forever.”

“Why are you pounding on my door?”

“Some of us work from home.” The infuriating woman, wearing what Sara assumed was a different, if identical looking blue pantsuit, said, “And your music and grunting is too loud. I can’t be on a call when everyone can hear it in the background.”

“That’s not my problem,” Sara scoffed, “You should have checked the audio levels before you moved here.”

“I did!” She took a step forward so she’s right in Sara’s face, “And there wasn’t any of this, whatever the hell you’re doing.”

“Well, this is my work, so deal with it. Go to a coffee shop or something.” Sara slammed the door so hard it shook the wall. It felt better than it should have, and if Amaya was here Sara would probably get a long lecture. Zari would probably just laugh. Sara turned up her music a little bit and turned back to the camera.

“Oh my annoying, infuriating neighbor. The music is barely audible in the hall,” Sara rolled her eyes as she talked. “But some people will find any reason to not like you. So on to set 3.”

Sara rubbed at her head with one hand and braced herself on the handrail with the other as she walked down the stairs. She had to lean against the wall on each landing for a moment before tackling the next flight to catch her breath. And not throw up.

The shots were a mistake.

The fluorescent lights blinked down at her like a demon of sunlight and Sara squinted behind her sunglasses. She should have grabbed Zari’s too. Her head throbbed as she finally made it three floors down to the lobby.

Why is she here again?

Oh, right, Sara nodded to herself, the sudden movement having her grab and rub at her forehead. The mail.

After losing rock paper scissors against Zari (who didn’t drink and wasn’t even hungover, the bastard), she’d been forced to retrieve it, because apparently there was a check they needed now waiting for them. Sara groaned as she fumbled with her key and opened the door to the mailroom. Lights glared down at her mockingly and she stumbled to the corner that housed their mailbox.

She blinked dumbly at the woman already occupying the space. Gorgeous blonde locks spiraled down her back and Sara could only stare as she turned around.

It just had to be the bitch in a pantsuit, because of course, what else would she be wearing? At least this time her hair wasn’t in that uncomfortable looking bun.

She stopped when she saw Sara, lips curling up, “You.”

Sara blinked a couple times, “Me?”

“Why are you wearing sunglasses indoors?”

“Um, you know, why not,” Sara defended, wincing as she slid them up her face and immediately let them fall again. Her pride was not worth the pain.

“It’s a Wednesday.” The woman stares.

“So? Are you going to preach your puritanical morals-”

“Puritanical!?” The woman screeched and Sara held her head. The woman stepped forward, “Listen here, girl,” Girl? Sara scoffed and the woman poked her in the chest. “You don’t know anything about me, so go on keep making a fool of yourself, at least I’m not a trashy washout.”

Sara tried to laugh, but it sounded strained even to her ears, “You don’t know anything about me either, now move, bitch.” Sara shoved her to the side and the woman squawked as some mail fluttered from her arms.

“That’s bitch esquire to you.”

Sara ignored her as she fumbled with her own mailbox and by the time she gathered everything, the woman was gone.

Good, Sara thinks. And then cursed when she remembered she had three flights of stairs in front of her.

---

Zari opened the blinds and let the glory of golden hour bathe the apartment in wonderful, amber light. One day, Zari promised herself (for the countless time), she would make a video with this lighting glowing through the apartment. With all the cuts and additions they made on Sara’s videos, it was just too tricky to capture everything before it faded into darkness that required artificial light if they wanted to keep up the quality. And Zari wasn’t about to rage quit trying to match the colors between shots.

They’d still take a bunch of photos, using them for a combination of thumbnails and social media that most people would ignore her artful framing in favor of lusting over Sara’s body. How Sara could stand it, Zari didn’t entirely know.

“Ugh.”

Sara stepped out of her bedroom, wearing tiny athletic shorts covered by a large, oversized hoodie, looking monumentally better than she had when Zari had forced her to get the mail that morning, except perhaps the riotous mess on top of her head that was her hair. Napping worked wonders.

“You’re alive,” Zari said sarcastically.

“Ha ha.” Sara rolled her eyes. “Let me get my face looking less like I just woke up, and then I’m ready.”

Zari nodded as she disappeared, double checking her laptop for the values, and pulling the camera off the tripod. It’s a well oiled machine between them, one, despite Zari’s easy working relationship with Nate and Ray, had still never been truly matched. Sara emerged the second after Zari was done looking at her test photo, and with minimal instruction went through several poses and some vague attempts at exercises.

As photos, no one will notice that Sara doesn’t get the full extension.

“Alright,” Zari said, “That should be good, let me switch over for the video.”

Sara dragged the chair over as Zari flicked the camera onto rolling. 

“Was the check there?” Sara asked.

“You didn’t look?”

Sara had thrown the mail at her the second she’d re-entered the apartment and promptly went to her room to sleep. The check hadn’t been there, but Zari is planning on keeping that tidbit to herself as long as possible.

“The stupid neighbor was there and got all in my face again.” She scowled, “What an asshole.”

“Really?” Zari frowned, she’d met Ava twice, both times on the landing. Once, where she’d been balancing several folders and trying to open her door. She’d been extremely polite when Zari had offered to hold them (even if she hadn’t taken her up on it), and the second time, was when they’d done the terrible trying to go around each other and tried to walk the same direction three times.

“I could just feel the judgment dripping off her,” Sara continued.

“You were hungover on a Wednesday morning.”

“Anyway,” Sara said loudly, “She got all in my face which was the last thing I needed because of your assholery. So, I may have bumped into her and her mail might have spilled on the floor.”

“Sara!”

“It was an accident!” Sara defended, “I didn’t think she’d drop anything, and I might have called her a bitch.”

Zari was glad that Amaya got called in for an emergency surgery and didn’t have to hear this. She’d probably bake Ava a pie and make Sara deliver it on threat of being kicked out.

Sara continued, “I think she thought it was funny because she just said, ‘that’s bitch esquire to you.’”

Zari bursted out laughing, “No.”

“Yes!” Sara said. “I don’t even know what esquire means.”

“It means she’s a lawyer. Isn’t your sister a lawyer?”

“Yeah, but they just call her a prosecutor, not esquire.” Sara frowned and for once looked a little worried, “She can’t sue me, right?”

Zari snorted, “I don’t think being an asshole means you can get sued. I’d say never change, but I’d prefer you didn’t do something that gets us to get kicked out.”

“I wouldn’t!”

“If it got a rise out of Ava?”

“Who’s Ava?”

“The neighbor, dumbass,” Zari rolled her eyes.

“Well,” Sara coughed, her cheeks blazing red, “I would think about that terrible look Amaya would give us before I did it, if it helps?”

“It doesn’t.” Zari shook her head, “And I’m ready when you are.”

Sara nodded seriously and rolled her shoulders, face changing from her goofy still slightly hungover friend to the YouTuber that thousands of horny women lusted over, “Hey everyone!”

Zari took another bite of her hamburger and leaned back against the pool chair. Sara and Ava were waving their hands at each other like they were both having a freak-out and asking for the manager.

“I don’t get it,” Nate said beside her as he watched them, “Ava’s been a great neighbor, the other day she helped me get Scoots up the stairs right after I sprained my wrist.”

Zari rolled her eyes, biting her lip to keep from saying anything.

“She wants to bone her.” Mick said unceremoniously.

Ray snorted, beer spurting out of his nose and leaving him hacking and coughing as Nate handed him a stack of napkins and slapped his back.

Well, Mick said it. 

“Totally,” Zari agreed and Mick raised his beer in salute.

Jax frowned, “Okay, but Sara usually has more game than whatever tragedy is happening right now.” It looked like for a second Sara was going to shove Ava, but instead took a step closer.

“They started off on the wrong foot and neither of them are willing to back down.” Zari said, “I have like forty minutes of footage of Sara complaining about the slightest inconveniences.”

“Have you shown her?” Wally asked.

“She’s seen the clips I put at the ends of the videos,” Zari shrugged. It was one of the things that had first put them on the map, bloopers, small behind the scenes clips, and other disasters from Sara’s life that she’d ramble about as they got set up. Sara had sighed at the neighbor clips, but let Zari keep them in. Already their engagement was up as people sighed about being Sara’s mystery neighbor. Most of the comments were in agreement with Mick.

“Mick’s right,” Snart drawled, “They are totally going to fuck.”

“Probably right after Halloween,” Nate nodded.

They all turned and stared at him.

“What?” He squawked.

“C’mon, that’s way too fast,” Jax said.

“You’re inviting Ava to the party, right?” Nate asked.

“I think Amaya already has,” Zari answered.

“So, not too fast,” Nate gestured at her while everyone shook their heads at him.

“How much do you wanna bet?” Mick asked.

Nate froze, and then a look of determination crossed his face, “Fifty bucks.”

“I’ll take that,” Snart said, “I say three months.”

“New Year’s,” Mick answered.

“I think it will be mid May,” Ray said, “Not too hot yet, doubtful it’s raining, it will be perfect.”

“That’s six months away,” Jax laughed, “It’ll take them some time but not half a year. I say a week before Valentine’s day.”

They started handing money to Ray, who already had his phone pulled up and was typing down everyone’s dates, “Zari?”

Zari paused and took a long sip from her water. “They’ll come close on New Year’s,” Zari nodded to Mick, “But it will happen two weeks after.”

“No way they keep it in their pants that long.” Wally said, “It’ll be at Friendsgiving.”

“Friendsgiving?” Zari laughed, “When everyone’s so stuffed we can barely move? Would Ava even go to that?”

“I’ll invite her,” Wally shot back, “And it will be during the party, when everyone’s starving and has had significantly more alcohol than food, just watch, we won’t be able to find them.”

“You’re an idiot,” grumbled Mick.

They watched as Sara stormed inside, momentarily pausing their betting. “Actually, I think it’ll happen tonight.” Nate said.

“Pretty, you’re even dumber.” Mick grunted.

“Price is Right rules?” Ray asked, interrupting before Snart could say anything.

Everyone raised their glasses, right as Sara stormed back out and thrust her finger at Ava’s chest while they got way too close to each other. Next to them, Amaya looked between them, looking like she was debating breaking them up or leaving them to sort it out themselves.

Nate grinned, “We’re going to hell for this, right?”

“Probably.” Zari agreed.

“Is Ava even gay?” Ray asked.

The group laughed and Zari could only say, “Really, Ray?”

Nate

nate: sooo?

zari: so what?

nate: what happened???

zari: nothing??? what r u talking about???

nate: sara and ava

nate: obviously

zari: you’re a dumbass my friend, no sara was here very ALONE ALL NIGHT

nate: fuck

we’re going to hell and we’re gonna like it

nate: i’m taking halloween!!!

ray: i got his updated bet and money down

mick: so you already lost

nate: it’s called pre-winning

nate: i’m gonna be so rich

nate: what should i do with the money???

zari: how many bets is it gonna take nate?

zari: how are you not broke after mick beat you in the drinking contest?

nate: in my defense i was drunk and foolish

nate: and just this one more

jax: is it confirmed that ava’s even coming to halloween?

zari: no

nate: ZARI

nate: plz I’ll give you anything

zari: really

nate: no

zari: i’ll ask amaya and if not i’ll invite her myself, happy?

Amaya, it turned out, had not invited Ava to the Halloween party yet.

“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Amaya grinned and then frowned, “This isn’t about the bet is it?”

She’d also categorically refused to join the bet.

“No,” Zari said too quickly, “I’ll invite her.”

Amaya had narrowed her eyes and Zari knew that she could see right through her, but evidently Amaya hadn’t cared enough to stop it. Which was how Zari found herself here, psyching herself up to knock on Ava’s door during one of Sara’s shifts at the gym. 

She wasn’t sure why she was suddenly nervous, Ava had always been perfectly polite to her. She and Mick had even had some positive interactions. It was just Sara.

Zari rapped on the door and shifted on the balls of her feet, as she heard movement behind the door. It was wrenched open and Ava’s expression shifted from annoyed to confused instantly.

“Zari, right?”

“Yeah,” Zari nodded and gestured at her apartment door behind her, “I wanted to invite you to the Halloween party we throw each year.”

“Oh, um,” Ava said, looking down as the beginning of a blush spread across her cheeks. “I don’t know. The barbeque was a little, um. I’m not sure that I mix super well with your group.”

Zari waved it off, “Oh don’t worry about that, everyone knows Sara can be an ass. Please come, we’ll have drinks and food and you can bring some friends.”

Ava looked like she was about to politely refuse as she wrung her hands.

“And,” Zari said, “It’s always hilarious to see what everyone pulls out of their closet to dress up as. That alone is worth it.”

“Dress up?”

“It’s Halloween,” Zari said.

Ava blinked, “I don’t have a costume. So-”

Zari stopped the door from closing, “We’re not talking Heidi Klum levels of costume, just not wearing,” Zari waved at Ava’s pantsuit, “Your normal attire. It doesn’t need to be elaborate.”

“Ummm.”

“So you’ll come, it would mean so much to Amaya.” Zari said going in for the kill. She wasn’t above using her girlfriend’s good nature.

“Yeah, sure.” Ava nodded, looking a little resigned.

“Great,” Zari turned around to walk back over, but stopped as the beginnings of an idea formed in her mind, “Actually, Amaya has an old costume that you could use if you need it, how do you feel about Xena?”

“Xena?” Ava sputtered.

“Yeah, she’s got the armor and everything.”

“I’m not sure Amaya and I are the right size.”

If she could get them to do this. “She has the wig too!”

“Um, I’ll let you know,” Ava backed away and closed the door firmly.

“Let me know!” Zari called. “I think you’d look great in it.”

She grinned to herself, as she reentered her own apartment. Now, if she could convince Sara to go as Gabrielle, she could probably con Nate out of some more cash.

---

Ava nervously fiddled with the deerstalker hat she wore as she stared at herself in the mirror, trying to tuck non-existent flyaways into it. She knew it was a little absurd to be nervous, she’d met what she assumed would be most of the attendees before, but, she winced as she thought about how that ended up. Last night, she had trouble falling asleep as she stressed over the whole situation, and had determined that since she actually liked Amaya (she wasn’t entirely sure her feelings towards Zari yet), she and Sara needed to bury the hatchet.

She was adult enough to admit that it was partially, okay, mostly her fault.

Nora rolled her eyes from the couch, resplendent in a blue sparkly dress and tiara. Ava couldn’t believe that Gary had landed on that costume of all things, but a bet was a bet.

“Where is he?” Ava grumbled.

“So eager?” Nora asked, “I thought your neighbor was a pain in the ass and the most annoying thing since Brad kept stealing your charging cables.”

“She is,” Ava answered, “but her roommates are great.”

“Hmm.”

At least if she ignored how insistent Zari was that she show up as Xena. She’d looked genuinely disappointed when Ava insisted that she had figured out a costume.

There was a rapid knock on the door and Ava wrenched it open.

“Sorry I’m late,” Gary practically fell through the entryway resplendent in a green morph suit with his face cut out, and some tiny, shiny shorts. Atop his head was a headband with bobbing red antennas.

“It’s okay.” Ava frowned at him wondering if it was too late to uninvite him. Did he know that this was a party for adults?

“I know you idiots don’t know anything about being fashionably late, but I’m classy.” Nora lifted herself off the couch, “Now let’s go, I was promised booze.”

Nora strode across the hall and pounded on the door, a faint thrum of music and conversation already filling the hallway. Ava shifted nervously with her costume as the door’s opened by a smiling Amaya, dressed as a leopard.

“Ava!” She grinned.

“Hi,” Ava said, “This is Nora and Gary, Zari said it was okay to invite some friends.”

“Of course,” Amaya ushered them in.

The apartment wasn’t completely packed, but there were a lot more people than Ava thought would be there. She examined it carefully, surprised despite her knowledge that three people lived there, that it was a lot bigger than her one bedroom. She’d gotten a few peeks of it when she had, um, been yelling at Sara, but had never actually been inside. She recognized a fair amount from around the building and barbeque and when she caught Nate’s eye he waved and gave her a thumbs up, of all things.

“Booze,” Nora grinned. There was a countertop set up at the edge of the kitchen with a variety of liquors, coolers, and glasses on it. Behind it, Sara mixed drinks dressed as what Ava could only believe was a cat. Ava swallowed as they approached and saw that the crop on Sara’s black long sleeve showed actual abs. Sara’s shorts were almost painted on, and accented by fishnet stockings. A cat ear headband wrapped up the whole look with some black whiskers drawn on Sara’s face. It was really annoying that she was so hot. 

 “What can I get you?” Sara asked Nora, a charming grin etched on her face.

“Wine?” Nora asked.

“See!” Ray grinned, “I knew someone would want some.”

Sara rolled her eyes as she poured a glass and handed it to Nora who was examining Ray, wearing some form of body protection painted a mix of blue and red.

“Someone of taste,” Nora batted her eyelashes at him and Ava fought back a groan.

“Oh,” Ray floundered, “I wouldn’t say that, I just want everyone to be happy. And have whatever they want. Even if it’s just water.”

Sara’s face tightened as she spotted Ava, “Ava.”

“Sara,” Ava did her best to smile. She’d told herself that she would be polite today. “I’ll have a whiskey neat, and Gary?”

Gary grabbed a seltzer from the cooler as Sara poured her a glass. Ava took it and drank a hearty sip before pulling Gary away before she said something that Sara decided to misinterpret. 

That’s not entirely fair, Ava grunted to herself, she knew that previously she hadn’t exactly been on stellar behavior. For some reason, Sara always caught her when she was stressed and annoyed.

“Boyfriend ditch you?” Sara sidled up next to her, a glass of whiskey clutched in her hand.

“Boyfriend?” Ava frowned.

Sara gestured toward Gary, who was draped over a blonde man, practically drooling. The rest of Sara’s words caught up with her.

Ava choked on her drink, “Gary?!”

“Ouch for Gary,” Sara said, “He was practically drooling over you earlier.”

Ava laughed so hard half the room looked at them. She turned to a frowning Sara and barely got out, “We’re both very homosexual.”

Sara’s cheeks flushed pink, “Oh.”

“Oh my god, me and Gary?” Her eyes searched the room for Nora, but found her engaged in a deep conversation with Ray. She has half a mind to call over Gary himself, but now the man he was with was doing magic? As an adult?

“Okay, okay,” Sara said, “It’s not that funny.”

Ava raised her eyebrows as her laughter petered out.

“Fine,” Sara said, “It’s kinda funny.”

Ava shrugged, she knew that she was pretty straight passing, her lesbian or gay pride flag pin she wore on her lapel at work usually did most of the work for her. Maybe Sara had never seen her wearing it? Though Ava was pretty sure this was one of the first times Sara had seen her out of her work clothes.

“I’m bisexual,” Sara said quickly, “I’m not like, you know, a bigot.”

Ava raised an eyebrow, “I figured, you live with Amaya and Zari.”

The two were draped over each other on the couch, Zari’s head laying on Amaya’s shoulder and giving her a gentle kiss on her neck.

“Right,” Sara took a quick drink.

The music seemed to swell between them and Ava gripped her glass. This was her moment. They were being polite, even a little bit friendly, for once.

 “I wanted to say sorry.”

“Sorry?” Sara blinked at her with a furrowed brow.

“I was kind of an asshole when we met.”

“Kinda?”

Ava fought back a sigh.

“Sorry,” Sara said, “You’re just really easy to rile up and it’s very hard to resist. I know I didn’t make things easy for you, and I’m sorry about that too.”

“I mean I-”

Sara held out her hand, “We’re good, thanks for apologizing, I accept. Water under the bridge and all that.”

Ava shook it, her hand tingling where flesh met flesh. She dropped Sara’s hand quickly and took a sip from her drink hoping that her cheeks weren’t blazing red.

Sara opened and closed her mouth, “You’re friends seem cool.”

Ava stared at her.

“Nora seems cool.” Sara corrected, “Gary seems, um, nice.”

Ava laughed, “What did you think about him when you thought we were dating?”

“Oh shut up,” Sara rolled her eyes.

Ava laughed and looked over at Nora who was now touching Ray’s arm as he grinned down at her. “If he hurts Nora, I swear I’ll make his life a living hell.”

“Ray?”

“No Nate,” Ava rolled her eyes. Nate was currently trying and failing to catch pretzels in his mouth thrown by someone that Ava didn’t recognize.

“Ray wouldn’t hurt a fly or, hell a spider. Or a wasp. He’d take it outside and tell us ten facts about why it’s important to the ecosystem.”

Ava narrowed her eyes, “My threat stands.”

“And you’re telling me?” Sara laughed.

Ava shifted, “Nora would kill me if I threatened him to his face.”

“Because she doesn’t need a sitter?” Sara crossed her arms with a challenging grin.

“Obviously not,” Ava rolled her eyes, “She, well, her dad sucks, and she’s dealt with a lot of bullshit over the past year. I don’t want her getting hurt because some idiot in our building is a jerk.”

Sara nodded, “I can respect that, but believe me, you have nothing to worry about with Ray.”

“Okay,” Ava said, “But I’ll kill him if he does.”

“Okay terminator,” Sara laughed.

Ava didn’t laugh and just shot her a look. Sara grinned, something sparkling in her eyes that Ava couldn’t identify. Nora finally looked over at her and Ava gave her a reluctant thumbs up, and Sara laughed and laughed next to her.

“Oh shut up,” Ava rolled her eyes but a smile graced her face.

“Are you stalking me?”

Ava’s phone dropped from her hands as her shoulder was bumped. She looked down to see, amazingly, that Sara had caught it before it fell to the ground. 

“Careful with that,” Sara grinned as she handed it back.

“What?” Ava can only think to say.

Sara laughed, momentarily drowning out the sound of coffee grinders, clacking keyboards, and murmured conversations. “What brings you here?”

Ava latched onto the question before she could overthink it, “I work a block over, thought I’d try this place out during my break.” She mostly sent Gary to get her coffee when she needed a break from him, but had decided she needed a break from being cooped up in her office. She went here because it seemed nicer than the Starbucks next door to the courthouse.

“Huh, I’ve never seen you before.” Sara said and then a flash of panic crossed her face, “Here, I’ve never seen you here before.”

Ava bit her lips to keep from laughing, “I just got assigned to that courthouse, hence the whole moving thing. And usually Gary gets my coffee and there’s a lot of different ones to try.”

“Right,” Sara nodded, “I work at the gym across the street.”

Ava filed that information away. She’d wondered about Sara’s job, with its extremely bizarre hours and loud music. Ava’s name was called and Ava rushed to grab her coffee and checked the time. She would normally go straight back to the office, but there was no reason she couldn’t linger.

“You can join me,” Ava said as she reached Sara again, “If you want. I don’t want to keep you.” 

Ava hurried to one of the open tables by the window.

It’s just past 10:30, the coffee shop was busy but not packed. It was filled with adults in business clothes hunched over their laptops, retirees, and, what Ava guessed were college students, who had books and papers strewn out on a couple tables. She took a sip of her latte and winced at the temperature, staring out the window instead of seeing if Sara would follow her.

It’s fine if she doesn’t, it’s not like they’re friends. Since the Halloween party, they’d only exchanged stilted greetings in the hallway. Which was better than the alternative.

Ava slid out her phone, just to double check that there’s no emergency. Zero notifications stared up at her.

“Hi,” Sara sat across from her

“Hi.”

They both sip their coffees, Sara wincing at the temperature of hers.

“So” Sara nodded.

“So.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a public defender.” Ava almost sighed in relief.

“Oh, that, uh, makes sense. I guess.” Ava quirked an eyebrow and Sara kept talking, “My sister’s a prosecutor.”

“Really?” Ava wracked her mind for another Lance. Of course, not everyone was in criminal law. And, Ava supposed, her sister could have changed her name through marriage or something. Not that Ava would give up her last name professionally for anything. She went through law school not whoever (if there ever was) her future spouse. “What law?”

“She lives in Star City,” Sara shrugged, “Assistant DA.”

“Oh wow, that’s very impressive, if my sworn rival.”

Sara laughed, throwing her head back with a grin.

“I’m sure she’d say the same about me,” Ava defended.

“I don’t know,” Sara said, “She used to work with CNRI, so she has some empathy for the whole public defender side.”

“No way, I’ve heard of them,” Ava said, “They do a lot of good work.”

“Yeah.”

They both fall into silence and sip their coffee.

“So, what do you do? You said you work at the gym?”

Sara brightened, “I’m a personal trainer and,” she cut herself off.

“And?”

“Other fitness stuff, you know, help people work out and find routines that work with them.”

“Oh, cool.”

“I actually got a new client today. They hired me because they couldn’t advance on their lifts, so I had them show me their form, just with the bar, and oh my god it was terrible,” Sara laughed. “I don’t know how they hadn’t hurt themselves, all bent over with their spine begging to snap. I think I scared half the dudes working out just getting them to stop.”

Ava let out a laugh, “I would have paid money to see that.”

Sara gave her a bright grin that had Ava swallowing down the wrong pipe.

“I’m fine,” Ava said as Sara leaned over with concern in her eyes. She knew her cheeks were flushed red, but at least she could blame that on coughing. Ava’s phone dinged and she let out a sigh, seeing a text from Gary wondering where she was.

Ava stood, “Duty calls, but, um, it was good to see you.”

“Good to see you too.”

Ava paused, trying to figure out if she should say anything else, but then hurried out with a wave as her phone dinged again.

“I thought you were only here because Ray wanted to show you the rooftop.” Ava said from her doorway. She’d been shocked when knocking had started on her door after a relatively sedate evening.

“That’s why I came over, yes,” Nora said, a faint blush on her cheeks, “But that doesn’t stop me from visiting my dearest friend, who, mind you, I noticed hasn’t ranted about her obnoxious neighbor in days. So, I’m curious.”

“There’s nothing to be curious about,” Ava defended, “We buried the hatchet at the Halloween party while you were too busy making eyes at Ray.”

Ava doesn’t really want to discuss that they were past neighbor acquaintances that seemed to only know how to needle each other, and were now, well Ava wasn’t exactly sure. The coffeeshop they’d bumped into each other at had become Ava’s favorite, and she’s started walking there almost daily. She’d see Sara most Mondays and Tuesdays. They’d started habitually grabbing a seat for the other, sometimes they’d talk, sometimes Ava would read through files or emails while she assumed Sara did the same on her phone. She’d learned that Sara was a dog person, a master of mixed martial arts, had completed a marathon on a bet and then swore to never run one again, and had met Zari and Amaya at college.

Sitting across from her had become one of her favorite ways to ward off headaches from arguing prosecutors or clients who couldn’t understand that a plea deal was their best option.

Nora’s eyes narrowed, “Is that so?”

“You don’t have to believe me,” Ava said, “But it’s true.”

“I’ll never believe you,” Nora said, “You’re a lawyer.”

“Okay, just because that one time in mafia when-”

“Don’t try to justify your betrayal!” Nora yelled. “You promised me!”

“Nora, that was two years ago!”

“It still doesn’t make up for what you did! You dragged me along just to laugh at my suffering!”

“Hey?” Sara stepped out of her apartment dressed in just tiny shorts and a sports bra, “You guys good?”

“We’re great,” Ava said quickly, “Nora was just on her way to Ray’s.”

“Oh,” Sara’s eyes danced with amusement, “Enjoy the rooftop.”

Nora looked between the two of them, her eyes narrowing. “I’m going to have a fantastic time. And I’m watching you.” She pointed at her eyes and then at Ava with a furrowed brow.

Ava sighed as Nora trotted out of the hallway and towards the stairs. 

“What’s with her?” Sara asked.

Ava laughed and mumbled, “She’ll never forgive me for that stupid mafia game.”

Sara tilted her head in confusion, “Mafia game?”

“Long story,” Ava started to close the door, “Enjoy your run!”

The door slammed behind her and Ava leaned against it, her cheeks blazing pink.

---

“That was very polite of you,” Zari laughed as she fiddled with the overlay on her computer. Sara’s doing light stretches as she prepares for a workout video, wearing an outfit that can only be described as a thirst trap. Her abs are on full display and Zari isn’t prideful enough to not admit that she’s a little jealous.

Not of the work that Sara does, no Zari is very happy sitting behind the camera while Sara does burpees and flutter kicks and other terrible looking exercises. And she knows that she has a good body, one albiet that will never measure up to the muscle tone Sara has or the confidence in what photos and videos they post on the internet that are there forever. She could practically see the comments, the ones that still pop up on Sara’s photos and videos (despite Zari staring at them in absolute confusion). She’d probably look like a beached whale.

“Huh?”

Zari gestures towards the door, which Sara had just shut. “With Ava? Our neighbor I thought you hated?”

“I never hated her!”

“Do you want me to pull up the footage?”

Sara huffed and set down her phone, “She needed some flour. We have some.”

“That’s it?” Zari questioned.

If Wally wins this, she swears that she will, well, she’s not sure. Sara’s face flushed red and there’s a grin that she does not like the look of at all.

“Sara.” Zari’s eyes narrowed.

“What?”

“I know you’re hiding something, what is it?”

Sara avoided eye contact and then mumbled out something.

“What was that?” Zari asked, “The mics didn’t even pick it up.”

Sara sighed, “Fine, so, we have coffee together.”

Zari frowned, momentarily baffled. “Like regularly?”

“Yeah.” Sara said , “At that place by the gym you hate, Ava works close to there and we ran into each other there. And so, if we see each other we sit together.”

“Ran into each other? When?”

“Like two weeks ago?” Sara shrugged, “And we both have our breaks at the same time, so we’ve been taking them together. When I’m there at least.”

Zari smirked, “So you have a standing coffee date with our neighbor that you think is hot.”

“When did I say she was hot?!”

“Halloween.”

“Damn it,” Sara sighed, “Yeah, whatever, sure. It’s just because I think she’s hot, not that we’re friends now.”

“Friends?! You’ve become friends!” Zari didn’t bother to hide the delight on her face.

“Is that so bad?”

“No, no, of course not,” Zari nodded, “That’s all you are, after all.”

“Yes,” Sara said, “Obviously.”

“Obviously.” Zari rolled her eyes. “I’m ready when you are.”

Sara jumped up, “Okay, let’s go.”

we’re all going to hell and we’re gonna like it

Zari: i swear to god

Zari: if you win wally

Zari: i’ll, i don’t know

Wally: 👀

Nate: wally i respect your W

Mick: youre an idiot pretty

Mick just because Zari thinks shes seeing something doesnt mean its there

Nate: can i add a bet for three days from now???

Zari: if you want to lose more money go ahead

Ray: nate you’ve already put in three other bets and lost

Nate: but i’m gonna win

Nate: this time i know its happening

Snart: you can add it as long as you aren’t within five days of anyone else

Snart: those are the rules

Nate: <picture of nate handing money to Ray>

Ray: i’ve put you down

Nate: take that suckers

Jax: nate, my bro, you are an idiot

Zari watched Sara and Ava talk to each other from across Ray and Nate’s apartment. Nate came up beside her and huffed, “Have they hooked up yet?”

“No,” Zari answered, “You think you wouldn’t know?”

To no one’s surprise (except Wally’s and Nate’s), there still hadn’t been sparks at Friendsgiving. Ava almost hadn’t gone, and only relented when Ray had told her to bring Nora, which, if that wasn’t something Zari was also tracking. Not betting on, Ray would go at his own pace, even if it confused the hell out of everyone else.

Zari could barely move and was debating falling asleep on her spot on the couch. So far, Sara and Ava had been nothing but perfectly polite, thankfully unaware that half the table was tracking their movements like a hawk.

“Great,” Nate sighed, “I don’t even know when they’d get together now. Why haven’t they yet? I totally lost.”

“You think?” Mick grunted.

“What’s stopping them?” Nate asked.

“They look really cozy together,” Ray added.

Nora wandered over just in time to hear Ray’s sentence, “Who looks cozy together?”

Ray freezed and Zari rolled her eyes, “Ava and Sara.”

She wasn’t sure she’d call it cozy, but they were sitting next to each other and talking, at one point Sara had even shown Ava something on her phone. “I’m never going to win the bet,” Nate whined.

“Because you thought they’d immediately jump each other,” Zari said, “Which I told you wouldn’t happen.”

“A bet?” Nora asked.

“Oh fuck,” Zari muttered.

“Um,” Ray swallowed and stared at the group. No one tried to help him, “We might have bet when Sara and Ava would, um get together.”

Nora looked at his scared expression and laughed, “That’s hilarious, what’s everyone’s guesses?”

Ray dug out his phone and scrolled to his note, “Nate’s guessed a number of times already, we play price is right rules.” Nora nodded as she read through the names and dates.

“Put me down for Christmas.”

“Christmas?” Zari repeated. With Sara’s birthday it was hardly a great choice, she usually went home for the holidays, but hey, if Nora wanted to give her a free $50 she wouldn’t stop her.

“It’s a $50 entry fee,” Mick grunted. “Haircut keeps track of everything.”

Nora pulled out some cash, “I’m in.”

we’re going to hell and we’re gonna like it

zari added Nora Darhk

zari: she picked christmas

jax: ouch

nora: why ouch???

jax: it’s sara’s birthday, and she goes home for an extended break usually

nora: RAY!!!

ray: i couldn’t interfere!!

ray: besides i have my own bet :)

---

Sara cursed Zari not for the first time when she saw Ava. She had glasses on, and was surrounded by some papers laid out on what had become their usual table at the coffee shop. She looked cute, squinting at some paper that Sara was sure would give herself a headache if she tried to read the first paragraph.

Ever since Zari had cornered her about finding Ava hot, Sara hadn’t been able to get it out of her head. Objectively, Ava was attractive. She was tall with gorgeous hair and somehow managed to make a pant suit look good. Sara had known that the first time she’d seen her. Most of her friends were attractive people

But she did not have a crush on her.

That was absolutely, under any circumstance, never happening.

Ava swept the papers together as Sara approached, “Hi.” A smile blossomed on her face and Sara unwittingly smiled back.

“Hey,” Sara said, her voice soft, “I didn’t know you wear glasses.”

Ava blinked for a couple moments, “Oh, right, these. There just for reading,” She blushed and folded them off their face, “I swear some prosecutors think they’ll get away with stuff if they make the font really small.” She shoved the papers into a folder, organizing them into a neat stack.

Sara took her seat and just smiled at Ava for a moment. 

“Do you want to come to the New Year’s party we host? It’s all fancy and up on the roof,” Sara asked before she realized the words were coming out of her mouth.

“Oh, um, sure.” Ava blinked. “Thanks.”

“Yeah,” Sara took a sip of her coffee. Zari was going to kill her. She still hadn’t told Ava about the channel, and it was beginning to feel too late. Plus, will all the little clips of Sara talking about her that Zari had put at the end of videos, she was pretty sure that Ava could put it together who she was talking about.

Of course the last one had her muttering about Ava being attractive.

But New Year’s was their version of rewind, where Zari organized a video of everyone’s biggest accomplishments. And now Sara needed to convince her to not show it at New Year’s. She already knew that Zari had most of the footage prepared already.

“It’ll be great,” Sara’s voice creaked.

Stupid crush.

Fuck.

Sara peered over Zari’s shoulder as she took a sip of water. “What’s this?” Sara asked as it danced between footage of Mick setting something on fire and Ray zapping himself with some electronic piece.

“The recap video,” Zari answered as she went between the transition keyframes. “Which, about the party-”

“I invited Ava,” Sara blurted out.

Zari spun around, “What?”

“It just came out. One second I was staring at her and the next thing I knew I was asking her.” Sara said, “That’s okay, right? The others won’t be mad?”

“Definitely not,” Zari grinned.

Sara frowned at her, “Okay.”

“Ray already asked to tweak the timing a bit. So we’ll show the video earlier.”

“Okay,” Sara sighed, “Because, um, I still haven’t told her yet.”

“Why not?” Zari asked, “What’s the big deal? You make videos for a living?”

“And she’s a lawyer.”

“Do you think she’s a snob? She already willingly spends time with you.”

Sara rolled her eyes, “People get different about it? Okay?”

Zari wisely held her tongue. None of them had seen Gwen coming. Sometimes Sara still wasn’t sure that that whirlwind actually happened.

“Sara, Ava’s not going to do that. Okay? Does she strike you as someone who would willingly sit in front of a camera and spill her guts? And lie about everything on top of that for some clout? You said it yourself, she’s a lawyer, not a mostly failed influencer whose only marketable skill is public speaking and lying.”

“Ava’s is good a public speaker, right?” Sara furrowed her brow. That’s half of what lawyers did. 

“No one watches courthouse proceedings,” Zari rolled her eyes. 

“It just feels too late now,” Sara said, “How would it even come up? We’ve been talking for months now.”

“You’re totally overthinking this,” Zari said, “But she might have some questions with the decor at the party. I don’t think she lives under a rock that she doesn’t know what the youtube logo looks like.”

“Oh no,” Sara said, “I hadn’t even thought of that.” 

Zari smirked and turned back around to the video, and Sara gripped her hands together as a thousand thoughts raced through her mind. Her mouth dropped open as Zari put on her bulky headphones even though Sara knew she wasn’t working on audio yet. The waterbottle cap shot off in Sara’s hands as the plastic crumpled.

“Hey!” Zari said, “Get the water away from here!”

In a trance Sara left and cleaned it up as her heart pattered a thousand miles an hour.

“Thank you for coming,” Sara said softly.

“What?” Ava asked as the bass thrummed around them.

“Uh, thanks for coming!” Sara yelled back.

“Thanks for inviting me! This is,” She waved at the rooftop, “Nice.”

A couple heaters blazed nearby to ensure it wasn’t freezing and Mick was already lighting various things on fire in the firepit. The color theme was still red and white, but Sara had carefully hid most of the actual youtube logos so they were in spots that Ava likely wouldn’t mill around in. 

Nate was currently blasting a playlist through the speakers. When Behrad arrived they’d need to remedy that.

They’d screened the video already, Sara and Ray both bouncing as they watched it, and then, getting choked up as they saw it. Zari was something else when it came to editing. She’d included a bit where Sara ranted about Ava, and Sara could feel her cheeks turn bright red as everyone laughed.

“Thanks,” Sara nodded.

“You did this?” Ava asked.

“It was a team effort,” Sara said quickly, “But I was a part of the team.”

“She’s the captain,” Nate said as he hurried past with two drinks. They stared at him in surprise. “I wasn’t here.”

“Um,” Sara coughed, caught up in Ava’s gaze. She looked beautiful wearing a gorgeous long-sleeved blue dress that brought out her eyes. Sara loved the red pantsuit that she was wearing, but she was realizing she hadn’t really thought through the whole no sleeves thing.

The song abruptly changed, (was this Celine Dion? What the hell Nate?), and Sara suddenly realized that they’d just been staring at each other.

“Um.”

“Drinks,” Ava asked, “Are there drinks?”

“Drinks!” Sara nodded, “Yes, let’s get you something.”

She quickly turned and led Ava to the bar, passing Zari who gave her a unsubtle thumbs up. Sara tried to discreetly flip her off, but caught Ava’s eyes dancing in amusement. Why were all her friends the worst at playing wingman?

“So,” Sara swept over, “We’ve got liquor, beer, champagne? Help yourself.”

Ava poured herself a glass of champagne, “I can’t believe you didn’t let me bring anything. This is, amazing.”

String lights were draped over the whole patio, giving everything a warm, magical feel, even if there was a distinct chill in the air. Sara took a heavy sip of her own drink.

“You’re newish,” Sara shrugged, “We’re all good, we’ve been doing this for years. We have everything hammered out for who brings what.”

“And next year?” Ava asked, “I definitely won’t be new then.”

“Will you survive that long?” Sara asked, “I heard your neighbor’s a bitch.”

“She’s grown on me.” Ava smiled at her.

“Yeah,” Sara croaked out at a loss for words. Did Ava know the power of her smile? She could light up the whole damn city. Were they too close?

“Hey Cap,” Sara flinched back as Behrad came up beside him.

“Behrad,” Sara nodded, “Please go rescue the aux from Nate.”

“Already did,” He said, “And this is?”

“Ava,” Sara said, “She moved in across from me.”

“Oh, that Ava.” Behrad winked at her.

Sara stared at him, “There’s only one.”

Behrad nudged her, “Yeah.”

“Oh, Nora’s here,” Ava cut in to whatever Behrad was doing, “Nice meeting you Behrad, and see you both around. Thanks again for inviting me.”

“Of course,” Sara raised her glass and when Ava was striding away hit Behrad on the shoulder, “What the hell dude? Why were you so weird?”

“I wasn’t weird.”

“You were,” Sara downed her drink and poured herself another. “Whatever, enjoy the party.”

“You too,” Behrad winked at her.

Sara groaned as she walked away.

“One minute!” Ray yelled over the crowd, “We’ve got a minute!”

The room shuffled as everyone tried to find a partner, and Sara watched as Ray unsubtly slid next to Nora and she shared a smirk with Nate. Her eyes skittered across the rest of the crowd, trying to find Ava. Except, would that be weird?

They were friends. That was it. And maybe, just maybe, Sara had developed some inconvenient feelings. Would it be shitty to kiss her when Ava didn’t know? Stupid fucking crush, any other year she wouldn’t think twice about kissing her new hot friend.

“Hello, love.”

Sara’s mind reeled to a stop, and she stared at John Constantine. “John.” 

“I noticed you were standing here alone,” He grinned.

Sara opened her mouth and closed it. “I’m, uh-” She tried to find Ava in the crowd again, “Yeah, I’m here alone.”

“Are you sure?”

Sara nodded as everyone started yelling, following along with Ray who was tracking the countdown with his atomic watch.

“Three! Two! One!”

Cries of “Happy New Year!” surrounded them, and Sara kissed John, holding tight onto his lapels. They broke apart, grinning at each other, and fireworks exploded in the air around them.

Her eyes skated over his shoulder and saw, standing stiffly in the corner, was Ava.

“No, the other left.” Zari commanded.

Sara rolled her eyes as she shifted the light over, “Good?”

“Good,” Zari nodded.

“I swear you just like to boss me around, it looks the exact same.”

“There’s a reason I’m the editor and producer.”

Nate laughed from his armchair, “It’s a good look on you Sara.”

“Shut up,” Sara rolled her eyes.

“So I noticed that you didn’t introduce our new neighbor to your mouth at New Years,” Nate continued.

“You noticed? Ew.” Sara made an exaggerated shudder.

“Sara won’t talk about it.” Zari added unhelpfully, “Though why do you know?”

“You didn’t notice because you and Amaya were in your own dark corner. You started before it was even New Years.”

Sara laughed and once she recovered, asked, “Were you just watching everyone?”

“I’m unattached, and I’ve kissed everyone before. Knew I wasn’t going to be missing out,” Nate shrugged.

“Ew.”

He pointed at her, “I’ll never forget New Year’s 2012.” He blew her a kiss that had Sara rolling her eyes.

“I wish I could.”

“Anyway,” Nate said, ”What’s the big deal? Ray didn’t kiss Nora either.”

“He didn’t?!” Sara gasped.

“Yeah,” Nate chuckled, “He was about to and then totally freaked out. Said something about the soda being shaken and left her standing there.”

“Ray!” Sara laughed.

Zari frowned at her, “How did you miss that? I knew about that.”

“Obviously she was too focused on Ava disappearing.” Nate said the last word with finger quotes.

“She did!” Sara said. They’d looked at each other and Sara had looked back at John as he made some stupid joke, and when she looked back, Ava was gone.

“I’m pretty sure she just went to the bathroom.” Nate said.

“I didn’t see her again the whole night!”

“So she was probably avoiding you.” Nate shrugged, “You kiss someone and then stare at her? That’s pretty weird.”

“How do you know that?”

Nate tapped his temple, “I see all.”

“Gross,” Zari muttered under her breath.

“Also,” Nate said, “Like an hour later after you had too many shots and I was helping you get back to your apartment you ranted about it all to me.”

“Oh,” Sara swallowed. She did not remember that. She remembered shots, and dancing, and singing loudly to a song with Zari and Amaya, but she’d figured that was all. Any other recollections weren’t worth the effort with the pounding headache she had this morning.

“As entertaining as this is,” Zari drawled, “I’m ready. You good Nate?”

“I’m good.”

“Sara sit down and shut up.” Zari said, even though Sara hadn’t said anything.

Sara slumped down in her seat and made a face, but was quiet as Nate began to read his script for the next Hero Moments video.

“Hey,” Sara felt her shoulders relax as she saw Ava sitting at their usual table. She’d spent too long last night convincing herself that Ava wouldn’t show up. They hadn’t seen each other since the New Year’s party, and their coffee da-meetings were unofficial, not planned or confirmed until  they were both in the coffeeshop. 

Even if Sara and Ava had sat across from each other every Tuesday like clockwork.

She’d itched to text Ava to see if she’d be there, and had only been held back by Zari laughing at her to, “Ask her out on a date already.”

“Hi,” Ava answered, face contorted in a scowl, as she looked at her phone.

“Everything good?”

“Yeah,” Ava nodded, “It’s fine. How are you?”

“Good.” Sara nodded.

Silence hung between them, and Sara fought to keep a scowl of her own face. Why was this so awkward?

“Did you have a good time at the party?” Sara asked.

“Oh, um, yeah.” Ava brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

“You did?” Sara let out a big sigh of relief. Ava frowned and Sara found herself continuing talking, “I didn’t mean to ditch you, not that I ditched you, but was busy doing some stuff. Organizing, you know. I kinda lost track of you near the end.”

“Sara, it’s okay,” Ava said. “It’s not like I didn’t know anyone at the party, I didn’t need you to hold my hand.”

“Right, right,” Sara nodded and took a long sip of her coffee. She’d give a lot for it to be whiskey. Her skin felt like it was crawling. Was she turning into her father?

“Why do you say that?”

Sara stared at her with wide eyes before realizing she must have said the last bit out loud. 

Ava just gave a quizzical look when Sara didn’t say anything.

It came forth like a geyser, “He’s a recovered alcoholic, though I’m not sure if you ever really recover? I don’t know how that works actually. He’s sober! Has been for years. I was mostly away when it was really bad, but Laurel was there. And yeah.” Sara suddenly stopped talking and took a drink before her mind caught up with her mouth.

“Not that I think I have an alcohol problem, just that it’s always in the back of my mind, you know? Like just because I don’t think I have an issue, doesn’t mean I don’t. Or will. I guess? And like I look back and am like, is this why my parents got divorced? But like, I only heard about it after they were divorced, so I don’t think he had a problem when they were married, but what would I know? They don’t really talk about why they broke up and do I really want to know all the details? And am I doomed to make the same mistakes because I have a problem I didn’t realize?”

Ava took her hand, “I’m here if you need someone to make you accountable or anything. I know you have Zari and Amaya, but I can be the bitch who sorts you out and pours out everything and hides it all. I’ve been told I’m very good at lying if the situation calls for it.”

Sara smiled, “Thanks, I think I’m good right now. I didn’t mean to dump that all on you. Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Ava said, “We’re friends.”

“It’s hard because sometimes when I’m around him I feel like I need to watch out for him like some mockery of a parent relationship. And I don’t, I think, cause he’s been good for years.” Sara took another sip, “Anyway, um, how are you parents?”

Ava snorted, “Sorry, it’s just, complicated. In a different way than yours.” She let out a big sigh and rubbed the back of her head.

“You don’t have to tell me.”

“No, it’s, I came out in college and they took it, bad? I guess?”

“How so?”

“They didn’t disown me or anything, they still helped me with paying for school, but they never acknowledged it. It wasn’t like they were trying to set me up with guys, not that they really did anything like that before, but it was like I suddenly became sexless to them. No interest in who I could be dating or if I was. No discussions about any of my friends. And the distance just kept growing and growing and now I talk to them like twice a year.” Ava twiddled with her cup.

“That sucks,” Sara said.

“It feels dumb to complain about that when there’s so many worse ways it could go.”

“No, don’t say that,” Sara took one of Ava’s hands and stilled the nervous twitching as she stroked tiny circles with her thumb on the back of Ava’s hand, “It sucks, and it’s a totally different kind of pain than an immediate break. You can’t really compare the two, or who has it worse.”

“I should hav-”

“Hey, you don’t owe them anything, okay? They brought you into this world and they chose this distance,” Ava’s mouth opened and Sara continued on, “And so what if you aren’t exactly reaching out? Can you sit there and tell me they didn’t cause you misery by their choices? You don’t owe them anything to try and cling to something they’ve shown you they don’t really want.”

“It is my fault too.”

Sara stared into Ava’s eyes, “If they’d reciprocated or tried, would you have too?”

Ava sat and sighed. Sara watched as she thought, her brow furrowed and making a crinkle on her forehead. Finally she looked up again and raised her half-empty cup, “To complicated parents.”

“To complicated parents.” Sara nodded as she clinked the cups together.

“So Ray,” Sara sidled up next to him in the mailroom, “I heard a story about you.”

“About me?” He frowned, “Did Nate tell you about putting the potato in the microwave, because-”

“Not that,” Sara held up a hand to stop him. “I was talking about the party.”

“The party? What about the-” He stopped himself as his cheeks flared pink. “Oh, that.”

Sara laughed, “So?”

“So what?”

“Ray, what happened? It’s obvious you two like each other.”

“I panicked! Nora was standing there and I was going to and then everyone was yelling and I just couldn’t.”

“Oh Ray.”

“Hey! It’s not like you’re much better,” Ray said. “You didn’t even talk to Ava at midnight!”

“This isn’t about me!”

“Why not?” Ray said smugly. “Everyone knows you’re totally into her.”

Sara just leveled a look at him.

Ray sighed and stared at his mail, “I just couldn’t stop thinking. I was looking at her and all I could think about was, sure she likes me now, but what about later? She’s beautiful and funny, so what’s she doing with me? You know my track record with relationships, it’s not like any of them ended on happy circumstances.”

Sara laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. She didn’t know Ray when Anna died, but she’d watched the disasters of Felicity and Kendra firsthand. “So you’re just going to sabotage every possible relationship you’ll ever have?”

“No. I just,” He sighed again.

“You should talk to her,” Sara said, “I’m sure she has some similar fears. And, I bet she’s getting some mixed signals from you, so it’s not like she’s going to broach anything.”

“Mixed signals!?”

“Ray, you ditched her at midnight.”

“Oh no.” Ray said and then raced out the room.

“Bye,” Sara laughed to the empty room.

---

“Nora?” Ava opened the door, “I didn’t know you were coming over.”

Ava tried to not fidget in her wrinkled suit and messy hair. Work had been long this week, and showed no signs of slowing down. She had been trying to convince herself that the microwaveable dinner sitting in her freezer sounded appetizing before passing out for the night.

“Does it help that I brought dinner?” Nora held up a bag, “From your favorite Thai spot.”

“I’ll marry you,” Ava guided her in.

Nora laughed and deposited the bag on her table, pulling out of the containers. “Gary mentioned that it’s been a rough week. And I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too,” Ava said, and because she knew what was next, “I’m not trying to dodge your texts.”

“I know, because Gary told me. If he didn’t work with you neither of us would have any idea where you disappear to.” She leveled Ava a look.

“Sorry,” Ava said sheepishly.

“All I ask, and that you text me once a week so I know you’re alive.”

“I haven’t missed a whole week!”

“Not yet,” Nora said.

Ava moaned as she took her first bite. She closed her eyes and let the flavors wash over her tongue. “Have I mentioned recently you're the greatest friend in the world?”

“Not recently.” Nora grinned.

“You’re the greatest friend in the world.”

“Thank you,” Nora preened. She took a tentative bite as Ava inhaled her own food.

“So,” Ava said, “What’s up?”

“Ray invited me for coffee.”

“Oh are we talking to Ray again?”

Nora blushed, ducking her head to look at her fingernails, “He asked me out.”

“Oh thank god.” Ava said.

Nora laughed, “Yes, we talked about some things and then he asked me out. I’m excited, he’s taking me out tomorrow night.”

“You should be excited.” Ava grinned and tried not to think about the state of her own love life. She thought Sara and her were going somewhere, but now it felt like it’s all in her head. “You’ll have to tell me how it goes.”

“You just have to answer your texts.” Nora leveled a stare.

Ava laughed, “Okay, okay, fair enough. I promise, I will be waiting patiently by my phone for minute by minute updates.”

“You’ll be lucky if I give you hour by hour updates.”

“Nora, how will I survive?”

“Oh shut up,” Nora said.

Ava laughed as she finished the rest of dinner. “Did you find out about his mysterious job?”

Nora’s eyes widened and she almost spit out her water, “Oh my god! I didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

Nora pulled out her phone and slid it to Ava.

Ray was sitting in front of his desk with several electronic pieces around him. Ava recognized a soldering iron, a circuit board, and wires, but the rest was unknown to her. She watched as the camera switched to his hands and he accidentally zapped himself.

Her brow furrowed as she looked back up, “Um? This is just him fiddling with electronics? Is he an electrician?”

“Look at the views.”

Ava scrolled down and felt her mouth drop open, “2.3 million?! What! How?”

Nora nodded, “This is his job, he has hundreds of these. Most of them have over a million views and he always seems to zap himself. There’s a whole subchannel that compiles all the times he almost dies.”

Ava handed over the phone wordlessly. “He makes online videos?”

“Yeah,” Nora tapped a couple things, “Look at this.”

The phone screen now showed Sara Lance, wearing a tiny sports bra and shorts that seemed to be spray painted on, doing burpees. Ava felt her mouth drop open.

“Yep.” Nora said contently.

Ava watched the video until it ended and the phone shook as she handed it back. “Um.”

“Her channel name is White Canary.” Nora said as she stood and began packing up the bag.

“Right.”

“Apparently most of the building are youtubers,” Nora said. “That’s how they know each other.”

“I thought Sara worked at a gym?” Ava said. Her brain felt like it was moving through molasses.

“I think she does, but part-time.”

Ava blinked and the image of Sara smirking, with a faint sheen of sweat making her body glow filled her mind. She swallowed heavily.

“I’ll let you peruse.” Nora said.

“I’m not going to peruse!” Ava said hotly.

Nora lifted an eyebrow. “I’ll text you tomorrow about outfits so you better respond.”

“I’ll respond!”

Ava twiddled with her cup nervously, wondering if Sara would walk in and know. Just see it on her face that Ava had spent way too long watching her do various exercises in clothes that left just enough for Ava’s imagination. Ava wouldn’t ever tell Nora how long she spent watching through them or how many she’d watched. It had been like being sucked into a trance.

Sara was objectively hot.

She’d known this.

But she hadn’t known that Sara was way sexier than she’d ever imagined. And that she let the entire world see with publicly accessible videos. The only thing that eased Ava’s twinkling guilt was that half the comments seemed to be other lesbians drooling over Sara. Ava at least had the dignity to keep her thoughts to herself.

clexalives324: sara could step on me and i’d say thank you

kat_lee: does she know that none of us do the workouts and just watch it for her

itsjes444: i want to lick her abs so bad

tothequeers: can you hate and love a mysterious neighbor? asking for a friend

There was one thing that puzzled her about it all though.

Sara slid into the seat across from her, “Hi.”

“What’s with the neighbor thing?”

“Um?”

“Sorry,” Ava blushed, trying to still her nervous hands. “It’s just I don’t really get it and obviously we’re neighbors but that doesn’t mean anything.”

“Neighbor thing?” Sara’s brow furrowed. “I’m totally lost.”

Oh right. Ava stared into her coffee as she mustered up the right words, “Nora showed me your YouTube channel,”

Sara sputtered, “What?”

“White Canary?” Ava said, “That is you right? Not some identical twin that has the same name?”

A flush of red flashed across Sara’s cheeks, “No, yeah, that’s me. Sorry for not telling you-”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Ava waved her hand away. It wasn’t like Sara had spent hours staring at her friend's body and having very dirty thoughts. And then found a couple favorites and rewatched those late into the night. “I’m sorry if it was private and Nora wasn’t supposed to show me. I can pretend to forget?”

“No, no, don’t do that. It’s just,” Sara shrugged, “I don’t know, a little embarrassing? I mean you have a law degree and I make internet videos of me doing pushups.”

“Embarrassing?” Ava barely kept herself from laughing, “Not to me. If anything it’s inspiring with how much work you put in.” For working out and, other things. “I just, the neighbor thing, I keep seeing mentions of it and little things here and there but I feel like I’m totally missing something.”

She needed to know.

“Oh,” Sara’s face turned fully red, “That. So you’ve probably seen at the end of videos how Zari always likes to insert random slice of life clips. Like bloopers and stuff from when we were filming, and I may have ranted about, um, you a lot.”

“About me?” Ava asked, her heart beating a million miles a minute. “I’m the neighbor?”

Sara nodded her head.

“Oh.” Ava said, feeling her own face heat up.

“I can get Zari to take down any references-”

“No, no,” Ava said as her thoughts raced. “As long as my name isn’t in it I don’t care. I highly doubt anyone at my office watches your videos. Not to be mean, I mean,” Ava winced, “I-”

“It’s okay,” Sara gave a little smile. “I understand.”

“Good.” Ava said and looked at her empty coffee cup, trying to think of anything. Her phone let out a series of beeps and Ava sighed, “I have to go.” This week was turning out busier than last’s.

“Okay.” Sara nodded.

With one last look, Ava got up and exited the coffeeshop.

Ava yawned as she dragged herself up the stairs. The marathon of work wasn’t finished, but she had finally broken through the wall. Tomorrow, she could sleep in. And Monday? She could leave on time. 

She hadn’t seen anyone this week but her clients and coworkers. She’d dutifully texted back Nora on the few breaks she got, to hear about the blossoming relationship between her and Ray. She wanted to go to the coffee shop, but she was simply too busy to leave the office that long. Gary had fetched her coffee twice, and with some subtle prodding, he insisted that he hadn’t seen Sara.

At home, she’d barely dragged herself to her bed most nights (and she wasn’t going to talk about Wednesday, when she woke up with the creases from her couch that didn’t fade for a whole hour).

Her stomach growled at her and Ava prayed the takeout she ordered was already waiting at her door. She staggered up the last step and blinked several times as she entered the hallway. Was that?

Zari was pounding on her door, “I know you’re in here Ava! I grabbed the food from the delivery guy! You have to come out!”

“Um,” Ava said.

Zari wheeled around and clutched her chest, “Ava!”

“Yeah.” Ava said. “I’m here.”

“Oh,” Zari looked down at the bag she was holding. “Here.”

Ava took it and nodded, feeling her head throb as she fumbled with her keys, “What’s the emergency?”

Zari opened and closed her mouth a couple times before a look of determination came over her, “Look, Ava. I liked you?”

“Liked me?”

“Can we talk inside?”

Ava got her door open and wished she hadn’t. Her garbage was overflowing with takeout containers, mail scattered all over the table, dishes overflowing in the sink, and there was a pile of clothes on her couch that she needed to take to the dry cleaners. Zari looked at her expectantly and Ava winced, “Sure. Sorry about the mess.”

Zari waved her off as she walked in.

Ava gave a light smile as she placed the bag onto her table, brushing a pile of mail away, “So, what is it?”

Zari crossed her arms, “Why are you ignoring Sara?”

“What?”

“All this week,” Zari said, “You haven’t seen her once.”

“So? I’ve been busy, not ignoring her.” Ava crossed her own arms.

“You haven’t answered her texts. You’ve missed your little coffee dates. I’d call that ignoring her.” 

“Did she send you here?”

“No! She’s my friend, and I know you learned about the videos. Seems very coincidental that all of the sudden you can’t make time for her. Are you that mad about being mentioned in them? I’m the editor, it’s on me! Don’t take it out on Sara.”

Ava pinched the bridge of her nose, “Zari, I’m not ignoring Sara.”

Zari clenched her fists by her face like she was imagining shaking Ava. “So what are you doing?”

Ava gestured at herself and at the apartment, “Work has been insane. The only friendly face I’ve seen this week is Gary.” She stared at Zari and repeated, “Gary. I’ve barely had time to message Nora back about everything going on with Ray. I’ve been working, eating, and passing out each night.”

Zari looked around as if the mess was registering on her for the first time, “Oh.”

“Look the videos are kinda funny.” Ava felt a blush spread on her cheeks, thinking about how Sara’s rants about her neighbor had turned from being annoyed to talking about her being frustratingly hot. “And I’m not trying to ignore anyone or make them feel ignored, I’m just exhausted. I’m sure I look terrible right now, I’m running on like five cups of espresso and a courthouse sandwich.”

“You do.”

“Okay, you didn’t have to say it.”

Zari shrugged as if to say, sorry, not sorry. “I just, I hate to see my best friend suffering like this, okay? Thinking the girl she likes hates her.”

“I don’t hate her.”

“I know, but look at it from Sara’s view. You randomly ghost her after you find out she ranted about you online?”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Zari said, “And Sara’s in no state to confront you.”

“Is she okay?”

Zari bit her lip, “She’s, you know,”

“I know?”

“She’s a bit heartbroken,” Zari winced, “I said it, okay? She likes you and thinks you don’t like her back and is embarrassed and sad.”

“Oh.” Ava felt her heart drop and her ears buzz.

“Yeah, so just talk to her okay?”

Ava nodded unconsciously. Sara was heartbroken? Because of her? But, that, what?

“I’ll let you eat and sleep,” Zari said, “Sorry for bursting in and being kinda of a bitch, but only a little bit.”

Ava nodded, barely registering the click of the door behind her.

Heartbroken about her?

---

A loud rapping on the door interrupted Sara from the monologue she was half-heartedly going through. She frowned at the door, all the Legends knew this was their designated filming time, and it wasn’t like Sara or Zari would have told any of them it was canceled.

Unless Zari truly had that little faith in her.

“Just answer,” Zari said when the banging came again as she fiddled with her computer, some expression that looked like a cross between a smirk and a manic grin fighting on her face. She clenched and unclenched her fist nervously and Sara frowned. Why was Zari nervous?

She let out a heavy sigh and twisted around, stomping as she went, and flung open the door. “What?” 

Ava stared right back at her, and both of them looked at each other, soaking in the view. It had been 11 days since she’d last seen her. Ava’s hair was down, and it looked like she’d recently showered. An ill fitting t-shirt, and, Sara was shocked to see, sweats made up her outfit.

“Is this a bad time?” Ava asked.

“Ye-”

“Now’s great!” Zari called from further into the living room. Sara turned back and frowned at her, ignoring the thumbs up and gaping grin. What was she so happy about? Now instead of imagining how Ava was going to reject her, she got to witness it live?

“Okay, um,” Ava twisted her hands together, “Hi.”

“Hi.” Sara felt a wave of dread wash back over her. She thought she’d exorcized it this morning when she’d finally showered. So here it was.

“It’s good to see you.”

Sara lifted an eyebrow. She knew she looked like a mess. This close up and it was obvious makeup was caked on for their shoot to cover the bags under eyes and general lack of glow. Despite her shower, her hair was flat and greasy looking, and Sara felt like she’d shrunk two inches in defeat.

Ava peered around, “Look, Sara, I haven’t been ignoring you.”

“Ignoring me?” Sara crossed her arms, “I haven’t noticed that you were gone.”

Ava’s mouth pressed into a thin line and her eyes sparkled with amusement. Sara hoped she couldn’t hear Zari’s snort in the background.

“I saw your texts.” Ava said.

Sara looked down at her feet. “Oh.”

She did her best to keep a wince off her face.

“And listened to your voicemails.”

Sara closed her eyes as embarrassment washed through her. She should have listened to Amaya and let her take her phone away.

“And I missed you too.” Ava laid a gentle hand on Sara’s shoulder.

“You have?” Sara hated the squeak in her voice.

Ava nodded and took a step forward, “Yeah, I missed coffee that is actually fit for human consumption, but I mostly missed you. I only had clients and Gary for company.”

Sara smiled despite herself, “That can be your punishment then.”

Ava smiled, “Yeah, and, um, full transparency, I watched all of your videos.”

Sara felt her mouth drop open and throat dry.

“And I have to say the sentiment, ‘Why is she so hot and I’m so awkward????’ applies the other way too.”

Sara’s mind went blank. Her sluggish brain tried to comprehend what she was saying. Wait. Oh.

Oh.

“Really?” She breathed out as her heart kicked into overtime.

“Really,” Ava nodded. “Does the, um sentiment still stand on your end?”

Sara nodded.

“Good,” Ava said and circled her hands around Sara, resting on her shoulders. Sara grabbed her waist. “I’m going to kiss you now, is that okay?”

Sara nodded again.

Ava stroked her cheek and leaned closer, and suddenly their lips were together. She was dreaming. That was the only explanation. She died and was in heaven. Was this really happening? 

Ava’s lips were softer than she ever imagined and fireworks exploded in Sara’s stomach. As they broke apart, she accidentally let out a sound that was a cross between a sigh and a moan.

“FINALLY!” They jolted from each other as Zari’s voice echoed around them. Sara had completely forgotten she was there.

“Zari!” Sara frowned back at her.

 Zari was doing some terrible dance, “This is going to win me a lot of money.”

“Win you money?!” Sara repeated and noticed the camera was now pointed in their direction.

All the color drained from Zari’s face. “Oh, um, well, you see-”

“She can’t get into my apartment,” Ava commented absentmindedly.

“Oh,” Sara said, a grin breaking out onto her face.

“Hey! Wait, Sara, we haven’t finished th-”

The rest of Zari’s voice was cut off by the two apartment doors closing.

#avalance #legends of tomorrow #my writing: avalance #my writing: lot #my writing #mine

[solesommerso]

HA bet

At this point bestie you should know what ship i love

Poly: Tan x Street x Hondo x Reader

Genre: angst 😎

Fandom: S.W.A.T

Object: Old School Camera

Camcorder | Hondo x Tan x Street x Reader

Genre: angst, hurt/comfort

Warnings: mentions of Nate, mentions of past illegal activities (its nothing serious)

(Ignoring how tan isn’t in this, I couldn’t find a clip of the three of them for the life of me)

~

You watch with a twist in your stomach as Streets face goes pale at the old camcorder Hondo picks out of a box.

Tan had found a bunch of Street’s old high school boxes in the hall closet so he insisted on going through them all while preparing to move into the new house you all just bought. It’s been going good, you’ve found out that Street was a punk in high school, black eyeliner and everything, he’s found a few of his old chains that he’s clipped to his jeans immediately, ignoring the teasing from Hondo, it’s all been going alright til now.

“What’s on here? Bad attempts at your skateboard tricks?” Hondo chuckles while going to flip the back of the camera open only for it be pulled into Streets hands quickly.

“Absolutely nothing! I mean- nothing. It’s, nothing.” His tone drops as does his head, big brown eyes glossy and a slight bite on his bottom lip while Street stares down at the camera in a spaced out manner. You, Tan and Hondo share a look of concern.

“You alright there babe?” Victor asks in a soft tone but even then Street jumps at it.

“Yeah- yup. Great, good, so good…” He flips the item over a few times, it’s a a busted up thing really, the red chipping away, handle almost ripped off, there looks to be the remains of an old sticker stuck to the side and maybe the glass is cracked? You can’t tell from this angle.

“Honey what’s wrong?” Hondo steps forward to place a firm hand on your obviously upset boyfriends shoulder. Street doesn’t even look up, just pushes away from the hand to sit himself on the hardwood floor, you’ve all moved the dining set out already so there’s nothing more to do than follow James to the floor.

“This is so stupid.” Streets eyes close tightly, allowing Tan to wrap his arm over his shoulders and pull them together, you take to leaning onto Hondo as the three of you wait for an explanation. It’ll come, you know it will, it might just take some time with Street, which you’re all aware of.

“Nothing that’s making you upset is stupid Street, talk to us.” Hondo assures, tightening his arm around your shoulders when Street sniffles small.

“It’s just that- this whole camera is filled with me and Nate. We’d take videos of everything for when we got older, I forgot I even had it.” You feel the room still, you’ve heard close to nothing about Streets brother and know Hondo and Tan haven’t gotten much either. You’re not sure what to say or do, Streets childhood is something he dances around, weaving in and out of questions about it, for good reason but you’re not very ‘in the know’ about what could ease him right now.

“It’s so dumb, he died three years ago, I should be over it.” Hondo puffs annoyed air out of his nose.

“Street he was your brother, there is no “getting over it” he’ll always stick with you. Always.” Street just looks back down at the camera.

“Nate would burn this if he knew I had it. We were so embarrassing and there’s definitely something illegal documented in here.” Your chest lifts some of the anxiety off itself when James smiles softly.

“Illegal?” Tan raises a brow.

“I think this is the camera that has a video of us running from the cops on it, we stole a bunch of food and got caught so we jumped some fence so they wouldn’t catch us, we got away.” Hondo murmurs something under his breath about that being about what he had expected to come of Streets teen years, you ignore it to tune into the story Tan set Street into about him and Nate doing some crazy jump on their skateboards.

#writing #js #hh #vt #jim street #victor tan #daniel hondo harrelson #hondo x street x tan x reader #🏡 anon

[abyssal-endling]

Hey it’s me again the one who was clipping in the floor not there anymore currently in the backrooms but that’s not important

Can I perchance ask for some more Houston angst? For your truest the floor anon

HI ANON !!! :D Thank you for requesting Houston it makes me happy

Yes ofc , I shall always be happy to gift Houston. <3 <3

bonus points for anyone who guesses what i listened to while writing this.

Cry Out

Despite the fact that Dallas isn’t even with them that day- he’s at the safehouse, probably sleeping off his hangover from dinner with the other three the night prior- Houston cries out for his brother when his vision starts going black.

The DCPD had really upped their game, and Houston wondered if they had finally, successfully taken out at least one of the gang as his blood spilled onto the concrete below him.

Over his earpiece, he could barely hear Locke shouting for Sokol, something about dropping the bags, to get out. For a moment, he feels pressure on his abdomen, his eyes focusing on Joy for a few seconds before everything goes dark again. “C’mon, Houston, stay awake!” Locke yells. “We’re getting you out of there, you’re gonna be okay, you just got to stay awake!”

He tries to speak, but blood spatters his mask, quickly refilling his mouth. He coughs and gasps, thrashing as he desperately tries to spit it out. Someone takes his mask off- he can see a chicken head, and God, he thinks he really has died before he remembers Jacket-  and he frantically spits out the blood as best he can. A gravelly, broken, command: “Live.”

Houston thinks that he’s glad he got to hear Jacket speak once before he died, and then the shooting pain is back. His vision returns in a flash of white and blurs, and he’s aware of how much everything hurts. He can’t figure out what hurts more, the burns covering his leg and abdomen, or the piece of rebar splitting through his stomach. What-

Sokol stores away the now-empty syringe, uncharacteristically silent as he turns to Joy, who nods at him. “Hang on, Hous,” Joy says, and suddenly he’s being lifted into the air.

The world spins, his heart dropping as he goes limp in Sokol’s arms. He weakly calls out for his brother again, Sokol’s breath catching as he hears the broken noise, a just-audible “Nate-” before Houston begins wheezing. Blood gushes up again, and-

The blanket is heavy, the room a soft, dim light. Quietly, he can hear Locke and Joy talking, one of Jacket’s vinyls playing underneath the voices.

“Hey-” Sokol smiles softly at him. His voice is low, and he turns over his shoulder and motions before turning back to Houston.

Jacket, Joy, Locke, and Sydney rush over, all looking relieved and exhausted. “Fuck- you’re awake,” Locke exhales, tension leaving his body. “I’m so sorry, I never- never thought those fuckers would plant C4 for us-”

Houston tries to speak, to tell Locke that he wouldn’t have known, but all that comes out is a wheeze. He starts to sit up, quickly being pressed back to the bed by Joy. “You had to be intubated while they operated. Don’t worry about talking right now.” She looks around, fumbling before finding a cup of ice chips, holding them out to him. He signs a thank you as his free hand shakily takes the cup.

The cold feels nice.

Locke sits in a nearby chair. “You are… going to be resting for a while,” he says. “Somehow you won’t have any major, long term damage- from what we know, at least. But I imagine you will be feeling like shit for a while.”

It hurts like hell, but Houston laughs. Sydney grins, gently nudging him. “We were all so worried, glad you’re alive, shit-” She leans down to give him a one armed hug, and he smiles.

“Please ask for any assistance.”

Houston turns to Jacket, holding out a fist, and Jacket tenderly bumps it with his own as Sokol leans on the other man.

“It’s all okay,” Sokol sighs. “You’re alive, it’s all okay.” He speaks more to himself than anyone else, but no one seems to mind.

Houston then realizes something, and the odd happiness he felt shrivels away. He signs, and everyone glances at each other.

“Uh- what does that mean?” Sokol says, turning to Joy and Jacket.

“Brother.” Locke says quietly, a bitter look on his face. “We… we haven’t heard from Dallas.”

In a horrific way, Houston doesn’t… feel anything about that. He’s not even surprised. “How long?” he signs.

“It’s been… over a day.”

Ah. Now that-

He doesn’t even notice the tears that drip down his face, or that Locke quickly hands him tissues, or how long passes after that. How could Dallas not…

Over a day?

Dallas had to have seen the news. Or someone told Bain, who told Dallas. Or Bain found out immediately and told Dallas. Or someone had to have contacted Dallas-

Why wasn’t he here?

Two days later, Sokol and Jacket help Houston get into the safehouse. His leg doesn’t move as much as he’s used to, restrained by a burn cast and bandages. The moving is slow, even with help, and when Houston is in his own bed, he grunts in exhaustion.

“Okay, water, snacks, phone and charger- you promise you will call if you need something?” Sokol asks sternly, crossing his arms. 

“Yes, I promise, Sokol.” Houston sighs. “I promise.”

Sokol nods before squeezing Houston’s shoulder. “Hopefully you sleep like a stump.”

“Log, but thank you.”

The sound of someone knocking on the door cuts through the air, and Houston locks eyes with Dallas.

If he were able to move, Houston would have crossed the room to beat him into a pulp in an instant.

Instead, he fixes his brother with a blank expression, forcing any emotion to the side. Jacket and Sokol glance back at the door before seeming to come to a decision. “I have some extra blankets and pillows in my room. I’ll grab those and you give Jacket that list of games you want to play. We’ll get all set up, if you fall asleep then at least we’ll be right there when you wake up.”

The barely restrained rage leaks out of Sokol’s voice as he turns and shoves past Dallas, not bothering to even look at the older man as he walks by. Dallas blinks (how fucking dare he have the audacity to look hurt-) and turns to watch Sokol before turning back.

Jacket stares blankly at Dallas, his thumb moving to press play on a cassette.

“Do you require assistance?”

Dallas opens his mouth, glancing at Houston. “I… wanted to talk to Houston.”

“Do you require assistance?”

Dallas stares at Jacket.

“Do you require assistance?”

A challenge, one that Dallas… is not backing down from.

“I need to talk to Houston, Jacket.” Dallas says firmly. It’s not a request. Leave. We are talking.

“Do you require assistance?”

Houston has spent enough time around Jacket to recognize that Jacket is amused by this- that is, simply repeating the same phrase at Dallas. Hell, he could tell the man was forcing himself not to laugh. He’s tempted to let it continue on, see how long it could go for.

“Jacket. I am going to have a conversation with him. You need to leave.” He sounds cold, calculating. Sizing Jacket up for a bargaining chip he could offer for him to just step out of the room, but there wasn’t really a way to argue with a brick wall.

“Do you require assistance? Do you require assistance? Do you require assistance? Do you-”

Houston starts laughing, coughs interspersed as he cackles at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. Jacket would play that tape until it died, and then he would simply make noise to block out the sound of Dallas talking until Dallas gave up and left.

The coughs get worse, and Houston stops laughing, the pain shooting through him as he grabs onto Jacket’s sleeve. Jacket is at the bedside immediately, steadying him as he holds out a cup of water.

In his peripherals, Houston sees Dallas step closer, and-

“Fuck off.” 

Venom and vitriol drip from the snarled words, and Dallas stumbles back a bit, eyes wide as he stares at his baby brother.

“Der-”

“You never came, you have never come to help me. Do not pretend to care now.”

Dallas blinks, and Houston grits his teeth as he sees his brother’s eyes water before he turns and quickly leaves.

The second Dallas is out of the room, his own tears fall, and another set of hands grabs his arm before pulling him into a hug. “I’m so sorry,” Sokol says quietly.

Houston leans into the touch, unable to stop himself or the tears that fall.

#phrog scribblings #houston my beloved #angst #i hope you like <3 #answered asks

[damelucyjo]

I think I'm gonna come on here and spew my thoughts and feelings about each episode rather than on Twitter. I think I'll also say more about each episode here than over there...

Anyway! I'll keep everything under a cut just in case. Although it's been a while since the episode dropped, I just wanna be safe!

Episode 1 - Smells Like Mean Spirit

Here we go!

Oo scruffy Ted!! 😍

Why is she in his phone as 'Michelle Lasso'? I don't have anyone I really know in my phone with their full name. SHE IS THE MOTHER OF YOUR CHILD!!!

Still with the 'Ted has feelings for his ex' thing I see...

Henry's cute

Henry's been in London for 6 weeks and we saw none of it?! RUDE!

He still talks to Sharon! I love that

LEGO NELSON ROAD!!

OMG these Lego characters are brilliant!! And Ted & Rebecca next to each other 👀

It looks like they had fun whilst he was there...

EXCUSE ME why the same shower scene from season 1?!

So this season is going to be about Ted thinking about where he belongs then?

BRENDAN HUNT'S PARTNER AND SON!!! He is one cute baby!!

Earl Greyhound Training Facility. Nice.

Sharon Fieldstone! You cheeky bitch!! I love her

YYEEEAAAAHHH!!!!

Angry Rebecca is back. I'm in love

Hannah, looking delicious as ever 🥵

Something's wrong because he didn't rhyme? So true haha

I'm so fucking excited to see more Rupert this season!!

Ooo she's struggling with this, huh

She swears ALL THE TIME! Why did that one shock Higgins so much!?

Howdy & Yo. And then she nearly walked into the door frame. Amazing.

I need Dani's optimism

And Jamie's confidence haha

Roy & Beard's friendship is my favourite

FIFA reference, of course

His tiny car with those super cars is a great visual

Hello West Ham's Higgins

KEELEY!!!

'Fuck you, Joe Rogan' Exactly.

'Angel, Mentor, Guru Rebecca' How fucking cute are they!! 🥰

It's Katy Wix!! Love her!

Keeley's office looks like a fun place... 🫣

Their friendship is gorgeous. I love this gossip dynamic

Rebecca's reaction to Keeley just throwing her coat 😂 Amazing.

Yikes?! Where did she pick that up, I wonder...

Don't cry Keeley!!

Aww, mumma Rebecca to the rescue 🥹 She's so maternal

We must protect Dani at all costs!!

I love spotting Will in the background, he's always doing something fun

Of course their driver was a cult leader

EVERYONE RUN EXCEPT ROY!!

'Like an orgasm for the soul' You sure have a way with words, Rebecca

Gotta let Ted be Ted. Too right!

I KNEW that 'legend' bit was edited in the preview clip!

Loving uncomfortable, awkward Rebecca

And of course Keeley sees no problem is spending £200 on flowers because they look and smell nice

SHE SEEMS FUN!! Great Beard call back! 😂

Corporate Flying Object. Please never change Keeley!

She's eating meat again...👀 Hmm, okay

I can't wait for more Keeley & Rebecca bonding. It's my favourite

Fucking dumb-dumb line. Nathan is vile. Nick is brillaint.

They named him Disco purely for that line. Tell me I'm wrong

RUPERT! In his cartoon villain lair! Complete contrast to Rebecca's office

I fucking LOVE Anthony Head. He plays slimy so well

We're getting to see how Rupert charms his way onto people, interesting.

'Roy Kent, that you?' 'Get fucked' I just love him, guys!

'Why are you dressed like an umlaut?' Why ask if you have a matching one, Leslie??

MY GOD does Hannah looking FUCKING FIT in this episode. Only thought in my head every time she's on screen

Field trip to a fucking sewer! Let's go, boys!

Of course Henry asked to tour the sewer system because he watched IT and got scared. It is fucking smart, well said Roy!

'Twat' Well said Rebecca

Rupert is going to keep saying 'Wonder Kid' isn't he, because he knows it gets to Nate 👀

West Ham's press room isn't as fun as Richmond's

Oooo a King & I reference... okay, okay

I really wish spitting wasn't his 'thing'. It's gross. I know it makes sense, I still hate it.

LESLIE HIGGINS IS EATING HER BISCUIT AND SHE'S SO FOCUSED SHE DIDN'T REALISE!!! wow

Of course Jamie says poopy and not shit

I love how these boys trust Ted so much that they just went into a sewer, then asked why when they were down there

She's gonna break that laptop one day

Jamie being the one to reiterate the lesson they just learnt? Boys growing up!! AND HE'S RHYMING!!

Oooo she's angry 🥵

Rupert is laughing at me, Ted 🥺 ouch

And I am begging you, please, fight back OMFG 😭😭

I love how they highlight how different the press rooms are. They're all friends at Richmond, press included

And the contrast between Nate saying vile stuff and Ted saying encouraging stuff. Beautiful.

I'm kinda surprised though that Rebecca looks worried and doesn't trust him

But of course she's the only one who catches his baseball reference

Did Brett get in a Twin Peaks reference? Good for him!!

They're really highlighting the fact that kindness & comedy win, huh?

Ooo Rupert buying Nathan fancy gifts... so it begins!

Roy & Keeley not saying the same thing is very telling, I think

Firstly, why did it take them 6 weeks to tell Phoebe? And secondly, did they not actually discuss it themselves?Nobody knows what's going on!

Phoebe is so grown up! Asking the important questions

'Can I say a bad word? I think you're being stupid' I love her

Another conversation about why he's still in London? This really is going to be the theme of this season, I guess

Is moving that Lego Nate foreshadowing him coming back???

'Mommy's friend' 👀 uh oh

And that's episode 1 done!! Yes, I probably will be watching it on repeat until next Wednesday, thanks for asking.

#Ted Lasso #Ted Lasso Live Blogging

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