#both gabes in the corner lmao

[arcticwolf144]

A list of some things I noticed during the last matinee of Next to Normal UK

Diana pointed and yelled something from upstairs just before Natalie started singing for the first time. Like “wahey” sort of energy

She also absolutely bellowed “dive in with both feet” an inch from Dan’s face 

Diana was very insistent that Dan not touch her sandwiches. Kept waving him off

While Natalie was singing Everything Else Diana was peeling the crust off bread slices in time with the beat. I’ve never noticed that before so idk if it was a last day thing or if I’ve just missed it until now but it was very funny. 

Natalie looked like she was tearing up in Perfect for You. She was so happy and it was so cute 

Dan juggled three pieces of garlic bread during It’s Gonna Be Good lmao 

Natalie was so distressed during It’s Gonna Be Good. Like going “please get down!” when Diana climbed on the chair and flinching away from the water. She also mouthed “I’m so sorry” to Henry while everyone else was setting the table

I could hear her sobbing as she ran upstairs

Diana was mouthing “fuck off” to herself a lot while Dan was singing I Am the One.

When Diana started yelling Natalie covered her ears and she was sobbing so hard like the hardest I’ve ever seen someone cry on stage oh my god 

Gabe laughed when Natalie came down the stairs in Superboy 

Diana kept mouthing “shut up, shut the fuck up” when Gabe and Natalie started singing together

A lot of tears during Catch Me I’m Falling

Gabe was so horrified when he saw the blood during I’ve Been. Like he came on, knelt down on the stage and was just staring at the floor, at one point with his nose like inches from the stage. I’ve seen various interpretations but to me it always seems like he can’t quite understand what’s happened or how it’s got there. He knows he told Diana to join him but didn’t realise how violent that would be? Idk. But anyway then he curled against the counter crying and combine that with Jamie’s unbelievable acting through song and it was a hard watch

During the first verse of Wish I Were Here Natalie kept reaching for Diana

I think there was a muck up matinee prank happening in the wings on (the audience’s) left. As the island was spinning Trevor, Jack and Jamie seemed to notice something and were trying not to laugh. Like they’d look into the wings, smile a bit, and then they’d look at each other and then really quickly look away. This happened for the whole song every time the stage rotated. Caissie also seemed to do the tiniest double take when she faced that side of the stage.

Jack didn’t leave the stage after Aftershocks he was standing in the farthest box. So you could see Gabe’s silhouette in the far corner while the next scenes were happening which was quite powerful. 

Diana literally went “what the fuck?” when Dr Madden sent her away after telling her about Gabe 

Diana fully gasped as she put the music box down and the intro to How Could I Ever Forget started. 

When Diana moved away from Gabe during I’m Alive (Reprise) she had her hands over her heart and she was crying and just kept mouthing “my baby”. It was heartbreaking. Then the realisation hit her of what it meant and she got scared and ran off.

Gabe started crying even before Diana looked at him during The Break. He went from exhilaration during the first verse to suddenly getting scared when Diana came in with “they tried a million meds…”. For the rest of the song he was trying to get her attention, crawling up and down the counter in tears. Then when she touched him he completely broke down and was clinging onto her and crying so hard. 

He was also crying when he came out from behind the counter

Natalie sobbed out “stop” when Diana kissed her head in Maybe 

I Am the One (Reprise) may deserve its own post but anyway: Gabe was crying from his first lines (Jack was subtly wiping their face on their sleeve between phrases). He absolutely latched onto Dan, and Dan was sob-shouting his lines while Gabe was absolutely screaming his. When Dan pulled away Gabe tried so hard to catch hold of him again so they had this little tussle mid song during the “yeah”s. Dan then backed away, Gabe leaned fully over the side of the counter reaching for him and tried to belt out “I am the one who loved you” with all his soul but his voice broke so badly basically no sound came out until “loved you”. The same happened with the “tried” on the next line. It was absolutely beautiful and so heartbreaking. He then managed to get out the “you’ve always known who I am”, did this massive sobbing gasp afterwards and was just staring at Dan with tears running down his face. “Hi Dad” was so small and cracky it shattered my heart. Dan then slowly walked towards Gabe with his hand outstretched but stopped just before he reached him, and Gabe raised his hand too so their fingers almost touched and that’s when Natalie came in. Gabe then broke down audibly sobbing

Dan started to break when Gabe touched Natalie’s hand but Gabe then stopped at the bottom of the stairs to cry and Dan started absolutely gasping and sobbing and it was so sad. Like he was watching Gabe leave him for a second time and it destroyed him.

Diana was watching Nat and Henry interact in Light which was a lovely moment. She did a kind of “well fair enough” smile when Henry asked if her parents were real 

[that-one-sentient-husk]

“The terminals have given me a phone and I’m about to make very good use of it. Welcome to my blog! I think I’ve had one of these in life, but I can’t remember…”

The husk rubs the back of their neck awkwardly, then looks to the camera again.

“Anyhow! The name’s Sariel. Yes, like an angel, but I’m not one, don’t confuse it. I am, as far as I know, a human soul who, after spending years in Purgatory, has finally ended up in Hell!”

“Mortal, what are you doing?”

“Shut up Gabe I’m making a video.”

“Did I not tell you to refrain from speaking to me that way?”

“You did. I don’t care.”

The angel sighs tiredly, leaning over their shoulder to look at the camera as well.

They sigh as well, glaring at him out of the corner of their eye, then return to their little intro.

“And, because I’m bored out of my mind, and Gabriel’s and the Vs’ antics can only amuse me so much, I’ve decided to make this silly thing to keep myself busy.”

“Hope you enjoy your stay~”

There’s a crash from somewhere in the background.

The husk’s head whips to the side, eye fixating on a spot behind the camera.

“Oh for fucks sake V!”

There’s a moment of silence. Then, they roll their eye.

“Both of you!”

They look back to the camera.

“Okay, gotta go, bye!”

OOC:

So, I’ve decided to make an ask blog for Sariel, my ultrakill oc, because I was, in fact, somewhat bored

In this universe, the game commences as usual, except V2 and the prime souls live

All ooc things will either be in the tags, or written in purple as I am doing now

Sariel’s dialogue and actions will be written in the standard color

Gabriel’s dialogue and actions will be written in orange

V1’s actions and text will be written in blue

V2’s dialogue and actions will be written in red

Mirage’s dialogue and actions will be written in blue and the chat font

Minos’ dialogue and actions will be written in pink (bisexual lighting king)

Sisyphus’ dialogue and actions will be written in orange and the chat font

Oc and character interactions are encouraged!

Suggestive asks are okay, but NSFW asks are not!

Mod for this account is @skye-the-dragon if you wanna check me out I do art sometimes and throw headcanons along with it occasionally (shameless self promo lets goo)

Speaking of hcs, I will be throwing them into here as well, because this is my blog and I do what I want

I also will occasionally do art for this blog, so there’s that

I currently have a hyperfixation on ULTRAKILL, so when that runs out I’m probably gonna be less active here, unless it becomes a special interest (which it might honestly, but idk yet)

Trigger warnings for this account: talk of suicide and depression, talk of self harm, intrusive thoughts (and no, I don’t mean the “I bought something spontaneously” ones, I mean the “kill your entire family” ones)

Tags:

cw (insert trigger here) - content warning for stuff, pretty self explanatory

ooc - OOC posting, also pretty self explanatory

Sariel’s visible shenanigans - dialogue and action posts (aka “videos”)

Sariel’s invisible shenanigans - only dialogue posts (aka “audio recordings”)

Sariel & co. - Sariel and other in-game characters interacting

Also here’s some refs for Sariel:

I think that’s all, if I remember anything more I’ll edit the post lmao

[bourbonificould]

in every TWDG season, assuming you’re on the protagonist’s side, how long do you think you’d last and how would you survive/die?

Alright so this is throwing my 20 year old self in lmao. I generally think im not dumb enough to make certain mistakes, but my luck would definitely catch up to me.

Season 1: Ep4 - Around Every Corner or Ep5 - No Time Left. I think I’d die in Crawford, the herd would probably get me or I’d die for the plot in Ep5. Probably taking one of the Kenny “deaths.”

Season 2: Ep2 - A House Divided or Ep4 - Amid The Ruins. Carver has no idea who I am. There’s probably no incentive for him and he’d pick up either me or Walter. In Ep4, The Russians prolly would’ve got me lmao.

Season 3: Ep5 - From The Gallows. In the mess of the herd and battle, I’d probably catch a bullet or maybe I’d get lucky enough to be with the group the entire time, of which I’d probably go after Gabe and David (I assumed the herd was worse in Richmond at first lol). I might survive that.

Season 4: Ep3 - Broken Toys. I think I’d get brutally beaten on the boat. Considering placement, I’d probably be in the same cell as Louis/Violet, and both of them are in the mud. Trying to get the Delta guards to stop would get me like whooped or something worse. If I made it to Ep4, I think I’d be just fine by that point, since I’d just have to get on the cart safely.

[leatafandom]

Hi Leata!!!

A couple of sabriel summer prompts have caught my eye. Well 3, but who's counting xD

I've been thinking: water parks + summer job could make a nice and hilarious combo! Imagine Sam getting a job in a water park and gabriel coming to bug him every single time to seduce him. Gabe would so get him fired!

But also thinking of sam and gabe in the beach and sandcastles!!! And idk I like it, fluffy, lots of summer feeling. Wish I could draw it!!!

BUT kissing in the rain? I... isn't that one of the best tropes ever made? Even Crowley from GO thinks so!! Like things are going bad for aome reason, there's some angst. A fight? A confession? Both? And then goes the kiss ❤❤❤

I ... am in a summer mood lmao 😅

I hope one of these ideas catch your fancy! Enjoy your summer :D

Hi love, thank you so much for the prompts! I adore all of these! But the summer jobs/water park totally called to me first. I completely wrote this short version -'cause I may have had a whole idea bout Dad! Gabe and Sam working at a water park but it has turned into a thing- forever ago but then life happened. But I didn't forget, and I do have some other musings on the other ones that hopefully I can turn into something for ya. This one kinda turned into a 5 times Gabriel used a bad pickup line and the one time Sam did. I just really enjoy the idea of Gabriel using the worst water based pickup lines and Sam just digging it. xD I hope you enjoy this little crack fic <3

Summer Jobs and Summer Crushes

Rating: Teen 

Ship: Sam Winchester/Gabriel -Sabriel

Word Count: 3001

Warnings and Tags: Human Au, College AU, flirting, summer job, water park, banter as flirting, bad pickup lines, sexual humor, Gabriel thinks he’s funny, Sam thinks he’s funny too, crack, fluff

Summer Jobs and Summer Crushes

"Hey, someone left the door open." 

"Wonder if someone's in there."

The moment he heard the hushed voices, Sam remembered Bobby's reminder to close the storage door behind him. He groaned inwardly, unable to see them from his searching, and hoped it wasn't some jocks about to steal something. The brunette wasn't in the mood to defend the water park's equipment and hoped they would pass by without a problem. Sam listened for the voices that seemed to stick out amongst the sound of people enjoying the rides and water park. The two seemed to be not far from the open door with their voices low, the two men speaking in hushed tones next to each other. He kept his ears open for them, making sure they stayed at the front of the staff shed as he dug around for the extra boards his boss had told him to grab. He made a sound of achievement when he found them closer to the door. Sam huffed as he climbed over some floaties and reached up to grab the boards, cursing at his wet fingers and slippy grip, his body still wet from his dunk in one of the pools. 

“Damn, I’d let him take a ride on my slip-and-slide.” 

At the horrible line said with too much awe in the lilting tone, Sam snorted. At the sound, a curse sounded and Sam could hear feet moving quickly away. He got a hold of one of the boards, and tilted his head in the direction of the mirror that hung on the corner. His gaze caught two pairs of legs running away, but couldn't be sure who was the one who spoke the horrible line he wasn't meant to hear. The brunette’s brows scrunched, grabbing the few other boards he could see before walking out and closing the door behind him. 

Sam looked around him for the two men he had seen fleeing, but couldn't see anyone. He let out a huff, writing it off as a fluke of the first day of the season. With his broad shoulders and towering form, it wasn’t often that someone approached him, let alone hit on him so openly. He couldn't say he minded, even if it was ridiculous and had him chuckling to himself for the rest of the day, wishing he had seen the person who had said it. Sam figured it was a hilarious one-off that at least had gotten him through the rest of his shift. He had no idea it would be the first of many horrible pickup lines over the course of the summer, or how much he would enjoy the fleeing moments shared with the man that had vanished that day. 

Sam didn’t think about the man again as the week wore on, and he got used to the different parts of the park. He normally worked at the amusement park during his summer break from his college courses, but Bobby had said the water park was the most short-handed this year, and Sam hadn't protested the change. For the most part, it was the same, other than paying slightly more and the different safety courses he had to take. Sam had nearly forgotten about the whispered come-on when he finally heard the voice again a week later. 

“You know, if you love water, it means you love 70% of me.”

Sam nearly choked on his drink, recognizing the voice as the same one from the shed last week. He put down his drink, trying to digest the pickup line as he stared at his recyclable water bottle with wrinkled brows. As he turned to see if the guy had stuck around this time, Sam blinked at the short and dripping man the cheesy line had come from. The man’s brown hair was slicked back with water, but a few strains escaped and remained plastered to his cheeks, framing his face and catching the sun as he grinned at him. Sam felt his mouth dry a bit and couldn't accredit to the heat, his hazel eyes drifting over the shorter and definitely freshly out of the water man whose trunks seemed to cling to him. He felt his lips curve into a crooked smile when the other wiggled his brow. Sam took in the cheeky smile that bloomed across the shorter man's cheeks, taking in his shirtless upper half. Sam let his hands go to his waist, trying to contain his grin at the other's attention, who was bending forward to lean more onto the countertop between them. 

“I hate water, actually," Sam lied, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why do you think I’m at the snack shop?” He countered, walking closer to him and glancing around the small space. 

"Bullshit," the man called with narrowed eyes, his smile unfazed as he wagged a finger at him. “Nope, don't believe you," the shorter man declared, smirking up at Sam as he placed his chin on his fist, elbows resting on the countertop. "I’ve seen you in the water, you’re part fish.” His eyes seemed to dance as they drifted over Sam's dimpled smile before looking past him to the rows of candy and bags of snacks. “But, I don’t mind some eye candy while I order my candy," he added with a wink of his whiskey-hued eyes.

Sam rolled his gaze away from the warm eyes and confident smile, denying the heat he could feel on his cheeks as he shook his head to obscure the view of his red that most likely was tinting his face and ears. 

“You’re terrible," he said, unable to contain his smile and huffing chuckle. 

“Oh, hunny, you have no idea," he practically purred in response. His grin was permanent, clearly pleased with himself as he soaked in the sight of Sam. "And here all summer.” 

"I’m pretty sure you’ll get bored before I think you’re funny.” 

The man hummed, tilting his head from side to side, thinking about it, but never taking his eyes off of him. “Nah, you already do.” His grin returned when Sam huffed a dry laugh, dimples dotting his shy smile. “Can I have a large blue slushy, two candy necklaces, a bag of sour patches and jolly ranchers, a handful of the gummy burgers, and an order of cheese fries if you please my new very handsome friend?” 

The brunette's eyebrow raised at the tall order for the small man. “You weren’t kidding about the candy,” Sam grumbled, having a feeling it was all for him, before moving to make his order.

“Wasn’t kiddin’ about the eye candy, either.”

Sam smiled, facing away from him, yet feeling the other's bright eyes tracking down his tall form and feeling himself fix his posture subconsciously. He rolled his eyes at himself, looking over his shoulder at the man that was in fact staring at him unabashed, and finding himself wanting more of the short man's attention. 

“Do you always come on so strong?” Sam questioned, looking away from him to the slushy machine. 

“No, but I only have the summer to get you out of those trunks and onto a date with me, so,” he replied breezily, dragging out the word with a casual shrug of his shoulders. "Strong works." 

Sam resisted his urge to laugh, biting his cheek as he set down the slushy and half of the candy he had ordered on the counter between them. 

“That’s not very long,” Sam said as he got the rest of his order. "I'm not gonna make it easy for you, candy man." 

When the nickname got a rise out of the shorter, Sam felt the other's boisterous laugh warm his chest, a smile filling his lips at the win. His eyes roamed over the other man’s dimples, unable to deny his intrigue and pleasure at causing the man to laugh so freely. The shorter man leaned back from the counter as his laughter calmed. The jovial sweet tooth tapped his card over the reader, smiling all the while. 

“Wouldn't be any fun if ya did, hazelnut,” he said with a confident wink, grabbing his bag of treats and fries before turning to walk away. “See ya around!” He called over his shoulder as he sucked on his straw and walked towards the tables. 

Sam watched him walk away, unable to help the slow responding wave he gave or the way his gaze immediately went to the man’s ample backside and wet clinging swim trunks as he sauntered towards the sun-drenched tables.

Damn.

The brunette had expected to see him again on his shift, and couldn’t help the disappointment he felt when his shift was over without another run-in with the flirtatious shorter man that would probably fit perfectly against his side. But, thankfully, for Sam's daydreaming, he didn’t have to wait long to hear another horrible pickup line from the first person to hit on him first since college. 

“Exactly how tall do you have to be to ride this ride?” 

Sam couldn’t help the peal of laughter that came from him, caught off guard, as he turned to the next group in line for the lazy river and was unsurprised to find the short male smirking up at him. 

“Taller than you, candy man,” Sam returned without thinking.

When the man gave him an exaggerated pout that made him want to bend down and kiss him, Sam chose to laugh instead. He chuckled, hand scraping at the back of his neck as he looked around at the families and older people in line, someone with the dirty blonde today. Sam looked over the raven-haired man beside him, who seemed to be chastising him. 

“There are children here, you know that, brother?” He asked in a tone that suggested he knew he did, but felt the need to remind him anyway. 

“Yeah, but,” the man whose hair seemed to be getting more streaks of gold in his hair the more the summer wore on gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes, “I’m a kid at heart.” 

That got a huff from who Sam supposed was his brother, the man turned his blue eyes to Sam. “He really is," he said as a means of apologizing, and Sam couldn't help but chuckle and dismiss it. 

"It's fine, though I haven't heard worse yet," Sam admitted, glancing at the line before towards the start of the river just as the raven-haired man pushed his shorter brother forward. 

“Come on, Gabriel, this was your pick. Don't hold up the line with your ogling.” 

“Gabriel?” Sam’s brows rose, a grin widening at getting the name he hadn’t received from the lurid man he hadn't stopped thinking about. "Candy man's name is Gabriel?" His lips spread into a grin as he looked over the man who groaned at his brother. 

Gabriel frowned at the other before looking back at the tall man. “Because I’m an angel.” The words were paired with a shit-eating grin as he gave Sam their tube to hold steady as he slid into his seat to wait for his brother. 

Sam couldn’t help the disbelieving laugh as the other man got in beside Gabriel. He leaned closer to the dirty blonde as he got them into position, smiling over his shoulder. 

“I doubt that very much, Gabriel,” he said in a hushed tone, inclining his head toward the shorter brunette, whose hair was streaked with sun-bleached gold.

Sam reveled in the look of surprise and heat that covered Gabriel's face and filled his eyes as he floated further away with the stream of water. Sam couldn't help but feel like he looked ready to jump out and swim back to him just to have a final word. The idea brought another smile to his face and kept him lighthearted until he ran into Gabriel again. 

When Sam spotted Gabriel later that day, the dirty blonde was exiting the wave pool with a woman that had her red hair pinned and was magically still dry. He grinned at him, unable to help his eyes from wandering the water as it rolled down the stocky man's defined, but not overly, chest and stomach. Sam swallowed, watching him comb back his wet hair and sharing a glance with the woman before looking back at him. 

“Is this the one then, Gabriel?” 

Sam heard the woman ask, as he approached them, seeing the man nod. He chuckled to himself, dipping his head forward, happy to know Gabriel talked as much about him as he did about Gabriel. The brunette couldn’t help but smile the closer he got, his eyes wandering over the bright floral pattern of Gabriel's swim trunks before looking back to his cheeky grin. 

“Hey, candy man, given up yet?” 

Gabriel shook his head with a barking laugh. “Never,” he grinned, a hand motioning to Sam's bare midriff while his other went to his waist, elbow pointed outward. “You are like a gold medal. I won’t stop until I get to you.”

“Oh! That was terrible, luv,” the woman beside him groaned, her green eyes rolling. “Please tell me it isn’t working, dear.” 

Sam shrugged, unable to help his dimpled grin at the terrible line and amused glint in Gabriel’s eyes. “Funny is cute,” he offered with a crooked grin, enjoying watching Gabriel’s infectious smile grow, his eyes lighting with the force of it. "See you around, Gabriel," he said, making sure to add more husk to his voice as he passed them to go to his next station. 

Over the course of the next two weeks, Sam lost count of how many horrible pickup lines Gabriel offered and how many random tidbits he had learned about the forward man. Other than being humor-filled, Gabriel was smart, talented, and going to university to study art. After meeting him Sam always looked forward to his shifts at the snack bar the most, the job giving them the most opportunity for the two to talk without holding up the line. 

After the third week of running into each other, Sam was confident that Gabriel was making full use of his season pass to be there during so many of Sam's shifts. Bobby had even made a point to talk to Sam a few times about it, wondering if Gabriel was bothering him, and then reminding him about using his break time to flirt when it was clear Sam was more than interested in the dirty blonde. Sam promised to make sure it didn’t affect his work, especially towards the end of summer when a heat wave came and the crowds grew.  

Sam was currently swapped at the snack bar, but when he spotted Gabriel in line, he felt an excitement pool in his stomach. His lips rose at the sight of the man, who had gained an impressive tan over the summer, and cloaked in an oversized SpongeBob beach towel. 

“You got a break coming up?” Gabriel questioned, stepping aside after ordering and seeing the line of people behind him. “I could use some help with something.” 

“Yeah?” Sam’s brows scrunched, Gabriel hadn’t ever asked him to share his break. “I can take a break after the rush,” he answered, already moving on to help the woman and her children who were waiting impatiently.

When Sam finally got through the rush and Jo came to cover him, he didn’t have to look far to spot Gabriel sitting with his snacks, still munching on a Snickers ice cream bar. 

“So, what? No pickup lines today, candy man?” Sam called as he walked up towards the picnic table Gabriel was sitting at. 

The dirty blonde turned to him. “Well, actually-”

“I’m sorry I asked,” Sam half-heartedly grumbled, sitting down on the plastic bench beside him. 

Gabriel snickered, smiling as he waved his treat at Sam. “Actually, I lost my phone, and I was hoping you could call it.” 

The laugh that rumbled past Sam’s lips was deep and disbelieving. It was rare enough for someone to even approach him, let alone keep it up for most of the summer with such ridiculous lines that seemed purely meant to get him to laugh. He didn’t think he had ever had someone try so hard to gain his attention, nor was ever so focused on getting a smile out of him. Gabriel's own dimples shone at the sight of Sam's smile, clearly pleased with himself. The brunette shook his head, swiping his hands over his cheeks as he covered his laugh, to no avail. He turned sideways on the bench to take in Gabriel’s jovial brown eyes as he licked over the frozen treat in a way that wasn’t nearly innocent enough. 

Sam couldn't help but watch him as he thought about it, not willing to let the summer be the end of getting to know him. Gabriel pumped his brows, drawing Sam's attention away from his swirling tongue, and forcing a cough from Sam when his gaze shot away from Gabriel's with a bashful smile. 

“Why don’t you give me your phone, and I’ll just put in my number?” Sam asked, holding out his hand and motioning for him to hand it over, color tinting his cheeks and tips of his ears. 

“Wait, Really?” 

Sam’s brows quirked at how surprised he seemed. “Yeah, summer is almost over… I’d like to go on at least one actual date with the guy that almost got me fired.” 

Gabriel chuckled, handing his phone over quickly as if he was worried Sam would change his mind. Sam took the phone as the man handed it over, typing in his number and sending himself a text. Gabriel took back the phone, reading the text Sam had sent himself and cackling. 

All I have is King-Size candy. You think you can take it all? 

When Gabriel's laughter died down, Sam was intent on making sure he made Gabriel laugh more. “So, where are you taking me?”  

“Oh, anywhere you want, Samtacular.” 

[vacantgodling]

Wernicke's, Meninges, & Medulla for your vampires please! ( ˶⚈Ɛ⚈˵)

thank you!!! why not do the main couples from both vampire wips?? so darren, gabe, n, & bibi :3c

Wernicke's Area (language comprehension) - Do they prefer to listen or read? Are they speed readers or very slow?

darren isn’t much of a reader, he gets bored and distracted when he has to look at things. audio books and movies are his go to! he’s not really a slow reader, he’s more of a distracted reader—for instance he’ll reread the same sentence 7 or 8 times bc he just wasn’t processing it lol (his adhd ass)

gabe doesn’t really have a preference between them, though he probably leans a little more on listening. he’s an average reader (well, average for a vampire i suppose 😅)

n is an avid reader, he reads books and articles probably more than he eats food lmao. he’s a very quick reader with impeccable comprehension; he usually only needs one read over to fully grasp what he’s read or a concept.

bibi enjoys reading but he also really enjoys listening to things. he’s a quick paced reader, but probably need a few read throughs to make sure he’s fully digested the information.

Medulla Oblongata (heart, breathing, unconscious functions) - Who or what is their lifeline?

darren’s family is his lifeline. dave and olice at first, then as the series goes on the friends and other relatives he meets become apart of that too.

gabe’s lifeline is his friends but also darren by like a lot.

n’s is the pursuit of fairness, truth and knowledge.

bibi’s is the vampire community as a whole, especially vampire children who deserve better. he sees himself in them.

Meninges (support, protection) - Tell us about a time when this OC protected someone or something they care about.

have some spoilers if you want them, if not that’s chill lol. i can’t really answer n and bibi for this yet bc i’m still plotting for them so i don’t have All the kinks worked out. so spoilers are all darren and gabe lol

darren (in book 2 probably) ends up consuming A Lot of gabe’s blood when a baddie has them cornered and ends up sprouting black wings and one eye turns gold (the opposite one of gabe’s lol). it’s to protect vlad bc he’s his big brother :)

gabe is the biggest spoiler tbh he actually goes supernova protecting darren and he’s presumed to be dead for a good chunk of the second book which makes darren haha. depressed and suicidal,,, however he’s not dead bc celestials can’t die; when he comes back instead of both eyes being gold one eye is red, signifying he and dare’s bond. bc gay.

[7rashstar]

11-29-21

[darlincollins]

darlin and david hcs

(first section is platonic, second is romantic au!)

they're both introverts surrounded by many extroverted people so i imagine sometimes at social gatherings they'll just briefly recharge in a corner and sit in silence next to each other like 😐😐 and that's their bonding time

the emoji faces are not entirely accurate though because they both definitely have RBF on another level. any time they sit next to each other they look like they're kids in trouble waiting to speak to the principal- darlin is slouching against the wall going >:/ at something across the room and david is sitting with his arms crossed like >:| but they're just hanging out! having fun watching the chaos even!

speaking of which i imagine on at least one occasion these two did end up in the principal's office for fighting- someone else started the fight, darlin finished it, and david jumped in to help them. after they both get dismissed david is chewing them out and darlin asks why he even got involved if he disagreed with what they were doing- david just goes 'because >:(' and refuses to say more (what 'more' is may depend on platonic vs romantic situation)

extreme antagonistic energy but in a funny way- once they're closer i think they snark at each other a lot in a good-natured manner

i know they weren't super close before but they both strike me as very observant people so i think both of them remember more about the other than the other person thinks they would- one of them going 'do you still do x?' or 'oh, that's from y, right?' and the other person is surprised they were even paying attention back then

also though the delicious angst of them also. Not really knowing each other anymore...

this is a very involved hc i have so i'll keep it brief but angel finds an old monopoly board in the back of the closet at a pack hang-out and there's giant claw marks on it- they show it to everyone and ask what happened and suddenly asher is choking on his drink, milo vanishes from the area, and david and darlin are glaring at each other until darlin goes 'i don't know, david, what did happen?' and an argument ensues- the upshot is that gabe once had them all over for a friendly game night and things got ugly when someone cheated at monopoly (but nobody will confess to doing it)

idk if they've ever hugged before but i think it would be so funny and they'd both be so weird about it- im imagining david kind of awkwardly going in for it and darlin going 'lmao what the fuck are you doing', making david both flustered and annoyed while darlin clowns him until he's finally like 'SHUT UP IM GIVING YOU A HUG DAMNIT' and they have the world's most awkward hug (bonus points if darlin has to stand on their toes for this)

in my very self indulgent au where darlin and david are close friends they would make. SO much fun of him for being ~in love~ after he meets angel like nuclear level teasing... but one day...

david:

darlin:

david: so... 😏 sam, huh?

darlin: NOT ONE FUCKING WORD-

and they never live it down, rest in peace LMAO

whenever they play smash darlin plays jigglypuff bc it annoys david, which is also why they always agree with angel when angel and david are having a debate about something silly... darlin at all times: 'i wasn't listening actually but david is wrong'

--------------- ROMANTIC AU ------------------

running theme for them i feel like is 'things i didn't know how to say but wish i had'... literally zero communication braincells in this relationship they are both just staring at each other going 😡 because how DARE the other one stand there looking like that... the pack is so close to locking them in a closet

anyway this is both funny and angsty because on david's part he's thinking maybe if he'd said more or done more darlin wouldn't have gotten so distant and for darlin they're thinking if they'd just been able to connect with anyone or admit they needed help none of this would have happened and BOTH of them are also deeply repressing their feelings because they think they missed their shot

kitchen dates? no, kitchen WARS. i hc darlin can cook, they simply choose not to- anyway this combined with them sharing a somewhat competitive nature means one day they're watching a cooking show and darlin goes 'this is dumb i could do that' and david is like. 'no you fucking couldn't these are professional chefs-' anyway they have very fierce competitions trying to imitate these shows but darlin always tries to sabotage david, thereby derailing the whole process because he has to teach them a lesson ;)

lmao actually i think many of their favorite activities involve competing with each other... david teaching darlin how to play video games and their household becomes a place of war every so often

they are still not great at communicating oof... they're both so used to carrying everything alone that they don't really Get at first that now there's another person there to help them and they also are terrible at vocalizing their emotions so it takes them both a while to get things out BUT they're working on it together!

darlin also wants david to take breaks more often but they're less likely to make plans with asher and milo and more likely to just. Tackle david and refuse to move (and then call asher while laying on him)

david also voted most likely to show up at darlins work with food because he knows they didn't bring any and also to every so often just put a glass of water in front of them and glare until they drink it

[prettyboybarzal]

lessons in romance // nate mackinnon x reader

summary: nate mackinnon is really bad at keeping a steady girlfriend. so bad that’s become somewhat of a joke between him and the boys. but you come along and try to set him straight.

word count: 14k+

author’s note: it’s finally here. i’m honestly surprised at how fast i cranked this out... which is actually a LOT longer than most people write on here so mayb i shouldn’t brag lmao! this fic was inspired by THIS gifset. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE give me feedback/reblog!!!!!!

warnings: smut (i jumped out of my comfort zone people. i finally wrote some lmfao) & mentions of a past toxic ex

Weekends were better spent in bed or visiting family, not sitting in a crowded bar with men who reminded you slightly of your ex-boyfriend. You were probably overreacting a little bit because the guys truly meant well, but their overly boy-ish energy was startlingly similar to that of your ex. Maybe a few more drinks would help the cause and you could get passed the sex jokes.

Mel Landeskog was the reason you were there. She wouldn’t take no for an answer, much like her husband, and so you were sitting across the booth from some of the largest men you’d ever seen in your life. Gabe gave you the rundown of their names as they arrived though the only one you could remember was Cale. He was a perpetually blushing 21-year-old named after a vegetable; how could you forget him?

“Do you think Nate’s upset about this one?” Cale asked. The new topic of conversation was their friends’ disastrous date since he texted to tell them he was broken up with and was on his way to them. “They were sort of serious.”

“We’re about to find out,” Gabe announced, nodding towards the entrance of the bar. Nate was on his way to the booth, tired smile on his lips. As he got closer, he started shaking his head and the table erupted in chirps at his expense.

You recognized him from earlier at the Landeskog’s pregame. He was slipping out of the front door as you stepped in. His cologne was the type the good-looking guys always wear, and you weren’t disappointed when you looked up at him. He was handsome with the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled to his elbows and the top three buttons undone, and when he smiled, you all but swallowed your tongue.

He began to greet his teammates. The chain around his neck caught the light of the DJ booth and you found yourself gazing at it. You tore your eyes away from the gold at the sound of Mel’s voice introducing you.

“This is my girlfriend, YN, from my Saturday morning Cycle class,” she said. “And, YN, this is my husband’s boyfriend, Nate MacKinnon.”

He threw his head back in a laugh at Mel’s joke as he extended a hand to you. “Nice to meet you.”

You listened to the quips from his teammates, each one with their own opinion about Nate’s relationship or lack thereof. It seemed like this wasn’t the first time in recent months that he’d been broken up and it had become somewhat of a spectacle to the boys. Mel, who’d seen this song and dance one too many times, wrapped her fingers around your elbow and tugged you with her towards the bar.

“What was that about?”

“Nate can’t hold down a girlfriend,” she explained. “It’s been a joke since he first came here because they almost all have the same issue with him.”

“And what is that?”

“He’s not romantic enough.”

You glanced back over your shoulder and watched the boys laughing amongst each other. It looked like they were celebrating as they lifted their beers in a sad looking toast, and it hit you right where it hurt.

You really saw your ex-boyfriend in the group now and, though you tried not to make assumptions, you found it hard to set the first impression aside. The liquor in your system didn’t help. With each joke about his dating misadventures, you became less of a fan of him and by the end of the night you were bubbling over in annoyance.

Gabe and Mel offered Nate a ride home towards the end of the night and you managed to keep your expression neutral when he accepted. As they headed out to grab the car, you and Nate waited at the curb several feet away from each other.

“I’m sorry about your break up,” you offered after a moment of silence. The statement came out more like a question and Nate’s lips quirked up into a smirk at the inflection of your voice. “Sorry, I just can’t tell if you’re upset or not, so I don’t know if I should even offer my condolences.”

“I’m, uh, I’m not upset,” he began. “I saw it coming.”

“How so?”

“Let’s just say this isn’t the first time a girl’s broken up with me for not being romantic enough,” he said. Thoughts were filling your head faster than you could make sense of them. There was no reason for the situation to annoy you as much as it did. You didn’t know this guy and the odds that you ever saw him again were slim.

“So, if it’s not the first time, why hasn’t anything changed?”

“Excuse me?” he asked. There was a crease between his eyebrows. He hadn’t been expecting you to respond like that. You shouldn’t have. It wasn’t your business

“I mean, you act like a martyr when you probably would be successful in love if you just put in the romantic effort these girls are craving,” you said. Your anger had begun to boil over and words were spilling from your mouth faster than you could stop them. “Guys like you are the worst. You lead girls on and make them think they’re special. Next thing they know, they’ve been wasting time on you and your lack of effort.”

The comment made Nate take a step away from you. His eyebrows drew together in shock and confusion. As you spoke, he turned his body to you and crossed his arms over his chest. The moment you closed your mouth, he interjected. “You don’t even know me.”

“I don’t have to,” you argued, turning to him. You were in a stand-off with a man several inches taller than you, and to any passerby it probably looked a little bit funny, but you weren’t backing down. “I know guys like you. I’ve dated guys like you.”

Before Nate could continue arguing, the Landeskogs pulled up to the curb. Mel hollered out for you two and the topic of conversation was dropped.

---

You regretted everything you said to Nate the moment you woke up the morning after. It wasn’t like you to be so rude, especially not to someone you didn’t know. Your heart stopped every time Mel texted you in the days following. You thought that at any moment she’d confront you about what you said to him, but it never came. As the week carried on, you found yourself forgetting the harsh words spoken outside the bar and the worry stopped.

Until Thursday night.

The knock at your apartment door was unexpected. You met your roommate, Mara’s, narrowed eyes over the dirty dishes you were working on. By the look on both your faces, neither one of you had a guest on the way over. She turned on her heel to check the peephole and the next look she gave you was equally as confusing as the previous one. She still opened the door.

“Does YN live here?”

The voice sent shockwaves through your veins and you stopped your movements, plates held just above your head as you were about to slide them into the cabinet. Nate MacKinnon was at your apartment. Mara nodded at him slowly before stepping back to let him in.

“Hi,” he greeted. His hands were tucked into his sweatshirt pocket, legs clad in compression leggings and a pair of shorts. He looked like he’d just come from a workout and his hair was still wet from the shower he’d taken before coming over. “I hope you don’t mind. Gabe gave me your address.”

“No problem,” you told him through a shaky breath. “Come in. Come sit at the island.”

He removed his shoes and approached slowly, sending Mara one last smile as she crept off down the hall. You silently cursed her for leaving you with your shaking hands as you cleared the clutter from the countertop. You watched him as he settled into the stool across from you, mirroring the kind smile he was sharing with you.

“Can I get you anything? Water? Coffee? I have food, too, if you’re hungry.”

“Don’t worry about me,” he said. His voice was softer now than it had been before. “I wanted to talk to you about the other night. It won’t take long.”

“Oh?” you asked, trying to ignore the way your stomach dropped. You wanted to start apologizing right then. You didn’t have a reason to go and butt into his personal life like you had. You should’ve kept your mouth shut. Guys like him didn’t care about your opinions. “I’m sorry for what I said. When I get drunk, I have the tendency to shoot off at the mouth.”

“Don’t apologize,” he said. Your mouth snapped shut. “No one keeps me in check. All the guys think the fact that I can’t keep a girlfriend is a big joke because I’m so bad at dating. It shouldn’t be a joke. So, I’m sorry and thank you.”

You dropped your hands to the counter and leaned against it. The last thing you expected was for Nate to thank you, so you needed a moment to gather your thoughts. His eyes glistened as he watched you and then the corner of his lip quirked up because you started giggling.

“You should not be thanking me,” you said. With that simple statement, the tension in the air lifted. You turned your back on him, indicating that if the conversation must go on, you were going to be doing the dishes as well. “I was just being bitter the other night.”

“You had every right to be,” he said. “I was gloating.”

“You were kind of gloating,” you mumbled. You hadn’t meant for Nate to hear, and he knew that, but he laughed anyway. You turned to face him with an apologetic smile. “Sorry.”

“Stop apologizing,” he said. He didn’t even know why you were apologizing at that point. It seemed like you’d apologize for taking up space and that made him feel a bit sad. He smiled politely at you anyway, to signal he wasn’t annoyed by the apologies, and it lit up his features in a way you hadn’t noticed the other night. “Anyway, I came here for a reason.”

“Okay.”

“I need you to teach me to be romantic.”

He delivered it tentatively, as though he was afraid of the way you might react. In the split second that followed, your mouth open and closed twice as every possible response came to your mind. He waited patiently.

Finally, “You don’t even know me. How can you be so sure that I’m the right person to teach you this stuff?”

“You’re a girl,” he explained, deadpan. “Girls know romance.” You snorted at how adorably dumb he was. Your hand flew up to cover your mouth in embarrassment and your cheeks burned as he grinned at you, amused by the sound of your laugh. “What do you say?”

---

Mondays were always your least favorite day of the week. Every weekend, your workload piled up and most Mondays you could hardly take a lunch break because you were so busy getting shit done. Whenever you came home from work on Mondays, you were wiped. Mara always made sure to have dinner ready for you when you got in, and the two of you often sat on the couch while eating those nights.

That Monday, you were sure that you’d be in bed before the Bachelor even started. But then Nate showed up unannounced. Mara was in the middle of washing the dishes this time, so you were the one to open the door. He greeted you with a goofy smile and a large electrical wire. Without a word, you stepped to the side and he was kicking off his shoes to enter the living room. Mara caught the roll of your eyes as you followed him.

He was standing beside the television when you entered the room. The wire he’d brought with him was connected to his cellphone while he found a port for the other end. You sat at the corner of sectional and waited, yawns escaping your mouth every minute or so. The day had been long enough already.

Suddenly, the television lit up with his cellphone background on full display. He held it up to show you, a grin present on his face.

“I need your help,” he began. He tapped one of the dating apps on his home screen and immediately you were regretting letting him in. You realized he wasn’t leaving any time soon as he unraveled the cord and plopped down beside you on the couch. Mara entered the room, eyes catching on the beautiful brunette woman on the screen, and then she gave Nate a curious look. “Come on, Mara. Join us.”

An amused smile came to her lips as she sat on the other end of the couch.

“I am not swiping for you,” you grunted, rubbing at your eyes. “I have no interest in judging girls off these apps.”

“Relax, YN,” he said. “I’m not asking you to play matchmaker. Just help me talk to this girl.”

“You need help talking to girls?” Mara asked as she gave him the once over. You laughed out loud while Nate blushed.

“I don’t need help,” he began. He turned his attention back to the television and pulled up the profile of a beautiful brunette woman. “I just don’t want to come on too strong, or douche-y. This girl is perfect and I wanna take her out.”

“Can you two make this quick?” Mara asked. “The Bachelor’s on tonight.”

“And my bed is calling my name.”

Nate peered at you over his shoulder. He smiled at your tired eyes, drooping as you leaned your head on your hand. He leaned back, stopping inches from your face and said, “I’ll make it quick.”

To your surprise, and Mara’s delight, he reached up and ran his hand over your hair before turning back to the television. He gave a rundown about the girl on the television, but his words went in one ear and out the other. Your glazed eyes watched as he typed out messages to her, and you laughed when Mara made fun of the way he was talking. (“Why the fuck are you talking like that? Are you her father?”) Finally, he turned on you.

“Are you gonna help or what, love doctor?”

“Give me the phone,” you said, extending your hand. He plopped it into your palm and watched you type out the message on the television screen. It took you less than a minute to type out a sweet message asking the girl out on a date before you were shoving the phone back into his hand. “You overthink too much.”

“That’s it?”

“Short and sweet,” you noted with a shrug. “I’d say yes.”

Nate’s eyes cut to you and you felt a chill run down your spine at the intensity behind them. Mara cleared her throat as you diverted your attention from him, shaking the feeling you got from his baby blues. She smiled sweetly at the two of you. “Can I detach your phone from our TV now? It’s almost time for Bach.”

You peeled yourself off the couch and headed to the bathroom to wash your face before changing into sweats and a t-shirt. You returned to the living room to find Nate with his feet up on the coffee table. Mara had tuned the television to ABC and the Bachelor recap was playing. He looked up as you entered and frowned.

“Stay out here a little bit longer,” he proposed, bottom lip jutting out in a pout. “We’ll watch some of this and see if she says yes to the date.”

“Nate, I’m exhausted.”

“C’mon.”

You couldn’t say no, not when he was pouting like that. So, you rolled your eyes and walked around the couch to plop down in the spot you’d been before. Before long, your eyes were closing and you couldn’t keep them open any longer.

Nate didn’t realize you fell asleep, but he didn’t mind when you leaned against his arm as a pillow. He stiffened for a moment, unsure of what to do, but a soft snore escaped your lips and he found himself smiling down at your peaceful face. He didn’t move for the rest of the episode because he was too nervous to wake you. When the credits began to roll, he dropped a hand to your knee and shook you lightly.

Your eyes opened, bleary from sleep, and you found that you’d fallen asleep on him. You jerked away, realizing that it was probably too close for comfort, and smiled apologetically. He returned the smile before standing and gathering his things from the coffee table.

“Get some sleep,” he said on his way to the front door. You hummed in response, following him to the door to say a proper goodbye and lock up. He pulled you into a hug before going, shocking you once again by with how gentle he was despite hardly knowing you.

“Did she say yes?” you asked as he pulled away from the hug. “I almost forgot to ask.”

“Yeah, she did.”

---

Lesson #1: The First Date

In the chaos of the week that followed, you’d almost forgotten that you promised Nate your assistance before the date. You weren’t used to being accountable for someone else like you were now, so it wasn’t surprising.

“There is a man at reception asking for you.”

The office receptionist, Debby, was standing in the doorway with a giddy smile on her lips. You knew immediately from the look in her eye that the man at the front desk was going to be the talk of the office for a week.

You stood, following her out the door of your office and down the hall. As you rounded the corner to reception, you saw Nate leaning against the desk. He was sucking on a mint from the bowl in front of him and smiled wide when he saw you.

“What are you doing here?”

“I have my date tonight, remember?” he asked. One glance at your watch told you that you worked a little too late. You cursed under your breath, turning quickly to head back to the office and send one last email. Nate hesitated, but ultimately decided to follow you down the hallway. He eyed the pencil skirt you were wearing, eyes lingering a little too long on your ass. He shook his head from his trance, knowing damn well that he was just asking for trouble.

Nate lingered in the doorway of your office for a moment before his eyes landed on a picture frame across the room that caught his attention. It was a marble frame without a photo like it had been removed and never replaced. He picked the frame up and turned it over in his hands, then turned to you.

“You need a picture.”

“What?” you asked, eyes still trained on the screen. They flickered up to see what he was talking about and then got right back to work. “Used to be a picture of me and my ex. Nobody’s important enough to put in.”

Nate placed the frame down. He felt a pang of sadness for you in that moment, but distracted himself by moving onto the next shelf and playing with some of the desk games on it. He was in the middle of fiddling with your Rubiks cube when you stood from the computer.

“You’re wearing that?” you asked. Nate winced at the question, glancing down at the jeans and t-shirt he was wearing. When he looked back up, you were wearing a shit eating grin. “I’m fucking with you.”

“Jesus, YN.” He clutched his heart and released a deep breath. You rounded the desk and grabbed your jacket from the hook. As you swung it over your shoulders, Nate stepped up to help. You slipped your arms through the arm holes trying to suppress the flair up of butterflies in your stomach.

When you reached the sidewalk outside the building, you led him down the block to a florist. Their window displays were your favorite in the city and you often found yourself going out of the way to peak at them on shitty days. You daydreamed about the day someone bought you a bouquet from there specifically.

The bell above the door rang as you stepped in. The smell of fresh flowers hit your nose and you sniffed it in happily. You grinned back at Nate and he felt a tug at his heart at your excitement.

“Can I help you?”

You bounded over to the woman behind the counter, Nate following behind you a little awkwardly. You gave him an expectant look and then his brain finally caught up with the question. As he leaned forward to look at the flowers in the case in front of you, his hand pressed against the small of your back.

“What would you get?” he asked curiously. You took a sharp intake of breath at the lack of space between you and pulled away to look at the flowers.

“Sunflowers and baby’s breath are my favorites.”

Nate smiled at the woman behind the counter and repeated what you’d just said, adding, “It’s for a first date, so I don’t need it too big or anything.”

You laughed at his explanation, and then the blush that come to his cheeks when he realized how silly he sounded. Neither of you noticed the confused look on the florist’s face. She was about to comment on how cute the two of you were, and in hindsight she was glad she kept her mouth shut. He reached out and squeezed your arm as a warning to stop teasing him. You stepped away completely, still smiling stupidly as he turned to pay.

“I’d’ve put roses in there too,” you told him once you were back on the sidewalk. “But this is only a first date. It might’ve been a little intense.”

“Roses?” he asked. You hummed in response, plucking the flowers out of his hand as you continued in the direction of the restaurant he was meeting his date at. “Good to know, you know, for the future.”

The walk to the date spot was only about ten minutes long and most of it was spent talking about your plans for the weekend as opposed to his date. He was going to be away with the team and you had plans to visit family. You kept thinking to yourself that you needed to stop getting distracted by him and his good looks and his sweet disposition. He was dating someone, and that person was not and would not be you, but he kept surprising you with the way he weaseled himself into your life.

“We’ll have to hang out next week sometime, then,” he said, snatching the flowers back out of your hand playfully. You nodded, but you were taken by surprise. It didn’t make sense that he’d want to hang around you without getting something out of it, whether it was dating advice or something more. Clearly, Nate didn’t care and you were beginning to wonder if maybe you’d get a beautiful friendship out of this nonsense.

“Any last-minute advice?”

“Don’t say anything dumb,” you said to him, emboldened by the realization that you might actually be friends now. Nate laughed out loud. “You think I’m just being funny, but sometimes you say stupid shit.”

“Jeeze,” he muttered. “Way to fuck up my self-esteem right before a date.”

“Oh, please.” You rolled your eyes and came to a stop just before the crosswalk he’d be using. He slowed to a stop as well, the bouquet of flowers falling to his side as he looked down at you. You reached out to right them with an amused smile. “Careful with these.”

“Got it, boss.”

You stalled a moment more, gazing at the flowers. You almost felt jealous of the girl going to dinner with Nate because those flowers would look perfect in a vase on your dining room table. “God, I really hope she appreciates those.”

The tone of your voice took Nate by surprise. It sounded a little sad, and full of yearning, and he felt kind of bad that he’d be walking away with the flowers you’d been admiring the entire walk from the florist. Even so, you said your goodbyes and he watched you turn on your heel to head home. He felt stuck in place, eyes trained on your retreating frame while his feet were cemented to the sidewalk. Before he could second guess himself, and his motives, he called out your name.

“Wait, YN!” When you turned, he was halfway down the sidewalk to you and, once he was within arm’s length, he plucked a sunflower from the bouquet and extended it. “For you.” Your cheeks felt red hot as your fingers curled around the stem. You hoped he couldn’t notice a blush. If he did, he didn’t make it known and left with a simple, “I’ll talk to you later.”

A stupid smile sat on your lips the entire way home. You felt the thumping of your heart long after you’d entered your place and placed the flower in the dining table vase. No matter what you found yourself doing that night, Nate remained at the back of your mind. You swore to yourself that it was because you wondered how his date was going, nothing more. But, when your eyes kept finding their way to the sunflower on the dining room table, you worried that maybe the reason you couldn’t stop thinking about him was something more.

---

You grabbed dinner with Mel the next Tuesday. Because of your trip to visit family, the two of you agreed to take a week off and reschedule some sort of get together for Tuesday. Gabe was home so he’d be with Linnea, and you were just happy that it wasn’t Monday. She was in the middle of a story when your phone lit up beside you; Nate’s name was on full display.

When’s our next lesson?

You snatched the phone off the table and away from Mel’s prying eyes, hoping that it wouldn’t peak her curiosity. The movement itself was enough to stir her, though, and Mel was soon leaning forward to see what was going on. She reached out and pushed the phone down, craning her neck to read the text.

“Next lesson?” she asked, eyebrow quirking. “Who is this?”

“It’s Nate MacKinnon.”

You said it so quickly and so nonchalant that Mel actually continued picking at her brunch before she reacted. Her fork clattered to the plate. “Did you just say Nate MacKinnon?”

“This,” you began gesturing at her wild eyes and wicked smile, “is exactly why I didn’t tell you.”

“Why?” she asked, feigning innocence. “Because I’m totally going to take this and run with it?” You dropped your face in your hands. “You should go for it. He’s a little dumb, but mostly cute. You definitely have the patience to deal with him though.”

“Mel, it’s not like that at all,” you told her. “I’m helping him learn how to be more romantic.” Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline in shock. “I’m serious. You know just as well as I do that he’s bad dating. He asked for my help after we met. I have enough experience with douchebags to tell him what not to do.”

“You sure do,” Mel agreed. You laughed at her response and an easy smile spread across her face. “Maybe teaching him a thing or two about how to be romantic will remind you of what you deserve.”

You sighed, picking up the coffee in front of you to take a sip. Mel knew better than anyone, besides Mara, how shitty the guys in your life had been. She met your ex last year just before your break up and she hated him from the moment you introduced the two. He never deserved you and her heart broke the longer you spent wasting your time on him. When you finally ended it, she was your biggest supporter.

You left the message unanswered, not wanting to give her anymore ammo in what was sure to be her new mission. When she got up to head to the bathroom before the check came, you opened the message from him. The last conversation was from Saturday night and he was letting you know that the girl he’d gone out with was looking forward to their next date.

What do you need help with now?

Do you know how to cook?

---

Lesson #2: A Homemade Meal

“I can’t believe you don’t know how to cook,” you grunted as soon as Nate pulled his apartment door open on Friday night. The grin on his face was anything but apologetic and you pushed past him with two large grocery bags in hand. You brought them to the kitchen and began unpacking them onto the counter.

“I do know how to cook, by the way,” he said, stepping up beside you to help you remove everything from the bags. You eyed him skeptically. “Mostly just the basic meats and vegetables.”

“You can’t cook a date your pregame meal.”

Nate knew that. He wasn’t that stupid, but he did love saying stupid shit around you. You tended to roll your eyes at him, but your lips always gave away how you really felt about his stupidity. The right side always curled up into a smirk, like you were trying to fight the laughter bubbling in your chest. He loved it when you did that.

“Is this, like, a meal your ex used to make?” he asked after grabbing some spices from the cabinet. You were grateful that his back was turned because the easy smile on your lips disappeared at the reminder of him. You busied yourself with the pot of water on the stove and set it to boil.

“No, my ex never actually made dinner for me,” you answered in a poor attempt to keep your voice steady.

Nate stopped prepping the meat and turned to face you. Questions sat on the tip of his tongue, begging for him to ask, but you wouldn’t look at him. He felt a little bit angry at your confession, though he couldn’t quite place why. Admittedly, he had been that boyfriend before – the one that didn’t cook dinner. Now, he was mad at himself for ever being that guy.

When you didn’t turn to look at him, he dropped the subject. You worked in silence, you busy with the pasta and him with the chicken. As you waited for the food to be ready, you hiked yourself up onto the counter. Nate grabbed a bottle of red wine from the end of the counter and poured glasses for the both of you.

He stood across from you with a dish towel over his shoulder and his own glass of wine in his palm. He asked about work and you filled him in on all the hot office gossip. The smile on his face didn’t fall once as he listened to your stories, and he never tried to change the subject or take over the conversation for himself. After a while, you stopped.

“I’ve been talking forever.”

“Yeah, and I’ve been enjoying it,” he told you. You laughed. “I wish I could be a fly on the wall in your office.”

Feeling a bit bolder, you kicked your foot out and nudged his side. “Maybe I can take you to bring your pet to work day.”

Nate’s jaw dropped, a reaction you weren’t expecting, and you began laughing hysterically at his surprise. He placed his wine glass down beside him and took a step closer, wrapping a hand around your ankle to tug you closer to the edge of the counter. You yelped in surprise.

“Pet?” he asked. You wiggled your foot out of his grasp, giggles falling from your lips as he dropped his hand to his side. The oven started beeping, interrupting whatever moment you were having before it could continue. “Saved by the bell.”

“Looks good, Nate,” you praised as he pulled it out of the oven. “My mouth is watering.”

“Go sit down,” he ordered. “You have to evaluate my presentation and make sure I look good.”

Nate entered shortly after you sat down and placed the plates on either side of the table with a smile. He slipped back out and returned with the wine. There was mischievous glint in his eyes as he topped your glass off and added to his.

“How is it?” he asked, leaning back. A look of cockiness flashed over his features and you felt it in your stomach when you looked at the way his arms were crossed and his biceps filled out the sleeves of his t-shirt. You picked up your utensils and cut into the meal, picking up a bit of each piece before putting it in your mouth.

Nate leaned forward eagerly. He watched your eyes light up when the flavor hit your tongue and he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. You nodded emphatically as you swallowed your first forkful. He cut into his own meal and the moment he took a bite, he moaned. The meal was so good that conversation was sparse and, by the end, it looked like your plates had been licked clean.

You didn’t stop Nate from filling your glasses again, though you figured you should have. The third glass always lowered your inhibitions.

“How pissed off would you be if I asked you about your ex?”

“Not pissed off,” you answered. You took a sip of the wine, then leaned your cheek in your palm as you spoke. “What do you want to know?”

Nate sat up at this, suddenly realizing that he hadn’t prepared himself with a question because he didn’t think you’d give him the go ahead. He let out a tuft of breath, took a sip from his glass, and thought. Finally, he asked, “Why’d you break up?”

“How long do you have?”

“As long as you need,” he answered. His voice was soft, comforting, and you felt yourself relax into the question.

“Honestly, I didn’t want to break up with him,” you began. “And, if I didn’t have friends like Mel and Mara, I might still be with him. Things have changed now, though. I realize what a crap human being he was but, if I stayed with him, I don’t think I would’ve realized how much better I deserved.”

“Did you fight a lot?”

“Do I seem like the fighting type?” you teased. He shook his head. “He did enough fighting for the both of us. He would yell at me for no reason sometimes, just because he felt like it.”

Nate was angry. His features were contorted in distaste as you told him about your ex. Even though you tried to make light of the situation with a few light-hearted jokes, Nate couldn’t find it within in him to react with laughter. You deserved so much better than what you’d been given.

“When I broke up with him, Mara was there. We packed my things and moved it all out. I was going to leave a note, but he came home from work early and caused a scene. He went out the night after and sent me all these videos and pictures of him out with his friends. They were flipping me off, girls were draped all over him, etcetera. I blocked him the next morning and I haven’t seen him since. That was over a year ago.”

“Fuck,” he muttered, dropping his head in his hands. He felt ashamed. “That’s why you yelled at me.”

“Yep,” you answered. “Emotions got the best of me.”

“I don’t blame you.”

Silence filled the room and you felt vulnerable. You didn’t share the story about your tumultuous relationship often, but with Nate it just slipped out. You grabbed your glass from the table and finished it off.

“I’m not staying for another,” you announced. Nate sat back, his face flashing with an offended expression. As you gathered the plates from the table, you tried to ignore the knots in your stomach that were becoming more and more prevalent when he was around. “Nothing good ever happens after the third glass. But, if I was your real date, I would definitely stay for a fourth and you would probably get to kiss me at the end of the night simply for how good that meal was.”

The words fell from your lips so easily that it shocked you and you hoped that the playful tone of your voice wouldn’t scare him off. You gathered yourself before turning back to look at him. He was still sitting at the table, chair pushed back with one arm over the back of it. The way he was looking at you was lethal, eyes drinking you in as you stood in his kitchen. You couldn’t tell if you were imagining the tension or it was real.

“Thank you for dinner,” you said finally. You grabbed your bag from the counter and pulled it over your shoulder as you headed for the door. Nate stood then to walk you out, pulling the door open as you slipped into your sneakers. “It was delicious.”

“Thank you for teaching me how to cook something actually good,” he said. “Poor girl would’ve been eating chicken and vegetables or pasta if you hadn’t come by.”

“Can’t let that happen, can we?” you asked. “Let me know how dinner goes.”

Nate leaned down, wrapping an arm around your waist to tug you into a warm embrace. You melted into his arms as yours came up and around his neck. For a moment, the two of you just stood there in each other’s arms. You wondered if he could feel the beat of your chest again him. It sped up as his hands flattened against your back, crossing over each other to engulf you completely.

“I’m not that kind of guy,” he said. He leaned his cheek on the top of your head and his chest rumbled beneath your own cheek as he spoke. “You know that, right?”

Your blinked away tears before he couldn’t notice then and nodded in response to his question.

When he pulled back, he leaned in to press a kiss to your cheek and his lips caught the corner of your mouth. An electric shock coursed through your bloodstream and you pulled back quick before offering one last smile and tossing a goodbye over your shoulder.

---

Nate called you the next Friday night with plans for Saturday.

“Mel and Gabe invited a bunch of the guys over and she told me I should see what you were doing tomorrow.” he said. “I feel like I haven’t talked to you much since last week. The guys would love to meet you.”

“Meet me?” you asked. “So, it’ll be more than just the ones I know?”

“A few more,” he answered with a laugh. “They’ll love you, okay? I’ll be at your place to get you at 5:30.”

It was the first time you were going to see him since you made dinner together last Friday. You exchanged a few texts throughout the week, but nothing of substance. You knew his dinner date went well, though you didn’t know to what extent. You found yourself wondering if she stayed for that additional glass of wine after dinner, or if she stayed for the night after.

He showed up to your apartment wearing a white dress shirt, sleeves rolled to his elbows. You welcomed him in while you went back to your room to get your heels on. He gaped at the dress you were wearing as soon as you had your back to him. His eyes wandered over your curves as you bent to grab your heels from the floor in your bedroom. When your dress slid up your thighs, he had to force himself to look away.

You tried to get more details about his dinner date out of him on the way to Mel’s, but he kept quiet. She liked dinner, she stayed for an extra glass of wine, and then she went home at the end of the night. An invisible weight lifted from your shoulders upon hearing she didn’t stay the night and you settled back into his passenger seat.

Nate noticed the way you relaxed into the seat and tore his eyes from the road for just a moment to sneak a peek at you. You were watching the world go by from the window, unaware that he was even looking at you. When he turned his attention back to the road, all he could think about was his sweaty palms and accelerated heartrate. Why did he care so much about what you thought?

Everyone was already at the house when you pulled up. The two of you walked up the driveway, his hand against your lower back much like it had been in the florist. Mel opened the door, lunging to sweep you into her arms and whisk you to the kitchen, her husband and your, well, Nate left behind.

“Thanks for having me, Mel.”

She handed you a drink complete with a salted rim and said, “I’m glad Nate asked if you could come.”

“Nate asked?” you repeated. She affirmed with a nod and ushered you to join the others in the living room while she and Gabe finished dinner.

You swore half the team was there, which meant not one seat was open on their couch. As you passed Nate, he grabbed your hand and sat you on the arm of his chair. He pulled your legs over his lap and began introducing you to the boys you didn’t already know.

You caught Cale’s eyes and felt heat rise to your cheeks. Out of everyone in the room, he was the only one making note of the lack of space between you two. Though you weren’t technically sitting in his lap, it still felt a little inappropriate. Nate’s hand was like fire where it rested against your thigh and you had to remind yourself to stop peeking at the placement.

Nate lied about your invitation to dinner, and for what? He could’ve just invited you himself instead of disguising it as a joint decision between him and Mel. What was he so afraid of that he couldn’t man up and admit he wanted you there? Better yet, why didn’t he ask Gianna?

You somehow ended up seated away from Nate at the dinner table. Cale settled in on one side of you and EJ occupied the other. Across from you sat JT and Tyson, bickering as always. You don’t know how you ended up separated from Nate, but you welcomed it because you needed the breathing room.

The meal was delicious, but Nate couldn’t even enjoy it because you were so far away. He was going to get fucking whiplash because of the way he kept looking back to see who you were talking to or hear what you were laughing at. How did he even end up this far down from you?

On the other hand, he couldn’t stop the smile that kept creeping up to his lips when he saw you with his teammates. They loved you, probably almost as much as he did, and he was proud to have you by his side that night. But then came the harsh reality that you weren’t actually his to show off.

When the party relocated, he made sure to slide up next to you on the way to the couch. EJ’s laughter mocked him, but you didn’t catch on to his teammate’s playful ribbing. With Gabe and Mel’s eyes in the room, he didn’t pull you over his lap and opted to lower his arm over the back of the couch instead. There were just inches between your skin and his but, after having you on his lap earlier, it felt like miles.

Drinking games were played, stories were shared, and you all left the house with full bellies and large smiles. Nate was driving, so he eased up on the drinks after dinner. You, on the other hand, were feeling just as free as you did after three glasses of wine at his place last week, and feeling daring enough to ask him the question that’s been on your mind all night.

“Why did you tell me that Mel asked you to invite me?”

“What are you talking about?”

“When you invited me, you said that Mel told you to,” you explained in a slow voice as if you were breaking the situation down to a child. “But she said that you asked if you could invite me.”

“Why does it matter where the invite actually came from?” he asked. A slight panic was rising in his chest because he didn’t have an answer for you. This wasn’t supposed to come back around to you. “Everybody wanted you here anyway.”

“Why didn’t you ask Gianna?” you asked, stepping down to join him on the path to the driveway. He rolled his eyes at this, and you noted it because though you’d done it to him many times, he’d never done it to you. He began walking, so you followed. “Are you going to answer my question?”

“Because I didn’t want to introduce her to everyone yet,” he answered. “You just fit in with us.”

Nate saw your face fall and decided not to push the conversation any farther. He said something wrong, but he didn’t know what. As far as he thought, he was complimenting you. He was complimenting how easy going you were, how his friends got along with you so easily. You were already a part of the group. It was great.

You continued along to the car in silence, not bothering to argue with him over a dumb comment. He wanted friends, so you were giving him friends, but the touches and the invite to team dinner was something more than friends. You needed distance. And he needed to figure his shit out, fast.

---

Lesson #3: Meeting the Friends

Something changed. When Nate dropped you off that night, he left you with a half-assed hug and a quiet goodbye. You couldn’t catch a wink of sleep that night because something changed. But then, Nate texted you tomorrow and tried to carry on as normal. Things weren’t normal.

And you knew that for sure when Nate didn’t invite you to EJ’s house the next weekend. Mel invited you instead and since you could never say no to Mel, you went. The thought of texting Nate to let him know passed briefly through your head, but the sheer fact that he hadn’t even bothered to talk to you about it in the first place was enough to decide against it.

When you entered EJ’s living room, you knew exactly why he hadn’t asked. Gianna was sitting on his lap, fingers curling through his hair as they talked. Anger rose in you no matter how hard you tried to suppress it. Just last week he said he didn’t want to bring her around and now she was here? Now she was here and he couldn’t even talk to you?

There was an uproar as Nate’s teammates noticed you standing in the doorway and Nate’s eyes cut to you in surprise. You lifted your hand in a pathetic wave before Cale was wrapping his arm around your shoulders and leading you to the kitchen.

“Who’s the girl with Nate?”

“His new girlfriend,” you answered, hoping that you didn’t sound bitter. “I don’t even know if that’s the right title for her, but they’ve been on a few dates.”

Cale let out a soft hum, his tone indecipherable, just as Tyson entered the room.

“What’s the deal with Nate’s new girl?” he asked as soon as he saw it was just you and Cale in the room. When you didn’t answer, he nudged you for an answer.

“What do you mean?” you asked.

“Well, she’s no you.”

---

Nate couldn’t help but ask himself, “What the fuck are you doing?”

As you were pulled into his teammates arms, he watched and couldn’t decide whether he wanted to get up and hug you too or if he just wanted to disappear. When Gianna’s fingers gripped his bicep, he decided he wanted the latter.

That’s when you looked at him, of course, and the smile that was on yours lips faded just a bit. At least, that’s what he thought. You lifted your hand in a wave before Cale was looping his arm around your shoulders and directing you towards the kitchen.

“Who was that?” Gianna asked, fingers curling into the hair at the nape of his neck.

He looked up at her with a simple answer. “One of our friends.”

Gianna kissed him and for the first time since he met you, Nate thought about what it would be like to kiss you instead. He brought her to EJ’s in a pathetic attempt to right the way he was feeling about you, but it only made it worse.

---

“Nate was weird last night,” Mel murmured after Cycle the next morning. You were waiting for her to say something. Since all the guys made comments the night before, you knew Mel was next. “Did you guys fight?���

“Fight? Me and Nate?” you repeated, stalling for time. “We didn’t fight.”

“What did you think of his girlfriend?”

“I actually didn’t get to talk to her,” you answered. You shrugged, giving the illusion that you didn’t care all that much even though you were fuming. After all the help you’d given him, he couldn’t be bothered to introduce you to her? And that wasn’t all. He hardly spoke to you all night, only entertaining conversations with you when someone else was around. You ended up spending most of the night with EJ.

“My sitter just bailed for tomorrow.” She’d been tapping away at her phone for a few minutes, no doubt panicking to Gabe. You watched her a moment longer as you wondered what her plans were for the next day. Then, it occurred to you.

“There’s a game tomorrow, right?” you asked. She nodded, still typing out messages to whoever was on the other end of the phone. “I can watch Linnea tomorrow. Don’t worry about finding a sitter.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that.” She waved you off absentmindedly and continued talking, “Besides, I thought Nate had a ticket for you or something. Didn’t he ask you to go?”

“Tomorrow?” you said incredulously. “No, absolutely not. Isn’t it like a WAG game? It would make no sense for me to be there.”

“Oh,” she murmured. “I just thought that he told Gabe,” she paused and noticed your set jaw. You were clearly not Nate’s biggest fan at the moment, so she decided to tread carefully. “You know what? Nevermind. I would love it if you could watch Linnea.”

---

As expected, Linnea was an angel the next day. You spent the time lounging in their living room with the game on TV while you played together. She took a bottle in the middle of the game and you brought her to her nursery once she’d been burped to rock her to sleep. But, you couldn’t quite peel yourself from the chair to put her in her crib. She was sleeping so peacefully and for the first time in a while you felt calm, so you stayed with her in your arms long after she’d fallen asleep.

You didn’t know what time it was when Gabe and Mel got home, but you heard their car doors close. You waited for them to happen upon you in the nursery, so you were surprised when it was Nate that knocked at the door.

“Hi,” he whispered, stepping into the room. He studied the decorations as he approached the rocking chair you were sitting in. When he stepped up beside you and admired Linnea, you tried not to look up at him. You knew it wouldn’t help the butterflies in your stomach, but you did it anyway. He was smiling down at the peanut in your arms. “Mel and Gabe are in the kitchen. They saw you on the baby monitor and told me to come get you.”

“Okay, I’ll put her down and meet you in there.”

“I can wait for you,” he said, stepping away. You stood, cradling Linnea to the crib and then craning to put her down in the center. Nate was watching you intently from the doorway with an unreadable expression on his face.

He stepped out into the hallway first, but he wasn’t walking towards the kitchen. He stood, waiting for you to stepped out into the hallway and look at him. You gave him a half-assed smile, still feeling a little hurt that things had been so weird between you two, and he asked, “Are we okay?”

“We’re fine,” you answered. He wasn’t convinced, but you reached up and shoved him lightly to get him to move down the hall. He didn’t budge, hand coming up to grasp yours against his chest. The beating of his heart sat right at your fingertips. “How was your game?”

“It was good,” he answered. “I wish you were there.”

“Well, then, you should’ve asked me to come,” you said, quite boldly. His lips parted, but whether it was to speak or not you wouldn’t know because you were continuing down the hallway without him.

You slipped into the kitchen to find Mel, leaving the men on the couch in the living room. The moment you stepped in, she was turning to greet you with a smile. You hissed, “Are you behind this?”

“I mentioned you were babysitting, his eyes lit up, and Gabe was the one to invite him over.”

“Team effort?”

She feigned an apologetic smile before ushering you out to rejoin the boys. Gabe got the fire going and Mel curled in his chest once he settled back on the couch. You sat on the other end, legs extended towards Nate in the corner. You felt his eyes whenever there was a suspended silence. You knew he was thinking about you, and selfishly you relished in the attention.

“YN, did you know that Nate’s parents were visiting next weekend?” Gabe asked during a lull in conversation. Nate glared at him, but the Swede happily ignored his buddy at the center of the couch. His eyes cut to you.

“I didn’t,” you answered. “But that’ll be fun. I know how much you missed them.”

All he could offer was a stupid ‘yeah’ before Mel swooped in to save the entire group from a very awkward moment.

Nate was going to kill Gabe. He was going to kill Gabe, but first he had to make a decision. He knew exactly what he had to do. It felt like you were a thousand miles away, not only physically but emotionally. Gabe should’ve kept his mouth shut. He was going to have you meet his parents, he just hadn’t gotten the chance to ask. Now, he looked like a dick. You couldn’t even look him in the eye.

“I was going to tell you about my parents,” he said, practically chasing you down the driveway after you ducked out while he was in the bathroom. To his surprise, you stopped walking and waited for him to catch up. “Seriously.”

“It’s getting hard to believe that, Nate,” you said. “I don’t know what’s going on in your head.”

Nate felt his heart sink. He began to rack his brain for a way to salvage the conversation, but it was too late by the time you reached your car. You stopped before opening the door to look up at him.

“You’re thinking too much.”

“I just—I know you’re upset with me,” he began. “I want to make it better. We haven’t really talked since EJ’s, and that’s on me.”

“Were you going to invite me today?” you asked. He gave you a curious look. “To the game. Mel mentioned something about it at Cycle. That you told Gabe you were thinking about giving your ticket to me.”

Nate ran his hand over his face. The Landeskogs had really gotten him into some trouble here, and he wasn’t sure it was accidental.

“You’re the one I wanted at the game,” he admitted. “I wanted to invite you, but I knew how bad it would look if I didn’t ask Gianna.”

“So, you invited her,” you concluded.

“No.”

You looked at him in shock, mouth agape, and asked, “You’d rather no one go than give the ticket to her?”

“Well, when you put it that way,” he grumbled. You threw your arms up in surrender, hoping the words would sink in. “I don’t know, YN.”

“Yes, you do,” you argued. He kept his mouth shut at that, knowing you had enough. You sighed heavily, allowing the conversation to roll off your back. “When are your parents going to be here?”

“Saturday morning.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“They’ll be at my game in the afternoon and then I was getting us a reservation for dinner,” he trailed off only momentarily. “I haven’t made it yet because I was going to invite you, but Gabe beat me to the punch in there.”

“What about Gianna?”

“YN, if I didn’t want her at my game, why would I want her to meet my parents?” he asked. He made it sound like you were asking the stupidest question in the world. But, he wasn’t answering the most important one. Was he breaking up with her? You wanted to ask, but part of you didn’t want the disappointment. He worried while you thought.

“I’m around on Saturday,” you answered. He smiled, and you forced one back. You hated the feeling between you two. The air between you had never been so stuffy and you wanted to clear it. “Anything else you wanna tell me before the Landeskogs do? Is Sid actually your long-distance girlfriend?”

Nate laughed loudly as he stepped away. He answered your question cryptically, “No, nothing to tell you right now. Not yet.”

---

Lesson #4: Meeting the Family

You planned to meet Nate at his apartment before dinner since his parents had gone to the hotel upon arrival. On the way, you picked up a box of pastries from your favorite bakery. You were taught to do little things for important people, and anyone who was important to Nate felt important to you. You tried not to think about the implications of having dinner with his parents, but it was hard to shake the nerves.

“What’s this?” he asked as soon as he opened the door. His finger slid over the logo on the top of the pastry box, eyes catching on the word bakery. When he looked up at you, his eyes were shining. “For me?”

“For your family,” you told him. “Don’t get any ideas.”

“I thought maybe you heard about my break up and you were trying to comfort me,” he said like it wasn’t breaking news. “I’ll put these in the kitchen.”

“You broke up?” you asked, following him to the kitchen. You stopped in the doorway as he put the pastries on the counter. He nodded simply as he cleared some clutter from the countertop. You could see his muscles moving beneath his navy polo. Guiltily, you couldn’t stop yourself from admiring the way the sleeves hugged his biceps or the wide expanse of his back and shoulders. “What happened, Nate?”

“We can talk about it later, alright?”

“Are you single or not?” you asked. Nate caught the frustration in your tone and he’d be lying if it didn’t make him want to kiss you right then. You needed to know what was going on with him, and that made him feel good about whatever was going on between you two.

Nate started to exit the kitchen, but stopped in the doorway beside you. You were crowded against his chest as he smiled down at you and answered, “Yeah, I’m single.”

You released a breath once he stepped out of the doorway. He slipped his shoes on while you stood nearly the front door. He caught the look on your face, a little scrunched up as you spaced out. You were thinking too much, worrying about what happened with him and Gianna. When he walked back over to the front door, he took you by the hips and said, “We can talk about it later, if you want. Right now, I just want to be with you and my family.”

---

“I’m nervous,” you admitted as Nate pulled up to valet outside the restaurant. He looked at you in shock. “Don’t make fun of me.”

“I’m not gonna make fun of you,” he promised. He reached over and dropped his hand to your thigh. You pouted at him, and his first instinct was to lean over the center console and kiss it off your lips. He knew better than to risk it all just before dinner, so he grabbed your hand and dropped a kiss to your palm instead. “You’ll be fine. No need to be nervous.”

A heavy sigh left your lips as he stepped out of the car. He rounded the front and opened the passenger door for you, grabbing your hand as you stepped out. After he handed his key to the valet, he laced his hands in yours and led you into the restaurant.

The MacKinnons were already at the table that had been reserved for them. There was uproar of cheers when they saw Nate walk in. You stole a peek at his face and the pure joy on it set your heart aflame. He dropped your hand as you approached the table to hug his parents and sister. They introduced themselves to you as well, sweeping you up in tight embraces like they had with Nate.

“It’s great to finally meet you,” they spoke as they hugged you.

Nate pulled your chair out from across his mother and then situated himself beside you. The menus were passed out and Nate whispered suggestions in your ear while his family members debated their own meals. She took the time to calm her nervous. Parents loved her, so there was no reason to freak out. Eventually the drinks were handed out, orders were taken, and the chaos at the table stopped.

“Now, how’d you two meet again?” his mom asked. You looked at each other, stupidly, both stammering in response until Nate got his shit together.

“We met through friends,” he answered simply. Then, his lips curled up and he said, “She yelled at me.” You dropped your face into your hands, embarrassed by the picture he was painting of you, but they took it in stride, laughing at your expression. “It wasn’t that bad.”

He continued, “As you guys know, I’ve been very unlucky in my personal life.” Sarah snorted at this. Their mother smacked her knee as a scolding. “I literally suck at being romantic and all the guys were joking around about it after I’d just been broken up with. YN called me out, so I asked her to teach me how to be romantic.”

“Well, what’d you learn?”

“How to cook a meal other than my pregame types, and I also have a new favorite florist,” he said. He reached into his back pocket for his wallet and flipped it open to slip out their business card. You didn’t realize he grabbed one. “There are some other things, like her wine rule.”

“Wine rule?”

“Nothing good ever happens after the third glass of wine,” you explained. They laughed at that, though they seemed bewildered by your reasoning.

Nate elaborated, “It just means that if your date stays for a fourth glass, you’ll probably get lucky.”

This earned him a smack on the arm from both his sister and yourself.

Nate’s family was just as kind as he was and it was clear how much they all adored each other. You fit in seamlessly, at least that’s how it felt, and when they asked the waitress to take a picture of them, Nate tugged you into his side to keep you in the frame.

“Take one without me,” you urged him. He just shook his head, gazing down at the picture on his phone. He passed it off to his parents and sister for approval. “Nate.”

“I want you in the picture,” he whispered to you. His hand came up to the back of your neck and he pulled you in to place a chaste kiss to your temple. He pulled away, like kissing you in public and on the forehead was normal now, and asked, “How was your food?”

When you got back to his place after dinner, you presented his mother with the pastries and earned a hug and kiss on the cheek as a thank you. They settled into the kitchen as he made drinks, chatting as a family about the people back home and his life in Denver. You slipped out to go to the bathroom, and give them some alone time.

“I like her,” you overheard his mother say as soon as you slipped out of the kitchen. You slowed your steps on your pursuit to the bathroom even though you knew it would be best to keep walking. You couldn’t help but be a little nosy.

“That’s good to hear,” Nate said. You smiled to yourself. “I like her, too.”

---

Nate’s family only stayed for another hour before you were bidding them farewell from his front door. They squeezed you and thanked you for the pastries, and then began inviting you to visit before Nate had to shut it down. Your heart felt full after spending the night with them, but sitting alone in Nate’s apartment in anticipation of what was to come was scaring the shit out of you.

Your hands were a little shaky and your palms were definitely sweaty. There was change coming, change that was already present, and you were both excited and terrified for it. Nate reentered the apartment not long after. When he saw you sitting on the couch, he released a breath he’d been holding.

“Are you going to stay for another glass?” he asked after locking the door behind him. “That one’s only your second.”

You eyed his smile, heart beat stuttering a bit beneath his gaze, and lifted the glass to your lips to finished what was left. You nodded and followed him into the kitchen. While he filled both your glass and his, you picked yourself up onto the counter like you’d done so many times before.

“I did a bad thing,” he murmured after handing your glass back to you. You raised a brow at him as he reached over to one of the cabinets and opened it to reveal two pastries in a Ziploc bag. “I stole two of them from my mom.”

“Nate!” you exclaimed. He chuckled at your exasperation. “I can bring you to that bakery whenever you want! Your parents don’t live here! It was a gift!”

“And they have the other eleven pastries,” he argued. “They’re not going to miss two.”

Reluctantly, but still with a smile, you took a pastry from his hand. You bit into it at the same time, eyes lighting up at the taste. At the sight of each other’s faces, you were doubled over in laughter before you had the chance to swallow what was in your mouth. You looked away from him to regain composure and only looked back when you were sure you wouldn’t choke.

“Those were fucking good.”

“Only the best for your mom.”

“Thank you,” he spoke. “For the pastries and for hanging out with my family today. I’m sure you had other things to do, but it meant a lot. They’ve been hearing a lot about you.”

“I had a lot of fun with them,” you said. His smile was soft, shy even, and he watched you carefully as you sipped from the glass in your hand. “It was nice to meet the people who made you who you are.”

“Wait until you meet Sid.”

You decided to move from the kitchen to the living room in favor of more comfortable seating. He reached his hand out behind his back, and you linked your fingers with his lazily so he could lead you to the couch. You slowed to a stop as he sat down, legs spread to pull you between them. Your hesitation caused a look of confusion to flash over his features.

“Can you tell me what’s going on inside your head now?” you asked, placing your glass down on the table beside the arm of the couch. He followed suit, then placed his hand delicately at your hip to urge you closer.

“Sure, I can,” he answered. He pulled you into his lap. You looped her arms around his shoulders as he flattened one hand against your back and curled the other around your thigh. “I don’t want to waste those romance rules on someone I don’t really like all that much.”

“You really didn’t like her?” you asked meekly. Of fucking course he didn’t like her, you were thinking. You were in his lap, not her, but you still couldn’t wrap your head around it. “Why?”

“The only reason I looked forward to going on dates with her was because I got to spend time with you before,” he confessed. You felt it all through your body. “I broke up with her the morning after we were at Gabe’s together. After you called me out on my bullshit, I knew I was being stupid.”

“Why me, though?”

“Because you deserve the world and I want to be the one to give it to you.”

It was only natural for you to lean in and capture his lips with yours. After all this time spent waiting and beating around the bush, you didn’t want to wait a second more. It was passionate, and new, and exciting. His hands held you close while your fingers curled into the back of his hair, but he wasn’t close enough.  

You swung your leg over to straddle him, not caring that you were wearing a dress with just panties underneath. His hands flew to your hips as you grinded against him. You gasped against his lips at the friction as he held you tighter, teeth nipping at your bottom lip until you covered his mouth with yours again. He guided your hips to grind against him once more, but you braced your hands against his chest to push away.

“I’m not staying for a fourth glass,” you said breathlessly. He smiled up at you, eyes falling to your lips that were red and plump from kissing him. Kissing him! He leaned in, tongue swiping along his bottom lip, and pulled you down by the back of the neck.

He murmured through his kisses, “You didn’t even finish your third.”

At the challenge in his voice, you reached over for the glass on the side table and finished what was left. He held you close, laughing against the crook of your neck. You giggled along with him until you felt his lips against your skin again and a gasp fell from your lips.

“You gotta leave before I pour number four,” he warned, breath ghosting over your neck. He kissed your neck again, this time sucking lightly enough to earn a strangled moan. You pushed back against his chest and stood, flustered as you adjusted your dress and your hair. Nate couldn’t help but smile as he watched you cross the room for your purse. He grabbed a pillow and held it over his lap to hide his hard-on.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” he asked as you put your heels on the end of the couch. He was admiring your flushed cheeks and your wild hair as you busied yourself. You fastened the strap on each heel before looking back at him. It took everything in you to not go back over there and unbutton the rest of his shirt.

“Nothing,” you answered as you stood. He followed suit, adjusting his dress pants just a bit so he was comfortable and making you giggle in the process. He stepped up beside you and pulled you against him again. He placed one, two, three kisses against your neck then your jaw then your lips.

“Let me make you dinner.”

---

Nate wasn’t going to be able to keep his hands to himself. He knew that the second you walked out of your room in that little black dress, but he was really trying to be on his best behavior. It was technically only your first date and he wanted to impress you. You just weren’t helping very much. As soon as you were in his car, you were grabbing his hand and lacing it with yours to drop them into your lap.

He was a little nervous that he wasn’t going to be able to pull this off. He was sure that he’d fuck up somewhere and you’d go running. And, truthfully, you could tell that he was overthinking every little thing he did. The tension in his shoulders as he moved about the kitchen to prepare everything for dinner was clear.

“What’s wrong with you?” you asked.

He gave you the most pathetic shrug and shake of the head as he tried to wave off your concern with a soft, “Nothing.”

“That’s a lie,” you called him out. “You look stressed.”

“I mean, I am a little stressed,” he admitted, diverting his eyes from yours as he headed over to the fridge. “I don’t want to fuck this up.”

Before he knew it, you were standing between him and the refrigerator. You flattened your hands against his chest and slid them up until your hands were linked behind his neck. A slight tug on him was enough to get him to kiss you. He finally relaxed, arms dropping from the refrigerator door to grip your hips.

“You’re not going to fuck this up.”

“I don’t have a very good track record.”

“You do with me,” you said softly. He looked skeptical, not quite understanding what you meant, so you pressed against him as his arms enveloped you. “You gave me a sunflower the third time we were ever around each other. You’ve cooked me dinner already. Sure, it was under different circumstances, but it counts. Nate, you know exactly what you’re doing. Don’t overthink it.”

“Go sit,” he said, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. You managed to calm his nerves better than anyone he’d ever known in a matter of seconds. “I’ll plate dinner and then I have to grab something for you, okay?”

Nate entered the dining room a minute later, placing both plates down across from each other before disappearing to grab wine glasses and another bottle of wine. Then, he was off down the hall to his bedroom. Your eyes followed him curiously, wondering what else he could possibly have up his sleeve. He’d already impressed you enough by cooking a meal you didn’t teach him.

“Oh, wow,” you breathed out when he appeared in the hallway with a bouquet of flowers. “Nate.”

“For you.”

You stood to take them from his hands and kiss him in thanks. When you pulled away, your fingers danced along the petals of the roses tucked between the sunflowers and baby’s breath Nate had grown to love too.

---

You filled your glass for a fourth time as inconspicuously as possible after your last bite of dinner, but Nate caught your eye over the bottle as you poured and you knew he knew what you were doing. He tried to stifle his smile unsuccessfully, picking up his own glass to cover it. One sip and his third glass was done.

“More?” you asked, extending the bottle in his direction.

“Four glasses?” he teased. “What do you take me for?”

“Okay, more for me then.”

Your voice was low, eyes dark as they settled on him, and suddenly he was lunging forward to grab the bottle and pour another glass for himself. Your giggles filled the room. He wanted them to echo off his walls forever.

“I want to take a picture with you,” he said. You gave him a curious look, though your stomach was doing cartwheels at the suggestion. “I keep thinking about your empty picture frame and I want you to have something to put in it.”

“We can take a selfie,” you suggested. He was quick to shake his head, pushing away from the table to take your hand and lead you to the patio. He pulled the phone from his back pocket and set it up against the couch. He removed the glass from your hand to place it out of view of the camera.

“Now, this is quite the set up,” you murmured as he moved furniture out of the way so there was ample space to take the photo. Denver’s city lights were sure to be the perfect backdrop and having Nate beside you wasn’t too bad either.

“Well, it has to be perfect if it’s going in your office.”

“How do you know I’ll even want to put it in the frame?” you asked. Nate pressed the timer and turned to walk back at you, smirk on his lips. You were teasing him, but you were playing innocent with those doe eyes. He curled around you, arms pulling your back against his chest to pose for the picture.

“After tonight, I’m sure you will,” he murmured in your ear. “Smile.”

The audacity of a man who tells you to smile after igniting your entire body in goosebumps.

The camera went off in a sequence, five pictures for the one timer. You smiled twice before he reached up to turn your face to his for a kiss. The sound of the shutter had you pulling away from his lips with a giggle. He smiled down at you for the next photo as laughter spilled from your lips, and then he was kissing you again.

When you finally pulled away from him, all giggly and handsy, Nate dragged you along with him to his phone. He curled around you as he flipped through the photos, each one cuter than the one before.

“Are you saying you wouldn’t put that in your office?” he asked. His breath tickled the back of your neck. You were just trying to tease him before, but with the lack of space between you and the way he was looking at you in these photos, you just couldn’t tease him anymore. His fingers trailed up your arms, goosebumps rising in their wake once again.

“How’s that fourth glass of wine treating you?” you asked. Nate tucked the phone in his back pocket as you turned to face him. His hands were on you once they were free, curling over the curve of your ass.

“I shouldn’t have let you talk me into it,” he murmured against your lips. “I’m trying to be good, but it’s impossible to keep my hands to myself.”

“What if I don’t want you to keep your hands to yourself?” you against, arching your body to press against him. You could feel him hard against your hip and knew you had him exactly where you wanted him. You pressed your lips to his and, as you pulled away, you took his bottom lip between your teeth and sucked on it.

A growl ripped through his chest as he lifted you into his arms. Your legs came to wrap around his waist as he carried you into the apartment and slammed the patio door shut behind him. He dropped you onto the bed, one hand coming to tug you towards the end by the ankle. His hands spread your legs so he could step between them and they slid up your thigh, pushing your dress up as they went.

“You don’t know how badly I’ve wanted to do this,” he murmured in your ear as his hands reached your hip, dress bunching around his wrists and revealing your lace panties to him. “Stealing touches in a crowded room just doesn’t compare.”

You lifted your arms as he guided the dress over your body and tossed it to the floor. At the sight of your match set, Nate pushed you up the bed and crawled over you. He peppered kisses along your skin from your collarbone to your chest. He worked his way down your stomach until reaching the top of your underwear. In on swift movement, your thong was on the floor and he was spreading your legs.

“So pretty,” he murmured, fingers spreading your folds. You moaned out as he slipped his finger in. “You like my fingers in your pussy, baby?” You could only manage to nod because he’d already slipped a second finger in. He curled them while he pressed a kiss against your inner thigh. “How about my tongue?”

Nate licked a stripe up your center and you gasped, hands flying down to curl into his hair as he continued to eat you out. He sucked on your pussy, continuing to thrust his fingers into and curl. He dragged moans out of you, obscene words dripped from your lips, and the filthy sound of his tongue filled the room.

“You taste so good.”

You tried to grind against face for some more friction, but he held your hips down and continued. You whined, tugging his hair and arching your back as he brought you to orgasm.

“Nate, I’m gonna cu—” you moaned, toes curling at the feet of his lips around you. Suddenly, cool air shocked your core and your orgasm retreated. You sighed as your whole body sank into the bed at the absence of stimulation. Nate crawled up your buddy, licking a stripe up your neck before attaching his lips to yours.

“Sorry, baby,” he said. He nudged your knees apart and situated himself between them, hand falling to his dick as he lined it up with your entrance. “I just need you to cum on my cock.” You moaned as he pushed his head between your folds. “YN, as long as you’re mine, I’ll never make you feel like you don’t deserve all the most romantic things.”

You answered with a moan as he bottomed out inside you. He watched your face as you adjusted to his size and smiled as you whimpered, pulling your teeth between your lips. You felt so good around him and as he began to pull out and thrust in again, your nails dug into his biceps.

You knew he was trying to take his time, but you could hardly take it. As far as you were concerned, Nate would have all the time in the world to take it slow with you. Tonight was not that night.

“Fuck me harder.”

When you sounded like that beneath him, how could he say no? His previously slow and calculated thrusts became sloppy at your request. He relished in the sound of your moaning and the way you called his name like a prayer. You were unraveling beneath him and he wanted to get you there. He adjusted your leg over his shoulder so he could hit a new angle.

“Come on, baby,” he moaned against your lips. “I wanna see you cum for me.”

He reached down and placed his thumb against your clit, rubbing in circles as he pumped into you. You screamed out and your body arched as your orgasm ripped through you. Nate pumped into you a few moments more as he chased his high while listening to your whimpers. He spilled out into his condom as a string of curses left his lips, then collapsed onto of you to catch his breath.

Your fingers immediately found his hair as your breathing evened out together. His body was hot on yours and a sheen of sweat covered both of you. Nate’s fingers curled around your waist and into your skin, squeezing you like he needed to get closer but couldn’t. Finally, he pulled out of you and sat back on his knees.

“You’re so beautiful,” he sighed, hands rubbing up your stomach to cup your breasts. You shivered at his touch. “I never want to leave this bed.”

“Not even for shower sex?”

“Okay, maybe for shower sex,” he murmured. He picked you up, tossing you over his shoulder to carry you to the bathroom.

---

A few hours (and orgasms later), you were clothed in Nate’s sweats and t-shirt and waiting for him beneath the covers in bed. He was cleaning up the glasses you left on the patio and running the dishwasher, though he was quick to finish it up and return to you. You looked so cute propped up against the headboard that he couldn’t stop smiling as he got ready for bed. He pulled on a pair of sweats, but remained topless as he slid under the covers. Instead of pulling you down to rest on his chest, he dropped his head onto your stomach and pulled you tightly to him. Your fingers carded through his hair.

“Thank you for tonight, Nate,” you spoke. “This was the best first date I’ve ever been on.”

“I’m counting this as our fourth date,” he responded. You laughed at him, slapping his bicep lightly at his teasing. “Let’s be honest, I was trying to impress you this entire time anyway.”

“Consider me impressed.”

Nate pulled you down to eye level with him, heads on your respective pillows, and then turned to shut the lamp off beside him. When he turned back, he pulled you against his chest. With your ear to his chest, you listened to his heartbeat and his breathing as it evened out. His fingers scratched your back ever-so-slightly as if soothing you to sleep.

“Are you happy?” he asked. You looked up at him with a curious gaze. Could he not tell how happy you were?

“Of course, I am,” you answered. “Are you?”

“How could I not be?” he asked. “You’re so far out of my league.”

“No, I’m not,” you groaned. You covered your blushing face with your hands at his words, hoping that he couldn’t feel the beat of your heart. Nate was quick to tug them down, holding them against his own chest. He didn’t care if you felt how hard his heart was beating. In fact, he wanted you to know. He wanted you to know the effect you had on him.

“You feel my heart, right?” he asked. You nodded. “You did that. You do that to me every single time I’m around you.” Your eyes began to water and you tried to pull your hand away from his to wipe the water pooling in the corner. Nate grabbed both your hands with one of his and wiped it with his own thumb. “I’ll never let you go to bed thinking I don’t love you. I’m going to shower you with flowers from our favorite florist and buy you pastries from that little shop you like, and I’ll never make you feel like you need to stifle yourself and who you are on account of me.”

“Nate.”

“Just listen to me, alright?” he asked, voice soft. You nodded. “Your ex stuffed you down and he didn’t appreciate you. That’ll never happen with me, and if you feel like it is, you need to tell me, just like you did when we first met.”

You tried to stammer through some type of coherent response, but words failed, so you kissed him. His arms wrapped around your waist to pull you flush against him and your legs intertwined. He was intoxicating, you couldn’t get enough, but he felt just the same. He wondered how anyone had let you go before and simultaneously thanked them for the gift that was you.

That night, Nate vowed he’d never let you go to bed unhappy and he’d never let you feel any less than perfect. He waited forever for a partner like you, honest and kind, and he finally had it in his hands, in his bed. And you promised that you’d never love anyone as much as you loved him. You just knew it.

[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

how would you do a percy jackson adaptaion?

okay, so I know this is a controversial opinion right off the bat: I really don’t think it should be an animated series.

A large part of the appeal of the series is that it’s a fantasy series set very very firmly in reality. Literally, apart from the camps, you could go to every location hit in the books. Riordan mentions specific streets, buildings and landmarks, and that was cool when I first read them. I remember being a kid and waiting for him to set a scene in a place near where I lived! I remember trips to New York and being able to envision an epic war happening in the streets. So I think any adaption needs to be live action just to keep that same feeling alive, while I’m not knocking on animation, I just feel like taking the story out of real life would make it loose a little of the charm. Like, the scene where Manhattan is completely frozen in time? It would be haunting to see that in real life, but I feel like it would be less impactful if it didn’t…you know…look real? The series should be done in a way that makes you truly feel like you could just turn a corner and walk straight into a snake woman going about her day. 

Now: another large part of the appeal of the series is how funny it is, but a lot of that…is Percy’s inner monologue. He doesn’t actually voice most of it, there was even a book where Annabeth described him as being quiet. So, I think the best way to work around this: make it Interview With A Demigod. 

Imagine it’s got an interview with a vampire-esque setup- and this even works because within the riordanverse, the books canonically exist because Percy sat down with a ‘camp scribe’ and had his quests recorded. So, like, this isn’t even entirely out of left field. But just imagine, a college-aged, maybe a little older Percy, I can see it so clearly in my head, he’s wearing a sweatshirt that at first glance looks like it says NYU but a trained eye will see it actually says NRU for a camp jupiter easter egg, he’s sitting in some dinky little diner (maybe it can even be a monster donut or something with a clever greek myth related name) with a guy who’s recording the conversation on some old-ass tape recorder that keeps acting up but they can’t record on a phone because of the whole technology thing. Every now and then it’ll cut back to them to get some great Percy thoughts out there. They open with older Percy saying the ‘look, I didn’t wanna be a halfblood’ and then explaining where he was when the whole mess started. Once he get’s to “was I a troubled kid?” the screen fades from older Percy to 12 year old Percy getting in a fight with Nancy and her gang, and the voice over says the ‘Yeah, you could say that’ part as we see him get threatened by the principal to behave on the field trip. Boom, we’ve got an opening. Lowkey….I’m seeing Jordan Fisher as older Percy, but I’m not 100% married to the idea. 

And before anyone tries to argue that showing an older Percy would spoil he’s not gonna die in last olympian- like, reading the books, we all knew he wasn’t going to die. It was a first person narrative and he was consistently speaking in past tense lmao like we Knew he was gonna make it. We still enjoyed the series. It won’t ruin anything.

I want part of the score of the adaptation to be instrumental versions of songs from the musical, I think that could be a sweet nod to that team. 

They really need to nail camp halfblood. I know that goes without saying, but in order to keep the pacing of the story decent we can’t spend as much time falling in love with it like we got to with the book. The book is like, 24 chapters and the quest starts at chapter 12- for a movie or tv show, that’s just gonna feel like it’s dragging. So, the insanity of the camp needs to smack you in the face right away, and then it needs to endear itself to the viewers quickly after that. Don’t try to ease the viewers (or Percy) into the mythology is real thing, rip it off like a bandaid. He’s on his way to meet Chiron and Mr. D for the first time and even if he’s not comprehending what he’s seeing, there’s nature spirits and harpies all around going about their day. Hestia waves at him and then disappears into the flames. Hecate kids can be seen casting a spell on the porch of the Hermes cabin. The Stolls are seen pranking some Aphrodite kids. He sees someone surely die on the climbing wall but then you hear a faint ‘I’m okay!’. The Apollo kids put a rhyming curse on another cabin. Pure chaos all before he gets the ‘so, gods are real’ speech. And then after that…show how warm Luke is to him at the cabin and at dinner. Show the kids all goofing off at the campfire and really make it clear that they’re children. Show the strawberry fields rolling in the wind and Percy sitting on the beach. The whole couple weeks where he’s searching for powers and learning greek and latin with Annabeth can be a montage. Make it clear how hurt and scared he is when he finds out he needs to leave.

It needs to really get you feeling how Percy’s feeling, every laugh, every tear, every moment of fear or confusion needs to shine clear through. Like…think of Spider-Man Homecoming, the Washington monument scene. All things considered, it’s not the most high-stakes scene we’ve ever seen in that franchise, and when it cuts to the kids in the elevator, they’re worried but not quite freaking out, but that scene feels very high stress to watch because the movie is good at getting the viewers to feel what Peter feels. A Percy Jackson adaptation needs a touch like that, because Percy’s a very emotional kid and that’s what a lot of the scenes hinge on.

Lowkey- I’d love it if the casts of both the previous movies and the musical had cameos or bit parts (the movie cast did Nothing Wrong, it was the rest of that team). It’d be hilarious to see, like, Jake Abel as the owner of the poodle, or Logan Lerman as Older Percy and the reporter’s waiter that keeps trying to get in on the conversation, or Brandon T. Jackson as a satyr who’s still stuck grooving out in the Lotus Hotel and Casino. Kristen Stokes as a nature spirit, Chris as one of the ghosts stuck in the waiting room of DOA Records, just like any of those casts having small parts would be fun and sweet. 

There should be a lot of easter eggs for the bigger riordanverse. Promotions in the background for the new Tristan McLean movie. Gabe’s got a true crime documentary about the missing Grace children playing during his poker game. Mr. D is reading a paper about Rachel Dare’s father’s newest project. At some point while they’re still in New York they pass the Kane family’s mansion or whatever it was called. Annabeth keeps a picture of little her and Magnus on her nightstand. The barest of hints about the Triumvirate. Seeing kids in camp jupiter gear in some background shots, just out of notice of our main characters but implying the camps are going through similar problems (BITCH….if we got a titan’s curse adaptation…and we had a shot of Thalia in the foreground….but in the background we saw a blond boy in purple with a golden sword….well I would simply loose my Goddamn mind).

And show us how easily the mist lets things blend in, too- like, everyone thinks ‘Monster Donuts’ is just a normal chain, it’s just on an average street block, but if Percy looks through the window he can see who’s behind the counter. Show someone swindling some guys in a park and you have to look twice to realize he’s a gegeines. Like…how people are still trying to find all the background ghosts in haunting of hill house. I would LOVE to see a bunch of background monsters and mythical beings just going about their day as much as the mortals are while the gang’s questing. 

The effects need to be fun. The whole story needs to be fun, but one weird thing about the past movies are that like…in their attempt to make it gritty, none of the fantastical things happening on screen actually felt that exciting. We need bright colors and interesting choices, consistently cool action shots, a liveliness that makes you feel like you’re in the center of the action. I have absolutely no doubt Disney easily has enough funds to pull off great effects.

The characters need to be….in character lmao. Annabeth needs to be cocky and bratty with the skill set to justify it. Percy needs to be a sweetheart who pretends to be hardened because that’s what people assume he’s like. Grover needs to have dry humor and a Too Old For This Shit attitude whenever percabeth start bickering. Luke needs to be nice and friendly but in a specific way that you can look back after the betrayal and see he was trying to groom everyone. Sally needs to be loving, protective and strong. Chiron needs to feel defeated and determined at the same time. Mr. D needs to….be Stanley Tucci lmao

Also, I’d love if the adaptation could expand more on things that got brushed along in the books- Percy and Beckendorf’s friendship, Silena and Clarisse’s dynamic, make Nico’s crush on Percy a little more obvious, give Rachel some more development. One thing that haunts me about the books is Sally never found out that Gabe hit Percy. Absolutely they don’t need to make the abuse explicit, but I also personally feel like a lot of Percy’s mindsets throughout the series are somewhat a result of Gabe, and I’d like if that got, you know, acknowledged. Maybe in the scene where he figures out Gabe abuses Sally he could say ‘does he hit you too?’ or something to that effect. They could also go more into detail about Annabeth’s family, give Zoe some more depth….like the possibilities I’m screaming.

Okay this is already long and I’m getting tired but I can so clearly see a great adaptation in my mind….Disney please come through….It’s what we deserve…. 

[gatecoeur]

fuascailt

{ holy fucc it’s a wild anon }{ send me a tumblr url anon or not and i’ll talk about them (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ }

Gasps I didn’t think anyone would send me @fuascailt. Not cuz I don’t love Nerp (spoiler alert, I fuckin love Nerp), but because we haven’t interacted much, and uh... For a fair reason too. Josh and Arrie have been butting heads a lot, especially with this whole abstractionss thing. They both are fundamentally different in how they handle a life crisis, and what they expect other people to do. Josh is dealing with a lot of things that Arrie is completely unaware about and vice versa, and even if they were aware, I’m not sure they’d be able to come to an understanding of each other at a time like this. Which is so interesting cuz at the start, they were getting along pretty well. At least I think they were.

Regardless, I am a huge fan of Nerp, even if Arrie’s opinions on Josh make it look like I don’t lmao. I really like their writing style and how they format their text (like fr blease teach me ur ways bro). My favourite thing though is how they explore all the different relationships Josh has, and how differently he acts in accordance to each one. At a surface glance, it almost looks like he’s a man of many faces, but honestly, to me? It’s so realistic. The way we behave with family and friends and co-workers are each unique. None of those groups can ever get the full picture of who you are as a person, no matter how hard they try, and that’s okay. It’s normal. And I think Josh is just such a good fucking example of that.

I especially love the complex relationship between Josh and Gabe. Like holy shit. It’s just so clear that both the characters and the muns have a STRONG relationship. There’s so many memorable moments - moments of hilarity and high fucking tensions. And they both explore the complexities of a father-son relationship so well. 

Also Josh’s introspections. Holy fuck bro. His mental conversations with himself, with Mary, with people he’s dealing with, it’s... It’s just so brilliantly fucking written. And his actual dialogue too. I’m INSANELY jealous. Realistic dialogue for me is a STRUGGLE, but Nerp just has the art fucking perfected. Like ugh. God I wish that was me.

I wish there was more I could say about Nerp ooc, but again, my sporadic activity over on the Writer’s Corner Discord has kind of limited that. I will say this though. Nerp is another insanely funny person. And so fucking considerate - the last thread we wrote together, Nerp im’d me, just to be sure nothing in the thread would trigger me, even though I don’t have any triggers. I think that just speaks volumes as to who Nerp is as a person, if nothing else. To be that cautious and considerate towards people you hardly know... It’s a kindness that keeps my faith in people ngl.

One last thing. Nerp’s choices in aesthetics? Top fuckin tier. Their blog theme also makes me happy hehe. But otherwise yeah, please go follow Nerp. You won’t regret it, I swear.

[goji-pilled]

Wohooo I'm back at my AU bullshit...again!

Yaaaaaay...???

I present to you another Butterfly!Mari AU combined with a Black Cat!Mari AU and Peacock Felix.

Let's get right into it shall we? Btw this is angstier than my usual AU shenanigins

• Tom, Sabine and Gina are the wielders of the Butterfly, Black Cat and Peacock miraculous which they found on a trip to tibet together with the book

• They are known all across Paris as it's heroes

• Marinette grew up with loving parents and grandmother

• The three never told Mari about their alter egos

• That never stopped the kwamis from playing with her when she was a little child, especially Plagg who liked to prank her (he still does it later on)

• One day, when Marinette is around 13 years, her parents and nonna get in a carcrash

• Tom and Gina died during the crash

• Sabine barely survived and was brought to a hospital

• Sabine gives the miraculous to Marinette before she died a day after the crash

• Marinette is put into Rolland's care

• During her first night there she puts on the ring and Plagg appears

• That's how Marinette learns about the miraculous

• She spents a lot of time with the kwamis but always puts the brooches away after a few day

• Mari only keeps the ring on all the time

• Plagg is super protective of his new kitten. ( He always was very fond of Marinette but now that he gets to be her kwami? He absolutely loves her...he won't admit that tho. )

• Nooroo and Dusuu always try their best to make Marinette happy

• Marinette is already incredibly tired of her grandfather (Plagg offered to cataclysm him but she declined...for now.)

• Rolland is a controlling, racsist, sexist asshole.

• He tries to control Marinette as much as possible, even going as far as to literally lock her in her room or telling her how she is supposed to dress.

• Marinette is never allowed to cry

• She tries to ignore him as best as possible but it's...really hard

• Marinette stops being her bubbly self as well and becomes much colder and distant except to those she's super close with

• So one year after the inccident Marinette meets a boy during summerbreak

• It's Felix! (yes the canon one)

• It was getting dark outside and Marinette had a pretty big argument with her grandfather

• She just stood on a bridge that used to be her families favourite spot and watched the water

• Felix stands next to her and they both immediantly know that the other is going through the same process of mourning the loss of their loved ones

• It's a quiet understanding and respect they share

• For a whole week they meet at the bridge and just stand there without saying a word

• Marinett one day just starts telling Felix about her parents and Rolland

• Felix does the same about his father once she's done and they finally learn eachother's name

• After that they meet up during the day as well, for coffee or something and just talk

• Felix thinks that Marinette is a lot diffrent from the people he usually meets but he welcomes that

• He even introduces her to the quantic kids

• Amelie adores Mari and wholeheartedly supports her design career

• Then school starts again and the drama with the seat happens

• Marinette has enough with Chloe, Rolland and just everything.

• She gets Nooroo's brooch and transforms. Her goal? Get the ladybug miraculous and bring back Tom, Sabine and Gina

• Stoneheart happens and guess who gets the earrings? Adrien!

• Adrien's life is much better in this AU. His mom's alive and in a poly relationship with Gabriel and Nathalie

• Adrien has much more freedom but was still homeschooled

• He's not as socially akward as usual

• Gabe is not an abusive piece of trash but actually a pretty great dad

• Anyway Adrien gets the earrings and becomes Beetlebug but he's not a alone! Rena Rouge is his partner (since the black cat ring is with Marinette)

• Stoneheart's akuma escapes and later on the whole scene and the Eiffel Tower happens

• Marinette reveals herself as Madame Monarch

• In the end Stoneheart still gets deakumatized

• Over time Marinette comes and joins the fight herself every now and then with either the Butterfly brooch as Madame Monarch, the black cat ring as Lady Noire or with both as Madame Noire

• Right before heroes day Felix figures Marinette out

• He immediantly knows why she doing it and wants to help her (he's super smitten at this point)

• Marinette agrees and offers that they can even bring his dad back as well

• There is only one rule, don't use the peacock brooch

• Yes it's still damaged which happend during the crash

• Well does he listen? No...no he doesn't.

• And so on heroes day when Madame Monarch is cornered by team miraculous a little amok flies her way and Felix calls himself Paon

• Mari later on breaks down since Felix could die useing the Peacock

• He still uses it against Marinette's order during Miraculer and Feast

• Thank god Marinette is able to fix the damned thing before worse happens

• Felix still has to live with the damage it already caused

• Reflekdoll and Ladybug (more like Beetlebug) happen after the fixing of the peacock

• Felix and Marinette are a villain powercouple who's lair is the old bakery (It's Mari's after her parents die because I say so)

• They are super obvious to their mutual feelings

• Marinette almost managed to get herself akunstized during Chameleon.

• The akuma was for Lila after her confrontation with Adrien but Mari was still so angry that Plagg almost had to cataclysm it

That's all I have so far lmao.

[foofygoldfish]

🍓🍓🍓🍓 for any oc you want 😊

ohhhhh

no cult au!

🍓 stella and staci become friends (and more) under much better circumstances - they’re both at mary may’s, staci with alice and stella on her own, and they get into a debate at the juke box about the quality of some classic rock song. the debate turns into a game of darts, which turns into a drink (which turns into a few), which turns into a long talk in the corner booth and them trading numbers. 

🍓 alice never becomes a deputy - without the cult, the county is quiet enough that they don’t need her to step in, and she’s able to transition into a role in virgil’s office after a few years. her and faith meet the same way - at lorna’s, faith trying to flirt her way to a free candy bar, and alice falls for her hook, line, and sinker. the main difference is that they’re able to be open about the relationship - faith jessop is just the niece of the conservatory owners who moved here to get a new start in life, not… well, faith seed.

🍓 erin’s story actually stays pretty similar? she’s still second in command at the station, she still has her cottage and the twins, gabe still dies - a hiking accident instead of radiation exposure - and she still ends up with eli. aurora comes along in 2020, and she is spoiled rotten by her entire extended family.

🍓 elizabeth. uh. well, she’s still a rancher in hope county - but she never gets to reunite with noah. other than that? she’s with jess, and friends with sharky, but they only really have the one fling, which is when the triplets happen (....poor jess lmao). her relationship with her family will always been tense, but jess being there when she visit helps a lot - her mom and brother adore jess, and her dad likes going hunting with her.

[savedpeople]

//one thing that still kinda bothers me about how they told us about lucille on the show is that both of the times in season 8... negan was basically cornered and forced to talk about her, likely before he was ready to.

In the comics it’s something he’s kept to himself and when he finally mentions he had a wife and opens up about it, it’s to rick and entirely by choice. he’s the one that started the “what’s the worst thing you’ve ever done” conversation and willingly talked about her death and not burying her. then when we finally get her name confirmed, it’s during a private moment of negan talking to himself/lucille while he’s burying the bat, alone, and we only get that info bc we’re the audience. we never see him directly tell any of the characters that lucille was named after his late wife and he never even mentioned losing someone close to him until well into the whisperer arc

meanwhile on the show, the only reason he talks about her to gabriel is because gabe would only agree to work together with him if he “confessed” something. and then he randomly starts talking about her to jadis and how he named the bat after her while he’s awkwardly tied up and at her mercy and is trying to talk his way out of the situation. like... yeah, that’s a real good set up for giving us that personal, emotional information lmao

idk. i just feel like the way they chose to do it on the show lessened the emotional impact and the importance of the scenes overall. negan choosing to open up to people/deal with grief he’s been repressing for years vs essentially being forced to. the only time he willingly mentioned her was in s9 to michonne, and even that had ulterior motives in the end

[catboy-vasilevskiy]

Gabe/JT/Josty That solves the issue of JT’s crush even though he’s tippy. 😁

Apparently I can’t write anything short anymore, lmao. This is. Such a good prompt. I got a little carried away, but here’s this!

JT knew that falling for two seperate people was definitely not a good idea. Especially when he was 99% sure that said people were head over heels for each other as well.

He knew that Josty was just as smitten with Gabe as he was. Josty was at least more vocal about it, and he actually could flirt with Gabe without it being too weird. Josty actually had experience flirting with guys, while JT could barely talk to a hot guy without becoming a flustered mess.

Due to that, it took him more than a little while to get used to living with Josty.

The thing is, Josty flirted with everyone, and everyone included JT. Though, there was a huge difference between when he was flirting just to flirt and when he was flirting because he was genuinely interested.

JT was on the ‘flirting just to flirt’ end of that spectrum. At least, that’s what he thought. The furthest Josty got with him was holding hands in JT’s coat pocket since his hands were cold, or the time when Josty had drunkenly kissed JT on the cheek because he was sad that JT was lonely on Valentine’s Day.

Gabe, on the other hand, was one hundred percent on the ‘flirting because he was genuinely interested’ end of the spectrum. JT saw how Josty acted around him; leaning into Gabe’s touch, listening to Gabe a little too eagerly, his gaze lingering on Gabe’s lips a little too long. JT wouldn’t think too much of it if Gabe weren’t so obviously into it.

Gabe treated JT like he treated all of his other teammates, which wasn’t Gabe’s fault. That’s all JT was to him, and he was too nervous to try to change that.

So, the whole thing kind of made JT’s heart ache, but he couldn’t really do anything about it. Not unless he wanted his heart broken.

That is, until Kerfy noticed that something was up.

He ended up cornering JT after a particularly rough practice where Gabe and Josty were practically all over each other. JT had played a lot rougher than usual, taking more heavy slapshots and acting a lot more aggressive with the puck. At one point he’d ended up checking Nemeth pretty hard, which earned him a few angry chirps and a questioning glare from Gabe.

Kerfy had prodded and pushed JT until he finally spilled. Kerfy wasn’t exactly surprised; JT talked about Gabe just about any chance he got, and he wasn’t exactly subtle with how he looked at Josty.

“You’re being dumb,” Kerfy had said pointedly. “You have eyes, right? Do they work?”

“What kind of question is that?” JT asked, confused.

“A logical one. Open your eyes, buddy. And hey, you won’t know for sure how they feel unless you ask.”

“I can’t ask. Gabe’s our captain, and Josty’s our-”

“Yeah, but if they really care about you, they’ll understand. If not, then fuck them. I’m always gonna be here for you, okay? Just take my advice, and try.”

JT would admit that Kerfy was a lot more wise than most people gave him credit for. And, in retrospect, he was absolutely correct. JT was a bit obvious around Josty, but to be fair it was hard for just about anyone to not be a bit flustered around Josty, and JT was so quiet around Gabe that he wasn’t sure if Gabe even knew anything about him besides his name and that he plays for the Avs.

So it was almost definitely easier to tell Josty first.

He told Kerfy what he was going to do, and Kerfy came up with an excuse to leave the house and made sure to be on standby in case things went awry and JT needed sudden emotional support.

He’d sat Josty down at their kitchen table, looked him in the eye, and spilled everything. It was terrifying, but he did it. Sure, he was shaking and on the verge of tears by the end of the whole thing, but he pushed through. He had to. Kerfy was right, he couldn’t bottle this up anymore.

Josty stayed silent, trying to process, and at that point JT was a mess. A few tears spilled from his eyes, rolling down his cheeks, and he stood up.

“I know it’s a lot, just, I- I had to get it out, I’ll just- you should think about it.”Josty got up quickly, eyes wide. “Whoa, hey, it’s okay,” his voice was soft, comforting, and it honestly scared JT. “I’m glad you told me all this. You’re right, it is a lot, but… It’s good that you told me.” Josty reached up and wiped the tears off of JT’s face.

“I feel the same about you. I have for a while, I just thought I didn’t have a chance,” Josty offered JT a small, shy smile, and it honestly caused JT’s heart to race, but in a good way. In a hopeful way. “I think we should talk to Gabe. Together, if that’s okay with you.”

JT nodded in response, and Josty pulled him into a hug, wrapping his arms around JT’s shoulders and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

It took a few days to plan out how they were going to talk to Gabe, but they deduced that it would be best to do it when they weren’t on the road, and after a practice.

They jumped on the opportunity as soon as they could, and JT definitely was terrified out of his mind, but in his head he kept repeating to himself what Kerfy had told him. By the end of this whole thing, JT was definitely going to owe Kerfy a few drinks.

Josty was the one to ask Gabe to chat after practice since they were closer, and JT couldn’t help but notice the surprised look on Gabe’ face when Josty told him that JT would be joining them. It really didn’t help with his nerves.

As soon as practice ended, JT and Josty got out of their gear in record time, and showered essentially at the speed of light, which gave them time to talk things out one last time.  Once everyone was out of the room except for the two of them and Gabe, Josty sat him down and explained everything. He kept his and JT’s hands intertwined the whole time, and JT noted that Josty’s hands were shaky and kind of sweaty; he was just as terrified as JT.

Gabe had done basically the same thing that Josty had done- pondering in thought, trying to process. This time, though, JT felt frozen, like he couldn’t breath. It felt like time had stopped as he waited for something, anything from Gabe.

He practically jumped out of his skin when Gabe’s gaze suddenly met JT’s staring eyes.

“JT, is this all true?” Gabe asked, his voice even.

JT cleared his throat. “It is. Yeah.” He offered Gabe a shy smile.

A small smile crept onto Gabe’s face, growing into a fond grin. He took JT and Josty’s free hands, asking them, “Would you both like to go out with me sometime?”

JT felt like he had died and gone to heaven, and Josty just sputtered in shock. “L-like, out, as in, like a date?” JT replied, his voice suddenly shaky.

Gabe laughed his bright, beautiful laugh that had seriously caused JT to fall in love with him right then and there. “Yes, like a date. I’d like to do this the proper way, and then at least we could talk things out, figure out how this whole thing’s gonna work.”

This time it was Josty’s turn to let a few tears slip from his eyes, but they were happy tears. JT squeezed Gabe’s hand, smiling from ear to ear.

“Yeah,” JT said, “we’d love to.”

[sweetlysilent]

Undercover Pt. 2

Requested By: A LOT OF PEOPLE WOW

Pairing: Theo Raeken x Reader

Description: Gerard’s army had grown, by a lot, fortunately for you though you were apart of this army, so people trusted you, which worked in your favor since you were secretly a supernatural being yourself, but nobody knew that, they only saw you for what you portrayed to be, a killer of the supernatural.

Warnings: Quotes Mason “INTENSE”

Word Count: 2,003

Tags: @milea @magicalsnowflower @jannalionheart @beth1998-14-3 @rowanshandsomecadre

A/N: SO by popular demand ( literally ) here is Undercover Pt. 2!!!! You all really wanted this and originally I wasn’t going to create a part two because I just wasn’t motivated and part two’s usually aren’t that great compared to the first part, bUT you all won me over soooooo, hopefully it meets everyone’s standards lmao. ENJOY. :)))))

“Can you repeat the plan one more time? I couldn’t hear over GABE and NOLAN talking.” You raised your eyebrows at the two boys who sent you daggers in response.

“Everyone listen up! I’m only going to say this one more time, this is the plan, this is how we’re going to win this war.” Monroe shouted, gathering everyone’s attention so Gerard could speak.

“Gabe, Nolan, and Y/N are going to go out and catch Scott’s two favorite members, Liam and Theo, Gabe will shoot them to make them unconscious, while Nolan and Y/N help get their bodies into the truck, where they will drive them out into the forest to an abandoned old house, where they’ll put the bodies inside and simply light it on fire, killing both of them, and tearing Scott’s pack down once and for all.” Gerard shouted, raising his fist into the air as everyone cheered with him, including yourself.

This was one hell of a mission.

“So you do know how to work that right?” You glanced at Gabe who rolled his eyes in response.

“Of course I do, Gerard made me in charge of it for a reason.” Gabe responded with annoyance in his tone, only making you smirk.

“She only does that to mess with you, you know.” Nolan chimed in, looking at you while a faint smile, making you smile back.

Gabe only huffed in response, earning laughter from both you and Nolan, sometimes they weren’t that bad to be around.

Eventually you made it to the animal clinic, you knew they were all there, the trick now was to lure them out.

“So how exactly are we going to kidnap them?” Nolan thought aloud, making you stop and think for a second.

“I have an idea.” You blurted out, quickly telling them your plan before getting into action.

“Hey Theo! Liam! I want to talk.” You shouted, standing a few feet away from the door, using your super senses to hear what was going on inside.

You heard voices whispering before the sound of feet shuffling towards the door, soon Theo and Liam appearing.

“Y/N, what are you doing here?” Liam questioned suspiciously, eyeing you carefully as Theo did the same.

“Yeah, what do you want?” Theo questioned, stepping out more from behind the door, as did Liam.

Come on, just a few more feet, you thought to yourself.

Unfortunately for them, Nolan and Gabe were hiding, waiting to take their shot.

“Well? Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to tell us?” Liam pressed on, walking out a bit more as did Theo.

“I have to tell you guys something.” You walked back and forth, making them more curious, and before you knew it they were the feet away that you needed.

“This was a trap.” You smiled, watching their eyes widen, Gabe and Nolan coming out from their hiding spots as Gabe shot them both, making them fall and quickly become unconscious.

You and Nolan quickly put them in the back of the truck, before speeding off to the forest, however you didn’t notice Scott and his few friends following behind.

Of course they heard everything, that was the whole point, that was what Gerard wanted.

“I can’t believe that worked.” Nolan cheered, making Gabe laugh and you roll your eyes.

“It was two against three with a gun.” You made a face, which resulted in Nolan glaring at you.

You never let them have a satisfying moment, which is why they always glared at you, but it was worth it.

After what felt like hours the abandoned house came into view, and you all quickly got into place, seeing Gerard and Monroe waiting for you all.

“Did you do it? Did you bring them?” Monroe questioned as you all nodded, opening the truck door to reveal them both still unconscious.

“Alright good, now Y/N, this is where you come in, this is your task, after being kidnapped by these monsters, it’s time for your revenge.” Monroe gave a wicked smile, sending chills down your spine, but you nodded in response, a smirk on your face.

With the help of Nolan and Gabe you got Theo and Liam into the house, setting them in the middle of the room.

You then got out your matches, lighting the front two corners of the house, before lighting the front door entrance, the front slowly turning orange.

“I think you got it from here.” Gerard smiled with satisfaction, as you nodded in response.

“Finish up here then return back to base.” Gerard gave you orders, which you nodded in response as you watched everyone retreat from the house.

“Scott we can’t just leave them in there, they’re going to die.” Malia whisper shouted at Scott, who placed his arm in front of her.

“I know, but Y/N doesn’t know we’re here, and if we just jumped out who knows what they’d do.” Scott replied back, making Malia growl in annoyance.

“I’m not going to just stand here and watch them burn to death.” Malia growled, about to rush to the house when Scott held her back.

“I don’t think we’re going to actually..” He trailed off, his eyes squinting in curiosity and confusion as he watched you rush to the back of the house.

You quickly ran to where the other door was, you carefully checked to see if anyone was remotely close, thankfully they weren’t.

Instantly you opened the back door, coughing from the smoke as you quickly grabbed Liam, pulling him out of the house, before running back in to grab Theo, placing him beside Liam.

You coughed a bit, before leaning down to make sure they were still breathing, which Liam was, but Theo wasn’t, making your heart start to beat faster.

“No, no, come on Theo, don’t do this to me..” You muttered, starting to press your hands onto his chest, then going to CPR.

“You’re not dying on me, not today.” You whispered, giving him CPR once more before he gasped for air, creating a smile on your face.

Scott watched you in amazement, he wasn’t expecting you to save Liam and Theo, this only made him even more confused than before.

You on the other hand, made the back door look like they were hitting it and kicking it make it open, before lighting the other two corners on fire, along with the back door entrance.

Once satisfied with the outcome you threw the rest of the matches in the house, before walking away, leaving a stunned Scott and Malia.

“So what do you guys remember?” Stiles questioned, looking at Theo and Liam who looked a bit shaken.

“Not much, I just remember the last thing Y/N said.” Liam shrugged, as everyone gave him a look as if to say ’go on.’

“She gave this smile and then said it was a trap, and then that’s it, that’s all I remember until I saw you guys.” Liam looked at everyone as Theo stared blankly at the table.

“Theo, what about you? What do you remember?” Scott questioned, wanting to see if he remembered seeing you.

“I remember what Liam said, but then.. I could of sworn I saw Y/N, it was for a brief second.. but I swore I saw Y/N,” Theo shook his head, trying to put it all together.

“That’s because you did, I didn’t want to tell you guys this until I thought you were ready to process what had happened, but Y/N.. Y/N, save you guys.” Scott explained, making both Liam and Theo’s eyes widen in shock.

“No way, are you sure?” Liam questioned in disbelief, mainly since you were apart of the reason why they were even in this mess.

“I was a witness.” Malia chimed in, and everyone knew Malia didn’t lie, she was too brutally honest.

“She pulled you both out of the house, made sure you both were breathing, which in fact, Theo, you weren’t, Y/N gave you CPR and for a second I genuinely thought she was worried for you.” Scott crossed his arms, watching as Theo shifted his weight on his legs.

“When you gasped for air, I saw her smile for a brief second, before she lit the rest of the house on fire, then left, but the fact is, she saved you both instead of killing you.” Scott explained, his arms still crossed as he tried to figure it out still.

“Y/N made it look like we burned in the fire.” Theo spoke aloud, as everyone nodded.

“I think the main question is why.” Lydia interjected, as everyone nodded in agreement.

“She’s not who she says she is, I know it, and this proved my theory, and I’m going to find out who they are.” Theo spoke with determination in his voice, as everyone else nodded in agreement.

They were going to figure out your secret, whether you wanted them to or not.

“Hello?” You spoke through the phone, it was an unknown number, but being in Beacon Hills you never knew what to expect.

“I know what you did, and I’m going to figure out why.” The voice over the phone spoke, making your eyes widen slightly.

“Theo..” You whispered, looking around to make sure nobody heard you.

“I know you’re hiding something, I know that you saved me.” He spoke through the phone making your heart beat a bit faster.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You whispered, only to hear him laugh on the other side.

“You can deny it all you want, but I will figure out your secret, I don’t care how long it will take, I will get my answers.” Theo spoke through the phone, and then the line went dead.

And for the first time in your life, you felt scared.

[namjoonsyoongi]

How do you think a wedding between Luke and Nick would go along? Who would they invite, what would it all look like? (Also, which of the two do you think would propose first? Omg)

I LOVE THIS QUESTION!!! Where do I even start!?!

Proposal:  

Luke: In my opinion, the most likely to propose first, he buys the ring completely on impulse one day after passing by a ring shop in the downtown area. He wants it to be something quiet and quaint with them surrounded by family and friends, so he decides to do it around Christmas, when the cabin group and their respective families go to the lodge for their winter holidays. older!Clementine is the one he tells first, and soon enough the whole group is completely in on it. When they’re all finally in one place, he gets this flash of nervousness and everyone spends the entire evening patiently waiting for Luke to get down on one knee and get it done, when he takes way too long Clementine pushes him into a corner and tells him to stop being stupid and making things harder than they need to be. So a couple minutes later, he finally starts his whole ‘you’re the love of my life speech’, everyone watching well Nick is completely confused, but when it hits him he has tears brimming in his eyes. After a moment of shocked staring, he says yes and then gets mad at Luke for embarrassing him in front of everyone. 

Nick: Now I don’t think he’d be the one to propose, but just an idea I had in my head. I think he’d think about the idea of he and Luke getting married a lot, but ALWAYS back out, way too anxious to go through with it. But one day his mother convinces him to go and buy a ring. He does and at first, he plans something extravagant like in the movies, they go out for dinner, go bowling, get on some kind of ferris wheel, but every time he tries to initiate the proposal something interrupts him or ruins it. He always has the ring in his pocket, so one day when they start playfully wrestling and teasing each other it falls out of his pant pocket and Luke is left flabbergasted. But before Nick can even ask the ultimate question Luke is freaking out and repeating the word “YES” until he loses his voice. 

BACHELOR PAR-TAY WOOT WOOT:

Even though it defeats the purpose, they end up having their bachelor party together, the cabin group and the 400 days gang is there, inviting the gals cause it ain’t a party without them lmao. Jane, Wyatt and Eddie are out trying to get everyone drunk af, Russell, Vince, Mike and Bonnie are trying to make everyone chill the fuck out, Sarah is posting the entire event all over social media, Carlos is watching her like a hawk. Javier is there cause why the fuck not and drunkenly vandalizes something and gets arrested for the night. Carlos, Pete and Kenny are the designated drivers. Clementine is the one to save Javi’s ass once he’s in jail for the night, and also responsible for making sure Nick and Luke don’t get too hammered so they aren’t feeling like complete shit on their wedding day, and since she’s watching over them she has to sit through all their lovey dovey moments and spends the whole night rolling her eyes at them while she drinks a sprite. 

The Wedding: 

NICK AND LUKE ARE SO NERVOUS. Pete (Nick’s best man) is cracking jokes at Nick’s expense but at the end of the day reassures him the best he can, no tough love for once. Clementine, (Luke’s best man sorry i love the concept of them being best friends i canttt) on the other hand, has taken a page out of Pete’s book and is telling Luke how it is, “you’re both idiots, you’re meant for each other.” “Why the hell are you so nervous this was your idea” “Luke I swear to god if you say ‘what if nick doesn’t show??’ one more time im leaving.” 

It’s an outdoor wedding (only for the ceremony portion) in the summer. Pretty much the entire twdg cast is there, (you know except fuckers like carver or some shit lmao) as well as Luke and Nick’s relatives. A lot of fucking manly crying between Luke and Nick during the vows, they write their own vows, Luke about how Nick has always been by his side through thick and thin and how he doesn’t know what kind of person he’d be without him, Nick about how he always felt like he could trust and be open around Luke throughout his life and how Luke inspired him to be a better person. They exchange rings and kiss and it’s all happy and romance, everyone’s cheering, Nick’s mom is crying, even Pete has to brush away tears. 

Luke and Nick don’t end up touching their dinners, instead, they are sitting at their tables talking about how sweet each others vows were, how handsome the other looks, how surreal the experience is. Nick is too embarrassed to do the slow dance in front of everyone, especially cause he doesn’t know how, so they go to a secluded place outside the venue and dance together on their own. Pete gives everyone an embarrassing speech about Nick and Luke as children,Luke’s mom show baby pictures of the both of them, Nick’s mom tells the funny story of Nick coming out, Clementine talks about a time Javi flirted with Luke well drunk, Nick caught it, tried to beat him up and she had to stop them. It’s an open bar cause Nick and Luke aren’t assholes lmao, Javi is super hungover from the night before and David+Kate are making fun of him for getting arrested. GABE AND CLEM HAVE A QUICK DANCE, they think no one will notice but Javi shows up in the nick of time and talks about how he ships it, Kenny and David somehow get into a mini fight that Pete and Carlos have to stop. The party is lit, everyone has a great time. Nick and Luke leave pretty early into the night, more interested in each other than everyone else (WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE,) Pete and Clementine are left responsible for the party for the rest of the evening. Nick and Luke say it was the best night of their lives for the next few years, (unTIL THEY ADOPPT THEIR BABY)