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yelena-bellova · 2 years

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Unlucky: (Eventual) Steve Harrington x Fem!Subject!Reader

Chapter Eight: The First Day

Plot: It’s Tini’s first day at Hawkins High and things go far less than how she hoped.

Series Masterlist

Warnings: language, bullying, high school trauma, no use of y/n

Word Count: 3.3k

A/N: I hate writing high school because I don’t think anyone had a normal experience. Everyone I’ve ever met has had some awful shit happen to them in those four years. And yet it’s supposed to be the best time of our life? Nooo thank you lol. Anyways, hope you enjoy. Let me know if you’d like to be tagged :) (apologies also if the keep reading thing doesn’t come up, I’m posting from mobile 😬)

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JANUARY 6TH, 1984

Hawkins High School.

My new home.

“Okay,” Hopper’s voice broke through the white noise in my brain, “You got your books?”  Numbly, I answered, “Yeah.”

“Lunch money?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“You hearing anything I’m saying?”  My eyes followed a group of kids walking through the school’s front doors, “They’re in my backpack.”

He laughed deeply and tapped my hand, “Hey.”

The physical contact finally broke my focus, I looked over to see his reassuring smile. “It’s gonna be fine. You’re gonna go to your classes, you’re gonna stick with Nancy or Jonathan, you’re gonna eat the shitty food in the cafeteria-“

I laughed, Jonathan had told me horror stories about the lunches served.

“And then I’m gonna pick you up and you’ll tell me if you think you ate chicken or fish.”

“That’s…oddly helpful,” I grinned before becoming more serious, “Thank you for all this. Getting me enrolled…”  Hopper shook his head, “Nothing to thank me for. Just go in there, do your best and…enjoy it. You’ve been waiting a long time.”

That was an understatement. I inhaled deeply, grabbed my backpack from the backseat and slid out of the truck. Once my feet hit the pavement, it felt real. There was no going back now…

I wandered towards the building, looking for Nancy or Jonathan or Steve, but couldn’t spot them. What I could tell was that people were already looking at me. Aside from the three people I knew, everyone else was a stranger. But they certainly knew me. Then again, pulling up in the Hawkins Police Department truck was sort of a giveaway.

I followed the general crowd into the school, finding chaos as soon as I stepped foot inside. Dozens of conversations overlapped on either side of me, people ran through carrying different creations and structures, I had to duck just to avoid getting hit in the head with a basketball. Reaching into my backpack, I pulled out the wrinkled sheet of paper that was my class schedule.

Math - Miss Tanner, Room 104.

Nancy had told me we had three classes together, one of them math, which comforted me. I found my way down another hall, one with lockers down each side, and tried to see if there were signs that could tell me where to go. No luck. But I made a mental note to remember to come back later and find my locker.

Finally, I gave up on trying to find my own way around when a shrieking bell rang. “Excuse me,” I tapped the closest girl on the shoulder, “Hi. Um, I’m new here and I can’t seem to find my first class. D-do you know where this is?”  The girl studied my paper before smiling back up at me, “Oh, Miss Tanner’s not in 104. Must be a typo. You want 108. Take a right down the next hall, then another right and it’s the first door on your left.”  “Two rights, first door on my left,” I repeated, “Thank you.”  “No problem,” she gave a toothy grin before sharing a laugh with the boy next to her.

The halls cleared out surprisingly fast. Hopper had told me that as soon as the bell rang, I needed to be wherever it was I was trying to get to. I hurried down the first hall, struggling to keep my backpack balanced on one shoulder. I nearly ran into another student as I curved down the next hall, grabbing the door to Room 108 before it shut.

Clearly I had arrived just as the teacher, who was certainly not Miss Tanner…or a woman at all, had begun his lesson. The class and him looked at me as if I’d just interrupted something terribly important.

“Uh…I’m sorry, is this…” my eyes scanned the room, “Miss Tanner’s class?”  “Well, what with the lack of equations on my board and the small fact that I am not a woman,” the male teacher said, a few of the students laughing under their breath, “I think we can conclude, my dear, that this is not Miss Tanner’s class.”

I felt like my breath was caught in my chest, not five minutes inside the building and I was already making a fool out of myself. The only person who didn’t seem to be getting a kick out of my mistake was Steve, seated in the back row, who gave a small smile. I counted myself lucky, a little over a month ago, I wouldn’t have been shown mercy from him.

“Miss Tanner’s class is four doors down,” the teacher finished before turning back to his board, “Now, class…”

With at least half of the eyes in the room off of me, I felt like I could move again. I slipped back out the door, looking back as it closed to Steve nodding to encourage me. I hurried back down the hall and took the time to actually read the number on the plaque outside the door. 104.

This time when I entered the room, I knew I was in the right place and was greeted far differently.

“Miss Hopper, it’s lovely to finally see you,” Miss Tanner greeted, still aware of my lateness but not making a big deal over it. She took my wrist and led me to the front of the room. “Class, I’d like you to meet our newest addition. Go ahead and introduce yourself…”

If I’d thought the last classroom was bad, this was worse. So much worse. Not only could I feel like I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t think about anything other than keeping my breakfast where it needed to be.

Once my eyes started to register things again, I found Nancy in the second row. She smiled and nodded, comforting me into talking.

“I-I-I’m…Tini...”

I looked two seats behind Nancy and found Jonathan, giving me a discreet thumbs up. I’d saved him from being eaten by an inter dimensional monster, but I needed his reassurance to even get through saying my name…  “Tini H-Hopper.”

Unlike Steve’s class, there were only a few students who looked like they were trying not to laugh. A small grace.

“It’s a pleasure to have you join our class, Tini,” Miss Turned placed a hand on my shoulder, “Why don’t you go ahead and take a seat?”

Robotically, I moved towards the one empty seat in the room. It was in the very first row, the exact place that I’d been told by both Nancy and Jonathan was not where I wanted to be. I had every pair of eyes on me and only two of them cared how uncomfortable I was.

Throughout the class, I struggled to keep up, something I knew would happen. But unlike home, I couldn’t pause and take my time on the equations. I had to follow the speed of the class. When the bell rang, I practically slumped over in my chair.

“Hey,” Nancy greeted, I looked up from my papers feeling like I’d just been through war, “It wasn’t that bad.”

“Yeah,” I scoffed, stuffing my homework in my backpack and following the crowd with her.

“It wasn’t,” she insisted, “Jonathan, tell her…”  Jonathan melted into the outpour of classmates out of the room with us, “Really, it wasn’t that bad.”

 I sighed loudly, “In this class, no. But I think I’m famous in room 108.”

Nancy rubbed my arm and guided me down the hall, “Come on, let’s go find your locker.”

“Good, a place to hide,” I groaned.

“We’ve all been through worse things than walking into the wrong classroom,” Jonathan said, raising a knowing eyebrow to me, “Right?”

Monsters. Other dimensions. Rescuing little kids. Rescuing kids from monsters in other dimensions.

If things didn’t shape up soon, I’d be ranking my first day at Hawkins High up with battling the Demogorgon.

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English class was my first win of the day. After reading so many books in shelters to try and help my speech, it was the one subject I felt confident about. It was also the only class I had without Nancy or Jonathan. I felt proud that I’d made it through on my own.

I figured that the best way to find the cafeteria, rather than ask someone again, was to just follow the crowd. Eventually, it led me to the right place. There was more order to the cafeteria than anywhere else so far. I waited in line, fiddling with the dollar bill Hopper had given me.

Once I got up to the lunch ladies, they scooped various servings of food onto my tray before I could ask what they were. They looked…almost edible. Jonathan’s “mystery meat” stories echoed in my head.

“So you’re the chief’s kid?”

I looked up in surprise, there was someone talking to me. A boy, at least a foot taller than me, stocky and dressed in a band t-shirt I didn’t recognize.  “Oh, yeah,” I tried to smile, wondering whether or not I should add the word ‘adopted.’ It was strange enough to have the last name Hopper.

“Bet you can’t get away with shit,” he remarked. All I could do was nervously laugh.

“Oh my gosh, you’re the homeless girl!” the girl on my right exclaimed.

“Oh, shit,” the boy said far too loudly, “That’s you?”  I looked down at my tray as we scooted down the line, “Yep, that’s me.”  “Wow,” the girl focused all her attention on me, “You so don’t look homeless. You look, like, okay.”

Was she…complimenting me? In some weird way? Was I supposed to thank her?

“Is it, like, super weird to be with normal people now?” she asked.

I inhaled deeply, “It’s, uh…it’s an adjustment.”

“I can’t even imagine…” she shook her head as I moved to pay for my food, “I volunteered at a homeless shelter once and it was, like, the most insane thing I’d ever seen. Like, these people just had no home and some of them looked like they’d been that way for a long time. I mean, a long time…Did you think you’d be there forever? I can’t-“

I felt like I was being interrogated by a talk show host, on display for everyone to see. Even if she meant well, I wasn’t interested in discussing anything about a part of my life I was trying to put in the past.

“But they were so dirty. I mean, really dirty but- oh!” the girl only stopped talking when she had to pay. It gave me the perfect opportunity to escape.

Navigating the cafeteria was more difficult, there were easily over 100 students at Hawkins High and I needed to find just one of the three I knew. I stopped in the main path and searched for Nancy or Jonathan, spotting Nancy first with Steve glued to her side. I narrowly avoided a boy making wild hand gestures while holding a soda and hurried to their table.

“Hey,” Nancy said, perky as ever, “What’d you get?”  I finally looked down at my plate, grimacing at the various dishes. “A dare,” I answered.

Steve snorted, “Hey, it’s only up from here, right?”

“After the morning I had?” I chuckled, “One can only hope.”  Our voices, somewhat quiet, suddenly seemed louder than when I’d sat down. The whole left side of the room had gotten quieter. When I looked up, I saw students at the surrounding tables staring at…me. Whispering, pointing, laughter hidden behind their hands…it was all directed at me.

The homeless girl.

My face began to feel hot, my palms begin to feel sweaty. Everyone, everyone, was trying to figure me out. They wanted to get a look at the girl from the streets, the one who apparently wasn’t a human being for the first sixteen years of her life. They were deconstructing every part of me that was visible and making up the things they didn’t know.

The final insult came when something wet hit my cheek, bouncing off my face and falling on the table. I picked it up to see it was a spit coated ball of paper.

The tears that filled my eyes blissfully blurred my vision. I could make out that Steve had sat forward in his seat and was trying to determine where the attack had come from. It didn’t matter, nothing mattered at this point…everyone had already made up their minds about me.

“Tini…” Nancy gently called.

I was already up, lunch tray in hand.  “Tini,” Steve said, “It’s okay, it’s-“  My feet carried me out of the cafeteria before he could finish his lie.

The further I walked, the quieter the halls got, something I was thankful for considering I had tear streaking down my face. Eventually I ended up outside at the football field. Hungry and tired, I carefully balanced my tray and climbed the bleachers. The few people there were with the same idea were spread out, giving me a large chunk of space to myself. It was as close to being alone as I could get.

Then, and only then, did I pick up a forkful of my lunch and start to cry.

—————————

By the time I was in science class, my last class, I was ready for the day to be over. I had ten minutes left until I could run out the doors, climb in the truck, and try not to choke on the smell of the air freshener Hopper used to fight the stench of his cigarettes.

Science was one of the subjects I had been having the hardest time with. I paid extra attention as Mr. Walters mixed various chemicals I couldn’t pronounce the names of.

“Psst,” the person behind me whispered, tapping me on the shoulder, “Take this.”

He let go of a folded piece of paper that landed on my desk. I unrolled it to see a stick figure drawing of a girl, hair sticking out in every direction with holes in her clothes. If I didn’t already have an idea who it was supposed to resemble, the writing next to it spelled it out perfectly.

‘Homeless Freak’

“Ms. Hopper!”  Still in shock, I looked up at Mr. Walters, a dumbstruck expression on my face.

“I assume there is something on that piece of paper that is more demanding of your attention than our lesson.”

The explanation ran through my head so quick the words ran together, but I couldn’t make my mouth move.

 “Perhaps a little more time would help you craft an answer,” Mr. Walters pulled out a pad of paper, scribbled something and handed it to me, “Head to room 109, detention.”  The hushed laughter acted as the soundtrack to my grand exit. I picked up my backpack, crumpled the note in my palm and headed for the door. The tears were coming faster than they had at lunch.

“Wait, Mr. Walters,” a familiar voice announced, “She didn’t do anything.”

I turned around to see Steve, standing up at his desk and pointing towards me.

“Your loyalty is admirable, Mr. Harrington,” Mr. Walters said, not at all happy about the interruption, “But unnecessary.”  “No, sir. I saw it, she didn’t-“

“That will be all, Mr. Harrington, unless you wish to join your friend?”

Half of the class was watching Steve, waiting for him to make his choice, and the other was glaring at me. I knew Steve was popular and now, in their eyes, I was the one dragging him down. By trying to fix the situation, he was making it worse. When our eyes met, I shook my head discreetly.

Steve sighed, obeying my wish, “No, Mr. Walters.”

“If that is all,” our teacher looked between us both, “Then we will continue with our lesson.”

Even though I knew Steve was watching, waiting for me to turn around to try and convey some message, I hurried out of the room. Thankfully, class hadn’t let out yet and I was free to cry my way down the halls. I was behind all of my classmates, hated by King Steve’s royal subjects, and a life-long homeless freak.

High school was, officially, a nightmare.

—————————

 It was twenty minutes into detention when Hopper burst through the door, accompanied by a woman.

“Ms. Delacourt,” she addressed the teacher in charge of watching the four kids in the room, “Chief Hopper is here to retrieve his daughter, it seems they’ve had somewhat of a family emergency.”

Confused, I looked up at Hopper who was holding his hat in his hands. If it hadn’t been for the wink he shot me, I’d have thought something terrible had happened to El.

I was mercifully permitted to leave. Hopper thanked the teachers for their understanding and we left. The halls were emptied for the most part, giving us the chance to talk.

“You want to explain what happened?” Hopper asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I sighed, the incriminating piece of paper still in my backpack.

Hopper hummed, “Well, your friend felt differently. The Harrington kid came and found me, told me what happened.”  Hopper opened the front door to reveal Steve standing outside the truck, trying to calm down a very concerned Nancy. The sight of me had her jogging over to me.  “I’m so sorry,” she said as she hugged me, “Steve told me everything.”  Luckily, I was all cried out or else the kindness would have moved me to tears.

Nancy pulled back to look at me, “Don’t listen to any of them, please. First days are just…hard. It’s going to get better.”  “I’m not sure I agree,” I tried to smile, Steve joined us as Hopper got in the truck, “You didn’t have to do that…”

“It wasn’t your fault,” he replied, “The guy who wrote whatever it was is a dick.”

“Well, thank you,” I hugged Nancy once more, “I’ll see you guys tomorrow…”

Steve reached out to squeeze my shoulder as I passed him. He’d ended up helping me more than even he’d thought he would. I never thought he of all people would be my savior.

On the way home, Hopper heard more about my day. I didn’t tell him about the specific incidents so much as just the general mood of the day. I was given the same sentiment I had from Nancy; first days are hard, it’ll get better. I wanted to believe them both, but neither of them understood why it wasn’t going to get easier. I was a freak. I couldn’t change being gullible or having been homeless. I was forever going to be a target.

El hurried to hug me as soon as I was through the door. It made me feel lighter than I had all day.

“School?” she asked, her eyes bright and wide.

All day, I’d been a burden. Jonathan and Nancy had to walk me through basic things, Steve had to stay late to find Hopper, who then had to lie and bail me out…I didn’t want to feel helpless anymore. I wanted to be someone’s hero.

“It was great,” I said, putting on a big smile for her when she pulled back, “But I’ve been looking forward to Eggos all day.”

The rest of the night was spent eating dinner in front of the tv, something Hopper allowed out of pity. El laughed, I pretended to. It was only when we were both in bed that I let the tears flow freely.

At some point, when I knew I wasn’t going to sleep, I crept over the edge of my bed and grabbed my old backpack. I reached in for my notebook and pencil and pulled them out. I used the faint moonlight peeking through the curtains to see the lines on the paper. Sniffling, I wrote out the words—

I don’t like high school.

I finally dozed off with my headphones on, my Walkman softly playing ‘Army Dreamers’ and Kate Bush singing me into the only place I’d wanted to be all day: blissful unconsciousness.

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Unlucky Taglist: @milkiane @raynelbabe @kik51199 @hazydespair @burn1ngw00d @fanficfanatic204 @stratospherewalker @caitsymichelle13 @potatoflavoured @guichi @triscuit-reads @angelbbygrl @daisyjohncn @thel0v3hashira143 @m-rae23 @kaelyn-lobrutto24 @dessmxsworld

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington fanfiction #stranger things imagine #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fanfiction

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allthebooksbefore · 2 years

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the layover / lucie waldon

book #30 of 2021 started: december 28th finished: january 11th

what it's about:

"after ten years as a flight attendant, ava greene is poised to hang up her wings and finally put down roots. she's got one trip left before she bids her old life farewell, and she plans to enjoy every second of it. but then she discovers that former pilot jack stone - the absurdly gorgeous, ridiculously cocky man she's held a secret grudge against for years - is on her flight. and he has the nerve to flirt with her, as if he doesn't remember the role he played in the most humiliating night of her life. good thing she never has to see him again after they land... but when their plane encounters mechanical problems, what should have been a quick stop at the belize airport suddenly becomes a weekend layover. getting stuck on a three-hour flight with her nemesis was bad enough. being stranded with him at a luxury resort in paradise? even with the sultry breeze and white sand to distract her, it will take all the rum punch in the country to drown out his larger-than-life presence. yet the more time ava spends with him under the hot caribbean sun, the more she begins to second-guess everything she thought she knew about him ... and everything she thought she wanted from her life. and all too soon, she might have to choose between keeping her feet on the ground and her head in the clouds...."

thoughts:

my notes have been stuck in my drafts for six months lol so i'm going to do my best with this. book was fast paced but definitely slow burn. well-written; had a certain poetic-ness to it at times. it wasn't a bad read, so don't let the following mislead you necessarily, but by the end of the book i was just so annoyed with the two main love interests, especially ava, and i think that tainted my view a bit. would definitely try something else by this author, but this book wasn't a favorite.

obviously, as the two main characters, i was rooting for ava and jack to get together... but she was engaged to another guy nearly the entire time. though not the right guy for her, it created a kind of dark cloud around the whole thing as a reader - jack was really starting to enjoy ava's company, trying to get to know her, making her feel some type of way... she didn't even tell gen, the other flight attendant on the trip, that she was engaged because she didn't want to rub it in her face. girl come on... what kind of shitty excuse is that? jack's anger when he found out was totally valid, especially since his ex was a habitual liar/cheater and ava was really kinda toeing the line with the timing between her ending things with her fiancé and hooking up with jack. also, the pure disdain ava had for jack for most of the novel really got old quick. she was totally right to be cautious of him because of the rumors she heard and the circumstances surrounding how they first met... but she was so genuinely mean to him based on pure conjecture when it was became clear as day that jack wasn't the guy she was making him out to be.

switching gears, i thought it was sad that she was so adamant to not live the vagabond life she did as a kid by restricting herself of the things she enjoys, like her job, adventure, traveling, finding true love. learn from what wasn't so great about your upbringing and make positive changes sis. some of the stuff she griped about was akin to walking around with your shoes untied all day, trying to convince yourself you're having the best time, while you're actually miserable because you can't do anything without tripping or falling. just tie your shoes?

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tsubasaclones · 3 years

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me going back in time to tell my 11 y/o self not to buy the 3 volumes of xxxholic i found at that goodwill

#em.txt #OK FOR CONTEXT right so around 9/10 i figured out how to read manga online (probably a bad idea)#and i dont remember how exactly i found cardcaptor sakura but i did and i read it when i was 10 #so when i was 11 my mom took me to a goodwill and i found the first 3 volumes of xxxholic and was like 'oh i know about CLAMP ill buy this'#and from that i also found out about trc which i read a couple of chapters online for and then just forgot to continue i guess lol #and so they just kind of lived in the back of my mind for a little and i kind of did intend to finish them some day but it wasnt a priority #anyway side note i didnt watch the ccs anime until this year. i watched like one episode in middle school #like i was trying to keep up with clear card when it started when i was ~13 and watched a few episodes of that too. but not the og anime #so anyway flash forward to january of this year. like 6 years later. and i accidentally get super into ccs. watch the anime after 7 years.#start buying merch as you do. keep seeing trc stuff pop up.#think 'oh i started that when i was 11 might as well read it to get it out of the way'#yeah no i was NOT emotionally prepared lmfao. AT all. i had no clue what hit me.#went through the 5 stages of grief over the course of like 2 months. took a few more months to completely recover.#finally decided i should also finish xxxholic at the end of the summer and thats also when i read world chronicle #and i literally just read xxxholic rei. this is my life now i guess.

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cxsmicmyeon · 3 years

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HAPPY NEW YEAR , OSH [M]

oh sehun x fem! reader

IN WHICH you're forced to go to your best friend's giant new year's eve party, only to hit it off with someone who equally doesn't want to be there.

genre: college au! fluff and smut (toward the end) word count: 5.0k warnings: stupid jokes, swearing, sexual content, dirty talk, cunnilingus

author's note: MOODBOARD MADE BY ME. I DON'T OWN THE IMAGES, I ONLY OWN MY EDITING. also this is cross-posted from ao3 (i wrote it back in january for the new year lol). feedback and notes are greatly appreciated <3

Ugh.

That was the only word that came to mind as you navigated your way through the banquet hall. You grumbled to yourself as you adjusted your dress for the fifteenth time that night, resulting in your clutch dropping onto the floor. You resisted the urge to shout an expletive as you bent to pick the small bag up, which only resulted in your dress moving to that stupid spot that you didn't want it to go. A soft 'God' slipped from your lips as you adjusted your dress once again, this time gripping your clutch tightly in your right hand. Once you were contented, you resumed your trek to the venue you tried hopelessly to avoid.

Tonight was your best friend's annual New Year's Eve extravaganza. Normally you'd be a bit more willing to attend, as these parties were usually limited to 20-30 people in either her parent's house or your shared apartment, but apparently she found the need to rent out an entire fucking rooftop penthouse room filled to the brim with alcohol, hors d'oeuvres and packed with every single student that went to your college.

To put it rather bluntly, you hated the party scene that came with college. The thought of being at some fraternity with obnoxiously loud music shaking the entire house, an entire mass of sweaty drunk people doing God knows what and random couples eating each other's faces off was unappealing to be a part of. Maybe it sounds rather prudish, but you highly preferred nights in with a bottle of wine on your coffee table and Netflix queued up on the next episode of your favorite show or your laptop open to continue writing your novel over an en masse of horny and drunk people shoving you around the living room of someone's house.

Your best friend, on the other hand, lived for partying. Every Saturday night not spent studying, she'd beg you to come to the party her boyfriend or classmate was having. And after your declination and 'Don't have too much fun!" she'd return the next morning with a giant hangover with (on some occasions) hickeys on her neck that looked like vampire bites. By now, you were used to her drunk texts at 3 am and having to hold up her hair every time she puked her guts out. And these were reasons that simply fueled your hatred for large parties.

New Year's Eve was your only exception for large parties (mostly). Back in high school, her parents allowed her to invite you and a few classmates over for what they called a 'New Year's Sleepover.' You liked those well enough simply because they were rather small, you knew everyone there and you even got to steal a drink of champagne from the wine closet. As you entered college, the past two parties became a tad more crowded but were still bearable in your eyes. But this year, the New Year's Eve of your junior year, took the cake. Exams were a lot more rigorous this year and to celebrate everyone getting through it, your idiot of a best friend used practically all of her savings to rent out the largest rooftop venue in your area for what she called 'the New Year's party that'll fuck any other party in the ass.' She sent invites to the entire student body (which, naturally, 95% of them RSVP'ed to). While you tried your best to stop her, she persisted. And when you begged her to let you stay at home, she persisted yet again. So here you were, bracing yourself for a night of... honestly you had no clue.

You stopped in front of the entrance of the large room, your breath hitching in your throat. The music was from a genre you weren't familiar with, the bar was blocked by a large crowd and your best friend was nowhere to be seen. Slightly turning around from the disaster waiting to happen, you took in a deep breath before turning back and entering.

The stench of champagne and sweat immediately made you recoil and question your decision for even coming. You internally scoffed as you shifted through the crowd to find your best friend. You softly muttered 'excuse me' to every person you passed (or accidentally shoved) as you begged whoever was in the sky that your best friend was near. You struck gold when you saw her sprawled out on a loveseat surrounded by her boyfriend and others you didn't know by name. You pushed through a few more people before stopping in front of the group. Your best friend turned around immediately and let out a loud squeal.

"Heyyy!" she slurred as she threw her arm around you. You rolled your eyes as a smile etched itself onto your face, knowing she was already drunk as hell.

"Hiiii..." you responded, replicating her energy. She let out a loud howl of laughter as she led you to a small table next to the sofa. She picked up a plastic flute filled with champagne and practically shoved it in your hand. You laughed as she grabbed a red plastic cup from her boyfriend's hand.

"A toast, to the New Year!" she bellowed as she clinked your glass and her cup together.

"Happy New Year!" You responded. She snickered as she led you to sit down on the sofa.

"Hey (Y/N), Happy New Year!"

"You too, Baekhyun." You clinked your glass with your best friend's boyfriend's glass and took a sip of the fizzy drink. You let out a breath you were unaware you were holding in as the familiar taste of champagne washed over your tastebuds. Even if you were dreading tonight, you couldn't deny the free food and drinks being made available.

Quickly you were introduced and re-introduced to a bunch of Baekhyun's friends. They were nice enough, sure, but you found their energy to be a bit much (especially paired with the excess of alcohol that they all consumed). Luckily, you gave the group the excuse that you needed another drink and left them to their own accords.

After taking a second flute of champagne from the bar, you found yourself wandering onto the balcony. Luckily for you, it was completely deserted. With a small smile, you shut the sliding door and wandered toward the metal railing, slowly sipping your champagne. Setting the plastic flute and your clutch down on a nearby table, you readjusted your dress (yes, again) and slipped your heels off, sighing in relief that your feet were finally free from those restrictive shoes. You felt a chill down your spine as your feet touched the bare ground, stepping a couple of times in place to help adjust to the temperature. You took the champagne glass from off of the table and lifted it to your lips, taking another sip as you looked out into the night sky.

You took a deep breath as you finally felt yourself relax. The music from inside the venue was muffled a great deal and the cold temperature the winter night brought was a comforting contrast to the heat from inside the building coupled with the crowd of sweaty college students. The sky was thankfully clear from any clouds, so you were able to enjoy the comforting presence that the waning gibbous moon coupled with the scattered stars brought. Taking another sip of your champagne, you took a few steps until you felt the cold metal of the railing. You leaned slightly forward as you continued looking and admiring the sky, feeling surprisingly at peace considering your location.

Soon enough you realized that someone else has also decided to leave the party, as you heard the music grow louder then muffled again. You turned to see a tall man around your age typing quickly on his phone with a red plastic cup in his other hand. A tall, attractive man at that.

He wore a simple oversized gray hoodie coupled with a pair of blue jeans. His jet black hair appeared tousled underneath his dark beanie, and suddenly you felt a tad overdressed. You couldn't help but ogle at how his brows furrowed in concentration as he continued looking down at his phone, how eerily well-defined his jawline was- wait, scratch that- how his entire face was well-defined. You couldn't help but mutter 'damn...' to yourself as you looked away for a second to gather your thoughts. When you looked over at him again, he was staring in your direction. Immediately you felt a blush creep onto your cheeks as he walked a little closer to you.

"Hi, sorry. I hope I'm not interrupting your vibe or anything." he said softly.

"Oh, don't worry about it, you're good. 'S long as you're not loud or annoying." you joked in response. He let out a short laugh as he downed the rest of his drink, placing the empty cup next to your clutch. You took a small sip of your champagne and turned back to look at the sky. Absentmindedly, you placed the glass down onto the balcony, not realizing that the bars were too narrow to support the bottom of the glass. You looked down in utter shock as the glass made its descent down the building. You covered your mouth with your hands when the glass shattered before your eyes on the ground below. Turning around you saw the man pursing his lips together in an attempt to hold back a laugh. When he looked back at you, you couldn't help but let out a loud giggle. He doubled down with laughter at the event, which only made you laugh harder.

"Jesus fucking Christ, how tragic." you chuckled. The man covered his mouth to try and conceal his louder waves of laughter; the sound intensifying your own laughter. Eventually, you let out a loud sigh in an attempt to calm yourself down. The man coughed into his elbow and cleared his throat, effectively calming himself down.

"You want another one of those?" he asked, pointing to the mess of glass shards and wasted champagne well below them.

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks though," you responded with a smile. He nodded, looking around the area for a second. "Huh, it's clear you don't wanna be here either."

He let out a playful scoff as he stretched his arms. "How'd you know?"

"'Cause you're out here with some random ass girl you don't even know when you could be among that sweaty-ass crowd of other people you don't even know." you deadpanned. He chuckled at your joke, which made you smile a bit as a result.

"I'm Sehun, by the way." he said, holding his hand out in front of you.

"(Y/N), nice to meet you." You replied, shaking his hand. You felt your heart skip a beat at the contact; his hands were slightly calloused but surprisingly soft at the same time. You unconsciously squeezed his hand before pulling away, tucking a stray hair behind your ear as you blushed slightly.

"So... how'd you get invited to this? I think like every student was invited." Sehun inquired.

"Oh, my best friend actually was the one who invited everyone. Obviously I had to show up 'cause she is my best friend. Even if I loathe the idea of hundreds of loud, drunk college kids gathered in one giant venue with music I don't even like to listen to. But it's cool, though. 'Least there's a balcony out here for some peace and quiet," you explained. "How about you?"

"I came with my brother. One of his friends I believe is dating your best friend? So, obviously, he insisted I come with." he responded.

You let out a short laugh at his response. "Baekhyun is her boyfriend."

"Right... Yeah, they're pretty close."

"Oh sick, I may know him. What's his name?"

"Jongin."

"Oh, Jongin! Yeah, I know him. He's pretty nice." Sehun nodded, looking down at his feet.

"Yeah, a lot of people know him. Obviously. He's so popular. He's so handsome. Loads of girls and guys wanna get into his pants 'cause he's such a good dancer. Everyone loves Jongin. Meanwhile, when people find out we're related, they always ask 'Oh you're so quiet! You're so different from Jongin!' Well sorry I don't party 24/7 and actually study a lot so I can get my degree!" Sehun ranted. You were stunned at his sudden anger. A soft expression made its way onto your face as you wanted nothing but to quell his fury.

"I'm so sorry, I know that's a lot to unload on a complete stranger. I'll go back in now." Sehun began to make his way back inside before you grabbed his arm, stopping his movement. He turned around with a shocked expression present on his face.

"Shh. Don't worry about it at all. I get your frustration, honestly. I know what it's like to get those comments. It fucking sucks, I know. But can I say something? I've known Jongin for a few months and you for like a half-hour and wanna know something? I feel a lot more comfortable around you than him. Again, he's a good guy and all, but a little much at times. I vibe better with more reserved people honestly." you reassured, giving his arm a small squeeze before letting go. His face lit up at your comment. A grin etched itself on his face as he walked back to his previous spot.

"So. Who is Sehun 'I-Don't-Know-Your-Last-Name-So-Fuck-This-Bit-Isn't-Gonna-Work?' You do go to ISU, right?" you asked, grinning.

"It's Oh. And yes, I do go to ISU." Sehun responded.

"Okay, hi Sehun Oh. I'm (Y/N) (L/N). And holy shit we go to the same school! How come we've never run into each other?"

"Hi, (Y/N) (L/N). Also, I'm a chem major, is your major different?"

"Oh, no wonder! My major's secondary English education. Science is on the opposite side of campus, right?"

"Yeah. We should totally hang out sometime. Well, when we're not escaping a large ass party." You let out a giggle at his quip, which caused him to blush and rub the back of his neck.

"I'd like that a lot," You gave him a warm smile, resulting in a warm blush spreading across your face. Sehun smiled sheepishly in return, looking down at his feet again.

"So... uh... wait, shit. I'm not good with small talk, sorry." he rambled, folding his hands together while twiddling his thumbs.

"Don't worry, neither am I. Uh... I dunno... Wait, I got it. What do you do besides studying since you don't like to party 24/7 like the icon you are?" You and Sehun began giggling softly as he put his hands on his hips.

"Well, I actually dance. Jongin and I have been taking lessons since we were kids. And, uh... my friend Chanyeol and I composed a couple of songs together for his music class a while back. And I made up choreography for one of them."

You felt your jaw drop at Sehun's answer. "You dance and make music? That's so fucking sick! You literally became 10 times cooler than you already are. Uh, not that you weren't cool to begin with... but, uh, making music and dancing is hard! Honestly, kudos to you."

"Thanks," he said, grinning sheepishly. "How 'bout you?"

"Well... I read a lot, I write a lot, I'm finishing up my second novel, uh... that's it, I guess. Well, besides studying."

"Hold on. You've written a whole novel? You're calling me 'the cool one' when you wrote a novel? And you have another one in progress? You're amazing," You swore you were going to faint. "Now you have to show me."

"Do I have to?" you pouted.

"Pleeeeaseeeee? Please, please, please?" Sehun whined.

"Hm... I have a proposition for you. Show me your choreography and your song and maybe I'll let you read a few chapters of my first novel."

"Deal."

"Well damn, okay. Show me the song first."

Sehun nodded and took his phone out of his pocket. He spent a few seconds typing and scrolling before setting it down on the table.

"Uh, it's called 'We Young,'" Sehun stated quickly before tapping the middle of his phone screen. He backed up from the table and straightened himself out. You focused your attention on him as the song began playing from his phone. You let out a soft 'ooh,' immediately being intrigued and fascinated by the melody of the piano and the drum beats chosen. As you heard Sehun sing from the phone, he closed his eyes and felt himself get lost in his dance.

Your jaw dropped at the sight. Watching the way his fluid movements intricately matched the rhythm of his song was like watching a flurry of snow getting caught in a gust of wind. His passion for the craft was full-on displayed right in front of you. Every single movement he made perfectly encapsulated the message of his song. The way he bobbed his head for a few seconds before jumping straight into the chorus while mouthing the lyrics kept your attention. You simply couldn't look away.

'God, the way he moves his hips. I so wouldn't mind him moving those hips against my-'

You shook your head at your thoughts. Sure, Sehun was nice. And really hot. And also really easy to talk to. But would he be comfortable with doing anything with you? You did not want to push anything onto him, even if it meant you had to repress any thoughts you had about him maybe fucking you against the railing like the world was going to end. Or feeling those large hands cup your breast and rub your clit simultaneously. Maybe.

Before you knew it, Sehun stopped his dance and paused the song. "So... what did you think?" Sehun's voice snapped you out of your trance, feeling yourself blush due to your inappropriate thoughts. You shook your head lightly and turned to face him.

"What did I think? What did I think? Holy shit, that was... that was amazing! You are so fucking talented, it's unreal!" you exclaimed while clapping your hands softly. He grinned at your response, happy that you liked the song and dance.

"Okay, (Y/N)'s novel time! Yay!" he cheered. You playfully rolled your eyes as you opened up your clutch to take your phone out. You unlocked it and pulled up Google Docs, opening up your manuscript to show him.

"So this is the final manuscript of my first novel, titled 'Neckties and Rosé'. It's a cheesy, romantic, sexy, angsty mess of an office romance. Or, to put it lightly, angstier and sexier Jim and Pam from 'The Office.'" you explained. Sehun nodded and giddily took the phone out of your hands.

He began to dramatically read the prologue of the book. As he read, you were alternating between laughing hysterically at the various voices he gave the different characters and whining due to his teasing of the actions of the characters. You also noticed that he was enjoying himself thoroughly, much to your delight. You felt as if you were around one of your closest friends rather than a complete stranger at the moment, sharing similar humor and personality traits.

"'While Cordelia angrily slammed her car door, she swore she saw Rocky throw her a cocky smirk through the rearview mirror, which only added fuel to the dumpster fire that was her hazed state of mind.' And that concludes the prologue of 'Neckties and Rosé.'" Sehun announced, locking your phone and handing it back to you.

"So... whaddya think?" you asked shyly, looking down at your feet.

"(Y/N)... that was so fucking great! It sounded like you've been writing for like a thousand years rather than it being your first novel. Damn, you're amazing. Please send me it when you can, I wanna read the rest!" he praised, grinning at you. You couldn't help but return his smile, a jovial feeling igniting inside.

After a beat, you turned your phone on to look at the time: 11:59 PM.

"Oh shit, it's almost midnight!" you exclaimed, showing Sehun the time.

"Oh, wow. I honestly thought it was still 10-ish."

Soon enough, you began to hear the crowd inside count down from thirty, signaling the close arrival of the New Year. You bashfully looked at Sehun as you began twiddling your fingers together.

"Can I say something?" you questioned, earning a nod from the dark-haired male. "I... I've never had a New Year's kiss."

"Um, me neither, actually."

"D-d'you want to... I mean, if you're comfortable of course."

"Uh, yeah, sure. I kind of wanted to ask earlier, but I wasn't sure if you'd want to kiss me."

"Trust me, I would be honored to kiss you." You walked closer to Sehun until your bodies were centimeters apart.

"Three!"

You blushed as Sehun wrapped his toned arms around your waist. A jolt of electricity pulsed through your body at the contact, causing you to put your hands on the back of his neck.

"Two!"

He gave you a small smile as you stood on your tippy-toes, mentally preparing yourself for what was about to happen.

"One!"

You closed your eyes as you slowly leaned in for the kiss.

"Happy New Year!"

The moment your lips touched his, you swore you could feel fireworks going off inside of you. The scent of his musky cologne filled your nose as you kissed back with equal fervor. Sehun let out a groan as you entangled your fingers through his dark locks. His hand snaked down your back and cupped a handful of your ass, causing you to moan in his mouth. He took the opportunity to bite your lip lightly and put his tongue in your mouth. You cupped his cheek and pressed yourself even closer to him, practically getting drunk on the scent of his cologne and the subtle taste of beer on his lips.

"Yooo! Get some, (Y/N) and Sehun!"

You regrettably pulled away from Sehun as you turned to the door separating the balcony and the inside of the venue. You saw a drunk Baekhyun being held up by your equally tipsy best friend and one of his taller friends, also with the boys you recognized from earlier in the night. You felt yourself turn red as you buried your face in your hands.

"Girlie, no worries! Get some tonight! Lord knows ya need it!" your best friend slurred before letting out a loud hiccup.

"Same goes for you, Sehun!" another one of Baekhyun's friends jeered, earning a soft 'Ugh' from the taller male next to you. The boys began laughing and teasing Sehun as you collected your shoes and clutch, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone.

"You wanna get out of here?" You heard Sehun whisper in your ear, sending a chill down your spine.

"God, yes."

The boys and your best friend erupted into whoops and cheers as Sehun took your hand into his and led you back inside of the banquet hall. He held you close as you pushed past the larger crowd of drunk college students. Luckily you successfully left the venue unscathed and made your way to the elevator, out of breath and silently giggling.

"Wait, fuck. I don't have my car with me." you muttered as you followed Sehun inside of the elevator.

"I have mine, don't worry." Sehun responded before capturing your lips again. You uttered a soft moan as you pressed him against the back wall of the elevator. He broke the kiss to bury his face in the crook of your neck.

"God, I could take you right here baby. You're so fucking hot." he mused, nipping at your neck. You whimpered in pleasure as he sucked your sweet spot and palmed your ass until the doors of the elevator opened. He took your hand into his and led you out of the shaft, out of the building and to his car.

It took every fiber of your being to resist shoving Sehun into the backseat of his car and fucking him right there. He insisted on taking you to his apartment for, in his words, 'a lot more privacy.' The ride over to his place was silent yet filled to the brim with sexual tension. As he drove, you held back a moan as he placed his big hand on your thigh and almost ordered to stop the car as his fingers slowly yet surely moved toward your clothed core.

As soon as you entered the apartment, his lips were immediately on yours again. He slipped his tongue into your mouth as he hoisted your legs up so you could wrap them around his waist. Impressed by his strength and flexibility, you cupped his cheeks in the palms of your hands and deepened the kiss.

He brought you into his bedroom and slammed the door before laying you down onto his bed. He looked at you with hooded eyes as he pulled his hoodie off and discarded it to the side. You reached your hands under his t-shirt, feeling the smooth outline of his abs before pulling it over his head. You ogled at how his chest shone under the moonlight, indistinctly licking your lips as you put your hair back. He wrapped his arms around you, leaving butterfly kisses along your neck and jawline as he unzipped your dress.

You shifted away from Sehun to slide your dress down your legs and toss it across the room. His eyes flew down to your braless chest, a small smirk toying with his features.

“No bra? You’re a naughty girl, aren’t you?” A smart remark got stuck on your tongue as he latched his lips onto your left breast. He swirled his tongue around your nipple as he brought his hand to your other breast, massaging it gently. You threw your head back in absolute bliss. How were you getting this wet from him simply touching you?

Sehun laid you down on the bed, giving you a lingering kiss before pulling your panties down your legs.

“Wet for me already, hm?” Sehun hummed as he grazed a finger down your folds. He let out a contented hum as he lowered himself down between your legs, spreading your thighs apart while licking your arousal off his finger.

“Oh God, Sehun!” you moaned out as he slid his tongue between your folds. He eagerly began licking your dripping cunt, groaning softly as he tasted you for the first time. You fisted a handful of his jet black hair as he alternated between sucking on your clit and lapping your juices like a man starved.

"You taste so fucking good," he cooed, the vibration of his voice between your legs sending a jolt of electricity down to your center. You felt your orgasm creep closer and closer the more he ate you out.

"S-Sehun, I'm gonna..." you cried out. Right as you were on the cusp of coming all over Sehun's beautiful face, he stopped his ministrations and looked back up at you, his mouth dripping with your arousal. You whined as he wiped your juices off of his chin, slipping his digits into his mouth. Your jaw dropped at the sight; here this gorgeous man was, licking your arousal off his long fingers. It drove you bonkers.

"Shh, you're not gonna cum unless it's all over my cock. I want your pretty cunt wrapped around me as you cum, got that baby?" You nodded with a whine as Sehun walked over to his bedside drawer. He opened it and took out a condom, ridding himself of his pants and boxer briefs as he walked back to you.

"Mmmh, hurry up, I need you inside of me," you croaked, watching Sehun stroke his half-hard cock, eliciting another moan. He tossed you the golden package, which you happily ripped open.

"So needy," he scoffed. You stuck your tongue out at him while you rolled the condom onto his cock, palming him swiftly. He hissed as he aligned himself to your entrance, wrapping his arms around you. "Ready?"

"Just fuck me already."

With a click of his tongue, Sehun quickly pushed himself inside of you. You gasped as he filled you, blissfully stretching your walls in the most perfect way. Never have you had a partner who made you feel this good, made you feel so full. Your eyes shut in pure pleasure as he began to move. His thrusts started off slow but gradually picked up the pace; each movement filled with utmost care. He cradled you as if you were made of porcelain, wanting nothing more than to make you feel as good as possible.

"Christ, (Y/N), you're so fucking tight. So pretty wrapped around my cock."

"Fuck," You felt yourself being brought back to the brink of your orgasm as he continued his languid thrusts inside you. "Sehun, I'm close."

He hummed as his thrusts became sloppier, feeling his own orgasm coming close as well. You opened your eyes to see Sehun's face contorted in pleasure as he moved inside of you. The sight made you come undone, your body clenching around his cock as you felt juts of white-hot pleasure seep from your center to his cock. His movements became sloppier and sloppier before he filled the condom with his own release, grunting loudly at the sensation.

You breathed heavily as you came down from your high. Sehun pulled out of you and stood to dispose of the condom as you relished in what just happened. You turned to see him bringing a box of tissues over to you, almost swooning at the sight.

"Thank you," you hummed as he cleaned you up. He nodded, placing a chaste kiss onto your sweaty forehead before disposing of the tissues. He took your panties and one of his t-shirts from off the floor and handed both articles of clothing to you. You thanked him silently as you pulled the material over your head, relishing in how the shirt smelled just like him.

He climbed into bed after putting on a fresh set of boxers, beckoning you to come closer to him. You sighed in contentment as he cuddled close to you, feeling your eyes close as soon as he wrapped the duvet around the both of you.

#exo #exo scenario #exo scenarios #exo smut #exo fanfic #exo au #oh sehun #sehun #sehun scenario #sehun smut #sehun exo #exo sehun #sehun x reader #sehun x you #exo college au #sehun fanfic #sehun fanfiction #sehun fic

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wewinbees · 3 years

Text

“you only saw me as a weapon!” an in-depth analysis of tommy and techno’s relationship /rp

a mild focus on techno’s thoughts since it’s his speech, but not one or the other is in the right here. a lot of this might have been said, but this is a BIG collection from pogtopia to doomsday to address as many angles as possible. to preface, i don’t think tommy sees techno as a weapon and nothing else, but the point remains that techno feels like he does, and that’s important.

this is from like january btw lol

we’ll start with “the blade” tommy’s nickname for techno, which got adopted by a lot of the server (as tommy’s nicknames tend to be). most other people have the Big [X] format, but techno gets this specialised nickname. i think the reason he developed a negative association with it was because of when it was used; when they need him for fights. the most important would be the vault reveal, with wilbur getting everyone to victoriously chant “we have the blade!” to boister morale. this would have been fine in and of itself, if it weren’t for the events of the rest of the day and what that name would come to represent. it ends up becoming a taunt to him, because that’s what people get close to him for. his use to them as the blade rather than his friendship to them as technoblade

tommy’s always very happy to call in techno for help, and techno usualy sorts it out with... minimal effort required. i do see this more as a blend of tommy’s pride in knowing techno and smugness at having that kind of upperhand in a fight over him viewing techno solely as a weapon to use, but this still ends up being detrimental to their friendship because of how much it happens. remember, the entire reason techno joined the server was to help wilbur and techno form pogtopia. techno doesn’t mind helping tommy out, but at some point it’s going to be frustrating, being called in for any and all minor struggles. but in the end of the day, it’s fine, because they’re brothers under the same cause. destroying manberg. Oh Wait.

the main issue came after the festival, with that faith and trust tommy had in techno being shattered; rightfully so, because watching tubbo get murdered was traumatic for him, because for tommy the pit was no way to settle that conflict (which reminded, wasn’t techno’s suggestion, it was proposed and pushed onto them by wilbur). since tommy sees technoblade as unbeatable, he couldn’t understand why techno was so easily peer-pressured by manberg. he was threatened by how many people were against him, he was stressed dealing with the voices telling him to do it, he didn’t see any other way out, he wasn’t getting any support from his only other allies even though he was looking right at them and they still did nothing.

but tommy didn’t understand because he thought techno could have won. techno did try to stall as well, but without orders from his friends he ended up following schatt’s, and once he realised he had the power to kill everyone on stage, he just gave into that power. the miscommunication during the pogtopia arc was why techno felt as betrayed as he did, and why the victim complex argument annoys me so much, since he was kept in the dark for that long while grinding resources for the army. also, since techno wasn’t there for l’manberg’s peaceful days or the start of the disc saga he would never understand how important those attachments were to people, so he’d feel little remorse blowing them all up (especially since he knew that was the backup plan for pogtopia anyway, and just because people were unhappy about it didn’t change the fact that it was a plan)

a lot of people say that techno should have known that pogtopia’s goal was to form a new government, that at some point he should have overheard the real plan. everyone agreed to ‘destroy manberg’ (as in the government not the land) but somehow techno never found out about the ‘restoring l’manberg’ part of the plan. how that happened, who knows, but in the end of the day, the writers chose for that miscommunication to happen for the story. it’s not a how or a why, it’s just a fact that was written in. he didn’t find out until it was right in front of him, and he was bound to feel betrayed by that, enough that he was driven to do something irrational. my personal theory is that techno was mainly following wilbur’s orders, and because wilbur was the real traitor, chances are he never mentioned any forming of a new government since he knew that would lose techno’s support. wilbur was probably using techno as a weapon, that was his mentality for a lot of people back then, but since he was the leader of pogtopia then that negative transference carried on to the rest of the members for techno, most of all tommy as he was the other key founder, and not as underhanded about getting techno’s help. i’d say wilbur’s address of techno during the final speech was the a key reason as to why techno doesn’t feel as used by him than he is with tommy, solidifying the anarchy bros before dying, meaning anything else could be revealed.

after the war, the bedrock bros were completely alienated from eachother. tommy started to blame everything about l’manberg’s destruction on techno, since wilbur died and ghostbur isn’t really at fault for anything. techno distanced himself from everything, going into retirement for the unforeseeable future because he felt like his violent anarchist tactics were futile and grew tired of constant conflict. he talked to tommy a few times during retirement, and every single time, he asks tommy how the government was working out for him. when he was at risk of being exiled, just before being exiled and immediately after exile. he wanted tommy to see the government in the same light as he did, because when l’manberg sold him out he realised they were the same. they’d both been betrayed by the government and from that point on he fully believed tommy would be better off away from l’manberg. but every time tommy said no, because he believed in the original dream wilbur had for l’manberg and because he trusted tubbo’s leadership. techno was smug when he was proved right because of course he was he’s technoblade. plus, they did view eachother as enemies at this point, so it’s not unacceptable for them to argue with eachother right now.

that brings us to the execution. traumatising! the refusal to run a fair trial and the dehumanising treatment from his old allies in pogtopia hammer this home, but importantly they rope philza into the chaos this time. ALSO it’s important to mention that techno was killed; he just got an extra life from the totem. he was actually killed and his character experienced that pain as punishment. he was pushed out of retirement, which was unjust in his eyes, since he believed he had genuinely changed. it didn’t help that quackity explicitly told him it wasn’t actually punishment for the withers, but instead a move to consolidate power, furthering his view of the cabinet as corrupt. from that point on he left retirement. he’d been doing well without violence, building connections with new people like vikk and lazar and finding a fragile form of peace, but in the end this shattered it. he’s back to being the blade, speaking with violence, because l’manberg made it clear there was no other way for him to be heard at this point. so he’s going to destroy them, even if he has to do it alone.

enter stage raccooninnit.

tommy taking refuge in techno’s house because he knew techno was rich enough for him to steal his resources and strong enough to defend him from dream is... interesting. he couldn’t go back to l’manberg, but he took refuge with a man who he viewed as a villain. this probably doesn’t help techno’s opinion of him, since he is quite literally using him for his resources, but in the end of the day tommy was desperate and quite literally on the verge of death, so he seemed to take some kind of pity on him. the exile period of their relationship is definitely the most important part of this argument, because it was just the two of them: no wilbur or pogtopia as an external force (though the pressure of dream and l’manberg still affected things) but in the same way ultimately doomed to fail. they fight for a moment, but ultimately settle as ‘business partners’. which quickly evolves back into a friendship like the one they had before the festival.

my least favourite take is that either one of them never valued the other at this point because this is just.... violently not true. they started off working for mutual benefit; tommy explicitly agreed to do minor terrorism in l’manberg and to help techno get his weapons back in return for techno’s help getting the discs back and taking refuge in his house. from the start both of them stated their limits:

techno was always planning on getting revenge on l’manberg for what happened on the day of his execution

tommy never wanted to upset tubbo, and wanted to put getting his discs back first

should note that tommy changes his mind on the disc’s priority later on, but at the point of their alliance he does make it clear that’s what he wants out of the partnership. the issue is that from the start both of them went in with blind optimism. neither of them lied to eachother or forced them to change their viewpoints but in the end of the day they could never be on the same side as long as l’manberg was involved. (note, i think some people think he wasn’t but techno was actually planning on helping tommy getting the discs back, with him getting annoyed at tommy letting tubbo give dream the disc because that made both of their jobs so much harder, but it was more of a long term goal bc he knew dream was hard to beat. plus before his execution, he visited tommy and strongly implied he would be willing to help with the discs, and that he would be a better ally in those personal aims than NLM were)

i don’t understand the ‘techno was only using tommy’ accusation here because like... how? what would he have to gain by having tommy on his side? he could definitely have blown up l’manberg without his help, so why bring him in at all? it was a very mutual agreement of ‘we’re using eachother’ that developed into genuine friendship. i’ve always seen it as a teaching experience: techno knows tommy had been wronged by NLM, and by extension tubbo, and by taking him on these minor terrorism trips, he’s showing tommy the worst of l’manberg. look, look at this execution stand, look at what they’ve done. and in doing this, he’s trying to prove to tommy that what he’s going to do to l’manberg is right. and in showing him the worst of NLM, he’s neglecting all of its good parts, but again, techno cant see any positives in l’manberg, and is trying to show tommy that everyone, especially tommy, would be better off without it. and tommy had criticisms of l’manberg before he was exiled, especially in regards to tubbo. he told ranboo the reason he chose wilbur to be president instead of tubbo was because he was worried the presidency would ruin their friendship, and Look At Exactly What Happened. techno highlighting the flaws of the country to tommy was easy because it WAS flawed and it hurt both of them. and techno’s hope was that tommy would join him in the eventual destruction of it, because he wanted to share his revenge with tommy and for him to get his own justice against l’manberg. but it... didn’t quite work out that way.

they both tried to make it easier for the other; techno told tommy he didn’t need to fight against l’manberg if he didn’t want to, but tommy came with him to the festival anyway to confront dream, despite techno’s mission being against the government in that situation. tommy started to view tubbo’s cabinet as corrupt for the execution and neglecting him during exile, and ended up helping techno out around the base and even toning down the purposeful annoyance (per techno’s ooc request). and the day before the green festival, he told techno he would help to destroy l’manberg (not knowing how quickly things would escalate the next day, since doomsday was fairly spontaneous) but in the end they would never be able to find a full compromise: techno would always be an anarchist and tommy could never hurt tubbo.

people accuse techno of not caring for tommy, which really annoys me because it’s not?? true??? if anything he shows more outward affection than tommy did. he didn’t have any benefit from taking in tommy, but he still did it. it’s not really basic decency either, given that they were technically enemies beforehand. he picked up on tommy’s fragile state around dream and defended, hid him despite the fact that he owed dream, he kept him away from logsted and the final control room after realising how upsetting they were. he exchanged the christmas presents, he jumped in to defend him against the rest of the server and when tommy betrayed techno, he was genuinely hurt! he was wrecklessly impulsive in a way the calculated blade usually wasn’t, almost blowing up half his house (including almost killing his villagers) because of the negative association with dnret.

that’s not to say tommy doesn’t also get absolutely crucified for betraying techno because of all of techno did for him. again it was somewhat inevitable. tommy said it himself, he was turning into someone he didn’t want to be, he was hurting people, and it was somewhat because he was living with technoblade. he was so powerless under dream, and he liked the feeling of power he got from teaming with techno, so much so that it drove him to cruelty, with even techno telling him he went too far with fundy. in the end, it’s probably for the best that he set that boundary and left to go back to l’manberg, but ultimately it was upsetting to both of them. techno felt betrayed because he genuinely thought tommy was his friend, only to be turned on last minute once again, now surrounded alone by enemies he was trying to protect tommy from. to him, allying with dream was just as bad as tommy allying with l’manberg. a betrayal for a betrayal, absolute reciprocity.

we all know the doomsday speech, with techno’s arguments being consistently stronger than tommy’s and much easier to defend, but we can’t just dismiss him. tommy had a lot of emotional input that day, and was angry at techno for a Lot of reasons, so he was more focused on shouting than making sense. he was more accusatory, while techno had fairly focused rebuttals (which, fair, i’m pretty sure that was techno’s first big addressal of most of that with other characters). it ended with tommy calling techno selfish for destroying l’manberg and techno coldly shutting tommy out for the betrayal.

betrayal was the driving force for techno’s “weapon” speech. tommy used him in pogtopia, tried to use him to stop dream exiling him and terrorising NLM) which he laughed at when told in character) and used him for getting the discs back. tommy wasn’t just using him, he genuinely felt like they had built a relationship beyond that, but when techno acted under his own ideals that went against his, then it was over. because tommy doesn’t value techno’s ideals, because they’re ‘selfish’ to him since he’s one of the only ones who believes in them. in turn techno sees that as making tommy selfish and as such they’re unable to compromise.

living with techno was an important part of tommy’s recovery process, which is still ongoing now. he saw immediate changes from his time with dream, claiming he felt “more me-ey” around techno and genuinely valuing his company. but he viewed techno’s alliance with dream as a betrayal, and he viewed the nov 16th incident as a betrayal. because he see’s techno’s belief in anarchy as selfish. something i never hear people point out is that tommy ADMITS he betrayed techno. after doomsday*, he says “all this time, technoblade told me i was betraying him. and you know what? (whispered) i was.” he’s guilty about it, and he understands that techno’s hurt. but he still can’t see him as being in the right, because techno took l’manberg forcefully and violently, and because tommy was hurt by their separation too. techno was powered by revenge more than anarchy during doomsday, which i think is important to point out. tommy had focused in on the threat of dream, and forgotten all the trauma techno went through with l’manberg, and left techno to rejoin l’manberg.

BOTH of them have explicitly stated “i viewed him as a friend but he never viewed me as one” and that’s just... devastating. at one point we can only hope that they have an in-canon conversation to actually settle all of this, but for now their storylines are separate and we’ll just have to live with that.

if anyone has anything they’d like to ask/clarify, or additions from any side i’d love to see it bc character analysis of dsmp characters is what’s keeping me going rn lmao. i said betrayal so many times here i am very sorry for clogging up the tag bc my readmore isn’t working yet (edit SAVED)

*i actually think this speech from tommy is very important, and not looked at as much as other stuff so im gonna link it here [55:52].

#technoblade #tommyinnit #dsmp #mcyt #bedrock bros #dsmp analysis #my readmore isn’t working sad face #can you tell im done with one sided discourse? i just can’t cope with black and white accusations they are all so so flawed #people are entitled to their opinions but sometimes it is just character bashing #the victim complex accusation rots my brain almost as much as people critising how c!techno shows emotions bc folks.... COME ON #if this is coherent i will be AMAZED because i should have focused on either pogtopia era or exile era #i don’t understand mcyttwt because this would be like five threads they have no room to argue anything how do they live #long post #my metas #if this post flops i will be devastated bc then i can’t justify procrastinating 2 essays #sbi #sleepy boys inc

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kyotarou · 3 years

Text

text me now - part 8

previous | masterlist

title: end of the line; the start of something new

warnings: fluff, angst, cheesiness, mild swearing, making out

word count: 1.1k+

special notes at the end (be warned it’s pretty long)

It felt like the whole world was on your shoulders, pushing you deeper underwater. You couldn't breathe despite the crisp air, your lungs aching with every breath. What would be comforting silence was unbearable, especially when Tendou's eyes refused to meet yours, a hint of a scowl hiding beneath his forced neutral expression. It was a bad idea to invite him out, but he did agree to this. You sat on the soft grass of a park near school, watching the shiny blue ripples of the pond rock back and forth. Spring was supposed to be a time of clarity, but your mind was more muddled than ever. The sweet scent of fresh blossoms made your head spin and your stomach churn. More than anything, your heart felt heavier with each passing second. You were unaware Tendou shared the same weight as well.

With you beside him, he was at a loss for words. He was stuck in a cave of his unspoken thoughts, unable to see the light. He wasn't sure where to start or if he had the courage to speak. He pondered on Semi's words, cursing him for clouding him in that air of mystery. He glanced at you, chest growing tighter upon seeing your pained face. Could he fix things?

Tendou took a deep breath.

He turned to you and all his thoughts slipped away. The words weighing on his tongue disappeared, leaving him with a blank slate and a frozen mind. You looked perfect like this, the slight flutter of your lashes as the wind kissed your cheeks, your fingers entwined in your lap—how he wished it was his lips on your skin and his hands tangled in yours. His cheeks grew hot in adoration and shame. He couldn’t believe he nearly let you go.

"(Y/N)..." Tendou immediately bit his tongue. He hadn’t mean to say that.

You turned toward him with a pained smile. "Yes, Satori?"

He could've melted right then and there. His name sounded so sweet on your tongue, so soft and fragile. You treated it with delicacy, a treasure to cherish. He wondered if you'd ever say it like that again.

He looked away. "I... I'm sorry."

"For avoiding me."

It wasn't a question, but rather a statement you both knew the answer to. Tendou was sorry for that, and he was sorry for himself for being blinded by his jealousy and rage. He hurt you and you still stuck with him. He was still hurting you now, refusing to give you any hint of the storm brewing within, all his feelings encapsulated in his fragile body, forcing their way out.

"How do you put up with me?" Tendou crushed a handful of grass. “I’m a piece of shit.”

Your eyes widened, brows furrowed in shock. "You’re kidding, right?"

Tendou let out a harsh scoff and shook his head. Of course he wasn’t. He’d rather you push him away, scream at him to leave, than have you toy with his heart. He wasn’t cut out for love, but he was than willing to try for you—no, with you. The question was, did you want that?

Of course you did, but he was oblivious.

Tendou gulped. "I've been terrible to you, (Y/N)."

"You're far from that."

"(Y/N)-"

"Satori." He jumped when your hand landed on top of his, gentle but firm. Despite your warm smile, he saw how frustrated you were. "Stop saying all those things about yourself. You’re a hell of a lot better than I am.”

His lips parted in shock, throat becoming tight while your grip loosened. You looked up to him—it made his chest swell with pride, but he also felt worse. You left him open to your next attack. You stretched him thin, made him soft, cradled his heart in your hands. You had the power to change him, to either create or destroy something great. Tendou had no means to defend himself. What could he do now besides listen?

You made him vulnerable. You made him happy. You made him feel loved.

The storm inside him was beginning to creep through, the first sign being his thumb wiping the stray eyelash on your cheek. You saw everything—the regret and agony swirling behind his eyes, the slight quiver of his lip. For the first time, Tendou would no longer try to block anything or anyone; he'd bare all his feelings for you.

You let out a shaky breath. Your body had gravitated towards his, shoulders pressed against each other. He sensed the hesitation and fear behind your next words. "You're my first love, Satori. I want you to be my only love."

Tendou lost himself in your gaze, drowning in the endless adoration. Your noses were almost touching now, and he could feel your breath on his cheek. His line of sight flitted to your parted lips. He found himself leaning towards you until his skin was on yours. You kissed him, a wordless conversation shared between two pairs of entwined lips. Tendou didn't need them; his body did all the talking. Your hands snaked into his hair, his gently gripping your wrists. Your kisses were intoxicating, slow and passionate, and leaving him to ache for more. It was ten times sweeter than the accidental kiss now that he knew where your heart lay.

The storm had finally escaped, but rather than a violent downpour, it was a ray of warm clarity and sunny skies. Your bodies felt lighter ten times than before, the tension on your shoulders lifted. You fit so well in his arms as did he, like the final piece in a complex puzzle. His movements continued to grow bolder until you lightly pushed him away with a grin, forehead resting against his.

A heavy fog clouded his mind, but one thing was clear; he could do this for the rest of his life. He was speechless but satisfied, a grin tugging at his tingling lips. Tendou already craved the feeling of yours on his, and he longed for when he could do it again, though he knew it would be soon. The four words that followed after solidified the warmth that spread within, a sense of content and harmony in his previously nerve-wracking day.

“I love you, Satori.”

His arms wrapped around your waist to pull you against his chest. He didn’t mind if you could feel his thumping heart. If anything, he wanted you to—only you could make him feel this way. Tendou was glad his guesses had been wrong for once. Your heart belonged to him, and his to you.

He kept his nose pressed against your cheek, smiling. The tips of your ears grew hot when he placed a featherlight kiss on your jaw, all ounces of shame and uncertainty washed away.

"I love you, too, (Y/N)."

“So-” You murmured against his temple, fingers slotted between his. “Turn this into a real date?”

He grinned. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

a/n: okay...where do i begin? i started this smau back in january after i reblogged a fic title game and an anon sent in “text me now with a member of shiratorizwa.” i chose tendou and thought it was a cute idea. i even said that it’d be a great smau but had no intention of doing anything with the idea, until @theuntamedmulti reblogged and said she wanted this potential smau to exist—and out came this series.

tbh i was really excited but also hesitant. the last series i tried to make when i first started my blog ended up being deleted and discontinued. i’m really bad at completing series in general, so to have this one be a success is a huge accomplishment for me.

i remember finishing all of the smau parts within a span of 2-3 days (which is why some of the timestamps are set in january lol).

as cliche as this sounds, this series has a very special place in my heart. i am very thankful that so many of you enjoy this smau, even if it’s quite short compared to several others. thank you so much for your support. thank you to the anon who sent in that ask, this couldn’t have started without you. thank you to vivian, aka @theuntamedmulti for giving me that little push to start this.

i love you all <3

taglist (closed): @zozodreamy @theuntamedmulti @tsukkim0on @elianetsantana @dekustowel @aideen00 @justfandomlover @rogueofbullshit @giogama08 @squiddlie @captaincyberqueen @kutozume @nachotrash @ems1des @ish-scribbles @salty-satan @darkmbti @rintarosslut @zbops @dumbb1tc4 @candyyrushh @ro-ro-noa @aghasetzen @fi-chanwrites @tobiosaphrodite @panflowerlii @shinah-satoru @lucacangettathisass @maneazuasahi @bokutosbabyowll @fantasycantasy

series completed.

#text me now!#haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #tendou satori #tendou satori x reader #tendou satori smau #tendou satori x you #tendou satori x y/n #haikyuu smau #haikyuu x you #satori tendou #satori tendou x reader #satori tendou smau #tendou satori fanfic #tendou x reader

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alj4890 · 3 years

Text

Angst Prompt

Dawn’s Early Light

(Part Three to One Fateful Night)

As requested by many of you.

(Liam x OC) in a one shot continuation of the angsty One Fateful Night.

A/N Here's some happiness to the angst so many sent messages about. I know it is still bittersweet in a way, with Riley being dead and all, but I think it gives our favorite prince a chance to find true love after all. On another note, I had at one time considered Liam meeting someone in Washington D.C. in another story where Riley died the night of the Homecoming Ball in Book 2. I guess this makes up for deleting it and never posting, LOL.

Part 2 The Dark Before the Dawn

@kingliam2019 @texaskitten30 @yourmajesty09 @gkittylove99 @krsnlove @mom2000aggie @twinkleallnight @lodberg @sweatyrysconnoisseur @motorcitymademadame

Masterlist

Dawn’s Early Light

Somewhere in Maryland...

"Sir?"

Liam grimaced at the voice coming through loud and clear from his cell phone. The one time he convinced Bastien that he could travel on his own and the man still made certain to call every hour.

"Yes?" He huffed.

"Your current location?"

"That at the moment is a little difficult to pinpoint." Liam squinted through the pouring rain. "One of the roads was flooded and the numerous detours have sent me further east of D.C."

He could hear frantic mutterings in the background, papers shifting and clicks from computers.

"Pull over and we will try to locate you." Bastien ordered.

Liam looked about at the flour lane highway, barely able to see five feet ahead of him. "There isn't a spot to do so. I'll call once I find a safe place."

"Your majesty," he could hear the frustration in his Head of the King's Guards' voice, "this is why I insisted we fly down together."

"And I knew this was my last chance to take a road trip of sorts." Liam countered. "You worry too much, Bastien."

"And you don't worry enough." Bastien muttered. "If you haven't found a place within the next hour, I am coming to find you."

"Make sure to bring a rowboat." Liam teased. "That's probably the best way to travel here."

His jest was met with silence.

"Bastien?" Liam glanced down at his phone and saw the call had dropped. Tossing it back in the passenger seat, he continued on down the road.

*****************

Outside of Annapolis...

"No!" Autumn pleaded when her tire burst. "You've got to be kidding me!"

Pulling over onto the shoulder of the highway, she tried to call her parents.

"Gee, thanks for no bars." She grumbled, chucking her phone back into her purse.

Reaching for her coat she prepared herself mentally to change her own tire.

Why did Dad have to make it so boring? He knew I wouldn't pay attention!

It had been ten years since she had sat through that lesson, day dreaming of the cute guy who sat next to her in chemistry class.

And just like her lack of luck with Mr. Chemistry, she was about to fail miserably with her tire.

She pulled the flashlight and tools out her father insisted she keep in her vehicle at all times and stepped out into the rainstorm.

"Any creepy serial killers out there," she yelled towards the darkened woods that lined the highway, "now is NOT the time to mess with me!"

She paused in removing the jack from her trunk. "That goes for any wild animals unless you're the helpful kind from fairy tales."

She snorted at her own joke as she set reflectors along the road. "And if you know of any princes, do send them my way."

"Alright car, you and I have been through it." She patted it's side. "All the snow storms in Pennsylvania. New jobs. New apartments. Ex boyfriends." She knelt by the flat tire. "Let's get through this and I'll treat you to a tank of premium gas."

She removed the hubcap and blinked when a pair of bright headlights pulled up behind her.

"Didn't I specifically demand no serial killers?" She muttered to herself as she saw the silhouette of a man start walking her way.

"Pardon me?" A cultured voice called out. "Are you in need of any assistance?"

She lifted her hand to shield her eyes from the light. "I wouldn't say no to some help."

Her mystery person stopped a couple of feet away from her and studied her tire.

"Where's the jack?"

She handed it to him and watched as he expertly began to raise the back end up.

"Here's the tool kit." She handed it over, discreetly keeping a screwdriver in her hand in case he was a psycho.

"I hate to keep you out in the rain, but could you shine your flashlight here so I can remove the lug nuts?"

"Right. Of course." She dutifully lifted it where he directed.

"Perfect." He turned to smile at her. "Thank you."

She blinked at how handsome he was. "I, no problem. I should be thanking you."

"My pleasure." He looked around. "I don't suppose you know where we are, do you?"

Oh no. A hot psycho. Just my luck.

"Um, don't you know?" She took a cautious step back.

"I've never been in this part of America before." He explained, unaware of her trepidation. "I lost GPS about two hours ago."

"Oh." She relaxed and stepped closer. "We're about forty-five minutes from Annapolis.

"How far is that from D.C.?" He asked.

"About forty minutes or so depending on traffic." She tilted her head. "Let me guess. You're a politician or aide of some sort."

He chuckled. "Not really."

"You certainly don't sound like the men in Washington."

"Oh? And how do they sound?"

"Arrogant jerks. Every last one of them. Even the mailroom guys act like they rule the world." Her nose wrinkled.

"Ah." Her handsome stranger removed her flat tire and placed the spare on. "Not fond of men in power, I take it."

"Not really." She squatted next to him, hoping she would remember his actions in case she had another flat tire some time in the future. "I guess there's bound to be one man out there who actually wants to serve the people instead of having them serve him."

"I see." He glanced over at her. "I like to think there are honest rulers out there."

Her brow furrowed. "Rulers?" She studied his profile. "You're not American, are you?"

He shook his head. "No."

"Where are you from?" Her eyes narrowed in thought. "Your accent is hard to place."

"Cordonia" he grunted as he tightened the lug nuts. "Have you heard of it?"

"It sounds familiar." She muttered.

"It is a tiny but beautiful country in Europe." He explained.

"Isn’t every European nation?” She teased. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of of one that I would turn down a vacation to.”

He began to lower her car back down with the jack. "All done."

"I don't know how to thank you." She pushed her wet hair back, wondering how horrible she must look as she picked up the safety reflectors

"No need." He smiled warmly. "Have a good evening, my lady." With an instinctive bow, he turned and walked back to his own car.

"My lady?" Her lips quirked with humor. Perhaps the fairy tale animals had sent her a prince. "Hey! Wait!"

He paused with his car door open. "Yes?"

"There's an all night diner a few miles ahead." She took a deep breath. "Would you like to follow me there? We could dry off and I could buy you a piece of pie as a thank you."

Her hero's smile grew brighter. "I'd like that. Lead the way."

********************

"I'm Autumn." She held her hand out as they waited to be seated.

"A pleasure to meet you. My name is Liam." He took her hand and bowed over it.

"Is that how people greet one another in Cordonia?" She asked.

"It is the norm from where I grew up." He responded with a sheepish grin.

He shook her hand. "Is that better?"

"Your way was fine." She glanced down at their clasped hands. "I just feel a little under dressed for such a proper greeting."

"Nonsense." Liam continued to hold her hand. "A little water logged perhaps, but lovely nonetheless."

Her lips parted in surprise.

"Just the two of you?"

The pair turned toward a waitress.

"Yes." Autumn replied. "Just us."

"Follow me." She sat them at a table and handed over some menus. "What can I get you to drink?"

"Coffee, please." Autumn replied.

"I'll have the same." Liam added.

"Coming right up."

*********************

"Autumn?" Liam tested her name. "Were you given that name due to being born in the fall?"

She shook her head. "My parents have a warped sense of humor. I was born in April."

He laughed causing her to smile once more.

She thought his laughter had such a warm encompassing sound that made her want to hear it often as she could.

"They also wanted to have their kids' initials for Pennsylvania." She rolled her eyes. "My older brother, Patrick, took care of the P while I completed it with an A." Her own laughter bubbled out. "Then my unplanned younger brother was born and threw those initials out the door."

"What did they name him?" Liam asked.

"August, since he was born in January. Being that he was a surprise, they went with another A name to have an, aaahhh, moment at the end of P.A.."

Liam shook with his laughter over her parents. "They sound delightful."

"They sound that way," she teased, "but when you live with them..." Her smile softened. "They really are great parents and my brothers aren't too bad either."

"I have an older brother." He told her. "Leo and I were never as close as I wished we could have been. He spends so much time traveling and exploring the world that I don't have the heart to pressure him into coming home more often." A sadness came over him. "I've never seen him so happy as when he sends me pictures from his latest adventure."

"He's a wandering soul." She added.

"Precisely." Liam refocused on her. "And a wanderer withers and dies if tied down."

"What about your parents?" She asked.

"My mother died when I was very young and my father passed away about five years ago." He explained. "I'm close to my stepmother, Regina. She and Leo are all I have left for family."

"I'm sorry." Autumn mumbled. "I didn't mean to dredge up painful--"

Her breath caught when he laid his hand over hers. She thought she could actually feel herself getting lost in his blue eyes...which was something she teased her friends over every time they mentioned something like that. Yet here she was, finding herself falling for a man who changed her tire in the rain.

He gently squeezed her fingers. "Nothing to apologize for. I miss them but I am done grieving."

As their waitress brought them a fresh pot of coffee, Liam realized how true that statement was. He was done grieving for all of his lost loved ones.

******************

"Now then." Liam looked up from his menu. "Do you work in Washington?"

"I do." She replied. "Not in a political aspect though."

"What do you do?" He asked.

"I'm an archivist at the National Air and Space Museum."

His expression brightened with interest. "I've always wanted to visit the Smithsonian. To work and preserve the very fabric of your nation's history must be fascinating."

"It is!" She leaned forward as she became more animated about her work.

Deciding to prolong this conversation, the two ordered a meal before indulging in pie.

Liam listened, asking questions that only made her more excited in sharing this piece of her life.

It was rare for Autumn to find anyone interested in what she did.

"Right now, my team is working on digitizing everything we have on rocket tests during the 1950's." She explained. "Reading through the vast paperwork, various film and photographs, all audio recordings; I get to sift through every bit of it for our records."

"I once assisted an archivist at the palace library." Liam told her. "I discovered long ago manuscripts and journals in a hidden nook." His smile softened at the memory. "It was all by accident. My best friend and I were playing in one of the ballrooms when the soccer ball we were kicking around struck a piece of the baseboards, causing a hidden door to open."

Autumn's eyes widened. "It's a wonder you didn't get in trouble with the palace curators. They do not appreciate anyone playing around the exhibits."

Liam chuckled. "I was lucky the curators were fond of me."

"You knew them?" She asked. "Were they family members?"

"They aren't family, but I did know them." He replied, being deliberately mysterious about who he was.

He hadn't had a normal conversation in years. When she didn't recognize him, he felt a lightness he had felt on that long ago night in New York. He had forgotten how it was, how it made him feel. So often, people said the things they thought he wanted to hear. He missed the back and forth of sharing personal tidbits.

Autumn grimaced when she realized she had basically dominated the conversation for nearly an hour.

"Enough about my work," she smiled at him, "what do you do? Did you come here for business or to finally see the Smithsonian?"

He chuckled before taking a sip of his coffee. "As much as I would prefer spending my days wandering through museums, I am here to meet with government officials."

Her nose wrinkled. "I’m sorry. I do not envy you for that." Her eyebrow lifted. "What's the government like in Cordonia? Do you have a prime minister or something similar to our president?"

"We are a constitutional monarchy with the king as the Head of State." He explained.

"I see. Then you work in some capacity for him?" She continued. "You must to be here for meetings."

Liam lowered his eyes. "I suppose you could say that."

"So what's your job title?" She persisted. "Are you a member of the house of lords or whatever you have? Aide to the king?"

"I have a higher position than anything like that." He hedged. "Which is why I'm the only one to attend these meeting the next couple of weeks."

Her brow furrowed. "The king doesn't handle stuff like that?"

"He does which is why I'm here." He focused on her eyes. "The king is the only one to handle the approval for trade agreements and maintaining friendly relations with other countries."

"Then why isn’t he..." She burst into laughter. "You really had me going there for a moment." She shook her head at him. "Nice try, but no king travels alone on highways in a Nissan Altima."

"I do when I want to appear a regular man." He explained.

"Because isn't that royalty is all about?" She giggled some more. "Living life as a middle class man."

"I'm sincere." He argued. "I really am the King of Cordonia."

Her laughter died. "And just when I thought you weren't mentally unhinged." She sighed while picking at her piece of blueberry pie. "I knew you were too good to be true. No man can be both selfless and handsome without a few screws loose."

Liam's elation she found him attractive caught him by surprise. It wasn't that other women had not said similar to him at various functions. It was that he actually felt attracted to her too.

"I can prove I'm the king."

"How long have you believed you were king?" She asked. "Any chance you've thought you were someone else at one time? Napoleon Bonaparte? King Tut?"

He snorted on his laughter. "I've been king for over six years now. The rest of my life was spent as a prince."

"Uh huh." She poured them each another cup of coffee. "Guess that explains why you weren't banned from the palace for playing soccer."

"It is my home." He pointed out.

"Sure it is." She patted his hand. "And I'm sure you're the best king out there who knows how to change a tire."

"I only know because my best friend taught me." Liam explained. "He was one of the few people in my life who did not allow me to become a spoiled prince."

"Right." She smiled at him. "It's been great and all." She reached into her purse for her wallet. "And I do thank you so much for your help with the flat tire, but I should go."

"You don't believe me?" He asked.

"I believe you believe it." She said cautiously.

Liam quickly pulled his phone out and handed it to her. "Look up Cordonia."

"Just because you think you're a king doesn't mean you can order me around." Her eyes narrowed in warning. "Besides, I wouldn't use your phone. You'd probably have me looking at some doctored photos of yourself."

"Forgive me I didn’t mean to make it sound like a command." Liam ran a hand through his hair. "I've never met anyone who didn't believe I am who I say."

"First time for e everything, huh?" She hesitated when she saw his disappointment. "Fine." She searched for her phone. "I'll play along if you find our waitress. I'm going to need more pie as I research you."

He grinned while doing as she asked.

Autumn wandered of it was because it was the middle of the night that made her sit here with some guy claiming to be--

"No!" Her eyes darted from the images of King Liam of Cordonia to the Liam sitting at her table. "You're really a king?!"

"Would you care for another slice of blueberry or a different type of pie?" He asked with a bright smile.

"Blueberry." Her jaw was still dropped.

"Another slice of blueberry please for the lady and I'll have a slice of apple."

"Why on earth are you traveling lone highways in Maryland?" She asked when their waitress left.

"I flew in to New York for a few meetings with U.N. representatives. Our representative is new to her job and I wanted to encourage her." He explained. "Then I suppose I caught a bit of wanderlust from my brother and wanted to drive down to D.C." He took a bite of his new slice of pie. "It's rare I am able to convince my security team to let me out of their sight, but there are times when I like to be alone with my thoughts."

"I guess you have a lot of people demanding your time." She conceded.

"I do, which is why I make time for the people and activities that are important to me." He looked up at her. "Experience has taught me how fleeting time can be and we should make the most of every moment we are given."

"I like that." She cut into her slice with her fork while scrolling through images of Cordonia. "A lot of people get so easily wrapped up in their work and don't realize that they are missing out on so much more."

"Are you one of those people?"

Autumn paused chewing to consider his question. "Sometimes. I can get so wrapped up in a project and shut out the world going on around me." She shrugged. "Then something happens to shake me back to reality."

Liam grinned when it hit him that his being confirmed king had not changed the way she spoke to him.

As if reading his thoughts, her fork clattered on her plate. "I can't believe you really are a king." Her head tilted as she studied him. "You really don't act like how I imagine one would."

Liam folded his arms on the table and leaned forward. His bright blue eyes held her gray ones. "How should I act?"

She snorted. "For one thing you wouldn't have stood out in the pouring rain to change a tire."

"Aren't fairy tales filled with princes rescuing damsel in distress?" He countered.

She rolled her eyes playfully. "It isn't like you slayed a dragon."

"According to your imagination, what should I have done in that situation?" He countered, delighted with her not putting him on a pedestal.

"First off, if you were on a," she made quotation marks with her fingers, "road trip, you'd probably be in a limo since your private jet is tucked away in a hangar somewhere."

"But then I would have a driver and thus not able to be alone." He reminded her.

"True." She propped her chin on her hand and smiled. "We'll forget the car then since you are chivalrous and in need of a break." She gestured with her free hand around the diner. "A king wouldn't come her, happily order food, nor be willing to sit here for hours listening to some girl talk about museums."

"Why not?" Liam asked. "He could have been hungry since he had been lost for a while."

"I guess that's a reasonable possibility." Autumn muttered.

"And if he wanted to know more about the damsel he rescued, then shouldn't he be at least willing to remain here with her?"

"Maybe." She forced herself to look away from him. "Then again, maybe this is a night for things out to the ordinary to happen." She asked their waitress for their check.

Autumn shushed his arguments, insisting on paying for his meal.

At that moment, Bastien and some guards walked in.

Liam's eyes widened. "Bastien? How did you find me?"

"We have a tracker on your phone, your majesty." He explained. "We really need to get you to Washington. You have an early morning of..."

Liam tuned him out and focused once more on the lady he had met tonight.

"It's my fault." Autumn spoke up. "I wanted to thank Liam with some pie for his help earlier."

She stood up and held her hand out. “Thank you again for helping me.”

Liam pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Autumn."

"I..." She could feel her entire body blush with that simple touch. "I'm happy to have met you too, Liam." She grimaced. "I mean, your majesty. Should I curtsy?"

He chuckled. "Just Liam with no curtsey is fine."

"Liam no curtsey." She winked at him. "Nice name for a king." Nodding farewell toward his guards, she slipped out of the restaurant.

Liam watched her drive off from one of the windows.

He wondered if he had just met the one.

#Liam x OC #choices the royal romance #choices stories you play #trr liam #king liam

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adultswim2021 · 3 years

Text

Space Ghost Coast to Coast #82: “Baffler Meal” | January 1, 2003 - 12:00 AM | S08E01

An all-time classic, wonderful episode. Ending 2002 on a high note (technically this is the first episode of 2003 being that it aired at midnight, but I’m delaying my EPHEMERA CORNER post for as long as I can).

The origins of Aqua Teen Hunger Force are laid bare for all to see with Baffler Meal. Aqua Teen Hunger Force was famously based on a rejected Space Ghost script. Well, this is that script, re-imagining the Aqua Teens based on old designs and concepts from that unproduced episode. The desired effect is to approximate what that episode would have been like had it been produced in 1999 before the Aqua Teen Hunger Force series proper was developed. It’s supposed to be confusing; to the point where in the DVD commentary track they even question weather or not they should make it clear within the commentary that that’s what’s going on here (they do).

I will now take this opportunity to quote one of my favorite synopses of a TV show ever, originally taken from tvtome (remember tvtome? god, what a great site):

Space Ghost is forced into a raw deal with the deadly Colonial Man, forever altering the future of classic rock - again. Willie Nelson and a MOCKERY of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force star in this episode. This episode mocks a great comedy show. It doesn't feel funny in the least.

Here you can see the lack of understanding for what the episode really is. Despite the fact that the ostensible Space Ghost fan (tvtome was run by volunteer submissions for it’s episode data) should one-thousand percent understand the Space Ghost connection, clearly recognize Dave Willis’ voice (he still voices Meatwad in a very similar manner), etc. The degree of confusion this episode caused can not be understated.

Nuggets from the DVD commentary:

Frylock is a guy in a costume in this. Okay, that wasn’t specifically from the DVD commentary, but it’s the first time I caught that detail, ever, and I don’t want to start a separate bullet-point list for stray observations.

Shake’s read of “blahd” instead of “blade” was inspired by a real typo in the script, just like “Branford the Branford” before it.

Todd Hanson of The Onion helped write this episode and kept pitching a character named Napkin Lad. I believe Napkin Lad actually comes to be later in the Aqua Teen series.

And another thing I love: The cool song at the end. The part where Dave is like “OH BABY, YEAH BABY” etc. towards the very end of the episode? That part gets stuck in my head like, VERY FREQUENTLY, and for years I thought it was Bob Odenkirk singing in either a Mr. Show or Ben Stiller Show sketch and have been trying to place it forever. Turns out it wasn’t Bob, but David, and I ain’t talkin’ Cross, do I sound cross to you? Do you even appreciate wordplay??

NEXT is my end-of-the-year roundup of second-run premieres, shorts, commercials, bumpers, etc. That’s right, EPHEMERA CORNER is back! But it’s gonna be a long one so I might break it up over the course of a few days, maybe a week, even.

MAIL BAG

I think these were all anonymous, please forgive me if I have, as the French say, “fucked up” by failing to name the conspirator.

2002 is almost over! What do you think brak's position on the iraq war was? Carl's? Hesh's? Junior addleburg's?

Brak: against, but respects the office of the presidency and urges using civil methods to protest. Carl: pro, he is a white supremacist and is supportive of any and all mass destruction committed on non-white nations. Hesh: HESH WANTS SOME SEX! lol. Junior Addleburg: has not been told about the war.

Do you think you are being overtly charitable to Brak this time around? Surely the best Brak show episode isnt even half as good as the worst Home Movies episode. Right?

I do tend to react to “better” Brak episodes the same way you encourage a problem student when they squeak out a B minus. There absolutely was a time when I loved The Brak Show and was all-in on it. That time was SEPTEMBER 2nd-8th, 2001. Hippo was certainly a factor. 9/11 may have also contributed.

I don’t think I’ve said this yet, but I’ve been keeping a running episode ranking of Adult Swim shows as I’ve been doing this. It’ll probably get revised at some point, so I’m not exactly ready to share it. In my ranking I tended to group Home Movies episodes very close to each other, and I would sometimes talk myself into ranking things a little higher or lower than I normally would just to break up a long streak of Home Movies. So I can actually say with impunity, yes, there are strong episodes of Brak Show that I've ranked over weaker episodes of Home Movies. But I might have to have a little chat with the man in the mirror about that.

Are you only doing animated shows or are you going to do live animated shows to. I feel like most people agree Tim and Eric bringing live-action to the block ruined it permanently even if you think those guys are funny in a vacuum. I'm just wondering because I know you did animation only for your Simpsons Night B-sodes so I feel you are a "tooned-in" guy.

Live-action is getting reviewed too! I can’t WAIT to revisit Saul of the Molemen. Are you fucking kidding me? I’m not sure where to draw the line on the internet stuff, though. If it aired on Adult Swim I’m very likely to cover it, but I don’t see myself covering the FishCenter repeats that aired at 4AM. Anime is generally getting the shaft. Sorry. I think it’d be cool if somebody started a blog that covered Adult Swim Action. But yes, you are right, I’m a pretty tooned-in guy. Lots of people have said this about me.

If you had to dress like any of the Adult Swim First Era characters for Halloween who would you dress as and who would you LIKE to dress as if difficulty of pulling it off wasn't an issue.

There was a Space Ghost muscle suit at one of those Halloween Stores one year and I very nearly bought it even though I had no intention of wearing it for Halloween. I did a very low-effort season 4 Hank Venture because by happenstance my hair looked like his at the time, and I found what looked like Brock’s jacket at a thrift store.

Putting on a blue Sealab uniform and only traveling in a chair with wheels would be real fun. I could probably pull of an effective Carl. As far a difficult costume I’d be the poolside announcer during the O.G. bumpers, because I imagine that he’s very muscular and his dick is real long and it’s constantly flopping out of the pantleg of his swim trunks and that it’s getting sucked off all the time by them old ladies and most of the time he’s like “no no, we mustn’t do that, for I am a professional” but every now and again he’s like “well alright” and this would reflect my experiences at whatever Halloween party I’m at except it would be a 20 year old woman dressed like an old lady because it’s Halloween. Thanks for the question.

Do you have a girlfriend? What does she think of Adult Swim or does she hate cartoons like mine.

I’m not done with the last thing. I would also have a bullhorn and I’d be using it while getting sucked off, even though that’s a discreet affair. Like, we’d find a bedroom that was empty and lock the door and I’d be like “Oh yeah baby suck my peenie, yes you are doing so good at sucking that.” in hushed tones, but into the bullhorn. I’d also use it to yell at children for wearing racist or appropriative costumes, which, as we all know, leads to more getting-your-dick-sucked. Anyway, I got a wife and we literally met at an Adult Swim event during Comic-Con! It was Tim & Eric Awesome-con 2007! I’M NOT LYING

Would you rather take one big bite out of meatwad or drink the entirety of Master Shake.

I wonder if Master Shake is warm. Anyway, I’d go with that, biting Meatwad seems like CERTAIN DEATH.

#adult swim #aqua teen hunger force #adultswim2021

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the-lightning-strikes-again · 3 years

Note

Hi! I just started reading your fan-fiction, "Adrenaline Rush" and I have to say it is VERY good. I have a question if you don't mind answering it. I am writing fan-fiction of my own and I have been pushing it off for months because I don't know where to start. For this, what was your writing process? Example: Did you write your plot first or did you write as you went to each chapter?

Hi, anon! Thanks for your very kind note and interest in Adrenaline Rush! The story has its issues/tangles, but it’s definitely been a fun and personally meaningful project for me to try writing. It means a lot to hear that you’re enjoying it! And that’s very exciting that you want to start writing as well. :)

Each writer will be different in terms of their creative process, so a part of your question involves learning more about yourself as a creator too! It’s good to know how your brain likes to work and what environment helps it hum along, which may or may not align with what works for me.

Honestly, AR’s design and development has been haphazard. For me, AR all started because I was unable to attend a nearby drag racing competition in 2018, and those races had been a pretty big staple in my life. At the same time, my head was full of Voltron shenanigans because I’d just recently joined the fandom. I was walking the family puppy when it hit me that Blue Lion, Red Lion, etc. would be good names for Top Fuel machines. I was so excited at the concept of exploring drag racing in a fic. It gave me a “race” to look forward to, along with all the drama and adrenaline that came with it. In that moment, I had enough excitement in my brain to convert the Potential Energy of my idea into the real Kinetic Energy of writing/typing.

If you have the energy but are not sure how to “start” your story, then you might consider what it means to set aside the opening or even the assumed first chapter for now. What scene/image/dialogue in your head do you really want to write right now? What happens if you just…start there, and then work backwards or forwards? Sometimes you have to get a feel for the medium you’re working with before you can really start molding the scenes and imagery into something fully formed. My first “scene” I wrote for AR was definitely not the opening one. The first story lines I wrote involved Lotor smoking a cigarette on a pro stock motorcycle, lol. I built around that image, as well as the image of a determined Allura sitting in Blue Lion, preparing to race. The desire to bring these characters and their racing machines to life really helped me hammer out that first chapter in a blur of a few days, where I puzzle-pieced scenes together.

Other activities that can help you start a story is to look at how other authors start their stories. For example, do they start with a question, or a conversation, or a description of scenery? Do they start at the very beginning of a plot, or in the middle of action and catch you up on the details later? What kind of opening in other people’s stories most engages you? What happens to your story if you start with one element over another? What kinds of plots and story structures make you feel most engaged when you read them? What happens when you try to emulate those things? (Just questions to munch on here.)

I think it also helps to ask yourself why you want to write this story. Do you just want to explore an aesthetic that makes you feel good? Do you have a deep need to explore a certain kind of character or world? Are you hoping to get a catharsis of some kind? Is it a couple of things at once? Are you wanting to write a massive epic or just a short drabble to convey a moment in time? If you know “why” you are doing something, that can help you to know what kind of scenes to write—and what the story’s goal or vibe should be. Silly plot holes and clunky dialogue and some OOCness can be forgiven, especially in fanfic, which is a labor of love anyway—but if your story radically changes its tune or plot and no longer addresses the “why” that made you so excited in the first place, then that can alienate even you from it. Once you know what you want out of your story, then you can start plotting out all the different ways you could potentially achieve that goal. This feeds directly into the types of scenes that appear in a first chapter.

Before I started writing any actual scenes for AR, I did try to feel out more of the story by writing a promotional blurb. Like, if this were a book jacket or a Goodreads summary, what would that enticing blurb potentially look like? What was this story going to be about, aside from Lotor and Allura being pretty while they race machines, lol? I had some people in a discord who were kind enough to let me “pitch” a blurb at them to see if it would be of interest. This was my original pitch, which isn’t terribly different from the story summary as it appears on AO3 today:

The discord members were very encouraging, and so that gave me the push I needed to start writing story content, beginning with the images of Lotor smoking on his bike and Allura preparing to qualify. This tactic might not be for everyone just starting out, but writing a short promotional blurb/story summary can help you identify some initial parameters in terms of characters/conflict/setting. Having those basic parameters can then further target the types of images, dialogue, and scenes that make logical sense for introducing your story.

If you need more structure than just free-form writing or building off an image in your head, you can definitely use an outline to help you identify scenes or images that you’d like to try working on. While AR did not start off with an outline, it does have a plot outline now to help ensure I don’t drop something important. So I started bulleting ideas, trying to stretch out the story summary to its natural/logical end point.

An outline can help you write linearly if clear, concrete structure resonates with your brain. It can give you an opportunity to “preview” how a chapter opening can affect future events before you even write them, if you’re worried about where free-form-writing can take you. If you want to use an outline, it doesn’t even have to be all that elaborate. It can just be bullet points or explanatory sentences, or pieces of dialogue. It can be notes on a poster arranged in a spider web design. It can be a collection of gifs on your computer that signify the emotions you want to simulate in the story—it can be literally anything, and it can evolve too.

Paradoxically, writing an outline has also helped me move away from having to write individual chapters in a linear fashion, which is sometimes hard for me to do over a long course of time. So readers on AO3 might experience AR as a linear story, but I have dozens of pages of future scenes or bits of dialogue that I felt inspired to write over the last few years. Like, one major scene appearing in the most recent chapter 9, which published here in January 2021—it’s been written since July of 2019, lol. Using an outline to tackle a story can empower you to follow your bliss in a nonlinear fashion. For example, sometimes I’m more in a mood to write racing, and other times, I’m more emotionally invested in writing AR’s background drama or romance. If I halfway know where I’m going based on my outline, I can switch gears to write what I immediately want to write, and then I can later sew scenes and dialogue together later in a fairly smooth fashion.The concept of writing a chapter straight from start to finish just doesn’t have to constrain me with this method, and that’s critical for me. I understand having to trudge through writer’s block for a particular scene, but I like to minimize that pain as much as possible. And sometimes moving beyond that point can remove the writer’s block entirely.

Admittedly, the original outline I wrote for AR doesn’t match 1:1 to what’s currently written. As I started actually writing out scenes correlating to those bullet points on my outline, things changed. The space between bullet point 1 and bullet point 2 expanded with additional scenes, and those additions changed the details in the original bullet point 2. So my outline has gone through several tweaks as well.

This is the “organic” slop that can occur between your true written product and your initial assumptions for where the story should go. There are going to be plot milestones that you likely have to hit in order to achieve your end-goal/correct vibe with the story, but it’s totally okay to let your characters have a voice in how they get there. You might start an outline or a story assuming Road Trip A through the city is the best way to get to the end or achieve a certain vibe, but as your characters grow in your head, they might decide for themselves that Road Trip B through the mountains is the best way to the end. Once you set a story in motion, it’s no longer just you driving it. Your characters should drive the story too. Allowing them to do that will keep you emotionally invested and interested in the story. Sometimes, your characters will even write for you if you don’t know what to write. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure I’m in control of AR—I suppose I’m the navigator with a map sitting in the passenger seat, but I know I’m not the one holding the wheel, LOL.

And while we all do hope to create something quality that we’re immensely proud of, I do think it’s important to keep G.K. Chesterton’s thought in mind: “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” In other words, the desire to create something immediately perfect with minimal effort can keep you from doing anything at all. It’s better to accept a messy first draft and to know you may have to revise later, than to sit in fear and end up writing nothing. And sometimes, your brain needs physical content to react to before you feel you’ve found the best option. Like, just getting content down to start with can change your whole perspective. You can revise and mold things as you get a better feel for what you want to convey. There’s always draft 2 for structural changes. Or draft 3 or 4 for polishing and getting a satisfying first sentence down. There’s no pressure to crank out a Pulitzer Prize Winner on a first draft or even after you publish something to a fanfic archive. This is fanfic. It’s supposed to be fun, at the end of the day. Let yourself enjoy the process of messy creation. Let your characters help you out. Don’t be afraid to revise or try out a few different things get to the vibe/end you really want. To do is to know.

If you’re still not confident in yourself or your abilities to make a critical design decision, you can always engage a beta reader or have someone listen to your ideas. Talking things out loud or reading your work out loud to yourself can help you process creative decisions in a new way! There’s also a significant difference between typing on a computer or writing things down on paper. Typing on a computer can take away the fear of permanence, while writing things down on paper can slow you down and make you experience each word more fully.

So I guess to wrap all of this up: I have a pretty fluid process, and I’m more worried about not creating at all than I am about screwing it up. Even a screwed-up work can teach you something and help you get somewhere better next time. And if you had fun making it, then maybe it wasn’t a screw-up at all! I really encourage you to soul-search on what gives you joy or excitement regarding this fic idea you have, and to hold on tight to that joy as you begin translating images in your head or outlining plot points, or something in between.

I hope something from this response helps you! <3

#Voltron #VLD #Adrenaline Rush #Fanfiction #Fanfiction writing #writing #writers of tumblr #writeblr #lightning rambles #it's hard to know how to start something #but it can be rewarding to jump into the challenge #I believe you can do it!#Best of luck on your first steps with writing fic!

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holidaywishes · 5 years

Text

Sweaty Betty’s

Summary: After your convocation, you head to a bar with a group of friends to celebrate finally being done with school.

Author’s Note: Not really much to say, other than I’m procrastinating doing my homework and my other series. I’ve learned my lesson from Hard Not To Notice and I split this one into two parts. BUT IT WILL ONLY BE THE TWO PARTS. I’ll eventually get back to writing my It Had To Be You series because that thing needs… something. But for now, here we are, with this Freddie Andersen imagine. So, I hope you enjoy this short little writing -- I have another angsty one in mind that I might write but we’ll see.

Warnings: fluff, drinking, some swearing, drunk fighting, smut in second part so there’s some hard fluff at the end to lead into it

masterlist

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“Congratulations to the Class of 2019!” Lindsay, the class valedictorian, exclaimed, “Go out and live the best lives you can because it’s our turn now!” Everyone threw their caps into the air without caution and you quickly left your seat to find your friends, whose names were, haplessly, alphabetically opposite yours; embracing them in a tight group hug when you finally found them.

“WE GRADUATED!” Your best friend, Charlie, shouted into the group hug

“Can you believe it?!” you said, disbelief coating your words

“Not one bit,” another one of the girls, Blaire, added, making the rest of the group laugh, “but we did it guys. We’re done! No more assignments. No more midterms. No more finals, no more group projects!” Everyone laughed before eventually breaking up the hug, trying to decide what the plan was for the rest of the day

“I have lunch with my family,” you said pointing to your Mom and brother as they waited for the crowd to disperse around them, “my grandparents are coming into town. Aunts, Uncles, the whole shebang. You have no idea how stressed my Mom is; my Dad keeps bringing her chocolate every five minutes to calm her down…” You laughed and the group shared their plans for the rest of the day. It was a lot of family meals, celebratory drinks and photography sessions -- to which you rolled your eyes and gave a sarcastic remark.

“You know how my parents are,” your childhood friend, Darcy, defended, “they want pictures of everything and they hated those stupid Grad portraits. They figured they’d do it themselves…”

“I know I know, I was just kidding around” you replied before Lindsay came up to the four of you

“There she is! Miss Valedictorian herself!” Blaire shouted, “it was a great speech, honestly”

“Thank you Blaire” Lindsay replied

“We’re so proud of you Linds,” you cooed, bringing her in for a hug, “so what about you? What are your plans for the rest of Convocation Day?”

“We’re going camping…” she said, clearly not wanting to spend her weekend in a tent, “apparently my folks had it planned for months because we’re going to a place that we used to go to when I was a kid. My Dad is stressing out over me leaving to go work in Austin in January that he wants to spend as much time together as a family as we can…”

“It could be fun…” Darcy tried

“Trust me,” Lindsay leaned in, “I’d much rather be getting drunk with you guys tonight to celebrate, instead of being eaten alive by all the bugs…”

“You’ll be fine,” Charlie said, “just keep the bug spray close by.” Lindsay shoved Charlie lightly before saying goodbye to the group reluctantly; your brother coming up behind you and poking you in your sides, forcing you to quickly turn around and smack him

“JESUS BRADY!” you screamed, “how many times do I have to tell you not to do that?!” He laughed, trying to dodge your strikes, before cozying up to Blaire

“So, Blaire, I know the perfect way to celebrate your graduation…” he tried to say the words seductively, “want me to show you?”

“Ew, Brady…” you whined

“I think you need someone to show you how to celebrate…” Blaire said, leaning into Brady, clearly trying to unsteady him, “I’ve got a pretty great arsenal of tricks that I could teach you…”

“Oh yeah?” Brady’s voice cracked, causing Blaire to finally break

“Sorry kid, you’re just a little too young for me,” she put a hand on his shoulder to let him down easy, “you guys have a great lunch, I gotta go. I can see my Dad waving me over. (Y/N), ladies, I’ll see you tonight?”

“Text me,” you said as you gave her a hug goodbye, “we’ll figure out a plan for tonight.” The group gave a collective round of ‘I love you’s’ as Blaire turned and walked toward her family.

“We gotta go too, (Y/N),” Brady nudged you, clearing his throat, “Mom has gone through four boxes of chocolate so far and I can only assume Dad is picking her up some more right now…”

“Okay,” you sighed, “he’s right. I’ll see you guys later, congrats guys!” Another round of hugs were given before you let the group go and you wandered over to your Mom

“My little graduate!” your Mom cooed, pressing a kiss to your cheek and you tried to pull away, whining at her affection. When your Dad finally showed up, the four of you left for the restaurant and waited for the rest of your family to get there. It was a pretty mellow lunch considering how many people were there but it wore you out nonetheless. Your Dad dropped you off at your apartment so you could take a quick nap before the inevitable chaos that would happen later.

“Hey, sweets?” your Dad said before you left the car

“Yeah Dad?”

“I’m so proud of you,” he said and you gave him a small smile. He was easily your favourite person in the whole world but he didn’t get emotional very often, so hearing him say that he was proud of you was incredibly special, “I know I don’t say it very often but I am so incredibly proud of you and everything you’ve accomplished. And everything I know you’re going to accomplish”

“Thank you Daddy,” you smiled, trying to hold back your tears, bringing him in for a big hug, “I love you so much. I don’t know how much of this I could’ve done without you; all of the times I was stressed out and thought I was better off dropping out than finishing my degree. You talked me off so many ledges, Dad.”

“It’s all you, baby girl,” he smiled as he pulled back to look at you, “a few words from me here and there to help you through sure, but you’re the one with the brains. You’re the one who was determined to succeed.” A stream of tears finally left your eyes and you noticed a few fall from your Dad’s as well

“Alright alright, no more crying!” you said, wiping your tears away, “I have to get some sleep, I’m exhausted…”

“I love you, (Y/N)”

“I love you too, Daddy.” You exited his car and wandered toward your apartment building, glancing back at him and waving him goodbye before he drove away. As soon as you got into your apartment, your WIFI connected and you were flooded with texts from Charlie trying to figure out plans for tonight.

“Have you ever heard of Sweaty Betty’s?”

“I heard it’s supposed to be a good place”

“Apparently, they have a big selection of whiskey and you like whiskey”

“Hello?!”

“There’s always like Dance Cave”

“Or I guess Stirling Room…”

“But this Sweaty Betty’s is probably a great place to start and then we can head to Little Italy -- Come See Me?”

“(Y/N)!! Answer me!”

“If you don’t answer me soon, I’m making the decision for us…”

“We’ve never been to the Speakeasy either. Wanna do that instead?”

“Literally we just need a place to get drunk…”

“(Y/N) (Y/M/N) (Y/L/N)!”

“Holy Shit Char,” you finally texted back, “I just got back into my apartment. My data was off and there was no WIFI at the restaurant. You know I’m fine with whatever you pick. I do think though that the speakeasy should be saved for a night when we have like costumes or whatever lol”

“So… Sweaty Betty’s and then Come See Me?”

“I’m good with that? Have you texted everyone else?”

“Blaire said she’ll share an Uber with Darcy so they’ll meet us there probably. But…”

“But what? Who did you invite?”

“Don’t get mad, they wanted to come and they graduated too. Nick and Sam are gonna meet us there..”

“Ughhh! Charlie! Look whatever. Fine. As long as they don’t try to flirt with me or dance with me at any point during the night, I don’t care. They just creep me out. I can’t believe you invited them…”

“Honestly, they overheard me planning it and they kind of invited themselves..”

“Of course they did”

“It’ll be fine! Don’t worry”

“Whatever, okay. I’m gonna have a nap. Am I meeting for pre-drinks or are you coming here?”

“Hmmm, you’re closer to the bar. So I’ll come over to yours and we’ll call an Uber from there!”

“Alright. See you in a couple hours. Love you!”

“Love you babe!”

It must not have been typical bar Tequila that you’d been drinking because four shots in and you were barely able to see straight. At some point, you remember the shots hitting you inexplicably and you told Nick and Sam you didn’t want them around.

“This is supposed to be a celebration but you two are just making it weird,” you slurred, “face it, no one’s fucking you tonight. So why don’t you just go home...”

“There’s no need to be a bitch, (Y/N)...” Nick said, anger in his voice, masked only by embarrassment and you tried to fix it

“I.. I’m sorry.. I don’t kn-- I think I’m gonna be sick…” You held your hand over your mouth as you tried to maneuver through the crowd, noticing Sam storm off and Nick follow close behind him; all of a sudden you were filled with an overwhelming sense of guilt -- which was soon overpowered by the Tequila you were currently puking up. You had never been this bad before; not since your 18th birthday when your cousin, Mary, decided that she would show you the proper way to get drunk, not realizing her limits were vastly different from yours. A few glasses of water should make you feel better, so you cleaned yourself up in the mirror and gathered yourself enough to head back to Charlie and the girls.

“There she is” Blaire teased

“Can I get a glass of water please?” you asked the bartender, returning a quick Thank you when he placed the glass in front of you. It was gone almost instantly so, you asked for another before your friends got annoyed

“You can’t just stop drinking!” Darcy complained, “none of us drove. Which means none of us are the designated driver. None of us have to be group Mom tonight. The whole point is that we’re celebrating our graduation… We’re here to get drunk; fucked up!”

“Yes, Darce, I know,” you laughed, “but I just threw up, which means I need to add in some water.” You finished your second glass of water and then continued on with the night; laughing with your group of girlfriends, flirting with some strangers they brought into your circle and slowly added more cocktails into your repertoire.

“So ladies, what are your plans for the rest of the night?” one of the guys asked, leaning in close to Blaire who was not having it

“Girls night” she mocked

“We just graduated so we’ve got a lot planned” Charlie added

“Oh congrats on graduating!” another one of them said, “maybe we can help you celebrate.” You rolled your eyes at his comment and noticed Darcy mockingly put her finger down her throat before turning to the bartender to order a drink.

“Vodka tonic please” you heard her say

“I’ll grab a double Stoli cranberry” you said as you popped beside her

“These guys are so painfully obvious” she joked and you smiled

“If only Charlie weren’t so painfully hard up” you teased about your BFF

“I hope she doesn’t go home with one of them just yet, I do still want us all to celebrate together”

“We will! Don’t worry. Down the drink and we’ll get another” you mewed, giving her a wink. A few hours later and the drinks were starting to hit the girls in different ways; you couldn’t stop giggling, Blaire was looking for food, Charlie was kissing every stranger she came in contact with and Darcy was trying to convince everyone to dance with her. None of you realized how late it was until you contemplated heading to a club to dance.

“It’s too late for that, Darce…” Charlie whined, “we’d have to get an Uber and like.. find it…”

“We can go to a club tomorrow night,” you tried to compromise, “we’ll sober up and we’ll head to Come See Me first and just kinda stay there…” Darcy just frowned at you and you frowned back, feeling guilty that she hadn’t gotten to dance all night like she was promised; you dragged her out to a small clearing at the side of the bar to try and dance to the music that blared through the bustling bar. While the two of you were dancing, Charlie had invited a group of guys to surround her and Blaire, Charlie’s laugh permeating the crowd before it reached you.

“She doesn’t stop does she?” Darcy laughed

“Here, you go see what that’s about,” you nodded in your friends’ direction, “I have to pee…” You wandered to the washroom, staring at yourself in the mirror after washing your hands and tried to sober enough to talk to these strangers. You couldn’t say it was something you cared too much about but, on the off chance Charlie fell for one of these guys, you’d be damned if they only saw you as the drunk, rowdy best friend for the rest of your life. When you made your way back to the bar where Blaire, Charlie and Darcy were surrounded by four toned guys, you scooted past everyone to order yourself a drink instead of introducing yourself to anyone. That’s when he leaned into you and your breath never left your throat.

“Having a good night?” a tall red-head smiled in your direction and your eyes danced across his face, trying to find someway to speak, “I’m Freddie by the way.” His hand was nearly the size of your head and it took all of your composure to lift your hand up to shake his; slow and only slightly awkward. The girls around you had all paired off with a guy, even Darcy which surprised you more than you thought it would. You were brought back to Freddie, though, when he handed you the drink you ordered.

“Oh thank you,” you said shakily, “I’m (Y/N)...”

“It’s nice to meet you, (Y/N)” He returned, smiling down at you, making your cheeks flood with heat and you dropped your eyes to the floor so he wouldn’t see. It wasn’t long, however, until his hands found their way onto your hips and your eyes darted back to his; sure to never tear them away unless absolutely necessary.

Freddie’s P.O.V.

You wondered where she had been your whole life. This (Y/H/C) haired girl with the brightest smile you’d ever seen and eyes that sparkled like stars. She hadn’t spoke yet, so you weren’t sure what the melody of her voice would be but you imagined it would be mesmerizing. You finally introduced yourself to her, thinking she’d do the same, holding her hand while you waited but her attention seemed to go to her friends instead. You watched as her eyes scanned the group of your friends and hers when her drink came to be in front of you.

“Oh thank you” she said softly and you straightened your posture, “I’m (Y/N)”

“It’s nice to meet you, (Y/N).” You noticed a slight tinge of pink stain her cheeks before she dropped her eyes to the floor and you just wanted to see those beautiful eyes sparkle again; placing your hands on her hips. She looked up at you with such intent that you couldn’t bear to tear your eyes away from hers. She was the one to finally break the eye contact

“So… what do you do, Freddie?” she asked with a shy smile, tucking some hair behind her left ear

“I’m a goalie” you said, trying not to mention your team and gauge her reaction when you noticed her eyes grow a little wide

“Oh no…” she giggled, “you’re not crazy are you?” You laughed at her response before shaking your head

“I don’t think so, no”

“Okay good, ‘cause my brother plays goalie in his little local league and he’s kinda, you know,” she joked, “he’s a little crazy. I mean you have to be just a little crazy right?”

“I mean, sure, yeah, to have hockey players and pucks flying at you…”

“Right!” she laughed, her smile beaming, and you couldn’t take your eyes off her but she was started to drift away from you; her shyness creeping up to her so you leaned in to talk to her

“What about you?” you asked

“Me? I don’t play sports. No I would fall over myself and get a concussion for sure…”

“Is that so?”

“Painfully.” You laughed and finished your beer, ordering another before you asked (Y/N) what she did for a living

“I’m a student.. Well I just graduated, we all did. That’s why we’re here..” she said, before looking at her friends flirting with yours and she laughed, “I guess now I have to find a job with my degree”

“Well I’m sure that won’t be hard. What degree?”

“Early Childhood Education, with a double minor in Psychology and Music Studies. It was kind of a bitch to get through but I’ve always loved kids and music has a way of... as cheesy as it sounds... really helping people. So I thought why not combine everything and give the kids their best chance?”

“Wow.. I’m surprised,” you said and noticed her face contort, forcing you to backpedal, “no no, I just mean, you have an idea where you want to go and what you want to do”

“Sort of, not really. I just graduated today so I haven’t thought too much about it.” After a while, you realized that you hadn’t introduced (Y/N) to anyone, so you brought her over to everyone; your hand on the small of her back

“(Y/N), this is Auston, Willy and Connor, guys this is (Y/N)”

“Nice to meet you” they said together and she reciprocated the statement before her friend interrupted the conversation by pulling Willy in for a sloppy kiss

“Oh jeez” she said before bursting into a fit of laughs

“Why don’t we go find a place to sit down?” You said, leaning down to speak in her ear

“You really think we’ll be able to find something?” she asked looking around the crowded bar and you took her hand to lead her through the space. Once you found a partly empty couch, you asked if she was okay sharing the space and she nodded; you sat down next to the couple that was busy making out and she sat down next to you, unintentionally tucking herself in, “oh gosh, I didn’t realize how low this was. I’m sorry..” Her face was flustered as she tried to put some space in between the two of you but you didn’t mind; damn she was cute, and it took more of your willpower not to lick your lips as your eyes danced around her face

“It’s okay. How are you feeling?” you checked in and she looked up at you before smiling

“I’m good,” she said with a laugh on her tongue, “I’m feeling a bit of a buzz but not too much where I feel like I’ll get sloppy”

“Well that’s good,” You laughed before looking down at your lap, catching a glimpse of a tattoo on her inner knee and you grazed your thumb over it gently, “what’s this?” She seemed to be embarrassed about it and she pushed your hand away so she could cover it

“We were -- I was drunk… It was a long night and an even longer story” she blushed and you told her that you didn’t mind; you had time to listen, and she sighed heavily before agreeing to tell you, “don’t judge me okay?” you nodded, allowing her to continue, “Charlie and I had just come from her ex’s Frat House, it was a big end of semester party and he broke up with her because he claimed ‘she was only good once’ and she was rightfully pissed. So, we got drunk, flirted with some horribly misogynistic Frat bros, who we’re almost positive were trying to put something in our drinks, and then peaced when Charlie realized her ex wasn’t paying her any attention. We passed by a tattoo parlour that for some reason was still open and we begged the tattoo artist to give us a tattoo. Charlie started crying when he said we were too drunk and she turned to me and gave me that look that best friend’s give. The one that says ‘do this for me because I really need it right now’ and I was too drunk to argue, so I told the guy that we just wanted to do something dumb because we hated the guys in our life, and if he gave us a tattoo…” she scrunched up her face before continuing the story

“What?” you asked, egging her on

“God, it’s awful to even think back on”

“You gotta tell me. I said I wouldn’t judge”

“Ugh,” she groaned, “I said if he gave us a tattoo, he could put it anywhere he wanted…”

“The tattoo right?”

“Yes! That’s what it was supposed to be but, because I was so drunk, it came out all sexual and he jumped at the chance. He sat down and asked us what we wanted and where and I looked at him kinda confused at that point. I said ‘we’ll get matching tattoos I guess?’ and expected him to pick a spot and for Charlie to pick the tattoo; still not realizing that he didn’t take what I said how I meant him to take it and then Charlie passed out!”

“What happened then?”

“He yelled at me! He was all, what the fuck is this? What kind of guy do you think I am? I got super confused and said all we wanted was a tattoo and that we weren’t picky about the location. Then he seemed to get pissed and he started tattooing Charlie’s knee and told me ‘they had to match’ so I sat down on a different table while he did mine…” it was at this point that she showed you the small tattoo, “I got bitch, she got slut. I have no idea why he chose the inner knee but it’s easy enough to hide. And it’s quite the story…”

“Holy crap, so what happened when Charlie woke up and saw the tattoo?”

“She wasn’t happy about it. I mean who wants slut permanently on their skin? But when she saw mine, and I told her what happened, she was grateful that I didn’t just leave her. She said it would’ve been super easy to just abandon her or let her have an embarrassing tattoo on her own but the fact that I got just as embarrassing of a tattoo proved that we really were best friends…”

“That’s actually really sweet”

“It’s the most embarrassing moment of my life. No one else knows, not even Blaire or Darcy. They’ve never seen the tattoo’s. So, consider yourself lucky…” She laughed and you leaned in closer to kiss her but she moved away

“I didn’t mean..” you stammered

“No.. I know, I’m sorry. I just… tell me something about you,” she quipped, “I don’t know anything about you. Other than you’re a goalie…”

“Professional goalie” you clarified and she nodded with a small smile

“Right. For any team I might know?” she asked and here was the moment you were dreading. You had never tried to hide the fact that you were The Leafs goaltender before but you’d also never been faced with a situation where someone in Toronto didn’t recognize you. Being a 6’4” red-headed goalie in the NHL often meant you got recognized wherever you went. But when you realized she didn’t know you or the guys, you didn’t want her view of you to change. The night was going so well and telling her this could go one of two ways; either she hangs all over you, changing the way she’d been acting all night, or she acts like it’s no big deal. You were really hoping for the latter… “Freddie?” Her voice rang through to you and you realized you hadn’t said anything in about a minute

“Sorry,” you smiled awkwardly, “Toronto…”

“What?” she said confused

“I’m the Leafs goaltender…”

“Oh..” she said quietly, looking at her empty glass before looking back up at you, “wow.” You weren’t sure how to respond to her almost lack of response, forcing you to lean back against the couch and sigh to yourself, “I’m sorry,” she said finally, laughing a little, “that’s probably not what you were looking for. I’ve never met a professional athlete before and I don’t really know.. the protocol? Plus, I grew up a Habs fan, so my brother would kill me if he knew I was talking and drinking with a Leaf…” You let out a sigh of relief before laughing at her words

“There’s no protocol, just talk like we were already talking. No need to bring up work…”

“You wanna dance?” she asked, placing her glass on the side table as you agreed, following her to a clearing just past your intertwined group of friends. There wasn’t a lot of space to dance and, in hindsight, it might have been better to find a spot on the patio to dance. But there was a group of people dancing so it’s not like it was something you shouldn’t do and the music was high energy, making you think that they wanted people to dance and have a good time. You and (Y/N) were laughing at how equally out of sync you were with the music before she eventually wrapped her arms around your shoulders to sway with you; you spun her around a few times, causing her to laugh brightly and bump into you on her return. The only trouble came when (Y/N)’s friends came over with the guys to dance near the two of you and they got really animated, mockingly singing along to the songs and grinding on each other.

“I’m sorry about them…” (Y/N) apologized for her friends, her arms still around your shoulders and you looked down at her with a smile

“It’s okay, they’re having fun.” You were surprised when she pulled you with her as she backed away from the group to continue you dancing. She twirled once and laughed when she lost her footing, just missing bumping into someone and you pulled her into you to catch her from falling; her eyes locking onto yours as the music seemed to beg for your lips to touch.

“AHHH” she let out a breathless scream as a stranger had spilled his cold drink down her back

“Watch it bitch” he yelled at her and you tried to push past (Y/N) to challenge him but when she apologized quietly, you let it go.

“Are you okay?” you asked

“I’m fine, don’t worry. I’m just gonna go see if I can dry some of this with the hand dryer” she laughed, walking toward the bathroom; you stood near the door, waiting for her to come out.

“Fred, she’ll be fine. Come wait by the bar,” Willy called to you, “want a drink?” You hesitantly went to the bar to join the group, ordering a beer when you got there. It wasn’t long before you noticed the guy who spilled his drink on (Y/N) whispering with his friends and you couldn’t help but think that they were planning something. When Auston noticed you staring, he followed your line of sight

“Freddie…” he yelled to you, “what’s up?” you didn’t answer, instead kept your gaze locked on them when you heard the door open and noticed (Y/N) come out; stepping in front of her before another drink could be spilled on her.

“Freddie…” you heard (Y/N) whisper from behind you

“Well that’s not the wet t-shirt we wanted to see…” the group of drunk guys laughed and you noticed Freddie’s jaw clench; you grabbed his arm to stop him from starting a fight but it really didn’t do much since your touch was so light

“You think you’re funny?” he yelled, closing the gap between the two of them

“Actually, yeah, I think I’m hilarious” the guy countered

“Why don’t we see how funny it is when it happens to you.” It was meant to be threatening but it didn’t really have the effect that Freddie wanted and you could see him getting frustrated when the guys laughed him off

“What are you gonna do about it, Ed Sheeran?”

“That the best you got?”

“I hear Gingers have no souls. That true?”

“Sounds like you wanna find out.”

“Come at me bro”

“Freddie it’s not worth it, okay, they’re drunk. Just leave it…” you tried

“Now that I’m looking at her, I’m not sure I really would’ve wanted to see her tits” one of the guys laughed, another one chiming in right after

“Me either, guess we dodged a bullet…” The group of guys were met by a fit of laughter from each other and Freddie smiled sarcastically at them before looking at you to gauge your reaction. You weren’t sure what he took from the look on your face but you hoped that you were portraying a look that said ‘please don’t’

“You’re a real group of bros aren’t ya?” he said sternly and the guys seem to stick up their chins, “I bet you make all the girls swoon, you know, when you try?” You weren’t entirely sure where this was headed, and you could tell his friends didn’t either, so you kept your hand on his arm, “I bet most of you are single, huh?”

“By choice” the group grunted and Freddie laughed

“Not by your choice though, right?” he mocked, “see, when you don’t respect women, women don’t respect you… And you, my friends, need to learn some respect”

“What do you expect us to do, Grandpa? Apologize,” one of the guys laughed, “I’m sorry your chick is such a bitch and a cow but she should really make space--” His speech was cut short by Freddie punching him square in the eye and you let out a gasp and tried to stop him from going too far

“Freddie STOP!” you yelled but the guy hit back, connecting with Freddie’s face, and it took all of your strength to drag Freddie away before security kicked you all out

“BACK OFF, YOU FUCKING GIANT!” the one yelled

“Tough guy can’t take a fucking hit huh? What’s wrong, bro?” Freddie taunted. You were beginning to panic when Blaire motioned to the door, signalling she had called an Uber

“Freddie, please, let’s just go. Please…” you begged, still pulling on his arm. He looked back at you and realized what he must look like to you. He followed you out of the bar to the line of cars lined along the sidewalk and you tried to find the Uber that was waiting for Blaire.

“It’s this one love,” Blaire called out to you and Freddie, talking to the driver while the two of you made your way to the car. Blaire confirmed your address with the driver and gave you a hug goodbye as you got into the car with Freddie. It was quiet for a bit, so much so that your driver turned on the music to lessen the awkward silences; forcing you to look at Freddie with a smile. You noticed his fists were still clenched and his eye was cut.

“Here, let me take a look at you,” you said softly, shifting your body to face him, pulling his face closer to yours gently, “does it hurt?”

“No,” his voice was harsh and you thought that maybe he didn’t want to be touched, so you eased back, “I’m sorry you had to see me like that. I just hated the way they were talking about you…”

“They’re just dumb boys who had way too much to drink…”

“But they shouldn’t have talked like that. It’s not okay…” He grabbed your hand, turning his body to you, “are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Thank you,” you smiled, almost to yourself, “for defending me. It’s funny, you know, me and Darcy talked about this a couple days ago…”

“Talked about what?”

“She asked me what I would do if two guys ever fought over me…” you giggled, looking back at Freddie, “yeah this isn’t the exact thing she was thinking of, but it’s pretty close…”

“And you told her…?”

“I said I didn’t think I’d be into it. It’s too much ‘peacocking’ for me,” you admitted but when you saw Freddie’s face fall, you tried to explain, “I didn’t think it would be fighting over me to defend me, if that makes sense? I thought if two guys were fighting over me, it would be something… else… I’m not really sure what. But I don’t know, I liked that you stuck up for me. You didn’t have to, especially if it meant getting into a fist fight, but I appreciate it…”

“I couldn’t just let it happen without at least trying to make it right…” he whispered, “I guess I should’ve known it wouldn’t end well”

“Eh, what’s one small cut?” you smiled, examining the mark on his eyebrow, noticing the skin around it begin to purple. It wasn’t long after that you were dropped off at your apartment building

“Can I just order an Uber and you’ll accept my ride? Does that work?” Freddie asked the driver

“Hold on, wait,” you said abruptly, “what are you doing?”

“Getting a ride home?”

“You’re not coming to say goodnight?” you pouted and watched as Freddie exited the car slowly; the Uber driving off without hesitation, knowing Freddie wasn’t in need of his services; a small smile dancing on your lips. You took Freddie’s hand and led him to the door of your building, laughing when you stumbled occasionally on seemingly nothing, trying not to disturb your neighbours but fearing that you were most likely failing.

“How much farther?” Freddie chuckled from behind you, placing his large hands on either side of your waist to steady you, “should I be carrying you?”

“No no, it’s just a little further..” you said, “unless you want to carry me?” The smile that arose on your face was mirrored quickly on Freddie’s and he jokingly leaned down to pick you up, forcing a loud squeal to escape you and you quickly covered your mouth in embarrassment. When you finally got to your apartment, you turned your key slowly, unsure of how the night would proceed, and gestured for Freddie to come inside once you were in. You noticed him wander around your apartment, looking at the pictures on the walls and the many decorative throw pillows strewn over your couches and chairs, before finally taking a seat

“So, I take it you like pillows?” he joked, making you smile from the kitchen where you stood filling two glasses of water

“I get it from my Mom I think…” you admitted, “she always put out two or three Christmas pillows on every couch in the house during the holidays and then she started finding really punny ones for Halloween, so the whole house was practically bursting in pillows by the time I turned 10. She gave me a couple but I ended up getting some for my dorm anyway, before I moved in here two years ago. When I unpacked I noticed that I had more pillows than couch space.” You laughed uncomfortably as you sat next to Freddie, angling your body until your knees just barely brushed his and waited for him to speak

“I like them. It makes the space feel… homey. Cozy.” He smiled to which you responded brightly, claiming that’s exactly what you were going for. The two of you burned through a few topics rather quickly, laughing here and there when he told you about an ex girlfriend in Denmark and you told him how much your brother used to torment you, regardless of you being the older sibling. You sobered up after the numerous glasses of water you’d had but you didn’t want the night to end or, rather, Freddie to leave. Carefully, you moved closer to him as to not startle the situation but you also didn’t want to push your luck; thinking maybe you’d embarrassed yourself so much tonight that any sudden actions may cause Freddie to think lowly of you. To your surprise, he moved his arm to the back of your couch, allowing you to move even closer to him and your heart began to race; having gone all night without having his lips grasp yours shocked you and, you thought to yourself, it was about time to right that wrong.

You wanted to push forward into him but, for some unknown reason, your head told you to stop, as if to say, “be a lady, (Y/N), don’t be desperate…” It seemed to discourage your thoughts on allowing the night to proceed the way you expected it to. Freddie, it seemed, did not approve of this as he wanted the kiss and the expectation of the night as much as you did; however, he seemed to gauge your uncertainty and moved slowly towards your lips, pushing you closer to him by pressing his hand on your back, between your shoulder blades; his breath was warm as it brushed across your skin and through your hair, suddenly his hands were on your hips and yours had snaked up to linger on his neck. You couldn’t control your breathing anymore and the heat in your face must clearly be showing now, this waiting was becoming painful and, unintentionally, you moaned Freddie’s name, leading him to finally brush his lips against yours lightly; his tongue eventually finding yours and dancing with it slowly.

It wasn’t long before the kissing became harsh and much more sloppy, encouraging you to straddle Freddie; your hands lingering on his chest while you returned to capture his lips and continue dancing your tongue alongside his. When Freddie’s large hands gripped your hips tightly, likely leaving bruises on your delicate skin, your hands snapped to the back of his head to pull at his loose ginger curls. His lips travelled from your lips to your collarbone and hesitant moans escaped your throat as your nails dug into Freddie’s shoulders, marking his skin with small crescent moons underneath his shirt; moving him to lift you up and carry you through your apartment until he found an open door, not caring whether there was a bed in it or not. He’d just as soon place you gently on the floor or up against the wall if there was no mattress.

“Mmm” you hummed before directing him into the right room where he climbed onto your bed with you still wrapped tightly around his body until you felt the fabric of your duvet underneath you. Quickly, your hands found the hem of Freddie’s t-shirt, passing the soft fabric between your fingers for a few seconds before pushing it up, forcing Freddie to lift his arms to allow the shirt to move above his head and, subsequently, onto the floor.

“Do you have a condom?” He breathed into your ear as he continued kissing your neck and you honestly couldn’t remember. The last time you had sex was in January, just before winter break had ended and you were forced to return to classes.

“Uhmm…” you hummed nervously, tracing circles on his chest before he caught your eye and asked if something was wrong, to which you assured him everything was fine but, “we’ll have to search the apartment.. but that might ruin the mood..” Freddie pursed his lips and studied your eyes silently

“What are you thinking?” he asked you and you just smiled before pressing your lips back onto his

“Just that I like the way your lips taste,” you kissed him once more, “and the way they feel across my skin. And I wonder how the rest of you would feel against the rest of me…”

#Frederik Andersen #Freddie Andersen #Frederik Andersen Smut #Freddie Andersen smut #masterlist #TML smut #TML imagine #Frederik Andersen Imagine #Freddie Andersen imagine

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jazy3 · 4 years

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Thoughts on Grey’s Anatomy: 16X09

This week’s episode was the Fall Finale and it did not disappoint let me tell you! It was so good! The theme of this episode for me was 'I did not see that coming!' And the ending really shocked me! It felt like the old Grey's! I have to say this is the first episode of Grey’s Anatomy I've watched in a while that made me want to actually go back and re-watch it. We open on Meredith coming out of an elevator. It’s her first day back at Grey Sloan! We find out that Mer is looking for a package. Apparently, Cristina sent her something to make her feel better after almost losing her licence to practice medicine and getting dumped. They are persons and BFF's forever! Maggie and Amelia are happy to have her back and the residents are excited to see her. They present her with a welcome back cake and Helm finally gets her hug. It’s all very sweet. Then DeLuca pipes up about not knowing that Bailey had re-hired her.

To which Meredith responds that she was going to tell him, but he was too busy dumping her. DeLuca tries to argue that he didn’t dump her. He told her to take some time. To which she responds, “Rob, Steal, Murder, Kill. It all means the same thing.” Love that salt Mer! Throw that shade honey! Such a Queen! Meanwhile over at Pac North a woman comes by to tour the ER as a potential new hire and Owen has to show her around because Alex is away in Iowa because something is up with his Mom. Yikes! That’s definitely going to be a major plot point when the show comes back in the New Year. Owen shows the woman around and is all doey eyed while doing it which Richard immediately calls him on in the most hilarious way possible!

Back at Grey Sloan Vic and Jackson are having a moment when Catherine pulls up. She doesn't know that Jackson and Maggie have broken up and as a result is cold as ice to Vic in the funniest way! I love her line, “Station 19? What is that a TV Channel?” Oh Catherine. We get a hot and sexy Amelink moment followed by a Schmico moment. Everybody is knocking boots. LOL. Good old Grey's. Side note, where does Nico work right now? Did he take a fellowship position at Grey Sloan? Is he working somewhere else and here to see Levi? I feel like they probably addressed this and I missed it. We cut to Amelia and Link have an adorable little moment where they play a cute little game of what attributes they hope their baby has from each of them. My heart!

Their game is interrupted when they find out that Jo has become a Safe Haven volunteer and just found out that a baby has been dropped off at Station 19 and she has to go pick them up. Oh boy. Link is wonderful and supportive of Jo and what she's trying to do. I love him for that. Amelia gets pulled away to talk to Bailey. They swap pregnancy updates. It's adorable. I’ve noticed Jo's hair is darker now and they haven't addressed why. That’s interesting. I like that they've turned the black female resident named Hannah Brody who was previously a background character that rarely said much into a full-fledged character this season. After losing the actors who played Sam Bello and Dahlia Qadri to other roles they could have just cast a new actor to play a resident but instead they promoted from within and I like that.

We cut to Maggie rounding on her first patient who turns out to be a man who needs heart surgery and whose wife just gave birth ahead of schedule. Maggie is nervous after what happened with Sabi and unfortunately this comes back to bite her later on. Bailey rounds on her first patient and we find out that it’s none other than Captain Herrera from Station 19 and his cancer is back. Oh boy. The residents are still doing rounds when Meredith comes in to see her first patient a teenage girl that she operated on two years ago and that's when the new Head of Paediatric Surgery walks in! His name is Dr. Cormac Hayes. He's Irish and he started this morning. Him and Mer do not get off to a good start to say the least. Hayes doesn't like it when residents round on his patients when he's not there and doesn't seem to understand that Meredith is Meredith freaking Grey and that she part owns the hospital he's standing in.

Meanwhile Jo arrives at Station 19 to pick up the baby. We find out that it’s a three day old infant and that Ben is happy to see her. Back at the hospital Maggie approaches Teddy and asks her to scrub in on her valve replacement surgery. Maggie is clearly nervous and concerned and Teddy picks up on none of it somehow. Meredith and Dr. Hayes butt heads again over their patient, who they decide to send for a CT scan, while DeLuca looks on longingly but decides not to say anything to Mer. Probably a good idea seeing as he just dumped her. Idiot. Meanwhile Bailey is giving Captain Herrera an ultrasound while they talk about her pregnancy and how she thinks it’s going to be a girl. Jackson finds his Mom in one of the conference rooms and they finally talk about what’s been going on in each of their lives and their relationship problems. I love Catherine's outfit in this scene! The striped multicoloured blazer and pink sequinned blouse are fierce! She always has the best clothes!

I like that this show has moments where they work to dispel harmful myths like the idea that using formula instead of breast milk is bad for your baby. It’s not and we need to stop shaming mothers who can't breastfeed or choose not to. Meanwhile at Pac North, Gemma and Richard are having an impromptu AA meeting in Richard's office. They're in the middle of praying when one of Pac North's incompetent employees barges in! Because they are holding hands the employee mistakes Gemma for Richard's wife! They have a good laugh over that and finish doing the serenity prayer. Pac North: Never a dull moment! Meanwhile Jo is still at Station 19 with the surrendered baby. Her and Jack have a heart to heart about being former foster kids. I really love Jo's bomber jacket! It's super cute! They upgraded her wardrobe this year and damn! Back at the hospital we find out that Amelia has yet to have an ultrasound because she's terrified of what she might find out. Bailey convinces her to get one.

Mer and Hayes butt heads again over their patient's CT scan and Hayes throws major shade. Mer throws it right back though by asking who hired him Bailey or Koracick? When Hayes won't answer and asks her why she wants to know Mer fires back with, “Bailey usually has too much sense to hire surgeons whose egos are too big to fit in an OR.” Savage Meredith is the best Meredith. Maggie and Teddy operate on their heart patient. Teddy wants to chit chat. Maggie does not. Meanwhile Catherine shows up at Pac North looking for Richard. She runs into the incompetent employee from earlier and tries to throw shade. It backfires hilariously. Unfortunately, the employee mistakenly tells her that Richard is having coffee with his wife and so now Catherine definitely thinks he's having an affair. Jeez louis.

Meanwhile back at Grey Sloan we find out that Hayes went behind Meredith's back and told their patient and her mother that she might have cancer. Mer is not happy to say the least. Amelia and Link talk about the fact that she hasn't gotten an ultrasound yet. Link assumed she had. Amelia realizes that she really does need to get one. I love her line, “He dumps my sister and you put him on your service?” Amelia. Always coming in with the one liners! Link was unaware that Mer and DeLuca had broken up. DeLuca tries to clear things up while talking to Link and Nico as they scrub in. Link calls him on his BS. Mer has very few equals because she's that good. Which is the truth. As Link points out Mer is one of the world's top general surgeons. DeLuca is still a resident. She doesn't see him as an equal because he's not. No one is. Nico makes some good points about how Schmitt isn't his equal but that doesn't mean he doesn't respect him.

I loved Nico’s line, “But if he told me to take some time, yeah no, I would not respect that.” Drop that truth Nico! Drop it like it’s hot! I love that DeLuca is finally realizing what an idiot he's been. He's acting like he's this great catch when he was dating Meredith freaking Grey. She's the catch. There are lots of men out there who would give their left arm to go out with Mer and he dumped her over his own feelings of inadequacy. He didn't deserve her and he's figuring this out after they're no longer together. You snooze you lose pal. Link tells DeLuca to go fix what he did because he's not her equal, but Mer went out with him anyway and fell in love with him knowing that. He was the one who suddenly decided that was a problem not her. Meanwhile Maggie and Teddy are operating when Tom comes on the intercom and compliments Teddy's work and then leaves. Maggie asks her why she doesn't tell him to leave her alone. Teddy responds that he's her boss and she feels guilty for breaking his I loved Helm’s line, “Wow. So many lawsuits in one explanation.” Never change Helm. Never change.

Maggie then calls Teddy on the fact that Tom is not harmless in the sense that he wants a future with her and she does not seem to want to clear that up. Just as they are getting ready to close Teddy gets called away to the ER. Teddy leaves and right after Maggie realizes that the patient's heart isn't restarting as it should. Meanwhile Bailey comes to see Captain Herrera. She confirms that his cancer is indeed back. Bailey wants to discuss treatment options. Herrera says he won't do chemo again. That's when he looks down and realizes that Bailey is bleeding. When I was watching the episode the first time through I thought for sure this was going to be a cliff hanger. That we would find out there was something wrong but not find out what it was until January. Alas we do find out. Ben and Jo arrive at the hospital with the surrendered baby. That's when Ben gets a text that there's something wrong. He runs off to be at Bailey's side leaving Jo looking worried and confused. Meanwhile Maggie tries desperately to re-start her patient's heart.

Teddy comes back in and says the heart is probably hibernating and that they need to give it time to come back and re-start. Ben rushes to Bailey's room to find her in bed talking to Carina with Pruitt standing beside her. Their faces say it all. Bailey suffered a miscarriage. I cried watching this scene. Poor Bailey. Poor Ben. She is not having a good year. This also means they'll have to tell Tuck that he isn't going to be getting a sibling after all. My heart breaks for them. Meanwhile Meredith and Hayes are in the OR doing a biopsy on their patient. It's not malignant. Meredith was right and Hayes was dead wrong. Once that's confirmed she lays down the law. “Listen Dr. Who Ever You Are, this is my house. You're a guest in my home. I got this.” Damn straight Mer! On the fashion front, Mer is back to wearing her purple pink scrub cap with the floral pattern on it. Meanwhile over at Pac North, Owen has just finished giving the new potential hire a tour. Richard gives him major side eye. He knows what’s up. Richard warns Owen that he's standing on a slippery slope.

Owen says he's not dead inside, but he's also happily taken. Richard counters by asking him if he’s proposed to Teddy yet. Owen says he hasn't. To which Richard responds, “But what? You're waiting for her to have your third child?” I love Richard. Back at Grey Sloan Mer proves to Hayes that she was right all along and he finally seems impressed. Over at Joe's Bar Catherine meets Jackson for (several) drinks and laments about how Richard is having an affair. Jackson calls her on the fact that she has no proof, hasn't actually talked to Richard, and that it seems like a simple misunderstanding which it is. I love his line, “I cannot be responsible for my relationships and yours! Alright? There's not enough therapy in the damn world for that." Oh Jackson. Back at the hospital Ben chases after Bailey in a hallway. He wants to take her home but she just wants to be alone. Which would be heartbreaking enough except that as she rounds the corner she runs into a very cheerful Amelia.

Amelia asks Bailey if she got her ultrasound, oblivious to the fact that she has just suffered a miscarriage. She urges Amelia to get one. She says she's going tonight. As if you weren't tearing up enough already, Amelia asks Bailey if she decided to find out the baby's sex or not. Bailey tearfully tells her it's a girl. Unaware of her heartbreak Amelia joyfully jumps up and hugs her before skipping off down the hall. Oh Grey's, always hitting me right in the feels. Meanwhile Teddy and Maggie try to explain to their patient's wife what happened in surgery. She is understandably upset. Maggie excuses herself because she can't take it any longer. As she walks away Koracick catches up with her in the hallway and asks what happened. Maggie says she would like to tender her resignation effectively immediately. Koracick tells her to hang on a minute. One bad outcome does not mean she should quit.

She tells him she had a bad feeling about the surgery and she should have trusted herself and had someone else do it. Maggie tells Koracick that she can't be a surgeon if she can't trust herself. She quits. Tom tries to argue with her but it's no use. She walks away. Teddy comes out to talk with Tom. He tells her he is in need of a new Cardio Chief and asks if she's interested. At which point Teddy loses it believing that Tom just fired Maggie to give her what he thinks she needs. Teddy tells Tom that she has moved on, that she loves Owen, and she's sorry that she hurt him. But that he has got to stop barking up this particular tree. Tom tells a stunned Teddy that he didn't fire Maggie. She quit. But he does think she should be Chief of Cardio. After a moment’s hesitation he also tells her that he wants a life with her and would marry her tomorrow. Tom points out that Owen has a baby with her and still hasn't proposed. He asks her if she's really sure she wants to close the door on them before walking away. Meanwhile, Bailey finally breaks down alone in her office about the loss she's suffered.

Meredith and Hayes finish treating their patient who is upset that the boy she likes hasn't texted her back. Hayes pipes up and says that as someone who has raised a couple of teenage boys he knows a thing or two. Hayes tells her that all teenage boys care about is Fortnite and pizza and that they're terrified of girls. And that they can't talk to them, especially the ones they like. This cheers her up considerably. After work Link comes over to see Jo at the loft. He asks how things went and finds out that Jo took the surrendered baby home! Did she steal that baby? Did she talk to the social worker and work something out? We don't know. The day ends with Meredith in the elevator texting Cristina. Cristina asks if she got her package. Mer says it never came. Just then Hayes gets on the elevator too. She stops texting and asks him what his deal is. Hayes tells her that he doesn't try to figure out what people want to hear. He prefers to give them all the information up front and let them figure out how to deal with it.

He follows up by saying he does this because his wife's doctors didn't pay him that respect before she died so he does his best to do so for others. He ends by saying Grey Sloan might be Mer's house, but someone gave him a key so maybe it's best if they try to learn how to live together and welcomes her back. He says he can see why she was missed and just as he walks away she gets another text from Cristina. The package isn't an it. It's a him. The package Cristina sent isn't an object. It's a person. Dr. Cormac Hayes is Cristina's gift to Mer. He's the new head of Paediatric Surgery at Grey Sloan, he's a widow (or McWidow as Cristina calls him), and he's a father to at least two teenage boys. Cristina signs off her texts to Mer with a bunch of three leaf clovers. She's gifting Mer with the luck of the Irish in the form of a new love interest. Which is such a Cristina thing to do. LOL! Everyone needs a Cristina in their life! I'm excited that Mer has a new love interest. From what I can tell Hayes checks all the right boxes. He's an attending Department Chief.

He appears to be a talented surgeon. He appears close to Mer's age. He's a father. And he's got Cristina's stamp of approval! The fact that Cristina had a hand in picking him and bringing him from Ireland to the U.S. to work at Grey Sloan to be the new head of Paediatric Surgery also suggests that Alex might be in on this too. Cristina is a heart surgeon, not a peds surgeon. It’s not her speciality. You know whose it is? Her good friend Alex. Where is Alex working right now? At Pac North and he’s happy there. Which means Grey Sloan needs a new Peds Chief. Cristina wouldn’t send Mer and her beloved hospital someone crappy. Cristina is hard to impress and if she sent Hayes to Seattle it’s because he impressed her. He’s someone Cristina thinks Mer will get along well with, can potentially build a life with, and who can do his job well in a way Alex would approve of. To me this implies that Cristina would have talked to Alex about bringing Hayes to Grey Sloan as a potential new hire before she set things in motion.

Although I doubt she mentioned the boyfriend element. My guess is she reached out to get his thoughts on Hayes and get his stamp of approval. One of my biggest pet peeves is that Cristina and Alex have butted heads with or openly disliked most of the people Meredith has dated (and vice versa). I'm excited to see her with someone her best friends actually like. We’ll have to wait to January to see if I’m right or not, but I’m really excited to see where this goes! To be honest, I think they should have gone this route from the beginning after having Mer date for a while and not wasted our time with all that Link and DeLuca nonsense, but were here now and that's the important thing! But the episode's not done yet! We see Amelia having her ultrasound. Everything is fine with the baby (yah!) except we find out that Amelia is actually 24 weeks pregnant, not 20 weeks like she thought. Which based on the look on her face means either Link or Owen could be the father. Yikes! We then cut to Joe's Bar where Ben and Captain Herrera are drinking at the bar, Jackson is drinking alone, the residents are drinking together, and Nico and Schmitt are on a date.

Herrera tries to comfort Ben to no use. Ben then questions why Herrera himself was even at the hospital. Schmitt turns to bring drinks back to his and Nico's table WHEN A FREAKING CAR CRASHES INTO THE BAR!!! I legitimately screamed when that happened! Not Joe's Bar! No! Wow. What a finale! This means several major and minor character's lives are hanging in the balance until January! I wonder what's happening with Alex's Mom. Whatever it is it doesn't sound good. Imagine how freaked he'll be when he gets back. He's already dealing with family issues and now everything in Seattle is a mess! Jo took home a baby. Cristina sent Mer a new boyfriend from Ireland. Bailey just suffered a miscarriage! Maggie just quit. Amelia might be having Owen's baby and a car just crashed into Joe's Bar! Alex's first day back in Seattle is going to be a doozey!

Until then dear readers!

#grey's anatomy #Meredith Grey #let's all go to the bar #lets all go to the bar #16X09 #16X9 #critique #review #thoughts #episode recap #episode review #fall finale

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yayninjabob · 4 years

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A story behind a story

I have never wrote 100,000 words of anything in my life and 9 months ago when I first sat down to write Villain: Redux I definitely did NOT anticipate the length it would reach by the end of Part I. Now that it is done though I feel like I can talk about it. Well not really the story but the story behind the story?

A very lengthy and personal author's note for Part I: Remote Control

How I started writing again: My relationship with my writing was non existent for years. I honestly went through a very long drought where I felt like everything I created just sucked so bad and I had zero motivation for creating shit. I would talk with my therapist or my wife and friends about feeling so out of touch with my creative side and feeling pretty lost without it. Really, I pretty much felt like it was dead forever. I eventually started a personal journal again... And little drabbles here and there would come to mind... It felt alright but meh. "What did you enjoy about writing that you still feel is missing?" I was asked. Ffffffuck me I dont know. Writing as a teen and in my early twenties wasn't something I ever thought about even when I did it every damn day of my life. I guess I missed having that ongoing plot in the back of my head that I could escape to whenever life was lame. Daydreaming crazy stories as a kid was just my favorite past time and writing went with it. But I just didnt have any more stories in my head. Nothing new or exciting enough at least. Anyways. January was my dads bday. 2019 and that year my dad asked for something. Now my dad isn't one to ask for gifts. No, normally he is extremely frustrating and expects everyone to read his mind while saying "I dont care" yet if his gifts dont meet his secretive expectations he gets all butthurt and emo and says that nobody knows him. Ok but January 2019 he asks me to write him something. "What? A story? A poem? A birthday card?" "I dont care just write me something." Typical. "I dont care." Yeah right. What the hell does he expect from me jeez.... My dad was the OG storyteller in my life- real shit or bullshit- he could spin a crazy story like no one else. My uncles and his friends would sit around smoking and drinking and listening to one wild tale after the next. He could entertain people for HOURS just with the shit he’d say. I always thought he'd make a brilliant stand up comedian but my dad would just laugh at the idea. So for his gift I figured I'd retell one of his personal wild tales - his first encounter with a mountain lion at 12 during a hunting trip with my late great uncle Joe who was his adoptive father figure. Honestly my dad was always so incredibly descriptive and I heard that tale about a bazillion times growing up, and even though he hadnt shared it in probably 15+ years, it was easy to recall. I could just close my eyes and see it clear as day. I stayed loyal to his story but I used my own words. It really surprised me how easy I found those words though. Writing had been such an impossible challenge for so long yet when I finished the short story I had written 12 pages in a single afternoon and I was shocked but in a good way. It was his story so I was pretty sure he would like it. He's got a pretty big ego lol. I typed it up on the typewriter my dad had gotten me back when I was a teen and serious about becoming a "real writer." I figured he would appreciate that. I gave him the story on his birthday. He didnt read it right away. We went to the backyard and the two of us shared a joint and while I started chasing the dogs in the yard for a bit I saw he finally picked the story up. And when he finished he started crying. Which is always weird when it's your dad right? He isn't one to cry easily. Last time I saw tears in his eyes was three years prior at my wedding but even that wasnt like this. He told me "You need to write again. You need to try." But I still felt like I couldn't. I never really thought I was good at it anyway. Sure, people told me they liked my writing and it meant a lot that my dad was moved so much by my short story that I started to believe “hey maybe I can write,” but... I dunno. I had a rough idea for an original novel that I sat down with later that month and tried to work out... But it just felt forced and uninteresting. It wasnt a story my mind could just escape to effortlessly. The passion just wasnt there. After a while my wife suggested to me "Well when you retold your dad's story that was easier right? Maybe you should retell another story that you love." And so in August 2019 I sat down and wrote what would eventually become the scarring scene for Villain: Redux

Part I: Remote Control I spent the rest of August, September and October slowly falling back into my old world of Villain. I reread both Villain and VillainE for the first time in yeeeeeears. What. A. Trip. So much stood out to me that was like "Ok young me, I see where you were going but this could be so much better." I made my list of what I liked and what I wanted to change.. Constructed my outline and then I just went for it. Halloween night that year was spent finishing my first draft of chapter 1. It was still in Buttercup's limited POV. I liked it OK enough but I wondered if it would be improved if I tried third person instead. I said "fuck it why not" and went for it again but in third person, adding the beginning history of Townsville and then the opening scene with Mojo. When I finished it I was pretty amused with it and I found myself just starting right away on chapter 2 and adding even more details to my overall outline- it became a trilogy. It was flowing SO easy and for once writing didnt feel like some forced chore I was performing. The entire time though I debated whether or not to share any of it. I didn't think anyone would read it. But personally, I was falling in love with my new rendition and I really didn't want to stop writing it. So once again I said "fuck it why not" and I started this tumblr to start documenting my new commitment to rewriting Villain for good. I edited the first chapter and uploaded it a couple days before Thanksgiving. And the support I got from readers honestly made me cry haha... I really really thought the story would go unnoticed. After all, when I first started writing for the PpG fandom it was always an uphill battle and 90 percent of my first reviews were just flames and criticism. The original Villain really took a while to gain much of a readership and even though it had its moment of somewhat popularity in the fandom, that moment came after it was completed. A brief glance at the PpG section on FFnet showed me that things really hadnt changed- still 99 percent PpGxRrB romances. Man, it just seemed so unfair. I freaking love this show and TBH I will never understand the fandom's fixation on those damn Rowdyruffs. Whatever. It is what it is. But because of that and because I hadnt been an active writer in the fandom for like a decade I really thought I'd be lucky to get one review. And I did! On the first day! And I was PUMPED lol. Then over the next couple of days I got more and most from names I recognized from the past! I was so touched by some of the things you guys said, you will have no idea what those first 7 reviews meant to me. And of course the reviews to follow throughout the next chapters only continued to motivate me further. And now I'm done with Part I. Jeez what a freaking journey. I feel like I've learned a lot though and I hope that the story only improves from here. Today, this story invades my subconscious more than I would like to admit. But. It is so nice to have an exciting story to escape to once more. And I feel like I can say that my creative drive is finally restored again which feels amazing. Who knew it would be this rewrite of all things to do it. So yeah. I owe the biggest thanks to my readers (the reviewers especially), my wife, and of course my dad. I know we are just at the beginning of this story, but personally I just feel like I've accomplished more than I could've imagined already... like I said... 100,000 words is something I’ve never done before lol. And I cant wait to share the rest of the story with everyone. Anyways that’s my long soppy backstory on how I decided to rewrite Villain. Thanks for reading. :)

#writing #fanfic #behindthescenes #personal #villain #villainR #yayninjabob #PPG fandom #ppg fanfic #family

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cindylouwho-2 · 4 years

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RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, early February 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles I came across since the late January report, although some may be older than that. Report is a bit short because I was sick this last week; don’t worry, I used hand sanitizer before typing this up, so you are all safe 🤒

I am currently looking into setting up a new ecommerce business forum where we can discuss this sort of news, as well as any day-to-day issues we face. I need some good suggestions for a cheap or free forum space that has some editing tools, is fairly intuitive for inexperienced members, and is accessible. If you have any suggestions, please reply to this post, email me on my website, or send me a tweet. (I will put out a survey once we narrow this down to some good candidates, but if you have any other comments on what you want from such a forum, please include those too!)

As always, if you see any stories I might be interested in, please let me know!