#also they were immediately like 'we should mess with this guy' and said a bunch of weird noises and words lmao

[thecindercrow]

The podcast I’ve been doing volunteer transcripts for gave me a shoutout and compliments for my work in the new episode!

[fire-lizard-ro]

Mini post about Gallagher because @pix3lplays and I were talking about him... Like we always do with these Star Rail men... Man-

We're so Normal about him I swear-

Here's a bunch of ideas and headcanons in no particular order because I cannot scrape together enough sense after seeing that official art of him to make this coherent:

Writing under the cut (dw it's SFW I just started doing this for convenience):

Leaks suggested he had a bunch of scarring on his arms and if you look closely at his hands in the official art, he has some on his hands and juuuust under some of the bandages. Imagine kissing his scars... Auuuu-

I said it before and I'll say it again he's a big ol' puppy. Big scruffy scary dog puppy man. The way he's so attentive with you and concerned for your health, safety, and wellbeing at all times. I actually don't think he'd be the biggest on PDA. However- That doesn't stop what happens when he's protective. You'd be in a crowd and in order to shield you from the hustle and bustle, he'd pull you in close with an arm wrapped around you.

He totally rubs his cheek against yours like a fuckin cat as like an affection thing but also sometimes to mess with you because it's scratchy.

Definitely has a Chair. It's His Chair. By the fireplace. But he, of course, let's you sit in it whenever he isn't sitting there. And if he is? Pats his leg to you can come sit in his lap. You two often take naps there, cuddled up with one another.

Those buttons of his are fighting for their LIVES but you aren't complaining. He jolts a little before smirking at you when you slip a hand between said buttons to feel the exposed skin there as well as plenty of what the shirt does cover.

Pix and I like to think that he's naturally warm. Whether this is because he is a fire pathstrider is up to interpretation.

Also please tell me he's another guy who just straight says run them hands his hands are his weapon-

(I wonder if we're getting a character in HSR who just straight up throws hands like "time for some fisticuffs". Because I didn't even think about it, but Stelle in the new trailer didn't have her bat or lance she was gonna like Stellaron punch someone??? Bro gimme the "run them hands" strat right NOW Hoyo- Going back to Gallagher... Like yeah I wanna watch him straight up punch someone, lolllll- And look at his left glove!!! It has those little metal thingies on the knuckles like come ON-)

Speaking of him being a big ol puppy for you... I should write about him being a cute puppo boy... ANYWAYS-

Pix talked about kissing his scruffy chin and my immediate thought was:

"Leaning up to kiss his chin because of height difference and jwefoi he just thinks it's cute and you see the way his eyes soften weoigj- I feel like he'd lean down for you only to move so he can kiss you properly at the last second. And then he would give you lil eskimo kisses and gently murmur against your lips the softest lil "my wife..." as if it's his favorite thing to say as if it's him reminding himself and being happy about it all over again weoigjwe-"

(Yes that thought was a bit more catered to me as a certified Wife, okay??? Leave me alone- OTL)

ALSO PIX WITH THEIR HUGE WRINKLY BRAIN BROUGHT UP THE IDEA OF DANCING IN THE KITCHEN WITH HIM???

So ofc I had to write a bit about it:

It's late at night and you two just finished dinner together as a sort of stay at home date. You've already cleaned the dishes together and put everything away, relishing silently in the domestic feeling of doing those tasks together.

And then suddenly he's wrapped his arms around you, nose buried in your hair as he kisses your head. Slowly, he turns you around.

One kiss... Two kisses... "Dance with me?" "I don't know how." "I'll teach you."

Tugs you forward so you can stand on his feet as the two of you sway and dance in the kitchen, the only music being the sound of your hearts that now beat in sync.

aaAAAAAAA HELP-

Anyways more about this absolute Husband of a man again at a later time goodbye iewjgo-

[allisamemory]

On the Other Side of the Screen (Part 2)

As someone who is a part of three siblings, he felt it’s mandatory to get all of the Fontaine siblings and get them to max level (now crowned, though. Those are for the best of the bests). Only one siblings remained to be brought home.

A.K.A in which an avid player of a certain gacha game contemplates about a “family” that’s on his mind.

(Written before 4.1 hits)

_______________________________________________

He sat in front of his laptop as he stare at the clock.

3… 2… 1.

18:00

In an instant, he immediately open the wishing screen, and lo and behold, Childe is there. Due to his own insistence to be true to the story, he had rid Childe of his artifacts and bow and gave it to Ganyu temporarily. As for his artifacts, he’ll give it to Neuvillette until his artifact luck granted him a good set.

Of course, Childe isn’t happy with this. The Harbinger have been trying to get his attention - how his icon has an exclamation mark, even though there’s no star of the Monoceros Caeli in his inventory that’s inactive.

Choosing to ignore the ginger, he went to Zhongli’s banner, and pull. 63 pulls saved, but he can only do a ten-pull three times until he reached gold.

The purple shooting star streak the sky, and after a few blue stars…

There he is. With his little hat, coat, holding The Bell for some reason even if doesn’t fit his gameplay, and the cute robot penguin…

“Welcome home, Freminet.”

The boy looked around nervously as he opens his character screen and prepare to lose about 80% of his current mora.

_____

“Alright, you two.” He said as he placed Freminet between the magician twins in his teapot. “Starting from today, you three will be in charge of commissions in Fontaine until you three graduated (reached friendship level 10). I already gave Fremmie some directions.” He ended as he waved his cursor on Freminet’s head as a means to headpat him.

“Commissions…?”

“Yeah. You know, go around beating monsters or rogue mechas, testing Antoine’s blimp, and diving underwater- in which that will be Fremmie’s job.”

The three siblings looked at each other as if they were talking to a madman.

“What?”

“That’s it?”

“I mean, yeah. You might have to talk to someone once in a while, but don’t worry. The Traveler will take over if that were to happen. Also, I’ll have one person each day to guide you around so you’ll have a full complete team.” He swirl his cursor as if waving his hand. “Any question?”

“… Activating discussion mode.” Lynette looked up to the screen and calls his name.

“Yeah?”

“Do they know that we are…”

“Oh, don’t worry. They don’t.”

Lyney raised his hand. “But you say that you have two harbingers in your group.”

He nods. “One of them is Tartaglia, but he’s behind bars, so you know. The other one, I can’t disclose. I kept a promise with them to not disclose their identity. No, it’s not Arlecchino. I don’t even know if she’s playable.”

“I see.” Lynette simply says, summoning a cup of tea to her hands.

“… Are you worried that she might…”

All three of them went tense.

“Ah, I guess it’s not surprising that you feel that way. Considering the fate of Signora.” He fell silent for a bit. “And to be fair, I don’t know if I’ll pull for her if she is playable. It comes down to whenever I have enough Fates to call her.”

He’s currently saving for Neuvillette. If the theory of him as the Hydro Dragon is true, then someone like him will be perfect to bring along should Celestia is available. But he’s also an Archon Collector, so Furina is a must…

Wait, why is he even thinking about this.

“We’ll see.”

Whatever happens, happens. This is a motto that solve him a bunch of trouble in his rather troubled and messed up life…

“Besides… Are you guys even happy with how she is?”

That question earns him a confused look from the three.

“… It’s nothing.”

It’s weird, really. He was so used to seeing Lyney being cheerful and being all flashy in the battlefield. Lynette is as calm as ever, but he can feel some sort of tension in the way her tail swish around.

Freminet is doing his scuba helmet idle mode that he swore stays longer than usual.

Of course, they don’t trust him. Who would trust someone who pulled you out of nowhere, claims that the Traveler is his avatar of some sort and told you to do these jobs? They’re not even part of the Adventurer’s Guild.

But they still do it anyway? Is it because they want to trust him? Or is this an effect of being someone from the upper layers of reality?

… He’s thinking about this way too much. “… Alright! Here’s the commission. Let’s see… Where’s that randomizer…”

After doing a bit of a randomizer game, today’s guide will be Fischl, who has her full honor of guiding the newbies to their new side-jobs.

“Follow me, magicians and diver! Our duty in this world does not wait!” They then exited the teapot, a little bit confused, but determined.

He sighed. As he controlled the siblings in battle against a bunch of treasure hoarders, that ninja - Chitose‘s words come to mind.

“Several years ago, a serious clash appears to have occured between the Knave and a certain child at the House of Hearth - this leads to the latter replacing the former. This previous Knave - ‘Teacher’ appears to be using the current Knave’s name to keep a hold of his suboordinates as they act across various nations - his goal at present affiliation, however, are unclear.”

He took a sip of his tea and open his phone while his current team took a small break. He stared at the re-introductions of the three siblings, complete with Fatui background, and read the lines said by Arlecchino as uneasiness growing on his stomach.

Who is she, really? What happened between her and this ‘Teacher’ guy? What did she do about this situation? And, what trouble is she trying to brew in Fontaine?

Is she really trying to stop the Prophecy? Whatever he tried to do, be it reading Lyney’s character story or looking at cute fanarts of her, it still doesn’t clear his mind of his distrust.

“The Knave… Can you really be trusted?”

He shakes his head. As he heard Fischl calling out to him, saying that their break is over, he put his tea on the side and continue “playing”.

_______________________________________________

(Note: this was written before the 4.1 trailer drops and around the time the Fontaine siblings are reintroduced as Fatui, which is why the Player didn’t mention anything about the trailer.)

[g1itchtree]

Divulgence- Part 2

Previous - Next

SO I'm really only going to be updating this when ideas hit me. Which takes a while tbh so yeah very sporadic updates sorry

Also I really like writing dialogue but that comes at the expense of actual like scenebuilding or whatever lmao

———

“You WHAT?!”

“Shh, not so loud!” Marinette scolded, covering Alya’s mouth. “I’m really trying to not let my parents know, okay?”

Alya rolled her eyes, licking her hand in retaliation. Marinette immediately pulled away, wiping her hand on Alya with a laugh. “Okay girl, geez. But I thought you were over Luka?” Alya asked.

“Well, not really. I just knew I couldn’t feasibly be with him and be Ladybug at the same time,” Marinette shrugged, averting her gaze. This next part was the one she was most worried about sharing. “But… he may have found out who I am?”

“He WHAT?!”

“Alya!” She laughed, mostly to shake off the nerves.

“But how? You’re so careful!” Alya pressed.

“Well, you know how Wishmaker revealed people’s dreams, right?” Marinette started, receiving a nod in return. “I brought Viperion along in case me or Chat got hit… and Viperion may or may not be Luka.”

Alya opened her mouth, probably to scream again, but Marinette shot her a look and she smiled sheepishly. “Okay, so he saw your dream?”

“…and Chat’s.”

“…It’s like you’re looking for a reaction.”

“I’m not, really! Yesterday was just a lot, that’s all.” Marinette shrugged, tapping her fingers together. “But it should be okay, since Shadow Moth has no idea.”

Alya let out a little huff, crossing her arms. “That’s still a big risk.”

“I know, I know! But really, it shouldn’t cause any problems. We talked it over a bit, and unless he gets akumatized then there’s basically no way for Shadow Moth to know. And I already gave him a charm, so we’re totally fine.” Marinette explained, knowing she won when Alya gave an overly dramatic groan.

“Okay, but what about Adrien?” Her friend asked, giving her a look. “We both know you have feelings for him, don’t even try to deny it. Is Luka okay with that?”

“That’s a whole other thing,” Marinette sighed, slumping over slightly. “Apparently Luka likes him too?”

“No!” Alya gasped, smiling wide.

“Yeah! That’s what I was like!” Marinette exclaimed, standing up as she tries to explain the whole thing. “And he told me about this thing called polyamory? Basically just having multiple partners at once.”

Alya snapped her fingers, eyes shining at the realization. “So you guys can both date Adrien!”

“Well, if Adrien wants to,” Marinette held her hands up, shaking her head. “He might not be into that sort of thing, or even like either of us. Or maybe just one of us.”

“Well duh,” Alya said, brushing it off. “But this makes so much sense. No wonder why you couldn’t choose. You literally love them both the same!”

Marinette gave a tiny laugh at her enthusiasm, relieved she didn’t find it super weird. “I’m not really telling a bunch of people though. I mean, Luka and I just broke up, so it’ll be a bit weird to be back together so soon without explaining why.”

“I guess you can’t just say you only broke up cause you were Ladybug, and now he knows so it’s chill,” Alya conceded.

“And we both know I won’t be able to stop gushing over Adrien,” Marinette pointed out. “I don’t really know how everyone would react to the whole ‘multiple partners’ thing either, so please don’t mention it until I do?”

“Of course girl, you know I wouldn’t out you like that,” Alya immediately assured, zipping her lips. “I’m glad you felt you could tell me.”

“You know I can’t keep anything from you,” Marinette giggled, pulling her into a hug.

Alya smirked a bit, messing with Marinette’s hair. “Yeah, I’m too charming~”

“Oh my god you sound like Chat.”

“Well maybe he had the right idea!”

Marinette gives her a disapproving look, eventually dissolving into more laughter with her friend. This was good. More than that, this was relieving. She didn’t expect it to be more nerve-wracking than the first time coming out (was this even coming out?). Obviously Alya wouldn’t react too bad, but hopefully her other friends would react like this too!

Maybe Adrien wouldn’t mind either?

———

“You seem happy today, m’lady,” Chat Noir hummed, swinging his legs from his place on the roof.

The two of them were just relaxing after their patrol, as they often do. It was tradition at this point. But today, she had this sparkle in her eyes and her whole demeanor seemed… lighter.

Ladybug gave an awkward little laugh at his comment, scratching at her cheek. “Is it that obvious?”

“Nah, I just know you too well~” He grinned, bumping their shoulders together. “So what’s up? Something good happen?”

“You could say that…” Her cheeks went a little rosy and she played with fingers a bit. So it was embarrassing then? That just intrigued him more.

“Come on, what is it?” He pressed, turning to fully face her. “Give me the deets!”

“The deets? Seriously?”

Chat snickered at her incredulous look, starting to chant. “The deets! The deets! The deets!”

Ladybug broke into laughter, waving her hands to stop him. “Okay, okay! I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you, but… don’t freak out, okay? And… tell me to shut up if it upsets you?”

He paused at that, curious and a bit concerned. “Okay…? Though I doubt you would be able to upset me so easily.”

She let out a sigh, tracing the edge of the roof with her finger. “Well… I kinda have a boyfriend now?”

Oh.

Ladybug must have seen something in his expression that she didn’t like, because she immediately went into fix-it mode. “I’m sorry, I know you’re trying to get over me, and I really appreciate it, and I didn’t want to rub this in your face! I know how much it sucks when the person you like is with someone else, and-”

“It’s okay, bugaboo,” Chat cut in, grabbing the arm she was waving around, like she did whenever she rambled. “I was just surprised, that’s all! And you don’t need to apologize for dating someone, that’s your right and I don’t mind.”

“Really?” She asked. “‘Cause I’d totally understand if you did mind.”

“It’s fine. I’m happy for you, if anything!” He assured. “You deserve to have someone to love and for them to love you, even if it’s not me.”

She let out a sigh, though she was still hunching her shoulders uncomfortably. “Thanks, Chat. I appreciate that. But… there’s something else you should know.”

He raised a brow at that, concern seeping into his expression. “Alright…?”

She glanced around them, probably looking for any cameras or potential eavesdroppers. So this was something confidential, then? How could this be related to her boyfriend?

Satisfied that no one was listening, she leaned in, voice just above a whisper. “He kinda figured out my identity.”

Oh.

“How did that happen?” He asked. She was more careful than anyone he knew, it was definitely weird.

“Well, I dated this guy before,” She started, which honestly surprised him more. “I didn’t tell you right away in case you know me, since it would be suspicious that Ladybug me and civilian me started dating someone. But… it didn’t last long. I couldn’t devote enough time to him because of this whole superhero thing.”

“Ah. That sucks.” Chat could relate. He hardly had enough time for his own friends. Not because of his superhero identity, but his jam-packed schedule.

Ladybug nodded, a bit of a sorrowful, wistful look in her eyes. “It was my decision. I didn’t want to keep lying, and he deserved better. But I guess he connected when I had to run off to the time Ladybug appeared. He asked me about it the other day.”

“So now you’re back together?” He finished, smiling a bit. “That’s such a sweet love story! Definitely fanfic worthy.”

Ladybug laughed, her nose scrunching up in a way that had his smile widening involuntarily. “I think I’ve actually read this exact scenario before, now that you mention it.”

“But why tell me this time?” He asked. “Not saying I don’t appreciate it, but that risk is still there.”

“We’re not telling that many people right away,” She explained. “It would be kinda awkward to explain why we got back together so quick.”

He nodded at that, getting her point. “So he’s good to you, then?”

“Amazing,” She confirmed, her smile gentle but so sweet it could give him a toothache. “Even before he knew my identity, he was such a big comfort… He always knows what to say to make me feel better.”

“Sounds like a good guy. Hopefully I can meet him eventually, make sure he’s treating you right.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that. The thought’s sweet, though,” She replied, patting his arm.

The two of them sat in companionable silence from that point, content with watching the sunset. Chat excused himself when it started to get seriously dark, not wanting to risk being caught by his father or Nathalie. He could only “shower” for so long, after all.

Dropping through his window and releasing his form, Adrien flopped onto his bed with little grace. He dug some cheese out of his pocket for Plagg, tossing it towards the kwami before shoving his face in a pillow.

He could feel Plagg’s eyes on him, probably out of a modicum of concern. “So you are upset about Ladybug’s new boytoy?”

“Plagg, that’s rude,” Adrien scolded, reluctantly sitting up.

“Don’t avoid my question!”

He rolled his eyes, leaning against his backboard with a huff. “I mean, yeah. I really am happy she found someone, don’t get me wrong, but it’d be weird if I wasn’t somewhat sad.”

“You’ll find someone else, kid,” Plagg said, though Adrien couldn’t quite tell if he was being sarcastic. “Plenty of cheese in the world! Sometimes you have to taste many different kinds before you find the one right for you.”

“You and your cheese metaphors,” Adrien shook his head. “Don’t you have any other material?” 

Plagg scoffed, looking thoroughly offended. “Why have more when cheese is so applicable anyways?”

That one earned a laugh. He scratched the top of the kwamis head, letting himself think the night over. He really was trying to get over Ladybug, at her request. And strangely, he didn’t really mind that she was dating someone else. What bothered him more is that he would never be able to hold the same kind of place in her heart. He knew she cared about him, but it just wasn’t the same.

He supposed he would have to learn to be satisfied with what he could have now.

[iamafanofcartoons]

Adam Taurus is a classic example of 

"I hate this character who's kind of an ***hole way more than I hate the actually evil villain" 

 Except this time both characters are the same guy.

Most people have probably not met a terrorist freedom fighter irl, so those crimes are like completely detached from reality for them.

On the flip side tho, almost everyone knows some possessive creepy dude who feels entitled to the women he dates, so it's a much more relatable level of evil.

Also?

Sienna was very clear about not liking the whole plan with Beacon, dividing the world, and all that bad stuff. 

Not to mention the whole "making faunus look like violent murderers" deal he had going on, which he tried to pass off as being inspired by Sienna's "Mess with one faunus, and you mess with all of us" approach.

You should see how some people tried to “fix” sienna khan.

Yeah, This is why I do not like fixit fanfics. They don’t get that edgelord = ***hole AND villain.

The fact that people were talking about him getting a redemption arc back when he was a mass murder who killed innocent people but said he deserved to die when he became an angry incel stalker…

I don’t get people.

A misguided Freedom Fighter wouldn't go out of their way to get civilians killed and that is exactly what Adam did in his introduction. We've got to remember that the only reason given for him not wanting to remove the civilians off of the train, is that he didn't want to.

This is even worse when we consider real life terrorist groups like the IRA who in the past had tremendous public support because they went out of their way to minimize civilian casualties! 

This means that not only did Adam not have a reason to not rescue those civilians, he actually had an incentive to do so but he just decided that he didn't want to!

But for the sake of discussion let's assume that the crew is made up of humans and this is something that Adam knows... why should that matter? These are civilian non-combatants and there is nothing to suggest that they couldn't rescue these people.  Adam simply chooses not to despite how doing so could only help the cause.

How then can Adam be a freedom fighter if he allows innocent civilians to die for no reason other than personal satisfaction?

Let's imagine for a second that the day Adam first joined the White Fang he walked up to Ghira (a pacifist) and declared that he has no interest in equality, what he really wants is enslave Humanity and kill a bunch of them along the way to Supremacy... what do you think would happen?

The obvious answer is that they would immediately kick him out of the group, Adam has to lie and hide who he really is if he wants to advance his goal. That doesn't mean that his character is contradictory, it just means that there's a layer of deception to how he presents himself. He is wearing a metaphorical mask and the show uses the introduction to lift up that mask and gives us a very quick peek of the Man underneath it.

“But Adam said in V3 about revolution?”

Think about it, if he really didn't want his men dying for a human cause then why didn't he run away? He had the perfect opportunity to do so after Cinder showed up as a student since she and her crew can't be at Beacon and Mt Glenn at the same time. And then of course we cannot forget the chaos following The Breach which would have also provided him the perfect exit but what did he do instead?

“Will your men still be willing to work with us? A lot of the White Fang died in the tunnels”-Cinder

“No, but they’ll listen to me”-Adam

Instead of fleeing when he had the chance, he approached Cinder and offered to continue the partnership. If she was someone who truly cared about equality then this would make absolutely no sense since attacking innocent civilians with the Grimm would have not helped with that goal, it would have actually made things worse between the two races. But if his actual goal is a race war... then it all makes sense.

It wasn’t about the cause, it was about getting back at those who wronged him. And Blake’s been “wronging” him the most lately, hence the obsessive stalking.

“But what about Cinder forcing Adam to cooperate?”

There's a lot of people under the impression that the Huntsman way of life is different from a civilian's. Sure, the nature of the mindsets are different but the basic principles are close to identical.

If a mugger points a gun at a civilian's face, the dude does what he's told if he doesn't want to be shot. If a Huntsman is borne down on by a Huntress who has an insurmountable amount of killing power available in comparison to them?

Adam was playing along 'cause he don't want to be smoked, sure, but it does help that what he's asked to do makes humans wake the frick up in fear...

True he didn’t want to do mostly because it was a human idea. He doesn’t mind attacking humans but he wasn’t really aiming for beacon until cinder pointed him that way.

Tbf, one is Adam being an edgy terrorist, the other is Adam being an edgy incel.

It's like edgy icing on edgy cake.

[rotzaprachim]

12, 17, and 18 for the asks!

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

uhhh... no one in my particular circle of people with Taste, but Jyn. not even in terms of immediate fandom disk horse, but that in the wider-off tumblr star wars cultural reception, I think that even if rogue one is remembered as that That Time SW managed to Make Another Film That Was Good, the individual characters have been kind of... swallowed up. and that's why i love her. she's such a fucking mess. she's kind of petty and mean but in the space of things feels really human and fragile and somewhere outside the sw Strong Female Character Warrior Queen thing. her introduction scene as an adult where she takes the fucking shovel and just starts swinging is one of my favorite things in sw.

i think the same could be said of a bunch of the individual characters in andor, who i deeply adore, especially cinta, vel, bix, and kleya. not that they're unpopular in the I Hate These Women Way fandom sometimes does but that you just don't really see much... about them. (i do wish things about bix's writing were different, but i am fascinated by her as a CHARACTER and the fact that not only was she part of the extremely nascent rebellion before cassian, before almost everyone we know, if you draw the lines she's probably REALLY central to the axis circuit which is.. fascinating. like because she has no reason to tell Anyone the Truth of her secret dealings, we actually know extremely little about her, and that fascinates me. also she's this woman stuck in a small town she's tied into the fabric of and that's this source of complex ennui and pain i really love seeing in genre fiction and would love to root around in some more.)

vel and cinta... HELLO... vel and cinta.... cinta and vel... my brain is always thinking about them. just a lil.

also! i think leida mothma is second only to dark vader in greatest villains of the star wars universe. she's annoying as hell and she's this generational ticking time bomb about what happens when the kids born into the empire swallow it, when they /aren't/ leia organa.

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

instead of twitter misogyny i would like to see jyn/bix also jyn/bix/cassian. nothing will save us but bi threesomes.

AU's where cassian drove the van for the aldhani rock group's cringe death metal band (or, if we're placing SW into the 1970's, the aldhani group's 60's scottish folk band.)

honestly extremely attached to any kind of thing where jyn and cassian have a deep connection to each other that isn't laterally a hallmark greeting card. like i actually really find the extremely close FWB vibe with them during the rebellion era to be tremendously interesting, and i don't think fandom does enough with the whole fact that maybe a 70's space-futuristic leftist army /might/ not have the same ideas around social organisation and intimacy as a a netflix rom com OMG ARE YOU GUYS LIKE TOGETHER TOGETHER???? (like i'm sure the goss on echo base was insane but i'm also not sure it might have been That.)

Anything which recognises the Real Fact that Rogue One AU's should be set in the 1970's and everyone should be wearing 70's fashions and there should be way more oblique mentions of bellbottoms and paisley. except arguably andor might be set in the 60's. in which case they should be wearing 60's fashions.

This might be summoning snakes into my house but... you know all the stuff i said about kidfic aus? turns out what i really dislike are bad kidfic aus! because they thing is is that i think jyn and cassian's narratives are profoundly focused on the question of What It Is to be Someone's Child, and sw in general is really interested in the questions about what it is to be someone's parent and someoen's child in extremity (how well they carry this out ESPECIALLy with women is debatable) and there's a lot of room to do some seriously interesting character study work and post-war How Do We Break These Cycles work if it's something aside from the kind of bioessentialist hey guys woman's purpose Fulfilled because she's had biological children/ narrative OR the you can tell how Healed jyn and cassian are and how Over the War is cause they have two (2) biological children in space!suburbia called lyra and galen scenario, which proliferates in fandom. basically what i'm saying is there's no weird indie movie about rey climbing into cassian's car at the Jack-Q service station to steal his potato chips and him being like WHOSE KID IS THIS i have to RETURN you so this isn't KIDNAPPING [terrible flashbacks] and rey being like nooo mister and then they go on a loopy roadtrip to find her parents when of course the answer is in the journey. also nobody's written the scenario of Ye Classic Space!Road Trip to The Beach and the kids in the back seat are like BISCUIT BARON BISCUIT BARON and cassian is squinting over the top of the steering wheel because he thinks he missed the turnoff and pulling ye old Hay Comida En La Casaaaaa but Jyn's just like actually every single Biscuit Baron in the galaxy is closed, just for today, and the only thing they sell is black coffee.

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

not to be like people would Care if they were white men BUT the amount of press and buzz and fics there would be if velcinta were white men like literally shut up about white war criminal superhero x white war criminal superhero when there's antifascist lesbian guerillas shooting fascists AND wearing twee hats in the highlands while they feed sheep in their lil space!scottish brokeback moutain moments. i think they're slept on as individual characters and as a ship especially when Cinta is one of the only women of color in the modern star wars and vel's story is on some level literally about queerness, being a queer woman in a conservative society (always hiding, always changing.)

jyn and cassian's matching magical girl anime moment soulmate chrystal kyber necklaces

still boggling over the fact that cassian and jyn's Rebellion Kidnappers/Dads canonically are people with History, c'mon guys, there's an infinite amount of stuff to do with saw and luthen accidentally setting their kidnapping victims/adoptees/proteges up together. (also i'm just extremely fascinated by saw and luthen as characters, up there with Guys Fandom Sleeps on.)

[kidflashimpulse]

okay i guess i should do a thoughts dump post cause otherwise im gonna be spamming the tag with like a hundred posts lol:

warning, this is basically word vomit lol

first let’s get the non bart stuff out of the way:

- as much of an ass lor is he’s most probably the most insanely talented villain out there, his dad is a fool for not listening to him it’s gonna bite him in the ass !

- the zods tho r such a great couple LOL like they’re all so entertaining to watch, Ursa is unhinged we love to see it !! when they were in the solar pods i found it so funny they were like those cheesy couples that enjoy sunbathing together i’m sorry

- Kaldur showing sympathy to the kryptonians was needed tbh

- Dicks heartbeat thing? total throwback to Artemis faking her own death

- Rocket being caved in by the boom tube? messed up

- Also idk why everyone’s assuming team bioship kicked the bucket none of them were bleeding and this season has been very clear with having no problem showing gore and ur telling me Darkseids son, Martians and a Speedster were done by some blast? nah i don’t buy it

okay so moving on to our fave Kid Flash content 😁

- im sorry but bart calling supes big guy 😭 that’s so precious i love it

-in fact i really appreciate Clark looking out for Bart, tbh he must’ve been paranoid that his keeping secrets from the League could’ve (well, they have lol) endangered Dick, Zee and Bart. Like imagine if he was indirectly responsible for something happening to the Flash’s grandson, who is Kid Flash, who took up the mantle from the Flash’s nephew who famously died on a mission, like that is something that would weigh him down terribly for the rest of his life and i really got that impression since last episode and especially in todays. ALSO i love seeing bart as KF essentially working along side Supes on this high-stakes mission, like if we put it into perspective everything going on is really crazy it’s just that we’ve been kinda desensitised to it cause of the weekly release pace lol anyway now Clark is just left to worry about Dick and Zee (conner and earth and the galaxy being the obvious worry aside)

- the funniest thing was how all this was going down and Dick and Bart are just so unserious LOL we have Nightwing on one end quoting gandalf whilst Bart is literally a ball of excitement about LITERALLY everything and anything, they’re such dorks lol

- in fact, whilst ideally i would’ve preferred a bunch of other dynamics between bart and other characters to be explored this season, it’s interesting to see how he fits in within the older generation heroes and how they work together

- in fact x2 (lol), this whole arc is pleasing my lizard brain that finds both Conners and Barts classic comic involvement with both Legion and Superboy turned evil plots as so essential and how they actually are still connected in Earth-16 despite them being from different “hero generations” (both being part of outsiders aside, there wasn’t much of a connection between them prior to this plot). When I saw that detective board where they were both being investigated by Dick well let’s just say I literally screamed out loud LOL

- moving on, like i said in another post, i can’t believe this guy. He’s basically running (heh) on fumes but acts like nothing happened and just continues with the job literally immediately, someone get him to bed to catch some sleep (no bart laying unconscious doesn’t count as rest)

okay now on to some things that i’m annoyed by:

- i feel like the legion characters have been done kinda dirty this season, it was great until pretty much last episode but the thing is what we have had of them so far which i really enjoyed isn’t that much and has been so spread out thinly through out the season that i feel like their plot opportunity wasn’t fully taken advantage of

-whilst this main plot is objectively attention grabbing, i do think the pace throughout the season was a bit off and there really is a bit too much of telling instead of showing in terms of story telling technique, which is a bit meh. I think way too much time was invested in stories that really could’ve been tied up in significantly less time and could’ve been invested in more relevant stories

all in all, enjoyed it but i am annoyed with some stuff but oh well it’s okay, at the end of the day it gives birth to loads of head canons that i wanna write fics about

[enter-the-phantom]

Enter Writes A Blog - Oct 4, 2023

In Which I Get A New Job (Sort Of) and Meet the Dance Commander; Nearly Die of Queer Joy

A few life updates bc I’ve just been too tired to post regularly recently! Gonna start doing these since I’ve always admired people who keep little journals. Enjoy.

I got a new seasonal job a few weeks ago at a local theatre and costume shop, which sounds like it would be perfect for me but is…definitely not. The pay is abysmal, it’s $9 an hour with no benefits, and the job itself is so mind-numbingly monotonous that I’m actually depressed. There’s a lot going on and I don’t think I’m going to make it—I need a challenge and I can’t shut my brain off for eight hours a day with nothing to do. Not being able to think creatively and solve puzzles is really messing with my head. Plus the hours are really bad for me, getting up that early and getting home in the evening is really draining for someone with my circadian rhythm. It’s just not for me. As bad as I feel about it (bc I do like my coworkers!), I’m going to quit sometime in the coming weeks and focus on building up my Etsy and working on my art offerings. It won’t make money but it also won’t make me so depressed I can do nothing but sleep on my days off. I just can’t handle traditional work, it’s not good for my brain and my mental health and it’s affecting me physically too. I can’t risk another colitis scare and the stress just isn’t worth it.

On to better news that, if you know me, is gonna have you jumping for me bc everyone I’ve told is freaked.

If you know me you know by now that Electric Six is my soul band and means the world to me. You know what I’ve been through and how happy they make me. Finally got to see them in person on Friday night and it was a spiritual experience. I ended up not only against the stage, but the closest one to The Man himself. Nearly got hit with the mic stand boner multiple times. Eye contact happened. Moments happened. They were magical. He is magical. As I said to @mosshugs, there is truly nothing like the joy an aroace person feels for their squish. It’s the purest form of love there is and my god, do I love that man. Multiply it with the love a performer has for their muse and I’ve been emotional all week.

Every E6 experience I’ve ever had involved lovely strangers who became friends and this was no exception. We just all come together to watch a bunch of goofy guys play goofy songs and do goofy dances together. Met the most lovely family of Crazies with daughters me and my sister’s age, we hung out with them all night, kept an eye on each other and just in general had a great time making new friends! My new local friend is super sweet and we have a lot in common, so that’s really neat! Hoping to talk to her more if I don’t get super nervous about it bc she’s really cool. Also she was providing the strongest moral support when she saw just how close I was to Dick Valentine. Mad props for recognising I was having several moments. When he knelt down on that speaker and started rambling about Lyme Disease she had my back quite literally. Such a real one. Also sent me all her photos and vids bc I was too busy ascending to even remember my phone.

But my god, do I love the Crazies. Herb S Flavorings (who was a treat as always to watch) flicked us a pick, missed, it hit someone else and dropped to the floor. Everyone immediately stepped back and helped find it. Setlist got passed down to me by not one but two other people who saw just how much this concert meant to me and thought I should have it I guess? Also met up with some guys from the Facebook group as I was leaving who wanted to meet “the E6 artist” and demanded to know if I got the prints delivered—I love this dumb little fandom. Also The Flashy Jacket™ was a hit!

And of course the part ya’ll we’re waiting for—I got to meet my hero, Dick Valentine himself. Spotted him coming down from the green room to get his customary post-show amaretto sour and I asked if we could talk when he had a minute (mostly just wanted to deliver the art prints) and he was so immediately friendly and approachable. He had a few people coming up to say hi, and what really struck me was how careful he was to make sure I knew he hadn’t forgotten I wanted to talk to him. I’m sure he had no idea how much that truly meant to me—it’s such a little thing, just to have someone give you a reassuring look that you haven’t been forgotten or ignored and they’re going to make time—but for some people they never get that and it truly means the world. To get it from someone who does not know me, but who has gotten me through so much, was really incredible. I started tearing up and apologising for being emotional and he was so reassuring, reiterating that it had been a long night and it was okay to be emotional and he was glad he and his silly little band had done so much for me. Art was delivered, he loved it—and apparently John (and Da Ve??? I’m in on a secret I guess) are going to be back for the Detroit show or at least there, so he promised to deliver them then. My extra print of his was signed, and so was my setlist! Also I got a hug and some very cute photos. Just truly the sweetest, most down-to-earth gem of a man with the most shockingly calming presence. We all knew he was pretty special, all the guys are, but in person he’s really something else. Thank you again, Dick/Tyler (bc we love the persona but the man himself is just a good guy) and if you ever see this, I promise I’m not crazy and I’m not attempting to clone you in my basement—you just genuinely are my hero. Please don’t push yourself too hard on this tour; we all love you and want you to take care of yourself. ❤️

Anyway. If you read the end of this welcome back to our regularly scheduled nonsense on this blog. I’ll be doing a lot of social media stuff once I quit my job so I can get serious about building up my platforms and working on art and design stuff, so stay on the lookout for that! LOTS of art coming soon. Selfship and fandom friends, I have some amazing new stuff coming out, including some cool commission options you’ve never seen before. Also going to attempt this TikTok thing I guess.

Glad to be back and I missed you all! I hope my mental health will be better once I can focus on working creatively, the way I need to. Love you all! ❤️

[strangenessbooks]

The Bat-Man Recap #12

Robin is here. His name is taken from Robin hood (which is funny considering what the most famous Batman rip off took its inspiration from). I am dyslexic, ao the intro text sadly looks more like "anally", than what it actually says which is "an ally".

Another interesting note is that the location is a nameless town near a nameless city. As all origins of all comic book heroes do, this story involves death, so spoilers for an 80-year-old story. I do recommend reading this issue.

I do think it's funny that the Graysons are named before Martha Wayne was. Their names are literally Mary and John which is what everyone was called in the Westen world during this time.

The Bat Car is red again, though maybe this is just Bruce's car as he wasn't planning on Batmaning at the circus. I do think it's hilarious that Bruce is defined by that damn pipe.

I always want to defend Batman but this series of events is not the best way Robin has been introduced. This is a 12-page story so there's no room for nuance. Bruce hiding Dick from a mobster makes sense, but Bruce also tells him, he has devoted his life to "exterminate" criminals and then has Dick make an oath.

Due to the accusations that will be thrown against Batman in the coming years, I hesitate to use this word but we're all Batman fans here, so I will. Batman grooms Dick into becoming a killer. We don't see Robin's lust for revenge, he witnesses the death of his parents and then he's kidnapped by a man dressed like a bat. But also this is the 1940s and they don't want to actually deal with trauma. They want to make weird shit up instead e.g. "comics making people violent and gay."

As I have said in other recaps, morals have changed and what we expected of heroes has changed. The idea doing anything for revenge is common. Making an oath to get revenge against those who killed your loved ones, is still a common trope in adventure stories. Except the ending has changed. Our heroes learn the errors of their ways and that revenge doesn't bring satisfaction. Those stories did exist before and during this time, but the whole killing of someone can still be a just action. The disconnect is still odd to read from a modern perspective.

Reading these Batman comics actually makes me want to read old Pulp novels and other comics. This is turning into special interesting territory.

Back to this issue, where Bruce is making Dick get a job as a News Boy.

Christian Bale should have been Robin (Newies jokes are likely to be recurring). This has some detective work, though all it's done by Robin. Who knows what Bruce is doing while Robin sells Newspapers and gets bullied.

This Zucco who runs this "Arising Town" who ordered the hit on Dick's parents. Batman decides to do a bunch of fuckery to mess with this guy. Also, stop his protection racket and illegal casino.

This issue has especially inspired me to list all of Batman's crimes besides the whole being a vigilante thing (I'm not checking to see whether these were crimes in the 1940s, they are all morally wrong anyway).

Kidnapping

Tapering with a crime case.

Vandalism

Assault

Animal Cruelty.

Child Endangerment (though never told exactly how old Dick is).

Murder (multiple second and first degree).

Batman is all for torturing bats to prove a point. I guess at least it's not a Robin in there with him.

I haven't talked about how ridiculous the Robin costume is. Probably because it's not really fair to. Like being called Dick, the costume hasn't aged well. It was designed and coloured for 1940s comics. They were print limitations and it was done for cheap. I am reading from archived which has been remastered clearly (I couldn't find any inside pictures of this original comic). You wanted your characters to stand out and be seeable even when the detail is not there. Honestly, there are worse costume designs from comics at the time.

Robin immediately gets a kill count. He kills a whole two people in his first appearance and another definitely has brain damage. He also doesn't wait for Batman and goes straight for the attack so maybe he does have a blood lust, but this is months after "training".

Robin immediately gets his revenge having killed the man who killed his parents and framed someone else for the murder. He decided he likes being Robin so he's here for keeps.

There are a lot of great panels in this comic. I saved like 30th of them. This is a good comic to read if you just want a taste of the Golden Age. It doesn't have any gadgets but it has the usual mayhem. It is an important comic as is the first Robin appearance as well as this marking the first full year of Batman.

This is when Batman gets a whole comic book to himself. Detective Comics was made up of different stories, I'm not sure how I'll handle Batman #1.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I downloaded this episode after it aired last night, but I’m glad I saved it for today to watch it. Last night, I’d have gone through it quickly, knowing I needed to be up at 6 AM the next morning for the last day of a work placement. Today, I have just finished my work placement, celebrating the fact that I managed to get through it without a single breakdown, and have all the time I like (for now) to relax and watch these things the way they are meant to be watched: slowly, with many pauses to appreciate the masterpiece in front of me.

So in light of that, here are thoughts on Taskmaster s13e08, written as I watch it:

- The loveliest thing to hold above your head - I haven’t seen any of the prizes yet, but if anyone pulled a Katy Wix, they should win this one. And by “pulled a Katy Wix”, I mean “borrowed, or perhaps just stole, a Taskmaster trophy from a previous winner, like Katy did to Kerry Godliman”.

- Okay fine, Sophie Duker’s tiny stand-up participation trophy is so adorable that it’s possibly better than an actual Taskmaster trophy. Good entry.

- I absolutely love how funny Alex finds Ardal’s explanation of his prize. Can just see him thinking “Aw shit, why have I never incorporated a ping-pong paddle into the opening bits of this show?”

- Bridget’s parasol is genuinely very nice, but I can’t get past her referring to a child throughout her story as “it”. Very strange, quite funny, on brand for Bridget.

- Holy shit! Holy shit! When they read the first task and just said “Learn Swedish”, I didn’t dare hope. But then they added that there will be a conversation with a Swedish person. Surely this means... surely this means... they wouldn’t sully the good man’s legacy by bringing in a different Swedish person, so does this mean... fucking Fred?!? Are we getting Fred back after all this time? Fred’s the best! I’ve missed him! Fred!

- Okay now that I’ve had that initial reaction, I can say I also like this task. A twist on their previous Swedish-based Fred interactions, in which they had to navigate the language barrier from their own side. This time they are, quite literally, speaking his language. That’s fun.

- This season has a bunch of tasks that have “Your time started when” instructions, so there’s some time when they think they’re just messing around but actually the clock is running down. I’m sure that did not help the Chris Ramsey paranoia, that is by now well established to be a running theme of season 13.

- I love how clearly Alex relished getting to deadpan, “Please come and talk to a Swedish person.” So far, this episode has highlighted two things that fit deeply within Alex’s sense of humour: the image of someone holding a ping-pong paddle high while people follow them around, and to pretend it’s normal to refer to his friend Fred only as “the Swedish guy” or “the Swede”. The latter is a source of humour that was tapped to great effect in the first few seasons, and I’m so pleased they’re bringing it back.

- Now that I see their setup (Fred on an iPad, which makes sense as they did say at some point that the reason he stopped appearing on the show is he moved back to Sweden), I’m disappointed that none of these contestants seem technologically incompetent enough to give us some Mel Giedroyc-like moments. I still laugh so hard when I remember the way she approached the tablet like it was a potentially dangerous foreign object, and could not get the hang of talking into it as though Fred were in the room with her. Unfortunately, Chris, Sophie, Judi, Bridget, and even Ardal are likely to well versed in how to do video calls like a normal person.

- Chris seemed to have started strong, immediately knowing how to answer “How are you?” That’s a good strategy, working out what the Swede is likely to say when a panel show has told him to have a conversation with some Anglophone comedians, and coming up with simple replies. I say Chris started strong because he did go downhill quite quickly after that. Though to be fair, I understood what he meant when he took one look at Fred and said he’d immediately forgotten it all. I feel like I could also spend 15 minutes carefully learning Swedish phrases according to my strategic predictions about what will come in handy, and then my mind would go totally blank when expected to recall them in the room.

- Oh shit, there’s a title drop from Judi. She’s named a lot of episodes this season.

- Well, not a great start overall (I mean, it was good from a comedy perspective, not great for, as Alex suggested Fred’s season four task could do, improving Britain’s relations with Europe). Judi said a bunch of words that sounded a bit like they could be something but I’m pretty sure they were gibberish, and Chris lost his mind.

- “Contestant knows they’ve done badly, and this contestant is competitive enough to be upset when they’ve done badly from a points perspective, as well as self-conscious enough to just be upset that they failed so hard on television” - that is a genre of Taskmaster images that I always enjoy.

It’s especially funny when it’s contrasted with another contestant who has also done badly, but this one is uninterested in the competitive side of Taskmaster and unconcerned about whether they appear to be bad at whatever silly things happen on this show, so they’re much more collected about it. Think Ed Gamble and David Baddiel when Ed was killing flies and David was just sitting there saying (I paraphrase, but not much) “I mean I’m terrible at this game but I’m not going to lose sleep over it, what’s wrong with you?”

We don’t often get both those contrasting images into the same screenshot, but it’s lovely when it happens.

- I like Alex letting us know that Fred is back by “genuinely popular demand”. Like, “I know it sounds like we’re doing a bit, but seriously, people fucking loved Fred.” Damn right they did.

- Oh shit, Ardal sounds like he’s spoken some Swedish-like language before. Right off the bat he has a bit of the accent going and sounds so much less awkward than the others.

- I’ve just thought of something: the task said the phrase book and tablet had to stay in the caravan. Didn’t say anything else had to. I’d have copied stuff from the book onto some paper and brought that with me.

- It is amazingly funny that 1) Ardal felt like had to change his name to something that sounded Swedish, and 2) he went with Sven Johansson. He just took  Scarlett Johansson and tried to make it sound like a boy’s name, right?

- The fact that all these people have had to ask Fred his name tells you how many previous Taskmaster seasons they have not watched.

- Did Ardal just ask Fred if he is a herring? No Ardal, Fred was the guy from seasons 1-4, Herring wasn’t until season 10.

- Ardal and Sophie both seem to have taken a more proactive approach, just learning the stuff they want to say and then saying it, rather than learning some phrases that could be helpful and then awkwardly trying to fit them in. Which works a lot better than the previous attempts, though one could argue that it makes for less of a reciprocal conversation. I guess they’ve both asked questions though, so that’s some back and forth. Even if Ardal’s questioning revolved around whether the guy is a herring.

- Sophie has informed the guy that she is both pregnant and hungry. It occurs to me that Fred would probably have no reason to disbelieve her, it’s such a weird thing to say if it isn’t true, and perfectly plausible that Taskmaster could have brought on a pregnant contestant, and she’d learned how to declare that as a piece of conversation. He probably assumed she really was pregnant until Alex would have told him otherwise afterward. I don’t know why, but that makes it so much funnier. 

- If Ardal’s story in the studio is true, then I’m impressed that he managed to accurately recite a Swedish song he heard one night while drunk and knowing he’d need to remember it for later. If it isn’t true, then how the hell did he know that song?

- Chris, Judi, and Sophie have just talked shit about Fred the Swede, so they’re all dead to me now. Ardal O’Hanlon for Taskmaster season 13 champion, because you do not disrespect Fred on my watch! (I’m like 96% joking.)

- Ah, Bridget is calling her brother. I did wonder if, before implementing this task, they checked whether any of the contestants actually speak Swedish. That would be such a big advantage that it would really mess up the task. I guess they might have checked that, but they didn’t control for whether any of them know any Swedish speakers. Or Sofie Hagen, who was close enough to Swedish for Katherine Ryan. I wonder if Bridget’s brother knows actual Swedish, or just a vaguely Nordic language.

- So, this has always been a debatable issue on Taskmaster - is unauthorized phone use cheating (I say “unauthorized” to differentiate it from something like that season 12 task when they had to keep someone on a call, and were told to use their phones)? They’re not banned in the actual rules, so they’re not technically cheating, but they are against the spirit of the game. There’s a good argument that Katherine Ryan phoning up Sofie Hagen in the season 2 task was sort of bullshit, which is especially controversial given that she won the whole season by such a narrow margin.

I feel like the general consensus is that phone use is okay if it’s funny, enhances the task performance by enough to be justified, and doesn’t make the difference between winning a task or losing it. Otherwise, it might not be cheating, but it’s not exactly a respectable way to win. And I don’t think Bridget’s use was justified here. Any of them could have just brought their phone in and used a translation app, if there were fine. I feel like writing phrases down on paper would have been a creative way around the task’s wording, but bringing a phone just makes it pointless.

- Okay, I think that scoring is fair enough. If they were going on best language demonstration alone, obviously Bridget should win. I like the idea of allowing her move that didn’t technically break the rules, but knocking her down a place and giving the five points to Ardal.

- “Stick your tongue out as far as it will go, and keep it out until further notice.” I haven’t heard the next part yet, but that line and the setup with the weird food makes this feel like early seasons of Taskmaster. Along the lines of the pie identifying task in season one or something. The tongue being out suggests a straightforward gross-out challenge like how they used to collect sweat or tears. Sort of season 7 vibes too, like the one about not blinking. That along with Fred being back makes this feel like a classic episode.

- Right, now that I’ve heard the entire task’s instructions, I only have three words to say about that: What the fuck?

- I’m sorry, I tried to tell myself not to write this point, but I can’t help saying, I’m glad Sophie Duker is queer, because if she didn’t occasionally find herself having sex with people who have vulvas, that would be a waste of that massive tongue. I’m sorry for pointing that out once and I promise I won’t do it again.

Conversely... I guess it’s good that Bridget’s straight? I’m not sure I believe her tongue is actually that short, that’s ridiculous. How does she eat food?

- Wow. Alex did not give us a content warning before Daisy May Cooper ate watermelon out of Richard Herring’s hand in season 10, or before the awful manipulating objects with the tongue task from season 11. They showed that clip of Lee Mack’s tongue so many times that it’s burned into my brain, and no warning first. So the question is: is what’s coming up somehow worse than all that, or did Alex give us that warning because there were complaints about how gross Lee’s tongue was and they were told they had to warn people next time?

So far in this episode, Alex has had to clarify that he was being genuine about two things: “No, seriously, people really did popularly demand the return of Fred,” and, “No, seriously, you should actually look away from this next task if you’re easily grossed out by human spit.” 

- Jesus Christ. I’ve just finished watching Judi and Ardal go and what the fuck? Yeah that was pretty bad. Definitely worse than Lee. Maybe not quite worse than Daisy and Richard, but fucking close.

- Now that I’ve had a minute to think about it, I can say I think the strategy has to be just a quick touch of the tongue. Not a proper lick, just put the tip against the food and pull it away fast. Though I guess the other good thing to do would be to put your tongue back in your mouth as soon as Alex finishes reading the instructions, like Katherine Ryan with the egg task in season 2, and say “Yeah my dignity is worth more than this.” But given that the two people we’ve seen so far are the least competitive in this season and even they gave it as shot, I assume no one walked away from this with (to quote a season 5 episode, my references are all over the place right now) dignity intact.

- So they’ve saved Sophie “massive tongue” Duker for last (I almost made the nickname something more explicitly related to the use for that tongue that I suggested earlier, and I’d like credit for the restraint I showed in not sticking with that). I think this will be good.

- Chris gets it, has done exactly what I suggested as the best strategy (well, aside from deciding that the only winning move is not to play). Bridget has, of course, done the opposite of that.

- Okay, maybe Bridget’s tongue really is that short. Because I think she just screwed over by that - she lost the task when her tongue slipped back into her mouth, but it happened pretty much accidentally because it was barely out to begin with. I didn’t know people could have tongues that short.

- I’m really sorry for preserving something so disgustingly horrifying with a screenshot, but the look of pure hatred in Chris Ramsey’s eyes as he glared up at Alex during that task was very funny. You can just see him thinking “Why did I spend all those years wanting to come on this fucking show?”

- Okay, let’s fucking go. Let’s see if Sophie, as the size of her tongue and her position in the running order suggests, going to do something special.

- Alex Horne: We’ve reached the ten-minute mark.

Me: Holy Jesus hell, let us all bow down before our queen.

I realize ten minutes is less time than some of the previous totals, but all the others were dying by this point. Sophie looks like she could go forever. I compared this to the blinking task in season 7, and Sophie is very much the Rhod Gilbert With His Eyes Taped Open For Seven Fucking Minutes of keeping her tongue out. I mean that as the highest possible compliment.

- Alex Horne: Which is the worst one?

Sophie Duker:

Again, I’m sorry for preserving that image. But the fact that Sophie can conjure up that kind of roast while having kept her tongue out for that fucking long is genuinely impressive. Everything about this is genuinely impressive. Absolutely horrifying. Genuinely impressive.

Alex said before Sophie’s turn that Chris was the leader up until then. So I assume Sophie will beat him by one point in this task, with her taking five and him taking four. It’ll be very fitting if she beats him by that one point in the overall scores across the season. This is a level of commitment that means she deserves to win the whole thing. And to have some nice lukewarm water for her tongue as soon as this is over. Jesus Christ.

- I’m so sorry, I have to post another screenshot of this horror show because look at this shit. She’s nearly finished the fucking popsicle! 

Also, look at Alex’s face. I think this is one of the few times I’ve ever seen him genuinely put off by something a contestant’s done. I loved when he told Sophie, “I’m not making you do this,” and he keeps reminding her that she can stop at any point. I’m pretty sure he passed beyond his normal character and is now just genuinely concerned for her well being.

First eating the entire vulva made of butter, and now this. Sophie Duker did not come on Taskmaster to fuck around.

- Jesus hell. Twenty-six minutes. I don’t think I could keep my tongue out for half that long even without the challenge of licking that stuff. And I’m not going to fucking try.

- “I don’t think I know who I am if I’m not licking those things anymore.” - Sophie Duker

- God damn. I’m not one to advocate bonus points normally, I think they should be used very sparingly, but Sophie should have gotten one there.

- The third task is fun, a nice creative break after that straightforward physical gross-out one. I think we need this. Let’s watch them all find some stylish accessories and keep their bodily fluids inside their bodies.

- And Judi makes Alex do the entire task for her again. Her combined laziness during the actual tasks with bullshit in the studio has been a fun bit this season.

- Well this is not a great episode to be Chris Ramsey. I just watched that whole sequence of him wandering around before coming out in Alex’s shoes and a cowboy hat, and that was amazingly funny.

I love that Chris Ramsey approaches this show with so much care and paranoia and attention to detail and making sure he hasn’t missed anything at all, and often it really pays off, but sometimes it just backfires. Like here, when he loses his mind and gets so fixated on finding the answer that he’s convinced is hidden somewhere that it doesn’t occur to him to try the obvious. At one point he grabbed a giant hanger or something and asked, “Is that a clue” - he was looking for something Alex had hidden. And was looking so hard that he forgot he was allowed to make stuff.

Something like that happening because of a contestant being so competitive his brain shut down - that’s peak Taskmaster.

- Okay, I went to put away my laundry after writing that previous point, and that gave me time to think about how the hell he could have had such a big gap in his understanding despite being so focused, and how this is basically just sports psych 101. Ed Gamble talks on the podcast about how things seem so obvious when you look back and have seen everyone else, but in the moment, it’s just you there, and sometimes things don’t click. And that is an interesting look at human behaviour because it’s how things happen when you in things actually matter too.

This is a silly comparison, because Taskmaster is just a comedy show and of course sports are real things of material importance (that’s definitely true and I won’t be told otherwise, they’re not just all meaningless social constructs, I need something to believe in), but that is a phenomenon that’s really common in highly competitive sports. As a coach I have studied the way being put on the spot creates panic and panic creates tunnel vision and slower reaction times and adrenaline dumping that further shuts down the more complex cognitive functions so they zero in on one thing and can process nothing else, and that’s why you can have an athlete perform incredibly well on less important days but fall apart on more important ones. I’ve learned in coaching courses about how to increase an athlete’s focus when needed, but also how to decrease it when it passes a certain threshold and starts being psychologically detrimental.

I guess this is obvious, you don’t have to be a competitive coach or athlete to know that sometimes people choke under pressure. But this was an example of Chris’ brain spectacularly failing him, just missing something incredibly obvious even though he’s the one who spends most of him time obsessively making sure he doesn’t miss anything, and I find it interesting that there actually entire fields of study dedicated to understanding why this sort of catastrophic failure occurs at times like that.

- Major David Baddiel vibes from Ardal here. Even aside from the general season 9 vibes, as this is reminiscent of the tasks in which they had to make legs and make part of their body extra long.

- Love that Judi really did just come out in a bunch of shoes stuck together and a bunch of hats stuck together. She kept to her original plan of making Alex do all the work.

- Finally, someone taking this task the correct amount of seriously!

Which is really quite seriously, enough to be a real effort in and do something cool, but not so seriously that they forget what arts and crafts are. I feel like this task was basically made for Bridget, great job.

- Sophie is being saved for last again. If that is, as I suspect, because she did something great, then this is a very good episode for her. Following from last week, the momentum is on her side going into the final two episodes.

- Sophie, what the fuck?

I mean, I guess the size of the hat is debatable, but you have to give her the longest shoes and style point. No one said she had to do an entire character, but that’s the sort of thing Sophie Duker delivers.

- I would complain about Ardal getting the pity point for style, but my girl Sophie’s having a good day, so it’s all right.

- Ooh, another team live task. I like that they’ve started including those.

- I thought I’d let this live task play through before pausing it to write stuff, to be honest because it’s getting late and I’m tired from a long day at work and decided to wrap this post up, but I do have to pause it briefly to say they’ve just finished writing this first words and we haven’t seen the women’s words yet but I love the look of concern, which is presumably based on hearing the men’s words and realizing her interpretation of the task was way off.

Judi, what the fuck did you do?

- I mean, Judi isn’t all that competitive. So this one can’t be blamed on some sports psych scientific stuff, Judi just forgot how many legs birds have.

Absolutely hilarious, well done. Perfect facial expressions and body language to match. Judi Love is so much funnier than I used to give her credit for.

- The way Ardal relished reading the word “knob” out loud - also worth pausing the video again to point out. Very funny.

- Bridget looks almost as pleased with herself for the “Purple Rain” joke as Ardal was with himself for writing “knob”. This is a fun task that way, gives the comedians a chance to think of a joke in the moment, write it down, and then enjoy sharing it with everyone. Which is sometimes genuinely adorable.

- This is a lovely screenshot:

- Judi Love and Bridget Christie, working out that they both wiped out “penis” from their list of things that are nice to put in your mouth:

- Solid episode, I really enjoyed that, and I’m still so pleased about Fred. Sophie has a six-point lead over Bridget and an eight-point lead going into the final two episodes, I think she can hold it but it’ll probably be close. I like that this season is competitive to the end, excited for the final two episodes. Also going to bed now. I had a long day, and it’s time to try not to see tongues with spit dangling from them in my nightmares!

[silkiemae]

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare My rating: 3 of 5 stars So....this was meh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It was cool to see more of the Shadowhunter world, but I was continuously convinced that I would never want to live in this universe. The way the Shadowhunters talk about Downworlders and mundanes is so icky. In the scene where they're fighting de Quincey, Will says, 'One of the Devil’s abominations, aren’t you? You don’t even deserve to live in this world with the rest of us, yet when we let you do so out of pity, you throw our gift back in our faces.’ That encapsulates how the Shadowhunters truly think about anyone who is not like them. They think they're scum beneath them, and the only people worth anything are themselves. Downworlders are good enough to dally with in secret but not good enough to be seen with in public. Why should I like them when this is the way they treat the people they're meant to be protecting? It was very much the same in the first three TMI books. I know this is right after the Accords, so they still have pretty fresh tension, but Will is supposed to be the good guy. And he says some of the most despicable things. I can't root for someone like that. I remember enjoying this one the first time I read it, but now I'm again annoyed by most of the characters and their choices. The storytelling also underwhelms me. In the first chapter, we're just told about Tessa's six weeks with the Dark Sisters, and personally, I would have liked to experience them with her. It could have been an exciting way to get more insight into Tessa as a person. I can instantly glean from her as a character, though, that she is the type of person who reads something in a book and believes it immediately. Will says it's 'hotter than hell', and she instantly corrects him and tells him that hell is cold because she read it in Dante's Inferno. Girl, have you actually been to hell to experience this first-hand? No? Then shut up. We're told three times in one chapter that she hates charity but then lets Jessamine buy her a bunch of expensive dresses. I'm also irritated by how she has to insert herself into everyone's business. And like, some of the things she says are so weird. "I know you don't like giving straightforward answers. I know you're probably about 17..." Okay????? "I know you're probably an orphan." Tessa!!! HAVE SOME TACT. This book is literally TMI but in Victorian times. I'm not even going to bother mentioning the name similarities because I know how it's explained away in later books. I think she just came up with that because people were giving her crap for the name similarities but whatever. Tessa is your average Mary Sue who has never heard of the Shadow world only to get dragged into it by a rude hot guy she likes even though he's a dick. And then she finds out that she's a part of this world and also has a super special power that no one else has and blah blah blah. Oh, also, her brother is evil. Will and Tessa constantly quoting pretentious poetry back and forth gets old really fast. I'm annoyed by the way Magnus was introduced. “His skin was brown, the cast of his features like Jem’s.”So first of all, in TMI, he is described as having white skin and then it's said he's Indonesian in TRSOM, and now here brown skin. Could she not decide what ethnicity she wanted to make him? Also, what a lazy way to say that Magnus is Asian. Also, Chinese and Indonesian people do not have identical features, bro. ‘She wondered if perhaps, like Jem, he was of foreign extraction.’ I’m sorry, Tessa, are you really that stupid? No SHIT, he was ‘of foreign extraction'. For someone who’s such a know-it-all with your stupid booksplaining bullshit, you’re awfully dumb. I'm too lazy to write the rest of this comprehensively, so just enjoy the notes I took while I read. *The way Will dumps Thomas for Jem and immediately forgets about him as a person is so messed up. And then Thomas just dies in the end. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Who cares about the mundanes that work for the Shadowhunters, right? *This book has one of those love triangles where it's like...okay, sure Will is hot, but Jem is RIGHT THERE. * Tessa….girl, really? You had to scream for Nathan and ruin the WHOLE Shadowhunter plan? And you don’t even feel a lil bit bad about it. *Question. Why would a knife be stronger than Tessa’s temporary vampiric strength? Like why would a knife be able to remove Nathaniel’s manacles when a vampire with super strength couldn’t? *Tessa telling Brother Enoch she’ll never forgive him if anything happens to her brother. Girl, do you think he CARES? *'It hardly seems worth living a long time if you’re going to look like that.' WOOOOOOW TESSA. * Lol at Tessa not knowing if it’s right to feel murderous and, like me today, wanting to kill every man I come into contact with. * LMAO TESSA COMPARING HER BEING HALF DEMON TO JEM BEING HALF CHINESE. It’s not the same thing, ma’am. * God, if Tessa had just TRIED to open the door herself when the automatons were attacking her and Jem, she would’ve found out so much sooner that she had Shadowhunter blood * What the heck does fighting smell like? * “Maybe you should just let him have me.” Ugh, shut UP, Tessa. * I literally hate Will. He’s such a butthole. The way he talks to Tessa when Jem asks for her to see him. “He wants to talk to you. So you will get up, and you will come with me, and you will talk to him. Do you understand?” Like, um, excuse the fudge out of me???? * “IF you care about him so much, why not look for a cure?” What’s with this trend of Clare’s FMCs thinking it’s okay to say things like this about people they’ve known for three days? Also, Jem legit told her last night that he asked them to stop looking for a cure, so why is she even saying this * When Mortmain tells Tessa that he knew he was going to marry her and they would be together forever, her first response is, " WHAT IF I WAS UGLY?!?! I’m dead, goodbye forever. I want to know what would’ve happened if she was a boy. Would Mortmain still marry her? Why did he need to marry her if he only planned on having her shapeshift into his warlock dad so he could bind demon energies to his robots? (That is the funniest sounding plot ever. Goodbye) * God, Tessa comparing Will’s assholery to Mr Darcy is infuriating because that should not be the norm, man. Like Mr Darcy is the exception, okay. He’s one of the few who gets to pull that shit off. Will is just a dick. * Jem straight up just said Will’s parents are dead when they’re not the hell? “I am not sure there is anyone in the Institute who is not an orphan. Otherwise we would not be here.” EXCEPT WILL ISN’T AN ORPHAN, HE HAS PARENTS. View all my reviews

[henry-and-the-seven-lords]

(u can choose for it to be a hc or anything) the brothers go to the dentist with MC and see the process of her wisdom teeth getting removed

Ok! I actually haven't had mine removed, but I have had similar dental work so I am going to base it on that!

So I got REALLY into this for a few days and then I forgot where I was going with it so it turned into headcannons with a super long intro instead of an imagine... Hope you like it!

Warnings: Mentions Dental work, Mentions Needles, Mentions of Blood, Mentions of surgical procedures

Brothers Masterlist | Datables Masterlist

Brothers Reacting to a Wisdom Teeth Removal

MC had been crying out in pain for the past couple of weeks. They had continually mentioned their teeth or jaw being the source of the problem. The Brothers did all they could in the Devildom, but in the end they decided take MC to the human world to see a dentist.

"Well, it looks like your wisdom teeth are coming in. There doesn't seem to be much room left for them, so I would suggest an extraction." The dentist looked at the x-rays and back to MC who was currently surrounded by 7 scared men.

"Extraction!? Ain't no way you are taking anything from my Hum-," Mammon caught himself, "...MC."

The doctor eyed him suspiciously before going back to the x-rays. Lucifer sighed, "Mammon. He is not taking anything. This is going to help MC."

"Will it hurt?" Beel had made his way through the crowd of his Brothers to talk to the doctor.

"They won't feel a thing while they're under. There could be some aching after the procedure, but as long as it is properly taken care of there will be no complications."

The Brothers breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.

"I'll go through with it." MC pipes up.

The doctor smiles and says, "Wonderful. You can set up an appointment and get the paperwork at the front desk." He then turned on his heel shutting the door behind him, leaving MC and the Brother alone in the room.

"Are you sure this is the best idea, MC?" Levi's voice shakes as he speaks.

"It'll be fine guys. This is a common human procedure, plus I have all of you to help me afterwards." This seemed to easy their qualms. MC went to the front desk and scheduled the surgery sometime during the next week.

Before they knew it, a week had almost passed and the procedure was to take place the next morning. All of the Brothers were frantically running around trying to prepare until Lucifer finally got their attention.

"I want all of you to listen closely," He stood tall and spoke to his brothers now gather in front of him.

"MC is not allowed to eat anything after dinner tonight. They are only allowed to drink water," Beel's face turned sullen, as MC was usually his partner in crime for midnight raids of the fridge.

"The surgery is said to take two hours," Levi's face lit up at the thought of being home early enough to join his team in game and maybe even have MC assist. Only for it to fall again as Lucifer continued, "But before we come home, we will need to pick up some human pain medicine for when the medicine from the surgery wears off."

Asmo seemed quite intrigued with the mention of shopping in the human world, but his thoughts were cut short when Lucifer added, "And we will not be picking up anything else."

Lucifer sighed before continuing, "I have already made a shift schedule for who will take care of MC when we get home. It is in the center of the table." Satan reached for the paper as Lucifer droned on while Mammon peered over his shoulder.

"I will also be giving you instructions on how to change out the guaze and other things to stay away from." Lucifer gave the stack of packets to Belphie who didn't even take one. He just yawned and passed them to Beel.

"MC will be unable to participate in most activities for at least four days. So put any schemes you have on hold until they feel better. Understood?" Lucifer's words were stern as he glared at all of his Brothers.

"Understood." They all groan in unison.

MC, meanwhile, had taken their seat at the table and has began to fill their plate.

Satan grabs his pamphlet and sits across from MC. He quickly flips through the papers before skeptically looking up at them.

"You are confident that this is safe?" He eyes the human nervously as they swallow their food.

"Sure it can't be that bad. Some of my friends had it done and they're still alive." The brothers look between themselves as they all begin to read the possible outcomes of the procedure.

Dinner ends with everyone but MC and Beel leaving their plates mostly full. Slowly they all go their separate ways to their rooms.

When morning arrives, Lucifer wakes everyone up. He quickly goes through the house and rushes everyone out the door in order forC to get to the human world on time. It takes a lot of effort, but the group eventually makes it up to the office in one piece.

Asmo sits next to MC holding their hand and talking to them, "They better not mess up your face. If they so much as make a wrinkle on your skin. I will personally tear them apart."

MC chuckles, "Asmo. They have to have something to keep my mouth open. Don't be so dramatic."

As MC finishes their statement, their name is called and the group goes back with them.

They watch as the dentist helps MC into the chair resembling a torture device as he talks to them.

"You should be out for about two hours, you didn't eat or drink anything correct?"

MC shakes their head no and the doctor smiles before putting on his surgical mask, "Great! Then let's start the procedure."

The brothers gather around MC gently laying their hands on the human's body as the needle penetrates the human's arm.

"I'll be fine guys... Don't worry... One... Bit..." They watch as MC's head slowly lulls towards them. They look at the doctor in fear only to be quickly ushered out by the nurses.

Thankfully, there was a small room where they could sit and watched MC being worked on.

As they watched horror struck their faces.

💙 Lucifer

He really just trusted the process and had no idea what was going to happen.

So when he sees a tube being shoved down MC's throat he is upset and nearly breaks down the glass.

Then he remembers that MC is doing this to feel better and restrains himself.

But only because MC wants this done.

💛 Mammon

Mammon did not like this idea from the beginning! It sounded to dangerous and no one should be taking ANYTHING from MC (besides him).

Definitely was not happy when he started to watch them cut into their gums and blood started to get everywhere.

Lucifer and Beel had to hold him back so he didn't rampage.

Immediately grabs MC when this is all over and does not let them go.

🧡 Leviathan

Levi thought this would be a quick and easy process because it was only going to take two hours.

So they pull out a tooth and that is it right? Wrong.

He is horrified when he realizes they have to cut the teeth out and sew MC back together.

Why would they agree to something so invasive!? Why is this normal for humans!?

💚 Satan

He did a bunch of research and was the reason they went to a human dentist in the first place.

He knew what the entire procedure would entail and even tried to tell MC that it was pretty intense.

But he wasn't going to go against MC's wishes if they wanted to get it done.

Definitely stepped out of the room when it was happening... He didn't want to see it.

💖 Asmodeus

Asmodeus was fine to do anything that MC agreed with, then he saw them pulling their cheeks back and he got angry.

He was quite upset that they were stretching MC's precious skin! They could get wrinkled! And don't even get him started on the tube in their throat.

He wanted to march into the room and stopped them, but he remembered how much pain MC was in and that they needed to get it done.

He will get revenge later. Right now, he is focusing on MC.

❤ Beelzebub

Beel just wants to make sure MC is safe and feeling better no matter the cost or procedure.

So when he starts to see all the terrible stuff happening, he steps out with Satan to get some snacks.

By the time he comes back full, the procedure is over and he can walk in with everyone else as they wait for MC to wake up.

He did save MC one bag of chips... he was worried about them not eating breakfast...

💜 Belphegor

Belphie would be upset at what's happening, but more upset that he can't be next to MC to take a nap.

He definitely cares about them being safe, but he knows they agreed to it and human procedures are weird so he isn't too worried.

He just wants to take a nap and he needs his human pillow.

He will lean on MC's arm and immediately fall asleep whenever he is allowed in to see a groggy MC.

[marvelouspeterparker]

just can’t get enough

pairing: fwb!tom holland x reader

summary: you and tom have been doing this friends with benefits thing for a while now, repressing your feelings, playing this twisted, toxic, jealousy fueled game. but when will you both just accept the truth and be honest with each other?

request: tom tying you up and edging you because you were flirting with other guys and then after he make you come until you can't take it anymore–– by anonymous

word count: 10.3k

warnings: smut, spanking, overstimulation

notes: i got the idea to make this a friends with benefits story then i started writing this and two sentences in, i knew i wanted to make it a full fic dfhskjh + so there’s more than just smut in this + the title is inspired by the song by the black eyes peas 

You and Tom weren’t exclusive, you weren’t even really together. But that doesn’t mean you guys didn’t get jealous. The both of you got really jealous. You liked bringing it out of each other––it was the only emotion you weren’t afraid to show to each other. 

Your relationship, or lack thereof, was complicated and most likely the textbook definition of toxic and immature. You and Tom were definitely into each other, in a loving type way, you just didn’t know the other felt the same. Typical. Even though you would ask each other to stay over after hooking up. Even though you would hold each other after every night you spent together. Even though you looked at each other as if you were the other’s world. You had no idea. 

Part of you wanted to deny your feelings. This was Tom. He could have anyone he wanted, it wasn’t safe to get attached.  Your feelings for him were borderline scary because of how strong they were––and you weren’t even sure he felt the same way about you which only added more issues into the mix. He thought the same things about you, but you of course, didn’t know that. 

So your go-to response to each other was to deny, deny, deny. Even though it hurt you. It was safer.

Although you didn’t show each other your true feelings, you liked to get a rise out of each other. And you’d like to say it’s because of the sex it leads to––but deep down, you know that’s not true. You like to feel wanted the way that you want him. You like to see him angry on your behalf, to see him upset because of the way some other guy is looking at you, kissing you, holding you. Just like he loves to see you annoyed every time he has a girl attached to his hip at a party, her teeth leaving marks on his neck the way you like to, the way only you should be able to. 

––❊––

The music was blaring through the speakers when you walked in with your friend Mia, the both of you were ready to get fucked up and have fun. You quickly made your way to the kitchen to get some drinks, eagerly sipping from your red solo cups as you started to sway lightly to the music. The house was packed, sweaty, drunk bodies everywhere, shouting and dancing on each other. The couches were filled with people, passed out and making out, either or. 

Just as you finished your cup, you felt a pair of eyes practically burning through your body. You turned and immediately caught his eyes, looking you up and down with a smirk on his face as he barely listened to Harrison and Harry having what seemed to be an intense conversation––but knowing them it was probably just banter. 

You and Tom were friends, since it is in the title of what you guys supposedly are––friends with benefits. But were the benefits supposed to come with mixed feelings and overwhelming amounts of repressed emotions?––So far, that’s unclear. But you and Tom and Harrison and the whole bunch were all friends. You and Tom were always a little bit closer than you were with the others, but not by an obscene amount. This whole arrangement between the two of you had started by accident, basically. You slept together one night after a party, you were both only a little tipsy so it wasn’t a mistake––and then again after he spent the night at your place for one of your usual sleepovers, and then it just kept happening. 

But along with this intimate cycle came this push and pull you and Tom would do with each other. It seemed that every time you got closer, you would end up taking a thousand steps back away from each other afterwards. It was tiring, but you never let it show. 

You saw Tom walking towards you, a glint in his eyes. But right when he was about ten feet away from you and you could feel your heart pounding out of your chest, he swerved to the side, his eyes lingering on you while he talked to some other girl. You felt your heart drop to your stomach but you swallowed and picked it right back up, not letting his antics get to you. This was what happened every time. It was a game. But neither of you seemed to ever win. 

You filled your cup again with something a little stronger and gulped it down, wincing as it burned it’s way down your throat. 

“You okay?” Mia asked, looking at you slightly concerned. “That was a pretty aggressive swallow.” She joked.

You shook your head, “I’m fine.” You turned to her and plastered a smile on your face, ignoring the stares of the brunet who was only a few feet away from you, a blonde girl’s hand on his shoulder, sliding it’s way up to his neck. “Let’s dance.” 

You marched your way into the scattered group of people in the living room, finding a nice spot for you and your friend. You easily got comfortable, having danced with Mia many times before. She stepped behind you, swaying as you grinded on her, losing yourself in the music. Soon you were sweaty just like the rest of the people in this party and you could feel Tom sending glances your way every now and then, despite the girl trying to climb him. You were dancing seductively but freely, only barely paying attention to the other people in the room. Sure, you were hoping that Tom was watching, but you were also dancing for yourself. You just wanted to have fun.

You managed to dance for about two songs until someone came up to you. He was attractive, a little taller than Tom, dark brown hair, and what seemed to be hazel eyes in the dark lighting of the room. He seemed nice enough. He approached you with a sincere smile on his face. “I don’t mean to bother you. I just couldn’t help but notice you and I’ve been watching you for a bit––in a totally non-creepy way.” He prefaced, making you laugh. He was cute. “Do you wanna dance, maybe?” He held his hand out. “If not, I totally understand.”

You paused for a moment, looking at him. You weren’t going to mess around with someone if they seemed like a total dick––but he seemed genuine. You turned your head to check with Mia to find that she was already walking off with some girl. She gave you a thumbs up and a wink and you laughed, looking back at the boy. 

“Okay,” you smiled. “Let’s dance.” 

He smiled and you took his hand and pulled him behind you, continuing the dance you were doing before with Mia, grinding on him lightly. He placed his hands on your waist, his fingertips digging into you softly. This next song was more sensual and you couldn’t help but feel yourself a little bit. You knew you looked good. You turned your head over your shoulder to get the boy’s attention. “I should probably know your name since we skipped the formalities and went straight to third base.” 

He laughed, his hands still on your waist. “Liam. And you?”

“Y/N.” You lifted one of his hands and shook it, making him chuckle and step closer to you, wrapping his arm around your waist.

“You’re cute.” 

You smiled, “I know. So are you.” You took his hands and brought them up to your breasts, making him squeeze them just as you looked straight ahead and made eye contact with Tom. His jaw was clenched as he squeezed the girl’s ass, her lips marking him up. You smirked and tipped your head back, biting your lip. You could feel yourself getting turned on, from the dancing, from Liam, from Tom.

He looked mad and it was only spurring you on even more. He practically snarled before grabbing the girl’s hair and pulling her head back. You could see her moan even from several feet away. He looked at you as he licked along her bare neck, his eyes teasing and taunting you. He knew you would rather it was him standing behind you, holding you, feeling you-–just like you knew he would rather you be the one moaning in his ear. He bit the blonde’s neck and grabbed her ass roughly, pulling her into him as he marked her up. 

You were in a room full of people, but when you looked at each other, it felt as though the whole room went dark, a spotlight on the two of you, your shadows behind you hiding all your hidden truths about how you felt for one another. The both of you were just waiting to see who would snap first. Last time it was you, and the time before that it was him. You were determined for it not to be you this time. 

You brought a hand up and slid it along Liam’s neck, making your way to his hair before tugging it softly and bringing him down to kiss your neck. You tilted your head and he eagerly took the hint, kissing and sucking softly. His touch was more gentle and more hesitant than Tom’s, you couldn’t help but compare the two––not when Tom was staring you down. 

You turned your head and pulled Liam up, looking at his lips then back up to his eyes, grinning when you saw his gaze was focused on your mouth. You pulled him close and crashed your lips together, leading the kiss. It was bold for a first kiss, and you hoped he didn’t mind, but by the way he was grabbing you and pressing into you, you figured he was fine with it.

By the time the song was over, your mind was far from Tom. You were facing Liam, your hands around his neck as he grabbed your thigh, pressing himself into you as you made out. When he pulled away from you, you looked up, confused as to why he stopped. You saw another boy talking to him. He let your leg down gently and you let your hands slip down to his chest.  

“We gotta go man, the uber’s here. We said we’d be back by…” he checked his phone. “Two hours ago.” 

“Shit, alright.” Liam looked at you then back to his friend, “I’ll meet you outside.” He turned to you, apologetic. “Looks like our time is up.” 

You smiled a little sadly and let your hands fall to your sides. Sure, he wasn’t Tom. But he was alright, you liked him as a person. “Seems like it.” 

He sighed, seemingly thinking about something. After a moment he spoke up. “Can I get your number?” 

You looked up at him. “You know what? Sure.” He smiled and handed you his phone. After putting your information in, you handed him back his phone.

He held it up. “I will be sure to use this.” You smiled and he leaned in to kiss you on the cheek before leaning to whisper in your ear. “See you soon hopefully, Y/N.” 

He walked away, still facing you and you laughed when he bumped into someone, almost falling and looking back at you, embarrassed. He waved and was soon on his way. You found yourself smiling absentmindedly at the door he’d just exited and were soon snapped out of your daze when you heard a familiar voice behind you. 

“Your date ditch you?”

You turned to face him but your smile soon dropped when you noticed he wasn’t alone. The girl was still on his arm, smiling up at him, clearly wanting all of his attention. 

“No.” You said as a matter of factly. “I actually got his number.” You couldn’t help but smile when you noticed his eye twitch. “He just had to go home or something.” 

“Hmm that’s a shame.” He licked his lips, shamelessly checking you out. 

You easily forgot where you were with the way he was looking at you until a voice pierced through your bubble. 

“Can we go find a room? Please Tommy?”

You noticed Tom wince and look over at you when he heard the nickname and you couldn’t help but grimace. That was your name for him. You were the only one who called him that. 

He swallowed awkwardly and turned to her. “Babe.” He lowered his head to look at her, talking to her like a child and you scoffed. “You’re this close to being plastered. You need to find your friends and go home.” 

She pouted like a child throwing a tantrum. “But you said you––were gonna fuck me.” 

Your brows raised and he looked at her, confused. “What? No I didn’t––”

She nodded her head, “Uh huh, you said–––” She mimicked a posh british accent. “M’gonna fuck you so hard, love.”

He cursed silently when he realized he’d said that out loud when he was watching you grind on that boy. “That––That wasn’t,” he looked over at you and you smirked, crossing your arms. “You were just hearing things.” He spotted one of the girls she came with and pushed her towards her. “There you go, run off now.” 

You laughed but it quickly died off when he turned back to you, his eyes dark. You bit your lip and his hand came up to hold your jaw, his thumb running over your lips. You parted your lips and took his thumb into your mouth, swirling your tongue around him as you would his cock and he groaned, “Fuck, love.” You bobbed your head and popped off of him, biting the tip of his finger gently and winking at him. 

He slid his hand down to grasp your neck and tilted your head up, leaning in closer to you, his lips barely grazing yours. “My place or yours?” 

You had a feeling Mia would be coming home tonight with that girl. And the girls she brought home were never quiet, not with her. “Yours.” 

He nodded and took your hand in his, pulling out his phone as you both walked out of the house. “Uber should be here in two minutes.” 

You raised a brow and he could practically hear you watching him quizzically. He looked up at you and you asked, “Was that uber for the blonde?”

He rolled his eyes. “Called it as soon as I saw that bloke leave.” 

You smirked. “How ambitious of you.”

He stepped closer to you, “Love don’t act like you don’t say yes to me every time. I always have you begging for my cock and we both know it.”

Your jaw dropped but before you could even think of a response, he walked forward, pulling you along. “Let’s go.” 

When you both got settled in the car, you greeted the driver and Tom subtly pulled you closer to him. He placed one of your legs over his, his hand rubbing along the inside of it teasingly soft as he made small talk with the driver, because, ever the charmer, he had to talk to everyone. 

You looked out the window, tuning out their conversation as you focused on the lights outside as the car drove by. You were honestly so out of it, you almost jolted when you felt Tom’s hand slide under your skirt to graze your panties. 

You turned to him in shock, and he simply smiled, still talking to the driver. Were they talking about golf? You grabbed his hand and he turned his head, looking at you with a look that said don’t test me. You let him go and he rubbed you through the fabric, pleased to see how wet you were. But when he remembered what you’d been doing all night, his face quickly formed a grimace. 

“Who’s this for, baby?” he licked his lips, whispering to you as the driver went on. “Me? Or that div you were grinding on for show? Hm?”

He was jealous. Good. 

You shrugged, enjoying the dark look that overtook his features. “What if I said both?” 

He leaned in to whisper in your ear, his lips grazing your skin. “Then I’d say that’s the wrong fucking answer, love.” 

You shivered from the tone of his voice and when he pulled away, the smirk on his face was anything but sweet. He slipped his hands into your panties, audibly gasping to himself when he felt how wet you really were. He wasted no time, rubbing your wetness over your clit and you gasped, letting out a whine louder than you would have hoped to. Luckily he spoke over you, but he pinched the bundle of nerves, silently scolding you and you whimpered quietly, leaning into his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around you and pressed his cheek to your forehead, making it seem as though you were simply cuddling in the backseat. If you weren’t distracted, you would have thought about how nice it felt to be in his arms like this, but then again, you had other things on your mind.

He rolled his fingers over your clit, kissing your forehead when you let out a shaky breath. He slipped his fingers inside of you and you arched into his touch, rolling your hips to fuck his hand. “Such a needy little slut.” He whispered to you, only making you roll your hips harder. He let out a small fuck and tried his best to focus on his conversation with the lovely man who was driving you both home, but the way you were breathing heavily into his neck as you grinded onto his fingers was making it hard for him to even breathe properly. 

He sped his hands up as best he could in this awkward and compromising position, pressing his thumb down to your clit, making you sigh as you bit into his neck, quickly approaching your high. 

“You gonna cum all over my hand, baby?” He whispered into your hair. You nodded desperately, but your heart dropped when he chuckled. “Funny how I didn’t give you permission to.” You lifted your head and looked up at him, begging him not stop to but he simply stared you down and pulled his hand away from you and out of your panties, making you almost buck forward from the loss of stimulation. 

Your eyes were wide and hopeful and he simply kissed your cheek, bringing his hand up to his mouth to suck on his fingers. Luckily for him, his conversation with the driver had died off gradually, so he was free to tease you as much as he wanted. “Fucking delicious.” He licked his lips, “You want a taste?” You nodded, already leaning into him, but he brought a hand up to your hair and tugged your head backwards, exposing your neck. “That’s too fucking bad. You don’t deserve to taste my pussy yet.” He leaned forward and kissed your neck possessively, somehow picking the spots that were already sensitive. You soon realized he was covering the marks that Liam had made and making them his own. 

He spent a good while marking you up, only pulling away when the car came to a stop. Realizing you’d made it to his place, you both thanked the driver and got out, quickly making your way into the flat. 

It wasn’t long before the two of you were stripped naked, Tom on top of you as he kissed you possessively as if someone were watching. His tongue was tasting yours, sucking and licking it’s way into your mouth, making you lose your breath. He pulled away and grinned when you whined, helplessly trying to pull him back, biting your lip sensually. 

He got off of the bed and pulled out the box from underneath and your breath hitched, knowing exactly what was in there from all the times you’d spent over at his place. He pulled out the padded handcuffs and the trusty vibrator he’d used on you and watched you use many times, setting them on the bed as he closed the box and shoved it back to it’s spot. 

He looked at you steadily, “You up for this?” When you nodded he smiled. “That’s my girl.” Though you knew he most likely meant it sexually, you couldn’t help how flustered it made you feel. And was it just your mind playing tricks on you or did it seem more sincere when he said it this time?

You put your hands in front of you and he put on the restraints, raising your hands above your head, attaching the cuffs to the bedframe and settling down between your thighs. He ran his hands up and down your torso, his fingers lightly grazing your nipples and your breasts, down your stomach and then back up again, making you squirm in anticipation. 

He pressed a lasting wet kiss to your lips and trailed his lips down, sucking one of your nipples into his mouth as his fingers tugged and teased the other. Your back arched under his touch but he was quick to pin you back down, smiling as he continued to tease you. 

He slid further down the bed, grabbing your breasts then spreading your thighs wider as he settled between them, finally seeing the mess he’d helped make. Without saying a word, he watched the way your walls clenched around nothing, clearly aching to be filled. He spread you open and buried himself in you, your moans and gasps only spurring him on even more. He could tell you were still sensitive from earlier, your pussy practically pulsing under his tongue. 

He licked through your folds, sliding his tongue in and out of you teasingly as he properly made out with your pussy, moaning and groaning into you, enjoying himself in the pleasure he was giving you, as he thrusted his hips into the bed absentmindedly. It wasn’t long before your hips started bucking into his face and he had to press them down with his hands.

Your wrists strained against the restraints as you buried your face into your arm, your brows furrowed, your lip caught between your teeth.

“So close, Tom.”

He hummed and sucked your clit harshly, waiting until whines started spilling from your lips, your tell that you were about to tip over the edge, to pull away completely.

You let out a broken no and looked down at him, a pout on your face. 

“That’s what you get for teasing me all night.” Yeah, he was being hypocritical, but as we established before––toxic. “Grinding up on that idiot right in front of me.” 

You lifted your head to try and look at him properly. “His name is Liam.” 

Based on the look on his face from your response you could tell––that was the wrong answer. 

“You see darling,” He thrusted his fingers into you abruptly, making you drop your head back and moan loudly in surprise. “Look at me.” His voice was sharp and you lifted your head immediately, your walls clenching around him from the tone of his voice. “I don’t give a fuck what his name is. All I know is that I’m going to have you screaming my name until it’s the only bloody one you know.” Your mouth was open as you looked at him, clearly turned on and in utter shock. “Got it?” You nodded almost mindlessly and he clenched his jaw, taking his fingers out to slap your pussy, making you whine and buck your hips. “Got it?” 

“Yes, Tommy.” 

“Good.” He slid his fingers back into you and leaned forward to suck on your clit. “Now moan for me like a good little slut.” 

He put his mouth back on you, licking and slurping you up like you were his last meal, pulling a gasp from you. One of his hands was holding your hips down, fingers splayed out across your abdomen, the other thrusting into your wet opening, while his mouth lapped and sucked your clit. 

You felt like you could barely breathe or even process anything but his touch as he pleased you. He edged you three more times, each time, your whines becoming higher pitched, longer and breathier. Your whole body felt like it was floating, every time you were dragged away from the edge before you could tip over it, it felt as though you were being pulled down from the air, roughly, just for the cycle to restart all over again. 

Tom licked his lips as he watched you, your body completely spent as you lied there, panting, desperate to cum. He swiped his fingers through your folds before bringing them up to your lips. “Think you’ve earned it.” You opened up eagerly and his eyes were hypnotized as he watched you, his lips parted. “How’s my pussy taste, darling, hm?” 

Your eyes fluttered shut from his words and you moaned around him, making him smirk. He pulled his fingers almost all the way out before thrusting them back into your mouth, your tongue swirling around him and sucking him eagerly. He took his fingers out of your mouth and passed them over your lips, smearing your spit over them. 

“Such a messy little thing, aren’t you? All for me.” 

You nodded, your throat croaky. “Only you.” 

He hummed. “You wanna cum now baby?” 

You looked down at him, your eyes pleading. “Please Tommy. Wanna cum for you.”

“Yeah?” he cooed. You nodded as fast as you could, tired from all the edging. “Okay love. You can cum.” 

He wrapped his lips around your clit again, sucking just the way you liked as his fingers pressed against that special spot inside you. Your body lurched forward as best it could, your mouth dropping open as your eyes rolled back. “Fuck, fuck, fuck––” 

Tom’s eyes were focused on your body, one hand coming up to play with your nipples and squeeze your breasts making you moan loudly as your body convulsed under him. “That’s it. Let go for me, darling.” He kept sucking on your clit and thrusting his fingers into you as you came, your body tense as your breaths came out short and hard. 

“Oh my god––” You gasped when he didn’t stop, his lips and his fingers still going after you reached your high, going even faster than before. He was humming into you, his movements frantic but calculated as he pushed you further. Your eyes rolled back as you came for the second time, still sensitive from your first orgasm. 

When he sat up on his knees, you thought he was finally done, but you were sadly mistaken. He simply got into a more comfortable position, licking his lips clean to savor your taste as he brought his hand down to rub at your clit quickly, his other hand still furiously fingering you. Your eyes were wide, mouth hung open in shock, overwhelmed by the stimulation. Soon, you felt yourself approaching the edge again, but this time felt more intense, almost like you needed to––

“Fuck––” Tom groaned in awe as you squirted all over his hands, his fingers still going at it, trying to prolong the feeling for you and maybe even make you do it again. He was mesmerized by you. Your hands were restlessly pulling at the cuffs, your body trembling and shaking as you came, overstimulated. Tom pulled his fingers out of you and rubbed over your pussy quickly, making you let out a mix between a moan and a yell. He switched from thrusting his fingers into you roughly, to rubbing your clit, slapping it quickly as you kept squirting all over him. “So fucking wet, oh my god.”

Your eyes were shut as you panted, your head turned to the side, tucked into your arm, your stomach flexing and tensing every few seconds as Tom tortured you. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, you heard your toy switch on and without warning he pressed it on to your sensitive clit, making you scream. 

As he promised, you were screaming his name, your body shaking under him as he slid himself inside of you, the vibe still on. He was thrusting into you fast and hard, moaning and growling obscenities like ‘my fucking pussy’, ‘that’s it take that cock just the way you like,’ which only made your head spin even more. You were barely able to function, only saying his name over and over again while he used you like a toy. 

With all the time he spent playing with you, teasing you, edging you, making you cum––which he was still doing, he was super sensitive, so it didn’t take long for him to get close. “That’s it baby. M’gonna cum in my fucking pussy and you’re gonna clench around me while you cum one more time, okay?” 

You whined loudly, your head thrashing from side to side as he held your thigh, fucking into you roughly while he pressed the toy to your clit, putting it at the highest setting. “Tom!––”

“Be a good girl and cum on my cock. I know you can, that’s it. Gonna cum in this perfect pussy. Fuck.” He grunted as he released into you, your walls clenching around him tightly as you came again, your eyes shut tight as you trembled around him. 

He switched the toy off and threw it aside, thrusting into you a few times slowly to see your releases mixed together on his cock. He bottomed out, filling you to the hilt and you whimpered, your legs still shaking. He leaned down and kissed your cheek, reaching up and undoing the straps of the restraints. You sighed softly and let your hands fall down to his shoulders, barely able to move them yourself. 

He looked down at you, fondness in his eyes. “How was that, darling?” You simply mumbled a few sounds in response, the only intelligible word being his name. He smirked, kissing your forehead. “That’s what I thought.”

You both stayed like that for a while, you tucked into Tom’s chest while you caught your breaths, his cock still inside of you. After a while, he pulled out, earning a whimper from you and got up to get a towel to clean you up, since you definitely couldn’t walk on your own. You’d just wait to see how you felt in the morning. 

When he finished cleaning you up and settled under the covers with you after giving you one of his shirts, he pulled you back into his arms and you sighed happily, nuzzling into him. His hand was tracing patterns on your side, lulling you to sleep as you listened to his heartbeat. 

“You know,” he whispered. You hummed quietly in response. “I really liked tonight. With you.” He winced, realizing that sounded stupid but he held his breath when you responded softly.

“Mm I did too. Always do Tommy.” You were practically mumbling into his shirt, you were really fucked out.

He waited a few moments before speaking up again, but you had already drifted off halfway through his sentence, only hearing a faint I really like––before you fell into a deep sleep. 

––❊––

When you woke up, Tom was out of bed and you could smell tea boiling in the kitchen, along with breakfast cooking. You rubbed your eyes with your knuckles, squinting from the sunlight that was peeking into the room. You sighed and sat up, raising your arms for a much needed stretch. You then reached for your phone that you’re guessing Tom must have put to charge sometime last night or this morning since it was at 100%. 

You grabbed it and tried to stand up, yelping at how sore and wobbly your legs felt. Tom walked in just in time and laughed, rushing over to your side, “Woah love. You alright?” You let out small mhm signalling that you really weren’t alright. You couldn’t walk properly for Christ’s sake. “I really fucked you good didn’t I?” He smirked smugly and you rolled your eyes.

“Yeah yeah. To the bathroom please.” He nodded and helped you along, his hands delicately holding you. 

“Do you need me to set you down on the toilet too?”

You turned to him about to scowl, when you noticed the sincere look in his eyes. Oh. “Um––No I’m okay.” You turned to hold the door. “But um, can you wait until I’m finished.” You looked up at him sheepishly and smiled.

“Sure. I’ll just wait on the bed okay?” 

You nodded and closed the door. 

You peed, brushed your teeth and washed your face, refusing to look at your disapproving reflection in the mirror. Yeah, this was a little fucked up that you slept with your best friend all the time and basically acted like a couple until you stepped out in public––but what else is new. Well for one, Tom had never been that intense before––he was really determined, possessive last night. Was it because you got Liam’s number? 

You guess it was an unspoken but unofficial thing between the two of you, but you never went past making out with other people, let alone getting their numbers and hanging out with them afterwards. Should you feel guilty? No, if he wanted to say something and tell you how he feels, he would, right? Funny.

You sighed and waddled over to the door before opening it and Tom perked up immediately, eyes finding you. You walked out of the bathroom and he watched you take a few steps, a small pout on his face. “You know I think I can walk better now.” 

He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.” 

You frowned. “Does it look that bad?”

He looked up at you, a cheeky but hesitant smile on his face. “No I just want an excuse to hold you while you walk.” 

You rolled your eyes but let him hold you anyway as you made your way over to the kitchen. He helped you sit at the counter and went to the stove to continue preparing breakfast. 

You crossed your legs at the ankle and sat up, fiddling with your phone in your hands as you remembered last night just before you fell asleep. It sounded like he was confessing something to you and you couldn’t help but be hopeful. It sounded like the next word in his sentence started with a Y and you wanted to clarify, to assure what you heard, to soothe your heart. 

“I um.” He turned, when you paused, looking at you curiously, a small smile on his face. “Before I fell asleep last night,” You noticed his eyes widened slightly but he quickly tried to mask it. “I think I heard you say something?”

He just looked at you, mouth closed, biting the inside of his cheek. 

“I think I heard you say you really like...and then I passed out.” You laughed quietly to ease the tension, “Um, what––what did you say?” 

He took a moment before biting his lip, obviously nervous, looking down at the floor. “Uh nope––Sorry I uh don’t think I said anything.” 

Your shoulders drooped. “Are you sure?” You pressed, not even hiding the disappointment in your tone. 

He laughed awkwardly, turning to put sugar in his tea. “Nope I uh––Didn’t say anything. Must be hearing things.” 

You nodded tightly, pursing your lips. “Right.” You pulled out your phone and scrolled through your notifications to distract yourself from the metaphorical sharp pain in your chest, seeing the dms from your friends on insta, twitter notifications, random game updates, but your eyes paused when you noticed a message from an unknown number.

Hey :) told you I’d put your number to good use

You smiled.

Maybe: Liam: It’s Liam, by the way. From the party. 

You laughed at how awkwardly cute he was and sent a reply. Not even two seconds later, you saw the three chat bubbles appear. 

Tom perked up from the other side of the counter, thankful for a topic change and came up behind you, resting his head on your shoulder as his arms wrapped around you tight. “What’s so fun––” His brows furrowed as he read the text, his arms loosening their hold around you. 

You tensed and you could feel the air around you shift. You swallowed nervously, straightening yourself out in your seat. It’s not like you and Tom were dating or anything. You didn’t owe him anything. 

“It’s Liam––”

“Yeah I can read.” His tone was sharp, but unlike yesterday, it didn’t have a positive effect on you. 

You both looked at the phone when a new message appeared. 

Maybe: Liam: So I was wondering if we could get food or just chill tomorrow afternoon? I’d really like to see you :)

You took a sharp inhale, feeling butterflies in your stomach. With all the frustrations you’d been feeling and with how lackluster and clearly dishonest your last conversation was with Tom, maybe it’d be good to have a distraction. Try to move on. 

Just as you thought this, he spoke up, bursting your Tom-free bubble that you were forming. “You gonna go? On the date?” His voice was almost accusatory, offended, even. 

You sighed and he stepped away from you, looking at you in disbelief. “Yeah I think I will.” 

His jaw clenched as he stared at you. Come on, Tom. Say something, anything. He nodded and walked back to his tea, making you roll your eyes.

You called an uber and waddled off to the room, feeling his eyes watch you as you walked off. You quickly got dressed, in your own clothes and grabbed your things, not wasting a single second. When you stepped back into the kitchen, you grabbed your phone and made your way to the door. You spared a glance in Tom’s direction, noticing that he not only looked upset but hurt? 

You looked down at your phone, seeing that your ride was approaching and shook your head, “See you, Tom.” You didn’t wait to hear a response before you stepped out of the door, but you’re not certain that if you had stayed longer, you’d have gotten one anyway. 

––❊––

The next afternoon, you had agreed to meet Liam at a cafe halfway between your place and his. You both also agreed that this was a casual hangout, maybe not even a date, just a time to see what happens, how you vibe together. So you dressed comfortably but nice, you weren’t going to go so far as to show up in sweats. That would be rude. 

He got there a little earlier and insisted that you tell him your order so it could be ready for you when you got there. This boy was really sweet. You met him about ten minutes later. He looked up from his phone when he noticed you walking towards his table, a smile on your face. He kissed you on the cheek after making sure it was okay and even pulled out your seat for you. 

“I’m really glad you wanted to meet up.” He seemed shy, it was cute.

“Me too.” You smiled, taking a sip from the drink he got for you. “It was nice of you to order for me by the way, thank you.”

He waved you off, “My pleasure.” 

The conversation progressed gradually, staying in the typical small talk stage for a while when you first meet someone. How was your day? Tell me about yourself. And you wanted to be present, you really did. But your mind couldn’t stop thinking about how wrong you felt to be out with someone else that wasn’t Tom. You were shifting and fidgeting as you stared at the boy in front of you, a strained smile plastered on your face as you tried to focus. 

Ever so perceptible, he noticed that something was off and looked at you concerned. “Everything alright?”

“Sorry,” You looked at him apologetically. What was wrong with you? You had a perfectly sweet boy sitting in front of you but all you could think about was Tom. “I just can’t focus today. There’s just––some things on my mind.” More like someone.

“It wouldn’t have anything to do with that brown haired guy from the party, would it?” He asked gently. 

Your eyes widened slightly. You briefly thought about denying it but wasn’t that what got you in this mess in the first place? You weren’t going to lie to him. You grimaced. “How did you know?”

“He couldn’t keep his eyes off of you.” He laughed. “Which I understand. But it felt like there was some tension.” 

You nodded, swallowing, trying to process everything. 

He shrugged, “I hoped it was nothing, which I’ll admit was a bit selfish of me.” He gave you a kind smile, pausing before going on. “Were you guys together or is it complicated?” 

“Definitely that last one.” You groaned and hid your face in your palms, resting your elbows on the table in frustration. “I’m really sorry.” Your voice was muffled behind your hands. You slid your hands off of your face and looked at him, giving him another apologetic smile. “I really wanted to hangout with you and move on because you seem really sweet and like the perfect guy, honestly.” 

He waved you off again, clearly flustered, only proving your point. 

“I just don’t think it’s fair for me to try and pretend I’m fully here when you deserve nothing but honesty and someone who’s able to give you all their attention.” He nodded, disappointed but understanding. 

“Well I hope he figures his shit out because he has no idea what he’s missing.” You sighed, you and me both. 

“Thank you, Liam.” 

You both got up and hugged. He kissed your cheek again, this time as a friendly and comforting gesture. “Don’t be afraid to call me okay? As friends.” You smiled gratefully and you both went your separate ways. 

––❊––

That night, there was a pounding at your door. Mia was out, so you were left to see who it was yourself. You got up and looked through the peephole to find Tom standing there. You sighed and opened the door, blinking when he stormed into your apartment without saying a word. 

His fists were clenching and unclenching at his sides, his brows furrowed as he tried to contain his emotions and prevent an overwhelming outburst in your otherwise quiet apartment. The whole way walking over here, he could feel his stomach drop, his throat ready to hold back the bile that was threatening to come up. 

“Did you fuck him?” He spat out venomously and you glanced up at him in shock as you closed the door. Normally he’d joke about it, make a few passive comments, but he was never this direct. 

“Well hello to you too Tom. Nice to see you.”

“Answer the question.” 

“That’s actually none of your business.” You bit back, your brows furrowed. 

“Bullshit. Did you or did you not fuck him?”

“Again. None of your business. But you really think I’d do that on the first date? You must think really highly of me.” Your voice was sharp and clearly offended. He opened his mouth again but you spoke before he could. “Why does it even matter?”

He looked taken aback. “I––It just does.” 

“Why do you care, Tom?” your eyes were piercing him, begging him to say what you both wanted to. You were sick of playing the same game, hoping for a happy ever after when you kept seeing the same outcome every time. You were tired of being hurt and disappointed. So you finally just decided to give him a chance. To see if what he felt for you was the same––to see if it was real.

When you were met with silence, your eyes started to water. “Why?” Your voice was small, aching for him to put an end to all of this, to be honest for once. 

His eyes lowered to the ground and he bit his lip nervously, his arms limp by his side. When you spoke up his eyes jumped to yours, wide and scared.

“I––I can’t keep doing this.”

“What––What do you mean?” His voice was frantic and a part of you felt guilty, but you shut your eyes, frustrated with how much of an effect he had on you. 

“This, Tom.” You gestured between the two of you. “Whatever the fuck this is. We––We’ve never even talked about it! We just fuck with each other and then fuck each other like everything’s okay but it’s not! I’m tired of it!” 

He reached a hand out but you took a step back and he dropped it back to his side. 

“Unless you have something worthwhile to say, just go.” Your voice was small, tired as you looked down at the floor. Your shoulders sunk when you were met with silence again. 

“Get out, Tom.” 

“Darling––”

“No, you don’t get to call me that.” Your eyes were glued to the ground. 

“Darling look at me. Please!” 

You could hear that his voice was shaky, and if you looked up, you’d probably see tears in his eyes. But you knew that if you did that, you would just give in like you always do. And you couldn’t keep doing that to yourself. 

You wrapped your arms around yourself.  “Get out.” 

He scoffed, sniffing as he backed away. “Right.” 

You stayed in your spot, stiff as a statue, wincing as you heard the door slam on his way out. You waited for a moment. A long, painful moment. To see if he would come back. To try and fix things. But he never did. Sure, you had told him to leave, so maybe it was a good thing that he respected your wish. Or maybe he just couldn't bear to be in the same room as you anymore. Either way, a part of you wanted him to fight for you. To want you enough. But he apparently couldn’t tell. Once you accepted that, you let out a deep sigh. 

Only then did you sluggishly make your way to your room. Once you turned off the lights and got under the covers, the tears started to fall and it felt like they would never stop. Your breathing was uneven, hiccups jumping from your throat as you wet your pillow with tears. Your eyes were blurry, your body shaking, and your heart felt heavy. 

You cried, your tears flowing down your cheeks as you squeezed your eyes shut, your whole body feeling like it was aching from the inside. 

––❊––

As soon as Tom closed the door to your apartment, he cursed, shoving his face into his palms as he leaned against the wall of the hallway, trying not to scream. His whole body felt unstable, uneasy and unsatisfied with the way things ended. After letting out a shaky breath and straightening up, he took the elevator down and sulked all the way home. He was frustrated and upset. Couldn’t you see what he was trying (poorly) to say? Couldn’t you see that he just wanted you to himself? 

When he got home, Harrison was lounging on the couch, his eyes concerned when he noticed Tom’s demeanor. “What’s wrong with you?”

Tom stepped further into the flat, silent, still processing everything. 

“Mate what happened? Didn’t you go to see Y/N?”

He swallowed, his brows furrowed as he looked down at the ground, making his way over to the couch. He slumped down in the seat, leaning his elbows on his knees as he hunched forward, rubbing his face listlessly. “Yeah, I uh––She kicked me out.” He still wasn’t looking up, his eyes not even focused on anything in the room. Sure, he was present, but his mind was far from it.

He could hear the confusion and concern in Harrison’s voice. “Shit, man. What did you do?”

“Well uh…” Tom explained, his head hanging in his hands as he recounted everything––how he was so wound up he could barely breathe as he burst into your home, immediately asking about the date, how you put him on the spot, how he froze up, how devastated you looked when you looked him in the eye. When he finished, the room was silent for a good while, the only sound heard being Tom’s shaky breaths.

“Are you fucking dumb?” 

Tom looked up at his best friend incredulously. “Dude?––”

“You basically called her a whore!” Harrison practically shouted, getting more and more aggravated. 

“There’s nothing wrong with fucking on the first date! And I never called her a whore! I just––” Tom countered, getting frustrated as well.

“Well that’s what you implied, dipshit!” Haz took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers, resisting the urge to slap his best friend. “Why were you so upset in the first place, Tom?”

Tom opened his mouth and closed it immediately. He swallowed, suddenly feeling small and unsure of himself. “I––I don’t know.” 

Harrison looked at him deadpan. “Mate, you know why.” His eyes softened as he looked at his friend with pure intentions, wanting to give him honest guidance. “You need to be honest with yourself and her. It’s not fair to her that you keep playing this game, man. I’m surprised it lasted this long, honestly.” He shook his head, lying back in his seat. “You need to go fix this.”

Tom sighed, “I know.”

Harrison looked at him expectantly. “Like immediately.” 

“Dude, it’s late.” Tom looked at the time, it was almost eleven. 

“I sincerely doubt she’s asleep after what you did.” 

Tom winced, slowly letting out a puff of air as he gathered his thoughts, getting up from his seat. “Right. O–Okay. Shit.”

Harrison got up as well, eyes focused on his friend. He could practically see the thoughts flying around his head as he processed them all. 

Tom looked up at him, his eyes suddenly clearer. “Thanks man.” He stepped closer to his best friend and wrapped his arms around him. 

Harrison immediately reciprocated the gesture and patted him on the back a few times. “Go get her, mate.” 

––❊––

You groaned when you saw the notification from the absolute last person you wanted to hear from right now––at least that’s what you told yourself, anyway. You couldn’t sleep, obviously and understandingly restless with your thoughts. So you picked up your phone to distract yourself, but of course, he found a way to intrude your thoughts again. 

Tom: open the door please.

Are you serious––

You turned off your phone and put it face down on the bed as you stared at the ceiling. Fuck. 

You slowly got out of bed, throwing the covers off of you, though your body was almost dragging you back down, as if it was warning you to stay put, to preserve your heart. But your mind pushed through and took control of your body, you had to know why he was here. You padded over to the front door, your socked feet cold against the hardwood floor. You looked through the peephole to see Tom there, desperately waiting for you to open the door. He looked as though he would stay out there no matter how long it took. 

You took a deep breath and opened the door. Time froze for a few seconds as you just stared at each other, taking in each other’s appearances. Tom’s cheeks were flushed, his eyes and nose red as well, and you could tell it wasn’t just from the cold. You were sure you looked just as fragile as he did. He looked scared, but also like he had something that he was aching to tell you. 

You cleared your throat and even that small sound felt too loud for the space around you, for the silence you were both clinging too. You stepped aside, “Come in.” 

He gave you a quick smile and moved past you, his actions way more hesitant than when he first came over tonight. He really was nervous. 

You closed and locked the door and turned around to face him after taking another deep breath, this one more shaky than the last, your heartbeat starting to race. You wrapped your arms around yourself, shifting from side to side as you both stood there in front of each other. You had both calmed down since you last met, both your energies very different. He was anxious, desperate, aware. You were tired, hopeful but wary. But there was a distinct feeling of longing between the two of you.

“I um––” He swallowed, rubbing his hands nervously. “I have something I need to tell you.”

You bit your lip and looked up at him before moving past him and sitting on your couch, your knees pulled up to your chest as you watched him come over and take a seat as well. “Okay.” You muttered, eyes wide as you watched him. 

He sat down on the other end of the couch without taking off his jacket, the distance between the two of you seemingly getting larger and larger. He scratched the back of his head, looking down at the carpet and taking a deep breath to prepare himself to speak. “I just––I’ve never been good at...communicating when it came to you and––I was never really sure why. Or at least I was scared to admit the reason. I would just watch you and hold you when you let me and then get jealous when you walked away. I always felt empty when you left me, Y/N.” He looked up at you and you sucked in a breath, suddenly realizing how intimate and vulnerable he was being. 

“For some stupid reason I found myself pushing away the one person I wanted closest in my life. I was just so scared by how much I care for you, for how much I––love you.” He licked his lips and looked down again and you shifted on the couch, your heartbeat now pounding in your ears. 

“I acted like a dumbass. I’m sorry. And I know that I don’t deserve your forgiveness, hell I don’t even deserve you––” He sniffled before making eye contact with you again, a small smile on his face. “But I just wanted to tell you the truth for once. I’m in love with you, darling. Have been for a while now.” You could see his eyes tracing your face, almost as if he were taking it all in, preparing for if this were the last time he would get to see it. “That’s all I wanted to say.” 

There was a small silence between the two of you once he finished. You took a deep breath and slid over to his side of the couch, making his eyes widen curiously as he watched you. His breath hitched and he looked up at you, without a word. 

“You’re an idiot.” You whispered. But before he could retort you grabbed his face with two hands and pulled him in for a kiss. At first he was in shock, but he soon reciprocated, his hands finding their way to your waist as he held you, your lips moving together in sync the way they should. 

You pulled away and when you opened your eyes you saw him looking at you in awe. You ran your thumbs over the soft skin of his cheeks gently as you looked into his eyes. “I love you too Tom. Always have.” 

He laughed and you both sighed, happy, relieved as you finally got what you wanted. “I guess we’re both idiots then, huh?” 

You tilted your head, a small smile on your face. “You’re definitely the bigger idiot.”

“Hey!” He pinched your waist playfully making you yelp and climb into his lap. 

You wrapped your arms around his neck and looked down at him with an adoring smile, but your expression became serious for a moment. You bit your lip nervously, looking between both of his eyes. “Don’t ever hurt me like that again. Okay?”

He answered immediately, not hesitating like he was before. “I promise, love. I never want to hurt you again. Ever.” 

You kissed delicately and pulled away. Once your eyes met, there was an unspoken understanding between the two of you, you needed each other. 

Your lips reconnected more passionately this time, but still gentle. Soon you were slowly pushing the jacket off of Tom’s shoulders, letting it lay on the couch. You both got up and made your way to your bedroom, still sharing kisses as you walked through your apartment, your hands holding each other along the way. 

Within no time, your clothes were off. Your body was resting comfortably as you lied in your bed, Tom hovering over you, his lips slotting with yours as his fingers stretched you out. You were moaning and sighing into his mouth, and he could feel the blood rushing through his body from the sounds. 

His touches were tender, and familiar as his fingers worked you up gradually. His thumb rubbed at your bundle of nerves and your lips pulled away from his to let a breathy sigh part through them. He smiled fondly as he watched you get close, your hips starting to buck into his hand, but you brought a hand down to hold his wrist, making him halt his actions, eyes searching yours. 

Your eyes were closed as you breathed out, trying to calm yourself down. You looked up at him. “Want––I want you, Tom. Wanna feel you.” 

Tom nodded, biting his lip at the whine you let out when he pulled his fingers out of you. His eyes were taking you in as he slipped the two fingers, wet with your arousal into his mouth, sucking them clean and letting them go with a pop before positioning himself at your entrance. 

You were spread open for him, legs around him as he slid himself in slowly, inch by inch. “Wanted to feel me, love. So I’ll let you feel all of me.” He bottomed out and the both of you moaned as you clenched around him. 

You brought your hands up to his shoulder and pulled him into you, letting him rest some of his weight on you as you held each other, every part of you that could be touching, doing so. Your lips met again, the two of you still moving languidly, but desperately as you yearned for every part of each other. Tom bit your lip softly, slipping his tongue past your lips to tease yours.  

He pulled his hips back and pushed them back into you deeply, making you let out a breathy moan and he trailed his kisses from the corner of your mouth, along your jaw to your neck as he started thrusting in and out of you. One of your arms slid across his back, pushing him into you, as the other hand found comfort in his curls, tugging and making him groan into your neck, his lips not letting up. 

His hips were slowly pounding into you, gradually picking up the pace. Everything about this was soft and loving, like a brand new start for the both of you. In a way, it felt like your first time all over again. 

Tom squeezed a hand between the two of you to play with your clit, his hips still thrusting into you relentlessly with purpose. His face was buried between your shoulder and your neck, his lips leaving soft kisses, and sucking marks onto the smooth skin. You were both breathing heavily, consumed by the feeling of one another.

“Fucking love you darling.” He was grunting as you both approached your highs. “Love how my pussy feels too. My good girl.” 

Your hands were desperately clawing and grabbing at his back and his hair as you felt yourself moving towards the edge, your body aching for a sweet release. You needed that relief. You needed to let go now that you knew Tom would be there to catch you, to hold you. 

“M’Yours, Tom.” You whined breathlessly as you whispered into his ear. “Make me yours. Cum with me.” 

He groaned loudly and bit into your shoulder, the two of you soon releasing together, your bodies curving in on each other as you held each other tightly. Your back arched underneath him as his thrusts slowed, his hips pulling almost all the way out before he slammed back in, reaching the hilt, making you gasp as he came inside you. 

He raised himself up on both hands and you pulled him in for another kiss, your tongue finding its way into his mouth, your teeth tugging at his bottom lip. The kiss was fierce and wanton as you pulled each other impossibly closer, almost as if you wanted to merge into one. 

When you both pulled away you were breathing roughly, panting into the quiet air of your room. You bit your lip and brought a hand to his cheek to hold him lovingly. He turned his head and gave your palm a lasting kiss, pouring all his emotions into the small gesture. You smiled up at him. 

“I love you.” 

He kissed your palm again, then your wrist, and made his way down, kissing along your arm, then your chest and finally looked into your eyes, responding before kissing your lips yet again. “I love you too. So so much. I don’t think I’ll ever stop saying it.” 

You laughed warmly, pulling him closer so that your lips were grazing his. “Good. Because I don’t ever want to stop hearing it.” 

He smiled, licking his lips. “Deal.”

[shotorozu]

hello !! I'd rlly like to request Monoma if that's alright! I've had a huge soft spot for him for a while now and I'd love to see more content of him ;v;

anyway! we all know that superiority complex of his is definitely hiding some insecurities, but I also feel like he'd be quite touchstarved too bc of his peers seldom physically interacting with him due to his quirk, yknow?

with that in mind, I'd love to see how he'd handle an s/o who has "physical touch" as their main love language. they can give verbal praise/comfort, but they always get so shy abt it that they prefer giving physical affection to show their love. and maybe combining that with "quality time" being their second love language, they love to just cuddle him or toy with his hands/hair during quiet moments uwu

if you wanna do multiple characters, I'd love to request Shinsou, Midoriya, and Amajiki (separately) for the same idea, but if you'd rather do this with just Monoma then I'm okay with that !! no worries if you don't wanna do all four ♡

thank you if you do this request, and make sure to take care of yourself !! ♡

physically affectionate s/o

character(s) : monoma neito, shinsou hitoshi, midoriya izuku (i cut out tamaki for this one, sorry :[ but i’ll do another part if anyone wants it)

legend : [Y/N = your name] they/them pronouns used, strong quirk but the details aren’t specific, reader is a part of 1-A

headcanon type : fluff (and if you squint, then crack)

note(s) : yes i do agree :,) monoma should be getting a little bit more content, and i’m sorry that this came out so late! i was multitasking with other requests (because i took a 2 day absence,,) but this doesn’t mean i don’t read people’s requests

»»————-　♡　————-««

monoma neito

monoma 🤝 bakugou “the pros at sending mixed signals”

if there’s one thing he’s known for— then it’s for the persistent teasing, and his quite obnoxious attitude (especially at 1-A)

but he’s not a terrible person, he sure does have his reasons. and by now, people either choose to ignore him, or they simply knock the wind out of him

so, he was not prepared to encounter someone that was tolerant of him, AND also his type— like.. huh. that’s.. odd

and he was even more surprised when they accepted his wild love confession. there must be some catch to it, right?

so like i’ve said— monoma sends a lot of mixed signals. it’s either he’s complimenting your existence, or teasing you in various ways.

so— it’s just another normal day of monoma mouthing off to you, teasing you in a playful way, while you guys are hanging out this is way of making you remember him

but then, you just.. leaned forward and placed your hand on his head— not exchanging any words at all.

monoma’s first reaction is (・・?) because what?? someone is touching him right now.. wait.. someone is touching him!

honestly really shook, and at a lost for words— because everyone has refrained from coming into any physical contact with him? what a surprise! what even is this?

after said incident, you decide to speak “you had something in your hair.” and for once, monoma is the one that’s sitting in silence

“R-REALLY, Y/N? DID YOU REALLY THINK THAT WAS GOING TO W-WORK ON ME OR SOMETHING?” he questions in his usual mocking tone, but his cheeks are accompanied in a flushed red

he’d only experience field day when he realized that touch was basically your love language, with quality time in the second lead

so whenever you guys are spending time together, you’d,, actually go closer to him! this has never happened before, let him be

he doesn’t really like the idea of getting his hair touched, so you usually choose to fiddle with his hands— sometimes observing his details, and other times you’ll be comparing hand sizes

he’ll ridicule you for being so touchy— but he’ll ask if he’s “that irresistable?” while also moving you closer to him. he loves it a lot, okay?

don’t let class 1-b see this, he will flex on them because when he starts getting annoying again, they’ll use you as blackmail.

“monoma, i swear— if you do that, we’ll tell Y/N-”

“HAHA— ok, i’m sorry.”

shinsou hitoshi

he probably has the most chill reaction out of the bunch

again— another person that has been antagonized because of their quirk. he’s been perceived as villanious ever since his middle school days

kids have been told to keep their distance away from him at a young age so.. you’d bet that he’d be really touch starved

he never had any serious experiences with dating, and he never had any real friends— that weren’t cautious of his quirk

that was until he met you, which he just assumed you were another highkey stuck up person in the hero course

but, you were basically the opposite, and you were a real pleasure to have around. one thing lead to another, and now you guys are dating

he thought it was really cute whenever you got too shy to just sit in silence during dates, or to even give out words of affirmations

but hitoshi was surprised at first when he felt you pull yourself closer to him— resting your head on his shoulder. the concept of someone wanting to be in his presence is still sinking in for him

lucky for you! shinsou knows how to adapt to situations quickly, immediately slinging an arm around your shoulder, as he listens to you talk

he’ll be surprised when you start touching his hair, because golly!! are you guys close

but do it more pls, he loves it a lot— it sometimes makes him really drowsy.

if you play with his hands omg, his heart will do somersaults. he’s lucky that he’s able to keep himself composed.

loves watching you choosing to cuddle him, after briefly giving up on trying to form coherent words of affirmations.

it’s something he brings up quite often, but not in a teasing manner!

sometimes he’ll pat the free spot beside him, basically begging you to come closer to him.

eventually, denki notices on how touchy he’ll get whenever you’re around— but hitoshi will just shrug it off

“it’s always been that way.” he simply says, but he’ll turn around with this big ass grin on his face 💀

he’s whipped for your touch. so please, do it more

midoriya izuku

he’s also touchstarved. actually, all of them are really touchstarved, and for different reasons 💀

well.. it’s not like he had a choice from the getgo. he was born quirkless, and that lead to him becoming an outcase— and also the victim of bullying i wanna hug him

and being told constantly that he won’t ever be enough, or he won’t ever be a hero— it’s obvious that he doesn’t have any dating experience

but he didn’t think he’d be dating anytime soon— especially since he was ‘just’ pinning over you. he was convinced it was going nowhere

until you confessed. he’s surprised that he didn’t pass out

ever since you guys started dating, he noticed that you’ve been a little timid— not in the way that you feel awkward, more like,, you wanted to say something

or do something, because when you guys were studying together, you just suddenly sat closer to him— and started counting his freckles

he short circuited for a second.

he was reduced to a stuttering, and blushy mess— and you just laughed, telling him “you should continue what you’re doing!” as you ran your other hand across his shoulders

that night, he was wide awake in his bed— recalling your gentle and loving touch, running his hands along the parts of his hair, that you’ve touched

he loves quality time, because while he does like to ramble a lot— he does enjoy spending time with you in silence, but it’s the touches that makes him flustered

despite him being quite shy to initiate any sort of touch, you— on the other hand, were shy with saying praises. so you coped with physical touch, and quality time

man, izuku never gets used to it. no matter how much he tries to— he’s just.. needy, touchstarved.

he doesn’t realize how lost he looks when you’re sitting beside him, and not touching his hair or hands for once. please feel free to do so

oh, and since we’re on the topic of hands— he’ll tear up if you start playing/fiddling with his hands, and especially when you start tracing his scars. it makes him feel so warm.

okay but,, please give him a heads up if you’re going to act touchy in public. he’ll start stammering and blushing hard you might have to put him in rice or smth

the dekusquad talks about that quite a lot, especially when they accidentally witnessed it in the common room (for the first time)

in short— he adores it. sometimes he’ll initiate it, by asking you if you want to sit beside him, to play with his hair. he’s so inlove

»»————-　♡　————-««

likes and reblogs are appreciated, thanks for reading!

i do not own bnha/mha and it’s characters. boku no hero academia/my hero academia belongs to horikoshi kohei. i only own the writing, and i do not profit off of my hobby

do not plagiarize, repost, translate, or use my works for audio readings without my permission :))

[timextoxhajima]

Boundary [Dana’s 700 Special]

Track: Fever - Enhypen / TiO - Zayn / Close - Nick Jonas, Tove Lo

➣ Member: my og bias owo

➣ Genre: idol! ju x stylist! [fem] reader

➣ Warnings: swear words and if you squint, some smut

➣ Word Count: i’m like 100% sure it’ll be as long as accelerate [i was wrong it’s nowhere near but whatever]

➣ A/N: Thank you for 700 followers. You are all nothing but amazing ♡

➣ Taglist: @taesty-wander-lust​ @tbzzhoe​ @suzy-rainbow​ 

He’s going to be the absolute death of me.

The thought is loud in your head, and you were almost sure you would’ve blurted it out had the filming studio been empty. Breaking Dawn was blasting from the speakers behind the MV director, experimenting with some strange angles that you’ve never seen any other MV director try with the group before. 

If you thought Reveal was dangerous, this might be worse.

“Okay! Let’s do that hook into the chorus first and we’ll see how that angle goes!”

“Breaking Dawn, I see-”

“Cut! Juyeon-” The director snorts while staring at the monitor from the camera. “That was great but um, we’ll need to rate the video if we release this one.”

Never mind. It is worse.

“Yah, Juyeon!”

“Ahh... seriously?”

“You already have enough screen time, why are you so greedy?!”

The members crowd around Juyeon and shove him playfully as the director films that part from the monitor, and brings his cellphone over to the group to see. You can barely hear the music from the phone, given how far you were standing from the filming area. 

The group of 11 burst into loud yells and frustrated groans, with Younghoon and Chanhee giving their iconic ‘OoO’ faces to Juyeon. The main man chuckles, embarrassed, and shakes his head while waving it off.

“I didn’t intend to make it so suggestive, sorry!”

“It’s alright, that was great, really!” The director assures him. “It’s just that we can’t release that without rating the MV, and you guys don’t really have that kind of reputation yet so, we won’t do that for you guys now. But anyways, can we get a 10 minute break and we’ll pick up where we left off?”

The boys celebrate in unison, Eric immediately rushing off for the washroom, some members going to the staff to ask for their phones, others going for the monitor to check their progress and the remaining approaching their stylists for appearance maintenance.

So, when Juyeon approaches you with that sly-mixed-with-shame smile, you can’t help but to shake your head at him. 

“Really? He asks you to go all out and you look like you want to eat the camera,” Pulling open your little kit, you set it on the table next to you. You pull out the comb and hairspray and start adjusting his hair again - all that dancing’s pushed some strands out of its rightful position.

“Aw, so you agree that I looked good enough?”

“What?” The pitch is higher than expected, but you hope your feigned annoyance camouflages the pinch of jealousy. “Please! The director said it’ll be rated!”

Juyeon laughs, standing with his feet a little more apart than natural for you to have easier access to his hair. 

“Well, you’re the one who did my hair and makeup. If it’s anybody to blame, wouldn’t it be you?” 

His words halt the sharp end of your comb in his hair, and you poke it into his scalp for good measure while puffing out your cheeks. He chuckles it off. 

“Excuse you, sir, Cre.Ker gave me a color palette and a set of reference pics. Ever since they cracked the code with you with Reveal, they just won’t stop with this genre of style on you.”

“I mean... I definitely prefer my current style over what they did to me in Boy.”

The memory cooks up a bunch of images in your head, and you fail to stop the giggle that runs off your tongue when you return the comb to the kit. 

“Aw, come on, that was cute,” Picking up a brow pencil, you fill in the tiny fade-out. “You were, what? 19? No reason for you to look as raunchy as you do now.”

“It’s a pity you only met me just before I become ‘raunchy’.”

“Why? I mean, ‘Juyeon’s not a good boy’ though. Raunchy’s closer to that than what you did pre-Reveal.”

“I meant it!” Juyeon widens his eyes and his brows shift up his forehead just as the tip of the brow pencil lifts off his skin. “I’m happy Cre.Ker’s letting us show what we want to.”

“And I’m happy for you too,” You finish up on his foundation where it’s starting to wear off. “But one day, you’re gonna cross a line and break some hearts.”

Juyeon smiles as you cap on all your equipment and close your kit. Resting one hand on your hip, you quickly give his hair one last poke before he resumes his normal standing position.

“What if I only want to break specific hearts though?”

A frown befalls your face and you forge an ugly look by crooking your lips. “What? Was that an attempt to flirt? Please stop,” Waving him off, you turn and pick up your kit, walking away on your heels as Juyeon tails you.

He’s just practising flirting on me at this point. Best friends and best friends for what? Get MY heart broken? PLEASE.

“Flirt with Kevin if you want, he’ll give you better advice,” You turn to the film area and sure enough, Kevin was busy twerking into the camera and Changmin’s just face palming himself. 

“Oi Kevin! Stahb it!” You yell across the space and Changmin points to you, turning to yell at Kevin.

“Yah, even y/n’s telling you to stop!”

Chuckling, you turn into the dressing room as another hair stylist finishes with Sangyeon in the mirror. 

“Hello sir, you look kinda tired today, are you resting well?”

“Don’t get me started. Schedule’s packed into June,” Sangyeon subtly shakes his head, but his stylist holds his cheeks and shifts his face back to face the mirror.

“Sangyeon, please face the mirror. It’s not my fault if your hair gets messed up again,” The hair stylist grins as he picks up the hairspray.

“Sorry,” Sangyeon blinks at him and purses his lips. Juyeon crashes into the two seater-sofa in the corner of the dressing room and groans tiresomely, resting his head on the top surface of the headrest. 

“Well, you should get some rest before Kingdom kicks in,” You place the kit on the dressing table and sit down in the two-seater next to Juyeon. “It’s not going to be an easy fight, y’know.”

“Right! You used to be ATEEZ’s hairstylist!” Sangyeon’s eyes widen and you can see him struggling not to turn to you directly instead of trying to find you in the strangest angle of the reflection in the mirror. 

“Yeah. Those guys are intense, and I mean intense! Six out of eight are known for performance skills and the other two... one produces 99% of their tracks and the other belts out notes even I can’t reach.”

“You sound like you were sent from KQ to intimidate us-” Sunwoo struts in and waves an annoying finger in your face.

“I’m not-” Swatting his finger away, Juyeon leans forward and pulls Sunwoo’s hand. “I’m just saying for good measure- it’s not going to be easy. Stray Kids is also going to be great competition, not to mention iKON and-”

“AhHH, we get it!” Sunwoo shushes you, swinging his hand with Juyeon’s.

“No matter the outcome, you all need to know that you guys were stellar last year. I was new then, but it was absolutely stunning to watch you guys work and put so much effort into your performances.”

“Oh my God, yeah, you could not shut up about the Danger performance,” Sangyeon cooes, letting his stylist finally finishes and shifts to pack the hair equipment. 

“I’ll bet it’s cause your best friend over here got the most screen time,” Sunwoo perks up a mischievous brow and smirks at you.

Juyeon’s eyes widen and stares at the youngest, “I didn’t get the most screen time.”

“If not you then who?” Sangyeon butts in as he stands.

“Uh... Changmin?”

Sunwoo and Sangyeon go quiet. 

“Yah, you had a good amount of screen time too!” Sangyeon turns and blurts out at Sunwoo, playfully shoving him. 

“Y’all are being loud in here,” Kevin’s head pops out from beyond the door frame, one of his stylists tagging behind him and struggling to pat down his clothes. 

“No, tell me if Sunwoo had more screentime than Changmin in Danger from last year,” Sangyeon wraps an arm around Sunwoo and slowly walks him out. 

“What? I don’t know, Changmin had the opening and the dance break...”

Sangyeon’s hairstylist follows closely, and by instinct, he shuts the door behind him, leaving you with Juyeon in the dressing room. It’s humid, from all the lights turned on in the room, and the leather seat wasn’t the most comfortable thing to sit on.

Turning to Juyeon, his eyes are gently shut, and frankly, he looked like he was about to fall asleep. The backrest of the sofa sinks when you lean back, mimicking his position.

“You have like four minutes left so don’t even think of falling asleep.”

“I’m not sleeping,” He offers a tiny smile on his lips, eyes still shut. 

“Sure, you’re not.”

“Wake me up when the director needs me.”

“You wish,” The leather under your legs squeak when you push yourself off, but he sticks out an arm at your stomach and pushes you back down. Judging by the miniscule smirk on his face, he’s just messing with you. “What do you think you’re doing? I have a job to do and you have a music video to film.”

He remains quiet. Someone shouts at Eric outside.

“You’re being fucking weird today, sir,” You lift a hand and grab his arm to move it away, but he swiftly wraps his fingers around your wrist and yanks you forward instead. 

Using your palms to keep the distance between your faces, you’re hovering above him now, breath on his upper lip. The sweat’s begun to collect in the lines of your palms, stuck to the arm rest by his side and the cushion he’s leaning on. 

Your vision immediately darts to his face upon the bold move, and he’s got that slight smile prancing on his lips when he’s thinking of a joke or something funny and doesn’t want to say it. It’s been a good year of being Juyeon’s best friend (apart from the members), so you’ve definitely grown to know how to read him by his actions.

You sigh, rolling your eyes and removing your legs from next to his thighs.

“Juyeon-”

And then he cuts you off by holding you in position with his arm around his waist, challenging your knees to hold you up - because if they buckled, you’ll land right on top of him. 

“What the Hell do you think you’re doing?” 

Knock knock

“y/n, are you done with Juyeon’s hair? Filming’s resuming!”

There’s an awkward tension between you and Juyeon now, with his eyes wide open and staring into yours, arm still around your waist. But having his nose just inches away from yours and his breath breathing down on your philtrum feels so surreal. It feels like it’s a dream that you’ve failed to pull yourself out from.

He parts his lips, then purses them, and sighs through his nose. 

“Yeah, she’s done! I’ll be out in like, two seconds!”

Your gaze finds his and you’re panicking when he’s moving again. Within two seconds, you’re flat on your back on the length of the couch - and this time, he’s holding himself above you.

“What the- I-”

“We’ll continue this later back at the company, I promise,” Then he rounds your cheek and presses a kiss into your cheekbone instead.

He pulls back, offering you his kind smile and a ruffle into your hair for good measure. Nothing in your body is working when you hear him shuffle for the door, and it clicks shut behind him, with Breaking Dawn already blasting in the filming space.

Sucking in a deep breath, you don’t realise how hard your heart is thumping in your head until you hear your own shaky exhale. You don’t know where to look, you can still feel his grip on your waist and his breath on your upper lip, and everything’s just a mess right now.

What the Hell just happened?

“Eric - Dior Shirt Size M...” You mumble under your breath, fingers gripping the pen to the clipboard so hard, your writing would probably leave a mark in the sheet under. 

“I think this is the last luggage!” Younghoon’s stylist drags the black case in, lining it up with the last unopened one. “Need help?”

“Yeah, just open the luggage for me and separate Sangyeon’s clothes from Jacob’s, but otherwise I can handle it on my own.”

She nods, laying it down and unzipping it for the clothes to spew out. “How��s working here? It’s been over a year, right?”

“Mhm,” You glance at her, obviously tired. “It’s alright, but thanks to your advice since last year, I don’t think it could’ve been better.”

With a kind smile, she looks up at you, placing Sangyeon’s pants over his stack. “You’re experienced from ATEEZ, so it wouldn’t have been that hard anyway.”

She stands, resting her hands on her hips as you walk over, squatting to check Sangyeon and Jacob’s clothes. 

“So... what’s going on with you and Juyeon?”

I’d like to know too.

“Huh?” You look up at her, head tilted to the side with a sneaky cocked brow. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, please- All the stylists here know you and Juyeon are like- hanky panky nowadays. Pretty sure the boys know too, or at least have some idea.”

A cackle runs your throat dry as you graduate your attention to Jacob’s clothes. “Is that what they’re calling it? ‘Hanky-panky’? Cute.”

“Do you know why they’re still in a meeting this late?”

“No, why would I bother? As long as I don’t lose my job, it’s none of my concern.”

“They’re in meeting to be informed that their dating ban has been lifted.”

Your grip around the pen tightens, but halts abruptly. 

“Ah...” She sighs, contemplated with herself. “Cat got your tongue? Or should I say... Juyeon got your-”

Interrupted by the practise room door being pushed open, both of your attentions immediately flit to the new commotion. 

“Oh, Juyeon! Meeting’s over?”

“Yeah,” He turns and closes the door behind him. His hair was still waxed up from the day’s schedule, makeup still on but fading. Clothes snug around his shoulders with his belt tight around his hips. Those stupid jeans never did you any good since day 1. “Sangyeon said he left a ring in one of the luggages so he sent me to come get it while he counsels Kevin for twerking.”

“y/n’s just going through Sangyeon’s wardrobe, so she might find something,” Your colleague’s begun to take small, insignificant steps towards the door, and your anxiety begins to increase with every inch she places between the two of you.

“Which is why I’m here,” He stuffs his hands into his back pockets.

“Right, right,” Now, she’s already got her hand on the door knob, glancing past him and at you with wide, glistening eyes. “I gotta go check your wardrobe for tomorrow so... I’mma go now, and uh... security comes by around 12am. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“What-” You blurt out, receiving a sharp, surprised look from Juyeon.

“Bye! Bye Juyeon!”

“Bye,” He waves. 

“No, wait-” 

And so, the door clicks shut behind her, and her shadow behind the translucent material disappears down the corridor. 

The whir of the air-conditioner in the practice room fills all the awkward openings in the room, but all you can hear is the rapid thunk of your heart in your brain - as if that was even possible. 

Thunkthunkthunkthunkthunkthunkthunkthunkthunkthunkthunkthunkthunk

“About earlier today-”

“Give me a moment while I look for Sangyeon’s ring. What does it look like?” Standing up too fast, your vision goes white and a second of dizziness throws you off your balance.

So, of course, Juyeon rushes over and holds you by your waist before your ankles or knees give way. The incessant blinking makes you wish you could actually pass out right now, because your weight’s in his arms and you can’t bring yourself to look him in the eye.

“Iron deficiency much?” The corner of his lips curl up into his cheek before releasing you. “Do you need to sit down?”

Clearing your throat, you turn away first. “No, I-”

“Good, because I have some points to make and you’re gonna stop running away from them like you’re doing now.”

The change in tone runs chills down your spine and goosebumps erupt all over your skin - thank god you were wearing a blazer, safe from his observation. 

“How have you tolerated it so much?” He folds his arms across his chest, tilting his head innocently but his eyes say otherwise. It’s always his eyes that tell a whole different story from the person he’s known to be. 

“Y’know, being around me but you’re so calm and collected and I just...” He shakes his head, and to your dismay, takes a step forward - which drives you backwards. “How?”

His voice is too sing-songy. It’s too calm and collected for you because you’re about to barf up your dinner, which was a good 4 hours ago now. There’s nothing left in your stomach to barf up. 

He takes another intimidating step and you wince at your inability to look him in the eye.

Another step back. 

“Like, I know we’re friends but my God-” Shaking his head, he sinks his teeth into his bottom lip.

Another step forward. Another backward.

“It’s upsetting that I can look ‘raunchy’ and it doesn’t seem to do anything to you... But seeing you the way you are every other day makes me want to- just-”

Another step forward. 

One more one back.

And your breath halts.

Your back hits the wall, the rear of your skull lined with the pillar. 

Oh, no.

Gritting your teeth so tight, your jaw starts to ache and your temples are throbbing. 

“I’m not seeing things, right?” A flicker of curiosity sparkles in his eyes when you muster up the courage to look at him - only to regret it instantly. “It’s not in my head that you feel the same way I do, right?”

“I... Don’t know what you’re talking about- You’re an idol... and I’m- I’m just your stylist and I-”

“‘Just my stylist’?” The comment forces his brows into a slight frown, before he lifts his hand and covers the bottom half of his face with his palm. “Rethink what you just said.”

Sucking in a deep breath, your chest wells with a horrid mix of desire and self-discipline. Those two don’t go well together. 

“We can talk about this some other day,” You choose to say, dragging your body along the pillar in a bid to shift out from the wall-Juyeon sandwich like a fool. He lifts his arm and presses his palm into the pillar behind you, caging your poor, poor soul in this fateful corner of his stupid practice room.

“Juyeon, we need... boundaries in this industry. One scandal and it’ll destroy your career.”

“Boundaries?” He buckles his elbows, shrinking the gap between your noses. “Boundaries are for idols who still have a dating ban.”

Breathing down your nose, he’s too close for comfort. You can smell his cologne, the scent of his hair wax and see the bumps on his cheek under the faint layer of makeup. You don’t realise you’re trembling until he tilts his head ever so slightly, free hand reaching up to your chin to steady your face.

“Stop running from me,” Shaking his head painstakingly subtly, he whispers into your lips. “You were mine from the start and you know that.”

The adrenaline rush through your nerves sets off fireworks all over you when he slots his body against yours, lips fitted with yours like puzzle pieces; against the wall, with his palms on your cheeks. There was no care or consideration with how much strength he was channeling into this kiss - it feels so pent-up, so frustrated. Without warning, your body resigns as you circle your arms around his shoulders.

Gripping the rim of his collar in your hands, his hands drop to your waist and holds you closer, if it were even possible. A million thoughts race through your head - and at the same time, none. This moment was something you didn’t even know you needed. 

Juyeon’s hands roam the small of your back as he keeps you against the wall, relaxing into the kiss and sighing into it instead. 

This bliss comes in the form of him. Him who provides you all the sinful wants deep down inside you. 

But this bliss doesn’t last, for the practice room door swings open violently and tears Juyeon off you.

“I told you to find my ring, not hook up with your crush!”

[broadstbroskis]

take my hand, wreck my plans | william nylander

a/n: if you’ve been around this blog for a while, you’ve probably seen me talking about “willy fake dating fic” for quite a bit now...well here she is! settle in for a long read (the longest i’ve posted in one go before) and i hope you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it! so so so much love to literally every single person who cheered me on while writing this, but extra special thanks to @denis-scorianov​ and @danglesnipecelly​ for all your love and support

also shoutout to my girl tswift for the title, evermore still slaps

word count: 21.5k

It’s right in the middle of the busiest hours of the day when Steph’s text comes in, which means Aubrey barely even reads the message. She sees the words dinner and Friday and responds that she’ll be there, and then goes back to trying to fix the clusterfuck of code that one of her coworkers messed up earlier in the morning before her project has to get sent off to a client at the end of the week.

By the time Friday comes around, she’s only just managed to fix the code but the project is finished enough to send off as a first draft, so Aubrey races over to Steph and Mitch’s place after work, knowing she looks frazzled as hell from the look on her best friend’s face the minute she enters their kitchen. “Sweetie.” Steph says, then bites her lip. 

The feeling is mutual to Aubrey, because she’s giving Steph the same once over that Steph’s giving her. She’d arrived from the office, which took casual Friday to the extreme, in her favorite leggings, denim jacket, and converse- still enjoying the last bit of summer before Toronto turned to fall. Meanwhile Steph was dressed up for the evening in jeans and a flowy top. Her hair was done, her makeup looked beautiful; nothing about her screamed casual dinner at home. Certainly not like the messy ponytail Aubrey was rocking, after running over from work.

“Wine?” Mitch offers, breaking the silence, and Aubrey nods immediately, forgetting entirely about...whatever is going on here in favor of the alcohol she’s been needing since she arrived at the office today.

Mitch pours a glass and offers it out, but honestly, fuck that; Aubrey reaches for the bottle instead and takes a sip. “Nope, listen, these motherfuckers-” And then, she cuts herself off abruptly as she catches sight of the single most beautiful man she has ever had the pleasure of even having in her field of vision, leaning against the counter.

“No, go ahead.” Blondie grins, and fuck that, of course, he’s got the most beautiful smile too. “These motherfuckers, what?”

“Fucked up a huge project at work this week.” Aubrey finishes, pretty lamely, compared to how heated she’d started that sentence. 

“Gonna start throwing that at Matts.” Blondie grins again. “Anytime he fucks up a pass to me. This motherfucker.”

“Heh.” She laughs, lifting the wine bottle in a cheers-esque manner, and then, not knowing what else to do, she takes another large sip.

Blondie is still grinning when Aubrey brings her bottle back down and Mitch is doing a very poor job of hiding a laugh, but it’s not hard to see that Steph’s making murder eyes that Aubrey pointedly ignores, so Steph turns her attention away with a sigh. “What’s up, Will?”

“Oh, uh, Matts and Alison nominated me to see if there was anything we could do to help.” Will says smoothly.

“We?” Mitch raises an eyebrow, at the distinct lack of we that arrived with Will.

“Well.” Will shrugs, like that should explain everything, and maybe it does, because Mitch only snorts.

“We’re okay.” Steph jumps in. “We’ll all be out soon.”

Will nods, and leaves Aubrey with one last grin, before he turns and heads out towards their back patio, which must be where dinner is taking place, but as soon as the door shuts behind him, Aubrey turns to round on Steph and Mitch. “What the fuck?”

“Me, what the fuck?” Steph, her best friend since grade school, knows exactly what she’s talking about. “You, what the fuck?”

“This was a setup?”

“You didn’t know?” Mitch cries, turning immediately to his girlfriend and looking incredibly offended.

“Yes she did!” Steph defends. “I literally texted you: Mitch has a single friend we think you’d get along with if you’re interested. Are you free friday for dinner? We were thinking of having you all over. And you said: sounds good I’ll be there.”

“Well, in my defense, work was a dumpster fire this week and I really only skim-read that text.”

“Well now I know why you showed up like that.” 

“Rude, Stephanie.” Aubrey sticks her tongue out at her best friend, grinning immediately afterwards, because Steph’s her best friend and she’s the only one she would let talk to her this way. “Just for that I’m not using a glass the entire night.”

“Not like your first impression could get any worse.” Steph deadpans.

“Meh.” Mitch shrugs. “It’s Willy. He’s done way worse.”

Steph sighs, pinches the bridge of her nose, and then looks over. “Could you use your one free hand then to take a second bottle of wine out then please? For the rest of us who’d like some, to share?”

Aubrey grins. “Gladly.”

That this was meant to be a setup couldn’t be more clear to her as the three of them make their way out to the porch with more drinks and some snacks. Mitch and Steph have dragged some of their comfier patio furniture around the firepit; there’s a couple curled into each other on one of the couches, an empty one with Mitch’s favorite type of beer on the table next to it, and one seat open on the couch that’s occupied by Will. 

Aubrey shoots Steph a look as Steph practically leaps back onto the empty couch, and then she slips herself into the empty seat next to Will. That level of distinct lack of chill is really her thing, thanks Steph.

Steph merely grins back, formally introducing her to everyone around them. And okay, their friends are cool- like Aubrey knows they are; she’s met more than a few of Mitch’s hockey friends before. She’s many-a-time fifth-wheeled dinner with Mitch and Steph and Matt and Syd. She, Mitch, and Steph still had a group chat going with a bunch of Mitch’s old teammates from the Knights. Hell, Strome and McDavid had joined Mitch in playing with her and Steph on their families’ summer softball team last summer.

But she just can’t seem to understand what they see in Will that they think he’d be good for her. Like sure he’s nice enough, and obviously good looking, and like, yeah she has a good time while she’s there, but like, sparks? Nothing. 

Regardless of the lack of sparks between them, it is a fun night, and she curls up in one of the guest rooms in Steph and Mitch’s that night, fully planning on laughing at them the next morning. 

Except, the next morning, Mitch is already gone for practice and Steph’s first question is, “So when are you going to see Will again?”

Aubrey frowns. “Uhh I don’t know. Probably whenever you have us both over for dinner again?”

Steph frowns back. “What?”

“What what?”

“You didn’t, like, give him your number? Make plans? Anything?”

“Why would we?”

“Because he’s perfect for you?”

Aubrey gives her a look. Was Steph even at the same dinner that she was? They, like, barely interacted; Will chatting more with Auston and what’s-her-name or Mitch and Auston, and her with Steph pretty much the entire night. “Perfect for me? Seriously? That’s the guy you think is perfect for me?”

She huffs. If Aubrey didn’t know her best friend better she’d think she was offended, but, well, she does. “Yes!”

“No!”

“I mean, at least give it a shot!” Steph needles.

Aubrey pulls a face. “Why? So we can break up and make things super awkward at anything you and Mitch throw for the rest of your lives? No thanks.”

“I’m telling you.” Steph says. “Perfect match.” But she drops it after that, suggesting brunch, an offer that Aubrey immediately agrees to.

-----

It’s a quick stop for Aubrey to pop home to change and pick up her roommate, Erin, before the three girls head over to what’s long been a favorite brunch spot, laughing as Aubrey and Erin watch Steph fire off a series of snapchats to Mitch featuring her bottomless mimosas- her favorite way of asking to be picked up on his way home from practice.

Erin laughs so hard she almost snorts mimosa out her nose as Aubrey and Steph recap dinner from the previous night, but once she recovers, she hits Steph with a look. “I am begging you to invite me to this next time, solely so I can watch the two of them interact.”

Aubrey gasps as Steph laughs. “Rude!”

Erin giggles, beginning to recount the date she’d gone on last night-her fourth with this guy from the gym she belongs to-and Aubrey finds herself nodding along with Steph in all the right places, as friends should, happy that Erin’s happy, especially after her shitty last boyfriend, and eager to meet this guy for more than the five minutes he’d shown up at their door. 

Her story is interrupted-for Aubrey, at least-by the vibration of her phone, and she checks the text from an unfamiliar number, rolling her eyes when she sees the message.

hey this is will, followed by an amount of emojis that could only actually be from Mitch. 

hi mitch. She sends back.

lol. Comes the response. sorry.

you don’t have to apologize for mitch. i’m familiar

Will reacts to that with a haha and then it’s a while before she checks her phone again, enjoying brunch with her girls and laughing at the look on Mitch’s face as he comes to pick Steph up and realizes he’ll be driving her and Erin back as well.

he’s really found his place between annoying and relentless. Will’s texted, when she checks again a little later, at home on the couch and pleasantly tipsy, deciding what to Netflix with Erin.

that’s his sweet spot. Aubrey sends, and then points halfheartedly at The Office on the screen, well on her way to a post-brunch nap.

-----

Aubrey knows Mitch and Steph well enough to know that’s not the end of it, and sure enough, the subtle (and not so subtle) hints keep coming. But luckily, training camp is about to begin, and so even if they do keep coming, Mitch, and by extension, Will, are both too busy for Mitch and Steph to push anything too crazy on her and Will.

Until suddenly the season begins, and even though things are still crazy for them, suddenly they’ve got days off or afternoons free and she finds that the subtleness of the hints becomes gradually less subtle.

jesus fuck. Will sends one afternoon and she laughs at it immediately, even as he continues typing. tell steph i’m sorry but mitch had to go.

She laughs loudly, which earns her a look from her nearest coworkers. right there with you.

considering just lying and telling him i already took you out last week to just get him off my back jfc. 

tried that already. knew i was lying right away. Aubrey sends back. She appreciates him trying, but come on. That was like, the first thing she tried.

well, Will sends, and then those annoying three dots appear and disappear about four times, before he finally finishes. let’s just go somewhere then and get them off our backs.

time and fucking place. She replies.

-----

Aubrey meets Will at a bar that’s close to her work, a couple days after that text exchange, just in time for the end of happy hour. He’s got a drink in front of him already, that he quickly finishes when the waiter comes to take her order, so he can order another one while she orders one of her favorite cocktails, before it becomes full price again at the start of the next hour.

“You know, I thought Mitchy would have been more…” Will trails off, looking thoughtful, but then continues after a moment. “Smug, when I told him we were going out tonight. What’d Steph say?”

“Oh don’t get me wrong. They’ll be smug to each other.” Aubrey tells him, confident that the two of them are at home right now boasting about the fact that they were right. “But if they think we’re actually on the same page now and they say anything that I hear, that would be the end. Downward tailspin, cut my hair six inches, new tattoo, you name it.” 

Will laughs. “So it’s like that?”

She nods. “A little lacking in some impulse control.” She holds her thumb and index finger up to him, with about 10cm of space between them, to show him just how poor it is, and Will laughs again. 

“Guess I’ll just have to wait for a nice, big I told you so tomorrow.” He says.

Aubrey snickers. “One a day for the next few weeks more like.”

Will shrugs. “Meh, I’ll figure something out to give him a taste of his own medicine.”

“We should.” Aubrey nods absentmindedly, as a comment she’d made to Steph right after the initial dinner comes back to her. 

“Should what?” Will frowns. 

“Give them a taste of their own medicine.”

“Where are you going with this?” Will asks curiously.

Aubrey grins, as the idea starts to form. “A tragic break up to make things so awkward for the two of them that they’ll regret setting us up in the first place.”

Will pauses for a long moment, but then he grins and leans toward her. “I’m listening.”

-----

Steph is bouncing when Aubrey walks into their weekly Thursday barre class. She’s sure she knows why, but Aubrey gives her a strange look anyway when she slides in next to her. “What?”

“What?” Steph repeats. “Seriously?”

Aubrey laughs. “Use your words, Stephanie.”

“Bitch, you know what I want.” Steph says, which makes the woman in front of them turn and give them a scandalized look.

Aubrey giggles. She’d really just wanted to annoy Steph a little but that was totally worth it all. “Yeah I know. It was good. Like whatever.”

“I hate you so much.”

“I’m going to see him again!”Aubrey protests. “What more do you want from me? I’m not going to like, profess my undying love for him after one date. I’m not Mitch.”

“It was like, our fifth date, and he didn’t profess his undying love for me! He just said he loved me!” Steph huffs as Aubrey snickers. She laughs about it now, they all do, a thing she teases both of her friends about, but she vividly remembers the panic Steph had been in coming home from that date. 

“Well.” She says, grinning. “I guess I’ve got four dates to go then. Or maybe Will does.”

“Will’s too chill to do anything like that.” Steph decides, just as their usual instructor enters. “Ridiculous shit is definitely more your move.”

Aub thinks back to her date with Will the other night, where they’d carefully crafted an entire narrative to start this fake relationship, and fights back a grin, because she’s pretty sure Will can be just as ridiculous. He just does a better job at hiding it. 

-----

Just after noon one day, a few weeks into her arrangement with Will, Aubrey’s phone buzzes and she more than welcomes the interruption from the current project she’s working on.

need a favor. Will’s sent, followed immediately by, please.

sure, what’s up?

His name pops up on her screen next and Aubrey frowns, swiping to accept the call. “Hey.”

“I’m downstairs.” Will says and she frowns, both at the skipped greeting, and at his words.

“Of my office?” She blurts.

“Yeah.” Will says, like it’s the most casual thing in the world, and Aubrey pushes her chair back abruptly.

“Uh ok. I’ll be right down.” She’s already pushing the button for the elevator, waving off the coworker calling after her, asking if everything’s okay. 

Will’s waiting outside, with two cups of coffee in hand, and even though he’d said that he was, Aubrey’s still kind of surprised to see him. He passes her one of the cups in his hand and she takes it, thanking him as she does. “So what’s up?”

“I need a favor.” Will says, starting to walk, and Aubrey follows easily, sipping on the latte he’d brought her. 

She laughs. “You said. What do you need?”

“The team’s got this thing on Friday.” Aubrey gives him a look, because she knows what the thing the team has on Friday is, Steph’s been talking about it for a few weeks now, and it is not as casual as Will is throwing it out to her right now. “And I think I need you to come with me.”

“Do you though?” Aubrey says. “Do you really?”

“I tried for you not to.” Will admits, shooting her a grin, which she appreciates. “But, well, it’s a thing I would have brought any other girlfriend to and then Mitchy opened his mouth too…” He trails off.

“So find a dress.” Aubrey sums up.

Will nods. “Please. I’ll pay for it.” He adds, but she brushes it off. 

“If we’re still stuck in this for Blue and White, you can buy me a dress then.” She grins, and Will returns the grin.

“Deal.” 

-----

Fixing her curls one last time in the mirror by the door, Aubrey grabs her clutch and runs downstairs to meet her Uber. She’s late, not like super late, but more so than she’d  hoped to be, even after texting Will that she was running behind with work and that she’d have to meet him at the venue probably, if he didn’t want to be late.

She shoots off a text to him when she gets in the car, letting him know she’s on her way, and makes polite chatter for a few minutes with her driver, leg bouncing anxiously until he pulls up to where she needs to be.

Will’s standing outside the door when she pulls up, like he’s waiting for her as if this was an actual date, looking at something on his phone in the meantime, which gives Aubrey a minute to take a peek at his suit. He looks good; she might not have any desire to actually date Will, but she can absolutely admit to both herself and anyone (including Steph) that he’s probably the most objectively attractive human she’s ever met, and the suit only ramps that up. It’s custom made, perfectly fitted, a navy blue that brings out his eyes, and maybe a little more casual than some others she’s seen but in a good way. 

His choice in suits makes her feel better about what she’s wearing. Aubrey’d been trying to work off what Steph was wearing, while making sure that what she'd picked out wasn’t overly fancy for the evening or too similar to what Steph had already chosen, ending up in a knee length dress with a sheer high neckline. 

“Hey!” She smiles, catching his attention, mildly disappointed that he doesn’t even flinch in surprise, only looks up as smooth as can be and returns her smile.

“Hey.” He slips his phone in his pocket, reaching out for her hand.

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” Aubrey says immediately, that terrible feeling of letting anyone down instantly relieved when Will waves her off. 

“You haven’t even missed the entire cocktail hour.” He says and she feels her eyes widen as he nods solemnly. “Yeah, it’s like that.”

“Our first stop better be to get me a glass of wine.”

Will laughs, pressing the button for the elevator. “Wouldn’t dream of it being anywhere else.”

Will refreshes his own drink as well, and selects a red wine for her after Aub hems and haws over the options for a minute, a choice that she almost can’t bring herself to take a sip of once the glass is in her hand, for fear that she’ll never be able to drink another Malbec again, guessing this one is well out of her price range based on name and bottle appearance alone. (She takes a sip anyway, it’s as delicious as she’d expected).

Will’s smiling, as if waiting for her reaction, like there’s not a wine she doesn’t like (well, chardonnay, but like, even that she’ll drink if it’s all that available). “Should we do this?” Aubrey asks him, ready to watch him be roasted by teammates for the evening, and he nods, hand moving to the small of her back, leading her deep into the crowd.

But for all the shit he claims to have taken recently about her, they must be on their best behavior, out in public. Everyone he introduces her to is nothing but friendly; the few people she’s met before this event greet her with smiles and open arms, welcoming her into the fold. 

“Are you sure these are the same teammates you warned me about?” She asks Will, when they have a minute to themselves, just finishing up a long and very nice conversation with Justin Holl, Jake Muzzin and their wives, and thinking of the series of texts he’d sent her this morning about “all these assholes.”

“They’re being nice, just for you.” He insists. His arm is still at her waist; it’s barely left there all night. 

“Ugh, so I grew up with seven siblings and I’m not even going to be able to use the skills I got from that to throw down?” She jokes. “What was the point?”

Will actually stops walking for a second, drawing her into him quickly when she stumbles, not expecting the abrupt stop in walking. “You have seven siblings?”

Aubrey nods, wondering if she should bother getting into her family dynamics right now, and settles for a short version. “On my mom’s side, yeah. My parents divorced when I was a baby, and they both remarried. My brother and I have more siblings from both of them; it’s just like a whole thing with my dad.” She winces.

Will’s grinning again, though, like he didn’t even catch it, and he points to himself. “One of six.”

“Oh my god!” She blurts out excitedly, before she can help herself. There’s not many people she knows with sibling counts even close to hers, step and half siblings including, let alone a family like Will’s. “See, you get it!”

“Get what?” She hadn’t even realized that Mitch and Steph had approached them, until Mitch pokes in nosily.

“That younger siblings are actual monsters.” 

“You talk to your sisters everyday!” Mitch frowns, because he doesn’t get it; he never has.

“Yeah, your point?” Aubrey gives him a look as the others laugh around them. “That’s literally what having younger siblings is, and you just don’t know it because you are one.”

“Shots fired.” Steph nudges him.

“You’re the younger sibling too!” he nudges her back.

“Mmm, traditionally, Aub and I count all our siblings together, soo.” She trails off, laughing at the look on Mitch’s face.

Aubrey’s nodding; their families had grown up so close that it wasn’t uncommon to see Steph and her sister hanging around with Aubrey and her brothers, from the time they were children, all the way until today. “That’s why when Cam starts driving me crazy when she’s here next weekend, I’m just dropping her at your place. Basically the same thing.”

“Ohh, so she’s definitely coming?” Steph asks, eyes wide.

Aubrey nods. “Confirmed it with my mom today, I’m going to meet her halfway.” She pauses for the briefest of seconds. “Want to come?”

“Yes! Coffee on the way?”

“Obviously!”

“Yeah, Will and I are definitely going to sit this one out.” Mitch nods firmly.

“You weren’t actually invited, but okay.” Steph pats his shoulder mock-comfortingly. “But we should all do dinner when we get back!”

It takes everything in Aubrey not to show the internal panic on her face. She’s insanely close with her sisters, despite the age gap- she’s close with all her siblings, the brothers that she’d grown up probably terrorizing their parents together and the younger ones that terrorize them all now. It was probably unrealistic to think she could make it through “dating” Will without him meeting any of them, especially knowing how close Steph is with them too. “Yeah, that would be fun.”

She feels Will squeeze her side gently, almost comfortingly, but before they can get much further with this conversation, someone’s coming around and asking them to find their seats for dinner, so they split off to their tables, with promises to make plans for the following Friday over the next few days.

-----

Will’s quiet on the drive home after dinner, in his very expensive car, which is fine because Aubrey spends that time marveling over it. Like, she knew he was boujie, but, wow. 

“Is your sister staying all next weekend?” Will asks, abruptly interrupting Aubrey’s caress of the soft leather of the seat beneath her legs.

“Hm? Oh yeah.” She nods. “Cam’s been a super pain since Kayls started high school this year since she’s still back in junior high, but worse since Kayls just got invited to her first high school party and it’s next weekend.” She sees Will’s wince out of the corner of her eye and laughs. “Oh my god, you don’t even know the half of it! When I texted Cam to invite her up next weekend, she was like why would I want to come hang out with a bunch of old people like you anyway?” 

Will’s laughing and Aubrey’s jaw drops until he shares, “When I was home last summer, my youngest sister made me drop her off at a friend’s house three doors away because I wasn’t cool enough to be seen with.”

She actually laughs at that- if Will, an actual professional hockey player, isn’t cool enough to be seen with, then who is?- but the attitude is so familiar.  “They’re super close, Kayls and Cam, and like I kinda get why Cam’s being super annoying about a lot of shit. Like, I know she feels like she’s being left behind. But god, does she have to take it out on the rest of us?” She shakes her head, clearing both the thoughts and a piece of hair out of her face. “It’s just the age, my mom and I talk about it all the time. They’ll be nice again in a few years.”

Will glances over at her briefly with a look of panic on his face, before flicking his eyes back to the road. “That’s not really a comforting statement. As someone with three younger sisters,” He clarifies. “Not someone meeting yours this weekend.” Aubrey giggles. “But actually, I was wondering what your plans were with her on Saturday night? If you wanted tickets to the game for you guys?”

“Oh!” Aubrey blinks in surprise. “That would...that would actually be really nice. She’d like that.”

“Yeah?” She can hear the smile in Will’s voice.

“Well, she’d like the flex on all her friends on Monday.” Aub admits, knowing that her sister could probably care less about actually seeing a Leafs game. “And on the boys, they’d be super jealous.” At his glance, she clarifies. “Cam’s a triplet.”

He mutters something under his breath and she giggles again; she’s pretty sure that was Swedish and she can guess what it was. “But they’re not coming?”

“Not this weekend.” She confirms. She is definitely not hosting all three of Cam, Tyler, and Danny for the entire weekend. No way, no how. “But once they find out you’re offering tickets? I’m sure my phone will be ringing.”

“You know where to find me.” Will shrugs, pulling up in front of her building. “Thanks for coming tonight.”

Aubrey grins at him. “Fooled Steph and Mitch no problems.”

It feels like it takes a second for the comment to register with Will, but when it does, he returns the grin. “Yeah, no problems.”

-----

Steph waits until they are well on the road to meet her mom and both sisters (because in a surprise twist that everyone saw coming, a high schooler got grounded and a party was cancelled) sitting in stop and go traffic, before bringing up what Aubrey knows she’s been dying to ask. “So how’s Will?”

“Fine?” She responds, before she remembers that she’s supposed to know these things and hastens to finish. “It’s been a busy week with like, work and this shit, but like, he’s good.”

Steph makes a noise, like she’s unsatisfied with that answer and Aubrey gives her a look after she’s braked with the masses, waiting for it to pick up again. “But, like, how are the two of you?”

Ah. Ok. So that’s what this is about. “We’re good.” She assures Steph, absolutely certain her best friend is going to see right through her. “Just like, figuring shit out, you know? It’s still new.”

Steph’s nodding. “I mean, it wouldn’t be if you’d just gone out when Mitch and I first brought you to dinner…”

“Stephanie.” Aubrey says warningly, picking up speed, probably with too much hope that the traffic has cleared.

“Fine!” Steph laughs. “I know, I can’t say I told you so to you or you’re going to panic and break up with him and probably dye your hair and get bangs or something, but like. I’m super happy for you guys. You were so cute last week.”

“What?” Aub says blankly, because she really doesn’t have much else to say, but it doesn’t seem to matter, because Steph’s on a roll now.

“Like, Will couldn’t take his eyes off you the entire night.” She continues. “It was super cute; he kept, like reaching for you, you kept finding him.” She taps Aubrey’s leg excitedly. “Ok, I know I said I wouldn’t, but I’m too fucking excited and I knew you’d be perfect for each other, I knew it.”

“Oh, look! There’s a tattoo place right at the next light.” Aub says loudly, even though she has no intention of getting a tattoo right now- all four of her tattoos were impulsive decisions and the three threats she’s made since she’s gotten in the car feel like far too much thought, not to mention the time crunch they’re on to get back for dinner-but it does serve as the threat she intends. Steph clearly has no desire to try and talk her out of getting one today and switches the topic to something she just saw on the Insta of one of their friends, which lasts them until they pull into the parking lot that’s serving as the meeting point.

“Aub!” For all that Cameron pretends she’s too cool for everything, just like every 14 year old Aubrey can remember, she throws herself at Aubrey the second that Aub and Steph get out of the car. 

Aub squeezes her back, wondering when she got so tall. “Hey Cammie.” Cam swats at her as she pulls back. She hates that nickname, the one that Aub and her three older brothers have called her basically her entire life, but they’ve never stopped, no matter how much their youngest sibling had begged. “Where’s Kayls?”

“Here!” Kaylee huffs from next to their mom, who’s chatting with Steph, has been since she hugged her the minute she got out of the car. 

Aubrey’s eyes narrow, taking in the sibling who looks most like her. “Is that my sweater?”

“No.” Kaylee says too quickly to be true. “Are we ready? We have dinner plans, right?”

“Meeting Aubrey's new boyyyyfriend.” Cam sings, and Aubrey shoves her hand in her sister's face. 

“Not if you’re going to act like that, we don’t.”

“Girls.” Their mom pauses, mid-reach for Aubrey, to give her youngest two daughters a full-on mom look. “Be nice.”

Aubrey laughs at the looks on their faces, before clutching at her mom. “Hi momma. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Her mom squeezes. “Thanks for this gift.” She whispers and winks because Aub knows that her mom loves all eight of them dearly, but these two in particular are driving her nuts right now. “See you Sunday, at Luke’s.”

“Bye, I’m sure I’ll call you ten times before tomorrow!” Aubrey waves at her mom as she gets in her car, sliding back into the driver’s seat of her own, where Steph, Kaylee, and Cam are chattering to each other as they buckle their seatbelts. 

It’s just as she’s pulling back onto the road that Kayls gasps. “Aub, I think I forgot to pack toothpaste.”

“Ohh, me too!” Cam realizes.

Aubrey exchanges a look with Steph quickly. It’s not looking promising that she won’t be making a call to her mom, to talk her off the ledge.

-----

“What do you mean, you didn’t bring pants?” Aubrey rubs her temples as she stares at her sister.

Kaylee shrugs. “I forgot to pack them.”

“I forgot shirts.” Cam calls from the bathroom, where she’d just showered. “Can I borrow one?”

“Did you bring anything?” Aubrey asks wearily. “Toothbrush? Underwear?”

“Of course I brought underwear.” Kaylee huffs, sounding legit offended, like she didn’t forget to pack pants on a weekend trip away.

“Well excuse me for thinking you might not have, since you didn’t bring anything else!”

Her phone buzzes on the nightstand again; it’s got to be the third or fourth time, but she’s honestly been so caught up in her sisters that she hasn’t had time to check. “Just, like, grab whatever from the closet. We’re already late.”

Sure enough, it’s Will texting, letting her know he’s downstairs. be down in a few, She responds, not bothering to go into the whole pants story. “Girls! Three minutes!” She grins at their shrieks, packing a couple things into her purse and laughing to herself as she listens to them get ready. “Kayls! Cam!”

“We’re ready!” They rush out together, Kayls dressed in a pair of her favorite jeans and Cam in one of her favorite sweaters-how they always manage to find her favorites is ridiculous-but they don’t have time for her to make them change. 

“Ugh.” Aubrey just says instead, ushering them out and locking it behind her. “Come on, Will’s been waiting.”

“Will’s here?”

“Yes?” She frowns at the two of them. “Where else would he be?” But Kaylee and Cam are already giggling to each other, enough for her to roll her eyes to herself as she leads them out to Will’s car, knowing it’s definitely too much to expect them to just be cool.

“Hey.” Will greets, as she slips into the passenger seat.

“Hi.” She returns, smiling at him.

“Uh, hi?” Cam says impatiently from the backseat. Will laughs, but Aub gives her a look.

“It’s been literally two seconds. Could you, like, chill?”

“Nope!”

Aub side-eyes her again, but turns back to Will. “These are my sisters, Cam and Kaylee.” They greet him eagerly, a sentiment he returns, and then spends the entire car ride to the restaurant where they’re meeting Steph and Mitch at answering every question they ask with absurd patience. 

“Oh, I smell garlic.” Kaylee says, once Will has dropped his car off with valet. 

“It smells delicious.” Aub corrects, because it’s definitely heavy on the garlic, but it smells heavenly. 

Will smiles over at both of them, though Aub’s not sure if he means it more for Kaylee or her. “This is one of my favorite restaurants.”

“Really?” She blurts out, before she can stop herself, and he nods, reaching for her hand. 

“Great food.” He confirms. “Come on; Mitch and Steph are already here.”

That certainly serves to get her sisters moving-all her younger siblings have stopped being impressed by Mitch but they still love seeing him just as much as they love seeing Steph- and they push their way into through the doors quickly enough that Aubrey rushes to catch up to them, not trusting them alone, and tugging Will along with her.

Cam and Kaylee have already found Mitch and Steph, already chatting away with the two of them, like they didn’t just see Steph two hours ago in the car, and Aubrey and Will slip into the last two seats at the table. 

“You good?” Will nudges her as they sit. 

Aubrey nods. “Yeah. Pretty good.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Pretty good.”

“Well, Frick and Frack may legitimately drive me crazy this weekend but.” She shrugs. “We’ll see.”

“What happened to dropping them off with Steph if they drove you too crazy?”

She laughs. “God, if only, Will. If only.”

“Will!” Kaylee interrupts, looking up briefly from her menu. “What’s good here?”

“Will! What’s this mean?” Cam adds and Aubrey takes a deep breath, even as Will looks like it’s his absolute pleasure to walk them through the names of some of the different dishes on the menu. 

“Wine, please.” Aubrey requests from the waiter, the second he arrives at the table. “Literally, anything you’ve got.”

But Will waves that off, ordering a bottle of red for the table, in perfect French. “Show off.” She grumbles at him quietly and he grins at her from over the top of Cam’s menu, before he goes back to helping her out.

From her other side, Steph’s hiding her own smile, or rather, doing a very poor job at hiding one. “What?” Aubrey presses.

“Nothing.” Steph says. “Just happy to be having dinner all together.”

“Well that’s bullshit.” Aubrey calls her out, at the very blatant lie; Mitch snorts into his hand to cover his laugh. “But always happy to be having dinner with you too.”

Steph beams, clinking her wine glass with Aubrey’s the second the waiter fills them both. “Again, tomorrow, pregame?”

Aub looks over at her sisters, who have moved away from asking Will menu questions and are, instead, asking him questions about the bun in his hair. “Assuming you aren’t bailing me out of jail instead? Sure.”

-----

Aubrey Dupont: we’re going to do apps with steph pregame but want to say thanks again for tix tonight! want to do dinner again with us after if you’re free? 

Will Nylander: i’m free dinner sounds good 😁 it’ll be late though once I get out

Aubrey Dupont: that’s fine! Id say breakfast but we’ve got to leave pretty early tomorrow to get to my brothers to knock a wall down!

Will Nylander: ….holy shit cam was serious

Aubrey Dupont: 😂😂lollll yeah they’re opening up the dining room and living room! We’re all going out to take the wall down, we’re supposed to meet Steph and Mitch and then head out

Will Nylander: lol does mitch know? he booked us a tee time Sunday 

Aubrey Dupont: stfu he did not😂 lol he probably just doesn’t want to get iced that early

Will Nylander: haha what??

Aubrey Dupont: hahaha the first time steph brought him home to meet our families, it was my parents Christmas Eve party, my brothers iced him like three times in the first hour. He was so trashed he couldn’t even walk back next door to Steph’s house. 

It’s just like a thing we do, all our siblings and he was not prepared for it at all 😂

Will Nylander: sooo if I left one in his locker this week, how much trouble would you be in?

Aubrey Dupont: lol a lot but it’d be worth it, you should 100% do that

Mitch Marner: we’re knocking down a wall tomorrow wtf why didn’t you tell me? I’ll brave a Smirnoff to knock down a fucking wall. What time are you and Will picking us up?

Will Nylander: i fucked up, sorry

-----

“That’s really cute!” Zach Hyman’s wife smiles as she hands Kaylee her phone back. 

“Thank you.” Aubrey mouths to her, as Cam and Kayls flock to the phone to check out the pictures she’s taken of them, and Alannah smiles at her knowingly. Aub’s sure she’s got sisters of her own. 

“I’ll see you soon.” Alannah promises. “We should do dinner soon, the three of us, next time the boys are out of town.” And then she’s pushing her way toward Zach before Aub can respond to anything.

“Not a word.” Aubrey says warningly to her sisters, as Steph snickers, thinking of how picky the two of them are about pictures almost always.

“These are actually really cute though.” Cam says, like she even means it.

“Yeah, she did good.” Kayls adds, sliding her phone back into her purse.

“So happy they meet your standards.” Steph says dryly.

“They are the ones to meet.” Kayls flips her hair and it’s all Aubrey can do to fight back a laugh. She honest to god forgets how funny they are sometimes, when they’re driving her as crazy as they are now. 

“You’re too much.” Aubrey tells her and Kaylee grins, looping her arms around Aub’s shoulders and squeezing tightly. “Okay, now you’re really too much. You’re suffocating me; get off! Look,” She nudges Kaylee away, noticing quickly that Mitch has appeared recently- without Will, but with Auston-and tries to draw her attention there instead. “Mitch is here, bother him instead.”

Kaylee peers over. “Honestly, who even cares about Mitch? I’d rather bother Will instead.”

Mitch’s jaw drops as Steph and Auston laugh, but Aubrey feels the tension immediately in her shoulders. “Jesus Christ, could you just say thank you to Will so he doesn’t think you’re a literal monster like the rest of the world does?”

“Thanks, Will!” Kaylee and Cam chorus, and she glares at them right up until she feels a presence at her side and realizes he’s actually right there. 

“It was great to have you guys here this weekend.” Will smiles at them, sounding absolutely sincere, not a hint of sarcasm. 

“We had so much fun.” Kayls is already gushing before Aub can even turn her death glare to her. 

“What’d you guys do today?” Will asks her and again, it’s the sincerity that gets Aub, like he actually cares to listen to her sisters tell him about the brunch place that she and Steph took them to this morning, the stores they hit afterwards, a few of their favorite spots, before they had to go home and get ready for the game. 

He’s sweet and attentive, asking all the questions that he should and nodding in all the right places. “You guys still want dinner?” He asks, probably as soon as he can find a time to interrupt. He’s got to be absolutely starving after that game.

“Yes.” Aubrey answers for them all; she doesn’t really care what her sisters actually have to say on the matter. If Will’s hungry, they’ll eat right now whether they want to or not.

“Can we go back to that bakery we went to earlier, first?” Cam asks, and Aubrey straight up glares at her, but before she can even say no, Cam’s already whining to her. “Oh my, god, seriously? Stop, Aubrey!”

“Ryan, like, swears you’re fun; I just don’t see it.” Kaylee adds, about their brother, the one just younger than Aub.

And like, Aubrey knows they’re just trying to get under her skin, but like, Jesus Christ. “That’s because Ryan’s an actual adult and whenever you two come up here I have to be your literal mom, because you forget to bring toothbrushes and pants and use manners!”

“Take like four deep breaths.” Will says, in that chill way he is about basically everything, and immediately Aubrey feels her glare swing over toward him. That’s basically being told to calm down and there’s literally nothing fucking worse than that, doesn’t he know that?

Probably not. He’s probably never been told to calm down in his life. Jesus, what was it again that made Steph think he was perfect for her?

Mitch, probably recognizing that Aubrey’s about to lose it, pulls Cam into his side for a one-armed hug, mentioning that he’s starving, which at least cues Kaylee into the fact that Will might be too. “Yeah, dinner does actually sound good.” Her eyes flicker over to Will first, before landing on Aubrey, and only when Aub sees the flicker of remorse in them does she actually take that breath that Will had mentioned. 

“What time are we meeting in the morning?’ Steph asks, and Aub knows she’s looking to smooth over any potential blow up.

“9:22.” She deadpans, laughing at Mitch’s face.

“It’s supposed to be a nice day!” He protests. “I wouldn’t have made a tee time if you two had told me we were knocking down a wall! I had to hear it from Willy! What’s this shit?”

“Kicked out of the group chat again.” Aub shrugs, even though she knows well and truly that he hasn’t been- and won’t be again until sometime early spring, when someone does it symbolically for a day as they do every year.

“I’ll kick you out of the group chat.” Mitch says childishly, as Steph tries to collect him, Auston already ready to leave, and promising Aub that they’ll make plans later that night about the next morning.

“Will, where do you want to take us tonight for food?” Kayls asks, as they part ways in the lot.

Will looks a little startled. “Oh! Uh, what-where do you guys want to go?”

“We want to go where you like to eat.” Cam says. “We’ll eat anything.”

Will looks at her for confirmation and Aubrey nods; none of them are picky eaters. “Sushi?” He suggests and both girls nod excitedly, racing off towards Will’s car. “See?” He nudges her as they walk to catch up. “They’re fine.”

She glares up at him; he bumps her again and then again, repeatedly until she smiles. “They’re not awful.” She agrees, especially now that they’ve reminded her just how nice they can really be, at times.

Will’s grinning, matching her own smile. “I know you love them.”

“Don’t call me out like that, William.” He mimes zipping his lips and she laughs. “Ugh, you dork. Let’s go eat.”

-----

Kayls and Cam are in peak hurricane form, only barely dressed and nowhere near packed and ready to go, when Will texts to announce that he’s arrived to pick them up in the morning, so Aub just responds with her apartment number and tells him to come up.

He arrives at her door a minute or two later, with a guest in tow. “Mitchy invited him.” Will explains sheepishly, as he and Auston make themselves at home at the breakfast bar in her kitchen.

“Sorry to just, like, crash.” Auston adds.

Aubrey blinks at them. She feels like Will, of all people, should know better. “There’s legit eight of us; we adopt strays all the time.” He cracks up at that; they both do actually, and she smiles, just as Kayls shouts something about Cam stealing her leggings, from where they’re still in her room gathering her stuff.

“They’re not even yours!” Cam shouts. “Aubrey, tell her I got them first.”

“Well I was planning on wearing them!”

“Well you didn’t say that!”

“It’s just like being at home.” Auston says, smiling fondly enough that Aub laughs. “Make sure you check the straightener before you leave or they’ll fight about who forgot to turn it off in the car.” And then she straight up cackles; that’s a fight she knows well.

Auston and Will are both laughing as well, even as she hears her sisters shout for her. She ignores it, running her hands over her temples and turns towards the cabinet. “Coffee?” She asks them, and they both laugh as a muffled shout can be heard.

“Please.” Will says and Auston agrees so she pours mugs for them both, making idle chit chat, interrupted occasionally as they wait for her sisters to finally appear and be ready to leave. 

They do, eventually, far later than Aubrey would have liked, and late enough that she’s grinding her teeth about it, loud enough that Will nudges her gently when she passes him to get her coat. He’s right though, it’s not like they’re in a rush to get out to her brother's house, but she’s anxious enough by that point to get moving that she doesn’t even realize what Kayls has taken from her closet to wear until they’re all climbing into Will’s backseat. “Oh my god, what are you wearing?”

“They’re literally yours!” Kayls snaps back and that’s not a lie, but it’s not what Aub’s got issue with either. It’s the absurdly clashing patterns in her leggings and oversized long-sleeve.

“I never wear them together.”

“That’s because your fashion sense is basic a-f.” Kayls pronounces each letter individually and Aub knows, she knows that Will and Auston are laughing at the look of disbelief on her face, even if she can’t see them. “You should take some tips from Will; his is on point.”

“Thanks, Kayls!” Will beams at her through the rearview mirror.

Aubrey ignores him. “Will’s homeless, that’s why he dresses like that.” She deadpans, which he protests immediately even as Auston cracks up.

“You’re not homeless.” Cam says to her, and it’s the fake innocent thing that does it for Aub. “Will could live with you.”

Aub pulls a face even as Auston just laughs even harder and Cam stares at her like she’s waiting for an actual answer. “Walked right into that one.” She mutters to herself, as Will meets her eyes in the mirror. He’s fighting back a grin; she can see the laughter in his eyes. “Will, coffee at the next Tim’s, please?” She’s going to need one to get through this.

Will’s full on grinning now, but he pulls off at the next exit in search of coffee and hands over his credit card before she can even object. The rest of the ride to her brother’s house feels like it passes in a flash, Kayls and Cam tumbling out of the car to greet Luke practically before Will’s even put it in park. 

The only thing that stops Aubrey from having a complete heart attack is the immediate sense of calm she feels from no longer calling herself in charge. Luke’s here; he can deal with this shit now.

She feels Will laughing at her as they exit the car. “I thought you’d be more nervous.” He says, as they walk toward her brother, side by side, with Auston.

She snickers. “For what?” And then leans herself into Luke for a hug. “Hi!”

“Jesus, what’d you give them before you brought them here?” Luke returns the hug. 

“Literally anything that would shut them up.” She says, dead serious, and then introduces Will, and Auston, almost as an afterthought. 

Luke is friendly and welcoming, like she knew he would be. They’ve never had the overprotective sibling relationship she hears about from people. They’re too close in age, only a year apart in school; or too close in general, sharing too much as they grew up shuffled to their dad and stepmom’s every other weekend for their court-mandated time. She’s never doubted that he has her back, but he lets her live her life, no matter how stupid the decisions she might make (though he’s certainly not shy about telling her when he thinks she making one).

“Fitz and Steph and Mitch here yet?” She wonders, as they walk inside, the chatter between her sisters and sister-in-law already evident.

“Running late.” Luke says. “But Ryan’s upstairs sleeping. He stayed last night.”

She grins at him, contemplating running up to wake him, but in the end decides against it, settling for following the sound of her sisters’ voices into the kitchen. Rachel’s standing at the counter, setting out snacks and listening patiently as Kayls and Cam detail their entire weekend to her.

“-Will got us tickets for Saturday’s game-”

“-we ate at this amazing sushi place-”

“Rach!” Aubrey interrupts, tugging her sister-in-law away from Kayls and Cam, who are talking over each other. “Come meet Will.”

Rachel sends her a grateful look and immediately turns her bright smile at Will and Auston, introducing herself to them both and offering them drinks. By the time that she, Luke, and Aub finish getting drinks for everyone, Ryan’s coming downstairs, rubbing a hand over his face sleepily, and the introductions begin all over again.

Then Aubrey and Steph’s parents come in with her two youngest brothers, which cues another round of that, and then finally, Steph, Mitch, and Fitz roll in, which has Aubrey cackling when Auston leans over and whispers. “You didn’t tell us your brother is Little Fred?”

“What the fuck are you on?” She frowns at him, but Will’s got the same look on his face.

Will nods over at Fitz, the stepbrother who’d been in the same grade as her growing up and one of her best friends for about as long as she could remember. Said brother is currently trying to mess up Cam’s hair with one hand, while fighting one of her triplets, Tye, for the last danish. “He’s come out with us a few times, I guess with Mitch? He looks like Fred.” She gives the two of them a look. Literally the only thing her brother and their goalie have in common is red hair. Will shrugs. “Little Fred.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” She declares. “The bar is so low.”

“Must be.” Ryan nudges her side. She hadn’t even heard him come up beside her. “Dating you and all.” 

She flips him off and he grins; Ryan’s actually the sibling closest in age to her, with the way all their birthdays work out, but from Luke to Ryan, all four of them are close and when Steph and her sister were added in there as well…well, the group chat gets chaotic.

“Hey!” Her mom snaps her fingers at them. “I don’t want to see any of that today.” And Aub can feel it in her face, the look she’s giving back to her mom, like certain that she’s not serious, because, honestly, has she met any of them? She peeks over at Ryan; he’s fighting back a laugh and that’s all it takes for her mom to lose it, the seriousness on her face quickly turning into a laugh.

It’s enough to get them all moving though, toward the wall they’re going to be tackling today, where they’re divided into teams by her stepdad and Steph’s dad, the only two who competently know what they’re doing.

“Ohhh!” Cam says immediately drifting towards the power saw. “Can I use this?”

Will pulls it away from her hands before she has the chance to even touch it and Aubrey’s calling out to her stepdad. “Mike! Are we stuck with these people all day?”

“Yes.” Her stepdad calls back; he’s already showing Tye and Danny how to demo their end of the wall.

Aub looks at Will and immediately mouths, “I’m sorry,” but he’s already loudly laughing at her. She kinda hates that he’s laughing at her, but she hates even more how contagious his laughter is.

-----

It’s a little past dinner time and Aubrey’s exhausted, too tired even to take her empty pizza plate to the kitchen trash can from where she’s sitting on the family room floor. 

Around her, the rest of her family is in a similar state. Ryan’s actually asleep on one end of the couch, and on the other end, Auston’s half-heartedly grumbling at Derek Carr and the Raiders, while Steph’s lying across Mitch’s lap on the other side of the room. It’s about as quiet as they’ve all ever been, even Mitch and her sisters, which is how she knows they’re all exhausted.

Next to her, Will’s been quietly munching on a plate of fries since he finished his pizza a while ago. Aubrey reaches over and steals one from him. “Hey!” He protests.

“You’ve had the whole plate!” She thought she ate a lot; she honestly doesn’t know where he puts it all. “I just wanted a couple!”

“A couple?” Will repeats and Aubrey nods with a grin, reaching out and swiping another one from the plate. “Keep this up and we’re going to have to stop for second dinner on the way home.”

“I could probably eat again by then.” She rationalizes, stealing another. 

Will laughs, sliding the plate over a few inches toward her, and Aubrey grins triumphantly. It’s quiet for a minute, or mostly quiet, the only sound for the next minute Auston moaning about a fumble, and Kaylee and Cam asking a question about it and then giggling to each other about it before they even get a full answer to it. 

It’s Auston’s perplexed face that reminds her and she nudges Will as she goes in for another fry. “Hey.” She bumps him again, grabbing his attention. “Thanks.”

Will hums, sounding almost confused, and glances over at her. Every time Aubrey thinks it’s impossible for him to be more good looking, he proves her wrong; and always doing the most innocent things. He’s just looking at her, with this tiny little smile, but the light’s catching his eyes and they look impossibly blue and gentle, so soft like the rest of him does right now, in a way he almost never publicly is. “For what?”

“For putting up with my sisters all weekend and their increasingly ridiculous comments.”

Will laughs and he’s so close that she can feel the vibration. He’s leaning back against the wall again, but his head’s tilted a little, just barely leaning against hers, and Aub leans into it a little as he starts to talk. “My two youngest sisters play this game, every time we go to the airport, yeah? After we’ve said goodbye and everything. It’s like this competition between them, for who gets the last touch. And they’ll like chase me down as far as they can until I get to security, back and forth between the two of them…”

Aubrey’s already giggling, picturing the scene. “Same shit, different day,” She summarizes the weekend.

He flicks his finger across her nose and she giggles again. “Bingo.”

-----

It’s only when they’re back in the car and on the highway back toward Toronto after stopping for sushi for a second dinner that Auston says, sounding entirely too casual to actually be casual, “So, like, what’s really going on here with you two?”

Aub feels her stomach drop and it takes everything in her not to look at Will, who of fucking course, plays it enitrely cool. “What do you mean?”

Auston leans forward, from the middle seat in the back, which he’d generously offered to take so that she could sit up with Will even though she’d insisted he’d want the leg room up front; she’s starting to wonder if there was more to it than that. He gestures between the two of them. “It’s just, like, not how you usually are with girls.”

Will’s head whips back to look at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He demands.

“Will!” Aubrey hisses. “Eyes on the road.”

Auston’s cackling as Will turns his attention back to driving, but continues to eye him up through the rearview mirror. Aubrey twists in her seat; she can still stare him down. “So anyway,” He continues. “There’s that. And then, I mean, I was in the car with him when you literally texted him your apartment number. That was pretty sketch.”

Aub swings her gaze over to Will. “It came over Bluetooth.” He defends. 

She pats his thigh. “Stick with hockey, kay?”

He laughs, and when she looks back at Auston, he’s laughing too, but he’s also got this thoughtful look on his face. “So anyway, what’s going on?” He presses.

“Steph and Mitch.” She says finally, after exchanging another look with Will.

“Ah.”

“That’s it?” She frowns at him. “That’s all you have to say?”

“Well, I mean, I’m sure there’s more to it, but like, I have met them before.” Auston grins when she and Will both laugh. “So what’d they do now?”

“Do you have an hour?” Will drawls.

“I have beer upstairs.” Auston offers, since they’re basically pulling up to his apartment, and since Will looks over at her for confirmation, Aub barely even takes a second before agreeing.

“Any wine?”

-----

It’s actually kind of crazy how relieving it is for someone else to know about her and Will, outside of the two of them. Aubrey hadn’t even realized how much it was weighing on her until it’s not, until the three of them had spent three hours laughing about it, recapping the entire thing and then just laughing about nothing.

She notices right away that it's equally relieving to Will, that the two of them will drift over to Auston when the team does something together, or that she’ll get a snapchat from one of them from the road that features Will and Auston off doing something ridiculous.

Steph calls her out on it one day, when the two of them are at a game one night. “I did not introduce you to Will for the two of you to spend time with Auston.”

“You ditched me last night!” Aubrey protests, but really, Steph’s not wrong. That was one time, because Mitch’s brother wanted to introduce his new girlfriend to them, and she’s been out here avoiding invites like it’s her job.

Steph continues like she didn’t hear a thing. “I introduced you to Will so that we could have great couples’ friends and hang out all the time, so why aren’t we?”

“I thought you introduced me to Will because we’d be perfect together?” Aubrey bitches and Steph gives her a look, so Aubrey promises that she and Will will do dinner with her and Mitch again soon.

Dinner soon, to Steph, apparently means that weekend, and Aubrey finds herself in Will’s car again, with a bottle of wine and a plate of dessert, driving out to Etobicoke on Friday night. “I like that I’ve claimed this seat now.”

Will laughs. “What?”

“It’s always set where I want it to be!” She grins. “Perfect leg room!”

Her phone buzzes as Will laughs again, but it only takes a quick glance at the screen to click back out of it. “You okay?” Will asks.

“Huh?”

“You just got real quiet, real quick.” He says, turning onto Steph and Mitch’s street. “Everything alright?”

Aubrey huffs out an aggravated breath, trying to decide what, if anything, she wants to say. “My other dad is being...my other dad.”

“Oh?” Will parks in their driveway and she huffs out another annoyed sigh as her phone buzzes in her pocket, knowing it’s just her half-brother again with more shit about their dad. 

“He’s like…” She gathers her stuff and tries to find the words as they walk inside. “I don’t even know. Everybody’s been freaking out since some lady tagged him in a bunch of pictures on Facebook last week but my siblings are at dinner with him right now and they asked him about it and he told them he’s not seeing anyone.”

“Wait, seriously?” It’s the first thing Steph says to her; Aub’s been bitching to her about the whole thing for a week now and she’s more than familiar with her issues with her dad. 

“Yes!” She cries. “My sister asked if he was seeing anyone, he said no. I guess one of the boys asked if he’d taken any trips lately, because of the pictures, and he said no. So he’s just straight up lying and I don’t know why!”

“Maybe,” Will says. “He’s not actually lying.”

Aubrey pats his arms gently. “You’re new here, so I’ll let that terrible thought pass.”

Will looks taken aback but she can barely spare a thought for that as Mitch says, “Maybe he got secret-married again and is just waiting until you’re all there to tell you-OW!” Steph elbows him hard and he grins anyway. “What? I’m just saying!”

“I already went to therapy once this week, Mitchy.” Aub mock-glares at him. “I cried for three hours and only didn’t dye my hair blue because Steph came to pick me up for the game. I don’t need to go again. Keep that shit to yourself and get me some wine.”

Mitch laughs; he’s equally familiar with her post-therapy routine and her feelings for her dad. “Alright fine.” He says, but there must still be something on her face because Will’s hand comes to rest on her shoulder right after that and he rubs it gently for a minute before he comes to sit next to her.

Conversation turns lighter after that- to Mitch’s brother’s new girlfriend, who Steph liked and Mitch thought was only okay and then to Will’s sister’s new boyfriend, who he hates-before they’re all more focused on food and a game later in the evening. 

It’s easy to ignore her phone buzzing when Aubrey and Mitch are dominating Steph and Will at Codenames (or calling cheaters, because Will and Steph most definitely are), but much harder to ignore in the car when she and Will are alone again, and Aub barely even notices when Will doesn’t make the turn for her place, instead just driving straight to his place.

“Oh.” She says quietly when he finally parks and they’re in the garage, instead of just pulling up out front of her building, like he has been recently.

“Didn’t want you to dye your hair blue tonight.” Will deadpans and Aubrey laughs, surprised that it’s kind of watery. 

“Fair, it was definitely a risk.”

Will smiles at her gently. “I’ve been told my guest room is supremely comfortable.”

Aubrey raises her eyebrows; she can siphon out the source of that one. “I hear your brother has pretty shitty taste.” She says and he laughs, that loud one he’s got that she can’t help but smile at because it sounds so ridiculous, but Aubrey’s already getting out of the car, ready to follow him up before he can see.

Will’s condo is pretty much everything she expected- a lot of modern pieces, a lot of white, very Scandanavian- but there’s plenty of Will in it as well. A lot of family pictures. Some hockey stuff-both Leafs and Team Sweden-but not an overwhelming amount. 

She’s still looking at some of the pictures (he looks so much like his mom) when he returns with a couple glasses of wine, and she accepts hers with a gracious smile. “Thank you.”

“We’ve been at this long enough for me to know that wine’s your thing.” He jokes and she laughs.

“I meant for bringing me here.” She shoves at his shoulder; annoyingly enough he doesn’t even move. “I definitely would have done something stupid.”

“What are friends for?” Will smiles and there’s that annoyed feeling again, maybe even more so than just a minute ago, tugging at her stomach, for really no reason. They are friends now, in pretty much every sense of the word. They hang out, they text, they do all kinds of things. It’ll actually probably be hard for her, to not be friends with him, or at least pretend to be, when they have to “break up” for a bit to annoy Steph and Mitch. 

“Yeah.” Aubrey says and it just sounds off so she takes a sip of her wine right away so he can’t see whatever her face is doing. “If you were really my friend, you’d let me borrow some sweats to sleep in. You know. Since you kidnapped me to bring me here.”

“Ohh, I don’t know if we’re that close.” Will says, but he’s laughing as he walks toward his room so she knows he’s kidding.

It’s a pretty quiet night between the two of them once they make themselves comfortable, just chilling on the couch and watching Netflix, and Will’s not stingy with his pours so Aubrey pours herself into his guest room a little tipsy, and maybe that’s why she texts him from bed. You were right, your guest bed is pretty comfortable.

*Supremely* comfortable. Told you so 😜

-----

Aub’s still in Will’s absurdly comfortable guest bed when her daily FaceTime call with her sisters comes in and she answers it without thinking. “Hey.”

“Where are you?” Kaylee asks immediately. “That’s not your room-oh my god, are you at Will’s?” She blurts and Aubrey wants to smack herself.

“That’s Leafs stuff!” Cam exclaims, popping her head into the frame. “You never wear Leafs stuff! Oh my god, do you live there now?”

“Back up, calm the crazy.” She’s cutting off this spiral before they’ve got the story of her and Will eloping spread to her entire family. 

Kayls pouts. “You never let us have any fun.”

“I do not want a call from Grandma this afternoon asking me why I got married to the blond hippie from the Leafs because you two can’t keep your mouths shut and she saw one bad picture.” 

Cam’s jaw drops in outrage. “That’s so rude, we would at least send a good picture out! Like she’d know how hot he really is; there’d be no need to google and accidentally come across a picture of him in a Sugo hat.”

That’s it. She’s up for good now. Aubrey throws the blankets off herself and sits up off the edge of the bed, rubbing her temples in hopes it’ll make her tiny hangover headache go away. Limited success. “You googled him?”

“Of course we googled him!” Kayls says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Aub, oh my god, he’s got-”

“I’m leaving this room right now.” Aubrey warns; she’s already at the door. “Stop talking about him like he’s not here.”

Cam immediately launches into a story about a couple of the girls on her field hockey team and something that had happened at practice after school yesterday, a story that she’s still detailing when Aubrey walks into the kitchen to find Will also looking into his phone with a fond look on his face as a loud jumble of voices shout back to him in what she can only assume is Swedish.

“Coffee’s back there.” He points, greeting her with a smile. “And mugs above it.”

“Thank you.” She’s pretty sure, from the expression on his face, that he knows how much of a lifeline that’s about to be for her.

“Hi Will!” Kayls calls and Aub glares at her, but Will calls back a greeting in return before returning to Swedish, but definitely in an argumentative tone.

It’s a couple more minutes of that-listening to Will speaking in Swedish and going through her usual morning nonsense with her sisters-before Will lets out the smallest groan and then looks at her. “My sisters want to say hi.”

“Oh.” Aubrey says, surprised more than anything.

And before she can really say anything, Cam adds. “Yes! Then we can talk with Will!” Which is how she finds herself sitting next to Will with his dog curled in her lap, both their phones in front of them, speaking with her sisters and two of Will’s sisters.

It’s pretty much maximal chaos, but when they both end their calls a few minutes later, Aubrey’s still smiling as she runs her hand through the dog’s fur and Will’s laughing to himself. “Mmm, good luck to you.” Aub nudges him, easy enough to do since she’s still sitting flush up next to him. “When they’re in town next month. They’ve probably all followed each other on Instagram by now already. Best friends in no time.”

“Gonna be busy with games.” Will says weakly. “Practices, media things. Think it’s gonna be your problem.”

“Like hell.” She laughs, shaking her head when he joins in and doesn’t stop. “Oh my god, that was not that funny!”

“Just thinking of all the ways they’re going to torture us when they’re all together after they’ve spent the last month talking shit about us in a group chat.” Will says, somehow still laughing about that, because he’s literally the most chill person on the planet. Like of course he’s not even bothered by that.

“I don’t have enough food in me to deal with that thought.” Aubrey declares, laughing decidedly less at the thought of actually meeting Will’s family. In person. Where they’ll have to actually see her and see what a farce this is. “Feed me.”

Will shrugs. “Let me change and we’ll grab brunch.”

Aub looks down at the very large sweats she’s borrowed to sleep in. “We’ll stop first, yeah?”

“Depends on how hangry you are.” Will calls back, already walking away.

She pulls a face at his back at that one. She’s actually pretty hungry, but like, she’s not dumb enough to go out to brunch with him in a walk of shame. Not when there’s already a group chat forming about her on Instagram. She doesn’t need Leafs Twitter coming for her too.

-----

It’s easy to settle in a routine from there; meeting Mitch and Steph for dinner a few times, joining Steph for games and then leaving with Will for a second dinner after, and easily splitting off to spend time with her own family and friends or catching up with them when Will is off on road trips. 

It’s so easy to settle into a routine like that, a relationship routine, that she lets herself get lulled into a false sense of security, the message from her dad catching her off guard completely one day.

“What’s wrong?” Will asks, when they’re at dinner after a game. It’s their thing now; pick a restaurant and grab some food right afterwards before he drops her off at home. It’s a nice way to wind down actually; she usually looks forward to it.

Tonight though, Aub has been uncharacteristically quiet since they met up and she was a downright bitch earlier when she and Steph were fighting about something. Like, she knows they’ll forget all about it tomorrow, but still. She owes her best friend coffee at the least. “Hmm?” She looks up at him, barely hearing his question. 

“What’s wrong?” He repeats, giving her a look before she can fight him against answering.

She pushes her food around a little-very uncharacteristic for her, and she can tell even Will’s picked up on that. “My dad wants to meet us all for dinner this week, which means he probably did get secret-married again.”

“Oh.” Will makes a face and Aubrey returns it, laughing when he contorts his even worse. “And that’s-I mean-again?” He finally settles on and she nods, ready to drop this bomb.

“It’ll be wife number six, but secret wedding number three.” She says, delighting in the way his jaw drops. “This is just, like, what he does; he just announces he wants to have dinner with us and then shows up and is like and here’s my new wife, like it’s super casual, and then we all wonder why I need therapy when he’s out here hiding wives and families like it’s a fulltime job.” She finishes, only realizing how heated she is about it when she looks up to find Will staring at her with wide eyes.

“Um.” Will starts.

“Sorry.” Aub hastens, flushing.

“No!” Will says. “No, don’t apologize at all, you can, like, share whatever you want. I just...I got like half of what you just said.” He gives her an apologetic look. “Missing a big chunk of this story.”

“Right.��� Aub nods, pretty proud of how calm she sounds. Dr. Seth is going to be so impressed with her next week. “Sorry. We haven’t talked about the two secret families he was hiding when I was growing up. Ok, I’ll back up.”

“He what?” Will cries, but Aub waves him off, diving into the whole history of her dad, her half-siblings, and her step-moms...as well as their various divorces. 

“...and that brings us to now.” She takes a sip of her wine thoughtfully; Will has long since drained his and refilled. She’s pretty sure she didn’t miss anything. “And dinner that’s going to be an absolute disaster.”

“Do you want me to come?” Will offers.

“No!” She says immediately. That’s like-god, that’s the worst idea ever. They do not need to get her greedy father involved in this, who’d take one look at Will and see dollar bills. She’s accepted that she can’t change the way her dad treats her (after many years of therapy); she’s got another dad who loves her and it’s not fine the way her dad doesn’t remember her birthday or what she does for work or pretty much anything important about her, but it is what it is. But like, she’s not going to subject Will to it. “It’ll be-fine.”

He raises an eyebrow. “You think so?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “But thanks anyway.”

Will purses his lips. It’s clear that he doesn’t love that answer, but he doesn’t say anything more on the subject, asking her instead if she wants to split a dessert, as if he doesn’t already know the answer to that question, and Aub, grateful for the change in topic, even agrees to let him pick this time.

It’s a rare gift.

-----

Aubrey knows she had a little too much to drink at dinner with her dad, but she’s not so drunk that she can’t recognize that this is Will’s door she’s standing in front of, knocking loudly and repeatedly. 

She has only a moment to contemplate that-that it’s here she chose to come to after yet another disaster dinner, instead of Steph’s or her brother’s or back home to her own place-before Will’s opening the door, the confusion passing quickly over his face when he realizes it’s her.

“Hey.” He beams and steps back, silently inviting her in, but Aub doesn’t want him to go further away from her. That’s why she came here. “Whoa, hey!” Will says, as Aub steps in the condo and presses herself against him. “Are you-” He lets out a strangled choke as she tiptoes up and loops her arms around the back of his neck. “-okay?”

“Peachy.” She says, pulling him down to kiss her.

It’s not really a great kiss; Will’s kissing her back for a moment, and then pulling back. “Wait-”

“No.” She whines, leaning in for another, and he does it again, caught up for a moment in kissing her, but then it’s like his thoughts catch up to him and he breaks it.

“Aub, we shouldn’t- we aren’t-”

And like why shouldn’t they? They’ve been doing this fake relationship for a while now and not able to hook up with anyone else because of it. He’s objectively the hottest person she’s ever seen. There’s no reason that’s coming to her right now that says she shouldn’t. “We’re friends now!” Aubrey says, running her palms over his shoulders. God, why weren’t they doing this the entire time? “Right?” And Will nods, slowly, but it’s a nod, “It’s fine, friends hook up all the time.” 

“You really want this?” His thumb brushes her cheek as she nods and only then does he pull her back in for a kiss.

-----

If Aubrey thought Will’s guest bed was comfortable, it’s really got nothing on his actual bed. She rolls over, curling into the pillow a little more and opens her eyes to see the sliver of sunlight coming through catch the edge of Will’s face, that one piece of hair that’s sticking up that should be unattractive, but is totally not.

It’s really just unfair.

The sound comes from behind her and Aub jumps when she realizes it’s Will’s alarm going off.  It seems like it barely even fazes him; he just reaches across her and silences it; his arm falling across her when he drags himself back.

“Hi.” She smiles.

“Hi.” Will laughs and it lights up his whole face; she can’t help the hand that comes up to trace over his features. “Come on, that’s not fair.

“What’s not fair?” Aubrey asks innocently, trailing her nails down his chest.

He groans. “I have to go. Skate.”

“You don’t have to go.” She pouts and he groans again.

“You’re making it really hard to have to.”

“Good.” Aubrey giggles, only stopping when Will shuts her up with a kiss.

“Really hard.” He repeats as she rolls her hips into his.

“Fine.” She sighs, flopping onto her back, and she knows the move does exactly as she’d intended when his eyes go right to her chest. “I guess I’ll just have to stay here in bed until you get back.”

“Please do.” He insists, leaning over to kiss her again. “Fastest skate ever.” Will promises.

“You can’t control that.” Aubrey reasons, even as Will’s shaking his head at her while he climbs out of bed.

“Fastest skate ever.” He repeats.

She can’t really confirm or deny that it is; but when he does return, pulling her out of a doze by jumping on top of her, there’s coffee on the table for her too. It’s cold by the time she gets to it.

-----

“You guys are being weird.” Steph comments one night, as Aub’s cheering after Will scores a tie-breaking goal. 

“What?” Aubrey gives her a look. “What do you mean?”

“You and Will.” Steph says, like it should be obvious. “You’re like-” She breaks off, making a noise of frustration.

“You’re in the honeymoon phase.” Alannah supplies helpfully and Steph lights up.

“Yes!” She cries and Aubrey glares over at Alannah but she merely smiles back. “But it’s like, you’re back in it? Like, you weren’t for a while and now...you can’t take your hands off each other again!”

Aubrey doesn’t really know what to say to that. She’s not denying that she and Will have been all over each other ever since that first night they slept together. She can’t even remember the last time she went to her apartment for anything more than to pack clothes and she’s lost track of the number of times she’s reached out for him only to find Will already reaching for her.

But before? She can’t think of any moment where they were ever like they are now. Like there’s too much space between them even when she’s right next to him. Or this pull that brings her toward him no matter where he’s at.

But she doesn’t...she doesn’t know what to say about that. Because it’s not like anything has changed between them. They’re still friends; they still laugh and joke as usual, still gossip about their friends together, are still just waiting to drop a big break up on Mitch and Steph. 

Nothing’s changed, even if maybe, she thinks, something has.

So she shrugs at Steph and says, “We’re just happy. Is that so bad?”

Steph beams and leans her head against Aubrey’s shoulder, and like, Aub knows that’s exactly what she’d been hoping for since she introduced her to Will, but Aubrey still feels like something wasn’t right about what she said.

-----

Aubrey tugs on the Nylander jersey that drapes over her frame as she and Will walk into the hospital conference room. “Are you sure about this?”

“It’s tradition.” He grins. “Stop playing with it.”

“That’s what she said.” She says as dryly as she can, managing to keep the face until he laughs, and then she cracks up with him. 

That’s how the two of them walk into the conference room where the team is meeting; laughing so loudly that everyone stops what they’re doing to turn and look, but she and Will only get a bunch of fond smiles before everyone turns back to their own conversations.

Steph gives her a knowing look when they approach hand in hand, which Aubrey ignores pointedly. “You didn’t warn me we’d have to actually go things wearing this dumb jersey when you plotted to get us together.”

“Oh I didn’t?” Steph says innocently as Mitch and Will sputter in protest. “Must have slipped my mind.”

“Dumb jersey?” Will nudges her.

Aub shrugs, looking up at him with a cheeky grin. “It’s a little big. Might have some trouble getting out of this thing.”

Will grins. “I’m sure some help can be arranged.”

Mitch feigns gagging. “There are children around.”

Wills hand drags up her side briefly-too briefly- as he grins at Mitch. “Where, Mitchell?” But he backs off and Aub does too, both of them catching up with teammates and wives and girlfriends around them.

Or they back off a little, but Aub still finds herself drawn int0 his orbit, especially once they start splitting off into groups to move through the hospital to go see the kids. His hand will brush against hers as they move between rooms; she’s bumping her shoulder against his arm comfortingly as they talk with parents.

It’s not very subtle, but they don’t need to be. Except…

“What is going on?” Auston hisses at her, in passing, as he’s about to step inside the room Will’s just about leaving.

“Nothing.” Aub says innocently, but Will reaches for her hand when he leaves, opting for a fist bump with Auston instead, and Auston’s eyes widen, but Aubrey tugs Will along before he can say anything. “Come on, let’s grab some water real quick!”

The diversion doesn’t last long; Auston catches up to her only two rooms later while Will’s in talking hockey with a little girl and she’s waiting outside, leaning against the wall. He joins her, looking in as well for a moment, before looking over at her. “This is a terrible idea.” Auston says flatly.

“You were on board with it!” Aubrey hisses, trying to keep a smile on her face.

“That was before I realized you guys were sleeping together. Now it’s going to backfire and go to shit.”

Aubrey frowns. “Why?”

“Why?” Auston repeats, like he can’t even help himself. “Oh my god, you don’t even-” He stops abruptly. 

“Don’t even what?” She prompts, when it’s clear he’s not going to continue.

But he doesn’t continue. He just rubs his temples for a minute and mutters under his breath. “Fuck me, how do I have to be the smart one here?”

“Hey!” Aubrey protests, offended. “I am always the smart one.”

“Not right now.” He says cryptically. “And it’s hard to tell who’s being dumber: you or Willy.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Aubrey frowns, but Auston’s already walking away. “Auston!” He ignores her. “Auston!”

“Hey.” Will’s reaching for her arm gently. “What’s wrong?”

Auston’s out of sight now anyway. “Nothing.” She shakes her head, clearing her thoughts and then looks up at him. “Next room?”

-----

“What are you doing Friday?” Aubrey looks up from scrolling through her family’s group chat; Will’s peering at her from across the island.

“Nothing.” She says, after thinking about it for a minute. “What’s up?”

“We play my brother on Saturday.” He says and the shoe doesn’t drop until he adds, “So my parents and sisters are coming in for a bit. Watch the game. Do early Christmas. Hang out a bit.”

“Oh.” She bites her lip. It shouldn’t-it shouldn't be weird. He survived a whole weekend with her sisters, he’s met her entire family; they’ve gone out a few times with varying numbers of her brothers since then. It just...feels weird now.

Will eyes her carefully for a second but continues. “They come in early Friday morning and I made dinner reservations for that night, if you want to come with us.” 

He says it super casually, the way he is about pretty much everything, but she knows him well enough now. There’s a little hopeful tone at the end of it, almost like a question even though it’s not phrased as one. “Yeah.” She says, and even though she’s already nervous about this dinner that’s literally days away, it’s worth it to see the smile grow across his face. “I’d love to come with you guys.”

“They’ll be excited.” Will says, which really undersells just how excited his sisters actually are when they do roll into town later in the week.

Daniella throws herself at Aubrey the second she walks in the door, chattering excitedly about meeting her, and spending the weekend together, and dinner that night, all before Aubrey can even put her purse down. She doesn’t know what her face is doing but whatever it is is bad enough that Will says something to his sister in Swedish and follows it up with a glare when she giggles something back to him.

It works though; Daniella detaches herself, but she does stay close, almost bouncing along next to Aubrey as she steps further inside. “Come on.” Will nods toward the kitchen. “My parents are in here.”

Fuck, his parents. She takes a deep breath. “Cool.”

He grins. The panic must definitely be showing on her face, but his sister just keeps talking through it- Aubrey can relate- or Daniella just doesn’t notice it in her excitement. But Will does, still grinning at her, and she brushes against him purposefully with her shoulder as she goes to follow Daniella, only for him to grab her hand as she passes.

“You don’t have to be nervous.” He squeezes her hand and the only thing that stops her from frowning is his sister. It’s kind of a harsh reminder of the circumstances that she is meeting his family under, the details behind what’s happening here, and that someday-probably soon even- they’ll go back to...well, she hopes that they’ll at least still be friends. 

Even if they stop hooking up.

Danielle goes right up to Stephanie in the kitchen, the two of them whispering to each other in a way that immediately reminds Aub of Kaylee and Cam, enough that she has to fight back a laugh. But it’s Will’s parents that really draw her attention. Michael and Camilla are exactly how she’d pictured from every story Will’s ever told her, full attention on her as soon as she and Will enter the kitchen.

“This is Aubrey.” Will introduces.

“Hi!” She smiles, hoping it’s bright and warm enough to hide her nerves. 

And it works- or more likely, Will’s parents are as perceptive as he is- because they jump right into chatting easily with her. 

She loves them immediately.

They’re warm and friendly, like they’re welcoming her, even though they’re the ones who spent hours on a plane recently. Will’s mom- Camilla, she insists- draws her into a conversation about her family right away- “William told me you have many siblings as well.” “Mum!” “Mum, they’re the best!”- which keeps them going for a while until Michael reminds them they have a reservation to keep. 

“You can keep talking at the restaurant.” He teases Camilla, who’s glaring at him. “Some of us are hungry!”

She rolls her eyes at him- a look that is so similar to one Aubrey’s seen Will make a thousand times- but it serves to get all of them moving. They do keep talking at the restaurant, Camilla shoving her own son out of the way to pull Aubrey in the seat next to her, and Daniella sliding in the seat on her other side before Will can grab it, only for him to mutter something to her in Swedish, sending her quickly sliding over to the next one.

Dinner seems to fly by but it’s actually a few hours later that they’re returning home, pulling out a bottle of wine for a night cap. Aubrey’s just about preparing to go home to her own place before Will’s mom stands up and kisses the top of her head, right in line with all her own kids, promising to see her in the morning, and then the night wraps up and Will’s pulling her into his room, like it’s any normal night.

“Are you-” She trails off abruptly as Will walks right to the closet, like no strange thing. But, what did she even want to ask? Are you sure you want me to stay? It’s not going to be weird if I do?  

“What’s up?” Will pops his head out of the closet.

“Nothing.” Aubrey shakes her head, moving to brush her teeth. She’s not even sure she knows where that question was going; she can’t explain why tonight feels weirder than any other night that she’s climbed into his bed before.

It does though, and that’s made even more evident by the way she tosses and turns once they climb into bed and turn the lights off, settling in on what’s become her side of the bed, right after she brushes her teeth and runs through her nightly skin routine.

It feels like it shouldn’t be so hard to sleep- it’s been a long day, following a long week, preparing for Will’s family to arrive, but she can’t seem to get comfortable and her thoughts are racing.

She rolls over again, facing Will this time, only to find him looking at her with amusement. “You okay?”

“Can’t sleep.” She admit, biting her lip

Will grins, pulling her close. “I can fix that.”

“I’m not having sex with you while you’re parents are here!” Aubrey hisses.

“No?” Her breath hitches as his fingers dance lower down her stomach and then-

“Will!” She laughs, as he gently pinches a ticklish spot.

“Shh!” He’s grinning, she hates him so much. “My parents are-”

“Don’t say it.” She says, surging up to kiss him so he can’t finish that sentence. God, she hopes his walls are thick.

-----

“Stop.” Aubrey hears Will right outside the door. “Go away.”

She can hear one of his sister’s respond, but the actual words get lost in the chaos of her own sisters’ FaceTime, which she’s wrapping up as she lies in bed. It’s loud enough outside that she knows Will’s family is awake already, bright enough that she probably should get up, but she’s too comfortable to make herself move.

“Daniella!” She hears, followed by something in Swedish just as the door opens and a blonde head pokes in.

“See! She is awake!” And that’s all the warning she gets before Daniella is jumping up right next to her.

“Daniella!” Will snaps again, but Aubrey’s already sliding over to make room for her.

“She’s fine.” She assures him, wrapping her arm around Daniella’s shoulders as she cuddles in close.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Daniella says to her brother, not bothering to pull herself away from Aubrey’s iPhone screen, where she’d barely wasted a minute before jumping into chatting with Kayls and Cam. 

Will’s leaning against the dresser and shaking his head in amusement, watching as Aubrey manages to finish up her call (a task much harder with Daniella in her ear, calling just as much nonsense back as her sisters do), but there’s a soft smile on his face that Aubrey almost can’t bring herself to look at, so she starts twirling her hand through the ends of Daniella’s hair. 

“I can’t believe you two.” Daniella huffs, and she’s so much like Will, just loving her hair played with; Aubrey tries to hide her grin because she knows he’d fight her on it if she had to say it out loud right now. “Not even inviting your sisters here for the weekend.”

“Why would we invite ourselves into that kind of roast?” Will says dryly. “The two of you are bad enough.”

“Like you’re not going to talk about us anyway,” Aubrey adds. “I’ve seen the receipts.” She teases. “I know you talk about us on instagram.” 

“You talk about us on instagram?” Will demands immediately.

“No.” Daniella says, unconvincingly.

“They talk with my sisters every day.” Aubrey whispers to him and laughs when he turns his outraged face toward his sister, who avoids his gaze completely.

“Seriously?” Will cries.

Daniella shrugs. “We have a lot to say.”

“I’ll give you a lot to say.” Will says, mock-threateningly, before throwing himself on the bed on her other side and poking his finger in her side until she’s laughing so hard that she’s begging for him to stop. He does, after one last poke, which Daniella returns with a pout. “Go get dressed.” Will nudges her. “Or Aubrey’s going to go to brunch without you.”

“Aubrey wouldn’t do that.” Daniella says confidently, standing to leave. “She’s nicer than you.” 

Will barks out a laugh. “Is she?”

Both Nylanders turn to look at her, just as she’s swinging her legs out of bed and Aubrey shrugs. “I wouldn’t leave your sister behind.” She says, grinning when Will laughs and Daniella’s got her phone out of her pocket before she even leaves the room.

-----

Will and Alex are close. Aubrey knows this. She knows they talk pretty much everyday whether it’s texting, Facetiming, or even actual phone calls. They’re brothers, sure, but more than that; they’re best friends.

And maybe that’s why it’s hard not to shrink under Alex’s gaze the second they meet. It’s not that he’s not friendly when Will introduces them, returning the smile she gives him.

It’s just that his gaze feels piercing in a way that none of the rest of his family did. It feels like Alex sees through all of her but more than that; he’s studying all of her and doesn’t like what he sees.

God, she doesn’t know what she’s going to do if Alex doesn’t like her.

She tries to be bubbly and bright, more listening than contributing to this conversation that’s mostly just brothers catching up. She knows that dinner later, and at their early Christmas celebration tomorrow, will really be when she gets to make her big impression on him. 

“Willy!” John Tavares calls, looking apologetic about the interruption. 

“Be right back.” Willy pats her arm gently before jogging down the hall and now Alex’s full attention is on her. Now she can’t help but shift her weight from foot to foot, even as Alex smiles at her. “So, Aubrey, huh?”

She fights back the urge to bite her lip. “Yup.”

“It’s exciting to finally meet you.” He grins and Aubrey’s jaw drops a little. “Will talks about you all the time.”

“He-he does?” She asks quietly. It’s about the most unexpected thing Alex could have said to her.

Alex bursts into laughter. “Uh yeah.” He says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, but before she can press anything further, Will’s back, slinging his arm around her shoulders and squeezing her into his side tightly. 

“Ready for second dinner?” Will presses a kiss to her temple.

“Always.” Aubrey leans into him, ignoring the knowing look that Alex is sporting currently and the feeling in her stomach that doesn’t quite feel like butterflies.

-----

Aubrey tries to give it a few days after the Nylander’s leave town, hoping the feeling in her stomach will calm itself, but when it’s been a week and it hasn’t settled, she’s forced to admit that she’s going to need outside help.

Can you let me in? She sends, when she’s sure she’s outside the right door.

Open. Come in. 

She frowns at the response, opening the door. “I don’t love that!” She calls as she walks deeper in the condo. “You should really-” She stops abruptly, as a blonde whips her head around to glare at her and Auston stares at her wide-eyed. “Oh!”

“Oh?” The blonde repeats, kind of mockingly, but also seething, and Aubrey doesn’t really know what to do, so she looks over at Auston, who’s pointedly avoiding both of their eyes. “Unbelievable.” She shakes her head, shoving past Aubrey and only when the front door slams does she hear Auston breathe.

“What the fuck?” She asks him immediately, “You could have just said no, it wasn’t a good time to come over!”

“I wanted her to leave!” He protests. “I tried everything! She even volunteered to come take Felix on a walk with me!”

Aubrey cackles, barely managing to compose herself at Auston’s glare. “Well, go and get his leash. We can walk and talk.”

She gets quickly distracted by Felix’s excitement for a walk, snapping like twenty pictures on her phone, before Auston finally prods her about the reason she even wanted to meet today. “So what’s up?”

She takes a deep breath. “Am I in love with Will?”

“Are you in love with...are you fucking kidding me?” Auston responds immediately, looking at her like he had that day they were at Sick Kids- like she’s completely missing something that everyone else knows.

“I’m gonna take that as a yes.” She says reasonably.

“Oh my fucking god.” He says, sounding distressed. “Don’t you have, like, a therapist for this shit? How did I get drafted for this?”

“I mean, yes, I do, but I haven’t gone into the details of it with Dr. Seth before this and I don’t think an hour would cover it.” She says; she’s thought about that already. Auston rubs his temples. “Stop that.” Aubrey chides. “Your hairline is bad enough.”

“Well you’re not helping!” Auston cries. “Jesus Christ, am I in love with Willy? Where the fuck have you been?”

“Egypt, I guess.” She says and he stares at her flatly until she explains. “Denial?”

“Fuck off, I hate you so much. Oh my god.” He groans. “Willy would have laughed so hard at that, fuck you.”

The worst thing is that she knows he would have. He’d have laughed and laughed and laughed, his eyes crinkling and his smile bright and warm, so loud that she couldn’t help but join in.

“Holy shit.” Auston says quietly, watching the smile on her face. “You’re really in deep.”

“Ugh, yes.” Aubrey groans, covering her face. “I hate it. I hate these feelings. I hate not knowing. I hate-”

Auston cuts her off, choking out a laugh. “Not knowing? Not knowing what?” And then he chokes again, once he looks over at her. “Not knowing if Will-” He stops abruptly looking like he’s got a secret that he shouldn’t be telling. “Come on, you aren’t this dumb.”

“You’re being serious?” She says quietly, looking over at Auston hopefully. 

He avoids her eyes, bending down for a minute to pet his dog, but Felix absolutely betrays him by trying to run towards a new smell on a nearby bush, giving him absolutely nothing to look at instead of her. “I mean, come on.” Auston gives her a look. “Don’t make me say it.”

“Did he say it?”

“No.” Auston shakes his head, tugging gently on Felix’s leash to turn around. “But Aub, really? He brought you to meet his whole family.”

“He met mine too.” She reminds him. “And so did you!”

Auston shakes his head. “You...you just don’t see how he looks at you.”

Aubrey bites her lip, but she can’t resist asking. “How does he look at me?”

Auston doesn’t even have to think before he responds. “Like the rest of us aren’t even in the room.” 

“Oh.” She says quietly, looking down at the ground. Felix is just trotting away happily, like Aubrey’s entire world hasn’t been flipped on its axis. 

Auston, at least, seems to recognize the effect of what he’s said. “Look, even if you’re not ready to talk with him, just, like, look at the guy. You’re not in this alone.”

She’s definitely not ready to say anything, but, well, she could give that a try. Just try and see what Auston sees.What everyone sees apparently. “Alright.” She agrees.

“I won’t say anything.” Auston adds. “You two can figure this mess out on your own.”

“You’re the best.” Aubrey declares, leaning up to kiss his cheek.

“I know.” Auston smirks, pulling Felix’s leash out from under her feet.

“Jerk.” Aubrey laughs, shoving his shoulder gently. “If you didn’t have the second best dog in the world right here, I’d push you harder.” She crouches down to scratch Felix’s ears, only for Auston to pull him out of her reach.

“Second best?” He cries, outraged. “Nuh-uh. You don’t get to pet my dog after that kind of disrespect.”

“I just ranked your dog above Zeus!” She protests. “But Pablo’s my boy.”

Auston releases his hold on the leash a little and Felix trots over toward her arms as he teases, “I thought we just agreed Willy was your boy.”

“Yeah, well,” Aubrey scratches behind Felix’s ears, smiling as his tongue lolls out. “Man’s best friend.”

-----

Will’s acting funny when Aubrey sees him the next day.

She only catches him for a few minutes before the game, when they briefly cross paths at his place when she goes to pick up a jacket she left there, and she doesn’t know how to explain it, but something just seems...off.

It’s like...he barely looks at her when she’s in there digging around what’s become her side of the bed and then he brushes past her, muttering something about how he needs to go and for her to just lock up whenever she’s done, which would be fine, except he usually waits for her if she’s around when he leaves so they can walk out together.

Something’s just off.

“Are you sure you didn’t fight about anything?” Steph frowns at her, later that night. “Even like a small, stupid thing that maybe you brushed off? Because you do that.”

“No!” Aubrey swears. “At first I thought he was just annoyed about the book, because the book I’m reading right now takes place in Sweden, so like every few pages I ask him if it’s real? Or what it’s like?”

“God, you must be the most annoying girlfriend.” Steph giggles.

“Don’t even, I know everything about you and Mitch.” Aubrey pokes her and Steph giggles again, admitting defeat. “But no! He wouldn’t even look at me! Something’s up!”

Steph purses her lips. “That is weird.” She admits. “It’s very...not Will.”

“No!” Aubrey cries. “Will doesn’t sit and let things stew! He doesn’t care enough about what people think about him for that.”

“So why is he acting like this then?” Steph asks and Aubrey blows out a frustrated breath.

“I don’t know!” She says. “And I just want him to tell me what’s going on.”

The rest of the game is fairly uneventful for the two of them, slipping quietly out of their seats after the win and chatting between themselves and a few other friends as they all wait. One by one, the boys all make their way out of the locker room, and Aubrey frowns as even Auston and John walk out, stopping briefly to chat with her, before even they go, until finally, finally, Will steps out, his face flickering when he sees her. 

“Hi?” She says, a little annoyed.

“Hi.” Will says, like nothing’s just happened, like he didn’t just do a double take of the worst kind at her mere presence.

“What’s wrong?” She frowns, reaching out for him and gently sliding her hand on his forearm.

“Nothing.” There’s no other word for it; Will flinches. 

“Will.” Aubrey breathes as he shrugs off her arm.

“It’s nothing.” He repeats. “I’m just tired.” Which is so clearly a lie and she frowns, ready to call him out, but he reaches for her hand and says, “Let’s go eat,” with such finality that she doesn’t really know how she’d bring it up.

All she knows is that his hand feels cold in a way it never has before and the silence they sit in at dinner is like nothing she’s ever felt with him, even before they started sleeping together.

-----

“Merry Christmas!” Cam throws open the front door dramatically before Aubrey, Will, Steph, and Mitch have barely even shut their car doors. “Come on, you’re late!”

“Oh boy.” Aubrey mutters and she hears Steph and Mitch laugh.

Will, however, is as quiet as he’s been all drive up to her parents for their annual Christmas Eve party- as quiet as he’s been all week, as he’s been since whatever happened- and it makes her wonder why he even came. She’d told him he didn’t have to come if he didn’t want to; he’d just given her this tiny smile and asked her what time they had to pick up Mitch and Steph.

“How are we late?” Steph asks, as all four of them start yanking off coats and scarves the second they walk in the door. “None of the neighbors are even here yet!” 

Cam huffs at that bit of logic and turns on her heel, walking away from them as they laugh, which cues Aubrey’s brothers into their arrival. Tye and Danny poke their heads around the corner of the wall, calling for Mitch immediately to show them how to do something on a new video game, but right away they’re thwarted by their mom. “Later.” Mitch whispers to them, as Tye and Danny grin, following the four of them into the kitchen. 

In the kitchen, they find Aubrey and Steph’s moms working in tandem- the way they always have on Christmas Eve- to finish the appetizers and set food out. They stop only briefly to greet their daughters and their daughters’ boyfriends, and to direct them on where to put the desserts they brought, before they’re shooing them all right back out.

“Dads in the basement?” Steph asks, like they all don’t know the answer already, and Danny nods, leading the way down the stairs, where Fitz and Ryan have already started a beer pong game against Mike and Tom.

“Shotty next.” Mitch calls, while he waits for Aubrey and Steph to say hi to their dads.

“You gonna be able to walk back next door?” Fitz snorts out a laugh.

“That was one time!” Mitch protests. “Nobody warned me how much drinking there was on Christmas Eve!”

“It’s like we hadn’t spent the last four months together before that.” Aubrey deadpans, focusing more on watching Will greet her stepdad with the same enthusiasm as he had her mom, and her brothers, and Cam.

But then, he comes back to her side, and when she goes to tangle their fingers together, his hand stays limp, just kind of letting her do what she wants, not returning the gesture at all, instead of pulling her closer like he used to.

“Guess I thought you two were the anomaly.” Mitch teases. “Then I learned I’d have to bring my A game all the time.” 

“Yeah buddy.” Tom says, looking over at his daughter’s boyfriend right after he sinks Fitz and Ryan’s last cup. “Who’s with you?”

-----

By the time Mitch and Will get demolished in beer pong, Aubrey and Steph are fighting back a laugh at their dads’ light buzz already going and the neighbors have started to arrive, which brings a temporary pause to pong play for more introductions.

The neighbors all love Will, which, of course they do. Aubrey’s not surprised at all. He’s funny and charming and personable, just has this air that draws people in, and every one of her mom’s friends finds her at some point after they meet Will to gush about how wonderful he is.

“Yeah.” Aubrey says, almost helplessly to Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Morris, as she watches Will with Kayls and Cam across the room. “He’s pretty great.” They smile knowingly at her, Mrs. Jones winking as she passes, leaving Aubrey to watch them with a fond smile on her face.

It’s Will who notices her staring first, because of course it is. Kayls and Cam are oblivious to everything around them. He catches her eye, still laughing about whatever they’re talking about, and there’s a second where his smile grows when he sees her, a second Aubrey feels a grin growing across her own face.

And then it all stops abruptly as something flashes over Will’s face, and as quick as the grin was there, it’s gone.

Aubrey frowns and watches as Will returns to talking with Kayls and Cam again, but notices the smile on his face seems forced now. She wants...well, she doesn’t know exactly what she wants, but she’s tired of not knowing what’s going on with him.

“Hey.” Fitz nudges her shoulder. “It’s too early for you to be sad about going to your dad’s tomorrow. Come take a shot with me.”

“I-” It’s not that. She starts to say, but stops herself. Today’s not the day to try and tease out whatever’s going on with Will. Whatever it is could wait until after Christmas. “Yeah, sure.”

Fitz grins, leading her over to the makeshift bar, corralling a few friends as they go, but by the time he starts pouring, the crowd around them has gotten bigger. Will’s standing next to her, but the space he’s left between them feels so purposeful, and it only makes Aubrey frown as she listens to Fitz’s Christmas toast, as he cheers to a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, to good friends and great family. “And a way too cool future brother-in-law.” He jokes. “Don’t fuck this up, Aub!”

“Yo!” Mitch protests loudly as Aubrey feels the breath get stuck in her chest. 

She can’t even look at Will, so tense she can hardly bring her shot glass up to her mouth. The alcohol barely even burns and she knows it’s not because she’s too drunk to taste it; the numbness of her brother’s comment still stinging, and it’s well after she’s deposited her shot glass on the counter that she realizes, “Where’s Will?”

Mitch frowns, looking behind them. “He was right here, wasn’t he?”

Aubrey nods slowly, trying to stand on her toes and search for him. “Can you just-” She starts.

Steph’s right on her wavelength. “You look up here; we’ll check downstairs.”

Will is nowhere to be found on the main floor, so she heads upstairs and finally finds him in the room they’d thrown their bags in earlier. “Hey.” She breathes out a sigh of relief. “There you are.”

“Here I am.” Will says quietly. He’s in front of the taller dresser, looking at the bulletin board covered in pictures from high school and college- one of the few relics left in the room from when it was hers before her mom refashioned it into a guest room. 

“I’m sorry about Fitz!” She blurts. “He didn’t mean any-”

“We should be wrapping up soon, right?” Will says abruptly, interrupting her.

“What?” Aubrey frowns, shocked. That is...not at all what she thought he’d say.

“This?” He gestures between the two of them. “Like, Mitch and Steph definitely think we're a thing. Can call this off soon?”

“Um.” Aubrey tries to breathe but something’s definitely restricting that ability. “We…what?”

“We can stop this pretending.” Will says, like it’s obvious, and Aubrey feels her stomach drop. This...this was all pretend to him. “Do that break up that’s going to crush them. The whole reason we did this.”

“Right.” She swallows the lump in her throat. “Uh yeah, we can do that.”

Will shrugs. “Cool.” He says, and then turns and walks away, leaving Aubrey standing there wondering where exactly she went wrong.

-----

“Ok.” Steph snaps her fingers and only then does Aubrey look up from the Leafs vs. Calgary game that her best friend invited her over to watch that she’s paying absolutely no attention to- and hasn’t actually been able to focus on all night. Her best friend is standing in front of her, holding a new bottle of wine, and looking concerned. “I’ve asked for your glass like four times now. What’s going on?”

Aubrey bites her lip and holds her glass out. If she’s going to do this, they’re both going to need refills. “I have to tell you something.”

Steph frowns immediately but fills Aubrey’s glass and then her own. “Uhh, ok? What’s up.”

Aubrey doesn’t know whether she needs a deep breath or a sip of wine to settle her nerves. She goes for both. “Will and I aren’t together.”

And maybe...maybe that was the wrong way to phrase it, because Steph’s face just falls. “I’m so sorry, babe.” She says, reaching out and rubbing Aubrey’s arm. “I really thought-” She shakes her head and Aubrey’s still trying to figure out what she said wrong, what she can say to make her see what she really means. “Are you okay?”

“No.” Aubrey says and Steph looks like she wants to reach for the wine bottle and pull her in for a hug at the same time, until she continues. “No, I mean; Will and I aren’t together now because we were never really together at all and no, I’m not okay either, actually, now that you mention it.”

Now Steph frowns uncertainly, like she doesn’t know what to say. And that look? The one on her face right there? If it didn’t feel like her heart was already breaking, she’d be cherishing that look.

Now she can’t even enjoy it.

“You’re going to have to explain this one to me.” Steph says, her voice carefully neutrally.

So Aubrey does- beginning with the night that Mitch and Steph had had them over and her and Will’s plan to get them to stop nagging, to when they’d started sleeping together, to how it felt like they were together for real and on the same page, right up until they weren’t.

“I wanna be so mad at you right now.” Steph says, after a long silence.

“You should be.” Aubrey admits. “I would be.

“Well, you’re making it really hard looking so sad.” Steph glares. “And being so dumb.” Aubrey’s jaw drops, even if the callout is probably well deserved. “Will looks at you like you are the center of the universe. He looks like his entire day has gotten better every time you walk into the room. For God’s sake, he willingly met your dad on Christmas last week! You cannot honestly tell me you think he doesn’t really want to be with you!”

“He told me he wanted to stop!” Aubrey cries. “He was the one who said we should do the breakup!”

“Well if you don’t want to, then tell him!” Steph dares.

“Stephanie.” Aubrey frowns. 

“What?”

“I can’t do that!” Aubrey hisses.

“Why not?” Steph pours another glass of wine for herself and then passes the bottle over. Aubrey accepts eagerly. “Did Will tell you why he wanted to stop this...dating thing?”

“...no.” Aubrey sighs. It’s another thing that’s been driving her crazy.

“So ask him.” Steph says plainly. “And tell him you don’t want to stop.”

Aubrey bites her lip nervously. “But what if he says no?”

“Honestly the worst thing that happens here is that you still break up.” Steph says gently. “But this really just sounds like a matter of you two actually needing to talk about where you stand. Will’s not a mind-reader, Aub; he can’t have known you didn’t want to stop things, especially if this was all your idea in the first place.”

Ugh, she’s right. “I hate everything about this.” Aubrey sing-songs. “Including the fact that you even introduced us.”

Now Steph grins. “You do not hate that we introduced you. You just hate feeling vulnerable.”

That’s too accurate to address, so Aubrey flips her off and reaches for the wine again.

-----

Will picks her up for the Leafs annual New Year’s Eve party and it’s unfair because no one should look that good dressed in black pants and a sweater, but there’s Will waiting by the car with a beanie on his head and a pea coat left open, for maximal torture is the only reason Aubrey can think of.

“Hi.” She breathes, running across the street to him as best she can in her heels. 

It takes him a second to respond. “Hi.” He says finally, opening the door for her. “You uh, planning on blinding us all tonight?” He teases, once he slides into the backseat of the uber with her.

Aubrey giggles at the lame joke as she looks down at her glittery skirt. It’s such a lame joke but she’s just so relieved he even made it. That they still have dumb things to laugh over. “Hmm, over-under on how many of us are wearing something sparkly tonight. 10?”

“Over.” Will answers immediately and she giggles again.

The ride doesn’t take long so it’s only a few minutes before they’re pulling up to the club, where they run into Travis Dermott and his girlfriend exiting their uber at the same time. “Nine more.” Will whispers in her ear, as Kat turns to greet them, and they both catch sight of a sparkly tank under her jacket.

“Hush.” Aubrey bites back a laugh, but only barely, before she pulls Kat in for a hug. Inside is about as loud as she’d expected but once they all step upstairs into the VIP section roped off for them, it’s easier to hear, easier to think, and easier to breathe.

Or at least, it is for a moment. She can feel Will’s eyes on her from across the room, where he’s at the bar ordering drinks for the two of them, and she and Kat have gone to say hi to more people.

“So, uh.” Steph says, in lieu of hello. “I don’t think Will’s being weird anymore.”

When Aubrey turns and follows Steph’s eyes, Will’s still looking at her, unashamed in his gaze or getting caught. He winks back at her, grinning when she smiles at him. “No.” She says slowly. “I guess not.” Steph just grins at that, kind of smugly, and Aubrey huffs at that, turning away to greet Morgan and Tessa behind her.

It’s not long before Will returns with drinks, still grinning as he pulls her immediately to the dance floor. He pulls out some of his most ridiculous moves and Aubrey laughs, harder and harder the more she drinks, and then finally falling against him after he and Mitch attempt the Toosie Slide together. 

“Why are you laughing?” Will demands, wrapping an arm around her waist and taking her hand, leading her into some weird kind of slow dance, even as the song changes into something by The Chainsmokers.

“I just like seeing you like this.” She grins.

His brow furrows. “Like what?”

“Just-” She doesn’t know how to explain it. How open he is right now, how loose and easy and warm he looks because he’s just able to be himself, and how happy she feels to be with him, especially when he’s like this. “Just happy, I guess.”

Will grins again and presses a loud kiss to her temple, that she barely has time to giggle at, because he says, “Always happy to be with you,” like it’s the most casual thing in the world. 

And Aubrey gasps in shock, but she doesn’t think Will even notices, because he’s dipping her back over his arm right after that and then she’s too busy laughing again.

-----

Steph flops down on the remaining couch seat and ignores the look that Auston sends her in favor of fanning herself with her hand. “Sure.” He says dryly. “I’ll move over a little.”

“Would you? Thanks.” She snickers and he shakes his head fondly at her.

“How about you?” He looks over at Aubrey. “Gonna squish me in the corner even more?”

Aubrey’s already settled herself on his other side, on the edge of the couch. “Nah, I’m good here.” She bumps her shoulder against his.

“Is it even possible to squish you in the corner?” Steph muses.

“Why are you squished in the corner?” Aubrey asks, confused. “What, you couldn’t find a date for New Year’s?”

“I make it a point to not bring dates to holiday parties.” Auston says and Aubrey’s jaw drops.

Steph’s snickering into her palm though, so it’s clear this particular brand of assholery isn’t unfamiliar. “Holidays and events.” She cackles. “Keep those expectations low.”

“Although now that I know that all it takes to make a girl leave is to just have you walk in my house the next morning…” Auston trails off thoughtfully.

Aubrey shoves at his head, ruffling his hair on purpose, but she can’t help but laugh along with him. “Don’t you fucking dare. I’ve got better things to do than that.”

“Like what?” Steph says, too innocently to be real. “Will?”

“I’m leaving.” Aubrey stands, as Steph and Auston both laugh. “I don’t have to listen to this.”

“Is noon good tomorrow?” She hears Auston call after her, while Steph cackles next to him. “How about 12:30?” She flips him off over her shoulder, without looking back, instead pushing her way around Fred and his new girl, to find Will where she’d left him at the bar with Mitch.

But at the bar, she finds only Mitch, who’s looking a little confused. “Where’s Will?” She asks.

“Um.” Is all Mitch says and Aubrey frowns immediately. 

“Mitch, what happened?” Aubrey says flatly and Mitch caves right away.

“I don’t know!” He says. “We were just ordering drinks, watching you guys, everything seemed fine, and next thing I know, he was walking away!”

“Well where did he go?” She asks impatiently, barely waiting for Mitch to point before she’s shoving her way through the crowd.

It feels like she circles the entire building before she finally finds Will, and it’s more like she happens to run into him than she actually finds him, which just annoys her even more, enough that she grabs his hand and pulls him outside to a spot far enough away that it’s quiet enough to talk.

It’s not quiet- it’s still New Year’s Eve and there’s people all around them going up and down the street- but it’s far enough from the door that they can’t feel the music anymore, at least. 

Will’s staring at their hands, still linked, but he’s not saying anything, and even though she’s the one who dragged them out into the cold, he’s the one who started acting weird in the first place, and she feels her annoyance grow. “I thought we were having a really good time tonight?”

Will sighs. “We were.” He pauses. “I was, at least.”

“Ok, I was too.” Aubrey says slowly. “So, what happened?”

Will sighs again. “Look, it’s fine, like this was never supposed to be a thing with us, yeah? I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at me. I’ll get over it.”

She’s so confused. “Get over what? Why are you mad?”

“I saw you,” Will says. “Coming out of Auston’s one morning. I was driving past, after practice on my way home.” He shrugs, almost casually, but she can see in his face how hurt he is. “And like, we were never supposed to be a thing.” He repeats and she frowns. Why does he keep saying that? “So I’m not mad at you and I can’t even be mad at him. But I saw you and Matts together and I knew I liked you more than you liked me.” He shrugs again, trying to play off his words as light as casual, but Aubrey’s trying to put the pieces together of what he said. “I know you’d rather be here with him tonight, but that’s why I can’t do this anymore.”

“Oh my god.” She breathes. “You’re so dumb.”

“Hey!” Will protests.

“We’re so dumb.” She corrects, because, really, it’s the truth. “I was at Auston’s that day because he was the only one who knew about us at the time and I needed to talk to someone about if I’m in love with you!”

Will doesn’t move for a second, the longest second of Aubrey’s entire life. “Where, uh, where’d you land on that one?” He asks, like he’s kind of nervous for the answer.

And Aubrey can relate; there are butterflies in her stomach, even though she’s positive she knows how this is going to end now. “Pretty strongly in favor for.” She says and Will beams, that bright smile that lights up his entire face. “I didn’t get to tell you earlier, but I’m always happy to be with you, too.”

“That’s good.” Will says mildly, and Aubrey grins, waiting for the rest. “Because I really love seeing you smile like that.”

Her jaw drops a little. She’s not upset about what he said at all; it’s just so not what she expected him to say. And in that moment of silence, Will grins down at her once more, before leaning down to kiss her.

-----

It’s late the next morning by the time Aubrey tumbles out of bed, yanking a t-shirt of Will’s over her head. Will’s been up for at least an hour already, and she kisses his cheek as she passes, giggling as he lightly pats her ass in return.

“Coffee’s still warm.” He says.

“I still love you.” She teases. “That’s not changing just because you kept the pot warm.” Will flips her off and returns back to the game he’s playing on his Switch. “Have you seen my phone?”

“Near the front door.”

Most of her stuff is still by the front door, thrown hastily down when they’d come in late last night. Her phone’s still got a little battery left, filled with messages from late last night and earlier this morning, but one in particular catches her eye.

Steph LaChance: i told you so 😉