#but hey! good news to people who followed me in the last four days who haven't been blocked; you passed the blog captcha test

[pokimoko]

I have had it with these motherfucking spam bots on this motherfucking site.

[its-time-to-write]

Thank you so much for the response to my request <3. the fic was better then I could have hoped!!!!

I have a new request (but feel free to focus on the story themes you were wanting to do!), I have been really wanting to see a Jamie fic where he takes care of sick reader. Could be period or illness (no preference) and Jamie has no idea how to help but tries his best. I think its a cute idea

Can't wait to read more of your fics!

Thank you so much for requesting!! Literally love when people ask me to write things. Also, apparently everyone loves a sickfic because my other one has the most notes of everything I’ve written. Anyway, here’s your fic!

there’s orange juice in the kitchen

You are not sure of much, but you know one thing: you’re in pain. It’s 2am, and you’ve gotten a grand total of two hours of sleep. You’ve given up on laying in your bed and have filled up your bath with hot water, bubbles, and bath salts. Lots of bath salts. Your abdomen feels like it’s shredding itself and you suppose, technically speaking, it is. You’re just relieved that tomorrow is the weekend and you don’t have to slog through a work day, white-knuckling these absolutely ripping period cramps. 

You don’t have regular periods like, ever, and your doctor’s concerned about your fertility. You remember waving it off with the statement, “That’s a problem for another day.” Thing is, that was just a cop-out. You didn’t want to think about it for a single second because then it would become real, and you make it a personal point never to complain about a period no matter how brutal it is because at least it’s something and never mind that your last one was four months ago, you’re ok. You have a good life and good people and you’re fine. 

It’s just the principle, you know? The desire of choice. 

The hormones don’t help either. 

But anyway, you’re in your tiny bath trying to soothe the pain you’re in, trying to make yourself tired enough to fall asleep once you get out. You breathe, in, out. In, out. 

You’re up till 6am when you finally doze off. 

—

You wake up in a sweaty haze. You’re in soft pants and a large t-shirt, on top of your sheets rather than in them. You reach for your phone then pull your legs in with a sharp gasp. You’re still in pain. 

It subsides so you reach again and check the time. 9:01. You groan. Three hours of dubious sleep is not enough. You have a missed text from Sam (remind me which brand of kitchenware you use?) two missed texts from Keeley (look at this absolutely adorable puppy! Attached: 1 Image), and a missed call from Jamie. 

Ah, right. Jamie. 

Your boyfriend. 

Who you were supposed to meet for breakfast exactly sixteen minutes ago. 

Shit. 

You call him back and he answers on the first ring. 

“Hey love!” he says. “You alright? Not like you to miss breakfast.”

You grimace. “I uh, I wasn’t feeling well last night and I haven’t slept very good. I forgot to text you. Didn’t fall asleep until 6.”

“A.M.?” Jamie asks and you reply to the affirmative. He lets out a long “shiiit,” followed by a, “how contagious are you?”

“For you? Not very,” you say. “For another girl, incredibly contagious, although some say that’s an old wive’s tale.”

Jamie is silent in confusion, then- “Ohh, I get it! You’re not sick-sick, you’re on your fucking period.”

You chuckle, despite remaining curled up on your side. 

“Yes,” you reply, “My fucking period. I feel nauseous and tired and I am bleeding so. Much. It’s like my body’s making up for the last four months of nothing.”

Jamie’s silent for a moment and you internally cringe, kicking yourself for over sharing. You haven’t been together that long, about a month and a half, and he doesn’t need to know that about you. He’s a famous footballer, after all, and a guy’s guy. Probably gets grossed out about periods and stuff. 

Then he says, “Can I come over? I’ll bring food,” and your worries almost completely evaporate. 

“As long as you don’t care about how disgusting I am or the fact that I hurt a lot, sure,” you say. “I’ll leave the door unlocked.”

—

Jamie’s at your flat in 40 minutes, which is fast considering how much food he walks in with. He’s brought a bag of Chinese takeout, plus two overflowing grocery bags. 

“This is for now, these are for later,” he explains. He’s in a pink sweatshirt with matching shorts and socks, and maybe it’s the damned hormones again but he looks hot. His hair is pushed back with a headband and you want him to fuck you. You don’t think you can convince him, though, what with the blood. And the fact that he’s Jamie fucking Tartt. And that he probably doesn’t do shit like that because it’s gross. 

Your brain whispers, but he’s here, isn’t he? so you just push that thought down to live with other scary ones like, I will never have kids, or I’m going to live with this pain for the rest of my life.

Jamie is oblivious to this, just pulling everything out of the bags and chattering on. He’s kicked off his trainers near the door, and he hasn’t made any comments about the fact that you’ve wrapped a blanket around your shoulders like a shroud, or that your hair is in the messiest bun in the history of the world. Not the sexy, reader-insert fan fiction type of messy bun, either. Just an I-did-not-get-anywhere-NEAR-enough-sleep-last-night messy bun. 

“-and me mum always drank orange juice, swore it helped with bloating or hydration or somethin’, I don’t really know, but I got some of that too and this tea that’s supposed to help with cramps, and also a shit-ton of chocolate because I didn’t know which kind was your favorite. I was thinking we can sit on the couch and watch a movie or play Animal Crossing or some shit while eating the takeout, then I can cook you a proper fucking meal later. Coach always says it’s important to have a balanced meal when you’re under the weather, and I think it applies to this too.” He stops when he notices you just looking at him. “You alright, babe?”

“Yeah, I just- why did you get all this?” you blurt out. 

For the first time since you’ve known him, Jamie looks unsure of himself. “I dunno. I mean, I do know. You didn’t sound great over the phone, and Keeley’s always telling me to fucking listen to other people, and me mum was always the same on her period so I used to get her the things she wanted all the time. And-” he takes a breath, “and I picked up on what you said. The fuckin’ four-months shit. That ain’t good babe. Even I know that. And, we haven’t been together that long, but I’m pretty fucking sure you know that too, and I wanted to let you know I’m sorry.”

You’re momentarily fixed on the way he says certain words. Keeleh. Sorreh. It’s sweet, for some reason, and it causes a dull ache in your chest. You realize what he’s actually said to you and that ache deepens. You’d kiss him if you weren’t sure your breath was gross. 

So instead, you settle for nodding and staring at your kitchen wall. That’s because option one is kissing and option two is crying. You can’t do either right now.

A traitor tear slips out your eye anyway, and you hope Jamie won’t see it. He does. 

“Hey, hey.” He comes around the counter and pulls you into a hug, blanket shroud, messy bun, and all. “Love. It’s alright. It’s alright. You’re not alone, and we’re going to go sit on the couch and eat as much food as we can and then pass out, alright? We’re not going to think about anything else except what’s right in fuckin’ front of us.”

“That was,” you sniff, “weirdly philosophical. And very sweet. And I’m sorry for being disgusting.”

Jamie pulls away from you, and you think this is the first time he’s realized how gross you are. 

“Don’t say that shit, babe,” he says, and you laugh before you realize he isn’t joking. 

“I’m serious,” he continues. “You might feel disgusting, but you aren’t. You smell like fucking lavender, for Christ’s sake. Your pajamas are clean, and so’s your hair. Might be fuckin’ messy right now, but me mum also taught me to braid, so it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.”

You pull him back against you and let some more tears come out. 

“Why are you being so nice,” you ask, voice muffled through his sweatshirt. 

“Oh, dunno,” he replies, hint of a smile in his voice, “Think you’re fit. I like shower sex. You pick.” He pauses. “Maybe both. Heard that it can help with cramps.”

You laugh wetly into his chest. He’s warm and comforting, and so completely not what you expected him to be. You both stand in the kitchen for another minute, his cheek resting on your head before he says, “Oi, you hungry?”

“God, yes,” you say, “I could eat a fucking horse.”

“Good.” Jamie picks up the bulging bag of takeout and a roll of paper towels. “Lead the way, babe.”

—

It’s not until much later, after you’ve eaten, watched a movie, and showered (and all that implies) that you realize you’re finally tired. Finally calm. You let yourself relax on your bed in Jamie’s arms, breathing in his clean smell. In, out. In, out. By the third breath, you’re asleep. 

[cerastes]

So, Tekken 8. I'm pleased with the direction it has fundamentally taken. In general, high profile fighting games have taken a far more welcoming approach towards newcomers, which is much needed and has thankfully gotten pretty good results so far: Street Fighter 6, for example, went lengths to provide a good, welcoming experience for new players, Granblue Rising retains its beginner friendly nature while expanding on systems to give it more depth at a higher level without stopping to be a fundamentally simple and 'easy' (but fun) fighting game with gorgeous flair, and Tekken 8 is following on the same road. It did this to some degree with Tekken 7, but Tekken 8 definitely goes a step further.

In general, Tekken 8 is much better geared towards user experience and perception than Tekken 7 was. I was a bit surprised to hear about friends that never really deal with Ranked in any game ever, tell me they were queueing up to climb the ladder. I started playing Tekken 8 a few days ago, and when I hopped into Ranked, I noticed small changes that carry a big impact with them in the UI, particularly in the loading screen pre-fight: What it shows.

So, in Tekken 7, you can see both players' Tekken Power, total wins as the character, rank, the results of their last 10 games, their 3 highest player tendencies, and personal match-up win and stage win rates.

That is a lot of information, and you'd usually think "more information is better, right?", I think in this case it was a double edged blade, however: If you're a newer player who's gotten wiggity washed four games in a row now, with your 13 total wins and 9k Tekken Power (or Prowess, as it was in 7) and your B/C/C tendencies, and get matched up a guy with a rank you've never seen before, with over 10 times your Power, triple S+es, 2.3k wins, on a 7 win streak... Well, you're probably going to be more than a little intimidated before the game even starts. For a lot of people, understandably, this immediately becomes the moment of "holy shit, I'm about to get ragdolled", so you go in with a different mentality than you might go against someone whose stats you don't know. Some people don't get affected by this, but a lot of people do, especially curious people that are trying to get into the games and might get put off when they mentally lose before the fight even starts.

In contrast, the Tekken 8 loading screen offers less information, but it's a far better user experience:

3 highest Tendencies, Tekken Power, Rank, and that's it. There's other stuff like console or PC, area, but it's otherwise a lot more laconic. And this works better! You just know their Power, their tendencies, their rank, and that's that. In the actual fight, you can see their current win streak, but no one can see if you or the opponent has 8 loses in a row. You don't know if they have 100 wins or 6000 wins, and so, you don't really think about it, you just go and fight. And if you lose, it's a world of difference to be "ok I got outplayed, that was some solid play from them" than it is to be "ok, yeah, they had ten times the amount of wins than I have lifetime games of Tekken, this was inevitable". So you can go and fight and win and keep playing. The user experience is much better.

I also really appreciate Arcade Quest: It's basically a short, very interactive tutorial: Instead of going through hours of dry tutorialing, a more inductive style like this is far better for newcomers, it's got basic, colorful characters, lots of tutorials peppered in throughout its run time, and a friendly coat of paint so you can get acquainted with the different systems at a nice pace: Your initial opponents are pushovers, letting you get a feel for movement and attacking, then you reach the third or so arcade, and your tutorial guy goes "hey, I heard they defend really well here, and they like opening you up with lows, let's learn how to deal with these" and you get your tutorials on how to open up opponents as well as dealing with lows, and then you fight the people in that arcade and it's mostly opponents like Law, Lili, Bryan, Dragunov, who have snake edges (strong low sweeps that offer good oki or launch for air combos, depending on whether its a counter hit or not) and their AI is specially geared to using these lows, as well as having better defense against highs so you use throws or lows. It's less a story mode and more a series of flavored tutorials, and I think it's really good for a game to have to ease players into the game's meatier systems.

The high level good ass Tekken is all there, it's just, there's a far more concise way of getting there for people that didn't grow up playing these games or had the raw gumption to deal with the sometimes Spartan fighting game community standards for onboarding. It's not a dirt road leading to the beach anymore, they paved it nice and easy so more people can get there, at their own pace, whether it be speeding there on a car, or through a nice leisurely stroll. It's something that I can appreciate both as someone who grew up in arcades playing fighting games with randos and regulars, and as someone that loves good, welcoming, efficient game design and wants more people to discover the joy of the fighting game.

[keketopia]

𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜

pairing. izuku midoriya x gn!reader

synopsis. you drew a picture of the perfect guy for you. little did you know that drawing came to life.

word count. 1.9k!

cw. just some fluff and wholesomeness! :3

It was dark out in the city of Japan. Almost everybody is asleep. Conversely, you are just sitting in bed reading a book about a beautiful couple.

You closed the book as you were done reading it. You held the book close to your chest and sighed dream-ishly.

"Deep voice, cute smile, enchanting eyes, pure heart...why are people like that so hard to find?"

Just then, an idea struck you like a lightning bolt. So you got up, grabbed your pencils, pens, and colors, and decided to draw the man of your dreams.

"Let's see what I can do."

A few hours later, you came up with a beautiful portrait of a man with fluffy green hair, wide doe eyes that matches his hair, four symmetrical freckles on each side of his cheeks, and of course, his pure smile.

"Phew, finally done." So you said as you began to stretch. You look at it with admiring eyes and begin to grow tired after a while. You rubbed your eyes and gently set your drawing on your nightstand. You turn off your lamp and cover yourself in warm, soft blankets as you drift off to sleep.

A mysterious light shone in your bedroom as you had your sweet dreams. The light shone from the portrait, and the man from your drawing appeared.

The man looked around the room as if everything was new to him. He spots a mirror behind him and sees himself there. He took a moment to admire his appearance; he was astonished.

"Wow, they drew me really well." He looked at you as you were sleeping peacefully. Then, he sat in front of you and admired your angelic face.

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅

It was now morning, and you were interrupted by the sun shining in your eyes. You woke up to see a strange man right in front of you.

"Oh, wow. What a beautiful dream I'm having. It looks so real, though," You said sheepishly.

"I know I'm too handsome to be real, but I can confirm you're not dreaming."

"Oh my god, I could listen to his voice my whole life."

'Okay, I guess I have to do this" He reaches his hand to you and pinches you in the arm.

"Oww! Wait! I'm not dreaming!" You looked at him in shock. You got off the bed and ran towards the corner of your room.

"Who are you?! How did you get into my apartment?!"

"Hey! Calm down!"

"Calm down?! How am I going to calm down when there is a literal stranger in my house!!"

"Well- That's a good point, but-"

"I'm going to ask again! Who are you and how did you get into my apartment?"

"Don't you recognize me?"

"What do you mean do I-" You took a closer look at the guy and realized that he did look familiar, almost straight out of a picture.

"Wait... you're-you're that man I drew last night!"

"Yeah! That's what I've been trying to tell you! Kinda weird that I'm alive, don't cha think?"

You were at a loss for words. How in the universe that the man you so beautifully drew come to life? What kind of hocus pocus is this?

"I'm kind of hungry, do you have any food I can eat?"

Still a little bit freaked out by your come-to-life drawing. You scooted your way out the bedroom door and headed towards the kitchen with Izuku following behind.

"What would you like to eat?"

"Hmm, perhaps Katsudon!"

After about 30 minutes, Izuku is sitting on your kitchen table, stuffing his face in that sweet and savory sauce.

"Wow, this is really good! I could eat this every day!" You chuckled at his compliment. He was really cute, guess you really are a good artist.

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅

"So you don't remember anything about your life in the book?"

"I came from a drawing, not a book"

"Wow, you forgot the love of your life" You teased.

"I-I don't love a-anyone!" He stammered. His face was as red as a strawberry.

"I'm Y/N, by the way," You introduced. "What's your name?"

"I don't have one" He replied. Right, he came from a drawing, of course, he doesn't have a name. "Oh, well then. Your name shall be...Izuku!"

"Izuku...I think that's a fitting name" He smiled.

"So, Izuku, do you want to explore my world?"

"Maybe later, I want to watch a movie"

"Okay, let's see what we got" You grabbed the remote to turn on the TV and put it on Netflix.

"Let's see...we got Red Notice, Level 16, Ava..."

"How about The School for Good and Evil? That seems like an interesting movie?"

"Sure is, considering that this movie is based on an actual book series. I've never read it but I'm sure it's a good book. Let's watch!"

You hit the play button and the remote and watched the movie. After some time, you turned to look at Izuku, who was watching the movie with adorable exciting puppy eyes. You smiled at him, admiring his attractiveness.

"I kinda feel bad for Sophie. All she ever wanted was to escape the horrible mistreatment of her townspeople and be who she wants to be" Izuku explains. You felt warm and happy hearing him say that.

"Yeah, Sophie just wanted Tedros to be her true love, and when he broke it off, that made my heart ache"

You both kept watching until you both fell asleep.

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅

You wake up to the sound of Izuku's happy-go-lucky voice.

"Wakey wakey! Time for brekky!" Izuku was standing beside your bed, holding a tray with pancakes and a glass of milk.

"Wow! You made me breakfast?"

"Yes! Now eat! You must be starving"

"Smells amazing! I didn't know you could cook considering I'm the one who made you Katsudon"

"I just follow the recipe I found online. Now hurry up and eat! I want to explore your world" He set the tray on your bed and went out of the room.

After breakfast, you showered, dressed, and headed out with Izuku. You brought him to a small building where you could see bright lights shining through the window. You both headed inside to see the arcade machines.

"Welcome to the arcade!"

"Arcade?" He gives you a puzzled look.

"It's a place with many electric games. You play it and can earn tickets and use those tickets to get prizes. Ooh! Let's go on this one, come on I'll teach you!" You dragged him with you. It was a motorcycle racing game, fit for only 2 players. Izuku surprisingly learned fast.

"I'm going to win this, you'll see"

"Oh, keep dreaming honey" Izuku was taking this too seriously. After a few minutes, he ended up winning.

"Yay! I won!"

"Argh! Let's try another game"

"You wanna lose again?"

"We'll see about that"

"Let's try this one! Come on!" He ran to another game like an excited little baby. You chuckled and followed him"

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After visiting the arcade, you took Izuku to the library.

"Wow, so many books"

"A lot of characters like you are in each book"

"Wow"

"I'll get some books then we'll go back home to our comfy bed to read"

"My favorite thing to do"

"Same, honestly"

You brought the books and you both went home.

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You both covered yourselves in comfy, warm, blankets. Izuku wrapped his arms around your waist as he stared at the book you brought.

"Y/N, can I read for you?"

"Sure" you smiled.

Izuku reached over to the coffee table and grabbed the book. You placed your head on his shoulder and listened to him as he read the book word by word, his deep voice was a whole other level of tranquility. You closed your eyes and slept peacefully on his shoulder. Izuku noticed you and smiled, he placed the book on the nightstand and slept too.

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•

"Your food is the best" Izuku said while eating another bowl of Katsudon you made for him.

"I'll gladly cook for you everything" You smiled.

"Wow, I love you" You knew he didn't mean it like that but your heart started beating fast after hearing it from him.

A bit of time passed and you guys are both laying in bed again, reading another book. "Slow dancing in the living room, warm lighting, music in the background... I wish I could live like the main character's in this book"

"Allow me to help you" You looked at him, a bit confused about what he is doing.

Izuku went over to your speaker and played some music, he made sure the lights were dim, and then...

"May I have then dance, my love?" He says as he extended his hand to you. You were a bit taken aback by his action and flustered, but you gladly accepted his hand and you two started slow dancing.

Izuku's hold on you was gentle as if you were a fragile glass, afraid that he might break it. As if you were the most precious gemstone ever. You got lost in each other's eyes, your mouths may have been shut but those eyes were speaking for themselves. Everything was perfect, you didn't want this to end.

"So this is what love feels like..."

Days passed you and Izuku had gotten even closer and your feelings for each other got deeper and deeper every day. Everything was perfect in a way that made you fear that this was just a beautiful dream, but reality isn't always so bad as people say. Reality can show you each and every color of happiness...

"The weather is amazing," You said.

"This moment is amazing" Izuku added.

"Yes...yes indeed" You looked at the view in front of you, admiring it.

"The city lights are so beautiful" Izuku looked at you deeply and said...

"Oh, darling, out of all the city lights, none of them shines brighter than you"

Surprised, you turned to look at him.

"I found everything I wanted in those eyes of yours. I found a friend. A home. Pure love...and I can't help but fall even more for them. I love you...my heart chooses to beat just for you"

Eyes tearing up from the heartfelt confession, you grabbed him by his collar and kissed him. He kissed you back, gently pulling you closer.

"Reality can show you each and every color of happiness"

[lumosinlove]

Day Three:

On the third dan of Winterfic, Hazel gave to you, A West Wing AU with Coops!

“That’s good.”

Remus kept his eyes on his laptop as he typed.

The voice over his shoulder sighed, then crunched a peanut M&M. “That’s good.”

Remus pressed his lips together, kept typing.

“That’s—”

Remus lifted his hands from the keys. “Are you trying to freak me out?”

He looked up at Sirius, who just popped another piece of candy into his mouth.

“And—” Remus took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes. He leaned back in his chair and stared at his computer, at the document that had barely five sentences on it. “And…”

“It sucks,” Sirius said.

Remus tossed the glasses down. “It sucks.”

“We suck.”

“We suck.”

There was a knock on Remus’ office door.

“Logan, don’t speak to us right now,” Remus said.

Logan arched a brow. “Finn said you’d have the draft by lunch.” Logan turned and shouted. “Finn—”

From far off, “I told you, I called the place, your order’s in! More people than you have to eat, Logan!”

“Are they burning my burger?” Logan shouted back.

“I said well-done!”

Logan made an unsatisfied sound and turned back to Remus and Sirius—Remus, still staring at him, Sirius still eating. “I like it when, if I dropped it on the floor, it’ll crack. Or just sit there.”

“Logan,” Remus repeated.

“Like a hockey puck.”

“Logan.”

Logan smoothed out his tie, looking entirely unbothered. “Finn said you’d have the draft by lunch.”

Remus spread his hands, gesturing around his office. “Do we look like we have the draft?”

Logan paused, then his eyes moved to Sirius. “Are you eating M&Ms?”

Sirius crunched. “Yes.”

Logan’s eyes went back to Remus. “Do they have peanuts in them?”

Remus gave a single, silent nod.

“So…it’s not going well.”

“No,” Remus said.

“And I should leave you alone.”

“Yes.”

Logan’s eyes went back to Sirius. “Can I have one?”

“Out,” Sirius said.

Logan put his hands up and retreated as told. He closed the door a little hard, though, making the shades drawn down over Remus’ office windows rattle. Remus and Sirius had been locking themselves away—even from their staffers—for a week now. One of the biggest speeches of the year was just around the corner, barely four days away now, and if they couldn’t open this right…Well. President Dumais had good numbers. They deserved to stay that way, and it was Remus and Sirius’ job to keep those numbers in place. They were the White House’s voice.

“We’re the President’s voice,” Remus mumbled.

“Well.” Sirius crunched on another candy. “We seem to have laryngitis.”

The door opened again, making the shades shake. Lily poked her head in, red hair twisted up neatly at the back of her head. “Hey, Re, me and Leo are going to the place. You want a salad? Sandwich?”

“For the love of God—” was all Sirius got out before Lily sucked air in through her teeth, mouthed sorry, and shut the door again.

Remus pushed his laptop away, rubbing at his eyes. “Okay. Maybe we should take a lap.”

“We don’t have time for a lap.”

“We have to.” Remus stood, cracked his back, and began trying to push Sirius towards the door.

“I’m sorry,” Sirius laughed humorlessly—made more humorous by the fact that he still had a handful of colorful M&Ms. “Did I miss the part where we are in high school gym class?”

“Move,” Remus said. “Come on. We’re gonna walk this off. Our talent has to be somewhere in this building.”

Sirius turned away from him, letting Remus pass towards the door.

“Come on,” Remus sighed again, opening the door. “You can bring your candy, you baby.”

Sirius only mumbled something that Remus couldn’t quite catch.

“Hm?” Remus said.

Sirius took a long moment to reply. He looked around Remus’ office. It was a mess, Remus had to admit. It usually ended up that way, no matter what he did, besides—maybe—during the days that followed New Year’s, when he made an annual promise to himself that he would keep it cleaner. That usually lasted about a week.

Sirius didn’t seem to be looking at the mess, though. He didn’t seem to be looking at anything in particular. His gray eyes—which Remus thought about more than he should—were unfocused. He had discarded his suit jacket somewhere, they both had. He looked handsome, with his dark, nearly black hair brushing his cheeks.

“What?” Remus tried again—gently.

Sirius shook his head in a frustrated way. “I said—maybe it’s not in the building.”

“What isn’t?”

Sirius sighed. He dumped the last of the M&Ms into his mouth and crinkled the wrapper in his hand. “Our…talent. My talent.”

Remus didn’t understand. “What, you left it on the train this morning?”

“Or it’s in New York. With the person who the President actually wanted for this job.”

Remus paused. The sounds of the outer communication offices drifted in through the open door—phones ringing, printers pressing ink onto white pages. The familiar smell of freshly cleaned carpet, and something else that Remus had always associated with ballpoint pens.

“What?” Remus asked again, at a loss. “What are you—why would you say that?”

“Because…” Sirius sighed, tossed the M&M bag into a waste basket, and closed his eyes. “Because I was his second choice.”

“Sirius.” Remus shut the door, surprised. “What? That isn’t true.”

“Yeah.”

“No, it…”

“I’ve always known it,” Sirius said. “I just thought I could do a good enough job and…” He shook his head. “Disprove it.” He laughed, humorless again. “I guess.”

Remus could only watch, at a loss to how Sirius, Sirius Black—just a little older than him, someone he looked up to and also maybe—maybe he also felt—

“How the hell can you think that?”

Sirius just looked down at his shoes. “I’m not an idiot.”

“Neither am I.”

Sirius’ fingers flexed like he wished he still had something to hold onto. “I know how long it took him to offer me the job, Remus. I know what that means. He was after someone else and—and they said no.”

Remus couldn’t stand it. Couldn’t stand the look on Sirius’ face, hurt and frustrated and unsure—such rare emotions for him. Remus wanted to deny it all, but he had no idea, in truth, about who had also been on the short list for Sirius’ position. Even more, he wanted to press into Sirius’ mind that it didn’t matter.

“All right, fine.” Remus took a step forward. “Maybe that’s true, but—so fucking what? He got you. The President loves you. Everyone loves you.”

Sirius just shook his head. “It’s—If—Remus, God, I’m not trying to get you to say nice things about me.”

Remus laughed. “Fine. You’re fucking cranky. You’re a stickler for grammar and that drives people crazy—even if you are right. And you eat peanut M&Ms of all things when you’re frustrated which is really fucking weird. But they do.” Remus was right in front of him now, as if he could make Sirius believe him just by being closer. “They love you, Sirius.”

Sirius looked down at him, grey eyes and all. He seemed to chew over his words, mouth set, jaw working. Finally, eyes darting over Remus’ face. “They?”

Remus took a breath and held it. There had been moments like this before. If he was honest, there had been plenty of them. They had started out small. Touches that Remus made a point of telling himself meant nothing. Because this wasn’t a profession in which something like this could happen. They weren’t two people that could kiss, breakup, get awkward around each other, not be able to talk to each other. They had to be loose. They were the White House speech writers. They had to be able to speak their minds—and sometimes read each other’s minds.

But then there were the bigger moments. Little hesitations in bars after wins, or loses. Sharing a cab home and a breath before goodnight. But Remus always ducked out of the cab. Always.

But they? They love you?

He’d walked right into that, sure, but Sirius had been the one to put a hand on the door to stop it from closing.

“Us.” Remus took a long breath. “Me.”

One moment, they shared that breath again. The moment to turn away, to slam the cab door, to look up with a cleared throat at the shelves of bottles on the other side of the bar. Call it a night?

But now, Sirius’ hand cradled his jaw, and Remus hardly had time to breathe in again before they were kissing. Remus let Sirius press the kiss into him, chin ducking with how it surprised him, and how badly he wanted it—had wanted it for so long. He tasted the cheap chocolate, the bitter-sweet false-colored candy coating. He imagined he could smell the occasional, victorious cigar that Sirius smoked, even though one wasn’t in sight. He could see him at the bar, the one they’d gone to after—when was it? Which—it didn’t matter. Standing outside on the dilapidated patio, smoke curling up. Remus could have kissed him then.

Sirius made some sort of noise, a soft wanting thing, and Remus felt his other hand curl around to hold the small of his back. They broke apart, Sirius’ breath coming out unsteady, only for Remus to curl his fingers into his hair and pull him back in, suddenly more than hungry for it. Only, there was—

“Wait,” Remus breathed. Sirius ducked down, breathing hard and resting his forehead against Remus’ temple. “God—wait.” Remus pressed a sloppy kiss to the corner of his mouth, unable to help himself.

“You think this is a bad idea,” Sirius breathed. “I…Remus.”

“This might be a bad idea, but I’m not stopping if you’re not.” Remus pulled Sirius’ mouth back to his for another hard kiss before breaking again. “I just think we’ve been interrupted enough times for one day. Don’t you?”

A rare smile from Sirius as his eyes darted to the door. “Oh. Yeah.”

Remus eased himself away, eyes lingering on the dip of Sirius’ throat that his loose tie revealed. He walked half-backwards, fingers fumbling for the lock, and felt it in his chest when it clicked, making the drawn shades rustle.

“Okay?” he said.

Sirius’ smile was brighter this time. “Okay.”

[jadejedi]

Fantasy Book Review: A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland

JJ's rating: 5/5

How feral did it make me: 5/5

My book reviews

I’ve been reading (or listening) to a lot more books this year than normal, and I have realized that I need an outlet to talk about them. I considered making a goodreads account, but hey I already have this! So I will be reviewing the books I’ve read this year, and depending on how long it takes me, I might just start reviewing all my favorite reads. I'm probably going to add links to my blog to make them easier to find.

Let’s get into it. This book is so good. SO GOOD. I listened to it on audiobook, which normally means while I’m at work, driving, or at home doing chores, but I literally listened to the last 2 hours of this book at home doing absolutely nothing, just on the edge of my damn seat! 

Here’s a quick summary: the very anxious Prince Kadou accidentally causes a serious incident that leaves multiple of his personal guards dead or injured. In the aftermath, he is assigned a new guard by the sultan who is known for being an uptight rule follower. As their personalities clash, they have to solve a mystery and learn to work together…

I want to preface this review by saying that this is definitely a romance novel with a fantasy setting. The world building, especially for the main country this novel takes place in, is great and extremely vivid without unnecessary info dumps. The main plot of the story is perfectly serviceable, if a tad predictable, but it 1000% does what it needs to do for the romance. 

But, the romance. THE ROMANCE. This book was advertised as an “enemies to lovers slow burn romance” and it 100% delivers on both. Now, when some people think “enemies to lovers” or (even better imo) “enemies to friends to lovers”, they imagine that at least one of the parties involved is a horrible villain and the relationship is probably abusive in some way. I’m sure there are plenty of books out there where that is absolutely the case, but Rowland gets what makes that trope so good. It’s about two characters who are both good people, but initially clash. It’s the mutual hatred born out of a fundamental misunderstanding of the other’s character, it’s the eventual begrudging respect, it’s THE YEARNING. THE PINING. 

Both of these characters are so wonderful. We get both POV’s throughout: Kadou’s anxious desire to do what’s best for his country and not fuck anything up, and Evemere’s steadfast, noble determination to understand what makes the prince the way he is. 

I don’t want to give too much more away, but this book is filled with ALL the delightful romance tropes you could ever desire. 

Can we talk about pacing?? Pacing is so, so important, especially when writing a slow burn romance, and this author GETS. IT. Sometimes if the romance is resolved too early, all the tension goes out of the story, because if it’s a romance novel, we’re here for the romance, not the plot. But in this story the whole novel is centered around the romance, and the pacing just works so, so well. 

Also, the way that queerness is written into this story is wonderful. Third gender pronouns abound and  same sex attraction is fully accepted, and it’s really refreshing. Also, there are multiple female characters who play significant roles in the story who are fleshed out characters, which I feel is sometimes lacking in M/M romances. 

I have not been able to stop thinking about this book since I finished it like four days ago. I listened to the audio book, which had an excellent narrator, but have also ordered the paperback with my favorite version of the cover. Please, do yourself the favor and read this one. Also, if you do read it, the author published a 10,000 word fanfic epilogue on AO3. It’s called What spring does with the cherry trees, and it’s a goddamn delight. 

[ashleywool]

For the last few days, I’ve been getting really into How To Dance In Ohio and, my goodness, I adore the cast EP and have watched and re-watched every YouTube video about it I can! But, from what I could find, there isn’t a Wiki page or anything like that with information about the characters! If you can, I would love to know some fun facts (maybe pronouns, likes, dislikes, whatever else!) about the seven lovely autistic people we follow in the show!

I’m hoping to see it sometime next year! 💛

Hey there!

The Wikipedia page does exist, although it's still pretty sparse as the show is still in previews and there are rules about what the updates are allowed to be. Everything has to be substantiated by a published article on an established platform or a first-person interview.

Here's the character breakdown from the Equity Principal Audition, with some of my own notes added for context. I've included some of the nicknames we've come up with for the characters also, some of which are canon.

Johanna: 40s-50s, she/her, powerful mezzo-soprano. Caroline’s mother, perky and positive, keeps a watchful eye over her daughter, artsy mom vibes. (Note: it's pronounced "yo-HAH-na.") Also known as: Jo-Jo (pronounced "yo-yo;" not canon) Currently: played by Darlesia Cearcy, and understudied by Marina Pires. (Note also: Darlesia's name is pronounced Dar-LEE-see-ah.) Fun fact: Darlesia isn't much of a public social media user, but when I looked her up on Twitter, this is the first thing that popped up, from her time in Shuffle Along. If I were her, I wouldn't even bother with a headshot and resume anymore, I'd just hand casting directors a copy of that tweet. It pretty much says it all.

Terry: 40s-50s, she/her, powerful mezzo-soprano. Jessica’s mother, patient, loves leopard print, gives her daughter lots of space, cool mom vibes. Also known as: Ter-Bear. (not canon) Currently: played by Haven Burton, and understudied by Marina Pires. Fun fact: Haven plays my mom but she's only seven years older than me in real life. Marina P is four years younger than me. Best of all: when we were premiering in Syracuse, this role was also covered by an SU junior (Elana Babbit). She didn't get to go on, but if she had, I would've had a mother who was almost half my age!

Michael: 40s-50s, he/him, mid to high tenor. Marideth’s father, blue-collar, doing his best, is anxious in new social settings. Also plays: "Derrick," a pharmacy technician employee at Columbus Community College, who has a brief interaction with Caroline (and may or may not be a murderer). Currently: played by Nick Gaswirth, and understudied by Martín Solá.

Amy: 40s-50s, she/her, soprano. Drew’s mother, cultured, a housewife with a master’s degree, adept at managing her husband and son’s needs. Also plays: Shauna Parks, a super hawtt reporter from the Columbus Gazette. Currently: played by Melina Kalomas and understudied by Marina Pires.

Kurt: 40s-50s, he/him, mid to high baritone. Drew’s father, white-collar, conservative, a bit formal, has high expectations for Drew. Also plays: Hawkins, Mel's manager at Paws and Claws Pet Shop, who's kind of a douchebag, and Rick Jenkins, a blogger (not a reporter) who has no idea how to write about disability with any shred of respect. Currently: played by Carlos L. Encinias--who calls his collection of roles "The Villain Track" though I assure you is an exquisitely kind and funny anti-villain in real life--and understudied by Martín Solá.

Dr. Emilio Amigo: to play 50s, he/him, high baritone, Cuban-American. A clinical psychologist, founder and director of Amigo Family Counseling, great at his job, charismatic, full of empathy, recently divorced, at a crossroads. Currently: played by Caesar Samayoa, and understudied by Martín Solá and Carlos L. Encinias.

Ashley Amigo: to play 22, she/her, mezzo-soprano with a strong mix, of Cuban-American. Amigo’s daughter, a dancer recovering from an injury, is at a crossroads. Currently: played by Cristina Sastre, and understudied by Marina Pires and Marina Jansen.

Drew: 18, he/him, mid to high tenor, autistic. He needs structure, a bit formal, knows a lot about electricity and electrical grids, is looking for deeper connections in life, possibly romantic, on track to go to his dream college. Also known as: Drewby (by his mom; canon) Currently: played by Liam Pearce and understudied by Collin Hancock, Jean Christian Barry, and Hunter Hollingsworth.

Marideth: 18, she/her, alto with a strong mix, autistic. Raised by a single dad, loves to research facts, hates shoelaces, doesn’t like to be touched, is anxious in new social settings. Also known as: Wolf (not canon) Currently: played by Madison Kopec, and understudied by Marina Jansen and Ayanna Nicole Thomas. Fun fact: Marideth isn't the first canonically autistic character originated by Madison Kopec. I first heard of them back in 2019 when they were cast as Emma in a reading of a new musical called Indigo, which eventually had its world premiere last summer in (funnily enough) Ohio.

Caroline: 19, she/her, soprano with a strong mix, autistic. Perky and positive, goes to community college, is best friends with Jessica but is obsessed with her boyfriend. Also known as: Menace (not canon) Currently: played by Amelia Fei, and understudied by Ayanna Nicole Thomas and Marina Jansen.

Jessica: 20, she/her, full-voiced mezzo-soprano, autistic. Wants to live on her own, loves fantasy but is surprisingly practical, has a flair for drama. Also known as: Rachel Berry (obviously not canon as that's copyright infringement) Currently: played by Ashley Wool (yours truly) and understudied by Ayanna Nicole Thomas and Marina Jansen. Fun fact: Lol. 20. That's adorable. I'm absolutely not 20.

Mel: 24, she/he/they, earthy alto, autistic. The oldest member of the group, a seeker into self-help and mindfulness, a natural leader, works at a pet shop. Also known as: Head of Reptiles (technically canon, but we also just like to imagine Mel as a mythical creature with a reptilian head) Currently: played by Imani Russell and understudied by Marina Jansen and Ayanna Nicole Thomas. Fun fact: way back in 2021, when they were casting the first reading of the show, my agent at the time submitted me for Mel--the character was initially conceived as a cis woman on the breakdown--but I had already gotten a callback for Jessica from my self-submission, and I had a gut feeling that there was somebody better out there for Mel. I couldn't have been more right--after Imani was cast, it was largely thanks to their creativity, insight and influence that Mel evolved into the distinctive non-binary icon (non-bicon?) we know and love today.

Remy: 18+ to play 16, he/she/they, mid to high tenor, autistic. Into cosplay, makes a How-To costume and makeup tutorial videos online. Currently: played by Desmond Luis Edwards, and understudied by Jean Christian Barry, Ayanna Nicole Thomas, and Hunter Hollingsworth. Fun fact: Dez's involvement in HTDIO is the ultimate "Cinderella story." In 2021, Jacob Yandura was running a summer camp in Florida, and Dez was a student there; upon finding out Dez was autistic, Jacob said, "hey, I think you'd be a good fit for this musical I'm writing." The first time I heard Dez sing at the rehearsals for the reading, I was like, "you're SEVENTEEN?! I quit." How many actors out there go from their third high school musical DIRECTLY to Broadway? Another fun fact: Dez created all the cosplay designs we used onstage in the Syracuse production. Check out his art account here!

Tommy: 22, he/him, mid to high baritone, autistic. Funny, self-conscious, studying to get his driver’s license. Currently: played by Conor Tague, and understudied by Hunter Hollingsworth, Collin Hancock, and Jean Christian Barry. Fun fact: In real life, Conor does not drive and is staunchly anti-driving.

Ok, I gotta shower and head to the theater for work notes, but I'll happily add more later!

[sorryjustafangirl]

babe for the weekend

a/n: this is a little different than what i usually write, in terms of boy and structure but i am really really proud of how it turned out, so i hope y'all like it too! the title comes from Taylor Swift's ''tis the damn season" and it quite inspired by it. this is for @broadstbroskis, one of the very first writers i starting following on hockeyblr. it was an absolute honour to write for her in @antoinerousselssel's winter fic exchange and i really really hope she enjoys it (and all its Swiftie references <3)

pairing: morgan rielly x fem!reader

word count: 8.8k+

warnings: a few swears, holiday setting (although not crazy prominent), childhood idiot friends to lovers?

disclaimer: this is a piece of fiction and this beautiful gif is not mine! p.s. i know he got engaged recently (to the figure skating love of my life Tessa Virtue; congrats to them!) but i was too deep in the fic to switch it when i heard the news. hope you still love it!

Morgan had been getting you out of trouble since the day you two could walk. You’d knock over a vase, and he’d find a way to blame the dog. You’d convince him to mattress surf down the stairs, and he put it back while you stalled your mom so she wouldn’t know. He would tell his mom that she “saw you walk up the stairs after dinner like hours ago” when you only snuck in his window four minutes before. 

That didn’t end when he left to play junior hockey or when he got drafted and you moved across the country for school. Despite being in the same city, you relied less on him to bail you out as you got older, but every once in a while, his number was on speed dial to decipher if a guy was phishing you or for a 2am pickup from the club. 

Granted, you’d saved him just as many times. You’d posed as his girlfriend to save him from puck bunnies and more than once told his mom it was you he was out with, instead of the girlfriend he wasn’t supposed to have. Every other week, he’d call with a question he was too embarrassed to ask his own mom (“is $10 too much for a carton of orange juice?”). 

You just never thought he’d be bailing you out like this. 

As the youngest of four kids (and the last single one), your parents were overbearing about your love life to say the least. But in the holiday season? It dialed up to 11. 

“Are you sure you’re alright though? We don’t want you to be feeling lonely.” Your mom brought up at the end of your weekly Zoom family call, complete with all your siblings and grandma. 

“For the last time, I am not lonely. I have great friends, I have a good job at an ad agency, and my credit card is paid off. I’m doing great!”

“But it’s a big city, darling. You’ve been out of school for years and you still haven’t told us about any guy. Or-or girl, if you’re into that,” she tried to reason.

“Mom, she isn’t lonely because she’s getting some!” Ben, your youngest brother, chimed in, making you cringe. 

“Grow up, dork,” Julie, your eldest sister, said at the same time your older brother, James, said “Nice one!”

“Kids, you’re making Grams blush, can you knock it off?” Your dad chimed in. Ben’s face flushed but that didn’t stop James from poking the bear. 

“Just think Mom, there’s less people to feed at Christmas!” 

“That’s what you take out of this? Your sister could be at risk for depression.”

“I don’t have depression!”

“You always talk to me with an iced coffee, I do get a little concerned.” “Rude!” “Hey! Ruby drinks iced coffees too and she’s not depressed.” “She’s in a relationship with you, I’d rethink that.” “You aren’t depressed when you’re in happy relationships, that’s what I know.” “Grams, that is not true.” “That’s what Cynthia at book club said!” “None of that changes the fact that your sister hasn’t had a boyfriend in a long time and I’m worried about her!” “She’s not that old Brenda.” “She’s not seventeen anymore Thomas, our daughter is getting older and if she wants kids–” “Kids? Mom, she doesn’t even have a boyfriend.” “That’s my point!” “Who said she wants kids?” “Julie, you’re a mother, you should know every woman wants kids!” “Grams, that isn’t true.” 

All of their overlapping voices seemed to get louder, rattling around in your brain, and you couldn’t take it anymore. 

“I have a boyfriend!” You blurted and the screen silenced. You relished the small moment of quiet before the sound exploded again. 

“What?” “Yes!” “Who is he?” “Is he coming home with you?” “What’s his name?”

“Woah, woah. One at a time please,” you nervously laughed. 

“What’s his name?” The smiles on your mom and Grams faces were so wide it was starting to freak you out and your brain froze. What’s a boy’s name what’s a boy name what’s a boy’s name??

“Morgan.” 

Your brain blurted out the name before you realized its implications. 

“Morgan?” Your mom’s smile widened. “Like our Morgan? The Rielly’s boy?” 

Shit, shit, shit. “You’ll have to wait to find out.”

“If they couldn’t get together in high school, no way it would happen now. I say it’s different.” “There’s lots of Morgans in Toronto! It’s a big city.” 

“Yeah, I call bullshit on this whole boyfriend thing,” your older sister Julie chimed in.

You felt blood starting to drain from your face “What?” 

“Oh c’mon! All we have is a name? You don’t want to share his job or what he looks like? You can’t even tell us if he’s coming back with you. You’re just faking it.”

“His work is busy, we haven’t decided if he’s coming back yet!”

“Two weeks before the holidays?” She raised an eyebrow and you pursed your lips. 

“Fine. I was going to surprise you instead, but yes he’s coming back with me. And he has blond hair. Happy?” Julie only shrugged but you could hear your grandmother rejoice in the background of the call. “Look, I have to go but I’ll see you all in two weeks.”

“With Morgan! Oh, I’m so excited to meet him!”

“Yes. With Morgan.” You ended the phone call and flopped into your couch pillows before letting out a scream. 

Where were you going to find a Morgan with blond hair to act as a fake-boyfriend to meet your family across the country?  

-----

“Just call your Morgan.” Your best friend, Ivy, said as the two of you sat in Fran’s, the best diner for burger and fries past Jarvis street, for your regular lunch chat.  

“No, it’d be weird! He’s known my family for a long time and we’re friends.” You shook your head while munching on your fries. 

“Those are exactly the reasons you should take him! Plus, you said his name. I don’t get why you’re making it into this big deal about taking him.” 

“Because it is!”

“But why? It’s not like you’re in love with him,” She said, dipping her fries in ketchup. 

“About that…” You trailed off, biting your lip waiting for her reaction. 

She dropped the food before it could get to her mouth. “No!”

“Look, it was when we were in high school! I was about to tell him when we moved out here, but then he was saying how there was so much on his plate and he was feeling a lot of pressure and I just didn’t want to add to that, you know?” You took a bite of your food before continuing. “I didn’t want him to resent me for telling him at such a crucial point in his life.” 

“And now?”

You shrugged. “I think I’ll always have some sort of feelings for him. He was my best friend growing up.”

“You’re going to have to be really good at hiding those feelings when you’re posing as boyfriend and girlfriend with him.”

“Who said I’m asking him?”

Ivy raised her eyebrows. “Where else are you going to find a blond-haired Morgan to bring home to your family across the country in less than two weeks?” You threw a fry at her, which she grabbed and put on her own plate. “Besides, there’s no harm in asking. He can always say no.”

-----

“Yes.”

“Really?” You asked a little too loudly, putting your coffee mug down a little too harshly, gaining the attention of others in the cafe the two of you routinely catch up in. But you didn’t care. You were expecting a little more skepticism from Morgan when you proposed him playing a fake boyfriend role in front of your family. 

“Yeah, ‘course. It’s my job to bail you out of trouble, isn’t it?” You playfully kicked him under the table. “Besides, I haven’t seen Vancouver or your family in a while. It’d be nice to go back to the old times.” 

“Oh my gosh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” You said, instinctively placing a hand on his arm laid across the table. “Okay, so I don’t know when your season ends but I’m hoping we can fly out for like three days maximum, so it’ll be quick, and we can use your job as an excuse so that’ll be good. For the story, obviously we just went out one day after being friends for a long time, so that’ll be easy. You asked me out. Five or six months is a good timeline for them not knowing but also you coming home so let’s stick to that. You can’t tell your parents because my mom will be furious if Shirley knew before her. Um, Ben, my little brother – you know him–, he’s bringing his girlfriend Ruby, but she’s chill so you’ll get along with her a lot. Drew, my oldest nephew, he’s Julie’s kid and then Charlie and Julie had Rebekah the year before last and Izzy, who is James’s wife, just had baby Taylor a couple months ago so the house is going to be chaotic. You should be writing this down, you know.” You slowed down to notice that Morgan was just staring at you. “I just said so much stuff you need to remember.”

“I know your family. Trust me, it’s going to be fine. I’ll remember all that,” He assured you, placing a hand over your arm like you had done to him.

“Are you sure? I just..I can’t have this go wrong. Julie already suspects the legitimacy of this…fake relationship.”

He squeezes your arm and sends you one of his smiles that makes your heart swell. “We’ve got this in the bag.”

-----

You’d both decided that it’d be easiest if you came to the airport together, so you said you’d pick him up from morning practice. You were waiting in the parking garage at the arena, scrolling through your phone, until you heard footsteps. Looking up, you see Morgan, Mitch, and Willy walking towards you. You give them a shy wave, and they all return with big grins, like they knew something they didn’t. Morgan came up to you, swung an arm over your shoulder and pressed a kiss to your temple. 

“Bye guys, safe travels,” He shouted over his shoulder, the two of you walking towards your vehicle. Once they were out of earshot, you turned to Morgan.

“What was that?” 

“What?”

“That forehead kiss!”

“Oh!” His smile grew a little. “I was practicing for this weekend. Was it okay?” His slight concern made your heart beat faster and you could feel heat starting to go to your face. 

“I mean, yeah, but like won’t the guys think that, you know, we’re—” 

“Believe me, the guys already think we’re together.”

“What?!”

He laughed. “They asked about my plans for the holidays and I said I was going home with you. They just assumed we were dating and it felt like a lot of work to correct them. It’s okay, I promise.”

“If you say so,” you hummed. You unlatched yourself from his arm as you approached your car but Morgan stopped in his tracks and started to laugh. 

“You’re still driving this old thing?” He was referring to your blue Honda you’d had since high school. 

“Excuse me, you named this thing and Louise is still in great shape so of course I still drive her. Now get in.” He holds up his hands in surrender. You buckled yourself in and turned the engine over. The dash lit up like a Christmas tree and the radio was uneven again, so you hit the console a few times before it started to come out of both speakers. 

“Great shape, sure.”

“Shut up.” 

-----

Despite the busyness of the Toronto Pearson International Airport during the holidays, the two of you seemed to breeze through security and boarding. It wasn’t until you stepped onto the airplane, you’d realized just how much anxiety you got from flying. 

Morgan offered to put both carry-on bags in the overhead bins and you gladly took him up the offer. You slid into your seat, immediately putting on the seatbelt and making it tight against your hips. 

“We aren’t flying just yet,” He teased, sliding into the seat next to you.

“I know, it’s just that I–nevermind, it’s silly.” You murmured with a strained smile. 

“No, what is it?” You met your eyes and you took a deep breath. This was Morgan, your Morgan. He’d seen you cry after you got root beer up your nose and he only laughed a little. 

“Airplanes give me a lot of anxiety and I hate takeoffs. It’s just really nerve wracking for me.” 

“Okay, well I’m right here. Would it help if I held your hand?” You shyly nodded, and Mo grabbed a hold of your hand, lacing your fingers together and rubbing his thumb over the back of your hand. You tried to take deep breaths but after the safety presentation, and the plane started to taxi, it got shallower and the grip on Morgan’s hand got stronger.

“I think it's time for a distraction. Want to help me out here?” He said, turning his body towards yours as much as he could. You nodded, trying not to focus on the bouncing of the wings outside your window. 

“What kind of pet names do you like?”

That was…not what you were expecting but it certainly is a distraction. “I don’t really know? I didn’t name our dogs, Julie or my parents did. Why?” You look over to Morgan to see him quietly laughing to himself. “What?” 

“I meant like, romantic pet names. So I can play this boyfriend role right, you know?”

“Oh,” you said, feeling your face heat up. “Uh, I don’t really know. My past boyfriends weren’t really into those.” You continued to take deep breaths as he pulled out his phone. 

“Okay, cool, I’ve got a list and we can just go through them?” You nodded and he started. 

“Honey?”

“We aren’t fifty years old Mo.”

“Sweetie?”

“I’m not five either,” you joked. At your attempt at humour, you say Morgan’s face lit up. 

“What about sweetheart?” Your grimace made him laugh and he moved on. “Kitten? Dear? Babe? Sugar plum?”

“You can call me babe. For the weekend, of course. I like that one.” 

“Of course, babe.” He winked. “And look, we’re in the air already. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

You looked out and the clouds were level, the city skyline peeking through like a scene out of a movie. You look back at him to see him already looking at you. Unable to say everything you feel for him in that moment (platonically, you tell yourself), you squeeze his hand. 

-----

As you touched back in Vancouver (still holding Morgan’s hand for safety purposes), it started to feel real. Real you were back in the city, real Morgan was here, and real that you were supposed to be acting like you’re in love. 

“Hey, I’ll be right back. Hold my bag for me?” Morgan asked, once you’d deplaned and entered the airport. You nodded and shooed him off, finding a place in the nearest lounge to wait for him. You pulled out your phone and started to catch up on messages when someone beside you cleared their throat.

“Sorry to bother you but did you go to Prince of Wales Secondary School in Vancouver?” You turned towards the voice to see someone so familiar but couldn’t put a finger on who.

“Um, yes. How did you know that?”

“I’m Abigail Brown. I think you were my lab partner in high school chemistry?” As soon as she said it, it was like everything rushed back to you. The two of you were good friends but just fell out of touch as years went on. 

“Oh my gosh yes! Oh my gosh, hi! How have you been?” You got out of your seat to give her a hug. 

“I’ve been really good! My girlfriend and I are headed to London for the holidays.”

“Oh fun! I’ve come back for the holidays with my uh..” You trailed off, thinking of what to call this arrangement. “Morgan Reilly, do you remember him?”

“Yeah, totally. Did he come back with you?” She asked, raising her eyebrows. 

“Yeah, we’re here together.”

“No way, that’s so sweet! Back in the day, everyone was wondering when you two would get together!”

“Oh, really?” You asked, surprised. You had thought that your crush on one of your closest friends was pretty discrete. 

“Yeah, a lot of us thought you’d be a cute couple. Turns out we were right,” she winked and nodded her head behind you. You turned to see Morgan coming back with two Tim Horton cups in his hands – one hot coffee for him and one Iced Capp for you. You tilted your head at his thoughtfulness. 

“My flight is boarding now, but it was so nice to see you again!” Abigail said, waving briefly to Morgan before leaving with her girlfriend. 

“Yeah, you too!” You called after her. “Is that coffee for me?” You asked, a wide smile on your face. 

“Because it is so ridiculously early, it is,” he said, placing it in your hands. “Who was that?”

“My high school lab partner. She thought we were together, actually.”

Morgan gave you a puzzled look. “Isn’t that what she’s supposed to think?”

“I mean, I guess, but we’re really just pretending for my family, so I didn’t think she’d think we’re together.” Morgan only hummed at your response and grabbed his bag. 

“Ready to head to your parents' then?” 

Like coming home, the two of you navigated through the airport easily and were on your way to your parents house in no time. Outside of the Uber, looking up at your childhood home, you felt your nerves getting the best of you again. The warm Christmas lights and the three cars in the driveway should’ve calmed you down, but instead had the opposite effect.

“Okay, so, again, we’ve been dating for five months, you asked me out. We kept it a secret, so your parents don’t know either. Ruby is Ben’s girlfriend. Drew and–”

“–Rebekah are Julie and Charlie’s kids. Rebekah is two years old. James married Izzy and their baby, Taylor, was born last month,” He finished with a smile. “Told ya I’d remember it. It’s going to be fine, let’s just go see your family?” He held out his hand for you to take and you cautiously placed it in his. He tugged you up to the front door, wrapping his arm around your shoulders to ring the doorbell. He left it over your shoulder and leaned down to whisper in your ear. 

“Trust me, we’ve got this.” He pressed a quick kiss to your cheek but before you could process what he was playing at, your mom had opened the front door.

“Oh, it is our Morgan! Thomas, I told you it was going to be him! Oh, come in, come in,” she ushered you in and your family all appeared, saying their hellos, taking your bags up to your room, placing drinks in your hands and leading you both into the living room. You settled in beside Morgan, your thighs touching each other as he reached over to entangle your hand with his.

“So, Morgan, my daughter hasn’t told us anything yet! How long have you been together?” Your mom said, once everyone was back together and catching up with the two of you. 

“Couldn’t have been too recent if you brought him home with you,” Julie said, her skepticism showing through. 

“Can’t be too long either since she never told us about him!” James said, nudging her.

Before you could get a word in and defend yourselves, Morgan spoke up. “We started dating five months ago. Might seem a little fast to come home for Christmas but I remember your family pretty well from when I was little. Plus, the schedule lined up really nicely this year so we figured, why not? But we decided to keep it to ourselves for the first little bit, with my job and everything. It can be a really hard adjustment. Especially with the media, I didn’t want them to freak her out.” 

“Aw, how sweet of you.” 

“Who asked who out?” Ruby said, curled up next to her boyfriend. 

“She asked me.” Your heart stopped as Morgan deviated from the plan you’d created. “It was nice, though, so I didn’t have to rack up the courage to ask her the same thing.” He turned towards you, meeting your eyes. To your family, you were recounting your first date and how you’ve been in love since. But Morgan was trying to get away with changing the story and you were civilly throwing daggers at him. 

“That’s nice. But you’ve got to get dressed, we’re still going cross country skiing this afternoon.” Julie said, standing up. 

“Why?” you whined. “We’re tired from traveling.”

“Then exercise will be good for you. And it’s tradition, you can’t deprive Morgan of that.” The smile she sent you was fake and you could tell, narrowing your eyes at her. 

“Yeah, babe, don’t deprive me from family traditions,” he commented, earning a small poke to his side, but you nodded, going to find your warm clothes. 

-----

Cypress Mountain was where your family always skied on Christmas Eve. It was a tradition passed on from your grandfather, who’d done it with his father, and your family liked to keep it alive. It was a thirty minute drive, forty five in Vancouver traffic, so your head fell to Morgan’s shoulder. Soon enough, he was shaking you awake.

“We’re here, sleeping beauty,” He said softly, unbuckling your seatbelt. “Ready?”

“The better question is if you’re ready. I’ve been doing this for years,” you laughed, getting out of the car and walking towards the lodge to get Morgan skis. 

“Please, I’m an athlete. I’ll be fantastic.” He grabbed your hand and your heart started to beat faster at the cute gesture, only to notice some of your family behind you, watching the two of you. Of course, it was only for show. What else would be for? You reminded yourself. 

Twenty minutes later, and you were still watching Mo struggle to clip his skis in, trying not to laugh when he fell over. 

“‘I’m an athlete, I’ll be fantastic’” you said, mocking him and he pouted. You unclipped your own skis and held your hands out to help him get up. 

“The key is this little latch here,” you said, guiding his foot into the ski. You did the same with the other before getting yourself ready. 

“Where would I be without you?” He said, as the two of you, slowly, moved to the track. 

“Probably still be on the ground,” you said with a cheeky smile. You knocked his poles with yours. “Want to go this way? It’s easier than the track they’re doing,” you said, referring to the rest of your family. 

He looked up at the hill your family, including your little nephew, were already halfway up and shook his head. 

“If this is a family tradition, and I’m supposed to be part of your family, I should do it with them. We can join them, I’ll be okay.” 

Morgan was right, for the most part. He got the hang of it pretty quickly, and soon enough you were both caught up to your family. He was smiling, and talking with your dad and brothers. You had time to catch up with Ruby and Charlie, who you never really saw in the family Zoom chats. 

Until you rounded the corner and saw Morgan standing to the side. You didn’t understand why until you saw what was ahead – the hills. For your family, including daredevil Drew, it was easy. But for a beginner like Morgan? You understood why he stopped. 

“If you want to turn back now, it’s okay. They’ll understand.” 

He shook his head again. “I’ve got to sell this boyfriend thing, don’t I? Just…can you go first?” You nodded and made your way down, gaining some speed before slowing down and stopping at the base to watch him. 

“You’ve got this, Mo, just do it!” You told him. He nodded at your words and came down slowly, mimicking the way you had just conquered the hill. His eyes were determined, the way you saw he was on the ice, and your smile got wider as he made it down successfully.

“Yes! You did it!”

That was, until he caught an edge and very ungracefully tumbled to the ground. 

“Well, you mostly did it. I thought you were supposed to be coordinated!” You said in a joking manner, maneuvering over to where he was trying to get up. 

“I don’t usually have these long things attached to my feet!” After his attempts, he held his hands out and you helped him stand upright again. 

“Are you okay? It looked like you fell pretty hard.” 

“My ego is bruised more than anything,” He mumbled. 

“Why? None of them saw your wipeout.” You nodded towards your family who were all ahead and had no idea of what had happened.

“But you did.”

“It’s not like you have to impress me,” You said, waving it off and starting to move along the trail. He only huffed, settling into pace beside you. 

-----

After making it back to the lodge in one piece, you all traveled back to your parent’s and sat down for a family dinner, albeit quick, as the kids’ bedtime was long ago. You helped your mom with the dishes while Morgan had “bonding time”, as he called it, with your brothers and Dad. 

“I’m glad you brought Morgan home, sweetheart,” she said, breaking through the quiet sounds of washing dishes. “He’s a catch and you seem really happy with him.”

You blushed, involuntarily, and nodded. “I am really happy when I’m with him.”

There were sounds of protests and laughter, so you peeked your head around to see Ben on the couch leaning over Morgan’s lap to ruffle James’ hair, only to get caught by Morgan in a loose headlock. Your dad was laughing at their antics and you joined him. It was nice to see Morgan be so carefree, especially with the stress of the season. 

“Hey!” Ben got your attention. “Your boyfriend is bullying me, tell him to stop!” 

“Maybe you deserved it,” You said, moving to be behind the couch. “Morgan is usually right.”

Morgan looked at you and only let Ben free once you gave me a small nod. You leaned down over the couch, wrapping your arms around his chest. At the slight display of affection, James gagged but thankfully, Izzy came down and whisked away her husband. Ben left shortly after that and you noticed Morgan’s head starting to drop. 

“Okay, we’re still on Toronto time a little bit,” You checked with Morgan, who was nodding along. “So we’re going to hit the hay, but Mom, I didn’t see the spare blankets for the pull-out couch?”

“Oh, you don’t need them, Ben has them.”

“What?” You asked, removing your hands from Morgan so he couldn’t tell how clammy they suddenly got. “Where’s Morgan going to sleep?”

“In your bed. It’ll be better for his back.” She answered. 

“Where am I going to sleep?” 

“In your bed.” She sighed when she saw the shock on your face. “Look, we trust Morgan. Besides, it’s a big bed and your dad and I aren’t under the impression you haven’t already slept together.” Her bluntness made you choke on your breath and Morgan patted your back, answering for you.

“Thank you Brenda. We'll be good, I promise.” 

“I know you will. And if you aren’t, know I’m not above telling your mother,” She said with a smirk. “Now, goodnight.” 

You both said your goodnights, and headed up to your room. Morgan shut the door behind you and you immediately started apologizing. 

“I’m sorry, I was certain she’d send one of us to the basement. She never let Charlie or Izzy sleep in the same room with my siblings until they were married,” you said, rummaging through your suitcase for pajamas. 

He waved you off and took a look around your room. It hadn’t changed much since high school, your parents leaving it unchanged for when you came back. The photos in the frames and on the walls were faded and each childhood trophy and trinket was covered in a small layer of dust – not enough for it to be untouched, but enough for it to be preserved. 

The sound of you digging through the closet for extra pillows broke him away from your walls. There were two blankets spread out on the floor and you dropped the pillows you’d found on the space above them.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting ready for bed,” You answered. “You can get changed in the bathroom.”

“Why aren’t you in the bed?” 

“Because you’re sleeping on the bed, hotshot. Can you please get changed, I want to sleep.” He huffed but nodded, slipping out of the room. When he came back to see you curled up on the floor beside the queen sized bed, he let out a small sigh and moved towards you. 

“I’m not going to let you sleep on the floor. Please come sleep on the bed?” He said, standing over top of you.

“I…I don’t want it to be weird.” You said, suddenly interested in the fraying fibres of your blanket. 

“It’s not going to be weird. I promise. Please?” You turned to see him with his puppy-dog eyes and you started to break.

“I don’t know Mo…”

“I’d feel better if you slept in the bed, babe, please? For me?” At that, you relented, nodding your head. He helped you up, gathering the blankets from the floor and laying them over you in the bed. 

He slipped in beside you, a large margin of space between the two of you. It was silent as you got comfy and you turned off your side table light. Morgan hadn’t followed your lead, so you looked over to see him looking at his side table. 

“Remember when we took this picture?” Morgan said, pointing to the only frame on the table. You didn’t even have to look at the photo to know which one he was referring to. It was the last day he spent in Vancouver before the draft and it was a few days before your graduation date. You’d taken your car to the North Shore and hiked to Lighthouse Park. The serenity of being able to see far into the ocean and see the downtown skyline was the place both of you had gone to clear your mind. You’d taken a silly selfie together but it was the one physical memento of your last time together in Vancouver. It was when you almost confessed your feelings to him. 

“Of course I do. It was a good day.”

“Do you think about it a lot?” He asked, and you turned your body to face him. 

“I mean, sometimes, yeah. Do you think about it a lot?”

He nodded, his eyes fixated on the picture. “Yeah. Reminds me of when life seemed normal.” 

You stayed silent for a few moments, watching his eyes begin to get hazy looking at the picture. “Are you okay, Mo?”  

He just nodded curtly, and turned off the light. “Goodnight.” 

You couldn’t lie and say his behaviour didn’t feel like a thousand cuts to your heart but you said goodnight before turning to face away from him, like he’d done to you. 

-----

The sun shining in from the window woke you up in the morning. You started to stir, stretching your arms and legs, but stopped when you felt arms around you. You slowly turned your head to see Morgan close to you, his arms wrapped around your waist. Sometime during the night, he must’ve moved to start cuddling you. You thought it should feel weird, being so close to your friend like this, but all you felt was a sense of calm. Being hyper aware of his arms, you shifted slightly to face him. 

You took the opportunity to look at him, really look at him. Not on the TV, through his hockey gear, not in the cafe when he was conscious that anyone could recognize him, but when he was just him. The sun was shining on him, giving his skin that soft golden glow. The lines on his forehead were almost nonexistent and his beard was filling out nicely. He looked so peaceful here, like he wasn’t one of Toronto’s biggest stars. You looked at him, your face softening as he started to stir under your gaze.

“Morning sleeping beauty,” you teased in a quiet voice, the same way he’d done to you yesterday. 

“Hmm, what time is it?” His voice was raspy and it took everything in yourself not to kiss him right there.

“Early,” you answered and he hummed in response. He slowly opened his eyes and must’ve noticed how close he was to you because his eyes got increasingly wider. His eyes met yours and when he didn’t see any panic or disgust in them, he relaxed, a small smile coming onto his face. 

“Morning babe,” He said, pulling you a little closer to him. 

“Nobody’s around, you don’t have to call me that.”

“What if I want to?” 

You looked up at him, eyes wide in shock and your lips parted. What did he say? It might have been a shock to your brain, but your body seemed to long for a closeness to him. Your heart wasn’t beating faster, no, it seemed to slow down, as if the idea of a relationship with him was the only thing to calm you. 

You noticed his eyes glancing down at your lips and you swallowed. Was he…what was he doing? He started to lean his head towards you and you felt yourself leaning in as well. He was close enough you could feel his breath hot on your face and see the grey flicks in his eyes. You started to close your eyes, his hand caressing your waist from under the covers, and —

“Auntie, Auntie! He came! Santa came! You have to get up! Come see!” Drew yelled through the door, pounding away as if you didn’t hear him. You broke away from Morgan, the small bubble popped by your nephew.  

“We’ll be right there Drew!” you yelled back, rubbing your forehead and getting out of bed. You left Morgan in bed, running downstairs to start some coffee, desperately needing to clear your head. What just happened? 

“Morning, sweetheart!” You sighed as your mom walked into the room, too chipper for how early it was. “I’ve got the pajamas for you and Morgan.”

“Morgan too?” It was a tradition to dress in matching pajamas on Christmas morning but you didn’t think it was something your parents would enforce for him. 

“Yup. Go get changed, I want to take photos soon.” She placed the two pajama sets in your arms and you trudged upstairs. You figured Mo was still laying in bed so you didn’t knock, just charged right in. Maybe you should’ve knocked. But then you wouldn’t get to see Morgan shirtless. Your brain short-circuited until you saw him looking back at you and you shut your eyes.

“I’m sorry, I forgot to knock! My mom wanted me to give you these. Matching pajamas and photos before gifts is a family tradition.” You tried to pull out his pair with your eyes closed but Mo just laughed when he saw you struggling. He came closer, his distinctive cologne invading your senses. He took one of the pairs, hopefully his size, from your arms.

“You can open your eyes, it’s okay.” You slowly opened one eye to test the waters, to see he was still without a shirt. You stared at him as long as it is socially acceptable to look at your best friend shirtless, before rushing out of the room to get changed yourself. 

You beat Morgan downstairs, and got started on the coffees. After buying him many hungover wake-up coffees, you knew his order by heart. You brought them out to the table, your sister and her family having their portrait taken in front of the tree. 

Mo came up from behind you, wrapping his arms around you and taking a whiff of your coffee. He recoiled at the hint of chocolate. 

“Yours has vanilla creamer, don’t worry,” you told him, taking a sip while watching Taylor get her first family photo in front of the tree. It was so nice to see the smiles across your family’s faces as you had this tradition. When it became Ben and Ruby’s turn, you noticed Drew starting to get a little antsy, his eyes fixated on the big box with his name on it. 

“Okay, sweetheart, yours and Morgan’s turn,” your mom said, clearing the area for you two to sit. 

“Oh, Mom, Drew’s looking a little antsy. We can skip ours–”

“No!” Mo interrupted you, taking one last sip of his coffee before tugging you along to sit in front of the tree. You gave him a look and smiled shyly. “It’s our first Christmas together. I want a picture. Please?” 

“Well, since you asked so nicely.” You turned to the camera, plastering a smile on. You were pretty close to him, your legs touching and his arm around your shoulders. Near the end,  Morgan pressed a kiss to your cheek and you blushed, the sound of the camera clicking long forgotten as you stared into his eyes. 

“Auntie, can I please please open my presents from Santa now?” Drew said, once again interrupting the moment between you and Morgan.

“Of course, baby, but you have to open the ones from me and Morgan next, deal?” He shrieked and scrambled over to the boxes, ripping into his wrapping paper. You stood up, grabbing your coffee before watching your nephew and niece on Christmas morning.

“Look at how cute you two are together,” She said, tilting the camera towards you. The first one was a cute photo. Morgan had his lips pressed against your cheek and your face was scrunched up in joy. She switched it to the next one, where the two of you were looking into each other’s eyes. He had the softest, earnest smile on his face. “I swear, I haven’t seen any people so in love since Ben met Ruby. I’m so glad you brought him home.” 

“Thanks, Mom.” You put on the best fake-smile you could, and turned back to the kids, trying not to think about how they two of you did look in love. But it wasn’t real and your stomach sunk. You took a seat on the couch, talking to Rebekah about her new doll and watching Drew drive his toy cars across the coffee table. 

“Who are these from?” you dad asked, holding up some small packages wrapped in blue paper.

“Oh, those are from me sir.” Morgan spoke up from behind you, moving to sit beside you. “There should be one for everyone.” Your dad nodded and handed them out to everyone while you turned to your fake-boyfriend. 

“Mo, I told you you didn’t have to bring anything,” you said, eyeing everyone tearing into their small gifts. 

“Now what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t?” He winked at you, before turning to see their reactions. You were glad you’d turned too.

Everyone was holding up a different variety of a Toronto Maple Leafs keychain. Ben held one with a bottle opener on it and Drew held one that had skate on it. Some of them had the shape of Ontario with them or a special spinny part in the middle.

“You’re really banking on us liking you, eh?” Julie said, holding up her Rielly jersey keychain. 

“I’m planning on sticking around for a while. I figure you’ll be fans sooner or later,” he laughed off your sister’s hazing and assured your parents it was the least he could do. He turned to you. “And I didn’t forget you either.”

“What? No. Babe, I thought we were doing gifts back in Toronto?” If you’d known, you would’ve gotten him something, but he seemed unfazed. He brought out a medium box and placed it in your lap.  

“Are you sure? I didn’t bring anything for you,” you whispered to him. He just nodded and told you to open it. You ripped into the wrapping paper, opened the box, and tore out the tissue paper only to stop.

“You didn’t.” 

“I did,” He said, his face growing. “Bring it out, let’s see it.”

You lifted out of the box a dark wash denim jacket, the same one you’d been trying to rationalize buying for the past three months. It was your size and you couldn’t help but run your fingers over the seams, tracing the buttons. 

“Check the inside,” Morgan said, leaning over your shoulder. You turned your head to see him slightly blushing, and you turned to the jacket’s inside as quickly as you could. Inside there was a small label stitched in. Upon closer inspection, you read what it said and your breath hitched. 

 You’ve got a smile that could light up this whole town. Don’t forget it. Love, your Morgan

“Mo, I don’t even know what to say. This is-this is perfect. I love it, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He pressed a kiss to your temple, before slipping out of the room, both empty mugs in his hands. Your heart started to beat faster again, and as you stared down at the inscription, you had to remind yourself that it didn’t mean anything special. He was acting like your boyfriend, but he wasn’t your boyfriend. This was all fake, and this must’ve been a part of it; a show for your family to make sure you didn’t get in trouble. 

You shoved those feelings deep inside you, instead focusing on the Christmas spirit your family had. The living room was full of laughs and someone had turned on the Christmas music. Morgan came back and sat beside you, his arm resting comfortably over the back of the couch and you couldn’t help but curl into his side. The kids came over and asked to play with Morgan and he eagerly agreed, switching from playing cars to dolls to lifting them up to play the airplane game. Like the Grinch, your heart grew three sizes watching him interact with your family – the way he was so patient and sweet with them meant everything, even if he was just pretending. 

Later, your Grams arrived and Morgan was quick to win her over as well. You bit your lip, trying to stop from smiling so wide as you watched him help her with her coat, and lead her over to where he was sitting. 

“Do you mind holding her for a few minutes?” Izzy said, coming over with Taylor in her arms.

“Of course not! Come ‘ere, darling girl.” You rocked the baby in your arms, sometimes looking over to where Morgan was. Sometimes you even catch him looking at you. You took Taylor’s little hand and waved at him, and he over-enthusiastically waved back, making you laugh. 

“You picked a good one, you know? The two of you are really adorable together.” Izzy said, coming back to take her daughter from you. 

“Thanks Iz. He’s just…” You trailed off, trying to describe the situation. “I couldn’t imagine doing all of this with anyone else.” And it was the truth. From the plane ride to skiing to the gifts this morning, you couldn’t fathom bringing back a stranger and pulling this off in the same way. 

“Sounds like you’ve found the one then.” Her comment made you choke on air and turned into a full coughing fit. Before you knew it, Morgan was beside you, his blue eyes full of concern. 

“Are you okay?” His hand was rubbing your upper back as you continued to cough. You nodded as best you could, and he turned to get his cup. When you seemed to be finished, he handed it to you. 

“Here, drink. It’s water.” You gulped down the water and sighed. 

“Thank you.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” 

“I’m good, thank you. I’m just going to get my lip balm; will you be okay on your own for a while?” You asked, placing a hand on his arm. 

“It’s your family, not war,” He laughed. “Go, I’ll be fine.” 

You smiled at his comment and gave him a quick cheek peck before making your way out of the room. In the bathroom, you took a breather, trying to stop your cheeks from blushing. Whatever you were doing with Morgan, it felt real. But it wasn’t, and you had to keep reminding yourself of that before you got hurt. 

When you exited, Grams was standing outside the door. 

“Sorry, I didn’t realize someone was waiting,” you said, quickly leaving the bathroom but she waved you off. 

“Oh, I haven’t been here that long. But dear, my goodness, that Morgan. He’s a keeper, dear. You hold onto him, you hear me? With him, you’ll be happy for the rest of your life.” She said, patting your cheek before walking past you to the bathroom. You stood in shock for a moment at her words, before taking a deep breath and moving on. 

You were just friends. 

You repeated that to yourself as you sat next to him, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. You repeated it again when he moved your legs into his lap, caressing your ankle. You said it again when he snagged the race car, arguably the best Monopoly piece, only to give it to you, taking the lame iron for himself. 

“Hey, can I talk to you?” Julie said, tapping your shoulder, just before Monopoly (another family tradition) started. You nodded, and lifted your legs out of Mo’s lap. You pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before following her into the kitchen. 

“What’s up?”

“I wanted to apologize.” You furrowed your brows a little bit. “You know, for thinking your relationship was fake? It was wrong for me to think your relationship wasn’t serious but…I was just trying to look out for Mom and Dad. You don’t see how worried they get when you say you don’t have anyone in that big city. You’re the youngest, they’re always going to worry. And it’s just …You never even remotely told me about anyone and I didn’t want you to be faking it, just to get them off your back. But I was wrong and I’m sorry if it seemed like I was doubting your relationship. He’s perfect for you, and you seem really happy together.” 

It was everything you’d been wanting to hear – that even the most skeptic of your family bought your lie and was happy for Christmas. But no relief came like you thought it would; only a lump forming in your throat. “Thanks Julie, that…that means a lot. Would you excuse me please?”

You slipped out of the room, taking the stairs two at a time. You paced around for a few moments, before sitting on the edge of your bed, placing your head in your hands. You’ve gotten in too deep now and it’s going to hurt everyone — yourself included — when you have a ‘breakup’. Your mom will resent Morgan, sweet sweet Morgan, and he’ll probably get chewed out by his own mother, and it’ll all be your fault. You did this to your family, to Morgan, to yourself. 

“What’s wrong?” Morgan said, leaning against your doorframe. 

“Julie thinks we’re dating. Like for real. They all do. ” At your words, he pushed off the wall and sat beside you on the bed, his hands dangerously close to touching yours. You move them into your lap before you can’t function. 

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“Yes.”

“I thought that was the whole point of this? To make them think we’re dating?”

“No, it was. It’s just….” You trailed off, looking down at your hands. 

“It’s just what?” 

“It’s too much, okay!” You stood up and turned to face him. “Like you’re here. You’re in Vancouver again, with me again, in my parent’s house like we’re fifteen again! You can’t be around like this and expect me not to think about the road not taken! And it doesn’t seem to bother you! And I don’t like lying! I don’t need to be lying to both our families, your teammates, my friends! I don’t need to be lying to myself that I don’t enjoy this! It feels wrong. I know we lied a lot as kids, but it feels different this time. It feels like people are going to get hurt and I don’t think I was prepared for that.” 

He took a moment. “We don’t have to lie, you know.”

“What do you mean? We’re fake dating; fake indicating lies.” You crossed your arms across your chest. 

He took another moment, taking a deep breath. “We don’t have to be fake dating. We could…be dating for real.”

“What?” you whispered.

“Can I be honest here? Like really honest?” He asked, and you could only nod slightly. “I thought you would’ve got your head out of your ass by now. I thought you had feelings for me.

"Why do you think you said my name? You could’ve said any other name but you said mine. You could’ve found any other Morgan in Toronto but you asked me. You could’ve come clean to them! There were a thousand ways you could’ve gotten out of this but you didn’t! I thought that meant we had something special; that you were finding excuses to bring me here.” He sees your blank, shocked face as a sign to continue. 

“And now that we’re here? Back in our hometown? It just all rushes back to me about how I didn’t tell you how I felt. Then I spend the days doing your family traditions and seeing you so happy with Drew and Rebekah and thinking that I could’ve had this a long time ago. But I was a coward and I don’t know if I can make the same mistake again.”

“What are you talking about?” You said breathlessly. 

“When we were at Lighthouse Park that day, I almost told you I loved you. But I didn’t. And I went to Toronto and tried to forget the huge regret I’d made. I can’t- I can’t do that again. I love you. I have loved you since we were kids. I didn’t want you to be tied down when you moved out so I didn’t say anything and I tried to forget how I felt about you. But in two days, you’ve made me fall for you all over again and I can’t go back to how things were. I won’t. I don’t want to be your fake boyfriend when I am irrevocably in love with you. I want this,” He stood up and walked closer to you, his fingers reaching out for yours. “I want this to be real.” 

“Mo…holy shit.”

“Yeah. It’s a lot, I know.” He went to step back, to give you space after everything he said, but you held onto his hand tighter. 

“No, like holy shit, I was going to tell you I loved you that day too.” One of your hands traveled to rest on his cheekbone as you caressed his soft skin. “I didn’t want to give you more pressure as you started your career; that wouldn’t be fair. But some part of me has always wanted this to be real.”

“Really?” The corners of your mouth started to lift up as you nodded. “Can I kiss you?” He asked, ever the gentleman.

“Please.” And less than a second later, his mouth was on yours. Maybe it was a good thing you waited so long, because this was better than anything you could’ve imagined at eighteen. His hands found your waist, and pulled you closer, deepening the kiss. 

When you finally pulled away for air, you pressed your forehead against his. “Wow.” 

“You’re telling me.” You giggled at him and played with the hair at the nape of his neck.

“Guess you can tell the team we’re dating for real life now.”

He laughed and pulled you in for another kiss. “For real life, eh?”

“For real life. As long as you’ll have me. ”

“Forever then, babe.” He winked, squeezing you tight. “Now let’s go join the family, yeah? Gotta beat my in-laws at Monopoly.”

His antics had you in laughter all the way down the stairs, but you wouldn’t have it any other way. There was happiness because of him.

taglist (join here): @heatherawoowoo @4ambagelbites @typical-simplelove @2manytabsopen @stars-canucks @lorrmorr @fallinallincurls @plds2000 @barzysandhughesbaby @yummygoldenfood @drei-mrssvechii @bananarantanen @pulpfixion

[tennessoui]

Hey Kit,

the Twitter deaddoveobikin posted their newest prompt and no joke, my first thought was that you would love them. 😁

lol you are like the third person to send this to me and you all are right, i would love this but who knows if i'll have time so kit fic speed run:

day one - oh definitely the angel to demon!anakin and priest obi-wan idea i just posted; feels very classic priest/temptation of them both, especially because once anakin is a demon, obi-wan is consciously letting himself be seduced by a creature of sin....he's just so weak when it comes to anakin (pairs well with this priest obi-wan au ficlet. wrote last year)

day two - ok hmm both obi-wan and anakin are angels but anakin begins to fall in love with a human, padmé. obi-wan cannot let his heavenly brother sin in such a way because then he would be cast out and obi-wan cannot lose him, so he researches a strict and sexy routine to help banish anakin's impure thoughts through self-punishment and strict focus on his angelic duties which really is in practice basically angelic bdsm especially when obi-wan decides anakin isn't taking the self-flagellation seriously enough so takes over for him. anakin definitely stops thinking about the woman on earth that's for sure

day three - good omens au 100% next question. one of the twins is the antichrist, but neither demon obi-wan or angel anakin can figure out which one is which, so the only solution is to raise them both together in the same house for observational purposes. they probably should have sprung for two beds, but they weren't really thinking about that!

day four - ok so religious rituals hm feels like.....they both lose their kyber crystals at the same time some time in the clone wars so have to go to Ilum to get two more....but this time the trials they face/the tricks the caves throw at them are different this time around. both of them have vivid fantasies of the other one seducing/fucking them on the cave floor and they have to shake it off to continue forward and get their crystal.....both manage the first time to throw the hallucination off.....the second time is much harder to shake because it's not actually a hallucination at all and they've just actually run into each other in the caves and decide to indulge in the fantasy....with their very real partner (their new kybers are white, you know, like--- )

day five - you know what i could see gffa, never found by the jedi!anakin becoming a cult leader entirely by accident because he's so powerful and magnetic in the Force that people bend to his will easily and become followers....he takes over tatooine from jabba and the hutts, and obi-wan is sent as a jedi on a mission to determine the Skywalker's threat level to the galaxy, the Republic, and the Jedi Order itself because this man is teaching people about the Force, but it's wrong and twisted.....obi-wan writes back that he has never met a more dangerous soul...obi-wan also quickly finds himself in the young man's bed as his wife to be

day six - lol it's giving me like. 5 times the team accidentally fuck nasty in a place considered holy/sacred by the locals of the planet, and 1 time they're asked to fuck on an altar in a ritual to decide if a planet joins the Republic or the Separatists

day seven - on the seventh day, she rested 😌

[slamminslamminmcgill]

MAN I LOVE UR WRITING I NEED MORE JIMMY MCGILL NOWWW!!!!! that’s unhinged im so sorry

anyways if ur still taking requests i beg u to write smthn abt Goodman helping a client (client is transmasc and tatted and pieced as fuck (me)) with weed possession and he wins the case cus he’s Saul Goodman obviously. after they celebrate with a joint and they have some nasty high sex. like imagining Saul coughing on a joint and being like “damn kid this shit’s strong.. let’s fuck” makes me shensudbwjwbs 🙏🙏

anyways have a good day/night man, congrats on graduating!!! :))

HIIIII im also tatted and pierced so this is personal 2 me 😌🖤 kinda took the piercing idea and ran with it teehee

didn’t wanna describe any specific tattoos but i included some piercing mentions (nipples, septum, tongue, vch for plot relevance >:3c)

this is also way longer than a usual drabble so plbbbbbt

warning: intox kink (weed), light degradation

anatomical terms: clit/dick/cock, pussy, hole

“In light of this new evidence, the court has decided to drop all charges against the defendant.”

Slam dunk. Saul did it again. He’d managed to convince the judge that the cop who arrested you for marijuana possession had conducted an illegal search. He got you off. You were grateful that you wouldn’t have this looming over your head for the rest of your life. So grateful, in fact, that you hugged him as soon as you two stepped out of the courtroom.

“Ah, don’t mention it, kid. Least I could do for you.” He smiled and patted your back. He’d actually taken quite a liking to you while working on your case. You reminded him of his Slippin’ Jimmy days back in Chicago. A naïve 20-something with an affinity for pot and a less than stellar relationship with the law. He hoped he could steer you on the right path, and maybe have some fun with you too. “Say, you’re actually my last client for today. You wanna grab some food with me or something? Maybe Peter Parker’s girlfriend could join us.”

You snorted. Mary Jane. That was your code for inviting each other to smoke, which ironically you'd done frequently while working on your case. You pushed yourself off his chest and smiled up at him. “Sure. I’d like that.”

You two sat in the parking lot of Los Pollos Hermanos hotboxing his luxury car, passing a joint back and forth with greasy fingers. You took a bite of your sandwich, and a glob of chipotle mayo fell onto your nice, clean dress shirt.

"Aw, man." You groaned, before remembering you didn't need to impress anyone anymore. You shrugged, "Eh, whatever," and untied your tie, no doubt getting chicken grease all over the fabric. Then, you unbuttoned and untucked your ruined shirt, wiped the mayo off with a napkin, and tossed it behind you, leaving you in a tank top undershirt with your arm tattoos exposed. "God, I hate wearing long sleeves. I don't know how you can wear full suits in weather like this. Feel like I'm suffocating."

"You get used to it." Saul laughed and cranked the A/C for you. "I just wasn't sure if the judge would appreciate your ink as much as I do. Wanted to make sure you had the 'perfect little darling' look, y'know? Some people are close-minded like that. Least you don't have to anymore." He passed you the joint. His eyes trailed up your forearms to your chest, where he saw two barbells poking through your shirt. "Woah, hey! You got your high beams on! I'm surprised you didn't set off the metal detector with those!"

You had no idea what he was talking about, "Huh?", until your eyes followed his and you looked down. "Oh! Oh yeah, I figured I wouldn't have to take those ones out."

"Well, they look good on you. Not a lot of dudes can pull them off." Saul took a sip of his drink, ice sloshing as he put it down in the cup holder. "How many piercings you got, anyway?"

You ran through your list nonchalantly. “Not counting the ones on my ears, I have four. Septum, tongue, both nipples, and-“ You stopped yourself short and froze. The other piercing was a VCH. Vertical clit hood. If you told him that, you’d be outing yourself. You decided the best move was to say nothing else. He was a smart guy. Let him figure it out.

And he did. “Oh, ho! Naughty boy! You got a Prince Albert or something?" He elbowed you. "Chicks must be ALL over you."

You grimaced, hoping it looked like a nervous smile. "Not exactly..."

"Hm. Tell you what." Saul lit the joint, hit it, and passed it to you. "I'll buy you an eighth if you show me."

You nearly dropped the joint on your leg when he said that. "What?! Are you serious?!"

"Dead serious! I wanna know if I'm missing out! Maybe I should get one." You anxiously took a puff as he spoke with confidence. Confidence that was unwarranted; he had no clue what he was getting into. "Look, I got a guy and his stuff is the shit. It'll be worth it, I promise. You just whip it out, lemme see, put it back, and I'll hook you up. Hell, I'll even knock some off the money you owe me."

You did the cost benefit analysis in your head. Free weed plus less debt to your lawyer, and all you have to do is show him your pussy? Would it really be so bad? He really wasn't the judgmental type. He'd definitely ogle, but surely he'd understand. You sighed. "Okay. I'll do it." You took one more hit of the joint and passed it to him before you unbuckled your belt. "Just so you know, though, it's probably not what you're expecting."

Saul scoffed. "Kid, I've seen a lot of crazy things in my day. Unless your dick has a radio antenna sticking out of it or something, I think I can handle it."

You ignored his sass and worked on undressing yourself. You slid your pants off, and crossed your legs so he wouldn't see the lack of bulge in your underwear. Then, you looked over at him. "Ready?"

"Ready." He answered smugly.

You uncrossed your legs and tugged your underwear down. Your clothes pooled around your ankles, and you kicked your shoes off to free yourself. Now for the reveal. You turned your body to face him, scooted forwards, and opened your legs, hooking one behind the driver's seat, and the other propped on the dashboard. You spread your lips and showed him your, rather unconventional, dick piercing. The metal barbell stared him right in the face, and he stared back, mouth agape.

"Oh my god..."

You could see the gears turning in his head. His eyes flicked back and forth from your junk, to your face, and then back to your junk. For a man who loved the sound of his own voice, it was rare for him to be left truly speechless, but you'd done it. It was honestly quite the confidence boost.

You smirked. "Well? Is it everything you hoped for?"

"Yeah... Yeah it is..." He answered breathlessly. His mind was screaming at him not to fuck this up.

"Got anything to say? Any questions, comments, or-"

Saul butted in the middle of your sentence. Apparently, he did have something important to say. "Can I touch it?" He blurted out.

You knew exactly where this was going, and you were gonna enjoy the ride. "Sure, go for it." You took the joint and the lighter from him, leaving his hands free to explore.

Saul leaned over and brushed his hand against your skin, not fully making contact with the piercing just yet, essentially just rubbing his fingers up your slit. He was taking his time. He was warming you up. "This is... This is incredible. God, you're... you're really something else kid."

You took a hit of the joint and sighed on the exhale. From his gentle touch and praise to the haze of the weed, you were plenty warm already. Once he thought the same, he pressed his thumb against the barbell and flicked it up. Your whole body jolted and you gasped. "Ah!"

"You alright?" He asked, not pulling his hand away. He kept it firmly in position, ready to strike again.

"Y-Yeah, just-" He did it again, "Ngh... just be careful it's-" and again, "ah... it's sensitive..." and again.

He chuckled. "I can tell. Is that why you got it? You like the extra stimulation?"

"Mhm..." You nodded.

"Heh... slut." He pressed his thumb down hard and rubbed you in quick circles. "Keep smoking. I'm gonna have fun with you."

"O-Okayyy..." You whimpered and lit the joint while he teased you, watching him with wanting eyes as you climbed higher and higher. The smoke left your body and carried a sigh of pleasure out with it.

Keeping his thumb on your cock, he scooped his other fingers down and prodded at your hole. "Aw, look at you. You're already wet for me? That's precious." He slipped two inside without resistance, cooing to you as he pumped them in and out, savoring your pathetic whines and tremors. "Oh, now that's a good boy. C'mon, take another hit."

You took another drag, and while your lungs were full of smoke, he shot his fingers up against your g-spot. You moaned for half a second before choking on your hit. You coughed and waved the smoke out of your face, scrambling for some semblance of composure. "You dick! You did that on purp-ohhh..."

Saul kept working his hand, laughing at how easy it was to shut you up. "Yeah. Yeah, I did, but don't act like you don't love it." He leaned in and kissed your cheek before whispering right to you, making sure you could hear him over your own body. "Hear that? Hear how wet you are for me? That's how I know you love it. Whore." He tilted your face towards him and caught you in a kiss. You let his tongue invade your mouth and take what he wanted, a trail of spit connected you two as he broke off. "You like getting filled up, huh, boy?"

Your voice was a high-pitched, desperate whine. "Y-Yes..."

"Yeah? I bet you like getting fucked in your tight little pussy, too, is that right? You like it when a big, strong, man puts his cock in you and uses you like a cheap sex doll?"

Another slam dunk. He was right on the money. "Yes! Yes! Oh, fuck, yes!"

He flashed a sinister grin. "Good boy." He pulled his hand out of you and went for his own belt. He yanked his pants down, showing off a noteworthy tent in his boxers. You didn't get much of a look before those were off too, but the sight of what was underneath was far better. "Gimme the joint." He demanded as he stroked his cock in preparation.

You'd do anything he said. You handed him the joint and the lighter without a second thought.

"Good boy." He took a hit and blew the smoke in your direction. "So," He took a second to cough, "what you're gonna do is you're gonna sit on my cock and bounce that pretty little ass of yours on it. You think you can do that?"

There were no words left in your mind. You were an animal, acting purely on instinct. He gave the order, and immediately you climbed into his lap, bumping into the steering wheel a few times as you tried to situate yourself. Saul offered no assistance, he just continued with the joint. Fortunately, you managed to get into position without help, and you sunk down onto his cock.

"Oh! Oh my-Mmph!"

He used your wide open mouth as an opportunity to shotgun you. He blew the smoke into you and let it fill the parts of your body that he couldn't reach. You gripped his shoulders and squeezed him like you were trying to pop him. When he pulled back, you dropped your head onto his shoulder and whined.

"There we go. You feel so good, baby boy." He kissed your head and rubbed your back, comforting you as you settled into him. "Now," He yanked you up by your hair to look him in the eyes.

"Hold on tight. Cause I'm gonna take you for a ride..."

[sunnyie-eve]

1 | Tutor

Series: Moon To My Sun

Paring Rodrick Heffley x Original female character Jefferson!

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1.6k

| MASTERLIST |

~

"Millie, should I be worried about Middle School?" Rowley asks his sister as he enters the kitchen.

"I don't think you should. You'll meet some new kids but you'll also know some kids from last school year." She pats the top of his head, "I'm sure you'll be fine, hon." She gets him a smile.

"I will be because I'll have Greg." He smiles making her smile drop. She couldn't see why he was friends with Greg. He was so mean to him and was so full of himself.

"Great." She forces a smile as their parents tell them to get to school.

Millie would actually kill to go back to her middle school. She didn't go where Rowley was going because her parents sent her to a private school, but her middle school experience was great. She had the best friends till sophomore year losing them. For some reason, her parents decided to put her in public school. She had barely anyone to talk to besides two friends she made.

"Watch where you're walking four eyes." Rodrick eyes the guy walking with Millie.

"Four eyes? What are you six? And doesn't your mom wear glasses?" Millie eyes Rodrick head to toe seeing how he hasn't really changed since the last time she saw him.

"And you are?"

"Wow, Millie Jefferson, my little brother is Greg's friend. Short chubby boy." She tells him and he catches on.

"He has a sister?"

"Last time you saw me was Elementary school but whatever." She walks off with her friend.

"Hey, hey, where have you been for the past couple of years then?" Rodrick follows her.

"A private school with dorms so I only came home for the summer. My parents decided to put me back in public school." She explains while her friend walks off since he hates Rodrick.

"If-if y-you want to me give you the ropes-,"

She cuts him off, "I'm good, thanks though." She gives him a sweet kind smile.

For the first class of the day, she got seated next to Rodrick, who would keep glancing over at her. All he could do was picture her from elementary and compare her to now.

"Mr. Heffley eyes up here and not on your seat neighbor." The teacher calls him out for embarrassing him in front of the class. Millie looked over at him with a smile laughing on the inside as he dropped his head on his desk.

The day goes by pretty fast and after school, Millie knew to find her brother at the Heffley's place. As she goes to knock on the door, Rowley rushes out, "What's the rush?"

"Rodrick is scary and trying to kill Greg." He grabs his bike and heads off without her.

Millie knocks on the door so to still scare Greg, Rodrick takes off his shoes leaving them at the door to go open the front door, "Millie..." He opens it to see her.

"Can you do me a favor and not scare my little brother with you try to kill yours?" She asks him politely.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, sure." He nods his head fast, "I caught them in my room so." He adds.

"Rowley went into your room?" She says surprised, "I'll have a talk with him about going into other people's rooms. I'll leave you to kill Greg." She laughs leaving the house to go home.

At home Millie finds her brother in his room, "You went into Rodrick's room?" She asks with a smile leaning on the doorframe.

"Greg made me go with him."

"Did he make you or did you tag along?" She giggles.

"I tagged alone. We were just looking at his middle school yearbook to figure out how to be class favorites." Rowley tells her.

"You know that really doesn't mean anything, right. No one cares when time passes." She lets him know before going to her room.

~

The next day at school Millie was talking to a new group of girls at lunch when they started laughing about Rodrick with his friends.

"I don't even know how he's made it this far in school. His own band name is misspelled. He's ridiculously stupid." A girl named, Jessie, tells the group.

"Seriously, right. Look at him as well. Eww." Rachel makes a face.

"What do you think of him, Millie?" Linda asks looking over at her so they all do.

"He's just Rodrick. A one-of-a-kind." She tells them.

"Ew, do you like him?" Jessie asks taken back.

"I didn't say that. I just know no one is exactly like him. Yeah, he's not the smartest but he's not ridiculously stupid." She stands up for him before leaving the cafeteria.

"Yo, Rodrick." One of his friends who wasn't at the table goes over to him, "That new cute redhead has a thing for you. She just like stood up for you against Jessie, Linda, and Rachel."

"Millie did that?" He asks surprised.

"You know her name?"

"Her brother is my little brother's best friend so yeah." He explains to him, "Excuse me." Rodrick gets up and goes to look for River.

When he found her she was talking to the one and only, Chase Holt, the most popular football player in their grade.

"What are you looking at Heffley?" Chase calls him out for just standing there.

"Why are you looking at me, Holt? I know I'm good-looking. And I didn't have to get early work done to look good." Rodrick laughs.

"What did you say twig?" Chase walks towards him.

"Hey, hey." Millie rushes in between the two. "Let's not." She looks between them.

"I'll let you off this time, Heffley." Chase walks off, "Coming Millie?"

"No," She says so he walks off as she turns to Rodrick, "It seems like a lot of people don't like you." She looks up at him since he was taller than her.

"Yeah, that's most people but not you, right?"

"You haven't given me a reason not to... yet." She adds with a smile.

"You know personality-wise, you haven't changed a bit since elementary school." He puts his hands into his pockets.

"Neither have you." She giggles making him smile a bit as the bell rang to go to class, "Even though you sleep or sketch in your book, are you coming to class?" She starts to walk off.

"Yeah." He follows her to class.

And as Millie said he just sketched in his book the whole class while everyone else did their work. Before going to the next class, the teacher holds Rodrick and Millie back. He tells them that she will be torturing him since she's the best student so far out of all his classes.

"Oh, one more thing Miss Jefferson." The teacher holds her back again as Rodrick leaves, "You'll be torturing him until the end of the year. I really want him to pass this class so I don't have him next year."

"That's fine by me. My little brother is always at the Heffley's because of Rodrick's little brother." She lets him know.

"That's great to hear and I wish you luck." He tells her before she leaves the room.

Once school was over, Rodrick waited for Millie to see if she wanted a ride since she had to tutor him. "We practicing today?"

"No, and you can't get a ride today." Rodrick stops his friend from getting in.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm giving someone else a ride today." He widens his eyes and then sees Millie, "Millie!" He motions for her to come over so she does.

"Yes?"

"Wanna ride?" He asks her with a smile as his friend leaves getting it.

"I mean sure. I gotta tutor you anyways and by the way, I have to till the end of the year to make sure you pass the class." She lets him know as she gets in the passenger seat.

"The year just started." He gets in on the driver's side.

"I don't mind but I expect you to pass this damn class by the end of the year if I have to waste my time with you." She gives him a look.

"I'll try my best." He nods his head and drives them to his place.

At his place, he tells Millie to wait a second at the table while he runs up to his room to make it look decent for when they have to study there. While Millie sat at the table getting things out, Susan walked into the room.

"Millie, what are you doing here? Rowley is out playing with Greg."

"I'm tutoring Rodrick until the end of the year. Our teacher asked me to make sure he passes the class so he doesn't have to teach him again." Millie explains to her.

"School year just started but I get what he means. Plus you're super smart so I expect a slightly higher grade than what I'm used to."

"Hopefully, that's my goal. Aim better than what he normally gets, even if it's a tiny change." River laughs making Susan smile.

"I wish you luck." She leaves her as Rodrick joins her at the table.

"Where do we start?" Rodrick looks at his books.

"Well, what do you know?" She watches him just stare at his things.

"Uhh..."

"Great." She sighs, "This is gonna be a challenge. Can you tell me what Geometry is?" She asks politely as he makes a face.

"Places in the world."

Millie's jaw drops, "That's Geography, Rodrick. I said Geometry, what our class is... a math class." She speaks calmly.

"That's what class we're in? I thought it was just called math class."

"Well, yeah, but it still has a name like how last year was Algebra. Now it's Geometry and next year is Algebra 2." She tries explaining it to him.

"Math has different names? Really?"

"So do Science and History classes." She lets him know as well.

"Huh, see you're a good tutor. I'm learning things I didn't know." Rodrick laughs while Millie stares at him.

"You aren't wrong but we're supposed to focus on math right now."

"Geometry, correct." He claps his hands before opening his book and notes, "Oh, one more thing. What's the science ones?"

"Biology, Chemistry, Physics." She lists.

"And we have Chemistry?" He gives her a look.

"Correct, we do for first period." She tries not to react, "Now, can we get to the tutoring?" She asks him.

"Yeah."

[trulybetty]

2023 Tumblr Top 10 Posts

This was really interesting to go through as I really try to avoid anything related to stats - but also fun to revisit some posts/fics I’d forgotten about!

This year was such a transformative year in many different ways, that I’m still trying to process with 2024 quickly approaching. I’m looking forward to seeing what the New Year brings. But I hope it brings me more of the same I’ve experienced here - community building and some wonderful people that I get to call friends 💕

So if you’re interested, check out the following! If you do your own Top 10, please tag me in it! 🙌 you can do your own here!

1. 879 notes - Jun 26 2023 - Pre-Outbreak/Non-Outbreak Joel (photo set)

2. 413 notes - Sep 10 2023 - Sequins (Joel)

Still so thankful for @wildemaven posting that gif - because if she hadn’t Sequins!Joel would never have been created! It’s the gift that keeps on giving. This was also my first foray into anything non-TLOU themed for Joel and I’m still shocked it was received so well. 

3. 306 notes - Sep 26 2023 - Happy Birthday (Joel)

Written for Joel’s birthday - this was just straight up smut and birthday sex. But hey, it’s canon Joel likes it gentle, steady, nice and slow… so who was I to not give him nice and slow 🫠

4. 237 notes - Aug 16 2023 - Stood Up (Frankie)

To this day I don’t remember where this idea came from. I was really intimidated to write for Frankie, like I almost didn’t post this! But I’m so glad I did, it’s spurred several other one-shots involving Frankie x Mav and a current (neglected) WIP that I’m excited to get back to in the new year.

5. 227 notes - Aug 31 2023 - Marcus Pike coded Pedro, which inspired this (and number 7).

6. 225 notes - Jul 6 2023 - New (to me) Whiskey promo shoot (photo set)

7. 205 notes - Sep 2 2023 - Sick Day (Marcus)

When I first came back to fanfiction I was so confused by the reader insert format. The last time I wrote fanfic, it was canon characters or OC’s - which is what both Gold Rush and Chiffon (my first) are written in. So in order to try out the format I started with Marcus and what is now the Sweet Jane series. I have plans for those two, I have how they met mapped out in my head, that I hope to explore soon!

8. 175 notes - Aug 4 2023 - Strings (Joel)

This was another nerve wracking foray - reader insert Joel and because it was a challenge to write Joel with someone other than my OC. It started as a one-shot, that then was three parts, then four and finally finished at five. It’s also the only series I’ve managed to complete 😆. I’m so proud of this one, it has a special place in my heart - this is the ending Joel deserves, living on a little farmhouse being taken care of and a reluctant chicken dad.

9. 167 notes - Aug 14 2023 - A Sunday Night Ramble (text post)

This was a late night epiphany - where I realised that I was trying to force writing and make my two OG series’ fit into more palatable moulds for others consumption rather than writing the story I wanted. It’s also a good reminder that it’s okay to take a break from something that isn’t currently serving you. If you come back to it two day later, two weeks later or never - it’s okay. You’re not beholden to anyone. This is all supposed to be fun first and foremost, if you’re not having fun then it may be time to step back and re-evaluate.

10. 166 notes - Aug 24 2023 - Drip (Joel)

I still get sad when I think about this piece. Like real sad. I don’t know if I could write something like this again now - or ever. I was well and truly in my feels with this one. I made the decision to watch a walkthrough of all the cut scenes of TLOU2 and it broke me. I knew what was coming, but knowing and watching were two different things. I do like that I left this one open to interpretation - meaning I can revisit one day if I want, so who knows.

NPT’s: @wildemaven, @gnpwdrnwhiskey, @rhoorl, @morallyinept, @frenchiereading, @maggiemayhemnj, @magpiepills, @goodwithcheese, @secretelephanttattoo, @sin-djarin, @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin, @undercoverpena, @nerdieforpedro, @linzels-blog, @for-a-longlongtime, @avastrasposts​, @musings-of-a-rose, @mysterious-moonstruck-musings​ & anyone else who wants to play - consider this me tagging you in! Please tag me if you do it! I’d love to see! 🙌

[bearr02]

Safe and Sound |Chapter Four|

Pairing: Hybrid!Ot7 x F!Reader

Chapter warnings: None :)

Summary: You have worked at a hybrid rehab and adoption center for years, enjoying being able to help people others only see as their animal side. You thought you might end up taking in one or two, what you didn’t expect however, was to take in 7.

Genre: fluff, angst, eventual smut, non-idol au, hybrid au, strangers to friends to lovers au,

Word count: 1.6k

Member’s hybrid types: Namjoon: Bear, Yoongi: Bobcat, Hoseok: Ferret, Jin: Wolf, Jimin: Red panda, Jungkook: Bunny, Taehyung: Marble fox

Last - Next - Masterlist

Chapter notes: again another member focus, this chapter is mostly focused on Jin so we can build the relationships up!

“T-Taehyung?” Jimin whisper, the man’s attention shifting to Jimin before he jumps up, eyes wide. “Jimin?” He asks, tail wagging as tears form in his eyes. Jimin barely nods before he’s pulled into the man, now known as Taehyung’s, embrace.

You notice a few tears make their way down Taehyung’s cheeks as he holds Jimin close. “T-Tae, this is Y/n,” Jimin pauses, sniffling, “she’s b-been taking care of me here.” Jimin says, pulling out of Taehyung’s embrace to grab your hand, pulling you toward them.

“Thank you, I don’t know how you found him but I’m more than glad you did.” Taehyung says, smiling at you. “Of course, he found his way into our backyard and, thankfully, trusted me enough to take him inside to treat his wounds.” You say, making Taehyung furrow his eyebrows. “Wounds?” He questions, attention shifting back to Jimin who stares at the ground.

“What wounds, Minie?” He asks worriedly, softly grasping Jimin’s cheeks to make him look up at him. “H-hybrid control got to me.” Jimin whispers, avoiding eye contact with Taehyung. “How bad?” Taehyung asks, attention shifting back to you for the answer. “He has a gash on his side, it looked pretty bad but should be good to go in a few days. Besides that, only a few scratches and bruises.” You say, noticing how Taehyung exhales slightly, turning back to Jimin.

“How about I get you to either Jimin’s room or your new room so you’re more comfortable?” You suggest making both men nod. “We can go to my new room.” Taehyung says, ruffling Jimin’s hair before grasping his hand, following you out of the room and down the hallway.

You lead him to his room, opening the door and letting them in first before following behind. “I can either let you both enjoy your reunion, or if you have any questions I can stay for a minute.” You say, “wait can’t you stay for a bit?” Jimin asks, letting go of Taehyung’s hand and walking over to you, puppy dog eyes on display making you giggle. “Maybe, I’ll see what’s on my schedule.” You say, patting Jimin’s head softly before turning to Taehyung.

“I hope your room is comfortable enough for you, if ever you need anything let me or one of the employees know.” You say making Taehyung nod before you turn to leave.

You head toward the employee lounge again, walking toward where the schedule papers are. ‘Wow, only dinner duty and I can leave.’ You think to yourself, turning around to exit the room.

You start heading for Taehyung’s room, but pause. ‘I haven’t seen Seokjin for a minute, let me go see how he’s holding up.’ You begin walking toward his room.

You knock softly once you get there, hearing a muffled groan before a groggy ‘who is it?’ Is heard making you giggle. “It’s Y/n.” You say, hearing the shuffling of covers before the door is opened, revealing a sleepy looking Seokjin.

“Sorry to disturb you, I wanted to know how you’re holding up?” You say, “I’m doing pretty good, I might be good to go and, Y’know, get adopted soon.” He says. “Alright, well let me know if you need anything.” You say, smiling before turning around.

“Hey, Y/n?” He calls out tentatively. “Yes?” You say as you turn around to face him. “Could we maybe get to know each other more or something? Like hang out?” He asks, looking away as he speaks making you smile fondly. “Yeah sure, we could do it today or another day.” You say, noticing how Seokjin turns to look at you, slight shock written on his features before he nods.

“We could do it today, yeah, want to do it now? Or..” his voice trails off as he gnaws on his lower lip, waiting for your answer. You nod, noticing how he sighs in relief before opening his door wider, inviting you in. “I just gotta go change really quick.” He says, walking toward his dresser, pulling out a white t-shirt before walking to his closet.

You walk into the room, walking toward his bed and sitting down on it as you wait for him. The closet door shuts as he gets changed, while you examine his room. ‘It’s still pretty tidy’ you think to yourself.

The closet door opens, revealing Seokjin in his plain white t-shirt and black jeans with a few holes. “So what do you want to do?” You ask, facing Seokjiin as he heads for his shoes. “What is there to do? I don’t remember much of the activities here.” He says, grabbing his shoes and walking to where you are on his bed, sitting down beside you.

“Well we could do something here or go out and about, nobody will care.” You say making Seokjin nod, “sure, what’s around here?” He asks, tying his shoes before standing up, you standing up shortly after.

“Mmmm..we could either go get something to eat, or there’s bowling and mini golf around.” You say, walking with him toward the door. “Can we do mini golf? I feel like it’d be fun.” He says, making you nod with a smile as you both make your way down the hall.

“Y/n? Where are you taking Seokjin?” Sun-hee asks, looking at you both with furrowed eyebrows. You feel Seokjin tense up beside you, “Ah, I’m taking him out for a bit, we’ll be back soon.” You say, ushering Seokjin out of the door, confusing him.

“Sorry, Sun-hee asks endless questions.” You sigh when you’re outside of the building. He lets out a small laugh, following you to your car.

You unlock the car, getting in on the drivers side and sticking your keys in. You look back to where he was last standing, seeing him still standing there hesitantly. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you gonna get in?” You ask, confusedly staring at him.

He hesitantly nods, yet still stays in place. “W-where do I sit? In the back?” He asks, making you shrug, “Sit in either the back or front, I’m good with whichever.” You give him a soft smile, watching as a bit of the tension leaves his shoulders as he makes his way to the passenger side.

He opens the door, sliding into the seat beside yours before shutting the door behind him. You pull up the directions to the mini golf place, beginning your trip once your phone has shown you the full route.

“So..Y/n? Why do you work here?” Seokjin asks after a few minutes, seemingly hesitant. “Ah, it’s a long story but I used to have two hybrids who got taken away, they were my best friends. Ever since hc took them, I’ve been wanting to work for hybrid rights, or something to protect you guys.” You say, peeking at Seokjin to see a spark of sadness in his eyes as he nods. “I’m sorry.

“What were their names?” Seokjin asks, you can feel his eyes on you even if you aren’t facing him. “Jungkook and Hoseok.” You say, drumming your fingers against your steering wheel when you see the mini golf place. “Ah, we’re here!” You say, parking the car before getting out, waiting for Seokjin to get out so you can lock it.

He gets out, walking with you to the entrance once you’ve locked the car. “I really am sorry Y/n.” He says, holding the door open. You peep out a small ‘thank you’ as you pass by him to get in.

“It’s fine, it’s the world we live in.” You say, smiling sadly as Seokjin before walking up to the counter.

“Hello, how many will be playing today?” The girl asks, seemingly bored as she looks at you. “Two.” She nods, grabbing two putters before looking at you two again, “What color balls do you want?” She asks, standing beside the small baskets.

“I’ll do light blue, Seokjin?” You look at him, “Uh..can I do green?” The girl wordlessly grabs the balls before handing them to you along with the putters. “That’ll be $12.95.” You nod, grabbing a 10 and 5 from your purse, handing it to her.

She gives you your change, murmuring a ‘have a good day’ as you walk toward the door leading to the course.

“Course 1 or 2?” You look at Seokjin, who examines both. “Can we do 1?” He asks, looking down at you. You nod, walking over toward said course with Seokjin trailing behind you.

He sets his ball down, hitting it toward the hole with a soft tap. You both watch as it seems to head straight for the hole, only to hop it making Seokjin groan.

You giggle, setting up your ball and hitting it, only to watch as it goes nowhere near the hole. Seokjin laughs as you pout, “Payback for laughing.” He says with a smirk making you roll your eyes playfully.

The rest of the time passes with victorious and mocking laughs or groans of annoyance and teasing of how bad the other did. You both turn in your balls and putters, walking out with smiles.

“I had fun.” Seokjin says, holding the door open for you again. “Thanks, and I did too.” You say, unlocking the car as you approach it. You get in on the drivers, putting the keys in and twisting it, starting the car as Seokjin gets in.

“Y/n?” You hum, looking at Seokjin. “You know you can just call me Jin.” You nod with a smile, “Okay, Jin.” His cheeks earn a light pink tint as you turn to face forward again.

You pull out carefully, making sure to watch the rear view mirror as you watch to make sure you don’t hit anything when Jin speaks up, “Y/n? Could we maybe uh..do this again?” You nod with a smile. “Of course.” You say, watching the road as you make your way back to the facility, missing the smile on Jin’s face.

Last - Next - Masterlist

A/n: I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I’m sorry it took so long for me to get it out but I’ve been really busy this past month.

[sapphyreopal5]

"A Walk on the Dark Side" J2 Interview

The following are snippets from the "A Walk on the Dark Side" interview from the Supernatural Magazine, Issue 11 (pages 10 to 17).[x]

"You never know what to expect when you’re on the Supenatural set with Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. In some cases you'll find yourself empathetically mouthing “ouch,” while in others you'll be crinkling your nose and reaching for a gas mask. Either way, you’ll soon be laughing.

During the filming of Lucifer Rising, Ackles had to run at full tilt and ram into some church doors that Genevieve Cortese’s Ruby had slammed shut upon seeing him. Over and over again he threw his shoulder into the doors, but he always held his ground. Then, on the last take, he bounced off the doors and the impact knocked him to the floor. Ouch, If that had been an accident, it sure would have been painful - but the grin on Ackles' face belies the truth; it was just one of his premeditated goofs. “Yeah, sometimes I just do it for fun," he admits later in his trailer. “Nobody knew I was gonna do it, but I knew we had it in the take before, so I figured I'd just throw something funny in there.”

“There’s a lot of flatulence, especially in the Impala. Ill look over and Jared's just smiling at me. I'm like, 'What? You didn't!' And then I’ll have to get out of the car…” It's no wonder Ackles has taken up golfing - to get some fresh air! “I’m doing a lot of golfing these days," he says. “I've always kind of played golf, fiddled with it every now and again, but for some reason this year I’m getting more into it. One of the things I love about golf is that you can get out there for four or five hours and not think about anything else. There’s a course up in North Vancouver where you’re sitting on the tee box and you’re looking out over the city from the top of a mountain. There are deer running across the fairways and stuff! It’s just gorgeous. When you’re out there, you’re not thinking about, ‘Oh, what do I have to do tomorrow?’ Or, ’Where am I going this weekend?’ Or anything like that.

You just set up the ball and try to hit your next shot."

"Some people refer to walking out in nature as being in God’s Country, and golfing might be the closest Ackles gets to being near God on Earth, because he doesn’t expect the Lord to make an appearance on Supernatural anytime soon. “I don’t think so, but that's just my prediction," he said. “I think it’s kind of like God's the president and he’s sent his generals to Earth to take care of the mess. I don’t think he’s going to come over here and be like, 'Hey, what seems to be the problem?’" Maybe Dean will have to talk to a burning bush? “Ah, no, I don’t think so.”

Killing Lilith Jared Padalecki always puts great effort into the heavy emotional scenes on Supernatural, and perhaps his most intense scene yet happened in "Lucifer Rising" when Sam battled Lilith. First he had to choose between listening to his brother (who was trying to stop him), and listening to Ruby, who was pushing him to kill Lilith- Then he had to deal with the implications of Ruby’s deceit, which led to Sam inadvertently freeing Lucifer. “That was such a hard day for me," Padalecki shared. “I felt like I had a hangover for days from going where I had to go emotionally when I found out I'd started the end of the world and brought on the Apocalypse. It's not like you read the script and go, 'Oh, cool! Well, let's chase butterflies! Everything is all happy and good…' You really have to commit, and you have to go deep. That’s also where the excitement of being an actor comes in; it's committing and finding new things, and creating. It's discovering those kind of things that you didn't think would happen, where you go, 'Wow, I didn’t know I'd feel like that.' That's just so cool."

"The presence of the angels has already shaken up the Supernatural universe pretty thoroughly. “It's really upped the ante," concurs Ackles. “We've gotten into some real big epic storylines, and it’s cool because it introduced some really unique characters, like Castiel and Anna, and obviously it got Ruby and Lilith more involved, which was great. We're dealing with things on a much larger level, and it takes the guys to an interesting spot, because now they're feeling like this is all way bigger than them and they don’t know how to handle it It’s a situation that they’re not used to dealing with. They’re usually killing vampires and taking out ghosts and shapeshifters and stuff like that. To deal with something on a biblical level added a nice twist to the storyline. Hey, go big or go home, right?"

You can't get much bigger than Lucifer! Which begs the question; 'Where do we go now? How soon will the boys come face -to-face with Lucifer? Can they ever even go back to chasing ghosts and Chupacabras when The Prince of Darkness is loose on Earth? That’s a great question, and I have no idea," Padalecki admits. “I don't know what to expect from Eric Kripke and the other writers, so I just roll with the punches. I'm really anxious, as a fan, to see what happens. I'm really excited about season five, and I cant wait to see where the writers take it.”

Ever since we learned that Sam had demon-given powers, fans have been wondering Just how far the writers will take his journey to the dark side. Not that long ago, many people - including Padaleckl himself - assumed that Sam and Ruby would never hook up. He said he didn't think that storyline would pan out. Of course, the writers did go there. "I thought it was interesting," Padalecki reflects. “Supemalural is not, and never has been - and hopefully never will be - a show about sex and lust and all of that kind of stuff that you expect on teen melodramas.

I think the most important thing about the relationship is that Sam is needy and he’s searching for something, and It’s out of this weakness that he starts going down that path with Ruby. Obviously we know now that he wasn’t hooking up with her just for sex; she was also providing him with demon blood and he's become addicted to her. It shows Sam's strength in keeping on the [hunting) path he set out on years ago.

While it's true that Sam hasn't truly gone dark side (yet), after drinking copious amounts of demon blood, he told Ruby in the season finale that he’s changed for good. Will he continue to change into something less than human? “I hope Sam has changed for good," Padalecki insisted. "I think it'll be more interesting to see him struggle with that than if it's: ‘Oh, well, I haven’t drunk demon blood in a while and I'm okay now!’ That kind of loses where we are in the story, so I hope Sam has turned that corner. It's a much stronger storyline, a much stronger character arc to say, ‘No, it has changed me and now I have to fight that battle.’ It makes it more complicated, and it'll be interesting to see him fight that."

And Sam versus Dean… "I think the fans don't like it when Sam and Dean light,” Padalecki notes, "but it's part of the story. It’s necessary to tell the story of redemption, the story of destiny, and the story of good versus evil, so we really had to flesh it out. You have to hit rock bottom to climb back up to the top. I think Eric has a game plan. Eric is the king of Supernatural, and where he decides the show goes, the show has got to go there."

Of course, the question is; What is rock bottom? Drinking demon blood from your demon lover’s arm? “No,” Padalecki asserts. That’s just a step along the way. “I knew for Sam to change, it had to be something more than just, ‘Hey, hold the demon’s hand and all of a sudden you have demon powers!’ I never wanted it to be a montage of me exorcising demons and doing push-ups and standing on my hands and stuff like that, because that would’ve been a bit cheesy. It was nice that it was something a little more risque, a little bit more sexual and dark and dirty and seedy. There's a whole mythology that goes into drinking blood, and what happens when you drink somebody’s blood is that you take on that person’s attributes. I think it was a nice touch." A nice, dark touch."

So how far is Sam from hitting rock bottom? How dark is too dark for the fans to accept? “I think he’s getting there," says Ackles. “I think he's going to go to a place where he can't get back from entirely.

I think it's going to change the dynamic of the characters, which is cool. To have a show with characters and a storyline that are ever-evolving is always much more interesting than having the same thing week after week after week. Jared's character is taking a dramatic turn that could change the facade of the whole character, and the way he’s written and the way he thinks and talks and acts and walks, so I'm interested in seeing how far they'll take that in season five. Obviously there’s gotta be that brother connection, though.

It's the true [backbone] of the show. I don't think they're going to take it so far as to sever that connection. I think that there’s gonna be this long journey of re-strengthening that brother bond. Td like to see Sam try to get back to a common ground where they can be brothers again."

"Did the writers jump the shark by introducing a third Winchester brother? "No," said Padalecki, “because I think when the Fonz Jumped the shark on an otherwise realistic show [Happy Days], it really ruined it, but Supenatural is so wacky anyway, I think throwing in something like that probably didn’t surprise people.”

So what would surprise people? Having the series finale be a final confrontation between the brothers where good Dean has to kill evil Sam? ‘Tb be honest, I don’t know," said Ackles. “They just might take it that far!"

[multifandominfj]

A New Beginning: A Supergirl 6x20 Re-Write

Chapter Four: The Morning After

Like usual, Kara was the first one up. Since becoming Editor and Chief for Cat, she was constantly editing, re-formatting and tweaking articles so they could fit in the upcoming issue. Not wanting to wake Lena, she forewent making her cup of coffee, and got right to work.

Lucky for her, she had a genius, scientist girlfriend who was ridiculously good at picking up on what she needed.

“Morning, gorgeous.” Lena walks in with her bedhead that magically looked great, and her flannel PJs. “Your usual?”

“Please.” Kara grinned, quickly glancing up with a smile. “Wanted to squeeze in some light work before Esme, Alex and Kelly come over.”

“It still feels surreal that they chose me to be her Godmother.” She finished pouring the coffee, and began to work on their breakfast.

“I think you’re the perfect choice. And thinking back on how far your friendship with Alex has come…there’s no one better to protect her than you.” Kara grinned.

“You’re literally bulletproof.” Lena chuckled.

“Not the point…” Kara couldn’t help but laugh. “Alex went from not trusting you because of your last name, to putting all of her cards on the table; asking you to be the guardian of her daughter should something happen to her and Kelly.”

“It was a bit of a shock to hear that from the both of them.” Two plates in hand, she heads to the table. “But it was a good shock. And since getting to know Alex, that was one thing I always wanted, was her trust; to let her know she could count on me.”

“And you’ve proved yourself time and time again, Lena. Now, you have the family you've always wanted.” Kara assures as she takes a bite. “Mhmmm, my compliments to the chef,”

“Now you’re just fluffing my ego.” Lena retorted with her signature eyebrow raise.

“Ding Dong!” Alex pokes her head through the door. “Hope we’re not interrupting?”

“Not at all, come in.” Kara closes her laptop. “There she is!”

“Aunt Kara!” Esme runs directly to her, and climbs up on her lap. “I saw your interview with that Cat lady. We all, did.”

“Yeah? And what did you think?” She asked with an heir of curiosity.

“I thought it was so cool, and very brave. I think you’re going to help even more people now.” Esme proudly declares.

“Now I can officially start my day.” Kara gives Esme a warm chuckle accompanied with a hug. “You want to help me with my article? I sure could use some insight from the smartest person on Earth.” She smirked with a wink.

“Took you long enough to ask.” Esme smiled; for her age, her sarcasm was on par with Alex and Lena’s.

“Follow me.” Laptop in one hand, Esme’s hand in her other, she heads over to the couch and they get started.

“Those two are really attached at the hip, aren’t they?” Lena chuckled, chatting with Alex and Kelly in the kitchen.

“You should’ve seen Esme the night the interview aired. The second Kara appeared, she leaped off the couch to sit right in front of the tv.” Kelly grinned.

“She even shushed us.” Alex adds. “But in all honesty, I was so happy watching Kara finally finding herself. She’s been struggling with finding balance, and that night, she found it. And I’m even happier that Esme has someone to look up to, like Kara, to show her she doesn’t have to be separate things at different times. She can be whoever she wants.”

“Speaking of that interview, when I was watching it…Andrea was with me.” Lena revealed hesitantly.

“Talk about a plot twist.” Alex sets her mug of coffee down, ready to receive the story.

“How’d she take it?” Kelly tacks on.

“Surprisingly well. She also agreed glasses were a bad disguise. But she also looked back on all of the times she has mistreated Kara, and I think she may actually be turning over a new leaf.” Lena gives a shrug that could be read as both doubtful and hopeful.

“That’s good at least. I know Kara tried really hard to get Andrea on her side. Hopefully their reconciliation goes okay.” Alex agreed.

“Hey, Sorry to interrupt. Cat just called. I have to go in to give her what I have. Please, hang out as long as you three are able to stay.” With a swoosh of her coat, she also grabbed her bag. “And I will see you later for date night.” Kara had no problem with giving Lena a big smooch in front of Alex, Kelly and Esme.

Lena, rendered speechless, simply blushes.

“Bye guys!” Kara waves shutting the door

“I knew there was something.” Alex smirked. “I could tell there was some sort of magnetic pull the day we got Kara back.

“When did you two become…” Kelly began to ask.

“Official? At the wedding. But an interruption kinda ruined the moment. So, last night I started to tell her how I felt, and Kara being Kara…she knew. And she felt the same way.”

“Does that mean you and Aunt Kara are girlfriends now?” Esme asked. “Because it’s about time. The way she talks about you, it’s like a real life Disney movie.”

“And as you can see, Esme is your biggest supporter.” Kelly let’s out a belly laugh.

Lena’s blush didn’t go away. Not only was is that “in love glow”, there was something else she wasn’t saying.

“Lena, I know that look. What are you hiding?” Alex analyzed her body language.

Ta-Da! Chapter 4 has arrived! Tell me what you think.

[v1vian-th3-f4nfic-wr1ter]

An Eternity With You

«Chapter 3»

Warnings: Arguements (All Four) Physical Injuries (Arthur to Gerald and Reader) Hurt no Comfort (Gerald and Reader) Smoking (Felix) Mention of Sex (Idk Anymore)

Authors note: Who wants to see Felix be absolutely an depressed twink? Also sorry i havent been active, been very busy and also writers block, i wrote the plot as i go, this story is now a joint story between me and becca because i want to have the most people enjoying my/our writing

Written by: V1vian and @fckedupnerd aka Becca

You were walking with Gerald towards a bakery that has caught your eye since dating him, still unaware of the secret relationship between him and the chocolate cartel, the winter air made the coat you borrowed from him all the more cozier, though Gerald seemed uneased passing by the Galarie Gourmet buliding, "Hey, are you okay...?" You asked him "Oh yes am fine, just a bit cold from the air" He shook it off. You suspected something else but didnt want to push any furthur, you arrive home safely and without issue, you kiss him goodbye and he walked back to the Galarie Gourmet, alone in your apartment, you wonder what made him so uneased

Meanwhile Gerald was just returning to the vault, Arthur and Felix stared at him, wondering why he was so late, he was always the earliest out of all of them, theres no way he woukd be caught in traffic or be late because of getting food so why is he late now? "Well Gerald it seems like youre late, care to explain?"

"Well the café i go to didnt open yet and there was a new perdon there so i had to explain my order, anyways i got food" He held out the takeout orders, hoping and praying he hid the fact he was just out with you well enough so they dont know about his affairs, he feels extremely gulity about it, but he still holds them to his heart dearly, they eat...well Arthur and Gerald, Felix didnt touch the food and only drank his black coffee because of his own ED, but the two of them didnt push, they both know he'll throw a hissy fit at them, though its a bit pathetic really

Days went on with you and Gerald going out in secrecy

He always had an excuse to them, believeable enough so none if the other two knows about his affairs, well except Felix, he was being irrational and decided to follow Gerald, it wasnt a good idea sure but they have also done much more illegal things, so he followed the two of you quietly, disturbed he was having an affair, he was seething in jealousy by you, unable to believe such a petite woman would catch his heart, it made him go to Arthur and tell on him, by the time Gerald came back, they were already glaring at him, he knew he couldnt hide it any longer, so happens you followed him into the vault by secret

"I cannot believe you Gerald, after everything we've done for you?!" Felix yelled in anger "Its not like you helped me in my buisness either, Fickelgruber!" "How dare you use my last name you foul git! You-" Arthur split them apart "Thats enough of you Felix" He glares at Gerald "Though that doesnt excuse you from the conversation"

"Its still a fact you are incredibly lazy and an idiot at most, you cant even do anything without someone saying it!" Gerald rolled his eyes

"Youre the one to talk, youre bossing everyonr around like puppets!" He rebuttles

"Thats because you and Felix cant do anything in buisness, sure both of you are creative but you especially have no knowledge of putting it into action!" Your jaw drops at the sight, but you stay hidden for now

"Oh thats strong coming from you, you know nothing of anything else BUT buisness!" Felix yells

"Big talk from someone who pukes himself to death!" Gerald argues

"You have no say in this when you cant even do things correctly, not even helping your own mistress! All you can do is throw money at them!" Arthur yells at Gerald loudly

You tried to sneak away but Felix spotted you "And YOU, you can only pay rent because of his pathetic ass being your sugar daddy!" You gasped

"At least i dont use Gerald as a servant!" You yell at Felix "Oh please, dont even look decent for how much money he gives" Arthur said as he gestures to your clothes

"And you! You cant even go for what? A day without yelling at him from what i can tell! And at least i actually have a sense of fashion, not just "i am rich" as my whole personality!"

"Well you can hardly tell what a privliege is, and all you can do is whine to Gerald for money!" Felix spits out in jealousy

"Stop talking, you cant even feed yourself properly, Felix, Talk when you can actually take care of yourself, at least shes healtheir than you! Am surprused you can even do sex when youre a twig!" Gerald yells back

"AND you cant even go for one week without sex with Arthur!" You say with pure sass "And you! You may be strong but your ego is as week as Felix's self esteem! Gerald has every right to have an affair with your toxic asses!"

Arhur slaps you in anger, leaving a mark as red as a cherry, Gerald slaps Arthur back for hurting you. He slaps Gerald back much, MUCH harder, drawiing blood from a cut on his cheek, Felix crosses his arms and smirks in victory. You help Gerald get out of the vault, none of you speak afterwards except you and Gerald, the other two's whereabouts are unknown, Gerald is too hurt to care.

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