#except they got Joey’s last name wrong

[midnightcowboy1969]

Funniest My Two Dads fic

[livlaughloveluke]

𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫- 𝐣.𝐜

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: you meet jack’s family for the first time at thanksgiving dinner

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: i COMPLETELY made up the members of his family, mentions of thanksgiving although if you don’t celebrate its only briefly mentioned so you can just imagine its a regular dinner ☺️

𝐚/𝐧: happy thanksgiving to those who celebrate! j will most likely not be posting until this sunday, although it might vary

you finished your light makeup by applying a swipe of lipgloss. your auburn dress was the perfect length, being both cute and appropriate for the occasion. you were going to have thanksgiving dinner with all of jacks family. 

there was one issue. in your six months of dating, you had never met anyone related to him. you would have liked to meet his mom earlier, but got as a rising actress, you got caught up in work and were constantly traveling to different states for events. however, from what jack described, she seemed precious. 

but what if she didn’t like you? what if something goes wrong and you embarrass yourself in front of everyone? oh god, this dinner was really messing with your head. 

“you almost ready, babe?” jack exclaims from the other room. you slip on your shoes and exit your bedroom, entering the living room where jack was. he was wearing a sweater that matched the color of your dress, and a pair of jeans.

jack stands up, and kisses your forehead. “you look good, y/n. my family will love you.” jack said, making you blush. his charm never failed to make you smile. 

you hop in jacks car, leaving your hotel room. you bounce your leg up and down, nerves taking over you. jack places his hand on your thigh, the coldness of it sending shivers down your spine.

“seriously y/n, don’t stress. if it makes you feel better, you are a lot better than my last girlfriend.” he said to you.

he was right, his last relationship had been a little rocky, and the girl he was dating wasn’t exactly the nicest person out there. it pained you to know that someone could be so mean, especially to jack.

jack was the sweetest boy, who treated you with the respect that you lacked from other guys. he stood with you at your lowest points in life, and helped you grow as a person. you flourished during your relationship with him, becoming the best version of yourself.

and you helped jack, too. when he was alone and heartbroken, you swooped in and provided the love he so desperately deserved. when he fell down, you were always there to help him get back up. he was happier and better person with you around.

the car came to halt, as you pulled into the driveway of a small cozy home. a few other cars were already there, and you presumed that it was his family. 

from what you heard, his aunt and uncle would be there, along with his older brother and his brothers wife. his grandma and grandpa would unfortunately not be attending, for they had caught a mild cold the day before. his sister-in-law had two daughters, one newborn and one six year old. you were great with kids, so they wouldn’t be an issue. you had spent your teenage years as a summer camp counselor.

you took a deep breath, and stepped outside of the car. jack interlocked your hands, and you both walk up to the door. he didn’t have to knock, and just walked in. everyone looked to see who it was, and when they did, a roar of greeting came from the crowd. jack hadn’t visited his hometown in a while, so there enthusiastic reactions weren’t unexpected.

the family then turned their attention to you, and you greeted them with a smile on your face. they smiled back, and started welcoming you.

“this is my girlfriend, y/n!” jack introduces you, and you start shaking everyones hands. you then got everyones, except the kids, names. jacks sister-in-law was named jessica, his aunt was shannon, his uncle brian, and his older brother was named joey. 

then, jacks mom, anna, invites you, jessica, and shannon come help set up. jack heads off to the living room with the boys, and the rest follow anna to the kitchen.

“so, how long have you and jack been dating?” his mom asks, and you immediately reply with a joyful tone. 

“around six months. i wish i could have met you sooner, but i’ve been nonstop traveling for work. also might i add, you did an excellent job raising him. he’s the sweetest and most caring boy i know.” 

“you’re to kind! now tell me about yourself!” anna replies, and you start informing the group of your origin. you share silly stories about jack, and laugh uncontrollably together while finishing dinner.

you hear the shy voice of a young girl coming from the doorway, and look over to see jessica’s oldest daughter walking in. she walks over to her mommy, and tugs on her dress. the bashful kid whispers something into her mothers ear, and they both look at you. you start to feel slightly embarrassed, worried as to what they were talking about.

“oh, thats uncle jacks girlfriend, y/n! why don’t you go say hi. i’m sure she doesn’t bite.” jessica says out loud, and your cloud of worries clear up.

she walks up to you, and you squat down to her height. you can tell she’s a little nervous, and you try your best to seem welcoming.

“hi! i like your dress. its very pretty.” the young girl whispers out.

“thank you! i love your hair! it looks super cute.” you respond back, and she giggles and thanks you.

“do you wanna play barbies with me in the play room?” she asks, and you look back, making sure it’s okay that you stop helping with the food. everyone nods and encourages you to go with the small child, so you follow her to where her toys where.

you sit down, and she gives you a doll. you start playing with her, and the girl, evelyn, seems to be having a blast. you giggle and joke with her, glad you can get along with her.

“shhh you can’t tell uncle jack i said this, but he told dad that he really, really likes you. and he also said you’re the prettiest and funniest girl he’s ever met.” evelyn informs you, and you can’t help but blush. you continue chatting with her, now seeming to be a little more at ease.

anna calls the guys to the dining room, for dinner was almost ready. however, before she sends jessica to grab you and evelyn, she begins to say something to jack and the rest of the family.

“you know, i really like her. i think she’s the one.” everyone agrees with anna, and praises  you for your generosity and amazing personality. jack loves hearing the groups words of approval, and he smiles, knowing you were definitely liked by his family. 

the feast begins, and you chat with everyone in attempt to get to know them better. it was an excellent dinner. the food was amazing and the conversations were plentiful. time flew by, and before you knew it, you were saying your goodbyes.

as you drove back to the hotel, you and jack began talking. you couldn’t up but light up at his words.

“i think they really like you, y/n.” 

taglist- @nowitsmissing, @nikoschrissis, @lvndryyhoe, @ieattoesforbreakfqst, @sevenheavxns, @wonderstruck4llthew4yhome, @imkillmyselfxoxo, @lumaxstans-blog, @ilovejackchampionnn, @hyeyulove, @jackchampiongf13, @sebastiansallowsgf, @michaelangdonsslut, @1212valee, @teenagedramaqueenlisa

some names wouldn’t let me tag :(

[sacr3d-joeyxx]

Overcoming Demons

Joey x Fem!Reader

Request from: iminlovewithmycarrrr

*Could you do a Joey jordison x reader where the reader is a vocalist and guitarist for a black metal band (she can scream and sing very well) and her band keeps playing the same gigs as slipknot and he just gets obsessed with the way she performs. The guys all tell Joey to ask her out*

Quinn’s POV

The crowd went wild as we performed our last song.. I said thank you and that it was a joy playing for Des Moines, Iowa. We as Ritualistic Suicide was done for the night. I was in love with the sound of encores and some occasional ‘I love you’.

It wasn’t hard to perform but it did come with its massive drawbacks, well just for me of course..Having to scream but also having to balance it with singing was hard. I got into black metal at the ripe age of 19 and I was sold when I heard the screams it was a form of art to me. Screaming is what I wanted to do nothing else but when we had to kick out the guitarist for getting arrested because of drugs but let’s get this straight there’s nothing wrong with doing drugs in this band but when we started to actually get gigs and record deals we all went cold turkey; well except him and he started to get involved with the law and then we all knew that the dude just simply had to go. I then took his spot after that. It sucked mostly because he named the band but it was whatever. So my job was now vocals and guitar…not impossible but it was in the beginning. I just had to learn differently, it took a lot of practice but it worked!

This time the black blood came out at the right time, it actually came out! It goes with our new single called ‘Homicide’ which ends with us covered in fake blood by it coming out near our eyes, mouths, ears and hands while playing. It’s kinda hard to explain how it works but anywhere you have tubing on your face you cover it with black face paint to balance it out; the tubes are a solid black color and it’s mechanically released with a push button that someone pushes backstage for us. It makes us look like we’re performing a sacrifice..I guess.. but a couple of drawbacks is it stains your skin like no other.. the other is getting it off your equipment..you see I have a pure white guitar, our bassist has a blood red one…you leave it on too long..well it’s fucking over..

Honestly I’d say the best part of this whole thing is a couple of things actually, first one is seeing the crowd; the way they listen to the music and move with the rhythm is a fish out of water experience. The second one is hearing our music on the radio or it getting mentioned in any form of media. Lastly getting all our cosmetics on, no black metal band is allowed to preform without it; well you can it’s just frowned upon in this profession. It’s funny seeing your closet friend’s faces in basically all white. You think you’re in a dream or something when you first start to put it on.

The best part about doing the makeup is the designs, most of the white face paint ends up in my hair by the end of the show, I look 50+ years older when I step off the stage. It comes out..kinda but it’s still going to be there for a couple of weeks..You’ll find white spots on your skin where you thought it was gone. It hides our face I guess but not really.. the band that almost always plays after us, especially when it’s a gig that could be a mix of all sorts of bands. They wear masks and red jumpsuits..crazy how much they look like a band in them. They are called Slipknot but I don’t know much about them really except for the band having nine people. I mean we have five people but nine is way too much yet they make it work.

Honestly they really intimidating, like they could all definitely be serial killers.. but they are the way they are for reasons. I’m taller than their drummer..he’s gotta be 5’3 or something. I’m 5’10..but there’s nothing wrong with short kings. I do think he’s kinda funny though, he’s just a mass of passion and speed. You could obviously tell when he plays that he enjoys what he does.

Any second now our drummer is gonna need my help to get the kick drum get in the case. The stage was already set and what not when we got there but literally 2 hours before opening Cam did something to it and just didn’t sound right anymore. Lucky for us I told him to pack an extra..of course he did but it’s fucking funny how the kick drum couldn’t survive a practice session.. nonetheless we fixed it just in time.

“Quinn! I need help..the kick drum..I can’t get it in the case!”

Bingo, like fucking clock work. I chuckled to myself as I walked over there and looked how it was placed in the case.

“Well, no shit..if you haven’t noticed.. you forgot to fold in the foam in the corner on the right..just tuck it back in”

He looked at me then itched his head, and went to go fix it before closing it and giving me a thumbs up..I rolled my eyes and turned to walk offstage..Now I had to find three others, it won’t be hard because they are in one of three places. The green-room, signings, or loading things on the bus. Normally we’d do signings but last time we did that someone brought a human skull..nothing wrong with that but none of us wanted to deface someone’s mom. So they’re not doing that…honestly I’m going go to go with the green-room; Declan, Mex, and Juz are all fat..not really but they have a tendency to stuff their faces with food after a performance like that.

I hope I’m not scarring any ‘normal person’ in my adventure to find the three stooges, but I probably will..It appears to always happen.

*Whatever the fucking sound is called when two people bump into each other when neither is paying attention.*

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Joey’s POV

She looked like a god..an immortal god…I don’t think I’ll ever be able to explain what she does to me. The makeup, her clothes, her hair.. she looked perfect..to me at least..I don’t think she’ll look my way..she’d have to look down as well..

I can’t remember how many times I’ve been doing the same gigs as them but it’s obvious that it’s on purpose. All of my band mates keep telling me to talk to her..I wish it was easy as that but I’m intimidated by her..she’s gotta be 6’1 and on top of that she’s in platforms..I have balls with certain things but women scare me..fucking weird how that works..your attracted to them but scared shitless of them.

Maybe I should go talk to her..fuck it…she had a great show and I should tell her..fuck it!

*Whatever the fucking sound is called when two people bump into each other when neither is paying attention.*

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Quinn’s POV

I brushed my hair out of my face and now knew why I didn’t see him..it’s cause he’s were fucking short.. but what’s funnier about this is that he’s wearing a bright red jumpsuit.

“Woah! Sorry man!”

“You’re good..I kinda was looking for you”

“Really? What do you need from me?”

“Just wanted to talk about how you preformed out there..”

“Oh..thank you! It was definitely up there with one of our first shows..mainly because it all went according to schedule…”

“You’re welcome..-“

“So sorry for cutting you off but I’ve gotta get going to find my mates, you can come along if you want..your set isn’t until 8:00pm and it’s 6:21pm now..”

“Uhhh-sure I’ve got time..”

“Cool..uhh just try and keep up, I’ve got long legs.. y’know..”

I walk fast, mean I don’t have a choice really I’ve given such long legs.. but they get longer in platforms..I turned the corner and looked at the wall with the little sign pointing left saying the green-room was that way…I looked back and the guy was still keeping up with me. Honestly he was probably sweating bullets under everything he was wearing, I would be too. I stopped before looking at the doors..bingo, found it. I looked back at him and he gave me a thumbs up..

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Joey’s POV

God..I honestly think she knows that I’m crazy about her..fuck..the things I would do to her..the bright white stage makeup with the black blood was still wet..her hands were covered in it. It looked like tree roots as it patterned up her wrists and eventually her arms. The messy jet black hair..covered in white makeup..I’m fucking obsessed with this woman..and she has to know..

“So.. you single…?”

………���…………………………………………………………………………………….

Quinn’s POV

I whipped my head around to him, I go wide-eyed while looking at him..I don’t know if he’s being serious or he’s just trying to be funny.

“Huh? Why are you asking..you interested?”

“……”

“Hello..I asked you a question?”

“..yeah..I am….”

“Huh..sorry I couldn’t hear you..”

“…..”

“Yeah, I am”

“You’re not like fucking with me are you?”

“….no?”

Oh so he’s actually being real..uh I don’t know what to do here I barely know him..should I give him my number.. shit I don’t know. This could be a set up from his band or mine..but I know mine wouldn’t fuck with me like this…they don’t have big enough balls to do so. He honestly doesn’t seem bad from what I can tell but he looks like he’s about to pass out from the stress of this situation..fidgety little guy..picking at his fingernails while waiting for my response.

“You’re one hundred percent positive?”

“Yes, I’m one hundred fucking percent positive..it’s a serious question..that I would like to know the answer to”

I could give him my number, I don’t have a piece of paper though.. but I happen to have a sharpie..

“Come here real quick..”

I reached into my back pocket and pulled at a sharpie as he made his way over here, I looked at him and smiled softly.

“Takes some balls to say that, y’know?”

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Joey’s POV

Okay..she took it well..maybe she’ll give me her number..oh wait she telling me to go to her..the hell is she doing digging in her back pocket..oh wait it’s a sharpie..fuck I don’t have any paper she can use..

“So..has this ever worked before?”

“Not really..I don’t don’t talk to them if I’m interested in them..they are scary..”

“Give me your hand real quick..hopefully it doesn’t rub off during your gig..”

I gave her my hand and she held it was she wrote her name and number on my hand..her hand was cold like a corpse..but who cares? I could see her looking at my chipped black fingernail polish..I looked up at her and we locked eyes for a moment.. the world went quiet and it felt like it stopped spinning..

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Quinn’s POV

I wrote my name and number on his hand and then looked at his nail polish that was black and in the process of chipping. I looked up at him and we locked eyes for a moment.. I felt the world stop I knew he did too.

“Thanks….Quinn..”

“You’re quite welcome”

“I’m going to head back now..”

“Okay..after your set come find me if we’re still here..if not then use my number.. answer it eventually”

I sighed softly as he began to walked away, I knew his gig was going to be a lot longer than ours was..they had a bigger fan base than we did but it’s whatever. I either had the choice to stay here another night or wait for him to text me.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Joey’s POV

Fucking hell..wow I actually have her number and seems like she didn’t just give a fake one either. Okay..okay!! I guess that’s a win for me..

[thethistlegirlwrites]

Vampires Anonymous

Joey looks around the abandoned office-turned-Vampires-Anonymous and wonders how this night is going to go.

There’s about ten people scattered throughout the room. A guy playing a harmonica in a corner, some upbeat tune that’s probably actually a folk ballad about how some guy died in the old west, two heavily tattooed girls playing some kind of card game that involves a lot of yelling and smacking the top of the deck, a young guy with a frowzy shock of dark purple hair, an old man with cowboy boots and a weather-lined face apparently dozing off with his feet propped up on a battered desk, a guy who looks like he could have been a lawyer in his past life brushing off the seat of a wobbly spinning chair, and a woman with a dandelion poof of hair and a patch-covered jacket perched on top of a four-foot-tall filing cabinet. Then there’s Joey, and Shay, and the listing stacks of paperwork, file boxes, and busted chairs the previous tenants left behind. 

Part of what Shay’s doing as community service for his own mentorship is starting a support group for fledglings that’s connected to the mentor program. It’s one thing for young vampires to have a connection to someone who can offer advice and the wisdom of experience, but it’s also good to have people who are at the same spot, sharing the same struggles. 

Joey’s got her halfway house ‘sisterhood’, but she agreed to come anyway because Shay should have at least one person he knows to offer support the first few weeks. 

But if Shay’s nervous about his first night leading the group, he’s not showing it. 

Lawyer-guy looks around the room. “Shouldn’t we be, like, making a circle of chairs or something?”

“You wanna hold hands and sing Kumbaya, too?” Cabinet-percher asks. 

“This group is what we make it,” Shay breaks in, with the same authoritative calmness Joey remembers from the days when he drove off jerks harassing her. “In my experience, too much structure makes everyone feel too formal, or too put on the spot because we’re all looking at each other. We’ll try it this way first.” He looks around. “I would like everyone to introduce themselves but only as much as you’re comfortable with, and no last names right now. I’ll start. I’m Shay. I’ve been a vampire for a little less than two years, but I was bitten in college and it took me quite a while to actually die and turn. The reason I got picked to work with this group in the first place is that I was trying to deal with the chronic venom pain and got hooked on heroin. I’ve been in and out of mandatory rehabs and group therapy most of my adult life. The point being, I know something about what makes a group work or what makes them useless, and we’re going to try to be one of the better ones here.” 

Joey tries to pay attention as the others follow suit. 

Tattoos and Tattoos Two are sisters, Kai and Lia. They got turned the same night when they played a punk-rock gig at the wrong bar and ended up on the menu instead of onstage. The old man is Loren, a name that makes Lawyer-guy snicker until Harmonica throws a ball of crumpled paper at him. He’s a former rancher who ended up bled dry by both the banks and vampire loan shark he turned to in desperation. Purple hair is Francisco, whose story is disturbingly similar to Joey’s, except that the vampire who took him and four other people across the border decided to hang onto them for a while. He’d been the only one infected, and had woken up in the middle of a body dump in the desert. Like Joey, he’s on Chimera’s case docket for home earth citizenship. Harmonica turns out to be a very unassuming Jay, which feels like way too short and normal a name for his charismatic aura. He’d been a bit part actor in sitcoms until he tried to break up what he thought was a rape in the backlot and ended up surprising a hungry vamp instead. Lawyer-guy, whose name is actually Keith, really was a lawyer, apparently. A divorce lawyer whose less than above-board methods led to him crossing paths with a sleazy vamp offering PI services for his clients. One argument over payments later, his practice and his life were over. Cabinet-percher is Aaliyah. Former LA cabbie who got literally stiffed on a fare. Twice over, unfortunately for her. The first time by a vamp who bit her rather than pay up, and the second time by a desperate guy who was fleeing an armed robbery. When the radio gave out his description, and Aaliyah had looked into the mirror to confirm it was her passenger, he’d shot her in the back of the head and bolted.

Joey didn’t really mean to go last, but it kind of just happened. She’s not the sort to break into the conversation, and she was trying too hard to take in everyone else’s story.

“Uh, I’m Joey. I’ve been a vampire for about eight months. I was bitten when I was nineteen, by a border smuggler.” She kicks at a dust ball on the floor. “I spent the next six years in LA and when I died, my family buried me and I turned. Now I’m in the mentor program to get a chance at getting them back in my life.” It feels painfully slow. Two weeks is too long to wait for the physical visits, but if everything goes well, in another month she’ll get moved up into the once-a-week bracket. “I hadn’t told them I was going to become a vampire. Mostly because I didn’t actually think it would happen.”

One of the two tattooed girls (it’s going to take weeks for Joey to remember who’s who) scowls. “Let me get this straight. You didn’t know you had the venom in you?”

Joey laces her fingers together and looks down at her hands in her lap.

“Not for sure.” She sighs. “I didn’t want it to be true. I couldn’t afford it to be.”

“Didn’t you feel anything?” Aaliyah asks. “I felt like my skin was going to burn off whenever someone touched me. It hypersensitized me to everything. And my teeth were killing me.”

“I kept telling myself everything I felt made sense.”

She was driving her sister to appointments, working the fights at night, scared she'd be caught and deported because she couldn't get a visa. She’d figured the stomach pains meant she’d end up like Jorge across the hall, with a stress ulcer before thirty because he too had overstayed his legal welcome. She thought the hunger was from skipping meals so her siblings got more. 

She was ignoring the pain because Via came first.

“Everyone else in our neighborhood was just like me. Always tired, alert to anything that might be trouble, not enough in our pockets to put enough on the table.” Even the teeth had made sense. She’d always ground them in her sleep. Mauri used to complain about it in the camps, say she was keeping him awake.

The one thing she’d never felt was the aggression Shay had described, that drove him to the fights where she’d met him. Chimera’s been theorizing for a while that there’s a subclass of vampire in which the venom activates the victim’s flight instead of fight response, creating a stealthy, shadow-dwelling vampire when they finally turn, an ambush predator rather than one that stalks its prey actively. 

They still don’t know if it’s linked to the person’s inherent responses to traumas, or if it’s connected to a specific strain of sires. After all, one could argue that the vampire who turned her was the same sort. That kind of alert wariness would be an asset to someone in his line of work. 

“That’s messed up.” Jay shakes his head. “I can’t believe you just ignored that.”

Joey swallows. No one will blame her if she stops talking now.

She’s not sure telling anyone the specifics about her family is ever a good idea.

But that’s something born out of years of running and hiding and fear.

She doesn’t want to carry that with her into this place. 

“I wasn’t alone when I came across the border. I made the deal I did in exchange for him getting my siblings and me here, so my sister could get the medical help she needed. Via was always the brave one. Facing her pain with a smile even on her worst days. If she could be okay, how could I be anything else?” Joey swallows. “It felt like nothing compared to what she must have been living with. She needed me to be strong for her, and I had to make sure she could get to the doctor, that we could pay for her treatments, and that she felt safe.”

“Damn. You just ignored vampire venom poisoning because taking care of your family was the most important thing in your life. That is bad-ass,” Aaliyah says. “You told something killing you from the inside out that it was gonna have to get in line because your little sis needed you.”

Joey didn’t think what she’d done was that impressive. She’d just been getting herself out of bed every day for Via, like she’d done every day since their mother was murdered. But apparently, to a room full of vampires, she’s managed to pull off something extraordinary.

“Yeah. Don’t think I can top that,” Keith says with a shrug. 

“You literally got infected and died in the same day, of course you can’t,” Kai (Joey can tell now because she’s spun around in her office chair and there’s a big stylized K inked on her shoulder) retorts. 

“Beginning to think you should be the one leading sessions,” Shay says, a hand resting gently on Joey’s shoulder. 

She shakes her head. It was scary enough telling a roomful of vampires about her siblings even existing. She’s not someone who likes the spotlight. Ever. 

“No way.”

He gives her a smile. “Well, in that case…” He holds out a chipped bowl full of strips of paper and pens. “Write down your favorite vamp bar. Has to be a legal one though, and not a coven-members-only kind.”

“Okay, why?” Francisco asks.

“Because I think we’re going to have a much better time getting to know each other over drinks.” Shay says with a grin. “We’ll draw names every week, rotate through.”

“That seems like a weird way to run the vampire version of AA,” Keith mumbles.

“We’re not trying to stop drinking synth-blood,” Lia says. “We’re trying to learn how to cope with being vampires. I think it’s great.” She tosses her slip in the bowl. “Heads up Kai and I have the same pick and it’s karaoke so be prepared to sing for a round because there’s double the chances ours gets picked.” 

“Oh no,” Jay groans.

“What do you have against music? You were playing that harmonica for a solid ten minutes.”

“Music, fine. Me singing, so not a good idea.”

“Then you’d better start practicing and hope it gets picked a couple weeks from now,” Aaliyah says, tossing her own pick in.

Shay swirls a hand around the bowl. As the only member of the group without a suggestion, he’s the most unbiased picker. He pulls out a folded paper, opens it, and shakes his head. “Okay. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but who possibly suggested a dive like the Vein Drain?”

No one raises their hands.

“Well, it is a legal establishment, but can we at least try not to start a full bar brawl on our first meeting night?”

There’s a pretty mixed response of nods and shrugs.

Shay looks at Joey with the first really concerned expression she’s seen all night, but all she can do is shake her head. “You let them pick.”

“And I think I’m going to regret it.” Shay sighs. “I’m going to be really bad at this aren’t I?”

“I guess we’ll find out if Lawson has to read us the riot act and bail us out of holding in the morning,” Joey says. “In the meantime, I guess we’re going to find out why this place is one of our new friends’ favorite hangouts.”

(You can read this story and others from this universe on my WorldAnvil here!)

@catwingsathena @nade2308 @the-one-and-only-valkyrie @telltaleclerk @ettawritesnstudies  @writeouswriter @whump-place @the-lovely-wren

[youcouldmakealife]

SOTM: ScratchnMoney, Julius&Jared; the buddy system

For the prompt:  Scouts POV of the Jared and Julius show after the trade. Are they in awe or terrified of their combined bitchiness? Or does Julius surprisingly show his softer side?

The moment they land in Vancouver, Little Caesar disappears. And Joey means disappears. He also means the ‘moment’ part: dude is first off the plane and by the time they reach the terminal there’s no Halla to be found.

“Buddy system!” Coach says. He’s been so strict since they lost Keebler for 16 hours. He was fine. Eventually. “Buddy system, Scouts! No man left behind!”

Joey reaches out blindly, and Scratch squeezes his hand.

“Buddy,” Joey says.

“Husbuddy,” Scratch agrees. “Don’t pout, Willy.”

“I don’t want to be your buddy anyway,” Willy blatantly lies. “Where’s Caesar?”

Joey looks around for his platinum blond head. He doesn’t find it. Not right away, and not after the Scouts have all obediently found their partners, and he goes to grab Coach before he can do his headcount in the bus and get disappointed in them again. Disappointing Coach is bad for team morale.

“We lost somebody,” Joey says.

Coach pinches his nose. “We literally just touched down. Is it Keebler? He really needs to pay attention to where he’s walking.”

“Little Caesar,” Joey says. Which is very unlike him! Maybe he got kidnapped.

“He hasn’t been kidnapped,” Coach says, waving Joey off. “He’s getting picked up by a family member. He got my okay.”

“But—“ Joey says. “The buddy system!”

“You not have a buddy, Money?” Coach asks. “There a marital spat I need to hear about? You guys need non-adjourning rooms?”

“No spitting here,” Joey says. “All buddied up, Coach.”

“Buddies for life, Coach!” Scratch pipes up beside him.

“Good men,” Coach says. “Off you go.”

“He cleared it with Coach,” Joey reports to Willy, who’s still craning his head around, muttering something no doubt uncomplimentary under his breath.

“Well,” Willy huffs. “Apparently I don’t have a buddy.”

“Would you like to be our triple buddy, Willy?” Scratch asks.

“No!” Willy says. “That’s not a thing!”

They start on their way.

“Wait for me!” Willy says, and trots to follow them.

“Triple buddies?” Joey says, holding his hand out.

“I’m not holding your hand,” Willy mutters, but he sticks close enough that he doesn’t need to.

*

Team breakfast, and Little Caesar isn’t there. Not against curfew or anything, apparently he told Coach. Lunch? Not a single Caesar to be found, except on the menu. And when they get on the bus to the arena, he’s sill missing.

Considering their next game is in Edmonton, AKA Little Caesar’s former territory, followed by a game in Calgary, which is where his in-laws are — and, if Joey remembers correctly, Erin was planning to fly in — Joey figures he’ll turn up eventually, but still.

The buddy system lasted all of one trip. One trip! Joey is disappointed but not surprised. At least he doesn’t have to worry about Little Caesar’s safety. He can fend for himself in the Canadian wilds.

*

Little Caesar pops up for the first time deep, deep in enemy territory. Like, so deep that Scratch and Joey shouldn’t actually be here, but they got confused looking for the hall that’s extra good for kicking around a soccer ball and went the wrong way, and then took directions from a Rogers Arena employee who was either also directionally challenged, or thought that fucking with them would be fun. The point is, they should not be here, and neither should Little Caesar. Erin’s brother is allowed, though. He’s the enemy after all. This is his territory. You can’t just tell people they can’t be on their own territory, that’s rude.

“Little Caesar, you live!” Joey says.

“I live,” Little Caesar says, so flat he may as well be dead. “Why are you here.”

“And Erin’s brother!” Joey says.

Erin’s brother gets all puffed up. “I have a name.”

Joey would assume so, and also assumes he’s been told it before, but if so, he does not remember it. Wait, he does! “Matheson!”

Which is really just ‘Erin’s brother’ all over again, considering that is also her name, but maybe he’ll take it less poorly.

Matheson tilts his head, and Joey swears it’s like looking at Erin. Without the expression you could still pretty easily tell they were related, but with it? Full on ‘I bet this makes Little Caesar extremely uncomfortable whenever he thinks about it too hard’ resemblance, like Scratch gets when Casey and Joey laugh the same.

“Has anyone told you—“ Joey starts, and Little Caesar sends him a look that’s half cutting and half desperate plea to shut up.

“—you look uncannily like your sister?” Joey finishes, because never let it be said that he can take a hint.

Matheson suddenly looks extremely pissy.

“Hey, that’s the face Erin made when I beat her at darts!” Scratch says. “Right before she said things that hurt my feelings.”

He gives Joey a look, and this one Joey listens to.

They flee before another Matheson can hurt them.

*

“Why are they running,” Jared says.

Julius shrugs.

“Why do your married teammates have to be the weird ones?” Jared asks. It’s not exactly like he was going to go ‘hey, you guys also married a dude, let’s be friends’, because he is full up in the friend department, but still.

“They’re all weird,” Julius says.

“Has Erin been terrorizing your teammates?” Jared asks.

Julius’ mouth tips up. “She does not like to lose,” he says.

“Well, obviously,” Jared says. That’s a universal Matheson trait, and the reason they’ve never believed in family game night. Dad’s the worst, but he has a lot of competition. “Are they still running?”

Julius squints down the hall. “Yes,” he says.

“So weird,” Jared says under his breath, and Julius gives him a look of silent suffering in response.

“Are they going in the right direction?” Julius asks.

“Nope,” Jared says.

Julius mutters something under his breath. All Jared catches is ‘coach’ and ‘furious’.

*

“You know,” Coach says, when it’s seven minutes until they have to take the ice for warmups, and ScratchnMoney are nowhere to be found. “I really thought the buddy system was going to prevent these situations. Does that make me naive? Am I naive, boys?”

“You may have been slightly optimistic,” Tate says. “But it’s not bad to be an optimist.”

Coach sighs. “Isn’t it, Willy?” he asks. “Isn’t it?”

“We got lost!” Money says, bursting into the room with five minutes to go. “We got so lost, and we never got found, and there is no reception! No reception in the tunnels! Which is a crime.”

“A crime!” Scratch chimes in as he trots in after Money. “Definitely psychological warfare! And the staff colluded! We should report them!”

Coach looks at Tate. Tate looks back.

“You deal with them,” Coach says tiredly, then retreats back to the glorified closet that’s designated as the office for visiting team coaches.

“And you!” Money says, pointing at Little Caesar. “How did you get here!”

“I followed the signs,” Little Caesar says blandly.

“You followed the enemy, that’s what you followed!” Scratch says.

“Multitask getting dressed and assigning blame,” Tate says. He knows better than to ban assigning blame entirely. They’ll just say he let down his triple buddies or something.

“And who was supposed to be our triple buddy, huh?” Money says, turning on him as expected, but he’s yanking at his shirt and kicking his shoes off as he does so, so Tate decides to consider himself lucky. Not too lucky, but lucky enough.

[kaiba-fangirl]

If you follow my main, you know I've been focusing on medical stuff again. Just went for bloodwork last week. 13 pages of things to test for, I think 8 vials of blood. I finally got the results back this morning, and I've been going over them, comparing flagged things to symptoms. A few of these results could be connected to low sex drive. Not one of my symptoms, but I was reading everything anyway. These are disorders & conditions related to organ damage, where the symptoms may either be nonexistent, or just 1 symptom, or mistaken for other things, or even written off as nothing. But this actually isn't about my medical journey. That's long and confusing even to uncaring professionals, and I of course have to wait to at least see what my endo says about it all. This is cuz... I'm 35, been on this journey since I was 12, and finally staring at hard numbers from my blood that most likely mean organ damage from 29 years of untreated hypothyroidism. So I have some delicate life experience, that I hope others are willing to not bite my head off over.

...especially cuz it's June.

. But I'm also putting this HERE, on kaiba-fangirl, as a reassurance that I am not trying to write this off the other way, either. Because, my hardest headcanon for Kaiba, since 15, through all the shipping through all these years, even way back then, whenever someone would ask me who I ship Kaiba with, (& let's be real, they meant-) do I like Puppyshipping - or even alone, did I think he was gay? In 2003, I didn't know what to succinctly answer except, "I don't really think he'd be into anyone..."

. Kaiba & Joey stuff was usually hot cuz they're independently both hot. Kaiba & Serenity was just to get Joey steamed, & again both hot in fanart. Kaiba & "blue-haired-girl" (before her name was reliably translated) was just cuz BEWD destiny ancient egypt. Kaiba & Mai - just my 2 faves, so put together? Eh... 🤔 Nahhh.

. Probably 10 years later before I finally learned "asexual" & was like "FINALLY" - but not for myself. Ohhh very much not myself lol. But I finally had a word to describe Kaiba.

. So, as I hope you can guess by now, I'm (probably making a huge mistake typing this out loud) here to combine these 2 things to tell you: Low sex drive *CAN* be a medical indicator that something is wrong. And it could be a singular symptom, but a closer look at extensive bloodwork can tell a larger story. I *look* perfectly healthy. On average, I usually feel pretty fine. Which is how it took 29 years to find my hypothyroidism, during which time it's caused other organ damage (adrenal glands, kidney, pancreas. & then heart disease if I can't get my cholesterol under control, diabetes if I can't get the insulin resistance under control) & hurt my life greatly. And I don't know what treatment is going to look like from here on out.

. Yes, asexuality is valid & I even feel I do understand it. I do know it doesn't just mean low sex drive; I know you can be asexual with a high sex drive. I know it's not about that; it's about feeling sexual attraction, or not. I know it's not absolute but a spectrum. But for a lot of people, it does seem they also say they have low sex drive. And if that is so for anyone, then please do not ignore the fact that it can also be a medical symptom. You probably already know it's also a side effect of SSRIs.

. I certainly do not care who wants to claim asexual for any reason. That has nothing to do with me. But - please - don't let a hidden medical thing - like the autoimmune disorder that hypothyroidism is (& whatever else may be wrong with me) or the metabolic syndrome that PCOS is (a possibility my endo is looking into) - destroy your actual organs just because you didn't want to check.

. I'm just older & don't want anyone else to go through what I have with all of this. I have had to fight since I was 12 to get a blood test workup like this one. & it's probably cuz I'm just going to reportedly "the best" practice within 50 miles, which means no insurance & throwing a credit card at them. With gas & tolls round it to $500 first visit, $250 followups. First time in my life some of this stuff is getting tested. 29 years before my thyroid was ever tested. @ EVERYONE, get your thyroid tested. Endocrine issues are so misunderstood or little understood, can hide as so many other things, or get written off as absolutely nothing, but they affect everything in your body. It's basically how your brain tells your organs what to do. It's so important. But no one pays attention.

. I understand the sensitivity, but not everyone who tells you to check low sex drive medically is just trying to write off asexuality. I'm saying get it checked cuz too many symptoms of actually serious things get written off as nothing. THIS is the kind of "something medically wrong" we're talking about. Kinda need your other organs to work to keep your body alive to even be around to be asexual. Okay?

. And this applies to so many other things I'm seeing on these lists. Anything. Don't ignore it. Do whatever you can to see a good doctor. If reddit doesn't die, find a community there to share stories & experiences. This just seemed to be the one thing I've seen people get defensive over, taking it as only an identity thing, when there can very much be serious physical reasons behind it. Take care of yourself. 💙💙💙

[totomoshi]

New Girl

pairing: Joey Tribbiani x reader

MASTERLIST

authors note: for the lovely user that requested this ! @hannahmmarie2016 i have to tag you because i can’t reply your ask dhdbsb i’m so sorry 🥺 i hope i did your request justice ! 🥰

If anybody asked you right now if there were any regrets about moving to New York, it’d probably be not researching more about the state.

But it did end up in you getting a cute guy.

Wait, we're getting a bit ahead here, let's rewind a bit.

__________________________

The moment your boss announced that you were moving to the New York company, you were ecstatic.

It was your dream to be working in New York’s fashion industry, and when you managed to get a job at Ralph Lauren’s branch in Seattle, you knew it was one step closer to fulfilling the dream.

After dealing with the tiring yet exciting packing, here you are on a first-class flight to NYC. Good thing for company-sponsored flights amirite? You could get used to this sort of lifestyle, but then it would mean you’d have to achieve dream #25 which is ‘Be a successful millionaire by the age of 40’ and before anybody asks, yes, you do have a dream list and no, it's not childish to be having one at the age of 25.

As soon as you landed, you couldn't help but gawk at the airport. Sure, Seattle’s airport is okay but NYC? Nothing can beat that. You didn't think you’d be more impressed, but clearly, you were wrong because the moment you got into a cab, you were awestruck by the buildings, the stores' heck even the people there made you gawk! Because damn, is NYC filled with hotties!

Suddenly, your daydreaming was disturbed by the cabbie

“Here we are, 495 Grove Street”

You immediately looked out the window and was met with a beautiful apartment building. Honestly, you were lucky you managed to get it at a good price when you saw the ad on the paper.

“Thank you, sir, and how much it’ll be?” you asked

“You new here?”

“Yeah...?”

He then gave you a warm smile “For a first-timer NYC resident, it's on the house”

You were touched by this sweet man's action, it was only your first day and things were getting off the right foot!

As you were getting out of the cab with your luggage, you were starting to get hungry and decided to ask the cabbie for a great place to eat

“Excuse me, sir, do you know a great place to have some food or coffee around here?”

“Yeah, there's this coffee house called Central Perk. It's on the same block as your apartment, you just gotta go left”

“Thank you!!” you smiled

_________________________________

If there's one thing for sure, is that you wished that the apartment came with an elevator because damn, was your bags heavy and luckily you were in apartment 18, so the torture didn't last long.

When you opened the door, you knew you made the right decision buying it, the interior was amazing!! Since you didn't felt like unpacking immediately and your furniture would arrive tomorrow, you decided to go to that coffee house the cabbie mentioned.

Joey’s P.O.V

“..and that’s how the T-Rex was found in Arizona and not in Georgia!” ugh finally Ross’s boring story about dinosaurs was over!

“Yeah that's great Ross, but remind me again why I needed to know where a dead lizard was found?” Chandler said sarcastically which made all of us except for Ross laughed

The door to Central Perk suddenly opened and there I saw the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on.

For once I think this could be love at first sight.

Y/n’s P.O.V

After ordering my coffee and muffin, a random guy approached me, and not just any random guy but a CUTE random guy. He looks familiar though...

“Hi there, I saw you and I just couldn't help but think ‘damn, what’s a beautiful woman like her standing there all alone?’ “ he said with a boyish grin

I couldn't help but giggle, “I bet you say that to all the girls”

“Only the pretty ones, anyway, the name's Joey. Joey Tribbiani”

“Now I remember you! You’re the guy that plays Dr Drake Ramoray in Days Of Our Lives! The name’s y/n by the way”

“Woah, didn't peg you for a fan”

“Are you kidding? Your acting's wonderful!”

“That means a lot, not a lot of people think I’m a good actor” he chuckled nervously

“Well you are to me” I reassured

Then, a shade of red suddenly coated his cheeks. If I knew any better, I’d almost ask if I made him blushed but it's probably just my eyes playing tricks on me.

“So, where you’re from in New York?”

“Oh! I'm not a NY resident, I moved here from Seattle”

“Woah really?”

“Yup, my boss decided to transfer me to our NY company”

“Cool! Wait, let me guess you work with numbers amirite?”

I laughed “Nope. I work at Ralph Lauren”

“Hey seriously? One of my best friends works there!”

“Awesome! You should introduce me to her some time”

“That’d be nice, but before we do all that, how about I take you on a date? I’ll show you around the city if you want”

“Aww, that's so sweet of you! Of course, you can!”

He immediately smiled at that and let me tell you, his smile made my knees weak. I could get used to seeing him smile, especially if it was because of me.

“So, how about I pick you up at your apartment?”

“That’d be great actually, my apartment's just around the block”

“No way! Me and my best friends live there!” he said excitedly

“Woah, which apartment do you live in? I’m in apartment 18”

“ *gasp* I’m in apartment 19! Just above you!”

“What a small world we live in” I giggled

“So I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 5?”

“I’d like that”

I picked up my coffee and kissed him on the cheek

“See you tomorrow Joey”

[heyyyharry]

Happier

(inspired by happier by Olivia Rodrigo)

Word count: 2.4k

I'm selfish, I know, I can't let you go So find someone great, but don't find no one better I hope you're happy, but don't be happier

Part 1: Drivers License

Part 2: Deja Vu

A/N: I edited the original lyrics to match the POV :)

.

.

.

Harry had come up with a thousand scenarios of how this day would play out. Actually, he’d been thinking of this day since the moment he’d received the news. He didn’t dare to hope that she’d say yes to coming back for a sequel. He’d been sure that they would write her character off, give a lame excuse for how his love interest could not make a return and make his character forget about her completely to move on with a new girl in town. It would have been great if it was that easy in real life. Once someone was written off the script, they were gone for good. Real-life relationships were not that simple. Goodbye didn’t mean ‘never see you again’. You would still share the same friend circle and social bubbles, and it was worse when you two worked in the same industry. Harry didn’t know how he’d lasted a year without running into her, not since the Grammys.

“Didn’t you two date?”

“No.” Harry shook his head, but his eyes stayed glued on Y/N from across the room. She wasn’t looking his way, too busy saying hello to everyone else. “No,” he repeated, more to himself than to his co-star. “We didn’t.”

“But she wrote an entire album about you,” said the other twin. What was her name again? Lulu?

“Luna!” cried her sister, Lex. “You can’t ask him that!”

“No, it’s okay,” Harry said with a tight smile, slightly annoyed by the blonde twins, but he didn’t want to seem like an ass on the first day of filming. “And I don’t know if it was for me. You should ask Y/N.”

“Ask me what?”

Harry flinched when he looked up and saw Y/N padding towards them. She hugged the twins, who seemed way too excited. Harry guessed they were Y/N’s fans. They gave off crazy fangirl vibes, probably just pretending not to know the drama to interrogate him. He couldn’t blame them for assuming he was the villain and definitely could not blame Y/N for portraying him as one. It was more important that he knew who he was and how much he had changed since his last relationship. Maybe they could finally be friends.

“Were they bothering you?” Y/N asked him once the twins had left.

Harry nodded. “They’re your friends?”

“Oh, I met them last year on tour. I’m surprised you don’t know them. They were on Disney.”

“I don’t watch Disney,” Harry admitted with a smile. “Well, not today’s Disney.”

“Understandable.” Y/N nodded and bit her lip. She seemed guarded with her straight back and hands hidden behind her. She eyed him up and down, quite subtle yet noticeable. “How have you been?”

“Pretty good,” he said, nodding slowly. “You?”

“Yeah, but mostly tired because of tour.”

“You’re done?”

“Yup, last night was the last show.”

“Nice.”

Y/N raised an eyebrow. “Nice?”

Harry blinked. “Did I say something wrong?”

“No.” Y/N giggled. “You still sound very...you.”

“Well, shouldn’t I?”

“Yeah, you should. But it’s been a year so…I mean, you haven’t changed much.”

“Right,” he said lowly, his eyes falling to his feet. Harry supposed he should say something else, perhaps bringing up another random topic to discuss, but all he could think about was what had happened between them. Things had been messy, hadn’t they? How could they go back to before that? Before her first song about him. Before he’d chosen someone else over her.

Or he could talk about her new relationship. She’d been in a happy relationship for almost six months, right? No wait, hadn’t they broke up two weeks ago? He wasn’t sure because he hadn’t been catching up. If they’d broken up, he’d sound like an ass to even mention her ex’s name. He should just stay quiet.

“I’ll see you later?” she said, gesturing at her stylist who was waiting by the door.

Harry could ask her right now -- the reason she’d agreed to film the sequel to their first movie together. He’d heard from a very reliable source that she’d specifically asked her agent to decline any project that he was in. So did this mean they were good? That she didn’t hate him anymore? He could have gathered his courage and got the answer right then…

“Yeah, see you.”

...but he didn’t.

And so she gave him a smile and a little wave, then happily returned to her stylist.

.

.

.

“See you tomorrow, Y/N!”

“See you, Annie!” Y/N said as she put the rest of her things into her tote bag. Her new driver had got her schedule mixed up, and so she had to wait here for another half an hour. She was in no rush. It had been a light first day, and she’d had a fun time getting to know the new cast members and catching up with old friends.

She sat on the sofa in the lobby, legs crossed, texting her best friend about her day. She’d purposely left out the short off-screen conversation with Harry, and her best friend didn’t even bother to ask. In their world, he didn’t exist, and his name was censored in every conversation like a curse word that was even worse than ‘cunt’. Nevertheless, she didn’t hate him anymore. She was doing just fine on her own, being busy with her career, and she’d been in a happy relationship after her fall out with him.

She and the guy, a model, had broken up two weeks ago due to long distance and some differences that they could not change. They had ended on good terms and decided to stay friends. They said you could only stay friends with your ex when you still had feelings for each other, or you had never loved each other that much in the first place. For her, it was probably the latter. Her previous relationship had been more platonic than romantic, apparently. So she had nothing but the best to say about him.

As she was going through her camera roll, just reminiscing about the past, she heard footsteps approaching and looked up to find Harry. He offered a smile and gestured to the spot beside her on the sofa. “May I sit here? My ride is late.”

“Yeah, sure.” She hurriedly scooted over.

“Good job today,” he said. “You were great.”

“Thanks, so were you.” She smiled, and they both looked away at the same time. This was so awkward. She hated small talk. She’d never had to have small talk with Harry. Conversations with him used to be so easy and natural and silly. Whatever this was, it wasn’t them.

“Can we just be normal?”

At first, Y/N thought she’d been the one who’d said it, so when she realised it’d been Harry, she was speechless.

He swallowed and sat a bit straighter, still not looking at her. “I don’t want us to be weird and awkward.”

“Okay,” she said.

He cleared his throat. “Wanna try again?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Okay, not to sound like an ass but when Joey kept forgetting his lines, I was so pissed off, I could throw a chair at the wall.”

“Right?!” exclaimed Y/N, feeling free to have finally broken out of her shell. “Like, he doesn’t even have many lines. I know he’s new but damn...you can’t get far if you don’t learn your goddamn lines.”

Harry shook with laughter. “Oh God, we sound like dicks, don’t we?”

“Maybe.” Y/N laughed, covering her mouth. “But you know what? We can’t be nice in this industry. It’s impossible.”

“Shhh, if someone heard this, we would be into big trouble.”

“Oh please, I’ve had worse articles written about me than ‘Y/N speaks facts about her lazy co-star’.”

Harry tossed his head back and cackled. “The worst one I’ve got this week was ‘Harry Styles hates therapists.’”

“What?!” Y/N gasped. “No way! That’s so stupid!”

“Right?” Harry rolled his eyes. “I could get all my therapists to speak up for me but I’m kinda immune to bullshit now.”

“Therapists? Like plural?”

“Yeah, one in every city.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah.”

Y/N rubbed her hands onto her legs. “Rough year?”

Harry’s eyes rolled to the back of his head as he leaned back. “You have no idea.” Then he swept his hair out of his eyes, sucked in a breath, and finally looked at her. “I wish I could have talked to you, though.”

She bit her tongue, knowing what she was about to say next would disappoint her best friend so much, but she had to. “So do I.”

Harry looked taken aback before his lips curled into a smile. “It’s silly, isn’t it? I haven’t talked to you in a year, and I feel like I know everything that’s happened to you except that I don’t.”

What he’d just said might make no sense for most people, but Y/N knew exactly what he meant. She nodded and wetted her lip. “You only know as much as everyone else does.”

“Yeah, I got updates on you from the news and our friends.”

“Same.” Y/N smiled back. “I hate how they write articles about your new haircut but not mine.”

“I like your new hair colour.”

“Thanks. I like your new car.”

Then they both burst out laughing. It was fun and also a little bit strange that Y/N didn’t feel the same anxiety talking to him as she used to. It must be because they had grown and were now meeting again as better people.

“Damn, my ride's here,” Y/N said as she read the text from her driver. “I gotta go now.”

“Oh, okay.” Harry stood up and followed Y/N to the entrance. “Hey, just wondering--”

“Yeah?”

“Am I...am I still blocked?” He looked a bit flustered as she tilted her head and squinted her eyes. “On your phone. Because I remember you having my number blocked--”

“I unblocked you on your birthday.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah.” Y/N shrugged. “I should’ve sent you a happy birthday text but...I didn’t want your girlfriend to get the wrong ideas.”

“My ex.”

“Yeah, I know.”

They smiled at each other one last time before saying goodbye. Y/N knew it was silly, but she was hoping he would go after her.

Ding.

A notification popped up when she was in the car. She was almost home, and it was from Harry’s number. He’d sent her a link with a message that said, “Hope you like it :)”.

Curious, she tapped on it and was directed to an audio file titled ‘Track 5’. The upload date was last year. About two weeks after their short conversation at the Grammys.

Hurriedly, she fumbled inside her bag for her iPods and put it on before she pressed play.

“Hey, Jeff, I couldn’t sleep so I wrote this song. Listen and let me know if it should go on the album.”

Then came the piano intro. It sounded good, so Y/N wondered how it hadn’t ended up on his last album.

But when he started to sing...

We ended a while ago Your friends are mine, you know, I know You've moved on, found someone new One more guy who brings out the better in you

And I thought my heart was detached From all the sunlight of our past But he’s so nice, he’s so funny Does he mean you forgot about me?

Oh, I hope you're happy But not like how you were with me I'm selfish, I know, I can't let you go So find someone great, but don't find no one better I hope you're happy, but don't be happier

And does he tell you you’re the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen? An eternal love bullshit he might not even mean Remember when you were with me I meant it when you heard it first from me

And now I'm pickin' him apart Like cuttin' him down will make you miss my wretched heart But he’s charming, he looks kind He probably gives you butterflies

I hope you're happy But not like how you were with me I'm selfish, I know, I can't let you go So find someone great, but don't find no one better

I hope you're happy I wish you all the best, really Say you love him, baby Just not like you loved me And think of me fondly when your hands are on him I hope you're happy, but don't be happier

The song was for her. He’d written it when her new relationship had gone public. Y/N sat there, staring blankly ahead until the honking of a car tore open her inner peace, and reality came crashing back in. The driver dropped her off at her house. Instead of going inside, she stood on her front steps and replayed the song one more time. When it ended, she decided to text him: Why didn’t this make it to the album?

She didn’t know where he was now, but it showed ‘typing’ in less than a second, as if he’d been waiting in their chat since he’d sent that link.

You would’ve hated me, Y/N.

True, she replied. Still, I would’ve loved the song lowkey. And added, I love it btw.

He took so long to type that it was driving her crazy. She flopped down on the concrete stair with her phone clutched in her hands, her heart thundering against her ribcage. Anxiety popped like a balloon when his message appeared: Were you happier?

She reread it again and again.

No.

I wasn’t either, he responded. I kept getting deja vu.

Ha, nice reference.

That song is my guilty pleasure. Love listening to you roasting me on loop.

That last message made Y/N bury her face into her palm and giggle like a fool. She thought for a second and wrote: I could come roast you in person now if that’s what you prefer. I think we’ve never had a proper roasting.

Can we meet, Y/N? Or are you busy now?

No, not busy.

Great, I’ll pick you up.

Just tell me where, she responded with a smile on her face. I got my drivers license now :)

[saphirafoxgirlspost1]

(Open Rp) Fall, Romance, Drama, BATIM Au And Halloween Au in " Bendyjuice"

On the Cold, Dark and Stormy Night, Saphira was Driving her Camaro on her way Home from Shopping. She called Her Soon-to-be Ex Boyfriend Name "Daniel Brisk Lynard" But..She hears the Loud beat of the music from the phone..She didn't hear him...Then She Figured it out that he is Having a Wild party,..She was Not Having it..You See, Daniels parents Works with Saphira's Fathers Best company but..If Anything was going on and went wrong..her father will gladly Fired them for any good reason..and As She comes Home and Saw Her Cabin was trashed and destroyed by partiers..She was Furious and Her blood Began to Boil Like Lava. She got out of the car and went inside, She Looked at the inside of her home was destroyed, Her Prized Possession and her Heirloom was ruined..including the Portrait of Her Family...all made her blood realling Boiling and ready to Erupt..and then She use the freezing spell to stop the partiers..and then She said"Alright! Where is Daniel lynard!" She use her unfreeze spell on their arms..and they began to pointed at the Couch part where he was too froze Holding Sheila in his arms..her Shadow looming on them and she Stood there with her hands on her hips with an infuriated Look in her eyes and she said..

Saphira: "So This is what you Do behind my back? you cause a wild party an-"

Suddenly..she sees new reporter about Rich boy having a wild party at Her home..She was so embarassed and all..and then She said to the new reporter.

Saphira: "OUT!!" *use her spell to kick the reporters out and use her magic to clean the mess up..and she looked at everyone * "Alright! Everyone! Except For Daniel and Sheila will have 60 Seconds to get out of my house!! Starting Now! *snapped her fingers*

When her fingers snapped..and unfreeze them..People runs away in fear and Panic..While Saphira Stood there eyeing on those two and everyone is gone except for Daniel and Sheila..and then..She pulls out the pregnancy test that she found it in the bathroom yesterday where Sheila left the bathroom..and She slammed it on the table and cross her arms..

Saphira: "Sheila, Explain this..right now, Is it true that you've been Sleeping around with my Boyfriend Behind my back while I was Out for some Errand..."

Sheila:*lower head with shame..and sniffles* " yes...it's all true.."

Saphira: " How the Hell long is this happening? Because I had suspecting for the Last 3 years now"

Sheila:"Daniel and I..Had been messing around for..3 years and 5 months"

Saphira was Furious..and then She made a hard Slap of her face in anger..and Slapped Daniel too

Daniel: "Ouch! ok ok I deserve it..please..it's not what it looks like..please give me another chance..We'll get rid of the baby!"

Saphira: "OH NO! Your Not going to Get rid of your Responsibility...You are going to keep the baby that you are going to bring THAT Into this world...Daniel lynard..You and your Family and Sheilas are Officially Fired!, and We're through Daniel! Get out!" *Pointed at the Door*

When they left..She called her father..and he told her that he knew it..and he Fired Daniels parents and Sheilas parents For their betrayal Of Saphira...as For daniels and Sheilas family..They were furious at them..and force them to marry eachother..and this time..no Cheating big time..4 years later, Saphira got called from Her Old Bosses lawyer that Mr. Joey Drew Passed away..and he left the will and the Fact that He gives His Studio and His Mansion to saphira as a gift For being a lovely Kitsune Name Saphy, Saphy the lovely kitsune from bendy Shows...Saphira began to Pack her stuff and Move to the Mansion..it was Beautiful..but they Say it was Haunted by the Ink demon who dressed up in Stripe Suit...Rumor has it that,, he can come if someone say his Name 3 times..Saphira doesn't know about it..After she Settled in..She has the weird feeling that she's been watched...and then Sees the note and it says "Bendyjuice, bendyjuice, bendyjuice"...She felt so confused..and then She said it out loud" Bendyjuice" Then she hears the Shaken and felt the moving home..then she said it again, "Bendyjuice" Then the place is started to shaken and hearing the thunder and then She said one more time "Bendyjuice!" then it stopped..When she close her eye..but she opens it..Saphira Opens the Door..and began to walk down the halls and went Down Stairs..and She felt confused..But until She hears the crazed Laughs..until the bright lights hits..and saw This big Ink machine and it began to Start and pouring in as She screams..then suddenly..she saw the Hand..and then he came out and said...

[geekwritersworld]

Where’s my love?

Pairing: Arthur Shelby x OC(Joey)

warnings: angst, mentions of a dead body

summary:(as stated below in the request)

 Request: Ok sweet I have a plot for an oc X canon where my oc is paired with one of the peaky Blinders characters Arthur I guess. My oc is a maid so say they've been having an affair for quite some time and it gets angsty realizing he's married she decided to leave or fake her death since I picture angst😅. She's alot older now and realized she made a mistake and goes back to him. And they reunite after some time she realizes that she loves him.

A/n: I think I made Linda out to be bitchier than she is....yikes

Thank you so much for requesting @abitofloveaintweird​, so sorry that this kind of short.

As always, feedback is welcome, it really helps us writers. Thank you for reading ❤ 

"because you have a wife, Arthur" Joey hissed.

"right, and what's your bloody point?" Arthur held her shoulders. His hands felt warm on her bare shoulders. Her dress hung off of her shoulders untied.

"my point is, it's not right for me to sleep with a man who's married" she didn't look at him, she couldn't" and it's not right for you to sleep with another woman when you're married”

"and I'm not sure it's right for Linda to be married, yet here I fookin' am" Arthur snorted.

"you don't bloody get it" she rolled her eyes, standing up to fix her dress and get back to work. But she knew in her heart that she wouldn't be here the next morning.

Arthur didn’t pay any mind, assuming she’d be there the next day as usual. But he didn’t hear her slipping out that night. 

She’d known better than to just up and leave. So she made a short detour to the waters before she finally slipped away quietly.

When he awoke the next morning with Linda next to him, Arthur was already irritated and wanted nothing more than to hold his beloved Joey in his arms. But that would have to wait till Linda left.

5 years later and Arthur still thought of her. The feeling of her skin under the soft caress of his calloused fingers. The glimmer in her eyes when she looked at him.

Arthur Shelby remembered that wretched morning from 5 years ago like it was yesterday. He’d noticed something was wrong when it was Bertha who placed his breakfast before him and not Joey. 

But he hadn’t too much time to think over it since Tommy had called him for some business dealing and that's where Arthur had been the entire day. 

When he returned in the dead of night, it was strange that Joey wasn’t there to see him. She always was.

Her absence had started to become more apparent. He’d questioned Linda the following morning, but the self-absorbed woman didn't even know Joey by name.

When the coppers showed up at his door a week later, informing Arthur and Linda that their maid, whom Arthur had asked the cops of Birmingham to keep a lookout for since she’d gone missing, had been found; Arthur didn’t let himself feel joyous because the look on the copper's face was enough to tell him it wasn’t good.

Joey thought she’d figured it out in London. Working in a club that paid exceedingly well, she kept to herself.

Nobody really ever bothered her, except the occasional drunk men.

When she wasn’t at the club working, Joey would be home. She preferred the warmth and safety of the small house she could afford rather than the uncertainty that floated within the streets.

It’d be a lie had she said she didn't occasionally think of Arthur. If occasionally meant all the time.

She thought of him all day. Having worked as a maid prior to her job as a barmaid, she’d learned to skillfully multitask. 

She thought of Arthur as she served the drinks, she thought of him whilst wiping down tables and she thought of him when she was home. Everything reminded her of him.

Joey missed his loud laughter and his quips. She missed the feeling of his hands around her shoulders, the warmth of his body against hers. His fingers lingering on her palms.

She often wondered whether Arthur had been affected in the slightest by her alleged death. Had he wept for her? Did he mourn or did he carry on unaffected?

The one person she tried not to think about too much was Linda. Despite the years that passed, there was an ever sense of guilt that lingered in her heart.

 Joey didn’t regret Arthur, but that she fell for him and acted on her feelings when he was already married. Why couldn’t it have been before he married Linda?

Often, Joey laid awake imagining herself returning to small heath. To Arthur. She’d imagine Arthurs face, which she imagined was joyous. She pictured being close to him, holding him. she imagined Arthurs fingers soothing her dark brown hair back as the two of them swayed back and forth in his dim-lit room.

She missed him. The way he spoke to her, the smile she’d receive in return when she helped him with something, the laughter that was infectious and never failed to bring a smile to her lips. She missed the calming words he’d whisper to her in the early hours of the morning when Linda had left the house.

Arthur never stopped thinking of her. Linda wasn’t half the woman Joey was.

She wasn’t half as kind nor thoughtful, she didn’t care for anyone besides herself. 

Arthur and Linda knew the only thing holding their marriage together was the conversation they were avoiding. They knew that their marriage would be over the moment they spoke of it. But as long Linda stayed out Arthur’s way and Arthur out of Linda’s, neither were getting any closer to sorting out their marriage.

It became increasingly difficult to focus on anything for Arthur. Tommy and the rest of the Shelby’s noticed. 

The usually easy-to-read Arthur had now become someone they didn’t quite understand. 

But Aunt Pol and Tommy were the first to realize that the change in Arthurs behavior was connected to his maid’s death 5 years ago.

“I know your grieving, but you can’t fucking let it interfere with your handling the fucking business Arthur!" Tommy was an exceptional bookkeeper, he handled numbers well, his memory was exceptional, but even he lost count over the number of times he snapped at Arthur about the same thing in 5 years.

Arthurs temper got more out of hand each day, without Joey. And it started to affect the business, he'd punch without reason, shoot and blind anyone he wanted. He didn't think he had anything to lose.

Sometimes he tried to pretend Linda was Joey. Just to get through the night. He pretended it was Joey’s fingers laced within his. Her breath on his neck, and her head on his heart.

But even he never truly believed those pretenses.

It didn't take long for Linda to realize her husband had feelings for Joey. She wasn't sure if she was hurt or not. She only ever married Arthur for security. For the roof over her head, he had promised.

In January shortly after Tommy wed Grace, Arthur stumbled through the streets of small heath. It was in the early hours of the morning, a time when only the workers would wake.

He had one reason for being awake at that hour. That cold, misty, and foggy morning marked 5 years since Joey’s death. Since the last time, he saw her.

Arthur sat under the bridge, the one at the edge of small heath. The one where they found her clothes. Her belongings; shoes, purse, coat but not her body. They never did find her body. 

The police declared the water to be far too cold to send copper's searching for her body, at best they'd have to wait for her body to float to the surface. 5 years later, and it still never did.

And once again, they assumed it was the large overgrown weeds and shrubbery at the very bottom of the river, where her body had been entangled and stuck. Hence never resurfacing.

Arthur remembered screaming at the cops to find her body, but because Joey had no known family nobody ever insisted on her being found or the river being searched. And she remained at the bottom of the river.

 As far as anyone cared to know.

So he sat there, his feet hanging over the edge. His face red, as he sat on the banks of the river, the bridge overhead.

The river flowed making noises while crashing against the rocks, the birds chirping in a distance, and the rustling of a few leaves in a distance. He heard leaves breaking, as the wind grew stronger.

He didn’t realize how long he’d sat there staring at the water till he noticed his surroundings darkening. 

Rubbing his hand over his face with a sigh, Arthur got up with a grunt, stumbling for a second before walking back towards his now empty home.

Linda surely must have left by then, she’d told him she was leaving and would be gone by sundown.

Arthur didn’t have a reaction to Linda telling him she was leaving him. He didn’t care. He didn’t love her. She meant nothing to him.

By the time Arthur had reached his door, the sky had darkened completely. But time was of no essence to Arthur. Not when he didn't have anything else to lose.

But before Arthur could open his door and walk in, the leaves rustled a little behind him. He heard the swift movement of someone's feet on the ground behind him. 

So he did what he knew best.

He pulled out his gun and turned around, finger on the trigger, ready to shoot whoever was behind him.

But the gun clattered to the ground, the noise resonating in Arthurs's ears, like the sound of her voice greeting him.

“Why the fuck are you playing with my head? It’s already fucked up there” He sounded like a madman. He felt like one.

“What?” he expected her to chuckle, the way she did for five years, in his head. The way she taunted him as a figment of his imagination he couldn't get away from.

“I FOOKIN KNOW I DIDN’T BLOODY SAVE YOU” his face red, his eye streaming with tears. 

She’d only ever seen him this broken once. 

“Arthur I’m here” 

“No you're bloody not, you're in me head” he stumbled and sat down on the front stairs. His head hurting from how hard he was crying.

“No, No, Arthur,  Arthur I'm truly here” He felt her slide her hand around his shoulders.  

Her ocean-blue eyes searched his features. Not sure what she was looking for.

“What the fuck?” Arthur seemed to realize now. That Joey was there. Next to him. Not taunting him in his head from across the divide. She was in front of him. Holding him. She was alive.

“Where the fook have you been? You were fookin dead?”That's when it sunk in completely and Arthur realized that she'd faked her death "Why would you lie about being dead?!"

Arthur was angry. He was angry and heartbroken.

“Because I had to,” she said softly.

She managed to get him inside. She couldn’t help but feel curious as to why Linda wasn’t home. But she needed to focus on Arthur first.

“I left because I thought that I’d made a mistake. I thought getting away from here, I could have started a new life. One where I didn't wreck someone's marriage” She tried explaining, but now that she explained it to the man she’d run from, suddenly she didn't think her reasons made sense.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“because I knew you wouldn’t let me go”

“You didn’t wreck my marriage, you wrecked me” His hands were shaking now.

 The tears she’d tried to hold back were now flowing down her cheeks.

“Five years, Five fookin’ years I thought you was dead” his voice shaking, Arthur slowly looked up at her. She looked just as breathtaking as she did all those years ago.

There was the silence that lingered, eventually, Arthur stood up, his chair scraping the ground. Walking to Joey’s side of the table, he hugged her. He held her tight as though he were afraid that if he didn’t hold her tight enough, she’d turn out to be a figment of his imagination.

And Arthur knew he couldn’t ever take that. It ruined him the first time, losing her. And it would kill him if he ever lost her again.

So he held her, shaking.

"where's Li-"

"She left. Hopefully never coming back" Arthur didn't have a care in the world for anyone else at that point. The woman he truly loved was in his arms, he couldn't find it in himself to be outraged any further, afraid that he might lose her again.

 He had a hundred questions for, but they'd have to wait for later. He just wanted to remain in her arms, through the night. Holding her, running his hand through her hair, rubbing soothing circles on her palms, kissing her forehead, watching her fall asleep. It's all he wanted.

“I realized I made a stupid mistake Arthur. I'm sorry. I truly am” She mumbled against his chest.

“Why’d you come back?”

“For you”

[babymetaldoll]

Danger days - Chapter four: "She doesn't help me"

Word count: 8,5K

Pairing: Matthew Gray Gubler x OC + My Chemical Romance

Summary: Joey starts touring, and soon things start getting awkward with Gerard. Also, Frank is somehow jealous 'cos he wants to get all of her attention. Mikey spends most of the time drunk in this chapter and Ray is the father figure all these kids need.

Warnings: Alcohol, drunk talk, dirty thoughts, mentions of a boner someone is trying to hide, bad jokes, and a lot of cursing.

A/N: Ok Matthew fans, there's a lot of My Chemical Romance in this chapter, but we all need context and Joey has to be locked with them for A LONG WHILE. Also, all the "Text in italic" are thoughts and arguments our heroes are having with themselves.

All of this is fiction. And the gif ain't mine.

Masterlist

Chapter one | Chapter two | Chapter three | Chapter four | Chapter five | Chapter six | Chapter seven | Chapter eight | Chapter nine | Chapter ten | Chapter eleven | Chapter twelve | Chapter thirteen | Chapter fourteen | Chapter fifteen | Chapter sixteen | Chapter seventeen | Chapter eighteen | Chapter nineteen | Chapter twenty | Chapter twenty one | Chapter twenty-two | Chapter twenty-three | Chapter twenty-four |

--

::: LAX, October 21st 2011 :::

Joey's eyes were still watered up as she stared at her boarding pass, making her best to stop crying. She had just hugged Matthew goodbye, and her heart felt like it was breaking as every second passed. She missed him already, and she felt like a sick cliché. She could still feel his arms around her, holding her tight, and his lips kissing her between tears, both of them crying as neither wanted to say goodbye. Joey knew she would keep on crying as they waited for their flight, so she walked away from their gate and tried to disappear among the people.

- "I miss you"- she read the text Matthew just sent her and wiped off the tears from her cheeks.

- "Me too"- she quickly wrote and held her cell phone close.

- "Hey!"- Mikey almost yelled next to her, making her jump.

- "Where the fuck did you come from?!"

- "The dutty free, I had to get some more chocolate for the flight"- Joey looked at him, still surprised, and making her best not to show how sad she was.

- "Why are you crying?"- it was clear she had failed.

- "I'm miserable 'cos I'm not gonna see Matthew in two weeks."

- "It's just two weeks, calm down"- Mikey tried to cheer her up and gave her a chocolate bar.

- "Well, I'll miss him too much."

- "I promise you, we are gonna have so much fun, you won't be sad the whole trip,"- Mikey wrapped an arm around her and messed with her hair.

- "Thanks"- she whispered just to be polite. She was too sad to believe him.

After a week and a half working with the band, Mikey was the closest band member Joey could call a friend among the guys. He and Ray were the nicest and always made her feel comfortable. They would joke around in rehearsals and have lunch together. It was nice. It felt good, like high school friends.

Frank and Gerard were a completely different story because though Joey felt they were very nice, things could become very uncomfortable very quickly with them. Frank would always start a conversation and share a nice laugh, but each time they stayed quiet, his eyes turned into a magnet she couldn't stop staring at. And it felt too intense, like Frank was even flirting a little bit. Sure, she thought he was cute, but he was married, and she knew things were never going to take a weird turn.

And about Gerard, well, that was even weirder. Completely odd. A case of study. He would make his best not to be alone with her, and she could feel it. She knew he always paid attention to what she was saying in a conversation. Still, he constantly made an effort not to talk to her directly. But when they were playing, she could feel her knees go weak each time he looked at her. That man sweated sensuality, and it took all she had in her to stop looking at him each time he moved closer to her. She couldn't concentrate, and she had to keep her eyes closed most of the time to avoid staring into his red hair, his fine ass, and pretty much anything related to him.

Joey knew she would never cheat on Matthew with Gerard. She just thought the singer was too hot for his own good. And for hers. It was a good thing he kept his distance. Well, except for the next ten and a half hours, ‘cos they had seats together.

- "Hey"- she cut him a shy, nervous smile and took a deep breath as soon as he appeared next to her. She had to stuff her hands in his pocket for a minute, ‘cos she was afraid they were going to start shaking. Yes, that's how uneasy she got around him. It wasn't something that happened right away. It developed over the week, and she tried to make lights off the deal most of the time.

- "Bitch, you are working with him. You can't act like a teenager around him just because he is hot. You don't even wanna date him or whatever, you love Matthew… you just wanna stare at this guy from a safe distance 'cos he is so fucking sexy!"- Joey thought.

- "Hey"- Gerard stood still and looked at the empty seat next to Joey. The rest of the band was spread on the plane, and neither seemed to be close for switching seats.

- "Ok, you can do this. She is your coworker. Just keep it casual,"- he thought and moved over to sit next to her.

Neither of them said a word for a while. Joey opened her backpack and grabbed the book she was reading, and Gerard kept scrolling down his phone. He looked out of the corner of his eyes and tried to catch the name of the book, but he couldn't. So he tried again, this time pretending to be uncomfortable in his seat, and he succeeded. He found out Joey was reading a book he didn't know.

- "Are you ok?"- the girl asked and turned to the man that looked blushed, almost caught in something.

- "Yeah, I just… wanted to take off my jacket"- he did so and stuffed it under the seat. Joey looked at him and nodded. The fact that he moved made his perfume reach her, and it was delicious.

- "So, what are you reading?"- his curiosity won.

- "Bestiario, it's a Julio Cortazar book I loved back in school. Mom sent me a box of my old stuff the other day, and I found it."

- "Never heard of him"

- "It's an Argentinian writer. He is awesome. His short stories and how he successfully created surrealist worlds are poetical."

Joey explained but made her best not to look into Gerard's eyes, so she kept staring at his hands playing on his lap.

- "Besides, he was a rebel. He used language his own way, creating words and neologism… I just love him."

By the end of her speech, she failed and turned her gaze at Gerard's, making her hold her breath.

- "Sounds impressive"- he whispered and cleared his throat.

- "You can read it if you want,"- Joey said and looked away quickly, feeling her cheeks blush- "It's a long trip."

- "Thanks"- and after that, the two of them fell silent again.

How had Joey ended up so affected by Gerard? She had a wet dream about him. One amazing wet dream that she couldn't shake off her head. And after that, she wouldn't stop looking at him differently. He was sexy. He was definitely fuckable. He was hot, and he was smart. He was trouble. She had to keep a cold head around him. A complete challenge for that long trip.

Why was it so hard for Gerard? ‘Cos since he first saw her, he got a boner in his pants, and that shit hadn't changed. If anything, it had gotten worse. That didn't mean they were going to fuck or be together or fall in love. Whatever the thing that caused him to be affected by her had to be shut down. And the sooner, the better.

- "Are you ok?"- Ray asked Frank, who kept moving and trying to catch what Gerard and Joey were doing.

- "Yeah, why?"

- "Because you are fucking driving me insane! You are too restless, and you haven't let me sleep in the last hour!"

- "Wanna switch places? Ask Gerard if he wants to sit with you."- Iero said and smiled- "Very smooth Frank, that way Ray will find out in a minute you wanna sit with Joey"- he nearly slapped himself.

- "No, I just want you to stop moving!"- Ray argued, with a tone of voice that sounded (again) more like a father than like a band member.

- "Fine"- Frank whispered, frustrated, and crossed his arms on his chest.

- "What's wrong with you?"- Toro turned to his friend, truly concerned something was tormenting him- "Is it about leaving the babies?"

- "Yeah"- Iero answered and looked outside the window.

It was the truth, but it wasn't just all of it. The actual fact was that he wanted to know if Joey and Gerard were talking. He knew his friend had a crush on her. It was too obvious for him, though the rest of the band nearly noticed it.

But Frank did. He knew each time Gerard stared at Joey more than he had to while she was playing drums. He also recognized the perfume Gerard rarely wore, only when he tried to catch someone's attention. And damn it! He didn't want Joey to notice his friend. He knew Gerard wasn't going to do anything, but if she was going to have a crush on someone in the band, that should be him, not Gee.

Each time Gerard's knee touched Joey, it felt like an electric shock against Joey's skin. That didn't let her concentrate on her book. Gerard didn't seem to notice, though, which was good. She didn't want him to know how much he could affect her. Not even she wanted to know how much he affected her. She knew she loved Matthew, and she would never cheat, but feeling so attracted to someone else made her very uneasy.

She opened her backpack and grabbed her iPod. The smartest thing to do was to listen to some music, read and forget about the fact the hottest guy she had ever met- except for Matthew, of course- was sitting next to her, reading a Stephen King novel, unaffected by her presence.

Gerard had managed to concentrate on his book for a few minutes, but each time Joey's leg softly brushed his, he shivered, so he ended up pretending to be cold. And covered his lap with his jacket. That was also very helpful in case he'd get an involuntary and inappropriately timed boner.

Suddenly, the soft touch of Joey's head reached his shoulder. She was asleep and casually cuddled against him. Was she faking it? It didn't seem so, she still had her headphones on, but the book had left her hands and fallen on her lap. She was asleep, resting her head softly against him.

- "Ok, Gerard, years of practice have come to this moment. Think about math, equations, science test, dissecting a frog, anatomy class, your drummer's body on that Misfits tank top she wore the other day… no! no, again, math, physics, avocado, coconut oil… Her hair smells like coconut oil… I wonder if she would let me spread coconut oil on her… Gerard!! You have a wife you love! Stop this!"

Gerard jumped on his seat, and Joey quickly woke up.

- "Wha…"- she turned to him confused, and he cut her a sweet soft smile- "Shit! I'm so sorry!"- the girl started apologizing right away, completely blushed.

- "No, don't be, you just fell asleep."

- "I'm so sorry."

- "Hey, it's ok"- Gerard said and acted all cool- "My shoulder is your shoulder… we still have eight more hours to reach London, and I am guessing you are a sleeper."

Joey's cheeks were burning as she sat correctly, her heart racing in her chest. Ok, that wasn't what was supposed to happen. And the tour hadn't actually started yet. Great.

The girl looked in her phone for old pictures with Matthew. Honestly, she already missed him, and she wanted to look at his face, remembering what was waiting for her back home.

- "You guys are a cute couple,"- Gerard said and regretted his words as soon as they left his lips- "Cute couple?! What the fuck was that? What am I? A fucking asshole, that's for sure."

- "Thank you"- Joey blushed and kept her eyes on Matthew's picture on her phone- He has been a real support for me ever since we met.

- "How long have you been dating?"

- "Six months and two weeks"- she answered proudly- "We met at the studio one day, he asked me out for coffee... and we've been drinking coffee together ever since."

The two of them smiled at each other and stayed quiet.

- "Your wife is amazing"- Joey added ‘cos it felt like the polite thing to do.

- "Thanks. Yeah, she is incredible."

- "How did you meet her?"

- "Touring, we were at the Project Revolution one year, and by the end of the tour, we got married."

- "Wow, that was fast"- Joey said, thinking out loud- "Shit! Less than three months and he got married?! How can you be sure to do such a thing? Well, maybe when you know you know… but I don't know… seems a little rushed to me."

- "We knew it was the right thing to do,"- he explained calmly-" We knew we didn't want to be apart from each other when the tour ended."

- "That's so sweet"- and after that, the conversation was dead- "So, I'm gonna try to sleep some more. If I fall on your shoulder, don't doubt to wake me up, please."- the girl said and fixed the little travel pillow behind her neck.

- "Don't worry, it's ok, I'm gonna catch a movie"- Gerard answered and smiled one more time, their eyes locked at each other- "Ok Gerard, just look away"- he thought and made his best to follow his own command, but he couldn't.

- "Come on, Joey!! Breath and fall asleep, and stop drooling for him all over! You are pathetic"- the girl wanted to hit herself as she cleared her throat and turned to grab her headphones.

- "Do you want to check out my book?"- she asked and handed him over the one she was reading before- "Stupid! He said he wanted to watch a movie."

- "Yeah! It sounded pretty good. I'll take a look at it while you snore"- he joked, and she blushed. Their hands brushed when she brought closer the book to him, and a little electric shock hit the two of them.

- "Ok, I'll sleep now"- Joey whispered and turned to look over the window- "Just try to sleep for the next eight hours, and you'll be peachy."

Mikey Way asked for another scotch and turned to the window. He wanted to get drunk and sleep. Being drunk was his new nature. Whatever could numb the pain away. He didn't even get to see his wife before he left for the tour. She called and wished him luck. That was it. And still, he wasn't brave enough to be the one to put out on the table the divorcing reality that came ahead. He didn't want to be the one to put an end to it all.

- "Hey"- Frank appeared and sat next to him- "What are you doing?"

- "Drinking, what does it seem like I'm doing?"

- "Being a jerk, that's what it looks like."

- "If you don't like it, you can leave"- but Frank didn't. Basically, because Ray had kicked him out of their seat for being too irritating. And James was snoring. Instead, he took a sip of Mikey's whiskey and nodded.

- "Good shit."

- "Get one for yourself and let me sleep"

- "Damn it! Why is everybody so obsessed with sleeping?"

- "Get out!"- Mikey Way mouthed with his eyes closed, and Frank had no other way but to stand up. He looked around the place until he found the red hair he wanted to spy on. Iero walked slowly, pretending to go to the bathroom, acting casual, which was completely stupid. No one was actually looking at him.

- "Oh hey!"- he said when she stood next to Gerard and Joey's row. He looked at him, raising his eyes from the book, and smiled. Joey was asleep and didn't even move. Her head rested on the seat, and she didn't seem to hear what was going on around her.

- "Hey Frank, what are you doing?"

- "Nothing, I just wanted to see what you were doing. Apparently, Ray doesn't want to sit with me, and Mikey doesn't want to sit with anyone."

- "Why?"- Gerard frowned, confused.

- "No idea, I think he is drunk,"- Frank made a pause and smiled at his friend- "So do you wanna go sit with me somewhere and talk for a while?"

Iero asked casually, though he basically just wanted to move Gerard away from Joey.

- "Not really"- Way simply answered- "Joey just lend me this fantastic book, and I want to read it while she sleeps"

- "Oh"- Frank didn't see that answer coming- "That's ok"- and didn't know what to say- "I'll just… go see a movie or something."

- "Ok"- Gerard directly answered and went back to the book. Frank had no other choice but to look away.

- "Ok fucker, what's the big deal? She is there, they are not even talking, she is asleep, you don't wanna be with her or anything, you are not jealous… you just don't want her to be with Gerard. Wait, is that shit being actually jealous? Nah, no, it's not. No. No way. I just… Nah, it's nothing, just shut up".

Frank plopped himself on this seat and covered his face with both hands. Decided to stop thinking shit, he put on his headphones and pushed play on his iPod. It was better to sleep than to do any other stupid thing for the rest of the trip.

Gerard woke up slowly. He never noticed falling asleep. His head rested comfortably to his right against someone else, who soon he realized was Joey.

He tried not to move and came conscious of the moment. She was still asleep, and her perfume filled the air between them. Gerard didn't move an inch. He didn't want to wake her up. He was enjoying this proximity. He felt their legs side by side, brushing against each other as his heart raced. Her body felt warm next to him, and that soft touch made him hungry for some more. A lot more. He couldn't stop wishing he could move her and kiss her whole body, right there, in the middle of the plane.

- "Shit! No!"- he felt his blood pumping down his belly and knew what was happening- "Melted plastic, NSync, funerals, Joey dressed like Morticia, laid on my bed… no!! Stop this!"

But it was too late to stop the boner. It was now time to hide it before Joey- or anyone else- could see it.

The girl sighed and opened her eyes, still half asleep. She had cuddled at Gerard's neck again, and she was afraid to move. No, she didn't want to move, and she was scared of that. She liked being close to him like this. But she shouldn't. She had to be professional. This was the lead singer of the band she was playing with. This was by far the most important job she had ever have, and she wasn't going to ruin it. She couldn't feel attracted to him or any other member of that band. Besides, they were all married! She even knew this guy's wife, and she was adorable.

- "No, Maria Josefina! This shit stops now!".

Joey moved slowly from Gerard's side and made her best to pretend she had just woken up, and not like she had been debating with herself for the last ten minutes or so.

- "Hey"- she whispered at Gerard, who calmly opened his eyes and scratched his head, looking half asleep and adorable at the same time- "Sorry I woke you up."

- "Don't worry, sorry I was leaning on you"

- "Sorry, I was leaning on you too"- she murmured and took a deep breath- "Do you mind? I need to go to the bathroom."

Gerard stared at her in a blank. If he moved, she was gonna see his boner.

- "Yeah, sure."

He slowly stood up (as well as the other unknown guy by the aisle) and did his best to cover himself with the jacket without being too obvious. It was a little worst when he felt Joey brushing her body next to him as he passed by her side. That added some friction that made him bite his lips.

- "Sorry"- she whispered softly, that didn't help either. Lucky for Gerard, she didn't notice a thing and walked away.

- "Dude put the gun down"- the guy in the aisle said, making fun of him. Way couldn't answer; he just sat down and tried to cool himself down.

- "What the fuck is your problem? What are you, fifteen? Put your shit together, you've been alone with him for like four hours, and already you are having a hormonal breakdown? Really?!"

Joey kept arguing with herself in the bathroom and looked at her reflex on the mirror.

-"And besides, you look like the shit!"- she tried to fix her makeup. She made a messy bun to keep her hair from falling on his face.

- "Ok, you are gonna go out there, and you are gonna be a professional grownup. You are gonna sit down and ignore that guy for the rest of the trip, did you hear me? Ok! Just do it!".

But no, it was impossible, she saw him from a distance, reading her book, and her stomach jumped. So she did what seemed to be the right thing to do: she sat next to Mikey and cut him a smile.

- "Hi stranger."

- "Hey gorgeous"- the girl frowned right away and sniffed him.

- "You are drunk"

- "You are smart"

- "Everything ok?"

- "Nop"

- "And you don't want to talk about it"

- "Nop"

- "Good…"

- "And why are you here?"

- "I've got the window seat over there, and I just went to the bathroom… and I didn't want to bother Gerard and the other guy in my way over."

Mikey turned to her, drunk as a skunk, and smiled.

- "Stop being so nice."

- "I can't turn it off…"- she made a pause and grabbed Mikey's plastic cup of whiskey- "Besides, I can be mean."

- "Bullshit"- he argued, laughing, and Joey drank what was left of the plastic glass in one shot, not moving a single facial muscle- "Wow, I'm scared. You drank my booze, rad!"- he answered sarcastically.

- "Oh, shut up, you are drunk."

- "Hey kids! What are you doing?"- Frank showed up and sat next to Joey, all happy and hyper.

- "Mikey is asking me not to be nice"- Joey answered and cut him a huge grin- "How is your flight?"

- "Bored. I saw a shitty movie, napped, and now I am hungry… wanna eat something?"

Joey thought about it for a moment and realized she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. And smiled lodged on her lips as she remembered Matthew had made her favorite breakfast.

- "Definitely"- and Frank's eyes lit up as he buzzed the air host button.

- "Great!"

- "And no more booze for you"- Joey warned Mikey, knowing he wanted to get more whiskey.

- "You are not my mom."

- "You are not my kid."

- "Stop it."

- "I am not nice."

- "Yes, you are, you are taking care of me,"- she took a deep breath and watched him smiling please, knowing he was right.

- "Fuck you! I'm not nice. I just don't want to carry you around covered in puke when we land."

- "You won't have to,"- he simply answered, slurred actually- "Frank will have to do it."

- "I won't"- he refuted shortly- "Ask Gerard, he is taller."

- "Right, you are tiny like a thirteen years old kid"- Joey chuckled, and Frank blushed, embarrassed that Mikey brought that up in front of her. Like she hadn't noticed.

- "Shut up!"- Iero was gonna punch Mikey's arm when the air host arrived, and he refocused on asking for food for the three of them. And booze for the three of them.

Gerard looked around and frowned. Joey was taking too long in the bathroom. Not that he cared, but maybe she didn't feel so good. Perhaps she was locked in there. Perhaps he didn't get the signs, and she was waiting for him to fuck in there and join the high mile club.

- "Stop that shit!! You are gonna have to spend months with this woman, and you are going to learn how to turn your dick off! If possible…".

After a few more minutes, Gerard convinced himself he wanted to go to the bathroom too and stood up. No, Joey didn't seem to be locked in any toilet. But where was she? It only took him a minute or two to hear her laughing along with Frank and Mikey. What the fuck?

- "Hey, what are you doing?"- Gerard asked as he stood next to Frank by the aisle and smiled. Joey's eyes were watering up as she kept laughing, trying to keep it down.

- "We are playing Who wants to be a millionaire,"- she explained and pointed at the screen in front of her seat.

- "Ok…"- he was going to ask what was so funny when he realized they were all drunk. Well, Mikey was wasted. Frank looked kind of drunk, and Joey… it was hard to say.

- "Well, keep it down, you don't want to disturb the rest of the passengers."

- "Sorry, dad"- Mikey answered, chuckling, and Joey bit her lips not to laugh so loud.

- "And stop drinking!"- Gerard commanded.

- "Yes, dad"- Mikey repeated, and Joey's face turned red from holding the laughter.

- "Stop it!"

- "Come on, man, relax. We are not doing anything,"- Frank tried to explain, but it was useless. He had been so into getting Joey's attention, and the girl knew they had been too loud.

- "No, dude, he is right. It's time to wrap up things here"- she grabbed her drink and stood up- "Come on, make room, let me pass."

- "Oh, come on! You don't have to go!"- Frank hated Gerard at that moment.

- "Mikey has to sleep, and we should notch down the noise for a while. Come on, let me pass"- Frank stood up, frowning.

- "Wanna go watch a movie with me?"- he asked Joey and pointed at his seat.

- "I don't think it's a good idea"- Gerard answered before Joey could actually say a word. And that was a huge turn-off for her. She hated when people took decisions for her, even the smallest, like that one.

- "You are gonna keep laughing and making noise."

- "Sorry, can't we have fun?"- Iero was taking shit too seriously all of a sudden, but lucky him, he was the only one who noticed it, and the air host saved his ass.

- "I'm gonna need you all to go back to your designated seats, please."

And that was it. Joey returned to her seat next to Gerard, and Frank grumbled all the way to his seat next to Ray, who was snoring.

- "Fuck you, Frank!! Stop being jealous! Seriously! This is not healthy!!"

- "Do you wanna watch a movie?"- Gerard asked a few minutes after they sat down and got comfortable on their chairs, stealing Frank's idea.

- "Sure"- Joey answered and regretted right away- "Wait, what had we agreed earlier today? Can you fucking listen to yourself for a second? Don't fuck up this job!"- she scratched her arm, nervous, feeling her whole body tense.

- "Great! What do you wanna watch?"

- "Horror"- she quickly answered- "Good, anything that can keep me occupied from thinking."

- "Cool, anything in particular."

- "Zombies"- Gerard turned to her and smiled so excited you could tell she had said all the correct answers.

- "Great, let's see what we've got."

The jetlag hit Joey hard when they reached London. It was eight hours ahead of Los Angeles time, and after that long, eternal, and challenging trip, having to deal with Gerard next to her, she needed to get some good rest. Besides, the first show was Saturday. She only had Friday to recover and get ready for the debut. And shit, she was freaking out.

- "God, kill me"- Mikey whispered as the van passed outside the hotel and had to turn around the corner. There were so many fans waiting for them out there, going out was suicidal. Joey wide opened her eyes and made her best not to show how shocked she was by the scene.

- "Hey"- Ray elbowed her and smiled- "Excited?"

- "Very"- she grinned and yawned- "And also exhausted."

- "Frank and I were thinking about asking for some room service and playing video games if you want to join us."

- "Sounds good. I just need to shower first."

- "Good, you shower! Can you teach Gerard how to do that, please?"- Frank joked, overhearing the conversation from the back seat- "Thank you for inviting her, Ray! Thank you, that you!!"- and god, he was excited, like a little kid.

- "Oh, come on! I shower now! Stop telling people I'm gross!"- Gerard argued and smacked Frank's head, joking.

- "You traumatized the band, and you have a stigma for being dirty and smelly, teen spirit,"- Mikey added with a deep, weary, hungover voice.

- "Shit! I need to catch up with a lot of info."

- "You are not really missing a lot"- James said next to her and yawned- "Gerard and Mikey didn't shower when they started touring; that's why they called Gee "Teen spirit." Frank used to hang shower camps at one side of the bus to shower after the show. Ray waited until the bus stopped by gas stations to use the shower there when it was available. He usually was left behind ‘cos everybody forgot about him. And that's the short version of touring with these guys. "

James explained as Joey chuckled.

- "Thank you, James. You are the best."

- "Oh, cut it"- Gerard threw his friend a scarf, and Joey laughed.

- "Ok, kids, and how are you planning to avoid all those fans waiting for you out there?"- Joey wondered as she kept looking outside the window as the group of teenagers reached the other side of the street.

- "The MCArmy is pretty cool"- Gerard explained as the girl turned around and raised an eyebrow, looking into his eyes, completely unconvinced.

- "I bet it can still get pretty scary to be out there with all those girls"

- "I mean it, they are not."

- "Yeah, sure. Then just get out this van and walk out there alone, without Worm"- Joey dared and their bodyguard, Worm, turned to him and shook his head no.

- "She is right, face it. You are never gonna make it"- the whole band made a pause after Worm delivered the line and chuckled. Joey didn't get the joke, but she said no word.

- "I really need to know more about this band, fuck!"

- "Don't worry, dude. We are gonna get through the back"- Worm announced, which seemed to be a good idea until they saw the back of the hotel and the way to the underground parking.

- "Oh shit!"- the words left Joey's lips- "Those are more girls that there were at the front… what the fuck?"

The drummer was clearly confused. She knew the band was big, but she hadn't evaluated precisely how big it was.

- "You are not a boy band when you are at a live show, right?"- she asked and turned to Ray smiling.

- "Yeah, we dance a lot. I'll teach you the choreography after dinner."

The van made its way through all the fans, and ten minutes later, each of the band and crew members was at their rooms. Frank lay on his bed and dialed his wife's number.

- "Hey baby"- he whispered with his eyes closed.

- "Hi honey, how was the flight?"

- "Long, eternal, I need to sleep a lifetime."

- "Me too, your daughters have been too spoiled, and neither of them is sleeping if I'm not holding them."

- "Shit."

- "I blame you for that."

- "Please don't…"

Frank chuckled and remembered all the afternoons he had spent holding both his daughters at the same time before he left for California to rehearsal for the tour.

- "I miss you so much"- and he wasn't lying at all. He loved his wife more than anyone.

- "We miss you too"

- "Is your mom still there with you?"

- "Yeah, I wouldn't have done any of this without her."

- "And Evan?"

- "He had a gig tonight, but he is coming to spend the weekend with us."

- "Awesome"

- "So, excited about this leg of the tour?"

- "To be honest, I'm kind of nervous."

- "Why?"

- "About the drummer and shit, we have press tomorrow, and I'm sure they are gonna start asking about it."

- "So?"

- "So I don't want to."

- "Don't make a fuzz out of something that hasn't happened yet"- Jamia made a pause as her husband stayed in silence staring at the ceiling too- "Besides, be honest, Gerard is going to answer all the questions"- Frank chuckled and sighed.

- "You are probably right"

- "I know I am, you know I am, deal with it."

Meanwhile, at the very same time, in his room, Gerard was talking with his wife too, and for some weird twist reason, he was having the exact same conversation.

- "I just don't want the whole tour to turn into "My chemical romance has a girl drummer" shit."

- "But it's an amazing thing to talk about!"- Lynz answered, frustrated her husband was still rambling about the same subject. It had been at least twenty minutes. It was probably his way to talk about her not being obvious. And pretending he hated the whole deal was his way to cope with the face he loved having Joey around.

- "I know it's gonna be fresh and exciting."

- "And inspirational to a bunch of girls out there"- that was probably the only thing that kept Lynz excited about Joey in the band. She didn't see her as a threat per se, but it was still a little weird for her.

- "Yeah, that's true… fans are gonna go nuts."

- "And media is gonna make up a lot of shit."

- "I hate that."

- "You do it for the music. That's what counts."

- "Yeah, I gotta love this shit to bear being apart from you so often,"- Lynz giggled at Gerard's words and sighed.

- "I know you love music more than you love me.2

- "That's not true."

- "I know… you love comics more than you love me,"- Gerard laughed and walked to the door, ‘cos someone was knocking.

- "You see through me"- Mikey walked in as soon as his brother opened and laid on the bed in silence- "Mikey just got here, I think we are gonna eat something and then sleep."

- "Go, I'm going to go out with Alicia today."

- "Really? that's cool, hey Mikey, the wives are going out together tonight,"- and Mikey frowned, surprised.

- "Cool"- that was all the excitement he could express.

- "Love you, babe, gotta go"- Gerard said goodbye to his wife and sighed as soon as he hung up the phone.

- "Everything ok?"- Mikey asked and kept changing the channels on the tv, not really watching anything.

- "Yeah, you?"

- "I'm hungry. Ray said he was asking for room service. Wanna go?"

- "Yeah, in a minute"- Gerard walked to the bathroom, and Mikey sighed, eyes glued to the television. That was the best way not to think. That and getting hammered, but he could do that later.

- "Hello"- Joey walked into Ray's room after she called her boyfriend, took a long, long shower, and put on clean clothes. Well, clean sweatpants and an old oversized Megadeth t-shirt. Basically, her pajamas.

- "Hey!!"- Ray's hair was dripping water as he opened the door and invited Joey in- "Sorry, I just stepped out of the shower."

- "Me too… and if we are gonna tour together, I figured you are gonna have to get used to seeing me in sweatpants"- Ray laughed and took a look at Joey up and down- "Sorry, not sorry."

- "Don't be. You look cute, in a nonsexual way"- he quickly explained and blushed.

- "Thank you… so? what are we eating?"

- "I don't know… what do you wanna eat?"

- "I'm so fucking hungry I need a double bacon burger with all the fries on this island… sorry, all the chips on this island."

- "Sounds good, make two of those,"- Joey sat on Ray's bed and watch him open his backpack.

- "What do you have there?"

- "Only the most important thing I carry around when we tour."

- "Guessing something related to… oh no, it's a PlayStation,"- Joey frowned and then chuckled as she saw Ray unpack his favorite console and plug into the television.

- "Since we are touring together, you should know this is something we can't live without."

- "Really?"

- "This is our life on the road."

- "Playing video games?"

- "Yeah… sorry if we are not that exciting."

- "Don't be sorry in front of a girl in sweatpants. Which games are you carrying?"- she moved closer and grabbed a few- "Call of Duty!! Cool!"

- "Do you play?"- Ray was excited, and you could tell.

- "It's Call of Duty. Who doesn't?"

- "Gerard"- Ray answered in less than a second.

- "Lame!"- the knocks on the door finished the conversation, and Joey walked over to answer. Frank held his breath, surprised to see there- "Hey! Do you play Black Ops?"

- "Ahh… yeah"- he doubted as he looked at her up and down- "You look…"

- "Like a mess? Yeah, get used to it"- he was gonna say cute, but she interrupted him at the right moment and walked back to Ray- "What else do you have there?"

Frank sat on the bed and stared at the scene. Ray kept showing Joey his video games, and she was really into it.

- "So do you play a lot?"- Frank ended up asking, and the girl grinned guiltily.

- "Maybe more than I should admit. When you live alone, and you don't have a job, there are too many hours to kill.

- "Been there"- Ray answered and chuckled

- "Then this tour is gonna be fun!"- Frank smiled and laid back on the bed as Joey sat next to him and tapped on his leg.

- "I am going to kick your Jersey ass."

- "Oh really? You better don't go all Icelandic on me when I make you eat the ground"- he made his best not to shiver at her touch and instead tickled her a little, which made her giggle, like a little girl.

- "I don't go all Icelandic, that's too cold and drunk"- she corrected him and tickled him as well- "I go all Latina, like mom."

Frank knew this was his chance to get a little closer to the girl, friendly closer, by the way. Well, that's what he kept telling himself.

- "Fine, then don't go all Latina on me when I kick your ass!"- he said and fully tickled her, hearing her laugh.

- "Fuck!! No!!"- she yelled, laughing- "You weren't supposed to find out about this weakness until way deep into the tour!!!"

Ray looked at them, frowning as he stood up and opened the door for Mikey and Gerard. He didn't say really a thing, just opened the door and walked back into the room.

- "Kids! Calm down! Or you won't have dinner"- Toro said and kneeled next to his suitcase, looking through his games for one he wanted to play. But neither Frank nor Joey paid attention and continued fighting over who could tickle the other. Gerard looked at them, deeply jealous, as Mikey nodded his head.

- "So… what are you doing?"- the youngest Way asked, staring at the obvious

- "We are…"- Joey made a pause and gave it a little thinking while Frank kept tickling her, enjoying a little too much the fact he could just touch her… in a friendly way- "Frank, what were we doing?"

- "You went all Latina all of a sudden."

- "Oh yeah, and you were all Jersey"- Frank had to stop ‘cos Joey stopped, but they kept pushing each other, and Ray continued telling them to stop like they were his kids.

- "And I told you I was going to kick your ass playing Call of Duty."

- "Right! That was why!"- Joey sort of shouted, and Frank burst out laughing- "Hey"- she smiled at Gerard and tried to look away.

- "Wanna play?"- Ray asked her, and she couldn't control her smile.

- "Always!!"

Gerard looked at her after she delivered that line. She sat with Ray on his bed holding a joystick, not paying half attention to him. Was that what made him act all jealous? The fact she paid attention to everyone else but him?

- "Just forget it, Gerard, eat your dinner and go to bed."

It was midnight, and Joey and Ray were still playing. Mikey was drunk and half-asleep on the bed, holding his phone tight. Frank was waiting for his turn to play, staring at the screen and laughing each time anyone would take a gunshot.

- "Ok, I'm going to bed"- Gerard said and stood up.

- "Ok, see you tomorrow!"- Ray said and never stopped playing, and neither did Joey.

- "Fuck you!!"- she yelled, and Toro laughed as the girl kept pushing him and making her best to force him to lose.

- "Don't be a bad loser!"

- "I am not a bad loser!!"- she argued right away and stood up to hand over Frankie the joystick, defeated again- "And you are a shitty winner, by the way!"

- "I'm leaving!"- Gerard repeated, and again, no one seemed to care.

- "Night night!"- Joey waved and turn around to look at the youngest Way- "Hey Mikey, are you ok?"

No, Mikey wasn't ok. He was laid on his back, tears slowly falling down his eyes, drunk as fuck.

- "Hey, Mikey, let's get you to bed, ok?"- he sighed and half-opened his eyes looking at Joey.

- "I don't want to."

- "Come on, you have an exciting day tomorrow. I got the schedule earlier, and you get to work for hours, and I am not doing shit!"- she joked, but Mikey didn't move- "Oh, come on… please, buddy?"

- "Is he ok?"- Gerard asked and walked over.

- "Drunk as fuck is the new ok,"- she answered as Gee shook Mikey's arm.

- "I'm alive"- he babbled and slowly sat down- "I'm ok, leave me alone."

- "You don't really look like you are ok"- Joey whispered and smiled at him- "Want me to show you my tits to cheer you up?"- Frank paused the game and turned to her.

- "Fuck yeah!! We could ask for that?"- Joey frowned and looked at him, annoyed.

- "I was joking"- she pronounced every letter in those words very slowly- "Just trying to make Mikey laugh."

- "Oh yeah"- Frank blushed and unpaused the game, turning to the screen- "I knew you were, I was just following the joke."

Joey nodded and turned to Mikey again. Meanwhile. Frank wanted to slap himself.

- "What the fuck is your problem!! That was so stupid! It was obvious she was joking, and now you made an ass of yourself! She is gonna think you are a pervert!!"

- "So, are you coming?"- Joey smiled at her friend, and he nodded- "Good, ‘cos I don't wanna smack you."

- "Do you need help?"- Frank paused the game again, and Ray almost growled.

- "No, I'm ok"- Mikey answered and stood up.

- "Come on, let's have a slumber party. We can do each other's nails"- Joey smiled, and Mikey smirked.

- "Braid my hair, sister"

- "And I'll curl your eyelashes"

Gerard watched in awe how his brother just followed Joey's commands like a little boy. He just went to bed when she asked him to. He laughed when she made the jokes. Was he crushed on her too?

- "Good night, kiddos"- Joey smiled and waved at Ray and Frank- "I had a blast with you tonight."

- "Goodnight, loser!!"- Ray teased her, and the girl stuck out her tongue at him.

- "Tomorrow, I want my revenge!"

- "Whenever you want to lose, I am here,"- he chuckled, and she pretended to be mad. The truth was, she had a great time with Ray, and she was glad he was so warm and friendly with her from day one.

- "Hey, Iceland"- Frank stood up and walked quickly over her- "That shit about your tits, I was joking."

- "I know, Jersey. Calm down"- she beamed and pushed his arm- "You are a good kid."

- "Thanks, goodnight"- he whispered and walked back to Ray's bed- "If only you knew…".

Gerard opened the bedroom door and waited for Joey and his brother to walk out to close it behind his back.

- "Where to?"- she asked, and Mikey pointed to the elevator. The three of them walked in silence, the door closed, and the youngest Way slowly raised his hand and pushed "15".

- "Please don't puke in the elevator"- Gerard teased him, and Mikey whispered

- "Like you never did that kind of shit back in your days,"- the silence hung amongst them until the door opened, and they strolled out.

- "Good neighbor, you are just four rooms down from my cave"- Joey joked as Mikey slowly and clumsily tried to open his door, but Gerard ended up grabbing his card and doing it for him when it was apparent he wasn't in the condition of doing it by himself.

- "Ok, Mikey. There you go"- Gerard helped his brother to bed as Joey took out his shoes and moved the pillows for him.

- "I don't want your help"- the drunk Way said, but Joey messed with his hair and smiled, trying to cheer him up.

- "I am not helping you. You asked me to stop being nice,"- Gerard frowned, not getting the conversation, but apparently, there were so many things Ray and Mikey could talk about with her he had no idea about. He should give up trying to catch up.

- "This is me making sure you owe me big time, and I am going to call in a huge favor as soon as I get drunk, and you are gonna have to take care of me,"- Mikey smiled and closed his eyes.

- "Ok, Bug"- the drunk boy closed his eyes and sighed- "I'm gonna start calling you "Bug" now because you can be fucking annoying!"

- "Oh really?"- Joey giggled and stood next to Mikey's bed with Gerard- "I'm gonna have to find a nickname for you then."

- "Your job for tomorrow"- the drunk guy whispered and sighed.

- "Goodnight, Mikey"- Gerard said and watched how his brother fell asleep in less than a minute. He and Joey walked slowly to the door and left Mikey alone.

- "Thank you for taking care of him,"- Gerard whispered as they walked down the hall to Joey's door.

- "Don't thank me for that. I consider him my friend already, and friends take care of each other."

The girl kept looking down at her shoes as they walked, decided not to land her eyes on his, not even for a second. God knows what could happen.

- "He seems to be going through a rough patch lately"

- "He hasn't told you anything about it?"- Joey asked surprised.

- "No"- Gerard shook his head and thought very carefully before he asked- "Has he told you… anything about what's going on with him?"

Joey didn't hesitate for a second and answered no.

- "It just seems he trusts you with his problems. That's all."- Gerard added.

- "We talk about random shit"- she quickly explained- "Maybe he just needs to ease his mind from whatever it is that is happening to him, at least for a bit."

The two of them stayed quiet, standing right in front of each other. Gerard was dying to hold her face with both hands and kiss her. They were alone for the first time ever. Ever. He has made his best for this not to occur before; the plane trip at least was shared with a hundred other people at the same place. Now it was just the two of them all alone standing in the hall.

- "What are your plans for tomorrow?"- Gerard whispered and raised his eyes to look at her.

- "Gym in the morning, practice in the afternoon"- Joey said and kept looking at her hands.

- "Where are you gonna practice?"

- "Here, in my room. I brought my electric drum ‘cos Brian said I could install it somewhere around the bus."

Gerard kept his eyes locked on her, and she could feel it as she continued talking.

- "I hope it's not an inconvenience, I'm just nervous. I feel like I need to practice another 100 hours to play the show you deserve."

- "No, of course, it's no problem"- he answered and slowly reached out his hand to clumsily place it on her shoulder- "And stop doubting yourself. You are an amazing drummer."

Joey couldn't help it and shivered as she felt Gerard's touch, raising her eyes to meet his.

- "Thank you"- she whispered, and time stopped as they stared at each other. It felt so natural to lean over. It was like their bodies were longing for proximity. But both of them knew they couldn't do anything like so.

- "Ok Joey, breath, act like a normal person and walk away from this temptation"- she sighed and smiled- "That would be a killer nickname" Well, see you tomorrow Gerard, have fun doing a million interviews.

- "Have fun at the gym- he smiled and watched her opening the door and walking into her room."

- "Good night"- she whispered and slowly closed the door.

- "Ok, that was good. You controlled yourself, Gerard. I'm proud… now walk away and get into your room."

Joey laid on her bed and closed the laptop, after a long video call with Matthew. Tears fell from her eyes slowly. She was nervous, excited, and most of all, she was sad her boyfriend wouldn't be there with her at her first show.

- "You have no idea how proud I am, Yami"- he had said, as the two of them cried.

- "I wish you were here with me, Akumu."

She had never been away from him in six months. Once for a weekend, but not a whole month. She missed him already. Watching his face on the screen didn't make it easy. If anything, it felt like it made it worse. She was in love with him, honestly in love. She had a couple of shitty experiences with her previous boyfriends, and Matthew was the first man who treated her with respect. It was sad for her to be so moved about something that could be the base of a relationship.

Besides, she wasn't just nervous about being away from her boyfriend. She also had second thoughts about her abilities. Maybe she really wasn't going to be able to do it right. She could be petrified in front of the audience. It would be easier if Matthew were there with her. But he wasn't, and she had to start dealing with this fear on her own.

She could still feel Gerard's hand on her shoulder, telling her she was going to do great. It burned her skin like the remainder of his warm touch.

- "Fucking temptation"- she whispered and rolled in bed to turn out the lights- "Gerard is so hot I could do something very foolish if I were single... and if he was single too, of course."

**

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[hello-im-not-a-possum]

17. Glass

At first, Susie assumes Norman is just some weird creep. At first, Norman assumes Susie isn’t anything as special as the others hype her up to be. But when he finds out that her discolored eye isn’t just some sort of medical condition of hers, and as the two talk, they realize that they have a little bit more in common than they thought they did. (Set during Susie’s first few days on the job.)

Susie was both excited to the point where she felt like she was walking on air and nervous to the point of nausea.

It was her first week in the big apple, and she already landed a job interview at the promising, brand new animation studio simply titled ‘Joey Drew Studios’. It helped that she had a very impressive vocal range, a lot of pep, and eagerness to work with new people.

And when she presented her resume to the Music director and he in turn offered the role of Alice Angel, she was completely over the moon! While naturally, female characters tended to be underwritten in personality compared to their male counterparts, the personality the Angel did have reminded her so much of herself! She was a friendly gal who loved to sing her heart out and dance, and according to Sammy, would be fleshed out more during the show’s run.

“While they might be reluctant to her at first, she’s really something special, maybe could even be more popular than Bendy someday.”

But as great as the job itself was, the people she worked with were pretty hit and miss, with the acceptation of the music director who was both at the same time.

Luckily, there were more hits than misses, but the misses really... well, missed. Like that projectionist that was often skulking in the shadows and pulling mean pranks on people. Admittedly, she was still upset by their first encounter where he spooked her into dropping hot coffee on her favorite skirt. How on earth could somebody that tall be that quiet?!

But aside from his... odd quirks, the projectionist seemed harmless enough and as long as she did her job and he did his and they didn’t bug each other, then they’d be fine.

-----

Due to Norman’s hobbies, he got good at judging reading people over the years and his new coworkers and bosses were no exceptions. Some were easier to read than others, but he got the gist of most of them down;

Joey? Friendly on the outside, but was hollow on the inside, perhaps soulless even. And not in a way where the man was drained of stuff inside him. He seemed that he was just always like that.

Sammy? Aggressive and weird on the outside, is less aggressive on the inside but only gets weirder the deeper you dig. Norman wasn’t saying that the man was an escaped loony bin patient... but he wouldn’t be surprised if he happened to be one.

Jack? A genuine and friendly fellow, seemed to go with the flow and had a high tolerance and or fascination for crazy. No wonder he seemed to be so close with Sammy.

Susie? A chipper, seemingly headstrong, and naive young woman from the south if he was hearing her accent correctly. She was a sweet singer and good at voices, he’d give her that, but she seemed to be over hyped if anyone was asking him. He wasn’t annoyed by her himself, he was just annoyed with how most of the musicians acted around her, they weren’t inappropriate, but they weren’t hiding their feelings either.

He tried to keep his distance from her most of the time, partly because he sensed he was still mad about the prank going wrong as he didn’t know she was carrying coffee, and partly because he didn’t want to get too close to her only to see the big bad city chew her up and spit her out once it was done fawning over her.

Watching that happen wasn’t as bad as watching what happened to people at his old job, but it would still tug his heartstrings the same way, even if it wasn’t as hard.

-----

It was by chance they met up late at night, Norman was fixing a stubborn projector and Susie was looking for a script that the Janitor accidentally threw out. At first, the former didn’t notice the latter, she came up on his blind spot and he was too busy listening to the projector’s weird sounds to notice the click clack of her high heels.

The machine he was handling was being unreasonable lately, and he was cursing under his breath because of it. He eventually figured out that the machine had a problem with itself AND it’s plug. If he left, he left his booth at risk of catching on fire again, if he didn’t then he’d be leaving the band room at risk of getting caught on fire.

“Too bad I’ve only got the one eye ta keep on yous, I could use another...”

“Oh! I can help with that!”

The man wasn’t sure what he was more caught off guard by: Susie’s presence or the fact that she had just popped her discolored eye right out of her head and set it gingerly on top of the projector. All this time he assumed that it was just infected or something, not made out of glass.

Norman doubled over in hysteric laughter and composed himself a few moments later.

“Well, I do appreciate a good eye for jokes, but I hope you’re bein’ serious about this here projector, I was startin’ ta worry which would catch on fire first...”

Susie gave a thumbs up as she put her eye back into her head. “No problem! I just always wanted to do that joke ever since I got my glass eye, but I don’t mind watching it for a bit for you.”

The projector between them sparked up a bit, making both of them back away.

“...I was starting to worry about that thing myself, actually...”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head no more, now that I know what the problem is, it’s good as done.”

As Norman handled the situation, he returned back to the booth to give her the all clear.

“Situation’s handled, hopefully it won’t make a fuss again for a while.”

“That’s good!” She chipped back, and her eye went to his name tag. “Wait a minute, your last name is ‘Polk’?”

“Yes? At least, last time I checked it, it was...” He looked over her own name tag and something clicked. “...And yours is Campbell?”

“Yes! You were the local undertaker back in Pineville, Louisiana, right?”

“Yeah, but as ya can see I retired from that a while ago.”

“You won’t believe this, but I think I used to live across the street from you!”

“Definitely knew some Campbells in my neighborhood.” He nodded. “All of them were read heads like yourself, so I wouldn’t be surprised. In fact, I think I met your brother a handful of times... ”

“Yep! He told me a lot about you! Who’d think we’d end up meeting up at the studio of all places?”

“Yeah, sure is a small world alright.”

“Well, enjoy your night Norman.”

“You too, see ya tomorrow.”

[steve0discusses]

S5 Ep5: Female Friends

So I was up hella late because of Daylight Savings screwing my sleep schedule, and I was on Twitch and one of the people I follow was speedrunning a Yugioh game (I think it was called Forbidden Memories like it was some Romance YA novel) and I was like “that’s a thing?” And I watched about 15 minutes of just complete nonsense. Like this game makes no sense when your scrubbing through 30 minutes of gameplay, but when a whole game takes 45 seconds and they have mechanics using like planets and astrology symbols? What?

What?

Y’all, I’m a little concerned your card game ain’t real. Like this is some ploy by knowing adults and this is some sort of Santa Claus situation where everyone else knows that this game ain’t real, but I’m the last person alive who’s like... “it is real though, right?” Hoping that I haven’t been played all of these years, despite having literally no empirical evidence that it is.

Just saying, I’m on to you, Yugioh.

Thanks dub.

I am pretty convinced (could be wrong) but pretty convinced that Grandpa was probably just normal horny in this scene. Like it just kinda matches what I know about horny grandpa tropes (that and Vivian is really talked up to be this hot stuff although she’s just youknow...some girl who exists.)

He immediately falls over. Like immediately, and I don’t know what’s up with Grandpa’s weird slipped disc, but luckily this is the one thing that Mokuba is prepared to deal with as a park manager.

Or what was his job again, Master of Ceremonies? That was the name of Mokuba’s actual chosen job that a 12-13 yo would choose?

Only Mokuba would have the choice to choose “a literal astronaut” and not choose an astronaut. This kid probably hates space though, with his family’s countless war machines now currently flying through the void.

The amount of times that the Kaibas have had to call a doctor for these guys.

(read more under the cut)

Bro was like “So Hawkins paid Grandpa to pretend to fall down so they could ditch Rebecca’s duel, right?” and youknow...probably. It was a pretty boring duel. They got off scott free.

Rex and Weevil do cartoon antics that actually feel like cartoon antics--which feels so weird for this show. Of course, it also has this Vivian plotline that is a little sus for a children’s show?

OK, show. You keep throwing women at Yugi Muto, and I get it’s a joke because he’s the world’s most undateable boy but there is a line of plausibility that even for a kid’s cartoon show it’s like “eh, probably not.”

Anyway, Vivian has Cho Chang energy of “I’m here for a problematic romantic conflict that never needed to happen and hamfisted diversity and uhhhhhh that’s it! I won’t exist after book 5!”

What a step down from dueling on top of the train, right? Like this whole time you could have just dueled next to it? What? In this show?

The rest of the party show up to the train station, where there’s really no other audience watching. Like where are Rebecca’s adoring fans who were asking for her autograph like 3 episodes back?

Card culture is brutal, y’all.

Vivian is not drawn like a 16 yo, being real. I was pretty surprised that she was under 25 according to a cursory Google search. Course, Joey Wheeler is drawn like a built adult, too, so I think the only convincing teenage child on this show is Pharaoh because at least he’s short. Just ignore how sometimes he’s got muscles on his arms that have no right to be there at the age of 16. (17?)

Then we had like a little Season Zero vibes where everyone just picks on Yugi for a hot minute.

And so Tea’s character development comes full circle as she realizes that this whole time, the Female Friend she needed was already here in the form of that small child who has a crush on her kinda boyfriend.

This was such an episode written by a bunch of dudes.

But at least Rebecca and Tea found something in common, although I really wish it wasn’t Yugi, considering how little on screen development he has with either of them. Where’s the reward for me as the viewer? If I cared about either of this love pentagon at all (well, hexagon...Bakura’s still in there.) there will never be a payout. You very well may be waiting forever for a relationship the writers clearly had never any intention to ever write except to act as a foil for our protagonists instead of like...a relationship.

And the show seems a little inconsistent with the relationship between Rebecca and Tea, too. They hang out a lot as the girls on the sideline, and appear to get along a lot of the time--but then they hate eachother a lot of the time as well because of jealousy? It’s just so weird.

I feel like TV shows in general have a really hard time approaching girl friendships, and speaking as a girl, I wish TV and books recognized more that our female friendships don’t have to be so freakin serious. We just act friendly and that’s freakin it.

That and these girls are going to go right back to hating eachother half the time after this is over because the main problem--Yugi not piping up and telling one of them to back the hell off--has never been addressed and never will be because Yugi is a broken, broken wet blanket.

Back at the base, Seto is also making up his own problems to be upset about in the absence of any apocalypses happening on screen.

Unless that hacker is Noah Kaiba, you’re probably fine. I really haven’t had too much of a reason to feel any fear over Zigfried von Schroeder. And maybe it’s because his character design was pretty complicated so no one wanted to draw it.

This was a ‘who’s on first’ joke but still.

...why do cards have to be like this?

Also, I didn’t see anything about this nonsense in the speedrun I watched the other night so, guys, this game ain’t real.

Anyway, Rebecca won.

We find out a little more of what happens to other duelists. Our Cowboy lost to a Sherlock Holmes boy, and I was very happy that I don’t have to come up with jokes about country music because I have none other than like...Taylor Swift jokes? Does she still count as country? I have no idea what’s going on in the country music scene.

On other side of the park, Yugioh decide to pay another tribute to the creative crotch shot with one of these:

Rex and Weevil are off to fight the big bad, and when you think “OK, we’re gonna get a wacky duel battle with these two balancing on top of eachother,” they kinda whiffed it before they made it to the stage.

And then I kind of whiffed it when I realized that Mokuba and Weevil have never spoken in the same place before and they have the same exact font color so fml.

The fact that Mokuba didn’t realize anything was wrong until they fell and revealed they were two small adults in a trench coat says a lot about most of the competitors in this duel.

It is incredible how both the Battle City Tournament and the Kaiba Corp Tourney (s that it’s name?) are both poorly managed, but in a different way. The Battle City Tourney unfortunately had a bunch of murderers in it. This tournament, no one is killing eachother, but they are still kind of sneaking in through the back door and being chronically late to everything.

(and I just want to point out that after the last match Mokuba oversaw that had Joey nearly miss the appointment, Mokuba decided to set this one in front of a Giant Clock just to get his point across)

So Zigfried has some sort of flying horse card that wiped them out right away, which makes you wonder........

.............why use any other cards?

Kaiba makes these cards, right????

Like he should be the last person who’s surprised????

Anyway, Zigfried top-decked a horse, and the guy who spends about 15 minutes getting ready his big ol blue eyes dragons every match he’s ever played was like “Yo I have GOT to get into speedrunning!”

And yes, the speedrun I was watching did not use Blue Eyes White Dragons. They were using a bunch of other stuff that I tried to look up just now and the art is completely different from what I recall so...unfortunately that means that your game is fake. Pretty sure it’s fake and you have no way to prove to me this is real.

Anyway, that’s it for now, not much to say since we’re still at the beginning of the arc. Next week I guess we’ll find out if Seto ever removes his ass from this chair.

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[sit-communist]

My hand slipped.

Oops Innit.

Mondler

Based on TOW the birth. Also posted on Ao3.

"I don't want to wait, I want a baby now!" Monica cried into Chandlers chest.

"Well, I uh.. I can't say I'm the best option, but.." He looked down at her, gave her an ackward smile, unsure of why he extended the same offer twice in one day.

He was trying to help, but all he could see on her face was hurt. "Chandler, sometimes I wish you wouldn't make everything into a joke". She said in a defeated tone as she pushed herself away from him.

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

A couple of hours later, everyone except Ross was sitting in the waiting room, Chandler just made a quip only he laughed at, and Phoebe is the one who scolds him this time.

"Chandler, not everything is a joke."

"I'm not always joking." Chandler replies defensively, staring at Phoebe for a beat too long. Then as the conversation continues around him, he glances at Monica, catching her eye and trying to convey how sorry he is for being the reason she was hurting.

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

As they left Ross in the room with his newly formed, highly dysfunctional family, Chandler felt jealousy, then guilt. He knew it was wrong, but Ben had people who wanted him around. He never had that feeling as a child, he wasn't sure he had it as an adult either.

Ross had always been there for him, but now he had more important things to worry about. Joey wasn't likely to have kids anytime soon, not intentionally anyway, but Chandler had always felt that Joey only stuck around because he helped him out so much financially. When Joey inevitably had his break, he would leave.

That left Monica, the only other person in the world he had let himself open up to.

Chandler looked across the waiting room at her, she was smiling and hugging herself, looking distant, lost in her thoughts. He figured she was picturing some muscular guy named Heath loading up the carseat in the back of their honda civic, taking family trips to Central Park, the zoo, or to see her parents.

There was that guilty jealousy again.

Chandler looked down at the floor and wondered what it would be like to not exist. If anyones life would be worse, if anyones life would be better. He buried his head in his hands and pulled at his short brown hair, trying to escape the sensation washing over him. The familiar dread of neverending loneliness. He started scratching harder at his scalp, willing the pain to bring him back to reality.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he instinctively jerked away. But he looked up and there was Monica, taking the seat beside him and placing her hand back on his shoulder, gentler this time.

"You ok?" She asked with concern in her eyes.

Chandler tried to bring his wall up as quickly as he could, hoping she didn't see the emotions he had just been holding back.

"I'm great." He smiled and hoped it didn't look as fake as it felt. "It's been a long day, you ready to go home?"

She offered him a small smile in return and nodded.

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

Laying in bed that night, Chandler asked himself how serious he really was about what he offered Monica. He had always been willing do anything for his friends, he felt he had to do what they wanted or they might leave. So when it had popped into his mind, his action was swift, though he was sure it came out sarcastic. But now, he wondered if he could offer her that. No, if he could offer anyone that.

Wait.

He sat up in his bed and did his best to look at himself sideways. Why did feel like a different question when he took Monica out of the equation? It felt scarier, more foreign. He raised his eyebrows at himself. 'It could be that she's my friend, she's important to me, I care about her happiness, yeah that must be it.' He started nodding to himself as his thoughts continued. 'Of course I care about her happiness, I love her. She's an amazing person, she deserves everything she wants, she deserves... she deserves Heath.' Chandler hung his head a little, that guilty jealousy was there again. How could he be jealous of a nonexistant person? Of something he didn't even want? He didn't see Monica like that. She certainly didn't see him like that. 'No, it must just be the family that I want, the stability.' He shook his head before throwing himself back so he was laying down again and fought for another two hours of sleep.

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

A week full of poor nights sleep later, Chandler sat on Monicas couch, his feet on the coffee table, his eyes drifting shut. Ross had just left, he had brought Ben, which meant Carol and Susan were also here, apparently most mothers don't want to leave their babies right away. Rachel was at work. Monica was cleaning, of course. He could hear her scooting the chairs in small increments so they would all be square with the table. He smiled softly to himself, he didn't understand why everyone else thought her neurotic habits were annoying, he thought it would be nice to have a clean house all the time.

Wait, what?

She bumped the side of his knee with her elbow which made him open his eyes and look at her.

"Either start helping, or go home." She practically barked, standing over him.

He shot her a confused look. "I thought you didn't like the way other people clean?"

She averted her gaze, busying herself by fluffing the pillow next to him. "I do." She said firmly, then after a pause she added, more timidly, "But I don't mind as much when you're the one helping".

Chandler didn't even try to hide the soft smile that grew on his lips. "Anything for you, Mon."

He got up and started gathering dirty plates and cups, bringing them to the kitchen, she followed him around the room, he could hear her picking up the coasters and then placing them away, in order. He chuckled to himself because he clearly couldn't hear that last part, but he was sure it was happening.

"What?" She asked, coming up beside him and starting the hot water so she could wash the dishes.

He realized she had heard his chuckle and tried to come up with something quick but drew a blank, a rarity for him. "I just think it's endearing how crazily organized you are." He went for honesty with a lopsided grin on, well, on the side.

"CRAZY?" Her eyes went wide and her head cocked to the side.

"NO!" He tried to back track. "No, no, no. I didn't say crazy, I didn't say that at all!" How did he always say the wrong thing?

Monica broke into fits of laughter. He let out a breath and a nervous chuckle, but as he watched her laugh he couldn't help but wear a genuine smile. He realized it wasn't endearing, it was cute. 'Oh god, did I just say Monica was cute?' His nervous chuckle came back as her laughter finally died down.

He backed away from the dishes and mumbled "I've uh, I gotta go, uh.. GROCERIES! I need to get groceries."

"But Chandler, you never have food at your apartment." She said with a puzzled look on her face.

"Don't you think I should fix that?" He asked as he backed into the closed door. "I should have food for me there because I live there and I don't live here". 'If I just keep talking, she won't notice' he told himself. Then, fumbling with the knob behind him, "So see you later, Monica, Mon.. yyyou." He shut the door and ran down the stairs as fast as he could, well, until he couldn't breathe anymore, which as it turns out is only a fight and a half. She wasn't following him anyway. As he walked slowly down the rest of the steps, his feet feeling heavier than usual, he realizes he wanted her to follow him. He wanted her to care, in the way he cared. He realized he was screwed.

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

Chandler avoided her for a week and a half. Getting up insanely early to make sure he was gone to work before she was up, spending hours locked in his room silently so not even Joey would know he was home, only going to the coffee house on nights he knew she was working, all it did was give him more time to think. On Thursday afternoon, a day she always worked, he strolled into the coffee house. Glancing at their area, it looked empty. 'Great, more alone time, maybe I can think about the way her hair smells some more.' He ordered his coffee and turned to sit down when he caught a whiff of her shampoo and he knew he must have imagined it.

"Chandler?" Her voice, soft and timid, came from behind him.

Fake smile slathered on, he turned around. "Hey Mon! How are ya?"

"Not great, one of my best friends is avoiding me, and I don't know why." She deadpanned.

'It's not fair to her, it's not her fault you're in love with her.' He inwardly scolded himself for his cowardess.

He let out a deep sigh. "I've sort of..." His voice failed, his breath becoming more ragged as he tried again. "I seem to have developed.. feelings".

"Feelings?" Her eyebrows were as high as they could possibly go. "Feelings about what?"

Strangely, he felt a moments calm, and that reflected in his voice when he said "About you."

He was wrong, her eyebrows could go higher. "What? Is this a joke? You've known me for years and now you decide to look at me? When did this revelation occur?" She was yelling and people were watching but for the first time in his life he didn't care about all the strangers or what they thought.

"Since the day Ben was born" He replied simply.

She stood still, her stare boring into his eyes. Then she hit him in the arm. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!?"

Now it was his eyebrows turn to rise. "What?"

She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again before leaning forward and crashing her lips against his. He stood in shock, unable to kiss her back right away. She placed her hand on his cheek, grounding him in the moment, then he brought his hand up to the back of her neck, slotting his fingers through the hair at the base of her ponytail.

When they tore apart, Monica laid her forehead against his. "I've looked at you differently since you made that offer. I was sure you were joking, but I couldn't help but think about what it would be like. I sat in bed that night thinking about how it would feel to kiss you. Then when you were helping me clean, I tried to tell you, but you just left. If you weren't such an idiot, we would have been doing this two and a half weeks ago, all you had to do was talk to me." Her voice was now at a volume only the two of them could hear.

"I am an idiot." Chandler said with a smile.

"You're my idiot."

[impala666]

The One With The Monkey Part One: Marcel The Monkey

Here you go! Ross gets Marcel and Phoebe sings a depressing Christmas song! 

Friends Rewrite (masterlist) Last Part (part four, episode 9)

Four of you were sitting around Monica and Rachel’s kitchen table with a bowl of popcorn and a bowl of cranberries and you, Phoebe, and Joey were helping them make a strand of garland. You had work early in the morning tomorrow and even all day tomorrow, but thankfully all you could think about was Phoebe finally getting to perform holiday songs at Central Perk tomorrow night and all of you were going to watch and support her. “Guys, there’s somebody I’d like you to meet.” Ross who just happened to poke his head through the door like he lived there, but to be fair all of you kind of did that. Your jaw immediately dropped open when Ross entered and the cutest little monkey came in riding in on Ross’s back. 

“Wait, w-wait, what is that?” Monica asked, not sure whether she should step toward it or run away. 

“That would be Marcel.” Ross introduced the furry creature. “Wanna say hi?”

“Yes, please!” You shrieked when you ran around the table to take the monkey from Ross, and Marcel seemed more than happy to crawl down Ross and on to your shoulder. Your smile only grew when Marcel’s tail hung over your other shoulder. 

“He is precious, where did you get him?” Rachel asked as she watched the monkey relaxing on your shoulder. 

“My friend, Bethel, rescued him from some lab.” Ross explained while he took Marcel back from you, but you couldn’t help but shake your head at the fact that the poor little guy had to go through so many experiments and tests that he never had the say of just because of the species that he was. 

“That is so cruel.” You nodded in agreement with what Phoebe said, thinking she was on the right path. But boy, were you wrong. “Why would a parent name their child Bethel?”

“That was not what I expected out of you, Pheebs,” you said a little disappointed in yourself for getting your hopes up. You reached into the popcorn bowl and popped one in your mouth to prevent you from saying anything else. 

“Hey, that monkey’s got a Ross on his ass.” Chandler greeted his friend after he had stepped out of bathroom, and leaned against the back of Joey’s chair. 

“Ross, is he gonna live with you like in your apartment?” Monica couldn't help but ask an actual question out of concern for her older brother.  

“Yeah, it’s been kind of quiet since Carol moved out.” Which seemed like a very logical reason to go out there and get a pet that is completely out of the normal, you could totally understand Ross’s thought process on this one.

“Why not just get a roommate?” Monica asked, yet another great question.

“I think when you reach a certain age, having a roommate is kind of pathet…” After playing with Marcel’s tail, Ross realized the mistake he made when he saw all of you staring at him waiting for him to finish that sentence correctly. “Sorry, that's ‘pathet’ which is sanskrit for ‘really cool way to live.” 

**********

Finally, finally, finally, your day was over with. You toured the school that you were accepted to and have a very long 8 hour shift, so now it was time to kick back and see your weird and beautiful friend sing her set at Central Perk. As you walked into the building you were finally able to unclench once you felt the heat after just walking block after block in the freezing cold snow. “,and one about a snowman.” You heard Phoebe finish as she sat on the arm of the couch with her guitar on her lap. When they all see you enter all of them flashed you a smile in greeting, which you returned once you had hung your coat and scarf on the hooks by the door. After you had ordered your preferred hot drink of the day, you finally walked over to spend time with everyone. But apparently Joey wasn’t there yet. 

“Might want to open with the snowman,” Chandler told her. But you just looked at him confused. “Oh trust me, you don’t want to know.” Chandler promised once he saw the look on your face.

“Oookay,” you mumbled into your cup as you sat down on the couch arm next to Monica. “Hey, Joey,” you smiled once you saw him walking into the shop as he dusted off some of the snow that had fallen on him. Everyone joined in on your greeting him, while greeted everyone else also walking up to you, placing a hand on your waist and pecking you on the lips as your greeting. 

“So, how’d it go?” Monica asked Joey, wondering how his job interview for being Santa Clause went.

“I didn’t get the job,” Joey groaned in disappointment as he took off his coat and sat down in the chair next to you. All of you awed in agreement with his disappointment, while you leaned forward from your spot on the couch to rub his arm in sympathy. It was hard enough for him to get work as an actor, and now he didn't get the one job he got and looked forward to every year. Joey looked up at you with a sad smile while taking your hand while he sat backwards in his seat. 

“How could you not get it? You were Santa last year.” Ross couldn’t help but ask, Joey was really looking forward to that job. 

“I know!” You whined in agreement with Ross, “you were a shoe in, and you were so excited.” Plus he would make a really really hot Mr. Claus, but you decided to keep that piece of information to yourself.

“I don’t know. Some fat guy’s sleeping with the store manager. He’s not even jolly, it’s all political.” Joey added in on the complaining that just seemed unfair.

“I’m sorry, hon.” You rubbed his arm as you got to your feet. “Do you want some coffee?” You offered while giving him a hug and wrapping your arm around his neck. He nodded a yes, and you pecked him on the forehead before turning to the counter and ordering a coffee to cheer him up. 

“So what’re you going to be?” Monica asked. 

“I’m going to be one of his helpers, but it’s just such a slap in the face, you know?” He just couldn’t get past the way that he didn’t get the job that he knew that he was so right for. 

“Hey, do you guys know what you’re doing for New Years?” Rachel asked, causing everyone except you and Joey to groan just at the thought that none of them had dates. “Geez, what is wrong with New Years?” Clearly not liking that way that she was getting attacked. 

“Well nothing for you, you have Paolo. And it’s not a problem for Y/N or Joey either because they have each other. You don’t have to face the horrible pressures of this holiday.” Chandler explained to her as he walked over towards her. “The desperate scramble to find anything with lips just so you have somebody to kiss when the ball drops! Man, I’m talking loud.” He finally just noticed that his voice was dramatically getting louder and louder with each sentence. 

“Well, for your information. Paolo is going to be in Rome this New Years, so I’ll be just as pathetic as the rest of you.” Rachel explained to the rest of you. “Well, except Joey and Y/N,” she grimaced at how lucky you two are while she watched Joey kiss you very sweetly after you brought him the coffee that you bought for him. 

“Yeah, you wish,” Phoebe added in where her comment didn’t really make sense. 

“It’s just that I’m sick of being victim to this Dick Clark holiday.” Chandler wowed. “I say this year, no dates. We make a pact, just the seven of us. Dinner.” Everyone seemed to be in agreement.

“How can it be no couples in the seven of us when two of us are already in a relationship?” You asked him, retaking your spot on the arm of the couch. 

“Just don’t act like one, okay?” Chandler whined as he tried to reason with you and his best friend. “I know which will be hard for you because you two are gross.”

“Well, thank you,” you said taking it as a compliment. 

“Well, you’re welcome.” Chandler played back. “And I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm.” Causing everyone into different forms of celebratory sounds. 

“Phoebe, you’re on.” Rachel warned her as she stepped onto the now stage to introduce her friend. “Ladies and gentlemen, back by popular demand. Miss Phoebe Buffay!” Rachel wooed as she and everyone else in the building applauded and Phoebe took the stage. 

“Hi!” Phoebe said into the mic. “Yeah, hi. I want to start with a song that means a lot to me this time of year.” You smiled watching in wonderment as Chandler leaned against the side of the couch next to you. Phoebe jingled some bells before she officially started her song. “I made a man with eyes of coal and a smile so bewitching.” Phoebe started to sing what sounded like was going to be a nice, cool Christmas song, but you should have know better by now that it would take a drastic and depressing turn. “How was I supposed to know that my mom was dead in the kitchen?” And immediately your smiling face turned into an uncomfortable and disturbed face, which you shared when with Ross and Monica. 

Now the mood in the coffee shop that was once filled with Christmas cheer was now filled with a depressing silence. Phoebe’s song was far from over, making everyone very depressed and just staring off into space. Rachel was sunk down in a chair, Chandler took your spot on the couch arm, and you were sitting on Joey’s knee with your head resting on Joey’s head with the look of deep sadness on your face. “My mother’s ashes, even her eyelashes are resting in a little yellow jar. And sometimes when it’s breezy, or I feel a little sneezy, and now. Excuse me!” Phoebe stopped singing which made you wake up a little tiny bit, and she started yelling at the rude, loud talking men. “Excuse me! Noisy boys? Is it something that you would like to share with the entire group?” She asked them, like a teacher catching a few of her students passing around notes during class. 

“No, no. That’s okay.” The nerdy guy in the flannel told her. 

“Ohhh they’re in trouble.” You whispered with a little smirk on your face. Chandler looked at you with a similar smirk, as well as Joey and Rachel next to you. 

“Well come on, if it’s important enough to discuss while I’m playing then I assume it’s important enough for everyone else to hear.” Phoebe argued back over at Flannel. 

“Well, that guy’s going home with a note.” Chandler told the three of you with a bit of a scared look on his face. 

“Could you speak up please?” Phoebe asked very close to the microphone when the other guy in the sweater started mumbling out his reasoning for interrupting her. 

“Sorry,” the guy in the sweater stood up. “I was saying to my friend that I thought you were the most beautiful woman that I’d ever seen in my life and then he said that you thought that Daryl Hannah was the most beautiful woman that he’d ever seen in his life. And I said, “Yeah I liked her in Splash a lot, but not so much in Wall Street, I thought she had a hard quality. And, um, while Daryl Hannah is beautiful in a conventional way you are luminous with a kind of delicate grace.” The guy paused after realizing he just said in public. “Then that’s when you started yelling.” After he finished the guy in the sweater sat back down in his seat. All of you turned towards Phoebe to see what her reaction was going to be.

“Okay, we’re going to take a short break.” She announced while setting her guitar down on the stand so that she could go talk to that man that said all the nice things about her. 

“That guy’s going home with more than a note.” Joey announced with a sneaky smirk on his face.      

[buckybarnesbingo]

3 Prompt Summaries

fantasy creature,  ice cream,  jail - suggested by @liquidlightz

@rebelmeg - so, this is what bucky gets for taking his pet dragon out for ice cream.  jail.  it's really inconsiderate, actually, he didn't even get to finish his ice cream cone.

@wolfnprey - No one said anything about mermaids having a sweet tooth. No one said they get possessive either. After watching Bucky's exploration of the human world end with him cramming a gallon of cotton candy ice cream down his throat, the last thing Steve expected was to wind up paying a bond to get said merman out of jail all because Bucky did not take kindly to the ice cream server offering Steve free samples.

@caiti-creative-corner - Bucky just wanted to pick up some ice cream for his partner.  Now, thanks to a mistaken identity, he's got to get out of jail before sunrise. Or the cops were in for one very big surprise.

@polizwrites - When he ordered a unicorn sundae from the brand new (and extremely sparkly) ice cream parlor down the street, the last thing Bucky actually expected was to have an actual-factual unicorn show up as well.  To be fair, it seemed as surprised as he was, and more than a bit of chaos ensued.  It nearly stabbed the Animal Control officer before Bucky was able to calm it (no, him - DEFINITELY a him) down and now he sat with the magnificent creature  in the largest enclosure at the shelter, wondering what in the hell to do next.

@somesortofitalianroast - Bucky wasn’t really sure why there was a unicorn in the ice cream parlor on the boardwalk. He was even less sure how he ended up arrested for the trafficking in supernatural creatures. All he wanted was a banana split and to sit on a bench and watch the ocean.

@lbibliophile-mcu - Bucky glares at the - unfortunately familiar - wall of the holding cell. It's not his fault that the anti-collision auto-correct on his teleportation periodically deposits him on the wrong side of a security door. But the guards who found him this time are new, so it always takes a little while for the higher-ups to convince them that 'no, he wasn't breaking and entering', 'yes, it was an accident' and 'yes, magic is a thing that happens - specifically to one James "Bucky" Barnes'. Of course, he could just teleport out of this cell. But they know who he is and have started the paperwork, and it is really a whole less hassle all round if he just sits tight for another hour or so and waits for this whole mess to get sorted out. However bored he is. Except... he can't leave, but that doesn't mean he can't bring something in... A few seconds  later, the cameras show him lounging back on the bench, taking a large bite out of a triple-serve ice cream.

@liquidlightz - merge this fumbling magician Bucky with Poliz' one and you get a unicorn appearing in the holding cell :unicorn:  so much more paperwork !

@huntress79 - If Bucky had to choose one thing that the serum, no matter what version, made better, he probably would have named the ability to eat almost obscene amounts of ice cream without any side effects. In the first few months after showing up at the tower, he and Natasha spent many a night tasting almost every ice cream flavor available in the greater New York area. But then, a certain God of Mischief chose Bucky as his latest "victim", taking him from the line at the ice cream parlor two blocks down from the Tower directly on a trip to a realm filled with dragons, and faes, and whatnot else (sure, Bucky had read the Tolkien books, but come on, Smaug had nothing on that magnificent, golden-red giant they encountered on their first day). And of course, Loki had to make it even worse, and go and try to steal some of the dragon's hoard. Everyone knows that it only ends bad! Well, it did, at least for Bucky - who ended up in a dark, smelly cell in the king's underground jail, while Loki was nowhere to be found. Was it too much to ask to get the largest bubble waffle filled with pistachio, vanilla and lemon sorbet without getting interrupted or kidnapped? Jeez...

More under the cut!

Chicken, Tall, Pearl - suggested by @ariasfandom

@rebelmeg - bucky loved going to his grandma's farmhouse as a kid.  it was full of adventures and things to see and animals to play with.  well.  all except for pearl.  pearl was mean.  and pearl, the biggest, tallest, crankiest chicken that bucky had ever seen, seemed to harbor a real and visceral hatred for bucky himself.

@wolfnprey - It was Sam's insistence that led Bucky to visit Clint on his family farm. It was Sam's dare that got Bucky pecked by a bunch of overprotective hens when he tried to help collect eggs. Again, Sam's fault that Bucky wound up stuck in a tall ass tree because the asshole scared Clint's dog and somehow the dog wound up in the tree.  So when Bucky wound up finding a lizard that Clint's daughter called Pearl cuddling up to his face in the morning, he knew it was Sam's fucking fault then, too.

@liquidlightz - Bucky loved to trade pearls with his new found friend.  He'd search the ocean floor and gather a few to bring to Steve, who in turn would bring him what he called chicken.  It tasted so different from fish and Bucky was hooked.  The taller the chicken the more pearls Bucky would give Steve.  In his world these had value, but Steve was planning to give them right back one day, he was just designing the perfect necklace to make out of them for Bucky.  In the meanwhile, he could do with eating veg and potatoes so he could give Bucky all his chicken.

@huntress79 - Like in so many other things, the animals of Wakanda were just as unique as the country itself. The rhinos were scary at first, but once you knew the trick, you could turn them into giant balls of fluff in no time. The goats, though just as stubborn as those Bucky remembered from childhood summers spend with relatives in Indiana, were the biggest source of entertainment in the village, hands down. But truth be told, the biggest surprise were the chicken. Sure enough, they could work up a cacophony of sounds in a heartbeat like any other chicken on this planet, but for some reason, Wakandan chicken were way taller, with legs as long as some supermodel, and the shells of their eggs almost resembled pearls, so sparkly.

@somesortofitalianroast​ - a chicken on a tall dresser with mother of pearl drawer knobs....

@ribbonsflyingoutthewindow​ - There's a whole comedic fic in there somewhere.

@bookdragon13​ Bucky trying to wrangle up a chicken on Clint’s farm and it ends up on the dresser somehow? Somehow I can also see Bucky buying a tall chicken statue made out of pearl kinda like the dog statue Joey bought in Friends

paintball, drive-in, cherry chapstick - suggested by @wolfnprey

@rebelmeg - bucky's first date with the love of his life was... perfect.  it was everything a first date should be.  they played paintball like kids, no-holds-barred and laughing like hyenas.  then the drive-in movie, a double feature while they ate popcorn and blushed while they held hands.  and the kiss at the end of the night... bucky could still taste the cherry chapstick on his lips, and he couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face.

@liquidlightz - Bucky loved and hated paintball in equal measure.  He loved getting to run wild and show off his skills, not just shooting, but agility and camouflage. The darn helmet these venues required you to wear played havoc with his hair though, and the cold wind and dust from crawling around made his lips dry and there was no way he was showing up to his date later this evening with chapped lips.  Steve was taking him to a modern drive-in, reminiscent of the old days, and that was just going to end  in hours of making out, at least.  He paused out of sight behind a tree and pulled out his plum-flavoured chapstick from one of his many pockets, which may have also been housing a comb, mini conditioning spray, and whatnots.  Re-applying every 20mins should hopefully do the trick.  Putting it away again, he checked the charges left in his rifle.

@huntress79 - Tony Stark was, despite his repeated protests, a lot like his father Howard, at least to Bucky. It was most obvious with the things he invented, but apparently, the same brain was also good with coming up with new, crazy ideas for team bonding events. Like taking a whole lot of individuals trained on various weapons to a paintball area. After some discussion, Bucky, Wanda, Clint and Scott ended up on Steve's team, while Nat, Rhodey, Peter and Maria Hill made up Tony's team. And holy moly, everyone, except for Peter, treated it like an actual mission. Within moments after splitting up, Steve was dispersing tactics, Clint was checking the wind, and Scott was trying to get the ants in the floor to cooperate. Wanda was watching the whole shindig with a fond smile, while reapplying her cherry-flavored chapstick. And Bucky? His mind was already on his evening plans - a nice date with Sam, consisting of dinner at a small seafood restaurant near Battery Park, a movie at the summer drive-in and tied off with (hopefully) some adult action in either of their apartments at the Tower. He only hoped he would survive these crazy "war games" first.

@somesortofitalianroast - Bucky wasn’t really sure why they were playing paintball. Well, “play” paintball. With him, Clint, Nat, and Tony all with exceptional marksmanship skills, it made no sense. It made even less sense for them to have the paintball “game” at an abandoned drive-in movie theatre, which just so happened to be located on a lot that included several acres of woods and lake with a dock. Until Steve mentioned that he had a tube of cherry chapstick and Bucky could taste it. But only if he won.