#Today I got done with the load of stuff I had in the car from last night

[yoshistory]

Currentlydeciding if ordering as much groceries as I'm getting rn and having it delivered to the 3rd floor of this building after myself having to move so much shit up here is considered a form of torture for whoever has to do this

[bratzforchris]

Comfort, M. Sturniolo

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ

Summary: Matt's been burning out. It's taken a toll on his body and his mind, but luckily, you're always there when he needs you most<3

Pairing: Matt x feminine reader

Warnings: Burnout, mentions of disordered eating and anxiety, panic attack, pet names (baby, pretty/sweet/handsome boy)

Word Count: 1.8k

A/N: This was a random little idea I had while I've been out of classes and work sick! Soft hurt/comfort Matt makes me so 💗 Expect a lot of writing this week while I'm on spring break and enjoy this lil story<3

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ

Being a content creator was an extremely stressful job, and you knew that. You had to constantly be worried about numbers, engagement, and what looks would or would not get you media attention, good or bad. Although it may not be the same as a regular nine-to-five job, it was still incredibly taxing, and that weight was wearing down on your boyfriend roughly and quickly. 

Matt had been teetering on the edge of burnout for a while now, but just chose to ignore it, figuring if he didn’t acknowledge it, it would stay at bay. He knew you could tell; in fact, he knew everyone could tell, but that didn’t stop him from working day and night, constantly editing, pitching ideas to his brothers, and planning new videos. He refused to let you or Nick and Chris help him, not-so-logically thinking he had to ‘pull his weight’. In Matt’s head, Chris was the funny one, Nick was the editor and the smart one, and you had your own job at a local boutique downtown. You all didn’t have time to hear his issues, he thought. 

“Matt? You in here, love?” You knocked on the door to his office, worriedly gnawing on your lip. 

You hadn’t seen your boyfriend since you arrived home from work two hours ago, but you knew he was here because his car was in the driveway. At first, you had left him to his work, figuring he would come out when he was done with his tasks, but now, it was nearing dinnertime, and even the smell of food cooking on the stove wasn’t luring him out. You waited a few beats, not hearing an answer, until you decided to take matters into your own hands. You would never intrude on Matt’s personal space, but truth be told, you missed your boyfriend loads, and you were also slightly worried. 

Matt was hunched over his computer, fingers flying furiously over the keyboard as he typed out an email. He didn’t even look up from the screen until you tapped him on the shoulder, to which you only received a turn of the head and a tired, watery smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

“Dinner’s ready, baby,” You whispered softly, massaging his shoulders. “I missed you today.”

“I’ll be there in a minute,” he sighed, rubbing his temples and then turning back to the computer. “I have some stuff to do.”

“Matt, you’ve been in your office since I got home, darling. That was over two hours ago,” You protested gently. “You gotta be hungry, bubba.”

The awful anxiety started to creep into Matt’s mind at your questioning, not because of anything you were doing, but because he knew you were worrying about him, and he didn’t want that. “I ate earlier.” he lied, wincing at how easily the untruth rolled off his tongue. 

“There weren’t any dishes in the sink or the dishwasher and there weren’t any takeout containers. You didn’t eat, love.” You said firmly, but not unkindly. 

You had been noticing for a few weeks now that Matt was eating less and less, abandoning breakfast and usually after dinner dessert in favor of working in his office. You figured the issue would resolve itself after the influencers got out of their ‘busy season’, but here it was, two weeks later and Matt was getting worse, not better. You knew your boyfriend struggled with anxiety even before YouTube, but that wasn’t going to make you brush the issue off. 

“It doesn’t have to be a whole meal, but you need to eat something.” You continued as you massaged his neck and shoulders, him still facing the screen.

Your boyfriend didn’t say anything, and you almost thought he was ignoring you, until he turned to you, blue eyes full of unshed tears. “I can’t,” Matt cried, beginning to choke on held back sobs. “I have so much to do.” 

“Bubba, you can take a break. It’s okay,” You kissed his forehead. “No one is going to be mad at you.”

“But what if I’m not doing enough? What if Nick and Chris think I’m just letting them do all the work? What if…” Matt was cut off by his own shallow breathing, hands moving to fist his feathery brown hair. 

“Matt,” You interjected firmly. “You are panicking. You need to breathe. Copy me.”

Over your year of being with Matt, you had found that a firmer voice with no pet names usually got his attention better than an overly lovey-dovey voice when he was panicking. Matt finally looked at you, his hyperventilating slowing down as he copied your breathing. In for four, out for four. 

“Good boy.” You smiled, gently praising him as he relaxed against his office chair. 

Matt didn’t even argue when you closed out his computer. He just sat back against his chair, massaging his temples. You gently took his hand, leading him to the living room and guiding him to the couch. You knew he needed to eat, but right now, getting him calm and relaxed was the first priority. You sat down on the couch, allowing Matt to lay his head in your lap. You two didn’t speak for quite a while, allowing him to fully calm down first. Finally, you spoke, running a hand across his body and through his hair comfortingly. 

“Do ya wanna talk about it, handsome boy?” You asked kindly.

“I’m just stressed,” Matt sniffled. “I have a lot to do and Nick is already stressed so I tried to help him with editing, and,” he paused to catch his breath as tears rolled down his face. “And some people have been making mean comments about me lately.” he cried.

“Oh honey,” You said sympathetically, kissing his forehead. “I’m so sorry, pretty boy.”

“They say I’m not as entertaining as Nick and Chris cause I’m quiet.” he sobbed softly. 

“Baby, that is the furthest thing from the truth,” You told Matt, kissing his forehead. “You are sweet, kind, and funny. Anyone who says otherwise is a miserable internet troll who takes their problems out on people they don’t even know.”

“Mhm,” Matt sniffled and nodded, curling further into you. All was silent for a while as you cuddled until your boyfriend’s stomach growled. “My belly hurts.” he whimpered. 

You pouted, running your hand over his stomach comfortingly. “It’s probably because you’re hungry and stressed, honey. Those two things don’t mix well. Do you feel like eating some dinner?”

“No.” Matt said flatly, avoiding your eyes. 

“You have to eat, baby. You don’t even have to get up from the couch and it doesn’t have to be a heavy meal, but you have to eat.”

“Fine.” he mumbled, desperately trying not to cry again. 

“I love you, handsome.” You slid out from under him, softly covering him up with a blanket, before kissing his forehead with a little ‘Be right back’. 

You padded into the kitchen, grabbing a granola bar and an apple. You also refilled Matt’s water bottle that had been abandoned on the island with fresh water. Before you went back to the couch, though, you snuck into your shared room and grabbed Matt’s stuffed pug, Mr. Wrinkleton, off the bed. Based on your own anxiety experiences, you knew having a comfort object usually helped, and your boy needed all the help you could offer. 

By the time you made it back to the couch, Matt’s tears had slowed, but he was still visibly sniffling, blankly staring off into space while pulling the blanket closer to his chin. It broke your heart to see him like this, but for now, you were going to focus on comfort; you two could tackle solutions to the problem later. 

“Look who I brought,” You whisper squealed, handing Matt his stuffed animal. “He missed you.”

Your boyfriend smiled softly, clutching the plush animal to his chest. Mr. Wrinkleton had been Matt’s biggest comfort (besides you) for as long as he could remember, and that didn’t change now that he was an adult. He shifted so that you could once again sit down on the couch, before laying his head back in your lap. 

“I brought you some food, too.” You placed the snacks in Matt’s hand, planting a kiss on his forehead. 

Matt didn’t speak much as he chewed thoughtfully on the granola bar and apple. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to you; he was just so exhausted that talking seemed like an extra task. Once he had finished, he placed his trash on the coffee table and then turned over so that his face was smushed against your body. You laid in silence for a while until you softly spoke, running a hand through his hair. 

“How are you feeling?” You asked softly. 

Matt shrugged, snuggling further into the blanket. “My stomach still hurts a little. I’m just really stressed.” he said sadly. 

“I have an idea if you’re up for it.” You smiled. 

“And that idea would be?” 

“Come on, I’ll show you,” You gently took Matt’s hand, making sure he had his blanket and stuffed animal and then led him to your shared bedroom. “Lay down on your back.” You instructed. 

Once Matt had gotten himself into a comfortable position, you straddled yourself across his legs and pulled his shirt off, admiring what you saw for a moment. Your boyfriend was gorgeous and toned with tanned skin and a beautiful sleeve of tattoos that you loved to admire. You stole a pump of lotion from the bottle off your nightstand and began to massage his skin, taking extra care to rub his belly gently and massage the knots in your shoulders. 

“God, Matt. Your shoulders are so tense, honey.” You hummed when your hands met a particular knot in his left shoulder. 

In response, your boyfriend let out a soft moan, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the soft pillows of your bed. It sounded sexual, especially since you were straddling him, but Matt didn’t give a damn. The only thing he could focus on right now was the soft glide of your hands against his skin, melting all his worries away. 

Once you had finished your massage, you cuddled up next to him, pulling the covers over both of you. “Did that help a little?” You asked. 

Matt nodded appreciatively, burying his nose in your neck while holding his stuffed animal to his chest. “Mhm.” he mumbled happily. 

“I’m glad, sweet boy,” You whispered, kissing the spot behind his ear. “You know you can always come talk to me when you’re feeling stressed, right baby? I won’t judge you, nor will I ever be too busy for you.”

“I know,” Matt blushed. “I’m going to work on asking for help instead of trying to handle everything alone…” he whispered softly. 

“I’m so proud of you,” You hummed, giving him the soft praise he so heavily deserved. “You’re the best boyfriend I could ever ask for, you know that?”

“I am pretty great.” the giggle and smile you had been waiting to hear all evening finally crept into Matt’s voice. 

Even when his anxiety and worries got the best of him, he would never lose his ‘Mattitude’, and that was just one reason on a very, very long list that you loved this boy with your whole heart.  

tags ♡: @aemrsy @jake-and-johnnies-slut @oobleoob @idek3000hi @melguilbert

note ♡: if you'd like to be added to my taglist, click here<3

[frosted-hyacinth]

You have a bad day

Feat. sae itoshi

Tags. fluff

cw. near-death experience (if there are any more, please let me know)

        You practically collapsed on your chair after you finished the huge mountain load of work and documents. After how tiring and mentally draining your day was. You'd almost gotten hit by a car that screeched to a halt after seeing you in front of it, crossing the road. It was a green light so you proceeded to walk across the road, looking around to check if there were any cars around. After making sure that there were none, you crossed the road only to be met with headlights in your face and the loud noise of brakes. You were shocked, after all, you almost got killed on your way to work. You stood there stunned before seeing the flashing red numbers on the traffic light and ran towards the sidewalk. You were expecting to continue on your way to work peacefully, continuing on your day like you hadn't almost died but just before you could take a step forwards, the driver of the car decided that this incident was entirely your fault and logically, the only thing they could have done was to open their car window and start screaming at you.

        They thought that it was because of your carelessness that they could almost have been sent to prison yet the driver was the one who almost ran a red light. So you just sped up and walked to your work building. As you finally arrived at the building, you set your stuff on your desk and sat down on your chair, opening your computer screen since you were preparing to pick up on the work you were doing yesterday. Before you could open the document, your co-worker tapped you on the shoulder. You didn’t notice but she had been silent walking behind you while you got your things prepared.

        “The boss asked for you.” She said, a smile on her face.

        “Thanks Mika.” You replied with a similar smile then took your laptop with you to walk towards a glass covered room. These types of rooms made you nervous, not only because every time you came into these types of rooms you were going to have serious conversations but also because the room itself felt scary. Sometimes it could be claustrophobic and feel like the perfect environment to have panic attacks but this time, you were seeing your boss. The one that helped you keep your job but also the one that could fire you at any moment. You couldn’t just break down in front of them, that could make you risk your job that you’d worked so hard on finding! You walked into the room with some non-existent confidence that was made last moment, taking a deep breath before your eyes were met with the very direct eye contact of your boss.

Her eyes were still on your but she gestured for you to take a seat on the chair in front of you, an order to which you easily complied to. The two of you sat in uncomfortable silence for a few seconds that felt like hours. If you had to sit there any longer in silence, you felt like you would suffocate. Thankfully, before you could die mentally, your boss spoke up.

        "I have been... Watching your work that you hand in, and I've noticed some things about the pattern that you give me your work. You tend not to finish you work as fast as other employees and to try to make your adaptive skills better, I have decided to assign you an amount of work that you must finish today." She said while reaching under her desk and handing you a pile of papers and documents.

        You nodded slowly then was motioned to get out of the room and resume your activities with the workload that your boss had just given you.

        You walked as quickly as possible out of the room as an attempt to get more time to work done.

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

        You sighed, clicking off your pen and shutting down your laptop. You were finally done. When you walked into the elevator, you heard a small ding sound coming from your phone so you turned it on.

Sae: When are you coming home

        When you saw that text, you let out a small chuckle as you realised that you forgot to tell your boyfriend that you would be coming home a little bit later than usual due to the work that you had to quickly finish. You stepped out of the elevator once it had reached the floor you needed then you replied to the text that Sae had sent you with some explanations to why you were late but not much else other than that. You didn't send him the time that you'd get home since it was dark out. When you sent the message to him, it had the symbol that it was sent underneath the text and just as soon as that appeared, it was read by Sae.

Sae: Do you need a ride

        You looked out of the building. It was snowing. So it was cold, slippery and dark outside... Not the best combination, not the safest either... You responded with a quick and straight forwards, yes.

Sae: I'll be there in five

        And now you were set to wait five minutes before your ride arrived. 

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

        Sae's car arrived in front of the building, you saw so you walked out of the warm building towards the car. Just before you entered the car, a large gust of wind caught you off guard, making you shiver and stumble backwards before opening the car door and entering the car. You slid swiftly into the front seat of Sae's car, when you made contact with the seat's leather, a large and fluffy jacket was placed over your body, covering your head as well. You pushed the jacket off your head and smiled at Sae, buckling your seatbelt. When you smiled at him, he saw a glint of stress in your eyes but right now, it seemed like all you wanted to do was go home. He'd ask you about it later but for now he'd focus on driving.

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

        You and Sae changed into a comfortable sweater, you having stolen a hoodie from his closet. When you finished changing, he quickly pulled you to the couch, on his lap, making sure that you were comfortable then he looked directly into your eyes.

        "Did anything happen today?" He asked, tone dead serious. "..Yes'' He continued staring at you, initiating a silent request for you to tell him what happened. You were hesitant to tell him but continued anyway, listing everything that happened, from almost getting killed by a car on your way to work to getting overwhelmed with work. When you were done saying everything, you asked him if he could watch Howl's Moving Castle with you to unravel from the day, he silently agreed then proceeded to turn on the tv, playing the movie you mentioned. For half the movie, you watched with your head nuzzled into your boyfriend's chest until you dozed off.

        He stayed in this position with you for a few hours, almost falling asleep in the process but he managed to somehow stay awake. He quietly crept out of your grasp, grabbing his phone and wallet from the table, getting ready to use any and all contacts he possibly could to try and fire your boss and make the life of the person who had almost killed you, a living hell. So don't be surprised if you wake up to find that your boss has been fired. It shouldn't be shocking if you have a boyfriend like Sae.

-I don't actually have a job so... This is probably inaccurate. I also don't know how this ended up this long but... Also, I don't have much on Sae's personality so he might also be a little out of character. 映

[millerflintstone]

I think the entire load up process took almost 8 hours. The van got to us at 7:30 am ish but the loaders didn't show up until 8 am, which was the earlier part of the estimated window.

The van contains two other loads. Both are military related moves.

I was talking to the driver and I did ask about how that works. The van has separate side doors for each section, so no one load determines the order of unloading. The mattress is the marker point for the end point of one load. There are divider/retaining cords that keeps the other load apart from ours.

The process is more technological than it was 18 years ago. The driver was the one putting numbered stickers on everything and entering detailed notes for any damage to existing items. Our stickers are a different color. He told us he's glad this was just a regular house vs military related move. For those, they have to enter serial numbers, additional details, and they really have to note down any damage. He gave us an example with one of our items that had a nick on it. If the nick existed and he didn't note it down, the clients could easily claim damage for the price of the entire item. Apparently the military folks take classes regarding this, too. IDK about that one.

We took up the rest of the truck!

We also timed it so that the junk haulers would show up at 4. They were a little early but it worked out. They even blew out the garage with a leaf blower.

Anyway, that part is done. The driver is headed to Arkansas and then a military fort in TX. We're his last stop.

As for the rest of today -we returned Xfinity's crap, got some dinner, and ate sitting on the floor. I went through all of our home related paperwork and threw out stuff the new folks won't need. Tomorrow we load up my car, throw any remaining shit out and leave for New Mexico!

[protocolseben]

(3 days before flight)

"Rocky, should I untether Mark from the pipes?"

"Don't even think about it Sebastian. I don't want to get into trouble !"

»»» 11th Day of Mission

Load LOG : // SL-21-20XX-28-12_01…

(alternate title : fuck characterisation, hello OOC. get OOC pain'd.)

###########

23:04:26:85 UTC +1 CET

Recording? Ok...so today-

("Talking into your diary again like a girl, love? ")

"Fucking…" clunk "It's my logging session. I'll throw something at you."

("Did you forget where you are?")

"Fick dich."

("…I hope that's German for 'I like you a lot?' ")

< clunk >

recording terminated due to lack of sound / voice activity.

###########

END LOG SL-21-20XX-28-12_01

// -----------------------------

Load LOG : // SL-21-20XX-28-12_02…

###########

23:11:33:02 UTC +1 CET

…Ok, the light is on, it is recording now.

This morning the Earth looked bluer than usual, and I really liked it, so I grabbed the camera and quickly snapped a picture. My photography skills are good enough!

NASA's Jackson called us the noisiest astronauts ever. Fair... But he did remark on how efficiently Mark and I get the work done around the station, given the state and the age of the machines. We would really just split the massive amount of maintenance into two and made sure we tied up any loose ends, and they were always impressed.

Today we had to do a pretty massive job of putting on the NOAX stuff on the many of the station panels. It was our second time doing a spacewalk in only eleven days, so that's a big thing. And it was…four hours outside, putting basically space caulk. Heat really gets to these big guys! The application was less than fantastic though, as we had to use spatulas to put them on…it was a really careful science experiment. There's Mark and me, stuck to only the metal railings of the station for our lives, putting state-of-the-art things with some ma's spatula. It's hot doing this the whole day, just mashing this stuff in! Sweating in space is not fun…

I looked up the stuff when I got back from the work. They use these things in Formula 1 cars…? Well you learn something new everyday and experience new things too, but I'm not sure how this caulk thing will benefit that much… probably only useful if Michael Schumacher goes 27 thousand kilometres per hour, sure…

Ok, I have been putting off talking about Mark.

The previous recordings already have them, but for memory's sake, I will just mention it here. I know, I know, I'm going to be 24 next year, and here I am, still feeling like i'm in middle school with how I'm acting.

We've been co-workers for two years now, and we've had our fair share of being at each other's necks. Horner didn't help either. The only thing he had to say to us before we left was that we were like an old married couple. And to get "our shit sorted by the end of the trip".

Well…

It really is hard to put it into words. It was pretty obvious to everyone, so I am the idiot here. Hah... I tried not to think much of it, especially during the suit up procedure for the spacewalks. it needed two people anyway.

Before we went back into the airlock, the bastard went to unhook my tether off the metal railing! Fucker!! Do you know how screwed we'll get if I wasn't anywhere with the EMU? He had the gall to laugh in his suit. I should have just beaten his face in just now.

("You didn't mention me holding your hands?")

clnk

("oh shoot--")

recording terminated due to lack of sound / voice activity.

###########

END LOG SL-21-20XX-28-12-2

----------------

[candyflossfairy]

𝐺𝑖𝑟𝑙 𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑜𝑛 — 𝟶𝟸

𝟶𝟸. — 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝘩𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦

𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡

𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑦: After a rough day at work, you head back to Hawkins to sign your contract with Steve.

𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠: 18+ only, praise, dirty talking, nipple play, protected sex (p in v), huge cock, cervix stimulation, overstimulation.

𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡: 4.3k

After you got home, you started packing up stuff. The boys gave you some boxes they had left over from when Tommy moved out, so it was a good starting point. Knick-knacks and decorations were boxed up and loaded into your car. By the time you got finished, it was four a.m. and you finally decided to sleep. 

Your alarm clock woke you at nine a.m. and you slammed your hand on it to get it to shut off. A quick shower later you were blow-drying your hair and getting dressed for the day. Light makeup, jeans, and boots were adorned. You threw on your leather jacket over your Metallica shirt to fight against the cold outside and started your drive to work.

You were thankful you had the early shift today. You’d be done by two to head back to Hawkins. However, you also needed to let them know you were quitting. You felt bad that you couldn’t give them a full two-week notice, but at least you could give them a week to start looking for a new bartender. 

Your boss, Connor, was pretty kind about the whole situation. He was excited for you. He even said he would come to one of your concerts should you be in the area. He did, however, warn you of Rudy’s wrath. You already knew. Once Rudy found out you were leaving, he’d be upset.

He never really got over his little crush on you, and since you were moving and going to be on the road a lot, he really didn’t have a chance.

Not that he had one in the first place. Good friend — not so good boyfriend. You’d seen exactly how he treated women he was dating.

Speaking of Rudy, he was coming in right now. You jumped a little, startled by his presence having been lost in thought. The bar was empty, save for a few patrons having a morning beer with Connor’s breakfast. 

“Hey, I didn’t know you were coming in today.” You greeted him with a soft smile.

“I wasn’t planning on it. Just passing by and saw Rudy put the help wanted sign back up. Who’d we lose? Carrie? Oh, was it Mallory? Yeah, I never thought she was going to be here long.” He leaned against the bartop, an inquisitive look on his face.

“Oh—no, actually. It’s uh—it’s me. I got the gig with Corroded.” You gave him a sheepish smile.

He was silent for a while. A little too long for your tastes. You could practically see the gears turning in his head as he thought about what all this meant for you. For him.

“Wow… that’s… wow. Congratulations.” He nodded slowly, but his voice definitely defied his words. He was upset.

“Yeah, thanks. I’ll be around for another week-ish. But we’re touring Indiana soon… so I have to go get ready with the band.” This was really awkward. 

It shouldn’t be. It was your life, and Rudy had literally no say in anything you did. He was just… possessive? Which was literally insane, now that you think about it.

“Well, when it all crashes and burns, I’ll be here.” He nodded more definitively before patting the counter and turning to walk away.

“Asshole.” You muttered to yourself, shaking your head.

The rest of your shift went rather smoothly and you hopped back in your car to head to Hawkins. 

You pulled up to the house and parked, getting out and heading up to the door. You felt awkward for a moment, unsure if you should knock or just let yourself in — no one had given you a key yet, and you technically didn’t live there yet.

You decided a mixture of both, giving a quick knock before you let yourself in. 

“Hey!” Steve was the one to greet you, sitting at the dining room table. He had papers spread around him, and glasses on his face. It was…kind of cute, really. You didn’t imagine him needing glasses to read, but the accessory on his face was attractive.

He was attractive; and you’d be living with him soon. The thought made your cheeks flush a bit, and you gave him a wide smile.

“Just setting up everything we need to go over before I get you to sign. I kicked the guys out so we could do this with no distractions.” He stood up. “Would you like something to drink? I know you have a bit of a drive here.” 

“Oh yeah, water would be fine!” You stepped over to the table and started looking down at the documents in front of you. It was a little overwhelming, to be honest. There were a lot of them. That was to be expected, though. Paperwork was a whole ass thing.

Steve came back and handed you a glass of water. You took a sip before setting it on the table.

“Alright, I’m gonna do this as simply as possible. There are a lot of big words in these documents, which is stupid, but I promise I’m not trying to scam you or whatever.” He picked up a stack of papers, “This is what is expected of you as a member of the band. None of it is crazy, really. It’s mostly just, you know, showing up on time to rehearsals and shows; but since you’ll be here that’s not a big deal. So if you want to take time to read all of that over, go for it.”

Mama didn’t raise no idiot. You knew to actually read it. So, you took your time, reading everything. Nothing really stuck out to you until you got to the end. 

“This is also an NDA?” You asked, confused. “Why?” 

“It’s mostly just saying, like… you know, we’re all living together and you’ll hear some things, see some things, that we don’t really want to go public with. It’s nothing huge like drugs. But if someone has a girl over, we don’t want everyone and their mother to know about it, you know? Mostly just…keeping our personal life out of the papers.” He explained.

Well, that made a lot of sense. You could understand that. 

You signed the last page and dated it, before handing it over to Steve. 

“Alright, next is what you should expect from us slash the record label. This is your pay, benefits, things like that. Obviously this will change as the band gets bigger because more money will be coming in, but this is the base starting pay per gig and time spent in the recording studio. If we get any interviews scheduled this is what you’ll be paid.” He pointed out each of the different numbers and your eyes went a little wide.

Well. You definitely wouldn’t be worrying about money any time soon. 

“What are the bills for the house? How does that work?” You asked him. 

“We take that into account already. Money is set aside from every gig to pay for the bills, so this number that you get paid doesn’t change.” 

After a few more stacks of papers to go through, all of the contract was signed and you were officially part of the band. 

"Awesome. I'll get this filed and after that we just gotta get you moved here." He smiled at you, shuffling the papers and clipping them together. "We cleaned out some stuff last night, but there's still things we need to move before we can get your bed and everything in there."

"No big deal. I only got, like, two boxes worth of stuff done last night."

"Well, we can get everything out tonight and rent a moving truck. Probably get you here in two days or so?" He asks, stepping around the table towards you. 

You nodded, thinking about what was left to pack. "I can get everything done in two days." 

"Cool."

Then, something happened. Something you weren't quite expecting. He touched you. Not in a gross or inappropriate way, but he lightly brushed his fingers against your arm. Goosebumps erupted on your skin, and you turned slightly to look at him. 

"You know, I was against the whole…letting a girl join the band thing at first, but I never could deny how fucking pretty you were." 

Your face heated up, your head tilting back slightly to look up at him. The air was suddenly thicker, your breath coming out in harsher puffs. You didn't know how to respond, really. 

However, Steve was in total control of the situation, his fingers reaching up to lightly brush some hair behind your ear. 

"I—um.." You didn't know what to say. "Thank you.." you said quietly, biting your bottom lip. 

His eyes searched your face for a long while before he seemed to make a decision. He leaned in slightly, so close you could feel his breath on your lips. This close you could smell him. Spearmint, cigarettes, and cologne. You swallowed thickly. 

His thumb gently touched your chin before it slid up to tug on your bottom lip. You would've been embarrassed by your next action if the heat in his eyes hadn't turned up significantly. Your tongue snaked out to swipe against his thumb, and he presses it fully into your mouth. 

You sucked on it, your tongue laving over it. His lips parted, and his eyes went a little hazy. 

"Fuck—" he breathed out heavily, "That's a good girl." He cooed, stepping closer. 

He slowly pulled his thumb from your lips and kissed you without warning. How could you refuse? Nothing in your body wanted to stop him. Not the fact that you barely knew him. Not the fact that you were officially working with him, and definitely not the fact that you were about to live with him. 

So what if you had a little fun? What harm could it cause?

In reality, a lot, you thought, but you didn't want to think about it. It had been a long time since you'd let loose and just…let go for a while. For long enough to get fucked, anyways. 

Your thoughts left your mind the moment you felt the warmth of his tongue brushing your lip, and you opened your mouth for him, wanting to taste him as badly as he seemed to want to taste you. 

His body pressed up against yours, making the swell of your ass push against the table. His hands gently touched your sides as his tongue curled with yours. He was going slow, but he was definitely in charge. 

He was making sure you wanted this. Well, you didn't have a single qualm — except…

"When are the others coming back?" You asked breathlessly as you pulled from the kiss. 

He scowled softly at the mention, before checking his watch. 

"We've still got a good forty-five minutes at least." He answers, his breathing slightly hard, too. 

You nod, and press up to kiss him again. His hands hook beneath your ass and he lifts you — a little too easily for your liking — onto the table. He was stronger than he looked, and as your hands slid up his biceps you could definitely feel the muscle hidden beneath his shirt. 

He groaned into your mouth as your hands roamed up his arms and around his shoulders. He was appreciating the fact that you weren't shy to take what you wanted. 

He pressed himself tightly against you, and you could feel the hard bulge in his jeans. He was bigger than you expected. Not that you could complain, but holy shit you knew you would be sore later. 

Your hands slid up the sides of his neck and tangled into his hair. It was soft, despite looking like there was a ton of product in it. You weren't quite sure how he did it, but hell why would you think about that right now?

His hand glided up from your thigh to your hip, and then up the bottom of your shirt. He gently grasped your breast through your bra, kneading it. 

"I'm not porcelain," you whispered as you pulled from the kiss. You looked up into his hazel eyes, determined. "You can be rougher. I'm not going to break." 

"Oh, honey. You have no clue what you're in for." He chuckled. "Let me take care of you beforehand, okay? Promise we can get to the rough stuff once your tight little pussy has taken all of me."

You flushed at that, heat shooting to your core as you nodded a little too eagerly. 

His hand slid out from under your shirt and he helped you take off your jacket, tossing it away before his hands threw off your shirt too. He reaches around you and easily unhooked your bra and you let it slide down your arms. 

He looked at you, his lips swollen and wet from kissing and slightly turned up at the edges. "Well… aren't you a pretty little thing?" He hummed, reaching forward to delicately pluck at one of your nipples. 

You shivered. Then his hands were on both breasts, squeezing. 

"Yeah, these are nice…" he sighed happily. His head ducked down to take one nipple between his lips, and he sucked; his tongue working over it.

Your toes curled as you held back moans, your breathing laboring. Fuck, he was good with his tongue. You could only imagine if it was on your—

"Don't hold back." He told you, standing up straight. "Let me hear those pretty noises, hm?" He grinned, before bending back down to take your other nipple into his mouth. 

His fingers rolled the other one between them, and your eyes fluttered as you finally released a moan, your back arching into his touch. 

His tongue and his fingers worked in tandem, almost musically. It made you wonder why he was only the manager of the band. You kept that locked in your mind to ask later. 

Your core was tingling. You needed to be touched desperately. You pressed your thighs together, rubbing, trying to relieve some of the feeling as much as possible. 

Steve never stopped. He kept going; kept working your nipples until you were whining desperately for him. 

"Shit, Steve, please." You moaned, tugging at his hair. "I need you, please."

Only then did he pull back and give your overstimulated nipples a rest. He grinned at you, too cocky, as his hands moved down to pluck open the button of your jeans. 

You laid back, lifting your hips to help him get them off. Your panties were soaked through, and Steve seemed to find this more than amusing as he cupped your pussy. 

"God damn," he sighed. "I can't wait to feel this. I bet you're throbbing in there. Tell me how badly you need me, baby." He gently rubbed you, relieving some of the tingling you felt. 

"Fuck, please, Steve. I need you. I need you so badly, please. Please, please, please, please, pl—"

"Okay, okay," he chuckled. "I know you're eager. Lift up those pretty hips for me, baby."

You did, and he peeled your panties off, tossing them away with the rest of your clothes. 

He was quick to pull his shirt off, revealing his toned chest and abs, complete with a small tattoo on the left side of his abdomen. You didn’t really give the ink another glance, too caught up in waiting for him to fuck you already.

His hands unbuckled his belt and he was quick to shove his pants down. Your eyes went straight to the bulge in his boxers, but you didn’t have to wait long before he was shoving them down, too. 

You almost gasped at how fucking big he actually was. You didn’t know how that was going to fit inside you, and you suddenly understood what he’d meant earlier when he said you had to take all of him. There was a lot of him to take.

“Ah, shit—hang on.” 

You barely registered that he was stepping away until he was gone and you sat up, watching him open a drawer in the kitchen. He pulled out a condom and waved it at you, grinning. “Community drawer,” he explains, “Anytime you need one.” 

You didn’t think about what that really meant right now. Why would you? 

“Just come fuck me already,” You groaned at him, laying back.

“Aww, you can be nicer than that.” He teased, as he stood back in front of you. He tore the condom open with his teeth and rolled it on smoothly. 

“Please come fuck me already.” You huffed, reaching for him with your legs.

He chuckled and pulled you by your thighs so the bottom of your ass hung off the edge of the table. He pulled your legs up over his shoulders and your insides quivered. He was going to go deep, and you both knew it.

He licked his thumb, not that he needed to, and reached down between your legs to give your swollen clit a soft rub, his free hand grabbing himself to guide his cock to your cunt.

Your back arched, zaps of pleasure running up your body from the simple touch to your clit. Then, he pulled his thumb away and tapped his thick cock against you. 

You swallowed thickly.

“You ready?” He asked, his voice thick with need.

“Yes, please,” You were desperate. You both knew it.

He rubbed the head of his cock against you a few times, the very tip of it slipping in slightly. He was using your juices to lube himself up a bit before he began to press in.

The stretch burned. 

You whined, fingers curling hopelessly against the table. 

“Shhh, shhh, it’s okay. Just take it, baby.” He inched himself in. 

Your eyes fluttered as he pressed further and further in, taking it as slowly as he could possibly manage. You thought he’d stop once you felt a brush against that spongey spot inside you, but he just kept going. 

You felt something new you’d never felt before once he was fully seated. It was almost a little painful, it tingled.

He was pressed against your cervix. The thought made your whole body shiver. This was going to hurt at first at any rate, but… no one had ever stimulated your cervix during sex before. You weren’t sure if you should be scared or excited.

Fuck if it wasn’t hot that he was so big though.

He looped an arm around your thigh, pressing his fingers against your clit while his free hand gripped your other thigh tightly.

Then, he started to move.

It was slow at first, pulling out and pressing back in, trying to let you get used to the stretch, to the new sensation of his cock pressing against your cervix. You moaned quietly, feeling as though you were a toy for his pleasure, even if he was slowly rubbing your clit to try and make you feel good.

Slowly, the uncomfortableness began to subside, and you were only feeling pleasure with every thrust, your hips wiggling slightly as his fingers sped up against your clit. 

“Faster,” You gasped, your back arching off the table. 

He did as you asked, finally picking up the pace. His hand gripping your thigh tightened, digging into your skin. You moaned loudly, knowing that the boys could show up at any minute and find you like this. Find you being used by your manager.

It was fucking hot to think about. 

His cock nudged your cervix with every thrust, and your pussy clamped down on him in response, making him groan loudly. His hips sped up and he snapped them a little harder.

Your eyes rolled back as a pressure began to build up inside you. This was a very, very new sensation. You’d had clit-stimulated orgasms before, and even gspot-stimulated ones, but this was different. 

You could almost imagine feeling him spill his own orgasm deep inside of you, breeding you.

You moaned loudly at the thought, your hands grasping desperately at nothing until your nails nicked into the soft wood of the table. You couldn’t care if you left marks right now. You felt so fucking good.

“That’s it… that’s a good girl.” Steve whispered to you. “Fuck, you’re so fucking pretty.” He groaned, his head tipping back.

Your eyes rolled back at a particularly rough thrust, your mouth wide open in a loud moan.

Your voice pitched a little high as the pressure continued to build and build until you were having a full-body orgasm, your back arching high as your pussy clamped down on his cock. It lasted for a good while, too. 

By the end of it, you were so fucking bleary you couldn’t even tell he was still fucking you. He was, though. He hadn’t stopped. The pressure was building up again in your haziness, and you whimpered desperately.

“Steve, please,” You whined. You were so overstimulated, so hazy. He didn’t stop, though. He kept going until a second one hit you and you choked on a moan.

A few more deep thrusts and his hips stuttered to a stop. He was panting, sweat trickling down the side of his face. You barely noticed, still out of it.

You weren’t sure how long it took, but you blearily felt Steve lift you from the table and carry you away. You were placed on a plush surface and covered with a blanket. 

When you came to, it was dark outside. You yawned quietly as you sat up, still very naked but definitely in a bed. It smelled like Steve. 

You flushed. You’d literally fallen asleep right after. 

You stood up on wobbly legs and stepped into the attached bathroom to relieve yourself. Somehow, you were fairly clean, no slickness in sight between your legs. You found your clothes on his nightstand, folded neatly.

Faintly, you could hear talking through the walls. It was too muffled for you to really make out anything, so you put on your clothes and tried to ignore the way your body ached. 

He’d really done you in.

You opened the door and stepped out, walking down the hallway.

“ —I just don’t understand why—”

“There she is!” Eddie greeted you first with a wide smile, being the one facing the hallway. “Glad you got a nap in. Steve told us you were tired from working and the drive. You can always use my bed, you know.” He winked.

You laughed softly, trying to play along with Steve’s lie. “Yeah, if I’m anything it’s a hard worker.” You walked further into the living room and took in a deep breath.

“Well, feel free to stay. Gareth is making dinner and we’re supposed to record songs tomorrow anyways.” Steve told you, smiling.

“Yeah, I’ll stay, just —”

“You can sleep in my room.” Billy and Eddie spoke at the same time, before turning to glare at each other.

“Oh, I don’t mind the couch—”

“C’mon, you don’t need to sleep on the couch. Just let one of us crash on it for the night and you can sleep in the room. We’ll draw straws or something.” Billy laughed.

“...alright.” You nodded.

“Dinner’s ready!” Gareth called from the kitchen.

Everyone shuffled in while insisting you make your plate first. So you did; you made two tacos, and piled a good bit of rice onto your plate. You were definitely hungry after…well, your afternoon activities. Not to mention you’d missed lunch.

You all sat at the table together, beer completing the meal. There was a lot of banter between the boys, save Gareth who gave little comments with a sheepish smile, and Jonathan who glared down at his plate while he ate.

You weren’t sure why he hated you so much. What could you do about it right now?

“Hey, are these scratches new?” Eddie asked, rubbing a light colored line in the wood.

You choked on your drink, coughing loudly. 

“No, those were definitely there.” Steve nodded, as Billy lightly patted your back.

“I’m fine—” You told him, giving him a smile.

Billy smiled back at you, and you both went back to your meals.

After helping clean up, you let the boys — minus Jonathan — draw toothpicks to see who’s room you’d sleep in.

Billy won and he led you to his room.

“I’m just gonna change and shit, so make yourself comfortable. Also—” He tossed you a shirt from his closet, “You can sleep in that, if you want. You know, to be comfy or whatever.” 

You gave him a kind smile and nodded, turning away to give him privacy while he changed. 

“Alright, I’m heading out. But if you need anything, let me know. I’ll be on the couch.” He winked at you. 

You stared a little too hard at his shirtlessness before nodding. “Thank you.” 

“Goodnight, princess.” 

“Goodnight!” You called after him, as he left the room. The door shut behind him and you were left alone.

His room smelled good. You had to imagine it smelled like him. He had a vanity in the corner with a lot of hair products and cologne. He took care in his looks, and there wasn’t anything bad about that. You smiled a little to yourself as you got changed into his shirt and climbed into his bed.

You settled in beneath the blankets, wrapped up in the smell of him. He smelled really nice.

You were half asleep when there was a soft knock on the door and it opened up. You sat up slightly.

“Sweetheart? Hey, just wanted to let you know that I’m just upstairs if you need anything. You know, some water, or some cuddling —”

“Eddie, leave the poor girl alone!” You heard Steve shout from his room.

You laughed. “Thanks, Eddie, but I’m alright. I’ll definitely let you know if I’m in the mood to cuddle, though.”

“Alright, alright. Goodnight.” He chuckled, shutting the door.

You settled back down, and soon drifted off to sleep.

𝑡𝑎𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡: @wh0reforbucknasty @munsonzzgf @feminist-mina-harker @justice4billy

[ivory-lamps]

[SSR] Nagi - The Taste of Happiness (Part 1 / 2)

SSR Card: downpour light Proofreader: Shay

Momiji / Kaede: (I’m glad the afternoon meeting is at the Flower Laundry that’s nearby. It should be pretty easy to get this little coffee stain removed.)

(I have to help out Yachiyo-kun tomorrow. He lowered his head to the ground and apologised so many times I think he made a hole in it…)

*Momiji / Kaede walk into Flower Laundry*

Momiji / Kaede: Hey, Nagi-ku–

*Nagi is stuck on the ceiling, legs dangling*

Nagi: Welcome.

Momiji / Kaede: What the–!?

Hey, you’re definitely not fine, right!? What happened!?

Nagi: I’m just working.

I was thinking about taking a break since a customer brought some snacks as thanks, but out of nowhere, a hamster… I think it was Machiko from the nearby kindergarten. Probably.

I saw Machiko running towards me so I wanted to avoid her, but then I noticed the trampoline Akuta and the others had left here in the corner of my eye…

So I fell onto it to save myself, but the moment that happened, I ended up flying through the air as if someone had hit a home run.

Momiji / Kaede: O–Okay, I get the picture. I’ll help you out so hold on!

Nagi: …Phew. Thanks. You’re my lifesaver, Manager.

Sonia: You’re also the ceiling’s lifesaver. Thanks for fixing it!

Momiji / Kaede: No worries. Thanks for removing the coffee stain, too.

Nagi: Glad to be of help.

But I don’t think I can continue helping out at the office. Sorry, Manager.

I’m falling behind on deliveries. I need to reschedule right away…

Momiji / Kaede: Do you want some help…? I came in the company car.

My work’s all done for the day, so I’m sure it’ll be fine if I send Kafka a message.

Nagi: Are you sure?

Oh, but there’s a bomb cyclone happening today. There might be some trouble heading my way.

Momiji / Kaede: Ahaha, it’s totally fine! Besides, I could use the experience as troubleshooting practice, so it’ll be perfect.

Nagi: …Thank you. Then I’ll take you up on that offer.

I guess I’ll get you to help me with the deliveries first…

A scary-looking person: Hey, you! You better hurry up and pay me that debt you owe!

Nagi: My apologies. I’ll pay back the interest first. How much do I owe?

Momiji / Kaede: Wait, wait! Put your wallet away!

*Some time passes*

Momiji / Kaede: (...We finished the deliveries, but it’s amazing how much of a trouble magnet Nagi is.)

(I can’t believe a loan shark got the wrong address and started storming in…)

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ📍 Flashback

Momiji / Kaede: I’m done loading it up. Where should I deliver them to?

Nagi: First, the shopping mall.

There are a few new stores opening, so they’re deliveries for those places. We’ll split up once we get there.

Construction worker: Sorry, we’re currently in the middle of construction work. Please take another road.

Momiji / Kaede: But I could pass through just fine earlier!

Momiji / Kaede: (Construction started out of the blue and we had to take a detour…)

(Then kids, who were passing by, challenged us to a cornering battle, and some tossed pizza dough flew at us. There was so much stuff happening we barely had any time to catch our breath.)

(This is going to be tough if stuff like this happens every time there’s a bomb cyclone…)

Nagi: …………

…Manager, we’ll go stock up on flowers next.

The app said the atmospheric pressure will be stabilised in the afternoon. There shouldn’t be any more trouble coming our way, so mobility will be important. Let’s head out on my motorcycle.

Here, your helmet. Put it on tight.

Sonia: Nagi-san, Manager-san, be careful on your way out.

I’ve packed the usual stuff for you! Take it with you, okay?

Nagi: Thanks, Sonia. …See you later.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Index ≡ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤNext →

[loveforcarmen]

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄 - CH. 2

- 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯 | - 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘰 𝘹 𝘧𝘦𝘮!𝘰𝘤 𝘤𝘰𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳

NOTE: new chapters will always be posted on wattpad first!

please lemme know your thoughts on this chapter once you finish, thank you!!

There was little breakthrough of a friendship between Margaret and Carmen. He didn't go to another meeting and she stayed out of his way. It was easy like this. Pretend the other didn't exist.

-

"Why the fuck is no one avalible for catering today?" Carmen yelled out as he walked into the kitchen with the calendar in his hand. He skimmed over it 3 times now to make sure he hadn't missed anything but no. Almost everyone was not able to help with catering today.

Tina shrugged, "Someone's gotta manage the kitchen while you're gone." she babbled her spoon around as she spoke, "Everyone can't have taken off, that's ridiculous." she added

Before Carmen could speak, Ebraheim walked by with a box, "Corner!" he called out. He set down the box by the back door, "I don't do kids man,they don't know how to eat food properly. Always have it all over their face." he said as he stood back. Tina made a face, silently agreeing with him.

"Only super young kids eat like slobs." Sydney cut in, walking over to Carmen to look at the spreadsheet. He showed her in defeat. "Ah, wait." She pointed a finger at a name and lit up. Carmen shook his head, looking up her. She nodded rapidly and called Margaret over.

"Sydney, no." he said under his breath before Margaret approached them. Carmen let out a sigh and he made sure Margaret heard it.

She did. She made a sour face towards Carmen then turned her attention to Sydney.

"You're free today, right? You up to help Carmy with catering for a kid's birthday party?" she asked, waiting for her response. Margaret's eye flicked over to Carmen, then back to Sydney.

"You can't do it?" she asked.

Carmen threw his hands up, almost in relief, "See, she doesn't want to do it." he looked at Sydney, "I can do it by myself, it's no problem." Carmen started to turn around but stopped by Sydney as she put an arm out in front of him.

"Weren't you just complaining not even 5 minutes ago how no one was available to help you today?" She raised her eyebrows, knowing she had Carmen in a hole that he would not be able to get out of.

He gently pushed her arm back down to her side, "I wasn't complaining, I was just questioning why everyone wasn't available for today."

"Sounded like you were complaining, Cousin." Richie called from over the counter. Margaret say his head pop up from the ground.

"Richie, shut the fuck up!" Carmen yelled back, which was responded with a snicker from Richie. "Fuckin idiot."

"You wanted help," Sydney turned Carmen's body back towards Margaret, "There's your help."

He groaned but didn't resist the idea of Margaret helping. Kids were a lot and it would be nice to have an extra set of hands. He stared at her for a good 5 seconds before he made his decision.

"Go start loading the boxes into the car out back. The boxes are towards the front of the car, come get me when you're done." Carmen ordered. Margaret bit her lip, hard, but didn't object. She brushed past him, making it known that she was annoyed with him bossing her around like that. She went out the back doors and began to load the car up.

Sydney looked at Carmen with a disappointed "mom" expression, crossing her arms, "Go help her." She pointed to the door, waiting for Carmen to leave.

"I got stuff to do in here. She'll be done soon, she's a quick worker." Carmen shrugged. He retreated to his office, closing the door with his foot. He flicked on the plug-in fan and began to organize the stacks of bills he'd been tackling for the past couple weeks. He had waited around 3 minutes before Margaret came back to get him.

They both changed into their regular clothes, but brought their aprons with them. Margaret had decided to go with a patterned sweater, paired with bootcut jeans and black doc martens that had a singular star on the toe.

"Margaret and her fucking stars." He thought to himself. He thought it was extremely tacky but he would never tell her that.

They loaded into the car in silence, stacking the boxes in the trunk just right so they wouldn't topple over on the drive there. Margaret hopped in the passenger seat and Carmen in the drivers. Almost the entire ride there, the pair rode in silence with the radio playing softly.

"YOU'RE LISTENING NEW HITS ON CHICAGO'S 9.31 FM. THIS IS ANDERSON PAAK. THIS IS "THE BIRD".

Margaret leaned over to turn the volume up then began to hum along to the song. As soon as she moved away, Carmen switched the volume off. "Stop humming." he said, resting his hand back on the steering wheel. He propped his head up with his other hand, clearly tired of this arrangement already.

Margaret turned to look at him, offended that he turned off the radio. She reached for the volume on the radio again to turn it back up, but Carmen put his hand over the volume knob, stopping her hand.

What he really wanted to do was swat it away.

"Why do you hate me?" Margaret asked as she settled back into her seat, "I've done nothing. You haven't liked me since day 1 when I came in to train." she rested her hands on her lap, "you can move your hand, I won't touch it."

He huffed, pulling his hand away "I don't hate you." Carmen replied bluntly, staring ahead at the road.  Margaret stared at him, squinting her eyes in an attempt to pick up on any tones of sarcasm but there was none.

She turned away,  "Well you sure act like it. You barely talk to me, you always seem annoyed when I'm around and you didn't even want to work with me today for this catering thing." she spat.

Carmen let out a small laugh, running a hand through his hair, "Well you don't exactly go out of your way to talk to me."

"Because you've made it obvious that you don't want to talk to me, so I don't bother." Margaret paused, letting a smile creep on her lips. "I'll make you a deal."

For the first time the entire car ride, Carmen looked over at her. "I'm listening." he looked back at the road.

"If today goes well, like no fuck ups or fights, we have to promise each other that we will attempt to become friends. Or at the very least, coworkers who can have a friendly conversation every now and then." she paused and looked over at him, holding out her pinky, "Deal?"

He kept his eyes on the road but responded, "Deal." Margaret cleared her throat to get his attention on her. He glanced over and saw her extended pinky. He rolled his eyes, looking back at the road, but offered up his pinky. They interlocked fingers and Margaret sat back in her seat satisfied. Carmen reached over and turned the radio's volume up.

For Margaret's sake.

-

The catering for the party was going smoothly. Conversation between the 2 was a bit rocky at the start but they found their flow within the hours of having nothing to do but talk. They had resorted to asking each other absurd questions along the lines of,

"Would you rather 2 extra hands or an absurdly large head." Margaret would ask. Carmen would really think before responding, "2 extra hands, it's like having another chef in the kitchen."

The party was starting to wind down, so Carmen and Margaret began to pack up for the evening. They worked quickly, developing a system so they could efficiently load everything into the car in the smallest amount of time.

Both desperately wanted to get out of there and go home for the day. Unfortunately, they had left once rush hour traffic had started. This tacked on another 45 minutes of sitting in the car together. Neither of them could think of a conversation topic they hadn't already talked about.

"Who was your person?" Margaret asked, interrupting the silence. She looked over at him timidly.

"My person?" He glanced over at Margaret, clearly confused by her question. Her eyebags were extra dark from her lack of sleep these past couple weeks, paired with party today.

She looked away, unable to hold eye contact, "The reason you go to meetings." Carmen studied the side of her face for longer than he wanted to before looking away. He was silent for a bit of time after that.

"My brother. He uh..." he began to say quietly before trailing off. He smoothed his hair as a resort to calm himself down.

"Take your time, Carmy." Margaret said, testing the waters using his nickname. His nickname coming from her mouth was a foreign sound for both of them.

"Suicide, shot himself in the head." He said, beginning to tap his fingers against the steering wheel. Margaret gave a slow nod, looking back at him. She scanned his face for emotion but there was nothing. "Left that shithole of a resturant to be and a fuck ton of debt to me though!" he said a bit louder than he intended to.

Margaret turned away and looked out her window. "Who was your person?" Carmen asked as traffic finally started to move.

"Is." she corrected, "But he feels dead to me. My father, a severe alcholic." she said, without adding detail. Carmen could tell she did not want to expand on it so he didn’t press.

Traffic had quickly picked up and they were approaching the restaurant before the silence became unbearable. Carmen parked the car, and got out to begin unloading the boxes. Margaret joined him, tossing the empty boxes in the recycler and bringing the leftover food into the kitchen. It was quiet, the staff winding down since closing time was nearing.

"Hey you!" Sydney greeted her. Margaret turned around, "How was that?"

"I'll tell you when I'm done," Margaret called back as she left for more boxes.

She walked around to the trunk of the car to see Carmen closing it, "All done." he said walking past her. She nodded then went to retrieve her belongings from the car.

When she came back inside, Sydney was at one of the tables eating and clearly waiting for her. She waved Margaret over, patting the spot across from her. Margaret walked over as Sydney squirm in her seat like an excited child.

"So," She held her finger in front of her face while she chewed. She swallowed then continued her sentence, "How was it?"

Margaret drew in a deep breath before answer, "Surprisingly good?" She cocked her head and her pitched raised slightly at the end of her sentence, "There was really no fighting." she nodded, grabbing a fork and eating off of Sydney's plate.

Sydney clapped her hands together, "So it worked!" she exclaimed, "I gotta tell the rest of the kitchen."

Margaret set down her fork and grabbed Sydney's arm as she stood up, "What worked?" she asked

"Our plan." Sydney sat back down, "It's been really obvious that you and Carmy do not get along. It was leaving a sour feeling on the rest of the kitchen so we decided that you and Carmy needed some "bonding time", if you will." she said, making air quotations. She wiped her lips with a napkin.

"So that's why everyone took off today..?" Margaret closed her eyes and shook her head, "You little shit stirrer, what if your plan backfired and Carmy still hated me after the event?" She playfully smacked Sydney’s arm.

Sydney stood up with her plate and utensils, patting Margaret's head, "Well, it worked well enough because you're using his nickname now."

Margaret opened her mouth to object but realized Sydney was right. They did make breakthrough with their friendship, finally.

Margaret followed behind Sydney to the kitchen, setting her fork in the sink. She then went to the lockers where Carmen was putting his things away. She walked over to her locker without a word, neatly folding and setting her apron away. She grabbed her coat and closed her locker with a hard kick.

"Good job today, chef." Carmen's voice made her turn around.

"Thank you, chef," she smiled at him, "but don't forget our deal." she added. Carmen just shook his head at her comment. "Night."

"Night." he replied, buttoning up his jacket. He felt his eyes on her, which caused him to look up, his face saying "what?".

"You going to a meeting tonight?" she asked. She waited for his response. Part of her hoped he would be there, the other part did want him there at all. That was her safe place and she didn't need him invading it.

"Nope." he said shortly, closing his locker. She felt the knot in her stomach loosen at his response. He walked past her, heading to the front to leave.

She trailed behind him, "Why not?" she questioned.

He opened the door, holding it open because he knew she was close behind him. She followed him outside, thanking him for holding open the door. "Cause I don't want to." he replied as he grabbed his pack of cigarettes. He fumbled through his pockets for a lighter when Margaret tapped his shoulder, holding up his lighter. He glared then mumbled a "thanks" and lit the cigarette.

"Can I have one?" she asked, half joking. Carmen looked at her unable to tell if she was being sarcastic. He wanted to laugh. He could not imagine Margaret, out of all people, to be a smoker.

"You smoke?" he lightly laughed, the cigarette hanging loosely between his lips.

"Yeah." Margaret lied through her teeth, "not that much though." Carmen quietly snickered to himself as he pulled a cigarette from the pack. His hair flopped onto his forehead as he lit it and handed it off to her.

She look at the glowing cherry at the end. She put the cigarette to her lips then inhaled for much longer than she should've. This had resulted in a massive coughing fit to rack from her body. "How the fuck do you smoke these?" she managed to say through her coughs and sputters. She held out the cigarette to give to him and turned away to cough.

Carmen took the cigarettes from her fingers, replacing his dwindling one with her fresh one, "When you're an anxious mess with a dead brother, you'll understand." he took a draw from the cigarette, blowing it away from Margaret so it didn't waft back in her face.

"You won't ever have to worry about me stealing your cigarettes." she joked as she pulled out her phone to check the time. "I have get home. I have a cat to feed. Bye Carmen." she gave a small wave before walking in the opposite direction Carmen was heading.

"Bye." he watched her walk away before turning around and walking to his apartment.

END

-

NOTE: so what did we think of this chapter?? i had a fun time writing it! i apologize if there's spelling mistakes, i only proofread my stuff once 🫣

with love,

marley

[howtodrawyourdragon]

A Helping Hand

Summary: Written for July Break Flash Bingo 2024. Set in a Modern AU. Hiccup struggles as the pain in his leg is especially bad today. Good thing there's a helping hand nearby.

Warnings: /

Rating: Teen and Up

Prompt: Location: Parking Lot

Words: 910

Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon

Characters: Hiccup, Astrid, Eret

Pairing: Hiccstrid, Eretcup

Author's Notes: The first JBB prompt I wrote for in general, no idea why it took me this long to post it.

Anyway, I've been posting some heavy whump as of late, so why not post a much lighter fic for today? :)

Enjoy!

The card and fic are under the Keep Reading.

-XOXOX-

Today is a bad day to go grocery shopping and Hiccup knew that before they left, but he assured Astrid that he would be fine.

He’s certainly regretting it now.

He’s trying not to lean too much on the cart as he limps around, following his fiancée. Astrid is pretty much running around, trying to get as many of the items on their list to cut this shopping trip short. The pain in his stump was less pleasant than usual earlier today, but after driving here and walking around Berk’s one and only supermarket for the past ten minutes, it has become so much more unbearable.

And Astrid is annoyed. Not with his pain, never with his pain, but with the fact that she trusts him to tell her when he can’t do certain things because of his leg and he didn’t do that today.

It’s so bad, the pain in his leg is giving him a migraine. And what doesn’t help are all the people trying not to stare at him.

He had a couple of plans, a few things to do, but it turns out he’ll be canceling all of it. He’ll be glad when they finally get home and he can crawl back into bed.

Eventually, Astrid manages to find the very last item on their list and then they head over to the register with a very full cart to pay for it all. Once all of their items have been scanned, Astrid tells him to go ahead and head for the car while she pays. He shouldn’t even bother to load any of the stuff up, she’ll take care of it.

Not feeling up to argue with her on that, he does as she suggests and heads out ahead of her. He limps out of the store and finds their car in the handicap spot. It is mercifully close.

Still, his limp draws enough attention. Particularly from a man who only moved here a couple of months ago.

“You need any help?” Eret asks. He was just about to walk into the supermarket himself when he spotted Hiccup struggling with the cart. The uneven terrain doesn’t exactly make it easy to use, not with an obviously painful leg.

Hiccup considers how stubborn he’s feeling in the moment before relinquishing the cart to him and nodding. Eret comes over and takes it from him. Crossing those last few meters together, Hiccup opens up the trunk of the car.

He and Astrid don’t use it often, just on days like these, when the alternative is walking across the city with a very achy stump.

“I got this, you go sit down,” Eret tells Hiccup when he attempts to help. The younger man shoots him a grateful smile and heads on over to the passenger seat in front. He’s not driving when his leg is like this, he’s not driving with a migraine, so he’s certainly not driving with both.

He drops into his seat, lies his head back and closes his eyes. They’re heavy, if he wasn’t in so much pain, he would be falling asleep right here as he waited for Astrid.

After barely any time at all, Eret has loaded up all their stuff and returned the cart. Hiccup knows he’s done when he appears at his still open door and gets his coin from the cart back.

“Sir,” he gives him a friendly, though playful smile. Hiccup returns it briefly, which takes more energy than he can spent.

“Thank you for helping out, Eret. I really appreciate it,” he thanks him, but all Eret does is flash him a smile and tell him to take care of himself before heading into the store himself.

In the side-view mirror, Hiccup watches him go.

Eret moved to Berk a good few months ago in the hopes of starting a new life. He hasn’t shared much about his old one, just that he’d made some bad decisions in the past, go involved in a job he hated and then came here when he quit it on a whim.

Currently, he’s working down at the docks as a fisherman.

Hiccup and Astrid are friends with him. Hiccup certainly since he’d gotten his number after that night of bowling with their entire friend group. And although Ruffnut tried very hard to get it all evening, Eret gave it to him just like that after a single conversation.

A moment later, Astrid plops down next to him in the driver’s side.

“I saw you had some help,” she mentions to him.

“Hm-hm.”

A moment of silence.

“Eret is such a hot piece of ass!” She states quietly, as if he’ll be able to hear them inside the car. Hiccup smiles before immediately regretting it and moaning miserably. His entire face is starting to hurt from the migraine.

“Don’t you think so?” Astrid asks as she starts the engine. She knows Hiccup has his number and Eret has his, she’s onboard with the idea of them.

“He’s nice to look at,” Hiccup admits. “But most importantly, he is nice.”

“I wouldn’t mind if he was nice to me, too,” Astrid admits to her fiancé and they share a smile before she drives out of their parking spot and leaves for home.

Inside the store, Eret can’t help but look back as well and watch as the two drive off. His day definitely made afte r an unexpected encounter with them.

-XOXOX-

[legend-the-dumb-jock]

Griff took a picture of himself in the mirror. “Yeah that’s what I’m talking about !” He said as he loaded it to his Instagram. Griff loved to show off his body. He worked hard for it after all. All those years he was over weight and now he was fit after spending 7 days a week in a gym and under a strict diet. Griff packed up his gym bag and left gym365. He was walking out to his car when he got his first like on his photo. Looking at his phone he seen the little heart icon flicker and then a message pop up. When he was in his car he seen the message. “Looking good there! “. He chuckled. “Thanks bro! I’m looking really good today”. He put his car in gear and headed home right after hitting send. When he got home there was another message. “Yeah you are! You’d look even better if you just let yourself be who you are naturally though 😛”. What the hell did that mean ? He didn’t know what to say about that. He went to the bathroom and stripped. Getting his razor he started to trim his body hair. Griff couldn’t stand body hair. He preferred to be clean shaven all the time. Minus a little fuzz on the face. His phone chimes again. “Seriously. You should be yourself. Body hair and all! I bet you have a lot of that !” Griff didn’t know what to say. “Yeah. I don’t like it that’s why I shave it every day”. Before he even had a chance to respond. Another message came up. “How’s about we play a game. Well it’s more of an agreement really. I will make an offer. And if you agree. I’ll pay you for it. But each agreement stands as is. And can’t be changed. Deal?” Griff didn’t even know what to say. Agree to stuff and get money ? He did have loans and other bills he had to pay. Why not ? He could always use the money. And plus he would have to agree to the stuff in order to get paid. And if it’s too weird he will always just say no. “Alright deal. I can deal with some extra cash”. He waited for a reply. But one didn’t come. He put his phone in his pocket and we to get a shot of tequila. His phone rang for a message. “Alright great! So for 100 dollars you should have a couple drinks tonight. Let loose !” “Deal!” Griff said he was already going for another shot of tequila. Before he knew it he made $600. Each time surprised when he got a notification that his cash app has money deposited to it. The room was spinning and he went to text a friend. Telling them about this guy paying him money. “Yes!!” Was the response he sent when his friend messaged back asking if he was serious about this. His vision was blurring. And he was in the middle of sending a 😂 emoji when his phone dropped. More buzzing coming from his Instagram app. The next day Griff woke up around noon. He had fallen off the couch during the night of being passed out drunk. The screen of his phone cracked from where he landed on it. He managed to get up with great effort. The room was spinning. He grabbed his phone and put it in his pocket as he staggered to the bathroom. Blurry eyes. When he got to the bathroom I. The dark he ran some water. Splashed it on his face. And that’s when he felt it. Something wrong. He had small stubble before. But now it felt like a full on beard ! He turned the light on and looked in the mirror. And was shocked. “Whaaaaaat…”. He began to shout when he heard his phone buzz. His friend has messaged him. Asking if he was serious but his response wasn’t there. Instead his Instagram app buzzed again. Pulled it up he was shocked. He replied to a message that he meant to send to his friend. “I’ll continue to pay you if you let me have free reign over choices, life style habits…. In all just to have control”. And right below Griff responded “yes!” He looked at the mirror and seen his bearded face. The next message said “good deal. You will now have a full beard always”. “You have no done cardio EVER”. “You do not shave your body hair ever!” “You tan easily and get dark almost instantly in the sun” reading this Griff panicked.

He realized then that his hands and face were much darker than before. He took off his shirt. Body hair everywhere. Back. Torso. Shoulder. Everywhere he looked there was hair. His phone chimes again “you have nipple rings”. Pain caught his attention for a brief moment while both is his nipples were instantly pierced. Making them plump and sensitive. “Why are you doing ! Stop this please !” He sent. “A deal is a deal. And you agreed to this. You lift weights a lot and it shows”. His arms and chest began to bulk up his muscle. His abs getting firm. “Please no! This was an accident !” But the man didn’t pay attention to Griff. “You have an overpowering labido too. You’re always horny”. Griff almost collapsed in the bathroom as if felt like he was punched in the groin as he got instant blue ball. Dripping sex in his shorts. “You’re 100% Hispanic. Barely able to understand me”. Griffs mind rewrote itself. As his dna changed. He was joe fully Hispanic. Spanish his primary language and he only understood broken English. “Por favor!” He sent a message. “You’re a thick man now. No cardio and eating like a pig does that. At least the weight help firm that fat up!” His abs shook and instantly disappeared under a thick form layer of fat. His gut protruded into a firm jock gut. His pecs sagged slightly. But still firm from all the workouts he did. “You smell like a dirty gym sock even after showers !” Griffs nose instantly burned from the smell of Bo. A thick gold chain appeared his neck from the next message. “Alright. And your final payment. This will leave you at about 100k dollars. You’re my dumb Hispanic bear pool boy. Always wearing something skinny while your bear body is on show for everyone to see. A stinking Hispanic pool boy.” Everything around Griff changed. He was sitting at a pool side. His hairy legs and feet in the water. The smell of Bo and chlorine filling his nose. While his jock gut rest on his legs. He was so horny he couldn’t think straight. And the man walking toward him had a big grin on his face.

@willwritesagain

November 17th, 2021 10:17pm

[la-undercover-latina]

Proposal- Armin Arlert

Summary: Same reader as Impatient Nester. But now we’re getting to see how our little blonde hottie did his proposal

Taglist: @arlerts-angel @arlertwitch @callm3senpaii @humanitys-strongest-bamf @postwarlevi @leviismybby

A/N this fic is for my boo @arlerts-angel whose birthday is today 🎊🎉

Flowers… Picnic basket… Blanket… Champagne… Sangria… Dinner… The young man ran through the list in his head for seemingly the millionth time.

“Relax Armin. You’ve got everything planned down to the minute. She’s gonna say yes. You guys have been dating for over 8 years,” Jean put a hand on his shoulder. The poor man was sweating bullets.

“But what if I forget an important thing, and I don’t realize it until I’m on my knee,”

“You’ve got the ring in your pocket, right?” Jean asked, a knowing look in his light brown eyes.

“Of course!”

“Well that’s all that matters. You’ve got the picnic setup already loaded in your car. And the ring is in your pocket. We all have our cards. They all sent me a picture of them holding it,” What Jean didn’t say was that he forced them to send a picture of them holding it, since he knew Armin would be so high strung and worried about this proposal not going the way he wanted.

“Thanks Jean. So I’ll text Y/N and tell her to go hang with the girls while we get the picnic spot set up,”

Jean texted the group chat that Armin used to set this up.

‘It’s a go,’

At the same time, Armin texted Y/N.

‘Hey princess, I sent you some money. Go out with the girls and spoil yourself,’

‘Minnie, you didn’t have to do that!’

‘Yes I did. Now go have fun. I’ve got to get some stuff done, but I’ll see you later!’

“I’ll go get the flower petals. Just head to the spot and I’ll meet you there,” Jean told him before grabbing his jacket and keys.

Armin sped to the spot that he picked out to propose, his excitement making him almost vibrate in his seat.

About an hour later, Armin had the canopy set up and was getting the pillows and blankets all spread out.

“Flower petals, as promised,” Jean smiled and was amazed that Armin got this all done in an hour.

‘Who am I kidding? Dude is a boy genius,’ he thought and placed the wicker basket in the corner.

“Thanks man,”

‘ETA to start: 45 minutes,’ Mikasa sent.

“It’s really happening,” Armin swallowed and felt his palms sweat, earning a large hand going to the top of his head and ruffling his hair.

“You’ll be fine,” Jean reassured.

“Okay so we’ve got nails, hair, makeup, clothes, shoes, and new bags. I think that’s everything,” Historia laughed, dropping her bags as they found an empty spot in the mall’s food court.

“We needed this,” Mikasa stretched out, an audible pop coming from her.

“Dear god! Was that your hip?” Y/N asked and Mikasa laughed.

“Nope. My knee. I may have pushed it too hard at the gym last night,” She turned to look at Sasha, who came to the table, a huge sub in her hands.

“When did Subway subs get so big?” Historia asked with a giggle.

“Recently apparently. The damn app didn’t tell me that they had a new sub size out,”

“How big even is that?”

“16 inches,” a bead of drool came down the corner of Sasha’s lips.

“Wait, you have the Subway app on your phone?” Historia asked, her fork of fried rice paused in midair.

“Of course I do! You really think I’m going to miss the chance for free food?”

“Good point. Hey when you’re done eating, we’ve got one last surprise for you,” Mikasa smiled at Y/N. There was nobody in the world she could think of better suited to Armin than her.

After about twenty minutes of small conversation and finishing their food until they all felt like they needed to be rolled back to their cars, Mikasa pulled out the envelope from Armin.

“What’s this?” Y/N asked before delicately opening the letter.

“That last surprise,” Mikasa answered simply, catching Historia out of the corner of her eye sending a text to Armin to let him know that the plan was now in motion.

‘My Princess. I know you’re probably thinking this is weird. But I promise it will all be worth it. The first step is to go to the place where you decided to give me my first chance. Love your Prince Charming,’

“What the hell are you waiting for, go!” Historia laughed and shooed their friend away.

The concept of the card was easy. This led her to a Cheesecake Factory.

Inside, waiting by the bar, Y/N saw a familiar buzz cut.

“Connie?” Y/N asked as she approached.

“Hey! What’s up? What are you doing here?” He asked and Y/N chuckled, holding up the card that Mikasa gave her.

“Ah, so we’re only at the second stop I see,” Connie reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out another card, identical to the first one. The only difference was that this one had a delicate 2 written on the front, making her turn over the first card. An equally delicate 1 was written on the front.

As Y/N’s dark eyes moved to meet Connie’s she saw a single long stemmed Peony in his hand.

“Read the card,” he told her with a smile.

‘See, I knew you could get to the second card Princess. Speaking of the nickname Princess. For your next card, go to the place where you first became my princess,’

“Go on Y/N, don’t keep the poor guy waiting,” Connie then turned to the bartender.

“Hey, can I close out my tab?” Connie asked and Y/N raised a brow. Connie came to the Cheesecake Factory just to give this card.

“Reiner… Bertoldt.. What are you guys doing here?” You asked, pulling up to the dog park.

On that day, you’d been dog sitting for your parents while they went on vacation. It was after three dates with Armin. And surrounded by dogs, he asked you to be his girlfriend and you’d said yes.

“Here to let my baby girl get some energy out,” Reiner looked off into the distance to see his six month old Rottweiler puppy now running full speed back to them, her bright pink ball firmly in her mouth.

Once the puppy caught Y/N’s smell, she’d changed course and was now barreling towards Y/N, stopping right at her feet for attention.

“Hey Stella girl,” Y/N knelt down and scratched Stella behind her ears, at the spot that got her back leg moving and a dopey smile to come across her face.

It was then that Y/N looked up to see Reiner holding a card.

“Who else is in on this?” Y/N demanded and Reiner chuckled.

“You know Armin better than any of us, what do you think?”

“So everyone,” Y/N chuckled, still keeping her scratches behind Stella’s ear as Bertoldt gave her the next envelope.

In the time it took Y/N to open the envelope, Stella had realized that her attention had stopped and she nudged Y/N’s arm, which she obliged.

‘I knew seeing Stella would bring that smile to your lips that I love seeing. For your next clue, you have to go to the spot where I got to hear your beautiful name from your lips for the first time. Don’t worry Princess, you’re almost to me. Come get me,’

“Off I go. See you guys later. Bye Stella Bella,” Y/N pressed a kiss to Stella’s head and the puppy smothered her in kisses, making the guys laugh.

The next clue brought her to the high school, where she saw Hange in their convertible, a letter between their fingers and a smirk on their lips as they saw Y/N’s car pull up.

“Sorry I don’t have much distractions. I didn’t get the choice to be with Reiner and that adorable puppy of his,”

“That’s alright Hange. Where is it?” Y/N asked, a smile on her lips and a giddy feeling in her chest at the thought of almost getting to Armin and to see what made him do this scavenger hunt.

‘Princess, I’m so proud of you. I know you’re probably just wanting to be next to me. I pinky promise you’re almost there. The next place you need to get to is the place where I finally got to see what your lips tasted like for the first time,’

“Good luck Y/N. Wrap it before you tap it!” Hange called while Y/N turned on her car again, making Y/N shake her head and her eyes read over the words again.

“Don’t worry Minnie. I’m getting there as fast as I can,” Y/N whispered and made her way to the semi secluded beach.

That day, Armin was so nervous. But the presence of the ocean and sand seemed to give him a boost (look at our Scorpio boy getting a boost from the ocean) of confidence that he needed to pull Y/N into one of the best kisses she’d ever had.

She parked her car, making sure to lock it as she walked the rest of the way to the beach, slipping off her flats and carrying them in a hand while the other shielded her eyes from the sun.

Once she got through the clearing, she could see two tall brunettes. One of them stood taller though.

“Jean? Marco?” Y/N asked as the guys turned to look at her.

“Hey. Wanna dip your toes in with us?” Marco asked with a beaming smile on his freckled face.

“Yeah that actually sounds amazing,” the trio walked down to where the ocean met the sand, where the smell of seawater mixed with earth in one of the most calming smells that Y/N and Armin both loved.

“Got this for ya,” Jean pulled out another card. Wordlessly, Y/N grabbed the envelope and opened it, to see her boyfriend’s handwriting.

‘Princess. You’re almost there. One more envelope after this and then I get to hold you in my arms. For this one, it’s gonna be really easy. On a hot day like this one, what is our go to, aside from where you’re already standing?’

“Thanks guys. What is he even planning?” Y/N asked, and Jean rose an eyebrow at her but it was Marco who beat Jean to speaking first.

“Now why do you think we’d do that to Armin. You’re almost there,” Marco reassured her with a hand on her shoulder and Y/N turned to get back to her car.

“I’m almost there Minnie. Just a little longer, according to these,”

Next was an ice cream shop that Armin had found on a random sweltering July afternoon.

On the hood of his car, Eren sat with a dish of frozen yogurt. Y/N pulled to the spot next to his car.

“You’ve got the last card?”

“What makes you think that? What if I just wanted fro-yo on a hot day,” he asked teasingly while jumping down from the hood to reach into his front seat and grab the card.

“Last one,” he smiled before handing you the card.

‘Alright Princess. This is your last card. All you have to do now is go to the place where our minds were at peace. I’ll see you soon.’

Eren held out a bouquet of peonies.

“One last Armin surprise. Now what are you waiting for? Move your ass!” Eren practically shoved her back to her car.

She looked at the card once more and set it down next to the bouquet, before putting her car into drive and once those tires touched the open road, she put the pedal to the floor. There was nothing more that she wanted besides being able to pull her boyfriend into her arms and kiss him until one of you passes out from no air.

Her tires hit loose gravel and it made her smile deepen as she knew she was getting close to the spot.

Throwing her car into park as soon as a familiar Acura TLX parked, and a brilliant smile came over her face. Knowing that her boyfriend was within steps of her.

Hearing his hopefully soon to be fiancée’s car come closer made his large palms start to sweat profusely. Anxiously, he tried to quickly wipe them on his dark jeans. He did NOT need sweaty palms right now.

“Armin? Minnie?” Y/N called, coming through the clearing of trees to see the beautiful set up. It looked like Armin had ripped it straight out of a storybook.

“Armin, did you do all this?” You asked incredulously. The canopy looked like it had been there for nothing shy of a century. The way the ivy crawled up the side and a honeysuckle bush surrounded it on all sides. The only interruption in the bush being the steps to the canopy.

“The canopy was already here. Guess we should’ve gone through the trees like you wanted when we came during finals,” Armin gave a delicate smile for the love of his life as she ascended the few steps to be next to him. He pulled you in for a deep embrace before pulling you in for a kiss just as deep, dipping you, causing your leg to kick out. When he brought you up, your face was dusted with a blush.

“So what’s the special occasion?” You asked, never having gone on a scavenger hunt with your friends before.

“I wanted to make this date special. And make you work for it,” he winked and chuckled while a giggle slipped through your lips.

“Well you succeeded. And none of our friends let the beans spill, so spill it,” You playfully demanded with a huge grin on your lips.

“Now why would I do that?” Armin chuckled with a smirk on his pink lips.

‘Little shit’ you thought as he grasped your hand and led you to an area that had fabric blocking off one area from the rest of the gazebo. This was where Armin had a mouthwatering array of foods.

“Marleyan ice cream? Mr. Arlert, are you trying to seduce me?” You asked teasingly. At least until Armin looked at you with dead earnestness in his oceanic eyes.

“Yes,” he didn’t realize he spoke the words until your faint blush from earlier turned into crimson flames on your cheeks.

“I had Reiner bring it back with him when he went to go visit his family,” Armin rubbed the back of his neck, making you smile and reach for his hand that was grasping at his neck.

“I’m glad you did. Should we eat? I’d hate for the food to go bad,” you gave him a gentle smile and that’s all he needed to go through with his plan.

“Sangria my love?” He asked, taking the chilled bottle out of the cooler he brought with him.

“Of course!” Armin grabbed two glasses from the picnic basket, and dropping a few ice cubes from the cold insulated bag.

Two insulated bags, wine, a picnic basket, plus all the decorations for the gazebo.

“That was the reason. For the scavenger hunt. It was to give you time to get this set up. Did you do this by yourself Minnie?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t hard. Probably the hardest but was getting the fabric set up to where it still looked romantic but would still stay up,” he started to ramble, so you grasped either side of his face and pulled him in for a kiss. One that made him shut up, not think for a second, and then all of his senses kicked into overdrive. His hand moved down to the curve of your hip and his skilled fingers massaged the areas they crossed, earning a moan to leave your lips.

“Wait, I need to do something, before I have no blood to my brain,” Armin broke away regretfully, from where you sat, breathing heavy.

Armin grabbed his jacket from one of the chairs, and then walked back to you, kneeling before you and popping open the ring box.

“Y/N, we’ve been together since freshman year of high school. And I’ve loved every minute of it, and I want to know what it’ll be like taking that next step with you. Will you do the honor of making me the happiest man on the planet and saying yes to being Mrs. Arlert?” He spoke, his heart pounding so hard against his chest that he was afraid he would miss the answer he’s been waiting for.

You couldn’t speak, tears brimming your eyes and so you had one other way of communicating your answer, you nodded furiously.

Once words finally came back to you, you cried out “yes, yes, a million times yes,” Now that Armin heard the words, he lifted you, spinning you in a circle before bringing his lips back to yours again in another kiss.

It was then that you heard whooping from the other side of the gazebo. Peeking through the fabric, you saw all of your friends before Sasha came barreling through the fabric and pulling you into a hug. Jean, Eren, and Mikasa pulled Armin in for a hug. After Sasha finally let you go out of her hug, you finally got a look at the ring. It was a rose gold band with the stones intertwined together. Opal and Citrine were interwoven with the band.

“Let’s see it!” Hange yelled, running in to see what the ring looked like. Nobody would confide in them anymore.

“You ruin one surprise office Christmas Party,”

“Hange, it was a surprise party for Levi,” Armin reminded them and Hange put up a hand in dismissal.

“Anyway Levi hates surprises. So I just spared all of you guys from having to deal with Levi being a cranky old grandpa,”

“What was that Hange?” Levi asked before giving a nod to Armin.

“Congratulations Arlert,” he gave the ever smallest upturn to his lips before he focused back on Hange.

“I am not a cranky grandpa,” he snapped back and then you looked over at Armin who had just reached out to grasp your left hand that was now and forever never be bare.

[brienneoftarth1989]

Undercover Part 3

Miranda Hilmarson x fem reader

Previous / Next / Series

Summary: It was Miranda’s first day in your gang and you were teaching her the ropes. She was very nervous but you just put it down to the fact she was working for the most powerful gang in Sydney

Warnings: threatening, torture, violence, gangs

Requests open

———————————

Today is another brand new day and you were slightly excited about your new recruit starting. Normally you would put training the new recruit on Raphael because you didn’t want to do it. However this time you actually wanted to be a part of the training.

Was it because you thought Miranda was attractive or was it something else? Who knows but you were going to find out on this journey ahead. You were currently sitting in your office trying to work out the plan for the day and what was going to work best in training Miranda.

You jotted down some notes in your notepad highlighting some stuff that you knew you needed to go over with Miranda. You also found yourself clock watching until Miranda got in which was only making the time drag even slower.

After a while you had done everything you needed to do in your office so decided to make yourself a coffee as you definitely couldn’t start your day without caffeine. You grabbed your ‘world's best boss’ cup before pouring yourself a coffee.

It was only going to be a waiting game from here so you went back to your office to enjoy your coffee and watch some Netflix on your phone. After a while of just chilling with your hot drink you finally heard someone knock on the door.

You looked up at the clock to see it was 9:00. Shit where did that time go? You thought to yourself. “Come in” you shouted from the other side of the door. You watched the door slowly open before revealing a very shy Miranda.

“Oh come in Miranda. Don’t be shy. I don’t bite” you laughed as you encouraged her to come into your office and take a seat to which she complied. “Don’t worry! Your first day will be piss easy plus you’re going to be spending the day with me. I won’t be asking too much of you straight away. Today I will give you a little tour of the place and get you started on some little jobs around here” you told Miranda before sitting back in your seat.

“Before we start, would you like a coffee?” You asked Miranda. “Oh no I couldn’t. Thanks for the offer but if I have coffee you will have to peel me off the walls'' she said as she let out a small giggle. It was infectious and you couldn’t help but to let out a little laugh as well. Jesus what was the woman doing to you?

“Well let’s start this tour then” you said to Miranda before standing up and getting ready to show her around the place. She stood up immediately waiting for you to show her the way. “Ok so this is my office which I know you're already aware of. If you can’t find me I am normally in here. Also speaking of not being able to find me, here” you said as you tossed a burner phone over to Miranda.

“That has everyone’s contacts that you need including mine. Think of that phone as your business phone and you shouldn’t use it for anything else. We don’t want to be leaving a digital trail for the cops do we?” You laughed slightly.

Miranda just looked tense before she let out a shy little laugh. It must be down to nerves. Hopefully she will snap out of that quick as you can’t be dealing with a ticking time bomb on your hands. “Come on. Let’s go” you said as you left your office.

You took Miranda around the base showing her all the important places that she would need to remember and you made sure to show her everywhere.

“Ok so this is the main hangout area. This is where we load up the cars mainly but a lot of the lads like to chill around here for smoke breaks so it has turned into the main hangout. There are benches and tables in certain corners. Feel free to do what you like there. Some people eat their food. Some like to play card games and make bets. You will find your friends in this crew. Trust me” you said as you walked through the hangout.

That’s when you caught Raphael out of the corner of your eye. “Raphael! Over here” you shouted. “Coming boss” he shouted as he made his way over to the both of you. “I know the two of you have already met but I want you to have a more formal introduction. This is Raphael. He is my right hand man. If I’m not around Raphael is in charge so you listen to him. Is that understood?” You asked Miranda.

“Yes y/n” Miranda responded. Raphael cleared his throat before talking. “Don’t be so fucking disrespectful. You respond with ‘yes boss’” Raphael shouted. You watched as Miranda jumped out of her skin. You quickly interrupted before things got too intense. “Actually Raphael I said that Miranda could call me y/n” you told him.

You watched as his face went bright red. “Sorry boss. I didn’t realise” he said, looking at you before turning to Miranda. “Consider yourself very special Miranda. The boss doesn’t let just anyone call them by their name, especially newbees” he smirked looking between the two women.

“Come on. Let’s continue this tour” you said as you made your way around the large building. “Sorry about Raphael. He can be very protective of me sometimes” you said apologising for his behaviour towards her. “If you don’t mind me asking, why is he so protective of you especially as he seems old enough to be your father?” Miranda asked. You took a deep breath at the thought of the subject.

Miranda could tell she had touched a nerve. “Sorry if that was asking too much. Don’t feel like you need to answer that question” Miranda said, trying desperately to change the subject. “No, no it’s fine. Really” you told her.

“My father was originally the leader of The Wildlings. He was unfortunately caught by the Feds which led to a death sentence. I was 10 years old when he died. I never even got to say goodbye. Raphael was my dads right hand man and my dad made Raphael promise to look after me and help me run the gang and that’s exactly what he did” you told Miranda trying your best not to show too much emotion.

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. It must have been tough on you!” Miranda said to you. “Yeah. I never even wanted to take over but when he died this was all I had left of him and I wanted to be with him as much as I could so I took over” you told Miranda as you continued to show her around.

“So what did you want to do?” Miranda asked. “I wanted to be a writer. I do write in my spare time but I wouldn’t dare try to get it published as I’m scared it will get me caught. You should read it some time. Some of my crew love to read some of my stories” you said smiling at Miranda.

“Yeah I would like that” Miranda responded. You continued to show Miranda all the important rooms in the building leaving the worst till last. “So this is my torture room. Unfortunately it does get used more than I would like but if people didn’t get on my bad side then it wouldn’t happen. Hopefully you will never find yourself on the other side of this door” you said laughing trying to make a joke out of the situation.

“Why don’t you show me what’s inside?” Miranda asked somewhat curious about what was on the other side. “Normally I would but it is currently occupied. I’m waiting for them to go insane as hopefully they will tell me what I want to know” you said pulling Miranda away from the door.

Miranda didn’t respond. Probably because she didn’t know what to say. “Well that’s the tour over. So let’s get you started on doing some jobs for me. Nothing too complicated today. A couple of the trucks have come back from doing some drug runs so the whole car needs to be cleaned inside and out. We need to make sure no evidence is left behind. All the equipment you need is by the trucks. Any questions you have can be diverted to Raphael but if you really need me I will be in my office” you told Miranda.

“Understood y/n. I will get started on that straight away. What happens once I’m done?” Miranda asked. “Oh don’t worry there will be more trucks coming back this afternoon so you will be spending most of the day cleaning. Shift finishes at 19:00 so about 18:50 start wrapping things up and you can pick up where you left off tomorrow” you told Miranda before leaving her and heading to your office.

You made your way to the office before looking out of the large window that looked down into the large warehouse. Raphael caught your gaze and winked at you. He could tell you liked Miranda. You just hoped that maybe she felt the same way. You didn’t want to get caught by Miranda so you made your way to your desk to get on with some paperwork.

Back down on the warehouse floor Raphael turned to Miranda. “You know she likes you,” Raphael told Miranda. All Miranda could do was quickly snap her head towards him. “Really? Are you sure you are not just imagining it?” Miranda asked genuinely confused if you did like her.

“Oh she definitely does. The boss doesn’t let anyone call her by her name and she sure as hell doesn’t always keep glancing at her crew. She definitely does like you. So I’m warning you now. If you two become serious don’t go breaking her heart as we will break you” Raphael threatened

“Don’t worry I won't hurt her, Raphael. That would be the last thing I would want to do” Miranda told him, trying her best to get on with the task at hand. “Good” he responded before getting on with his job.

Shit this was the last thing she wanted to do!

[pbandjesse]

Welp i thought I was doing pretty good today. Are three meals. Had a Popsicle. But just threw up so hardcore. That was not fun at all. I do honestly feel better after throwing up but man did that suck.

But thankfully for the majority of the day I felt good. It was mostly a good day. I did have very very strange dreams last night. But I did sleep pretty well overall.

When my alarm went off I was a little disoriented from the dreams, but I was okay. I got dressed and my hair felt very dirty and it wasn't helped by how humid it was outside. Obnoxiously humid. But it was fine. It would still be a good day.

We left here. James has loaded everything into the car already, which I appreciated greatly. We stopped at McDonald's for breakfast. It was nice to have my regular breakfast after so long. I didn't get a soda and I missed the combination but I thought it would be better if I didn't have so much sugar first thing. I would get a lemonade later on, when I felt like I wasn't hydrated enough.

Setting up was quick. James helped me but there was a lot of other stuff today that they had to focus on. It was skate day! The news was there! We had a bunch of extra vendors for the skate stuff. I loved how busy everything was and it brought in new and different people and that was just really great.

I was very excited when Blanche and her mom came and had a table. Blanche had a table with a million friendship bracelets and her mom had photos and paintings. It was so nice to have them.

Ann would get frustrated with some of our vendors today because they were arriving at 9, which is when we are supposed to be open and done setting up. But I still think it was a really nice and positive day.

I would focus on my temperature blanket today. After cutting all the July yarn yesterday I was determined to get that completed worked up. And it would take about 2 hours but I did it! And I was really happy about it. It was also really nice to show people what I was working on. Because even a few people who recognized the type of loom, they were really surprised that I can make panels on it and it was really cool to share that.

I would also finish the three squares for the little blanket I'm working on and I will probably get those sewn together tomorrow. I am really excited about all the work I got done.

And I made a few sales. I made $85. And I got my lemonade for free which made me very happy. James bought us some pies and snacks. And there was a really nice breeze. It was a good day.

I was happy to be done though. The last hour was pretty slow. I hate that I kept watching TikToks but I was just really bored! I would have some nice conversations but I was ready to go!

I worked up and loaded the car. And went inside the museum to hug on James. I would start helping check someone in but it was a weird one and James would tap back in to help. Perfect timing on my husband's part.

I would fill James in on my afternoon plans. Shake shack, five below, Ulta, target. I thought I might go to the craft store but I had to tap out after target.

The problem started at shake shack. At first it was great. I was really loving my sandwich. But I got halfway through and thought I was going to be sick. I sipped my drink and tried to be okay. I wouldn't force it. Instead packing my leftovers to go.

I drove to five below. Got myself a bunch of snacks. Alexi told me that sour stuff helps her stomach feel better when she feels quest. So I got this ridiculous sour gel. Which I used to love that kind of candy when I was a kid and I still like it now apparently. And I did find that it helped.

I would get myself two sanrio blind boxes. And then walked over to Ulta. Where I found the spin pins I needed to replace. And I got a new stick blush. The one I got a few months ago had glitter that I didn't know about. So I'm pretty happy that I found one without the highlight.

I walked over to target. I would get some frozen foods and a lemon. I walked around the rest of the store but didn't get anything else. I got what I needed and decided I needed to go home.

I sat in the car for a little. Opened my blind bags. Got a pompom purrien who is my favorite. And cooled off and caught my breath. And then headed home.

Google took me a really weird way home but it was fine. Got a parking space right outside our door. And was happy to be home.

I put the frozen stuff away. And took a shower. I was feeling a bit queasy and questionable. But the shower helped. Washing my hair helped a lot. And then I laid down and ate sour candy.

I was doing pretty good but the queasy feeling kept coming back. James would come home and would hang with me for a while. But eventually they went and made dinner. They had pasta. I had a quesadilla. Sweetp kept trying to steal it from me which was rude.

But I did not feel great. And that would continue. We laid in bed and James held me and I have found if they press on my side it helps the bad feelings. So we laid there like that for a long time.

I went to brush my teeth. I have had a dry bad taste in my mouth most of today. I think from being dehydrated. I was trying a tongue scraper that Jess got me when I was like. I'm going to throw up. And it was very bad and very upsetting.

James would run in and brought me some water but I was very very distressed for a bit there. But I drank some water. And brushed my teeth again. And I just had a little apple strawberry juice. And I feel a little better. Mostly I am just really tired.

Tomorrow I am hoping to sleep most of the morning away. Because I'm working a wedding from 2 to midnight. And I need to be up and ready to go! I plan on taking my anti nausea meds since today didn't go amazing. And I'll make sure I'm drinking water. And it will be a great time. There's going to be an alpaca there and I'm very excited about that.

So let's hope that this was just a one off and I'm going to be okay. I will feel better tomorrow.

I love you all very much. Send me good vibes. And send my mom congratulations because today she marks 41 years sober!! Incredible. I love her so very much and I'm proud of her for this accomplishment in self care and self restraint!! Love you mom!

Goodnight everybody!!

[harrysmimi]

Happy Birthday Daddy

Synopsis: One where Harry's daughter plans something special for his birthday, and ends up confessing anymore to things to his baby mama

CW: A butt load of Fluff and a pinch of angst.

More of my work

Harry was home, exhausted even on his break.

He's been taking care of little Alba whilst her Mummy is busy with work, also taking care of all the other house chores as his house keeper was on a vacation. He was still finding little pieces of confetti as he cleaned the house from Alba's birthday just last week they celebrated at his house. She turned three!

YN was there to pick up Alba on her home from work, she's usually got their daughter, especially when he's touring and all. But Alba is still her daddy's princess.

"Have a nice day with Mummy, okay Princess?" Harry kissed all over his little girls face, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes!" Alba chirped, "we gonna eat cake!"

"Yeah, we're gonna eat loads of cake tomorrow." He chuckled and looked up at YN who was patiently waiting for them to be done with their goodbyes for the day.

YN had gotten off work early today, she wanted to spend a day with Alba as she felt too bad not being able to be with her since her birthday. Alba loves both her parents though she's too young to understand her parents are not typical pair of parents, like most of her friends' from nursery.

"You're gonna be there tomorrow?" Harry asked, still crouched with a wiggly toddler in his arms.

"Oh, I'll have to see. Not sure though." YN shrugged.

"Alright." Harry sighed, "what are you two upto today?"

"We're going to get our hair and nails done, then we'll go eat out go home and watch a movie, won't be Alba?" YN cooed looking at her daughter.

"Yes!" She clapped her tiny hands in excitement. "I wan'to get fwenges, Papa!"

"Yeah? You're gonna look so pretty with fringes baby." He beamed at his little one, "and you do need a little hair cut don't you?"

"Mhmm!" She nodded, "wess go Mummy!" She turned around to give her dad a little kiss on his mouth before running to put her shoes on.

Even though Harry doesn't mind outside shoes in his house she still carries the manners of not wearing dirty shoes inside. She knows it's very dirty and not hygienic. Such a smart little kid she is. Harry walked them out, strapped the little girl in her car seat whilst YN put all her stuff away in the booth.

"I'll drop her off at ten tomorrow." YN said.

"Okay, drive safe." He smiled watching her get in her car.

......................................................................

Rest of the day Harry spent in his house, reading and making himself some lunch at home. He instantly missed Alba as she would tail around him and make a mess trying to help him cook, but she deserves to be with her Mummy as well.

He did kept getting loads of updates of her though, like she got her nails done in pink and gold, got her hair trimmed and her fringes cut like she had asked for.

"You're being so brave, Alba, I'm so proud of you." YN spoke in the video behind the camera as Alba got her hair washed.

He remembered YN telling him before her birthday they did went to get her hair cut but she got too overwhelmed and scared. Today she was being very brave. It was her second hair cut ever. It was a long video. The hair dresser asking YN if she's filming and her telling the man that she's sending the video Alba's dad and the hair dresser called him her husband on accident but she did not bother to correct him.

A few pictures of Alba making silly faces with a white towel wrapped around her head. She looked ditto like his mini version. The same eyes, same lips, same dimples, same nose, same way of posing for pictures, Same curly blonde hair which are slowly turning brown.

About half and hour later he got pictures of Alba's hair all styled with her natural curls dropping to her shoulders, her chubby cheeks looking more prominent with fringes framing her face.

More pictures of her messily eating a pizza and ice cream and sipping on what looks like strawberry milkshake. It was quite late so the updates stopped, he reckoned they both went back home. She was having a field day.

......................................................................

On the other side, YN thought it would be a good idea to get Alba on the idea of making her dad a gift bag. He had strictly asked not to get him anything but he won't be able to say no if Alba is behind it all.

So they went to stores YN knew she could afford which was H&M, Alba picked a very pretty baby blue button down shirt for her dad. YN didn't know his pant size so they opted for a necklace instead, a little H and A and a heart charm on it. Alba wanted to add some socks to the bag as well. From the kids section she picked a tiny white cat stuffie with a pink nose and green buttoned eyes. A couple of hair clips YN picked out knowing he uses those.

"Mummy, I wan this pwease!" She found a little barbie RV for herself.

She did get a load of presents this year but YN couldn't get her much other than a cake and a few clothes so she plopped the toy in the cart. They also found Tiaras, Alba picked three one for each of them.

From the next store they picked out a pair of new Nike workout shoes, YN wanted to get him a pair as she had seen his old ones are holding onto it by threads. And they were off to craft store next where YN picked a shimmery paper bag and decorative tissue papers. And two cards.

He did the same for YN last year. They also picked his favorites chocolates and sweets from the bulk store.

Alba had a little tantrum wanting to go to Build-a-bear again even though she went just two days ago with her Aunty Gemma.

After getting dinner outside, both the girls went back home and Alba was off to bed in no time. She even skipped her nightly bath time she was that tired. Just as she was about ready to get Harry's gift bag ready after all the other house chores she got a call from him, he usually calls in before Alba's bed time to talk her to sleep.

"Hi," YN said.

"Hello," he chirped, "is Alba asleep?"

"Mhmm. She went straight to bed after we got back home." YN informed him.

"She must be really tired then." He said, "just wanted to talk to her before I headed out with me friends."

"Oh, yeah no, I think she's in deep sleep." She checked up on Alba who seemed to be in deep sleep. "Yep."

"Alright." He let out a sighed and hung up.

The next morning, YN got to preparing for breakfast. She knows Harry's gonna be hung over and she thought she'd make him some too knowing she has to make some for herself and their daughter food. After getting Alba ready they got to writing on the little cards.

"Mummy, hwelp me pwease?" Alba asked, she had a green Sharpie in her hand and she climbed up on her mum's lap.

"What do you wanna write for your Papa?" YN asked.

"Mmm," she looked up thinking with her pointer finger tapping onto her chin, "you are the bwest Papa, Alba love you soooo much!" She announced.

"Yeah? And do you also wanna write Happy Birthday on it?"

"Mhmm!" She nodded.

YN held her hand as they wrote the little message onto one side. The little girl wanted to make a little drawing for her dad on the other side. So she got to that. YN got a little card for him too so she wrote a little something onto it.

They placed all the things in the bag and his it all with decorative tissue before getting to make breakfast and head out.

......................................................................

"Papa, I go' you gwifs!" Alba made a run towards her father as soon as she got to his place.

"You didn't had to my love!" Harry cooed already scooping the little girl in his arms. "You look so pretty in your new dress!"

Harry was still in his PJs, probably hung over, black basket ball shorts and a worn down gray t-shirt. His mug filled with his usual black coffee. He still uses the mug YN got him ages ago.

"Mummy, gimme bag!" She demanded as her dad carried her to the living room. She talks just like Harry, she had also picked up on his accent very much, well, it was meant to be really.

"That one's got breakfast in it, Alba," YN reminded her, "the one with the tissue paper."

"Oh!" She sounded and carried the bag with decorative tissue paper to her dad. "Happy birfday, Papa!"

"Aw thank you baby!" He cooed watching ber struggle to carry the bag twice her own size but he opted not to help her. She's an independent girl, and she'd throw a tantrum if he tried to help her.

"Open, open, open!"

"Okay, okay," he placed his empty coffee mug on the coffee table chuckling at her excitement, before he got to opening the bag, it was yellow sparkly bag with green tissue on it. The first thing he saw was card Alba wrote for him.

"Happy Birthday Daddy." He read the cover of the card and glanced at his daughter who was leaning onto his thigh looking at him in anticipation and adoration as he opened and read what's written inside. "You are the best Papa, Alba love you so much!!- you are the best daughter, I love you!"

"Love you!" She grinned, getting on her tippy toes she placed a tiny little kiss on his mouth. "Look, Alba draw a heart, an' a smiwey fo' you," she pointed out the little drawings, "this you, this Mumma an' Alba."

There was a stick figure drawings of her little family. She was also holding a balloon in the little painting. She even used gree for both their eyes and brown for her mum's. He liked it, there is so much a three year old can do.

"I really appreciate this baby, thank you." He gave her a little forehead kiss.

"Yo' welcome, Papa."

He got to the next thing, it was all the chocolates and sweets. And then he got to the necklaces and charms. "Oh, this is so pretty. I'm gonna wear this now." He put on the necklace.

"You look so pwetty." She squealed.

He even named his first Gucci collection after both of them. "HA HA HA" which stood for "Harry&Alba Harry&Alba Harry&Alba". Though no one knew he's got a daughter now, it was something he wanted to do for her. He even got little blazers made of her size so they could match for her birthday last week. He asked her to pick out the next thing.

"Papa, wear this too." Alba demanded picking out the blue shirt she picked for him.

"This is so nice, my little angel, thank you so much." He smiled at her and not before glancing at her mother who was sat at a distance on a love seat watching both of them. She probably took a few candid pictures and videos of them.

"That's all I could afford, hope you like it." YN said.

"No, this is so thoughtful of you." He smiled, "even though I told you I don't want anything, I really appreciate it. Thank you."

"Yo' welcome!" Alba chirped making her parents laugh, she had already gotten into the little bag of the sweets which her dad's.

"Papa this," Alba realised and fished out the Tiaras from the bag, "pwetty papa!" She celebrated after placing one her dad's head.

Harry laughed, "now your turn." He placed the pink one on her head to match her dress. She gave him a little twirl giggling loudly. Next Harry picked out the stuffed toy, he cooed.

"Her name is Alba as well." YN pointed out as Alba was not likely going to explain it to him the same way she did yesterday at the store, "she picked it out so you can take this Alba on tour with you always."

"Awe that's so sweet!" He chuckled, "what what's this?"

"I pway with this?" Alba asked.

"Of course, princess." Harry gabe the toy to her.

"Fank you." She grabbed the toy and ran to the play corner, leaving her dad to pick last two things.

"No, you didn't had to get me these!" Harry exclaimed. "These are very expensive YN."

"I know, Alba got those for you." She shrugged.

"But you paid for it."

"She did." YN pointed at the girl chowing down on vegan gummy bears busy with her wooden kitchen set. Harry knew it he won't get to eating any of those, so he didn't mind her eating his chocolates and sweets.

He just squinted his eyes at YN playfully as he picked out last two things in the bag, it was another card. This card just read Happy Birthday. He opened it to find a little note written on it in nice handwriting.

"Anyway, I need to get going now." YN announced before giving him a chance to speak up, "you can drop her off tonight whenever."

"You're not going to stay over for breakfast?" He seemed visibly upset.

"I've got to go to work today, took a half day."

"Would you want to come over for dinner then? Mum is coming over to help me later. Please, YN?" He asked.

"Okay, I'll see." She agreed, giving into his puppy face. The same puppy face she couldn't resist yesterday buying the Barbie RV toy.

"Alright. I'll see you tonight then." He smirked trying to hold back his excitement as he walked her to the doo after she was done bidding Alba bye.

YN's sound engineer, so she needs to work whenever the artists she's working with want to work. She's fairly new to the industry but her job is as demanding as Harry's.

That's how they both met. She was twenty when he was writing his first solo album. They became good friends. Up until about four years ago when they both drunkenly spent together, hence an angel named Alba was born.

Sure it did put a strain on their friendship. They were both joined to hip the first they met. Spent all their birthdays together, YN travelled a lot because of him. Especially during his first tour and his movie press.

YN started working in the studio after Alba was born as it was nearly impossible to travel when she was heavily pregnant and after with a fussy baby. Yeah, Alba was a fussy baby. YN was afraid to fly her to different timezones. And new shift to her job felt more zen to her, so it worked out all together.

It wasn't the pregnancy that put a strain on their friendship. It was when YN confessed him of her feelings. It wasn't that he didn't felt the same way, his work was way demanding and he wasn't ready for a relationship, even though he was thrown into fatherhood. There wasn't a doubt that Alba wasn't his. Harry knew YN never slept around with random more like he does or used to, but they still went withthe paternity test due to all the pressures she was put into. Especially by his rep and management team. Alba is indeed his. She's a clone of him.

They found out about the pregnancy way later when YN started showing and feeling Alba move inside her. It was way too late to take any actions. And none of them wanted to choose alternatives like foster care or adoption after she was born, especially when both of them were completely able to take care of the child.

It was hard to adjust to co-parenting but there was nothing they couldn't do together.

YN was so hurt, he said he wasn't ready for a relationship yet he went onto date someone else. Hence her distanced and stiff behaviour towards him. It wasn't easy for her to move on, especially when he's so nice and kind to her, especially when he tells her that he loves her but not in that way, or at least that's what he likes to think.

He's been trying to talk to her, feeling way too guilty. He wanted to sort things out with her because she tries to be nice to him for Alba and he doesn't want that. He wants his friend back.

They have had arguments with YN not wanting Alba around any of his girlfriend's, who clearly turn out to be toxic as time goes by. One even went as far as teaching Alba that she's her step mama, that was last straw for YN. She even threatened to get the lawyers involved if that kept happening.

YN's very protective of Alba, even though she hardly ever shows it.

Sighing he went back his daughter, had a little play with her after breakfast and she was off to her afternoon nap. Anne came over to help him with the dinner.

"Mum, do you think I am going wrong somewhere?" He asked, helping his mum by making the salad.

"Whatever for, love?" Anne cooed.

"With YN, she seems so closed off. We used fo be best friends. Even a year after Alba was born." He explained, "I know my ex-girlfriend did some shit which is no excusable. I just want to talk to her, some or the other excuse come up and she has to leave."

"I know." Anne nodded, "It was triggering for her, hearing what happened. I mean your girlfriend wanting Alba to call her Mama. You know she's had a rough time after giving birth. You just need to give her some time, it still takes a lot of time to get out of postpartum period. Your body heals up but you mind needs more time."

"Mhmm." He nodded, "I miss her, you know. I love her and I don't know how to tell her. I don't even know if she'll believe me." He placed the knife down seeing his vision get blurry with tears.

"Come here." Anne pulled him in for a bear hug. "It's okay, I'm sure she will come around."

Well, he cried on his birthday. It was a ritual.

......................................................................

Like YN said, she made in time for dinner. Also because Gemma texted her.

YN's not that bad of a person to make someone sad or upset on their birthday. So she went.

She still found both of them wearing the tiaras. Alba apparently made him wear the shirt she got for him. She was being super hyper, apparently few of the chocolates had coffee in it and it was working on her. Instead of having a sugar crash she was running around.

"YN!" Gemma announced as soon as she got the door and embraced her in a big hug. "I've missed you so much!"

"I missed you too Gemma!" YN hugged her back. "How have you been?"

The girls got to talking and gossiping.

They got to dinner right away, and played a bunch of fun games including Alba until she fell asleep on her dad. Apparently both of them went to park earlier today so she was extra tired. She was lied in between both her parents watching Turning Red on top her mum, her head on YN's chest facing her dad.

"Oh she's asleep." Harry announced, quietly. YN looked down at her little one drooling over her shirt.

"I'll put her to bed." She announced getting up, she walked to her bedroom at her dad's house. Tucking her in bed, YN walked out to collect her things and leave.

"You're leavin'?" Harry asked watching her grab her stuff.

"Mhmm, she's asleep. You can drop her off at the nursery tomorrow before you leave." She shared, "I, I'll ask Anne or Gemma to pick her up later."

"Can I talk to you for a little bit first?" He asked, subtly gesturing her back to the living room, luckily it worked as concern took over her features.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I am completely fine, thank you." He smiled, "I'll make us some tea first."

"Uhh, Harry, I, I have an early morning tomorrow. I can't stay this long." YN stuttered hesitantly. Now Harry was the concerned one.

"You're working so much, is everything alright?" He sat on the next cushion, keeping a modest distance from her. "You look so tired as well."

"No, I'm fine." She shrugged, "what did you want to talk about?"

"Yeah..." He trailed off, "no, I just wanted to catch up. It's been a while since we had a proper chat, haven't we?" YN looked at him confusedly. Even before things happened, their friendship wasn't something where either of them had to keep up with one another. They could just pick up where they left.

"Now if you wanna keep these aside." He grabbed her bag and her jacket to place it down on the floor. "Come on, talk to me."

"You're making this awkward, what you want me talk about?" She scoffed confusedly.

"I don't know," he sighed in defeat, "About our little princess, I guess."

"She's fast asleep right now. Probably dreaming about cats." YN chuckled at her daughter's new found obsession.

"Yeah, today she was petting this feral cat in the neighborhood." Harry felt his confusion lift off his shoulders. "I was shocked at the cat let her pet it."

Today Alba had made a miracle by petting an animal which doesn't want human breathing around it. Even had a nice play time with it at the park.

"She's very rowdy." YN agreed.

"Isn't she!" Harry giggled, "she said that you got me a little birthday card too."

"Mhmm." She nodded, "did you read it?"

"I didn't actually, I'll read it later." He shared, "who you're working with these days?"

"Confidential."

"Hmmm, I see." He nodded, "look, 'm gonna get straight to point, why have you been acting like I'm a stranger to you?"

"I'm not," YN looked at him more confused, "I've just been so busy lately that's all."

"You sure?"

"Mhmm."

"Oh god!" He sighed running a heavy hand over his face and through his hair. "I'm so sorry."

"No, it's all good. I think even Alba thinks that way. I haven't been able to give her the time she deserves as well." YN shared, "it's all good."

"I'm sure it's not like that love. What are you talking about?"

"No, it's nothing really." She was so persistent on not telling him anything. The truth is, she's working extra time and she is very stressed lately.

First she came to London to study Medicine like her parents expected her to, she took out a huge students loan but ended up going to college for just one semester. That was when she got a few smaller projects to work on and met Jeffery, Harry's manager and they started to work together.

Her parents were furious when she told them she left college but it was only for a day or two, they're very supportive of her now in her career. YN was doing amazing, travelling and earning enough. She bought her parents a flat back home and all that good stuff. It was a different story when she told them she was pregnant. It took them long enough to wrap their heads around what really happened.

Recently she bought a new house for herself and her daughter. She could deal with the drunk college students who lived next to her at her old place. She just wanted her daughter to have a nice place to grow up at. Plus she wanted Alba to be closer to her father.

Paying the mortgage, her loans off was stressful enough that she was feeling guilty of not giving her daughter the one-on-one time. She basically got no one in London she can turn to, her parents live in a completely different country. Plus she haven't gotten out of her postpartum down period, and yes her daughter is three years old now.

"You can take the day off tomorrow?" Harry asked, "we can stay in and spend time with Alba together. I know you haven't been able to be with her that much. And you can also stay for a while, we can watch a movie together."

"Harry you're making me feel bad now I really can't take a day off I've got deadlines to meet I'm so sorry!" She rushed.

"It's alright, I get it, I get it." He said, "you want me to drive you back home, then? It's getting quite late." YN looked at her phone for time, it was already half past eleven. She'll only get four hours of sleep before she has to rush to the studio to finish up some work and then rush to the O2 arena to check in for a concert.

"I'll manage it, don't worry." She started looking for her car keys, she knew it made a thump when Harry snatched her stuff from her earlier.

Harry's heart was just a minute away from bursting out of his chest there. He still was lost as to how he should tell her or even bring up what he wants to talk about. He's simply too nervous and scared.

"Alright Harry, please text me when you've dropped Alba off to nursery." YN caught his attention once again as she was now ready to head out, busy fiddling with her bag.

"I love you." He said.

"Love you too." She said back.

Now it was a norm for both of them to say those words, platonically. YN has gotten over her feelings now and it doesn't really bother her anymore.

"No, I mean, I, I love you." His voice was soft but she could still hear him. He watched her stop doing whatever she was doing with her bag, probably trying to zip it up properly.

"What?"

"I love you." He repeated but earned just a sigh from her. "I, I know I shouldn't say it like this but I don't really know the proper way YN, really. But I've fallen in love with you, I always have been in love with you."

"Harry, this is mot the right time to talk about it!" Her shoulders slumped in defeat as she took three long strides towards him. It honestly intimidated him but he was surprised when she pulled him in a warm hug. Took him long enough to realise he was crying, probably why she hugged him. But he didn't miss the opportunity and hugged her back.

"You're so stupid, you know?" She mumbled, her fingers ran through hair on the back of his head.

"I know." He sniffled.

"Why are you crying!" She cooed.

"I don't know, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I've put you through such an emotional rollercoaster. I just didn't want to loose you as me best friend." He cried like Alba in the moment, "I'm so sorry!"

"Harry, don't cry please!" Her hand ran soothing circles on his back. "We can talk about it." She'd let him cry it out, like she does with Alba.

He's just a grown up version of Alba okay!

"You good now?" She enquired and just earned a nod from him as he still held onto her tight, "I know you're feeling big emotions but we can always talk about it, you know?"

He couldn't help but chuckle at that. She says the same thing to their daughter when she's overwhelmed or throwing a fit.

"Okay!" He agreed.

YN pulled away enough to look at him. "You know I called you stupid for a reason this time?"

"Yeah, the other times were for no reason at all. I get it, I get it." he still laughed to cut through this anxiety.

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"Just couldn't hold it in anymore." He shrugged, "was going to tell you after Alba was born, but I didn't know how you'd react. You've changed so much, it is a good change, but we don't travel together like we used to, you don't write and work with me anymore, we barely see each other. It's mum or Gemma bringing Alba to see me when I'm on tour. We don't see each other anymore, nor you talk to me anymore. Thought you hate me now."

YN's heart dropped to her stomach when he said that last thing. Yeah, she tends to hold grudges and be petty as fuck towards people who wrong her, vut she can't do that to him. She still loves him and will always love him, yes, she have dated a couple of people since Alba but it did not work out (she never have them meet her daughter ever). Yeah, he broke her heart by rejecting her. His feelings matter too, that time he did not felt the same. She's gotten over it. Though it became a norm when YN distanced herself, well, because she wanted space to clear out her mind. Now they're not joint to hip like they were used before. And it's okay.

But she'd never bring herself to hate him.

"I don't hate you, Harry!" YN cooed, "god, I did not know you felt that way. It's just that I've been working so much recently. It's not that I hate you, I could never. You're still my best friend, and now father of my first born."

"I thought it was because of what happened before Alba was born."

"Harry that was four years ago, five even. I've gotten over it really." YN explained, "I have always loved you. I could never, ever bring myself to hate."

"You still love me?" He asked, "if, if not then it's okay. I under—"

"I do." She interrupted him.

"You do?"

"Mhmm." YN nodded. Before she could say anything else his mouth was on hers, it did not take her long to give in though.

"I love you!" He kissed her again, "I love you!"

"I love you." YN chuckled softly, "but we need time, not going to jump into it all together."

"Not going to." He agreed. Because, let's be honest, it might or might not work out between two of them. But both of them are unspokenly ready to give it a chance.

......................................................................

Pls lemme know how you liked this one. It was supposed to go up on Harry's birthday but alas, i've decided to post it.

Tag list:

@vrittivsanghavi @buckymydarlingangel @sweetwritingfanficfriend @theroosterswife24 @sleutherclaw @melllinaa @michellekstyles @sunshinemoonsposts @marialikescherries @japanchrry @onlyangelrain @originalsoulcollector @harrysgirl-1d @lomlhstyles @im-an-overthinker Lemme know if you want to added to the tag list

[thotsforvillainrights]

Sugardaddy Giran watching reader try on all the new clothes he bought for her

(Love sugardaddy Giran so much, He's real good for that tbh. Anyway, I again left the reader open so everyone can insert themselves into it. Thank you for the Giran content opportunity!)

~SugarDaddy!Giran & S/O's New Clothes~

headcanon|scenario|imagine|match-up|drabble

-Giran respected you from the moment he'd met you and even more so from the moment he'd realized he'd fallen for you. Although he wouldn't admit to developing a conventional relationship with you, somehow you'd still know he'd had deeper and more complex feelings for you deep down inside. For now, your relationship is classified as complicated.

-You see, you're sole position was to be his sugar baby. He had plenty enough money to take of your needs as long as you kept giving him that *ahem* sugar. Whether you're a hands on or hands off type of sugar baby, it didn't matter to him. As long as you were by his side when he needed you then he'd keep piling on just the kinda stuff you liked. Plus, you didn't seem to mind being eye candy/arm candy when he'd meet with his important clients. (Plus he seemed to enjoy anytime you come around and spend more time with him)

-Part of your lifestyle included keeping up your appearances (despite the fact that he still thinks you're beautiful/handsome/attractive when you aren't even dressed up). Your favorite part would be the shopping trips. These are times when he'd just sit back and relax while you got to look at all the new shipments of your favorite brands hit the wracks. The new Spring collection of your favorite designer arrived at your local high-end department store today. Giran laced up his shoes and hit up the nearest ATM before picking you up in one of your favorite cars to ride in...he'd have given you the keys to keep it if you'd just ask.

-Hitting the stores he'd give you two options before going through the glass double doors. Option one: he'd pay when you were done loading up your cart. Option two: he'd hand you his wallet and let you handle your own business. No cards needed as he'd always said 'cash is king' after all. Didn't matter which choice you picked as long as he got to tag along and treat his baby to everything she/he/they could ever want or need in this moment. No he wasn't a billionaire but he was certainly well off when it came to this kind of thing. Lucky for him you weren't the private jet and caviar kinda sugar baby lol.

-When finished shopping his favorite thing would come up next. That would of course be getting to watch his sweetheart try on all the outfits they picked out. It's for this exact reason that he tries not to spoil himself in the store by watching you too closely. It'll spoil the surprise of what you've picked out for yourself to wear.

-He enjoys seeing all of the various color and pattern combinations you'd come up with. The light and breezy linen just in time for Spring was a good idea on your part. He loved seeing the way you seemed to match your footwear with your new outfits as well. Giran didn't mind helping you try out your new accessories. He was hoping to slip that new gold necklace around your neck considering it held his first initial on the golden charm. No matter what you put on, he loved seeing you in it. He wasn't greedy with his compliments either! You were going to hear the truth from him and just how much you seemed to drive him crazy with your graces. Likewise he wasn't exactly hesitant on letting you down easy when you'd put on a combination that didn't exactly look as good on you as you'd thought. Still, that's a very rare occassion. Besides (depending on reader) how could he complain when you get to the more 'lacey' genre of bedwear?

[mrschwartz]

The New Cue #273 March 27: James Ford

James Ford gave an interview for The New Cue which was published earlier today. Here are the parts where he mentions Alex or Arctic Monkeys:

"How naturally did it come writing lyrics?

I’m definitely noticed working with a lot of great lyricists - I notice people like Alex Turner will be constantly thinking about lyrics and taking snippets from people’s conversations and jotting stuff down in his notepad. I definitely don’t think in those terms, a lot of the time I’m very much into melody and chords and feel, but I felt like I opened a little extra door in my brain when I suddenly started thinking about lyrics, seeing little things and thinking, ‘Oh, I’m gonna have that.’

(...)

The defining relationship in your production career is your work with Arctic Monkeys, which goes all the way back to their second record Favourite Worst Nightmare. Can you give me an insight into how a modern Arctic Monkeys record is made, I think a lot of people find their dynamic quite intriguing.

Yeah, that’s the thing, even within one band, it changes every record. With the most recent record, Alex is getting very into recording stuff himself. He’s a polymath at the best of times, he plays everything, he’s into the sonics of it and he’s obviously writing the songs for the most part. He does pretty great demos on this thing called a Tascam 38-8, it’s like an eight-track tape machine and it’s got a real vibey sound. He’ll come in with pretty well-formed ideas at this point, it definitely used to be less formed when they came in, although they’ve always been pretty well organised.

I seem to remember the writing process for The Car was quite long, he went to and fro with a few different direct directions. He definitely did a fair amount of writing, he had his own studio in London somewhere and Jamie [Cook, guitarist] and the band were coming in and out, jamming, then he’d do four or five different versions of the same song with different tempos and he’d played some of them to me and I’d be like, ‘Oh, that one’s sounding great.’ Then eventually, he came in and did some stuff in here, where we’d get his demos up, and maybe do some structural stuff and think about how we would actually record it. The last record was in a pandemic still so we couldn’t go abroad to a studio that we’ve been to quite a lot. We went to this country house in Suffolk, which involved pulling my studio apart and renting loads of stuff. It was quite a big technical thing. I just remember doing loads of wiring, plugging in the studio, getting it to work. The recording set-up was quite slapdash in a lot of ways but it ended up being a really lovely experience out there and we got it sounding really good after a bit of luck and a bit of hard work. After that, we brought it back here and me and Al did the string arrangements, pushing notes around on the screen. Then we went and got the string stuff done with this girl called Bridget Samuels who’s brilliant, she translated it into all the dots and that. Then I mixed it in this room.

It sounds like quite an insular process.

Yeah, it’s funny, I’ve known them so long now. I’ve been working with quite a lot of new bands and you get this energy and respect or something that you have in a new relationship and it counts for quite a lot. People will try stuff out that they wouldn’t normally try. But with the Monkeys, it’s a totally different thing where there’s this deep trust that we’ve grown up together.

So there’s a shorthand?

Yeah, that’s the thing. Me and Alex, our music tastes have grown together, I’ve introduced him and he’s introduced me to so much different music and there’s so much that you don’t even have to bother explaining. But sometimes that’s good and bad. I do often think it would be interesting to see what they did with someone else at this point, not that I’d really want them to, but I think that maybe they should, or it might be like a marriage where it just wouldn’t work. It’s a funny thing, but I still definitely try and push him as hard as I can. I’m aware I don’t want him to settle into a comfort zone and it just become boring, you’re trying to keep finding ways to move forward and do new things.

Which record that you’ve been involved with across your career that you think is underrated?

Maybe just because we’ve been talking about Alex, but I remember really liking this one called Belladonna Of Sadness by Alexandra Savior that me and Al did. I remember really enjoying making that and thinking it sounded great, but no-one ever really heard it. There’s lots of ones that you think are gonna do great but don’t, then ones that you’re not so keen on that suddenly have this life of their own."