#everyone say thank you cameraman for this insane shot

[leqclerc]

Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc by the Ayrton Senna memorial statue at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola (May 16, 2024)

[silvervioletvalentine]

❣️Bad Influence❣️

Pairing : Mick Schumacher X Cherrie!

Word count : 7.2k

Summary: in which Cherrie is a bad influence. She’s also a little over protective too.

Mick stood in front of the reporter with a amused smile tugging at his lips as the topic of his girlfriend and rival on the track was brought up again.

His cheeks flushing a subtle pink just at the sound of her name , shifting on his feet with a shy laugh as he glanced around him to make sure that she wasn't near him to make fun of him when he acted like a fool in love for her in front of everyone .

If she saw him blushing over just hearing her name, he would never hear the end of it. The picture would be screen shotted and framed in their apartment with a proud plack engraved with the words 'SIMP #1' on it.

How did he know that would happen?

Because it already had the last time she caught him giggling about her to the press again.

"How does it feel for your partner to beat you today? Is there any part of you that is envious of her constant wins lately?" The man asked him clearly looking for some drama to stir.

But he was picking the wrong man to hear it from . Because mick was as in love with Cherrie as a man could possibly be.

She could crash into him on purpose and he would still refuse to blame her for it. In fact he'd probably thank her for it . That's how soft he was for her.

Mick just smiled at the man with a small laugh , shaking his head at him.

"No, no. I'm Incredibly proud of her. She's one of the best drivers in the world and she deserves every single win that she has achieved. She works incredibly hard and there's been days where she's literally been up all night on the simulator refusing to come off until she's satisfied that she's knows the track by memory. Even when I try and get her to relax and enjoy her time off-" he laughed fondly at the stubbornness and insane drive to win that she had .

"She'll just look at me like I've asked her to go to Mars. So I've learned to leave her alone and just let her be the best that she can be. Because her hard work pays off .. I mean, she's won again so she must be doing something right!" He exclaimed with a proud look on his face .

Before laughing a little as he felt his phone buzz in his hand, already knowing who it was and just what it would say .

He looked at the camera with a small smirk , chuckling . "Look- she likes to annoy me with it though. She's not very er- she's not very humble and loves to brag.." he told them in amusement at how shameless his girlfriend was when it came to rubbing her success in other people's faces for her own amusement.

He then laughed loudly as he opened up her text and showed it to the camera for the world to see.

"Look- this is my super supportive girlfriend by the way ... she's wrote- ‘I've just got back home after taking a ride in the winners car. You did amazing today, not as good as me because that's impossible , but still fabulous! So I've gotten you a cake.." he read out with his tongue in his cheek as he looked at the photo she had sent him.

It was of a large cake with white frosting , and written in bright red icing were the words

'Better luck next time gorgeous!'

The reporter and cameraman chuckled at her teasing and the usual cheek that she had . Not at all surprised by her behaviour .

It was one of the reasons why people had been so shocked when Cherrie had announced her relationship with mick over a year ago now . No one could quite believe it.

Because the two of them couldn't have been more opposite If they tried.

Cherrie was this loudmouth , arrogant and risky driver who wasn't afraid to get into someone's face and tell them that exactly what she thought about them.

Like the time that Cherrie had took a hold of max before he could leave the paddock just to ask him what the fuck did he think he was doing after nearly taking her out on the track.

Mick had to hurry over and intervene , physically carrying his furious girlfriend away while she cursed max out in Spanish and promised him that karma would bite his ass soon.

Karma being herself because the next race after that incident , Cherrie had overtook him at the last second , deliberately leaving him to think that he was about to win before pressing full throttle at the last second and taking the leadership away from him just like that.

The smug look on her face when she stood next to max on the podium , clearly proud of herself for getting back at max in the best way possible.

With pure Success .

"It's what he gets. Maybe he'll think twice before trying to screw me over time . Because I don't get sad . I get even." Cherrie had simply told them, unbothered and confident in herself like always .

Where mick was sweet, Cherrie was a cocky asshole who found humour in pissing people off.

And where mick was soft spoken and polite, Cherrie was mouthy and came across as rude sometimes with how blunt and unfiltered she was .

Many a time has mick had to slap his hand over her big mouth before she could start another verbal fight with someone just because she was bored.

And while mick had a hard time sometimes sticking up for himself and speaking up to his team when he didn't think something was right , too afraid to upset anyone or cause any trouble with someone.

Cherrie was not shy or hesitant at all.

When mick had told her that his team weren't listening to his complaints about his wheel not feeling right , telling her that they had just ignored him and refused to listen. Cherrie had simply told him that she would handle it.

And by handling it she meant storming into his garage and screaming at his team, with a face of fury and tightened fists as she had refused to leave until they had Listened to every single one of the issues that he had been silently facing .

She had Stood beside him like a pissed off and over protective  parent while he quietly told them his problems with the car , giving him a encouraging nod each time he looked to her for approval.

And as they had been leaving . The camera had picked up on her threatening his team principal without it giving a single shit at the amount of trouble she was going to be in for doing so.

"You better give him a better car and actually listen to him next time . Otherwise the lot of you will be leaving here in an ambulance!" She had snapped at them while mick had laughed nervously and told them that she was joking , pulling her away before she actually de-knee capped them all.

They may have been different but mick was certain that was why it worked so well between them.

His kindness and gentleness helped calmed her down , he brought her back down to Earth when she was spiralling out of control inside her clustered head. He brought her calmness and safety , knowing that she could trust him  and just be herself after an exhausting day of people expecting things from her.

Whereas Cherrie gave him more confidence in himself. The minute she heard him even slightly putting himself down or blaming himself over something that was out of his control, she would give him a firm slap around the head and tell him to stop being stupid .

She would then sit there with him and list off every single amazing thing about him, she would hold him tight and promised him that no matter the problem. They could work it out together.

Even though she was in a different team and the two of them were supposed to be Rivals. None of that applied to them because Cherrie did whatever the fuck she wanted to.

She let him use her teams simulator with the track that they would be racing on. Sitting up all night with him and showing him tips and tricks to use at certain corners, showing him the best places to brake quicker and which corners he needed to be careful on. Even though she wasn't supposed to be helping him, she did anyways.

Because while they may not have been a team on the track, they were a team off of it and she would always have his back. Always.

It was a nice feeling for him to know that he would always have someone on his side even when he was the one in the wrong. She would simply defend him without any hesitation to the public but scold him in private when they were at home. Telling him what he had done wrong instead of making him feel like shit about it , she would simply go over his mistakes with him and fix them. Showing him what to do next time instead.

They loved each other and it showed.

And was his girlfriend a slightly crazy, obnoxious , and intimidating woman? A little bit , yes.

Did he care? Absolutely not. It was what made him love her even more .

She kept him on the edge of his seat and never once had he ever doubted her love for him because it showed in every single thing that she did .

"Would you say that Cherrie is a bad influence on you?" He asked him with a knowing look on his face.

Mick hesitated at that , titling his head side to side with a bashful laugh as he thought about how mischievous she was. How she always managed to drag him into her shit too.

"Er- yes , a little. I can't deny it. She likes trouble and she likes to get me into trouble too." He admitted with a grin as he thought back to all the times she had been a bad influence on him.

There was that time in Monaco when Charles had offered to take them on a tour around the place , both of them had been waiting by his car while he walked back inside the hotel to take a phone call, telling them that he'd only be a minute .

They were stood there waiting for him for ten minutes when Cherrie finally had enough. Unable to stand still and huffing and puffing with each second that passed by without Charles reappearing .

"Christ! who is he in the phone with? The insurance company?!" She whines out impatiently , rolling her eyes in annoyance as she turned to look at the ferrari in front of her.

Mick just laughed and rubbed her back gently , used to her inability to just stand still and wait.

"He won't be long-" he broke off into a startled gasp when Cherrie suddenly opened the drivers side of the Ferrari and slid into the seat , the keys having already been left inside , having just been about to leave before he got a call.

Mick looked at her with wide eyes as she turned on the engine and looked up at him innocently .

"What are you doing?!" He exclaimed with a nervous look back to the hotel. Knowing that Charles wouldn't want her driving his precious car without permission.

But his girlfriend simply didn't give a shit. Giving him a look and nodding over to the passenger seat impatiently .

"I'm hungry and if I have to wait here for another minute I'm going to go mad! Are you getting in or what baby?" She looked at him with a challenging  smirk , closing her door and reviving the engine again just to wind him up some more .

Mick hesitated , running a hand over his face anxiously as he chewed nervously on his lower lip.

Glancing down at his cool as a cucumber girlfriend who was looking up at him in amusement at the way he kept shooting nervous looks over his shoulder at the hotel .

"This isn't a good idea! We can't just steal his car! He'll go mental!" He scolded her , taking a small step closer to the Ferrari despite himself.

Cherrie just laughed and leaned over to open the passenger side of the door for him, nodding confidently to the seat knowing that there was no way on earth he would let her drive off in Monaco without him.

"We'll be back before he's even noticed we’ve gone! Come on baby! You don't want me to starve do you? I haven't even had any breakfast yet!" She knew just how to guilt trip him.

Mick hesitated with his head halfway in the car , looking at the love of his life with a concerned frown.

"You haven't? Cherrie! I told you not to go without something to eat first! Oh my god! You never listen!" He scolded her , quickly sliding into Charles's Ferrari before he could chicken out and change his mind.

Cherrie stepped on the gas, quickly speeding off down the road without any hesitation. Laughing loudly as mick reached over and clicked her seatbelt into place for her , untucking her hair from beneath it too so it didn't tug at her head.

"I had some toast. I was just lying to get you into the damn car!" She giggled like a naughty kid at the disbelieving look he sent her .

Mouth dropping open in disbelief "Cherrie! This is a crime! We've stolen his Ferrari! This is peer pressure!" His voice went higher incredulously at how unbothered she looked.

The wind blowing through her hair as she turned on the radio and glanced over at him with a pretty smile on her face . Mick's heart fluttering when she placed her hand on his thigh and squeezed teasingly.

"Love you." She sang to him playfully , tilting her head for a kiss.

Mick yelled "keep your eyes on the road!" Before quickly leaning over the console to give her a kiss, then he grabbed her jaw and turned her head back to face the front again. Shaking his head in pure disbelief at her.

Crazy . She was crazy!

"I quite like this car. It's very smooth to drive. Do you want to drive it?" She nudged his shoulder with a smirk as they both slowly walked back to the badly parked Ferrari , Cherrie holding a small tub of ice cream in her hand .

Mick swallowed down the bite that she fed to him, humming at the sweet taste as he caressed the back of her head affectionately. Admiring how pretty she looked underneath the beaming sun.

Before Shaking his head "no because then I'm the criminal. Right now im just - a witness." He told her before giving her a stern look when she looked up beneath her dark lashes at him, tilting her head cutely.

He inhaled sharply "no! No! Don't give me that look. You are not dragging me any further into this- I am not driving Charles Ferrari away. We really need to take it back before he kills us!" He tried to stick to his own words, he really did.

But then she pouted up at him and gently kissed his bicep a couple of times . Mumbling a small "please? I want you to drive me to the beach. Please mick.."

He groaned "no. I meant it. I'm not doing it-" he was adamant .

Five minutes later mick was driving Charles's Ferrari to the beach with a sigh , glancing over at a pleased looking Cherrie in the passenger seat taking photos

Of him behind the wheel to send to a furious Charles .

He never let them anywhere near his Ferrari again.

Or there was that time at the hotel when some of the drivers had been lounging around the pool while they had an off day.

Mick was stood behind Cherrie as he gently rubbed sunscreen onto her back, biting his down on his lip as he admired her Tanned and sweating body in the tiny red bikini that she was wearing. Sighing in awe, unable to believe that she was all his.

"You look beautiful. Are you sure that you don't want to head back up to our room?" He murmured suggestively into her ear.

Kissing the side of her head as he wrapped his arms around her chest from behind , resting the side of his cheek against her own as he hugged her close to him. Enjoying having her to himself again after such a busy week.

Cherrie just giggled as she leaned back against his chest, lifting one of her arms so that she could hold the hand dangling over her chest, intertwining their fingers together lazily as she stared over at max who was stood by the edge of the pool talking to lando about something.

Narrowing her eyes at him, still feeling a little pissed off by the risky overtake he did on her . She sighed loudly and lifted mick's hand in front of her , kissing his knuckles gently to soften him up.

"Did you see that dangerous move max did to me at the corner?" She murmured to him, smiling a little slyly when she leaned her head back to look up at him through her lashes . Just like she always did when she wanted something from him.

Mick frowned a little at the reminder , humming in confusion once he saw the calculating look on her pretty face.

Fighting back a loud sigh already knowing that whether she was about to suggest would be no good.

"Yeah? What about it? He apologised to you this morning didn't he?" He had seen max hesitantly approach his girlfriend while they had all been getting breakfast in the hall.

Trying not to laugh at the way max had stood a good metre away from her while telling her he was sorry, Cherrie just glaring up at him unhappily as she bit into a banana aggressively while looking him straight in the eye.

Cherrie just hummed, leaning up to kiss his jaw gently as she mumbled to him. "Still.. do you remember what I did when pierre did the same thing to you?" She was referring to the time that the French man hasn't left enough room and sent mick spinning into the wall.

Mick looked down at her warily , recalling the way she had found pierre in the club later that night and then proceeded to tackle him to the dance floor. Keeping him in a headlock until he apologised to a flustered mick who was trying to get her off him while their friends all laughed hysterically at the scene she had made .

"Yes... what about it?" He worried as he caught her eyes shifting back over to max by the pool, groaning as he realised what she was hinting at him to do.

"Cherrie- I am not attacking max-"

She just scoffed and waved her hand in front of her "no, no. I'm not asking you to do that! I'm just saying.. look how close he is to the edge of the pool. He's just asking to be pushed in Isn't he?" She said to him with a smirk.

Mick pulled away from her with another groan, frowning at her disapprovingly . Wondering why she was like this.

"I am not pushing max into the pool for you-" he whisper shouted to her . Eyes widening as she started to give him that look .

Rapidly shaking his head at her in denial "no- no!"

She walked behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and kissed between his shoulders with a mischievous giggle . Knowing that she always got what she wanted .

"Please mick? It'll be so funny! It'll be good for him to cool off in this heat anway! Plus I took down gasly for you so it's time you returned the favour-" she told him confidently .

Mick looked over his shoulder at her with wide eyes "I didn't ask you to put pierre in a headlock! I don't want to piss max off either-" he reminded her .

But he still glanced back over at max who was standing so incredibly close to the edge of the pool , oblivious to cherrie's plan for him.

Mick took a small step closer to him as he thought about how max had nearly taken his girlfriend out of the race with his risky cut off.

Hearing Cherrie giggle like a evil little gremlin behind him , narrowing his eyes at her as he hesitated just a couple of steps behind max.

Cherrie just beamed at him , eyes sparkling as she nodded insistently towards max.

"Do it!" She mouthed to him with a smirk, hands pressed to her cheeks in excitement .

Mick looked at Max's back and then back to his hopeful girlfriend , hands twitching as he hesitated .

Bedore letting out a defeated sigh and turning around, walking straight over to max who looked over at him in confusion , starting to smile at him politely.

"Hey mate what-?" He started to say only to gasp loudly as mick gave him a hard shove to his shoulders and sent him tumbling straight back into the pool behind him.

All he could hear was Cherrie laughing hysterically as she fell down to her knees in tears, gasping between giggles at the big splash max made as he fell hard into the water.

Spluttering and coughing as he came back up for her , soaking wet and blinking water out from his eyes as he gaped up at a sheepish mick in disbelief.

"Why?! What was that for?!" He exclaimed in shock while the other drivers laughed and took photos of him.

Mick just shrugged and scratched the side of his neck sheepishly , glancing over to his giggling girlfriend with a small grin . Pleased with how proud she looked of him.

"That's for nearly taking Cher off the track. You're lucky that I didn't do what she wanted me to do to you." He told him honestly.

Walking back over to her and placing his hands underneath her armpits to pull his hysterically laughing girlfriend up from the floor. Placing her on his lap as he sat down at the end of one of the sun loungers instead .

Cherrie immediately wrapping her arm around his shoulders and giving him a kiss before pulling away to watch max pull himself out of the pool with a huff.

"And what did she want you to do?" He dared to ask, shooting a giggling Cherrie an unimpressed look.

"Kill you. But mick said no." She replied without any hesitation . Face serious .

Max paused and eyed her warily while mick just laughed nervously and placed his hand over her smirking mouth , shaking his head .

"No, no. She's kidding! She never told me to kill you. She's really sweet actually!" He lied with a smile as he pulled her down to lay with him instead before she Could get them into any more trouble .

Locking her body between his legs as she squirmed on him, still laughing like a naughty kid. He hooked his arm around the back of her neck, resting her head in the crook of his elbow to keep her still.

Leaning down to give her a brief kiss "behave. You've already paid a fine for threatening to break Max's nose last time remember? It'll be even more if you do it again." He whispered against her lips, smiling despite himself .

Finding it funny how her first answer to everything was violence . Always being the one to calm her down and tell her that killing off all of her rivals wouldn't solve a thing.

She just sighed and buried her face into his neck, snuggling into him happily.

"It would make me feel really good though. But if he does that to me on the track again.." she trailed off, peering up at him with a smirk.

Mick just sighed in defeat "then I'll pop the tires to his car and cancel his plane ride home. I know . You've already told what to do." He murmured in amusement  . Getting another proud kiss from her as she whispered that she loved him.

So was she a slightly bad influence on him?

Maybe.

But she was also fiercely protective of him too and she showed just how much she loved him with her actions.

Like that time he crashed into the barrier and Cherrie had been right behind him, just narrowly missing being taken out by one of his wheels flying onto the track.

She slowed down her car and looked over at his crashed car in worry , her radio quickly coming on.

"Okay that's a red flag . You need to pull back and follow the safety car-" he told her firmly.

Cherrie didn't listen, instead she felt her heart pounding her chest with worry when mick didn't get straight out of the car like he usually did.

"Fuck that was a bad one! Stupid fucking car they’ve dumped him with! Who the hell did that? How did that happen?" She turned off her engine , refusing to move her car away from her boyfriends crashed one.

Her team knew her though and immediately replied with concern "you need to stay in your car and follow the-”

Cherrie cut him off with a scoff , eyes never leaving the car opposite her .

"Fuck off! I'm not leaving him there! I'll pay the fucking fine or whatever they slap me with. Okay?" Was all she snapped at them before pulling off her wheel and hauling herself out of the car .

The announcer was going crazy "that's something you don't see very often! The Ferrari has come to a complete stop and Cherrie is getting out of the car, denying team orders! That's going to get her into a lot of trouble but by the sounds of it she really doesn't care!" He exclaimed , sounding impressed.

Cherrie ran over to his car as fast as she could, quickly kneeling beside it and bending over so that she could see mick inside.

Placing her hand ontop of his helmet and tapping it gently "you okay? Are you good? Are you hurt? Can you get out?" She rushed the questions at him in worry.

Signing loudly in relief when mick lifted up his visor and looked at her with tears in his eyes, clearly upset with crashing again.

"Yeah I'm okay. I'm out of the race though- the team isn't going to be very happy with me-" he mumbled to her sadly.

Cherrie just scoffed and pulled out of his wheel, throwing it down to the side and grasping his hands in her own to help pull him out .

Wrapping her arm around his waist to steady him while he got his footing again, pulling off his helmet and placing it into the car with a sigh.

Cherrie pulled her own off too and carelessly flung it onto the grass. Bending her head down so that she could meet his teary eyes, she immediately pulled him into her side for a hug.

"I don't give a shit. I'm just glad you're okay! That's all that matters! If your team has anything to say they can say it to the both of us tomorrow because we're going home!" She snapped , checking him over for injuries  herself.

Mick wrapped his arm around her shoulder and frowned in worry . "I don't think we're allowed to. We'll be fined if we leave-" he reminded her , waving the medics off and telling them that he was okay. Just winded.

Cherrie pushed past all of the people and grabbed his hand in her own, pulling him along the side and over to the wall with determined strides. Mick following behind her without any hesitation, trusting her to have his best interests at heart like she always did .

She didn’t mess around when it came to him.

"Then they can fine me . I don't care. You're worth more than money and you know that the press will only hound you and they'll have you doing media for hours to cover over for what a shit fucking box your team have given you." She ranted angrily as she jumped over the wall that lead to a parking lot that was about five minute walk away.

Mick just smiled and kissed the side of her head in adoration. “thank you. I just really want to go home and calm down." He murmured to her honestly , grateful for her stubbornness and determination to protect him all the time. Damned the consequences.

"Then we'll go home and calm down. Fuck the rest of them. Come on." Was all she muttered as she wrapped her arm around his waist, letting mick lean on her side as they walked side by side down the road to where she had parked her car.

A camera drone filming them getting further and further away from the track , still in their races suits and ignoring everybody else as they chatted casually between each other . Hand in hand.

"I can't believe this! They have left the Grand Prix! They've jumped the wall to the car park, instead of heading back to their team and garage. They're leaving together-!" The announcer exclaimed in astonishment as the whole world watched Cherrie gently push mick into her car and quickly get in herself .

The black Ferrari quickly reversing and turning around bedore speeding down to the nearest highway , before disappearing completely out of sight.

"Now that's what you call love! She got him out of there before his team could even think of calling him down! No doubt they'll be in a world of trouble for this but-" he laughed in amusement , sounding proud.

"Cherrie cares for nobody but mick! His team principals won't even get close to him if she's there! It's clear to see who's the real boss here isn't it?"

Or there was that time when mick wasn't feeling too good and was slouched down in his seat at the airport , hood over his head as he tried to drown out the loud noise coming from the rest of the drivers that would they would be sharing a plane with to attend some fancy gala by one of their sponsors.

Already dreading being in a plane with them, his head pounding and just wanting some peace and quiet so he could rest.

He looked around for his girlfriend who had taken one look at his miserable face and disappeared, spotting her jogging back her to him with piece of papers and both of their passports in her hand.

She smiled down at him gently , nodding behind her. "Come on. Let's go." She said casually as she pulled him up from his seat by the sleeve of his hoodie.

Mick glancing down at her in confusion "what? The planes not here yet." He told her with a frown.

Lando and Charles glanced over at them once they noticed Cherrie trying to drag him away.

"Where are you going?" Lando questioned them in confusion. The other drivers now looking at them too.

Cherrie paid them absolutely no mind , keeping her gaze on her flushed boyfriend who clearly wasn't well.

"I've got us a private plane. It's ready now. Come on." She simply told him as though it was no big deal.

Mick looked at her in disbelief , heart warming . "You got us a private plane? To the event?"

She looked at him with a small smile "no. To home. We're not going to some pretentious gala . We're going home and you're going to bed to rest. I've texted my mum to drop off some soup for you when we get there as well." She informed him softly , wrapping her arm around his waist and pulling him along with her casually.

Mick looked at her with love in his eyes, heart squeezing in his chest from how thoughtful she was to him without even making a big deal out of it. And without him even saying a thing.

Charles looked between the two of them in disbelief "I thought we were all travelling together? You've got a private plane just for the two of you ?!" He exclaimed in shock at how they were just ditching them there without any hesitation.

Cherrie just glanced at them briefly , unbothered.

"Yes. Enjoy your noisy flight. We'll be in the jet with plenty of leg room and champagne! See you guys!" She chirped at them with a smug smirk before turning back around and heading on their way.

Mick grinning to himself as he sheepishly waved at the read of the shocked drivers , jogging to keep up with her long strides as they headed over to the private part of the airport where a small, sleek plane was waiting for them.

"I love you so much." He whispered to her honestly , unable to believe that it was possible to love someone as much as he did her.

She was his life, his soul and his heart .

And he didn't know what he would do without her. She was his person. His best friend. She always had been and always would be.

She may have been a cocky little asshole but she was his cocky little asshole.

It was the only time that she ever let her guard down and showed how truly soft and caring she could be, but only for him. It was all the little things that she did for him that showed everyone else how much she loved him.

Like the way she was about to pass mick to head to her own media duties , stopping to wish him luck for his press conference with Lewis and Charles.

She leaned into his side for a brief hug ,waving off her assistant who was trying to get her to hurry up. She just told her to give her a minute as she spoke to mick.

"You okay?" She murmured to him, leaning up to give him a quick kiss. Squeezing his waist affectionately .

Mick hummed a little , sniffling from the cold as he gave her red cheeks a kiss. Nudging her nose with his own fondly .

"Yeah. Just want to get this over with . I didn't get to eat anything yet- I'm really hungry." He grumbled to her . Upset that he hasn't had the chance to even have any breakfast before he was dragged away.

Cherrie frowned at him "thats not good. We'll go out for dinner tonight yeah? Order the whole menu." She mumbled to him , yawning from how tired she was. The both of them not morning people at all.

Mick smiled at her and gave her another quick kiss before he was pulled away, waving to her .

"Sounds good! Love you!" He called over his shoulder to her loudly .

She gave him a wink "love you too! Have fun!" She sarcastically added , laughing when he pulled a face. Both of them hating media just as much as anybody else .

It was almost halfway through the conference when there was some rustling and loud muttering from

Behind them, the interviewer pausing mid question as they all looked over to the commotion at the door.

And mick could only sink into his seat with a flustered grin as his girlfriend confidently pushed past security , rolling her eyes at them when they tried to stop her from going up on the stage.

She just gave them a look before waving over at mick happily. Nodding respectfully to Charles and Lewis who were chuckling at her sudden appearance in amusement , not all all surprised with her crashing the conference.

"Oh my god. What are you doing?" Mick flushed, giggling a little in embarrassment as she casually walked over to the table with a brown paper bag in her hand.

She leant down and gave him a quick kiss "I got you a sandwich and a cupcake from the bakery around the corner ." She told him simply as she handed him the food she had rushed off to get him after he had told her that he was hungry.

Mick's face softened at her kindness , smiling at the way she was pretending to be casual and unbothered by the glances she was getting as she also handed him a hot chocolate to drink too.

He looked up at her in amazement , fondness coating his voice as he mumbled . "Thank you baby. You didn't have too."

She just shrugged and waved his thanks away like she always did . "course I did. You get pissy when you're hungry and there's only enough room for one mean little bitch in this relationship and it's me." She simply replied. Ruffling his hair before stepping away from The table , ready to leave as quick as she had came.

Having put off her own media duties to drive to the nearest cafe, she ignored the way her assistant was glaring at her. Not caring that she was going to be in trouble again .

Mick came first , always.

He quickly reached out with his hand to stop her from going , smiling at her gently . "One second.." he muttered to her before reaching into the bag and seeing two cupcakes .

He pulled out the chocolate one and handed it to her , raising his eyebrow at her sternly when she refused to take it.

"I got it for you." She muttered with a frown .

He just smiled and placed it into her hand "I only need one baby. I'm not the only one who's an asshole when they’re hungry. Eat it and I'll see you later okay?" He murmured to her quietly but the microphone on the table still picked up his affectionate words.

Cheeks flushing red when he heard Lewis 'aww.' At them fondly.

Cherrie just sighed and took the cupcake reluctantly, rolling her eyes at him playfully . Leaning down to give him one last kiss before pulling away.

"Love you. I'll see you at home?" She said as she jumped down from stage.

Mick didn't take his eyes off her , taking a sip from the hot chocolate to cover up his lovesick smile.

"Definitely. I'll call you when I'm done!" He told her , getting a thumbs up in response before she disappeared back around the corner as though she had never even arrived in the first place .

He sighed happily , only to pause in his place when he turned his head and noticed the amused looks he was getting from both the press and the drivers.

"You two are made for each other." Lewis said with a grin , laughing at the way mick flushed red and could hardly meet their eyes.

Charles nodded along in agreement , chuckling. "I think you're the only that she smiles at. If I told her I was hungry she would just pull a face and tell me to eat something then!" He said amused.

Mick thought back to the way Cherrie had given him her coat that morning when he said he was cold , having forgotten his own at home.

She didn't even hesitate to give him hers. Telling him that she ran hot anyways when he hesitated to take it from her.

Clearly lying because this was the same woman who had bought five blankets for their bed and tucked her hands under his shirt just to warm up her freezing cold hands during the night.

She simply did it Because she loved him. The hot headed , self proclaimed ice queen , uncaring and bitchy woman, loved him and would do anything for him.

And mick would do the same. Because she was it for him.

So he smiled bashfully down at his fingers and laughed shyly , biting down on his lip to control his lovesick grin.

"She's the love of my life. I'm gonna marry her someday." He admitted to them quietly , cheeks red at the awwwing he heard from around the room.

Lewis just laughed, not surprised at all.

"Not if she beats you to it first. She's definitely the type to propose before you do." He mused.

Charles agreed "yeah mate. We all know who wears the pants in your relationship." He chuckled , grinning at him.

Mick just shrugged, unashamed by the fact that she was the starring role in his life.

She took the lead and mick would follow her wherever she took him without any hesitation. Because he loved her, as simple as that.

"She looks great in my pants anyway." He smirked a little , laughing beneath his breath.

Feeling a little smug as he felt the ring box in the pocket of his hoodie just waiting to be opened tonight.

He couldn't beat Cherrie in a lot of things, but he would just this one time. It was a special occasion after all.

And even when he didn't win the race he was still winning when she ran over to him each time with a pretty little smile on her beautiful face.

He won everyday when he woke up in her arms each morning.

He won by the way that every man wanted her but she went home with him without any hesitation, he was the only one she whispered ‘i love you’ to in the darkness of the night.

She was the one. A little crazy and a little bit unhinged, but the one for him nonetheless.

And what was better than having a girlfriend that could fight too ? Mick would never have to even clench a fist because she would go swinging for him.

It was nice how wanted she made him feel .

She made him happy , she made him feel safe . She made him feel like superman. Like he could do anything he wanted as long as she was there by his side.

She was it for him. It was a rare kind of love, the kind that barely made any sense to someone who didn’t know the them well. But he didn’t care.

Because their love was real. Theirs was chaotic and messy. It was fun and safe. Loud and proud.

Their love was unfading and true. That was all that mattered to them.

Fuck everybody else. They had each other. That’s all they needed.

[misteria247]

*somewhere off screen April O'Neil's voice talking to Casey Jones and Cassandra Jones*

(Is the camera on?)

(Yep! All ready to roll news girl!)

(Great! Cass! Sound mic working?)

(Yes, it's working.)

(Alright! Hey Red get in position!)

(We'll be rolling in 5, 4, 3, 2-)

*the camera flashes on revealing April O'Neil of the Rise verse and April O'Neil of the 12 verse. The younger April is holding a microphone while the older one a tape recorder and notepad*

April (Rise): Hello everyone and welcome to-!!! The O'Neil News Broadcasting Channel-!!! I'm your favorite new reporter April, recording live the day before the Tmnt AU Competitions!!! Joining me here today is none other than your favorite blogger and one of my besties April O'Neil!!!

April (12): Glad to be here April, I consider it an honor to join you on this awesome adventure!

April (Rise): I'm glad that you're here too! Joining us also is our favorite cameraman Casey Jones! And our lovely fellow camerawoman Cassandra Jones!

*off screen Casey and Cass let out somewhat violent but enthusiastic "Sups????"*

April (Rise): So what are we gonna do today April????

April (12): Well April, today we're gonna be interviewing the cast of Universal Collision! As well as perhaps even get some words from the writer! So strap in folks and join us on this adventure!!!

*cue April and April smiling at the camera, and Casey and Cassandra giving thumbs up from the side of the shot before it cuts to black*

*sometime later the camera comes back on the image showing a large gymnasium full of various different turtles, sitting on the bleachers is Michelangelo and Mikey the two beaming brightly*

April (Rise) holding her microphone out towards them: So tell us boys! How are we feeling about this competition that's coming up?

Mikey bouncing slightly in his seat: Ohmigosh excited!!! This is absolutely insane that we're really apart of something so big!!!

Michelangelo chiming in: Shell yeah lil dude!! There's so many radical aus here!!! And the games going on have been entertaining!!!

April (12) holding out her recorder: That's great guys! Have any last words for the viewers at home before we go find your brothers?

Michelangelo: Don't forget to vote for Universal Collision dudes!

Mikey: And good luck to the rest of the contestants! We believe in you guys and we'll be rooting for you!

Michelangelo: Heh! Cowabunga lil dude!!

*Michelangelo and Mikey give each other a high three faces bright with excitement for tomorrow*

*the camera cuts to black once more for a brief moment before it comes back, now in the two orange turtles place is Donnie and Donatello*

April (12): Thanks for joining us today boys! Can you tell us how you're feeling now that the competition is tomorrow?

Donatello nervously: Well to be honest I'm feeling a little bit nauseous. There's just so many cool turtles to compete against, it's kinda hard not to feel imitated.

Donnie nonchalantly: Scoff, yee have little faith my ingenious friend. We've got this in the bag either way, whether we win or lose. So there's no need to feel nervous.

April (Rise): Oh? Someone's confident Dee, you seem pretty sure that Universal Collision will win.

Donnie: Oh I'm not sure, I know we will. We'll win whether we make through this round tomorrow or not.

April (Rise) slightly suspicious: And why's that Donathan?

*Donatello gives Donnie a look while Donnie just smirks*

Donnie: Let's just say that me and Don here are gonna be the winners whether we lose or not.

April (12) now herself getting suspicious: Boys........did you......please tell me that you didn't-

Donatello nonchalantly: Possibly got our hands on some money and ordered some things for future experiments?

Donnie not missing a beat: No. We didn't, tch to think that our own best friends would doubt us in this manner. Anyways vote for Universal Collision tomorrow.

*the two girls stare at them unimpressed while Casey snorts in the background*

*the camera cuts to black before flashing back to life, the purple turtles now gone and instead Raph and Raphael are there*

April (Rise): It's nice to have you here with us Big Red and Little Red! Got anything to add to this interview?? Like how you're feeling?

Raph with a determined smile: To be honest Raph's just ready to kick some shell. I've been waiting to get into the ring and now that it's coming up I'm gonna give it my all.

Raphael shrugging: As long as I can bust some heads in then I honestly don't really care.

April (12): Haha you do realize that you can't bust people's heads in right Raph?

Raphael:.........

April (12): Raph.

Raphael simply: I could if you let me.

Raph leery: You know that we can't do that it's not a brawl it's a voting system.

Raphael not missing a beat: And it can be a voting system for who can kick ass the best! Come on Raph! You can not tell me that you're not curious about the other variants of us and they'd do in a fight you're literally me!

*Casey and Cassandra wheezing in the background while Raph just stares at his smaller counterpart already tired but not denying it*

Raph: I won't let him or Don get too far. That's a promise. Also Raph and little me gonna kick shell tomorrow! So cheer for Universal Collision gang! You won't regret it.

*camera cuts to black once more before coming back to life, the red turtles no where to be seen, instead Leo and Leonardo are in their place*

April (Rise): Our final interview here live right now! Now tell us boys! How you feeling before the big day???

April (12) adding on: Have any personal thoughts to add on???

Leo smirking: Only that we're gonna rock this thing! I mean come on, we've got the coolest, most badass group around! We'll do great!

Leonardo softly: As to how we're feeling, I think I can speak for me and Leon here that we're fairly confident that things will work out in the end. And we're honored to be apart of this event.

Leo leaning on Leonardo's back slightly: Exactly! So to all our adoring fans! Thank you for having us here and we can't wait to see y'all tomorrow in the competition!

Leonardo with a small smile: We'll do our best tomorrow and we hope that you all at home will help us.

April (Rise) pulling her microphone back to her: And that concludes the interviews! Thank you all so much for joining us today on this adventure!

April (12) putting her recorder away: And please don't forget to cast your votes for your favorite aus! We're looking forward to seeing all your lovely faces tomorrow! Till next time-!!

*the camera transitions from the two girls smiling at it to a shot of the whole group smiling and giving the viewers of the O'Neil News Broadcasting Channel thumbs up*

*then the screen fades to black for the final time*

Jokes aside please vote for Universal Collision tomorrow and good luck to everyone!!! I'll be rooting for you!!!!

[spine-buster]

The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Chapter 16

A/N: Y’all this chapter is TEN THOUSAND WORDS DON’T EVEN @ ME YOU’RE WELCOME AND *STANLEY TUCCI VOICE* GIRD YOUR LOINS

January 9th, 2020

Aberdeen Bloom was going to go insane.  

This was, perhaps, going to be the busiest day of her life thus far.  This morning was the outdoor practice in Nathan Phillips Square.  She and Peter were responsible for co-ordinating the photographers, videographers, and the team to get down to Nathan Phillips Square.  Once there, Aberdeen was responsible for helping to manage every single every single member of the media who were attending and covering the event, as well as Mayor John Tory and all the wives and girlfriends in attendance.  And though she had the afternoon off to get ready, tonight was the Night With the Blue and White, the organization’s biggest and most important event of the season.  She’d been studying the guest list for weeks, making sure Brendan would know – or at least pretend to know, thanks to her – every guest in attendance, and Peter was doing the same thing for Kyle.  She’d even bought a new dress and shoes for the occasion – fancier than anything she’d ever bought.  She knew that a lot of important and influential people would be there donating their money to the MLSE Launchpad initiatives around the city.  They were even hosting a grade three class of one of the schools who benefitted from the programs.  It was going to be busy, but hopefully fun.

There were cameras everywhere.  Aberdeen knew she’d probably get caught on a few of them, news ones or otherwise, but today, she didn’t care.  There were more important things on her mind.  Brendan was expecting a lot from her, and she knew she had to deliver.  She knew she could deliver.

When she had everything she needed from the office, she made her way down to the locker room.  She entered quietly as she saw all the guys in their long johns and extra base layers, listening to Keefe and Hakstol as they explained how the outdoor practice was going to be organized into teams and tournaments and points.  The energy from the guys was palpable and she could feel it within herself, too.  Cameras were already filming.  She saw William, already with his balaclava on, flash a peace sign to the camera pointed at him.  

When the guys began to put on their gear, she watched Brendan make his way across the room.  He was already wearing his peacoat and scarf.  “You ready?” he asked.

“As ready as I can be,” she smiled.

“Here, wear this,” he said, handing her a knit Leafs toque, the same one all the guys were wearing as well.  “You’re gonna need it.  It’s freezing out there.”

Aberdeen put the hat on as Brendan held her clipboard for her.  After adjusting it, she looked up at him.  “How do I look?”

If this was William asking the question to her, she would have come up with some smart aleck remark – a Costco hot dog or a bottle of Tums in assorted berries flavour.  But because it was Brendan, he said something much nicer.  “Like you’re a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs,” he smiled.  It almost made her swoon.  “Now let’s get this party started, shall we?”

***

“Devon!  Devon!  Your slot is up to interview John as he’s walking.  You cameraman is ready to go live in ten.”

“Carrie, stick with Travis for now.  Goat?  Where’s Goat?  We need him for the French interview.”

“Gerry, you can interview Kyle now, but you only have two minutes.”

Aberdeen was practically skipping to keep up with all the players and media walking through the Toronto streets as they made their way to a full Nathan Phillips Square.  She didn’t have long strides like these hockey boys did with her short little legs.  She noticed all the interviewers being where they needed to be to go live and let out a sigh of relief.  Walking through the streets of Toronto, going on the subway, and having fans, constructions workers, commuters, and more stop the guys left, right and centre for autographs and pictures and selfies was one thing, but once they got to the actual square, with all the media, it was going to be mayhem.  

And she needed to make sure they had Tim Horton’s cups around.

All the guys filed into the square, high fiving the waiting fans who were now screaming at their arrival before they went to the bench and started to put on their skates.  Once they were all there and accounted for (Aberdeen honestly felt like she was on a school trip; she didn’t know how her mother did this with six year olds when she could barely corral a bunch of grown men), she made her way towards where the media was waiting.  Peter was already there.

“Okay everyone!” he screamed out.  Nobody heard him.  “Everyone!” he screamed out again, louder this time, but still nobody heard him.  “Journalists!” he tried one more time.

“HEY!!!!!” Aberdeen screamed at the top of her lungs.  Every journalist and cameraperson there turned silent and looked her way.  Peter looked at her in shock, not knowing she was capable of such a volume.  “Alright!  Listen up!  You each have a designated station to place your cameras.  You are to stay in your station throughout the practice and not encroach on the space of the others!  Journalists and videographers, you’re following Peter who will lead you to your stations, where you are to remain until practice is finished, where you will then go into the media scrum!  Photographers, you are going to follow me and I will lead you to your stations.  Is everybody clear?!”

Everyone nodded their heads and divided themselves easily, with Aberdeen leading the photographers one way and Peter leading the journalists and videographers another.  When she got back to her original spot, that’s when she saw John Tory.  “Mr. Mayor!  Hello!  I’m Aberdeen Bloom, Brendan Shanahan’s executive assistant,” she smiled and shook his hand.  She noticed he was wearing a Leafs varsity jacket.  “Follow me, sir.  You get the sweet spot behind the bench.”

“You know, I look forward to this event every year,” he made small talk with her as they began walking.  “Did you say you were Brendan’s personal assistant?”

“Yes sir.  Although after getting the team on the subway and over here, I feel like I’m herding cats,” she joked.

John Tory laughed.  He’d laughed at a dumb joke she made.  Her dad would be so proud of her.  He’d probably brag at the next dinner party he and Orla had.  “You’re very lucky, Aberdeen.  I bet a million people would kill for your job.”

“I agree, sir.” Aberdeen tapped Brendan’s shoulder to get him to turn around.  “Mr. Mayor, Mr. Shanahan, I’m sure you’re well acquainted.”

The two men shook hands.  Brendan focused his attention quickly on Aberdeen.  “Would you mind meeting Jennifer Spezza and waiting for the others?”

Aberdeen nodded, leaving the mayor with him as she went back to the entrance, near the stairs to the subway.  Once there, she saw Jennifer waiting patiently.  Jennifer smiled once she saw Aberdeen, and extended her arms to hug her.  “It’s always nice to see you, Aberdeen,” she smiled.

“You too, Jen.”

“A bunch of the girls are coming together – Emma, Kat, Steph, Audrey, Saylor, and Alexis are coming together and should be here any second.  Aryne, Bee, and Alannah are running a bit late because of Jace, but only by like five minutes,” Jennifer informed her.  

“Okay, great.  We’ll wait till everyone gets here and then I’ll bring everyone over,” Aberdeen nodded her head.  

“How’s the day been so far?”

Aberdeen shrugged.  “Hectic, but fine.”

“Have you breathed?” Jen joked.

Aberdeen giggled.  “Barely.”

Only moments later, Kat was running up the stairs with Niylah on a harness and leash, and Emma carried Ralph in her arms.  Aberdeen pet the dogs until Aryne, Bee, and Alannah showed up.  Aberdeen led them all to their designated area, and stayed with them as the practice happened.  She liked them – they were a nice group of women, and although Aberdeen was never inserted into any supposed drama she may have heard rumblings about, she was sure they were all good people.  Once they were all there, Aberdeen knew her jobs for the day were done, and that she could breathe again.  Unless Brendan called her to do anything else, she was free.  

“Aberdeen, are we going to see you tonight?” Bee asked as the girls sipped on the complimentary hot chocolate provided for them.

“You bet,” she smiled.

“Oooooooh!” Jen smiled from beside Bee, hopping excitedly.  “What are you wearing?!”

“Oh, you’ll see,” Aberdeen winked.

“What colour is it?” Bee asked.

“Green.”

“Oooooooooooooh,” both women cooed as they made eyes with each other and then Aberdeen.  “You’re gonna knock all of us dead, Aberdeen.  You always look so stylish around the SBA.”

“I don’t think so,” she shook her head nervously.  “You guys are all way too glam for me.”

“Can I get a hot dog pleeeeease?” William’s loud, playful voice interrupted as he skated towards the entrance of the bench where all the girls were.  He shot the girls one of his signature smiles before one of the equipment guys laughed and shook his head as he called behind him for another hot dog.  He was handed one promptly, handing it to William who proceeded to stuff half of it into his mouth in one go.  

Aberdeen shook her head.  Now he was just being obnoxious.

***

“William’s jaw is going to hit the floor, Aberdeen,” Kasha mused as she took some last minute pictures of Aberdeen in her full look.  She’d been hyping Aberdeen up for the last ten minutes as she snapped pictures of her in their apartment – pictures that would no doubt be on Instagram later that evening, pending some light editing and filter choice – even though she should have left for Evan’s place five minutes ago, choosing to spend the night with him so she didn’t have to spend it alone.  

“Shut up.”

“The floooooooor!”

Okay, maybe Kasha was right.  Aberdeen looked good, and she knew she looked good.  She had on her new green chiffon dress, perfect for the occasion: ruched top, draped across her shoulders; triangle mesh cut-out on the bodice; pleated chiffon skirt dropping down to the floor.  Nude strappy hells.  Matching nude clutch.  The evil eye ring Willy got her was the only piece of jewelry she wore.  She gotten her hair professionally done at a salon: smooth and silky old Hollywood style waves with a centre part, held back by a fashionable and trendy velvet headband pinned in place so absolutely nothing would budge.  Even her makeup was flawless: dewy skin, a neutral eye with lashes and liner, and Charlotte Tilbury’s ‘Walk of Shame’ on her lips.  She was a vision.  She was owning every inch of her look.

Too bad she had to work tonight.

“Okay, I think my Uber is here,” Aberdeen said as she saw the notification on her phone screen.

“One more!  One more!” Kasha yelled before Aberdeen posed one last time and Kasha took a burst of photos.  “Okay, have a great night.  Knock Willy dead—”

“—This isn’t about Will—”

“—Knock Willy dead, be fun, and stay safe,” Kasha ended.  “You’re going to rock it, Aberdeen.  And don’t forget to network!”

The Uber dropped her off about six cars down from the entrance to the Royal York Hotel – it was already busy with a bunch of arrivals, but she knew Brendan wouldn’t be there for at least another ten or fifteen minutes.  Once she checked her coat in, she looked around, and Peter’s face was the first one she saw.

“Oh…oh my God, Aberdeen.  You look so chic,” Peter smiled, looking over her outfit.  

“Oh, thanks Peter,” she smiled back.  “You look quite dapper yourself.  We clean up pretty nice, don’t you think?”

“I’d say,” he quipped.  “Gotta make sure all these new suits fit before I go to the All-Star Game.”

Peter had been talking about the All-Star Game since at least Christmas.  It was the event he looked forward to the most all season, even more than this, because of all the people he was able to meet and network with.  This year, it was being hosted in St. Louis, and he, Brendan, and Kyle were going down together.  She’d have at least eight days off during that time period.  She was basically counting down the days.  “Well, wear this one.  You look good.”

“You want some champagne before our bosses get here?” he asked, already flagging down one of the waitresses.  He took two flutes off the tray and handed one to Aberdeen.  “To the dream job,” he said, raising the glass slightly.

Aberdeen smirked.  “To the dream job.”

They both drank the champagne all in one go.  Aberdeen loved champagne, and of course this was the good champagne – so she almost immediately wanted another.  When another waiter came by, they placed their empty glasses on his tray.  Peter left to go to the washroom quickly before Kyle got there.  Aberdeen was left alone.

That’s when she saw William.

He was in a suit, of course – a black, three-piece corduroy suit with a white shirt and black skinny tie – and his hair was tied back in a half ponytail like a European soccer player.  He’d trimmed his beard since that morning at the outdoor practice for a much more polished look – still stubbly and a bit scruffy (just how she liked him…fuck) but presentable and respectable.  Appropriate for a gala full of rich people.  He looked great.  The suit fit him perfectly.  His hair was shiny as hell – probably shinier than hers.  He stood confidently.

And then he saw her.  

His jaw dropped.  Literally dropped.  And when he finally realized it had dropped he brought his hand up to cover it, barely, his smile from ear to ear peeking through the weak attempt.  She hated to admit it, but she loved having that effect on him – she loved having that visible effect on him, one that made his jaw drop uncontrollably.  She mentally prepared herself as he began to walk over to her.  She knew she had to keep it cool.  If he made her weak at the knees barely five minutes into her attendance at the event, she’d be a goner.  

“Hey Will,” she smiled, a twinkle in her eye that dared him to give her another up-down.

“Aberdeen…I…” he paused, unable to find the words.  He even shook his head.  “You…I…wow!” he giggled out.  She really left him unable to form a cohesive sentence.  But she waited it out, not saying anything until he said something.  She wanted to make him suffer, if only a little bit.  “You look beautiful, minskatt,” he finally said, four cohesive words in a row that made sense.

“Thanks, Will.”

“I mean…you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen on any day, but this…” he said, licking his lips.  “I don’t know how I’ll be able to control myself all night.”

Aberdeen tried finding any hint of lie in what he was saying, but she couldn’t.  He was too bashful and it was all coming out so sincerely – he really didn’t have the words.  “I think it helps we’re seated at different tables.”

“Just means the desire will grow until the end of the night,” he said.  “So long as I get to look at you all night, I’ll consider myself a lucky guy.”

She was blushing at this point, and it wasn’t because of him blatant flirting – he was used to that.  She was blushing more about the fact that he meant every word, that every word was so sincere in his tone, that she could see how much she was really affecting him.  “You flatter me too much, Will.”

“You deserve it, minskatt.  You’re stunning.  The most beautiful girl in the room.  But how do I look?”

With nobody around, nobody to hear and nobody to record a witty remark, she smiled slightly.  “You’re the most handsome man in the room.”

Before she could say anything else, Peter came back.  And when Peter came back, William played it cool, and made some small talk before walking off, but as he walked off, he shot Aberdeen a look that followed her around the room.  Wherever he was standing, whoever he was talking to – William was always staring at her, giving her that look, and it sent shivers down her spine as she tried to keep up a conversation with Peter.

Brendan and Catherine finally arrived, along with Kyle and Shannon, and Peter and Aberdeen got to work.  Standing discreetly behind them at all times, they whispered the names of all the attendees who approached them throughout the party, starting in the foyer and moving into the Canadian room – the massive ballroom where everything would be taking place.  And there were a lot of guests.  With over 1000 people in attendance, Aberdeen and Peter needed to know…well, probably around three hundred of them.  She’d been studying for weeks.

“That’s Brian J. Porter, the President and CEO of Scotiabank.”

“Wendy Freeman, the president of CTV News.”

“That’s Gary Doncaster, of the law firm Doncaster, Perlman, and Dobbes.”

Brendan played it cool the entire time.  After Kyle and Peter had separated from them for a bit, they rejoined each other.  From practically across the room, she saw William sipping on a glass of water, watching her intently.  He set it down at what she presumed to be his table.  She tried to focus on the job at hand.  

“Peter?” she heard Kyle say suddenly, in a nervous voice.  Someone and his wife were waving at him and Brendan, slowly making their way towards them, and Kyle clearly needed to know who they were.  

“Oh!  Um…oh my God,” Peter began, panicking.  “I just – I can’t remember what his name is.  I—I just saw his name this morning on the list.”

Aberdeen began panicking too now.  She tried to urge Peter to figure it out, but he couldn’t get it.  “It’s…oh, I know this!  It’s something to do with…wait, he was…he was part of the…oh God!  I know this.  Um…”

The man and his wife were dangerously close.  Aberdeen swooped in behind Kyle.  “That’s Malcolm Mercer, the Chair of the Government and Public Affairs Committee of the Law Society of Ontario, and that’s the woman he left his wife for, Rebecca.”

Aberdeen even surprised herself with that.  She watched as Kyle politely greeted Rebecca first before shaking hands with Malcolm, starting some small talk with them.  She looked over at Peter, who was already looking at her.  “Thank you,” he said sincerely.

“I got you,” she nodded.

***

Brendan, Catherine, and Aberdeen were seated with Ron MacLean from Hockey Night in Canada, and an array of other guests who had paid top dollar to sit with the President of the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of whom was just a solidly rude aging man on his own personal power trip.  Thankfully, he wasn’t seated next to her, or Brendan for that matter, but she could still hear him: the stiff comments, the complaints.  Clearly, he only cared about sitting at this specific table.  Aberdeen would have to make sure that if he attended next year, he was nowhere near Brendan.

There was a traditional Indigenous land acknowledgement at the beginning – the rude man rolled his eyes, which made Aberdeen want to kill him right then and there – followed by a speech made by Brendan – the rude man was on his phone for half of it, not bothering to listen to Brendan’s words of inspiration and gratitude to everyone who donated for the cause.  When Brendan got back to the table, Christine Simpson came out, ushering in the grade three class onto the stage, the students all dressed up and walking in a straight line.  They waved at their parents who were at their own tables, jumping and jiggling excitedly as little kids did.  Aberdeen thought it was the cutest thing.  Christine interviewed some of the students, asking them about school, hockey, meeting the Leafs, and about the integrated classroom and nutrition program at their school – key parts of the MLSE Launchpad initiative.  The crowd was as enamoured with them as Aberdeen was.  A part of her wished it could just be the kids talking all night.  

When their interview was over, the kids waved goodbye to the crowd before the DJ began to play them off stage.  The opening notes of ‘Uptown Funk’ by Bruno Mars began playing, and the kids went crazy.  They stopped walking off stage.  They looked around to try to find where the music was coming from, but soon enough, a lot of the kids began to dance – shimmying from side to side, pumping their hands in the air, and twirling on one foot attempting pirouettes.  Christine was trying her best, but they weren’t moving.  

“Can someone get the kids off the stage so we can get a move on?” the rude man commented loudly, so loud Aberdeen could hear him above the music.  She was incensed by his comment, her blood boiling.  How dare he.  How dare he say something when this entire event was for charity – was for these kids on stage!  

So she took matters into her own hands.

She made a point to push her chair back as dramatically as possible, shaking the place settings on the table with the force of her hands.  Everybody at the table looked at her as she rose from her seat and began making her way towards the stage.  As she pulled the skirt of her dress up so she wouldn’t trip up the stairs, she made eye contact with one of the kids.  And instead of shuffling him towards the back, instead of helping Christine, who had hall but given up, she extended her arms and grabbed the little boy’s hands in hers and began dancing with him.  She was dancing on stage in front of over a thousand people with an eight year old.  And she wasn’t embarrassed one bit.  

As she danced, she watched as William began to make his way up to the stage from the opposite end, rushing up exactly like she had and extending his arms to begin dancing with another student, a girl, twirling her around.  Then she saw Bee McTavish, Morgan Rielly, and Jennifer and Jason Spezza, all at once, rush towards the stage too, laughing and dancing with the kids.  Before she knew it, the entire team was up there, as were their significant others, dancing with the kids and each other to Uptown Funk for the entire duration of the song.  Aryne and John, Saylor and Kasperi – they were all there.  As she danced, she made eye contact with William, who was already looking at her, a smile spread out on his face from ear to ear.  Jennifer gave her a double thumbs up.  Bee was laughing at Morgan’s horrible dancing, but the kid he was dancing with was absolutely loving it and mimicking every move.  

She barely noticed the crowd cheering and clapping along to the beat until the end of the song when there was a round of applause.  The kids finally got their cue and began heading offstage.  A few of them had to finish bowing before the audience, but once they were all gone, the team left the stage too, giant smiles on all their faces.  When Aberdeen returned to the table, she saw the rude man staring at her indignantly.  Meanwhile, Brendan was beaming.  

“Thank you for that,” he said as she took her seat beside him.  Even Catherine was smiling.  

“You’re not mad I did that?”

“Are you kidding?” he asked.  “That’s been the highlight of the night so far.  It’ll probably stay the highlight of the night.”

Aberdeen smiled.  “I had to do something to get that guy at the other end to shut up,” she whispered.

“Oh, I know, believe me.”

The night went on with its regularly scheduled events.  There was an interview portion with the big four European players – Andreas, Freddie, Will, and Kappy – in between the dinner courses.  There was a Q&A with Jason and Zach as well, and the highlight of the night, which was a game of Family Feud with the Leafs Legends – Darcy Tucker, Curtis Joseph, Daryl Sittler, Wendel Clark, and Doug Gilmour – and some of the current Leafs – John, Morgan, Auston, Mitch, and Tyson.  It was hilarious.  Aberdeen teared up at one point because she was laughing so hard.  

After dinner there was a lot of mingling – a lot of meeting new people and speaking about her position because everybody was just so interested about what Brendan Shanahan’s personal assistant did all day – and a lot of…well, staring.  William caught her eye around the room.  Wherever he was, wherever she was, whoever he was speaking to, whoever she was speaking to, whenever she even so much as just glanced his way, he was already looking, and whenever he so much as glanced her way, she was already looking.  He was true to his word in that he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her, that as long as he got to stare at her all night he’d consider himself a lucky man, because all he seemed to be doing was staring at her.  And as the night progressed, he got closer and closer, eventually ending up in her circle, and although the guests were delighted to see William Nylander, she was nervous but excited to see Will, Willy, the guy that so obviously couldn’t keep himself away from her.  

When the guests left, they were left alone.  Aberdeen gulped.  William looked pained.  “I can’t take it anymore,” he said, only loud enough for her to hear, despite there being no-one around them.  Brendan was on the other side of the room.

“Can’t take what?”

“You.  In that dress,” he clarified.  “You have no idea how good you look.  Every time I look at you, I just…you—you know how I feel about you, minskatt.”

When that nickname escaped her lips, tied together with the look on his face and the sparkle in his eye, Aberdeen almost melted right then and there.  “Will—”

“Can we get out of here?”

“No, Will,” she giggled.  Any other moment in time she would have scolded him for making the suggestion, but at this point she didn’t care.  “I’m technically still working.”

“Then let me get you a drink,” he offered.  “And let me take you home.  Please let me take you home after everything is done.  I’m desperate here.”

“Desperate?” she decided to play with him.  “Why?”

“Because of you.  Because you walk in here looking like that and you expect me to control myself?  All I’ve wanted to do all night is be next to you.  All I’ve wanted to do is be with you, be anywhere near you.  And it’s torture.  Torture that I can’t talk to you the way I want to talk to you.  Torture that I can’t touch you like I want to touch you.”

A shiver ran up her spine.  “You’re getting into inappropriate territory again, Will.”

“And I’ll say it again: can’t you tell by now that I don’t care that it’s inappropriate?”

The last time he’d said that to her, she replied with “And can’t you see that I do care?”  But she didn’t care anymore.  She honestly didn’t.  After what happened on Christmas (besides the fact that she was still wearing the ring – she hadn’t taken it off since) and on New Year’s, she knew that they had both ventured on to the inappropriate territory equally.  It was no longer just his fault, or the fault of his persistence.  They were equally to blame here.  She downed the last of her drink.  “I like it.”

He had a confused look on his face.  “You like what?”

“I like that you’re being inappropriate.”

Aberdeen couldn’t describe the smile that took over his face upon him hearing those words.  They were six words that told him everything he needed to know.  “Aberdeen, you can’t just say stuff like that and expect me to react normally,” he said, throwing her own words that she’d said to him so many times back at her.

“Maybe I don’t want you to react normally.”

“Aberdeen!  William!”

They looked to their side to see Bee McTavish approaching them.  Aberdeen could tell William hated the interruption, but because it was Bee, he softened.  “We’re gonna do some shots.  Want some shots?”

The first shot was tequila.  The second was a B-52, and Brendan even joined in.  Aberdeen could feel herself getting more giggly with each millilitre of alcohol that went into her system.  Giggly about the event.  Giggly that she was taking shots with the Toronto Maple Leafs.  

Giggly about William.

***

“Just one stop at Nelson Street, please,” William said to the Uber driver as he slipped into the car after Aberdeen.  Brendan, Catherine, Kyle, and Shannon had left the party early, so they weren’t able to see William confirming with Aberdeen that he could take her home, and they weren’t able to see him calling an Uber, and him grabbing their coats, and him leading Aberdeen to the much quieter side of the Fairmont Royal York for the Uber to pick them up so he could touch her waist and hold her hand and get close to her – closer than what was necessary – on a cold winter’s night while the rest of the guest list waited at the front of the hotel for cabs and Ubers.  “I know it’s a short ride, but I’ll give you a big tip.”

He was holding Aberdeen’s hand.

“Do you still have all those songs I downloaded for you?” Aberdeen asked as the driver started moving.

William thought it to be a random question.  “Of course I do.  Why would I delete them?”

“I have a new song you need to add,” she said.

He smiled.  “I added a song I heard on the radio that made me think of you,” he began to pull out his phone.

“Which one?”

He searched for the playlist in his Spotify, the former ‘Driving in Toronto at Night’ playlist he’d renamed to ‘Minskatt’.  He scrolled down to the bottom of the list before he found it.  He turned the volume on his phone all the way up before the opening notes of ‘Adore You’ by Harry Styles began playing.  He’d heard it all over the radio since December, and not only did the beat and rhythm reminds him of the type of music Aberdeen liked and put on the playlist, but when he actually listened to the lyrics, he knew he had to add it.

Aberdeen’s jaw dropped and a smile overtook her face.  “This is it.”

“What’s it?”

“This was the song I was just going to add.”

William smiled.  “Does that mean I have superior music taste now?” he joked.

Aberdeen giggled.  “You’re working on it.”

She began to sing, and William had never heard anything sweeter.  She was louder than when she half-mumbled, half-sang ‘Style’ by Taylor Swift in the passenger’s seat of his car when they were driving on the Gardiner into the downtown core.  Perhaps the shots had gotten to her, but they were so long ago and he was unconvinced.  More than anything, he just hoped her walls had finally crumbled, that she felt like she could be uninhibited in front of him like he always wanted her to be.  No degree of formality of being a hockey player and a personal assistant for that hockey player’s boss – instead, being just two kids in their early 20s falling for each other like they had six months ago when she wouldn’t shut up about her graduation or her writing or her favourite books and he couldn’t stop listening to her.

William didn’t know the lyrics off by heart like she did, but he was able to contribute certain lines he remembered.  Certain lines that would hammer a message home.  

I get so lost inside your eyes Would you believe it?

He looked at her when he sang them out loud, and she looked at him when she sang them out too, albeit more emphatically and with more swaying and dramatic hand motions.  It was like they were admitting to each other what they were really thinking; what they couldn’t say to each other in the presence of other people, but what they could say to each other alone in hotel rooms in the middle of the night or in the backs of Ubers after parties.

Honey I’d walk through fire for you Just let me adore you Like it’s the only thing I’ll ever do

Aberdeen bit her lip after they sang the chorus to each other.  She couldn’t believe they were doing this.  She couldn’t believe how quickly her walls had fallen.  She’d spent two months trying to forget him and four months trying to keep him at bay, only for the last three weeks to make all of that obsolete.  “Willy?” she asked, her voice sweet as the second verse began to play.

“Minskatt?” he prepared himself.

“I can’t believe you added Harry Styles on your own free will.”

William snorted.  This was why he was so enamoured with her.  “I can’t believe you think I wouldn’t.”

They arrived at her building, getting out of the car and slipping through the front doors, nodding politely at the concierge before walking to the elevator.  As they waited for it to come down, Aberdeen lay her head on William’s shoulder.  “My feet are fucking killing me,” she whispered.

“Are they?”

“They’re, like, pounding,” she said.  “They’re pretty to look at but fuck they hurt.”

Before she could realize what was happening, William had scooped her up in his arms, shifting to carry her bridal style as the elevator pinged to signal its arrival.  “What are you doing?” she laughed out.

“Being a knight in shining armour, clearly,” he smiled.  He felt Aberdeen wrap her arm around the back of his shoulders as he stepped into the elevator.  Aberdeen pressed her phone number.  “Better?”

“Much.”

“Why do you girls even wear shoes like that if they hurt so much?”

She snorted.  “You tell me.  Men wore heels first,” she informed him.

“We did?!”

She nodded.  “Apparently you guys wanted to show off your wealth and calves more than we did at first.”

William laughed in his signature way.  “I do have some nice calves.”

When the elevator brought them up to Aberdeen’s floor, she rummaged through her clutch to find her keys, sticking them in the door to open in.  Luckily, they could be as loud as they wanted since Kasha was spending the night at Evan’s; it prompted Aberdeen to hook her finger into the strap at the heel and throw off her shoes.  William kicked off his shoes and walked through her apartment, carrying her to her bedroom.  It was maybe a bold move, to go straight there, but he didn’t care.

“Wanna see me rip my eyelashes off?” she giggled as he finally set her down on the floor of her bedroom.  

“Your eyelashes?!”

“The fake ones,” she mumbled, just going for it.  She saw a horrified look on William’s face, causing her to burst out into a fit of giggles.  She threw the first one in the garbage before taking off the second, William still watching with a horrified look on his face.  “What?” she smiled.

“That doesn’t hurt?” he asked.

“You get used to it,” she shrugged.  “You know what they say Will.  Beauty is pain.”

“My beauty doesn’t require pain.”

Aberdeen burst out laughing, William following with his signature giggle.  She couldn’t control her laughing as she leaned her head against his chest, shaking it slightly before bringing it back up to look at him.  “You’re literally the worst, Will.  No other guy on the team would say something like that.”

“No other guy on the team is as beautiful as I am.”

His tone made it come out like a joke, but Aberdeen couldn’t help but thinking he was right.  There wasn’t another guy on the team as good-looking as he was.  She huffed out a laugh, turning around so her back was towards him.  “Can you unzip me?”

It was a suggestive request, and she knew it.  He unzipped her dress slowly as she pulled her hair out of the way for him.  They were both still giggling as she felt the material of the dress become looser, and she was careful when he was finished to step out of it gently so she didn’t mess up the fabric or dirty it on the floor of her bedroom.  She immediately brought it towards the hanger she’d left on her dresser, making sure to hang it in her closet neatly before turning back towards Will.  It was only then that she realized she was in her underwear in front of him, the most exposed she’d ever been since…well…

She watched as he practically ripped off his tie; watched as he unbuttoned his shirt without a care in the world.  His suit was probably custom made and tailored and cost over a thousand dollars but he didn’t even care.  What was more alarming was that he was stripping and making himself comfortable in her bedroom.  “Will—”

“You can change.  I’ll look away,” he said, turning her back towards her automatically.  

That wasn’t even what she wanted, but damnit, he was good.  She unclasped her bra and threw on her top quickly before stepping into her pajama shorts.  “Um, I have to go wash my makeup off,” she whispered.

She didn’t wait for a reply as she stepped across the hallway into her bathroom.  As she washed all of her makeup off, the seriousness of the situation crept up on her.  William was in her apartment.  He was in her bedroom.  He was undressing.  She knew he’d been in there before, that if he stayed over it wouldn’t even be the first time he’d slept in her bed, but it was still a big deal.  It was still something that, really, truly, shouldn’t be happening in every sense of the word.  But it was.  And neither of them was going to put a stop to it.    

When she stepped back into her room, closing her door behind her, she saw William waiting for her to get into bed.  He had nothing on besides his boxer-briefs.  She knew that if they both got in there, there’d be no room.  They’d be squished against each other.  She knew this because it had happened before – the night they hooked up, and then the night after what Ethan did to her – it was the same situation.  Standing now, in her room, looking between the bed and William, things felt…different.  

She climbed into bed, liking to be on the side closest to the wall, anyway.  William followed her, even going so far as to start to pull the covers over their bodies as he snuggled in next to her.  “Will—”

“Shhhhhh,” he cooed.  “Aberdeen, stop freaking out.”

“But Willy—”

“I just want to lie down.  We’re just lying down,” he said, his voice sleepy.  He pulled her against him.  She let him.  He nestled his head onto her chest, under her chin and above her breasts.  She let him.  She could feel the contented sigh he let out as he settled into her, as her body relaxed into his, as she began running her fingers through his beautiful blonde hair.  He let her.

“Will?” her voice was soft.

“Mhm?”

“You – I – you—”

“Spit it out, Aberdeen.”

“You could have any girl in the city, Willy,” she blurted out.  She immediately regretted it.  “Any girl in the city.  W…Why do you keep – I mean, why are you here with m—”

“Because I only like you, Aberdeen,” his voice was so soft, sleepy, tender.  The most tender she’d ever heard it.  “You still don’t understand?”  

Aberdeen hesitated.  “I guess not.”

“Well…I like you,” he stressed his sentiment again.

“But why?”

“Because you make me nervous.  And nobody makes me nervous,” he said softly.  “And because I like talking to you.  And I don’t like talking to anyone.”

There was nothing more she could say; nothing more she could do.  He always answered her question and always answered her honestly; he had never lied to her.  He had laid it all out for her and she could either take it or leave it.  

Of course she was going to take it.  

***

Aberdeen woke up slowly the next morning early.  Stupidly early, because of her natural alarm clock.  In typical fashion, because William was in bed with her and there wasn’t enough room for the both of them, Aberdeen found herself semi-on top of him, her head on his chest and hair spread out everywhere; an arm draped across his torso.  As she began to come to her senses, she took a deep breath and could smell him.  He still smelled so good.  So manly.  And then, she realized his one arm was hugging her body against his, and his other lay directly on top of hers that was draped across his body, keeping it there.

She sighed contently.  

He was so big, so snuggly, so warm.  Of all the people she’d snuggled up against in her short lifetime, William was easily the best.  His body was like her own personal heater, and in the dead of winter, it was much appreciated.  She’d always known he was big – big and thick and strong – but feeling him under her now was so much different.  She’d almost forgotten what he felt like, but she could never truly forget something like that.  

When she moved slightly, mostly to stretch, she realized one of his thighs was between her legs.  God, they were so fucking thick.  Thick and strong, just like the rest of him.  She moaned slightly, the feeling of their bare legs together really waking her up now.  Before she knew what she was doing, before her brain could tell her body not to physically react to such a specimen of a body being in such close proximity to her, she moved again, rubbing her core against his thigh.  It felt good.  Of course it felt good.  She had been denying herself the pleasure she knew William Nylander could give her for six months now (besides their kisses), and if she wasn’t dangerously close to breaking every known rule, parameter, and boundary she gave herself when she got the job, then she was now.  So close.  Dangerously close.

She rubbed her core against his thigh again.

And again.

And again.

He began to wake up, shifting slightly at the feeling of the friction of her against him.  He moaned at the feeling and rubbed his eyes before opening them, and when he did their eyes met, drowsy and barely open but still looking at one another.  “Minskatt?”

Aberdeen looked into his blue eyes.  She couldn’t hold back anymore; couldn’t deny it anymore.  

She was going to do it.

She pushed herself up slightly, coming face to face with him, and began kissing him.  No hesitation.  No uncertainty.  She knew she wanted to do it.  That she had to do it.  That kissing William was as important to her right now as breathing.  That kissing William continuously – not just one little peck, not just a standard kiss – was what she needed.  That feeling the scruff on his face along her fingers was integral to her well-being.  That grinding against his thigh again, causing him to moan in her mouth before she got on top of him and straddled him, was what she needed to survive.  

She felt his hands squeezing her thighs, trying to feel every inch of exposed skin on her body as they wandered underneath her pajama shorts, then underneath her shirt, where he took sweet time inching higher and higher towards her breasts.  He squeezed them in his hands gently, massaging them and pinching her nipples, causing her to squirm.  She knew she didn’t have an ample set to worth with, but William didn’t seem to mind.  He didn’t seem to mind because when Aberdeen grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head, he looked at her exposed chest like it was the first pair of boobs he’d seen in his life.  

Aberdeen hesitated only slightly after she saw the look on his face.  “Willy?” she breathed out.

“Fuck, Aberdeen,” he whispered in some sort of apparently disbelief – a disbelief that this was actually happening.  That she was the one to kiss him.  That she was the one to take off her top.  It wasn’t even the first time he’d seen her exposed chest, but it still felt like the first time to him.

Before she knew it, he’d wrapped his arms around her and flipped her onto her back, hovering over her with his big, thick body as he kissed and licked his way down her neck and towards her breasts.  He took a nipple in his mouth, flicking his tongue and making her arch her back.  She tried to catch her breath as she got used to feeling his mouth and tongue on her breasts.  He knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew exactly what to do to set her off, leaving her a writhing, moaning mess in her own bed.

Then she felt where his hand was.

She flinched at his touch on her hot core, but so desperately wanted more.  After that initial flinch, she practically grinded herself onto his hand.  “It’s so hot,” William mumbled before he kissed a trail to her other breast.  “So wet already.”

“Will—” Aberdeen could barely get out once she felt William’s tongue on her other breast.  “Will, please—”

“Is that okay?”

“Yes,” she nodded her head as he teased her some more.  “Ta—Take them off.”

He did as he was told, his mouth leaving her breast so he could sit back slightly on his knees, hook his fingers into the waistband of her shorts, and pull them off slooooowly, revealing every inch of exposed skin on her body.  He could see her chest rising and falling dramatically as he let the shorts drop on the floor.  “You okay, minskatt?”

Aberdeen nodded her head.  She leaned forward so she could kiss him again, their hands exploring each other’s bodies – William’s hands gripping her thighs or breasts or teasing her hot core some more; Aberdeen’s hands gliding along the muscles on his abs and chest and shoulders before scratching down his back to the waistband of his boxer briefs.  

She tugged on them.

“Aberdeen—”

“Condoms are in the same place,” she whispered quickly.

“Aberdeen, are you sure—”

“Yes.  Yes yes yes,” she repeated, nodding fervently.  

William opened the drawer on her bedside table, grabbing at a packet.  He ripped off the packaging and helped her push his boxers down before sitting back.  Aberdeen helped him slide it on, much like the first time.  When she lay back down, William moved to loom over her.  

William and Aberdeen looked each other in the eye as he guided himself near her entrance.  When Aberdeen could feel him, she let out a shaky, excited breath.  “Willy…”

“Yes, minskatt?”

“Go slow.”

William nodded.  He began to push himself into her, and as he did, he saw her eyes close to bask in the feeling of him filling her up.  He did the same, as it brought back all the memories from that fateful night six months ago, when they were in the exact same position as they were now.  He remembered everything so vividly, but somehow, this all felt brand new.  He remembered how good it felt, but simultaneously had never felt anything as amazing before.  

He went slow.

He could feel her nails dig into his shoulder blades and a small gasp of breath escape her as he bottomed out.  He kissed her lips and the tip of her nose and back to her lips.  “You okay?” he asked, his hair falling in between their faces.

Aberdeen nodded her head.  She bought one hand between them and pushed his hair back tenderly so she could see his face.  “Yeah,” she nodded.

“You sure?”

“Yeah,” she repeated, letting out another breath as she felt him pull out slightly before pushing back in.  “I’d almost forgotten how good you feel inside me.”

“You’re perfect, Aberdeen,” he responded immediately after.  He meant it in every sense of the word, because to him, she was.  Plus, if she thought he felt good, he has some news for her about what she felt like.  “God, you’re fucking perfect.”

He dipped down to kiss her again as he began moving in and out of her slowly.  Aberdeen moved her hips in tune with his, and soon, all she felt was pleasure.  Despite what was happening, they couldn’t keep their eyes off each other, looks mixed with lust, love, desire, adoration, longing, and of course, the pining they’d been doing since that day they reunited in the elevator being exchanged between them.  It had all led to this moment, this moment of pure, built up passion.

“Willy…f…fuck,” she whispered.  “You feel so good, Willy.”

She watched as some of his hair feel in between them again, blocking his eyes.  She brought a hand to push it back tenderly.  They looked at each other for a moment before William said the words.  “I love you, Aberdeen.”

She looked for a lie in his eyes.  Any hint of a lie.  A lie she found in Zane’s eyes.  A lie she found in Corey’s eyes.  A lie she found in any other boy’s eyes that she’d known.  But she couldn’t find it.  Not even the smallest hint.  Nothing.  And because of that, and because of the moment, she said the words too.  “I love you, William.”

He kissed her, big and wet and sloppy and full of desire and want, and she kissed him back with equal amounts of desire and want, and when he began to move in and out of her quicker, and when she arched her back into his body, she knew was close, that they were both close, and that they wouldn’t last much longer.  

“Willy—”

“Aberdeen—Aberdeen I—”

“Cum with me Willy.  Cum with me.”

And they did.  It hit them all at once, the wave of pleasure as Aberdeen’s walls tightened around William’s pulsating cock, and they rode it out for as long as they could before William collapsed on top of her, the both of them catching their breath and coming back down to reality.  As they lay in her bed together, with William still inside her, the gravity of the situation didn’t need to hit them – they knew what they’d just done.  They knew it broke every boundary and was against every rule in the book.  But they didn’t care.  William didn’t care.  Aberdeen didn’t care.  All that mattered was that they shared that moment of pure bliss together.  

William rolled onto his back and took off the condom, tying it before throwing it in the garbage near her bed.  When he finished, he turned towards Aberdeen and they intertwined their limbs and bodies, drifting off to sleep again in each other’s arms.

***

The next time Aberdeen woke up, it was because she’d heard the front door slam shut and the sound of footsteps throughout the apartment.  It meant Kasha was home, which also meant it was later in the morning than when she and William had first woken up and…well…

She shuddered.

As she did, she felt William’s body beside hers in her bed, spooning her from behind.  Still naked from their rendezvous earlier, she could feel his cock against her as the hand of the arm that draped over her body cupped one of her breasts.  His face was nestled into the crook of her neck.  She didn’t want to move – she would have been perfectly content to stay in bed with him all day – but she knew they’d have to get up eventually.  And more than that, they’d have to put on clothes before they went out there.  

“Willy?” she whispered softly, hoping he’d hear.

“Hmmm minskatt?” he mumbled against her skin.  “Was that Kasha?” he asked.

“Yeah.  And probably Evan,” she said.  “We should get up.”

He peeled himself away from her body slowly, and she rolled from her side to her back so she could look up at him.  He looked down at her, still naked for him.  She smiled up at him and caressed his cheek, his stubble scratching her skin.  A piece of hair fell in front of his face, and she pushed it back, making it a habit now.  “Willy?”

“Minskatt?”

“Do you regret what happened?” she asked.

“Absolutely not.  No,” he replied automatically, shaking his head.  “Do you?”

“No,” she responded automatically as well.  “I don’t regret any of it at all,” she ran her thumb along his lips.  “But nobody can know.  We can’t tell a soul.”

William nodded his head.  In any other circumstance, if he had landed a girl as amazing as Aberdeen, he would be practically bragging to everybody about how lucky he was.  But things didn’t work out that way, and everything was complicated.  “Nobody will know,” he said in agreement.  

“No Brendan,” she began.

“That’s a given.”

“No Kappy,” she continued.

“No Kappy,” he agreed.  Kasperi didn’t even know about the first time they’d slept together, so it would be no problem.  None of the guys did.  They all thought he just had a harmless crush.  “No Kasha.”

Aberdeen bit her lip.  “No Kasha,” she nodded her head.  She knew she’d be able to make up a good story when they met each other outside her door.  She knew what she had to do next.  It would have to hurt them both.  “No Alex.”

William nodded slightly.  It would be hard not to tell his brother, but he knew he couldn’t.  It was probably one of the few secrets he would keep from Alex.  He knew he had to say the same.  “No Siena.”

Aberdeen nodded.  It would be the hardest thing she’d have to do.  “Our secret only,” she whispered.

“Our secret only,” he repeated, leaning down to give her a quick kiss.  “We can do it, minskatt.”

“I know we can,” she said, kissing him again.  It went against everything she believed in, but she didn’t care anymore.  She only had so much willpower to reject him.  Now that they’d done what they’d done, and agreed to what they agreed to, there was no going back.  She’d have to lie to the people she loved and respected most in her life.  She’d have to lie to everyone she knew – her parents, her sister, her friends, her co-workers.  

She’d have to lie to Brendan.  

They got out of bed slowly, with William putting his boxers back on and Aberdeen throwing on her pajama shorts again and a crew neck sweater.  She looked over at William and saw him searching for his dress shirt, crinkled on the floor.  She threw one of her oversized University of Toronto hoodies at him.  He laughed when he realized what it was, pulling it over his head.  It fit a bit snug, but it worked.

The second Aberdeen opened her bedroom door, she heard the shower from Kasha’s ensuite turn on.  She was happy – it gave her time to get breakfast started, to spend a little bit more of alone time with William, and to think of an excuse as to why William slept over last night.  Not like this was the first time he slept over in the past four weeks.

She still couldn’t believe what this had become.

After washing her face quickly, she and William made their way into the kitchen, Aberdeen grabbing some pancake mix out of the cupboard.  She grabbed some blueberries from the fridge too, putting them near the sink to wash them.  As she began to pour the pancake mix into a bowl, she felt William come up behind her, pressing himself against her back as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Aberdeen?” his voice was soft, and suddenly sounded very nervous.  

“Willy?”

“I meant what I said earlier,” he said.

She was confused.  “About not telling anybody?”

“No.  Earlier,” he gave her another hint.  When she didn’t respond, he knew he’d have to say it again.  “That I love you, minskatt.”

Oh.  That.  It was said so passionately during them having sex that it felt like it was part of the experience.  That it was completely natural and easy for them to say to each other, despite not officially being together, despite not even dating, despite Aberdeen trying to convince herself for months that she didn’t like him, despite William trying everything to make her realize otherwise.  

“I know it was in the heat of the moment,” his words interrupted her thoughts.  They sounded so nervous and apprehensive.  “But I meant it.  I mean…I know.  And I know that you said it back, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.  Or if you’re not sure or whatever.  I just want you to know that.  I won’t care.  You can say it whenever you want.  I just know that I do.”

Aberdeen turned around.  She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, now wearing one of her hoodies, and stood on her tip-toes to kiss him.  She said the only words she could say to him.  The only words that, despite every boundary, despite every rule, despite every thought, despite everything she knew about herself, despite everything she thought she knew about herself, she knew were true.  

“I love you too, William.”

[idolish7rabbitchats]

Special: Gaku + Tamaki Shuffle Talk 2019 Rabbit TV Part 3

~~~♪

Pedestrians: Wooo----!!

Gaku: Haaah, haaah… THANK YOU, NICE DANCE! 

Street dancer: YOU TOO! IT WAS FUN! Arigato!

Tamaki: Thank yooou. It was really fun to dance!

G: Haha! Being on stage is the best but dancing impromptu in the street isn’t bad!

G: Yotsuba suddenly intruded when we saw people dancing in the street, so it scared me tho.

T: Cuz everyone was super cool. Before I became an idol, I was a street dancer too.

G: So you dived in cuz you couldn’t wait huh. Haha, thanks to Yotsuba, it felt good that I could dance as much as I wanted to!

T: Me too!

G: And then, not just for the calendar, but we were able to take a lot of pictures for the photobook huh.

Cameraman: I perfectly took you two’s dance shot!

T: Times Square is seriously insane!

T: The buildings are so slender and long, signboards are super huge, and there are lots of cars and people. Just walking through the town is super fun!

T: There’s too many things to see, I don’t have enough eyes!

G: It’s a great town huh!

T: Haaah… But exercising made me hungry.

G: Seriously! You ate tons of donuts at the calendar shoot lunch didn’t you?

T: I exercised so it’s already gone.

G: You digested them too fast! Well, it’s a rare opportunity, so we want to eat something New York-ish.

T: … Ah! Gakkun, over there! They’re selling hotdogs on the street!

G: Oh, that’s exactly the typical New York food! Yotsuba, wanna try it?

T: Old maaaan!

G: W- You’re already gone!

T: Old man, please gimme the biggest one!

Hotdog vendor: WHAT?

G: It won’t get through to him if you don’t say it in English right?

T: Ah, uuuum…. ICHIBAAAN, DEKAAAAI, HOTTODOGGU, KUDASAAAAAI! [T/N: “Please give me the biggest hotdog.” Anybody else getting Douglas flashbacks? HA-SHI-GO.]

Hotdog vendor: …. ICHI….. BAAAAN...?

G: … Seriously, it can’t be helped. Wait a sec, Yotsuba.

T: Gakkun, you can speak English?!

G: Leave it to me. I don’t even need to ask the guide.

T: Seriously, cooool...!

G: You just need to put spirit into it. HEY! BIG, HOTDOG, PLEASE!

T: Gakkun, that’s no different than me!!

Hotdog vender: OKAY, THANKS!

G: But, it worked right? Here, this. The hotdog.

T: Yay! It’s huge! Looks gooood...!

G: Seeing it makes me hungry….

T: Is Gakkun gonna get a small one?

G: Huh? No way. I’m always going to get the biggest one right?

T: Don’t force yourself.

G: Piece of cake. Old man, one of the same.

G: SAME, PLEASE!

Hotdog vender: HERE YOU ARE!

T: Ohhh. Gakkun’s is also huge!

G: Yotsuba, before you eat, let’s take a picture holding the hotdogs. Here, come closer.

T: Uwah! That was close…! Ahahah! Gakkun, you’ll drop your hotdog!

G: Hahahah!

Cameraman: So then, I’ll shoot it okay.

T&G: Yaaay!!

[Camera Shutter Sound Effect x 2]

G: It’s fun huh, New York. W- Yotsuba you’re already eating?!

T: Om… ‘ood.

G: Haha! You opened your mouth wide! Didn’t you eat half of it?

T: ...Gulp. It’s super good! I could eat one more.

G: I could get 2. ...Well, this would become eating competition, not a shoot.

T: It’s all just good things. I just wanna eat the whole New York!

G: Why don’t we try to see how much we can eat during the shoot!

[mooleche]

A Tale of Ink and Venom

A/N - It’s happening! I’m reworking the old story I was working on to hopefully build a better version in its place! Multi-chapter fic involving OC x Colossus where OCs story unfolds while trying to do a heroic act that ends badly and the chaos the unfolds in the aftermath. Might do a few chapters on here and then move over to AO3 fully eventually to keep from making super long posts but we’ll see how it goes! ( *’ω’* ) Let me know if you’d like to be tagged!

Also BIG THANKS to @leo-writer for proofreading, you are a saint ily! 

₍₍ (ง Ŏ౪Ŏ)ว ⁾⁾

Chapter One: The Video

Moments.

Buddha says that one moment can change a day, one day can change a life and one life can change the world.

I was never one for religion but I think he was onto something there. Look at heroes, for example, they’re faced with moments like these every day. Ones that will save a life and ones that will take them away the second you hesitate. Moments that will give you the upper hand if you’re lucky and others that will leave you flat on your ass if you're not.

 Or worse. 

Now, I'm no hero by any means, but I like to think that the moments I experienced today would help shape what was in store for me tomorrow. A moment that would maybe even help shape me into something more someday.

So with that, let me ask you this:

Just what moment was it that led me to witness the death of a real superhero in his time of need? And not just any run of the mill death either. I'm talking blood everywhere, in my mouth, in my hair. 

Everywhere.

How had it all gone so wrong so fast?

I suppose in order to know that we have to go to the beginning, back to the morning where my life was about to be given a serious overhaul into chaos.

Back to college.

-

It was late. Very late.

A judgemental 3:45 AM stared back at me from the corner of my laptop's screen and a sigh of defeat escaped me. The Witching hour no longer belonged to ghosts and demons, but to college students that waited until the very last minute to get their 10-page essays written before it was too late. I was no exception to this, sacrificing the last remaining brain cells I had left to crap out what I deemed a passable paper on the artists of old. 

At least that's what I had been doing. 

Now I sat with my legs drawn up to my chest as I stared with growing exhaustion at my laptop. The glowing screen was flooded with news reports of the latest superhero successes and the villains they caught around town. This wasn’t exactly an uncommon thing for a city like Brooklynn. In fact, it was because of this city being such a hot zone for criminal activity that we had things like ‘Top 10 Villain Blunders of the Week’ to begin with.

Then, strangely, my eyes spotted something that I hadn’t expected to see.

I lurched forward, immediately feeling my body protest as I inspected the article that had grabbed my attention. It was a few days old, a journalist touching base on a series of unfortunate events from almost 6 months ago. A superhero trainee under the name of Deadpool had landed himself in hot water after murdering an orderly from the Essex House for Mutant Rehabilitation in what was seen as a cold-blooded attack to the media. Just reading the name of the facility left a bad taste in my mouth, but the video it included to recount the moment made the sensation even worse.

It was old, I had watched it over a dozen times in the recent months and yet I still found myself glued to the screen with morbid curiosity. The cameraman who had been focusing on a tense-looking reporter at the scene now fumbled clumsily over to the main event, a stout looking teen who had earlier called himself Firefist. I’d give you three guesses why he called himself that but taking a look at his clenched fists answered it all too well. 

He stood separated from a cautious crowd of police and bystanders with hands that radiated heat strong enough to cause everyone surrounding him to keep their distance. That was if all the destroyed wreckage around him hadn’t given them more than enough reason to stay back already.

As many times as I had seen this, I still felt bad for him. He looked worn down and angry, but more than anything was the noticeable expression of fear he wore, like a trapped animal willing to do anything to escape. A feeling that I was once all too familiar with.

I sank back into my chair and sighed. No amount of times seeing that clip made that look any easier to see. It was one that hit so close to home and yet I couldn't pinpoint it no matter how many times I tried. I closed my eyes and listened to him continue to threaten the police ballsy enough to step towards him:

"Stay back, I'll burn you!"

The words didn't resonate, but the tone did. Somewhere in the back of my mind was a memory lurking that I couldn't quite touch no matter how hard I focused on it. A memory sealed away so tight that even thinking about it caused my thoughts to grow numb, but that panic in the boy's voice always caused it to stir. Sometimes I felt like I was close enough to grasp it, all I needed was to push a little farther-

A loud bang erupted nearby and my eyes shot open in a panic. Whatever unconscious soul searching I had been doing was broken as I scrambled to catch my headphones now threatening to fall off my face. I looked around, both frantic to find the source to the sudden noise and also hoping no one saw my embarrassing act only to be greeted with muffled laughter nearby.

"Buenos Dias, Princesa! Did I wake you?"

I rubbed my eyes haphazardly and looked to the side of the small room to find a redheaded amazonian grinning back at me from the window. To my utter surprise, the sun was now out and shining it’s smug rays straight into our dorm as I stood to greet the grinning assailant. My bones protested with various cracks in response before I shuffled to my bed and threw open the window to face her.

"That wasn’t funny, Ava! What are you even doing up so early?" I asked through an unavoidable yawn, but I already knew the answer. Ava Santana was a Dominican powerhouse of energy, a mysterious enigma that seemed to only love running, German beer and, for a few crazy months, me. When she wasn’t burning the candle at both ends to keep her insane track record and an intimidating 4.0 GPA up, she was usually creating some wild new building blueprints that she was proud to show off to you before stealing your girlfriend. 

I didn’t know how she did it all and at this point, I was too afraid to ask.

She lifted herself onto the windowsill before tossing her shoes inside, swinging her long tan legs onto my bed to join me all in one fell swoop. All I could do was blink in surprise, knowing I would have faceplanted halfway through if I even attempted this motion. Her gaze studied me curiously now. 

"We both know why I’m awake, or were you expecting someone else to carry our track team to victory?" She teased, her face close to mine with a devious smile planted on her lips. “What's your excuse though, Sleeping Beauty? Building more schematics? Spying on the police scanner? Or maybe staying up late to watch him again?”

“Me? What? Hah, no. Can’t a girl just finish her essay like a good normal college student?”

“You could...if you’re not Nina Knight,” another voice announced beside us and I turned quickly to see another familiar face smirking back at us. Her name was Bambi Banks and she was known as the bad influencer extraordinaire of our dorm when she wasn’t taking candid photos for the Daily Bugle. You thought you had a bad idea? She had 10 at the ready that would probably get you put on the Top 10 lists. Despite this, she was the best friend a girl could ever ask for. 

Even if she now held my laptop in her hands frozen on a very particular shot of the clip that caused my face to burn.

“I really was working on my essay!” I protested as I reached for it only to fall short as Bambi moved just out of my range and looked to Ava curiously.

“I don’t know, Ava. Does this look like an essay to you?”

“You’re the journalist in training, tell us what you see.”

“Well if I had to title this ‘essay’, I would say ‘10 Reasons I Want This Man to Sit on My Fac-’”

“Alright, enough! You caught me,” I protested as I made another attempt to grab the laptop and succeeded, cradling it in my arms with a frown plastered on my face. “I just wanted to hear the update on this story…It put a lot of people in hot water y’know.” I added before taking a seat back at my desk, ignoring their victorious snickers. As much as I did have ulterior motives for watching the clip I really did want to see the outcome of the nationwide fiasco. Despite both the trainee and the kid being taken to the Ice Box to be reprimanded the X-Men and mutantkind as a whole were put under fire for their actions and the remainder of the story fell to a hush to the media in the months after.

Bambi rolled her eyes and ran her hands through her hair, flecks of hot pink from her bangs peeking through her blonde locks as she gave an exasperated sigh over my earnest answer.

“I really shouldn’t be saying this but the guy that looked like he was a walking talking condom was in the right all along.”

“No bullshit? How?” I pressed, now fully taken by the sudden turn of events.

“I heard it from some guy at the Bugle. That Essex place was nasty for mutants, another conversion camp or something so the government was desperado to keep it under wraps.”

“Leave it to the government to try and kill the truth,” Ava muttered under her breath as she stood to leave, pausing to take one of my hands in hers to inspect it thoughtfully. The contrast was big between us; her hands were long and slender while mine were smaller and discolored to a sooty black at the tips. “At least this means you won’t have to hide anymore.”

I knew that she meant well but the words still caused me frown. Not many people knew that I myself was a mutant. Hell, when you lived in a society where people who weren’t old, white, or male were already frowned upon like the next bubonic plague it wasn’t something you wanted getting out. Throw a genetic mutation that gave you unusual powers into the mix and you were the plague. I was lucky to have people around me that knew and accepted me like I was normal, but the reminder still stung. 

Bambi seemed to sense this and absent-mindedly pressed the play button on the video once more as if to distract my thoughts and boy did it work. I felt my face grow warm once more as the clip played. There, once frozen on the screen had been the perfect back shot of a man sprawled over the trainee after his killer shot, a man that now stood a good few feet over everyone else as the police did the cleanup of the area.

A man covered head to toe in metal.

He went by Colossus, but his real name was Piotr Rasputin. At least this is what Google told me when I went super-sleuthing around after I saw him in action for the first time. When he wasn't saving the day with his ragtag team of heroes he taught at Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Learning, a sanctuary for mutants who wanted to feel safe while honing their skills to help mold a better tomorrow. 

I had met Xavier himself years ago on my own tour of the school with my parents. He was very nice and very bald. The school itself had been created in his families estate and transformed into the bustling safe haven that it now was, when it wasn't getting blown up by the villain of the week at least. Despite this terrifying fact I was always envious of those who could attend because I had always wanted to enroll myself. The only downside was that my parents didn't want a burnt corpse for a daughter in the aftermath. How selfish.

I threw my hands up to my face and groaned. “That could have been me on his team! I could have been hot for teacher!”

“And? What’s stopping you? If you like him so much why don't you just go to the school?" Ava called from our bathroom and I groaned again.

“It doesn’t work like that. You can't just go back to that school.”

“And why not? You’re a mutant right? You wanna meet other mutants, right? Maybe get some chrome dome in the process if you get my drift,” Bambi winked. 

I glared at her in response.

It was true, I was a mutant, and maybe I did want that chrome dome. But I had tried the whole superhero vigilante thing before. 

It didn’t go well. 

An ancient proverb once said ‘You can't swim, you can't dance and you don't know karate. Face it, you're never gonna make it.’ and you know what? I stood by that. It’s why I took my very particular set of skills and decided to waste away in one of Brooklynn's most prestigious art colleges -they're words, not mine- instead. It wasn’t ideal, with a dorm that I was convinced was made for ants instead of four people with questionable living styles, but I had friends and I finally felt normal. I didn’t need to mess it up by visiting that school again.

As if reading my thoughts Bambi frowned and took one of my hands in hers, inspecting my inky black fingertips with thoughtful blue eyes.

“I know you’re deadset on having a normal life here but you have a gift, Neeners. And you deserve to be able to show the world what you can do with it.”

“Yeah, I’m really going to turn the world around with my ability to control ink,” I scoffed before taking my hand back gently and sighing. As much as I wanted to bury that side of me I did want to meet others like me, be a part of something bigger and save the day once in a while. 

This? This life was boring. But it was safe. And I needed safe.

I looked up to her and smiled softly. “I...will consider going back there, if only to pay Mr. Xavier a visit and...maybe see how the school’s doing.”

“Code for visiting Mr. heavy metal man, got it.” Bambi winked while imitating a heavy Russian accent as she moonwalked poorly out of the room. 

“You’re a terrible influence, Bam,” I called through stifled laughter before standing and stretching. As much as I hated her pep talks sometimes she was the reason I kept using my powers, keeping them as fresh as I could in case the chance ever arose to use them. Even now the schematics that Ava had so casually mentioned as a joke were tucked away under my desk to play with on a rainy day.

I must have stared at them too long because I felt Bams hand gently touch my shoulder and I jumped in surprise.

“Did you hear Ava? Your alarm is going off,” she asked softly before nodding towards my phone. She was right, the soft tune alerted the room once more before I had the chance to turn it off and blinked in surprise. 

“Sorry, my mind was somewhere else...”

“Between Professor Colossus’ thick thighs we knooow. Don’t let that mans glutes cost you your job,” Ava teased before motioning for Bambi to follow her out the door. She held back and gave me a reassuring squeeze.

“Hey, don’t let our conversation from earlier freak you out. Baby steps, okay? No rush,”

“Right. Baby steps…” I whispered, my gaze falling back to my hands that I had begun wringing absentmindedly with growing anxiety. I looked back up to her and smiled. “Thanks, Bam. I appreciate it.”

“Hey, that’s what friends are for, right?” she grinned before disappearing behind the door. She was right. Friends were there to steer you onto the better path when you doubted yourself. This is what I tried to convince myself as I headed to the bathroom to prepare for the day ahead.

Now that I look back on it I was grateful for that peaceful moment of clarity between friends because after what happened later on, God was I going to need it.

[three-drink-amy]

The Final Rose

Amy begrudgingly accepts becoming the newest Bachelorette after Gina sneakily signs her up. The prospect of meeting 25 new men all vying for her affection seems intimidating and ridiculous. But the first night, she meets a man named Jake who is kind and makes her laugh. The only problem: he’s not one of the contestants. 

Her hair was being done. A long, sparkly dress was hanging on the door behind her. Her makeup was being applied carefully. Amy was getting ready for what would inevitably be a very notable night of her life and she still had no idea how Gina (and the producers) had talked her into it.

When Gina laughed and told Amy that she’d signed her up to be the next Bachelorette, Amy laughed too. She never thought that a boring New York detective would be chosen to be on a dating show. But in a few weeks, she was proven wrong. Apparently Gina had put together a very compelling video about Amy’s love life. Or rather, Amy’s lack of love life. Gina wouldn’t let her back out. She tagged along to the meeting with the producers to make sure Amy agreed.

The producers explained that while they usually just picked the one of the rejected girls from the Bachelor, Gina’s video about Amy intrigued them into picking a fresh face.

“Wait,” Amy had asked, “You weren’t even looking for a new Bachelorette?”

“No,” one man explained. “We usually pick someone from the season of the Bachelor before. We were stalled trying to pick the contestant that would attract more viewers when we got this video from your friend.”

Amy looked over at Gina and glared. At the time, “friend” seemed like a strong term. Gina smiled and nodded happily at the turn of events. Amy really couldn’t back out. “So why do you think a nobody will attract more viewers?” Amy wondered aloud.

“Because everyone is expecting us to pick Ashley H. from last season, but she declined,” another producer explained. “We were also leaning toward Emma but we weren’t sure she’d have enough draw. And then we realized that we could target everything differently with a fresh face.”

“Plus we could draw in new viewership with our first ever Latina bachelorette,” the first producer added excitedly. Amy wasn’t very convinced. They could seemingly tell. “Look, we understand that this could be a big step. But it could also help you meet the love of your life,” he concluded, raising his eyebrows.

It wasn’t the producers’ less than compelling pitch that had Amy signing a contract, but rather Gina’s watchful eye. Amy knew that if she turned down this opportunity that Gina had offered her, she’d never be able to whine about her love life ever again. Skeptical as she was, Amy signed on to be the next bachelorette.

So there she was, getting primped to go meet 25 men who had signed up to try and win her love. It was the strangest situation she’d ever been in. Amy slipped into her dress, put on her startlingly high heels, and walked out to talk to the producers before the limos started to arrive. To say she was nervous would have been an understatement.

The producers had left to let her greet the guys. She tried to keep all their various pieces of advice in mind, but she was reeling. Amy was wringing her hands when one of the cameramen set down his camera and walked over to her. She thought she was in for a scolding. He smiled kindly to her.

“Nervous?” he asked. She laughed breathily and nodded. “Well if it makes you feel better, it’s my first time on the show too,” he added with a grin. “So there’s always a chance the footage will look like something out of the Blair Witch Project and no one will be able to see how nervous you are.” They shared a laugh at the thought. “Plus, if you think about it,” he continued, “they’re probably nervous to meet you too.”

Amy laughed. “I doubt that.”

“They don’t know you. They’re making the same risks you are. Except they have 24 guys to compete with. I don’t see 24 other girls out here, trying to upstage you,” he said with a raise of his brow.

“Hmm,” Amy mused. “That’s a fair point. I guess it won’t matter if they think I’m a huge, unlovable nerd. I won’t be the one who gets sent away.” She laughed almost evilly at the thought. The producers weren’t going to kick her off because she wasn’t appealing enough.

The thought startled Amy though. She wondered when it was that she got worried about being kicked off. She didn’t want to be here. Shouldn’t want to be here. Was she worried about being kicked off? No, she’d be fine going back home and trying to find dates the normal way. Maybe she was worried that getting rejected by 25 different men would be an epically humiliating moment.

The cameraman was saying something else. Amy was caught up in her thoughts and missed the beginning. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I just said that even if there were 24 other women, you’d still be a standout,” he said kindly. “That’s a really pretty dress.”

Amy smiled, looking down at her dress. “I didn’t pick it out,” she replied lamely. He nodded awkwardly, picking up his camera and walking back to his mark. Amy shook her head at herself. Why couldn’t she just accept the compliment? He was being nice. She looked over at him as he positioned the camera on his shoulder. “So obviously I should be working on my small talk skills?” she asked with a tone of self deprecation.

He laughed loudly. “Yeah, maybe just a bit.”

Amy was about to make another joke when someone called that the first limo was arriving. Amy steeled herself for a night of inevitable awkwardness and potential humiliation. For the hundredth time, she cursed Gina. She glanced back to the cameraman for another second to see him smile and nod encouragingly as the first limo pulled into view.

The night was filled with meeting too many people. Amy was usually good with names, but this was a whole other level. It was one thing to meet new people, but 25 at one time was a bit ridiculous. Plus by the end of the night, she had to decide the best one she’d met. She hoped the cameras weren’t able to catch how much she was actually drinking. At the end of the night, Amy gave the first impression rose to a guy named Luke. Soon, the guys all wandered up the stairs of the mansion. Amy was more than ready to go to her separate home to sleep for a while. She wasn’t sure of everything that was going to happen the next day, but she knew she needed sleep.

Amy bent down and took off her heels before walking toward the door. The kind cameraman from before stopped her before she could leave. “Hey, Amy,” he called from a door just off the main room. She looked over at him curiously. “We need some interview stuff before you can leave.”

It must have been the alcohol that made Amy sigh and roll her eyes without even trying to hide it. She nodded reluctantly and followed him to the room. She’d barely been sitting for two seconds before the makeup artists descended on her to touch up everything about her appearance. Once they approved of her look, they backed off to stand behind the cameraman. He looked at her appraisingly for a moment. Amy briefly wondered if there was something on her face before deciding that the stylists would have leaped in to fix it.

“You’re not very comfortable are you?” he asked.

“I’m...tired,” Amy answered, sticking to the acceptable truth.

He turned around and looked at the other five people in the room. “Duncan gave me the targets for this interview. I think it might go better if there wasn’t a crowd. She’s still not used to the audience. I think we’ll be fine.”

“What if her makeup needs to be touched up?”

“Then we’ll send up a flare,” he joked. They all looked skeptical, but one by one, they filed out of the room.

Amy hadn’t even gotten the cameraman’s name, but she felt like he understood her. She was instantly appreciative that he was working her season of the show. He ducked to make sure the camera was set up properly for the shot. “So how does it feel having 25 boyfriends?” he teased.

She couldn’t hide her laugh. “I’m waiting to see how fast they can all reject me.”

He scoffed as he played around with the camera. “Can you imagine someone actually having 25 significant others?”

“It’s insane, right?” Amy asked, latching on to the topic. It was something she’d been thinking about a lot. “I mean, millions of people watch this show, but if I had 25 boyfriends in real life, I’d be called a whore easily.”

He laughed as he straightened up and looked at her. “You’re not wrong. Or maybe you’d be a boss. I mean if you had 25 boyfriends and they all knew about each other and they weren’t all killing each other or you? Well, I’d want to know your secrets.”

“I’d want to know how I got 25 boyfriends at the same time,” Amy said with a shake of her head.

“Well yeah, that would be the secret I’d want to know too,” he corrected with a small smile.

“Gee, if they’re looking for new faces now, you could always be the next bachelor,” Amy joked. “My friend, Gina is really good at sending in videos she pieced together showing how sad my love life is.”

He tilted his head back and laughed. “Well maybe it’ll all work out and one day you’ll be able to thank her.”

“I’m not counting on it.”

“There’s that first night optimism,” he teased. “Okay, so basically we want to hear your thoughts on the first night and meeting all the new guys. Sound good?” He asked, getting back to business.

“The truth or the tv appropriate version?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m thinking the one that will draw in viewers.”

Amy sighed. “Okay.” She shook her shoulders a little as she straightened up in her seat. Plastering on the best smile she could, Amy tried to think back on the night without the filter of anxiety. She opened her mouth to speak but he stopped her.

“Stop,” he said quickly. Amy was confused. “Now I’ve only watched this show with my friends, I mean Rosa only hate watches it but I think she’s secretly as obsessed as Charles, but during these interviews on the first night, they’re always excited and seem like they really want to be here.” He sighed, stepping out from behind the camera. “I’m guessing it wasn’t your choice and you don’t totally want to be here.”

“You’d be right about that.”

“Well we’re going to have to work on your acting skills as well as your small talk skills then,” he said with a kind smile. “You can do this. We’ve just got to have you looking like you’re happy and not like you just had a man tell you that you should smile more.”

Amy laughed, her hand reaching up to cover the snort that resulted from it. “Fair enough. So what do you want me to do?”

He walked back behind the camera, eyeing her thoughtfully. “How’d your parents meet?”

She stared at him, wondering how this would help. Getting a bit more comfortable in the chair, Amy recalled the story of her parents meeting. “My mom had just moved from Florida to New York City. A week after she got there, she went to the laundromat. There was almost no one there. At one point she opened a top dryer to throw in a load when she opened the door into my dad’s face. She was so embarrassed that she volunteered to do all of his laundry as well. She found him ice and they talked for a few hours as they did their laundry and my mom tried to prove that she wasn’t trying to maim him. He said his clothes turned out better when she did them than when he does. He wrote down his number and told her to call him so she could tell her all of her laundry secrets. But my mom said it would be simpler if he just asked her out like he wanted to anyway.” Amy smiled happily at the memory of her mother regaling her with the story. “And the rest is history.”

“There’s that smile,” he said softly from behind the camera. Amy realized she was smiling naturally and that had been his plan all along. “So trying to maintain that, how was tonight?”

Amy felt her smile grow, not by thinking of the night, but by realizing what a gift this random cameraman had. He knew how to get the authentic feelings out of her that she needed to sell the show. So Amy talked about the guys and how kind and goofy they seemed. She talked about how excited she was to have this journey with these men ahead of her. While still trying to hold on to the same feeling, she even managed to choke out a line about hopefully finding the man she could fall in love with.

Amy sighed as the cameraman held up his thumb, signalling that they got the desired footage. He walked over and shook her hand. “I think we have more than enough. Thanks for being a good sport.”

Amy laughed. “Thanks for understanding that I’m not a natural for the camera.”

He smiled brightly. “I think you are. You just need a little encouragement. Everyone does now and again. I can’t imagine how terrible I’d be.”

Amy tilted her head and looked at him with an appraising gaze. “I bet you’d be better than you think. But really, thank you. It helps to have someone who seems cool with my awkwardness.”

“Can’t wait to see that on a date with ten guys,” he joked.

Amy cringed. “Ugh, please don’t make me think of it.” She shook her head as she took her heels off again.

“I’m pretty sure that’s tomorrow,” he said apologetically. “But I can find stuff to throw at you from behind the camera to loosen you up a bit if you’d like.” He smiled goofily at her.

Shaking her head, Amy laughed, imagining how that would go down. “I’ll think about it.” Amy picked up the train of her dress, turning to finally leave the mansion for the night. She opened the door before turning back to look at him. “You know what, I don’t think I ever got your name.”

He looked up, a surprised expression on his face before he smiled. “It’s Jake.”

Also posted on AO3!

[anarchomoop]

So in today’s pointless writing thought exercises: I started scripting in my head and writing dialogue for key storybeats for a Superman reboot while I was at work.  I wound up incorporating a lot of... tumblr-popular Superman meta I guess you could say into the ideas for the overall story.  The story features:

An inversion of the Lex Luthor/Superman dynamic, while it appears that Superman is “gifted,” he actually struggles to live up to his own ideals, in his own words “some days, I look in the mirror and I see superman.  Other days, I look in the mirror and just see me.  On the best days, I see both.”  Likewise, while Lex appears to be a self-made man, he definitely had a lot of invisible advantages over others, and while he rhetorically claims to have gotten where he was from hard work, he actually believes everything he has is a result of being fundamentally better than everyone else.  In his own words (in this reboot, Lex is the head of “Luthorcom” a company that started as a google-like internet based tech firm but expanded further into “horizontal” tech markets to the point where it’s now doing a little bit of everything STEM related, including weapons manufacture) “I kept looking at the world and seeing these basic things, these things where something was missing or could be better and I’d just go and I’d do it.  We had the internet and it was huge, full of information and products and people but with nothing to link them, no way to find them, like a library with n directory.  So I made LuthorLibrarian.com, later Luthorcom.  And it was simple.  Anyone could’ve done it.  And every time I took a step forward that’s what I said to myself.  ‘it was so easy, anyone could have done it.  I’m nothing special.’  Until one day, I looked out the window from the top of Luthorcom tower and I realized.  Nobody else did it.  Not a single person.  What I do, it’s not easy.  It’s not something ‘anyone can do.’  I can do it.  I do it.  Only me.”

The Daily Planet is now “Planet Media,” no longer a newspaper, it’s now a news website with both articles and videos.  Clark and Lois work both as article writers as well as personalities in front of the camera for video reports.  Jimmy takes both photo and video.

Superman’s costume is originally designed by Ma Kent to use to hide his identity and incorporates the red S, blue background, and a mask.  The costume is later redisigned by Jerome Green, an aids-positive black man who was selling knock-off superman goods to help himself and his grandma afford rent in their rapidly gentrifying Metropolis neighborhood, who makes the iconic red and yellow s-shield on a solid blue spandex outfit look. Jimmy Olsen and Lucy Lane’s role is somewhat reprised as Jimmy (a sophomore at Metropolis U in their photo journalism program and interning at the Planet Media.com as a photographer and sometimes cameraman) trying to impress Lucy Lane (Senior at Met U just about to finish their commercial aviation program to be a pilot) who he met through working with Lois at the Planet  This leads to Jimmy’s older sister Emily (recently finished undergraduate studies in Gotham U’s film studies program, now enrolled in Met U’s graduate program for film to learn how to direct and operate a camera, hoping to direct, write, and film her own micro-budgeted movies) meeting Lucy and sticking up for her younger brother, saying it’s wrong of Lucy to lead him along getting him to buy her things.  Lucy, by way of apology, tries to include Jimmy and Emily in her life, eventually leading to Emily and Lucy dating after Jimmy notices the two’s conspicuous and obvious crushes and pushes them to act on it.  This is... this is like the major B plot of the entire first arc but, like, super-abridged.

One of Lex Luthor’s telecom sats becomes damaged after colliding with some space debris -- an escape pod containing a human-looking girl in her late teens/early 20s (in this, Superman joins the planet after going through a journalism grad school program).  After she quickly develops the same powers Superman displays (she gets them on a faster time-table as a result of absorbing solar rays form space without the interference of earth’s atmosphere), Luthor uses her to his own ends by creating a SuperGirl loyal to Luthorcom.

Lois investigate’s Luthorcom’s weapons dealings, finding evidence that, in order to spur demand for domestic use of the product by police/military, Luthor orchestrated leaks/break-ins to get “criminal elements” access to Luthor weapons tech, creating the appearance of an arms race that the government must turn to Luthor to stop (this is the reason Clark becomes Superman, and part of why Luthor comes to hate him, because Superman is foiling his plans without even knowing it).  She eventually reveals this evidence with the help of staff intern Jimmy Olsen and new reporter Clark Kent, but Luthor manages to avoid implication  This is what puts Lois/Clark/Jimmmy on his radar.

Clark does not actually have access to his escape pod, knowledge about Krypton, Jor-El, or Kryptonite.  This is all discovered by Lex Luthor.  He learns about Krypton from Supergirl’s escape pod, then scours the areas near Metropolis for something similar that might relate to Superman (eventually finding a pod just outside Smallville where the Kents abandoned it).

Clark’s past and Kryptonian name are revealed to him when Lex “unmasks” him as “Kal El of Krypton” in front of a live TV audience that just watched Lex use Kryptonite to beat both Superman and Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), revealing “Kal El’s plot” to make “humanity weak and dependent” by saving them all from their problems instead of letting humanity sort them out themselves, that way a “Kryptonian fleet” can invade earth with no resistance.  Lois, there in attendance, calls bullshit, pointing out that A: if Kryptonians are as powerful as Superman and Supergirl they don’t *need* to weaken humanity and B: Superman wanted people to aspire to be better, that Superman “saw Superman in the people around him more frequently than in himself” and backs it up using a secret recording she took on her smartphone during a “date” with Superman which she was actually using to grill him for info (during the date she hides a tape recorder in her purse, which Superman finds with his X-Ray vision and asks her to take out and turn off, then later after he’s gone she takes out her phone and checks to make sure that the recording she got on it was clear, commenting that Superman was ‘clever, but still a sap’).

During the climax of the arc, Jimmy, Emily and Lucy save Superman by rushing forward to “get a good shot up close,” an excuse for Jimmy to shove his flashbulb right in Lex’s face and take a picture so that Emily and Lucy can get the Kryptonite away from him.  This leads to a fight where Superman is trying to protect Lex from a furious Supergirl and the crowd from both Supergirl (whose opinion of humanity is understandably pretty low at that moment) and Lex’s guards.  During the fight a stray “Krypton-alloy” bullet hits Kara in the shoulder, causing her to lose her powers and start falling from the top of Luthor tower.  She’s saved by Jimmy, who earlier noticed a window-cleaning trolley, so he jumps off the tower to grab her and just barely manages to grasp it and a barely-conscious Kara.  Emily and Lucy work together to pull the two fully to safety, initially alone but eventually with the help of the gathered crowd.  Important notes -- Superman attempts to save her but can’t, as approaching her causes his powers to weaken from the “krypton-alloy”.  This is important to the themes of the first arc, Superman is ultimately not the hero.  Lois, Jimmy and Clark (distinguishing Clark from Superman somewhat is also important -- Clark Kent is the real person, Superman is a mask he wears, and someone Clark aspires to be) are ultimately responsible for bringing down Lexcorp’s criminal activities and Emily, Lucy, and Jimmy wind up saving both Superman and Supergirl from Lex.

Kara and Kal-El are given official US citizenship and paperwork (Clark Kent also has official paperwork, although it is forged by someone Ma Kent knows who didn’t really ask any questions about this miracle baby who needed documents).  Kara’s life winds up being a lot more public than Kal-El’s as a result of her not being raised normally on earth or having any kind of secret identity.  She’s placed under investigation and put on trial, but eventually found not guilty as a result of A: not actually hurting anyone B: her attempts to harm the crowd and her threats against humanity as a whole during the fight with Superman were successfully justified under the “temporary insanity” defense (she was brought to a state of high emotion to the point that she could not be considered fully responsible for her actions, essentially the “yeah, you did kind of break some laws but honestly if I were in your shoes I’dve done the same thing” defense) and C: honestly they are not sure they could do much to prosecute her anyway.  After her trial and while she’s still recovering from her gunshot wound (fast healing is not a Kryptonian power in this canon -- when they get actually hurt they stay hurt for a while) Kara meets with Jimmy and thanks him, commenting that “Kal-El is right, about humanity.  About people like you.”  And then.. leaving it at that because restoration of a similar but different status quo at the end of the arc is important and Jimmy having a crush on a girl who he’s certain is totally out of his league is *very important to the status quo* Yeah, so that’s just... kind of the major story beats?  Most of them?  There’s flashbacks to Clark’s childhood, him realizing he has powers, how the Kents react.  Ma Kent and Pa Kent also act somewhat mysteriously.  Ma comes up with the costume idea for Clark suspiciously quickly and occasionally when trying to explain how or why they did/do something to Clark they just say “it’s what has to be/had to be done.”  This is a set up to a potential later arc involving time travel, the idea that Clark’s parents know he will become Superman before it actually happen is kind of important to the story as I imagine it.  The Kent parents meet Superman, and they realize being Superman is important to their son, and as a result they work to help their son become Superman. Edit: oh, also about the Kents, forgot to add: in this canon they’d be Jewish.  That’s actually kind of very important to some of the theming/parallels that the broader narrative is meant to make.