#also i'm moving to the uk for school so will be there when she is if anyone asks why i was looking there

[theluminoussunflower]

okay not to be an lgbt who doesn't like taylor swift but i did just try to get tickets for one of her concerts and they were literally £660 which i know is not her fault but i am going to blame her for it bc it's a concert in the UK, which is going through a notorious cost of living crisis that particularly affects young uni students and this concert is taking place in a city with major universities and lots of young uni students and their rent living with five other people is lower than that ticket cost so when i say no concert ticket should be over £100 this is really what i'm talking about

[sp1rit-realm]

༻¨*:· 𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐄 ·:*¨༺

༻¨*:· summary ·:*¨༺ 𖦹 remus is used to the same day, and then you come into his life.

༻¨*:· notes ·:*¨༺ 𖦹 please give me some grace. i havent written a full on fic in... a hot second 𖦹 record shop owner!remus x fem!reader (she/her prns) 𖦹 sirius uses he/they prns 𖦹 also. reader moves to england so she doesnt have british accent. yeah. 𖦹 lily evans being the best 𖦹 FLUFF (everyone cheered!) 𖦹 [brief] ANGST (everyone cried!) 𖦹 not proofread

༻¨*:· words ·:*¨༺ 𖦹 2.7k

Routine—a very familiar word to Remus. His days were the same. Wake up, go to work, go home, shower, then sleep. He ate the same thing for breakfast and the same thing for lunch. Dinner was the only thing he frequently changed—maybe one day, he would have pasta, and the next, he would have chicken. He hung out with friends on Saturday, and they went to the same pub every time. The topics were usually the same. Sirius met someone new, someone they claimed to be "The One," only for that person to leave their life. James usually talked about training, Lily, and updates on her pregnancy. Since school ended, things had become... predictable.

You walked into the rickety old record shop, intent on finding your favorite album. It broke on the move to the UK, and you needed it desperately. 

Upon hearing the bell ring, Remus looked up. It was part of his routine—to see who had entered his shop—and there you stood, tote bag in hand with messy, windblown hair.

After searching through the Rock section for ages, you practically squeal when you see the album.

Remus looks up as you walk to the counter, "Hi." 

"Hi," You smile. Your accent throws Remus off, and he smiles. 

He looks at the record, then puts it down, "We have this in a white vinyl," He says, "I— I didn't mark it as colored, so you probably didn't see it. I can go grab it for you?"

You eagerly nod, "That would be fantastic!"

He stands, and you realize how tall he is—it's like he's towering over you.

A moment later, he returns with the other record, "They're hard to come by," He scrawls something on the record sheet, then rings up the album.

You thank him and pay, leaving him to wonder if you'll be back.

The next time you see him, he's with a pretty girl. She's got bleached blonde hair and a cute button nose. She's beautiful. Of course, you recognize the tall man—how could you not? He and the girl make their way to the counter; they both order.

"For Remus," A woman calls out. 

Remus—that's his name.

Remus steals glances at you the entire time he's at the coffee shop.

"Who's that?" Marlene asks with a coy smirk.

"I don't know. Came into the shop a couple of weeks ago."

"Oh, so you have a little crush." Marlene is full-on smirking now.

Remus goes red, "What? No." He shakes his head, "No," He repeats, trying to reassure himself that he doesn't have feelings for you.

"Sure," Marlene mutters, taking a sip of her drink.

Remus rolls his eyes.

About a month passes by until you see one another again. You walk into the shop. Remus looks up when the bell rings, and he smiles.

Sirius is there today, and they go up to you.

"What're you looking for?" 

You answer, and he leads you to the section as if you don't know the alphabet. He doesn't mean it that way, you know that. 

Still, you tease them about it, and their face goes stark red, "Sorry. I just— Sometimes record shops can be confusing in how they order things. Like, when it goes from 'C' to 'D,' does the 'D' section continue on the other side, or does it continue straight across? You know?" 

"I'm kidding around," You smile, "I've been here before. Granted, it was just once, but I know how it works. Thank you, though."

"But of course," Sirius curtsies, "Anything for you..."

"Y/n," You introduce yourself.

"I'm Sirius. Like the star," He clarifies, "Like, that's my name. S-i-r-i-u-s," They spell out.

You giggle, "Nice to meet you, Sirius."

"Nice to meet you. I love your silly accent, by the way."

"You're the one with the silly accent," You shoot back.

"Not when my accent is outnumbering yours."

You tilt your head and hum, "Strangely, I understand what you mean."

"It'd be concerning if you didn't."

"Do you frequent this shop a lot?" You ask, flipping through albums.

"My friend is the owner." Sirius shrugs.

You perk up, "Remus?"

Sirius quirks their brow, "You know him?"

You get hot, "No."

He narrows his eyes, "So, how do you know his name is Remus?"

"Well," You whisper, "I came in a while ago. He was really nice when I checked out. Then, a couple of weeks later, I saw him at a coffee shop, and they said his name when his drink was ready."

"You're a creep," Sirius raises his eyebrows.

"No!" You argue.

"Such a creep." Sirius begins walking away; you rush to follow him, "I'm telling him." He says.

You begin to panic, "Wait! No!" 

Sirius keeps walking to the front.

"Sirius," You whine, "Stop!"

"Remus!"

You silently will him to stop.

"Remus!" Sirius calls again.

"Lovely lady over here has something to tell you," He smirks.

If looks could kill, Sirius would be six feet under.

"I just– um–" You sputter out, "I just wanted to thank you for helping me with the record last time I was here."

You swear he blushes, but you don't want to look to find out.

"It was no problem," He smiles, "Maybe I could give you a call if any of their other records come in?"

Sirius smirks from the sidelines.

"Um..." It takes a moment to process, "Sure." You nod assertively, "Yeah. I would love that!"

Remus's world has turned upside down—you keep him on his toes. He stays up because, maybe, you'll call tonight. You eat lunch with him sometimes, and gone are the days when he eats the same thing every day. Gone are the days when he closes up shop at 7:00. Gone is routine.

"Do you want to have dinner tonight?" You ask, wrapping the cord around your finger.

"I'm actually going out," Remus responds. You frown, and your imagination runs wild. What if he's going on a date?

"Hello?" He asks, and you realize you've blocked him out.

"Huh? Sorry?"

"I asked if you wanted to come with me. You can meet my mates. If you want." He spits out. Saying it once is nerve-wracking enough; saying it twice is terrifying because what if you say no? What if you don't want to meet his friends? What if–

"I'd love to!" You cut his frantic thoughts off, and his heart swells.

"Really?" He asks.

"Of course!"

So, now, you're standing in front of a random pub, wondering if he's pranking you. It's been about five minutes, and you know that's not a long time to wait, but your anxiety is getting the better of you. 

Then, five turns to fifteen, and you're wondering how pathetic you look.

"Y/n?"

Your head whips to the door, "Sirius? When'd you get here?"

Sirius checks their wrist like they're checking a watch, "'Bout half an hour ago. Did the dimwit not tell you to meet us inside?"

You shake your head, "He said to meet him at the bar. So, I guess he didn't quite specify." You shrug.

"Well, come on in," He holds the door open for you.

You thank Sirius and look around for Remus. He's not hard to spot, and Sirius jogs over to their booth before whispering something into Remus's ear. He looks up and smiles brightly.

"You're here!" He exclaims.

"You're here." You say, tone almost scolding him. 

Sirius whispers something else to him.

His face drops, "Oh... sorry for not telling you to meet us inside." His mouth quirks to one side in a guilty expression.

You smile, "It's okay. I forgive you." You sit next to him.

"Oh, thank god," He rests his hand on his chest, "A pretty girl being mad at me would've been my death."

Heat blossoms in your chest.

"So..." James begins, "Now that flirt time is over, can I say hello?"

"Ha!" Sirius barks out, "Flirt time!"

Remus gets warm, "This is James, another one of my school friends. James, this is y/n."

All James says is: "You're his lock screen, y'know?"

Remus kicks him under the table.

"I mean–" James smiles, "Hello, it's nice to meet you. I have never seen your face before."

"Smooth," Sirius whispers to James.

You smile at Remus's red face.

"Ignore him, please?" He begs.

You nod.

Sirius and James tell you embarrassing stories about Remus for the rest of the night, and the boy starts to regret introducing you to them as a pair.

 At the end of the night, he drops you off. 

Rubbing his face, he sighs, "I hope they weren't too much."

You smile brightly, and Remus feels like he could fall to his knees, "I had an amazing time. They're really fun, Remus."

You leave him with a kiss on the cheek—he puts his hand up to the spot and smiles the whole way home.

"I've missed you," You say into the phone.

"I've missed you, too. You should just let me come over." Remus begs for the umpteenth time.

"I don't want to get you sick," You frown, "That would be horrible."

"It wouldn't be the end of the world. We could quarantine together," He smirks, "I could make you soup, and we could cuddle together on the couch and watch some ridiculous rom-com."

"Take a girl out on a date first!" You joke.

"I would if you weren't so busy being poorly." Remus groans.

"So you're asking me out on a date?" You smile and do a little happy dance.

"I guess I am."

He's smug, and you can tell.

A week later, you sit in a fancy restaurant—the kind where the prices aren't even on the menu. Remus is fidgety. He's wearing his nicest button-down, and you think it looks funny on him. He gets red at your comment and looks down at the table with pursed lips.

"I just meant that I'm so used to you wearing those comfy sweaters. You look good, though." You earnestly smile at him.

"You look nice tonight, yourself."

"Well, I'm going on a date with this charming boy. I wanted to impress him."

"I hear he's very impressed."

You insist on paying, but he won't let you. As soon as you pull out your wallet, he snatches it from you.

He kisses you before leaving you at your car, and you don't want it to stop. It's soft and tender, and it's everything you hoped it would be. 

One date turns to two, which turns to five, and now you're anxiously pacing in your flat. You're dating Remus; you have been for a few months, and you're not sure when it's an appropriate time to ask the question, but you'll ask tonight. Except Remus doesn't come. He doesn't call, either. 

After an hour of worrying, you call Sirius.

"Hello?" He answers—it's obvious he's high.

"Hi. Do you know where Remus is?"

Sirius laughs, "Right here."

"Can I talk to him?"

You hear rustling as Sirius passes the phone.

"Hello?"

"Remus," You whine.

"Hey there. What's going on?" He's calm—too calm. He's also high.

"You were supposed to come over tonight." You frown—it's a fruitless effort. He can't see you.

"Shit. 'M sorry, baby," He frowns, too. You can hear it.

"'S okay. I was just really looking forward to seeing you." You dramatically slide down your wall into a crouching position.

"I'd come over, but, y'know," He wanders off.

"You're so high you can barely walk?" You offer.

He takes it, "Yes."

"It's alright," You sigh, and Remus feels terrible, "Promise you'll come over tomorrow?"

"Promise," He answers.

But then tomorrow comes, and Remus has yet to show up. So you dial his number, but he doesn't pick up. An hour passes until your phone rings, and you're anxious and giddy and hopeful as you pick it up.

"Sorry." Remus's voice is gruff, and you can hear the guilt in his tone.

"It's okay. You can still come over. It's not too late."

"No," He sighs, "I'm sorry, but I can't... I have to break up with you."

Your face drops with your stomach, "What?"

"I can't be with you. I'm— I'm sorry."

"No!" Tears blur your vision, "You can't just tell me we're over. Explain yourself!"

"I just can't do it anymore. It's too hard."

You choke out a sob, "What's too hard? Loving me?"

"No," He sighs, and he sounds tired, oh so tired, "I'm incapable of giving you what you need."

"And who gets to say what I need?"

"Y/n, for your sake, I'm ending this. I can't provide for you in the way you'll need me to."

"Remus," You sigh, "I don't understand. What do you mean you 'can't provide' for me?"

"I can't emotionally be there for you. I'm sorry." 

And as you hear the dial tone, you let your sobs out.

You feel empty. Your only friends are Remus's; now you feel like you can't talk to them. 

"You're daft," Sirius scolds, "Y/n was lovely, and you break up with her over the phone?!"

Remus hangs his head in shame, "Yeah, I did."

Then Remus looked up and was met with one of his worst fears. He'd been on Lily Evans's bad side more than once, but never like this. He'd only seen this stare a handful of times, but not once was it directed at him, until now.

She marches over to the booth, never breaking her stare, leans close to Remus, and slaps him, "You twat!" 

He doesn't know what to say, so he holds his cheek and waits for her to continue.

"You hurt an exceptionally lovely girl for what?! Because you're insecure? Because it was too scary to feel loved so deeply? That girl gave you her all, Remus! And this is how you treat her?" Lily's face is red at the end of her rant, and Sirius tries to hold in their snickers.

Lily narrows her eyes at Remus, "I can read you like a book, Remus Lupin. I know what's going on in that magnificently stupid head of yours! Go apologize to her!"

"I can't," He murmurs, "I've already ruined it."

She rolls her eyes, "You won't know unless you try, and not knowing will eat at you, and you will die confused, sad, and alone."

"She has a point," Sirius agrees, "I mean... we all know you'll just mope around until we push you to talk to her, but by then, it'll be too late. She will have found somebody, and they'll get married, and you'll just be that bloke from when she moved here. Go talk to her."

"What do I say?"

It's almost midnight when a knocking at your door wakes you. Groaning, you get out of bed and make your way to the door.

You undo the bottom lock, keeping the chain in place.

"Yes?" You peek through the crack, surprised to see Remus holding flowers on the other side.

"I'm sorry."

He thinks he's surely blown it when you close the door, but he hears the chain clanking as you fully unlock it.

"What are you doing here?"

Remus wants to cry at the sight of you. Your eyes are bloodshot and puffy, with red tracing your waterline.

"I—" He has a whole script planned out but seems to have forgotten every word, "I have flowers," He settles on.

"For me?"

He nods.

"What are you doing here?" You ask again, taking the flowers.

"I'm here to apologize. I was a dick the other day."

You tilt your head, "You mean the other day when you broke up with me?"

Remus almost doesn't catch the sarcasm, "I'm sorry. I get so caught up in my head—"

You turn from him, "Come in," You mutter as you walk into your kitchen.

He closes the door behind him and toes his shoes off, "I get scared when I let somebody get too close."

"Tea?"

"Yes, please."

He watches as you move around your kitchen, grabbing cups and boiling the water. He's missed you.

"Why let me get close at all, then?"

"Because I like you."

You turn and look at him, "Do you, now?"

Remus sighs, "Look, I fucked up, I know that. Do you think we can try again?"

You walk over to him, "You said you can't give me what I need. What does that mean, Remus?"

"I'm unfit to be with somebody."

"I don't think so. You were wonderful the past three months. So wonderful that I think, if you work on yourself, we can give this another go."

"Can I kiss you?" He asks, leaning in.

"I look terrible," You laugh.

"No," He rests his forehead against yours, "You're always beautiful."

"Kiss me." 

hi guys sorry if this is bad😇😇

my lovely mutuals <33 @sepptember @violetteshoneybee @ay0nha @maroon-winestain @prongsio @imabee-oralizard @storyofaromance @queerpumpkinnn @doyouknowwhoyouare13 @zvdvdlvr @reysdriver @g1rld1ary @starsval @vampieteeth @maddipoof @bruisedboys @ell0ra-br3kk3r

[saintslewis]

❝ 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊 𝐌𝐘 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋 ❞

𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 - 𝐋𝐇𝟒𝟒

pairing: sir lewis hamilton x fem!oc

summary: truly, nothing can break Nadia’s soul.

warnings: cussing, outfit descriptions, slight angst, typos, it’s a long one 😭 click on the links, i’m watching you 🤨

wc: 6.4k

saint’s team radio 🎀: don’t beat me up y’all! this took more than forever and i am really sorry. hopefully this chapter brings you guys joy 🤭 thank you so much for all the love on renaissance so far! 🥹 i also want y’all to know that Nadia is a thick babe, when she wears shorts or mini skirts/dresses, it’s mini!!! just wanted to remind y’all!!!!

pls like, comment and reblog! 🫶🏽

renaissance: the series masterlist • general masterlist

-

The thin white thread from the duvet cover couldn't be any longer as Nadia continued to pull on it, clicking her nails together in the process. Her buzzing phone sat on the bed in front of her with the voice of her mother pressing her about the past week.

"I'm sure it wasn't easy being the trophy wife this weekend, people were going crazy this side." Her mother chuckled from the other end.

"Ma, you haven't spoken to me since I signed on that dotted line, you haven't checked up on me yet this is what you have to say to me after nearly 3 weeks without contact?" Nadia said with a strain in her voice.

"Oh come on. I was just giving you time to adjust to that fame you've always wanted and for the love of all that is good, cover up more. Do not need to see more than what I've already seen." Thembi said, not understanding how much she was hurting her daughter.

Quietly wiping her tears with her wrist, she thought back to how much peace she had before she called her mother.

The journey from South Africa to the uk had been a tough one when Nadia was much younger. Although the mother daughter pair had gone through hardships, they were as close as they could be. Residing in South London at the time had been a rollercoaster, from trying to fit in with the other kids to adapting to the new culture around her, it became easier thanks to friends she made along the way.

Within a year and a half of moving countries, Thembi announced to her daughter that they would be moving in with a new man, her 'friend' for the time being all the way in Stevenage. Nadia saw her mother's entire personality change the second the last box was dropped off by the movers, a new demeanour being shown off to the neighbours and a less kind version of her was shown to Nadia.

Conversations were barely there, hugs were rarely given and reassurance was never enough as opposed to the affection she would previously receive from before the move. Wanting to keep the positives on the surface, Nadia decided to distract herself from her feelings and continued to go to school with her old friends even if it meant travelling distances just to get away from her mother.

As Nadia grew older, so did the sudden change of attitude from her mother, finding the need to comment on everything she found wrong with Nadia. In rebellion, the girl would wear whatever would make her happy, get the tattoos she felt she needed and not spending as much time with her mother as she did before. When university opened, she hurried to move out, already planning her life out and visited her home country to find comfort in her family back home, her cousin Rea becoming a younger sister to her.

However after uni, Thembi seeked therapy to better her relationship with her daughter. Happy to go back to the way it was before, their relationship became healthier and happier after years. What changed?

Sighing out, Nadia ignored her mother's harsh words. "When is Rea going to get there? You've cancelled her flight three times already."

"Only next week Thursday. Ooh tell me, has he bought you anything fancy yet?" Anyone could imagine the smug look on her mother's face as she asked the question.

"Bye mom. Greet James." Rolling her eyes, Nadia hung up and gently rubbed her eyes, getting rid of the tears with her knuckles. Texting Rea that she should rather move in with her, she let out a sigh at the thought of her mother's sudden phone call the day after the race.

Walking into the en-suite bathroom, she fixed up her light makeup with music playing from her phone. Lewis had texted her earlier that he would be going on a run, not too sure what Nadia would want to do during the day before their trip to Malibu. She blinked the tears back whilst tilting her head backward to avoid them falling once again.

The cold tiles of the bathroom were cooling off the high temperature of her body, mainly from all the emotions and the overall heat in Miami. All she wanted to do was leave Miami and curl up in her bed - her old bed. The one she would lay on after an incredibly long day of teaching high schoolers. The one that had her plushies that she was gifted by her students. The one where she could be lying in at that very moment but she decided to drive to her mom's house that fateful day.

Deactivating her social media accounts was a no go as instructed by Tia, saying the engagement was good and for her to keep it up, the public unfamiliar with the concept of a WAG speaking to people as if they've been friends for decades. Having not gone too far into the mean and hateful comments, Nadia gets chills just thinking about it. How she's perceived by the world now with her newfound fame. One she did not ask for but she was willing to help her new friend.

That's all he was. A friend. Right?

Not realising she had zoned out and begun picking on her old acne scars, she hadn't heard her hotel room door open, a slightly breathless Lewis stood in the bathroom doorframe watching her pick at her skin whilst looking at a specific tile.

"Nads?" He called out but the girl still hadn't heard anything. Wiggling his neon sneakers on his feet within her vision, she snapped out of it, her eyes widening at the sight of him there. "Oh, hi." She greeted, voice as soft as silk as she looked at the man once then back to the mirror to avoid eye contact. "Everything okay?" He asked, wiping his forehead for any sweat left.

Nadia nodded, packing up her mini makeup bag from the marble counter, jewellery jangling as she zipped it up. "Just woke up a little weird and hungry, that's all. Are you good?" She responded, giving a half smile and she finally maintained eye contact with him.

"Yeah. Yeah, the run was good and ready for the day." He answered, feeling her energy yet just not sure where to put it between sadness or anger. "Still very proud of P2 yesterday, it was insane to see that live." She added, the gold grills matching her jewellery perfectly. Very casually dressed with a tired look in her eyes.

"Nads, are you sure you're good? Have you had breakfast?" He moved to the side as he watched her leave the bathroom with heavy footsteps. "The heat is killing me, not used to such and I was going to wait til the plane for something. Got too nervous to order room service." She slightly chuckled to herself, feeling a slight twist in her stomach.

Not wanting to upset her, he just gave her a look with his eyebrows a little raised and that made her crack. "Oh my days, don't look at me like that. We can go for lunch or something, I don't know." She suggested, looking away from Lewis to avoid looking into his eyes.

"What if I was going to compliment your hair?" He joked and crossed his arms with a slight chuckle.

"Please, I know that look from anywhere. I give it to my kids all the time." Nadia said while rolling her eyes, a soft smile on display. "Now let me change. The room's got stuffy air so we need to take a step outside." She shooed him away as she walked into the bathroom once again and closed the door with a huge smile.

Left standing in awe of her, Lewis shook his head as he headed out of her hotel room to change up for their outing.

-

The cold granadilla slushy had been freezing up Nadia's hand but she couldn't care less, the heat in Miami unbearable to no end. The pair sat in the back of the Escalade on the way to any mall nearby where Nadia could get some sandals, her feet suffocated by her sneakers.

Tia had advised them to travel by their allocated security cars because the streets of Miami were still buzzing with F1 fans, hungover or sober, hunting around for any f1 drivers that were around.

"Not that it isn't weird, it is, but I have to live with the fact that the women I have dreamed of styling one day know I exist and Pharrell too! Like my colleagues are blowing up my phone like crazy." Nadia emphasised, the slushy swishing around in her hand as she was talking.

Lewis could watch her talk for hours, even more when she was excited about something. He had thought that this weekend would be too much for Nadia with all the attention on her much more than the Grand Prix itself but the way she handled everything from the instagram posts to the multitude of introductions was incredible to watch.

She was graceful but with a spunk to her, expressing her personality to the friend group but not yet to the f1 media, wanting to get a bit more comfortable in that vicinity with Lewis by her side. Already seeing how she could get when someone were to wrong Lewis, the man was certain that they will get through this fake marriage with ease and fun, gaining a friendship within it.

"So what's your biggest goal with being a stylist? I haven't seen your work yet but I feel like it's phenomenal." He asked, smiling once he saw her roll her eyes at him.

"Phenomenal is a stretch but I'm trying to get like Law Roach or even work with a fashion house to be honest. I always wanted a way to show my work but I just never knew how to." She shrugged, taking a sip of the slushy.

"How about you style me for a few events and for a race or two?" He suggested.

"And take Eric's job? Are you crazy?" She stared at him with widened eyes and furrowed eyebrows but all he did was chuckle. "It'll be fun plus Eric knows already, he's more than excited for it." Lewis continued smiling, Nadia stared at him before releasing a sigh.

"When do I start?" She shook her head in disbelief, not believing what just happened. "Friday but the main brief is that we're sitting courtside." And like clockwork, he gave her a smile that she couldn't resist.

"You're just so full of surprises, aren't you? Let me find out there's more events you're hiding from me." Nadia said squinting her eyes at him, his cheeks eventually hurting from smiling at her.

"A magician never tells his tricks."

"Yeah yeah, Hamilton." Nadia replied, shaking her head once more as she got her purse ready, seeing the Miami Fashion District come into her view.

-

Pulling the bottom of her dress down constantly, she looked around at all the luxury stores that were never ending.

This wasn't the norm for her, she was hoping to see a much cheaper alternative than what was in front of her but she had to remember who she was in that very moment. She felt safe with two security detail walking stealthily behind them, her hands staying at the hem of her sundress.

"Your dress is okay, don't have to worry." Lewis leaned a little closer to her shoulder to whisper, sending back a reassuring smile. All she responded with was to hold his ring-clad hand in sign of appreciation.

Reaching Gucci, Nadia's first thought were those platform sandals she had seen on social media and in that exact moment, her mind went to the comfort she had been wanting since she hadn't packed any open shoes. Pulling him towards the store, everything in that store went quiet.

Sale associates just stopped and stared whilst costumers began whispering and muttering to themselves. Immediately spotting the sandals from afar, they walked slowly towards the shoe section of Gucci, trying to ignore all the eyes on them. From her peripheral vision, she could see someone speed walking towards them, fixing her uniform and her appearance once she reached the couple.

"Hello, welcome to Gucci. I'm Roni and I'll be your sales associate today." The woman introduced herself, looking straight at Lewis as she did.

"Nice to meet you, Roni. I'm Nadia and really we just came for a quick visit, hopefully get a few things whilst we're here." Nadia had on a bright smile as she spoke, the worker's smile fading as she looked at Nadia.

"Of course," Roni said, licking her teeth. "Where would you like to start? Perhaps dresses. It is a hot day in Miami." Looking at Nadia up and down with the slightest hint of disgust shown on her face, the woman continued to smile in her face.

Taken aback by the tone of her voice, Nadia just smiled and averted her gaze back to the shoe section. "It truly is but I have to pass. I'm much more interested in the shoes right now." She said, still holding onto Lewis' arm, who was enjoying every moment of this. "Alright, let me go get some champagne for you guys, racing must be tough in this heat." Roni smiled, turning around to walk in a different direction.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Nadia sighed out as they sat on the large velvet green couch. "Is this the crap i have to deal with? Her eyes said it all." She complained, rolling her eyes and placing her purse down. Following suit, he sat next to her and did not keep a friendly distance between them, relaxing his arm behind her.

"Don't worry about her or anyone else for that matter. People will purposefully piss you off for their enjoyment so let's just have a good time and we'll get ice cream later." He advised, not bothering to look around the shop but had focused all his attention on Nadia.

"Stand on your promise, Hamilton. I don't play about my ice cream." She joked, both chuckling after a beat of silence. Eyeing the store, she saw a few pieces that she knew would look good on Lewis and a few on herself. This one particular top was screaming her name, the Gucci monogram sticking out but it had a level of class to it, already imagining outfits with it on.

"The top is quite nice, I don't know what you could match it with to make it work but it seems cool." Lewis said, staring at the same top, unaware that their heads were tilted the same way. "You think so?" Nadia pondered. "Well you can't not be stylish around me so." He shrugged jokingly, earning another laugh from her. "Okay whatever you say, pookie bear." She patted his knee, watching a completely different sales associate head their way with a tray of champagne.

"Hi, I'm Tracey, my colleague Roni just decided to not help a couple because she didn't like the wife. Crazy I think she's talking about the Hamiltons because they came in here the same time." The new associate rambled off, placing the tray onto the small table next to them.

Finally looking up, Tracey's breath hitched. "Oh shit, that's you guys. Oh god, I'm sorry for my words." The younger girl apologised, eyes widened at the couple who just smiled at her.

"It's okay, lovely to meet you Tracey." Nadia smiled, amused at her actions. "What can I do for you today?" Tracey asked.

After a rather pleasant sales interaction with Tracey voicing how much she loved the both of them as a couple and as individuals, there they stood at the counter waiting for their items to be fully scanned. Lewis was very content with the pieces that Nadia had picked out for him, confident that every single one was going to look tailor made. When it came down to payment, Lewis had no problem in swiping his card as Nadia dug through her purse to find hers.

"Thank you for spending your time with us here at Gucci, Mr and Mrs Hamilton." The lady at the till said, handing the the large green bags that felt so good in Nadia's hands.

"It was really fun and tell Roni we said goodbye." Nadia smiled wickedly as she waved and walked out of the store with Lewis laughing at her words right behind her. "Damn that felt good. Gotta keep it cute and classy until it's not." She smiles as they walk to a different shop.

-

LOS ANGELES

"I swear, the powder I used for my under eyes is just super cakey." Natalia complained as she walked down the plane stairs onto the asphalt, Nadia following close behind with her carry on bag on her shoulder.

The Californianian air was different from that of Miami, less humid but a little hotter. It was late in the afternoon when the group landed, greeted by a beautiful sunset behind the Los Angeles skyline. After the impromptu shopping session, the plane was already for takeoff so everyone had hurried to be in the air by lunchtime.

Taking the time to catch up with everyone, the group shared laughs and their stories from Miami although it was less than a week that they had spent in the eccentric city. There was a gnawing feeling in the pit of Nadia's stomach, unable to get the guilt of spending Lewis' money as if it was hers. Although he reassured her multiple times that he was more than okay getting her whatever she wanted, she still felt uneasy about it all.

The all too familiar Escalades were parked on the ground, Lewis waiting patiently for Nadia to get down so that they could go to their destination. Seeing her confused face as Natalia, Miles and Daniel waved goodbye to them as everyone went to their respective cars, Lewis then spoke up. "Everyone's going their places, we're going to our house."

Snapping her head to look at him in bewilderment, she almost stopped in her tracks just to recall what he had said. "Another one?!" She whisper yelled, not wanting anyone near them to hear. He nodded with a closed smile as they reached their car with all their luggage inside, all similar to when they landed in Miami.

The morning came quite quick as the rest of the day ended with Nadia yet again exploring a new home, almost screaming when she saw the garage full of cars she only wished she could drive and you can imagine the shock when Lewis told her that in hindsight, they're her cars. In his words, "I don't really like to drive as much so you can use them as freely as you want."

Climbing out of the huge bed of the even larger guest bedroom, Nadia was careful to not wipe her eyes too much because of her extensions. Stretching every limb on her body, she walked towards the bathroom to splash water on her face to fully wake her up. The birds were still chirping from beyond the closed curtains and the sun was shining through the slivers of the curtain, creating a peaceful aura throughout the room.

Her bonnet luckily stayed on through the night, grabbing her glasses from the night stand along with her phone, she walked out of the room with her fluffy slippers on her feet. The trip downstairs was quiet and the aroma of something sweet wafted through the air, making her wonder where Lewis was.

Reaching the last step, she saw something move in the corner of her eye. Rather small, the thing moved towards her with its feet patting against the floor. Looking in its direction, the first thing she saw was the droopy mouth belonging to the short dog and her heart almost stopped, the fear running through her body as she continued to stare at the dog.

"Oh my god, please don't come close." She whispered out loud, hoping the dog would listen. Nadia was frozen in her place and she was too afraid to look anywhere else in case the dog moved towards her. "I see you've met Roscoe. Hope he's been kind." Lewis' voice spoke from behind her, crouching down to pet the dog lovingly. The silence from Nadia was odd, he turned his head to see her frightened state as she didn't move her gaze from Roscoe.

"Nads? Nads? Okay, let's get Roscoe out of here." He called out then whispered to himself, carrying the dog out of the living room then hurrying back to Nadia.

"Well that was my dog, Roscoe. I'm sorry he scared you." With a worried expression on his face, Lewis placed his hands on her arms to snap her out of her frozen state. Finally making eye contact with him through her glass lenses, she spoke up. "I-it's okay. Just have to get used to seeing him." She nodded, wanting to end the awkwardness right there.

"Anyway, good morning. Did you eat yet?" She said, slightly smiling and making her way towards the marble kitchen island, the two plates on top of it were filled with stacks of waffles with a side of fruit next to it. "Uh no, waited for you to wake up so I just took a run in the meantime." He mentioned, following behind her and took his seat across from her.

In that very moment, her heart fluttered at his words. It was so simple yet so sweet of a gesture to do for her. "Thank you for that, Lew. Let's eat up then." She replied, a shy smile on her face as she felt his eyes on her. The two dug in to their breakfast that Lewis had made for them earlier in the morning, wanting the logistics of their relationship.

"So, I need to know how you feel about pda and how much you're willing to show to the public. We have to make this look real." Nadia said, biting down on a slice of apple. "I don't have an issue with it, just as you're comfortable with it." He responded. Just nodding along, she continued to eat the fruit.

"This is just so weird to me. Three weeks ago I would've been in my apartment trying to think how i'm gonna get groceries for the month and now i'm in Los fucking Angeles eating fruit with 5 cars sitting in the garage. It's crazy." She blurted out, everything now properly dawning on her as they sat down in peace.

"Life works in mysterious ways for sure, never thought I would be sitting in my kitchen with my wife on a Wednesday morning." He said, the smallest of chuckles escaping him. "You are very good with your words, sir. A lil too good." She joked, pointing the fork at him.

"What's the plan today? I don't think I can handle anything hectic." She asked, her accent changing when she said 'hectic' . Giving her a cocked eyebrow at the sudden change of accent, Nadia looked smug.

"A little history on me. I moved to the uk at 8 years old and this south african accent stuck with me for a while until I reached high school. By then my mother decided to send me back home with my aunt and cousin to complete high school that side then year 12, I went back for university. The slang and accent never left me along with the 6 languages I know." She explained, almost bursting into laughter after seeing his face morph from curiosity to shock.

"Six?!" He vocalised. "And counting, my kids don't call me Superwoman for nothing." Biting into another piece, she smiled as her phone vibrated multiple times. Looking at the name across the screen, she immediately sighed and got up off her seat and signalled that she would be back.

The school's name flashed across her screen as she walked into the familiar hallway towards the guest bedroom.

"Hello Ms Brown! I hope this doesn't disturb your holiday." Lisa, the headmaster of the school, greeted with such enthusiasm.

"Well, it slightly is but what does that matter. Anything you need? Has the parents evening been postponed?" She scratched her head as she held the phone up to her ear.

"Uh, no. There's something I wanted to discuss with you and I thought it would be great for a one on one. We as the school has noticed you are quite the star these days, bringing much more traction than what you get from school already." Lisa chuckled at the last sentence, seeming to quiet down when she realised Nadia wasn't laughing.

"Oh, yes Ms Crawford. This was a subject I had wanted to discuss with the rest of the staff when we get back from the holidays. Of course this isn't something minuscule, all the media attention has been quite intense." Nadia responded, watching as Roscoe walked closer to her and sat by her feet.

There was a beat of silence from the other end of the phone call. "That was what I wanted to actually talk to you about, Ms Brown-"

"Its Mrs Hamilton." Nadia corrected.

"Ah yes, my apologies Mrs Hamilton. As much as we do appreciate your ways of teaching here at our school, we as the board have been thinking of releasing you from your position as the history teacher. Now I know it's all sudden but we feel it's good for our school." Lisa announced, voice filled with pity.

"Now excuse my manners, Ms Crawford, but I would like to know who all decided to quote on quote, fire me. Furthermore, when signing the work contract, you personally had assured me that you would stand behind your teachers through it all. Am I correct?" She started, standing up straight with Roscoe following suit.

"You are correct however this would ruin the reputation of the school and our relationships with other schools in the district. It truly pains us to do so." With the same false pity tone, Lisa spoke.

"I hope you do realise that we are about to start the second term of the school year after these two weeks and I do not appreciate the current dismissal you are going through with just solely because I married a prominent figure. Neither do I wish to leave my flourishing students because the board does not agree with my marriage." Nadia indicated.

"Not to mention prior to this conversation, no one had contacted me in regards to a possible sacking. So I would like for you and the rest of the board to rethink your approach on this matter. I do not accept this and this issue can be taken to court if you prefer to continue with this. And through a phone call? Really?" With that, Nadia knew she had won upon hearing the sigh on the other side of the phone.

With a few moments passing by, Lisa sighed out. "You are correct about this, I do apologise. See you after the holidays then, Mrs Hamilton." And with that, the headmaster said her goodbyes in defeat.

Crouching down to pet Roscoe, she held his face in her hands. "We fucking did that, boy. Thanks for being there, you not so bad after all." She smiled at the happy dog, standing up straight to back downstairs to finish her breakfast.

"And? What was that?" Lewis spoke up, putting his phone down next to his fruit bowl.

"These bitches tried to fire me so I said no. Can't get rid of their only history teacher." She wiggled her shoulders with the biggest smile on her face, biting down on the remaining fruits.

"And your dog's cool. Sat with me the whole time."

"Damn. Remind me to never get on your bad side. Let's get celebratory croissants?" Lewis giggled, taking both of their plates to wash them off.

"You read my mind, Sir!"

-

Standing in front of the open garage door, Nadia stared at the two cars in front of her. The sun in the courtyard was hitting her back but she didn't mind, as long as she continued to look at the cars.

Lewis' words rang in her head, unable to shake off the fact that technically, these were her cars as well. The Urus was very tempting to drive but she knew she didn't trust herself with that type of speed yet. The Mercedes GLE however, looked so classy and seemed like a joy to drive.

The decision took so long that she didn't notice that Lewis was taking pictures of the scene in front of him, his wife stuck between choosing cars to drive on the sunny streets of LA. "Can I drive today?" She asked once realising that he was next to her, wearing a comfortable outfit.

"You can drive whenever you want." He smiled, handing her the keys of the suv he knew she was going to pick. "Okay, cute. You'll be my passenger prince." She smiled, pinching his cheek then happily walked towards the driver's side.

Just sighing in content, he walked to the passenger's side, hopping in to see Nadia exploring the interior of the car, matching that of the black exterior. "This shit is huge." She muttered to herself as she leaned over to look at the backseats and all its intricate details.

"And before you say anything pookie bear, Tia made me do an international license when we didn't see each other. So you're safe driving with me." She reassured, putting her now blonde hair behind her ears.

"I think i like this passenger prince business." He expressed, already making himself in the seat, pushing it back and relaxing.

"Let me search up a bakery and we'll be on our way." Nadia started the car up and was geeked by the roar of the car.

And on their way they were. Blasting Beyoncé as Lewis suggested they go to a vegan bakery in Malibu, the two sang both old and new songs during the drive. Barely through her hip hop playlist, she found parking in front of the surprisingly popular bakery.

"Now you know I don't play about Beyoncé. I did not expect this place to be busy right now." Nadia pointed out, fixing the sunglasses on her head. "You'd be shocked at the amount of vegan people in Malibu alone. If you want, I can go in by myself and get the treats." He offered, unbuckling his seatbelt and holding his phone in his hand.

"We're going in together, I do not look this cute to sit in the car." She flipped her hair, dramatically exiting the car, making him laugh quite loud at her antics. Holding his hand out, Lewis connected his with Nadia's, feeling a chill when he felt her ring touch his skin. He led the way into the bakery, the sweet smell of the treats was a bit of a treat in itself.

Gasping at the baked goods on display, she didn't hesitate to greet and place an order, mouth salivating at the sight of the treats. Once Lewis also made his order, Nadia brought out her card to pay, wanting to test that it actually worked and it definitely did.

Enjoying the chocolate doughnuts in the bakery, the two laughed at the whole ordeal of the phone call this morning. "I've never had a good relationship with this new headmaster at all. She has been on my case since she joined two years ago." Nadia informed, drinking a bit of her pink lemonade.

"The courage of just saying no is so endearing to hear. Can't believe she wanted to sack you in the middle of a term. Again, the courage is so cool, Nads." He complimented her and he watched as her shoulders started to rise as a way of blushing.

"Thanks, pookie bear. Means a lot. So where to from here?" She asked, ignoring his gaze on her the whole time.

"We've got lunch with friends of mine, then home time." He said so calmly, not noticing Nadia's eyes widening at the information.

"I'm not dressed for lunch with your friends, Lew! Could've warned a girl first." She stressed, looking down at her outfit. "Wanted you to be comfortable the whole day hence I didn't tell you our plans today." He showed his full smile, wanting so badly to laugh at her facial expression.

"You are so lucky you're sitting across me right now or else I would've bitten you." She rolled her eyes at his giggles. 

Within a matter of time, the Mercedes suv entered through the high black gates of their destination with a press of a button on the intercom outside. Nadia drove in the driveway quite slowly, unfamiliar with her surroundings as she saw a cars parked in the courtyard. The sound of the waves crashing could be heard when stepping out of the car.

"Damn your friend's got bank." She commented, opening the backseat door to get her purse. "And by the sea too? I just know it's a different world here." She added, closing her door and locked the car when she saw Lewis walk closer to her with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah, Bey and Jay wanted serenity next to the sea." He said, looking back at Nadia who was frozen in her tracks.

"Did you just fucking say Bey and Jay?!" She whisper yelled as she pulled Lewis closer to her. He nodded with the same expression he had from before. "Are you fucking crazy? I can't meet Beyoncé, Lewis! I'm not ready!" Nadia's stress levels were sky high as she held onto his arm tighter, standing by the car.

"Wanted to tell you earlier but when you started playing her music in the car, just knew I had to surprise you." He smiled. "Look, if it makes it any better, she's excited to meet you as well." Lewis told her and if her eyes couldn't get any wider, she looked behind her husband's broad arm to see the woman of the hour walk towards them.

"There you two are! We were scared y'all weren't coming no more!" The happy southern voice rang through the courtyard and Nadia was scared shitless. "My goodness, Lewis! She's a beauty. Hi, I'm Beyoncé." The woman introduced herself to Nadia and she quickly snapped out of it once she realised her favourite artist was speaking directly to her.

"Hello, I'm Nadia." She managed to speak up as Beyoncé extended her hand out to shake hers. Surprisingly enough, Nadia's hands weren't sweaty neither did she stutter over her words like she thought she would. The woman went on to greet Lewis with a side hug then invited them inside.

"It was so lovely meeting you guys, a full circle moment on my end." Nadia smiled, holding onto her purse and onto Rumi's hand, the little girl so interested in everything that has to do with Nadia. "No, it was our pleasure to host you guys. My God, a couple I never saw coming. Y'all welcome back here anytime." Beyoncé said, the group of 4 walking towards the front door and into the courtyard once again.

"We'll definitely take you up on that offer, thank you for inviting us into your lovely home. Better get home before it gets too dark." Nadia replied, leaning into the hug between her and Bey whilst looking at the sunset over the horizon.

"We'll catch y'all in Paris." Jay Z smiled with a toothpick in his mouth. He dapped Lewis up as everyone said their goodbyes after a successful lunch. Now sitting in the passenger seat, Nadia held her head in her hands as he swiftly drove out the long driveway.

"I just met Beyoncé, I don't think you understand the damage you just did." She turned to Lewis, who kept the same smile as before. "And that is?" "I'm never going to stop talking about it."

"I'm glad you're happy. Saw an opportunity and I ran for it." He voiced, patting her thigh before putting his hand back on the steering wheel. "Remind me to give you the biggest hug when we get home." She smiled, becoming comfortable in the seat, not knowing how much Lewis' heart raced after hearing her refer to the house as home.

-

FRIDAY

"Stay still! I need my vision to come to life." Nadia ordered, holding his face in her hands. There were two different earrings on his ears and she was trying to decide which better suited the outfit. "Okay, wear the first pair then go to the mirror and tell me what you think." She requested, standing back to let him look at his outfit.

"Oh this is really good. Ooh, this outfit is good." He admired his outfit in the mirror, impressed by her styling and how she kept it simple yet so him.

"Glad you love it. Let me go get changed so that we won't be late." She rushed, almost running out of his room to hers, luckily her hair and makeup was done. Nadia quickly put on her outfit and made sure to take pictures in the big mirror in the closet.

Soothing over her top, she then places her sunglasses on her head and spritz her perfume for the last time before stepping out the room. At the same time, Lewis stepped out of his room and glanced at her outfit before doing a double take.

Everything sat so perfectly, the outfit had really simple colours that weren’t too loud but her silhouette accentuated it all. Both outfits complimented each other greatly whilst showing their own style individually. “Wow.” He blurted out, hoping that she didn’t hear that.

“Damn I did good.” She muttered to herself as she looked at him as well, very proud of her styling.

“You ready to go?” Lewis asked, finally focusing on her face and fidgeting with his rings. “Yeah, yeah.” She said in a light voice, carefully walking towards the stairs then feeling his hand slip into hers to help her downstairs.

“Remember, this isn’t real,Nadia.”

“Remember, this isn’t real, Lewis.”

nadiahamilton • 15 min ago “great day to be a lakers fan”

-

dividers by: @cafekitsune

nadia’s faceclaim: @/unclewaffles on ig!

all pictures are from ig and pinterest!

taglist: @non-stop-imagines @tispys-blog @userlando @lorarri @thisismeracing @thatsdemko @myescapefromthislife @slytherinjimin3nthusiast @jamie2305 @like-fire-love-blog @sugardontbesweet @simpfortoomanymen @mauvecherie-writes @queenshikongo3 @eugene-emt-roe @deepgothfiremuffin @18754389 @cherry2stems @anubisnoir @littlelizzies-world @httpsserene @apenasumlug4r @youre-sooooo-funny @eddiesbitch83 @arshiyuh @alika-4466 @peyiswriting @sunfairyy @roseseraj @vsfavs @goldenalbon @mistruscity @tian-monique @hopefulromantic1 @exotic-iris13 @yeea-nah @nichmeddar @gg-trini @lifeless-firefly @vellicora @takeoffz-tookoff9876 @serpenttines-writes

(if your acc is blank, that means tumblr didn’t add you!)

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not paying for my fiancee's trip?

(Sorry mod, sending this again as I forgot to add an important context detail)

This is going to be long, I'm so sorry!

Okay, so I (23M) am engaged to a very wonderful fiancee (27NB). She's fantastic, and I want to make it very clear that our relationship is great - we have good communication, we never argue, we're always on call without getting tired of each other, etc etc. There is just one issue we have - her financial habits.

For context, I am disabled and can't work due to both mental and physical health issues, so I'm on disability benefits. She can and does work.

We're long-distance (she's in America and I'm in the UK), and we've been dealing with it pretty well so far. At the beginning of our relationship, we agreed that before we got to the point of talking about moving in with each other etc. we would need to have her visit me here at least once to meet my family and get used to how things work here (as she wants to move here), and I would need to visit her at least once to do the same there re: meeting her parents etcetera.

The agreement was that I'd pay for her to come here, and then when it was my turn she'd pay for my visit there so it was fair.

She first visited me about a year and a half ago and came over here for two weeks. I paid for her plane tickets, our transport everywhere (we don't have cars), the AirBNB we stayed in, etc. This ran me about £2k, which was all I had at the time, and I didn't have enough left over to pay for her food on top of that, so I asked if she could cover her own food costs while she was here. This caused a bit of an issue at the time as she was very clearly frustrated at having to do it, and would make comments like "Ugh I wanted a new computer but now I have to save for this trip", "I'm having to sacrifice so much to pay for this" and it made me feel incredibly invalidated, like I was covering everything else and also sacrificing a lot to pay for everything else for us but the one thing I'd asked her to help with was too much. We had a conversation about it at the time and she apologised and said she'd work on it, so we moved on.

Plans changed a bit very early this year, as I was due to get surgery and the friend who was supposed to accompany me there dropped out last minute. I had no one else nearby to turn to and I couldn't go alone (it was the kind of surgery where I would need someone around for at least 1-2 weeks afterwards to help me move around and do daily tasks). As a last ditch effort I asked my fiancee to fly over again and help me out, and I paid for this again which I was completely fine with doing as the trip was a favour for me and it was unplanned from her end. This was another ~£2k.

So cut to summer this year. This was when I was supposed to have my visit over to America. She, at this point, was making pretty good money at a school job. However, when I asked her if we could finalise the plans and buy tickets, she told me that she had no money.

This is where I explain that she's really, REALLY bad with money. She impulse-buys clothes and things for her room etc., she plays gacha games like Genshin Impact and spends quite a lot of money on 'pulls' and the gambling mechanic, things like that. It turned out that through the whole time of having this job she'd been basically spending money as soon as she got it and she now had nothing for the trip. I was admittedly frustrated with her (especially as she initially lied to me and told me she hadn't spent money on games etc. and then later confessed that it IS where the money had gone), but we agreed we could push back the trip to winter/Christmas-time to give her more time to save, and honestly I didn't really mind because I've never spent Christmas/New Year with anyone before, so shifting the visit to over those days would be a nice experience.

However, soon after this she was fired from her job for too many call-outs/absences. For the next few months, she didn't get another job - she said she was doing all she could and was applying for, but I often got the impression that she wasn't and was sort of throwing out an application every few weeks and then writing it off as 'done', which I could be completely misinterpreting so take that with a grain of salt. I kept pushing her to get a job so we could get the trip sorted out and I know she got kind of frustrated with me a few times for it.

I ended up giving up the closer we got to the time and offered to just cover it again if she could pay me back when she did get a job, and she agreed.

Unfortunately, after this I was rendered homeless due to my abusive home situation. I was fortunate enough to be offered government housing and I now have an apartment in town, but it's completely unfurnished (literally all that's in it is a single bed and a cooker, there's no flooring or anything yet). I now have to put all the money I have saved (about £3k) towards getting flooring (which is a little over £1k by itself), furnishings, getting the walls painted, sorting out gas and electricity, etc. I'm also now paying the bills for this apartment. As a result, there's no possible way I could afford to cover the trip anymore myself.

It looked like things were getting sorted because my fiancee got another job recently. It's pretty well-paying, she seems to enjoy it so she's not calling out, and she kept prompting me to talk details of the trip with her so it felt like it was all getting figured out and she was ready to finalise it.

Then today I asked her how much money she had ready for it and she said... $15. I'm genuinely lost on how she still hasn't saved any money, she claims she used it all on "bills" but she doesn't pay rent or cover any housing costs as she still lives with her parents, so I don't understand at all where it's all going. We have less than a month before the trip is supposed to happen, nothing is sorted, we still have no clue where we'd be staying, no plane tickets have been purchased, and now it's looking a lot like it's going to have to be pushed back AGAIN to next year.

I thought about trying to pay for it again, because I DO really want that Christmas and New Year with her. Delaying it again would also mess up our future plans, as the plan was to get this trip to America and meeting her family done this year, then spending the first half of next year on the Visa process and then the latter half getting her actually moved over. It also means I would have to delay my college education, as I was going to start my course early next year, which I wouldn't be able to do if the trip is next year instead as it would require me to take weeks off.

If I tried, I probably could cover it - I need to spend the ~£1k on flooring as that's already arranged, but I could technically use the remaining £2k to fund the trip. However, this would mean my house would remain unfurnished and barely habitable for months longer. It's not so bad if I know she'd be able to pay me back quickly, but the reality is that I don't know how long it would take for me to see the money back.

Part of me also feels like she's kind of expecting me to give in and pay for it last minute in order to not delay it, because I offered before and I was willing to pay for the last two trips. But it's just so depressing and frustrating, because it feels like I keep giving things up and putting things into these trips and getting her over here, and trying to get it back from her is just like running into a wall.

We've talked about it before, but she insists there's nothing more she can do, she's trying as hard as she can, and that she's upset about it too. I just don't know what to do about it anymore.

So I guess my question is, AITA for complaining about the trip, missing Christmas/New Year and pushing her on money and nagging her about what she does with hers instead of just taking the L and covering the trip again until she can pay me back?

What are these acronyms?

[stabbyfoxandrew]

Introducing #14!

[picrew]

Current name: Aerie Fay (yes this is my name too and I'm aware this is cringe sowwy)(we will be referring to him as Fay, Farris, or 14 to keep it from being too confusing!) Past names: Aaron Farris in college. And many more! Age: 23 (when he joins the Foxes) Height: 5'6"  Gender: male Sexuality: gay/demisexual Position: Striker/Goalie (also bottom lol) Number: 14

(more under the cut. it got... long)

Background:

Played striker through middle school. Started playing goalie in high school. So, he can handle both but is a better goalie than striker.

He has younger twin siblings. One boy, one girl. He hasn't seen them in years. And does not want to. (They know what they did. :/)

One day during his senior year, his best friend tried to kiss him and he blurted out that he was gay. She got pissed and outed him to his parents, who did not take it well. When they eventually kicked him out, he moved in with his boyfriend's family.

Marcus:

They met at one of Fay's games. Marcus had come to watch his younger cousin play and they bumped into each other. Marcus kept coming and would cheer for his cousin and Fay. Since his family didn't support him, it meant a lot.

Eventually after a game, Marcus asked him out and Fay was really flattered, so he said yes.

The bad thing was... Marcus was 21 when they met. Fay was almost 17. (He thought he was 'mature for his age' and didn't see the gap as a problem. It was.)

Unfortunately (?), one night while the two of them were sitting on swings in a park, Marcus was shot and killed in a drive-by. Fay was also hit, but survived.

Aftermath:

Waking up in the hospital and being told his boyfriend was dead took a huge toll.

He didn't believe them. He demanded them to take him to Marcus. And when they couldn't/wouldn't, he sort of lost it. He attacked a couple nurses, breaking one's nose and spraining one's wrist.

After that, he was promptly sedated and moved to the psych ward for a bit. He does not like to talk about it.

The Ravens:

Fay was nearly recruited to the Ravens. And he was so excited. It was his dream. He was so set on it that Marcus's nickname for him was 'little bird'.

But he was in the hospital when he was supposed to go audition for the team. By the time he was healed, Tetsuji wouldn't allow him to. (So he dodged a huge bullet there. Like. We can all agree to that. Right?)(Well, he's about to run into a different one. :()

The Wildcats:

Having lost his boyfriend and his dream, Fay was understandably devastated. But Marcus' parents liked him. They helped him change his name to Aaron Farris, because he didn't want to be connected to his parents anymore.

And then he accepted a scholarship to UK, his second choice school. (UK= University of Kentucky, btw.)

Everything is fun and great and wonderful. Except for one thing. The captain is weirdly touchy with him. Especially after he turns eighteen.

It keeps getting worse and worse. Luckily, a couple of his teammates/friends notice that Captain Creep (senior starting striker, Collin Scott, #38) has been creeping on him and try to run interference.

Their coach thinks he's making it up. That he wants to be a starting striker and is trying to get Collin kicked off the team about it. (14 was playing goalie so that made no since. But the coach was Collin's uncle, so...)

Eventually, Farris gets injured during a match. Fucks his knee straight up. He has to stay off the court for a couple months. But at least Collin is graduating! That means he won't have to deal with that anymore-

Wait. Collin has decided to stick around for a fifth year. Shit.

Farris decides he can't play for UK anymore. He drops and loses his scholarship. And then he doesn't know what to do.

The Butlers:

But Marcus' parents are mafia. Farris had no idea. That's why Marcus was killed, it was one of his father's rivals sending a message.

He offers Farris a job.

So, with a freshly-healed knee and a new identity, he starts to do low level mob work. Kill someone here, deliver something there, don't ask questions. (Never ask questions.)

He ends up traveling the country and working for a dozen different bosses, doing a lot of terrible shit. Making friends and enemies and money.

Uh. Oopsie. This got super long and we're still not at the part where he joins the Foxes yet. TwT I'm going to cut it off here anyway and if anyone is interested, I will definitely be down to tell you more! <3 Also if you have any questions about 14, please send me an ask. I will be so happy to ramble about him! :3

Tagging: @joanofexys and @ordei <3

[moo9395]

My Ghosts headcanons

I've had these sitting in a google doc for ages so I might as well hand them over.

I've split them into stuff that 'could take place in canon' and 'modern au' stuff

Robin:

Fluent in multiple languages (kind of canon but whatever)

He has a PhD in astrophysics 

Humphrey:

He gets migraines

He’s a teacher (this is quite popular), Headteacher humphrey is cool as well

Failed his driving test 4 times in a row

Coffee gives Humphrey headaches so he drinks more of it. 

Mary:

She was a girl guide (me coded) (Credit to @kingofthefrogs swapped au for inspo)

Welsh (me coded)

Dyslexic

Kitty:

Can be heard on a spirit box (Credit to kingofthefrogs)

Likes Call the Midwife.

She is a Nurse or Doctor, possibly a paediatrician. Haven’t seen this done yet but I think it could be fun given her fascination with Maddocks’ injury.

She loves iced coffee.

Thomas:

He is scared of dogs (channeling me right now) Dante is a weird exception to this that Fanny often complains about but secretly is proud of.

He can experience temperature as a ghost. (Credit to Ailendolin) He is susceptible to heat stroke and sometimes gets a cold, especially after going in the lake.

He's left handed

He is dyslexic and/or short sighted. Bonus if he refuses to wear glasses. Double bonus if this gives him constant headaches.

Studied abroad in Holland for 2 years and developed a weed addiction, he moved back to the UK to get over it

Coffee gives Thomas headaches so he doesn’t drink it. 

Fanny:

Hypochondriac. 

Incredible at Netball (she's such a netball girlie) she plays wing attack or centre

Captain:

He has reading glasses.

Scared of chickens (Alektorophobia) (Inspired by @upsetslingshot on ao3)

Cap was in army cadets (me coded) and loved it.

Pat:

He's claustrophobic, he was in life and the fact that he died while struggling to breathe has worsened that.

He’s basically blind without his glasses. (like Velma type blind)

Road rage.

Julian:

Has hemophobia (fear of blood)

Julian was in army cadets and hated it.

Multi Character (mostly modern au stuff):

Thomas, Fanny, and Mary love watching Downton Abbey. Thomas is a passionate fan of Edith, Mary likes Sybil, and Fanny is a big fan of Violet Crawley (as she should be).

All autistic (Julian and Robin AuDHD).

Cap, Thomas, Mary, and Julian are cat people

Pat, Robin, and Fanny are dog people

Humphrey and Kitty passionately refuse to pick a side.

Thomas, Cap, Pat, Fanny and Julian are tea people.

Humphrey, Kitty, Mary and Robin are coffee people.

Robin and Humphrey as siblings/ twins.

Thomas and Kitty met in school. Thomas was being picked on and Kitty defended him.

Julian and Robin met in Cambridge Uni, Robin was doing an astrophysics PhD, Julian was doing his classmates a masters in politics.

Cap and Fanny play badminton together.

They have a group football team (more on that later)

Mary and Robin hooked up once (I know its canon but I love when it also happens in modern au's)

Hogwarts houses:

Hufflepuff - Humphrey, Pat, Mary

Gryffindor - Robin, Julian

Ravenclaw - Fanny, Thomas, Kitty

Slytherin - Cap

I'm very willing to elaborate and hear other opinions on this.

Mario Kart mains:

Robin - Bowser

Humphrey - Shy Guy

Mary - Yoshi

Kitty - Daisy

Thomas - Peach

Fanny - Toadette

Captain - Luigi

Pat - Koopa Troopa

Julian - Donkey Kong

The football team (my pride and joy):

Robin - goalkeeper, he once scored from a goal kick

Humphrey - defence, very good at headers (lol) but is frequently injured mainly due to being clumsy

Kitty - defence, she gets very invested in the game and will break knees (while apologising) 

Cap - defence, it took him a while to pick up the sport but he’s thriving, works very well with Humphrey and Kitty

Thomas - surprisingly good left winger, other teams generally see him (being himself) before the game  and write him off as a weaker player - he loves proving them wrong

Fanny - right wing, her and thomas make a weirdly good duo, she's absolutely incredible at penalties 

Pat - central midfielder and the team captain (Cap conceded that maybe Pat was a little bit better than him at football and should take the lead ‘just this once’)

Mary - Striker, really strong with both feet, closes her eyes when she takes a shot but somehow is still usually on target 

Julian - Striker, solid player but is frequently sent off for inappropriate celebrations

I had way too much fun re-reading these.

PLEASE USE THEM AND SEND ME THE FICS IM OBSESSED.

[ithebookhoarder]

Spending Thanksgiving with Matt 🍁 (Matt Murdock x F!Reader)

A/N: So I'm gonna confess right now that I'm from the UK and not American, but my flatmate is and she has been cooking up a Thanksgiving feast all day - so this is how I'm spending the holiday... writing safely on the couch, and staying out of the kitchen 😅 Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate!

Warnings: Faint smutty references, references to alcohol, tooth-rotting fluff, I think that's it.

Masterlist

You and Matt have had a variety of Thanksgivings together, each one completely different, so you don’t really have any set traditions. 

It’s more about spending the day with the people you care about, even if for just an hour, so you can share your gratitude at having them in your life. Or that’s what you tell Matt when he tries to argue that he doesn’t see what’s so important about the holiday. 

“But sweetheart-”

“Don’t sweetheart me, Matthew Murdock. I just want five minutes with you to eat some stupid Pumpkin Pie and pretend to be normal. Ok? Please? Else I’ll just have to come out on patrol with you so I can annoy you into coming home.” 

Needless to say, Matt gives in pretty quickly once you start begging. So, you both make the promise to honour that, even if it’s late or if the world seems intent of getting in the way. You will at least get to spend some time together, being grateful and taking a moment to celebrate what you’ve built together. 

That has led to some pretty interesting holidays together over the past few years. 

For instance, you’ve had one Thanksgiving where you’ve been sat in his office working on an important case, eating whatever take-out you’ve been able to find that was still open during the holiday. 

It was like so many other days you’d spent together but you make the best of it, with Foggy and Karen insisting you have the Macey’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on in the background on a laptop. 

You also take it in turns to go around and list the things you’re grateful for between chunks of research - and you all have a lot to be thankful for. 

Another Thanksgiving was spent at Foggy’s parents’, after they’d insisted on hosting you all at their shop. 

You spent the day eating more food than you could possibly imagine and enjoying the Nelson family chaos. 

Matt may have pretended not to be excited at the prospect of sharing the day with the Nelson clan, but you could see the way he lit up the entire time you were there. Hell, you thought he was about the explode with happiness when the youngest Nelsons decided to start clambering over him and telling them about school and their plans for Christmas that year.

Matt has always had a soft spot for children and you can’t wait to start a family of your own to spend the holiday with - something Foggy’s parents seemed to be encouraging too, considering how they clucked and fussed over their boys. 

In fact, they lectured both Foggy and Matt on how they didn’t seem to be eating enough and that they needed to settle down and get married sooner rather than later.

“She’s a keeper, Matthew,” Mrs Nelson had teased, not too subtly. “You boys should both put rings on these gorgeous women. What are you waiting for?”   

Thankfully, Matt and Foggy were saved from answering by the sounds of cursing coming from the kitchen as something began to smell a lot like it was burning. 

“Ah, a lecture from my loving mother. Now it’s a true Nelson holiday,” Foggy had groaned, reaching for the nearest un-opened beer. He had been quick to hand one to you, Karen, and Marci as well. “Cheers.” 

“Cheers,” you’d laughed, a chorus ringing out from the group of amazing human beings you now called yours. 

The following year you made sure to host them at your place. Yep, your place. As in both you and Matt had decided to move in together and now shared the apartment you called home. 

Somehow, by a divine miracle, Matt had managed to have the day off, not being caught in the middle of some crazy life or death situation that would steal him away. Instead, he had somehow taken on the role of sous-chef and was surprisingly talented at it. 

You blamed his blood-hound like senses for telling him what the perfect amount of certain ingredients was, or when something was ready in the oven. 

“You could use more sage in that - and oh, I think the pie is done.”

“Damn, Matt. You’ve been holding out on me. All this time I’ve been living with a gourmet chef and we’ve been living off take-out?”

Matt laughs, pressing a kiss to your lips by way of apology. “I’d hardly call myself gourmet, but I’ll take the compliment.” 

There is clearly no end to his talents.  

Speaking of talents, Matt soon tries to use his other talents as you’re both pressed together in the confines of the kitchen, weaving in and out of each other, hands brushing… hips bumping…  

It takes a lot of self-control on your part to remind him you had guests coming in a matter of minutes. 

“What can I say, sweetheart? I’m just trying to show you have grateful I am for you. That’s the point of the holiday, right?” he purrs, his devious smile all too tempting. 

“Well - as tempting as that is, and I swear if we hadn’t spent all morning preparing this dinner I would be dragging your ass over to bed - but you’re gonna have to save this show of gratitude for later, Matt.” 

“Now who’s not being festive?” 

You’re quick to swipe at him with the dish towel but he’s faster, saved by the knock at the door that announces your guests had finally arrived. He ducks past you, making for the door and hastily ushers everyone inside. 

What follows is probably the best Thanksgiving you’ve ever had and the group photo Foggy insists on taking at the end of the night is soon framed and put pride-of-place on your bedside table. 

You ate until your sides hurt. You drank until the bottles ran dry. You laughed until tears poured from your eyes. 

By the time you and Matt actually do make it to bed that night you feel like you're floating.

"Thank you for today," he whispered, much to your surprise. You knew deep down he wasn't always the biggest fan of holidays, a lifetime of trauma and a never ending quest to protect his city had taken the sheen off of them long ago... or, it had, until he'd met you. Now, he could see the appeal of them. Of spending them celebrating with you.

You brought a light back into his life, as well as a reminder of what he was actually fighting for, and fighting to protect, every time he put on the mask.

"I love you... Happy Thanksgiving, sweetheart."

"Happy Thanksgiving, Matt."

[bunnyinfoxclothing]

@gohrhgeorge This one's for you!

Okay so looking back at my previous post about the SWTA timeline. I had mapped out Velvette's sort of timeline. For her specifically she died at age 17 in 2017.

For her specific death, we need to explore more about her character. Velvette is someone who thrives on social media. It's not something we get a lot of in the show, but something that will be explored in SWTA. I like to believe in live Velvette was sort of social media famous. As much as a 16-17 year old could be. She is in high school during the age of instagram and musically.

I believe that her interacting with these forms of social media likely lead to the creation of several memes. I like to think she lead a few trends and gained a decent social media following. and that ultimately leads to her downfall.

She gains he following by putting people down. Her unique insults gains her followers from all around. They find her rudeness funny. And the encouragement only makes her worse.

With someone of that age not only having access to social media, but also a large following can be kinda damaging. Keep in mind that she is still a minor. I like to believe that it had granted her certain privileges in life. She would get recognized and people would ask for photos, she would get gifts, but most of all she was receiving invites to places.

Velvette being 17 puts her as a junior in highschool or year 12 for the British schooling system. (because she is British). I think it's likely that at that age, Velvette might have been invited out to places that simply weren't for her age range.

Which leads to a night at a rooftop pool party.

Velvette is recording her way through the party. It's not exactly a famous person party. But it is blatantly clear that people around have money. They have money and they want her fame.

She is brought in and treated like a guest of honor. They show her around get her free drinks, and when she goes live (instagram live came out in 2016) she is drunk (the legal drinking age in the uk is 18) so only slightly underage, but she makes a spectacle of herself.

Her numbers have never been higher. People see where she is and what she is doing and word spreads like wildfire. She's too far gone to realize that some of her views are concerned adults, people trying to find out where she is.

The music is loud in her ears and the numbers keep going up. She is singing and dancing. She is having a good time. And in all honestly, nobody will know who said it.

But she finds herself on the wall. Taking step after step, watching as her numbers go wild. Her eyes are blurry as the messages move far too quickly for her eyes to read. Half screaming about how crazy and wild she is for doing that so high up. People calling it faked. People taking it too far and telling a 17 year old girl to do a flip.

And then she slips.

The live stream doesn't end.

Not until the police arrive.

---

This is subject to change in the story proper but that is what i'm playing with right now. I hope you all enjoyed.

[kellyvela]

This is getting a little bit too parasocial now...... I mean, not you, that anon. What Sophie and her ex husband agreed on is literally none of our business and i'm pretty sure she would be mortified reading that ask. At the end of the day, they are both celebrities with careers that involve spending time in other countries. The children being home schooled is not the worst thing in the world. Sophie herself is not going to only be able to work in the UK, and if the girls happen to be with her during the time she is shooting something, they would not be able to attend a school in London anyway. Just look at how long the shoot for Haven is, or how long Joan took, if she shot it anywhere outside London it would be the same situation like when her ex is on tour. Like i'm sorry, but for the girls to be able to attend a normal school fulltime the parents would have to sacrifice in their career (she would have to only be in uk productions, he would need to not tour or not to have the kids with him while touring) and this would also require him to move to the UK full time so the girls don't switch between the countries all the time (which also makes going to a normal school impossible). So homeschooling looks like the best compromise... But i digress. This was their decision and they made it however they saw best. I'm sure Sophie would rather we start talking about something else, like Haven is finishing soon and i'm very curious to find out if she films The Dreadful next or Cloud One 👀 And if she will go see Kit's play!!! John Bradley went 👀 👀 Also because of her new LV campaign i'm 99% sure she will attend the fashion show on October 1 so at least we will see her beautiful face again ❤️

UK was the permanent residence during the temporary custody agreement that expired on January:

Willa was attending a nursery in London during late February 2024, that is to say, after the temporary custody agreement expired on January:

On September 2024, the parents reached a permanent custody agreement, which is confidential, and were declared divorced and single again.

From these facts, it is most likely that they have confirmed the UK as the girls permanent residence, so they will be educated there, as was always Sophie's wish.

[houseofbrat]

Of course.

The Will & Kate CULT will continue to live in their bubble while everyone else looks at The Waleses/Cambridges as crazy egomaniacs. The cult members will excuse anything.

See?

Even people who work in cancer education and oncology are aghast.

A pharmacist--who knows exactly what chemo drugs do and has worked with cancer patients and oncologists--watched Kate's video and was basically "WTF?!" Chemotherapy drugs are hazardous chemicals that require special handling, dispensation, and removal. They don't cause people to just walk in a meadow and hold butterflies. They literally cause people to go "FUCK CANCER!" and re-evaluate all the things in life that they have have taken for granted.

Except for Will & Kate.

No, it caused them to go into overdrive with levels of PDA that we would associate with Harry & Meghan.

It caused them to also say "Fuck Harry and Meghan," but not actual cancer! You know, the disease Kate was allegedly fighting so hard these past months.

When you think about the fact that chemotherapy KILLS cells (and not just cancer cells!) and usually has severe side effects, even years later, it's pretty strange to hear someone focus on their overseas brother and sister-in-law!

Harry and Meghan are basically nobodies at this point. They jumped the shark a long time ago in the US. They do not make big waves anywhere, outside of their small fandom. But yet they still live rent free in Will & Kate's heads!

No thank you or acknowledgement to her medical team. Or acknowledgement of cancer charities or resources in the UK. Just me and my journey, complete with a godawful perfume montages. Or is it a Viagra commercial?

Will & Kate and their "fans" are completely out of touch. No one asked for this video, yet any critique of it is met with criticism that the general public "asked" for it.

They could have just put out the statement without any video or photo!

Nobody was interested in seeing them act like this except The Will & Kate CULT! They are the ones eating this up and writing shit like this:

"they FUCK like constantly so as well"

"confirmed disney princess"

"Also whatever videos WK release people will still find ways to complain. If WK are happy to share to the world how happy their family is that Kate has completed chemo, then good for them."

"Catalina happy at home waiting for her hubby so she can ravage him."

"Unfortunately, you are wrong. To say William and Catherine are romanticising cancer for filming a video of their family as they celebrate the end of her treatment... yikes"

"Oh no how dare a family go to the countryside in the middle of the school holidays to celebrate the end of the mom’s cancer treatment."

"I'm crying seeing that very personal video of the Wales family 😭 I'm so happy for William and the family that he and Kate had built and continuously cherished."

"And to everyone who complaining about her sick leave, I would advise them to move to another country that respects people's health. If Kate was working at public sector in my country she would get up to a year paid leave."

Apparently it hasn't dawned on The Will & Kate Cult that Kate is talking as if she never had cancer in the first place. She ran around playing Nerf games weeks ago with no problems. She can only attend Wimbledon when her husband is out of the country. She can only announce she's attending Trooping the Colour the day before.

And now she's doing a Hallmark video about herself and only about herself that no one asked for.

One friend of William and Kate told The Daily Beast: “It’s the reset to end all resets. This is Kate and William as they mean to go on. It’s family first and f--- the haters, f--- the press, f--- Harry and Meghan.

~ Tom Sykes, The Daily Beast, "Kate Middleton’s Cancer Recovery Video Is ‘Reset to End All Resets’: Source"

Tom Sykes' reporting has been pretty accurate these last few months. He reported about Kate not working at all in the future months ago; Kate confirmed it this week. And I have no doubt he's publishing this source's comments about "Fuck _____" because it's a pretty shocking statement to make after a "cancer" "battle." Because Will & Kate did a good job convincing other people that there has been no actual cancer battle.

Will & Kate do not have to talk to or engage Harry and his wife to any degree at this point. William attended his uncle's funeral this month and reportedly did not sit with or talk to Harry. Will & Kate have plenty of staff to intercept their phone calls and communications so that they do not have to talk to either Harry or his wife. The reporting has been pretty solid for at least a year that William does not talk to his brother. Kate doesn't talk to Harry's wife either.

Why are they so obsessed with Harry & Meghan when Kate is supposedly, oh, so busy with chemotherapy? And her health? The very health problem that has allegedly kept Kate from "working" all year?

Because most people who are undergoing something as grueling as cancer and chemotherapy treatments would not waste enough time thinking about their in-laws that they never talk to.

Except Will & Kate!

William's brother and sister-in-law live rent free in Will & Kate's heads!

Which says that Will & Kate were never worried about Kate's "cancer." Because that and the chemotherapy regimen never existed. Which is why Kate did not feel the need to publicly acknowledge any of her medical providers or refer anyone to cancer charities or resources or acknowledge anyone other than herself.

Kate has done a good job positioning herself as a modern-day Marie Antoinette, which is probably an insult to the actual Marie Antoinette.

It's not going to work out well for Kate in the long run. (Or her cult.)

[void-speaks]

What I find interesting about our protagonist (who I am going to address as 'Joey' to indicate that the protagonist is a younger version of Joseph Randolph) is the way he says some things, more specifically, the way he translates words from German to English. Almost always whenever he translates something, he adds something like "'Cafeteria,' I think," "That's like the patients who are celebrating their birthday today I think," "I think that means 'maintenance'" and probably more. He seems to almost always add some indication of doubt in his words. Which, by the way, the fact that he even needs to translate it is already kinda telling, and he is translating those not just for us but for himself too, because he first says the word in German and then translates it into English. I also find it interesting how instead of using the german word for liver Joseph uses iucer, which is the Latin word for that. And I know that names of medicine usually come from latin words or are latin words, but not the name of organs. Which makes me think that maybe this confirms that both Joey and Joseph kinda suck at German. That would be strange though, being a doctor in Germany and not knowing German well... and at the same time, both their speech seems perfect. Joey understands what everyone says to him without problem, and Joseph speaks German well too. It's specifically written German that they both have trouble with.

Of course, it would be way easier to just chuck it as the staff and patients speaking English, but I find that less likely. Also, Joseph is not a common first name in Germany, and neither is Randolph, but Randolph at least has a German origin. So I'm thinking that Joey is actually from the UK/US/somewhere in that part of the world. He probabaly finished high school there and went to university in Germany (which actually requires you to know German and/or English well from the google search that I did). So that makes me assume that his mother was probabaly a woman from the UK/US and his father was a man from Germany (not the other way around because typically the woman takes the man's surname when they get married). They fell in love and then maybe moved to Germany where Joey applied to med school. Also, by the way, if Joey is from Germany but his parents just decided to name him something uncommon, he would've finished med school by 25, making him maybe in his 30s in the game. If not, than he'd be just a year younger or nothing would change.

But also what I find interesting about the theory that the player is a younger version of Joseph is how Joseph says that he doesn't recognize us. I think if I would've seen my younger version I would've probably recognized him? And that kinda ruins the theory? But maybe Joseph and Joey are so different, that Joseph doesn't recognize his younger self, so full of hope and ambition as opposed to him now, filled with wrath and whatnot.

It would also explain what we're doing there in the first place. Assuming that our arrival at the hospital is not a part of the timeloop (like in Little Nightmares 2 where [spoilers] once you defeat the Thin Man he travels back in time and becomes Mono while Mono from the first timeline is in the process of becoming the Thin Man), Joey was probably a trainee at the Heilwald Klinikum. Which would mean that he stumbled into the loophole and everything went to shit from there. It would also make a little bit more sense as to why Helene tells us that we're "not qualified" to bring her the medicine. Not that we're a patient and therefore just can't do that, but that we're not qualified to do so yet. Idk, I just think that wording was a deliberate choice. Plus, she didn't tell us the name of the medicine, she just said that it's special and that it would help her, but we somehow knew that those two specific bottles were the medicine we needed. Of course, it could've been simple stuff like painkillers and even a patient would be able to get that, but Helene said the medicine was 'special.' Again, deliberate wording in my opinion.

Oh and by the way, if Joseph is in his 30s, then Joey is somewhere between being 20-24 (depending on if he's from Germany he'd be in the age of 21-24 and if not 20-23), but just based on the way that Trash Collector calls him son but still talks to him with relative ease makes me think that Trash Collector is also in his 30s but Joey is like, 21-22, somewhere in the beginning or just past his first year as a trainee.

This is like... all over the fucking place but yk. Ya gotta do whatcha gotta do when the fancy chemicals hit yer brain.

Oh and btw Joseph's way of speaking does differ from everybody else, or maybe I'm just imagining it. But the way he talks sounds a little weird.

Maybe it's because Joey is still so shocked about the loophole thing that he mistranslates some of the stuff Joseph is saying and/or misplaces some words, or maybe Joseph just still didn't learn how to speak German properly.

[kay9leo]

It's hard being the new kid...

Sort of "modern" HL AU

Meet Iñaki "MC" Martinez Cariaga! She's the new transfer student from the United States. She was late for the sorting ceremony so she's currently houseless right now, hence the gray tie. Unfortunately for MC, her ancient magic is a magnet for attracting trouble and getting her into situations she rather not be in, sort of like Percy Jackson.

Fun Facts:

Normally her eyes are brown, but ever since she ended up in the UK, if she's around the presence of high Ancient Magic activity, her own ancient magic activates, turning her eyes a magical blue. They also turn that color when she's using it. At the advice of Prof. Fig, she tries to keep a small flow of it running consciously if she's not at a nearby ancient magical source.

She's also big runes fan! Since her family comes from both Central and South America, she has a big love of studying Mayan glyphs and Incans quipus (they use that instead of runes to conducting their magic). She also knows some indigenous words in Kaqchikel and Quechua; some for fun and some for spell casting. Seeing Norse runes in person was the one thing she was definitely looking forward when going to Hogwarts.

While she doesn't originally goes by MC back in the States, it became her deferred nickname/shorten version of her double surname Martinez Cariaga to use at Hogwarts. She's gotten tired of both professors and peers taking too much time to say it or have them accidently butcher her surnames (or first name even). Her nickname of MC is used so often that it gets to the point that barely anyone remembers that her name is Iñaki 🤣

Ancient Magic & Hogwarts Castle

I headcanon that the Hogwarts Founders were ancient magic users who build Hogwarts and never told anyone about their abilities. Since the place is humming with Ancient Magic, MC's eyes are always a constant magical blue. It's when she leaves Hogwarts grounds that she has to focus on maintaining that magical flow.

The Big Move, Fourth Year & the Reserved New Girl

Unfortunately, Iñaki's dad lost his job during the first layoffs of the Great Recession in early 2008. Thankfully, he had a buddy who hooked him with a new temp job in London, causing the Martinez Cariaga family to move across the pond from New York to London during the end of summer. While she loved the idea of traveling and going to Europe (and maybe even learn more about the different ancient runes used there), she wasn't too pleased at the idea of moving abroad and leaving everything she knows and loves.

Instead of starting her freshman year with her close friend group at Excelsior (NYS magical school system, Ilvermorny is the New England private magical prep school - the most famous, oldest and only school most people know outside the US), Iñaki is starting 4th year at Hogwarts.

Note: The words between "< >" is spoken in Spanish. MC comes from a Spanish-speaking Latino household. If the words are not in between "< >" assume she's speaking English.

6: At the end of MC's first week:

MC:

<¡Hola Mami!>

< I'm fine. ¿And you? >

< Nothing interesting happened this week. >

< ¡NO! ¡It wasn't like I fought a dragon or a troll this week. >

< ¡Just because I faced the Jersey Devil in 6th grade or the Headless Horseman in 7th OR befriended Champ at Lake Champion in 8th doesn't mean weird things always happens to me! >

<¡I'm fine Mami! Nothing happened...>

<¡I had to Mami! ¡He told me he wanted to give me a "proper Hogwarts welcome" before we started! I told him "That's how we say 'Hello' in New York." Made it too easy for me by saying his spells out loud. The prof said I was a great example of how magical duels are different in the New World with our non-verbals...>

<He was cool with losing. ¡Sebastián even gave me a tour of the magical village nearby and introduced me to the "dueling club" the school has! >

< We dueled together…¡It was fun! I almost forgot how much I miss home… >

8:

MC:

< I still want to go home. >

< No Mami. I don't mean visiting you guys back in London. Home as in New York. >

< ¿Why should I make friends if we're only going to be here for a year?>

< ¿It's only a year...right? >

< ¿Right? >

< I gotta go...I promised my classmates I'll study with them for our exam next week. >

< I love you too. >

"Bye."

*Flips phone closed*

*Ends call*

......

MC's trying...but she is rather homesick.

She's now stuck in Hogwarts and isn't too keen on making friends since she has no clue whether she'll be there for a year or not - it all depends whether if they extend her father's work contract and she's isn't keen on making friends if she's only there for a few months in her mind. It gets to the point where Sebastian trying to friend her is like an unstoppable force meeting an unmovable object. (He ends up winning though when she accidently slips up and calls him her friend later on in the year).

For now though, MC is a very angsty teen right now and had her world flipped upside down.

At least she can take out her angst in dueling club 😅

I want to thank @myokk for listening to my ideas about my MC and to my sibling who needed to borrow my laptop for work (leading me to doodle and actually make a digital drawing on my tablet -that I use as a second monitor for work- since I couldn't edit some papers on those days). Without them this drawing wouldn't have happened.

I'm never doing this ever again because I a bit too perfectionist for art and I hated the number of layers I needed. It was supposed to just be a SIMPLE digital doodle!!!! Instead I made this 😭. Never again. I'm sticking to my pen doodles. I was bored out of my mind and I was either reading or doodling while my sis was testing out her new laptop and I was on stand by in case she needed me.

[siaradwast]

got around to reading the bbc article about the "government gives trans guidance for england secondary schools" thing and uh.... there's a lot going on here

im gonna post screenshots of the article and pick out some things to unpack

"teachers should inform parents if their child wishes to change their gender identity at school": this is the new official guidance summed up. do i even have to point out that this could be very bad for kids with transphobic parents? if they've made the difficult decision to come out to a school counsellor or favourite teacher, the school do not then get to potentially out them to their potentially queerphobic parents. this is common sense.

"teachers will be able to withhold information if they feel a child is at 'significant risk'": i guarantee that this is not as simple as it sounds - are the teachers going to have a good idea of whether the parents are going to react badly? what if the teacher in question is transphobic?

A quote from Education Secretray Gillian Keegan "Parents' views must also be at the heart of all decisions made about their children" : absolutely horrifying thing to say, implying that parents should have control over their child's entire life, and this coming from the Education Secretary who should at least have the common decency to pretend she cares about uk schoolchildren

some quotes from Minister for Women and Equalities Kemi Badenoch "schools do not have to accept a child's request to socially transition" and "teachers or pupils should not be pressured into using different pronouns" : painting trans people as putting so so much bad pressure on the poor ickle cis people who couldn't possibly be expected to change a few words? no of course teachers shouldn't have to respect the children, what a ridiculous suggestion. yes of course she's the best candidate for "equalities minister" (sarcasm)

it gets worse!

teaching staff, pupils, and parents will also be told that they do not have to observe a child's chosen name and pronouns if they "hold protected religious or other beliefs that conflict with the decision" : oh great. this is a good idea and definitely does not basically say that being a terf is a protected belief (other beliefs definitely refers to terfs)

"schools must not allow a child, aged 11 years or older, to change or wash in front of a child of the opposite sex" : this guidance would of course not be complete without biological essentialism or the whole "protect the kids from evil queer people" rhetoric.

"primary school children (aged 11 and under) should not have different pronouns to their sex" : right, because there is nobody out there who transitions at that age. what about trans kids of that age whose parents are supportive? yeah, this guidance is referring to kids who ask to transition without their parents knowing, but at that age, if a child is transitioning, the parents are typically supportive. why would you want to make school a hostile environment for literal children, unless it isn't about the children and is actually about hating on trans people?

I'm not going to post anymore of the article, but this is gathering support from the tory government (Liz Truss had some quotes in the article), as well as two terf/gender-critical groups who welcome the move (one going as far as to say she doesn't think children should be allowed to socially transition at all), and of course the excuse of "It's about making sports fair for everyone".

there were some positives: a headteacher who said the guidance wouldn't change his approach of looking at each case individually and making sure the child was comfortable and gently encouraging the children to inform their parents, the father of a trans child who thinks the guidance would make life harder for trans students, and the charity Mermaids also disagreeing with the guidance

there is an open 12-week consultation on the government website to obtain public opinion on the guidance - if you live in the UK please fill it out, as many trans friendly voices need to get on that consultation and point out the ways it will harm trans people

honestly, the situation for transgender people in the UK is not getting any better, especially since almost the entire cabinet is made up of transphobes, and the continued platforming of people such as JKR, who are actively donating to anti-trans groups and spreading harmful rhetoric

Rishi Sunak has publicly said that "a man is a man and a woman is a woman", Steve Barclay has said that hospital wards should be separated by "biological sex", they've drawn back from using gender-neutral language entirely, there are barely any gender clinics in the uk and those that do exist have years-long waiting lists, the process to legally change your gender requires medical transition (which is incredibly hard to access), and there is no major political party standing up for trans rights (Labour leader Keir Starmer has said he doesn't think kids under 16 should be able to transition)

people need to keep talking about it, because it's not even about hormones and surgery at the moment - they're trying to restrict ability to change names, pronouns, dress style, etc., actually doing research into "the impact of socially transitioning", so that people can't even make the first steps to expressing their gender differently (essentially children under 11, under the new guidance, are almost entirely unable to transition in any way)

I usually only see other UK bloggers talking about this, and I've only seen uk news sites talking about it as well

please don't forget about the uk when you talk about trans rights.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for causing my friend to be married off without her consent?

I know that seems very bad, and I DO think it's very very bad, but my friend herself didn't blame me explicitly and thinks none of what happened is my fault, but i still feel guilty about it so I'm leaving the judgement to the Tumblr court. I apologize for the length of this post.

We (27F) have been best friends since we were 6. I'm from the middle east while she is African, this part is very important. She lived here since she was born, however she moved back to her country after graduation, but now lives in the UK with her husband so we've been online friends ever since her graduation.

Anyway, this is something that happened when we were in middle school. We were both 13, my friend confided in me that she has a crush on a certain boy who was also African. She clearly told me not to tell anyone about this, but I went ahead and told her African friends right in front of her. That in itself was very AH of me, I broke her trust and revealed her secret, and I didn't even apologize later.

In our culture a crush is just something to giggle and laugh about, which is why I didn't consider what I did was a big deal and I had a poor judgment not taking in consideration that her culture might perceive things differently.

Anyway, her friends spread the word, and it reached her family. They accused her of being in relationship with him (she wasn't) which is very scandalous in both of our cultures. She was proven innocent and I thought that was the end of it.

However, in high school when we were 17, she had a thing for a different boy, who had the same name as the boy she previously had a crush on, this was hardly a coincidence since Muhammad is a common name. She talked with him and exchanged gifts and that was about it. She set clear boundaries that they can't do anything until marriage, however that all happened behind her parents' back and when she got found, they assumed it was the same boy and that she had been meeting up with him since middle school, so it was hard to believe that they didn't do anything at all. They locked her up at home, took her phone and beat her. She somehow was able to contact a mutual friend, who in return contacted me to help because we were neighbors and could go to my friend's house anytime I wanted. The message I received from our mutual friend wasn't clear, I had no idea what was happening, I was just told to go and stay with her, they assumed her parents wouldn't dare to hit her in front of me and that's why I was needed. Anyway I went and sat with her, they called her to the kitchen so she could get snacks and tea for me, but when she went they closed the door and started beating her up again because they figured she asked for me to come. I was shaking the whole time having no idea what to do, I considered telling my mom but I decided against it because she was a good friend with my friend's mother so she wouldn't believe it, or she'd believe my friend is a bad girl and I wouldn't be allowed to hang out with her anymore.

Thanfully they stopped beating her up after a couple of days, and things went wack to normal.

Later when she was 20, a rich man proposed to her, who was a family friend. He was a total psycho, he stalked her to college, waiting for her outside and did many other creepy things. She told her family, but they didn't believe her. They thought she was making it up because she didn't want to marry him, but they told her she had no choice because she had a bad reputation and no man would want to be with her, and that she was lucky a rich man would want to be with her. They even turned away other suitors because they assumed they'd change their mind if they knew about her past. She has 5 sisters and none of them received the same treatment. She's the only one who was forced to get married because of her reputation.

She accepted her fate and married him. She asked me to attent the wedding, I had no idea if she wanted me for emotional support, or that she just her best friend to be with her in her wedding, but either way I couldn't attend because she was in a whole different continent and I wasn't independent yet to travel on my own, and my family members were busy and couldn't travel with me. My friend was adamant about having me there, she even tried to arrange for her wedding to be held in my country, but her request was denied since most of her relatives wouldn't be able to attend. The only thing I could do to make up for this was to draw myself attending her wedding and hugging her in her wedding dress after she sent her wedding pics.

I kept in contact with her asking how she's doing, how her husband treats her etc, but she told me he was fine, that he seemed like a completely different person and that he loves her for real, and she's happy. It's not as bad as she thought it would be. It was hard to believe considering his previous actions, but what mattered most that my friend was happy.

She moved to the UK with her husband and we lost contact for a while, but when we finally talked she was always busy and could barely talk a lot. Many things were happening in her life and I only knew the gist of it because she didn't always have time to sit down and facetime me. But currently her husband is not so good. I don't know enough details to know if he's abusive or just AH, but he also cheats on her. She is planning a divorce when the time is right, and is glad she's independent enough that her family can't have a say in the matter anymore, but it will be tough on her specially since she has two children so far, and will probably have more before she could arrange for a divorce. I support her with whatever decision she'd makes, but I can't help but think none of this would have happened if I just kept my mouth shut at 13. To this day, I still wonder why she didn't stop talking to me when I did that. I don't think I deserve her friendship, yet to this day, she's alway telling me I'm the most wonderful person she met and that she's very grateful to have me in her life. Throughout the events of this story, she has always vented to me as if wasn't my fault. And all I could do was nodding along. Couldn't even help her or fix the situation, or even say something supportive, but she's grateful to me regardless. Recently she opened up to me at how she can't make friends anymore because she had terrible experiences since her college days, that her so called friends end up hurting her in the worst possible way and she feels none of the friends she will ever make would treat her well like I do. I didn't ask about what she went through (but I plan to once she has time) because I was so stunned that she thinks the way I treat her is any good. I replied by saying that I'm not perfect either, and that I have hurt her so much in the past. She was confused, and asked me to give her an example. I brought up the fact I divulged her secret at 13 but I was surprised she said she didn't remember that but it was probaly a harmless joke and I should stop worrying over something dumb I said as a dumb teenager because for sure I wouldn't act the same way now.

I didn't discuss this further to avoid bringing back terrible memories for her, but I'm shocked how she doesn't remember it considering everything that happened to her because of it. In fact, I started wondering if she even remembers the things that happened to her because of what I did, because if she forgot those too, it could be her brain blocking traumatic memories.

So Tumblr, AITA or am I just over thinking?

What are these acronyms?

[gamergirlbonestaskforce141riot]

Do you think it's unrealistic that she knows god knows how many kanguages and also does ballet AND also is so good at what she does in the milutary? Not trying to sound judgmental sorry for my english🙏🙏

I know three languages (spanish, english, french) and I'm nobody, how is that unrealistic? Could you please explain it to me like I'm six why knowing several languages is unrealistic?

Also, I have said, several times, she DID ballet while a kid and teen, which is extremely normal in Spain to do, I did it myself. I also played violin. You go to school and ballet is another after school activity, there are millions of dance schools. Unless you're trying to get drafted by the Royal Spanish Ballet, you do it as a hobby. It's not that strange.

Nikolai knows at least 8 languages, Price knows at least 4, Laswell at least 3 but surely more. Even Makarov speaks several.

Gaz and Soap hold several SAS records between them. Ghost has survived things no one could think possible. Price seems to be a jack of all trades, good at anything. There's an operator, Domino, who was an olympic athlete before enlisting. Calisto is french nobility.

Christine Vega stopped practicing ballet regularly at 18 when she moved to UK. She's lost a lot of expertise. She also played violin and piano, but only keeps playing guitar and bass guitar nowadays if she can. She is fluent in english and spanish because of her family, in Spain you learn french in high school, russian through his abuelo and then german because it's useful studying History and Archaeology, there's a lot of scientific literature from the XIX not translated. Then she kept studying them because she loves learning languages and has a knack for it.

She is a bad sniper. A good shot but has no patience to be still. She can't calculate in demolitions as fast as she could need. She is stubborn.

The only thing she's good at is not dying.

[stargazer-sims]

I'm sorry, but I'm gonna info-dump again (about Ginger and Stephen this time), so if you don't want to read a huge, rambling thing about my OCs, then don't click on "keep reading". That's the reason I'm putting this under a cut, so people who don't want to see it don't have to.

Gold stars to anyone who gets through this entire chaos post, though! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Also, for anyone who is interested, here is the long info-dump post that includes Nikolai, Beth-Anne and Mishka (although it's mostly Nikolai. Beth-Anne should really have her own).

Anyway...

__________

The quick backstory on Ginger is that she was born in the UK and she's an only child who had almost no relationship with her parents who were (and still are) very wealthy and very busy. Ginger's childhood was defined by a string of governesses, tutors and household staff who took care of her much more than her parents did. She loves her parents and they love her. They were never mean or abusive to her and they always made sure she had the best of everything. They simply didn't spend enough time with her to build up the kind of relationship most other kids have with their parents.

Ginger didn't have friends growing up. She had acquaintances and kids she would hang out with, but Ginger didn't understand friendship because, again, she never saw that behavour modelled in her household. She spent a lot of time lost in her imagination and liked to write stories to entertain herself (usually in which she was the main character).

Her one true passion was skating, which she started at the age of five. It soon became apparent that not only did she love it, but that she had an exceptional talent for it. By the time she was 10 years old and began competing, there was no doubt left in anyone's mind that she would have a bright future in the sport, provided she had the proper coaching and the best resources.

Her coach helped her do some research, and they made inquiries into potential coaches not just in Europe but all around the world. When former Olympic silver medallist Stanislav Kovac agreed to take Ginger as a student, she was thrilled. It didn't take much convincing for her parents to agree to send her to Canada and to pay for everything. Ginger was a few months short of 15 years old when she left home.

She lived with a homestay family during her first year in Canada, but then moved in with Stan and his wife Milena, where she lived until she was 20 and her parents stopped paying for everything. After that, she got a place of her own.

The summer Ginger arrived in Brindleton Bay, 16 year old Nikolai Pavlenko also arrived there, after his family had moved from another province. Nikolai's grandfather had arranged for Stan to be Nikolai's coach as well, and Stan agreed only because he wasn't sure Nikolai was as great a skater as he was led to believe. Stan intended for Ginger to be his main focus.

Nikolai and Ginger, the new kids in town, at the rink and at school, bonded almost instantly. They were both lonely kids, and neither of them ever had a best friend before. They found they had far more in common than skating, and were soon inseparable. Neither of them ever had a crush or any sort of romantic feelings toward each other; they were besties and honorary siblings.

During that first year, Stan gave Ginger her nickname (her real name is Vivienne). She liked it and felt it suited her personality, and started going by it exclusively.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Satoru Fujikawa (also known as Stephen) was also an only child born into a wealthy family. Unlike Ginger, Stephen had an amazing childhood surrounded by cousins and friends and parents who made time in their busy schedules to be with him.

Stephen also showed signs of being a gifted athlete at an early age. Growing up in the Mt. Komorebi valley, he had easy access to the mountain with its year-round snow, and his parents taught him to ski when he was around four years old.

Stephen became a competitive skier and distinguished himself by making it into the Olympics twice (at age 22 and 26). He won an Olympic gold medal when he was 22, but didn't finish in the top three on his second time at the Olympics. He attributed this to massive stress in his life outside of sports.

When Stephen was 18, he married J-pop idol Sae (Sarah) Ishida who was two years older than him. He'd known her since they were kids, and they started dating while Sae was actively pursuing her dreams of being a famous music performer and Stephen was still in high school. The reason they married so young was because Sae fell pregnant. She unfortunately miscarried, but fortunately was still able to have children. They had their son Sebastian two years later, when Stephen was 20 and Sae was 22.

Stephen and Sae divorced when Sebastian was six years old. It was a very messy and highly publicized divorce, and in the end, Stephen was given full custody of Sebastian. He retired from competitive skiing at that point so he could focus on his son, and he accepted a position with his father and aunt in the family's sports equipment company. Stephen and Sebastian had little contact with Sae after that point, and little Sebastian grew up without having much of a relationship with his mother.

Determined that his son shouldn't grow up without a sibling, Stephen applied to an adoption organization to adopt an older child. He ended up adopting a little girl only a few months younger than Sebastian. She wanted to have an English-sounding name like her new dad and brother, and they all settled on Sofia. Stephen raised Sebastian and Sofia almost entirely on his own, only engaging a nanny on a part-time basis.

While Sofia turned out not to be sporty at all, Sebastian excelled at sports in general and skating in particular. From a young age, he insisted he wanted to be a figure skater, and of course Stephen indulged him.

Fast-forward to 2014...

Sebastian and Sofia, now 14 years old, are sent to a UK boarding school so they can get an international education and perfect their English.

Meanwhile, back in Brindleton Bay, Nikolai is recovered from the injury that abruptly ended his competitive skating career. He's established as a skating coach after a highly successful period of time as a competitive athlete. Ginger has also decided to pursue coaching as her next step in life, after having retired from competition the previous year.

In the late summer & early autumn of 2013, Ginger had a whirlwind romance with a UK citizen, Liam Harris, who was working temporarily in Canada. They eloped at Christmas, and by early summer of 2014, Liam had convinced Ginger to return to the UK with him, with the promise that he'd help her find work once they got there.

Ginger became an assistant athletic director at a private school; the same private school where Sebastian and Sofia Fujikawa were attending. She quickly discovered that Sebastian was a skater in need of a coach, and since she was already certified as a coach, offered to train him. Sebastian recognized her from watching numerous skating competitions, and was excited to have someone like her coach him.

Ginger met Stephen via video chat soon after. Their first meeting was all business, as they worked out the details of her coaching his son. They met face-to-face for the first time when Stephen came to get his kids at Christmas.

After two years at boarding school in England, both Sebastian and Sofia were tired of living there and asked their father if they could return to Japan to finish high school. Stephen agreed. Sebastian, who'd become incredibly attached to Ginger by this point, begged her to come back to Japan with them and continue being his coach.

Ginger's personal life was in shambles, having recently gotten divorced from Liam. He hadn't turned out to be the Prince Charming she'd thought he was. He was manipulative, and emotionally and psychologically abusive, and Ginger had had enough. Unfortunately, divorcing Liam meant that she'd needed to get a place of her own and essentially start over, but at least she still had her own income and her freedom. Deciding she had absolutely nothing to lose at this point, she agreed to go to Japan.

Stephen helped her get her immigration paperwork in order, and he offered her a place to live as well, which happened to be a small cottage on his own property. The little house used to be servants' quarters back in the day, and Stephen had been using it as a guest house whenever he'd have overnight visitors. Since overnight guests weren't a super frequent occurrence, he felt it'd be better put to use if someone were to live in it full time.

Sebastian was thrilled to have Ginger living across the courtyard. They'd grown close in the two years she'd been coaching him, and he secretly thought of her as his adopted mother. Having a mother figure in his life was something he didn't realize he was missing until Ginger came along.

At first, when she wasn't working with Sebastian or going to language school to learn Japanese so she could integrate into the community and take on other students, she kept mostly to herself, and Sebastian would come to hang out with her in her cottage. But soon, he was practically begging her to come over to the main house to spend time with him and his father and sister. It didn't take long for her to feel at ease in the main house, and before too long, she was spending more time there than she was in her cottage. As time passed, she started doing things around the house like cooking for the family, ironing Stephen's clothes (a task he hated) and helping Sofia with her various personal projects. The whole family spoke Japanese to her so she could learn faster, and in the generally happy and relaxed environment of the Fujikawa home, she thrived.

Stephen was highly impressed. He'd never asked Ginger to do anything apart from coaching Sebastian, and he certainly never expect anything from her beyond that. It seemed to him that Ginger was doing those things because she wanted to, because she cared about his whole family and wanted to help them.

Ginger had been there for about a year when Stephen began to realize he was falling in love with her. The problem was, he didn't know how to tell her, or even if it'd be appropriate to tell her. Plus, he didn't think he could be successful in a romantic relationship. He'd certainly messed up the first one, and he was scared to try again. Also, a western woman like Ginger, from a wealthy and prestigious family, would never be interested in somebody like him, would she? To Stephen, she seemed unattainable.

Years went by, in which Stephen and Ginger got to know each other very well. Stephen thought of Ginger as part of the family. He invited her as his "plus one" to numerous social and business events, made a big deal of her birthday every year and brought her along on all the family's vacations.

For her part, Ginger settled into her role as a member of the family and soon found that she had feelings for Stephen too, but there was always that thought at the back of her mind that Stephen was, for all intents and purposes, her employer and a relationship with him might not be appropriate. Also, not unlike him, she's always felt that she's not the most skillful person when it comes to relationships.

Being a natural actor, she never had much difficulty in not letting her feelings for Stephen show, and she did her best not to pay too much attention to his awkward hinting.

At one point, while Nikolai was in Japan with Eden and Eden's brother Charlie, Ginger and Nikolai experimented with a relationship beyond friendship, but it ultimately didn't work out because they could never get past thinking of each other as siblings. They love each other deeply, but not in any sort of romantic way. Mishka is Nikolai's true love, and both he and Ginger realized it within a few months of starting their experiment.

Stephen, however, was not at all happy about what he perceived as a romantic relationship between Ginger and Nikolai. He doesn't know Nikolai very well, but that didn't stop him from feeling jealous about the situation. He was only too glad to see Nikolai leave Japan.

Sebastian and Sofia figured out long ago that their dad has it bad for Ginger, and at least Sofia has figured out that the sentiment is mutual. The siblings wish their dad would just get on with it and tell Ginger his true feelings for her, so that their unofficial stepmom can become their official stepmom.