#for those who saw that early post of this

[sunnys-out]

The Star and her Sun | Alessia Russo x Reader

A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you to those who checked up on me. I'm doing alright now. Still studying for the LSAT which I am set to take on the 8th of June, so send good vibes. I have been working on this one for a bit. This combines three of the prompts that I had and honestly, I'm kinda attached to this one because it is friends to lovers and my ass loves that shit like. I am working on three others that should be coming out soon. Thank you all. (REMINDER: REQUESTS ARE CLOSED)

WC: 7k

Warnings: Family sickness, alcohol, foul language, gendered language (anything else let me know)

Chime~

The little bells rang throughout the quiet, little, London cafe as it cut through the sounds of a football match playing on a laptop by the counter. 

Alessia saw someone in the behind hunch over what looked to be like a large book and notebook filled with all sorts of highlights and post its. 

“Morning~, can I get something started for you?” A soft voice sounded from behind the fresh pastries as Alessia noticed that you gave a quick look to her and returned to whatever you were doing. 

Alessia approached the counter and peered at you still sitting down with your hair held up and with a floral headband keeping away the stray hairs that still graced your cheeks. 

You close the textbook, using the notebook like a bookmark to not lose your place, smoothing out the apron fully standing in front of Alessia.

She couldn’t help but follow the movement as you went past her eyeline. You were probably over 6’0 and you caught her moment of awe and laughed a little.

“I’m 6’3 if that is what you were wondering” you said as you further adjusted the apron around your waist.

Alessia blushed at being caught, 

“Sorry, uh- I’m new around here and this was the first cafe I saw that was close to my place and open this early so I don’t have an idea of what I want really?” her normally confident tone faltered as she fully took in your features.

A smile crept on your face as you put your hands in the front pockets of the apron and begin to rock back and forth on your heels. You look at the kit bag on Alessia’s shoulder.

“Seems like you’re going to training…Arsenal right? Well, the rest of the girls usually pop on through in the afternoon after practice but I’d always recommend the Apple Crumble pastry and a small, sweet latte with oat milk for morning trainings”

Alessia only nodded at the question, “Yeah, that sounds perfect actually…you a fan?” 

I nod as I bend down with a pair of tongs to place the pastry into a small bag. 

“My mum is a huge gooner, and my pops is a big Man United fan.” You laugh a little before continuing and beginning the process of making the latte.

“I guess I am both as well…grew up in it really, so yeah you can say I’m a fan ” You place the top on the disposable cup and slide the coffee and pastry towards Alessia stopping her before she gets her wallet out.

“First one is on me, little star” you say and are met with a stunned silence from the younger girl. 

She remained looking at you a sense of familiarity hits her as your soft but firm eyes returned the stare but she couldn’t place it for the life of her. It looked like you were waiting for a specific response from her.

“Thanks…uh I’ll see you around” she says as she quickly grabs the things on the counter and heads for the door.

You say quickly to her as Alessia grabs onto the handle of the door, “Oh tell the girls I said my hellos”

Alessia nods and runs out of the cafe and nearly trips over the sidewalk as she continues on to the training center. 

You watch her and she wanders off, Alessia completely flustered by the encounter, shaking your head you mutter as a laugh leaves your mouth 

“Still as clumsy as I remember”.

________________________________

Bearsted FC, Kent

Being the oldest kid at Bearsted FC meant a lot of the younger kids looked up to you both figuratively and physically. Being freshly ten and measuring at 5’4 was nothing to ignore. You were one of the few kids that did not need any convincing to be in goal. 

You enjoyed it. The amount of afternoons practicing blocking shots with your parents gave you a sense of pride with each ball that flew away from goal or trapped within your gloves.

You had promise of becoming one of England’s best goalkeepers or so said the many adults at your games on the weekends.

Even little Alessia Russo, who would come bounding towards you at the end of each and every game. You both had been playing for both the boys and the girls on the weekend. Again, no one else would step as keeper so no one could really say no to you.

“That was amazing,(y/n)!!!” Alessia jumped towards you with her arms then extended to mimic a save you had done that game.

You shook your head and smoothed out your uniform as you looked down at you teammate. 

“Me? Nah, you were amazing, I mean you have been really practicing your shooting. Got a brace today!” you say patting her shoulder.

“What’d ya mean? It would’ve been perfect if I didn’t slip on the grass” Alessia initially beaming up at you and then frowning as she showed off the grass stains on her shorts. 

You shake your  head, “I mean it Lessie, I mean you got the grown ups saying that you’re England’s next big striker and I agree with them” You continue to pick up your stuff from the side of the goal. 

Alessia only remained silent before firmly saying, “Well only if you’re there, I don’t trust anyone else, you are such a good goal keeper!”

You roll your eyes at the younger girl yes, “you’ll get there with or without me Lessie, trust me” You look over and see your  parents waving you over.

“Well I'm going to head home, see ya tomorrow eh little star?” Who only nods acknowledging the pats to her shoulder as you run over to your parents.

You were enjoying the last few weekends that you had in England. Your parents had already mentioned to you that your father had found a much better job in Florida that required a move to the States.

You were already 10 years old so your time at the league was ending anyways, the only worry you had was finding a new team to play for. Your parents reassured you that there were clubs in Miami that would take you and it’d be a nice change in scenery.

Your last weekend came up and it was going to be a surprise to everyone but unbeknownst  to you, Alessia had fallen ill. Her parent’s not telling her that it was your last time playing there, the last time that you would play in England to save her from feeling worse apart from her illness.

You played well and ended your little “career” with another clean sheet but this time without Alessia Russo coming over to your goal to sing you your praises. She was your best friend and it left you dejected as you grabbed your things from the grass and headed over to your parents. 

“Darling, don’t look down, your father gave the Russos our number so she will call you when she feels better and we are in the states” Your mother sensing the disappointment that clearly permeated from your demeanor. 

That did make you feel a wee bit better that at least Alessia had some way to get in touch with you. What you didn’t know is that, unfortunately for you, Alessia’s father forgot the piece of paper in his jeans and the number was lost in the wash. He didn’t have the heart to tell Alessia of what happened.

Waiting by the home phone proved to be a rather frequent activity until your mother said “It’s ok we are going to visit sooner or later”.  

However, soon became a couple years and not to your surprise Alessia and her family had moved.

She moved somewhere different, so you had to move on from your best friend you so deeply missed.

________________________________

Upon Alessia’s arrival to the training grounds, the other girls immediately clocked the familiar coffee cup design.

“Oh looks like you’ve already met our favorite barista, Russo” Katie wraps an arm around Alessia’s shoulders.

The blonde’s cheeks grew red at the mention of you. “Uh yeah, she mentioned y’all… said hello”

Katie’s eyes twinkled, “Oh how I love that girl…you got a good look at her didn’t you?” 

Before Alessia could continue to show that she was a nervous mess; Leah intervened.

 “Leave the poor girl alone, Katie. We all know of your little crush on (Y/N), get in line like the rest of us”. 

The rest of the locker room erupted in laughter and in mutual agreement. 

Alessia returned to her area and placing her things in her cubby still reeling from the whole interaction. 

After a particularly exhausting practice, she turned down going with the other girls to the cafe you worked at. She lied saying that she still had some unpacking to finish and why should she go back if she’d already been there in the morning? 

“Don’t need to buy anything, Lessi, just seeing (y/n) is worth the walk down” Katie laughed giving her a quick bump to the shoulder.

An awkward laugh from Alessia escaped her as she shooed away her teammates but not before promising that she would join them the next time….which was a lie because she would avoid the cafe as much as she could to avoid the nervousness that she felt. The way that your gaze affected her…how even in the early morning your eyes were bright, soft, and firm.

________________________________

After two weeks of, reluctantly, going to any cafe other than the one that you worked at Alessia finally found herself being dragged by Toone towards your cafe.

“Tooney, there are other places with pastries, do we really have to go to this one?” Alessia pleaded to her friend who looked at her confused and pulled Alessia even further.

“Nah, Phallon is there and she said that her old university friend working there will hook us up with some free pastries, you were excited about the free pastries part, what’s got you not wanting to go now huh?” 

Alessia couldn’t think of a good reason, her demeanor did change from excitement to nerves at the realization they were headed towards your cafe…

“I don’t think their pastries are all that” she lied to which earned an eye roll from Ella.

“Don’t care…a free pastry is a free pastry.” Ella said, opening the door of the cafe to see an occupied Phallon leaning on the counter as she scrolled her phone looking for something.

She lifted her head, “Oh hey Tooney, hey Alessia, guess you got her with the free pastries huh?” she said with a smile.

Alessia let out a quiet sigh of relief as she saw someone that wasn’t you walk into the back carrying a box.

“Where’s your friend, Phallon?” Ella went to the counter towards her teammate.

Phallon continued scrolling through her phone and stopped seemingly finding what she was looking for. 

“Oh she had to go get some boxes really quick but she’ll be back. I was going to show her the highlight I had seen of her from two weekends ago, just found it. She’ll kill me but…” She laughs turning the phone screen towards Ella and Alessia as the video began to play.

Toone did not see Alessia’s eyes widen at the realization that you were the one playing; that you were the one in goal. 

Alessia recognized the team as one of the local club teams nearby, a part of the lower leagues. One of the main points of the video that played again slowly was a save that was thoroughly impressive. There was something in the way that you made the save that triggered a memory in Alessia. 

Before Alessia could say anything in response to the video, your voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Been a while, Russo…TJ can you not show my highlights, it’s embarrassing” You say, with a laugh, passing closely to Alessia and hip checking Phallon as you place the two boxes of napkins on the counter. 

Phallon only lets out a laugh, “hey it was a good save (y/n), if you weren’t on this med school route, you’d easily be recruited by a WSL club team…”

Ella immediately agrees and pushes more, “Phallon is right, if you were on another team, you’d be an absolute nightmare for us right, Lessie?”. You look back at Alessia, who at the mention of her name finally blinked.

“Uh yeah, that was a good save. I don’t think I would get anything past you” she says quietly under your firm gaze as she hears your name for the first time. 

You only nod turning away from the group to put away the boxes, “Yeah maybe, well that was the dream but things sometimes don’t go that way you know but hey you can have multiple dreams…aka the med school route Phallon so happened to mention”

Alessia’s eyes followed you as you continued on answering Ella’s array of questions as you put away the supplies needed behind the counter.

Drying your hands you go to pack some pastries for the group, 

“Yeah I was a walk on for our university team and I ended up playing for them for a while, even started more than half the games…decided to just come back home after I didn’t get drafted into the NWSL”. 

The last part came out with some hesitation, you turn back with three small baggies filled with pastries.

Phallon takes them in her hands and says “See you at the game, yeah?” 

You nod, “Course, just remember to send me the tickets this time TJ, now head on off, I know that you all have practice later”.

As the group was about to leave, Alessia stops when you firmly say, “Actually, before I forget…Alessia, you forgot something the last time you were here”

Alessia looked to Ella who, didn’t help at all, said “Oh, we have to head out, I’ll text ya later Less”, leaving Alessia to her own devices 

As Alessia, hesitantly, reached the counter, you pulled up your chair and sat with your elbows on the counter and your head resting at your palms.

“Sooooo…you going to tell me why you’ve been avoiding me or do you want me to guess?” You say already with an answer in mind.

The younger girl messed with her hands and refused to meet your eyes “ ‘m not avoiding you…there’s just other cafes…” 

You clicked your tongue, “sure…anything else because I don’t believe you, little star” the nickname caused for Alessia’s cheeks to turn red…

“Uhhh…well I don’t think Katie would like me hanging around her crush, ‘ppose you like her too…I mean why wouldn’t you…I mean not saying I don’t want to see you but not that I have a crush on you or anything…but you’re pretty but I don’t think…”her thoughts were interrupted by your stifled laughter.

You rubbed your eyes to wipe the tears the came from holding it in.

“Hold on…firstly, I like Katie but not in that way. Second, is that really why you’ve been avoiding me, Lessie?…I thought it was something else, this however, I’m not complaining about” 

You said gesturing over to Alessia’s flustered demeanor.

The look of confusion on her face only added to your laughter, “Lessie, I know you’re not dumb…come on, who else in your life has ever called you, Little Star…I mean your folks started calling you star girl because of it and now the media does but who was the first to call you their little star?” 

You smiled towards her as you took in her slow realization, her eyes widening as she began finally taking in your features. The way that your eyes looked at her was enough proof to her, you were her.

Alessia quickly pulls you into a hug from across the counter, “you asshole, you could’ve just told me. God, it’s been so long”. Her grip on you is so tight that you would think that you were about to fly away if she let go. You feel her bury her face in your hair as you lean into her more.

Another laugh leaves your mouth, “well I thought you would have figured it out but now I know why you avoided me”. She pulls away immediately and sees the smirk that now adorned your face.

“ Someone’s got a little crush on me” you tease as you get up from your chair only to be followed, in tandem, on the other side of the cafe counter by the striker.

“I never said that!” her voice not, convincingly, confident like the day she first saw you again after many years.

You ignore her and only respond with a hum as you adjust your apron and round the corner of the counter and walk briskly towards the younger girl.

“Is that so? Shame because I also had a crush on you but I guess we will never know, of what may have happened if you also had a crush on me” You continue your teasing as you begin to shoo her out of the cafe with a gentle push.

The striker pushes back against you and grabs your right hand as you grab the handle to “kick her out”.

“Hey wait, wait…I was just joking…come on, Sole” You don’t take your hand off the handle but you froze at your old nickname, Sole. 

You hadn’t heard that name in decades at that point…her parents called you “her sole”...”her sun” because she was always pulled to you. The moment she got out of the car at practice she would run to you at goal, the moment the game would end she’d run to you, and eventually Alessia would copy her parents and call you ‘Sole’ in response to your calling of ‘little star’ to her.

You felt Alessia push back against you and you budged a bit. As you opened the door, you used the momentum in one of her efforts and turned her towards you as you lowered your face to hers.

“I’m joking, little star. Get to practice. I’ll see you this weekend, I’ll find you after the game, Phallon will get me…I’ve missed you by the way”. You say calmly, patted her shoulder and then,gently, pushed her out of the cafe and closed the door behind her. 

          ________________________________

Match day against Manchester United came quickly to the Emirates and Alessia was nervous for multiple reasons. She was facing her old club for the first time and playing before her old friend that she definitely had a crush on. 

You never gave her your number and she didn’t want to ask Ella to then have to ask Phallon because then Ella would start wondering why and she couldn’t hide her feelings for you from her best friend. If Tooney found out, oh she would never hear the end of it. 

The team all rallied and began warm ups, the noises of the stadium gradually grew as people filed in. 

Alessia’s eyes would scan the suites where player’s families and friends from either team would be situated…she didn’t see you. 

She’d discreetly do it again during the as the team got into their positions…nothing. Unbeknownst to her, you had an eye on her the whole time; laughing at the way she “discreetly” scanned the family suites looking for you.

You never enjoyed the suites and always preferred watching from a fan’s point of view. You weren’t known so it wasn’t a worry that you’d be found out by fans. You settled into your seat your legs already used to the lack of space. You were surrounded by other fans with your mother’s old Arsenal jacket she got when she was your age with a little bit of a red jersey peeking underneath. 

It was an Alessia Russo jersey from when she played for Manchester United. You got it the moment that you heard that she signed on. Your father being elated that your childhood friend was playing for his team, 

“as she should!” you remember how proud he sounded when you shared the news

Lessie was loved by your family so you purchasing her jersey wasn’t seen as weird or off. You were as enamored with Alessia as she was of you in that moment. As a kid, you had always dreamed that one day you and Alessia would exchange jerseys after a game against each other, the thought caused for a short-lived frown to grace your face. 

You took a photo of Phallon in goal from where you were seated and posted it to your story tagging her and adorning the photo with University of Miami stickers and a caption that said “That’s my best friend!”

You loved your university friend dearly but you hoped that your little star would get one past her. As the game began, you watched Alessia, silently, like you did all those years ago from your goal posts. Placing you feet on the seat in front of you and putting your elbows to your knees and watched in awe. 

Your little star was not so little anymore but she played with the same energy and joy as she did when you were both younger. You couldn’t help but jump up in excitement when she scored. Except this time you couldn’t hit the posts with your gloves from the other side of the field like you traditionally did. 

During halftime, you got a text from Phallon telling you to head down to tunnel before the end of the game. She had already let it be known to security that you would be coming by and to just flash the badge she had given you.

The game had ended with a 2-0 scoreline in favor of Arsenal, earning Alessia a brace against her former club. Phallon came in and upon seeing you, enveloped you in a tight hug. The hug itself started to push off the University of Miami baseball hat you had on from your head.

“Hey you did great out there, was like old times” you said with a laugh as you patted Phallon’s back.

Phallon was a tad upset but nodded at your words, “Could’ve been better but hey this ain’t the NWSL, so I’m happy to have played anyways”. You had stayed in the United States for a year after failing to get drafted and would often fly out to Seattle to watch Phallon at her home games. You wanted to support her for as long as you could; that still wouldn’t be enough to pay her back for all that she had done for you. 

You hadn’t noticed that Alessia had walked into the tunnel with Toone and seen the slight look of jealousy she shot Phallon.

“That’s her best friend is all…goal keeper union and all that. Mary probably knows her too…” as if on queue Mary came by and enveloped you in a hug from behind which earned a laugh from you. Mary’s powerful stature now seemed small in comparison when you towered over her. 

Alessia did not realize that Ella had pulled her towards you and the other girls until she heard you say,

“Oh hey you two, you both had an incredible game, especially you…Russo!” The smile that you had now directed at her, filled with knowing that you had such an affect of her as you noticed that Alessia’s cheeks became the same color as her jersey.

The other girls agreed amongst themselves. “How about a little get together later tonight? Just a couple drinks nothing too crazy, (Y/N), you are always invited” Mary ended the proposal with a pat on your shoulder.

You nod, “Oh Alessia, heard you’d need a ride home, I can take you, since I have to stop at the cafe really quick before I go home anyways”. The offer bringing Alessia out of the trance that she was in. 

“Sure…if it isn’t any issue” she said softly that earned a quick assurance from you.

“Nah don’t worry about it…I’m parked where the players are, so I’ll just text you where I’m at” you say handing her your phone so that she can put in her number.

Once Alessia handed your phone  back, you said your goodbyes and whispered a quick, “I’ll see you soon, little star” to her before heading down the hall. Alessia nodded and turned to see a smirking Toone.

“You can thank me by the way…I could've given you a ride but I am always looking out for my bestie so I made myself ~ unavailable ~ and I expect you to put on your cutest outfit, Less!” she sang the last part as she put her arm around Alessia’s shoulder. 

“I-I don’t-what?”, the blonde quietly whispers to Toone.

Ella rolls her eyes, “Less, I know when you have a crush, you’re the worst at hiding it. Plus she’s a catch and I’m sure she likes you too, so just here to give ya a little push like the good friend I am” her eyelashes flutter towards the blonde. 

The forward did not even try to fight her friend and instead went to the locker room with the rest of her team. After going through the various congrats and photos for Player of the Match, she finally unlocked her phone to a message from an unknown number, you.

“Hey little star, I'm parked in section A spot 29. I’ll be sat in my car so no rush do what ya gotta do 😊”

Alessia smiled down at the message, the nickname flustering her even in just text form. 

“I’ll see you soon, just finishing up here 😊” her message was met with a small, heart like.

You were scrolling on your Instagram, as a random Spotify playlist played from your phone. Your head leaned on the window of your car as you continued completely unaware of your own surroundings. A gentle tap on the passenger window across from you made a big smile appear as you unlocked the car to a still-nervous Alessia. 

“You could put your stuff in the back don’t worry, it's unlocked”. Once Alessia put her things away in the back seat she found herself in the passenger seat, struggling to put on her own seat belt. 

“I’m not going even to ask if you need help,”  you said with a small laugh as you leaned over, grabbed the seat belt, and quickly put it into the buckle.

As you lean back into your chair, you stopped closely to Alessia’s face, 

“That buckle gets everyone, don’t be embarrassed…you don’t need to be nervous around me either but seems like I do that to everyone” you smile slyly as no response comes from her and start the car and you begin to pull out of the lot.

Alessia breaks her own silence, 

“(y/n)...my dad lost your number in the wash…that’s why I never called you. I hope you don’t think that I left you, I really did miss you” You waved your hand towards her. 

“I know that you never meant for that to happen…I didn’t expect to leave so young” 

She only nodded and continued,

“Soooo, what did you end up doing and what’s this about med school?” 

A sigh escapes you, “uh we moved to Miami because dad got a really good job there. Things were great, I was playing club in a nice area and yeah…that lasted two years…then dad loses that job within 2 years because of the recession…we had savings but we had to cut out a lot of things…football was one of them”.

You coughed as you recalled the rest, “The daughter of the coach was so happy I was gone which meant that she could be the starting goal keeper…other girls were funded by other parents who had better means…uh not me”. 

You did not even want to look at Alessia knowing she had a frown on her face. You pinch your nose as you continue.

“When I went to high school, I tried out for the team and I was good according to the coach…but then they asked me if I played club…told them I did but then stopped because I couldn’t afford it. I was cut from the team the next day…money talks there, so I uhhhh didn’t play until I went to U of M” 

“Phallon was actually my roommate…we joked that they intentionally put  the two tallest girls together in the smallest dorm at the university. It was a total coincidence that they put me with her. First day I knew she was a soccer player, she didn’t find out I was a goalkeeper until she came to me worried because her alternate did her ACL and that they needed to try out new people in the next two weeks. I denied at first said I couldn’t afford it and explained why. Phallon talked to her family and next thing I knew…everything was paid for I just needed to try out…rest is history. You already know that I didn’t get drafted and well I came back. Been staying at my aunt’s place, rent free. She’s retired so she’s always away on travel”. 

Alessia nodded, still noticing how you rushed to the end. 

“How are your parents-?” she stops the moment she sees your hands tense at the wheel.

You shift in your seat, “Sorry, my parent’s are fine now, they are still in Florida actually…they are kind of stuck there…Mum got sick recently and dad followed suit…took them forever to convince me to move back, but they are ok it’s just we are in a weird spot. Everything is ok but not at the same time, don’t know if that makes sense”. You glance at her with a soft smile.

Alessia puts a hand to your shoulder, “hey sorry if that’s a sore spot and no it makes sense, it’s been a while since I’ve seen them obviously” She lets out a laugh. 

“Dad was so happy when you signed to United you know? And now, mum has been over the moon since you joined Arsenal” the tone in your voice now lighter. 

As you and Alessia talked it felt as if you had returned to the rhythm that you both had when you were kids. She would scrunch her nose when you teased her and you’d roll your eyes when she made a bad joke. You parked near the cafe after Alessia convinced you to leave her at the cafe and she’d walk the rest home.

You began walking towards the cafe to go pick up some textbooks you had left earlier that morning, beginning to take off your jacket out of habit as you got to the door. Alessia, who had stopped to see you off only saw the deep red of the Manchester jersey you wore, the white letters spelling out ‘Russo’  disappearing into the cafe.

________________________________

Alessia had practically inhaled the first drink that was handed to her by Toone due to the nerves that she had. Toone looked proud when Alessia arrived with her hair down, gold hoops and necklace with a black crop top and light washed jeans. 

“You look absolutely stunning, if she doesn’t want to take you home immediately seeing you then something is wrong with her” Toone said that earned a slap on the shoulder from Alessia,

“Shut it, don’t need to be so loud about it”. They both decide to get another drink while they waited for you to enter the bar. There respective teammates floating around the bar, laughs and conversations were heard from every corner. 

“(y/n)!!!! Leah told me you were coming!”  Katie’s thick accent now even thicker due to drinks she had already had.

Alessia had already started to feel the buzz of the 2 drinks she had went through minutes ago so the exclamation from Katie felt louder than usual. She turned and saw you talking to Katie who already began to wrap her arm around your waist pulling you closer to her. You entertained her and just held her briefly and it now looked like Katie was a koala on tree. 

Leah finally released you from Katie’s grasp only earning a laugh from you as you patted Katie’s shoulders to save her from the embarrassment what occurred. Alessia felt the tug at her heart when she saw your smile and heard your laugh. Even with all of the noise and movement, it seemed like you were moving slowly and clearly only for her to see. 

Alessia only snapped out of it when she felt a jab into her ribs, 

“You’re drooling, Lessie, I’d wipe your mouth because she’s headed this way, I’m going for another drink see ya”. The forward did not even have time to register what was said by Toone and even worse when you appeared in front of her.

“You ok? You’ll catch flies” You say semi-teasingly, semi-serious, lightly, tapping the underside of her chin as Alessia hadn’t closed her mouth since you had entered the bar. She finally was able to take you in and her silence to what you said only caused you to laugh.

Alessia saw you adjust the rolled up sleeves of your jacket and her eyes drifted to the exposed section of your stomach, then up at the subtle gold chain that you had on, you caught her gaze finally reached your face.

“So, I’m just going to get my one drink of the night, want to join me?…seems you need a refill” You take the empty glass from her hand as you started for the bar with Alessia following right behind you.

“Sorry, for being all quiet, I’m just tired you know” the blush on the striker’s cheeks told another story. 

You nod as you order yourself two drinks and slide one over to Alessia.

“Sure, little star, and I’m the president of the United States” you tease as you felt a tiny push of the shoulder from her. 

The conversation was like any other and the alcohol finally hit Alessia not at once, if you asked her, but when she was pulling you towards the dance floor with all the other Arsenal girls who were equally slightly, stumbling. 

She looked up at you as she brought you closer by your waist and laid her head on a part of your shoulder almost using you to stabilize herself. Alessia took in how warm you were and the woody, almost pine scent from your clothes; she couldn’t help but close her eyes and quietly sigh contently.

She barely registered your hand gently rubbing her back as you both were “slow dancing” in the middle of the bar. Which just meant you were both swaying slowly side to side, well you were more stabilizing Alessia as you moved side to side.

Her eyes opened as she felt the rumble in your chest as you spoke, “Nah she’s ok,...yeah Katie she’s an old friend actually…more now and we’re just catching up on lost time…ok I’ll see you”.

You, gently, tap Alessia’s waist to get her attention and lower yourself to her ear,  “You alright?” 

Alessia hummed and only melted herself more into you as your chest rumbled again but from laughter.

“You want to head out? Don’t want you to fall asleep standing…well you might actually trip over yourself if I let you go.” Alessia doesn’t answer but nods into your chest.

You push her a little so that you can lead her out of the bar waving at the rest of the team to get home safe.

Alessia stops you, “Can you carry me home?” she says quietly as she tries to stabilize herself without your aid but fails only to grab you by the arm. 

Without a word, you get in front of her and squat a little. 

“Come on, just get on my back, I can take you to mine, it’s actually just a block and a half away” 

Alessia, carefully, gets on your back and wrapping her arms around you neck as you hold her legs. 

The lights of the streets are almost blurry as Alessia laid her head on your back.

“I really did miss you, Sole”, you hear Alessia slur out from behind you.

You stop a bit before going up to the door of you aunt’s home, “me too, little star”.

________________________________

You assist Alessia into some of your clean clothes, obviously fitting way too big on her, combed through her hair, removed her make up, brushed her teeth, and finally lead her to your bed.

“I’ll sleep on the couch downstairs -” you began to say before Alessia, even though she was completely out of it, pulled you down to the bed next to her.

“Don’t be stupid, come on, you didn’t think I saw you with my jersey earlier” she muttered as she made her place in your arms and began to sleep. You only smiled as your fingers went through her hair and then rested at her hip as she feel asleep… you silently wishing that this would be your everyday but when have you ever been this lucky?

________________________________

Over the several weeks, Alessia would come only in the mornings opting to be selfish with the time that she spent with you. She would lean on the counter and talk to you as you were sat in the chair reading over your text book like the day she met you, sometimes even having your parents on the phone to speak with her. She thought, at the beginning, that you weren’t listening to her but you would occasionally insert little quips or observations.

“Ok sorry to say but that video of you in Australia, that Mary shared, was actually really funny”. You said as you highlighted another part of your textbook before setting it down on the table. 

Alessia rolled her eyes, “ok I swear it was going to charge at me, anyways, I’m off to practice…see you tomorrow?”. 

You nod as you lean down and give her a quick kiss on the lips as she practically skipped out of the cafe. 

You look underneath the counter at the opened letter that you had received a week ago. It said of your new schedule that your clinicals would now be mornings and you’d be assigned to a location to travel outside of the city in the afternoons.

“I’ll tell her tomorrow” was the phrase you would say over and over again. Your resolve in actually telling her would melt away the moment Alessia waltzed in every morning with her smile that made you buckle.

Tomorrow would be the last possible day to tell her so you had to tell her, of course, you could only blame your own unwillingness to break her heart. You weren’t breaking up with her just telling her 

‘Hey, remember how we didn’t see each other for a really long time and we found each other and now things are great, well I have to go again but I will still remember you…hope you wait for me like I waited for you…’

The next morning came and you had settled into your seat behind the counter like you always did and waited for your Little Star to walk in with her smile that was so bright it’d make the moon jealous. You hid the sunflowers that you had got her under some newspaper, hoping, it’d lessen the blow of what you were about to say to her. 

The minutes passed and the ding from your phone disturbed the comfortable silence.

“Hey Sole, I’m not feeling too well today, think I ate something bad last night so I’m not coming in and just going to go back to bed,  don’t miss me too much” followed with “ Little Star has notifications silenced”

You sighed with a frown, as you began to speak into your phone:

“You’re going to hate me. I’m sorry-”

Alessia’s heart dropped as she began listening to the voicemessages in her bathroom after sleeping for another 3 hours.

“I’m going to be no longer working at the cafe because I’m going be fully dedicating myself to my studies. Clinicals at the hospital are picking up and I will be going out of town often to work…I won’t be able to see you nor really talk to you. You are important to me and I am stupid for not telling you sooner…makes it seem like this is more important than you but it isn’t… I just didn’t want to break your heart. 

I love you, my little star, since the night at the bar. When you held onto me for dear life as we “danced”. When I brought you home when you were drunk off your ass and could barely stand. I still smell the traces of your scent on my bed sheets; my clothes; my pillowcase no matter how many times I have washed everything…the way you pulled me to bed to just hold you as you slept. I still remember the feel of you under my palms; every curve, every line as I passed my hands lightly on your hip as you quietly snored. I wished for that for so long with someone and I’m glad it was with my best friend.

I want to let you go because you deserve my full attention…I hope that you wait for me like I waited for you, but if not then I hope that I can still cheer you on from across the field as you continue making a name for yourself. 

I love you my little star and always will.

Come by the cafe later, if you’re able, to pick up what I intended to give you…as a goodbye…sorry I won’t be here I’m actually leaving soon once my coworker clocks in…it’s the first day I need to be out of town…I love you”

Alessia finally arrived at the busy cafe; which was an odd sight for her. The cashier, immediately upon seeing Alessia, motioned her over, allowing her to cut in front of the line. 

“Sorry folks, just got to make a quick delivery” the assumed university student apologized to the line before going back and quickly emerged with a small bouquet of sunflowers wrapped in newspaper with an envelope sitting amongst them.

Alessia took them with a sad smile and headed over to an open table in the corner. She pulled out the envelope seeing it was covered in stamps and re sealed several times. 

Carefully opening it she sees a neatly folded napkin, in front of a thicker paper, the napkin itself had written.

“Mum sent me this right after I told her that we found each other again. This was the last time we were together…think you got a hat trick this game.”

The napkin was set aside as Alessia took out the thicker paper turning it over to see it was a photo of the two of you as children.

Alessia’s then dark hair held up in low pigtails with a big smile as you held her up in a hug also a big smile adorning your face. 

Her sad smile was short lived as she looked at what you had written in the white part of the photo,

“The Star and her Sun” 

It was then Alessia decided to wait for you because what is a Star without her Sun. 

[piichuu]

♡ DODGING HIS KISSES

FEATURING: baji keisuke, chifuyu matsuno, takashi mitsuya, ken ryuguji, manjiro sano, shinichiro sano

WARNINGS: fluff, gn!reader

NOTES: this is a very old draft that i’m posting while working on the june drabbles and mikey series <333

BAJI KEISUKE

anyone who saw baji keisuke would most likely not take him as an affectionate guy, it is a side he hides well and only keeps for your eyes to see. he can’t help but enjoy the little things. intertwining his fingers with yours whenever he wants to make sure that you know he’s there, putting an arm over your shoulder and kissing your cheek or just doing something as simple as kissing your lips.

never have you dodged his kisses before, but when you eventually turn your head so his lips misses yours and meet your cheek instead, his eyes widen. he has had a tough day being away from you while you’ve been away at school, so what did he do for you to suddenly not let him kiss you.

“what are you doing?” he stares at you blankly, getting a giggle out of you as his cheeks are suddenly squished together by your hands. “you have chocolate all over your lips, baji.”

he raises an eyebrow and quickly wipes a finger over his lips, just now realizing that the chocolate he ate an hour ago has been stuck to him since then. you’re still looking at him with a smile on your face and without having a second to react, he presses his lips to yours. “that won’t stop me, you should know better.”

CHIFUYU MATSUNO

your boyfriend would never in his life complain about getting to have you in his arms, having his arms wrapped around your waist while your head is resting in the crook of his neck. it is still early morning and none of you have any work or school to attend today, so sleeping in was an obvious choice.

the both of you awake around the same time, tired eyes gazing at one another with lazy smiles on your faces. “good morning, angel,” he mumbles, his voice just as hoarse as it always tends to be in the morning, no matter what time he wakes up.

his fingers thread through your hair while your face is still hidden by his skin. “good morning,” your voice is muffled which causes a raspy chuckle to escape his throat. he places a kiss to your temple before reaching his hand down to cup your cheek and make you look at him. “i hope you slept well, we could go back to sleep if you want.”

chifuyu leans in so his face is closer to yours, but just as his lips are only mere millimeters away from yours, you suddenly turn your head, this action causing his heart to stop. “w-what?” “hm?” you don’t seem to realize what you just did, most likely too tired to understand what he was trying to do. now realizing that it was unintentional is what makes him smile and stroke your cheek. “nothing, wanna go back to sleep?” a nod and those droopy eyes of yours only reassure him more that you wouldn’t purposely dodge his kisses without a reason. “alright, sleep tight baby.”

TAKASHI MITSUYA

there is nothing that takashi mitsuya loves more than to come home to you after a tiring day at work. all he can think about when fixing ripped shirts or making new ones is you, you will always be stuck to his mind no matter what he does.

tonight, the two of you are supposed to go out for dinner together as it will soon be your anniversary and due to your schedules, you won’t be able to do anything special when the date has come. mitsuya will be busy with work while you will have exams to study for, so both of you decided that it was better to have dinner a few days early.

when your boyfriend enters your home to quickly change into fancier clothes, he’s greeted by you who’s already standing in the hallway and waiting for him. you are already dressed up from top to toe, causing takashi mitsuya’s mouth to fall wide open. the two of you often only see each other in pajamas or the usual work clothes, so suddenly seeing you in such fancy clothes does something to his heart. not that he doesn’t always think that you’re the prettiest person alive.

you wrap your arms around his neck and give him a loose hug. “how was work?” you ask as he leans down to press his lips to yours, but right as he’s about to, you put your finger over his lips and smile softly. “lipstick, your lips will get all messed up and i’ll have to redo it,” mitsuya groans into your shoulder. “please? i’ll help you redo it.

he looks at you with pleading eyes as his gaze only continues to glide down towards your red lips. “if you get ready, you might get a kiss,” that’s all he needs to hear before he’s off towards the bedroom to change.

KEN RYUGUJI

the two of you are often together, almost as if you were stuck by the hip. if he’s hanging out with his friends, he will send you texts and tell you that he’ll be home soon. if you are away for school, you will snap a few pictures of what you are doing so he can follow you throughout the day. is this something he would ever admit to his friends though? he’ll no. you are the only one who will ever see this side of him.

so when coming home to you after a tiring day with his friends, all he wants is to hold you close and receive kisses from you. it’s what keeps him motivated throughout the day and stops him from sending you texts about how much he misses you.

ken ryuguji usually hates to show himself being vulnerable, but with you it all becomes different. you make him smile, you make him warm, so when he sees you laying on the couch, curled up under a blanket and watching a movie, draken can’t help but smile.

he walks over to you and kneels on the floor, leaning down to press a kiss to your lips, but just as his lips are about to meet yours, you suddenly turn your head, dodging his kiss. he furrows his eyebrows at that, not understanding what caused you to do that just now. “what are you doing?” he asks as you look at him again, smiling softly. “i didn’t brush my teeth this morning, my breath probably stinks.”

hearing that causes draken to chuckle and he shakes his head. “i don’t care if your breath stinks, i want to kiss you,” straight forward, something he has only started to be further into your relationship. he would never admit such a thing a year ago when you’d only been together for a couple of months. but he doesn’t allow you to react as his hand rests on your cheek and he connects his lips with yours. “missed you.”

MANJIRO SANO

there is no way to doge manjiro sano’s kisses. if he has to chase you just to get one single kiss, he will. of course he wouldn’t ever force you to kiss him, but he knows when you’re dodging his kisses just to play with him.

so when you turn your head so his lips meet your cheek instead, his eyes widen and you look at him with a smile playing at your lips right before you sprint away from him and through the living room, towards the bedroom. giggles fill the apartment as mikey chases you around the rooms, causing you to stumble over furniture and almost trip.

it is when you eventually trip on your own feet and land comfortably on the couch that mikey takes his chance and wraps his arms around your waist so you can’t flee. the both of you giggle as he tickles your sides and pulls you close, leaning in to connect his lips with yours, still with smiles on both of your faces.

“you’re getting faster,” he pants, collapsing on top of you as he’s suddenly run out of energy after all that running. you smile softly, running a hand through his blonde hair as he relaxes into your touch, continuing to press a few kisses to your lips. “i love your kisses, will do anything to get them.”

SHINICHIRO SANO

his heart would break into a million pieces if you ever tried to dodge his kisses. his mind will fill with a hundred thoughts at the same time. what did he do wrong? are you mad at him? is he a bad kisser? are you going to break up with him? did he say something that hurt your feelings before he left for work?

the questions are many when you look away from him just as he leans in to kiss you. almost in an instant, his eyes begins to water. he finds it difficult to understand what he did wrong, you were smiling when he walked through the door, weren’t you? he thought you were happy to see him.

shinichiro looks down and doesn’t say a word while taking his jacket off and putting it on a hanger. he puts his shoes by yours and grabs his backpack to carry it into the bedroom. seeing him in such a down mood is what causes you to drop the act, cupping his face and looking right into his eyes. “i’m so sorry, shin. me and my friends wanted to try to dodge our boyfriend’s kisses to see how you would react, i’m so sorry.”

your thumb rubs against his cheek and he visibly relaxes at the explanation, letting out a sigh of relief. “i love your kisses, shin. i’m sorry for making you so sad,” you lean in to press your kiss to his for a short but sweet kiss. shinichiro puts a hand on your waist while the other one is still holding his backpack. “it was a little mean,” he mumbles.

he intertwines his fingers with yours and walks into the bedroom with you following behind. your boyfriend drops the backpack on the floor and puts his arms around your waist, pulling you onto the bed so he can cuddle up to you. “you’ll have to make it up to me with lots of kisses.” “of course, shin. you’ll get all the kisses you want.”

[olderthannetfic]

Obvious Disclaimer that this is not about any specific anon in particular, not about OTNF themself, but that my following rant might *slightly* punch down on people who ARE, well, older than net fics are.

But my honest opinion is that I really don’t like it when us old heads tend to sorta…talk down to? “Adultsplain”, if that’s even a thing? To The Gen Zs, by being like “damn kids! back in my day we never used our real name or posted selfies or posted about our personal life at all!” Don’t get me wrong, I’m one of those people who never posted the real me — but not because I was anonymous and cared about online safety, because I was a liar 😂 That being said, there ARE older people who definitely over-shared or “doxxed” themselves and still do, and there’s younger people who don’t!

I also feel like being “ha, these stupid KIDS who post about their FANDOM LIFE on TIK TOCK under their REAL NAME AND FACE where IRLS CAN SEE THEM, how STUPID” is not doing anyone any favors. Is that, technically, a smart thing for kids to do? No. Has it become normalized? Yes. And does that suck for people who might be bullied or outed or whatever cuz they genuinely are dumb and don’t know better and then someone they don’t like sees their stuff? Yes.

We all talk about how there’s no more kids spaces on the internet and how that’s a shame, but then five seconds later we’ll reblog that one “At any time I’m at risk of seeing a 14 year olds opinion and that’s why I hate it here” post. There’s really so few kid spaces on the net now, that’s true. We should extend empathy and let the teens be obnoxious and pretentious in peace, rather than making it a point to “ratio” or “roast them.” Idk personally I’d be completely unbothered if some 14 year old insulted my fic or my ship or whatever. I’d just block and move on, no need to try to argue with them.

And also, not all kids are even pretentious or obnoxious! I’m not saying we all need to take the kids under our wings, but we should be careful about not hating them just for being in their teens years, you know?

Also… telling a teenager to not post PII or not get into discourse or not have social media or whatever will NOT work the way you want it to 😭 kids are by default a little bit oppositionally defiant so telling some rando teen to Get Off Your Lawn (blog) rather than just blocking them, will encourage said teen to Stay On Your Lawn.

I just hate how it’s become normal for adults to talk down to teens online. I was harassed by adults online as a kid, then years and years and years later i went through my own “Older Than You™️”phase where I myself was a shit to teenagers, and I truly regret that so much. To this day I still need to make an effort to be careful. I saw on Twitter where an adult posted a DM from a 13 year old, mocking them. The DM said “I’m 14 next year, can I follow you? Please don’t groom me.” And the adult OP was laughing at how stupid the dm was. A few years ago, I would’ve been one of the people retweeting that and rolling my eyes at the child. Now im disgusted by the people who WERE laughing at them.

And again I’m obviously not saying we should be “nice” to the teenagers who mock us for our ships or who virtue signal too hard. But we also don’t need to make fun of their CARRDS or call them Puri-teens or rag on them just for being 17 or younger, yk?

--

Teens aren't 'puriteens' just for being young, dude. They have to also be puritanical bullies.

I find the stuff about real names hilarious because, actually, if you're really Internet Old™, then you probably did use your real name... it was right there in your university e-mail address! Or your random early ISP address if your stepdad got it for you and thought the university format was the default. Thanks, stepdad.

I've done every single dumb thing from going to meet my internet pen pal at an Alice Cooper concert to flying to Ireland from Japan to stay with a fandom friend I'd never met without telling anyone where I was going and without a credit card or enough cash to flee if I had to. I remember sitting on the plane thinking "Man, this is such a CSI episode topic".

The really funny part was that despite what she'd said before I visited, we ran into each of her parents at different times and ended up going to a play courtesy of her uncle, and all of them were like "So how do you know each other?" and "But you'd met before, right? RIGHT?!"

The level of panopticon is horrifying now. Teens have my sympathy. That part really is worse, and I think it's driving an entire generation nuts and we're going to see even more shit about people wanting to run away and live in a cabin in the woods with no internet. But in general, I don't think we're so different.

[sanjoongie]

Speak Up

Jealous! Teez {a collab with the pirateeznet crew. See Flurry's @flurrys-creativity here and here. With more to come from @daemour and @mingsolo!}

ღPairing: Jung Wooyoung x Reader (f)

ღAu: idol au

ღTrope: established relationship

ღGenre: fluff

ღRating: PG-16, MDNI (regardless of the genre I do not allow minors to interact with my work)

ღWarnings: just a little jealousy nothing a few apologies can fix

ღWord Count: 929

ღSummary: Wooyoung isn't too keen on you going to a Stray Kids concert, and may or may not have something to do with liking Bang Chan's ass

“Wooyoung,” You deadpanned for the umpteeth time this night, “Why does it matter who I’m going to see?”

“If you had told me that it was Stray Kids, I would have reacted completely different!” Wooyoung insisted for his umpteenth time tonight too.

“It’s your best friends group, shouldn’t that be good?” You insisted from your vanity table. 

“It would be if you weren’t so obsessed with Bang Chan’s ass,” Wooyoung muttered under his breath.

You slammed your lip gloss onto the table. “Wow,” stretched out the word, insulted. “You really are a piece of work, Jung Wooyoung.”

Wooyoung whined when you said his full name. “Babe!”

“Nope, don’t even.” You threw your hands up and skirted around his body.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Wooyoung insisted behind you.

You pulled your leather jacket from your closet by the door. “Finally, something you’re right about tonight.”

Wooyoung looked like you had slapped him in the face. “How’s it going to look when my girlfriend is going to a concert of another boy group? Of the same generation as me? Without me???”

“I told you my friends bought those tickets as a present!” You shouted. Please don’t cry, please don’t cry, please don’t cry you chanted in your head.

Wooyoung side eyed you with a dirty look. “Still.”

“Still nothing,” You spat. You looked at your phone and saw the text message of your friend saying they were here. “I’m gone. I’ll sleep at my friend's house tonight. Bye,” You said flatly.

“Fine,” Wooyoung spat back.

You enjoyed the concert. You didn’t want to bring down the night by telling anyone that you had a fight with Wooyoung just before you left. So you cheered with your friends, sang along with the songs you loved and danced until your booted feet hurt. You loved your fit and you were sad Wooyoung didn’t comment on it. You had been looking forward to his praise. 

You sighed heavily as your friend drove your group back to her place after the concert. “Post concert blues already?” she said from the driver’s seat.

“Yeah,” You pasted on a smile, “I miss Bang Chan’s ass.”

Another friend in the passenger’s seat giggled. “Don’t let Wooyoung hear you say that.”

“He can go suck a donkey’s hoof,” You muttered.

The friend beside you in the back nudged you with her elbow. “You know I love your sayings but that doesn’t sound like your normal teasing.”

“Wooyoung was angry I went to this Stray Kids concert,” You blurted out.

“I knew it! Wooyoung did hear you talk about Chan’s ass, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, but I love his ass? I was just fangirling!” You protested.

“When was the last time you said you liked Wooyoung’s ass though?”

Shit, when was the last time you had patted him on the butt and said he had a fine ass? But normally if Wooyoung was feeling like he needed something, he was clingy and borderline asked you to make him feel better. What was different this time?

“Hey… do you guys want to drop me off at home? Please?”

When you got home, the entire place was dark. You felt like you were sneaking through your own home. You found Wooyoung curled up on your bed with one of your sweaters from early today, watching his comfort movie. You could tell he was on one of the later Harry Potter’s by the deepness of Ron’s voice. 

“Woo?” You called out softly.

Wooyoung jumped even with the soft call out. He shouted and threw some hands. You wanted to giggle but you were worried that it would hurt his pride more and you didn’t want that. “I came home instead. After the concert…”

Wooyoung pushed his lips to the side of his face, not looking impressed. “‘Kay,” he replied. 

You cleared your throat. Whatever the issue, you didn’t want to be mad at Wooyoung and you didn’t want to fight. You’d swallow your pride and apologize, if only to see his smile again. “I’m sorry I said I liked Bang Chan’s ass. I hope you know I like yours better.”

Wooyoung looked taken off guard by the precise apology and then bursted into laughter. He was rolling around on your bed and you started to frown because he really wasn’t stopping.

“Hey! I mean it! Wooyoung!”

Wooyoung managed to get his laughter under control and sported a grin. That was much better. “How much do you like my butt?” He preened a bit.

“Well you don’t have to say it like that,” You can’t help but feel a little embarrassed. “I like it a lot. A lot a lot.”

Wooyoung opened his arms and you rushed to them. You crawled across the bed and threw yourself into his embrace. He hugged you tightly, humming. “I’m sorry too. I should have said something.”

You smacked Wooyoung’s chest. “Nothing usually stops you! What made it different this time?”

“I dunno,” Wooyoung deflected. 

“Wooyoung,” You growled.

“Bang Chan would kill to have someone like you. You could have him if you wanted to. I just thought--BABE, OW?” Wooyoung screeched when you pinched him.

“I want you, Wooyoung,” You said quietly but firmly. “Next time you’re thinking bad thoughts like that, you tell me them immediately, so I can hit you.”

“Well I’m not going to tell you if you’re going to pinch me,” Wooyoung pouted, rubbing his chest.

“You better!” You shook your finger as menacingly as you could. “Otherwise, there will be repercussions!” 

“Repercussions?” Wooyoung looked interested. 

Once a brat, always a brat, you supposed.

[fanning-the-flames]

Moonshot: A Cheng'e Story

[ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Next>

Cover

Part 1 of 5

Astronaut Wei Wuxian is about to make history as part of China's first human moon landing on September 12, 2030. He is woken up from a recurring dream (nightmare) where he grasps at a stream of light by the call to report for the landing. The team is made up of the commander, Lan Wangji, the pilot, Wei Wuxian, and the communications officer, Wen Qionglin. Wen Qionglin passes along well wishes from Director Jin, which Wei Wuxian is suspicious of, though the Director does want the mission to go well for his son to lead the Mars mission.

After a successful moon landing, Wei Wuxian drives him and Lan Wangji on the moon rover, where Lan Wangji is even more reticent than usual. Suddenly a white hare jumps in front of the rover, causing a crash. It hops away into the arms of a human figure in purple robes.

Next >

2021 Cheng'e: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [x]

2022 Cheng’e: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ]

Don't worry, the Jade Hares in this comic are as tough as jade and near indestructible. He didn't even get hit, but would've been fine regardless.

Er...spoilers below? You probably know who the Hare is...

[scourge-sympathiser]

SCOURGE SUNDAY 031/???

i gor a laminator

[lies]

[waywardsalt]

im thinking about possession aftereffects that linebeck experiences immediately after the events of phantom hourglass, so here are bullet points i have down for my own ideas

he’s out cold for roughly five days after the fight. he’s conscious for a bit after being freed, but it doesn’t take long for him to collapse once he’s transported back to the great sea. link finds him when he reaches his ship to see him again (he takes a lifeboat or w/e from tetras ship its a whole thing and not the point) and ends up having to take care of him for those five-ish days.

while he’s out cold, he develops a bad fever, and has a good few physical injures from being possessed; all of his wounds from being possessed manifest as burns, the worst wounds bring cauterized and mostly closed, while smaller ones are still open wounds. the largest wound is a large burn covering most of his back, which is cauterized by the time he passes out, and then there are smaller, still open burns on his upper arms and legs. (the smaller wounds are manageable by link when he follows some medical instructions, [there are some medical books on the ship] the larger one is also manageable, but takes a lot longer to properly heal).

(link asks tetra and her crew to stick around for a while to keep linebeck stabilized while he’s unconscious. when linebeck wakes up, tetra and her crew are good to leave because then linebeck can better report what’s going on, and knows how to handle injuries).

linebeck’s fever persists after he wakes up, and he experiences… pretty much every fever symptom, with especially bad chills and full-body aches. the aches are really bad for the first few days after he wakes up, he’s extremely physically weak and shaky for a while, too. that weakness and shakiness get better with time, but he doesnt go entirely back to normal without actually moving around and doing things to build that strength back up.

he’s delirious and struggles to stay awake for those first few conscious days, too, which makes that weakness and shakiness worse; he struggles to eat and drink water, and struggles to string together thoughts or words to talk to link, and both of them figure out pretty quickly that they’ll have to wait a bit longer before so much as an attempt to coax him out of bed can be made.

beyond existing problems with food, linebeck struggles to keep anything down while he recovers, and becomes ill pretty much every time after he eats anything, so a bucket is kept near his bed. with water, he obviously needs to drink a lot of it considering that he’s feverish, injured, and vomiting frequently, but while he’s sick he has a bit of an irrational fear of water (along with an irrational fear of air and the wind, which makes him hesitant to go outside while he’s sick).

he’s generally pretty irritable, which isn’t particularly new, but it makes him prone to refusing help with certain things. he’s less irritable when tired and just resting. he’s also especially nervous, and despite the overall fatigue, he struggles to sleep for very long while he’s sick, and as said before, is often delirious and even confused when things are bad.

along with the other difficulties eating, linebeck has a hard time swallowing for a bit, and salivates a lot more than normal while he’s sick. he is soooo fucking dehydrated the whole time and that really doesn’t help.

while the weakness and shakiness stays for the entire time he’s sick and even a bit afterwards, for the first few days after he wakes up he’s stiff and also experiences some muscle spasms and numbness in his limbs, and has a hard time keeping his balance the first few times he gets out of bed.

once the sickness clears up fully, linebeck has to still be careful with the scar on his back; it’s sensitive to touch for a while and hurts when exposed to the sun or air for too long and when he stretches his back too far, but eventually just reaches the point where it’s a bit sensitive but is otherwise just a large scar.

obviously he’s also going through the wringer in an emotional and mental illness sense too but those would require a whole new bullet point list.

[wifeguycyclonus]

Orion Pax is naive, he’s just not naive the way ppl seem to think he is

[shorthaltsjester]

imodna to me is c3 widojest (i am not a fan of widojest)

[chocobox]

not over seeing someone call iggy an "ugly red flag nickname that only people fetishizing colonization use" baby you know that's like . just what japanese fans call him right. like to this day

[britneyshakespeare]

Norton Anthology of Doin Your Mom

[thethingything]

I just remembered after all the shit earlier with having to figure out whether to go to the hospital, we fell asleep for a few hours and then woke up with stomach cramps so bad we couldn't move and we've had food poisoning symptoms for the rest of the evening. we have no idea what caused this

[fmhobeus]

so, nerdy loser college boy choso *sighs* *opens legs*

a/n: just so you know, this man is gonna make you do all the hard work for a piece of that loser boy dick 😮‍💨 so... um so at some point around 2000 words in i realised this is way more than a hc post :3 eat it up if you will!

nerdy!choso who borderline has no friends except his gaming buddies who doesnt meet irl like ever. he doesnt like going to classes, especially this one. he doesnt need it but it's a requirement for all first years. and boy is glad it is when he sees you come in.

nerdy!choso who only listens to discussions when you're talking. suddenly he needs to put down his headphones and nod at every word you're saying. his eyes follow every gesture of your hand, every sway of your ass, every single time you fix your hair.

nerdy!choso who is starting to get a bit enamored with you, your style, your way of speaking. he loses track of time gawking at you in class from the last benches as you prettily do all the work in the class. he hates how beautifully your hair falls on your face, how nicely your clothes fit you despite being pretty modest for college. he hates how he can see the silhouette of your tits when you turn to the side. but he's too much of a gentleman to keep looking.

nerdy!choso who ends a game early when he remembers you, lying and saying that he had promised someone to meet them somewhere. the place is his bathroom and the person was you. god, you really shouldn't wear those tight jeans to class y'know? how will he continue to be a gentleman if you do?

nerdy!choso who despises groupwork but prays to dear god this class has some reason to pair you two together. he's getting so desperate to talk to you knowing damn well he too pussy to do it on his own. and the lord answers his prayers, the teacher assigns groups of three for a presentation. it's you, him and some slacking trust fund baby.

nerdy!choso who is about to combust and have a full blown panic attack when he sees you approach him after class with that smile on your face that would make the angels swoon. you're going on about distributing the work equally and what not while he is trying his fucking hardest to not accidently make eye contact with you and piss his pants : (

nerdy!choso who now has your name, your number and your email and he feels like the happiest man on earth. his hands are literally shaking as he responds to your request to call. he's overthinking every word he types.

choso: yeah i can do wednesday. choso: i'll be okay with whatever day you want.

nerdy!choso who hops on video call and short circuits with a view of you in an oversized band tee and a brief view of your room. why did you have to be this pretty? why did you have to video call him when you couldve done the work on text? why did you have to put your hair up like that? why oh why did you have you say "choso? hey, you there?" so seductively to bring him back to the present?

nerdy!choso who gets like no work done in a 30 minute call which felt like three hours. he knew he would hardly be paying attention so decided to record the call with your consent, saying he'd need the notes you were typing out on screen only to play it back and stroke his dick to you for what might've have been the twentieth time this week. his strokes only getting faster as you say his name in that voice he imagines sounds way better moaning and screaming it instead.

nerdy!choso who, after the presentation, is on greeting terms with you when he sees you studying in the library. he sits as far away from you as he can while still being able to see you. occupying the coziest corner of the library to stare at you study right when you come up to him.

"can i join you, choso? i'm all alone and your space seems comfy" you say with a smile, "of course, i dont mean to disturb you, is saw you were on your own too, so..."

uh oh, uh oh, uh oh. god no. please no. please dont say yes. please dont be staring at her like some dumb idiot (too late) please.

"uh... yeah sure why not?" he awkwardly says as he makes room for you to keep your things. he was such an idiot for thinking he could say no to your pretty face in the first place.

nerdy!choso who is absolutely drunk on your scent. it feels way better than any alcohol he's ever had. he feels like an animal in heat when he smells your sugary perfume mixed with the styrofoam-y air conditioned smell of the library. you're gonna kill him, yknow? how is he supposed to respond to this? what is one to do when their stupid college crush sits next to them? he gives you a half smile before furiously typing away on reddit, the only place with answers for losers like him.

nerdy!choso whose hands. oh his hands. (can be i a big whore for a second?) his long hands that feel like they're the size of your face. his kempt, beautiful and trimmed nails. his lengthy fingers that seem to yearn for something more to foddle with than just the keyboard or controller. he typed as such an insane pace it made your pussy ache. he was going so fast, jesus. those hands were meant to do more than just ask "how to talk to girls" on reddit.

nerdy!choso who (on the advice of reddit) asks if you would want him to order something for you. you tell you had a frappuccino not too long ago and that it was quite sweet and filling. and he hates himself for thinking that he could give you something much sweeter and filling than that like a horny fourteen year old.

nerdy!choso who is now determined to not come off as a creep so he does his work with the focus of four adderalls. he is typing as fast as his heartbeat, not realising he got two classes worth of work done in just an hour. he looks over at you, blissfully unaware of the absolute war in his mind.

nerdy!choso who feels as though if he doesn't muster up the courage to ask you out right then and there, he'll probably be the biggest loser on the planet. (as if he wasn't already)

nerdy! pathetic! choso who stutters a million times and barely gets the job done then too. his eyes are scanning your entire being (trying his best to not gawk at your tits) for any sign of discomfort.

"so- uhh so ummm... wo-would you, like, uh... like to do this again? sometime?... i got a.. a lot of work done today, so.."

oh heavens, the sheer nervousness in his tone makes you want to pull his pants down and show him how to really get work done.

you agree with a smile, even suggesting a better, more ambient (more romantic) cafe to study in. choso's heart is about to burst and flood the fucking library with his blood the way it is beating at an alarming rate.

"umm yeah uh 5 sounds... awesome... i hope it isn't a-a bother to you?" "no way, choso. i loved today," you offer him a smile as you gather your things, "i really like your hair, by the way" "i like your hair too, y-y-you smell very nice", he gulps.

fuck. why did he say that? what? you smell nice? who says that? is he like ten? you can't help but giggle at the sheer embarassment on his face.

he feels as though he's gonna melt into a puddle and turn to stone and throw up all at the same time.

nerdy!choso who is the most stupidly hot guy you've ever met, you think as you go giggling back to your dorm. mental note: pick a skimpy outfit for 5pm ;)

[shealwaysreads]

Saw my first post with someone admitting they used chatGPT to ‘write a fic’ which they then shared here on tumblr and on Ao3.

To be clear, using AI to churn out a piece of fiction is not writing.

Using a bot (possibly one that was trained using a scrape of Ao3, that is to say, the theft of work from every writer who has posted their work on Ao3) is NOT WRITING.

It is theft. It isn’t creation. It’s a regurgitation of the consumed collective work and effort and heart and time of every writer who has shared their work on Ao3.

‘I’m not a good writer’ is no excuse.

Want to be a writer? Put in the time everyone else does to practice.

Don’t feel confident in your work? Open yourself up to the same vulnerability and risk that the rest of us do.

You don’t get to use a fucking bot to vomit out an approximation of a story and pretend you’ve got skin in the game.

The sad thing? This bot-assembled fic wasn’t bad. It was bland, but it had internal logic, some passing context to character and canon. It wasn’t like those early AI art pieces that had surreal compositions and extra fingers. It wasn’t immediately obvious it was made by a bot.

In this instance the person who posted it admitted they had used a bot. Which, actually, I have some respect for. But it probably isn’t the first and it won’t be the last.

I don’t know that there’s a solution to this, but it is both hurting my heart and enraging me.