#can't wait to see how all of this will blow up when we can max out relationship gauges

[xxcrystalinerose]

Going back to Zag's romantic relationships from Mel is extremely hilarious to me because of how comparatively well-adjusted he was.

Sure he done fucked up with Meg in the past and they had to kill each other as part of the job description, his sudden leaving seriously hurt Than while also having communication issues w/ each other, and there's the matter of Dusa being a lowly servant of the House. But in the end, he sorted everything out with 0 grievances from all parties involved (that one dialogue where Than admits Meg is the one who tells him to finally pursue Zag seriously warms my heart). Got the Mom(s) Seal of Approval™ even, and from Achilles too!

Meanwhile I look at Melinoë and she has a frankly criminal amount of situationships. Her rizz level is insane and she goes straight for the throat when flirting yet somehow her dating life is simultaneously a mess and nonexistent. Nemesis regularly kicks her into the dirt verbally AND physically but is the only person to acknowledge how fucked up it is that Mel is sent out alone in the hopes of killing an all powerful Titan that took SIX gods to kill in the past. "Fuck you and fuck your stupid frog in particular" then turns around and gives free Death Defiances. Her and Moros try to flirt with each other but they kept missing the mark because sometimes one of them says something totally unhinged like it was normal (I don't think watching people die is an appropriate bathtime conversation topic, my man). Her and Eris are a hot mess—literally with all those rounds she shot at Mel AND without a basis of workplace professionalism. Icarus is one shot nerve away from accidentally proclaiming his undying (literally) love to her but his guilt complex is hanging on to that nerve. And then there's Arachne and her not so little crush warring with the fact that said crush is family with and is helping the gods who cursed her.

Never have I realized how important it is that Zag has become a minor god of relationship counselling until I look at his baby sister and think, "yeah girl you definitely need help for all that shit".

[adventuringblind]

She's My Princess

Daniel Ricciardo x Reader

Genre: Smut

Summary: Daniel Spoils his girl... That's it. That's the plot.

Warnings: Soft dom Daniel, Daddy kink, BDSM, Voyeurism (if you squint), bondage, age-play (again, if you really look hard enough), choking

Notes: This is my happy place, right here. Mildly self-indulgent but all fanfiction is so I don't care. I hope the requester likes it!!

Masterlist // Request Form // My Website // buy me a Ko-Fi

This side of Daniel is something she sees often. He's a soft person and treats her as such. Dotes on her like she's a porcelain doll.

He zips the back of her dress and ties her shoes. He carries her bag to the car and buckles her in. It makes her feel small, entirely to warm inside.

"I'm sorry we have to go out tonight." His plan had been to ravish her until she couldn't think. Until they got a surprise call from Max saying he's in town for a couple days and wants to get dinner.

It had been over a month since they saw Max last, and Daniel had only said yes after he talked with her about it.

Daniel, still very intent on keeping his promise, has been not letting her do anything for herself all day long. She's been spoiled far more than necessary, but every ounce of insecurity only made Daniel more intent.

"It'll be nice to see everyone!" She assures. "I could care less about what we do as long as you're there."

"How did I get so lucky?" She blushes under his gaze and tries to look away, but Daniel's fingers foil her. "If you're good for dinner, I'll make this whole thing up to you later. Sound good?"

"Yes daddy."

He pats her cheek. "That's my girl."

He holds her hand as they walk inside. He pulls her chair out for her at the table of drivers.

Daniel makes small talk with the guys and the WAGS that had come with. She tries, but her mind is focused on Daniels hand sneaking up her thigh.

She tries to ignore when he rubs a finger over the thin lace of her panties. She's mid-sentence and ends up stuttering, but she manages to pull herself together. Daniel teases her about the blush on her face.

He keeps up his antics until dessert when he slips a finger into her, obnoxiously wet cunt. She, not so gracefully, chokes on her water. She makes not a sound after. It's not like they've never done this before. Daniel's just not making this any easier with the way he keeps calling her a good girl in her ear.

It feels like an eternity until they can leave. When Daniel finally helps her out of her chair and guides her to the car.

The drive home takes an interesting turn when Daniel has her sucking him off while he's driving. He's skilled in multitasking. Specifically in the art of fucking her throat and keeping his eyes on the road.

Daniel paints her mouth white during a particularly long light. She gets satisfaction in knowing this is what she does to him. That he's desperate enough to fuck her mouth while he drives because he can't wait.

The Aussie hauls her into the house and throws her onto the bed like she weighs nothing. Which is quite the compliment in her eyes. Her body, in her opinion, should not be that easy to carry.

"You did so good tonight, Princess." He kisses her, open mouthed and dirty. He sucks on her tongue and makes a whimpering mess out of her.

Her literally rips her dress off. A whispered promise to buy her a new one is said against her chest. Right before he swirls his tongue around her nipple, alternating between each side. His hands press into her upper back, pulling her further into him.

"Daddy, please - need you."

Daniel moves lower and settles between her thighs. He makes a point to blow on her on her before flattening his tongue and licking upwards.

Her hands find his hair. An attempt to ground her thrashing body. It makes no difference. Daniel still has to pin her hard enough to leave bruises.

His teeth graze over her clit. He sucks on her in the way that drivers her insane. Until the only word she knows is his name.

"Daddy - need to - pleassseee-" Her eyes roll back into her head as Daniel double down on his efforts. The permission is non-verbal in the way he taps her thigh a few times, allowing no break.

She releases onto his tongue. It's wet and it's everywhere and Daniel cleans every bit of it with his mouth.

He launches upwards to kiss her. She can taste herself on his shiny lips. He doesn't give her a break. Three fingers are jammed into her and she wails.

"You're doing so good baby girl. Taking everything I give you." The sounds he's making with her pussy are obscene. His fingers curl upward, sending her body spiraling.

A hand puts pressure around her throat. She sucks in as much air as she can, but inevitable her vision starts to go dark. Daniel opens and closes his hand in perfectly timed intervals, keeping her right on the edge of coherency.

"Cum for me princess, you can do it. We've gone for more rounds than this before."

Daniel has to pin her with effort this time around. He doesn't stop talking, the roughness of his voice rings through her ears. "Such a good girl for me. Just gorgeous like this, a right fucking messy slut, aren't you."

Daniel moves off the bed to get the rest of his clothes off. She cries real tears at the loss. Still to disoriented to know where he is. "Oh baby, I'm still here. You feeling fuzzy? Needy for my cock?" Embarrassment and shame are nothing to her as her tongue rolls out of her mouth and her head nods yes.

Daniel ties a rope around her wrists and secures it to the headboard. He chuckles as she watches him with glassy eyes and no resistance, just dead weight as he tries to adjust her position.

It takes entirely to long for Daniel to get inside of her. For her to feel his body pressed against her. His hips rutting into her, desperate and dominating. She couldn't fight him if she tried.

The pace he sets is relentless. The free hand not holding him up is rubbing at her clit. His mouth close enough to to brush up against hers, but he's still talking to her. Keenly aware of what his voice does to her. She's not sure what he's even saying, aside from that she's a good girl; his princess.

His teeth latch onto her throat, biting and sucking away at it until she thinks she might actually be bleeding onto his tongue. "Mine, all mine. My perfect little girl."

His thrusts are getting sloppy. She's been pushed past the point of overstimulated and isn't sure she can come again. "Let go for me baby, I know you can. I wanna feel you tighten around me. Can you do that for daddy?"

She's crying again. She cums so hard that it hurts her muscles. The line between pain and pleasure is blurred once again as Daniel wraps his hand around her throat again, completely cutting off her air.

She's choking on her scream. Barely aware that Daniel is painting her insides for the second time tonight. There are no thoughts aside from him.

Calming down is harder than expected. She's still twitching when Daniel is untying her. His hands caress her sides and praise her until she's able to breathe again.

Daniel carries her to the bathroom and gets them cleaned up. She's entirely to out of it, still partially crying and refusing to let go of his hand.

"Feeling good still, princess?" She hums happily as Daniel tucks them into bed. "Go to sleep baby, I'll be here when you wake up."

She curls up on top of his chest. Daniels arms wrapped around her to keep her from falling off him. "I love you, my perfect princess."

[littlebitsmile]

in flames [C.L.] | Chapter V

This is it, finally. With this chapter, we kick off the 2024 season and Emma takes part in her first official F1 race in Bahrain. I'm really excited about going forward with this, hopefully you are too.

Enjoy this chapter, breathe it in, feel it in your heart xx

story: in flames driver: Charles Leclerc [C.L.] trope: #haterstolovers summary: Always working three times as hard as everyone else, Emma does not intend to blow her chance of driving among the best of the best in her very first season in Formula 1. Concentrating on first and foremost getting ahead of her brother, she does not even notice that there are some people even in her own team who think she does not deserve this spot and would rather see her fail. And one driver in particular seems to have a need of always reminding her of that.

────ʚ C H A P T E R V ɞ────

"How exactly does this work here?" I ask, while two screens of light shine directly into my face and three or four cameras are pointed at me. A makeup artist is just powdering the last of the anxious sweat on my forehead dry, and a young man is sitting opposite me with a script in his hand. Probably the same one that was sent to me two weeks ago.

"You introduce yourself with your name, which team you drive for, and then I'll ask you a few questions. Easy cheesy lemon squeezy," he replies without looking up from his script.

I can't deny that I'm afraid of messing something up. I still regularly attend the social media training sessions run by Aston Martin's PR department, but Netflix's Drive to Survive team is probably in a whole different league. At least most of the drivers have already warned me about it.

Someone shouts "30 seconds," and suddenly the room empties. The lights are still blinding, and apart from the camera lenses and three-quarters of the interviewer's face, I can't really see much. Just a dark room, almost as if I were the suspect in a murder case and was being questioned - creepy.

I'm handed a film flap with my name, my team, and "Take 1" written on it. I hold it up in front of me and wait for the interviewer's hand signal.

"Hi!" I wave at the camera. "My name is Emma Verstappen, I'm turning 21 this year, and I'm driving for Aston Martin as a rookie in my first Formula 1 season."

"Cut!" A little bit of shuffling around echoes through the room. "That's great, Emma. You're doing good!"

"Thanks, I'm trying my best. Do you need that again or...?" My voice goes up half an octave towards the end of the sentence, unintentionally.

"Ah, no, thanks! But you can answer a question for me directly! How does it feel to sit in this chair?"

"Honestly, like I've been accused." I laugh nervously into the camera. A montage of the last six seasons of the show plays in my mind's eye - almost as if my brain is warning me not to say the wrong thing or get emotional.

"Don't worry, the jury found not guilty. For now, at least." A brief pause as he flicks through his question pad and finally stops at a page. "Emma, when you think about the coming year, what do you feel?"

"You're not the first to ask me that, what do you think my answer will be?" I raise my eyebrows. After his interview, Max gave me the advice to be as detached as possible. Don't stir up drama. Don't take shots at other drivers. Then I take two breaths and continue: "This is a huge year, not only for me, but also for my team. Aston Martin has made a huge bet by putting me in one of their cockpits. But I have no intention of making them regret it."

"Completely understandable! Do you feel comfortable in your team? It was actually very surprising that you didn't end up with your brother's team, Oracle Red Bull Racing! Would you like to tell us briefly how that came about?"

"Well, you probably all know Max, and you don't know me, but let me tell you, even though I love him and he's my brother... we would need some more time to get acquainted with the feeling of being stuck in a team together. Our mom could tell you that as well - everywhere Max and I are involved, there is trouble to follow." I answer honestly. What I don't say is that Max didn't speak to me for a week and a half after I turned down Red Bull's offer to be a test driver for this season. That I had to explain to him almost every hour why the match with Fernando Alonso works better for me at the moment and that later, after I've proven myself, we can drive together until we're old and gray.

"Emma? Are you still there?" The interviewer waves his hand vigorously in front of my face. I apologize and ask him to repeat the question.

"As you know, some contracts are coming to an end this year, and that's why there are a few places with big teams that have been in high demand for years. With Lewis moving from Mercedes to Ferrari and some contracts expiring, for example, Sergio Perez at Red Bull - are you speculating on one of them?"

I have to think for a moment, do some soul-searching. Do I even want to join a big team? Is "Formula 1 World Champion" at the top of my list of dreams? Then I answer: "As a driver, every week you're fighting for your seat, especially this season. It's no longer about where I stand in the world rankings, but rather about the potential I bring with me. I am convinced that I will find my way - regardless of my brother, Red Bull, or anyone else. Where this path will ultimately take me... I don't think anyone really knows."

-

"Two more laps, Emma," Sarah orders over the team radio. She still doesn't speak much, but at least the radio communication works well. Will I ever have as much fun with her as I did with Enzo? Probably not.

"Copy."

I say copy, but what I really mean is I hate you. Forty-five laps under the desert sun of Bahrain, drops of sweat evaporating in my racesuit and making the fabric stick to my skin. I've been trying to suppress my thirst for half an eternity. At least the heat is now my only problem. During the first few test laps, I had to mentally remind myself several times that throwing up in a new car doesn't make a good impression - especially not on the official first day of work. That moment when you're standing at the end of the pit lane waiting to get the final go. In the first corners while hitting the brakes for the first time, my head got put back against the headrest, body compressed. It felt like my heart was going to give up at any moment.

Pre-season testing is the first chance to see if what my team spent the whole year designing is actually going to work. So far, the car feels great - a few comments here and there about oversteer, the right braking behavior, and the optimal line, but at least I'm not a total failure. At least, I hope I'm not.

Fernando has already completed laps in the three-digit range yesterday and this morning combined. I happen to be put in the same test window as Max. I didn't think long about whether this was perhaps intentional, so that we could compare ourselves better, but after the first few laps, the thought crept into my head and wouldn't let go.

As I return to the pit lane faster than expected and the engineering team pushes the car and me back into the garage, I realize that I'm still holding my breath. I take off the steering wheel, release the headrest, and squeeze out of the tight seat. A few mechanics murmur "Good job!" or pat me on the back, but no one says a word. I exhale. Then I look at the car again. Standing right in front of it while the green of the bodywork hits me - an indescribable feeling.

"You know I'm your biggest critic, but that was a good performance today. We can work with that," says Sarah as she comes to a halt next to me and compares graphs on her clipboard. She looks at me from the side, then glances at the car and back at me. "This is your car, you better believe it."

I laugh and nod. "Thank you, Sarah. I don't think that was such a bad practice. There's still plenty to do." As I start to speak, I take off my helmet, finally remove the hearing protection from my other ear, and walk towards my cabin in the back of the garage. Sarah is hot on my heels. "I feel like I have to turn the steering wheel a bit more on the right-hand bends... but maybe it's just because the right-hand bends are a bit faster than I originally thought. I don't feel the headwind as much as I did in the wind tunnel, you can really feel the aerodynamic adjustments on the sides straight away. Do you think I can do one or two laps, just running around the track tomorrow before the start of training? I feel like I don't have every corner completely under control yet and..."

"Emma," Sarah tries to interrupt me, but I keep talking. Unlike me, she is at a loss for words and never let me finish my thoughts during our first few weeks. But this is about our car, about the points, about moving forward and not standing still. I carry on talking impartially.

"...maybe I can have a quick word with Fernando tomorrow? I'd like the front end to be a little sharper, at the moment we still have a lot of leeway - only if it's okay with him."

"Emma."

"Hm?" Now I'm paying attention.

"You're in fifth place at the moment."

"Wow, I didn't think so. That's good news, isn't it?"

"Max is in P6," she says slowly, smiles and then leaves me standing alone in the corridor. My water bottle almost falls out of my hand. I turn around quickly and call after her.

"Hey! You can't just say something like that and then disappear," but she's already around the corner and isn't paying any more attention to me. Has she just smiled for the first time since I met her? And that makes me almost more nervous than the fact that I have beaten my brother for the first time.

-

I'm not that lucky over the next few days of pre-season testing. But the high from my first day of practice on the track carries me through the week like clouds, before we even get to the first three free practices. I stay in the top 10 during the practice sessions that are part of the race weekend, but I seem to have completely lost my groove in qualifying. Starting from 12th on the grid, neither I nor my team are particularly enthusiastic about my performance, and this contributes to the fact that I don't get much sleep the night before the actual race.

I also have to attend several photo shoots in between - not just from my own team but also the official ones. For the first time, I get placed in an all-male field of riders, which is why I am allowed to stand in the middle of the so-called "class of 2024"-picture this year. That is more than awkward for me, but in that respect I will probably have to get used to not being allowed to have a say. On this occasion, I also try to spend more time with my brother, firstly to get some first hand insider advice and secondly to get to know the people he gets on well with.

Carlos Sainz, who tried to persuade me at all costs to go and celebrate with the group before my first race - as a season opener – immediately melts my heart. When I thankfully declined, he laughed and told me not to worry so much - after all, the Verstappen gene is in me too. I didn't mention that I wasn't so sure about that. At the same time, I wish him all the luck in the world - after all, he is currently without a seat for 2025. Secretly, I hope that he achieves better results than Charles, but of course I'm not allowed to say that out loud.

I also have time for a game of paddle tennis with Max, Fernando, Lando Norris, and Daniel Ricciardo - none of them seem to care that I've never held a tennis racket in my life, let alone a paddle tennis racket. On the contrary, each of them patiently explains their way of playing to me, until at some point I'm sure that each of them has at least slipped me some false information so that I don't turn out to be a sudden natural talent.

Unfortunately, all these distractions have not helped to reduce the pressure. The pressure from my father, who follows every Instagram post with excitement and then asks me whether I can really afford to play paddle tennis with Max and whether he missed the fact that I already have a World Drivers' Champions title in my pocket, which would explain why I would think that some free time is something I am allowed to have. The pressure from my team, whose hopes are mainly pinned on Fernando, but a driver duo consists of two people and not everyone is convinced that this is the right place for me. So I continue to sleep uneasily.

-

Before the race starts, I march up and down in the garage with a pulse of just under 130. Outside, I see fans running past, taking their seats, while the structure of the course burns in a continuous loop in my mind. It feels like I remind myself every five minutes that I shouldn't pick at my fingernails and instead find my focus. Max wished me good luck as I left the hotel, and he meant it, but that's easy to say when you start from pole position and have literally nothing to loose.

I overhear Sarah being interviewed somewhere, but unfortunately, I can't quite make out who it is from the voice. The walls here are so thin that I can hear every little movement of the technicians on the car, so I'm not surprised that I overhear conversations that aren't really meant for my ears. Only the interviewer's question burns itself into my head: Do you think you put too much faith in someone who is still so young?

I immediately shake my head, grab my helmet and water bottle, and make my way to my car. There I high-five one or two mechanics and then squeeze into the seat of my car. The cable for the radio connection on my left shoulder is connected to the car, someone plugs in my steering wheel, and the crew slowly removes the heaters from the tires. I wrap my fingers around the steering wheel, squeeze harder, and then let go again. Sitting here feels right, just like the pedals under the soles of my feet and the muffled sounds that can’t quite reach my ears. I try to find my focus and go over the route again in my head. Too much faith in someone who is still so young. The colleague in front of my car gives me the signal to rev the engine and drive out of the garage. Then I'm pushed to the starting grid.

The next few minutes fly by. The impressions of the last few days, the ups and downs, the conversations with other drivers, but also the phone calls with my father and his criticism - everything is buzzing around in my head without having an outlet for it. My body is tense at every turn and I'm literally clutching the piece of metal between my hands. I keep counting to ten in my head and tell myself that everything will be fine, no matter where I end up today - at least that's what I try to tell myself.

The signal is given for the last call to leave the start area. I get some last looks before my team makes its way towards the pit lane.

"Let's go, Emma," says Sarah through the microphone. I nod, even though I'm aware that she can't see me. My brain empties completely during the warm-up lap. Quicker than I'd like, I'm back in my starting position and looking towards the traffic lights. I feel nothing, think nothing. This is the first race of the season and nothing has been won or lost yet. All the cards have been reshuffled and we can only really say how the cars will actually perform afterward. The first lights turn red. Red. Red. Red. Red. And then the lights go out, and my foot presses down on the gas pedal. This is the official start of the 2024 season.

────ʚ [Masterlist] [Chapter IV] [Chapter VI (in progress)] ɞ────

Tags: @cmleitora @alliwantisadonut

[burrowbaddie]

With You

Joe Burrow x Female Reader

Series Summary: Childhood friends to lovers to nothing. You and Joe had history, you were each others first and then you were nothing. Years later, you guys rekindle the flame but with more obstacles in the way this time.

Chapter 4 Summary: You and Joe are expecting, the unexpected.

Word Count: 7.7k

Warnings: Afab!reader, smut, swearing. Oral (female & male receiving), vaginal fingering, penetrative sex, vaginal sex, unprotected sex, cheating! (You are the side girl, sorry.), the small fight scene, jealous Joe, mild violence, stalker

Series Masterlist

Joe follows Nicole to the bedroom, where she picks out one of the outfits laid on the bed.

"Nicole!" Joe shouts, slamming the door behind him.

"You really think I have enough time to follow you and you're side bitch around."

"Don't call her that. You're out of line."

"Oh, but that is what she is. A side bitch. A side hoe."

"You are so delusional, Nicki. I broke up with you. This pretend play you have me doing isn't real. She is my girlfriend. You're nothing."

"I'm the mother of your child."

"And I barely believe that," Joe whispers. Nicole drops her heels on the floor, stunned by his words.

"You are an asshole. You are such a piece of shit. You think I would pretend to have your child."

"Nicole, you're acting crazy. Forcing me to be with you. Threatening Cheeks, so yeah, I think you are capable of pretending to be pregnant."

Nicole storms to the bathroom and slams the door behind her. Joe stands outside, listening to her use the toilet. When she emerges from the bathroom, she shoves a positive pregnancy test into his hands.

"Nicki, what are we doing? Do you really think we can raise a child together?"

"It doesn't matter because I'm taking you to court for everything you have."

Joe throws the stick into the trash rolling his eyes. Nicole was so hellbent on ruining his life that she couldn't see how ridiculous she looked. Nicole left the house, leaving Joe to his thoughts. He tried waiting for your call all day, but by 4 pm, he was blowing your phone up.

"Joe, you have to stop."

"I had to make sure you were okay."

"I'm okay. I'm at work now. I'll call you tomorrow." You whisper, hanging up. Mya gives you a smirk as you go into the emergency meeting that had been called earlier today. You sit in the back, listening to the medical director call attention to the meeting.

"I will let Dr.Brian take it from here," Max says, stepping aside.

"As you guys know, my mother is very sick. With that being said, I'm stepping down on a leave of absence to go back home and care for her. I've gone back and forth about who should be the interim chair of the emergency department. I sat down and ran through many scenarios, and ultimately, the board and I agreed. I've trained this girl since she was in college. It is my honor to have her temporarily sit in my chair while I'm gone."

You completely zone out hearing your name. You look around the room at the smiling faces and people applauding you, but you can't move.

"Come up here and accept your title."

You stand up, making your way to the front, smiling nervously. Dr.Brian hugs you, and you nod, agreeing to the position. It's only six months, so you can do it. After 15 minutes of accepting compliments, you go to the break room to let it all sink in.

"That's cool. I mean, you just became a full fledge doctor and already a chair member. What did you do to earn that?" Mya asks, leaning on the lockers. You put your phone down and stare at her.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Do you honestly think people aren't talking already? You're the youngest member by far."

"I've been working hard. Dr.Brian has known me since I did an internship with him during my freshman year and every year after. I graduated early. I completed med school and my residency early. I also passed the board with flying colors. My work ethic speaks for itself."

"I'm just telling you what people are thinking. You fucked him, and that's how you got that spot."

"Mya, What is your issue? Why would I do something like that? He's a married man."

"Lol, says the girlie fucking Joe Burrow."

"Mya?"

"Sorry, okay. I'm frustrated. Mike thought that position was going to be his. He talked all last night about it."

"Oh gosh. Mike-"

"Things were finally going better for us. With this job, I thought he could-"

"He's an asshole, My. He doesn't even claim you when we all hang out."

"Because we are not allowed to date in the same department. Look, all I'm saying is that people will talk about this. You're young and hot-"

"And a female. So, of course, everyone would assume I slept my way to get here." You slap the locker close and grab your bag off the bench, leaving Mya alone. You first visit your parent's house to share the news.

"Omg! My sweet baby! This is amazing. I cannot wait to tell the ladies down at church!" Your mother holds you tight, rocking you side to side; your father claps to the side. It doesn't take long for your mother to share the news with Robin.

"We have to organize a dinner to congratulate you. We will invite family and close friends. We have to celebrate this huge achievement!" Your mother is rushing to her computer room before you can complain. Your father wears a proud smile, pulling you into a hug.

"My baby girl. I am so proud of you. I know you don't want to be celebrated, but let your mother have this." Your dad laughs. You nod your head. You share the news with Quinn and Fran, who are both over the moon for you. Quinn also wants to plan a party, but you direct her to your mother. And finally, you decide to let Joe in on your news.

"Baby, that's amazing. I am so proud of you. We should celebrate."

"Right now, I just want to lay in bed and let it soak in." You laugh, leaning on the wall and staring at your parents in the dining room.

"Hmm. Can I join you?"

"Joey, we shouldn't be seen with each other. Not until-"

"I know, but it's killing me. I'll come late in the night."

"Okay." You whisper. And late in the night, Joe is holding you in his arms, whispering how much he loves you. You kiss his lips while playing with his ears, giggling at each word.

"You are everything I have ever wanted. I promise things will get better for us. Nicole means nothing to me."

"She's having your baby, Joe. We can't ignore this matter."

"I know. And I will be a great father to my child. I am more than capable of co-parenting."

You close your eyes as he kisses your forehead. You want to believe him and every sweet word he tells you, but there is something in your gut telling you to let Joe go. But you don't. You can't let him go, and neither can he. The next few days consist of you coming home to Joe and living your perfect domestic life. He sits on the counter watching you cook in nothing but his jersey.

"Let's move in together."

"Joseph."

"I've been looking at places; plus, it's a gated community, and you won't have to worry about this stalker," Joe says, eating some popcorn.

"How would that look in the tabs? Superstar Joe leaves his pregnant girlfriend to live with his mistress. That sounds like an amazing headline, babe." You turn around, crossing your arms. Joe pouts, and you walk over, taking place between his legs. Joe bends down and kisses your nose, then your lips.

"I just want you safe. If this is Nicole on her bullshit, I don't know what she will do."

"I'm okay. I want you to focus on this season and getting that ring."

Joe smirks and slowly lifts your jersey.

"You know when I get my ring; you'll have to marry me. You promised, remember."

"That was 6th grade."

"And I remember that promise. You said once I win the Superbowl, you become my wife. I plan to do exactly that." He kisses your lips and caresses your ass. You moan into the kiss, which only excites Joe, who hops down from the counter, scooping you up.

"Joe. I'm cooking. Calm it down." You laugh while he throws you over his shoulder. You guys had just finished a steamy shower session not too long ago, and the boy was ready for me. You slap his back until he puts you down. After dinner, Joe tells you he has to get going. He promises to call you before bed.

The next few weeks are pretty busy for both of you. You are starting your direct training to take over as chair, and Joe is training during the offseason. Mya has apologized for her comments, but her behavior still offended you. Mike, her boyfriend but not her actual boyfriend, has been giving you absolute hell. The comments other nurses and doctors make don't go unnoticed. You try your best to ignore them. Today, the news station is coming to interview the hospital about its recent clinic opening. Dr. Brian lets you sit in your first assignment as the chair. You're super nervous as the makeup team works. You stare at your notes when the door opens to Nicole. It feels like the air leaves the room as she takes her place in a chair across the room. This will be your first interaction with her since finding out about you and Joe.

"Can you give the interviewee and me some time alone? I want to get a feel of her before we get rolling." Nicole smiles and laughs as the makeup team and her assistant leaves. she gets up from the chair and stands behind you. Her green eyes stare into the mirror at yours. She touches your hair and smiles.

"I have no idea what he sees in you. You are not prettier than me." Nicole clicks her tongue. You've dealt with plenty of Joe's groupies before, so her words don't sting.

"Congrats on the baby." You whisper.

"Of course, he told you. And you still want to see him."

"Having a baby with him isn't going to make him stay. You do know that, don't you?"

"Oh, miss little know it all. I know that, but I will not let Joe have his happy ending. If you think I will let you two run off happily in the sunset, you have another thing coming. Keep seeing Joe, and just like I told him, I have no problem ruing yours or his career. So soak in that little promotion of yours because it will be your last, bitch."

You take a deep breath and stand up. Nicole stands slightly taller than you because of her heels, but you stare her down.

"Nicole, I'm not afraid of you. If you think you're the first girl to threaten me because of Joe, you have no idea what you're up against. At the end of the day, Joe will never ever love you. Once you get that through your thick ass skull, I promise you will be able to let go. Now, sit your ass back in your chair and get ready to put on your interviewing skills to work, Miss Cinncinati." You brush her shoulders off and walk to open the door but pause.

"By the way, you're lucky you're pregnant because if you ever called me out of my name outside your nine-month window, I'd punch you in the fucking mouth. We're ready!" You say, swinging the door open. The crew comes back to finish up. You show Nicole around the new clinic and discuss what to expect when it opens soon.

"There you have it, folks! The new clinic is set to open in the fall of this year. Thank you for showing us around." Nicole smiles at you as the director counts down. You wear a smile as well and turn just as cut is yelled. Both of you stop smiling. Nicole storms off to her trailer, slamming her door. You giggle and walk over to your new assistant, Liv.

"What is her issue?"

"Not sure. Since we are done here, let's grab some lunch on me!" You tell her. You guys have lunch at your favorite diner, where you order your usual meal: pancakes and eggs. Liv orders a burger with onions. As you take a first bite, you get a whiff of her onion burger and gag.

"Do you not like onions? Omg, I should have asked. Is it making you sick?"

You shake your head but gag again. You shoot up from your seat and run to the bathroom. With your head in the toilet, Liv finds you to help.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I just-I don't know. The smell hit me, and my stomach turned. YOu finish up and take the rest of the day off. I will go get myself together. Probably just a stomach bug." You say, giving her a thumbs up. But it's not just a stomach bug. You sit on the tub in your bathroom with the three positive pregnancy tests. You immediately call your gyn.

"I have the IUD, so it can't be-"

"It happens. I have a spot open at 4. Come in. If you are, we need to remove it if you want to continue with the pregnancy."

Everything blurs together as your doctor explains how far along you are and what the next steps are. You have the IUD removed and sent home to think further about your next moves. As you sit on the couch going over your possibilities, Joe calls you.

"Do you know how good you looked on the news today?"

"Thanks."

"What's wrong?" Joe asks, quickly picking up on your tone.

"Nothing. This dinner party my mom is throwing for me is coming up this weekend, and I had my first shift as the chair, so it's a lot to take in now."

"That's this weekend, damn. I have this football camp-"

"Joe, you don't have to come. I know how busy you are, and it's okay. Do your parents know about you and Nicole?"

"Uhh no, why?"

"I really don't want you to come if you have to bring her."

"I won't bring her."

"Quinn is calling me. I have to go." You switch over the line.

"Pregnant! With Joseph's baby? I'm going to be an auntie!"

"Quinn, I can't have this baby. Joe is already having a baby with Nicole."

"Do you actually believe she's pregnant? She's insane. How far are you?"

"Two months."

"Let me add Fran to the call he's calling me."

"Quinn, wait!"

Too late. You give Fran a soft smile as Quinn shares the news. Fran congratulates you and the twins; start planning your baby shower already. You decide against taking off work and go in only to be greeted with snide remarks.

"Mike, I'm really not in the mood for your nonsense. Get to work, or I will take you off shift. I'm so so serious too." You say, crossing your arms. He mumbles under his breath and walks away. Mya gives you a half smile and hands you your favorite chocolate.

"I'm sorry about before. I'm missing my best friend."

You take the chocolate giving in to her apology. Mya hugs you and tells you juicy nurse gossip from the 7th floor. She invites you out for drinks, but you decline.

"Come on! It will be fun."

"I'm pregnant, so I would just be a buzz kill."

Mya covers her mouth, trying to contain her excitement.

"Wait with J O E's baby?"

"You do know anyone in this room can spell." You whisper, pulling her out of the locker room. Mya spends the next 30 mins grilling you about it. You finally send her off to help a resident while you attend to some patients.

"Mr. Brown, again, this is the 3rd time you've ended up in my ER in the last two months. What's going on?" You ask, reading his chart. He shrugs and smiles.

"I just like seeing your beautiful face." He beams up at you with a big smile.

"As much as I appreciate your kindness, I can't have you hurting yourself."

"This time, it wasn't me." His voice drips with sorrow. Mr. Brown starts picking at his blanket. You put your gloves on and check the wound on his head. It's a nasty gash from the middle of his forehead to his right temple. You reach down and hold his hand.

"Talk to me. What's going on?"

"They stole my tent this time. They jumped me and stole everything. My wife's photos, all of it gone."

"Who?"

Mr.Brown looks away from you.

"Mr.Brown, I can't help you if you don't talk to me."

"These young kids. Boys. They've been terrorizing a lot of us in the community."

"Have you spoken with an officer, maybe-"

Mr. Brown shakes his head.

"They don't care about us. There is no point."

"You'll need stitches, and I'll see about your belongings."

Mr. Brown grabs your wrist before you can leave.

"I don't want to cause you any trouble. What happens outside the hospital is my concern."

"Mr. Brown, how long have I been treating you?" You ask, taking your gloves off and standing up.

"3 years, give or take." He wears a puzzled look in his response.

"Right. You are my patient whether you are in this hospital or outside. Sit tight while I have someone stitch you up." You give him a warm smile, and he holds your hand, thanking you. You grab Mya telling her you're going for a walk.

"Oh gosh! Listen, I'm all for helping the homeless, but Tent city is a ruthless land. We should at least have a guy come with us. You're pregnant now. You can't be irresponsible." Mya grabs your arm, stopping you.

"If you're scared, I'll go in alone. A lot of them know and trust me. I'll be okay. If I'm not back in 15 mins, then worry, but no cops."

"Are you-"

"15," You say, walking across the field with coffee, breakfast sandwiches, and donuts. You stop a few times to hand it out and ask around about the boys terrorizing the place. But it doesn't take long to find the rowdy boys yelling and running around. You take a seat next to the kid who is staring at the older three play around.

"Sandwich?" You offer him. The kid doesn't speak and keeps his eyes focused on the others. You look over his appearance and notice his ankle.

"How long have you had that injury? Can you take your shoe off?" You ask him. The boy continues to ignore you. Finally, the older two boys notice you.

"Get the fuck away from him!" One shouts, running over. You quickly stand and hold up your hands.

"I was just offering him some breakfast."

"And who the fuck are you, lady?"

"I'm a doctor at the hospital a few blocks from here. I come here once a week to hand out food."

"She lying. We've been here for two whole months!" The other speaks up.

"Sorry. I've had a busy schedule, so I haven't had time to come down as often." You answer while your eyes drift to the youngest kid standing up now, limping.

"You're mad pretty for a doctor."

You smile and thank him, finally introducing yourself and asking for their names.

"I'm Tate, and that's Trey and TJ. Triple Ts." Tate says, laughing. You give him a smile and nod your head.

"Are you guys siblings?"

"Nope, but blood wouldn't make us any thicker," Trey responds.

"Stop telling her so much, dummy." Tate smacks Trey upside the head. You notice TJ wince. You want to ask them where their parents are, but you must tread lightly.

"I want to take a look at TJ's ankle. If that's okay?"

"He's fine. He just needs to sleep it off. It's not like we have money to pay you, lady."

"No need to pay. It's my job to help and treat. Can I look at your ankle?" You ask TJ. He looks at the older two boys and back at you, slowly nodding his head. You have him sit down and slowly try to take off the shoe. He cries out, and you stop.

"I need to bring him in."

"No way. Hell no. You just want to send us back! Did that old hag send you for us? We're not going back!" Tate grabs TJ pulling him to his feet. Trey pulls a knife out. You slowly stand with your hands up.

"I don't know who you're talking about, but I promise you I just want to get a better look at TJ's ankle. Please. If he doesn't get treated, it could turn into an infection." You try your best to reason with the boys, but they still stand guard.

"Treat him right here," Trey says. You shake your head.

"I can't take that shoe off here. I need to cut it off. His ankle is so swollen that it's stuck. I also need to examine the foot on a machine so-"

Trey hands you the knife.

"Do it here." He emphasizes. You take a deep breath and give TJ one last pleading look. The boy cannot be a older than 12 years old. Your heart breaks for the three of them. You take the knife from Trey and attempt to cut the sneaker. TJ cries out, and you look at Tate.

"You promise you'll help him, and you won't report us?"

"Tate, how old are you?"

"I'm 18. Why?"

"That will work. Pick him up and follow me." You instruct them. The boys follow you to the hospital with Mya right behind you. Inside you quickly go to work with Trey asking you all types of questions. You answer them as you work, laughing at some.

"I want to be a doctor too, but that old hag said I was too much of a dummy."

"You're not dumb, Trey. I'm sure you will be an excellent doctor. TJ, get some rest while we wait for tests."

"I'm hungry," TJ speaks up for the first time, and you nod, telling the boys you will bring them something to eat. Tate follows you outside the room.

"Give it to me straight. How are we paying for all of this?"

"A grant, but you need to tell me where Mr.Brown's tent and belongings are. I can't help you if you're going to terrify people. It's unacceptable." You say sternly, crossing your arms. Tate sighs and rolls his eyes.

"Return it." You walk off with Mya following behind you, but before she can speak, Mike is there.

"Grant? You have no authority to the grant, especially not for those homeless little punks."

"Actually, I do have authorization as the chair. It's already been approved. Why don't you make yourself useful and clear my ED of patients who are finished with their treatment? I need beds, not your mouth."

"Fucking bitch." Mike whispers under his breath. Mya shakes her head.

"You're too hard on him. He is taking this whole thing hard."

"My promotion? He needs to get over it. I won't continue to deal with his disrespect." You walk away, unable to deal with Mya and Mike. You order some food for the boys and watch them eat and talk. The boys tell you they ran away from their foster home and have no plans to return. Tate turned 18 in January and was left to wander the world alone, so he did the only thing he knew, take his found brothers with him. You find it weird the boys haven't been reported missing, but if the foster parent is still collecting checks, why would she report them missing? You excuse yourself to make some phone calls.

"I can't just snap my fingers and pick up their case. Plus, what the older one did is illegal."

"Corey. I wouldn't be asking this of you if it wasn't important."

"I know. I know someone in that jurisdiction who might be able to get a hand in on their case and check the foster situation."

"But?"

"I am not helping you for free."

"I can pay-"

"No money. Do you still talk to Joe?"

You sigh and bite your lip. Calling your friend from high school was a bad idea.

"Sometimes."

"Get me season tickets, and you have yourself a deal." Corey cheers. You tell him to stand by while you dial Joe's number.

"Hey, baby, what's up?" He smiles, stopping his workout to give you his full attention.

"Can you give my season tickets to Corey?"

"Who is that? and why?"

"Corey Smith from honors calculus 11th grade."

"What the fuck? That's so random. Fuck that guy. No."

"Joseph, please. For me." You soften your voice, adding a pout even though he couldn't see you. But Joe could picture your face, so it didn't matter.

"Fuck. Don't use that voice. I hate that fucking guy."

"What? You were good friends in high school."

"He wanted to fuck you. I mean, who didn't? You were hot as fuck. Still are. Fuck that guy, no."

"Why are you even mad? So what he wanted to sleep with me. The only one fucking me was and still is you." You reply, making Joe smile.

"Yeah. Fine, anything for my baby. But I want something in return."

"Like?"

"Sit on my face later."

"Goodbye, Joseph, I'm at work." You hang up laughing, returning to your other line.

"It's done! You have season tickets."

"Fuck yeah! Consider the boys moved to a new caseworker and home!" Corey says cheerfully. You leave the room to share the news. TJ looks down at his new blue cast. Tate hands you a box. It belongs to Mr.Brown. You fill them in on the situation, letting them know they have to return to the foster home first. Tate is on edge at first, but you are able to get him to calm down and trust you.

"I should get a job first, but I'm not sure how to apply," Tate says, scratching his head. You smile.

"I'm glad you said that. How do you feel about being a janitor?"

"I'll do anything as long as I can work and find a place that way; maybe I can be a better example and help TJ and Trey out."

You help Tate fill out an application, and Tate returns the box to Mr.Brown, apologizing. Mr. Brown says he will look out for the boy from now on. Liv walks over, pulling you away.

"You have that meeting with Lance. It's pretty important. The board needs you to secure his donation."

"Great. I know exactly what we will do with that donation."

The day ticks down, and you almost fall face-first onto the bed when you get home. You're exhausted and very much nauseous. You force yourself to get up and shower because you know Joe will be coming over soon. Fresh out of the shower, your phone rings, letting you know Joe is either here or on his way. You wrap a towel around you and go to open the door. He gives you a cheeky grin following you inside.

"Find something to watch while I get dressed." You try to walk away, but Joe pulls you back, and you share a sweet, intimate kiss.

"Missed you all day." Joe pulls you down on his lap, and you bury your face in his neck. You lose track of time as you tell him about today. Joe makes a comment about beating Mike's ass, and you giggle. Joe has always been overprotective of you. You get off his lap and fall back on the couch.

"I'm just exhausted. My stomach is hurting. I want to sleep all day, but I have this stupid dinner my mom is throwing for my promotion. I just want to sleep on my off days!" You cry, throwing your arm over your face. Joe licks his lips, barely paying attention to your words. That's when you notice the new position. Your left leg dangles off the couch while your right sits on Joe's thigh, giving him complete access to your pussy. You try to pull the towel down, but Joe is quicker. The man is practically drooling, looking at the divine meal before him.

"Joseph, did you hear me say I'm tired?" You sit up on your elbows, warning him, but Joe is passed, paying attention to you.

"Cheeks, you don't have to do any work. Allow me to help you relieve the stress and tiredness." Joe drops down to his knees, kissing your thighs, teasing you. He places soft kisses on your cunt before spreading the lips and diving straight into his main course. Joe flattens his tongue against your clit before swirling his tongue around it. You shake and whine, trying to contain yourself.

"Not on the couch! Please!" You cry out. All in one swift motion, Joe is standing and holding you up. You quickly grab hold of his hair, unsure about this new position.

"I'll fall!" You cry, resting your legs on his shoulders. Joe mumbles something along the lines of I got you into your wet pussy. You hold on for life as he walks towards the bedroom using your direction. At one point, Joe stops and continues to eat you out in the hallway against the wall. His loud slurps can be heard echoing through the empty hallway. Joe finally takes you into the bedroom and places you on the bed. You can't believe he walked you to your bedroom without stopping his devouring of you. Joe removes his shirt and shorts and lays down, motioning you to sit on his face.

"Joe,"

"Feed me, baby." He pouts. You crawl up and hover over his face, holding the headboard for support. A smirk dances across his face, sending shivers down your spine. He asks you to keep your eyes on him, and you almost buckle immediately, staring down into those blue orbs. Joe pulls you down before you're fully ready, and you arch your back choking back a moan.

"Joe, oh gosh." You cry out, trying to lift up. Joe's voice sends vibrations through your body. It feels like electricity pulsing through you as he takes you to another plane. You try your best to maintain eye contact, but once Joe begins dipping his tongue into you, your walls break. You tug at his hair earning a delicious sound from Joe, which sends you into another orbit. Struggling to hold back anymore, you try to wiggle up. But Joe has a bruising grip on your thighs as he continues to tongue fuck you. And you finally break, soaking Joe's face. Joe doesn't stop and decides to drink every drop and push another orgasm out of your overstimulated pussy. You almost collapse, but Joe holds your waist and chuckles under you. You feel weak and light-headed. Joe turns you around so that you are on your back. He returns between your legs, giving your messy, wet pussy soft kisses. He continues making out with it for the next few mins until you sit up dizzy. Joe is completely enthralled by your whimpers and doesn't stop. He is pussy drunk, and when your eyes connect again, he winks at you. You fall back on the pillow, trying to catch your breath. Joe sits, and you stare at his glistening wet face.

"If I ever went to prison, I would want that to be my last meal." He says, lying down next to you. You toss a pillow at him, laughing. Joe pulls you into his arms, and you stare at him. You should tell him here and now and get it over with. But you can't. It feels like something is stuck in your throat.

"Cheeks? What are you thinking about?"

"Tired. Shower and then sleep." You mumble. Joe scoops you up and follows your order. The next day is spent sleeping in his arms, watching old Spongebob episodes, and enjoying time together. Joe leaves around 2 for a football camp he is helping with. When you check the mail, there is an envelope. You decide to put it on your nightstand and deal with it later. You have no doubt it's Nicole, especially after her threats. The rest of the day is spent looking at Facebook, and you come across the high school reunion page. You go to add the IG page, but you must be off private for verification, so you take it off private and send a request. And then, before you know it, it is dinner time. You greet your parents, the Burrows, and some friends as they say congrats. Fran squeezes you, and Quinn follows for a twin sandwich. You are surprised to see Joe there, but happy Nicole isn't on his arm. Joe takes your hand and leans in to kiss you, but you stop him.

"Everyone is here."

"Right. Sorry. I bought you flowers." Joe hands you the roses, and you take them, trying to hide your smile. You sit next to Joe at the table in the backyard, where everyone is seated. Your dad stands up, making a speech, and you get embarrassed as he talks about your childhood. Then your mom. Then Quinn and finally Fran.

"How am I supposed to follow up that speech? I'm proud of her, like everyone else in this backyard. She is going to do even more beautiful things. We love you! So lets us drink to this absolute babe. I mean, she can't drink, but I'll drink for her."

You freeze up and look at Quinn, praying no one caught that, but nothing gets by your mother.

"Why can't she drink?" She asks. Everyone looks at Fran.

"What? I didn't say that. I did say that. I mean, she gets insane when she drinks, you know? Alcoholics, am I right?" Fran nervously laughs. Quinn pulls him down.

"What is he talking about?" Your grandmother speaks up this time. You look for help, and Fran shoots up again.

"Look, she, umm, She is not an alcoholic."

"So what is the issue?" Your father is glaring at you.

"I'm pregnant."

The table falls silent.

"Surprise?" Quinn says.

"With whose child? You don't have a boyfriend." Your mother is standing up, completely shocked.

"Mine. It's mine." Fran stands up again, burying you deeper into this pit. You can feel Joe staring into the side of your face.

"we're dating, so there. I'm sorry I told everyone like this, honey," Fran smiles at you. You nod your head and stand up, excusing yourself. Dinner ends on a sour note. You sit in the living room, listening to your mom go on and on about how pre-marital sex is wrong. Joe stands to the side, watching everything unfold. His mind is racing a mile a min. The conversation turned to Joe when your mom asked if he knew.

"I didn't know about the baby." He replies. Your mom turns to you.

"You even kept it from Joe. I'm so disappointed." Your mother shakes her head and walks away. Your dad walks over and hugs you, letting you know he will talk to your mother. You take a deep breath and prepare yourself for the conversation with Joe.

"So, am I the last to know?"

"Clearly not." You whisper. Joe nods his head and licks the inside of his cheek.

"You should've told me as soon as you knew. I knew there was something wrong earlier. Fuck, Cheeks." Joe rubs his face.

"I was nervous. You have a baby on the way. I didn't want to give you more stress."

"Are you keeping it?"

"I have to keep it. I made a promise to myself that-that I would allow one abortion." You whisper the last part, but Joe catches it.

"What do you mean? You had an abortion before?"

"After you left for LSU, I found out-"

"You aborted my child? Without telling me? Were you ever going to tell me?"

"Joe, calm down. I-"

"How can I calm down? You should've told me!"

"I didn't want to hold you back, and I didn't want a baby!" Your grab Joe's hand, pulling him outside, away from your parent's ears. Joe snatches away and begins to pace. He can't even look at you right now.

"Stop saying you didn't want to hold me back. Our relationship ended because you gave up on us."

"Because you would have chosen me over your career."

"I would choose you over any fucking thing."

You remain quiet, letting the sounds of the hot July night feel the uncomfortable space.

"What was I supposed to do? I wanted the best for you, and I wanted my career too. How could I have made it at 20 with a child?"

"Cheeks, I would give up anything in this world to have you. If I had to get a regular job or be a stay-at-home dad while you became a doctor, I would have done it. Contrary to popular belief, football is not my first love. You are."

You didn't think Joe could make you fall more in love, but he did. Your heart skips a beat just like it did during his first-ever confession. You hold back tears as he kisses the corner of your mouth.

"I love you so much. What did I do to deserve you?" You share a kiss, and Joe chuckles against your lips. You genuinely don't know how you ended up with such an amazing man.

"We're having a baby," Joe whispers. You nod your head, wrapping your arms around his neck.

"We're having a fucking baby!" Joe shouts. You cover his mouth, laughing at his outburst. You don't need the whole neighborhood to know. After that night, your mother apologized for her outburst. It didn't take her long to start baby shopping. It felt weird keeping up the act of dating Fran but telling your parents you're carrying Joe's baby was a conversation not ready to be had.

At four months pregnant, your time was split between clinical cases and administrative duties. You promised Joe to take more administrative work, but you couldn't stay away from the ED. Football season was underway, and Joe's schedule was keeping him busy. But he was not busy enough because he called you every free second. When he wasn't on the road, Joe was home with you catering to your every need. You adored him and how he was actively preparing to become a father and reading books, watching videos, and taking classes. You loved every min of it. On the other side, things with Nicole were getting pretty serious. She was hellbent on Joe staying with her no matter how often he made it clear they were done.

"Oh my! You and Joe's child could be best friends!" Robin clapped, coming to the realization. It was Sunday night, and Joe was playing while you didn't want to attend; Mya begged you for it because it was her birthday.

"What?" Nicole looks at you, waiting for Robin to say something.

"Oh gosh. You didn't know yet? I thought Joe would've shared the news. She's pregnant too." Robin announced. You mentally slap yourself because this is not how you wanted Nicole to find out. Nicole's eyes drift to your belly. You had an oversized jacket on, Joe's jacket, and it hid your small belly pretty well. Nicole grabs Amber's hand, and they leave the section. Robin is confused, but you give her a soft smile and go after Nicole.

"Nicole, I thought Joe would've told you and-"

"You! Don't say a fucking word to me. Leave the game right now," She shouts, getting in your face. Mya approaches to calm the situation down because bystanders are looking.

"Hey, you should have this conversation in private unless you want people to know," Mya states looking at you and Nicole.

"I'm the bad guy in this situation. My boyfriend cheated on me, and in your eyes, I'm the bad guy." Nicole cries. You shake your head feeling guilty. You want to blame it on the pregnancy, but you know she's right.

"You're not the bad guy. Joe and I are both in the wrong. But forcing something that isn't there doesn't look good either—threatening me, sending people to watch us. It's all a bit much. They trashed my home. They have photos of me sleeping. Enough is enough, Nicole."

"I have no fucking clue what you're talking about. I didn't send anyone after you. If I want to make you miserable, I will do it myself."

"Nicole, it's clearly you."

"When did the photos start?" Nicole crosses her arms, waiting for your reply.

"When we first started messing around. Why?"

"Did the person send it in a blank envelope?"

"Yeah, How do you-"

"Ladies, is everything okay?" Robin makes her way over, asking. You both nod. You return to the game while Nicole states she isn't feeling well and heads home early. Nicole opens her closet and walks over to a small dresser in the back. She opens the top and pulls out the envelope. Inside are photos of Nicole meeting DJ. But that's not the thing that's been driving her mad. It's the negative pregnancy results sitting in a pile. She needs to come up with a plan fast because there is no way she can keep up the fake pregnancy.

"Joey!" You giggle as he carries you to the bedroom. He gently lays you down and throws his clothes to the floor.

"That was a great game! You guys did amazing."

Joe ignores you and goes straight to your belly. He lifts your shirt to kiss it and sing to the growing baby. You run your hands through his hair and tell him about Nicole. He groans and sits up.

"I don't think she's pregnant. I don't want to sound like an asshole again, bringing it up. But something is off. I mean, she's not even showing."

"Sometimes women don't show until they're super late." You sit up, and Joe pouts.

"I should return home to check on her." Joe stands up and gets dressed. You think that is a better option because Nicole seemed very stressed out. You decide to make some ramen and watch tv. You turn off the tv as you drift to sleep on the couch, and your front door opens. A person walks by, not realizing you're asleep on the couch. You pop up when you hear your bedroom door open.

"Joe? Is that you?" You call out. When there isn't an answer, fear runs through your body. You go to the kitchen and grab a knife.

"I'm calling the police!" You shout, knowing that your phone is charging. Suddenly a hooded figure approaches you. You swing the knife.

"Leave me alone!" You scream. The assailant grabs your wrist, trying to get you to let go. During the struggle, he slams you into the counter and knocks you down. On the way down, your face hits the counter. You quickly cower and cover your stomach to protect the baby.

"I'm pregnant! Please! Please!" You cry. The man runs out of the apartment, leaving you crying and shaking. You're too afraid to move, so you lay there in a fetal position crying. Finally, you pick yourself up and call Mya. She rushes over and takes you to the hospital.

"The baby looks fine. How are you? I'm worried." You OB asks, rubbing your hand. You take your hand away. The side of your face hurts from the fall. You already gave your report to the cops, but you didn't see anything. All you know is that it was a guy. The curtain is pulled back, revealing Joe in complete stress.

"Jo-"

"You're done living there. We're going to move in. I already have some guys moving things to our new place. I don't give a fuck about anything else. Is the baby okay? Are you okay?" Joe takes your hand, and you nod. Mya gives you an apologetic look. She called Joe from your phone even though you told her not to call.

"I can't leave your side. Fuck, Cheeks. Fuck! I could rip that piece of shit's head off. Why didn't you tell me you were still getting letters and photos? Fuck! I'm going to kill this person."

"Joe, please calm down. I just want to go home and sleep. My dad went to get me something to eat. I'll be released soon, and I'm going to stay with my parents until our place is ready."

"You'll move in with me?" He asks with soft eyes. You cup his face and nod. Joe kisses your lips. You spend the next few days at your parent's house. A big regret because your mother is way overprotective. And it doesn't help that Joe is following in her footsteps.

"Isn't your girlfriend pregnant? You should be taking care of her." Your mother laughs, fluffing your pillow while Joe puts the blanket over your legs.

"I wanted to make sure Cheeks was okay." Joe nervously answers.

"You should go. I'm fine, and I have work later."

"You're not going to work." Your mother and Joe both say. You roll your eyes at them. You can't just sit around and do nothing. After much convincing, they let you go to work. You work the night shift, which surprisingly is a slow shift. Tate stands by the counter, watching you check paperwork. You ask about his brothers, and he tells you they're doing better in their new home, and he gets to see them every weekend.

Nicole sits in her chair as her makeup team begins to work. Her co-worker walks in, asking for the room. She hands Nicole a tablet. Nicole flips through the photos of you and Joe.

"Someone emailed me these photos. I won't run the story, but I thought you should know."

Nicole hops down from her chair.

"Nope. You will run this story, but not until I tell you." Nicole hands the tablet back and walks out of her dressing room. Before taking her place at her desk, she looks down at the text from the unknown number telling her time is ticking.

A/N: This chapter was ehh sorry it sucked omg! I decided to give a little more background character stories and see reader's life outside of Joe. But Omg, now that we know Nicole is also getting letters and photos, the plot thickens. And that Nicole is def not as good as she tries to make herself! It's only a matter of time before Hell breaks loose. So stay tuned! Thank you for all the comments, reblogs, and likes! I see it all and I appreciate it so much!

Tags: @joselyn001@savii999@lostaurorax@simpgirl-lat@edenhess @blinkloverx3 @dboanalooaa @nm112495 @mhm-ok-sure@katiehud@blu3jeanbaby@mrosales16@wineauntharry @Cosmolover96 @loviingjihyo @hrlzy @spideybrina@dessxoxsworld @Tjb113

[cinnamoncitric]

It all starts with Robin.

In truth, if one might get technical, it starts with Billy Hargrove. Then, in due time, it restarts with Russian spies and a fortress underneath a mall. But neither of the parties was there for the result, so: in all the ways that matter, which is to say, in all the ways that help, it starts with Robin.

In all things Steve Harrington, there are two authorities other than the man himself, and, though he has known him longer, she doesn't think Dustin has noticed. Steve himself doesn't like to talk about it, has only ever opened up to her on the subject under scrutiny and prodding. But avoidance doesn't change the fact: Steve's hearing has suffered.

He tells her this exactly once, both sitting side by side on the bed in his room. He says it looking down, ashamed, one hand tightly pulling at his hair, the other holding Robin's in a tight knuckled grip. His voice is small. He does his best to suffocate the anguish and the fear that flood it when he says, What if it gets worse?

There's no reason to believe it will, for now. At least, that's what the doctor tells them once she bullies Steve into a visit. As long as there are no other injuries, no other blows to the head, he isn't in danger.

But the thing is, there might be. That's just the life they lead – never knowing if the danger is truly over. So Robin sits her ass down and picks up a book on sign language because she knows he'd never do it on his own.

Come on, she tells him, months of secret classes in Indy later. I'll teach you. We can just use it to talk in secret in front of everyone whenever we want to.

Which is, of course, not how it goes down. They go maybe a month into sneaking awkward signs behind everyone's back until Dustin gets wind of it. And when child prodigy Dustin Henderson decides he wants in, there's not much they can do to stop him. And he gets all the other genius gremlins to do it, too. Imagine how useful it would be to communicate without alerting demogorgons, he tells them, when Steve explains he doesn't want to talk about the real reason for it. They all figure it out anyway.

Mike learns it like he'd much rather not. His only argument for doing it is that it might be good for his college application and that Nancy took an interest in it and is now forcing him to learn with her as "sibling bonding."

Will is shy, Lucas is earnest, El is curious. By some point, all of them pick it up. All the older kids, all of the adults – Hopper, Joyce, Murray, Claudia Henderson – and Steve feels like he could cry. They all took the time and effort to learn a whole different language, just for him.

He does cry, and it's all because of one Max Mayfield.

Hey, loser, she calls out one day when the two of them are waiting for the others, searching for him with her cane so she can stand in his direction. Are you looking at me?

Steve twists so that's she's perfectly in his line of view and then confirms.

Good, Max says in sign with a shit-eating grin, pose triumphant, Guess what I fucking learned how to do.

Just like that, there are tears streaming down his face. He tries his best to control his breathing while Max goes on.

Lucas showed me, she continues in sign. It was a pain in the ass because he had to keep moving my hands himself every time I got it wrong, but I wasn't about to let you guys have one over me.

When he doesn't answer, when he can't answer due to the huge lump stuck on his throat and the tears streaming silently down his face, she pauses. Then starts again, this time out loud, Hey, you know you have to speak to the blind girl, though, right? I can't see your hands.

Steve laughs wetly. Shut up. Language, Mayfield.

She laughs at the unintentional pun. Yeah, language. Oh, man. Are you crying?

Shut up, Steve says again. I'm gonna hug you now, okay?

She huffs. Sure, if it's to get it out of your system.

[myimaginarywonderland]

People mocked Fernando for saying Lance is WDC material but I really don't think many of you see the full picture.

Of course Lance isn't on the level like Charles was, he isn't seen as such a raw talent and I doubt any Lance fan would deny that.

But the thing is for a driver to be WDC material, the driver doesn't have to be one of the best there is. The driver just has to be good in a good car with a full team behind him to support him.

Nico didn't necessarily win because he was better than Lewis. He just capitalized in every way he could and got lucky for example when Lewis DNFed. Doesn't make his championship less legitimate just like Lewis first isn't less legitimate because he only won in with 1 point by circumstances.

To be a WDC you don't have to be the greatest driver ever, you sometimes just have to be good when others aren't.

When looking at Lance I think the one thing you can't deny is that he has an entire team behind him that will do the most to give him the best result possible. Could we say the same about Charles last year? Ferrari then fucked up multiple times with their strategy. It didn't matter than that Charles was an excellent driver when your team actively seems to be against you (seems being the key word since Ferrari is just a disaster all around.)

But even if you have an entire team behind you, see Lando, that doesn't help when they built you a dog shit car. They can be supportive all they want and you can be great as well but that doesn't change the fact that the car is actively preventing you from showing your full potential.

Or take it in George case. You come into a championship winning team with one of the best drivers ever, only for them to compleltly bottle the new car they build and seemingly lose the great all around package they once had.

The way all these teams are heading is frankly to disaster. They have all seemingly taken steps even further back then last year in some cases and if you are a young driver like the three mentioned, then you start to question where a future might lie with this team.

But Lance case is compleltly different. Lance has an numerous occasions even before 2020 shown how great he can drive in certain circumstances with the right package. And then, in 2020 when he had a car that allowed him to show his true potential he did show it but he also got a massive blow which was his horrible streak of being involved in accidents that he wasn't at fault for, basically being a passenger and seeing his results slip away from him.

And then in 2021 he had an entirely different challenge which was having a multiple WDC up against him whilst being in a midfield car. While that was a challenge, I think it was also a turning point for Aston Martin. They started planning, developing, heading towards the idea of a championship competing car. But they have always made sure to make clear that it will take time.

That the development to a car, a team that can win races, win championships takes time. And all that time Lance has been a constant in that team. Aston Martin knew that neither Checo or Seb where going to be younger drivers who would be their focus on the future. Both weren't drivers who would wait to win a championship since they have already been in the sport for so long or have already done that.

This is not meant disrespectful at all but if you want a younger driver to build a champion around, of course your focus will be on Lance. People like to say how long he has been in F1 already but also seem to forget that Max (someone who many considered a child prodigy) took 5 season before he ever was in a competive car for a championship. People also seem to forget that Lance even with all those seasons is only 24. He's even younger than Charles.

So,back to the point I was trying to make: Maybe Lance isn't WDC material in the raw race craft like Charles. He's also maybe not a strategic driver like George.

But Lance out of all these drivers currently looks the most likely to have a balanced all around package to be able to achieve a championship.

When Fernando says Lance is WDC material, he is aware that Lance can have incredible drives, has an entire team that is backing him, building a championship winning car with him and has gained enough experience to also know where he has to match and improve himself would he ever in a position for a championship. Aston Martin said they would take time and well, they seem to be building towards their goal.

[lovebillyhargrove]

Wake me up when July is around

Chapter 6

Chapter 7/?

***

Remember the yellow camaro, a glimpse of which we got in the Halloween party episode? I do.

And, imo, Steven extremely frustrated, sexually.

Also, Max hasn't met El yet.

***

On Monday Billy puts the tray on the table where Andy's having lunch with his girlfriend, takes a seat and asks:

"Your car runs okay now?"

"Yeah, man. You did a great job. No more funny noises or anything."

Billy knows that, but he's just checking.

"When's the race then?"

"Uhm .. Thursday? .. Friday?"

On Thursday Billy's working at the garage, on Friday some Susan's relatives from a nearby town are coming for dinner, so Neil has made it very clear - no plans for Friday evening. Gotta stay home and pretend to be a perfect family.

"Busy. Saturday?"

Andy's looking at Tina for confirmation and she nods.

"Yeah, alright. Evening time?"

"Anything after 4."

They decide to make it at six thirty, perfect time in terms of light. The sun is not gonna be getting in the eyes, but the visibility is still gonna be great. They talk some more about the track. Tommy who's been sitting with Harrington the whole time changes tables and is joining in because of course he has to, how can preparation for a car race between Hawkins High students can happen without him taking active part in it. Billy notices King Steve does not like it when his jester wanders off.

He gets distracted for a split second because

The King's pout is an entertaining sight.

But he quickly regains his focus.

The three boys choose an approximately seven-mile-long stretch of the road, starting from the abandoned Brimborn steelworks factory till the bridge over the Fall Creek. The track is almost a straight line with four or five curves, which aren't too tricky. Boys wanna rev the engines, but it's not Formula 1, there is no need to make it too dangerous. They will need people at the start, and at the finish. The road is on the outskirts of Hawkins, and rarely used, so the chance of running into cops is very little. As well as the chance of risking having a car coming towards you. Also, the guys who are gonna be waiting at the bridge can stop any vehicle coming from the other side of it, apologize for the inconvenience and politely ask to wait till the race is finished. No-one wants to come face to face with two wild teenagers' cars speeding on both lanes in your direction.

The Fall Creek bridge is old and has only one lane. Two cars can't possibly fit in there. Whoever's on it first, wins.

They are racing for the win, but also, to make it more interesting, for a six-pack. Tommy says he'll let everyone who might be interested in watching a race know, and people are gonna bring beer, so that everyone can celebrate, and at that all major details have been settled.

***

Nothing really happens this week, Billy doesn't even bug Harrington during basketball practice that much. Can't explain it, just doesn't feel like it. Maybe making each other's noses bleed has helped him let some steam out. Or maybe thinking about Harrington when Vicky's mouth was literally on his dick means that Billy should ease off for a while, let himself cool down. Besides, he's got other stuff to worry about. Like the upcoming race, he has to make sure his baby is ready. He's working Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and at the weekend, so when Vicky asks him if he wants to go out sometime this week, he has to blow her off. Billy tries to make a sad face like he's really disappointed they can't spend time together and asks for a rain check, but in his defense his plate is full these days.

Max, surprisingly, has been on her best behaviour so far this week. Always on time. He's seen her talking to the same boys from the week before, so she is hanging out with them. It's fine. Until Neil sees the whole gang. Billy just hopes she's gonna be smart about it and not bring anyone home. He should also probably warn her against mentioning "guy friends" at this family dinner on Friday. Cause the question about school and new friends will definitely be asked. If Max says, yeah my best friends here are actually four boys, they are the coolest, and she doesn't even have to mention that one of them is black, Neil .. he is not gonna be happy. Billy's not sure what's going to happen, cause he's never seen dad go after Max, everything is always Billy's fault anyways, so things might just get more chaotic in the Hargrove-Mayfield household. Or Neil's going to make Billy Max's watch dog 24/7, which is gonna be nauseating. So far he's been her chauffeur. However, Max is growing and soon, Billy's afraid, Neil will find the way to make it his problem.

It's only a year. Less than a year. Eight or nine months to hold out.

So yeah, it kinda happens that Billy robs Harrington of his attention this week, but Harrington seems to be the one asking for it? The slicked-and-styled-hair preppy boy is getting under Billy's feet, and on his nerves, the whole time during the game. As if his bloody nose wasn't enough. As if he wants more. Harrington throws subtle glances at Hargrove in the showers and during classes. The fuck he's doing that for, can anyone explain it to Billy? He probably wants to say sorry for being such a bitch about the room at the party last Saturday. When he fucking walked in on Billy getting a blowjob from Vicky in his majesty's quarters.

This is my room, get out of my room! Mommy, mommy, they are in my room, tell them to go away!

What a whiny ass.

No-one needs your apologies, you dick. Go figure your shit out with your girl better. It’s becoming more and more depressing to look at those two. They are gonna break up soon, that's for sure. There's something in them being together that just doesn't sit right.

***

The family dinner is boring and ceremonious, as expected. Why are adults always so fucking pretentious, like do they really enjoy it, do they feel comfortable like that? Or, it's not about feeling comfortable, it's about painting a pretty picture, rubbing it in the faces of others, look what a nice family we have, how well behaved the children are, how hardworking and serious the husband is and how good the housewife is. Who fucking needs it?

It's suffocating.

Billy wants to get out for a smoke, to take a breath of evening air

But he can't do even that now. Would be disrespectful, and they have zero disrespect tolerance in this house.

Susan's cousin, Aunt Shirley and her husband Uncle Dean are the hickiest hicks possible. Thank god they didn't bring their kids, if they have any.

Billy behaves himself very well in his light blue button up, which he ironed yesterday. He always takes care if his clothes himself, Susan never touches his stuff. Helps Susan set the table while Neil entertains the guests in the living room. He can see that Max is suffering too.

When they were driving home from school earlier today Billy asked Max if she had made any friends who are girls. She looked at him as if he was thoroughly stupid and exclaimed a defiant "Yeaah!??"

"What is her name? Or names?"

"Why do you care??"

"Just trying to be a good brother, Maxine."

Max scoffs

"It's not your business."

"Just tell me your friend's name."

"Just leave me alone."

"Tell me the name, and I'll leave you alone."

"It's uh .. Jenny. Jenny is her name."

"Jenny?"

"Yeah! Jenny!" Max is hissing like a cat. "The hell is your problem today?"

Billy doesn't answer this pointless question.

***

When the table is set and Susan takes meatloaf from the oven, there's usual dinner chichat

"Here you go, Dean. Shirley ..?"

Aunt Shirley is tasting the food

"Mmm, Susan, the meatloaf is amazing! Where did you get the recipe?"

"It's actually Grandma Judy's recipe, do you remember how she used to cook it?"

"I do! It's perfect!"

When the food pleasantries have been expressed, Neil and Susan talk about life in San Diego a bit and how they decided to move to Indiana to be closer to Susan's family and also because Neil wanted a quieter life.

"How did the kids handle the move?"

"Well, they seem .. fine, right, honey?"

"Do you like your new school, Billy?"

Uncle Dean is mostly busy eating, but his wife seems to be very talkative

"Yes, ma'am."

"Have you already decided what to do after it?"

Get the fuck away from here, that's for sure

"Are you planning to study or start working?"

Aunt Shirley does like asking questions, huh

"I don't think he has any chance of getting into a university. With the lifestyle he's leading? Partying and what not. Right, son?" Neil is cutting in

"Dad, it's not only .."

"When I was your age I already had two part-time jobs, and although colleges were not an option for me, I pretty much supported myself and have decided on the future occupation."

A piece of meatloaf gets stuck in Billy's throat and he coughs lightly

"I actually have a job, dad."

"Oh? A job?" Shirley's asking

"Yes, I fix cars in the .."

"I really don't know who would hire you. Just look at the haircut. And the pierced ear? Kids are given too much freedom these days, I swear."

Billy holds back an eye roll

Dean stops chewing for a second

"That's true, I don't remember having a haircut like this when I was your age, kid."

"If I were the one to hire I'd tell you to go to the hairdresser first, son."

Dad, stop.

Billy's biting his lower lip.

Fucking stop.

Susan is sing-songing an obliging

"Dean, would you like more meatloaf?"

"Oh I sure would love to, cousin."

She's looking at Neil.

"Honey?"

"Please. It's delicious."

Well damn, Billy hasn't even said anything, but he already feels like he's been covered in shit from head to toe.

Can we please just fucking get to dessert, or better skip it, and then wave you a heartfelt goodbye?

Aunt Shirley decides to switch to Max.

"What about you, sweetie? Do you like your new school?"

"Yes, I really like it. I've joined AV club, it's really interesting."

"What's AV?"

"AV stands for audiovisual .. it's working with audio or video materials, recording something, editing it .. It's fun."

"Oh. Sounds more like a thing boys would be interested in?"

"Uhm ..there are boys and girls, it doesn't really matter.."

"Have you made friends at school already?"

Auntie sure is a nosy one.

"Well, yes .. they are from the club mostly."

"Who is your best friend, sweetie?"

"Uhm .."

Max is quickly glancing at Billy, but his eyes are cast down.

"Jenny. Jenny is my new friend here. She's nice."

Susan remarks politely

"You should absolutely invite Jenny for a visit sometime, sweetie. Right, Neil?"

Neil's nodding and chewing.

Susan adds

"We'd love to meet her."

"Of course, mom."

At least, the shitbird had enough brains not so say something wrong. Susan's gonna be asking her about this imaginary Jenny now, but it's a problem for another day.

The adults finally leave the kids alone, and Billy can eat some food although it all tastes bland now for some reason.

Billy's used to being belittled in front of others by his own father, but it stings every time like a knee skinned afresh.

After dinner when Neil, Susan and the guests have talked some more in the living room, it is finally time to say goodbye. Auntie and uncle want to get back to their Hicksville before the darkness falls.

Max helps clean up the table and is allowed to go to her room. Billy's in the kitchen washing up. Neil comes to the kitchen from the bathroom.

"I'm disappointed in you, son."

You're always disappointed in me. The fuck did I do this time?

Billy's circling the sponge on the same plate, over and over, until he stops.

"Were you not able to answer the questions and maintain a semblance of a decent conversation? Sitting there with a long face and mumbling? What will they think of you now? That I have an imbecile with a pierced ear for a son?"

Are you kidding me right now? You interrupted me every time I was actually saying something!

Billy doesn't know what answer is expected from him. He squeezes out a robotic

"I'm sorry, sir."

Is the safest bet in most cases. Not in one hundred percent of them though.

Susan who is drying and putting the dishes away decides to ease the tension a bit. Once every half a year she does that.

"Neil, honey, please.. it was such a nice evening."

"And it would've been even nicer if my son here had put more effort into making an impression like he really cares about your family's visit!"

Fuck, dad, whatever I do, you're never happy. What the fuck do you want from me? You know what? I don't even care what it is. Just leave me the fuck alone.

Billy just goes on washing the damn dishes. What else is there to do, huh. Like he can start smashing plates on the wall.

Susan is actually trying her best

"Shirley and Dean are waiting for our call next week to let them know if we're going to come for Thanksgiving."

Oh fucking shit no

"I would really love to go. A whole lot of my relatives are going to be there, would you like to go, honey?"

Neil is considering the idea

"I believe it would be nice, to get to know everyone. We'll talk about that when we're alone though. Can you get me a beer from the fridge? Gotta catch up on the evening news."

Susan is handing him a can of beer and dad's off to the living room to watch TV.

It seems that Billy's off the hook for now.

"I can finish here by myself, Susan. If you have something else to do."

"Oh, would you really? I'll go sort out the laundry then. Thank you, Billy."

Not the fucking trip to another bumfuck town for Thanksgiving. Fucking hell, please no.

The evening sucked, but all in all, honestly, it could've been worse.

When Billy's lying in bed he remembers how his mom used to praise him when he was little. Doesn't remember much, cause memories have faded with time, but he can still hear her soft voice

You're doing such a good job, baby.

Billy's trying to hold on to these crumbs of memories. They keep on fading away, time is doing its job of erasing them slowly, and sometimes Billy wonders if he even had a mother. The notion seems like from another lifetime.

Maybe he can still do something right one day. Maybe he's not a total screw up.

Or maybe his dad's right.

***

When Saturday comes Billy goes to work first thing in the morning. He again checks his car, everything runs smoothly. Billy's kinda excited for the evening. What are the chances of having two camaros, identical models, in the same little town? While the other camaro is the original Z28, Billy's car is a bit different cause back in San Diego after hauling it away from the scrapyard he had to come up with inventive decisions to bring it back to life. Guys from the garage helped him get the hood for his car from a sports coupe camaro. It's also missing a badge, and it's been repainted.

Billy loves his baby to pieces.

He kinda doesn't care if he wins or loses, there's no shame in losing to this yellow black striped beast. When Andy brought his car to Old Joe's garage, complaining about the noises, Hargrove personally went through every tiny part, fixed the problem and now the engine worked like a well-tuned clock. Both cars are basically the same on the inside, they are equals. It'll probably be a draw. Billy can live with that.

They meet at a quarter past six near the Brimborn steelworks plant. Roy, Danny, Mike and Tina, as well a couple of girls whose names Billy doesn't remember are there. As soon as the race starts they are gonna jump in their cars and catch up with everyone at the bridge. They are gonna miss the finale, but Tina insisted on waving the checked flag - god knows where they got it from - and she demanded company.

At six thirty sharp the flag is waved and two cars take off from the start line. A Camaro Z28 can reach its maximum speed of 120 mph in under twenty seconds, so it's gonna be fucking fast.

It's a sight, these two, blue and yellow with black stripes.

The cars are going hood to hood, light to light, engines roaring, rubber squealing.

A couple of turns are behind, there are two more ahead, and although sometimes one car seems to get ahead of the other, they are moving in sync.

It's gonna be a draw. They'll be getting to the finish line in no time.

"There they are!" Vicky is shouting in a shrill voice

Harrington is watching.

At first he didn't want to come cause

Asshole Hargrove and the fight

But Tommy roped him in anyways

"Oh come on man, it's not like we're having a goddamn race here every day!"

All the people who are waiting at the bridge are watching, holding their breath. They've parked their cars at a safe distance from the bridge in the field and some kids are leaning on them, some are just standing near, but all of their eyes are glued to the road.

Both camaros are like two flashes of lightning, coming towards the bridge at a breakneck speed.

Billy releases the gas pedal just a little, then floors it with all his force, and the blue Camaro pulls forward, but just a couple of inches, at most

They are flying towards the final goal, and the bridge is right there, right in front of them, they won't fit on it together, with two lanes merging into one.

Why is neither of them slowing down?

Good thing Tina stayed behind because she would have a heart attack

It's not even a matter of minutes now, it's a matter of seconds

It's either one of them lets the other overtake him, and not by an inch or two, or they are gonna crash. At this speed? They are going to fucking die.

Hit the brakes, dammit! Someone has to give in

Andy needs to understand that Hargrove is not gonna slow down. It's not about whose car is faster anymore because they are both fast. It's about who's crazier.

Holy fucking hell, they're gonna crash.

One of them has to brake.

He has to.

Steve's heart is jumping out of his chest. This is too intense. This is also hella beautiful, watching these two beauties speed down the road

But one of them fucking has to slow down and let the other one win!

In the blink of an eye the yellow camaro drops the speed abruptly and swerves to the side, and Billy has a fraction of a second to turn the steering wheel and not crash into the bridge railing.

The blue car flies on the bridge and over it, and the yellow one is left behind on the side of the road.

Andy is getting out of his car and Tommy and other guys run up to him

"Dude, that was insane!"

Andy's shaking his head, not quite processing that they were this close to crashing

"No that .. that guy is insane. He's got nerves of .. of fucking steel. I swear I was ready to brake any second cause it was .. clear it's a draw but .. he had no intention of slowing down at all."

He exhales loudly

"I need a cigarette. Where's Tina?"

"She's coming, man, they're coming."

Billy's camaro is standing on the road for a minute, engine running

The hell he's standing there?

In a minute it's turning around and driving back over the bridge to the gathering of teens.

Roy, Tina and all the starting point crew arrive at the finish.

Tina is getting out of a red ford escort and running to Andy

"Baby, did you win?"

He's shaking his head again, still not being able to believe what just happened

"Nah. I thought it would be a draw till the very last second. Hargrove won."

At last Billy arrives at the spot where everyone's standing and gets out of his car.

He comes up to Andy, stretches his hand out for a shake

"Great race, Goldman."

Andy shakes his hand and Tommy gives Hargrove an already lit cigarette

Billy accepts, his fingers are shaking, just a little

Andy looks at Hargrove

"You're crazy, man."

Billy's chuckling nervously

"Yeah. My fucking bad."

Tina opens the trunk of the ford and hands Andy a six-pack which he gives to Billy

"For the winner."

Billy puts it on the camaro's hood. He takes out another six-pack from his own car.

"I really thought it would be a draw, Goldman. Your car is a beast."

It is, and Billy truly did. He just changed his mind last second.

Two six-packs, and Roy whispers something to Tommy and they go to Harrington's BMW and come back with even more beer, and Billy takes a can and after shouting

"To all fast and beautiful things in the world!"

He's shotgunning it,

Tommy yells

"Fucking preach!"

And the guys are whooping and more cans are being opened, and the girls are laughing and the beer flows, and the evening is relatively warm, and the sun almost reaches the horizon painting the sky and the clouds a beautiful palette

Heartbeats get back to normal, more or less

Andy turns on some music in his car and opens the doors

They are young, and still carefree, and no-one crashed during the race which is a good enough reason to celebrate

When Tommy comes up to Billy a couple of minutes later, Hargrove already has Vicky on one arm and Jennifer on the other, and Vicky looks like she's ready for a cat fight

"Dude that's the craziest car race I've seen. I mean .. at the fucking end of it .. dude."

Tommy is looking at Hargrove in awe. He looks at him like he wants to kiss him on the mouth but is never gonna

He turns and kisses Carol instead who's hugging him from behind

Some couples are dancing, Andy and Tina are making out

Harrington is moping cause he's without his princess

Someone says it's gonna rain because the clouds are building up, but no-one gives a fuck

And when the rain does pour down, and they dance and drink some more under it, everyone finally gets in the cars, soaking wet, laughing, drunk and happy

And so so young.

***

***

When Steve gets home that night it's close to 10 pm already. His dad is up in the bedroom and mom's watching tv downstairs.

"Steve, is everything alright?"

"Of course, mom."

"Where have you been?"

"Just hanging out with guys."

"But it's pouring outside?"

"Yeah, just uh .. it's not a big deal."

"Oh .. Dad and I wanted to talk to you about.."

"I know, I know .. colleges and stuff. Not tonight though, right? It's late."

"No, of course not. Also, not just colleges, you need to keep in mind other options as well in case .."

"Mooom. It's late, 'm tired. And I really need to change, okay? Love you. Good night."

"Good night, honey."

Steve takes off his wet clothes, jumps in for a quick shower, brushes his teeth. He's still feeling excited, from watching the race, from sensing the danger. He's known Andy for years, and despite the fact that the dude's capable of doing something crazy, like climbing on the roof of the house drunk to proclaim his love for his girlfriend, or, case in point, racing, he is generally in his right mind.

Hargrove, on the other hand? He's a total nutcase. Risking his life like that? What for? Why? Is winning so important for him? Or is it not just about winning?

Harrington was among those who were at the finish line, sitting on the hood of his BMW, and he saw the finale.

It's like Hargrove almost doesn't care if he lives or dies.

A race is a race, but risking your life for that?

Maybe Steve should be careful playing that game that he wants to pursue. He might be playing with fire. He probably should call it off before anything even started. A smart thing to do would be to stay away from Hargrove.

Harrington's not so sure anymore what he's doing.

That motherfucker is batshit crazy

Does Steve find it attractive?

Hargrove has been so distant this week, minding his own business, it was strange. Wasn't that what Steve wanted? For Billy to leave him alone?

Yes. But also ..

Also what?

Steve shakes the towel wrapped around his waist down, throws it on a chair, finds a clean t-shirt to put on for the night. He gets under the blanket without any underwear and turns on the belly, shutting his eyes.

He hasn't come for five days already. Last time he jerked off in the shower on .. what was it, Sunday?

Steve starts humping the bed slowly, his cock painfully hard.

He's grinding against the mattress, lazily moving his hips and thinking about today.

The sounds of engines roaring, impatient, hotheaded.

Music booming in the open air and rain coming down from the sky

He's thinking about the party when Steve walked in on that couple about to fuck right here, in his room.

He's seen Hargrove's dick in the showers. Not that he looked. How would it feel to .. to touch it? To feel its weight? How would it feel to be standing on the knees in front of Billy, looking up at his face?

He was here, in Steve's room. With his dick out.

Does he have sex like this too, unhinged and hot to the point of burning down to ashes?

Harrington's pressing into the mattress and then releasing the pressure, and he can feel his orgasm building, building to the point of..

Suddenly Steve opens his eyes

Ugh, fucking stop. You have a girlfriend. Just .. stop, jesus fucking christ, enough. Think about her boobs for christ's sake.

Steve hasn't seen or felt Nancy's boobs in a while now. Is this what a serious relationship is, is this what marriage generally is like??

Boobs. Boobs. He has to think about boobs. He grabs a playboy from under the bed in frustration, opens it at a random page

There they are. Nice and full and so soft to the touch.

Steve is back at humping the bed. He really needs to cum, his balls have been feeling literally huge for the last couple of days

The moment Harrington closes his eyes again

A sensation of Hargrove's body grinding on his own during basketball comes to Steve's mind and he moans in frustration.

Boobs. Think about boobs, come on now.

Steve's touching Billy's sweaty pecs with his elbow trying to push him away

But the asshole's persistent

What happened this week? Why didn't Hargrove bother him? What's wrong?

His mind comes up with another image that flashes through Steve's fogged up brain, it's Hargrove's nipple's grazing on Steve's elbow,

He's increasing the tempo

Fuck.

He really needs to come. To hell with it.

Steve stops running away from all these images.

He stops and lets them take over.

He doesn't need much, he's already on the verge.

The nipple .. small and hard, sliding on Steve's skin

Another flash is Hargrove's broad shoulder blades, Steve pictures him swimming in his pool, blue lights all around and he looks like a magic creature, only he's not magic

He's real

Very real

Steve loses all the rhythm, humping the bed erratically

How would it feel to .. fucking .. touch ..

Steve cums panting in his pillow.

He almost falls asleep like that.

When he cracks one eye open, he thinks that

He should probably jerk off before taking a shower next time

Whatever

He wipes himself with the sheet, throws it on the floor, finds some boxers lying near the bed, they smell clean

Tomorrow he'll definitely tidy up his room, all this stuff lying around

And sleeps without a sheet cause looking for a new one and putting it on the bed seems like too much work now.

The last coherent thought that Steve's having tonight is

Okay, listen man, that's enough. That's the last time you let yourself think about Hargrove. Stop doing that when you're pleasuring yourself.

Steve's very disappointed with himself.

However, the orgasm felt great.

***

Chapter 8

[thetwelfthcrow]

hi author! love your content especially your story racing heartbeats! i have two songs that i think fits with 4433. i was listening to the album lover by taylor swift and it hit me.

i think he knows

- “He got my heartbeat skipping down 16th Avenue.”

- “Wanna see what's under that attitude.”

- “I think he knows his footprints on the sidewalk lead to where I can't stop. Go there every night.”

- “I think he knows his hands around a cold glass make me wanna know that body like it's mine.”

- “He got that boyish look that I like in a man.”

- “He better lock it down or I won't stick around. Cause good ones never wait.”

- “Lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh. We can follow the sparks, I'll drive.”

afterglow (honestly the entirety of the song is so 4433 coded ESPECIALLY post abu dhabi 21)

- “I blew things out of proportion, now you're blue. Put you in jail for something you didn't do”

- “Fighting with a true love is boxing with no gloves. Chemistry 'til it blows up, 'til there's no us. Why'd I have to break what I love so much?”

- “Sorry that I hurt you. I don't wanna do, I don't wanna do this to you. I don't wanna lose, I don't wanna lose this with you.”

- “Meet me in the afterglow.”

- “Tell me this love is worth the fight.”

- “Tell me that you're still mine. Tell me that we'll be just fine. Even when I lose my mind.”

- “Tell me that it's not my fault. Tell me that I'm all you want. Even when I break your heart.”

god i am not a swfitie but that woman certainly knows how to write for this ship, huh!

i think he knows | lewis about max

- “Wanna see what's under that attitude.” this is soooo lewis to max like come onnn show me the true-true colours, show me your nice sides, show me when you just wake up and your guard's fully gone and your hair's a mess and you just want to cuddle. - “Lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh. We can follow the sparks, I'll drive.” yeah okay i'm convinced. this entire song is lewis serenading max. or maybe lewis dreaming of max, scared to do something about it.

afterglow | max about lewis, as you said: post AD21

- “Sorry that I hurt you. I don't wanna do, I don't wanna do this to you. I don't wanna lose, I don't wanna lose this with you.” this is 10000% max battling with how he wants the championship and how he's convinced he's deserving of it but also him not understanding that whether or not it's right/wrong, lewis is still hurting.

i have added both these gems to the 4433 playlist, thank you for sending them my way !!

this lowkey tempts me to make a racing heartbeats playlist so i can add a few songs per chapter, and then afterglow for the abu dhabi chapter. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[khaleesiofalicante]

Hey Dani! I'm so sorry you are sick, being sick sucks. I hope you drink a lot of water, eat and get lots and lots of sleep. That's the best thing about being sick. I got diagnosed with covid yesterday so I feel you. Sending you lots of strength and hugs🥰

Okay I was rereading some TLND Mavid chapters today because I need fluffy Mavid and TLND is my personal favourite Mavid fanfic (I love the others too but TLND was the first story of them I read and I feel like I am allowed to love them a tad more).

First of all, I missed that little gem here because I didn't know Jackson when I first read it and when I realized I kid you not I chocked on my water

Jackson throwing shade at Max will never not be funny. I love their relationship and I miss their interactions they are always top comedy😂 I miss Mina too though, if she was in Max's life in IALS I feel like everything would have worked out so much faster. Just imagine, the potential

IALS Max: David hates me

IALS Mina: *smacks the shit out of him*

IALS Max: Mina I'm serious!

IALS Mina: JESUS ARE YOU OBLIVIOUS?

IALS Jackson: God those two are meant for each other

IALS Mina: You have to deal with this too Jackson my man? Let's go for a drink

*They go for a drink and plan Mavid reconciliation*

Mina and Jackson supremacy, their brotp would solve everything wrong with my life. Will we get Mina in LBAF V? Please say yes🥺

I also read this in another TLND chapter and laughed so hard

Max blowing up his trust fund in every reality to buy David a house is simply amazing, that boy is whipped.

Okay, I'm done. I think rereading TLND for the millionth time makes me feel better and I hope reading Chain of Thorns will help you feel better. Books really are magical. Hope you feel better soon, allow yourself to get some rest and take the time it needs to recover🌷

Not covid! Oh, babe. I hope you feel better soon too. I'm manifesting clear throats and noses and airways for us because this shit sucks indeed.

And ahh! You noticed the Jackson thingy. I love him 🥺

I love playing with relationship dynamics in every fic. It really tells you a lot about characters and their arcs when you include or remove certain people from their stories. For example, if Mina had been Max's best friend in TLND, the fic (and his storyline) would've been very different. The fact that he had someone his age to rely on, someone who would've understood his pain and fears, would've completely changed everything. Similarly, I shudder to think what would've happened to IALS David, if Jackson wasn't part of the story. I literally shudder. These little things often remind me of how important friends are in our lives and how their presence (or absence) can have detrimental effects on our stories (just as much as a parent or a significant other)

We will definitely see Mina in LBAF V. Can't wait for you to read her reaction when she finds out Max got married in secret 🙊

And of course, if he doesn't blow up his entire life savings for you, then what's the point of them, really? Max is an icon. No one else is doing it like him oof.

I've been reading chain of thorns (and just reading in general after a long time) and I definitely missed it. It's so much more fun than writing lol.

LOVE YOU. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF 💙

[urdearestmom]

alright y'all I've recovered enough from vol 2 that I can now articulate my thoughts somewhat. here we go! I really want season 5 immediately but unfortunately cannot have that :( I will say that I think Stranger Things' episode Nines are just,,,, amazing. nothing so far has come close to my love for s2e9 except for s4e9. I think they're tied

ngl I was mildly concerned they were going to attempt some kind of redemption with Brenner so I was pleasantly excited when he continued to be as evil as he ever was :) El finally standing up to him and realizing she's not the monster, he is, was AMAZING and I loved how she just said bye and walked away. left him to die on his own as he deserved! Owens is still a shady guy but he's always on the gang's side (I'm just curious what happened to him? like did Sullivan have him killed? arrested? will we see him next season? I'm nearly certain we'll see Sullivan again because I don't think that subplot will be so easily resolved)

as for the rest of it, Eddie's death panned out pretty much exactly how I thought it would so I never let myself get too attached to him. what got me was Dustin's reaction! Gaten did so amazingly in that scene wow. Jason also died which was great for me because he was just insane at that point and while I kinda felt for him he was also annoying. sorry not sorry

Jopper finally getting together was lovely. I've never been overly invested in them bc they are so canon in my mind that I never doubted it would happen but it was great nonetheless. Hopper reuniting with El had me smiling so hard at the end bc for a sec I genuinely thought it was Sullivan coming to kidnap El and that was how the season would end and then it was just good ol' Hop :) El having a family like she deserves is my favourite thing!! Hopper and Mike also hugging caught me off guard bc I didn't think they'd do it but they did and I hope that leads to them having a better relationship!

now El getting picked up in the desert and blowing up that helicopter? TOP. TIER. I had my arms up cheering "HERE COME THE PIZZA BOYS!!!!!!!" and when you could see Mike getting out of the van being the first one to run to her, all in slow motion, my god. I was speechless. their whole reunion was gorgeous. El's disbelief, the forehead touch: chefs kiss. El hugging Will like that? best. I live for El having a family. El's brothers ftw

Mike's long-awaited monologue: WHAT. I was shaking and on the edge of my seat the whole scene. It will absolutely live in my head rent free for the rest of all time. I can barely even process it. He really said he's loved her since the moment he saw her I can't believe it. It's what I've been waiting for since I was 16 years old and it still feels surreal that he really told her all of that in words. Mike Wheeler, King of Not Talking About Any Of His Feelings Ever, really said all of that. Wow. Finn knocked that completely out of the park

Lastly, Max's death? HOLY SHIT. That one tore me up I was sobbing and yelling at my tv. I really love Max and didn't want her to die even though I had a feeling something else was still going to happen to her. THE FACT THAT THEY USED THE SONG FROM FINDING WILL'S BODY IN S1- JAIL FOR 1000 YEARS. Her dying in Lucas' arms and his reaction really got me. Both Caleb and Sadie did phenomenal work this season and made me love Lumax a lot more than I did before. Lumax OUTSOLD!!!! Max's little drawing and the fact that they won't get to go on their date and the way Lucas was sitting in the hospital with his beat up face reading her a book... I'm in shambles

El being there watching it happen while no one knew she was there was also heartbreaking

Mildly concerning that El couldn't find Max's mind in the void though, even if she is in a coma. El can find and even vaguely communicate with Terry who is in a vegetative state, so I'm not sure what I think will happen with Max next season. Guess we'll have to wait and see!

That ending too. Vecna's not dead obviously and Hawkins is... yikes. The cliffhanger makes it seem like season 5 will pick up where 4 leaves off and I am very excited to have a resolution!

This isn't even all I could say but I don't want this post to get super long so I'm just touching on the stuff that stuck with me

[tellthatbrokebitch]

holding you at arms length (even if i want you close) for fake fic title

oh immediately i know this is a fic in mike's pov. it spans throughout all four seasons and possibly after, and it details mike's internal struggle with how he feels about will. bc we know he's always been overprotective of will and after season one, it got worse and mike was just constantly worried about will. then for season three, it seemed to have shifted onto el - possibly a purposeful move on mike's part? like at some point between seasons two and three, he realized that he shouldn't be so obsessed with will and he tried not to care - only that didn't work out all that well, did it? el tolerated it at first, welcomed it even, until hopper and mike lying and max telling el that she deserved better. and while el's learning she needs some independence, mike is funneling all of that overprotective-ness into getting el back, and ends up hurting will in the process and driving a wedge between them

then between season three and four, they grow farther apart, with the missed phone calls and unsent letters, and mike hates it so much but isn't this what's supposed to happen? isn't this how guys behave, when childhood friendships seem to have run their course? only the thought makes it feel like mike's heart is cracking in his chest, and he tries to focus on being the perfect boyfriend but everything is blowing up in his face - and then it's just them again, him and will, and they have to find el, bc she needed them - needed mike - and he couldn't let anyone else down, right? not like he let will down. and maybe - maybe they can talk, after everything dies down, after el is safe and joyce gets back and there are some actual fucking adults around who know what they're doing and can take over - maybe he can sit down with el and have an honest conversation about their relationship, and whether it's healthy and whether it's real, and maybe mike can tell someone about the dark thoughts and self-doubt and the sadness he can't seem to shake

but then will brings out his painting, and it's beautiful and amazing and it's mike's - but it comes with all these words, about el and her thoughts and the way she feels, and mike can't - if el really feels that way about him, then he can't let her down, right? he can - he can be her lois lane, he CAN. even if it means he has to shove down all of his doubts and all of the complicated and simultaneously simple feelings he has whenever he looks at will or thinks about will - mike can do it

so he holds el's hand and tries to be what she needs, and when she's losing, he tries to give her strength, at will's urging; he tells her a lot of things, even some lies, and finally tells her what she wants to hear. and then afterward, everything's off. she knows he lied, he can see it on her face, but she waits until after they get back to hawkins to call him out on it

and idk what the end would be, probably el and mike talking about everything and mike finding out about the painting and mike confronting will and the fallout from that - and then bc it's me there would be i love yous and smooches and a happy ever after idk my food is getting cold

send me a made-up fic title and i'll tell you what i would write to go with it

[wrestlezon]

aew dynamite 9/21/22 liveblog containment zone

not doin a full liveblog play by play cuz im startin to write this like 1.5 hours in but ya know. also its after-the-fact subjective-opinion-review style

jericho vs claudio:

we started like 30-40 minutes late and my friends and i decided we didn't reeealllly need to watch it... theres not really anything for us to grab hold on here... if something truly insane and radical happens we could always just go back and check it out. i will say that there was a cool counter-move jericho did when claudio tried to do some jump-off-the-corner with him. as i was saying "so long as jericho doesn't win this" i clicked ahead right to jericho doing a low blow and winning it lmaoooo. daniel garcia looking so fucking miserable made up for it tho. he wishes jericho wasnt winning sooooo bad. same

swerve in our glory vs the acclaimed:

i wasnt super excited for this match because i knew it couldnt live up to the ppv one (which, yes, is a completely unfair conclusion to have, but more reasonable than expecting them to put out 2 insane banger matches in a row). i think all the hubbub of how aew should've changed their plans last minute and have the acclaimed to win at the ppv is weird and lame, and i don't like that it feels like this rematch feels like theyre kowtowing to that sentiment as a result. there could have been more interesting narratives there maybe!!! whatever, im not going to get mad about hypothetical better setups. the point is, i dont like the idea of an immediate rematch for a perceived course correction. i did i believe that if they were gonna give the acclaimed the tag belts theyd do it at grand slam because its in their home turf of new york and that makes sense. but the sheer scale of the hubbub makes it hard for me to stick to that >:/ its not like i even seek out annoying internet opinions on wrestling!! i actively avoid it!!!!!!! and yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ANYWAY... the actual match was cool and fine. cant get any more specific on how or why cuz my standards are still uncalibrated from their ppv match. that was soooo good. im an acclaimed fan so im glad they got the tag belts!! my favorite thing about this is that now i am guaranteed "more acclaimed matches" because they gotta do title defenses. i hope best friends dont fight them for a while so i can fool myself into believing they could win it off them. pwease mr khan throw me, specifically, a goddamn bone. if the two of them fight on the first defense i'll look like this:

;_;

backstage promo bit with ftr (and the gunn club):

the gunn club are heelin' it up and being obnoxious. i dont really follow ftr so i dunno what theyre up to at any given moment. if anything, this segment informs me that theyre gonna do gunn club vs ftr right away. my friends are absolutely pining for an acclaimed vs gunn club match just for the gunn club -> the firm -> mjf connection. utterly waiting for that max vs max encounter

yuta (and mjf) promo bit:

glad to see mjf on tv again. hes good at what he does!!! however i feel bad for yuta because micwork has neeeever been yuta's strong point and having him go up against mjf in a verbal back and forth is... a little bit cruel LMAO. on the flipside i do think its cool theyre having yuta and mjf here like this though. yuta is a big deal now! he never wouldve had a segment with mjf like this before! good for him. i do feel bad about him being put in a fight you can't win tho lol. good on him for beating up mjf in the end.

pac vs orange cassidy:

pac vs orange cassidy at... revolution? 2020? ruled, its one of my favorites. this match... was ok. also unfair to compare a ppv to a regular tv ep but still. it was weirdly slow in the middle. i didn't figure that orange would win the gold-- at least not the all-atlantic title. hes not really an international sort of guy, i dont think? there were good bits in it tho, i like orange's cheeky smile when pac stopped himself from going in the ring and later on orange's bit waiting for pac to jump off the corner. lmao he kept on pointing at his fist or his legs like hey come on. fall for my obvious trick please. :)c despite that though i felt the aloof:serious ratio was different in this match and i wonder if it was a one-off thing or something hes gonna do more going forward. much 2 look out for another thing i liked was afterwards bryce being like what the hell and pac being like ah yeah i got him with my elbow and then bryce picks up orange's limp arm and was like is that so????? look at him. hes fucking dead

toni storm vs athena vs britt baker vs serena deeb:

did i miss something. why are they having another 4 way womens match for the belt. i can't even enjoy this because britt baker is here and i live in fear of britt baker womans champ every day. i'd HOPE they wouldnt do toni storm dirty like that but i never know with the women's division!!! we caught up to the live feed by skipping the beginning of the match and i started writing this post because i was getting unnecessarily stressed out by The Fear. the submission hold back and forth trade with toni storm and serena deeb was cool though, bits like that def justify the tension of the four way free for all. i also liked athena's godmode look. white contacts are just too cool! i dont know saraya because i dont follow wwe(?) but she got a real big pop. im always excited for good gets for the women's division, especially since like... half of the whole division is out on injury (statlander...!!! 😭) WAIT I FORGOT MY AUDIBLE "UGHHH" AT THE HAYTER THING THAT IS AN IMPORTANT THING TO ADD. AUGHHH!!

moxley vs danielson for the aew world title:

mjf being highlighted in the background and watching the match from afar was funny. then they kept on cutting the camera to him? and it quickly became not funny. seriously, i was sick of it like by the third time and they did it like FIFTEEN times. i was holding out for it to build up to some sort of bit or scheme at the end but uh it didnt so my interim groan solidified into an actual groan. anyway all the mjf mugging distracted me from the match and i didnt see anything particularly standout about it i dont think? im kinda ehhh on the world title scene right now because i think theyre still in damage control mode post-punk so (shrug) ehh. im just waiting for this current angle to develop. whats that wacky mjf dude gonna end up doing

[the-firebird69]

The Trump clan is deteriorating rather rapidly and sooner rather than later they will be destroyed and we do have proof that that is happening that they are targeted and it is in what is happening in the eastern hemisphere for example:

-they are attacking five out of the nine bunkers in the northern continent to the north they are not attacking Iceland or Greenland at all either party but the five that they're attacking have bolstered beyond belief that's what it said and they have created barriers concrete ones knowing that Trump would be attacking in that location and on purpose and in order to stop them completely they do not want to see them doing anything we are in possession of more information that leads us to believe that they are completely fed up with this particular race and bunch of idiots as most people are they are tired of them imitating people and saying who they're imitating because they suck at their job they're tired of seeing their son doing two things at once and then saying all sorts of crap and our son just waiting because he's preparing something they don't want to hear this dumb s*** out of your stupid mouths about picking things and it's ridiculous it's little girl stuff like 7 year old girl stuff and you are held responsible for it and libel for it and they say it and they start killing you because you're so damn stupid there's more proof

-as you approach the bunkers they have laid mines and they know you're stupid and they do put more in and they have several areas where they access to put mines in and they're sick of you you know and very sick of you 50,000 mines at each location and they're good size and they'll blow the s*** out of a 20 mi tank and half of the troops with it that's like a 10 mi radius not diameter and they are in the mood to get rid of you they loaded up all day and night for weeks and they're firing heavy they see Trump falling in because he's such a nincompoop and can't do anything right at all he doesn't know how to write a purchase order at work at all in any way he couldn't figure it out or what our son was saying under a certain dollar amount you can write a purchase order for labor and materials it's called the labor and materials purchase order and it has like a sheet attached then it attaches it to are the existing contract or it has enough verbs to cover it and he didn't understand what the hell he's saying and it's like you don't want to go through like 50 pages and argue all the stupid s*** for one day at work and that's why people do it so he got all pissed off and he spent like a month asking all sorts of people and he said use your head you want to spend a year reading a contract for $500 and you'll never want to work with those people and he came back and said I get it now it makes it faster so you wanted to increase it to 25 Grand or 50 Grand and he went to Mr hodgdon who said no one 50 but 25 might work and they came up with a boiler please this is what he's like it was no big deal this is what he's like with her son he's an a****** and he doesn't do the simple stuff you request because he doesn't believe it and all s*** and he's saying this over and over and says this act is so f****** rancid why don't you just put a flag up that says I got all this stuff out of him. And he starts yelling I don't understand what you're saying oh there's the motif again I've been blessed so get a furnace big enough for two seriously what do you think I'm going to do to you with this big f****** mouth s*** and we just said that stuff to me cuz they don't want to die I suppose you probably died tons of times and it looks over at mark no it's Mr hodgen he says I've died tons of times sounds it when we got here anyways a zombie and he went to work on it it's like stop bothering this complete s*** out of me and stop saying you're my kid and the max eat that stuff up so he went to town and then they finally exist so the going around looking for him and you finding his guy saying that they're them and people got really pissed off and now they're going to get really mad

Thor Freya

Olympus

[kurt-wagner-official]

Post #90: XF issue 11 and UXM issue 213

Picking up immediately after the Power Pack crossover, Hank and Bobby are ambushed by some Morlocks who think they're Marauders. Masque is one of them, joined by Berserker, an electrokinetic, Scaleface, who turns into a giant lizard, and Blow-Hard, my new favorite superhero, who blows on things really hard. The fight is interrupted when Scott, Jean, Artie, and the comatose Warren arrive and clear the air, inviting them to come with them. Just before this, Artie, attempting to convey the message Warren gave him for Jean, shows her a vision of Warren hugging her, which makes Scott get all stoic and angsty again. When they get back to HQ, Scott and Jean take Warren to a hospital, while Berserker and his gang, who don't trust X-Factor, sneak out. They run into some muggers, who tragically shoot Blow-Hard and get electrocuted in response. Scott and Jean see this on the news in the hospital waiting room and jump at the chance to go beat someone up instead of sitting around. There's a quick interlude at a veteran's hospital in Georgia, where Abe Kieros, a mutant in an iron lung with the power to make stuff blow up, is recruited by Apocalypse. Catching back up to Scott and Jean, they arrive on the scene just as the cops murder Scaleface and injure Masque, making Berserker go crazy. Scott tries to subdue him but accidentally knocks him into the water, where he electrocutes himself. To Scott, this is just more blood on his hands, but to Jean, they saved Masque's life, and that's worth something. They get back to the hospital, where the doctor tells them Warren will live, but they had to amputate his wings. In the teaser for next issue, Boom-Boom, the mutant girl from SWII, has been working as a thief for Vanisher, an old X-Men villain. She quits and threatens to call X-Factor on him. The best parts of this issue were the scenes of recovery from the Massacre, and I wish there had been more of that and less crazy Morlocks. But it was still good overall.

Betsy takes center stage in the finale to the X-Men side of the storyline. She's using Cerebro to project her psychic self through the mansion, checking on the wounded and on the rooms of the missing New Mutants. Speaking of which, she and Doug have a weird flirty thing going on, which is so very creepy. Luckily it never goes as far as Peter and Kitty. Betsy feels out of place, not fully accepted by the X-Men. Her scans of the mansion are cut short when she detects Sabretooth entering the ground and tries to scan his mind, but is knocked for a loop by how evil his brain is, I guess. In the tunnels, Logan tells Ororo that the lightning blast wiped out all traces of the New Mutants scent. It also destroyed every last bit of the Morlocks home. Ororo wonders if its her fault; lately, there have been a lot of storms around when she's in a fight, and she fears her powers are coming back in a way she can't control. There's an interlude in LA, where Malice continues to stalk Alison, this time taking possession of her body. Back at the mansion, Anna hasn't stopped patrolling the grounds, and she's exhausted- an easy target for Sabretooth, who takes her down. He makes his way inside and attacks Betsy, who runs to draw him away from the injured Morlocks. She fights back with every weapon she can get her hands on, determined to protect people, but she's no match for Sabretooth. Logan returns just in time, though, and starts fighting with Sabretooth. Max and Ororo plan to join in, but Betsy tells them that as long as Sabretooth is distracted with Logan, she can slip into his mind and get information. Ororo tells her to go for it, and she succeeds, although we don't get to see what all info she got. When Sabretooth realizes what happened, he jumps into the lake and escapes before the X-Men gang up on him. Ororo, Logan, and Anna, the only X-Men left, unanimously offer Betsy a place on the team, which she accepts.

This might be my favorite Marvel crossover ever. It's also, I think, the most complete loss the heroes have ever had in an event this big. At this point, mutants are Marvel's most successful franchise, and Claremont and Simonson could have just coasted on that. But instead, they chose to write a story that would take several of their most popular characters out of the books and set up a bunch of bold new plot threads. I think, more than any other evil team we've seen, the Marauders are the anti-X-Men. The way they synergize their fighting styles and have a bunch of different little interpersonal relationships is very reminiscent of what makes the X-Men so interesting, except they're also completely devoid of morals. They'll be a big part of the franchise for the next few years, and bring out sides of our heroes that we haven't seen before. And even beyond them, there were so many plots set up for all three books. I've been looking forward to getting to this story, and it did not disappoint.

[emo-floof-child-writes]

Day 028: Terminal.

Featuring Will Byers, El Hopper and Dustin Henderson. Vecna is here too, I guess.

Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair and Max Mayfield mentioned.

1,341 words. Disclaimer; this is just a theory that I doubt will be canon but I very much enjoy. Also, almost posted this on the wrong account again. (Someone help me).

Will grabs his neck, as a shiver runs up his spine. He's active again. He realizes with an unavoidable dread. He looks around the room. He and the party had decided to have a sleepover, because it's been ages since they have all been in the same place. Well, expect Max. When he learned about her coma, he was distraught. While he and Max weren't particularly close, seeing the toll it took on El and Lucas made him want to break down. He never wanted to see their faces that broke up ever again. It made him want to erase that monster from existence himself. And he would try his hardest. But how can I do anything? All I have done up to this point is be stuck in the toxic environment that is the Upside Down for a week, then have a shadow demon play spy in the back of my skull. I'm not cut out for this sort of thing myself. 

He looks around the room. Mike is sleeping on the couch, with Lucas half under the small coffee table in front of the couch. He can hear Dustin snoring from somewhere in the room, and he doesn't see El, but knows she must be here somewhere. Will  shrugs, and stands up, only to hear footsteps behind him. “Will.” El whispers. That would explain why I couldn't find her. She was right here that whole time. They share a look that can only be described as  sibling understanding. They both nod, as they creep out of the room, on their tiptoes, in the vain attempt to not wake the others.

 “What are you guys doing?” Dustin asks, standing in the doorway as if he hadn't been laying down and snoring not three seconds prior. Maybe he was faking it? Or has he really become that light of a sleeper since we last hung out? Will supposes that with all the Upside Down nonsense one would have no choice but to sleep with one eye open constantly. El frowns, looking at Will for support. Oh, right. Should probably explain why I'm up and leaving the room at this hour.  Will clears his throat, and lifts a finger to his mouth to shush Dustin, who must've never been taught what an inside voice is. “My neck is doing the thing...” Will says, and Dustin tilts his head with a frown. “Vecna is active again.” Will adds for more context, and Dustin gasps.

“And you two were just gonna go off on your own without telling us?!” He whisper-yells, making Will duck his head in shame. Truth be told, his plan didn't even include El, but she was here, and she wasn't gonna be told off no matter how hard Will might try. “He hurt Max. Need to stop him.” She says, and Will sighs. El always says things so plainly, and simply, it's a skill that makes me jealous. A guy like me can barely clear things up for myself, let alone come up with a simple explanation or thought process. Dustin folds his arms. “Look, I get that, but we work best as a team, so let's wake the others, and beat this son of a b!tch.” Will nods, knowing he was outnumbered. He follows El and Dustin back into the room, and he feels something warm run down his nose.

He frowns, lifting his hand to his nose. He glances at his finger to find blood on it. “Will?” El asks, before a gust of wind blows through the house, and he hears a chime. He whirls around, the house seeming to spiral and spin with him, until he locks eyes with an old grandfather clock. It has a slow, swinging pendulum and he feels the chill go up his neck again. Wait a minute, isn't this what Max said happened to her? But why not? He got enough victims to do what he wanted right? “Will Byers.” A bone chilling voice hisses from everywhere and nowhere. None of his friends are there, all the furniture is dusty, as if it hadn't been touched in years. “H-Hello?” Will says, scanning the room for the origin of the voice. This can't be happening... Not now! “You need not fear me, Will.” The voice says. “After all, you are like me.” A tall man with blond hair and pale skin looks down at him. Vecna.

“What's going on? Why am I here? Didn't you get what you wanted?” Will asks, making the man chuckle. “Mostly, yes. But unfortunately, Max Mayfield is somehow alive despite my efforts.” Will smirks. “Yeah, and she'll remain alive, as long as I draw breath!” He snaps, confidence coming from somewhere within him. Vecna sighs. “See, that's not entirely true. As long as the powers of the ‘sensitive’ kids exist, she can survive. And if you kill me, she dies, as the Upside Down and I are connected.” Will chuckles. “So what I'm hearing is El can bring her back?” He asks, and Vecna scoffs. “Not quite, as long as she is in this fugue state, she can exist, but Eleven does not possess the power to wake her up. She isn't strong enough for that. Only someone of my strength could do that. Only one who has truly touched the Upside Down; tapped into it, if you will, can free her.”

Will chews the inside of his lip. Wait, I've done that, with the whole ‘Mind Flayer in my head’ thing. And he said I was like him, right? Will stares at Vecna, his eyes steely. “So, let me see if I'm following this correctly,” he says, walking back and forth to think. Vecna gestures for him to continue. “You said that she can be awakened, by someone with the same power level as you, right?” Vecna nods, with a furrowed brow as if he hasn't picked up on Will's thought process yet. “And that they would have to have a connection to the Upside Down, yeah?” Any color left in Vecna's face dissipates as he catches on to what Will was implying. Will lifts his hand, trying to channel what he's seen El do countless times. Please work. He begs the universe, and Vecna slams into the far wall, causing a loud crash.

“You won't have enough time to get to my physical body! Your friend will die before you get to kill me!” He cries out, and Will grits his teeth. He could be bluffing, but can I really risk it? He closes his eyes, and he feels his neck tingle again. What if I use the inner knowledge I have to find his real body, and destroy them both? He grunts, extending his other arm out towards the door, imagining him dragging the body of Vecna to him. He's not going to win. He's not going to win. Will lets out a yell, and the light fixtures around him blow out, causing sparks to fly and Vecna gasps for breath. “What— what are you doing?” He wheezes out, and Will grins. “Killing two birds with one stone.” Vecna lets out one final gasp, before deteriorating  into dust. Will groans, collapsing to his knees. El and Dustin kneel down next to him.

Mike and Lucas must have awakened, or been woken up, as they run over too. “You okay, Will?” Mike asks, and Will coughs. “I think so.” Dustin sighs. “Bro, do we have to worry about people getting Vecna's again?” I sniff, wiping away the excess blood from my nose. “I don't think so. For one, I think I banished Vecna from my head, another being that I'm not sure that was even his goal.” They all start to ask questions all at once, like “what was his goal?” and “What do you mean, ‘banished?'” but I wave them off. “Not now, I'll explain later. I have something more important to talk about.” I look over at El and Lucas. “I think I know how to bring Max out of her coma.”

[ziauhh]

My void Journey

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Hello my Hottie bitches, so you all have been requesting me so much for my void success story so here i am with my Badass success mf hope y'all gonna enjoy ♡

Backstory:

Now i was like you guys before i entered the void i would always be looking at succes stories, keep finding more n more void motivation asking Loa bloggers asks etc until i realised till when i am trying to do all this till when i will depend on others, if i keep making excuses then i am better dying like this so i got my shit together and head off towards the VOID 💩

How i entered the void:

I laid down and relaxed my body

I cleared my mind with a meditation

Then i started to affirm " I AM VOID"

Now within a few minutes i got the floating feeling my whole body got numb i couldn't feel anything and then i felt like something is consuming me like i am going into a black hole i knew i was so close to the void so i kept affirming and within a few seconds I WAS IN VOID so i affirmed for all my desires i used blanket affirmations like " I have all my desires, i have all my desires from my notes app etc" then i relaxed there for a bit and said i am out of void and so i was. But the feeling i got after coming from void was so different because i knew i got all my desires, THEY ARE MINE PERIODT damn and then i fell asleep.

My experience of waking up with my desires:

So my alarm rang at around 7 a.m, so i took my phone to turn it off but then i was like wait is this my phone i checked on the phone and it was fucking IPHONE 13 PRO MAX in Black then realisation hit me and i was like 💀 WTF i manifested my dream life although i wasn't shocked because i shifted to a reality where i always had this but it was still crazy, then i turned on the internet and notification started blowing on my phone 😱 I checked on my insta and scrolled over to see my posts and then another realisation hit me when i saw my own damn pics like it was my db and df LMFAO i was looking so stunning like a fucking Goddess 👀, so i ran up towards my bathroom to see myself in the mirror and i can't believe THIS IS ME THIS GORGEOUS LADY IS MEEEEE : ) then another realisation hit me when i saw my bathroom it was so luxury i can't so i checked up everything in my room after then, my closet which has all my clothes from the pinterest board IMAO and each and every corner of my room was how exactly i wanted it to be, then i again came back to my bed and saw a Good morning message i checked it out and it was from a mf hot guy 😳 he was so hot and handsome and guess what he is my Bestie 😭 ( soon to be boiifriend 🙌) i was literally drooling over him all this time we talked for half an hour and then i heard my mom calling me for breakfast so i went down to have breaky but i was too stunned to speak not only because of the view of the house but also seeing that my parents and my brother looks so much different they all looked like Rich asses dipped in some gold IMAO i thought it was all a dream 😭 like how can i end up having all this but IT'S THE FREAKING REALITY, anyways then i took a nice shower chose a pretty dress from my closet and watched some Netflix ( i am a trendy whore ) then in the eve i went out with my friends for shopping we clicked a lot of pics and hung out it was so fun. It was the best day of my life i have never experienced that before. I never thought that there would be something like void which would change my life completely. Everything is so mesmerizing i can't i am literally gonna cry but i have to say I LOVE MY FREAKING LIFE NOW BECAUSE THIS. IS. WHAT. I. DESERVE 😭💕

What all i manifested:

Waking up in a whole ass mansion

Luxury cars

50k in my bank every 24 hour

Rich ass parents

Desire face & body

Being smart af

All past grades to straight A's

Iphone 13 pro max

Other apple products

Perfumes

Best school life

Everyones crush

A guy bestie ( soon to be boiifriend )

And so much more ........ 🙌

Teaser:

I will share my Video/picture proofs with y'all of all my desires soon don't you worry but idfk when maybe after few days or weeks maybe when i think it's time to share but don't brag on my asks saying when are you sharing it i will but when i want.

PS: Will share my real insta id too @

🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆

Yeah that's the end i hope you liked it sexies 👀💜

Love

XoXo : )