#and calli could have been like no. but like. well you show her a little pathos and she'll do whatever

[dragon-zena]

im going to wexplode if i dont have dnd in the next week

[trippinsorrows]

with me + part five

authors notes: hi! you guys are so freaking awesome and sweet and like gawww, so grateful for such kind words and support!

so i realized that i used the wwe names for jimmy, jey, naomi, etc. that was my bad. i'll be using their real names moving forward for the sake of flow and consistency.

also keep forgetting to state that current timeline is 2023. like, this chapter is fall 2023. everything, so far, post breakup for joe and reader has been 2023. i plan to follow that timeline, so make of that what you will.

i hope this chapter isn't too boring to people!

warnings: fluff, language, suggestive content

song inspo: with me by destiny’s child

words: 5.7k

tags: @pixiedust4000 @southerngirl41 @yolobloggers @msbigredmachine @wonderingfashion

“So, are we just going to continue to ignore each other?”

You’re not sure how, but you sense his presence long before he even says anything. And instantly, your mood is dampened, not that you were in the best spirits to begin with. You didn’t get much sleep the night before, for reasons you cannot fathom. But, it’s annoying as hell, especially when you have an ex turned fuck buddy who can’t seem to get a fucking clue ready to confront you outside of your daughter's preschool.

Sighing heavily, you pull out your phone to play around with your lock screen, because you really don’t have anyone you need to message in this moment. But, he doesn’t need to know that. “Not now, Amir.”

“Because you’re so busy?”

“Because I don’t care.” One thing you’ve learned about yourself over the years is that once you’re annoyed with someone, there’s no filter on your mouth and you cannot be held liable for what comes out of it. “Now, please, go away.”

He just looks at you, sun shining down on his waves and chocolate complexion. It’s unfortunate outside of his looks that he’s an overall trash partner. Decent friend. Shitty boyfriend. “You always do that shit, you know? Pull and then push. It was kinda cute when we were kids. Now, it’s just annoying.”

You were standing outside of Callie’s preschool, waiting for the kids to be dismissed, waiting for your little girl to come running out with a smile on her face, request on the tip of her tongue. It’s usually something small like wanting to show you what she learned in school. Lately, it’s been the same.

Can I call Joe?

A part of you feels bad for the amount of calls he probably gets in one day just from Callie alone. She took your offer for her to call him whenever he was available to another degree, not that he minded. He took as many as he could, listening to her talk and talk about whatever happened to be on her mind in that moment. And you let her.

What kind of mother would you be if you stopped her from talking to her dad? Even if she doesn’t know that’s who he is. 

It’s been almost two weeks since he left, and she clearly misses him. You often overhear her asking about when he’s coming again. You also receive those questions. It’s something you and him discuss via text but haven’t landed on a date yet. 

Communicating with Joe is also something that’s still an adjustment. It’s not as difficult or uncomfortable, because it’s almost entirely about Callie, but still. 

“If that’s the case, why do you bother?” You manage a less insensitive tone, even if you know good and well you’ve never led this man on. Amir has always heard and believed what he wanted to believe. That was the problem. He never listened to you.

“Because I fucking care about your annoying ass, duh.”

His delivery, the tone, and cadence. You laugh. It’s probably inappropriate at the moment, but it does bring a smile to his face as well. “Softie.”

He moves closer to you, arms crossed. “I’m serious, Y/N. You know how I feel about you. How I’ve always felt about you.” 

Leaning against your car, you respond as calmly as you can, “and you know I’ve always made it clear I’m not looking for anything more. We had our time, Amir. It didn’t work out. Now we just help each other get off. I don’t know why you keep trying to make it more than what it is.”

“A date. One date,” he implores. A waste of time, because your answer is no. It’s been no and will continue to be no. “You haven’t even given ‘adult’ us a chance.”

There’s a headache in your near future, one that’s reminiscent of past ones only Amir seems to induce. It’s interesting how he went from indifferent asshole to clingy asshole. You almost miss the earlier version.

Chocolate was supposed to be good for the soul, so why was he so draining to yours?

“Amir…..” You try to pick your words carefully and be mindful of your tone. “This is getting real old. I think we need to stop messing around, because we’re clearly not on the same page.” The next part is something you probably shouldn’t share, but you call yourself trying to be open and clear. “Calista’s dad is back, and we’re trying to navigate coparenting, so—” 

“What?” He stops you, shock written over his handsome face. “Are you serious? You’re letting that motherfucker back in ya’ll life?”

This time, it’s his tone that jumps, accusatory and harsh. You immediately grow defensive. “You don’t know him.”

“God, why do you defend him like this? Is it that Stockholm Syndrome shit? He left you. He left you and his kid. What kind of man does that? And you’re just letting him back in? Just gonna jump back on his dick? Letting him around Callie? She’s old enough now to remember when he decides to leave again. I don’t get how you don’t see that. You her mama. You supposed to look out for her.”

And now, you’re done trying to be nice, trying to be mindful that he’s still another human being with feelings. Because one thing you never have and never will tolerate is someone insinuating you’re not looking out for your daughter. You’re not perfect, but you know that you’re a devoted, dutiful mother. 

“It’s obvious comprehension isn’t your strong suit, which I should have known based off the fact that I always had to help your dumbass do your homework back when we were in school.” All bets….off. “My baby? My life? My pussy? All my business. You don’t get to judge the decisions I make for my child nor the role that her father has in her life. That’s between me and him. Keep your nose out my fucking business. Don’t worry about me hitting you up anymore. That’s dead.”

Your rose will do just fine. Hell, there’s gotta be at least one other eligible bachelor in town you could fuck if absolutely need be. But, you know damn well you won’t be messaging Amir anymore. He comes with too much baggage. It’s not worth it. You refuse to let a nigga whose height starts with a 5 stress you out.

True to his nature, he starts gaslighting you. Typical Amir. “There you go overreacting and shit.”

“No, I’m not. You’re trying to question my parenting when you don’t know shit about shit.”

He sucks his teeth, rolling his eyes. This was why people used to say you had a temper in high school. Because of him. Because he loved to tell people what you said but never what he did. Always tried to make you feel crazy. Truth be told, you’re stupid for even opening that door with him again, even if it’s just for sex.

“Whatever, Y/N.” He turns to walk back over to his car. You really wish his damn sister would change her work schedule so she can pick up her son instead of this asshole. You’ll catch a case fucking with his dumbass. “I’ll wait for your text.”

He’ll be waiting. “Fuck you, Amir.” 

You should be more mindful of your language at a damn preschool, but Amir has managed to get under your skin, something that hasn’t happened since you were in college. You know a good part of it is because you’re sleep deprived, but you also know it’s partially because of his dig at Joe.

You understand the optics seem to indicate that he’s a deadbeat, but you’ve expressed to Amir countless times that it was a complicated situation. He didn’t know the specifics, but you made it clear Joe didn’t abandon you or Callie. That’s just the narrative Amir keeps running with, and now with Joe being back in your life and especially in Callie’s life, you’re not gonna let it continue. 

“Mommy!” Your head snaps to see and feel Callie run up to and hug her body against your leg. “Boo!”

Shit. Did she hear any of that? You hope not and paste on a smile that’s hopefully authentic enough to sell that everything is fine. “Callie Bear.” You lean down and pick her up, kissing her cheek. “Did you have a good day?”

She nods and starts explaining the activities while you buckle her into her carseat, trying your best to calm down and not give away your high stress levels in that moment. Callie is super perceptive, and you don’t want to ruin the obviously great day she’s had.

And sure enough, as you’re putting on your seatbelt and starting up the car, the golden question is shouted with pre-excitement. 

“Can I call Joe when I get home?”

Smiling at her through the rearview mirror, you answer, “yes, you can.”

In the almost two weeks that have passed since Joe’s departure, not one day has passed that Callie doesn’t asks to call Joe or just outright helps yourself to her iPad to call him. Sometimes several times a day during the weekends. And she’ll talk to him for as long as she can, as long as he’s able to hold a conversation with her. You’ll give it to him, he’s done an exceptional job handling all of it. On some level, you wonder if you should set some restrictions or time parameters, but how do you limit how much a daughter interacts with her father?

Callie rejoices at your approval and requests for you to put on the Disney playlist you made specifically for her on Spotify. 

The drive, no more than 10 minutes, consists of the two of you singing along to a few Disney tunes. It’s a bit of a tradition between you, a way to bond via your shared love of Disney. A love that ties not only you to her but to the women before you. Your mom and grandma. 

Arriving to your apartment complex, you decide to leave your work bag in the car. It’s Thanksgiving break. You most likely won’t do any work until the day or two before having to return.

You do carry Callie on your hip and swing her bag around your shoulder, walking the two of you up to the second floor. Sometimes, you regret not accepting the apartment they had available on the first floor. The older you get, the less your joints like to cooperate, your almost 15 years of cheer probably taking a toll on your body. 

And just age in general. 

But your regret quickly turns to a level of gratitude when you reach your door. 

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

Dropping Callie to the floor, she’s of the complete opposite reaction, gasping and smiling broadly. 

“Look mommy, more boxes!”

The smile is strained but you manage to maintain it, sticking the key in the door, unlocking and pushing it open.

She walks in, and you place her bag on the floor near the door, one foot keeping it open. “What do you think it is?” She asks as you pick them up and bring them inside, kicking the door closed behind you.

You know exactly what it is. What it all is. 

Gifts.

From Joe. 

In his absence, you’ve had several deliveries waiting outside your door when you got home from work and picking Callie up. And all of them were for Callie, gifts of variable nature but all of them things she loves. Disney, stuffed animals, dolls. Essentially anything that could make a 4 year old feel like she’s won the lottery. 

She’s literally bouncing on her toes, already with her kids scissors in her hands. 

When the hell did she grab those?

“Can I open them, please? Please?”

A part of you wants to say no, save them for christmas gifts, though you’re almost entirely certain he’ll have another set of gifts for her then. And it seems almost cruel to make her wait over a month when she knows there are presents waiting for her.

“Sure, but….” You scamper into the kitchen and grab your adult size scissors, returning and showing her. “Let mommy cut them, and then you open them.”

You don’t need this child accidentally cutting herself. Again, medical bills are not in the budget, especially around the holidays. Money’s already tight to some extent. 

Not that….not that it’d be much of an issue with Callie. You’d never fix your moth to ask Joe for anything, especially not financially, but if it was something involving your daughter, you’re pretty sure your tune would change. It would still bother you to ask for help, but you know he’d have zero qualms helping you out.

He’d probably pay for it in its entirety.

Your proposition pleases her. “Okay!” She places her scissors on the nearest flat surface and sits down, legs crossed, bouncing impatiently. 

Chuckling, you glide your scissors across, careful not to open anything. You want to save that moment for her and your plan. 

Once done, you place the scissors on the kitchen island and reach for your phone. “Wait before you open, baby.” 

Immediately, she frowns and scowls, “whyyyyyy.”

Rolling your eyes, you sit on the floor too to be at her eye level and open Snapchat. “Okay, now.” 

You hit record and watch intermittently through and outside of the screen as she opens the boxes, smile permanent and excitement palpable. She especially gets excited when she pulls out a freaking box of the new Little Mermaid and all of her sisters. More….dolls. 

“Look, mommy!!!” She then grabs a doll who has a surprisingly similar complexion and curl pattern to hers, holding it against her face. “She looks like me!”  

“She does,” you agree, realizing it’s a customized American Girl doll. Damn. Those things can run up to $200. You weren’t stupid, knowing Joe’s probably spent more money on Callie alone in two weeks than you’ve spent all year, but just how much has he spent?

It’s when she opens the final box, surrounded by nothing but toys and packaging that you’re already dreading having to stuff all this in your trash bin, “what do you say, baby?”

Callie hugs the American Doll close to her chest and directs to the camera, “thank you, Joe!” She gasps and adds on, “I miss you, but mommy said I can call you tonight!”

You hold back your giggle and agree, adding, “after she helps mommy clean up all this.” 

Her smile drops, pout returning, “I hate cleaning.” 

Snickering, you mutter, “you and me too, sis.” 

You end the video, save it and enter Joe’s chat to attach the video, adding a message.

You: You’re spoiling her, Joe. 😫 This is the third delivery this week alone. 

You’re able to clean up some of the packaging and throw it away before your phone chimes with his response. Callie has grabbed the amount you expected her to grab and discard. Her attention span is trash at the moment. She’s a child surrounded by toys. It’s expected. 

Joe: She's my little girl. Of course, I’m gonna spoil her.

Joe: There should be another one by the weekend. If not, let me know.

You sigh aloud, this man is gonna have your place looking like freaking KB Toys.

You: Omg

You: ….You know I live in an APARTMENT, right? Just where the hell am I supposed to put all of this stuff?

It’s sweet he’s so keen on gifting her these things, but he also has to realize you’re not living in a mansion in Malibu. And despite having a child who leaves messes wherever she goes, you do your best to keep your place tidy. 

 If you didn’t know Joe, didn’t see how easily he connected with Callie, you’d maybe accuse him of trying to “buy” her love. But, you know that’s not the case, know that he clearly just wants to make her happy. You just hope he knows that he does that all by himself, no gifts needed. 

Joe: She has a whole playroom.

You: Yes. Playroom, not Toys-R-Us. 

Joe: 🤷🏽‍♂️

You: 🙄 You’re aggravating.

He doesn’t say anything after that, so you decide to finish cleaning because at some point your child wandered off, most likely to her playroom to add all her new stuff with her slightly new stuff. Taking advantage of the alone time, you also decide to text your mom to figure out thanksgiving plans. Specifically, what drink, dessert, and/or condiments she wants you to bring because you damn well know she won’t ask you to cook.

She still hasn’t forgiven you for that accidental fire that one year.

And it’s when you’re sitting on the sofa, also starting to think about black friday plans that your mind wanders, your anxiety grows out of nowhere.

You’ve taken the approach to not have any say in Joe’s relationship with Callie, to intervene only when absolutely necessary. And as that hasn’t hasn’t occurred, you’ve not done so. You let him and her do their thing. But a small part of you wonders if you should put some parameters around Callie. She calls him several times a day, Joe, who spends more time on the road than there are days in the year.

You know he wants to establish a relationship with her, but that can be done with boundaries. Anxiety getting the best of you, you grab your phone and shoot him a text. 

You: Is it okay if she calls you today? I know it’s been a lot, and if too much, just let me know. I’ll talk to her. 

His reply comes almost immediately this time around.

Joe: She can call me 100 times. I don’t care. I wanna talk to her.

And instantly, the anxiety is almost non-existent. Deep down, you know this is what he wants. He wants to have interaction with her, and incessant Facetime calls are the only option with his crazy schedule, so it’s what he takes. It’s what he wants. 

Pleased and no longer stressing over an issue that was never an issue, you lock your phone and place it back at your side. A quick glance at the clock reminds you that it’s almost time for Callie’s bath. 

A couple minutes later, your phone dings with a text notification. From Joe.

You open it right away. 

Joe: This weekend. Don’t tell her. I wanna surprise her. 

You have to read it a couple of times before it registers. He’s coming back in town. This weekend. As in less than two days. You’re excited at this, happy as well. For Callie. But also, for yourself. Why? You haven’t a clue, well, maybe there’s a slight clue, but you don’t want to acknowledge that right now. 

You simply want to focus on the fact that you’re happy your daughter will be happy her dad is town. 

Who cares that you will be too.

________

Joe’s just walked out the bathroom, having showered and almost entirely prepped for bed when his phone rings. 

Moving over to the hotel nightstand, he’s surprised when he sees Callie’s smiling face filling his screen. A glance at the clock in the corner of his phone reads 11:06, which means it’s 9:06 her time. Well past her bedtime. What is she doing up?

Curious, and regardless, he answers the phone. It takes a second for the connection to finalize when it does, he’s instantly smiling, mostly because it’s Callie but also because of her setup.

It’s obvious she’s under a blanket, a flashlight in the corner illuminating the space, a stuffed animal in her lap. 

She’s the first to speak, her voice both loud and hushed in a way only she can do. “hi!”

“Hi, sweetheart.” He can’t help but ask almost immediately, “what are you doing up?” As he told you, he’d talk to her 24/7 if he could. And even though this call is unexpected and appreciated, she’s also a 4-year-old kid who needs her sleep.

Her little shoulders lift in a shrug. “I can’t sleep.”

Nodding, he follows up with, “where’s mommy?” 

“Sleeping,” she answers with a level of disappointment. “I don’t wanna wake her up. She had a bad day.”

“Really?” Joe moves around so he’s laying on the bed, on his side, phone propped on the nightstand. “How do you know?”

“Cause–cause she was yelling at Mr. Amir, and–and he was yelling at her too.”

Joe hasn’t a clue why, but that instantly upsets him. Who the fuck is this Amir person, and who the hell does he think he is to raise his voice at you? Around Callie of all people.

“Who is Mr. Amir?” Joe hates asking her all of these questions, but it’s also hard not to. 

“The basketball coach at the school for big kids.” She’s caressing the fur of the stuffed animal in her lap. “Aunt Mariah said he was mommy’s boyfriend when she was a big kid.”

“Really.” It’s not really a question as much as it is a general statement. Joe doesn’t know why he’s suddenly annoyed, not with Callie, but the entire situation. And definitely this Amir person even more now. He’s an ex. He dated you. It shouldn’t make him feel any type of way, but it does, and he hates that shit. 

He hates a man he’s never even met.

“I don’t like Mr. Amir,” Callie suddenly announces with a scowl. Same, kid. Same. Joe looks at her, seeing so much of you in her right now. He knows you’ve mentioned how you see a lot of him in Callie, but when she’s glowering like this, she’s 100% her mama’s daughter. “He made mommy mad today.”

“Has he ever been mean to you?” Joe has to ask, because he’s also realizing a part of him is upset at the thought of Callie being around men. You’re a grown woman and allowed to do what you want, but bringing men around Callie….that’s an absolute fucking no. 

He doesn’t give a damn if he’s only been in her life for two weeks or two minutes. She’s his daughter, and outside of himself and family, who you date should be kept far away from his daughter.

Joe mentally prepares to have this conversation—potential argument—with you. 

“No,” she answers, slightly calmer. “He doesn’t like Disney.” She says it like it’s a sin, like it’s almost inconceivable for anyone to not like Disney.

Playing along with this, Joe gasps, grateful for the distraction that is Callie’s intricacies. “He sucks.”

“Yeah, he sucks,” she agrees, nodding. Joe has to keep his smile to himself. “Do you say bad words?”

The randomness and topic change take him by surprise, but he’s learning that you weren’t exaggerating when you said Callie was filled with incessant, unrelated questions. “Sometimes.” 

“Mommy does too,” she reveals. “Grandma says Jesus doesn’t want us to say bad words, but I heard grandma call Ms. Beverly from church a bitch.”

At that, Joe can’t help his laughter. Her delivery, the punctuation she puts on the word ‘bitch’, to how she seems to not even process that she’s just said a bad word. It’s hilarious. “Well, sometimes grown ups say things we shouldn’t, and you just make sure you’re not saying things you shouldn’t.” 

“Okay,” she agrees, almost sheepishly. And then, a yawn. “I’m sleepy.” 

Joe knew she was from the moment she called, but he had a feeling she just needed to get the whole Amir thing off her chest. She doesn’t seem like the child who likes to or even can hold things in, which is preferable. “You should try to go to sleep then, sweetheart.”

She wipes at her eyes, expression suddenly saddened. “When are you coming back? You’ve been gone a really long time.”

He’s torn in this moment, wanting to tell her that he’ll be there this weekend but also not wanting to get her hopes up in case something comes up. There’s few things that could come up to keep him from going to see her, wrestling be damned, but still. Life has a way of lifing. So, he goes with the safe yet disappointing answer.

“Soon, I promise.” She’s clearly indifferent to this answer and doesn’t say anything, instead shifts on her bed, moving to lay down. “You should really try to sleep, Callie.”

Eyes starting to blink, clearly her exhaustion catching up with her, she asks, softly, “will you stay with me till I fall asleep?”

Her request tugs at his heartstrings. “Of course, sweetie.” 

Seemingly pleased by this answer, she closes her eyes, and he watches. He stares at this tiny human whose existence he only learned about not even a month ago yet would do anything to make happy. Joe thinks about Callie constantly, finds himself smiling at the thought of some of the Snapchat videos you’d send him of her in all of her randomness. She was so entertaining, so full of life, a genuinely happy kid. His kid. 

And it’s why he’s going to find out more about this Amir guy and why Amir is having any type of interaction with his daughter. 

________

Joe: You should know she called me last night.

You’re in the middle of perusing early Black Friday deals, needing to budget for that now and taking full advantage of Callie being down for a nap. However, you frown, reading his message, not understanding why he’s stating the obvious. You were there when she asked for the iPad and when she returned it after the call was finished.

You: I’m aware….

Joe: No. After that. 

Your eyebrows arch together, confused.  

You: What? when?

Joe: It was 11 my time, so 9 yours.

You gasp, typing away, wondering how the hell she snuck in your room and managed a whole ass Facetime call without you hearing shit. Were you really that damn exhausted?

You: What the hell was she doing up at 9? What did she say?  No wonder she was crabby this morning. 

Joe: She said she couldn’t sleep.

You: A bad dream?

Joe: Naw, said you got into an argument with someone named Amir earlier that day and didn’t want to bother you….I think it was bothering her.

Your stomach twists at that. You had a feeling she’d overheard the incident with Amir, but you prayed that you were wrong. Clearly, you weren’t.

Joe: Who is Amir?

You pause at Joe’s question. Why is he asking this? What business of his is Amir? Irritation washes over you, but is waned by realizing he’s probably asking because of Callie. As her father, he has a right to know if you’re with someone, because for all he knows that someone could be around his daughter. 

You really are trying with this co-parenting thing.

You: A lot of things. A pain in the ass being the most recent one. 

You: We dated in high school and college on and off. He’s the basketball coach at our local high school. 

It’s more information than probably what’s necessary, but there’s this small, conflicting part of you that wants him to know you have no ties to Amir. That there are no feelings there and haven’t been for literal years. 

That you’re not with Amir.

Joe: Are you dating him again? Why were you arguing around Callie?

The interrogating is getting old, but you’re trying to play nice. Coparent peacefully. His delivery is off, but he has valid questions.

Sorta.

You: No. We just….we fuck around from time to time. He tries to make it more than what it is.  Was about that. 

You: I was waiting for her to be released from pre-school, and he picks up his nephew for his sister. It just happened, and I didn’t know/mean for her to hear.

Honestly, you’re more worried and concerned about Callie and how to approach this with her without making her feel like she was in trouble. Yes, she knows damn well she shouldn’t be on the iPad that late at night, but can you really be mad at her for talking to her dad about something that upset her?

Joe: You bring him around her?

You absolutely can be mad though at her dad who’s about to make you cuss him out next too. All of the questions are becoming too much. He gets to be concerned, but he doesn’t get to micromanage and invade. 

Feeling petty and recalcitrant, you type out a reply that you should probably think twice before sending.

But fuck it.

You: No. I only ride his dick at his place. 🙂 

There’s a small ounce of regret for being so crude, but not a whole lot. He knows how you are, or he should, at least.

To some extent.

But your phone rings again, and you find yourself staring mouth agape at his reply.

Joe: You may ride his dick, but you had my kid. Clearly, only one of us knows how to please you. 

Your face is burning hot, and you hate how you shift in your seat. Why the fuck would he say that? You want to say it’s inappropriate, but you also opened this door. 

Is he entirely wrong?

Slapping away that wild ass thought, you focus on the real conversation at hand here. It takes a couple of rewrites before you ultimately decide to change the subject. 

You: I’ve never bought any man around her and never will that’s not you, if that’s what you’re asking. 

You’re grateful to see he’s also agreeing to change the subject.

Joe: It is. Thank you.

Rolling your eyes, you send a text back, getting back to being annoyed at his 21 Questions. This is a two-way street, and since he’s opened this door, why not?

You: You know that goes both ways though. I don’t want her around any bitches.

Joe: Seriously? 

Joe: There’s no one for me to bring her around. 

You…..you don’t know how to feel about that, don’t know how to feel about the bit of relief you feel at this message. Why should you feel relieved? Even if there was, that’s his business, and he’s allowed to….do whatever it is that he does.

It reminds you and brings you to your next topic. 

You: What about your wife? We need to figure that out as well. She’s eventually going to need to know about Calista and will probably be around her at some point. I get she’s your wife, but I’m Callie’s mother, I need to be there whenever you wanna introduce Callie. I need to be involved in that process as well.

He doesn’t reply. 

________

Joe doesn’t really get mad. 

Not often at least and definitely not outwardly. 

It’s always been his thing to never let anyone have access to that “button” that triggers his anger, and for the most part, it works well. 

Except for when it comes to you.

You’ve always been able to trigger many things for him, anger being one of them.

He knows he should have spoken to you in person about the situation, or even over the phone. But with the craziness of his schedule and differing time zones, he just decided to message you, and while it didn’t go horribly, it didn’t go great. He knows you’re annoyed with him.

Hence your crudity. 

Joe also refuses to admit that the thought of you fucking this kid pisses him the fuck off, even though you’re not together, even though he has no right to be upset. 

But goddamn that doesn’t make him any less upset or annoyed at the thought of someone else touching you.

“Uce?” Jon asks, standing at the door before inventing himself in Joe’s locker room for this week’s Smackdown. “You ready to talk man?”

At that, Joe looks confused. “Talk about what?”

“Whatever it is that got you all worked up.” The twins have always been very perceptive, even back when they were all kids. Joe might be good at hiding his frustration from others but not them. The difference between Jon and Josh though has always been Josh has the wherewithal to not say anything. 

Jon hasn’t caught on to that just yet. 

“I’m fine,” Joe dismisses, hoping it’s enough to dead the conversation, even though he knows better. 

“Lie detector determined that was a goddamn lie.” Jon can be pushy, but he means well, and truthfully, Joe doesn’t have a strong desire to outright shut down this conversation. A different perspective is always beneficial. 

Usually. 

So, he explains it all, starting with his call with Callie and ending with the text exchange between him and you.

“I see,” Jon nods, clearly absorbing all of this information. Finally, he concludes, “so you’re jealous.”

That’s the first thing to evoke a genuine laugh out of Joe since his exchange with Y/N. “I’m not jealous.”

“And I’m not a twin,” Jon dismisses. “Look, Uce, it’s obvious you still got feelings for ole girl. You ask me, I don’t think you ever got over her—”

“I didn’t ask you.” 

“--Now you sitting up here annoyed cause she fucking Coach Carter nephew instead of doing something about it.” Joe rolls his eyes. “I mean have you even told her about you and J—”

“No,” he interrupts, swiftly. “Not yet, at least.”

Nodding, Jon speaks again after a minute of silence. “All I’m saying is ya’ll got the history, got the connection, got the kid too! Don’t see why you need to be letting Jesus Shuttlesworth steal your girl.”

At that, Joe chuckles. One thing his cousins will always be good for, especially Jon, is comedic relief. Even some sound advice from time to time.

“Thanks.”

Joe is, surprisingly, thankful for the equally surprising advice from his cousin. He’s not entirely sure if he’s really jealous or just overreacting for a reason he hasn’t quite uncovered, but he is starting to lean more on the side of he does still have some level of feelings for Y/N. 

It’s not a complete shock. He had a feeling when he reacted so strongly to just seeing your picture. It was the whole Callie situation and finding out how you kept her from him that made his vision murky. 

But, as his relationship with her strengthens, the clearer he can see. 

The clearer his feelings are becoming. Now. it’s just a matter of figuring out what to do with said feelings.

And find out where you stand as well. 

Joe remains quiet, thinking more and more how this might end up being an eventful trip.

[theswiftieapple]

Hey I saw you do request and I was wondering if you could do a Phoebe x fem!reader and reader is a new member of the ghostbusters and Phoebe is the one training her

You have a pretty smile

Phoebe Spengler x she/her reader

Phoebe and reader's age; 17

Word count; 6447

Warning; some swearing, I haven't written any fanfiction since 2019 so my writing is rusty and english isn't my mother language.

I hope you like it. :)

Narrator’s POV;

The car ride to the Paranormal Research Center was one filled with excited chatter. Lucky was the one driving y/n, a new member of the Ghostbusters, to meet her new partners in crime. Lucky was the one to introduce y/n to Winston, they met when y/n moved with her family to the USA. Lucky was the one to help Y/n with a heavy box when she was moving in and they started talking. They decided to keep hanging out and Lucky thought y/n's personality would fit them great and she showed great interest in the paranormal. Winston at the time was already on the lookout for a new member, four may be the original number of the Ghostbusters but it's better to have too many than too few. 

Lucky introduced them and Winston got to know y/n, he could tell she had the potential and agreed. That’s how y/n got into this situation, walking to the  Paranormal Research Center, fiddling with her fingers, incredibly nervous. From what she heard the other members were nice people but that wouldn't stop the anxiety.

Lucky glanced at her friend sensing her fear, she put a hand on her shoulder to stop her from walking, the door only a few steps away. “Hey, don’t worry about this too much. You’ll do great and they’ll love you! If something does happen you can always come to me and Winston.”

Y/n turned to look at Lucky as she talked, some of her fear disappearing for a short moment. “We’ll stay friends right?” Lucky smiled reassuringly “Of course, would a hug help?” Y/N nodded to the question receiving a tight hug in return. They pulled apart and y/n sighed deeply turning to the door “Let's get the first meeting over with then” Playing confident she walked to the door, Lucky cheered and clapped her back, then she put her card near the scanner to open the large doors. 

—

“What do you mean by a new member?” Callie asked, confused. “Wait, does that mean one of us is getting fired?” Trevor asked worriedly.

“If so it’s probably you,” Phoebe said seriously, she was of course joking but her brother didn't know that. The little joke didn't calm Trevor who opened his mouth to protest but was cut off by Winston. 

“We have been looking for a new member for the Ghostbusters for months now, there are a few reasons why we wanted to expand the team. There are still many ghosts we need to re-catch even two years after they were all released again thanks to Garraka, another member would be able to help with that. I also think a new member would inject fresh energy and ideas. Someone with a different and new background would give us a new perspective on problems and help us solve things quicker. I genuinely do believe this could help the team.” he explained calmly, he seemed quite happy with his decision.

“Why didn’t you maybe warn us beforehand?” Gary asked, baffled at the information they had been kept in the dark from for months. “Well I didn't want to create any false hope, I wanted us to be sure that we found someone new that none of you know.”

“When are we meeting them?” Phoebe asked curious, there was a small part of her that was worried that the new member could betray them. She shuffled at the thought of Melody, she still has some trouble trusting new people. 

Footsteps were heard approaching the main doors including a small beep indicating someone was about to come in.

“Right now” Winston smiled as he turned to the door.

“Wait what” Trevor asked bewildered as he and his family turned to the door.

Lucky walked into the lab with a pretty girl next to her. Phoebe's eyes widened at the realization of what she just thought. 

“This is y/n! Y/n this is your new team” Phoebe's eyes stayed focused on her new team member as Winstron introduced them. “y/n this is Callie'' Callie smiled at Y/n shaking her hand gently. “This is Gary” Gary shot her a smile as well shaking her hand. “This is Trevor, Callies son,” 

“I’m the cool one of the group,” Trevor explained, shaking her hand while smiling proudly. 

Phoebe’s POV

“And this is Phoebe, Callies daughter”  My eyes met hers as we shook hands. I forgot for a second that we weren’t alone, so I let go and sent her an awkward smile, my hand still tingling from the feeling. Why am I feeling like this? Did I just call her pretty in my head? Why is my hand tingling like this?

I was so busy with these thoughts and observing the newcomer that I didn’t notice the glances my brother shared with Lucky, scheming glances.

“She’s new to this, so she is going to need someone to train her and I was hoping one of you could do it” Winston explained, “Phoebe could do it.” My head snapped to look at my brother, giving him a ‘what the fuck’ look. “Phoebe is the smartest one in our team” I could hear Dad whisper a small ouch, “she's the one who's been using our equipment the longest and they’re close in age! How old are you?” He asked y/n, “I’m seventeen-” She was cut off by Trevor clapping his hands, “perfect! What do you think sis?” Trevor teased, ignoring my glare as he put his arm on my shoulder. 

“I-uhm sure” I answered nervously, “Well that’s great then! She is going to be living with you, my men are already cleaning the empty room and assembling the furniture as we speak”

“What empty room?” Mom asked surprised, “There’s no empty room in the firehouse”, I could see y/n being confused like the rest of us except for Lucky and Winston. “The room behind the bookshelf next to Tevor and Phoebe's room of course”

“There’s been an empty room behind one of our bookshelves and you didn't tell us?” 

Winston shrugged at my dad, “I thought you all knew but didn’t use it” He said simply.

“What’s next, a second bathroom?” Trevor jokes, and the glance shared between Lucky and Winston speaks volumes. “ You’re kidding”

“Well then, that’s that, as I said my men are working right now and they should be done very soon. Y/n’s uniform and an extra proton pack and all the other things are being sorted as we speak. I’m just going to have a small talk with Callie and Gary about some things, you guys could get acquainted with each other during that time.” Winston signals my parents to follow him to another room.

Y/n POV;

“It’s an honour to finally meet you guys, I’ve heard a lot of fantastic things about you,” I tell them, the nerves still haven’t disappeared and neither has the excitement. I’m worried they won’t like me, I could feel Phoebe? I think her name was glancing at me. I have to admit she is quite attractive and cute. 

I feel warmth on my cheeks as I keep thinking about her. I can’t think like that about her right now, I just met her. Plus she’s going to be my teammate and that could complicate things. I’ll have to ignore this small..crush, if I can call it that, for now. 

“Thank you, I’m sure we’re going to have lots of fun together,” Trevor said with a small smirk on his face as he put his arm around me. I didn’t notice the teasing smirk he sent his sister or the glare she sent back. “So there is something I have to warn you about,” He said as he and Lucky led me to the famous Ectomobile with Phoebe following behind. “About what?” I ask, worried.

“It’s about a ghost called Slimer, he lives with us”

“What.” I state giving him a serious and worried look as we enter the car.

—

“I think I’ll stay clear of the attic then,” I say as we exit the car. The conversation did drift a lot in the car, I didn’t mind too much since it was nice observing and learning more about them. They all talked except for Phoebe who kept quiet for most of the ride. I could feel her glance at me a few times, she was clearly in thought the whole ride.

“Yeah that’s probably the smarter decision, you should have seen Trevor when he met Slimmer for the first time” Callie teased ruffling her son's hair.

“Mom!” 

“Well then as nice as it is talking with all of you, I am going to have to steal y/n here, I’m going to be the one helping her decorate and sort out her room. If you’ll excuse us” Lucky said, sending them a smile before dragging me away to my new room.

Narrator’s POV;

“What’s up with you?” 

Phoebe turned to look at her mom, acting oblivious. “What do you mean?” Callie came closer wearing a teasing look. “I mean that you’ve been very quiet since we met our new member, lost in thought.”

“And lost in her eyes” Trevor teased as he walked away snickering, Phoebe grabbed a random towel and threw it at him, hitting him in the back, and he scurried off after that. 

“Well your brother isn't completely wrong, everything okay?” Callie asked, her worry present in her eyes. Phoebe stared at her shoes, for a moment, “I’m alright, don’t worry about it Mom” She left with that, lost in her thoughts.

—

“So, you and Phoebe” Lucky started as she opened a box full of different books. “Don’t start” y/n warns, Lucky turns to her friend with a knowing look. 

“I have a very strong feeling you have a small crush on her.” 

“I don’t”

Lucky made a sound of disagreement while making a face, “Maybe not yet, but you feel something, I can tell” she sang the last part, dodging a small pencil case, her smirk not faltering.

“I know your type, remember you told me” 

“Yeah because we made a deal that you would tell me who you like in return, and that someone is in this building as we speak.” y/n teased back. Lucky opened her mouth to try and form words, her cheeks having a red hue to them. “This isn’t about me and that someone-”

“Trevor you mean”

Y/n snorted at the look she received. “As I was saying, this is about you and Phoebe and the small crush that's going to grow stronger with time, she is quite literally what you described your type to me, short hair, fluffy or curly, glasses, a nerd-”

“Yeah, I get it” Y/n grumbles as she puts her bed lining on, “can you help me with this?” She raises the comforter pleadingly. Lucky stands up and helps her even it out. “I just don't want to label these feelings since we just met, besides the chances of her liking me isn’t zero but it’s also unlikely right now”

Lucky put a hand on her friend's shoulder comfortingly, “As your friend it's my job to remind you that there is a good chance she may like you back” Y/n played with one of her pillows thoughtfully. “I don’t want to rush anything, maybe she will and maybe she won’t but thank you”Lucky smiled back at her friend, “Now where do you want me to put these CDs” 

Y/n smiled and showed her friend. 

—

Y/n’s POV;

Dinner went nicely, I mostly listened as the family shared a few recent stories about the ghosts they’ve captured lately. Phoebe was quiet through most of it. I could tell the way she was behaving wasn't normal, I noticed thanks to the small looks her family were giving her. 

I got comfortable in bed and stared outside the window, it was pouring. I hope I didn’t upset her with being here, if I did I could see why. I am a total stranger that just appeared today, she was then told I would live with her and her family at the same time. It’s a lot of new information and a lot of new changes. 

I turned on a show on my phone to fall asleep too. I lost consciousness In a matter of a few minutes, hoping tomorrow would go well.

—

I woke up to soft knocking, I turned around to look at the door, squinting to see who it was. “Good morning, breakfast is going to be ready in half an hour, I wanted to make sure you were awake.” I sent Gary a smile and muttered a small thank you and with that, he disappeared.

I sat up and stared at my lap thoughtfully. Today was my first official day as a Ghostbuster or at least a Ghostbuster in training. 

Phoebe was going to be the one training me, I’m already dreading the weight of the proton pack. With those thoughts I stand up and get ready for the day, dressing in something comfortable and doing my hair.

I walk out of my room and glance at the firefighter pole, it’s too early in the morning for that and I’m not in the mood to land in the hospital on my first day so I walk down the stairs. I was met with the sight of Gary cooking and Trevor stealing some of the fruit when he wasn't looking. 

“Good morning,” I say and sit down on one of the chairs at the kitchen island. “Good morning!” Gary smiled as he flipped a pancake, “Morning!” Trevor said with a mouth full of strawberries. “So how are you feeling about your first day?” Gary asked, trying to start a conversation.

“I’m a bit nervous, I’ve never done anything like this before but I am excited,” I explained fiddling with my fingers. “You’ll do great I’m sure! With Phoebe as your teacher, it’ll all go great.” 

I smiled and whispered a small thank you. “Do you need any help?” I ask, ready to stand up. “Nah, I’ve got this but thank you” Gary told me as he put the pan away, I could see him playfully swap Trevor's hand away from the cut fruit. 

“Where’s Phoebe?” Trevor asked, sitting next to me, he put his fist underneath his chin. “She woke up early, she’s visiting Podcast and Dr Ray, she had something to discuss with them. I don’t know what it is though” Gary explained as he put plates in front of me and Trevor, I took a sip out of the glass in front of me.

“So what do you guys usually do when there isn’t a ghost to bust?” I asked as I put some toppings on my pancake. 

—

Phoebe’s POV;

I opened the door to Dr Ray’s shop, “Morning Dr Ray” I said as I entered, he looked up at me surprised. “Morning Phoebe, you’re here earlier than usual”

“I wanted to talk with Podcast about something, is he here or?”

“I’m right here!” He said, his head poking out from the door behind Dr Ray, “ I'll see you later then” Dr Ray smiles and continues to read a book. I go in and walk after Podcast, “So what’s up?”

“There’s a new ghostbuster on the team” I blurted out. He stops in his tracks and turns to look at me. “There’s a new ghostbuster?” He asked excitedly, “Is that bad or?” He raised an eyebrow noticing my attitude.

I leaned against his desk before I continued speaking “It’s not bad, she seems...nice” I started, he did a hand signal telling me to continue “I’m the one who's going to be training her and well” I stopped talking not knowing how to continue. Podcast gave me a look.

“What?”

“You’re acting weird, does the idea of training her bother you or?” 

I shake my head “No, it doesn’t, I just feel..nervous” 

Podcast flings one of the Pufts that was bothering him as I speak before he responds “Why are you nervous? Are you worried she might betray us and release a great evil that we’re going to have to defeat?” He asks, I give him a deadpan look. “Listen if you are worried about that, that would be okay. I’m just trying to understand what the problem is here.” He reasons, sending me a concerned look.

I put a hand in my hair, messing with it. “That’s the problem, I don’t even know what's bothering me about this situation exactly. I met her yesterday and she’s staying with us now as well. She does seem nice, Winston and Lucky recruited her, I know they have good instincts but” I sigh deeply grimacing. “I don’t know, there’s some weird feeling in me and I’m worried about what it could be and what it could turn into.”

“You’re scared that you like her?” Podcasts asks bluntly, “I just met her, there’s no way I have feelings already.'' I protest, “But, the way I’m feeling right now, is similar to how I felt when meeting Melody, but it's also different. I don’t understand it and I hate not understanding things.”

There was silence for a moment until Podcast spoke, “Well I don’t think you’ll understand what that feeling is for a good while. You two just met, there could be special feelings involved but you won’t know for sure for a while. I suggest just letting those feelings take their course.”

“Why didn’t I think of that,” I say out loud, Podcast patted my shoulder “That’s what I’m here for, being the voice of reason”

—

I walked into the firehouse after having a long talk with Podcast. I still don’t like the idea of unknown feelings and I am worried about feeling something for someone again but there isn’t anything I can do about it. 

“Uno!” A collecting group of groaning was heard alongside a laugh. 

I walk into the room to see My family playing Uno with y/n and Lucky. “How do you win so much, this is the fifth time” Trevor whined, putting his head on the table. “Magic” y/n says jokingly doing jazz hands, “I have two other card games that I think you’d like” 

“Do you have ‘Frantic’ with you?” Lucky asked, but before she could answer the alarm went off, signalling there was a ghost loose causing havoc. “Hey Phoebs! Let’s go!”Mom said as she rushed off, Gary and Trevor following, “Hey y/n, we can start with the training when I get back” I called out to her, “Lucky and you could meet me at the Research Center after we bust this ghost” I say awkwardly shooting her some finger guns before turning around and walking away quickly, hoping the heat that I feel on my cheeks wasn’t what I thought it was and if it is then that they didn't notice.

Narrator’s POV;

Lucky and y/n cleaned up after themselves soon after and drove to the Paranormal Research Center. Y/n went to a changing room to put on her uniform. She walked out nervous, “Does it look okay?” She asked, Lucky turned around and gasped, “You look amazing!! Do a spin!” She asked excitedly while clapping. Y/n did as asked. 

“It suits you perfectly!” She said hugging her friend. “Thank you, you’re too nice”  Lucky pulled away, “I bet when Phoebe sees you in it, her jaw will drop” Y/n rolled her eyes playfully “We’ll see about that. So while we wait why don't you update me on that new ghost you’ve been studying on” 

Lucky’s smile widened, excited to share her new discoveries, she grabbed y/n’s wrist and dragged her to her working station.

Phoebe walked into the lab an hour later, fixing her hair from all the wind. She could see Lucky explaining something while y/n listened patiently, wearing her Ghostbusters uniform. Phoebe had to force herself to not stare for too long, so she walked up to the two of them. “And that’s why we had to make sure those two weren’t next to each other, I swear I couldn't focus properly the whole time” 

“Hey there, sorry to interrupt your conversation, but are you ready for your first training session?” Phoebe asks, standing in front of them.“Yeah, I am! We’ll continue with our talk later” Y/n told Lucky before turning to Phoebe again who led her to the small training room. “The uniform suits you, not many can pull it off”

Y/n turned to look at Phoebe surprised, a small blush on her cheeks, “thank you, you look great in it too” she says, hoping that wasn’t too straightforward. “So, Winston said you have no prior experience”

Y/n nodded, “I have never used any of this equipment, correct.”

Phoebe crossed her arms nodding, “alright then, first thing first is to put the proton pack on, you can put it on normally like a backpack.” Y/n did as told, she let out a little grunt at the weight.” I knew they would be heavy but wow, now what next?” she asked excitedly.

“You hold this part, the particle thrower, you can also call it a particle gun” The new member did as told before looking at Phoebe again nodding. “Wait, can I show you something?” Phoebe asked, she got a nod as a response. 

She stepped closer, only centimetres apart as she helped y/n hold it properly, putting her hands where they are supposed to be. “ See that ghost up there,” Phoebe asked, focusing on the task at hand, trying to ignore her own bubbling feelings. She was so busy that missed y/n staring at her face, a blush forming. “Yeah i-uh do” y/n responds, trying to focus as well.

She’s holding a dangerous weapon, she’s seen what they could do online, she needs to focus, she tells herself.  “Okay, I’m going to help you with this one and show you how to turn it on. Are you ready?” Phoebe asked, glancing at her, “Yes I am.”

“Okay you switch it on like this” Phoebe explained as she turned it on with y/n, “when you’re ready to shoot you press this button right here, on the count of three, ready?

Y/n took a deep breath in before answering “Ready”

“1” Phoebe starts, glancing at y/n.

“2,” She says tightening her grip, y/n tries to steady her breathing.

“3”

With that they shot at the ghost made out of wood, It falling apart in two. Y/n’s jaw dropped, “That’s how you’re going to practise, the actual thing takes longer and needs more strength but our priority is to perfect your aim for now, the charged particle accelerator is a weapon of science that can cause a lot of damage if used incorrectly and without proper practice.”

“First of all that was awesome” Y/n stated with a wide smile on her face, “two, I’ve heard of all of that, Lucky told me about some of your bigger damages. It’s impressive how something so dangerous can be something that helps so many people'' Y/n rambles, observing the damage with interest. While she was distracted Phoebe looked at all her features close up. She could feel her cheeks turning red from all the close proximity. She slowly pulled away crossing her arms, not knowing how to act.

“Well whenever you’re ready, you can start practising, I’ll be here the whole time, so if you need any help just tell me” Phoebe said while rubbing the back of her neck. Y/n nodded as another ghost came down, Phoebe didn't stray far, staying a few steps away just in case. 

Y/n took a deep breath before shooting, hitting the wooden ghost on the side, she stumbled backwards, and Phoebe caught her in time, holding the particle thrower with her. “Okay that was your first time on your own and it went better than expected.”

“Better than expected?” Y/n asked embarrassed, “Yeah, you’re doing okay, try again, I’ll stay closer to catch you if that happens again okay?” 

Outside of the training room, Lucky was observing their interactions with a small scheming smirk. “What are you smirking at?” Lars asked as he opened the spirit extractor, taking a spirit-free plushie out of it.

“No reason,” Lucky answered, ignoring the eyebrow raise of Lars, he shook his head and walked away to continue working. 

The training went on until 5 pm, y/n was exhausted after all the trying, her arms sore, but it was all worth it, the thought of capturing ghosts excited her. Phoebe opened the door of the training room letting her out first, y/n nodded and muttered a small thank you as she walked out. “Keep this up and I think you’ll be ready to go out with me- “ she cut herself off quickly, trying to correct herself “I mean go out with us on missions soon.” 

She tried not to look at y/n's face, she didn’t want to make it any more awkward.

As they were walking to the main doors, saying their goodbyes to the other workers, Lars called out “Y/n!”

The said person turned around to look at the scientist, “Lucky asked me to tell you that she’s going to come to visit and help out more with your room around 6 pm”

“Thank you, have a nice night!” 

Phoebe bit her lip for a second before continuing with their walk, Gary was picking them up today. She looked at Y/n who was walking beside her. Did..she and Lucky maybe have something going on? She turned around quickly when she met eyes with y/n.

“I hope not,” Phoebe whispers to herself, “What did you say?” Y/n asked curious, Phoebe straightened her back, she opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out. Luckily for her, Gary appeared with the Ectomobile, saving her for now.

“Hey there you two! Are you ready to go home?” He asked with a wide smile.

They both got in the car and put their seatbelts on, the car ride back was quiet, the only background noise being the music playing on the radio.

The evening wasn't much different than last night, Phoebe disappeared to her room and didn’t come out until morning, leaving y/n slightly confused and worried.

—

Phoebe sat on one of the chairs at the kitchen island, drinking some coffee while tapping her pencil on the island, thinking, trying to calm down. The idea of having to be so close to y/n made her giddy and scared her at the same time. 

She was worried she would make it awkward like last night if Gary didn’t appear when he did…

She sighed, putting her pencil and coffee down, putting her head in her hands, staring at the open notebook, full of scribbles, she couldn’t focus on her work. Her head was filled with images of last night, her heartbeat picking up remembering how close she was to y/n. She couldn’t lie, she missed the warmth of her hands underneath hers, they were soft. She let her mind wander, imagining how they would feel properly holding her hands.

“Phoebe, are you doing okay?”

Her hands slammed on the table making the coffee spill by accident, she turned to look at the newcomer. “Oh, hi,” Phoebe said brushing imaginary dust off of her shirt” Hi” she leaned on the island crossing her arms, sending y/n an awkward smile. “Hi”

In her head, Phoebe was cursing herself out, ‘three hi’s??’

Y/n glanced at the spilt coffee and then back to Phoebe, with a questioning look, before she could repeat the question, she got an answer.  “I’m doing okay, alright, doing great.” Phoebe cringed at her repetitive awner, Y/n walked closer, her face not changing. Phoebe put a hand underneath her chin, trying to act normal. “Are you sure about that? I called your name three times and you didn’t notice” 

“I was thinking,” she answered quickly. 

“May I ask what you were thinking about?”

“Science.”

Y/n blinked, staring at Phoebe, waiting for her to continue while Phoebe avoided her eyes at all costs. Deciding to change the subject, she pointed at the spilt coffee, “Do you maybe need help cleaning that or?”

Phoebe glanced at the spilt coffee before standing up and getting some paper towels to clean it up. “Right, right, you’re right”

“Alright then, I’ll go and..do a thing” Y/n said walking backwards before turning around to get ready for the day. “Oh good morning Trevor” and with that she disappeared up the stairs.

Phoebe cursed under her breath, “How much of that did you hear?”

“Oh you mean how much did I hear of your nervous rambling? Pretty much all of it” Trevor says casually, walking closer. “So, you and” he points his fingers behind him. “Ya know”

“There’s nothing going on” Phoebe defends throwing the paper towels away. “Nothing at all?”

“Nothing at all”

“Not even a smalllll thing” He pries, making his pointer finger and thumb almost touch. “Not even a small thing” Phoebe shrugs nonchalantly. Trevor nods, letting the silence settle before asking another question. “So, what science thing were you thinking about?”

Phoebe leans on the now clean island again trying to find the words, she sighed “I wasn’t actually thinking about science,”

“Then what?” Trevor interrupted. Phoebe sent him a glare before continuing “I was just thinking about all the things I could teach her today.”

“Y/n you mean?”

Phoebe nodded in response.

“Were you thinking about how close you’re going to be again today?” Trevor questions while picking out an apple from the bowl. Phoebe stood up straight but before she could retort, Trevor interrupted her “Lucky told me all about how close you were yesterday.” He informed Phoebe with a smirk on his face.

Steps were heard coming down the stairs, “We’ll continue this after your little date today” Trevor whispered. “Training” Phoebe corrected.

“Good Morning” Callie greeted, walking over to the coffee machine. “I need to get ready for the day,” Phoebe says, grabbing her pencil and notebook and heading off to her room. 

“Did I miss something?” Callie asked her son, pouring herself a coffee in her favourite mug. “Not much” Trevor shrugged, taking a bite out of his apple. 

—

The following days were filled with not only bettering y/n’s aim but awkward moments as well, or that’s what Phoebe thought, y/n thought her awkwardness was adorable. Phoebe also learned that Lucky, the traitor, was feeding her brother information daily about her and y/n’s interactions. Specifically the more ‘embarrassing’ ones. 

Phoebe crossed her arms thinking, watching y/n put away the proton pack, “I think you’re ready to train with real ghosts”

Y/n turned around “real ghosts?”

“Real ghosts,” Phoebe repeated.

A wide smile appeared on y/n’s face, excitement prominent on her face. 

The next day they were driven out to an open area. Trevor and Lucky stayed back in the car while they walked out. “The reason I want you to train with real ghosts before going on missions is so that you’ve trained with more than just a painted ghost made out of wood, some real experience. If anything happens I’ll be right here”

“I brought a few of the traps, they have different ghosts, you'll do one at a time of course. You’ll be the one busting it and I’ll be the one trapping it.” She explained as she put a trap on the ground, putting the foot pedal where they’ll be standing. “Are you ready?”

Y/n nodded confidently, raising the particle thrower, and turning it on.

In the blink of an eye, the ghost trap opened, and a big orange ghost appeared. Y/n cringed slightly at the look of it. When it noticed her she shot right at it, hitting it. She grimaced at the strength that was needed, it’s not as hard as she imagined but it’s not easy either. “Keep going, I'll wait a moment before trapping it, it usually takes a while for us to trap it after we caught it”

No response came back, y/n tried to focus on the ghost, and after a few seconds, the ghost was sucked into the trap.

“Good Job!” Phoebe sent a smile as she picked up the trap, “Oh my arms are going to be so sore tomorrow” y/n groaned.

“That’s the point of training, to improve your skills.” Phoebe reminds, “Oh really? I thought the point of all of this was to torture me” Y/n jokes, panting from what she just had to do. “I'll call it torture and you can call it training. Deal?

Y/n reached out to shake hands, Phoebe glanced at her hand before shaking it. “Alright then, deal.”

“Now this ghost is bigger, you ready?” Phoebe asked, putting a second trap down. 

“Ready.” The sound of the proton pack turning on again was heard. A giant ghost appeared. Y/n immediately shot at it, gritting her teeth as she held it back.

“So, a photon is checking into a hotel” Phoebe starts speaking, y/n turns her head to look at her confused. She let out a small yelp as the ghost pulled harder, luckily for her it didn't break free.

“What-”

“Keep going,” Phoebe tells her, “I’ll start again, a photon is checking into a hotel”

Y/n looked back at the ghost, it was a feisty one. “So the bellhop asks, ‘Do you need help with your luggage?’”

Y/n sighed deeply, focusing on the ghost, she shot Phoebe a few glances, ‘Is..she telling a joke right now??’ “Towards that, the photon responds ‘No thanks, I’m travelling light’” She winks at Y/n.

It was silent for a moment until a snort was heard, “alright that one was good” She says snickering, “Please catch it now my arms are hurting” Phoebe did as told, it being sucked into the trap. The sound of the proton pack turning off was heard, and she sighed in relief. “It’s one of my favourite jokes,”  she explains picking up the trap. “I can see why, it's good, but why were you telling me jokes right now? Not that I mind.”

“When we’re on missions, there’s always chatter happening between us, maybe some bystanders, and I wanted to test if you could focus while being told a great joke.”

“So does this mean you’ll keep telling jokes during training?” Y/n asks, stretching her head. “Would you consider that a bad thing?” 

Y/n looks at Phoebe, who is picking out a new trap, “I don’t think it's a bad thing, I like jokes and puns” she explains, she could feel a warmth creeping up her neck as she admired Phoebe underneath the sunlight. A small smile formed.

‘she’s so pretty’

“Well it’s good you don’t mind since I have many more” Phoebe says preparing for another ghost. Y/n looked away when Phoebe walked over. “Good to hear” 

—

“How long do you think it’ll take until they start dating?” Trevor thought for a second before answering Lucky, ”eight maybe nine months max”

“I give it..three weeks, ”

“That’s quick”

“Look at them” Lucky points at the two outside of the car, training. Y/n was laughing after a joke Phoebe made, Phoebe stared at her with a smile, saying something they couldn’t hear from inside the car, but it had to be something funny considering the laughing wasn't stopping. “I bet you five bucks Phoebes using her jokes and unknowingly winning y/n over.”

“Five bucks?” Trevor asked, raising an eyebrow, “What? Five bucks is a lot in this economy” Lucky shrugged before putting a chip in her mouth.

—

“I think you’re ready to go on your first mission” Phoebe says, breaking the silence while they put away their gear. 

“Really?” Y/n asks excitedly, “Yeah, you did very well.” Phoebe smiles softly, “Plus you think my jokes are funny, if you’re with us then it won't be just Gary laughing at them”

“Ah so my sucking up worked” Y/n jokes, “I don’t think that’s what happened, you seemed genuinely happy and were laughing quite a lot,” Phoebe tells her, leaning on the locker. “I am an amazing actor” Y/n explains, Phoebe leans closer so they're face to face, inches away from each other. “Oh no person is that good of an actor, you even turned red from laughing, come on admit it, my jokes are hilarious”

Y/n tried to act casual, a small part of her was happy that Phoebe didn't realise she was blushing because of her back there as well. Y/n hums, pretending to think, before answering “They were alright”

Phoebe raised an eyebrow making y/n put a hand on her mouth to not let a giggle out, “They were alright?”, Phoebe got a nod in return, “you’re lying” Phoebe reasons, “I’m not”

“You are”

“No”

“If you aren’t lying, then there shouldn’t be a smile behind that hand” 

Y/N shakes her head, “Come on, remove it” Phoebe teases, she gets another shake of the head as a response, she could see y/n shaking slightly from holding in laughs. “Come on, let me see” Phoebe asks, grabbing Y/ns wrist softly, removing her hand to reveal a wide smile. “So you agree I’m funny.”

“Okay maybe you are” Y/n shrugs, just then realising how close their faces were to each other, her breath hitched, her eyes drifting to Phoebe’s lips for a second before returning to look into her eyes. Her wrist, where Phoebe was holding her felt warm, she resisted the urge to properly hold her hand. “You have a pretty smile” Phoebe whispered, lost in thought. ”It’s all thanks to you, being around you makes me happy” Y/n whispered back. 

The only thing they could hear was the sounds of each other's breathing and their own heartbeats. They leaned it close, eyes trained on each other, lips almost touching but before anything could happen they heard the Ectomobile from outside. They pulled away quickly, realising what they almost did blushing.

Callie walked in backwards helping Gary park the Ectomobil. “Oh hey there, how was training?” Callie asked, curious. “It went great,” Phoebe answers, clearing her throat. Callie glanced between them both, noticing the tension, both of them were blushing, Phoebe rubbing the back of her neck and Y/n had her arms crossed, refusing to look at each other. Callie made an ‘oh’ face, realising what might have been happening before they came home.

“I have to go” Y/n says quickly, “so do I” Phoebe responds, they both try to go in the same direction, but they both stop before Y/n ushered Phoebe to go first, walking after her. “Lucky just might win that bet,” Trevor states, him and Gary entering as well. “What bet?” Callie questioned.

“Uhhh nothing” Trevor shrugs walking up to the apartment as well.

Part 2

[dr-spectre]

hello!

I've seen your hypnoshades callie stuff alot on my feed, and I just kinda had a question for ya.

if the hypnoshades were, indeed, a metaphor for drug abuse by celebrities...would that not make Octavio an enabler, as he allowed Callie to utilise the hypnoshades (and most likely aided in the creation of them) ??

(this does not make Octavio a totally irredeemable bad person, at least not in my opinion. Perhaps it's the only way he knows that he can help Callie, maybe . It's just something that I've noticed that's never really been brought up in the other stuff that you've written).

Okay.... here's the thing about the hypnoshades. it's pretty obvious that Splatoon 2 in someway was rushed and that includes the story mode. It came out 2 years after Splatoon 1 and it launched with not a lot of content. Unlike something like Octo Expansion or ROTM where there is lots of explanations on things and how things work, in Splatoon 2 there isn't that and it's incredibly rushed. We don't fully know the circumstances of what happened to Callie and how Octavio gave her the shades, all we know is that Callie was like "ok fine I'll hear you out" and joined the Octarians cause of reasons I've said a trillion times lmao.

Octavio for sure did some bad shit let's not kid ourselves. He is the antagonist and he's not gonna be all sunshine and rainbows. In some way yeah he enabled Callie to use the shades and therefore she ended up getting addicted to them. Her rematch dialogue in other languages shows that Callie is attached to the shades and is a bad coping mechanism for her because well... She's still doing the acting gig and it's still hurting her.

Heck even Marie in the Russian translation says "why are you so attached to those stupid glasses? Callie, those glasses are only getting in your way!"

However this addiction is actually kinda treated like a joke and makes Callie seem more like an idiot and that.... pisses me the fuck off to no end. I get that Splatoon is silly but this is just near character assassination to me tbh.... Especially how the community treated her in that time.... But i digress.

I still don't think that Octavio is some vile monster that abused Callie in some way shape or form. He treated her as best as he could in that scenario, he didn't restrain her, he didn't force her into anything. He let her decorate bases and do other things because it helped boost the morale of the Octarians, hell the Octarians got inspired by her and made music with her vocals and stuff like that.

I truly believe that the hypnoshades are just that, hypnosis shades. Octavio probably made them for Callie so that she's less likely to just suddenly run off, which is still fucking bad mind you. Callie was willing to stay and yet Octavio was like "just in case....." But here's the thing also, hypnosis isn't mind control and you can't brainwash people with them. The term "brainwashing" is only found in the English translation of the Japanese script and so far we don't have retranslation of the original script and I'm not gonna fully trust the English translation. As a Sonic the Hedgehog fan, i know that some English translations can fuck up important details and completely change the tone of the story so easily lol.

Octavio is more of a caring person than he is not. He has been shown that he does care for troops but he's just a little bossy towards them and he has to be because his race is on the brink of collapse. He has to make these quick and bad decisions to save his people. When his people got kidnapped by Mr. Grizz, he immediately went looking for them and wanted to get revenge. And when he finds out Mr. Grizz did it, he drops his hatred for the New Squidbeak Splatoon and helps them out. His people are his top priority.

Hell if you want the ultimate proof that Octavio isn't the worst person in the world, Callie went with him to the Low Water Party after Octo Expansion, Octavio would not bring a hypnotized Callie that was missing during the events of Splatoon 2 to a fucking rave party, everyone would get his ass lol. So yeah, a Callie not under the influence of any shades went "yeah I'll rave with you!!!!"

She even smiled when Octavio came down to rescue Neo Agent 3 when everyone else was shocked, if that doesn't scream that they are good terms then i don't know what will.

Sorry if this seemed very rambly, when people talk about Hypno/ Octo Callie in any form i lock THE FUCK IN lol!

[almightyellie]

baby, i'm yours

in which you and bradley are in the same major and you're completely unaware of how much he adores you.

pairing is frat!bradley bradshaw x fem!reader

word count is 5.5k

author says stem major rooster supremacy <3

you should watch out for drinking, college au, language, party settings, mention of puking

title song is baby i'm yours // arctic monkey

bradley has never been the type to pine.

he had never been one for coveting from a distance, and why would he? bradley had grown up fighting for what he wanted. he had grown with an admirable, if not appalling, amount of confidence. bradley bradshaw had walked with a swagger that simply couldn’t be learned, and for the most part, it had gotten him what he wanted. sure, every once in a while he had to fight a little harder to get the girl, but he always got them in the end. until you.

you aren’t his type, that’s for sure, but something about you is impossible to shake. he’s spent at least three semesters staring at you from opposite ends of lecture halls, and maybe he likes you because you’re not his type. you seem conscientious, dedicated, and entirely uninterested.

it hurts the ego, sure, but bradley isn’t one to give up so easily. after all, you’ve only spoken once and he really hadn’t put his best foot forward. he should have known better, really, because you might be the only one in a nine am lecture who seems genuinely eager to understand enzyme kinetics. the idea of a frat party wouldn’t have interested you, and the offhanded invitation in the campus bookstore was met with a predictably tight smile and a, “yeah, maybe. thanks for the invite.” it’s the most polite blow-off he’s ever received.

that was august. now, spinning into the end of october, he’s been so embarrassed by his complete failure to accurately gauge your interests that he hasn’t even bothered to try again. he’s losing his nerve; more importantly, jake is convinced that bradley’s losing his masculinity. not that bradley has ever given a second thought to what jake thinks; he’s pretty sure that he could count all of jake’s iq points on his fingers, so he rarely gives weight to his opinion. 

and yet, he can’t let it go. he can’t stop watching you from across the room, wondering what you would do if he sat next to you. wondering if you ever watched him, too. wondering if you realized how, with one measly conversation under your belt, you’ve entirely captivated bradley bradshaw.

the virtue of having such a large student group in your major is that group projects aren’t a concern. it was one of the things you had so looked forward to when you were working through your generals, the idea of doing your own work on your own time, without the opinions of anyone else. and it’s a little isolating, somehow, that you can sit in two lectures a day, five days a week, with a hundred people each, and not say a word to anyone but callie. 

next to you, she pays little attention to the lecture, doodling in her notebook and scrolling through her phone. where you had been tirelessly devoted to your academics, callie had found a way to succeed without even trying. you take notes out of necessity, but it seemed like she picked up the information just as well by only half-listening to the lecture. as you scribble notes down in your notebook, your best friend nudges your elbow and tilts her phone toward you to show you a text. 

nat: halloween party @ pike on friday

nat: bob said the door’s open to everyone

you frown, spinning your pencil between your fingers and shaking your head. callie groans quietly, leaning in to whisper. “come on, it won’t be that bad.”

and no, it probably wouldn’t be. you had never been to the parties they were always pushing, but they couldn’t be terrible if nat and callie were there; further, anywhere nat was, so was bob, who you entirely adored. it wasn’t that you had no interest in the parties; you, more than any of your friends, needed to let loose. but even after three years, you couldn’t stand the idea of having to market yourself to your peers; why would you meet new people when you had already found your family?

“pike is full of dorks and nerds,” callie continues. “it probably won’t even be that busy.”

you shrug, and callie grins. the text that she sends into the group chat rings in on your laptop.

cal: we’re there!

your heart leaps into your throat when nat pushes you forward gently. both callie and natasha had assured you that the party likely wouldn’t have been too crowded. bob is just as surprised as you, whispering to nat, “have you ever seen it this packed?”

the four of you can barely move through the living room and you look over bob’s shoulder, ignoring the unhappy way your stomach churns. from the way callie had talked about it, you hadn’t thought it would be like this. heat hits you like a wall every time you walk into a new room and you’re already overwhelmed, between the endless stream of conversations and the pounding music pumping through the walls. 

bob spots reuben in the kitchen, and, already drunk, he greets all of you eagerly. it’s overfamiliar but not entirely unwelcome. you’ll take any little bit of comfort you can get right now, and though you’ve only met reuben a few times, the hug he pulls you into is enough to calm you, even if just barely. 

“where is everyone?” bob asks over the music, clapping his friend on the back, and reuben blinks hard. 

“i think seresin and mickey are in the basement.”

a cheer rises through the crowd as someone pushes through the doorway into the kitchen and reuben’s attention is entirely lost. he’s vaguely familiar, somehow, with the kind of honey brunet hair that makes you wonder if it’s entirely natural and a smile that’s contagious. he drops two cases of beer, stacked on top of one another, onto the already crowded island, and callie leans into you and nat. 

“who is that?”

bob laughs and nat raises a brow. you’re glad that she asked because you know him, you think. a little more selfishly, something about him naturally draws you in; he has the same undeniable charisma that you think all frat boys must possess to a certain extent. it rarely works on you, and maybe it wouldn’t work if he turned it on you, but watching him greet everyone around him, passing out beers with compliments and laughter makes you a little giddy the same way all blooming attractions do, with a turn of the stomach at the end of the realization.

“that’s brad,” bob answers. you snort, because of course, his name was brad. “bradshaw!” 

brad spins his head in your direction with a wide grin, a smile that only grows when he catches sight of bob, brows raising at the sight of him surrounded by the three of you. “hey, bobby!”

bob’s cheeks flush and for a moment, you watch him for any sign of discomfort, but he only laughs and pushes all of you toward the island. 

“y’all want a drink?” brad asks, eyes lingering on yours, and without a second thought, you nod along with your friends. 

you listen as well as you can to the conversation between the two men as brad hands bob a beer and asks callie whether she’d prefer a beer or a seltzer. she preens, asking for a beer, and he hands her one back with a polite smile. you watch him ask nat the same question, wracking your brain to figure out where you had seen him. maybe you had served him at work. it wasn’t out of the question that you might have been in a gen ed class together in your first year, but you don’t think it’s either of those. when he trains his eyes on you, you're more confused than ever because you’re sure you would have remembered someone like this.

“and for you?” he asks, voice soft despite the oppressive noise around you.

“seltzer, please,” you respond quickly. he grins at you and you hate the nervous flip of your stomach, thrilled and terrified to have his attention, to be on the receiving end of that smile. 

news of the fresh cases has spread around the house and guests are crushing into the kitchen to get their hands on a new drink before they’re gone. at first, you hadn’t minded the crowd as much as you thought you would, but now you’re overwhelmed, so you pat callie’s hand and lean in close. “i think m’gonna step outside, okay?”

she pulls back, brow creased in worry, and says, “are you okay? do you want me to come?”

and you know she will, which you appreciate, but you also know that she just caught sight of the blond that has sauntered into the kitchen—exactly her type—and you don’t want her to miss her shot. “i’m okay! i’ll be right back.”

as you force your way through the crowd, cold can in hand, you wonder why you showed up in the first place. it’s not your scene, not even a little, and you had spent the last three years avoiding places exactly like this. foolishly, you hope that maybe the crowd will thin out the later it gets, but you know that’s not really how these kinds of things work. 

the door from the kitchen to the backyard opens inward, which is a struggle when the couple behind the door only glares at you for attempting to open it. frustrated, you open your mouth to ask them to move, but a large hand from behind you reaches for the doorknob, and the man’s face softens at the sight of whoever’s behind you. 

you glance over your shoulder and there’s brad, his chest brushing against your shoulder. he smiles genially at the couple, nodding at them. “hey, man, how are you?”

you don’t listen to the response because brad twists the doorknob for you, opening the door just enough for you to slip out. you aren’t sure he does it for you, exactly, but you’re grateful either way. the october night, especially compared to the sweaty, booming house, is a welcome and refreshing change, one that nearly forces you to take a deep breath. it’s considerably less crowded outside, and you lean against the vibrating siding of the house, glancing sideways when brad slips out of the door and closes it behind him.

for a moment, he looks across the backyard like he’s looking for something, but you interrupt him when you breathe out sharply, tugging your jacket closer. finally, he turns to look at you, and his face melts into the easiest smile you’ve ever seen. you’re not conscious of the way you smile back, pleased to see him pleased, and he leans against the wall beside you.

“hi.”

you look at him, half appalled and half intrigued, because brad is handsome. even if he wasn’t, he has the kind of inherent charm that makes up for physical deficiency, and you would think that someone so handsome might have a better way to flirt than saying ‘hi.’

it occurs to you suddenly that he’s flirting. he’s flirting with you. you feel a sudden warmth creeping from the pit of your stomach, rising to your skin and making you feel a little flushed. “hi.”

he holds out a hand in a formal handshake and you can’t help yourself. you chuckle a little, allowing him to take your hand. “i’m brad.”

you purse your lips and shake his hand. “...brad.”

he tilts his head knowingly, eyes mirthful. “yes?”

with a grin at him, you pull your hand back, rocking on your heels. “that’s just such a frat boy name.”

and he laughs, so loud and warm that suddenly it feels like august, pressing his hand to his abdomen. you watch him appreciatively, endeared to the way his cheeks flush, the way his shoulders shake. his eyes are still crinkled with delight when his laughter slows and he says, “then you can call me bradley.”

your grin shines stronger. “i like bradley.” you offer your name, and he sticks a hand into his pocket. he’s cute, undeniably, and every once in a while, someone will pass by and clap him on the shoulder, greeting him with a ‘hey, man!’ or an excited call of his name. for some reason, seeing how liked he is makes you like him even more. he greets everyone back—remembers their names and everything—and the smile on his face is so genuine that it takes you aback.

bradley is easier to talk to than you had expected, not that you had expected much. he briefly talks about his mother when you ask, answers a couple of questions about what he does outside of academics, but he seems more invested in asking you any questions than offering information. you’re right in the middle of a tangent about one of your classes when you ask, “what’s your major, again?”

he thumbs the tab of his can. “biochem,” he nods, and you grin.

“me, too!” you respond eagerly, and he laughs, seeming a little bashful.

“yeah, i know,” he responds easily. “we’re in a lot of classes together, i think.” he doesn’t think, he knows, but the last thing bradley wants to do now that you’re warming up to him is come off as some weirdo who spends all his time watching you instead of his lectures. your face brightens with recognition, and he smiles softly. “i also tried—and failed—to flirt with you in the bookstore at the beginning of the semester, but…” he trails off, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. that was supposed to be the silent part, but part of him hopes that you might remember him, no matter how poorly he had done then. he thinks he’s doing pretty well now.

you blanch, covering your mouth with your hand, and bradley could kick himself. “oh, my god. bradley, i’m so sorry! i can’t believe i forgot about that,” you lament, and he laughs with a tinge of self-deprecation.

“i really think it’s better that you did,” he soothes, and then you giggle and all is restored. he’s back in good standing, his washout from the bookstore entirely balanced. he’s all too aware of the tiny step you take in his direction, one that he’s not sure you’ve even noticed yourself. it comforts him, lets him know that right now, you’re closer to the same page than you’ve ever been, and that alone makes his heart begin to pound.

“well, i still feel bad,” you admit, and he shrugs. 

“rejection is healthy for the ego,” he excuses.

it seems like it’s something he actually believes, which makes your chest sticky with unbridled affection. “you don’t seem like the kind of guy who experiences a lot of rejection.”

he flushes and you know you’re right, but it doesn’t annoy you. he’s nothing you would have assumed him to be; he isn’t arrogant or lewd, doesn’t push you to drink and hasn’t asked you to his room. the surprise is almost sweeter than the realization that bradley is the kind of guy you could like, silly name aside.

bradley can’t believe his luck; he hadn’t gotten you here, but someone had, and he’s thrilled. he’s grateful. he reaches for you, fingers hesitating, but he folds down the collar of your jean jacket, and he can’t contain himself when you smile at him. you’re vulnerable, open with him, and bradley can read the signs. he’s giddy, because you’re finally looking at him, laughing with him, and bradley thinks that this—you are better than any way he had ever imagined you. 

“bradley bradshaw,” you murmur, rolling your eyes playfully. “you aren’t entirely insufferable.”

he guffaws, fingers tightening around his empty beer can. he’s been out of his drink for nearly half an hour, but he can’t pull himself from you. “wow, i’m honored.”

you play it up, turning away from him to look out across the backyard. the two of you are so close that your shoulder brushes his chest, and warmth races through his body at the contact. a large hand settles in the dip of the small of your back, and you pretend that it doesn’t make you want to shiver. “you should be. i’m very hard to please.”

and bradley’s stomach flips, fingers tightening around his empty can once again. “i’m sure i could figure it out.”

a surprised laugh forces its way out of you and he snorts. “dude.”

he grins, tapping his empty can against yours. this is going well, better than he thought it would. “you want another drink?”

you look at him, a pleased smile pushing at your cheeks. “yes, please.”

he’ll give you a moment alone, in part because he really does need another drink, but mostly because if there ever were a time to work up the courage to ask you out, it would be right now. he grabs your can, flashing you a sweet smile before he slips inside. 

the second his back is turned, you can’t tamp down your smile, your ears burning. at this point, you don’t even care if he’s stringing you along. you like him. he makes you laugh, and he had been willing to admit that he had his foot in his mouth when he had approached you at the beginning of the semester. then, you had assumed the same of him that you had when you’d met again: that he was cocky, that he was a stereotypical frat boy. but now, he’s laughing at himself the same way you are, humbled and sweet.

the kitchen door opens, and you turn to greet him, but it’s nat. you smile warmly, leaning against the wall. “hey.”

“hey,” she breathes. “you’ve been out here the whole time?”

you shrug, sticking your hands in the pockets of your jacket. “yeah. you guys having fun?”

nat rolls her eyes with a huff. “yeah, about that. we gotta get callie home.”

worry washes over you, forcing out the lovesick warmth that had overtaken you and leaving you with a bitter chill. “what happened?”

she shakes her head, the toe of her boot rubbing out a cigarette butt someone has thrown on the back porch. “she got into a pissing contest with that guy she was flirting with,” nat grunts. “you know how she is. anyway, she’s in the backseat.”

and you shouldn’t be surprised, because yeah, you know callie. she can’t let a challenge go, and you’re amazed it hasn’t given her alcohol poisoning yet. taking care of her while drunk is like second nature after so many years of friendship, and you had figured that the night would end like this, anyway. but you hadn’t anticipated bradley. you want to take care of your best friend, but you don’t want to leave behind the lovely flush that bradley has given you.

nat notices your pause and frowns. “you okay?” you step to the side and peek into the window. bradley stands, pretty and flushed in the kitchen, his beer in one hand and a different flavor of your seltzer in another. god, you don’t want to leave him behind. you want to stay, soaking up his warmth, his attention, and you want to kiss him, and maybe you want to spend the night with him. you watch him laugh in the kitchen, goading one of the other party guests, his charisma radiating even through the window. everyone around him laughs, smiles up at him, falls into his encouragement to keep drinking, keep having fun, and you recognize the look on their faces. it’s the look that you’ve been wearing for the last hour talking to him.

you sigh and turn back to nat. “yeah, m’good. let’s get her home.”

your friend hesitates, but you smile and nod. bradley charms everyone around him; you’re sure that you’re no different. he has everyone falling at his feet. he makes people feel special; it’s the kind of guy he is, and you like that about him, but that’s all it is. 

you let nat drag you through the side yard and around the front to bob’s car, and you try not to let yourself think about bradley on the ride home.

bradley, still laughing at javy’s insistence on body shots, slips out the backdoor, can in each hand. the crowd pushes the door closed behind him, and his belly is still flipping when he turns to where you should be. where you were. he frowns, confused, and he hates the way his stomach swoops when he looks across the yard and can’t see you. tucking his beer in the crook of his elbow, he shoves his way back into the kitchen.

“reub!” he calls over the noise, and his friend beams at him. “where’s bob?”

reuben, drunk and thrilled, responds, “man, he just left!”

a sinking realization makes bradley wilt, his shoulders dropping, and bradley knows that you’re gone, too.

callie glares unhappily at the glass bob has set before her. “i’m literally going to puke.”

he gives her a look, unimpressed with her dramatics. “it goes down smoother than you’d think.”

“does it come up smooth, too?”

you don’t blame her, really. you had never tasted bob’s hangover cure, but it looks exactly like what you cleaned out of his backseat last night. no, you wouldn’t want any part of it, either, but he swore by it. nat drops a straw in the thick mixture, and callie groans but begins drinking it obediently.

“so,” nat starts, sitting across from you at the table. “how was your night?”

you feel your cheeks warm but you shrug casually, resting your chin on your water bottle. “fine. how was yours?”

“you disappeared,” she responds, ignoring your question, and you roll your eyes goodnaturedly.

“i did not ‘disappear.’ i was exactly where i said i was all night.”

nat narrows her eyes at you, and when you look at bob, you see his lips quirked in the tiniest smile. “brad followed you out,” he notes, and you stare back at him, trying to keep your face blank.

you don’t want to feel giddy about bradley, not when you know he was just being nice. the last thing you want to do is give bob any indication that bradley has gotten under your skin; you know bob. you love bob, but he’s observant, and though he would never tell a secret on purpose, you know better than anyone that sometimes the truth just slips out of him. “he did.”

callie perks up a little, straw still in her mouth when she asks, “you and brad?”

“no,” you insist. “we just talked for a few minutes.”

nat smirks, leaning onto her elbows. “did you like him?”

“he was nice.”

“that’s not what i asked,” she pushes, and you huff.

you want to hold it close to your chest. it’s embarrassing to admit that you had allowed bradley to make you feel so special, that he had wooed you without even trying. but the idea of lying to your best friends makes you sweat a little. natasha would find out anyway, and then you’d be in for it. “i mean…yeah, i guess.”

“that’s a yes,” bob celebrates, and you frown. 

your best friends share a pleased look and you harrumph. “what does it matter, anyway? he’s just some…random frat guy. probably would end up being an asshole, anyway.”

bob shakes his head, filling one of your mugs with coffee for himself. “nah, brad’s cool. he’s nice.”

you level a glare at bob. “regardless. the last thing i need right now is to develop feelings for some guy that everyone else is already in love with.” and bob doesn’t argue, doesn’t deny the fact that bradley has everyone falling at his feet. you shrug, taking a sip of your water. “he’s cool, i guess. but i don’t have time for that.”

callie wrinkles her nose in your direction, clearly a little annoyed. “but you like him.”

you purse your lips. “so?”

she sighs, holding her cup of sludge with both hands as she leans back into her seat. “tell him.” it’s such a callie thing to say. she had never second-guessed herself. she had never needed to. but you weren’t callie. you weren’t perfect, reliable callie. such confidence had never come to you the way it has to her. if you were callie, the kind of person that people were drawn to—the same way they were drawn to bradley—you might tell him. but you weren’t. you were just you.

you lean back into your chair, avoiding your friends’ eyes, and for a minute, you pretend that you are like callie, and it’s a comforting thought.

similarly, bradley and mickey look at each other across the kitchen island. “so…you didn’t kiss her.”

“no,” bradley says, tired.

“and you didn’t ask her out?”

“no.”

mickey looks at him, head tilted curiously. “but why?”

“because she left, you idiot,” javy rolls his eyes. “you aren’t even listening.”

“i am!” he insists, glaring at javy. “i just don’t understand. brad, you’re the clincher.” 

bradley has been running over the events of the night before until he can’t hold it in anymore. he had hoped his roommates would be helpful, but javy is disinterested, mickey is entirely unhelpful, and jake had shuffled away five minutes into the conversation to fall asleep on the couch. “i don’t know, man, i thought it was going great. she seemed like she was interested, you know? 

mickey shrugs. “whatever, dude. you said you have some classes together? just catch her on campus and ask her out.”

“mickey, did it ever occur to you that she left because she didn’t like me?” bradley stresses, and his roommate rolls his eyes. 

“bradley, have you ever considered that you only like this girl because she's the first one who doesn’t like you?”

bradley sits with this for a moment. he had an ego, that was for sure, and he had chased a lot of girls who didn’t want him just to change their minds. the thrill was always in the chase. at least, it had been, because the longer bradley thinks about it, the more he thinks that he had found just as much thrill watching you across lecture halls as he ever had chasing other girls. he had been just as eager to get you a drink and make you laugh as he had to take other girls to bed. everything is heightened with you. no, the thrill wasn’t in chasing you. this had gone on so much longer than that. long before he ever found out that you had no interest in him.

“no,” bradley decides. “no, man, it’s not like that. i really like her.”

mickey shrugs like it’s the easiest thing in the world. “okay, then tell her. what’s the worst that can happen?”

you avoid looking at bradley throughout class. right as it had begun, you had made the mistake of searching for him, and the second that you laid eyes on him, it felt like a burn. over the weekend, you had come to terms with the fact that yeah, you did like bradley. that didn’t mean you had to like it. you would put your head down, get through the semester, and pray that you didn’t have any classes together next semester. and that’s fine. it’s fine. 

your notes, like your thoughts, are scrambled. they barely make sense to you, and when callie glances in your direction, her face twists at the sight of your notebook. “dude, what the fuck?”

“stop,” you insist, trying to hide the way your shoulders shake in a laugh. “it’s functional.”

“bro, it’s incomprehensible.”

“fuck off,” you laugh, elbowing her. 

she giggles, pressing a hand to her chest. you’re grateful when your professor releases class early, because callie’s jeering is getting a little too close to heckling for your taste. she can’t control her volume, this you know, and usually it’s fine, but more than usual, you’re trying to fly under the radar today.

you both shrug on your coats, pack your bags, and slip from the lecture hall. you think you’re in the clear, that you’ve successfully avoided bradley, who exited on the opposite side of the lecture hall, not that you were looking. but you hear your name from only a few feet behind just as you and callie reach the external doors. it’s far enough away, crowded enough in the rush of your classmates that you might be able to pretend you didn’t hear it, but he calls you again and you know that the guilt will haunt you if you don’t at least say hi.

your best friend grins when you turn and offer bradley a tight smile. “hey, bradley.”

“hey,” he breathes, and you hate him because he’s so much cuter in daylight than he ever was under the porch light of the frat house. it makes you sick. “i’m glad i caught up to you. can we talk?”

your inner monologue screeches to a halt and starts shrieking, but you nod and turn to callie. “i’ll catch up?”

she smirks at the two of you. “i won’t hold my breath.”

“callie,” you hiss, but bradley laughs and you feel—despite your embarrassment—that her comment is hopeful, not teasing. 

she waves goodbye and heads on her way. you and bradley, standing against the late autumn chill, stand in silence for only a beat before he says, “i lost you at the party.”

your lips twist in a way that’s unbearably endearing to him and you hook your thumb over your shoulder. “callie got sick, we had to take her home.”

bradley grins, looking after her. “oh, that callie.” you look at him, half-suspicious, but you have an almost knowing smile growing on your face. “my roommate hasn’t stopped talking about her since friday.”

“jake?” you hazard a guess, and bradley nods. a contemplative sigh fills the space between you before you say, “yeah, trust me. we’ve heard a lot about him, too.”

you expect some banter, at least, about his roommate. from what callie has told you, you’re certain that bradley has some stories to share about him, or at least a funny quip, but he’s got a one track mind. “um…right. well, i would have liked to…say bye.”

for a long moment, the two of you look at one another in silence. you get the sense that bradley doesn’t spend a great deal of time being vulnerable like this, even if he’s just giving you the barest hint of what happens underneath, and you have to wonder: why is he sharing this with you? what is he doing? 

“no, yeah. you just looked like you were having fun inside, i didn’t think you’d really notice.” and god, you hate how pathetic that sounds, and you hate the way his shoulders deflate, and you hate the way you’re butchering this right now. “i just didn’t want to bother you, was all.” 

“you wouldn’t have bothered me,” he responds immediately. 

he’s so cute that looking at him hurts, and you feel that pressure build up in your chest, packed so tightly that you have to say something. “bradley—”

“i’m sorry,” he says, voice sweet and a little scratchy. he holds eye contact so firmly that it almost makes you shiver, both of you ignoring the other students around you. “i’m sorry if i was too pushy, or if i made you uncomfortable.”

“you didn’t,” you assure. “you weren’t. not at all.” he nods once.

bradley feels like the earth could swallow him right now and it could only help the situation. he’s embarrassed, but he tries not to show it. after mickey’s rare moment of mental clarity, bradley knows that now is the moment. he’d missed his chance before. fumbled his opportunity already. he didn’t want to do that again. “listen…i’ve been watching you across classrooms for like, four semesters. i think you’re really pretty,” he admits, voice steady despite the increasing flush on his cheeks. “and you’re funny and interesting and smart and i want to get to know you, because i really like you.” you blanch, mouth parted in the cutest little o he’s ever seen. “if you aren’t interested, i get it. we can just be friends.”

you pause, taking a moment to process his words when he cuts in again.

“or if you don’t want to be friends, you can totally tell me to fuck off and i will literally never bother you again,” he rambles, nodding decisively.

and it happens at the worst time, really. this is not the time to start giggling, but you can’t help yourself. you’re a little giddy and a little entertained, but mostly you’re caught up in him. caught up in the way this boy you haven’t stopped thinking about for the last three days has, apparently, spent the last two years admiring you. this sweet boy, who makes you laugh and makes you think, who makes you feel special and interesting and wanted. 

“bradley, you don’t get rejected a lot, do you?”

bradley’s lips pucker, trying to hide his nerves from you. whatever you had to say, he wanted to hear it. no matter what. “no, i don't.”

you take a step toward him, grateful for the heat that rolls off his body, and you smile at him softly. “well, best not to break your record, then.”

bradley bradshaw isn’t the type to pine. until he is. 

and it’s worth every second.

[shininglynxie]

OK, didn't want this to be my first post on this account, but I just really wanted to share my thoughts and analysis of the Grand Festival announcement.

I knew they were going to place the new venue near the Crater - the first place we saw all the way back in 2021, when Splatoon 3 was first announced. It was even teased in the Sizzle season 2024 trailer with the jellyfish walking by this same Crater backdrop with merch of all three idol groups.

The Pearlina plane walked so that the Now or Never Seven bus could run. It's just great to see something like that plane again!

The golden replicas of the animals from all the hub worlds that represent each idol are a great touch, too!

Now, to analyze the idols' new outfits! Their shared theme feels very orderly and gives off bleached coral vibes. I wonder what's up with that. Most of them also seem to reference non-cephalopod sea creatures, but I don't know how intentional that is.

The outfits always have to be matching with these two, and I love it! The cut on their skirts point inwards on Callie's and outwards on Marie's. Callie's gloves reveal the base of her arms, while Marie's gloves reveal the ends of her arms or her hands. Both of them are also wearing urchin-themed head accessories.

The way they animated Pearl and Marina's interlocked hands being pointed right at us. It's like they're yelling at us: Yeah, they're gay, dammit! They've been giving us quite a bunch of great Pearlina content lately, and they just had to give us more.

Anyways, their outfits. I love Pearl's big hat! It fits her vibes very well! There's also an Off the Hook logo on it, which is neat. As some people have pointed out already, this is the first time Pearl's showing off her midriff, which is cool to see!

I absolutely love Marina's outfit ,though. It's gotta be one of my favorites of the Grand Fest idol fits! That bra/top paired with the jewelry, the laced pants with the boots, and all those rings combine to create such an awesome look to me! Also, something else of note is the fact that Marina isn't wearing headphones here and showing off her ears. It's uncommon for her to do that, and she's mostly done that outside of the games, and, I think, this is the first time you can see her ears in-game, which is really cool and showcases her personal growth! (Btw, I love the pose Marina's making in the shot on the second pic! It's so cute!

Deep Cut, my beloveds!

This is probably among the weaker fits Shiver ever had, but it's not bad by any means. Those pant boots are kinda weird, and I don't know how to feel about them. But I do like that top she's wearing! It kinda mimics her headdress, which also looks neat! It kinda reminds me of seaweed, dunno if that was the intention. She's also rocking that Deep Cut logo temp tattoo, which is dope! From afar, it looks really similar to the octopus tattoo Callie had when hypnotized by Octavio. The bangs on her in-game model seem to be pushed away a little bit, so you can see her other eye, which is an interesting detail. The expression she has on the official art feels a tad unusual for Shiver. She always acts so cold and aloof, so it's strange to see such an expression of genuine surprise from her.

Frye's outfit is great, but there isn't much to say about it. The buns she's wearing kinda remind me of sea slugs, I don't know if that's what they were going for, though. The ear tie thing she's wearing is also a nice design touch! It's an accessory that utilizes her long ears in a very creative way! I love the way she's grabbing Shiver's waist in the official art, it's so Frye!

Big Man's fit has got to be my favorite! He's absolutely slaying in that fin-like headdress and those spikes, and with that makeup around his eye! It feels very Kiss-inspired. The patterns on his fins look claw-like now. This is something that kinda makes me wonder how Big Man's outfits work in the first place with the various skin patterns he took on during seasonal splatfests. He also seems to have something wrapped around his tail. The best shot I could catch of it is this screenshot below.

Overall, I think the idols' outfits are cool, but they don't wow me like Pearl and Marina's Chaos vs. Order outfits did.

The performance of their new collab song will be so cool! It's gonna feel like a proper big concert!

Speaking of concerts, I might be seeing things, but some of the choreography we see the idols perform in their usual outfits seem to be from the songs other than each idol group's day 1 and 2 songs. The third Splatoon 3 concert just might be held in-game. Which is a great idea and makes a lot of sense! Since most Splatoon fans probably never had the chance to see the idol concerts live, it only feels fitting to create an immersive concert experience inside the game! It's a lot more interactive than a video recording, and it will ensure that a lot more people can see it compared to the in-person concert. Plus, all the idols are in one place already, so they can easily perform the collab songs too! If that does end up happening, I hope that the performances do use the concert versions of the songs, as they're almost always better than original, in my opinion, plus that way they won't overlap with the songs that play during gameplay.

Almost forgot about the theme. Which is most important to you? Past, Present, or Future? With each idol group representing a team, rather than a Deep Cut member each representing a team. I think this quite a solod theme for the final fest, if a bit predictable. The fact that each idol group picked a team for themselves also makes this like an idol fest in disguise, but I'm not bothered by that. I wonder how this fest's outcome will affect a potential Splatoon 4, though, as there's no one clear way how I can see it affecting the game's development.

All in all, I'm very excited for what Grand Festival will bring! By the time it rolls around, this account will, hopefully, be properly active. I'll absolutely have some art to post for the occasion!

[mama-qwerty]

The Garden

Just something I wrote up really quick in one of the servers I'm in. Trying to dust off the brain and get it working again.

I am rusty. Holy moly.

~~~

Callie stood in the side yard of her house, staring at the weed-bed her landscaping had become. Thistles and onion grass had crowded out any other plant she had tried to grow--although, granted, that had been a number of years ago.

She wasn't a gardener. By any stretch of the imagination.

She had everything she needed to deal with the offending weeds. A hand shovel, a full-sized shovel, a little hand rake, and a paper bag to toss the pulled weeds into.

Everything except the motivation to get started.

She hated dealing with this crap.

"Whatcha lookin' at, Mom?"

A voice behind her, and she turned. Silver stood with his head cocked to one side, a curious look on his face. She sighed, offering him a little smile.

"Just doing some gardening, Bug. Wanna help?"

A smile brightened his muzzle, and he nodded. "Okay!"

The boy stepped forward, and the two took to their knees, looking upon the chore before them. Callie pointed out the different weeds and named them, explaining how they'd need removed by the root to make sure they didn't grow back. Then they'd have to turn the soil, remove any grubs or other harmful insects, before planting any of the decorative flowers she'd bought.

Silver seemed excited to help, and the two worked for a while, slowly pulled the weeds out.

"Greetings, Callie," a deep voice called behind them, and they turned. Knuckles emerged from the trees surrounding her home, and he nodded toward the hedgehog. "Silver."

"Hey, Knux," the redhead called. "To what do I owe the visit?"

"Mother would like to borrow your spare coffee maker. There was an . . . incident with ours."

"Sonic or Tails?"

"Tails. He insisted he could make it work faster and . . . it did not end well."

"Hmm. That kid."

"Yes. Mother was not pleased."

"I can imagine," Callie said, pushing herself to her feet. "I think it's in the basement, but it may take me a few minutes to find it."

The echidna nodded. "Of course."

She turned to the hedgehog. "Silver, why don't you show Knux what we were doing. Maybe he'd like to help."

Silver nodded. "Okay."

A few minutes later, as Callie dug through the boxes in her basement, Silver and Knuckles sat near the weedy patch near the house. They stared at the many unwelcome batches of vegetation, a silence hanging over them for a moment.

"That is an impressive amount of weeds."

"Yeah," Silver said. "Mom's not really into this kind of thing. She keeps saying she'll let me make a garden, but we never get around to doing it."

Knuckles turned to him. "You would like a garden?"

Silver nodded. "I like to take care of plants and think it would be fun to grow my own vegetables."

The echidna lowered his head as he thought. "Hmm." He lifted his head, his chest pushed out. "I will help you, young hedgehog."

"Help me what?"

"With your garden. Mother has allowed me one at home, and it is very relaxing."

"Really??"

"I will help you now."

Silver furrowed his brow. "What about the weeds?"

Knuckles waved a hand over them. "They are not going anywhere. Come. Show me where you would like your garden."

The two hurried off to a spot in the yard Silver had been eyeing for his garden for months. And at first things went well. Knuckles used his claws to dig in the ground, turning the earth and preparing it for planting. Silver used his telekinesis to rake the soil smooth, giving any rocks unearthed a quick flick to send them flying into the trees. They worked quickly, and soon they had a proper garden plot prepared, ready for seeding.

And then Callie returned.

"What are you two doing??"

It came out a little harsher than she intended, and startled the two boys with her tone. Silver jerked, sending the rake and three rocks he still held in his telekinesis flying toward her.

Callie gasped, holding the coffee maker before her as a makeshift shield, before Knuckles hit her in the midsection, shoving her out of the way.

Silver came rushing over, hands over his mouth, eyes wide.

"I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" he cried, his forehead fan bristling in fear.

"It's okay," she said, Knuckles helping her to her feet. "My fault for startling you." She looked back at the roughly tilled earth. "What are you doing?"

"Making our garden!" Silver said, his fear forgotten in his excitement. He rushed over and gestured to it with extended arms. "Look! Knuckles helped me get it started!"

"He did?" Callie cast the echidna a raised eyebrow. "Did it occur to you to ask me first?"

Knuckles shrugged. "He said you kept promising to make one, and hadn't gotten to it. I was merely doing what you had already promised."

She narrowed her eyes. "I suppose that's fair." She looked back at the garden. "I'm not sure how well it'll do over there, though. That spot seems pretty bad with grubs and rocks."

Silver waved a hand. "I took care of the rocks, and Knuckles took care of the grubs."

At first Callie's brow furrowed. Then it cleared as understanding hit. She flicked her eyes down to the echidna.

"You didn't."

He looked back, unblinking.

"Knuckles."

He shrugged. "They have a different taste here, but it is not necessarily bad."

Callie pulled a face. "Gross, Knux."

"We're not in trouble, are we?" Silver asked, pulling a head spike forward to give a little tug. "I mean, you did say I could make one."

Callie gave a little sigh, nodding. "Yeah, I did say that." Another sigh. "Why don't you head in and grab those seeds we've been holding onto and you and Knuckles can get them planted, yeah?"

Silver smiled, one that stretched across his muzzle, and he zipped into the house with a speed that would have made Sonic proud. Callie watched him with a smile, before looking down at the echidna.

"Did you really eat all those grubs?"

He shrugged. "Should I have saved some for you?"

"Gross, Knux."

A little smile curled one corner of his lips, and he walked over to the tilled earth. He sorted through a batch of dirt, before picking something out and bringing it to her. A small white grub squirmed in his outstretched hand, and she curled her lip in disgust.

"Don't."

His smile spread wider.

"Knuckles Wachowski, don't you dare."

He chuckled, a deep rumble in his chest, and popped the insect into his mouth like popcorn. He chewed twice, then swallowed, a loud, exaggerated, sound.

Callie nearly gagged. "Ohmygawd, you're such a turd."

That produced a loud laugh from the echidna, and he shook his head as Silver returned, his arms full of seed packets.

"Ohmygosh!" he cried, bouncing up and down in his excitement. "I don't know what to plant first!"

Callie gestured to Knuckles. "Ask Mr. Grub Breath over there. I'm gonna sit over here and tend to the weeds and try to forget what I just saw."

Knuckles laughed again, and the two boys began the task of setting up the different rows and sections for Silver's garden.

Callie sat before the weed patch, thankful for something else to focus on.

[louloulemons-posts]

Oil At The Coffee Shop III

Eddie X Fem!Reader

Summary : The shops first day open, and you meet Eddie again - but do you mess it up.

Word Count : 1.3k

Warnings : Rambly, not proofread, no use of y/n, more eddie x reader in this part, eddie and reader ‘argue’, grumpy eddie.

Fic Masterlist

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

“Have a nice day,” you smiled, handing over someone’s order. The shop was bustling, people chatting and laughing all throughout. Thank goodness for Max is all you could say.

You hadn’t expected so many to show, but according to the redhead, Hopper had told everyone in town to be there. Which was of course, very sweet of him, but your feet were killing you and it was 4 hours until close.

“Max, you go have your lunch honey. Pick anything you want okay?” you spoke to the girl. “You sure?”

“Yeah. You go relax for a bit, I’ll be okay here,” you waved her off. She grabbed a sandwich and a drink, and you heard her sigh when she hit the soft chair in the back.

An older lady and who you assumed was her granddaughter walked arm in arm, stopping at the counter. “That was delicious Honey, Callie would be so proud of you and this place,” she said gently.

“Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it, make sure to come back soon,” you waved to them as they left. Someone holding the door, who made them scurry past quickly - strange.

You turned, wiping down the counter, making sure you had enough of everything. “Looks like opening days going well,” a voice spoke, turning to face it, you gave a soft smile. “It is thank you.”

“So the cars all fixed up, where do you want

it parked?” Eddie spoke, rubbing his hands together. You hadn’t noticed how quiet it’d become in the shop, “Oh um the alley down the side is mine, so you can park it there. I’ll get your stuff ready,” you smiled.

He nodded and if he had moved any faster he would have been sprinting out of the shop. Quickly heading in the back room you smiled at Max who was sat with her eyes closed, grabbing your purse and taking money out.

You headed back to the counter to get Cherry Turnover ready, unsure of how he liked his coffee. He walked back in and over to the counter, barely sparing a glance at anyone else.

“I didn’t know how you liked your coffee,” you spoke, sliding the turnover to him. “Oh um not a lot of milk 3 sugars please,” he said.

Turning from him you began to prep the drink, hearing the clink of your car keys being placed on the counter. “Here you go,” you smiled, placing the drink in a sleeve to prevent his hands burning.

Putting the money in a little bag for him so nobody would try anything - you doubted they would, but just to be safe. You handed them to him. “Thank you, if anything’s wrong with the car just let me know and we’ll fix it,” he said, eyes looking more at the counter now.

“Oh for sure. I’m sure it’ll be great though, you have a good day Eddie.”

“Yeah, you too.” He made his way out of the shop, not looking back as he walked away.

Whispers became chattering again, how strange. “Was that Eddie?” Max asked, popping her head out of the back room. “Uh yeah it was, came to drop off my car.” She hummed, taking a sip of her drink.

“What?” you asked her.

“Nothing,” she said, a tone of teasing in her voice. “I’ll get you to tell me,” you spoke, jokingly stern. “You’re the boss,” she held her one hand up, going to continue her break.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

“See you tomorrow,” Max said, waving goodbye. You’d offered her a lift, but apparently she was meeting her boyfriend, Lucas. Waving goodbye and locking the door, you finished up the last bit of restocking and dealt with the money from the till.

A knocking sound on the glass made you jump. You looked up, spotting someone you weren’t expecting, Eddie. You unlocked the door and smiled at him, “Twice in one day, what’s up?” you asked.

“The money.” You furrowed your brows, confused at what he meant. “You overpaid by like a lot.”

“I didn’t, I spoke to Wayne and he said what I owed and then I tipped a little.”

“I don’t know where you’re from Sweetheart, but $70 isn’t a little!” he exclaimed.

“Well I wanted to say thank you for the pick up and drop off and also getting it done so quickly. I know how awkward it is to get parts for it.”

“We don’t need your pity,” he spoke, sighing.

“Pity? It’s not pity! I was just trying to nice!” You explained to him. How could he just assume that?

“Well we don’t want your thanks,” he snapped. “Fine,”you snatched the money bag from him, taking out a $5, “For the coffee. Have a good night,” you said, pushing the door closed and locking it.

The blinds closed after that, you shoved the bill into the tip jar - for Max. You sighed, finishing the tills and restock and heading up to your apartment.

It was just above the shop, lot much but good enough for now. A lounge and kitchen in one, and a small bedroom and bathroom. You still had some unpacking to do, which was slowly being done, but after today, you were exhausted.

A ring filled the silent room, you stretched walking to the phone. “Hello?”

“Dear sister of mine~” a sing song voice came down the phone. “Scottie!” you smiled. He said your name in a mimicking way.

“How was open day?” he asked.

“Great! It was so busy. I think I might need to find some more staff if we carry on this way. Hopper told everyone in town about it.”

“As he should! Best shop in town!” your brother exclaimed.

“How’s everyone?”

“Good, Di is just putting Jenny to bed. Someone wants to say hello though.” You

smiled, it could only be one person. “Hello?”

“Matty! Hi buddy, how’s it going?”

His voice seemed to light up when he said your name, now buzzing with excitement. “I’m good! I miss you! Guess what I built a kite with dad and we took it flying and then we went to visit granny and she said I got a whole three inches taller!” he rambled on, eager to tell you everything in one breathe.

“Wow bud! That sounds so exciting, you’re gonna be taller than me soon!”

“Can we come see you soon?”

“Whenever your mom and dad say yes, you’re more than welcome too.”

“I miss you, I have to go in the bath now.”

“Well I’ll speak to you soon Matty, I love you.”

“Love you.” You heard his feet patter away.

“They do miss you, Jenny’s been babbling away about you for days now.”

“I miss you all. Visit me soon.”

“You know I will soon.”

“How is Gran?”

“She’s doing okay, wondering where you are.” You hummed, your gran was one of the reasons you struggled to leave home. Not wanting to leave her now she was older and more frail.

“Hey she’s okay, she’s got some great people looking after her I promise.”

“And the business?”

“Running smoothly.”

“And you?”

“Missing my sister every day, but I’ll cope.”

You huffed a laugh, “I miss you too Scotty.”

“Dad!” a faint voice called in the background. “That’s my cue. I’ll call you soon okay.”

“When Jenny and Di are around please.”

“Course, I’ll speak to you soon.”

“Bye.”

Hanging the phone up, you decided to make a start on some dinner. Nothing huge, just something to snack on and then you were going to sleep for as long as you were able.

The apartment was quiet and so was the shop below. It was nice after such a loud and busy day, but your home used to be loud all the time, living only a few doors down from your brother and his family.

It was strange, but nice. The whole town was strange, but nice. Especially Eddie he was strange … but niceness was in there. Maybe you’d ask Steve and Max some more about him and why you being nice was an issue.

The whole thing was very strange.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

A/N : drammmaaaaaa

Thank you so much for reading 🤍

Taglist : @corrodedseraphine @flawiette

let me know if you want to be added 🤍

[ask-sister-solaris]

Can you write us some Egon as a grandpa happy stuff please 🥺

Of course I can

Yeah don’t mind the GIF

“The monsters gone and your Grandpas here”

Egon being a grandpa to reader because if I’m honest I dont really know Phoebe that well character wise and I’m not in the mood for angst.

You were only six when you first visited your grandfathers house. Looking up at the somewhat tall building clutching your little backpack in one hand your teddy under the same arm, you hesitated before stepping up to the door and knocked. Egon pushed his glasses up and opened the door grinning at the sight of his grandchild. He knelt down and opened his arms for a hug which you rushed into. You loved your grandpa so much, he was always showing you new inventions when he visited yours or stayed the night. You’d never been allowed to stay at his overnight before because your mother was hesitant. He’d not been there for her when she was younger, but Egon had a reason. Ghost busting wasn’t easy, and it was dangerous to. Even during the five year gap anything could have clung to him, he couldn’t risk harming his daughter.

He led you into the house and closed the door behind him. He took you upstairs to where you’d be staying the night, though unbeknownst to little you, you’d be staying with him for much much longer. He sat you on the bed, the wardrobe was packed with clothes he’d bought you, shoes anything clothes wise you’d need for now. “Now how about you get use to your new room while grandpa makes some dinner hm? I left a few inventions in here for you to look at” he smiled and stood leaving to the kitchen. You looked around and found the inventions he was talking about. One looked like a mini proton pack that he’d shown you a picture of. He told you all about when he was a ghostbuster, about the 100ft Stay Puft Man, about a possessed painting, mood slime that could be charged negatively or positively. It all seemed like a fairytale but his notes and colleagues had confirmed it was indeed true.

After dinner he told you more stories, the one about the first time they caught a ghost and Venkman got slimed, one about how Sal (Rays daughter), Ray, Winston and himself had been covered head to toe in ectoplasmic slime because they’d fallen into a whole river of it. You felt your eyes grow heavy as you slowly fell asleep on his lap. He carried you to bed and laid you down, kissing your forehead gently with a smile. You were so much like Callie…yet…so much like him. He sighed as he headed to bed and sat down rubbing his eyes. He took his glasses off and laid down falling asleep. It seemed like he was only asleep for a few hours before a scream filled the house. He sat up and grabbed his glasses running to your room.

You’d been woken up by a night terror and were currently sobbing and curled up in a ball. Egon pushed the door open and went over sitting on the bed “hey little dove what’s wrong? Was it one of the night terrors your mother told me about?” You hiccuped and looked up practically throwing yourself at him, into his arms. He rubbed your back and kissed your forehead, his rough but sturdy hand making small circles on your back. You whimpered and the crying died down to sniffling and hiccups. Egon held you close and kissed your forehead again rocking back and forth “the monsters gone and your grandpas here” Egon laid down on your bed next to you and played with your hair gently. He wanted to make sure that those nightmares would never bother you again. A smile spread across his face feeling your breathing return to a clam even pace, looking down you were fast on in his arms. “I love you..so much. You’re going to be a special girl when you grow up.

[serenasoutherlyns]

have my cake/eat it too

Cabenson, mature. ao3

Alex Cabot was going to drive her insane. She knew it must be happening, but she didn’t need to see it with her own two eyes. Alex at the bar next to some woman, Olivia couldn’t place where she recognized her from. She had dark features-- like Olivia herself. Alex wore that blue silk dress that exposed just the right amount of skin, her collarbones, her elegant shoulders. She had worn that dress on a particularly enjoyable date. She had her hair curled and pulled half back. Olivia felt her ears burn, and left. Whatever, right? It’s not like she owned her. Technically, they weren’t even together, right now. It wasn’t like Olivia wasn’t doing it too. She still felt sharp, twisting anger.

Callie was a journalist she knew. She had short brown hair that was showing early signs of gray at the temples. Shorter than Olivia, and curvy. Olivia called her and was unsurprised at her immediate answer, nor how she came over within the half-hour. Olivia kissed her with energy, nipping, sucking. Callie matched her intensity all night and left as fast as she came. Olivia couldn’t help falling asleep with Alex’s lithe body filling her head. It made her sick.

---

At work, she tried her best to act normal, professional. Alex was cold and simple in their conversations: did you get the file, what did the suspect’s lawyer say, good job on the witness stand. Olivia was similar. Despite this, there was a simmering tension that Munch picked up on. What was going on, he wanted to know. Olivia brushed it off as nothing. Munch was less than satisfied. What’s more, Alex didn’t stop driving her crazy. Olivia found herself nearly salivating at Alex’s tight sweaters and the way she would tuck her hair behind her ears, at the click of her heels on the cement floors of the precinct. She wanted her so bad. But they weren’t together. Right now. It was just too complicated-- they had agreed on this.

It was good to know she still had it, Olivia thought, after picking up a stranger at the lesbian bar one night. The woman was tall and blonde, but Olivia justified it with the fact that they looked nothing alike in the face. Olivia was on autopilot, this time, her mind swimming with Alex, Alex, Alex.

---

They couldn’t avoid working late together forever. Olivia couldn’t help herself: she brought it up.

“I saw you, at Penelope’s. With a woman,” Olivia mentioned in a quiet moment. Alex sighed back.

“I thought we were sticking to work at work,” was her reply.

“It’s not like we talk outside of work,” Olivia said.

“That’s true. Why do you care that I had drinks with a woman?”

“I think you could guess, Alex.”

“We’re not together, Olivia.” Olivia looked at her with what she could only imagine was seething anger, because Alex seemed taken aback for a moment, then she smiled. “You agreed, it’s too complicated.”

“Yeah, well. I didn’t need to see it.”

“It’s not like I meant for you to,” said Alex, laughing with indignation.

“I mean, she looked like me, Alex, just say you want me back.”

“No,” said Alex. “Now can we get back to work?”

“Fine,” said Olivia, “fine.”

She didn’t mean for Rollins to be one of them, but she was unsurprisingly insistent and tipsy when she called, and Olivia was just horny enough to let her come over. She wondered if it had been a spur of the moment decision for the other detective or if she had a crush. She didn’t care that much. So much for limiting complications, so much for not sleeping with her coworkers-- whatever. Things would be fine, they were both adults.

The woman was surprisingly gentle, though clumsy. Olivia got her into bed giggling. A reddish-purple spot bloomed on Amanda’s neck, and Olivia found she didn’t regret it. Amanda wore a comfortable-looking gray turtleneck to work the next day, and they shared a little knowing glance.

---

Jack McCoy was running for reelection again, and Olivia wasn’t surprised to get an invite to the big fundraiser downtown. The campaign rented some big hotel ballroom. It was a little gauche, but that was to be expected. She appreciated the excuse to dress up a little, and the excuse to bring a date. Amanda was as easy as anyone else. They had talked about their rendez-vous, and decided to leave it at once, but she didn’t mind her company for a night out. She really didn’t regret it when she saw the scowl on Alex’s face when she saw the two of them sharing a joke.

“Counselor,” said Amanda, who knew nothing about the situation, beyond rumors. “Bad hors d'oeuvres?” Those cop manners, Olivia cursed.

“Hi, Detective,” Alex said curtly, not answering her question. “How are you doing?” The words were cold and slicing. Olivia got some satisfaction out of it. Jealousy was a two-way street, it seemed.

“I’m alright,” said Amanda. “Liv tried to class me up for the night.”

“I see that,” said Alex.

“It didn’t take,” said Amanda, “it usually doesn’t.” She let out her charming grin, and Alex’s expression soured even further.

“I think you look lovely,” said Olivia, playing into the game. She almost saw Alex roll her eyes. “Darling.”

“Well, nice to see you, detectives,” Alex said before pretending to see someone across the room and striding off with purpose. Olivia watched her walk away.

“What the hell is her deal?” Amanda asked her when she was (barely) out of earshot.

“Oh,” said Olivia, “my guess is bad hors d'oeuvres.”

---

Olivia pulled Alex in by her waist, kissed her with intention, though languidly, lips moving slowly, enjoying every millimeter of her, every little movement. Alex moaned softly, and it sent a shiver through Olivia. Alex’s soft hands interlaced behind Olivia’s neck, pulling her impossibly closer, letting Olivia’s tongue into her mouth, exploring the familiar space eagerly. They dropped down onto the couch and their hands roamed more, eventually, Olivia’s hand was hot under Alex’s shirt, feeling urgently. Alex moaned again, louder this time, and Olivia needed the fabric gone. Without even telling her to, Alex pulled the thin v-neck over her head. Olivia kissed her shoulder, then looked up, making eye contact with her, admiring her kiss-swollen lips and glassy eyes.

Her alarm went off. Olivia blinked in the early morning dark. She couldn’t shake it off all day.

---

Olivia was incensed. This was her coffee shop, she had been the one to introduce Alex to it. And here she was, with Abbie Carmichael. How dare she, honestly. Olivia was just trying to enjoy her Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t even some stranger like last time, but someone they both knew. She must be visiting from Washington. Olivia didn’t want to talk to them, but Abbie stopped her.

“Liv, hey,” she said in that raspy drawl of hers, “long time no see.”

“Abbie,” Olivia said, trying to keep the contempt out of her voice. “It’s nice to see you.” Alex was staring into her mug like it was going to tell her what to do. “How’s Washington?”

“Busy,” said Abbie with a laugh. “Crazy.”

“Better to be busy than idle,” Olivia said. Alex looked up. Her face was pink.

“That’s what my mother says,” said Abbie. “We should get drinks while I’m here.”

“That sounds like a great time,” said Olivia. “Well, nice to see you two,” said Olivia, and waved. As she left, she shot a look back at the table. Alex had a hand on her forehead.

---

“Olivia, can I talk to you?” Alex asked that Monday. Olivia expected it to be work, but it wasn’t. Alex walked into her office and crossed her arms in front of her. “What the fuck is your problem, Olivia?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said, fake-oblivious.

“Bullshit,” said Alex. “You know I wasn’t even on a date with Abbie? That was just friendly. You embarrassed me in front of a friend, it was so out of line!” Alex’s voice was a whisper but she may as well have been yelling.

“Out of line is you interrogating my date at the fundraiser,” said Olivia.

“Yeah, because you were being so mature.” Olivia scoffed at her.

“Why do you even care?” Said Olivia. “What’s your problem, Alex?”

“You’ve been trying to make me jealous.”

“I haven’t, but good to know that you are,” said Olivia. At that moment she realized they were inches away from each other. Her eyes flitted to Alex’s lips, then her eyes, briefly to her hands. She opened her mouth to talk, but was cut off by Alex kissing her. It was a quick but intense kiss. They were lucky it was late because Alex’s blinds weren’t closed. Olivia pulled her in again and Alex let out a muffled mmph sound.

“You’re,” said Alex breathily, pulling back, “You’re infuriating.”

“Then go,” said Olivia. “If I piss you off so bad.”

“It’s my office,” said Alex.

“True,” said Olivia, who dropped Alex’s hand and turned to go. Alex gripped her stronger. “Do you want me?” said Olivia, her tone a mile away from moments ago.

“Desperately,” said Alex. “Do you know how, how mad I’ve been?” She laughed a little.

“I think I have some idea,” said Olivia.

---

“So, do you think it’s too complicated still?” said Alex in the morning.

“No,” said Olivia, “I think you’re worth any complication.”

“Sap,” said Alex, kissing her shoulder.

“What time is it?” Olivia asked. Alex rolled over to look at the clock.

“7:30,” she said.

“Good,” murmured Olivia, “plenty of time.”

[mango-fizz]

ohh yeah im reminded, your pinned is your (very cool) agent headcanons, do you have any for the idols you'd wanna talk about? i'm wondering

i KNOW you gotta have some for Shiver at least

sorry for the late reply ^-^

AAAAAAAAAAAAA ok.

Callie:

Let's address the elephant in the room here let's talk about the Great Splatfest War of 2016. So, obviously, Callie lost. The Squid Sisters Stories permanently changed my brain chemistry fr. Marie doesn't even know how her cousin is doing. She wonders if she hates her. She wonders if maybe it's her fault for winning that they're drifting away. And Callie never gives any indication of how she feels about it. They literally go out to eat together, go shopping and hang out just like old times, and they don't talk about it, cause things are fragile between them, even if they don't realize it, and Callie is fine! Everything is fine. Sure Marie is looking a little more down than usual but she's probably just tired. Everything is fine, Callie is fine. 

Just don't think about how they're too busy to see each other anymore, how they barely talk anymore, how the Splatfest results deems Marie legally better than Callie, how maybe this idol shit isn't really worth it anymore, especially not if it's just going to be Callie, and Marie. They're supposed to be "The Squid Sisters," right? They're in this together, right? But still she says nothing. Because she’s Callie! The happy fun energetic lovable goofball that makes everyone smile! But really she's so sick of it. She's sick of the cameras, and she's sick of people bringing up her loss and she’s sick of feeling jealous of Marie. 

She feels guilty about it, really, how could she feel that way towards her sister? It's not right. She's sick of it, but it's so drilled into her it's like second nature to smile and nod during talk shows, or give the same lighthearted and agreeable response of “Team Callie did their very best, and we’ll get 'em next time! ⭐” But when Octavio offers her a deal, regardless of whether or not she knew she would be hypnotized, she takes it, because she needs an out. And she certainly isn't telling Marie. 

Now this was before, of course. It's not like that anymore. But I'd say she’s still the best at getting into “idol mode” out of all of them, with Shiver as a close second. I have a friend who thinks it's hilarious how quickly I switch from “AARRGHGH FUCKKKKK” to “Well anyway let’s do something else now” in like a second, it's a pretty funny bit imo but like Callie does this professionally. I think she prolly has a lot of pent up anger she likes to release in turf wars with her big ass dynamo lmao. Also she’s older than Marie. 

Marie:

Marie really blames herself for everything lmao. Her fault for winning, her fault for not checking in with Callie, her fault that Octavio broke out and took Callie with him. Maybe she should've been more attentive, more considerate. Maybe she shouldn't have talked to Callie that way, before, maybe she should've appreciated their relationship and let her know how much she cared, how much she loves her. Maybe Callie really does hate her. She would deserve it, honestly. 

I already said most of the Callie v Marie thoughts, so I don't wanna be redundant. They made up and became best friends again yippee! I think maybe Marie is a little Extra attentive to Callie now as a result though.

What else… hmmmmm Marie likes to drink. This is more of an inside joke than a headcanon, but honestly it might be real… oh also, Marie learned to shoot from her grandpa since they both use chargers. According to Callie, Marie can look at spreadsheets for hours without getting tired, and I think that's so sexy. But she's also notoriously bad at keeping a healthy sleep schedule lmao. Coffee. 

I think Marie has generally mellowed out since the whole incident, but it just kinda comes with growing up, yknow? She still definitely keeps her dry sarcastic humor though. Just less mean. She has perhaps like a performatively reluctant soft spot for Deep Cut. She might feel strangely responsible for them as their boss.

Pearl:

I don't acknowledge the splatoon manga but i think Emperor and Prince (Prinz?) being Pearl’s little brothers is so adorable. She thinks they're very cute, whenever they see each other she pinches their cheeks type shit, and they're all “wahh sis you're embarrassing meee” and so on and so forth. Pearl and Marina live together in Pearl’s mansion, yes? Yes. Maybe she likes to spoil Marina with gifts, which she sheepishly accepts. After the events of Octo Expansion, she lets Eight stay with them for a while as she gets her bearings in Inkopolis.  

Marina:

I don't know why but I lk don't really have many hcs about marina idk maybe she's just perfect the way she is. I think she teaches Eight Inklish. Eight probably looks up to her a lot since they have some (pretty important) things in common, and Marina absolutely does not take that fact for granted. She wants to be the best role model she possibly can, not just for Eight but also for any Octoling who escapes the domes.

Frye:

Ok so Frye was raised by her grandpa cause her parents spend most of their time traveling. She has one younger brother and two younger twin sisters. Her grandfather owns a dance school I think? Frye would often skip out on practice. These aren't really hcs they're actually straight up canon I just need to remember wtf is going on lmao

Ok so I think frye is the leader of deep cut

I KNOW I KNOW JUST WAIT LISTEN

I simply think she has leader potential. I'm a really big fan of characters with outwardly laid-back and cheerful personalities being quite terrifying when they get serious. And especially considering Frye’s home life, I think she probably has that grandfatherly wisdom to her yknow what i mean? She'd probably get along pretty well with Cuttlefish somehow,, that would be funny. She comes up with the escape plans for Deep Cut’s raids, she's good at improvising and sticking to her decisions. It’s like driving a car, once you make the decision to change lanes you have to stick to it and you can’t hesitate or else you'll crash. She’s different from Shiver in this aspect, but I’ll get more into that later. And then at the end Shiver and Big Man are all frazzled n shit and Frye is perfectly intact and she's like "See? Told ya it'll be fine!"

I think Frye has the, how do you say, oldest child tendency to become a weird parental figure to their younger siblings? Maybe not quite to that extent, but she definitely feels a certain . Something like that. Maybe. Not like her parents are ever around much either, and her grandpa’s getting old. 

But between bandit stuff and Splatsville duties I imagine it can be kind of difficult to keep up! I actually can’t decide if Deep Cut live in their respective clan estates or if they all move out into a rinky dink apartment to focus on their own things. I mean, their clans are the most important in Splatsville I Assume, right? Like it's probably like a pretty big generational household type shit right? I imagine this is where Deep Cut grew up, but maybe as they matured and decided they would do music (and bandit) stuff they all moved in together? That's sort of what I have in my mind. 

Big Man:

Wait isn't he literally the owner of like a dance school ..? or a music school..? No, it was a dance school. That's so crazy lmao. Kind of hard as fuck. Idk what to write for big man i'm gonna be real. I think he often watches out for the other two cause they tend to be reckless of course. But when it comes to protecting them he would literally do anything. 

This is crazy but he kind of reminds me of Min Yoongi. They're both well known music producers with many collabs under their belt, they're both kind of quiet mellow individuals and care deeply for their band members. Can play many instruments. Highly intelligent . Should BM have a rapper debut. who knows 

Shiver:

Let's get this out of the way first. I am projecting onto shiver every second of the day 24/7 365 even right now as we speak. Not everything, mind you, but certain things. And you'll never know which ones hehehehe 😈

So I think Shiver might have had a pretty strict home life. Now I don't know how she feels about her parents, she's never told me, but what I do think is that she has huge perfectionist habits. Huge. There's not much room for mistakes in her life. She likes to be good at things, and if she's not, then she'll practice and practice and practice until she gets it . Perfectly. Even if it means sacrificing other things, sometimes. She liked pleasing her parents. Good grades, good Stringer skills, good singing, good training with Master Mega. Sometimes it was a little overbearing. Maybe she doesn't want to be perfect all the time. But she has to be, because she's a Hohojiro.

So Shiver was the one most excited about moving out of the clan estates, but somehow I think she manages to keep a good relationship with her parents. Maybe. But still I think she has a lot higher expectations, not just for others but also for herself.

Like I mentioned before, when she's on stage, "the show must go on" is the number one thing. However, off stage, she does have the tendency to get easily frustrated, and she's also very competitive. Sometimes her emotions get the better of her and she can act quite impulsively. 

Shiver had long tentacles when she was younger, then cut them short as an adult.

She's also the youngest sibling. I kind of have the idea that when she was younger she was very uptight and kinda stuffy ? But when she met Frye and Big Man she started opening up more and being more relaxed and outgoing. I think she has so much shark merch.

She definitely likes the attention (and money) she gets from being an idol lmao. I think Shiver is highkey a fr-- [i am dragged off stage]

Now I will link fics I have written that might be relevant Maybe.

thank u for reading im not sure what counts as canon and what counts as hc so i might be missing some things but i did my best to explain what goes on in my brain 😖😖😖 hopefully it makes sense

[poorlittlegreenie13]

Since you asked people to send you asks for Wretched Things. Here you go:

1) Regarding Misty as the supposed traitor, was it always the intended direction? Also, is Misty inspired by Caesar Flickerman and Beetee?

2) Also, I think Nat’s the youngest victor in the fic? Which reminds me of Finnick, did you draw inspiration from that? Also, how did you decide how Nat would win her games?

3) This isnt a question but more of an observation I think? Regarding how Lottie won her games, she gives off major Lucy Gray vibes.

4) How did you decide whether Jackie would live or die? Like, in what point of the story did you decide that she was going to be doomed by the narrative or was it the intended direction of the story all along?

5) This isn’t a question but a remark. I love how you tied Van with the wolves and making Tai the President at the end of the story.

6) Regarding Travis, was it always the case for him to sacrifice himself? Because to be honest, I thought he’d commit suicide.

7) Lastly, how did you come up with the story for James? I liked his story and I was wondering how you created him and his arc with Callie.

Sorry for the interview questions, I just have a lot to ask.

Omg this is thrilling. Do not apologize I love talking about my own writing 😭.

1. Do you mean Misty being the traitor underground when they think there’s a spy? I briefly considered having her actually be leaking information when I was writing the outline, but I didn’t go that direction bc I don’t believe at her core that she would ever hurt her friends. Walter was more inspired by Caesar Flickerman than she was, she is definitely more Beetee & also a little bit of Plutarch. She supports the greater good, but she also isn’t afraid to sacrifice things & she knows sometimes people have to suffer/die for ultimate victory.

2. Yeah, Nat is the youngest victor! She was definitely based on my aspects of Finnick’s story, though none of the characters are totally based off of one THG character or another, I also just based them on what I thought those YJ characters would do in the games. So, to your next point, I decided how Nat would win her games because I think while her character is desperate not to let herself be killed, and has a strong survival instinct, she also is one of the least violent Yellowjackets. She really shows an unwillingness to be cruel/violent in many circumstances. & she also feels a lot of guilt about letting people die in her place. So, hence the story of how she won her games.

3. lol Lottie & Jackie are both very Lucy Grey in this fic I think.

4. Jackie was always going to die tbh. It’s kind of baked into the story. Like I think in the first line or first paragraph she tells the story of Achilles & Patroclus? & basically describes the exact circumstances of her death lol. I feel like the point of the hunger games is that there was never anything Katniss could do to save Prim, & I wanted to keep that spirit in this story. & I also wanted to stay faithful to the major points of YJ & I’m not sure I ever see Jackie and Shauna getting a happy ending tbh. I like MCD when it’s done well, hopefully it’s done well here. The only other characters I briefly thought of killing were Misty & Van. Misty died in the original outline but I changed it. & I did think about killing Van in the way finnick died, I mean, she’d just gotten her happy ending wedding she’d been wanting the whole book, & she’s so brave she would’ve sacrificed herself to sewer mutts if needed. It also would’ve been a narrative parallel to Tai sacrificing herself to the wolves earlier in the story & pushing Van off the cliff to save her. But, I obviously didn’t wind up doing this because I love Van wayyy too much to kill her for basically no reason.

5. Thank you!! I was extremely proud of my wolf-taming scene lolll. & I think Taissa is actually a good choice for president during peacetime. Even though she’s kind of a bad senator in the show, I think she has legitimately good political ideas & she’s definitely the smartest of the group (maybe tied with Shauna, but she was in no shape to be president atm).

6. No, I kind of killed Travis off randomly ngl 😭. He kind of did kill himself, he was definitely acting reckless on purpose. I just knew I didn’t have room for him in the final war chapters bc I just didn’t want him moping around & taking away time from the main characters. So at basically the first opportunity for him to die with narrative meaning I was like… okay time to go. It furthered Jackie’s story though so yk. I feel good about it.

7. I came up with James bc there are two great epilogues I’m fond of with the children who survived the ordeal of their stories growing up & falling in love. So I wanted to do the same thing. They kind of represent elements of all three main couples, & show how things could’ve been for them if it weren’t for the games. & it gave Shauna and Callie an opportunity to bond. I also just thought it would be funny if they were in like a toxic situationship hooking up & not talking about it, canon high school event I fear. But mostly I just wanted to give everybody a happy ending & I thought the two of them falling in love tied the story together nicely & showed how much better things were for the new generation!

How it started:

How it’s going:

[thewritingsofamadwomen]

I Hope You Don't Mind

                                   

Paul Lahote X OFC

Mia Walker didn't know what was the next step in her life but it for sure wasn't any of this. Her complete life plan was changed around with a simple sorry and yet somehow she didn't find herself minding all that much. Well too much anyways.

Chapter 7: Secrets out

Mia sat down on the porch in front of everyone as the group pulled up chairs around her waiting for her to speak. Her hands twisting in her lap while she watched everyone get settled. Alex was still missing and Brady, Celeb and Colin were out as wolves checking the perimeter but everyone else seemed to be there waiting for her to tell her story. The idea was so strange to her, that the people she had been hanging out with for weeks just magically turned into wolves. Or some sort of genetic thing but Mia liked the idea of magic instead.

“Why don’t you explain now that we are all here.” Sam directed towards her; his arms crossed while his face remained calm. Paul reached over and held her hand while he stared at her also, everyone else’s attention turned solely on her. Her nerves were getting the better of her but at least Paul helped and wasn’t pulling away yet.

“The reason you guys have…smelt me? Or the vampire on me because Callie is a vampire. And she came to visit yesterday.” Mia started giving them some time to accept that information, Paul’s hand twitched in hers like he wanted to pull away from her but luckily he didn’t.

“We lived in a small town in New York before I came here. And there was a venue for parties and one of our friends had their sweet sixteen there. When it was over and Callie mom was running late, we told her we would met her at the gas station down the road. The town was super safe, Callie used to walk around all the time and never had any issues till then. We got a snack and sat over by some picnic tables and were waiting when this guy showed up. He was.. creepy. I was closest to him and Callie grabbed me and pushed me behind her and he for some reason became amused by her doing that. He was talking about wanting her to join him and of course we didn’t know what that meant at the time.” Paul’s hand tightened his grip on her hand, squeezing it a little too tightly as the rest of the group let out small gasp but remained silent to listen to her story.

“He moved so fast.. the next second she was on the ground screaming. I.. I didn’t know what was happening and then he was just gone. And then I saw her mom and she just stopped acting like she was in pain. So I thought she was fine but when we got back to her house… She didn’t want her mom to know what had happened and nothing seemed wrong, so I just went with it. I thought everything was okay.” Mia could remember how scared she was, she spent the day wondering if she should tell Callie’s mom but she begged her not to. She knew that something was going on with Callie the next day she stayed in bed, barely moving. But she wasn’t screaming and Mia wondered if maybe she had just made the man up or it was just some dream. Maybe Callie was just sick. Anything to try explain the strangeness they went though.

“Callie changed. She got prettier and colder. After the weekend was up she finally opened her eyes and they were this bright red like the mans. I don’t know what happened but she moved fast when she threw me against the wall, she went to bite me. I know that now the smelled my blood and I think she realized what she was going to do.  So she stopped and just flung herself back onto the bed and sat there for half an hour. When she opened her eyes, she was so terrified. We didn’t know what was going on and she didn’t try to bite me again so we let it go? We went out that day and tried to find the man, Callie didn’t want to me to go with her but I wasn’t leaving her alone. And as you guys know.. Callie glittered in the sunlight so we had to wait till night but we found him. He looked so… proud. He said what a good job he did. He explained everything and said that they could share me.” Mia shuttered at the memory; Paul’s hand tightened around hers as he glared at the nonexistent man. Quickly kissing his knuckles as she gave him a small smile to let him know it was okay. It was the most comfort she could give him when trying to finish the story without freaking out.

“She pulled us away after he said that and it confused him. He explained how she shouldn’t have been able to stand near me. He expected her to kill me as her first meal. He went to attack and she… Well she ripped him apart. Turns out they don’t die that way. After she ripped him apart we buried the pieces. Well she did but still. We thought it was fine and just kinda freaked out together. Two days later I was getting ready to go home and he appeared at her living room window fully intact. They fought again and part of him fell into the fireplace. So after she finished him off, we got all the pieces and burned him.” Mia told them, that was a memory she could never forget. Callie looked like she was sobbing but no tears would come out, her body shook while they tried to put the house back together, luckily most of the fighting was done in the backyard. Once everything was done Callie and Mia just sat on the living room couch both crying until her mom came to pick her up a blamed it on some movie they watched.

 “That’s why I said she wasn’t a threat because we realized little bit later that she could get rid of senses. It was what she did when she went to attack me. She has been able to redo it since, every couples month she has to but it last longer now. She makes sure the desire doesn’t ever come back and just drinks rejected blood.”

Mia stared at everyone when she finished her story, waiting for someone to respond but they all seemed to be thinking it over everything she had told them. She knew it had to be a lot to take in, sure supernatural was normal to them but from this random person dating their friend she doubted anyone would expect that. Specially from what Callie and Mia found out they weren’t very common. What were the chances.

“Why doesn’t she smell like the others? You can tell you were around one but it’s off. Normal ones smell sweet and burns our nose. She’s just a mild inconvenience type of way.” Jared said leaning forward on his knees while he stared at her.

“I don’t know. I never heard anything about the smell and I don’t notice it.” Mia said shrugging, Callie smelled the same as anyone else she didn’t notice any difference. She didn’t even think there was a change between human Callie and vampire Callie.

“I would like to meet her then. See how well this resist to blood is. But we don’t usually allow vampires onto our land.” Sam spoke up towards her unsure how to go about this new information.

“Oh! She would love to meet you.” Mia chuckled. She could imagine Callie excitement meeting actually werewolves, lots of dog jokes. “I was in a car accident after she changed and there was a lot of blood. Callie was the one that found me and she was fine. Pulled me out and saved me. And she wears contacts now. They are brown which is odd but they hide the red well. She’s really not a threat but if needed I can move out of your area. From the stories you guys don’t get along.” Mia told them, biting her lower lip while she looked around. She didn’t want to leave all of them but she was friends with Callie and one of the last remaining two friends she had from before. She couldn’t just leave her.

“You are not moving further away already. We have so little time left with you around here as it is.” Paul said rolling his eyes unsure how he felt about everything but he knew that she couldn’t just leave. They would have to make something work without losing her.

“You normally would be the one fighting to get her away from them and all of sudden you are okay with it?” Quil turned to Paul. Paul let out a sort of growl as he glared at the younger boy.

“If she trusts her, I give her some trust. Sam will check her out and so will I.” Paul growled out towards him. Mia eyes widened slightly at the dark tone of his voice; she had never heard Paul sound so scary.

“I’m just saying. You hated vampires more than most of us and now you are just all okay with a random one. You barely tolerated the Cullens.” Quil pointed out, his arms crossed while he stared at Paul. Mia didn’t know who the Cullens were but something must have happened with them, she would have to ask about it later.

“Times have changed. And I’m not just for it. I don’t have much control over it and if Mia telling the truth then she isn’t a danger. Even less then the Cullens and you got along with them just fine.” Paul said rolling his eyes.  

Mia shook her head at them trying to defuse the tension. “You know nothing you will say will change my mind but you guys have the right to decide obviously.”

The group were still giving her mixed reactions, some chuckled and others were glaring at her. It was making her uncomfortable. She didn’t want the group to be mad at her but she also didn’t want to lose Callie over this. She sort of already planned around Paul in her life and she didn’t really think it would all fall apart so soon.

“Are we done?” Paul questioned, looking at Sam for an answer. Sam nodded his head saying for now. Paul got up and his hand still wrapped around hers pulled her up with Mia following him through the path that led to the beach. Neither said anything to each other while Mia focused on the uneven ground, with Paul helping her out. When they got to the beach it was empty. It was still too early in the morning and it looked like it was going to rain for people to show up. The sky was covered in dark gray clouds, through the hoodie she felt the breeze cause a shiver through her.

“If it wasn’t for me, back then you would be on the side to kill her?” Mia spoke up first keeping her eyes on her feet unable to look up at him unsure how she felt about it.

“Yeah, I would have been.” Paul told her honestly.

“Why would you be on my side now?” Mia wondered, if he believed in it then why would he change his mind now just for her.

“Because I’m falling in love with you. And you don’t seem like you would risk your life for someone that’s dangerous. I can’t promise I’ll agree completely but I can give it a shot for you at the least.”

“And if that puts you at odds with your family though… I don’t want to be the cause of that.” Mia expressed shaking her head, Paul had such a wonderful life with everyone around him. She wished she could have what he had, sure she had Callie and some other friends and family but most were conditional.  Paul didn’t have that. They all loved each other and would stand by each other if needed. She couldn’t come between that.

“You won’t be. They’ll understand where I’m coming from.”

“How?” Mia questioned raising an eyebrow at him but Paul looked uncomfortable at the question.  Paul stopped walking a little further up and sat down on a large piece of driftwood. Running his hand through his hair, shaking his head while he looked up at Mia.

“Theres something else. It’s part of the wolf thing, I didn’t think I would have to tell you so soon but I feel like you need to know.” Paul told her sighing as watched the waves crash over the shoreline. Mia looked at him quizzly but stayed silent while she waited for him to find the words to explain whatever he needed to.

“Theres this thing.. After you turn, it supposed to be rare but were not so sure about that. It happens way too much. But when you meet a person and they are basically your soulmate, the wolves have a way to just let you know. But it becomes more than that. It’s a love at first but so much more. Your whole live changes, the universe doesn’t hold you to it but the person does. Being whoever your person needs is who you become. We call it imprinting.” Paul explained to Mia.

Mia stood in silence, her eyes watching the waves soak the sand while her eyes burned. She knew it was too good to be true. She knew Paul was too good be true. “You are forced to want to be with me.” Mia spoke up after a bit her voice cracking while she tried to push back the tears. “It’s not you it’s just some sort of magic or science or whatever.”

“No!” Paul yelled jumping from up from the log, taking Mia face in his hands gently forcing her to look up at him. His thumbs wiping away the tears that slipped down her face. “No.” He said more calmly. “It points us in the right direction. Life is messy and it’s so easy to just let people slip out of it, it’s just a helpful thing to direct you. I think if I wasn’t a wolf and I met you, we would connect, of course, but it wouldn’t be the same. You would travel back to New York and I would be here. Never giving us a chance to figure out how much we care for each other but it just stopped that. Just a jump start at a connection.” Paul tried to explain to her how he saw the imprinting, he was never sure if he wanted to imprint it was a mixed thing. No one seemed unhappy being imprinted but he was happy that it made it so Mia stayed with him instead of going home so fast. He would never know how much he cared for her.

“So the feelings.. they are real?” Mia asked softly trying to stop the tears.

“Yes, yes very real. It’s not like our relationship is going to be perfect and nothing goes wrong. We’ll fight and get on each other nerves. I will defiantly get on yours all the time. And I didn’t love you right away that just comes with knowing what an amazing person you are.”

“But they said how you changed? I don’t want to change you or for you to be less... you just because of me.”

“Didn’t you change while growing up? If we had met a few years ago, I don’t think anything you could have said would have changed my mind. But we have been through some things, I can explain some another time but I’m not the angry hot head that I once was.. well as much.” Paul smirked at her.  “Not everything is the same and the world isn’t good guys and bad guys. I would rather have no vampires that is pretty much true but some are decent. And you said she doesn’t have the desire to kill which is also a huge help. I’m not saying I’m completely cool with it but I can’t control you.” Paul said taking her hands in his pulling her close to him as Mia still looked worryingly into his eyes.

“I’m here because I want too. If this is too much and you want to leave, I understand that too.” Paul told her wanting to make sure she had an out. But Mia didn’t need one, the world of magic was nothing new to her and what was one more magical creature in her life. Wasn’t it a reader’s dream to fall into the world in the books you read. And here she was living in that world. Vampires and werewolves and falling for a man who loves her and living out all her dreams. Mia had a hard time being anything but happy right now.

Reaching up she placed both hands on the side of Paul’s face pulling him towards her to kiss him, she could feel the physical release of Paul’s body when she did as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Mia didn’t know how long they stood on the beach but the cold raindrops cut them off. Wrapping her hand into Paul’s as they ran back to Sam’s and Emily’s house to try getting out of the rain.

But when they showed up they were soaked, their clothes dripping over the covered porch as they laughed looking at each other.  Mia opened up the front door but made sure to stay outside not wanting to soak Emily’s floors. Quil, Sam and Embry were sitting at the small dining room table talking over what Mia told them. She was embarrassed but she figured she would be a topic of conversation for a little bit at least.

“Erm.. Can I have my keys? I would get it but bit wet.” Mia said gesturing to her dripping clothes.

Quil got up from his spot to hand her the keys from where she had left on the counter closet to him.

“I want to say sorry. I shouldn’t have said what I said.” Quil told her and looking over her shoulder at Paul mainly but gave her a small embarrassed smile.

“Don’t worry about it. I get it.” Paul said forgiving him already, he understood where Quil was coming from, even if it pissed him off when he said it Quil was only pointing it out.

Quill face broke out in a huge smile, removing any sort of tension left behind. “So I take it you guys are good? No freak out?” He asked looking back at Mia who just shook her head at Quil.

“Not today.”

“Good. Paul would not be fun if you did. Though you did have a cheat to the freaky.”

“Don’t make me regret forgiving you.” Paul growled in a joking tone at him, Mia just rolled her eyes at the two of them.

“Well I’m going to the hotel to get dry clothes since day plans changed. Paul wanna come watch a movie? I think I have your bag in my car with clothes in it too.” Mia said turning back to Paul slightly shivering as a gust a wind blew across the yard. She needed to get out of these clothes before she ended up sick.

“Sounds great. Bye guys!” Paul yelled slightly into the house but Paul and Mia ran towards her car in the rain trying to climb in as fast as possible before they answered back. Mia quickly turned the car on and blasted the heat causing Paul to groan but still sat close to Mia to warm her up.

Mia was quiet on the way to the hotel, just going over everything Paul had told her today. It wasn’t everyday your boyfriend tells you he can turn into a giant wolf and all of his friends do too. Mia wondered what other creatures were actually real and people just didn’t know about them.

“Are you really okay with it?” Paul questioned nervous when they pulled into the parking lot, Mia was able to look at him giving him a small comforting smile.

“I have a vampire best friend. Who only by chance doesn’t kill. This is nothing. You are simply more special now. Now let’s get soaked again. Don’t forget your bag!” She called out before flinging open the door and quickly running to her hotel door with Paul trailing after her.

Paul quickly ran to the bathroom when they entered as Mia stayed in the main room to get out of the clothes. Once she was dressed in a pair of leggings and a hoodie Paul brought over last time he was here for a movie night, which she was pretty sure he brought over for her to keep since he never seemed to need it… which was probably a wolf thing now that she thought about it. But she made her way over to the closed bathroom door giving it a small knock.

“All clear!” She called out to him giving him a grin when Paul made his way out of the bathroom in a pair of shorts and a tank top. Mia jumped on the bed as Paul curled up next to her, causally throwing his arm over her shoulder and kissing her temple.

Flicking through Netflix to find some sort of movie to watch, when Mia grinned at Paul and turned on the Teen Wolf movie. Paul just groaned at her and pulled her back against himself giving her a grin. “Sooo what are wolf things? Clearly turning into wolves and super smell.” Mia questioned him not really paying attention to the movie.

“We are fast. Faster than blood suckers. Sorry” Paul said at Mia wince at the word. “Vampires. We have really good hearing and eyesight. We stop aging while we are changing. So when we first start the process we age to where we are now and just kind of hit pause for a while.”

“You don’t age?! Why does no one in my life age but me! I mean sure I don’t want to be a teen forever but jez.” Mia said rolling her eyes at another person in her life just frozen in time, she almost felt bad for them unable to fully live a life normally.

“I’m sorry.” Paul said laughing. “I will age with you. I just need to stop becoming a wolf and I’m not sure I’m ready for that yet.”

“Understandable. So this super warm thing, werewolf?” Mia said running her hand down Paul’s arm feeling the heat radiate off of him.

“Yupp.” Paul confirmed intertwining their hands together and kissing her knuckles softly. “I don’t understand that part. It’s just a thing that happens.”

“Odd. What else?”  Mia questioned, looking up at Paul wanting to know everything about him. Mia was fascinated just as she was when they figured out Callie was a vampire. The two spent hours researching and testing the limits of what Callie could do.

“We heal faster, skin is tougher both to fight vampires. Oh! When we are in wolf form we can hear each other’s thoughts. Every little one, even the ones we don’t want to.”  Paull added on like it was no big deal.

Mia raised an eyebrow at the idea of someone in her head, she would hate everyone hearing the strange thoughts that pop in but it would explain why everyone is so close. They had no choice but to be. It was a good thing they all got along or it seems like it would be awful thing to deal with.

“Sounds..I dunno. I’m not sure I would like that.” Mia told him.

“It has good and bad. You learn to somewhat control your thoughts. Kind of embarrassing when you are remembering kissing a pretty girl and everyone sees it.” Paul chuckled shaking his head.

“How many pretty girls did you kiss before?” Mia asked teasingly.

“Hmmm none as pretty as you precious. And I rather not share my memories of you to them. I want to keep them and you all to myself.” Paul said running his large hand up her arm and placed a hand on her cheek tilting her face up so he could kiss her. Mia rolled her eyes at the response but gladly reacted to Paul.

Mia smiled into the kiss pulling her body close to his as possible, Paul’s hand gripping her sides as she deepened the kiss, throwing her leg over Paul’s so she could straddle him. She could feel Paul’s heat surround her as his mouth moved down to Mia’s neck as she let out a soft moan. They found themselves in this position quite a bit in the last couple weeks but something seemed different. Maybe it was because there were no more secrets between them or maybe it was just the act of getting to know Paul but she wanted more. She wanted him. Taking a deep breath, she pulled back from Paul slightly, grabbing the of the bottom of the hoodie she pulled it off her feeling the cold air against her skin.

Smiling as Paul’s eyes roamed over her body, taking encouragement from it she leaned back forward to kiss him once again, his hands running up her back playing with the back of her bra.

“Go ahead.” She whispered, feeling her cheeks turn a bright shade of red but tried to appear confident. Yes, she was sure she wanted Paul but it didn’t help her awkwardness or shyness any. But Paul loved her and she loved him, she just needed to focus on that and maybe his lips trailing across her chest. It was a good distraction to get out of her own head.

“You sure you want to?” Paul asked seriously, pausing his movement to make sure Mia was fully looking at him and paying attention.

“I’m sure.” Mia confirmed, giving him a smile letting Paul take over control.

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[sometimes-she-becomes-it]

can we have justa bit of dialogue written, maybe with the prompt that you reblogged, specifically “it’s either them or me”

The hands on her waist pressed in harshly, slowly pushing her against the wall "It's either them. Or me." Her brother said.

Calliope gasped, a strange, fearful feeling arising in her chest at the words. The way he leaned in, how his lips rose in a snarl, how he put his mouth near her ear for her to hear.... It was all far, far too real.

This scene was supposed to be like that, she supposed. They were acting out a pair of toxic siblings. A possessive brother and an insecure sister. Perhaps that was why they had been chosen for the role. This scene in particular was supposed to be charged with tension, leaving the viewer unsure as to whether Lorde's- that was, Caliborn's character- intentions where simply those of a cruel sibling, or if his desires strayed in more.... Carnal directions.

Caliborn was performing his role well. A little too well.

"It's not-" she swallowed. Breathe in, focus on her character. Right now she wasn't Calliope Masis, she was Musa D'English "It's not like that. They are my friends." She looked her brother in the eye. Her brother looked at her like he wanted to *devour* her. "I will not abandon them for you." She stated, trying to act brave. Musa was supposed to be brave here. To show how much she had grown.

Callie was finding it increasingly hard to be brave right now.

"Sure." Caliborn Lorde said "See if you say the same thing when your friends all see you for the useless creature you are." He took a step closer. She took a step back. Her back hit a wall "I'm the only one who could ever want you sister. Soon enough you're going to realize that. And when you do-" he grabbed her chin and raised it slightly, exposing her neck to him. He leaned down and licked her neck, dragging his teeth over the vein slightly "That's when you'll understand you're mine. Always have been."

She gasped, breathing in, shuddering. She raised her hand to where he had licked her.

That had not been part of the script.

Cal- Lorde- Cal? Turned around and left her there, shaking, until she slid down the wall and curled up in fetal position. She was scared and frightened and confused and-

"END SCENE!"

And she was still at her job.

The director, one Mr. Weiste, walked towards her and helped her get up from the floor.

"Miss Masis- that performance- it was so real! At the beginning I doubted Ma'am Shelle's choice to let you in on the cast but by god, this scene- you made it so powerful! How did you make it so real?" Suddenly Mr Weiste turned around and extended his arms in greeting "And the man of the moment! I must applaud your performance too, Mr. I know Lorde D'English can be a complicated character to portray- Half our prospective actors rejected the audition for a reason- but you are absolutely killing the performance!"

"Thank you, Mr. Weiste." Caliborn spoke, a too sharp smile on his face "Sometimes it feels as if this character was made for me." His eyes strayed to her "Just as Musa seems made for my sister."

The hunger remained in his eyes. They were offstage so why was he still looking at her like that-

"Well, as I already told your sister" she flinched "I cannot wait to see how you both portray the developing conflict between the D'English twins- if you keep it up like this, I'm sure you'll do an excellent job. Both your performances were very very real!"

Yes. Very real indeed. As she quietly excuse herself from the conversation, she made a mental note to avoid her brother as much as possible.

[justanothersquidblog]

wait i wanna know more about the idol's parents👀

inhales

ok so

Same and Harshika are the current heads of the Hohojiro and Onaga clan (Big Man is a head too but that's cause his Big Mama is,,, not present, anymore. And Big Dad didn't/couldn't handle the role.)

Same's @potat0bag 's character technichally so if you want more lore on her you should ask them.

But! I made Harshika. And she is the only daughter of the previous head of the Onaga clan and is known for two things; her taste for travel and her Laughter. She and Same used to be rivals due to Harshika's slightly obnoxious nature and Same's draw to seriousness but they became eventually life long friends.

Here's them when they were younger!

-

As for Umi, Nori, and Don- Well... ok they got the most lore hang tight.

Nori and Umi are twins! But they've always been very different.

Umi was a party girl, Craig unintentionally gave her a complex at a young age trying to lovingly (VERY SPECIFICALLY HE THOUGHT THIS WAS HELPFUL AND KIND HE'S FROM A WAR ERA) reassure her that “oh you don’t have to work, since you’re the pretty sister!” so she became pretty reckless and irresponsible while being impossibly bubbly (trying to hide her insecurities)

Meanwhile Nori was “the smart sister” who was gonna be all this smart stuff and make sure Craig wasn’t sick, make sure she had enough money to keep their home, make sure Craig could retire, cause she was the smart one-

So Umi and Nori were also sorta set up to be competitive. Everyone who knew them had this need to put them against each other. But they were always secretly very close. Still though- that didn't stop them from drifting away from each other by outer forces.

Nori ended up marrying her best friend (Don, Marie's dad) who was good with money and they worked well together so of course they were in love right??

Wrong they were both gay. They still stayed married though! And are pretty happy despite not being into each other. Tax benefits yknow! And they only figured out they were gay after having little baby Marie so that made things a bit complicated- they decided to stay together mostly for her so she could have a more normal childhood. Marie loves them a lot, they love her too!

A little before that however, Umi had basically ran away. To Inkopolis! Where she was chasing fame and stardom and love and anything outside the countryside! Umi just really wanted to be something and do something. Be something special. To have something she worked really hard for that her dad could be proud of.

Except... Umi comes back one rainy night with half of the belongings she left with and... just knocks on Nori's door all ashamed and defeated.

And she wasn't alone.!

Umi had a lil bebe Callie with her in her arms that night and she needed home. And so with out a second of hesitance, she was welcomed by her sister's arms.

Umi, Nori, and Don all helped raise the two cousins. And let's be clear, Umi absolutely adores Callie though despite everything that may have happened in the city and is cautiously supportive of Callie and Marie's own idol careers. She's never planned to go out of Calamari County again though, she's been a bit, shaken. And prefers the home life.

Umi works currently as a Music Teacher for kids in Calamari County and is who taught Marie and Callie how to sing! Nori is a town doctor and Don is a computer whizz. They all like to watch videos on the Squid Sisters to show their support.

[soap-lady]

A little spotlight on Tiffany

@idreamtofmanderleyagain @angelqueen13art @tenebrare

I figured it was time Tiffany got a little focus so...here you go?

Tiffany is in Heaven

Not literally, of course, and hopefully not for a long time. She was finally among her peers again and while she was still seeing a therapist once a week, she was happy. It also helped that she had discovered a trust fund her mother and father had set up for her when she was born, plus she might receive a settlement from the government over the Channard Institute fiasco. Now she didn’t have to worry about college or being too financially dependent on anyone.

Tiffany had also made a few friends. One of which was Mrs. Lopez’ son Antonio, a shy smart boy with a not too secret love for robots. He tried to flirt with Tiffany but was too awkward so they settled on being friends for now.

Another and rapidly becoming her best friend was an outgoing, athletic redhead named Callie Conolly. They had homeroom, math, and science together and hit it off over a mutual love of engineering and bad sci-fi movies from the Fifties. Their friendship was adorable.

Tiffany came home nearly every day with stories that usually began with “Well, Callie said,” and then launched into funny stories about “some trifling moron” and Callie’s response. The girl was rapidly becoming a Callie Database.

Callie didn’t like asparagus. Callie had been playing soccer and baseball since she was five. Callie’s parents were named Dan and Moira and were rather shy but raised their daughter to find her own path in life. They were both engineers. They belonged to a farming co-op and got fresh vegetables every week in exchange for a nominal fee and some light labor.

“So, when are you going to ask her out?” Kirsty asked over dinner one night.

Elliot raised a brow but Tiffany just rolled her eyes. “Sis, I’m pretty sure I just like guys. We’re only friends. Besides, Callie has a boyfriend. Josh.” She made a disgusted face when she said the name. “He’s sixteen and has a car. He's kind of a douche canoe but Callie seems to like him.”

“I think friendship is an excellent basis for a relationship,” Kirsty spoke up. “A good solid foundation, friends-to-lovers trope. I mean, Steve and I were friends all through high school and it definitely helped. But yeah, he was also a douche canoe. And weak.”

Elliot twitched at the mention of Kirsty’s ex-suitor. Boyfriend. He’d done nothing to protect Kirsty and had vanished when she needed him most. Not that she needed protecting; what she needed was a fellow knight to fight at her side and guard her back as she would guard him. He was glad the boy was gone but Kirsty deserved better.

They started discussing the possibility of Callie spending the night one weekend. Kirsty promised she’d think about it but first she wanted to talk to the other girl’s parents. “Feel them out,” was the way she put it.

Tiffany’s grades were excellent so far. A’s mostly but a B or two in the subjects she didn’t like as much. Like Music. Or History.

“Ugh. History is so boring!” She groaned, dramatic in the way only a teenager can be. “The book could cure insomnia and my teacher, Mr. Harris just drones on and on about important dates and battles and can even make things like a bunch of soldiers getting blown up as exciting as a doctor’s visit.”

“Oh?” Elliot’s attention perked up. “What exactly are you studying?”

Tiffany hesitated, then showed him her textbook. “World War I. We’re supposed to write a paper from a soldier’s perspective but include facts and dates as well.  I didn’t…”

“...want to bring up bad memories for me? That’s very thoughtful of you, Tiffany.” He smiled at his ward. “It’s all right. If my experiences help you with history class, I’m more than happy to share them with you.”

Kirsty was off running errands, meeting with lawyers and buying groceries so the two of them sat at the kitchen table and looked over Tiffany’s textbook.

Elliot shook his head in disgust. The editors had reduced the struggles of him, his officers, and his troops down to bland things like dates and locations.

For a moment he was there. He could smell the pungent sulfuric scent of gunpowder, hear the screams of dying men as they called for their mothers. His stomach churned with a strange mix of hunger and nausea and he didn’t hear Tiffany calling his name until she touched his hand.

She looked scared and worried. “Hey, we can stop. You don’t have to help me if this hurts you.”

Her concern touched him. It had been so long since someone genuinely cared if he was hurt or uncomfortable. It was an interesting novelty after decades of being a Cenobite. He was sure his Order cared about him and each other as much as they could but their ways of showing affection involved agony. 

He tried to remember that a simple touch didn’t have to lead to the carving of flesh or the skinning of limbs. His life no longer involved the sounds of screams or being summoned to harvest souls. He wasn’t the Hell Priest. He was Elliot Spencer. And he got to decide who and what he wanted to do with his life.

Elliot began to tell Tiffany about some of his experiences during the war. He carefully edited some of the details but she still gasped and held his hand in parts. Once he thought he’d given her enough information he decided to change the subject.

“So, how are things with you? Besides struggling with schoolwork I mean.” His words sounded stiff and forced, like his father had spoken to him when he was a boy. He was confident of his charm with grown women, but had no idea how to relate to a young girl.

He tried again. “Do you…like your school? Would you rather go to a school closer to home? How well do your teachers treat you? Shall I speak to them for you, or Kirsty could, if you’d rather.”

Kirsty knew this modern world and what was expected. Kirsty had been a teenaged girl and knew how they thought and what they felt. He was rapidly approaching middle age and had never gotten along with his younger sister. No doubt Marilla had married, had children, and was long gone by now.

Tiffany just smiled. “It’s hard for you, isn’t it? This whole,” she made a circle with her hand, “being alive again thing? Being part of a family?”

He felt ashamed. He was supposed to be the adult, the strong protector. He’d been a soldier, dammit, trained to kill. He’d flayed people alive and enjoyed it. Why was it difficult to articulate how he felt?

Elliot nodded. “Yes, I suppose you could say that.” He sighed and closed the book, turning towards his new “little sister”.

“I was never encouraged to show weakness or uncertainty, even as a child,” he ignored her sympathetic glance and went on. “I had family tradition to uphold, so I was turned over to a nanny and then a governess before finally being shipped off to boarding school.” She kept her hand on his and he felt comforted despite himself.

“Then I…well, drifted out of school and into the Army because it was expected that the second son of a very old military family would join. So I did.”

She nodded to show she was listening. “Did you like it?”

He laughed and shook his head. “No! I hated the Army and I wasn’t really good at it. The officers looked down on me because my family was Gentry and not Nobility and the common soldiers thought I was too posh and didn’t want anything to do with me.”

Tiffany let his hand go and frowned. “So, you didn’t have any friends at all?”

“In school? One or two. In the Army, once the Great War started and I was sent to the front, I had one. A name and a face came to mind, a person he hadn’t thought of in decades. Sergeant Jack Brown. Nice chap, big family. Told me after the war he’d have me ‘round for Christmas to meet his family.” He sighed. “Jack died during the third Battle for Flanders. Mortar fire. Quick, so that was a mercy.”

He didn’t want to remember the smile on Jack’s face the last time he saw him or remember the letter of thanks he’d received from Jack’s wife thanking him for informing her of her husband’s death. She’d been expecting again when Jack shipped out. He wondered what had happened to her.

Tiffany nudged his shoulder to knock him out of whatever dark thoughts had overtaken him. “Hey, wanna know a secret? Something I haven’t even told Callie or Kirsty yet.” She gave him a conspiratory wink then turned serious. “But don’t tell either of them. I wanna tell them when I’m ready.”

Elliot raised a hand. “You have my word.”

She leaned in a little closer and lowered her voice, even though they were the only ones there. “There’s a guy I like.”

He hid his hands in his lap and tried to look interested but still neutral. “Someone in your class? That Antonio lad?”

She giggled and dismissed the boy with a wave of her hand. “Again, like Callie, Tonio is just a friend. Probably the nicest guy I know, so if he asked me out I’d go out once but only on a friend date.”

He was feeling a bit confused by her terminology. “And…a boy you would…date…is in a different category?”

“Oh, yeah. Definitely,” she nodded and explained. “You see…you can hang out with friends; go to the movies, eat pizza, talk about dreams or feelings  but there’s no romance involved, you know?” He nodded like he understood.

“But a guy…or girl…you wanna date? You wanna do all that stuff you might do with a friend but you also want to…be alone with them, hold hands, maybe do some kissing?”

He drew back and told her sternly. “Not on the first date, I hope.”

Tiffany rolled her eyes at his old-fashioned statement and he felt very old. When he was young, a kiss was a serious declaration of intent; and very private. His grandfather had once told him he could only kiss his grandmother once they were engaged. This new era with its public displays of affection was foreign to him. He couldn’t imagine kissing anyone in his Order, it would have been unprofessional.

She took pity on him and said, “Okay. Not on the first date. Just for you, Cousin Elliot.”

She stood up, gathered her school things and then leaned down to kiss him on the temple. “Thanks for all the help. Love you.”

“I love you too, Tiffany,” he replied and meant it. He listened to her go upstairs and began setting the table for supper. Kirsty would be home soon and then they’d prepare the meal and eat together.  It made him smile to think of the three of them sitting around the table, laughing and joking and sharing what they did that day with each other. 

He was fortunate to have their affection and care. He looked forward to Tiffany growing up, learning everything her current school could teach her and then going off to university and taking her rightful place in the world. He would miss her but he was certain she would come to visit and tell them all about the amazing things she’d seen and done. He looked forward to hearing about her adventures one day.

For now he would be here to support her in any way he could, even if it was only listening to her talk about young men she liked and giving advice; that, or keeping the bad sort away by terrifying them into staying away from Tiffany. Or perhaps he and Kirsty could take turns intimidating them.

*****

One week later Tiffany burst out of the car as soon as Kirsty put it in park and ran into the house. The embrace she gave Elliot was something between a hug and a flying tackle.

“Ooof!” was all he managed as he held onto the back of the couch to keep from hitting the floor.

The girl jumped up and down in her excitement. “I got an A! I got an A on the paper you helped me write!” She hugged him again and after a pause he hugged her back. 

Tiffany continued to talk to him about her day. “Mr. Harris said my paper was not only factual but he felt he was reading an actual soldier's account of living conditions in the trenches!”

“That might be because he was,” Kirsty walked in the house and closed the door behind her. After putting her car keys in a shell on a table near the entry she grinned at Elliot. “Honey, we’re home.”

“Welcome home, my dears,” he smiled at her and Tiffany.

“What’s for dinner?” Tiffany asked.

He thought about it. “Well, in honor of Tiffany’s academic achievement, why don’t we order takeaway?”

Tiffany’s hand shot in the air. “I call tacos!”

“Tacos!” Kirsty seconded and then started calling the local Mexican restaurant that had replaced her father’s favorite Chinese place.

Elliot sighed. He only managed to get his hand halfway up during these challenges. “I never get to pick the restaurant.”

“We are not having chicken vindaloo!”