#every time I start getting a bunch of new followers I'm like oh what did musk do now and go check

[asleepinawell]

I feel like I should be handing out coffee and blankets to the latest round of twitter refugees coming here

[somethinginthewayiam]

The girl behind the bar (Part 1)

pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x plus-size reader

warnings: language, high-quality banter

words: 2.7k

Summary: You freshly moved to San Diego and were in desperate need for a job. That's how you wandered into the Hard Deck, following the "Help Wanted" sign in the window. Not only is it your first time working in a bar, the crowd it hosts is also very new to you and one navy pilot in particular managed to get under your skin quite qickly...

a/n: I've started working on this story back in November 2023 and haven't touched it since February 2024. I'm halfway through the main story line but I'm kinda stuck. I hope showing you guys gets the wheels working again. Feedback is much appreciated!!

Link to my masterlist

“Hello?”, you asked as you entered the bar. It was a big room with a round bar counter in the middle of it. Tables and booths were spread across the space and hundreds of beer mugs were hanging from the ceiling. But besides that, the room was empty.

“Hello?”, you called out again, a little louder this time. An older man came through a door to your left, a dish towel hanging over his right shoulder and a trey of empty glasses in his hands. “Oh, hey there”, he said as he laid eyes on you. “Hi. I saw the ‘Help wanted’ sign outside”, you explained your early visit to the establishment, pointing towards the door.

“Penny!”, he called out. “Oh no, my name is Y/N”, you corrected him. “Penny’s the boss, darling”, he said and walked past you with a grandfatherly smile to put the trey on the bar counter.

“Sorry”, you said and felt your cheeks burning up. Great first impression, you thought to yourself with embarrassment. “What is it, Jimmy?”, a tall brunette came out of the same door the man had just appeared from. “This girl’s here for the job”, Jimmy told his boss and pointed at you before he started putting away the glasses under the bar.

“Hi”, you said to her when she looked at you. “Penny”, she said and extended her hand with a smile. “Y/N”, you replied as you shook it. “Come with me to my office, I got a few minutes”, Penny said and led you to a booth nearby.

“So, you want to work at a bar?”, she opened the impromptu job interview. “Ehm, yes”, you said and it came out like a question. “Have you ever worked at a bar?”, she asked further. “No, but I learn really quickly and I’m good with people”, you hastily explained. “Tell me a bit about yourself”, Penny continued with a warm smile.

“I just moved here from New Jersey. Two days ago, actually. I’m a hard worker and I really need the job to pay rent, so you can be sure I’ll show up every day super motivated”, you told her and tried to cover your anxiety with humor like you always did.

“This bar is the hot spot for the naval base her in North Island, so a lot of guys with all sorts of ego and authority issues. You’re sure you can handle that?”, she asked and narrowed her eyes a little bit. “I had all kinds of jobs dealing with difficult people”, you shrugged your shoulders. “I’m confident about handling a bunch of drunk guys”, you continued.

Penny looked at you in silence, contemplating your words. “Alright, let’s try it”, she finally said after what felt like forever. “Really?”, you asked surprised. “Yes. We are closed on Mondays, so you’ll have to work every day for the rest of the week. We’ll talk again after your first weekend shift, they’re our busiest nights. If I’m happy with your work and you’ll like it, too, we’ll see where we go from there”, she explained to you and a big smile formed on your face. You shook her extended hand, sealing the verbal contract.

“Jimmy will show you anything. We open at five”, she said and scooted out of the booth and led you over to the bar circle. That was in three hours, you noticed as you looked at the big clock hanging on the wall behind the bar. Suddenly you became very nervous. Somehow you hadn’t thought that you would be working the same day.

She formally introduced you to Jimmy, the other bartender that was working here and that Penny got along with the bar she had purchased three years ago.

“Disrespect a lady, the navy or put your cellphone on my bar – you buy a round. These are the three golden rules in this bar”, she said as she recited the plaque that was hanging in the middle of the bar circle on the middle counter. “If anyone disobeys the rules, we ring the bell”, she continued and reached her hand out and rang a big bell that was hanging from the ceiling and the loud noise rang through the empty bar. “And then what?”, you asked a bit irritated. “Then they have to buy a round for the whole place”, she answered your question with a smile that let you know that she liked it when that happened.

“Wow, that sounds expensive when the bar is full, right?”, you asked. “It is and therefore the rules shall not be broken”, Jimmy chimed in and a deep chuckle escaped his lips. You had to chuckle, too, at his words. “And if they can’t pay, it’s Overboard”, he added and winked at you. “They get thrown out”, Penny answered your inaudible question as you raised your eyebrows. “Okay”, you said and it sounded like a question. “Just wait for it, you’re gonna love it”, Jimmy told you and knocked on the bar counter.

“Okay, I’m gonna leave you two for now. Jimmy, you’re gonna take good care of our new girl”, Penny said and walked out behind the bar. “Sure thing, boss”, he promised with a nod. “We’ll take care of the paper work tomorrow”, she said to you before she left through the door again.

Jimmy spent the rest of the time until opening to give you the basic instructions on how to pour the most common drinks, work the register and running tabs.

Your first ever shift in a bar, you spent mostly handing out drinks that Penny or Jimmy had prepared, opening bottles of beer and cleaning up the empty glasses off the tables. Before you knew it, Penny called out the last call of the night and sent you home as you had finished cleaning up.

Your feet hurt like hell and your back was killing you when you fell into bed but you were happy that you had found a job. Penny and Jimmy seemed nice and you were sure you would get the hang of the whole bartender thing.

Two days later you worked your first Thursday, which according to Penny, would be your first busy night. You had the basics somewhat down but you were still nervous about the evening rush.

You had just started your shift and always spent the first hour restocking the bar, checking the register and wiping down the counter one more time.

When Penny opened the doors at 5 PM a few people already started to come in but thankfully it was still slow going. Penny went back to her little back-room office at the end of the little corridor where you would also find the storage room and the restrooms for the guests.

You were at the bar alone and spent your time cutting some limes. A man sat down at the bar, putting his phone on the counter. “Hi, what can I get you?”, you asked him as you noticed your new customer and wiped your hands on your apron. “A Whiskey please”, he said and gave you a friendly smile. He looked a bit older, maybe in his early fifties? But he still looked very good.

You nodded and grabbed a tumbler from under the bar. Then you turned around and looked at the dozen liquor bottles behind you. You had no clue what a Whiskey bottle looked like.

“Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey”, you mumbled to yourself under your breath. Or so you thought.

“On the far right”, you heard behind you. When you looked over your shoulder, the man pointed at the right end of the line of liquor bottles. You smiled apologetically and walked over. You still didn’t reach for a bottle immediately. “Second from the right”, he added and you finally found the right bottle.

“Thank you”, you told him with an apologetic smile and felt your cheeks getting warm. You were sure they were turning a red color as you filled his glass about an inch tall.

“I’m still new”, you explained your incompetence for fulfilling a simple drink order. “They often keep them in alphabetical order”, he told you and winked at you almost in a fatherly manner, like he had shared a secret to life with you. And in your current situation, he really did.

You turned around and looked at the bottles from left to right. “Huh, she really did. Thank you”, you said to him when you turned back around. “I’ll pretend I didn’t just notice that after three days of working here”, you told him and made it sound like you were sharing a secret with him, too. He chuckled into his glass before he took a sip. His phone buzzed and when he picked it up, he turned away from you to answer a text.

You turned around as well and took a look at the line of liquor bottles, trying to memorize their order. “Y/N, can you get this in the back and bring the next case of beer?”, Penny asked of you as she appeared in the circle. “Yeah sure”, you agreed and took the empty box from her hands.

“You gotta be kidding me”, you heard her say and thought she was talking to you, but when you looked up, you saw her staring at the man with the Whiskey.

“Pete”, she said. The man looked up and turned back around. “Penny?”, he asked, clearly surprised to see her here. And yet this one word carried so much, you felt like you shouldn’t be here.

“I’ll get the beer”, you excused yourself and left the two to themselves. Before you finally left the room, you turned around at the door and saw how they looked at each other. There was definitely some history there. You bit your lip to hide a smile and finally left for the storage room.

When the evening rush hit, you were overwhelmed by the number of orders coming from every side. Damn circle. The three of you tried to handle every order as fast as you could. Penny and Jimmy had a certain ease to them, moving quickly but without haste. You on the other hand ran around like a startled chicken, always bumping into Penny and Jimmy and seemingly always being in their way.

“Here you go”, you said as you handed three bottles of beer to a man, putting the money in the register, already receiving the next order from a woman to your left.

A blonde man in a khaki navy uniform appeared through the crowd, commanding his place at the front of the line. “Three beers”, he said. “Just a moment”, you told him and bent down to grab the tall beer glasses for beers from tap and walking over to the middle of the circle to fill them up.

“Come on, I ain’t got all night”, he said with an annoyed tone in his voice after just a few seconds of waiting. “I’ll be right there”, you told him again, sounding more and more desperate.

You didn’t pay him any more attention as you were in the middle of drawing a beer but he suddenly appeared again in the corner of your eye. When you looked over, you found him behind the bar, just grabbing three beers out of the cooler and prying the caps off with the metal opener. “Hey!”, you called out, putting down the glass you were holding. “Put them on my tab”, he just said and walked in front of the bar again.

"I don't even know who you are", you said surprised by his cockiness. "Name's Hangman. And you gotta be quicker if you wanna earn some tips, sweetheart", he said and winked at you. "And you will never drink here again if I ever catch you behind my bar again", Penny said as she appeared behind you, handing two tumblers with a brown liquid to another guy at the counter. "Your girl needs to be faster if she doesn't wanna start a riot", he said with a southern accent and a cocky expression on his face before he turned around and disappeared in the crowd. You noticed him coming back out at the dartboard as you couldn’t stop looking at him. His boldness fascinated and angered you to no end.

“Hangman…is he for real?”, you asked Penny when you turned around again. “That’s his call sign as a pilot. They all got one”, she explained to you as she added the drinks to his tab. “Most of them go by their call sign even outside of base”, she continued. “His real name is Jake”, she added, all while keep preparing drinks and handing them out. With a cock of her head, she motioned you to open some beers and she handed them out.

"You can't let them walk over you like that, you need to command your space. And your space right now is this bar", she told you. Normally you weren't too shy to talk back, but since you were new, you still needed to test the waters. But you took this as Penny's permission to be a bit mouthier to customers if needed.

You looked over at the dartboard where Hangman played with another guy in Khaki uniform. “Jake”, you mumbled his real name under your breath. And just like he had heard you, he looked over to you, winked and threw the dart into bulls eyes while still looking at you. He probably expected you to be impressed or swoon, but instead you rolled your eyes so hard at him that you feared they would get stuck.

A little while later, when the rush was over and you had time and room to breathe, Hangman and two of his buddies came over for another round. "Three beers, sweetheart. And don't make me come back there again", he said and gave you another wink, paired with a sly smile. It took everything you had not to pull a face of disgust.

Pretty boys like him always thought they owned the world. You learned quite early on that guys like him never even looked your way, let alone were interested in you. And because of that you learned to push down any interest you might have in them and cover it with sarcasm and wit.

Instead of an answer, you opened three bottles and placed them from right to left, Hangman being the last. "8,50. 8,50. 12 Dollars", you said as you placed the beers in front of the men. "Hey, why's mine more expensive?", Hangman asked with knitted eyebrows. "Douchebag tax. And don't call me sweetheart", you told him and now it was your turn to shoot him a cocky grin while you collected the money from his friends.

“You wanna pay cash or want me to put it on your tab?”, you asked him, an image of innocence. He looked at you a bit stunned by your boldness. He probably wasn’t used to be spoken to like that.

"Come on, I ain't got all night", you told him and let him hear the impatience in your voice. “Put it on my tab”, he answered after a few moments, unsure what to make of your behavior and took a sip. You turned around and put his latest drink into the register.

“Anything else I can get you, gentlemen?”, you asked but looked only at his friends. They answered with a smile and a shake of their heads, seemingly enjoying the way you treated their friend and colleague.

The three of them kept sitting at the bar but you took care of other customers.

When Penny rang for last round, she served them their final beers of the night and closed their tabs as you started to collect the empty glasses from the tables.

Just as you walked past the dartboard with a full trey of empty glasses and bottles, Hangman took a step back and smashed into you. The glasses clinked together loudly but somehow you managed not to drop any of them. Your whole body stiffened until the glasses stopped shaking.

“Whoa, gotta be careful there. You don’t want 7 years of bad luck if you break them”, was his only comment. Not sorry for running into you because I’m too arrogant to be aware of my surroundings. “I already met you tonight, it can’t get any worse than that. Also, that’s mirrors not glasses”, you told him with an annoyed sigh and let the unspoken jerk hanging in the air as you walked back to the bar.

“Oh, we’re gonna have a lot of fun”, Hangman said to himself under his breath as he watched you walking away.

next chapter: Part 2

[talaok]

ok first of all, I love your writing!!! a scenario just popped into my head and I found it so funny, the reader and Pedro have been dating for some time, Pedro doesn't want to have children but you were always good with children and after a children's party you went together and he realized (or thought) that you were strange when interacting with the children (which would be just tiredness) made him nervous and anxious thinking that you were frustrated because you wanted children and he didn't, during the night he can barely sleep and that means he gets up early and being impatient waiting for you to wake up, and at the first sign that you are waking up the first thing he says is: be honest, do you want to have children? and the reader is confused like dude it’s 7 am wtf??? I leave her answer and the end up to you and your incredible imagination, kisses 💋

Pairing: Pedro Pascal x reader

a/n: no bc bestie I genuinely love this idea so much like omg im sorry if i didn't do it justice but tomorrow im getting some very fucking important news and my mind is a bit all over the place

"Auntie!" 

Your beaming niece ran to you as soon as soon as you stepped into the backyard.

"There's the birthday girl!" you grinned, picking Nora up to give her a tight hug

"I missed you!" she squealed, as her small arms reached around your neck "You never visit anymore"

You snorted "Did your mom tell you to say that?"

The way your sister was biting down a grin told you all you needed to know.

"no" she mumbled, making you huff a laugh.

Your sister was raising the perfect actress.

"Well aren't you miss popular?" you gasped, looking around at all the children running around the place "These all your friends?" you asked, as she turned to follow your gaze

"yep" she nodded proudly "I basically know every kid at school"

"well there's something you didn't take from your mom..." you joked, raising your eyebrows at your sister

"hey!" she shot you a look

"I'm just saying" you shrugged "I don't remember your birthday parties being this big"

"oh shut up, you're one to talk" she rolled her eyes.

"hi Pedro!" Nora noticed him as he walked into the backyard with your sister's husband.

"hi Nora" he smiled, walking closer

"Is it your fault that y/n never visits anymore?"

Pedro was very much taken aback by the bluntness, but all you could do was chuckle.

"oh my god, I'm so sorry" your sister intervened, taking her daughter from you "Here why don't you go play with your friends?" she suggested, making her comply immediately.

"I swear I didn't tell her to say that" she promised, looking as mortified as she sounded.

"I know Alice" you grinned "don't worry"

"I'm sorry Pedro" she turned to him nonetheless.

"It's fine" he smiled that charming smile of his 

"Nora's just very..."

"Exuberant" her husband finished the sentence for her

"yes, exactly" she nodded

You laughed softly "That's definitely one way to put it"

The next hour was spent chatting at one of the tables Jeremy, your sister's husband, had set up on the lawn, and as you talked and ate, and drank more champagne than water the tiredness started to really make itself heard.

The flight from LA to Washington was six hours and a half, so you had to travel during the night, and as much as you wanted to sleep during it, you never were able to do so on planes.

So you were basically only running on coffee, and not even the good kind, no, the shitty airport one.

A tug at your hand brought you out of your own thoughts.

"Auntie!" your niece was saying

"sorry" you smiled down at her, setting your glass down "What's up sweetie?"

"come play Simon says!"

You had to fight the urge to groan. The last thing you wanted to do right now was to play a game with a bunch of screaming children.

"right now?" you asked

"Yes"

"but-"

"c'mooon," Nora moaned, jumping up and down a bit "I want you to meet my friends"

You sighed slightly as you stood up 

"lead the way birthday girl"

And as you disappeared behind a tree, dragged by your own niece, Pedro couldn't help but think

That was weird

And that same thought continued making its way into his mind over and over again.

You've never hesitated when it came to playing with Nora, you loved that kid so much you would have given her the world on a silver platter had she just said the word.

You weren't constantly taking pictures of her because you "wanted to remember every single moment with her" as you insisted every time, you weren't smiling every time you just looked at her either, and you weren't even entertaining the kids like you always did.

Fuck, Jacob and Alice used to tease you every time saying that they didn't need entertainers for her parties when you were there, that's how good you were with children.

Not that today you weren't good with them, Pedro could see and hear the laughs you'd elicit from the small crowd, but still, he couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong... and that he had something to do with it.

You were asleep beside him, and he didn't know if it was because you were in your sister's guest room and not in your own bedroom, or if was because guilt was clawing at him from within, but as much as he tried to sleep, his body opposed to it.

He was looking at you... so peaceful, so pretty, so beautiful and all he could feel was guilty.

He had racked his brain as to why you were acting weird for hours and then finally, thirty minutes ago he'd finally got it.

It was his fault

Of course, it was.

The only thing that had changed since you last saw Nora, was that talk you'd had that day at the park.

God, he was so goddamn stupid.

"Another reason as to why I don't want children" 

He'd said it so casually too, as a stupid joke, like it was nothing, without even thinking that maybe that's not what you wanted, that maybe he was ruining everything.

And now he'd fucked everything up, and panic was rising in his chest so fast that he worried in mere minutes he was gonna go into cardiac arrest.

And yes you'd told him you didn't want children too, but maybe you just said it because that's what he said and you probably hated him and-

Fuck were you ever gonna wake up?

he had thought about doing it himself but then realized how bad of an idea that was when he was halfway into shaking your arm.

He needed to talk to you. Now.

He needed to know, and to beg you, and to tell you to forget all about what he said at the park because it all went flying out the window when it was about you and-

Your eyelids fluttered, and shit but for a moment he pondered the existence of a god.

A whimper left your mouth as you readjusted your head on the pillow and he couldn't hold it anymore.

"Be honest"

Your eyes flew open in shock as your heart skipped a beat.

"Holy fucking- Jesus!" you breathed "You scared me, Pedro"

"Do you want children?"

Your eyes widened even more as your features filled with confusion 

"What the actual f-"

"I know that I said that I don't want kids, and I know that you agreed with me, but if that's not really what you want or if- if you changed your mind I want you to know that I-"

You propped yourself on your elbows to get a better look at him.

Was he fucking high or something?

"Pedro first of all it's..." you trailed off, glancing at your phone and groaning when you read the numbers on the screen "Oh my god" you sighed, running a hand down the length of your face "and second of all, what are you talking about baby?" you sighed, your voice softening as you took in his worried face for the fist time since you'd opened your eyes.

He took your hand in his

"I'm talking about the fact that I take it back- that if you want to have children then I'm sure I can make it work, that I love you y/n, and I don't want to lose you and that-"

"lose me?" you frowned, trying to squint your sleep away "Children?" you shook your head, trying to make some sense of what was going on "Pedro I- I'm sorry I thought we'd agreed neither of us wanted children?"

"Yes, but I understand if you've changed your mind"

"Why would I have changed my mind?" you asked, sitting up "Where is this coming from?"

"I just-" he looked like a sad puppy with those big brown eyes of his "You were acting weird today at the birthday and I couldn't help but think that-"

"That I wanted children?" you smiled, doing a poor job of hiding your amusement

"Well...yes"

"oh my god" you breathed, moving some messy hair out of your face "I was tired baby" you explained with a grin "I didn't sleep for shit on the plane and I wasn't exactly feeling like running around kids like I usually do"

Now was his turn to frown

"Really?"

"yes!"

"O-Oh"

"yeah, oh" you shook your head, still unable to get rid of the smile on your lips.

"Well this is embarrassing" he let out a low huff "I just... I don't know-"

you sat up to get closer to him as you inspected his face.

"Oh baby," you cooed, stroking his cheek "Did you even sleep?"

"I tried to" 

Your lips pulled into a sorry tilt as you intertwined your arms behind his neck.

"I don't want children baby" you said "I love our life exactly as it is"

"I'm sorry" he murmured

"No don't be" you shook your head, letting your forehead meet with his "It was kind of sweet to be honest" you beamed, leaving a quick kiss on his lips

"Did you really mean it? that you'd have children if that's what I wanted?"

And when he looked at you now, you felt as if he was staring right into your soul.

"Sweetheart" he murmured "I'm not sure there's anything on this earth I wouldn't do for you"

[mochinomnoms]

For something fun and fluffy, perhaps trying to recreate a recipe from your home with Jade? Only you don't recall the recipe except for the bare basics of the version you made for your family. It's not exactly... single serving. So it's just attempt after attempt of more food than you can reasonably eat.

Can you sell this? Is it even tasty?

“...”

“...Jade?”

“...Yes?”

“It's not meant to be bubbling like that.”

“I figured.”

“What did you add?”

Jade turned to you, silent and smiling. He looked really good, few of his top buttons undone, and his lavender sleeves rolled up. You huffed, tapping your fingers against the countertop impatiently. Jade simply closed his eyes and tilted his head.

“Jade, was it mushrooms? Did you add mushrooms?” You sighed, pinching at his cheek as he chuckled and leaned into your touch. “You did, didn't you!”

“Fuhuh~ I was curious!” he laughed, reaching his arms around your waist to bring you close to him. “I didn't expect it to start bubbling and turn pink.”

“You know, Azul only let me use his supplies in exchange that my recipe gets placed on the menu. He's gonna be so pissed when he finds out we wasted a bunch of ingredients.”

You sighed, resting your hands against the sides of his head and rubbing his cheeks with your thumb.

“I just wanted to try and make my grandpa's recipe, he used to make it for family events and stuff. I missed it.”

Jade clicked his tongue and cooed at you. “I'm sorry my dear, why don't be clean up, and I'll personally purchase you new, fresh materials to start again? I'll follow your every instruction this time.”

“Every one?”

“Each,” Jade placed a kiss on your nose. “And every one.”

You laughed, squinting your eyes at him in mirth.

“Even the ones where I demand a kiss?”

Jade smile turned into an amused smirk, his eyes lidding as he leaned down to hover his lips over yours.

“Is that what you want me to do?”

You held your breath, face growing warm as you smiled.

“It's what I demand~”

Jade hummed, “Oh my, then excuse me for making you wait. I'm more than happy to oblige.”

And he indeed did, one of many.

[libraford]

Have you shared the story of you joining the track team with us? I feel like you have but I can't remember any details.

I SHALL TELL YOU A TALE OF PURE FOLLY!

The year us 1999, I am in seventh grade. Like most seventh-graders, I hate everything that I am forced to do but I especially hate Pep Rallies. They are hell for my tiny little social outcast ADHD brain: loud noises, forced enjoyment of an activity, sports, pointless interaction with people I can't stand, and the potential for relentless bullying afterwards.

So we had a pep rally.

And I, for the first time in my rules-following life, decided to skip.

My class filed into the gym, I ducked into the bathroom, and waited for the sound of the doors closing.

Problem was that I didn't think I'd get this far and I've never been in the habit of delinquency, so I had no idea what to do next. I started wandering the halls just a little bit, testing out the freedom of having broken the rules, going down hallways that weren't part of my routine...

...when I heard dogs barking.

You see...

...the pep rallies weren't exactly about basketball. The pep rallies were an excuse to make lots of noise so no one heard the police dogs when they came looking for drugs in people's lockers.

And I am not where I'm supposed to be. I am where NO ONE is supposed to be. And I panic, because if I show up to the pep rally late they are going to notice.

I did not think this through.

So I start looking for somewhere to be while the police are searching for worse criminals than myself and I see a bunch of students in the cafeteria. One of them is a friend of mine, so I wouldn't be completely out of place in this location, so I came in and sat down next to her. A roster is being passed around and I sign it so that I can say that I was accounted for during the pep rally in some way.

The teacher who is heading whatever this is stands up in front of this group and says:

"Thank you for coming to the track and field tryouts. You've all made it in."

Uh...

...woops.

I think I'll just sit through this one meet and then quit. People do it all the time, I don't think anyone would notice.

Except that this is a small town and everyone knows everyone- so the teacher/coach helpfully informed my father that I'd joined the track team voluntarily and in no way was it a mistake of any kind.

My whole family is sports nuts. My dad was in charge of the sports page at the news paper, my mom will talk excitedly about college football, and my brother has excelled in every sport he's ever been in.

I'm a textbook case of Not That. Art student, lead violist, and the most exercise I get is dodging projectile rocks on my way home from school.

But my dad is SO proud of me when he hears about it. Lee is doing a Sport? A Sport that's physical? A Sport with a team? A SPORT!

Like... he bought me new shoes and stuff to clean the shoes with and all kinds of first aid stuff for my muscle pains and oh my god for the first time in his life I was in a SPORT!

(Just to emphasize- he has always been PROUD of me. He thought I was a genius because I showed him how to make chocolate dipped strawberries at home without a fondue pot like... he's pretty sure I'm going to save the world somehow. But this was the first time that I had ever shown even the smallest bit of interest in doing a Sport, which is HIS special interest and now we can BOND!)

So I try.

You know... I hate running.

I actually have a condition caused by a childhood illness that impacts cartilage development as well as asthma from a bronchial infection when I was in 5th grade.

But my dad came to all of the track meets that he could and I was so deep into the lie that quitting now would break him.

So I try my hand at non-running events: shot put and discus. I'd still have to run during practice, but I was allowed to go off and do Not Running for a little bit.

I can't remember the actual numbers or anything, but I remember that when I first did shot put with proper form, the coach kind of turned her head sideways and said 'damn.'

So turned out that being at the roly-poly stage of my larval development meant that I was still learning how my personal body chemistry affects the build of muscle. The answer is 'very quickly.'

It starts getting hard to find shirts that will fit my biceps and now I'm in trouble for wearing non-standard issue tank tops to school from practicing shot and discus.

If this were a movie, it would mean that suddenly being a jock meant that I had been accepted by my peers and something something Mean Girls something something. But no, because having incredible muscle as a thirteen year old did not do anything to disspell the rumors that I was a lesbian and unfortunately I was still bullied relentlessly. Nor did I ever throw a punch because I don't like hurting people and no one ever taught me how to fight. But it did mean that I had a handful of girls ready to use teeth and nails to defend the shot put champion.

Which is important because I was the ONLY shot put and discus thrower in the school.

And as I found out- the district.

I went almost an entire season without competing against a single person, winning the event by default.

Until the semi-finals.

And I did have to compete against an assortment of other thirteen year olds that were just now learning that they had upper body strength. But because they ALSO were the only ones competing in those events they had never competed against another person either.

So we all sucked.

I got gold in shot put. Bronze in discus. But to their credit there were only three competitors.

Huge fucking deal for my dad.

Not a huge deal for the rest of the track team, who all did really poorly in most events BUT throwing events, which meant that this was our last game of the season.

And so ended my short, accidental career as the middle school shot put champion.

"Did you try out again in 8th grade?"

Fuck no. I hate running.

[thegoldencontracts]

(Overlooked Aspects Of) Cater Diamond

Okay, so to start off, this post is not intended to judge anyone. All headcannons of Cater are completely valid, and I would not only not mind - but also actively appreciate - if someone wanted to make corrections or arguments in reblogs or comments. This is just an analysis of parts of Cater that I believe are not given much focus, and would therefore like to highlight. With that being said:

Cater Diamond is a very complex character beneath the surface of a friendly, Magicam-obsessed senior. Definitely more to him than meets the eye. There's obviously the fact that he's certainly not as happy as he claims to be, but less frequently mentioned is the reason why.

Cater's Lab Vignette introduces this aspect of Cater's character, with the storyline of him making mandrakes with Lilia and Vil. The mandrakes are said to reflect the traits of the person infusing magic into it, and Cater's-

Vil: Oh, dear... This mandrake's hugging its knees and huddling in place.

Cater's also mentioned to make a bunch of mandrakes and hide the ones that don't fit the happy 'Cay-Cay' image. In a way, this is also an analogy for himself, hiding the parts of himself that don't seem perfectly upbeat from others.

Now, why exactly does he behave this way? The most common answer is usually that his sisters forced him to conform to their standards of cuteness, and that in pleasing them, he developed his current facades of a perfectly cute and happy senior. And although his sisters likely did play a part in it, there's also another reason for the distance he puts between himself and others.

In Cater's Halloween Vignette, he mentions the following:

Cater: I guess I have a wide circle of contacts, sure. My dad works at a bank that has branches all around the world, so every time he was transferred to a new office, the whole family went with him. We moved about once every two years. I'm a real pro at packing by now, lemme tell you. ... Cater: But for all the people I met, one thing never changed( ...) I would always leave, and they would always stay. That's why I always tried to be on good terms with everyone, rather than forge strong bonds with a chosen few. Like a circus performer who has a grand old time with people from around the world, and then packs up and moves on. In that sense, Magicam's been seriously great because I can get messages from people I knew at school three years ago. I can have all the casual connections I can handle. And that's just my speed, right?

Essentially: Cater's moved so often that he's adapted to forming shallow connections with everyone he can rather than actually trying to bond with him. He wants casual connections, because that's what he can handle. He views people rather impersonally, because he knows that he'll have to leave them eventually.

And that's likely a major reason for the facade he puts up. He's afraid of being vulnerable. Of forming a bond with someone and getting attached, only to have to leave them behind eventually. "Cay-Cay" the agreeable senior is a tool to form these casual little connections and play nice without getting attached, so that, when he inevitably has to leave, he doesn't get his heart broken.

This also leads to and explains another aspect of Cater's character: His occasionally questionable morality.

Cater had frequently displayed a willingness to trick people into doing his bidding. Not evil, by any means, but still questionable. There's obviously his introduction in Book 1, where he straight-up tricks Ace and Deuce into doing his work for him, and there's also scenes like Jade mentioning he'd like to have Cater as an older brother, one of the reasons being-

Jade: ...His ability to collect and disseminate information on Magicam is mind-boggling.

Basically, Cater is willing to use other people to do his bidding, and part of this stems from the fact that he's always keeping them at an arms' distance. You know, nothing personal, bud, just how the world works.

Anyways, in short, a large part of Cater's facade is caused by a fear of vulnerability stemming from the lack of permanence in his life, and that also affects his willingness to use other people.

With that being said, one final thing. The fic that inspired me to put all these thoughts about Cater together into one post. Its take on Cater's family is super refreshing!

The Company's Quite Nice (On Crimson Nights Like These)

[darkcircles4lyfe]

This doesn't have anything to do with anything, but i had a talk with a friend a few days ago, about shonen biasis and the way this shapes our expectations, and mha came up so i remembered how so many people apply those biasis HEAVILY into the manga, to the point that they sound like they're looking for a different story.

And one of those things that it seemed to be MOST talked about is exactly bkdk's relationship.

I have seen many times people from the fandom (sometimes really angrily) point out how in most cases Katsuki seems to basically take up not one, but four roles in Izuku's life and this includes putting him in situations that people associate with the MC's love interest, and it is weird that, despite Izuku "having a girl" for people to make assumptions about, he seems to completely repulse any female character that could be the counter part to Izuku's.

And this made us wonder if Katsuki's placement in those roles and lack of interest was made specifically because the author precisely did not want the actions that both do for each other as romantic but a whole another thing entirely, as a subversion for the these classic tropes, as he did by making the conflict between Ochako and Himiko not a "rivals fighting for the affection of a boy" but something that is connected to the plot of these characters instead.

Oh you bet! I am always down to talk about this, because I think about it a lotttt.

This reminds me, recently I remembered a funny habit I used to have with books I read. Like, back in middle school. I used to start by flipping directly to the last page and reading the final sentence. Usually this did not spoil anything whatsoever, but sure enough, by the time I read through the whole book, that sentence would take on new meaning.

So I started musing about what it would be like if only I could do this with bnha, if everything was already out. It made me feel so nostalgic…

Will the last panel be something grand, or something small? Hopeful or sad? Distant? Intimate? A parting message to the reader? Will it look like almost nothing of consequence to the unknowing eye—yet burst with hard-hitting subtext?

Of course I wonder about all the twists and reveals that might be still ahead of us, but it’s kinda soothing to think about how the whole thing could be put to rest. Because then I realize I’m not worried.

For once, this is not because the story is following so many tropes so predictably that I know exactly, in so many words, how it will end. It’s more like the story is a close friend who I’ve gotten to know well enough that everything they do is so “them” it makes me smirk. I'm often marveling at how Horikoshi has managed to pull all this off. How is it that (at least here in the west) people who aren't really paying attention call it basic and cookie-cutter. Even a Japanese animator called it "classic," and this interview shows such obvious dissonance between Hori and the interviewer, just... wow. But it's so clear that bnha has broken just about every rule in the book at this point, so much so that I struggle to condense it into words. I'm like--*gestures broadly at everything*--why haven't more people picked up on it??

Yet we still get bombarded with people saying "it's a shonen, c'mon, we all know how this will end." Um. No you don't. I KNOW there has to be a bunch of people who are secretly frustrated by Kacchan taking up all the roles and getting all the moments. It's not even in a mysogynistic way, because Kacchan is the most anti-dudebro character imaginable. Bkdk's relationship isn't intended for them and they know it... and you know what, I'm starting to ramble. You've heard all this before. The thing I should really be focusing on in your ask is the part where you mentioned how you and your friend were speculating about bkdk ending up as "a whole other thing entirely" rather than simply romantic.

Well, fuck it, I've been biting my tongue, but now might as well be the time I talk about this. I got into a bit of a disagreement with someone over it once and then I shut up. Because it's very difficult to approach the subject without being lumped in with those people who see bkdk as "brotherly" (ew) or otherwise try to push some "crisis of male friendship" agenda, or at the very least without being accused of enabling people to make excuses against bkdk being canon ad infinitum. So let me be clear that I do NOT want bkdk to have an ambiguous or open ending. I want their complexity and importance to be acknowledged. I want them to use their words. I think we may have created a bit of a false dichotomy there.

I am aromantic, and to suggest romantic relationships are inherently the most important and intimate goes against every fiber of my being. I also reject the idea that cut-and-dry gay representation is more desirable just because it is more easily understood by the masses than aspec representation or representation of relationships "beyond" both romantic and platonic. We recognize how ridiculous it is for people to expect Izu*cha at this point, right? Well, the reason they're so confident anyway isn't just because of heteronormativity. It's also because of amatonormativity, the assumption that romantic attraction trumps all: no matter how much focus bkdk get, Izuku blushed at Ochako, so that automatically makes them more "important." THAT is the notion that I want to challenge most. More than anything, I want bkdk's relationship to be fully acknowledged because they have so much more going for them than just attraction.

You and your friend make an excellent point, that it would be very much in line with Horikoshi's taste and the patterns of his writing so far if he chose to subvert the shonen romance trope not just by giving it to two boys, but also by disregarding its premise entirely. It's unlikely he'd try to stuff them into such a copy-paste ending right at the end.

So maybe they won't get the blushy confession, the obligatory kiss, the wedding, the 2.5 kids and a white picket fence. That's fine, we shouldn't pretend those tired tropes are suddenly revolutionary just because they're gay. But don't be disappointed! Without them, we have more room for things that are actually personally meaningful to bkdk to stand out and receive the nuance they deserve: talking through their feelings openly, building each other up like no one else can, understanding each other like no one else can, smiling at each other, embracing, holding hands, rushing to the other in the hospital, being glued at the hip (or even closer), healing mutual trauma, putting each other first in all things. Maybe we'll also get confirmation on Ochako's side as she moves on from her crush on Izuku. You know what other shonen manga took this exact angle as a way of subverting tropes and presenting genuine complexity? Blue Flag! There are so many ways to do bkdk justice.

Even a kiss isn't out of the question, if the right opportunity comes along. A perfect example of what I'm talking about is Good Omens (major season 2 spoilers) because the kiss between Crowley and Aziraphale was not at all about canonizing them. It was an expression of pain and desperation that just made sense at that particular moment. Neil Gaiman was adamant that if it took that kiss to understand the context of their relationship, you really weren't paying attention. I respect the hell out of that.

Recently I was even daydreaming about bkdk getting something similar to the sort of uh, shall we say tasteful nudity, that togachako got, because of how Izuku appears in the vestige realm.

Ya know like not in an nsfw way but in like a "this is so deeply intimate and soft that I feel like I'm intruding" kind of way... yeah. Because it represents vulnerability and openness and acceptance of someone as they are. And I don't care if people call that bait. It's not. It's beautiful. It’s honest.

[sunflower-lilac42]

ꨄ 𝗵𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 ; 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 ꨄ

➪ summary: aubrey goes to alex's first home detroit game and when she meets one of his teammates, she realizes that he's going to be different then all the rest

➪ warnings: none? i think

➪ word count: 1.8k

➪ file type: au (once in nine lives) fic

➪ sunny's notes: i am so so so excited for this au, so send in thoughts whenever you please. the biggest help is @slutforseider so if the idea isn't mine it is probably hers tbh. but like i said, i'm very excited for this au so hopefully it'll show with my writing

au masterlist || nhl masterlist || navigation

It wouldn’t be Aubrey’s first hockey game she’s been to, not even her first Red Wings game she’s been to, but it would be the first time seeing her brother play on the team and meeting the team. Alex was her number one supporter and she was his, so when she got the news that her brother would be living practically thirty minutes away from where she went to school, she was more than thrilled. 

She wore her new Alex DeBrincat jersey, loving her name plastered on the back of it. She always wanted to get a jersey for every team her brother played for and sharing their last name saved her money. She met up with Lyndsey two hours prior to when they had wanted to leave there and Archie ran into her arms as soon as he laid his eyes on her, “Hey little man.”

“Auntie Aubrey!”

“You excited to watch daddy play today?” Archie nodded his head ecstatically. 

She looked at the two of them in the mirror, fiddling with his jersey, “And look, we match!”

He grinned up at her, content with staying in her arms for the rest of the night. She talked with Lyndsey until it was time for them to go, both of them getting into their respective cars and making their way to Little Caesars Arena. As they got out of their cars, Archie begged his mom to hold his aunt’s hand on the way in and she agreed, grateful for the moments her sister-in-law was around.

Aubrey talked to Archie excitedly about the game tonight and about Alex playing as they made their way to where Alex had said to meet them. As Archie continued to walk, he grew tired and asked Aubrey to be picked up, which she did without question. Alex stood talking with some of his teammates as the three of them arrived, immediately stopping their conversation to walk over to them.

“Hi!”

Lyndsey kissed him before turning her attention to her son and his aunt, both of them giggling at each other. Alex walked closer to them, poking Archie in the side to gain his attention, “Daddy!”

Aubrey handed him over to her brother, smiling slightly at the interaction, “Hey bud. You excited for tonight?”

“Yeah, me and Auntie Aubrey are going to make fun of you the whole time.” 

She let out a nervous chuckle, “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Her brother raised an eyebrow before setting his son down to hug her, “Nice to see you, Aubs.”

“You too, Lex. How’s the team doing?”

“Good, good. I think we got a shot this year.”

She smiled at him, “Good, you deserve it.”

“Come on, let me introduce you to them.”

The three of them followed after him, passing by a few of his teammates along the way before stopping where a large chunk of them were. Alex gained their attention and he looked between his family and his team, “Guys this is my wife Lyndsey and my son Archie. And this is my little sister, Aubrey.”

His eyes darkened before looking at the younger ones of the bunch, “No dating her, no touching her, don’t even smile at her.”

“Lex…” Alex held his hands up in defense before continuing, “And, this is our captain, Dylan Larkin, Ben Chariot, Lucas Raymond, Jake Walman, Simon Edvinsson, and Moritz Seider.”

The three of them nodded and waved, Aubrey trying to keep her emotions in check. But her mind didn’t stop her as she started spitting out random facts at them, “Oh yeah, Lark had a 13.1 shooting percentage, Ben you had 19 points, and Lucas had a 29.4% face off win percentage, Jake had 47 hits, Simon had 13 shot attempts and 5 shots, and Mo had 40 penalty minutes-”

She looked at all of their faces, “I did it again, didn’t I?” Alex nodded, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, “It’s fine. I guess I would like them to know you’re nerd now rather than later.”

“Uh hi, I go to Michigan and I’m studying sports management. That isn’t usual, actually yes it is. I tend to blurt out facts when I’m nervous or I’m meeting new people, it just-” She took a deep breath, “Sorry.”

The boys stared at her in awe and Alex wasn’t having it, “Okay pretty and smart, we know. Time to go, you three.”

Aubrey didn’t have to be told twice and immediately rushed out of there with Archie and Lyndsey in tow. The whole game Aubrey felt embarrassed by what had happened, if it was anyone else she would’ve been fine with it, but her brother’s teammates? Her brother’s cute teammates? She felt like she could cry. 

It wasn’t often that she found her brother’s teammates cute, and it was often that the attraction that she felt for them was this strong. Sure she would find the occasional teammate cute, Lukas Reichel, Alex Vlasic, Brandon Hagel, Kirby Dach. But it wasn’t like she was attracted to them, mostly because she knew she wouldn’t be allowed to date them. 

However, this time around, she couldn’t help but find one of them attractive, nor could she help the feelings that she might’ve already had for him. She shook her head as she continued to watch the game and make comments about her brother with Archie, she was not going to let herself fall for one of his teammates, it was forbidden. She couldn’t break the one promise she had made Alex, the one promise she was determined to keep. 

After the game, the three of them met up with Alex once more, Archie taking his post-game nap on Aubrey’s shoulder. Archie truly loved Aubrey, he would always be by her side when she would come over, always asking to hold her hand when they went out, always asking her to do stuff with them. Since he was born, the two were attached at the hip, and everyone knew it wouldn’t change. 

She kept her grip on her nephew firm, not wanting to startle him by any sudden movement. Some of the players came out a little too loud and she immediately shushed them, she wasn’t going to let anyone wake Archie up, if she knew them or not. The players who had passed them apologized softly before moving on, some of them even patting his head gently as they walked out. 

Alex walked out and she cursed mentally when she saw him walking beside her brother. Of course this would happen to her, one little slip up and the Universe was trying to make her pay for it. She smiled at Mo and her brother, still keeping her grip on the boy, “Nice game, guys.”

“Thanks Aubs, how long has he been asleep for.”

“Probably like five minutes before we got here.” She handed him over to him, watching as he and Lyndsey walked out of the arena.

The two stood there awkwardly, none of them sure if they should start a conversation or just wave goodbye and leave. And just as Aubrey was about to do the latter, he spoke up, his German accent making its way to her ears, “So Michigan, huh?”

She nodded, “Yeah, they had a really good sports management program and it was close to a hockey city, so it was kind of fate.”

Mo stuck his hands in his pockets, “I’m assuming you like hockey then?”

“Yeah, both of my brothers played it but I could never. So when I figured out I liked math and that sports had a lot of statistics, I fell in love with it.”

“Math? I’ve never understood it.”

She chuckled, “A lot of people don’t but that’s also kind of what I love about it. It’s like I know something that people don’t in a weird way.”

The two started walking, both of them not wanting their conversation to end despite how awkward it was. Aubrey thought back to earlier and blushed, “I’m sorry about earlier. Or not sorry to you but to myself.”

“It’s okay. It’s really impressive actually. You said I had 40 penalty minutes last year?”

“Yeah.” She took her hands out of her pockets to fiddle with them, trying to focus on something other than her small nerd outburst from before. 

“That’s cool. So what other things do you know about me?”

Her eyes widened and looked up at him, “What?”

“I figured if you knew my penalty minutes from last year there must be some other things you know about me, hm?” He smirked, stopping and looking down at her. 

“Oh, uh.” The blood rushed into her cheeks, turning them a color close to maroon. 

“C’mon, you can tell me.”

“You had 5 goals and 37 assists, a total of 42 points. 3 of them were on even strength, one was a power play goal, and one was a short handed goal. You had 187 shots and 355 total shot attempts, leaving you with a 3.7 shooting percentage which was less from the year before.”

“Hmm, cute.” She looked down and waited for him to move, and once he did she followed him. 

He walked her to her car, leaning against the back driver side door, watching as she fiddled with her keys, “So…”

“So… what?”

“Can I have your number?”

“Bold aren’t you?” She finally unlocked her door, pulling it open and throwing her bag on the passenger seat, “Also I thought my brother said no dating.”

“Who said anything about dating? I can’t befriend a pretty girl?”

“Oh, um. Okay then.” She honestly thought it was embarrassing how easily it was for him to make her flustered. It only took him to call her pretty or for his hand to flex and her cheeks were flushed. 

He handed her his phone, watching her carefully as she typed her number into the new contact she had made. When she handed him his phone back, he grinned slightly and patted her head, “I’ll text you when I get home.”

And then he walked off, leaving her a stumbling and blushing mess. She got in her car and sat staring out into the practically empty parking lot of the arena. Driving back to her dorm room she listened to anything to get her mind off of the interaction she just had but she couldn’t. Everything she listened to reminded her of the way he dressed, the way he smiled, the way his eyes twinkled. God, what was she turning into?

She got back to her dorm and changed into her pajamas. She flopped onto her bed, talking a little bit with her roommate and then scrolled aimlessly on her phone. Just as she was going to put her phone down she got a notification from an unknown number, “ I hope you didn’t give me a fake number, pretty girl. Because I was really looking forward to texting you."

Yeah, she was fucked.

[storiesbyjes2g]

3.130 Whoop that trick

At dawn, Sophia got up to pee, so I pulled myself out of bed to make breakfast because I knew she'd be hungry and head for the kitchen next. I felt like trying my French toast recipe again, as I hadn't perfected it yet. Cooking for Sophia had proven to be even more frustrating than cooking for Dad, because nearly everything contained dairy in some form. Scouring the internet every day for something new to try had gotten really old, so I started buying plant-based milk for my sanity. I think she appreciated it too because sometimes the temptation to eat dairy was so strong she gave in, damning the discomfort of bubble guts. How anyone could live life without cheese, I didn't know.

"Mmmmm, that smells so good," Sophia cooed.

"Thanks. I think I got it right this time."

The plant-based milk worked well for most things, but I needed to make adjustments to my custard. In my initial trials, either the bread came out too soggy, or it developed an eggy crust while it cooked. Everything looked perfect this time, so I hoped to remember what I did for next time.

"Okay, so hear me out," she started.

I had no idea what she was about to suggest, but I knew it would involve her not resting at home.

"It's Night Out on the Town tonight! We should go."

"Is that a good idea? You're due literally at any moment now."

"Okay, yeah, but this might be our last night as a child-free couple! We should spend some time together before we have to start scheduling it."

I wanted to come up with an irrefutable rebuttal, but I had none. Her logic was sound, as always. She'd been cooped up inside a lot lately, anyway. It wouldn't hurt to leave the house for a little while. It's not like we were going jogging around the lake or anything.

"Okay. But we're going to stay in town. There's a nice restaurant in Anchorpoint Wharf I've been wanting to take you to."

She clapped and did a little happy jig in her chair. I loved that woman.

Kooper and Rosie were getting old. Their coats turned gray, they slept a lot, and they walked a little slower. None of that seemed to stop them from running around the house like a pair of puppies, though. Rosie still demanded that Kooper play with her and dashed around the house and yard like she was training for a marathon. I loved that their age didn't stop them from having a good time. I was playing with Kooper when I realized something that stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Oh my Watcher," I shouted.

Sophia was behind me, asking what was the matter. I didn't mean to startle her, but it just occurred to me that Alessia might have her babies today!

"We need to get to Mama's house!"

She started to ask why, but I had already dialed Dad's number to see if he would come. Once she overheard my end of the conversation, she went upstairs immediately and got dressed. Dad said he was already on his way and would meet us there.

When we arrived, Mama wasted no time checking up on Sophia and loving on her youngest grandchild. She hammered her with a bunch of questions, like if she was getting enough rest and if she had experienced early contractions. All moms were lay doctors, I guess. Just as I had begun to think it was nice to have the whole family together again, loud forbidden words and angry screams rang out from upstairs, followed by rapid stomps heading in our direction.

"I'M GOING TO MURDER HIM," Alessia yelled.

"I'M GOING TO FIND HIM AND PUNCH IN HIS PRETTY FACE!! AND THEN I'M GOING TO CUT OFF HIS-"

"Whoa, Less," I said. "What in the world happened?"

Her face was as red as a strawberry, and her eyebrows scowled, just like an angry cartoon character. The lasers shooting from her eyes made me want to stay out of her way, but I needed to know what and who upset her so.

"JACE happened!! He's a PUNK!! Ol' llama-faced liar!!! I'M GONNA KILL HIM!"

"What did he do, Less?"

"He went back to his ex! IN MT. KOMOREBI!! And he married her!! He f#@$ing MARRIED her!!! HE SAID HE LOVED ME!! Ever since we found out it was triplets he's been weird!! HE IS DEAD TO ME!!!"

Mama had previously gone to the kitchen, no doubt to be near Dad when she noticed him taking out the trash, leaving only me to diffuse the situation. Alessia's anger was palpable, like an electric current coursing through the room. I had never seen her like that before, and it both scared and fueled me. I tried balling my fists and breathing extra slow and deep to keep myself from going off, but thoughts of confronting that piece of shit and laying hands on him stirred a fire inside me. There was no kind, gentle way to deal with this, and if I ever saw that cowplant turd in the street, it would be on sight! Nobody betrayed my sister and got away with it. I should have known something was up when he bailed at the baby shower. I saw him when we arrived, but after that, he was nowhere to be found. How could he weasel his way into my sister's fortified heart, knock her up, and leave her with THREE babies??? Did he really think running away to the mountain would absolve him of fatherhood? Like, did he not know child support was a thing? And he had THREE to support?? What an idiot! COWARD!! I hoped his wife had a real job because I knew Alessia would try to milk him dry. He'll be sorry he even met her! The sheer audacity of it all made my blood boil.

I was concerned about my niece and nephews and finally got Less to sit down. She didn't exactly calm down, because how could she? But she and I had a great time plotting and scheming against ol' Jace, planning what we'd do to him the next time we saw him. True, that wasn't healthy either, but it sure was fun. Revenge wasn't really Sophia's style, and she remained quiet. She also didn't have a sibling she would take up for at any moment, so she didn't understand why I acted like that and occasionally tried to talk sense into us.

But just like when she was a kid, Less found it hard to sit still and be calm, so she jumped up and paced the room, fuming like a teakettle. Even though he would eventually find out, I hoped Dad was still outside during Alessia's initial rant. Her situation was way too close to home, and I feared it might trigger him, especially being in Mama's house with all of us. But like I said, he would eventually find out. He and Mama came out from wherever they were, asking what all the yelling was about. I guess Mama had enough of Less' pregnant mood swings to come find out immediately. Less filled them in, and I saw a quiet rage growing within my dad. He looked just like how I felt. Maybe we could take another family trip to Mt. Komorebi and murder him together, heh.

I saw Mama eyeing me, as if to silently ask what we should do as the expert on all things mind, body, and soul. But I had no answers for her. My mind was set on destroying Jace, and my body was ready for it. I felt that in my soul, ha!

"I think we all need a dip in the pool," she said. "That should relax these tense mommies, right buddy?"

I sensed both sincerity and sarcasm in her tone, as she seemed disappointed that I provoked instead of diffusing the situation. Either way, she was right. Less definitely needed to calm down, but the rest of us did too, so we got changed and hopped into the pool.

[donotaskwhyiamhere]

so I heard you’re having alittle trouble with that shanks fan fic

so I came to help ( not because I desperately need an update )

So lemme just

One their way shanks and y/n walk was somewhat quiet. Sometimes it was filled with shanks talking about the adventures he went on, other times it was full with how he can’t wait to have stupid memories with y/n too. 

Shank even swore he saw a glint in y/n eyes when he talked about wanting memories with y/n. 

When they finally got to the city the silence wasn’t there anymore but the tension was. 

(Shank would then say something about buy y/n anything to carry to sea and asking if he has anything else he’d like to carry) 

As their walk y/n asks if he’s sure. Y/n would cry but his facial expression doesn’t match it stuck in a numb state. This time there wasn’t much noise far from the city approaching the shore where the shanks ship was. 

Shanks was about to answer but it started raining, almost ironic. However the heavier y/n cried the heavier the rain. 

Shanks gave no answer but a hug. A tight one firm as to say, “You follow this wandering pirate, with hopes and dreams that is enough to give this pirate the will to reach his dreams and beyond. You followed me so it’s only right I accept you for you have accepted me”, shanks said while hugging Y/n. Y/n slowly stopped crying and so did the rain. 

Shanks x suicidal marine m!reader part 2

Part 1 part 3

Note: oh my goodness 😭 thank you so much! I owe you!

Warning: mention of suicide, self doubt

..................................................................

Your pov

You and Shanks were walking out along the dirt road, on your way to the port where his ship was. You walked quietly next to him as he went on and on about the adventure he went on and the poeple he's met and the poeple on his crew, tell you how you will be welcomed with a celebration. He seems like the guy who loves partying. You looked up at the sky, it seems that it will be raining soon but not much to worry about, just some light rain. You walked with your hands behind your back, you weren't use to being relaxed, having been raised to be a perfect tool, you didn't get to have fun, make friends or experience love like others did. You listen to every little word he spoke, studying his body language. "Ah wait, I completely forgot! Do you have anything you want to take to sea with you? If you don't, how about I get you something special? A gift for the new member?" You looked at him surprised. Get you something? Something special? ...

You didn't know what to say, you were raised with bearly and anything, the last time you asked for something, you slept outside of your garden with the family dogs. You look down to the side and shake your head "No... it's alright. You don't need to" you said softly, you didn't think you deserved something special, you didn't do anything to deserve it yet. That's how you were raised, if you want something, you need to work hard for it, nothing was ever free in your life, not even love.

Shanks pov

He looked at you sadly, knowing that you wouldn't just let he get you something. He spots little market up ahead and smiled brightly. "Come on! I'm sure there's something I can get you anyway!" He happily walked around. He saw a bunch of nice things: weapons, food, paintings, jewelry, animal toys. "Hey, how abo-" he was about to ask you if you wanted a box of sweet but then he saw you eyeing a plush toy, an (fav/animal) plush. He could tell it reminded you of something dear to you, he wasn't sure what but he knew what to get you now. He walked up the the little old lady selling the many plush toys and took the one you were eyeing "I'll take this one miss" he payed for it "Thank you, have a good day handsome young man" said the old lady, Shanks smiled happily at the compliment before walking back to you. He held it out for you to take. "Here is your welcome to the crew gift!" Shanks said happily as you slowly took the gift, you seemed to have a blank expression, he couldn't tell what was going on in your head but he decided not to push you. He put an arm around you and you to continue walking to his ship out of the market. As Shanks happily talked about more of his adventures and how exciting it will be to have you along the journey. "We're gonna make many happy memories together, go on many adventures together with you and my crew, we'll be a big family! We'll all look out for each other! Oh like there was this one time- hey... you ok?" He stopped his story telling as he noticed you had stopped walking. He was about to ask you again but stopped himself as you hugged the plush close to you for dear life and looked up at Shanks, you had a blank expression but you had tears falling from your eyes like a river. "Do you really mean it?" "Do I.. really mean what?" "That you want to make memories with me... that I'm part of your family? I've done nothing to earn anything you have given me but you gave it to me with a smile each time... why?" Your tears kept falling faster and faster as you spoke, hugging your plush tightly against your chest "Never once has my father given me anything, he knows nothing of what I like.. yet you have given me something dear to me, one of the very few things I like..." as you speak it started to rain softly, as if the sky itself felt your pain. The rain mixed with your tears.

Shanks looked at you with a soft expression, smiling softly at you, he couldn't help but look at you, he saw a child scared, confused and lost. "Because we're family now, family looks out for each other, and that means getting to know each other." He takes a step forward, placing a gental hand on your shoulder "it's ok to cry you know? It's doesn't make you weak.." At those words you start to cry your heart out, years of pain flowing out like a waterfall. The rain starts to pour more, crying with you. Shanks ignored the rain and pulled you into a hug, letting you cry on his shoulder, hearing the pain in your cries. You hugged you plush tightly against you as he hugged you. The frist toy you've ever received, it was a wonderful gift.

"It doesn't matter who you were. What matters now is the fact that you are now following me, a pirate with hopes and dreams. Poeple like you keep me going. As your captain, your hopes and dreams become mine, and my hopes and dreams become yours. I am your captain and you are my crew, we care for each other because one cannot exist without the other. I need you as much as you need me. The same goes for the rest of your fellow crewmates. We care about you"

After a few minutes you calmed down with the rain as the sun begins to shin once again in the big blue sky. "Thank you.. captain" Shanks smiled brightly at your words and placed an arm around once more "Alright then, off we go! I'm sure the rest of the crew are dying to know where their captain ran off to, to avoid his work! I'm sure they'll forgive me once they see your beauty! They'll be like 'Captain, we're mad that you up and left to avoid your paper work as captain but now that we see this beautiful little crew members you have brought along with you we forgive you!'" He said as mimicking the voice of one if his crew members.

You laughed slightly as you walked with him, hugging the plush close to your heart, smiling up at your captain as he continued to talk. You just couldn't wait to serve your new captain, you wanted to give him everything you had to offer♡

------------------------------

I hope you enjoyed it! I'm so happy I got to write it! Thank you for the help ♡♡♡

I hope you all have a good week!

[jojotichakorn]

for the game - phum 🤲

you said i should do all of them, which is insane, but also thank you weeeee ✨🫶

i'm gonna put the headcanons under the cut though, y'all can send asks with other characters (& emojis) from here

🏳️‍🌈 a sexuality headcanon

i personally definitely headcanon him as gay.

🏳️‍⚧️ a gender headcanon

a good ol' cis boy.

😇 a headcanon about their religion/lack thereof

hmmm... i'd imagine he's probably not religious, because he was shipped off from thailand at a really early age, and no one was socialising him and really involving him in the culture oversees either, so religion probably just kind of naturally passed him by. at this stage, i also can't imagine when he would discover it later in life on his own either.

🧸 a headcanon about their childhood

well 💀 horrors beyond our comprehension, basically. tbh, we know quite a bit about it, but just to solidify, i think 1) his parents and oldest brother genuinely never called to talk to him; 2) fang did call almost every day, but it got to this slightly weird juxtaposition of like "oh, you're calling me, but then if i start complaining about the horrific situation i'm in, you shut me down", so it wasn't Great, 3) the distant relatives he lived with did not care about him at all, it was truly unimaginable levels of neglect; 4) he had zero friends and the "i cried every day" thing was not an exaggeration.

👻 a headcanon about what scares them

well, we know about heights. for some reason, i also think darkness. that's if we're talking specifically classic fears. if we're talking more psychological - definitely fear of rejection and abandonment.

👽 a headcanon about a weird quirk of theirs

i do not think he sleeps with his plushies, that's not really their function. they are a comfort item during the day and also just a special interest on their own, as a collection.

💤 a headcanon about their sleep

i actually think he has a really hard time falling asleep, specifically because he isn't used to feeling safe, and that's also why he wakes up at the smallest sound.

🦾 a disability headcanon

autism in the biggest boldest letters.

💝 a headcanon about their love language

i'm gonna be honest, it's all of them equally. he is very acts of service, he starts driving peem around everywhere almost right away, he exchanges food with both peem and fang, so they wouldn't eat what they don't like. crossing over into gift-giving as well, he bought peem a bunch of seafood even though he doesn't eat it because they were at sea and peem would have wanted to eat it, he buys peem stuff all the time tbh, he pays for toey as well. quality time is also up there - he follows peem around everywhere and doesn't mind just sitting there in silence while peem works on his art. physical touch, of course, he can't stop touching and kissing peem. finally, words of affirmation, he is really good at compliments and just talking about how much he loves spending time with his friends etc. like i always say, his heart is the size of a skyscraper, and he has so much love to give.

🫂 a friendship headcanon

he still has a really hard time making friends and i think it will take him a long time to actually start hanging out with his new friends from peem's friend group separately and not when everyone is invited.

💔 an angsty headcanon

his self-worth is incredibly shakey, it's truly like a game of tumble tower, when you can see that it's gonna fall on the next player's turn. and i think that, though it will get better, especially if the family thing is resolved correctly, it will genuinely take decades to deal with it fully.

🪢 a headcanon about their family

his parents are gonna get hit by a bus that will be driven by someone who looks suspiciously like me :)

📓 a headcanon about their hobbies

i think he definitely has a hobby that involves a lot of reality-escaping. probably not video games, because i can't remember seeing a good pc/console at his apartment. i am leaning more towards books and/or movies/series, something like that.

👗 a headcanon about their clothes

he does not really care about fashion rip 😔

🔪 a headcanon relating to fighting/violence

unlike fang, i actually don't think he was ever that big into it. he ended up in a couple of fights anyway, because of fang, but he himself is very 👉👈

🌟 a headcanon about their desires/wishes

i think he wants kids, but is afraid he is going to make a terrible father, because he hasn't really had any good examples of parenting throughout his childhood.

🥇 a headcanon about what they’re best at

perhaps a slightly weird answer to a question that's probably leaning more towards skills and achievements, but i'm gonna say taking care of people. he is very attentive and loving, he is genuinely just incredibly good at the small gestures and remembering things about other people and giving the right gifts and saying the right thing at the right time, etc. etc.

🍫 a headcanon about food

he eats a very limited amount of food, which is also why fang can only cook spaghetti - he learned to cook it specifically for phum, and phum just kept asking for the same thing every day. i wouldn't be surprised, if he isn't actually allergic to seafood as well, but just says that, because it's easier than explaining that he eats exactly seven foods and nothing else.

🎭 a headcanon about what they lie about

his exact feelings about his parents. i think he's been shamed a lot for feeling the way he does towards them, so he keeps making things up and skirting around the conversation, so he wouldn't have to directly say "i do not want to see them anymore".

❤️‍🔥 a romantic headcanon

he is extremely romantic in my opinion. i think he believes in soulmateism and true love and the whole shebang. i think he watches lots of romcoms and has probably seen every mlm storyline in existence, dreaming of his own gay little relationship. he has all the proper romantic gestures down to a fine art too, obviously.

💄 an appearance headcanon

yes, he did dye his hair that shade of brown to look more like a teddy bear. slash srs

🖕 a headcanon relating to anger

anger is his mortal enemy. he has a lot of it pent up inside (understandably so), but he thinks it's a very ugly feeling he is "not supposed to feel", so he suppresses it. whenever he feels angry, he just kind of goes inside his shell and leaves the situation.

😺 an animal related headcanon

he is a cat person (hence, peem).

😬 a headcanon about the worst thing they’ve done

straight up the agreement he made with peem at the beginning.

😭 a headcanon about the worst thing that happened to them

being abandoned by his parents at five years old.

😶 a random headcanon!

he isn't as close to toey as he'd like to be, because he is 1) autistic and 2) not particularly well-socialised, so he has a hard time really understanding what social rules to follow for their particular relationship. in his head, he definitely considers toey his younger brother and would absolutely just spoil him rotten and hang out with him a lot, but not a lot of that gets actualised in reality, because he's a little afraid of making any sudden big moves or actively saying that he feels about toey the same way fang feels about him.

[lowkeycasanova]

summer camp

plot: Vinnie and Y/N are camp counselors

thanks to @vhackerrs and @takecareluv for helping me out with this one!

masterlist

------------------------------------------------------------

A summer camp with a bunch of little kids was the last place that anyone would find a tattooed college student. Vinnie's mom, Maria, had suggested it to him. And he laughed at the idea. But she told him that the pay was good and he'd have the nights and weekends to himself. He honestly couldn't think of anywhere else to work. Plus, it was the first place that hired him.

"Who's that?" your friend Amelie asked as she pointed into the distance. You turned to see a guy with shaggy brown hair that you've never seen before.

You shrugged. "Not sure."

All the counselors knew each other and you and Amelie have been working here for the past three years. So you would recognize a newbie.

Because Vinnie was new, he didn't know anyone and felt left out. The only person he talked to regularly was Amber, the director, despite literally sharing a room with a guy his age named Jesse. He also wasn't counting the twelve year old girls who had a crush on him. Asking where he went to school, what he did for fun, and what his social medias were.

One afternoon as Vinnie was doing a basketball activity with the kids, he was getting frustrated. He was constantly telling them to stop doing things and play by the rules. Near the end, he was kinda just letting them do their own thing because he didn't know the best way to correct them. Amber watched from afar and could tell that Vinnie was having trouble being an authoritative figure. So she had gone to you and asked if you could please take him under your wing. He didn't have a solid history of dealing with children and she knew you could help.

**

One early morning, Vinnie was by himself, setting up the area for relay races when you walked over.

"Need some help?"

Vinnie set the last flag down that marked the finish line. "Nah, I just finished. You're Y/N, right?" He wiped his forehead as it was humid outside and he was starting to sweat a little and would much rather be in bed rather than thinking ants were on him every thirty seconds.

"Yep, how's it going?"

Vinnie shrugged. "It's...going. I'm not really good at this stuff though."

"Did you have a job before this?" you asked.

"Yeah, I worked as an electrician with my dad."

Since he was finished doing what he was instructed to do, he started to walk back towards the main cabin and, to his surprise, you followed suit.

"An electrician? Really?"

"Yeah," he scratched the back of his head. "You sound shocked."

"No no no, I just didn't expect to hear that."

Vinnie stifled a laugh. "What did you expect?

"Not an electrician, that's for sure." you bumped his arm. "Is this your first time working with kids?"

He nodded, the sound of damp grass underneath your shoes.

"Can I give you some advice?"

"Please, because I feel like I'm not doing well."

"Well, first and foremost, you have to be patient with them. They are kids at the end of the day and have short attention spans and can get rowdy, but don't let yourself get stressed out. Keep it entertaining, be creative and enthusiastic. I believe it helps keep them motivated. Oh and also, try not to criticize them a lot." you explained.

"Oh yeah, I try not to do that because I'd feel really bad." Vinnie replied.

"But do show authority when needed." you pointed out. "But other than that, there's not much else left to say. The kids are great and they really like you."

His eyes flickered from the ground to you. "What?" he asked like he couldn't believe it.

You nodded. "Grace says that she likes when she's in your group and Michael said that he likes that drawings on your arm. Did they hurt by the way?"

"Um, I have a tree on the side of my ribcage, and that hurt like hell. So did the one near my v-line. And the spider on my chest."

"What do they look like?" you asked but then immediately regretted it because of how it sounded.

"Oh you wanna see 'em?" he raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"I mean...not like that but if you wanna show me-"

"Alright." He cut you off and started to lift up them hem of his shirt but you stopped him, laughing. Vinnie's lips twitched into a smile.

"No! Just finish your explanation." You said. But you were actually curious to see them as you had only seen the ones that were visible on his arms.

"Well other than that," Vinnie examined his arms. "not too painful. Looking back, it's not as bad as I thought.”

"What was your first one?" you inquired.

He pointed to his left arm to the two hands. "The Creation of Adam. I was freshly eighteen and just moved out when I got it."

As you two walk, you grab a hold to his arm to look at it and ran your thumb across it. He's surprised by your sudden touch but he doesn't pull away. He finds it comforting and he's not sure why.

Then, as you two are walking closer tot he cabin, your friend Amelie comes out and sees you with Vinnie.

"Hey, we were looking for y'all. Staff meeting is about to start."

Vinnie barely payed attention during the meeting. His mind kept wandering to his conversation with you.

**

A few hours later, Vinnie was in the grassy area, playing football with the kids. He said "fuck it" to the actual rules and they all just ran around together.

"Touchdown!!" Vinnie shouted with a big smile and threw the ball on the ground as he reached the 'end zone'.

"Not fair, you cheated." Grace laughed.

"Girl, ain't nobody cheated. You're just slow." Vinnie replied and poked her stomach.

She poked him back with turned into a game of tag between them. He pretends to be tired and catch his breath and their game attracted some of the other kids and they came at Vinnie in all directions and started to jump on him, pulling him down.

"You guys are too strong for me!" Vinnie said as they began to topple over him.

You admired the scene in front of you as you watched from the sidelines. Vinnie was a natural and they loved him.

The days went by quickly and Vinnie developed quite a few friends that made this whole experience so much better.

Jesse was his closest guy friend as they did share a room. They both liked gaming and anime so that was something that they could share.

Peter was by far the most hilarious and it was always a good time when he was around.

Maya and Jason actually go to the same school as Vinnie and they made it a point to hang out one day.

Brandon was someone that Vinnie was the least closest to. They never talked much, and when they did, Vinnie initiated conversation and was always nice, but for some reason Brandon didn't reciprocate, even though he was very talkative with everyone else.

The most significant relationship that Vinnie had with anyone was with you. You two spent a lot of time together. You showing him the ropes in certain situations and always having his back when needed. When the both of you with with your own group of kids, you'd tease each other from a distance.

**

That Friday, you had walked into the laundry room with a bucket full of towels to fold and found Vinnie doing the same, nearly running into him.

"Oof, sorry." You muttered and step aside, setting your basket on the counter. Vinnie came next to you, looking you up and down and you caught his eye.

"What?" you questioned and became a little annoyed when he started chuckling.

"Nothing." he said firmly. "I just didn't know it was twin day."

You were a little slow and it wasn't until Vinnie tugged on your sleeve when you understood.

Every counselor gets a variety of t-shirts to wear in different colors, and you could wear whichever color you wanted. But not only were you and Vinnie wearing the same color shirt, but also sported matching white shorts and shoes.

"Oh god." you groaned which made Vinnie laugh again.

You two folded the towels in comfortable silence. You watched his precise movements, taking such a simple job seriously.

You had been meaning to ask him something all week but didn't know how to bring it up in conversation. Now that it was nearing the end of the shift, you knew you needed ask now before it was way too late.

"Are you going to the lodge tonight?"

"Hmm?" he replied, having to take a second to process.

"Maya's family's lodge. She's having that get together thing tonight."

"Oh yeah, she did invite me to that and Jesse mentioned it too. But...uh, I don't know." He mumbled. Vinnie tended to keep to himself and watch tv or play video games.

Maya's family owned this resort style lodge nestled in the perfect location within the trees a few miles away. She frequently invited everyone over and it was always a good time.

"You should come." you urged. "We never see each other outside of work. It'll be fun."

You then started to feel nervous like he might turn you down, even though you weren't the one who technically invited him.

"Are you going?" he asked.

The question caught you off guard since you had already expected him to say no at this point.

"Yeah, told Peter I'd be there."

"Well if he's going, then I might go too." He teased and you just chuckled in response.

As you folded your last towel, you used that as an excuse to be done.

"Well looks like I'm finished. Hope to see you around this weekend."

“Oh yeah, see you Y/N.”

After Vinnie's conversation with you, it didn't take much convincing to get him to go. He even went to the extent of trying to pick the best outfit, settling on a plain gray tank top (that exposed way more of his tattoos than the short sleeve he was supposed to wear for work), blue jeans, and some white and blue Nikes. He walked out the house with his hair still wet from the shower.

Upon arriving, he let himself inside since the door was unlocked. He followed the sound of talking and laughter until he reached the living room/kitchen where everyone was. And he could tell he caught them by surprise.

“Vinnie!”

“What’s up Vinnie?”

“Hi Vinnie!”

They all greeted.

He actually came, you thought.

You smiled at him and waved. He came over to you first and gave you a hug as you were the closest to him. He waved to everyone else and gave Peter and Jesse those bro hugs that guys always do. The sight warmed your heart, seeing how he’s become so comfortable around everyone.

“You could’ve knocked you know.” Maya told him and playfully punched his arm.

“Knocking is overrated.” He joked. “Nice place you got here.”

He admired his surroundings. It was mostly wood, so a good use of brown. Lots of glass windows, trees around the house, and even a lake nearby with a boardwalk leading to it that you could see out the living room window.

“It’s my parents’, so I can’t take all the credit, but thanks.”

Everyone then headed over to the huge couch in the living room. Maya picked up the remote to the smart tv and started flipping through her streaming services to find something to watch.

Vinnie glanced over at you as if to say, “you coming?”. You were still at the kitchen island trying to get your drink together. You gave him a look back that said, “in a second.”

You finally walked over and saw that the space next to Vinnie was empty. With confident strides, you headed over just for Bianca to sit there instead. You couldn’t be mad, it’s not like it was a saved seat, but still. He looked over his shoulder and gave you an apologetic look.

No big deal, you just sat next to Maya, a few feet across from them. You didn’t know Bianca all that well. You didn’t see much of her at work due to the fact that she usually worked with the older kids, but you two were friendly when you saw each other.

You overhear her tell Vinnie that she’s glad he’s here and from that point on, it’s like you can’t even pay attention to what everyone else is saying because you’re so focused on the two of them.

Bianca asks Vinnie is he works out, feeling his bicep in the process. Like no shit he does.

It bothered you that she was being so flirty. If you had to guess, you would’ve thought that Vinnie didn’t really talk to her, but they obviously hung out a lot or something in order for her to be that comfortable.

You kept zoning in and out. Peter mention something about watching American Horror Story and then somehow the conversation was about ghosts, with everyone sharing anything supernatural that occurred in their life.

Perking up for the first time in a few minutes, you shared a story about when you were a kid and you heard someone calling your name in your house. Although you and your mom were the only people home and she said it wasn’t her.

Making eye contact with Vinnie, you finally got his attention, as he started listening when you began talking. His eyes were wide upon hearing your story but you shrugged it off like it was no big deal.

Bianca quickly wanted the attention back on her and she tapped Vinnie on his shoulder to get him to look at her. Slumping in your seat, you frowned as she frilled her pin straight hair over her shoulder.

She seemed to be only making conversation with Vinnie and if you were honest, it was a little rude that she didn’t make an effort to talk to anyone else. You slumped in your seat and folded your arms over your chest.

Their whole engagement made you bitter. Bitter enough to admit to yourself that yes, you had a crush on Vinnie. One bigger than you’d like to admit. Seeing them talk and flirt together made you realize that you don’t want to see him with another girl.

What you didn't know, was that Vinnie wasn't flirting back with her. He genuinely thought she was just being nice. He also kept glancing over at you to make sure that you were doing okay, after seeing the grimace on your face.

Doing your best to try to ignore them, you grabbed the remote to the tv and tried to find some music to play. Everyone was throwing song names and artists at you. You turned to Vinnie see if he had any input, but Bianca was taking a selfie with him.

A few moments later, she asked Vinnie if he wanted to go check out the lake, maybe even go for a swim.

Vinnie looked past her, out the window, to see small waves from the lake being illuminated by the moonlight. "But I don't have a swimsuit." he told her.

"Neither do I." she answered and raised her eyebrows suggestively.

He just looked at her, dead serious. "So I guess we can't go then. Not to mention that it's nighttime, prime bug time." He laid further back into the couch to get comfortable and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Bianca looked at him with confusion until she got up from her spot. "Suit yourself then." she mumbled and walked off.

Jesse had eyed the whole interaction.

"What?" Vinnie questioned when they made eye contact. Jesse sighed in disbelief, then started laughing.

That got the attention of everyone else.

"What's so funny?" a girl named Gabby asked. "I wanna laugh too."

Jesse looked around to make sure that Bianca was out of earshot before he recapped what had just happened.

“Ain’t no way you didn’t pick up on that.”

“So embarrassing for her.”

“She definitely wanted to go skinny dipping with you.”

This was your last straw.

You shot up out of your seat, fuming but tried your best to hide it. “I’m gonna go get another drink.” You told everyone but walked off before they could answer. You make your way to the kitchen, trying to calm yourself down.

Vinnie’s worried gaze instinctively follows you and all of a sudden he can’t hear the people around him. He gets up as well a few seconds later. “Yeah, imma get one too.” He tells them.

Gripping the refrigerator door with your hand, you don’t even know what you’re looking for. Thought after thought running through your mind. Shutting the door, Vinnie’s tall frame leans against the counter and the sight of him startled you for a moment.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, his voice careful.

You folded your arms over your chest. “Why do you care?”

“Because you seem upset. I’m concerned.”

Fighting the urge to roll your eyes, you said, “Because…I thought we…” then you paused. “You know what, never mind.”

You turn to walk away but he grabs your arm to stop you.

“Seriously? You were the one who wanted to hang out outside of work but I haven’t spoke to you since I got here.”

“Hmm, I wonder why that is.” You stated and looked at him directly in the eye.

He then avoided your gaze and sighed. You glanced at the others and tried to make it look like you were doing something they wouldn’t wonder what was going on.

“Look,” he started. “I wasn’t flirting with her. And if I’m honest, I didn’t even know she was flirting with me until Jesse said something. I’ve been bad at picking up stuff like that. And maybe you’re bad at picking up hints too because if you haven’t noticed…I’m kinda crazy about you.”

The way that he was looking at you with so much care made you realize that all of the thoughts about ignoring him for the reminder of your time was ridiculous. Whether you liked it or not, he had you wrapped around his finger.

“I actually thought I was reaching the signs wrong. I thought that you and Bianca had something going on.”

Vinnie shrugged. “Maybe she thinks that, but no. In fact, I was disappointed when you couldn’t sit next to me.”

“Well if it’s any consolation…I like you too.”

You hated being so cheesy.

Now that it was all explained, it made sense. He inched closer and opened his arms for you to walk into, which you did. You liked how warm he was.

“I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable.” He mumbled into your hair.

“Don’t worry about it.” You responded.

He pulled away and gave you a soft kiss on your cheek. He then pulled out two drinks from the cooler and passed on to you.

“Cheers.” He smiled and clinked his glass with yours.

You two made your way back to your friends, hoping they didn’t see any of that because you really didn’t need an earful from them. They were still having a good time, the laughter and music blended together. The boys setting up a table for beer pong. You sat down on the couch while Vinnie took his spot next to you.

[pinievsev]

Can you please make a xikers hunter x reader

Small Moments like these

Hunter X GN!reader

I have two requests for Hunter and none of them are specific so I tried my best with this! Hope you enjoy! As always! Requests are open and you can find my masterlist pinned on my blog! <3!

Pairing: idol!golden retriever!Hunter X Black cat-ish!sick!GN!reader

Warnings: reader has a cold? And might come out a little short. Overall just pure fluff

Summary: hunter comes to your house excited to show you his group's new song, but you're not exactly in great shape.

Taglist: @laskyy @cam-phoria-stay (if you want to be added interact here or shoot me an ask)

Your parents where out of town for business and you had the house to yourself for a week or so.

You were huddled up in a heavy blanket on your couch, a bunch of tissues all over your coffee table and a, now cold, cup of tea sat forgotten on the corner of said table as a random show you had stopped paying attention to a while ago played on your TV.

You were sick. You hated being sick. Scratchy throat, watery eyes and runny nose. It's all so annoying. You felt utterly exhausted every second that passed and in your mind, it made you vulnerable, which you hated being as much as you hated being sick.

You groaned at the sound of your doorbell ringing (pun intended) and got up, dragging your blanket with you like a cape. As you opened the door you were met by the overly excited voice of your boyfriend, Hunter, which you normally loved. He was always optimistic enough for the both of you.

But right now, loud sounds were the last thing you needed. "Pleaseeee be quiet" you said under your breath, your throat hurting with each syllable you dared to utter. He quickly did as you asked, walking Into your house when you stepped aside and closing the door gently behind him.

"what's wrong, jagi?" He sounded concerned, which made you feel all fuzzy inside. "I'm sick." You mumbled, coughing as you finished speaking. He looked around, taking in the current state of your living room. "And you didn't call me?" He asked, giving you puppy eyes.

You walked back to your couch and sat cross legged with him following suit and sitting down next to you. "I didn't want to disturb you. You've been busy with all the idol stuff lately so I thought I should let you rest on your time off?" You said with coughs and sneezes in between every couple of words.

He clicked his tongue and gently smacked the side of your head, which you barely felt. "And you think, there's any other way I'd like to spend my time off but with you? Hm?" He asked matter of factly. "Right, but I'm sick and I don't won't you catching a cold as well." You mumbled.

"jagiyaaa~" he whined sitting closer to you. "I could care less about a stupid cold. I want to make sure you're okay!" He placed an arm over your shoulder and brought you against him, you immediately relaxed in response and leaned your head on his shoulder, closing your eyes as you sniffled.

He kissed your forehead and layed down on his back shifting so you were laying on his chest and the blanket was now comfortably over both of you. "How about this, you get some sleep and when you're all charged up, well get some food" you groaned and looked up "can't sleep. Not tired" you said trying to speak as little as possible.

You both sat up again, you still clinging to him. "Then... Do you want to listen to my group's new song..? I'll keep the volume down" you perked up at that.

"you guys have.. a new song?" You had completely forgotten, oh my god how could you forget. "Yeah it just realised a couple of minutes ago. I ran here as soon as I saw it!" He said happily, pulling out his phone.

"oh right! Sorry, I forgot about that" he shook his head and placed a hand behind your own to pull you back to him. Your forehead resting on his shoulder while he looked for the song.

Just as he promised he played the song quietly and started humming along. You wrapped your arms tighter around him and did the same. You've never been one for hug and kisses and all that sappy stuff. But with Him, it was different. You didn't feel the need to fake being happy and you could always tell him if anything bothered you.

And he had promised to always do the same.

You leaned up and pecked his cheek making him smile. "You like it?" He asked you hopefully. You reached over and turned the volume slightly higher. "I love it."

You smiled at him then sneezed, shaking your head lightly. A small habit you have had since you were a child. He chuckled at you and ruffled your hair.

To you, it was small moments like these when you didn't have to act all happy, because you were. In the comfort of your boyfriend, your very sweet, gentle giant of a boyfriend you wouldn't trade for the world.

[cephalotyrant]

Hiiiiiiiiii so. Azurido bodyswap.

Think about it; these two housewardens who constantly seem to be bickering, and then one day during a joint alchemy class they accidentally swap bodies...

Azul trying to run heartslabyul and hastily memorizing all the queens' rules; speaking of i had a sudden thought do you think azul would learn the rules for riddle after they start dating so he can easily come over to heartslabyul and follow all the rules teehee anyways back on topic Azul is mentioned to have less magic capacity so im imagining him being like "okay yeah this kid's currently on a murderous rampage buuuut do I REALLY need off with your head rn why can't i just assert my dominance with words or some shit works with floyd" (i'l never forget that time azul made floyd kneel as punishment... sad moment)

And then Riddle... bless his heart he's too much of a reasonable honest person for octavinelle's bs he's like "stop scamming students" and they're like "um ACKSHUALLY you see the free market and blah blah blah-" Riddle can't behead them anymore because azul doesn't have that power (loser) so he's just like -_- waiting for them to stop talking please oh please what he wouldn't do for them to shut the fuck up-

also weird thought riddle out of instinct trying to cast owyh and then accidentally activating the true form of it's a deal and just... knocking a bunch of guys out cold. and his glasses. he hates them bc they keep getting foggy.

speaking of glasses azul keeps trying to push them up except they dont exist fuckin L hah hah everybody point and laugh

and riddle's high heels... azul falls over (point and laugh part 2)

anyways getting a bit more serious I do feel like azul and riddle do have more similarities in leadership style (like how azul's canonically very irritable with octavinelle students and ortho mentions it's actually quite rare to see him in a good mood just like riddle) so... poor heartslabyul guys aren't catching a break just yet. Except instead of being collared it's just like "shut the fuck up travis this is why you're poor" "3.8 gpa santocruz??? I think you mean 1.8 because those tabloids could only be written by a FUCKING IDIOT" (i'm joking PLEASE DONT KILL ME I MERELY JEST besides we all know azul probably tries to seem uber classy so he wouldn't swear)

meanwhile octavinelle students have never seen such rage... even more scarily... HONESTY AND STRAIGHTFORWARDNESS (an octavinelle student's worst nightmare)

Anyways Riddle and tweel interactions here are just so funny if this is before floyd realizes the truth because it's like

"Lemme squeeze you, goldfishie!"

"Riddle" has NO REACTION. ICE COLD.

And then "Azul" waltzes in and is like "Floyd why how could you do this that is highly improper!!!!!!!"

Ofc "Riddle's" like "so i owe you now" bc azul wants riddle in his debt lmaooo

Azul keeps trying to find riddle's weakness... but it goes wrong...

Short scene:

Azul gazed into the mirror of Heartslabyul's bathroom, looking at every new detail at this new face of his. Riddle's face. He was looking for weaknesses. Yes, weaknesses, as dastardly as it seemed.

Like - how those soft, sun-kissed cheeks were likely sensitive to light, and how those gorgeous little heart-shaped tufts of hair often added to Riddle's poutiness, and-

Wait, why was Riddle's face growing redder in the mirror all of a sudden?

Womp womp azul you're gay for him

Anyways they turn back and it all gets found out blah blah... Azul saying the most down-bad shit when he thinks no one can hear like "riddle-san looks even prettier from up close" jade and floyd overhear his little mumble he never leaves it down...

and riddle... is hyperfixating over azul's moles. he knew about the one on his chin but there's MORE??? On The neck? The COLLARBONE??? He never undressed (neither did azul bc they were swapped for a pretty short time so it was pretty easy not to as just... yk a respect/consent thing) but while adjusting his tie and stuff he noticed. He is now freaking out over it to Trey. Why does he care??? When can he sign up to kiss them??? More on seven.

OOOOOOAAAAAGHHHHHH BARK BARK BARK BARK GRRR MOEWWW HISSS CRASH BOOM MY LEG!!!

Memorizing the rules would be a DAUNTING ass task bro. But Azul is up to it and I bet he memorized them just for fun at one point so he could find all the loopholes (and rub them in riddles face) funnily enough, Heartslabyul is confuse because it seems like Riddle has gotten... sharper? Some clock him immediately as wrong (ADTC)-- Riddle often stands stiffly and probably has a resting bitch face, let's be real. but now the way he stands is almost looser, more fluid, his body more expressive, flexing his hands. In his attempt to follow the rules, Azul IMMEDIATELY calls out someone using a loophole. But for today, he'll let it slide-- but I better not catch you doing that again, else there will be consequences. (He means Jade and Floyd it was on instinct) Even the way he SPEAKS is different, and why is he talking about himself so much? Don't get started on the moment Azul is mentioned-- why is he suddenly avoiding speaking any bad about Azul Ashengrotto? They were at each other's throats just this morning!

He feels weirdly frail. Not only does he lack his octo-stength, he has to look up at absoloutely everyone! And these heels are ridiculous! Of course, he's heard all about Riddle boasting that the dorm uniform being a replica of the first housewarden of Heartslabyul, but he could have omitted SOME details. The way everyone straightens their back when they hear the clacking of his heels, though... that's quite nice. It's hard not to powertrip.

I'm not going to get into it I'm not going to get into it I'm not-- FUCK. He can't help but be envious of the complete lack of fat on Riddle's body, the way his uniform cinched his waist just right. Perhaps there were some benefits of being so small... And there's a constant dull ache in his dominant hand. Seriously, for someone raised for a future in medicine, he doesn't appear to be taking care of himself very well! Maybe he'll snoop about the room for a diary, finding a drawer full of letters from a very particular woman-- and leave the investigation there. Funnily enough, it fills him with the urge to write his own letter to his own mother... he hasn't spoken to her in a while.

At least the bed is fantastic? Let's just hope Trey doesn't walk in while he's giggling and wrapping himself up burrito-style into the blankets.

Azul (Riddle) back at Octavinelle seems like he's one moment away from a STROKE. So much so that every few moments red rings swirl in his eyes-- his last straw being the fourth pencil he breaks in a row. Since when has Azul been this strong!? Does his dishonest nature extend to taking steroids?? He's going to have a VERY long talk with him later! His glasses keep getting smudged and sliding down his nose, and Azul's layered clothing was so ridiculously heavy-- being of average height is kind of nice, though.

Jade and Floyd clock him as NOT AZUL right away I fear... though it is a little funny to watch Azul's body throw a tantrum and stomp his feet. They freak out, however, when Riddle realizes he has the strength to preperly defend himself... not good. If he can't behead them, he can go physical. Really, he's not fit at all to run Mostro or do deals atp... but Jade and Floyd think it'd be funny if he fucked some up. He's rather impressed by how such a busy establishment runs so smoothly, and the employees, namely, the waiters, are rather polite. They stand straight and speak clearly... Azul’s done quite well.

THE MOLES ARGH...

—

Finally. A respite from the endless things that needed his attention– as the housewarden of Heartslabyul, he was used to tending issues left and right, but this experience, being trapped in Azul’s body, had stretched his patience thin. Azul, truly, had his fingers in far too many pies.

Discarding anything the Octavinelle housewarden wore on the regular would have been improper, though it certainly didn’t prevent him from complaining about it. The layers of the dorm uniform were oppressive, to put it lightly– even his cape, for how it dragged across the ground, wasn’t nearly as heavy. The cummerbund was too tight to be considered remotely comfortable. He abandons it on the chair in front of the vanity.

He tugs on silky purple fabric to undo the bowtie, the thing having gone crooked, most likely from when he undid the suspenders or pulled off the jacket. It’s always satisfying to allow one’s neck to breathe at the end of the day–

Eh?

Right there, not too far from under the collar, is a culmination of small dark spots. Three, in fact. And just when he peels back the collar to get a better look at them, there’s another one, right there, on his collarbone!

Experimentally, he runs a finger over them. They’re just spots of pigment… so why do they make his breath hitch and his face warm so?

The door beside the vanity swings open without warning, causing him to jump and squeeze the collar shut in alarm, crumpling the, no doubt, expensive fabric. He curses, seeing one of two tall eel mermen at the door.

“Are you accustomed to coming in unannounced?”

Jade smiles, half concealing it with a hand. “Oh my. Look at you, you already sound so much like our dearly departed Azul.”

“D– dearly departed!? He’s in my body, not deceased!”

[wonopia]

THE PHOTOBOOTH | 001. photobooth guy

[WC] . 1600 mlist ! next

by the time misaki arrived at the local mall, it was 9:05. the parking lot was not near getting filled up. the building was oddly almost empty and quiet, some shops hadn't even opened yet. as she reached the dead zone of the mall, she could see the revisions and the new shops getting built in on the first floor. they were adding in a couple of retail shops. followed by that, a mini arcade. she walked towards the escalator before letting it bring her to the second floor.

she immediately remembered that her friend wanted her to check out the pricing for a photo at the new photobooth. as a good friend she was, she decided to check the prices now since the mall was basically empty.

once she saw it, she sprinted to the booth before pulling on the black curtain to reveal a boy in a white sweater- a boy she'd never seen once in her life.

"last pose! 3.. 2.. 1.." the machine spoke, catching her attention, he just looked at her. his face was clearly flushed with embarrassment.

"oh sorry," she apologized while closing the curtain and speed walking toward jamba juice, her workplace. she opened the side door and walked inside.

she had one question, why was he at the mall so early?

she attempted to walk it off, reaching for her apron and tying it on before tying her hair up in a ponytail.

"misaki?" a voice called out from the storage room, "is that you?"

"yeah, riku asked for me to fill in."

a head poked out into view from the door frame with curious eyes.

"taesan?" she questioned, "since when did you start working early shifts?"

"ever since i switched to afternoon classes in uni," he answered, walking over to her with a bag full of bananas and strawberries, "can you go grab some of the fruits laid out in the back and bring them here?"

"sure," she smiled, walking to the back room. picking up a bag of mangoes and dragon fruit, "why are there a bunch of shoe boxes back here?"

"oh yeah, don't mind those, i'm gonna bring them over to footlocker. the UPS employees keep dropping them off here every other morning. they said they have to change their tracking system asap," he told her, she walked back over to the counter and set it down in the corner next to the open cabinet.

"i don't mind dropping it off later," she said, since taesan worked the morning shift and he had to deliver all those boxes to foot locker everyday- she decided why not do it for him and let him off the hook for one day. especially since footlocker is across the entire mall, it must've been tiring.

"really? thanks," he thanked, "you can start now if you want, it'll probably take a while."

"okay," she nodded, pulling off her apron.

the security office lended her a moving cart that held about 20 boxes at a time which was very helpful. once she filled the cart for the first time, she pushed it all the way to footlocker with various breaks in between.

when she arrived in front of the shoe shop, she called an employee over to load the shoes in the back while she went to talk to a worker at the desk.

"hey jay," she waved as she walked over to the counter top, leaning on the counter a little bit, "some of your guys' shoe boxes were delivered at jamba juice again, so i came to deliver it."

"thanks, i hope they fix it soon. its making us run all over the place," he told her. misaki nodded in agreement.

"i agree, but this is just the first batch so once you guys finish loading these in your storage room, i'll bring over the rest."

he nodded, "okay," before turning around to face a familiar guy, too recognizable.. he was looking right back at her before giving her an awkward smile, she smiled back before walking off.

"dude!" sunghoon hissed, "that was the girl."

"who, misaki?" he asked, while tagging all the boxes of insoles.

"that's her name?"

"no no no, you cannot like misaki," jay stated, turning away from the boy, while reaching for an empty shoe box.

"what why?"

"cause.." he stopped himself before he could spill the beans, sunghoon gave him the eyes but jay shook his head, "too many people liked her. if you seek for a relationship, don't attempt it."

"too many people?" he questioned, a little suspicious of jay, "did you like her?"

"hoon!" he exclaimed, "i'm at work, please let me be."

"i'm gonna take that as a yes."

"no, i didn't," he answered, "my friend did and.. he's stuck in the friend zone."

"she hasn't met me yet though," sunghoon pointed out, "i might have a chance."

"a chance at rejection, yes."

"why are you being such a debby downer?"

"i just don't think it's a good idea, especially for you. i mean come on, how long did it take for you to get over that one girl in eighth grade?" jay asked.

"oh come on, i thought we were over that. plus, i did move on."

"and then you got stuck up on another girl. in my opinion, you should wait for a girl to come to you- not the other way around," he told the dumbfounded boy. sunghoon frowned at the memories.

"okay fine. i won't go for her."

"swear?"

"i swear," sunghoon swore.

"you promise?"

"i promise, come on jay," he reassured his best friend.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

"hi ma'am, what would you like today?" taesan asked, taking over order #57.

"order #56!" misaki called out, a woman and a young girl walking over to show their receipt, "here are some straws and a spoon for the acai bowl."

"thank you," the older woman smiled, misa smiled back before walking over to the second cash register to take the next order as taesan finished taking his.

"hi, what would you like to order?" she asked while unlocking the register, she looked up to see jay and 'the photobooth guy'. she held her smile and looked over to jay who started to talk.

"a medium white gummi please."

“with the vitamins you normally get?” she added.

“oh yes please,” he nodded, misaki tapped in his order before looking over to the familiar boy from earlier, "order what you would like, ill pay for it."

"it's okay, its my treat. um and can i get one mango-go-go and strawberries wild," the white sweater boy assured, eyes observing misaki's face little by little.

"both mediums?"

"um.. make the mango-go-go a large, do you want to make yours large?" he asked his best friend.

"no, it's okay," jay politely declined before going off to find a free table, "i'll go find us a table to sit at."

"will that be all?" misa asked, locking eyes with the boy.

"yup," he mumbled, looking everywhere except her face.

"so one medium white gummi with vitamins, one medium strawberries wild, and one large mango-go-go,” he nodded, “your total will be 10569 ₩," she calculated, "can i have a name for the order?"

he tapped his card before answering her, "uh sunghoon?" he answered although he sounded unsure.

"'uh sunghoon'?" she asked, grabbing a sharpie to write the orders down on the designated sized cups. he looked at her upon hearing his name being called.

"oh no, its just sunghoon," he corrected shyly more than awkwardly.

"got it," misaki assured him with a warm smile, "it'll be ready in a couple minutes."

she handed him his receipt before walking off to make they're smoothies.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

“thanks for picking me up on such short notice, wonnie,” misaki thanked her best friend, “my cars in the shop at the moment.”

“wait so how’d you get here this morning?” her best friend asked.

“oh i took a bus to the subway and walked from there.”

“you could always call me if you need a ride,” wonyoung reminded her.

“i know, i know but i cant always ask you for a ride.”

“fine, its up to you but.. who was that guy you were talking about on your spam?” wonie curiously asked as she drove out of the parking lot, “did you get his number?”

“no,” she sighed, “but i did get his name.”

“really?! how?” she gasped, not expecting that answer.

“well his name is sunghoon, i'll search his name up on twitter,” misaki informed the brown haired girl as she started to search him up on social media.

“why does that name sound so familiar..” wonnie mumbled to herself.

“huh? does it?”

once they stopped at the street light, misa showed sunghoon's profile. wonyoung observed the page before gasping.

“wait, wait, wait him?” she exclaimed, more in a worried way.

“what, why? you're scaring me," misaki retracted her phone away from her frantic friend.

a horn honked from behind them, catching wonyoungs attention, she pushed on the gas to turn onto the freeway.

“you cannot date him and i'm serious about that,” her voice was stern and serious.

“why?” misa asked.

“well when i tell you, you wouldn't want to date him either,” the girl's ears perked up at her words, “his sister is park sara.”

for those of you who dont know, park sara is misaki’s number one enemy which automatically makes sunghoon second on that list.

“no fucking way,” misaki cursed under her breath, leaning back in her chair but she still couldn't stop herself from looking through his notes on twitter.

as much as she tried, she couldn't stop thinking about sungh- she couldn't even say his name. she's been calling him ‘photobooth guy’ and before she knew it, she was spamming wonyoung.

note: okie lets spice it up :O

© wonopia 2024

open TAGLIST. @coffeeprincejaehyun @hoonatic

[keiskake]

Hey I really like your Hawks stuff! I was wondering if you can do Hawks x significant other reader scenario where Hawks loses his memory (like form injury or a villain’s qurik). Then have the reader either help him regain his memory of there relationship or he never gets his memory of their love and falls in love with someone else. Which ever ending you want is up to you. Thank you!!!

a/n ~ you guys don't understand how happy i get when reading these asks, truly grateful. i read this ask whilst in the library and i was literally holding my squeal in, because OMG this is a great idea. i couldn't choose an ending so i did both! happy ending first, and sad ending after the line. the first four sections are the same for both endings. and thank YOU for your ask. ʕ♡˙ᴥ˙♡ʔ

hawks x gn!reader (ft a not so nice mirko)

(cw//coma + amnesia)

he stretched himself too far. he didn't understand his limits. no. he didn't want to acknowledge his limits. after dabi had burnt his wings to a crisp he struggled to stay in flight mode for very long. they were growing back but not fast enough. not fast enough to save that woman falling from the building with ease.

there was no time to think, he swooped in to catch her. but after the adrenaline died out he realised that he couldn't keep it up much longer, his wings unable to hold the weight of them both. the feathers gave out. a heavy load dropped, the air pressure drowned his ears. a glimpse of endeavour caught his eye so he threw the woman in his direction and called out to him. a sacrifice made for the greater good. oh so he thought.

he was rushed to the hospital and you were called in. when you finally arrived you were met with an unconscious hawks surrounded by people in gloves and surgical masks. they rushed and panicked around him, urgently trying to get him in the surgery room. you followed after them, body trembling and cries stuck in your throat.

weeks. it was weeks of you staying by hawks' side, tending and caring to his every need as he was stuck in a coma. you visited everyday, no exceptions. every week you'd bring new flowers and throw out the old ones. cleaning his hospital room often, you wanted him to wake up to a clean environment. when his facial hair grew a little too long you'd shave it for him, carefully though. the last thing you wanted to do was hurt him.

he woke up at the start of spring, you walked into his room as he was sat up on the bed facing the partially opened window. the bunch of sunflowers almost slipped out of your hand, gasping at the sight of a conscious hawks. you placed the flowers on the coffee table and ran towards him, throwing your arms around his neck with tears flowing from your cheeks.

"who are you?"

the doctor had told you that amnesia was possible in his case, meaning you had to prepare for the worst. but no preparation could suppress the hurt you felt as those words left his lips. he pushed you away and stared into your eyes blankly. you swept your tears away, painting a weak smile on your face.

"i'm the one who's been looking after you."

you explained the situation he was in, from the accident till present day. he took it pretty well though it might of been due to his hazy memory. nurses were alerted about hawks' situation, coming into the room to run some tests, book future appointments and prescribe medication. after that he was discharged from the hospital.

a taxi took the two of you both home, it was a silent journey and that was a thought you'd never had. you didn't let hawks lift a thing, afraid he would injure himself again. the house was filled with 'get better' gifts for hawks, and that's how he learnt his name again.

"y/n. your name is y/n?" he glanced at you as he held a letter addressed to you.

"yeah that's my name. take your time to get familiar with everything, no rush." you gave him a bright and warm smile. patience was all you needed to show him.

and that's exactly what you did. you talked about his life before the accident, hoping to trigger a memory or two. friends, hobbies, events. when you had days off you'd take him out to see his favourite park or eat at his go to fast food place. he didn't remember that those were his favourite places, but he grew fond of them the more you took him. as time passed you finally started to see that he was regaining parts of his old self.

it was this time last year that hawks woke up, so you bought a cake to celebrate his progress. you heard paper rustling from the bedroom and decided to check on him. you pushed the door a little, the crack wide enough for you to slip into the room. his golden eye studied the pages of an album. an album of you and him. pictures of your dates, anniversaries, graduations.

"it's me and you." his voice is muffled and his eyes are still stuck to the pages of memories.

"they're from before your accident." you plopped yourself next to him on the bed.

"you were...my lover? why didn't you tell me?" hawks pointed at a picture you took during your one year anniversary holiday to Okinawa.

"i wanted it to come back naturally, i didn't want to force it on you. your recovery is my priority."

he slipped his trembling hand into yours, his free hand closing the album and tossing it aside. you entangled your fingers in his for the first time in a year. you missed nothing more than his sweet and loving touch. it really was progress.

"then my priority is learning to be your lover again y/n."

he pressed a gentle kiss on your lips. you threw your arms around his neck, but this time round he didn't push you away or ask 'who are you?'. he embraced you instead, pulling you in tightly as you nuzzled your face into his neck.

"you don't need to learn. you already are my lover."

you were running late to visit hawks, work at the agency had piled up since the boss was at the hospital. as you reached his room you heard voices inside. hawks' voice. before you knew it you had slammed open the door, and the bouquet of sunflowers had dropped from the impact. he was awake, but who was next to him?

"w-who are you?" your body trembled, something about her gave you a bad feeling.

"i'm mirko! hawks girlfriend, you know the one who's been looking after him." she turned to face you, still sat on a chair besides hawks.

the words rang in your head. 'girlfriend'? 'looking after him'? she's a liar. it was you. it was always you. you felt your heart drop as you watched the two talk. he hadn't acknowledged you once, it was almost as if you didn't exist to him at all.

"hawks who is she?" you stepped into the room a little more, your legs were so weak they were about to give out.

"mirko. she said she's my girlfriend, she's been looking after me so it seems believable. and you are?" his eyes were cold and blank.

they were gone. all his memories of you wiped at the blink of an eye. a sense of emptiness devoured you. you didn't know how to feel or react. there was nothing to your relationship. it was gone. decayed. your body was cold and numb, your hands forming fists and eyes welling up with tears. something had pierced right through your heart, and the void gaped opened in agony. it felt like time had stopped all around, standing in complete silence. mirko got up, taking you by the arm tightly and pulling you out of hawks' room. your gut was right.

"thanks for all your hard work but i'm taking over now. i'll swing by once he's discharged to get his stuff." a dark haze covered her reddish eyes, her lips forming a sinister grin.

you didn't have time to respond let alone swallow what she had just told you. it seemed like only yesterday you were by his side, humming his favourite tune and sweeping the room. it was only a weeks ago that he was kissing you goodbye before leaving for work. it slipped out of your hands in seconds. your legs finally gave out, dropping to the floor and your muffled cries echoing in your head.

"why can't you remember hawks..."