#and he was all weird when he talked to me about it and i said idgaf and wouldnt judge him because it wasnt weird of him to like her

[cheeseceli]

When they have a crush

Pairing: ot7 BTS × Gn!reader (individually)

Genre: headcanon, fluff

Request: types of dumb or random things bts members will do while they are crushing on someone and wants their attention?

Warnings: mentions of food at jin's

A/n: I feel like I'm getting better at making the layout of these posts :)

Jin

‌This man ain't even trying to bring out his boyfriend material

‌He's going for the husband material

‌Cooks for you quite a lot

‌Always bringing you some lunch or just a few baked goodies (and never allowing the boys to eat it beforehand)

‌Runs errands with you because he "has nothing better to do" when in reality he's just desperate to be with you for a while

‌He even has "cleaning dates" with you😭

‌I see him to be a huge fan of domesticity ngl

‌So if there's anything he can do to bring out this side in your relationship, even if you're only on the friendship stage yet, you can bet that's what he's gonna do

‌And he 100% expects your friends to make the "you seem like an old married couple" jokes because !!

‌That's precisely his goal!!

‌Once he gets to know your family, he even wants your family to be expecting the day you'll both start to date

‌Jin is just the definition of husband material and he knows it, that's how he tries to make you look at him

Suga

‌Stick to the end and hear me out

‌Jokes

‌I know how that sounds but I promise you it makes sense😭

‌Yoongi is the typa guy to be effortlessly (and questionably) funny

‌Like that one time the staff said "whoever has the ball wins" and he replied with "then we are all winners"

‌However !

‌He keeps on doing those jokes like he'd always do

‌But now he unconsciously looks at your direction

‌Would you laugh? Would you find it weird? Did you even pay attention?

‌If, after developing this crush of him, he notices that you actually laugh at his jokes

‌You can be sure he'll do them a lot

‌But it's so subtle you don't even notice he's doing it to make you laugh/have your attention

‌However, he does pay attention to you quite a lot so he can always be the first one to notice your smile growing

J-hope

‌Endless excuses to see you

‌He will purposely "forget" his things at your place just so he can go back there (and forget some more things)

‌It's an infinite cycle

‌Sometimes he will accidentally leave his sweatshirts with you

‌And then he'll be like "could you give it back to me? We can go to that restaurant I was telling you about and then you can give it to me"

‌But then he will tell you that the night is cold so it's okay if you want to wear his sweatshirt while you're both out

‌And then he also forgets to take it back

‌Wow who would ever imagine this could happen

‌So now you both need to see each other again because he really wants that sweatshirt

‌Bro is still trying to grow the courage to properly ask you out

‌So even if you do catch up on his small antics, please engage on it

‌He just needs a little bit of impulse 😭

Namjoon

‌Whenever he wants your attention, he starts to talk

‌And with that I mean he TALKS

‌Won't shut up for a second

‌And he won't even make sense, bro is talking about the dumbest and more random things you could ever imagine

‌ "I wouldn't want to live in mars, it sounds depressing. Neptune sounds cool though, don't you think?"

‌Like?? How do you want me to answer to that hun😭

‌But it's kinda sweet because he becomes a professional yapper to gain your attention, but once he gets it he let's you do all the talking

‌He didn't really want to talk, he just wanted you to be there with him

‌So you can talk all you want, he will pay attention to every single word with a little smile on his face

Jimin

‌Deadass stares at you

‌Not in a creepy way tho, just in a "please look at me I really want your attention right now"

‌And will keep on staring at you until you give in

‌Heavy on physical touch as well

‌At this stage of your relationship, everything is friendly of course

‌Because he is scared of letting you know he's in love with you💀 even if that's pretty much the whole point

‌However

‌He still craves a lot of your touch

‌Hugs all the time, holds and plays with your hand, the same goes to your hair...

‌Sometimes you can't even go somewhere without him following you like a shadow

‌Trust me, if he wants your attention he will find a way to have it

Taehyung

‌He will ask for it

‌Like, literally

‌I see him as a very straightforward person so he'll just be like "y/n pay attention to me"

‌Multiple times, until you actually do stop whatever you were doing and look at him

‌And his reaction will be like 😄

‌I see him doing this slightly more subtly when he's trying to get your attention from someone else

‌If he feels you're talking to Jin, for example, for a very long while now, he won't hesitate on sitting next to you

‌And kinda throwing himself on top of you

‌lmao scratch what I said, that's not subtle at all

‌But at least he doesn't say what he wants from you out loud ig

Jungkook

‌You think this man is competitive?

‌That's because you haven't seen him trying to impress you

‌Are you watching the dance practice? You can bet that Jungkook is giving 3 times his all

‌Are you watching the recording? Bro becomes Mariah Carey in two seconds

‌The boys' biggest fear is when they are playing basketball or something like that and you're watching it

‌They KNOW they are going to lose

‌It can be a 6×1, nothing is stopping him from impressing you like that

‌But if you're the one playing against him? He's probably gonna win the match no matter what, but he's going to be extremely soft at least!

‌Please do compliment him on how he was, he needs to know it was worth it😭

Masterlist | you'll probably like: when you're rejected by your crush

Thank you for reading <3

Taglist (open!): @yuyubeans

Credits for images 1 , 2 and 3

Dividers by @k1ssyoursister

[sunshine-on-marz]

The brightest

Aaron Hotchner x Sunshine!Reader

In which Hotch’s grumpy reputation may be on the line

Dedicated to my pookie bestie boo @st4rgzer

The Aaron Hotchner had smiled 6 times in 2 days. Spencer counted. It also just so happened that you joined the BAU 2 days ago. You’d transferred from a different unit, where you only worked for a few weeks before they suggested you move to the behavioral analyst unit, namely because you kept profiling, very accurately, and completely on accident. Well it wasn’t exactly an accident, but you had no clue you could make reading people a job, it was always just something you did. It was honestly insanely impressive. What might be more impressive is just how much you lit up the bureau from the moment you walked in. Your smile far brighter than the painfully fluorescent lights, and from the moment Hotch greeted you he knew he was in trouble

Something about your everything has him absolutely enthralled. The way you absentmindedly fidgeted with your shirt, your smile, your laugh, the small comments and jokes you make during conversations, all the small favors you do for the team, all of it had him head over heels.

The rest of the team was starting to get weirded out. In this very moment Emily was trying her best to explain to you that no, Hotch isn’t ‘nice’. He’s caring and fatherly but he’s not ‘nice’. “Honestly it’s really really insane that you’re calling him nice and it’s even more insane that you’re not wrong, I’ve literally never seen him be this nice for this long” she explains, Derek walking up behind her “we talkin about Hotch’s crush on the new kid?” He asks, leaning on the back of Emily’s chair before looking up at you “hey sugar” he says, you wave at him through your laughter. “Guys I highly doubt he has a crush on me” you explain “maybe he just likes me.. as a person” you explain. “Y/n he practically has heart eyes when he talks to you” JJ butts in, Spencer lifting his hand with a thumbs up. Just then Rossi walks in “are any of you working?” He asks, Emily answers “we’re working on convincing y/n that Hotch is in love with them”, Rossi just laughs. Which says a lot more then his words ever could. “See?!” Derek shouts, gesturing to Rossi who’s still laughing to himself.

“See what?” Hotch’s voice rang through the bullpen from where he stood at the balcony infront of his office. “Nothing!” Everyone said in unison, other than you, you just sat with a confused, but amused look on your face. “Y/N, my office” Hotch said, Emily and Derek having to cover their mouths to keep from laughing. You, albeit nervously, walk upstairs and to Hotch’s office. “Sir” you say softly as you walk into his office, he follows behind you. “You’re not in trouble” he says, chuckling softly as he watches your shoulders relax. “That’s good- no actually that’s the best thing I’ve heard all day” you say, exasperated and relieved. “I wanted to make sure you were settling in well” he says, you smile “oh yea it’s been great!” you smile “everyone’s been absolutely lovely! You weren’t lying when you said it’s a family here”, he smiles softly “it’s good to know you’re feeling included” he says, he slides you over a peice of paper. “The higher ups want us to start getting written statements from the new hires, to make sure everything’s running smoothly, would you mind filling this out for me?” He asks, you nod, he starts again “well excuse me for a second” he says as he walks out of his office, closing the door behind him and starring at his team who were all standing as close to the wall as possible without being in the window. “Will you all mind your own business?” He says, a sea of small agreement and apologizing spilling from the team as they walk off, only Rossi staying behind. “Yes?” Hotch says, raising an eyebrow as he waits for Rossi’s inevitable, and probably sarcastic, remark. “Let them get through the first week before you ask them out” Rossi says, laughing to himself as he walks away, Hotch just smiles, once again reminded of the downside of working with profilers.

I genuinely didn’t know how to end this sorrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy!!!!

I love you guys so so so much!

Remember to reblog and tell me what you thought of the fic!! Reblogs and feedback make the world keep spinning!!

[artificial-transmutations]

Wrong bag, bro

Music blared from my headphones while I was running on the treadmill when I first saw the guy. It was obviously his first time in the gym, and after having gotten a short introduction, he looked around uncomfortably before approaching the weights. I sighed and stopped the treadmill. It was a good gym, at least judging from the equipment and the cost. The staff, however, was... improvable. It was clear that the new guy had no idea how to start and he would probably hurt himself like that.

"Sup? You're new here?" I said as I approached. He almost jumped when he heard my voice. I took a good look at him when he turned around. He wasn't very fit, at least compared to me. I mean, I'm no bodybuilder, too, but I do go to the gym a few times a week and try to stay in shape. The other guy was visibly unfit, with a small belly and no definition at all, but hey, we all have to start somewhere.

"Uhm. Yes. Actually, I wanted to lose a bit of weight. I'm Jonas. Do you work here?"

I chuckled. "Na, man. I'm Travis, and I just work *out* here. Why are you trying to get fit?"

Jonas seemed to be a bit embarrassed when he answered. "I... hope that will make dating easier. It's hard to find a boyfriend like... this."

He gestured down his body.

"Hey, you should do this for yourself, not for someone else. But yeah, I get what you mean. Chicks dig muscles, too."

The last part was probably unnecessary and somewhat spoiling the message, but I couldn't help it. It was a reflex to make clear I was straight. Really stupid, I know, but hey, that's just the straight genes talking.

Thankfully, Jonas took the hint and didn't hit on me as I showed him the ropes. He was mightily insecure, but a nice dude. After a while, he called it a day and we went to the locker room together. Having started early, I felt it was time to head home, too.

I took out my gym bag from my locker, as did Jonas, and got my soap out.

"Are you not going to shower?" I asked as Jonas just changed to his street shoes.

"Oh, eh, no, I'll shower at home." he said, and I understood. That guy was so self-conscious it would probably be hell for him to shower in a communal shower, so I just shrugged and said:

"Alright. See you around."

After the shower, I went to my gym bag to change into my street clothes but when I opened it, the contents seemed unfamiliar. Of course. Jonas had the same black gym bag as I did and must have grabbed the wrong one. That could happen. I just hoped I'd meet him again so we could swap back the bags. For now, it wasn't that much of a problem. I didn't have any valuables in there, and it seemed that Jonas had brought a towel as well, so I could just use his to dry myself.

What had been in there, however, were my street clothes. I mean, it wasn't a big deal, I could just wear my gym clothes until I got home, but somehow, I got curious and rummaged through the contents of the bag. There was something that immediately jumped into view and that was...

A pair of pink boxer briefs.

I mean seriously? How much gayer could it get?

I was just about to stuff it back into the back, when I hesitated. My gym compression shorts were soaked with sweat, and apparently, the boxer briefs seemed to be clean, I rationalized, but somehow, I *wanted* to put them on, for some weird reason. Well. I shrugged and just acted on the impulse, I mean, it was just a pair of underwear, right?

As it turned out, poor Jonas must have been not that well-endowed. The pair of boxer briefs was awfully tight and hugged my ass and my junk so firmly it was almost a second skin. I looked in the mirror and was a little surprised. My cock wasn't exactly small, but the underwear still didn't leave much to imagination either. But they were clean, and the fabric was quite pleasant to the touch, so I decided I would wear them until I got home.

Man, Jonas was probably in for a surprise when he discovered my XXL jockstrap from my bag. And unlike his - sorry - faggy underwear, I had worn that thing for a day now, so it wasn't exactly clean. I mean, there wasn't any reason for him to put it on, but what if he was curious? Or what if he was a little pervert who liked to experience the smell of a real man?

I shook my head. Where had that thought come from? I quickly got dressed in the rest of *my* clothes and drove home. However, during the drive I couldn't quite shake the thought of how Jonas might just be sniffing my jock, jerking his pathetic little cock furiously while doing so. Man, I really had no idea what was wrong with me today. When I arrived at home, my cock was hard and leaking pre into Jonas tight little pink underwear. Looks like I needed to blow off some steam.

I put on some lesbian porn and fished out my cock and balls from its tight confines. I have to admit that jerking off while wearing Jonas' briefs was oddly exciting.

At first, my eyes were glued to the two chicks on the screen, but as I got close to shooting my load, I leaned back and closed my eyes. Images of Jonas, wearing my much too large jockstrap came immediately and unbidden, but it was too late. With a groan, I came all over my toned and defined upper body.

I needed a moment to recover after that before I could start cleaning up. I stuffed my junk back into the pink underwear without really thinking about it, but realized it wasn't quite as tight as before. Perhaps the fabric was adjusting to my bigger mass. I was just about done with wiping the cum off my chest when my phone dinged with a message from an unknown number:

Unknown number:

"Hey there, it's Jonas, from the gym today. It seems like I grabbed the wrong bag when I left, and I want to return it to you. Can you give me your address?"

I thought about it for a moment while I saved his name to my phone. He probably found my number on the lost and found card, and I was just to agree, when I stopped. There was no rational reason not to swap back the bags as soon as possible and I had no plans for today. But...

Travis:

"Sorry, man, I can't today. How about tomorrow? We can meet at the gym."

I seriously had no idea why I lied, but not-so-little Travis twitched in the underwear as I wrote the message.

Jonas:

"Sounds good. Sorry I took your bag, I only noticed when I got home."

Travis:

"Don't worry, there's nothing important in there. Just my sweaty jockstrap, haha."

What was I doing? Why would I chat with a near stranger about my underwear? I was interrupted by the answer from Jonas.

Jonas:

"Yeah, I have found that thing already."

I hesitated. My cock was straining against pink fabric again, even though I just jerked off a few minutes ago. I really shouldn't be that excited, and I really shouldn't lead the poor gay guy on, but I couldn't help it. My fingers typed all on their own.

Travis:

"I see. And what did you do with it?"

It took a while before the next answer came in, and I feared that I had alienated the guy.

Jonas:

"Well, I'm wearing it right now."

Ha! I knew it! That guy was a pervert after all. I looked down at the tight pink boxer briefs struggling to contain my erection, while a small patch of precum had formed at the tip of the tent. Takes one to know one, right?

Travis:

"That old thing? I'm sure it smells sweaty as hell right now. Can you show me?"

Almost instantly, Jonas sent a picture of himself, wearing only the jock. It was way too big and baggy on him, and I could see his whole body in all of its unfit glory.

But somehow, it didn't look so bad. Absentmindedly, I squeezed my cock while looking at the picture. Then, with a mental "What the hell", I snapped a selfie for Jonas as well, of me wearing his pink boxer briefs. I didn't care to hide my boner, although it was less obvious than I thought. Might as well give him something to drool over, right?

After I had sent the picture, I looked at myself in the mirror some more. There was disappointingly little pump on my frame considering that I just came back from the gym. In fact, I looked even smaller than before I went to the gym. That couldn't be true, right?

But the bathroom scale confirmed. This was crazy! You didn't just lose five kilograms of body mass just like that. Especially, since my body mass was mostly muscles!

I took another look at the mirror, but it was true: my arms, my legs, even my chest. Everything looked less defined than before. And my chest was pretty smooth, too. I usually shave it, but since I have a high testosterone level or something, there's always a stubble remaining. Not so today. As I felt my chest with my hand, there was only smooth skin. What the hell was going on?

I looked back at my phone, and Jonas had answered again.

Jonas:

"Looks good on you, you should wear it more often! ;)"

Did he really think so? My heartbeat quickened on the praise from Jonas, and I could feel my cock reacting again. It must have gotten soft over the whole panicking, but reading this single line from Jonas was enough for it to strain against the tight underwear again.

Except... It wasn't *that* tight anymore. Sure, it was still a pair of boxer briefs and was supposed to cling to the skin, and it did, but before, my muscular ass, pelvis and of course, my large cock had filled it to the breaking point. Not so anymore. In fact, it fit pretty snugly, and although my cock was hard as a rock, the bulge it produced was much smaller than before.

My phone dinged with another message.

Jonas:

"Are you still there, Tray? You're still in for the gym later?"

Later? I thought we had said tomorrow! And why did he call me Tray? I quickly composed an answer.

Travis:

"Do we have to? I thought we'd said tomorrow."

The answer came immediately.

Jonas:

"Stop whining, Tray! I know you wane be big like I, so you must work hart!"

I cringed from the amount of spelling mistakes, but before I could answer, Jonas sent another Pic.

Was that still the same guy as before?! Sure enough, he was wearing my jockstrap, and the face was similar, but boy was he *ripped*. His arms and legs looked like he basically lived in the gym, and his hairy chest was sitting heavily on his perfectly sculpted eight pack abs. He even had a tattoo!

I looked back to the mirror in distress. I was positively scrawny, and not just in comparison. *My* arms and legs looked like twigs from a tree that were about to break from a strong wind. And were Jonas had all that chest hair and stubble on his chin, I was totally hairless, except for my perfectly styled bleached blonde hair.

I started to hyperventilate and had to lean on the sink to not fall.

What the hell was happening here?!

The phone dinged again, and I picked it up.

Jonas:

"Excpext yu wantto let ur tongue work out insted Todays bitch canceled and I Ned so to worship my "

It was getting really difficult to read, but I got the gist of it. But that wasn't right, right? Jonas was gay, just as me, and... Hold on, I... No, Jonas. Jonas wasn't gay, he was bi. Of course, with that fuck stick inside his smelly jockstrap, he'd fuck everything that moves.

All by itself, my hand had entered my pink boxer briefs and was jerking like crazy. Luckily, there was enough room in the underwear, as it was a bit loose usually. Even with my delicate hands, I couldn't close my hand around my shaft, it was just too small for that. So, I jerked with two fingers until I could finally stop myself. My cock wasn't as important for the upcoming meeting as my beautiful ass and my eager tongue that would submissively lap up every drop of sweat from Jonas manly body, so he would reward me with that magnificent cock of his. But still, no need to spoil the fun.

Tray:

"I'm coming over right now, Sir!"

I hope you enjoyed this little switchup! A few additional images can be found at my tip jar :)

[ush1wakas]

“Do you think Tendou plays better than me?”

SUMMARY: The Super Ace of Shiratorizawa overheard a conversation between his teammates and his crush... and he did not like it. PAIRING(S): Ushijima Wakatoshi x Reader WARNINGS: fem!reader, fluff, maybe a bit ooc (?) NOTES: I will definitely make this a series. Also, I love Ushiwaka with all of my heart so I kinda wrote this for myself HAHAHA OMG TOSHI NEEDS MORE LOVE!!!

The first time Ushijima Wakatoshi met you was when you went to the gym to return Tendou Satori’s book. Apparently the two of you had gotten your books mixed up. After profusely apologizing, Tendou had asked the stoic captain to accompany you while he ran to the locker room to get your book from his bag. 

Awkwardly, Ushijima carried out his mission, making small talk with you (the small talk was asking for your name and class, then proceeding to stay silent). His first impression of you was that you’re quite shy and polite. He felt pleasantly surprised when you didn’t show an ounce of awkwardness even when the two of you stood silently. His teammates would always say that he’s bad at socializing and can often seem intimidating because of his quietness, but the silence that engulfed the two of you was comfortable and natural.

So imagine his surprise when Tendou returned and a switch in you immediately flips: there are not a lot of people who can match Tendou’s energy, but you easily adjusted yourself to his quirkiness, laughing along with his jokes. You waved to Tendou casually before turning to him and bowing slightly, bidding him goodbye with a “Well, see you around, Ushijima-kun.”

As time goes by, he starts to notice how you seem to appear more often. Sometimes you accompanied Tendou to the gym before going somewhere else, other times you arrived after the team finished practice, walking off with Tendou. The Shiratorizawa team has also gotten to know you as ‘(Name), Tendou’s friend’, as you’re really the only person they have seen Tendou hang out with.

To say that he is curious is an understatement. He can’t deny that he really wants to know who you are. Since when did Tendou have such a pretty friend? Why didn’t he ever tell him about you, when he would yap about anything and everything? Were you dating?

“Oh, she’s my seatmate. She’s a really cool kid, so we kinda vibe.” Was Tendou’s answer when he asked more about you. Truthfully, he wasn’t satisfied with that answer. But he kept quiet because he felt weird asking questions about his friend’s friend.

And then, that thing happened.

It was just another afternoon. The team just finished practice, everyone was chatting amongst themselves, and you were there again to pick up Tendou. Lately Goshiki and Ohira had also joined your conversations with Tendou, and the four of you were chatting away happily.

Ushijima pretended to drop his towel near the four of you and took his sweet time to pick it from the ground, shamelessly eavesdropping on your conversation.

“So, you’ve watched our matches, right? Do you think we did just as well as when we practice?” Goshiki asked curiously.

You hummed, “I don’t know much about volleyball, but… I think so, yeah! It’s always fun watching you guys play.”

“Then…” Ohira looked at you, “who do you think plays the best?” He asked, half jokingly.

“That’s an easy question, senpai,” Goshiki interjected, “Of course it’s gotta be our ace, right?”

“Yeah, that’s not fair! You should’ve asked for second best.” Tendou begrudgingly agreed.

Ushijima’s ears perked up as he pretended to wipe his forehead, turning around to look the other way with his feet still rooted to the ground. His heart started beating a bit faster at the thought of you complimenting him. ‘Logically speaking, I usually score the most points, so it can be said that I play the best, right?’

“Actually,” You grinned, “I have a different opinion.”

“Ehhh?? Really?? No way!!” Goshiki exclaimed excitedly, “Senpai, you think I’m better than our team’s ace?!”

“Hey now, she didn’t say that…”

“Maybe soon, Goshiki-kun. But now, I think… Tori-kun plays the best!” You cheered as the three boys cried out in surprise.

“Tendou?! Really?! Umm, no offense to you, Tendou..”

“Well, I have to admit, the Guess Monster is terrifying when he gets all pumped up…”

“Ehhh, (Name)-chan, you’re making me blush!”

Ushijima’s skin crawled.

“I’m not lying! The way your hand suddenly changes directions and BOOM! Blocked! I’m like, how the heck does he do that?!”

“Damn, Tendou, it must be nice to have a friend who hypes you up like (Name)-san.”

“Oh, but you’re really cool too, Reon-kun! I mean, that’s not even up for debate! And you too, Goshiki-kun! I think one of these days you can become the new ace!”

“Ehhhh!??! Senpai, I like you!”

“Don’t feed into his delusions.”

Ushijima knew that you were a kind person, and maybe you weren’t that familiar with volleyball, or you were just trying to make your friends happy, but…

He gripped his towel.

Hard.

BAM!

The ball went flying through Tendou’s outstretched arms at such a speed that he thought it would blow his head off with it.

Tendou was used to Ushiwaka’s spikes. He was the Super Ace’s teammate, after all, but… He looked up, his heart nearly stopping when he saw the expression on Ushijima’s face.

Like he was going to swallow him whole.

“Don’t mind, Tori-kun!!”

Upon hearing your cheer, Tendou raised an eyebrow at how his captain’s expression twisted even more. He put on a wronged face as Ushijima gave him a glare and turned away.

‘What did I do?!’

Next to him, Ohira Reon was gasping for breath. He had been running around, digging balls and sending spikes, trying to win the 2v2 against Ushijima Wakatoshi and Semi Eita. But it was just not working. Of course it wasn’t working, the game was rigged! Whoever got Ushiwaka on his team is playing with cheats!

On the other side of the net, Semi glanced at Ushijima in hesitation. Ushijima had played like a cannon, receiving the ball perfectly for him to set and missing no beat in jumping and spiking the ball, sometimes right into the hands of his teammates on the other side, only for the ball to immediately bounce away. He could’ve aimed it elsewhere, but… to aim it towards Tendou and Ohira’s hands was like highlighting that even if the ball made contact with their hands, they couldn’t receive it anyway.

Well, it wasn’t that hard to guess where Ushijima would spike the ball. To be able to receive those spikes, though… now that was a skill on its own. Especially when he was playing like he’s trying to impress an Olympics coach.

To no one’s surprise, the practice ended with Ushijima-Semi’s win. Well, it was more like Ushijima’s win, with more than half of the points being his service aces. On any other day, their opponents would put up more of a fight, however Tendou had said earlier that he was feeling a bit under the weather.

Pretending like he didn’t hear anything, Ushijima insisted on playing against Tendou and Ohira, choosing not to cut Tendou any slack, spiking balls to his direction like he was trying to hit him on purpose. Ohira was no better, getting almost no chance to spike since receiving Ushijima’s unusually harder-than-ever spike serves was a real struggle in itself.

Tendou and Ohira regrouped with Semi and exchanged glances with the rest of the team, wondering what on earth caused their captain’s horrible mood. Ignoring their stares, Ushijima walked towards the person he had been focusing on.

“(Name).” Towering above you with a height of 189cm, Ushijima addressed you stoically, causing you to gasp in surprise.

You looked up at him. “Y.. yes, Ushijima-kun?”

“Did I do well?”

Flabbergasted, your mouth hangs open. “W-well, I..” Your eyes flitted at your friends but they only returned your glance with their own shocked silent stare.

“Well? Do you still think that Tendou plays better than me?”

You did a double take, your breath caught in your throat, the conversation you had with Tendou, Ohira and Goshiki a few days ago replaying in your head. “W-well, Ushijima-kun, it’s just that… Tori-kun is my friend, and-”

He bent down, gazing down at you in curiosity. “Do you think he plays better than me?”

“I-is there a wrong answer?” You breathed out at the close proximity between you two. Ushijima held his gaze, his eyes shining in amusement. You blushed at Ushijima’s confidence and obliviousness, thankful that Coach Washijo wasn’t in the room. “I-I-I think you play better than Tori-kun, sorry Tori-kun!” You yelled out, flustered.

Your friend could only give you a thumbs up, his mouth still hanging open.

“What about Ohira? Do you think he plays better than me?”

Gaping at him in shock, you stuttered out a “N-no, Ushijima-kun..”

Ushijima hummed, “And Goshiki?”

“No, you… you’re the best..” Horrifically embarrassed and confused, you finally gave him the answer he was looking for.

The entire Shiratorizawa team gaped at this hilarious interaction.

“I thought so as well.” Ushijima nodded, “But it still feels nice to hear it from you.” Satisfied, he rose up to his full height and turned to look at his team. “Why are you just standing there? Do you want to go for another round?”

Quickly, the team dispersed, no one wanting to be the victim of Ushiwaka’s spikes, all the while muttering about what the HECK just happened between Ushijima Wakatoshi and Tendou’s friend.

You sat, frozen in shock, not expecting that your crush would ask you a string of shocking questions while keeping his face so close to yours, as if challenging you to give him the wrong answers. Of course you thought he was the best, but you couldn’t admit that in front of your friends and his teammates!

Your cheeks still continued to burn even after Tendou plopped down next to you in confusion. “Well… that was something. My hand hurts.”

“Tori-kun, did I.. did I offend him somehow?!” You whispered to him in a panic.

“Honestly, that guy is a mystery. He usually doesn’t care about these things, though.” Your friend replied with a knowing look in his eyes, “But just to be sure, talk to him, I guess?”

After the practice, the rest of the team headed outside while Ushijima busied himself with his bag, as if waiting for you to talk to him. After saying goodbye to your friends, you took determined steps towards the tall male, your heart beating out of your chest.

“Ushijima-kun!” You called out as he instantly turned to look at you, “I-I’m sorry if I offended you! I don’t know much about volleyball and aces and stuff, so I was just yapping about Goshiki being the new ace and-”

“Oh, I don’t really care about that.” Ushijima cut you off, staring blankly at you.

“H-huh?”

“That won’t ever happen, at least not while I’m still on the team.” He stated as-a-matter-of-factly, “I am the country’s top three aces, after all.”

You had to admit, his confidence was hella attractive. “But then… why were you angry earlier, Ushijima-kun?”

“Wakatoshi.”

Your heart jumped out of your chest once more.

Ushijima didn’t seem to notice your flustered state. “Call me Wakatoshi.”

“Well, then.. Wakatoshi-kun, why did you..”

“I’m not angry.” He cut you off again, before placing a hand on your shoulder. “Did I scare you? I apologize.”

“No, you didn’t scare me! But… it’s more like… well, your face was so close, and I…”

Tilting his head, he leaned down to gaze at you, his face dangerously close. “Like this?”

“W-Wakatoshi-kun!”

He hummed, looking away. “What to do, I’m still not satisfied.” You blinked up at him owlishly, waiting for him to continue, “You always call Tendou so intimately. I wonder why, but I’m not satisfied with you just calling me by my first name.” He stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world, catching you off guard.

For a second you wondered if Ushijima Wakatoshi was flirting with you, but the way he said those words so stoically made you unsure. “Then!” Gathering all your courage, you bravely met his gaze, “Is Toshi-kun… okay?” You offered shyly, feeling your ears start to burn.

Ushijima tilted his head to the other side, his eyes widening slightly. “Say that again?”

“Toshi-kun?”

“We’ll go with that.” He placed a hand on your head, a smile ghosting his lips as you hide your face behind your hands.

And that day was the start of your friendship(?) with Ushijima Wakatoshi.

BONUS:

[faithfulren]

just the two of us

class 1-A surprises you and bakugo with a thoughtful picnic to help you both relax and take a break from the rigors of hero training. Initially reluctant, bakugo gradually relaxes and enjoys the quiet time with you.

----

navigating a relationship with katsuki bakugo wasn't easy. his explosive personality and intense dedication to becoming the number one hero meant that there were challenges, but you both made it work. surprisingly, your friends in class 1-A had been incredibly supportive, and today, they were determined to show it.

you walked into the common room to find your classmates gathered around, clearly waiting for something. mina was the first to spot you, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

"there you are!" she exclaimed, bounding over to you. "we've got a surprise for you and bakugo!"

you raised an eyebrow, glancing at bakugo who was sitting on the couch with his usual scowl. "a surprise?"

"yup!" kirishima grinned, clapping a hand on bakugo's shoulder. "we know things have been a bit rough with all the hero training and exams, so we thought you both could use a break."

bakugo huffed, crossing his arms. "we don't need a break."

mina rolled her eyes. "oh, come on, bakugo. even you need to relax sometimes. besides, it's for both of you."

bakugo grumbled something under his breath, but you could see the hint of curiosity in his eyes. you smiled, appreciating your friends' efforts. "alright, what's the plan?"

uraraka stepped forward, holding a small basket. "we planned a little picnic for you two. there's a spot near the dorms that's really nice and quiet."

your heart warmed at their thoughtfulness. "that's really sweet, guys. thank you."

bakugo stood up, still looking a bit reluctant but resigned. "fine. let's get this over with."

you chuckled, taking his hand. "come on, it'll be fun."

as you walked out of the dorms, you could hear your friends cheering you on. "enjoy your date!" kaminari called out, making you blush.

--

the picnic spot was perfect, a secluded area under a large tree, with a blanket laid out and a basket filled with food. you sat down, feeling the gentle breeze and the warmth of the sun filtering through the leaves.

bakugo sat beside you, looking slightly uncomfortable but trying his best. "this is stupid," he muttered, but there was no real heat in his words.

you nudged him playfully. "it's nice. they did this for us because they care."

he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "yeah, i know. it's just… weird."

you placed a hand on his arm, your touch calming him. "i get it. but we don't have to do anything special. let's just enjoy the moment."

for a while, you both sat in comfortable silence, eating and talking about anything that came to mind. gradually, bakugo relaxed, and you could see a genuine smile on his face.

"hey," he said after a while, his tone softer than usual. "thanks for sticking with me."

you leaned against him, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. "always."

later, as you packed up the picnic, you couldn't help but feel grateful for your friends. their support had given you and bakugo a chance to strengthen your relationship, and you knew that, with them by your side, you could face any challenge.

--

when you returned to the dorms, your classmates were waiting eagerly. "how was it?" mina asked, practically bouncing with excitement.

bakugo grunted, but you could see the faint smile he tried to hide. "it was fine."

you laughed, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "it was great. thank you, everyone."

your friends cheered, and you realized just how lucky you were. with bakugo by your side and the support of your friends, you felt ready to take on whatever the future held.

[gguk-n]

The illusion of destiny- Tragic Circumstance (Oscar Piastri x Y/N)

Summary- In a world where you are destined to be with someone forever, a hopeless romantic lives her life in hope of finally finding her soulmate.

Part 1 Alt ending

ENDING Oscar's POV

I felt uneasy leaving 'my soulmate' behind that day. But that was the right thing. I loved my girlfriend. We'd been together for so long. She was my comfort. I couldn't leave her for some random girl who said was my 'destiny'. I didn't look back, I didn't want to give her false hope. She deserved to find someone, someone who would love her and appreciate her; I couldn't be that someone.

I was genuinely happy with my girlfriend, now fiance. We had recently gotten engaged at a beach in Sydney. The thought of that fated soulmate of mine hadn't crossed my mind in so long, until today. The uneasy feeling was back, my heart started to ache and it was a weird kind of ache, like it knew something I didn't. I spent the next few days with my fiance and family, trying to ignore the ache in my chest. We were supposed to leave on Monday but I couldn't leave not when I felt this shitty. I lied that I missed my family and wanted to stay here for a little longer, she understood and left without me.

Today was Friday, the ache in my chest had increased and my throat was dry and constricted. I tried drinking water and going out for a walk. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know who to go to, so I went to the person I went to for all my problems, my mum. She was making dinner when I asked to speak with her. She told me to wait on the couch and that she'd be right with me. The pain in my chest kept increasing, what if I was having a heart attack; my brain had the most morbid thought. I sat down trying to control my breathing.

My mum sat next to me and smiled, "What did you want to talk about, darling?" It took a lot of effort to speak, "My chest hurts, mum. I think I'm having a heart attack" I said. She looked concerned and ready to call the ambulance asking since how long this was going on for? I replied, "a couple days, this is the reason I didn't leave on Monday." It was like a switched flipped in my mum's head. She gave me a weak, sad and knowing smile; like she knew something. She patted my chest, near my heart and started speaking "I remember when my grandma passed away, she had been sick for a few days. You'd think she was the one in pain but really it was granddad who was nursing a chest ache like no other. He prayed to stay alive until she left and had no qualm leaving with her. The day grandma died I heard grandpa wailing, she took my heart ache with me, I wanted to leave with her. In his hand lay his red string of fate attached to his pinky finger. It was like his heart knew she was leaving and couldn't bear it. He spent the next few years nursing the thread until he passed away one summer morning."

I couldn't understand why she was telling me this. I don't love my soulmate to feel these strong emotions. She gave me a hug and consoled me, "Your soulmate is probably sick or about to pass, that's why you've been like this. I know you rejected her but your connection still persists. She is still your soulmate and your heart will yearn for a love that was meant to be yours." I felt tears well up in my eyes. I looked down at my hand and saw the red string of fate severed at one end. I pulled away from my mother cradling my left hand. My mum saw my hand and started rubbing my back. "She was so young, we were about the same age." I spluttered. How could she have died? A million thoughts ran through my head. "That is a mystery we will never be able to solve, sweetheart. Let's just hope she was able to pass peacefully." my mum spoke. I buried my head in my palms and started crying. The ache in my chest slowly fading. The tears started to pour as the ache subsided. I felt responsible in a way. I shall carry this guilt for the rest of my life.

Me and my fiance got married in a small wedding a year from the day my soulmate passed. I even named our daughter after her. I never found out what happened to her, but that is a burden I am meant to carry. The red string sits in the drawer of my study table, secured in a glass box.

I hope you liked it, there's an alternative ending if you like happy ending

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood (Part 23)

N felt weird being the one with the screwdriver for once.

He was sat on his bedroom floor, metal bars and wires scattered around him as he worked on putting the crib together for Tera, reading over the step by step instructions every couple of minutes to insure he wouldn't mess up.

The instructions were so simple even a toddler could do it, and he was making decent progress, he probably would have been making more progress had his thoughts hadn't been constantly interrupted by images of his girlfriend.

The fact that Uzi was his girlfriend now felt amazing. He could barely believe he wasn't dreaming. He'd woken up next to her that morning, he was going to keep waking up next to her, there would be no more nights alone. For either of them.

He audibly giggled, basking in his thoughts, a smile was stuck on his face, and he doubted much would ever wipe it off.

“Hey.” He heard her voice from the doorway, and he nearly made himself dizzy at the speed he whirled around to look at her, his smile growing wider when his eyes rested on her purple eyelights.

His nerves also came back, just because they were together now didn't make it any less scary.

“Hey.” He replied back, before noticing that she looked a slight bit upset, as she wasn't looking at him anymore, but was rather looking at Tera, who she was carrying even though she didn't have to.

“Did something happen?” He asked, almost immediately jumping up from his place on the floor to stand at her side, she leaned over to rest on his arm, breathing in deeply.

“Yeah…” Was all she said, closing her eyes, pushing down the fluster that came from openly leaning on him like this, she knew he wouldn't pull away, but the thought of being able to do it freely was still very new.

“You wanna talk about it?” He asked softly, letting a hand come up to her back and rub small circles into it, on metal, it shouldn't do anything, and yet she still felt that area untense as if it was muscle.

“Later.” She hummed, raising her head when Tera gurgled at them, looking more and more like she wanted to roll around on the floor instead of being held.

“How's it coming?” She asked as she sat down where he'd been sitting before, only now there was a half-constructed crib where there used to sit only empty space.

“It's coming. Hah.” He sat down next to her, offering to take Tera as Uzi looked over the blueprints, which she graciously accepted, he held Tera next to his shoulder, so that she couldn't roll out from his arms.

“We'll play later, Jellybean.” He cooed, rolling his thumb on the back of her soft chassis before turning back to his girlfriend, who still looked muted.

“You sure about later? You look… tired.” He asked, and all she did was nod, her eyes finishing up scanning the blueprints before she seemed to begin putting it together on instinct.

“Mhm, I… don't want Tera to see any more of me upset than she has to, after she goes into recharge, okay?” She gave him a small smile, and while he felt concern crawl up his spine, he nodded in return. What the heck happened?

Even though she had begun putting together the crib, her movements were slow as if that wasn't the only thing on her mind, she would pause, think, shake off the thought and start again. Eventually, N began to help, keeping her focused enough that she wouldn't get distracted, either by holding down screws for her to tighten or making a silly comment to keep her grounded.

Even if Tera was getting very grumbly at the lack of attention or freedom, she was wiggling into his shoulder, and making small trills of indignation.

“I think she wants to play N.” Uzi eventually took notice, pointing at the irritated baby at his shoulder with one of the metal bars.

“Yeah, but you- ah!”

She leaned in and kissed his cheek with a light dusting of violet on her visor, accompanied by a small, reassuring smile.

“Are fine, go play with her.” She finished for him as he reeled from the small display of affection, a golden fluster making itself well known on his face.

He chuckled lightly, still feeling butterflies in his core, and he caved.

“Alright… still say something if you need help?” He asked, beginning to stand to head out to the living room, where Tera’s roll toy was currently.

“Duh.”

He was satisfied with that, and finally left the room much to Tera's delight. He found the roll toy on one of the side tables to the couch, and placed the egg shaped jingly toy next to her on the floor, both of his arms spread out to catch her if she tried to roll away.

Immediately she went after the toy, letting out peels of giggles at it jingled with every tap it made to her silicone, N felt his smile widening as she bumped up against one of his arms and made her visor glitch out. Which seemed to only entertain her more.

“Watch the speed Tera.” He said, using the tip of his finger to roll her back towards the center of the arena he'd made with his body, she blew another raspberry before belting out his name;

“En!”

He chuckled, rolling the toy around her with his finger, making her chase after it, as fast as she could roll herself, then she made a weird noise…

Tera was purring.

Like a kitten to a big cat, the rumbling continued as she chased the toy around, it was high pitched and sounded more cute than anything, but it still caught his attention. As far as he was aware, worker drones didn't purr.

He did. Uzi could, he'd heard it once. And he assumed V could too although he'd never heard it. But normal, standard worker drones don't.

Which meant she'd picked it up from either Uzi or himself, and being honest with himself, it was probably him, he had very little control over when he purred, and it was often without his knowledge.

“Awww…” He cooed, feeling a weird sense of pride rise in him as he realized he'd given her something of his, even if she wasn't his biologically. (or mechanically?) It was now more official in his processers,she was his.

After awhile of that, and recording his daughters first purrs so that he could listen to them on repeat, she finally began to slow down, her movements getting sluggish and her eyelights dim.

“Alright, someone's getting sleepy…” He put the toy away and picked up the little droneling in his arms, where she giggled sleepy and rolled into him, burying her visor in his coat, he exhaled, but smiled down at her, holding her close.

“Let's go check on your mama.” He hummed, before he realized what he said and felt himself fluster, even though it was true, it felt entirely foreign, and even a little scary to say.

Mom and Dad. He wasn't sure how to process that.

But he shook it off, peering into the bedroom to find Uzi finishing up the crib, putting in the small blankets that came with it, although he'd purposely picked out mixture of different purples.

“Did you wear her out?” She asked without looking at him, leaning back from her work. (More like crawling out of it, her entire torso was inside the crib while her legs dangled slightly above the floor)

“Yep! I also have a sound you need to listen to.” He chirped back, looking over her handiwork. As he sent her a short audio file, he placed her in her crib before he leaned his weight on it, rocking her gently with his finger as he plugged her in.

He knew it was working based on the brightness of her ever drooping eyelights, the rocking soon putting her into sleep mode.

“Nighty Jellybean.” He mumbled, watching her as the three little “z”s blinked on her visor, he felt Uzi come up next to him, silently as he felt her hand take his nervously, it was so small, he enveloped it almost completely.

“Do you wanna tell me what happened now?” He asked as he slowly turned away from looking into the crib, moving a strand of purple hair out of his girlfriends face before he cupped her cheek, it made the both of them fluster once more. But she did lean into his touch.

“Just, said some things to my dad…” She replied. There were stress lines underneath her eyelights, there had been ever since last night, he wondered what Khan had thought about them. N thought they made her look older, but he also thought there was a weird beauty to them, a bit like scars.

“Bad things?” He cocked his head, he hoped whatever happened with Khan didn't leave him and Uzi on bad terms again, he did quite like the guy, past incidents aside.

“No, just… things.”

“Sad things?” He asked in a much quieter tone, and by the way she gulped and laid a hand over the one on her cheek He could assume he was right. So a confrontation about his… behavior, right. That was probably why she looked so tired, that would be draining.

“Yeah…” She replied, not making any move to escape his touch. She closed her eyes as another blush grew on her face as she opened her eyes again.

Her eyelights traveled over to where his hand was pressed against her cheek, and only then did she pull away.

“This is… still really weird.” She admitted, although she was still holding his hand where it was before. Just away from her cheek

“Good weird or bad weird?”

He asked a little breathlessly, he really hoped it wasn't bad, he was really enjoying this. This moment of calm that was genuinely them.

“Uh, good weird? I guess.” Uzi replied, the blush painted on her face at this point. She noticed N's face fall, and she stepped a little closer, lowering his hand but still holding it.

“It's not bad, don't gimme that look.”

“Then I kinda agree… it is… a good weird.” He replied, and they both looked down at each others still intertwined fingers before looking back up at each other. A half grin on both of their faces paired with a wild blush.

They both began to laugh a little, leaning slightly into the other and the giggles overtook them. And N couldn't help himself, he leaned in a little further, and pulled her by her hand into him.

He kissed her forehead, and even though her laugher stopped he did hear her gasp lightly underneath him.

“S-sorry, did I make it weirder?” He stammered out, pulling back and glancing at her.

Her entire face was eclipsed in blush, and her jaw was half open in shock, words were trying to spill out, but none were spoken.

“Zi?”

“I-no- yes? Robo-god…” He laughed again, stepping back and waiting for her overheating processors to catch up, smiling like an idiot.

[zedif-y]

Zedaph is a being deeply connected to the void. It's almost like part of him. If he so chooses, he can connect to the deep below, merging his senses with it. Seeing through every part of the void and feeling anything that falls it. Mostly not that useful in the overworld, since it's all just bedrock, but it helps him navigate the end a little better.

Letting Tango into his void hole is, uh, a bit more intimate that it seems.

-headc-anon

Having a connection to the Void isn't as cool as it sounds.

This is all Zedaph's opinion, sure, but merging senses with complete nothingness isn't exactly the most thrilling experience. With how rarely things fall in there, he's pretty sure he'd be more excited watching paint dry. Or watching Impulse tear down his storage system again.

(This is ignoring the whole thing with the Boatem hole that one season. Not that Zed ever said anything about it— what was he supposed to say, stop flinging yourself into that hole, I can feel it? That just sounds weird.)

(It also entails talking to Grian. Which is arguably worse.)

So, uh. Point is, sometimes Zedaph... Forgets.

"Alright, Zed, you ready?" Tango asks, snapping him out of his thoughts. Zedaph blinks.

He stares down at the small hole, watches and feels the soft, droning hum of the nothingness wash over him— not quite beckoning, but familiar nonetheless.

"Yeah," He replies, giving his elytra a tug. Still there. He grins, then, "Race you there!"

"Hey-!"

Zedaph dives into the Void.

It feels like nothing. No air rushes by as he takes off, no cool breeze despite the thrust of his rockets. There's no resistance, not like swimming but not quite like flying, either. Not hot nor cold, just. Space.

Zedaph hums, it's really quite nice.

Until.

He shivers, the weird something's here sensation itching at the back of his mind. Something hot. Burning. Fast.

"Something of the Tek variety," Zedaph mutters to himself. He uses another rocket, eyes scanning the ceiling— "Aha!"

Zedaph taps his communicator, "Found your hole!"

"Already?!" Tango sputters, "I can barely see anything down here!"

Zedaph only laughs, feeling the paths Tango takes like a line in his mind, circling and looping around. "See harder!"

"Easy for you to say!"

Zedaph gasps when he shoots through the hole, both because of the sudden rush of air and because—

"Ow!"

—his face has become very well-acquainted with some rough stone. Ouch.

In the midst of checking if his nose is still intact, Tango speaks, his voice crackling through the communicator.

"Zed," He calls out, more than a little frantic. "Little help here?"

"One sec..." Zedaph groans, "I think I broke my face."

Tango laughs, "What, more?"

"You should be nicer to your savior, Tango."

"I'll be nicer when you tell me where my hole is!"

Zedaph huffs a laugh, smothering a joke. (He deserves an award for that.) He furrows his brow, focuses on Tango's location, his presence beaming like a star in space. He taps his communicator, "Alright, turn around, and fly left."

"Aye aye, captain!"

So Zedaph guides him, helps Tango soar through the Void until, finally—

Tango's voice crackles through the speaker, "I see it!"

Zedaph stands back, "You see it?"

"I see it!"

"Then get in here!"

Tango comes shooting through the hole, only narrowly avoiding colliding with Zed as he whizzes past—

"Ack!"

Zedaph laughs, full-bellied and pointing. "Broke your face!"

Tango flops backwards, clutching his nose.

"Shut up, jerkface!"

"You said you'd be nicer to me!"

"Not when you're laughing at me!"

They bicker until Zedaph's lungs hurt from laughing, their respective faces all fixed up and rockets replenished. As they gear up for the next attempt, (this time with dangling sheep!) Tango turns to him.

"By the way, how'd you know where I was down there?" He asks, head tilted in question. "You couldn't see me, could you?"

Zedaph shrugs, "Yes and no?" He rolls his shoulder, then fastens the straps of his elytra over his chest. "Not with my eyes, but, you know, my Void thing—"

"Your what thing?"

"My—" Zedaph stops. "My Void thing." At Tango's baffled silence, "You do know about my Void thing, yes?"

Tango's eyes are wide, then, "Ohhhh, yeah, your Void thing. I totally— psh, of course I know about— what the heck are you talking about?!"

Zedaph blinks. Stares.

"...Did I forget to mention it?" He asks, sheepish. Tango balks.

"Forget to mention what?!"

...Uh oh.

Perhaps... He forgets a little too hard.

[tkachuktkaching]

Matthew Tkachuk returns to Edmonton as Public Enemy No. 1

Tkachuk spent the first six seasons of this NHL career with the Calgary Flames, combating in the Battle of Alberta, the decades-spanning rivalry in which the Flames and the Edmonton Oilers would bludgeon each other to the delight of neighboring fan bases. It's a feud that stands next to any geographic rivalry in sports based on its championship prestige, Hall of Fame talent and unwavering vitriol.

Tkachuk remembers those rivalry games well.

"I guess I know them more than probably most guys by playing in Calgary," Tkachuk said. "But we just had the one playoff series against them that they won, and played a bunch in the regular season. There's a lot of different guys over there now."

Calgary traded Tkachuk to the Panthers two years ago. He has returned to Edmonton twice since.

"I know last year I was booed every time I touched the puck. This year there was nothing, so I have no idea this time," he said.

How close did Tkachuk come to becoming an Oiler? Four years ago, he told TSN Radio that they appeared ready to draft him before Dubois went to Columbus.

"During the draft, on the draft floor, it was kind of a weird moment where some people at the Edmonton table -- you could ask them, they would probably deny it -- but they're kind of staring me down and kind of giving me some smiles. The only people that saw it were me and my mom. So we're like, 'All right, we're going to Edmonton,'" he said. "Then Pierre-Luc Dubois went third overall, and the phone started to ring like crazy at the Edmonton table. They threw the jersey under the table and it looked like they stripped off a name and gave it to Puljujarvi with the next pick."

Tkachuk was drafted sixth overall by the Flames. The rest is (alternate) history.

TKACHUK SAID HE HAD "kind of like a Christmas Eve feeling" before the Stanley Cup Final, giddy with anticipation for trying to win the Cup after the Panthers lost in the championship round last season to the Vegas Golden Knights.

When asked about the Oilers, there was no trash talk, no bulletin board material.

"They're a great team. Finally got to watch some of their games against Dallas, since we were playing every other night. It was good to watch their games," he said. "They played really well and ultimately deserved to win the West. It should make for a great final."

After Florida went up 2-0 in the series with its Game 2 victory, Tkachuk was asked if the Oilers were rattled.

Again, he deferred.

"No, I don't think so. It's just sometimes the way it goes," he said, before leaving the media scrum.

The story of Matthew Tkachuk vs. the Edmonton Oilers is also a story of a young, brash superstar at the apex of his brashness who says he's a much different player today. Tkachuk speaks with pride about what he perceives to be the Panthers' maturity as a team and his own discipline on the ice, in contrast with how he'd played in the Battle of Alberta, for example.

"I'd say that used to be a part of my game. Now it's pretty nonexistent," he said. "I've kind of learned what works, and what works is playing as hard as I can for 30 to 45 seconds -- well, sometimes I take the long shift, so 30 seconds to a minute. There's no need to waste your time doing extra stuff."

Panthers coach Paul Maurice has cited the 26-year-old Tkachuk's maturity throughout the season, starting with how he approached this campaign after Florida's stunning run to the Stanley Cup Final last season.

Maurice said Tkachuk was part of the leadership group that got the Panthers locked in to their defensive game this season, which was a byproduct of missing Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour at the start of 2023-24 after surgeries. He said Tkachuk's attitude from the start of training camp help set the efficient, business-like tone of Florida's approach.

"Last year, I think we were just kind of riding the wave," Tkachuk said before the conference finals. "Going into this, we know what it's going to take to ultimately come out on top."

Tkachuk is tied with Aleksander Barkov with 19 points to lead all Panthers scorers. He hasn't had the soaring moments as regularly as he did last playoff run.

But Maurice is confident that Tkachuk is still capable of them.

"His game is better. He's more disciplined. He's matured with this group over two years. I think he's ... primed," the coach said. "I would never bet against him coming up with some heroics, but it's certainly not the only thing we have to expect now when we come to the rink from him."

Article taken from espn.com I Photos : Getty Images

[maxillness]

Tell Me Your Sounds || Ferrari!KR7 x Reserve driver!Reader

Warnings: 18+, blowjob, sub!kimi, (slight) yearning, biting,

Wordcount: 1.1k

Might do a part 2, dunno

Kimi never spoke, and when he did, it was short answer, and she hated it

She wanted to have an ongoing conversation with the man, but he kept his answers short, almost like he didn’t want to speak to her

All his silent conversation got her to thinking “Do you think he’s silent in bed too?” She asked, Sebastian almost choking on his water

He looked with a confused expression at her “First of all, it would be interesting to know, but I don’t want to know. Second of all, why are you thinking about that?”

“How the fuck did that make sense what you just said?” It was now her to be confused “And… I can’t sleep at night, so I think, and sometimes it’s weird stuff” She shrugged

“You might as well just find out” He said, taking another sip of his water “I’m joking” He said, seeing her thinking face

“I know, wasn’t even thinking about it” She said, obviously lying

“If you say so”

She definitely needed to find out. One way or another

Over the next few weeks, so tried getting closer to him, tried getting to know him better

She was the one who started texting him first, until he was the one to strike conversation

He was way more wordy over text then when you spoke to him face to face

As they grew closer, her thoughts got dirtier. She could be doing anything, and she would imagine what he would sound like

Her fingers moving inside her, coming around them to the thought of his sounds

It was the race week, and she was talking with Sebastian before FP1

“You’ve gotten your answer yet?” He asked, a cheeky smile on his lips

“No” She sighed “Ask me again on Sunday” She answered, matching his smile

“You’re something of your own” He chuckled, walking away from her again

They had been talking to each other as much as they could when he wasn’t in the car, every now and then placing innocent touches on him

Qualifying rolled around, and both the drivers god an okay end. Both finishing in Q3

“Good job, man” She said, fist bumping Sebastian as he walked into the garage

“Oh, sorry, rakkaus” Kimi had accidentally bumped into her, but in all honesty, she just wanted his touch, no matter how he did it

“It’s quite alright” She smiled, turning around to face him “You did good by the way” She loved the way his eyes lit up and a slight blush crept up on his cheeks at the praise

“Thank you” His words almost got stuck in his throat as he looked down into the floor

She felt a kind of confident boost she never had experienced before, encouraging to take the shot of hearing his sounds

She took a step closer to him, and just below a whisper she said “If you ever wanna celebrate, you know where to find me”

She didn’t let him react before she walked away to talk to some of the machines and engineers

She expected him to react, but not the way he did

He had grabbed her wrist, pulling her roughly away from her conversation without as much of an apology

“Kimi-“ She didn’t get to finish her sentence before she was shoved up against the closed door of his drivers room

His lips was on hers immediately, holding a hand behind her head to not hurt her

“Kimi…” She shoved softly on his chest, pushing him away from her

“What? You said if I wanted to celebrate-“ “I know” She panted slightly looking up into her lust blown eyes

“I was just startled, that’s all” She took her hands back to his face, smashing their lips back together in a wet and sloppy kiss

His suit was already hanging on his hips, so it was easy for her to slip her hands down his torso and under his fireproofs, feeling his skin on her fingertips

They parted their lips so she could pull off his fire profs, throwing it carelessly on the floor before attaching her lips above his collarbone

He let out a whimper as she sucked softly on the skin, creating a purple bruise

She pushed on his abdomen, guiding him towards the small couch in the room. She pushed him down once the back of his legs hit it

She got on her knees in front of him, hands tapping his hips, making him buck them up so she could pull the suit down

As the suit was discarded on the floor as well, her hands went to the waist band of his boxers, pulling them down as well

He whimpered at the way her lustful eyes looked up at him. She kissed his inner thigh, forcing him to spread his legs

She scooted forwards, lips still kissing his skin. She bit softly down, pulling a whimper from him

“Please” His hands grabbed the edge of the couch beside his legs

She pulled away from his thigh. Her hands went to his hips, holding them there as her tongue drew over the tip of his cock, drawing out a high-pitched moan from him

He sounded so much prettier than she had imagined. His head threw back as his eyes closed shut as her tongue began to swirl around him

His moans were loud, not giving a shit if anyone could hear him, which they probably could

His whole body shook at her tongue drew over his slit, his moan shuttered, knuckles turning white

He bucked his hips up, wanting her to swallow him

She swirled her tongue around him twice before swallowing him whole. She gagged slightly as he hit the back of her throat

“Mm… Feels so good” She moaned as she started bobbing her head up and down his shaft, spit starting to pool in the corner of her mouth

“Fuck, just like that” The sounds that came out of him was almost embarrassing if he wasn’t fucked out

Her nails dug into the pale skin of his hips as she sped up, her tongue dragging on the sensetive skin of his vain

“Fuck- please- yes… Fuck, so close” His cock started twitching inside her mouth, leaking pre cum on to her tongue

She hummed at the taste of the salty taste, sending vibrations into his cock, sending him over the edge, shooting his cum down here throat with her name rolling off his tongue

She popped off of him, swallowing his load, feeing the sticky substance go down her throat

She stood up, knees hurting and wobbly. She leaned down to kiss him between his knitted eyebrows

“You sound so fucking pretty” She softly placed a kiss on his jaw “You should really talk some more”

“Just for you. Only you’ll hear me” He panted, coming down from his orgasm, his hands caressing the sides of her body

[istadris]

On the Koopalings and Bowser

I never know on which foot dance when it comes to Bowser's relationship with the Koopalings.

On one hand, yes, Bowser being a tired dad to 8 kids with most of them being adopted is cute (and a nightmare for me to handle in fics), and I respect and appreciate fanworks including that. I also understand that Nintendo retconned the familial bond and most Mario fans are used to the Koopalings being considered Bowser's family.

On the other hand, I didn't grow up with material where they are Bowser's kids, most of my exposition to them were games where they're his lieutenants, with Junior as Bowser's only son.

It so happens that I love complex relationships; found families that are difficult to define and don't fall neatly under the usual family labels; ambivalent feelings about a parental figure who clearly isn't your official parent.

With that said, hear me out on how I see the Koopa royal family dynamics :

Koopas can reproduce either with a partner or through parthenogenesis, birthing on their own a near clone of themselves (although if you ever call a Koopa kid born this way a clone in front of their parents, they're likely to beat the shit out of you and everyone in the vicinity will agree the reaction is justified, if a bit overemotional). Because laying an egg and providing for a baby all by yourself is very demanding, Koopas reproducing through this method go into a very intense nesting/brooding mode, basically turning off every function that isn't "take care of youngling" and becoming very aggressive.

When Bowser decided to have Junior (and morphed into a very broody Giga Bowser), everyone in the castle stayed clear from him...which facilitated sneaking into the castle for a bunch of half-feral orphaned Koopalings scrapping by to survive and hoping to nab enough food and money to live another day. Thankfully for them, when Bowser came across them, instead of registering them as "threat" (and eating them alive), due to how young and malnourished most of them were, his brain went "hungry baby. Must feed baby" before he dragged them back to his nest. When Bowser turned back to normal, he basically went through his day as normal, except now "normal" includes a bunch of kids.

Main reasons for this attitude :

He's Very Bad at talking about his emotions beyond "I HATE MARIO"

As far as he's concerned, the Koopalings are his kids now too. Even if he doesn't mention. If they're okay with it or course. If anyone else has an issue with it, he'll deal with them, and if they don't like it, they'll bring it up, but otherwise why make a fuss?

Kamek is the one doing the paperwork, so he's waiting for a sort of green light to put them down as his kids or something.

Kamek has been diligently dodging the question of adding 7 kids to the royal line of succession for several years now.

So for a while at the beginning, the Koopalings ended up in a weird limbo state where their status within the Koopa Troop was unclear. Ludwig, worrying the wind might turn someday, encouraged the oldest (and later the youngest) to make themselves useful. Which led Bowser and his officers and mages to give the Koopalings more stuff to do, and through the years, they gradually went up the ranks and became Bowser's Terrors and main lieutenants. Still, neatly calling Bowser "Dad" is a tad more complex than their actual feelings on the matter.

By the time Junior is 10, the dynamics go like this :

Ludwig (in his early-mid twenties) has always minded the Koopalings and is very protective of them. He's also deeply devoted to Bowser, who got them out of the gutter and gave them a chance. He's extremely informal towards Bowser and would never dare calling him Dad or even Father : it's "Lord Bowser", "Sir" or "His Majesty", and he would die for him (although not without making sure his death has an efficient, long-lasting impact useful for the kingdom). Even Bowser thinks he needs to chill.

Roy (very early twenties) is one of the only ones who remember having a dad, and it wasn't a fun experience. Still, he remembers what it was like, and Bowser being actually a decent father figure messes a lot with Roy's daddy issues. He wants to hate Bowser, especially once he's in his teens, because that's what being a cool guy is for, but even he can admit Bowser is badass. Still, most of the times, it's easier for Roy to call Bowser "Boss" and treat him as such, respect and all.

Wendy (around 16) is more than fine being Bowser's Most Specialest Daddy's Girl. She was born for this. She doesn't remember a lot from the pre Bowser life but she does keep in memory being insanely jealous of pretty girls with fancy toys, and never truly got over it. She noticed Bowser hardly refuses her anything when she calls him "Daddy", so of course that's what she uses...except when she's on the job and has to be taken seriously, in that case she falls back on "Lord Bowser"

Morton (??? either close to Wendy's age or one of the youngest, I can't decide) had no previous model for what having a dad is like. He's following the other's lead on it, but Junior calls Bowser "Dad" and Ludwig calls him "Lord Bowser" and the twins call him "King Dad" and it's Confusing. So it's Big Bowser and Little Bowser. All he knows is that he loves them both very much and the mere notion of losing them is enough to make him stress out.

Iggy (around 14) doesn't need a dad, he needs supervision to avoid blowing something up. He just loves being Bowser's "kid", whatever that entails, because he gets to mess with a LOT of people. He resorts to "King Dad", but mostly because Lemmy does it, and easily switches between "Boss", "Sir", "Daddy" and "BBB" (Big Bod Bowser. Who spent several days recovering from it the first time Iggy used it).

Lemmy (around 14, same as Iggy) is here to partaaaay. He doesn't remember anything of their life before Bowser, so for him, there's always been their big lug of a "King Dad" who needs them to bail him out of messes. He's close to Junior (due to being one of the youngest) and even if he does know Junior has a different status from him, it never bothered him and he never got trouble from pranking him.

Larry (around 14, can't decide if he's younger or older than Iggy and Lemmy) has also always known Bowser, but he's a bit more self-conscious about the situation of being sort of adopted but not officially? Usually he sticks to "King Bowser", so when he slips and calls Bowser "Dad", he usually feels pretty embarrassed, even if no one bats an eye.. He was actually a bit jealous of Junior as a kid for "stealing" Bowser's attention, but he's gotten better.

[luminouslywriting]

Bob headcannon, they confess there love to you when there drunk ,maybe infront of everyone or maybe not you decide depending on the character ,but at first they don't remember , then they see you walking by a few times and the memory comes back

Hi hon! Great request idea! For this, I just did the men I think this would apply to! So if I’m missing anyone you really want to see, let me know! Requests are open and I don’t mind spam :) Please note though that I don’t write full smut scenes so don’t go requesting anything too crazy haha 😅

More under the cut, cut for length:

Lewis Nixon:

-In private and when he’s drunk, he confesses that he thinks about you ALL of the time and you just have to sit there and listen and try to get him back to his quarters. -No, he doesn’t remember this in the morning. But when he’s starting to get slightly tipsy again and he passes you, he remembers. -He is mortified and goes immediately to Winters to spill tea about said encounter. And Winters just tells him to talk to you??? And figure it out???

-So a conversation is in order and when he finally stops dragging his feet in order to actually speak with you, he’s pleasantly surprised that you reciprocate those feelings. -And now he’s wondering what else you two can get up to when he’s tipsy haha 😉

Ronald Speirs:

-This happens when Easy takes the Eagle’s Nest and they get to relax a little….and Speirs is finally letting loose just a little bit. -He very tipsily and drunkenly admits that he’d been in love with you for a hot minute….right in front of Lipton. It’s a whole moment honestly. -No, he won’t remember it in the morning. And no, Lipton is not about to say anything because it was embarrassing enough having to watch the entire thing haha. -But after realizing that you’re avoiding him, he remembers the encounter and immediately tries to fix things with you. -The conversation quickly takes a turn into a makeout session with mumbled confessions from both of you.

Joe Liebgott:

-Probably takes place in Aldbourne?? Before D-Day and before any of the jumps. It’s a day shortly before all of that and everyone is just trying to have a good time. -He had gotten totally wasted, hit on you, and you figured it was just because you were around when he was drunk. -Please note that that was NOT the reason and he doesn’t even remember it until after D-Day?? It’s the most random memory and he’s suddenly panicking over the thing??

-So it’s a whole panicked conversation and you probably just have to kiss him to shut him up because you’re super chill about the entire thing and he is NOT haha. -Suddenly very grateful that he got drunk and told you way too much.

Bill Guarnere:

-It’s sometime after D-Day and he’s not necessarily drunk but just slightly tipsy and tired enough to spill his feelings. -He doesn’t remember at all but you keep looking at him weird and Toye and Heffron let him know everything he said haha. -He acts super chill about it even though he’s really not…and he avoids talking to you so you have to take the initiative here babe. -Once the conversation starts though, he’s perfectly confident in expressing how he feels. -He asks you out on a date once you get back to England :)

Joe Toye:

-Doesn’t get blackout drunk and isn’t really an embarrassing drunk as much as an honest one. So he’s not acting out of the ordinary, just more honest than normal. -Honestly? He remembers quite fully what he said but if you’re not going to talk about it, then neither is he

-It’s not until you guys are stuck in a foxhole in Bastogne that a real conversation about it is had and he’s surprised to find out that you thought he was just drunk….and he really doesn’t feel that way. -He absolutely tells you how he feels and a kissing/cuddling session begins.

-You two write to each other until the war is over and you can reunite.

George Luz:

-This man gets his jump wings, gets a little drunk, and you think he’s joking when he flirts with you in all honesty. -He remembers on the boat over to England and tries talking to you about it, but you just tell him to stop joking about things. -He gets very serious about the entire thing and confesses how he really feels and it’s a soft, slightly insecure, conversation. -But you two get together before you even reach England and everyone thinks you two are really cute. -He promises that when it comes to you, he’s never going to joke or tease about his feelings.

[captainsophiestark]

Guest Appearance

Dick Grayson x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for my personal fic writing challenge for 2024, Sophie's Year of Fic! Featuring a new fic being posted every Friday, all year long :)

Fandom: DC

Summary: As a PA on a nightly talk show with all kinds of celebrity guests, the job always comes with some level of unexpected chaos. But when Dick Grayson's interview is interrupted by a New York supervillain, the events of the night might reach a whole new level of wild adventure

Word Count: 2,967

Category: Fluff, Humor, maybe a little bit of Angst

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

"Can you believe he's really here?"

"No. How is it possible that he's somehow hotter in person?"

I stifled a laugh behind my hand and turned to look at my coworker, Tara, who had an absolutely shameless grin on her face. I shook my head, but I couldn't stop a similar smile from spreading across my own face, too.

We'd become work besties since we got hired and added to the crew of the same talk show together at the same time. We'd worked with a laundry list of truly incredible guests (and some truly terrible ones), but today was officially the record best for the both of us.

Richard Grayson, the famous, charming philanthropist and eldest son of Bruce Wayne was our guest for today's show. My job was making sure talent knew where to go and that they got there on time, so even better, I'd actually been able to interact with him a bit.

"Was he nice?" asked Tara, keeping her voice low as we watched our host go through the interview as planned. "Please tell me he was nice. I don't think I could handle it if he was an asshole."

"Oh, Tara, he was so sweet. You should've seen the smile he gave me when we were introduced. And he remembered my name, he said thank you specifically to me when I got him to the stage earlier!"

Tara sighed. "I'm in love."

"Honestly? Same."

The two of us fell into comfortable silence as we returned our attention to the shoot before us. The host was asking about some charity work Dick Grayson and his dad had gotten behind recently, and every time the host tried to give him accolades, Dick deflected and turned all the attention back to the volunteers and the people they were trying to help.

I was quite literally melting. Next to me, Tara seemed to be having the same reaction.

"I wish he could come on every week," she muttered, shaking her head. "They're about to wrap this part though, I need to get in position to set up for the game they're gonna play. Continue this after the show?"

"You're on."

She shot me a wink, then headed over to where all the props were resting for the game our host was going to play with Grayson. I turned my attention back to the interview, then frowned. Something weird was going on with the backdrop of the set. The color was changing to an icier white, as if frost was spreading across it. I squinted, trying to get a closer look, when everything around me exploded.

Cold wind swept through the studio as the lights went out. Members of the audience screamed, and I whirled around a moment later to see exactly why. Killer Frost, one of the supervillains who sometimes operated here in New York, was at the top of the audience seats, sending ice and freezing wind through the entire studio.

I shook my head, taking a few steps backwards before I thought better of it. I turned to the main stage where our host, guest, and a few others had been, searching for anybody I could help out of here, only to find it empty. A moment later Tara rushed up to me, a panicked look in her eye.

"Tara! You have to get out of here!" I said, trying to be heard over the increasing commotion as Killer Frost slowly but surely made her way down the stairs and towards the main stage, moving as if she had all the time in the world. "Get anybody you can to follow you, go down the stairs and get the hell out of here as fast as you can! And call somebody for help on your way out!"

Tara nodded, her grip on my forearm still like iron.

"Are you coming with me?"

I glanced over her shoulder at Killer Frost with a grimace, then turned back to Tara and shook my head.

"I want to see if I can help anybody else get out of here, especially Grayson. Talent's supposed to be my responsibility, and it seems like she's probably after him for a ransom or something. Since he's not familiar with the studio, I don't want him getting lost or stuck somewhere if there's something I can do to help."

Tara shook her head, but I started pushing her towards the exit and moving in the opposite direction before she could stop me.

"Go! I'll meet you outside!"

With that, I turned on my heel and ran.

Thankfully, I'd gotten to know this place well enough in the time since I'd started working here that I was able to navigate quickly through the back hallways. Everything back here was deserted now, which hopefully meant that everyone else had already gotten out. I threw open every door I passed anyway, looking for stragglers trying to hide that I might be able to send out the back stairs instead, getting them further out of harm's way.

The temperature in the hallway dropped with every extra second I spent here, and I knew I was running out of time, but I was determined to finish checking this space. Every room so far had been empty, but the last door at the end of the hall was our guest dressing room. Once I cleared it, I could get the hell out of here myself. With one quick glance over my shoulder to make sure Killer Frost hadn't reached this place yet, I threw open the last door on my list.

I froze in the doorway, but not because of a supervillain. Basically the opposite, actually. Before me, in the middle of the room, was Dick Grayson. He was shirtless, but more notably, he was halfway into the very recognizable superhero costume of Nightwing.

We locked eyes, just staring at each other for a few long moments while my brain tried to compute what I was seeing. I blinked, thinking this had to be a prank or an illusion or something, but then the temperature dropped another few degrees and Dick Grayson—Nightwing—started moving.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked as he quickly pulled on the top half of his suit. I just shook my head, trying to get my brain engaged again.

"I... I was checking if anybody was still here, I wanted to make sure you got out the back stairs since Killer Frost is probably here for you... are you seriously Nightwing?"

Dick grimaced as he slipped on a domino mask, giving me all the confirmation I needed.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anybody. But right now, you need to get out of here."

"Right. Right, yeah, you're right."

Dick nodded, crossing the room to gently take my arm and lead me out of it. I turned to the door at the end of the hallway that would lead to the stairs and out of the building, but before I could take so much as a step towards it, a blast of ice exploded against the wall, sealing the door completely shut.

I heard Dick swear under his breath as he yanked me back against his chest, moving me out of harm's way just in time.

"Get in the dressing room and keep your head down," he muttered to me before gently pushing me in that direction. I paused in the doorway to watch as he slowly turned to face Killer Frost, who'd finally caught up to us.

Nightwing shot me a wink and a confident smile before stepping forward, past where I could see his face. I knew I needed to take cover; I couldn't do much against Killer Frost, and neither could Nightwing if he was worried about protecting me. But before I shut the door, I figured there was one last thing I could do to try to help him.

"Dick, take cover back there," I said, faking pushing someone just beyond sight of the doorway from the hallway. "Nightwing's here, he's going to take care of it. It's going to be okay."

I wasn't sure if that would convince Killer Frost, or if Nightwing's secret identity was even something I should be concerned about right now, but I figured it at least couldn't hurt to try to help him out. I chanced one last glance behind me, but couldn't see more than a blinding flash of light as the two supers collided and I shut the door.

I took a deep breath, trying to gather myself. It still didn't seem completely real—it felt like a mistake. Richard Grayson, the famous son of Bruce Wayne, was one of the last people I'd expect to be a vigilante. Yet the proof was pretty irrefutable.

I crossed the room, shakily easing down into the nearest chair. Hopefully Dick, or Nightwing, or whoever the hell he was would be able to beat Killer Frost. If he wasn't, this room would surely be her next stop, and she'd probably be pretty disappointed to just find me, without the billionaire's son she'd been looking for.

The clashing and shouting sounds of fighting continued outside, setting my nerves on edge with every second that passed. Finally, they came to a stop, and that was honestly worse. I perched on the edge of my seat, ready to jump up at a moment's notice, and watched the door like a hawk. I shot halfway to the ceiling when it came flying open, then collapsed back onto the couch when I saw it was just Nightwing.

"You scared the hell out of me," I breathed, putting a hand to my chest. He shot me a grin as he slammed the door shut behind him.

"Sorry about that. I don't have a lot of time to spare, here."

"You... won, right? You beat Killer Frost?"

He nodded before ducking behind a rack of clothes to one side of the room. I could still see his face as he slipped off the domino mask, revealing the kind but non-super guest of the show that I'd met earlier today.

"She's unconscious, and I made sure she was subdued for whichever authorities get here first. But I couldn't stay out there to wait for them, since it might make my identity a little obvious. Especially when they checked this room and found you alone in here."

I huffed a laugh. "Yeah, people might have a few questions about that, my boss included."

He shot me a smile that made me melt, then stepped out from behind the rack of clothes a moment later, his nice suit for the talk show looking as good as when he'd first come in this morning. I frowned.

"What?" he asked. I shook my head, gesturing to his overall appearance.

"You look too put together. You were almost kidnapped by Killer Frost, you got shoved into this room by a vigilante and me... I don't know, I think you're supposed to look a little more rumpled."

He laughed. "You know, that's a good point. Hold on."

He ran his hands through his hair a few times to mess it up, then ripped at his nice white button up shirt until it looked sufficiently messy. Once he'd finished, he turned back to me with a smile, arms out to his sides.

"How's this?"

I smiled. "So good you might need to start worrying about the threat our hair and wardrobe people might pose to your safety when they see you instead of Killer Frost."

"I'll take it," he said, still beaming. A moment later though, the smile melted off his face and he took a step towards me. "Look... I appreciate your help covering my identity with Killer Frost... can I trust you to keep doing that? Nobody knows this secret."

I stared at Dick, one of the nicest guests we'd ever had on this show and apparently secretly the superhero Nightwing, as he came to a stop just a few inches from me. His wide, sparkling blue eyes and messy black hair made my heart melt and race all at the same time. I still didn't really know him, although I now knew something pretty major about him, but nevertheless, I couldn't help feeling that my sense about him—that he was a good, kind person—was right on.

I took a deep breath to give him an answer when the door to the room came flying open. On instinct, I shoved Dick backwards and behind the couch, and stepped forward. My producer, the show's host, and someone I assumed was a detective here for Killer Frost stared back at me.

"What happened?" I demanded, trying to look scared and wary as I shifted slightly backwards towards Dick. "Where is... is she gone?"

Everyone in the room relaxed a little at my question, the detective nodding as Dick stepped up to stand next to me.

"Killer Frost has been neutralized," she said. "What happened to the two of you?"

I glanced at Dick, still making a show of being rattled, and he did the same. I took a deep breath and turned back to the trio before us.

"I ran down here to try to make sure everyone got out, but Killer Frost showed up before Dick and I could make a run for it. She would've..." I paused, letting my gaze go a little unfocused as I swallowed hard, doing my best to sell the fear of the experience, which really wasn't all that hard. "I think we would've been in some serious trouble, but Nightwing showed up in the nick of time. He told us to wait in here while he took care of Killer Frost. Is he... is he okay?"

The three people before us shared a look, before the detective's eyes slid over me and Dick standing beside me. I very intentionally didn't look at him, instead focusing on keeping my eyes wide and worried. After a moment, the detective sighed and shrugged.

"He's not here and Killer Frost is subdued on the floor, so I'd say it's safe to assume he's fine," she said. I sighed, letting my shoulders relax and leaning slightly into Dick. He slumped a little too, putting a hand on my shoulder, like the both of us were incredibly relieved. We sat down on the couch together while the detective made sure we were both alright, and then my producer and the show's host checked in as well. They'd obviously decided not to finish filming today, and Dick was kind enough and thankfully in town long enough that we were able to schedule an alternate filming day.

Once we'd finished going through plans and questions and being checked on, we were told to head outside and go home. Dick and I didn't say much to each other throughout the process, until we stepped outside the building together, the sun shining down on the both of us. I took a deep breath then turned to Dick, only to find him already watching me with a smile.

"Thanks for that," he said. I returned his smile.

"Thanks for saving the day," I replied. "And I know it wasn't really your choice to share... you know... with me, but I promise your secret's safe."

Dick met my eyes, the smile off his face and replaced by a much more serious expression. He took a breath, then slolwy nodded.

"I believe you. Thank you."

The corner of my mouth quirked up, and we just stayed there for a moment together, letting the new reality wash over us. Even though we'd only met today, and neither of us knew the other well, things felt different, and closer, than they had before, now that we'd shared such a wild experience today.

"So... I know tonight, you probably just want to go home and get some breathing room from everything," Dick started, his eyes drifting to the city around us as he spoke. I watched him carefully, one eyebrow raised. "But I was thinking... after I come back for our replacement shoot, maybe I could take you out to dinner once we're done? I at least owe you a drink for everything we just went through together."

I laughed. "You owe me a drink? I'm pretty sure Nightwing is the only reason I'm not a frozen popsicle in that studio right now."

Dick smiled, and I couldn't help mirroring his expression as my heart pounded in my chest.

"But... I'd love to take you up on dinner," I continued, ignoring the rush of blood and nerves in my ears. "As long as you know the first round of drinks is on me."

Dick absolutely beamed back at me.

"Deal. Here, let me get your number and we can coordinate the best place for dinner and drinks."

"Perfect," I said, somehow keeping my hand from shaking as I held out my phone to him and took his in return. We exchanged numbers, then shared another smile as we handed back each other's phones. "Well... I guess I'll see you soon, then?"

"Can't wait." He flashed a grin that made me melt, then took a step closer to me and lowered his voice. "And thanks again for all your help today. I really, really appreciate it."

I nodded. "Likewise. Happy I could help."

He shot me a wink and another smile, then backed away, heading down the street and away from the building that housed our studio. He waved over his head at me as he went.

"See you soon!" he called. I grinned and waved after him.

"See you soon!"

I watched him go until he turned a corner, then finally started making my own way home. I didn't expect to end the day with a date scheduled with Dick (no matter how many times Tara and I had joked about it), but I was certainly happy with the unexpected outcome, despite what it took to get here.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989 @space-helen

[mylittlesecrethaven]

I'm Making Fluff Headcannons Cause I'm Sad: Teachers

.....

I really only like Crewel and Sam so.... let's hope I can do the others justice.

.......

I'm scared I'm gonna write them like shit....

Crowley:

Trust me on this-

You ain't gonna be working a day in your fucking life

Nope

He's gonna get some other unfortunate student to do all the work for you

You won't even have to ask

Takes you on the most luxurious vacations ever

Frequently, too

You do hear a lot of "Aren't I so generous?"

And "Because I'm so kind~"

But honestly?

Towards you, he really is

Spoils you rotten

He does have this weird thing where he cries really easily when it's something to do with you

Happy or sad tears

Like, if you do something really awesome?

Tears of joy

If you get hurt?

Tears of sadness

Crewel:

Also spoils you

But on the lighter side

You'll still have to work

And do shit

But if you do well?

Well, you get a treat

In a metaphorical sense

Usually it's praise or something of the like

But if you do really well?

He might get you a gift

He's gotten you several dogs

And you've only been together a few months (or in a friendship, if you're wanting platonic)

Also loves teaching you potions and stuff

Yes, he's strict when he teaches you

But you still get your little treat after you finish the potion correctly

You're his living mannequin, btw

That sounds creepy

But it's not

He just loves putting you in all his new outfits he creates

Seriously, you're entire wardrobe is now filled with stuff he made

Trein:

He's already gotten you your own cat

And said cat is already best friends with Lucius

Also, be ready to become a history nerd

Cause he's gonna get you books

Mainly history books

And a shit ton of them

Also, I know it's a thing where student fall asleep in his class

And yes, it could be because it's boring

But it's also because he's got one of those voices

Y'know what I'm talking about

One of those voices

That you just love to listen to

When it's not about history

And he'll talk all you want

Gladly

Much more strict on you than Crewel

But it always surprises everyone when he's super soft with you

Cause he can be super super soft

Like a kitten at times

Vargas:

Dad jokes

I am a firm believer that this mans is the king of dad jokes

And he runs all of his dad jokes through you

Multiple times

And sometimes they're funny

And other times....

They're just stupid

Aside from that, he's a really serious guy

When it comes to athleticism, that is

Trust me, you'll be fit if you're around him

Exercise, even if you hate it, is something he'll make you do

But he won't push you super hard

He'll give you a small goal to reach

And once you've reached it, he'll up it

He's very easygoing for you compared to his students

He does drag you into his shenanigans more than he should

But you find them fun

And he always finds a way to make you laugh at some point during his little schenanigans

Loves making you laugh

Also loves you making him laugh

Sam:

Eccentric mans

Just has the most random stuff

And gives you the strangest gifts

Every day

But they always end up being practical at some point

You don't know how he does it

But you've always ended up using the gift at some point

Has you running the shop for him when he's gone

Doesn't even warn you about shit

He trusts you can handle anything

I mean, nothing from his shop has killed you yet

You've gotten a few scratches, but he's always apologized for them

And given you a treat for holding up the shop while he was gone

He does that anyway, but still

He has his own little ticks, I guess I could call them

They're like these strange little things he does for no reason

Like, there's a certain part of the floor he taps twice with his foot every day

There's a certain item he always has in stock even though nobody buys them

He has a thing where he winks every time he hears certain words

You don't know why he does it

He won't explain why either

But you kind of think they're cute

*pain* agugaugahgaugauagha

I fucking sucked on that for everybody but Crewel and Sam.

I tried to keep it mainly platonic, but idk.

These kinda suck.....

*sigh* fuck me fucking hell augaugahaguaga

This is my least favorite of these that I've done.

[pensbridge]

This is a thought I had before that I'm rethinking a bit since they decided to drop the trailer yesterday (bless! Oops buried this in my drafts and never got around to finishing til now)

Warning: Long post! (I'm sorry or you're welcome)

I've been trying to stay away from spoilers, so I could be totally off base here, but

Thinking about how Colin will react to Whistledown

I've already talked about Colin having to be needed, but surely there will be layers...

Colin has that line in ep. 1, where he talks about ruining LW and how she ruined his family, yeah after she rips him a new one in the paper - it's a clear deflection. This was never going to be about Marina, or his family. This is about Penelope seeing through the very real facade of Colin, and the fact that he'll believe she thinks those things of him. Because he's insecure if he'll be good enough for her. He needs to be needed, but also I assume Colin will be hurt at the deceit and mindblown at what it means when he puts the pieces together. Replaying certain moments/events, as well as oh, that's why that was so weird. moments that make him feel pain about the sincerity of their romantic relationship right ahead of their nuptials. Because up until the carriage, Colin thought Penelope couldn't see through him. That him trying to be someone else was working. That he was concealing his obvious feelings well. (And he was right; when Penelope "is this a ploy for attention" Whistledown couldn't see him foaming at the mouth and about to pass out on dance floors to know that something had changed.) The carriage was his moment of admission to everything he's been hiding from himself. And she's Whistledown! She's the one who first pointed out those things about him. She even said "does Mr. Bridgerton even know, himself?". He is going to be hurt for what he perceives is her looking down on him. He is going to feel betrayed, because it will seem like a joke he wasn't in on about himself. He's probably going to cry from that, because it will all feel unreal (maybe even like their relationship is fake and she was playing him; he's still insecure about how he's perceived and fearful of getting hurt, especially with Penelope). And the carriage will probably feel meaningless to what he believes her to view it as. like: "what do you mean you saw me pretending all this time for weeks?" Colin was on a different timeline in his feelings and when they sprung into action, they really sprung to all feel like it happened all at once for him. For Colin, it was like they spent all this time together now, he saw her for who she really is - to be less concerned for how she appears to him - and it was like something had really changed between them. And then, to know that Penelope's got an inside edition to how exactly he is maybe feeling, before he fully knows himself.. It's like he gave a full speech on that part of himself (how he portrays himself), and she already had an idea!

It's a complicated scenario, because on one hand there's this conflict between them of the secrecy and certain level of deception (Penelope having this information he's unaware to when they're supposed to be getting married), but on the other side of it Penelope sees him and knows him better than he knows himself (and I don't even think she's aware of it) - it's really the soulmatism aspect of them.

But the carriage won't be ruined. Because Colin and Pen at the core are meant to fall for each other due to seeing the sum of all their parts. Colin now sees Pen, which as I was saying before was not possible without Penelope dropping her crush veil and acting unnaturally around him. Like, right now, he's sure he loves her, because the pieces clicked in the past few weeks. Pieces clicked that he's not even fully aware how or why they come together, and there's a subconscious feeling to the things that can't be explained. I mean, when he goes to see Penelope outside her house and she's like "Whistledown did not want to seem suspicious;" (girl, wtf ), that's a piece to Penelope that he doesn't have the answers to, but he senses. It's all going to make sense once he has time to process and be privy to the hidden pieces of why they are compatible. But, sometimes things just fall perfectly into place without the why.

And he still doesn't know about her feelings prior to the carriage. Like, he thinks, "we both got closer over the past few weeks and we fell for each other through that" (he knows Penelope has always been a constant and that his feelings go back far deeper although he can't pinpoint an exact moment, but up until she reveals it, he's not gonna think she feels that (he probably thought they both fell through the kiss); like they were just good friends and somehow those moments in the past weeks have awakened something in them that neither has realized until this moment).

But that obviously won't last for long. Same as a fight (most likely) won't extend into this long drawn out thing of actual opposition.

And back to the Marina vs Pen debate, the answer to the difference is as simple as this: he didn't love her; he loves Pen! There's nothing more complicated about it; it wasn't real and that goes beyond just the willing deceit of Marina. I could talk about the rose- colored glasses romance/love idealization trope and how that's important to the development (*cough how the change to the show makes sense*), but the crowd isn't ready for that. [I love Marina, therefore her slander will not be allowed here]. But I'll just say the illusion of someone vs knowing someone is going to be the biggest difference [and the greatest catalyst (more on that later)] for how this plays out. Despite not knowing the Whistledown secret, Colin knows Penelope.

It's funny how similar they really are. They're both over-romanticizers. They're idealistic and they both idealized someone and had the pedestal knocked down. We already saw Pen's moment for this, the vital poor declaration moment at the ball. Now, I'm thinking Colin is going to have to battle this idea. He loves her, we know this! We also know that Colin can be impulsive for all of it's good and bad qualities. He is going to have to fight this idea where he acts towards his deepest insecurities. He's sitting outside the bedroom, so it looks promising (lol)! He's angry, but he's ruminating and he's internalizing all of that confusion and fear (I know they'll fight ofc, but for the little moments like that..). He thinks love is a thunderbolt in the sky, not that he fell for her like that, but that love is grand, fairytale-ish; he is a true romantic. His proposal shows as much for his his gestures of grandiosity. He's over the moon about the engagement and he's in a happy bubble after the swift timeline of the realization of their feelings. He'll have to break this idea. Because Colin didn't know love before Penelope. In the conflict of the Whistledown reveal, he'll see that love isn't always this gradiose thing. But that it's moments, being fully understanding of one another, wanting the person, seeing them, and (very important for his development) having them see you. Because that's what REAL love is. He'll actually see the real her and the full picture. Thus, we can actually get the real love confession where he says it. His perfect love idea will be shattered, but the end point will be sweet and more worthwhile than actually not knowing someone. They'll have a deep, dork bond, full love connection for life!

[lucianinsanity]

My Epic: The Musicals thoughts, after listening to every song in repeat for days now:

The horse and The infant:

Odysseus calling his men "my brothers", this is important

"Slaaay~"

God let me fight too

Penelope part keeps killing me, Telemachus 😭, the feelings, the fact that he also responds with their names when they are talking about why they keep fighting

Fighting noises ☺️

Zeus you bitch

The first "I don't think you're ready" is said without context, but the second one is a response to Odysseus saying he is ready (he wasn't btw)

The fact that he says "The Gods will let him know" and "This is the will of The Gods", like, leave him alone 😭

Just a Man:

Evil to start saying the baby reminds him of his own son

He is so against this I swear

First few "I'm just a Man" he wants so bad to justify not doing it

Ugh

People already said it but the double meaning, asking when the baby would become someone who destroys his life, and asking if he becomes a monster if he kills the baby

I always thought the first line sounded like "please" and then two "forgive me" but it seems to be three "forgive me" instead, which is not bad, I'm just bad at hearing stuff

The high notes, leave me alone dude

The last "I'm just a Man", justifying his actions instead of his inaction

Full Speed Ahead:

"Six hundred man!" I'm so sorry

"Full speed ahead" sounds so sweet and hopeful

Eurylochus's name being chanted by the men and Polites only being mentioned by Odysseus, something about the men having their trust in the people they mention or whatever, I don't know, the fact that Polites name is much closer to Odysseus because he is the one that says it

He is so hopeful, Polites I'm so sorry

Odysseus is suspicious, but still hopeful

Open Arms:

I'm not the biggest fan of this one, sounds too happy, which is the point but I don't know, sorry Polites

He is trying so hard to make Odysseus feel better, man he just killed a baby 😭

Some of the voices of the Lotus Eaters are low, this is important to me for no reason (the lyrics in Spanish call them Lotófagos, I love that)

Odysseus common, this people are being so nice

Delayed "scary cave" ugh

His voice is so high

"there's so much guilt inside your heart" oh Polites, I wish he could relax, he has Six Hundred Men to feed 😔

Warrior of the mind:

Athena please

This song starts slower than in the middle, I like those parts better just because of the change of pace, she's so serious

"Let me remind you" with so much authority

That change with "Maybe one day he'll follow me" is weird to my brain

Back to slow with Odysseus

Someone mentioned that Athena could just be encouraging Odysseus and not actually falling for the bluff, which makes sense, she's The goddess of Wisdom

Odysseus little laugh, oh that's not something that we hear often

"Athena!" Choir

"Okay 😔"

Also Athena singing one way and then adopting the way Odysseus sings "mind" showing she's also learning from him and even keeps singing that way when is only her voice

They are "we" 🥺

"Don't disappoint me"

Also, in Spanish is Atenea, which makes it really difficult to only call her Athena, give her more letters

Polyphemus

Entering someone house leading with an arrow, always a good idea (sarcasm)

Odysseus being suspicious and being right again

"Hey there!" Baby no

Oh dang, I never understood the lines of the beginning of Polyphemus singing, there are so good, drinking their blood, man I love him

Odysseus singing in this one is so nice, I keep repeating that part "There's been a misunderstanding!" I love you dude

The drums 🥺

The "nobody" is so nice to my ears

Bad deal

Survive:

I have bad news, title of the song

Chanting of names, important

"My brothers" he trusts them so much, he knows this men, he knows how to talk to them

They are alone, the rest didn't know ☹️

"And when we kill him then our journey's over" ☹️ and all the lines after that

Solid strategy

"It's just one life to take" makes me a little sick

Oh the fucking build up

They didn't take that into consideration

Oh the fact that they ask him for instructions since he always led them to success and he is frozen in place, he doesn't sing, he doesn't talk, please why?

"then my pain is over" is so sad if you think about it for too long

Remember them:

The fact that it starts with the voice of Eurylochus sounding so far away like Odysseus is just now coming back to reality

He sounds so so sad and out of it

And yet he still tries to lead them and save them, he sounds like he is chocking a little bit and the words are hard

There's no proper burial, their souls are doomed

He is also so angry

Oh I hate eye stuff, less favorite part

They just start running out of there, poor things

"There are more of them?" With fear, and Odysseus just waits, he knows what's coming

"Don't go!" Is also so sad

Athena please, she's right but Odysseus is feeling so guilty and bad about this whole shit

Dumbass

My goodbye:

I love this one

They are both heartbroken about this, Athena in a different way

She was expecting better of "just a man"

Odysseus, arguing with a god, good job dude

They hurt each other, Athena is right, again, but bad moment to do all this

Right before going into the ocean too, good job, both of you

Storm

One of my favorites

It feels exactly how it should, stormy

"This storm's our final fight" ... First half of the first half of the story

Brace for a storm

STORM!

"Full speed ahead" this time with more authority, they are fighting now

Eurylochus you are not helping with that attitude 😔

Odysseus is so confident, or maybe too hopeful, he is not thinking too well either, probably

And then they did what he said

Luck runs out:

I always forget this one exist 🤦

"we don't know for sure" what do you mean? Really, what else could be in THE ISLANDS FLOATING ABOVE YOUR HEAD? The god of cheese?

Good plan, Odysseus 🤦

The show already went south baby

Do you, Odysseus? Or are you just sad?

Common he literally led you to victory so many times, have a little faith in the man

Again, the men are chanting what Eurylochus says, he is also a man they trust

Keep your friends close:

He is taking the "greet the world with open arms" way too far

Oh no Odysseus

The choir it's not making this easy for him

They just went behind his back spreading that it was treasure, like, why would he keep a treasure anyways?

Nine days keeping that damn bag closed ☹️

"Time for me to be the father I never was" 😔

"Just keep your eyes open" oh no Odysseus

Stoooorm!

Again, Eurylochus, just help the man

Oh no, Odysseus

Ruthlessness:

If you had doubts about who this was there's a choir singing his name in the first few seconds

He was being very gracious with them

"No" = I fucked up so bad right now

The "false righteousness" is a very sad line, because he thought so bad that he was doing the right thing so many times

He already sounds fake as fuck when asking Odysseus to apologize, knowing he wasn't going to actually do it because Odysseus doesn't feel bad about what he did

The men screaming "Captain!" Took me long to notice (again, bad ears) and it's so heartbreaking

43 ☹️

With the lines from Just a Man and Remember Them coming back to kick this man ass

Puppeteer:

No rest for this guy, his second in command is doubting him, his men get trapped for trusting some random woman, he just lost so many of them

Circe sounds so nice

She's so nice

"All the power" 🥰

Odysseus is going to save the man that just sent him away from his home

He has to try

Wouldn't you like:

Number 1 song

I'm already bisexual, man (I'm aroace)

I don't have a lot to say, I love this song

Why does he do that with his voice?

His laugh 🥺

Twice the voice for him

"Don't thank me friend, you very well may die" 🥰

Done for:

He is so silly in this one

He has the help of one (1) god and he is another person

Circe doesn't like him at all

They are both trying to protect their people

Baby don't be like that, he is so damn confident and Circe is not having it

Their voices are good together

I mean she's right on not trusting people, and Odysseus did just get there with the intention to fight

"I'm not sure I follow" ndksksksksksk

There are other ways:

This one is sad

She is immediately on control of this situation, she's repeating lines from Puppeteer, she is making him into a pig (metaphorically)

"Don't break when" sounds a little rougher

"I'm just a man" oh no Odysseus, followed by the "Forgive me" SHUT UP, it's so fucking sad

Her voice when she repeats "when there's no puppet here"

"I miss my wife, Tails, I miss her a lot"

He won, and now he's begin 😭

She's so silly

I mean, she could have meant she was going to kill him, but that way seems a lot worse ☺️

High notes 🥺

The men coming back

The Underworld:

Also on the favorite list

The "good" of Odysseus is low, he was betrayed by them before, he needs them to do what he says this time, fuck

"All I hear are screams" 😭

You think they are seeing different things?

Shut up, "just a man" coming back

558

"Captain!" ☹️

Stop, the baby

"This life is amazing" ☹️

🙂

"Waiting..." Why do you hurt me like this?

"ALL I HEAR ARE SCREAMS" Yours?

No longer you:

I don't know if saying this one is one of my favorites helps anyone understand my taste

Odysseus you are smart, please

The prophet sounds so sad

"A man who is haunting, a man with a trail of bodies" is a heartbreaking description

Ah, prophesies, they always have a twist, sad stuff in them

Monster:

To "I'm just a man" to "I'll become the monster" with this simple trick

The people he mentions are weird, monsters and gods don't think in the same way as people who are protecting their friends and family, but whatever you say

I don't think he knows what balance is

The fact that Telemachus fits in the songs so well

Well, enough, that's it for now