#like do what you want obviously but i just personally don’t want to see or support it 🤷🏼‍♀️

[eksvaized]

What if, in an alternate universe, instead of being battle-hardened men, TF141 was a famous band? I know it’s a silly thought, but I can’t get it out of my mind.

In my mind, Kyle would definitely be the lead vocalist, who once in a while picks up a guitar. Like, his charm is literally irresistible, and he has this unique quality of being able to carry even the most awkward interviews: he always has the perfect timing, knowing exactly when to joke, when to lightly shade other artists, and when to not-so subtly flirt with an attractive interviewer.

Unlike his bandmates, Kyle also tends to steer clear of trouble, avoiding the drama and controversy that so often follows other bands. His biggest scandal to date, if it can be considered one, was a rumour about his escapades during the band’s tour across America. He supposedly slept with 50 different women, each one from a different state.

And while it was indeed a big deal for such news to erupt within the music industry, it didn’t come as a complete surprise, given Kyle’s reputation as a notorious flirt.

Johnny — a bass player. No doubts about that. When he’s performing during concerts, he becomes a force of nature, a whirlwind of chaotic energy that doesn’t seem to understand the concept of slowing down or taking a break. He’s constantly on the move and bouncing around from one side to another. At times, he’ll dive off the stage to interact with fans, often leaving his signature on some over-excited female’s cleavage. Other times, he can be seen on his knees, utterly lost in the rhythm of the music, grinding to its beat with his eyes closed as if in a trance—this is the most calm he can be during a gig.

Apart from his musical talents and electric stage presence, Johnny has another talent - a knack for attracting attention, particularly from the media. His face graces the pages of magazines on a weekly basis—an occurrence that he insists is accidental rather than intentional. However, Johnny is notoriously outspoken—he has never been one to hold back his tongue or shy away from expressing his opinions, regardless of how they might be received. And so, while refreshing, his candidness often lands him in hot water, especially when his remarks come across as controversial.

Price, Price, Price. Definitely a band manager, and not because I think he couldn’t keep up with the guys. Oh no, that’s not it. It’s just that in my head, I can picture him standing in the unlit corner of the backstage, a lit cigar dangling between his fingers as he counts money. Every so often, he nonchalantly tucks some bills under his belt. He thinks he deserves some extra cash because, yet again, he had to clean up the mess that Johnny made.

What did Johnny do? Apparently, he decided to wear a kilt onstage. The choice of attire wasn’t the issue itself. The problem arose from his decision to go commando, wearing no briefs underneath. Price obviously had to execute some serious damage control and pay off literally everyone who came to see the band. Otherwise, the pictures of Johnny’s dick would have flooded the internet the second people left the venue.

And then there’s Riley, who dominates the drums. Like, just imagine him on the stage, drops of sweat forming on his furrowed brow as he immerses himself in the rhythm. His shirt is discarded, tossed aside as heat radiates off him in palpable waves, and his blond hair is in disheveled from the constant, frenzied head banging — literally every woman’s wet dream.

Sadly, even if you wanted to, you couldn’t stalk him on social media and drool over his shirtless pictures because all of his accounts are set to private. And because of how secretive he is about his personal life—unlike Kyle or Johnny, who don’t mind talking in interviews and sharing some details about what they get up to—the media has nicknamed Simon a Ghost.

Further contributing to his elusive image is a running joke among fans and media that the band doesn’t actually consist of three members, but is instead a duo of Kyle and Johnny. This is primarily because Simon seldom appears at public events. Even when a promotional interview is arranged for an upcoming tour or album, he tries to avoid attending by using every possible excuse, only to be eventually forced into it by Price.

What about you, though? Well, the answer to the question is obvious. You’re definitely a fan, but not the crazy stalker type. You just buy all their albums, follow them on every social media platform, and occasionally watch an interview or two, so you could gawk at how handsome all of them are.

So, when the news broke that they were having a concert in a city near you, you didn’t hesitate for a second. You purchased a ticket almost immediately, a thrill of anticipation coursing through you at the thought of watching them perform live. And the actual concert? It was the most fun you’d had in a long time. Even the fact that you went alone didn’t dampen your mood.

However, probably the part of the night that sent your heart racing, that made it beat the fastest, was an unexpected turn of events. You somehow, almost miraculously, managed to find yourself in the band’s tour bus. You were there, with Kyle’s hand lightly resting on your lower back, as he introduced you to the guys - Johnny, Price, and even Simon.

His exit left a strange silence, and your mind began to race; Price’s behavior seemed to confirm the rumors that had been circulating about Kyle might be true.

Price, to your surprise, did not seem taken aback by your arrival. He extended a hand towards you, the shake firm and lingering just a tad bit longer than necessary. His gaze then shifted over your shoulder, landing on Kyle and giving him a warning look before he excused himself to step outside.

Next, you were introduced to Johnny, whose demeanor was almost as tactile as Kyle’s, if not more so. He greeted you with a bear-like hug that almost crushed your ribs, squeezing the air out of your lungs. His wide grin was so broad it seemed almost idiotic. After releasing you from the embrace, Johnny leaned in close to Kyle, whispering something barely audible yet unmistakably complimentary, something that sounded suspiciously like ‘this one’s stunning’, before giving Kyle a hearty, brotherly clap on the back. You did your best to brush off Johnny’s remark, to dismiss it from your mind for fear of your face betraying your embarrassment by turning a bright shade of red.

Simon was sitting near the tiny window that allowed the soft glow of the moonlight to filter in. His long legs were spread wide in a display of relaxed confidence, and one arm was nonchalantly tossed over the leather couch’s backrest. He had yet to utter a single word. Which he did when Kyle mentioned you were here because you fancied a picture with them. This caught Simon’s attention.

At that point, the only thing keeping you standing straight was Kyle’s hand on your back. You knew, deep down, that you should decline this offer. Your mind was practically shouting at you to return to your rented motel room, reminding you of the early train you had to catch the following morning.

Simon turned to look at you, and you had no choice but to avert your gaze because it literally felt like he was undressing you with his eyes, as his lips curled into a sly, almost predatory smirk. “How about something better?” He suggested, his voice filled with a teasing lilt. “Have a drink with us.”

But how could you possibly refuse such an offer from your favourite band? Especially when you found yourself living the dream of every fan girl out there.

It was too tempting to resist.

#simon ghost riley #simon riley x you #simon riley x reader #call of duty #ghost x you #ghost x y/n #cod #ghost cod #task force 141 #tf 141 #tf 141 x reader #poly tf141 #tf141 x you #john price #captain price #captain john price #tf141 smut #kyle gaz garrick #kyle gaz garrick x reader #johnny soap mactavish #john soap mactavish #john soap mctavish x reader #kyle gaz x reader #kyle gaz x you #johnny soap mctavish x reader

[anodymalion]

ok I am in fact using this as an excuse to make a long post about this thank you thank you asjksdjfaljdf

---

Interpreting Yuri as asexual is my very very favorite type of headcanon, which is one that 1. is compellingly coded in the source material (even if that wasn't the creator's intent), 2. is thematically relevant to what the piece of media is Trying To Do as a whole, and 3. just means a lot to me, personally, because I said so.

Coded in the source material

Yuri’s short program is “eros”, aka desire (you can interpret what “eros” means in various ways, but YOI itself explicitly refers to sexual love, at least in the English translations). Yuri struggles with this. Hard. He can’t come up with an answer when asked what eros means to him. His big revelatory moment about desire is that it’s how he feels about wanting to eat his favorite food (omg… boy). Even as the season goes on and the way he views the Eros program changes, the program doesn’t ever really embody the idea of eros as sexuality or romance (which was how the other characters expect him to interpret it) but rather as a desire to keep Victor in his life.

Like look. I’m obviously not going to say that the creator intended any kind of ace subtext to be there. I kind of doubt it was her intent. But goddamn is the subtext there.

2. Thematic relevance

The central theme throughout YOI is “love”, and especially loving people in a way that inspires you both to be your best selves: Yuri learning that the people in his life truly love and support him; Victor finding someone who makes him feel joy about skating again.

Like, Yuri’s whole skating theme for the Grand Prix is literally about him exploring what love looks like to him, even when it takes a form that other people don’t totally understand. Viewing all this through a lens of him being ace is really compelling. It adds depth to the idea of learning how to express the way you feel love even when it looks different than what other people expect. I think it’s a really delicious layer that adds even more nuance to what the show is getting at.

Besides, it’s an interesting way of viewing the criticism of the show that occurred for it not being 100% explicit about them being a couple (aka people getting mad because the kiss in ep 7 is blocked by Victor’s arm lmaooo). Like, ok, did you see the ending scene of ep 9? Did you see ep 10??? They definitely, definitely love each other, in whatever way that means for them. Their relationship takes a form that’s pretty different than the other way people in the show are going about romantic relationships, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t real for them. That is very much in line with the main themes of the show.

3. Means a lot to me

In the final scene of the penultimate episode, Yuri tells Victor that they should end their coaching relationship after the Grand Prix ends. This is because he thinks he’s holding Victor back, that Victor would be happier being free to go back to skating on his own instead of being Yuri’s coach. When I watched this (and, I’ll be honest, this is completely me projecting here) I REALLY interpreted this as an ace thing. I think it’s pretty easy to internalize the idea when you’re asexual that you just won’t be… enough, for other people. In my case I ended up a strong impulse to self-sabotage relationships because I would rather be the one to end things than to let someone else tell me that who I am as a person is fundamentally lacking. Yuri destroying a connection he desperately wants because he thinks there’s something about him that is holding Victor back from a life he’d be truly happy with? Oh yeah. I can fucking relate to that.

Also: YOI came out in 2016, which was the absolute peak of hostility to ace people I was seeing on this site. It was bad here. At the same time Tumblr was going wild over this show. Everyone was watching it. Seeing a whole site of people absolutely adore a character I very deeply in my heart believed to be ace? Extremely vindicating.

---

In conclusion Yuri is asexual because it is fun and interesting that way, and also because of this:

#like it adds so much to the show if you view it through this lens! it's really good! #same reason for why I hc zuko as gay like -> #yeah ok you don't *have* to see it this way... but don't you want to live deliciously (in your media analysis)??? #yoi #yuri on ice #thank u for giving me the excuse to finally post about this lol this has been building in my head for literally the last 8 years

[chaithetics]

GIRLLLL OMGGGG YOUR MONEKY MAN FIC HELLO?? HELLOOOO???? so good. i just came back from watching it and wtf. now that is how u direct and that is how u make a profound film. (i’m glazing him and this film so hard but idc i just want 1 chance dev PLS JUST GIMME 1 ONE IS ALL I NEED) also r u indian? cuz when i saw the “jaan” i read it it in his voice and my knees literally almost hit the ground like i was like 😧🌚😜😍🤭🤭😋😋🤤🥰 the whole time!!! if i may, can i request another monkey man fic/drabble/whatever u wanna make it but it’s about how they met? basically like a backstory on how they met and got together. thank youuu! 🫶🏽

Blood-Stained Meetings, Nauseous Introductions

Pairing: Kid (Monkey Man) x reader Word count: 2.6K Warnings: 18+ MDNI, mentions of anxiety, injuries/blood, longing, reader has no physical description, a kiss, no smut. Not proof or beta read. A/N: Hey lovely Nonnie, so glad you enjoyed the film! It's so good! Dev Patel is so talented. I hope you and everyone else reading this and in the fandom enjoys this fic! 🫶(Please do and validate me, I'm scared it's TERRIBLE and I'm not happy with this, genuinely terrified lol) Comments, reblogs etc. are always more than appreciated and encouraged! Enjoy 🥰 Gif by @junkfoodcinemas Somewhat inspired by an old chat with the talented @mittos about how reader would probably hate seeing him fight, and tagging @lialilalo because I feel bad about ending up taking a week to get this out since your ask!

Sure, there were probably worse ways to spend a Friday night, but you also knew that there were definitely much better ways to spend a Friday night as well. But you simply weren’t the kind of person who did better things on a Friday night, that wasn’t in your DNA. Obviously. This was your brother's idea of fun after all. 

It didn’t surprise you that this was how your adult brother wanted to spend the start to his weekend and drag you along, or that this was a frequent pastime of his. It didn’t mean that it horrified you any less though. 

You’d sighed and dreaded this for hours, days probably, subconsciously. 

Yet, you still were here. You’d changed out of your work clothes for this, you’d tried to make yourself as presentable as possible when you knew it was an effort you’d see reflected in your brother. You were dreading leaving your home and having to blend into the sea of bloodthirsty betters you were about to find yourself in. 

You walk with your brother and one of his friends into the building, it’s large and crowded. Everyone is packed in like sardines as they yell about what odds they’re betting on, who’s the biggest and strongest, who’s the most nimble-footed and quickest, and who is the immediate runt of the competitors. You can already feel yourself becoming stressed, at this environment. You don’t understand the appeal of this but you understand how it can become a reality with the world that you’re all in. 

The heat stings your face like a slap, as you stand there, close to your brother so you don’t get split up in this sea and he rambles in your ear about who he placed a bet on, how they usually do. All of the information that seems so important in a moment like this to everyone else. But you’ve seen enough blood, you don’t need to be fascinated by people getting bloodied up like this. It’s a privilege that you’ve been able to avoid this your whole life. 

If you were seeing this at home, or if it wasn’t so packed in here tonight, you’d feel a little less self-conscious. And if you felt a little less self-conscious, you’d be chewing on your nails, all the way down to the nail bed. Until you felt the all too familiar sting of going too far. You give your hand a little shake to try and get rid of that urge, now’s not the place or time to wear your nerves on your sleeve. So instead, you try to offer up a small smile to your brother as he leads you to a spot on some benches nearby. 

The bench is relatively close to the ring, but it’s good, you’re already overstimulated and trying to make it up further to higher seats isn’t an idea that agrees with you right now, and it surely promises you a quick exit if needed. You look around, the dim lighting further adds to everything, your eyes scan the faces of those in the crowd and you look out at the ring. It’s big, you think, but you’re not sure if it’s a standard size or not for this sport. 

An announcer enters the ring, he looks sleazy and has a large, sly smirk pasted onto his face, one that makes you uncomfortable. You look at your brother to try and share a knowing glance but he’s focused on what’s in front of you both. You let out a quiet sigh as you tilt your head back to focus on what’s in front of you. 

The announcer opens his mouth and he speaks in a South African accent, that surprises you and you can’t help but look at your brother again. He announces himself as Tiger. This night is already so random, and you have a feeling that it’s only going to get more wild. 

“He’s the owner.” Your brother says as he tilts his head to whisper loudly in your ear. You can hear him over the whooping, clapping, and chants that have started. You nod as you look back at the ring, trying to pay attention to what you’re going to soon witness. Despite how overwhelming it all is. 

Tiger then introduces a fighter who’s dressed to almost look like a reptile, he’s introduced as King Kobra and gets a warm, adoring welcome from the audience with thunderous applause and cheers. You don’t clap as you can’t help but look around instead, taking it all in. It’s a lot and there’s so many people here, here just for this. 

Tiger then starts to introduce King Kobra’s opponent, his voice changes and it’s tinged with an antagonising disgust, he’s clearly trying to rile the audience up into booing, and not rooting for whoever it is. You can’t help but feel your curiosity grow at that. It feels childlike how it’s said, but you see the audience respond just as Tiger wishes. The opponent is Monkey Man, he quickly comes out and makes his way into the ring. He moves quickly and he bounces on his feet for a moment as he gets further into the zone. He stands there, waiting for the noise to confirm it’s the start, the start of a fight where he can maybe get one or two punches in before he has to keel over for his pay. Pay that he’ll probably have to bargain for. 

He stands in the ring and he can’t help but spend a second focusing on the face he sees in the front row. Kid is sure he hasn’t seen that face here before, it’s a pretty face, but he can’t help but notice the anxiety pooled in those eyes or your body language. He tilts his head slightly, it doesn’t seem to be the kind of anxiety some of the gamblers here have before the match, the ones who are risking it all for an expensive thrill and painful rush, to live vicariously through him and the other men adorned in animal masks and names. 

Kid turns his head away from you and tries to focus back on his work. You don’t even notice that the man in the ring has been staring at you, taking you and your nerves in for a few, long but oh so short seconds.. How could you? With that mask? You can’t see his face, but you can see there’s a lanky figure standing there, hiding under the mask and donning the monkey man mantle. He’s tall and slender but you can see there’s some muscle on his arms, from what you can see of the sweat and blood-stained undershirt he wears, his chest is toned as well. 

You don’t know it yet, but you can feel something realign, change in this moment. You’re just not sure what it is, or if this feeling is even real, or if it’s just another symptom of somatic anxiety. Right now, you think it’s probably just that. 

After almost another minute of the crowd booing Monkey Man and chanting out for the King Kobra, the match begins. Each of the men takes a moment to size the other one up, watching the other’s moves before the first hit lands. It’s King Kobra, he strikes Monkey Man. 

King Kobra goes to throw another punch, he moves quickly and he’s very agile, yet Monkey Man somehow dodges this one. His landing with the dodge isn’t perfect, but it gets him out of the way. He throws a punch to King Kobra and the crowd erupts into boos at that. It’s even more louder and clearer than before who they’re all rooting for and aren’t. The crowd’s response seems to motivate King Kobra as he quickly moves and starts to deliver blow after blow. 

You barely feel the noise of the crowd’s screams of joy and cheers as this happens and King Kobra gets his footing back. Your eyes widen as you watch, you see blood starting to fall as Monkey Man loses his way in this match. 

You let out a gasp as he falls to the ground. King Kobra slithers around the ring, posing and feeding off of the crowd’s response before he goes in for the kill shot. He delivers it and you feel yourself slightly jump. It’s terrifying to you, you don’t see the appeal in this, you can only start to mentally list off all of the physical trauma this causes. You sigh as you watch King Kobra be declared the winner of this match, it sounds like a recurring event, you gaze over at your brother who looks ahead with a large smile of awe, obviously happy with whatever return he’s getting on the bets he’d made beforehand

Monkey Man slowly tries to limp his way out of the ring and backstage, you look at your brother and quickly whisper that you need to check on this man. You have to, it’s basically a moral and ethical obligation. Your brother sighs and nods, you quickly move off of the bench and it doesn’t take much for you to catch up to this masked man. “How are you feeling? I’m a nurse.” You say to him and he nods slowly, you can hear his ragged pants from under the mask, the mask is drenched in sweat along with the rest of his body.

As you slowly walk backstage with him to the locker room that’s pungent with the sweat of costumed men masquerading as animals and characters you’d find in The Ramayana. There’s blood stains visible throughout the floors and walls, and you can taste the copper of the crimson in the air, impossibly so. You don’t know how but you can. You ignore these other bodies floating in your periphery as you walk to a sink with the Monkey Man, he leads the way, naturally. 

As you approach the sink together he immediately puts his hands on the edge and spits out a thick string of blood, you’re used to seeing blood but in this context, you can’t help but feel your nose screw up a little. It’s awful.

He tilts his head to look up at you, your eyes meet him and you offer him a small smile and give him your name. He looks at you, taking in the way that your lips curl up and how they do so genuinely. He gives a small nod, one you’d have missed if you’d blinked just a few seconds earlier. He just tells you that his nickname is Kid. Maybe he’s been fighting since he was very young. You don’t ask. Not yet. 

You turn the faucet on at the sink, to try and wash his blood away so that you can start trying to clean the damage of tonight’s fight, off of him. 

“What are you doing here?” He asks, he knows you’re not the type of person to come to these events. You’re not a regular and it’s clear from your face, you’re not a fan of these displays of violence. 

“My brother. It’s his birthday this weekend.” You say quietly as you wipe the blood off. “Have you broken your nose?” He looks up at you with a small smile, it makes sense. Your brother was probably the man beside you, he thinks. Kid can’t quite remember his face. He then shrugs at your question. His nose doesn’t feel too bad right now, but he knows he’s probably broken it at some stage. 

“You’re not sure?” You ask him, he shakes his head. You immediately notice how quiet he is, but despite his silence, his eyes are so reactive and expressive that you feel like you know more than what his words could give you.

“Do you have issues breathing? It doesn’t look bad, there’s just a small scar there. They often heal pretty well on their own.” You say as if to reassure him, even though you know that it probably isn’t something that would bother him. There wouldn’t be much he could do now anyway about that. You don’t like that thought. 

Kid stays there perfectly still as your stomach is now over its nausea and your hand touches his skin so gently as you try to offer him some kindness, some respect, some dignity, some simple compassion and care. His eyes soften as he realises that and looks up at you. There’s a glow from within you, even in the artificial lighting of the locker room and it’s easy for him to block out the chaos in here and focus on your gentleness. 

He’s barely ever touched, except for when a blow hits in a match, it’s never this gently. He doesn’t even know how to show himself that level of care when he bandages himself up at the end of each night that he fights. 

There’s not much of a conversation as you bandage him up but somehow, you don’t really notice it and it’s completely okay with you. There’s a comfort in his quietness, his stillness. It’s one he finds in you as well, perfectly requited. You put a hand on his arm gently as you just finished putting a bandage on him. He takes your hand slowly, and he examines it. You’ve never had someone look at your hair, analysing every hair on your knuckles and by your wrist. It’s a unique way to be seen. He then takes your hand and gently turns it over, taking his time as he does. Kid looks at your palm, at all the lines on it and his eyes follow and travel amongst every single last one. A million lifetimes. A million dreams. He runs his finger along them, just to confirm as he thinks about the roots of your skin, how they run along to the softness and travel over calluses. “That’s your future.” He says softly as he looks at your hand, running his fingers along the lines. He then looks up at you, and his big, beautiful brown eyes meet your orbs. “It’s your past, everything.” You’re not sure what it is that he sees. You’d like to know but you also think you’d be content living without that and just his opinion on everything else in the world. But still, you want to see with his eyes.His fingers stop running over your palm and you feel your cheeks heat up at the intensity of this, his eyes have softened and there’s something else there. Something you don’t quite know. Is it longing? You’re not sure. You feel a deep, soul-aching longing, he does as well and always has. You just haven’t arrived at the stop yet for that to be communicated with words. Now all there is just looks, longing looks from a man with the most beautiful big, brown eyes in the world. You could melt in them, swim in them, drown in them. All of the above and you’d never complain.

You don’t know who makes the first move first, it just feels natural, like gravity. Some kind of natural force that slowly pulls your lips together that you both know is right. His hand gently cups your cheek as you feel his lips. They’re slightly chapped but you don’t mind. The kiss is soft and delicate and you like it. You need it and so does he. Everything feels so natural right now. Perhaps this is something he saw in the palm of your hand. You don’t know what it is yet, but you’re certain that this mask-wearing monkey man is part of that future he just talked about.

#moneky man kid x reader #kid (monkey man) #kid monkey man x reader #monkey man fanfic #monkey man x reader #monkey man 2024 #monkey man movie #monkey man fanfiction #dev patel #dev patel imagine #dev patel fanfiction #dev patel fanfic #dev patel fandom #dev patel hive rise #chaitheticsasks #chaitheticsrequest #chaithetics #dev patel characters #monkey man #dev patel and his big brown eyes #go and see monkey man if you haven't already! #kid (monkey man) x reader #kid monkey man #dev patel x reader

[youcouldmakealife]

KS Fill: Gabe/Stephen; not on the list

For the prompt: I would say Gabe and Stephen’s wedding because I want that more than anything in the world, but I suspect that’s coming without my prompt? But if it’s not… 

It would come either way, probably, but this started the ball rolling.

More Gabe and Stephen, more lists. No actual wedding, but we get pretty damn adjacent.

Gabe knew the list would backfire the moment Stephen started making it. He even told Stephen as much, but Stephen just shrugged a shoulder and kept working on it. He got into it as it grew too, enjoying it so much that Gabe told himself he was probably worrying about nothing.

And maybe the list wouldn’t have been a problem if the only person he’d told about it was Gabe. Probably would have been fine even if knowledge of it extended to the Marksons and Petersens, which happened sooner rather than later.

But telling Gabe’s teammates — that was a mistake.

“A what list?” Jared asks when Stephen first mentions it.

“An anti-wedding list,” Stephen says.

Bryce sits up. “You guys aren’t getting married?”

From this angle, Gabe can’t see how withering the look Stephen gives Bryce is, but the kick Jared aims at his ankle is probably related.

“Obviously we’re getting married,” Stephen says, like he wasn’t panicking for a good few days after they got engaged, and only the potential wrath of Miriam Markson kept him from fleeing on the next flight out of Vancouver. “It’s a list of shit we don’t want at our wedding.”

“Um,” Bryce says.

“You know,” Stephen says. “The wedding traditions we’re vetoing.”

“We is such a strong word,” Gabe says.

“Unanimous approval or none at all, Gabriel,” Stephen says. "A veto only needs one."

He's right. And Gabe guesses he would know, consdiering he's the one vetoing everything.

“So wait, what exactly are you vetoing?” Jared says.

“Nobody’s wearing white,” Stephen says, starting to tick items off on his fingers. “I mean, white dress shirts are fine, obviously, but nobody’s a virgin here, we’re not doing any all in white shit. No flower girls or ring bearers. No little groom cake toppers. Fuck knows there aren’t going to be any garters involved. I don’t remember the rest off the top of my head, but I have it all written down."

“I like the little grooms,” Bryce says, sounding hurt. Gabe hasn’t seen any pictures from Bryce and Jared’s wedding, since it was very much on the down-low — and he truly wishes he could see how those two managed to put together a wedding on the sly when they couldn't even sit across from each other without Gabe figuring out they were married — but he bets there were little grooms on top of their cake. He also bets Bryce still has those little dudes hanging around somewhere.

“Can I see the list?” Jared asks. “I’m kind of curious how many our wedding had.”

“Sure,” Stephen says, with a hand wave. “I’ll email it to you when I’m finished. Have a few more items to add first.”

“Cool,” Jared says.

After Bryce and Jared leave, Gabe mentions it might not be a good idea to send Jared the list, but Stephen just scoffs.

“What’s he going to do?” Stephen says. “Wear white to my wedding? Put little grooms on his piece of cake? He’s a pain in the ass, but he’s not going to anything that actually fucks with the day, he’s not Dmitry.”

“Our wedding,” Gabe says.

“Oh come on, you already know what’s mine is yours,” Stephen says.

“You stabbed me with a chopstick over the last soup dumpling last night,” Gabe says.

“Stop saying I stabbed you,” Stephen says. “I didn’t even break the skin.”

“It hurt,” Gabe says, and Stephen takes his hand, planting an officious kiss on the back of it.

“Better?” Stephen asks.

“It was the other hand,” Gabe says, smiling when Stephen sighs dramatically before kissing it too.

“You’re really going to give Math that list?” Gabe says. “Blind trust isn’t usually your thing.”

“Oh, I’m sure it’ll lead to something hideous,” Stephen says. “But think of it this way: your idiot teammates are going to do something, so I may as well give them some parameters.”

“Huh,” Gabe says. “Good point.”

“I’m not exactly new to this, you know,” Stephen says.

“No, I know,” Gabe says.

At least whatever it is that’s coming, it won’t come out of the blue.

~

Gabe did not foresee this. Sure, when he gave Stevie and Dima and Bullet bachelor party planning rights he anticipated some variety of disaster, but he underestimated them, he thinks. Or overestimated them. There was some mis-estimation occurring.

He looks around. What initially looked like chaos seems oddly recognisable. Almost familiar.

It’s sort of wedding themed, which makes sense, considering the occasion, but everything’s slightly off, and not just because they’re in a venue more suited to clubbing than matrimony.

His eyes land on the big cake at the centre of everything. It looks more like the kind Gabe saw at Cup celebrations than a wedding one, decorated to look like a rink, with two little figures at centre ice. He’s too far to see the details, but he’s pretty sure they’re hockey figurines rather than grooms, and someone has decided to use the manipulable joints for, well, evil probably isn’t the right word, but maybe immaturity — Gabe’s pretty sure one of them is straddling the other. He guesses he should just be grateful no mounting is taking place, considering Dima’s probably the responsible party.

There are so many elements, and they don’t seem to fit together at all — elegant baskets of flowers that look almost painstakingly put together, surrounded by a scatter of rainbow confetti that feels like it's moonlighting from a completely different event. Some kind of crooner — Bublé? — playing, also from a completely different event. None of it seems to fit Gabe's picture of a bachelor party planned and attended by hockey players, even if the wives and girlfriends present also got involved in the planning.

It’s the guests themselves that help Gabe put it together. There was clearly a dress code, one that only Gabe and Stephen weren’t informed about, everyone all in white, neon bright under the black light. Like an item of a list come to life. Like one of many items of a list come to life.

He can see Stephen put it together a mere moment after he does, his eyes narrowing, mouth going flat. Playing at unimpressed for the — many — eyes currently on them, avidly waiting for a reaction.

“I’m going to fucking kill Jared,” Stephen says, and Gabe decides not to tell him just how proud he sounds.

“I wonder which one of the Canucks is wearing the garter,” Gabe says, and grins when Stephen forgets his audience and his composure for a moment, throwing his head back with a laugh.

#fic snippet #gabe markson #stephen petersen #jared matheson #bryce marcus #dmitry kurmazov

[klmp11s]

Hello! Hope your requests are on! I was hoping you'll do my request (M reader)

First years where they were having a ruckus and broke one of the reader's favorite and proudest paintings (ripped and wood broken in pieces) COUGHACECOUGH. They tried to hide it but sadly they had to show it. Reader tries not to show any hard feelings against them because it's an accident but they were really devastated because their hard work was basically thrown out of the window but they try not to show their sadness to a painting! It's a painting, it doesn't matter at all obviously! They've been spacing out and their mood is slightly down because of it but yk they try not to show it :3

HELLO BB, SORRY FOR MAKING YOU WAIT SO LONG 😭😭I loved this request so much.(English is not my first language, sorry for any mistakes)

Summary: The first-year students accidentally broke a reader's painting Characters: Ace Trappola, Deuce Spade, Jack Howl, Epel Felmier, Sebek Zigvolt Warning: male!reader, slight hurt/comfort? I'm not sure, it's mostly soft, ooc(?), (the boys themselves draw a painting for you)

Ace Trappola

Lmao this request was totally for him He is literally sure that now you will not talk to him. The moment when he broke the picture: his heart stopped for a moment and he just looks at WHAT EXACTLY broke with the thoughts that firstly, he will be killed, and secondly, he will kill himself, when he sees your upset face When instead of swearing and arguing, you just quietly say something like “it's just a painting, Ace, it doesn't matter.” He definitely feels worse than if you yelled and kicked him out. He definitely doesn’t believe everything you say like “it’s okay/you can go, I’ll clean everything up/don’t worry so much.” He sees how your hands are shaking, you know? He cleans everything himself. Seriously: boy won't even let you touch the broken frame. After that, he almost runs to his dorm to ask what he should do. Like, he just broke that thing that you kept so carefully and admiringly told and showed him how to make amends? They literally give him a plan with point by point advice so that he doesn’t ruin anything. 1. Bring you a gift to replace what he broke. He definitely wasn't thrilled with the idea of painting you a picture with his own hands, but it would still be fair. Effort for effort, understand? 2. Apologies. From the bottom of his heart, with words through his mouth, so that you can see and HEAR that he is very sorry and he really didn’t want this to happen. 3. Don't put pressure on you. Give you time and not pry into your personal space, you need to think about everything, right? 4. Next comes action based on the situation. No matter how crookedly he got it, he definitely painted you a picture from the bottom of his heart. Well, now you just need to apologize, right? … Okay, this is a lot more complicated than he thought. What should he say? “please forgive me for breaking your most beloved, dear, beautiful painting that you spent many hours on, I’m very sorry”? He doesn’t know at all how to choose the words to make it right. As a result, he decides that the apology can be sorted out as the situation progresses. Literally as soon as he crosses your threshold, RIVERS of words and sentences flow from his mouth. With one hand he pulls the picture towards you, and the other frantically waves it in different directions. You can literally hear him begin to choke while he non-stop tries to apologize to you. Eventually, he stops talking and holds out his hand with the painting and looks at you. The longer the silence lasts, the more he thinks he did something wrong. Maybe you didn’t want to see him, but he almost burst into your room? Could it be something even worse? Then he hears you quietly giggling. Okay, super, great, that's a good sign. His eyes are glued to your face and he sees how you look at his “painting” that he painted for you. It's not so bad, you're even surprised. Okay, maybe art from the heart really does matter. You carefully walk past Ace and he watches as you carefully hang his painting in the place where your painting previously hung. Okay, OKAY THAT'S definitely a VERY good sign. Okay, now he sees your sly look and understands that now he will have to explain himself about the new love language. And perhaps someday in the future he will receive one painting especially for him?

Deuce Spade

Please, he's so sweet, I'm sure he caused a cauldron that accidentally flew into the wall. 😭 But now, he is literally in PANIC when he sees that it is not a vase or something else that has broken, but YOUR FAVORITE PAINTING I'm not sure he would try to hide it because he would literally try to put the pieces and pieces of the painting back together while looking like a panicked puppy The moment he sees you, he will begin to apologize, cling to your sleeves and ASK TO FORGIVE HIM because he didn’t do it on purpose, really. Afterwards, when your face turns from confusion to slight grief, he realizes that everything is VERY BAD When he is already returning to the room, he calls his mother to find out what to do. He has absolutely no idea how to improve the situation. Even if his mother jokingly says to paint a painting for you, he takes it seriously. It will be fair! He will definitely need a few days and advice from older students, I think this is his first experience in something so creative. Especially if the painting is for you. He loves you, he is sorry that this happened and he wants you to not be sad anymore, understood? At the same moment when he finishes the picture, he almost runs towards you. Does the paint take some time to dry? Well, they'll dry while he's running, lol. You are sitting in your room sad because of him, so he should bring a smile to your face as soon as possible! (He didn't hurt it, really. He is very careful with what he does for you.) When you open the door to let him in, the first thing you see is the canvas he holds out to you. Unusual? Unusual. His apology is quiet. Of course, there are many of them and they are really sincere, that he tries not to ruin the moment and speaks quietly. When he sees your soft gaze focused on the painting, he becomes silent and looks at you. He was never an artist, but what he did for you is priceless. You look from the painting to the empty wall, and say that his idea to fill the void is quite good. You decide to give the painting time to dry, carefully leaving it horizontal. Well, now all your attention is focused on Deuce, you still have to talk to him, right? By the time he leaves your room, the painting is almost dry. (I'm sure he will also hang it on the wall himself. It was his fault that it fell, and it was his initiative that it will hang.)

Jack Howl

I can't even imagine how this happened A second, the picture is already on the floor and he is completely confused. Afterwards he sees the reason for the loud sound and he LITERALLY: 😦😧😨 Okay, he definitely, like Deuce, will try to collect all the pieces so that you don’t accidentally get hurt, but there’s literally a crisis going on in his head. He accidentally broke something you've been working on for just over a month, it's a disaster. At the moment he is ALREADY thinking about how he should apologize to you. As soon as he sees you and your sad eyes, his ears literally press to his head. To all his apologies you respond “I know you didn’t do it on purpose. It's okay, it's nothing more than just a painting." Well, now he is more than sure that he needs something more than a verbal apology. The first thing that came to his mind: something that he himself would treasure, at that same second an idea comes to him: Make something for you that is equivalent to what was broken. Jack knows he's not an artist or anything, but for you, he's really willing to try. And after that, you will again be able to have fun with him and you will take care of the cacti in his room together! Oh. He definitely decided that it would be an apology for you. He would also ask the older students in his dorm for advice, and maybe even Vil, since he doesn't really understand art. But, I am more than sure that he is trying to paint a picture for you as neatly and pleasing to the eye as possible. The day after he finished the painting, he would pick up one of his cacti for you along with any little thing you like and head over to you. Once you let him into your room, he hands you a carefully wrapped canvas and a small patterned bag. Okay, now he's trying to find words for you. As soon as you open the package, he starts apologizing to you. Sincerely. Out of the corner of your eye you see how nervously his tail is darting and you turn your gaze from the cactus he gave him to the painting. Did he draw this himself? You hear him quiet down a little when you take the picture in your hands and looks into your face with hope. A soft smile touches your lips. And really, he tried so hard to make amends to you that he was ready to paint a painting for you himself? You hold out the canvas to him and ask him to hang it in the place where your painting previously hung. You carefully take the plant he gave you and place it nearby with your new decorative item. Did he really try that hard for you? Now, you can go somewhere together and relax, and when you return, your new favorite painting will be waiting for you.

Epel Felmier

Please, I’m not sure that in principle he could reach your painting /j But let's skip this point. Now all that was left was: him, the broken picture on the floor that you had been telling him about for a week, and panic. He is literally ready to hide all the evidence the moment he realizes that you will be broken just like your painting. When he hears your steps behind him, he is ready to be thrown out of the room and not be spoken to again. But all you told him: “Epel, it’s just canvas and paints. Tell me better, weren't you hurt? Did you accidentally cut yourself?” ok, now it would be better if you silently kicked him out of the room. He begins to apologize to you and words like “to a strong man, the fragments could hardly harm me” definitely slip into his speech. After that, he immediately headed to his dorm. Perhaps he definitely needs help. As he tells Vil his problem, he sneaks a glance at Rook, who looks like he's already aware of what happened. Okay, now all hope lies with these two, he doesn’t know how best to apologize to you. The idea about the painting was definitely suggested by Vil himself, but Rook added that he should apologize to you in detail. Not as Rook himself would have done, but approximately. Fine. There is a rough plan of action, but one problem: Epel has absolutely no idea how to paint. It looks like he will have to spend even more time with these two, but you are at stake and for your sake he is ready to spend as much time with the members of the verbal dorm as necessary The phrase “art takes time” becomes one of his least favorites. He wants to finish as soon as possible and come running to you with all the speeches he could come up with, but he has to wait until the painting dries. In the morning, when everything is finally ready, he almost knocks over a couple of students as he runs towards you. As soon as he crosses the threshold of your room, one of his hands is in yours and the other is holding out a painting to you. Well, this is the most unusual morning you could have. You, still sleepy, look at the painting in your hand and distantly hear Epel's apology. A smile touches your lips. Was he really that worried about this all this time? You remove your hand from his and ruffle his hair. HE WILL NOT LET YOU HANG THE PICTURE I'm serious. If necessary: HE IS READY TO CLIMB ON A CHAIR, TABLE, IT DOESN’T MATTER, BUT HE WILL DO IT

Sebek Zigvolt

He did this because it wasn't Malleus in the painting/j To be honest, I don't even know how this could happen. Most likely, he hit something, and that “something” dropped the painting… But okay, now he’s confused What fell? Oh.. OH WAIT He just dropped and broke a painting of his loved one. He would help you pick up the broken pieces and try to apologize to you. Moreover, I am sure that the apology will be quiet, in a whisper, rather than his usually loud voice. He's really sorry that this happened when you respond with something like, “It's okay. It’s just a painting” he really feels guilty. Okay, now he needs help apologizing to you properly. A true knight should not upset those he loves. And now.. His Diasomnia group is trying to help him. But I'm more than sure that Silver came up with the idea for the painting. (You can start fighting me, I'm ready.) Malleus and Lilia offered more ideas for verbal apologies, maybe even written ones, but the moment Silver woke up and listened to part of their conversation, he offered to give you a painting. Still, the painting that was dear to you was broken, so why shouldn’t he make amends by painting a new one for you himself? But even so, I think that all three helped Sebek in painting the picture. He must do it with love, right? And love is a rather fragile thing, so he shouldn’t rush so much. He could have written you a letter of apology, but I think he decided to stick with a verbal apology. When he finished the picture, I think that his Diasomnia group lastly gave him advice or some quotes for an apology 😭 The moment he entered your room, he began to ask for your forgiveness more loudly than last time. In the middle of his monologue, he handed you a picture from behind and He didn’t look at your face anymore. Yes, he painted this picture, please forgive him, but he can't look you in the eyes, he will stumble and forget what he was talking about 😭 When he hears your quiet laugh, he falls silent and watches you approach the empty wall. A couple of seconds and he understands what you want to do. Okay, honey, he's glad you forgive him, but take your hands off and let him hang the picture. He will do it himself, you understand? Afterwards, he could invite you to take a walk with him, but, of course, when he is absolutely sure that you feel better than before

The characters do not belong to me, they belong to their rightful owners, please do not edit, translate, repost my works on other platforms, also without my permission and @

#twst x reader #twst x male reader #twisted wonderland x male reader #ace trappola x male reader #ace trappola x reader #deuce spade x male reader #deuce spade x reader #jack howl x male reader #jack howl x reader #epel felmier x male reader #epel felmier x reader #sebek zigvolt x male reader #sebek zigvolt x reader

[a-grayscale]

Okay hear me out on this one, you know how during your run ins with the bishops during Crusades and such during the game they all seem relatively okay despite their injuries? (Relatively as in they’re definitely not actually okay, but they can still function just fine) Is it just me, or is that relative okayness most definitely because the crowns helped hold them together?

Like, the most obvious example of this I can think of would be Heket being able to speak during our encounters with her despite not having her throat. I feel like it’s pretty obviously the case there, right? The crown is allowing her to speak through it. I think that the other crowns allowed the bishops to function with their injuries by sorta holding them all together in godhood, yeah? We on the same page there?

Okay, hear me out. Narinder has serious, possibly chronic pain in his arms and probably also legs.

I mean, the guy was chained in place for a thousand years, there’s no way that’s not painful. More on that, considering we don’t know exactly HOW MUCH leeway those chains had(it’s obviously not a lot, but we don’t know if there was any at all or if it was one or two possible positions ever for 1000 years) there’s a good chance his bones and muscles and the ligaments and everything weakened over time to the point of being really fragile and brittle. We don’t know if he always had skeletal arms, maybe that was a symptom?

What does this have to do with the crowns holding the bishops injuries together? Well, what if the reason he didn’t move a whole lot during the boss battle was because he didn’t have his crown and thus, was in a lot of pain? I mean, we’ve all seen the boss battle, the dude hits hard but it’s almost always with chains or fire, or summoning enemies while he floats around. What if that’s because he hurt too much to move any more?

I think that’d add a really interesting dynamic between him and his desire for the crown, as well as his dynamic with the cult as a whole. A big reason he might want the crown back is because it helped dull the pain it’s bearer felt, just as the other crowns did to keep their respective bearers from falling apart.

I think it’d affect his dynamic and relationships within the cult because, like the other bishops post indoctrination, he wouldn’t have the luxury of a magic crown that helped with the pain. I’m not too familiar with chronic pain, but from what I’ve heard and seen and been told, it fucking sucks. I can’t imagine Narinder’s being any less sucky, at least not for a long long LOOOONG time. And when I say long time, I mean LOOONG TIME.

I think it’d also affect his relationships with say, the other bishops for example. Not to say that everything about them isn’t an absolute MESS already, cause it absolutely is, but I think they’d all feel at least a little guilty about the injuries they caused each other, even if they don’t admit it aloud. I mean, I’m no emotional undertones expert, but some of the dialogue leads me to believe they still at least CARE about each other somewhat as family. (Mostly mean Shamura’s dialogue during their bishop encounters, Narinder’s dialogue when receiving the silk from silk cradle, and Leshy’s line still calling Narinder his brother when asking the Lamb to retrieve his eye) Again, I’m no expert on feelings so I might be wrong here, but if you care about someone who you see is hurting, hurting BECAUSE OF YOU… I mean, even if it was self defense I’d still feel pretty fucking guilty personally, so there’s a good chance they’d probably feel the same.

I also think this pain Narinder has could affect his relationship with the Lamb(regardless of if you ship them or not, I do personally but you do you boo <3) I mean, they ARE still the leader of the flock. Narinder is now part of said flock. So he really is their responsibility. I feel like it would be a learning curve for both of them to at least SOME degree. Narinder hasn’t been without a crown that can dull the sense of pain until now so he probably doesn’t know wtf to do, and while The Lamb might have more experience from helping their followers who could also have had chronic issues, they’d still be pretty in the dark about it. I think it’d be a rough but necessary road for them both to cross in order to understand and help Narinder.

But this is all just head canon talk, so it might not matter. Idk but I hope it was interesting at least, or that it helped form some lovely little brainworms! Goodbyyyeeeee-

#cult of the lamb #cotl #cotl narinder #cotl lamb #narilamb #just a smidge #cotl leshy #cotl shamura #cotl heket #aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa #If there’s anything else you headcanon #Feel free to comment #I’d love to hear any input

[sunglassesmish]

I'm really loving the bucktommy story! It's rough not having Tommy on our screens for a few weeks lol, though I am also invested in everything else going on right now. What do you think about all the buddie spec??? I read some interesting takes about Buddie and the parallels with Vertigo movie so I’m a little 👀 ngl. I'm not 100% sure if I want it anymore because I am enjoying seeing Buck and Tommy🫣 but it is compelling... But it did make me wonder what do you think because I feel like we’re both liking having Tommy around

i was just talking about this a few minutes ago (obviously not on here because i don’t want to make everyone see me annoyed and bitchy which i guess is what i’m doing now) but i just don’t…. buy into anything buddie related happening this season, nor do i want it.

bringing in tommy was a choice, keeping him is an even bigger one. to make him the catalyst between buck and eddie together just doesn’t feel right, especially when he’s not just some random guy they created to be buck’s boyfriend. buck likes this man, enough to bring him as his date to his sister’s wedding, to ask him to come to the bachelor party. to want to explore a relationship with him. why in the hell would he start to want eddie or for either of them to, and i hate to say it, but ‘have a feelings realisation.’

meanwhile, eddie has all these things going on his life, with his girlfriend, with shannon, and with chris. and with this short season, i don’t understand why they’d try and fit buddie into it. it would be a complete disservice to the characters.

buck is of course part of this ‘vertigo’ based storyline they’re doing now because eddie has made him an unwilling accomplice. he’s had buck watch over chris instead of what he had been doing with marisol, because he’s lying to her and can’t tell her that he’s going on a date with his ex-wife’s doppelganger. and with that whole ‘kissing lucy whilst drunk and then asking taylor to move in with him’ i’m sure buck has quite a few feelings about cheating and will NAWT be happy with eddie.

and not to be that person, but even ryan is talking about how important it was buck was supported by his heterosexual friend when he told him he was on a date with tommy. and then in that interview after 7x07, he said that buck is in a stable relationship with him meanwhile eddie is being chaotic and his relationship is quite unstable.

taking buck off this hamster wheel that they’ve repeatedly said is what they were hoping to happen with tommy, and then immediately going ‘he’s bi. and in love with his best friend.’ and getting rid of tommy just so he can pine over eddie???????? i would hate that.

so no. i don’t think anything will happen with buddie this season. and i don’t want it.

#anon #ask #911 #911 spoilers

[girl-named-matty]

Introducing HL boys to your family/parents and how the boys would act 😚🤭

I want to adopt ominis into my family he'd be so happy with us 😫

sorry that this took so long and may not be my best work, I've had a long week! LOL

Sebastian:

He’s nervous. Extremely nervous. 

What if they don’t like him? What if they think he’s not good enough for you? Basically making every excuse ever. 

It’s not like he doesn’t want to meet your parents but he’s just nervous they’ll be disappointed in you for your… interesting taste in men. 

He’ll go through random mood swings that consist of being confident enough to go right in there and immediately steal your parent's heart and then going through terrible anxiety that they’ll hate him. 

Eventually, you just have to tell him to stop worrying because he was just doing too much. 

But then he meets your parents and just as you said, everything goes wonderfully. 

In fact, they love him a lot. Your dad obviously gives him the “Are you good enough for my child” rundown yada yada but after that they are practically glued at the hip. 

And then when you two are going home you give him the whole “I told you so” talk because you just can’t help yourself.

Ominis: 

Ominis is extremely hesitant at first. He’s always had a rough time with family relationships in general because of the family he came from. 

But he would like to meet yours, especially since he knows that’s the gentlemanly thing to do. 

He tries to hide the fact that he’s nervous but you can see right through him. But instead of teasing him, you comfort him and tell him everything is going to be okay and that your parents are going to love him. 

And unsurprisingly, they do. 

Some long, meaningful conversations were shared between him and your parents that night and after, they kept telling you how much they loved him and how much of a gentleman he was. 

And when you told him this, he felt like he could cry. But in a good way, of course. 

He’s a keeper :)

Garreth:

He was actually the one to bring up meeting your parents first. 

He has a big family and he knows how important it can be to someone. And he was completely calm about it. 

Which was ironic because you were the nervous one. 

Garreth has… Well, zero to no filter. And you were nervous that he’d say something in front of your parents that’d get you into some hot water. 

But when he did meet them, it went wonderfully. They talked the entire night and they fell in love with Garreth and his personality. 

Little did they know he was much more chaotic than that but they’d see that side of him once the two of you were married and he was officially part of the family ;)

Leander:

An absolute nervous wreck. 

He was overthinking absolutely everything and it was making him sick.

You tried your best to comfort him, telling him it'd be okay and that they'd love him. I mean, how could they not? He was sweet and was always trying his best to make a good impression.

When he met your parents he was stumbling over his own words while just trying to have a conversation. Which then led him to overthink it some more. 

But your mother actually thought it was adorable and quickly took to him. 

He still over thinks things sometimes, but that’s okay. He’s felt like he’s truly found a place in your family and that’s all that matters.

(Again, sorry that it was short and maybe not the best but thank you for requesting anyway <33)

#hogwarts legacy #sebastian sallow #hl #ominis gaunt #garreth weasley #Leander prewett #hogwarts legacy headcanons #sebastian sallow headcanons #ominis gaunt headcanons #leander prewett headcanons #garreth weasley headcanons

[yuzurujenn]

2024.05.11 Quardruple Axel May Issue: Exclusive interview with Yuzuru Hanyu

March 11th. When I walked into the hotel room in Sendai City, Yuzuru Hanyu greeted me with a gentle expression. The ice performance "Yuzuru Hanyu Notte Stellata 2024" held in the disaster-stricken area from March 8th to 10th, which he himself served as the chairman, has just ended. He should have been exhausted, but he didn't look like that. He just glanced at the tote bag in the reporter's hand and said, "That's a (souvenir) from the National Middle School Skating Competition, right? I miss it~", That was all it took to thoughtfully lighten the mood at the scene. He was interviewed by us for about an hour including filming time.

——Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to be interviewed today!

Hanyu: Thank you! Are you nervous? In fact, there is no need to be nervous at all. I haven't changed at all (from past to present)!

--Thanks. Then, I'm counting on you.

Hanyu: Please take care of me.

——It has been two and a half years since Yuzuru Hanyu started working as a professional skater. You have deeply thought and pursued both performance and figure skating itself, and you have even tried to work as an overall performance choreographer. In the process, you seemed to have increased the level of difficulty. Specifically, it means mental, technical, and physical endurance. In previous ice shows, besides the opening and finale, skaters mostly performed one program in the first half and another in the second half, a total of two programs. Under such circumstances, Yuzuru Hanyu had to complete an ice show alone. I think it is quite difficult for one person to perform nearly 10 programs. First of all, I would like to ask you to tell me why you decided to do a "solo performance" when you turned professional.

Hanyu: At "Yuzuru Hanyu notte stellata 2024" I skated three programs. In fact, just skating these three programs made me exhausted (laughs). As for me, even now, I have always treated figure skating as a sport. When it comes to why I chose solo skating over this, the first reason is that when I changed from competitive skater to professional skater, the voices from those who "still want to see Yuzuru Hanyu's figure skating" gave me a strong impact. Well, if that was the case, I started thinking, "For those who want to watch me skate, can I create an environment where they can watch me skate all the time?" This was the initial idea. And hence "Prologue" was born.

At the time of "Prologue", the MC session was very long, and the number of programs was obviously less than now. It wasn't easy physically at the time, but compared to now, I was able to skate through the whole show with plenty of room to spare. Through "Prologue", I also captured the feeling of "being able to perform continuously by myself." Of course, I don’t think I’ve fully presented myself yet. In fact, it cannot be said that all the programs were performed perfectly. In the previous "RE_PRAY" ice show, I was not able to perform all the programs perfectly. I thought that it would be really difficult to complete the entire performance alone, and it would definitely be physically demanding, but while I practiced for the solo ice performance, I gradually grasped the idea that "I can definitely do it alone."

——From the first "Prologue" to "GIFT" and "RE_PRAY", I feel that you are challenging more difficult programs every time you perform. Not just the physical strength, the fact that you can't just cancel a solo ice show because you're not feeling well, under such heavy pressure, your performances continue to exceed the audience's expectations. Isn't the daily practice quite a burden?

Hanyu: Maybe this is something that should be taken for granted after becoming a professional skater, but to be honest, the training I have accumulated now is incomparable to what I was able to do when I was a competitive skater. Looking back on the competitive days, it was enough to practice up to three programs (short program, free skate and performance skate) in a season. Because the number of programs is limited, it can improve concentration during practice. However, since I became a professional skater, if I hold a solo ice show, I would have to skate more than 10 programs. For a program to be comparable to traditional free skating, even without footwork and rotation, practicing seven jumps is undoubtedly necessary. In addition, if you want to skate many programs, not just jumping, you must also perform corresponding exercises for different programs.

On this basis, is it enough to just complete a certain amount of practice? Not really. Although as long as the amount is accumulated enough, the endurance will indeed keep up. However, these alone cannot maintain and improve physical fitness. Figure skating requires instantaneous movements. In order to consistently perform at my best, in addition to increasing the amount of physical training, training to improve my conditioning and fitness is also essential. Therefore, the current training can be said to be extremely hard (laughs).

——During the "RE_PRAY" performance in Yokohama on February 19th, you mentioned "about 6 hours of physical training a day." The amount of training is quite huge, right?

Hanyu: Yes, at that time, I felt quite upset because I was not able to perform well in the Saga performances. Since then, I have been studying better training methods and have been fighting with myself for more than a month. (Editor's note: As a result of hard training, in the final performance on February 19th, which was open to the media, "The Messenger of Destruction", which was as difficult as a free skate, was completed for the first time without any mistakes.)

After that, I immediately had to prepare for "notte stellata". Since there were three performances to be performed, it is necessary to practice accordingly. Especially this time, there are two new songs. Although the new program was arranged by someone in December last year, it was not possible to practice well (because he had to adjust for "RE_PRAY"). So, the first thing to do is to recollect the choreographic movements. Of these two new programs, the choreography for the second half of "Carmina Burana" started after the Yokohama performance of "RE_PRAY", but then it was decided to have additional stop for “RE_PRAY", so I have to keep practice for that too.

In this sense, although it is very hard, I am always thinking about how to continue to evolve during the process. For example, I mentioned about "learning" before. I can refer to the training methods and skills honed by top players in other competitive sports, or I can refer to paid course videos and study relevant papers. Although most of the contents are in English media, I can still learn and absorb various knowledge from them, and at the same time think about whether I can apply it to my own training, and thus formulate a training plan that suits my own situation.

——Performing more than a dozen programs in two and a half hours by yourself is something you have never experienced in the competitive era. In competitions, you just need to focus on the short program or free skate each day to bring your form to its peak. Now, in solo ice performances, the method of giving full attention to all programs must be carried out throughout the show. During the two-and-a-half-hour performance, in order to achieve the best condition in each program and repeatedly exert concentration and explosive power, has your "internal clock" changed compared to the competitive days?

Hanyu: Ah, right? (laughs) This is an interesting question. I don't have the impression of "just doing a long-distance race (a two-and-a-half-hour solo performance)" in my mind. Yeah, maybe it’s like the different feelings that a marathon and Ekiden (long-distance relay race) give to people. A marathon is run by one runner. During the 42.195km, there are ups and downs, and there are also times when the wind is going against the direction. We need to explore a strategy that can reasonably distribute the rhythm. In contrast, in Ekiden, multiple runners complete their respective sections, and all members relay the baton till the finish line. Among them, there are runners who are good at running long distances, and there are also runners who excel at running short distances at a fast pace. In this process, everyone devotes their effort to the parts that they are responsible for, and everyone's efforts are brought together as a team to complete the run.

Although my performances are like a marathon, I run alone all the time, but in fact, each program is like an Ekiden interval. Therefore, there are longer programs like free skating and shorter programs. Moreover, I always work hard to be able to perform all the repertoire at my best. So even though I ran the entire distance like a marathon, in fact, each part has its own Yuzuru Hanyu who is responsible for it. Each Yuzuru Hanyu is trying his best to skate each program. Only when they come together that a complete "solo performance" can be achieved. I imagine it would be similar to the feeling of running Ekiden alone. Because of this, each show’s approach to skating, the techniques used, and the pace are completely different. I had to practice them all one by one. In a formal performance, as long as the music starts playing, no matter how deprived of oxygen the body is and how hard it is, it must be completed. This is because it is not just about me, but the staff around me are also working hard to create with great care and dedication. So I have to persist in completing it. Although there were times when I couldn’t help shouting “I’m so exhausted” or “I really want to go back” (laughs).

To get back to the subject, I did not deliberately distribute (or preserve) the rhythm (physically), but trained in order to continue to exert my full strength for different programs.

—— Hanyu-san seems to be able to squeeze out his endurance from the limit, even when you feel physical pain and when you keep pushing yourself. Do you have the power to push the limits?

Hanyu: The support from the audience makes me very happy. I think there must be an invisible force, just like what everyone calls super energy in critical situations. However, I know firsthand that even this power has its limits. In my opinion, when the limiter is turned off, it is possible to awaken the extra 20% potential. However, since my competitive days, I have always been skating in a way that utilizes the extra 20% from the beginning. In this way, the remaining power has already been exhausted, if the energy is exhausted midway, the body will feel like it is stagnant. So it is important to recover when you're taking off your skates and changing clothes between programs, but it is actually very difficult to do that. The process of untying and re-tying skate laces also requires a lot of grip. In fact, the way you tie your skates can affect your condition and even bring the risk of injury, so concentration cannot be interrupted in this stage. Under such circumstances, my brain is still running at full speed, thinking about "Now, how can this body recover as soon as possible?" and "How to adjust the body's state and rhythm before performing the next program?". I was trying my best to overcome these difficulties. If there is nothing you can do physically, you can only rely on mental power to make your body move.

In this way, rehearsals become crucial. For "RE_PRAY", there is a free skate program ("Messenger of Destruction") at the end of the first half, but during rehearsals, I will skate "Messenger of Destruction" twice in a row after skating all other programs in the first half. Or sometimes I skate "Messenger of Destruction" three times in a row and then do the whole rehearsal. There are also cases where the original 30-minute break between the first and second half is reduced to 15 minutes and then the skating resumes immediately. Sometimes, after skating the Rondo step sequences three times, I will perform some additional performances. A formal show is definitely more physically demanding than a rehearsal, so I have to persevere until the end no matter what. In terms of research, I review scientific studies on the energy efficiency of muscles, the oxygen absorption of cells, and the oxygen transport of red blood cells, and train on this basis.

——Sounds like an impressive training session. In addition, in terms of performance content, after changing careers, you performed many jumping elements and programs that went beyond the rules of the game and broke the rules framework. Looking back at the competitive era, have you ever struggled with performances bound by rules?

Hanyu: I myself use the word "rules" in "RE_PRAY", but if you think about my experience in competitive sports, there is no doubt that I was bound by something like scoring. For example, in a certain melody, "Rather than jumping, I would like to do something that fits better for the performance", or "Although I actually want to perform like this, but in order to score, I can only do jumping here", psychological dilemma similar to this have indeed existed before. In this way, "If I want to complete this jump, I must ensure such a long skating assist", which means that I must have a corresponding distance. Or, to be honest, in order to get points, while thinking about matching the notes of the song, I have to think about "This step must be performed" or "This rotation must be included in the combination" situation. When considering the program, you’re always bound by the score.

Of course, arranging programs with the goal of obtaining scores is actually the fun of the competition. However, after I won the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, I began to feel that it was a bit lonely to think about making programs just for scoring. GOE has been adjusted, and I gradually feel that there is a ceiling-like existence in PCS. During that time, I had to think, "Well, what should I do to get points?" However, no matter how much effort I put into performance, and no matter how deeply I thought about the music, I was still unable to improve the PCS. It could be said that it had reached a point where nothing could be done. In this way, I could only improve the basic score of jumping, because I have to work hard to master new techniques (having to reduce the practice time in other aspects) and it is impossible to pay attention to and study in depth in all aspects. The most difficult part of figure skating is how to coordinate jumping and performance. On top of this, because of the constraints of scores, to be honest, I have repeatedly hit the wall for this.

——About "RE_PRAY" just now. After turning into a professional skater, the constraints of scoring disappeared. But on the other hand, the disappearance of scoring can also be said to have remove evaluation-related restrictions in a sense. The price of obtaining "free expression" is the loss of " judgment standards". Do you also have to face such a difficulty?

Hanyu: Thank you very much for your thoughtful interpretation of "RE_PRAY". To be honest, I was so happy that I couldn’t help but chuckle. After all, without scores, the so-called results, we cannot determine the right answer and the wrong answer. I am deeply aware of this difficulty. However, as a performer, it seems to me that the process of trying to find the right answer is actually similar to philosophy.

"RE_PRAY" slightly uses the Trolley Dilemma as a theme, but the answer to this question cannot be deduced by anyone. It can only be considered by each person as a pragmatism (practical, pragmatic concept) and find the answer that is suitable for them, the so-called correct answer. So I think this is similar to philosophy. In my mind, "I want to express it this way", "I want to add sounds for this kind of expression, and I want to convey this kind of world" are the correct answers. But for other people, they may feel that "It's not like that." When this remains in the world one day in the future, some people may think, "So this is how Hanyu Yuzuru (his performance, the world) feels." There may also be people who are deeply shocked. When I think about this, although it is difficult (performing without evaluation standards), maybe it is just out of the feelings of the athlete, but I still feel that pursuing it is meaningful. This is because I sincerely feel that if we always keep thinking and learning and deepening, we will definitely have the joy of continuous evolution. In fact, we can’t just talk about “fun” and “enjoyment”, after all, this is a job full of hardship. However, I feel that there must be correct answers and ways of thinking that I cannot discover on my own.

——How did the game-based concept for "RE_PRAY" come about?

Hanyu: Speaking of "RE_PRAY", when I was thinking about my future plans for skating, I thought that I had finally laid the foundation of "GIFT", the ICE STORY, at the Tokyo Dome, so I wilfully told the staff (lead by MIKIKO, the chief editor) "I want to continue ICE STORY", and that's where the creation started. I have been worrying about how to make ICE STORY 2nd, and I kept thinking "What is the most interesting part if it is presented as figure skating?" In terms of expression techniques, I thought, would it be more fresh and more interesting if I could start with things that I have the most contact with and that no one else has personally experienced? After thinking about it this way, I thought that I could use games and the like as the basis for the ice performance.

——The effects projected on the screen, the YES or NO option and the date of archive selection would change in each show, which has also become a topic of conversation among fans and everyone has made various comments and interpretations about them. Is there any special purpose behind it?

Hanyu: For these aspects, we just want to maximize the point of "creating stories as professionals". For figure skating, every moment of performance can become a work in itself. In addition, the reaction of the audience and the atmosphere at the event also create a sense of "live" at a certain moment. Therefore, as professionals, we are producing this ice show with the aim of striving for excellence to the end.

——In the video of "RE_PRAY", there is a scene where Yuzuru Hanyu uses a game controller to control the characters on the screen. That game character is also Yuzuru Hanyu. This design in which you control the game character Yuzuru Hanyu and move forward by choosing between YES and NO can also be said to be a unique worldview of yourself from an objective perspective. Hanyu also made many choices during his competitive days, such as deciding to go to Toronto, deciding to challenge 4A, and deciding to become a professional skater. When you are making these decisions, do you feel as if you are controlling the game character Yuzuru Hanyu?

Hanyu: That’s great, if you explain it this way. Thank you. Indeed, I also feel that I am the kind of person who is better at looking at things objectively. Whether in the process of skating or in the process of being interviewed like this, I seem to always be able to view myself objectively and observe myself from an overhead perspective, or I can say that I have good self-control. This personality may have penetrated unconsciously (during the creation of "RE_PRAY"). In fact, I also think that my own life experience has been injected into "RE_PRAY".

When I talk to you like this, I will also say "very interesting" and "not bad". When I organize the language, I do use unique wording in many places. Even so, I still feel that the expansion of the range of thinking and the richness of the set of options are very important. The story of "RE_PRAY" can be interpreted in various ways. In a sense, for the fans who have fought along with me, this is "Yuzuru Hanyu's story", but for viewers who are watching it for the first time, they may just watch it as an ICE STORY, right? For media people who conduct interviews and reports, they may think, "Because Yuzuru Hanyu used such language, that's probably what he thought?" Various programs also exist on the basis of many different interpretations. Integrating these into a complete work is what ICE STORY wants to pursue. Therefore, there is nothing happier for me than being able to take questions from people like you who understand this ice show.

——Having talked about this, I can also understand that for you, whether you are training and practicing as an athlete, or participating in the overall performance choreography, you need to consider themes and concepts, including polishing the details, all of which have a great impact on the body, brain, and spirit. All levels will bring a huge burden. Despite this, I can't help but look forward to Hanyu Yuzuru moving towards higher goals. When you held a press conference on turning professional in July 2022, you once said frankly, "The existence of Yuzuru Hanyu has always been a heavy burden for me." This sentence impressed me deeply. Has the burden that this existence placed on you changed since you became a professional skater?

Hanyu: (Laughs) It’s still very heavy. As expected, the fact that it feels like a heavy burden has not changed since the competitive days. For me, the fear of "Whether I can meet everyone's expectations?" and the uneasiness of "Whether what I am doing is actually responding to everyone's expectations?”, I have never stopped thinking like this to this day. But in my opinion, when such thoughts disappear and I no longer regard these as a burden, it probably means that I have reached my limit. I can still see the ideal image that can live up to everyone's expectations, and I want to make it my goal. In other words, in my opinion, my potential (moving his hand upwards) can probably reach this level. Because of this, I feel uneasy or have the feeling "This is the best I can do”. I may live up to everyone’s expectations only to this extent. It is very difficult to continue to evolve and finally realize your ideal, but I accept the state of mind of constant pursuit of this as the driving force.

——How do you spend every day keeping in mind the distance between you and your ideal?

Hanyu: To be honest, I do feel that I have always insisted on pursuing my ideal goal. But specifically speaking, the distance (to the ideal) is not a definite interval. Sometimes it is closer and sometimes it becomes further. It seems to me that this kind of thing happens all the time. At this point, this is true regardless in professional or competitive era.

For example, the "SEIMEI" I skated at the 2015 NHK Cup (which set a world record at the time) was almost close to the ideal, and I scored 322 points (total with the short program score). Regarding this, I thought, "It's close to the ideal, what should I do next?” In a sense, I have reached a state where I can be satisfied. At that time, facing the upcoming GPF, I kept thinking, "Can I score more than 320 points in the next competition?" and "What should I pursue next?" However, at the same time, my physical condition became not good, and I have a bit of a cold and at this time my ideal is far away from me again. But in the end, I scored 330 points in the GPF (Editor's note: Both the short and free broke the world record at the time, and scored an otherworldly 330.43 points, achieving three consecutive GPF championship titles). It can be said that I have fully realized my ideal, but that time I was completely burned out, and it was difficult for my body (state) to recover and my feet started to hurt. In this way, I have to put the ideal back in its place…

It is precisely because of that during the seasons around 2019 and 2020, although I had the ideal I had been chasing, there were times when I felt that another ideal was good and changed direction. I think the situation of being closer and further away from my ideal, or simply starting to pursue other ideals, has not changed even now.

——In the press interview after the "RE_PRAY" Yokohama, you said that you were “completely blank” when talking about future ideas. In fact, what are your next plans?

Hanyu: At the moment I really don't have any idea about the future. In fact, it is through this that I realize once again that I am in a creative field. Precisely because I have nothing, I have to create it, and it is precisely because I have to create, even though I will surely encounter difficulties, I still find pleasure and enjoy it. When it comes to what I am pursuing now, roughly speaking, I think it is "good work”. Although I can't be specific yet, what is the "good work" that I am pursuing? I think it should be something that I create from ‘nothing’, which is probably what everyone expects. However, I do benefit from the support of people around me, as in the case of "RE_PRAY", there are a lot of people who are really working on it. In this sense, I have had a lot of difficulties in the process of creation, whether it is the extensive training I have conducted in order to present a better performance, or the many difficulties I experienced during the actual performance, but I feel that the ice show created by the "Professional Group" is indeed the highest-level work. At the same time, I always adhere to the sense of responsibility that "I must perform at my peak" while creating ICE STORY.

——Thank you very much for taking up your precious time for an interview today!

Hanyu: You are so kind. I should be the one to say thank you!

[Postscript to the interview]

Wearing a black sportswear, Hanyu welcomed me into the hotel room. Within the allocated one hour, Hanyu spent 40 minutes carefully answering my questions one by one. Occasionally, there were times where he responded to my questions and said, "That's good," or "I'm happy you asked." The power of Hanyu’s words, the passionate tone of his voice when talking, and the words he weaves which are completely different from Hanyu on ice, are also full of charm.

At the end of the interview, we asked him to write down his future resolutions on colour paper. "Um…what should I write?" Yuzuru Hanyu looked at the paper with a serious expression and fell into silence for a long time. After a while, "I can say what I want to say, but what about writing it in words?" He said this while writing the words "Change the world!" When I asked him about the meaning of "world" here, he replied, "I want to change not only the field that I am currently fighting in, but also the world itself in everyone's eyes”, reveals such a grand theme to us.

During the filming process, he kept changing his poses at the photographer's request. While chatting with us from time to time, he has a smile on his face, but as long as he faces the camera, he can put on the required expression in a split second. This made us realize the strengths of Hanyu-san as an expressive person, who has been in the spotlight of the camera tens of thousands of times.

While waiting for the camera to be set, I asked him: "In your competitive days, you once said, "What I like most is when there is a barrier in front of me." Now that you are a professional skater, do you still like to encounter barriers?" Hanyu listened, compared himself to an "ant" and gave this answer.

"In the competitive era, there were scores and results, so when I looked back, I would find that the barriers were right there in front of me. Now it seems more like I have to find the barriers on my own. It's because I think, "I want to be more like this. "Or "I want to become stronger", so I have to build a barrier for myself, and then overcome this barrier. For example, there is a huge step here, and I am a little ant. After all, steps are just steps, not walls. However, if I think "I want to move to another level", like an ant, I have to treat this step as a wall and climb it over myself. I look for obstacles and climb over them in order to evolve, but what I want to say has not changed (I like it when there is a wall to overcome).

The interview was conducted on March 11th. It ended just after 14:30. When we put away the filming equipment and moved the tables and chairs back to their original positions, the same 14:46 as on "that day" arrived. Hanyu looked at the sea through the window and silently prayed. Although he himself was a victim of the disaster, he did his best in the ice show held to deliver the "light of hope" to the disaster-stricken areas. The back view of Yuzuru Hanyu at this time is that of an ordinary 29-year-old young man without the armour of the "Absolute Champion". For a while, Yuzuru Hanyu remained facing the window. After, you can see him raising his hand to wipe the corners of his eyes from time to time.

Source: https://weibo.com/1746783312/OdMLMnmye?pagetype=profilefeed Info: https://x.com/AxelQuadruple/status/1785923918215446592

#hanyu yuzuru #yuzuru hanyu #羽生結弦 #figure skating #translation #re pray #interview #notte stellata 2024

[idkwhatever580]

Where Did You Learn That?!

Masterlist

Pairings: Natasha Romanoff x reader

Prompt: It’s a casual day when Tony brings the team to a new area to show them something. And Y/n surprises everyone.

Warnings:cursing, sexual innuendos, stripper pole usage (don’t worry there’s clothes), degradation, praise?

Pronouns: unspecified

A/N: I saw this video on tt and I immediately had to do this drabble . Lmk if you want a smutty pt. 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/n’s pov

It’s everyone’s off day in the compound so we’re all just chilling out. I’m laying down in between nat’s legs on our designated couch in the living room.

She’s playing absentmindedly with my hair while everyone does their own thing.

Wanda is playing with Peter and America on the switch.

Thor is chowing down on poptarts.

Yelena is eating Mac and cheese while cringing and gagging about Kate’s latest boyfriend. Saying how “she doesn’t know how anybody would ever want to do something like that” and Kate obviously banters back with “says the aro ace person”

I smile at their friendship. And then I look at Bucky and Steve, Sam is helping them catch up on the greatest movies of all time.

Well everyone is taking part in that, but it’s Sam’s turn. I obviously made them watch every single Barbie movie when it was my turn. Especially the newest one. God Margo Robbie is so good. And of course Natasha made them watch all the Bond movies.

Anyways. We’re all just having a chill day.

Until Friday starts talking

“I have been instructed to inform everyone that Mr. Stark has something he’d like to show you. In the west wing.”

I frown and say outwardly to anyone who will answer

“I thought the west wing was under construction?”

Thor shrugs his shoulders and says

“I guess not anymore. Let’s go look!”

We all make our way over there and along the way Clint, Carol, and Vision join us.

We walk into the west wing to find a big ass room.

Tony is standing in the middle and says

“Welcome to the new party central!”

The lights go up a bit but not a lot. Just enough to see that there are multiple stripper poles, bars, and party amenities scattered around.

I raise my eyebrows and everyone either groans or cheers a bit. I don’t say anything I just walk up to Tony and point at the pole in the middle of the whole area. I whisper

“Is that one currently spinning? Or stationary?”

He smirks and says

“That one is turning right now. Imagining a hot girl already?”

I shake my head and say

“Something like that”

Then walk up to the pole. I’m a few feet away from it and I look down and see my outfit. It’s a baby shirt and jeans. I might fall because I’m a bit rusty but who cares. I used to be amazing. It can’t have gotten that bad right?

I shrug my shoulders and go for it. I do my most remembered and most practiced routine from my stripper days. BEFORE I became Natasha’s girlfriend.

She doesn’t know about it either.

Watch this for what it looks like :))) ⬇️

I hop down from the pole and flip my hair back and look at the avengers who all have different looks on their faces

Wanda, Steve, Kate, Thor, and Peter all have their mouths wide open and they are blushing hard.

Clint and Vision are unimpressed, probably because one is a robot and one has a wife who is also my sister. (He is literally my brother in law. He’s not gonna be impressed when he knew what I used to do)

Yelena looks disgusted naturally.

Bucky, Carol, Tony, and Sam are impressed with my skills.

And Nat. I can’t determine what her look is right now. So walk to her and take another look at everyone as I rest my arms around her neck. She absentmindedly rests her hands on my hips. Everyone is still looking in awe so I say

“What? Like it’s hard?”

That snaps them out of it.

Peter, Kate, Yelena, and America all go to the poles to have fun on them. They’re just kids.

And the rest of them walk away or start talking.

Natasha though, grabs my hand and leads me to the corner far away from everyone.

She is about to say something but Wanda walks up to us and says

“Uh- that’s- um- that was really cool.”

She’s blushing so hard and I smile at her. She’s a cutie.

I smile and say

“Thank you Wands”

She smiles and walks away quickly.

I giggle at her flustered state and turn back to Natasha and say

“Was it good?”

She scoffs and says

“Good? Are you kidding me?”

She pauses long enough for me to cut in

“Are you mad? I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d be mad if I did it in front of everyone. I know you like showing me off to everyone just to make them know who I belong to.”

I ramble a bit about her possessive tendencies with me. I also like feeling like a trophy wife sometimes.

She shakes her head and says

“No that was fucking hot. Why didn’t you tell me you used to do pole?”

I shrug my shoulders and say

“I guess it just never came up. We don’t usually talk about strippers you know?”

She nods her head and then says

“Well, I’m gonna need a few things from you from now on. Can you handle it?”

I nod my head and say

“I’m sure I can”

She smiles and kisses me and I pull away to say

“What are the things?”

She smirks and leans in to kiss my neck and says into my ear

“One- you’re gonna get fucked tonight. Two- I’m gonna need a personal show now. And three- I want at least one dance at every party. I want everyone to see what a good slut you are on the pole. Then I want them all to be sad that you’re all mine.”

I let out a shaky breath at her words. I think I get a high from feeling like a trophy wife. Only sometimes though.

I thread my hands through her messy, slightly wavy hair and pull her head back to look at me.

For some reason I get a kick of confidence and say

“I’ll do all of that for you. If I can do whatever I want with you tonight”

She raises her eyebrows at my sudden dominance but then smiles softly and says

“Whatever you want you say?”

I nod my head and say

“And you can’t say otherwise. Unless of course you are uncomfortable with it.”

She smirks and says

“I think I can handle that.”

She steps back and holds out her hand and says

“Do we have a deal?”

I nod my head and shake her hand like a business woman. And she then pulls my hand so that I get pulled up to her and she whispers against my lips

“Let’s start now. I have a feeling we have a long night ahead of us”

I nod my head and she drags me to the bedroom.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

A/N: this turned out a lot longer than I thought I would. And I know how I said I’d be taking a break but I couldn’t get this off of my mind. <3

#avengers #fanfic #marvel #natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha x reader

[lookingfts]

Protective sugar daddy Anthony is it. Can we see anything of him being protective of Kate? *swoon*

She didn't want to call him. Genuinely, she didn't. It was embarrassing, and he would think she was young and stupid - or younger and stupider than he already did. But her phone was on three percent (not her fault, Eddie had thought it a wise idea to unplug it so she could charge her tablet) and would be long dead before an Uber came. Assuming, of course, that they would even come this far out.

Cursing Siena for the twelfth time for leaving with some random, she took a steeling breath and tapped on Anthony’s number.

“Hey,” he said, sounding a bit confused. It was nearly two in the morning, but from what she’d seen, Anthony didn’t sleep very much. “Are you okay?”

“Not really?” Recalling the low battery, Kate thought she might as well spit it all out. “I’m at this party with no way home and I’m honestly super drunk and tired and I was wondering if you would pick me up because my phone is really close to dying.”

There was a sharp inhale on the other line. “Text me the address, I’ll be right there. And wait inside, I don’t want you outside alone.”

“Okay.” She hung up and texted him the address, putting her phone back to sleep. Her heart fluttered a little at the now-familiar concern in his voice. Maybe it was the tequila talking, but Anthony had a way of making her feel…cared for. Safe. It was probably just a side effect of being the oldest of eight siblings, but Kate let herself be won over by it anyway. Just for tonight, just while she was drunk and not responsible for her silly and naive musings.

She watched from the window. Anthony’s Tesla pulled up thirty minutes later, and she stumbled a bit in her heels as she walked down the driveway. Anthony was already getting out, shrugging off his jacket and draping it over her bare shoulders. “Christ, you must be freezing.”

“I’m fine, but thank you.” The cold air was actually quite sobering, though she could hear her words slurring slightly. Placing a hand on his chest, right over his heart, she looked up at his worried expression. “Thank you. I know it’s late.”

Anthony shook his head. “I don’t care about that. I’m glad you called me, Kate. Always call me.”

She was having a bit of trouble processing that as he held the door open for her and she slid into the passenger seat. Kate had always been the person everyone else called in an emergency, but it didn’t usually go both ways. Would Anthony really be there anytime she needed him? Or was that just another hollow promise?

God, she was too drunk for this.

Kate laid back in the seat and let the warmth of the heater thaw her out. “Drink that,” Anthony said, pointing to the unopened bottle of water in the center console. “I’ll get you some paracetamol when we’re back at mine.”

Of course they were going back to his flat. It wasn’t even a discussion. Even if a part of her bristled at the demand, the rest of her was a little relieved that she wouldn’t have to find the correct key to her flat or find her phone charger or take off her dress or her makeup or her heels. Anthony would make sure she got into bed as functionally as possible.

She opened the water and took a long sip, feeling like a new person. Clearly she was dehydrated.

“Kate,” he sighed, placing a gentle hand on her knee. Surprisingly chaste, far below the hem that hit at her mid-thighs. “You scared me tonight. You shouldn’t be out alone.”

“I wasn’t alone. I was with my friend, but she left.”

Anthony swallowed, his face still obviously tense. “I know I don’t have any say in what you do when you’re not with me,” he said deliberately. “But I still worry about you.”

Sliding her hand over his, she squeezed his fingers. “I like that you worry about me,” she admitted in a small voice, letting the alcohol embolden her to speak what was in her heart. Just for tonight.

The only indication that he’d heard her was his thumb pressing into her skin, but Kate thought she knew what he meant, anyway.

#sugar daddy au #bridgerton #kanthony #asks and answers #kate x anthony #anthony x kate #bridgerton fic

[ornii]

I don't know if you write for her, but if you write for MJ from the MCU, what would it be like if she had a brother who didn't disappear in the blip, became a hero, and MJ finds out when he's injured one night and tries to help him with the hero stuff?

You’re worthy , Loser.

“Mister Jones, can you tell us the definition of Biometric identification?”

You looked up from the football plays you were trying to remember in the middle of class, everyone turned to you and expected an answer.

“Oh, yeah it’s the process of verifying a person's identity through their unique biological characteristics such as fingerprints, iris scans, facial recognition, and voiceprints.” You replied, actually surprising most. You went back to your plays as per usual. Football wasn’t a major factor in your life as you could go without it, but anything for a scholarship you thought. It just so happens that you’re really good at it. Class ended pretty normally and now you had to go find your Sister. Walking down the halls of Midtown High. You didn’t spot her usual spot to brood so you had an idea of where she would be; Detention.

Peering into the Class you saw the substitute and of course M.J doodling. You leaned in the doorway.

“Trouble again?” You joked, MJ turned to you, that clandestine face.

“No I just like to come here and, sketch people in crisis.” She eyes the Substitute teacher. You roll your eyes and lean forward.

“Well if you’re done making people’s lives much harder than they already are, we have to get home. You have a trip or whatever to prep for.” You turned and walked away, knowing MJ was reluctantly behind you.

“So, did you actually make any friends?” You asked, you couldn’t see it but you could almost hear her slouch when you said it.

“Why does it matter if I had friends to you exactly?” She asked you.

“Because good friends keep you from doing really dumb things. And when I graduate I want to make sure you have a few good ones.” You turned around, walking backwards. MJ always hated that you did it.

“I highly doubt I’d do something that bad, plus our “Social circles” if you can call it that are in completely different places. And can you stop walking backwards it’s weird.”

“It’s not weird, you’re just bad at it.” You said, you side stepped, avoiding a branch.

“How do you do that?”

“It’s about knowing where you’re gonna be.” You replied. “Hey.. did you see the new Thor Display? Apparently they found his broken hammer and put the pieces on display. You think if it was back together that I could lift it?” You asked, MJ smirked.

“You think you’re a god?”

“Well, no.. isn’t the point is that you’re worthy or something?” You asked, you turned back around as you saw your apartment complex. “I’m selfless i think?”

“If you have to think, probably not.” She replied, and you turned back to her.

“But you never answered, do you think I’m worthy?” You said, and for a moment, MJ was actually honest.

“Fine.. I think you’re worthy, because when dad left.. you turned into the dad I needed.” She admitted, when your father left it was, hard. You did what you had to do, being the dad MJ never had, you couldn’t leave your sister and mom to do this alone. You actually had to fight back tears slightly, you smiled and patted her on the shoulder.

“Thanks Michelle. I mean it.” You replied, and she shrugged. “Yeah, but don’t call me Michelle.”

“Walls came back up huh? Okay MJ.” You opened the door to your home and stepped in, to eerie silence. “Mom?” You asked, but heard nothing, it was odd, she’s usually here before you got home, you heard a sudden thud and turned around.

“Hey MJ—“ you spoke but the words failed to erupt, she was gone, missing. Dust flew out of the doorway as you saw her notebook on the ground. Obviously you were confused, you rushed out the house to see it was fear, terror around the block, around the city, the state… the world. You wished it was just some nightmare, but you never knew it was the last time you ever saw your sister.

It took a year for you to come to terms with it all, half other world’s population, gone. Standing in the school you stood at the trophy case, seeing the Award Michelle won at the Decathlon. She always had this spark about her, she acts like she didn’t care but she did. The rage and grief you felt slowly began to brew into a thunderstorm of what’s real and what’s not.

What’s real; is that you lost your family, to some entity you didn’t even know existed, and you can never exact your revenge.

What’s unreal; is that you’re going to let this ever happen again. With a punch of anger a storm brews, as you scream in anger and pain lightning slams into the earth, and the pieces of Thors hammer slowly levitate and slam together, a weapon reborn not from grief and hate, ready to protect the world so that this will never happen again, you were worthy.

Five Years pass, joining the remaining avengers to go back in time before The Events leading to the Snap. Once the infinity stones were taken from Thanos, Tony made the ultimate sacrifice, putting the life of the entire universe before his, and died a Hero.

Flying desperately though the air you almost forgot how to land, you hit the ground hard, hammer still in hand. You turned to the door and took a step towards it. It’s been years since you entered your family home, it was never the same. You stopped seeing the doorknob twist, you held for breath and waited in fear of what you were going to see, but it was all just in your mind.

MJ opened the door, a bit puzzled. She looked at you, obviously not understanding what’s going on.

“Why are you dressed like you’re going to Comic con?” She said, “You look.. older too.” She stepped down, looking at you like a stranger.

“What’s with the beard? And the hammer?” MJ opened her mouth to say something else but you hugged her tight. Overwhelmed with all of it, how happy you were couldn’t be put into words.

“Holy shit.” You whispered, you let MJ go, somehow not crushing her with your new godlike powers.

“So… it’s been five years.” You said, which made her raise an eyebrow. “Five?”

“Yeah.. you uh, died. A lot of people died, but you’re back now so… damn this is hard to explain.” You rubbed your face, exhausted, MJ saw the look on yours.

“Just, come inside, you can explain it to me at your pace.” She calmly takes your hand leading you in, you did look exhausted, and probably traumatized. Five years of fighting to get your family back.

In my opinion, you are worthy.

#male reader #marvel mcu #MJ #MJ Mcu #michelle jones #michelle jones x male reader #zendaya #zendaya x male reader #reader x marvel #marvel x reader #marvel x male reader #Ornii

[arcanarix]

toji x gn!reader, afab!reader

CW // stalker toji, under desk oral / cunnilingus

toji murmurs your name into your ear as your eyes squeeze shut, desperate to ignore the embarrassment burning in your chest.

“what’s wrong? you don’t need to be shy.”

you’re supposed to be in a video call with your supervisor in half an hour. but toji has a little issue with keeping his hands to himself. not that it ever bothers you, but you have to plaster on that customer service voice and expression and maintaining that while toji’s free roaming hands are sneaking down to your thighs is next to impossible.

“if i get fired, you owe me a job,” you threaten, “and honestly, i can’t afford that now.”

oh toji knows you can’t, and that’s why he’s slick about this, slipping under your desk and prying your legs apart. your face reddens, and you adjust yourself, swiping a facial tissue off of your large monitor stand and wiping the sweat and heat away.

toji can’t keep his hands to himself. toji can’t let you have your personal space either. not that you’re aware but up until now he knows how you spend every second of your day. he only wants to get to know you a bit more intimately. to you you have dated only three or so months but to him? Three years.

his eyes shimmer at the sight. since you work from home, you forgo wearing pants and sometimes even your underwear in the house which has given him plenty of open opportunities obviously not to your knowledge.

your pussy is so cute, so bubblegum pink, and so ripe and all his to devour as you struggle to contain your moans and cries for him to just take you right there. sometimes he idolizes taking you in front of your boss or supervisors, but he knows you don’t enjoy playing with fire in that regard and he respects your boundaries.

mostly.

you jump in your seat as your video call begins, and sighing, you opt for shutting off the video while toji is trailing kisses between your inner thighs, leaving little marks behind. greeting the supervisor, the meeting begins and you know toji’s going to take his sweet time but also is sneaky about everything. you’re not so sure you can behave though.

You’re caught off guard as your supervisor calls out to you and toji’s nose is pressed into your already dripping cunt; you can hear the wetness splatter onto your chair. you know it’s in your head but you also have sharp ears.

“Is everything alright?”

“er, yes, um,” you compose yourself, hooking your legs around toji’s neck and pulling him in close. you stifle a giggle as his tongue flicks along your nethers, like he’s honored to get to do this to you, like he’s proud to be on his knees for you.

“please, what were you saying about the deployment stage?”

“right. so let’s see here in these charts . . .”

it’s all white noise to you. try as you might your senses are all zeroed in on toji’s remarkable and skilled tongue.

your eyes trail down but they just see the crown of toji’s head. he’s hiding the little noises he makes pigging out on your cunt, and you bite down on your lip as your legs close in a little more.

the supervisor addresses you again.

“have you finished your assigned work?”

“yes sir, i did everything expected of me this week—!”

—toji pries your legs apart for more access, targeting your little clit.

“well done. looks like that’s all for this evening. great work team!”

you sign off and sigh in exasperation before melting into your chair and into the sensation of toji going to town on you.

“don’t you dare fucking stop.”

“mmm. Wouldn’t dream of it.”

toji never plans to, anyway.

#toji fushiguro x fem!reader #toji fushiguro x reader #fushiguro toji x reader #toji smut #jjk toji #erix tales #jujutsu kaisen toji #toji zenin #toji zenin smut #toji zenin x reader #toji fushiguro smut #toji fushiguro x you #jjk x y/n #jjk imagine #jjk fanfic #jujutsu kaisen x reader smut #jujutsu kaisen smut #jujutsu kaisen x you #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen x female reader #x female reader

[turnoutthe-lights]

love is a kaleidoscope - e. williams

Tags: Reader has no specified gender, angsty question mark, rocky relationship, some use of profanity (please take this lightly. like grain of salt lightly.), ellie is kind of ooc i think, set somewhat in the canon typical universe, mentions(?) of mental health struggles

A/N: I was trying to write another fic but I couldn’t do it. I suck at multitasking buuuuut, chappell roan inspired fic! Kaleidoscope is honestly a banger so everyone should stream when they read this! (I doubt anyone will do this but trust me! It’s for ambiance.)

Ellie hadn’t been herself lately. Going out early and coming back late, quieter, moping around, anxious, paranoid. Usually you’d been able to get her out of her moods with some attention but it seemed as if she’d been dead set on staying in this one. It didn’t matter what you tried — nothing worked.

“Ellie, I just wanna help you.” You spoke softly as you approached her drawing desk. “You’re not yourself lately.” You felt sorry for her, but she seemed to hate that. Since the day of Joel’s death and the meeting in Santa Barbara with Abby, everything had changed; understandably so. But you wanted to be there for her.

She was scared to let people in. She didn’t know what to say or when it would ever be safe again. Seeing how much you cared, she had harbored some resentment towards your persistence. She never understood how someone could be so interested in bettering someone who’d obviously been going through something.

It was hard to say, but sometimes she wants silence. She doesn’t wanna be reminded of how she needs to get out more or how much you’d wanna make her feel better by doing things you’d done before the outbreak. Truthfully? To her, it could never be the same — not without Joel. She lost a part of herself. “Ellie. Ellie, please look at me.”

She spares a glance in your direction for a moment. “If you really wanna go, I’ll never make you stay. Seriously. I want what’s best for you— for us, this relationship. If you need to go your own way, so be it.”

The relationship you had with Ellie had always been somewhat rocky. After she initially left to find Abby, the revenge took over her mind and made for a new and ugly personality. It was the same thing. Revenge. Revenge. Revenge. It was like a curse. One that seems to linger no matter how many times you discourage it from coming back. Ellie seemed to have her mind set on killing that woman Abby. That’s probably what had done it for her.

“I’ll totally understand if we need to be apart. I truly do. It’ll just.. take some time before we could even be friends again or something.” You shrug. “But why? Why would it be weird to go back to the way we’d already been?” Ellie finally speaks, her voice raw and hoarse. “Dealing with this sorta thing is hard. I think I’d need some time before I decide we can be friends again. I’d still look at you and say, yknow, you��re my girlfriend; but in reality we’re.. exes.”

Ellie understands, but it’s a hard pill to swallow. In her eyes, love was beautiful and blissful yet still confusing. How it worked? We’ll never know. Nobody does. Once you fall into it, you fall hard, and it feels like a punch in the gut once you realize that this isn’t forever.

Even with all the beauties of love, being inlove and being loved, she was afraid to let it in. She was always kinda closed off-ish when it came to herself.

“Things like this are.. big, and wild and confusing, I know. Emotions are big. Love is a big one,” You began speaking, yet gently and slowly. “But sometimes, it’s necessary to just.. take some time away from it, you know?” Ellie nods along with what you were saying.

“Maybe we do need a little break from eachother. To think about if we can keep going with this. All I can think right now is how fucking tired I am, and how I want this to work, but I don’t know how.” Ellie sighs. “I’ve been trying to be better for you but it feels impossible. I don’t know what to even do anymore,” Her hands tangle in her short hair as she thinks about what she’d say next.

“I love you a lot. I really do. But we need to take some time away from eachother.” Ellie says, holding your hands. It stings, but you knew this was coming. It was like bracing yourself before a punch you knew was coming to you.

“Yeah. I think so too.” You mumble back. You look at Ellie, she looks at you. She stands up to embrace you and you just let the tears you kept bottled up out while she rubs your back.

#Spotify #turnoutthe-lights #sora writes #tlou #the last of us #the last of us two #ellie tlou #ellie the last of us #ellie williams #tlou2 #ellie willams x reader #ellie x reader #tlou x reader #tlou x you #tlou x y/n #ellie x you #ellie x y/n

[serial-serializednovelreader]

Nova’s Notes - DD - May 9 & 11

I’m combining both of these entries into one since I have similar thoughts about both!

First off, yay we get our first time meeting Mina and Lucy!!!!!!!! And may I just say it’s great to see these girls being besties and chatting? You can tell just by the way they write that they have known each other a long time. Bram actually did a good job writing these women talking to each other. It feels natural and organic. Finally a “men writing women” moment where I don’t want to gag. I will still never get over the adaptations pitting these two lovely ladies against each other!! Why do we still feel the need to make them “compete.” Ugh :(

Mina’s Letter - I love how she starts right away with “forgive me for not writing you.” She already KNOWS Lucy is going to get on her for that, lol. Also her gushing about Jonathan is adorable and I love how she talks about writing to him in code. Those two nerds, they’re going to end me with their cuteness. Also, studying lady journalists to help with your journalism? What a queen doing that research. As she should! Again, it’s the bare minimum, but Stoker really did a good job with this one I must say. Seeing her be hopeful about Jonathan’s trip to Transylvania and the subsequent promise of seeing places like that together is a bit sobering. :( that is, until we reach her PS!

“You have not told me anything for a long time.” This line makes me want to laugh for some reason and I’m not quite sure why? Maybe it’s because I can hear a slightly scolding tone when she says it, or maybe because I can totally see me telling one of my friends this, especially to goad them into telling me the tea. Either way, it’s great.

“I hear rumours, and especially of a tall, handsome, curly-haired man???”

I’m convinced Stoker read my texts or something because LOL that’s literally how I type! The idea of her writing “???” is adorable and I love it so much. Also by “rumors” does she mean Lucy’s mom? I’m pretty sure she means Lucy’s mom. I think it’s funny the first really descriptive thing we really hear of Arthur is his curly hair!

We can get a good glimpse of Mina’s personality just by this letter. We can already tell she’s genuinely excited to be married to Jonathan and help with his work. She is also very methodical, as she is thinking of several different ways she can practice her stenography and shorthand to help assist him. Like Jonathan, she does her research by reading up on how women in similar fields conduct their craft. She is obviously hopeful and in love with him, as she dreams of seeing new places with him after they are married.

However, she does not neglect Lucy in her missive! While her letter is mostly about Jonathan (which I assume is likely due to to Lucy asking after him and most engaged people do tend to talk about their fiancé — just look at Jonathan), she does take time at the beginning and ending of the letter to a) assure Lucy she misses her and b) tell her the latest news ASAP!! This shows that she deeply cares about her friend, even with her impending nuptials.

Lucy’s Letter - “I must say you tax me very unfairly with being a bad correspondent. I wrote to you twice since we parted, and your last letter was only your second.”

Yep, sure enough, Lucy gets on Mina for not writing to both of her letters (I do wonder if Mina answered everything that was in both letters…). Of course, it’s in a good-natured way and it gives me the same vibes as Rarity from MLP:FIM fainting into a couch or something and I am HERE FOR IT (for those who don’t watch the show, I genuinely mean this as a compliment. I love Rarity -- also I could probably make a whole post about Dracula characters as MLP characters, hmm…).

“Besides, I have nothing to tell you. There is really nothing to interest you.”

*Proceeds to list the hottest gossip* I love this girl so much. She has my whole heart.

“Some one has evidently been telling tales.”

Yep, definitely Lucy’s mom! I would love to see the letters between Mina and Lucy’s mom tbh.

Also when talking about Arthur, it’s so adorable because you can tell at first she only tries to sprinkle in a little bit about him, like “oh he’s just someone I met” and then it quickly morphs into “we met this guy who would be great for you” (Seward mention!!!! Can’t wait to meet everyone’s favorite pathetic wet cat /pos) to “I’m already picking up his slang and using his first name and did I mention IM IN LOVE WITH HIM????”

You can already learn so much about Lucy from this first letter. She’s sweet and caring to the people around her, lively about everything and a bit unsure about love (since she doesn’t quite know if Arthur loves her back). I looked up her age (idk if that counts as spoilers but I’ll tag this as such just in case) and she’s 19!!! This is exactly the kind of letter I would expect a 19-year-old to write to her best friend. I just love how excited she sounds, as she should!!! She’s a young girl in love, perhaps for the first time, and wants her best friend to know. I do love how she tells Mina “write back to me IMMEDIATELY with your thoughts.” Same, Lucy, same.

Back to Seward. It’s so funny to me that he wants to make a psychological study of her while staring straight into her soul and she seems to be chill with it!! Like she still loves Arthur, but she’s also not put off by Jack, either. He’s just got that neurodivergent urge to study her under a microscope and honestly, who can blame him? I can also see why Lucy would ship Seward and Mina together; obviously, I’m a diehard Jonmina shipper (and I’m pretty sure Lucy is too, she just likes chaos), but I feel like Mina and Seward would totally bond over train schedules and other nerd stuff.

So, to sum it up, I love both of these girls and their friendship so much and I can’t wait to see more of them!!! Eeeee

#dracula daily #dracula #mina murray #lucy westenra #novas notes #may 9th #may 11th #dracula spoilers #dracula daily spoilers #again #tagging as spoilers just in case

[memyselfandmya]

JWCT PROMPT COUNTDOWN

Jwct countdown May 12-13 -> favorite friendship/duo:

I couldn't choose between Sammy & Kenji and Ben & Yaz so here's both of them in another excerpt from the fanfiction I'm in the process of writing. Again, this is mostly unedited. For context, they're at the water park in JW.

Sammy noticed Kenji standing off to the side with a disappointed look on his face. 

“Hey, Kenji! Did you wanna’ go–” 

He flipped his sunglasses to shade his eyes. “Sammy, let me stop you there. I know it’s hard to resist all this,” —he ran his hands across his shirtless chest, which Sammy hadn’t even been paying attention to— “but I’ve got a girl back home. And let me tell you, she is incredibly–”

She stared at him, head tilting a bit. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea after all. “Uh, Kenji. I don’t want to date you,” Sammy said. “Like, at all. I’m happy you have a girlfriend, though. I was just seeing if you wanted to hang out.” 

“Psh… Obviously. I was just kidding.” He cleared his throat. “About you asking me out. Not about my girlfriend... obviously,” he added on.

Sammy nodded her head slowly. “Right…well do you want to go on one of the rides?”

“Yes! Let’s go!”

“So tell me about this girlfriend of yours,” Sammy said as they began walking through the park.  

“Oh, uh–well you know. She’s really pretty. She’s got blonde hair…blue eyes? She’s, uh, really into art too.”

Sammy arched her eyebrow. It was obvious that Kenji was lying about his so-called girlfriend. Why he was, Sammy couldn’t be sure. Not that it really mattered to her. She wasn’t at all interested in Kenji—or boys for that matter. “She sure sounds like a great catch.”

Although to be honest, Kenji’s imaginary girlfriend didn’t seem like her type, at least not the blonde hair and blue eyes. Sounded more like her sister’s type in guys if anything.

Suddenly, her eyes caught on a huge slide with a line of people carrying bright yellow and green intertubes trailing from the base of its stairs all the way to the top which stood at about maybe 2 stories tall. 

“Last one to that slide has to carry the tube up!” Sammy shouted, pointing at said ride and dashing off before Kenji could get a word in. 

She could hear the sound of Kenji’s flip-flops smacking against the concrete as they ran for the line, ignoring the shrill whistle of a nearby lifeguard. 

—

Yasmina was still bristling from her encounter with Brooklyn. The nerve of that girl! Did she even understand personal boundaries? She just flitted around sticking her phone in everyone’s faces. It wasn’t fair that Brooklyn got to keep it just to be nosy. All Yasmina wanted was to plug her headphones in and listen to music.

It would’ve especially been helpful in that moment. Hundreds of kids were milling around screaming their fucking heads off and life guards blowing whistles at them and it was like shoving a bunch of forks in her ears. She just wished she could tune everything out. 

“Oh, look,” A familiar voice said. “There’s Yasmina!”

Kill me now, she thought, dread settling in her stomach. She sat up in her chair, to find Ben and Darius approaching her. Ben wasn’t so bad but Darius had just as much energy as Brooklynn or, dare she say it, Sammy. “What do you want?” She asked. 

Darius shrugged. “Nothing, really… Just chilling.”

Ben took a seat next to Yasmina, occupying not even an inch of the space and even that looked like it agonized him. 

“Have you done anything fun?” Darius asked, his eyes cutting to Ben.

Yasmina narrowed her eyes at him. What was he up to? “Nope. I’ve been here the entire time. Why?”

“Just asking,” he said. “Ben, I might go on the [Insert ride]. Are you good to stay here?”

So that's what he wanted. Not much of a surprise there.

She looked at Ben who shrugged. “Sure.” 

“Awesome! See you,” he said, not wasting a second to go run off towards the slide line. 

“Did he just dump you onto me?” She asked Ben. 

“Yeah, he did.” There was a hint of pain in his voice and Yasmina wondered how it must have felt to be abandoned like that. 

“Sorry.”

He shrugged. “I’m used to it.”

Well that’s depressing. Then Yasmina noticed how Ben hadn’t moved any and still balanced precariously on the edge of the bench like he didn’t want to touch it all. 

“Here,” she said, tossing him the towel she’d been using to shade her face. 

Ben fumbled but caught it in his hands before spreading it out over the chair. Finally, he sat his full body on it and curled into himself. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

“Don’t mention it.”

To be fair, out of all the campers, she was glad it was Ben and not one of the others. Ben was quiet and calm and he kept to himself instead of sticking his nose into her business. He was kind of like her, in a way. 

After a moment of silence between them, Yaz could hear sniffling. She sighed, wondering if this was something worth getting into. And then: “Are you okay?”

—

Ben hated it there. Nobody understood. He could tell he was upsetting Darius by not wanting to go on any of the attractions but Ben just couldn’t. The mere thought of touching the tubes or sliding down slides that so many others had gone down made his skin crawl. If he wasn’t wearing long sleeves he’d probably be scratching at his arms or lathering hand sanitizer on his skin. There wasn’t enough hand sanitizer in the world that could convince him to go on one of those rides, though. The only comforting thing about the wade pool or the lazy river was the heavy amount of chlorine in the water but Ben knew there was only so much he could handle that day. Ben hadn’t even noticed his nails digging into his skin or the salty tear leaking from his eye.

“Are you okay?” Yasmina’s question only seemed to draw more tears from him. 

“No,” he said, swiping at his face. “I want to go home.”

Yasmina was silent for a moment, and in that time he had begun to think that she too fell into the Ben hate club. Until, “Me too.” 

Ben and Yasmina's friendship is so precious to me, especially in s5 of CC and I really wanted to bring that up in the earlier parts of the fanfic I'm writing too.

#jwctcountdown #jwct #jwcc #jurassic world chaos theory #jurassic world camp cretaceous #sammy gutierrez #kenji kon #ben pincus #yasmina fadoula