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#simple norwegian
ifindus · 2 months
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what dish from another country do you think norway loves? 🧑‍🍳
This is definitely not influenced by any of my own preferences 👀 But anything with seafood is a win with Norway, and I can see him going back and forth between seafood paella and fish n chips as his fave foreign foods ✨
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mariocki · 3 months
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Alfred Burke puts on his best policing face as Parisian detective Inspector Maron, in Overseas Press Club - Exclusive!: The Billion Franc Mystery (1.6, ABPC, 1957)
#fave spotting#alfred burke#overseas press club exclusive!#the billion franc mystery#1957#classic tv#public eye#abpc#an obscure series‚ even by the standards of pre 1960s telly. OSPC was a coproduction between Ardleigh Films and Associated British Pathé#(they of the famous news reels‚ and themselves a subsidiary of Associated British Picture Corporation). a year or two later and this#would probably have been made in house by ABC themselves‚ but the franchise was only a year old at this point and still finding its feet#the concept is simple but promising: each week‚ a member of the Overseas Press Club of America (a real and still extant organisation) tells#a tale from their careers‚ an unusual instance or shocking event that makes for good tv. these tales are true! says the narrator in the#show's opening moments‚ and these ppl exist! frankly that's something i take with a large grain of salt; whilst some stories certainly have#direct factual origins (there's an episode about a catholic priest going undercover with a gang of street toughs which ends with footage of#the actual figure that inspired the ep) but others are highly questionable (the first‚ about a Norwegian resistance fighter who has plastic#surgery and takes the place of a relatively high ranking nazi officer; i feel like that's something that would be better known‚ yknow??)#this ep is about a nazi plot to destabilise the French franc just prior to ww2; quite believable and certainly the nazis did dabble in#producing counterfeit money‚ tho the examples i found online all relate to pound sterling or latterly the us dollar‚ not the franc)#our journalist of the week is played by Lee Patterson‚ a minor film star in british b movies at this point‚ with swooningly handsome Anton#Diffring (who had fled nazi persecution himself) as the villain. Alfie's part is pretty small‚ he's just the french cop keeping every one#in sight and letting events play out (cue some wonderful Alfie cheshire cat grins). Patterson (and maybe Diffring) got to fly out to actual#real Paris to film some location work and establishing shots (a benefit of making a series about the OSPC was that they arranged flights#for cast and crew). poor Alf didn't get a holiday tho; his scenes are conspicuously studio based‚ even when he's meant to be on the banks#of the Seine...#so yes‚ a fun little series‚ even if (so far) the wide scope of potential stories does seem to favour ww2 stuff. good luck finding a copy#tho; it took me months of trawling to find a reasonably priced 2nd hand copy (Amazon currently have a copy for £79.99 which.. for 2 discs#is kind of insane). a victim of the price gouging which seems to have affected some of the lesser known network titles since their#dissolution. sad times for the fan of painfully obscure old tv.. if I ever learn how to make things be on a computer‚ tho‚ I'll happily#share
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c-kiddo · 10 months
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I genuinely forgot you were scottish for a minute, you know its bad when you cant tell which protestant killing off of celtic language and culture youre referring to :')
ok everyone must now read my posts in a scottish accent from now on. its the rules of this blog o7
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artmarkmedia · 1 month
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Scandinavian Fjords and Mountains sketch..
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bellerintwo · 8 months
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going through it!
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leagueraised · 1 year
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i've been meaning to watch sta.rgirl for a while, and the fact that one character is norwegian makes me 👀👀👀
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roboticchibitan · 29 days
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Okay, I've made enough "blease knit gauge swatches. Swatchless projects killedy family" posts. This post is an informational post a out gauge swatches. It will mainly be written in knitting terms because that is my main craft but it applies to crochet too. Even if you're an experienced crafter, you might learn something from this post. I talk about different reasons to make a swatch and some reasons a swatch might lie to you.
What is gauge?
Gauge is the size of your stitches, ie how wide and tall they are. It can be affected by the way you hold the yarn, your tension, and your needle/hook size. In knitting the style you knit can affect this, with the tendency being that English style is usually, but not always, tighter than continental. When I went from knitting English style to knitting Norwegian style, my gauge drastically changed to be much looser.
What is a gauge swatch?
A gauge swatch is a small piece of work that you use to measure your stitches per inch and rows per inch gauge. "Standard" gauge swatches are 4in/10cm squares, but often you'll see different sizes, especially for lace patterns that have you test knitting a certain chart or stitch
Why do we make gauge swatches?
We make gauge swatches to check if our gauge is the same as the pattern designer's gauge. Because you want your gauge to be the same as the pattern designer's so you know your size XL sweater will actually be size XL or your six foot in diameter shawl will actually be six feet across. Or that your airy and beautiful lace will actually be airy and beautiful and not too dense or too loose.
We also might swatch if we are substituting yarns. For example, a blocked lace swatch of wool will have different dimensions than a blocked lace swatch of pure silk because silk is less stretchy than wool. So if you are substituting fibers, you want to know that you'll like the finished item and might swatch a bit of the pattern before starting in earnest so you don't waste your time making something you'll be dissatisfied with.
There's also some differences between yarns of the same fiber and same weight. Some lace weight yarn is categorized as lace weight while being 600 yds per 100g, and some lace weight yarn is 800 yds or 1000 yds per 100g. So you should knit a swatch when substituting yarn even if they are the same fiber and weight if they are different yardage per gram ratios.
Do I always need to make a gauge swatch?
I talk a lot about the importance of gauge swatches but the honest answer is no, you do not always need to make a gauge swatch. If you are making something that doesn't require a certain size or airiness of pattern, like a bag or a simple scarf, you don't need to do a gauge swatch.
How do I make a gauge swatch?
Most patterns have a simple gauge listed, such as 22 stitches by 18 rows is 4in/10cm square in stockinette. However, some patterns have an "in pattern" gauge swatch or a separate pattern/chart for their swatch. So you cast on however many stitches (I often cast on a few more than the swatch calls for, but you don't have to), and knit that many rows in whatever pattern is specifed. If it's stockinette, knit stockinette. If it's "in pattern," locate the repeating part of the pattern and knit the designated amount of rows. If there is a separate pattern/chart for the swatch, knit as directed. Bind off. Don't measure on the needle, it will lie to you.
Then, you want to treat the swatch how you'll treat the finished object. If you're not going to block the finished object, measure it as is. But if you're going to block the finished object (and most things you should tbh blocking hides so many sins), you get the swatch wet, pin it out to shape, and then leave it to dry.
THEN! And nobody talks about this step for some reason and it's been the reason swatches lied to me in the past. Unpin it and let it rest. Different people give different time amounts for this resting. I'd let it rest at least three hours but some people recommend up to a week. The reason for this resting period is that many yarns, especially wool and other animal fibers, have elasticity to them. They'll rebound back a bit. Cotton and linen will have less rebound than things like wool. I'm not 100% sure where acrylic falls on that scale since I hate the texture of most acrylics.
OK I made and blocked the swatch and let it rest, what do I do now?
Now you measure! Does your stitches/rows ratio match up with the pattern designer's? Compare your gauge to the listed gauge. If it is different, you need to adjust needle/hook sizes. If your swatch is larger than the given measurements, your gauge is too loose and you need to go down one (or several) needle/hook sizes. If your swatch is smaller, your gauge is too tight and you need to go up one (or more) needle/hook sizes. At this point you can say "it's probably just one size up/down" and start your project, or you can repeat the entire swatch process. If unsure, repeat.
That's cool, can we see an example?
Sure! Here are two swatches I have pinned out.
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I didn't follow my own advice about swatching and just started the Sapphira Lace Shawl on the recommended size 4 needles, but I got all the way through the first repeat of the body chart and then frogged the whole thing because my gauge was so loose you couldn't even see the pattern.
The Sapphira Lace Shawl has a separate pattern just for the gauge swatch and says "gauge is not important, swatch in lace pattern and use comfortable needle size to achieve airy lace that is not too holey." Too holey means that the stitches and yarn overs are so loose you cannot properly make out the pattern at all. That's what happened when I used size 4 needles.
The swatches you see here were knitted on size 2 (top) and 3 (bottom) needles. I knitted the bottom swatch first but was unsure if I liked the result so I went down another needle size and knitted a second swatch.
You'll notice the size 2 swatch is smaller and it's easier to make out the design. The stitches are smaller and denser, so the places where decreases and plain knit stitches are grouped together are easier to see. Versus the size 3 swatch where the stitches are looser and it's a bit harder to make out the design, though not impossible. On size four needled my stitches were so loose you couldn't really make out the design at all. With these swatches pinned out, I personally like the size 2 swatch better. However! That may change once I let the swatches rest for a while!
This yarn is an alpaca/silk mix. Alpaca is known for stretching out and not holding its shape. It's not ideal for lace. Silk is very good at holding its shape, but not very stretchy. I'm hoping together they make an okay yarn for lace because separately neither is my preference for lace. It was what I had on hand that was dyeable. Alpaca has some elasticity so it will spring back once I unpin it and let it rest. At that point, I may like the size 3 swatch better. I won't know until I get there.
I'll try to remember to post pictures of the rested swatches tomorrow to show if there's any difference. I might work up another swatch on size 4 needles to show what "too holey" looks like but that's more of a "how to knit lace" educational swatch than a "how to knit swatches" educational swatch so I might not bother.
That's it, that's the post. I'm sure my knitting mutuals will have comments and things to add so check the notes.
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littlefoxwithbighat · 2 years
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Trying to improve my Norwegian. Anyone know where I could watch the Norwegian dub of the moomins with English subtitles? Or something similar? Tusen takk.
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sporadicbeans82 · 3 days
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What Should Be || Mapi León x Ingrid Engen x Reader (Part Three)
Part 1 || Part 2
Summary: You continue to hide your feelings for a different couple, but doing so results in pushing you to the edge.
Warnings: Mentions of vomiting, mentions of alcohol, mentions of sex, maybe a swear word, reader having shitty coping mechanisms, a bit of angst
Word count: 5.1k words
A/N: I managed to write up a part 3. Will we have a part 4? Mayyybe.
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Over the course of the next few weeks, you began to fall into your role on the Barcelona team. It was structured very differently from the teams and clubs that you’d been previously a part of, but you found that you enjoyed the change. 
You found friends in Claudia and Patri, and the two often invited you out with them to wander around the city. You also befriended Aitana and Ona, who were often tagging along with you, Keira, and Lucy who were dubbed the “English Squad”. 
You hadn’t yet found a position as a consistent starter on the team, although you were typically subbed in towards the end of the game. Slowly, you were finding your groove with your new club, but that wasn’t to say that everything was going smoothly.
Inside, you were incredibly conflicted. You were continually confused by the feelings which bubbled up from within whenever you caught sight of Mapi and Ingrid walking into the locker room together. You  yearned to know what the two were talking about when they whispered between each other, everything inside of you wished all-so-badly to hold Ingrids’ hand or hug Mapi when she seemed cold on the sideline. 
You adamantly reminded yourself that you didn’t deserve to feel this way. You were not a part of their relationship, and so you tried arduously to get these emotions out of your mind. 
In an attempt to get rid of the feelings you held for the Norwegian and Spanish women, you began to spend your sleepless nights in other ways. You slept around as best as you could, figuring you were just simply lonely. However, no matter how many bodies you found comfort in during sleepless nights, you couldn’t help but wish you were spending them in the comfort of other bodies. 
If you closed your eyes for too long, you’d begin to envision that the tongue, or the fingers, or the skin which pushed so pleasantly against yours was that of two defenders from Barcelona. You would always push away, consumed in the thoughts of images of things which you shouldn’t have been thinking of. 
Many times, you’d end up simply leaving, apologetic and quiet as you walked out the other woman’s bedroom door. Then, you’d be doomed to spend the night alone with nothing but your thoughts of self-hatred and uncertainty to comfort you.
You were aware that you weren’t coping well with your dilemma, but you would prefer that over genuinely having to face the feelings which clouded your mind. To you, they were scary– impossible to untangle, and you were entirely too exhausted to begin trying to figure out why you felt the way that you did.
No matter how hard you tried to forget your feelings and stick to your promise of leaving the two alone, you couldn’t simply forget. You couldn’t understand why the two occupied your mind so much, haunting your every thought and action. However, the effect showed in the way which you practiced.
You were much more irritable than normal during training, and every person around you had noticed. You were also much quieter than what anyone was used to seeing, a frown seeming to have permanently replaced the simple smile you usually held on your features.
As you grew more and more conflicted, you began to lash out at those around you. More often than not, you directed your anger at the people who were making you feel the way that you were. However, given that Ingrid would only respond with concern and love, you redirected all of your anger towards your ex-girlfriend, who would notoriously dish your piss poor attitude right back at you.
Rarely did a training session go by where you and Mapi didn’t argue at least once. Oftentimes, they were loud arguments, filled with petty comments and digs at the other’s persona. You would usually have to be dragged away by a teammate, which would make it worse, as the one who would always go to Mapi after your arguments was Ingrid. The taller, dark haired woman would gently tug her girlfriend away from you, and you always felt like you’d been stabbed in the chest when they did. Your mind was constantly muddled, wanting so badly to be a part of their comforting arrangement but being unable to even consider the possibility of a friendship with the two, nevermind anything more. 
You were making a fool of yourself, and you knew it. However, you felt like you were a passenger in your own body, simply watching everything happen around you and you were useless to stop it.
You felt incredibly guilty– both for the way you were acting towards the couple, and for the way you felt. As if you hadn’t had enough on your plate, the expectations that your parents had set upon you as a child were coming back to bite you in the ass. 
You’d known you were queer from a young age, but your parents had always disapproved of that “lifestyle”. You’d spent countless nights as a child, sleeping on your friends’ couches and floors whenever you and your parents had fought about your sexuality. 
Hell, you’d even broken up with Mapi over the fact that your parents would never accept her as she was, and it wasn’t something that you wanted to subject the woman that you loved to. It was why you hadn’t dated anybody since you’d dated the Spanish defender, as you felt like they would never be accepted in your family. In your eyes, you weren’t worth the hassle and the pain that your potential partner would have to go through in dating you. 
You’d long gotten over that part of your life, having compartmentalized the mentality that had been ingrained in you and unlearned that your very being was wrong.
Despite your best attempts to accept yourself as you were, a part of you wondered if you would ever… truly be accepted. The fact that you liked women had been something you’d settled with long ago, but you felt like you were having a second identity crisis over the fact that you now liked two women at once. The guilt was eating at you, pushing you further and further away when all that you wanted was to be held and reassured, to be told that you were okay for how you felt. 
Likewise, you knew you were in for a tongue-lashing from Alexia sometime soon. The woman was growing tired of your antics, having had to personally separate you from her friend a number of times. 
Each time you’d try to argue your case for whatever had sent you and Mapi spiraling, Alexia would simply roll her eyes and shake her head at you, as though she were disappointed in you. You tried to be better, to let the anger which held you in its clutches fade away, but it would never last. 
Each time you thought that it was over, that you had gotten over what you knew to be crushes on Ingrid and Mapi, the two would go and be themselves and you would just… lose it. Maybe you were simply insanely jealous of the two, or maybe you were so full to the brim of “what if”’s and “what could have been”’s that you were blind to why you were acting the way that you were. 
However, what you really wanted was attention. You wanted Mapi and Ingrid to pay attention to you in the way that they paid attention to each other. Because you were hopeless to ever receive the love which you yearned for, you settled for pushing their buttons. Because, even if they were screaming at you and hated you, they were aware that you were there and acknowledging you. You would have gone through a million arguments with Mapi just for a glimpse of both women looking at you. 
You couldn’t keep avoiding how you felt forever, of course. It would all come to a head one day, and when that day would come… you were sure that all the walls you’d carefully built up would come crashing down. 
-----
In your defense, you were having a really bad day. You’d woken up after an hour of restless sleep and had misjudged the way you’d stepped and tripped, landing harshly on your knee. As if that wasn’t enough, you’d woken up late and were most certainly not going to make it to training in time. 
You’d had to forgo most of your morning routine, which had sent you in an angry spiral before you’d even left your house. On top of that, you hadn’t had any food in your fridge and would have to run through training on an empty stomach. 
As if that weren’t bad enough, you’d managed to forget your socks and training top, and had to ask Claudia for spare socks to wear. Of course, then, Claudia and Patri made fun of you for being so forgetful and for being late. 
Usually, you would have laughed along with the two girls, as they were the only two who were able to get you out of your moods. Today, however, you were silent and simply grit your teeth, storming out of the locker room wordlessly. 
Ingrid had noticed your apparent anger and, despite the way that you’d been acting lately, she wanted to catch you by the wrist and pull you back. She and Mapi knew that there was something very, very wrong with you, and both girls couldn’t help but be concerned for the girl that they’d both begun to develop feelings for. 
You never noticed the two, and throughout practice you continued to be silent and brooding.
You’re not even sure when the argument had started, or who had started it. One second, Mapi was complaining about a little cut she’d gotten on her knee when she’d tackled you. 
The next second, you were snarkily telling Mapi to go to her girlfriend to kiss it better. Mapi, who had been sitting on the ground, had glanced up from her knee to glare at you, and it had all gone to hell from there.
“What is your problem with me?” Mapi had asked, her accent further accentuating just how fed up she was with you and your attitude.
You didn’t have a good enough reason to explain just what your problem was, as you yourself didn’t know, either. Instead, you huffed and rolled your eyes, gesturing at Mapi’s entirety with both hands.
“My problem with you? I’m simply wondering when the fuck you decided to start acting like a whiny little girl, is all. Between the last time I saw you and now, you’ve really fucking changed, and not for the better.” Your voice was more pointed than Mapi had ever heard, causing the girl to recoil as though you’d burnt her. 
“Verdad? You really think that?” Mapi’s eyes were big, looking incredibly hurt. Just for a second, you wondered whether you’d pushed too far, and then Mapi was getting up off the ground. She stepped towards you, her chest pressing into your own as she glared at you with more malice in her eyes than you’d ever seen. If looks could kill, then you would have been six feet under. 
Her hands met your shoulders, keeping you from stepping back from her as she pushed against you, “You know what? You are the one who has changed. You are not the person I loved, and that hurts me a lot. You are so mean, and for what reason? Because if you did not want to be here, you could leave. Everybody would be okay with that.”
The way Mapi had meant her words, and the way that you understood them were completely different. However, Mapi didn’t have the time to clarify her meaning as your face was entirely transformed before her eyes. It was as if she had pressed a button on a robot and the robot had shut down.
Your face went blank, nearly emotionless, and you had stopped pressing back against Mapi. As you went limp, Mapis’ body shoved you backward, and you stumbled. You would have fallen, if not for Aitana having been in the right place at the right time and quickly wrapping an arm around your middle to keep you upright. 
You stared wordlessly at Mapi. Truthfully, Mapi’s words had cut deeper than you ever would have been able to communicate. Your worst fears, of everyone truly not caring about you and wanting you gone, had just simply been proven with the words of your ex-girlfriend. Sure, you knew that you had been an unpleasant teammate thus far, but you had been trying so hard to get better, and you’d even been making friends. 
You wondered if your teammates had meetings without you, happy to spend time without a certain brooding someone around to bother them. You wondered if Claudia and Patri simply invited you out with them so that they could make fun of you behind your back. You knew that it didn’t make sense, but your over exhausted brain was running on overdrive.
You yearned to crumple to the ground and cry, to never move again. You wanted to run away, to leave behind everything– the thoughts of Ingrid, and of Mapi, and of all the women in between who had tried to help you forget but had only served as a reminder that you were not enough for the only people you’d ever loved. You were not good enough for your parents, or for Mapi, for any of your short flings who had wanted, and not for Ingrid. You wanted to give up. 
You were so consumed in your thoughts of self-hatred that you barely took notice of your Barcelona captain guiding Mapi back towards you with a hand on her back. 
Alexia’s brows were furrowed as she surveyed you, as though she were trying to make sense of what was going on. Finally, the woman spoke.
“You two will go talk this out. I will not have this on my team any longer. Venga.” Her voice was sharp and left no room for either you or Mapi to argue. Mapi sent a quick glance to Ingrid, who looked on nervously, before allowing Alexia to continue guiding her back towards the locker room.
Alexia placed her other hand on your back, firmly pressing you forward to walk you and Mapi in front of her. You both felt like children being scolded by their parents, and it only served to further sadden you.
Alexia continued to lead you and Mapi away from the rest of the team, into the shade of the tunnel which led to the locker room. 
“Aquí. The two of you will talk here.” Alexia stared you both down, her hands on her hips and her lips pursed. You looked at Mapi, who looked at you in return. The both of you looked absolutely shameful in the way which you both quickly looked away from each other in favor of the ground. 
“Will you be standing there and listening in, Capi?” Despite the rather innocent-sounding question, Mapi’s tone conveyed anger which simmered just below the surface. Instead of answering Mapi’s question, Alexia answered it on her own.
“Will you two be arguing like children as soon as I leave?” You didn’t have it in you to speak up, but you did glance over. Mapi looked annoyed, and you knew it was because of how the two of you were being treated. In retrospect, the two of you had been behaving like children, and Alexia had a point to what she was saying. 
The stubborn defender, however, was having none of it at the moment as she mirrored Alexia’s expression and crossed her arms over her chest. There was a moment of awkward, tense silence between the three of you, which Alexia seemed to take as an answer. 
“What are you two even arguing about in the first place? Every time I see you, it is about nothing. Figure out your differences, because I will not be having this type of behavior on my team. I am not afraid to bench you.” Alexia spoke, and this time you met her gaze. Her eyes conveyed several different emotions of which shamed you further, and you sighed. 
However, it seemed that Mapi wasn’t done. 
“Verdad, Ale? Seriously? She cheated on me. You know this! How can you expect-” You turned your head towards Mapi in absolute confusion, wondering where in the world such accusations had come from. 
“Cheated? I never did that. I would never.” You sounded almost panicked, and confused. Your brows were furrowed, both out of sheer disbelief and out of the fact that you were trying to remember when you could have been mistaken for cheating. 
You came up empty as you tried to figure out where Mapi was coming from, and your arms flew out to the side as though to show just how confused you were.
Mapi appeared confused as she watched you try to put the puzzle pieces together. Finally, the dark-haired woman spoke, sounding deflated and disappointed as she did so.
“When we stopped dating-  you were with that Arsenal girl. I saw the pictures, they were everywhere,” Mapi paused, voice quickening as she realized you were, once again, trying to interrupt in order to defend your name. “No, no. Escúchame, por favor. I couldn’t get over you, and I couldn’t… get away from those pictures. You broke up with me the next night… they were everywhere, on the internet, on my feed… in my head. You should not have dragged me on like that. It was not… right.”
“Que? What pictures?” You sounded confused, voice high pitched as your cheeks reddened. You were trying arduously to figure out just what- oh. OH. Those pictures.
The night you’d broken up with Mapi, Leah Williamson, your Arsenal teammate, had found you wallowing in your room in her apartment. The blonde had dragged you out, unable to leave you to your lonesome. You’d spent most of that night drinking away your sorrows, trying to forget someone who was, simply put, absolutely unforgettable. 
You’d known that several pictures had been taken that night, many of which were considered “iconic”, but you’d never brought it upon yourself to look too hard at them. The majority of them focused on various footballers partying and taking shots, dancing, and otherwise having a fun time. 
However, that night had been incredibly painful and raw for you, and had ended with your head hovering over a toilet, vomiting and sobbing while Leah and her then-girlfriend, Jordan, had tried to comfort you.
Nevertheless, you’d known of one particular picture that had circulated the internet for much longer than others. It featured you and Leah, with you practically hanging off of the blonde woman’s body. To the uninformed eye, the two of you could have been mistaken for lovers. Your arms had been wrapped around Leah’s upper body, with one of your hands grasping at her cheek. Leah’s hand had, otherwise, been around your waist so that she could hold you up. 
You’d simply been posing for the photo, but the two of you were looking each other in the eyes and grinning like the drunken fools you were. You remembered, only barely, that you’d been telling Leah a joke, which had caused the twinkle in your eyes and the smiles to burst on your faces. 
If you’d known how damaging that photo would have been to the person you loved most in the world, you would have taken it all back. As it stood, however, you had to face the consequences of that night several years later. 
Mapi looked, simply put, incredibly insecure. Her arms had shifted so that she was hugging herself around her middle. Her big brown eyes, the ones that you’d fallen in love with time and time again, looked near-tears. It was only then that you realized that, while you’d been hurting, you’d also been hurting Mapi. The thought nearly broke you in two, and you knew that you would do anything and everything in your power to make it all okay again.
“Map- Mapi, no,” Mapi simply stared at you, waiting for an explanation. Alexia was still standing awkwardly to the side, quietly watching the two of you, ready to step in if she needed to. “Those– I wasn’t dating Leah, I never cheated on you. I promise.”
Mapi still looked unsure, and so you continued.
“I was upset… over us, so Leah took me out with the rest of the team. I was so drunk that I could barely walk, and so Leah was making sure that I didn’t fall and hurt myself. She was dating Jordan at the time, and I have proof of that, if you want to see it.” Slowly, Mapi’s posture loosened, but she still looked untrusting of you. 
“Si. Show me.” You looked at Alexia, almost for permission, as you began to angle yourself towards the locker room. You would need your phone to show the other girl the proof you had. Alexia nodded at the two of you, although she focused mostly on Mapi to make sure that the other girl was alright.
After a firm nod from the defender, Alexia’s gaze flitted between both of you before she nodded slowly and backed away, heading towards where your teammates were rather obviously pretending not to be watching you and Mapi. 
From across the field, it was Mapi’s girlfriend who caught your eye. She was watching the two of you unashamedly, not even bothering to be pretending to do something else. Her hands were crossed over her chest as you and Mapi began to walk down the tunnel towards the locker room. 
You wanted to reassure the other girl, too, especially since you knew how delicate of a situation this was. However, as you watched Alexia making her way towards the tall woman, you figured that the captain was going to fill Ingrid in on what was going on.
Finally, you turned your head back towards the space ahead of you. Yours’ and Mapi’s cleats clashing against the cement floor of the tunnel were the only noises that could be heard between the two of you, filling up the silence. 
You were quick to dart forward, opening the locker room door for Mapi to walk through. You followed her, taking a deep breath to try to calm your thoughts as you did so. You hadn’t been alone with Mapi since the fateful day that you’d broken up with her, so many years ago. Truthfully, you’d never thought you’d be alone with her ever again, and the fact that you were now alone with Mapi was bringing up memories and thoughts which had been repressed for a very, very long time.
You made your way over to your cubby and opened up your backpack, which sat atop the bench. You only had to do a little bit of digging to find your phone and you powered the device on. From there, you unlocked it and found the photos app. 
Within the app, you knew that you had a folder titled “Leah”, as you did with all your friends. What you didn’t anticipate, however, was that Mapi was looking over your shoulder and could see all of the other folders that you had. Right next to Leah’s was another folder, one which was titled “Mapi”. 
You weren’t sure that Mapi had seen it, as the girl didn’t say anything, but you were quick to press onto Leah’s folder. You scrolled through several rows of photos before you found the ones that you needed and pressed on them before handing Mapi your phone.
Mapi took a second to look at the photos, scrolling through the five which you knew were from when you, Jordan, and Leah had all lived together. You’d had a movie night, and Jordan had been perched in Leah’s lap. At one point, the two had kissed each other and you’d caught a picture of it. You’d moved out soon after that, as you’d quickly gotten tired of third wheeling with the two in your own home. However, you’d accumulated several other “couple” pictures of the two, all of which were in the folder. 
After several moments of tense silence, Mapi handed you the phone back and nodded slowly.
“I am sorry.” Mapi said, looking exhausted.
“For what?” You asked.
“For not listening to you. For thinking the worst of you when I saw those photos. For bringing it onto this team when you were looking for a fresh start.” Mapi’s voice trailed off, almost nervously, and you swallowed.
“You didn’t drag it on, we were doing it to each other. You have nothing to apologize for, especially when I should have explained myself to you as soon as I realized that those photos were out for the world to see,” You sounded apologetic, which you were. Sure, you were still stupidly confused over your feelings for Mapi and Ingrid, but you’d never meant to hurt anybody with them. “I am sorry for disrespecting you, and for starting so many fights with you.”
It was at that moment that the door opened, and you and Mapi both looked over to see Ingrid standing there. She looked between the two of you, and you took a small step back from Mapi, all-too-aware of the feelings you had for them and the fact that you did not have a handle on them. 
“Is everything alright in here?” Ingrid’s voice was delicate, and calm. You knew that Alexia had purposely sent her to calm things down if it were needed, and Ingrid looked almost surprised at the fact that one of you wasn’t dead on the ground.
“Sí, we were just… talking. We had a little misunderstanding, is all.” Mapi said, looking at her girlfriend and then at you.
“‘Little’ is an understatement,” You scoffed, and Mapi let out a little laugh at the comment. Out of a moment of bravery, you leaned over to elbow Mapi, who elbowed you right back almost instantly. Your eyes found each other in the next second, gazes meeting before it all fell apart. 
You were the one who broke first, giggling uncontrollably, which only seemed to spark a fit of laughter in Mapi as well. Ingrid looked perplexed as she watched the two of you, who had been ready to fight to the death only minutes before, busted down by fits of laughter. 
Finally, you were able to catch your breath, and you met Ingrid’s blue eyes from across the room once more. 
“Yeah, everything is okay. We’ve just been… a little stupid, is all.” Now, it was Ingrid’s turn to scoff.
“Yes, we’re aware that the two of you have been acting stupid.” Ingrid said, and you put your hand over your heart as thought you were offended.
“Hey!” Mapi cried out, having unintentionally mirrored your movement with one of her own. Ingrid didn’t speak, simply smiling at the both of you.
“Well, if all is well… our break is nearly over.” Ingrid told the two of you, and you nodded. 
You strode forward, as if to leave the room, but Mapi’s voice called you back.
“Ingrid… could we have a moment, please? I’ll tell you all about it later, I promise.” Ingrid, to her credit, didn’t look the least bit uncomfortable as she nodded and backed out of the locker room, allowing the door to shut quietly behind her. 
Unbeknownst to you and Mapi, Ingrid took a moment outside of the locker room to pump her fist in a motion of victory. A brilliant smile overtook her face, and she felt like an entire realm of possibilities had opened up to her. Over the course of the last few months, her feelings for you had deepened, and she’d brought it up with her girlfriend on a number of occasions. 
She knew that Mapi still had feelings for you and, at first, she’d been jealous. However, Mapi and Ingrid had talked it out and realized that they both had feelings for each other, and for you. However, Ingrid had been forced to watch as you and Mapi had argued, seemingly always at odds despite the obvious feelings that Mapi had for you.
Ingrid, as much as she loved Mapi, refused to step in between the two of you. Therefore, she was overjoyed with the fact that the two of you had talked it out. She wasn’t sure if anything would happen, but she couldn’t help but hope that something would. 
Within the locker room, you turned towards Mapi, raising one of your eyebrows in question, “what’s up?” 
“We are all good, right? No more arguing?” Mapi asked, but her voice seemed to convey more than what she was simply saying. However, no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t figure out what underlay the other girls’ words. 
“Yeah, we’re good.” You hesitated for a moment, the fact that your feelings still simmered below the surface not unknown to you. However, you knew that you couldn’t tell Mapi about them, or Ingrid, and so you stayed quiet. “No more arguing.”
Mapi grinned, and you couldn’t help but grin back. Mapi had always been like that, able to light up an entire room with a smile, or a laugh, or a story. You missed the person you’d known so well, so many years ago. 
Mapi took a few steps towards you and extended her hand, fist held out towards you. For a second, you stood there, confused.
Then, you extended your own fist and bumped it against Mapi’s. Mapi smiled, before patting your back and walking out of the locker room, leaving you behind with your own thoughts. 
It took you a moment before it all washed over you again– you hated high fives, because you were always afraid that your hands would be sweaty. Long ago, before you’d even dated, you and Mapi had agreed to only do fist bumps. The fact that the other girl remembered that small fact had you swooning and overthinking more than you’d already been doing. 
Your heart throbbed in your chest, making your feelings known once again. However, as you made your way towards the door of the locker room, you took a deep breath to push those feelings down once again.
No matter what, you would not ruin your career over your feelings.
No matter what, you would not ruin the friendship which was beginning to blossom between you and Mapi.
No matter what, you would not ruin the beautiful relationship which Mapi and Ingrid had.
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totaly-obsessed · 4 months
Note
Omg omg omg i have an idea
r is the team baby and mapi is like a big sister to her
it’s gameday and mapi always braids readers hair before a match, but with mapis injury, she can’t do it. So Aitana takes the role of being your big sister and helps you with everything,
Changes
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Barcelona Femení x reader request
-> With Mapi injured, your usual plan gets changed
-> Very short! I hope you like it - was very fun to throw something quick and small together
➳ Masterlist
•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•
It was weird.
Ever since joining the team last season, Mapi had been a constant in your everyday life, and one day to the next, she was gone. She didn’t die, duh, but she was injured. And while a lot of people on the team injured themselves or sometimes just had to sit out – never Mapi.
She had taken you under her wing as soon as she saw you, but her plan of making you her accomplice didn’t work, as you were much too introverted to embarrass yourself in public like she intended to do.
Ingrid had always just scoffed at her girlfriend whenever she had sent you on a wild goose chase for something completely made up, while Maria would laugh at you. The Norwegian was always quick to solve the mysteries, pressing soft kisses on your forehead whenever you got annoyed, ignoring her girlfriend until she stopped.
While everyone on the team was great friends, even a family, the relationship between you and Mapi was just different and everybody knew that – which is also why everybody could see just how much it affected you that your favorite defender wasn’t there. Especially when you were in the starting eleven.
Ingrid had religiously been updating her girlfriend, reassuring her that you were in fact totally fine and not freaking out. But you weren’t fine.
The girls tried to help where they could – Lucy and Keira had picked you up from home, Pina sat next to you on the bus (Patri and Ona behind you, making for a very funny ride), Jana and Bruna had made you a new playlist that you were all listening to and Alexia did what she did best – she observed and helped when needed.
In the changing room, most things took their natural course as every girl had their slightly different routine and needs before a game.
You were so incredibly nervous. Making the starting eleven was big, especially for a club like Barcelona, but the team for the day was quite experienced, calming you down just a little. Esme looked just as nervous as you, she was a striker alongside you, making for a very young frontline.
Aitana saw you brushing your hair again and again and again, just to do absolutely nothing with it, just patting your own head in a calming manner. After three minutes she took pity – remembering that your older sister figure wasn’t there.
“No need to rip out hair Cari. Let me do it.”
The entire team had affectionally started to call you Cari in your first season – it was short for cariño, and you loved it.
As still as humanly possible you sat in your cubby, letting the ballon d'or winner do her thing, sometimes handing her a brush, a ponytail holder, or a bobby pin.
“I can’t do it like Maria, so I did something else. Do you like it, Cari?” She indeed had done a different hairstyle, but it was still braided out of your face and it looked cute.
“It’s perfect Tana, thank you!” The brunette couldn’t help but smile, seeing you come to life just a little more after such a simple action from her. In thanks you kissed her cheek, squeaking when Sandra poked you into your side, making all three of you laugh.
“Let me help you with your shirt.” The goalkeeper didn’t even wait for an answer, helping you tuck your shirt inside of the shorts – just like Mapi would do for you. “Thank you!”
Now you felt much more prepared and ready to take on FC Rosengård.
Walking in, instead of a mascot's hands you were holding Lucy’s who smiled at you so brightly that you couldn’t be sad anymore. “You’ll do her proud kid – don’t worry.”
The Brit had indeed been right. Mapi had been close to tears sitting next to Frido in the stands, as you scored an amazing goal in the second half, dedicating it to her, as you sprinted over to where they sat, pressing a kiss to your palm, and practically throwing it at her.
“Look at my sister!”
725 notes · View notes
box-milk · 29 days
Text
Mami
Pairing ~ Ingrid Engen x Norwegian!reader
Genre ~ Fluff
Warnings ~ short, reader is embarrassingly shy, pina and patri antics, Google translated Spanish/Norwegian.
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You hummed lightly to the beat you created by tapping your feet after you finished tying the laces on your boots waiting for practice to start when pina plopped down next to you on the bench with a mischievous smile on her face.
You knew that smile anywhere despite only being on the team for a few months. It was nothing but trouble, so you decided to ignore her, hoping she'd grow bored eventually and leave you alone. That wasn't the case when the girl decided to poke you continuously in your ribs.
"For all that's holy pina, what?" You huff out at the younger girl, which causes her smile to increase. " we have an offer for you".
"We?"
Just as you questioned the girl with a confused rasie of an eyebrow, her "other half" appeared, throwing her arm over your shoulders and sitting on your other side. "Si, we."
You sigh softly knowing that pina and patri wouldn't let you go now that you're sandwiched between them. "Fine, what do you lot want?"
"We want you to talk to ingrid." Patri said with a simple shrug of her shoulders, and your cheeks immediately take the colour of a tomato. The entire team knew you were painfully shy and refused to form conversations about anything non work related unless it was initiated by another person.
So when pina and patri basically adopted you into their little group, you didn't feel the need to or have the courage to build a relationship pass professional with the rest of the team.
The smirk grows on the pairs' lips causing them to look like the cheshire cat. Along with your shyness, everyone knew of your crush on ingrid expect the Norwegian herself. So you silently spiralled on what you'd even say to the woman.
"And not just talk, amiga. You'll only address her as mami."
Pina added, causing you to immediately choke on your own saliva while patri tried to help with light pats on your back until your breathing is back in control. Just when you got your bearings, ingrid herself comes over looking at you with concern.
"Are you OK Kjæreste?"
You nodded quickly with your cheeks puffed out, trying to contain another coughing fit. The duo at your sides trying to keep from laughing at the awkward interactions between their teammates. Ingrid left after a pat on your back, causing you to short circuit at the gentle touch.
Pina let's out the laugh she's been holding while patri takes a little pity, seeing as she can feel the heat from your face. "How is this an offer drittsekker?." Hitting both of their thighs.
"We'll do whatever you want for a month."
"egentlig a month?"
"Si. So do you accept." Patri's smile is almost daring, and you can't help but accept.
"Si"
°•°•°••°•°•°•°•°•`•○°•°•
You stood after practice listening to lucy as she gave you some pointers on how to improve your defending when ingrid came up to you with a water bottle. It's not unusual for anyone on the team to hand you water bottles at random times given that you fainted once cause you forgot to hydrate.
You gratefully accepted the cool bottle, taking a few sips when you remembered the agreement between you and the two trouble makers.
"Thank you mami." Ingrid fumbled before dropping the other bottle she had in her hand while Lucy stared between you with her jaw on the floor and you tried to control your racing heart by excusing yourself from the pair.
"You have balls pequeña I'll give you that." Patri pats your back when you walk up to her having heard the exchange between you and the tall brunette. "Are you sure this won't make ingrid uncomfortable?"
Patri looks over your shoulder to see Lucy trying to get ingrid back down to earth and shrugged. "She'll be fine"
°•°•°•°•°•°•°••
You spent most of the week calling ingrid mami at the most inappropriate times catching her off guard and making her the brunt of your teammates teasing until she had just about enough of it and decided to confront you.
The door slamming open causes everyone to go completely silent while your eyes go wide as ingrid paced towards you, trapping you between her body and the cubby.
The brunette brings her lips down to your ear before she speaks. "Listen here kjære I don't know what kind of game it is you're playing but it ends here forstå?"
The scent and the heat of the Norwegian's breath leave you unresponsive, causing the latter to roll her eyes and grab onto your neck. "I said,Do you understand kjære?"
With widen eyes, you stared into the older girls darken one and nodded quickly. "Words kjære"
"Yes."
Ingrid smirks before giving your neck a slight squeeze "yes what?"
You swallow deeply, looking around the room for help, but even the two that got you into this mess are avoiding eye contact. "I hate having to repeat myself kjære. Yes what?". Ingrid's eyebrow is raised noting her exhausted patience.
You swallow thickly again before giving her the answer she wants. "Ja...mami."
"Good girl." Ingrid smirks lightly tapping your cheek before her bubbly smile is back when she faces her teammates and walks out of the locker room with her kit bag.
When the door closes behind her, your body crumbles out of your cubby as you faint.
"Y/n!"
°°°°°°°°°
An: this was trashhh
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ofjunemoment · 8 months
Text
getting even | lee haechan (P1)
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synopsis —  Haechan is notorious for his pranks. Who can forget about the one time the campus fountain was bleeding red? You were weary of never getting on his wrong side, but when you get to know him better, it seems like behind all that front he's a sweet and caring guy. That is until you get a bucket of water dunked on you straight after he promised he wouldn't pull something on you. You're not only pissed that he had fooled you like this, but that he chose such a simple prank.
pairing - haechan x fem!reader
genre - university!au, (one-sided) enemies, strangers to friends to lovers, slow burn, very slice of life, eventual smut (MDNI)
Wc - 11.6k
content - clubbing scene, reader is drunk at one point, random idols mentioned, university settings
warnings: mentions of throwing up (nothing too detailed)
a/n - hi lovelies <3 heres the first part to getting even!!! while i was writing the story i noticed it was getting very long (and i still have like... five more scenes to write lol) so i thought of getting this out first ^^ not a lot happens here but stay tuned for the next part because.. a lot.. happens there hehe. i hope you enjoy readingggg!!
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Walking into your lecture, your eyes scan around to find an empty spot to occupy, but you were pleasantly surprised to see your friend Naeun sitting in one corner, leaning back as she scrolls through her phone. She beams when she sees you, patting the seat next to hers.
“Fancy seeing you here,” You plop down your bag next to your chair, teasing her from the get-go. She whines shyly at your callout.
“I was struck with academic motivation never felt before. It felt like I was destined to come in today and be as studious as possible,” She points towards the lecture, which is barely filled with students. It’s a nine a.m. lecture, but you decided to come in early today to snag a good seat that lets your focus on the lecture with your upcoming assignment that's due; Naeun on the other hand barely comes in after the first two weeks of the semester, regardless of what time the lecture is. If it’s not mandatory, why go?
Her motto is what makes you raise your eyebrow at her now, scanning her figure as if to fish out the real reason why she’s here.
“Don’t look at me like that! I actually came in to study today,” you raise your hands in self-defence, looking away from her with a giggle, opting to stop teasing her.
But not even a minute later, she cracks; “Okay, fine. If you keep insisting me to tell you I guess I have no choice,”
“But I didn’t even—”
“I heard from Haneul who heard from Heejin’s girlfriend who was at that book club meeting with Renjun, which for some reason thought Norwegian Wood the book didn’t match the song, which is such a hot take that only he would take. Anyways,” She crosses her leg over her knee, leaning in as if to tell you a secret, manicured hands cupping the side of her face.
“Haechan might pull something today, at this lecture.” You barely caught her words, but after a few seconds of taking in what she said, you lean back and look at her with wide eyes.
“Haechan? I thought he was finished?” Naeun nods her head at lightning speed, her expression matching yours too.
“See, that’s what I thought too, but apparently he only had some sort of weird writer's block but for his pranks. I think he missed all the attention he used to get, not that he’s any less popular now, but you know what I mean,” You, in fact, have no idea what she means. But with the new information that you’re now fed, you’re hyperaware of your surroundings, looking around for any abnormalities within your vicinity.
Ever since the orientation of the first year of your course, when you met Naeun and had to fight against falling asleep with all the alcohol the seniors were feeding you as a sort of welcoming ritual, Haechan had already made a solid impression on everyone. With the seniors pushing all the first-year students to drink, Haechan had gotten into a bit of trouble for refusing to drink something they’ve poured out for him, as the older guys go around with mindless gossiping, stating how much of a prune he is and that he’s just ruining the fun, all while they stick around girls who are out of their league.
Later that day, Haechan had made a few drinks for the few who he had angered as a form of apology. With his head bowed in tow, he honestly looked like he was asking for their forgiveness.
“It was careless of me to disrespect my seniors so blatantly like this, could you accept these as an apology? I’ll even pour out the soju for you.” With the bottle in his hand, his other hand cradled his elbow, showing respect as he barely met their eyes. The seniors were ready to make him work for it more, but with the way he was bowed in front of everyone in the hall, it looked like they were picking on the poor boy.
“Ah, Haechan, you don’t have to do that.” One of them chuckles. “We were just joking aroun—”
“Please! Just accept this, I don’t know how I can last the rest of my uni years knowing that I had disrespected you on my very first day.” He shouts in his high-pitched voice, making the already quiet hall of murmuring people all go silent. The seniors were now all flustered, before being ushered to take the cups Haechan had provided, waiting for him to pour them drinks.
From the corner of the table, you were slumped against, you remember two things very vividly that night; one, Naeun was an only child, which we can definitely work with. And two, when Haechan looked up at the second and third years of his major accepting his drinks, his grateful smile was laced with some sort of sinister glint.
As the seniors grumble in embarrassment while Haechan finishes pouring each one of them a drink, they swish their cups around as if it’s wine, delaying drinking from them while Haechan insists on signifying their bond with a toast.
“To my seniors, I hope to perform up to your expectations,” And with the tip of their cups in an imaginary circle, everyone cheered ‘one-shot’ as the seniors down their drinks. Haechan merely sipped his, and you had noticed his lips tilting to one corner, and even in your drunk state, you knew something was off.
Your suspicions were confirmed when the seniors all started coughing wildly, some clutching the corner of a table or one anothers’ shoulders, seeming like they were coughing their lungs out.
Turns out that Haechan had slipped hot sauce into the drinks, creating a fusion of different burning sensations to travel down their throats as they drink the alcohol in one shot. Instead of being chastised, he was cheered on by the other first years who were either tipsy or barely hanging on. Ever since then, he was known to pull pranks every now and then, most harmless, some embarrassing, but nothing serious and nothing to spite anyone. Like tampering with clocks in the lecture halls, making them chime a tune every ten minutes, or when he had swapped his blonde friend Jeno’s shampoo with a firetruck red dye, leaving his neck and the better part of his forehead red from the dye for days on end. The only prank done with motivation was the first one as if it was some sort of initiation in itself.
“Wait, at this lecture? But there’s barely anyone here. Doesn’t Haechan carry out his pranks with a full-blown audience at tow?” Naeun shushes at your words, trying to get you to quiet down with your words, but it was too late. The deed was done as the guy from behind you perks up at your conversation, leaning into your conversation bubble.
You recognise him as Sunwoo, as he quickly shifts his gaze between the two of you. “Haechan’s doing something today? Like, at this lecture?”
“Oh.. well, I wouldn’t say so,”
“Naeun,” He turns to your friend, and you look at her with doom written on both of your faces. Naeun can’t lie to save her life, most people know that by now, but never really have the balls to test the theory. Until now, of course.
“Naeun, is Haechan gonna pull a prank today?”
“Naeun, remember what we talked about restraint.” You tried to keep her attention on you, knowing that if her gaze wandered to the boy, she would break.
“Come on Naeun,” Sunwoo whines now, stomping his feet, making you look at him with disgust written on your face at his sudden burst of cuteness. “Just say yes or no. Ywes or nwo.”
“Dude, gross,” You shove at his shoulder in an attempt to finally relent. Naeun squeezes her eyes shut.
“Pwetty pwease?”
“Fine! Fuck, oh my god. Yes, he is, Haechan is maybe doing something today.” She leans back into her chair, chest heaving as if she’d run a marathon. “I hated that, please don’t ever do that again.” Sunwoo winks at you two as he suddenly stands straight in his seat.
With hands cupped around his mouth, he shouts out. “Hey everyone! Haechan is pulling a prank today! Tell all your friends to be careful, and to keep their cameras rolling! Remember to post it on the campus’ blog!” And with that, phones chime as people text and call the imminent news. You and Naeun look at each other, defeated.
“At least they don’t know that we spread it?” You try, shoulders now hunched in as Naeun rubs at her temples.
“Oh! Also, it was these two who told me, so you should thank them!” Sunwoo yells one last time as he points at the two of you, with some hoots and cheers now being sent your way. You two shrink into yourselves even more.
“Haneul is never gonna invite me out for bubble tea ever again,”
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As the lecture hall fills up to its max capacity, everyone is on the edge of their seat, waiting for something to happen. The star of the show himself is nowhere to be seen, but his friends are huddled in their usual corner, trying their best to smile kindly and repeat on about how they ‘don’t know what Haechan is up to. Can I send him a text to see where he is? Why are you telling me what to do—’. Thankfully Jeno was able to stop Renjun from pouncing anyone, even though they both knew nothing would’ve happened.
The lecturer seems over the moon to have the hall filled as much as it is, excitedly explaining statistics and their significance in the current world. She doesn’t seem to notice that the majority are here for some sort of public performance and not the different ways you can find the probability of whatever it is she’s droning on about. You try your best to nod when she looks towards your general direction.
As the lecture ends, people grow restless with the lack of action in the last two hours. But no one had dared to step out of the hall, much less out of their seats in fear of something happening. But when the lecturer thanks everyone for joining her this week and talks about gratitude, people slump into their chairs, grumbling and huffing about their time being wasted. Everyone starts packing straight away, slowly maneuvering to the exit as they cook up theories about why Haechan had gone so long without a prank, and how the word got spread in the first place. You and Naeun sit static in your chairs, not wanting to attract any attention, alongside Haechan’s friends, who merely go on their phones and twirl their pens.
“Do you think this will come back to bite us in our ass?” You’re careful to whisper this time, shoving your laptop into your bag and Naeun clicks her pens closed. She merely shrugs, “I don’t think they even know our names, so I think we should be fine.” You look at the lecturer, who seems to be skipping her way to the exit now, undoubtedly feeling ecstatic at doing her job. As she opens the door and steps to the hall, you last see her beaming smile before a screech echoes out, making everyone stop in their tracks.
The people who were the closest to her are now looking at the ground where she lies, bags and items now askew across the floor outside of the hall. A few step up and help her get up by grasping her wrists, pulling when she seems to have found their bearings. But their effort ends fruitless, as not only does she stay on the floor, but the two people who had helped her also collapse again on the floor.
“What the fuck…” As people go to help their friends and the lecturer from the floor, the three figures on the floor attempt to skid back into the lecture room instead of out. A guy you recognise as Beomgyu looks out onto the hallway outside the lecture hall, before pressing the tip of his shoe against the floor as if to test something. When he pressed his sole against the floor, he tries shifting left and right before pressing his other foot on the floor, rebalancing himself when he’s tilted a bit to the left. You see him squat down and take a big whiff, face confused as he stands back up, but not for long.
Smiling like a radiating child, his laugh echoes throughout the hall as he pulls on his friend Jeongin’s hand to join him. “The floor is covered with butter!”
At that, the once quiet hall grows loud, as people slowly step onto the floor, while some treat it like a skating rink, gliding and spinning right outside the lecture hall.
“The whole floor with butter? When did he have the time to do that?” You question as you now stand with your bag slung over your shoulder. Jeno, who was walking past you with Renjun, turns back to you. “He did it while the lecture was going on. If you can’t handle skidding on the floor, you might wanna use the other door,” And with a blinding smile, he turns back around and heads out the alternative door.
Naeun clutched at your bicep. “Did he talk to us right now? Like, look at us in the eye and speak words?”
You nod your head. “I think you can put your delusional days to an end. He totally likes you,” She smacks your hand as you tease her, but huddles closer nevertheless.
“I am, for once, thankful that you just speak words without thinking,”
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You’re tugging at the waist of your skirt as Naeun pulls you by your locked elbows, shoes clicking towards the direction of the club. The Beehive club is known to harbour students of all majors from your university, as it is the closest club to the dorms situated just a five-minute walk away from campus, making socialising as easy as it can get. Naeun had urged for you two to go this week, even when you’d rather rest after giving in the assignment that you were slaving over for the past few days. She insisted that it would be worth this time.
“Haechan finally put a cease in his hiatus. That means he will be at the party, which means Jeno will be at the party, which means I need to make my presence known and somehow rizz him by sending him brainwaves.” She had explained while getting ready, as she blows on her false lashes before putting them on. You sulk from your position in bed, slowly trying to hype yourself up to get ready.
“You’re not even gonna talk to him? What’s the point then?” Naeun groans at that.
“You know that if I open my mouth around him I’ll pee myself. Come on, and you deserve to have some fun after all that hard work,” And so half a bottle of soju and an hour later, you find yourself covering one of your ears as you descend the stairs to the Beehive club. You feel the bass of the song travel up your legs as you enter the club, and are offered free drink coupons. It’s when you’re squeezing a lemon slice into your mouth at the bar that you feel a hand tap against your shoulder. You turn to see Haneul, a grin gleaming even in the dark of the club as she squeals and pulls both you and Naeun into a hug.
“My favourite girls, how have you been?” She shouts against the booming music against your ears, to which you give her a thumbs up while Naeun further squeezes herself against Haneul's figure in excitement, the alcohol already making her feel giddier. She pulls you towards the dance floor, muttering about how she has a VIP booth that someone had offered her, and leads the way. Plopping down, Haneul gestures for staff before saying something into his ear, before giving a wink and pointing at the VIP booth you’re settled at.
As you three start conversing, the staff comes back with more drinks, and Haneul encourages you to drink, assuring you that it’s attached to the tab of the booth. “Some guy called Jay has this booth under his name, and he said to put any drinks I wanted on the tab,” You toast your free drinks against one another, the clink of the glasses barely audible as you each take a sip. Haneul shares the anecdotes and stories that have while she was away on vacation, while you and Naeun nod and react accordingly, slipping in your commentaries at the climax of her stories.
“What about you two? Any news recently?” She takes a sip from her straw as she says this, glancing between the two of you excitedly. You and Naeun share a sheepish glance, knowing neither of you has anything as exciting to share.
“Oh come on, what have you been doing these days?”
“Just work,” Naeun frowns as she says this.
“And school,” You follow up.
“You’re right, and school. And then work again,”
“And scho—”
“You guys are miserable,” Haneul scoffs jokingly. She reaches for the bottle of champagne that's sitting in the ice bucket, grabbing two clean glasses. “Here, have more drinks so you can have something exciting to tell me later on,” Although mixing your drinks is never good, the loud music and the flashing lights encourage you to drink more, and your body craves to let loose.
Two glasses and a twenty-minute dance break later, you’re at a corner of the club huddling near each other. Naeun had caught a glimpse of Jeno at the bar, and the alcohol in her system removed all brain-to-mouth filters she had.
“He’s so—” She cups her face as she hiccups. “So fine. So so fine. You know, when we were at our lecture… the other day with Haechan’s …comeback or, fuck, butter floor, he spoke to us,” Her warm eyes fluttered as she thought back to that moment. “Jeno said real words, in real life and my ear heard them. I think he looked at me too, what the fuck?” She grabs her forehead as if taking the information in for the first time before she presses her head against your shoulder.
“She’s not being delusional, he did speak to us,” You nod your head at Haneul as she shoots you a questioning look, with Naeun clinging onto you harder. “He even helped us go out through the back door so we don’t end up all oily with the butter rink.” Naeun snorts, which catches all of you off guard and even herself, her eyes opening and locking onto something in the middle of the dance floor. Her gaze suddenly shifts, and before you know it she’s shoving her way through the crowd and heading towards her target.
“What is she—? Oh no, fuck,” You gasp while Haneul’s mouth hangs open when you both see Naeun heading toward Jeno, who’s dancing with someone at the moment, at full speed.
Haneul looks at you with contemplation. “I mean… it could turn out for the better?” She tries.
“Or she would wake up embarrassed as fuck for the next week or so,” You contemplate with her. Naeun is never the type to be aggressive, even when she's drunk. The most she’s done once was point a finger at you while she was angry and then look away to calm herself down.
But before you could relax back into your corner, you see her reach up for her earrings.
“Okay, fuck. Take this, I’ll be back,” Shoving your drink in Haneul’s hand, you make your way through the crowd and towards Naeun, rushing before she reaches her imminent doom. Jeno and his dancing partner are oblivious to the devil baby that Naeun takes the form of at the moment, which gives you hope that embarrassment can be evaded.
But then she full-body slams into Haechan.
“Woah,” He places his free hand on her shoulder, stopping her from tipping all the way to the right and losing her balance. The cup in his other hand now seems to be empty as its contents drip from both of their bodies, but Naeun is too drunk to notice and Haechan seems to have barely processed anything, seemingly working on autopilot at this point. You catch Naeun by the waist, your other hand going to her arm and slinging it around your shoulder to ground her, inspecting the mess she made. Your expression is apologetic when you make eye contact with Haechan, but he merely purses his lips and gestures putting Naeun’s other arm around himself for more support.
You mouth a ‘thank you’ and heave her body outside of the dance floor and towards the booth Haneul had brought you to earlier. Placing her on the couch, she slumps down and immediately whines when her hand makes contact with her torso on the descent.
“I’m all sticky now…” Her eyes are barely open as she says this, as the bass of the music dwindles in the semi-confines of the booth.
“That makes the two of us,” As Haechan says this, your eyes glance over his figure to see his once white button-up is now tinted blue and sticking to his body, outlining the faintest of lines in the dark of the club. You advert your eyes, not wanting to be caught gawking at him like a man in the Victorian era.
“I’m so sorry, thank you for helping,” You bite your lip momentarily, feeling mortified for ruining his shirt. He merely waves you off, “Don’t worry. I’m not too fussed about it,” His hand is placed at his hip as he says this, but his free hand gestures at your intoxicated friend. “But she seems to be the most bothered out of all of us,”
As if on cue, Naeun whines from her slumped position on the couches, shifting left and right in an attempt to gain some leverage into standing up, only to slip back down. She calls for your name and then squints at Haechan as if trying to remember his.
“Naeun, let’s call it a night, yeah?” You try telling her and you look around to find her bag that she’s left. She protests like a child in a grocery store, huffing as she droops further onto the couch, her cheek now pressed against the cushions.
“No, not until I bag the class clown's hot friend.” Your eyes widen as you feel your cheeks grow hot, trying your best to not glance over at Haechan and somewhat blow Naeun’s cover. You reach over and pat her cheeks lightly in a warning.
“Naeun, you’re blabbering nonsense now. Come on, let’s get going.”
“I’m not! I’m talking about Jeno, not nonsense. Haechan’s super hot friend Jeno,” Your whole body does a reset as she says this, shoulders going stiff while Naeun is oblivious to everything. She opens her eyes and locks them on something behind you, now pointing her finger and smiling giddily.
“Oh! Look, Haechan is here! Hey, do you think if I ask reallyyy nicely he’ll—” Her next words are muffled by your hand and a forced laugh. You cast a look at Haechan to see him trying and failing to contain a smile, as his hand pushes at the corner of his mouth. Upon making eye contact with you he quickly looks away and tries to retain himself from laughing. You sigh as you think about the number of things you’d have to run down to sober Naeun tomorrow about drunk Naeun’s antics right now. Gathering both of your things and shrugging your jacket on your friend, you quickly grab a tissue paper from the table and the eyeliner pen from Naeun’s bag, scribbling down your phone number.
Once Haechan has regained his composure, he’s met with your hand extended towards him holding a napkin. He picks it up from your hand as you wave it a bit impatiently before you quickly go to shoulder your friend up.
“This is my number, send me your details and I’ll cover for your shirt and the drink,” You grunt as you adjust Naeun’s deadweight before she gets the memo and tries standing on her two feet. “Thank you again for helping, uh, please ignore everything she just said. I know it’ll be a good payback prank but—”
“Hey, don’t worry,” Haechan’s chuckle resounds deep even in the loud bass of the club. “I wouldn’t pull anything on her for this.” He comes to Naeun’s opposite side, grabbing her arm and throwing it over his shoulder, heading towards the exit of the club without casting a glance back at you. You fumble with your belongings before quickly catching up, heels clicking as you ascend the stairs, your hands hovering around Naeun’s general direction, in fear that she’ll decide to fling herself off Haechan’s grip in an attempt of brushing her drunkenness off.
Outside of the club, cars whizz by the busy streets as people go for second and third rounds of drinks at this time of the night. Haechan lets Naeun sink into the ground as the latter pulls her weight, and you scramble towards her on the floor.
“Are you gonna hurl?” You ask. She hiccups.
“No,” And that’s all you needed to hear. Standing up, you fish out your phone and decide to call a cab back to your dorms, not wanting to carry your friend in the ten-minute walk back.
“Hey,” Haechan calls and you had momentarily forgotten that he was still here. You look up to see him scratching at his neck, mulling over his next words. “Uh, if you’d like, I didn’t drink anything and— I mean I was going to but then your friend just… What I’m saying is that I can drop you off?” The alcohol swimming in your brain may be playing with you, but you think you see a dust of pink settle into the boy’s cheek and neck.
“I mean, you’re Haneul’s friends, right? I remember you were her roommate at the dorms last year, so if you still live there I can drop you off,” He straightened his shoulder as he said this, now looking more confident about his offer.
You shift your weight, as you now actually get to take a good look at him. Under the club's dark and strobing lights, you could barely see his features far past his white button-up shirt and the light reflecting in his eyes. The street light illuminates the figure in front of you fully, allowing you to see the blue stain in his shirt, but also the tight fit of his jeans and the veins adorning his arms as he pushes up his sleeves at his elbows.
“Oh, thanks. But we should be okay. I’m sorry for the trouble.” You’re a bit flustered as you say this, your eyes flickering from his forearms to his face, not wanting to come off rude but also not being able to contain your monkey-sex brain from forming thoughts. You’re salivating over forearms.
“Okay…wait. Here,” He fishes out his phone from his pocket, typing in the phone number that you handed to him earlier in the night, calling you briefly. “Give me a text when you arrive home or if you need any help with warding off any weirdos.” You feel your stomach warm at his gesture, punching your name into his phone when he gives it to you. When you give it back to him, he mouths your name, before smiling at you.
“Will you be alright going alone?” He says as he helps you bring Naeun to a stand, the latter squeezing her eyes open and trying to regain balance and focus.
“Yup,” You pop, fixing your friend's bag on her shoulder. “She said she wasn’t gonna throw up, which means I have around twenty minutes until she changes her mind. She’s always the most self-aware pre-vom, so the walk back should be okay,” You don’t know why you’re reassuring him from getting kidnapped on your way back, but it feels nice to have someone care for your safety like this. Naeun starts marching away once you face her in the direction of your unit, and with a last wave goodbye, you turn your back to Haechan and the club.
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[FRIDAY; 1:26 AM]
you: hii im home now
haechan: thats good
haechan: did she thrw up yet??
you: nah not yet
you: but we’re getting there you: t-minus three secs
haechan: remember to drink water b4 u sleep
you: okayy thank u for today :)
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Telling Naeun how she almost embarrassed herself wasn’t as dreadful when she was fighting a hangover. She seemed to be more concerned about her water intake than almost causing a scene with Jeno at the club, complaining about the dryness of her skin.
“I can’t believe you let me go to sleep without telling me to wash my make-up off,” She says this as she adds her expensive serum to her face, grabbing a guasha tool and pressing the cool instrument against her temples, completely disregarding its original use. You continue brushing your teeth next to her against the sink, unable to reply with the foam in your mouth.
“You passed out on the toilet after throwing up, I almost threw up myself trying to bring you to your bed,” You say as you spit out your toothpaste.
“Wait, then how did I not cause a scene?”
“Haechan stopped you,” You reply seamlessly, drying your hands on the hand towel, oblivious to the bewildered stare Naeun throws your way.
“Haechan? Like, Jeno’s friend Haechan? The guy who put red food dye in the campus’ water which made everyone's mouth red?” You remember the initial shock of walking by the water fountain the day he did this, the blood red of the water being a stark contrast to the gloomy winter weather last year.
“Yeah, you even spilled his drink on him and everything.” You giggle at the groan that she lets out, covering her face with her hands.
“Oh my god, he’s gonna now plant a hidden alarm in my room like he did to this other guy in the dorm, or put plastic cockroaches in everything I own. I can’t believe I did that, was his shirt white?”
“Not after you spilt his neon blue drink,” You egg on even more. “But don’t worry, he said he won’t pull anything on you.” At that, her shoulders slump down in relief, as she leans against the doorframe of the bathroom.
“I’m safe,” She cheers, heading to the kitchen like nothing had happened. But being the drama queen that she is, she quickly turns to look back at you with a sharp gasp. “But you aren’t!”
You roll your eyes at her dramatics. “What do you mean? Why would I not be safe?” You disregard her sceptics as you pass by her and into the kitchen, opening the fridge to look for something to eat.
“He said that he wouldn’t do anything to me, but he didn’t say anything about you.” For someone whos nursing a hangover, it’s alarming to see her raise her voice and move as swiftly as she does around you, trying to get you as panicked as she is about her made-up scenario. “He can glitter bomb your bag, or hack your laptop so that whenever you have an assignment it doesn’t go through until a few seconds after it's due, or—” You cut your friend off by stuffing cereal in her mouth, stopping her mid-rant.
“Why would he do that to me? You have to know he only did those to relevant or well-known people, like Somi or Sunghoon. He wouldn’t do some grand prank on someone like me.” You turn to pour your chosen cereal into a bowl. “And if you say anything else, just know I’m ignoring you.”
“But—”
“I’m ignoring you,”
“You can’t do this to m—”
“Ignoring youuuu,”
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You don’t hear of or see Haechan until Wednesday, when you’re walking to your second class of the day from the library.
Adjusting your items in your bag, you wouldn’t have noticed his presence at all until he had cleared his throat and brushed his shoulder lightly against yours.
“Oh,” Your eyes widen by reflex, taken aback by his sudden approach before they soften again at the smile adorning his face. “Hi,”
“Hey, you heading to class?” He small talks, and maybe you should spend less time with your roommate, because what should be a simple interaction between you and one of your peers is putting you on edge. Even when you had ignored Naeun’s dramatics about you being dunked on by the boy before you, you can’t deny the jittery feeling coursing through your body, as if your body is gearing in to go into fight-or-flight mode.
Not wanting to come off rude, you hum an agreement and attempt to cast a friendly glance at him, which doesn’t last long as you see him looking back at you.
“Did you, uh, have fun?” You attempt at making small talk, but Haechan looks at you quizically at your lack of context. “At the club, that night. Sorry for interrupting your night and ruining your shirt.” You can’t help but circle back, feeling apologetic when you recall the massive blue stain you had left him in.
“Hey, don’t sweat it. I hated that shirt anyway,” You gape at him as he says this, but quickly close your mouth shut and roll your eyes when you see the teasing glint flashing in his eyes. “And don’t worry about the prank thing too, I wouldn’t think about pranking a pretty girl like you,” You flush momentarily, but remember that you’re talking to ‘the biggest flirt on campus’. Haenul’s words, not yours.
“Good to know,” You egg him on, feeling your shoulders slump down as you grow more relaxed in his company. His jovial manner eases your thoughts of him coming after you, as his presence in front of you proves that he’s merely another student on your campus, trying to have fun and get by with crippling student debt.
Small talking a bit more as you head towards your tutorial, you revel in the drama he tells you that has occurred after you had left the club, remembering to list down the details to recall back to Naeun when you see her later. It’s when you’re at the door of your classroom when Haechan’s phone buzzes in his pocket.
“I have a call to take, but I’ll see you around?” He looks at you with a friendly smile, and it takes everything in you not to melt right there. You can see why some of the girls in your year are fond of him.
Waving him goodbye, you wait until he turns a corner before you go towards your class. You’re just a few minutes late, which explains why you’re met with the nearly closed door of the classroom. Readily, you grip the handle and creak open the door, eyes ready to scan around the room for a vacant spot for you to sit at. But before you could comprehend much, you’re suddenly soaked cold.
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Turns out, there was a bucket of water placed on the top of the door, which explains why there was a slight gap instead of the door being closed like it usually is when your tutorial begins. No one in the class had a clue of why the bucket was there or thought to dismantle the bucket, not wanting to mess with the inevitable of something occurring. The door you had entered from wasn’t a main door to the room either, but instead, a back door that barely anyone used, so they were all equally shocked when you had chosen to walk through the obscure entry. Oblivious to the minute signs, you walked right into the classroom and were immediately met with water and a few cubes of ice.
You convey all of this to Naeun when she sees you damper than normal at the campus cafe, where you two usually meet during your free periods; you’re usually dryer than this, so it wasn’t hard for her to realise. She laughs, because is she truly Naeun if she doesn’t laugh at your demise, but then she falls silent, brows now furrowed.
You look at her in question. “Why do you look like you’re a shiver away? I’m the one who’s soaked.”
“Oh my god, Haechan did this to you,” She completely ignores your words, making her point with theatre-level dramatics.
You wave your hand at her, disregarding her theory. “He couldn’t have. He was walking with me when I was headed to class.”
“Exactly!” She exclaims, the hot coffee sloshing around in her cup as she almost jumps out of her seat. You flinch at the handling of the hot drink. “He walked with you to distract you from the fact that he’s gonna pull something. He must’ve set it up before and came around to slow you down. I mean come on,” She slams her cup down on the saucer. “A phone call right when you reach your class? Isn’t that too obvious?” And you hate to admit it, but Naeun does have a point. The main topic of your conversation was about him not pulling anything on you, only for you to walk into his trap just a few minutes later.
“Oh my god,” You slouch against the booth seat of the cafe, the information slowly settling in. “But—”
“Why you?”
“Why that prank?”
Now it’s Naeun’s turn to look at you quizically. “What?”
You feel incredulous now, heat building up inside you. “A fucking bucket of water? That’s it? Is that all he could think of; he’s the same person who filled a whole lecture room with ping-pong balls and tied his roommate's bed to the door with rope. Why was my prank so low-effort?” Naeun now realises the anger budding within you, as she looks around the cafe when your voice raises slightly. She splays her hands out in front of you in a lieu to calm you down, but you’re too warped in your fury to acknowledge her attempts.
“Water? Water? With like, four cubes of ice, and that’s it. Is that all I’m worth? He couldn’t put a glitter bomb in every second purse of mine, or change my ex’s contact name to yours, or anything.” You down your drink quickly, feeling too worked up to be cooped in the booth of the cafe. Naeun follows after, quickly gathering her things and putting her laptop and pens in her bag. You would feel bad for cutting your study session short, but she was barely studying, so the guilt dwindles just a bit. The anger overpowers it by a margin.
“Hey, what are you— don’t go and do something stupid.” Naeun tries as she loops her arm with yours.
You sigh when she squeezes your bicep, feeling the heat inside you cool down just a bit. “I’m not gonna do anything. If anything, if I act like it affected me and lash out at him, it would be exactly what he wants.”
“So you’re gonna act like nothing happened?” You nod your head with hesitation.
“Well, something along the lines,”
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It is no surprise that Haechan thrives on attention. That’s the sole reason why he continues with these pranks, and it doesn’t take a psychology major to figure this one out. You did think about pulling something back on him, maybe like pantsing him in the middle of campus or putting some hair removal cream in his shampoo so he thinks he’s slowly balding, but even with how embarrassing and risky they are —you don’t want to leave a huge impact on him, just ruffling his feathers a bit, you know he’ll revel in the attention regardless. So you go for the next best thing.
Ignoring him.
It was a good idea when you and Naeun were walking and passed by his group of friends, who exchanged some pleasantries with you, your friend barely holding it together at Jeno’s eye smile. You held eye contact and waved at Renjun and Jeno, but barely spared a glance towards Haechan’s direction, and when you finally did, you just gave him a blank stare.
You think it worked when you saw the corner of his lip slip down from the smile he was sporting, and you almost felt bad for acting so cold to someone who didn’t do anything. Then you remind yourself that he did, in fact, do something. You thought it would be enough to do this just a few more times when you see him in the next few months of the semester, and you barely see him so it shouldn’t be too hard. But it’s like fate has a personal vendetta against you, because ever since that fateful night, you see him everywhere.
You barely remember him coming into the campus library, let alone the quiet corner that you huddle yourself in to get your grind on. So it’s safe to say that you were shocked when you feel a tap on your shoulder only to look up and see Haechan looming over you, a shy smile sporting his face at the prospect of reaching out to you.
“Hey,” He greets, his hand tugging at his earlobe as if shy. He looks at the seat opposite yours, as if wanting to sit there. You feel shame burn inside you when you don’t go to offer the seat, but you attempt to dwindle it when you remind yourself that you had to sit soaked throughout the entire class because participation is mandatory for your grades.
“How was your class the other day,” Your grip on your pen tightens as he says this, and you’re sure that the tilt in the corner of his mouth is to keep himself from laughing at you straight to your face. But you don’t give in, and instead nod your head with your eyebrows slightly raised, as if exasperated.
“It was okay,” You can only keep your replies short instead of ignoring him by keeping silent. His lingering form by your table and your avoidant gaze is already fueling the awkward air surrounding you, but you’re not giving in until he does.
And it seems like he’s not backing out anytime soon. “ Oh, I heard from Haneul that you’re planning on picking up cross-cultural management next session? I took that course last year so if you wanted some notes I can send them to you,” Fuck. How is he so good at this? His words make you think about your initial assumptions, and looking at his face, he does seem genuine about his offer, the tips of his ears now growing pink.
You soften a bit, ready to apologise to him for being overstrung, but then his gaze goes to something behind you, and now he covers his mouth with his palm as if stopping himself from bursting with laughter.
Confused, you turn around to see what was so hilarious for him to shift his demeanour so suddenly, only to be met with his friends, Jeno and Renjun, who go cartoonishly still at your attention. Of course, all of this is a running joke for him; sweetening up to you after the incident just so he can prove that no one can resist him.
Scoffing, you shut your laptop and gather your things, ignoring Haechan’s noise of surprise with your sudden movement, shoving everything in your bag and shouldering it. “I have to head out now, forgot that Naeun wanted to meet me before her class.” You make up an excuse as you look at your phone for the time. Naeun is taking a diligent afternoon nap at this very moment back in your dorm, completely oblivious to the trials you’re facing; but he doesn’t need to know your every move.
You almost slip out a ‘sorry’ as a reflex, but one glance back at the shocked faces of both Haechan and his subordinates brings you back, as you merely give him a tight smile before brushing past him.
“Oka— I’ll see you around!” Your shoulder bunches up at his volume as you hastily make your way out of his presence and the building.
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Stepping into the radio broadcasting club room, you greet everyone present, apologising for being late.
“I got caught up on the way,” You take a seat at the table, putting your bag on the ground. Naeun, whos seated next to you, taps repeatedly at your bicep as a greeting, squealing away from you when you attempt to deliver a pinch to her skin.
“Did you get another bucket of water dunked on you?” Your senior Yubin comments, making everyone in the room laugh. You deliver a strained chuckle as Naeun casts a worried glance at you, but you wave her concern away
“Yubin’s just kidding, you’re not late either, we just sent Minseok to pick up the pizza boxes. Then after we’re done eating we can start brainstorming for the university mini carnival event.” Sohee softly informs, looking up from her clipboard to give you a kind smile.
“If anything, Jihoon’s the person we have to chastise. He texted saying he’ll be here in five minutes fifteen minutes ago.” Juyeon huffs at his phone screen.
As if on cue, the door opens and in comes Jihoon, but he isn’t alone.
“Sorry for coming in late, but look what I found along the way. Isn’t he so cute?” He coos at Haechan who stands beside him, looking at his friend incredulously, mockingly raising his hand. Ignoring Haechan’s disdain for his words, he pinches at his cheeks as he looks towards Yubin and Sohee. “Can we keep him? I always wanted a pet bear,”  
Naeun leans in towards you. “He’s more of a cocaine bear than a pet.” You smack at her as she whispers this to you, reminding her of restraint. “You’re not the best at whispering, babe” You tease. “Keep your tone down if you also don’t wanna get dunked on.”
You feel your heart melt when you see look towards Haechan’s direction and see his cheeks turning pink. It seems like you’re not the only one when you hear a chorus of dreamy mutterings echo throughout the room. He swats at Jihoon’s hand before tilting his head lightly at the two leaders of the club. “I wanted to make sure this devil spawn doesn’t make a mess every step he takes. I’ll head out now,” He starts to wave at everyone in the room but sounds of disapproval travel around, and before he knows it Haechan is being dragged by Jihoon and Juyeon to take a seat at the table. In the midst of all the commotion, he looks up and catches your gaze, making you still in your seat, before he’s handled once more to sit down.
“You’re more than welcome to join us,” Yubin beams, and not for long Minseok comes in with a mountain of pizza boxes in his grip.
You see the tip of his ears turn red (something you now notice that you see a lot) as he thanks your seniors. “I’ll be out after I steal your food,” He grins, and it takes much more than your initial willpower to look away.
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So far, you were willing to categorise seeing Haechan manifesting everywhere as chance; maybe some sick and twisted form of coincidence. Because before all of this, if you were to get a dollar for every time you had encountered him throughout your whole degree, you would have six, maybe seven dollars if you count that one Zoom call. You had your doubts in the beginning when you saw him at the library and then at your club meeting, that he was doing all of this on purpose; but every other time you would see him in the hallways and lecture halls, you can’t chalk it up to anything but pure coincidence. Haechan is a uni student doing uni-student activities.
It takes you some time to get that idea jammed into your head, and you’ve nearly convinced yourself until today. A relaxing wind-down with one glass of wine turned into you finishing a whole bottle, which amplified your cravings for something sweet. Meeting in the breakfast aisle in your local grocer shouldn’t be something shocking, but you can’t wrap your head around the fact that he, too, decided to purchase cereal at 4 a.m. on a Tuesday.
“Nope,” You immediately put the two boxes of cereal you were choosing back on the shelf clumsily, looking around for the nearest exit in the opposite direction.
“Hey, wait—”
“No, nope. Not at all,” You’re now putting back all the drunk midnight cravings you’ve picked up, shoving them back in their designated areas on the shelf haphazardly as you make your way back out of the place. Your drunk and sleep-deprived brain can’t handle the fact that you’re supposed to interact with Haechan here, out of all the socially acceptable exchanges. You hear a shuffle behind you, but you can’t bring yourself to look back around, focusing entirely on exiting the store without tripping over anything.
Outside, the cold of the night engulfs you as you try to find your bearings, but you’re stopped from lumbering your way back to your dorm by a hand grabbing your arm.
“Y/n, slow down—”
“Stop manifesting yourself into my life,” You groan as you weakly prod away his hand, but his soberness gives him an upper hand, as he merely grabs your hand and holds you by your wrists instead.
“Manifesting? I’m not— actually, that’s not even important. Is there anyone with you tonight?” You groan lightly, still trying to free yourself from his grip. “Naeun?” He prods.
You sigh when you realise he’s not giving up anytime soon. “Naeun is at home, waiting for the Oreo cereals I was gonna impulse buy. Or maybe she’s dreaming about them? I don’t know,” You mumble, hands now lax in his grip, head tilted down. When you don’t hear a reply, you look up and are met with Haechan fishing his phone out of his pocket before pressing the dial button.
“Hi Jen, I’ll meet you at the dorms, it’s…” He glances at your slumped figure, and you’re not sure if the heat in your cheeks is due to the drinks or his attention on you. “A long story. I won’t be long.” Pocketing his phone after ending the call, he lets go of your wrists in favour of clasping his hand into yours, fingers interlocking as he starts heading in the direction of your dorms.
“What are you…” The dark of the night doesn’t help you navigate your way back, so you’re slightly grateful that Haechan is guiding you the way he is.
“Our dorm buildings aren’t far from one another. I can’t let you go home alone in this state,” He answers your question before you could even voice it, looking at you with a soft gaze. He chuckles when you go to look away from him every time he looks at you, squeezing the grip he has on your hand.
The walk is silent for the most part, but Haechan’s brows are furrowed as he thinks about something. Just as you start seeing the entrance of your dorm building, Haechan starts. “Why are you ignoring me?”
The heat in your cheeks disperses momentarily as a cold wave washes over you. The heat comes back when your wide eyes meet his questioning gaze, and you can’t help but squirm in place from being put on the spot.
“That’s cheating,” You slur with a frown. “Ask me when I’m sober. Or when you’re also a bottle of wine in.”
“A whole bottle? Jesus,” He laughs lightly as you groan, tightening his hold on your hand when you try to run away. The pull of his grip catches you off guard, as you stumble forward and closer to his figure. “I hope you can keep a promise, pretty girl.” He teases. Before you can retaliate, he plops you at the entry of your dorm building, swiping the access card to the building poking out of your front pocket and on the reader, before removing his hand from yours and dropping the card back in your possession. You already miss the warmth of his touch, but by the time you look back up, you’re only met with his retreating back.
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“Hey, you’re just in time. Did you know that if I did a handstand for almost two minutes straight I can get myself to feel— Why are you empty-handed?” Naeun’s slurs have toned down since you last saw her, but it’s still there. You sigh as you plop yourself face down onto the couch.
“Naeun?” Your voice comes out muffled from the couch cushions, but Naeun hears you regardless, grunting a reply as she shuffles from her position on the floor, probably to find a not-empty bottle of alcohol.
“You know that saying about seducing the things that scare you?” You move your head out from the cushion halfway through your question, wanting to breathe more than to wallow for once.
“Ohhh, I know what you’re talking about,” She hiccups only once. “The fearing what you attract.”
“Attracting your fears.”
“Tomato-tomato. What are you trying to say?”
“I don’t think they were lying about it,” You had only possessed the fear of saying Haechan in the past few weeks, and now you only see him. If only you were that much fearful of money.
“Are you serious?” Naeun straightens her posture quickly. “I’m so scared of puppy play. Like, truly terrified. If someone handsome were to come up to me with a collar around their neck and a leash in their hand I would scream in fear,”
“Okay, I got it the first time.”
“I don’t think you understand, if they were all whiny about how they wanna be my pet and have me stroke the—”
“I get it!”
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Although you had came to the epiphany that you’re attracting what you fear (you don’t know if the exaggerated gasp you let out when you walk by a bank or ATM helps, but it’s worth a try) you still can’t get yourself to not think of Haechan when you walk around campus.
But you don’t see him for the entire week after your last drunk interaction with him, and you’re not sure if you should be relieved or scared. So you choose to be both simultaneously, When you step into your corner of the library, your heart beats like you’ve run a marathon, only to be met with the usual vacantness it always was. You then go through your usual tasks until you have to a secondary location, and before you know it you’re nervous for simply wanting to walk to the bathroom.
“Am I going to constantly piss my pants every step I take on campus?” You complained over dinner with Naeun, as she constantly flips the meat on the grill to avoid burning it.
“If you keep thinking about him, then I think the answer is obvious.” She puts one slice on your plate before continuing. “But also maybe take this as a sign? He’s not popping up randomly anymore, which means that your life is like it was before.” Your reflex is to fight back for no other reason than to counteract your friend, but you cut yourself short when you realise she has a point. Ever since that fateful night, your life is now like it was before you had briefly acquainted with the man.
And so you’re not scared anymore. You even forget to double-check your surroundings to see if he’s anywhere in sight. Your life is as peaceful as a student's life can be. Of course, until it isn’t.
The university’s yearly fundraising festival had come around again, and the broadcasting club had decided to run a barbeque booth to raise their supply funds. You were assigned to take orders, while Juyeon and Yubin tended to the skewers. The heat of the booth mingles with the cool wind of the summer night, as you fan yourself with your hand, handling the money given to you as someone makes a new order.
“One order of chicken skewer please,” You raise your voice enough for Juyeon and Yubin to hear over the sizzling noise of the grill, as you find the exact change to give back to the girl ordering. As the next customer shuffles up, you’re too busy writing down the order on a slip of paper to spare them a glance (which, if this was a running business, would not be counted as good customer service).
“Welcome! Would you like to order our rice cake skewer? We have a special combo of two for the price of one,”
“How much is it for a few minutes of your company?” You feel your blood run cold upon hearing his voice. Looking up, you’re met with Haechan’s gaze your eyes locking in an unexpected encounter. Adorning a smile on his face, he looks past you and greets your club members before you can think of what to say.
“Hi Channie, how are you?” Yubin asks as she put a chicken skewer in a cup. Juyeon comes up next to you as he reaches out to pinch Haechan’s cheeks. “Hey there cutie, do you wanna do us a favour and buy everything from our booth?” He flutters his eyelashes just for good measure.
Haechan chuckles as he smacks his friend's hand away. “I’m the wrong person, only Chenle has enough money to do that. But can you do me a favour and let me steal your beloved club member?” You don’t realise that he’s talking about you, until you see his hand gesturing towards your figure as he looks at you. You’re about to protest, your brain already conjuring something up about how you have the heavy duty of being the booth’s designated accountant for the night, but Yubin is always a step ahead.
“Go ahead! Her turn was gonna end soon anyway, Sohee is gonna arrive in a few minutes with more of our supply,” She beams at you as she waves you two off. Before you can say anymore, Juyeon is shoving you out of the way, and you have no other choice but to trudge after him.
You walk side by side in silence, as the noise of the multiple booths being run by different clubs and societies encapsulate you two. You try your best to look at everything but him, even when you feel him stealing glances at your figure.
The silence doesn’t last long, though, as Haechan speaks up after looking around at the booths set up. “It’s quite stuffy with all these booths and people,” Not knowing what to say, you merely glance at him as you nod along. He purses his lips, before trying again.
“You must be feeling pretty warm, running the grill and managing everything at the booth. Jihoon used to complain all the time about how hot it got when he was in charge of these things." It's true you've been avoiding the grill area, so you’re not necessarily overheating, but does he deserve to know?
You hear him lightly huff when you just give a shrug and an ambiguous sound, but he doesn’t back down. “Do you want me to get you something to help you cool? Maybe ice cream or a can of coke.”  You're on the verge of giving your umpteenth non-verbal response of the evening, but when you look at the boy walking next to you, you’re met with a glare and a quick snarl of his lips. Faced with his insistence, you decide to speak up.
“I’m okay,” You thought this would appease him, but it seems like anything you could’ve done would eventually send him over the edge.  You feel his hand clasp onto your wrist before you’re being dragged away from the congested corridor of booths and into a secluded corner of the campus grounds. Even in the shade of the tree, the little light that slips through the lampost nearby highlights the frustration on Haechan’s face, both arrogance and apprehension flood your senses as you realize that his frustration might be a result of something you've done.
His voice is calm when he speaks, “Okay, did I do something to offend you?” He briefly closes his eyes and mentally counts a few numbers before opening them and looking back at you again, this time with a calmer yet stern expression. But rather than soothing your irritation, this seems to send you over the edge.
“I don’t know, did you?” You know you’re being childish, but that’s the point. You’re not planning on giving in until he apologises. By the look of confusion he’s sporting on his face, it doesn’t seem like it's gonna happen anytime soon.
Admittedly, he does look cute when confused, as his front teeth poke ever so slightly from his slightly gaped mouth, as if he’s about to say something but blanked at the last second. “I did do something?” At your scoff, he gathers himself. “Look, if I did do anything, I didn’t have any bad intentions. I wasn’t trying to hurt you or anything.” But this explanation only sends you over the edge.
Your hands drop from where you had crossed them in front of your chest, as you give Haechan an incredulous look. “No bad intentions? You didn’t want to hurt me? Are you serious? The fact that you even did it is terrible, but such a useless, no-brainer prank?” You’re too angry to notice Haechan’s shift of expression, as his scared grimace falls into another confused furrow of his brows.
“Like, a fucking bucket of water? Even a toddler can pull that. Couldn’t you have done something harder, more creative? Something with more effort, like, I don’t know, expired slime or a skateboard at the door. And I feel even more stupid because I believed you when you said you wouldn’t prank me, I even defended you when Naeun was going off about how I’d be your next target, and I turned out to be a fool, fuck. And for what? A lame bucket of water? Am I only worth that much?” You pause to catch a breather, hand splayed at your waist as you point the other accusingly at Haechan. He widens his eyes slightly, but then a smile falls on his face, and you’re sent spiralling.
“Are you smiling right now?” And at that, he starts laughing. Oh my god, you think, he’s a sociopath.
But Haechan starts laughing even harder, his body falling forward as he leans towards you, clutching your extended finger with his thumb and forefinger, shaking it around before folding over with laughter once more. You’re so, so confused, and now a bit scared that Haechan’s gonna keel over and fall from how hard he’s laughing.
But you don’t need to do such a thing, as he sobers up pretty quickly, straightening himself up and walking closer to you, while his hand now lightly holds your palm in his. You feel heat course through you, from the comfort of his hands holding yours and the sweet laughter that now rings in your head. You feel embarrassed that you bursted like that when you were so determined to make him fall to his knees and ask for your forgiveness. Instead, you’re left blushing like a schoolgirl who confessed with a heartfelt letter.
“Okay, okay. Wait, don’t go sullen now.” You look away, your cheeks growing hotter at being so easily read. Haechan grips onto your hand that was lightly resting on his palm, grabbing your attention.
“I swear on Renjun that I didn’t pull that prank on you. I didn’t even know that happened to you.” Your first instinct is to not believe him, but he’s looking earnestly into your eyes, and the gentle squeeze of his hand in yours makes you melt.
“I don’t know how I can prove it you that it wasn’t me, But I told you I wouldn’t do it and I always stick by my promises. I can maybe help you find who did it?” He offers this while smoothly clasping your hands together, fingers now lacing in yours. The intimate gesture sends a wave of flustered warmth through you, and his chuckle in response only confirms that your emotions are evident.
“Wah,” He sighs bumping his shoulder into yours, “What a relief, I thought you were rejecting me before I could even muster the courage to ask you out.”
“Wait, you—” You’re interrupted as Haechan starts striding forward and back into the busy atmosphere of the campus. “Haechan, slow down.” Your voice gets lost in the throng of the crowd, the bustle of people and echoes of activities happening making it hard for your plea to reach his ears. That, or he's simply ignoring you.
In a blink, you're situated back at your booth, the savoury scent of skewed chicken and rice cake wafting through your nose. Haechan releases your hand, and you both face Sohee, who's manning the cashier with a somewhat indifferent expression. “Hi, I just wanna return her,” Haechan says casually, his gaze shifting between you and Sohee.
Sohee regards the two of you with a blank stare, her expression unreadable. Haechan pats your shoulders twice before he waves the two of you goodbye. Sohee goes back to organising the money gained from tonight’s business, not sparing you another glance. “We have a no return and refund policy, especially with damaged goods.”
“Hey!”
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You’re not surprised when you see Naeun in the lecture hall, but you are slightly taken aback when you see her situated just a few seats behind Renjun and Jeno. When you rock up next to her, you let your eyes do the talking as you glance back and forth between her and Jeno’s back, with the latter all the more oblivious to what’s happening.
She smacks at your leg before grabbing you and pulling to sit you down. “Shut up,”
“I didn’t even say anything?”
“Your empty brain echoes really badly when you conjure even a single thought,” You’re too shocked to retort back (how did she think of that so quickly?), so you simply go to unpack your bag. When you sit back from organising your items, your eyes fall on the door of the lecture room, and you’re surprised to see Haechan stride in. Even in the middle of summer, he has a leather jacket swinging from his fingers at his shoulder, sporting a white graphic t-shirt tucked into his black jeans. You’re about to say something to Naeun, maybe have her indulge in your admiration for a bit, only to be met with the same look you’re sporting but just aimed at the back of Jeno’s head.
When Jeno turns his head to greet his friend, Naeun quickly whips her head away, clearing her throat. You poked at her sides teasingly, as she squirms and smacks your hand away.
“I thought you were gonna ‘act chill’ around him?” Naeun huffs at your words.
“I am acting chill, I’m basically freezing.” You raise your brows at her. “There’s nothing chill about staring at the back of hi—”
Naeun smacks at your mouth when Renjun turns his face sideways, but the loud smack of skin garners more attention, as all three of them look back at you. As the other two merely glance briefly before going back, Haechan’s eyes stray longer while the corner of his mouth quirks up. You offer a simple wave and he flashes a smile before turning back around.
Naeun sighs as she releases her hand from your face, but quickly corners you with a glare. “What was that? Why was he smiling at you like that?” You’re grateful that she’s been practising her inner voice, as you know that Naeun from two weeks ago would have had the whole lecture hall aware of her words with how loud she whispers.
“Long story short, he didn’t do it, and I think …” You’re not sure if you should tell Naeun about the possible confession that occurred. Not because you don’t trust your friend but because you’re not even sure if that could be counted as a confession.
“How are you so sure? Maybe he said it to get on your good side,” Naeun stares daggers at the back of Haechan’s head, but her gaze quickly softens when Jeno plays with his hair.
“I don’t know,” You confess, “He said he didn’t do it, and I trust him.” Naeun surveys your expression for a bit with a glare, before nodding her head in acceptance.
“Alright, I trust your trust in him. But if he ever pulls anything…” You pinch your friend's cheek in gratitude. “I know, you’ll have my back.”
“Speaking of back, did you see Jeno’s when he stretched? It’s okay if you haven’t he’ll do it again when we're a third through the lecture.” You slowly pat her shoulders, speechless once more as you sigh and try to tune her out for the rest of the lecture.
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read part two here !!
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copper-16 · 2 months
Text
We Can't Figure Out What It Means
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When Elena starts asking for something with a word that doesn't make any sense, Mapi and Ingrid enlist the help of their teammates to figure it out.
(a/n: I feel like so many of my stories are so angsty that getting to just sit here and write tooth ROTTING fluff is healing me a little inside. Anyways. Please enjoy :)
Ingrid and Mapi typically brought Elena to training one day a week with them. It wasn’t hard to have the baby at the training ground when everyone there wanted to hold her and say hello, but the two Barcelona players still worried that she would get in the way if she came too often. 
Nevermind the fact that everyone's faces lit up the minute that Elena came in through the door, or that there was genuinely always someone ready to hold the little girl. All of the Barcelona girls absolutely adored Mapi and Ingrid’s daughter, and she was admittedly making the baby fever run rampant throughout the team, though nobody else had acted on that urge just yet. 
Elena had missed the last few weeks at training due to various conflicts that had kept the little girl away, so when Mapi pulled her little Barcelona jersey that she always wore to the training ground out in the morning, the baby was immediately shrieking in excitement. Because as much as the Barcelona girls loved Elena, she loved them just as much. 
They managed to get everyone dressed, fed, and out the door in a surprisingly easy fashion. Elena was a relatively simple and easygoing baby, and when she knew they were headed to the training ground she was always on her best behavior, excited about what was to come. 
Ingrid turned the radio on a low setting as Mapi drove them toward the training center, with Elena babbling away in the back happily. 
“Oh yeah? How about that!” Mapi hummed as Elena continued to talk away, none of her words really making sense but remaining insistent nonetheless. She was at the age where she was starting to say some actual words, but for the most part she was still just getting out sounds and hums without much rhyme or reason to them. 
But Mapi encouraged it anyway, having read in a baby book that it was good for development either way. Ingrid looked back at their little girl with a soft smile, reaching back to brush some of her sandy blonde curls away from her face. 
Elena giggled happily at her as they pulled into the parking lot, both women getting out as Mapi went to grab their daughter while Ingrid got their stuff. 
The Spaniard had just hauled the little girl out of her car seat before Elena was twisting in her arms, gesturing to the ground. 
“Mami, walk?” Elena asked, her voice light and hopeful. Mapi smiled as she nodded, letting her down and holding out her hand for Elena to grasp. She started to toddle forward, gripping the brunette’s hand with iron clad strength as she ventured forward on unsteady little legs. 
Ingrid had two bags over her shoulders, one for her and her wife and one for Elena, but she watched the scene in front of her with thinly veiled horror. She knew that their daughter needed to learn to walk, knew that it was important for her to practice, but it still made her nervous. She didn’t want her to get hurt, or for something to happen to her. 
“Ingrid, she needs to walk,” Mapi reminded the Norwegian softly, having looked back to see the anxiety painted across her wifes features. Ingrid softens slightly, swallowing thickly and nodding with uncertainty, as though she was trying to convince herself of the brunette’s words. 
“Right, no I know, I just…I worry that something is going to happen to her,” Ingrid admits, watching as Elena stumbles slightly, but thanks to her connection with Mapi’s hand the Spaniard can keep her upright, looking back at her fellow defender with a look that reeked of ‘I told you so.’
“She is going to be fine, princesa, I promise. Plus, she is so close to the ground, how could she possibly hurt herself that badly!” The Spaniard argued, and Ingrid’s expression soured in the face of her wifes logic, and she held her hand up grumpily. 
“You’re close to the ground,” Ingrid argued, and Mapi rolled her eyes with a smile, preparing to say something back when Elena piped up from below them. 
“Le?” She asked, her eyes big and hopeful as she looked at her mothers. Both of them frowned, looking from the baby to one another. 
“Do you know what ‘le’ is?” The Norwegian asked in a hushed tone, and Mapi could do nothing but shrug slightly, shaking her head. 
“I have no idea what ‘le’ is,” she admitted, and upon hearing the word spoken again Elena said it a little louder this time, looking even more hopeful than before. Unable to find an answer, the three of them made their way into the facility anyways. With the chaos of everything, the center back was quick to pick her baby up, ignoring Elena’s protests that she could walk. 
The little girl’s upset was forgotten the minute they made their way into the locker room, replaced with pure excitement at seeing everyone. The whole team was there, with the exception of a few of the injured players who were in the gym already, working on their rehab. 
“Jay! Jay!” Elena half cheered-half shrieked as they approached Mapi’s locker, and the baby was promptly reaching for Jana as they arrived next to her. 
“Hi Elena” The younger defender cheered, plucking the little girl from her fellow defenders arms and wrapping her in a hug. “Oh I missed you!” 
Elena giggled into the defender's chest, making herself comfortable for a moment before she poked her head up, looking around at everyone. Most of the other girls were already changed, and Mapi and Ingrid were quick to do the same as everyone flocked to Jana to greet the little girl. They had missed seeing her the last few weeks, and she was equally thrilled to see everyone again. 
The sandy blonde girl allowed for herself to be passed around to everyone, letting all of them press gentle kisses to her cheeks as she babbled and giggled with excitement. 
It was when she ended up in Mariona’s arms that she looked around, a wrinkle appearing in her brow. When she doesn’t see the answer to her concern in the locker room, Elena turns to Mariona, her little eyebrows furrowed together. 
“Le?” Elena asks again, and Mariona feels a wave of confusion settling over her as she looks toward Mapi and Ingrid. The Norwegian and Spaniard looked at their daughter and then back to each other again. 
“What’s ‘le’?” The forward asked, and Mapi shook her head once more. 
“We can’t figure out what it means!” The brunette explained earnestly, more than a little lost on the meaning of what Elena kept asking for. 
“Le? Like Leah? Or Lia?” Keira suggested, turning toward Mariona for an answer. But the forward immediately shook her head, bouncing the baby as she answered.  
“She’s never met either of those people,” Mariona pointed out, and the midfielder deflated as she realized that the Spanish woman was right. 
“Maybe she means…Frido? Le, as in like Fridolina?” Aitana suggested, and all of them looked at each other in agreement, considering that it is a good idea. “I believe she is on the pitch already, if we want to go out!” 
The rest of the team made their way out toward the pitch for practice, with Ingrid carrying Elena as they walked. The baby played with her mothers thick, long ponytail as they walked, keeping herself as entertained as possible. 
“Frido!” Ingrid called out as they came closer, and Elena perked up at the mention of her godmother. 
“Fro-fro!” Elena clapped her hands together as Frido ran over, ignoring Ingrid entirely in favor of the baby in her arms. 
“Elena!” The blonde cried as Ingrid rolled her eyes, her hands coming to rest on her hips. 
“I’m right here too, don’t you know?” Ingrid pointed out, but her Swedish friend simply shrugged, settling Elena on her hip. 
“I saw you yesterday. I haven’t seen my guddotter in weeks!” Frido exclaimed, bouncing Elena up and down as she tickled the little girl's belly. Elena doubled over in laughter, and everyone couldn’t help but look over, completely entranced with the happy little girl. 
When she had finally caught her breath, Elena looked up at Frido with an expectant expression. 
“Le?” She asked once more, and Ingrid dropped her head into her hands as everyone groaned. Frido looked around in confusion, asking what was going on. 
“We can’t figure out for the life of us what ‘le’ is!” Keira explained as understanding washed over the Swedish forward. She looked down at the little girl, who was looking around as though she was trying to find whatever ‘le’ happened to be. 
“She looks like she’s looking for something. Maybe whatever ‘le’ is, is out here?” Frido tries, and since nobody else can come up with a better answer, they decide to take that course of action. 
So while the entire team warms up, they decide that the best course of action is to just show Elena everything that they’re working with, in the hopes of getting to the bottom of what ‘le’ is. 
Patri shows her a medicine ball, and the little girl slaps her hands against it but is otherwise uninterested, allowing the midfielder to boop the top of her head before she leaves her alone. 
Esme picks her up as she and Salma walk the little girl over to a pole that is stuck into the ground. Salma shakes it slightly, while Esme points to it, trying to capture Elena’s attention. But the baby is entirely uninterested, instead reaching for Salma in lieu of engaging with the pole. The young forward is quick to make an exit, more than a little scared at the prospect of being left alone with the baby, or having to hold her. It was a running joke that Elena loved Salma, but the young forward consistently panicked whenever the little girl was around, having never really done anything with babies before in her life. 
Marta and Lucy tag team showing her first the big goal, and then the little ones they use in practice. Lucy sets her up with a ball and Marta holds both of her hands as Elena steps into the ball, trying to kick it and sending it rolling forward a coupon of centimeters into the goal. 
The English woman immediately snatches the baby up, holding her up and running around in celebration with excitement until she receives a telling off in the form of Ingrid shouting Lucy! Put my baby down!
Mapi quickly collects Elena, and with Irene’s help she shows her the foam rollers and step up blocks, but nothing appears to catch the little one’s attention. She asks each person she is with “Le?” and none of them have a good enough answer for her in her little mind. 
All of the girls have resigned themselves to the fact that they aren’t going to figure out what the baby is talking about, when they end up actually getting their answer. 
The girls have just broken from their water break, and Elena was grabbed by Keira and taken away from her blanket and toys to go hang out with the team instead. The baby was settled on the grass, patting it happily as Mapi sat with her, doing the same. Ingrid smiled down at the two of them, unable not to see the qualities of her wife inside of their daughter in times like this as they both greeted the grass together with big smiles. 
Mapi gets distracted looking back at Irene, who is asking her a question about something they’ve been doing, that she entirely misses the way that Elena’s face lights up as she gets to her feet, noticing something in the distance. 
She can’t really run yet, but that doesn’t stop Elena from taking off at a fast toddle away from the group, her shriek of joy getting everyone’s attention. 
“LE!” Elena exclaimed loudly, her feet moving fast in her quest as everyone turned to see what was going on. 
“Elena!” Alexia ran toward the little girl, ignoring the slight protest of her knee as she bent down and scooped the baby up, holding her tightly to her chest. Elena practically melted into the blonde, wrapping her arms around her godmother's neck. The captain had been in the gym all day doing rehab for her knee discomfort, but she had decided to come out on a break to say hello to Elena and everyone else. 
Everyone at the water cooler let out a collective ohhh as they all realized that Elena meant ‘le’ as in ‘Alexia.’ The Barcelona captain tilted her head to the side in confusion, still holding the little girl's body tightly to her own. 
“What is going on?” Alexia asked, not understanding what all of her teammates seemed to be talking about. 
“Elena has been asking for you all day, but all she’s been saying is ‘le,’ so none of us knew what she was talking about until you walked out here,” Mapi explained as Elena leaned back slightly, reaching up to gently poke at Alexia’s cheek. 
“Le!” She babbled, looking from the captain to her Mami with a pleased expression. Everyone around them looked at the two with wide smiles, as Elena pressed herself into Alexia with a big smile spread across her cheeks.
“Did you miss your Tia Alexia?” Mapi asks, reaching forward to poke the little girl's belly. Elena nodded as twisted away from her Mami and further into the Spanish captain, and Alexia simply turned her body away from the defender before she started jogging away. 
“Nope, nope, Elena is all mine!” Alexia yelled back at Mapi, Elena babbling away at her happily as Mapi chased after the two of them. The little girl clung tightly to the blonde, but she smiled back at the Spanish defender as she chased after the pair, calling out. 
“Hey, wait a minute! Bring back my baby!”
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reminiscingtonight · 2 months
Note
neighbor, drunk, puppy
Alexia Putellas
Just A Doorstep Away (Alexia Putellas x Reader)
[WOSO Masterlist]
Alexia wakes up to something wet. 
Cringing, she jerks back. Only to let out a groan at the nausea that sets in at the sudden motion. 
The blonde lifts two hands to rub at her face. 
God, she’s hungover. A little too hungover. Guess that’s what she gets for going out with the team after winning another trophy.
After her 5th shot things started to get a bit hazy. All Alexia remembered was Ingrid shoving both her and Mapi into a taxi at some point, the Norwegian mumbling something about babysitting children.
Before Alexia can continue to piece together how her night ended, another wet dollop lands roughly against the back of her arm.
Grunting, Alexia slides one of her hands away so she can open an eye.
What she sees has Alexia letting out a frightened yelp, ignoring her nausea to scoot backwards on the bed.
There’s a dog, a very big dog, staring at her with big doe eyes next to the side of her bed. 
Almost as if it’s just realized Alexia’s finally awake, the dog lets out a loud bark. It’s tongue hangs out afterwards, the dog looking happy to have some company.
Alexia can feel her heart beating at a thousand miles per hour. 
Unless she made a purchase or dropped by a shelter sometime between going to the bar and waking up, there is no reason there should be a dog staring back at her like she’s a plate of meat. 
Now, Alexia isn’t a dog hater. She had Nala for quite a long time, of course. But the fact lies therein that Nala was a small, lap dog. Her precious little ball of fur.
This dog? Well it’s at least five times larger than Nala was, definitely larger than any type of dog Alexia would ever be comfortable owning.
“Buen perrito,” she whispers nervously.
The dog simply cocks a head at her before letting out another happy bark.
What happens next Alexia can only describe it as a mini stare-off, the footballer not daring to move and her four-legged alarm clock seemingly more than happy to stare right back at her.
Eventually, when it seems clear that the pup wouldn’t get another reaction out of Alexia, it turns on its heels, slowly trotting out of the room.
Sighing out in relief, Alexia rolls back onto her back. 
With her head pounding like a jackhammer, Alexia decides she’ll just have to deal with her uninvited guest at a later date. Forget giant, unexplainable dogs, Alexia’s got to go find some pain medicine and--
It isn’t until Alexia’s properly taking in her surroundings that she realizes that she is not in her bedroom like she originally thought. 
“Oh no.”
When Alexia finally musters up the courage to leave the room she’s in, she’s met with the aroma of something stomach-grumbling inducing and a woman standing in front of the stove.
Without turning around, you hum out a greeting.
“Er… good morning?” Alexia hesitantly replies back.
When you finally turn around to greet her, Alexia can feel all of her breath leave her lungs. 
Alexia’s a pretty simple woman who has eyes. And what she sees has her wishing she could remember more about how her night ended.
You gesture towards the counter and Alexia sits without a second thought. Mere seconds later you slide a plate towards her, filled with eggs, bacon, and toast.
The dog from earlier comes back around, headbutting Alexia’s leg as if to ask for some food.
“No es tuyo,” you scold, shooing away your dog. “Sorry, Maria begs for food from everyone.”
Alexia’s mouth twitches without meaning to. Mapi’s going to throw a fit when Alexia tells her about this hot stranger with a dog that shares her name later.
Speaking of explaining this to her friends later…
Alexia nervously scratches at her neck. “Thank you for the hospitality and breakfast but… did we do something last night? I think I drank too much.”
You snort. “I think that would be an understatement.”
Alexia can’t stop her hackles from rising defensively. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She shakes her head, ignoring the way her vision seems to shake at the motion. “Actually, sorry, do I even know you?”
“Nope. But I know you.” You seem to cringe the second the words come out of your mouth. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make that sound so creepy. I’m 4B.”
When Alexia gives you a blank look you roll your eyes. 
“I live down the hall from you.”
This time Alexia frowns. Out of the scenarios she made up, neighbor was not one of them. “Not to be rude but why the hell did I wake up here if I live down the hall?”
You shrug, digging into your own plate of breakfast. Alexia pretends not to notice when you slip your dog a piece of bacon despite chastising her earlier. 
“Drunk you seemed to think that my place was yours. I could barely get you into the guest room, let alone drag you back home.”
Alexia flushes at your words. She drops her face into her hands in embarrassment. “Sorry.”
You laugh, a light sound that has Alexia’s heart skipping a beat. “It’s fine. I’ve been meaning to introduce myself to you for weeks. You just helped me get over my nervous phase. It’s hard to find someone scary when you’ve seen them trip over their own feet.”
Alexia lets out another groan of embarrassment, but this time there’s an amused smile on her lips.
You might be neighbors, but she can find herself getting used to this.
And the way you brush fingers on her way out the door an hour later tells her that you might want that too.
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blakeblueboi · 2 months
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Cat Animagi Au
Purely self-indulgent- I simply wanted to draw some kitties and honestly, I feel like this could be hilarious so here's some head canons I thought of while drawing this ---->
Harry
Harry was not at all expecting to be a cat Animagus. He fully expected to be a stag like his father or some sort of dog like Sirius was. The last thing he expected was to be a cat, and a very large one at that.
Harry became an animagus in eighth year.
Professor McGonagall was thrilled that she was no longer the only cat Animagus at Hogwarts. She personally saw to it that Harry was registered as an animagus at the Ministry.
Hermione often finds Harry curled up in the common room on the windowsill.
Ron is convinced that Harry is some sort of "titan" cat due to his humungous size but Hermione speculates that he's some sort of maine coon or Norwegian forest cat.
He is very much a void in the darkness and has scared the piss out of Ron, Seamus, and Dean many times.
However, his animagus status is kept quiet from anyone other than his housemates. The other houses now recognize his animagus form and give him weird or outlandish nicknames. They're mostly to do with either the faint glasses markings around his eyes or his larger than normal size.
Harry takes advantage of his smaller size to sneak around the castle during the night.
He has taken pleasure by nipping Draco's heels in the hallway between classes.
Draco
Draco, on the other hand, was hoping his animagus form was anything but a ferret. Every since that incident in the courtyard with Professor Moody he has loathed the creatures.
His mother predicted he could have been an exotic bird and for a while he was fond of the idea until he realized he would have to molt feathers every year.
The first time he transformed Pansy gushed over him and promised to purchase him one of those pretty necklaces that she's seen muggles give their cats. Draco had to explain to her how that was, infact, not a necklace, but a collar. Blaise would not shut up about giving Draco a collar for the next month.
Draco takes pride in his appearance and that does not stop when he's in his animagus form. He's always very sleek and shiny without a hair out of place. His tail is by far his favorite feature with how it looks like a fancy feather when he walks.
He's yet to register with the Ministry as an animagus.
He can often be found infront of the fire in the Slytherin Common room curled up on a silk pillow.
Draco hates the black smudge on his right foreleg that imitated the dark mark on his arm. Even as a simple cat he can't escape the choices he made in the past. He's tried ripping the fur out there but found that the skin underneath was also just as black. He had a mind to dye it but that idea quickly went out of the window for a multitude of reasons. One being he did not have opposable thumbs.
Draco and Harry
When Draco stumbled upon Harry in his animagus form it was completely by accident. At first Draco was afraid that the Chosen one would somehow recognize him but was surprised to find a gentle hand passing over his head and spine. It was the weirdest experience he has ever had.
Draco took to following Harry around the castle on weekends convinced that Harry was none the wiser about who he was. It was nice. Of course when Ron and Hermione weren't around. WHen they were Ron teased Harry about gaining a follower, as if he did have those already, and Hermione studied him as if he was one of the massive tomes she carried around. He was half convinced that she had figured him out long ago, but just hadn't said anything for some unknown reason.
Draco met Harry finally in the other's animagus form while stalking the halls late at night. A quick glance and Draco was petrified by two glowing green eyes in the darkness and it took everything in him not to flee down the hallway.
It took awhile for the two to get along in their animagus forms and on several occasions had to be broken up by Professor McGonagall who during several of those occasions was in her animagus form as well.
After a while, Harry and Draco slowly form a weird routine of walking the halls at night. They bond quite well during their time together.
Harry at some point joins the gag about getting Draco a fancy collar. Draco is surprised that it doesn't seem like that bad of an idea when coming from Harry.
Draco teases Harry about how even as a cat his furr is still just as messy as his hair is in human form.
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wileys-russo · 2 months
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Requesting “how bad is it” with Patri. Maybe at home, or at the stadium after a training or something.
how bad is it II p.guijarro
you frowned hearing a sound ring out through your empty apartment, eyebrows furrowed as you loaded the washing into the machine, making a noise of disgust at the amount of mud on your girlfriends training kits after a very rare day of rain.
but suddenly realizing the noise was in fact your ringtone you dropped the hoodie in hand and sprinted to the kitchen, grabbing the phone and clicking accept on the very last ring seeing your girlfriends contact picture on the screen.
"hola bebé, you better not be calling me as you're driving!" you warned seriously realising the time and that she'd likely just finished training, the spaniard having a horrible habit of using her phone as she drove much to your constant protest.
"hola amiga, we have a problem." your face changed hearing mapi's voice over the line instead of patri's. your frown deepened as the older girl rambled through the events which had transpired, a small sigh leaving you as she finally finished.
"mierda. how bad is it?" "she has locked herself in the bathroom and is refusing to come out." "i'll be there soon, just try to calm her down." "i have! thats why i called you cari you know the only person she listens to is you."
definitely testing a few speed limits you made it to the training centre in record time, ingrid already waiting for you by the gate as she buzzed you in and walked by your car as you pulled into a parking spot.
"is there blood?" you joked lightly stepping out and hugging the tall norwegian who chuckled. "not yet but i would not like to leave it much longer."
with that you followed her into the building and off to the change rooms, sending a smile to a few of the other girls who were all clearly making a run away from the drama with their training bags over their shoulder and headed right for the parking lot.
"oh gracias a dios!" mapi groaned gratefully as you walked in after ingrid, visibly relaxing as she laid eyes on you. "where are they?" you asked with a sigh as you followed the many fingers pointing you in the right direction, no one daring to follow after you.
"amor?" you called out gently, seeing your girlfriends back facing you as you pushed open the door and stepped into the bathrooms where she was sat on a bench facing the toilets.
"dios mío why did they call you! it is fine." patri glanced at you over her shoulder with a huff before her glare returned to the shut cubicle in front of her. "help amiga! she has gone loco." you heard pina squeak out from inside the safety of the shut cubicle.
"loco?!" patri shot to her feet and rounded on the door, fist banging against it as string after string of heated angry spanish dropped from her lips. "mi amor." you called out a little more firmly, gesturing for her to step away.
"look what she did to me!" she was beside you in an instant gesturing angrily to her face as you bit down on your bottom lip to stifle your laugh. "do not dare laugh at me right now bebé." patri warned seeing the obvious amusement in your eyes.
"i like it corazón, makes you look tough." you smiled running your thumb affectionately over the large slit in her eyebrow. "no it does-" patri started with a frown, but you could see just your simple touch already had her starting to melt a little.
"you like it?" she spoke in a surprised tone as you nodded. "sì, very much." you promised still stroking gently at her forehead now, hands resting either side of the taller girls strong jawline.
"she likes it! you should be thanking me." at the new voice ringing out the anger returned to your girlfriends eyes and she stormed back to the door and resumed her shouting and banging as you sighed.
"mi vida!" you spoke loudly, more authority in your tone than before as patri paused, hand raised in a fist ready to continue smacking it against the door.
"ven aquí." you opened your arms, not needing to say anything else as like a magnet your girlfriend was drawn right into them, hands pressed into the small of your back as she slumped into your touch easily a head and a half taller than you.
"pina made a mistake but you started everything when you hid all of her left boots amor, and i warned you it would go too far." you chatsized quietly, rubbing a hand up and down her back soothingly as your hand hand scratched lightly at the base of her neck, a sure fire way to have her fold.
"she took it too far!" patri mumbled holding you tighter as you only hummed, giving the younger girl a disappointed look as she quietly unlocked the door and cautiously poked her head out, shying away from your eyes.
"sì. but you are best friends, so you will apologize for trapping her in a bathroom and she will apologize for slitting your eyebrow. then we will all move on and go home!" you more demanded than asked, your girlfriend all but putty in your hands at your soft tone and gentle touch, everything she craved to be brought back to baseline.
"bien." the midfielder sighed as you tapped her back gently and let go, nodding for claudia to step properly out of the cubicle as she did so very hesitantly. "both of you, say sorry." you broke the silence as they stared one another down, your hand coming to grip the back of patri's neck as your fingers scratched gently at the thick skin making her relax a little.
"lo siento amiga." patri mumbled with a roll of her eyes, leaning her body into you a little more as her anger dried up. "lo siento. but she is right, it looks badass!" the younger girl tried to compliment causing a small smile to curl onto her best friends lips.
"maybe we can get matching ones then pina, sì?" before you could even blink there was a clammer of cleats against the floor as the two chased one another outside, though this time with wide smiles on their faces as if they weren't just at one anothers throats a few seconds ago.
"you work fast chica." mapi whistled with an impressed grin as you returned to the change rooms, rolling your eyes at claudia and patri rolling around on the floor wrestling.
"patri." she looked up from beneath pina, meeting your look and raised eyebrow, pushing the younger girl off and leaping to her feet, wordlessly hurrying to collect her things so the two of could leave.
"you work very fast."
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