#anyway uh i wrote this in 7 minutes according to when i first saved the draft so don't think too deeply about it! just came to mind. mwah

[sugarskies]

john doesn't think about the fireworks until the morning of the fourth. until he sees a picture from olivia—their son all dressed up with the caption "ready to see his first fireworks tonight."

and then he starts spiraling. he remembers watching the fireworks with his parents as a kid, remembers him and lemar laughing and burning their fingers with sparklers when they were old enough to know better. suddenly all he can think about is "my son is forming those memories and i won't be in them."

(and it's not entirely logical. he's a toddler. he probably won't even remember his first show. but that's besides the point.)

john spends half the day on his phone, reliving the few memories he had of the fireworks back home. he has pictures, a handful of short clips, and he watches them too many times to be healthy. it's not about the fireworks, not really. it's about the memories.

but bob doesn't know that. so when he sees john staring at pictures and videos of fireworks all day, he assumes that it's the first time he won't be seeing them on independence day. bob knows there's a huge fireworks show in new york, not far away, so he makes a plan.

that night, bob convinces john to go with him to the top of a building. it's nothing fancy, just two chairs and some snacks, but it's the perfect view of the fireworks. john doesn't understand at first but then bob explains what he's trying to do and john's heart fucking melts.

bob is oblivious as john stares at him. he sits in his chair and pulls out the earplugs he brought because honestly, he doesn't care much for fireworks himself. it's for john. but john doesn't really care for the actual fireworks either so he takes a pair of earplugs too.

it's for the best, though, that they can't talk because john doesn't know what he would say or how to thank him. bob did nail it, in an accidental way. it wasn't about the fireworks, it was about the memories, and the image of bob's face lit up by the sky would stay in his brain forever.

[talesofarcadia78]

Hello! 😄 Can I request a fluffy oneshot with prompts: “And I love, I love, I love you.” and [a gentle “I love you too” whispered after a soft kiss, followed immediately by a stronger kiss] about Douxie attempts to confess his romantic feelings to shy!female!human! reader and he end up super flustered, but its okay because she thinks it's cute? Hint: She has romantic feelings for Douxie too! I live for flustered Douxie! 💖 Please?? ~🌼

A/n: Special thanks to @itsgabby.2021 for helping!

Confession || One shot

The wind picked up, letting out a quiet whistle. The leaves on the trees had started to change it's colours from the bright green to a warm orange. You wrapped your scarf around your neck and tugged on your jumper, attempting to get warmer.

You continued your way down the path to work.

The smell of coffee instantly hit you as soon as you opened the door of your beloved GDT Arcane Books. You hung your tote bag on one of the hangers next to the entrance.

"Good morning, Y/n!" a chipper voice called from the second floor of the store.

"Good morning, Douxie!" you called back.

You walked over to Douxie's cat, Archie, who was enjoying the morning sun by a window. You pat Archie on his exposed stomach, earning a purr before making your way over to the register.

You had been working at the bookstore for only a month but you felt like that you've been working there forever. Douxie was in urgent need of an employee as his last one had left the state with his wife. He had hung posters all over town, handing any passing person his business card and making calls to his friends to spread the word. Luckily, you had just moved from Europe to the small, quaint town, Arcadia, desperately needing a job.

One day, you were walking around in town, when you noticed a poster saying that GDT Arcane Books was hiring. You rushed over to the store to get interviewed. You were honestly expecting an ageing women/man to be the owner. But it turned out to be your pen pal, Hisirdoux Casperan. He was very happy to meet you in person after years of communicating through letters. He immediately gave you the job, no interview needed, since he knew practically everything about you and vice versa.

After a couple of days of working at the store, you had started to admire Douxie more than just a friend. You had developed a crush on him, which slowly turned into love. But, you knew that Douxie would never feel the same way, so you keep your mouth shut. You were happy with what you had and didn't want to ruin it by blurting out your feelings.

Little did you know, Douxie felt the same way for you.

The offer had been placed to stay at Douxie's place, knowing that you were new in town. But you politely declined, since you were already staying at a pink haired witch's apartment named Zoe Ashildr.

Turns out, Zoe and Douxie knew each other as fellow wizards. Douxie trusted Zoe to keep you safe and kept you company whenever he couldn't.

Back to the present, Douxie came down the stairs with two cups of coffee in each hand, whilst using his telekinesis floated empty boxes behind him.

"Here's a cup of coffee for a lovely lady," Douxie winked as he set a cup on the register as you were counting a new shipment of books.

"Thanks, Doux!" you called, keeping your self distracted as your cheeks had turned a crimson red from his comment.

+ + + + + +

You went to the back, needing to refill a few shelves with new novels.

Almost there…

Your fingers lightly brushed the book you wanted, but you failed to grab it.

You tried again, standing on your tip toes, even though you were on a ladder, you took the risk. This time you successfully got the novel but your foot slipped off of the ladder.

"Douxie!"

Douxie was walking to the back, wondering why you were taking so long, when he heard his name getting yelled by none other than you.

He rushed into the back room to see you falling from a dangerous height.

"Magna tawna truess!" Douxie incanted.

A sky blue aura surrounded you, saving you from the fall. You slowly got placed on the ground.

"You alright?" Douxie asked, frantically looking over you for any injuries.

"I-I'm alright Douxie," you replied.

He let out a sigh of relief.

"Whenever you need to get something from that height, just ask me, okay?"

You nodded in response.

+ + + + + +

You handed the book to the petit, old lady, who gave you some cash, along with a tip, before she headed out of the store.

“Time to close up shop,” Douxie stated, coming out from the back room.

“Finally! It’s been a long day,” you replied, stretching.

Douxie laughed at your antics.

“Get some rest, Y/n,” he smiled, heading to the front door and holding it open for you.

“Thanks, Doux. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” you said as you walked past him, “I-- ummm… Bye.”

“Yes. Bye, love. See you tomorrow,” he chuckled.

You made your way to you and Zoe’s shared apartment.

You couldn’t help but fluster yourself as thoughts of Douxie ran through your mind.

Before you knew it, you had arrived at your destination, Zoe ready to greet you.

“Hey, Y/n!” Zoe called, leaning on the doorframe, “How was work?”

“Oh, y’know… same-same,” you answered as you entered the abode.

“I forgot to mention this earlier! Douxie’s coming over for dinner!” she hollered from her spot in the kitchen as if she didn’t expect a reaction out of you.

“W-w-what?!” you sputtered, spitting out the drink that was in your mouth.

“Yeah! He should be here at 7!”

You looked at the time.

6:45…

“But… that’s… t-that’s in 15 minutes!” you cried as you ran to your room and rummaged through your clothes for something to wear.

“Well, you better hurry!” she snickered, playfully rolling her eyes.

After rummaging through your wardrobe, you finally found (you choose what you want to wear, rather than the usual plain white shirt and black pants.

Abruptly, you heard the door bell rang.

Oh no… Douxie's here.

You scrambled out of your room and into the main room to see Zoe standing in the doorway, greeting Douxie. He walked inside and spotted you.

"Hey, Y/n!" Douxie waved.

"H-Hi Douxie," you said, “W-what a nice surprise…”

“Indeed. I thought dinner was cancelled when you left work, but Zoe reminded me,” he informed.

You all sat down at the dining table, Zoe serving you your meals.

Zoe and Douxie talked over dinner, exchanging quips and banters.

You just sat there with your mouth shut, afraid of saying something embarrassing in front of Douxie.

After dinner, you tidied up the table, carrying the dishes to the sink.

“Hey! We should get some dessert! How does ice cream sound?” Zoe asked.

You and Douxie exchanged excited glances and nodded in agreement.

“Sounds good,” you smiled.

“Great! Let’s go!” Zoe exclaimed, ushering you and Douxie out the door.

+ + + + + +

You all were enjoying your ice cream at the Bluff, as you all had found the ice cream truck there. Douxie and you were sitting on the bench that was provided, while Zoe was sitting crossed-legged on the ground.

You were showing Douxie all the constellations, pointing each one out to him. He was amazed by all of your knowledge on just stars and space. Douxie knew you had an interest in a lot of things, cooking, art, sport, space, and a whole other stuff. Now, he knows you also take an interest in constellations.

Suddenly, someone's phone began ringing. Zoe noticed it was hers and picked it up.

By the way Zoe's expression turned from happy and cheerful from stressed and worried, you could tell, something was wrong.

She hung up and jumped to her feet.

"Sorry, guys. I have to go. There's a problem at Hex Tech," Zoe explained. "Bye!"

She rushed off before either you or Douxie could say anything.

You both looked at each other and shrugged before going back to constellations.

+ + + + +

Now, you two were just gazing at the stars. Douxie was in deep thought.

He had fallen in love with you in the few months he had started to write letters to you. He had only seen you through a photo that you had attached of yourself in the second letter to him, but he also got to know you through the letters. You had poured your heart into those letters, telling him everything and anything. Douxie had done the same.

He wanted to confess to you so badly! Douxie had planned to confess his feelings a few days ago, though it didn't turn out so great.

Douxie had taken you out to lovely restaurant for dinner. Everything was going according to his plan, your hands were in his as he was going to say everything, when the waiter came and interrupted. And for what? The damn bill!

You being you, took out your card to pay. Douxie wouldn't allow that. So, you two started to argue over who was going to pay the bill. Douxie ended up paying, as he planned the dinner for you.

He tried again outside of the restaurant, where there would be no interruptions. Well, that's what he thought.

You had to go to a friend’s house just after the dinner, so they decided to pick you up. Douxie had no idea about this.

Again, he was going to confess, when a car pulled up beside you two, telling you to hop in.

You apologised and headed off.

After you were gone, Douxie kicked the ground and headed to his house.

Defeated.

+ + + + + +

As you were looking up at the night sky, star gazing, Douxie was gazing at you.

He had made up his mind. He was going to tell you. Everything. Right then and there.

"Uh… Y/n? I-- uh… I wanted to tell you something," Douxie spoke up.

You turned your attention to him, "Yeah?"

Douxie took your hands in his, which made you blush a little.

"Okay, here goes nothing. Y/n… ever since I saw you-- I mean… wrote to you… Well, after I got to know you through writing letters-- through the letters, I started to look at you differently. Not in a weird way! Just more than a friend? Then, when I saw you for the first time in Arcadia, before you came to the shop. I was shocked, like I was surprised that you were in Arcadia. It's not a bad thing! I thought you lived in Europe, but turns out you moved. Anyways, I started to admire you than more a friend. I've gotten to know so much about you over the past month. So, all I want to say is that… I love you…" Douxie stammered.

You giggled at his stammering and flustered state.

He is so adorable.

Douxie took a deep breath before he repeated, "I love you." He stared into your eyes before he pressed his lips onto yours, kissing you softly as you kissed back. You both pulled away, keeping your foreheads touching.

"I love you, too," you whispered.

Douxie's eyes lit up like a child before he pulled you into another kiss, though this time, it was more stronger than the first.

You both pulled away for air just as you heard a click.

You turned your head to the source, to see a pink-haired witch standing there with her phone out, clearly taking pictures.

"Aww! You two are so cute!" Zoe cooed.

You furiously blushed and buried your face into Douxie's chest as he wrapped his arms around you.

"Zoe Ashildr!"

Word Count: 1,900

[yellowvixen]

I was hesitant to post this here, but I wrote a 20020 fic about Nick and Manny! It’s also on my ao3 (link in my carrd) and I’ll reblog this with the link later, as well. 

-

21079

January 1st 21079

"17 minutes and 39 seconds. We can make that."

"Yeah, yeah I know. I know. I just want to be sure, y'know, we could-"

"I'm not waiting another sixty odd years," Nick huffed. "We can make it now."

He could almost hear Manny chewing his lip over the phone, and stifled a bubble of hysteria in his throat. They'd spent a millennium training for this, and still Manny worried.

"It's winter though, surely it would be easier to wait until at least spring?"

Nick groaned. "So a few months?"

"Yeah, til March maybe. We can wait a few more months. We've waited for a thousand and fifty nine years."

"Fuck. Ok." Nick paused. "So..."

Manny hummed, spurring him on.

"Have you decided who's running?"

"Nick!" Incredulous laughter. God he wanted to see Manny laughing, in front of him, not via video. Wanted to trace the lines around his mouth, kiss the crows feet by his eyes, run hands through his hair- "You're asking me? Is that how this is working now?"

Nick tucked a leg underneath him as he spoke, contorting himself into his desk chair. "Well, yeah. Me running off without asking is what got us into this mess in the first place."

"Oh, don't you start that again," Manny said, sounding mildly annoyed. "You saved us. We scored because of you! The biggest score in centuries!"

"Yeah..." Nick sniffed. "Still. I've said it before, you should make this call."

A pause. Manny's breath was just about audible. "I... if I run we can start playing again. Properly, I mean. But... Oh fuck my battery's about to run out."

"Charge your goddamn phone! When will you learn!"

"Never."

Nick snorted, smiling. "You ass. What were you gonna say?"

"Oh uh-" Manny paused, and took a deep breath. "Can I be selfish?"

"Please."

"I want you home."

-

March 6th 21079

Nick's belongings were packed, ready to be driven by van to Manny's house - their house.

He'd been living alone for the past few centuries, in any flat he could find that was available on the field, moving about the country almost aimlessly. Sometimes people would recognise him. Once Manny had scored, their story had been released to the public, leading to a lot of questions.

"Do you think you guys can pull something like that off again?" No.

"If you had only found one ball, would you have gone to all the trouble?" Probably, yeah.

"Don't you want to see your husband?" Of course!

"Why keep playing?"

Nick couldn't answer that one. Neither could Manny, really. They could never find the right words. He supposed it was because they had been a part of this game since it started and they'd wordlessly decided to continue until it ended - if it ever did.

No point thinking about that now, Nick decided. He had told Manny that he would make the run in the morning, around 8. It was 7:30.

He checked his phone again. The last text he'd received had been from the movers, informing him they'd be at his place in a few hours. They had been all too happy to help when they learnt who their client was.

"You don't need to be there, we'll pack it all up for you! Seriously."

"You sure? I mean-"

She had laughed at Nick's insistence. "Yes, I'm sure. Just leave the door unlocked. You've planned this run for so long, I'm not about to make you wait longer."

Nick was grateful. He reckoned he wouldn't have minded just dropping everything, leaving his current flat full of furniture, but hey. It was a good desk chair.

So here he was, at the edge of Boise State's field. Nothing on him to weigh him down: no bags of footballs, no guilt. Well, no fresh guilt anyway. Just his phone in his pocket and a good pair of running shoes.

"You got this," he whispered under his breath. He took out his phone and sent a quick text.

"On my way."

-

FROM: ADMIN

TO: NAVARRO, NICK

NOTICE OF TRANSACTION

Dear NAVARRO, NICK,

This automated message serves to inform you that the Bowl Game’s officiating system has detected that you are located out of bounds, and have not returned to the field of play within ten (10) seconds. In accordance with Bowl Game rules, you have hereby automatically exercised your option of one (1) second of out-of-bounds time (OBT).

This 0:01 of OBT was awarded on

JANUARY 1ST, 21031

and was exercised on

MARCH 6TH, 21079

According to our records, you have

49

seconds of OBT remaining. Failing to return to the field of play before remaining OBT is expired will result in an automatic and permanent ejection, without exception.

If you feel you have been sent this message in error, please contact a Bowl Game official.

-

"BZZT."

Another email. Probably should have turned off notifications, Nick thought. Oh well.

He felt like he was flying. The thump of his feet on the rough ground, the cool morning air chilling the perspiration on his face, the thousand year pause of his heart finally over.

He was almost home.

"NICK!"

He grinned wildly. He was so close, Manny was right there , only a couple hundred yards away.

And then Manny was running towards him, and he'd done it, they'd done it, they were together again- hugging so tight Nick could barely suck air into his still heaving lungs. He shoved Manny back.

"Wait, we're in the field right? We're- we're not still out of bounds are we? I didn't expect you to run too-"

Manny grinned, grabbing Nick's hands, pulling them in a circle, spinning.

"Yes! Yes, we're here, you're here!"

Nick laughed breathlessly, stumbling slightly from the exertion and dizziness. Strong arms held him up, pulling him close for another hug.

Clinging on, Nick could feel the sting of tears begin to prick his eyes and shoved his head into Manny's neck, sniffing wetly.

"Fuck, I missed you."

Nick pulled back, Manny's arms still tight around his waist. Moving a hand to cup Manny's cheek, he sighed deeply and closed his eyes as they rested their foreheads together.

"Man, you smell like sweat."

"Hah, no shit!" Nick chuckled.

They untangled their arms and started walking slowly, hand in hand.

"Well, the shower is available when we get there." Manny swung their arms slightly, grinning.

"Yeah?" Nick side-eyed him. "D'you get it fixed yet?"

Manny studiously looked away, biting his lip to stop himself laughing.

"...No."

"No?! What do you mean, no? It's- it's been- it's been years-" Nick dissolved into laughter, unable to fake anger. Sniggering beside him, Manny squeezed his hand. He squeezed back.

"Maybe now you're back, you can get it fixed."

Nick pretended to think about it.

"Nah."

Manny gasped in mock surprise, using his free hand to try slap Nick’s head, who batted it away.

"What a hypocrite!"

Nick stuck his tongue out. "You love me."

"I do. And you love me."

[theconservativebrief]

People get tattoos for any number of reasons. For almost 400 people recently, that reason was free pizza for life.

In Russia, Domino’s Pizza offered customers “100 pizzas a year for 100 years” for free if they tattooed the company’s logo on themselves and then shared the image to social media with the hashtag #DominosForever, the Wall Street Journal reports. The promotion was supposed to run for two months, but the pizza chain had to discontinue it after four days because so many people were willing to ink up. In the end, 381 people qualified for the deal.

The reason many of them chose to get red-and-blue logos tattooed prominently on themselves was not solely because of an overwhelming loyalty to MeatZZas. Per the WSJ, “A stagnant economy has left average disposable incomes stuck around $500 a month” in Russia. Several people whom the paper interviewed got the tattoos because they needed the free food.

People occasionally pay to ink things like the Harley-Davidson wings and Apple apples with no financial incentive from the brands whatsoever; they truly just feel an affinity. But offering free stuff in exchange for customers getting tattoos of a company’s logo is a different dynamic. There’s also been a trend of companies not-so-subtly encouraging employees to get tattoos of their employers’ logo. It might seem funny at first glance, but it’s actually a pretty bleak statement on what brands are willing to do for some fleeting social media marketing buzz and the economic reasons people comply.

While Domino’s is one of the more high-profile global brands to pull this stunt, there’s a storied history of restaurants offering free food in exchange for walking human signage — or in the case of Melt, an Ohio-based grilled cheese chain, a more modest 25 percent off for life. According to a gallery on the chain’s website, at least 900 people have tatted the brand’s cheesy bread-and-crossbones logo on themselves for this deal. The sandwiches must be incredible, because the “Kindergarten,” a pretty classic-looking grilled cheese, goes for $7, which means you save about $1.25.

In 1999, San Francisco’s Casa Sanchez offered free lunch for life for people who got tattoos of the Mexican restaurant’s logo. They had to cap it at 50 people per day because so many people took them up on it. The restaurant reinstituted the policy in 2010, per the WSJ. As Domino’s has shown, people don’t balk at the concept quite as much as brands expect them to.

In 2016, CNBC reported on an Australian restaurant called Cafe 51 offering free burgers for life in exchange for a tattoo of one of its burgers drawn to scale. At the time, one of the burgers featured four beef patties and four pieces of fried chicken, so it was not a minimalist design. Apparently 3,500 people applied for the “honor,” and 10 were chosen for the actual tattoos. (The chain is now called Burger Love, so it’s a good thing the logo wasn’t the tattoo.)

In the early 2000s, during the heyday of the dot-com boom, there was a particularly devastating series of news stories about people auctioning off their faces and other parts of their bodies to brands for tattoos. In 2005, a woman got the logo of the gambling site GoldenPalace.com tattooed across her forehead for $10,000; the tattoo parlor reportedly spent seven hours trying to talk her out of it. A BuzzFeed report in 2012 sums up this dystopian time, interviewing several people who still had the tattoos. Most of the brands didn’t exist at that point anymore, and many of the people who had the tattoos were financially worse off.

These strategies do sometimes backfire, as was the case with publisher Hachette, which tried to run a promotion in Australia for the fourth book in the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series, according to a Verge report. It wanted to find a woman who would be willing to get a large dragon on her back, even going so far as to call it “tatvertising.” The company had to cancel the promotion after some online backlash questioning the ethics.

Then there’s Anytime Fitness, which has been successful in getting both members and its employees to have the chain’s purple “running man” logo tattooed. According to a 2017 post on the company’s blog, more than 4,000 “owners, staff, and members” have the logo tattoos. Anyone who does it gets … the cost of the tattoo reimbursed by the company.

The WSJ, which has truly been at the forefront of reporting on this tattoo-brand marketing economy, reported in March that an Anytime employee got a company logo tattoo but hid it from his wife for three days. This delightful exchange pretty much says it all:

He recalled his wife was shocked but decided it was “kind of sexy.” Ms. Daly has a different recollection. “No, I would not describe it as cool or sexy,” she said, calling her husband a “knucklehead.”

Nike reportedly has a secret society of EKINs, (uh, that is Nike spelled backward), a group of people who are trained guerrilla marketers for the brand. In 1994, the New York Times first reported that they all had Nike swooshes tattooed on their legs, a practice that Complex confirmed was still happening in an anonymous interview with an EKIN in 2013. “… yes I do have a Swoosh tattoo. You aren’t held at gunpoint to get a Swoosh tattoo, but a lot of people get it,” the EKIN supposedly said.

Some people get tattoos because they feel a true kinship with their employers, as one 24-year-old Walmart employee in the Journal story attests. Then there’s the question of what happens when you no longer work for that company. Former New York Times editor-in-chief Jill Abramson got the paper’s “T” logo tattooed right below a Harvard “H” two months before she got fired from her job there. “I love the Times more than I loved working there,” she told the WSJ.

In an economy where people don’t keep their jobs for 30 years anymore and companies like Amazon routinely pay workers subpar wages, it’s easy to be uneasy about brands stepping in to present themselves as “families” to its workers. Pressuring people to essentially permanently brand themselves (in both senses of the term), no matter how lighthearted it seems at the time, is almost cultlike.

“When people are offered something for free, they have this extreme positive reaction that clouds their judgment. They are ready to forgo options that are, rationally speaking, better for them,” a marketing professional told the Pacific Standard in 2015. The case of tattooing yourself for free burritos is an extreme instance of that. But for many of the Muscovites who wanted free pizza, it was almost an act of desperation. Paying the equivalent of $30 for a tattoo in exchange for a lifetime of worry-free eating was worth it to them, which is a disturbing commentary on both Russian economics and the fact that a brand was so flippant in its marketing that it didn’t realize that could be the case.

Some of these situations are fuzzier. People do have legitimate bonds with brands. In 2014, HBO ran a promotion with a small tattoo parlor near Comic-Con in San Diego, paying for 111 fans to get HBO-approved Game of Thrones tattoos. That is truly a cohort with a rabid fan base who didn’t necessarily consider it a promotion — they likely wanted GoT tattoos anyway.

And it could be similar for Anytime Fitness: On the brand’s blog, many members discuss how the logo has meaning for them, as a representation on a journey to health and as a symbol of their membership in a community. “Anytime Fitness Concord really is a family. My tattoo represents this family, and a decision to live my life to the fullest,” one wrote.

But the brand is probably getting a lot more out of it than you are. Anytime has received features in multiple national publications for its tattooing stunts. What happens when you quit that job, or don’t like pizza anymore, or gain all the weight back, and that tattoo is still there, seemingly mocking you?

On a final practical note: Tattoo removal costs thousands of dollars and is really painful. And unlike Domino’s 30-minute delivery guarantee policy, lasers are not guaranteed to remove a tattoo completely.

Original Source -> 400 people got a Domino’s tattoo for free pizza. Why do brands promote these body-altering stunts?

via The Conservative Brief