#and I thought we did all of the wishing last season *laugh track*

[frostdayz]

Dinner surprises

Loki x reader

Genre: Fluff

Summary: Being away in midgard for a couple of weeks you come back to a Loki surprise.

warnings: None :)

AN: Might be the last loki x reader for a while. Let me know if you guys have any other people you want me to write about!!

my stories never really describe the readers gender so unless stated otherwise all my stories are gn!!

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

I stepped through the portal, the familiar golden shimmer fading as my feet touched the smooth floors of Loki’s palace chambers. It felt like I’d been gone forever, even though it had only been a few weeks. Midgard had its charm, but it was nothing compared to the comfort and elegance of Asgard—nothing compared to being with him.

The air was rich with the scent of something delicious. I furrowed my brows, surprised. That wasn’t usual. I made my way down the corridor, following the tantalizing aroma. The closer I got, the more my heart began to race.

Turning the corner, I stopped in my tracks.

There, in the center of the grand dining hall, was the most breathtaking sight I’d ever seen. The room was bathed in the soft glow of candlelight, casting flickering shadows against the walls. A long table, covered with the finest silver and goblets of sparkling wine, was adorned with an extravagant spread of dishes—each one looking more delicious than the last. The colors of roasted vegetables, perfectly seasoned meats, and intricate desserts filled the table.

But it wasn’t the food that caught my breath.

It was him. Loki, standing at the end of the table, looking impossibly handsome, as always. He was dressed in a deep green suit that made his eyes stand out even more. His usual mischievous grin was nowhere to be seen; instead, there was something softer in his expression—something that tugged at my heart.

“You did all this?” I asked, my voice coming out as barely a whisper.

Loki walked toward me, his lips curling into a gentle smile. “You’ve been gone far too long, darling. I thought I should make your return memorable.”

I blinked, taking it all in. “This is incredible.”

He reached out, taking my hands in his, the warmth of his touch instantly calming the last remnants of exhaustion from my trip. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” I whispered, leaning into him.

He chuckled softly, pulling me into a tight embrace. “Two weeks without you felt like an eternity.”

I rested my head against his chest, the familiar sound of his heartbeat steady and soothing. “You didn’t have to do all this,” I mumbled, overwhelmed by the effort he had put in.

“Of course, I did,” he replied, brushing a strand of hair from my face. “You deserve nothing less.”

My heart swelled at his words. For all his teasing and trickery, Loki had a way of making me feel like I was the most important person in the universe. And in moments like this, I believed it.

He led me to the table, pulling out a chair for me like a perfect gentleman. I laughed softly, taking a seat. “I don’t know where to start,” I admitted, looking over the food.

“Anywhere you wish,” he said, sitting beside me, his eyes never leaving mine. “This evening is all yours.”

We spent the night eating, laughing, and talking about everything and nothing all at once. The food was divine, but the company—being back with him—was what made it perfect. Every so often, he’d reach across the table, taking my hand in his, his thumb tracing gentle circles against my skin. It was such a simple gesture, but it made my heart flutter every time.

After what felt like hours, the candles burned low, and the night grew quieter. We sat in a comfortable silence, the world outside fading away.

Loki turned to me, his eyes soft and full of warmth. “You know,” he began, his voice low, “no matter where you go, or how long you’re away, you’ll always have a place here—with me.”

I felt a lump form in my throat, emotions welling up as I looked into his eyes. “I know,” I whispered back. “And I’m never leaving for that long again.”

He smiled, leaning closer, his lips brushing softly against mine. The kiss was gentle, slow, full of all the things we didn’t need to say out loud. When we pulled away, he rested his forehead against mine, his hands cupping my face.

“I love you,” I breathed.

“And I love you,” he replied, his voice steady, yet full of that same overwhelming sincerity that made my heart skip a beat every time.

Being with Loki, under the soft glow of the candles, I knew there was nowhere else in all the realms I’d rather be.

[megaawkwardhuman]

This whole guillermo vampire thing this season reads like a monkey paw wish

[fangirl-dot-com]

😈Track 4 - I Did Something Bad

TAG LIST IS CLOSED

Alex was standing by the iconic bright blue garage. It was almost time for the rest of the grid to arrive for testing, but he didn’t care about that. All he cared about was George’s post from three days ago. The paddle game and its players were still a mystery to him. 

Who has George playing with? And why hadn’t he told him? 

Weren’t they supposed to be best friends? 

The Thai rolled his eyes as he scrolled through the numerous comments about how the two other players must have been Logan Sargeant and Y/n L/n. And if they were the players then that must mean that they will be the new Lamborghini drivers.  

He scoffed out loud. “As if.” 

“As if what?” a French voice sounded. Alex turned to look at his new rookie teammate. He tried to give the twenty-year-old a smile. He held up his phone, but the screen had gone dark Theo didn’t need to know that Alex was trying to find gossip like a middle-schooler. 

“Just fan theories,” he muttered, opening his phone back up and exiting out of Instagram and back to his messages. His eyes widened as he read through the chat. 

Theo’s eyebrow arched. “What’s wrong?” 

“George wants us over by the media pen. We got to go.” 

The two Williams drivers both started to quickly walk. Alex weaved through the crowds, turning back once every so often to see if Theo was still with him. For half a second, he remembered how he would just leave Logan to fend for himself. The American was often late getting to places because he didn’t know where anything was. At the time, Alex had said that he wasn’t responsible for his teammate. 

But now as he was navigating the big crowds at Bahrain, he wished he had spent a little more time with Logan, making sure that he was ok. 

However, that was in the past and Alex couldn’t waste time on it. Theo was his teammate now and Logan was off doing who-knows-what. On the inside, he was hoping to never run into the blond again. The American was just another sign of his mistakes. 

He always believed that he was the superior of the two, often questioning James as to why Logan hadn’t been replaced farther into the season like Nyck had been.

The team principal always rolled his eyes at Alex. 

“It’s because we aren’t Red Bull. We don’t want to drop Logan like Red Bull dropped you.” 

That had stung, but Alex always internally laughed. Logan was inevitably dropped by Williams, just like he had been with Red Bull. The only difference is that Alex stayed and extended his contract. Was this how Max Verstappen felt? 

Alex was so lost in thought that he didn’t see the back of someone and rammed into them.  

“Oh, hey mate.” 

Speak of the devil. 

“Hi Max,” he greeted back, rubbing his chest. “Did your back get bigger or have you always been this broad.” 

Max winced at the inuendo. Wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t be a string bean like Alex or George could be. 

“Ah, Albono, no need to be jealous that Max can probably bench press more than you.”

The Dutchman internally smiled at the familiar Monegasque voice. Charles had made his way over the moment that Alex ran into Max. 

Theo was right next to Alex still, reminding Charles of a lost puppy. He didn’t understand why Alex hadn’t let Logan do that last year if the Thai was fine with it this year. The Monegasque didn’t have time to ask before Lando and Oscar joined the bunch. His green eyes flitted over to George and Lewis who were whispering to each other. 

Lando had a grin on his face as he greeted the four drivers. 

“Hello mate.” The Briton clasped Max’s hand before going around. Oscar followed in suit. 

Theo, a little nervous around the older drivers, tried to make conversation. 

“How are the cars looking?” 

Suddenly he had five pairs of eyes on him, which maybe would have made others shrink away, but the Frenchman didn’t want to appear weak. 

Oscar’s eyes crinkled as he smiled. “They look good. Maybe someone will win a race this year.” He poked Lando’s side, making the brunet squawk. 

“I’ll win if Max decides to DNF.” 

The group laughed a bit. Max responded with an huff. 

“For the last time Lando, you need to be faster to beat me. I won’t let you pass and if I’m behind you, I’ll just pass you again.” 

He had a cheeky grin making Lando pout. 

Charles turned back to Theo and Alex. 

“How are you two feeling about the cars?” 

The two Williams drivers perked up. They had been working hard all winter break to make upgrades. Alex would never admit, but most of the ideas had come from what Logan had said during 2023. They didn’t have a championship contending car, but they would be able to bring in some decent points. 

Theo took the opportunity to answer. 

“It looks all right. Hoping to make it into Q2 at least. We have good 1-lap pace.” 

Lando snorted. “You’ll definitely make it into Q2. I’m forecasting no crashes in Free Practice.” 

Theo’s head tilted. “How come?” 

“Because there’s not a certain driver on the grid this year. Now maybe I can win a race without having to go around his debris. ” 

“Lando you’re such a narcissist,” Max murmured, looking around hoping no one heard him. The last thing the Briton needed was another cancel culture on him. 

Lando’s green eyes widened. “What? I’m only saying the truth. Even Oscar was saying something about it this morning. Right mate? Logan will probably never put a foot in the paddock again.” 

Oscar looked down, semi-embarrassed, but also, again, he shouldn’t be worrying about Logan anymore. The Aussie looked back up. 

“Yeah, I mean, he crashed out a lot and it was all his own faults. It’d probably be better if he stayed away for a bit.” 

Max and Charles didn’t seem too certain that Oscar truly believed it. But the look in Oscar’s eyes did tell them that there was some truth. Max wanted to bring up the fact that Charles last year did crash out a few times, but he still had a seat. Charles’s hand on his back made him wait. 

It was silent for a moment before George walked up to the group. 

“The new drivers are about to walk in. Do you want to go with me to meet them?” 

Charles and Max looked at him and eagerly nodded. Oscar and Lando shrugged, but agreed to walk with George. Alex said nothing but still tagged along, which made Theo follow the older drivers. 

Time to go see who copped Logan’s driver number. 

Alex truly didn’t want to see another car with the number 2 on it that wouldn’t be Logan. It wouldn’t feel great. But Alex guessed that’s what the past was, an emotion that just gnawed on your insides until it went away with time. 

He once again ran into someone, but this time it was Lando. 

“Lando, why’d you…” 

He wasn’t able to finish his sentence as his eyes were now glued to the turnstiles. 

There was no way. 

Logan grinned when his eyes landed on the small group. George, Max, and Charles were still walking toward him and you, but the other four stopped dead in their tracks. 

“Nice and sunny today?” Logan jokingly questioned as he hugged George first. You made yourself busy with greeting Max and Charles. 

You and Logan had decided to show up in the Lamborghini merchandise. Logan was in a black t-shirt but you were dressed in a Lamborghini issued pantsuit. But for the race next week, the two of you would show up in sponsor clothes. The yellow decals looks great against his black shirt. 

Charles smiled as he leaned back from the hug. “Looking a bit bee-ish today.” 

You rolled your eyes as you looked down your own suit that had bits of yellow intricately designed. 

“Charles,” you whined, “now I won’t be able to see anything else. Even our car is black and yellow.” 

You let out a huff, but the smile on your face contradicted how you were acting. Logan walked up next to you and greeted the other two, which gave you and George time to talk as well. 

“They’re still staring,” Logan murmured as he leaned in to side hug Max. 

“Let them.” 

The now group of five walked farther into the paddock. Logan had wanted to say something, or even look at the other four, but the look on their faces deterred him. With your arm linked in his, you pulled him along, also not giving him a chance to stop. 

“You don’t need them.” 

Logan nodded. 

Charles leaned closer. “They were so sure that Logan wasn’t going to come back this season. I think Lando was betting that Mick would be in the seat.” 

Your smirk grew. “Played them like a violin Logan. Making it look so easy for the rest of us.” 

Logan barely glanced back at the still stuck drivers, who turned around to watch them walk away. 

“They’re looking at me like I did something bad. But, why does it feel good?” the American male asked. His heart wanted to hurt because of how they treated him last year, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel a bit smug at their jaws on the floor. 

Max snorted. “Because they fucked you up last year mate.” 

George let out a gasp and put his hands over your ears. “No bad words around the children Max.” 

You quickly batted his hands away. “I’m twenty-two George. Also, why aren’t your hands over Charles ‘vanilla is the best ice cream flavor’ Leclerc’s ears instead?” 

The Ferrari-driver glared at you. “Says the woman who thinks chocolate is somehow superior.” 

The two of you started to bicker as you walked. George, Max, and Logan laughed from behind. Logan pulled out his phone and took a quick picture before opening his schedule to see who he was with for media. He quietly cursed as he looked at the names. 

George winced at the photo. “I can’t believe that they’re putting you with Lando, Oscar, and Alex.” 

A quick buzz from Max’s phone made him take it out quickly. He smiled as he showed Logan. 

“I guess they changed mine. I’m now with you and the wolves.” 

Logan tried to feel a bit better about it, but he was visibly deflating. He just hoped that he could sit next to the Dutchman without having to sit next to anyone else. 

Thankfully, when it was time, Max had saved him an end seat. It was Logan on the left, then Max, then Alex, then Lando, then Oscar. Logan hadn’t greeted any of them as he walked in, only giving Max a quick smile before they got started. He ran a hand through his hair quickly and his eyes looked over at John, his new PR manager. The older man gave him an encouraging nod as a journalist started to ask Max a question. 

To Logan’s delight, most of the questions were for Max about the RB20 and if it would be as fast as the RB19. Max went through the motions to give his most mundane answer he could muster. Logan started to pick at his fingernails as he waited for the next question, which was for him. His head rose to look at the small crowd. 

“James McHone, with News 5, question for Logan. Why did you come back to race for Lamborghini after a very unsuccessful rookie year with Williams?” 

He wanted to wince, but kept his face neutral. He raised the mic to his lips. 

“Well, uh, I thought I wasn’t done and hadn’t been able to show people what I could do. During 2023 season, I had multiple people telling me that Williams was the best I could ever get and to not throw away a good thing. But in the end, to people it seems that I did throw it away. However, now with Lamborghini and Michael, I think I can finally show that they made the wrong decision.” 

Whispers went through the crowd at his last statement, but the genuine smile on John’s face made him feel better. 

“Melany Lancy, with Circuit Noise, follow up question for Logan. Some drivers have mentioned that a possible return for you hadn’t been something that was believable and that Logan Sargeant should have never gotten into Formula 1. Thoughts?” 

Logan took a deep breath before answering. He smirked and rolled his shoulders a bit. 

“I know I’m a good driver with the right car, and Williams just didn’t have that for me. I believe that Lamborghini has everything that I require. The team has really listened to me and Y/n, my teammate, during the break. The car was designed for us. I hadn’t really heard any rumors regarding drivers saying I should have never been in Formula 1. But all I can really say is if they drop my name, I don’t own them anything. I’m just here to do my job and do it well.”

Logan wasn’t asked any more question after that, but he could see the embarrassed red start to fill in Oscar’s, Lando’s, and Alex’s faces. He hadn’t heard rumors, but he had heard them say that first hand back in Brazil. 

He was quick to stand up and leave once they got the go ahead. He had a big smile as he made his way back to the garage with Max in tow. Somehow, the Lamborghini garage was placed next to Red Bull. On the other side of the navy garage was Ferrari. 

The American could only laugh at the thought of them trying to put both Italian teams garages next to each other. Enzo Ferrari would roll in his grave and Tonino would have a fit. He glanced over to Max before lifting his hand in a wave. 

“Y/n! Lo sai che a Tonino verrebbe un infarto vedendoti nel garage rosso?” (You know that Tonino would have a heart attack seeing you in the red garage?) 

Max’s head whipped at the fluent sounding Italian that left Logan’s mouth. Logan chose to ignore and kept smiling. Even in the Ferrari garage, Charles’s eyes went wide at the sound. The Monegasque’s head turned to you waiting for an answer. 

You waved a hand down like being in the Ferrari garage wasn’t a big deal. 

“E piu come se Enzo si stesse rotolando nella tomba. Charles aveva fatto una prova del gelato per il suo negozio e ne volevo un po’” (More like Enzo is rolling in his grave. Charles had test ice cream for his shop and I wanted some.” 

Logan rolled his eyes. Max just stood there in an utter look of confusion and bewilderment. 

“Charles, hai altro da condividere?” (Charles, do you have more to share?” 

The Ferrari driver was still frozen as he listened to you converse with one of his engineers in fluent Italian. It scared him even more when he truly realized that Logan was fluent as well. He quickly shut his eyes and shook his head before answering. 

“Questi ragazzo. Sono io quello che finira presto nella tomba. Si, ne ho di piu.” (These kids. I’m the one that’s going to be in an early grave. Yes, I have more.) 

Charles beckoned them over. Logan took the lead, letting a still very confused Max follow him. He finally found his voice once he stepped into the garage. 

“Ok, but what the actual fu-” 

“Language!” you yelled, licking the spoon that was currently being used to eat more ice cream. “Charles, I think the tiramisu could use some more espresso. It’s still a bit too sweet.” 

Charles muttered something, but wrote some words down in a separate yellow notebook that had “LEC” on the front. 

Logan had found a cup of some strawberry and started to eat it. Max stood still but was handed a cup of a familiar green ice cream. He looked up at Charles with wide eyes. 

“I thought you said that this was an abomination to the ice cream society Charlie,” the Dutchman said with a smirk on his face. 

Charles went a bit red. 

“Well, you like it so…” he didn’t finish and just let the words die off. Max just hummed contently as he ate the peppermint flavored ice cream. After Charles finished writing something, he took a deep breath. 

“So, when did the two of you learn Italian?” 

Your mouth was full of ice cream so you nudged Logan. He put the spoon back in the little cup before answering. 

“Y/n and I always thought it’d be funny to learn a language so that we could talk about stuff together and not everyone would know. I wanted to learn Russian but someone couldn’t tell the difference between the vowels.” 

You let out a whine at his confession. 

“Russian also doesn’t sound as sexy as Italian.” 

Without realizing, Max hummed in agreement. Charles went bright red at that as well. 

“Anyway, so when we were in F3 together for a little bit, we started to buckle down and learn it. Took about a year and a half to master it but we did.” 

The Ferrari driver looked a bit pained as he looked down at his cup. If Logan knew Italian, what had he overheard when Charles wasn’t aware. Logan could only guess what he was feeling like right now. 

“Charles, I never overheard anything bad from you. And if I did, it was only constructive criticism. I actually listened to it a lot and it helped with COTA.” 

Logan put a hand on Charles’s shoulder to try to convey that he really didn’t care. The Monegasque was never mean or rude toward him, like some orange drivers were. And Logan thinks that’s why it hurts more. The people who were supposed to be his good friends were mean to him. And the people who he wasn’t even that close with were nicer. It made his brain hurt. 

You took this as a moment to also confess something. 

“Logan also knows Dutch.” 

The American went bright red under Max’s eyes. The Dutchman had a big smirk.  

“Weet je?” (Do you now?) 

Logan didn’t reply in the language. 

“Yes, I know some. I’m not as fluent as you are.” 

“He wanted to learn it so he could understand most of your other interviews where you talked more about the car.” 

“Y/n!” Logan whipped around and yelled. You only shrugged. 

“It’s the truth.” 

Logan then suddenly remembered something. He turned toward Charles. 

“Y/n knows French!” 

A spoon hit his head, but the American didn’t even flinch. This time, it was your turn to turn as red as the Ferrari car behind you. 

Charles cooed at, surprisingly, the both of them. 

“Aw, multi-lingual babies.” 

Your head was in your hands. “I am never talking to you ever again.” 

“Well that’s not helpful,” a male voice sounded at the front of the garage. Michael and Marissa were both smiling at the group of four. You slid off the table that you were currently sitting on. 

“I guess that’s our cue to go. Remember Charles, more espresso, less depresso.” 

You led Logan out of the garage as you followed the siblings. 

“Je te verrai plus tard petite abeille!” (I’ll see you later little bee!) 

You groaned once more after hearing Charles call after you. You glared up at Logan.

“You better be thankful that I love you.” 

Logan put a hand on his heart. “Aww, love you too.” 

“I still won’t hesitate to run you off the track though.” 

“Wouldn’t doubt it tesoro.” 

lamborghini_racing has posted

lamborghini_racing didn't throw away a good thing

liked by phoenix95, lamborghini, sargeant4ever, and 3,205,859 others

lambo_f1duo ok, but the caption slays 💅

swift_on_track truly is a reputations era, the black fits are fitting

charles_leclerc look, you even came in your little bee car 🐝

phoenix95 I will run you off the track with said bee car, it comes with a stinger

charles_leclerc ok, no more ice cream for you

phoenix95 I TAKE IT BACK PLEASE DONT DO THAT

f1_gridgang man, this team is going to be top of the grid

lambof1 your honor, I fear they slayed too much

venus2 has posted

venus2 i'd do it over and over and over again if I could

liked by maxverstappen1, sargeantgirlie, oscarpiastri, and 5,305,104 others

lambovsferrari glad to see you back in the paddock bro, wouldn't be the same without you 💪

loscar_no_more BAHAHAHA NOT OSCAR HIDING IN THE LIKES

my_goat_logan you're going to come back even better than before!

phoenix95 picture creds would be preferable 🤨

venus2 oh sorry, thanks max for taking the pictures

maxverstappen1 you're welcome!

phoenix95 I still have Charles in my garage

maxverstappen1 you give him BACK

phoenix95 no.

charles_leclerc THAT'S IT - NO MORE ICE CREAM FOR THE TWO OF YOU (Logan let me out)

venus2 on it

ferrari&lambo_crew by I know that Enzo is rolling in his grave rn and Tonino is on the verge of an aneurism

tswizzlexf1 the I Did Something Bad lyrics >>>>>>

phoenix95 has posted

phoenix95 it just felt so good

liked by venus2, barnes&noble, dior, lewishamilton, and 5,305,201 others

booktok she's a racer AND A BOOKWORM?? she's just my type

venusxphoenix and Logan's too apparently

y/n.nation I'm digging the new layout and profile

venus2 you're welcome for the books

phoenix95 could have gotten them myself (ily and thank you)

charles_leclerc you're being...too nice 🤨

venus2 she loves me

phoenix95 gag (affectionately) 🫶

charles_leclerc SEE

maxverstappen1 it's her love language

venus2 it's the same as you and max talking about each other to everyone else

charles_leclerc low blow man, low blow 👊😔

rari_lambo_quartet I love them your honor

bee_lamborghini so ready for the first race

TAG LIST: @fionaschicken @myxticmoon @cherry-piee @blueberry64857959 @glitterquadricorn @lizzypiastri @disneyprincemuke @sam-is-lost @spilled-coffee-cup @ilove-tswizzle @the-untamed-soul @allenajade-ite @starssfall @torchbearerkyle @judespoision @halfdeadsage @juniper-july19 @severewobblerlightdragon @thatgirlmj @gods-menace @ineedafictionalman @namgification @dark-night-sky-99 @samantha-chicago @2pagenumb @treehouse-mouse @fangirl125reader @megatrilss1885 @kagatinkita @itsjustkhaos @nikfigueiredo @awekbachira @vellicora @skepvids @sunrizef1 @stan-josie @fanficweasley @hiireadstuff @barcelonaloverf1life @c-losur3 @graciewrote @bruhhhhhhhhehhhhhhh @tallrock35 @ashy-kit @kat-s2 @minkyungseokie @lozzamez3 @leslieis-crying @adventuresofrose @lighttsoutlewis

[uncouth-the-fifth]

here is my collection of sam and dean winchester reader-inserts 🧛‍♂️👻 enjoy!

Baby I'll Stay (Heaven Can Wait) (witch glamors, fluff, motel smut)

On a hunt with Sam and Dean, your childhood friends and long-term hunting partners, you choose to play bait in order to kill a powerful witch. Thing is, the witch uses a glamor that masks him as the seer's perfect partner—and to you, he looks exactly like Sam.

(You Are A) Natural, Baby (virgin Sam, pure impala sex lol)

part one (oral): You played your fingers on the wheel. Bent over it, squinting at the rain. Slumped back in your seat. All the while, Sam watched you go through the motions passively. He already knew what you knew: you'd have to camp here for the night. Just the two of you. Alone.

part two (oral, sex): “No wonder you’re so wet,” Sam rasps, “you’re already close, aren’t you?” You conceded with a pathetic nod, breathing hard. “All this just from blowing me…” Sam smirks.

Playing House (fake dating + couples cruise) for @daiziesssart

part one: You rolled around everything you wanted to explain to him in your head, but none of it sounded right. Somehow, you landed on: “You think it’s gonna be weird, pretending to be married?” Sam shrugged. “We did it all the time when we were kids, playin’ house.” He closed the zipper of his boot, flashing you an innocent smile. “Can’t be that different, right?"

part two: “My name is _____ Patton,” you introduce in your smoothest, surest voice, “and this is my amazing husband Sam. We’ve been married for…” “—three weeks now,” Sam finishes for you.

Click (first time + cozy winter cabin aesthetic) for @daffodil-mania

“I’m just wondering,” Sam winces, knowing his question is stupid, “why are you still a virgin?” You’re about to laugh in his face, but the earnestness in Sam’s voice makes you hesitate. His question is a genuine one. “...That sounds awful, m’ sorry. But, c’mon. You’re smart enough to know how pretty you are. Charmin’ enough to use it, too. I mean, I’d…” He caught himself. “—Anyone, would, uh…” Sam didn’t finish his thought. He changed his grip on the shotgun swinging from his hand, self-conscious, and cleared his throat. Well. That wasn’t obvious at all. No way in hell you were leaving that alone.

Click, p.2 (angsty love confession sex + season five) for @daffodil-mania

He’s really here. The part of you that had worried the argument with Sam would be your last wails with joy. He’s here, alive and in front of you. No matter how awkward you feel you can’t bring yourself to stop staring at him. By the buttery light of your bedside lamp, he literally glows with beauty, and you realize he’d scrubbed his boots off on your welcome mat to not track mud in, and he’d hung up his rain-soaked jacket in your shower to dry. Stupid polite Sam things. You dare to glance back at your kitchen, then swivel to squint at him. “Did you… do my dishes?” Sam lets his hands relax into his lap and nods, shy. He’s looking at you in a way he never really has before, eyes big and soul-rending. “…Yeah. I used the key you gave me to get in… Hope that’s okay.”

Mandy Davis, you punk ass bitch (birthday fluff for the boy!!!)

You wake up early to make sure you're the first person to wish Sam a happy birthday—since he's basically never had one before.

One of These Nights (cheating-but-not actually angst + Impala makeup sex) for @lacilou

“S’ a good night,” Dean tells you, beaming, “we can do another round, right?” “Hell yeah,” you shrug, and raise your empty glass, “Here’s to alcohol poisoning, baby.” “Yeah,” Dean echoes, almost slurring. “Baby."

[yizmiu]

KISSES FROM YOU 〻ᯇ # yang jungwon

001. your girlfriend | smau + written (1351 wrds)

IN WHICH ✶ a long time rivalry being used as a cover up for secret feelings. hwan y/n and yang jungwon have always seen each other as competition, being known as some of the cities bests track stars, hatred between the two was bound to happen.

“You’re joking.” Y/n scoffed after hearing all her friends say, ‘Not it’. “That’s not fair! I thought we were all going together…what if they catch me?” Y/n asked.

“They won’t catch you, all you have to do is climb the gate, find the main room, replace their flag with ours and spread fake raven feathers around the building... Easy.” Song Eunseok shrugged his shoulders. “Easy? that’s not fucking easy.” Y/n groans in annoyance. “You got the legs to climb that gate, you never skip leg day and you’re a long jump pro so…” Jang Wonyoung said, sucking her lips in.

“Seriously, if I get caught then it’s over for me.” Y/n sighed, thinking about how this was her last season competing for the ‘Iris Ravens’.

“Please, Please, Please keep a lookout for me and clap five times if you see a security guard.” Y/n begged. “Of course, you got this, and besides this is just payback from the time they got dogs to pee on our track and fields.” Hong Seunghan took hold of the varsity jacket Y/n was just wearing. She needed to disguise herself as someone—not from Iris.

“But you guys had to seriously trick me into doing it?” She groaned. “You’re the one that suggested payback.” Sim Jayun (Yoon) chuckled.

“If you get caught, just pretend they borrowed our starter blocks and we need to get them back.” Haku Shota (Soul) suggested. “Wish me luck, and if I get caught just know I’m gonna hold grudges against you all.” She pointed her fingers to her fellow friends on the varsity team.

She got out of the front seat of Seunghan’s car, then silently walked across the street. In front of her stood a school with a D1 track team, a track team they’ve been head to head with at the championships every year.

At first she was looking for a way easier than just climbing the gate. She walked around for a little trying to find anything that was broken or maybe a lost id. She had felt relief when she had found a lost id, not sure who it was’ until she flipped it around.

“Yang Jungwon,” She read out quietly, “How does he even lose something like this?” Y/n laughed as she stuffed it in the pocket of her sweatpants. She walked back to the entrance of the school, then held the id close to the camera so it didn't catch who’s holding it.

She buzzes the intercom, waiting for it to buzz back, making it known the gate was unlocked. She silently cheered when she heard the familiar buzz.

Y/n walked into the school freely, as if there weren't a million security cameras around every corner. She's never actually been here so it took her a while to find the main room. Walking past the gymnasium, noticing that there was a pep rally going on she knew it would make this dare easy.

As she walked into the main room she started to pull out their dark purple colored flag that had their mascot, a raven displayed. She removed Decelis’ flag that had their fancy logo and the vampire mascot, replacing it with Iris’ flag.

Then making her next move, scattering fake raven feathers around the huge room, making it more known who had done this mess.

Y/n halts for a moment. Hearing a walkie talkie behind a door close to her she tried to run towards the corner of the hallway, but as she did she bumps into someone. Y/n was gonna just push the body and run, but instead she played it off as normal; hugging the teenage boy in front of her.

“Please, cover for me.” Y/n whispers into the boy's ear. Yang Jungwon sighed, then gently pushed her head into the crook of his neck and his hands around the girl’s waist.

Jungwon looks at the staff and mouths a “Sorry.” The staff understands and nods her head, smiling apologetically and turns the other direction.

After she is long gone, Jungwon pulls away from the girl finally getting a good look of the girl he was just hugging.

“Jungwon.” Y/n jumps a little. She was not expecting the boy to be Yang Jungwon, one of her rivals.

“Why are you here, Y/n?” Jungwon asked, he was surprised just as the girl but he was expecting an Iris student to show up sooner or later.

“No reason, we left our blocks here.” Y/n excuses. “I know you’re here to get your ‘get back’.” Jungwon chuckled. “Then why’d you even ask?” Y/n scoffed. “Because I wanted to hear your stupid excuse.”

“But for real, how’d you even get into the school?” Jungwon asked. “With this, you dropped it.” Y/n cheekily smiled as she pulled out the boy’s student id from her pocket. “I bet you were just about to go look for it, weren’t you.” Y/n teased him.

“Yes, I was.” Jungwon glared at the girl, snatching it from her hands. “You should get out of here, don’t want to get caught do you.”

“You are the school president, get me in major trouble if you want , you have the power to do so.” Y/n teased, knowing the boy wouldn’t do something like that. “I do have the power to do so, but we both know I’m not an asshole like that.” Jungwon gently grabbed the girl's arm, leading her back to the gates of the school.

“Tell everyone I say hi,” Jungwon waves to the group of teens in the car across the street. “Tell me what you think of our get back when you see it.” Y/n says excitedly waiting for the boy's response.

“Yeah, Yeah. I’ll let you know—.”

“Jungwonie, make sure you kiss your girlfriend goodbye.” The front desk ladies tease him from the intercom. His face quickly drops mid sentence, face palming.

“Yeah,” Y/n gets closer to the boy, standing on her tippy toes to boldly give the boy a cheek kiss. “Kiss your girlfriend goodbye.” Y/n laughed, teasingly waving goodbye as she ran to Seunghan’s car.

“HOLY SHIT GUYS WHY DID I DO THAT.” Y/n freaks out as she opens the door. Jungwon is still standing at the gates, being able to hear the first part of her sentence and laughing at it.

“What the fuck just happened?” Wonyoung asks, just as freaked out as Y/n. “Did you seriously just cheek kiss, Yang Jungwon? What even happened there?” Yoon asks.

“I did what I had to do and then I almost got caught and ended up running into someone so I just hugged that person and it ended up being him, and now the staff think we’re dating so they teased him on the intercom and I felt silly so I kissed him but like…it was just so I could tease him back y’know?” Y/n spat out words by the second.

“I mean if you had said you wanted to just kiss him then we would’ve understood that more than what you just said.” Eunseok said truthfully, earning a look from Y/n.

“What? I know how you look at him.” Eunseok shrugged his shoulders.

“Eunseok is right, you guys honestly have this weird tension. I see it every time we run into each other.” Yoon agrees, and so does everyone else as they nod their heads.

“Okay, whatever.” Y/n sulks in her seat, she didn’t like hearing the truth sometimes.

“Hyung, why’d you take so long?” Nishimura Riki asked as Jungwon sat beside the boy. “Yeah, you missed your speech I had to fill in for you, I literally came up with words on the spot.” Myung Jaehyun said, he had just finished the speech that Jungwon was supposed to give.

“I realized I lost my id this morning so I went to go look for it.” Jungwon explained, “Also, Iris got their payback. You’ll see it when the pep rally is over.” He pursed his lips in a awkward smile.

m.list — previous — next

ᯇ ೀ taglist ( open ) ; @yenqa @dilrmma @hyukaaa @ilovejungwonandhaechan @jiamini @jwonistic @lovely-yunashane @yongbokified @floweryang @mokangelic @txtbrainrot @drunkhee @lcvclywon @jiawji @skzhoes @theothernads @ahnneyong @erehkinnie30 @dimplewonie @iheartjayke

[east-polaris]

Some thoughts on the last few Magnus Protocol episodes as I’ve just now gotten caught up

SPOILERS!! Obvi

- feels rather cruel to have Alice be shaken up by her experience with The Horrors and worried that she’s going to get hurt by interacting with them and then give her a statement about someone who was shaken up by their experience with The Horrors and then died because of their interaction with them

- also return and voice of Ink5oul! Hey girlie!

- the fact that Madame E’s last video was just titled “help” made me giggle at first but then o thought about it more and. This is a person who uses excessive words on everything she says. Her vocabulary is loaded with filler and slang, so for this video to just have a one word title? Yeah you know shits about to go down

-Gwen girlie I hate to agree with Lena but they are Calle externals for a reason

- I am so curious about what’s going on with Celia. Like did she just wake up on a railroad track like an old times super villain put her there?

- And where does Celia keep disappearing to? She missed her date with Sam, she had to run out on her child, what’s going on?

- The statement in 17 is wild I was so confused at the beginning and I’ll be honest I’m still not sure what was happening there

- I know for a fact that people have pointed this out already but Jon and Martin?? In the therapy waiting room? Little Jon and Martin as a treat?? I hope it was them god knows they need the therapy

- MAGNUS INSTITUTE MENTION 🚨‼️🚨‼️

- this statement reminds me of when Jon said man I wish we had that guy who could take peoples bones out and Melanie said you’ll never guess who were keeping in the basement

- shout out to that housekeeper for getting the hell out of there I respect her for that

- making eye contact while falling down the stairs and breaking all your bones sounds very impressive and also hilarious someone please animate that

- CELIA HELLO??? Is this conformation that she’s from the other dimension??

- haha jmj error

- also WHAT JMJ ERROR

- I like to imagine that a jmj error happens when Jon Martin and Jonah are arguing about which case to give them

- “no Jonah you can’t give her that one that’s way too similar to what she went through she’ll freak out” “exactly we can watch her fear” “no you elitist prick that’s so rude cut it out or I’ll kill you again”

- why is Celia saying she’s seen Colin?

- Teddy is being so suspicious why is he saying everything like he’s looking from side to side shiftily the whole time

- Lena you can’t call a child an it that’s rude

- unless she knows something that we don’t…

- can’t believe they started to open up to each other and it went horribly wrong

- I don’t think we’ve ever heard Sam like that before, like I couldn’t tell who it was for a second

- actually, i couldn’t confidently tell you that we’ve ever heard someone laugh that hard in the entire podcast

- can you really blame him though? “Monsters are working for our government organization and one of them is Barney.” Wild.

-I do hope he apologizes though cause that wasn’t really cool of him

- Also is that our first f-bomb of the season?

- GEORGIE WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE

- I think that Georgie might also be from the other dimension. Why else would she be so concerned about the government stalking her? That does beg the question, where is Melanie?

Thank you for listening to me ramble I had a lot on my brain

[buckybarnesthehotshot]

Chain, Keep Us Together (Max Verstappen x Reader)

|part 1|    |masterlist| 

summary: he won the championship, what does that mean for them? 

word count: 4019

warnings: not proofread, breakups, alcohol, slight angst, happy ending

October 20, 2022, COTA

       “That was a hell of a celebration for winning the championship,” the reporter started off, “It’s not all the time teammates share a kiss after winning a championship.”

       “We did it last year, didn’t we?” Max chuckled awkwardly, looking over to y/n.

       “Practically tradition at this point,” she chimed in jokingly with a tight-lipped smile. Media training in this situation was an absolute wonder considering neither of them had spoken to the other after that moment in Suzuka.

       She couldn’t bring herself to do it then. She couldn’t find the words to express the jumbled thoughts in her head, deciding it would have been easier for her to vanish as soon as she finished her commitments to Suzuka.  

       Truth be told, throughout the season, she didn’t mind sharing press conferences with him. Well, before Suzuka, at least. This time, however, the tension hung heavy in the air between them. So many words left unsaid as they sat across from each other.

       “Does this mean you guys are still together?”

       Max was at a loss for words. How would he explain this. Were they together again? By no means was their breakup publicized, but after their very public relationship in 2021, it was safe to assume people figured things out on their own.

       “Who said we split up?” she questioned with a laugh, somehow able to act like everything was okay with them both. It was easy when she’d managed to do it throughout the entire season.

       “There was a lot of speculation in the media after both of you were spotted less with each other this past season,” the reporter explained, taking a gulp.

       “Ah,” she winked, “We wouldn’t have kissed if we weren’t still together, eh?”

       Except they weren’t. They hadn’t been for a long time. It wouldn’t be good media for the team though if she let people know about the breakup right after sucking face in Suzuka. It would’ve put both of them in an awkward situation.

       “Right, of course,” the reporter nodded, “Are there going to be any more moments between you two after confirming you’re still together?”

       “Aren’t we supposed to be asking questions about the race?” Max questioned bluntly in an attempt to bail her out from the awkwardness of the conversation the reporter tried to engage in, “But I can give you a kiss too if that’s what you want to keep talking about.”

       “Where’s my kiss then?” Daniel chimed in, a wide smile on his face. He and Max were good friends, he knew damn well what transpired between the Red Bull drivers. He was just there to lend the pair a helping hand at the conference.

       The crowd laughed at his blunt humor and he breathed a sigh of relief at the switch in the topic. No longer did she have to go on about this fictional season she wished she could have had with Max. If things had gone right, she would have smiled, raving on about how great things with Max were rather than making things up about how they were still together.

       There was no point in living a fantasy when the crushing reality loomed above their heads; they kissed. Now what?

October 9, 2022, Suzuka Circuit

       He kissed her. She couldn’t believe it. He took her in his arms and kissed her.

       She pulled away, a look of confusion on her face as she processed the situation. She stared at him for a moment, breathing a sigh of relief before pulling him closer by his shirt and wrapping her arms around his neck.

       He’d done it. He beat Lewis Hamilton to the checkered flag, and now he was the World Champion.

       After those grueling laps, he emerged victorious. He was sure he owed it all to y/n for supporting him off the track, and fighting Lewis off on the track the way she did. He just wished she could have crossed the finish line with him.

       “The world fucking champion!” her voice came over the radio. Despite her retirement, she managed to find her way over to the rest of the team long enough to ask for access to his radio.

       “It’s all thanks to you for everything you did in that car earlier,” he let out a laugh, still in disbelief at how they managed it.

       “You’re the one who crossed the finish line, remember?” she reminded him with a small laugh, “I’ll see you at the podium ceremony!”

       “Would’ve been much better if you were there.”

       “Enough flirting, we have a championship to celebrate!” Christian’s voice came over his radio as y/n let out a laugh before disconnecting from the line, allowing the rest of the pit wall time to celebrate over the radio before heading off to parc ferme.

       He got off the car, smiling widely as he saw the team gathered there waiting for him. His eyes met hers and he rushed toward her first, wrapping his arms around her and carrying her over the barrier.

       “Max!” she exclaimed as her feet left the ground, wrapping her arms around his neck as he kissed her deeply as the fireworks went off.

       “I love you,” he told her as the fanfare began, holding her tight against his chest, the adrenaline rushing through him. She looked up at him, her e/c eyes filled with nothing but warmth as she pulled him in for another kiss.

       “I love you too, Max Verstappen,” she smiled, burying her face in his neck as the team cheered and celebrated the Dutch driver.

       “I love you,” he breathed out, nothing but the sounds of the rain and the fans outside to be heard. She gasped, her e/c eyes glimmering with conflict. Why did things have to be so complicated?

       She pulled him closer, both hands cupping his cheeks as she kissed him, just as passionately as she used to. She broke away from him awkwardly, the attendants calling them to the podium area.

       She didn’t tell him she loved him.    

       How could she when she didn’t know how to feel about it. He still loved her, but was that basis enough for her to let him back in?

October 23, 2022, Texas

       “You know, you never told me about what happened with Max in Suzuka,” Carlos shook his head as he and y/n shared breakfast at the hotel.

       “Please, you saw what happened,” she rolled her eyes at him. It was all over social media at that point, both the team’s social media admin and fans reposting the clip of them in the cooldown room.

       “You never told me why it happened, though,” he reminded her as she groaned. After the regular posting about the team’s victory in Suzuka, she locked herself out of her phone to avoid having to talk about the incident with anybody. Hell, she even holed herself up in the apartment in fear of running into Max. Why did most of the grid have to live in Monaco?

       “That’s because I don’t really know what happened, Carlos,” she spoke passive aggressively, rolling her eyes at the Spaniard, “One second I’m bringing him in for a hug, the next he’s kissing me.”

       “More like trying to eat your face off,” Carlos quipped, making y/n roll her eyes, “Then you kissed him too. Twice.”

       “That was an accident.”        

       “Mate, how do you accidentally kiss your ex-boyfriend?” Carlos quirked a brow at her, crossing his arms over a chest.

       “Well, I—” she paused, “It’s complicated.”

       “No, I don’t understand how it’s so complicated. At Singapore, you were talking about how hard it was for you to act professional around him and now, I have to find out on a few screens that you kissed Max!”

       “It’s not my fault you found out on the screens, they were being streamed live,” she groaned, burying her face in her palms, “But I don’t know. He kissed me and because I was caught up with the adrenaline and nostalgia of our team winning another championship, I kissed him too.”

       “Doesn’t explain why you kissed him a second time.”

       “He told me he loved me,” y/n mumbled, “I didn’t know what to say, so I just kissed him.”

       Carlos broke out in a fit of laughter.

       “You kissed him because you couldn’t tell him you loved him too?”

       “What makes you think I still love him?” she crossed her arms over her chest, her resolve failing as she sighed.

       “You still love him!” Carlos exclaimed, his eyes growing wide, “When you started talking about him, I just assumed you weren’t over him, but you still love him!”

       “Can you repeat that? I don’t think the 13th floor heard you too well,” she rolled her eyes at him, “And I don’t even know if I still love him. Maybe it’s just. Maybe it’s just me getting excited at the idea of racing with him again, or being around him as my teammate.”

       “And why would you get excited over that?”

       “Because he’s arguably one of the best drivers on the grid at the moment?” she quirked a brow at him, shaking her head. Of course, she would defend his honor in a casual conversation with Carlos. She was whipped.

       “You’re just inventing things now,” he shook his head.

       “Okay, well, even if I still love Max, what the hell am I going to do about it?”

       “Talk to him about it?” Carlos suggested the most obvious route possible, “He said in Suzuka that he loves you still. Why don’t you do something about it?”

       “Because what if it was just the adrenaline?” she huffed, “What if when all the chemicals in his brain settled down, he realized that he only said that because he was excited about winning the championship? Then what? I leave the team in shambles trying to clean up this mess?”

       “Ay, why do you have to make it so complicated?”

       “He’s the one who broke up with me, then he’s going to tell me he still loves me? You’re telling me those aren’t mixed messages to you?”

       “All I’m saying is that maybe you should talk to him. Clear up the air.”

       The pair remained silent for a moment.

      “Is this what you meant when you said you protect love?” she questioned, quoting an interview of his she saw while scrolling through social media.

       “It could be,” he shrugged, “Don’t ruin your chances at happiness just because you’re not sure, y/n.”

       “I’ll…keep that in mind,” she nodded, getting up from her seat, “I’m going to get ready for the track now. I’ll see you later.

       The weekend was strong for Red Bull, though she didn’t manage to put herself on the podium for that race. Max won. Of course, he did, why wouldn’t he?

       The team gathered below the podium, all piling into this odd car parked there, cheering for Max. He’d done it, he won the Constructor’s Championship.

       Just as they promised each other, they did what was best for the team. He won both championships for the team and she helped him like the good teammate she agreed to be. She couldn’t help but smile up at him as she watched him celebrate on the podium with Marko.

       For a split second, their eyes met as he stood on that podium. She gave a polite nod, offering him a smile instead, hoping the cameras didn’t catch on to the awkwardness shared between them. Still, she clapped and cheered—it was a big moment for the team, after all. It would be a shame if she let that moment in Suzuka get in the way of the fact that the team had just won both championships.

       She stayed behind on the track until later that night; the team had celebration photo ops, of course. It was unavoidable for one of the PR officers to request that the two drivers have their photos taken together.

       He made his way towards her, pausing to ask for permission. She nodded, allowing him to wrap his arm around her waist, both of them grinning at the camera as they held the trophy out. Goosebumps littered her skin at the feel of his hand around her waist, warmth radiating off his body.

       She pulled away from him almost as soon as the camera went off, offering a quick congratulations to him as she made her way toward the rest of the team.

       She wanted nothing more than for the night to be over with but, of course, Christian announced there would be an afterparty at a nearby bar later on into the night. As one of the team’s drivers, she had no excuses not to show up. The best she could do was turn up late in a navy blue dress, her makeup all done up as she spent a fair amount of time in the bathroom just to avoid having to show up early.

       Nonetheless, she arrived at the party, a smile on her face as the team cheered for her. She decided she was too sober for the party as she saw Max’s gaze go over to her as he conversed with Pierre. She allowed herself to vanish into the crowd, making her way over to the bar and ordering a few drinks, downing them as quickly as she could.

       She stayed there for most of the night, ordering drinks and snacks in the little bar corner she found, not really conversing with anybody else on the team. They were far more focused on Max anyway.

       Speaking of Max, the man had terrible timing.

       “Can we talk?” he questioned, a bashful tone to his voice as she stared up at him, blinking for a moment as though trying to let her vision clear up a bit more. Perhaps she shouldn’t have drank so much.

       “You’re going to talk anyway,” she groaned, “Might as well get it over with. What did you want to talk about?”

       “I wanted to uh, to talk about us. And the breakup?” he spoke shyly, unsure of how to approach the situation with the woman. He should have thought about that before he kissed her in front of a live audience.

       “Just the breakup?” she slurred.

       “Well, obviously, I want to talk about the kiss too, but I want to talk about everything from the start,” he explained briefly as she nodded.

          “You know, when you broke it off with me, I thought I did something wrong,” she admitted, e/c eyes fixated on the clinking of the ice cubes against her glass with great interest, purposefully looking away from Max. It was then he realized just how drunk the woman was. He’d have to postpone the conversation for another time.

       He couldn’t get much of a word in before she spoke again.

          “You didn’t do anything wrong,” he shook his head, taking the stool next to hers, his fingers naturally gravitating towards her hand. Her hand twitched for a second before sighing and allowing Max to keep his hand above hers. 

          “It’s just, when you broke up with me, the excuse you used,” she laughed sadly, “God, it was so stupid. ‘Do it for the team’ as if you didn’t win the championship while we were dating.” 

          “I was plenty stupid,” he nodded in agreement, “I’m sorry.”

          “But then you kissed me in Suzuka and it was like everything was normal again between us,” she bit her lip, a poor attempt at stopping the tears from crawling down her cheeks, “You kissed me in Suzuka the same way you kissed me in Abu Dhabi.”

       “Did I?”

       “You did,” she hiccupped, “You held onto me so tight while you kissed me.”

       “I guess I did,” he nodded, brows furrowing with concern for her inebriated state.

       “Yeah, there weren’t any fireworks outside though,” she laughed, pointing at her chest, “I felt fireworks here, though. Fuck, my heart was exploding when you kissed me.”

       Max nodded, allowing her to talk.

       “Did you mean it?” she questioned.

       “Did I mean what?”

       “Did you mean it when you told me you still loved me?”

       He paused. He didn’t want to have this conversation with her in this state. He didn’t know how she would react to hearing all that. Clearly, she was emotional enough as it was.

       “Why are you so quiet?” she poked at his face, her mood shifting like a pendulum as she pulled away from him, frowning, “You didn’t mean it, did you?”

       “No, of course, I meant it!” he exclaimed, taking her hands in his, “I meant what I said in the cooldown room, and I stand by what I did.”

       “Really?”

       “Yes, but right now, I don’t know if you’re going to remember this conversation, okay?” he questioned.

       “Okay,” she nodded, changing the topic, “Do you think you can walk me back to the hotel room?”

       This was an odd olive branch for her to throw out to him. At this point, she didn’t care at all. As far as her drunken brain was concerned, he was sorry and she had a headache forming. She just needed to get out of there, it didn’t matter if she was leaving with her ex.

       “Are you sure?” he questioned, hesitant to agree to her request.

       “Yeah,” she nodded bluntly, “I’m sure. I can even make like, a letter for morning me so she doesn’t get all mad at you tomorrow.”

       “Are you always mad at me when you’re sober?” he quirked a brow at her, teasing her in a way.

       “Of course not,” she shook her head, squishing his cheeks together, “Sober me loves you too much for that.”

       This caught Max off-guard. Sure, he hoped she still felt something for her, but he didn’t think he’d learn this during her drunken stupor. If anything, he was expecting her drunk self to admit she hated him and wished she could crash into the rear of his car.

       “I love sober you too.”

       “What about tipsy me?”

       “I’d hardly call you tipsy.”

       “Shut up and walk me to my hotel room,” she retaliated, rolling her eyes at him as she stumbled through the bar, waving at the rest of the team as she made her way back to the hotel room, Max right at her tail to keep her from tripping over.

       The short was fairly walked. Drunk y/n was more than determined to get herself back in bed to sleep the headache away. Max, on the other hand, was filled with concern for her, holding onto her whenever she’d fall or keeping her from bumping into things.

       She stopped in front of a door, pulling a key card out her purse and pushing the door open.

       “You going to do okay on your own?” he questioned.

       “No,” she admitted honestly, “Can you stay?”

       “y/n—”

       “I know it’s stupid and I’m probably going to forget this in the morning or whatever, but frankly, I don’t care,” she shook her head, “I’ll deal with this when I wake up, but for now, can you please just stay?”

       Max looked at her for a moment, letting out a sigh as she pouted.

       “I’ll stay.”

       “Thanks,” she smiled over at him as she jumped into the bed, “Join me?”

       “No,” Max shook his head, making his way over to the couch, “If you still feel that way tomorrow, I will. But right now, I think it’s better for us both if you sleep in your bed alone tonight.”

       “Okay.”

       She couldn’t argue with that, he was being a nice, decent man. It’s what she loved about him in the first place. He was always so nice to her, dating or not.

       She didn’t have much time to think about it as she fell asleep almost immediately with how much she wanted to get the day over with.

       She didn’t dream of anything that night. It was almost as though her body thought the same thing as her brain; she wanted to let the night pass as quickly as possible.

       She woke up the next day with a pounding headache, looking around the room in search of the Dutchman. Perhaps it was all a dream?

       If that had been the case, her doorknob would not have twisted open to reveal the Dutchman in her doorway.

       “This is technically breaking and entering,” she quipped, laying back in her bed, “Where’d you go?”

       “I got you breakfast,” he explained, holding up a paper bag from a nearby restaurant, “I can leave if you want me to.”

       “No,” she shook her head, “We’re going to have to talk about this.”

       “Do you want to wait until after breakfast?”

       “If it was up to what I want to do, we would never have this talk,” she shook her head. “Too much of a coward for important conversations like this.”

       “Well, I want to start by saying I’m sorry,” he frowned, “I was so stupid when I broke up with you, and it ended up making me miserable all season, and it led to all these confusing feelings, and I’m so sorry if I hurt you.”

       “Yeah, it did sting a bit,” she admitted with a sigh, “I don’t know, this whole season I just kept trying to do my best in the races. It was the last thing I told you I’d do, I had to stick to it.”

       “And you did amazing this season.”

       “So did you, Mr. World Champion,” she scoffed at the compliment.

       “Well, I would have did so much better if I was still with you this season,” he confessed, “Turns out I’m so much less motivated to win races when you’re not there to congratulate me on them.”

       “Same thing, honestly,” she laughed, “I had to stop myself from hugging you back in Monaco. I didn’t want to slip up from the whole professional shtick we had.”

       “It was stupid, really,” Max shook his head, “So, are we okay?”

       “I mean, we were always okay,” she paused, looking for the words, “We were okay, we just weren’t us.”

       “I missed you.”

       “So, are we doing this?” she questioned, “You still love me?”

       “Of course,” he nodded, pausing as he realized something, “But what about Carlos? You were happy with him and everything, I don’t want to get in the way of that if you guys are—”

       “We’re friends, Max,” she insisted.

       “But you guys switched caps and everything—”

       “Was that supposed to mean anything?” y/n questioned, breaking out in a fit of laughter at Max’s nervous demeanor, “Also, that was one time. I realized I accidentally let him borrow your cap, and I practically chased him down in the paddock to get it back.”

       “My cap?”

       “The one I ‘borrowed’ from you.”

       “You still have that?”

       Heat rose to her cheek as she found herself unsure of whether or not she wanted to tell him the truth. Fuck it, they were being honest at that moment.

       “I bring it with me on race weekends,” she admitted, “Sometimes, I even wear it. It’s what I was wearing when Carlos and I traded hats.”

       “You kept it?”

       “Is that bad?”  

       “No,” he shook his head, letting out a relieved laugh.

       “If we do this, I want you to know I’m not a championship girl,” she paused, blinking at her usage of words, unsure of how to properly phrase it, “I don’t want you running back to me just because you won the championship. I don’t want us to be like this until the next season rolls around and you’re suddenly deciding you want to do what’s best for the team again.”

       “Well, you know what I think would be best for the team next season?”

       “What?”

       “If their drivers got along the same way they did in the 2021 season,” he admitted as they both laughed, “I’m all in if you want to do this again.”

       “Of course, I want to do this!” she exclaimed, a smile making its way to her face, “Don’t get me wrong, you were an idiot, but I still love you, Max Verstappen.”

F1 TAGS: @errrrrat​ / @ricsaigaslec​ / @veronicapaula​ / @buendiabebeta​ /   (OPEN)    

THE CHAIN TAGS: @welcometomyworldwithoutrules / @sarahbeary / @southerngirlnow / @idkiwantchocolatee​ / @multilovebot​ 

MV1 TAGS: (OPEN)

[meanscarletdeceiver]

Fic Snippet: A Final Chat (Traintober Day 28)

For "Day 28: Out of Service" I'd like to offer a scene that teeeechnically I've already published in Autumn Chapter 2.

It got rather overshadowed by the Sudrian Guest Star in Chapter 1 and the Engine Religion Talk in Chapter 3, but this is my personal favorite scene. I think it can be read as a stand-alone even if you are not up to speed with the Coppernob series.

After the day's work is over and a bunch of chatty engines have left, we segue into the quiet reveal.

Barrow Central, October 1919

The passenger tank 70 wasn't on the train, though. No one commented on this. He remained on track one, where Poppet usually lingered by the greenhouse for a final chat. But tonight she made herself scarce.

As shadows began to creep into all the nooks of Barrow Central, 70 and Coppernob watched the cars and the people pass outside the station. There was a definite uptick of activity. People were returning from Sunday dinners with their family... readying themselves for the start of a busy new week.

"Will you have another turn to Coniston in the morning," asked Coppernob quietly, after a while of this street-watching, "or are you to report straight to the Works?"

70 made the indistinct sound that serves engines well for a shrug. "Not to the Works. The big sheds, with the others. Seems they'll have me wait here, till I'm sent for..." Coppernob didn't fill the silence, and at length 70 continued, voice steady and hollow. "It would be wasteful to send me back home. There's not any work for us now, with the summer over, and the Atlantic Tanks settled on the branch lines."

Coppernob still looked ahead. These talks always went better, when you were looking elsewhere…

"You had a good summer," he observed, dispassionate.

"Yes," said 70. His tone was just the same. "I'm glad that our lot had one last summer season, with all that terrible business over."

"Was it the same, as before?"

70 thought it over.

"Not quite, no. I don't think the world will ever be the same. It's... it's as if an innocence was lost, inn'it? Our visitors were happy, at our beautiful lakes... but it was in a different way." He gave a hollow little chortle. "My brother 1 said, when he was sent for, that he was well pleased to give 'all this rubbish' a miss!"

"Hmm."

"Mmm," 70 agreed.

The headlights of a passing car briefly threw 70 into full illumination. A ship bellowed in the distance.

"I don't agree, though." There was the slightest wobble to 70's voice, though he pressed on. An engine till the end. "If there had to be a war, I'm proud to have done my bit, and seen things through to the other side of it. Nobby..."

Coppernob waited.

Here it was. 

"I want to see more, yet." 70's voice was an aching whisper.

"I know."

Coppernob's flat bluntness steadied the younger engine, who sighed with something that at least resembled a self-deprecating laugh. "I don’t mind telling you, Nobby. I’m scared. Not of what's after this week, exactly, but the week itself. I've all sorts of queer feelings jostling around in my boiler... perhaps it will be easier, when I'm sitting cold for a spell. Lady! I — I hope I don't let my lot down."

"1 and 2 went bravely," said Coppernob, without discernible emotion. An observer. A chronicler. "So did your second series."

"I mustn't be the one to shame us," agreed 70.

"You won't," said Coppernob. Still speaking with a disinterested surety, though verging into reminiscence. "You were never one to cause some embarrassing scene. 'Course, you had some mischievous days... I expect during your big rebuild Mr Mason took away all the marks Queen Mab left on you and 73?"

70 finally grinned. Coppernob did look upon him now. 70 looked very young again, a light in his eyes, and this was how Coppernob wished to remember him. "She put a dent in 73's cab, somehow? If the light's just right you can still see it. Gosh! How the old dame did terrorize us for that lark."

"You two were fortunate," said Coppernob, with a sort of mocking severity, "that my brother and I were away at the time, and that you were left to her tender mercies. We were quite disgusted when word reached us."

"Nay," grinned 70. "You and old Crozzer would have bashed us something fiercer, but the sentence would have been shorter. All that summer long, Her Maj made us pay — and pay — and pay." His eyes glinted, and he spoke with an abrupt new mournfulness. "She must be gone now, too."

"Yes," agreed Coppernob, again dispassionate. "'Ninety-five, I've heard. It was her time... she gave fifteen more years of good service to that railway we sold her on to. They even named her. She would have been pleased, to be named properly again."

"Oh, but her new name didn't suit her any better than her number here did. She was always Queen Mab. But how on earth was it, anyhow, that the both of you were away, that summer? Ever since I arrived, one or the other of you was always in residence at the docks."

"Hmm. I was often sent to Whitehaven as tunnel pilot. And Crozzer was banking at Lindal, I believe?"

"Don't be daft. We had the 'Neddies' by then."

Coppernob went on his dignity. Even if one of the young engines was to be cut up at the end of the week, there was no need to call him daft. "A spare engine was needed at Moor Row, with two of theirs in overhaul. The work was considered too heavy for us, so they sent up a Neddie instead, and number Four went to Lindal."

70 looked shrewd. "Oho — too heavy for you? And you took that lying down, did you?"

Coppernob frowned in what certainly felt an austere, saturnine, intimidating sort of way. "I do not know what you are implying."

"I knew you well before you were a glasshouse engine, Nobby! Moor Row's not a far hop from Whitehaven. How long did it take you to skive off over there and try to show 'em up?"

"I did not abandon my post," said Coppernob, with dignity, "until number 100 returned from the workshop."

"'Course."

"It may then be true," Coppernob conceded, "that, after two days working Moor Row, I was compelled to admit that perhaps they'd had a point."

It got 70 to laugh, and so it was worth it. "Two entire days!"

"I'll hear a little less of that from you , my good engine. It turned out those heavy loads on that twisty, hilly, godforsaken little branch were no joke. I am not sure you should have lasted longer."

70 gave a last chuckle. Then, after a few moments' pause, melancholy re-settled over them both. The sun was fully set, now, and the sky outside the circle of station light inky black.

"One Hundred," mused 70. "Old Keekle. Fully sixty years, she had. And I've not seen fifty."

"She had the security of mastering a job few other engines could hack," said Coppernob... knowing where the other engine was going with this. "Sixty years is very rare." 

"But fifty isn't."

"Not on our railway, at least."

"Not on our railway. It was what nearly everyone had. Until Mr Pettigrew..."

"There's no point in thinking this way. You know this."

"Perhaps I do know. But I can't help how I feel. Mr Mason would have kept me on the rails two or three more years. And that's not so much in the scheme of things, I know; I'm sure it's childish of me to make complaint of such a small thing. And I could maybe keep my mouth shut, if it were only that. But, then... it's... I'm not quite worn out yet, not quite. I can sense the use that's left in me. It makes an engine itchy and anxious and... it feels just as though I've left behind work that still needs doing. I know it’s not my fault, and yet I feel a guilty conscience. Like I've cheated our owners."

"Then you go and you slam that feeling deep into a lost mineshaft where it belongs," said Coppernob sternly. "They. cheated. themselves."

He didn't raise his voice, but those final three words were old Coppernob at his fiercest and bitterest.

And at those words 70 was able to let it go. The guilt, at least, was not his load to carry.

[gayf1hoe]

Part 15

It's the final race of the season. After Hungary, Baku, São Paulo, Singapore ,Spain and Qatar I've been on a pure continuation of my 1st place finishing streak and I don't plan to change that in Abu Dhabi.

Things have been a little tense between me and Max, but I can't help but think he's got wind of my comments about Kelly and when I said "we've never been friends" it's not untrue but we did have an inkling of a friendship when I first came to F1 but I think it has sort of died down.

The sound of the tires screeching against the runway snap me out of my thoughts and I'm brought back to reality. Looking out of the window the bright sun of Abu Dhabi bares down upon us. My eyes automatically squint as I leave the aeroplane, being blinded by the sun is not what I need.

Me and Charles reconvene as he was sitting with Pierre and I was with Yuki. "Ready for the last race of the season?" he asks. "More than ready, I'm so tired" I reply. This season has been great and I couldn't have asked for better but I'm exhausted. It's been so demanding and the thought of leaving Mercedes has been dawning on me more and more each race.

Abu Dhabi is one of my favourite tracks and the fans always seem to be especially excited on the last race of the season.

"Hey M/N" George calls out, I turn to face him "Toto called a meeting at 2 PM" I thank him and turn back around and sigh, we've only been here 2 minutes and already I have a meeting to go to.

I don't really get much of a chance to settle in before I'm heading to the paddock. The pre-race paddock is quiet, peaceful and tranquil. It makes me wish it was like this all the time, no media and no people.

It's quite easy to navigate the paddock, and I walk into Toto's conference room and see that both Toto and George are already there. I take the empty seat next to George.

Toto waits a few seconds before speaking "It's the last race of the season and it's race week, obviously we didn't have a break between Qatar and now so we can't change much but we are in a great position anyway so I don't think that's much of a problem. You are both doing really well so I just want to say keep doing what you have been doing and it will all be good".

He goes on for a lot longer than necessary and then hands over to the engineers and strategists who gives us all a brief overview of everything that will happen this week.

Given it's Wednesday and race day is Saturday we don't have much free time to do much or train.

Wandering around the paddock towards the exit things have got a little bit busier with loads of shipments and equipment arriving.

Thankfully our hotel isn't far and I just end up cycling back and arrive to find all the other drivers either playing Paddle or in the Gym which doesn't surprise me they are all creatures of habit.

Instead of joining in, I head up to my room to finish unpacking. Pulling everything out of my suitcase I hang things up in the closet, I hear my phone vibrating against the mahogany wood and immediately ditch unpacking.

I answer it seeing that the caller ID is my Mum, "Hey, is everything alright? Are you ok?" I say frantically, "calm yourself, I'm fine. I thought I would just call and wish you luck in your final race week as a rookie and to let you know I will be watching you become World Champion", we talk for ages but time flies by and before I know it, I look out the window and see the sun setting behind the gargantuan buildings that overshadow our small hotel.

I try to locate Charles and find him in the games room with Lando and Alex playing some random farm simulator game. I think it was called 'goat simulator' or something like that, all I know is Charles kept on headbutting things. I come behind him and place my hand on his shoulder which causes him to jump a little.

"Ah mon amour, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" I gently pat his shoulder and laugh.

As it's free practice tomorrow we all decide not to have a late night. Instead we all decide to just stay at the hotel and make use of the hotel restaurant.

Sitting at the table that's covered in a white station table cover there is a cacophony of chatter and laughter, I have Charles on one side of me and Zhou on the other, and throughout the course of dinner it feels like they are both fighting for my attention as the second one starts a conversation with me the other interjects.

I engage in quiet conversation with George and we begin talking about the championship and I see Max dart his attention back and forth. It is evident that he is listening to our conversation out of jealousy, anger or some other emotion.

At 11 PM everyone heads up but I decide to stay down stairs for a while. I decide upon sitting on the edge of the pool with my feet submerged in the warm water and gaze into the night sky.

Hearing faint footsteps behind me I expect to see Lily or Kika by the sound of the high heeled shoes but instead see Kelly approaching me. "Fucking brilliant" I sigh under my breath.

She takes off her shoes and sits down next to me. There is a long pause of awkward silence that is slightly distorted by the sound of the water feature.

"What's your problem with me?" She asks. Not wanting to give her the pleasure of me getting angry I get up and pick up my shoes and turn around but as I do she says something that makes me stop in my tracks.

"Running away as usual isn't that exactly what you did with your relationship with Nyck, it's like your special talent"

I turn back around and crouch down.

"You ask why I don't like you, you are rude, stuck up, insensitive, you act like a petulant child and you're an all round fucking bitch who I can't stand, I can't really give you much more reason than that, now leave me alone, and don't act like you know me or what I've been through because you don't."

Feeling incredibly pissed I walk off leaving her by the pool by herself and heading up to my room I pass Max who asks if I have seen Kelly, I simply motion towards the sign that says "swimming pool".

I creak the door open and see Charles is fast asleep, I walk over to his side of the bed and place a light kiss on his right cheek.

I cautiously climb into bed and place my arm around Charles.

Waking up the next morning for FP1 and FP2 I feel a great sense of relief knowing that this is one of the final times I have to get up this early, don't get me wrong I love racing but not getting up at 7 in the morning to do so.

The paddock is filled with a flurry of people and as I push past all the journalists and their questions I manage to get to the garage in one piece.

Going out in FP1 is great, I feel confident and set excellent times well ahead of most driver's.

Going out for FP2 I feel ready to get this over and done with and go back to the hotel and rest.

"M/N, Verstappen, Leclerc, Perez and Albon behind you now coming out on the track. Verstappen 0.6 seconds"

Looking in my mirror I see the Red Bull appear behind me but I don't pay much attention to him instead focus on the track ahead.

Going into turn 4 he comes alongside me and makes contact with my side pod. I back off to let him pass and overtake him on the straight. But going back into the next corner he comes down the inside line and pushes me causing my car to spin out and catapult into the barrier.

Before my engineer can ask if I'm alright I make it clear I'm frustrated:

"What the fuck was he doing? He just come down the inside like a fucking rocket and pushed me off the track he's a dickehad that's what he is"

Obviously I have to retire given half of my car is over the barrier.

Entering the paddock a plethora of journalists flood over to me all pointing their microphones asking a thousand questions at once.

My media manager manages to arrange some form of order and then the questions start flooding in.

Reporter: M/N what's your take on what happened out there?

M/N: It was clearly Max's fault, I don't know what he was thinking or if he was even thinking because you know if he had a single brain cell he wouldn't have made such a stupid move.

Reporter: Do you think you will talk to him?

M/N: If he wants to talk like an adult, then yes but if he's going to act like a child then probably not.

Reporter: Your team has said you are definitely going to miss out on FP3. Do you think this will impact your performance in Qualifying?

M/N: I don't think so, I feel confident on the track, especially when I don't have a Red Bull driving into me.

Walking off I see Kelly standing on the sidelines and as much as I try to control my anger, however it gets the best of me.

I approach her and she turns to face me.

"What is your boyfriend's problem?" I ask in a spiteful tone, she ignores me, "fine if that's how you want to act, it's fine by me, but know this, I may hate you and may not have the best relationship with Max but even I wouldn't be that selfish or stupid to purposefully ram him off the track"

I storm off and see that the cameras have followed me but by this point I don't care.

Day of qualifying:

After yesterday's incident I don't feel as elated as I should.

Even though I've missed out on FP3, I feel pretty confident that I can get pole position. The video clip of me confronting Kelly has gone pretty viral. My media team has lectured me over and over again about it, I can't help but feel they are the only ones who are happy I'm leaving. I'm sure their job will be a lot easier when I leave.

Making it to Q3 is a great feeling as always and seeing people like Zhou and Yuki make it to Q3 makes me feel even happier as they are in a car that doesn't perform as well.

I manage to get provisional pole and as I'm sitting in my car in the garage Max goes faster than me going in pole. I insist to the team that I go out again but they advise against it saying my tyres can't handle another lap but I don't listen and let my egotism and determination take hold

I cross the line to start my lap time with a literal second to spare. I don't use my brake much coasting in and out of corners. I'm dead set on getting a pole and as I cross the line I wait nervously for my engineer's voice.

"M/N Pole Position for the final time with Mercedes" I cheered into the radio feeling ecstatic.

"I couldn't have asked for anything better guys".

Race Day:

I put on my Mercedes race suit for the final time. It feels a tad conflicting. I'm happy to be going to a new team but sad to be leaving this team behind.

I sit in the car for the final time and turn to face Max who is in P2. We both get a good start and I get ahead of him and manage to create a 5 second gap by lap 8.

The laps quite literally fly by, and time seems to speed up whilst I'm driving.

Commentary: It is the final lap of the Formula One World Championship for this season, it's been a tough year for many, perpetuated by lots of emotions. Winning, losing, devastation, achievements. Everyone and every team has tried their best but it is this one man who is leading his final Grand Prix for Mercedes that will reign supreme.

As he rounds his last corner in that Mercedes, he will cross the line M/N L/N is the World Champion, the first rookie World Champion, there will be lots of celebrations down at Mercedes tonight as George Russell brings home P2 for a double podium."

Crossing the line I'm in disbelief and hear something I never expected to hear:

"M/N L/N YOU ARE THE WORLD CHAMPION, THE WORLD CHAMPION" My engineer booms down his mic.

"M/N it's Toto I just want to say a wonderful well done for your incredible work over the past year you are an incredibly talented driver with a great soul. It has been a pleasure to have you drive for us and we will be sad to see you go but wish you the best at Aston Martin"

For the final time I push my radio button to speak to the Mercedes team.

"Thank you guys, this is probably the best feeling I have ever felt. This season has been a whirlwind that I will never forget. I have absolutely loved working with you all, you're all hardworking, dedicated individuals who make this sport as great as it is. I'm sad to be waving goodbye to Mercedes but you guys will always be my family, I will always have the utmost respect to you all.

I just want to say thank you Toto for your support over the past year and for giving me an amazing opportunity. Thank you George for being the best teammate and friend. Thank you Jack for being such a great engineer. And thanks to everyone in the garage, pit wall and back in the factory for all your hard work and dedication, I wish you all the best, I love you all."

I frantically jump out of my car and embrace my entire team with the fireworks exploding in the night sky behind me. I quickly head to the cool down room to place down my helmet and get a quick drink and wait for my turn to be interviewed.

Reporter: Now here comes the World Champion, How does it feel?

M/N: I can't really put my feelings into words. It's a feeling I can't really describe, my childhood dreams have come true.

Reporter: Mercedes are constructors champions, you are the World Champion and George is P2. What is the atmosphere like at the team?

M/N: It's pretty amazing, we couldn't have asked for a better result coming into this season and you know we've all worked really hard to achieve this result so yes very elated and pleased.

Reporter: Now obviously you are leaving Mercedes, are you going to take this success with you next year at Aston Martin?

M/N: Let's just say next year Aston Martin will be at the top of the constructors.

Reporter: Do you have any final parting words for the Mercedes team?

M/N: Nothing other than thank you so much and I wish you all the very best.

Walking away I'm guided to the podium by Event staff. Standing on the podium I cast my view over the sea of people below me all cheering and ecstatic, but I don't feel as happy as I should. There's something within me that's stopping me from being as happy as them. For the final time in this season me, George and Charles cover each other on Champagne as the fireworks explode illuminating the night sky.

Stepping back onto the podium, Charles places his arms around me and places a kiss in my lips. Pulling away he smiles from ear to ear and laughs at how flustered I get. But the crowd gets great satisfaction out of it erupting into cheers.

Entering the Mercedes garage for the final time I'm met by a cacophony of cheers and people clapping. I hug every individual and thank them for their hard work and all that they have done for me over the past year.

We take the final team photo and I clear out my driver's room of all my Mercedes equipment and walk back into the garage and find the team with a trolley.

"What's that for?" I question "This is your ride to your new team" Toto replies.

Before I know it they are strapping me to the trolley that is used to transport tyres. My engineer and the other engineers and pit crew begin pushing me out of the garage. I take one final look back and smile at George and Toto, a tear forming in my eye.

They push me all the way down the pit lane, past all the garages who stand outside giving me a baffling look. We get to the Aston Martin garage and they literally deposit me, hugging me before leaving.

Fernando and Lance unstrap me from the trolley and there is an awkward moment where no one knows what to say until Ferando speaks up.

"You will enjoy it here" he declares, "I'm sure I will" I reply.

I'm guided to Mike's office by Lance and Fernando and all 3 of us take a seat. "First of all great last race for you Fernando P4 and P6 for you Lance it's been a great season we have finished 4th in the constructors Championship so it's been a great season, now I would like to welcome M/N to the team, it will be a pleasure to have you with us, now do you have anything you would like to say"

"Ermm... it's a great honour to be racing for such a great team next year, I can't wait to get to know the team more and it's an honour to be filling your shoes Fernando".

Concluding our meeting I leave the paddock amongst the flurry of spectators and head back to the hotel to pack my stuff in order to catch my flight to Italy where I have brought an apartment. My mum has sent over all of my belongings already.

Charles has offered to come and help me set everything up so we head to the airport together.

Sitting in the airport lounge I look up and see Charles justvstaring at me, "can I help you?" I question "Just looking at the new world Champion" I respond. "We'll I'm very grateful Red Bull were shit this year, it really helped".

The flight is long and tedious but the in flight entertainment of watching Charles playing games on his phone and getting angry when he loses is extremely engrossing.

We arrive in Italy at 2 in the morning so we just head to the apartment.

Arriving at the mahogany door I lift up the plant pot to find the key to the door, I switch on the light immediately and see an overwhelming amount of boxes scattered everywhere.

We head straight to the bedroom where there is thankfully already a bed and deposit our bags.

"I think we should just head to bed and leave this stuff until the morning I say, " Charles nods in agreement and we both head to bed, exhausted from the overwhelming emotions of the race day.

We end up sleeping in until 1 in the afternoon and with half of the day gone m, we decide to begin unpacking. We delegate a room each. I head into the kitchen and Charles stays in the bedroom and unpacks all my memorabilia and clothes.

Charles POV:

I stand at the door entrance for a while looking for a place to start. The room is covered with cardboard boxes.

I decide to start with all the stuff that goes into the closet and thankfully M/N's mother and auntie have labelled all the boxes as to where they go.

I start ripping the tape off a massive box that's packed with clothes but it's mostly racing teams T-shirts. I see teams that haven't been in F1 for nearly 20 years or longer.

Hanging each one individually is a banal task and just when I think it's coming to an end there's a whole load more "How many T-shirts does one man need?" I question myself.

Finally I reach the bottom of the box and see a grey box. I reorganise it as the one M/N hastily took away from me. I know he took it away for a reason but I want to know what's in there.

Looking behind my shoulder to check he isn't there I take the box out and sit on the edge of the bed placing it next to me. I take the lid off and I'm greeted by a box full of paper.

The initial document has a title in Bold capital letters that says "CONFIDENTIAL POLICE DOCUMENT". I question why he lied to me. He said it was stuff from his childhood.

I begin reading each paper individually, my eyes opening more and more as I read the details of what really happened between him and Nyck.

This isn't what he told me, well it is but he played it down a lot so I still feel like he lied to me.

Then I get to a page that just stops me in my tracks it's read "Mr L/N has indicated that Mr De Vries had repeatedly had non consensual intercourse with him on multiple occasions during the course of their relationship"

I'm absolutely horrified but not as horrified as I am when I get to the last page:

"Conclusion: M/N has decided to drop all charges against Nyck, on grounds that this process is too mentally tough, therefore no sentence or criminal charges will be imposed on Nyck and no further action shall be taken"

I hear footsteps approaching but I'm frozen. I hear his voice "so for lunch I thought we could-" he stops immediately when he sees me sitting on the edge with the paper in my hand.

"Why did you lie to me?" I say.

"What do you mean?" he dumbly questions.

"Why did you lie to me?" I repeat in a louder tone of voice.

"I didn't I just -" he pleads "save it".

We look at each other for a while trying to find the right thing to say but he's the one to break the silence "I didn't tell you because, I don't know how to casually bring that up or speak about it without needing therapy after. I hate the fact I didn't tell you everything but you would have looked at me differently you would of treated me as this frail, incompetent, damaged reject just like Yuki, Zhou, my mother, family, friends even AlphaTauri at the time for fuck's sake. Do you know what it was like to be on a F1 junior programme and have to leave because they thought I was too damaged? I'm sorry it was selfish and stupid of me but I didn't know how to tell you."

"I think we need space" I say.

He doesn't say anything, he just stands there "fine, but just know you're doing exactly what stopped me from telling you in the first place" he says.

I head for the door taking all my stuff and begin to search for flights to France so I can go back to Monaco.

M/N's POV:

As he closes the door behind him, I don't really know what I feel, I don't know if I'm angry, upset, annoyed. Instead I begin unpacking and cleaning like a mad man and by 9 PM I have my apartment fully set up. Apparently when you are seething with rage you can accomplish anything.

As for the police reports and documents I burn them all, ordinarily I would shove them in the bin but I wouldn't put it past the media to dig them out of the bin like they did with my tax report once.

Unlike last time I'm not going to lounge in self pity or depression. Instead I decide to go out and have some fun for once in my life without thinking of the consequences.

I get dressed in a shirt and a pair of blue levis and head for the nearest club. For most of the night I'm sitting by the bar by myself sticking to my zero alcohol rule however I can't lie the temptation was strong.

I'm approached by a group of guys and girls who ask me if I want to join them. I happily agree and spend the night chatting away with them. They are on holiday but are actually from near my hometown so we have a lot in common.

They don't know who I am, and it's nice to be seen as an equal human who doesn't have some higher status because I drive a fast car. They don't know much about what I do until some Ferrari fans approach me, clearly out celebrating Charles' podium and Ferrari being second to Mercedes.

"Hey can we get a photo please?" I agree and they take the photo and thankfully don't ask where Charles is.

"What was that about?" one of the guys asks, "erm I'm sort of a racing driver?" they all clearly know nothing about racing as they start listing all these different racing series "Which one do you do, IndyCar, NASCAR, Formula E, Porsche Cup?" one of the guys asks "erm Formula 1 actually".

Despite having no knowledge of racing by their faces I can tell they know F1 is the pinnacle of motorsports however they don't treat me any differently the whole night.

We take a photo together and part at around 2 AM going home.

The next morning I wake up to the sound of my phone ringing, I sleepily answer it "hello" I say. "Hey M/N it's Yuki sorry for waking you I was just wondering if you wanted to go on a boat trip today as I'm back in Italy" I think for a moment and agree to it not wanting to be confined to the walls of my house.

I lay in bed for a while scrolling through instagram when I see a post with the photo from last night captioned "When in Italy 🇮🇹- going to a nightclub with an F1 World Champion. @M/N_L/N is a great person to go out with"

Eventually I gather the energy to go and get ready. It's quite a warm day as its approaching Autumn but it's not too hot. I'm as usual running a little late but I manage to get there just in time.

Boarding the boat I'm greeted by Yuki, Zhou, Lance and George who are patiently waiting for me, "This is one thing I won't miss about you" George elaborates.

As the journey gets underway we are sat on the bow of the boat overlooking the horizon when Yuki begins to interrogate me. I would be pissed off if this was anyone else but after years of friendship I've learned to just accept it.

"So you and Charles eh" he says "what are you on about?" I say in such an unconvincing tone.

"Well he came here to help you set up and all that and next thing he's back in Monaco with his family and you are going out at night and mixing with tourists"

"He found the box" I declare, the only thing he can come out with is "oh".

"I think it's over", "how many times have you two broken up now? Twice? You will get back together"

"I think it's over for good, maybe I'm just no meant for relationships and plus he was wasn't my type way out of my league"

"What is your type?"

"Short, cute, has anger issues, good cook, great sense of humour"

I turn my gaze towards him.

[midnightpillsnacking]

[Loulou*di S3V4 L 3-19] Hana-Doll 3rd Season THINK OF ME:DEJA VU Translation

Translation below the cut. Google Drive link | Listen to the album on Spotify

Rui: (sighs) My… true wish?

(Rui suddenly winces in pain.)

Ryoga: (runs over) Hey, you okay?

Rui: You’re… Kagekawa Ryoga from Anthos*.

Ryoga: Looks like we meet again, Rui. But that aside, is there something wrong with your chest?

Rui: Why do you ask?

Ryoga: What do you mean ‘why’? You’re clutching it like it hurts and you’re shaking like a leaf. Maybe you should go get checked by the medical–

Rui: That won’t be necessary.

Ryoga: Really? Well, if you insist, then I won’t force you. By yourself today?

Rui: Ageha is upstairs.

Ryoga: Ah, with President Amagiri? Speaking of which, last time Ageha went to see the president by himself too. Are you always staying behind to watch the house?

Rui: Watching the house…?

Ryoga: !! My bad, that was a joke.

Rui: It’s nothing. I was just thinking about things.

Ryoga: Thinking about things, huh?

Rui: Hm?

Ryoga: Rui, is it okay if we chat for a bit?

Rui: If it’s until Ageha returns.

Ryoga: You really do cherish Ageha-san, don’t you? I’m the same, too. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect what I cherish. That’s why, lately all I’ve been thinking of is stupid things. Thanks to a bunch of people, Anthos* is now on the fast track, and we’re getting lots of jobs here and there. We’ve managed to put ourselves out there and be seen, and things look like they’ll go swimmingly at this rate… is what I thought, anyway.

Rui: Is that not how it is?

Ryoga: The change in environment is so drastic, it’s like my blood can’t catch up with my limbs. It’s a weird, uneasy feeling, but it seems like Loulou*di  have already crossed that bridge. It made me think that you guys really are amazing seniors.

Rui: Is that so?

Ryoga: (laughs) What a typical response. I’m not saying those things because of being polite.

Rui: Then, what do you mean?

Ryoga: I mean that there are definitely more guys out there who couldn’t keep up and just threw in the towel than I thought. Anthos* has got to keep aiming forward so we don’t end up like that. That’s why… I was thinking that it’d be nice if I could get a little advice from a senior.

Rui: Advice?

Ryoga: A little while back, Setsuna said he got some advice from Ageha-san.

Rui: Yashiro Setsuna?

Ryoga: He wouldn’t tell me everything. ‘The enemy is not always lying in wait outside’--that’s what Setsuna said Ageha-san told him. Rui, do you know what that means?

Rui: The advice came from Ageha. I wouldn’t know the details.

Ryoga: Really?

Rui: Do you think I’m lying?

Ryoga: Not taking you for a liar, but you’re always close to Ageha, so I thought you might have some idea.

Rui: Did you think that simply by being by his side, I would be able to read his mind? Are you able to understand every one of Yuuki Mahiro’s thoughts?

Ryoga: … Ah, sorry. What I said was wrong.

Rui: It’s alright. I understand that what you said carelessly wasn’t something so flippant. There was a meaning to your words.

Ryoga: …Eh? H-hey, what do you mean that…?

Rui: A few words will become your will and turn into an action of impulse…

Ryoga: Rui? Sorry, did you catch what I said?

Rui: I don’t know Ageha’s true intentions of telling Yashiro Setsuna what he said. As for myself, I don’t think I can think of a piece of advice to give you.

Ryoga: O-oh…

Rui: Kagekawa Ryoga, do you have something you wish for?

Ryoga: …W-wish?

Rui: I don’t know myself. As Ageha said before, what exactly frightens you?

Ryoga: !! What are you–

Rui: This has nothing to do with me. This is about what’s on the other side of the wall that separates us, what’s beyond the boundary line between. But there are things that I am aware of. In this world, there exists things that are contradictory.

Ryoga: Contradictory?

Rui: The change you speak of is something framed by your own interpretation, but it’s not something that captures the truth.

Ryoga: What do you mean…?

Rui: Just like how the things are lost in translation, or how your interpretation of god changes depending on your belief, you can spend your whole life side by side, but you will still never become one and the same. Not as one existence.

Ryoga: Hold on, what are we talking about now?

Rui: The flower is delicate.

Ryoga: By flower, you mean… the ones inside us?

Rui: Kagekawa Ryoga. If you’re not prepared to rot together with Yuuki Mahiro, then wash your hands clean while you still can. The influence of the flower inside you is starting to show. Before that happens…

Ryoga: …Why? Why do you speak Hiro’s name? Hey, Rui. Did you do something to him?!

Rui: !!

Ryoga: S-sorry.

Rui: I’m not aware of anything. Just forget what I said.

Ryoga: Could it be that… you’re worried about me?

Rui: Sympathy…?

Ryoga: You said something?

Rui: No, it’s nothing. Let’s meet again at the music awards, in our best form. That is what Ageha hopes for. Which is why I decided to talk to you.

Ryoga: That wasn’t a warning to me?

Rui: Everything is for Ageha’s sake.

Ryoga: Rui, why do you hold onto Ageha-san that much?

Rui: Hold onto?

Ryoga: I believe that Ageha-san is someone amazing. But to you, his existence is so much more than that, isn’t it?

Rui: I…

(Both Rui and Ryoga receive notifications)

Rui: It seems we are being called.

Ryoga: Yeah. Looks like I’ve got to answer. I think we’ve got to call it here today.

Rui: So it seems.

Ryoga: I’m glad I got to talk to you. Then, until we meet again.

Rui: Likewise.

Ryoga: Rui. About our conversation… Whatever comes our way, I don’t intend to let go of Hiro’s hand. So that we’ll never lose each other ever again. That day, we made a promise to search for the truth together. Talking with you made me remember something important. Thanks for helping me make up my mind on my resolve.

(Ryoga leaves.)

Rui: I, too… if I have emotions for him, for Ageha… To let a man break and scatter while staying ignorant would be regrettable.

[burdenofsigynsarms]

Love Is Where All Of Us Belong

A GentleBeard Mix

Spotify and YouTube versions!

Inspired by Stede Bonnet and Edward Teach, and the music of Our Flag Means Death

31 songs, 1hr 48mins without ads

I finished this playlist last year, and decided to share it as we await season 2!

An asterisk indicates a song is from the original soundtrack. These songs form our core sound for this mix. My usual ship mixes tend to be a touch… chaotic. But I wanted this one to feel seamless with the established sound of the series. Now let’s set sail on the seas of love!

“I suppose if you found the absolutely two perfect people... then they could potentially... Co-captain?” ~ Stede Bonnet

*A Pirate’s Life – Joel Fry ‘Oh, a pirate’s life sounds just right. Sounds quite nice.’ I had to include Frenchie’s little ditty about pirating as our opener.

Lost Coastlines – Okkervil River ‘The ship's deck now sags from the weight of our tracks. As we pace beneath flags black and battered.’ I kinda stumbled across this one by accident. But it has a great ‘setting off on an adventure’ sound to it that I really like, and it goes well with our sound and lyrical imagery.

*Miles From Nowhere – Yusuf/Cat Stevens 'Cause I know when I find it, my honey. It's gonna make me feel good.’ Probably one of my favorite songs from the soundtrack. Working on this mix I have discovered I really love our boy, Cat Stevens. Expect to hear more from him in the near future.

Soul of the Sea – Heart ‘You dreamer in the sand. Just lie there laughing ‘til the fall.’ When I saw Heart had a song on the Dreamboat Annie album called Soul of the Sea I was like, “Oh, this is gonna be good.” And I was not wrong. I love the ocean sounds on the track, and the theme of casting your sorrows to the sea.

The Sundown – Ennio Morricone Since Il Triello was on the original soundtrack, we had to have some Morricone up in here. I love the calm before the storm feeling this song has.

*The Empty Boat – Caetano Veloso This one is just a vibe, and a really important song for sound in this mix. The guitar, the maracas, the uneasy feeling of the discordant instruments that builds up to that jazzy vibe. Perfection.

*Perfect Day – Lou Reed ‘You made me forget myself. I thought I was someone else. Someone good.’ This song really has that happy lyrics/sad feeling vibe that is very disconcerting to listen to. The part of the show where it plays is just SO SAD, and I think the highlighted lyric really hits how Ed’s relationship with Stede makes him feel like a better person than he thinks he is.

“This is who I am, Stede. Can you see me now? You were always gonna realize what I am." ~ Edward Teach

Trouble – Yusuf/Cat Stevens ‘I've seen your eyes. And I can see death's disguise. Hangin' on me.’ The concept of ‘death’s disguise’ and how it relates to Ed’s Blackbeard persona, and by extension the Kraken, really hit the spot for me. Plus this song just has a ‘beat up by life’ vibe that is great.

*Locomotive Breath – Jethro Tull ‘No way to slow down.’ What is it about Locomotive Breath that makes it sound like a self-destructive spiral?

Love Calls You by Your Name – Leonard Cohen ‘Your body lost in legend. The beast so very tame. But here, right here. Between the birthmark and the stain. Between the ocean and your open vein... Love calls you by your name’ The guitar work that Leonard is doing on this album is impeccable. I’m too emotionally scarred by Avalanche to include it on this mix, but I had to include something from Songs of Love and Hate on here.

Beacon Hill – Damien Jurado ‘And if you return to me, oh, if you return to me. It's all right, baby.’ This song captures the feeling of wanting someone to come home, but knowing they won’t be the same that feels very appropriate for this ship.

String Reprise/Treaty – Leonard Cohen ‘I wish there was a treaty. Between your love and mine.’ Did someone order a plate of forgiveness and reconciliation?

Pastoral II – Moondog I discovered that Moondog is primarily a composer, and the album that High on a Rocky Ledge is from is one of his few lyrical ventures. I love how soft this piece is; it gives me big Stede vibes.

“How does it feel to be in love?” “It feels... easy? It's just like breathing... I hope you find that.” “I think I have.” “Really? What's her name?” “Ed. His name is Ed.” ~ Stede and Mary Bonnet

Throw Me Now Your Arms –Damien Jurado ‘Let me be the one at day's end. Who you can depend on, hand in hand.’ I don’t think I have the words to fully express how much I love this song and how much it had to be here. The imagery in the lyrics is just so spot on.

*High on a Rocky Ledge – Moondog ‘If you've the yen to pluck, then pluck us both. For we who have lived as one wish to die as one.’ This song has such a lovely, soft, fairytale-esque vibe. Also, the lyrics about sacrificing yourself to be with the one you love turn out to be super relevant to our pairing.

Time Has Told Me – Nick Drake ‘And time will tell you. To stay by my side. To keep on trying. 'Til there's no more to hide.’ Nick Drake is another one of my happy discoveries while building this mix. His voice, and the guitar, is just so good.

*The Chain – Fleetwood Mac ‘And if you don't love me now. You will never love me again.’ The almighty. The holy of holies. The song which 80% of the fanfiction for this series draws its titles from. One of unquestionably the best sequences in show, and an all-around banger.

Wild World – Yusuf/Cat Stevens ‘If you gotta leave take good care. Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear. Then a lot of nice things turn bad out there.’ This song is SO SASSY. It reminds me of all the shit everyone gives Stede about not being realistic or prepared to be a pirate. I love the dig about ‘nice things to wear’, especially for our clothes horse Captain Bonnet.

Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye – Leonard Cohen ‘I'm not looking for another as I wander in my time.’ ‘You know my love goes with you as your love stays with me. It's just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea.’ I can’t begin to describe to absolute hair-pulling experience it was looking for something soft and romantic in Leonard Cohen’s discography. But Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye came through in a BIG way.

(Love Me Like Music) I’ll Be Your Song – Heart ‘Can you feel the light shine. You know this song's yours and mine.’ Sometimes when life gets hard, you gotta reconnect with that loving feeling.

Take A Chance On Me – ABBA ‘Let me tell you now. My love is strong enough to last when things are rough. It's magic.’ I don’t know if it’s the lasting impact of Mamma Mia on my psyche, but ABBA is perfect on any ship mix. Whatever the vibe is, they have you covered. And Take A Chance On Me is the perfect ‘take me back, we belong together’ song.

"There. Look at that. You wear fine things well." ~ Stede Bonnet

Gnossienne No. 5 (Arr. For Guitar) – Erik Satie, Sebastian Llinares Known in the fandom as the ‘Fine Things Motif’, this piece plays during Ed and Stede’s romantic moments together. I was VERY excited to find this guitar arrangement since it plays so nicely with the rest of the music on this mix.

Don’t Be Shy – Yusuf/Cat Stevens ‘Love is better than a song. Love is where all of us belong.’ Ah, the namesake for this playlist. This is one of my corner-stone, cannot live without songs on this playlist. It’s so soft and perfect.

This Magic Moment – Lou Reed ‘And then it happened. It took me by surprise. I knew that you felt it too. By the look in your eyes’ Is that sexual tension? In my playlist? *gasp*

“These past few weeks have been the most fun I've had in ages, years, maybe ever. So, I reckon what makes Ed happy is... you.” ~ Edward Teach

Everywhere – Fleetwood Mac ‘Something's happening. Happening to me. My friends say I'm acting peculiarly.’ ‘I want to be with you everywhere.’ The song that started us down this road. I was listening to Fleetwood Mac, trying to un-stick The Chain from my brain, when this came on and I went, “What if I made a ship mix?” And here we are.

Dreamboat Annie (Fantasy Child) – Heart ‘Little ship of dreams.’ It’s silly but this just always makes me think of the Revenge sailing off into the sunset.

Reasons For Waiting – Jethro Tull ‘Came a thousand miles. Just to catch you while you're smiling.’ You know, when Jethro Tull can chill with the flute just a little, they can make some pretty freaking beautiful music. This song has big, sexy energy to me. Making out in the afternoon sun. Just warm and tingly and lovely.

*Our Prayer – The Beach Boys I’ll let you decide what I was thinking when I put this song here…

The Air That I Breathe – The Hollies ‘If I could make a wish. I think I'd pass.’ If this isn’t soft, sweet, love-making music, then I don’t know what is honestly. It just has that post-coital bliss sound to it. Plus, if that highlighted lyric doesn’t scream pure contentment, what does?

When All Is Said and Done – ABBA ‘It's so strange when you're down and lying on the floor. How you rise, shake your head, get up and ask for more.’ I was so excited to discover that this was originally a fast-paced song. It’s SO MUCH BETTER than the slowed down version they have in Mamma Mia. I thought it’d be nice to come towards a close with a song about looking back on adventures with the ones we love, and looking forward to what’s to come.

Candle On The Water – Okkervil River ‘Look for me, reaching out to show. As sure as rivers flow. I'll never let you go.’ Is it one of my playlists without an end credit song? I should think not. I had to include Candle On The Water on this playlist; the lighthouse imagery played in too beautifully with Stede and the symbology around his character. And, it would seem I’m totally incapable of making a playlist without at least one Disney song, so this fulfills my quota :’D

Thank you for listening! I hope you’ve enjoyed our musical journey with Blackbeard and the Gentleman Pirate! Until next time!

[ticiie]

week 30: betting on the new season

prompt from the off-season winter sport challenge

characters: Gino Caviezel, Marc Berthod, Lukas Studer, Marco Odermatt, Justin Murisier (mentioned)

length: 1182 words

author's note: wow, i actually can't believe this is the last week already??? it feels like the last season has ended a minute ago and now season22/23 is only a few days away. i went down the memory lane (aka @niemernuet 's and my chat history) and i figured warming up an old idea for the last OSWS-entry would be something nice (i hope it also turned out nice). rewatch the actual footage of gino winning the game here and check out the cheese suit here.

also, it has to be said: THANK YOU SO MUCH @wunderlichkind for not just coming up with this challenge but also for your contributions, they are all amazing, i love them all, thank you for everything!!! Biggest and most gigantic shoutouts to @wunderlichkind and @niemernuet, you guys are both incredibly talented, i love you guys, you're the very bestest!!! ❤️❤️❤️

alright, that's all, please enjoy my last entry of this year's OSWS challenge!

Reconnecting...reconnecting....reconnecting...

Gino groaned in frustration. The screen of his tablet still only showed the loading-symbol while his WiFi lost the connection for the third time in a row again. Meanwhile, his phone was running wild with new messages from both Marc and Lukas. Of course, only one of them really tried to help Gino. Marc would get his ass kicked in tonight’s game for calling Gino an old sap. Right before he could throw the device against the nearest wall like his nerves wanted him to, the picture changed and both commentators appeared on it.

“Hallelujah, miracles do happen!”, Lukas praised and the others laughed. The live stream was already running so Gino quickly adjusted the angle of the camera so the viewers wouldn’t get to see too much of his (admittedly) messy kitchen.

“With a tiny delay, we welcome Gino Caviezel on this year’s first edition of our popular silent-painter-competition! Gino, you’re here for the second time, last year you won the desired point for Marc’s team-”

“Thanks again, bro”, Marc interrupted Lukas’ summary. Gino winked at him through the camera.

“This year, we decided to spice things up a little. If you don’t succeed and none of the viewers can guess what you were attempting to draw, you’ll have to complete a dare chosen by the opponent team. Alright?”

“So that means if I fuck up, Marc gets the chance to send me into embarrassment?”

“Well, that's up to you and your drawing skills. And who knows, maybe he prepared a dare that’s not going to humiliate you”, Lukas said. One look at Marc's smug grin was enough to let Gino know for certain that wouldn’t be the case.

“But before we get started, let’s talk about what’s coming next in your life Gino; The season is about to start, how is your training going? Did you get to use the summer break the way you wanted to?”

“Absolutely. Conditions in both Zermatt and Chile were amazing, we were all very lucky and glad to get to spend that many days on the snow. It’s just a pity that we’re one man down on the team.”

“Oh yeah, I heard”, Marc chimed in. “How’s Justin keeping up? I bet he’s annoyed about missing the season opening party?”

“He’s fine, as long as he doesn’t miss the season end as well. No, really, we talked to him a couple of days ago and according to him, therapy is going the right direction and he’s confident he’ll be back on track with us by the time the Italian week starts.”

Lukas nodded. He knew about Justin’s high ambitions and his thrive was very impressive, considering how many injuries he had already fought his way back from. The viewers seemed to share all their thoughts, a float of get-well wishes rushed through the stream and Gino took a second to read some of them. To witness so much support and love for his team mate made Gino feel even better than he already was.

“Alright guys, I suggest we get started or we’ll still be sitting here by this time tomorrow. Gino, are you ready?”

“Born ready, Lukas.” He got up from the table and walked over to the whiteboard that was fixed to the kitchen cabinet. Only now Gino remembered what had been written on it when he had last looked at it in the afternoon and he was more than glad about finding it completely spotless and to be able to switch the camera away from his face. Marc would’ve not missed him blushing and he was someone to take the right assumptions most of the time.

Marc continued: “45 seconds for you to draw and for the viewers to guess what it is. Three, two, one, go!”

It wasn’t that easy to both draw and hold the camera at the same time but Gino figured asking for help now would be too obvious. He also had never been that much of a visual or let alone creative person which made those 45 seconds pass even quicker and while Marc was calling out the wrong guesses of the viewers, Gino felt his nerves starting to flutter the more time passed by. He really didn’t want to give Marc a chance to humiliate him on the public eye. Turns out his former art teacher in school had every reason to call Gino out on his lack of visual talent. Time ran out and none of the people watching came up with the correct answer. Lukas sighed overly disappointed.

“Sorry man, tried my best.” Gino turned the camera back so that his face was visible again. Meanwhile, Marc was obviously enjoying not just the fact that Lukas would not take the lead in their competition, but also getting to have Gino to fulfil a dare of his choice. He cleared his throat. Gino hated to admit that he was pretty tense in expectation. And fear. “I think you remember this one”, Marc said and grabbed something that was placed outside of the cameras angle. Gino immediately knew what it was, the ugly yellow colour gave it away even in the dim light of Marc’s office where he was sitting.

“Please don’t.”

Gino covered his face with both hands while Marc unfolded the fabric, the smug grin still glued to his face. “I know your ambitions to this year’s season premier are high, Gino, and we all know what you are capable of on this slope, so if you finish your race on the podium, I dare you to wear this beauty to the official winner’s ceremony in Sölden.”

Now even Lukas was unable to contain his laughter. “Oh, please do finish on the podium, Gino, I need to see you in the cheese-suit!”

“Alright guys, if you excuse me, I’m going to throw myself off the balcony now.”, Gino said and pretended to stand up from the table. Messages of both empathy and glee reached through the live stream, with most of them agreeing with Lukas’ words, stating how much they wanted to see the more than legendary racing suit reactivated again. Marc and Lukas then wished Gino and his team mates all the best for the upcoming races before disconnecting the broadcast. Gino sat there with his head still rested in his palms. He stared into space, reconsidering his life decisions and how to get the best revenge on Marc. Not even when two strong arms hugged him from behind and Gino was surrounded by the comforting smell of pine and laundry detergent did he move from his stupor.

“I bet you helped him, didn’t you?”, Gino asked. Marco just giggled and placed a tender kiss on his cheek.

“I might have told him your size. You’ll look amazing. You’ll go down in history, claiming your first win while wearing that ugly thing is going to make you immortal.”

Gino didn’t add anything to that. The fact that Marco had enough faith in him to assume he was actually going to win this year made the whole situation a little more bearable.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Okay, I’ve been writing tonight about the new season’s lineup announcement because I’d been waiting weeks to do that, but here’s my wrap-up of what just ended. Spoilers for the Taskmaster season 14 finale:

- It snuck up on me a bit, but I think when I look back on this with a little perspective, Dara O’Briain is going to be among my favourite ever Taskmaster contestants. He was everything I want in that show. Competitive, good at it, and prone to losing his mind. You don’t get all three in one person much. You get competitive and losing their minds, of course, but normally, the mind losing makes a contestant less successful. Even someone like Ed Gamble, who did win, fucked up a lot. Stats aside (I support the Jack Bernhardt project in principle because I support anyone who gathers lots of numbers about things that do not matter, but really, there are lots of good reasons why even the best “points per task” system is not a good way to compare contestants from different seasons, because the style of judging varies so much), Dara O’Briain was a stronger contestant overall than Ed Gamble, and than almost everyone they’ve ever had. They’ve had effortlessly good contestants before, like Liza Tarbuck. Noel Fielding, whom I’m convinced was far more competitive than he ostensibly let on, but he didn’t wear his competitiveness on his sleeve the way Dara did.

- Having said that stuff about stats, I have to admit I went to the Forbidden Website briefly tonight and thre’s some good stuff on Jack Bernhardt’s Twitter, based on tonight’s results.

- I’ve said before that the Dara O’Briain/John Kearns dynamic, as a sort of popular kid at school who really wants to win this gym class game/unathletic kid who got put on their team and is just trying to not fuck up so badly that said popular kid gets mad at them, is my favourite storyline of this season. That was perfectly encapsulated by John asking Dara if he had “Frank Sinatra” eyes and Dara saying “Shut up”. I laughed so hard. Classic Taskmaster moment.

- Joint losers was a hilarious way to end this season. I of course was counting points in my head throughout the finale to see if Sarah would pull ahead of Dara (thought it didn’t matter, since in the end she didn’t come close), but I wasn’t paying too much attention to how close it was at the bottom. When they first announced that there was a tie there, I thought it would be John and Munya. But it wasn’t! Early in the season – too early, really – I announced my support for Munya Chawawa as the winner, and he did, in fact, manage to not come last!

- Even if they did not end up being the joint losers, if John and Munya don’t get some sort of television show together after this, then I don’t know what the fuck we’re even doing here.

- The sports team I coach has a lot of athletes from various bits of the Middle East and Northern Africa, and a couple from Central Africa, but this whole season had really made me wish I had just one from Zimbabwe, or even anywhere else in that area, so I could run Munya’s claims by them. It would be funny if it turned out that like 1.5 of them were actually somehow true.

- God, Fern Brady is perfect. She did remain tired throughout the whole season. We know that, because the final task was partly from their first day of filming and partly from their last day of filming, and she was tired in both. Most tired contestant in Taskmaster history.

- The grape task! The NZ grape task! But with more loopholes, unless NZ had loopholes we never saw. I think they picked the perfect things to bring over from NZ this season – grape task, sabotage, milk jug task. They’re absolutely right, that’s the best of it. Well, that and the diss tracks, but Fern had that covered without the producers even planning for it.

- Going into the season, the only one I didn’t know relatively well was John Kearns. I did know that he was supposed to be a big comedian’s comedian, that he’s all over the festival circuit and won all the Edinburgh awards, and all the comedians who talked about this lineup said we should all watch out for the great John Kearns. All I’d seen him do was die during a Catsdown Dictionary Corner bit in a way that comedians rarely die on panel shows, that’s not normally a tough crowd, but his stuff really did not work there. However, I have to admit that the comedians were right. The Edinburgh awards people were right. Fucking brilliant. Hilarious on Taskmaster, but in a way that you can see how that can translate to any setting. By watching the way he stares at Greg for exactly the right amount of time before breaking, I think I can see how his timing on stage would take an audience apart. I get it now. I have been converted to the doctrine of lauding John Kearns.

- Seriously, have I mentioned how fucking awesome Dara was on there?

- I think another thing that will endure, even once some time passes and I have perspective, is that fucking theatre task. Sarah’s play was brilliant. Dara’s play was brilliant. Fern’s play would have been awesome on any other season, competing against anything but Sarah and Dara’s plays. Dara’s performance of John’s play was genuinely, unironically, beautiful. Someone needs to give him some acting work now that his old job has run out. Also Munya was there.

That song task might go down in history too. Not even Munya fucked that one up. Everyone was genuinely brilliant.

- I love that Sarah Millican went on the panel show that’s meant to separate the persona from the person, bring out the human behind it and show us who they really are, and what we learned is that Sarah Millican really is exactly who she plays on stage. Lovely.

[casspurrjoybell-26]

Made of Steele - Chapter 2

*Warning: Adult Content*

My weekend was just as I expected, boring with a hint of spice after having an argument with Hannah, after she drunk called me Friday night.

I was even more sure of breaking things off with Hannah for final after what I had to listen to, telling me how a 'supportive boyfriend' would go to a party with her and how I have 'changed' along with some pretty words of insult I blocked out.

If anyone had changed, it was Hannah.

Since entering Senior year, she had gained something of a following with the popular girls and while I had friends, I did not brag about the fact people liked me, unlike her who used it as a shield.

I was tired, things were not good and they have not been for a long time.

The question now was, how was I going to end it without it blowing up in my face?

I had managed to dodge her all morning from not seeing her around, which I felt glad for because I did not want to have every student here butting into my personal life if they overheard anything we said in the halls.

Having a famous gay parent with a famous gay husband made me a hot topic every day all day and whilst I found it annoying, Hannah loved the attention that came with from dating me.

It was exhausting just being around her and all these people.

Sometimes I wish I could just...

"Jamie, Hey."

I turn around and the person I did not want to see was now standing in front of me, only he was not dressed in sports gear but like every other stuck-up teacher in this school, only I thought he suited it.

"Uh? Oh hey... um..." I wonder what to call him, making him laugh.

"Kit is fine, you won't get in trouble for not calling me 'Sir'," he said, grinning. "Besides, I'm not that old."

"Oh..." I utter, smiling awkwardly, as students walk past us in the halls. "Um, do you need me for something?" I ask and his eyes widen, like he just remembered something.

"Yeah, I know it's your lunch break but do you mind giving me a hand with something?" he asked quietly, making me look up at him in confusion.

"Sure, okay." It is not like I was in a hurry to enter the cafeteria and see Hannah.

"Excellent," he smiled widely, hinting for me to follow him with a nod of his head.

I walk beside him and follow him down the hall and out of the building towards the back exit leading to the soccer and track field.

There were some students picnicking outside, whilst some students were using their lunch break as an opportunity to have the track to themselves.

"So, how was your weekend?" Kit asks unexpectedly as we step onto the field. "Do anything fun?"

I looked at him and shrugged, my hands in my pockets.

"Nope."

Why was he asking me? Why did he even care?

He looked at me as if he were trying to figure something out as the air between us turned awkward with silence, eventually we made it to the soccer field and the silence did not last long as he handed me some cones.

"Thanks for helping out, it's hard to grab anyone to do anything around here," he joked as I started to position the cones on the field.

"It's lunch-time," I pointed out, making him laugh and then smile as he grabbed the net for the goal post.

I had finished placing the cones and then went over to him at the goal post to help put up the goal net, finding it harder to do than I thought as I didn't know how to put one up, only learning after watching how Kit did it.

After I helped him out and everything was set up for his next lesson, I grabbed my bag that I left near a bench and slung it over my shoulder before looking at my watch to see that I still had ten minutes left for lunch.

"Hold up."

I turn around and see Kit jogging over to me, his shirt looking too tight for his muscled chest as it clung to his skin, showing his almost bare chest from how thin the fabric was in the sunny outdoors.

"Damn it's hot," he muttered under his breath as he caught up to me, walking beside me back to the school building.

"It's summer," I roll my eyes. "The worst season of the year."

Kit snorted, making me stare at him, to see him already looking at me.

"Didn't expect that from you."

"Why?" I ask, my brows raised.

"Don't know," he shrugs then hums. "It's a high school and people talk. You'd be surprised what I learnt about you from just being here for a week."

Oh, so that's how it is...

Someone talked about me, someone who didn't know anything about me yet had the audacity to say shit anyway, like they knew everything about me.

I hate it, people pretending like they know me...

"Yet, I had my doubts."

I look at him and frown.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, just from watching you anyone would see you hate sports," he chuckled, opening the back door to the school for me. "The way you glare at me during class is also a giveaway."

I looked away from him and felt my hands start to sweat.

"Oh."

'I didn't know what to say to that.'

When was he watching me?

"Sorry..."

"Don't apologize, you're actually nothing like I thought you'd be and that's a good thing," he spoke softly, surprising me...

What did he mean by that?

And why did it make me feel weird?

I did not like how my hands were sweating and how suddenly nervous I was around him, there was something strange about talking to him that felt oddly relaxing, yet terrifying to me, it just made me want to run away for some reason.

"Uh... I should probably go," I said awkwardly avoiding eye contact with him, taking a step back.

He nods his head and smiles.

"See you later, Jamie and thanks again for helping out."

With a slight nod, I turn around and walk down the hall, as fast as my legs could take me without it seeming like I was running away from him, as my heart started beating loudly in my chest with each step I took.

What the fuck was going on with me?

What the hell was I even doing?

Seriously...

Once I made it to the cafeteria, I instantly saw Hannah and our friends sitting around a large table eating lunch, I made a zipline to the school store instead of getting hot food.

Luckily, nobody had seen me yet as they were too focused on whatever they were talking about, so I bought myself a baguette sandwich and a bottle of water, then I headed out of the cafeteria, dodging past other students who were also buying food last minute.

Since Friday I've been feeling weird and the whole thing with Hannah just made it all the harder for me to be around her and our friends, knowing that things were coming to an end and I wasn't quite sure how to handle it yet.

A part of me would miss her, being friends for so long, I was comfortable with being around her, yet another part of me, a rather big part, was glad that I realized it sooner that I didn't like her as much as I thought I did.

I knew her plans and what she wanted for her life and I also knew that none of those things included me, not really and as much as it should hurt, it didn't and that's another reason I feel like our relationship had come to an end.

Evan was going to be upset when he finds out… he always did like Hannah, unlike my dad, who found her to be pushy.

Well, it was what it was and I wasn't going to dwell on it, I should've done it weeks ago.

As the bell rang through the air, I swallowed the last bit of my sandwich and made my way to my next class, which just happens to be with Kit, outside in the scorching uncomfortable heat.

I just wanted to skip the rest of the day, everything was exhausting and forcing myself to talk and smile at people was becoming a chore.

Honestly... the only time I haven't felt like shit was with helping Kit outside.

That alone only added to the strange feeling I felt in the pit of my stomach as it twisted and turned, like I was... attracted to him in a way.

I was not gay.

I had never looked at a guy and thought 'oh, that could be my boyfriend'.

It could be just my hormones, since Hannah and I did not have sex as much, I often found myself taking care of things a lot more than the act itself, which only added to my frustration, especially when she would talk to other guys.

I just wanted to go home and sleep.

Once I made it to the changing rooms and my friends started cracking jokes about some girl, we went outside and walked onto the grass, where Kit was standing, wearing shorts and a tank top and not the stuffy suit he had on earlier.

When he looked at us coming onto the field, his eyes caught me staring at him and he smiled at me, making me look away, my heart beating faster than before once I realize he caught me looking at him, like some creep.

The girls had eventually caught up to us on the field and stood near us guys and that's when Kit started the lesson, putting us into groups along with the girls, telling us to 'stretch it out' before he began telling us what we were going to do.

I felt self-conscious being around him more than usual and I did not like how uncomfortable that made me feel, simply because of something I didn't understand,and did not want to get into.

He was good looking but that did not mean I fancied him and I wasn't bi-curious either, so then what the fuck was wrong with me?

Suddenly, I started to feel sick and dizzy in my head, making me stop walking and crouch down onto the floor, putting my hand on the grass to stop whatever this feeling was, from taking over my body.

Whatever it was, it was unexpected and just like that, everything went black as my head the soft grass of the soccer field.

The last thing I hear is someone shouting out my name in the distance before it all went dark. 

[heysarsii]

Nothing my best friend can't fix

It's that time of the year again where I meet up with my best friend for our yearly catch up and to exchange gifts for the holidays, too. Her house is just around the corner but we barely see each other nor do we message each other on a daily basis. We only reach out during time of 'crisis', iykwim. We never had the clingy type of friendship but we're always cringey together.

We were supposed to go and watch Mayonnaise play live at the mall near us last Saturday but since there were a lot of people and there were barely enough room, we opted to see the Fountain of Lights in Nuvali. We had a long drive due to the annoying traffic from San Pedro to Sta. Rosa. Of course we had our Mayonnaise playlist on as we talked about all of the things that we needed to catch up on. Sad to have missed seeing Monty!

I also brought her to the house I saved up on. She was so giddy to see it that she even tells her workmates that I have a house in that village everytime they pass by it. You see, we both celebrate achievements and would always hype each other everytime. We celebrated her work achievements and her married life, too. Sad that her hubby wasn't able to come with us but at least it's a girl's day out for us. It was fun looking back at how we were a long time ago and see ourselves finally grasping the things that we once dreamed of.

I missed how silly we'd be and clown around everytime we're together. She was always someone who would laugh at things I tell her but would tell me frankly her thoughts and scold me to get myself back on track. She met her husband because I told her to make a checklist of negotiables and non-negotiables and stick to it only to have her throw it to my face that I skipped my checklist and settled.

In a way she understood and made me realize why I chose to be that way or why it has happened to me. She didn't like how the situation changed me but she knows it was because that's how I am as a person — pure, genuine, and forgiving. She would always point out red flags I ignored before cause it seemed to be small things to me. She hated the compromises I made only to have myself dumbfounded in the end.

"Their actions and decisions speak more about themselves than it is about you. There's nothing wrong with you."

She told me something that I haven't considered about my situation and it somehow made sense than most of the things I think about. She was sure of it. Because she also did it to someone. And yes, it wasn't nice and it doesn't have to make sense anymore. She's happy as long as I know what I bring to the table and that I can fully walk towards something I deserve.

We both agreed that hurt people, hurt people.

It is not necessary to move on yet with another person if I haven't fully healed yet. I'd be risking a lot and most probably will hurt someone if I force myself to. After all, I don't want the same thing to happen to someone after feeling how hurtful it was.

"He was the right person at the right time to teach me an important lesson in life."

At the end of our day she asked me my key takeaways and laughed at how I still chose to be kind. But because she was her, she wished everything good for me in this season and in my life.

Always grateful.x

[stylezxsilvermoon]

chapter nine (berryhill)

A/N: before we start this chapter, I would like to state that this chapter should really be named "chapter 8.5" since it is a continuation of last chapter, but since this chapter moves right along with the next part of the story, I'll leave it as chapter 9, thank you! 

-Louiscarrotsxoxo

previously....

Harry

I think to myself, can this day possibly get worse? Or maybe it'll get better? There's no telling. And how can Gemma call Faith's brother hot?! He's probably a devil child like Faith, her taste in boys is,questionable.

"What is it, Gemma?" I questioned 

"It's Faith's brother, Lukas, he just texted me he wants to hang out this weekend! Harry can you believe that! We're practically dating!" Gemma said as she squealed 

"Hold on a minute, what about me?" I questioned sassily

"He said I could bring you along too, because he's going to bring Faith." Gemma snorted

"Don't you dare laugh Gemma! This is so not happening!" I scolded as I paced around the room

How was I going to get out of all this? I mean gosh first Faith insults me, then her brother asks my sister to hang out with him! She's practically ruining my life, man I wish Louis was here, he'd help me.

"So... how are we going to get you out of this Haz? We all know you can't stay home alone." Gemma raised an eyebrow 

"You're right! What if, I get Mum to call Louis's Mum, for a sleepover!" I suggested 

"That might work.." Gemma said 

"Aye loves, what are ya chatting about?" Mum asked

"Oh nothing, Gems just going on about this boy she wants to snog." I said as I rolled my eyes

"Shut it Haz!" Gemma snorted

"What is going in here?" Mum said as she raised an eyebrow

Gemma proceeded to explain the situation with Lukas, me, being my nine-year-old self, got bored and proceeded to stare out of the window, thinking of Louis. Though I wonder, where does Louis live? My family had just moved in to Headtha Valley, so where does Louis live? He never did tell me.

I hope he lives somewhere around here, perhaps we could go on play dates in the spring, and run around in the daisies, that'd be nice, I think.

Suddenly, I look to my left and see Mum heading out of the front door, talking with some lady, that pools oddly almost like Louis, could that be his Mum? I think.

I stop in my tracks as I stare out of the window, could this mean Louis lives somewhere around here?! I couldn't hold it in, as I squeal, thankfully the window is closed.

I wonder what that lady and Mum were talking about.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Louis

Moving by far is the worst, I think, but maybe I'll make new friends around here? It couldn't possibly be the worst, I thought.

I wonder if Harry lived around here. As Mum got accompanied with the neighbors, I was in charge of keeping track of my little sister, Lottie. She got into trouble sometimes 

I walked around the small backyard covered in snow as I held Lottie's hand in mine, chubby baby fingers, I thought.

Though now I'm starting to realize the familiar things about this neighborhood, I think I've passed it once or twice, hopefully it still remains the same from the seasons I've seen the trees flourish and bloom.

But that makes me think of something, someone, rather, Harry. I wonder what he was up too, maybe he was still sleeping, since it was early.

Was he a morning person or a night person? I wondered 

Well, I couldn't possibly answer that question.

I turned my head to see Lottie pointing at someone in a tree, or was that a treehouse? I definitely needed to do more investigating.

"Lou Lou! Boy in tree! Look look!" Lottie giggled

I squinted closer to the location of the treehouse, I'm pretty sure that was Harry, or am I hallucinating, dopey green eyes, curly hair, looked about right.

"H?!" I questioned, as if he could hear me

"Hi Lou!" Harry shouted

I cannot believe this is happening right now, having my crush live a few doors down from me, how will I survive? If I survive.

I saw Harry climb down from the treehouse as Lottie squealed on the ground.

"Harry how did you get here?!" I said as I hugged him

"Huh, well, just so happens you moved into my neighborhood, love."  Harry stated

Harry

Alright so, universe, what is going on.

Sometimes life makes me think it's actually trying to give me whip lash.

Wait until Gemma hears about this, it'll make her forget all about little Lukas, but then again, what happens when Faith finds out we're both here? She'll probably have a panic attack or something.

Doesn't matter, as long as Louis is here with me.

Speaking of Louis might get to meet Mum!

"Who is this little lady?" I ask pointing to the toddler attached to Louis's hand

"This is my little sister Lottie, though, we'll be getting new siblings soon, since me mum is pregnant." Louis said as he rubbed Lottie's head, they kinda look alike, too. Well, I guess because they're siblings.

"Oh my gosh Lou! I have something super special to show you in my house!" I squealed 

"Oh alright, this is your house, Harry?" Louis asked 

"We're gonna be next door neighbors!" I shouted 

Oh boy, this was gonna be good.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

"Wow Harry your room is so cool!" Louis wowed

"Yep, I'm pretty cool huh?" I swooned

I patted the spot next to me on the bed as Lottie sat on the floor clinging foam blocks together, I could get used to this.

"So, what do you do up here H?" Louis questioned 

"Oh nothing, just play on my computer, and think about you." I poked

"That was cringey." Louis laughed

"Shut up." I laughed 

I saw the sun as it shone into the window glossing right over Louis's eyes, making them shine, even more than usual, they almost looked electrified.

he looked so pretty

"Hey Lou?" I whispered 

"Yeah?" Louis said 

"Remember when we kissed that day?" I questioned 

"Best day ever." Louis said as he kissed me

so here I am, kissing my neighbor, and my bestfriend

wow.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Anne 

I can't believe this day has turned so awry to wonderful. But at the end of the day, it's great to round off the day with a book club meeting.

Reading the Forte was an interesting book, it almost reflected my own life, but everyone has different.

"So, what did you guys think of chapter nine?" I asked

"I thought it was boring and sadistic, moving on." Carol stated

"Like palates are the dream huh, Mrs. Sweetheart didn't get her morning Frappuccino." Joanna said 

"I second that." I whispered as I giggled

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

"So how is you're boy Louis Joanna?" I asked 

"Oh, he's wonderful, though he keeps talking about some Harry boy, do you know one about his age?" She asked

"Oh yes, I have a boy named Harry, he talks about a Louis a lot, there may be a connection." 

"There may be a connection to what?" Carol asked 

to be continued....

A/N: so I kinda think this chapter is shite, but here ya go loves❤

-Louiscarrotsxoxo